http://www.radiovop.com
Bulawayo, January 21, 2012 --A
bookshop owner in Victoria Falls in
Matabeleland North province was arrested
on Friday for selling Prime
Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s book “At the Deep
at End” at her shop.
Sinikiwe Matore, the owner of Rosepet Bookshop in
central Victoria Falls
town was arrested after police raided her shop and
confiscated 10 copies of
Tsvangirai’s book.
“Police raided the
bookshop and confiscated all the 10 books in stock, which
they took to the
police station before asking Matore to produce invoices
showing how they had
purchased the book, ”said MDC-T information department
in a statement on
Friday.
After the raid “one police officer who identified himself as
officer Shiri
from the Law and Order Section went back to Rosepet and
arrested Matore.”
The MDC-T also alleged that at the police station
police planted some
subversive material, red cards and small MDC flags
inside all the 10 books
in order to pin down Matore. The Victoria Falls
police officers are also
said to be looking for Matore’s business partner,
Mlamuli Mabhena.
When contacted for comment Matabeleland North provincial
police spokesperson
Sergeant Eglon Nkala only said: “I was out of
office.”
The book "At the Deep End" is an autobiography of Tsvangirai and
was
officially launched last December. At its launch at Harare’s Book Café,
At
the Deep End sold 235 copies.
The 663 page book chronicles
Tsvangirai’s personal and political life.
The arrest of Matore came just
a week after police went on rampage in
Bulawayo last week and arrested more
than 50 MDC-T youths during their “Free
Solomon Madzore’s
campaign”.
The MDC-T are demanding the release of Madzore, their Youth
Assembly
president who is jailed at Chikurubi on charges of killing a police
officer
in Glenview.
Last week co-Minister of Home Affairs Theresa
Makone said she will approach
President Robert Mugabe and the Police
Commissioner-General Augustine
Chihuri over the partisan conduct of the
police.
http://www.dailynews.co.zw
By Tendai Kamhungira and Xolisani
Ncube
Saturday, 21 January 2012 12:52
HARARE - Police officers
tasked to protect the late Solomon Mujuru could
have left him to die in a
fire blaze as they ran around for more than three
kilometres trying to find
assistance in locating the late general’s bedroom,
a family lawyer has
said.
Thakor Kewada from Scanlen and Holderness said this while
questioning
Tawanda Madondo, a groundsman at Mujuru’s farm during an
on-going inquest
into the death of the five-star general.
Kewada,
representing the Mujuru family, said it was possible that the three
police
officers assigned to protect the late general “wasted time” as they
sought
help to locate the general’s bedroom which they claimed they were
unfamiliar
with.
Three police officers constables Augustinos Chinyoka, Obert Mark
and Lazarus
Handikatari were manning the inner gate leading to the general’s
yard.
The lawyer told the court that it would have been ideal for the
police
officers to break any of the windows to gain entry into the burning
house
and save Mujuru rather than running for three-and-half kilometres to
the
farm compound to fetch people who could help locate Mujuru’s
bedroom.
Madondo said one of the police officers took 30 minutes
travelling to the
farm compound looking for information on Mujuru’s bedroom
as fire gutted the
farm house.
According to Madondo, a police detail
approached him at 2:26am on the
fateful day asking for the position of
Mujuru’s bedroom.
The two walked for 30 minutes back to the farm house,
Police left Mujuru to
die — Lawyer Madondo told the court.
“Would I
be wrong if I say the police officer wasted time by coming to your
place of
residence instead of breaking windows and save the general?” asked
Kewada.
In his response, Madondo concurred with Kewada saying it
would have been
wiser for the officers to break any window and try to search
for the late
general.
Information proffered in court so far indicates
that the charred remains of
Mujuru’s body were found in the lounge.
The
court also heard that police details tasked to protect Mujuru had frosty
relations with the general, forcing him to contemplate having them posted
elsewhere.
Madondo told the court that police officers poured buckets
of water as they
tried to extinguish the late general‘s smouldering
body.
“I saw a black object but the shape was indicative of a human being
and by
then the body was burning,” said Madondo.
Asked by the late
general’s nephew Tendai Mundawarara whether the flames on
the body died off
straight away, Madondo said: “Police officers poured a
number of water
buckets for the fire to be extinguished.”
Yesterday’s hearing saw six
witnesses testifying.
These are Emmanuel Musona, a welder, Ewiri Biara, a
security guard at the
farm, Stephen Harineyi, the farm clerk, Sarudzai
Nyakudya a receptionist in
the office of the President and Cabinet tasked
with handling the welfare of
farm workers and Samuel Gamanya, a manager from
a neighbouring farm.
At least 21 more witnesses are expected to give
evidence next week when the
case resumes on Tuesday.
Vice president
Joice Mujuru is also expected to give evidence, according to
the
lawyer.
In yesterday’s session, Harineyi described the farm workers’
relationship
with the late general as “cordial”, while he also confirmed
that when the
body was discovered it was burning.
Gamanya confirmed
seeing the late general at his farm at around 8pm while
ferrying bricks to
the farm. He said the road to the farm passed through the
general’s
farm.
Rosemary Short, a maid to the late general, told the court that she
heard
two gunshots before a police officer approached her at her place of
residence telling her about the fire.
This was also after a private
security guard Clemence Runhare told the court
that he heard gun shots,
before revealing that Mujuru was in the company of
a male
passenger.
Police guarding the premises disputed this fact.
The
inquest is being conducted in terms of Section Six of the Inquest Act
which
reads: “The proceedings and evidence at an inquest shall be directed
solely
to ascertaining (a) who the deceased was, (b) how, when and where the
deceased came to his death.”
The presiding magistrate Walter
Chikwanha will then confirm the death was
sudden or order further
investigations or cause the opening of a criminal
case, depending on his
findings.
Mujuru died in what was reported to be an inferno at his
Beatrice farm, 60
kilometres south of Harare last August.
According
to facts presented before the court so far, the retired general
left his
Chisipite home driving an Isuzu KB250 double cab on August 15 last
year.
He arrived at Beatrice Motel at 5:30pm where he drank four tots
of John
Walker Black Label whiskey diluted with soda water before proceeding
to his
farm at 8pm, whereupon arrival, Runhare opened the gate for
him.
Three police officers constables Augustinos Chinyoka, Obert Mark and
Lazarus
Handikatari were manning the inner gate leading to the general’s
yard.
Five minutes later, the court heard Mujuru drove towards the
eastern gate
going to Short’s living quarters where he intended to collect
keys to the
farm house.
http://www.dailynews.co.zw
By Roadwin Chirara, Business Writer
Saturday,
21 January 2012 12:58
HARARE - A huge number of civil servants are
still to get their January
salaries after their accounts remained unfunded
by government late Friday.
Scores of government employees could be seen
milling around banks waiting to
be advised when their salaries had come
through.
“We are being told the money to pay us has not been transferred
to our bank
so that our individual accounts can be funded, so all we can do
is wait,”
one government employee said.
The failure of banks to pay
the salaries also come on the back of liquidity
challenges currently facing
most financial institutions.
Banks, which lent out more than $2,9 billion
last year, have struggled to
recover funds with most companies and
individuals defaulting on payments.
The situation has resulted in RTGS
transfers, which normally take 24 hours,
taking as long as 14 days due to
challenges by some banks to source the
funds.
Reserve Bank of
Zimbabwe governor Gideon Gono on Thursday said there was no
respite for the
liquidity challenge ravagiag the sector, although it
remained
stable.
Government has been battling to meet its huge salary bill after
it succumbed
to mounting pressure in July last year to award its workers a
pay rise
despite the country reeling from a $9 billion debt and a $700
million
budgetary deficit.
According to Finance minister Tendai Biti
in his 2012 national budget,
government’s recurrent expenditures continue to
be skewed towards employment
costs, which were originally budgeted at $1,4
billion, but are now projected
at around $1,8 billion or 63 percent of the
total budget following the
salary and wage review for civil servants
affected in July 2011.
Biti said government’s employment costs, which
averaged $121 million per
month in the six months, rose to the current
monthly average of $161
million, against the 2011 Budget provision of around
$113 million.
This week, Zimbabwean civil sector workers threatened to go
on strike to
press government to increase their salaries.
However,
government maintains that it does not have the funds to meet any
new wage
increases.
http://www.voanews.com
20 January
2012
Matinenga said the 18 legislators named in the report to the
president and
prime minister failed to submit returns for the US$50,000
allocated to each
of them for projects that would benefit their
constituencies
Gibbs Dube | Washington
The Ministry of
Parliamentary Affairs next week will submit to President
Robert Mugabe and
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai a list of 18 lawmakers
alleged to have
failed to properly account for their use of constituency
development funds
in 2010.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Eric Matinenga declined to
identify the
legislators, but told VOA they come from a number of political
parties.
Matinenga said the legislators failed to submit returns for the
US$50,000
allocated to each of them for projects that would benefit their
constituencies.
He said it is expected that the president and prime
minister will take
action after going through the audit report detailing the
use of funds by
all lawmakers in the 210-member House of Assembly and the
Senate.
The Treasury allocated legislators US$8 million in 2010 for
development
projects like refurbishing of schools and construction of
reservoirs, but
some lawmakers are believed to have diverted such funds to
their own
personal use.
Matinenga said he is not sure how Mr. Mugabe
and Mr. Tsvangirai will react
to the report which does not propose sanctions
to be taken against the
lawmakers.
Lawmaker Samuel Sipepa Nkomo said
legislators who cannot account for
development funds should be handed over
to the police. "I hope the unity
government principals will take action to
resolve this embarrassing issue,"
Nkomo said.
http://www.dailynews.co.zw/
By Godfrey Mtimba
Saturday, 21 January
2012 10:27
MASVINGO - Dozens of youths from Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai’s MDC
yesterday staged a demonstration in Masvingo calling for
the release of the
party’s youth wing president, Solomon Madzore, who is
languishing in remand
prison in Harare.
Madzore, who, together with
over 20 others is facing charges of murdering a
policeman, has been in
remand prison for seven months.
The demonstration in Masvingo is part of
an MDC youth assembly nationwide
Free Madzore campaign.
The MDC
youths, led by their national executive leaders, held placards and
banners
calling for the release of their leader before police could act.
They
marched through the central business district and addressed people
while
expressing disgruntlement over the continued detention of their
leader.
Police, who were unaware of the demonstration, were late to
react and by
the time they did, demonstrators had already
dispersed.
MDC national youth secretary Promise Mkwananzi told reporters
after the
demonstration that police were looking for the party’s youth
leadership.
“We held a demonstration without seeking permission from the
police and we
have reports now that they (police) are all over the city
looking for our
youths. The demonstration was successful as you saw that we
were almost 300
and marched without being disrupted,” said
Mkwananzi.
He said MDC youths were taking the campaign to every province
to pressure
authorities to release Madzore. He said the party would continue
defying the
police crackdown.
“We are taking this campaign nationwide
and we will not leave any city as we
feel that our leader is being
persecuted for nothing. We want him to be
freed. The demonstrations will be
bigger in future until we
have the freedom of our youth leader,” Mkwananzi
said.
The police, who usually quash MDC demonstrations like they did in
Bulawayo
when they arrested over 50 youths last weekend, had to hurriedly
deploy
officers, although no arrests were reported by the time of going to
print.
“So far no arrests have been made but we are expecting arrests and
a
crackdown of our provincial leadership,” he said.
Police in
Masvingo declined to comment.
http://www.dailynews.co.zw
By Godfrey Mtimba
Saturday, 21 January 2012
10:23
MASVINGO - A Chivi teacher has dragged Zanu PF Chivi central
Legislator,
Paul Mangwana to the Joint Monitoring and Implementation
Committee (Jomic)
accusing him of unleashing party supporters and war
veterans to force his
headmaster to chase him away from his teaching
post.
Stephen Mudereri, a history teacher at Chinembiri secondary school
has
written a complaint to Jomic against Mangwana who is also the Copac
co-chairperson for allegedly sending party supporters to force his boss to
cause district education officers to transfer him from the school for being
an “MDC supporter”.
In a letter addressed to Jomic national
co-coordinator, Patience Chiradza,
Mudereri alleges that Mangwana wants him
out of his job at the school
because he accuses him of being an MDC activist
who also teaches students
party politics and influences villagers to vote
against Zanu PF.
Mudereri also claim that Mangwana accuses him of sending
away nine pupils
who were supposed to have their schools fees paid by the
legislator’s trust
which pays fees for the children from poor
backgrounds.
The letter claimed the Mangwana Trust failed to pay $40 in
schools fees per
term for each of the nine students leading to the school
authorities to
expel them.
“Why I am suspecting political
intimidation and victimisation at my work
place is because Paul Mangwana and
his party supporters, Koto Lovemore,
Anacoleta Chihava and Miriam Hove who
are leading others want me transferred
because they suspect I was behind the
sending home of pupils who were
beneficiaries of Mangwana Trust for failing
to pay their fees since January
2011 until the end of the year,” read part
of the letter.
Mudereri also told the Daily News that Mangwana’s
supporters have since
written a petition to Chivi District Education
Officer, demanding his
immediate sacking.
“The Zanu PF thugs sent by
Mangwana have also written a petition and forced
over one hundred villagers
to sign demanding my sacking. The issue is that I
am a well known MDC
activist and they want to victimise me for my political
affiliation."
“I have written to Jomic so that it can stop them from
harassing me and also
stop them from forcing my superiors to preside over
political issues,” said
Mudereri.
He added that Zanu PF officials in
the district also believe that Mudereri
was responsible for mobilising
support for the Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai’s MDC hence they were
fighting for his ouster at the school ahead
of elections anticipated by
their party this year.
Efforts to get a comment from Paul Mangwana were
fruitless as his mobile
phone was not reachable.
http://www.dailynews.co.zw
By Taurai Mangudhla, Business Writer
Saturday, 21
January 2012 12:55
HARARE - The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) is yet
to receive the $100
million lender of last resort fund (LOLR) announced by
Finance Minister
Tendai Biti in his 2012 national budget, the central bank’s
governor,
Gideon Gono, has said.
He told a Confederation of Zimbabwe
Industries’ economic prospects
conference for 2012 on Thursday that the
central bank had only received a
mere $7 million out of the promised
resource.
“The budget talked of $100 million, but we have only received
$7 million and
we have not distributed a penny from that money. It’s still
sitting there
because it’s too little to do anything,” Gono said.
“We
need more than $150 million to perform the duty and offer meaningful
support
to banks,” added the central bank chief.
“Of course we are in discussions
as to when we can have the rest of the
money because the money is going to
come from external lending
institutions.”
The stringent conditions
precedent to accessing foreign lines of credit has
negatively affected the
liquidity situation of the banking sector and the
economy at
large.
During the first nine months of 2011, the External Loans
Co-ordinating
Committee approved short-term trade finance facilities
amounting to $2,6
billion while utilisation was only $922,7 million or 36,1
percent.
Gono said establishment of an effective LOLR function would
undoubtedly
restore some confidence in the banking sector and spur economic
activity.
International best practice requires that the LOLR pool in a
dollarised
economy should constitute between 50 to 150 percent of banking
sector
capitalisation or five percent to 15 percent of the banking sector
deposits.
RBZ contends that an LOLR fund based on a proportion of the
deposit base has
a better relationship to potential liquidity developments
on the market.
Zimbabwe’s liquidity crunch, after a decade of economic
stagnation and
adoption of the multiple currency regime in 2009, has been
worsened by
limited activity on the inter-bank market due to lack of
acceptable money
market instruments.
The central bank’s latest
position is that available bankers’ acceptances
have been shunned due to
their inherent credit risk, resulting in banks
resorting to work in silos,
meaning that banks with excess liquidity are not
assisting those in
deficit.
This has led, among other issues, to selective non-processing of
customer
payments by banking institutions with liquidity
challenges.
The prevailing low salaries in the economy have also resulted
in most
transactions being cash-based, militating against the intermediary
role of
banking institutions.
As a result, some banking institutions
have now resorted to selling cash at
a premium to institutions with
inadequate hard cash resources.
“Persistent bank-level liquidity
challenges may result in some banks failing
to honour their obligations,
leading to heightened systemic risk,” Gono
said.
“Short-term lending
has potential to create asset quality vulnerabilities
due to mismatches
between short-term funding and the credit requirements of
medium to
long-term projects.
“An illiquid market also increases the cost of credit
and heightens default
probabilities among borrowers.”
According to
the RBZ, the banking sector has largely mobilised short-term
deposits, which
are transitory and volatile in nature, mainly driven by
salary
payments.
The short-term nature of deposits has hindered effective
financial
intermediation to the productive sectors as lending is restricted
to
short-term periods.
RBZ is saddled by a $1,2 billion
debt.
The bank has resolved to dispose of its non-core assets like Cairns
Holdings
Limited, Homelink and Tuli Coal, but the move appears to be facing
hurdles
amid revelations the assets will go for a song.
http://www.radiovop.com/
Harare, January 21, 2012 –
Embattled Clerk of Parliament Austin Zvoma has
won the first battle into his
current attempts to cling on to his job after
the High Court on Friday
ordered Parliament to suspend debate on a motion
seeking his
ouster.
But Zvoma is not yet off the hook as the court still has to
decide on his
ordinary court application which he filed just before the
urgent chamber
application seeking to suspend debate on the
motion.
“The Clerk of Parliament has been awarded interim relief,” Chris
Mhike,
lawyer for the respondents told Radio VOP Friday.
“The court
ruled that the motion passed is null and void until the main
matters are
dealt with in the main court application.”
Mhike said the ruling passed
by Justice Francis Bere pertained to Zvoma’s
urgent chamber
application.
He said the court is yet to hear the merits of Zvoma’s
earlier application
fighting for his job.
Zvoma, who is accused of
abusing his powers as CEO of the country’s
by-cameral parliament, approached
court in December pleading for the halting
of the house debate.
He
claimed, among other reasons, that MPs had no locus standi to use
ordinary
parliamentary business to push for his expulsion.
This was after MDC-T MP
for Hwange Central Brian Tshuma had proposed through
his motion, the setting
up of a five member committee that will look into
allegations of abuse of
authority pending his possible ouster.
Tshuma among other accusations,
says Zvoma is behaving like he was owner of
parliament through taking
unilateral decisions that are detrimental to the
smooth running of the
legislature.
But Zvoma contends that it is the Parliament’s Committee on
Standing Rules
and Orders who are his employers and are, as such, mandated
to deal with his
disciplinary matters.
Although he said he had not
yet been furnished with a full judgement
regarding Friday’s ruling, Mhike
conceded the ruling by Justice Bere was
fair and consistent with the “laws
of natural justice."
“The fact that Zvoma can still be fired remains.
However, the High Court has
said if he has to be fired, then proper
procedure should be followed,” he
said.
“The judge said the manner in
which proceedings would progress in terms of
the motion passed by Honourable
Tshuma would leave him without any
opportunity to give his side of the
story.”
Listed as respondents in the matter are Speaker of Parliament
Lovemore Moyo,
his deputy Nomalanga Khumalo, Senate President Edna
Madzongwe, MDC-T MPs
Brian Tshuma and Shepard Mushonga, Willius Madzimure
and Linnet Karenyi who
are the chairpersons of committees of Parliament and
deputy.
http://www.cathybuckle.com
January 21, 2012, 3:42
am
In the last Letter from the disapora for 2011 I quoted the Minister of
Local
Government, Ignatious Chombo. He told a meeting of local chiefs and
headmen,
“Zanu PF controls the police and tells them who to arrest and who
to keep
because they (the police) will never say no to their
instructions.”
And in this new year of 2012, nothing has changed. The
police continue to
behave in a totally partisan way and have even been
accused of actively
trying to destroy the MDC. Chombo’s words about the
police have particular
relevance in 2012 because Chief Commissioner
Chihuri’s term expires this
year, as does the head of the army’s,
Constantine Chiwenga. Together, the
police and the army have ensured that
Robert Mugabe remains in power and it
is Mugabe as president who decides on
their fate. Mugabe is on his annual
leave until the end of January; all
decisions must wait for his return,
including a request by the UN to monitor
the way food relief is handled
after reports that Zanu PF is failing to
distribute food relief fairly to
MDC supporters.
The inquest into
Solomon Mujuru’s death has dominated the headlines for the
past couple of
weeks and once again the roles of the police and the army
have come under
scrutiny. Both organizations have been led by men who have
publicly declared
unswerving loyalty to Robert Mugabe and they have been
rewarded for their
efforts by remaining in post. The police have conducted
their own report
into the General’s death but that report has never been
made public. The
late Commander in Chief and Liberation War hero was known
as the Kingmaker,
and rumour has it that he and Robert Mugabe did not get on
well. Mujuru was
known to be a very outspoken man, not afraid to tell Mugabe
the truth to his
face. Mujuru’s death in a spectacular fire at his farmhouse
in Beatrice gave
rise to huge public speculation that he had been murdered
and there were
strong political overtones to the case; Mujuru’s death would
benefit a
contender hoping to succeed Mugabe. Mujuru’s widow, Joice, the
Vice
President of Zimbabwe, claims that the police were negligent in their
investigations into her husband’s death. On Thursday, the inquest was
adjourned to allow her, finally, to read the police report into Mujuru’s
death. Better late than never, perhaps, but one can’t help wondering what it
is in the report that needs to be kept hidden from the general public. The
behaviour of the three officers guarding Solomon Mujuru’s home came under
sharp scrutiny at the inquest and on Thursday we learned that Mujuru had
declared his intention to fire the three men who, among many other failings,
did not even know the precise location of the general’s
bedroom.
Mugabe will return from his annual leave to face quite a few
problems, not
least of which is the renewal of police Commissioner Chihuri’s
contract. The
two MDCs have found common ground in their opposition to his
reappointment.
That’s not likely to bother Mugabe, but at least it shows the
MDC factions
can unite when the issue is serious enough. The question of
when to hold the
elections is another decision that only Mugabe can make.
Zanu PF hardliners,
including Mugabe himself, are apparently keen to have
elections this year.
The GPA decrees that no elections should be held until
there is a new
constitution in place. Zanu PF, however, is more concerned
about whether
their only candidate will be able to stand the rigours of an
election
campaign. Mugabe has not been well and he will be 89 in February;
should he
win, a five year term would take him to 94. If Mugabe confirms the
reappointment of Chihuri as Police Chief, he will once again have one of his
main allies in place to ensure victory.
We had all hoped for
something better in 2012 but, as I said, very little
has changed in
Zimbabwe.
Yours in the (continuing) struggle, PH.
