http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=27159
February 5, 2010
By Our
Correspondent
HARARE -Tendai Biti, secretary-general of the mainstream
MDC, says his party
is ready for an election after what he described as
attempts by Zanu-PF to
create irreconcilable differences within the unity
government.
In a statement Tuesday night, Biti said it was clear Zanu-PF
was creating
conditions for a total breakdown of the inclusive
government.
"Zanu-PF cannot continue to have their cake and eat it," said
Biti. "They
cannot continue to be normative members of this government when
in fact they
are working against it at every turn. It is simple. Either they
are in or
they are out.
"If they are in, the onus is on them to cease
their violations of the laws
of Zimbabwe , start respecting our party
President and implement the
commitments they signed up to in the GPA. If
they are out, then bring on the
election."
Biti said in the last four
weeks, following the Zanu-PF congress, the
country had seen an acceleration
of destruction and "insanity on the part of
the former ruling
party."
This, he said, had been manifested in unlawful farm invasions,
disobedience
of lawful court orders, vitriol against the President of the
MDC and
intransigence at the negotiating table.
He said Zanu-PF
continued to use the public media, the constitutional
process, the
commercial farms, the diamond mines and the civil service as
the
battlefields for a destructive agenda aimed at perpetuating their
selfish
grip on power.
Zanu-PF, he said, had also committed itself to conducting
an overt onslaught
against the person, principles and agenda of the
president of the MDC,
Morgan Tsvangirai, to thwart his vision of delivering
real change to the
people of Zimbabwe .
Tsvangirai is Prime Minister
in the inclusive government following a
powersharing deal with Zanu-PF's
President Robert Mugabe and Arthur
Mutambara of the smaller faction of the
MDC.
Biti said his MDC had instead unleashed positive energy in the
inclusive
government for the benefit of all Zimbabweans to restore basic
services, and
deliver hope and real change to our nation.
"Despite
the sincerity we have displayed (some would say naivety) and the
legitimacy
we bring to the government as a result of the overwhelming
support we have
from the people of this great country, Zanu-PF has refused
to acknowledge
that their failed policies of the past have been soundly
rejected by the
masses and that process of change is irreversible," said
Biti.
Last
week, Zanu-PF declared it would not make any concessions in the ongoing
negotiations on issues left unresolved after the signing of the Global
Political Agreement between the three parties.
The stance raised
fears the inclusive government, established in February
last year, could
collapse.
"This government was born out of hope, courage and the
commitment of the
people to peaceful, democratic change," said Biti. "It is
clear that Zanu PF
is trying to strangle this fledgling authority on its
first birthday and if
they continue their regressive policies they must be
prepared to take full
responsibility for the irretrievable breakdown of the
inclusive government."
On its part, the MDC announced the negotiations
have reached a deadlock.
Among other issues, the MDC has demanded that
the appointments of Reserve
Bank governor Gideon Gono and the Attorney
general Johannes Tomana be
revoked. The party also wants Deputy-Minister of
Agriculture Roy Bennett,
facing treason charges, to be sworn in to his
government post.
The MDC also wants members of the party appointed to
positions of provincial
governors.
On other hand, Zanu-PF accuses the
MDC of failing to advocate for the
lifting of sanctions imposed on Mugabe,
senior government officials and
other party members.
The MDC says it
had no role in the imposition of the sanctions in the first
place, and that
it, therefore, has no responsibility over the removal of the
sanctions.
Biti said Zimbabweans were tired of political bickering
and their hope for
2010 was that all members of the inclusive government
would have one common
vision, that of rebuilding our economy, creating jobs,
restoring food
security and promoting the people's freedoms.
Biti
said: "Zanu-PF must, however, understand that there is a price to
everything. The inevitable consequence of their homicidal actions would be
the holding of free and fair elections under the protection and supervision
of SADC to ensure that the dreams of the people are never again dashed nor
denied.
"The MDC is ready for this election."
http://www.zimonline.co.za/
by Sebastian Nyamhangambiri
Friday 05 February 2010
HARARE - Zimbabwe's constitutional
committee says a key exercise to consult
citizens on the proposed new
governance charter cannot go ahead without
police backing, in the latest
obstruction to the crucial reforms that are
already behind
schedule.
Bickering among the three governing parties over funding for
the reforms and
personnel to collate the people's views and ideas during the
public outreach
programme has seen the reforms miss several targets
already.
Any further hold ups could mean fresh elections to be held under
a new
constitution and earmarked for next year might have to be
delayed.
Douglas Mwonzora, a joint-chairman of the Constitutional
Parliamentary
Committee (COPAC), said the committee had put on hold the
outreach exercise
because it could not send teams to interview the public
without police
cover.
Mwonzora, from Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai's MDC party said police
chief Augustine Chihuri was demanding
US$2.9 million to meet transport and
upkeep costs for 1 000 officers who
would accompany COPAC officials in the
field.
But it is money the
committee says it does not have and should not be paying
in the first place
because constitutional reforms are a national project
that the police should
support free of charge.
He said: "We are not moving anywhere until we
have police escort. We know
that some rogue elements opposed to democracy
might want to attack our
outreach teams."
Rejecting police demands
for payment for their services Mwonzora said: "It
will be tantamount to
buying state protection if COPAC is to pay the police.
The police must be
funded by the government of Zimbabwe and not COPAC."
Police spokesman
Wayne Bvudzijena could not be reached for comment on the
matter.
Mwonzora said his committee had forwarded Chihuri's request
for funding to
Tsvangirai's office, the COPAC management-committee and other
relevant
ministries.
Minister of State in the Prime Minister's Office
Godern Moyo confirmed
receiving the COPAC letter but referred questions to
Constitutional Affairs
Minister Eric Matinenga.
Matinenga was not
immediately available on Thursday for comment on the
matter.
The
proposed new constitution is part of a September 2008 power-sharing deal
between Tsvangirai, President Robert Mugabe and Deputy Prime Minister Arthur
Mutambara that gave birth to the Harare coalition government last
February.
But the credibility of the reform exercise has been tainted by
reports of
alleged violence and intimidation by soldiers and supporters of
Mugabe's
ZANU PF party campaigning for the adoption of the controversial
Kariba draft
constitution as the basis for the proposed new
charter.
ZANU PF and the two MDC formations of Tsvangirai and Mutambara
secretly
authored the Kariba draft in 2007 but critics say the document
should be
discarded because it leaves Mugabe's immense powers
untouched.
The coalition government is expected to call fresh elections
after enactment
of a new constitution although the administration can choose
to wait until
expiry of its term in 2013 to call
elections.
Zimbabweans hope a new constitution will strengthen the role
of Parliament
and curtail the president's powers, as well as guarantee basic
civil,
political and media freedoms. - ZimOnline
http://www.zimonline.co.za/
by Andrew Moyo Friday 05 February
2010
HARARE - Zimbabwe's labour movement says it has recorded more
than 2 300
cases of violation of workers' rights in 2009, most of them
committed by
state security agents who it said have routinely assaulted and
tortured
union activists.
The Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions
(ZCTU) said the police and the state's
spy Central Intelligence Organisation
(CIO) have carried on attacks against
workers and union leaders despite
formation of a coalition government by the
country's main political leaders
that has promised to restore the rule of
law and to protect human
rights.
President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai
formed a
government of national unity last February that has managed to
stabilise the
economy and improve living conditions.
But the
power-sharing administration looks unable to reform and restructure
state
security forces that remain fiercely loyal to Mugabe and have long
been
accused of committing violence and abuse against the veteran leader's
political opponents and other voices of dissension such as organised labour
and civic rights groups.
The ZCTU said in its annual report released
Thursday that state security
agents arrested 78 workers last year and
threatened or assaulted another 2
306 workers for taking part in union
activities.
And in probably the worst cases of abuse recorded by the
union last year,
four workers were tortured by police in the resort town of
Victoria Falls,
while another three workers were shot and injured by police
in the mining
town of Zvishavane for protesting against non-payment of wages
by employers.
The union said: "State agents particularly the police
defied High Court
orders that ruled in favour of the ZCTU .. 78 workers were
arrested for
their trade union activity, 2 306 workers were either assaulted
or
threatened, four workers were tortured in Victoria Falls, three workers
were
shot in Zvishavane, 175 workers were dismissed for embarking on
strike."
The ZCTU accused the CIO of waging a campaign of intimidation
against labour
activists and said in one case two agents of the secret
service organ
unlawfully kidnapped the union's chairman for the eastern
Rusape district,
Amos Masumuse, after accusing him of cooperating with an
international
inquiry into torture of union leaders in Zimbabwe.
The
union said Masumuse only managed to escape from his captors by jumping
from
a moving vehicle they were using to ferry him to an unknown
destination.
In two other cases of intimidation, General Agriculture
and Plantation
Workers Union (GAPWUZ) secretary general Gertrude Hambira had
her home
ransacked by gun-totting men believed to be CIO agents in November,
while
ZCTU president, Lovemore Matombo was also arrested in Hwange during
the same
month.
"Police officers in most regions except Masvingo
disrupted some ZCTU
activities. In some areas, unlawful arrest, detention,
harassment,
abductions and threats remained the order of the
year.
"The perpetrators were state agents namely the police, CIO, ZANU PF
members
and company management. It is high time that business be sued for
complicity
in human rights violations," said the ZCTU.
However the
union, which did not give figures of abuses in 2008, said union
rights
abuses declined in most sectors in 2009 except for the agriculture
sector
"which is engulfed in lawless farm invasions".
The ZCTU has previously
criticised the unity government for its failure to
reform the police to
instill professionalism, calling last year for the
immediate resignation of
co-ministers of home affairs Kembo Mohadi and Giles
Mutsekwa for failing to
ensure that police uphold the rule of the law. -
ZimOnline
http://www1.voanews.com
Prime Minister
Morgan Tsvangirai said the Zimbabwean Cabinet was deeply
divided on the way
forward regarding debt clearance and called upon his
ministers to shun
political divisions
Ntungamili Nkomo | Washington 04 February
2010
Zimbabwean Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai on Thursday urged
the unity
government partners in Harare to set aside their political
differences and
focus on a strategy to reduce the country's US$5.7 billion
foreign debt.
Addressing delegates at a workshop organized by an
inter-ministerial
committee on debt chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Arthur
Mutambara, Mr.
Tsvangirai said cabinet was deeply divided on the way forward
regarding debt
clearance and called upon ministers to shun political
divisions.
Officials of the World Bank and African Development Bank,
which are major
creditors of Zimbabwe, also attended the
session.
Finance Minister Tendai Biti said Zimbabwe should seek debt
forgiveness
under the International Monetary Fund's Highly Indebted Poor
Countries or
HIPC program. Biti said Zimbabwe was essentiallly bankrupt and
could not
afford to pay its debt and arrears with the means at its
disposal.
Opponents of this approach say Zimbabwe should tap its mineral
resources for
funding to catch up arrears and reduce its ballooning
debt.
Economic Planning Minister Elton Mangoma told VOA Studio 7 reporter
Ntungamili Nkomo that most of those giving their views at the meeting
advised Zimbabwe to seek HIPC debt relief.
"There are those who felt
that Zimbabwe should use its mineral resources to
finance debt clearance,
but the fact is that our minerals were mortgaged
long ago to foreign
companies. It is therefore in this respect that some of
us feel that the
best way to go is to file for the HIPC program,"Mangoma
said.
http://www.zimonline.co.za/
by Own Correspondent Friday 05
February 2010
HARARE – Zimbabwean officials are unhappy that CITES
chief Willem
Wijnstekers will tour a top private game conservancy during
his visit to
Zimbabwe next week, apparently fearful he will end up learning
too much
about wanton poaching decimating the country’s wildlife, sources
told
ZimOnline Thursday.
The CITES secretary general is expected in
Harare on Monday for talks with
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, defence
minister Emmerson Mnangagwa,
Attorney General Johannes Tomana, police chief
Augustine Chihuri and
commissioner of taxes Geshom Pasi.
Wijnstekers
was initially scheduled to meet Mugabe but government officials
on Thursday
said this was no longer possible.
The CITES boss will discuss with
Mnangagwa the alleged involvement of senior
military officers in poaching
while he seeks to establish from Chihuri and
Tomana security measures put in
place to curb illegal killing of protected
wildlife and measures taken
against those caught poaching including the
levels of sentencing.
But
officials at the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources
Management
are more worried that Wijnstekers will upon arrival visit the
largely
white-owned private Save Conservancy that has suffered poaching
while some
parts of the reserve have been invaded by supporters of Mugabe’s
ZANU PF
party.
"We are concerned by the undiplomatic conduct of Wijnstekers,'"
said a
senior official, who spoke on condition he was not named. The visit
to the
conservancy is private (but) we feel he could have done so some other
time.
We are concerned he will be only told that which suits whites
interests and
government will not be able to defend
itself."
Wijnstekers only begins meeting government officials on Tuesday
after his
return from Save.
However while officials fumed about
Wijnstekers’ alleged lack of diplomatic
etiquette, private conservationists
said the real cause of Harare’s anger
was the fact that the Save trip will
allow them (private conservationists)
an opportunity to apprise the CITES
boss of rampant poaching in Zimbabwe.
Poaching has been rife in Zimbabwe
since landless black villagers began
invading – with tacit approval from the
government – white-owned farms and
game conservancies over the past nine
years.
Some of the country’s biggest state-owned nature and game
conservancies
including Gonarezhou national park that forms part of the
Great Limpopo
Transfrontier straddling across Zimbabwe, Mozambique and South
Africa have
large parts occupied by villagers.
There has also been an
upsurge in the poaching of endangered species such as
the rhino targeted for
its horn that is exported mainly to China and Vietnam
where it is in huge
demand. International syndicates working with local
gangs are said to be
behind rhino poaching.
While other reports say illegal and uncontrolled
trophy hunting on former
white-owned conservancies now controlled by
powerful government officials
and members of Mugabe’s ZANU PF party
politicians has been on the rise.
The government however denies
politicians are illegally hunting game and
insists it still has poaching
under control. – ZimOnline
http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=27163
February 5, 2010
By Our
Correspondent
BULAWAYO-A police officer appeared in court on Monday three
years after he
allegedly committed murder.
Superintendent Milos Moyo,
the Officer Commanding Police Camps in Bulawayo ,
allegedly shot Artwell
Magagada who was on his way home after work on the
morning of January 1,
2007.
Magagada, who was working as a cashier for Chicken Inn food outlet,
was shot
in the head along Fort Street and Leopold Takawira Avenue in the
city
centre.
He died after spending four days on a life support
system at Mater Dei
Hospital with the bullet still lodged in his
head.
Police once refused to charge Moyo with murder claiming he shot
Magagada by
mistake as he was trying to disperse a crowd celebrating the
coming of New
Year.
However, Moyo was finally hauled before Bulawayo
magistrate Nonkululeko
Mkhonto on Monday. Moyo was formally placed on
remand.
Mkhonto granted him US$100 bail, and set 8 February as the trial
date at the
Bulawayo High Court.
Speaking to The Zimbabwe Times Tuesday,
Artwell's father Caleb Magagada said
he was delighted that justice was
finally taking its course.
"Although I can't bring my son back, I am very
happy that at last justice is
taking its course. We have been waiting for
this day for the past three
years," said Caleb Magagada
Artwell's
father also criticised police for taking such a long time to bring
the case
before the courts.
In 2008, Magagada's family, with the help of the Zimbabwe
Lawyers for Human
Rights sued Home Affairs
Minister, Kembo Mohadi,
and the Police Commissioner, Augustine Chihuri over
the death their
son.
The family was demanding 20 Zimbabwe billion dollars in damages but
the case
hasn't been heard in court so far.
http://www.zimonline.co.za/
by Hendricks Chizhanje Friday 05 February
2010
HARARE - A Harare Magistrate this week removed a senior official
of Prime
Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's MDC party - charged with stealing
weapons from
an army barrack - from remand after the state failed to produce
evidence
linking him to the firearms theft.
MDC transport manager
Pascal Gwezere who was abducted from his Mufakose home
last October by state
security agents for allegedly stealing firearms from
Pomona army barracks
was last year placed on a US$500 bail and ordered to
report to Harare
Central Police Station twice a week on Mondays and Fridays.
But Harare
Magistrate Gloria Takundwa on Tuesday removed Gwezere from remand
after
ruling that the state had failed to produce evidence linking him to
the
commission of the offence.
The magistrate also said the state had failed
to produce a docket in Gwezere's
case.
Gwezere had already been
removed from remand on another charge of undergoing
military training at
Soroti camp in Uganda under an alleged plot to topple
President Robert
Mugabe's previous administration from power.
The MDC transport manager
who became the latest victim of abductions was
kidnapped by military
intelligence officers, Central Intelligence
Organisation (CIO) operatives,
detectives from Law and Order, Police
Internal Security Intelligence (PISI)
and 15 police officers from his home.
Gwezere, who accuses his abductors
of torturing him, sustained serious
injuries on his head, wrist, mouth, ear,
feet, leg, buttocks, back and
genitals during interrogation by the state
agents.
The MDC maintains that the charges against Gwenzere and its other
activists
are baseless and politically motivated.
Tsvangirai's party
says "politically motivated prosecution" of its members
is a sign of
Mugabe's refusal to abide by the global political agreement
(GPA), the
power-sharing agreement signed by Zimbabwe's political leaders in
2008 at
the behest of the Southern African Development Community (SADC). The
GPA is
the foundation of the Harare coalition government. - ZimOnline
http://www1.voanews.com
Co-Minister
of Home Affairs Giles Mutsekwa told VOA that Rwandan agents
recently met
with their Zimbabwean counterparts in Harare and submitted a
formal request
for help locating Mpiranya
Gibbs Dube | Washington 04 February
2010
Zimbabwe's Ministry of Home Affairs has engaged cooperation with
Rwandan
security services looking for Protais Mpiranya, sought for arrest in
connection with the 1994 genocide in the Central African
nation.
Co-Minister of Home Affairs Giles Mutsekwa told VOA that Rwandan
agents
recently met with their Zimbabwean counterparts in Harare and made a
formal
request for help in the case, to which Zimbabwe has
agreed.
Mpiranya, former commander of the Rwandan presidential guard, is
said to
have spearheaded the genocidal campaign against Tutsis and is wanted
by the
International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda in Arusha,
Tanzania.
Mutsekwa said Zimbabwe security forces are prepared to assist
the Rwandan
agents in determining Mpiranya's whereabouts if he is in the
country.
"We are ready to assist as long as our Rwandan colleagues
provide security
agents from their country who will work hand in hand with
our police in
order to identify and arrest the suspect if he is in
Zimbabwe," he said.
Recent news reports have said Mpiranya is hiding in
Zimbabwe where he is
alleged to be sheltered by supporters of President
Robert Mugabe.
http://www1.voanews.com
ZANU-PF has declared that it will make no further concessions
until
sanctions are lifted, demanding that the MDC exercise its supposed
influence
with Europe and the United States to achieve this
Sandra
Nyaira | Washington 04 February 2010
Nearly a year after the
formation of a national unity government in Zimbabwe
based on the 2008
Global Political Agreement, talks on resolving outstanding
issues troubling
power sharing have come to a virtual standstill.
The impasse centers on
the Western travel and financial restrictions aimed
at President Robert
Mugabe and his ZANU-PF inner circle.
ZANU-PF has declared that it will
make no further concessions until
sanctions are lifted, demanding that the
Movement for Democratic Change
exert its supposed influence with Europe and
the United States to achieve
this.
But Washington, London and
Brussels have given no sign of backing down, with
British officials
insisting this week that the only way sanctions can be
lifted is if all
parties to the GPA implement the agreement in full.
For views and
insights on how the targeted sanctions have taken center stage
in
power-sharing and Zimbabwe's re-engagement with the West, VOA Studio 7
reporter Sandra Nyaira turned to political analyst and University of
Zimbabwe professor John Makumbe and ZANU-PF Chief Whip Joram
Gumbo.
Gumbo said Western sanctions are impeding progress by the
government as it
tries to improve the lives of ordinary Zimbabweans. Makumbe
noted that the
sanctions only affect about 200 people, mostly senior ZANU-PF
figures.
http://www.zimnetradio.com
By TAWANDA MUDZINGWA
Published on:
4th February, 2010
Beatrice Mutetwa pointed out to the presiding judge in
the ongoing Bennett
trial that: “The problem with counsel for the State is
that when he enters
this courtroom he considers himself the AG and not just
a representative of
the State. …
Mr Tomana is at par with me when he
is in court and he does not get
preferential treatment from the court
because he is AG”. Aha! now we get it!
One of the motives for James Tomana
to personally prosecute the Bennett case
is now clear; Johannes Tomana
wanted to be accorded the respect of the AG,
when in this instance he is
simply the State Counsel. James Tomana actually
did not hide this
fact.
He made it clear that it was inappropriate to ‘caricature’ the
person of the
Attorney General in these proceedings.\”If those documents are
being
produced to attack the person of the AG, they should be excluded.
…
By now, it is quite clear that the circumstances under which the AG has
been
forced to carry this State burden lacks insulation provided for under
the
powers of the AG.
” He wanted insulation as the attorney General
when in court he is a mere
prosecutor. This is abuse of the office of and
powers accorded to the AG.
James Tomana had hoped to cow the defence counsel
by virtue of his
position—AG, and hopefully get an easy conviction.
Fortunately, in Beatrice
Mtetwa, the AG found his match. Unfortunately, the
behaviour of James Tomana
is not unique to him; it is symptomatic of the
entire ZANU PF.
This is what I call the ‘chef’ mentality. It pervades
ZANU PF thinking. It
is manifested through the abuse of power and office. A
‘chef’ in ZANU PF is
not to be challenged, in any circumstances.
This
is why some men have resorted to be on all four when they talk to the
‘chef’
par excellence—Robert Gabriel Mugabe.
This behaviour has cultivated this
pervasive culture of impunity in ZANU PF.
Recall the infamous words by the
late vice-president Simon Vengesayi
Muzenda: “ Chero tikaisa gudo
munotovhotera gudo iroro” “If we put forward a
baboon as a candidate, you
must vote for that baboon.” Why would sane and
rational people vote for a
baboon when better candidates are there?
The answer is simple: the ‘chef’
has said so. This ZANU PF mentality
transcends politics. Higher institutions
of learning, where we expect
academic freedom to prevail suffer the same
fate. Professor Levi Nyagura
runs the University of Zimbabwe like his
personal fiefdom.
I recall him lecturing to the university lecturers who
were on strike,
‘teaching is not a well-paying profession the world-over’ —
what arrogance!
Students at the University of Zimbabwe are not allowed to
air their genuine
grievances such as, the extended closure of halls of
residence; high tuition
fees; poor quality of education; etc. Regrettably,
the ‘chef’ mentality
displayed by the AG, James Tomana is pervasive in ZANU
PF.
http://www.zimnetradio.com
By SINIKIWE
MPALA
Published on: 4th February, 2010
HARARE THE Parliamentary
Portfolio Committee on Public Accounts has
unearthed massive corruption,
abuse of authority and maladministration in
Government ministries and
departments in scams that could have prejudiced
the cash-strapped Treasury
of millions of dollars.
Presenting the committee's second report on the
Comptroller and
Auditor-General's 2009 first quarter special
report,
chairperson Mr Tapiwa Mashakada (MDC) told the House of Assembly
yesterday
that they had unearthed massive irregularities.
These include payment of
ghost workers, irregular employment of 10 000 youth
officers, mishandling of
fuel coupons, abuse of the payroll system, misuse
of cash and State assets,
and violation of Public Service Commission
standing rules.
The
ministries and departments found to be paying people no longer employed
by
Government were: Ministry of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture (three
officers at its head office); the Registrar-General's Office
(22
officers); and the Ministry of Public Service (five officers).
It was
also noted that the Ministry of Youth Development, Indigenisation and
Empowerment employed over 10 000 youth officers in violation of standing
rules of the Public Service Commission that vacancies be advertised and
relevant budgetary provisions made.
The youth officers were employed
without any medical examinations being
conducted while others appeared on
other ministries' databases but had no
appointment letters.
Some of
the names appeared more than three times on the databases. The
report noted
that many of the youths had their salaries deposited in one
account (imprest
account).
"There were reported cases where signatories to imprest
accounts withdrew
salaries for youth officers and converted them to personal
use.
"It was therefore difficult with the evidence presented before the
committee
to rule out fraud in the way youth officers were employed by the
ministry,"
read part of the report.
When quizzed, the ministry's
secretary, Mr Prince Mupazviriho, told the
committee they faced many
challenges posed by the state of the economy and
could therefore not follow
proper procedures.
"The committee finds it ironic that the ministry could
not meet expenses for
medical examination forms, appointment forms, and
method of pay advice forms
as well as action pack costs, but went ahead and
recruited more than 10 000
officers who would need monthly salaries," Mr
Mashakada said.
The committee asked why the ministry recorded a uniform
date of birth for
the youth officers when it could
have simply asked them
to provide correct information.
The committee recommended the secretary's
dismissal.
On cash and assets management, the committee said former
Industry and
Commerce Minister Obert Mpofu took two vehicles with him when
he changed
portfolios.
The report added that his permanent secretary,
Retired Colonel Christian
Katsande, walked away with four cars when he left
the ministry.
This, said the committee, was in violation of standing
rules that required
Treasury approval on movement of assets.
It was
noted that Beitbridge Rural Police Station failed to open a safe
purportedly
containing more than R7 million and other valuable exhibits
during an
audit.
The police officers there claimed the keys had been
misplaced.
At least 129 cartons of cigarettes could not be accounted for
at Beitbridge
Urban Police Station although the case in which the exhibits
were being used
had not been concluded in the courts.
The committee
also cited the Ministry of Public Service for requesting US$6
000 for
rentals, but diverted US$2 000 to buy office furniture for the
minister.
The Ministry of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture could
not account for 300
litres in fuel coupons from the 475 litres it had been
allocated, while the
Finance Ministry could not account for 150
litres.
In its recommendations, the committee proposed that ministries
submit
monthly employee staff returns to the Salary Service Bureau to
prevent
payment of ghost workers.
The committee ordered the Public
Service Commission and the Public Service
and Youth ministries to correct
anomalies regarding employment of youth
officers and report back to
Parliament in the next three months.