The ZIMBABWE Situation | Our
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UN Integrated
Regional Information Networks
ANALYSIS
February 6, 2004
Posted to
the web February 6, 2004
Harare
Almost four years after the
government of Zimbabwe adopted the fast-track
land redistribution programme,
thousands of ex-commercial farm workers find
themselves displaced and without
employment.
In 2000 the government embarked on the controversial
initiative that drove
thousands of white farmers off their estates, saying it
intended to resettle
land-hungry black Zimbabweans.
More than 300,000
farm workers who had been employed by the former
commercial farmers were also
displaced in the process.
The Farm Community Trust (FCT), an NGO seeking
to promote the welfare of
farm workers, bemoans the impact of the fast-track
programme on the lives of
former commercial farm workers.
"The
fast-track land reform programme created a class of Zimbabwean citizens
whose
lives resemble that of refugees. First, they were displaced from the
only
homes they had known for whole generations, and what is now emerging is
that
the former farm workers are finding it difficult to regain
stable
employment," FCT director Godfrey Magaramombe told IRIN.
He
said the problem was pronounced in the provinces of Mashonaland
West,
Mashonaland East and Mashonaland Central, where the former farm workers
were
still found in large numbers. The three provinces boast good soils and
thus
had a high concentration of commercial farms.
A presidential land
review of the fast-track programme found that less than
one percent of former
farm workers had been resettled as part of the
programme. The majority
migrated to urban settlements or their rural
communal areas, turned to gold
panning or remained in the area, offering
their labour to the new
farmers.
IRIN visited some of the farms in the Chinhoyi area, 140 km
northwest of the
capital, Harare, and found that former farm workers had set
up squatter
settlements, mostly on the outskirts of farms that used to be
home, but were
now allocated to new settlers, particularly in the commercial
A2 model
schemes.
Living conditions and sanitation facilities were
poor. The occupants lived
in pole-and-mud huts and used improvised pit
latrines or went into the bush.
Very few of them had plots to cultivate
because the new farmers did not
provide them with land. They lacked basic
health and education facilities,
and children roamed the settlements because
many of their parents could not
afford school fees.
"In the
Mashonaland provinces, in particular, the farm workers have in
certain cases
moved from their original farms, but have tended to confine
themselves in the
same districts as where they used to work,"
Magaramombe
said.
Fifty-five year old Silent Bhauleni, a Zimbabwean of
Malawian origin living
on one of the new farms, told IRIN that providing for
his family had been
difficult since he lost his job on a commercial farm that
was reallocated.
"We have problems with the black farmers. They expect us
to provide them
with labour on their farms for free, or very little money.
Most of the time
they complain that they do not have money to pay us, saying
they are just
starting to farm. As a result, they prefer to engage us as
contract workers,
allowing us to stay on their farms in return," Bhauleni
said.
"This means that we have to depend on the money that we get from
the piece
jobs we do for them in order to survive, but that is not enough.
[So] we
move from one farm to the other, doing contract work, and we can do
that on
several farms a day and receive our money immediately after the
stints," he
explained.
He said those who refused to do contract work
were often chased away by the
new farmers, some of whom viewed the displaced
farm workers as enemies,
since they were generally perceived to have been on
the side of white
farmers, who had resisted land reform.
Bhauleni
admitted that some of the former farm labourers were engaging in
illegal
activities such as gold panning, gambling and prostitution, in their
quest to
make ends meet.
"In most cases, the black farmers come with their own
labour force, and the
new farm workers are usually relatives or people who
come from the new
farmers' [home areas]," added Bhauleni.
Magaramombe
said while the new farmers were offering Zim $38,000 (about US
$10.63 at
auction rates) per month for a regularly employed farm worker,
some white
farmers had been paying Zim $90,000 (about US $25.18).
An official with
the General Agriculture and Plantation Workers Union of
Zimbabwe (GAPWUZ),
speaking on condition of anonymity, accused the new
farmers of exploitative
practices.
"These new farmers are engaging in unfair labour practices,
taking advantage
of the hopeless situation the farm workers are in. They
should give them
full-time employment when they decided to keep them on their
farms, and pay
them in accordance with the labour regulations of the
country."
He added: "Granted, most of the farm workers are stranded
because they do
not have anywhere to go, but by keeping them on the farms,
the new farmers
are virtually accepting them as their employees, yet they are
not treating
them like that."
But one of the new farmers, Cyprian
Chauke, said the former farm workers
were refusing to be employed by the new
farmers. "They are reluctant to work
for us, saying we pay them too little.
However, that is not fair because we
offer them the stipulated minimum wage
of Zim $38,000. Even then, it should
be borne in mind that we cannot afford
to give them what is beyond the
minimum rate because, as new farmers, we
still have a lot to do to build our
own capital bases."
Chauke added
that the farm workers were refusing to work because they were
receiving food
handouts from the FCT, and charged that some of them were
resorting to
stealing produce from surrounding plots.
Magaramombe acknowledged that
his organisation was assisting about 100,000
farm workers in selected
districts with food, but dismissed the allegation
that this was why they were
refusing to be employed on a full-time basis.
"It does not follow that
because we are assisting the farm workers with
food, they are using that as a
reason not to seek full-time employment with
the new farmers," Magaramombe
said. "There are many areas, for instance
Mount Darwin in Mashonaland
Central, where hundreds of the farm workers do
not want to be taken on as
regular employees, but we do not provide food to
those people."
Deteriorating Situation for Human Rights Defenders
Mmegi/The
Reporter (Gaborone)
ANALYSIS
February 5, 2004
Posted to the web
February 6, 2004
"You lawyers, you want to show off. You think you
can just interfere in
matters anywhere ... you are only a lawyer at court.
Here you are nothing.
Get away. Get out of the charge office. Far away! Go to
your court."
Police have subjected most of Zimbabwe's human rights
lawyers to such
attitudes during their attempts to represent arrested
protestors and
opposition supporters in recent years. Many have also been
arrested or
assaulted themselves while performing this legal
duty.
After South African President Thabo Mbeki's recent controversial
claim that
human rights are being used to try and overthrow President Robert
Mugabe's
government, and attacks on Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR)
in the
state media, the group anticipates even greater obstacles ahead for
lawyers
in 2004.
This warning is contained in a new report by ZLHR
director and human rights
lawyer Arnold Tsunga titled 'The Legal Profession
and the Judiciary as Human
Rights Defenders in Zimbabwe in 2003: Separation
or Consolidation of Powers
on the Part of the State?'
The report
outlines 20 examples of attacks on lawyers and the judiciary
during 2003,
ranging from arrest, harassment, assault and torture to denial
of access to
clients and the state's refusal to respond to judicial
decisions with which
it does not agree. Some involve multiple abuses, and
not all cases are
documented.
It points to a recent 'unwarranted attack' in the
state-controlled newspaper
The Herald on ZLHR following an article in late
November in which it argued
in defence of the judiciary and the legal
profession.
Among other things The Herald called ZLHR a "phony
non-governmental
organisation which in fact does the bidding of foreign
governments, and sees
rights of all those that are not white farmers or
members of the MDC
[Movement for Democratic Change] as non-human
rights".
On the contrary, the ZLHR is a non-partisan body whose
objectives include
strengthening human rights in Zimbabwe, protecting the
constitutional rights
of all people and advocating observance of the rule of
law and the
independence and integrity of the courts and
lawyers.
Further, Mbeki's 'unfortunate remarks' had the potential to
create 'a real
danger of human rights defenders being attacked or clamped
down on in
Zimbabwe'. Mbeki accused people in Zimbabwe and elsewhere of using
"human
rights as a tool for overthrowing the government" and "rebuilding
Zimbabwe
as they wish. In modern parlance, this is called regime
change."
ZLHR believes that these remarks are likely to have far reaching
and grave
consequences on the operating environment of human rights defenders
in
Zimbabwe.
The ZLHR report argues that the separation of powers
between the three
organs of a democratic state - the Judiciary, Executive and
Legislature
(Parliament) - provides checks and balances over the way state
power is
exercised, allows for equality before the law and the enjoyment of
rights
based on the rule of law.
In dictatorial regimes or states
where democracy is failing, there is
blurring of the separation of powers.
The Executive, which controls the
state machinery - including the army,
police and other law enforcement
agencies - often becomes stronger than other
organs and begins to undermine
them.
In Zimbabwe, the Executive today
routinely refuses to enforce judicial
orders that are seen to be unfavourable
to the state or the ruling ZANU PF
party. 'The Executive has also attacked
the judiciary openly, quite
unprofessionally and unfairly in a number of
cases.'
Attacks on members of the legal profession have increased in
recent years,
and the state has not always cooperated fully with lawyers in
the discharge
of their duties, especially when they act for political
opponents of the
ruling party or for human rights defenders.
He cites
as a strong example the attacks on human rights lawyers who tried
to
represent members of the National Constitutional Assembly and others who
were
arrested during peaceful protests in October last year.
The police were
'completely uncooperative', manhandled lawyers, ejected them
from Harare
Central station and refused access to the detainees. 'Such
conduct by the
police is unlawful and undermines the due administration of
justice and the
rule of law. It must be stopped.
"The attitude of the police to lawyers,
which continues to deteriorate at an
alarming rate in Zimbabwe, is
increasingly becoming an issue of serious
concern to lawyers." It is
impossible to administer justice when law
enforcement agents refuse to
cooperate with or allow lawyers to access
clients. "The rule of law will not
work in this type of environment."
Three instruments clearly spell out
the government's obligations and
responsibilities towards ensuring a
judiciary free from political or other
interference, the ZLHR report
states:
* UN Basic Principles on the Independence of the Judiciary
(1985), Article
1, which states: 'The independence of the judiciary shall be
guaranteed by
the state and enshrined in the constitution or the law of the
country. It is
the duty of governmental or other institutions to respect and
observe the
independence of the judiciary.'
* UN Basic Principles on
the Role of Lawyers (1990), Principle 17 which,
states: 'Where the security
of lawyers is threatened as a result of
discharging their function they shall
be adequately safeguarded by the
authorities'.
The constitution of
Zimbabwe, Section 79B, which states: 'In the exercise of
judicial authority a
member of the judiciary shall not be subject to the
direction or control of
any person or authority.'
A year ago the UN Special Rapporteur on the
Independence of Judges and
Lawyers, Dato' Param Cumaraswammy, expressed deep
concern about
deterioration in Zimbabwe of 'the independence of the judiciary
and its
impact on the rule of law.' Many local and international groups
and
individuals have echoed his concerns in the past year.
There is no
doubt under both international law and Zimbabwe's constitution
that lawyers
and judges ought to be allowed to practice independently, and
without undue
interference, harassment or impediment from the state or
non-state
actors.
It is critical, the ZLHR report concludes, "that the principle of
separation
of powers be adhered to if democracy is to work in Zimbabwe".
Instead "there
is an unhealthy level of political interference with the
judiciary and the
justice delivery system."
"Judges and lawyers need
to operate in a safe and free environment so as to
strengthen justice
delivery and improve the integrity of the courts. The
responsibility to
ensure the safety of judges and lawyers rests with
the
authorities.'
But instead of protecting lawyers, the authorities
are at the forefront of
attacks on the legal profession. 'With an
administration of justice system
that is not effective and cannot offer real
remedies to aggrieved parties,
the rule of law is violated and lawlessness
creeps in.'
Further, lawlessness erodes the confidence of local and
foreign businesses
and investors, citizens lose confidence in the rule of
law, and courts are
unable to serve the national good.
"An environment
where there is still hope for remedies is the least that the
people of
Zimbabwe deserve. Politicians must therefore leave the judiciary
and lawyers
alone".
Finally, the ZLHR report argues, African leaders should take care
not to
compromise the security of human rights defenders on the continent:
'Mbeki
runs a big risk of compromising his own credibility as a
responsible
leader', particularly in the eyes of most Zimbabweans.
The
consequences for Mbeki's brainchild NEPAD, the New Economic Partnership
for
Africa's Development, 'will be fairly predictable given its impression
of
being rooted in observance of human rights, good governance and the rule
of
law.'
The International Bar Association, an organisation that represents
the Law
Societies and Bar Associations around the world, and works to uphold
the
rule of law.
BBC
Air Zimbabwe set to pay debt
Air Zimbabwe has
secured funds to pay its debt to the International
Air Transport Association
(IATA), an official has said.
The airline's chief executive, Rambanai
Chingwena, said arrangements
are under way for the remission of the money due
to IATA.
The national carrier was suspended from the association
over a debt of
$1.3m for tickets booked with other airlines.
IATA, acts as a clearing house between players in the
aviation
industry.
Chaos
Mr Chingwena said the
airline's membership of IATA remains intact.
Last year, foreign
airports threatened to impound Air Zimbabwe's
equipment if it did not pay
outstanding fees.
The country's economy has been in freefall in
recent years, with
inflation at 600% and shortages in foreign
currency.
New Zimbabwe
Asylum-seeker faces separation from child
By Martin
Shipton
06/02/04
AN asylum seeker from Zimbabwe who watched as her uncle
was shot dead by
Robert Mugabe's thugs could be separated from her newborn
baby because of
harsh UK Government regulations.
Campaigners have
urged the Welsh National Assembly to take up the case of
the mother and
others who face a similar plight.
The asylum seeker, who is 26 and gave
birth to her daughter in Cardiff last
week, fled Zimbabwe with her sister
last May, weeks after her uncle, an
activist with the MDC opposition party,
was murdered.
After arriving at Cardiff Airport the two women claimed
asylum and were
initially sent to Home Office accommodation in Newport. They
were moved to
Cardiff in September.
Both women have lost appeals to be
granted asylum status, although until now
only the new mother has had state
benefits cut off.
Last night the young mother, who fears victimisation if
she is identified,
said, "We left Zimbabwe because we were terrified. Now we
find ourselves in
a terrible situation in Wales.
"The last money I
received from the state was £5 just after Christmas and
since then I have
been living off my sister's benefits. It is very difficult
to live.
"I
am now terrified that they will take my baby from me. I ask the
authorities
here to help me and not to separate me from my daughter."
The father of
the child is still in Zimbabwe.
The Rev Aled Edwards, chairman of
Displaced People in Action, an
organisation that campaigns for asylum
seekers, yesterday presented an
emergency report to the National Assembly's
Equality of Opportunity
Committee on the plight of the young mother and
another asylum seeker from
Guiana who is due to give birth in Wales on
February 17.
The report said, "During the past few days, the debate
concerning the care
of asylum seeker children in Wales has taken a
significant turn. I believe
that it would be remiss of me not to bring to
your attention the plight of
two young women living in Wales who have had
support withdrawn from them.
"The needs of both women are pressing - one,
from Guiana, is eight months
pregnant and the other, a 26-year-old from
Zimbabwe, gave birth to a baby
girl last week. She had her support terminated
on December 29. She is
currently living with her sister who is also on
support and is helping to
support her.
"However, her sister is not
supposed to be housing her in Home Office
accommodation and she will be
evicted.
"Given that Wales now has a baby girl born to a destitute asylum
mother, I
would ask the National Assembly through this committee and in
co-operation
with the Children's Commissioner for Wales, to do all in its
power:
"To ensure that baby B is treated in manner which is compatible
with the UN
Convention of the Rights of the Child and in particular Article 9
which
states clearly that 'Children should not be separated from their
parents
unless it is for their own good';
"To ensure that the National
Assembly does not act in a manner which is in
breach of Section 107 of the
Government of Wales Act that prohibits it from
doing any act which is
incompatible with the European Convention on Human
Rights;
"To reflect
further on the appropriateness of granting new powers to the
Children's
Commissioner for Wales to protect some of Wales's most vulnerable
people -
its asylum-seeking children.
"To acquire assurances from the Home Office
that Welsh children will not
have to turn to the proposed Children's
Commissioner for England concerning
non-devolved issues, including
asylum."
The committee agreed to investigate what powers the Assembly had
to
intervene.
After the meeting Mr Edwards said, "This woman is in a
terrible limbo. She
has been refused asylum, yet the Home Office has a policy
of not deporting
people to Zimbabwe."
Assistant Children's
Commissioner for Wales Sara Reid said, "We are very
concerned about the
situation of children asylum seekers. Under the Children
Act 1989 there is
also a duty on public authorities to take full account of
the needs of
children.
"So far as the legal position of the Children's Commissioner
for Wales is
concerned, we are currently carrying out a thorough evaluation
of various
anomalies."
Hobart Mercury
Munya sees the human side
By DANNY
ROSE
07feb04
FOREIGN student Munyaradzi Chiraramiro emerged after two
weeks behind bars
in Hobart yesterday and said the first thing he would do is
call his mum.
"I can't believe I'm out," said the Zimbabwean who is also
known as Munya.
"I've been really anxious to get out.
"First thing
is I'll call my mum, and then maybe go for a few beers and
watch the
cricket."
He was reunited with his mates who had gathered at the entrance
of the
Hobart Remand Centre.
They have organised a fund-raising
campaign and a benefit concert in a bid
to cover his outstanding university
fees.
Hobart businessman John Elrick also stepped forward yesterday to
pay a
$10,000 bond to ensure Munya's release.
Munya, 25, also spoke
publicly for the first time of the visa row that has
put a halt to his
university studies.
He said he had been overwhelmed by the
response.
"I never thought my friends could come through for me like they
have," he
said.
"I have no words, I am just really touched by the
level of support from the
community.
"It shows the human side of
Tasmanians and I really like it."
His release comes after he won apivotal
appeal on Thursday.
The Migrant Review Tribunal found he should not have
been denied a bridging
visa and therefore not have been detained.
His
new bridging visa will allow him to remain in Tasmania only until
February 20
but he has avoided official deportation and its hefty costs and
a possible
three-year ban on returning.
He can reapply for a student visa once he
leaves Australia and covers his
debts.
His original student visa was
ruled invalid due to thousands of dollars in
outstanding university fees,
caused by the crash of the Zimbabwean dollar.
"Right now I have 14 days
to leave the country and I have no work rights, no
study rights, and I have
to report to immigration every day," Munya said.
"But I only need one
more year to get my degree, so I'm keen to get back to
it."
Munya will
enter a fresh round of talks with his lawyer Surinder Mahindroo
next week to
assess his future legal options.
He is facing another bill of almost
$3000 to pay for his detention.
"I believe he shouldn't be paying it,"
Mrs Mahindroo said.
Munya said he may not return to Zimbabwe as his
parents had warned it is
unsafe.
One option may be New
Zealand.
"I hope to travel somewhere closer, somewhere cheaper," he said.
* Donations
to the Munyaradzi Chiraramiro Trust can be made at branches of
the Bass &
Equitable Building Society.
ABC Radio Australia - transcript
Warning about vast poaching in
Zimbabwe
The World Today - Thursday, 5 February , 2004
12:21:30
Reporter: Sally Sara
HAMISH ROBERTSON: To Africa,
where landowners and wildlife activists
are warning that thousands of animals
are being killed by poachers in
Zimbabwe. In the absence of law and order,
illegal hunters have moved on to
former white-owned farms.
As
our Africa Correspondent Sally Sara reports, exiled farmers are now
calling
on the Zimbabwean Government to protect animals which are
under
threat.
SALLY SARA: Poachers and illegal hunters are
helping themselves to
Zimbabwe's wildlife. There's little to stop them. In
the back blocks of
former game farms and cattle properties, there are few
signs of law and
order.
Pen De Vries is a landowner. He and his
family have spent the past 40
years building up their property south of
Victoria Falls. They stocked it
with wildlife and made a living from tourism,
professional hunting and
farming, but they were thrown off the land by ruling
party supporters in
2002. Now Mr De Vries says, the poachers have moved
in.
PEN DE VRIES: The situation with the poaching is absolutely
chaotic in
Zimbabwe as we speak right now. It's really bad and I think that
by the end
of next year and I believe that probably 80 per cent of the
wildlife would
have been wiped out.
SALLY SARA: Some of the
poachers are locals who are taking the
wildlife to make a living, others are
foreign hunters who are making the
most of the chaos to hunt illegally.
Wildlife groups are trying to gauge the
scale of the problem, but it's not
easy to get access to the properties that
are under threat.
David Newton is a spokesman with international wildlife monitoring
group,
TRAFFIC. He says many of the animals are being left to die in
homemade
snares.
DAVID NEWTON: Well I think there is no doubt that the use
of snares is
not a humane way of killing animals and yes certainly animals
can linger on
for hours, days, maybe a week before they finally
succumb.
SALLY SARA: But there is little protection for the
animals. Activists
inside the country are calling on the Zimbabwean
Government to take action
against the illegal hunters.
Johnny
Rodrigues is Chairman of the Zimbabwe Conservation Taskforce.
He says time is
running out.
JOHNNY RODRIGUES: It is a major problem because the
thing is, you
know, rules are made. They've been broken. At the end of the
day, you know,
when you have got no law and order, you know, we say we say
stop, it's not
right. It's a problem that is going to take from now anything
up to 15, 20
years to solve. You know not many people are prepared to stand
up and sort
of say "look this is wrong, let's try and solve the problem."
It's like
putting a death sentence on your future generations.
SALLY SARA: For many of the landholders, there is little they can
do.
Pen De Vries is now living in Adelaide with his family. It is
unsafe
for them to return to their farm in Zimbabwe despite High Court
orders,
which say that they can stay. Mr De Vries says it's difficult to
watch the
animals and the land being exploited beyond their
limits.
PEN DE VRIES: It is incredibly sad. I…, you know, to see
your life's
work being destroyed in a matter of months. I mean, it's 40 years
of work
that's basically been destroyed and yes it is, it's very difficult,
it's
very sad to see it happening and you know, you feel really helpless that
you
can't do anything to help these animals.
SALLY SARA: There's
little sign of change. As Zimbabwe's political and
economic troubles worsen,
the plight of its wildlife is being overshadowed.
This is Sally
Sara in Johannesburg for The World Today.
WOMEN OF ZIMBABWE ARISE (WOZA)
To unsubscribe from this mailing list email prnews@mweb.co.zw with subject
line
'unsubscribe'
WOZA means 'Come forward'. By women for women, and with
women, across race,
colour, creed, class or political persuasion. Empowering
women to be
courageous, caring, committed and in communication with their
communities.
Our protest message is: Cry Beloved Zimbabwe - Defend your
right to love!
Join other women on Saturday 14th February, Valentines Day
2004 at 11:30am
at the following venues:
1. Bulawayo meeting place:
outside the Small City Hall in 8th Avenue
2. Harare: Africa Unity Square in
Sam Nujoma (Second) Street
3. London: Sympathisers in the UK will be
supporting WOZA with a
simultaneous demonstration outside Zimbabwe House, 429
Strand in central
London email: wozauk2004@yahoo.co.uk
4. Other
locations to be advised.
5. ZRP Byo and Harare have been
notified.
What we expect of participants:
· Attend the walk to show
solidarity with other women.
· Show that you love Zimbabwe by bringing roses
or any flowers to hand out
as we walk.
· We will walk peacefully through
the streets dressed in white for peace.
· Follow the instruction of the walk
marshals
· If you cannot join us, demonstrate at your closest shopping
centre. But
please try to do it at the same time so that we are
together.
· If the Police arrest participants, put flowers on Police
Station/
(External at High Commission offices) pavements to remind them
that
Zimbabweans still have the right to peaceful protest under the
constitution.
WHY ARE WE ARE CRYING? We say CRY BELOVED ZIMBABWE...
·
For those who have died from political violence.
· For rape victims and the
victims of politically motivated rape used as a
form of torture.
· For our
hungry children and orphans that we can no longer afford to feed,
clothe and
educate.
· For our children living in exile as refugees
· For those who
die of HIV/AIDS without access to healthcare.
· For many of us have lost our
jobs and our self-respect.
· For all women who continue to be discriminated
against in all spheres of
society.
· We are crying to put out the fire of
hate burning our beloved Zimbabwe.
DEFEND YOUR RIGHT TO LOVE AND LET LOVE
OVERCOME HATE!
DEFEND ALL YOUR RIGHTS AND STAND FOR THE TRUTH!
Zimbabweans
are told to HATE but choose to LOVE! This will be a better place
when the
power of love replaces the love of power. We want Zimbabweans to
LOVE each
other, help us by stopping this hate fire.
STOP spreading HATE:
·
Newspapers, radio and television must balance their messages.
· Give us back
our freedom of expression - remove AIPPA and POSA so we can
meet freely.
·
Restore the healthcare system - Treatment and medicines availability
is
almost zero.
· Disband the Youth Militia - our children come home
infected with hate and
diseases.
· Political violence is increasing: We
must be free to vote for the
candidate of our choice.
· Corruption must be
stamped out everywhere without favouring a small group.
WOZA ACTIVISTS
SAY: DEFEND YOUR RIGHT TO LOVE AND LET LOVE OVERCOME HATE!
International
Convention on Civil and Political Rights (Zimbabwe is
a
signatory) Article 20:
Any propaganda
for war shall be prohibited by law.
Any advocacy of national, racial or
religious hatred that constitutes
incitement to discrimination, hostility or
violence shall be prohibited by
law.
Didymus Mutasa, ZANU PF
Organising Secretary Mugabe: "We would be better off
with only 6 million
people with our own people who support the liberation
struggle. We don't want
all these extra people."
Solidarity Peace Trust in August 2003 Comments
from youth militia themselves
about their activities: Interviews with youth
militia in Zimbabwe and South
Africa
"It was about vandalism. We were used
to do the things the State does not
want to do themselves. Then they can just
say it was just the youths, not
us".
"We are Zanu-PF's "B" team. The army
is the "A" team and we do the things
the government does not want the "A"
team to do.
"We got a lot of power. Our source of power was this
encouragement we were
getting, particularly from the police and others. It
was instilled in us
that whenever we go out, we are free to do whatever we
want and nobody was
going to question that."
Constantine Chiwenga
General, Zimbabwe's new defence force boss, giving the
country's doctors and
nurses a final order to end their two-month strike "If
you refuse to
co-operate, we can take you to the army barracks and detain
you, and you will
see what will happen."
President Robert Mugabe Zimbabwe Independent 17
Jan 2004. Is there Hate
Speech in Zimbabwe "Our party must continue to strike
fear in the heart of
the white man, our real enemy! Make them tremble."
"Whites are not human
beings"
For more information, please contact Ph:
(+263) 11 213 885 / 91 300 456
or write P.O. Box FM 701, Famona, Bulawayo
Zimbabwe Email:
wozazimbabwe@yahoo.com
Crisis
Coalition Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition, Harare +263 4 747 817
Donation
towards the care of orphans welcomed.
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Associated Press
Zimbabwe's only independent daily closes
HARARE,
Zimbabwe (AP) — Journalists at Zimbabwe's only independent daily
newspaper
left their offices Thursday after the Supreme Court ruled it was a
crime to
work without a government license.
The Daily News, a platform for dissent
against the rule of President Robert
Mugabe, was refused a license in
December. It will not appear Friday, the
owners said.
"We are not
printing tonight," said Brian Mutsau, a spokesman for the
owners, Associated
Newspapers of Zimbabwe.
Production was halted on Friday's edition after a
meeting of executives and
staff at the paper's Harare
headquarters.
The closure came even though police had not moved to shut
the paper after
the nation's highest court earlier Thursday threw out a
constitutional
challenge to the government's sweeping media laws.
The
law makes it illegal to work as a journalist or operate a media
organization
without official accreditation from the state Media and
Information
Commission. Breaking the law can lead to two years in jail
without right to
appeal.
Mutsau said the paper's journalists were planning to reapply
for
accreditation in line with the ruling.
"Then we will see how it
turns out," he said.
Without regular sales and advertising revenues, the
embattled paper was not
expected to survive a new lengthy closure
The
Daily News reopened Jan. 22 after long legal battle to remove police
from its
offices and printing factory.
The government banned the paper in
September and police blockaded its
premises after the commission refused to
license it.
Opposition leaders, trade unionists and independent
journalists have been
targeted in the crack down and Mugabe has been accused
of packing the courts
with sympathetic judges.
Thursday's court ruling
put journalists under the direct control of the
government with penalties of
a fine and imprisonment for infringements of
laws enforced by the Information
Ministry and the state-appointed media
commission, said attorney Sternford
Moyo, representing the Independent
Journalists Association of
Zimbabwe.
The Supreme Court rejected the association's contention that
the
government's media laws violated constitutional rights of free
expression,
he said.
The Star
Zim man in asylum ordeal
February 6,
2004
By Estelle Ellis, Peter Fabricius and Basildon
Peta
For almost six months, Michari Moyo has been a man with no
country.
Political violence has driven him out of Zimbabwe, the
land of his
birth. His own passport barred him from Britain, where he has
family.
A fraudulently obtained South African passport he used to
get to
London landed him in the Lindela repatriation centre on the West
Rand.
He doesn't want to go back to Zimbabwe. He was deported from
Britain,
and South Africa doesn't want him either.
His case has
confirmed a suspicion long harboured that Zimbabwean
refugees flee to London
using South African passports. Diplomats say they
fear that if the problem
increases, Britain might introduce visas for South
Africans.
However, the London High Court has ordered the Home Office (ministry
of the
interior) to do all it can to return Moyo to Britain, and last night
he was
on a flight back to London.
Maxwell Zimuto, an information officer
for Zimbabwe's opposition
Movement for Democratic Change, said the Zvishavane
district, from which
Moyo hails, has been one of the areas worst affected by
political violence.
He said MDC councillor Simon Dick had only this
week fled his ward
after his house was burnt down by Zanu-PF
supporters.
"I can tell you that we have seen some of the most
horrific episodes
of political violence here," said Zimuto, describing
Zvishavane and
surrounding areas as the "home of the green bombers" - members
of President
Robert Mugabe's youth militia.
Last year, Moyo
says, the political climate in Zimbabwe forced him to
flee his country. On
August 26 he arrived at Heathrow Airport using a South
African passport, as
he could not enter with his Zimbabwe passport because
he did not have a
visa.
He immediately claimed asylum but, as his travel documents
said he was
South African, he remained there in limbo for four months until
British
immigration officials sent him back to South Africa under
escort.
Moyo was handed over to the South African authorities and
charged with
having unlawfully obtained a passport.
He was
held at the Kempton Park police station for four days before
being
transferred to the Lindela repatriation centre, where he was until
last
night, awaiting removal to Zimbabwe.
Hours before repatriation, his
family, who were already in London,
brought an urgent court application to
force the Home Office to help him. A
judge agreed.
Nick
Sheppard, spokesperson for the British high commission in
Pretoria, explained
that there was a general moratorium in place in Britain
against deporting
illegal immigrants from Zimbabwe.
The blanket order stipulated they
should be allowed to stay in Britain
until they had had the opportunity to
apply for asylum.
But, he said, Moyo had arrived in Britain on a
South African passport
under a different name - Molepe.
When
British immigration authorities contacted South African
authorities to check
this, they confirmed that Molepe had been issued a
passport properly and was
therefore a South African.
"On that basis, he was returned to South
Africa, since we do not grant
political asylum to South Africans," Sheppard
said.
It was discovered only later that his passport should not
have been
issued because he was Zimbabwean.
Official sources
said he probably got it by paying a corrupt Home
Affairs official R4 000 -
the going rate.
Official sources said the British court order to
send Moyo back to
Britain could open the door to many more
Zimbabweans.
They said that every night "a good few" Zimbabweans
with false South
African travel documents were embarking on flights from
Johannesburg to
London.
The British government charges airlines
£2 000 (about R24 000) for
every passenger they bring in who is not supposed
to be in the UK, so it is
not in their interests to let these people through,
an official said.
New Zimbabwe
VIEW FROM KUTAMA
The story of a lecturer and an
editor
05/02/04
BY MTHULISI MATHUTHU
WHEN we were mass communication
students we were used to inviting scholars
and particularly senior editors
from the main stream media to come and share
with us their experiences and to
advise us where possible.
One Friday in May 1997 it occurred to us that
we had invited nearly all the
editors including the then government Director
of Information Bornwell
Chakaodza.
But one important newspaper was yet to
be invited and that was the Zimbabwe
Independent!
We decided to invite
Iden Wetherell who at that time was the assistant
editor. All our journalism
lecturers gave us a go ahead but one problem
emerged: Our
history, English
and mass communication theories lecturer who was also the
head of department,
was firmly against the idea.
We had known that Mahoso would object to Iden’s
coming to address us and
that generated a lot of interest among all the
students.
The whole week we debated the issue. Others suggested that
instead we should
invite Iden’s editor Trevor Ncube but those of us who were
already
anticipating drama said no.
Mahoso had repeatedly told us that
Iden was the author of the satirical
Muckraker column which had persistently
caricatured him as a dinosaur in the
newly established Zimbabwe
Independent
“If he is the author of such a column then we need him here”,
the guys in
our class would say. After all Muckraker always castigated
trainees from our
college as inadequately trained and we wanted to hear him
say why.
We decided that come what may Iden would address us. A Zimbabwe
Independent
correspondent, Kelvin Jakachira, who was in our class volunteered
to put the
invitation to Iden on a particular afternoon.
That day we
waited for Jakachira to return with the news and as we saw him
approach from
the main entrance we gathered around him. The news we were
waiting for had
come. Iden had agreed.
“Muckraker comes to Polly,” some controversial
guys would write on the
blackboard just before Mahoso’s lessons throughout
the whole week.
Guys in my class literally enjoyed Mahoso’s annoyance
with the Independent
editors whom he called “house niggers”, “Rhodesian right
wingers” and
“racists”.
Above all we really wanted to see in flesh the
man whom Mahoso said was the
author of this column called Muckraker. Some of
us had met Angus Shaw aka
Andrew Saxon before but not Muckraker.
Come
Friday, Mahoso who always attended the Friday meetings as the patron of
the
press club, was nowhere to be seen. Neither was Iden. We waited. Later
we
resolved that Jakachira should go and remind him because the
Independent
offices are a just a stone’s throw away from the
college.
After a short while we saw his car halting outside. There was
much
excitement and whistling. Some mischievous fellow had scribbled
something on
the notice board to the effect that Mahoso had fled. I think it
went like
this: “ Mahoso flees as Muckraker arrives”.
Somebody said
“Mahoso zero Muckraker one”. I still remember one first year
girl asked her
colleague: “Where is the Dr”. “Which Dr?” asked Iden who had
overheard the
conversation.
“Dr Mahoso”, went the answer.
Iden chuckled and the
guys loved it.
The topic was broad: Press Freedom in Zimbabwe. Iden gave
a coherent
analysis and I remember him saying something to the effect that
all those
who were in public office “should also be in the
news”.
Suddenly something happened. A broadcasting lecturer, Olga Ndoro
brought in
his cameras, began recording and in the process pushing the
students who
were sited upfront. Iden didn’t like it.
“Kelvin tell
this guy that he is disturbing us. Who is he,? He asked
furiously.
We
liked the whole thing and Kelvin (Jakachira) was in a fix. lden was
his
editor and Ndoro his senior lecturer.
By the time things calmed
down I was already convinced that this man
speaking in front of us was either
Muckraker or Muckraker ‘s friend. Why
because he kept saying : “That’s what
my colleague Muckraker is saying."
Iden continued to defending the paper
for publishing the CCJP report which
detailed the Robert Mugabe regime’s
atrocities in Matabeleland and the
Midlands in the 1980’s.
I hasten to
add that the issue of Matabeleland was one of the things on
which Mahoso
really didn’t agree with the Independent. The paper was
revisiting it because
its white owners and its Black Uncle Toms were bent on
driving a wedge
between the people of Matebeleland and the rest of the
country, Mahoso
argued.
We put that to Iden and he said as far as he was concerned the
issue of
Matabeleland was a good story which any editor worth their salt
would be
happy to run.
Guys in my class literally enjoyed Mahoso’s
annoyance with the Independent
editors whom he called “house niggers”,
“Rhodesian right wingers” and
“racists”.
MTHULISI MATHUTHU
He also
insisted that there was nothing wrong with Tony Namate’s cartoons as
they
were just similar to those enjoyed by readers elsewhere across
the
globe.
Leaders have got to be subjected to the Punch Magazine like
cartoons, he
said.
Come question time. Jethro Chimanga, now with Sport
FM asked: “Who writes
the Muckraker column”.
The answer came out like
a bullet: “Muckraker is our colleague”.
“Who is that colleague?,”
somebody intervened. “He is our colleague and that
’s all,” Iden insisted.
Questions were just flying. Somebody also asked why
the paper was bent on
exposing scandals about the ruling elite and not about
the IMF and so on. The
sins of Breton Woods institutions shouldn’t be used
as excuses for corruption
and murder, Iden responded.
The other one worth mentioning came from the
Herald reporter, Lovemore
Mataire who wanted to know a bit about the guest
speaker’s history. He also
wanted to remind Iden about some article which he
said he had read in some
magazine (Reader’s Digest I think) where he had
sounded like he was bitter
about Mugabe having become the head of
state.
All the questions and comments, I think, were out of the curiosity
feeding
from the many things we had been told by some lecturers about Iden.
So we
wanted him to clear the air and I don’t know if Kelvin had put that to
him.
Why do I tell this story? It is a story I hope will be of interest
to those
who have read the exchanges in the newspapers between Mahoso and
Iden. Iden
is my former editor and Mahoso my former lecturer and both of them
have done
good to me.
I remember when as a student Mahoso did me a
great service. More than
once he recommended me for part time jobs. I
translated brochures for
multi-national companies and earned myself extra
cash. The other day he
introduced
me to a Lebanese writer, Gibran Kahlil
whose book has been used even by
modern musicians and poets.
Iden on
the other hand despite his belief that we were inadequately trained
(It is
one of the views which he shares with my friend Muckraker) gave me
an
opportunity to work at the Independent.
So many years down the line
nothing has changed except that they have
changed offices. Mahoso is now the
chairman of the Media Commission and Iden
is now the editor of the Zimbabwe
Independent.
Mahoso is still convinced that Iden is a racist. Iden on the
other hand is
still convinced that Mahoso is not a genuine professional but
just an
apologist of
the establishment.
I disagree with both of
them on many instances. Iden for example has tended
to want to make it appear
as if only Mahoso’ students need extra coaching.
But I know that some of the
people he has often referred us to for guidance
have written false things.
Most of them still do.
One of them got himself excused from writing for a
leading South African
paper for many reasons which I know included lifting
stories written by
Mahoso’s graduates.
Recently while in Nairobi, I
bought a book by one of them and the
inaccuracies are just appalling. Iden’s
emphasis on his observation that
Mahoso’s students need retraining has tended
to be driven by his contempt
for Mahoso than the desire to teach. He regards
it as a weapon than a
genuine observation.
Most of the time he uses it
in a conversation it will be meant to subdue.
Mahoso on the other hand
preaches a lot about tolerance but I am afraid to
say he is one of the most
intolerant people around.
Just before we had known much as journalism
students Mahoso was already
refusing to allow us to hear Iden. Imagine a
trainer of journalists wanting
to bar his students from hearing the other
views! Even going for attachment
at the Independent was
discouraged.
In another incident, I recall meeting Mahoso at the Oasis
hotel with a
colleague who is also a former class mate. We approached and
greeted him
together
with his friends Rino Zhuwarara and Vimbai
Chivaura.
It was as if he had met two devils. He really was repulsive. It
was only
after Chivaura and Zhuwarara had shook our hands that Mahoso started
talking
to us.
The reason was that we were working for a paper he resents.
I was
gobsmacked.
Both Mahoso and Iden (like you and me) are not
saints and so I will leave
their exchanges alone. The debate is of public
interest only in as far as
both men are
occupying important offices in our
society.
Mahoso is the Chairman of the Media Commission which can close a
newspaper
while Iden is the editor of a leading business weekly taken
seriously by
many and is currently under threat.
But I will stick to
the Zimbabwe Independent and the race issue which is the
paper under threat.
All the drivel against the paper suggests an intention
to either inflict
direct damage to it by closing it down or by scattering
its staff through
deporting some individuals.
There is a thin line these days between the
rights of a particular
journalist and those of anybody else. If any of the
above things happen to
the paper the damage should be shared by all those of
us who value the
importance of free expression. Jonathan Moyo, I think, in
his right frame of
mind understands the importance of that particular
paper.
After all he has contributed brilliant articles in it and even as
he is
angry about
it he attacks only the staff some of whom he has grudges
against but not the
essence of its existence.
Mahoso on the other hand
is contemptuous of the paper. He is chocking about
it. That is why he is
refusing to send his complaints to the paper but will
choose to go to the
captive media.
I can say this because as students we well understood the
intensity of his
contempt so much so that a joke went around that if you want
to pass Mahoso’
s essays just attack Trevor Ncube and his paper.
To me
the Independent is a paper that we need. It is a paper that built
many
people’s CV’s and they have gone on to become good journalists
elsewhere.
Even Trevor Ncube today has an option to sell it and concentrate
on his new
find in South Africa, the Mail & Guardian but I know that he
understands the
importance of a good CV back home.
He understands how
that paper has changed many things and people and
therefore should remain in
safe hands. It is the sort of a paper that has
set standards and achieved
many things which others have only gone on to
claim.
The copy is
checked and double checked. The writing style and the
resentation of news
analysis have been copied. The English is ace. Before
joining the Independent
I worked elsewhere under a young editor I consider
to be fairly intelligent
but he shocked me one day. He insisted that words
such as totalitarian and
authoritarian were too strong to be used in
reference to modern regimes and
leaders.
They had better be reserved for the Bourbons, Iven the Terrible
and other
tyrants of the earlier era!. At the Independent there wouldn’t be
anything
like that.
More importantly the Independent has helped in
alerting people to the
dangers of monolithic thinking which prevailed in the
1980’s when people
were
praising this regime while a tragedy was
unfolding.
The paper has given its share in the fight to deconstruct
myths about
President Robert Mugabe and his party. In just a few weeks time
it had made
many
see who was naked. The achievements are many. To pull it
down is to kill
debate and suffocate the free word.
So reason must
prevail - thuthuma@yahoo.com
Zim Independent
Chidyausiku upholds Aippa
Vincent Kahiya
IN a clear
endorsement of the government's Media and Information Commission,
the Supreme
Court yesterday ruled that the regulatory body was
constitutional and laws
prohibiting journalists from practising without
accreditation were
legitimate.
The ruling is likely to have a chilling effect on the
practice of journalism
in Zimbabwe and provides the government with the
weapon it needs to deal
with dissent in the independent press.
At
the same time the Supreme Court reserved judgement in an application by
the
MIC filed on Tuesday to stop the ANZ from publishing its two titles
pending
finalisation of the appeals on February 18.
Chief Justice Godfrey
Chidyausiku's ruling yesterday in the case brought by
the Independent
Journalists Association of Zimbabwe (Ijaz) was assented by
Justices Misheck
Cheda, Vernanda Ziyambi and Luke Malaba. But Justice Wilson
Sandura produced
a dissenting judgement upholding freedom of expression.
(See story
below.)
In response to a November 2002 application by Ijaz
challenging the
constitutionality of the Access to Information and Protection
of Privacy Act
(Aippa) and the powers of the MIC, headed by Tafataona Mahoso,
Chidyausiku
ruled that it was constitutional for journalists to be registered
with the
MIC as stated by Section 79 of the Act. He ruled that Section 83
which
prohibits journalists from practising without accreditation was
also
constitutional as were the powers vested in the MIC under Section
85.
In a joint statement yesterday Ijaz, the Media Institute of Southern
Africa,
and the Media Monitoring Project Zimbabwe said the sections upheld by
the
court posed a serious threat to the work of journalists and infringed
on
their rights to freedom of expression and that of the
media.
"These sections compel all journalists to be accredited by MIC
and make it a
criminal offence to practise journalism without accreditation,"
the groups
said. "While there is nothing wrong with accreditation for
administrative
purposes, we are concerned however that the MIC and the
Minister of
Information are accorded quasi-judicial powers to decide who
works as a
journalist or not. In other words the MIC and the minister have
arbitrary
powers to decide who may or may not practise as a
journalist."
The court however struck down Section 80 (1), (a), (b)
and (c) of the Act
which was deemed to criminalise the abuse of journalistic
privilege.
"Criminalising the abuse of a privilege is patently
oppressive," the
judgement said.
Parts of the section have already
been struck down in an earlier ruling by
the same court and it was also
amended by parliament last year.
But it is the upholding of Sections
79, 83 and 85 that is likely to leave an
indelible mark on the media
considering allegations of partiality by the MIC
when dealing with
independent media organisations.
In his ruling Chidyausiku contended
that Section 20 of the Constitution of
Zimbabwe guarantees freedom of
expression but does not guarantee freedom of
the press.
"I see
nothing in the language of the Section 20 (1) that suggests that
the
legislature intended to confer on an individual a constitutional
entitlement
to work as a journalist," said Chidyausiku.
The
Supreme Court said that the "practice of journalism is different from
other
liberal professions such as law and medicine" which are regulated
by
statute.
"It is correct that the practice of journalism
involves the exercise of
freedom of expression, the receiving and imparting
of information," said
Chidyausiku.
"This distinction in my view
does not place the practice of journalism
beyond the control of statutory
regulation."
He said the fact that the press was important did not
place it above the
law.
Sternford Moyo of Scanlen & Holderness,
representing Ijaz, had contended
that the licensing of journalists was
unconstitutional as this did not fall
within exceptions to freedom of
expression like providing for public order.
But Chidyausiku
differed.
"I find myself in agreement with the proposition that a law
providing for
the licensing of media falls under the exception of the law
providing for
law and order," he said.
The Chief Justice also
rejected Moyo's claim that Section 79 conferred too
much power on the
Information minister in the licensing of journalists.
"I am unable to
accept this submission for a number of reasons," said
Chidyausiku. "A proper
reading of the section reveals that that section
confers on the commission
and not the minister certain powers.
"If the suggestion is that the
commission is sufficiently not independent of
the minister or is controlled
by the government, the argument is
misconceived," he said.
On
Section 83 which outlaws practising without a licence, Chidyausiku ruled
that
the section was constitutional.
"Section 83 prohibits an individual
from practising as a journalist unless
he or she is accredited as a
journalist. The issues raised here are
identical to those raised in respect
of the challenge to Section 79. What I
said in regard to Section 79 applies
with equal force to Section 83. In my
view, Section 83 is constitutional," he
said.
Zim Independent
...Sandura disagrees
Dumisani Muleya
ZIMBABWE'S
most experienced Supreme Court judge, Justice Wilson Sandura, has
distanced
himself from Chief Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku over the issue of
compulsory
accreditation and punishment of journalists under the Access to
Information
and Protection of Privacy Act (Aippa).
In a powerful dissenting judgement
which followed Chidyausiku's ruling
yesterday that it was constitutional for
journalists to be forced to
accredit with the Media and Information
Commission (MIC), which is chaired
by Tafataona Mahoso, Sandura said
compelling journalists to register was
clearly ultra vires the
constitution.
Sandura said mandatory accreditation was
unconstitutional because it
violated Section 20 of the constitution. The
section, which is in sync with
constitutional developments in tested
democracies, gives journalists, as
well as other citizens, freedom of
expression that includes the liberty to
"hold opinions, receive and impart
ideas and information without
interference" unless where state restrictions
are reasonably justifiable in
a democratic society.
Since
accreditation of journalists by the MIC under Section 79 of Aippa was
subject
to approval by Information minister Jonathan Moyo and permanent
secretary
George Charamba, Sandura said this effectively meant that it was
a
restrictive measure and not a mere routine.
"The accreditation
is not, therefore, a mere formality. If it were, why
would it need the
minister's approval?" Sandura asked.
Chidyausiku said Section 20 of
the constitution, that guarantees freedom of
expression, did not protect
freedom of the press.
However, Sandura said: "It is pertinent to note
that there is no rational
basis for distinguishing the practice of journalism
from the exercise of the
right of freedom of expression because the two are
intertwined."
Sandura, a Supreme Court judge of several years
standing, said the task
before the court should have been to consider whether
or not the
"restrictive provisions of Section 79 are reasonably justifiable
in a
democratic society" and "sufficiently important to justify limiting
a
fundamental right".
He said Moyo claimed the idea of
accreditation's main objectives was to
ensure accountability and easy access
to events by journalists. As the issue
of access to events applied only to
voluntary accreditation, Sandura said
compulsory registration was therefore
the issue.
"Regrettably, the first respondent (Moyo) does not say how
the requirement
that a journalist be accredited, before exercising his rights
as a
journalist, would achieve the intended objective (accountability),"
Sandura
said.
"Nevertheless, I am satisfied that the legislative
objective given is not
sufficiently important to justify limiting freedom of
expression."
Quoting another judgement, Sandura said freedom of
expression could not be
limited on flimsy grounds because it was "a
cornerstone upon which the very
existence of a democratic society
rests".
Sandura said the Aippa provision that Moyo claimed was aimed
at making
journalists accountable was unnecessary because "provisions of
common law
and criminal law make the journalist accountable for his
actions".
He also said the provision which empowers MIC to penalise
journalists for
violating Aippa in general was flawed because it suggested
punishment of
journalists for contravening sections of the law that are in
themselves
actually unconstitutional.
While Sandura agreed with
Chidyausiku that "criminalising the abuse of a
privilege (as Aippa did) is
patently oppressive", he also ruled that
provisions of Section 80 that deal
with "falsifying or fabricating
information, and publishing falsehoods" were
also unconstitutional "simply
because the publication of false statements is
protected by Section 20 of
the constitution".
Zim Independent
Pressure mounts on govt to reinstate Matombo
Blessing
Zulu
PRESSURE is mounting on the government to reinstate Lovemore Matombo,
the
president of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) who was
dismissed
last month.
Matombo was dismissed on January 23 by the
Zimpost management for being away
without official leave while leading the
ZCTU delegation to the 8th ordinary
Congress of the Organisation of African
Trade Union Unity (OATUU) which was
held in Khartoum.
Hassan
Sunmonu, the secretary general of OATUU, last week wrote a letter to
Labour
minister July Moyo complaining about the dismissal.
"As you know,
honourable minister, the action of the Zimpost management is a
gross
violation of human and trade union rights," Sunmonu said.
"I cannot
imagine that an African trade union leader can be dismissed from
service for
attending the OATUU congress. And such dismissal, coming from a
parastatal of
the Zimbabwe government, makes it doubly embarrassing,"
he
said.
Sunmonu asked the minister to appeal to Zimpost to
reinstate Matombo
unconditionally.
In another development, the
International Confederation of Free Trade Unions
(ICFTU), which condemned the
dismissal in a statement last week, has written
to Moyo seeking Matombo's
reinstatement.
ICFTU secretary-general Guy Ryder said the dismissal
was carried out on
"totally spurious grounds and cannot be
justified".
"The ICFTU is outraged that Matombo has been victimised
for his trade union
activities and demand that you intervene immediately to
ensure that he is
reinstated in his position in Zimpost," Ryder
said.
"It is a deep embarrassment to your government that Matombo has
been
dismissed for attending a meeting of African trade unions when
the
government of Zimbabwe purports to be such a strong supporter of the
African
Union.
"As Minister of Labour, you will no doubt
appreciate your government's
responsibility to guarantee full respect of
internationally guaranteed
principles on freedom of association and the right
to organise, as embodied
in the International Labour Organisation (ILO)
Convention ratified by
Zimbabwe.
Ryder said failure by the
government of Zimbabwe to intervene would severely
tarnish the image of the
country on the African and wider international
scene.
The ICFTU
also said if no action was taken, it would call on the solidarity
of its 151
million membership in 150 countries to launch an appropriate
action against
the government before the ILO.
Zim Independent
Bid to block Gweru Restart launch fails
Blessing
Zulu
A BID by police to block the opposition Movement for Democratic Change
(MDC)
from launching its economic recovery plan in Gweru yesterday failed
when the
High Court ruled that it could proceed.
High Court judge Rita
Makarau gave the MDC the go ahead to launch its
economic blueprint, known as
Reconstruction, Stabilisation, Recovery and
Transformation
(Restart).
This is the second time that the government has tried to
block the MDC from
launching its flagship economic programme. Last Thursday
when Restart was
launched in Harare, the MDC had to seek a High Court
interdict to prevent
the police from blocking it.
MDC spokesperson
Paul Themba Nyathi said the party had informed the police
in advance of their
meeting. But Chief Superintendent E Mbewe, the officer
commanding Gweru
Urban, replied that the launch could not go ahead as the
police were
"committed elsewhere during the period".
Nyathi castigated the government
for its action.
"It is a big shame on the regime that the MDC has to
go to court every time
it seeks to outline its policies," Nyathi
said.
"Zanu PF started showing these signs of panic last week,
running negative
stories about the MDC economic policy. Zimbabweans will no
doubt be
wondering why Zanu PF seeks to stop the people knowing the contents
of that
programme," Nyathi said.
Zim Independent
Political violence persisted in 2003 -
report
Augustine Mukaro
POLITICALLY-related violence clai-med 10 lives in
2003, a Zimbabwe Human
Rights NGO Forum report revealed this week.
The
forum's December 2003 report, which recorded the 2003
politically-motivated
deaths in the alphabetical order of names of the
victims, claims that of the
10 deaths, six were MDC supporters, two Zanu PF
supporters while the other
two could not be linked to any party.
The Zimbabwe Independent in
October 2002 reported the politically-related
death toll as having risen to
151 since 2000. Fifty-eight of the recorded
deaths occurred in the year 2002
indicating the impact of violence during
the presidential election
campaign.
The forum's report identifies Given Makombe who died on
December 9 as the
latest victim of violence.
"Makombe, an MDC
supporter, died in Chirorodziva as a result of injuries he
reportedly
sustained when he was severely assaulted by members of the 'Top
Six Gang'
during the 'final push' on 3 June 2003," the report says.
"He had earlier
been a victim of a Zanu PF bomb attack on 21 March 2003,
after which he,
Konjana and Matamisa, also of the MDC, were allegedly
tortured by youths and
then arrested by the police."
The report said implicated in the bomb
attack is one Saidi.
"Police reportedly intervened, arrested and then
detained Saidi. When
Makombe was attending council elections in Kariba, he
and other MDC
supporters were apparently attacked again by the Zanu PF
youths," the report
says.
It is reported that his health continued
deteriorating until he died on 9
December 2003.
The forum deplored
the continued violence and displacements of opposition
supporters from their
homes.
"It is deplorable that Zimbabweans should continue to be
displaced from
their homes on the basis of their political opinions and
beliefs in
violation of Section 21 of the constitution which guarantees
every
individual's right to assemble freely and associate with other persons
and
in particular to form or belong to political parties," the report
says.
The report says violence continued in Kadoma Central following
the holding
of a by-election over the weekend of November 29/30 2003.
Members of the
opposition MDC reported being abducted, threatened and
assaulted while votes
were being counted following the conduct of the
election.
"A number of incidents reflected a lack of political
tolerance between
supporters of the two contesting political parties with MDC
supporters
claiming that they were abducted to a Zanu PF base at a school in
the area
where they were beaten," the report says.
An MDC
supporter was reportedly hit with a stone on the forehead by Zanu
PF
supporters while at the vote-counting centre in Kadoma Central. He
suffered
severe injuries to the head. Another was reportedly kidnapped by
Zanu PF
youths, taken to their base in the area, and assaulted with planks on
the
buttocks and arms. He fractured his right forearm.
"The Human
Rights Forum deplores the ongoing harassment of Zimbabwean
citizens through
frivolous arrests that are intended to prevent them from
exercising their
right to freedom of expression and assembly," the
report
says.
"This trend has prevailed throughout the year 2003
with arrests initially
being made under the pretext that the demonstrators
had violated the Public
Order and Security Act.
"However, more
often than not, as was the case with the arrest of 19 members
of Woza and
journalists who were covering the story, those arrested are
later released
without charges being preferred against them or alternatively
charges are
dropped before plea," the report says.
Zim Independent
Two-horse race in 2005
Itai Dzamara
PARLIAMENTARY
elections set for next year are likely to be a two-horse race
once again as
small parties remain in briefcases and may only surface at
the
ballot.
Shakespear Maya's National Alliance for Good Governance
(NAGG), Wilson
Kumbula's Zanu Ndonga, and Zapu led by Paul Siwela contested
the 2000
parliamentary election as well as the 2002 presidential election and
made no
impact at all. Only Zanu Ndonga won a seat - in its traditional
stronghold
of Chipinge. Siwela's party failed to make a significant
impression even in
Matabeleland where it claims to be based as a revival of
the late Joshua
Nkomo-led liberation war movement.
The ruling Zanu
PF and the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) have already
started in
earnest campaigning for next year's election. However, other
parties appear
mute.
MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai last week held rallies in Harare
to launch his
party's campaign for next year's election, whilst Zanu PF has
already
started its campaign in Mashonaland.
However, Kumbula and
Siwela vowed that they would make an impression in next
year's
election.
Kumbula this week said his party would field candidates in
all
constituencies across the country whilst blaming Zanu PF for creating
an
environment unconducive for other parties to campaign and contest
elections.
"We are still existing and will indeed contest the
election. The problem we
have in this country is that the ruling party had
created an unconducive
environment," said Kumbula. "It doesn't help to
sacrifice people's lives by
taking on Zanu PF in its game of violence. We
prefer relying on media
publicity as well as door to door
campaigning."
Siwela strenuously denied allegations that the current
Zapu is tribal and
declared that the party would seriously contest next
year's election as it
views itself as the one to succeed Zanu
PF.
"We are not tribal or regional. We have structures in all
provinces across
the country. We are, like any other citizens, proposing to
offer solutions
to the country's problems," said Siwela.
The Zapu
leader, who also contested the 2002 presidential election
controversially won
by President Mugabe, said that his party would soon
launch its campaign for
next year's election.
"We will soon announce our campaign and
announce our candidates. We believe
in using diplomacy and sound solutions to
appeal to the electorate. Violence
won't work against Zanu PF. At the same
time boycotting will only enable
Zanu PF to declare itself the winner and the
oppression will simply
continue. We have therefore resolved to participate in
nest year's election
in all constituencies."
Maya couldn't be
reached for comment this week.
Zim Independent
MDC to weigh its options in future polls
Loughty
Dube
THE opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) says it is
considering
the possibility of not taking part in future general elections if
the Zanu
PF government continues flouting electoral procedures.
The
MDC secretary for legal affairs, David Coltart, told the Zimbabwe
Independent
in a wide-ranging interview that the opposition party would
consider whether
it was prudent to engage in elections when the notorious
"Green Bombers" are
still in existence and when the MDC is being denied a
copy of the electronic
voters' roll.
"We cannot go into another general election when the
state media and
national radio and television are not accessible to the
opposition and,
worse still, when the Green Bombers are still in existence,"
Coltart said.
"We will come to a point when we will say unless we get an
electronic
voters' roll then we have to reconsider our participation in
future general
elections."
Coltart said ever since the party
applied to the Supreme Court last year in
a bid to force the
Registrar-General Tobaiwa Mudede to release the voters'
roll to the MDC there
has not been any success in that area.
He said the
Registrar-General's office last week returned a $1 million
cheque together
with the MDC's written request for a copy of the electronic
voters'
roll.
"The Registrar-General returned our application fee of
$1million for the
provision of a copy of an electronic voters' roll with the
lame excuse that
his department is engaged in a re-blocking exercise and was
still working on
the national voters' roll," Coltart said.
The
re-blocking entails the revision of the population after an exercise
that
forces people to relocate to other areas thereby either depleting the
voters'
blocks or expanding them.
"Mudede says they are re-blocking as a
result of the land reform process but
we want a national voters' roll that is
in existence and it is interesting
to note that we have not even seen the
voters' roll used in the 2002
elections despite the fact that we got a copy
(I think by mistake) before
the elections," Coltart said.
Turning
to the recent Gutu North by-election, where Zanu PF's Retired Air
Marshal
Josiah Tungamirai beat the MDC's Crispa Musoni by 20 699 to 7 291,
Coltart
said the results were positive for the MDC.
"We have held our course
there, and with the closure of the Daily News and
the unchallenged propaganda
from ZBC the results in that scenario are very
positive to the MDC," he
said.
Coltart said however it was peculiar that figures for people
voting for Zanu
PF in Gutu North had increased and said it was possible that
the party had
brought in people as the MDC had warned.
"Since 1990
the number of people voting in areas where Zanu PF is popular
has increased
while in urban areas the numbers remain the same and this runs
contrary to
census figures that indicate that the country's population is
declining," he
said.
In 1990 in Gutu North 12 409 people voted for Zanu PF while 7
657 voted for
the Zimbabwe Unity Movement (Zum); in 2000 14 867 voted for
Zanu PF while 8
159 voted for the MDC; in 2002 a total of 22 524 people voted
for Zanu PF
while 8 934 voted for the MDC.
Zim Independent
Traditional leaders win Zanu PF Gutu North
Augustine
Mukaro, recently in Gutu.
ZANU PF mobilised traditional chiefs and headmen to
boost its blandishments
in this week's by-election in Gutu
North.
During the first-ever midweek poll to be held in the country,
traditional
leaders played an active role in Zanu PF retaining the Gutu
North
constituency.
The ruling party won the February 2/3
by-election by 20 699 votes to 7 291
for the Movement for Democratic
Change.
The result means that Zanu PF's Retired Air Marshal Josiah
Tungamirai will
fill the seat left vacant in September by the death of Simon
Muzenda. The
MDC's Caspa Musoni accepted the results but said there were
anomalies in the
run-up to the election.
A total of 28 803 votes
were cast, representing 48% of the 59 000
registered
voters.
Observations by the Zimbabwe Independent during
the election showed that the
ruling party effectively used local structures
such as Vidcos and headmen.
At some polling stations police had to be
called in to stop headmen and
chiefs from either recording the names of
voters from their areas or
arranging voters to line up according to their
villages.
Zimbabwe Election Support Network observers expressed
concern over role of
village headmen in the election.
"Worrying is
the role of village heads in the election," ZESN said.
"At Gutu mission
police had to stop four headmen from recording the names of
voters while at
Matizha Primary School, the presiding officer had to stop
Chief Serima from
organising the electorate in queues by their villages."
While traditional
leaders were mandated with the duty of ensuring that Zanu
PF won the election
in the communal lands, ward chairmen had to do the same
in the newly
resettled areas.
"Before the election days, each chairman was asked
to circulate a form to
the electorate demanding their names and political
affiliation. The forms
were later submitted to the ruling party. Over and
above that, the chairman
had to bring his people to the polling station on
the poll days," one
resettled farmer said.
"It was a foregone
conclusion that Tungamirai would win the election because
Zanu PF's machinery
had effectively penetrated all structures so the
electorate felt vulnerable
and insecure, even in the ballot box," the farmer
said.
The
Independent also observed that each Ward in the constituency was given
a
specific day to go and cast their votes so that Zanu PF could maintain
its
supervision of the way its supporters voted.
Gutu North is
made up of 12 wards. Wards 1-6 voted on Monday, observers
noted, while 7-12
voted on Tuesday.
Zim Independent
Zim crisis peripheral in Mbeki's address
Dumisani
Muleya
SOUTH African President Thabo Mbeki is today widely expected to a make
only
a passing reference to the Zimbabwe crisis which has dogged his
foreign
policy and negatively impacted on his international reputation for
the past
four years during his State of the Nation address to
parliament.
Political analysts said yesterday Mbeki would dwell on issues
concerning
South Africa, as well as global developments, in view of the
forthcoming
general election.
University of Zimbabwe Institute for
Development Studies Professor Brian
Raftopoulos said Mbeki would not focus on
Zimbabwe but on his government's
performance.
"He is going to
concentrate on what he perceives as his government's
achievements so far,"
Raftopoulos said. "I don't think he will dwell much on
Zimbabwe. After all,
there is nothing positive for him to report on what is
going on in the
country. He might mention the issue of talks (between Zanu
PF and the MDC)
but only in passing."
South Africa's Witwatersrand University
international relations analyst
Professor John Stremlau said: "I think Mbeki
will have to say something
about Zimbabwe but I don't think he will say
much."
Professor Willie Breytenbach of Stellenbosch University said
Mbeki would
focus on issues that would win him votes. "He won't talk about
Aids or
Zimbabwe or the arms deal. He'll stick to issues that will be
catching more
votes," he said.
However, Breytenbach warned that
South Africa's black civil society was also
restless about Mbeki's silence on
the human rights abuses taking place in
Zimbabwe.
"While there is
admiration for what Bob (President Robert Mugabe) does in
terms of land there
is concern over the human rights abuses, the bullying of
trade unions and the
closing down of media," he said.
Zim Independent
SA group to probe Zim human rights abuses
Vincent
Kahiya
CIVIC society in South Africa is expected to send a delegation to
Zimbabwe
in the next two months to probe incidents of human rights abuses,
the
Zimbabwe Independent has learnt.
The mission is in response to a
damning statement compiled by the churches
in South Africa criticising
President Thabo Mbeki's failure to condemn
Zimbabwe's human rights
record.
Johannesburg-based church leaders - from Anglican and
Catholic to Dutch
Reformed and Greek Orthodox - issued the statement in
December, provoking an
angry response from Mbeki's office.
The
statement by the churches followed Mbeki's visit to Zimbabwe during
which he
said South Africa could learn from Zimbabwe on how to solve
similar
problems.
The church leaders who wanted Mbeki to take a
more robust approach said: "We
are appalled by the witness given to us
concerning the extent of torture
being meted out on Zimbabwean citizens who
flee to this country for nothing
less than fear of death."
The
fact-finding mission is expected to meet with government and civic
society
representatives.
Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition chair Brian Raftopoulos
this week said details
of the proposed mission has not yet been finalised.
"Nothing has been
finalised at the moment," said Raftopoulos. "We will let
you know once we
have the details."
Mbeki has often been
criticised for his policy of quiet diplomacy in
Zimbabwe. The mission to
Zimbabwe is therefore expected to give the civic
groups first-hand experience
about the human rights situation in the
country.
Sources this week
however said the mandate and effectiveness of the proposed
mission was under
threat from divisions within the South African churches.
"When that
document (the churches report) was authored, some sections of the
South
African church disowned it," a diplomatic source said.
"These
churches are resisting coming to Zimbabwe on the mission because they
believe
that their counterparts have already made up their minds about the
human
rights situation in the country."
It has also been learnt that there
were sharp differences between Zimbabwean
churches and their South African
counterparts over the handling of the
Zimbabwean issue.
Sources
this week said Zimbabwean church leaders believe that the church in
South
Africa should come here "only as observers and not try to dictate how
things
should be done".
In February last year it was reported that President
Mugabe had asked
visiting Anglican Archbishop Njongonkulu Ndungane to mediate
between
Zimbabwe and ex-colonial power Britain. Zimbabwean church leaders at
the
time protested that the Archbishop had not met many local church groups
and
civic organisations during his Harare stay.
While Ndungane
said the meeting with Mugabe "certainly opens a new window of
hope", nothing
has really come out of the initiative, which sources said was
not supported
by local church leaders.
Ndungane was expected to make a follow-up
trip to Harare but this has not
materialised.
Zim Independent
Zim left out of US fund
Loughty Dube
ZIMBABWE has
been left out of a lucrative United States fund that would see
about 63
countries worldwide share billions of dollars in US aid to
developing nations
committed to democratic principles.
US Secretary of State Collin Powell
announced the list of 63 beneficiary
nations in Washington on Tuesday after a
meeting of the board of directors
of the Millennium Challenge Corporation, a
body formed last year to
administer the fund.
Some of the
countries named by Powell include Nigeria, Senegal, Uganda,
Lesotho, Malawi,
Pakistan, Zambia, India, Tanzania, Afghanistan and Congo.
Zimbabwe
has not benefited from several international aid and development
funds since
the disputed March 2002 presidential poll.
Following the poll, the
European Union and the United States government
imposed targeted sanctions on
senior Zanu PF officials and their
collaborators.
The US has
availed over US$1 billion dollars for the 2004 fiscal year under
the fund
while President George Bush has pledged a further US $2,5 billion
for the
account in 2005.
The majority of the 63 states named by Powell can
bid for funding from the
Millennium Challenge Corporation (2004) and most
applicants are likely to
benefit in areas of agricultural development,
enterprise and private-sector
development, health, trade and
investment-capacity building.
The fund is intended to benefit
developing countries that demonstrate a
strong commitment towards good
governance and sound economic policies.
The US also left out Zimbabwe
from a list of 37 African countries that would
benefit under the African
Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) meant to enhance
trade between the US and
African countries.
Zim Independent
Ex-Zipra combatants invade former Zapu
properties
Loughty Dube
SCORES of former Zipra combatants have invaded
properties that were handed
over to the former Zapu by the government last
year as it has emerged that
former party officials were pocketing proceeds
from the properties.
The disgruntled ex-Zipra combatants have vowed not
to move out until Nitram
Holdings - a company formed in 1981 by 20 000
ex-Zipra combatants to
purchase properties - sells the properties and shares
the proceeds.
Scores of ex-Zipra combatants last month stormed Castle
Arms Motel on the
outskirts of Bulawayo and camped there vowing not to move
out unless the
properties were shared amongst contributing
members.
"There are some greedy people in Nitram Holdings who are
taking advantage of
the chaotic situation to make a killing for themselves
and this is being
done at the expense of members who contributed their money
towards the
project," said an ex-combatant who spoke on condition of
anonymity.
The properties in question were acquired by Zapu in the
early 80s using
funds contributed by ex-Zipra combatants but the properties
were confiscated
by the government after an arms cache was discovered at one
of the Zipra
farms in 1982.
When contacted for comment, Dumiso
Dabengwa, the former Zipra intelligence
supremo who was one of the Zipra
commanders who organised the deal, said he
could not discuss Zipra issues
over the phone.
"I am in Harare at the moment and I do not comment on
Zipra issues over the
phone," said Dabengwa.
Some of the
properties owned by Nitram Holding include Woolglen farm in
Umguza, and Nest
Egg farm and Hampton farm in Gweru.
Ex-Zipra combatants who spoke to
the Independent said some of their
leaders were treating the properties
as personal business entities.
"These people behave as if they
personally own Zipra properties but they
should call for a meeting and the
contributors should decide whether they
want the properties sold and the
money raised shared out equally among
contributors," said Max Mnkandla, the
president of the Zimbabwe Liberators
Peace Initiative, an organisation of
former freedom fighters and
ex-detainees.
Zim Independent
Civil society/MDC condemn Madhuku attack
Itai
Dzamara/Blessing Zulu
CIVIL society and the opposition have condemned the
assault on National
Constitutional Ass-embly (NCA) chairman Lovemore Madhuku
by police on
Wednesday.
Madhuku was severely beaten up by riot police
after attempting to lead
members of the assembly in a demonstration to press
for constitutional
reforms. The police reportedly dumped the NCA leader near
the National
Sports Stadium in Harare.
"Whether or not the
provisions of the draconian Public Order and Security
Act (Posa) were
complied with by the NCA in holding a demonstration for a
new constitution
outside parliament, the barbaric treatment meted out by
riot police to the
demonstrators, accompanied, according to reports, by
threats on the life of
Dr Madhuku, is totally unjustified and deserves
condemnation," said the
Human Rights NGO Forum in a statement.
The forum said the "conduct of the
riot police on 4 February contravened
sections of the Constitution of
Zimbabwe, let alone the Code of Conduct of
the ZRP itself".
The
Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) condemned the use of brute
force by
police.
"It seems the police have realised that draconian laws like
the Public Order
and Security Act have failed to suppress the aspirations and
activism of the
majority, which it was in the first place promulgated for,
and have now
resorted to the use of brute force," said the
ZCTU.
Abducting Lovemore Madhuku and severely beating him and dumping
him in the
bush was an act of savagery, the ZCTU said.
The
Zimbabwe Liberators Platform urged Madhuku and NCA members to continue
to
push for constitutional reform.
"The reincarnation of repressive laws
that many fought during the liberation
war destroys citizens' hopes for a
negotiated end to their suffering," the
ZLP said.
The Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC) said in a statement: "The MDC
condemns in the
strongest terms the brutal assault and the unleashing of
dogs on scores of
members of the NCA by armed and uniformed members of the
Zimbabwe Republic
Police.
"The latest attack on peace-loving Zimbabweans is further
evidence of the
intolerance by the Mugabe regime and it leaves no doubt in
the minds of all
Zimbabweans and the international community that the regime
is bent on
suppressing the democratic expression of the people of Zimbabwe.
Despite all
these brutal attacks on innocent civilians, the will of the
people will
prevail."
Zim Independent
New levy for Noczim
Godfrey Marawanyika
THE
National Oil Company of Zimbabwe (Noczim), whose debt is currently
being
tackled through a levy of $110 per litre on fuel importers,
owes
international suppliers US$171 million.
The latest debt
disclosure comes against a backdrop of attempts by
government, which is set
to amend the Income Tax Act and Finance Act, to
accommodate the setting up of
the Noczim Debt Redemption Sinking levy.
The levy was set up to pay
off bills incurred by the former procuring
company.
It will be
operational until the whole debt has been settled.
According to the
Noczim foreign suppliers debt list, the parastatal owes
LAFB of Libya US$58
million, BP South Africa US$14 million, Kuwait IPG US$58
million, Engen US$10
million, Caltex US$8 million, Exxor/Sanstorm US$8
million, Nordea Bank US$10
million, and PTA US$5 million.
The arrears list is as at the end of
January and does not however include
debts owed to local
suppliers.
Finance minister Herbert Murerwa this week confirmed that
the levy would be
set up but referred all logistical questions on the debt
issue to his
permanent secretary Nicholas Ncube.
"The fund is
being finalised, but I do not have the technical details of
it," Murerwa
said. "Get the details from Nick Ncube. He is the one handling
that
issue."
Ncube had not commented on the issue despite repeated efforts
to get one. He
was said to be attending a "series of
meetings".
Government deregulated the fuel sector last year and
allowed private fuel
firms to bring fuel into the country and sell the
product at market-related
prices.
To-date there are least 60
registered private fuel importing companies.
In the past, the country's
fuel import needs were being brought in by Noczim
but as the debts continued
to mount the company could no longer afford.
Last year during his
2004 national budget statement Murerwa proposed that as
part of settling the
debt fuel importers be levied.
In a typical government bureaucracy
under the proposed amendments to the
Income Tax Act, the Zimbabwe Revenue
Authority (Zimra) who will eventually
forward the money to the beleaguered
fuel company will administer the fund.
In turn, Noczim has to ensure
all the money collected on its behalf is
applied towards the settlement of
debts incurred during its procurement
days.
It was not immediately
possible to ascertain how much Noczim has so far
collected over the past two
months from Zimra who were still looking for the
figure.
Energy
and Power Development minister, Amos Midzi, defended the move of
having
Noczim paying the debt.
He said since Noczim was the debtor it had
the legal authority to pay its
creditors.
Zim Independent
Zesa owes power suppliers US$66m
Staff Writer
THE
Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (Zesa) owes regional power
suppliers
US$66 million as of January 31, but the power utility has come
onto the
market today trying to raise another $20 billion for its
much-talked-about
rural electrification programme.
Failure to settle bills on time has
since forced the cash-strapped
parastatal to seek government help on how to
settle them.
According to Zesa's regional creditors list, the
parastatal owes five
regional electricity power firms billions for services
provided.
The highest debt for Zesa belongs to HCB of Mozambique
which it owes US$29,6
million, followed by Eskom's US$19 million while EDM of
Mozambique is owed
$8 million.
Zesco of Zambia is owed US$2
million while Snell of Democratic Republic of
Congo is owed US$1 million.
Zesa is currently battling to pay US$7,4
million, money it used for the
procurement of "various spare parts".
Eskom spokesperson Fani Zulu
said since the beginning of the year, they have
not met with Zesa officials
despite the two parties' contracts having
expired last
month.
Energy minister Amos Midzi confirmed that Zesa had since
approached
government for help to settle the debts, some of which have been
outstanding
for more than two years.
"It is a matter that Zesa has
brought up quite recently (assistance in
paying the debts). It is a matter
that we are looking at," Midzi said.
"The case is receiving its due
attention."
Midzi could not however be drawn into revealing when
government proposed to
help settle the outstanding debts, saying the matter
was being "looked
into".
Zesa's ballooning debt comes hard on the
heels of Air Zimbabwe's suspension
from the International Air Transport
Association (Iata) which is owed more
than US$1,3 million.
Last
week Zesa was scrounging for $10 billion from the money market by way
of
Megawatt Bills.
Zim Independent
Nssa's books in shambles
Godfrey
Marawanyika
COMPTROLLER and Auditor General Eric Harid says the books of the
National
Social Security Association (Nssa) are not in order.
Harid
has expressed concern over the financial status of Nssa, where he has
said
record keeping and controls over investment are inadequate.
So serious is
the lack of proper record keeping that Harid has in places
declined to
comment on the status of the organisation's books.
In his latest
report for the audited 2001 period, the most recent to be
examined, to the
Minister of the Public Service and Social Welfare July
Moyo, Harid said
contribution income was appointed on an arbitrary basis of
80% for the
pension and other benefits scheme and 20% for the workers'
compensation
insurance fund.
He said this violates Section 28 of the Nssa
Act.
The Act stipulates that contributions should be paid to each
scheme
separately.
"Premium income is brought to account on a
receipt basis," Harid said in his
report. "This policy has resulted in the
scheme not accounting for
contribution debtors as it only recognises
contributions received. Claims
costs recognised in the financial statements
are only those actually
incurred.
"This policy distorts the claims
amount as claims incurred but not reported
are not taken cognisance of by way
of, for example, setting up a provision
for claims incurred but not reported
based on the schemes experience of the
levels of such claims."
He
said it was further observed that record keeping and controls
over
investments were inadequate.
"Typically, I noted that some
adjustments made in the several general ledger
were not supported by some
documents and some entries in the investment
ledger were not posted to the
general ledger," Harid said.
"Because of the significance of the matters
discussed above, I do not
express an opinion on the financial
statements."
Although Nssa was enacted in 1994 with the main aim of
providing basic
comprehensive protection and coverage to all Zimbabweans in
the employable
market, worker's intended benefits are greatly compromised
because of poor
record keeping, the report said.
On the status of
the Workers Compensation Insurance Fund, Harid said claims
costs recognised
in the financial statements were only those actually
incurred, adding that
this policy distorted claims amounts as claims
incurred but not reported were
not taken cognisance of.
"It was further observed that the record
keeping and controls over
investments are inadequate," he said. "Typically, I
noted that some
adjustments made in the general ledger were not supported by
source
documents and some entries in the investment ledger were not posted to
the
general ledger.
"I observed that there was no system of
control over premium debtors on
which I could rely for the purpose of my
audit. I was thus unable to satisfy
myself that all premium income and
premium debtors had been brought to
account."
Nssa chairman,
pro-minent businessman and lawyer Edwin Manikai, in the same
report admitted
that arbitrary apportionment of 80% to the pension and other
benefits, and
20% to the Workers Compensation Fund would continue to be a
qualification
until new information technology system was put in place that
would be able
to allocate money between schemes as provided by law.
He said he was
expecting the system to be in place by the end of this year.
Turning to
investment income, Manikai said the inadequate record keeping and
controls
surfaced as a result of a forensic audit.
He said the board had
commissioned this, adding that recommendations by the
auditors were however
implemented.
Zim Independent
What is Hear The Word Ministries' business?
I WAS
intrigued, but not too surprised, by the donation of $30 million to
President
Robert Mugabe by Hear The Word Ministries.
Last year the Daily News
published a lengthy feature on this church
(business?). As usual with such
features it was little more than a friendly
public relations piece. In
response I wrote a letter to the Daily News which
was not
published.
In view of the furore raised by this organisation's
donation perhaps you
might publish it now - and perhaps seek some answers to
my questions from
Pastor Tom Deuschle.
Frankly, I have yet to be
disabused of the notion that such organisations
are anything other than
religious businesses whose main beneficiaries are
those who own and operate
them.
Attempted justification of this donation to Mugabe may have
been made by
some spurious reference to Biblical texts but many may see it as
simply an
attempt by a presently very successful business enterprise to buy
favour
with the ruling regime.
I have my own vision of what Jesus
Christ would do if he were to visit
Zimbabwe today - and donating $30 million
to Mugabe is not part of that
vision.
The following is the text of
my letter written to the Daily News in May
2003:
I had long wondered
who was constructing that huge building along the
Borrowdale Road. I had
mistakenly assumed it to be some new family mansion
for one of the obscenely
affluent nouveau riche that our corrupt country has
created.
I was
wrong as your 16-page special feature explains. It has been built by
the Hear
The Word Ministries. Pastor Deuschle is quoted as saying: "From the
beginning
we wanted the new building to be a centre for reformation of
nations - a
community centre that would serve as a platform to serve not
only Harare, but
also the rest of Zimbabwe and the neighbouring countries
with the gospel of
Jesus Christ."
In your extensive feature excerpts from Pastor
Deuschle's book Building
People, Building Dreams are also quoted. They relate
to having a vision:
"Make sure your vision is from God...Write the vision...
Expect God to
intervene...Expect attack. Any vision worthy of heaven will
experience an
attack from hell...To obtain your vision, you will be
stretched. You will be
put into situations where other people have failed,
and you will be tempted
to give up...Be passionate about your
vision...Consult others who are
successful and wise...A person without a
vision is a person without a
future."
A number of questions are
raised in my mind as a result of reading this
special feature which perhaps
Pastor Deuschle can answer. My questions
fundamentally originate from my
vision of a Zimbabwe free of violence,
corruption and dictatorship. A
Zimbabwe that more closely corresponds to
Christ's vision of how man should
live together in society.
Has his ministry spoken out on the
reformation that this nation needs - in
particular the need to remove the
violence, corruption and dictatorial
tendencies that are tearing our country
apart; and if not, why not?
Has his ministry spoken out unequivocally on
behalf of the poor, downtrodden
and oppressed masses in this country; and if
not, why not?
What is his ministry's vision for Zimbabwe (in line
with the excerpts from
his book quoted above?)
Does his ministry
emphasise the material in terms of having a vision? (I ask
this because of
several aspects of your feature article: the emphasis on the
impressive
material aspects of this huge building: the suggestion to "take a
rich man to
lunch" as a way of consulting "others who are successful and
wise" (I can't
quite imagine Christ telling his disciples to consult the
rich - or implying
that the state of being rich is proof of success and
wisdom); and the
'Victory Business Forum' which seems to be an organisation
based on Christ's
instruction to his disciples to "go forth and establish
profitable
businesses" (I'm still searching for such an instruction. As yet
I haven't
found it in my Bible.)
How do members of the Victory Business Forum
succeed in what is now one of
the world's most corrupt economies without
participating in that corruption?
As a "non-profit developmental
organisation whose mission is to meet the
needs of poor people" what
percentage of compassion ministries income goes
directly to help the poor as
opposed to being swallowed up by building
costs, staff salaries and expenses,
administration costs, etc? I ask so that
I might be encouraged to contribute
to meeting the needs of the poor through
this ministry.
I trust
that the above will not be dismissed as "an attack from hell". What
it is is
a genuine desire to understand what is God's vision for this
country and what
role the churches, and specifically Hear The Word
Ministries, are playing in
achieving that vision.
For myself, my vision is based on Christ's
exhortation to "love thy
neighbour as thyself" (one of the two most important
commandants). I
undoubtedly fall far short of this ideal, but this vision
certainly leads me
to condemn the evils that are daily perpetrated by those
in power on their
fellow countrymen. Does Heal The Word Ministries similarly
condemn these
evils? Or is that not the "business" of the
church?
RES Cook,
Harare.
Zim Independent
Heal the wounds, try architects of terror
ON a
cold night in June 2000 an MDC election agent vanished from his
village. He
was found weeks later, decomposing, face down. His eyes had been
gouged out,
his fingers chopped off and skin stripped from his legs.
Villagers
implicated a Zanu PF activist who had earlier threatened the
election
monitor. But the police concluded that the MDC election monitor's
death was -
of all things - suicide!
Now as the campaign for the 2005
parliamentary election hots up, the
question is: will the horror return? For
we know the unrepentant, unpunished
architects of the 2000 and 2002 election
violence will try to claw their way
back into power.
At every
election time Zanu PF has notoriously established a reputation
for
ruthlessness and their message to their supporters seems clear - you can
get
away with anything, even murder.
By any measure Zanu PF's
election crimes rank among the worst this century.
For many brutalised
Zimbabweans bygones can no longer be bygones. Above all,
we need a trial of
the architects of terror - Biggie Chitoro, Joseph Mwale,
Tom Kainosi aka
Kitsiyatota and others. And that will be the first step
towards restoring
morality to our society in the hope of getting beyond the
pain of the
past.
Nomore Sibanda,
MDC national elections coordinator,
& Frank Matandirotya
MDC shadow MP
Chikomba,
Harare.
Zim Independent
Editor's Memo
Gono's test
I AM becoming
more than a little irritated with the naivety of newspapers
claiming that
Gideon Gono's purge of the finance sector is a panacea for the
country's
myriad woes. We are faced with a national propaganda campaign,
orchestrated
by the government, and dutifully parroted in the official media
that Gono's
crackdown is about to turn the economy around and set the
country on the path
to salvation.
Of course only the most delusional observers of the
national scene would
swallow such nonsense which Gono himself has been
careful not to endorse. He
has made it plain what obstacles he
faces.
But still, day and night, the relentless propaganda offensive
continues to
insist that Gono is some sort of messiah leading the nation to
the promised
land.
In none of this are we told how the country got
into the current mess in the
first place - apart of course from the dishonest
claims about sanctions. In
fact the economic pattern of the past seven years
has been entirely
consistent. Zimbabwe's slide began in 1997 with the
devastating impact on
the budget caused by President Mugabe's award of over
$4 billion to war
veterans and the announcement of a programme of land
seizures. The following
year saw the intervention in the Congo and the
terrible drain on resources,
including scarce foreign exchange, that campaign
entailed. The IMF,
impatient with the deterioration in budgetary planning,
began to see
Zimbabwe as a hopeless case.
The economy was
therefore already in trouble well before the land invasions
of 2000. A
pattern of borrowing and spending was already fuelling inflation,
lenders
were bailing out, and macro-economic distortions becoming
entrenched. The
ill-conceived and violent land grabs simply compounded
existing problems and
put the country off-limits for investors.
So the EU's ban on President
Mugabe's trips to European capitals can hardly
be held responsible for the
current decline.
Much has been made of the fall in the consumer price
index from 619,5% to
598,7%, a decline of 20,8 percentage points. Some
newspapers understood this
to mean a fall of 20,8%. In fact a fall of 20,8 as
a percentage of 619,5 is
3,36%. In other words we have been celebrating a
3,36% fall in inflation as
if our problems were nearly over. Is that really
the best we can do?
This Pollyanna approach to journalism is
unhealthy. Journalists should be
reasonably sceptical of all patent
medicines, especially those offering a
complete recovery!
Gono has
not helped his own cause by allowing the ruling party to hike a
free ride on
his bandwagon. If he is to retain his credibility as a broom
that sweeps
clean he will need to prevent discredited elements from claiming
he is their
man. Ideally he should be his own man in all this. And, as we
have said in
today's editorial, that will entail tackling the Augean stables
of the public
sector with the same gusto he has shown in the private sector.
The
foreign exchange market, for instance, doesn't stop at the borders of
the
state-owned companies. What is the point of imposing order in the
finance
sector if public-sector corporations can go on distorting the
macro-economic
picture by draining the fiscus?
I think we can safely dismiss the
current plot against the Reserve Bank boss
currently being bandied about in
the state media as yet another fictional
distraction. Gono is an accomplished
banker. That is all we need to know. If
he has a weakness it is that he has
allowed himself to be rather too closely
identified with those in power. But
he will be judged on how well he
undertakes his current mandate. If there is
a plot against him it is about
as credible as all the other plots emanating
from official sources!
Gono must be allowed to get on with his job
unmolested. But it must extend
beyond the narrow confines of finance-sector
discipline. He needs to say
what has to be done to stabilise the economy at a
more general level in
order to underpin monetary policy and restore relations
with the
international community. That will be the real test of his
mettle.
Zim Independent
Chaos could rob Zim of tourism earnings
By Tafirenyika
L Wekwa Makunike
WHEN the people of Zimbabwe finally decide that the economy
is far more
important than childish posturing and insults, including
composing
supposedly motivating national jingles spiced with suggestive
dances, then
tourism could be one of the sectors that can be rapidly ramped
up for the
sustenance of the nation.
I say "people" because I realise
as a people we can no longer abdicate our
national responsibility to do
something about our nation's future to some
egotistical coterie of
politicians blundering from one mistake to another.
We potentially have
the best competitive advantages in this part of the
world if we stop our
"bvoo-pfoo" approach to national issues.
In 2002 the cost of board in
a basic three to four-star hotel in South
Africa was about R400 while the
exchange rate was about one US dollar to
R10.
By the end of 2003 the
same accommodation had gone up to R700 while their
exchange rate had
strengthened to about R6,60 but notwithstanding that, they
have continued to
witness phenomenal growth in tourist arrivals. It does not
need a rocket
scientist to notice that the largest tourism market in our
part of the world
is slowly pricing itself from a very affordable
destination range to
something pricey.
I have had the benefit of travelling extensively in
Africa and I know for a
fact that apart from Kenya, we have always had some
of the warmest welcoming
people with a disarming smile in this part of the
globe. I am not talking of
the front hotel people who are paid to put on that
plastic smile, but common
people one encounters along the whole value chain
that can potentially make
a tourist's visit memorable.
Of course,
of late a number of Zimbabweans have become relatively more
cynical arising
mainly from a depreciating economic environment and being
continuously fed a
diet of sovereignty and occasional insults. Even before
we get to the
traditional tourism attributes we had a potential winner to
cause the South
African cricket team to sneak into the Vumba for a great
escape last
year.
Traditionally as a family we normally take an end of year
vacation somewhere
in the Eastern Highlands of Zimbabwe to unwind and
recharge our batteries
for the coming battle in the coming year. Even the
Herald got it right on
the festive season bookings this time for nearly all
the good places were
fully booked.
We initially booked ourselves
over the Internet but despite getting a
confirmation e-mail my wife was
utterly amazed when told by a discourteous
lady at a central reservation
office in Harare that they did not have any
record of our booking. They
seemed to forget that a rudely denied customer
during the high season is a
potentially dissatisfied customer in the low
season.
When we tried
a South African-based Internet booking agent they got back to
us within
minutes with a promise of getting us a place provided we were
prepared to pay
in rand. Of course as a "son of the soil" as Wilson Katiyo
would say, I
believe it is my privilege to pay in local currency. Several
direct calls
later we managed to string together some combination bookings
in Hwange and
Victoria Falls, resulting in a refreshing festive season,
something we could
not possibly have got on some crowded Durban beach.
Of course there
is a price to be paid, particularly if one is travelling by
road from South
Africa. The biggest stumbling block is Beitbridge where one
has to endure
some chaotic pushing and shoving for hours.
If you are unfortunate
someone might pick your pockets in the process. If I
was a foreigner coming
in to spend my vacation I would not endure this one
moment longer but for
sons of the soil like us it is like someone in an
abusive relationship: you
keep coming back hoping that the things will get
better.
For a
country with over 70% unemployment it would do no harm to employ some
youths
to at least organise the queues and ensure that arrivals join the
right
queues instead of being told by a totally disinterested official
after
wasting hours that are in the wrong line. While they terrorise the
poor
cross-border woman, the rich are crossing the border with
under-declared
luxury vehicles. Perhaps Gersham Pasi can make unannounced
visit to the
border posts during peak times and witness for himself how
customer-friendly
service goes out of the window at this crowded border
post.
We also managed to spend a day on the Livingstone side of the
Victoria Falls
and there are some good things happening on the Zambia side.
As my Zambian
counterpart Simemba once revealed to me their slogan was, to
paraphrase it
in Zanu PF lingo, "copper was the economy the economy was
copper".
According to him, "thanks to Uncle Bob, Zambia, with a
population slightly
more than Zimbabwe's, is now actively cultivating a
growing agricultural and
tourism industry.
The bad news from the
new hotels in Livingstone is that their rates are
virtually more than twice
the rates charged on the Zimbabwe side.
Travelling along Victoria
Falls road one cannot fail to notice the neglected
Lupane and to even call it
a provincial capital is insulting. We hope the de
facto prime minister of
Zimbabwe spares a thought for this centre on his way
to dole out goodies to
Tsholotsho.
While we have managed to insult our traditional markets
at least there seems
to be a noticeable growth in Asian arrivals. Business
people do not care
much about the colour of their
customers.
-Tafirenyika L Wekwa Makunike is a business consultant
based in
Johannesburg. He is contactable on makunike@mweb.co.za
Zim Independent
Purge parasitic parastatals too
THE
new Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) governor Gideon Gono has
recently been
unearthing a lot of dirt under the carpets of the country’s
prominent
financial institutions leaving senior officials scurrying for
cover. In the
process the governor has apparently ruffled some sacred
feathers if this
week’s press reports are anything to go by.
Gono, a banker himself,
is mooting management changes and boardroom
reshuffles as he tries to do what
he promised the nation when he took office
on December 1. He said then:
“Failure is not an option.”
However, while the new governor tries
to clean up the financial
services sector to ensure Zimbabwe’s banking
industry is squeaky clean, he
seems to have overlooked the role the country’s
parasitic parastatals are
playing in promoting monetary
disorder.
Public corporations have continued to milk the country’s
fiscus
undisturbed for 24 years courtesy of the tax-paying
public.
Conservative estimates put the parastatal overdraft
facility with
government in the region of $700 billion.
Parastatals receive their allowances from the government in the form
of a
vote from parliament. This vote is very seldom scrutinised by
honourable
members unless of course some stink is raised — especially by
reports in the
press about a particular parastatal as was the case with the
Zimbabwe
Electricity Supply Authority (Zesa) and the problematic National
Railways of
Zimbabwe (NRZ).
The country’s parastatals came in for special
mention by the Minister
of Finance and Economic Development Herbert Murerwa
in his 2004 national
budget.
The minister told the nation that
gone were the days when unbudgeted
expenditures would be allowed by his
ministry. He said unbudgeted
expenditures would only be restricted to
“national emergencies”.
“Ministries will be expected to live within
their budget provisions,”
Murerwa said.
We wonder whether this
sentiment also applies to parastatals that have
become accustomed to our
funds for projects that are sometimes dumped
mid-way.
Air
Zimbabwe, for example, with a revolving door management, continues
to chalk
up billions in losses because of poor marketing and
unrealiable
service.
It was touted as a prospective cash cow due
to an anticipated revival
in tourism. However, it proved a chimera. Low
tourist arrivals, uneconomic
pricing as well as failure to adhere to
schedules has affected the airline’s
standing at home and abroad. This week
it was suspended by IATA over a
US$1,3 million debt.
The
scandal-ridden National Oil Company of Zimbabwe (Noczim), another
government
headache, continues to reap where it does not sow. Confederation
of Zimbabwe
Industries (CZI) boss Antony Mandiwanza was probably correct
when he called
for its complete disbanding because, he argued, it was
serving no useful
purpose.
The Grain Marketing Board (GMB) also came under Murerwa’s
spotlight as
another parastatal that is dependent upon the hard-pressed
taxpaying public.
The GMB has understandably failed to carry out its mandate
of selling maize
and wheat to starving citizens at commercially viable
prices.
Murerwa pointed out that the GMB, because of unviable
pricing
policies, had a huge debt and could not break even come what
may.
Another problem is the cash-strapped NRZ which continues to
provide a
shoddy service to the travelling public.
Part of NRZ’s
poor performance can be attributed to populist
interventions.
Freedom trains were launched amid much pomp and fanfare ahead of
the
presidential poll. But many passengers feel the service provided leaves
a
lot to be desired.
Ever since the freedom trains were
introduced, the NRZ has sunk deeper
into the red, a classic case of political
decisions undermining sound
management.
Zupco is another major
cause for concern. Zanu PF seems to think that
the parastatal is an in-house
concern yet it is a public transporter whose
remuneration comes from
taxpayers. We wonder exactly how much the ruling
party owes cash-strapped
Zupco, which is now unable to pay for luxury
“Marcopolo” buses secured from
South Africa, some of which have been
repossessed.
Gono, in his
endeavour to sort out the mess within the financial
services sector, should
also look into these parastatals that have had it
too good for too long.
After all, many are consumers or spenders of forex
and do not feel
constrained by price controls.
There is likely to be more dirt
there than at many of the financial
institutions which probably wonder why
they have been singled out for
investigation when nobody objected to their
swashbuckling antics in the
past. Why are the parastatals being protected
when they are using — or is it
abusing — our hard-earned funds?
When Noczim was investigated some years ago, it raised a temporary
stink and
heads began to roll. But the clean up was not sustained and the
fuel procurer
goes on losing money hand over fist when private companies
could do the job
of importing and distributing fuel much better.
Murerwa told Gono
that a significant reduction in the growth of money
supply was critical for
containing inflation. Large quasi-fiscal
requirements, mostly financed from
inflationary bank sources, had immensely
contributed to the prevailing
runaway inflation.
State corporations that have become accustomed
to borrowing from the
markets and spending public funds instead of earning
healthy profits — which
thereby distort the macro-economic framework of the
economy — also need to
be thoroughly investigated by the RBZ boss in so far
as their delinquency
impacts on monetary policy, the foreign exchange rate
and overall fiscal
stability.
Sorting out these problem-children
of Zanu PF’s command economy will
not only benefit Gono’s cashflow at the
central bank, it will also
strengthen the nation that has been fed on by
these leeches for far too
long.
Zim Independent
Eric Bloch Column
Disastrous water project funding
proposals
FOR 92 years the residents of Matabeleland North have yearned
for the
Matabeleland-Zambezi Water project to become a reality. The concept
of
piping water from the mighty Zambezi River to Bulawayo was first mooted
in
1912. It was realised that the growing town (now city) of Bulawayo
was
situated in an area subject to the vicissitudes of climatic conditions
which
could hinder its development if it could not access assured water
supplies.
The then conceptualisers of the project also appreciated that
the necessary
offtake from the Zambezi would, in relation to the torrents of
water that
flow down the river, be relatively minimal and that, therefore,
there would
be no environmental or downstream prejudice. In addition,
conscious of the
semi-arid conditions of much of Matabeleland North, they
realised that a
significant by-product benefit of the project would be to
enhance
agricultural activity in that region.
Regrettably, the then
authorities rejected the project, contending that at
an estimated cost of £60
000, it was beyond the means of the country. A like
fate was accorded revived
proposals for the project in 1932, at which time
the projected cost was £600
000, and again in 1953, by which time the
anticipated costs had soared to
levels of over £40 million.
The late Eng. Cormack, Chief City Engineer of
the City of Bulawayo, was a
staunch advocate of the proposed
Matabeleland-Zambezi Water Scheme, and even
after his retirement he lobbied
vigorously for it to come into being. So
intense was his belief in its
merits, and in the importance of bringing it
into being, so as to assure the
future of his beloved city, that he accepted
endless speaking engagements,
wrote prolifically in the printed media, and
repeatedly plied the government
of the day with submissions. That motivation
and dedication undoubtedly
hastened his demise, for he died whilst
addressing a dinner gathering of
Junior Chamber in the early 1960s,
convincing all his audience that the
project was a “must” for Bulawayo.
But all his efforts came to naught,
until a series of drought years in the
1980s and early 1990s convinced a body
of Bulawayo residents that government
would never bring the project into
being, and that “the Lord helps those
that helps themselves”. They
constituted themselves as the Matabeleland
Zambezi Water Project, set about
raising funds, researching the engineering,
environmental, demographic and
other implications of the project, and
interacted strongly with central and
local governments. They evoked great
support from the people of Bulawayo, and
stimulated widespread interest.
So effective was that body of
well-intentioned, foresighted Bulawayo
citizens that government recognised it
could no longer disregard the calls
from Zimbabwe’s second largest city, and
from the substantial population
that resided in the vast expanse from
Bulawayo to the Zambezi. Government
resolved to “hijack” the project from the
then promoters and lobbyists, and
set up the Matabeleland-Zambezi Water Trust
(MZWT) under the very able
leadership of the then Minister Dumiso Dabengwa.
He motivated the trustees
and the newly employed staff of MZWT to pursue
implementation of the
project, in collaboration with government and the
affected local authorities
as expeditiously as possible. Concurrently, he and
his fellow trustees
energetically restored morale amongst the populace,
quelling the pronounced
convictions (which had understandably developed over
a period of more than
80 years) that the scheme would never come into
being.
MZWT and government procured the support of the Swedish
government, who
funded a comprehensive and in-depth viability and
environmental study,
conducted by Swedish and Zimbabwean experts. The study
corroborated the
long-held beliefs that the proposed scheme, (incorporating
the construction
of a dam at the confluence of the Gwayi and Shangani rivers,
a pipeline from
that dam to Bulawayo, inclusive of pumping stations to lift
the water from
the dam to the watershed, and subsequently a pipeline from the
Zambezi River
to the dam), was immensely viable, most desirable and
beneficial, and not
materially damaging to the environment.
The
trustees also recognised that, over and above providing Bulawayo with
water
security and the province with the opportunity of irrigation projects,
the
Matabeleland-Zambezi Water Scheme would be the catalyst for diverse
economic
activity beneficial to all Zimbabwe. That activity would range from
tourism
to fish farming, agro-industry and various facets of commerce. They
motivated
the establishment of a venture capital company, to lie fallow
until the
Gwayi-Shangani dam and pipeline came into being, but then poised
to exploit
the economic opportunities.
The next task was to raise the required funds
but, tragedy of tragedies
struck — that was just when the Zimbabwean economy
commenced its
accelerating slide down the slippery slope of economic
mismanagement.
Amongst those whose support was greatly needed, but
substantially lost, were
the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World
Bank and other
developmental and monetary agencies.
That was
catastrophic for the intended Matabeleland Zambezi Water Scheme,
for the
magnitude of the funding required (now estimated to exceed $20
billion) was
such that donor aids and “soft” loans of extended duration were
a virtual
prerequisite for the project to proceed. But almost all
traditional sources
of aid and of such loans had closed their cheque books,
locked their safes,
and slammed their doors insofar as Zimbabwe was
concerned, with almost the
only exceptions being the provision of
humanitarian aid.
Although the
funding of the project was, and is, essentially the
responsibility of the
government and the local authorities, MZWT tried to
fulfil a facilitative
role in accessing funding, but in the constrained
environment had little
success, despite many endeavours, much perseverance
and pursuit of all
perceived opportunities.
It was, therefore, with a sense of near euphoria
that this columnist heard
Minister Olivia Muchena, in her capacity as Acting
Minister of Water
Resources and Development, respond to a question in
Parliament at
question-time on Wednesday of last week, saying that there had
been major
progress in negotiations for the required funding, and these were
expected
to be finalised shortly, whereafter the project would soon
commence.
However, as she expanded upon her answer, the euphoria was rapidly
wholly
dissipated, for she then explained that the funding would be
forthcoming as
a “BOOT” or “BOT” arrangement, being a “Build, Own, Operate
and Transfer” or
“Build, Operate and Transfer” agreement. Under such a
funding structure, the
provider of the finance operates the project, after
its completion, for an
agreed period of time, whereafter the ownership and
operation vests in the
state or in the local authority, as the case may
be.
The motivations of the contracting party providing the funds is
generally
procurement of the construction contracts, or control over their
awards, and
that following completion the project will yield revenues of
sufficient
substance to assure not only recovery of all the funds provided,
but also a
substantial profit thereon (very often in addition to large
profits built
into the construction contracts). “BOOT” and “BOT” contracts
can be very
beneficial to not only the financier/contractor, but also to the
state and
to the population. Many countries have achieved great
infrastructural
developments through such contracts, including in the areas
of energy
generation, telecommunications, air and rail facilities, roads, and
much
else.
But it is beyond the wildest imagination that that can be
so in the case of
the Matabeleland-Zambezi Water project, for if the
financier/contractor is
to obtain a fair return on the capital committed to
the construction of the
dam, and the pipeline, and thereafter the working
capital for operations
(inclusive of the considerable cost of energy
necessary to pump the water
from the dam to the watershed), the price of the
water will inevitably be of
such a great amount as to place the
life-sustaining commodity beyond the
means of most consumers. That price
would also render agricultural and
industrial consumption non-viable. The
only possible exception to this
desperate and disastrous scenario would be if
the state and the local
authorities would substantially subsidise the supply
of water by the project
to the consumers. But the straitened financial
circumstances of both
suggests that for them to do so would be greatly beyond
their means.
Zimbabwe has waited 92 years for this much-needed project.
The thought of
further delays is appalling, but so too is the thought that
the water
becomes available but unaffordable. Better than that would be that
Zimbabwe
rapidly repairs its international image and relations, enabling it
to raise
developmental funding at acceptable cost.
Zim Independent
Muckraker
Of Mahoso’s wanderings and
Marimo’s confusion
Poor old Tafataona Mahoso. He doesn’t appear to
have much to do all
day except to write long-winded tracts to the editor of
the Herald
complaining about the editor of the Zimbabwe Independent. Like his
epistles
in the Sunday Mail, his strictures in the Herald cry out for an
editor.
Instead of being told to confine himself to 800 words, he is given as
much
space as he likes, wandering over to a following page without justifying
his
imposition upon readers.
He cites UN declarations which can
be used to support a variety of
arguments and presumes to speak on behalf of
the people of Africa who long
ago junked the redundant views he continues to
espouse.
“The people of Africa have established enduring values
through their
long fight against slavery,” Mahoso pontificates. “The people
of Africa have
established enduring values through their resistance to
colonialism and
imperialism. The people of this continent and its diaspora
have established
enduring values through their common struggles on a global
scale against
racism, apartheid and UDI.”
What we see here is an
attempt to impose an ideological straitjacket
on Africa by somebody who lacks
a public mandate. Many Africans today see
the values of their struggle for
liberation betrayed by a corrupt and greedy
post-liberation aristocracy. They
see governments who are clinging to power
long past their sell-by date
employing waffling polemicists to justify their
arthritic tenure. But what of
those African states such as Senegal, Ghana
and Kenya which have embraced the
new African values of democratic
diversity, freedom of expression, and the
rule of law?
How does Mahoso explain their values which are
diametrically opposed
to his? How does he explain Nepad and the AU’s
commitment to new standards
of governance?
As for the diaspora,
has Mahoso not noticed the change in tone of
Caribbean newspapers? Why did
President Mugabe’s chief Caribbean ally
Percival Petterson of Jamaica support
the continuation of Zimbabwe’s
suspension from the Commonwealth at the Abuja
Chogm? Why are most prominent
US organisations representing African Americans
now prepared to speak out
unambiguously on the trampling of democracy in
Zimbabwe? Ask Salih Booker of
Africa Action what he thinks!
Mahoso claims to be addressing hate speech in his discourse with
the
Independent. But he says nothing about his own contribution in this
regard!
And he freely misrepresents our views.
For instance our
“mushrooms” cartoon by Tony Namate about Zimbabweans
being kept in the dark
and fed on manure is cited as an example of racist
insensitivity. But it is
conveniently confused by Mahoso with the letter
about the wildebeests
watching while one of their number is devoured by
lions to suggest our
readers are racist.
“You defend the letter you published on January
2 by saying that such
expressions of racist thinking are in fact popular with
your readers who
find them to be humorous.”
No we didn’t. It was
the cartoon we said our readers found humorous,
not the letter which
expressed a commonly held view about political
docility. But Mahoso has
craftily conflated the cartoon with the letter to
provide a justification for
his contrived outrage. He preposterously points
to parallels with slavery,
colonialism, apartheid and UDI. We are only
surprised he hasn’t managed to
link Namate’s mushrooms to the Holocaust!
We certainly subscribe to
the UN declaration against racism,
xenophobia, and other forms of
discrimination. Is Mahoso seriously
suggesting he does?
The
claim that his letter to the editor of the Independent mutated
into a “public
statement” which was directed to all newspapers shows that
Mahoso, contrary
to popular opinion, possesses a sense of humour. He says we
are not the only
paper he has written to.
Perhaps in the interests of transparency
he could say what other
newspapers he has written to and about what? Has he
written to any
government-owned newspapers? Did he for instance write to the
Herald about
any of the shocking falsehoods the paper, under heavy legal
pressure, was
obliged to own up to last week?
We would also be
interested, while we are on the subject of
transparency, to know the budget
of the MIC, how much its chairman is paid,
and what perks he
receives.
Clearly, coherent thinking is not one of the
qualifications needed for
a job at the MIC. Journalists seeking to renew
their accreditation are asked
the following question: “State the name,
address, and telephone number of
the person who may be contacted regarding
any question in respect of this
application.”
So is that the
person applying or his/her employer/colleague/friend?
It’s as clear as
mud!
Question number two runs as follows: “Name, address of head
office,
mailing address and type of the applicant for renewal of
registration,
accreditation, or permission.”
What?
Let it be noted for the record that after one month in which Mahoso
has
occupied endless column inches trying to prove his charge of racism over
the
wildebeest letter, there has been only one solitary letter complaining
about
it — predictably published in the Sunday Mail.
Mahoso cites ad
nauseam in his columns the South African Human Rights
Commission’s
investigation into racism in the media. But few South Africans
share his
views. This is what Mondli Makhanya, the former editor of the Mail
&
Guardian who has just taken over the reins at the Sunday Times, recently
had
to say about the commission’s report: “The fewer words written about
the
Human Rights Commission’s probe into racism in the media the better and
some
trees will live another day.”
Perhaps Mahoso will spare a
thought for the environment and save a
whole forest by exercising some
editorial constraint in the future.
Warriors’ coach Sunday Marimo
seems confused. After initially putting
on a brave face when the draw was
made for the African Nations Finals
currently underway in Tunisia by saying
“We are not afraid of any opponent”,
he later decided that he and his charges
were merely going to “learn”.
Questionable selection compounded
poor preparations by the team
rendering it one of the whipping boys at the
tournament. Understandably, the
team lost its first two matches against Egypt
and Cameroon. And that is when
Marimo, who had earlier spurned an offer for
the team to tour England on the
spurious grounds that it was too cold in
Europe, realised that “We are not
really serious about our football. We
arrived here without any preparations
and people expect
miracles.”
Marimo is evidently no expert in weather-forecasting as
he soon learnt
that it was colder in Tunisia than England. It wasn’t only his
ego that
froze as he sat on the bench at Sfax.
It will be
remembered that he refused to have a technical advisor and
came out on
national television telling supporters making their suggestions
regarding
selection and playing formation to “leave it to me, I am
the
coach”.
One of the major reasons for the team’s loss to
Egypt and Cameroon was
of course ineptitude on the part of the technical
department, which was
indifferent to whether the team was in the lead, drawn
level, or trailing by
a three-goal deficit!
To Marimo’s credit
though, on Tuesday he benched his trusted but
ham-fisted “stars” and got a
2-1 result against Algeria.
Enemies of President Bush will be
delighted to hear that an avalanche
of books aimed at blocking his reelection
this year have hit the shelves of
bookstores across the United States. Some
commentators, the London Observer
notes, now believe Bush’s new status as a
hate figure surpasses even the
intense loathing by the Left of Richard
Nixon.
Books about Bush feature in the New York Times best-sellers
list.
These include Michael Moore’s Dude, Where’s My Country?, Al Franken’s
Lies
And the Lying Liars Who tell Them, and Molly Ivins & Lou
Dubose’s
Bushwacked.
George Soros has announced that removing
Bush has become the central
focus of his life and he is putting his money
where his mouth is. Time
magazine has called Bush “the great polariser” while
Joe Conason, author of
Big Lies: The Rightwing Propaganda Machine and How It
Distorts The Truth
said that in terms of vitriol, left-wing rhetoric is every
bit as strong now
as it has been from the Right.
‘The MDC’s
calls for the EU to tighten its sanctions were ill-timed
and out of sync with
reality,” one newspaper observed this week. It said the
latest overtures
stemmed from “political desperation”.
The party was “merely
kowtowing to US and EU designs on Zimbabwe”,
“analysts” told the
paper.
“That the call for sanctions was made at a time when the
economy was
set for revival in the wake of Reserve Bank governor Gideon
Gono’s monetary
policy showed that the opposition was not committed to
economic revival
under a Zanu PF government,” one of these “analysts”
said.
Which paper do you think trotted out this partisan drivel?
Sounds like
the Sunday Mail doesn’t it? Or the Herald on a bad day. In fact
it was the
Daily Mirror.
Good news on the transparency front.
The Office of the Ombudsman,
headed by Beatrice Chanetsa, has just published
its latest report.
And the bad news? It is for 1997!