Moyo linked to new coalition Loughty Dube SACKED
Information minister Jonathan Moyo has been linked to a new coalition of
independent candidates that will contest the March general election as a
united front.
In a major political development in Zimbabwe,
independent candidates expelled from both the opposition Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC) and the ruling Zanu PF have formed a network likely
to transform into a political party if the independents secure more than 10
seats, the Zimbabwe Independent has heard.
Independent candidates
who confirmed to the Independent to be part of the coalition include former
Bulawayo MDC councillors Charles Mpofu, Stars Mathe and former Zanu PF
councillors, Wilson Bancinyane and Leonard Nkala.
Other independents
believed to be part of the network include former MDC MPs Silas Mangono
(Masvingo Central), Peter Nyoni (Hwange East), Lloyd Siyoka, the suspended
Matabeleland South Zanu PF provincial chairman, and Moyo.
Since
failing to make it into Zanu PF's politburo and the central committee at the
party's December congress, Moyo has intensified efforts to win
Tsholotsho.
However, it could not be confirmed yesterday whether
Moyo had formally joined the group. It could also not be established whether
all independent candidates are part of the network.
Former Zanu
PF provincial information and publicity secretary and the coordinator of the
coalition, Sikhumbuzo Ndiweni, who will run a secretariat for the
Independent Candidates Solidarity Network, said: "What I can say is that
there is such a network and before the end of this week a secretariat will
be in place. Everything concerning independents in our network will be
coordinated from the offices we are establishing."
Although
Ndiweni could not confirm whether Moyo is part of the group, sources said
Moyo and Siyoka could be the brains behind the coalition.
"The way the
new network is so well-organised implies that experienced politicians are
behind it. Moyo and Siyoka have been mentioned time and again and the way
funding has been quickly sourced for the secretariat raises a lot of
questions," said the source.
However, Ndiweni said: "Everyone is
invited in the network and mentioning individuals is not an issue. Whether
Moyo is part of the network is neither here nor there."
He also
said the coalition would hold a joint rally at the beginning of March in
Bulawayo to launch their election campaign.
"Everything is on course
and very soon we will be holding a rally to launch the manifestoes for
independent candidates. We have been contacting all independent candidates
throughout the country to be part of the network and the results are
encouraging," Ndiweni said.
Mpofu is challenging David Coltart and
Sithembiso Nyoni in the Bulawayo South constituency while Mathe will contest
in Bulawayo North-East against the MDC's Welshman Ncube and Zanu PF's Joshua
Malinga. Nkala will contest in Mpopoma while Bancinyane will stand in
Makokoba.
PETROLEUM
Marketers of Zimbabwe (PMZ), under pressure from government, has ordered
major fuel retailers to cut the price of fuel, as an increase would hurt
government's prospects ahead of an election.
Fuel prices rose to an
average $3 950 a litre this week from around $3 600 as the commodity tracked
the weakening dollar against major currencies.
Government has for the
past 14 months worked to tame rampant inflation, which in January last year
peaked at 623%.
Inflation has been in free-fall since then, but
figures released last week saw a slight reversal on the trend. Year-on-year
inflation rose to 133,6% from 132,7%. Economic recovery has been the ruling
Zanu PF's rallying point in its campaign for the March 31 election. It is
feared a rise in the price of fuel would further push inflation
up.
Correspondence sent out by the PMZ to fuel marketers yesterday
ordered them to immediately reduce the price to $3 600 a
litre.
"Your actions of increasing the pump prices are, inter alia,
contrary to central bank's economic turnaround strategy and will tarnish
government's image ahead of the forthcoming elections," PMZ
said.
The PMZ also said the increase in the price of fuel would be
"prolific to unprecedented price increases throughout our
economy".
Justin Mupamhanga, the Energy ministry permanent secretary,
yesterday said government had launched investigations into the latest fuel
price increases, which started early this week.
"We have heard
that fuel has gone up," Mupamhanga told the Zimbabwe Independent. "We want
to assess the situation first then. we will make a formal
position."
Mupamhanga's sentiments came as it emerged that the PMZ
had chastised member organisations, pointedly multinational companies, for
effecting unilateral fuel price adjustments.
It said "the
responsibility" of reviewing fuel prices solely remained with PMZ and any
such actions would negate government's anti-inflation drive, and impair
government's image ahead of a crucial election.
The PMZ bosses
directed fuel companies to maintain the current pricing regime, where a
litre of petrol retails for $3 600 in the northern region and $3 800 in the
southern part of the country.
They said "any defiance" of this
measure would incur the full wrath of the law, with PMZ "dissociating itself
from your actions (of increasing prices) by an immediate expulsion of your
representative from its board, withdrawal of product allocations and in
addition to any other common law remedies available".
The PMZ
said according to a multi-stakeholder December meeting attended by, among
others, Policy Implementation minister Webster Shamu and Reserve Bank of
Zimbabwe governor Gideon Gono, players in the fuel sector will stick to the
current pricing regime until April 30.
Oil industry players said this
week's 8,3% increase had been necessitated by the high cost of foreign
exchange to procure fuel. The US dollar is now trading at $6 050 on the
controlled auction floor and $11 500 on the parallel
market.
Zimbabwe, in the throes of a fuel crisis since 1999, consumes
US$40 million worth of fuel a month, but prevailing hard cash shortages have
affected supply.
The crucial fuel sector has only managed to
obtain US$6-7 million a week from Zimbabwe's central bank and Harare's $6
200 rate to US$1 has not helped to encourage inflows of foreign
currency.
The RBZ rejected 93% of foreign currency bids on its
auction floors last month. This has resulted in fuel players, among other
essential importers, turning to the expensive and unofficial black market to
make up for the shortfall, thereby nudging prices of commodities. - Staff
Writers.
Hunt for Moyo's successor hots up Dumisani
Muleya/Augustine Mukaro BARELY a week after Information minister Jonathan
Moyo was fired, the search for his replacement is intensifying amid
revelations Zimbabwe's ambassador to China Chris Mutsvangwa could land the
post.
The hunt for Moyo's successor comes as a fresh wave of wholesale
purges is looming at state-controlled media houses ahead of the general
election on March 31.
Mutsvangwa has come out as the favourite to
replace Moyo in a pack that includes Information permanent secretary George
Charamba, Zanu PF deputy secretary for information Ephraim Masawi, Policy
Implementation minister Webster Shamu and former Information minister Chen
Chimutengwende.
President Robert Mugabe will appoint a new cabinet
after the poll if his party wins. Mugabe told the Zanu PF congress in
December last year that Mutsvangwa, a former Zimbabwe Broadcasting
Corporation director-general, was one of the young cadres who left
university with the likes of new attorney-general Sobusa Gula Ndebele during
the mid-1970s to join the liberation struggle in
Mozambique.
Sources said the Zanu PF information and publicity
department run by Nathan Shamuyarira was pushing for changes in the state
media before the election. It wants all those recruited under Moyo's
patronage to be removed.
When Moyo came in in 2000 he made sweeping
dismissals and changes, which brought in dozens of inexperienced
journalists.
It is understood heads will roll at the government-owned
Zimpapers and the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Holdings (ZBH). Charamba is said to
have already indicated to ZBH employees that restructuring was
imminent.
Sources said knives were out for Moyo's appointees at the
media organisations, which had become his personal megaphones and exclusive
Zanu PF propaganda mouthpieces.
The editors of the government-run
Herald and Chronicle dailies, Pikirayi Deketeke and Stephen Ndlovu
respectively, were said to be likely the first casualties of Moyo's
downfall.
Moyo's hangers-on who were made "political or special
projects editors" were almost certain to be booted out.
Sources
said Ndlovu - seen as Moyo's praise-singer - was likely to get a letter from
the Zimpapers headquarters today or any time soon informing him that his
services were no longer wanted. He was expected to be sent on forced leave
pending dismissal.
"The Zimpapers board is likely to send a letter to
Ndlovu maybe tomorrow
(today) relieving him of his duties," a source
said. "The board normally sits and takes a decision before instructing the
chief executive, who is an ex-officio board member, to implement the
move."
Sources said Deketeke was likely to survive, at least for now,
because he has sympathisers in the system campaigning for him to be spared
the axe. However, the source added that there was mounting pressure from
Zanu PF circles for him to go because he was seen as one of Moyo's
disciples.
The editors of the stable's Sunday titles could escape
dismissal.
Harare set to lose $400b Augustine Mukaro HARARE
City Council is set to lose over $400 billion in uncollected revenue due to
the delayed implementation of the 2005 budget.
Acting city treasurer,
Cosmas Zvikaramba, revealed to the Zimbabwe Independent that the $1,4
trillion budget which Harare is seeking will raise council revenue from the
current $30 billion a month to over $100 billion.
Zvikaramba said
delays in implementing the budget would prejudice council of more than $400
billion in uncollected revenue.
Highly-placed sources in the treasury
department said the delay would worsen the cash-strapped council's financial
position.
"Harare is collecting around $30 billion against an
expenditure of $45 billion (monthly)," sources said. "Any further delays in
effecting this year's budget will ground council operations."
The
Sekesai Makwavarara-chaired commission is seeking to increase rates and
other council service charges by a minimum 300% in the 2005
budget.
Proposals for refuse collection charges will shoot from the
current $1 363 to $7 000 per month. Water charges will rise from $28/cubic
metre for the first 10 cubic metres to $800 for the same quantity of water.
Households normally don't use more than 100 cubic metres of water per month.
The price of graves will rise from $65 000 to $250 000.
The
Combined Harare Residents Association (CHRA) said this year's budget delay
was the longest in 10 years.
"This is a record delay over the past 10
years we have been monitoring council operations," Chra chairman, Mike
Davis, said.
"The delay is indicative of the extent to which Harare
has collapsed. Until such a time that the city is in the hands of an elected
leadership, Harare will not regain the sunshine city
status."
Davis said under normal circumstances, the budget
consultation and formulation process is held at least six months before
presentation so that the final proposals incorporate stakeholders'
contributions.
"Consultative meetings that took place last week were
a sham," Davis said. "The Harare City Council needs to find alternative
means of engaging residents. The meetings they advertised failed to meet
residents' satisfaction."
He said his association was concerned
at the poor attendance at meetings held in Dzivarasekwa, Les Brown,
Highlands and Greendale, among other areas.
All local authorities are
obliged to submit budget proposals to the parent ministry by October 30 each
year.
The financially-troubled Harare City Council has for the second
year running missed the deadline to submit its budget to the Local
Government ministry for approval.
Date set for poll observers Dumisani
Muleya ZIMBABWE will start officially accrediting observers for the
forthcoming general election at the beginning of March, exactly a month
before polling. Official sources said accreditation of local and foreign
observers - who have not yet received invitation letters - would begin on
March 1.
The accreditation exercise will be done by the Electoral
Supervisory Commission (ESC) whose chief elections officer is retired
Brigadier Kennedy Zimondi.
The ESC, a constitutional body,
supervises the registration of voters and elections. Zimondi replaced
Brigadier Douglas Nyikayaramba who was ESC chief elections officer during
the disputed 2002 presidential election.
Nyikayaramba's appointment
caused controversy and government ended up claiming he was retired when he
was not. He is now back in the army.
The army, loyal to President Robert
Mugabe, played a key role during the past two disputed elections in 2000 and
2002. Elections bodies are staffed with military personnel.
The
newly-formed Zimbabwe Electoral Commission, a supposedly independent
statutory body expected to run the coming election, can be overridden by the
ESC.
Instead of having a consolidated body to run elections,
Zimbabwe has five bodies, something that has caused structural problems and
confusion.
Zimbabwe invited foreign observers last week in breach of
the Southern African Development Community (Sadc) election guidelines, which
say the observers must be invited 90 days before voting
day.
Zimbabwe has invited 23 African countries, five Asian, three
from the Americas and only Russia from Europe to observe the
election.
Regional leaders have been concerned about the delay to
invite the Sadc election observer mission.
South African
President Thabo Mbeki has stressed the need for observers to urgently come
to Zimbabwe to assess the situation.
Mbeki, who chairs the Sadc organ
on politics, defence and security, has
been awaiting official invitation
from Zimbabwe to constitute the Sadc observer mission.
Mbeki will
form the team by virtue of his chairmanship of the Sadc body.
After
getting the invitation letter, Mbeki will form the team and mandate Sadc
executive secretary Prega Ramsamy to notify the members who will come to
Zimbabwe.
The Sadc observer mission should be headed by an official
appointed by Mbeki and shall be the spokesperson for the team, which may
comprise members from different parties in their home
countries.
The team is expected to be given unfettered access within
the laws of the host country to do its job of assessing the legal and
political framework for the elections.
Moyo accused of vanity Dumisani Muleya ZANU PF
secretary for administration Didymus Mutasa has dismissed as unfounded
former Information minister Jonathan Moyo's claims that he was "one of the
few people who served the ruling party from collapse".
Mutasa, a Zanu PF
cabinet minister for over two decades, said Moyo's assertions were baseless
and smacked of self-glorification.
"I don't think Moyo even believes
in what he says. He knows that that is not true. I hope he will revise those
statements and withdraw them because they are false."
Moyo last
week registered to contest the March 31 parliamentary election as an
independent candidate in Tsholotsho.
Moyo claimed his adversaries,
Zanu PF heavyweights, chairman John Nkomo, Retired General Solomon Mujuru,
Dumiso Dabengwa, Nathan Shamuyarira, Obert Mpofu and Cain Mathema, were
happy to see him go.
"I hope that they will be honest enough to
appreciate that I am one of the few who contributed to saving Zanu PF from
collapse when they had each and all deserted President Mugabe in 2000," Moyo
said.
"I want them to know that I did not join a Zanu PF gravy train
in 2000 but that I jumped onto a sinking ship that was heading for the
ground after its captain was left alone by his crew."
Mutasa said
Moyo thought he rescued Zanu PF from falling to pieces because he was an
"uninformed outsider" before 2000.
"If what he said was true then we
would not be euphoric at the moment about his departure. True, he had lots
of energy, ran around and worked hard but he is not indispensable," he
said.
Mutasa said Moyo should know that Zanu PF is bigger than
individuals and would always survive without them.
"There were
more senior and influential members who left Zanu PF before and there is
nothing new about Moyo's situation," he said.
Mawere digs in heels over SMM Holdings Gift Phiri A
BRUISING legal battle is raging between self-exiled tycoon Mutumwa Mawere
and Afaras Gwaradzimba, the government-appointed administrator of Shabanie
Mashaba Mines (SMM) Holdings over the takeover of Mawere's Riverridge shares
by the SMM administrator.
Mawere says the seizure of his shares was
unlawful.
Documents to hand show that Advocate Chris Andersen,
representing Gwaradzimba, filed his heads of argument in the High Court on
January 21 arguing that SMM Holdings was now the beneficial owner of shares
in CFI because all of Mawere and SMM assets were now frozen after his
specification.
"SMM has been placed under administration in terms
of the Presidential Powers Regulation (SI 187/04) and Mawere is a specified
person in terms of the Prevention of Corruption Act (Chapter 9:16),"
Gwaradzimba said in his papers.
"The effect of this is that all
assets of SMM and Mawere are frozen. This would include his beneficial
interest in the CFI shares whether through SMM or Riverridge or any other
company local or foreign as the CFI shares are within the jurisdiction of
this court. First respondent (Gwaradzimba) has been tasked with the
administration which would include the identification and preservation of
the assets of SMM and Mawere."
In his opposing papers, Mawere,
represented by Dube, Manikai and Hwacha attorneys, said there was no legal
basis whatsoever to implicate him personally in any misconduct of the
companies by merely being a shareholder.
"It is common cause that
Mawere is not a resident of Zimbabwe as he lost his Zimbabwean citizenship
by virtue of acquiring a foreign nationality," Mawere's lawyers
said.
"Therefore there is no legal basis for his specification in
Zimbabwe. Initially when government tried to extradite Mawere, the
allegations were that he had committed fraud and violated exchange control
regulations and yet when he was specified the allegations were amended to
corruption. What has not been clarified is to what extent are shareholders
culpable for the conduct of companies they own?"
The Zimbabwe
Independent understands that Section 385 of the Criminal Procedure and
Evidence Act authorises the prosecution of a company chairman or director,
whether executive or non-executive, for company offences in his personal
capacity. There is no provision for the prosecution of a
shareholder.
"Yet for the first time in corporate history the
state, without the intervention of the judiciary, has lifted the corporate
veil for what turns out to be motivated by intent to expropriate the
concerned shareholder's rights," Mawere said.
He argued that
Gwaradzimba was not appointed to administer the affairs of
Mawere.
"Rather, he was appointed by the Minister of Justice Hon
P Chinamasa as an administrator of SMM. The appointment of an investigator
under the Act by the minister does not give the right to the state to strip
the accused of his assets when the mere fact that an investigator is
appointed means that the state has not established any case against the
accused. How then does Gwaradzimba justify the extra-judicial expropriation
of Mawere's assets?"
In his papers, Gwaradzimba said the beneficial owner
of the CFI shares that he acquired was South African businessman Kevin
James. However, Mawere said this was unsubstantiated, arguing that the
Riverridge shares had at all material times been held
offshore.
"SMM is a Zimbabwean domiciled company and as such cannot
acquire externally registered shares without exchange control authority.
However, it seems that Gwaradzimba's authority is above the Reserve Bank.
James is not a registered owner of the external company and yet Gwaradzimba
states as fact that this is the case."
TNF future uncertain Godfrey Marawanyika THE future
of the Tripartite Negotiating Forum (TNF) hangs in balance after the
Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) said it was suspending
participation in the forum's discussions.
The TNF is a loose
coalition of business, government and labour to forge a social contract to
deal with issues of mutual concern.
ZCTU president Lovemore Matombo
said they decided to pull out of the forum after government ordered the
deportation of their South African counterparts, the Congress of South
African Trade Unions (Cosatu), earlier this month.
"Nothing is
moving at the TNF. We find it very difficult to continue our participation
after what government did to our Cosatu colleagues," Matombo
said.
"We will put our participation in the freezer for a while.
This was one of the resolutions we made at the general council
meeting."
This will be the second time labour has pulled out of the
forum if the ZCTU follows through its threat.
In April 2003,
labour pulled out of the talks after government unilaterally increased the
price of fuel.
The TNF only resumed last year after intervention by
South African labour minister Membathisi Mdladlana.
Government
earlier this month denied a fact-finding Cosatu delegation entry in the
country.
The 15-member delegation was accused of breaching government
protocol by seeking to enter the country without prior clearance by the
Ministry of Labour. It was turned back at Harare International
Airport.
Labour and Social Welfare minister Paul Mangwana said
government was not worried about the ZCTU pulling out of the
discussions.
"They can go ahead and pull out. They do not have
monopoly over labour representation," he said.
"As government we
do not care if they pull out. There are other organisations willing to wok
with government who can represent workers."
He however said the labour
union was still to communicate its final decision to
government.
"If they want to play politics let them do so but they
should know that they do not have a monopoly of the country's
workers."
Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries president, Pattison
Sithole, refused to comment saying they would wait for an official statement
from the ZCTU first.
"We do not want to make a bad situation
worse. It would be bad on our part to say anything without having seen the
official statement," said Sithole.
Lawyer/police bicker over 'missing' MDC
activists Loughty Dube TWO opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC)
activists accused of murdering a Zanu PF supporter, Limukani Luphahla in
Lupane, in the run-up to the disputed 2002 presidential election, failed to
appear before a Bulawayo High Court Judge, prompting a verbal exchange
between the police and the lawyer representing the two.
The two MDC
activists, Remember Moyo and Khethani Sibanda, are believed to have fled the
country after being constantly harassed by state security
agents.
However, there are fears for the two's safety after
sources indicated that they were always under surveillance by state security
agents who raided the their homes.
The two failed to appear at
the Bulawayo High Court for trial on Tuesday this week prompting a harsh
verbal exchange between the attorney for the two, the police and the
prosecution team on the other hand.
The police and the state
prosecutor, Martha Cheda, did not, however, press for the issuance of a
warrant of arrest for the two, as is the norm in such cases.
The
two are being tried for alleged involvement in the murder of Luphahla in
Lupane prior to the 2002 presidential election.
Moyo and Sibanda
were last year acquitted in the case in which they were, together with six
other MDC activists, accused of murdering war veterans leader, Cain
Nkala.
There was a harsh exchange of words between the police and the
lawyer representing the pair, Nicholas Mathonsi of Coghlan and
Welsh.
The police said Mathonsi was responsible for the disappearance
of the two, arguing that the lawyer made an undertaking to ensure they would
be in court during their bail application.
However, Mathonsi
refused to take the blame for the disappearance of the two opposition
activists and instead said it was the duty of the police to ensure that
accused persons were brought to court.
The Judge Justice Nichols Ndou
intervened and ordered that both the police and the defence counsel help
each other bring the two to court as a matter of
urgency.
Mathonsi in an interview later with the Zimbabwe Independent
said there was no need for the police to issue a warrant of arrest against
the two since there was no summons issued by police in the first
place.
"The police never issued summons against the two and in any
case it is the duty of the police to bring accused persons to court," said
Mathonsi.
He said the police could have been disappointed by the
outcome of the previous case involving Sibanda and Moyo.
POLICE in Insiza this week arrested scores of members from the
National Youth Service and two brothers of the Zanu PF candidate in the
March 31 election after they stoned an MDC campaign team that was putting up
posters in the constituency on Monday night.
The youths, travelling
in Zanu PF trucks and other vehicles allegedly belonging to the Zanu PF
candidate for Insiza , Andrew Langa, also tore down MDC posters that were
put up by the opposition all over the constituency.
Police spokesman,
Wayne Bvudzijena, promised to provide details on the incident but could not
be contacted by the time of going to press.
An MDC youth, Thembekile
Moyo (22), was seriously injured when he was struck with a stone while
putting up posters for the MDC candidate, Siyabonga Malandu
Ncube.
Ncube, who was travelling together with his campaign team,
said the Zanu PF supporters followed him for a long distance tearing down
posters before blocking and stoning his team.
"The Zanu PF
supporters, led by Langa's brothers Dan and Sindiso, were following us in a
Peugeot 306 and a Mazda pick-up truck belonging to Andrew Langa, and they
were pulling down our posters and later on they ambushed our supporters and
started hurling stones at my team, seriously injuring one of our party
youths," Ncube said.
Ncube further alleged that the two Langa
brothers were carrying guns when the incident occurred.
Andrew
Langa denied that he was present when the skirmishes occurred.
"The
allegations are baseless because on the day in question I was in Harare
attending a meeting with my officers up to very late into the night. In any
case I am too mature to be involved in poster-tearing acts," said
Langa.
During the last by-election for the constituency last year
Langa is alleged to have shot and injured an MDC activist but was not
arrested. - Staff Writer.
Female MPs prove mettle in politics staying power Ray
Matikinye TOWARDS the eastern end of a city avenue honouring the South
African-born political celebrity, Nelson Mandela, in Harare's central
business district is a building that could easily pass for an old colonial
outpost.
The building somewhat represents Zimbabwe's long and tortuous
walk to freedom.
Were it a biscuit or leather factory, some of
its familiar occupants who have spent decades busy debating matters of
national interest there would be rewarded with the traditional bicycle or
wristwatch each in recognition of their long service.
These are,
however, not just ordinary workers. They are Zimbabwe's longest-serving
members of parliament - men and women who have withstood either heckling or
booing or the thunderous applause or bench thumping from fellow MPs for more
than a decade and a half or more.
Among the long stayers are three
women that have distinguished themselves by displaying endurance, political
resilience and acumen to win polls since they were elected more than a
decade ago.
Shuvai Mahofa, who has been in the House for the past 20
years and weathered a stormy tenure in her checkered political history,
sweeping aside electoral challenges from male challengers in her Gutu South
constituency, has become familiar to the surroundings.
The
legislator, who cut her political teeth from a community development worker
to the first female rural district council chairperson for Gutu rural
district council, has mastered the art of anaesthetising voters in her rural
constituency with fiery political rhetoric. Twice she has beaten veteran
Independence war fighter Charles Dauramanzi in primaries to represent the
ruling Zanu PF party and went on to make short thrift of Ransom Makamure of
the MDC in the 2000 polls.
Mahofa appears to have developed an
arcane charisma among voters in her constituency so much that no one dared
challenge her in primaries for this year's general election.
She
and Sabina Mugabe came on board in 1985 and have swept away all challengers
in their chosen constituencies since then. While Mahofa has held various
positions at deputy minister level, Sabina Mugabe, the president's sister,
has remained a backbencher.
The sedentary Sabina, MP for Zvimba South
and architect of various
women empowerment projects, could easily be
credited with working behind the scenes to encourage and groom her two sons
for political office.
If her sons, Leo Mugabe and Patrick Zhuwawo win
in their chosen constituencies, she will score a first in the Sadc region by
becoming the only mother ever to sit in parliament with her two
sirelings.
Both Sabina Mugabe and Mahofa's political fortunes
havenever match-ed Teurai Ropa Nhongo (Joyce Mujuru), the war fighter who
left home to prosecute the war for Independence in 1975 after assuring her
doubting father she would buy him a lot of cattle and other livestock on her
return.
From the onset as a legislator in 1980, Mujuru has held
substantive posts such as Community Development and Women's Affairs
minister, Information Post and Telecommunications, Water Resources and
Infrastructural Development and briefly acted as Minister of Defence. She
has been consistent, as her other two peers, in getting the electorate's nod
during the past five general elections.
Last year, Joyce Mujuru
graduated from being an ordinary MP and minister who had held various
portfolios in government over the past 24 years to become the first female
vice-president of Zimbabwe.
If Victoria Chitepo, the pioneer MP for
Manicaland at Independence who retired from active politics 13 years ago
stages a dramatic come back after March 31, she would rank the first female
MP to achieve such a feat and extend her tenure in the House from the
current 12 to probably 17 years.
Other familiar male faces at Parliament
House are Sydney Sekeramayi, Emmerson Mnangagwa, Kumbirai Kangai and John
Nkomo.
Mnangagwa's 25-year tenure in the House could have been
shortened to 20 after he lost his Kwekwe constituency to Blessing Chebundo
of the opposition MDC in the last election but the president extended his
stay, using his party's majority to appoint him Speaker of the House.
Concern over Zim election Iden Wetherell in Sydney,
Australia AUSTRALIAN Foreign minister Alexander Downer said on Wednesday he
was very concerned that Zimbabwe's forthcoming election would not be free or
fair given the "well-documented harassment of journalists" and intimidation
of the opposition.
"The media is restricted and has very little
capacity to report public debate," Downer said. "The opposition is
disadvantaged. If the last election is any guide, the whole process of
voting, the intimidation to stop people voting for opposition parties will
all be repeated," he said when opening the Commonwealth Press Union's
biennial conference in Sydney.
He said the election however provided
an opportunity for Zimbabwe to break free of the patterns of the past and
restore democracy.
"The Commonwealth, including Australia, helped
bring about the modern Zimbabwe out of UDI and all of that into a
non-discriminatory and democratic era," Downer said.
"It slipped
out of that paradigm and this is an opportunity to help it get back into
it."
Downer referred to the "substantial confrontation" his
government had with Zimbabwe in 2003.
"The Zimbabwe issue was a
great test," he said. "Would the Commonwealth adhere to its core values or
just form a loose federation of former British colonies?
"In a
moment of pique (President Robert) Mugabe resigned. It was the right thing
to do if you can't adhere to core values of democracy and civil
liberties."
Downer said he would continue to raise the Zimbabwe
issue in bilateral contacts with his southern African counterparts despite
Harare's departure from the Commonwealth.
He expressed concern
about imprisoned Movement for Democratic Change MP Roy Bennett and said
Australia had not forgotten him.
Men of cloth shout out from ringside Ray
Matikinye ZIMBABWE'S political setting since the highly disputed 2000 general
election has witnessed conflicting rejoinders by the clergy to the manifest
deficit in civic rights and human rights abuses that can be likened to the
biblical crucifixion where on both sides of the cross hung two distinct
characters.
Both were notorious highwaymen but one received last-minute
salvation for his honesty while the other missed a glorious opportunity to
enter heaven by remaining an unbeliever in fair play.
Since the
religious troika of Sebastian Bakare, Trevor Manhanga and Bishop Patrick
Mutume attempted to promote dialogue between Zanu PF and the opposition MDC
over the untenable political situation in the country after the disputed
polls, two religious standpoints on the country's destiny have
emerged.
The groups are typified by diametrical religious
postulations.
On the one hand is Reverend Obediah Msindo, the suave,
energetic orator and youthful leader of Destiny for Africa Network
championing President Robert Mugabe's continued rule as part of the
predestined fate of Zimbabweans alongside the likes of Anglican archbishop
of Harare, Nolbert Kunonga.
Some view Msindo as a government
apologist for his routine deification of Mugabe.
"We have no
apologies to make in identifying ourselves with Zanu PF because we closely
work with the Zanu PF government, preach about total restoration and full
control of our resources including land," says Msindo, who regards his
quasi-religious organisation as Afro-centric.
Msindo says Mugabe was
God-ordained and merits respect from the world's downtrodden for his
pan-African socialist demagoguery.
On the other is the Catholic
bishop of Bulawayo diocese, Pius Ncube, an arch-critic of government
excesses and soiled human rights record whom Mugabe has consistently
vilified as a "wolf in sheep skin".
The Catholic bishop has nettled
Mugabe for years with forthright condemnation of his rule.
When
the state media unleashed a barrage of criticism after he was chosen to
co-lead two aid funds with Desmond Tutu, Ncube retorted: "Why should they
attack me and skirt real issues affecting the country? We need good
governance and we do not want to be abused by a dictator."
Ncube,
who is among a long list of prominent Zimbabweans including journalists that
have been tagged traitors by a recent ruling party publication, together
with other clergymen seeks to rein in on the government's
waywardness.
Msindo and Ncube represent diametrical standpoints
regarding the political situation that has been obtaining in
Zimbabwe.
"We are yet to enjoy the gains of liberation," says Bishop
Mutume, bemoaning how the country had fallen from being a beacon of hope at
independence in 1980 to a cowed nation without the freedom, justice or peace
that thousands of Zimbabweans died fighting for during the country's bitter
independence war of the 1970s. He says Zimbabweans everywhere are living in
fear because they are threatened and intimidated by the ruling party's hired
men.
Mutume told a recent national prayer meeting in Harare: "Why do
we allow those we give power to use that power to suppress us? We thought by
finishing the struggle for independence we would get peace. But why are we
still praying for peace and justice?"
Msindo countermands
like-minded critics saying some pastors are agents of evil who have joined
hands with the opposition in criticising the government.
"Trevor
Manhanga, Pius Ncube and Sebastian Bakare are always one-sided in accusing
Zanu PF of being violent and never condemning the behaviour of other
parties. Such pastors who claim to be apolitical are deceptive," Msindo
says.
Church organisations have witnessed an upsurge in membership as
people seek solace in spiritual gatherings largely because of economic
hardships and the stress associated with modern day uncertainties thus
becoming a significant constituency.
But more importantly, public
scepticism has built up around Destiny for Africa Network's seemingly
unexplained benevolence. The organisation has pioneered multi-million-dollar
urban housing projects where in Harare alone 2 000 residential stands have
been opened up along Seke Road outside the capital.
The urban
housing project envisages providing 1 000 more residential stands. Other
largesse programmes include oil-extracting machines, peanut butter-making
machines and even pairs of shoes and cycles to other clerics, during
ceremonies often accompanied by toadying to the government.
"We borrow
funds from the Youth Development, Gender and Employment Creation ministry,
the central bank as well as well-wishers and members of the public who peg
what interest they want for the money they lend to prospective homeowners,"
says Catherine Rusike, events manager for Destiny for Africa
Network.
She says her organisation then applies to local
authorities for residential stands for its members' benefit. "The
organisation only facilitates the transfer of money from providers to
beneficiaries and the other way round," she says.
Msindo says it is
wrong for religious organisations to condition Christians to poverty saying
this is the reason his organisation is fighting for economic
empowerment.
Chairman of the Media and Information Commission,
Tafataona Mahoso, likens bishops Ncube and Tutu to reactionary clerics of
the 1970s, accusing them of working for Anglo-Saxon
imperialism.
"Today's bishops Desmond Tutu and Pius Ncube are big
liars because they have to couch their venom against Africans in sweet human
rights language," he says.
He says the two clerics have to adjust
and put on sheep's clothes to promote Anglo-Saxon
hege-mony.
"Their language has been adjusted to human rights,
democracy, free flow of information, humanitarian relief, rule of law and
dialogue," Mahoso asserts.
The situation leaves the Christian public
in a dilemma. Either they remain poor and enjoy civic and other rights or
choose material empowerment at the cost of allowing a sustained abridgement
of their human rights.
ANY idiot can make things look complicated but it usually takes a
genius to make them appear simple. This was the situation in the ruling Zanu
PF before Information minister Jonathan Moyo was fired last Saturday for
flouting party rules on elections. Whoever advised President Robert
Mugabe not to rush to fire Moyo seems to have provided the masterstroke: he
ensured the spin-doctor was given a long rope to hang himself and commit
political suicide. Mugabe did not have to justify his action anymore after he
"disappointed" his appointee because Moyo had already technically cashiered
himself in a desperate bid to salvage something from the rubble of his
shattered political career. His defiant reaction to accusations that he
plotted a palace coup in Tsholotsho could have left him dangerously exposed.
Others say he was naïve to hope for reprieve. Perhaps Moyo knew what he
was doing. Napoleon once said leaders are dealers in hope. No matter what
their predicament might be, they always put on a brave face and hope, like
Mr Micawber, that something will turn up. Despite "unbearable and torturous
ostracisation", as Moyo himself described his dilemma, he still hung around
in Zanu PF in all probability hoping his nose-diving fortunes would change.
But in the end, things just collapsed around him with his formal
dismissal. Moyo had no doubt at all what the ramifications of his dismissal
would be on Zanu PF. He reminded Zanu PF heavyweights, chairman John Nkomo,
Retired General Solomon Mujuru, Dumiso Dabengwa, Obert Mpofu, Cain Mathema
and Nathan Shamuyarira, whom he accuses of pushing him out, that he saved
the party from collapse. "I hope that they will be honest enough to
appreciate that I am one of the few people who contributed to saving Zanu PF
from collapse when they had each and all deserted President Mugabe in 2000,"
Moyo said. "I want them to know that I did not join a Zanu PF gravy train in
2000 but jumped onto a sinking ship that was heading for the ground after
its captain was left alone by his crew." When he was engaged in 2000 as a
campaign manager, the ruling party was weak and incoherent. It was
struggling to deal with a deepening political and economic crisis after it
had been shaken to its foundations by a shock electoral defeat in a
constitutional referendum in February 2000. Facing an uncertain future and a
tricky general election after the emergence of the opposition Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC) in September 1999, Zanu PF needed urgent renewal. It
needed a personality with the character traits of Boxer and Squealer in
George Orwell's terrific satirical novel, Animal Farm. In other words, it
needed a hard worker and credible spin-doctor. It also needed someone who
could articulate its policies in a coherent and convincing manner. Most of
the ruling party ideologues such as Shamuyarira and Chen Chimutengwende were
tired and dangerously out of touch with reality. Moyo was the answer. He
was full of energy, and had the potential to become an influential Sultan of
spin, capable of good image management and winning the hearts and minds.
When Moyo came in - at least from a Zanu PF point of view - he did not
disappoint. His first mission was to revive Mugabe's failed totalitarian
project - whose key elements included a de facto one-party state, command
economy and a virtually closed society - of the 1980s. In order to
achieve that he had to re-engineer the state media in his own image.
Resistant journalists were fired wholesale to accommodate stooges who were
hostage to his whims and caprices. Overnight, the state-controlled media
became his strident megaphones and exclusive propaganda mouthpieces of the
ruling party. To maintain government's broadcasting monopoly, Moyo introduced
the Broadcasting Services Act. Airwaves were saturated with Zanu PF
propaganda. Moyo also initiated the Access to Information and Protection of
Privacy Act to deal with the independent press. Dozens of journalists were
arrested and three newspapers closed down. Moyo also played a key role in
the society-wide repression which intensified after 2000. Judges and other
judicial officers were attacked in public or in anonymous newspaper columns
written in highly inflammatory language. Football teams, beauty pageants,
music and donations were used to defend his party and to try to win popular
support. He took head-on local and foreign critics of Mugabe, including
powerful Western governments. He simply told them to go and hang whatever
the substance of their concerns. In his own words, Moyo defended Mugabe, Zanu
PF and government "without fear". But what will be the impact of his
dismissal on Zanu PF? Ruling party secretary for administration Didymus
Mutasa said he did not think his departure was consequential. "Moyo did a
lot of work for Zanu PF. He had lots of energy, ran around and worked very
hard but nobody is indispensable in our party," Mutasa said. "Some people
said Zanu PF will never be the same when the likes of (Edgar) Tekere (former
secretary-general) and (Enos) Nkala (former Defence, Home Affairs and
Finance minister) left. True, it was never the same, but the party went on
and became even stronger. Nobody is indispensable." Some commentators say
Moyo's departure will have far-reaching effects on the methods of political
engagement, but no impact at all on the structural problems the country is
facing. The political temperature will go down and there will be more
civilised politics, they say. University of Zimbabwe political analyst Eldred
Masunungure said Zanu PF and government would be the poorer without Moyo,
but noted his own political prospects were "very bleak" outside the ruling
party. "The Zanu PF old guard no doubt welcomed his departure because they
felt that despite the good work he had done, he had become a heavy albatross
around the party's neck, a serious liability," he said. "But the Young
Turks might think that his dismissal was a major loss to the party. I agree
Zanu PF was a sinking ship when Moyo came in. However, it is a clear
exaggeration to say he rescued it from collapse." He said Moyo's career could
be ruined by his expulsion because Zimbabwe was "evolving into an entrenched
two-party system with little or no room for independent politicians". "He
made a significant contribution, so did others, and Zanu PF allies in and
out of the country," he said. "The reality is that Zanu PF is stronger now
compared to when Moyo came in. But the people who were almost indispensable
five years ago, like Moyo, are now dispensable. From that point of view, his
dismissal will have a limited impact on the ruling party, although I must
say Zanu PF will be very lethargic without him."
PRESIDENT Thabo Mbeki's statement this week berating the United
States for calling Zimbabwe an outpost of tyranny should come as some relief
to Zimbabwe's rulers grappling with an image problem. "Of course not,"
according to Mbeki. Zimbabwe could not be lumped together with Burma or
North Korea. It is true Mr President that Zimbabwe's oppressive rulers pale
into caricatures when compared to the junta in Burma. The Zimbabwe
government feels that it is a victim of machinations by the West. And Mbeki
feels that United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice exaggerated the
gravity of the dictatorship in Zimbabwe. As a defence, Zimbabwe has sought to
associate itself with the same countries perceived to be bad apples in the
community of nations. The official response to Rice's controversial statement
two weeks was revealing. "Zimbabwe, together with other
independent-minded countries, is being victimised.," we were told. Zimbabwe
does not mind sailing in the same boat with North Korea or Burma or Belarus
so long as our rulers believe that club can form a bulwark against the West.
To sum up the argument, Zimbabwe believes it is not an outpost of tyranny
but an independent-minded state free to do as it likes with its
people. But that is not the issue really. Condy's remark could be an
overstatement of the issue while our information dealers see it fit to
understate the country's democratic deficit. Zimbabwe now wants to use
Mbeki's statement as an endorsement of the status quo and a certification of
Harare's clean bill of health. Of note - as read from Mbeki's FT
interview - is that Zimbabwe might not be an outpost of tyranny but that
doesn't make it a fully-fledged democracy and has numerous problems that
need urgent attention. President Mbeki did not say Zimbabwe was a good boy in
the neighbourhood. By saying Zimbabwe was not an outpost of tyranny, Mbeki
never meant that the situation in Zimbabwe was normal. He did not mean that
the country was going about its business properly. The interview, which we
reprint in full on Page 16, reveals that Mbeki sees problems in Zimbabwe
which have to be addressed, albeit not through the confrontational US
template. Mbeki is aware of the problems Mugabe's "successful land reform
programme" has created. "We agree that there must be land redistribution
but the manner in which it is being handled is incorrect, and the way the
conflict has arisen between black Zimbabweans and white Zimbabweans is not
what we want," said Mbeki. "But, you see, to take a posture which would say
- which I think could be quite easy - we would sit here and say we are gong
to shout at the Zimbabweans, that's the beginning and the end of any
contribution we would make . . . It was a choice for us. The easier route
was to sit in Pretoria and say whatever we like," said Mbeki. The South
African president is also aware of Zimbabwe's economic ills. "There are
certain things which have gone wrong in Zimbabwe, which we've said
publicly... They've run a budget deficit of 10% for 20 years . . . You end
up with the economic crisis that you have now. It derives from an economic
policy that had good intentions in the sense of raising standards of living
of the people, educational levels, improving health and so on and so on. But
it produced particular consequences, economic consequences which then also
had political consequences." Mbeki's comments on the formation of the
Movement for Democratic Change are also important. He sees the opposition
party as "essentially emerging out of the economic crisis". He said Mugabe's
government had responded to the crisis in a wrong way by using unnecessary
force. "When I was in Harare I said to them publicly this business of using
the war veterans is incorrect. You can't solve these problems by beating up
people. So there were things that went wrong there." What then do we call
this? Isn't it tyranny? We hope that Mbeki's observations are shared by other
regional leaders who have been told over and over again that the MDC was
formed by the British to recolonise Zimbabwe or that the land is at the core
of Zimbabwe's drawn-out crisis. Until now, it was only Botswana's President
Festus Mogae who recognised that Zimbabwe was facing "a crisis of
governance".
Mbeki also correctly diagnoses the reasons for Zimbabwe's
economic problems. The malaise dates back 20 years. It was not caused by
"illegal sanctions" imposed by President George W Bush and Britain's Tony
Blair on Zimbabwe. Our problems stem from poor management. Zimbabwe may not
be an outpost of tyranny, but it certainly is not the "best democracy" in
Africa as claimed by Didymus Mutasa last week.
LAST week's Zimbabwean press coverage devoted nearly as much space
to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) as the state-controlled media
devoted to lambasting the political opposition and British premier Tony
Blair. Only the never-ending listings of farms being expropriated - so as to
further destroy agriculture? - exceeded the space allotted to stories
related to the IMF. Some of the articles were focused yet again upon the long
overdone denigration of the IMF. As with the fox of Aesopian fame who denied
any wish to have the grapes after he had struggled in vain to reach them, so
the pro-government press in Zimbabwe unhesitatingly derides the
IMF whensoever it appears that that institution will not support the
country. However, this is not unique to Zimbabwe, but is a characteristic of
almost all those countries in Africa as are in debt default with the IMF,
and therefore cannot avail themselves of monetary assistance from that
Bretton Woods body. The basis of the castigation of the IMF and,
therefore, of denying any wish for IMF assistance, is invariably founded
upon the allegation that the organisation is naught but a vehicle of
imperialistic and colonising developed countries to dominate the undeveloped
and lesser developed states and subject them to the yoke of the economically
powerful. The IMF policies are belittled and scathingly dismissed as being
weapons to gain the economic enslavement of Africa. In Zimbabwe, the most
frequently cited example of the alleged bad faith of the IMF is the supposed
failure of the Economic Structural Adjustment Programme (Esap) of the early
1990s. The IMF critics claim that Esap was imposed upon Zimbabwe against the
better judgement of the government. They claim that Zimbabwe only embraced
Esap because it had to access funding from the IMF, and the availability of
that funding was conditional upon the adoption of Esap as the programme for
Zimbabwean economic development. This was repeated ad nauseum by the
government and its newspapers in the late 1990s in order to justify
discontinuance of Esap - notwithstanding the intensive eulogising of that
same programme when it was first announced and in the years that it was
launched. Repeatedly, the programme was said to be a Machiavellian strategy
of subjugating Zimbabwe's economy to those of the all-powerful first world
countries. The actualities were very different. In 1989, with the full
blessing of President Robert Mugabe and his cabinet, then Finance minister,
the late (and extraordinarily able) Bernard Chidzero, established "task
forces" to assess the needs of the country's various economic sectors and
how those needs could best be addressed so as to assure the development and
growth of those sectors. There was extensive and very wide-ranging
interaction between the task forces and the key players in each of the
economic sectors of agriculture, mining, manufacturing, tourism, wholesale
and retail trade, and of finance and services. After in-depth inquiry and
evaluation, a framework of economic reform and enhancement was formulated.
Thereafter, Chidzero required his advisors to assess the extent to which the
proposals were similar to those applied in other countries under like
circumstances, and to seek advice of those within the international
community with experience and expertise in achieving successful economic
structuring. Based thereon, the government formulated Esap and then
solicited international support, inclusive of funding from the IMF, the
World Bank and others. Thus, clearly, Esap was not imposed upon Zimbabwe, but
was conceptualised and devised by Zimbabwe, albeit also with input and
advice from beyond Zimbabwe's borders and including recommendations from
bodies such as the IMF. Initially, Esap failed or, at best, had very
little success, for the government's implementation was half-hearted and
without conviction. There was selective implementation of some facets of the
programme and disregard for others. Thus, for example, although the
architects of Esap had recognised that implementation would inevitably
occasion some hardships, they were necessary evils for the greater
good. However, to minimise the hardships, Esap was to include the
establishment and operation of a Social Dimensions Fund. That barely
happened, with only minimal consideration of creating such a fund, and even
more minimal operation of the fund. Zimbabweans suffered the foreshadowed
hardships, but were not aided with the intended compensatory
medication! Because of the lethargic and apathetic approval to Esap by the
government, the early years of the programme yielded little of the targeted
benefits. Eventually, when it had no alternative, the government reluctantly
intensified its implementation of the programme, resulting in some
significant economic upturn from 1994 to 1997. Then political objectives
intervened once again, resulting in non-adherence to the substance of Esap,
and that fuelled a reversal of the economic gains and an escalating economic
decline from late 1997 to the present time. But the government could not
accept culpability, for it perceives itself as infallible. In denying
responsibility, it necessarily had to find others to blame, and the IMF was
a ready victim to be the recipient of that blame. This was especially so as
it had become fashionable for all other countries as could not qualify for
the IMF support to direct endless vitriol at IMF. The virulence of Zimbabwe's
disparagement of the IMF intensified exponentially as the magnitude of
Zimbabwean debt arrears increased. The greater the extent of Zimbabwe's
default in servicing its debt, commensurately greater and more vociferous
were its attacks upon the IMF. This became particularly pronounced when, as
prescribed by the IMF constitution's provisions in respect of debt default,
Zimbabwe's membership was suspended, and even more when the IMF commenced
consideration of possible termination of Zimbabwe's membership. Then
Zimbabwe, very belatedly, embarked upon economic transformation, although
limited to some extent, as the government remained obdurately and determined
to continue its economically appalling land reform programme, and reversed
itself on previously declared intents to privatise parastatals. Nevertheless,
and very substantially as a consequence of the determination of Reserve Bank
governor Gideon Gono, Zimbabwe modified its monetary and fiscal policies.
Moreover, at nominal levels only, but indicative of good faith, Zimbabwe
commenced payment of its debt arrears. One result was that the IMF did not
expel Zimbabwe, and instead only continued suspension of its membership,
subject to six-monthly reviews. Suddenly, in the eyes of Zimbabwe - or in
particular the government and the state media - the IMF was no longer so
evil, even if not yet perceived as being a valued friend, which it could
well become once more. Last week's press headlines emblazoned a joyful "IMF
reprieve for Zimbabwe", instead of yet again vituperative belittling of
the body.
THE sun has finally set for Professor Jonathan Moyo. As a
Mugabe sidekick, at least. It was a long noon indeed since that fateful
Tsholotsho indaba. But, as Moyo himself has indicated, it is also a new dawn
for the wily professor who has finally decided that it is time to find
another ticket to "heaven" (parliament) as an independent. President
Robert Mugabe reacted by giving Moyo the boot on Friday. Moyo should not
expect a flood of tears from the party that gave him the limelight he so
badly craved in the first place. Media publicity is perhaps going to be his
greatest loss. For the past five years he has hogged the state media for all
the wrong reasons. It was fine for the party so long as he was fighting the
opposition MDC and the privately-owned media. He could close down as many
newspapers as he liked. But the moment he started to tread on the big toes,
even venturing where angels fear to tread, fools too could tell his days
were numbered. The hourglass finally struck on Friday when he defied Mugabe
and stretched Zanu PF's "guided" democracy to breaking point. Despite
thanking President Mugabe for making him taste the trappings of political
power, Moyo was in no mood for plea-bargaining. He said he had taken the
decision to stand as an independent as a matter of "principle". He said
"lack of democracy in the ruling party was a threat to national
stability. "It is my considered view that arbitrary rule by any one
ruling party is a breeding ground for tribalism and corruption and puts at
risk our sovereignty, democracy and national development," Moyo was quoted
as saying. That statement must come as a shock to most media practitioners
who view Moyo as the greatest threat to media plurality and democracy this
country has seen. He fashioned the most repressive media laws for any
country laying a claim to democracy. He cost hundreds of journalists their
jobs in the name of Zanu PF, not democracy. The Media and Information
Commission was his brainchild so that he could have total control over all
journalists, whether privately-employed or falling directly under his
portfolio as information minister. Through the Access to Information and
Protection of Privacy Act, Moyo sought to ensure it was he alone who had
access to all the information he wanted while he denied the entire country
access to the same. That evil legislation bears his full
imprint.
Moyo also had another revelation. He claimed to have almost
single-handedly saved Zanu PF from extinction in 2000. Everybody had
abandoned President Mugabe, he said. We believe the owners of the party will
have ample time and space to respond to that. But the statement is
important for other reasons. Everybody knows Zanu PF won the past two
elections by using violence, intimidation and harassment of the opposition.
Now Moyo has the nerve to boast that he was the author of those evil
strategies. And he wants to tell us about democracy and principles when he
should know that people were effectively robbed of their choice in 2000 and
2002. Cynics are bound to ask what principles Moyo was espousing as a Mugabe
spin-doctor and Zanu PF deputy information minister in the past six years?
What has since happened to those principles? How far and in what way has
Mugabe changed? Muckraker believes Moyo should have the courage of his
conviction and admit that he saw an opportunity in Tsholotsho to fulfil a
political ambition. It was too tempting to resist. And he invested a lot of
money in it, at one time donating computers valued at over $100 million in
one week. This is evident in his snide response to Mugabe, a man he has
flattered to deceive since joining the ill-fated Constitutional Commission
in 1999. Responding to his letter of dismissal, Moyo said he had "come to
understand and appreciate that it is far better to be with the people and to
work for them than to be hostage to the whims and caprices of the politics
of patronage". And so Tsholotsho has become the weapon with which to fight
the entire Zanu PF system!
Not that we begrudge Moyo his decision.
No, it is only to show that the system appeals to all those who are venal.
Why did it take him so long to realise there was no democracy to talk of in
Zanu PF when that is what everybody has been saying? It is well and good to
be self-righteous about the "politics of patronage". But Moyo was one of its
most unashamed beneficiaries and never had any moral qualms while it lasted.
He never had scruples about closing down newspapers or getting journalists
arrested on specious charges just to please Zanu PF and its leader. He was a
most willing tool of an evil system. He was the most strident proponent of
its new doctrine of a regime, which he claimed represented our whole culture
and way of life. Now we hear he received at least 500 Net*One Easycall
lines to use in his election campaign. As a man of principle he should know
there are more deserving people out there who can't get the lines because
"they are not available". How come he can commandeer 500 of them at once and
still pretend to be disgusted by a system that affords him such privileges
as a minister? Is he now going to return those lines and stand in the queue
like the rest of us poor mortals? Let's walk the talk Cde Jonathan,
otherwise there are glaring contradictions there.
President Mugabe
finally admitted this week that all is not well in our schools. Claims about
high enrolment figures contrast sharply with the low skills level and poor
pass rates, especially in rural schools. He said his government should be
"ashamed" because of its failure to provide adequate resources, especially
books. He said he was particularly disappointed that in some schools he had
visited, six pupils shared a single textbook. He admitted that the highest
pass rate was often 29% while it could be as low as 3% in some
schools. Now that the truth is forcing itself out we hope something will be
done. There is no point in boasting about huge enrolment figures that churn
out semi-literates who are only fit for use by politicians after "national
service" training at Border Gezi camps. Unfortunately for these abused
youths, there is no second chance. The country needs skills to move
forward. Quite significantly, President Mugabe said this shameful pass rate
was a serious indictment on the Ministry of Education. We hope that that
destructive force, the enemy of quality education, Aeneas Chigwedere, is
listening and will leave private schools alone to do their job. Perhaps
Mugabe should enquire from Chigwedere why his ministry had a 29% surplus in
the last financial year when schools do not have books? The other reason why
schools do not have books is because Chigwedere believes that those raising
fees are racist. Does the president know that government schools still
charge $425 a term, courtesy of Chigwedere? That is the aptitude of your
minister, President Mugabe. He needs serious remedial lessons and your
direct supervision before he stands for Hwedza in March.
Talking of
shameful performers, the president also had hard words for what he called
"cellphone" farmers who have turned the farms they got from government into
"weekend braai resorts" while the nation starves. He said the honeymoon for
such landowners was over because the nation needed to attain the benchmarks
it had set for itself. The trouble, as usual, is that there is more bark than
bite in the president's threats. Hundreds of recalcitrant multiple farm
owners are still using them as "weekend braai resorts" because they know
nothing will be done. There was irony in that the president made these
remarks while being conferred with an honorary doctoral degree in
agriculture. There is nothing to show for it Mr President.
The
Department of Information announced last week that the accreditation of
journalists to cover the Miss Tourism World had been waived. The often
paranoid department said there "would be no restrictions for any
journalists" covering the event. In a letter to the head of media
planning of the beauty pageant, Michael Orji, Information secretary George
Charamba let the secret to this gesture out of the bag. He said the move
was meant to "facilitate effective coverage" of the event and to ensure all
foreign journalists "discharge their duties without hindrance". This is
all a sham. It exposes a leadership that is cynical about how journalists
work. More importantly, we are being told all we ever needed to know about
the object of the inordinately restrictive media regulations, that is, they
are meant to hinder journalists' discharge of their duties when such duties
do not massage the ego of some government official or flatter Zanu
PF. News that the event would be "beamed live across Europe" was too
seductive to resist. The beauty of the pageants will presumably reflect the
beauty of the Zanu PF government. Unfortunately, there don't appear to
have been many journalists interested in covering an event that doesn't
teach them a thing about real life in Zimbabwe. There is an election coming
at the end of next month and many will be waiting for a similar carte
blanche to enter the country. You can't eat your cake and have it. We
expected Zanu PF to be cleverer than this cheap trick. Nobody is fooled by
the sight of starry-eyed young girls strutting about holiday resorts in
blinkers while state media managers pull the reins towards the most
sweetly-perfumed corners of Zimbabwe.
Meanwhile The Voice reporter
"wavered" between "waivered" and "waived" about this policy inconsistency.
The reader was left with all three to decide which is which. This despite
correctly quoting Charamba's letter.
President Mugabe last week lambasted
those who have left the country to work abroad. This was during a tour of Mt
Darwin where he donated computers at Kajokoto, Chiswiti and Mukumbura
secondary schools where he said he wanted our children's education to match
that of the developed world in technology. He said Zimbabweans were a unique
lot because they were the only ones who went to "Britain to demonise the
country and its leadership". He said they did menial jobs such as scratching
the backs of elderly whites. These are the same people that Reserve Bank
governor Gideon Gono is appealing to to send their hard-earned money home
while government insists they are not eligible to vote. Gono should count
himself luck to have such a dependable ally for his Homelink initiative.
93% forex bids rejected Eric Chiriga/Rodwin
Chirara THE Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe rejected 93% of foreign currency bids on
its auction floors last month.
This is a sharp rise from a rejection
rate of 88% in December last year.
"Against a fixed allotment of
US$11 million per auction, the total amount of bids on the foreign currency
auction market rose from US$29,4 million on January 3, to US$80,8 million on
January 27, 2005," Finhold said in its monthly economic update for February.
This reflects a huge deficit for importers.
However, the bids
declined sharply to US$37,7 million on January 31.
The weighted average
auction rate fell from about US$: $5 735 at the beginning of January to $5
957 on January 31, representing a depreciation of 4%.
Finhold
said during the month of January, the Zimbabwe dollar depreciated by an
average of 6% against a basket of six major trading partner currencies
comprising the British pound, the Euro and Botswana pula among
others.
"The Zimbabwe dollar fell by 8%, 7% and 6% against the
Japanese yen, British pound and South African rand,
respectively."
In December, the Zimbabwe dollar depreciated by 18%
and 11% against the South African rand and Botswana pula on the foreign
currency auction.
This is contrary to government claims that the
country's currency is firming and the economy is
recovering.
Finhold however said the money market recorded daily
average shortages of $370 billion in January, from $660 billion recorded in
December 2004.
This was underpinned by an injection of about $700
billion in the form of Treasury bill maturities.
RBZ's double-digit inflation target elusive Shakeman
Mugari THE upswing in the January inflation figure is an early warning that
the Reserve Bank might fail to achieve its double-digit inflation figure by
year-end, analysts have said.
The analysts say there has been a
resurgence in the inflationary pressures, caused by government's salary
hikes and price increases by state enterprises.
They also say
recent moves to dole out $10 trillion to state companies under the
Parastatal and Local Authorities Reorientation Programme (Plarp) is highly
inflationary. Economists believe it would be very difficult to raise the
money from the market and government will have to print more money to fund
that expenditure.
The analysts say it is going to be increasingly
difficult for the RBZ to meet its double-digit inflation figures because the
macro-economic environment is still largely unstable.
The Central
Statistical Office (CSO) figures show that month-on-month inflation
increased by 10,2 percentage points to 14,1% in January, up from 3,9% in
December last year. The CSO said non-food at 91,8 percentage points,
provided the major push, while food weighed in with 41,7 percentage
points.
Prices of basic commodities have continued to skyrocket as
manufacturers pass on the costs to consumers to maintain their waning
margins.
Year-on-year inflation went up 0,9% to 133,6% from 132,7%.
This means that prices of commodities are now going up at a faster rate than
last year.
Analysts believe it is going to be more difficult to drag
inflation further down as it approaches the 100% mark. Inflation has been on
the slide since a January peak of 623% last year, shedding
490%.
Experts believe it could be the beginning of worse things to
come. They say government expenditure is currently the biggest inflation
driver. Government last month awarded salary increases of between 200% and
600% to civil servants. Its wage bill gobbles more than 35% of the
budget.
Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce president Luxon Zembe
said government was the main drag in the anti-inflation
campaign.
"They are the major culprits. The January salary increases
of 200-600% have set the tone for across-the-board wage hikes," Zembe
said.
"By that action government is showing that it does not believe
its own inflation figures."
Parastatals have also been allowed to
hike their tariffs. Net*One and Tel*One have increased their tariffs,
pushing up operational costs for companies.
The Zimbabwe
Electricity Supply Authority (Zesa) is sitting on an energy price review
that might push the rate by more than 60%.
Although their latest 120%
hike proposal was stopped by the central bank, the power utility last year
alone increased power prices by more than 700%.
"That has triggered price
increases in products and services," Zembe said.
The two-digit inflation
target could also come under pressure when the local authorities review
their rates. The Harare City Council, for instance, plans to increase its
water and service charges by an average 400%. It is currently sitting on a
$1,4 trillion budget, which is likely to see charges go up by a minimum
300%.
Pressure continues to mount on manufacturers and service
providers who last month alone were hit by rental increases of between 500%
and 1 000%. They are also likely to pass the costs to customers whose
earnings are already under severe pressure.
However, it is the
$10 trillion doled out to local authorities and state companies that will
trigger massive inflation increases.
Analysts believe the $10
trillion splashed under Plarp will worsen the deficit and be financed
through money printing.
This would increase money supply and provide
a fillip for the inflation rate. Growth in money supply increases
inflation.
This week the Reserve Bank announced that it had issued a
$500 billion Plarp bond to finance parastatals and local authorities
turnaround projects.
"They will have to print more money to fund their
budget deficit which is worsened by the $10 trillion handout," said
economist John Robertson.
He said there was no way the government
could raise such funds from the market because the country's savings had run
dry because of negative interest rates.
Apart from these handouts
to ailing parastatals, the pending food shortages this year are likely to
put further pressure on inflation.
Statistics show that Zimbabwe
could have one of the worst farming seasons
ever. Agricultural experts
say only 28 000 tonnes of maize seed have been planted compared to the
required 100 000 tonnes.
The country has managed to produce 33 500
tonnes of compound D fertiliser instead of the required 300 000 tonnes.
Currently, there is a serious shortage of ammonium nitrate
fertiliser.
Only 900 000 hectares is under crop compared to an
ambitious target of four million hectares. All this points to a serious food
shortage this year. When that happens food prices would surge and result in
higher inflation.
"It means we would need to import food. And that
normally leads to imported inflation," Robertson said.
Reserve
Bank of Zimbabwe governor Gideon Gono is adamant that his revised inflation
target of 20-30% by December is achievable.
However, last week he
attacked service providers and manufacturers for not being committed to the
fight against inflation. He has also called on workers to exercise restraint
in their salary demands.
But the odds are still staked against his
targets. The Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) is demanding a minimum
wage of $2 million to match the food basket price, which has increased to
slightly more than $1,8 million.
A family of six now requires just under
$2 million a month for basic supplies.
"We will not be guided by
Gono's hogwash when we start salary negotiations. He was not being
realistic. He was waffling," said ZCTU president Lovemore
Matombo.
Political experts believe government expenditure will
also gallop in the election period, worsening the deficit. Although it is
difficult to put a value to the figure, past experience has shown that
government normally raids treasury to finance its election campaign.
Empowerment drive falls flat Eric
Chiriga GOVERNMENT'S efforts to empower indigenous people by acquiring stakes
in large mining concerns have been futile.
This became clear
following revelations that no local entrepreneur has so far managed to
successfully acquire a stake in any of the huge mining houses operating in
the country.
Zimbabwe Platinum Mines (Zimplats) has been offering a
15% stake valued at about US$31 million to locals but its official
empowerment partner, Nkululeko Rusununguko Mining Company (NRMC), is failing
to raise the money.
NRMC failed to meet a deadline of February 7 on
which it was supposed to pay the US$31 million for the stake.
The
deadline had been set by Zimplats shareholders at a meeting held last
November.
Prior to this, Zimplats' grace period on the Australian
Stock Exchange where it was expected to complete the 15% placement for the
consortium, had expired on January 5.
Zimplats declined to
comment.
"Zimplats has no comment. We have nothing to say because
there are no developments," Nina Kwaramba, the spokesperson for Zimplats
said last week.
Prisca Mupfumira, chairperson of NRMC, said they were
in the process of raising the money and were still the official empowerment
partner of Zimplats.
"We were approved by the government and we
have a letter to that effect. You should understand that this is a lot of
money," Mupfumira said.
"We will tell you if we fail to raise the
money."
She refused to disclose the amount of money that NRMC had
managed to raise out of the required US$31 million.
Mupfumira
said she did not know when they would raise the money and conclude the
deal.
On the other hand, Anglo American Corporation Zimbabwe (Amzim)
is offering a 15 to 20% empowerment stake in its Unki Platinum Mine but
which has been pending for more than a year now.
Amzim's managing
director, James Maposa, had not responded to questions sent to him at the
time of going to print.
When contacted for comment, the chief
executive officer of the Chamber of Mines, David Murangari, said he could
not comment on the issue.
"I cannot comment on that issue of
empowerment. The only empowerment partner I know is Zimplats' Nkululeko
Rusununguko Mining Company," Murangari said.
Rio Zim Ltd and Zimasco
(Pvt) Ltd are the other major mining concerns in the country.
Rio
Zim is one of the few mining concerns which are entirely owned by the
locals.
"That issue of empowerment does not apply to us because
we are 100%-owned by Zimbabweans," said Josephat Sachikonye, the managing
director of Rio Zim.
The managing director of Zimasco (Pvt) Ltd,
Syduuel Jena, could not be reached for comment.
Zimasco mines
chrome and holds mining rights in Mutorashanga, Ngezi and
Lalapanzi.
Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe governor, Gideon Gono, says
it is imperative that empowerment programmes are visible and
transparent.
"A sustainable black economic empowerment (BEE)
programme must be guided by non-negotiable principles including equity and
accountability," he said in his monetary policy statement for the fourth
quarter of 2004.
He said the feeling among the youths and middle-aged
was that BEE programmes are implemented on an ad hoc basis benefiting a few
people who are already rich.
"In this regard, it would be
expedient to create a framework governing BEEs in all sectors of the
economy."
The mining sector contributes 4,3% to the country's gross
domestic product while the industry accounts for about 40% of the country's
foreign currency earnings.
According to the RBZ monetary policy
statement, the sector is estimated to have registered a positive growth of
11,6% in 2004, after a decline of 9,8% in 2003.
The growth in the
sector has mainly been driven by gold, palladium, platinum and chrome ore
coupled with favourable factors which include the support price and gold
purchase points around concentration centres.
Meanwhile, the Mines
and Mineral Act which was created to bolster indigenous people's claims to
the lucrative mining sector is undergoing amendments.
The amendments
are meant to clarify the government's economic empowerment policy.
Curbing excessive regulation in finance Dr Alex T
Magaisa THE financial crisis in Zimbabwe over the past year has resulted in a
number of interventions by the state, mainly through action by the RBZ as
the chief regulator.
In addition to "soft laws" contained in guidance
notes normally incorporated in the RBZ governor Gideon Gono's quarterly
monetary policy statements, the state has also intervened through specific
legislation aimed at curbing malpractices and criminal activities such as
money laundering and corruption.
This combination of "hard" and
"soft" laws has increased the layers of regulation already available within
the financial sector.
This enhanced regulatory regime echoes the
developments in the international markets reflecting calls towards greater
regulation in the wake of corporate scandals that rocked US markets at the
turn of the century.
Nonetheless, while calls for regulation are
understandable against that disastrous background, there are emerging
concerns that the regulatory authorities at times run the risk of
over-reacting.
A recent report by The Financial Times, a premier
financial daily newspaper in the UK, indicated that there is increasing
concern by the business executives that the financial industry is facing the
burden of excessive regulation.
An annual survey conducted by the
Centre for the Study of Financial Innovation (CSFI) discovered that
over-regulation is considered to be the biggest risk to the financial sector
and individual institutions. In the wake of local developments in the
regulatory structure in Zimbabwe, it is important to gauge not only whether
the regulatory structure that has been established meets the requirements,
but also whether it serves the market and financial institutions without
distracting them from their core business interests.
There is
always the danger that in enacting regulations overzealous behaviour might
lead to a regulatory structure that will stifle rather than promote business
growth.
There are several problems arising from excessive regulation
that ought to be taken into account when formulating regulations for the
financial industry.
Firstly, regulations usually impose obligations
that entail increases in compliance and administrative costs for individual
institutions and the industry as a whole.
Compliance costs
generally refer to the costs incurred in pursuance of the obligations to
satisfy regulatory demands. This includes setting up specialised compliance
departments, hiring qualified staff, training personnel and also adopting
procedures and special infrastructure to fulfill the regulatory needs. This
naturally entails additional costs to the organisations that are obliged to
comply with the regulatory structure.
Arguably, the radical changes
to the capital adequacy requirements put pressure on a number of banks
particularly at a time when their alternative sources of income such as the
parallel market upon which they had been dependent had been
curtailed.
It is arguable that a more gradual and calculated
compliance requirement on this issue combined with a generous allowance for
return to "normal business" would have been preferable and might well have
given hope to some of the banks that have now collapsed.
The RBZ
has also called for banks to set up special information technology systems
for risk management while legislation such as the Bank Use Promotion and
Suppression of Money Laundering Act requires banks to engage and train staff
to meet the objectives of detecting and combating money
laundering.
The requirements to keep records over a specified period
of time requires banks to set up storage facilities which may also increase
costs. Additional costs will be incurred in administration as banks expand
their capacities to deal with the new demands.
Given the
possibilities of increased compliance and administrative costs, it is
important to tread carefully and avoid imposing further costs that might end
up diverting resources from the core business of the
organisations.
Secondly, the increased regulatory demands will
consume extra time and energy within financial institutions. The fear is
that boards and management will now spend the majority of their time
grappling with the need to satisfy regulatory demands rather than focusing
on the core business of the banks.
Arguably, over the last few
months, most banks have been overwhelmed by the regulatory demands and their
time has been spent largely on trying to comply and
survive.
Consequently, it diverts time and resources away from the
core business and this might end up affecting the profit levels which
ironically, are essential for their survival in the long-run.
In
the same vein, one might also question the efficacy of legislation such as
the anti-money-laundering laws which effectively make banks a key part of
the policing regime.
To what extent should they be held
responsible for this role? What is the extent of the costs that they will
incur in fulfilling this role? Does this not divert resources from the core
banking business?
These are some of the questions that need to be
answered because inevitably, fulfilling for example, the "suspicion-based
reporting" requirements will expose financial institutions to possible legal
action and extra costs.
They may also have to pursue costly legal
action to determine or protect their rights and it may be unfair to impose
such costs on them given that they are effectively performing the duties in
the public interest.
In my view, rather than blindly following
standards set for specific markets, Zimbabwe needs to adopt legislation that
reflects its realities otherwise the costs will be too heavy on the fragile
financial sector.
Policing authorities should be given a greater role
and more resources to enhance their capacity and banks should be allowed to
pursue their core interests without facing further regulatory demands and
consequent costs.
According to the CSFI, the third problem is that
excessive regulation may give a false sense of comfort and security to
banks. In other words, banks will begin to believe that by simply fulfilling
the onerous regulatory demands they will have done enough to prevent
problems.
The mission becomes one of simply fulfilling regulatory
demands without addressing the specific needs of the individual institution.
Aligned to this is the problem that excessive regulation might also give a
false sense of security to other key stakeholders such as consumers and
investors who should otherwise be playing a vigilant role in the
market.
For example, institutional investors have a key role to play
in corporate governance because of their influence and resources but once
they notice an over-regulated market, they might withdraw and play a very
minimal role.
Consumers that do not have effective avenues to hold banks
accountable also cease to play a critical role in this regard. The false
sense of comfort created by over-regulation is not good for promoting market
discipline.
Finally, the biggest risk of excessive regulation in
general is that if the available regulations are not enforced regularly,
consistently and effectively, it will lead to a dangerous culture of
complacency and general disregard of the law.
If the state
establishes a regulatory structure it must ensure that the rules are
followed effectively. If not, those obliged to do so will simply descend
into a culture of general disregard of laws knowing that nothing will be
done against them. Thus, in addition to creating a false atmosphere of
comfort, it might also fuel corrupt tendencies within the business
sector.
The question that must be asked therefore, is whether the
regulatory authorities in Zimbabwe have sufficient capacity to enforce the
financial regulations that have been established so far?
It would
be a disaster if in the long-run, the plethora of laws and regulations are
not effectively enforced because of lack of capacity.
In a nutshell,
the key is to ensure that the regulatory authorities have sufficient
capacity to enforce the laws. In addition, it is necessary to streamline the
regulatory authorities and create a system that is efficient, transparent
and easy to deal with.
The financial sector needs one regulator with
which to deal and it is also important to minimise onerous obligations that
are not necessary within the economic context of a developing
economy.
The roles of other key stakeholders such as institutional
shareholders and consumers must be enhanced while other bodies such as the
Zimbabwe Stock Exchange must be seen to be more active and effective in
their own right rather than play a subservient role to the
regulator.
A risk-based regulatory structure may also help to place
the onus on the financial institutions without too much interference from
the regulator.
Steps must be taken to reduce the costs that would
divert resources, including time and energy from the core business of
banking and responsibility for policing financial crime must as much as
possible, rest with the traditional policing authorities.
There
is no doubt that financial regulation is necessary, but care must be taken
not to impose unnecessary and excessive obligations that will stifle the
business of banking.
*Dr Alex T Magaisa is the Baker & McKenzie
lecturer in corporate law at The University of Nottingham. Contact alex.magaisa@nottingham.ac.uk
IN the late 90s a
local stamp cost 40c. Now one costs over 15 000 times as much while phone
calls rival this.
Ironically, the government often blames the innocent
business sector for the high prices spawned when the late Chenjerai Hunzvi
of hallowed memory had the ruling class over a barrel because he had
sanctioned the looting of the War Victims Compensation Fund to enable him to
demand $4 billion which the state did not have, for twice as many war
veterans as existed in 1980.
Do you recall a woman minister, now very
much in the news, admitting she had signed a form stating that she was
physically and psychologically traumatised by her experiences in the 1970s
because everyone else was doing it?
It was the subject of common
chat in the bars as was the Willowgate scandal and the Bank of Credit and
Commerce International (BCCI) overdrafts.
Corruption was sanctioned
in 1980/81 when those who looted monies due to guerillas at assembly points
were allowed to escape as it was "invidious" for someone to be prosecuted
when all could not be caught - the most weird "principle" in
jurisprudence.
Under Rhodesian law (and I don't think it has been
erased) government employees were not allowed to own or run enterprises in
order to make them concentrate on their duties and to prevent corruption
which is the preserve of government and its agents.
When asked
how he had suddenly become a plutocrat, the husban said the president had
sanctioned it. It was still illegal, even if that was true.
In 1980
our Maoist chefs were to keep enough to live on decently and to give the
rest to the party. That lasted a few months.
I recall a shareholder
in the Midlands selling his capitalist enterprise and giving most to the
party - a one-off copy of his betters' hypocrisy.
Only after 24 years
has the finger been pointed at corruption by the ruling class targetting
bankers, politicians and their associates and financiers.
Apparently,
however, the minister in charge of rooting it out found no one for months on
end though he is surrounded by implausibly rich plutocrats.
It is
typical of South Africa too that the only people there to own vehicles as
fabulously expensive as the Swazi king's were mere freedom fighters a decade
ago.
Desmond Tutu was right. Harare has more BMWs to the metre than
Johannesburg.
I have posted this letter and will have to go without
my sundowner for a couple of days. Our post offices are almost empty and my
bills are still to be delivered.
A letter delivered by air from
the UK has just taken two weeks to arrive; it would have come in four days
40 years ago. Will the post offices close down and make way for
pigeons?
WHILE we say
"25 years Zimbabwe, we wish you many more to come", it is of paramount
importance that we look back and see what we are celebrating.
There were
wide ululations when the Union Jack was brought down and a new Zimbabwean
flag hoisted up in 1980.This was supposed to liven up the hopes in the
malnourished and impoverished rural folk of Zimbabwe. But that never
did.
In 1983 there came the instincts of Edgar Tekere and his
allies with the - Gukurahundi that left Mthwakazi's king's flock at sixes
and sevens.
Young men and women were kidnapped never to be seen
again. Mothers and fathers were harassed, intimidated and severely assaulted
such that some were instantly proclaimed disabled.
Promises were
made but never fulfilled. The health sector is pathetic, education standards
keep falling and churning out graduands who add on the misery to the family
because they are unemployed.
Corruption is at its highest level while
nepotism is ruling the roost in government offices. Surely, there is nothing
to celebrate. What's there to celebrate while I am an orphan? What's there
to celebrate while I am a destitute, a street kid? What's there to celebrate
when I have been robbed of my freedom and democracy?
To convey
the message to President Mugabe and his cronies - in case they don't
understand what democracy and freedom entail, democracy is a system of
governance that is people-driven while freedom refers to the power or right
to act and speak as one likes without anyone stopping him.
Your Excellency, THE Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is
outraged at your government's harassment and intimidation of three
Zimbabwean journalists working for international news agencies, which has
forced them to flee the country in fear for their security.
Last
week's police action against freelance reporters Angus Shaw, Brian Latham
and Jan Raath was clearly aimed at silencing these senior journalists in the
run-up to Zimbabwe's general election on March 31. CPJ is also disturbed to
learn of police accusations against another freelance journalist, Cornelius
Nduna, who has been forced into hiding.
On February 14, 15 and 16,
Zimbabwean police repeatedly visited the Harare office shared by Shaw,
Latham and Raath. Shaw writes for the Associated Press, while Latham reports
for Bloomberg economic news and Raath works for German news agency Deutsche
Welle and The Times of London.
On Februaru 14, police said they were
investigating espionage allegations against the journalists, and questioned
them for six hours, according to CPJ sources. Then they claimed they were
looking into the reporters' accreditation. Finally, the officers said they
were investigating whether a satellite phone used by one of the journalists
was licensed, and accused them of transmitting information prejudicial to
the state. On February 15, police guards were stationed at the
office.
The journalists informed the police that they had applied for
accreditation but had not received any answer from the government-controlled
Media and Information Commission (MIC).
Regulations covering the
implementation of Zimbabwe's draconian media law, the Access to Information
and Protection of Privacy Act (Aippa) mean that journalists in this
situation can continue to work legally, according to local
sources.
On the first two days, police searched the journalists'
office without a warrant, illegally stripped a computer hard disk and
referred to press statements from the opposition Movement for Democratic
Change (MDC) accusations as "ridiculous".
Latham said police had
threatened to visit the journalists in their homes. He said they also
received warnings from officials that they were likely to be locked up "for
a very long time".
Police have also been hunting Nduna, on suspicion
of possessing "sensitive tapes" passed to him by an employee of the
state-owned Zimbabwe Broadcasting Holdings (ZBH), according to his lawyer
Beatrice Mtetwa. She said police had informed her that the tapes were of
"one of the youth camps" and that they feared Nduna might broadcast
overseas.
Youth camps are reportedly used to train militia groups,
which have been blamed for attacks and killings of members of the opposition
MDC in the last three years.
Police began their search for Nduna
about three weeks ago, according to Mtetwa. However, they did not find him
and he is now in a safe place.
Since the last parliamentary election in
2000, Your Excellency's government has introduced repressive legislation
that has been used to harass critical journalists and close down the
country's only independent daily newspaper, the Daily News.
The
last foreign correspondent, Andrew Meldrum of The Guardian of London, was
expelled from Zimbabwe in 2003. Against this background, the police
harassment of Zimbabwean journalists working for international media outlets
looks like a cynical attempt to silence critical reporting to the outside
world and intimidate what remains of the independent press in the context of
the upcoming election.
We would respectfully remind Your
Excellency of Zimbabwe's commitment to the Southern African Development
Community principles and guidelines governing democratic elections, which
include safeguarding freedom of expression and access to the media (Section
7.4).
CPJ calls on Your Excellency to take these obligations
seriously.
We urge you to ensure that police harassment of journalists
stops immediately and that our Zimbabwean colleagues who have been driven
into exile can return to cover elections in their country without fear of
arrest or intimidation.
Thank you for your attention to this
urgent matter. We await your reply.
DID I not say
it in September last year that the spinner is always bound to beat his
master in their fall from grace? As if that was not ample warning Jonathan
Moyo, did I not warn that when the spinner becomes news, it is time to stop
spinning?
Congratulations Jonathan for walking this well-beaten path
which other spin-doctors have trudged. This is usually a high road paved
with gold but is unfortunately headed for the precipice. But when one is in
a spin, it is difficult to make them focus on the warning signs. Tony
Blair's spin master, Alistair Campbell, had become news himself. He was
spinning out of control after tasting the sweet poison from a bottle
labelled "power".
While Campbell slithered out of the political scene
after a sore encounter with the media, in particular the BBC, which he was
trying to control, our Information czar, Jonathan Moyo, has been fired for
going against the grain of his party.
It was the effect of that
sweet poison once again. In politics one needs self-control and restraint
after partaking. Moyo last week complained loudly about being off-loaded
from a ship he saved from sinking.
We should give credit to the man
for saving a sinking ship. His gung-ho tactics were what Zanu PF required to
stave off the opposition. He was a bundle of energy in his defence of an
oppressive system. Who can forget the clashes with the opposition in
parliament over legislation on land, the media and security?
If
he is to take credit for the Zanu PF victory in 2000, can I safely say that
he had a role in the brutal attacks on opposition supporters in rural areas?
Was it his idea to have the Public Order and Security Act, which government
has used so effectively to stop the opposition from campaigning? The next
time he goes to hold a rally ngale eTsholotsho, he should not forget to seek
police clearance, which could now take longer to obtain.
There won't
be television and a willing media to take dictation from the professor. The
playing field is now even.
This is a cruel world where saviours are
disappointed by those who appoint them.
Moyo's anger against
Mugabe provides us with more insight into the construction of a spin master.
When he becomes news he begins a journey towards self-aggrandisement. He has
ambitions to fulfill ahead of the master he is called upon to serve. When
the master sees this apparent conflict he feels unsafe and the safest thing
to do is to off-load the ambitious servant.
A more tacit lesson for
Moyo is that a stowaway who saves a sinking ship does not suddenly earn the
stripes to be the captain. Moyo should have seen this.
I do not
want to believe that his attack on party seniors through a dead man's grip
on the media was inspired by a Messianic fervour wafting around him. He was
disappointed with Mugabe because the octogenarian did not see god in him
despite the five-year feverish activity to plug the holes on the sinking
craft.
Moyo should be grateful to Zanu PF for getting a vantage
position on the feeding trough where he thrashed about to ensure he fed
uninhibited.
He owes his pet projects - done in the name of national duty
- to the establishment. Pax Afro is his most notable project born out of
political patronage.
He changed the face of the media - both
print and electronic. His was an attempt to build an unnatural nation that
thinks in exactly the same way. At international conferences he threw his
weight around with abandon.
Zimbabwe was never wrong in anything. It was
a perfect democracy. Surprisingly, today he does not see democracy in a
party he always claimed brought democracy to Zimbabwe.
If the
castaway spinner saved a sinking Zanu PF ship, the question to ponder is
whether Zanu PF needs him today or he needs Zanu PF more? He does not need
the party because he has decided to stand as an independent candidate and
trammelled his fall.
He wanted to be seen as the guy who took the
ball across the goal line. Unfortunately, he scored a spectacular own goal.
Let it play.
Moyo: the 'messiah' and 'devil' in one By Hudson
Taivo FORMER Information minister Jonathan Moyo's decision to stand as an
independent candidate in the Tsholotsho constituency in next month's
parliamentary election and his subsequent expulsion from President Robert
Mugabe's government invoke mixed feelings.
On the one hand, one
cannot help but admire the man's courageous stance in the face of
persecution and vilification from the party he worked for so
hard.
If Moyo had been in Zanu PF just for the money, the farms
and the power, he could have chosen to lie low and benefit from President
Mugabe's benevolence by being elected a non-constituent MP or as a diplomat
elsewhere. Mugabe is well-known for rewarding loyal members of the
party.
Witness Mangwende has been in and out of government for many
years,
but he is known more for his lack of wit than for doing any
commendable job for the country.
If Moyo had only concentrated on
attacking British premier Tony Blair and US president George Bush and
showing his loyalty to Mugabe, he would have been assured of a long stay in
Zanu PF, and it did not need a rocket scientist to figure this out. Joyce
Mujuru is now vice-president, not because she is the most brilliant woman in
Zanu PF, but because she was the most loyal and never dared question the old
man.
For the past few years, Moyo had become the face of Zanu PF
itself. There were times when he hogged the limelight more than Mugabe
himself - for example, at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in
Brisbane, Australia, in 2002.
His changes to media operations in
Zimbabwe and the way he reduced national radio and television to a laughing
stock in the region are well known. No other minister in recent history has
directly affected ordinary people's lives as did Moyo.
Without
Moyo's role in Zanu PF's campaign for the 2000 and 2002 elections, it is
difficult to imagine whether the ruling party would have won as it did. It
is now too easy for the Zanu PF old guard to claim that they could have done
without Moyo because "Zanu PF has always won elections since 1980", but the
truth is that the pre-2000 elections were completely
different.
Moyo's brand of propaganda and indoctrination could only
be compared to that of Adolf Hitler's Germany in the 1930s. Who can ever
forget the Sendekera mwana wevhu jingles on television and radio, and the
nauseating full-page adverts in the national press?
He was the
only minister who wrote articles in the newspapers, and it is no wonder that
the Sunday News carried his response to his sacking verbatim.
He provided
good quotes for journalists and media enthusiasts. Those who of us who could
not match him at his word play simply decided to shut up or leave the
country.
But after realising that he was no longer needed in Zanu PF,
Moyo simply decided to stand as an independent. Mugabe made a fool of
himself by firing Moyo, because Moyo had already shown him that he did not
care.
I do not subscribe to the theory that Moyo was in Zanu PF so as
to destroy it from within. I believe Moyo firmly believed in every action he
took, and every word he uttered during his years in Zanu PF. He was
committed to a better Zimbabwe, but perhaps in ways that were not always
agreed by Zimbabweans not aligned to Zanu PF.
It was good while
he ridiculed opposition members and the independent press. He thought, and
perhaps with some justification, that the opposition had been buried and was
not as formidable as it was in 2000. That is when he decided to better his
political fortunes in Zanu PF, and when he started defying senior members of
the party and Mugabe, his fortunes began to decline.
But because
Moyo is a man of principle, he could not allow himself to lie low like the
Chikowores or the Dabengwas. He wanted to be his own man, and he showed
Mugabe that he owed him nothing.
He has also exposed Zanu PF's brand
of democracy as hollow and shallow, and the ruling party will not find
another man like Moyo. Someone with the courage to stand for principles and
defy Mugabe is surely a man worth admiring.
Honestly, there is
nothing so fashionable about being an MP for Tsholotsho. Moyo could have
fared better as a professor of political science at Wits University, and
even if he doesn't win Tsholotsho, he has a profession to go
to.
He only wanted to show Mugabe that old age is catching up
with him, and he has managed to humiliate the president and the rest of the
old regime in style. But he did this at great personal risk, because Zanu PF
shows no mercy for those who dare embarrass the leader. If he survives, he
is surely indoda sibili (a real man).
On the other hand, however,
it is difficult to admire Moyo's triumphs considering that he brought
suffering to the majority of the population. That Zimbabwe is now regarded
among "outposts of tyranny" was largely because of Moyo's repressive media
laws that were endorsed by Mugabe and the Zanu PF
government.
While his tactics ensured a Zanu PF election victory,
they brought suffering to most people in Zimbabwe. Moyo's bully-boy tactics
ensured that no dissenting voices were heard on national radio, and he
closed the independent Daily News because it was getting in his
way.
A good number of people who left the country did so because they
could no longer enjoy any freedom in their own country. There is nothing as
insulting as being given endless lectures on sovereignty and nationalism on
radio when all you want is to listen to good music. ZTV is now dull and
boring, but Moyo had access to satellite television at his
house.
He now wants to gain sympathy from Zimbabwe's forgiving people
as a victim of a ruthless party, yet yesteryear he was the personification
of the same evil.
Moyo has taken Mugabe for a ride, and enjoyed
the benefits of being a government minister while the majority of us
suffered. He now wants to be identified with those fighting against
oppression, but he used to think anyone castigating Mugabe or Zanu PF did
not have a mind of his own.
My wish is for both Moyo and Zanu PF to
perish in hell, and leave the genuine suffering Zimbabweans to enjoy fruits
of the liberation struggle.
Those of us living far from home feel the
pain most, because we have been forced away from our families by a ruthless
regime.
Now the person responsible continues to experiment with our
feelings, and hopes we will forget soon. We hope nature will treat these
turncoats and political opportunists fairly.
*Hudson Taivo is a
freelance writer based in the United Kingdom.
There's hope as long as Mugabe is paranoid By
Gugulethu Moyo BARELY one month into the new year, the Zimbabwean government
had again struck out against journalists, tightening an already restrictive
law designed to silence any opposition to the ruling regime.
The
message from President Robert Mugabe is clear: in the run-up to the March
general election those who dare to speak out against the government will be
punished.
Only Uzbekistan and Iran have more oppressive press regimes
than Zimbabwe where ridiculing the president or the country's police or
military carries the threat of imprisonment. Journalists can be imprisoned
for up to 20 years for reporting ill-defined "falsehoods".
The
main obstacle to freedom of expression in Zimbabwe is the Orwellian Access
to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (Aippa), to which Mugabe signed
amendments in early January, thus consolidating his position of power ahead
of the election.
Under the revised Act, first passed in 2002,
journalists who are not accredited by the state, or who practise after their
government licence is revoked, could be fined or imprisoned for two years.
The existing law was already a formidable tool against reporters, making
impossible almost all normal journalistic activities within
Zimbabwe.
It is a catchall legislation that criminalises anyone -
even advertisers - practising journalism or publishing a newspaper without a
government licence. Ironically, it is similar to laws used by Ian Smith
during the Rhodesian era to fight liberation movements and prevent people
gaining independence from the colonial regime. These laws are now being
re-enacted by the same people they once repressed.
To obtain
accreditation an application must be submitted to a Media and Information
Commission - a regulatory body whose head is known in Zimbabwean media
circles as the hatchet man because of his allegiance to the ruling party and
his diligence in enforcing the repressive policies of the
state.
Though other anti-media laws made the practice of journalism
difficult, lawyers could always fashion a defence of sorts when reporters
upset the government with critical articles. Aippa, however, was a major
achievement for the state because it allowed the regime to eliminate certain
individuals and publications, including Zimbabwe's most popular daily
newspaper, the Daily News.
I was legal adviser at the Daily News
for almost three years, until it was shut down by AK-47 rifle-wielding
police who marched into the newsroom in 2003. It reappeared briefly in 2004
before the Supreme Court, gave a ruling in February of that year which
forced the newspaper to close.
From its launch in March 1999, a
watershed year for Zimbabwean politics when the opposition Movement for
Democratic Change was founded and quickly gained popular support, the paper
was a thorn in the side of the Mugabe regime.
While the
state-controlled media increasingly propped up the government, Daily News
reporters sought out dissenting voices and by March 2000 sales had overtaken
those of the Mugabe-approved newspapers. It was a real rejection of
propaganda by Zimbabweans.
Then the intimidation and harassment
started.
The Daily News offices and printing press were bombed in
2001 after the government's recently fired Information minister Jonathan
Moyo, known among journalists as "Mugabe's Goebbels", said the paper was "a
threat to national security which had to be silenced". Assassins were hired
to kill - without success - editor Geoff Nyarota.
Newspapers were
destroyed on the streets and vendors and readers terrorised and assaulted.
One reader was murdered simply because he possessed a copy of the Daily
News.
If the government did not like a story, journalists would be
picked up and "persuaded" - often violently -- to modify their views. Police
would make the arrests without knowing with what the "suspects" would be
charged. It really did not matter, since there was a whole raft of
repressive legislation to choose from.
The beginning of the end
for the Daily News came in January 2003 when the newspaper's publishers
launched a Supreme Court challenge to Aippa, claiming it was
unconstitutional to be forced to seek permission from regulators before
publishing.
That argument failed and on September 11 the Daily News
was ordered to register. The next day the staff were evicted from their
offices at gunpoint and two days later police seized the company's
publishing assets.
Court challenges to Aippa are continuing, but if
the Daily News is ever allowed to publish again it will be different than
before. I can't imagine many journalists will want to return to a place that
was the site of so much trauma.
But there is hope.
Despite
what is happening, information still gets out of Zimbabwe. There are weekly
newspapers that continue to publish and, as best as they can, criticise the
injustice they see around them. Many former Daily News journalists have left
the country to set up, or write for, foreign-based publications, working to
expose human rights violations taking place in Zimbabwe, a service more
crucial than ever as elections approach.
The fact people continue to
do this despite the danger, and despite the fact the government still feels
the need for further deterrent measures against the press, to me is a sign
of hope. As long as Mugabe and his followers feel threatened there is
hope.
*Gugulethu Moyo is a former legal adviser to the Daily News and
is now a media relations adviser at the International Bar Association in
London.