FinGaz
Njabulo Ncube
THE ruling
ZANU–PF, grappling with damaging internal fissures sparked by
Simba Makoni’s
surprise challenge against President Robert Mugabe, has
wasted no time in
weeding out parliamentary hopefuls perceived to be
sympathetic to the former
finance minister’s presidential bid.
Information obtained by the
Financial Gazette yesterday indicates that the
presidium this week took it
upon itself to vet the list of candidates
seeking election to the House of
Assembly, Senate and local government on a
ZANU–PF ticket in the wake of the
threat posed by Makoni’s foray into the
presidential race.
The strategy
has in the past week seen the ZANU–PF National Election
Directorate, headed
by Elliot Manyika, staging primary election re–runs in
nine of the 10
political provinces in the country, in what observers claim
is part of
President Mugabe’s pre–emptive strike against Makoni and his
secret backers
thought to represent about 90 percent of decision-makers in
ZANU–PF.
The
same information shows that those suspected to be allied to Makoni or
whose
allegiances were no longer clear, have been prevented from standing
against
President Mugabe’s loyalists in the on–going re-runs.
Documents obtained by
this paper show that Manyika wrote to all ZANU–PF
Provincial Electoral
Directorates informing them that the party had made
changes to the list of
candidates contesting primary elections in their
respective
provinces.
The most affected provinces were Masvingo and Manicaland where
almost all
sitting MPs and Cabinet Ministers were being challenged, an
indication,
according to ZANU–PF insiders, that the generality of ruling
party cadres
and supporters yearned for urgent leadership renewal in the
ruling party up
to the presidium. In Manicaland, three constituencies were
affected while in
Masvingo nearly half of the constituencies in the populous
provinces had
re–runs or had parliamentary hopefuls barred from contesting
against
incumbents.
The affected constituencies in Manicaland were Buhera
West, Makoni South and
Makoni West.
In Makoni West Agriculture
Mechanisation Minister Joseph Made was trounced
by war veteran Nation
Madongorere by 396 votes.
Surprisingly, on February 8 Manyika advised the
Manicaland Provincial
Elections Directorate to ignore the result. Without
giving reason, he wrote:
“Cde Nation Matongorere should be asked to step
down. Cde Joseph Made’s
candidature still stands.”
In Buhera West, Elasto
Mugwadi, the former chief immigration officer and
Finnie Munyira, the former
permanent secretary for Local Government were
approved by the presidium to
contest primaries against Tapiwa Zengeya.
They, however. ended up being
unopposed, allegedly after instructions from
the authorities.
Makoni
South, which initially had been reserved for women, was opened up at
the
last minute and Shadreck Chipanga was approved to contest against any
other
aspiring candidate.
Meanwhile, the Nomination Court sits tomorrow to accept
nomination papers
from candidates for presidential, parliamentary, senate
and council
elections scheduled to take place on March 29.
President
Mugabe, MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai and Makoni are expected to
vie for the
highest office in the land. The Nomination Court for
presidential candidates
will sit at the Administrative Court in Harare,
while candidates for both
the House of Assembly and the Senate will be
attended to at magistrates
courts in all the provinces.
The venue for the Nomination Court for local
government polls will be the
offices of town clerks or chief executive
officers in each of the country's
86 local authorities. The Nomination Court
was supposed to have sat last
Friday, but the date was pushed forward by a
week after political parties
failed to conclude primary elections on
schedule.
After the harmonised polls on March 29, chiefs' provincial
assemblies will
meet on March 31 to elect 16 chiefs to the senate.
After
setting the date of the sitting of the Nomination Court, the
government also
gazetted statutory Instrument 13 B/2008 that says in local
government polls,
candidates no longer have to produce police and local
authority rates
clearance certificates when submitting their nomination
papers.
FinGaz
Clemence Manyukwe
THE
Ministry of Health says Harare’s drinking water is unsafe and poses a
danger
to public health, The Financial Gazette established this week. The
damning
report was submitted to the joint parliamentary committee on Local
Government and Health by the Health Ministry’s environment and health
department.
ZANU–PF Mazowe West legislator Margaret Zinyemba chairs
the Local Government
committee and Movement for Democratic Change (MDC)
Kwekwe legislator
Blessing Chebundo chairs the Health committee. In an
interview on Tuesday,
Chebundo confirmed receiving such submissions from the
Health Ministry.
An assistant said Zinyemba would only be available for
comment at the end of
the week.
The joint parliamentary report detailing
the water situation will, however
not see the light of day as parliament
will be dissolved on March 28, a day
before the presidential and
parliamentary polls. “The water samples showed
that Harare’s water could
pose a danger to people’s health. We were worried
as a committee,” Chebundo
said. He said the committee took the findings as
being reflective of the
situation in other towns and cities. The Local
Government committee has
previously tabled reports in parliament advising
against the controlling of
water affairs by the Zimbabwe National Water
Authority (ZINWA), but
government has so far ignored the recommendations.
“Zinwa defended the
situation,” Chebundo added.
Recently more than 400 cases of diarrhoea were
reported in Mabvuku/Tafara.
At the time of the outbreak, the Minister of
Health, David Parirenyatwa, was
quoted in the state media attributing the
problem to the water situation.
“It is very difficult to bring the situation
under control because the
provision of adequate sanitation and water should
be attained first,” he
said.
Contacted for comment, Water Resources
Minister Mutezo said: “ I am not
aware of that submission, so I can’t
comment. Besides it would be improper
for me to comment on a parliamentary
report that has not been tabled. It
would be unprocedural.”
FinGaz
Njabulo Ncube
WHILE
Simba Makoni’s bid to become the country’s next executive President
has
undoubtedly caused sparks to fly in the electoral arena, analysts say
the
former finance minister still needs to thoroughly cleanse himself of any
lingering whiff of ZANU–PF to win over skeptics in the main opposition and
allies in civic society organisations.
An envisaged united political
front seemed unlikely to include Morgan
Tsvangirai and his camp of the
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) after
the former trade unionist
dismissed the former ZANU–PF deputy secretary for
economic affairs as “old
wine in a new bottle.”
At the same time civic society organisations have
resolved to support the
MDC, which has failed to dislodge ZANU–PF from power
since its formation in
1998.
Analysts who spoke to The Financial Gazette
this week said an alliance now
depended on Makoni and his backers striking a
deal with Tsvangirai and civic
society organisations for there to be a
realistic chance of beating
President Robert Mugabe in the March 29
polls.
The analysts noted that while it was undisputed that Makoni appeared
to have
“superior” academic credentials to Tsvangirai’s, who said on Sunday
he would
not step aside for the former Cabinet Minister, doubts still
lingered on
Makoni’s capacity to divert rural support away from President
Mugabe and
ZANU–PF.
They said Makoni needed to do much more to convince
skeptics in the
opposition, and its key allies that he is indeed his own
man, and not a
decoy stalking President Mugabe’s horse.
This is despite
demonstrating sincerity and openness in his presidential bid
over the past
week when he has addressed two press conferences.
“He needs Tsvangirai more
than Tsvangirai needs him,” said Eldred
Masunungure, a professor of
Political Science at the University of Zimbabwe.
“He has made a number of
blunders since announcing his presidential bid,
among them his un–severed
attachment to ZANU–PF when he needs to embrace the
broader opposition
society, including Tsvangirai, that has been clamouring
for change for
nearly a decade now,” added Masunungure.
Yet others said the rural vote,
which ZANU–PF has depended on to trounce the
opposition, has become restless
and disgruntled with the ruling party and
could find Makoni a refreshing
alternative.
They said in as much as Makoni needs the opposition MDC, the
fractured
opposition also needed him given that Tsvangirai has twice failed
to wrest
power from President Mugabe.
Useni Sibanda, the co–ordinator of
Christian Alliance, said Makoni still had
a mountain to climb if he was to
win the support of an un–convinced
opposition and the generality of civic
society, which were initially excited
by his entry into the presidential
race.
“There are principles and values we uphold as Christian Alliance. For
instance we need to hear his views concerning a people–driven constitution,
something we believe in,” said Sibanda. “What is his vision beyond the
presidential race, we need to hear him speak on the issue of the rule of
law, human rights, the economy. We need to get all these issues into
perspective before making a judgment,” he said.
Sibanda said it was
important for Makoni not to triviliase the opposition,
especially the
popular Tsvangirai camp.
Masunungure said rejecting ZANU–PF and then
embracing the opposition should
have been Makoni’s first step before
announcing his presidential ambition.
“His statement that he is still part of
ZANU–PF has put a lot of people off.
That’s why Tsvangirai and Lovemore
Madhuku are finding it easy to say they
can’t work with him because he
sounds as if he is still wearing his ZANU–PF
jacket.
“What Makoni needs
is to come out clearly and cleanly state that he has
failed to reform
ZANU–PF from within but now needs others to help him,” he
said.
Sibanda
concurred, adding that Makoni needed to move with speed to patch
differences
with the opposition, which enjoys unbridled support in urban
areas.
“People still need to know whom he is working with in ZANU–PF.
When these
so–called ZANU–PF heavy weights remain faceless, people will
continue to be
cautious about Makoni. People will then be able to judge
whether or not the
people he is working with can eclipse the work that has
been done so far by
Tsvangirai and other opposition leaders and democratic
forces to bring about
change in this country,” said Sibanda. Political
analysts however, said
strategically it might not be necessary for Makoni to
reveal the people he
is working with from ZANU–PF. “The strategy could be
for his peers in
ZANU–PF to continue weakening the party from within and to
dump it just
before the poll date,” said a source. “In any case most of
these ZANU-PF
heavyweights are excess baggage and could actually complicate
things for
Makoni,” added the source.
Makoni (57) announced his
presidential bid in the March 29 elections last
week after months of
speculation, sparking panic within ZANU–PF and the
equally fractious
opposition MDC.
He is expected to reveal the names of the people working with
him after the
sitting of the nomination court on Friday.
While
maintaining Makoni would play a critical role in the future of the
country,
Tsvangirai said there were fundamental differences between him and
Makoni as
the latter appeared to be pursuing an agenda of reforming the
governing
ZANU–PF to ensure that the same ruling party elite retained
power.
Tsvangirai said Makoni had not formally approached his political
formation
for a united front in the March 29 plebiscite.
“The differences
are fundamental. He says he is still ZANU–PF… we have
nothing in common with
ZANU–PF. Dr Makoni is nothing more than old wine in a
new bottle,” said
Tsvangirai.
While the Arthur Mutambara camp of the MDC has said the door was
still open
for Makoni to engage it about forging a united front, there is
still concern
among the Tsvangirai camp supporters that the former finance
minister’s
candidacy could be a ploy by President Mugabe to split the
opposition vote.
Makoni has, however, vehemently dismissed such
suggestions.
“I am not a ZANU–PF ploy, I am genuine, I am honest and I am
nobody’s tool
or agent,” Makoni told journalists last week. “I urge the
people not to be
duped by falsehoods.”
Makoni is thought to be close to
Solomon Mujuru, the retired army general,
who is the husband of the country’
vice President Joice Mujuru.
Makoni’s announcement forced President Mugabe to
cancel a ZANU–PF politburo
meeting last Wednesday, which had been scheduled
to vet candidates to
represent the ruling party in the parliamentary, senate
and local government
polls.
Makoni was officially expelled from ZANU–PF
at a rescheduled politburo
meeting on Monday this week.
Observers point
out that Makoni did not raise a finger at the December
ZANU–PF Special
Congress, which supposedly overwhelmingly endorsed President
Mugabe as the
party’s presidential candidate. They also cite the fact that
on January 21
Makoni and President Mugabe held closed–door discussions at
State
House.
“When I met (President) Mugabe, I told him it was media speculation as
it
was then. But now I have accepted to offer myself to be president of
Zimbabwe,” he said.
Without mentioning names, he said hordes of ZANU–PF
bigwigs would be coming
out of their closets before the March 29 polls to
join him in his
presidential challenge.
“I won’t be in this campaign
alone. There will be many more of us, a great
many of us,” he said. “I am
not standing in the name of any party. I am
standing as an
independent.”
Makoni claimed he decided to challenge President Mugabe after
the ZANU–PF
Special Congress in December failed to usher in new
leaders.
He said following very extensive and intensive consultations with
party
members and ZANU–PF activists across Zimbabwe as well as others
outside the
ruling party, he accepted the call to offer himself as the
candidate for the
office of President of Zimbabwe.
Makoni said he would
have wanted to stand on a ZANU–PF ticket but “that
opportunity was denied
any other cadre who would have offered themselves to
save the party and
country.”
Asked about his chances in the March 29 presidential race he said:
“The
chances are very good and overwhelming. Why don’t you ask about the
chances
of others that are contesting?”
He said he did not fear for his
life despite threats from war veterans irked
by his decision to challenge
Mugabe.
“I don’t’ feel threatened. My security is among the
people.”
Analysts concur that while Makoni lacks grassroots support of his
own, the
fact that he is said to be working with key ZANU–PF leaders and
former
military leaders made him a more formidable challenger to President
Mugabe
than a divided MDC.
FinGaz
Kumbirai Mafunda
KEY
issues of the economy, now in its ninth year of a recession, are likely
to
determine the outcome of harmonised elections scheduled for March 29.
Worried voters have made the potential to create employment and ending the
agonising economic crisis a pre-requisite for their choice of presidential
candidates, who will battle it out in next month’s joint presidential,
parliamentary and local government elections.
In a snap survey, The
Financial Gazette gathered that economic concerns
preoccupied the majority
of the voters’ minds ahead of the polls.
Indeed the desire for economic
reform seems to be a key element in the
campaign messages of the key
presidential candidates.
For most voters, economic issues such as the
escalating cost of basic food
commodities, housing problems, a crumbling
health delivery system, fuel and
transport costs, should be top on the list
of priorities for any party or
presidential candidate entertaining hopes of
winning the elections.
Voters told The Financial Gazette that they wanted the
next president and
government to urgently attend to the crumbling
economy.
“I want to see the creation of jobs,” said Thembani Mukanda, a fruit
and
vegetable vendor.
With unemployment estimated at 80 percent, Zimbabwe
has one of the worst
rates of the joblessness in the world.
Companies are
closing down, throwing more people out of employment.
This is an indictment
on the ruling ZANU-PF government, which has led the
country under President
Robert Mugabe since independence in 1980.
Zimbabwe now has the world’s
highest inflation rate at 26 000 for November
2007, and inflationary
pressures continue to mount, eroding the restive
population’s savings and
disposable incomes.
Voters have grown increasingly despondent, and do not see
prospects for
economic recovery.
“If this was a free and fair election,
economic issues could be uppermost.
This time the economy is in total
shambles,” said Tony Hawkins, a lecturer
at the University of Zimbabwe’s
Graduate School of Economics.
Economic commentators agreed the economy would
be the prime issue in the
elections.
“There has been a parochial focus on
first generation rights issues. Now is
the time to focus on
second-generation issues. It (economy) is a rights
issue. People should find
bread and maize-meal in shops at affordable
prices. We want a comprehensive
economic reform package for the
reconstruction of the economy,” said Joy
Mabenge, executive director at the
Zimbabwe Coalition on Debt and
Development.
Political analyst Hopewell Gumbo concurred, admitting that
stomachs were
likely to decide the vote on March 29.
“People are voting
on the question of the economy and economic hardships.
Those who are going
to vote are (angry with) the deepening crisis,” said
Gumbo.
However,
economist Daniel Ndlela said although economic concerns would be
central to
campaigns, all the candidates and political parties contesting
next month’s
elections hardly had meaningful economic strategies to revive
the battered
economy.
“They (economic issues) should have been of paramount importance in
this
election. But the political parties have no strategy. There will be
rhetoric
about economic turnaround,” said Ndlela.
But there are others
who felt the economy will play no key role in the
elections.
Businessman
and economic commentator Jonathan Kadzura said economic issues
would have
little impact in deciding who wins next month’s elections.
“I can’t see it as
being central to anything. The current economic position
is part of a
process of change,” said Kadzura.
Some advocates of a free-market economy see
a glimmer of hope with the
emergence of Simba Makoni in the race for the
country’s top job.
“Makoni understands our problems and is presenting real
solutions,” said
Tapera Katanda, of Chitungwiza.
Makoni announced his bid
for the presidency a fortninght ago.
Zimbabwe is in a far worse economic
shape today than when voters last chose
a president in 2002. The economy
shrunk by six percent in 2007, despite
projections of a 0.5 percent to 1
percent growth by the government.
Industrial output and consumer spending
have dwindled.
Equally unsettling to Zimbabwe’s pride is the revival of
Mozambique.
As recently as eight years ago, Mozambique lagged behind Zimbabwe
on a
number of key economic indicators, but after a package of economic
reforms,
the country has pulled well ahead of Zimbabwe.
As usual, ZANU-PF
is expected to play up its “Land is the Economy, the
Economy is the Land”
rhetoric and continue with its socialist policies, such
as price controls,
that have distressed the economy.
The seemingly unending talk about western
influence in the elections and the
economic crisis will be pitched
up.
The west has already been blamed for working with local busineses,
accused
of hiking prices to distabilise the economy and create agitation
against
President Mugabe’s government.
Makoni said the land reform ticket
will not win ZANU-PF any votes this time
around.
“We launched land
reforms several years ago but we are in the eighth
consecutive year of no
plenty. Land is a strategic national resource. It is
not unique. It is not
an ornament for beautification. It is an asset for
income generation and the
eradication of poverty. Acquisition and
redistribution need to be undertaken
in an equitable and transparent
manner,” he said.
On the other hand, the
main opposition Movement for Democratic Change, led
by former trade union
leader Morgan Tsvangirai, is selling its economic
recovery blueprint called
Reconstruction, Stabilisation, Recovery and
Transformation as a panacea to
ending the country’s economic crisis.
In his manifesto launched yesterday,
Makoni said national re-engagement and
dialogue would be key to economic,
social and political revival.
He said he would depend largely on the three
budget statements he made as
President Mugabe’s finance minister before
being sacked for allegedly being
an economic saboteur promoting market
economy policies.
“Go back to my three budget statements. It will be a key
priority for us to
remove uncertainties,” Makoni said in response to
questions about his
economic policies.
He also promised to remove the
multiple foreign currency exchange rates “as
a tool for doing away with the
parallel market and removing distortions in
the economy”.
But Hawkins
dismissed Makoni’s policies.
“He failed dismally when he was finance
minister,” Hawkins said.
FinGaz
Zhean
Gwaze
NEXT month’s harmonised presidential, parliamentary and local
government
elections could be marred by more violence than the national
polls in 2000,
2002 and 2005, a peace-monitoring pressure group has
warned.
Presenting the findings of its Violations Early Warning System
(Views
Project), the Zimbabwe Peace Project (ZPP) predicted that next
month’s
elections were likely to be the most violent in the history of the
country.
The findings were based on an analysis of trends and patterns of
violence
four months before the elections, in a bid to predict the climate
in which
the landmark harmonised elections are likely to conducted.
“We
are going to have an upsurge of violence in the country’s usual
political
hotspots. We are going to see an upsurge of political violence in
Manicaland
where new political entrant Simba Makoni hails from,” said ZPP
national
director Jestina Mukoko.
Makoni is a former politburo member and Cabinet
minister in President Robert
Mugabe’s government. He announced his intention
to challenge the President
in next month’s polls.
ZPP said politically
motivated violence could be experienced in Masvingo,
Manicaland, Mashonaland
East, Midlands and to some extent in Mashonaland
West and Central.
ZPP
said Masvingo and Midlands provinces were the most volatile. The two
provinces recorded the highest number of assaults, rape, murder, destruction
of property, torture camps and incidents of the harassment of civil servants
during the three elections alluded to.
ZPP was established in 2000 and
its main mandate is to monitor and document
violations of human rights in
the period prior to and after elections.
“We have in the past witnessed acts
of violence, intimidation and harassment
in our findings, especially four
months before an election and one month
after. During our field work we have
also been subjected to all forms of
violence in various provinces of the
country,” said Mukoko.
The report closely analysed trends and patterns of
violence four months
ahead in a bid to predict the climate prior to the
elections.
The organisation singled out ruling ZANU-PF supporters as the most
prominent
group of perpetrators of violence during elections.
“The
majority of perpetrators are from the ruling ZANU-PF party. We have a
database with names of some of the most prominent of them such as Biggie
Chitoro of Mberengwa,” said Mukoko.
She said food distribution was
increasingly being used as a political tool,
especially in the rural areas,
where those believed to be opposition
supporters did not get any food
assistance.
FinGaz
Shame
Makoshori
BRITISH property tycoon Nicholas Van Hoogstraten yesterday told
a magistrate
that he had legally imported and declared the foreign currency
seized by the
police at his Emerald Hill home in Harare three weeks
ago.
He said he was surprised police had kept quiet about a Zimbabwe
Revenue
Authority (ZIMRA) declaration form they took during a raid on his
home.
Van Hoogstraten, who claims to be a close friend of President Robert
Mugabe,
pleaded not guilty to all five charges read to him by prosecutor Obi
Mabahwana.
These included violating exchange control regulations,
demanding payments in
foreign currency and being found in possession of
pornographic material.
He was arrested in Harare three weeks ago after police
had been tipped-off
and was found in possession of $20 billion, US$37 586,
R92 880, 190 British
pounds and 180 pula.
His lawyer, George
Chikumbirike, told the court during pre-trial submissions
before magistrate
Morgan Nemadire that until the evidence the State and
police had not
produced in court was provided, his client would be left with
serious
“doubts as to whether he will have a fair trial”.
“The police took files and
documents relating to various properties,”
Chikumbirike told the
court.
“The police were entitled to extract some documents and return the
files to
us. There is a ZIMRA declaration form that was given to the police
after
stumbling on the foreign currency.
“My client told them that he had
declared the importation of the foreign
currency. A policeman known as
Superintendent Makazhi told me that he saw
the ZIMRA report at the RBZ
(Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe). He said he was
prepared to give evidence if
necessary,” Chikumbirike added.
Van Hoogstraten, 63, also said the issue of
the “fake” South African rands
seized from his home was not an offence in
Zimbabwe.
He said the law only provided for (fake or tempered with) local
currency.
Chikumbirike said the State had split the charge on foreign
currency dealing
into two, which was also illegal at law.
Earlier in the
morning Van Hoogstraten had arrived at the Harare magistrate’s
courts
unescorted.
Wearing a white shirt, black suit and maroon tie and immaculate
black and
grey pointed leather shoes, the businessman was confronted by an
army of
foreign and local photographers who this time took pictures
uninterrupted
unlike what happened during his first day at the courts.
He
laboured up the three floors to Court 13, the venue of the proceedings,
and
met his Zambian business partner Frank Buyanga, who was on hand to give
him
moral support as he faced trial in a country that he claims to have
helped
so much.
Van Hoogstraten had a brief chat with former Grain Marketing Board
acting
chief executive officer Samuel Muvuti, who was at the courts for his
corruption trial.
Van Hoogstraten was introduced to members of the Muvuti
family who had
accompanied the former GMB boss.
The trial continues today
when the State is expected to produce the evidence
that Van Hoogstraten
demanded.
FinGaz
No timid retreat
The
Financial Gazette asked for the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) governor
Gideon Gono’s response to a court judgement that cleared the central bank of
any wrong doing in a case in which Flatwater Investments, which it had
contracted to raise foreign currency for the procurement of tractors for the
government’s farm mechanization programme, violated exchange control
regulations after using agents to buy the money from the illegal parallel
foreign currency market. Below is the response from Gono.
On 16
January, 2008, when I had been pressed to comment on this matter, I
did
respond that at that stage, it was going to be sub-judice, improper and
unprocedural for the Reserve Bank to comment further on matters that were
before competent courts.
In the same breath, I also assured the nation
that when the whole truth,
supported by appropriate due diligence,
documentation and chronology of
events is eventually revealed, the receding
confidence of some stakeholders
would be hoisted to unprecedented
levels.
Notwithstanding this compelling hint at how confident I was on the
absolute
cleanliness of what the bank was doing, some members of the
community
mistook our noble refusal to comment to be a retreat laden with
timidity.
Instead, as the matter progressed, my team and I were left with no
doubt
that what we were dealing with was a case of (previously) very
respectable
members of our community trying to sway public opinion away from
their
felonies by pointing vainly fingers at the Reserve Bank as a desperate
decoy.
Media conspiracy
Not so surprisingly also, some members of the
media fraternity, particularly
one scribe who seems to be on someone’s
payroll to smear this Governor and
his team, went on the rampage and
themselves became the judges and the jury
to decimate the image of the
Reserve Bank and all it stands for.
You will recall that the same
unprincipled scribe ran a “mars–land”
fictional story about this Governor
having imported a brabus vehicle, which
story ended up causing the owners of
the newspaper some embarrassing
retractions and apologies.
Of course,
fictional as it was, this story again died a natural death, the
same death
that the alleged wrong-doings by the Reserve Bank in the recent
case has
suffered at the hands of the judicial process presented with dry
facts.
Attempt to divert attention
What caused my heart to bleed was
the dark day when the prosecutor
mysteriously mutated into persecutor, in
the process giving a “sermon on the
mount” targeted at attacking the Reserve
Bank, who in fact was the
complainant.
Of course, due process at law
simply means allowing only facts to prevail,
which is what has happened to
produce a verdict absolving us of any
wrong/profligate doing.
The court
verdict has clearly shown that what was really at play was an
attempt by
those caught on the wrong side of the law to divert and mislead
the judicial
process down the wrong path, removing focus from the real
matters at stake,
which were to do with breaches in Exchange Control
Regulations and other
improprieties violating our collective civilization
ethos.
I must add
that this matter has also shown us that some people in positions
of
authority, the same people who should know better, sought to drive us
into
prematurely commenting on this issue yet it was still at the courts.
The same
“respectable” people had in fact gone so far as attempting to
instigate the
arrest of this Governor and some of his team members on the
back of the hot
air balloons of lies that were being inflated by the likes
of that disgraced
scribe I talked about earlier.
Wrestling a pig in the mud
At this
juncture, I therefore wish to appeal to those in the media
fraternity to
please go back to the ethics of this esteemed industry and do
the necessary
checks and research work to prevent projecting lies to the
public
domain.
A look at the history of nations reveals that pens in the wrong hands
sparked some wars. Lives have been and can be lost through misunderstandings
that can germinate from irresponsible journalism.
Coming back to the wild
allegations that were being leveled against the
Reserve Bank, that we poured
trillions of dollars to shelf companies in pubs
with no documentation; and
that we traded in the foreign exchange parallel
market, among many other
cheap mud-shots, I want to say that we maintained
our “cool” because we knew
this was a gospel sponsored and sung by those
climbing trees in foreign
lands hiding from their felonies here back home.
As they say in strategy,
when you know you are clean, never be drawn into
wrestling a pig in the
mud.
Firstly the pig likes wrestling for no apparent good reasons; and
secondly,
and more profoundly, pigs love it in the mud!
Let us
keep
corruption under check
As Governor of the central bank, I want to
once again reiterate what I have
said time and again, which is that as a
nation, we need to rid our systems
of the evils of corruption, indiscipline
and institutional ineptitudes.
These evils are destroying our very economy
and the future of our children.
Let us co–exist in the spirit of truth,
integrity, transparency, and above
all, openness without offense under the
“Zimbabwe First” doctrine. As they
say, the opium of greed has no limits in
its intoxicative effects once it is
allowed to settle among a
people.
Greed, if not kept in check knows no boundary as to the station one
occupies
in society; either as a law–maker, a clergy, a teacher, a farmer, a
banker,
a miner, a tour operator, a bureaucrat, or a mere cog in the wheel
of civil
society.
But predominantly, it sets in upon those with the
means; those in positions
of authority across the entire divide of
society.
Because of the inability to keep greed in check, others today share
with us
their lies via the long arm of faxes, emails, sms texts, and
mid–night phone
calls from foreign lands. Indeed, due to greed, the same
people are still
sapping with some here at home using very long spoons of
ill–gotten wealth.
So yes, I am very pleased that the due process of the law
has taken effect
and facts have been allowed to prevail.
Sunrise 111
coming
Let me take this opportunity to announce to the nation that soon the
Reserve
Bank will be launching Phase III of the Farm Mechanisation
Programme, which
programme we had put on hold to allow the fictitious dark
cloud that had
been planted above our heads to naturally die.
It would
have been inappropriate for the Reserve Bank to have proceeded to
unveil
this forthcoming phase at a time when matters relating to such a
process
were before the courts.
Let me end by calling upon our farmers to roll up
their sleeves and play
their part in using the equipment Government is
giving productively. As your
Central Bank, we will not disappoint our
stakeholders.
The mini–battles and semi–poisoned arrows and spears directed
at us will not
pierce through the thick skins of determination and self–less
dedication we
have grown over the years in the interest of playing our
statutory function
as monetary authorities and advisors to government,
business, labour and
civic society in the affairs of finance, trade, and the
economy in general.
FinGaz
Simba Makoni's
announcement last week that he would stand as an independent
presidential
candidate has whipped up strong public interest, and also
brought tough
scrutiny of his strategy.
Here, in his first interview since announcing
his candidacy, Makoni speaks
to The Financial Gazette News Editor Rangarirai
Mberi about part of his
strategy, his meeting with President Mugabe, and his
chances at the polls.
Excerpts:
Rangarirai Mberi (RM): At what point did
you decide to run for President?
Simba Makoni (SM): July 2007.
RM: Any
significance to the timing?
SM: That was after the President had
announced, in March, long before any of
the processes required for one to
take leadership of the party had been set
in motion, that he would lead the
party into the next election. I then
convinced myself that we needed urgent
renewal, that we needed to move to
bring about that renewal.
RM: And then
what did you do?
SM: I began that process of consultation with a wide
cross-section of
people, from those within ZANU-PF and those outside.
RM:
Your meeting with President Mugabe, what exactly did you talk about?
SM: I
went to tell the President that there were views in the party that
there was
now need for a renewal of the party, a renewal of the leadership
in the
party and the country, and that there was a feeling that this should
come
from within the party.
I was frank with him, and I told him that I was
prepared to stand as
President, and that there were people who supported my
decision to move in.
RM: And how did he react?
SM: He took note.
RM:
What do you mean, exactly?
SM: He took note of what I had told him.
RM: He
could have told you he was elected at the December congress?
SM: That's a
question you would have to ask him.
RM: Well, he was elected as ZANU-PF
President in December?
SM: Let me tell you this. When the full facts of the
processes that led to
that congress are made public, people would understand
why this decision has
been necessary. You should ask the legal secretary,
the scretary for
administration and the political commissar.
RM: But
these people that you say you consulted, from inside ZANU-PF, that
you say
support you, where are they? Who are they, and why are they not
coming out
in the open to back your bid?
SM: Let me talk about this notion that people
have, this belief that I was
ever going to parade people in front of the
cameras. My consultation was not
only with people in the leadership of
ZANU-PF. I have consulted with the
grassroots, broad consultations, with all
the people of Zimbabwe. That's
what matters.
I have stood for hours in
cash queues with the ordinary people, I know first
hand of the tribulations
they suffer, standing out there for hours just so
you can withdraw a measly
$5 million. That's a large part of the
consultations I did.
I do not
understand it when I come out and say our crisis is the result of
failure of
our national leadership, and people still expect to see me parade
some of
this very same leadership responsible for these same failures.
Wouldn't that
be a contradiction?
The people that matter are those that are going to come
out on March 29 to
deliver a verdict.
RM: Which top ZANU-PF officials
approached you to launch this challenge?
SM: Let me empasise this. I was not
put up to this by anybody. I had views
of my own, that we were long overdue
for a change of leadership. And so I
found that there was some significant
support for that change.
RM: Why did you stay this long in the party,
evidently the rot had already
set in much earlier than July 2007? You could
have left earlier.
SM: If you look at the record of all my public
pronouncements, from the
years that I served in government, and other public
pronouncements I have
made since leaving government, you will realise what I
have always been
about.
I wanted to see a return to our original
principles as a party and a nation,
the values under which the President
said at independence that we must turn
our swords into plough-shares, the
effort to establish an equitable and
prosperous society. I believe those
values are still relevant up to now. It
is that deviation from these values
by the leadership that we now seek to
reverse. So, until the last minute, I
had continued to work for a return to
those original values.
Zimbabwe is
a country that has a history, but it must also have a future.
And so I
perservered inside the party only in the hope that there would be
some
renewal of our party.
RM: How do rate your chances?
SM: Judging by the
responses we have had since our announcement last
Tuesday, we are heading
for a landslide win. We have reports voter
registration is up ten-fold since
last Tuesday. The enthsusiasm is palpable.
I do not anticipate anything
short of a landslide.
RM: Even for the rural vote?
SM: Why do we always
want to categorise our people? Why do we herd them into
paddocks? All of
them are Zimbabweans, and all of them yearn for the same
thing, which is an
immediate renewal of our country. Please, we should not
create unnatural
barriers.
RM: You have already been criticised for being vague on policy and
strategy.
SM: What I will not do is make high-sounding promises to the people
of
Zimbabwe. I want to emphasise this. I am not going to give you a reel of
menus and recipes. What I am offering the people of this country is an
opportunity to make changes, real empowerment.
I am not going to stand in
front of the people and say, "I will build a road
here, I will build a house
here, a dam there". I cannot make such promises.
There are 14 million
Zimbabweans, and what I am about is offering each one
of them the chance to
once again make the best out of their opportunities, a
chance to realise
their full potential.
This government made many lofty promises, but it was a
fallacy to believe
any of these would be delivered. That should be a key
lesson.
RM: So how would you turn around the economy?
SM: Our priority
obviously would be to get our land and our factories
producing again.
We
could get all the fertiliser from China, India, and so on, but the key
task
would be to get our own Zimbabwean companies producing again.
Manufacturing
capacity utilisation is down, primarily because companies
cannot source raw
materials. There will be a need for a technological
renewal of our industry,
we need to recapitalise our factories.
But any modicum of recovery would
require a fresh supply of inputs; no big
task. But the most important thing
we would need to do is to get our people
re-engaged, to restore their
confidence, such that there will be no need for
a parallel market, or the
need to pretend that there is a formal market when
it no longer
exists.
This economy can still be turned around.
RM: Morgan Tsvangirai
says you are old wine in a new bottle.
SM: I really do not think we should
delve into trivialities. I wish we could
move from trivial matters into
matters of substance.
FinGaz
Mutumwa Mawere
Although
Zimbabwe is not the only country in Africa that is challenged
politically
and economically, the concern about its future is shared by not
only
Zimbabweans but equally by non-Zimbabweans.
Zimbabwe’s brain trust i.e.
its human capital is omnipresent in many
countries to make the state of
politics in the country of universal
interest.
At this defining hour, it
is evident that there is no consensus on what kind
of change Zimbabweans
want to see. Some want to see a people-driven
constitution as the minimum
condition for a new Zimbabwe. They argue that
the root cause of the
Zimbabwean crisis is the lack of a constitutional
framework that guarantees
freedom, justice and equality. Although this
school of thought was opposed
to the SADC-mediated talks, it nevertheless
supported the proposal for a new
constitution as a pre-requisite for the
democratisation of Zimbabwe.
It
must be remembered that the MDC was a product of the movement to
introduce a
new constitution in Zimbabwe. Over the last eight years, the
Lancaster House
Constitution has been changed but what is striking is that
beneath the
veneer of constitutional agitation was a calculated move to
remove President
Mugabe. It was evident during the referendum that the whole
purpose of the
proposed new constitution was to render President Mugabe
irrelevant and
redundant out of a sincere belief that Zimbabweans were
incapable of
removing him through elections.
If there are any lessons from the last eight
years, it is that President
Mugabe and his ruling party will not invest in
the demise of ZANU-PF and the
Zimbabwean leader is capable of reading
political schemes more sharply than
his enemies think. Even in the context
of the SADC mediated talks, Chinamasa
and Goche successfully managed to push
the new constitution out of the
pre-election deal breakers.
There is now
consensus that the elections will be held on March 29
confirming ZANU-PF’s
gamble that in the final analysis MDC would not risk
boycotting the
elections. Any democrat will agree that an election offers an
opportunity
for the shareholders of a country to pronounce their choices
about who
should govern them. Ordinarily the forthcoming election would just
be
another election but in the context of Zimbabwe it represents something
more
significant than just an election to choose leaders.
President Mugabe has
been at the helm of the country for the last 28 years
and it cannot be
denied that any outcome that will leave him at the helm
will not pass the
credibility test. However, it must be remarked that
notwithstanding the
label of dictator associated with President Mugabe, he
has not refused to
subject himself to electoral politics.
What has been argued is that the
playing field is not level and there is
nothing to suggest that it will be
level during the forthcoming elections
but to the extent that all
participants who will offer themselves for
election have accepted to be part
of the process, it is important that all
efforts are directed towards making
the process a success.
There is no doubt that even President Mugabe’s
supporters expect change and
they would want a break from the divisive
politics of the past. At the
presidential level, it is generally accepted
that electing President Mugabe
would not change the politics that
Zimbabweans are now accustomed to.
Equally, the composition of the MDC
suggests that there is still zero
tolerance for reaching out to any person
associated with ZANU-PF. If either
MDC or ZANU-PF wins, it is not clear how
the state of politics in Zimbabwe
will change.
The supporters of MDC
strongly believe that for any change to be credible,
power must be
transferred to one of their kind who has been in the trenches.
Equally,
ZANU-PF supporters are determined to ensure that this does not
happen. This
stand-off is to be expected among competing political parties
if the
desperate state of the Zimbabwean economy was not at stake. Anyone
who loves
Zimbabwe is compelled to subordinate their personal interests for
the larger
common good and yet what seems to be motivating most of the
political and
non-political actors is far from the fierce urgency of turning
a new page
for the country.
Many have now accepted that Zimbabwe should not be more than
ZANU-PF and MDC
to the extent that any alternative is easily dismissed.
Having challenged
friends of Zimbabwe to think seriously about the Makoni
candidacy, I have
been deeply humbled by the support of the initiative but
also challenged by
the anti-Makoni sentiments.
I have chosen to address
some of the concerns expressed against Makoni’s
candidature in the hope that
our conversations can rise above the
personalities involved. The credibility
of Makoni has been raised by many.
It has been argued that Makoni cannot be
trusted merely because he is a
senior member of the same party that has
brought untold suffering to
Zimbabwe. This issue is important and must be
addressed especially if Makoni
is maintaining his position that he will
continue to be a member of ZANU-PF
until dismissed.
The question of
political affiliation and the divisive nature of Zimbabwean
politics make it
difficult if not impossible to focus on the future. If one
accepts that
Makoni has never been a President of any party where his
leadership skills
have been tested in the same manner that his competitors
have been subjected
to over the last 28 years then it will be easy to
explore whether in fact
his presence on the political scene will not usher a
new era in the politics
of the country. We are familiar with President
Mugabe’s leadership style and
track record as we are with President
Tsvangirai’s leadership skills and
style.
Both MDC and ZANU-PF are broken parties at a time when Zimbabwe needs
a
united approach to tackle its challenges. Part of the challenge is to
change
the hearts and minds of ZANU-PF members and it is not clear whether
both
President Mugabe and Tsvangirai are capable of doing what they have
failed
to do over the last 8 years. Instead of encouraging ZANU-PF to
change, many
have accepted that maintaining the status quo is just
fine.
Makoni’s disagreement with President Mugabe’s policies is well
documented to
suggest that he will not implement the same disastrous
policies that
Zimbabweans have now been accustomed to. Many have been
consumed with
politics as usual and have now surrendered into accepting
lower standards as
long as the word change is promised. In this election,
the stakes are too
high for Zimbabweans to go on the same road that they
have been over the
last 28 years. When salvation is in sight, a high risk
exists for looking
backwards instead of looking ahead.
Will the election
of Makoni represent a new chapter in the unfolding
Zimbabwean book? Is
Zimbabwe ready for a new brand of politics? Who is best
positioned to unite
and not divide Zimbabweans? Who can navigate Zimbabwe
beyond the politics of
division? President Mugabe and Makoni will not be the
only candidates on the
menu but what is important is for all of us to think
seriously about what
matters to Zimbabwe.
Does it matter that Makoni is a member of a party whose
leadership has been
monopolised by one individual when it is accepted that
all Zimbabweans must
be held culpable for allowing the same individual to
monopolise the
statehouse?
Why should Makoni’s association with President
Mugabe be a deterrent anymore
than all Zimbabweans who have stood by while
the country has been sunk
deeper into hopelessness? If MDC has failed to
bring salvation for the last
8 years, is it conceivable that the party will
get its act together anytime
soon?
Many other questions have been raised
about what Makoni stands for. Although
I cannot speak for Makoni, I am not
shy to say what I expect from the
post-Mugabe era and I would presume that
all of us have something to say
about what kind of Zimbabwe we want to see.
It would be helpful for all the
friends of Zimbabwe to fill the proposed
Bank of Hope with their ideas of
what kind of Zimbabwe they expect to see
fully knowing that they have a role
to play than wait for Makoni to think
for them. A new Zimbabwe requires
people who are enjoined by a common
purpose and who are allergic to the
politics of yesterday.
I would be the
happiest person if I stopped reading about who is ZANU-PF,
MDC, ZPP etc but
started reading about what people stand for. Surely, it
must be accepted
that Zimbabwe needs change and the change must start at
home. The language
of change necessarily calls for people to look beyond the
political labels
and take ownership of their destinies.
In supporting anyone of the political
players, a point should be made that
Zimbabweans must have a higher purpose
and refrain from clouding their
judgment by fear. Nothing worthwhile will
ever happen on its own and
Zimbabweans must give change a chance while
acknowledging that to finish the
job ahead of Zimbabwe may require different
skills and tactics that those
used before.
Can Makoni take the change
agenda all the way to statehouse? Do you feel
that he will win? Do you think
that he can win without your support? If not
your support, can you trust
anyone who may invest in while you choose to
fold your arms? Is Makoni
practical to make everyone comfortable with
change? If Makoni could co-exist
with President Mugabe in a manner that the
opposition have failed to
demonstrate over the last 8 years, can he be
trusted to unify the nation?
Should Makoni bury his head in the sand by not
seeking to reach out to
ZANU-PF members to see the light of change? Does
Makoni’s entry into the
political scene give you hope? Does MDC have any
leverage on ZANU-PF? Who
will cross the bridge from ZANU-PF if MDC were to
win the election?
Only
a few weeks ago, the Makoni factor was unthinkable. Today, it is a
reality.
Tomorrow it can only be possible if you make a decision to make it
happen.
Please engage your mind and that of others so that together we can
shape the
future of Zimbabwe. The country deserves better. Zimbabwe calls on
all of us
to be better and not bitter. The past will not deliver a future of
opportunities and it is never late to add your voice to the message of
change.
Mutumwa Mawere is a Zimbabwean businessman based in South
Africa
FinGaz
Daniel Molokele
BETWEEN the
years 2000 and 2002 I used to run a column in the Gweru-based
Roman Catholic
Church-funded monthly magazine called Moto, (literally
translated “fire”
from the local Shona language). The column was called “No
Holds
Barred”.
It may also be recalled that the Moto issue of March 2002, I
wrote an
analysis entitled, “Beware of the Ides of March”.
The article
sought to warn the incumbent leader of Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe,
not to take
things for granted in the run-up to the March 2002 elections.
At that time, I
felt it was appropriate to use the analogy of the
assassination of Julius
Caesar as the basis of my warning to (President)
Mugabe as he prepared to
battle the then leader of a much more united and
determined opposition MDC,
Morgan Tsvangirai.
It was my contention in the main, that just like Caesar,
an over confident
(President) Mugabe ran the risk of experiencing a
humiliating defeat at the
hands of the upstart, the ascendant
Tsvangirai.
But as history would have it, (President) Mugabe appeared to have
heeded the
warning and fought perhaps the battle of his entire political
life. In the
end, he managed to shrug off Tsvangirai as some would argue, by
hook or
crook, in a an election with a very controversial result.
And so
it happened that unlike the great Caesar, the President did not meet
his
fateful end that March. In fact he has soldiered on, defying all forms
of
opposition to his stranglehold on the Zimbabwean political leadership
mace
unto this day.
But that was then.
As I write today, the political state of
affairs in Zimbabwe has just taken
a new dramatic shift that might in the
long term, completely transform the
political landscape forever.
February
5, an ordinary day in Zimbabwe suddenly breathed a new lease of
life into
the largely moribund political environment of the country. A major
Press
conference was held in Harare that eventually brought the entire
capital to
a halt.
A rather quiet and unassuming gentleman, Simba Makoni, who upset the
apple
cart by openly declaring his candidature for the presidency in the
much-anticipated March 2008 harmonised elections, addressed the
event.
Personally, I was not all that surprised by this turn of events. It
appears
that Makoni had read the national political mood so well. There
actually
appears to be an air of hopelessness and despondency in the
Zimbabwean
political atmosphere. This was further compounded by a desperate
desire and
yearning for some real politics of change.
Just a few days
earlier, at the end of January 2008 to be precise, in my
chronological
context, I spent almost a full week in Bulawayo, the ailing
second city of
Zimbabwe. And so it happened that during my latest visit to
my motherland, I
had a good opportunity to collect views and perspectives
about the rumour
that Simba Makoni was allegedly preparing to stake a
surprise challenge to
President Mugabe’s leadership of Zimbabwe.
I managed to speak to a
wide-ranging group of people from some key political
activists, civic
society leaders, church leaders, friends, relatives and
some family members
about the alleged ambitions of Makoni.
The result of my elementary and less
than empirical public opinion survey
was so astounding! I discovered that an
overwhelming number of people I
spoke to were strongly in favour of Makoni
standing up to President Mugabe.
It appeared the people I spoke to had lost
faith in both President Mugabe
and Tsvangirai altogether! There was so much
disillusionment over the
performance of both the key candidates of the last
presidential elections in
March 2002.
Both President Mugabe and
Tsvangirai seemed to have lost their strong appeal
over the
electorate.
In the final analysis, it was clear to me that Makoni was not
necessarily a
popular choice but rather a desperate option from a people
that had become
disillusioned with the leadership of both President Mugabe
and Tsvangirai.
Makoni was thus an emerging beneficiary of that strong
feeling of
disenchantment with the status quo.
Makoni’s rather muted
entrance into the presidential race has indeed
complicated matters on the
Zimbabwean political landscape.
First and perhaps foremost, Makoni has
breathed a new lease of life into the
nation’s confidence in the rather
sterile electoral systems of the country.
Until his arrival, the 2008
elections were bound to be a huge non-event.
Over the years, the euphoria
that greeted the formation of the opposition
MDC and its promise of
political change has evaporated among the
long-suffering masses of
Zimbabwe.
The MDC has not been able to complete the change and has in the
final
analysis helped to develop a notion that it would never be able to
unseat
President Mugabe via the electoral process since it remained tilted
heavily
in favour of the incumbent.
There is bound to be a re-affirmation
of faith in the electoral process of
Zimbabwe by the majority of voters who
up to now were most likely not to
even bother to turn out and vote, let
alone support a specific candidate.
Secondly, Makoni’s entrance has perhaps
saved the country from the
ever-growing possibility of a military take over
of the country. A
duplication of the recent electoral patterns in the
country would have
resulted in the retention of a hugely unpopular
government that would have
driven the millions of long suffering Zimbabweans
into an abyss of political
despair.
That on its own could have resulted
in a complete loss of faith in all
future elections leading to the need for
a new paradigm in the ultimate
politics of change. As such the notion of
removing the incumbent by
“bullets” and not by “ballots” would have
gathered more momentum.
Such a ghastly context could have led to civil
unrest, a sure recipe for a
coup or an all out civil war.
Makoni’s
decision has thus given the electoral politics of change a stay of
execution.
Thirdly, the entrance of Makoni as an independent now means
that it is
certain that the presidential elections will not be a predictable
two-horse
race between Mugabe and Tsvangirai as it was in the last
plebiscite of March
2002. Until now, it was beginning to be apparent that
there were only two
serious alternatives for the electorate, the same old
protagonists in the
form of President Mugabe and Tsvangirai.
Makoni, it
is hoped, will prove to be a viable alternative on the
presidential menu for
the electorate to savour upon. This is good for the
development of a vibrant
culture of credible multi-party democracy in the
country.
Fourthly,
Makoni is also important in as far as the fact that he appears to
have a
broad appeal across the nation. He will be able to draw the attention
of
most voters who over the years have grown disenchanted by the politics of
both the MDC and ZANU-PF.
It is common cause that both political parties
are presently suffering from
a crisis of common purpose and disunity, as
largely reflected by the
factionalism that is clearly evident in both
groupings.
The past weekend’s failure of the two factions of the MDC to adopt
a
political pact for the polls is a clear case in point. On the other hand,
ZANU-PF has also been struggling to come up with a legitimate list of
candidates.
This is so mainly in Matabeleland where discord has been
exacerbated by the
controversial reinstatement of Jabulani Sibanda by
President Mugabe, a move
that has led to an increasingly open challenge to
his leadership credentials
by the disenchanted senior party members of
PF-ZAPU origins.
Last but by no means least, Makoni appears to be more ikely
to defeat the
incumbent than the MDC since he actually fits more
appropriately into the
political analogy of the Ides of March.
Just like
Brutus, he is from President Mugabe’s inner circle. The presence
of the
likes of Ibbo Mandaza and retired army boss Kudzai Mbudzi appears to
suggest
that he has the backing of President Mugabe’s only credible source
of
political power, the nation’s security forces.
Besides, Mandaza is known to
be a close associate of the ruling party’s
alleged kingmaker who himself
wields a lot of influence over the armed
forces, the retired army commander
Solomon Mujuru.
Makoni himself has already claimed in public that he has
consulted broadly
and has the support of many senior leaders of
ZANU-PF.
And so just like Brutus, it is most likely that President Mugabe,
like
Caesar, might not be able to survive an attack from his own inner
circle. As
it is for now, he is no longer sure as to who to trust within his
own party.
The postponement of the party’s Politburo meeting last Wednesday
may
actually be an indication of the prevailing turmoil and uncertainty
within
the party leadership.
President Mugabe is reeling and staggering
right now. As it is, he may soon
fall down fatally, at the hands of his
own.
President Mugabe must be aware of the real Ides of March this time
around!
danielmolokela@ yahoo.com
FinGaz
Kumbirai Mafunda
THE
Zimbabwe Development Corporation (ZDC), which rose from the ashes last
month, might pounce on three companies as the government’s plans to
take-over struggling firms moves a gear up.
Government insiders told
The Financial Gazette this week that the new ZDC
board, together with the
director of Public Enterprises in the Ministry of
Industry and International
Trade, were already working on the terms for the
planned take-overs, which
could be met with fierce resistance from the
owners of the targeted
companies.
The insiders revealed that ZDC was eyeing Chitungwiza-based
Surface
Investments, troubled food manufacturer Olivine Industries and
Lakeside
Hospitality, which operates lodges in Matabeleland
North.
Ironically, Surface is a subsidiary of the state-run Industrial
Development
Corporation, which was instrumental in the acquisition of a
controlling
stake in Olivine by the Cotton Company of Zimbabwe. India’s
Midex Overseas,
which manufactures edible oils, also holds a stake in
Surface.
ZDC was created in 1988 but closed shop in the mid 1990s. The
corporation
has been given a new lease of life, this time to take over
companies alleged
to be undermining the country’s economic revival programme
by
under-producing in order to create shortages in the recession-plagued
economy.
Last month Industry and International Trade Minister Obert Mpofu
announced a
new ZDC board chaired by businessman Jonathan Kadzura to run the
corporation, which was resuscitated alongside the Zimbabwe State Trading
Corporation to work as vehicles for acquiring companies that the government
might want to take over for engaging in “economic sabotage.”
Mpofu tasked
the new board to select “a few entities, which will need to be
resuscitated
on a sustainable basis”.
ZDC will identify business opportunities and
spearhead government
investments in the economy with a view to foster a
balanced growth of the
economy.
Mpofu also tasked ZDC to promote and
conduct research in the increased use
of local raw materials by basic
industries and to respond to any local or
foreign investor for joint
ventures with the State.
“The economy is facing many problems...It is my
belief that you will go a
long way in trying to address the challenges
haunting our economy as you
discharge your duties,” said Mpofu.
President
Robert Mugabe, who called for the resuscitation of the redundant
ZDC last
year, accused private companies of engaging in dirty tricks in a
Western-backed plot to topple him from power.
Critics blame President
Mugabe’s populist policies for plunging the country
into an economic
crisis.
But the veteran leader denies the charge and accuses the opposition
of
working tirelessly with Britain, the country’s former coloniser, to
unseat
his government, a charge the opposition denies.
Analysts said ZDC
might find itself lacking the wherewithal to wrest
struggling companies
unless it receives adequate funding, which is unlikely
given the poor state
of government finances.
This prospect has raised concern that ZDC might join
the growing list of
public enterprises that are heavily dependent on the
fiscus for survival at
a time when tax revenue is dwindling.
While
government is taking aim at private enterprises the bulk if not all of
its
parastatals are on the brink of collapse owing to poor funding, red tape
and
political interference. The government, which is obsessed with
controlling
businesses, has been dithering on the privatisation of loss
making
enterprises, which could have helped reduce the high budget deficit
contributing to the country’s runaway inflation.
Analysts this week said
most companies were operating in the red because the
government has left the
economy to collapse due to its Soviet Union-style
policies such as the
crackdown on prices.
FinGaz
Shame
Makoshori
NATIONAL airline, Air Zimbabwe (AirZim), has imported Jet A1
fuel from
neighbouring countries after a costly shortage that disrupted
flight
schedules and resulted in several flight cancellations.
The
new supplies will augment those from BP Shell and Total, which have
exclusive rights for the provision of Jet A1 fuel in the country.
AirZim
requires 600 000 litres of Jet A1 fuel a week for it’s fleet of two
Boeing
767-200ER, three Boeing 737-200ADV and three MA60 aircraft imported
from
China in 2005.
The airline’s traditional supplies of Jet A1 fuel, BP Shell
and Total have
not satisfied AirZim’s requirement in yet to be explained
circumstances.
AirZim chief executive officer Peter Chikumba last week said
the parastatal
was experiencing flight delays and cancellations due to the
shortage of Jet
A1 fuel, equipment constraints and crew shortages.
The
cancellations and delays had cost Air Zimbabwe billions of dollars in
accommodation and food for the affected travellers.
AirZim corporate
communications manager, Pride Khumbula, told The Financial
Gazette this week
that while initial estimates had indicated that the
airline could have taken
up to six weeks to recover, the situation had
stabilised much earlier after
quick intervention from management.
“The situation has normalised,” Khumbula
said.
“The airline operates with a contingency of either tankering or fueling
in
neighbouring countries.
“We have been able to contact affected
passengers to minimise inconvenience
and reducing the costs of hotel
accommodation,” she said.
The airline, which has also been affected by brain
drain, requires US$100
million and $500 billion to recapitalise ailing
operations.
AirZim currently has 50 pilots, according to
Khumbula.
Government owns 100 percent shareholding in AirZim but has not
responded
swiftly to the airline’s requests for additional
funding.
However, experts this week said the crisis at AirZim, which has
always been
blamed on the management, was a result of government bickering
on the
proposed privatisation of the airline.
“The problems are a result
of lack of resources, not poor management,” an
analyst said.
“Air
Zimbabwe’s operational inefficiencies can only be solved by the
injection of
fresh capital and allowing the airline to charge in foreign
currency because
70 percent of its costs are paid in foreign currency.
“It is not a management
problem,” the analyst said.
FinGaz
Dumisani
Ndlela
ZIMBABWE is still battling shortages despite a raft of measures
introduced
by the central bank to boost production and increase product
availability on
the market. Although product availability has improved since
the
intervention by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) late last year,
supermarkets remain partially stocked, with most basic food commodities
hardly available.
Most supermarket shelves remain empty, nearly eight
months after the
infamous price blitz that precipitated the worst shortages
in the country’s
history.
Ironically, prices are skyrocketing almost
daily, despite the creation of a
National Incomes and Pricing Commission
(NIPC) regulating prices on the
market.
In fact, the price hikes are now
even more significant than before the
government launched its price blitz in
June last year, slashing prices by at
least 50 percent and arresting more
than 1 000 businessmen and executives
for defying its draconian approach to
stabilising prices on the market.
RBZ governor Gideon Gono said recently that
capacity utilisation had
improved from as low as 10 percent to as high as 65
percent on the back of
cheap funding availed to industry by the central
bank.
The RBZ launched the Basic Commodity Supply Side Intervention (BACOSSI)
facility in October last year aimed at boosting production through targeted
financial support to producers of basic commodities.
Previous reports
have indicated that most producers were pumping the BACOSSI
money into the
stock market, feeding into a bull run that only touched the
fining line
recently after a liquidity crunch forced a number of financial
institutions
to sell their stocks their equity portfolios to raise cash to
pay
depositors.
The funding to the productive sector as well as key distribution
agents
under the BACOSSI facility comes at a concessionary interest rate of
25
percent per annum, against punitive interest rates of over 1 000 percent
for
general and consumptive borrowing.
Industry players have previously
alleged that industrial operations still
remained stuck in a quagmire, with
unreliable electricity and coal supplies,
inadequate foreign currency for
critical raw materials inputs as well as
costly diesel supplies from the
black market still dogging their operations.
Consequently, they could do
little to boost production even with huge
Zimbabwe dollar cash from the
central bank.
Some were putting the money into the equities market to recoup
loses
incurred when the government launched its infamous price blitz, which
forced
prices down drastically and triggered market-wide shortages.
Gono
said besides the Zimbabwe dollar component promised under BACOSSI
facility,
the RBZ had also given out US dollar loans to troubled operations.
Gono said
as at January 8, 2008, a total of US$13.5 million and $18.6
trillion had
been disbursed under the facility.
Now, the RBZ has started monitoring the
first beneficiaries of BACOSSI, with
greater focus on price stability,
output growth, employment preservation and
creation, capacity utilization
and export expansion.
Gono said some retailers and manufacturers were already
on the brink of
closure but had been saved by the BACOSSI
facility.
Bread, one of the basic commodities, which had become scarce on the
market,
is now available but priced beyond the means of most people. Price
reviews
for bread have been taking place almost weekly.
Maize meal, the
country’s staple food, is not available in most
supermarkets. Even then,
prices have also become exorbitant.
Gono said major suppliers of basic
commodities who had received financing
under BACOSSI included National
Foods, Blue Ribbon Foods, Lobels Bakery,
Schweppes, the Cotton Company of
Zimbabwe, starafricacorporation, Olivine
Industries, Unilever SEA, Cairns,
Nestle and Circle Cement.
FinGaz
THE
government’s price blitz triggered what even non-economists had feared –
massive shortages and a thriving black market. Where it meant to protect the
vulnerable, it hurt them further – the poor folks ended up having to take
long days going around town looking for scarce products, or they had to
resort to the black market where prices were 20 times or more those imposed
by regulators.
This has had the effect pushing inflation to higher
levels, triggering
social discontent after thrusting the poor further down
the deep hole of
poverty.
Now, the government has let-up on the price
controls, never mind the
creation of the grotesque National Incomes and
Pricing Commission (NIPC) to
monitor and regulate prices.
Indeed prices
are on the rampage.
After the infamous price blitz that forced prices down 50
percent at the end
of June, government had to rethink its strategy ahead of
harmonised
Presidential and legislative elections on March 29,
2008.
Essentially, the NIPC was given the mandate to give passage to requests
for
regular price reviews.
Industry sources admit the NIPC has lately
been granting very favourable
price reviews, and these not only ensure
viability but also guarantee super
profits for the private sector
businesses.
It’s as if they are meant to compensate them for the losses
triggered by the
infamous price blitz.
Bread is now in plenty supply,
and, as they now say, its just your moola!
A visit to any supermarket will
reveal a bit of where the economy is going,
and there is no need for a
crystal ball.
Basic economic arguments note that price controls eventually
hurt the entire
economy — and there has been no classic example of this than
the recent
price blitz.
For example, government has been arguing that
retailers should not hike
prices on their shelves, even when the cost of
replenishing stock is
escalating daily.
Naturally, if retailers are
forbidden from charging economic prices, they
will eventually be unable to
buy from the suppliers.
If the suppliers cannot sell their goods to retailers
at viable prices, they
will quit buying from farmers who will be stuck with
products they cannot
sell to the marketplace.
Consequently, they might
stop producing, creating shortages on the market.
And this is precisely what
has happened.
So, out of desperation, prices have been allowed to hit the
roof, and, in
most cases, they are priced at two or three times the prices
charged in
neighbouring countries – Botswana and South Africa, for example,
where large
numbers of Zimbabweans are now trooping to avoid the stiff sums
charged when
buying locally.
This appears costly to the ZANU-PF election
machinery, but the bureaucrats
hope this is less costly than empty
supermarkets.
FinGaz
Shame
Makoshori
A STORM is brewing at the National Social Authority (NSSA)
after the results
of a salary survey commissioned by the authority last year
showed massive
discrepancies in earnings between senior staff and
non–managerial workers.
Disgruntled workers at the pay-as–you–go pension
scheme are said to have
confronted management two weeks ago over the salary
disparities captured in
a survey, which indicated a $500 million gap between
the highest paid shop
floor worker and the least paid employee at junior
management level.
It was not clear how much the lowest paid workers would
earn at NSSA at the
end of this month when new salary schedules become
effective. Sources said
the workers stormed into NSSA general manager James
Matiza's offices after
tempers flared once results of the survey were leaked
to employees.
"We confronted him (Matiza) on Friday last week but one, and
the explanation
was that he is acting in the best interest of the
organisation," a
disgruntled employee said on Monday.
"They (management)
are giving themselves fat salaries when we are wallowing
in poverty. We
cannot afford to feed our families and pay for school fess,
or afford enough
money to come to work. Yet they want to see us at work
every day," the
employee added.
Matiza was said to have excused himself from the tense
meeting saying the
room in which the meeting was held was too hot but the
enraged staffers were
defiant and refused to let him leave until he
explained the burning issues.
But Matiza stood his ground saying he was not
at obliged to discuss the
salary dispute with ordinary NSSA employees.
"I
cannot give you an explanation on that one," he told The Financial
Gazette
in a tease statement on Monday.
NSSA has long been accused of paying poor
compensation to beneficiaries of
its pension schemes.
Matiza took over
from former acting general manager Amod Takawira in
December last year and
promised that he would implement major changes at the
social security
authority to benefit millions of NSSA members. He did not
spell out the
plans he had to tackle the issue of staff welfare, which had
been a sticking
point in Zimbabwe in the past nine years.
"We are trying our level best,"
Matiza said in December. The issue of the
low payments has often come out of
our meetings with stakeholders. So we
have listened to what they have told
us. We have also taken the advice from
the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee
of Public Service, Labour and Social
Welfare. They have advised us that we
should review upwards the payments on
a quarterly basis. We used to revisit
the payments after every three years
but because of inflation we had reduced
that period," Matiza said.
Last year there was friction at NSSA when it
acquired 26 Ford Ranger XLTs,
nine Ford Focus and nine Ford Ranger Petrol
and nine Ford Ranger diesel
vehicles at a cost of US$700 000.
This was
additional to top of the range vehicles bought in previous years
for
management, which they were later given the option to buy at significant
discounts.
FinGaz
Staff Reporter
WHILE the entire
southern African region is grappling with a power crisis
that has disrupted
economic activities, Zimbabwe, which is going through its
worst economic
crisis in history, has been the hardest hit.
The country's domestic
industries, already experiencing foreign currency,
fuel and spares shortages
as well as a massive brain drain, are operating
below capacity.
The
situation is certainly getting worse, with blackouts now a common
feature in
the country while power supplies from neighbours are increasingly
getting
scarce.
Industry players say they have had enough and have lined up a
crucial
meeting with power utility, ZESA Holdings and government to
seek
explanations on the causes of the crippling power blackouts.
Zimbabwe
National Chamber of Commerce president Marah Hativagone said
companies were
failing to run their payrolls due to the power blackouts,
while billions of
dollars were being spent on generators to keep operations
running.
"We
feel that the nation needs to know what is happening because companies
have
incurred losses due to the unplanned outages. Companies are going for
three
days without power. If there is a blackout out there is no water
and
production is lost," she said.
"Among the worst affected are the food
processing industries because once
there is a stoppage in production they
have to throw away work in progress,"
said Hativagone.
The crisis
escalated in January when systems disturbances occurred on the
Zambia
electricity grid linked to most of southern Africa, plunging most
parts of
Zimbabwe and Botswana into darkness.
Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries
(CZI) president Callisto Jokonya said
power supplies had marginally improved
in some parts of the country, but
said the situation was not as bad as in
neighbouring South Africa.
The power cuts sweeping across the region have
been felt in other parts of
the world with China reportedly incurring massive
losses.
Estimates indicated this week that the global power deficit had
reached 40
Giga Watts and was projected to surge to 200 Giga Watts by 2015.
In South
Africa, mining companies were reported last week to have lost R400
million
per day and planned expansion projects had been stalled.
Zimbabwe
requires 1 500 megawatts of electricity daily and had been
importing 35
percent of this requirement from three regional power companies
in South
Africa, Mozambique and Zambia.
Now, due to the collective lack of investment
in the expansion of the power
infrastructure, the three countries are
battling to satisfy their own
blossoming industries.
A spokesman for a
leading retail chain, Denford Mutashu said the losses that
retailers incurred
had been "huge" but said industry could not disclose the
figures.
"The
effects have been felt more on those products that depend on
refrigeration,"
he said. There was no comment from the Chamber of Mines.
New chief executive
Joseph Malaba said he was still settling.
But major platinum producers
Zimplats, last week said the power cuts had
serious implications on
mines.
"Since the end of the fourth quarter (2007), operations have been
adversely
affected by power outages which have resulted from problems with
the power
supply network in the sub region," Zimplats said in the
report.
"Although these problems have been resolved for now, management
remains
concerned about the ongoing power generating and transmission
difficulties
and the possible impact on operations," the statement
said.
An analyst yesterday said Zimbabwe must to look for short–term
solutions
while strategies were put in place to deal with the crisis in the
long term.
"We have a lot of options, there are small hydro electric plans
that we can
start utilising, or we can invest in solar technology. South
Africa and
Namibia are generating up to 100 mega watts per day from this
technology,"
an industry player said.
Makoni is definitely presidential
material
EDITOR – AFTER Simba Makoni announced his plans on the
Zimbabwean political
arena, a lot of people have come up with all sorts of
comments, some of
which were venomous, unjustified and made without due
consideration of the
facts at hand.
His opponents are churning out
the politics of hate, selfishness and through
their diatribe, I can see
people jostling for political positions, people
who are planning to loot
this economy and grind it to a halt.
We come first as Zimbabweans, which
means being MDC or ZANU-PF is immaterial
and insignificant at the present
moment. All that we want to see is normalcy
in Zimbabwe, people want food on
the table and you cannot serve them ZANU-PF
or MDC for lunch or supper.
Every Zimbabwean is suffering irrespective of
their political affiliation to
MDC, NAGG or ZANU-PF.
Our country’s economy is in the intensive care unit at
the moment and we
should all work towards getting it out of this
quagmire.
The best solution to our plight is for us to rise above the
politics of hate
and partisanship. If I had my way, I would ban political
parties, which are
contributing to our misery, until the country’s economy
gets back to normal.
As they say if wishes were horses beggars would
ride.
The bible tells us that the Israelites took years in the desert and
most of
them never reached the Promised Land. My best friend who visited
Israel says
the journey can take less than a week and yet it took them
years.
Just like the Israelites, we shall continue to suffer and die in
foreign
lands until we rise above hatred, tribalism, regionalism and
partisan
politics.
Unity and love are part of the solution to our plight.
God loves Zimbabwe.
I feel very disappointed when national leaders judge a
fellow countryman on
the basis of party affiliation and not competence.
Zimbabwe can do better!
Zimbabwe needs people who can better her fortunes for
the sake of her
children.
Our country needs us to prepare a brighter
future for our children just like
the Japanese have done. Ramangwana revana
vedu rakakosha, kwete kuti tizvare
vapemhi. The future of the next
generations is important; we don’t want to
create beggars. But if we don’t
put our act together we are will bear and
raise beggars, criminals and
pirates.
I feel Simba (Makoni) is a credible candidate for the top post in
the land
because he does not harbour resentments for anyone within or
outside
ZANU-PF. His critics say he is afraid of President Mugabe, but I
feel he
simply does not want to water the seeds of hatred, which currently
prevail
in our political arena.
Makoni is a person who appeals to both
the ruling party and the opposition.
He also appeals across the tribal
divide.
Politicians, please we need a break, we are tired of this chaos. We
want to
come back home and leave the diaspora.
As a person who is fed up
with the Zimbabwean situation, I believe Simba can
bring back the one-time
breadbasket of Africa to normalcy. However, I hope
Simba is not playing
games with Zimbabweans.
As a Pan-African, I feel this is a critical time to
change our leadership
otherwise the political stability of the country is
threatened.
I would hate it if Simba joined the archives of political clowns
featuring
Shakespeare Maya of NAGG, Tafataona Mahoso and of course the
infamous
Jonathan “Comical Ali” Moyo. It is a very crucial decision Simba
should
make, that is, to be the rescuer of the suffering Zimbabweans or not.
This
is a David vs Goliath fight. You (Makoni) have come in the nick of
time.
If you let the children of Zimbabwe down, history shall judge you
harshly.
As they say, history forgives, but does not forget. Before I rest
my case
brothers and sisters, Zimbabwe is a beautiful country and it shall
surely
rise again.
I am still suffering with you as a Zimbabwean and I
have no plans of selling
my birthright (changing
citizenship).
Simbarashe Chirimubwe
Botswana
------------
It
was high time, Simba
EDITOR—I would like to applaud Dr. Simba Makoni
on his announcement and
intent to run for the office of President. Zimbabwe
has been waiting for too
long for ZANU-PF insiders to start speaking up and
standing up against the
corrupt and power hungry ZANU-PF
regime.
Makoni’s announcement is only one step in the right direction and
he is not
going to afford doing it alone. He is going to need the support of
all
Zimbabweans.
The war veterans and some ZANU-PF supporters responded
to Makoni’s
announcement with stern warnings of violence, which of course
amounts to
civil and political intimidation.
We have seen fires of hope
being extinguished with violence in the past and
it is imperative for all
Zimbabweans not to sit back. We should all be
involved in peaceful
campaigning and participating in fair elections.
Once again congratulations
to Makoni and I wish him peace as he works on his
campaign
manifesto.
Taka Kuvaoga
Harare
--------------
What are Simba
Makoni’s chances?
EDITOR — What Simba Makoni has done is quite
interesting, but before we
celebrate let us look at what he is up against.
While Simba is quite popular
with urban voters, President Mugabe has strong
rural support and it is a
fact that more rural people will vote than urban
voters.
As such Simba has to crack the rural code that Morgan
(Tsvangirai) failed
to. He can achieve this by breaking away from ZANU-PF
with individuals who
can win him the much-needed rural vote.
Maybe a
coalition with the Mujurus, Dabengwa, Nkomo, Kaukonde, and most
importantly,
chiefs, may do the magic.
We should also never underestimate MDC’s power and
popularity among voters.
I strongly encourage and advise a coalition with
Tsvangirai and Mutambara if
the urban vote is not to be wasted through a
voter split that will favour
President Mugabe.
Though it might have been
a strategy to ambush President Mugabe, I do not
like Simba’s timing. Will he
have enough time to run around and convince
people not only to vote for him,
but to register for the election?
Let us wait and see.
Bryne T.
Mushaninga
Harare
-------------
Let’s support this
man
EDITOR – Let us all support Simba Makoni for challenging
President Mugabe. I
think many people in ZANU-PF will follow suit. Makoni
has stood up for what
he believes in and I believe he is the only person who
can bring change to
our country.
The MDC is not even prepared for the
coming elections, although so many
people support it. It (MDC) has not given
the people the motivation to
support it.
If only all who can challenge
ZANU-PF could unite and work together to
rescue our country from these
economic hardships.
ZANU-PF has forgotten about the people who voted it into
power and is only
in power to benefit a few. ZANU-PF has failed to deliver
on its election
promises and what more can it promise the people this time
around?
So many are dying and suffering and the majority of the people do not
feel
free in their own country. ZANU-PF has failed and should not blame the
British and the Americans. It is the policies and the blunders ZANU-PF has
made, which are to blame for the chaos the country is facing.
Government
should level the political playing field for free and fair
elections, which
is what the people want without fear, bribery or
intimidation.
Enough is
enough, let’s stand up for what is right for the
people.
Tich
Switzerland
-------------
Election outcome
obvious, MDC should prepare to act
EDITOR — President Robert Mugabe
has given notice that the elections will be
held at the end of March. The
two factions of the MDC now have to decide
weather or not to contest these
elections.
It will not make any difference either way because the outcome
of the
elections has already been pre-determined by ZANU-PF. What both
parties need
to focus on now is what happens after the elections.
It’s
vital that the people are mobilised to respond to the pre-determined
outcome
of the elections. If nothing happens, as was the case after the
elections in
2002, then President Mugabe and ZANU-PF will continue with
business as
usual.
The MDC will become even more insignificant than it is now and
Zimbabwe will
continue its downward spiral until it finally hits rock
bottom.
There has been much debate about why the people of Zimbabwe have sat
back
and not taken to the streets to vent their anger. The major reason this
has
not happened yet is simply lack of direction and leadership.
Both MDC
parties should start to put together a master plan that will
mobilise the
people.
Expecting people to come to a pre-determined point has not worked and
will
not work because the police, army and ZANU-PF thugs will ambush and
close
the mobilisation down before it gets off the ground.
The
mobilisation should take place in each high-density suburb. The people
then
make their way into town in the early hours of the morning.
The people of
Zimbabwe need to show President Mugabe, ZANU-PF and the rest
of the world
that they have now had enough.
Lead the way, we’ll
follow!
Zulu
Harare
Independent, UK
By Daniel
Howden
Saturday, 16 February 2008
Biofuels are nothing new to
Simeon Mayimel. He's been burning charcoal and
elephant dung for years. He
had never expected that they would change his or
his people's way of
life.
One of the elders in his village, Nangene, Mr Mayimel is the leader
of a
community of two dozen or so families facing an uncertain future. They
are
Shangaan people, whose way of life in the borderlands of Mozambique,
South
Africa and Zimbabwe, based on crops and cattle, has altered little for
generations.
That is about to change. Nangene and seven other
villages have been consumed
by the recently created Transfrontier Limpopo
National Park, which straddles
the three countries, and the villagers along
with more than a thousand other
families are to be resettled outside its
borders. They have been promised
houses, electricity, running water and
grazing at a new site.
But now the government has given a huge tract of
the same land to a biofuels
company, Procana, and their putative home is set
to become Mozambique's
largest sugar-cane plantation.
"They have told
us there is room for both [villagers and plantations] but we
haven't seen
it," Mr Mayimel complains. "All the time we are told we will be
moving next
month. Then when next month comes we are told it will be next
month."
The resettlement plan was only agreed after three years of
fractious
negotiations and the intervention of a local human rights group,
Oram, which
taught the villagers how to stand up to the
authorities.
Issuto Tankar, who led Oram's fight, says that without
support they would
have been driven off their land as others have been
elsewhere in the
country. "They would have left by now without compensation.
The people would
have lost everything."
The Limpopo park headquarters
is only a few miles from Nangene but it
belongs to a different world. The
park commissioner, Rodolfo Cumbane,
receives visitors in a polished
boardroom with leather chairs. He admits
that the sudden arrival of the
biodiesel revolution has delayed the
resettlement of the villagers but
insists the promise of a better life will
be kept. "We are trying to improve
the environment and create job
opportunities together with the
resettlement," says Mr Cumbane. Then he
adds: "Work will start later this
month, or next month."
Is there enough water for industrial agriculture,
small-scale farming,
grazing, hydropower and irrigation? "Yes," he replies,
before admitting that
rainfall varies sharply from year to year.
This
week the streets of Chokwe and Maputo were transformed into
battlegrounds
after the government dropped price controls and the cost of
bread soared. At
least 11 people were killed with many more wounded.
Fears remain that
there is more of this to come as the twofold effect of the
biofuel boom is
felt: global agricultural commodity prices surge and local
food security is
undermined by the switch from food to fuel. Places such as
Chokwe and
Massingir will feel the worst of it.
In Maputo, Tanja Kleibl, from the
Catholic development agency Cafod, which
funds Oram's work, says that
Mozambique's economic miracle – hailed by the
president of the World Bank
this week – could prove a dangerous illusion.
"It is all political," she
says. "The government supports big agricultural
interests ... not
small-scale farmers who are 80 per cent of the
population." There is already
serious malnutrition in one province, she
adds, and recent floods show how
quickly people become dependent on food
aid. "They are storing up conflict
for the future."