http://www.swradioafrica.com/
By Tererai
Karimakwenda
03 December 2011
A group of nearly 80 clergymen from the
Church Province of Central Africa
(CPCA) were evicted from Peterhouse High
School in Marondera on Tuesday, by
police who insisted they did not seek
permission to gather for their annual
prayer retreat.
Precious
Shumba, the spokesperson for Harare Bishop Chad Gandiya, said
police came
within minutes of the Anglicans’ arrival on Monday, claiming
they need
clearance in terms of the Public Order and Security Act (POSA).
The law
simply requires that they be notified, but police have used it
selectively
over the years to restrict perceived ‘enemies’ from gathering.
Shumba said
the Anglican clergy had “defied the order” on Monday since they
were not
breaking any law, insisting the police remove them by force.
“This
morning police returned with re-enforcements and threatened to arrest
men of
God, including the bishops, if they did not leave immediately,”
Shumba said,
describing the eviction that followed on Tuesday.
He said the police
action is a continuation of the harassment and
persecution of the CPCA and
demonstrates “their allegiance to the
ex-communicated Anglican Bishop
Nolbert Kunonga”.
Bishop Kunonga split from the CPCA in 2007 after he was
ex-communicated and
started his own church. He is known to be a loyal
supporter of Robert Mugabe
and has received police protection during a
violent campaign against CPCA
supporters.
Clergy from the CPCA were
last year evicted from church owned schools,
hospitals and other properties,
including the main cathedral in Harare,
after the courts granted Kunonga
temporary custody of church properties in
Harare. The main church says he is
using this to take over properties in
other provinces illegally, with
support from the police.
Shumba explained that Peterhouse is a private
school that allows other
groups to use the venue and needs no permission
from the police.
Meanwhile, Kunonga and his supporters are reportedly
meeting at St.
Augustine’s Mission School in Mutare, Manicaland province. It
is not clear
whether they sought permission for the gathering.
The
evicted CPCA clergy are currently at an alternate venue in Marondera
while
negotiations between the Harare bishop and the police continue, with
hopes
of returning to Peterhouse to complete their week-long prayer retreat.
http://www.newzimbabwe.com
03/01/2012 00:00:00
by Staff
Reporter
WAR veterans have urged President Robert Mugabe to dissolve
Parliament and
call fresh elections claiming the country's constitutional
reform process
has failed.
The move by the liberation war veterans –
who are dismissed by critics as
shock-troopers for Zanu PF – follow a
similar threat by Justice Minister,
Patrick Chinamasa.
In a statement
Monday, war veterans leader, Jabulani Sibanda claimed the
constitutional
reform process had betrayed the views of ordinary
Zimbabweans.
"We,
the war veterans of Zimbabwe, having read the preliminary reports of
Copac
Drafting Committee, hereby express our shock, indignation and
displeasure at
the total disregard of and departure from what the people
said they want in
their constitution through the outreach programme,"
Sibanda
said.
Sibanda claimed the constitutional reform process had fallen victim
to
forces keen to delay elections demanded Mugabe and his Zanu PF
party.
He added that the Zanu PF leader should now move to dissolve
parliament in
order to force the elections.
"It is also clear that
Copac's intention is to as much as possible delay the
constitution making
process so as to avoid the holding of elections this
year," he
said.
"Our considered view is that the President, in terms of the current
constitution, must dissolve Parliament and announce a date for
elections."
Chinamasa made a similar threat last month, accusing Prime
Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai’s MDC-T party of holding back the constitutional
reforms in order
to delay elections.
“It is very possible for the
President to call for elections and there is no
provision that prevents him
from doing that but it is our desire as Zanu PF
to see the
constitution-making process concluded so that we hold elections
under a new
constitution,” Chinamasa said.
“The MDC is always insisting on reforms
before the elections but it’s not
clear who should reform what? We cannot be
held at ransom by the MDC-T which
is employing every dirty delaying tactic
in the book to avoid elections.”
Mugabe claims new elections must be held
early this year because the
coalition government was no longer
workable.
But the MDC-T has insisted that political reforms, which
include a new
constitution, must be completed to ensure the election outcome
is not
disputed.
“(We will go) for elections after the completion
of the constitution-making
process, the referendum, drafting of a new
voters’ roll, media reforms,
completion of legislative reform, the
conclusion of outstanding issues at
the dialogue table on security sector
realignment and staffing of ZEC,”
MDC-T secretary general and Finance
minister, Tendai Biti told reporters
after party’s national council meeting
last month.
“And also after the compliance by Zimbabwe on the SADC
electoral guidelines
on free and fair elections and putting in place of
mechanisms to ensure that
violence will not be a factor in the said election
that is what the roadmap
suggests.”
http://www.newzimbabwe.com
03/01/2012 00:00:00
by
Staff Reporter
PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe and bitter rival and
current Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai are planning joint anti-violence
rallies ahead of elections
analysts warn could be as bloody as the
inconclusive 2008 ballot.
The country-wide rallies, which would also
involve MDC leader, Professor
Welshman Ncube, were confirmed by senior
officials from Zanu PF and the two
MDC formations.
Said Zanu PF’s
Didymus Mutasa: "The dates have not yet been given to us by
the President;
as you know there are three principals, but there is one main
one who is
President Mugabe, so we are guided by him.”
"The purpose of the meetings
will be to inform the greater public on the
need to tolerate each other.
This is an idea of all the parties in the
inclusive Government, so we will
go to all the provinces with the same
message of tolerance and
co-existence."
Priscilla Misihairabwi-Mushonga of Ncube’s MDC added: "We
are waiting for
the principals to give us the dates and as you may be aware
the President is
on leave so maybe the meetings will be held in
February.
"It was the principals who requested that they wanted to go to
all the
provinces with the same intention of urging no
violence."
Tsvangirai’s MDC was however, non-committal, insisting several
issues still
needed to be clarified.
"It should be made clear in what
capacity the principals will be addressing
the people if they are to address
together. I.e. are they addressing as
presidents of parties or in their
government roles?" party spokesperson,
Douglas Mwonzora said in an interview
with The Herald.
"We also want to know in what order they will speak;
i.e. are they going to
speak in alphabetical order, are they going to use
their ages or their
government positions in taking turns to
speak?
"We also want to know the message and how it is going to be
communicated. If
there are agreements on these issues then I don't see
serious objections to
this initiative."
Mwonzora said, if held, the
rallies should address several key issues ahead
of the planned
elctions.
"The substance of the principals' proposed campaign must
address the
question of selective application of the law by law enforcement
agents," he
said.
"They must clearly indicate that there will not be any
sacred cows when it
comes to dealing with perpetrators of
violence.
"We, therefore, expect the principals to give orders
unequivocally to law
enforcement agents especially the police to stop acting
in a partisan
manner."
Mugabe, Tsvangirai and Ncube addressed
a so-called anti-violence indaba in
Harare last November as concern
increased over clashes between the parties.
The Zanu PF leader has
insisted new elections must be held early this year
to replace the coalition
government claiming the arrangement was no longer
workable.
However
the MDC formations want reforms agreed under the SADC-mediated
Global
Political Agreement GPA to be fully implemented first.
http://www.newzimbabwe.com
03/01/2012 00:00:00
by David Smith I
guardian.co.uk
IN the evening gloom the vast complex emerges into
view. Beyond a high
security wall, insects dance in the beam of a giant
floodlight. Men are
still hard at work in the skeletons of concrete tower
blocks, and standing
at the centre of it all is the arch of a Chinese
pagoda.
Zimbabwe’s national defence college is under construction within
a
sprawling, heavily-guarded compound whose brooding presence sends a clear
message to any would-be revolutionary. Some have dubbed it the “Robert
Mugabe national school of intelligence".
The construction site north
of Harare has also become the lightning rod for
another source of simmering
resentment – Chinese labour practices.
Surrounded by a perimeter wall
that runs for a kilometre through what was
once farmland, the shadowy
military academy is being built by a Chinese
contractor whose managers are
accused of meting out physical punishments,
miserable conditions and meagre
pay.
"The beatings happen very often," said a 28-year-old carpenter,
wearing blue
overalls as he made the long walk home after a 14-hour shift.
"They
ill-treat you and, if you make a mistake, they beat you up.
"I
saw some men beaten up yesterday. A guy complained: 'You're not treating
us
like human beings,' and the Chinese replied: 'You should appreciate we've
come to assist you.' They beat him up and he was fired."
He estimated
that there were about 600 Zimbabwean and 300 Chinese workers on
the site.
Around 50 of the Chinese were managers.
Some of the Chinese have "nice
homes inside" while others live in wooden
shacks just outside the complex.
The Zimbabweans and Chinese rarely mix, he
added. "They don't speak English
so we use sign language. The Chinese eat
off plates, then give us the
leftovers."
The carpenter said he typically gets up at 4am and works from
7am to 9pm
every day. For this he is paid $4 (£2.50) a day, but at least it
is work so
he can feed his wife and three children. "We don't have a choice
because we
need to survive. But if it was possible to chase all the Chinese
away, I
would."
Reports of abuse by managers at the Chinese
contractor, Anhui Foreign
Economic Construction Company (AFECC), are
widespread, as are complaints
that the government is turning a blind eye
because it cannot afford to lose
such a valuable partner.
A
26-year-old builder, on his way to a nightshift, said: "We tried to go on
strike but the leader of it was beaten up and sacked. The government doesn't
say anything, even though it knows people are beaten up. I saw them undress
some workers and beat them with helmets. Some of them were crying with the
pain.
"We feel angry but we need money, so there is no choice. If you
don't work
10 hours, there is no money."
Attempts to contact AFECC by
telephone and email were unsuccessful. The
company's website refers to
projects in Ivory Coast, Mozambique and Zambia,
and describes how the
project team of the Zimbabwe national defence college
raised $4,570 for a
carpenter whose son needed treatment for leukaemia.
Zimbabwe received a
Chinese loan of $98m to build the college. It will be
repaid over 20 years
through earnings from the Marange diamond fields, which
are being mined by
another Chinese firm amid widespread claims of human
rights violations under
military control.
Okay Machisa, director of the Zimbabwe Humna Rights
Association, said:
"Parliament approving such a debt without consulting
Zimbabeweans is very
serious. Why are we prioritising an army intelligence
college instead of
universities and hospitals?
"Harare has no
electricity most of the time and the water is not good for
human
consumption. It shows we are trying to keep Zimbabwe under the control
of
state security."
China’scommercial empire has expanded enormously in
Africa over the past
decade and Zimbabwe is trying to catch up. Trade
between the two countries
stood at $550m last year, according to the Chinese
embassy.
The government in Harare has announced that China plans up to
US$10 billion
in investments over the next five years, more than in any
other country.
Diamonds and other mineral resources are the main
attraction, but Chinese
entrepreneurs have also seized opportunities in
construction, manufacturing
and retail.
Chinese restaurants are
booming, attracting top politicians and businessmen.
Shops are flooded with
cheap Chinese imports, or "zhing-zhong", of dubious
quality. Zimbabwean
vendors claim they are being undercut and put out of
work.
Just as a
recent Human Rights Watch report alleged poor conditions at
Chinese-run
copper mines in neighbouring Zambia, so there is growing
antipathy and
mistrust in Zimbabwe. Trade unions have called for action and
even members
of Mugabe's Zanu PF party have expressed disquiet.
Machisa said: "We've
got alarming, shocking human rights abuses in firms
operated by the Chinese.
We've got empirical evidence that is going to shock
the people of Zimbabwe.
They are physically abusing the workers. They are
psychologically
terrorising the workers.
"But they are not being prosecuted. There is a
culture of impunity."
Others believe the problem is a cultural
misunderstanding.
A Chinese immigrant, 29-year-old Li Chen, said: "If
Chinese people work from
8am till 8pm they have no problem. Sometimes they
ask their employees to do
the same and it makes them unhappy. It will not
happen.
"It's a different culture. If people sit down and talk and understand
each
other, it should change."
http://www.swradioafrica.com
By Tichaona
Sibanda
3 January 2012
MDC-99 President Job Sikhala was arrested by
the police on New Year’s Day
over an alleged immigration matter but his
party insist he is being
persecuted for standing up against Robert Mugabe’s
dictatorship.
An aide who answered his phone told us the militant and
outspoken former
University of Zimbabwe student leader was picked up by the
police from his
St Mary’s home around 7pm on New Year’s Day.
‘He is
being held at Rhodesville police station where they’ve denied his
wife and
family access to see him,’ the aide said, adding: ‘This is a clear
case of
state sponsored intimidation against Sikhala.’
The aide who asked not to
be named, told SW Radio Africa that police have
told them Sikhala is to be
charged with contravening the Immigration Act.
The MDC-99 leader is alleged
to have assisted a South Africa citizen to
enter Zimbabwe in July, through
the Beitbridge border post, without a
passport.
‘The police are so
desperate to secure a conviction against Sikhala by any
means possible that
they’re now fabricating charges against him. How on
earth could Sikhala have
helped someone without papers transcend two border
check points without
being noticed?
‘All they want is to instil a climate of fear to stop him
criticising Mugabe
and ZANU PF. Unfortunately they won’t succeed, what they
are doing is
hardening his resolve to stand up against this dictatorship,’
the aide said.
Sikhala is expected to appear in court on Wednesday. His
lawyer Harrison
Nkomo told us his client denies the charge and has vowed to
fight ‘tooth and
nail’ to clear his name. Party officials have linked his
arrest to protests
he led in Harare last month.
In December last year
Sikhala was picked up by the police after he led a
small protest march of
about 10 people, calling on Robert Mugabe to step
down. Sikhala and his
group marched to Munhumutapa Building (Mugabe’s
office) waving placards that
denounced Mugabe. He was released by the police
for lack of evidence against
him.
http://www.dailynews.co.zw
By Xolisani Ncube, Staff Writer
Tuesday, 03
January 2012 14:27
HARARE - The MDC says it is ready to fight Zanu
PF’s plot to force
Zimbabweans to go to the polls without a new constitution
and electoral
reforms to the bitter end.
A new constitution and
necessary electoral sector reforms are some of the
major demands made by
Sadc and other political parties in the inclusive
government for the holding
of a free and fair election.
Zanu PF, however, seems adamant the polls
would go ahead without the said
reforms.
President Robert Mugabe’s
party has argued in the past that there is nothing
wrong or amiss with the
current constitution while on the other hand, it has
admitted to the need
for Zimbabwe to come up with a new constitution.
Zanu PF secretary for
administration Didymus Mutasa insisted to the Daily
News yesterday his party
would push for elections this year with or without
a new
constitution.
Mutasa said the much touted electoral and political
reforms, including a new
constitution, are not a necessity for the country
to go for an election.
“From our Bulawayo conference, the party resolved
that we are going to have
elections this year.
“This means that we
will go for an election with or without a new
constitution, if we fail to
have a new constitution this year, we will use
the old constitution to hold
the elections,” said Mutasa.
He described the availability of a new
supreme law as an added advantage.
“We have held elections with the
current constitution. We can still use it
and that is what we will
do.
“Once the president announces that elections are going to be held on such
a
date, then elections will be held, even without the new constitution,”
Mutasa said.
He, however, said his party had its own demands it would
push for.
“The reforms which the MDC should push for, is the closure of
those pirate
radio stations and no other reforms,” Mutasa said.
But
Welshman Ncube, the president of the smaller MDC faction described
Mutasa’s
statements as “political grandstanding” which if allowed to carry
the day
would be suicidal to Zanu PF and the country.
Ncube said his party would
only accept conditions that include a new
constitution as one suitable for a
free and fair election.
“A new constitution is a basic condition that
this country needs for holding
free and fair elections.
“If Zanu PF
decides otherwise, that is political suicide and in short they
will be
committing political suicide.
“They cannot force people to vote using the
old conditions,” said Ncube.
“As much as I know, political grandstanding
is the hallmark of Zanu PF and
that is expected from such a party,” he
said.
Douglas Mwonzora, the spokesperson for the Morgan Tsvangirai-led
MDC said
his party will not give in to Mugabe’s election demand if political
and
electoral reforms that are stipulated and part of the Sadc negotiated
agreement are not met.
“We know that Zanu PF is not willing to
implement these agreed reforms in
the election roadmap. As a party, we will
use all the available tactics to
ensure that the country does not go for
elections in the same mood of June
2008,” said Mwonzora.
He said
Mugabe no longer wields much power to call for an election wilfully
as such
a call is process- driven.
“Holding of elections will be determined by a
process which includes
ensuring that those in the Diaspora are allowed to
vote, we have media
reforms, we have security sector reforms and have a new
constitution.
“It is not Mugabe’s sole prerogative,” Mwonzora said.
http://www.voanews.com/
02 January
2012
Election Resource Center Director Tawanda Chimhini said that
while he
supported training for officers ahead of the national vote, he was
doubtful
they would follow through on their nonpartisan pledge
Jonga
Kandemiiri, Ntungamili Nkomo
Zimbabwe's national police force has
launched preparations for the national
elections expected to take place this
year, with officer training programs
to stop violence and keep the peace,
Deputy Commissioner-General Josephine
Shambare told state media.
The
police have been accused of failing to arrest the perpetrators of
political
violence in the 2008 elections and in previous ballots,
particularly if such
perpetrators were supporters of the ZANU-PF party of
President Robert
Mugabe.
But Shambare said the police won’t tolerate violence by members
of any
party. Commissioner General Augustine Chihuri urged all political
parties
recently to shun violence, saying officers will crack down on
perpetrators
regardless of their affiliation.
Election Resource
Center Director Tawanda Chimhini told VOA’s Ntungamili
Nkomo that while he
supported training for officers ahead of the national
vote, he was doubtful
they would follow through on their pledge to apply the
law impartially
across the board.
Douglas Mwonzora, spokesman for the Movement for
Democratic Change formation
of Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, said his
party will only believe the
police if they put their words into action,
considering that perpetrators of
2008 violence remain free.
Political
analyst Charles Mutasa told Jonga Kandemiiri that most people will
find it
hard to take seriously the police pledge to even-handedly maintain
the
peace.
Bulawayo-based analyst Effie Dlela Ncube declared his skepticism
as well.
http://www.dailynews.co.zw
By Nkululeko Sibanda, Senior Writer
Tuesday, 03 January
2012 13:01
HARARE - Zimbabwe's political situation comes under the
spotlight next month
when the regional grouping, Sadc meets to review the
situation in the
region.
Sadc executive secretary Tomaz Augusto
Salamao told the Daily News yesterday
that the dates of the summit will be
agreed on during the forthcoming
African Union summit set for Addis Ababa,
Ethiopia in three weeks’ time.
The African Union meets in the Ethiopian
capital starting January 21, with
the summit expected to run until January
28.
“The African Union summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia will afford
leaders of
Sadc an opportunity to discuss when we can hold the Sadc summit,”
said
Salamao.
“That is the summit where we will, as Sadc, be able to
review the political
and economic situation in all the countries that have
been hotspots in the
region, Zimbabwe included, in the previous year,” he
added.
Zimbabwe, Salamao said, had indeed and undoubtedly become a
regional
hotspot.
“If you look at the Zimbabwean situation, one does
not indeed doubt that the
country’s political and economic situation has
been a cause for concern for
the Sadc region.
“You need to look at
the number of summits that have been held on Zimbabwe
in the year and others
gone by and you will appreciate that Sadc simply is
seized with the
Zimbabwean issue,” Salamao said.
The regional grouping’s secretary said
it was Sadc’s wish to see Zimbabwe
regaining peace and tranquillity which
prevailed in the years after
independence.
“Zimbabwe was known to be
a peaceful country. All we yearn for, as Sadc, is
to see the country
regaining its peace and the people enjoying life as is
happening in other
countries,” he added.
Lindiwe Zulu, the spokesperson of the South African
facilitation team said
last year that the team, working with South African
president Jacob Zuma,
hoped 2012 would be a better year for
Zimbabwe.
“It is our hope that with the New Year, the situation in
Zimbabwe will
improve further and things will be better than the previous
year. As the
facilitation team, we will remain committed to helping Zimbabwe
find
solutions to its challenges and hope that together we will conquer
those
challenges,” added Zulu.
The facilitation team, Zulu said, was
hoping to push the negotiations
between the three political parties in the
country to their logical
conclusion.
“We still have some issues with
the negotiation teams that we still want to
deal with.
“Once those
are pushed by the wayside, we are certain that we would have
edged closer to
our destination, which is to see the principals in Zimbabwe
meeting the
facilitator to do the final review of the situation,” she added.
http://www.dailynews.co.zw
By Gift Phiri, Senior Writer
Tuesday,
03 January 2012 14:31
HARARE - A referendum due this year is seen as
a key test of the coalition
government ahead of general elections to be held
most likely this year, with
pro-democracy groups saying a “No” vote by the
people will not necessarily
stall a fresh election.
Tensions have
been high as major parties in the coalition government,
President Robert
Mugabe’s Zanu PF and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s MDC
try to outdo
each other in stamping their dominance on the constitution
making
process.
A man died in Mbare and several have been injured in clashes
between Mugabe
and Tsvangirai’s supporters as the tussle
continues.
The constitution making exercise has now entered the drafting
stage but the
process has hit a snag after Zanu PF accused the legal
drafters of doing the
MDC’s bidding by allegedly attempting to fraudulently
emasculate the people’s
voice in the analysis of data collected during over
4 000 outreach meetings.
However, whatever compromise draft will be
produced, it must be tabled
before a second All-Stakeholders
Conference.
The draft constitution and its accompanying report must then
be tabled
before Parliament.
Mugabe and Tsvangirai’s power sharing
accord, also known as the Global
Political Agreement (GPA) that gave birth
to the coalition government states
that the draft and report must be tabled
within one month of the second
All-Stakeholders Conference.
Both
houses of Parliament will have a month to debate the draft.
Then both
houses of Parliament must conclude their debate on the draft
constitution.
The draft constitution emerging from Parliament must be
gazetted before the
holding of a referendum.
Mugabe and Tsvangirai
have agreed that Zimbabwe will hold fresh elections
only after a new
constitution has been drafted, although it will require a
positive
referendum result to be adopted as the new governance charter.
At 87,
Mugabe, seeks to retain the presidency to ensure life rule, while the
MDC is
fielding former trade unionist Morgan Tsvangirai, who won the first
contest
in the March 29, 2008 poll.
Charlton Hwende, an MDC provincial leader
said the referendum will have a
significant bearing on the next
election.
“It will take a miracle for the parties to agree on a single
draft to take
to the people,” Hwende said.
“As MDC these issues are
at the core of what we believe in and our
supporters were very clear on
these issues during the public consultations:
dual citizenship, protection
of minority rights including the right to
reproductive health and the right
to sexual orientation, abolition of
capital punishment etc.
These are
issues that we will not compromise on and they will have to be
referred to
the people in a referendum,” Hwende said.
He added: “Zanu PF has now
realised that their campaign of violence during
the outreach programme and
attempts to silence the Zimbabwean masses did
nothing in preventing the
populace from expressing their views on the
constitution and the Zimbabwe
they want. We are reasonably confident that
they will speak again loudly and
clearly during the referendum.”
Problems emerged as thematic committees
tasked with sifting information from
public hearings began analysing
data.
Zanu PF began demanding a quantitative approach or to count up how many
times an opinion had been expressed and the most frequently expressed views
to go forward as what the people want.
This would have enabled Zanu
PF to smuggle into the constitution trivial
matters such as the death
penalty for anyone advocating for sanctions or
criticising the President,
and capital punishment for gays.
Zanu PF now accuses the legal drafters —
all consensus candidates agreed to
by the three parties in the ruling
coalition — of attempting to produce a
draft reflecting the MDC
position.
Lovemore Madhuku, chairman of constitutional reforms campaign
group,
National Constitutional Assembly, said the outcome of the referendum
will
have no bearing on the next elections.
“It will have no bearing.
It has no effect,” Madhuku said. “The current
government ends next year.
Their right to govern ends in June 2013. It (the
coalition government) must
leave office whether there is a new constitution
or not. They will not
remain in government forever.”
Madhuku, a professor of law at the
University of Zimbabwe, said a rejection
of the draft in a referendum would
result in fresh negotiations on the way
forward.
“If there is a “No”
vote it doesn’t mean they don’t hold elections. Their
mandate expires
whether there is a dispute or not. It will mean that the
country will
discuss on how to constitute a new government.”
Madhuku predicted that
Zanu PF and MDC will adopt a similar position towards
the draft
constitution. “If they don’t agree (on the draft) there won’t be a
referendum. That is what the GPA says.”
Welshman Ncube, a law
professor now leading a breakaway faction of the MDC
said the new
constitution would have to be a “negotiated document” by
coalition
parties.
Ncube’s MDC is the smaller partner in the
coalition.
Observers say the MDC cannot afford to oppose Zanu PF during
the referendum
as Mugabe will use this to gauge his strength shortly before
a general
election and engineer a response mechanism, as happened in
2000.
“If Zanu PF fails to have its way it might be panicked into
unleashing
violence between the referendum and the election,” political
commentator
Ronald Shumba said.
Both parties have accused each other
of using violence. A fragile truce has
been holding since a peace indaba
held in Harare in November by the national
executives of all the three
parties in the ruling coalition resolved to
peacefully co-exist with each
other.
But the nascent peace has been shattered by last week’s petrol
bombing of a
Zanu PF provincial office in Gweru.
Police say they are
still investigating charges that unidentified militants
petrol-bombed the
Zanu PF offices. The MDC has denied responsibility for the
attack.
Shumba said the ongoing squabbling over the constitutional
draft was a
preview of the presidential vote in 2013, in which Mugabe has
said will run,
despite losing an election in 2008 and reported
ill-health.
“While much can be said about the arguments over the drafting
stage — the
underlying issue is rather the psychological effect on the more
important
election next year,” Shumba said.
In the general election
in 2008, Zanu PF lost its parliamentary majority for
the first time since
independence from Britain in 1980.
Tsvangirai claims at least 200 of his
supporters died in the violence that
characterised the 2008 poll.
A
new constitution due to be introduced within the next six months is
expected
to replace the current document cobbled at Lancaster House in
London, in
December 1979 ending colonial rule in then-Rhodesia.
Inter-party disputes
and the lack of acceptable budgeting systems, which led
to donor funding
delays, resulted in the outreach only starting towards the
end of June 2010
— 11 months late.
The constitution making process is now lagging even far
behind by more than
a year. Ordinary Zimbabweans are not amused, a process
that was supposed to
take less than two years is now spilling into the
fourth year.
Sean Moyo, a local social activist, said Zanu PF’s spirited
attempts to
derail the process showed it knew the time was up.
“This
is the end and the country is heading into a new era of freedom,
constitutionalism and prosperity. We need this constitutional reform process
no matter how flawed it is to give power to the people.
“We realise
that it is not a given but it is something that we have to fight
for — and
fight for the rights of Zimbabweans to decide our destiny, we
will. Zanu
will not have its way this time around.”
The present constitution has
been amended 19 times, the last being in
February 2009 to formally pave the
way for the formation of the coalition
government that created the Prime
Minister’s post for Tsvangirai.
http://www.radiovop.com/
By Ngoni Chanakira Harare, January 3,
2012 - The Danish aid organisation,
Danida, has given the cash-strapped
Zimbabwe Government US$43 million in
development assistance, Ketil Karlsen,
the Charge d'Affairs of the Royal
Danish Embassy in Harare, has
confirmed.
"Zimbabwe has huge potential waiting to be released," he
said in an
interview.
"The country must, however, take decisive steps
to ensure democratic and
economic reform and take a careful look at current
policies to attract
private sector investment. We are here to
help."
He said the US$43 million would be used to support private sector
development in the agriculture sector, rehabilitate water and power supply,
as well as for good governance, democracy and human rights.
Karlsen
said Denmark was opening an Embassy in Harare, thus upgrading its
office
which was the case since the days of economic mismanagement.
"Denmark and
Danida is back in Zimbabwe" he said in the interview. "Denmark
has resumed
its active role in its engagement - and is one of the five
largest bilateral
donors to Zimbabwe."
Support would also be for power supply and clean
water in the major cities
and towns in the country, help speed up the
implementation of the Global
Political Agreement (GPA), as well as help
strengthen the judiciary which
has come under fire in Zimbabwe.
He
said the cash would also be used to provide computers, cars, generators
and
legal material for nine provincial courts, making the justice system ore
efficient.
"Victims of human rights abuses will also receive legal
assistance," Karlsen
said.
http://www.dailynews.co.zw/
By Staff Writer
Tuesday, 03 January 2012
10:13
HARARE - Air Zimbabwe acting chief executive officer Innocent
Mavhunga says
the struggling national carrier is waiting for government to
release
distress funds to get the troubled airline out of the
woods.
Mavhunga said at the moment, the airline is in a state of
paralysis and
would need government action to get it back on
track.
“I am sure you are aware that government made a commitment to take
over Air
Zimbabwe debts so we are waiting for government action,” said
Mavhunga.
He described the situation at the national carrier as worrying,
but said he
remained hopeful that the airline will bounce back
soon.
“We remain positive that things will turn for the better,” said
Mavhunga.
He said he is equally worried that workers have gone for some
months without
being paid.
“The situation is bad and I am equally in
the same situation as any other
Air Zimbabwe worker,” he
said.
Meanwhile, the Minister of Transport and Communications, Nicholas
Goche, has
issued a circular stopping Air Zimbabwe management from flying
its aircraft
to South Africa and the United Kindom where one of its long
haul Boeing 767
aircraft was recently impounded over an outstanding
debt.
The circular was issued last week leaving the airline virtually
grounded.
The suspended routes are its cash cows.
Creditors in
London and Johannesburg South Africa are waiting to impound Air
Zimbabwe
planes to try and force it to honour its debts.
Air Zimbabwe is however
still flying to Lubumbashi in the Democratic
Republic of Congo (DRC), the
Far East, Lusaka in Zambia and locally to
Bulawayo and Victoria
Falls.
The airline is reported to owe $500 000 for services rendered in
Johannesburg.
A Johannesburg cargo handling company recently refused
to offer services to
Air Zimbabwe forcing the airline to transport the over
100 passengers on
board in a four-sedan vehicle from the plane to the OR
Tambo International
Airport Terminal.
An Air Zimbabwe plane was
recently impounded at London’s Gatwick Airport
until a debt of $1,2 million
was paid.
The airline managed to fly back to Zimbabwe on Christmas
day.
Air Zimbabwe is said to be in debt running into millions of dollars,
among
the debts are millions of dollars also owed to its restive workforce —
three
quarters of whom have since stopped coming to work.
The
national airline used to be one of the best run in Africa but it has
suffered from years of mismanagement and political interference.
"I
am sure you are aware that government made a commitment to take over Air
Zimbabwe debts so we are waiting for government action."
http://www.dailynews.co.zw/
By Staff Writer
Tuesday, 03 January 2012
14:33
HARARE - Controversy surrounding the publication of
constitutional material
by the state media comes under discussion today when
the Parliamentary
select committee (Copac) meets in Harare.
The move
by the state media has been described by some members of the
committee as an
attempt to derail the constitution making process.
Douglas Mwonzora, the
Copac co-chairperson representing the mainstream MDC
party told the Daily
News at the weekend that the select committee meeting
is aimed at taking
stock of the constitution making process, including the
actions by the state
media.
“The issue of The Herald publishing information that it purports
to be from
Copac will be tabled,” said Mwonzora, adding that the meeting
will also be
attended by the other two co-chairpersons, Paul Mangwana of
Zanu PF and
Edward Mukhosi of the smaller MDC party.
Mwonzora said he
expected the meeting to come with a position on the issue
but added that “if
my colleagues are not willing to take on The Herald and
develop fatigue I
will do so on my own.”
The drafting of the country’s new constitution is
key to the holding of a
free and fair election. The process plunged into
fresh crisis after the
state media published constitutional
material.
Mwonzora said the selective publishing of the information in
the state media
purporting to be from Copac is designed to cast the drafters
in bad light
therefore derailing the whole exercise.
Mwonzora is
pushing Copac to take the state media to court to stop it from
publishing
what it purports to be constitutional material from the committee
tasked
with the making of the country’s new constitution.
The leaking of the
constitutional material is being blamed on Zanu PF
members in Copac but
Mangwana told the Daily News last week that his party
had nothing to do with
it since the document was circulated to several Copac
members.
He
said anyone from any party could have leaked it.
“Zanu PF is not
responsible. We wanted to keep whatever draft which was
being drafted by the
drafters packed somewhere but unfortunately towards the
end of the year,
there was a feeling from Copac members that they wanted to
have a copy of
what has been drafted and we now do not know who has actually
leaked the
drafts to the public."
“There were initial drafts which were under
discussion and they are not
binding anyone to anything,” said Mangwana.
http://www.businessweek.com
January 03, 2012,
12:00 PM EST
By Godfrey Marawanyika
Jan. 3 (Bloomberg) --
Zimbabwe’s electricity demand is projected to increase
29 percent this year,
boosted by the mining industry, the state power
utility said.
Demand
rose 6.2 percent last year from 2010, Fullard Gwasira, a spokesman
for the
Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority, said by phone today from the
capital,
Harare.
Zesa generates 900 megawatts to 1,200 megawatts compared with
demand of
1,900 to 2,200 megawatts. The country imports 35 percent of its
electricity
from Mozambique and Democratic Republic of Congo, yet fails to
meet demand,
resulting in almost daily power cuts. Zimbabwe is the
third-largest power
consumer in sub-Saharan Africa after South Africa and
Nigeria, according to
the World Bank.
The country’s economy is
estimated to expand 9.4 percent in 2012, led by
growth in the finance and
mining industries, Finance Minister Tendai Biti
said on Nov. 24. The economy
was forecast to grow 9.3 percent in 2011, with
mining output climbing 26
percent as the nation attempts to recover from a
decade-long recession that
ended in 2009, Biti said.
Zimbabwe Electricity Transmission and
Distribution, a unit of Zesa, said
power demand by mines in the nation’s
northern region is expected to advance
22 percent in
2012.
“Developments in the mining sector include Maranatha Ferrochrome at
13
megavolt amperes, Mazoe gold mine at 5.5 megavolt amperes and RioZim Ltd.
at
5 megavolt amperes,” Harare-based ZETDC said in a report handed to
Bloomberg
News.
Industry, Agriculture Demand
Maranatha is a
closely held company. Mazoe is owned by South Africa’s
Metallon Corp. while
RioZim was once controlled by Rio Tinto Plc.
Demand by the industrial
sector is forecast to rise 55 percent while farms
will raise demand by 33
percent, ZETDC said.
In the nation’s southern region, the Mimosa mine,
owned by Aquarius Platinum
Ltd. and Impala Platinum Ltd., plans to start
using 15 megavolt amperes,
while the Wel mine, owned by Chinese investors,
will need 5 megavolt
amperes, ZETDC said. Sino- Zimbabwe Ltd. of China is
planning an additional
6 megavolt amperes.
http://www.voanews.com/
02 January
2012
Though the health care system has recovered to some extent and
sanitary
conditions are better in some locations, Harare says it now lacks
funds to
address the factors that caused the 2008-2009 cholera
epidemic
Sandra Nyaira | Washington
Zimbabwe's Health Ministry
is stepping up its fight against typhoid and
other water-borne diarrheal
diseases whose outbreaks call up memories of the
2008-2009 cholera epidemic
which claimed more than 4,200 lives from nearly
100,000 cases.
Dr.
Portia Manangazira, the Health Ministry’s head of epidemiology and
disease
control, said the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in
the
United States have sent two experts to help authorities in Harare deal
with
the problem and prevent a new epidemic.
Though Zimbabwe's national health
care system has recovered to some extent
from near-collapse in 2008 and
sanitary conditions are better in some
locations, Harare says it lacks funds
to address the problems that gave rise
to the deadly
epidemic.
Manangazira said South Africa has also sent a specialist to
help Harare deal
with the crisis, and the Cabinet is being updated weekly on
public health
developments.
Harare Deputy Mayor Emmanuel Chiroto said
the city is worried about a new
outbreak of cholera as it cannot come up
with funds to address water and
sanitation issues.
Read more |
Is another cholera epidemic on the way? |
Typhoid spreads amid water shortage |
Making the water safer |
The boreholes that were drilled in the 1980s have broken down and only a few that were sunk in recent years still function |
[This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk
Every five years, Zimbabweans go to the polls
only to get their right to a
decent life trampled upon by the people they
vote into power.
02.01.1209:49am
by Simbiso Marimbe
For the
second year running, parliamentarians have threatened to block the
approval
of the national budget unless government gives in to their demands
for new
cars and sitting allowances of US$75 per sitting dating back to
2008.
Indications are that the three principals in the inclusive
government have
bowed to the legislators’ demands and agreed to pay a
whooping $3, 3 million
in outstanding allowances.
On Monday 28
November, MPs were given a chance to analyse the budget at a
post budget
analysis workshop with support from the Southern Africa
Parliamentary
Support Trust (SAPST). Instead of getting down to serious
business, they
turned the workshop into a circus. Rest assured they were
paid sitting
allowances for spending half a day hurling insults at each
other like high
school students. Yet one week after that incident the
legislators allegedly
refused to debate the budget, arguing they need more
time to scrutinize
it.
The legislators’ demands for hefty payouts at a time when citizens
are
battling with daily power cuts, food and water shortages amid frequent
disease outbreaks, has attracted condemnation from various political
commentators.
Political analyst, Professor John Makumbe, said whilst
parliamentarians are
entitled to their allowances, they should put national
priorities before
their own interests. “ If the Finance Minister pays out
those allowances he
will not be able to improve the income of civil servants
who are earning
less than half of the Poverty Datum Line”, said Professor
Makumbe.
Harare Lawyer and political commentator, Dzikamai Machingura,
said, “It is
surprising that parliamentarians are only becoming visible when
they make
noise for their own pockets, yet the legislative agenda has not
moved an
inch except for passing iniquitous pieces of
legislation”.
SAPST reports that most parliamentary question and answer
sessions are
attended by a few parliamentarians where they are expected to
respond to
questions pertaining to their specific responsibilities. It is
also
worrisome that government agrees to dish out these ridiculous amounts
to
legislators whilst the majority of the nation is living on less than $2
per
day.
It is no secret that the government at this point is cash
strapped and some
of the commitments made on the 2012 budget are simply
paper commitments as
there is not enough money to disburse. Government has
failed to increase
civil servants salaries, not even marginally. Meanwhile,
among a host of
other national maladies, maternal mortality rate stands at
795 deaths per
every 100 000 live births- nothing short of a disaster. To
put it more
graphically this amounts to more than ten bus loads of women who
die during
the process of giving life!
As Parliamentarians get a
‘windfall’ in allowances, there is essentially
nothing allocated towards
programmes under the Ministry of education. Of the
$700 million allocated
for education in the 2012 budget only one percent is
for programmes whilst
the bulk is going towards salaries. To make up for
deficits, the Education
Minister has authorized school fees hikes-further
squeezing the heavily
taxed poor citizens.
Given the above scenario it is imperative to ask the
moral question why the
electorate has to endure the cost of maintaining
legislators and not be able
to demand what is due to them. “This Parliament
has not performed to
expectation in respect of the legislative agenda, due
the paralysis in the
inclusive government, so they have not quite executed
national duty save for
the deliberations on the constitutional review.”,
said Professor Makumbe.
The level of debate in Parliament, and the
gravity of the issues challenging
the nation are worlds apart. A
Harare-based law and parliamentary monitoring
group, Veritas reports on how
parliament rubber-stamped a controversial $98
million Chinese loan for the
construction of a National Defence College
(NDC) without much debate. In the
process they ratified borrowing for non
productive purposes. The state’s
diamond revenues are to be used to service
the loan. Article 9 of the loan
agreement requires the government to ensure
that its income from the
Sino-Zimbabwean Anjin joint diamond-mining venture
at Chiadzwa will be
dedicated to making payments due under the loan
agreement. ‘To actually draw
on the loan the Government must first enter
into an agreement “to establish
an escrow account to secure the payment and
repayment of the Facility with
the revenue of the Zimbabwe side’s benefits
from Anjin Investment (Pvt)
Ltd.”, reads the Veritas report.
Further, Article 2.5 of the agreement
states that “goods, technologies and
services” purchased with the proceeds
of the loan must be “purchased from
China preferentially and also from
Zimbabwe where this will benefit the
Project and End-User” – the End-User
being the Ministry of Defence,
according to the Veritas
report.
Veritas also reports that despite some resistance to last-minute
rubber
stamping and despite MPs querying misplaced priorities and the
country’s
capacity to service the loan, the debate in Parliament did not
sufficiently
reflect the outrage that people have been publicly expressing
about this
deal, nor did it probe the purposes to which the college will be
put.
Public concern has focused on the diversion of diamond receipts from
far
more pressing needs, on the fact that the NDC will benefit an elite few
rather than the struggling general population, and on reports that the
complex will include VIP recreational facilities and medical facilities and
a “techno-spy centre”. – in stark contrast to the lack of health facilities
for the general population.
A recent visit to one of the hospitals in
Bikita by this writer exposed the
appalling situation where several people
injured from a car accident could
not get their wounds dressed for three
days despite the doctor having
indicated they only needed saline water and
Betadine to clean the wounds.
Two out of the three deceased people from that
accident died due to
excessive bleeding which could have been avoided if
there was a ready
ambulance to ferry the injured on time. The nurse to
patient ratio at the
hospital on that particular day was roughly 1: 50! A
visit to Parirenyatwa
hospital in October this year indicated that health
workers at the hospitals
are almost always overwhelmed and the quality of
service is likely to be
compromised.
Zimbabwe is already struggling
to repay its external and domestic debts of
$7.1 billion and $1.5 billion
respectively-which debt is affecting the poor
the most. This debt has
blocked new lines of credit and at this point, no
matter how ‘cheap’ a loan
can be, government is not in a position to repay
non-productive loans such
as the NDC loan.
Interestingly also, Parliament allowed an agreement
between government and
Essar Africa Holdings in which the latter is
acquiring 60 percent stake in
ZISCO Steel as well as 80 percent of the Iron
Ore mining unit BIMCO. Critics
have argued that the Essar deal is ceding
more than necessary to ESSAR and
the deal is more likely to benefit the
Indians than Zimbabweans. It remains
to be seen whether or not the revival
of ZISCO steel will make a difference
in the lives of the company’s
retrenchees that have been in the woods since
its closure in 2008. One also
wonders whether the purported benefit of
employment creation in the - most
likely to be a low-wage arrangement, would
make up for the whooping 80
percent iron ore stake gone to the Indian
company.
The above are some
of the important issues resulting in the suffering of the
Zimbabwean
electorate-which issues should be taken seriously at the level of
parliament
and government rather than them draining the fiscus through
foreign trips
and huge allowances. Parliamentarians’ demands for ‘special’
treatment ahead
of civil servants and the rest of the citizens is tantamount
to abusing the
people’s vote unless it tallies with the discharge of their
legislative
duties.
The citizens should be empowered to recall non performing MPs,
demand
accountability and seek redress when parliamentarians fail to address
their
priorities, particularly humanitarian ones. The electorate should not
continue to endure 5 years of subsidizing Parliamentarians' lavish
lifestyles. If those hefty allowances are paid, it most certainly means more
pressing needs are sacrificed and neglected, translating to more maternal
deaths, an increase in malnutrition and fewer resources channeled towards
education, safe water, energy, food security and other social services. All
this despite Finance Minister Tendai Biti constantly warning the government
against “eating elephants after killing rats”.
One parliamentarian
once likened the Zimbabwean government’s skewed
priorities to a patient
enjoying an ambulance ride under paramedic care and
commanding the driver to
take a longer route. And ignoring the consequences
of that ambulance running
out of fuel.
http://www.politicsweb.co.za
Eddie Cross
03 January 2012
Eddie Cross says
SADC must stick to its guns if violent chaos is to be
avoided
Few
would dispute the view that 2012 has the potential to be a watershed
year
for Zimbabwe. The waning health of "our dear leader" puts a deadline on
events as he holds onto power and influence and does not allow his own Party
to renew its leadership and policies. History speaks into such situations
and records that political Parties who fail to face change, eventually die
with their leaders.
It was deeply moving to watch the funeral of the
Czech leader Havel and to
remember that this humble and intelligent man had
been responsible for the
events that finally brought down the Soviet Empire
and brought freedom and
opportunity to hundreds of millions of people. The
political parties that
terrorized his world for most of his life and that
seemed immortal have been
swept away and only dark memories
remain.
Those of us who are tired of the struggle and constant conflict,
tired of
the economic hardships that most of us have to contend with on a
daily
basis, tired of the abuse by Policemen at Road Blocks, surly and un
cooperative civil servants who wield their limited power with vindictive
antagonism to any who might differ with them. We know it has been a tough
year and that it came on top of 12 years of struggle and hardship, but we
are nearly there and it's no time to quit.
I see two possibilities in
the New Year, one, which the MDC leadership terms
the "Chaos Scenario". It
is clear to all but the blind that Zanu PF and
their security hangers on are
trying to engineer the collapse of the GPA and
the GNU government. They
justify this by saying that "it is not working, is
dysfunctional; we are a
sovereign State - it is our right to call an
election to replace this
arrangement with a properly elected government".
The problem with that
approach is that we in the MDC would not contest such
an election. Zanu PF
could not restrain itself and such an election would be
violent with
widespread intimidation, vote fraud, falsified counting and
reporting and
finally a hurried, brief swearing in for a motley collection
of elderly
leaders and thugs. Such a government would not be recognized by
anyone, no
regional leaders would accept such a government into its ranks.
The
international community would repudiate the new regime and impose harsh
sanctions. Our pariah state would be confirmed.
The second scenario
envisages that the region will stick to its guns and
demand that Zanu PF
follow the road map laid down by SADC leaders in 2011.
This means they must
allow a new constitution, new rules for elections, new
staff for the IEC,
SADC supervision of the whole process, an open media
environment without
direct Zanu PF control of the State media, and no
violence. Such a road map
leads Zanu PF into the abyss and they know that. I
doubt they could win a
single seat in such circumstances; they would cease
to exist as a political
force.
So what to do? They might still have a go at the first scenario -
they are
desperate enough, might pull it off and be prepared to live with
the
consequences and become a client State for the Chinese in Africa. But
such a
situation would be a catastrophe for the region. Millions would flee
to
neighboring States, economic recovery would collapse and reverse and an
elite in Zimbabwe would live like kings on revenue from mines and extortion
supported by a thinly disguised military Junta.
Down to the wire,
this is a power game. If the region allows such a scenario
to play out there
will be little they could do to reverse matters. None of
them have the
military or political will to remove such a regime the way Idi
Amin
eventually had to be removed by Tanzanian forces.
I am confident that the
region and African leadership as a whole; are not
going to allow the failing
leadership of Zanu PF to commit suicide and in
the process take the country
with them. In ways that may not be public,
South Africa will finally put its
foot down and tell the Zanu leadership
that there will be no deviations from
the GPA road map.
When they do that, Zanu PF will immediately open talks
with the MDC to
engineer a soft landing. At the very least this will involve
a Presidential
election as soon as possible, the retirement of Mr. Mugabe
and eventually
the entire JOC structure. It will lead to another GNU but
this time led by
new leadership and no longer a divided house. This will
give the young Turks
in Zanu PF as well as the moderates in their present
leadership an
opportunity to try and rebuild the Party before the next
harmonized, free
and fair elections in perhaps 5 years time.
Such a
compromise would be workable, give Zimbabwe a chance to show what it
is made
of, be acceptable to regional leaders and the international
community. It's
not first prize for the democrats, but it's not the "booby
prize" either.
For the weary warriors in the trenches, it is time to keep up
the struggle,
our victory is near, only then can we relax and enjoy the dawn
of a new
day.
Eddie Cross is MDC MP for Bulawayo South. This article first
appeared on his
website www.eddiecross.africanherd.com
By Douglas Togaraseyi Mwonzora
1. Introduction
Towards the end of the year 2011, the Constitution making process which hitherto had been going on relatively well was plunged into a rare form of chaos.
The genesis of this chaos is the unilateral attempt by Zanu PF through Paul Mangwana, it's co-chairperson in Copac to stop the drafters from continuing drafting the constitution after availing the first four preliminary draft chapters of the constitution to the co-chairpersons of Copac.
The advice for Mangwana to act as he did came from a memorandum that was written to him by Jacob Mudenda and Goodwills Masimirembwa critiquing the draft chapters and impugning the mandate of the drafters. For reasons known to them, on 19 December 2011 Mudenda and Masimirembwa went on to publish their advice to Mangwana as a “critique to the draft Constitution" in The Herald.
Thereafter a lot of accusations were made against the drafters and the MDC. Impressions were created that the drafters had acted outside the mandate given to them by Copac in not looking at the national report during the drafting. They were accused of importing items that Zimbabweans had never talked about into the draft constitution chapters. They were also accused of siding with the MDC among other unpalatable accusations.
The MDC in particular was accused of trying hard to suppress the views of the people of Zimbabwe. The purpose of this article is to attempt to set the record straight for the benefit of those innocent Zimbabweans on behalf of whom we are undertaking this historic work at Copac. We wish to assure these Zimbabweans that, views of the people of Zimbabwe were never suppressed and will not be lost. We wish to demonstrate that the drafters never exceeded the mandate specifically given to them by the co-chairpersons.
No political party stands to benefit from cheating the people of Zimbabwe. In this particular process at no point did the MDC representatives in Copac seek to unilaterally change the views of the people of Zimbabwe.
2. The publication of the advice to Mangwana by Mudenda and Masimirembwa.
Our view is that the two men being part of the technical team representing Zanu PF are and were entitled to give any advice that Mangwana needed. But there was something very wrong when they sought to publish that advice in the press. In that process they undermined both Copac and the receiver of that advice.
These men are working for Copac as part of the technical team and did take part in the production of all the documents that were used by the drafters. To make matters worse, their appreciation of the facts was remarkably poor. Had they engaged Copac first before rushing to the press they would certainly have deleted some of the things they wrote about the drafters and the drafts.
3. The mandate
Masimirembwa and Mudenda were right about the mandate given to the drafters. This mandate was given to the drafters by the three chairpersons of Copac and a video recording of that mandate is available. During the briefing with the drafters a question arose as to whether the drafters should themselves interpret what the people of Zimbabwe wanted in the constitution.
It was felt that the interpretation of what the people of Zimbabwe wanted would be done by the Select Committee and that the drafters would be given what to draft on. That meant that there was no need for the drafters to use the national report. Further the national report would contain contradictory information.
For example it would have a portion where some people said they wanted an executive president. In the same report one would find where people wanted a titular president. If the drafters are to resort to the national report they would have to choose between the two options themselves.
That is not their job. It is the Select Committee that would choose the appropriate option and give same to drafters. It was agreed in the same meeting that the drafters would use the list of agreed constitutional issues that had been prepared by the Select Committee and approved by the management committee.
This document was extracted from the national statistical report by the technical team of which Masimirembwa and Mudenda were part of. It was further agreed that the drafters would use the list of agreed constitutional principles agreed by the Select Committee and approved by the Management Committee.
Again Masimirembwa and Mudenda were part of the technical team that refined this document at Great Zimbabwe Hotel in Masvingo. This document is an extract of the national statistical report. It was agreed that the drafters could fill in gaps were they found them as long as they would clearly indicate were they had done so. It was made clear that these gaps so filled by the drafters would remain suggestions to the Select Committee to be considered in the same vein as the gaps that were being filled by the technical team.
4. The constitution making process as a people driven process
In their attack on the documents used Mudenda and Masimirembwa allege that they were advised that the drafters were availed the national report and chose not to use it.
This is not correct.
The process of availing the national report would have entailed the drafters to choose on what to put into the constitution and what to leave out. This can not be the work of drafters. In a process like this the drafters are given what to draft or what to draft on by the Select Committee. This was done.
To put readers into the picture, at the end of the outreach program Copac produced a national statistical report containing everything that was said by the people of Zimbabwe irrespective of whether it was constitutionally relevant or not. Thereafter, Copac engaged technical experts to extract constitutional issues from the whole mass of outreach data.
These experts were drawn from across the political divide. Zanu PF seconded five experts who included Mudenda and Masimirembwa, while the two MDC’s seconded five experts each. With the able help of these experts a document was produced which listed all the constitutional issues that came from the people of Zimbabwe. That document is one of the official documents of Copac.
From the list of all the constitutional issues that came out of outreach, Copac, with the help of the Technical Team produced a list of constitutional principles. Thereafter an exercise was undertaken to determine those issues that would go into the final draft. This culminated in the production of the document entitled “list of proposed constitutional issues, Rainbow Towers, Harare".
This document contains all those issues that the Select Committee with the help of the technical committee, agreed to be in the constitution. It also contains those issues that were “parked" and are subject to further discussion in the Select committee. What is important is that this document is a refined extract of the National statistical report.
The Select Committee secured the approval of the Management Committee to start drafting on the agreed issues and that is why the drafters were engaged.
Further, Masimirembwa and Mudenda think that the Copac national report is available. It is not yet available.
What we have is the National Statistical Report which is in two versions. Further these gentlemen seem to think that the information from the outreach meetings constitute the national report. This is not correct.
The national report would contain information from the 1950 wards, plus views from the Diaspora, views from Zimbabwean institutions, views from people living with disabilities as well as views from children.
Lastly the two men seem to think that the drafters should look at the frequency of figures in the National Statistical report to determine which view should take precedence over the other. Nothing could be more irresponsible.
First, frequencies in the national report show the number of wards or meetings in which a particular issue was mentioned. It does not show the number of people who supported that view. It is therefore not a basis of determining the majority or minority status of a view.
Second, the frequencies do not take into account the views gathered outside wards. In this case they do not include the views from the Diaspora, or of the institutions or of people living with disabilities. They also completely ignore the views of children. Therefore, using this statistic to justify the inclusion or exclusion of a view is first class cheating.
Finally all the documents subsequently produced by Copac follow the thematic areas which were followed during outreach.
5. The draft clauses
Having tried to show that the drafters acted outside their mandate the authors of the so-called critique attempt to attack the substance of the draft. Their criticisms of each clause will not be repeated in this article. But the substance of the criticism will be replied to
According to Mudenda and Masimirembwa, the drafters should have followed the Kariba draft in describing Zimbabwe. They opine that drafters should have followed the South African example.
Yet elsewhere they criticize the drafters of following constitutions of other countries. The criticism is without any merit. The drafters got information they drafted from issue number 4 on page 9 of the document on agreed issues that was extracted from the national statistical report.
Masimirembwa and Mudenda want the drafters to include Zimbabwe's liberation struggle in the founding values of the constitution. This shows clearly that the gentlemen were confusing the founding values and principles with the preamble. The preamble is coming and it will include such issues as the liberation struggle.
However, what the drafters put in is found in the document on “draft constitutional principles" compiled by the Select Committee and approved by the Management Committee. It is also found on pages, 9, 11 and 61 of the document on the "proposed list of constitutional issue" that Mudenda and Masimirembwa helped to compile for Copac. This document was approved by the Management Committee.
The gentlemen think that a clause that “provides for recognition of the rights of racial, ethnic, cultural, linguistic, religious and political minorities “should not be there. This is completely surprising. This clause is contained in the document entitled “draft constitutional principles" that was drafted by the Select Committee and approved by the Management Committee. It is also in the document on agreed constitutional issues. Contrary to what Mudenda and Masimirembwa think, protecting rights of minorities does not compromise the oneness of Zimbabwe. It is the suppression and domination of minority communities that lead to wars and other forms of civil strife.
6. Conclusion
A simple survey of the documents given to the drafters shows that these people did not exceed their mandate but acted like competent and patriotic Zimbabweans. At the last meeting of the Select Committee the drafters were correctly cleared of any wrong doing and were allowed to continue with their work.
Copac has done a tremendous job of keeping a paper trail of all the issues that will finally be in the constitution. At every stage every one of the political parties has been well represented. It is important that political parities realize that this project is for the people of Zimbabwe. We will seek to serve the people of Zimbabwe with honor and devotion. In the meantime we urge patience of all the stakeholders while we craft the New Constitution of Zimbabwe.
Hon. Mwonzora is the Copac Co-chairperson and the MDC National Spokesperson.
By Clifford Chitupa Mashiri, 03/01/12
It was a great delight and
privilege to meet you on Sunday, because many –
great and small, who would
have liked to see you, could not make it for
reasons we shall not get into
now, at least until after the promised
inquest.
Talking of promises,
how different will you be from 2011? At this same time
last year, we were
made to believe that South African President Jacob Zuma
would submit to SADC
not only a roadmap for Zimbabwe’s elections but
mechanisms for the transfer
of power. That did not materialise. And
resistance to security sector
reforms actually earned Nyikayaramba a
promotion!
What do you promise
the workers at Shabani Mashaba Mines (SMM), which 2011
did not? By this time
last year, only the mine’s communal toilets were
spared of water
disconnection to avert a possible cholera outbreak over an
unpaid
US$3million water bill.
Apart from underpaid diamond mineworkers, farm
workers had a raw deal as
their pay of US$55 per month hardly met the
skyrocketing cost of living in
2011 even after factoring in allowances if
any. Some farm workers were
evicted in Bromley before Christmas.
2011
promised a Zimbabwe Diamond Act amid revelations then that the country
could
have lost more than US$30 million to leakages and smuggling in Marange’s
diamond fields. But that Act never saw the light of the day. So did the
diamonds cash audit?
2012, will you promise that no more broke
ministries will dig deeper into
their begging bowls and splash full colour
advertisements in the state media
congratulating the Head of State and
Government and Commander in Chief of
the Armed Forces on his
birthday?
Would you promise that the two MDC formations will not be lured
into
reviving Zanu-pf from its Lazarus moment through the guise of the
proposed
joint rallies when Zanu-pf has hardly held political rallies of its
own
other than numerous state funerals since 2008?
2012, will you
promise a level playing field which 2011 failed to deliver in
the areas of
media reforms, radio and television broadcasting and freedom of
expression
without harassment of journalists under the criminal defamation
laws?
This one may be a big ask, 2012. Would you promise by December
the MDC-T
will have a Think Tank to guide the party with objective and
critical
assessments of its moves in what promises to be a stormy year ahead
as
Zanu-pf is spoiling for a real fight?
Another worry 2012, is the
ever rising cost of living in Zimbabwe caused by
greed, fuel prices, lack of
supervision by government, Zesa outages and the
turbulence in the global
economy since the dollarisation of the economy–
would you promise to hold
prices at their 2011 level until December, please!
2011 failed to deliver
on many promises including the New Constitution,
revision of the defective
voters’ roll, the referendum, the Human Rights
Commission Act, the stalled
Beitbridge-Harare Road Project, the overdue
liquidation of Air Zimbabwe and
so on. Would you promise to deliver on that
before the arrival of your
successor (2013)?
Just one more assurance, 2012 – please don’t repeat the
mistakes of your
predecessors like the threatened bank and farm seizures and
holding sham
elections without the Diaspora Vote let alone a clean voters’
roll, as you
will be 100% sure that targeted sanctions and an assets freeze
will remain
in force and legitimacy denied accordingly.
Hoping you
will make a difference, 2012. All the best!
Yours
sincerely,
Clifford Chitupa Mashiri, Political Analyst, London,
zimanalysis2009@gmail.com