http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 04 December 2011 11:05
Plumtree — Prime
Minister Morgan Tsvangirai has called on all stakeholders
to address the
contentious Gukurahundi issue saying doing so would
facilitate the national
healing process.
Speaking at a rally held at Dingumuzi
Stadium in Plumtree yesterday,
Tsvangirai told party supporters that silence
over the issue would not help
matters.
“I know that the most important
issue in Matabeleland is the issue of
Gukurahundi,” said Tsvangirai.
“Silence is not the solution to this issue
and we must confront it head
on.”
According to a report produced by the Catholic
Commission on Justice and
Peace (CCJP) an estimated 20 000 people, including
children and pregnant
women were butchered by North Korean trained 5th
Brigade who were ostensibly
hunting down dissidents.
Tsvangirai
said that if the Gukurahundi matter was not addressed it would
ultimately
become a burden to the nation. “The process of national healing
will
therefore be fruitless,” said Tsvangirai.
According to a report produced
by the Catholic Commission for Justice and
Peace (CCJP), thousands of
people, including children and pregnant women
were butchered by the North
Korean-trained 5 Brigade who were ostensibly
hunting down
dissidents.
Tsvangirai said if the Gukurahundi matter was not
addressed, it would
ultimately become a burden to the nation. “The process
of national healing
will therefore, be fruitless,” said
Tsvangirai.
The organ on national healing and reconciliation was set
up by the inclusive
government to deal with the issues of political
violence, but has been
criticised as being ineffective in carrying out its
mandate. Tsvangirai said
MDC-T was the only serious party in the country
capable of tackling issues
affecting the people of Zimbabwe.
Zanu
PF has said the Gukurahundi issue, which President Robert Mugabe once
referred to as a moment of madness was a “closed chapter” and those calling
for its revival wanted to “open old wounds”.
However, Zapu
president Dumiso Dabengwa has said the Gukurahundi issue
cannot be swept
under the carpet. Tsvangirai also made reference to the
topic pertaining to
his alleged marriage to local business woman Locadia
Karimatsenga Tembo,
which dominated media headlines over the past two weeks.
“I know that
the media has said a lot of things about this issue,” said
Tsvangirai.
“However, I would like to assure you that despite whatever is
said about me
in the media, I will not give up my commitment to the struggle
of liberating
the people of Zimbabwe.”
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 04 December 2011 10:41
BY CAIPHAS
CHIMHETE
Daggers are out for Home Affairs co-minister Theresa Makone and
her husband
Ian, with some senior members of the MDC-T party pushing for a
vote of no
confidence against the two over their alleged involvement in
Prime Minister
Morgan Tsvangirai’s marriage debacle.
Sources in
the party said senior MDC-T officials are urging the party’s
provincial
structures to pass a vote of no confidence against the two at the
party’s
national council meeting to be held in two week’s time.
Party
insiders want Theresa, the MDC-T Women’s Assembly chairperson and Ian,
Tsvangirai’s personal advisor, chucked out of the party for allegedly
facilitating the Prime Minister’s “marriage” with Locadia Karimatsenga
Tembo.
“We are mobilising all provinces that come 18 December,
they must go,” said
one senior MDC-T official. “The whole family must go
because they have
destroyed the MDC-T brand (in the form of Morgan
Tsvangirai) that we have
been building for the past 11
years.”
The sources said all the MDC-T provinces, except Mashonaland
East, had
provisionally agreed to push for a vote no confidence against the
Makone
family, which for the past few years controlled both the party’s
political
strings and Tsvangirai’s personal life.
Sources in the
labour-based party said the Youth Assembly and Women’s
Assembly members had
planned a protest against the Makones yesterday at
Dingumuzi Stadium in
Plumtree, where Tsvangirai addressed a rally.
“It was stopped because
that (protest) would have given the party’s
detractors an opportunity to
attack the party,” said another source. “This
issue has to be handled very
carefully because it has the potential of
destroying the party because the
Makones have vital information about the
MDC-T, from all business
sympathisers to financiers.”
Asked why Ian was also a target, the
MDC-T sources accused him of failing to
properly advise Tsvangirai, whose
personal and political life largely
depended on his
counsel.
“There is a case of improper association here against Ian,”
said another
MDC-T official. “He also failed to advise the Prime Minister on
a proper
woman to associate with.”
MDC-T deputy spokesperson
Thabita Khumalo said she was not aware of the
exact date of the national
executive meeting and was also not privy to the
agenda of the
meeting.
“Our agenda will come from the standing committee, which
sits before the
national executive,” said Khumalo, who could not be drawn
into revealing if
the Makone issue would be discussed.
“The
executive committee of the MDC-T makes recommendations pertaining to
any
issue tabled at executive meetings. Most of the issues are not specific
but
come from the party’s structures, such as districts, provinces, youth
and
women’s assembly.”
But sources said the national executive will
discuss the constitution-making
process, the state of the party, its
readiness for elections slated for next
year or in 2013, among other
issues.
In a statement last week, Tsvangirai conceded he had had a
relationship with
Locadia, but said the relationship was no longer feasible
because “there is
a greater and thicker plot around this issue, which has
undermined my
confidence in this relationship . . . As has been evidently
demonstrated by
these past well-orchestrated events, it would be
inconceivable that a normal
marriage relationship can be
consummated.”
But the Tembo family has insisted their daughter
remains customarily married
to the Prime Minister. By the time of going to
the press yesterday, Locadia
was said to be still at Tsvangirai’s rural home
performing traditional
marriage rites.
The Makones, who at one
time bankrolled the MDC-T when the party was facing
financial problems, were
also accused of leading the so-called Kitchen
Cabinet, a loose coalition of
members who controlled every aspect of the
party.
The Home
Affairs co-minister last year angered party colleagues when she
tried to
assist Zanu PF secretary for administration Didymus Mutasa to have
his son
Martin released from police custody when several MDC-T cadres were
wallowing
in jails on allegedly trumped-up charges.
She also courted the ire of
party members when she elbowed out former Women’s
Assembly chairperson Lucia
Matibenga from her post in what some MDC-T
activists said was not done
according to procedure.
Efforts to get a comment from the Makones
were fruitless as their numbers
were not reachable.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 04 December 2011 11:32
BY PATRICE
MAKOVA
The leader of the smaller faction of the MDC, Professor Welshman Ncube
has
cast doubt on the prospects of the early completion of the
constitution-making process to pave way for elections, saying political
parties were still quarrelling over several issues.
This
is compounded by the fact that a national report compiled by the 17
thematic
committees has been rejected for lack of depth and clarity, he
said.
But
Constitutional Select Committee (Copac) co-chairperson, Douglas Mwonzora
dismissed Ncube’s assertion accusing him of attempting to discredit the
current process in order to “sneak in” the controversial and much
discredited Kariba draft constitution.
Speaking at a Southern
Africa Political Economy Series (SAPES) Trust Policy
dialogue in Harare last
week, Ncube said the constitution-making process has
been thrown into a
shambles after Copac rejected the national report which
drafters were
supposed to use for crafting the new supreme law of the
country.
He said political parties had to recall their
representatives to rewrite the
national report as the current one was badly
written and lacked
thoroughness.
“The process of writing a new
constitution is far from over, but we do not
want to admit this openly,”
said Ncube.
“Zimbabweans have been given a false impression that the
country is ready to
draft a new constitution. You can bring in the drafting
people, but what can
they do if there is nothing to draft?” he
asked.
“There is so much that has not been done. I always say this;
the likelihood
of holding a constitutional referendum and election in the
same year is
highly improbable — that it can be safely dismissed,” said
Ncube.
“Up to now, not even a single line or paragraph of the
constitution has been
written. It is unlikely that the text would be ready
by August next year. We
will be lucky to hold a referendum by October next
year.”
Ncube said even when the referendum is held and a constitution
agreed upon,
up to three additional months would be required to negotiate
and amend the
electoral act to make provision for issues such as
proportional
representation, which were likely to be included in the new
supreme law.
Mwonzora however said the work produced by the select
committee was of high
standard, contrary to Ncube’s claims. He said talks of
a national report
were premature, as such a document would only be ready
when everything else
has been put in place, up to the production of the
draft constitution.
“It appears Professor Ncube badly misses being part of
Copac,” said
Mwonzora.
“We get a little bit worried when some
people who wrote the Kariba draft
start criticising the process. They are
trying to rubbish the current
process as a way of trying to sneak in the
Kariba draft as a substitute
draft constitution.”
He said Copac
concluded compiling the constitution principles at a meeting
attended by
David Coltart and Edward Mkhosi from Professor Ncube’s MDC.
Zanu PF secretary
for information and publicity Rugare Gumbo also insisted
that the
constitution-making process was going on well, with the three
parties to the
GPA agreeable on 95% of the issues.
“Our (Zanu PF) position and
that of President Mugabe is clear that elections
will be held early next
year, meaning that the constitution has to be
completed now,” said
Gumbo.
“The likes of Professor Ncube want to delay the process in
order to remain
in power. He is coming up with excuses in order to make hay
while the sun
still shines.”
Gumbo said it was not necessary to
do a land audit before the next
elections, as any party which comes into
power could do that at a later
stage.
Problems have been dogging
Zimbabwe’s constitution-making process, which was
supposed to have been
completed within 18 months after the formation of the
coalition
government.
This was however delayed due to disruptions and
disagreements by the
coalition partners.
Constitution-making
process done secretly: Ncube
Ncube said the constitution-making
process was fraught with secrecy and as a
result people were not aware of
what came out during the public outreaches.
He said the
Constitutional Commission which drafted the rejected
constitutional draft in
2000 was more open in its work as it managed to
publicise provincial
reports, unlike the current process which is shrouded
in
secrecy.
The MDC leader said political parties were still quarrelling
over what to
include on the pre-amble of the new constitution, while
fundamental
differences still existed on several issues such as devolution
of power and
dual citizenship.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 04 December 2011
11:24
BY NUNURAYI JENA
MAGUNJE — Soldiers and police went on a rampage
here last week beating up
patrons in bars and bottlestores in and around the
towns of Karoi and
Magunje, leaving several people nursing
injuries.
Armed with sjamboks, the soldiers and police officers who
recently got their
annual bonuses set their vicious dogs on the
panic-stricken revellers. The
revellers were shocked by the callous manner
in which the soldiers
indiscriminately beat up people in the
area.
“Quite a number of people were injured in the beatings,” said
one of the
residents. One of the victims, Tendayi Madhibha of Karoi, said he
was
drinking beer with his friends at a bar in Karoi when soldiers and
police
set dogs on them.
The dogs savaged his shoulder, left leg
and foot. The wounds were so serious
that he was referred to Chinhoyi where
he was treated by a private doctor.
He was discharged after two
days.
Soldiers from Magunje barracks are forcing bars and bottle
stores to play
Zanu PF jingles, a situation reminiscent with the 2008
violent elections.
Mashonaland West Police spokesperson Assistant Inspector
Mabweazara refused
to comment on the matter.
Efforts to get
comment from Zimbabwe National Army (ZNA) spokesperson Major
Alphios
Makotore were fruitless.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 04 December 2011 11:22
BY
NQABA MATSHAZI
AS has become tradition, Zimbabweans will be watching the
unfolding Zanu PF
conference in Bulawayo beginning this week, but the
question is whether
anything new can come from the party that has ruled the
country for more
than three decades.
Much hype had been
created in the months leading to the conference on what
was likely to take
place, with the party’s leader, President Robert Mugabe
describing it as a
mini-congress.
Zanu PF congresses are elective and so
Mugabe’s statements fuelled
speculation that indeed, there would be
fireworks at the Bulawayo meeting.
Leaked US embassy cables showing that Zanu
PF members were secretly
confiding in American envoys that they wanted
Mugabe gone, also added to the
conjecture that indeed there would be blood
on the floor at this year’s
conference.
However, in the months
leading to the event a clear trend has developed that
the conference will be
nothing more than the usual regurgitation of
populist mantras as past
meetings.
Zanu PF has already said they would not be drawn into
discussing the leaked
cables, meaning the congress would simply rubber stamp
Mugabe as leader and
presidential condidate in elections next year or
2013.
“The conference will express confidence in the continued
leadership of
Mugabe,” Gabriel Chaibva, a political analyst aligned to Zanu
PF, said. As
expected, the party will also reaffirm its desire to hold
elections, while
anti-western rhetoric will dominate deliberations,
something which Chaibva
seemed to reinforce.
While the political
analyst said there would be something new at the party’s
meeting this week,
the themes such as elections, sovereignty and
indigenisation have been a
constant motif throughout the year and were the
cornerstone of the party’s
last congress in Mutare last year.
“They (MDC formations) no longer
have a game plan to delay elections,”
Chaibva charged. “Zanu PF is gunning
for total and absolute victory at the
elections.”
Zanu PF
spokesman, Rugare Gumbo was noncommittal when asked if any major
developments were expected. “There is nothing new except what we have always
told you,” he said.
Gumbo said they were in the process of
panelbeating the agenda ahead of the
conference, whose official opening has
been moved from Friday to Thursday.
Another missed
opportunity
Charles Mangongera, a political analyst, described
the forthcoming
conference as a missed opportunity for the party to put its
house in order.
“They have squandered another chance,” he
said.
“They could have used it to deal with the succession issue
and as a platform
for leadership renewal.” Mangongera said since it was
unlikely that the
succession issue would be dealt with, he did not expect
any changes in Zanu
PF attitudes.
“I don’t see them changing
attitude, instead there will be the hardening of
positions,” he said. “They
will insist on holding elections and an end to
negotiations. It will be a
vintage Zanu PF.”
However, while on the sidelines it is expected that
wrangles between rival
factions to succeed Mugabe will be at play,
Zimbabweans will certainly not
be any wiser as to who would succeed the
country’s erstwhile leader.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 04 December 2011
11:21
BY MARTIN MULEYA
MUTARE — Mounting cases of domestic violence
are closely linked to
increasing political violence that has bedevilled the
country for the past
decade, gender activists said last
week.
Speaking at the commemoration of 16 days of activism against
gender-based
violence in Mutare last week, Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights
(ZLHR)
Mutare legal projects director Memory Mandingwa said violent
behaviour,
which usually starts at a tender age, must be curtailed at
home.
She said children learn “what they live”. “We are conscious of
the fact that
gender-based violence is an issue on our national calendar.
Lives of young
people have been lost and others have been confined to the
jails. It all
begins in the home, then into the nation,” said Mandingwa,
adding that the
16 days of activism were driven by the passion to curb
gender-based violence
in the society.
The commemorations were
held under the theme, “From peace in the home to
peace in the world. Let’s
end domestic violence against women.”
Mandingwa said violence is destructive
in nature and urged human rights
activist groups to let the commemorations
usher in a new dispensation where
society reflect on what happens to
children as this has a bearing on what
they will do in
future.
President Robert Mugabe (pictured), Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai and
Deputy Prime Minister Professor Arthur Mutambara recently
convened a
political violence indaba in an effort to curb violence in the
country.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 04 December 2011 11:19
BY
KGHANYILE MLOTSHWA
BULAWAYO — Two Ministers from the two MDC formations last
week said tension
in the inclusive government was “energy-sapping” but vowed
to ride the storm
and stick to the Southern African Development Community
(Sadc) brokered
coalition agreement.
Water and Water Resources
Minister Samuel Sipepa Nkomo and Minister of
Regional Integration and
International Cooperation Priscilla
Misihairabwi-Mushonga admitted
difficulties in the government of national
unity (GNU) but insisted that the
Sadc deal was the best way for the
country.
Sipepa-Nkomo said
there was “thick tension” in the cabinet, with ministers
taking partisan
lines when discussing national issues. “When issues are
tabled in Cabinet,
one can see clearly that the discussions will take a
partisan line,” said
Sipepa-Nkomo while addressing a public meeting in
Bulawayo last
week.
“If it is an issue brought up by a Zanu PF minister, you will
see Zanu PF
ministers rallying behind it, even if it is ridiculous. If it is
an issue
raised by an MDC minister, you will see MDC ministers rallying
behind it,
even if it is ridiculous. Even in government, we still take
partisan lines.”
Misihairabwi-Mushonga, said the issue of the
1983-1987 genocide in
Matabeleland had been the most contentious issue
facing the inclusive
government.
“The Gukurahundi has been then most
difficult debate we have had in Cabinet.
This is because it speaks to all
these issues (of the underdevelopment of
Matabeleland). It speaks to the
issue of ethnicity that we have managed to
put squarely on the table as a
result of the GNU.
“It (Gukurahundi debate) was very difficult and
very depressing, such that
some people literally went back to the 1800s and
spoke of how the Ndebele
stole our cattle and women. It was just difficult,”
she said.
Tsvangirai recently complained to President Robert Mugabe
that his ministers
were undermining his powers as mandated by the GPA, by
boycotting the
council of ministers’ meetings he chairs.
The
MDC-T says the intransigent ministers, who allegedly report directly to
Mugabe’s inner circle, have created a parallel government structure and
another “Ministry of Finance” to weaken the GNU, which brought about the
current relative economic and political stability.
It is thought
the “ministry” gets its funds from the diamonds mined in
Marange. MDC-T
blamed Zanu PF hardliners, senior police and army officials,
whom it accused
of ordering ministers and civil servants to boycott
Tsvangirai’s meetings in
their bid to wreck the coalition government.
Several senior army and police
officers have openly declared their
allegiance to Zanu PF.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 04 December 2011
11:16
BY EDGAR GWESHE
MDC-99 leader Job Sikhala has said government
must stop splashing millions
of dollars on President Robert Mugabe’s foreign
medical bills insisting that
the octogenarian leader must seek treatment at
local health institutions.
He said as the architect of the
demise of the health sector, Mugabe who has
been frequenting Asian countries
for treatment in recent months, would
experience first-hand the state of the
health system if he is treated
locally.
He said it was unfair for
Mugabe to claim millions of tax payer’s money
seeking treatment abroad while
the majority of Zimbabweans got treatment
from local hospitals offering poor
services.
“He should be treated at Parirenyatwa Hospital,” said
Sikhala. “Why does he
go to Singapore to consume millions of dollars for his
treatment? He is the
one who has destroyed our medical facilities since 1980
and his destruction
of medical facilities must not lead Zimbabwe to splash
millions on his
illness.”
Senior Zanu PF officials told US
diplomats that Mugabe had prostate cancer,
according to whistleblower
website, WikiLeaks. Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai recently said it was
government’s responsibility to pay for
Mugabe’s medical
expenses.
“The responsibility of the State is to look after its
leaders. If the
president is sick, he should be attended to,” said
Tsvangirai. The Prime
Minister was responding to journalists who were eager
to know why his and
Mugabe’s travel expenses had reached US$29 million
dollars in eight months,
according to government figures published
quarterly.
But Sikhala said every man is entitled to bear the
consequences of his
actions and as such Mugabe should experience the effects
of his ill-advised
policies which led to the decay in the country’s health
delivery system.
Sikhala also took a swipe at his former colleagues
in the MDC-T whom he said
were now pre-occupied with wealth accumulation at
the expense of the will of
the people.
“The majority of the
people who joined Robert Mugabe are now only
concentrating on wealth
accumulation and they seem to have forgotten their
mission. Some of them
even confide in us they have 23 bedroomed mansions,”
said Sikhala. “They
pretend not to be friends outside but deep down, they
are very
close.”
Sikhala opposed to elections
Sikhala added
that his party was opposed to elections being held in Zimbabwe
before the
setting up of a level playing ground. He said the current
situation
prevailing in the country pointed to a bloody election.
“A call to
elections in this country is a call to bloodbath,” said Sikhala.
“Mugabe has
always been using violence as a tool to win any election. When
he calls for
an election, he calls for the manslaughter of innocent citizens
of this
country.”
MDC-T has said at least 200 of its supporters were murdered
during the
violent 2008 elections.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 04 December 2011 11:15
BY JENNIFER
DUBE
SOME errant Harare council employees who are facing disciplinary
hearings
after breaching their employment contracts are trying to play the
political
card by alleging that they are being victimised because they
supported Zanu
PF, the Harare City Council has said.
The
Muchadeyi Masunda-led council said it had discussed the issue of
employees
who absconded from duty in 2007/8 at several full council meetings
and come
up with a resolution that the workers must account for their
actions.
“It is just unfortunate that some of the employees had
become too
comfortable thinking they had gotten away with their misconduct
and are now
seeking shelter in politicians when they know too well that they
have not
accounted for the work time they stole back then,” said one senior
council
official.
The workers recently wrote to Zanu-PF secretary
for administration Didymus
Mutasa claiming that they were being victimised
because of their links with
the former ruling party.
They alleged
that council was targeting 120 municipal cops trained under the
national
youth service as part of the witch-hunt. Efforts to get a comment
from
Mutasa were fruitless last week.
Masunda confirmed that council was
conducting an enquiry into the conduct of
workers who went away without
official leave (awol) when the country was
experiencing economic
difficulties. He said there was nothing irregular
about the
hearings.
“Several employees went awol during the hyperinflationary
period with some
going to work in Botswana and South Africa,” Masunda said.
“Most of these
employees came back when dollarisation was introduced and
they demanded and
got US dollar salaries, much to the chagrin of loyal
employees who stuck
with the municipality through thick and
thin”.
Masunda said those found on the wrong side of the law would
face
disciplinary action regardless of their political affiliation. “There
is no
orchestrated campaign against anyone and we will deal with issues
based on
their merit,” he said.
The city council last year
embarked on a controversy-embroiled human
resources audit, which revealed
that there were hundreds of ghost workers
listed on the council’s
payroll.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 04 December 2011
11:14
BY NQOBILE BHEBHE
BULAWAYO — THE Constitution Select Committee
(Copac) has put on hold
discussions on a proposal to have two
vice-presidents in the new
constitution with a requirement that one of them
must come from Matabeleland
region.
According to a list of
proposed constitutional issues contained in a report
dated November 14-22,
Copac grappled with proposals on whether the country
should have a President
with two deputies as per the Unity Accord of 1987
which was signed between
Zanu PF and PF Zapu.
“The discussion proceeded with others feeling
that one of the
vice-presidents should come from Matabeleland. Others
proposed that there be
a President and Prime Minister,” reads the
report.
Copac explored examples of power arrangements in other
countries. “The
French example was mentioned in the discussion as having
both the president
and prime minister with executive powers. It was
indicated that it does not
work because there cannot be two centres of power
unless they all come from
the same political party,” said the
report.
“On that point, the issues were parked for further
discussions by the select
committee.” Civic bodies and parties in
Matabeleland have complained about
the marginalisation of the region, both
in terms of development and national
politics.
At one point, the
MDC formation led by Welshman Ncube vowed to break with
what has become a
tradition of “perpetual Ndebele deputies” in the presidium
by sponsoring a
presidential candidate who was Ndebele by origin.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 04 December 2011 11:09
By Our
staff
STAKEHOLDERS in the media industry have poured water over Supa
Mandiwanzira’s
recent victory in a broadcasting licences’ race saying even
if he was not
favoured as a Zanu PF apologist, other things could have
worked to his
advantage.
The Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe
(BAZ) recently announced that the
journalist-cum entrepreneur’s AB
Communications and Zimpapers were the
recipients of the two free-to-air
national commercial radio broadcasting
licences.
In an interview
with The Standard recently, Mandiwanzira appealed to
journalists to
celebrate with him as he was one of their own. Mandiwanzira’s
Zi Radio and
Zimpapers’ Talk Radio were granted licences ahead of Hot Media’s
Kiss FM and
VOX Media’s VOX FM after scoring the highest points in the
selection
process. But media organisations last week pointed out that one of
his
employees is a BAZ board member.
Susan Makore, a BAZ board member, is
the managing director at Mandiwanzira’s
Mighty Movies Zimbabwe (Pvt)
Limited. Media analysts said the web of
relations between BAZ board members
and licence winners stretched beyond the
refuted political
ties.
Some gave the example of a BAZ official who is said to be
married to member
of the Zimpapers’ board. Makore and Mandiwanzira declined
to comment on the
issue.
BAZ board chairperson Tafataona Mahoso
said all issues were clarified at the
public hearing. “Did you attend the
public hearing,” he said. “The purpose
of the hearing was for people to ask
questions, what are you trying to do?”
Other BAZ board members are
Primrose Kurasha (deputy chair), Edward Dube,
Retired Colonel Reuben Mqwayi,
Charity Moyo, Erica Mususa, Reverend J D
Mutuvira, Chief Gambiza, Vimbai
Chivaura and Geoffrey Chada.
The MDC party has criticised the
granting of the licences on the basis that
the reconstitution of BAZ was
among other outstanding Global Political
Agreement issues.
The
MDC and other critics have said the current board consists of Zanu PF
sympathisers.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 04 December 2011
11:27
BY NQABA MATSHAZI
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai in the last
fortnight waded into a storm
over his personal life after it was claimed
that he had paid a US$36 000
bride price.
His aides were quick to
dismiss both the figure or that he had paid lobola
and instead argued that
he paid US$10 000 as “damage” to the family of
Locadia Karimatsenga
Tembo.
Both quoted figures are enough to make anyone cringe that a
bride price
could be so high. It was also announced recently that Commander
of the
Zimbabwe Defence Forces, General Constantine Chiwenga, may have paid
a
whooping US$45 000 as lobola for his new bride, Mary
Mubayiwa.
This figure has also been disputed, with people close to
the family claiming
that the amount paid was only a third of what her family
was claiming.
The Oxford English dictionary for southern Africa defines
lobola as “the
bride price paid by the family of the bridegroom. Payment,
often in cattle,
is made by a groom's family to his bride's family before
their wedding in
some parts of southern and eastern
Africa.”
Questions have been raised as to why the bride price could
be this high and
whether it was “cultural” for both these suitors, who have
a high standing
in society, to pay this much.
Some have said
there was no way any woman could be worth so much and the
two, Tsvangirai
and Chiwenga, may have been charged over the top amounts
because of their
status.
However, cultural icons have come to the defence of the
figures, claiming
that there was nothing sinister about the way they were
charged.
Prominent historian, Phathisa Nyathi gave an example of a man named
Dlodlo
who married the first Ndebele King (Mzilikazi's) daughter, who paid a
100
head of cattle for her hand in marriage.
“This does not mean
that Ndebeles were paying this much in lobola,” he said.
“When lobola is
charged, there is no uniform figure. It depends on the
status of either the
woman or the man.”
Nyathi said since Tsvangirai was the prime
minister, Tembo’s family knew
that he had the means to pay and hence they
charged that much. He said
families looked at the background of the suitor
and this had an influence
on how much they charged for
lobola.
In defence of Tsvangirai, Chiwenga
Nyathi said
the problem was that the Tsvangirai and Chiwenga cases were
being muddled by
people who were ignorant of their culture. “Each case has
its own merits, if
they had charged that to a poorer man, he would not have
paid,” he
explained.
Leader of the Zimbabwe National Traditional Healers
Association (Zinatha),
concurred saying the lobola figure depended on the
families involved. “It
cannot be too little nor can it be too much,” he
said. “It depends on the
people involved.”
A gender activist and
journalist, Sibusisiwe Ndlovu described the quoted
figures as rather too
exorbitant and described it as a bastardisation of our
culture.
“Lobola is a token of appreciation and it is meant to
build relationships
and is not about what one can afford,” she said. Such
high figures could
kill the symbolism of the ancient practice and in the
end, women are viewed
as commodities, she suggested.
Ndlovu said
some people were now profiteering from lobola and this negated
the cultural
aspect of marriage.
WHAT REMAINS OF LOBOLA AFTER
THIS?
The two cases, however, will add further fuel to the debate
on whether
lobola is still relevant in modern society. Critics of the
traditional
practice claim it was meant to be a token of appreciation to the
bride’s
family for having raised the woman, but now it is prone to abuse by
people
who seek to profit.
Lobola is seen by some as an
extravagance that has little relevance in a
society where young Africans are
trying to lift themselves out of inherited
poverty.
Its
proponents on the other hand, say lobola is a way of showing commitment
between families.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 03 December 2011 16:58
BY
NDAMU SANDU
GOVERNMENT wants foreign-owned mining houses to have primary
listings in
Zimbabwe and bank their money locally to improve the liquidity
situation as
part of a cocktail of measures to leverage on the country’s
natural
resources. Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara told a mining
stakeholders’
forum last week that it was unacceptable for mining houses to
have primary
listings and bank money elsewhere other than
Zimbabwe.
“All mining companies must have a primary listing in
Zimbabwe then secondary
listing on JSE or London,” Mutambara said.
The
mines that would be affected by the new requirement include Zimplats
which
is listed on the Australian Stock Exchange.
It would also force other
mining houses such as Unki and Mimosa, among
others, to list on the Zimbabwe
Stock Exchange.
The mining sector, alongside agriculture, has been
identified as the drivers
for economic growth with the sectors expected to
grow by 15,9% and 11,6%
respectively next year.
Mutambara
said the mining houses should also bank their money locally to
help improve
the liquidity situation in the country.
“We don’t want companies that are
banking in Europe,” said Mutambara.
“Bank with local banks so that the money
you bank allows us to function as a
country. Zimplats, I hope you are
listening and you must bank it in
Zimbabwe.”
Although banking
deposits are on the increase, most of them are in either
demand or
short-term and this means that financial institutions cannot lend
money to
companies on a long-term basis.
Due to a decade of recession,
companies require long-term financing to
retool and replace ageing
equipment.
Mines and Mining Development minister Obert Mpofu told the
forum his
ministry would come up with punitive measures to stop holders of
special
grants from using them for speculative purposes. It takes between
six to
eight months to finalise on special grants, but Mpofu said his
ministry
would thoroughly vet prospective applicants to weed out
speculators.
“We have realised that special grants given have been a
source of serious
speculation. Of the 16 that were issued only three are
functional,” Mpofu
said.
He said new application fees would now be in
place to ensure that only
serious people venture into mining.
For
diamond mining, one has to fork out an application fee of US$1 million.
Mpofu said the response was overwhelming notwithstanding what appeared a
steep fee.
A registration fee of not less than US$5 million and
mining fees would also
be in place, according to Mpofu.
He said that the
principals in the inclusive government have already
sanctioned the new
measures designed to raise more money from the mining
industry.
In the 2012 budget, government projected to get US$600
million from
diamonds, a figure Mpofu said is conservative as “we will make
far much more
than that”.
He said consultations are currently
underway for input into amendments to
the Mines and Minerals Act and the
Diamond Policy Act.
Mining is capital intensive with a long gestation period.
Estimates from the
Chamber of Mines show that the industry requires between
US$5 billion to
US$7 billion to operate at full or increased
capacity.
The funding is not available locally, as banks have only
short-term
deposits.
Statistics show that between January and
September, mining companies
received loans, predominantly short-term,
amounting to US$157 million out of
US$2,6 million total banking sector
loans.
This means that the industry has to look for offshore
financing, but
analysts say the perceived high-country risk rating has made
it difficult
for local companies to access long-term loans on international
markets.
The mining sector is increasingly evolving into a dominant
sector in the
economy and accounted for two-thirds of exports recorded last
year. It is
estimated that it would contribute over 50% of exports this
year.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 03 December 2011 16:55
BY WISDOM
MDZUNGAIRI IN DURBAN
CLIMATE finance is falling short of the promised
US$30 billion “fast-start
finance”, the African Climate Policy Centre (ACPC)
report has said.
According to an ACPC report released at COP 17 last week,
the experience
with the “fast-start” pledges and discussions of the US$100
billion promise
suggests the adequacy and predictability of climate finance
may remain low
if the future climate finance architecture reflects current
practice.
ACPC Senior Energy and Climate Specialist Yacob Mulugetta
said: “African
countries, as well as many other developing countries, are
vulnerable to
climate change and are among those least likely to have the
resources
required to withstand its adverse impacts, yet there has not been
any
indication that the magnitude of climate finance will meet the scale of
what
is needed.”
Spokesperson of the African Group, Seyni Nafo,
added: “Long-term climate
finance needs to be accountable and
transparent.
In Africa, we need to know how much is new, where it is
coming from, and
whether it will be directed to the adaptation projects that
are desperately
necessary.”
The report which was launched on
Friday showed that of the US$29,2 billion
pledged since 2009, only between
US$2,8 billion and US$7 billion is “new”.
The report found there are
many lessons to be learnt from the current “fast
start finance” system,
which was supposed to deliver US$30 billion in “new
and additional” funding
to developing countries, and was agreed to at the
Copenhagen climate
conference in 2009.
“While 97% of the promised US$30 billion has been
pledged, only 45% has been
committed, 33% has been allocated and only about
seven percent has been
“disbursed”, the report said.
“The current
finance available for Africa and other developing countries
under the
fast-start finance is not commensurate with the scale required to
implement
the activities agreed to in the UN climate convention. There are
few agreed
benchmarks for climate finance so there is limited transparency
and
accountability as to how the money is provided,” said the
report.
ACPC is the technical arm of the Climate for Development in
Africa
programme, based at the UN Economic Commission for Africa, while the
African
Group includes the 54 African countries represented in the UN
climate change
negotiations.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 04 December 2011
11:45
Eleven years ago, the then Zanu PF-led government instigated
chaotic
seizures of white commercial farms, an idea that the party allegedly
stole
from MDC’s election manifesto, which the latter could have smoothly
implemented without causing any harm to the country’s agro-based
economy.
The intention was to give land to majority blacks and the
excuse was that
Britain, the country’s colonial master had reportedly
refused to compensate
the Zimbabwean government for huge tracts of land lost
to minority whites
during the colonial era.
All hell broke lose
when the so-called war veterans seized the productive
farms, stalling
production. There is really no problem when our fellow black
brothers get
land, but the problems come when farms are not utilised to
benefit the
nation.
Right now, it is no secret that the land reform programme is
a flop, with
millions of hectares of seized land lying idle throughout the
country. It
boggles the mind that Zanu PF still insists on displacing more
white
commercial farmers when failure is evident in its disorganised policy
of
farm seizures.
Since the takeover of commercial farms the
country has been relegated to
perpetual begging, yet the country used to be
the bread basket of southern
Africa.
Then came the partisan
manner in which Zanu PF is implementing the
indigenisation policy, which is
politicised in favour of its supporters;
one needs to belong to the party in
order to benefit from the indigenisation
policy.
But there are
also shocking levels of looting in the name of black economic
empowerment.
Some party stooges are out in full force using the black
economic
empowerment policy to plunder the national economy.
They do not care
what will happen tomorrow as long as they can fatten their
pockets and
through their militant siege of firms and farms, they are
leaving trails of
economic destruction in the country.
What Zanu PF is doing through
the black economic empowerment policy has got
nothing to do with benefitting
the country, but it may be the party’s
desperate attempt to prepare its own
retirement packages as it faces a
certain demise the moment free and fair
elections are held.
After all, what evidence is there to suggest that
Zanu PF has been
successful in its so-called black economic empowerment
manouvres? Truly,
everything upon which Zanu PF has laid its demonic touch
is collapsing,
fainting or yelling for resuscitation. Where is the gigantic
Jaggers
Wholesale today — gone because of the Zanu PF regime?
Of
course, the former ruling party would always hide behind sanctions; they
will tell you it was due to sanctions that Jaggers shut down.
And again
where is the Cold Storage Commission? Sanctions, isn’t it?
What is
happening at the Grain Marketing Board, all because of Zanu PF.
Some party
loyalists have been planted in all government sectors, former
army generals,
lieutenants and brigadiers are all over the show, from the
National Railways
of Zimbabwe to government clinics and hospitals, and have
caused untold
destruction of state parastatals, with no productive activity
to talk
of.
And now the hand of destruction is about to be stretched upon
foreign-owned
banks and mines, all in the name of black economic
empowerment.
To me, continued calls to implement the black economic
empowerment policy is
hogwash, emanating from the wicked lips of desperate
and greed political
goons in Zanu PF, bent at unleashing some kind of a
scotched-earth policy as
they behold their final departure
approaching.
Indigenisation is only helping to scare away much needed foreign
investors
and it is a flop.
BY JEFFREY MOYO CHARI
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 04 December 2011
11:43
Zimbabwe has a leadership crisis; a real big leadership crisis.
When history
is written and people really look back at Robert Mugabe’s
reign, are they
going to dismiss him simplistically as a power-hungry
dictator who wished to
die in office? Is it possible that there really was
no one in his party,
Zanu PF, whom to pass the baton
to?
There seems to be a consensus in Zanu PF that the
party would crumble like a
cookie after Mugabe. The people surrounding him
are so corrupt that they
cannot be national leaders. Those who aspire to the
highest office have very
ugly histories trailing them.
They were
involved at various stages of our short history in all dark acts
that have
divided the country. These include Gukurahundi, Murumbatsvina and
the
looting of War Victims Compensation Fund and the country’s natural
resources such as minerals and wildlife.
Some have allegedly been
openly criminal in their behaviour involving
themselves in poaching and
smuggling of diamonds. This can be seen by the
amount of wealth they have
inexplicably accumulated in the past few years.
Many of them are
multiple farm owners when government policy should be
one-man-one-farm. This
has shown that their involvement in the land reform
programme was not for
the national good but for self-aggrandisement. They
have all the land while
the common people for whom the land reform programme
was ostensibly
instituted, have nothing. They are simply not acceptable as
national
leaders.
Most of these leaders are avowed tribalists who instead of
uniting people
would tear the country apart. Indeed the factionalism in Zanu
PF is based on
tribalism.
Former Media, Information and Publicity
minister Jonathan Moyo recently
dismissed Mugabe’s potential successors in
in the party, saying they had not
shown vision or policy to take the country
forward.
“We know who they are, but we do not know what they stand
for, their policy
or ideology,” he told a meeting. Moyo was right but for
the wrong reasons.
He was right because indeed no one knows what
the faction leaders stand for.
His reason for stating this is he wants to
repair his relationship with
Mugabe after the WikiLeaks fall-out which
happened too soon after he had
been re-admitted into the party and into its
highest decision-making body
outside congress, the politburo.
His
other reason for stating this is pure bootlicking: “Mugabe remains the
only
person who talks to the people and who talks the indigenous talk, we
are
better off with him than the others.”
Mugabe doesn’t talk to the
people any more hence they rejected him in March
2008. His talk of
indigenisation though high-sounding, is populist
politicking. There is an
election coming and the only straw that his party
can hold on to is
indigenisation.
But like the land reform programme launched in
2000, the reasons are based
on self-preservation rather a genuine will to
empower the people. We are all
aware of the negative impact of the
indigenisation policy so far; the
country has lost billions of dollars in
new investment as a result.
Mugabe has remained in power for so long
by default; there is a leadership
deficit in the party and that is unlikely
to be filled any time soon hence
there is real fear that his demise will
also be Zanu PF’s demise.
But Zanu PF is hardly the only party in
Zimbabwe facing a leadership crisis.
The MDC-T and its fragments the MDC-N
and MDC-M are in equally debilitating
crises of
leadership.
When the nation pinned its hopes of change in
Zimbabwe on Morgan Tsvangirai,
they thought they had found a leader to match
Mugabe. Tsvangirai had gone
through a crucible in the past decade and his
supporters had heaved a sigh
of relief that they had finally got a tried and
tested leader.
Many people died fighting his cause but events of
the past few weaks show
that their faith may have been misplaced. Many
watchers say Tsvangirai will
definitely survive the current
crisis.
They say so because the majority of his supporters
wouldn’t care less what
he does in his private life. They argue that those
repulsed by Tsvangirai’s
behavior are the few people in the middle class and
their vote is miniscule.
This may well be so. Whatever the case might be his
reputation is mortally
injured.
But what is important to this
discourse is that no one in the MDC-T has the
guts to challenge him to step
down for the sake of the party. In mature
democracies the right thing for
Tsvangirai to do would be to step down but
his supporters point to the Bill
Clinton/Monica Lewinsky case where Clinton
bedded a white House intern and
escaped impeachment and went on to complete
his term of
office.
But at the heart of the matter for Tsvangirai is not one
woman; not two
women but several who have claimed he not only bedded them
but also left
them with child. This now becomes indefensible considering the
circumstances
we live in.
In his marriage debacle, he will
survive but there will be casualties,
weaker people who will be used as
scapegoats. Who are Tsvangirai’s possible
successors and what do they stand
for? We don’t know them because the party
has become a one-man show
surviving probably solely on Tsvangirai’s charisma
and the stature — now
under threat — he has built for himself in the past 20
years.
When one looks at the fragment of the MDC headed by
Professor Welshman
Ncube, one does not know whether to laugh or cry. This
year he has gone on a
spirited campaign to denounce Tsvangirai; once sinking
to an-all-time low of
describing his former leader as uneducated. But what
is unfolding in his own
formation must surely show him that education
without common sense counts
for nothing.
He has been deserted by
the core of his party, the few individuals who were
where they were because
people voted for them. All his aspirations to build
his fragment into a
party with a true national outlook has come to naught
simply because, when
we come to think of it, Ncube is not a politician; he
should go back to Law
School and contribute better to national building by
teaching.
But why is
Zimbabwe so cursed? Where are Zimbabwe’s leaders?
BY NEVANJI
MADANHIRE
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 04 December 2011 11:41
Education
has been at the core of national discourse since colonial days.
Seen as the
only way of getting out grinding poverty and joining the
national economy
black Zimbabweans craved it.
During colonial days missionaries came
and built mission schools all over
the country to accommodate boys and girls
who would otherwise have been
excluded from the education system by the
racially-segregative colonial
education system. As the saying goes, everyone
who is anybody in Zimbabwe
was educated by missionaries.
But even
missionary education did not come entirely free; though heavily
subsidised
by donations from parent churches in Europe and America, parents
still had
to chip in with something. At Independence in 1980 the new black
government,
driven by its revolutionary zeal, introduced free primary
education.
Lauded for this the world-over — Zimbabwe at one
stage achieved 98%
literacy — no one ever raised the question of
sustainability.
The country has now reached a stage where it is now
patently clear that free
education cannot be sustained. After decades of bad
governance and skewed
policies driven by populism the country’s coffers are
empty. In the past
decade less and less money has been channelled towards
the social services
sector particularly education and health.
The
Minister of Education, David Coltart, was last week quoted saying a
school-fees hike next year was inevitable; this has sent thousands of
parents panicking.
There is every reason to panic; most of
these parents are already struggling
to keep their children in school. Most
affected would naturally be children
living in marginalised areas such as
farms and communal areas where people
depend only on subsistence
agriculture.
The urban poor will also be affected. Thousands of
children will drop out of
school to join the vicious cycle of unemployment,
prostitution and forced
migration.
It is now time to look
holistically at the education sector and come up with
interventions that
will stop its regression back to the colonial days.
Underlining this process
should be the clear message that parents will be
called upon to play a more
and more critical role in the education of their
children.
Quote of the week
"We have been tagged
partisan, yet far from it, we are a people’s police
force,” Police
Commissioner-general Augustine Chihuri said last week, while
addressing a
conference of senior officers at Darwendale.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 04 December 2011 11:34
The
prevailing political environment in Zimbabwe is not conducive for the
holding of free and fair elections, and the institution in charge of
administering elections is discredited and lacks the institutional capacity
and financial resources to conduct elections. 2012 cannot be a year for
elections but a year for hard work on democratic electoral
reforms.
Holding elections in 2012 before electoral
reforms and a change in our
political culture will be a mere political
ritual and facade to mask an
unpopular dictatorial and authoritarian
regime.
The signing of the Global Political Agreement and the
consummation of the
unity government was a transitional mechanism to put an
end to political
violence, work towards peace, restore economic stability,
author a new
constitution and prepare for the holding of free and fair
elections under a
level playing field.
The continued
squabbling and utter disregard by Zanu PF of this arrangement
show that the
unity government has outlived its usefulness and is now
teetering on the
verge of collapse hence the need for an election that will
usher a new
political dispensation.
The eminent need for an election has broad
consensus, the great question of
the day remains when and what sort the
environment the next election will
be conducted. An election for the sake of
holding an election will neither
improve the quality of life for ordinary
citizens nor help Zimbabwe rejoin
the family of nations from which it has
been booted out because its
democracy and governance
deficits.
Globally, because of its universality, democracy is now a
subject of broad
consensus, high on the priority list of the international
community. The
following are the major issues concerning the environment and
the
administration of elections which if unresolved, Zanu PF is guaranteed
of
another disputed “victory” and the region should either prepare for the
facilitation of yet another unity government or prepare to protect their
citizens from a war spill-over into their countries when Zimbabweans get fed
up and confront the regime head on.
The major stumbling block to
the people’s free expression of who they want
to represent them in Zimbabwe
at the moment is violence, intimidation and
general closure of democratic
space.
The bloody clashes witnessed in Chitungwiza recently are
reminiscent of the
2008 sham elections and cause physical and psychological
torment to the
victims and witnesses of such inhuman acts of political
terrorism. Equally
some perpetrators of such callous acts are not spared
from trauma since most
of them are doing it either for money or to please
the Godfathers of
violence.
Violent tendencies by a political
party are worrying, but the possession of
a well-oiled infrastructure and
associated paraphernalia for violence by a
political party which purports to
represent people’s interests is
disgusting.
In one of Zanu PF’s
post 2008 songs, the kongonya dancing women loudly and
unashamedly sing:
“zvikaramba toita zva June”— (If we fail we will resort to
the June (2008)
strategy).
If the levels of unrepentence and celebration of
impunity in Zanu PF are not
curbed, violence will become a fast spreading
political tumour impeding
national healing with the possibility of the
country sliding back into a
violent epoch characterised by loss of limb and
life.
It is now time that the people of Zimbabwe come together
within their
communities and device non-violent strategies of ensuring that
“zvaJune”
will never be repeated again.
Until and unless the
people of Zimbabwe are guaranteed that “zvaJune” will
not happen again, the
holding of an election will just serve the purpose of
legitimising a
discredited regime which is now surviving on violence and
thuggery to usurp
state power from the leaders Zimbabweans will have chosen
to represent them
through the ballot.
The use of the state security apparatus as a
military junta either
perpetrating violence directly or commanding the
violent lumben elements in
Zanu PF is well documented in a report by the
Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition
entitled: The military factor in Zimbabwe’s
political and electoral affairs.
It is an undeniable fact that Zanu
PF has over the years relied on
militarising socio-economic and
politico-electoral affairs of the state to
block civilian participation in
key national processes. If the involvement
of the military in swaying the
vote is not addressed, there is no point of
going into an election whose
outcome is predictable.
The police have played a midfielder role for
Zanu PF through deliberate
misinterpretation of POSA to ban meetings of the
opposition and, through
selective application of the law, penalise
opposition supporters and allow
perpetrators of violence from Zanu PF to
commit crimes with impunity.
The police need to be non-partisan and
be at the centre of ensuring that
campaigning is conducted in a free and
fair manner in the next election.
BY BELOVED CHIWESHE
