Financial Gazette
Njabulo NcubeChief Political
Reporter
Was minister fired or did he resign?
HERBERT Murerwa's omission
from President Robert Mugabe's latest Cabinet
gives credence to reports that
the former Finance Minister tendered his
resignation late last year,
government sources say.
President Mugabe, not known for dismissing
ministers, left Murerwa in the
cold in his Tuesday Cabinet reshuffle,
replacing him with Chivi senator
Samuel Mumbengegwi, who has previously
served as Industry and Trade and
Higher Education Minister.
Coming at a
time when hopes were high for a leaner and more efficient
Cabinet, the
reshuffle, dismissed by critics as juggling "political musical
chairs", saw
President Mugabe creating one new ministry, upgrading a
department in his
office to a full-fledged ministry and appointing two new
deputy ministers.
This expansion of the Cabinet comes at a time when the
President is under
pressure to reduce rampant government spending.
He told reporters yesterday
that his new Cabinet would ensure that 2007 "was
a brighter year" as a
result of the reshuffle, saying he had considered the
need to fuse the "old
and the new" when assembling the new cabinet. But
critics said the
appointments, while rewarding loyalty, give no real hope
for a change in
policy. In particular they said, Mumbengegwi had been given
the task of
delivering the long-awaited turn-around of the economy, already
on its knees
with inflation running at 1 283 percent, but his appointment
had dashed any
hopes for recovery.
But it was Murerwa's dropping that sparked the most
speculation. A senior
ZANU PF official said Murerwa's exclusion had been
expected after he had
indicated to President Mugabe his intention to quit
after alleged sharp
differences with the central bank and colleagues in
government over the
economy.
"It is wrong to say he has been dropped, but
better to say omitted," said
the source. "He had served notice of his
intention to quit, but it was never
made public."
Murerwa declined to
comment yesterday when contacted by The Financial
Gazette. "I have no
comment on that one," he said. However, in remarks prior
to Tuesday's
reshuffle, he had told a reporter to "wait for the reshuffle"
when
approached for comment on speculation that he had resigned.
It is thought
that President Mugabe declined Murerwa's reported resignation
because he was
afraid it would be seen as being indicative of serious
fissures within his
government, plagued by divisions over his succession.
Murerwa's departure
seemed inevitable late last year when President Mugabe
publicly deplored
what he described as "bookish economics" expounded by the
minister.
The
President's remarks came after Murerwa had announced an end to the
Reserve
Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ)'s quasi-fiscal activities in what degenerated
into a
political-point-scoring-cum-blame-game between the Minister and the
RBZ.
Underlining the tension between the Ministry of Finance and the RBZ,
the
central bank took the unprecedented move of publishing confidential
correspondence showing Murerwa had, in fact, authorised the spending, blamed
for fuelling inflation.
Murerwa's position, this paper's sources say, had
in recent weeks resembled
that of one of his predecessors, Simba Makoni, who
had also offered to
resign but was asked to hang on until a cabinet
reshuffle. Makoni told The
Financial Gazette in a 2005 interview that he had
differed with his Cabinet
colleagues over "a range of issues to do with the
economy."
Cabinet resignations have become rare in Zimbabwe since the
Willowgate
scandal in 1988. Some of the most notable resignations since then
were of
Enos Chikowore, who resigned in 2000 after a scandal at state oil
procurer
Noczim, Edmund Garwe, who quit as Education Minister after an
examination
paper leak involving his daughter, and more recently, Nkosana
Moyo, who
stepped down hardly a year into his term after sharp differences
with
President Mugabe over economic policy. Shuvai Mahofa, who was deputy
minister of political affairs, was the first woman to resign from President
Mugabe's government. She quit after she became embroiled in a party row in
Gutu South that involved her love life.
Since the 1980s, President Mugabe
has only fired three ministers. Jonathan
Moyo was sacked in February 2005
and the late Herbert Ushewokunze was
dismissed as Health Minister in 1981.
The witty Ushewokunze complained at
the time that he was being cast as the
"whipping boy". Alexio Mudzingwa, who
was deputy minister of labour,
manpower planning and social welfare, was
sacked in 1986 after being accused
of drunkenness during a Non-Aligned
Movement Summit held in Zimbabwe that
year.
Financial Gazette
National
Agenda with Bornwell Chakaodza
It will take more than a reshuffle to solve
Zim crisis
WE certainly have been here before. I mean President Robert Mugabe
reshuffling his Cabinets to create War Cabinets, Development Cabinets,
dropping one minister and reassigning others in order to give an appearance
of reshuffling and so on and so forth.
Of course, reshuffling a
Cabinet is a matter for the President. Yes, the
President has the right to
appoint, drop or reassign any minister - even
upside down if he wants. But
the bottom line question for me is: Being
appointed to do what?
To
endlessly receive visitors in their offices to drink tea with biscuits or
to
effectively do a job that they were given to do. For the truth of the
matter
is that these so-called War and Development Cabinets have been
nothing but
mere words. Words with no substance or meaning.
They say that you are only as
good as the people you surround yourself with.
Coming from nothing, most of
these ministers see these appointments as an
opportunity to loot and make as
much money as they can rather than seeing
the appointments as a challenge to
make a substantial difference to
Zimbabwean society.
No wonder therefore
that most Zimbabweans have lost respect for these
ministers and have become
cynical about politics and politicians in general.
Zimbabweans see these
ministers as merely interested in chasing the elusive
United States dollar!
How does one explain the ostentatious wealth of a few
so-called chefs in
such a sea of poverty for the majority of Zimbabweans?
Can anyone say that
President Mugabe's overweight and bloated Cabinet is
driven by the desire to
change things for the better for the majority of
Zimbabweans? Has the old
Cabinet shown any creative leadership to solve the
Zimbabwean crisis? Can we
be optimistic this time round that this new/old
Cabinet will do the trick
now? What is it that has changed?
It does not take a genius to work out that
it takes more than a Cabinet
reshuffle to transform the fortunes of this
country. There is clearly a need
for change of policy and for a change of
strategy on the part of the ruling
ZANU PF party. There is a pressing need
on the part of ZANU PF to show
effective leadership.
There is also a need
for zero tolerance for corruption which to all intents
and purposes has
become a way of life in this country. The Reserve Bank of
Zimbabwe governor,
Gideon Gono, was just being diplomatic in his 2006
year-end Monetary Policy
Statement when he talked about the many distortions
in the various sectors
of the Zimbabwean economy. When is a distortion a
distortion and not
corruption when a so-called chef buys fuel at $320 a
litre and sells it on
the black market at $5 000 a litre. In my book, that
is nothing but
corruption in the true sense of the word. Distortions - what
distortions?
This is corruption fullstop.
We can not continue like this. This is not the
Zimbabwe we have been used to
for many years. Our current policies are not
working, pure and simple. We
need to end this culture of impunity that
ministers and other so-called
chefs have fallen into. Reshuffling Cabinets
or not, life for the majority
of Zimbabweans will just continue unbearably
unless decisions to change
policies are made pretty swiftly.
Creative
leadership - this is one of the major ingredients that we are
missing in
this country. President Mugabe can pump new blood or recycle old
blood into
his Cabinet but it will not make an iota of a difference if those
people
appointed are driven by self-interest and the desire to accumulate
riches
using state resources. In this struggle for spoils, it is the
ordinary
Zimbabweans, ordinary Zuzes up and down the country who become
victims.
Seven years of economic isolation and economic stagnation have
taken their
toll on Zimbabweans. No meaningful job creation is taking place
anywhere. If
anything, a lot of companies are closing shop. Most of those
that are still
in operation are operating at 30 percent capacity or below.
We have really
become a nation of traders - a far cry from what Zimbabwe
used to be.
Forget about the so-called Look East policy. It is not working
fullstop. The
epicentre of power, the centre of power and wealth is in the
West. We can be
a proud people but a small country like Zimbabwe cannot
fight a colossus
like the West and hope to win.
Whether one chooses to
accept it or not, this is the brutal fact. And the
sooner we grasp this
simple fact, the better for us all. We do not have any
choice as a country
but to constructively engage the United States, Britain
and the rest of the
European Union. Anyone who believes otherwise is living
in cloud
cuckooland.
I ask: Does it come as a surprise to anyone that the Chinese
President Hu
Jintao, who is currently visiting selected African countries
notably
neighbouring Zambia and South Africa has sidelined Zimbabwe?
So
much for the government's much- touted Look East policy. Who would in any
event want to invest in a Zimbabwe like this - a country in which one
product can cost $20 000 one minute and $50 000 the next?
We really need
to put our own house in order. We are facing the mother of
all economic
problems. I fail to understand how ZANU PF leaders can live
with themselves
when there is so much enormous suffering for the majority of
their fellow
citizens. How on earth can a country have prices of goods and
services, like
a bushfire, breaking out and increasing every hour and no one
knows how to
put it out? The mind boggles - really boggles!
I think we need to do better
than this, my fellow countrymen and
countrywomen. Even without policy
changes (as yet), there are a number of
ministers and deputy ministers who
were either reassigned or remained in
their ministries whom President Mugabe
should have in all fairness put out
to grass without any adverse
consequences on the Zimbabwean society. If
anything, it would have been good
riddance.
What is Joseph Made still doing in Cabinet? Aeneas Chigwedere?
Ignatius
Chombo? I could go on and on but space limitations prevent me from
doing so.
What in the name of God will Joseph Made be doing at the new
Ministry of
Agricultural Engineering and Mechanisation? Not to mention much
of the dead
wood in the form of some ministers and the majority of deputy
ministers who
are merely warming their seats in their offices.
There are
also a number of dubious ministries, which either duplicate the
functions of
other ministries or serve no purpose whatsoever. We are a
society in great
difficulties and hardships; therefore, a serious attempt to
trim the
government should have been made in the interest of efficiency and
reduced
government expenditure.
In conclusion, I feel very strongly that a great
opportunity has been lost
to install fresh eyes on our crisis and reduce
expenditure in Wednesday's
Cabinet reshuffle. There is a bit of a cheer
though - in the person of the
newly appointed Minister of Information and
Publicity Sikhanyiso Ndlovu. He
is an affable fellow. With his long standing
links with the journalistic
fraternity, there is a real possibility of the
profession entering a new era
of respect for each other's roles.
But what
is more important than anything else is the will and the
determination on
the part of ZANU PF and everybody else to heal this land.
The stakes are
very high. We have no choice but to do just that. This nation
is in need of
healing.
Eight years of mutual recriminations have not got us anywhere. If
anything,
they have brought untold suffering to the majority of Zimbabweans.
My eyes
are set for the future. There are some people who think that they
can not
sit down and negotiate with their so-called enemies. But in any
event as
Zimbabweans we should not regard each other as enemies. This
country is our
only home and heritage - for all of us whether black, white,
yellow or
green.
In other words, looking to the future, it is a question
of reaching out to
all elements of the Zimbabwean society. If President
Mugabe's desire in this
reshuffled Cabinet is to have such a positive
political impact on the
country as a whole then any right thinking
Zimbabwean would want to
eventually erect a statue to such an outcome.
borncha@mweb.co.zw
Financial Gazette
Loughty Dube
MISA-Zimbabwe would like to set the record
straight regarding recent
misleading political statements pertaining to the
principle of media
self-regulation.
These statements, which have the
danger of misleading and misinforming the
public if they are allowed to hold
sway, came in the wake of the inaugural
convention of the independent Media
Council of Zimbabwe (MCZ) held in Harare
on January 26, 2007.
The
convention discussed and scrutinised the proposed nationally binding
Code of
Conduct for Zimbabwean journalists as well as the draft Constitution
of the
Media Council of Zimbabwe.
One of the speakers during the convention was
House of Assembly member and
chairperson of the Parliamentary Portfolio
Committee on Transport and
Communications, Leo Mugabe.
In his remarks to
the convention Leo Mugabe seemed to
suggest as a matter of fact that the
launch and success of the envisaged
Media Council hinged on an amendment to
the
Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA). AIPPA was
promulgated in 2002 and created a statutory body, the Media and Information
Commission (MIC).
He categorically stated that to proceed otherwise would
result in a serious
confrontation with the MIC as both bodies would end up
performing similar
functions.
A clear and objective analysis of AIPPA
vis-à-vis the functions of the MIC
shows that nothing could be further from
the truth as the difference between
the statutory body and those of the
proposed independent council is like
that of day and night.
MISA-Zimbabwe
further notes that the repeal or any changes to AIPPA are not
conditional on
the launch of the Media Council of Zimbabwe.
There is no law in Zimbabwe that
stops that formation of a voluntary body
that regulates the operations of
the media, hence the wisdom of those that
crafted the Banjul Declaration on
Principles of Freedom of Expression in
Africa.
MISA-Zimbabwe is cognisant
of the fact that the path to media
self-regulation has historically been
fraught with bitter struggles between
the media industry and the
government(s) that believe in a compliant and
sycophant
media.
MISA-Zimbabwe, however, dismisses statements by Leo Mugabe that it is
a
political outfit. These statements are meant to divide the media sector
especially on the MCZ project.
When the government promulgated AIPPA in
2002 it defended the statutory
regulation saying the media had failed to
regulate its own affairs, hence
the government had to step in to regulate
the media sector.
When the media then embarks on a self-regulatory mechanism,
it cannot,
therefore be accused of being reactionary and confrontational as
alluded to
by Leo Mugabe.
It must be noted that there were no
consultations when AIPPA was passed into
law.
Zimbabwe is a signatory to
the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights
and the Charter that
creates the African Commission for Human and Peoples'
Rights (ACHPR). At its
32nd Ordinary Session, in Banjul, The Gambia, from
October 17 to 23 2002,
the ACHPR adopted a Declaration of Principles on
Freedom of Expression in
Africa which states: Effective self-regulation is
the best system of
promoting high standards in the media.
In addition, the Windhoek Declaration
on Promoting an Independent and
Pluralistic African Press was adopted in
1991 at a UNESCO-sponsored
conference.
It states that an independent
press is essential to the development and
maintenance of democracy in a
nation.
"Independent" in this context means a press independent from
governmental,
political or economic control, or from control of materials
and
infrastructure essential for the production and dissemination of
newspapers,
magazines and periodicals.
The Declaration envisages a
scenario where self-regulation creates an
environment that is conducive to
the promotion of a free, independent,
diverse and pluralistic
media.
Article 21 of the SADC Protocol on Culture, Information and Sport
(2001)
signed by heads of state in the SADC region obliges member states to
"encourage the establishment or strengthening of codes of ethics by various
sectors of the media through the creation of an enabling environment for the
formulation of such frameworks."
Encouragement is the opposite of
imposition, that is, using the force of
law.
In proposing that AIPPA
needed to be amended before the MCZ can be launched,
one wonders if
Honourable Mugabe is aware of the impetus of the cited
charters and
conventions.
Suffice to say in promulgating AIPPA, the government disregarded
instruments
it voluntarily signed.
Government took a route which is
largely ignored by
other democracies, a route which we have lived with for
five years now - the
AIPPA route which regulates the print media and the
practice of journalism
despite its flagrant violations of the
constitutionally guaranteed right to
freedom of expression and in direct
contravention of the Banjul Declaration
of 2002, the Windhoek Declaration of
1991 and the SADC Protocol of 2001.
For instance, Section 39 (1) (h) of AIPPA
empowers the MIC to advise the
Minister on the adoption and establishment of
standards and codes relating
to the operating of mass media.
Further the
MIC is empowered to enforce professional and ethical standards
in the mass
media. These functions do not create "an enabling environment"
as envisaged
in the SADC Protocol.
Under AIPPA four newspapers have been closed.
No
self-regulatory mechanism will descend so hard and vindictively on its
own
constituency.
The MCZ self-regulatory initiative was initiated by the Media
Alliance of
Zimbabwe (MAZ), an alliance of the Zimbabwe Union of Journalists
(ZUJ),
Media Monitoring Project Zimbabwe (MMPZ) and Media Institute of
Southern
Africa (MISA-Zimbabwe) in partnership with the Zimbabwe National
Editors
Forum (ZINEF) and Zimbabwe Association of Editors (ZAE).
The
inclusion of civil society at all stages of the consultations was an
appreciation of the fact that freedom of expression is an inherent right of
each individual and not just limited to journalists.
The MCZ is an
initiative of the media which stresses on the voluntariness
and consensual
character of self-regulatory mechanisms.
While the current MCZ draft
constitution may need to
be spruced up, it is suggested that effective
self-regulation and
not statutory regulation is the best way to deal
with
complaints against the media when perceived both from the viewpoint of
the
public and the preservation of freedom of expression.
As a media
freedom and freedom of expression lobby group, MISA-Zimbabwe
reiterates its
commitment to continue working with partners in the media
sector and broader
civic society towards the attainment of a media self
regulatory body in
Zimbabwe.
Loughty Dube is MISA-Zimbabwe's vice chairperson
Financial Gazette
Charles
RukuniBureau Chief
BULAWAYO - The people of Bulawayo have put aside their
ethnic, political and
racial differences to fight against the government's
proposed takeover of
the city's water supply.
Though the decision was
made by cabinet, Bulawayo United Residents
Association (BURA) chairman,
Winos Dube, said the government will have to
reverse this if it has the
interests of the city at heart.
"Cabinet is made up of our political leaders.
We elected them to office, so
they represent the wishes of the people. The
people of Bulawayo are saying
No to ZINWA (Zimbabwe National Water
Authority). So we believe they will
reverse that decision," Dube
said.
The government announced last month that ZINWA, which already supplies
the
capital Harare and other towns with water, would take over water
distribution in all towns and cities, including Bulawayo. No date has been
given yet.
BURA, which has often been accused of being an arm of the
ruling ZANU PF,
received a tremendous boost when it convened a residents'
meeting last
Friday which was attended by members of all political parties
and racial
groups, clearly indicating that the issue cut across ethnic,
political and
racial lines.
The people resolved that they would not allow
ZINWA to take over the city's
water supply because they already knew how it
operated in other towns which
continued to be dogged by water
problems.
Mattson Chidhakwa, manager for ZINWA's Gwayi Catchment Area, which
would
take over the water supply in Bulawayo and other cities in
Matabeleland
North, argues that the organisation has the capacity and is
better equipped
to supply Bulawayo with water than the city council.
But
Dube said the people of Bulawayo were unanimous that ZINWA should
concentrate on its core business of supplying bulk water and leave the
distribution to the council.
Executive Mayor, Japhet Ndabeni-Ncube, who
has sometimes been at loggerheads
with BURA, refusing to attend some of its
meetings because he did not attend
"party meetings", said he was not
surprised at all by the unity of purpose
that the people of Bulawayo had
shown.
"The people are simply saying this is our baby. The city of Bulawayo
is
ours. The infrastructure that ZINWA wants to take over is ours. We need
our
revenue."
Ndabeni-Ncube said the issue was not just about water but
about revenue.
Distribution of water contributed 40 percent of the council's
revenue but
this money was not just ploughed back into water and sewerage
but
cross-subsidised other non-trading areas such as education, housing and
health.
"We run 29 clinics in this city and as well as all the primary
schools in
the new suburbs. We also provide rented accommodation. That is
why we need
that money," the mayor said. "ZINWA is a national body. It will
plough back
its revenue into the national coffers."
Friday's meeting,
Dube said, resolved that BURA should consult all political
leaders from MPs,
senators to politburo members to get them to ask
government to reverse its
decision.
All Bulawayo legislators belong to the opposition Movement for
Democratic
Change while senior politicians belong to the ruling ZANU
PF.
"The people have demonstrated that water is life. It does not know any
religious, ethnic or political divides. We are therefore going to lobby
everyone, including vice-President Joseph Msika, the most senior politician
from this area. We will try to persuade them to change their minds because
water is a very serious issue in this region. Companies have closed down or
relocated because of lack of water. We do not have any problems with
distribution," Dube said.
Asked why he thought government would listen to
the people now when it had
not consulted them before making the decision to
take over the water supply,
Dube said: "I would like to believe it was just
an oversight. Now that we
are going to talk to them, we believe they will
listen. They will have to
explain to us where the city council has failed,
what the benefits of ZINWA
taking over are, and if they convince us, it is
something else. But right
now, the people of Bulawayo are united. No to
ZINWA."
An office orderly who keeps a close watch on political trends said he
only
wished the unity of purpose that the people of Bulawayo had shown on
the
issue of water could spread to other burning issues bedevilling the
country
at the moment.
Financial Gazette
Stanley
Kwenda Staff Reporter
UN habitat chief concerned over slow pace of
rehabilitation
THE United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Executive
Director of
UN-HABITAT, Anna Tibaijuka, has expressed concern over the slow
pace of the
rehabilitation of victims of the widely condemned Operation
Murambatsvina
carried out by the Zimbabwean government in the winter of
2005.
Tibaijuka voiced her sentiments during a closed door meeting with
representatives of urban residents' associations held on the sidelines of
the World Social Forum (WSF) conference in Kenya last month.
"As the
chairman of the Combined Harare Residents Association (CHRA) I was
fortunate
to meet Dr Tibaijuka on January 24 to discuss the urban crisis in
Zimbabwe
and how it is affecting residents," said Mark Davies, CHRA
executive
chairman.
"Dr Tibaijuka, who is well informed about Operation Murambatsvina,
expressed
concern over the lack of progress in addressing the humanitarian
crisis,
particularly shelter, in the wake of Operation Murambatsvina."
In
July 2005, Tibaijuka visited Zimbabwe as then United Nations Secretary
General, Kofi Annan's Special Envoy on Human Settlements Issues, following
the massive demolition of dwellings throughout the country. She subsequently
compiled a report showing the operation had left 700 000 people homeless and
thousands more without employment.
Many of the evicted people are still
homeless, and have built new illegal
shelters
The government's Operation
Garikai/Hlalani Kuhle, which promised new homes
for the displaced, has also
failed to deliver.
The Kenya meeting also discussed similar situations in
countries like India
and made recommendations, Davies said.
"The meeting
also made recommendations on what needs to be done and how best
issues
around Murambatsvina could be resolved. We will be unfolding some of
them
soon. But we will continue to articulate issues around the continuing
attacks on victims of the operation and force the government to accept
responsibility for them," said Davies.
Financial Gazette
Rangarirai
Mberi
'Two jokers, a 'queen' and quite possibly an ace'
Samuel
Mumbengegwi
Finance Minister
JUST when Zimbabweans thought things
could not get any more bizarre, the
bottom of the barrel has been well and
truly scraped this time for a new
Finance Minister.
The new holder of one
of the most important posts in government, Samuel
Mumbengegwi, is a world
apart from his predecessor. Where Herbert Murerwa
was seen as a pragmatist
and reformist, Mumbengegwi is the direct opposite.
Unlike Murerwa, who
frequently sought to use diplomacy to win over critics,
the new man at
Treasury revels in confrontation. And unlike Murerwa,
Mumbengegwi does not
see any sense in Zimbabwe wasting time trying to
restore relations with
either the IMF, the World Bank or some such
"imperialists".
As Industry
and Trade Minister in 2004, he told a Congress of Zimbabwe
Industires (CZI)
meeting : "What you are saying is 'let us go back to the
conditionalities of
the IMF and the World Bank'. No, we are doing well
without them." This was
two months after he had spent hours quarrelling with
Zimbabwe National
Chamber of Commerce (ZNCC) congress delegates in Kadoma
over how to define
"the international community."
And it is not likely he will spend his
precious time trying to mend
relations with business. In 2003, following a
weeklong business shutdown
during the MDC's "final push", Mumbengegwi
claimed his "surveillance and
investigations" had identified 14 companies
that had been working "in
cahoots" with the opposition. The companies'
licenses would be withdrawn and
expatriate workers at the offending firms
would be deported pronto. Of
course, none of that ever happened.
But
don't be fooled by all Mumbengegwi's finger pulling at the West. This is
what he told a reporter, while on a controversial trip to Belgium in 2002.
"Ndiri kuBrussels, mukatikati meEurope. Unoiziva here Brussels? (I'm in
Brussels, deep in the heart Europe. Ever been to Brussels?) It's a high
delegation meeting and they are rolling out red carpets for me all over.
Ndiri pakati pavo varungu (I'm living it up with white folks)."
What is
even slightly more worrying is his bitter 2002 public spat with
Gideon Gono,
then chairman of the University of Zimbabwe (UZ) board. As
Higher Education
Minister - he had taken over from Murerwa a year earlier -
Mumbengegwi was
accused of interfering in the appointment of the new UZ Vice
Chancellor,
vetoing the board's choice for his own. This row led to Gono's
resignation
from the board, reports at the time said.
So, unless both men have since
buried the hatchet, Mumbengegwi's appointment
heralds a period of more
fragile relations between RBZ and Finance. And what
will happen now, when a
reform minded RBZ and a brash Finance Minister head
for those lobbying
meetings at the IMF and World Bank? Which side will the
world believe to be
in charge of economic policy? RBZ and its new reform
thrust, or Mumbengegwi
and the hardline stance he will inevitably bring to
Treasury?
Mumbengegwi
has worked previously as a teacher, headmaster, a lecturer at a
teachers'
college and an education officer. He is a former director of
Planning and
Development Curriculum, Examinations and Distance Education at
Higher
Education.
Joseph Made
State Agricultural Engineering
and
Mechanisation
Made was one of the so-called "technocrats" appointed to
cabinet in 2000,
together with the likes of Nkosana Moyo, Simba Makoni and
Jonathan Moyo. The
last three are all gone - Nkosana Moyo as far as the US
and Jonathan
somewhere in cyberspace.
But Made worked hard to shake off
his "technocrat" tag - using a series of
actions that left many in no doubt
that he was nowhere near the agriculture
"technocrat" they had been made to
believe the former ARDA boss was.
First were his dodgy, very unscientific
crop assessment methods. These
entirely entailed the hiring of a small plane
and buzzing over a few maize
fields before reaching the confident conclusion
that Zimbabwe was in for a
bumper harvest. Then there was this funny bit,
more recently, about blaming
an innocent monkey for poor crop
yields.
It's not known what he will do at this new ministry, apart from
helping
increase government expenditure - and maybe adding to the reported
vast
collection of idle farm equipment at his Manicaland
farm.
Sikhanyiso Ndlovu
Information and Publicity
By appointing
"Duke", the President has saved Zimbabweans from more vile
abuse from
Munyaradzi Paul Mangwana, who had begun to enjoy his acting role
at
Information a bit too much.
The unkind ones will remember Ndlovu most for his
public weeping after
losing his Mpopoma seat in 2000 to the MDC (he had his
own MDC, but that was
the Mpopoma Development Council). However, forgetting
that episode, Ndlovu
comes through as levelheaded - well, at least compared
to Mangwana and other
jokers that have recently served in that
portfolio..
A regular at the Bulawayo Press Club, many journalists will be
hoping that
Ndlovu's long-standing warm ties with the media help speed up
the repeal of
laws that threaten press freedom.
However, remember there
were similar but ultimately vain hopes when Tichaona
Jokonya, a diplomat,
was appointed to the last cabinet.
Tracy Mutinhiri
Deputy
Indigenisation
and Empowerment
Who is this one now? Oh, the lady who
fought her husband, Ambrose, in a ZANU
PF primary in Marondera West. She was
asked to retreat from the spousal spat
and to wait for a juicier senate
seat, which she now holds.
Financial Gazette
Christella Langton Staff Reporter
MEDICAL aid
societies have warned that the National
Social Security Authority's (NSSA)
proposed National Health Insurance Scheme
(NHIS) could trigger the collapse
of the industry.
The Association of Healthcare
Funders of Zimbabwe
(AHFoZ), formerly known as National Association of
Medical Aid Societies
(NAMAS), told a stakeholders lobby meeting this week
that they feared
collapse due to a possible loss of membership sparked by
the proposed
scheme.
They said apart from
threatening the viability of
most medical aid societies, the scheme comes at
a time when workers are
failing to make ends meet due to runaway
inflation.
AHFoZ has 19 members in including CIMAS,
RAILMED,
PSMAS, Zimpapers Medical Aid Society, Harare Municipal Medical Aid
Society,
Fidelity Life Medical Aid Society, and Medical Aid Society of
Central Africa
(MASCA).
NSSA plans to introduce
the new scheme in July this
year in what critics view as ploy by the
government to raise funds to
bankroll the country's collapsed health
delivery system.
Medical aid players said on Tuesday
that their
industry, already reeling from the effects of record inflation,
would not be
in a position to "double insure".
The Chief Executive Officer of AHFoZ, Shylet
Sanyanga, said instead of
improving health delivery in the country the NSSA
scheme would cause further
deterioration in the health sector and put more
strain on the
government.
"The envisaged influx of patients to the
ill-equipped public hospitals, amid shortages of staff and drugs and rundown
equipment, will speed up their further deterioration," said
Sanyanga.
Under the proposed scheme, workers will
contribute
five percent to the NHIS.
But AHFoZ
says although the scheme would complement
existing medical aid societies,
there was doubt as to its continued
viability as it does not target the poor
in its initial phase.
"The committee steering the
NHIS does not include
anyone from the medical aid industry and as such, the
views of the health
insurance sector (AHFoZ) have not been solicited. The
government wants to
introduce a new scheme when the already existing ones
are failing to
deliver," said Sanyanga.
When
introduced, the scheme will see workers
contributing for six months before
they can start accessing services from
hospitals.
"This is another way of squeezing money from the
workers," the AHFoZ boss
said.
Financial Gazette
Kumbirai
MafundaSenior Business Reporter
Government crackdown on manufacturers
intensifies
THE government intensified its crackdown on manufacturers this
week with the
arrest of two top executives of the country's largest milling
companies for
allegedly seeking government approval to increase the retail
price of bakers
flour.
In a fresh crackdown on the country's
tormented manufacturers police from
the Licence Inspectorate and Price
Control unit picked up National Foods
managing director Ian Kind on Tuesday
before arresting Mike Manga, the
managing director of Blue Ribbon Industries
and chairman of the Millers
Association of Zimbabwe yesterday.
Both Kind
and Manga were interrogated and had statements recorded by the
police before
being released, milling industry sources said.
"They are saying the fact that
you (millers) sought to hike prices is an
offence," said the
sources.
Millers had written on two separate occasions to Industry and
International
Trade Minister Obert Mpofu, who has authority to sanction
price increases on
controlled commodities, in the past two weeks seeking
permission to increase
the retail price of bakers flour from $610 000 to
$900 000 per tonne, citing
increased production costs. The millers say while
the government has pegged
the retail price of a tonne of flour at $610 000,
production costs have in
recent weeks soared to $972 508 and this could lead
to bankruptcy.
Industry players said the arrest of their colleagues was
worrisome as it
came after deputy Industry and International Trade Minister
Phineas Chihota
and Norman Chakanetsa, the director of research and consumer
affairs in the
ministry had pledged in meetings on Tuesday to expedite their
application
for a price review.
"We agreed to hold prices pending the
decision of the cabinet," said one
milling executive who attended the
meeting.
Millers join a growing list of executives who in recent months have
been
picked up for flouting government controls on prices. Last year two
executives from the country's largest bakery spent four nights in jail after
being convicted for flouting price control regulations. They were later
released on bail pending appeal against conviction and sentence.
Because
of reduced wheat stocks from the state-run Grain Marketing Board
(GMB)
millers say capacity utilization has dropped to less than 16 percent
and the
current throughput could not sustain existing employment levels.
Apart from
the wheat shortages millers are also incurring huge
transportation bills for
ferrying wheat stocks from the GMB's depots such as
Concession and as far as
Middle Sabi to milling plants in Harare and
Bulawayo.
Zimbabwean
companies have in recent months been forced to increase prices
regularly due
to shortages and the high cost of purchasing foreign currency
on the black
market and raw materials.
Financial Gazette
Clemence Manyukwe Staff Reporter
SOME cabinet ministers
have taken Industry and International Trade
Parliamentary Portfolio
Committee chairman Enoch Porusingazi and five other
ZANU PF MPs to task for
being overzealous in exposing government ministers
during hearings
Porusingazi and his committee were grilled by a panel of
cabinet ministers
in the government caucus room at Parliament, only days
after members of the
privileges committee, tasked with probing Mpofu's
conduct, were informed
that a hearing, originally scheduled for Wednesday,
had been
postponed.
No reasons were given for the postponement. A gag order
had been issued to
members of the committee barring them from commenting
publicly on the Mpofu
hearing.
On Monday, ruling party portfolio
committees regrouped after their heated
meeting with the ministers, and
resolved to seek an audience with President
Robert Mugabe if the ministers
continued threatening them. MPs serving on
the committee regard the
ministers' actions as Cabinet interference in
parliamentary
work.
Porusingazi's committee will hold a hearing on February 20 with the
Zisco
board and management over the state of affairs at the loss-making
steel
company. Mpofu's testimony on Zisco, in which he at first claimed the
existence of a report naming senior government officials in the looting of
the parastatal before recanting, forms the basis of Parliament's bid to
impeach him.
According to sources, the ministers summoned to Monday's
meeting only those
ruling party MPs serving as "chairpersons of various
committees whom they
perceived to be vociferous. Justice Minister Patrick
Chinamasa and Clerk of
Parliament Austin Zvoma co-chaired the meetings, it
has been established.
Other ministers in attendance included Didymus Mutasa,
Elliot Manyika,
Webster Shamu and Olivia Muchena. Senate President Edna
Madzongwe and deputy
leader of the Senate, Tracy Mutinhiri, were also
present.
Chinamasa and Zvoma yesterday refused to comment on the
matter.
Besides Porusingazi, other committee chairpersons quizzed included
Leo
Mugabe (Transport and Communication) David Butau (Budget and Economics),
Margaret Zinyemba (Local Government and Urban Development), Shuvai Mahofa
(Youth and Gender) and Walter Mzembi (Lands and Agriculture).
Claudius
Makova (Defence and Home Affairs) said he did not attend the
meeting.
"I
was told about the meeting but I did not receive my invitation. I did not
attend so I don't know what it was all about," said Makova.
But a source
said: "The ministers were generalising issues and giving
examples saying we
were overstepping and exposing ministers. Manyika as ZANU
PF's national
commissar said we were deviating from the party route and
threatened that we
would not be re-elected if we continued."
Sources said the ministers
questioned Mugabe on the halting of the
construction of what his committee
had found to be "sub-standard" toll
gates.
Mzembi's committee was
criticised for its findings after a tour of sugar
plantations in the
Lowveld, which had painted a grim picture of the
situation on the estates.
Financial Gazette
Chris Muronzi
Staff Reporter
DEPUTY Information Minister Bright Matonga and jailed
Zimbabwe United
Passenger Company (ZUPCO) chairman Charles Nherera pressured
businessman
Jayesh Shah to inflate the purchase price of 75 buses so that
they could
pocket the difference, a magistrate heard yesterday.
Shah
also told Harare regional magistrate Morgan Nemadire that he had given
Nherera and Matonga kickbacks of US$10 000 each in a bid to avoid eviction
from a property he is renting from ZUPCO, following repeated threats by the
pair to cancel his lease.
Shah, a key state witness said Nherera had
"tailored" the tender documents
so that the specifications for the buses
required would exactly match those
Shah already had available in a
warehouse.
Shah said Matonga and Nherera told him to inflate the price of the
buses to
US$35 000 each from US$32 750 so that they could pocket the
difference.
This, he said, was to be arranged after payment was made to his
company,
Gift Investments. The court heard that once Shah received the
money, paid by
ZUPCO through the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, he would give the
surplus that
had been factored into the price to Nherera and
Matonga.
"Professor Nherera said the buses would be bought, but the price had
to be
adjusted. He said they also had to make money out of it. Our selling
price
was US$32 750, but Professor Nherera said if I could invoice the buses
at
US$35 000, he could influence the floating of the tender. I agreed to his
suggestion as it was the only way I could sell these buses to ZUPCO," said
Shah.
Asked why he had agreed to pay the bribe, Shah claimed he had
struggled to
sell the buses since their importation in 2001, and was
desperate.
"I told them that the money would be paid after the payments had
been made
and after we (Gift Investments) had received the money." Matonga
successfully implored the court on Tuesday to be tried separately from the
jailed former ZUPCO chairman.
Matonga is facing two counts of corruption.
One charge relates to the
allegation that he solicited a bribe to restore
Shah's lease, and the second
charge stems from a US$150 000 bribe he and
Nherera allegedly received
jointly from the businessman.
Nherera has
already been convicted of corruption relating to the US$150 000
bribe and is
serving a two-year jail term. The former Chinhoyi University of
Technology
vice chancellor has filed an appeal in the High Court against the
lower
court's decision to try him separately for each count.
The trial continues.
Vernandah Munyoro prosecuted.
Financial Gazette
Njabulo Ncube
Chief Political Reporter
PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe will soon endorse the
expulsion of Edgar Tekere from
ZANU PF after the ruling party's politburo
last week agreed that he be
ejected for "gross indiscipline", party sources
said.
An insider said yesterday that President Mugabe would meet other
members of
the party presidency, his two Vice Presidents, Joseph Msika and
Joice Mujuru
"sooner rather than later", to approve Tekere's
dismissal.
The maverick politician was only readmitted to ZANU PF during the
ruling
party's conference last December, 18 years after he had left the
party he
helped to form to launch the Zimbabwe Unity Movement (ZUM).
The
politburo, sources said, had accused Tekere of showing "shocking
personal
disrespect" for President Mugabe in his book A Lifetime of Struggle
in which
he portrayed the 83-year-old veteran politician as a weak leader.
Tekere also
subsequently declared in newspaper interviews that he was "more
ZANU PF"
than Mugabe, and that he had coaxed a "reluctant Mugabe" to join
the
liberation struggle.
Tekere's ejection will not go through the national
disciplinary committee
chaired by national party chairman John Nkomo, but
straight to the
presidium, the sources said.
The Tekere controversy has
caused great embarrassment to the Manicaland ZANU
PF province, which
supported his readmission into ZANU PF, said the sources.
The ZANU PF Youth
League, chaired by politburo member Absolom Sikhosana, was
the first to
write to Nkomo calling for Tekere's dismissal. This was
followed by a
similar call from the Women's League.
Nathan Shamuyarira told the party's
mouthpiece, The Voice, that the
politburo had endorsed Tekere's dismissal.
Financial Gazette
Chris Muronzi Staff
Reporter
JANUARY inflation will reach new record highs around 1500
percent, pushed
largely by continued rise of consumer goods and fuel,
analysts have said.
According to a Financial Gazette poll of analysts and
economists this week,
the market expects annual inflation to come in a range
between 1400 percent
and 1595 percent. The Central Statistical Office (CSO)
is expected to
release January data tomorrow.
Best Doroh of ZB Financial
Holdings sees inflation up, pushed by high growth
in money supply and
general increase in basic commodities.
"(We) forecast 1595 percent for
January 2007, on the back of continued high
growth in money supply,
increases in prices of basic commodities, ahead of
the MPS and continued
foreign currency shortages, translating into high
premium for foreign
currency on the parallel market," said Doroh.
"In the short-term, inflation
is expected to maintain an upward trend,
underpinned by higher food
inflation owing to the low food supply period to
March 2007 as well as
increases in transport, clothing and footwear and
restaurants and hotel
costs during the festive season. The recent adjustment
in electricity
charges by ZESA is also expected to result in a direct
increase in domestic
power and electricity inflation, particularly in
November."
Other
analysts say continued foreign currency shortages and incessant
weakening of
the local unit would have taken its toll on January inflation.
Zimbabwe
Allied Banking Group (ZABG) group treasurer Andy Hodges sees
inflation up to
1350 percent in January and up to 1450 percent this month.
"High prices of
goods will definitely affect inflation but I don't see the
figure changing
that much. I don't see any serious changes because the only
increases on
basic commodities have rather been in the past week. I see
inflation at 1350
(January) and 1450 percent (February) owing to the
increase we have seen in
the past week," said Hodges.
Zimbabwe's annual inflation quickened to a
record 1 283.1 percent in
December, coming in at the top end of our poll
last month.
Government has projected that inflation - which it has labeled
the country's
number one enemy - would slow to 350-400 percent by the end of
this year,
but analysts are wary of the forecasts.
Central bank governor
Gideon Gono admitted during his monetary policy review
statement last week
that quasi-fiscal expenditures had contributed to the
high rate of
inflation.
Analysts say curbing government expenditure will be key to slowing
down
inflation.
Financial Gazette
Kumbirai Mafunda
Senior Business Reporter
ZIMBABWE'S troubled bakers on Monday besieged
the offices of Industry and
International Trade Ministry demanding an urgent
review of their application
to raise the price of bread to $1 500 per
standard loaf amid fears that
production is slowly grinding to a halt owing
to the sorry state of affairs
obtaining in the industry, The Financial
Gazette has learnt.
Government sources told The Financial Gazette that
more than 10
representatives of the National Bakers Association (NBA) camped
outside
Industry Minister, Obert Mpofu's offices at Mukwati Building, asking
to have
their concerns addressed.
The bakers were concerned by the huge
price increase of flour passed on by
the milling industry this week and the
failure by the Industry Ministry to
timeously review the gazetted price,
which is currently pegged at $825 per
standard loaf.
The bakers wrote to
Mpofu early last month seeking an urgent price review to
avoid wholesale
bankruptcy in the baking sector.
Under Zimbabwe's command style economic
management, manufacturers of basic
commodities among them bread, maize meal
and other monitored commodities
must first seek Mpofu's approval before
increasing prices.
"We are concerned that the ministry has not taken steps to
deal with our
application despite several follow-ups with ministry
officials. We have
reached a level where we cannot continue to produce at
the levels of losses
we are experiencing since the gazetting of the current
price," said the
bakers.
Sources said deputy Industry and International
Trade Minister Phineas
Chihota saved the situation by telling the bakers
that they needed to set up
an appointment with Mpofu.
Mpofu, who was
reported to be out of his office on Monday, later met the
representatives of
the bakers' association but details of the meeting
remained a closely
guarded secret at the time of going to print.
Sources privy to the bakers'
meeting with Chihota and Christian Katsande,
the permanent secretary in the
ministry, told The Financial Gazette that the
two promised to look into the
bakers' grievances and pledged to respond to
their pleas later in the
afternoon.
Bakers warned that Monday's increase in flour prices from $30 500
to $45
000/50kg bag of flour would worsen an already critical situation as
it would
throw them out of business and threaten the livelihoods of more
than 120 000
people who depend on the industry.
Continued demand for
working capital as a result of increases in raw
materials such as flour,
sugar, oil, fuel, and packaging material are
severely bleeding the baking
industry.
Bakers are the second major industry to send out signals of
insolvency after
sugar producers resorted to holding onto their stocks until
the government
increased prices by more than 100 percent.
Financial Gazette
Personal Glimpses with Mavis Makuni
A SHORT while before
the presentation of the Monetary Policy Review by
Reserve Bank governor,
Gideon Gono, I had been cursing under my breath over
a statement made by the
acting chairman of ZESA Holdings, Professor
Christopher Chetsanga about the
disastrous state of affairs at the national
power utility.
It was not
the announcement that ZESA was bankrupt that made my blood boil
but the
explanation the good professor gave for this state of affairs. "We
are
charging sub-economic tariffs. The electricity bills customers are
paying
are sub-economic. For 2006 we generated $26 billion and had an
expenditure
of $66 billion resulting in a deficit to ZESA of $34 billion
which has since
ballooned to $105 billion because of interest rates."
He described how the
power utility had been forced to borrow from banks at
very high interest
rates. The numerous other woes at ZESA included a high
electricity import
bill, the breakdown of generators at Hwange Power Station
which needed to be
repaired at a cost of US$30 million. The electricity
import bill had
consumed 70 percent of total revenues although only 35
percent of total
requirements were imported. Apart from the general
electricity shortfall
that will hit the whole of Southern Africa, Zimbabwe's
position would be
exacerbated by the inability of its thermal power stations
in Harare,
Bulawayo and Munyati to operate consistently at full capacity.
"Major
generation constraints are being experienced at Hwange Power Station
whose
full output should be 780 W but is currently operating at 350W on
average as
a result of inadequate resources, mostly foreign currency for
plant
overhauls."
The situation was not much better at Kariba South Power Station,
which was
operating below capacity to generate only 350W instead of
750W.
Chetsanga said the power network needed to be upgraded and reinforced
urgently. The fact was that there had been no capitalisation for a decade
meant some infrastructure had become obsolete. "This, no doubt, is the cause
of many supply-related failures that our valued customers are having to
endure. This state of affairs is as a result of inadequate funding".
Chetsanga's endless list of woes proved the power utility's operations
conformed to Murphy's Law - everything that could go wrong did in fact gone
wrong.
I was fuming after Chetsanga's presentation because a large
proportion of
these problems could have been averted with more efficient
management and
strategic planning. I knew that this appalling scenario
applied to many
other public service providers who were now all zeroing in
on the hapless
consumer to pay for the ramifications of decades of
corruption, dereliction
of duty and lack of foresight. It is accepted that
the largest investment in
any concern should be made at the beginning when
foundations are laid. Over
time consumers should be entitled to eventually
enjoy the incremental
benefits of these initial outlays. Deplorably, because
of mismanagement,
corruption and lack of forward planning, consumers in
Zimbabwe are being
forced to pay through the nose so that outfits such as
ZESA, the Zimbabwe
Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC), Harare City Council and
many others can
start over after being run to the ground through political
meddling and
inept and extravagant management.
To bail itself out of
these deliberately self-induced problems, ZESA has
announced plans to
increase tariffs by an astronomical percentage. But in
his statement two
weeks ago, Chetsanga did not breathe a word about the
abuses that have
exacerbated and hastened the bankruptcy of the power
utility from which it
now hopes to recover by squeezing the consumer. These
include interference
by politicians demanding the appointment of relatives
and cronies to key
positions despite their lack of requisite managerial
skills and leadership
qualities. Despite their ineptitude and inefficiency,
political appointees
have milked organisations like ZESA dry by making
outlandish demands in
terms of remuneration and perks. Constant political
meddling has resulted in
a high turnover of senior executives who either had
to be awarded hefty
terminal benefits or kept on the payroll for years. This
means that revenue
that should have been used to maintain and refurbish
infrastructure was
misdirected towards non-essential and extravagant
expenditure.
A
confidential auditors' report obtained by The Financial Gazette in
November,
which Chetsanga did not refer to, painted a grim picture of the
power
utility's financial woes as a result of which it was defaulting with
respect
to various obligations. ZESA's biggest failing was that it was
shortchanging
consumers by levying tariffs when all it could deliver most of
the time were
power cuts. The auditors' report showed the authority had
fallen behind in
remitting workers' pension contributions to the National
Social Security
Authority (NSSA) and its in-house pension fund. The most
startling
revelation from the report, however, was that about 80 percent of
ZESA's
total revenue was gobbled up by salaries. Most of what consumers pay
therefore does not go towards service delivery but to maintain a bloated
workforce. Chetsanga announced that 600 workers would be retrenched but
neglected to mention that flooding the parastatal with redundant employees
was one of the root causes of the now insurmountable problems.
Despite
knowing that what was happening at ZESA was being replicated at many
other
parastatals and public service providers, I, like millions of
frustrated
fellow Zimbabweans, was prepared to clutch at straws and hope
Gono's
Monetary Police Review Statement would be a cure-all. I wanted to
believe
that with a wave of his magic wand, he could end the suffering of
the
majority of the populace. But with his moral suasion stance, the Reserve
Bank of Zimbabwe boss has thrown the challenge back to politicians.
Ironically, at this stage and gravity of the situation in the country, this
last-ditch approach is the only one most likely to work. But alas, it is
also the least likely to be embraced. Those benefiting from the chaotic
economic and political situation prevailing in the country through
corruption and influence peddling are just not inclined to stop plundering
and looting. They brought this once thriving country to its knees in the
first place. They have shown themselves to be impervious to the plight of
the people. Gono's is therefore likely to continue to be a voice in the
wilderness.
Financial Gazette
Comment
POLICE Deputy
Commissioner Godwin Matanga last week pointed an accusing
finger at
"nameless and faceless" politicians when he addressed the
Parliamentary
Portfolio Committee on Mines, Environment and Tourism on
illegal mining
activities.
This was, to use a somewhat hackneyed expression, as
mysterious to us as a
blocked toilet would be to a plumber. It only had to
be influential ZANU PF
politicians, who together with their henchmen and
gold-plated businessmen
with financial links to the ruling party have always
been at the centre of
waste, fraud, abuse and criminal activity in the
management of public
resources.
Many, including President Robert Mugabe,
have in the past admitted as much
by implicating this irresponsible cabal in
corruption. Sadly, that's as far
as they could go, leaving many wondering
who these culprits are. The
authorities admit that the cancer of corruption
is suppurating. But all we
have had are threats and more threats to expose
the culprits with very
little, if any to show for it.
The obvious
question is: Why are the authorities inexplicably keeping the
lid on the
identity of these culprits when exposing them should be an
integral part of
the crusade against corruption? The question becomes even
more pressing
given that the government has over the years droned on at
nauseating length
about its supposed commitment, sincerity and political
will to fight
corruption. To the extent that, in a tacit admission that the
pendulum has
swung too far the other way, it in 2004 controversially amended
the Criminal
Procedure and Evidence Act under the Presidential Powers
(Temporary Measures
Act) ostensibly to deal with pervasive corruption.
Was this just
window-dressing for the public's benefit? Why else would the
government take
aim when it had no intention to pull the trigger in the
first place? For
example, Deputy Commissioner Matanga stated in no uncertain
terms that
certain politicians, ministers and MPs had been implicated in
illegal gold
mining activities adding that they had tried to interfere with
the clampdown
on the racket code-named Chikorokoza Chapera. For crying out
loud, who are
these people? Why was Matanga reluctant to move a step further
and tell the
portfolio committee who these people are? Or why didn't the
portfolio
committee itself press him to expose the culprits, explain why the
culprits
were not arrested and why the police are treating the case so
gingerly and
not in the routine manner?
We were of the belief that the committee has a
right to ask questions. And
the politicians or whomsoever is brought before
it do not have a right not
to answer them. Such probing questions could have
provided the clearest
insight into the goings-on in the shadowy world of the
plunder of the
country's mineral wealth. Unfortunately the opportunity has
been lost.
The big question is why is the government always stalling wherever
there is
incontrovertible evidence of corruption by politicians? The answer
is not
far to seek. The much-vaunted anti-corruption drive has itself been
corrupted. How so? At the risk of issuing a verdict before we have heard the
evidence, the ruling party politicians, who have access to public resources,
are the ones fuelling corruption. And any lucid exposé would hurt the
specific interests of the political party to which they belong - ZANU PF.
That explains why government is incuriously passive when it comes to these
cases.
In any other country, parochial political party interests do not
outweigh
the public interest that could be served by naming and shaming the
corruption-accused. But not in Zimbabwe, where the pursuit of corruption
cases seems to hinge on the political power and influence of those
implicated! And if evidence was ever needed to prove this, it is abundant in
the following cases: the illegal mining activities, the multiple farm
ownership, the looting of the War Victims Compensation Fund, the abuse of
foreign currency meant for the importation of fuel and the VIP Housing
Scheme, just to mention but a few.
As we have said before, what is
happening in Zimbabwe today as regards
high-profile corruption is what
happens in a decaying society where
corruption has been institutionalised,
there is ever-shrinking
accountability and transparency, there is no limit
to the abuse of political
power and the principle of equality before the law
is compromised.
What hope is there for Zim's children?
EDITOR - I have family
who still live in Zimbabwe and when speaking to them
on the phone they tell
me that they have been without water and electricity
for days on end. This
for them must be like living in the dark ages.
Man and beast have a right to
water and for the people of Zimbabwe who have
nothing this is a shame. What
has happened to this country?
The rest of the world does not give a hoot
about Zimbabwe as there is no oil
to be found there so why should they care
about what happens to the people
of this country?
People who have left
Zimbabwe say that like me, who was born there, they
will never go back to
living in the dark ages and even if the government
changes the country will
never be the same again.
I left 30 years ago and all the people who are
leaving now say that they
should have done so years ago but thought things
would change for the
better. Since no amount of talk will change anything in
the country, what
hope is there for the childern of Zimbabwe
Ian
Blake
United Kingdom
-----------
Gono a man of
courage
EDITOR - Governor Gideon Gono's Monetary Policy
Statement of January 31
could mark an important moment in restoring
prosperity to Zimbabwe. As I
told him that afternoon in his briefing to the
diplomatic and business
communities, I welcome his courage in speaking out
and his recognition that
the primary problem in Zimbabwe today is
governance.
The key to turning around Zimbabwe's economy, as the governor
said, is the
political will needed to implement the market reforms the IMF
and others,
including the United States, have been recommending for the past
few years.
The governor also deserves commendation for recognising that
Zimbabwe's
problems are of Zimbabwe's making and are within the power of
Zimbabweans to
solve.
Sanctions have been a convenient excuse but neither
the US nor any other
country has imposed general sanctions on Zimbabwe. In
fact, contrary to
recent press reports, US companies, with the support of
the US government,
continue to do business in Zimbabwe, and Zimbabwe enjoys
a trade surplus
with the US. Instead, what we and others did was to target
financial and
travel sanctions at the roughly100 individuals most
responsible for
undermining Zimbabwe's prosperity and democracy.
The
governor's call echoes the conclusions of a conference held in Harare
last
October, sponsored by the American Business Association of Zimbabwe. At
the
conference, economists from Southern Africa, Brazil, and from the US
underscored the importance of a free-market economy and security of property
to investment and economic growth. The Brazilian economist and the former
finance minister/former Reserve Bank governor of Malawi in particular
emphasised that the success of economic reforms in their respective
countries had depended vitally on the political will to make the difficult
decision to embrace tough reforms.
At his briefing, I also told Dr. Gono
that if the Zimbabwean government is
sincere in its desire to improve
governance by embracing economic and
political reforms, the US, as well as
other donors, will be supportive.
I wish Dr Gono, the Zimbabwean government,
and above all the Zimbabwean
people success in this regard. The future of
your country is in your hands.
Christopher W. Dell
Ambassador of the
United States of America
-----------------
Singing for a new
constitution
EDITOR - The National Constitutional Assembly
(NCA) has produced a musical
CD entitled "Singing for a New Constitution"
and the truth is that it has in
one way or the other established beyond any
shadow of doubt that awaiting us
is a gargantuan task and therefore a lot
still needs to be done in order for
us to come up with a new constitution.
The CD is a masterpiece, one that
each and every concerned citizen should
have in order to understand the path
that democracy, human rights and good
governance activists have chosen to
take.
It was after I meticulously
listened to the six songs in the CD that I
resolved to take democracy and
human rights as well as constitutional rights
as my optional courses. Far
from the classroom environment, I took into
account the fact that I am a
legitimate heir of the Zimbabwean kingdom and
that I am supposed to make a
contribution to ensure our country's
development.
That there's undeserved
suffering in Zimbabwe today is undeniable. But it is
quite disquieting to
note that Zimbabweans have been silent for far too
long. In other words,
they have been as silent as a concrete slab!
The point that I am labouring to
make is that we have suffered for
unnecessarily too long a period and the
time has come for us to realise that
"victory of the oppressed comes from a
sharpened spear" (Ngugi).
Noteworthy is the fact that we can only realise
fruition of all our
insatiable desires through unity of purpose and at times
this translates
into even dying for one's country. Blood was lost during the
liberation
struggle and this time around sacrifices have to be made
otherwise the
realisation of a free, just and democratic Zimbabwe will
remain a pipe
dream. Furthermore, one can die only once and it is better to
die in pursuit
of what is right.
There is an imperative need for us as
Zimbabweans to "cross the river in a
crowd so that the crocodile won't eat
us" (Madagascar Proverb). Success is
born of trying and trying again no
wonder why it is generally believed that
the failure of one crop does not
deter the planting of seeds. We have been
resilient for a very long time and
our fortitude has dealt us a lethal blow.
We have an inalienable right to
have our 'home-grown' constitution and not
the obsolete Lancaster House
Constitution. Unlike the NCA, I can't sing well
about the constitution but I
can at least write volumes and volumes about it
and this is my fundamental
contribution.
Mutsa Murenje
Harare
-----------------
They can
keep their money
EDITOR - The idea of giving £12 million to
the Zimbabwean government for use
in training African farmers is as futile
and infinitesimal as it is a
distraction for Zimbabwe from its course of
radical and rewarding change.
Surely buying a country with £12 million is
hardly likely to inject
infrastructural change and be adequate to do so. £12
billion might have been
a more credible figure. Even so, why should one
foreign country foot another
country's bill? That is very patronising. The
money could usefully go to
those white farmers who have soldiered on and
truly tried to adjust to
radical change - often unsuccessfully. It should
not be given to anyone who
continues to promote their much avowed inherent
supremacy in farming and
denigration of their counterparts - the subsistent
farmers - and also
maintain the bastion of an old agrarian order and
institutional racism.
Giving this money to the remaining farmers would
definitely make Zimbabwe a
promising economy as it would support them
together with their black
counterparts.
For Zimbabwe as a whole, Britain
could help by lifting sanctions for it is
naive to suggest that they do not
affect ordinary Zimbabweans.
Mordecai Mutiswa Betera
United
Kingdom