http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 21 July 2011
19:47
Paidamoyo Muzulu
THE High Court has ruled that the Reserve
Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) acted
unconstitutionally by appropriating about US$5
million from the Zimbabwe
Revenue Authority (Zimra) accounts held at CBZ and
Standard Chartered Bank
in 2009 without following proper
procedures.
Justice Anne-Marie Gowora ruled recently that the
Reserve Bank’s action was
illegal and ordered the central bank to return the
money it raided from the
revenue authority’s accounts. The RBZ has since
said it would appeal against
the ruling.
Zimra approached the
courts demanding that the central bank refund various
amounts taken from its
foreign currency accounts.
The RBZ raided US$2 466 735,15 from Zimra’s
Standard Chartered Bank account
number 8740507099000; R2 473 417,57 from
account number 9440507099000; £55
900.82 from account number 2840507099000;
3 061 euro from account number
9340507099000 and BPW 139 527.61 from account
number 1340507099000.
From Zimra’s CBZ accounts, the central bank
took US$1 857 044.00 from
account number 01120772590020 and R2 807 759.00
from account number
01120772590040.
In her ruling, Gowora said:
“In the premises, it is my finding that the
respondent did appropriate the
monies in question outside the provisions of
the constitution and the
applicant is entitled to a refund.”
Zimra had argued that the money
held in the accounts in question constituted
revenue collected under Section
4 of the Revenue Authority Act. This money
does not belong to Zimra but to
the Consolidated Revenue Fund in accordance
with the provisions of Section
101 of the constitution.
The central bank had argued that it was the
function of the RBZ to advance
the general economic policies of the
government as provided for in Section 6
(i) (d) of the Reserve Bank
Act.
“It was contended further that in terms of Section 8 (1) of the
same Act,
the respondent (RBZ) may be called upon to meet settlement of
‘government’s
payment obligations’,” reads Gorowa’s ruling made available
this week.
However, the RBZ could not divulge what the money was used
for arguing that
it was protected by the Official Secrets Act.
The case
arose at a time when the central bank had no board after the
previous
board’s tenure had expired in 2008. A new board was only appointed
in April
2010.
Gowora found the RBZ argument inappropriate and relying on a
judgment by
former Chief Justice Antony Gubbay on a matter involving the
principle of
“set-off” of debts between two parties.
In that
judgment, Gubbay ruled: “There are, however, two important
exceptions to the
operation of the rule. A debt owed by one department of
the State cannot be
set-off against a debt owed to another department. A
set-off cannot be
raised against taxes due to the fiscus or where goods are
sold for the
benefit of the State.”
Gowora adjudged: “From my reading of the
papers, it seems that the
respondent there is an implication from the
respondent that in view of the
fact that the two entities are under the
control of the Minister of Finance,
then monies can be transferred between
them without the need to follow
statutory requirements.”
However,
the court absolved RBZ governor Gideon Gono of any wrong-doing
saying he was
wrongfully cited in the case.
The RBZ appropriated millions of dollars from
foreign currency accounts of
individuals, non-governmental organisations,
farmers and mines. These
amounts are now reflected as debts, that amount to
over US$1,5 billion in
the central bank’s books.
lMeanwhile, Gono
told guests at the Independent Dialogue in Harare on
Wednesday that the
state of the country’s banking industry remained
relatively satisfactory
even though the banks were still not sufficiently
capitalised and required
large inputs to remain afloat.
Gono revealed that at the end of
March, five out of the 25 banks had failed
to meet the minimum regulatory
capital requirements. This excludes the POSB,
which is regulated under a
separate instrument.
Gono revealed that Kingdom Bank, Royal Bank,
ZABG, Genesis Investment Bank
and ReNaissance Merchant Bank remained
under-capitalised and were struggling
to meet the minimum capital
requirement of US$12,5 million for commercial
banks.
ZABG had a
negative balance of US$9,2 million while Genesis Investment bank
had a
negative balance of US$331 000. ReNaissance, which is now under
curatorship,
had a negative balance of US$16 million. Royal Bank had a
balance of US$2,7
million and Kingdom Bank US$4,5 million.
The RBZ will meet all
undercapitalised banking institutions to determine the
way
forward
Although the other commercial banks showed a few positives by meeting
the
minimum capital requirements, commercial banking earnings were likely to
remain fragile.
TN Bank had a capitalisation of US$12,546
million, Agribank US$12,8 million,
recently re-licensed Trust Bank US$13,358
million and FBC Bank US$15,2
million.
Topping the list was CBZ
Bank at US$50 million, Standard Chartered at
US$35,5 million, Barclays Bank
at US$31,4 million, Stanbic Bank at US$29,1
million, BancABC at US$28,3
million, ZB Bank at US$20,9 million, Interfin at
US$19,5 million, NMB at
US$18,8 million and MBCA at US$16,2 million.
Gono said banks were likely to
be at best cautious with underlying
risk-weighted-asset growth given the
fragility of the Zimbabwean economic
recovery, political uncertainty around
impending general elections and
evolving regulatory capital
requirements.
The RBZ set a June 30 deadline for financial
institutions to meet capital
requirements of US$12,5 million for commercial
banks and US$10 million for
merchant banks.
“The Reserve Bank of
Zimbabwe expects these banks to finalise their
capitalisation initiatives
and contribute meaningfully to economic growth
and development, otherwise
there won’t be further social justification for
existence of these banks if
they are not servicing their communities
effectively,” said Gono.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 21 July 2011 20:27
Wongai
Zhangazha
ZANU PF is up in arms against senior MDC-N official Qhubani
Moyo for writing
an article comparing President Robert Mugabe to National
Constitutional
Assembly chairman Lovemore Madhuku and Deputy Prime Minister
Arthur
Mutambara whom he described as “enemies of democracy”.
In
a letter to Jomic dated June 27, Zanu PF spokesperson Rugare Gumbo says
Moyo’s article in the Zimbabwe Independent edition of June 3, headed
“Enemies of Democracy: Madhuku, Mutambara and Mugabe”, insulted Mugabe in
his capacity as Zanu PF leader and president by comparing him to Madhuku and
Mutambara. Moyo is MDC-N national organising secretary.
“Zanu PF
wishes to register its utmost dismay over a piece of work written
by Jomic
member Mr Qhubani Moyo of the MDC party,” Gumbo said.
“The Zimbabwe
Independent, a weekly newspaper of 3-9 June 2011, published an
article
written by Mr Qhubani Moyo in which he hurled insults at His
Excellency, Cde
RG Mugabe in his capacity as president and first secretary
of Zanu PF and
the state president. In the article Mr Moyo unfairly and
unjustifiably
likened President Robert Mugabe to Professor Lovemore Madhuku
of the
National Constitutional Assembly and Deputy Prime Minister Arthur
Mutambara
whom he described as ‘power-hungry, autocratic’ and ‘political
megalomaniacs’ suffering from what he calls ‘narcissistic personality
disorders’”.
Gumbo, in a letter copied to six top Zanu PF leaders
including
vice-presidents Joice Mujuru and John Nkomo, bitterly complains
that Moyo
wrote that Zanu PF was in a state of crisis and faced
disintegration.
“In his mischief he even had the audacity to claim
that Zanu PF is in a
state of crisis and imminent collapse,” Gumbo
writes.
“Reasons for all this insult was that President Mugabe continues to
cling to
office, both Zanu PF and the government, as if his being in these
two
portfolios is without legal foundation. Surely Moyo should know that
President Mugabe is president and first secretary of Zanu PF because he was
elected into that position at the party congress held in Harare in 2009.
Similarly, he also won resoundingly the presidential run-off elections in
2008.”
However, Moyo yesterday remained defiant, saying it was
his “constitutional
and fundamental right to express myself as I wish as
long as I don’t
infringe on anybody’s rights”.
“First of all, Mr
Gumbo must know that it is my constitutional and
fundamental right to
express myself as I wish as long as I don’t infringe on
the rights of others
even though I’m a Jomic member. Secondly, I’m neither a
Zanu PF member nor a
friend of Mugabe. If Gumbo wants to defend his dear
leader and his party he
must also write his own opinion in the newspapers
instead of trying to gag
me. Thirdly, being a Jomic member does not mean you
forfeit your rights to
freedom of expression and speech,” Moyo said.
“On the other issues
Gumbo raises, I would like to ask him the following
questions: Who elected
Mugabe resoundingly in 2008? We all know Mugabe didn’t
win elections, hence
the current inclusive government. Mugabe is the chief
violator of the GPA,
why hasn’t Gumbo complained about it? Why is Gumbo also
not complaining
about the malicious articles and hate language written by
his fellow Zanu PF
politburo member Jonathan Moyo who is wreaking havoc all
over the place?
After all, is it not a matter of public record that Mugabe
is a dictator and
hence an enemy of democracy?”
Gumbo says it is worrying that Moyo was
attacking Mugabe when he is a Jomic
member.
“What we find
disturbing in this case is the fact that these insults are
coming from a
member of Jomic, someone who has the grand task of promoting
inter-party
dialogue and the virtues of tolerance and co-existence among the
three
parties of the Global Political Agreement,” he writes.
“The language,
tone and message of his article is mischievous, misleading
and scandalous to
Zanu PF given that President RG Mugabe is one of the
principals to the GPA.
Without this Mr Moyo loses the lustre and credibility
of being a member of
Jomic, where he is expected to be level-headed,
objective, fair and
sensitive as to conduct himself in a manner that does
not promote and
propagate hate and foul language which has negative bearing
to Jomic and the
government.”
But Moyo said: “Gumbo must stop wasting my time and his
because no one will
stop me from exercising my constitutional rights,
including expressing my
views through writing in the press.”
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 21 July 2011 19:50
Faith
Zaba
THE Zimbabwe Election Support Network (Zesn) said this week the
voters’ roll
should be the sole responsibility of the Zimbabwe Election
Commission (Zec)
and not a shared job with the Registrar-General’s Office,
which in the past
has been responsible for the country’s flawed electoral
register.
According to its preliminary statement on Zimbabwe’s
Electoral Amendment
Bill 2011, Zesn said while the amendment addressed a
number of issues which
it believes were essential for levelling the playing
field for credible free
and fair elections, the proposed changes did not go
far enough in addressing
the creation of a peaceful electoral
environment.
“Zesn is, however, concerned with the continuation of
the shared
responsibility for the registration of voters, creation and
maintenance of
the voters’ roll between the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission
and the
Registrar-General’s office,” read the statement.
“Zesn
believes that this arrangement decreases accountability and can
potentially
cause inefficiency. Zesn proposes that these responsibilities
must be fully
given to Zec which has the sole mandate to run elections in
the
country.”
The amendment provides for the availability of a voters’
roll in both
printed and electronic versions in searchable, analysable and
tamper-proof
format.
Zesn added that: “The Bill re-enacts provisions of
the Zec Act and provides
for ancillary powers. The major test, however,
remains on the independence
of the commission so that it can execute its
mandate with efficiency.”
It said making provisions for the creation
of permanent poling stations and
polling-based voters’ rolls, was not enough
without dealing with politically
motivated violence.
“On the face
of it, this reform is in line with international best practice
as it reduces
risks of double-voting and promotes transparency and
credibility of the
electoral system,” it said.
“However, the environment within which
elections have been held can scuttle
the best laid technical
aspirations.”
“Without a permanent solution to electoral and politically
motivated
violence, the polling station-based roll will leave communities
more
vulnerable to retribution and post-election violence since it will be
easier
upon counting to identify voting patterns down to specific
polling-stations.”
While the Bill placed the responsibility on
political parties and contesting
candidates to ensure that politically
motivated violence and intimidation
are prevented, Zesn said there was need
for vigilance to guard against
selective application of the
law.
The amendment Bill proposes the establishment of an observers
accreditation
committee, which would be set up by Zec. The committee will be
responsible
for vetting the applications and making recommendations to the
commission.
However, Zesn said the committee appeared to have a heavy
political
influence in that four of the seven members are ministerial
appointees.
“While this can be viewed as an improvement from the former veto
powers of
the Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Justice and the consequent
cherry-picking of observers, Zesn is still concerned that this new
arrangement also compromises the independent of the commission, especially
its ability to make decisions without the interference of political
interests.”
Zesn commended the mandatory requirements for the
provision of electoral
returns at all levels to the candidates and their
political parties and the
posting of results outside the election
centres.
It said the availability of these copies would enhance
transparency as this
would ensure that correct information is being
transmitted right from the
polling-station to the national command
centre.
Other provisions which Zesn said were welcome included the
maximum threshold
for announcing presidential results.
The new
provisions require that presidential election results be declared
within
five days of the last polling date.
In 2008, it took six weeks for
Zec to announce presidential election results
after the March poll.
On
media coverage of elections, Zesn said although it welcomed mandatory
requirements on public broadcasters, it pointed out that the bill lacked
specific sanctions for breach of fair and equitable coverage of all
contesting political parties by ZBC.
Zesn also welcomed other
provisions such as voting processes and procedures,
separation of ballot
boxes, information on ballot papers, inside and outside
polling station
election agents and the restriction on police officers from
interfering with
the electoral process at any polling station.
The new provisions
mention that police officers are no longer allowed to
enter a polling
station unless they are casting their votes or have been
called upon to
provide assistance in the exercise of their sole function
which is to
maintain order and prevent contraventions of the law to ensure a
free and
fair election.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 21 July 2011 19:44
NEWLY appointed
deputy director-general of the Central Intelligence
Organisation Aaron
Daniel Tonde Nhepera, received Z$650 901 from the War
Victims Compensation
Fund in 1997 after claiming to have suffered a shocking
98% disability from
war injuries.
Nhepera, who replaced the late Maynard Livingstone
Muzariri, received the
money from five different claims he
made.
Announcing his appointment in state media recently, Minister of State
for
National Security Sydney Sekeramayi said Nhepera’s elevation was in line
with his loyalty and dedication to duty.
Nhepera, who joined the
liberation struggle in 1974 and one of the longest
serving members of the
CIO, claimed to have suffered from persistent
headaches, ear and stomach
aches due to poisoning, as well as
hallucinations, a congested throat and an
occasional cough.
Despite these ailments, Nhepera told the
Chidyausiku Commission that his 98%
“disability” did not hinder him from
performing his duties efficiently and
effectively.
“The degree of
injuries does not affect my duties. I struggle, but I am now
accustomed to
it. In fact, I don’t pay any attention to it,” he told the
commission.
Nhepera told the commission that he joined the liberation
struggle in 1974
as a 16-year old and had since then suffered from mental
and physical
stress, as well as poor health because of a poor
diet.
He also said he had to resign from the Fifth Brigade due to
ill-health.
Nhepera told the commission that he had made five separate claims
to allow
other ex-combatants a chance to claim their
compensation.
“The first claim was not accepted because I was told
the poisoning case
could not be sustained. The doctor awarded me a zero
percent. The second
claim was for the ear. Even if I had been awarded 100%
disability, it would
not have been enough because my injuries were too
numerous,” he told the
commission. Nhepera said the late war veterans’
leader Chenjerai Hunzvi had
told him that if he made all the claims at once,
they would have been
difficult to sustain.
He said Hunzvi had
conducted examinations on him without carrying out
mandatory tests or
recommending any further tests or treatment.
Nhepera is one of
several of President Robert Mugabe’s loyalists who
received compensation for
extreme disability claims after the Zimbabwe
Liberation War Veterans
Association went on massive protests, including an
unprecedented march on
State House.An unbudgeted Z$50 000, plus a Z$2 000
monthly pension was
awarded to about 50 000 liberation “war veterans”
triggering an economic
meltdown.
Hunzvi signed medical certificates for a number of senior
Zanu PF officials
showing serious and previously unimagined disabilities
entitling them to
massive compensation.
Hunzvi himself claimed
117 % disability but was only awarded 85%.
Vice-President Joice Mujuru
claimed to be 55% disabled. Other notable people
who received compensation
after claiming high disability levels include
Oppah Muchinguri (65%), former
ZBC manager Robin Shava (100%) and Vivian
Mwashita (94%).
First lady
Grace Mugabe’s deceased brother Reward Marufu claimed 95%
disability.
Sekeremayi and Nhepera could not be reached for comment
yesterday. — Staff
writer
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 21 July 2011
19:45
THE role of the military has risen to the top of the political
agenda as
Zimbabwe’s fractious coalition debates the prospect of fresh
elections in
2012 or, if President Robert Mugabe has his way, before
then.
The question haunting members of the MDC, the opposition party
that joined
Mugabe’s Zanu PF in a coalition government after violently
disputed
elections in 2008, is how the security establishment will react if
the MDC
leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, the prime minister, wins and becomes
commander-in-chief.
Serving and former commanders have been
making menacing comments. Brigadier
General Douglas Nyikayaramba, a
commander in the national army, recently
accused Tsvangirai of being a
“national security threat” and stooge of
Western powers. He added in
comments to the Herald, the state newspaper,
that: “We will die for him
(Mugabe) to make sure he remains in power.”
Although many observers
suggest such bellicose statements are posturing and
that even Zanu PF has
distanced itself from his statement, the brigadier’s
views are not unique
among the security establishment, which has benefited
most from the
continuation of Mugabe’s 31-years in power.
Asher Walter
Tapfumaneyi, a retired brigadier general who is principal
director in the
Ministry of State for Presidential Affairs, told the
Financial Times that an
MDC victory could “mean from the extreme either the
military could stage a
coup or Zimbabwe could go to war”.
“The MDC mistrusts the military
and we, to the last man, particularly the
(liberation) war generation, we
mistrust the MDC completely,” he said. “The
leading establishment in the
military are from the liberation struggle … we
have grown up (with) and were
groomed by Zanu-PF, it’s what we are. The MDC
represents a threat to
everything we represent”.
Fighting talk of this kind has highlighted
the need for the MDC to push
through security sector reform before
envisaging fresh elections. But the
party remains in a weak position to get
its way.
During 2008 polls, military units were allegedly involved in
the violence.
The bloodshed caused Tsvangirai to opt out of a presidential
run-off and
ultimately join the government in which Zanu-PF retains control
of the
security apparatus.
The country has enjoyed relative
stability since then, with the economy
tentatively recovering after a
disastrous era of hyper-inflation. But there
have been reports of fresh
military deployment in rural areas, which Zanu PF
opponents describe as a
pre-election strategy of intimidation. Zanu PF
officials dismiss the
allegations, while insisting that security reform will
not be on the
agenda.
Against this backdrop, political tensions have been on the
rise.
Analysts say that even if the MDC wins most votes at the ballot box, it
has
few levers of power to ensure results would be respected as long as the
security agencies are aligned to Mugabe.
“In the last 10 years in
particular the foundation of the Zimbabwe state has
been patronage and
violence, or the threat of it, and the main beneficiary
is the military
hierarchy,” said Ibbo Mandaza, a former stalwart of Zanu PF
who now heads
the Sapes Trust think-tank. “It started to change in the last
few years,
let’s say 2002, and it’s more blatant since the flawed election
of
2008.”
Tendai Biti, the Finance minister and prominent MDC member,
takes it a step
further, claiming the military has anointed itself in the
role of kingmaker.
The MDC appears to have put its faith in Sadc, the
regional bloc led by
South Africa that brokered the coalition deal and is
monitoring the
political process.
Once seen as a weak body that lent
support to Mugabe’s rule, it has
toughened its language this year. Coups are
out of fashion in sub-Saharan
Africa and have led to other countries,
including Madagascar, in the Sadc
block being ostracised.
`This
has raised MDC hopes that the bloc would also strongly resist a stolen
election or military intervention in Zimbabwe. “The resolution of Zimbabwe’s
crisis is no longer a foreign policy problem for South Africa, but it’s a
domestic policy problem,” said Jameson Timba, another MDC minister. “There
are … Zimbabweans in South Africa putting pressure on jobs and services,
therefore there’s a commitment to resolve the crisis because it’s in their
interests.” — Financial Times
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 21 July 2011 19:42
Brian
Chitemba
GOVERNMENT efforts to combat graft in Zimbabwe have failed to
yield results
because the investigators are often implicated in many of the
cases.
According to the Anti-Corruption Trust of Southern Africa’s latest
report,
corrupt leadership which siphons the country’s economy for personal
gain was
a barrier to a corruption-free society. Several senior Zimbabwe
government
officials have been fingered in looting of the country’s
resources for
personal aggrandisement at the expense of the impoverished
masses.
The Namibian-based group showed that an inadequate
anti-corruption legal
framework, a culture of corruption and compromised
anti-corruption bodies
were scuttling efforts to weed out
corruption.
Since its inception in 2005, the Anti-Corruption
Commission of Zimbabwe has
not recorded any strides in fighting graft and
the body still has a lot to
do to prove that it has a sting. Instead, some
of its commissioners have
been implicated in scandals.
The
anti-graft watchdog said Zimbabwe was not genuinely committed to
combating
corruption since graft was still widespread and loopholes in the
judiciary
and police force cast doubt over government’s commitment.
It said
there was still a lot to be done to fight corruption within the law
enforcement agents, particularly traffic police, who are notorious for
demanding bribes.
Anti-corruption officials, the report
stated, tend to focus on small cases
and target “small fish” while ignoring
rampant corruption by government
leaders. On the other hand, the police
lacked integrity in investigating
corruption cases since they were equally
implicated.
“The police force needs to be capacitated and cleaned of
‘bad apples’ in
order to restore people’s confidence and make them
effective,” said the
report. “The professionalisation of the police force is
key to the
eradication of corruption in Africa.”
The report
further stated that an effective judiciary was based on the rule
of law and
as the upholder of the constitution, controversies should be
properly
brought before the courts, but some adjudicators were being
implicated in
corruption, rendering it ineffective.
The watchdog said many Sadc
countries were not sincerely signing and
ratifying anti-corruption
instruments, but only did so to mislead donors
into giving
resources.
To stem out corruption, the report suggested that leaders
at all levels
should be formally vetted before holding public office as well
as funding
the police, judiciary and anti-corruption bodies to help make
them more
effective.
“Regional and international bodies such as
the Sadc, AU and UN should make
the implementation of anti-corruption
instruments by all signatories
mandatory. These bodies should specify time
frames within which the
implementation should be done and impose sanctions
for failing to do so.
Such sanctions can include, but not limited to,
automatic cancellation of
the signature and ratification thereof. Banks that
are accepting corrupt
money from dictators and others should be named,
shamed and blacklisted,”
read the report.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 21 July 2011 19:41
Paidamoyo
Muzulu
PARLIAMENT has called for a thorough investigation into AMG Global
director
Afaras Mtausi Gwaradzimba’s disposal of a combined Shabane Mashaba
Mines
Holdings (SMMH) 110ha gold mining claims and 9ha residential land to
little
known Ndibatsirei Investments for US$300 000 in October
2009.
Justice minister Patrick Chinamasa appointed Gwaradzimba as
administrator of
SMMH and all its subsidiaries under reconstruction in 2004.
The appointment
followed the specification of South African-based
businessman Mutumwa Mawere
on allegations of
externalisation.
Gwaradzimba has singularly presided over the
collapse of the mining empire,
which was effectively closed in 2010 after
failing to raise capital to
revive its stalled operations. Gwaradzimba was
only answerable to Chinamasa.
As the administrator, Gwaradzimba was
entitled to 6% of the gross turnover
of the companies as fees for his work
whether the company was making a loss
or not.
Fani Munengami MP
accused Gwaradzimba of being interested only in the
administration fees as
he never set foot at the mines since being appointed
administrator.
The Mines and Energy Portfolio Committee last week
said in a report: “The
Anti-Corruption Commission and police should be
directed by appropriate
authorities to investigate allegations of abuse of
office, theft of mining
material, vehicles, building material, mining
equipment, mining claims,
unauthorised sale of assets and mismanagement of
resources at the two mines
and associated SMMH companies.”
The
sale agreement document of the gold claims and residential plot was
signed
on October 15, 2009 by Gwaradzimba and Simbarashe Makado representing
Ndibatsirei Investments.
The committee further called for the
government to take an active interest
in the auditing of SMMH financials
since it was placed under reconstruction.
“The executive should carry out an
independent due diligence audit of SMMH
and associated companies, to fully
understand the current financial status
of SMMH since it went under
reconstruction and also specifically look at
disposal and sale of asset
claims and mining equipment, disposal and sale of
associated companies, debt
arrears or debt status of SMMH, legal and
professional fee costs that relate
to payments made to the administrator and
legal advisor under reconstruction
and outstanding wages and salaries of
employee.”
The committee
said Chinamasa defended the administrator’s actions on the
grounds that the
Reconstruction Act gives the administrator powers to
dispose of any assets
with the approval of the minister for purposes of
reconstructing the
mines.
Parliament is still to rule on whether Gwaradzimba and Chinamasa
contravened
the Privileges, Immunities and Powers of Parliament Act for
publishing a
defamatory article on the proceedings of the committee and
possible perjury.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 21 July 2011 19:39
Kudzai
Kuwaza
VICE-President Joice Mujuru said the economy will only enjoy
double digit
growth if all national programmes are depoliticised.
In a
speech to the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Zimbabwe Winter
School
in Victoria Falls, Mujuru called for an end to political violence,
which she
described as “shameful”.
“I believe our economy can achieve a
sustained double-digit growth rate for
the next decade or more.
However, for that to happen, a number
of conditions have to be met. We need
to depoliticise all the non-political
programmes and activities and stop
dramatising our political differences,”
she said.
Mujuru said the
country should desist from shameful acts of violence whether
real,
stage-managed or simply dramatised. She said the exaggeration of the
country’s political tension actually worsened the real issues on the
ground.
Mujuru expressed concern on the time wasted in political
grandstanding at
the expense of developing the economy.
“My concern
arises from the fact that from the barber’s shop, the tuckshop,
the
supermarkets, the banks, the church, tobacco auction floors to Chartered
Accountants Winter Schools, CEO roundtables, you name it, we all seem to
spend our precious time on political postulations rather than on how to grow
the economy,” she charged.
The real success of Zimbabwe’s
indigenisation programme, Mujuru said,
depended on how broad-based the
empowerment programme would be and to what
extent it would promote growth
and development evenly spaced countrywide.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 21 July 2011 19:37
Paidamoyo
Muzulu
LOCAL government in Zimbabwe can be defined in just two words —
“Chombo’s
fiefdom”.
Local Government, Urban and Rural Development
minister Ignatius Chombo
(pictured below) has his imprint all over the
country’s local authorities
and his shadow hovers over many councillors’
heads with catastrophic
consequences.
Chombo has manipulated the
Urban Councils’ Act to his advantage and
political survival. All his actions
are sanctioned by this obnoxious piece
of
legislation.
Parliamentary Legal Committee chairman Shepherd Mushonga
recently called for
amendment of the Act to grant space to elected councils
to execute their
mandate with minimum interference from the
minister.
Under the current Act councils need the blessing of the
minister to do
anything.
The Act in its present form has reduced local
authorities to mere
implementation agents of the
minister.
Mushonga said government should ensure that local councils
do not serve at
the pleasure a political appointee such as a
minister.
“Local government in Zimbabwe is an extension of Chombo’s ministry.
He can
dismiss, suspend and appoint commissions without any regard or
consultation
with any other institution in the country. He is the Alpha and
Omega of
local government,” Mushonga said.
The minister’s powers
in the Act stretch from approving budgets, senior
council appointments,
procurement of services, borrowings, appointment of
special interest
councillors and commissioners, giving policy directives and
suspending or
dismissing entire councils for transgressions.
This unchecked power
which includes him in the appointment of senior council
officials has
fuelled speculation that Chombo manipulates the system to
amass
wealth.
Chombo’s extensive wealth came under public glare in court
papers lodged by
his estranged wife Marian in a messy divorce case. Marian’s
affidavit
reveals that Chombo owns more than 100 residential stands
countrywide spread
across nearly every urban centre in the
country.
Some sections of the Urban Councils Act give the minister
power to suspend
or dismiss a mayor, to set conditions of service for a
mayor, appoint
commissioners to act as a council, to access all council
records, suspend or
dismiss councils and approve the appointment of senior
council managers.
The minister also has power to appoint investigators and
conduct inquiries,
reverse, suspend and rescind full council resolutions,
and to give policy
directives to councils.
Since 2000, Chombo has
suspended or fired more than seven mayors from
MDC-led municipalities on
charges ranging from maladministration, alleged
corruption and refusal to
implement ministerial directives.
Among the scalps claimed by
Chombo’s axe are Daniso Wakatama (Bindura),
Elias Mudzuri (Harare), Misheck
Kagurabadza (Mutare), Misheck Shoko
(Chitungwiza), Jessie Majome (Hwange)
and Francis Dhlakama (Chegutu).
Shoko, who is now an MP, said:
“Chombo is fond of micro-management. He at
times held meetings with senior
managers from my council behind my back
where most of the charges against me
were fabricated.”
Majome, who is now a deputy minister in the
inclusive government, was
dismissed as Hwange Local Board chairman for
refusing to implement
ministerial directives.
“Chombo fired me
for refusing to implement a directive that I reinstate a
fired town
secretary. I am still surprised how he swiftly reacted after the
secretary’s
dismissal. Within two hours, I had the order to reinstate him
from the
minister on my desk,” Majome said.
In his defence, Chombo argues
that, “I follow the law. If these people
breach the law I am left with no
option but to exercise powers given to me
by law to bring sanity to local
government.”
The Zimbabwe local government system is in stark
contrast to its southern
neighbour South Africa, which constitutionalised
its local government in
1994. The South African local government system has
executive mayors with
power to run municipalities without interference from
the minister.
The minister has no power to dismiss mayors or
councillors. That power is
vested in the council or political parties, which
can recall any of its
councillors for whatever reason.
This has
allowed municipalities to chart their own developmental policies
without
fear of reprisals from central government.
Majome, a lawyer by profession,
believes the minister’s powers within the
Act should be curtailed to allow
smooth running of local authorities.
“Sections like 314 that give the
minister power to reverse, suspend and
rescind council resolutions should be
repealed,” Majome said. “The law
should also be reviewed on how the minister
can suspend or dismiss a mayor
or councillor. These are elected
representatives and surely should be
protected from the whims of one
person.”
Other analysts say that elected mayors should have executive
authority and
freed from the micro-management of central government in the
implementation
of their projects like in South Africa.
It,
therefore, remains that local authorities’ survival depends on the
generosity and benevolence of only one man — Chombo, analysts argue. This
brings urgency to the review of local government laws and the need to
constitutionalise local authorities. — This invstigation was assisted by the
Centre for Public Accountability.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 21 July 2011
19:10
Paidamoyo Muzulu
SINCE Independence in 1980,
Zimbabwe has only witnessed one successful
electoral petition. That is the
case in which former firebrand MP Margaret
Dongo challenged Zanu PF
candidate Vivian Mwashita’s electoral victory on
the basis of a flawed
voters’ roll in 1995.
The case was swiftly handled by the High Court,
which ruled in Dongo’s
favour and called for a fresh election in Harare
South constituency. Dongo
went on to win that poll becoming the first person
in Zimbabwe to win a
parliamentary seat on an independent
ticket.
Dongo’s case remains the only electoral dispute to have been
completely
resolved. Other electoral cases brought to the courts after that
have
remained unresolved to date.
Dozens of electoral cases are
gathering dust in the country’s courts, and
even if rulings were to be made,
it would be useless because the
parliamentary tenures for which those
disputes were lodged have long expired
and some of the aggrieved parties are
now deceased.
To avoid such scenarios replaying in future elections,
the coalition
government has agreed to a proposed Electoral Amendment Bill
aimed at
levelling the electoral playing field which has constantly produced
disputed
results.
The Bill makes provision for the establishment
and composition of an
independent Electoral Commission to manage elections.
Section 161 of the
proposed Bill makes provision for the set-up,
composition, powers, duties
and functions of an Electoral
Court.
Specialised magistrates’ courts have also been proposed to
handle cases of
politically-motivated violence before and during elections.
Immediately
after an election is called, the Judicial Service Commission
would designate
one or more magistrates in each province to try cases
involving
politically-motivated violence and intimidation.
In the
same section, the Police Commissioner-General is compelled to
establish a
special police unit to investigate as expeditiously as possible
all cases of
politically-motivated violence and intimidation brought to
their
attention.
The Electoral Court would have the status of a High Court
with the power to
resolve disputes in a definitive way. The court shall have
exclusive
jurisdiction to hear appeals, applications and petitions in terms
of the Act
and to review any decision of the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission
or any other
person made or purporting to have been made under this
Act.
This may relate to allegations of misconduct or incompetence, as
well as
issues relating to rules or regulations being breached. The court’s
exclusive jurisdiction is meant to smoothen and speed up resolution of
disputes, which is a major shift from the past when electoral cases joined
the heavily backlogged High Court roll and awaited their
turn.
Two judges would also be appointed to the Electoral
Court.
On the surface, the proposed changes might look refreshing and
symbolise a
major paradigm shift, but these pale into insignificance when
juxtaposed
against the history of electoral disputes in the
country.
After the watershed 2000 general election, the MDC filed 38
petitions
disputing outcomes for various reasons. The courts were
overwhelmed even
though some judges were assigned to particular cases. Just
as with the Dongo
case, the High Court made findings in more than 10 cases,
mostly in favour
of losing MDC candidates.
But unlike in the 1995
scenario when Mwashita didn’t appeal, Zanu PF
appealed all decisions which
went against its candidates bringing in an
uncharted dimension in electoral
petitions. The appeals were to be heard in
the Supreme Court without being
given preferential treatment.
The same episode played out with the
2005 election petitions. Because the
history of electoral petitions is
littered with unresolved cases on appeal
long after the lifespan of the
petitions’ parliamentary terms, the proposed
establishment of an Electoral
Court is likely to leave voters and candidates
alike wondering what to
expect should the new court’s decisions be appealed
to the Supreme
Court.
Unlike the Electoral Court of South Africa after which the
proposed local
court is modelled, it does not deal with appeals. This,
therefore, leaves
the Electoral Court’s functions no different from the High
Court which
handled previous petitions.
South Africa’s Electoral
Court also acts as the appeals court for all
electoral cases leaving
aggrieved parties with only the Constitutional Court
to appeal to should
they be not satisfied with the lower court processes.
This means the one
appealing has to ensure reasonable grounds of proving a
constitutional case
before appealing to the highest court in the land.
This is not the
case with the proposed Electoral Court. While it might
expeditiously handle
cases before it, appeals would be fed into the
mainstream court system whose
wheels of justice turn at a snail’s pace.
Constitutional Law expert
Lovemore Madhuku believes the proposed new
amendments are nothing to write
home about since they mirror the untested
2007 amendments enacted just
before the 2008 harmonised elections.
“The changes create no
substantive difference to the Act,” said Madhuku.
“They don’t really change
much of the Electoral Court as established in the
2007 amendment. All cases
brought before the court after 2008 harmonised
elections were dismissed on
technicalities, thus the court’s effectiveness
is still to be
tested.”
Madhuku said the 2007 amendment spells out that all cases
should be
adjudicated within six months and the Supreme Court should dispose
of them
within that timeframe on appeal.
Zimbabwe Lawyers for
Human Rights director Irene Petras said while the new
changes were welcome,
they still fell short of people’s expectations.
Petras said the court should
be separate from the High Court and have its
own judges for it to be
effective.
“The court’s mandate should be widened. It should be a
standalone court with
its judges appointed separately from the High Court
bench. The court should
be operational throughout the electoral cycle; that
is before, during and
after elections. The standalone position of the court
will relieve pressure
from the High Court bench which is already
overstretched and give the judges
room to develop their own procedures in
the new court,” Petras said.
Petras maintained that the issue of
timelines on dealing with electoral
petitions should be in black and white
to avoid delays in settlement of
electoral petitions as witnessed in the
past.
Analysts believe these legal changes alone without the
requisite reforms in
the security sector will be an exercise in
futility.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 21 July 2011 19:35
Chris
Muronzi
CENTRAL Bank chief Gideon Gono had some curiously frank advice
for US
Treasury secretary Tim Geithner on printing money at a Zimbabwe
Independent
dialogue function in Harare this week.
The US is
hoping to raise the federal debt limit by the beginning of August
this year
to avoid another economic crisis.
Gono’s advice was not without basis. The
Reserve Bank governor has done it
and seen it all. Until 2009 he had an
unenviable appetite for printing money
and stoking inflation.
By
the time government adopted multiple currencies, the legendary Weimar
Republic’s runaway inflation was a non-event by comparison as a single
Zimbabwe bearer’s bill was as high as Z$10 trillion.
But Gono
said his worry was broader than just stopping the Yankees from
running the
printing press as he did to finance a budget deficit come
August, but given
Zimbabwe’s economic reliance on the stability of the
American currency, the
US economic crunch could impact on Zimbabwe.
“If that doesn’t weaken
a currency I don’t know what will,” said Gono. “Get
it from me; I have got
experience in that. So if there is something that I
can teach the world, it
is free advice to the US and those countries that
are relying on the
printing press; don’t do it.”
“Please my brother from the US embassy,
take that message to the treasury
secretary and say there is ‘some little
bugger’ there who has a lot of
experience. He says he loses sleep when he
sees you printing (money),
printing against a background where he has
attached his economic fortunes on
you.”
Gono warns there is need
to insulate Zimbabwe from possible US
dollar-related shocks should the
Americans choose to finance debt through
printing money.
“They
(US) behave in the same manner I was behaving. At least I have
repented. We
cannot, after the global financial crisis that started in the
US, have a
continuation of printing money....why is China getting rid of US
dollar
stocks and buying properties? Therefore let us not be caught
napping,” Gono
said.
This, Gono said, could present problems for Zimbabwe which relies on
the
stability of the unit.
Zimbabwe’s banking sector was stable
and attacked the International Monetary
Fund’s template reports that always
said the country’s banking sector was
“vulnerable.”
Asked by
former Finance minister Simba Makoni why monetary authorities and
government
had been quiet on the Zimbabwe dollar account-holder balances,
Gono replied
his upcoming monetary policy statement would give direction on
the
matter.
“Sometimes we use silence to manage the situation,” he
said.
Gono said Zimbabwe would only revert to its old currency once the
economy
had grown to sustainable levels.
“Let me say that no
self-respecting nation in the world can do without its
own currency. Even
some of those nations that have gone into common markets
chose to keep their
own currency. Britain is part of the EU but has decided
to keep their pound
sterling,” he said. “There are also times when it is
necessary to step back
and reconfigure yourself before you go about wanting
your own currency and
we are in that phase.”
He defended local banks’ loan book sizes,
saying loan to deposit ratios were
largely in line with regional
levels.
Gono also had words of wisdom for the government: “Walk the talk on
policy
implementation.”
He praised Zimbabwe for what he described
as “elaborate and award winning”
economic blueprints that fall short on
implementation.
“We fall short on the implementation table,” he
said.
The central bank boss said there was need to have both the
macro and micro
side of the economy working.
Twenty of the 25 banking
institutions in the country, excluding POSB which
is regulated under a
separate statute, had complied with the central bank’s
prescribed minimum
paid-up capital requirements by end of March, while 15
out of 16 asset
management companies had complied with the minimum paid-up
equity capital
requirement of US$500 000 by end of June.
“Going forward, the Reserve
Bank is going to meet all undercapitalised
banking institutions, together
with their boards and shareholders, to
determine the way forward on a case
by case basis.”
Although the banking sector was largely stable, Gono
said protracted
re-capitalisation processes of some banking institutions,
tight liquidity
conditions mainly attributable to volatile short-term
transitory deposits
and limited lines of credit, low savings owing to low
salaries and wages,
and low interest income against high operational costs,
presented threats to
the stability of the sector.
Gono urged
banks to promote a savings culture in the economy by offering
meaningful
deposit rates and lowering bank charges.
Banks are relying on non-funded
income such as bank charges to make money.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Friday, 08 July 2011 20:10
Chris
Muronzi
KEY shareholders in Hwange Colliery Ltd, including
government and business
tycoon Nicholas van Hoogstraten, have resolved to
fire the entire board of
the coal mining company for yet to be disclosed
reasons, well placed sources
have told businessdigest.
The
sacking of the board, including its chairman Tendai Savanhu, a Zanu PF
Politburo member, is to take place when the members of the company reconvene
at an extraordinary general meeting, after last week’s annual general
meeting was adjourned.
Last week’s AGM was adjourned after some
directors felt van Hoogstraten
sought to spring changes to the board of
directors. The firebrand tycoon was
just smarting from an RTG meeting where
the changes he sought to make to
that company’s board were
foiled.
Notice of the Hwange meeting is still to be made public.
According to a well
placed source, government wants to remove all directors
on the Hwange board
representing its interest, while van Hoogstraten has
also proposed three
directors to the board.
The sources say
although the current directors are eligible for election and
are offering
themselves for re-election, government, which has a 37% stake
and van
Hoogstraten, who has a 14.8% stake via his Messina Investments, want
them
replaced when the meeting is called in the next few weeks.
Some of
the names being touted to replace the 10-member-strong board include
Harare
lawyer Farai Mutamangira of Mutamangira & Associates, who has been
handling government cases of late. The other three proposed members could
not be ascertained at the time of going to press.
“Mutamangira
and four other people have been appointed to the board. They
have accepted
the nominations,” said a source close to the developments at
Hwange.
Van Hoogstraten has proposed three nominees to the board
— Ian Haruperi,
Shingirai Chibhanguza and Nkosilathi Jiyane. These
nominations are said to
have courted the ire of current directors who are
questioning the legality
of the move.
Last week van Hoogstraten
queried the agenda items before the AGM could
start, forcing board members
to scurry about in the room into mini caucuses
as they pondered on his
intentions.
The agenda included the re-election of directors who had
retired by rotation
and were offering themselves for another term. These
included independent
non-executive directors, Rosemary Sibanda and Thabani
Ndlovu and James
Nqindi.
But the tables have since turned with
government and van Hoogstraten seeking
to institute whole board
changes.
Only executive board members would be spared, according to
sources.
Analysts say the Hwange board is bloated and is constituted
by members who
do not add value given their qualifications and background.
The company has
10 board members, six of whom are independent non-executive
directors, two
non-executive directors and the independent non-executive
chairman Savanhu.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 21 July 2011 19:34
RESERVE
Bank OF Zimbabwe (RBZ) governor Gideon Gono’s appearance before the
parliamentary portfolio committee on budget, finance and investment
promotion this week brought the country’s public debt crisis into sharp
focus.
Although the committee did not discuss the national debt
overhang, the issue
becomes pertinent because of the debate on the RBZ
liabilities and
government’s arrears to the central bank.
Gono
said staggering amounts of seignoirage (printed money) were used to
fund the
2008 elections against the central bank’s advice. He said
ministerial
directives were issued to print money on a massive scale and
embark on
quasi-fiscal activities. As a result, Gono said, the RBZ ended up
accumulating a huge $1,1 billion debt. Government made the situation worse
by borrowing $1,5 billion from the RBZ, leaving the institution a virtual
shell. The governor said he inherited 60% of the current central bank debts
from his predecessors. He said the RBZ debt pales in comparison to national
liabilities and arrears.
This brought in the issue of public debt
now estimated around $7,15 billion.
Zimbabwe is in debt distress with a
large and unsustainable external debt
stock of 118% of GDP at end of 2010.
The bulk of this is in arrears which
constitute 80% GDP. Quite clearly, the
debt issue is one of the biggest
problems confronting the nation. While the
economy is gradually recovering
after it was reduced to rubble by leadership
and policy failures, as well as
frightening economic ignorance, debt is
impeding investment and development.
In addition to clearing of the
country’s external payment arrears, which is
one of the conditions for
unlocking financing from both bilateral and
multilateral institutions,
government needs to establish a workable policy
framework and reduce
political uncertainty.
Given Zimbabwe’s staggering debt, which
includes the RBZ domestic
liabilities and external arrears, the development
of a debt and arrears
strategy becomes paramount and urgent. There was an
effort by the inclusive
government in 2009 to deal with the issue but
political hostilities and
suspicions sabotaged the bid. Debt overhang is
having a negative impact on
economic recovery as it affects investment and
capital inflows into the
country and consequently potential for economic
growth.
Although the country’s debt has roots prior to Independence
in 1980, arrears
started seriously accumulating after 2000 prompting
creditors to suspend or
cancel projects, including balance of payments
support. Further the country
was placed on limited financial sanctions,
which varied from creditor to
creditor, making it impossible to access new
funding from the international
financial institutions. Zimbabwe’s debt has
partly snowballed as a result of
factors exogenous to the economy. These
factors included excessive interest
charges by the commercial banks, capital
flight from the country, rise in
the value of the dollar at times and the
loss of export earnings due to the
depressed commodity prices sometimes of
and demand for the exports.
While there is a general consensus there
must be a debt relief strategy for
Zimbabwe, there is no agreement over the
measures for such a reprieve.
However, it is well-appreciated by many that
explanations for the economic
crisis that has wrecked Zimbabwe in the
post-colonial period are many and
complex. Some contributing factors are
internal, some are external in
origin. In our case, the internal factors
take primacy. Poor leadership and
bad governance, as well as economic
ignorance destroyed the economy.
External factors worsened the
situation.
Thus our liabilities and arrears have become an
“unpayable” debt (interest
on the debt exceeds what Treasury can collect in
the form of taxes).
Against this backdrop, government needs to move seriously
and urgent to deal
with the issue. Either we use internal revenue inflows
which are paltry and
thus woefully inadequate –– to pay our arrears or we
can go for a
resource-based debt restructuring approach. We can also go for
the Paris
Club debt rescheduling option.
There is also the option
of Highly Indebted Poor Countries which Zanu PF is
resisting without
suggesting an alternative. The other way to do it is to
consider a
combination of these options –– to think outside the box!
Whichever way, the
debt crisis must be tackled decisively and soon. It is
like the Sword of
Damocles hanging over the economy.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 21 July 2011 18:59
By
Pedzisai Ruhanya
THE misguided notion by Defence minister Emmerson
Mnangagwa — who was
Minister of State Security in the 1980s when Zimbabwe
experienced gruesome
human rights violations during the infamous Gukurahundi
massacres in the
Matabeleland and Midlands provinces — that Zimbabweans
should not discuss
this disastrous episode in post-Independence Zimbabwe
needs to be
interrogated.
In an interview with the Herald
this week, Mnangagwa, who was at the helm of
the dreaded Central
Intelligence Organisation during the killings, sought
to silence
Zimbabweans, including victims, from discussing the crimes
against humanity
and genocide committed by the Zanu PF regime and its
surrogate security
apparatus.
In his wisdom or lack of it, Mnangagwa said the 1987
Unity Accord between
PF Zapu and Zanu PF bought justice to those who were
affected by the
campaign in which at least 20 000 citizens of this country
were killed.
Mnangagwa did not tell Zimbabweans, especially the
victims and their
relatives, how, where, when and who healed the wounds of
Gukurahundi? He
needs to hear from the victims whether they were healed and
whether their
wounds are old — as he claims — before talking. He should not
try to silence
the people. Truth and justice, not arbitrary declarations and
intimidation,
will bring closure to this monumental national disaster
committed under the
rule of Mnangagwa’s Zanu PF.
It is misleading
and even delusional for Mnangagwa and Zanu PF to attempt to
lay the blame
for this issue on civil society organisations, the private
media and the
opposition. Whatever Mnangagwa says, the massacres are a
political and
living reality that needs to be confronted and addressed, not
denied. By
denying the problem and trying to silence people, Mnangagwa is
promoting a
culture of impunity which is already rampant.
For now those
responsible can run and hide beyond the reach of the justice
system but
domestic and international human rights laws will catch up with
them one
day.
There was no transitional justice mechanisms put in place to
handle the
grievances of those whose fundamental civil and political
liberties,
including the right to life, were violated by the
state.
I will attempt to take Mnangagwa and all those in denial of
Gukurahundi
massacres through what transitional justice entails and
means.
As the country struggles to extricate itself from three decades of
President
Robert Mugabe and Zanu PF’s dictatorship associated with gross
human rights
violations, the inclusive government should deliver justice to
victims of
this repression by this de facto police
state.
International law requiring punishment of such crimes and
international
pressure for compliance can provide important mechanisms to
compel Zimbabwe’s
ruling elite responsible for the Matabeleland and Midlands
massacres, the
June 2008 burning to death of opposition activists at Jerera
growth point in
Masvingo province and other heinous criminal activities the
country has
witnessed to act on these issues.
When prosecutions
are administered and undertaken pursuant to the provisions
of international
law forbidding acts such as genocide, crimes against
humanity, torture and
war crimes, they are less likely to be perceived or
opposed as acts of
revenge.
It is easy to believe that prosecutions that come after the
fall of a
dictatorship are politically-motivated. When a decision to
institute them is
a matter of unbridled discretion, justice is readily
mistaken for vengeance,
hence the need to deliver justice to Zimbabweans
under strict provisions of
international law such as the provisions of the
Convention Against Torture
and some aspects of domestic law which forbid
torture, inhuman and degrading
treatment of citizens.
It has been
mistakenly argued that amnesty laws may be necessary to amend
social
divisions but in my view amnesty laws are not the only way of
achieving
reconciliation in troubled countries such as Zimbabwe where the
rule of law
has been sacrificed in pursuit of power and influence.
There should
be other means to pursue reconciliation in Zimbabwe without
allowing
impunity to be celebrated as Mnangagwa attempts to do. Amnesty laws
can be
used to promote reconciliation provided they do not cover crimes
which
domestic and international laws require states to punish.
Mnangagwa,
who says he is a lawyer, should appreciate that international
human rights
law require states to punish certain crimes committed in their
territorial
jurisdiction. Zimbabwe under the Zanu PF dictatorship should be
no exception
and amnesty laws should not be invoked to cover up years of
rampant human
rights abuses in the country.
Several human rights treaties which
form part of international law such as
the Convention Against Torture to
which Zimbabwe is a party, as well as the
United Nations Charter itself
require states parties to promote and protect
human rights by criminalising
particular abuses such as genocide and torture
and punishing wrongdoers.
These treaties make it clear that a state party
fails in its duty if it does
not investigate violations and seek to punish
those
responsible.
It is important for the country to exorcise the ghosts
of the Zanu PF
administration by laying bare the atrocities associated with
it through a
proper and independent investigation and the prosecution of
serious crimes
against humanity to the fullest extent so that future
generations will not
be haunted. The rich, poor, powerful and weak should be
equal before the law
but this cannot happen when there are elements in the
security forces and
the ruling elite who think they can continue to get away
with murder and
other crimes against humanity.
Zimbabwe needs its
leadership across the political divide to be accountable
for their misdeeds
in order to create a law-abiding culture. It is important
to have such
critical, complex and in some respects controversial decisions
in order for
future political leaders in Zimbabwe to respect the call to act
responsibly
when they are in power.
More so, that kind of accountability will
force the political players,
especially those in Mnangagwa’s Zanu PF party,
to instill in their
supporters a culture of respect for the rule of law,
allow the security
forces to observe their constitutional obligations and
desist from operating
like militias and political commissars of repressive
political parties.
Beyond taking criminal proceedings against human
rights violators in this
country in order to promote reconciliation, not the
one Mugabe promoted in
1980 which was not statute based but rhetorical, a
truth commission which
strives to investigate past human rights abuses
provides an official forum
where victims of abuses and perpetrators alike
can tell their stories and
offer evidence for an authoritative report that
documents the events, makes
conclusions and suggests ways in which similar
atrocities can be avoided in
future.
The findings and recommendations
of such a body should be made public. This
is because the leadership in
Zimbabwe usually keeps findings of commissions
like the Dumbutshena and
Chihambakwe commissions into the Matabeleland and
Midlands disturbances
secret.
Such a truth commission should make recommendations for
reparations to be
given to the victims of state organised murders, violence
and abuses which
must take the form of cash payments, pensions, free
education, free access
to health care and psychiatric treatment, and public
memorials and national
remembrance days. But beyond that, efforts should be
made to seek
compensation from the perpetrators such as senior government,
ruling party
and security forces rather than relying on the government
alone.
Even if amnesty could be exercised, like in the case of South
Africa, it
should not be unconditional. In order to foster a democratic
society, no
person should be given amnesty unless he or she applies for it,
makes a full
disclosure of the crimes, and establishes that the crimes were
committed
with a political objective. In this regard wrongdoers and
hardliners who
fail to follow this course should be
prosecuted.
International human rights law and international
humanitarian law demand
that people responsible for gross violation of human
rights be held
accountable for their crimes. For this reason the granting of
unconditional,
blanket amnesty would be unacceptable and should be avoided
in Zimbabwe.
For amnesty to be legally valid in any given post-conflict
society it must
be adopted by democratic bodies. In the case of Zimbabwe,
parliament should
be allowed to exercise that role. Self-established amnesty
by a lawless
government such as the one in Zimbabwe which is a critical
actor in
allegations of human rights violations would not be
valid.
If Zimbabwe is to return to democratic legitimacy, the
government should
further respond to human rights violations by adopting
laws which bar
certain categories of former government officials and party
members from
public employment. A successful transition to democracy demands
the removal
from public institutions of individuals who may have taken part
in violating
human rights. There are such elements in the country’s public
service,
particularly in the security forces.
As things stand now
Zimbabwe has registered a false start because some of
the people who have
been spearheading political violence, murders and
enforced disappearances
since the 1980s remain critical players in the
government.
Pedzisai Ruhanya is a human rights researcher.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 21 July 2011 19:13
MORE than two decades after
the enactment of the Land Acquisition Act, and
commencement of its
implementation 10 years later, Zimbabwe’s land reform
programme continues to
be a major disaster. Whilst it cannot be credibly
argued that land reform
was not very necessary and was grievously long
overdue, nevertheless the way
that Zimbabwe sought to achieve that
critically needed reform was, and
continues to be catastrophic, and a
principal trigger of the economic morass
that has afflicted Zimbabwe and its
people.
It was
incomprehensible and untenably unjust that for more than half a
century,
indigenous Zimbabweans were barred by the evil Land Apportionment
Act from
possessing land. They were unable to engage in the very foundation
of the
economy, being agriculture, save for farming on communal lands and as
labour
on non-indigenously owned farms. The policies that prevailed under
non-indigenous domination were oppressive and unjust in the extreme and
needed to be radically and constructively reformed although tragically, that
reform was not only disastrously belated, but also very substantially
ineffective.
As a result, agriculture was subjected to an
avalanche of decline. As
against being the source of food for all the
country’s people, and an
exporter of much produce to neighbouring states (to
such extent that it was
known as the region’s breadbasket), crops diminished
such that Zimbabwe
became intensively dependent upon international food aid,
and upon imports
which it could not readily fund. More than 300 000 farm
labourers became
unemployed, and the average number of their dependants
being six, almost two
million were tragically impoverished. Foreign
exchange resources diminished
to a large extent as the export tobacco crop
decreased over an eight year
period, from 237 million kgs in 2001 to less
than 50 million kgs in 2008.
Agriculture’s downstream economy was negatively
impacted, through the loss
of spending by farmers and their labour. The
entire economy contracted
exponentially.
The need to address the
land ownership inequalities was recognised at the
pre-Independence Lancaster
House negotiations in 1979, to the extent that
Britain, the former colonial
power, pledged to make significant funding
available for indigenous land
acquisition. That acquisition was to be on a
“willing buyer, willing
seller” basis, and over the first five years of
Independence Britain
honoured that commitment, disbursing substantial
amounts to fund the first
phases of indigenous land ownership. The next
step towards land reform was
that farms could not be sold, and ownership
transferred, without the
transacting parties first obtaining from government
a “certificate of no
interest”, which constituted governmental consent to
the sales.
Progressively, there was increasing indigenous ownership,
although not to a
very major extent, as most of the populace could not fund
land
acquisitions. Agriculture continued to thrive and to be the country’s
economic mainstay.
But then government went berserk. Driven
substantially by endemic racial
hatred, desires of self-enrichment, hatred
of the former colonialists, and
perceived entrenchment of voter support, it
embarked upon the devastating
pursuit of vesting ownership of all rural
lands in the state, and
acquisition of millions and millions of hectares of
farm land, embarking on
much ill-considered and indiscriminate
redistribution. And it did so
without any payment of compensation,
contending that any compensation for
land had to be paid by Britain.
Although government undertook to compensate
for improvements and movables on
the land, more than 10 years later, it has
failed to do so.
If
agriculture is to be restored to its former glory, and if Zimbabwe is to
enjoy comprehensive economic recovery, it is of extreme urgency that the
ill-conceived and grossly mismanaged land reform programme be revamped.
That reformation does not mean a recission, but a restructuring, to be
economically effective, just and morally correct. Distressingly, the Medium
Term Policy for Zimbabwe’s economy does not address the essentially needed
reforms.
Key elements of the required reforms to regain total
agricultural viability
are:
Ideally, absolute ownership of the lands must
vest in the farmers, and not
in the state, and therefore title deeds must be
reintroduced. Without
ownership, the farmers have no collateral with which
to secure the funding
needed as working capital, and for development and
acquisition of essential
equipment. Without access to adequate funds, the
farmer has no prospects of
achieving viable operations. If (given its
ill-conceived, fixative
attitude), the reinstatement of title deeds is
reprehensibly abhorrent to
government, then the compromise, although not
ideal, would be for the
current 99 year leases to be readily transferrable.
Currently, leases have
no collateral value for not only are they incapable
of cession, but in
addition, the 99 year tenure is hypothetical, for the
state has the power to
terminate the leases on three months’
notice.
Land ownership or lease should not be racially-based but be
available to any
and all Zimbabweans, irrespective of race, and be
conditional only upon the
meritorious and productive usage of the land.
Linked to this reform,
formerly productive non-indigenous farmers should be
accorded opportunities
of resuming farming operations, thereby not only
enhancing the extent of
agricultural production, but also according new
farmers access to the
long-developed skills and experience of those
farmers.
Full compensation needs to be given to those who lost their
farms. That
compensation must be for the land and all that was thereon when
the farms
were expropriated by the state. Government should not, and
cannot, abdicate
its responsibility for that compensation, deviously and
without foundation
seeking to attribute liability to the United Kingdom.
Britain honoured its
Lancaster House obligations, and it was the Zimbabwean
government that
disentitled the legitimate landowners (many of whom had had
governmental
acquisition consent by way of the certificates of no
interest). Of especial
urgency is where there is compensatory obligation in
terms of the numerous
Bilateral Investment Promotion and Protection
Agreements, which Zimbabwe has
consistently flouted. That default is one of
the greatest deterrents to
Foreign Direct Investment, which investment is a
major key need for
Zimbabwean economic recovery.
Agricultural
policies must be conducive to the viability of the sector.
Parastatals such
as the Grain Marketing Board and Cold Storage Company must
timeously pay
fair, market-related prices for produce, and agriculturally
counterproductive policies should not be pursued.
If government
could at least recognise the error of its ways, have the
maturity to reverse
them, and put national interests ahead of its own, in
time agriculture will
again thrive, and be the mainstay of the
economy. -Eric Bloch
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 21 July 2011 19:27
DEFENCE
minister Emmerson Mnangagwa last week made an impassioned plea
against
opening the “healed” wounds of Gukurahundi. In Mnangagwa’s view
there was no
need for Zimbabweans to dwell on the past as this was
retrogressive.
“We do not want to undermine efforts by
our national leaders to reunite the
people,” he said. “If we try to open
healed wounds by discussing such
issues, we will be undermining and failing
to recognise the statesmanship
exhibited by President Mugabe and his
counterpart (the late) Dr (Joshua)
Nkomo when they signed the Unity Accord
in 1987,” he was quoted as saying by
the state media.
Mnangagwa’s
remarks encourage and promote a culture of impunity and that is
unacceptable.
The outrage Mnangagwa’s statements have elicited is
entirely justified. What
has the government done to heal the wounds as
Mnangagwa claims? Mugabe has
not even made a simple apology more than 20
years after this episode that
cost over 20 000 lives in Matabeleland and the
Midlands. Mugabe only said it
was “a moment of madness”.
Speaking
at the burial of the late former PF Zapu cadre Dominic Muntanga on
Wednesday, Mugabe could only describe it as “a nasty period in the history
of our revolution”.
Since this very dark chapter in our history
there has been no meaningful
discussion on the issue. Government has made it
appear as if it never
happened. So how have the wounds healed minister
Mnangagawa?
Such statements expose Zanu PF’s duplicity in that they
are only too keen to
open old wounds conveniently in cases like Mount Darwin
exhumations. They
have stoked racial tensions since 2000 showing images of
dead and decaying
bodies during the liberation struggle. But when it comes
to the Gukurahundi
atrocities opening them would be
“retrogressive”.
Let’s be clear. Only a concerted national healing
and reconciliation process
can bring genuine healing.
The process would
require a multi-stakeholder-driven approach with an
independent panel to
ensure impartiality and public confidence.
The first step would be the
establishment of the truth through a Truth and
Reconciliation Commission.
This in turn should be followed by justice
discharged by an independent
tribunal consistent with the constitution of
the country.
Amnesty
should be considered as an incentive to revelation of the truth. In
some
areas there would be need for restorative justice where damages
(quantifiable) have been inflicted.
In other cases there may be
need for retributive justice to discourage other
people from engaging in
similar activities.
A victim wants to identify who committed the wrongs. As
well the victim
wants to know that the person admits and accepts that what
they did was
wrong.
Retributive and restorative justices have their
merits and demerits and
there has to be proper consideration with a view to
moving the country
forward amidst the specific circumstances that the nation
finds itself in.
The state should belong to citizens and should not
be used to oppress and
undermine the rights of citizens.
Where it is
established that the state has erred then it is important that
the state
makes good on the injury caused.
Nothing can ever change the past
and, therefore, it is important to adopt a
positive attitude to progress.
The three parties to the unity government
should be hailed for agreeing that
the national healing and reconciliation
process should deal with pre- and
post-Independence conflicts.
You cannot sweep things under the carpet
minister Mnangagwa. People will
never forget and because of that they will
always feel the pain unless their
experience has been given adequate
attention.
The Matabeleland atrocities are a sore point in the
national memory and
things can never be properly settled until that deep
wound is healed.
They ignore them at their peril! Editor's
Memo:
Constantine Chimakure
cchimakure@zimind.co.zw
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 21 July 2011
19:18
Qhubani Moyo
IN the past few weeks two senior Zanu PF
members, who are also top
government officials, made reckless pronouncements
about what is undoubtedly
Zimbabwe’s hottest political potato after
Independence.
Vice President John Nkomo and Defence minister Emmerson
Mnangagwa, who are
senior Zanu PF officials, walked into the Gukurahundi
debate and sought to
railroad the people of Zimbabwe into believing that the
infamous issue is
now a closed chapter and those talking about it are merely
seeking political
mileage.
Nkomo, and later several other Zanu PF
officials from the south-western
region, also spoke in controversial terms
about the burning issue of
marginalisation and development in Matabeleland.
Their remarks were nothing
short of the scandalous. They are clearly in
denial but more importantly
they are out touch with reality, that’s why they
are always rejected by the
people at elections.
Nkomo and
Mnangagwa’s statements on Gukurahundi were in contrast to those
made by
Professor Welshman Ncube, MDC leader, who proposed a sober and
well-reasoned
approach to these issues as their chapter is as open as the
sky.
What makes the pronouncements by Nkomo and Mnangagwa to be
of significant
interest is that they come from seasoned politicians who have
been part of
this country’s governance architecture since Independence and
also by
politicians who were at the two extreme ends of the Gukurahundi
episode.
While Mnangagwa is identifiable with the perpetrators, Nkomo
is identifiable
with the victims. Whereas it is possible that Nkomo himself
could have been
cushioned from the Gukurahundi due for as yet unknown
reasons the truth is
that the people of his district, Tsholotsho and the
rest of Matabalelaland
and the Midlands, were the hardest hit by the
massacres.
The question then becomes what is the common interest
between these two? The
answer is power and power corrupts but absolute power
corrupts absolutely.
It is sad that there are people like Nkomo and
Mnangagwa who think that just
at the stroke of a pen you can close a
historical chapter on genocide
without truth, justice and reconciliation.
Nkomo, who is just confirming
that he is not useful to his constituency
after his highly abusive and
insulting claims that the people of
Matabeleland are lazy, has secured his
place in the Hall of Shame by coming
out in the open against his
constituency and people just for the purposes of
protecting the gains of
patronage that he has made out of political
treachery.
There is a no way in the modern world that genocide can
just be swept under
the carpet and wished away. Anyone imagining that the
Unity Accord
signatures by President Robert Mugabe and the late
vice-president Joshua
Nkomo in 1987 ended the Gukurahundi chapter is
delusional.
The people of Matabeleland, the Midlands and indeed the rest of
tolerant and
progressive Zimbabweans are not amused by Mnangagwa’s
statements as they
have never been amused by him with his pronouncements
that the Unity Accord
signed to end the massacres of more than 20000 people
should be the last
word on the matter.
Mnangagwa, who himself has
been constantly linked to the perpetrators of the
dastardly acts, is on
record saying that those who are vocal on Gukurahundi
have selfish agendas
that they are pushing .
They want to divide the nation by making
unfounded allegations he alleges.
This is stranger than fiction. How does
talking about a recent national
atrocity divide the nation?
Is
the nation not divided now by Gukurahundi and his attempts to try to
arbitrarily close the issue when it should be openly addressed? You cannot
deodorise anything decaying and hope that it will smell like roses. It
doesn’t
work; the rot will worsen and it will stink more when hidden.
Gukurahundi
is in our midst and we cannot sanitise it. It has to be dealt
with
systematically and not through knee-jerk reactions.
Minister
Moses Mzila Ndlovu of the Organ on National Healing who has been a
constant
victim of persecution for demanding a sustainable end to the
chapter
inspires many Zimbabweans with his words that “it is not for the
perpetrators of the genocide to tell the victims to forgive and forget what
happened to them.”
In his words, it is a sad irony that those
pronouncing closure of the
Gukurahundi chapter are the same people who
presided over the atrocities.
Mzila Ndlovu’s argument represents the feeling
of many people who for years
have waited to see justice being done on the
Gukurahundi issue but their
hopes keep on fading in the face of insults by
the likes of Nkomo and
Mnangagwa who imagine that you can just close the
chapter of genocide as if
you are closing a chapter of a fiction
novel.
The Matabeleland genocide, just like the Biafra massacre that
claimed at
least 1,6 million in 1967, the Omani massacres in Zanzibar in the
1960s and
the 1994 mass killings of Tutsis in Rwanda, will always haunt
Africa unless
dealt with once and for all.
Those that want to
close the Gukurahundi chapter without attending to it
intimately are in fact
the ones seeking cheap political mileage which
unfortunately they will not
get, especially after insults of the people of
Matabeleland as lazy by Nkomo
who should know that Gukurahundi stole 10
years of development in
Matabeleland and Midlands. Marginalisation is real
and continues up to this
day. Nkomo and those who think like him are
detached from
reality.
Fortunately there are still people like Ncube who have
common sense and want
these issues addressed properly in a national and
holistic manner. This is
not a regional issue, but a public one which must
be seen in a national
context. Matabeleland is not the only region
marginalised in this country,
there are many others including Masvingo and
Manicaland.
However, the Matabeleland question has unique historical
and con
contemporary dynamics and circumstances. The same applies to all
other
regions, which is why a national approach is required to deal with
these
issues. Denials and justifications won’t help
anything.
Other atrocities like Murambatsvina, political killings
after 2000,
including those prior to June 27 2008 elections, should be dealt
with
holistically and nationally. We need an approach that acknowledges
that in
the early days of our democracy many Zimbabweans were denied
information on
what was happening around us and hence atrocities could be
committed without
the majority being aware of what was
happening.
This therefore calls for Zimbabweans to have
self-introspection and realise
that for the country to move forward there is
need for soberness on dealing
with these issues, including in the selection
of leaders, in a democratic,
mature and clear-headed manner.
I am
sure that Zimbabwe’s democracy, despite being in intensive care unit,
has in
other respects vastly matured and we are now capable of making
informed
choices on the strength of our education and knowledge, not
emotions.
Zimbabweans should reject the warped views and
delusions of discredited
politicians like Nkomo and Mnangagwa who — like the
rest of the Zanu PF
leadership — are clearly out of touch with reality and
desperately want
people to sweep serious national issues under the
rug.
Qhubani Moyo is the National Organising Secretary of the
MDC.
He is contactable on qmoyo2000@yahoo.co.uk .
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 21 July 2011 19:16
IT is
difficult to fathom MDC-T thinking at times. The party last weekend
announced it was ready for elections. “The MDC-T’s position is that we are
ready for free and fair elections,” spokesman Douglas Mwonzora
said.
Of course, it could be argued that as conditions are manifestly
not
conducive to free and fair elections there can be no polls. The onus is
on
the government to get things in place and it will have difficulty doing
that. The Registrar-General’s office, for instance, is a complete shambles.
In addition to ghost voters, government offices are stacked with ghost
workers.
But the current situation is an MDC-T card which it
declines to play. Any
party worth its salt would be going to town on the
failure of the former
ruling party to meet the GPA terms.
Why is the
MDC-T remaining silent just when the South Africans are becoming
more vocal
on the issues. Lindiwe Zulu made it clear last week that
elections can only
be held after full implementation of the GPA. That hasn’t
happened and
instead of yelling from the rooftops the MDC-T is maintaining a
deathly
silence.
What are they doing about the voters’ roll? They could lose the
election on
that issue alone. How many of their angry young men are
registered voters?
Then there is the matter of broadcasting. Why should Zanu
PF monopolise the
airwaves with its bankrupt propaganda when the GPA is
perfectly clear on the
issue of diversity?
What happened to the land
audit? Zanu PF is able to get away with
delinquency on that matter partly
because the MDC-T is silent.
Should the leaders of MDC-T and MDC-N not be
telling the world what they are
up against? Nobody believes Zanu PF is the
victim of MDC-T violence. So why
not document instances where complaints
have not been taken up by the AG’s
office.
Tendai Biti appears content
with the lame response he has received.
And with regard to
security-forces reform, President Mugabe has said it can
only be discussed
in the National Security Council.
So here we have the president, who is a
contestant in a forthcoming
election, defining what and where this issue can
be discussed.
Brigadier-General Douglas Nyikayaramba evidently feels no such
restraint.
Meanwhile, what steps is Morgan Tsvangirai taking against those
who
fatuously call him a security risk?
The MDC-T probably believes that
if it remains silent Zanu PF will
increasingly disgrace itself. But the
public deserve something better. They
need to see what outstanding issues
remain as obstacles to change. They want
to hear their party of choice
defining what sort of issues will need to be
addressed as a matter of
urgency when they win power.
As it stands, we are not getting any of
that.
What is this outfit called the Junior Parliament? One sees pictures
and
reports in the government media of its various doings. But where did it
arise? Who sponsors it? And what sort of kids comprise its
membership?
Muckraker is intrigued. Could somebody explain. At least the
“child
president” had something useful to say.
Several newspapers
over the weekend carried a story on Assistant Inspector
Tedious Chisango who
was fired from the force for playing music that
included MDC-T
songs.
Chisango said he was evicted from the police training depot at
Ntabazinduna
and dumped in the bush.
“They said they no longer wanted me
at the police camp,” he said, “alleging
that I am now a threat to national
security.”
They claim he was teaching recruits about the MDC.
According to
the reports, he is charged with contravening the Police Act by
actively
participating in politics while serving in the force. Is it only
him doing
that?
Talking about the cost of human life and good policing, NewsDay
last week
had as one of its leading stories: “Ritual murders rock Masvingo”.
The
writer cited several incidents of ritual murders which prompted the
Masvingo
United Residents and Ratepayers’ Association to hold a meeting with
the
police to alert them to their concerns.
Muckraker does not condone
such barbaric practices, but is shocked by the
comment police spokesperson
Chief Superintendent Oliver Mandipaka gave to
the reporter: “I do not
believe there is an increase in ritual murders.
These may be isolated
incidents, but I will have to find out from that
side,” Mandipaka
said.
This is despite the following: “Several incidents have been reported
where
children or adults were found dead with missing body parts. The belief
in
the town is that the body parts were being sold in South Africa..”
Is
that the normal police practice? What does it take for Mandipaka to
believe
and then react to a public outcry? Next time the reporter calls
Mandipaka
for a comment, probably he will have to wait for a significant
number of
murders to happen. Otherwise Mandipaka won’t entertain reports of
isolated
incidents.
Is the Look East policy paying dividends? We understand our
Chinese friends
have taken a keen interest in the mining, the retail sector
and restaurants.
This has not happened without its cloud of controversy.
Reports about
sub-standard goods flooding the market and abuse of locals at
their work
places are endless.
And these gruelling stories keep coming.
Last week NewsDay reported that
Chinese nationals are reportedly killing
elephants in Mushumbi Pools by
using poison as revealed by the Zimbabwe
Conservation Task Force. Nine
elephants are reportedly killed and this has
put the lives of other animals
and humans who could be after the carcasses
at risk.
Does Francis Nhema have a comment about our errant buddies, whose
relationship with us dates as far back as the liberation struggle? Let’s
hope this won’t be one isolated incident that deserves “believing” first
before acting. We were warned a while ago when some people reported their
prized dogs missing.
Anyone who could have seen this week’s Sunday
Mail could have hurried to buy
the copy upon reading one of the headlines:
“President comes face-to-face
with street kid”. One is tempted to think that
there was possibly a heated
verbal exchange or a funny encounter with our
long forgotten children in the
streets during the 19th session of the Junior
Parliament.
“President Mugabe yesterday came face-to-face with a street kid
who narrated
to him the horrific realities of children living and working on
the
streets,” reported the paper, where education was one of the main
themes.
Is this the first encounter after 31 years? Many horrific stories
have been
written about street kids that could have dismayed the president.
Is it not
a symptom of a bigger problem?
Some two weeks ago, the Zimbabwe
Independent wrote a story about government
officials who prefer foreign
educational institutions for their children
than the local ones. We call
that running away from one’s own shadow.
Interestingly, Bona the president’s
daughter, who we understand prefers a
Hong Kong education, was present at
the 19th session of the Junior
Parliament.
A picture was placed on the
front page of the Sunday Mail showing Mugabe
receiving a lifetime
achievement award “...in recognition of his efforts in
providing education
for all in Zimbabwe since Independence,” the paper
stated.
This could
have caught the interest of the street kid who was decently
dressed to meet
the president. When Mugabe spoke about how overwhelmed he
was by receiving
the award, ZTV did manage to capture Goche, who was
standing close to him
putting in a spirited laugh and applause. You could be
right Nicholas, it’s
overwhelming indeed! And good to know that the
president occasionally meets
his subjects.
The people are not gullible, the MDC-T was recently warned
by ZBC’s
diplomatic and political analyst Chris Mutsvangwa.
According to
Mutsvangwa MDC-T legislators are “looking down upon the rural
folk” which
shows “political insincerity and immaturity”.
This, according to ZBC, follows
the “dressing down” of Energy and Power
Development minister Elton Mangoma
by villagers in Makoni over a youth
programme at Sherenje.
Mutsvangwa
went on to claim that Mangoma’s behaviour was a reflection of his
party,
“which disregards the rural folk believing them to be gullible”.
Zanu PF
Mwenezi East MP Kudakwashe Bhasikiti chipped in saying it was
unfortunate
that legislators do not respect the same electorate whose
interest they are
supposed to advance. It never ceases to amaze how ZBC and
its “analysts”
always seem keen to dispense advice they don’t make use of
themselves.
On Monday ZBC reported that “people in Harare have
rallied behind the Head
of State and Government and Commander-in-Chief of
the Zimbabwe Defence
Forces, Cde Robert Mugabe’s call for politicians to
stop meddling in the
affairs of service chiefs”.
“A cross section
of people in the capital,” ZBC alleges, “said politicians
should accept that
the command forms the backbone of the country and has the
vital
responsibility to safeguard the sovereignty of the nation.”
Really?
The people want a clique of securocrats to usurp their right to
elect
candidates of their choice “to safeguard the sovereignty of the
nation”. Is
that it?
Again ZBC shamelessly insults the intelligence of its much abused
audience.
This is despite advising the MDC-T that the people are not
gullible.
“All those pushing for such reforms are clearly exhibiting that
they are
puppets,” said one of the “cross section” of
people.
And then we had the indefatigable Tafataona Mahoso
pontificating about the
News of the World phone hackling (sic)
scandal.
Europe and the rest of the world, we are told, are shaking after
revelations
that the News of the World has been hacking into people’s
private telephone
conversations, all in a bid to get news
scoops.
In spite of this having “shaken” the Western world, Mahoso
however believed
that the scandal shows the modus operandi of Western
newspapers.
The report goes on to claim that the British government “has
already
responded to the scandal by closing the News of the World, and the
scrapping
of News Corporation’s proposed takeover of BskyB while a proposal
to impose
stiffer media restrictions is on the cards”.
This, in
ZBC’s view, has been interpreted as a clear indication that Britain
can no
longer afford the concept of a free media.
Again ZBC opts to be economic with
the truth so as to peddle their agenda.
Contrary to ZBC’s claims, it was
media mogul Rupert Murdoch who closed the
News of the World, not the British
government. Prime Minister David Cameron
has announced a public inquiry into
the ethics and methods of the British
press.
Meanwhile Local
government minister Ignatius Chombo has promised to dole out
housing stands
to street kids.
“We will be lobbying local authorities to give out stands to
street kids so
that they build their own houses and do not go back to the
streets,” Chombo
said at the 19th session of the junior
parliament.
The less said about this populist diversion the better.
Will Chombo be
starting with part of his own property empire?
We were
interested to see that the deterioration of conditions at NRZ have
been
exposed by a parliamentary portfolio committee. Now who is chairman of
the
NRZ board who presides over this mess? Hope it’s not one of those
military
fellows who is claiming to protect the nation from its
enemies!
Finally we hope President Robert Mugabe took a cue from
the outgoing Junior
President Nigel Gwanzura who was gracious enough to
accept regime change and
pass on the baton. Gwanzura’s successor, Anesu
Rangwani, was unequivocal in
his inaugural speech against vote rigging and
violence.
Talk about an awkward moment! - Muckracker
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 21 July 2011 19:31
OLD
financial wisdom tells us to take care of the cents and the dollars will
take care of themselves. Alas, that bit of wisdom has been lost on the
retailers of Zimbabwe.
On Wednesday, the Reserve Bank
governor once more shocked the nation at the
Independent Dialogue when he
revealed that $25 million worth of rand coins
had been repatriated to South
Africa after there was no uptake from the
retail sector. Zimbabwe’s largest
bank, CBZ, underscored this point by
stating that it was still sitting on a
further ZAR 10 million worth of rand
coins, and that there were other banks
holding similar amounts.
Meanwhile, the average Zimbabwean
continues to be ripped off daily by being
issued with sweets, chewing gum
and other useless things in stores. An
acquaintance went to one of the Spar
supermarkets with sweets and asked them
to give him a loaf of bread. They
flatly refused. However, they are the
first to issue sweets when they are
short of change.
Surely, if the shop recognises sweets as some
form of currency, they should
similarly accept them for the purchase of
products. I’m sure if all our
“peace-loving” (a euphemism for docile)
Zimbabweans were to follow my
acquaintance’s example and turn up at shops
with sweets and other useless
things that the retailers give us for change,
and in turn demand other
products using this form of currency, the retailers
might finally come to
the party. I wonder what would happen if one
approached a stockbroker and
placed an order for shares in Innscor, OK and
TM. But that’s expecting too
much from the Zimbabwean populace. The one
thing that we understand though
is the whip. In this case spare the rod and
spoil the retail child.
The governor said he’s going to talk to
retailers to talk to banks about the
coins issue. Frankly, the time for
talking is over. We’ve been in the
multi-currency regime for almost three
years now and that problem should
simply be solved. If there’s ever time for
government to whip some people
into line it’s now. We know our government is
accomplished at whipping
people but it has always done it for the wrong
reasons.
This is a people–oriented reason and is justifiable.
Imagine as a civil
servant who earns US$100 a month and everyday has to
surrender 10 cents for
change. In 30 days that’s three percent of his income
gone each month.
Annualised it’s equivalent to 36% of his income gone to
interest payment.
And yet we talk of developing a savings culture in the
country as part of
our Mid Term Policy! We’re even bold enough to say 20% of
GDP is our target
savings ratio; using this oversimplified example we are
already 16% in the
negative. But we know on average people surrender more
than 10 cents a day,
so the leakages are higher.
The other hidden
thing about the lack of coins is the undermining of the
buying power of the
US dollar and an undeclared increase in prices. This
does not equate to the
conventional definition of inflation but in reality
this is its alter ego.
So somehow we’re living with this hidden inflationary
pressure which,
according to one economist does not find itself on the
Consumer Price Index,
yet it’s there! That’s why currency divisibility is a
key characteristic of
money. And one curious question, how come in Bulawayo,
change is available,
up to the smallest unit, the South African cent? The
problem, then, is with
the Harare retailers.
Another case of bamba zonke! -Candid Comment: Itai
Masuku