http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
February 8, 2013 in
Politics
MINISTERS from the three main parties in the coalition
government are
demanding exit packages consisting of houses in leafy
suburbs, residential
stands and top-of-the-range vehicles which they want
delivered before the
government of national unity (GNU)’s tenure ends in
June.
Staff Writer
Zimbabwe has a bloated cabinet comprising
President Robert Mugabe, Prime
Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, one
vice-president after the recent death of
John Nkomo, two deputy prime
ministers and 35 cabinet ministers. There are
also six ministers of state
and 18 deputy ministers who are all expecting a
“golden handshake” before
they leave office.
The exit packages would cost the bankrupt Treasury
millions of dollars in
hard currency.
In addition, MPs are also
pressing for vehicles, claiming the ones they were
given at the beginning of
their current tenure are now in bad shape,
especially after taking a
battering during the constitution-making exercise.
Most legislators hired
out their vehicles to Copac and were paid for the
services. MPs are also
demanding residential stands.
The House of Assembly started off with 210
legislators, but that number is
now down to 190 because of deaths and
suspensions. The senate had 93
members, a third of them unelected, among
them 10 chiefs, 10 governors and
those appointed by the principals. There
are now 80 left.
Mugabe, in consultation with premier Morgan Tsvangirai,
is expected to
proclaim election dates soon, which would mark the end of the
inclusive
government.
Cabinet ministers — who made a fuss about cars
when they came into office
four years ago — are, however, demanding golden
handshakes before leaving
office and have in recent high profile government
meetings, including
cabinet, pressed Mugabe to ensure their demands are
met.
“It seems the ministers are drawing strength from the fact that they
know
the GNU built houses for Tsvangirai, the vice-presidents and the deputy
prime ministers.
“The ministers’ demands are likely to leave the
fiscus drained if they are
met and raise questions on the government’s
priorities,” a source said.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
February 8, 2013 in Politics
LOCAL
business mogul John Moxon, widely regarded as one of the richest men
in
Zimbabwe, has nailed his political colours firmly to the Zanu PF mast by
donating brand new vehicles to spearhead the party’s campaign for crucial
general elections later this year, the Zimbabwe Independent has
established.
Brian Chitemba/Owen Gagare
Informed sources said
Moxon, Meikles Africa Ltd chairman, handed over the
vehicles to Zanu PF
secretary for administration Didymus Mutasa at the party
headquarters last
year to boost President Robert Mugabe and his party’s bid
to remain in
power.
The cash-strapped Zanu PF has acquired 550 vehicles at a cost of
about US$14
million for its election campaigns, despite failing to pay party
workers for
months, resulting in speculation over the source of funding with
many
believing they had been purchased using diamond proceeds.
For
three years in a row, Zanu PF admitted during its annual conferences it
was
broke despite fears it has built a war chest for elections from Marange
diamond revenues, although events suggest the party might actually be
bankrupt.
Since the introduction of the multi-currency regime, Zanu
PF has been
relying on an overdraft with a local bank which amounted to US$5
million in
February last year.
The funding was converted into a loan
of US$4,5 million and a US$500 000
overdraft which attracts an 11% interest
per annum, resulting in an
unsustainable repayment obligation of US$125 000
per month.
Its total expenditure for last year was US$7,9 million, with a
huge chunk
going towards staff salaries (US$2,4 million), Gweru conference
(US$2,6
million) and loan repayment and establishment fees (US$1,7
million).
Highly-placed sources told the Independent the party was
relying heavily on
donations –– which amounted to US$2,6 million last year
–– to fund its
activities.
Moxon –– once targeted by Zanu PF bigwigs
during the controversial Kingdom
Meikles Africa Ltd demerger saga —
reportedly played an important role in
the acquisition of an assortment of
single and double-cab 4×4 vehicles,
including ranges of Toyota Hilux, Nissan
NP300s, Ford Ranger and Mazda
BT50s.
Curiously, around the same time,
Moxon’s flagship company Meikles Africa
Ltd, formed a mining arm, Meikles
Resources (Pvt) Ltd, and applied for a
diamond mining licence currently
being considered by the Mines ministry,
with the Zimbabwe Mining Development
Corporation (ZMDC) as a possible
partner in a joint venture.
ZMDC
chairman Goodwills Masimirembwa confirmed this week his organisation
was
considering Meikles Resources’ application for a joint venture mining
operation in the diamond-rich Chiadzwa minefields.
In the group’s
interim results for the period to September 30 2012, Moxon
said profits from
Meikles Resources were expected to exceed those
anticipated for the entire
group over the coming years and would therefore
be of material
significance.
It was not clear whether the vehicle donation was linked to
the application
for the diamond mining licence although sources said the two
could not be
separated.
However, Moxon said Meikles had not supplied
vehicles, but said a company
“with whom we have a connection” donated some
vehicles, claiming he was not
sure of the beneficiary.
“A company
with whom we have a connection donated a small number of
vehicles, but I’m
not sure exactly whom they were donated to as we have not
seen any
registration certificates,” said Moxon.
He said 500 or more vehicles
would cost over US$15 million, adding no one
connected to him would have
that kind of money.
Zanu PF spokesperson Rugare Gumbo declined to
comment, referring questions
to Mutasa.
When approached for comment,
Mutasa said: “Tell me who is the source of your
story. If you can’t tell me
then I won’t comment.”
When the Independent refused to reveal its sources,
Mutasa said: “I can
neither confirm nor deny the story.”
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
February 8, 2013 in
Politics
CONTRARY to reports elections are likely to be held at the
expiry of the
life of the current parliament and completion of the new
constitution, MDC
president Welshman Ncube has said electoral amendments
which should be
syncronised with the new governance charter will determine
dates for the
polls.
Report by Elias Mambo
Ncube said
elections can only be held around September after the Electoral
Act has been
aligned with the new constitution.
“Even if nothing is done to dissolve
parliament, the constitution says
whether you want it or not, parliament
will stand dissolved on June 29,
2013,” Ncube said.
“However,
completion of the new constitution does not mean the country can
hold
elections. There are other processes which must be done such as
electoral
reforms to introduce proportional representation. There is no way
elections
can be held without such amendments,” he said.
Ncube also said elections
can only be held 60 days after the president has
proclaimed the
date.
“After the March referendum the new constitution will be passed
into law
between April and May, the electoral amendments need to be effected
and then
the president will proclaim the date for elections,” he
said.
However, the inclusive government partners are facing a huge
challenge in
implementing the electoral roadmap as contrasting views are
emerging, with
Zanu PF threatening that no reforms would be entertained
after the adoption
of the draft constitution.
The roadmap requires
that principals in the inclusive government agree on a
raft of reforms which
are “milestones and signposts that must be executed
and implemented before
the holding of free and fair elections”.
Under the elections roadmap, the
parties agreed on the issue of sanctions,
the constitution-making process,
media reforms, electoral reforms,
restoration of the rule of law, freedom of
association and assembly and the
actual election process.
Currently
only the draft constitution has been completed and would soon be
put to a
referendum and elections held thereafter.
Zanu PF spokesperson Rugare Gumbo
said the constitution-making process was
the only yardstick, according to
the GPA (Global Political Agreement) that
has been delaying
elections.
“Our position as Zanu PF is very clear; general elections
should be held
after the completion of the constitution-making process,”
Gumbo said.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
February 8, 2013 in News
ZIMBABWE’S prisons
have invariably been described as hellholes — places of
extreme misery or
squalor — by serving and former inmates.
Report by Wongai
Zhangazha
Former Chikurubi Maximum Prison inmate Simon Mann, accused of
trying to
overthrow Equatorial Guinea President Teodoro Obiang Nguema in
2004,
described the prison as a nightmare as it had no ventilation or light,
and
was lice-infested. He also bemoaned the poor diet.
While the
standards reached their nadir during the country’s
hyperinflationary crisis
around 2008, the situation has improved over the
years since the country’s
adoption of a multi-currency regime. However,
conditions still fall below
the required basic standards of prisons mostly
due to lack of
funding.
For prison authorities, dealing with inmates with mental
problems poses a
major challenge. Mentally challenged inmates are forced to
share cells with
other prisoners due to lack of space and
facilities.
This is a source of conflict and discomfort among inmates as
most of them
are not tolerant of their mentally challenged
cellmates.
According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime 2009
handbook
titled Prisoners with Special Needs, the majority of prison systems
worldwide fail to provide an environment which safeguards the mental
well-being of its inhabitants.
Isolation from society, poor prison
conditions, overcrowding and lack of
safety and privacy induce distress and
anxiety in most prisoners, which may
develop into more serious mental
challenges with a serious risk of harming
themselves or others.
Last
week during a media tour of Harare Central Remand Prison, journalists
had
the opportunity to visit prisoners’ cells and interact with them and
staff
over general conditions.
The prison’s clinic matron Thembekile Tshili
said although the general
situation at the prison has improved, although the
major challenge her
clinic faces is dealing with mentally ill
inmates.
“Providing appropriate conditions to cater for inmates with mental
illness
is a big challenge as far as health issues are concerned given what
we have
had to deal with at the clinic,” Tshili said.
“There is a
psychiatric unit at Chikurubi prison to cater for inmates, but
for them to
be taken there we have to wait for a court order. Unfortunately,
many things
can happen during this waiting period which can be long.”
Tshili said the
inmates are in need of special care and by staying with
normal inmates, they
pose a danger to themselves and others.
To exacerbate the situation, the
clinic runs out of effective painkillers
and other drugs to treat
patients.
Zimbabwe Association for Crime Prevention and Rehabilitation of
the Offender
(Zacro) chief executive officer Edson Chiota said his
organisation was in
the process of negotiating for better conditions for
inmates with mental
illness.
“While I cannot pre-empt the details as
we have not entered a memorandum as
yet with our partner, general check-ups
and reviews of inmates with mental
problems are not as frequent as we would
like,” said Chiota. “At times it
takes more than a month for our two doctors
to see the (mental) patients.”
He said that it was important for mentally
challenged inmates to be
separated from normal inmates for their own safety
as well as that of other
prisoners.
Chiota said apart from being
faced with this challenge, prisons did not have
enough resources to cater
for other basic needs of prisoners.
“They do not have enough uniforms for
prisoners to change. Due to the
shortage of resources, there are not enough
units of correctional processes
other than punishment to help rehabilitate
prisoners.
“In 1980, there were beds in prisons, where are they today? Every
week they
would be given bathing soap and toothpaste; is it still available
and are
towels being changed? Is a balanced diet still provided under the
basic
feeding scheme?” asked Chiota.
In his speech before the tour,
Zimbabwe Prison Service (ZPS) Commissioner
retired Major-General Paradzai
Zimondi said they were generally
“experiencing overcrowding mainly in remand
prisons as people continue to
commit crimes while it takes long for suspects
to stand trial”.
He said while they were trying to ensure the safety and
security of all
prisoners and humane treatment as enshrined in the United
Nations Millennium
Standard Rules for the Treatment of Offenders, they were
failing to
satisfactorily provide these necessities mainly due to inadequate
funding
from the fiscus.
Zimondi said inadequate funding also greatly
affected ZPS operations
resulting in them failing to fully meet medical
requirements. He appealed
for donations in cash or kind to improve
prisoners’ welfare.
He also said although the ZPS benefitted from the
land reform programme, not
much has been produced for inmates’ consumption
forcing them to rely heavily
on government funding.
Zimondi also
admitted prison infrastructure needed upgrading, but financial
constraints
remained a major hurdle.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
February 8, 2013 in News
A DISPUTE
has erupted over the mining of recently discovered diamonds in the
Bikita
district of Masvingo province, with former freedom fighters in the
area
alleging corruption and contesting the “unclear circumstances”
surrounding
mining of the gems.
Report by Wongai Zhangazha
Kimberlitic
diamonds were discovered in Bikita’s Village One and Two under
Chief Budzi
last year resulting in a number of mining firms jostling to
acquire rights
to extract the gems.
Bayrich Enterprises, a Harare-based mining company
whose directors are
Kennedy Ngirazi and Edward Buta, is already involved in
mining diamonds in
the area.
Sources in Bikita say senior police and
army officers are also involved.
The new mining activities – which
include tantalite – have caused intense
fighting in the district with war
veterans, war collaborators and
ex-political prisoners, detainees and
restrictees in Bikita expressing
displeasure over the issuance of mining
rights to people from outside the
province.
Through their lawyer
James Makiya, the former freedom fighters wrote a
letter to the
Environmental Management Agency (Ema) in Masvingo on January
22 2013
expressing “grave concern at recent mining ventures that are setting
up in
Bikita under very unclear circumstances”.
Reads part of the letter: “One
such operation is in Bikita East, under chief
Budzi area, whilst the other
is in Bikita West under Chief Marozva.
Information at hand is that the
operation set up in Bikita East is a diamond
mine, whilst diggings already
taking place in Marozva are for tantalite and
other minerals.
“Our
clients believe that the above operations are illegal as they did not
follow
all procedures in the mining laws as well as environmental and
empowerment
laws.”
They demanded that Ema furnish them with “vital information within
24 hours”
upon receipt of the letter on the following questions:
“Did Ema
certify the two mining projects to take place? Are there Ema
reports on the
two projects? If so, when were they complied and did Ema
involve local
communities in assessing the two projects?”
The war veterans’ letter was
also copied to the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption
Commission, Police General
Headquarters’ legal department and the police in
Bikita.
The former
fighters are also contemplating taking the matter to the High
Court for
redress and are pushing for a physical inspection and verification
of
documentation regarding the two operations.
Chief Marozva confirmed
illegal mining activities are taking place in his
area involving tantalite.
“A lot of illegal panners descended in this area
(Marozva) with intentions
to mine for tantalite mineral,” Chief Marozva told
the Zimbabwe
Independent.
“Among those who came to mine the mineral illegally was a
big company that
came with its equipment. I am not sure of its name. After
the intervention
of the police we no longer see it and even the illegal
panners, though we
know that some come back during the
evening.”
Bikita district administrator Edgars Seenza said he was not
aware of the
accusations. “I do not know about the letter,” Seenza said.
“Some time last
year there were allegations that operations were not being
done lawfully,
but when we got there with the Ministry of Mines, Ema and
council, we were
advised by the provincial mining engineer and commissioner
that they were
aware of the activities and authority had been given for
mining.”
Seenza said Bayrich Enterprise, which is mining in Bikita East,
was not
working with the Chinese but had engaged them during the prospective
period.
Contacted for comment, Bayrich Enterprise director Ngirazi
continuously said
he was in a meeting. Efforts to get a comment from
Masvingo Ema officials
Milton Muusha and Somandla Ndlovu were fruitless as
they were said to be
locked in meetings.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
February 8, 2013 in Politics
THE MDC led
by Industry and Commerce minister Welshman Ncube has come up
with an
economic blueprint acronymed Actions (Access, Control,
Transformation,
Initiative, Organisation, New Technologies, Sustainability),
which focuses
on harnessing the country’s vast natural and human resources
to rebuild the
country.
Report by Brian Chitemba
The policy framework was drawn
up by the party’s leadership at a policy
review workshop last week where
they claimed that Actions was a better
policy document than MDC-T’s Juice
(Jobs, Upliftment, Investment Capital and
the Environment) and the Zanu PF’s
empowerment programme, according to MDC
research and policy co-ordination
director Qhubani Moyo.
The party believes access to resources, power and
justice; control of
destiny and welfare; transformation of communities and
strengthening
livelihoods of Zimbabweans; initiative for wealth, job
creation;
organisation of all public institutions to effectively deliver
services; new
technologies for propelling the country into the digital age
and
sustainability of the habitat, the environment, life and all national
policy
programmes are the answer to the country’s current economic
woes.
The policy framework proposes the reconstruction of the country
into a
developmental state through utilising the vibrant human capital and
natural
resource base.
“Zimbabwe is endowed with diverse natural
resources that are on high demand
on global markets. Such resources bear the
potential to catalyse the
development of indispensable technological
advancement that improves life,
utilities and related social aesthetics,”
reads the MDC policy document.
Zimbabwean diamonds constitute an
estimated 25% of the world’s diamond
deposits and have the potential of
constituting a quarter of the world’s
diamond market. The country is also
endowed with vast platinum deposits, as
well as gold, iron ore, manganese,
chrome, uranium, tin, nickel, emeralds
and coal.
The MDC noted that
agriculture has the potential of boosting the economy
with cash crops such
as maize, tobacco, coffee, flowers, tea, cotton and
timber.
“The
country has the potential to drive herself into proper economic
transformation, but requires prudent, informed and progressive leadership.
Such a leadership could identify key areas of production and engage the
right technical experts to pace-set in economic transformation through
starting real productivity that creates jobs, generates profits and boosts
the economy while improving the national standard of living,” it
said.
The blueprint also places the reconstruction of national
institutions at the
centre of the national recovery and stability.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
February 8, 2013 in
News
FINANCE minister Tendai Biti and Justice minister Patrick Chinamasa,
who
were tasked by the unity government principals to source funding for the
referendum and general elections, have requested the United Nations
Development Programme (UNDP) to help government mobilise close to US$225
million.
Report by Elias Mambo
In a letter to UNDP resident
representative Alain Noudehou dated February 4,
the two ministers revealed
Zimbabwe only has “a combined budget of US$25
million yet the two processes
are currently estimated to be in excess of
US$250 million”.
“On
behalf of the government of Zimbabwe, we formally request UNDP for
assistance in mobilising resources to cater for the funding gap for both the
constitutional referendum and general elections,” read the
letter.
The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec) had budgeted close to
US$220 million
for the two events, but the amount has been reviewed
downwards to US$192
million. The reduction in the budget followed the
scrapping of the
delimitation exercise.
At least US$85 million is
needed for the referendum, while elections would
require US$107
million.
Biti and Chinamasa also called for the setting up of a formal
structure
between government and the UNDP.
“It is our hope that a
formal structure in respect of the referendum and
elections between
yourselves and government be set up similar to the project
board that dealt
with the constitution-making process.”
The UNDP played a crucial role by
mobilising close to US$21 million towards
the controversial four-year
constitution-making process that gobbled up
about US$50
million.
However, the request comes at a time the United Nations is
appealling for
US$131 million for humanitarian assistance to meet food,
water and emergency
needs in the country.
Noudehou said last month at
least US$110 million of the money would be used
to provide food for more
than 1,6 million Zimbabweans facing starvation.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
February 8, 2013 in
News
THE National Constitutional Assembly (NCA) has demanded that
ordinary
Zimbabweans be given a minimum of two months to fully grasp
provisions of
the draft constitution, which it described as “a selfish
document by
politicians”, before making a choice in the
referendum.
Report by Wongai Zhangazha
NCA chairperson Lovemore
Madhuku told a press conference in Harare on
Tuesday that the draft
constitution retained all the powers of the
president, giving away the
“people’s power permanently”.
This was after Copac co-chairperson Douglas
Mwonzora gave notice to move a
motion in the House of Assembly to adopt the
report on the progress and
outcome of the constitution-making process and
the draft constitution this
week.
“The NCA calls upon the inclusive
government to ensure that the referendum
is credible and that the people be
afforded a free and fair framework to
exercise their choice over the
matter,” said Madhuku.
“Our lawyers have been instructed to make an
urgent challenge in the Supreme
Court should a shorter period be
given.”
He demanded provisions of the Public Order and Security Act
(Posa) be
suspended to allow for campaign meetings saying the NCA reserves
its right
to campaign without being restricted by Posa should its demands be
rejected.
“It’s not about what people wanted or said but about the
selfish and
personal interests of politicians. We need a constitution that
would survive
the test of time and not a deal for current
politicians.
Politicians spent four years and squandered over US$50
million to produce a
constitution for themselves. If people say “yes” to a
constitution being
imposed by political parties, they will be giving away
their power
permanently and politicians will never respect the people and
the country
will not develop,” he said.
Madhuku said the constitution
gives too much power to the president who will
be head of state with
unlimited power, head of government and
commander-in-chief of the Zimbabwe
Defence Forces.
The president appoints all ministers and deputy ministers
without the
approval of parliament, and there is no limit on the number that
can be
chosen.
“The president alone constitutes the cabinet (Sec
105). The statement in the
draft constitution saying the president exercises
executive authority
‘through cabinet’ has no value because the cabinet is
the president’s baby.
All cabinet ministers are hired and fired by the
president at his/her
pleasure. The president is allowed to appoint up to
three ministers from
outside parliament. This is bringing back appointed
non-constituency MPs
(Sec 104(3).”
Madhuku said the president still
appoints all ambassadors without consulting
anybody and has the final say
over the appointment of all permanent
secretaries (Sec 205).
The NCA
also said the president had the final say over the appointment of
all judges
(Section 180) and though there is provision for interviews, the
president
has power to refuse to appoint any of those recommended.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
February 8, 2013 in
Politics
THE Parliamentary Constitution Select Committee (Copac) spent
nearly four
years and a staggering US$50 million to produce a draft
constitution
virtually based on the rejected 2000 Constitutional Commission
and Kariba
documents, especially on the contentious issue of executive
powers.
Report by Paidamoyo Muzulu
Since 1997 when the
constitutional reform debate gathered momentum,
Zimbabweans have been
sharply divided over whether the country should have a
powerful executive
presidency or a non-executive head of state with an
executive prime
minister.
Some people want a French-style executive arrangement in which
power is
shared between the president and prime minister.
Under the
Copac draft, the president is still the head of state and
government and
commander-in-chief of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces.
He still enjoys both
civil and criminal immunity while in office, and
retains powers to dissolve
parliament in the case of disagreements between
the executive and the
legislature over the budget, or if there is a vote of
no
confidence.
The draft further gives the president power to appoint
ambassadors,
ministers, judges and independent commission chairpersons. The
president
still wields the prerogative of mercy and powers to declare war
and make
peace.
The debate around the executive authority during the
Copac outreach, as in
the past, has largely been about executive power and
President Robert Mugabe’s
fate.
Copac officials in their initial
draft tried to bar Mugabe from standing for
re-election through age and term
limits. However, Mugabe and his loyalists
fought back and threw that
out.
They also forced an overhaul of several drafts produced during the
process,
including the July 18 2012 one which was supposed to be the final
article.
In the end, Mugabe recovered his powers after removing and forcing
in issues
which he wanted captured.
Legal analysts say the new Copac
draft has not reformed the current imperial
executive presidency despite the
issue looming large during the
constitution-making process.
Research
and Advocacy Unit senior researcher Derek Matyszak said the Copac
draft was
not different from the 2000 draft and the Kariba document in that
respect.
He said although the Copac draft has introduced an enlarged Bill of
Rights,
these changes were mainly superficial and symbolical as the
structure of
government was left largely intact.
“The constitution of 2000 was
rejected largely because of the powers of the
president,” said Matyszak.
“The GPA talks were also largely around the
presidential powers and
surprisingly the Copac draft has largely left them
unaltered after
deliberating for nearly four years.”
National Constitutional Assembly
chairperson Lovemore Madhuku also said the
failure to reform the executive
presidency means the Copac draft failed to
introduce required
changes.
“The constitution leaves all power in the president intact as he
is still
able to do what he/she wants,” Madhuku said. “The powers of the
president as
head of state are unlimited (Sec 110.1.) The president appoints
all
ministers and deputy ministers on his/her own without the approval of
parliament (Sec 104). There is no limit on the number of ministers and
deputy ministers. It is up to the president (Sec 104).”
Alex Magaisa,
a constitutional law expert and senior staffer in the prime
minister’s
office who participated in the constitution-making process, said
while there
were limited changes to the executive presidency the new draft
introduced
new features that carried a lot of political significance.
“That the
president will still exercise some of his powers on the advice of
the
cabinet or through cabinet is of large political significance,” said
Magaisa. “But for the first time the president would now be obliged to share
more authority than in the past.”
Magaisa said clauses on term-limits
and certain appointments such as judges
and the National Prosecutor General
mean the president has to act on the
advice of various bodies, which was
also a departure from the past. The
Copac draft introduces a raft of second
generation rights such as education,
shelter, environment, the elderly,
children and marriage rights. These
rights are largely aspirational than
enforceable.
While failing to significantly reform the executive
presidency, the Copac
draft enlarges parliament to 270 members and makes
substantial changes to
the Electoral Act by introducing a two-tier electoral
system. Sixty new
seats have been created for women on a proportional
representation basis.
Both Zanu PF and MDC-T held party caucuses where
MPs were whipped into line
to refrain from debating the Copac draft.
According to party sources, the
overriding of party caucus and parliament in
the engineering of final Copac
draft is meant to protect the principals’
interests rather than those of the
people, then fast-track the process
towards elections.
Speaker of parliament Lovemore Moyo emphasised to the
House during Wednesday’s
sitting the draft constitution was only a “take
note” motion and not for
debate by members, showing the process was
staged-managed by the three
parties in government.
While the MDC
parties claim victory in the constitution-making process,
Mugabe and Zanu PF
prevent a radical overhaul of the current constitution
and retention of the
commanding executive presidency — key to their
political survival — ahead
of critical general elections.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
February 8, 2013 in News
TOURISM
minister Walter Mzembi and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai have
agreed that
elections should be early enough to allow for the smooth hosting
of the
United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) general assembly in
Victoria Falls in August.
Staff Writer
The UNWTO is Zimbabwe’s
biggest opportunity to rebrand itself as a major
tourist and investment
destination since the formation of the inclusive
government in 2009 after a
decade-long socio-economic crisis which saw
foreign tourist arrivals dry up
and the economy virtually collapsing.
Speaking after the closed door
meeting with Tsvangirai yesterday, which
lasted more than an hour, Mzembi
said the premier –– head of government
business and in charge of
implementation of projects under the government
works programme –– agreed
the country should go for elections well before
the general assembly
meeting.
This would mean the country going for polls before reforms
outlined in the
Global Political Agreement are implemented.
“With the
prime minister we concluded that if elections were held before the
general
assembly, the event will then present a unique branding opportunity
for any
post-election government,” said Mzembi.
Mzembi also expressed concern over
Treasury’s delay in releasing US$12
million meant for the general assembly
preparations indicating he had raised
the issue with the premier.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
February 8, 2013 in
Politics
ZIMBABWE is expected to go for make-or-break elections in a few
months to
end the life of the Government of National Unity (GNU) –– a rocky
marriage
of convenience between Zanu PF and the two MDC formations now in
its fourth
year.
Report by Elias Mambo
However, two and a half
years after the three political parties in the
coalition government agreed
to implement critical reforms and draw up an
implementation matrix that
would allow for credible, free and fair
elections, most of the reforms are
still to see the light of day. If
anything, Zanu PF has dug in deeper,
making it clear it has no intention to
implement any more
reforms.
Remarks by Defence minister Emmerson Mnangagwa this week
epitomised Zanu PF’s
intransigence, unequivocally stating security sector
reforms remain “a no-go
area as long as the revolutionary Zanu PF is
alive”.
“As long as we are here in leadership, we will make sure the
Defence Forces
of the Republic of Zimbabwe will continue to defend the
national interests
and to safeguard our values and ideals which our people
died for,” Mnangagwa
said.
“They want to hear that you are compliant,
that you accept security sector
reforms. What does that mean? It means to
have non-governmental
organisations and trade unions operating in the
defence forces. They would
want you to say you are non-political, you must
serve any government.”
The security sector infamously participated in a
brutal campaign ahead of
the June 2008 presidential poll run-off which saved
President Robert Mugabe
after he lost to Morgan Tsvangirai (MDC-T) in the
first round of the
presidential election. The sham election led to the
formation of the GNU.
Among the issues agreed on by the unity government
parties were reforms on
media, electoral reforms, security sector reforms, a
land audit,
constitutional review, amendments to or repealing of the Access
to
Information and Protection of Privacy Act and Public Order and Security
Act.
On August 5 2010, Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara wrote a
letter to
the Sadc-appointed facilitator, South African President Jacob Zuma
updating
him on reform process, including implementation timeframes for 24
agreed
issues.
According to the implementation matrix, the three
principals agreed to
implement 23 issues either immediately or within a
month from August 4 2010.
They also agreed to implement a sanctions
removal strategy on a continuous
basis.
All media reforms, which
include the regularisation of the Broadcasting
Authority of Zimbabwe board,
the appointment of a new Zimbabwe Broadcasting
Holdings board and
constituting the Zimbabwe Mass Media Trust, were supposed
to be completed
within a month.
The principals agreed to end hate speech in the media and put
a stop to
attacks on ministers implementing government programmes. This,
they said,
was supposed to be done on a continuous basis.
According
to the implementation matrix, security sector reform would also be
implemented on a continuous basis. They agreed to ensure that the
commissioner-general of the police, state security organs and the
Attorney-General should comply with Article 11 and 13 of the Global
Political Agreement (GPA).
Article 11 of the GPA –– precursor to the
GNU –– deals with the rule of law,
respect for the constitution and other
laws while Article 13 states that
state organs and institutions do not
belong to any political party and
should be impartial in the discharge of
their duties.
It was also agreed that Jomic and a cabinet re-engagement
committee would
deal with the external radio stations issue by appealing to
foreign
governments hosting them to shut them down.
A Land Audit
Commission should have been set up within a month of the
agreement while a
land tenure system guaranteeing security of tenure and
collateral value of
land should have been in place within two months.
However, the
negotiators were deadlocked on the staffing of the Zimbabwe
Electoral
Commission (Zec), the role of the army, police and intelligence in
electoral
politics and elections, deployment of security forces countrywide
ahead of
polls, political violence and how the intelligence service should
be
controlled and regulated.
They further disagreed on further amendments to
the draconian Public Order
and Security Act – widely used to ban rallies and
meetings of Zanu PF rivals
and critics – and on the role of foreign
observers.
The three parties that form the coalition government signed a
roadmap to
elections, which identified and defined “milestones and signposts
that must
be executed and implemented before the holding of free and fair
elections”
and it is only when these agreed reforms have been implemented
that the will
of the people could be reflected in the next
polls.
Zec, the Registrar General’s (RG) office, voters’ roll, the
Zimbabwe Media
Commission and role of the public media and the security
sector are all
crucial to the holding of credible, free and fair elections.
As a result the
reconstitution of Zec is one of the fundamental reforms
which have to be
tackled since it plays a critical role in
elections.
Zec and the RG’s office manage and run the electoral process
but these two
bodies, manned by controversial appointees linked to Zanu PF,
has been
accused of manipulating the vote to preserve the status
quo.
For instance during the 2008 presidential poll, Zec held onto the
results
for more than a month, a move which fuelled concerns of electoral
fraud.
Results were eventually released showing that President Robert Mugabe
had
lost to Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai in the first round, but critics
say
the delay was used to minimise Mugabe’s loss to ensure a
run-off.
Critics say while elections dates might be an interesting detail
in the
process, the real issue is the electoral context, environment and
administration which are currently geared to deliver a pre-determined
outcome to ensure regime retention and continuity.
A local think
tank, the Zimbabwe Democracy Institute, recently released a
document on
elections calling for a fresh recruitment of the entire Zec
secretariat.
“The problematic, partisan, and militarised Zec
secretariat that presided
over the 2008 sham election and remains intact
today cannot manage and
preside over credible, free and fair elections,”
reads part of the report.
As things stand, the police, military and
intelligence are openly
campaigning for Zanu PF and Mugabe.
Civil
society activist Dewa Mavhinga, a senior researcher for Zimbabwe and
southern Africa at Human Rights Watch, says Zimbabwe simply has to implement
all agreed reforms.
“Elections in the absence of credible reforms
mean an extension of the
status quo, an indefinite postponement of the
democratisation agenda and
further entrenchment of Zimbabwe’s isolation from
the international
community,” Mavhinga said.
Given the experiences of
the 2008 presidential poll run-off, fear and
anxiety could grip Zimbabweans
as elections approach with precious little in
the way of reforms.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
February 8, 2013 in
Politics
THE MDC-T national executive committee (Nec) held a workshop in
Nyanga a
fortnight ago in preparation for the party’s national policy
conference
earmarked for later this month to fine-tune its policies ahead of
elections
expected this year.
Report by Elias Mambo
Sources
who attended the meeting said the party would hold a policy
conference as
part of its preparations “to govern” because it is confident
of winning the
next elections.
The workshop discussed a number of issues including the
economy,
agriculture, mining, the public service and social welfare as well
as youth
empowerment, among others.
MDC-T has on several occasions
dismissed Zanu PF’s indigenisation and
empowerment programme claiming it is
partisan in nature. Sources said the
party proposes a different empowerment
model which seeks to reinforce the
youth’s entrepreneurship skills and full
participation in the economy.
On public service policy, the sources said
MDC-T intends to strengthen
social dialogue in labour and the private
sector. It also aims to resolve
the plight of the civil servants, especially
teachers, by providing a sound
economic policy that takes into consideration
the need to remunerate them
well.
The mining sector was discussed at
length as the MDC-T feels there is an
urgent need to ensure transparency and
accountability and guarantee profits
from diamonds proceeds go to Treasury
instead of being controlled by the
Zimbabwe Mining Development
Corporation.
On agriculture, the MDC-T aims to restore the country’s
bread basket status
within the Sadc region.
Sources also said the
party’s executives had agreed that there would be no
reversal of the land
reform programme, but there was urgent need to ensure
small to middle-scale
farmers are supported in order to increase production.
Political analyst
Eldred Masunungure said the MDC-T was ready to govern
because it has had a
four-year apprenticeship in the inclusive government
with its leader Morgan
Tsvangirai as Prime Minister and chairperson Lovemore
Moyo as the Speaker of
the House of Assembly, among others.
“The MDC-T is more prepared to
govern now than it was five years ago,”
Masunungure said. “It is better
prepared to govern than Zanu PF was in 1980
because it has gone through an
apprenticeship,” he said.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
February 8, 2013 in News
NEWZIM
Steel, formerly Ziscosteel, is likely to become a shell company if
the Essar
takeover fails as the new owners are borrowing millions of dollars
to pay 3
000 idle workers while coalition government partners continue to
dither over
finalisation of the US$750 million deal.
Report by Paidamoyo
Muzulu
Essar has not started production at the giant steel making plant
in Kwekwe
as some cabinet ministers are demanding a review of the agreement
which they
argue strongly undervalued the Mwanesa iron ore
claims.
Ziscosteel Joint Workers Union leader Bennedict Moyo revealed the
workers’
plight to the parliamentary portfolio committee on Industry and
Commerce
chaired by Willam Mutomba on Tuesday.
Moyo pointed out no
new funds have been invested since the much-publicised
takeover almost two
years ago. He said Essar was borrowing from the CBZ Bank
to finance idle
workers’ salaries.
Moyo said: “The US$13,5 million borrowed from CBZ to
pay our outstanding
salaries was an Esssar debt taken using Ziscosteel
assets as guarantee.”
Moyo further expressed fears the company would be a
shell if the Essar
takeover falls through as government continues to
squabble over the sale.
“The way the loans are structured is that when
the deal is complete Essar
will pay, but if the deal failed there is no
guarantee that they will pay,”
Moyo added.
The workers are worried
that any further delays in completing the deal would
put more strain on
operations since a lot of work needs to be done on the
plant and
machinery.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
February 8, 2013 in Business
TENSIONS are
running high in the unfolding crisis at Renco Mine in Masvingo
South amid
revelations the on-going workers’ unrest, which has led to a
political
hostile takeover bid of the RioZim-owned mine by Chivi South MP
Irvine
Dzingirayi, could be electioneering.
Staff Writer
The high-profile
saga, which has sucked in Masvingo South legislator Walter
Mzembi together
with his personal assistant Obediah Mazombwe, is
deteriorating with workers
occupying the mine after the High Court on
Wednesday reserved judgement on
Renco Mine’s application seeking the
eviction of the illegal
occupants.
The matter has attracted a lot of attention, especially after
Mzembi earlier
this week alleged he was offered a US$100 000 bribe by the
company to turn a
blind eye on the company’s malpractices.
The minister
said he rejected the money because he was not that cheap.
RioZim argues
that Mzembi, who is also Tourism minister and a member of Zanu
PF’s
politburo, is using his political muscle to seize the company.
The miner
also alleges that the illegal occupation is being incited by
Mzembi in a bid
to boost his prospects in the next elections to be held
later this
year.
RioZim says the illegal invasion is costing the company US$150 000
in lost
production each day the mine remains shut. Furthermore, Riozim
alleges that
Dzingirai used the militia to illegally takeover the
mine.
In their opposing affidavit deposed by Dzingirai in defence of the
trio,
Mzembi and his allies make a counter claim that the company and its
employees have been embroiled in labour disputes for some months now which
culminated in the mine shutting down from January 14 – 20.
Dzingirai
denies using the militia to illegally occupy the mine, giving
pictures of
the meeting cited by RioZim as his defence. He further argues
instead that
the volatile situation at Renco was triggered by RioZim’s
attempts to renege
on its indigenisation obligations.
“I believe the applicant does not want
to implement the full indigenisation
plan and is trying to retract its
undertaking which is one of the reasons
why they are having disputes with
the community,” reads part of Dzingirai’s
affidavit.
“The application
by Nunudzai Michel Masunda that I declared that I had taken
over the mine is
false, malicious and scandalous. As I have indicated above,
the mining
manager is still at the mine and is carrying out his duties as
before.”
In a supporting affidavit, Mzembi said RioZim chairman
Elisha Mushayakarara
sought his assistance to resolve the labour dispute as
well as secure
indigenisation compliance certification.
The minister
further alleges that Mushayakarara later offered him US$100 000
for his own
use. “I have no desire to take over the mine or prevent
applicant from
operating the mine,” Mzembi said, adding his involvement with
the matter was
purely on behalf of his constituency.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
February 8, 2013 in
Business
FROM the immaculate, modern Madrid Barajas International Airport
arrival
terminal through well maintained streets in a state-of-the-art
shuttle taxi
service, the Zimbabwean delegation attending the just ended
Feria
International de Turismo en Espana (Fitur) Show in Madrid Spain, got a
feel
of what it really means to host an international tourism
event.
Report by Taurai Mangudhla
During the week-long event the
delegation, led by Zimbabwe Tourism minister
Walter Mzembi, made every
effort to convince the conference and the United
Nations World Tourism
Organisation (UNWTO) secretariat that the
international community should
expect the same level of organisation, but in
an African context, at the
UNWTO general assembly to be co-hosted with
neighbouring
Zambia.
Since Zimbabwe won the bid to co-host the UNWTO 20th general
assembly with
Zambia in 2011, much attention has been focused on the two
host nations,
particularly Zimbabwe’s state of preparedness.
Madrid
and the Victoria falls are worlds apart. The lowly town of Victoria
Falls is
set in a pristine natural habitat.
The airport needs upgrading and can
only manage a minute fraction of the
traffic handled by Barajas, the largest
airport in Spain and the world’s
11th busiest.
Given Zimbabwe’s
perennial budget deficit and revenue underperformance, much
focus has been
on the country’s financial capacity to host such a mega
event.
A lot
has been said about the capacity of the infrastructure in Victoria
Falls —
the airport, shuttle services, accommodation and conference
facilities — to
handle the huge influx of delegates and tourists during
the
event.
Concern has also been raised about Zimbabwe’s political
environment in the
face of looming elections just before or after the
conference, given the
country’s history of successive violent and disputed
polls.
Mzembi told a second trilateral meeting involving general assembly
co-hosts
Zambia and the UNWTO secretariat in Madrid that the secretariat is
mostly
worried about Zimbabwe’s political will to make the event a
success.
Mzembi assured UNWTO members and potential investors that there
was a high
level of commitment from government to host a successful
event.
“There is commitment at the highest level in government, that is
the
presidium, with all the three principals in the inclusive government
agreeing on the importance of the event,” said Mzembi.
The three
principals recently approved the draft constitution which would be
followed
by a referendum. The process sets the tone for a watershed
election, likely
in the second half of the year.
The decision to hold elections before the
UNWTO general assembly, Mzembi
said, is a strategic move by the principals
to allow for a change of
government before the event and avoid disruptions
from election preparations
during the historic event.
“The principals
agree that this is a unique branding opportunity for any
government that
emerges after the election.”
Currently, preparations are at an advanced
stage with the two host nations
recently approving the event’s
programme.
Mzembi said Zimbabwe’s corporate world has partnered
government to ensure
the tourism conference’s success.
“There is
enough goodwill locally and internationally to make this a
success.
Corporates such as, for example, Mbada Diamonds, Econet (Wireless),
NetOne
and Telecel are helping us to prepare. Mbada Diamonds has taken (over
the
funding of) the reception, which is the welcoming ceremony and I can
assure
you that all the events are being taken up by companies,” Mzembi
said.
Government has set aside US$12 million for preparations of the
general
assembly.
The fund is not inclusive of the country’s
aspiration for legacy projects
like new hotels and conference facilities
which would be built in the resort
town of Victoria Falls.
In
December, government approved construction of a semi-permanent conference
centre at Elephant Hills resort in Victoria Falls.
The aluminum glass
fabrication structure with a lifespan of 30 years and
capacity of more than
1 000 delegates is set to be the main conference
centre for the
assembly.
Sources close to the development said government is working
with private
players to finalise the project, including proper
evaluation.
Construction of the project takes three months. However,
Zimbabwe is yet to
select an official airline for the conference as well as
adopt a friendly
visa regime.
Recently, UNWTO regional director for
Africa, Ousmane Ndiaye said Zimbabwe
should liberalise its airspace and
implement a visa-friendly system for the
country and the rest of the
continent to grow their share of the tourism
market from the present paltry
4% to double digits by 2020.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
February 8, 2013 in Business
ZIMPOST has embarked
on a US$5 million upgrading project aimed at
modernising its business
methods, Zimpost managing director Douglas Zimbango
has said.
Report
by Fidelity Mhlanga
The project, jointly funded by Zimpost and the Posts
and Telecommunication
Regulation Authority of Zimbabwe (Potraz), would
enable the company to
introduce modern technologies such as front office
automation, postal codes,
hybrid mail service and an International Financial
System (IFS).
According to Zimbango, Zimpost is set to move from manual
systems to
computer-based automated systems to leverage infrastructural
investment to
realise increased savings and use interface, combined with a
single
electronic platform leading to enhanced speed for
transactions.
“We are automating customer service transactions –
everything from selling
mail services, retail services, bill payment and
banking transaction,”
Zimbango said.
The hybrid mail services have
been designed mainly for organisations that
mail large quantities of
invoices, statements, time sensitive notices and
business mail and would
enable customers to send electronic mail that would
be printed at delivery
point.
This service would relieve companies of expensive tasks, such as
printing,
enveloping and transportation, and ensure an impressive appearance
from
advanced laser printing.
“The counter automation project pilot
phase was rolled out, tested and
passed at three pilot offices in the third
quarter of 2012. Software
development was completed and preparations to roll
out to more offices are
currently underway. By mid-year 50 offices will be
online. Hybrid mail
equipment specifications and site visits are now
complete and work will go
to tender by mid-February 2013,” Zimbango
said.
The national address and postcode project would be of immense help
to
disaster management teams during times of floods and other natural
disasters. Coding will involve having an alpha-numerical code to identify a
specific address or location. It would also have geo-coordinates to assist
location by various service providers like fire and ambulance
services.
This project would benefit operators, consumers, the police,
the health
sector and other stakeholders.
“The national address and
post code project is earmarked to commence in the
first quarter of 2013. A
feasibility study was undertaken with the initial
pilot project expected to
commence in Harare’s Mt Pleasant and Bulawayo’s
Nkulumane Suburbs. Another
pilot will run concurrently in Shamva North in
order to understand the
unique needs of the rural setting.”
These initiatives will assist Zimpost
to compete effectively in the market
through improved service delivery and
also create new revenue streams to
replace the slowmail business which is on
the decline.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
February 8, 2013 in
News
AWAY from the usual hustle and bustle of politics, the Harare
International
Conference Centre last Friday hosted an evangelical fellowship
conference of
Christian women from all parts of the country to deal with
issues affecting
women.
Report by Herbert Moyo
One preacher
exhorted women parishioners to follow the example of virtuous
womenfolk like
the beautiful Queen Esther whose humility and moral integrity
were so vital
in saving the Jewish race from extinction at the hands of
cruel
Haman.
The Bible and world history are replete with examples of powerful
women who
used their influence for either good or evil designs, leaving an
indelible
mark on human history.
Queen Esther used her influence for
the positive when she exposed an evil
plot of genocide by Haman to her
husband King Xerxes, risking her own life.
There are, however, many other
powerful not-so-virtuous women like 19th
Century French Queen Marie
Antoinette who, when informed that ordinary
citizens were starving due to
bread shortages, infamously quipped that they
should eat cake
instead.
Queen Jezebel connived with her husband King Ahab to not only
dispossess
Naboth of his one and only vineyard, but to kill him as well. The
Ahab/Jezebel story of dispossession is one of pure greed as the royal pair
owned so much land and could have acquired more elsewhere, but cast their
envious eye on Naboth’s only vineyard.
They say history repeats
itself and this seems to be the case in Zimbabwe
following recent
revelations the First Lady Grace Mugabe had grabbed 1 600
hectares of
agro-producer Interfresh’s Mazowe Citrus Estate in Mashonaland
Central.
The question is: Is Grace Mugabe a force of good or evil? No
doubt those who
know her say she a good-hearted person who has a strong
compassion for
helping the under-privileged in society and always tries to
use her position
and influence to change communities for the
better.
Her supporters say she is full of love for humankind in general
and thus
makes charitable donations intended to increase human well-being,
particularly the welfare of the poor.
There has been a series of
interviews in the state media covering acres of
space detailing how good a
person she is and the community projects she has
been doing to help the
needy.
Even her critics would agree that her humanitarian projects are
welcome and
need to be encouraged so that the poor benefit from her
generosity, care and
charity. However, her approach and the manner in which
some of her projects
are conceived and executed have left a sour taste in
the mouths of some,
mainly those affected by her activities.
The case
of Interfresh is one such an example. Interfresh says the First
Lady has
taken a portion of its estate, which represents 46% of Mazowe
Citrus
Estate’s total arable land, 30% of its budgeted revenue for the 2013
financial year and 52% of the value of immovable and biological
assets.
As if that was not enough, Mashonaland Central governor Martin
Dinha
promised more land for the First Family, which is already accused of
owning
more than 10 farms directly or indirectly.
“We offered you
land and we will continue to offer you land for other
projects if you want
it,” Dinha said at the official opening of the Amai
Mugabe Junior School in
Mazowe last week.
“We will do it in broad daylight and we are not ashamed
of it. Detractors
can say what they want, they can write what they want, but
this is our land
in Mashonaland Central and we will do what we want with
it.”
The latest land grab by Grace follows hard on the heels of recent other
seizures which have affected high-profile and ordinary rural dwellers,
prompting analysts to question the graciousness of her methods and
projects.
Bulawayo-based political analyst Godwin Phiri said it is
unfortunate that
Grace — who has in recent years drawn parallels with Marie
Antoinette due to
her shopping sprees and flamboyant lifestyle — had
embarked on a path of
dispossession and self-aggrandisement, deviating from
the
mother-of-the-nation concept popularised by President Robert Mugabe’s
late
first wife, Sally, in the 1980s.
“Sally was viewed as caring and
motherly, especially through her work in the
Child Survival Foundation; and
even if Grace has built an orphanage, this
has done little for her
reputation which has been tainted by reports of
self-aggrandisement and
dispossessing Zimbabweans of their land and
property,” Phiri
said.
While Grace says she is pursuing a noble humanitarian cause, her
approach of
expropriating land from locals — which implies abuse of power
and disdain
for the rule of law — is undermining her charity
activities.
After initially taking a farm from an old white couple in the
area at the
height of land invasions, High Court judge Justice Ben
Hlatshwayo accused
her company, Gushungo Holdings, of grabbing his Gwina
farm in Banket in
2009.
His court papers said he had been operating
his farm in “quiet, undisturbed,
peaceful possession, occupation and
production” since it was allocated to
him in 2002 during the controversial
fast-track land reform programme until
the First Lady arrived on the
scene.
Grace followed up on that by seizing Manzou Farm in 2011, this time
from
ordinary rural people who had grabbed the former game park in 2001 with
the
backing of Zanu PF.
When the Zimbabwe Independent visited Manzou
Farm last year, the paper was
welcomed by scores of peasant farmers who
spoke of a bleak and uncertain
future following the appropriation of the
former game park they invaded in
2001 at the height of Zanu PF’s violent
land grabs.
One elderly man, who said he was originally from Gokwe, spoke
of how he had
invested heavily in seed, fertiliser and other inputs while
pointing to a
thriving maize crop which he was never given time to harvest
after being
kicked out into the open together with his children and personal
belongings.
At the time Dinha, who was again assisting Grace’s land grab
activities,
denied that she was taking over the farm saying she was quite
content with
the area allocated to her for the orphanage
project.
“The First Lady is not interested in taking over Manzou. In
fact, it is the
Mashonaland Central (Zanu PF) executive which identified
Manzou as a
priority project and we will be resuscitating the game park in
partnership
with Chinese investors,” said Dinha then, adding, “illegal
squatters had
caused environmental degradation to the nearby Mazowe Dam
through their
farming and illegal gold mining activities.”
What Dinha
chose not to mention is that these “illegal settlers” were in
fact ordinary
people who had participated in Zanu PF’s land seizures? The
fact families
came from different parts of the country including Gutu,
Uzumba-Maramba-Pfungwe and Gokwe suggested their settlement could have been
a well-orchestrated party programme only to be ditched when Grace decided
she needed the property.
The First Family also owns Gushungo Dairy
Estate in Mazowe (formally Foyle
Farm) in contravention of government’s
one-man one-farm policy which Mugabe
espoused during the land reform
programme.
Habakkuk Trust chief executive officer Dumisani Nkomo said the
latest land
grabs were a continuation of the Zanu PF culture of
self-aggrandisement and
greed which cannot even be disguised as
indigenisation and empowerment.
“Those who already have are getting more
at the expense of the poor,
deserving people and the economy,” said Nkomo,
adding that “Dinha may
actually be in a difficult position where he cannot
resist Grace’s
insatiable demands even if he feels they are morally
reprehensible”.
Phiri said Grace’s expropriation spree is probably in
preparation for
post-Mugabe life “especially if you look at the area
(Mashonaland Central)
she is targeting with its potential for immense
economic benefits”.
While the First Lady sets about further safeguarding
her interests, there is
no doubt that the land grabs have caused serious
damage as well as suffering
for some Zimbabweans.
Given all this,
analysts say Grace’s charity activities — which are now
being questioned due
to her brazen and selfish approach — risk being seen as
self-aggrandisement
under the cloak of philanthropy if she continues
grabbing other people’s
properties while leaving them stranded and
impoverished.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
February 8, 2013 in Opinion
AFTER
spending three years in government without its own party economic
blueprint
but deploying unprecedented energy towards vilifying Zanu PF’s
indigenisation programme, the MDC-T has exposed its policy dysfunction with
the recent launch of a much-trumpeted, but vacuous document.
Opinion
by Tafadzwa Musarara
The economic blueprint Jobs, Upliftment, Investment,
Capital and the
Environment (Juice), lead-authored by High Court-declared
insolvent
businessman, Eddie Cross, and UK-based consultant, Lance
Mambondiani, is a
poor attempt to duplicate current government economic
policies under the
guise of new terminology.
The entire document is
replete with inaccuracies and outright plagiarism of
other current economic
blueprints, especially the government’s Medium Term
Plan (MTP). It is a case
of old wine in new bottles.
First, it is difficult to believe MDC-T’s
commitment to deliver on its
economic policy which is based on investment
devoid of government
intervention. In his recent usual rhetoric entitled “My
Crystal Ball”, Cross
said: “The MDC would announce a small government — a
cabinet of 20 ministers
with 18 ministries. The president and the cabinet
would be sworn in and
would immediately begin a complete overhaul of the
state administration.
Marange diamond fields would be nationalised and all
existing operators
expelled.”
Did I hear nationalisation here? Let me
now interrogate the document
further. The entire premise of the blueprint is
that of jobs. Prime Minister
Morgan Tsvangirai makes this very clear in the
foreword to the document. It
is the be-all and end-all. He argues that what
Zimbabweans need are jobs,
hence his economic plan is to deliver jobs to all
Zimbabweans.
It is through jobs that Zimbabweans will be empowered, he
argues. This
argument is fundamentally flawed. It takes the Zimbabwean away
from the job
creation process, which is the ownership of the means of
production through
which jobs are created. The Zimbabwean becomes part of
the means of
production and not the ownership, a position consistent with
settler-colonial capital.
The blueprint is anti-indigenisation and
empowerment, referring to this
programme as looting and asset stripping. It
asserts that current
empowerment policies are meant to enrich the elite and
politically connected
without proffering any evidence to this
end.
Current empowerment transactions expose this fallacy and contradict
this
assertion as there is no evidence that a few elite have benefited from
these
deals. It has mainly been management, employee share ownership
schemes,
community share ownership trusts as well as the National
Indigenisation and
Economic Empowerment Board (NIEEB) that have been the
beneficiaries of these
schemes. NIEEB is warehousing these shares until the
creation of an
indigenous stock exchange to allow participation by ordinary
citizens.
There is little or no evidence of capital flight in response to
indigenisation for those firms that have already invested in Zimbabwe. If
anything, there is commitment to increase investment especially in the
resource extraction sector as well as new entrants.
Indigenisation
transactions such as at Zimplats have been by way of vendor
financing, thus
offering value to prior investments.
Strangely, one of the objectives of
Juice is “restructuring the ownership
and control of the economy through a
broad-based economic empowerment
programme”, which is an acknowledgement of
the need for indigenous
participation in the economy through ownership of
the means of production.
But Juice then goes on to claim that this will
be achieved through training,
supporting SMEs, formalisation of the informal
sector, job placements, etc.
This is totally absurd as ownership and control
can only be achieved through
the vehicle of capital.
The MDC-T must
realise that local ownership of capital is a global
phenomenon irrespective
of which country one is in. Nearly every country has
restrictive ownership
thresholds in most sectors. This is meant to allow
local capital formation
and retention. One can argue about thresholds, but
not the principle. Any
other careless option will leave countries at the
mercy of foreign capital
and ultimately foreign political influence.
In the United States, Dubai
Ports had won the right to manage huge American
ports, but this attracted
the ire of locals who felt that they were giving
up their sovereignty and
security to foreigners. The indigenous people won.
Juice is content on
having local Zimbabweans as employees of foreign
multinationals with limited
participation in ownership. Although it purports
to advocate local ownership
through developing local enterprises, it negates
the ownership resident in
local resources, thus granting local indigenous
people access to
capital.
Juice acknowledges that one of the key drivers of economic
growth is
increased and sustainable agricultural production. However, the
conduct of
the MDC-T in government and the Finance minister in particular
display a
scant regard to this notion.
Last year, Biti promised that
he would provide for US$20 million towards
winter wheat farming. To date, no
dime has come out of Treasury. The party
has not been vocal and enthusiastic
in championing funding to this critical
sector. Funding for inputs have been
low and erratic and at times reaching
the beneficiaries late to be
effective.
The policy is very suspect on the land reform beneficiaries
and the fate of
former white commercial farmers. It does not address the
irreversibility of
the land reform and future ownership patterns. Any future
agricultural
policy in Zimbabwe must focus on how to underpin and
consolidate the
agrarian reform through land tenure and creating a
sustainable agricultural
sector through access to funding and extension
services.
According to the MDC-T’s own research, formal employment peaked
at 1,35
million in 1998 from about one million in 1980 under a Zanu PF
government
then dropping to just under one million in 2010, close to the
1980 levels.
It acknowledges the massive growth of the informal sector in
the last 20
years which accounts for the absorption of jobs lost in the
formal sector
and population differentials between 1980 and 2010. There
hasn’t been major
movement in formal employment numbers in the 30 years
since Independence on
a net basis. The informal sector has absorbed
additional entrants in the
employment market.
Juice contains serious
inaccuracies in the employment figures, especially in
the agricultural
sector claiming only 20 000 people were employed in the
agricultural sector
in 2008, but also asserts that 150 000 were employed in
this sector in 2010!
There is no explanation of this sudden leap in numbers.
Any future
economic policy by any political party must pay close attention
to
sustainable job creation through growing the economy and encouraging
capital
formation by way of cultivating local savings and FDI. Jobs allow
new
entrants into the money economy and help to expand the local market.
The
party claims that it will create one million jobs between 2013 and 2018
based on an annual economic growth rate of 8%. Given the industrial
automation, the figure is unreal, as it cannot be achieved in such a short
space of time while the leading Western economies’ employment figures are
heading south. This is fuzzy mathematics considering our current GDP
numbers.
It is clear that Juice is an attempt to repackage current
government
programmes and cannibalise policies from all over the world. The
policy is
highly repetitious and contradictory on a number of points. The
blueprint is
very economic on numbers and makes sweeping claims of what is
to be achieved
without answering how this will be achieved. It is more of a
political
statement on the perceived shortcomings of Zanu PF than a cohesive
and lucid
economic blueprint. There is very little in it in terms of
empirical
evidence to bolster the policy conclusions.
Musarara is the
chairperson of Resources Exploitation Watch.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
February 8, 2013 in Opinion
A WEEK ago, many
newspapers and other media reported that Finance minister
Tendai Biti stated
that, after payment of January salaries to the civil
service, the balance
remaining in the state’s coffers was US$217, evidence
that “government
finances are in paralytic state”.
Column by Eric Bloch
Almost
immediately after the release of those reports, the minister said he
had
been quoted “out of context”. There was no reason to doubt the veracity
of
the minister’s contention that the reports were misrepresentative of what
he
had said.
Nevertheless, the Zimbabwean fiscus is in a parlous state, as
disclosed by
the minister in his four annual budget statements and three
mid-year budget
review statements. The magnitude of the state’s impecunious
circumstances is
also irrefutably evidenced by both the extent of its
indebtedness, which
exceeds US$11 billion, most of which debts are long
overdue for prescribed
settlement.
The intensity of the lack of
fiscal resources is also incontrovertibly
demonstrated by the considerable
extent to which government recurrently
fails to effect timeous payment for
essential services which the state is
prescribed to
provide.
Critical, albeit substantially unpalatable actions are necessary
to address
and reverse the government’s impecunity. Funding must be
generated as
rapidly as reasonably possible to enable timeous payments of
the state’s
operating costs (of which the greatest portion is the salaries
of the civil
service), funding for rehabilitation of the decimated
infrastructure that is
essential to the proper functioning of the economy,
and the wellbeing of the
populace as well as the progressive settlement of
debt.
Simultaneosly, very stringent and effective diminution of
expenditures is
essential.
The generation of enhanced revenues is a
near impossible task insofar as
recourse to taxation measures are concerned,
for Zimbabwe is already very
heavily taxed at levels greater than prevail in
much of the region.
Increases in taxes not only compound the hardships which
confront most of
the population, but also constitute intense deterrents to
economic growth in
general, and the motivation of much needed investment in
particular.
While effective policing of taxpayer compliance is an ongoing
necessity,
such policing must not be excessive, oppressing and unjust. The
most
effective way of achieving increased inflows of taxes is to ensure
economic
growth, thereby broadening and increasing the tax base without
intensifying
the tax burdens of current taxpayers, save and except if their
taxable
incomes increase.
However, some significant enhancement of
revenue inflows to the fiscus would
be achieved if government more
effectively contained the extent of tax
evasion in general, and of import
duties in particular.
It is a fact that huge quantities of goods enter
Zimbabwe through unlawful
channels, thereby evading customs duties,
value-added tax, and other
imposts.
However, the most constructive
manner to progressively bring into being a
financially stabilised fiscus is
the containment of government expenditure,
and the opportunities of doing so
are manifold. The minister has intimated
an intent by his ministry to be
very heavily focussed upon cost-cutting by
government, including achieving a
meaningful reduction in the size of the
civil service.
Yet another
ready opportunity of achieving diminution in government
expenditure is
vigorous action to contain the immense corruption
characteristic of
government in Zimbabwe, which involves many of the
personnel employed by the
state in general, irrespective of rank.
The solicitation of “handouts” to
influence the award of contracts impacts
negatively on contract prices; the
expropriations of diverse consumables
from the stores and offices of
government are substantial contributors to
costs, as are also the
unauthorised usages of state assets.
Expenditure reduction can also be
achieved by diminution of government
delegations repeatedly travelling
abroad. In like manner, Zimbabwe should
seek to reduce not only the
excessive number of embassies and allied
diplomatic presences abroad, but
also the numbers employed therein.
A key area which must also be focused
upon is disinvestment from parastatals
and effectively privatising them.
That would bring to a halt the magnitude
of governmental subsidisation of
those state enterprises, including
unnecessary assumption of the vast
accumulated debts of those state
enterprises.
And, having for years
deliberately avoided seeking debt relief by striving
to be accorded
internationally recognised Heavily Indebted Poor Country
(HIPC) status,
government now needs to pursue its declared intent to obtain
such status,
which would not only result in rescheduling of much of Zimbabwe’s
debt-servicing arrears, but also progressive substantial debt
forgiveness.
Presently, compounding the state’s parlous financial
circumstances is that
it is absolutely essential that the already long
overdue referendum on a new
national constitution is conducted, followed by
presidential and
parliamentary elections, for the proper conduct thereof
would be a
meaningful stimulant to procurement of investment, rebuilding of
national
confidence and economic growth, with consequentially improved
fiscal
inflows.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
February 8, 2013 in Opinion
THE
Parliamentary Select Committee (Copac) finally agreed and produced a
draft
constitution with the aid of their principals in the shaky coalition
government to end years of uncertainty to a process that was neither
people-driven nor democratic, rather an elite arrangement by those in the
corridors of power.
Column by Blessing Vava
The draft is part
of the requirements of Article 6 of the September 15 2008
agreement by the
main three parties in government, a section fearlessly
contested by the
National Constitutional Assembly (NCA). It is this Article
6 that mandated
the parties to come up with a committee of parliamentarians
to spearhead the
process of writing a new charter for Zimbabwe.
The NCA argued the
involvement of those in power to drive the process was
not only going to
compromise the content of the document, but also the full
active
participation of the citizenry in this important process in the
history of
this country.
Fully aware the process of making a constitution is as
important as the
content, we remained sceptical about the whole arrangement.
This position
may have been largely misunderstood or deliberately
shelved.
The people-driven constitution approach is centred on national
ownership and
support for inclusive, participatory and transparent
processes.
Support is to be tailored to the specific citizens context
(often referring
to historical and current political epochs) and is drawn
from a wide range
of expertise both within and outside the government system
with its
independence uncompromised to ensure access to international and
comparative
best practice and that the voice of the voiceless is
protected.
Advance planning is required for the creation and
implementation of public
information and civic education campaign, public
consultation process and
the securing of funds, human and material
resources.
A structured and time-intensive national dialogue or
consultation process
that feeds back the views of the people to the
decision-makers involved in
the drafting and debating of the constitution is
an essential element of an
inclusive, participatory and transparent
process.
The NCA encourages constitutional approaches that directly
incorporate and
make supreme international human rights standards, including
an independent
and impartial judiciary, as a strong foundation for the rule
of law.
The setting up of institutions, structures and mechanisms that
promote
adequate follow-ups to ensure implementation of the constitution or
constitutional reforms once adopted.
This is where Copac failed the
test. It was a commission appointed by party
principals, who ultimately had
the final say over what went into the draft
constitution.
After
purporting to have collected the views of the people during the
outreach
exercise, what finally came out of Copac was a negotiated draft
constitution
containing the views of the elite in government — Kariba Draft
style.
The people-driven constitution discourse was simple yet so
cumbersome in the
views of the oligarchy — citizen participation in the
making of a
constitution will ensure their wishes are safeguarded and
sacrosanct in the
new constitution.
We argued in 2000 that the people
must determine a process of
constitution-making which they can dominate. It
was on the strong belief
that the principle of democracy is fully entrenched
as people will not
thereafter allow any future government to change the
constitution as it
wishes.
After producing two different drafts, one
in March and another in July 2012,
it became clear the final product was
going to be nothing but an
illegitimate and fraudulent document paraded to
the nation as a democratic
constitution yet in essence meant to protect the
ruling elites. One of the
most contentious and controversial sections which
resultantly led to the
rejection of the Constitutional Commission draft in
February 2000 was the
executive presidency, which the proposed draft has
brought back.
The proposed Copac draft still provides for an executive
president with
almost similar powers to the Lancaster House Constitution.
The president is
vested with unchecked totalitarian powers such as
appointing and dismissing
most public figures as well as exercising the
prerogative of mercy.
Chapter 5, Section 88, states that the president is
still the head of state
and government and commander-in-chief of the defence
forces. It would have
been prudent for the draft to create a post for prime
minister to act as
head of government, a more democratic arrangement
suitable for a
post-conflict nation that would provide for
intra-accountability in the
executive.
The proposed charter is still
silent on the retirement age for the
president. The president still enjoys
immunity for crimes committed in
his/her personal capacity. Section 98(1)
says “while in office, the
president is not liable to civil or criminal
proceedings in any court for
things done or omitted to be done in his/her
personal capacity”.
Again on appointments, this draft gives the president
powers to appoint an
unlimited number of cabinet ministers. This clause is
open to abuse and that
is the reason why currently we have a bloated cabinet
which burdens the
Treasury in a small country like ours. Past and present
ministers are known
for non-delivery and only vocal on “benefits”.
On
accountability, this draft provides that vice-presidents, ministers and
their deputies are accountable to the president and not
parliament.
Section 107(1) states: “Subject to this constitution, every
vice-president,
minister and deputy minister is accountable, collectively
and individually,
to the president for the performance of his or her
functions.”
This system is open to abuse and will not allow transparency
and proper
accountability of ministers in the execution of their duties. Yet
modern
democracies are characterised by shared decision-making by the
legislative
and executive branches allowing for both horizontal and vertical
accountability.
Some of the provisions in Chapter 6 of the draft left
me in shock. For a
draft that is essentially a product of members of
parliament critics were
however proved correct. Zimbabweans have always been
against a big
parliament as it has become a mere talk show and a burden to
the fiscus.
In practice the citizens’ voice is silenced; a nation that
deems itself in a
transition to democracy should be ready to create
provisions for citizens to
participate in a referendum to amend a
constitution.
Any proposed amendments to the constitution must be brought
to a referendum
to allow citizens to participate as this concept of
two-thirds supermajority
is prone to political manipulations by ruling
parties in infant democracies.
With these few submissions I have made my
mind to vote “No” in the
referendum and I encourage fellow citizens to
reject this daft.
It is a negation of democratic principles of governance
and should be
rejected resoundingly to send a clear message to those who
want to impose a
bad constitution on Zimbabweans. A rejection does not mean
we do not want a
constitution, but is a clear message we want a good
constitution that is
authored by the people for the people and not a few
powerful individuals.
Vava is a member of the NCA Take Charge Campaign
Technical Committee. He can
be contacted on: blessingvava@gmail.com. Twitter :
@blevava
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
February 8, 2013 in Opinion
Readers will
recall that “causing confusion” is a very serious offence in
Zanu
PF.
Column by The MuckRaker
When the comrades become confused all
hell breaks loose. This week they were
turning reality on its head by
claiming MDC factions’ accusations against
army generals were “a clear sign
that they do not have strong policies to
sell the electorate”.
This
view came in the wake of remarks by Defence minister Emmerson Mnangagwa’s
that soldiers were free to support political parties of their
choice.
Why are we only hearing this now? Why not when Douglas
Nyikayaramba was
holding forth? We suspect this epiphany came in the wake of
the South
African facilitation team’s visit to Harare recently. Mnangagwa,
who was
quoted extensively in Monday’s Herald, was discovering that while
senior
officers in the region were free to support parties of their choice,
they
should not hold political office.
“Political parties should come
up with good manifestos and individual
soldiers are free to vote for any
party which they think has a constructive
policy,” he said.
It is not
for him to decide what is “constructive” and what is not. The
voters will
decide that.
Not-so-mysterious
Then we had “a senior government
official who requested anonymity because of
the negotiations between the EU
and Zimbabwe over sanctions”, saying it was
not proper for the bloc to
leverage the removal of sanctions on local
political processes”.
In other
words there must be no improvement in the conduct of governance!
Of
course it is proper for the EU to insist upon good governance and
adherence
to certain electoral norms before lifting sanctions. The Sadc
Grand Baie
terms are applicable to all 27 members,
We all know who the “senior
government official” was trying to lay down the
law on this
score.
Government spokesmen make the silly claim that sanctions are
“illegal” when
they are perfectly legal and then proceed to press for their
removal on the
basis of that fallacy.
The not-so-mysterious official
said setting preconditions for the removal of
sanctions showed that “the EU
had a desired outcome of the referendum and
the elections”.
Of course
it does. The whole political process over the past five years has
been about
establishing democracy in Zimbabwe.
That is the desired outcome. So is the
reform of the media to remove the
crude propaganda emanating from Zimpapers
and the ZBC.
“Our position has always been that there must be
unconditional lifting of
the sanctions,” the official said. And the position
of civil society in
Zimbabwe is that the Global Political Agreement remains
unfulfilled. How can
we have democratic elections when there is only one
public broadcaster? How
can voters make an informed choice when that choice
is between a couple of
Zanu PF voices?
Gu shung-ho
The
Gushungo fashion label is “pushing new boundaries”, NewZimbabwe.com
claimed
recently. Their merchandise –– which included overalls, caps,
berets,
T-Shirts and umbrellas –– “was quickly snapped up at the Zanu PF
conference
in December”, we are told.
However, the website does not furnish us with
details on where else, other
than at a Zanu PF conference, the label is
“pushing new boundaries”.
In keeping with Zanu PF’s modus operandi the
label is co-designed by Asian
“partners”, according to Allan Mapisa, the
marketing director of the company
behind the label.
“We have creative
designers and we also work in collaboration with our Asian
partners.
Production is being done in China, Hong Kong and lately Thailand,”
Mapisa
said.
Judging by the brand’s oriental links, Gu shung-ho is a more apt
name!
‘Uniquely’ foreign
‘What makes our brand unique is the fact
that our products are world class
and Zimbabweans can easily relate and
identify with them.”
Indeed Zimbabweans can “relate and identify” with poor
quality Chinese-made
products dumped on the local market after having been
reduced to penury by
Zanu PF’s ruinous policies.
Last year ZBC had
claimed the label would “redefine the country’s fashion
industry which is
mostly dominated by foreign clothing labels”.
The clothing line
celebrates the legacy of the president, ZBC stated,
without a hint of irony.
It escaped their notice that the Asian-made label
is for all intents and
purposes foreign, an indictment on Zanu PF’s
indigenisation
drive.
“The brand is also riding on a wave of a hero, our president. We
are
guaranteed success,” quipped Mapisa.
The less said the
better!
Flattering to deceive
On a related note, we have former UK
Big Brother contestant Makosi Musambasi
who, since her unceremonious return,
is suddenly a fervent supporter of
President Mugabe despite once claiming
she would be killed if she were
deported back home.
Since her return
Musambasi has been looking for a pathway into celebrity,
albeit
unsuccessfully.
To show her newfound allegiance to Zanu PF, Musambasi
posted a picture
online in which she held a Gushungo label umbrella. She now
wants to meet
the president and to that end indulged in a bit of flattery
claiming:
“Who doesn’t? Even (US President) Barack Obama wants to meet
Robert Mugabe.”
We are sure President Obama would beg to
differ.
Ndanga’s (de)volution
Speaking of changing tack Apostolic
Christian Council of Zimbabwe (ACCZ)
president Johannes Ndanga on Tuesday
declared President Mugabe was “anointed
by God” to lead the country into a
“new epoch of prosperity”.
Curiously in the not too distant past Ndanga
was not so flowery in his
description of Mugabe and Zanu PF. The Standard of
July 2000 states that
Ndanga claimed to have been harassed by state security
agents after speaking
out against Zanu PF “terror tactics” during the
parliamentary elections.
Ndanga had said members of the Central
Intelligence Organisation had been
calling his mobile phone and issuing
death threats.
“I have been receiving phone calls from people claiming to
be intelligence
officers, threatening me with death. They are making all
sorts of wild
accusations which I do not even know.” Ndanga said.
He
went on to say his problems with Zanu PF began when he became critical of
government “mismanagement” and criticised the party’s campaign of “political
violence and intimidation”.
“Even if the elections take place, there
is going to be intimidation and
dictatorship –– they are not elections,” he
said.
Damascene moment
Thirteen years later, Ndanga is singing a
totally different tune, crooning
that Mugabe was “head and shoulders above
all the other pretenders vying to
lead the country”.
“There are many
people from within and without Zimbabwe who want to question
President
Mugabe’s ability to rule this country but people should know that
President
Mugabe’s age is his trump card to win these elections,” Ndanga
gushed.
What could have changed Ndanga’s mind, we are keen to know?
Zanu PF’s
largesse could have something to do with it.
In 2011 Ndanga
was demanding that Zanu PF provide vehicles and allowances to
church leaders
spearheading its campaign. He had claimed “real bishops”,
like himself, had
more Zanu PF followers as compared to traditional leaders,
hence the need to
award them cars and cash allowances.
Adding more flesh
Meanwhile
Ndanga decided to add to the folkltale being churned out by Zanu
PF claiming
Mugabe’s rule was prophesied in 1934.
Following in Vice-President Joice
Mujuru’s footsteps, Ndanga put more flesh
to the fantastic tale claiming
Johanne Masowe church founder Prophet Shoniwa
Masedza prophesied Mugabe’s
rule when he was 10 years old and “only God can
remove him”.
We are
keen to hear Mugabe’s comments on these claims considering his low
opinion
of prophets whom he decried for extorting money from people. He also
said,
under the influence of mbanje, some “spirit mediums” would pretend to
be
possessed.
Error of commission
Finally on the subject of pretensions,
we were amused to note that Matthew
Takaona, who is a member of the Media
Commission, likes to be styled
“Commissioner Takaona”. And then there is
“Commissioner Mutsvangwa”,
formerly our man in Beijing.
Why don’t we
just call them all “La-Di-Da”!
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
February 8, 2013 in Opinion
ONE of
the areas where President Robert Mugabe registered significant
success,
acknowledged even by his trenchant critics during his otherwise
disastrous
rule which ruined the country and impoverished the people, is
education.
Zimbabwe Independent Editorial
When Mugabe came to
power in 1980 he inherited solid education
infrastructure and a strong base,
one of the best in Africa, and expanded on
it to provide access for millions
of the formerly marginalised and
underprivileged majority.
Education
in public institutions was made free allowing millions of
previously
disadvantaged children to go to school, and in the process huge
inequities
from the colonial era were diminished.
Education was also declared a
basic human right in the new non-racial system
which followed majority rule.
Alongside other critical social services,
education was subsidised and this
helped Zimbabwe to achieve phenomenal
results in a bid to eliminate
illiteracy, ignorance and poverty.
As a result Zimbabwe achieved the
highest literacy rate in Africa ahead of
countries like Tunisia, giving its
people a good start in life and laying a
strong foundation for national
development.
Evidently education is essential for everyone. It helps
people earn a
living, respect and recognition. It is thus an indispensable
part of life.
It is thus difficult to imagine life without enlightenment, a
key element of
civilisation of human society.
However, that remaining
element and symbol of Mugabe’s achievement before
his tsunami-style
devastation of the nation in the decade preceding 2009 is
now dramatically
unravelling, risking wiping out whatever remains of his
positive legacy.
Whatever he achieved at the height of his rule pales in
comparison to the
alarming destruction his corrupt and incompetent regime
inflicted on the
country.
If ever there was more evidence needed to prove the
disintegration of the
education sector it was provided by Ordinary Level
results released this
week. Results released on Monday showed 81,6% of the
172 698 students who
sat for the examinations last year failed to pass at
least five subjects
with grade C or better. Only 31 767 of that number made
it, translating to a
pathetic 18,4% pass rate, the trend since
2009.
While there are many reasons to explain this appalling trend,
Education
minister David Coltart on Tuesday captured the gist of it when he
said the
poor results were a reflection of the “extreme crisis in education
experienced between approximately 2005 and 2009”.
The reality is that
schoolchildren who failed exams are victims of a
situation beyond their
control. Granted, their personal input counts but
students at all levels of
the education system are still battling to recover
from the consequences of
the economic meltdown and political instability
before 2009.
At the
height of the crisis, schools were forced to close down as there were
no
teachers, no books and therefore no lessons, leaving thousands of
children
stranded.
Only those with money managed to hire private teachers or
tutors, while the
majority languished without educators. Most teachers left
the profession and
even country due to the economic crisis. Even though
schools re-opened in
2009 the devastating impact and ramifications of the
virtual collapse of the
sector are still being felt up to today, leaving
Mugabe’s legacy further in
tatters.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
February 8, 2013 in
Opinion
‘WATER water everywhere, not a drop to drink”’, goes a classic
line from a
Samuel Taylor Coleridge poem, The Rime of the Ancient
Mariner.
Candid Comment with Stewart Chabwinja
In it a sailor
laments thirst plaguing his ship and crew despite the ship
being surrounded
by an endless expanse of sea water, which of course is
unsuitable for
drinking as it only leads to further dehydration.
There are parallels
between the sailors’ predicament and that of
Zimbabweans, especially
urbanites.
There is much water in Harare for instance, but little for
drinking: most is
flowing profusely on the streets courtesy of increasing
pipe bursts as the
city’s infrastructure further crumbles, while taps are
dry.
And things will get worse before improving. Only last Saturday
Harare Mayor
Muchadeyi Masunda told residents they are likely to start
enjoying clean and
improved water supplies come March, after the city
procures pressure
reducing valves to minimise water losses.
Come
Wednesday, Masunda had changed tack –– the city would soon introduce
water
rationing to solve its water problems as it continues to refurbish its
water
equipment –– a protracted exercise that has failed to yield any
tangible
relief for long-suffering residents.
The glaring failure by MDC-T
councils, which control most city councils, to
deliver service-wise is a
serious indictment of their leadership, and hence
their party. Granted, they
inherited crumbling infrastructure after years of
Zanu PF mismanagement and
lack of investment, but the public is bound to
hold them accountable to
their promise and motto of “change” which won many
hearts.
While
funding remains a major hurdle it does not suffice as an excuse since
the
councils have received infrastructure rehabilitation assistance from
various
organisations.
The councils are collecting rates from residents, but
their priorities
remain woefully lopsided, with salaries at one stage
reportedly gobbling up
90% of monthly revenue in Harare.
As water
woes worsen, rubbish remains uncollected, roads are potholed,
street
lighting is virtually non-existent and sewerage flows from burst
pipes
threatening potable water, councillors who took office as humble
workers are
now living large. The stench of their corruption and nepotism ––
a throwback
to preceding Zanu PF controlled councils –– has soiled the MDC-T
brand,
making a mockery of the party’s “change that you can trust” slogan.
Of
course the MDC-T has tackled corruption resulting in suspensions and
firings
of councillors, but the criticism is that only the small fish were
targeted
while bigwigs go scot free.
The Masvingo debacle, where about 50 council
vehicles will go under the
hammer next week over US$3,5 million in
outstanding salaries, is a damaging
reflection of MDC-T
management.
With elections expected later this year, the day of reckoning
may not be far
off for the MDC-T that could face a backlash from fed-up
ratepayers. The
chickens could come home to roost because change remains
what residents and
voters long for, but not change for the worse.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
February 8, 2013 in Opinion
OF late there
has been a growing momentum and lobbying of the media by
influential
politicians and high-profile businessmen to freeze or abandon
criticism of
President Robert Mugabe for a wide range of reasons.
Editor’s Memo with
Dumisani Muleya
We have had a number of approaches, some well-meaning but
some rather
disingenuous, by those seeking rapprochement on Mugabe’s behalf
to ensure
his continued patronage.
It is quite clear there are some
people gravely concerned about how the
media has been interpreting Mugabe’s
rule and legacy, as well as treating
him in its coverage of the Zimbabwean
story.
Some of the reasons given to obviate criticism of Mugabe include
that he is
not the one responsible for the devastation of the country’s
economy but his
ministers and bureaucrats are; he fought for the country and
must thus be
spared harsh criticism; he is now too old and that politically
he is in the
departure lounge.
“We must look beyond Mugabe and deal
with other issues. He played his part
and besides he is now old,” one
ex-combatant-turned-tycoon said to us.
“Look, he is also going to be 89
soon, so you must respect him and spare him
all these attacks.”
Our
response was simple: “We agree with you that he is old and must
certainly be
respected. However, we don’t think he should be spared
criticism because he
is now old and because he fought in the struggle. In
fact, he needs to be
put under close scrutiny for precisely those reasons
and also because he is
a head of state and government and commander-in-chief
of the defence forces
seeking re-election at 89!”
Information minister Webster Shamu has in
recent months also called in
editors to protest their unwelcome coverage of
Mugabe.
A new approach on this is also discernible.
Vice-President
Joice Mujuru recently said Mugabe was anointed by God to lead
Zimbabwe at
the age of 10 years and those fighting to replace him are
wasting their
time.
This week leader of apostolic churches in Zimbabwe, Bishop Johannes
Ndanga,
said: “Mugabe was “our God-given leader” implying, like Mujuru, that
he had
a divine right to rule or a mandate from heaven (there is a nuanced
difference between the two).
The invocation of divine rule and by
insinuation claims of infallibility are
meant to place Mugabe above
criticism. If his mandate is from God he is
therefore not accountable to the
electorate but to God only.
Medieval political theorists came up with the
doctrine that kings’ right to
rule came from God, and that monarchs were
answerable to him alone, not
earthly institutions or people. This is the
sort of thing we are now being
subjected to.
Evidently this is absurd
or preposterous and Mugabe himself might find it as
such.
However,
given Mugabe’s appreciation for personality cult, hagiography and
intolerance to criticism –– these attempts to protect him by all means
necessary could be most welcome within his circles.
Despite Zimbabwe
supposedly being a constitutional democracy in which
citizens enjoy freedom
of expression and speech, among other entrenched
civil and political
liberties, a number of people, mostly ordinary citizens,
have been arrested
for allegedly ridiculing or insulting Mugabe.
The Zimbabwe Lawyers for
Human Rights alone has been representing over 50
individuals who have been
dragged to court for calling Mugabe names or
joking about him, things
civilised democracies would have either ignored,
frowned upon or just
dismissed offhand as in bad taste.
Although Mugabe must be respected as
an elder