FinGaz
Nelson Banya News Editor & Njabulo Ncube
Chief Pol
lArthur Mutambara's dream scuttled?
THE crisis in the Movement
for Democratic Change (MDC) could take yet
another turn, with party
president Morgan Tsvangirai charging that the
congress scheduled to be held
in Bulawayo this weekend by a rebel faction is
not an MDC event as it
violates the party's constitution and is in contempt
of a standing High
Court ruling that upheld his leadership of the party.
Tsvangirai's
lawyers yesterday wrote to Coghlan and Welsh, the Bulawayo law
firm which
represents the MDC's breakaway faction, advising against the
continued use
of the party's name.
"We request that you advise your clients to refrain from
these continued
violations and especially also, to advise them that the
gathering intended
for the 25th and 26th February 2006 is not an MDC
congress on account of
being a nullity," reads part of the letter, written
by Tsvangirai's lawyers,
Dube, Manikai and Hwacha.
They cite the rebel
faction's failure to acknowledge Justice Yunus Omerjee's
ruling that the MDC
national council set aside Tsvangirai's purported
suspension from the party
last December. They also cite a series of
violations of the MDC constitution
in terms of the provincial elections in
the run-up to the congress.
"The
court made it clear that Mr G. Chimanikire and any others may not act
in the
name of the MDC without lawful authority. Such authority rests in the
national council. The High Court did find that the national council which
confirmed the illegality of Mr Tsvangirai's suspension was fully
constituted. Your client and others in common purpose, have continued to act
in defiance of the logic and principle of the High Court.
"Your clients
have repeatedly published, yet falsely, that our client Mr M.
Tsvangirai is
suspended or dismissed from the party. In defiance of the
judgment, your
clients have purportedly organised meetings in the name of
the MDC. Your
clients have now also published adverts calling for an "MDC
congress" to be
held in Bulawayo on the 25th and 26th February 2006."
According to Article
6.4.1 (a) of the MDC constitution, the secretary
general convenes and
organises the meetings of congress and the national
conference in
consultation with the president, under the supervision of the
national
council. Tsvangirai's lawyers said this did not happen.
They also pointed out
that all elections within the party were to be
supervised by the national
chairman, but this would not be so as the
incumbent, Isaac Matongo, would
not be at the weekend gathering in Bulawayo.
"We understand, too, that your
clients claim to have arranged "provincial
elections" for the youth and
women's assemblies. This was done without
notice to and or even the
participation of the National Youth chairperson or
his deputy and the
women's assembly chairperson. The said elections are null
and
void.
"Office bearers sprung from these illegal activities have no right to
participate as such in any meetings, conferences, congresses or other
activities of the MDC."
. . . As Chimanikire throws
tantrum
Njabulo Ncube
Chief Political Reporter
GIFT Chimanikire,
the enraged deputy secretary-general of the MDC pro-senate
faction yesterday
fired another salvo at Arthur Mutambara, who is tipped to
take over the
reins of the splinter opposition grouping, saying he will not
"step down for
an expatriate who does not know the price of bread here."
A defiant
Chimanikire, who has cast his eyes on the faction's presidency
since the
infamous October fallout, revealed yesterday he had resisted
pressure from
colleagues in the inner circle of the grouping to make way for
the radical
former University of Zimbabwe (UZ) student leader.
"I can't step down for an
expatriate," he said. "He (Mutambara) is being
imposed on the congress by
some of my colleagues who spoke to him at the
weekend and I understand
during their trips to South Africa in recent times
as well. The whole
process moves away from the democratic processes of the
party. The values
and principles of the party, which I, together with
like-minded members
cherish, are being eroded."
Mutambara, analysts said, has been given an early
taste of the bitter side
of the country's politics and should be prepared
for the worst as the
pro-senate group goes to its inaugural congress at the
weekend.
An accomplished academic and scientist, Mutambara announced his
entry into
mainstream politics on Sunday and is likely to shrug off the
token challenge
from Chimanikire whom party insiders said has been
de-campaigned by some
officials of the Gibson Sibanda-led breakaway
grouping.
Chimanikire's outburst contradicts statements by the faction
secretary-general Welshman Ncube that the entry of Mutambara had not created
any fissures in the party.
In a parting shot Chimanikire said: "I believe
it is an issue of money, not
principle, to settle for Mutambara. I think he
has a few more bucks than me.
It is my belief money changed hands during
their meetings but Welsh and
others have denied it. They don't know him but
only what they have read in
the papers about his days at university and his
robotics training."
Mutambara yesterday declined to comment at length,
preferring to send a
press statement.
"I have nothing to say to you
except the press statement I sent you. Ask
Welshman, Morgan Tsvangirai,
Daniel Shumba and the UPM (United People's
Movement) about the conditions
that I have put across," said Mutambara in a
brief telephone interview.
FinGaz
THE
same phrase is heard all the time from almost all Zimbabweans whether in
the
urban or rural areas: "They are all rotten".
"They" are Zimbabwe's
current political parties - the ruling ZANU PF party,
both factions of the
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) and the recently
formed one-man outfits
- all seen in the public eye as corrupt, self-serving
and a confused bunch
of people who are motivated much more by the need to
feather their nests
than by a sense of what is good for Zimbabwe.
They are in it not because of
any ulterior motive of wanting to change the
Zimbabwean society for the
better but because of what they can get out of
it - period!
The words of
the late political scientist Masipula Sithole continue to ring
true when he
said in his book Zimbabwe: Struggles within the Struggles: "We
dismiss as
nonsense and idle talk any suggestions that the leaders in the
liberation
movements are ambitious, self-seeking and power hungry. We accept
that they
are. That is why it is they and not others who are so involved and
so
risking." Well said my brother Masipula! May your soul rest in eternal
peace.
The truth is plain to see. How else can one explain the full-blown
political
paralysis that has engulfed us right across the board? ZANU PF is
totally
clueless as to how to take the country out of its political and
economic
quagmire. It is naïve in the extreme to assume that the current
government
is in the driving seat. Driving what - when to all intents and
purposes the
country has collapsed.
Zimbabwe has gone off the rails
completely and the government remains locked
in a confused mode unsure which
way to turn, how to respond to the so-called
challenges and what solution to
try next. Even the driver of a scotch-cart
would not behave the way this
government is behaving!
Zimbabwe has currently the highest annual inflation
rate in the world and
the substantial and frequent price increases (on a
daily basis) of goods and
services bear testimony to this.
As
Zimbabweans, we have been totally devalued in the eyes of the world as a
result of having the most worthless currency on the continent. Thank God, we
are not in a war situation but hold your breath: Ours is the world's fastest
collapsing economy outside a war zone.
Amidst all this, our government
continues to be simply observers of our
terrible human condition instead of
finding a solution to this crisis.
It is indeed a very sad reflection of the
men and women who yesteryear were
so dedicated to the fight for freedom and
democracy and led the country's
revolution (some, not all) but are now part
of the problem the people of
this country are facing.
In terms of
acknowledging and diagnosing the problem, Reserve Bank of
Zimbabwe governor
Gideon Gono remains as oasis of sanity in an otherwise
desert of political
madness and economic despair. In truth, all Gono can do
is to offer a few
bandages but the cure for the disease lies in the
political court.
It is
one thing to acknowledge a problem, but it is quite another to have
the
political will to solve it. And that is where the ruling party comes in:
to
surrender their personal ambitions of remaining in office in the interest
of
the country.
The problem with ZANU PF is that the leadership couldn't care
less what
people say or write. They consider themselves above the law and
not
accountable to anyone. This is the real epidemic. I am sure the freedom
that
Gono has, particularly the one he displayed when he presented his
Monetary
Policy Review Statement on January 24, can be distressing.
What
a burden to bear that the government not only allows the central bank
governor complete freedom but also couldn't care less what he says. This is
the tragedy.
Gideon Gono rightly identified corruption and
unaccountability of
politicians as the biggest problems facing this nation
and its people.
Government ministers and senior officials of ZANU PF have
spoken out against
these evils and yet everybody in this country knows that
those politicians
who speak loudest against corruption are themselves the
most corrupt.
It is talk, talk and talk without any action being taken. There
is no
spotlight on corruption either from government or the media. There is
no
powerful deterrent. There is neither the political will nor the cameras
and
independent reporters to deal with and investigate the cancer of
corruption
that has taken root in the Zimbabwean society in a big
way.
The Anti-Corruption Ministry and the Anti-Corruption Commission are but
an
empty shell. The responsible minister, Paul Mangwana's time is largely
taken
up by his love of theatre and rhetoric.
Even the moral exhortation
and admonition by President Robert Mugabe is not
having any effect. If the
President managed to give the appearance of
standing above corruption, he
also seemed to condone it by his inaction and
the appointments he
makes.
The fight against this monster called corruption is not so much in
danger
from those who deny its existence as those who, professing to believe
in the
fight, are willing to take no action against the evil for their
purposes.
And taking action includes holding to account and dealing with
ministers and
officials who have openly displayed despicable conduct.
A
number of ministers and officials in government have pursued their wayward
paths with impunity. They couldn't care less. They think that they are
masters of the people not servants. Names which immediately come to mind
include Ignatius Chombo, Aeneas Chigwedere, Tafataona Mahoso and the
illiterate and clueless Sekesayi Makwavarara. Many more have gone to
sleep.
The political paralysis and the struggle for spoils have not been
confined
to the ruling ZANU PF party alone. Although blatant in ZANU PF
because they
are the party in power, the pursuit of spoils and personal
interests has
been at the heart of the disintegration of the opposition
MDC.
All is not well in both factions. Who can blame Zimbabweans for now
regarding their politicians as people engaged in nothing but unpleasant
squabbles for power?
Recent developments in both factions show clearly
how individuals who
indulge in the politics of tribe and clienthood can take
attention away from
the politics of socio-economic transformation for their
own selfish ends.
In the pro-Senate faction we are witnessing a political
nonentity in the
name of Arthur Mutambara being parachuted into the country
to take over the
leadership of that faction. I am all for student politics
but not when there
is some mature and hard work to be done. Besides, the man
has been so far
removed from the theatre of the suffering of the majority of
Zimbabweans
that I would not be surprised if he addresses the Bulawayo
congress in a
language as unfamiliar as the Latin of the Catholic Church -
come this
weekend.
Neither is Gift Chimanikire a suitable candidate for
the faction's
leadership. Of course, he is marginally better than Mutambara
but he is a
pale shadow of Morgan Tsvangirai, the other faction's leader.
Chimanikire
neither possesses the stature nor the wherewithal of leadership.
Clearly,
there is a massive drought of leadership in the so-called
pro-Senate camp.
To all intents and purposes, we might be saying goodbye to
Welshman, Gibson,
Fletcher, Gift and others unless they are co-opted into
ministerial
positions by Zanu PF in the not too distant future and in that
event they
will be in it for themselves not for the people of
Zimbabwe.
To me, MDC under the leadership of Morgan Tsvangirai still retains
the
initiative (albeit tenuously) for the opposition in its efforts to
create a
new model opposition party. Unfortunately, once again, it is an
open secret
that Tsvangirai's faction is riddled with tribal and regional
fights for
positions lending credence once again to the widespread belief
that these
guys entered politics to have life without scarcity rather than
for the
general well-being of Zimbabweans. Matabeleland wants the position
of
Vice-President. So does Manicaland. And so fort and so forth. Again,
another
classic case of conflict and scramble for power and
positions.
The point has also to be made that Tsvangirai is not without his
weaknesses
and shortcomings. He has dictatorial tendencies. True, any leader
has to be
ruthless at times but becoming another dictator is anathema to
most
Zimbabweans. Democracy is about deep debate, differences of opinion and
the
ability to voice it freely. Differences of opinion can and should exist
side
by side peacefully. The former East German leader Erick Honecker
attributed
his own downfall in 1989 to lack of internal democracy in the
Communist
Party, lack of open discussion and crude media propaganda.
Clearly,
Tsvangirai has a lot of work to do in terms of addressing his own
weaknesses
as outlined above if he is to keep his leadership in a democratic
and
sustained way. To say that 'Without me there is no MDC' as Tsvangirai
said
is to push looseness of language to unacceptable limit. I can sincerely
say
to him: As great a fighter for democracy as you are, you certainly
goofed on
that occasion. The last thing that we want to see in this country
again is a
whole national movement like the MDC reduced to the biography of
the leader.
We have had enough of that!
Given the foregoing, things are
obviously not looking good on the political
front let alone the economic
calamity facing this nation. Instead of leading
us in a bold drive for
national renewal, politicians are busy studying their
own interests. We can
only watch from the terraces where the money is going.
Obviously, the
victims of this struggle for spoils are the people of
Zimbabwe. No wonder
that the Zimbabwean people have lost faith not just in
all political parties
but also in many other institutions. The confusion
that has descended on
Zimbabwe in recent years has given rise to mass
apathy, indifference and the
feeing of powerlessness. The only redeeming
factor is the extraordinary and
truly remarkable resilience and
determination that Zimbabweans are showing
in the face of justifiable
despair. The spirit is to move on with life
despite what the Mugabes and
Tsvangirais of this world are doing.
Be that
as it may, one lesson I have learnt over the years is that nothing
endures
forever. I know for sure that Zimbabweans remain optimistic about
the
promise and reality of the transition from the present confusion and
political paralysis to democracy, political stability and economic
turnaround. With inflation and much else assaulting us on a daily basis, the
temptation is to give up but I think the Zimbabwean people have the will and
the determination to keep going.
A new dawn for Zimbabwe might not be
that far off.
E-mail: borncha@mweb.co.zw
FinGaz
Kumbirai Mafunda Senior Business
Reporter
Decision to give Ncube faction MDC allocation
THE anti-senate
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) faction says it will
decide how to
respond to the treasury's parcelling out of $8 billion to a
breakaway
faction at its national congress to be held next month, broaching
fresh
hostilities in the fragmented party.
After meeting at its two-day
national council indaba held last weekend in
Harare, the anti-senate group
led by former trade unionist Morgan Tsvangirai
said it would make a
determination of the eventual beneficiary of the annual
grant meant to
assist political parties at its second national congress set
for March 17 to
19.
"MDC supporters and members constitute the bulk of taxpayers," William
Bango, Tsvangirai's spokesperson, told The Financial Gazette yesterday. "So
a determination will emerge at congress where people will decide their
future."
A dissident splinter group of the MDC, which is fronted by
faction
secretary-general Welshman Ncube and now based in Bulawayo, recently
laid
claim to $8 billion budgeted as part of state funds allocated to major
political parties under the Political Parties (Finance) Act and vowed not to
share the funds with the anti-senate group.
Political parties, which
obtain significant votes in legislative elections,
are entitled to
government funding under Zimbabwe's Political Parties
(Finance) Act. The law
also outlaws political parties from soliciting for or
receiving foreign
funding.
In spite of a split in the once formidable opposition party, which
posed the
fiercest challenge to President Robert Mugabe's 26-year rule,
Justice
Minister Patrick Chinamasa defended the government's decision to
award the
annual grant for opposition parties to the breakaway faction led
by Ncube,
telling state media that the government was blind to the break-up
of the MDC
when it parcelled out the funds.
Political observers say
parcelling state funds to a faction of the
leadership that broke ranks with
Tsvangirai and at one time attempted to
secure legal judgment against the
anti-senate MDC but got rebuffed by the
courts is meant to further the
divisions in the once impressive opposition
party.
Bango said the
parcelling of state funds into the coffers of the pro-senate
group was not
isolated from the row in the administration of the party's
properties and
assets, which the anti-senate faction charges is being
dishonoured by the
pro-senate camp.
He however cautioned that Tsvangirai was not losing sleep
over the
parcelling of state funds to the Ncube camp.
"Mr Tsvangirai
believes money isn't the hearts and minds," Bango said. "He
(Tsvangirai)
considers that political issues are better articulated by
people who are
driven by the need to serve and not the need to make money.
Money is not
part of the issue. His issue is how to find ways to resolve the
national
crisis, a position which will benefit the majority of Zimbabwe," he
added.
Insiders who attended the national council indaba said the meeting
also
instructed the leadership of the party to seek an amicable separation
from
the activities of the breakaway group.
"We do not want to waste time
and resources on a futile scrap that just
leaves people confused and does
nothing about the crisis confronting the
country and its people. As far as
the MDC is concerned, it is long past the
time when the breakaway group
should form a new political party and decide
on its own agenda and
programme," said an insider who attended the meeting.
FinGaz
Charles Rukuni Bureau
Chief
Ncube MDC faction seeks a national look
BULAWAYO - The pro-senate
faction of the Movement for Demo-cratic Change
(MDC) has always been
referred to as the Welshman Ncube-led faction.
Rarely was it ever called
the Gibson Sibanda-led faction. Yet Sibanda was
the MDC vice-president and
de facto leader of the faction.
More surprisingly, the faction is now
frantically looking for a leader. A
particular leader, to be
precise.
Though the faction's management committee has said the post of party
president is open to anyone, the situation on the ground seems to indicate
that the group is not just headhunting for an academic - but a Shona as
well.
So far, all candidates reported to be vying for the post of
president to be
contested at the faction's congress scheduled for this
weekend are Shona.
This has fuelled speculation that the faction, which was
labelled a
breakaway group by people mostly from Matabeleland, may be more
interested
in striking a regional balance to portray a national
outlook.
The leading contenders for the post of president are Arthur
Mutambara, a
former student leader who is now a renowned academic; Gift
Chimanikire, a
former trade unionist and deputy secretary of the MDC; and
Priscilla
Misihairabwi-Mushonga, the Member of Parliament (MP) for Glen
Norah and the
faction's parliamentary spokesperson.
"They are desperate
to get a Shona, but he has to be a reputable leader,"
political scientist
John Makumbe said. "Gift Chimanikire had discredited
himself by opposing
(Morgan) Tsvangirai. No one trusts him now."
The MDC split into two factions
last year in the run-up the senate elections
when one group decided to
contest and the other, led by party president
Tsvangirai, called for a
boycott.
Tsvangirai's faction will hold its congress next month.
Makumbe
and other political observers said party secretary-general Ncube was
still
the power behind the throne in the pro-senate faction. He was
therefore
looking for someone pliable, someone he could manipulate and
control, he
charged.
"Chimanikire is not that kind of person. Besides, he is not an
academic. In
fact, if he is not careful, Chimanikire might be kicked out of
the
leadership completely," Makumbe said.
He said Misihairabwi-Mushonga
was a non-starter. She was clever and educated
but she was not astute, he
added.
"She likes to think of herself as the Joyce Mujuru of the MDC but she
is
only fooling herself. She is not a mobiliser or a crowd puller," he
said.
Makumbe said Mutambara had the right qualifications but those trying to
sell
him were banking on his record of more than 10 years ago when he was a
student leader.
"How many MDC supporters today remember him? Besides, the
record of
academics in Zimbabwean politics is not that rosy. Look at
Welshman Ncube
himself and Jonathan Moyo: what have they done?" Makumbe
said.
Another political commentator, Lawton Hikwa, said: "I cannot say
academics
have failed. President Robert Mugabe is an academic and he has led
this
country for more than two decades. I must say, however, by agreeing to
stand, Mutambara has already taken sides. He cannot claim to be neutral
because right now we do not know which is the legitimate MDC."
Mutambara
was quoted by a local daily as saying the MDC needed a new
leadership that
was not tainted by the current disagreement to facilitate
its
reunification.
Makumbe said Mutambara and Ncube were kidding themselves that
they could
challenge President Mugabe. Ncube had already admitted that he
could not
lead the party and was therefore looking for a surrogate, he
added.
"Mutambara isn't a mobiliser. He doesn't have the charisma. He is a
technocrat. But their worst enemy is the local media. Once ZTV, The Herald
and The Chronicle dance to your tune, you are finished. It reflects badly on
you.
"People want someone who is harassed, harangued, ridiculed by the
media and
by Mugabe, not someone who is pampered," Makumbe said.
Another
political observer said the opposition was playing into the hands of
ZANU PF
because it would not be able tackle the ruling party if it remained
splintered as it was.
"The way I see it, we are going back to the
situation in the 1960s, the days
of the ANC and ZAPU (African National
Council and Zimbabwe African People's
Union), when party squabbles were the
order of the day and parties simply
split because of differences over
leadership," the observer said.
FinGaz
Stanley Kwenda
Own Correspondent
A FLURRY of messages congratulating President Robert
Mugabe on his 82nd
birthday might have come as a boon to the struggling
media industry, but it
also provided useful insights into how politics
dictate business in
Zimbabwe.
It was like a stampede as no one in
central government and the parastatal
community wanted to be left out in
conveying their congratulatory messages
despite the shoestring budgets they
operate under.
But if one counts the cost of advertising today, then a
significant chunk of
the taxpayer's money was used just to wish the
President many more years.
Though there is nothing wrong in wishing President
Mugabe any good on his
birthday, critics this week asked whether it was
necessary to go that far
when a simple verbal birthday message could have
done the trick.
Analysts said the impending Cabinet reshuffle could have
motivated the
fanaticism that characterised the past week. What has puzzled
many was the
extent to which even underperforming government bodies were
prepared to use
taxpayers' money, given that most of them are surviving on
subsidies from
the government.
It was the struggling companies that are
directly feeding off taxpayers'
funds which were at pains to splash messages
in all the newspapers in praise
of the President, in the process draining
substantial amounts of money which
could have been better used elsewhere in
a country facing numerous problems.
An A3-size advert now costs about $106
million. Multiply that by seven
newspapers and you get $742 million, which
could make a lot of difference in
some people's lives.
This amount, for
example, could have paid a month's salary for more than 100
teachers.
Zimbabwe Progressive Teachers Union president Raymond Majongwe
said there
was need for all economic leaders to refocus their priorities in
the face of
a deteriorating economy and do away with politics of
patronage.
"There is really no point in spending amounts close to a billion
on
splashing the President's face in the newspapers, which we all know and
is
in good health. The economy is in shambles and that money could have been
used for better purposes, like purchasing antiretroviral drugs and
rehabilitating the crumbling infrastructure," said Majo-ngwe.
"These
messages have been there for a long time and if they were meant for
the
President he could have had enough of them. Now there are some people
who
just want to get themselves closer to the President by spending billions
on
these adverts," said a political analyst who requested anonymity.
FinGaz
Chris Muronzi
Staff Reporter
THE Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) Zimbabwe and
the Media
Monitoring Project of Zimbabwe (MMPZ) said this week the
"demeaning" attack
on a Financial Gazette columnist by The Saturday Herald's
columnist
Nathaniel Manheru in his latest article was shocking and
"outrageous".
The two media organisations said Manheru's article, which
was in response to
Makuni's opinion article entitled Mbeki's failure only
prolongs our misery,
transcended the limits and confines of freedom of
expression as guaranteed
in the constitution and went "beyond the bounds of
decency and fair comment".
Manheru, believed to be President Robert Mugabe's
spokesperson and permanent
secretary in the Ministry of Information, George
Charamba, claimed that
Makuni's opinion "is a case of PMT (Pre-menstrual
Tension) senselessness,
adding that Mbeki should not be bothered by comments
made by one "menopausal
Mavis Makuni".
"The media Institute of Southern
Africa (MISA) Zimbabwe and the Media
Monitoring Project of Zimbabwe (MMPZ)
would like to express shock at the
outrageous, chauvinistic comment targeted
at the Financial Gazette columnist
"Mavis Makuni in The Saturday Herald's
issue of 18 February 2006.
"Nathaniel Manheru's opinion piece: The Otherside
entitled Muleya/Makuni:
The deep scar of colonial enslavement,
misgovernance, was a dehumanising and
blatant attack which went beyond the
right to freedom of expression and
opinion.
"Such comments are not only
unethical but expose Manheru's bigotry, which is
unacceptable in a civilised
society . . .
"Manheru has a right to his own opinions but he should address
the issues
raised by Makuni instead of the unprofessional and unwarranted
attack on the
personhood of the author. It is such biases and prejudices
that entrench
negative stereotypes of women as lesser and incapable beings,"
said MISA and
MMPZ.
The two media bodies said Manheru's comments " expose
a mindset that is
demeaning of women and their status as equal to
men".
Manheru's comments come at a time when the government is empowering
women
and other democratic nations are accommodating women into influential
political offices.
In her article, Makuni commented on the failure of
South African President
Thabo Mbeki to solve Zimbabwe's political problems,
courting Manheru's ire
as a result.
FinGaz
Nelson Banya News
Editor
Factions again jostling for control of province
RETIRED
army general and ZANU PF's most senior politician in the volatile
Masvingo
province, Vitalis Zvinavashe, has been dragged into the incessant
factional
wars that have threatened to destabilise the ruling party.
Zvinavashe, who
became a senator when the upper chamber was reintroduced
late last year,
accompanied ZANU PF political commissar Elliot Manyika to
Masvingo over the
weekend, ostensibly to meet the provincial leadership
there. However,
members of the interim ZANU PF executive led by Samuel
Mumbengegwi allege
that Manyika had been prodded to rap, or even dissolve
the executive for
failing to acknowledge the leadership of central committee
members from the
province.
"The old man was put under pressure from certain central committee
members,
who were elected by the fired Daniel Shumba-led executive, to have
us rapped
or even dissolved for alleged insubordination.
"He did try to
tell us to respect the senior leadership in the province, but
ultimately, he
rebuffed them when he released a statement to the press
saying he was
pleased with the progress the interim executive has made. So
we are going
ahead with uprooting all the fake structures they had set up.
We are also
doing away with all of Shumba's people from within the party's
structures,"
the provincial executive member, who declined to be quoted,
said.
Although the province's factional figureheads Eddson Zvobgo and
Simon
Muzenda are both late, the factionalism has persisted in the province.
The
Zvobgo faction, whose fortunes had been on the wane since the late ZANU
PF
legal supreme was taken ill, has been on the ascent since the death of
the
late vice-president.
Zvobgo loyalists-Dzikamai Mavhaire, Walter
Mzembi and Eddison Zvobgo
(Junior) now hold sway in the province, while
those belonging to the other
faction - former governor Josaya Hungwe, higher
education minister Stan
Mudenge and Shuvai Mahofa were caught up in the
infamous Tsholotsho
conspiracy one way or the other.
"You will realise
that the current central committee members were nominated
by the fired
executive and what has gotten into the way of a cordial working
relationship
is the Tsholotsho issue. Also, you will realize that Shumba is
back in the
province with his new party, is ZANU PF prepared to commit
political suicide
and allow his former supporters and associates to fight
him?" the ZANU PF
official said.
Contacted for comment, Mavhaire professed ignorance over the
alleged
manouvres to unsit his executive over the weekend.
"I am not
aware of that. All I know is what has appeared in the press. Thank
you,"
Mavhaire said yesterday.
Efforts to contact both Manyika and Zvinavashe
proved fruitless yesterday.
FinGaz
Munyaradzi Mugowo Own
Correspondent
ELECTRICITY tariffs will shoot up by over 200 percent early
next month in a
development that might stoke the inflation
flames.
ZESA executive chairman Sydney Gata said the tariff review - the
second in
two months - had been approved by the government.
He said: "We
are going to announce a tariff next week. Our tariffs have been
frozen since
2004 but costs have not been frozen."
Economist John Robertson said the
tariff hike would only provide a
negligible reprieve to the country's sole
power utility, which faces the
major challenge of shaking off a huge
external debt overhang of over US$330
million incurred largely through
electricity imports.
"The tariffs ZESA was charging were far too low to allow
them to pay for the
electricity they import and this has created a severe
debt burden, which
will make life difficult for the new board. The board
would be justified to
ask for more, but this will increase industry's costs
of production and
accelerate costs," Robertson said.
According to current
statistics, for every kilowatt-hour of electricity
produced at an average
cost of Z$1.386.20 per kilowatt-hour, ZESA charges
Z$218.08.
In the 12
months to December 2005, the parastatal incurred an estimated
operating loss
of about Z$8 trillion attributed to inflation, sub-economic
pricing and high
wage costs, which account for over 55 percent of ever
falling total
revenue.
FinGaz
Audrey Chitsika Staff
Reporter
THE country is facing acute shortages of stockfeed resulting in
producers
hiking prices of live stock products and by-products in the past
two months.
Successive drought years have seen persistent shortages of
maize in the
country, which have threatened not only the livestock industry
but has left
more than four million people in need of food aid.
Manufacturers of
livestock products have turned to expensive imported
substitutes to cushion
themselves from the raw materials
shortages.
Leading food processor and distributor, National Foods (Natfoods),
confirmed
the hardships in accessing raw materials needed to produce
stockfeed. A
Natfoods public relations consultant, Linda Musesengwa, said
the critical
shortage of the complete stock feed has led to the company
selling and
distributing concentrates to avert a livestock crisis.
She
added that farmers had to add maize to the concentrate to make a
complete
feed for their livestock.
"National Foods is currently distributing
concentrate. The farmers then add
their own maize to make the complete
feed," said the Natfoods consultant.
"The shortage of complete feed is due
to the overall shortage of maize in
the country."
The gap in the supply
of stock feed has also resulted in shortages of chicks
for breeding,
resulting in the increase in prices of chicken products.
A survey in most
retail shops revealed that the price of chicken and eggs
have gone up by
more than 100 percent since January this year.
The cost of a kilogram of
chicken now exceeds $350 000, up from $150 000 at
the beginning of the year,
while a single egg has gone up from $2 500 to $12
500.
Currently, efforts
are underway to boost the production of soya and maize,
major components in
the manufacturing of products such as cereals and stock
feed.
"It is
difficult to give an exact figure for prices of stock feed for all
animal
types because they are periodically reviewed in line with input
costs," they
said.
FinGaz
Kumbirai Mafunda Senior Business
Reporter
Zimsun boss blasts meddling for airline's woes
ONE of the
country's leading tourism personalities, Shingi Munyeza, has
pointed an
accusing finger at politicians for the disintegration at the
troubled
national airline, Air Zimbabwe.
In a hard-hitting delivery at the launch
of the national airline's summer
schedule in the capital last week Munyeza,
who said that Harare
International Airport should become southern Africa's
second largest hub
after Johannesburg upon full implementation of a
turnaround strategy, placed
the blame for the chaotic administration of the
national airline on
political meddling.
"In order to achieve this
objective, the economic objective should supersede
political objectives in
the running of the airline," Munyeza told the
traveling public at the
unveiling of an ambitious flight programme, which
entails servicing again
some of its abandoned routes such as Kariba and the
Victoria
Falls-Johannesburg route.
"At the moment economic objectives are secondary to
political objectives,"
he added.
Munyeza said since the tourism
industry's fortunes are inextricably tied to
those of the national airline
the crisis rocking the national carrier had to
be resolved for the good of
the industry, the airline and the travelling
public. He said the troubles at
the national carrier, which included an
erratic supply of fuel, had resulted
in it losing credibility and
reliability among stakeholders.
Air Zimbabwe
has had its fair share of air travel headaches with frequent
fliers
bemoaning fuel shortages, flight delays and cancellations.
Owing to extended
periods of mismanagement and undercapitalisation, the
national flag carrier,
which is struggling to shrug off the inefficiency
associated with
state-owned enterprises, has been hit by a cocktail of
tribulations, which
include a sharp fall in passenger numbers while its
board members have
constantly been guests of the central bank begging for
financial
handouts.
Late last year the airline broke aviation records by cruising more
than 6
000 kilometres with a lone passenger in its maiden trip to
Dubai.
Munyeza decried the ongoing crisis at the national carrier, saying it
had
resulted in the cancellation of 20 percent of its international routes.
The
airline's routes have shrunk from 15 international destinations to nine,
while regional destinations have also dropped.
In 1999, when tourism was
at its peak 34 airlines were landing in Zimbabwe
but this number has since
collapsed to 14.
In his prescription Munyeza said Air Zimbabwe could take a
leaf from some
successful regional turnaround strategies such those
undertaken at South
African Airways and Kenya Airways.
These airlines
boast of a new fleet of aircraft, have increased seat
kilometres, and have
introduced new profitable routes.
Munyeza said once Air Zimbabwe embraces
some of the strategies employed by
these two airlines, it will successfully
turn around its fortunes and be
restored to its former glory.
The Zimsun
boss revealed that tourism industry players had obtained
permission from the
central bank to liquidate foreign currency accounts
after the prescribed 30
days to finance fuel procurement for Air Zimbabwe.
"A steady supply of Jet A1
fuel in Zimbabwe will save fuel consumption
costs, cut landing fees, reduce
take-off time and cut the length of the
flight as it will now be a direct
flight with no stopovers," said Munyeza.
The introduction of
electronic-ticketing at Air Zimbabwe, which now accounts
for 38 percent of
tickets sold worldwide, must be speeded up, as it will
drastically reduce
costs, he said.
FinGaz
Nelson Banya News
Editor
THE recent suspension of ZESA Holdings company secretary Timothy
Sain on
allegations of sexual harassment has opened a can of worms at the
power
utility and spawned counter-allegations of deep-seated corruption
targeted
at the corporation's powerful executive chairman, Sydney
Gata.
Although indications this week suggested Gata could rescind Sain's
suspension, with both parties' lawyers due to meet either today or tomorrow,
the episode has opened up a rare insight into the goings-on in the company,
which has gone for almost three years without a board superintending its
affairs. A new ZESA board is now expected early next month.
Leaked
documents from within ZESA point to three main allegations -
profligacy in
the face of dwindling cash resources to maintain equipment,
favouritism and
nepotism - against Gata.
Top of the charges is the purchase of a
top-of-the-range Toyota IMV truck
worth $8.5 billion for Gata, "without
ministerial approval in the absence of
a board".
The vehicle was
purchased for the executive chairman from Dyna Motors on
February 3/4 2006
using funds paid by Zimbabwe Alloys for the use of power.
Other allegations
relate to the re-hiring of executive director, corporate
affairs, Fortune
Sambo, who left ZESA in 2003.
"Fortune Sambo was retrenched and paid a full
package, including a motor
vehicle, in 2003. As soon as he left, he was back
within a week, engaged as
a consultant, initially earning $400 000 per hour
and, until recently, $1.3
million per hour.
"He has now been reinstated
as executive director (designate) - corporate
affairs. This is despite the
fact that the position, when it arose, was for
internal candidates only,"
another document alleges.
Currently, ZESA has a general manager responsible
for corporate affairs -
Obert Nyatanga - and it remains unclear if the setup
will remain so. It has,
however, emerged that Nyatanga has instituted a $23
billion lawsuit against
members of ZESA's internal audit department.
ZESA
sources said Nyatanga's future at the company was now uncertain, "as he
appears to have fallen out with the powers that be".
In his suit,
Nyatanga is claiming $9 billion from the chief internal
auditor, Obson
Matunja, "for incriminating (crimen injuria) my name by
ignoring reason,
falsifying facts, documentary evidence, causing
despondency, hate, panic and
fabricating information that senior managers
did not travel or travelled to
external destinations with the sole objective
of bringing my name into
disrepute and intentionally seeking to
professionally terminating my career
I have struggled to build over
twenty-two years of working
experience."
Nyatanga is also claiming $14 billion - $7 billion each - from
Evelyn Mhona
and Alois Makamure, staff in the audit department, for alleged
complicity in
efforts to incriminate him over travel allowance
abuse.
Contacted for comment yesterday, Gata declined to comment on Sain's
suspension, saying the matter was still sub judice.
He also declined to
comment on allegations surrounding some recent
appointments made at ZESA,
saying Energy and Power Development Minister
Michael Nyambuya would make a
full statement on March 1.
"I cannot comment on that. The minister will make
the announcement on the
first (of March). Mashaya zvimwe zvekunyora here,
kana kuti muri Gata press?
G-A-T-A not gutter, lest you think I'm insulting
you," the ZESA strongman
said.
The power utility has in the past been
bedevilled by problems emanating from
the messy dismissal of the immediate
past chief executive officer,
Simbarashe Mangwengwende.
FinGaz
Mavis Makuni Own
Correspondent
A great deal has been said about the need for the
people of Africa to find
solutions to their own problems instead of
accepting those prescribed and
imposed by Western institutions such as the
World Bank and the International
Monetary Fund.
It may seem academic to
ask the question, but who are the people of Africa?
Is it bureaucrats and
the ruling elites or the people of a country as a
whole?
Will these
home-grown approaches and solutions work if they are not owned by
the people
as a whole but are imposed by those with vested interests to
protect? These
questions beg answers if the homegrown dispensations
advocated by leaders
are to evolve in a transparent manner with the
participation and input of
the people.
Take corruption for example. This cancer is the fastest growing
industry in
Africa and is spinning out of control. A story published in the
press last
week suggested that fighting the scourge was even spawning more
corruption.
It was reported that Nigeria's Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission had
been forced to act after fraudsters masquerading as members
of its staff had
swindled people out of large sums of money. The conmen
forced people to pay
"hush" money to forestall investigations into
non-existent cases. It is no
longer a question of who will guard the guards
but how many guards there are
to guard.
The alarming reality is that
ordinary people already impoverished by the
greed and avarice of the
powerful and influential are the same people who
must pay bribes to access
services that they are entitled to.
The Global Corruption Barometer, which is
based on a Gallup poll conducted
for Transparency International last year,
shows that the impact of
corruption on personal and family life is most
dramatic on the poor. "When a
poor young mother believes that her government
places its own interests
above her child's, or that securing services like
that child's basic health
care requires a hand under the table, her hope for
the future is dampened.
But embedded corruption can be rooted out when
people join together to
change the system that facilitates it", according to
the Barometer.
And therein lies the problem for most African countries. How
do the people
join together to fight corruption when they are denied freedom
of speech and
expression and when a corrupt and repressive environment is
the best
guarantee for the survival of undemocratic and tyrannical
regimes?
According to the book Government by the People by James MacGregor
Burns,
J.W. Peltason and Thomas E Cronin, democracy is based on the
individual's
right to speak freely, to organise in groups, to question the
decisions of
the government and to campaign openly against it. "Only through
free and
uncensored expression of opinion can the government be kept
responsive to
the electorate.", they say.
Needless to say, the above
concept is anathema to repressive and despotic
regimes on the continent.
They will make a great show of opposing corruption
rhetorically at the very
same moment they are strengthening the oppressive
machinery that enables the
ruling elites to plunder national resources
through extensive patronage
networks. Transparency International chief
executive, David Nussbaum has
said: "Like a bad disease, corruption is often
predictable, preventable and
curable. The Global Corruption Barometer offers
a harsh diagnosis but
effective treatment is at hand."
Events show that despite the unmistakable
rampancy of corruption on the
continent, governments are simply not ready to
take the bitter medicine
necessary to cure the cancer. There seems to be an
invisible hand that
renders anti-corruption campaigns impotent. What is
happening in Kenya is a
case in point. The departure of Daniel Arap Moi
after 25 years in power
should have enabled Kenyans to make a fresh start
with a "clean" government
under Mwai Kibaki. What has emerged is that the
ministers in Kibaki's
administration have learnt the tricks of the
corruption trade at lightning
speed, considering how many of them are
embroiled in the controversy sparked
off by anti-graft troubleshooter, John
Githongo's investigation. Even more
disturbing are the death threats that
have been made against Githongo which
forced him to seek refuge in
Britain.
This shows that spearheading an anti-corruption drive or
investigation is a
dangerous, even potentially fatal pursuit. The
tribulations of
troubleshooters like Githongo could eventually mean that
there will be no
takers for the job , thus playing into the hands of corrupt
governments
that, in any case, secretly loathe to end the status
quo.
Transparency Internation-al's Nussabaum has said ,"The fish rots from
the
head. When a government is corrupt at the top, the power to make
fundamental
reforms lies in the hands of those least likely to do
so."
During his 82nd birthday interview on television Zimbabwe's President
Mugabe
conceded openly for the first time that corruption was rampant within
government. However, he said the consolation was that there were many
African countries "walking with Lucifer" and Zimbabwe was not alone.
If
African governments are serious, they should stop accepting corruption
and
their unwillingness to tackle it as a rallying point for solidarity.
Leaders
should ratify the United Nations Convention against Corruption ,
which came
into force last December. The provisions of the convention can
help nations
to retrieve assets stolen by dictators, prevent money
laundering and enhance
accounting and auditing standards in the public and
private sectors.
"Complacency is corruption's best friend, Nussbaum has
said. "Signing the
document and taking part in the photo opportunity is not
enough. Leaders
must now complete the ratification process and focus on
implementation."
FinGaz
No Holds Barred with Gondo
Gushungo
THANKS to the Editor-in-Chief, Sunsleey Chamunorwa, who wrote
this column as
a labour of love last week. From now on, yours truly will be
writing the
column.
I believe that journalists should be in the eye
of the storm when it comes
to issues of legitimate public concern. To that
end I have decided to zero
in on the protracted suffering of the residents
of the erstwhile sunshine
city - Harare, where everything has virtually
fallen apart.
The Harare City Council has put the residents through as
excruciating
torture as any one can be exposed to. This should be blamed
squarely on the
shoulders of two people who see the problem besetting the
city of Harare
through the wrong end of a municipal drainpipe - Ignatius
Chombo and Sekesai
Makwavarara - two hearts that beat as one.
Chombo, the
Local Government Minister has, alongside his kindred spirits
Joseph Made and
Aeneas Chigwedere, given credence to the general perception
that ZANU PF
touches nothing it does not dehydrate.
Since his interference in the affairs
of the city, which has been
characterised by double standards, hypocrisy,
arrogance and contempt, the
capital city has caught some degenerative
disease! Indeed, the messy
situation in Harare leaves a painful impression,
to say the least. Even the
Zimpapers titles whose editorials are usually
characterised by malevolence
and mendacity can no longer gloss over the
goings-on at Town House.
Zimbabwe has never, in its short independence
history, had a local
government minister like Chombo who thinks himself the
first man in more
than 2 000 years to know anything about the management of
local authorities.
Nor has it ever experienced municipal failures as it does
now.
The reason for the deplorable state of affairs is not far to see. It is
because the minister's priorities are: one ZANU PF, two ZANU PF and three
ZANU PF, if you know what I mean. This is why he has interfered with and
numbed whole municipalities with the enthusiasm of a newly enrolled boy
scout demonstrating his knot tying to his indulgent parents. To Chombo, who
has been throwing his weight hither and thither, it is an article of faith
that ZANU PF should control urban councils. This is why he has gone to the
ends of the earth, deposing elected mayors and councils, and replacing them
with hand-picked ZANU PF charlatans. Unfortunately the consequences of
Chombo's meddling will make themselves felt in the country for years to
come. It has severe and long-term consequences that are not borne by the
government but by the residents of the city.
In Harare, playing God at
Town House, Chombo cursed us with Makwavarara, a
politician of monumental
littleness who by some cruel twist of fate or is it
strange streak of
political fortune, found herself at the helm of the
capital city even though
it would seem that what she knows about civic
matters can fit on the back of
a postage stamp.
The woman could not even implement a ready-made turnaround
programme for the
city, which led to the hiring of the since fired Chester
Mhende, the one who
speaks with a plum. Talk of hiring a coordinator of a
coordinating
committee!
Makwavarara's ineptitude in dealing with the
problems of Harare shows that
she can hardly be trusted to organise a
booze-up in a brewery. But with
Chombo - to whom it does not matter a brass
farthing what the residents of
Harare have to endure - sitting in the
catbird seat, that is
inconsequential. What with the backing of the ruling
ZANU PF, arrogant
enough to think that it is the only capable political
force in the country?
The omnipotent Chombo knows that Makwavarara is a dead
weight on the
operations of the Harare City Council. But she keeps her job
until the cows
come home. If this is not taking the politics of patronage to
a whole new
disgusting level, then I don't know what is. Which is why she
must have
grinned like the cat that got the cream when Chombo unbelievably
waxed
enthusiastic and lyrical about her supposed qualities in Parliament
last
week.
"We inherited Ms Makwavarara from the MDC who must have seen
certain
qualities in her. She decided to align herself with the progressive
ZANU PF
after she foresaw the confusion that is now engulfing the MDC,"
gushed the
obviously charmed and smitten Chombo.
Holy dancing and
whistling Jesus Christ! Some of the antics of Zimbabwean
government
ministers would be laughable were it not for the gravity of their
implications on people's lives. What qualities is the minister talking
about? The provision of services in Harare is now worse off and continues to
deteriorate under the stewardship of Makwavarara. Even Chombo, in his
egoistical imagination, knows that the collapse of service delivery has
accelerated under Makwavarara. The before and after comparisons provide
ample evidence to this effect. If reason consists of seeing things the way
they really are, why then doesn't Chombo see Makwavarara for what she is - a
bull in a china shop. Does Chombo still have an iota of honour and shame?
Does he have any time for remorse?
Suffice to say that there are no
prizes for guessing what qualities Chombo
was talking about. But to the
residents of the city who have run the whole
gamut of emotions from A to Z
over her incompetence, the qualities that
Chombo harps on certainly do not
have anything to do with the mayor's brief
at Town House.
Granted, I
don't know any more about the country's politics than a pig knows
about
Sunday. But even though he has spiritedly but unconvincingly denied
it,
don't Chombo's excesses at Town House smack of an obsession with
planting
ruling party charlatans in positions of influence irrespective of
whether
they are suitable or not? There is a clear, straightforward,
absolute goal:
ZANU PF must control urban councils at all costs! That is the
primary
motive. Forget the façade of altruism displayed by Chombo.
It is sad though
that Chombo's political behaviour at Town House is a
reflection of the gap
between Zimbabwe's stated democratisation intentions
and what should be its
new values, on one hand, and the anti-democratic
nature of some senior
politicians in the ruling ZANU PF and government.
When will he be able to see
beyond parochial political interests? Does it
ever occur to him that the
people of Harare are fed up to the back teeth
with his actions and those of
his sidekicks in the city?
Or that;
lsome suburbs in Harare have been
reduced to sewage farms where residents
have had to swat at disease-carrying
flies that buzz around them and their
meals;
lscores of people have
succumbed to cholera and dysentery at a time when
even a single death from
such diseases is one too many;
lHarare has been turned into cardboard city
where scores of people sleep in
the open even if it is cold enough to freeze
the balls off a brass monkey;
lresidents have been paying for non-existent
services, just to mention but a
few?
Or am I expecting too much from
Chombo and company. Why should he worry and
care about the common spirits
when ZANU PF is firmly in control of the
capital city? Hasn't it been
observed before that the rights of the common
people are the last thing
anyone remembers when a system collapses?
Which is why Leslie Gwindi told us
recently in a very matter-of-fact way
that we have to continue turning our
pockets inside-out for non-existent
refuse collection services. Or why
Makwavarara went on a $30 billion junket
in Russia and saw nothing wrong
with sinking a whopping $35 billion in
curtains and furniture for the
mayoral mansion!
And the all-important poser: when did she last urge a
full-court press for
civil rights, fair housing and a new generation of
services in the city?
Vagoni zvavo! Hameno chokwadi.
FinGaz
Comment
"TO some extent yes
but to a greater extent no - no! no! no! There is a lot
of self-centredness
one sees among some of my ministers . . . " said
President Robert Mugabe in
a rare moment of candour as he responded to a
question on whether his
so-called development Cabinet has lived up to
expectations.
Admittedly, the President spoke with unwonted openness.
However, to many,
this was not the most apt and opprobrius remark given the
gravity of the
situation and the implications of the ministers' incompetence
and bloated
self-interests. They would have wanted the President to use
adjectives such
as conceited, self-absorbed and incompetent.
Be that as
it may, we still feel that this was a tacit admission by
President Mugabe
that the unprecedented and accelerating economic meltdown
as well as the
abject poverty and misery marking the nation are a damning
indictment of the
Cabinet. The current Cabinet, which to all intents and
purposes should be
called the "passenger Cabinet", might not necessarily
have caused the
socio-economic difficulties but it is as sure as hell
responsible for
aggravating them.
Although he did not mention anyone by name, the President
left very little
to the imagination. From what he said, he had in mind the
country's most
notorious political liar, Joseph Made under whom the collapse
of Agriculture
has seen the country being reduced to a basket case, Herbert
Murerwa and
Rugare Gumbo of the key ministries of Finance and Economic
Development
respectively, Amos Midzi of Mines and Mining Development and
Obert Mpofu of
Industry and International Trade, among others
Most
importantly though, President Mugabe - who should be blamed for
recycling
the same old uninspiring faces in Cabinet - expressed exasperation
and lack
of confidence in his lieutenants. And rightly so because they could
not get
the job done. The Cabinet, some of whose corrupt and
influence-peddling
members are only good at speaking of patriotism in such a
way that the very
word becomes impure, has failed dismally. Zimbabwe is
worse off than it was
when the Cabinet was appointed after the March 2005
Parliamentary elections.
With such a strong signal of discontent from the
head of state therefore,
one would think that these ministers would do the
honourable thing and
resign so as not to waste the nation's time and
resources. But no, that is
alien to them. They would rather be carried out
feet first!
Which means
that, as we pointed out in our editorial of November 3, 2005,
entitled No
Musical Chairs, Please, there is an urgent need for a complete
overhaul of
the Cabinet because continuing with the current one would be
ruinous for the
country. Still there is a fork ahead on the road:
lIt is either deeper
reforms where President Mugabe overcomes the inertia of
ZANU PF's
encumbering politics of the liberation struggle - which is now of
the past
and is not going to be a rallying point for the future.
For Zimbabwe to have
a strong, resolute and competent Cabinet comprising
flexible, courageous and
evolutionising politicians, appointment to Cabinet
should not be determined
solely by the candidates' war credentials or the
positions they hold in the
ruling ZANU PF, which seems to be the case at the
moment.
This entails a
decisive rapture with tradition where the President should
drop from Cabinet
even so-called ruling party heavyweights who have become
part of the
furniture in the government offices they occupy, their political
clout
notwithstanding.
A myth has been propagated of how certain supposedly
politically powerful
individuals could, if they were fired from ZANU PF and
the government,
destroy the ruling party. This probably explains why the
ZANU PF government,
in a case of not wanting to risk the ire of some of
these powerful
politicians, prefers them in its tent nodding in agreement
rather than
outside spilling the beans. We however refuse to accept the
mystique of
these politicians. In short, it is high time President Mugabe
tried in his
Cabinet, intellectual spark plugs that are free of political
strings and
partisan obligations. Not the likes of Minister Made whose
intellect has
been of no more use than "a pistol packed in the bottom of a
trunk" if one
were attacked in a robber-infested slum.
lOr the President
may pursue deeper conservatism where he moves around the
same deadwood with
which Zimbabwe has been stuck as if it is something the
country's historical
situation prescribed. This approach, whose consequences
on the nation would
be too ghastly to contemplate, spells personal disaster
for President
Mugabe. With the current crop of Cabinet ministers he will, as
sure as the
sun rises from the east and sets in the west, bequeath a
terrible legacy to
Zimbabwe. An economic turnaround will probably not come
sooner than the end
of the third millennium. And it is not difficult to see
why. The
"well-educated" Cabinet has proved beyond reasonable doubt that no
one in
Zimbabwe ever knew so much that was so little to the purpose.