http://www.thestandard.co.zw
February 3, 2013 in News
PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe
wants this year’s elections to be held on June 29,
but a faction within his
Zanu PF is opposed to the date fearing that the
party is not yet ready for
polls, senior officials have said.
BY PATRICE MAKOVA
Sources told
The Standard last week that Mugabe had told senior party
officials to
prepare for elections on June 29.
“The President [Mugabe] said the
cut-off date for an election is June 29 and
not any other day later,” said a
Politburo member.
“He wants all the processes leading to elections,
including the voter
registration and voter education exercises to be done as
soon as possible.”
The official said Mugabe had indicated that he might
proclaim the dates for
the elections, at the same time that he would
announce the dates for the
referendum on a new constitution.
“It’s a
gamble which Mugabe appears set to take,” said another senior party
official.
The Zanu PF official said Mugabe’s confidence of winning
stemmed from the
fact that Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai had been
weakened by scandals and
the failure by the MDC-T to deliver on many
promises the party made when it
joined the coalition government four years
ago.
He said Mugabe also believed the party lost the 2008 elections due
to the
imposition of candidates and now wanted all top Zanu PF officials to
be
challenged during primary elections.
“Mugabe is saying, let the
best candidate win, whether he or she is a ‘Young
Turk’ or party veteran,”
said the official. “Resistance is however coming
from some senior party
officials who want safe seats to be reserved for
them.”
Zanu PF was
also hoping to win the elections by dangling the indigenisation
carrot to
voters who would be promised majority shareholding in
foreign-owned
firms.
But the official said some members of the faction loyal to
Vice-President
Joice Mujuru were against the idea of holding elections on
the proposed
date.
They were said to be of the view that Zanu PF and
Mugabe had no realistic
chance of winning. “The Mujuru faction is still wary
of the protest vote,”
said the official.
Some of the Mujuru loyalists
wanted elections next year, while others were
supportive of Ibbo Mandaza’s
idea of another GNU.
The faction loyal to Defence minister, Emmerson
Mnangagwa wanted elections
in March this year with or without a new
constitution, but their idea was
shot down by Sadc and the MDCs. Zanu PF
spokesperson, Rugare Gumbo could
neither deny nor confirm that his party now
had a date for the elections.
“We will go on what the (GPA) principals
say,” he said. Gumbo said depending
on how the constitution-making proceeds,
the Zanu PF politburo might meet
soon to decide on party primary elections
and national polls.
He reiterated his party’s position that following the
recent agreement on
the new draft constitution, there was no need to
implement more reforms in
the country.
“Reforms will come after
elections. If they (MDCs) win then, they will
implement the reforms they
want,” said Gumbo. Zanu PF secretary for
administration, Didymus Mutasa,
told The Standard recently that it was
individual members and not Zanu PF as
a party opposed to early elections.
http://nehandaradio.com/
on February 4, 2013 at 1:17
pm
By Lance Guma
HARARE – Defence Minister
Emmerson Mnangagwa has claimed soldiers in
Zimbabwe are free to support
political parties of their choice, but cannot
hold positions within the
structures of those parties.
“We went to war for us to have power to
control the direction of politics in
this country. Soldiers are free to vote
for any political party and what
they are not allowed to do is to hold
positions in political parties,” he
said in an interview.
“Political
parties should come up with good manifestos and individual
soldiers are free
to vote for any party which they think has a constructive
policy.” The
statement would have been commendable were it not brazenly
hypocritical.
Only last year in December a Gwanda-based police
officer Assistant Inspector
William Mutsago was branded ‘a danger to
society’ and sacked from his job
for allegedly possessing a picture of MDC-T
leader Morgan Tsvangirai.
Mutsago, who was based at Gwanda Police Station
in Matabeleland South,
explained that he was not responsible for the
picture, which was saved on a
memory card. He was nevertheless fired without
compensation.
During a ‘kangaroo court’ hearing, Mutsago had argued that
he was not the
sole user of the memory card which was also used by other
staff, including
those in the press and public relations
department.
Despite protesting his innocence, Gwanda Police Station wrote
to the Public
Service Commission calling for Mutsago to be blacklisted
across public
sector departments, describing him as a “danger to
society”.
Mutsago’s wife, a constable also based at Gwanda station, was
said to be
awaiting a ruling on an appeal she lodged after she was charged
with the
same offence. The Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights were handling
the cases.
In 2011, another police officer was fired for playing Simudza
Ngerengere, a
song by MDC-T parliamentarian Paul Madzore. Assistant
Inspector Tedious
Chisango, who was stationed at Ntabazinduna just outside
Bulawayo, was
accused of “teaching police recruits on regime change”.
http://www.herald.co.zw
Monday, 04 February 2013
00:00
Felex Share Herald Reporter
TRADITIONAL leaders will
this week seek audience with President Mugabe over
clauses in the Copac
draft Constitution which they feel undermined their
authority. The clauses
are on land, property rights
and the Judicial Service
Commission.
This comes as the Constitution Select Committee is expected to
steer a
motion in Parliament tomorrow seeking permission to present the
draft.
Parliamentarians are expected to adopt the draft on
Wednesday.
But, traditional leaders yesterday said they had been excluded
from the
administration of most land except communal land, a move they
argued had
left them powerless.
Clause 15.3 (2) of the Copac draft
states that: “Except as provided for in
Act of Parliament, traditional
leaders shall have no authority, control or
jurisdiction over land except
communal land or over persons outside communal
land unless the cause of the
action arose within the area of the traditional
leader’s
jurisdiction
The traditional leaders said this was a “new” clause crafted
by the Copac
management committee as it diverted from what people said
during the
outreach programme.
Chief Nembire from Mashonaland Central
said the exclusion of traditional
leaders from controlling land was
objectionable.
“We have resolved as chiefs to approach the President over
the issue this
week,” he said.
“The provision is a throwback to the
colonial era where the administration
of land was regulated in accordance
with the white settlers’ policy of
racial segregation as reflected in the
Land Apportionment Act.
“That Act excluded black people and their
leadership structures from having
anything to do with the most productive
land in the country and limited
their influence to the so-called Tribal
Trust Lands,which were set aside for
Africans.”
Chief Nembire said
before the July 18 draft, traditional leaders had in
April last year
rejected an initial clause which stated that: “Except as
provided in an Act
of Parliament, traditional leaders have authority,
jurisdiction and control
over the communal land or other areas for which
they have been appointed and
over persons within those communal lands or
areas”.
Said Chief
Nembire: “We asked the management committee to attend to that
issue, but
they retreated in Nyanga and changed the wording for us to think
that they
had changed it.
“After the Nyanga retreat, we saw that issues that had
been agreed on were
reopened. Some provisions were either deleted, altered
or completely
changed.
“That is where we even started to see the
issue of running mates that were
never a parked issue before.”
Chief
Nyamukoho from Mudzi said the clause on land would cause chaos .
“It takes
the land back to the colonial period contrary to the values of the
liberation struggle.
“On the land section in the National Statistical
Report, Zimbabweans during
the outreach programme said traditional leaders
should allocate land,
preside over land and are custodians of land. They
never said communal land.
But the new clause seeks to prohibit traditional
leaders from having
authority or control over land, except communal land
contrary to the views
of the people.”
Chief Siansali of Binga said
the authority of traditional leaders had been
undermined on the Judicial
Service Commission.
He said the initial Copac draft provided for the
inclusion of one person
nominated by the National Council of Chiefs in the
JSC.
“After the (Nyanga) retreat we noticed that the provision was
expunged from
the current draft,” he said.
“This is objectionable
because the inclusion of our nominee on the JSC was
neither a contested
issue nor a parked issue. It should not have been
revisited.
“The
inclusion of a chief in the JSC was premised on the fact that customary
law
courts are recognised by the same draft Constitution and their presiding
officers are recognised as part of the judiciary.”
Chief Siansali said it
was baffling why traditional leaders had been omitted
from the JSC.
“All
other members of the judiciary are represented on the JSC,” he said.
“The
main function of the JSC is to advise Government on a matter relating
to the
judiciary or the administration of justice. As judicial officers, we
are
capable of providing invaluable input.”
Chief Nyamukoho said: “The
removal of traditional leaders from the JSC was
not commensurate with the
principle that the traditional court system should
be respected, which is
agreed issue 6 of the Agreed Issues on page 57 of the
list of proposed
Constitutional issues document of November 14, 2011.”
President of the
Chiefs Council Chief Fortune Charumbira said the Copac
management committee
took advantage of the chiefs’ absence to tamper with
the initial
agreement.
“The Select Committee had done well but everything was altered
and deleted
by the management committee where we are not represented he
said.
“I am not happy with the issue and there were members of the Select
Committee who are in agreement with us, but said their hands were tied and
could not make changes.”
If the draft is adopted by Parliament,
public awareness campaigns would
begin to educate the generality of
Zimbabweans on the contents of the draft.
All political parties have agreed
to campaign for a “Yes” vote in the
referendum.
http://www.swradioafrica.com
By Tichaona Sibanda
04
February 2013
Traditional leaders want to have an audience with President
Robert Mugabe
this week to discuss the contents of the new constitution, as
they feel some
of the clauses have made them powerless.
It’s unlikely
the chiefs would be able to convince Mugabe to make changes to
the charter,
which would need the support of other principals in the GPA to
do
so.
The traditional leaders told the state media over the weekend that
they had
been excluded from the administration of most land, except communal
land, a
move they argued had left them with no powers.
Douglas
Mwonzora, the COPAC co-chairman representing the MDC-T, said there
was no
chance the draft will be subjected to any changes at all. COPAC will
present
the draft to parliament on Tuesday for debate and adoption, possibly
by
Thursday.
‘We have taken note of their concerns but unfortunately as
responsible
citizens we couldn’t take farming land, commercial farms for
that instance
and put them under chiefs. The chiefs want to move away from
capitalism to
feudalism and that’s not right at all,’ Mwonzora
said.
Our correspondent in Harare, Simon Muchemwa, told us many people
are
surprised at the timing of the chiefs’ complaints as they had ample time
to
study the contents of the draft, even before it went to the second all
stakeholders conference last year.
Muchemwa said the problem lies
with the fact that the chiefs aligned
themselves to ZANU PF, and were told
what to say by officials from the
former ruling party.
‘The chiefs
and other ordinary members of the party received instructions
from ZANU PF
on what to say in the constitution. Most of what they said was
not
constitutional and ended up not being included in the new charter,’
Muchemwa
said.
‘The chiefs, for reasons known to them, were being told what to say
by ZANU
PF. They never bothered to let their personal feelings known and
they have
to take the blame for that,’ he added.
http://www.swradioafrica.com
By Alex
Bell
04 February 2013
The European Union (EU) is being urged to wait
for real reforms in Zimbabwe
before they consider lifting the targeted
restrictive ‘sanctions’ in place
against the Mugabe regime.
The
leadership bloc has indicated it will consider lifting all the measures
after the completion of a ‘credible’ constitutional referendum. The
political parties in the coalition government have finally agreed on a draft
constitution, bringing the almost four year process to an end.
The EU
head of delegation to Zimbabwe, Ambassador Aldo Dell’ Ariccia, has
been
quoted as saying last week that this is a step in the right
direction.
“The EU stated that a peaceful and credible constitutional
referendum would
justify a suspension of the majority of all restrictive
measures,” he said,
adding: “In this context, the recent agreement on the
Constitution draft is
a welcome step in that direction.”
The EU last
year suspended some of its restrictive measures, which are
targeted against
key individuals within ZANU PF and companies linked to the
regime. The
Europeans had said the partial relaxing of the measures was as a
result of
“progress.”
But there is serious criticism of this position, because of a
lack of real
change on the ground. The reforms promised by the Global
Political Agreement
(GPA) have not happened, human rights defenders continue
to be targeted with
intimidation and arrest, and there are worrying
indications of a potentially
violent election this year.
At the same
time, the EU is basing its decision on a referendum of a
constitution that
analysts have said is fundamentally flawed, with some
human rights being
ignored. The enshrining of the death penalty into law is
just one area the
EU should be protesting, but they have made no mention of
this or the fact
that a hangman has finally been appointed in Zimbabwe to
ensure this
constitutional law is protected.
Dennis Benton from the London based
pressure group the Zimbabwe Vigil said
Monday that Europe’s position is
suspicious. He told SW Radio Africa that
the “EU seems desperate top engage
with Zimbabwe on any terms,” saying it is
no accident that European
officials paint the Zim situation with a “positive
gloss.”
“They are
desperately keen to get rid of sanctions and vie with the Chinese
in terms
of commercial interests,” Benton said.
The Vigil has for years been
pressuring the EU to stand by its restrictive
‘sanctions’ until there is
evidence of real change, and Benton said that
this should include waiting
until after an election. He said international
observers and real reforms
need to be evident before there is even talk of
lifting the
measures.
The US ambassador in Zimbabwe meanwhile has reportedly
expressed fear of
another stolen election this year. Ambassador David Bruce
Wharton, quoted by
the Sunday Mail, cited the presence of government troops
across the country
and a campaign of intimidation against civil rights
advocates by ZANU PF.
“We are concerned by the deployment of Zimbabwe
Defence Forces throughout
the country on nominal ‘administrative service’
duty who may seek to
influence how community will vote,” he told the
newspaper.
He added: “We are also concerned that elements of the state
have commenced
with a concerted campaign to intimidate civil society and
that the state-run
media and various other state institutions show a
consistent pattern of bias
in favour of one particular party.”
http://www.zimeye.org
By Tendai Mhlanga
Published: February
4, 2013
Zimbabwe’s prison boss General Paradzai Zimondi on Friday
for the first time
opened up to the media inviting journalists from both
private and public to
his offices where he announced that they were free to
tour any prison of
their choice at anytime. This was after the prison
service was rocked in
fear of three prisoners who are satanists and who
uttered threats on the
authorities.
As the three satanists asked for
razor blades, a red coffin and red candles,
General Zimondi swiftly called
journalists to interview them, becoming the
first time prisoners were given
an open press conference.
Zimondi, in power since 1998 had before not
been willing to give prison
information to journalists. The prison boss at
the media conference admitted
that he had not been visible and pleaded to
journalists to use the new media
engagement initiative.
“I invited
you all to choose a prison of your choice within Harare today and
understand
more about the welfare of inmates. You are all so welcome to
visit any
prison in the country if you have an issue to write about because
they are
our prisons and those incarcerated there are our relatives although
they
might have wronged society,” Zimondi said.
scared of Satanists… Gen
Paradzai Zimondi
Turning to the welfare of inmates Zimondi said food supplies
had improved
but buildings needed
upgrading.
Satanism
Zimondi’s sudden turning to
journalists came soon after self proclaimed
satanists made utterances viewed
as threats on the authorities including
asking for a red coffin for their
religious worship sessions.
To prove that their religion is growing, the
Satanists even wrote to prison
authorities demanding all sorts of
paraphernalia so they can grow their
mission. Among the things that they
have asked for are razor blades, a red
coffin and red candles, but prison
authorities insist that they will not
grant them their wishes, a report by
The Standard reveals.
The self-proclaimed Satanists are also accused of
being in possession of a
substance that looked like human blood, but they
insisted that they have
done nothing wrong and ought to be
released.
“They are afraid to take us to court because they know we did
nothing
wrong,” George Lungange, one of the devil worshippers said. “There
is
freedom of worship in Zimbabwe, we should be freed.”
Fear Of
The Unknown
Kucaca Phulu, a human rights lawyer, quoted by The Standard,
said the
self-confessed Satanists had been in remand prison for quite a long
time and
the case should be brought to the courts to be
finalised.
“If there are certain illegal acts like murder, then they must
be
investigated,” he said. “If not then this looks like a case of religious
intolerance.”
Phulu said Satanism was not a crime and urged
authorities not to use the law
to placate fear of the
unknown.
Despite the dominance of Christianity, Zimbabwe has freedom of
religion
enshrined in the constitution. Even the new draft reinforces
freedom of
conscience, which allows anyone to worship in a manner they
chose.
“Every person has the right to freedom of conscience, which
includes freedom
of thought, opinion, religion or belief and freedom to
practice and
propagate and give expression to their thought, opinion,
religion or belief,
whether in public or in private and whether alone or
together with others,”
reads the draft.
“Any religious community may
establish institutions where religious
instruction may be given, even if the
institution receives a subsidy or
other financial assistance from the
state.”
Useni Sibanda, the head of the Christian Alliance, said the
constitution
allowed for freedom of worship, but since the country was
predominantly
Christian, Christian values and morality were likely to carry
the day.
“If they infringe on other people’s rights then that will be a
major
concern,” he said.
“As Christians we believe in only one God
and any other form of worship is
alien.”
Sibanda said this was a
spiritual matter and might prove impossible for the
courts to deal with
it.
“What is needed is co-operation between (Christian) church leadership
and
the state so we can find a solution to this,” he said.
In a largely
conservative state like Zimbabwe, Satanism is hugely frowned
upon and
unacknowledged.
Allowed to tour prisons
After his address
journalists were asked to choose a prison within Harare to
tour and meet
prisoners without restrictions.
Journalists opted for the Harare Remand
Prison where, according to the its
Officer-in-charge, Chief Superintendent
Billiot Chibaya, the complex was not
experiencing overcrowding.
The
prison is currently holding 611 inmates against a capacity of 900.
“Food
and clothing supplies for inmates have greatly improved as compared to
what
happened in the past few years,” he said.
Several Zimbabweans on social
networking website Facebook at the weekend
said that the prison boss is
afraid of Satanism hence the sudden turn to
invite journalists.
http://www.bdlive.co.za
BY RAY NDLOVU, FEBRUARY 04 2013,
09:36
ZIMBABWE’s draft constitution deal reached last month by
President Robert
Mugabe, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and Industry and
Commerce Minister
Welshman Ncube could dominate proceedings in Parliament,
which opens on
Tuesday for its first session this year.
Legislators
are widely expected to push through the compromise draft
constitution
adopted by the three principals, in an effort to edge the
country closer to
holding elections and end the four-year-old power-sharing
government.
There are strong indications a referendum will be held
either at the end of
next month or in early April. A clash, however, looms
between Mr Mugabe’s
Zanu (PF) and the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC)
over dual
citizenship, for which the draft constitution does not make
provision.
The draft recognises only Zimbabwean citizenship by birth,
descent and
registration. Zanu (PF) remains opposed to dual citizenship —
fearful of the
large numbers of diaspora-based Zimbabweans who would be
constitutionally
allowed to vote in the next election.
"There is no
dual citizenship, and there will be no diaspora vote, the
country does not
have the funding for it," Justice, Legal and Parliamentary
Affairs Minister
Patrick Chinamasa said. About 2-million Zimbabweans are
estimated to be
living in South Africa, with many having moved to the
neighbouring country
between 2000 and 2008 at the start of the land
invasions and again at the
height of economic decline. Those registered will
have to return to Zimbabwe
to vote.
Mr Chinamasa’s statements contradict those of Mr Tsvangirai who
last month
in Davos, Switzerland, insisted that the draft document would
have a
provision for dual citizenship. The MDC enjoys widespread support in
Zimbabwe’s diaspora population and hopes to cash in this support for votes
in the looming polls.
The failure to address dual citizenship, among
other shortcomings in the
draft document, has seen civic society group, the
National Constitutional
Assembly begin mobilising members to cast a "no
vote" in the referendum.
Human Rights Watch warned last week that most
Zimbabweans abroad could not
return to vote for legal or financial reasons.
It also said Zanu (PF)
officials and members of the military were allowed to
vote abroad, while
others were not.
Zimbabwe Democracy Institute
chairman Rashweat Mukundu said the country had
been "led down a garden path"
and undertaken a costly $50m constitutional
exercise, only for Zanu (PF) to
emerge the ultimate victor of the process.
3 February 2013
Peta
Thornycroft
ZImbabwean President Robert Mugabe's youngest son, Chatunga,
16, was
expelled from a Catholic school last week.
Chatunga was born
to Mugabe after the marrying his wife Grace in 1996.
Mugabe family
spokesman Lawrence Kamwi declined to answer questions put to
him yesterday
about why Chatunga had been expelled from St George's College,
where many of
Zimbabwe's Catholic elite are educated.
Harare's Daily News published a
report on Friday on Chatunga's expulsion,
saying the official word is that
he has been voluntarily|withdrawn from
school and is being educated at
home.
The Mugabes' eldest son, a talented basketball player, failed his
final
school examinations in 2011. Their daughter, Bona, 24, is|studying to
be a
chartered accountant in Singapore, having graduated with a Bachelor's
degree
in Hong Kong.
St George's College staff have declined to
comment on Chatunga's expulsion,
but an insider said: "This would have all
been worked out in advance with
the first family. So they won't be
shocked.
"This boy has been in some difficulties at the school before
now."
Chatunga was widely seen to be a "wild" and "spoiled" boy by people
who
travelled overseas with the Mugabe family.
"The two oldest kids
are so|well-behaved, but Chatunga is so bad," said a
regular member of the
family's travelling group.
Grace Mugabe was feted at the opening of a
school named after her in the
Mazowe area, about 30km west of Harare this
week.
The primary school, the Amai Mugabe School, was built on land she took
from
white former farmers.
It will charge children about R20 000 a
term for boarding fees, which is
considerably more expensive than most other
Zimbabwe private schools.
Harare's Newsday newspaper carried several
pictures in its Saturday edition
showing the double-storey school building,
which includes 27 classrooms, and
an art and music centre.
Scores of
poor families were forced to leave their homes, or abandon their
small plots
to make way for the school.
Independent Newspapers spoke to one of them
last year, who provided a
diagram of where he lived before being evicted by
Grace Mugabe's allies from
his plot in Mazowe.
Mugabe established
what she says is an "orphanage" for children, also in
Mazowe, on the first
piece of land she took in 2003 from an old white
couple.
Since then
she has taken a |productive dairy, also in Mazowe, and at least
five more
farms in the Mazowe area and further north of Harare.
Robert Mugabe
bought one farm in 2000 and took a further four adjoining it
post-2003.
Those farms were run with resources provided by the
state.
Now there are persistent reports that Grace Mugabe has taken over
1 600ha of
citrus lands belonging to a failed company, Interfresh.
At
the opening of the new school this week, Mashonaland Central governor
Martin
Dinha said he was not "ashamed" to give Grace Mugabe more land.
"I would
like to thank you for building this school in Mazowe," Dinha told
Mugabe and
his wife.
"We offered you land and we will continue to offer you land for
other
projects if you want it.
"We will do it in broad daylight and
we are not ashamed of it.
"Detractors can say what they want, they can
write what they want, but this
is our land in Mashonaland Central and we
will do what we want with it." -
Independent Foreign Service
http://www.swradioafrica.com
By Alex Bell
04 February
2013
Residents living in different suburbs across Harare are appealing
for urgent
intervention, after days without fresh water have raised fears of
the spread
of potential diseases.
Mainly western areas of the capital
have not had fresh water since last
Thursday. This includes the densely
populated Mbare suburb, as well as Glen
View, Budiriro, Rugare, Sunningdale
and others.
Although there has been no official reason given for the
water shortages, it
is understood that a main water pipe at the Warren
Control pump station
burst last week.
Precious Shumba, the head of
the Harare Residents Trust (HRT), said Monday
that there has been no attempt
by the city authorities to communicate these
problems to residents. He told
SW Radio Africa that most residents affected
by the shortages spend hours
queuing for water at the limited boreholes
available.
“In the
communities where there are boreholes there are unemployed youths
who have
claimed ownership (of the boreholes) and are charging people to get
water
and jump the queues,” Shumba explained.
He said this has often forced
residents to travel outside the city to find
water. But he said this does
not eliminate the risks of contracting water
borne diseases like
typhoid.
“The council needs to prioritise this issue. They are trying to
treat it as
a minor problem but this is a crisis,” Shumba said.
The
spread of typhoid has continued across the country, with local councils
failing to provide clean water. Cases have been reported in different parts
of Zimbabwe since 2011, including Kuwadzana, Mufakose, Bindura, Norton and
Zvimba. Chitungwiza and Kadoma have also reported serious
outbreaks.
The total number of people affected by typhoid alone is
believed to be well
over than 5,000 officially registered cases. The
government’s Health and
Child Welfare’s Dr Portia Manangazira has reported
that in January eleven
people died because of diarrhoea, which is the main
symptom of diseases like
typhoid.
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk
04.02.13
by
Staff Reporter
The Zimbabwe
Rural Schools Library Trust will officially launch the Yazi
Odabuka
Khona/Ziva Midzi Yako/Remember Your Roots Rural School Library
Development
Campaign on 14 February.
Deputy Prime Minister Thokozani Khupe
will be guest of honour at the launch.
The date of the launch coincides with
International Book Giving Day, a
volunteer initiative aimed at increasing
children’s access to and enthusiasm
for books.
“The campaign aims at
reminding people to look back at rural schools that
groomed them to be what
they are today and give a little bit of support to
the same schools and
develop library services to ensure their sustainability
as centres of
academic excellence,” said ZRSLT founder Driden Kunaka.
The ZRSLT is
embarking on a massive programme to establish sustainable
library services
at one school in every rural district council over the next
five
years.
“These school libraries will be the trust’s springboards from
which to reach
other schools in a particular district. The trust will also
work with
individuals who make initiatives to establish libraries at the
rural schools
they went to,” said Kunaka.
Musician, Leonard Zhakata,
Goodwill Ambassador for the ZRSLT will hand over
books he has been
collecting on behalf of the trust and provide
entertainment.
http://www.dailynews.co.zw
Monday, 04 February 2013 12:23
HARARE - A group of
Zanu PF officials in Manicaland face arrest this week
over the alleged theft
of 36 beasts worth thousands of dollars which were
donated to President
Robert Mugabe’s birthday bash in Mutare last year.
The development also
comes as key members of Mike Madiro’s provincial
executive remain in the
line of fire over the alleged plunder of nearly $1
million in diamond money
given to the party for its December conference.
With the octogenarian
leader’s all-powerful politburo giving the green light
for police
involvement into the second matter, senior police officers have
been
dispatched to the eastern border town to wrap up the probe and possibly
make
arrests, impeccable sources told the Daily News yesterday.
However,
national police spokesperson Charity Charamba said she was yet to
be briefed
on the matters.
“I have not yet received a briefing from those handling
the case,” she said.
With a probe team from the party’s Manicaland branch
exonerating Madiro and
company, the Daily News has learnt that
investigations have not only
intensified, but the matter is so sensitive
that top cops from Harare are
handling the diamond cash loot.
Apart
from the provincial chair, others under the cloud include ousted youth
chair
Tawanda Mukodza, provincial youth secretary for security Admire
Mahachi and
Clever Muparutsa.
While the quartet might have survived the first scalpel
on the strength of
affidavits deposed by diamond mine company executives to
the effect that no
money ever exchanged hands, the group has remained under
the spotlight after
a disbelieving Mugabe’s personal involvement and the
cash-theft charges had
been discussed at one of the party’s recent politburo
meetings.
At the weekend, police sources said Madiro and his team could
have more
charges levelled against them after revelations that they did not
declare
the 30-plus beasts sourced for Mugabe’s 88th birthday celebrations
in Mutare
last year.
“There are indications that they helped
themselves with beasts sourced from
party supporters, which were supposed to
have been used during the birthday
celebrations of the president,” said the
source.
News of the diamond cash abuse and livestock plunder comes as
five trucks of
“chicken”, and other goodies – imported in Mugabe and Zanu
PF’s name – were
allegedly seized at Beitbridge in December. Efforts to
elicit comment from
the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority on this matter have
proved fruitless.
However, basic charges against Madiro and team are that
they received $750
000-plus from Chiadzwa diamond mining companies in the
party’s name, but it
simply disappeared.
In the circumstances,
investigators are also interested in the
rags-to-riches story or lifestyle
of some of the group members, as one of
the top officials implicated in the
scam is allegedly building a 36-roomed
mansion in Harare’s Mount Pleasant
suburb, while others now own a fleet of
top of the range
vehicles.
Contacted for comment yesterday, Madiro flatly refused to give
his side of
the story and accused this paper of driving a vendetta or
campaign against
him.
“What do you want from me? You people from the
Daily News are against me.
Why don’t you go and ask the police, don’t call
me again,” a fuming Madiro
said before hanging up.
But according to
our sources, investigators quizzed some of the accused
officials at Mutare
Central Police Station last week.
Those interviewed, include Zanu PF
secretary for production and labour in
Manicaland John Chirimambowa on how
over 10 beasts were kept at his farm
instead of being submitted to the party
for feasting at Mugabe’s birthday
do.
Police sources told the Daily
News that some of the beasts were shared among
the top leadership in the
province while cash disappeared.
According to the same sources,
investigators also interviewed officials from
the mining firms, which
donated the cash.
Sources said the group allegedly claimed that the money
was to bankroll
party activities, including funding the Gweru conference.
Instead of
delivering the money to the party, the officials converted it to
their
personal use.
The matter came to light after Didymus Mutasa,
Zanu PF secretary for
administration confided in deputy Commissioner-General
Levi Sibanda who in
turn alerted vice president Joice Mujuru.
The
matter was later forwarded to Mugabe, who instructed state agents to
probe
the case at the same time his party was leading a separate
investigation.
http://nehandaradio.com
on February 3, 2013 at 11:53
pm
UNITED STATES – Two Zimbabwean men were indicted by a
grand jury in Dallas,
Texas over their involvement in a US$2,6 million
income tax refund identity
theft scheme.
Tonderai Sakupwanya (33)
jailed last year over the false use of a passport,
and Reminico Zhangazha
(32) ran the scheme from May 2009 to May 2012, US
Attorney Sarah Saldana of
the Northern District of Texas said on Monday.
The indictment charges
Sakupwanya and Zhangazha each with one count of
conspiring to commit mail
fraud and wire fraud. Its alleged the two men
obtained $2,6 million in
federal income tax refunds by electronically filing
false tax returns with
stolen personal identification information.
The pair also rented private
mail boxes to establish mailing addresses and
establish bank accounts to
receive the fraudulently-obtained tax refunds,
according to the indictment.
The two men used the cash for their personal
use, it is alleged.
If
convicted they each face a maximum of 20years in federal prison and
a$250,000 fine. Sakupwanya, aka “Pound, Webster Rice, Floyd Roberts and
Floyd Robbins,” is in federal custody after pleading guilty in October to
falsely using a passport.
Zhangazha, aka “Boss Remy, Martin V.
Masters and Roy Daniel Black,” is also
in federal custody. He pleaded guilty
to making false statement in using of
a passport.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/
By James Morrison-The Washington Times Sunday, February 3,
2013
The U.S. ambassador in Zimbabwe fears the troubled southern
African nation
will face another stolen election this year because the
ruling party appears
to have no desire to allow a free and fair
vote.
Ambassador David Bruce Wharton cited the presence of government
troops
across the country and a campaign of intimidation against civil
rights
advocates by the Zimbabwe African National Union-Political Front and
its
party chief, Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe.
“We are
concerned by the deployment of Zimbabwe Defense Forces throughout
the
country on nominal ‘administrative service’ duty who may seek to
influence
how community will vote,” he told the Zimbabwe Mail newspaper in
an
interview published Friday.
“We are also concerned that elements of the
state have commenced with a
concerted campaign to intimidate civil society
and that the state-run media
and various other state institutions show a
consistent pattern of bias in
favor of one particular party.”
Mr.
Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the opposition
Movement for Democratic Change, have agreed on a new constitution and plan
to hold a referendum on the charter at a date to be announced. Presidential
elections would follow.
Mr. Tsvangirai entered a power-sharing
government with Mr. Mugabe after the
2008 elections, which were riddled with
widespread violence mostly from
Mugabe thugs. More than 200 people died and
thousands of opposition
supporters were beaten, arrested or
tortured.
Mr. Mugabe, a former rebel leader in power since 1980,
reportedly is
battling with rivals within his party who are maneuvering to
replace him.
Mr. Mugabe, who will turn 89 on Feb. 21, is believed to be
suffering from
health problems.
http://www.mineweb.com
The company said Friday that two
lawmakers, including tourism minister
Walter Mzembi from the ZANU-PF party,
took control of its Renco gold mine
two weeks
ago.
Author: Nelson Banya
Posted: Monday , 04 Feb
2013
HARARE (REUTERS) -
Zimbabwe's RioZim Limited has gone to the
High Court to fight off seizure of
a gold mine by allies of President Robert
Mugabe, who accuse it of flouting
a black empowerment law, the company said
on Friday.
RioZim said two lawmakers, including tourism minister Walter
Mzembi from
Mugabe's ZANU-PF party, took control of its Renco gold mine, 300
km (200
miles) south of Harare, two weeks ago.
"Minister Mzembi
arrived at the mine... He called a public meeting and
announced that RioZim
had not complied with the indigenisation obligations
of the country and
hence they were taking over Renco," RioZim said in a
statement.
People not employed by the mine blockaded it, resulting in
daily production
losses of $150,000, said RioZim.
It said the
minister had appointed a local member of parliament as general
manager and
directed all staff to work under him.
The MP was now using threats and
intimidation to bar RioZim directors and
management from the mine while
denying them access to the company's gold
bullion, the firm
added.
Mzembi furiously denied RioZim's accusations, saying he only
became involved
with the mine when Renco workers lobbied him as their local
MP to intervene
in a pay dispute.
"That's political slander. I'm
surprised by their statement, which seeks to
politicise what is a dispute
between them and their workers," he told
Reuters.
"I have no interest
in the mine's shareholders except to say they must
comply with the laws of
this country. I have never taken an ounce of gold
from Renco, nor do I
intend to, but my people are crying for justice."
Renco - formed in 2004
when Rio Tinto Plc sold off most of its Zimbabwe
assets - produced 11,000
ounces of gold in the first half of 2012, when it
resumed operations after
shutting down at the height of Zimbabwe's
hyperinflation crisis in
2008.
RioZim was saddled with $50 million of debt and on the verge of
collapse in
2012 but was saved when New York-based private equity fund
Global Emerging
Markets took a 25 percent stake.
Major mining firms
in Zimbabwe, including leading platinum producers Anglo
American Platinum
and Impala Platinum, have been forced to surrender
majority stakes to local
investors under the Mugabe-led black empowerment
drive.
Saviour
Kasukuwere, the minister in charge of the process, was not available
to
comment on the RioZim seizure, but has been quoted in local media
describing
the move as "irrational".
"We want law and order in this country and we
don't want indigenisation to
be dragged into the mud," he was quoted as
saying in private newspaper
NewsDay.
http://www.iol.co.za/
February 4 2013 at
08:00am
Zimbabwe’s state-run Deposit Protection Corporation needed
$135 million
(R1.2 billion) to meet its capitalisation requirements and pay
depositors
who lost money during the nation’s decade-long recession, the
Sunday Mail
said yesterday. The corporation had paid depositors who lost
funds in the
collapse of four financial institutions, the body’s chief
executive, John
Chikura, told the newspaper. More than half of depositors at
Genesis Bank
had been reimbursed, while those at Royal Bank had not been
paid, the Sunday
Mail reported. – Bloomberg
http://www.bdlive.co.za
BY VINCE MUSEWE, FEBRUARY 04 2013,
08:30
WE HAVE heard it all before. Zimbabwe has the
second-largest platinum
reserves in the world next to South Africa, the
largest alluvial diamond
reserves in the world, significant gold, chrome,
coal and so on. Once upon a
time it was a world leader in the production of
lithium minerals, chrysotile
asbestos and ferrochromium. Its chief minerals
were coal, gold, platinum,
diamonds, copper, nickel, tin and
clay.
Zimbabwe also produced iron ore, palladium, rhodium, selenium,
silver, tin,
barite, hydraulic cement, clays, emeralds, feldspar, graphite,
kyanite,
limestone, magnesite, mica, nitrogen, phosphate rock, quartz,
sulfur, talc,
and vermiculite. The list goes on.
Zimbabwe is truly
blessed with a wide range of minerals and a big resource
base, which offer
unlimited upside potential in prospecting, mining and
beneficiation. There
has been a claim by some that Zimbabwe is the richest
country on earth in
untapped natural resources per person. The question is:
so what’s the
problem?
The fundamental issues we face in taking full advantage of this
endowment
include the lack of leadership, accountability, business ethics
and an
antiquated view of the world, including how we do
business.
Despite the serious investment in education in the past,
Zimbabwe has failed
to advance and maximise its competitive advantages,
especially human
capital. As a result, we have seen an economy characterised
by patronage,
which is slow to react to new opportunity, inconsistent and
rather myopic in
policy, and which is clearly unable to accelerate social
development and
suffers from leadership paralysis.
Fear of change has
shut out new thinking and new opportunities.
Unfortunately, this paradigm
has slowly crept into how we do things in
Zimbabwe, whether in business or
politics. A clear example is how we have
totally mishandled the diamond
finds in Marange.
Where there is no transparency in governance and a
plutocracy in power, it
is difficult to exploit opportunities quickly and
completely. Unless, of
course, you are Chinese. Democracy in Zimbabwe is
certainly a critical
factor for the fair and expeditious exploration,
extraction and
beneficiation of its mineral resources.
But in
addition to that is the rapid development of infrastructure and the
adoption
of world-class business processes and technology. As far as I know,
these
have never really been the priorities of Zanu (PF), especially in the
past
10 years. This is because the party has been in survival mode and, like
any
thief who is under hot pursuit, they must figure out how much they can
make
today, while tomorrow can look after itself.
In my opinion, the potential
for investors in the Zimbabwean mining sector
is not about the hard facts
and figures — these are well known and speak for
themselves. It is more
about effectively dealing with the soft issues. That
is to say those
emotional and psychological issues that have prevented us
from unleashing
our full potential as a country. Those issues are the very
ones that
continue to lead to the public remonstration by our president of
the west
and its allies, but the private acceptance of their expertise,
know-how and
technological advantage.
Some argue that it is dangerous to rely on
mining-led growth because of
unreliable resource prices and the lack of
interconnectedness of the mining
sector in Zimbabwe to the rest of the
economy.
This actually presents a big opportunity for Zimbabwe to look
beyond the
extraction of its minerals for export as the main source of
revenue, but
towards beneficiation and the development of a manufacturing
industrial base
that will feed Africa’s growing demand. That, for me, is the
thinking we
lack.
Indigenisation is of course the Achilles heel.
However, remember that in
2000 it was Jonathan Moyo who was the anointed
crusader of the Zanu (PF)
election campaign based on the land expropriation
disaster. In 2008, we had
Gideon Gono, who presided over an unprecedented
destruction of value that
led to the collapse of the Zimbabwe dollar, the
obliteration of a number of
banks and the highest hyperinflation the world
has known.
Now we have Saviour Kasukuwere, whose indigenisation campaign
is again going
to destroy significant economic value and goodwill. This will
delay our
economic recovery. However, I predict that sooner or later he will
also be
irrelevant as the fresh winds of change sweep him aside.
Unfortunately, the
damage will already be done.
From my conversations
with the Movement for Democratic Change, however, it
is well aware of the
challenges ahead and what needs to be done. Its
blueprint for a new economy
is quite clear, especially in the mining sector.
Investors will be offered
stability, consistency in policy and a better
governance structure. More
important will be the ability of a new government
to replace old
thinking.
The other side of 2013 certainly offers some excitement and, if
you are in
mining, you want to be part of it.
http://www.guardian.co.uk
Zimbabwe president has vowed to fight like a
'wounded animal' to win 2013
elections. But which side will he show if he
loses?
Blessing-Miles Tendi
guardian.co.uk, Monday 4 February 2013
13.08 GMT
Welshman Ncube, Zimbabwe's Minister of Commerce and Industry
and leader of
one of the factions of the Movement for Democratic Change
(MDC), lost his
grandfather in the 1980s Gukurahundi. The Gukurahundi was a
violent campaign
in which thousands of opposition Zimbabwe African Peoples
Union (Zapu) party
supporters were killed and beaten by a brigade owing
allegiance to President
Robert Mugabe's government.
Ncube shares his
experience working with Mugabe in a unity government since
2009: "Ninety
percent of the time, I cannot recognise the Mugabe I sit with
in cabinet
with the Mugabe who has ruled this country through violence. He
shows real
concern for his country and people, like a father. And he can
master detail
over a wide range of government matters. If I had only this
experience with
Mugabe in government and had not lived through the
Gukurahundi and seen him
denouncing Zapu with anger and belief on
television, and you told me he
carried out the Gukurahundi, I would say 'no,
not this man, he is not
capable of it'. But I saw him."
Another MDC minister, Priscilla
Misihairabwi-Mushonga, also struggles to
reconcile the man she thought
Mugabe was, before entering government, with
the one she knows today. "I did
not think Mugabe believed in things. Now I
know that Mugabe actually
believes in things, ideologically, like that the
British are after regime
change in Zimbabwe. When he believes in something
he will genuinely defend
it. If he believes in an action, no matter how
wrong it is, he will not
apologise. That is one hallmark of Mugabe. He is
loyal to his
beliefs."
On Mugabe's personality, Misihairabwi-Mushonga says that she
had not known
that he was "a serious charmer around women. A very, very,
very good
charmer... He also has an exceptional sense of humour. You
literally are in
stitches throughout cabinet. But he also has an
intellectual arrogance. If
you do not strike him as someone intelligent he
has no time for you. There
are certain people who, when they speak in
cabinet, he sits up and listens,
and others who, when they speak, he
pretends to be asleep."
Nelson Chamisa, the MDC Minister of Information
and Communication
Technology, once thought Mugabe was "unbalanced", but
adds: "sitting in
cabinet with him, I admire his intellect. He has dexterity
of encyclopaedic
proportions. He is bad leader but a gifted politician. Why
do I say he is a
gifted politician? He has the ability to manage political
emotions and
intentions. But leadership is a different thing. The best form
of leadership
is to create other leaders who can come reproduce your vision
after you.
Mugabe has not done that."
Simba Makoni is a former member
of Mugabe's Zanu-PF party and the
government. He left to form a new
opposition party called Mavambo Kusile
Dawn in 2008. Makoni says of Mugabe:
"There is a part of him which is
outwardly nationalistic and radical but
there is also an inner part of him
which is questioning and doubtful,
because deep down he admires things
British. He is conservative."
So
who is the real Robert Mugabe? He is probably a cocktail of all these
things, in addition to being a disciple of the Italian philosopher Niccolo
Machiavelli's book The Prince. Machiavelli believed that in order for a
politician to keep power longest, they must have many sides and know the art
of when and how to show the appropriate side. Mugabe has mastered this art.
Last month, he showed his conciliatory side by agreeing a new constitution,
paving the way for a referendum and elections this year. It was reported
this week that the treasury is cash strapped, sparking speculation that
elections may not go ahead. However, the treasury has been without adequate
funds for most of the last 10 years and elections have always gone ahead
when due. Mugabe has vowed to show another of his sides in the forthcoming
election, which is his ability to "fight like a wounded animal", in order to
win. But if he loses, it is unclear which side he will show this time. Will
he concede and walk away? Or will an even more wounded animal come out
fighting?
Blessing-Miles Tendi is author of Making History in
Mugabe's Zimbabwe:
Politics, Intellectuals and the Media, and lecturer in
politics in the
University of Oxford's Department of International
Development
This blog, cross-posted from Oxfam's website, hopes that Zimbabwean women will vote 'Yes' in the referendum on the new constitution.
Women in Zimbabwe are often excluded from social, economic, and political processes due to patriarchal attitudes and practices (especially the exercise of customary laws), as well as by the general political climate of intimidation and violence. As a result, they are seriously underrepresented in local and national government structures: only 7 out of 33 ministers are women, and only 12 women are cabinet, deputy or provincial ministers out of a total of 69.
Zimbabwe's constitution is currently being reviewed part of the Global Political Agreement (GPA) - a mechanism to try and bring together the three major political parties into a Government of National Unity following the violent elections in 2008. The current government will be dissolved after the new constitution is finalised, paving the way for elections and a new government in October 2013.
Zimbabwean women have not passively accepted attempts to sideline them from political spaces.
Zimbabwean women have not passively accepted attempts to sideline them from political spaces. Even before the constitutional process, there was already a women's movement challenging gender inequality, and many individuals and groups began to advocate for women's rights to be recognised in drafting the new constitution. The groups realised, however, that their efforts would be stronger and more effective if they worked together and the Women's Coalition of Zimbabwe (the umbrella for women's organizations in Zimbabwe and an Oxfam partner), convened a meeting to discuss how they could work together. This led to the creation of the influential 'Group of 20' - also known as the G20.
The Group of 20 is comprised of civil society representatives, academics, and representatives of the Women's Parliamentary Caucus and the Constitution Management Committee of Parliament (COPAC) - all elected for the particular skills and experience they could bring to realising the aims of the women's movement. This diverse group of twenty organisations, from across the political spectrum, is united by the principle that, regardless of political, religion or social background, the women of Zimbabwe should be able to access their rights and to participate in all national processes.
The Group of 20 has become a working space for women to discuss, mobilise, and organise action around the new constitution, both developing policy and strategy, and advocating for specific measures. It also provides a crucial link and feedback mechanism between different women's groups and those drafting the new constitution - as well as donors, political parties, MPs and other civil society actors. Oxfam in Zimbabwe has provided strategic, technical, and financial support to the development of the group.
The G20 initially conducted a gender audit of the draft constitution to assess the impact on women of all proposed measures and amendments. And it successfully mobilised a wide range of women, from grassroots organisations to national bodies, to advocate around its own 'manifesto' for the constitution. The manifesto makes significant demands - calling for the prohibition of unfair discrimination, the recognition of women as equal citizens, a Bill of Rights to supersede the customary law, and the protection of women from all forms of violence. The Group of 20 also advised on gender-appropriate language for the wording of the constitution.
The G20's advocacy has proved extremely successful and 75% of their demands are reflected in the draft constitution. Sadly, there are still challenges in finalising the constitution, with sticky issues still to be resolved among the political parties. But it is the hope of Zimbabwean women that these issues will be ironed out and Zimbabwe will start on a new page - with a new constitution which promotes gender equality.
The constitution will now go to a referendum and the G20 is calling on women in Zimbabwe to vote YES to what is a genuinely positive development. With support from Oxfam, the group are also running an education campaign to enable women to make an informed vote, based on the implications of the constitution for women - rather than along political party lines as has happened in previous elections.
The inclusion of many of the Group's demands in the constitution marks a real step forward for gender equity and women's rights in Zimbabwe. Women from across society have come together to challenge power-holders and make those drafting the constitution listen.
We hope women in Zimbabwe will vote YES.
BILL
WATCH 4/2013
[4th
February 2013]
Both
Houses of Parliament Will Resume Sitting on Tuesday 5th
February
Draft Constitution to be Tabled in Parliament 5th
February
When will the Parliamentary debate start?
At a press conference at 6 pm on 31st January the Constitution Select
Committee [COPAC] officially announced its intention to table the draft and
present the Select Committee’s report when Parliament resumes on Tuesday 5th
February. COPAC have emphasised
that:
· the draft is for MPs’ information only – it is only if there is a YES
vote in the Referendum that it will be gazetted as a Bill which they will be
asked to pass.
· only the report will be debated
· they expect the debate to end on Thursday with the adoption of the
report.
There is no other equally pressing business competing for
Parliamentary time [see below] so
completion of the proceedings this week is achievable – unless Parliament
insists on debate. But, as the Principals have reached agreement and both MDC parties and the
ZANU-PF Politburo have thrown their weight behind the Principals’ agreement, and
SADC has been told the constitution is ready for Referendum, the Parliamentary
Party Caucuses and Whips will have strict instructions to adhere to COPAC’s
timetable.
As the COPAC Select Committee is a joint committee of both Houses,
the draft constitution and the report must go to the Senate as well as the House
of Assembly. The Senate proceedings can
run at the same time as those in the House; there is no need for the Senate to
wait until the House of Assembly has finished.
Although private members’ business usually has precedence on
Wednesdays in the House of Assembly and Thursday in the Senate, the importance
and urgency of the debate on the COPAC report should override everything else.
Little time left
An early conclusion to the proceedings in Parliament is needed – even
though Article 6 of the GPA allows Parliament up to a month. Time is very tight. If the Referendum is to be held before the
end of March or in early April, and the end of June is now being touted as an
election date, the sooner the proceedings are over and the draft constitution
can be taken to the country the better.
Also on the Agenda in Parliament this Coming
Week
House of Assembly
Bills No Bills are on the Order Paper for when the House resumes. The current Bills and the stages they have reached are as follows:
· Microfinance Bill – still being considered by the Parliamentary
Legal Committee [PLC] after its First Reading last year. The Second Reading stage of
this Bill cannot commence until the PLC has presented its report.
· Income Tax Bill – gazetted, but has not yet had its First Reading. It awaits introduction by the Minister of
Finance. After First Reading it will
have to go to the PLC for its report on the Bill’s constitutionality.
· Securities Amendment Bill – introduced last Session and considered by the PLC but lapsed at the
end of the Session before the presentation of the PLC’s non-adverse report. The Minister of Finance needs to get the
House to restore it to the Order Paper, so that the Second Reading stage can
begin.
· Attorney General’s Office Amendment Bill – not yet gazetted, so cannot be introduced yet. The page-proofs are still with the drafter
for checking, so it is unlikely to feature in the House until the following
week.
[The
first three Bills are available from veritas@mango.zw. The Attorney General’s Office Amendment Bill
is NOT yet available.]
Motions In order of appearance on the Order Paper for 5th February, after the
usual motion of thanks to the President for his speech opening the Session, the
list includes motions calling for:
· all Government departments to remit all revenues collected directly
to Treasury, without retaining funds for own use, and Treasury to ensure
adequate remuneration of Government workers
· Hwahwa, Skhombula and Gonakudzingwa prisons be to be recognised as
monuments in honour of leaders such as President Mugabe and late Vice-President
Nkomo and others who underwent imprisonment in them.
· the Sports Minister to dissolve the Sports and Recreation Commission
and make recommendations to Parliament for the achievement of success in al
sporting disciplines, and the Finance Minister to allocate adequate resources
for sports development.
Senate
Bills No Bills are listed on the Order Paper.
Motions Apart from the motion of thanks to the President for his speech
opening the Session, the only motion listed for discussion is MDC-T Senator
Marava’s motion calling for Government action towards eventually abolishing
the death penalty, and in the interim the establishment of a legally binding
moratorium on the passing of any more death sentences. [Note:
Journalists invited by the Commissioner of Prisons on an official press tour of
Harare Central Remand Prison on 1st February were told that there have been no
executions in the past 12 years and that there are 76 prisoners, 2 of them
women, awaiting execution.]
Private Member’s Bills
Urban Councils Private Member’s Bill Case: Supreme Court Reserves
Judgment
The Supreme Court has reserved judgment in this case, having heard
argument from both sides in the constitutional application in which Minister of
Local
Government, Rural and Urban Development seeks an order stopping Parliamentary proceedings on the Private
Member’s Bill to amend the Urban Councils Act.
Bill Watch 1/2013 explained the background to the case and its
ramifications.
Pending the Supreme Court’s decision, further proceedings on this
Bill are still suspended in terms of the Speaker’s sub judice ruling of 15th May 2012.
Others Two other Private Member’s Bills reached Parliament last Session, but
lapsed uncompleted at the end of the Session:
POSA Amendment Bill –This was stalled in the Senate all last Session, so has gone for
well over a year without being dealt with by the Senate. Mr Gonese has indicated that he intends to
ask the House of Assembly to send the Bill, as passed by the House, to the
President for assent – as allowed by the Constitution [see Bill Watch 2/2013 of 18th
January].
Criminal Procedure and Evidence Amendment Bill – Mr Gonese has already put down a motion seeking leave to restore
to the Order Paper his original motion, introduced last Session, to bring up
this Bill, which would repeal section 121(3) of the Criminal Procedure and Evidence Act [see see Bill Watch 2/2013 of 18th
January].
It remains to be seen whether MDC-T MPs will continue to observe the
apparent de facto moratorium on these other Private Member’s Bills
that we referred to in Bill Watch 2/2013 of 18th January.
In the Pipeline
Media Bill MDC-T MP Settlement
Chikwinya has not yet put down a motion seeking leave to bring up his
proposed Media Freedom and Transparency Bill. MDC-T have said they must have media reform [among a raft of other
reforms] before the election. Opposition
from ZANU-PF is likely – speaking for ZANU-PF, Minister of Justice and Legal Affairs Chinamasa has rejected the
idea of media reform at this stage. [Note Zimbabwe
has dropped 16 places to 133 out of 179 in the latest Press Freedom Index issued
by Reporters without Borders.]
Death of Vice-President Nkomo Affects House Voting
Strengths
The death on 17th January of Vice-President John Landa Nkomo altered
voting strengths in the House of Assembly to:
ZANU-PF 91, MDC-T 96, MDC 8.
No by-election is required to fill the seat, as this was an ex officio seat attached to the
vice-presidency, not a constituency seat.
Were it not for the GPA, it would not be necessary for this second
Vice-President’s post to be filled.
Section 31C of the Constitution allows for one or two Vice-Presidents, as
the President sees fit. But Article 20
of the GPA, which is in Schedule 8 and has temporary constitutional status for
the duration of the GPA, envisages that there will be two Vice-Presidents, to be
nominated by the President and/or ZANU-PF.
[Note: ZANU-PF’s Constitution and the 1987 Unity Accord require the
party to have two vice-presidents.]
Veritas
makes every effort to ensure reliable information, but cannot take legal
responsibility for information supplied
BILL
WATCH 5/2013
[4th
February 2013]
Both
Houses of Parliament Will Resume Sitting on Tuesday 5th
February
New Regulations to Control Youth
Associations
Zimbabwe Youth Council (General) Regulations,
2013
These extremely wide-ranging regulations, gazetted in SI 4/2013 dated
18th January and effective immediately, have been made by the Minister of Youth
Development, Indigenisation and Empowerment in terms of section 26 of the
Zimbabwe Youth Council Act.
Veritas will be making the complete text of the SI and the Act
available as soon as possible as there could be far ranging implications for
civil society/NGO/faith based youth organisations.
Section 2 of the SI states that the regulations “apply to all youth associations that are
directly or indirectly involved in youth activities”. The term “youth activities” is not defined in the
regulations or the Act. Other provisions
of the SI state that that no association may operate without being registered in
terms of the procedure detailed in the regulations; that registered associations
must submit annual reports and accounts, and annual work plans and budgets to
the Council; that every registered association must pay an annual levy to the
Council by the 15th February each year; that donations to registered
associations must be reported and that unregistered associations may not accept
any donations at all.
SI’s legality challengeable?
Organisations involved in “youth activities” should consult their
legal advisers about the validity of these regulations. As a matter of first impression, the
regulations seem to go much further than the Act permits and, if that is so, are
liable:
· to attract the attention of the Parliamentary
Legal Committee [PLC], which will also be considering whether the regulations are
consistent with section 21 of the Constitution protecting freedom of
association, and
· to be struck down by the High Court as ultra vires.
Examples of provisions apparently ultra vires are:
· the requirement that all youth associations must register [section 5], when the Act requires only
the registration of national youth associations
· provision for a Youth Council CEO [section 4] when the Act already
provides for a Director
· the fee for registration [section 5], although the Act does not
empower the charging of a fee [the legal
rule is that regulations may only prescribe fees if the enabling Act says so
expressly or by necessary implication, which is not the case
here].
· restrictions on donations to youth associations [section 9] on which the Act is
silent.
General comment: the
regulations are also liable to cause confusion as they divert attention from the
fact that the function of the regulations is to supplement the provisions of the
Act, not to spell out a stand-alone set of rules.
RBZ Monetary Policy Statement
Reserve Bank [RBZ] Governor Gideon Gono delivered his Monetary Policy
Statement on 31st January [available
on the RBZ website www.rbz.co.zw
or, if you can’t download, from veritas@mango.zw]. Points made by Dr Gono
included:
· The Banking Amendment Bill being prepared by Finance Minister Biti
needs to be operational by the end of March
[Comment: This means more urgent work for Parliament,
over and above the Bills listed in Bill Watch 4/2013 sent out earlier
today.]
· RBZ and 25 financial institutions have this week signed a memorandum
of understanding addressing at least some of the complaints made against banking
institutions on matters such as bank charges, interest rates, and lending
practices. The MOU takes effect from 1st
March; the full text is set out as an annexure to the Monetary Policy Statement.
· RBZ is working on a detailed regulatory framework for mobile banking
services to be introduced later this year
· He welcomes the recent Government announcement that it would respect
Bilateral Investment Promotion and Protection Agreements [BIPPAs] [see Bill Watch
3/2013 of 22nd January].
AU Summit
The President attended the AU Summit in Addis Ababa which ended on
28th January. The Zimbabwe situation was
not on the agenda for the Heads of State meeting, and does not feature in the
Summit’s decisions and resolutions. [No communiqué
has been issued.]
SADC: SA Facilitation Team Visit
Two members of President Zuma’s facilitation team, Lindiwe Zulu and
Charles Nqakula, visited Harare on Tuesday 29th February. They had a joint meeting with the negotiators
from all three GPA parties at which they:
· received an update on the constitution-making
process
and planning for the Referendum
· discussed the long-awaited deployment to JOMIC of two representatives
of the SADC Organ on Politics, Defence and Security Cooperation, David Katye of
Zambia and Colly Muunyu of Tanzania. The two were selected
months ago, and their arrival has been expected since November, but repeatedly
delayed. They are now said to be due to
arrive “any time soon”. The attachment of SADC officials to JOMIC is
nearly two years overdue; it was first directed by the Troika of the
Organ at its March 2011 Summit in Livingstone.
Reforms – There is no report of reforms being discussed at the meeting,
but afterwards ZANU-PF negotiator
Patrick Chinamasa said his party would not agree to media law reform or other
reforms before the Referendum and elections.
MDC-T’s Tendai Biti, on the other hand, said further reforms and
compliance with the Roadmap to Elections were essential.
Government Gazette 18th and 25th January and 1st
February
Statutory Instruments [SIs] [None
of these currently available from Veritas]
Zimbabwe Youth Council regulations SI 4/2013 [see details
above]
National Parks fees SI 5/2013 sets out the new
tariff of fees, as approved by the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources
Management, that will be charged by the Parks and Wild Life Management Authority
for its services and the use of its facilities.
The twelve categories of fees include entry and accommodation fees, river
usage fees, fees for hunting trophies in concession areas, and special fees for
activities such as moonlight viewing.
Chartered Secretaries disciplinary by-laws SI 9/2013 sets out new
disciplinary by-laws for the chartered secretaries profession, made by the
Council of the Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators. The previous by-laws, dating from 1975, are
repealed.
Collective bargaining agreements
SI 6/2013 contains a brief agreement on the correct classification of
rapid response personnel for the purposes of the principal agreement for the electronics, communications and allied
industry [SI 247/2006]. SI 8/2013
corrects a mistake in SI 174/2012 about the ordinary hours of work for workers
in the printing, packaging and newspaper
industry. SI 11/2013 notifies an arbitral award setting out wages
for the detergents, edible oils and fats
industry for 2011 and 2012.
Manpower development SI 13/2013 sets out the
requirements for certification as a carriage and wagon fitter in the mechanical
engineering industry.
Local authority by-laws SI 7/2013 contains the
Kusile Rural District Council’s new by-laws about sand abstraction and
excavation.
General Notices [GNs]
Government Financial Statement GN 16/2013 notifies the
publication in the Gazette of 18th January of the consolidated statement of
financial performance for October 2012.
Order against CIMAS Medical Aid Society under Competition
Act GN 23/2013 of 25th January
contains the Competition and Tariff Commission’s decision against CIMAS over its
practice of directing members needing dialysis to a centre in which it has an
interest and at the same time refusing to reimburse members’ claims for dialysis
procedures at another dialysis centre.
The Commission found this to be a “restrictive practice” contrary to the
public interest in terms of section 32 of the Competition Act, and accordingly
ordered CIMAS [1] to desist from directing its members to a specific service
provider and [2] to honour members’ claims for reimbursement for procedures at
any dialysis centre, at a rate specified by the Commission in the order.
Veritas
makes every effort to ensure reliable information, but cannot take legal
responsibility for information supplied