http://www.newzimbabwe.com/pages/minister19.19385.html
Posted to the web
12/02/2009 21:40:28
THE formation of a Cabinet for Zimbabwe's power sharing
government verged on
the farcical on Thursday night when new Prime Minister
Morgan Tsvangirai was
forced to drop an MP from a rival party from his list
of nominees, and
President Robert Mugabe named 22 ministers - six more than
his party is
allocated.
On Tuesday, Tsvangirai had named Nkayi North
MP Abednico Bhebhe in his list
of 14 nominees for Cabinet posts,
provisionally assigning him to take charge
of the Water Resources
Ministry.
The move drew fire from the Arthur Mutambara, who leads a rival
faction to
Tsvangirai's MDC. Tsvangirai also faced pressure from his party
in
Matabeleland after a stunning snub of his loyal supporters in the region
with only Samuel Sipepa Nkomo making it as Deputy Minister.
A final
list of ministers released by the President's Office and read out on
state
television on Thursday night saw Tsvangirai drop Bhebhe and replace
him with
Binga MP Joel Gabbuza. Also out is Eddie Cross, while Gorden Moyo
of the
pressure group Bulawayo Agenda was appointed Minister of State in the
Prime
Minister's Office. Nkomo becomes a full minister.
But in a dramatic
development, Mugabe nominated 22 ministers. The powwer
sharing agreement
signed with Mutambara and Tsvangirai restricts his party
to 15 ministers,
plus one Minister of State who does not sit in Cabinet but
is available for
special assignments.
There was no explanation from Zanu PF officials for
Mugabe's shock move last
night, but one senior official in Mutambara's MDC
described it as a
"crisis".
"Deputy ministers are not sworn in until
next week, so this clearly suggests
Mugabe's list is of ministers. What his
plan is, no-one is clear at this
stage but it does look like a crisis," said
the official.
One indication of indecision was perhaps the move to leave
out the
portfolios of the ministers from the state television
announcement.
Mutambara's MDC named it's vice president Gibson Sibanda,
secretary general
Welshman Ncube, Priscilla Misihairabwi and David Coltart
as ministerial
nominees. One of the four will be a Minister of State in the
Deputy Prime
Minister's Office. The party will also pick one deputy
minister, expected to
be Moses Mzila Ndlovu, the MP for Bulilima
West.
Regional leaders will attend a ceremony to swear in the Cabinet on
Friday,
the last act in a series of synchronised events towards the
formation of an
inclusive government.
THE FULL LIST OF MINISTERS BY
PARTY:
ZANU PF (22)
John Nkomo, Emmerson Mnangagwa, Obert Mpofu,
Sithembiso Nyoni, Patrick
Chinamasa, Simbarashe Mumbengegwi, Walter Mzembi,
David Parirenyatwa, Kembo
Mohadi, Sydney Sekeramayi, Flora Buka, Didymus
Mutasa, Sylvester Nguni,
Joseph Made, Nicholas Goche, Savior
Kasukuwere
(Zanu PF can name up to 8 deputy
ministers)
MDC-TSVANGIRAI (15)
Tendai Biti, Giles Mutsekwa, Nelson
Chamisa, Professor Henry Dzinotyiwei,
Professor Eliphas Mukonoweshuro, Elias
Mudzuri, Advocate Eric Matinenga,
Paurina Mpariwa, Joel Gabbuza, Dr. Henry
Madzorera, Samuel Sipepa Nkomo,
Elton Mangoma, Theresa Makone, Fidelis
Mhashu, Gorden Moyo
(MDC-T can name up to 6 deputy
ministers)
MDC-MUTAMBARA (4)
Welshman Ncube, Priscilla
Misihairabwi, David Coltart, Gibson Sibanda
(MDC-M can name one deputy
minister)
http://www.zimonline.co.za
by Nokuthula
Sibanda Friday 13 February 2009
HARARE - A group of people
led by uniformed Zimbabwe army soldiers and
police have invaded one of the
country's biggest commercial farms outside
Harare, highlighting the many
difficulties in the way of the country's unity
government.
Zimbabwe
Stock Exchange-listed Interfresh, who own Mazoe Estates, said the
group of
invaders moved on to the farm last week and declared themselves
owners of
various plots on the estate.
"Shareholders are advised that on February 7
2009, a group of individuals
accompanied by ZRP policeman and a uniformed
ZNA military policeman claimed
ownership of plots comprising Yarrowdale
Farm, the crops section of Mazoe
Citrus Estates," Interfresh said in a
circular to shareholders Thursday.
According to the agro-company, the
farm invaders ordered its employees to
vacate the estate by today;
ironically the day the process to form the unity
government will be
completed.
The latest series of invasions comes in the wake of a spate of
occupations
which last week saw a number of white farmers being targeted and
attacked by
a number invaders calling themselves war veterans.
There
was no immediate comment by both police and army spokesmen.
Analysts say
the unity government headed by President Robert Mugabe with MDC
party leader
Morgan Tsvangirai serving as Prime Minister offers Zimbabwe its
best chance
in a decade to end its crisis and begin afresh on the road to
sustainable
economic and social recovery.
But many say major differences between
Mugabe and Tsvangirai over
fundamental issues such as the highly contentious
issue of land reform could
yet derail the unity government.
Both men
agree on the need for land reform but differ on the way this should
be
carried out.
Mugabe's chaotic land reforms that he says were necessary to
correct a
colonial land ownership system that reserved the best land for
whites and
banished blacks to poor soils, are blamed for plunging Zimbabwe
into food
shortages after Harare failed to support black villagers resettled
on former
white farms with inputs to maintain production.
Tsvangirai
has called for an audit to establish who owns which land in
Zimbabwe before
an orderly land reform programme can be implemented but
Mugabe has in the
past accused the MDC leader of wishing to return land to
former white
owners.
Critics say Mugabe's cronies - and not ordinary peasants -
benefited the
most from farm seizures with some of them ending up with as
many as six
farms each against the government's stated one-man-one-farm
policy.
Poor performance in the mainstay agricultural sector has also had
far
reaching consequences as hundreds of thousands of workers have lost jobs
while the manufacturing sector, starved of inputs from the sector, is
operating below 20 percent of capacity.
Interfresh said in its
statement to shareholders: "The financial impact on
the company, loss of
employment and loss of food production in the event of
total loss of this
farm would be very significant." - ZimOnline
http://www.voanews.com
By
Marvellous Mhlanga-Nyahuye
Washington
12 February
2009
Interview With Henry Madzorera - Download (MP3)
Interview
With Henry Madzorera - Listen (MP3)
Zimbabwe's incoming minister of
health, Dr. Henry Madzorera, said Thursday
that his top priority in office
will be to get state health care workers
back into hospitals and clinics to
get a grip on the persistent cholera
epidemic.
Dr. Madzorera was named to
head the ministry this week by Prime Minister
Morgan Tsvangirai, head of the
Movement for Democratic Formation for which
the physician was shadow health
minister. He will take over from Dr. David
Parirenyatwa of the long-ruling
ZANU-PF party headed by President Robert
Mugabe.
Zimbabwe's national
health system essentially collapsed late last year as
doctors, nurses and
hospital support staff walked off the job over pay and
dismal working
conditions. Some are returning to work under programs
sponsored by
international donors allowing them to be at least partially
compensated in
hard currency, but the system remains crippled.
Mr. Tsvangirai promised
in his inaugural address on Wednesday that all state
workers would be paid
in hard currency beginning next month - but he
disclosed on Thursday that he
had not lined up funding to cover that cost,
saying this would be his
government's task.
Meanwhile, the World Health Organization said deaths
from cholera totaled
3,513 through Wednesday from more than 73,000 cases
over the past seven
months. International health experts have said that the
stubborn epidemic
could continue for months, and the International Red Cross
said its funding
could run out in four weeks.
Dr. Madzorera told
reporter Marvellous Mhlanga-Nyahuye of VOA's Studio 7 for
Zimbabwe that his
ministry will concentrate on the eradication of cholera as
soon as he takes
office - but he needs qualified health personnel back in
hospitals and
clinics to do so.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk
February
13, 2009
Jan
Raath and Martin Fletcher in Harare
Morgan Tsvangirai and Robert Mugabe were
locked in the first big power
struggle of their unlikely one-day-old
cohabitation last night over the fate
of 16 political activists abducted,
tortured and detained without charge for
the past few months.
On his
first day in office the Prime Minister used his new powers to enter
the
Chikurubi maximum security prison in Harare to see the detainees, and
will
report their "appalling" conditions to southern African leaders at
today's
swearing-in ceremony for the unity government's cabinet.
It was a highly
symbolic and provocative move meant to assert his authority
and rebut the
perception that he is subordinate to President Mugabe. Mr
Tsvangirai has
faced criticism for backing down on his demand that the
detainees be
released before his inauguration.
Western governments are watching the
outcome of this showdown intently to
determine whether there has been a real
shift in power in Zimbabwe, or
whether Mr Mugabe still holds the reins.
"Tsvangirai knows he's going to be
judged on this one," one western diplomat
said yesterday. "It's very much
the ugly party showing who's boss," another
said of Mugabe camp's refusal to
free the detainees. "The whole condominium
is in jeopardy." The stakes are
great. Mr Tsvangirai told western envoys
yesterday that the new unity
government needed $100 million a month to
stabilise the country and fulfill
his promise to reopen schools, hospital
and government offices. But Gordon
Brown, Britain's Prime Minister, told MPs
that the detainees' release was
one of several conditions that Zimbabwe must
meet before it can receive
international reconstruction finance.
The
16 detainees, including Jestina Mukoko , a leading human rights
activist,
were abducted in a series of raids beginning last October and held
incommunicado in secret locations for weeks. They were not charged, but they
were beaten on the feet, subjected to simulated drownings, locked in
freezers and hung by their wrists to extract false confessions that they had
trained as terrorists to overthrow Mr Mugabe.
On December 31 they were
finally brought to court. Since then they have been
held in solitary
confinement and denied medical treatment while the
authorities ignored
repeated court orders that they be released immediately.
At least three -
including 72-year-old Fidelis Chiramba - are dangerously
ill, and were
finally taken to a Harare prviate hospital yesterday shackled
around the
ankles and guarded by ten men armed with automatic rifles. Hours
later they
were back in prison, their treatment curtailed.
After meeting the 16
yesterday Mr Tsvangirai said they were being held in
appalling conditions,
and will raise their plight today with South Africa's
President Kgalema
Motlanthe, chairman of the 15-nation Southern African
Development Community
which brokered the power-sharing deal.
MDC officials had expected the 16
to be released earlier this week,
especially after the all-party committee
charged with enforcing the deal
agreed last Friday that they should be
released. Those officials are now
saying that Zanu-PF hardliners including
Paradzayi Zimondi, the head of
prisons, may be defying Mr Mugabe because
they refuse to share power with
the MDC.
One day after Mr
Tsvangirai's inauguration, observers were alert yesterday
to any sign of
shifting authority. When he arrived at Chikurubi, prison
officers -
delighted by his promise to pay them in foreign currency -
pointedly saluted
him and addressed him as Prime Minister. However nothing
changed at the
state-controlled Herald newspaper. It ignored Mr Tsvangirai's
promise to
public sector workers and devoted most of its front page to Mr
Mugabe's
speech at Thursday's inauguration ceremony.
http://www.zimonline.co.za
by Wayne
Mafaro Friday 13 February 2009
HARARE - Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai had a hectic first day at the
office ranging from visiting
political detainees in prison and vital
meetings with donor officials whose
help he needs to save more than half of
Zimbabwe's population from
starving.
"My diary today was quite wide ranging," Tsvangirai told
ZimOnline during a
brief visit to his office at Munhumutapa
building.
Tsvangirai, who was preparing to meet some officials from donor
groups later
in the day, said he would officially start work on Monday after
a Cabinet is
constituted today. He said he had spent most of the day on
Thursday
familiarising himself with his new office as well as holding series
of
consultative meetings.
He said: "I've been dealing with a number
of consultative meetings. I have
met the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions
(ZCTU), I went to see the
prisoners in Chikurubi and I went to see the
mother of our vice president
(Thokozani Khupe) who was involved in an
accident and is recovering.
"This afternoon I had a brief with the Chief
Secretary (to the President and
Cabinet Misheck Sibanda) on some of the work
with the public service and
security," said Tsvangirai.
He was due to
meet President Robert Mugabe later on in the day to finalise
on the
Cabinet.
"I'm going to hand over our list to the President, our list for
Cabinet for
tomorrow (Friday). So, it has been quite a hectic day," he
said.
Asked about fate human rights campaigner Jestina Mukoko and scores
of
activists from his MDC party detained at Chikurubi, Tsvangirai - who on
his
inauguration called for the activists' immediate release from prison -
said
they would be freed but the legal process had to take its
course.
"But those who are not in good health have been allowed to go to
Avenues
Clinic for medical attention. Others are in good shape but others
you know
what happens in confinement. But their spirits are very high and
I'm happy
that we managed to give them some morale support," he
said.
Tsvangirai said he was working hard to ensure civil servants are
paid in
hard cash by the end of this month as he promised on
Wednesday.
He said: "I can't certainly tell you where I'm going to get
the funds from
but I have made a commitment and we have to find the money to
pay them. But
how much, it still hasn't been decided.
"But we must
find something to alleviate the plight of our people who have
been receiving
worthless currency. They are being given worthless vouchers.
What we want is
that if you are going to have a productive workforce then
you must boost the
morale of the workers."
Zimbabweans hope the unity government will act
urgently to end an economic
and humanitarians crisis gripping the country
for the past decade and seen
in hyperinflation, record unemployment and
acute shortages of food and basic
commodities. - ZimOnline
http://www.voanews.com
By
Blessing Zulu
Washington
12 February
2009
Zimbabwean Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, in his second day
on the job
after a decade in opposition, told journalists that he has not
yet lined up
funding to back up his inaugural pledge to pay the country's
civil servants
in hard currency.
Tsvangirai spokesman Joseph Mungwari
told reporter Blessing Zulu of VOA's
Studio 7 for Zimbabwe that securing
that foreign exchange will be the task
of the unity government that is to be
formed on Friday when President Robert
Mugabe swears in the
cabinet.
Political sources said President Mugabe met Thursday with Mr.
Tsvangirai and
Arthur Mutambara, a deputy prime minister and head of a rival
formation of
the Movement for Democratic Change which Tsvangirai founded in
1999. All
three a signatories to the power-sharing agreement concluded on
Sept. 15,
2008.
President Mugabe's office later Thursday released a
statement giving the
names of ministers and deputy ministers of his ZANU-PF
party to be sworn in
on Friday, but without stating what portfolios they
would be assigned. The
list included a number of familiar names, including
Herbert Murerwa, who was
dropped as finance minister in 2007.
The
Finance Ministry has already been assigned to Tendai Biti, a member of
parliament and secretary general of Mr. Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic
Change formation.
Other names released included Patrick Chinamasa,
justice minister in the
outgoing caretaker government, Didymus Mutasa,
formerly security minister,
Nicholas Goche, outgoing labor minister, David
Parirenyatwa, formerly health
minister (to be supplanted by the MDC's Dr.
Henry Madzorera), and Emmerson
Mnangagwa, outgoing rural affairs
minister.
Mnangagwa is considered a potential successor to Mr. Mugabe at the
head of
ZANU-PF.
The week's cabinet appointments have not been
without controversy. Mr.
Tsvangirai's appointment of Abednico Bhebhe of the
MDC formation led by
Mutambara as the minister in charge of water, was
challenged by the
Mutambara formation. Tsvangirai was forced to drop Bhebhe
and replace him
with Samuel Sipepa Nkomo, more senior in the MDC
wing.
Mr. Tsvangirai also came under pressure to reverse his selection of
Eddie
Cross as minister of state enterprises and replace him with Joel
Gabuza
after complaints from representatives of the Matabeleland region that
it was
not sufficiently represented in the cabinet.
Mutambara MDC
formation sources said the party will name David Coltart as to
be education
minister, while its secretary general, Welshman Ncube will head
industry and
trade.
Elsewhere, Mr. Tsvangirai met with the leadership of the Zimbabwe
Congress
of Trade Unions which expressed support for his government and
called his
attention to the expectations of organized labor, as Harare
correspondent
Irwin Chifera reported.
The international community for the
most part welcomed the new political
order in Harare, but remained skeptical
of President Mugabe's willingness to
embrace reform.
British Prime
Minister Gordon Brown said London cannot treat Zimbabwe as an
ordinary
country until it undertakes serious reforms.
The U.S. government
congratulated Mr. Tsvangirai on his elevation to prime
minister on
Wednesday, but said it will keep sanctions in place until
President Mugabe
shows he is committed to sharing power.
United Nations Secretary General Ban
Ki-moon said the new government must
immediately address economic and
humanitarian issues including the
relentless cholera
epidemic.
Political analyst Glen Mpani told reporter Blessing Zulu of
VOA's Studio 7
for Zimbabwe that Mr. Tsvangirai's swearing-in opened an
important phase in
Zimbabwe's political life.
Amnesty International
urged the incoming government to put human rights at
the top of its agenda
and offered a five-point plan to this end, as the
organization's Zimbabwe
researcher, Simeon Mawanza, explained to Brenda
Moyo.
For a broader
perspective, reporter Patience Rusere turned to political
analyst and
University of Zimbabwe Professor John Makumbe, and independent
analyst
Rejoice Ngwenya.
http://www.zimonline.co.za
by Own
Correspondent Friday 13 February 2009
JOHANNESBURG - Britain
and the United States (US) on Thursday said Zimbabwe's
unity government must
free political prisoners and repeal repressive laws,
among tough benchmarks
it should meet before the Western powers can provide
vital
aid.
London - Zimbabwe's former colonial master - said the performance of
the
southern African country's new unity government needed to be appraised
against set targets before it can access international assistance to rebuild
its shattered economy or before sanctions against President Robert Mugabe
and his inner circle can be lifted.
Those benchmarks include "the
immediate release of political prisoners; an
end to political violence and
intimidation; the repeal of repressive
legislation; crucially, the
appointment of a credible financial team and the
production of a credible
economic plan; and a clear road map to the national
elections, with
guarantees that they will be conducted freely and fairly, in
full view of
the international community."
"Those are the tests that we will apply,
and urge others to apply, to the
new power-sharing arrangements," said Ivan
Lewis, Britain's parliamentary
under-secretary of state for international
development.
Mugabe, Tsvangirai and Arthur Mutambara, who leads a smaller
opposition
party agreed to form a unity government under a power sharing
deal brokered
last year by former South African President Thabo Mbeki on
behalf of the
regional Southern Africa Development Community
(SADC).
Tsvangirai was sworn in as prime minister on Wednesday and the
process to
form a new unity government will be completed with the swearing
in of
ministers today.
Answering questions from MPs in the House of
Commons on Wednesday, Lewis
said Britain "respected Morgan Tsvangirai's
decision to assume the position
of Prime Minister" in a government with
Mugabe, adding: "Equally, however,
we will judge that agreement and the
government on their behaviour and
conduct in the period ahead."
The
African Union and SADC have called on Western countries, to remove
sanctions
in recognition of Mugabe's decision to share power with his
opposition
rivals.
The US on Wednesday insisted that it will wait to see evidence of
true power
sharing before making any commitments.
"We need to see
evidence of good governance and particularly real, true
power sharing on the
part of Robert Mugabe before we are going to make any
kind of commitment,"
said acting state department spokesman Robert Wood.
"That's going to be
key," he said. "And then we'll see what . . . we can
do."
Zimbabwe is
in the grip of an unprecedented economic and humanitarian crisis
marked by
the world's highest inflation of 231 million percent as of last
July, acute
shortages of food and deepening poverty amid a cholera epidemic
that has
infected more than 69 000 people and killed more than 3 000 others.
But
the US, Britain and other Western countries - whose financial support is
vital to any programme to resuscitate Zimbabwe's collapsed economy - remain
unconvinced that a unity government led by Mugabe will implement wide
ranging economic and political reforms required to revive the southern
African country.
Wood said the US is reserving judgment on the new
government and "will not
consider providing additional development
assistance or even easing
sanctions until we see effective governance in the
country".
Without substantial international support, there are only slim
changes
Zimbabwe's unity government could be able to turn around the
fortunes of the
country. - ZimOnline
http://www.catholicnews.com
By Bronwen
Dachs
Catholic News Service
CAPE TOWN, South Africa (CNS) --The
Catholic Commission for Justice and
Peace in Zimbabwe will use its
nationwide network to rally support for
rebuilding Zimbabwe after the
formation of a unity government.
"The new administration will need to
work hard to end the human suffering"
in Zimbabwe, which faces rampant
inflation, a cholera epidemic and 90
percent unemployment, Alouis Chaumba,
head of the commission, told Catholic
News Service.
Morgan
Tsvangirai, 56, leader of the opposition Movement for Democratic
Change, was
sworn in as prime minister by Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe
Feb.
11.
Mugabe, 84, who has ruled since independence from Britain in 1980,
has said
he will cooperate in the unity government. Other ministers were to
be sworn
in Feb. 13.
"We are very hopeful," Chaumba said in a Feb. 12
telephone interview from
Zimbabwe's capital, Harare. He said Zimbabweans
"have been isolated from the
international community for many years, and now
we have the chance to hold
our heads high."
Justice and peace groups
in Zimbabwe's parishes and small Christian
communities will get their
members "to give whatever support they can to
rebuild the country,"
including "technical expertise, moral support and
prayers," he
said.
"Zimbabweans need to be united for this common cause," Chaumba
said.
Public-sector workers, especially teachers, doctors and nurses,
"need a
cushion of support to enable them to go back to work," Chaumba said,
noting
that their salaries do not even cover the cost of their
transportation to
work.
Zimbabwean schools have not opened for the
2009 school year and a
mid-January report from Physicians for Human Rights
said the country's
health care system, once a model for southern Africa, has
collapsed because
of Mugabe's egregious, systematic human rights
violations.
After a meeting with bishops from neighboring Zimbabwe, South
Africa's
Catholic bishops said in a January statement that "Zimbabwe has
moved from a
crisis to a disaster to passive genocide."
http://www.zimonline.co.za/
by Nokuthula Sibanda Friday 13 February
2009
HARARE - Businesswoman Judith Maingire gasps in shock as
she stares at her
phone bill - a whopping US$587 she incurred in just over
two weeks.
"This is outrageous," she says. "Last month I paid a bill just
over
one-billion Zimdollars and now I am being asked to part with nearly
US$600,
this is just too much."
"With this bill I could have bought
two return tickets to South Africa."
A frequent traveller to neighbouring
countries who makes regular calls to
clients dotted across the region, the
woman says the huge phone bills could
just put her out of
business.
"Who can survive paying this kind of money for simple phone
calls," she
said, in her surprised anger, speaking to no one in particular.
"I mean,
with US$600 I can easily pay for two return tickets to South
Africa."
Such exorbitant phone bills as Maingire's are what most
Zimbabweans have to
face each month end.
But others who are quick
thinking like Timothy Mhere, a senior manager at a
Harare hotel, have found
a smarter way to avoid paying the huge phone bills
while at the same time
enjoying all the benefits that come with subscribing
to a bigger foreign
mobile phone network.
"The last time I received a cellphone bill for
US$80 over a 10-day period I
knew that I had to end the nonsense before the
local phone networks drove me
into debt. I am now roaming on a South African
Vodacom line," Mhere said, a
note of contentment unmistakable in his
voice.
Mhere said on top of the tariffs charged by Vodacom being cheaper
than those
levied by Zimbabwean networks, the giant South African network is
hardly
ever congested.
"It is good value for money," he said. As if
to prove his point he added:
"many of my friends have since abandoned local
networks and are roaming on
South Africa's Vodacom and MTN or on Botswana's
Mascom network."
Frustrated by local networks whose tariffs are heavy
while service is shoddy
because they are unable to increase capacity due to
an acute shortage of
foreign currency to import spares and equipment, an
increasing number of
Zimbabweans are opting to subscribe to networks in
Botswana or South Africa.
"Locals who subscribe to foreign networks pay
much lower bills than those
using our own networks," said a marketing
executive with one of the private
local networks.
"This is clearly
because of the distorted market environment in Zimbabwe,
where for example
the US dollar buys about 30 percent less than it does
everywhere else in the
world," added the executive, who said he uses Vodacom
to make most of his
calls.
Local mobile phone networks are charging an average of US$0.29
cents a
minute, which they admit may be higher when compared to most
countries in
the region.
But the operators argue that their charges
are justified if one factors in
the huge taxes they pay to the government
and they also say they have to
charge higher tariffs to cushion themselves
against losses they are forced
to incur during the long hours networks are
down due to frequent power
outages that affect the country.
As mobile
phone operators insist on maintaining high tariffs, consumers also
have to
worry about moves by the country's sole fixed network operator,
TelOne, to
peg bills in foreign currency.
"You are hereby formally notified that
with effect from February 1, 2009,
all services offered by TelOne will be
billed in foreign currency," TelOne
said in a recent statement to
clients.
"Customers are therefore advised to carefully monitor usage of
their lines
in order to avoid telephone abuse which can prove to be very
costly," it
added.
A senior banker who refused to be named also said
he would be resorting to
roaming. "I am Zellco client, but with effect from
February I am making
arrangements that I would be roaming either on a South
African or Botswana
line," he said.
"My child is in Australia for his
studies and I have to talk to him
regularly by email, but I also need to
hear his voice from time to time. So,
I have to move from these Zimbabwean
networks," he added.
Maingire said she would first clear her bills with
her local network before
switching over to possibly Vodacom since most of
her visits outside the
country are to South Africa.
But the
businesswoman was quick to point out that in the long run it was
neither
sustainable nor desirable for Zimbabweans in general to transfer to
mobile
networks in neighbouring countries.
Echoing the hopes of many
Zimbabweans, she said: "The way to go is for this
unity government to get to
work immediately to revamp national
infrastructure such as the national
telecoms network and roads because these
are vital if we are to rebuild the
country."
The jury is still out on whether a unity government between
President Robert
Mugabe and opposition leaders Morgan Tsavangirai and Arthur
Mutambara will
be able to live up to the expectations of Maingire and her
fellow
Zimbabweans. - ZimOnline
http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com
Thursday, 12 February 2009 22:54
PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe last night prepared to re-appoint the same
cabinet
he recently described as the worst he has ever had. The line-up
includes
ministers who have proved manifest failures in office but who
demonstrate a
close attachment to the president - some over a 30-year
period.
Mugabe is preparing to
swear-in today Emmerson Mnangagwa, Didymus
Mutasa, Sydney Sekeramayi, John
Nkomo, Stan Mudenge, Ignatius Chombo, Kembo
Mohadi, Nicholas Goche,
Sithembiso Nyoni, Joseph Made, Simbarashe
Mumbengegwi, Paul Mangwana, David
Parirenyatwa, Francis Nhema and Patrick
Chinamasa
Others
are Herbert Murerwa, Obert Mpofu, Webster Shamu, Flora Buka,
Sylvester Nguni
and Walter Mzembi.
The list of incoming ministers was announced
last night by Chief
Secretary to the President and Cabinet Misheck
Sibanda.
Also to be sworn-in today at State House in the
presence of South
African President and Sadc chair Kgalema Motlanthe are
nominees from the MDC
factions.
Main MDC leader Morgan
Tsvangirai announced his list on Tuesday which
was confirmed with only one
change. Eddie Cross who was allocated the
Ministry of State Enterprises and
Parastatals appears to have been removed.
Joel Gabuzza has replaced him
following internal MDC wrangles.
Tsvangirai was forced to
revise his list after complaints that he had
excluded MPs from Matabeleland
where his party won a quarter of its seats.
Tsvangirai was also
compelled to remove from his list Abednico Bhebhe
whom he had appointed as
Water Resources minister from the rival MDC faction
led by Arthur Mutambara.
Bhebhe's nomination was seen as a reward for
swaying the post of Speaker of
parliament to Tsvangirai's faction after he
mobilised Mutambara's MPs to
vote against their own candidate, Paul Themba
Nyathi, who was supported by
Zanu PF.
Mutambara formation secretary-general Welshman Ncube
last night
confirmed that his party had written to Zanu PF and MDC-T on the
Bhebhe
saga.
"In terms of the agreement you cannot nominate
a minister from another
party. The nomination of our MP by MDC-T is
therefore invalid," Ncube said.
"If they want to appoint him minister, he
will have to first resign from our
party and vacate the seat, otherwise it
is not possible to appoint him."
The formation of the unity
government should be finalised today with
the swearing- in of the cabinet by
Mugabe at State House.
Mugabe's list of 15 cabinet ministers
will contain a small forest of
deadwood. The only youthful faces are those
of Nguni, Mzembi and Buka.
Buka presided over the first land
audit which predictably glossed over
multiple farm ownership while Mzembi is
responsible for the Zinwa fiasco
which has seen an incompetent parastatal
transform vast swathes of the
country into a waterless
desert.
The appointment of ministers who were in the last
cabinet dissolved
last February would be a serious indictment of Mugabe who
described the same
team as the worst he has ever had.
"This
cabinet that I had was the worst in history," he said in August
last year.
"They look at themselves. They are unreliable."
Mugabe shuttled
ministers like Mnangagwa, Mutasa, Sekeramayi, Mudenge,
Nkomo, Murerwa and
Chombo from one ministry to another and also into
positions as governors and
Speaker of parliament.
Mnangagwa and Sekeramayi have been
closely associated with the country's
sinister state security network while
Nkomo has been Mugabe's pointman in
holding the 1987 Unity Accord
together.
Mnangagwa has the distinction of losing a series of
elections, both
party and national, including one to a candidate in hiding.
Chombo will see
his reappointment as a reward for crushing democratic
outcomes in the nation's
cities. Slavishly loyal, Mutasa once described
Mugabe as Zimbabwe's king.
Mugabe, Tsvangirai and Mutambara met
yesterday to finalise the list of
cabinet ministers. Sources said Mugabe
complained that Tsvangirai breached
protocol by making public his choice of
ministers before consulting his
coalition partners.
Mutambara also raised the issue of Bhebhe, eventually forcing
Tsvangirai to
retreat.
Sibanda did not say which portfolios Zanu PF ministers
will take. The
allocation of ministries to specific Zanu PF ministers is
expected to be
announced at the swearing-in ceremony.
Sibanda also announced Mutambara's team which includes Gibson Sibanda,
Welshman Ncube, Priscillah Misihairabwi-Mushonga and David Coltart.
Mutambara will appoint one deputy minister. Mugabe has appointed six deputy
ministers and remains with two vacant slots. Tsvangirai appointed four and
remains with two empty positions of deputy ministers.
By
dropping Cross from his list of 13 full cabinet ministers in a
desperate bid
to address complaints of exclusion and marginalisation from
Matabeleland
Tsvangirai has created another problem by removing the only
white
representative in his cabinet. The move also left Bulawayo, where
Tsvangirai's party swept all parliamentary seats, without any
minister.
Apart from dropping Cross for Gabuzza, Tsvangirai has
also nominated
Gorden Moyo as minister of state, although he would not sit
in cabinet. It
is understood that he would also appoint two deputy ministers
from
Matabeleland.
Mugabe could still appoint two deputy
ministers and two ministers of
state. However, there was still a long list
of those expecting to be
accommodated.
Among them are Olivia
Muchena, Ambrose Mutunhiri, Saviour Kasukuwere,
Patrick Zhuwawo, Bright
Matonga, Joel Matiza, Andrew Langa, Tracy Mutinhiri
and Hubert Nyanhongo,
Zanu PF's only MP in Harare.
Mugabe also still has a senate
position which is vacant which was
linked to Oppah Muchinguri. Mugabe had
already dropped 12 ministers who lost
their seats.
Contrary
to popular speculation, Mugabe did not appoint Jonathan Moyo
into his team
despite his last-minute campaign to defend Zanu PF and its
failed policies
in public remarks in the state media and online
publications.
Moyo made a dramatic volte-face after March elections last year by
dumping
the MDC which he supported publicly to back Zanu PF where he had
exited
unceremoniously after the Tsholotsho saga in 2004.
BY STAFF
REPORTERS
http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com
Thursday, 12 February 2009 22:32
TENDAI Biti, MDC-T secretary-general, is suing President Robert Mugabe's
spokesman George Charamba, Zimpapers, and two journalists working for the
Herald for defamation after they allegedly published false and defamatory
articles intended to characterise him as "a power-hungry
politician".
Biti is demanding
US$500 000 in damages.
In his High Court lawsuit, Biti cited
Zimpapers, Charamba, whom he
also referred to as Nathaniel Manheru, Herald
political editor Mabasa Sasa,
and senior political reporter Sydney Kuwaza as
defendants in the case.
Biti claimed in court papers that on
different occasions, the Herald
published articles that were "intended and
were understood by readers of the
newspaper to mean that he was "a
power-hungry politician" and "is plotting
to oust the president of his party
Morgan Tsvangirai".
He said the articles implied that he was
placing "self-interest above
those of the Zimbabwean
nation".
The Herald was also accused of publishing articles
that readers
understood to mean that Biti scuttled the formation of the
all-inclusive
government for selfish and personal interests to the detriment
of the
Zimbabwean nation and was generally unethical.
He
said the allegations by the newspapers were contained in articles
headlined
"MDC: Who really stands in the way of the inclusive government?"
published
on January 3 in a column, "The other side with Nathaniel Manheru";
and "Anti
Tsvangirai plot thickens", published on January 6, and "MDC-T in
crisis
talks" published on January 8.
Other articles were "MDC-T
divided over inclusive government" which
ran on January 13 and "Return Home
or else, party tells Tsvangirai"
published on January 15.
The articles allegedly blamed Biti for stalling talks in the formation
of a
new government due "to his enormous ambition for a meaningful role both
within the MDC and in the proposed inclusive government."
According to the application the articles were defamatory and implied
that
Biti was not patriotic and was anti-Zimbabwean, deceitful and serving
interests other than Zimbabwe's.
"As a consequence of the
aforesaid defamation, plaintiff has been
damaged in his reputation and has
suffered damages in the sum of US$500 000"
read the
application.
The defendants were by this week yet to respond to
the lawsuit.
BY WONGAI ZHANGAZHA
http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com
Thursday, 12 February 2009
22:28
A FACTION of the Mavambo/Kusile/Dawn (MKD) movement which ousted
founding leader Simba Makoni, yesterday said they wanted the former Finance
minister to surrender the organisation's property or risk court
action.
Makoni was suspended by a group calling itself the MKD
national
coordinating committee (NCC) led by retired Major Kudzai Mbudzi and
journalist Kindness Paradza for failing to transform the movement into a
fully-fledged party, and for alleged impropriety.
The ex-Zanu
PF politburo member has since dismissed his suspension and
threatened to sue
for defamation some members of the NCC for allegedly
maligning his
reputation.
In a letter to Makoni signed by Mbudzi and Paradza
dated February 6,
the NCC said the former Sadc executive secretary should
surrender the
movement's property.
"In order to facilitate
a proper investigation, you (Makoni) are
required immediately to make a full
declaration, in writing, of any and all
assets and finances of the
movement," the letter read.
Makoni, the letter added, should
release all "financial and other
records" to the MKD NCC.
A
committee consisting of Mbudzi, Paradza, Esther Mujeyi, Michael
Gonye and
Memory Mbondiah, according to the letter, has since assumed the
secretariat
role of the movement.
The MKD last week suspended Makoni after
accusing him of failing to
account "fully and transparently" for funds and
assets owned by the
movement.
The NCC also blamed Makoni
for disregarding its decisions.
"Generally, you have conducted
yourself in a manner which is not in
the interests of, and which is
inconsistent with objectives and vision of
the movement," read the
letter.
Meanwhile, the MKD Harare province yesterday distanced
itself from
last week's suspension of the embattled former movement
leader.
"Mavambo/Kusile/Dawn Harare province condemn in the
strongest terms
the action taken by the individuals that issued the press
statement as
retrogressive action which is meant to sabotage the movement,"
read the
statement.
Makoni, the statement claimed, has the
ability to "take the politics
of this country to another level" of economic
and social recovery.
The province also applauded Makoni and its
steering committee for the
"good work" they have done in planning for the
yet to be established "fully
fledged homegrown political
party".
Makoni came a distant third in last March's
presidential election.
BY BERNARD MPOFU
http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com
Thursday, 12 February
2009 20:25
ZIMBABWE'S inclusive government should come up with a robust
foreign
policy to attract external support if the current crisis is to be
resolved,
political analysts have said.
The analysts said the
unity government to be sworn in today by
President Robert Mugabe would
urgently need the assistance of development
partners if the comatose economy
is to be revived.
The United States, Britain and the European Union
said they would wait
and see how the new government performs before lifting
sanctions and
offering financial support.
But analysts
warned that without external support the prospect of
resolving the current
crisis would be remote.
Mugabe and the leaders of the two MDC
formations - Morgan Tsvangirai
and Arthur Mutambara - signed a unity
government deal last September through
a Sadc mediation process, but the
pact could not be immediately consummated
because of haggling over posts
between Zanu PF and the MDC-T.
It took an extraordinary summit
of Sadc last month to persuade
Tsvangirai to join the unity
government.
On Wednesday he finally took the oath of office as prime
minister
alongside his deputies, Mutambara and Thokozani Khupe
(MDC-T).
However, fears abound that the government would not be
able to move
the country forward after the international community said it
would adopt a
wait-and-see attitude on how the new administration will
function before
doling out aid.
Alex Magaisa, a Zimbabwean
lawyer based in the UK, said the new
administration would need to open up to
the world and desist from creating
unnecessary enemies.
"For one thing, it must be acknowledged that the Look East and
Anti-West
foreign policy of the recent past has not been helpful to the
people of
Zimbabwe," Magaisa said. "But the fact that the MDC-T has cordial
relations
with the West does not mean that it should race straight into its
arms and
in the process snub the East."
He said careful diplomacy must
be the predominant approach of the
unity government.
"The
new administration must mend broken fences and re-build damaged
bridges
whilst at the same time strengthening those that are already there.
A
belligerent approach will get us nowhere," said Magaisa.
Zimbabwe-born South African businessman Mutumwa Mawere agreed with
Magaisa
and added that there was need for a major shift in the country's
foreign
policy if the current crisis was to be resolved.
He said the
country needed to reengage the international community
sooner rather than
later.
"Zanu PF has been calling for the lifting of sanctions
which
highlights the fact that the status quo ante was, and is, alive to the
need
to restore relations with the West notwithstanding the rhetoric,"
Mawere
said.
"However, the timing could not have been worse as
the same (Western)
countries are going through their own crises which
compels them to look
inwards first before volunteering to solve the world's
problems."
He said with a limited supply of international
credit, it behooves the
inclusive government to come up with a unified
strategy and a coherent plan
of action.
"Discord among the
new partners in the unity government will provide
an excuse for the West to
wait and see. It is clear who has to give and who
needs to take a back seat
if the country is to move forward," Mawere
explained. "The politics of
yesterday will just not work. A new framework of
engagement will be
required. The West has its own take on the Zimbabwean
situation and it would
be simplistic to argue that MDC-T is responsible for
sanctions."
He suggested that until and unless the concerns
that have been
registered by the West were addressed, it was unlikely that
the urgently
needed capital and development assistance would pour
in.
Magaisa said it was beyond doubt that Zimbabwe needed international
financial support to kick-start the stuttering economy.
"The very fact that the current government complains about sanctions
and
wants them lifted is indicative of the general awareness that Zimbabwe
cannot continue to exist as some kind desert island," he observed. "Zimbabwe
has gone for years without balance of payments support; without accessing
international lines of credit, partly because of the punitive measures
employed by some countries but also because the country has not passed the
normal standards of credit-worthiness."
Beyond
international financial support, Magaisa insisted, Zimbabwe
needed to
enhance its productive capacity through efficient and effective
exploitation
and management of resources.
The analysts said there would be
conditions attached to any form of
financial support and key fundamentals
such as creating a conducive
investment climate and supporting the
constitutional and legal order should
be put in place.
In
addition, the analysts said, the new government should state
categorically
that they will respect property and human rights and the
restoration of the
rule of law.
The analysts said land ownership and its
utilisation will also be key
to the future.
"Zimbabwe's
foreign policy has to be supportive of the domestic
agenda. Zimbabwe has
been vocal on global financial architectural issues and
the need for
reform," observed political scientist Michael Mhike. "The voice
will
continue but tempered by the reality of the situation at home. There
are no
easy answers and the crisis at home will and should shape foreign
policy."
He said new faces in government should come on the
scene to articulate
the country's position on the defining issues of the
time.
"Zimbabwe has many friends in the developing world who
lack the
resources required to lift the country up and this realisation will
force
the new actors to change approach, language and style," Mhike
observed.
He said Tsvangirai would have to be the face the West can
deal with if
the unity government's foreign policy is to
work.
"With respect to the former socialist countries, Mugabe
still has some
currency and will continue to be the face of Zimbabwe.
However, it is
unlikely that such countries will provide any meaningful
development
assistance other than trying to access on a preferential basis
Zimbabwe's
largely untapped resources," Mhike said. "Mugabe's views on
domestic and
global issues are known. The approach that has informed
government policies
over the last 29 years has not produced the required
results and it would,
therefore, be expected that Mugabe will allow
Tsvangirai more room to
manoeuvre in the interests of the
nation."
Even Tsvangirai - who is charged with reviving the
economy - is aware
of the Herculean task he will face without external
financial support and
has pledged to make the government accountable "to
ensure the international
community has confidence in it."
To build the confidence, political analysts said, the inclusive
government
in the short term needed to deal with urgent humanitarian issues,
arresting
the economic depression and ensuring that ordinary people have
access to
food, health care and education.
They said another short-term
imperative was image rebuilding.
"One of the reasons we get
such a bad world press is that our image as
a country has gone to the dogs,
mainly because of our own doing," Magaisa
said. "We need not only to stop
the reckless behaviour, but to show the
world that we have stopped it. This
can be done by freeing political
prisoners, repealing or reforming
contentious legislation, freeing up the
media to allow a diversity of views
- also creating employment in the
process!"
In the long
term, the analysts said there would be need for structural
reforms to the
way the country is governed and should be the main aim of the
constitution-making process elaborated in the power-sharing
deal.
"They (structural reforms) also involve proper and
well-considered
economic policies where the country's best talents are used
to achieve the
best results for individuals and society," Mawere
added.
Many Zimbabweans hope that after so much pain and
suffering in the
past decade, the unity government would bring a fresh start
and they want
their politicians to be honest, fair and efficient. Only time
will tell!
BY CONSTANTINE CHIMAKURE
http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com
Thursday, 12 February 2009
20:25
ZIMBABWE'S inclusive government has a Herculean task to resolve a
decade-long crisis which is characterised by deep mistrust between its
leaders, a worsening humanitarian situation, international isolation and a
flagging economy.
The country's political rivals, President
Robert and the leaders of
the two MDC formations, Morgan Tsvangirai and
Arthur Mutambara, signed a
power-sharing deal last September which will be
consummated today when a new
cabinet will be sworn in.
The
cabinet will be charged with a mandate to formulate policies to
extricate
the nation from the current crisis that has forced over five
million people
to flee to other countries in search of a better life.
Political
analysts said the biggest challenge to the unity government
is to get Mugabe
and Tsvangirai to work together for the common good.
The
analysts said the level of mistrust between Mugabe and Tsvangirai
during the
talks for the unity government showed that it would not be easy
for the two
protagonists to work in common purpose given their different
views.
After signing the power-sharing deal on September
15, Mugabe and
Tsvangirai haggled over the allocation of ministerial
portfolios, provincial
governors' posts, appointment of ambassadors and
permanent secretaries,
among others, between their parties, which resulted
in a seven-month delay
in implementing the pact.
It took
several Sadc meetings to convince the two leaders to form the
government.
"Working together is the biggest challenge that
the politicians in the
new administration will have to overcome and it won't
be an easy task,"
observed Alex Magaisa, a Zimbabwean lawyer and newspaper
columnist based in
the UK. "Not only will they have to remove the political
structures and
rules that impede free politics, they will also have the
challenge of
revamping the retrogressive political culture that is now part
of the
national psyche."
He added that party interests
should be subordinated to national
cause.
Still on the
political front, the analysts said, the inclusive
government faces a
challenge on how to achieve national healing after last
year's bloody
campaign for the June 27 presidential election run-off.
According to the MDC-T, close to 200 of its supporters were killed,
plus 10
000 injured and thousands more displaced by state security agents,
Zanu PF
militia and war veterans who violently campaigned for Mugabe. On the
other
end, Zanu PF also accused the MDC-T of having perpetrated political
violence.
Fears abound that there would be a bitter fight
in government over
national healing with the MDC-T insisting on prosecution
of perpetrators of
violence while Mugabe and Zanu PF would seek
immunity.
Government would also seek to embark on institutional
reforms of
parastatals and the civil service that have been systematically
militarised
by Mugabe since 2000.
For a genuine transition
to take place, the analysts said, government
will also have to ease out
security generals who have publicly announced
their allegiance to political
parties.
During the run-off campaign, Zimbabwe Defence Forces
commander
Constantine Chiwenga, army Chief of Staff Martin Chedondo, police
Commissioner-General Augustine Chihuri and Prisons Commissioner General
Paradzayi Zimondi publicly declared their support for Mugabe and swore that
they would never salute Tsvangirai.
The other immediate
challenge confronting the new administration, the
analysts said, was the
worsening humanitarian crisis.
Government should immediately
source regional and international
assistance to feed over five million
people who are near starvation and to
stop cholera, which has killed over 3
400 people and affected more than 70
000 people since its outbreak in August
2003.
So serious is food insecurity throughout the country,
that the Mugabe
government has predicted that over 8,2 million would soon
need aid.
Despite concerted local, regional and international
efforts to contain
cholera, the disease is spreading throughout the country
because of lack of
access to clean water and sanitation.
The political analysts said the new government needed to urgently come
up
with a programme of action to be internationally financed to end this
humanitarian catastrophe.
Government also faces the
challenge of reviving the health delivery
system that saw health workers
leaving the country in droves, lack of drugs
and equipment at public
hospitals.
The education delivery system has also gone down.
Teachers have been
on strike since the beginning of last year pressing to be
paid in foreign
currency, while some of them left for neighbouring countries
where the
majority work as labourers.
According to Unicef,
94% of rural schools in the country failed to
open for the first
term.
Once the humanitarian situation is in check, the analysts
said
government would have to shift focus to economic revival by re-engaging
the
international community for balance of payments, lines of credit and
other
rescue packages.
Government would also have to
persuade the international community to
lift declared and undeclared
sanctions and at the same time work flat-out to
boost domestic production to
increase foreign currency inflows.
The economic policies, the
analysts suggested, must take into
consideration the plight of the poor who
have been on the receiving end of
Mugabe's poor governance over the past
decade.
"From an economic point of view, government has to
formulate and
implement positive economic policies that will benefit the
ordinary people,"
Magaisa said. "It is up to the government to confront
economic challenges
but it will need external assistance. This means that a
major challenge is
rebuilding relations with the international community.
Our new
administration must demonstrate the necessary will and capability to
do this
and the hope is that their efforts will be guided by the public
interest."
The country's economy has been in free fall since
the late 1990s and
is characterised by high inflation now estimated above
one trillion percent,
over 90% unemployment and high interest rates, among
other wrongs.
Sanctions against Zimbabwe, the analysts said,
would have to be lifted
but were quick to point out that it was up to the
new administration to
demonstrate its commitment to democracy, rule of law
and the upholding of
human rights before the West can come in to
assist.
BY CONSTANTINE CHIMAKURE
http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com
Thursday, 12 February
2009 20:09
FACTIONALISM and cronyism characterised MDC leader Morgan
Tsvangirai's
selection of his cabinet appointees that critics say lacked
equity and
national outlook.
Tsvangirai nominated his
ministers on Tuesday to join an inclusive
cabinet tomorrow amid murmurs of
disgruntlement from various quarters in his
party.
The former
trade unionist on Wednesday took the oath of office as
prime minister
alongside his deputies -- Thokozani Khupe and Arthur
Mutambara -- the leader
of the smaller formation of the MDC.
Out of the 14 ministers
Tsvangirai nominated, eight hail from Masvingo
and Manicaland provinces. The
three Matabeleland provinces have two cabinet
ministers, Midlands one and
the Mashonaland provinces have three.
Five of the ministers,
Tendai Biti (Finance), Elton Mangoma (Economic
development), Elias Mudzuri
(Energy), Nelson Chamisa (Information and
Communication Technology) and
Theresa Makone (Public Works) came from the
12-member MDC-T national
standing committee, which is responsible for the
day-to-day administration
of the party.
Deputy secretary-general Tapiwa Mashakada, deputy
organising secretary
Morgan Komichi, and national youth secretary Thamsanga
Mahlangu were the
only members of the standing committee who failed to make
it to the cabinet.
The other members of the committee are
Tsvangirai, Khupe and House of
Assembly Speaker Lovemore
Moyo.
The exclusion of Mashakada, the fifth high-ranking MDC-T
leader, party
insiders said, came as a surprise to most party functionaries
because the
economist was one of its founding members and had worked with
Tsvangirai for
years in trade unionism.
The sources said
Mashakada could have fallen out with Tsvangirai after
he opposed the
controversial removal of Lucia Matibenga as the leader of the
MDC-T women's
assembly and replaced by Makone in 2007.
The ouster of Matibenga
nearly led to the second split of the MDC-T,
with the majority of the
party's national executive members accusing
Tsvangirai of violating the
constitution and imposing Makone - a family
friend.
Mashakada, the sources added, was also part of hardliners led by Biti
who
were against the participation of the MDC-T in the inclusive government
before outstanding issues of last September's power-sharing pact were
resolved.
Biti, Mashakada and the other hardliners who did
not buy the unity
government idea, the sources added, were bulldozed by
Tsvangirai and his
kitchen cabinet during the MDC-T's national council
meeting a fortnight ago
to endorse it.
Biti, the sources
said, agreed to be part of the cabinet after
Tsvangirai said he wanted him
to take charge of the powerful Finance
ministry.
The MDC-T
secretary-general had confided to journalists that he would
not join the
cabinet and wanted to retain his position in the party to
strengthen its
structures. Realising that his party would be weakened in
cabinet without
Biti, the sources said, Tsvangirai at the weekend dispatched
a three-member
team to the secretary- general to change his mind.
"Tsvangirai
dangled the Finance ministry carrot, which Biti accepted,"
one of the
sources said.
Questions were also raised over the cabinet
nomination of Professor
Heneri Dzinotyiweyi (Science and Technology
Development) and Professor Elfas
Mukonoweshuro (Public Service) ahead of
some of the party's founding
members.
Dzinotyiweyi, the
former president of the Zimbabwe Integrated
Programme, contested against
Biti for Harare East in 2000 and lost dismally
and later joined the MDC-T
after its split in October 2005, while
Mukonoweshuro was at one stage a
member of Tsvangirai's kitchen cabinet
before his election to the post of
secretary of international relations.
"Tsvangirai selected some
of his ministers based on his closeness to
them," a senior party member
said. "People like (Fidelis) Mhashu (National
Housing), Mukonoweshuro,
Makone, Dzinotyiwei and Mudzuri were very close to
him. He is paying them
back for their loyalty to him."
Makone's husband, Ian, the
sources said, was tipped to be the chief
secretary to the prime minister.
The Makones, the sources said, financially
supported the party in times of
trouble and Tsvangirai wanted to reward them
for that.
Tsvangirai received his sharpest criticism within his party on his
cabinet
nominations for allegedly sidelining the Matabeleland region.
The prime minister selected only two ministers from the region --
Eddie
Cross (State Enterprises and Parastatals) and Abedinico Bhebhe (Water
Resources). Bhebhe is from the Mutambara-led MDC and his appointment has
caused fissures within his party and the MDC-T.
Sources in the
MDC-T said Tsvangirai had to convene an impromptu
meeting on Tuesday after
making public his ministers when party leaders from
Matabeleland complained
over his omission.
The meeting, the sources said, then agreed to
appoint Samuel Sipepa
Nkomo as deputy Foreign Affairs minister and Thabitha
Khumalo to the post of
deputy Women, Gender and Community Development --
both legislators from
Bulawayo -- to pacify the region.
Reports
yesterday were that Tsvangirai was considering appointing
Bulawayo Agenda
director Gordon Moyo as a Minister of State in his office.
Bulawayo-based political analyst Max Mnkandla said Tsvangirai's
appointments
were a betrayal of the people of Matabeleland as more
legislators from the
region should have been appointed into cabinet.
"The fact that
Tsvangirai only appointed Cross and Bhebhe from the
region is worrying as it
backed the MDC unreservedly since 2000," Mnkandla
said.
He
said Tsvangirai needed to review his strategy and the way he
engages
Matabeleland. However, sources told the Zimbabwe Independent that
Nkomo was
initially earmarked for the Home Affairs ministry, but was later
dropped
after consultations among the MDC-T leaders.
"Nkomo was on the
list as Home Affairs minister, but there were
consultations and it was felt
that since he had unresolved business with the
Mining Pension Fund matter it
was not proper for him to accept the
appointment and he accepted the
decision," said the sources.
Speculation was rife that the
sidelining of Matabeleland would give
impetus to the revival of PF
Zapu.
Justifying the cabinet appointments, Tsvangirai said he had
selected
technocrats to deal urgently with the country's crisis. He said he
nominated
Bhebhe in the spirit of inclusiveness.
"Minister
Bhebhe has been appointed in the inclusive government,"
Tsvangirai said. "We
are trying to promote inclusiveness. I do not know
about (perceived)
crossing the floor but all I know is that he is part of
the inclusive
government."
However, sources said, Bhebhe was rewarded by
Tsvangirai for
persuading his fellow MPs from the Mutambara formation to
vote for Lovemore
Moyo to be House of Assembly Speaker last August. But
Edwin Mushoriwa,
spokesperson for the Mutambara formation, said Bhebhe
risked having his seat
declared vacant and a by-election called to replace
him.
"We were taken aback when we heard that Honourable Bhebhe
had been
nominated among Tsvangirai's list of nominees for cabinet,"
Mushoriwa said.
"We do not know the motive behind all this. It defies the
spirit of the
whole Global Political Agreement signed among the
parties."
BY CONSTANTINE CHIMAKURE AND LOUGHTY DUBE
http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com
Thursday, 12 February 2009
20:02
WELL before 7.00am, parishioners at the Mabelreign Methodist
Church in
Harare's medium-density suburb gathered outside the church
building hoping
to meet one of their own members who would later in the day
take an oath of
office as Prime Minister of a crisis-ridden
nation.
For the church members, Wednesday marked the last day when
Morgan
Richard Tsvangirai would chat in fellowship with them as an ordinary
member
of the parish.
This irregular midweek church service
named the "Dedication Service"
would anoint the MDC-T leader before he left
the Western suburb to append
his signature, pledging full commitment to make
that "long walk to freedom"
that Nelson Mandela spoke of in Cape Town 19
years ago to the day.
Following the service, his procession
headed east where a heavy
presence of police manning checkpoints blocked
vehicles and pedestrians from
passing along the usually busy Borrowdale
Road.
All this was meant to beef up security at one of the
country's most
protected properties, State House, for the historic swearing
in ceremony.
Arriving at the fortified State House, journalists
endured another
round of security checks before rushing to designated press
zones.
The day marked a new chapter in Zimbabwe's politics.
Tsvangirai took
an oath of office signalling his new partnership in power
with his erstwhile
rival, President Robert Mugabe.
Diplomats and other invited dignitaries streamed into State House
shortly
after 10am.
In the midst of the arrivals, Arthur Mutambara,
leader of the smaller
formation of the MDC, defied all odds when he arrived
at the venue in style.
Driving his American Navigator sports
utility vehicle, probably for
the last time without aides, the former
University of Zimbabwe students
union leader arrived at State House being
filmed by a freelance
videographer.
Following Mutambara was
his co-deputy Prime Minister, Thokozani Khupe
from the MDC-T, who was
chauffeur-driven in an elegant Mercedes Benz ML
class.
Momentarily, the sound of wailing sirens of approaching vehicles could
be
heard.
With video cameras ready to roll and still cameras
standing by to
shoot, everyone anticipated the arrival of a man whom some
critics thought
would never see this day, man-of-the-moment Morgan
Tsvangirai.
But first, others had to be seated. Among those who
attracted media
attention were Swaziland's King Mswati III, former South
African President
Thabo Mbeki, South Africa's director of the presidency
Frank Chikane and
Foreign Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma.
In the midst of some confusion, Tsvangirai finally arrived in a
low-key
silver Mercedes Benz saloon. Clad in a grey suit, Tsvangirai was
ushered to
the high table next to Mutambara.
Just before noon, the
presidential entourage arrived in Zim 1. The
presence of the chief of
protocol, Munyaradzi Kajese, drew attention to the
high table as dignitaries
anticipated Mugabe's arrival in the VIP tent. The
octogenarian leader and
his wife Grace walked down the red carpet before the
national anthem was
played.
Masters of ceremonies, Washington Mbizvo broke the ice
by citing
nuggets from Shakespeare's Julius Caesar and from
Galileo.
"The real leader is not happy to lead but to point the
way."
Whether the new inclusive government would heed this
advice is yet to
be known given the myriad of problems that awaits it.
Similarly only history
would judge whether this new dispensation was a
marriage of convenience or
conviction.
Controversial
Archbishop Norbert Kunonga opened the event by reading
the Biblical story of
dry bones before closing in prayer.
The country's battered
economy and the humanitarian crisis across the
country, Kunonga said, was
allegorical to the state of affairs in ancient
Iraq referred to in the
Bible, trusting in divine intervention for the
immediate turnaround of
fortunes following the formation of the inclusive
government.
Mugabe and Tsvangirai then took to the stage
for the swearing in
ceremony.
Standing face-to-face but
avoiding eye contact, Tsvangirai gave his
oaths to his seemingly relaxed new
boss who administered it.
"Save, Save (Tsvangirai's totem)
mochitonga (now you are in power),"
shouted opposition legislators when
Tsvangirai received a round of applause
from dignitaries seated opposite to
the VIP tent.
A clearly irritated Mugabe almost lost his cool
when the opposition
legislators interjected during the swearing in, forcing
Kajese to intervene.
On a lighter note, Mutambara brought
smiles to leaders seated in the
VIP tent when he eloquently recited his
oaths - in all three instances
pausing towards the end of the oath to blurt
out the word "God" with
emphasis.
Tensions between the
country's political parties also surfaced when
opposition legislators
heckled a Cape Town university student who recited
her "Arise and shine"
poem dedicated to the unity pact.
"Gushungo (Mugabe's totem),
we thank you for making this day
possible," she said before being
jeered.
She received a round of applause when she said: "Save,
Mutambara and
Khupe "I salute you."
In half an hour, the
new leaders had appended their signatures to
serve in the potentially
irreconcilable government.
Following congratulatory messages
from regional and continental
leaders, the new executive delivered their
speeches in a restricted tent
adjacent to the VIP tent leaving some guests
unaware of the proceedings.
Speeches delivered by the leaders
carried one theme - an urgent need
for economic reform and the removal of
sanctions.
First to speak was Mutambara who as has become the
norm demanded the
lifting of economic sanctions imposed on
Zimbabwe.
"This is a new era in Zimbabwe. We must work together
as a team, we
must speak the language of working together, the language of
unity," he
said.
"For those who have imposed whatever
measures against Zimbabwe or
targeted sanctions, call them what you want,
those sanctions must be removed
immediately."
He however
added that "delivery (of duty) and recovery" from the
socio-economic crisis
would be the measure of success for the new
government.
Tsvangirai followed with his impromptu speech when he promised to
restore
education, health and food security.
Unity government
facilitator Thabo Mbeki followed Tsvangirai where he
again pledged support
for the new government and an appeal on the lifting of
sanctions which the
three parties agreed were stifling economic growth.
African Union
Commission chair Jean Ping and chairman of the Sadc
organ for defence and
security King Mswati also expressed optimism in the
inclusive
government.
Last to speak was Mugabe who extended an olive
branch to his
co-leaders despite a seven-month "long, tedious and
frustrating" delay in
forming the inclusive government. These delays, Mugabe
claimed were
instigated by unmentioned detractors, through "overt and covert
means".
"As president of Zimbabwe, I offer them my hand of
friendship,
cooperation and solidarity in the service of our great country,"
Mugabe
said.
"If yesterday we were adversaries and divided
by party politics and
other divisive influences, today we stand united by
the imperative need to
address the myriad of challenges that face our
country."
Well after time scheduled for his maiden rally as
prime minister,
Tsvangirai and his new security aides left for the Glamis
Stadium at the
exhibition centre where over 10 000 people patiently waited
to hear and see
a man they regard as a symbol of hope in the midst of
Zimbabwe's decade-long
recession.
Tsvangirai promised
immediate change to some problems facing the
country despite acknowledging
the magnitude of the challenges that lie
ahead.
"Zvetsvimbo
mugotsi must end today (impunity must end today.),"
Tsvangirai told
multitudes that endured the sweltering heat at Glamis.
He
appealed to teachers, health workers, the army, the policy and rest
of the
civil servants to report for work, promising that the new government
would
remunerate them in hard currency starting this month.
"By month
end all professionals in the civil service will receive
salary in foreign
currency," he added.
Seemingly referring to his party activists and
civil activists
currently held in detention, Tsvangirai promised that these
people would
cease to be held in the "dungeons any day or week
longer."
Tsvangirai becomes the second prime minister after
Independence.
The first prime minister was Mugabe and the
position was abolished in
1987 to make room for an executive president and
unicameral parliament.
BY BERNARD MPOFU
http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com
Thursday, 12 February 2009
19:57
INDIVIDUALS and corporates will have to part with between
US$30-50 a
month in bank charges when they make transactions with their
foreign
currency accounts (FCAs).
Foreign currency denominated
accounts can be activated within 24 hours
with zero balance and can be
operated in five major currencies -- the US
dollar, euro, British pound,
South African rand and Botswana pula.
FCAs' individual and
corporate charges are however said to be
"ridiculously high"' as Zimbabweans
are failing to make ends meet due to
high consumer goods and services
prices, school and tertiary fees and
rentals.
Figures
obtained by businessdigest from commercial banks this week
show that for an
individual to withdraw money, they are charged between
US$0,50 and US$3 for
every transaction while corporates are charged up to
US$10 per
transaction.
To be issued with a draft/RMO, individuals and
corporates are parting
with between US$8 and US$12.
Telegraphic transfers cost between US$18-25 for both corporates and
individuals. The same amount is being charged for deposits received by
telegraphic transfers.
Banks are also charging as much as
US$20 for deposit of bank notes for
each transaction.
Individuals are either not being charged to maintain their accounts or
are
parting with anything below US$3 depending on the bank. Corporates are
being
charged between US$8 and US$12 per month for monthly account
maintenance.
FCA inter account transfers cost between US$1
and US$4 depending on
the bank for both individuals and
corporates.
Service charges for salary processing tariffs cost
between US$1 and
US$3 per entry for manual salary payments.
Companies will be charged between US$7 and US$10 per payroll for late
salary
submissions.
Most banks have not set a charge for intermediated
money transfer tax.
Unclaimed salaries for other employees cost between US$4
and US$7.
Facility negotiation fees for corporates cost 5% of
the value of the
overdraft or loans.
Between US$4 and US$8
is being charged for stop orders. Accounts
closed within six months are
attracting a fee of between US$18 and US$25,
while reactivation of a dormant
account costs between US$20 and US$25.
Services for bonds
guarantees, securities and indemnities and bills
range from 5% and 10% of
the amount at hand.
Charges for letters of guarantee, and
guarantees are between 4% and 6%
of the amount involved.
Letters of
credit -- foreign inward -- cost US$75 per credit. Foreign
outward for
commercial banks cost 10% of the amount being transacted.
Barclays Bank is advising its customers on how they can control their
banking costs.
"Make use of alternative methods of
transacting such as making use of
the cash machine (ATM) to withdraw cash,
rather than cashing cheques in the
banking hall. Draw cheques to cut down
your transaction costs," said
Barclays.
"Frequent small
cash machine (ATM) withdrawals will cost you more than
making larger, less
frequent withdrawals. Ensure sufficient funds in your
account before issuing
a cheque to avoid penalty fees. The bank will not pay
against uncleared
effect," Barclays said.
The move by the Reserve Bank to
encourage everyone to have an FCA is
viewed as the final humiliation for
Zimbabwe's defenceless dollar.
BY PAUL NYAKAZEYA
http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com
Thursday, 12 February 2009
19:33
LAWYERS representing Inter-fresh Ltd - a listed agro-process-ing
counter of the ZSE - have written a letter of demand to six senior
government and Reserve Bank officials who threatened to occupy Yarrowdale
Farm in Mazoe.
The officials are identified as Matthews Kunaka
CEO of Fiscorp, a
subsidiary of the Reserve Bank, Messrs Veremu and Jijita
from the Central
Intelligence Organisation, a Mr Tembo from the Zimbabwe
National Army and
Margaret Zinyemba Zanu PF Member of Parliament for Mazoe
South.
They claimed that they had offer letters issued by the Ministry
of
Lands empowering them to take over the farm.
The
incident has caused ructions in the nascent unity government which
has
committed itself to
have a proper land audit and to halt disturbances
on the farms. There
were frantic efforts this week from the government and
the Reserve Bank to
halt the invasion.
The Independent
learnt yesterday that Kunaka has since been summoned
by RBZ governor Gideon
Gono to a meeting at which he was ordered to stop
laying claim to the farm.
The meeting was followed up by a strong letter
from Gono chastising
Kunaka.
"We are on record as condemning illegal farm
occupations and
advocating for good order," Gono said in the letter. "You
cannot nine years
after the first invasions be seen to be associated with
activities that
negate the new spirit of advancing dialogue and productivity
throughout the
country."
Interfresh has since issued a
cautionary statement to its shareholders
advising of the disturbances on the
farm situated 41km north of Harare.
Documents to hand show that
on February 7, a group of individuals
accompanied by ZRP policemen and a
uniformed ZNA military policeman are said
to have claimed ownership of plots
on Yarrowdale Farm, the crop section of
Mazoe Citrus
Estate.
They allegedly ordered Interfresh employees to vacate
all the houses
on the farm by today (February 13) so that they could move in
en masse.
According to the company's lawyers Kantor &
Immerman, Interfresh was
the holder of the farm's title deeds and was
entitled to peaceful and
undisturbed possession of the estate until such
rights were varied by an
order of a competent of court.
"The land is fully cultivated and fully utilised. It does not fall
into
compulsory acquisition under the current legislation. In fact there are
a
number of legal matters pending in regard thereto, which militate against
the allocation of this land to third parties," said Kantor &
Immerman.
"If you allege that you have a legal right to act as
you did, please
let us have full details of the alleged basis upon which you
purport to act.
Further and assuming that you are in possession of letters
of allocation
please let us have a copy in respect of each person who
attended at
Yarrowdale Farm and threatened our clients' employees," Kantor
& Immerman
wrote to the alleged invaders.
Kantor &
Immerman said it had advised its clients to advise their
shareholders of the
developments and to approach the relevant court for
urgent
redress.
"Should you attempt to evict our client unlawfully on
February 13 2009
as threatened we will take the matter with the courts and
the relevant
minister(s)," said the lawyers.
The letters
were also copied to the Minister of Lands and State
Security Didymus Mutasa
and the officer in charge as Mazoe police station. -
Staff Writer.
http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com
Thursday, 12 February 2009
18:14
IT is hardly a week before the stock market marks its third month
of
inactivity.
Few people could have anticipated the market
impasse to remain
unresolved up to this day. While discussions are being
made for resumption
of trading, the processes seem to be dragging at a
snail's pace.
The recent dollarisation, or is it multi-currencying of
the economy
added to the problems holding back activity on the Zimbabwe
Stock Exchange
(ZSE).
Both the monetary and fiscal policy
statements, announced recently,
allowed the use of multiple currencies on
the ZSE. For many, the idea of
earning US dollars on their equity investment
is a welcome development.
All they want to know is when the market
is going to open so that they
could realise their gains.
What is deplorable, though, is the introduction of new charges on
share
transactions. In its wisdom, the central bank announced a 1,5%
financial
sector levy on equity trades. Concurrently the MPS declared that
3,5% of the
sale proceeds shall be liquidated to central bank at the
interbank
rate.
This was well in line with the economic policy thrust of
collecting as
much foreign currency as possible for the Treasury from every
source
imaginable. It would appear that little attention was paid to the
adverse
impact these directives would have on the market.
The proposed new charges on share transactions make the ZSE one of the
most
expensive exchanges in the region and possibly globally.
Added
to the current charges which include stamp duty, brokers'
commissions, VAT
and capital gains the total transaction costs amount to
about 17%. In
comparisons the regional average is around 2%. The exorbitant
costs will put
off potential investors who would rather invest in less risky
markets.
The increased charges would not have been an issue
if trading was to
remain in Zim dollars under hyperinflation
conditions.
This is because prices were rising by on average 100%
per day which
would more than compensate for the high charges. Not so with
US dollars.
Share prices do not easily and quickly rise up by 17% in US
dollars even in
stable economies, let alone in Zimbabwe.
In
2006, for instance, only the Dow Jones grew by about 17% while
other indices
such as the FTSE100, Nasdaq and the Nikkei 225 rose by between
6%-11%. The
following year, the best performing amongst the big four indices
was the
Nasdaq at 9,81% while in 2008 the quartet suffered losses of more
than
30%.
To then expect the ZSE to rise up by 17% before an
investor could sell
for a profit would be folly. The economic fundamentals
remain negative and
the political risk remains high even as an inclusive
government is being
formulated. Besides the country has stringent exchange
controls which
distract potential foreign investors who are easily
accommodated in more
investor-friendly countries in the
region.
Another thing that seemed lost on the policy makers
even as they
dollarised the economy is that there are not many US dollars in
the economy.
Maybe, they misconstrue the long queues at selected Spar
supermarkets as a
sign that the economy is awash with forex. Nothing could
be far further from
the truth.
For starters, the average basket
at those shops is hardly US$20.
Besides the regular customers seen pushing
trolley-full of groceries, many
people just come to buy basics such as
mealie-meal, cooking oil and sugar
intermittently.
These
supermarkets are better stocked than their main competitors
thereby
prompting people to travel from across town to access desired
commodities.
Traffic is low in most shops that are not as stocked as the
Spars.
With many struggling to raise the little foreign
exchange to pay for
basic necessities, it is inconceivable to expect them to
save let alone
invest on risk assets such as equities. Previously, they
would invest on the
ZSE because it was the only sector which was still
accepting Zim dollars.
At the same time, corporates saw the market
as a means through which
they could manage their working capital. The use of
foreign currency in the
economy takes away the need for hedging and the
little forex earned is
usually used for re-stocking, paying staff or
recapitalizing their
businesses.
When trading resumes many
people and individuals are likely to be
selling shares to raise hard
currency for basic requirements. For people who
not long ago would sell and
wait for three days before receiving Zim
dollars, which they would then use
to buy forex, the prospect of directly
receiving US dollars will be too good
to resist.
The selling pressure will inevitably force share
prices down unless
foreign investors come in as buyers. Presently, there has
not been
substantial evidence of foreign investors standing by to buy shares
on the
ZSE although those rumours have been circulating for some
time.
The probable lack of buyers on the market will limit
activity on the
stock market. Until forex inflows improve, few trades will
take place in US
dollars. It appears like the current illusion of US dollar
inflows possibly
will turn into a nightmare for many investors unless the
trading conditions
and regulations are improved.
BY RANGA
MAKWATA
http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com
Thursday, 12 February 2009
18:14
IN ZIMBABWE, many streets are littered with discarded Zimbabwean
dollar bills, and nobody bothers to pick them up.
With
economists estimating inflation at above five billion percent and
the recent
dollarisation, the local currency has become a big joke to
retailers and
services providers who are refusing to accept it as legal
tender.
For ordinary Zimbabweans, life has become more
difficult as they do
not have access to the foreign currency now being
demanded by shopkeepers
for payment.
This is despite
government and Reserve Bank pleas that the new
currency should run parallel
to the multiple currencies that are on the
market, as part of measures to
liberalise the economy.
The de facto "dollarisation" which was
formally announced this year
has been thriving for nearly two
years.
Economist Brains Muchemwa said most people in business
no longer
wanted to be associated with the local currency.
"Retailers and service providers are pricing their items at an
anticipated
replacement cost so accepting the local currency could be
suicidal," said
Muchemwa.
Muchemwa however said most people do not have access
to foreign
currency and are being disadvantaged by the
dollarisation.
In Zimbabwe it is cheaper to buy goods and
services in US dollars than
in local currency because the Zimbabwe dollar
prices are inflated to account
for inflationary pressure and the price of
obtaining the US dollar.
Economist Tony Hawkins said: "In a
hyperinflationary environment, the
difficulty for retailers lies in trying
to maintain the value of stock."
For example, an item which
cost US$2 is sold at US$2,50. But when it
comes to replacing it, it costs
US$3.
"In such an environment, a currency that does not lose value is
preferred. The local currency has become worthless," said
Hawkins.
Hawkins said foreign exchange earnings would fall
sharply this year as
platinum, ferrochrome and nickel earnings feel the heat
of the global
recession.
"Diaspora remittances, variously
estimated at anything from US$500
million to US$1 billion per year are also
falling as conditions get tougher
in source markets like England and South
Africa and cash transactions
through the parallel market lose their appeal.
The net result will be
increased use of goods rather than cash for
remittance," said Hawkins.
The Reserve Bank and government
bowed to financial reality by
legalising the use of foreign currency in a
bid to preserve real value of
the recently introduced local
currency.
The move was the final humiliation for Zimbabwe's
defenceless dollar,
which was worth more than the United States dollar when
the country attained
Independence in 1980.
Even after three
revaluations in two years through the lopping off of
25 zeros, the dollar
has not stopped its unprecedented depreciation against
major trading
currencies, although the parallel market is losing relevance
at an
alarmingly rapid rate.
Economist John Robertson said another
time bomb was that government
did not have enough foreign currency to pay
civil servants and was likely to
continue borrowing when there was no
production.
"It (local currency) is the rate at which is was
losing value against
major currencies that is making retailers and shop
owners refuse to accept
it," said Robertson.
Robertson
however said the new government should ensure major sectors
of the economy
start performing and that there was enough foreign currency
on the
market.
National Incomes and Pricing Commission chairman,
Goodwill
Masimirembwa said the local currency remained legal tender despite
government allowing the use of multiple currencies.
"It is
not fair for them (retailers and services providers) to refuse
the local
currency as it remains our legal tender," said Masimirembwa.
He
however said retailers that have been allowed to charge in foreign
currency
were still obliged to accept local currency.
"What we are
encouraging is that prices of goods and services be in
line with those in
the region," said Masimirembwa.
Presenting the 2009 First
Quarter Monetary Policy Statement a
fortnight ago, Reserve Bank Governor
Gideon Gono gave licensed traders the
green light to pay employees in
foreign currency without seeking central
bank approval.
Last month, the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) said all wage
negotiations should be in United States dollar terms.
The
worker representative body said most employees were failing to
access basic
requirements because most traders wanted payment in multiple
currencies such
as the US dollar or South African rand.
A statement released by
the labour body read: "At its special general
council meeting held on
January 17, 2009, to deliberate on the parameters
for wage and salary
negotiations: The ZCTU general council noted that the
Zimbabwean market has
been dollarised and that most social services such as
education, health,
rentals and transport, among other things, have been
dollarised," ZCTU
said.
"The general council has therefore resolved that starting
from January
1, all ZCTU affiliates and the generality of the workforce
should negotiate
wages in terms of the United States dollar, failure of
which the sector will
withdraw its labour," said ZCTU.
Events
in the economy show that Zimbabweans have lost faith in the
local currency
despite statutory requirements, which continue to deem the
currency as a
legal tender.
The problem with the de-facto dollarisation however
is that it had
increased distortions in the economy as other sections of the
economy which
are not dollarised are striving to dollarise illegally,
fuelling the
parallel market.
The Reserve Bank's reported
participation on the parallel foreign
currency markets bears evidence on how
close the country was to
dollarisation.
This strategy by the
Reserve Bank was a case of "actions speak louder
than words". Economists
have since said the continued deterioration of the
economy was largely a
product of policy inconsistencies and incoherencies
within government
decision-making structures.
Economic analysts said the new
government's desired course of action
would be to officially dollarise the
whole economy, boost production and
exports while automatically eliminating
the management of interest rates,
exchange rates, and money supply.
Government's failure to manage these
factors has been the primary
precipitator of the economic recession.
BY PAUL NYAKAZEYA
http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com
Thursday, 12 February 2009
18:02
THE budget presented on January 29 by the Acting Minister of
Finance
Chinamasa was refreshing in its attempt to restore the fundamental
freedoms
of the people in Zimbabwe to do business.
Granted,
there still remains a long way to go towards getting our
economy back on its
feet again. The complementary monetary statement by the
Reserve Bank
governor added more energy to this attempt to get markets
functioning.
In a now famous statement Adam smith (1723-1790)
said that the
combination of self interest, private property, and
competition among
sellers in the markets lead producers "as by an invisible
hand" to an end
that they did not intend, namely, the well-being of
society.
In his legendary book published in 1776, The Wealth of
Nations, Smith
had a strong conviction that a market economy was a superior
form of
organisation for both economic progress and advancement of human
liberty.
Yes markets are imperfect and there is need to regulate
these markets,
but the heart of Smith's submission stands tall and largely
true in 2009,
over 200 later.
For economic progress, it is
important that the government enhances
and safeguards business and
individuals to pursue their interests and
capabilities in a competitive
environment.
The government should aim mainly at creating equal
opportunities, and
protecting freedoms. Equal opportunities and freedom to
pursue one's
interests are infinitely powerful motivating forces that have
powered the
wealth of nations for years.
The recent budget
statement and the allied monetary statement, stood
tall over the previous 10
or so statements in their attempt to restore the
liberties of business to
pursue their chosen fields.
Before going into any further details,
it is key that we grasp the
boldness of the budget to move in the right
direction on the big issues. My
A-level Jesuit priest back in 1988 always
said: "It is better to be roughly
right (on the big issues) that to be
accurately wrong". In other words let's
get the big issues right and not
overly concern ourselves with minor ones.
This was the
plausible and refreshing ingredient in this budget that
should be nurtured
till it bears us fruit in the form of economic growth.
Market
distortions & economic demise
Over the last 10 years, we
have witnessed a systematic transfer of
liberties away from individuals,
companies and markets to institutions that
had never produced anything to
support this economy.
We also bore witness to the government
introducing amazing levers into
the market system whose overall impact was
to take initiatives out of the
citizens and chipped away at the ability of
Zimbabwean business to
profitably engage in activities
openly.
These actions by the authorities relied less on the
undeniable force
of markets and more on physical policing of citizens to
enforce laws that
ran counter to the pursuit of individual
goals.
What the policy framework did was basically 'brake' Adam
Smith's
individual freedoms. The key achievement of NIPC was to ensure that
businesses were not allowed to sell products at prices that would allow them
to make profits and hence sustain themselves.
In addition,
farmers were not allowed to sell their produce to the
highest bidder but to
institutions such as GMB which then allocated the
commodities to
manufacturers for virtually nothing.
In other words attempts to
replace the market pricing power with more
human involvement ushered
regrettable levels of inefficiencies and created
huge price distortions
whose biggest beneficiaries remained the corrupt
among us.
In
these well-intended attempts to cushion the poor, all we actually
managed to
create was a highly flawed system which went on to corrupt the
best of our
people and created instant millionaires who supped on the work
of the
majority without creating new wealth. The result was serious
de-industrialisation and impoverishment of the economy.
The
genius of this budget therefore was its attempt to rid the markets
of NIPC,
price distortions and put the country back on to a course where
pricing
power was handed back to businesses. This dynamism as Adam Smith
pointed out
motivates us to deliver lower prices through higher efficiencies
born out of
innovation.
There is thus far no better way of allocating resources
and moving
communities forward! As the monetary policy pointed out, when
this power and
freedom were unleashed onto the markets a sample of goods
which cost
US$43,45 went down a whooping 44% down to US$24,20 in the 90 days
between
October 28 and 26 January! The markets achieved in 90 days what NIPC
has
been trying to do in years!
Here is the trick: The more
we free markets and people to compete and
add value to goods, the more the
society benefits. For as long as we
appreciate this basic truth, the efforts
of government and regulators
becomes easy.
The prime objective
of the authorities becomes the pursuit of creating
an environment where
businesses can compete; given the tools and freedoms to
pursue their
passions.
The government rightly must intervene to kill
monopolistic tendencies
by encouraging competition. It must come in to
provide infrastructure; the
roads, the power grid, and the broadband
superhighway.
It is my hope that the inclusive government builds on
the seeds of
freedoms that the Budget of 2009 has sown to bring the economy
back on the
rails.
Mafukidze is the chairman and chief
financial Architect of KM
Financial Solutions.
BY KENIAS
MAFUKIDZE
http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com
Thursday, 12 February 2009
20:15
ON Wednesday, Zimbabwe turned a new leaf just like it did on
November
11, 1965, a day that remains etched in the country's story as the
beginning
of the end of white minority rule.
Will they or will
they not? Will it or will it not work? How secure is
Zimbabwe's future in
the hands of three men? Whose government is it anyway?
What is the
Zimbabwean promise? Will they or will they not deliver on the
Zimbabwean
promise? How will it work?
Conversations on Zimbabwe continue to be
shaped by the past and our
collective inability to locate the Zimbabwe story
where it should be
correctly located, ie in the hands of the people who have
the ultimate
responsibility to make it work.
The inclusive
government provides yet another opportunity for citizens
to begin serious
discussions about democracy, government and the challenges
of nation
building, with special attention on Zimbabwe's contemporary
history.
Regrettably, in 1980 euphoria took precedence and
citizens squandered
the opportunity offered by Independence to engage in
conversations about
what kind of Zimbabwe they wanted to create and whose
responsibility it was
going to be to make it happen.
Many
expected much from state actors who in the pursuit of power
promised too
much and never took time to think about what the Zimbabwean
promise was all
about. Free education was offered and taken advantage of,
and yet the
resources to sustain such a promise dwindled by the day.
The
last 29 years have shown that the state has been an unreliable
partner or
instrument of the people. Instead of serving the people
efficiently and
effectively, the state has become a monster with a track
record of dismal
performance.
The focus has rightly been on the head of the fish
in the firm belief
that removing the head will terminate the life of the
presumed toxic asset.
Zimbabweans and the rest of the world have come to
accept that Robert Mugabe
is the toxic asset and any solution that leaves
him in the melting pot will
not advance the Zimbabwean
promise.
What should have been the touchstone of Zimbabwe's
post-colonial
society? To the extent that post-colonial Zimbabwe was born
out of an unjust
political, social and economic system, it was the
expectation that the new
society would be informed by an acknowledgment that
freedom, responsibility
and citizen participation were fundamental and
non-negotiable foundational
principles.
However, as
Zimbabwe travels the last mile of Mugabe's exclusive rule,
it must be
accepted that citizens abdicated in their responsibilities to
ensure that
their freedom was never to be the business of someone else.
Many
trusted state actors to guarantee their freedom, refusing to be
the change
they wanted to see. The mere fact that the focus is on Mugabe
confirms what
is wrong with the country. People have been crowded out of the
solution
market and the state actors with no better solutions have taken the
mantle
with no defined end game.
A danger exists now as it did in 1980
that citizens yet again will
choose to surrender their sovereignty to
elected (or dubiously elected)
individuals who will represent them in the
inclusive transitional
government. The last 29 years have exposed the fact
that citizens failed to
create their own institutional arrangements to hold
their representatives in
the state accountable and
responsible.
Zimbabwe faces challenges and there remains no
consensus on what is
required to address such challenges.
Sadc/AU, President Mugabe and Zanu PF are at one in holding the view
that
sanctions ought to be removed as a starting point and this alone will
facilitate the turnaround. How accurate is the assessment that Zimbabwe is
solely a victim of the targeted sanctions regime?
If the
priority is to remove sanctions that have been imposed by
sovereign
governments who are entitled to their own opinion about what kind
of
Zimbabwe they want and should like to support, it is unlikely that
Zimbabwe
will move forward in the short-term without addressing the concerns
of the
sanctions imposers.
The Zimbabwean promise can only be
guaranteed and delivered by
Zimbabweans working together. How feasible is it
that Zimbabweans will be
inspired by the transitional administration to take
responsibility for the
country's future?
Over the last 29
years, citizens have rightly lost confidence in their
representatives in the
state who saw their primary function as that of
thinking for the people and
providing for the people. It must now be obvious
that the future of Zimbabwe
lies in the hands of the doers and dreamers who
do not necessary have to be
state actors.
To what extent was the Zimbabwean crisis caused
by bad decisions and
the inaction of citizens?
Zimbabwe has
been joined by even the developed states that are also
engulfed by an
unprecedented economic crisis, a response to which has had
the effect of
placing state actors as the drivers of change and development.
Only
time will tell if state actors can substitute for private actors
in driving
the economic engine, but history does not have good examples of
countries
that have delivered on their promise without citizens enjoying
freedom,
justice and liberty.
What is clear in the case of Zimbabwe is
that the state has now thrown
the towel and has accepted that the power of
the market in allocating
resources cannot be underestimated. For President
Mugabe to accept the
dollarisation regime now in place knowing his views on
the West and
neo-liberal economic theories exposes the fact that there is
after all no
alternative plan in place.
Zimbabweans have no
choice but to make hard choices and deliberate
urgently on issues that bring
cohesion and invest in the information
required to make decisions that
advance the promise. This responsibility
should lie less in the hands of
state actors but citizens whose future
should never again be the business of
a few minds in the state.
There are many ideas that people have
in their minds about what
Zimbabwe needs to move forward but such ideas must
and should not be
retailed but wholesaled through organisation. Zimbabweans,
whether in or out
of the country, must be organised so that they can have an
effective
mechanism to talk to their government.
This must be
done urgently and such organisations must represent real
interests that
determine the success or failure of the country.
Zimbabwe is a
creature of citizens and is an artificial person without
the benefit of a
human voice. Citizens are the only people who can give this
artificial
person a voice. If Zimbabwe were to speak, would it be satisfied
with the
actions of citizens in advancing its interests?
Zimbabwe is at
the crossroads and it can only move forward by finding
opportunity, common
ground and leverage in its hitherto divided society. It
would be wrong for
citizens to choose to be spectators of history at this
defining moment. It
is important that citizens reclaim their future by
demanding from their
representatives a new dispensation of transparency and
accountability.
Already, it is obvious that all is not well
in the state. Gideon Gono
continues to make the case that he was as much a
victim of sanctions as he
was a victim of the actions of a confused
administration.
An understanding of the role of the RBZ and the
state in undermining
the rule of law, property rights and human rights
through a commission of
inquiry set up by the inclusive government has to be
a good starting point
to allow citizens to know how far their government had
been imprisoned a by
few "wise" men and women.
Mawere is a
Zimbabwe-born South African businessman.
BY MUTUMWA MAWERE
http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com
Thursday, 12 February 2009 16:24
THE recent 2009 national Budget Statement, closely followed by the
Monetary
Policy Statement for the first half-year of 2009, contained much
that was
highly commendable, targeted at stimulating and facilitating the
very
long-awaited and very overdue, greatly needed, economic turnaround.
Tragically, however, that turnaround will be markedly less than is so
desperately needed to restore wellbeing for the grievously distressed,
grossly impoverished, majority of Zimbabweans, for both statements were
cataclysmically imbalanced in that, notwithstanding many positive contents,
there were equally many facets of the intended new policies which are not
only inconducive to economic recovery, but will also retard the extent of
that recovery.
Of the numerous economic issues which have to be
urgently and
constructively addressed, the first and foremost is the
horrendous
hyperinflation which has raised the cost of living to atmospheric
heights,
beyond the means of almost all. (No authoritative inflation data
exists, in
the absence of any releases from Central Statistical Office
(CSO) for more
than six months, but it is indisputable that the annualised
rate of
inflation is many trillions per cent, or even
more.)
The need for dynamic inflation-reduction actions was
unequivocally
acknowledged by the Acting Minster of Finance, Patrick
Chinamasa, in his
Budget Statement, but inconsistently with that recognition
of the necessary,
he then tabled several proposals which will markably
increase inflation,
instead of reducing it.
Amongst the
inflationary measures is the imposition of the previously
foreshadowed fuel
levy of 22 US cents per litre.
There is not a single element of the
Zimbabwean economy that is not
heavily fuel dependent, be it for public
transport to and from employment,
the carriage of goods to and from
industry, the operations of the
agricultural, mining and tourism sectors, or
any other socio-economic
activity.
Whilst the fuel levy
will generate considerable, very much needed
revenues for government, it
will be an immense direct and indirect burden
upon the economy as a whole
and upon the consumer population in particular.
Not only will the
consequential hardships of the populace be immense,
but the inflation
occasioned by the fuel levy will severely impact upon the
economy, and
therefore have very negative effects upon other governmental
revenue
flows.
In like manner, the long-intended levying of toll fees
on national
roads, now to be introduced by March 1 2009, will exacerbate
inflation, for
they will apply to the very considerable heavy-duty haulage
vehicles which
ply the intercity roads, carrying manufacturing inputs to
industry, finished
goods for distribution to consumers, agricultural produce
to markets, and
much else, as well as also become a substantive costs to all
other road
users.
As if these measures do not suffice to
increase inflation to a
gargantuan extent, customs duties on many imports
have also been very
increased. Although it is very meritorious that the
Acting Minister of
Finance desires to protect local manufacturers against
undue import
competition, the new range and level of duties do not only
pursue this
objective but, in innumerable instances, markedly increase the
landed costs
of very many essential imports.
It is
incomprehensible that government should increase the costs to
consumers
of absolutely essential products, and particularly so when most
consumers
are already so impoverished that more than half of Zimbabwe's
population is
desperately struggling to survive on incomes far below the
food datum
line, whilst over three-quarters of the population barely
subsist at
levels below the poverty datum line! Such actions by the
government verges
upon the criminally irresponsible.
But these appallingly
ill-considered budgetary actions were not the
only ones which will
catastrophically worsen inflation, causing ever-greater
suffering for most
Zimbabweans, and potentially accelerating economic
collapse.
Government has approved massive tariff increases for various
parastatals,
and especially so for the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority
(Zesa).
Admittedly, previously prevailing tariffs were unrealistically low,
and were
relatively minuscule by comparison with those prevailing elsewhere
in the
region.
But government has now moved from one extreme to the other,
raising
the tariffs to as great as five times those applicable in
neighbouring
territories.
The impacts of those increases
will not only be upon the general
population of Zimbabweans, as consumers,
but will have volcanic operational
cost effects upon all economic sectors,
and therefore upon the prices of all
goods and services (whilst concurrently
further eroding export market
competitiveness, with consequentially great
reductions in production
volumes, which will in turn very considerably
increase all domestic market
prices).
Similar, overly-great
tariff increases have been approved for diverse
other parastatals, with
similar adverse repercussions.
Compounding these and many other
governmentally-created triggers of
yet greater inflation is the
authorisation of Zesa, various other
parastatals and local authorities to
require payment of service charges in
foreign currency by all, other than in
certain respects by residents of
high-density areas.
Not all
enterprises in commerce and industry, and not all residents of
medium and
low-density areas are recipients of foreign currency and,
therefore, in
order to fund access to essential services, many will have no
alternative
but (unlawfully) to source foreign currency needs in the
"alternative" black
and parallel markets.
Moreover, not all businesses will be able
to obtain foreign exchange
licences from the Reserve Bank, in view of the
prohibitively high license
fee of US$12 000 per annum. Such fee is far
beyond the means of low turnover
enterprises of a nature which does not
qualify them to be registered SMEs
(for whom lesser fees apply), but whose
revenues cannot sustain a fee of
such magnitude.
Such
enterprises will be confronted with only two options, being
either to
discontinue operations or, in the alternative, notwithstanding
the
constraints of law, to source required foreign currency illegally, at
high
cost, impacting upon their pricing policies and therefore, upon
inflation.
Yet another highly inflationary determination of
government contained
in the Budget Statement is the obligation, imposed upon
all businesses as
are registered VAT operators, to effect payment of VAT to
the Zimbabwe
Revenue Authority (Zimra) by the third day of each
month.
Any businesses that extend credit to customers will, to
a very
substantial extent, not have received payment for sales by that date,
and
therefore will have to fund the VAT payments from own
resources.
With most having suffered severe capital erosion due to
hyperinflation, they will have to fund the VAT payments from bank overdrafts
or other borrowings, at interest rates exceeding 40 000 per cent per
annum. To do so, they will have to cost the burden of interest into selling
prices, representing yet further inflation.
How does the
Zimbabwean government expect to achieve the long overdue,
critically
necessary economic recovery, when it is the catalyst for yet
further,
untenably great, inflation? Despite the various positive measures
in the
Budget, nevertheless government has cruelly, once again, shackled the
economy, and it must urgently rethink those foolhardy intents.
http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com
Thursday, 12
February 2009 17:03
FIRST things first: it's not a bad thing to join
millions of fellow
citizens in passing on good wishes to the new Prime
Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai on his ascent to the post of
premier.
This is necessary because his success or failure and that
of
government have a bearing on the welfare of us all.
Yet at
the same time it would be pertinent to remind Tsvangirai and
his colleagues
in government right from the start that time for long
speeches and rhetoric
is up. The next step demands leadership and delivery.
The
rather easier part has been done. Negotiating, bargaining, and
signing
agreements in five-star hotels while wining and dining extravagantly
was the
relatively easy part.
The real task for Tsvangirai and his
colleagues in government lies
ahead. Problems confronting them and the
nation are many and varied. They
are multifaceted and mountainous. The climb
will be steep and hard.
Zimbabwe desperately needs a New Deal
to end a decade of misery and
suffering authored by President Robert
Mugabe's hopelessly corrupt and
incompetent regime. The damage inflicted on
the fabric of the nation and its
social fibre by this coterie of lazy,
greedy and failed leaders is severe.
Tsvangirai and the
government need to appreciate that we are engulfed
in a sea of troubles. The
waters around us are choppy and that requires
ministers to stop behaving as
if they are on a summer picnic as soon they
take office
today.
The behaviour of ministers hanging around in offices
like tourists on
holiday must stop.
The attitude of public
officials who think that getting into office is
a means to primitive
accumulation of wealth via stealing and bribes must no
longer be
entertained.
It's refreshing Tsvangirai promised "honest and
open" leadership. But
it doesn't end there. He must not just give his word,
but walk the talk.
From day one, ministers must show they mean
business. They must also
remember they are public officials paid through
taxpayers' money. They are
not "chefs" but public servants. They were
elected or appointed to serve the
people, not to boss them around and steal
from them.
With the entry of Tsvangirai into government,
navigating the stormy
seas surrounding Zimbabwe's economy could be somewhat
easier if those in
charge work together in thrust and
purpose.
The first 100 days will be critical. They will show
whether or not the
government has picked the right or wrong
direction.
As Tsvangirai rightly said, the top priorities of
the government would
have to include, first and foremost, dealing with the
humanitarian crisis
which is characterised by hunger and disease. People are
starving, mostly in
rural areas. They need emergency food relief. That must
be mobilised and
distributed immediately without prejudice.
Mugabe's regime has a long history of using food as a political
weapon,
feeding its supporters alone while starving rival followers. It also
has a
record of banning food distribution among the population considered to
be
politically hostile.
Government must first move to stamp out
cholera, an easily treatable
disease that was allowed by the ancien regime
to spread like a veld fire,
killing over 3 000 people - which is a massacre
worse than the civilian
killings during the recent Gaza war. Nearly 100 000
others were affected.
Mugabe's government dismally failed to act. Foreigners
actually rescued the
situation.
Apart from dealing with
hunger and disease, government must deal with
social services. They must
move quickly to ensure schools, universities and
colleges, hospitals and
clinics and other public utilities are reopened.
Public transport must be
revived. Water and electricity supply must be
restored. Sewage systems must
be repaired. Garbage must be collected.
Roads must be repaired
or resurfaced.
These are the basic benchmarks we shall judge
them by before we even
come to the tougher task of economic recovery. The
state of the economy is
shocking. This must be noted. Mugabe and his cronies
succeeded in destroying
a once-prosperous economy, turning it into the
Zimbabwe Ruins.
The damage is huge and appalling. It would need
a massive aid package
to reverse. Zimbabwe needs urgent aid and
balance-of-payments support to
stabilise the economy before instituting
fundamental reforms.
This means a comprehensive economic
stabilisation plan is essential.
It has to deal with basic and structural
economic problems. The revival of
agriculture, the mainstay of the economy,
and industry is key. Domestic and
foreign direct investment are needed.
Loans, grants and aid inflows will be
vital.
In that
connection, political reforms must come soon. The rule of law
and property
rights must be restored. This means the judiciary and other key
arms of
government must be freed from executive chains.
Political
repression and impunity must stop. Civil and political
liberties must be
restored. The media has to be unchained now. We need a new
constitution. We
also need to stamp out the endemic culture of political
violence, arbitrary
arrests and torture. The country needs to be freed from
Mugabe's legacy of
fear, hunger and poverty.
BY DUMISANI MULEYA
http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com
Thursday, 12 February
2009 17:03
ARE we witnessing the beginning of a new era or simply
seeing the old
guard purchasing a new lease on life?
It has to
be said, while newspapers may be duty-bound to exercise some
scepticism over
an arrangement that allows President Mugabe's dead-wood
cronies to hang on
to office when their dismal record is only too evident,
at the same time
there is room for cautious optimism as a new generation
takes charge at
various levels within the country.
The MDC now governs most of the
nation's urban centres, including its
four largest cities. It has a majority
of parliamentary seats, 14 cabinet
posts, and the posts of prime minister
and deputy prime minister. Several
governorships are on their way, we
gather.
Whatever the obstacles to change laid in the path of
the party's
agenda, it cannot claim an absence of capacity. What it lacks is
experience.
But that is a problem common to new incumbents around the
world.
Tony Blair and nearly all his cabinet were new to office in
1997. So
was Nelson Mandela in 1994. What the MDC needs to do is seize the
goodwill
going for it at home and abroad and make capital out of
it.
There are a number of litmus tests which the new government
will face.
In his Glamis Stadium address, Tsvangirai referred to restoration
of the
rule of law as a priority.
That will mean the release of
the remaining political prisoners, an
end to abductions and torture, and a
complete overhaul of the
law-enforcement regime aimed at instilling
professional behaviour. Giles
Mutsekwa as co-Home Affairs minister has a
mountain to climb in getting this
done.
Tsvangirai said he
wanted to see a country in which people are not
afraid to express their
opinions. That for the media means allowing a
diversity of views to contend.
In particular we want to see a public media
where people of differing
viewpoints have access.
For too long the country has been
"served" by a partisan and
unprofessional media which denounces the ruling
party's perceived enemies.
Their inept coverage of Tsvangirai's swearing in
tells us all we need to
know about their usefulness.
As was
pointed out at a Jomic meeting last week, once ZBC opens up to
a
proliferation of views, there will be no need for exiled broadcasters. We
must allow our own nationals to return home and extend a welcome to foreign
correspondents.
We have for too long heard about the evil
of sanctions without being
told of the evils that gave birth to them. Even
as the swearing in ceremony
was taking place, the state's apologists were
dutifully claiming that the
nation's crisis stemmed from
sanctions.
Sadc, the AU and shamefully even Arthur Mutambara were
adding their
voices to this mendacity without calling for a restoration of
the rule of
law and the release of political prisoners.
It
is important to remind ourselves that the circumstances that led to
the
imposition of sanctions - political violence, illegal land seizures,
misgovernance - persist. That is why we need a professional police force and
an independent judiciary that is not afraid to uphold individual rights,
particularly the right to liberty.
Tsvangirai has his work
cut out for him. He reminded his audience at
Glamis Stadium on Wednesday
that it was exactly 19 years to the day since
Nelson Mandela walked as a
free man from imprisonment in Cape Town.
Wednesday's events were just the
beginning of a similar journey, he
emphasised. It would be a "long road to
freedom" for his party with so much
on their agenda.
One of
his priorities will be the collapse of the health system. The
cholera
scourge stalking the land is the direct product of political
delinquency. If
funds allocated to fleets of vehicles for ministers,
generals and judges had
instead been spent on proper sanitation systems, we
could have saved
thousands of lives.
Some of Tsvangirai's ministers will think
they have been given a
ticket to jump aboard the state's gravy train. He
needs to disabuse them of
this view and light a fire under those sleeping on
the job.
The people voted for change. They want to see change. They
want a
unity government only in so far as it delivers
results.
Now let's see it do that.
http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com
Thursday, 12
February 2009 16:14
THE Zimbabwe Independent and Standard were
represented at last Friday's
meeting of Jomic where media houses were called
upon to promote national
healing.
In terms of the September 15
accord the press is expected to provide
"balanced and fair coverage" to all
parties and to refrain from using
language that may incite
hostility.
Prof Welshman Ncube chaired the meeting. The monitoring
body is
co-chaired by Zanu PF, MDC-T and MDC on a rotational basis with
Nicholas
Goche and Elton Mangoma as the other
co-chairpersons.
Representatives of Zimpapers and ZBH were also
present.
The government press rose to the occasion by reporting
only what the
politicians present said. They censored not only what the
private media had
to say but also what their own colleagues
said.
So here is an approximate summary of the points
made.
ZBC kicked off by complaining bitterly about sanctions
and asking what
measures were being taken against "pirate" radio
stations.
Members of the committee replied that there should be
no need for
"external" stations to continue their operations if ZBC
performed its
mandate as a public service. The Herald in its version
translated this as
"illegal operations".
The independent
journalists pointed out that the first sanctions that
needed to be lifted
were those imposed upon the press. Aippa in particular
needed to
go.
Zanu PF and the MDC had arbitrarily decided upon amendments to
the Act
at the beginning of last year. This absence of consultation should
not
happen again, it was said.
The public media remained
abusive and partisan, it was argued, despite
the September 15 agreement.
This should stop. In particular, the public
media should act more
professionally. As a public media, it needed to
reflect the diversity of
Zimbabwean society. Journalists expelled from the
country should be welcomed
back, it was said.
Zimpapers claimed that the public media
should be loyal to the
government of the day. Zimind responded that the
public media should be
beholden to the public, not the
government.
This was "semantics", a ZBH official
said.
Jomic would be subject to public scrutiny of their
performance, the
independent press made it clear.
Independent
journalists would certainly not be "called" to take their
marching orders
from the committee.
That was not the committee's intention, the
chairman replied. The
committee sought the cooperation of all players, both
private and public.
He also said the committee was not
concerned with past grievances. The
country needed to move
forwards.
It is not clear where that leaves Aippa. But
generally speaking,
Zimind welcomes Jomic's approach to the media and
expects to see "balanced
and fair" reporting - conspicuous by its absence in
the state media's
coverage of the Jomic meeting - given greater
attention.
On Friday evening, the same day as the Jomic
meeting, Goodson Nguni
was telling ZTV viewers that Britain, America and
white people were the
country's "enemies".
Let's place this
on record so we know who the country's real enemies
are.
A
sheriff in Scotland has accused a mixed-race mother fighting a
child-access
dispute of behaving like the Zimbabwean president, Robert
Mugabe, and
"inciting anarchy".
Sheriff Richard Davidson's comments,
directed at Tina Monem, have come
under fire from race campaigners, who are
demanding an investigation.
The sheriff, who has found himself
at the centre of controversy over
previous comments, told Monem (26), whose
father is from Bangladesh, that if
she did not accept his ruling, she could
"go to Zimbabwe".
She had repeatedly refused to comply with a
court decision allowing
her former partner to have access to his child with
an adult relative
present. In court papers Sheriff Davidson stressed the
importance of
upholding "the rule of law".
"If you want an
illustration of what happens when the rule of law is
undermined by
government, you need look no further than what is currently
going on in
Zimbabwe, where the president, who is scarcely still entitled to
be so
described, has by brute force and threats of violence completely
undermined
the democratic process," he wrote. "You may find the analogy with
Robert
Mugabe to be distressing and uncomfortable, but if I let you get away
with
continuing to defy the order of the court, then someone else will defy
the
order of the court citing you as a precedent and, before long, we will
have
anarchy."
He went on: "If you want to live subject to an
anarchic dictatorship,
then you can go to Zimbabwe. I will not allow anarchy
to rule here."
Monem, from Carnoustie, Angus, told The Scotsman
she was "deeply
humiliated" by the Dundee-based sheriff's remarks. "I feel
horribly upset at
being prejudiced against and about being compared to
Robert Mugabe.
I'm not going out killing people, yet the sheriff
thought it perfectly
all right to have both our names in the same sentence.
Monem, a deputy
scheme manager at Bield Housing Association in Dundee,
added: "I've studied
and gone to college and I've got a job, but comments
like that bring back
all the bad memories."
Sheriff
Davidson's remarks have ignited a debate over the extent to
which members of
Scotland's judiciary should be held to account for their
comments. The
principle of independence within the judiciary means sheriffs
and judges are
protected from political influence and remain generally free
from censure by
ministers.
Muckraker was shocked by a report in the Guardian
recently that
Britain is to give India US$1,2 billion over the next three
years to lift
hundreds of millions of people out of
poverty.
India, let us remind ourselves, is a nuclear-armed
power that sent a
spacecraft to the moon last year. If its government
chooses to spend
national resources on nuclear armament, that is its own
sorry business. But
what does the UK government think it is doing spending
public resources in
the middle of an unprecedented financial crisis on what
Indians themselves
should be doing - alleviating poverty?
Which brings us to the next point. India recently celebrated its 59th
birthday as a republic. It is the world's largest democracy, we are
constantly reminded. Extensive column inches were devoted in the press to
what it has achieved in that time. Zimbabwe has benefited from technology
training, we are told.
But what steps has India taken to
cultivate democracy in the
developing world? Has it ever said a single thing
about human rights
violations in countries such as Zimbabwe and Burma? Or is
it too preoccupied
with maintaining its influence through the Non-Aligned
Movement? Which
requires it to say nothing!
'The press in
Zimbabwe has let the people down." MIC chair Tafataona
Mahoso declared in
his tortuous Sunday Mail contribution last weekend. That's
because we had
failed to expose that nothing has changed in the opposition's
regime-change
agenda.
Needless to say, nothing has changed in Mahoso's
anti-democratic
agenda either!
The parties and media
involved in the "illegal regime-change onslaught
on Zimbabwe", he
complained, have adopted the rhetoric of power sharing
while continuing to
pursue their original objectives.
So, at last he's got it! The
MDC and civic society will continue to
press for democratic reform in the
teeth of resistance from political
recidivists like Mahoso.
In particular, we have to be polite about President Mugabe.
"Any attempt to deny or destroy his role is not consistent with the
meaning
of power-sharing and inclusive governance," Mahoso
pontificates.
In other words, despite the fact that Mugabe is
head of state, head of
government and first secretary of the ruling party,
we should not question
his ability to run the country.
How
convenient!
"The people elected President Mugabe on June 27
2008. Sadc has no
quarrel with President Mugabe," Mahoso declares. "The AU
has no quarrel with
him."
Fortunately our paper last week
carried the text of the Rev Frank
Chikane's remarks at the conclusion of the
Pretoria meeting on January 28.
Referring to last year's
election, he said the first round of voting
in March was held under
conditions that were acceptable.
"Now the second round was done
and both Sadc and the AU and everybody
agreed that the conditions for the
second round were not acceptable in terms
of free and fair elections and
there has not been any doubt or controversy
about that
matter."
So, the director-general in the South African
presidency is quite sure
that there is agreement by all concerned that the
June election was held
under conditions that were unacceptable in terms of
free and fair elections.
He spoke for Sadc.
Mahoso nearly
got away with it. But you see what difference a free
press
makes.
No wonder he denounces us. We get in the way of his
deceit. Nobody
except Mahoso believes the June election was free and fair.
We all knew
that. Now we have it on the record, both South African and
Sadc.
Gideon Gono appears to be fighting a rearguard action against
Patrick
Chinamasa's budget.
There have been misconceptions, he
suggested. Under dollarisation the
foreign currency formally replaces the
currency of another, he explained to
the Sunday Mail's Munyaradzi Huni.
"This is quite distinct from what we have
done here which is simply that for
ease of transactional purposes in the
light of sanctions against our cash
supply chain, we have allowed the
co-circulation of the Zimbabwe dollar
along with foreign currencies. The
foreign currencies are therefore
complementing the local currency, rather
than replacing
it."
Yes, but doesn't the local unit have to have some value
before it can
be "complemented"?
Muckraker was intrigued by
Master of Ceremonies, Washington Mbizvo's
remarks at Wednesday's swearing in
ceremony. The word "fulsome" came to mind
as he heaped praise on President
Mugabe and compared events to Galileo
"navigating his way around the
world".
As far as we recall Galileo never left the European
shore!
That was not the only falsehood uttered by the good
doctor during this
historic occasion. He also attributed to Galileo the
statement: "The real
leader has no need to lead - he is content to point the
way".
A basic Google search reveals that the statement was
coined by modern
times American novelist and painter Henry Miller who died
in 1980.
As Higher Education permanent secretary, is it not
evident which way
the good doctor has been leading our colleges and
universities.
But never mind, this turned out to be
Tsvangirai's day. He was warmly
greeted by Sadc leaders after the ceremony,
and even John Nkomo and Didymus
("Mugabe is our king") Mutasa found time to
chat. Grace came over and
extended her congratulations. But the service
chiefs were conspicuous by
their absence. It's just as well. They may have
spoilt the party with some
maladroit remarks.
Somebody who
wasn't going to let anybody rain on his parade was Arthur
Mutambara. He
looked like the cat who had got the cream. But we don't fully
understand the
pause between "So help me" and "God".
"God" was invoked with some
enthusiasm.
Is there method in Arthur's madness? Who
knows.
Finally, we were delighted to have a call from Aleksandr
Lebedev, the
Russian media magnate who recently bought a stake in the London
Evening
Standard. He was the subject of our Memo last week.
The editor, who took the call, said Lebedev was very keen to meet our
proprietors.
We shall have to make it clear that if he is
interested he will have
to pay more for our papers than he did for the
Evening Standard - £1!
http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com
Thursday, 12
February 2009 16:04
A PERSISTANT dilemma in modern democratic systems
has been the tension
surrounding the boundaries of the roles of elected
politicians and
professional administrators in the civil
service.
Pundits of public administration are usually divided on
how to deal
with this problem which has more often than not blurred the
profile of the
civil service in many developing countries.
On the
one side, there are those advocating the absolute control of
government
bureaucratic institutions by a neutral and professional civil
service and on
the other those who contend that "to the victor go the
spoils". The latter
ideal calls for huge shifts in the senior civil service
after a transition
of power.
We do not expect this huge shift in power after the
formation of the
new inclusive government this week because no victor
emerged strong enough
to run with all the spoils after the elections last
year.
The political impasse of the last 10 months has accentuated
the
degeneracy of the civil service to the extent that the new government is
faced with not only dealing with the scourge of partisanship but apparent
bureaucratic delinquency wrought by misrule.
A civil
service working under a corrupt and inefficient system
superintended by Zanu
PF for close to three decades can only perform to
those warped
standards.
We have in this country today a civil service that has
been shaped by
the evolutionary decay of Zanu PF as a political entity. We
have a civil
service that has demonstrated unmitigated failure in carrying
out the simple
administrative tasks of issuing a birth certificate, an ID
card or a
passport.
That same crop of civil servants -- as long
as it retains the same
traits of Zanu PF politics -- cannot be trusted to
implement a new political
ethos that should eclipse the current state of
decay around us.
Before advocating wholesale changes to the
system, it is key to
examine the phases that the civil service has been
forced to go through in
response to the changing political landscape in the
country since 2000.
After President Mugabe's humiliating defeat
in the 2000 referendum,
and the close poll results that year and in 2002,
Zanu PF exhibited traits
of administrative and structural weakness which
prompted major changes in
the running of the party.
The civil
service was enlisted to prop up the flailing administrative
pillars of Zanu
PF. There was devolution of power from the cadres of the war
of liberation
to fresh-faced but wickedly ambitious technocrats who set out
on the task of
remodelling the civil service into a caricature of Zanu PF.
Political
scientist Jonathan Moyo became the public face of this project.
The public media became the mouthpiece of the party. The Information
ministry spoke for the party and acted for the party. More outlets of
patronage were added to the civil service to feed the party's insatiable
appetite for power.
Ministers and other senior government
officials were potty-trained to
read from the same hymn sheet in defence of
Zanu PF. Senior administrative
positions in government were staffed with
Zanu PF cardholders whose
perception of service was attuned to serve the
party first.
The post 2000 era saw the morphing of the army, the
police and even
the judiciary into political centres of power with deference
to Zanu PF.
This project breathed a bit of life into Zanu PF's waning soul
but
unfortunately the civil service faltered in tandem with the failing
economy.
It again started to fail in its duty to prop up the party by
providing
crucial logistical support and playing the commissariat
role.
To get fresh impetus, the party turned to the security
establishments
for support, hence the overt militarisation of civic duties.
Serving
soldiers and ex-servicemen were appointed to crucial positions in
parastatals and governments departments.
They were recruited to
head government taskforces and boards. Through
the JOC, the military was
invited into the governance system to formulate
virtually all government
policies and supervise their implementation. It is
not surprising therefore
that Mugabe should turn to the military to run his
campaign in the run-off
last June.
This is the big task ahead for new Public Service
minister Prof Elphas
Mukonoweshuro in reforming the public service. The
process to sharpen the
profile of the civil service should take two key
dimensions: exorcising the
ghost of Zanu PF from sections of the civil
service and chaperoning the
military back to the barracks.
Perhaps this was what President Mugabe meant on Wednesday when he
repeated
his famous statement of yesteryear that we should "beat swords into
ploughshares".
The civil service has been abused -- and has
become abusive -- and it
is important for the new administration to put in
place measures to protect
it from political partisanship and
interference.
There must be a realisation that higher level civil
servants do not
only implement public policy but can also promote broad
public interest and
prevent any future abuse of powers by
politicians.
BY VINCENT KAHIYA