http://www.thestandard.co.zw
Sunday, 01 July 2012 10:09
BY NQABA
MATSHAZI
PRIME Minister Morgan Tsvangirai has reiterated that Finance
minister Tendai
Biti cannot make unilateral decisions when it comes to the
welfare of civil
servants.
Tsvangirai’s statement renewed
speculation of a growing rift between the two
MDC-T
leaders.
Speaking to journalists in Bulawayo on Friday, Tsvangirai
did little to
quell the reports of a power struggle between the two leaders
who continue
to seemingly give diametrically opposed policy views, with some
claiming
that it was symptomatic of factional fighting within the
party.
“It is mischievous to say Biti can deny people money because
the money is
not his,” Tsvangirai said.
He, however, said the
rift between Biti and himself was imaginary and people
were misinterpreting
statements he made.
Matters came to a head in the past few weeks when
Tsvangirai gave a
statement that seemed to contradict Biti’s regarding a
salary freeze for
civil servants. Tsvangirai said the wage freeze was not
government policy,
while Biti insisted government could ill-afford an upward
review of
salaries.
However, in another instance, Biti was
reportedly dressed down by Elton
Mangoma, a senior MDC-T official, who
warned him to tone down his attacks on
President Robert Mugabe. There was
speculation that the Energy minister was
fighting in Tsvangirai’s
corner.
Biti is considered too hawkish, while Tsvangirai has often
had a measured
approach when talking about Mugabe.
“Who is
Mangoma to say that about Biti?” an MDC-T legislator quizzed. “Biti
is doing
the right thing. only recently, Mugabe implied that our leaders are
on ARVs
and you expect Biti to take a soft approach.”
The legislator
confirmed the factional fighting within the MDC-T, though
claiming that the
latest incident had been blown out of proportion by the
media. “This is
another ploy by Zanu PF to discredit our party,” the
legislator said. “They
failed when they came up with trumped up charges
against Tsvangirai, now
they are playing up the so-called divisions.”
MDC-T party spokesman,
Douglas Mwonzora said Biti and Tsvangirai were in
sync and blamed the media
for hyping the supposed chasm.
“Regarding what the Prime Minister said about
civil servants’ salaries, he
was only clarifying the position of government.
He was not saying what Biti
had said was right or wrong,” he
said.
Mwonzora said the government had not discussed the wage freeze
issue and
hence Tsvangirai had to respond.
However, he would not
say why Biti had gone ahead to announce a policy that
had not been discussed
by the government.
Mwonzora said he doubted that Mangoma had
criticised Biti.
“Biti has done nothing wrong in his criticism of
Mugabe, in fact his
criticism of Mugabe has been spot on,” he
said.
Biti was not answering his phone yesterday. However, another
legislator said
some people within the party had held a meeting and decided
that Biti should
assume the party’s top position, should Tsvangirai face
criminal charges
over fraud allegations regarding the purchase of his
residence in Highlands.
Biti, the source said, was on the ascendancy
as he had been able to
neutralise a clique of Tsvangirai’s advisers,
referred to as the “Kitchen
Cabinet”.
The Standard was told former trade
unionists in the party feared that there
was a new crop of leaders gunning
for the top posts.
The legislator said while Biti was seen as a
possible leader within the
party, Tsvangirai was a brand and it was highly
unlikely that his secretary
general would want to upstage
him.
The parliamentarian said most people at grassroots identified
with
Tsvangirai and it was almost impossible to replace him ahead of next
elections.
There was speculation that a rift similar to the 2005 one
would ensue, but
the legislator said party members knew better than to
challenge Tsvangirai.
“If you look at Welshman Ncube, his political fortunes
took a dip after the
split and no one will want that to happen to them,” the
legislator said.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
Sunday, 01 July 2012
10:06
BY PATRICE MAKOVA
ZANU PF’S decision to disband its
District Coordinating Committees (DCCs)
has given a new lease of life to
Vice-President Joice Mujuru’s faction which
had suffered setbacks in most
provinces during the recent restructuring
exercise, party insiders said
yesterday.
The party’s central committee on Friday agreed to
disband its DCCs, blaming
the structures for causing the current serious
divisions which have rocked
the party ahead of elections and a possible
battle to succeed 88-year-old
President Robert Mugabe.
Sources in
the party said Mujuru engineered the disbanding of the structures
after it
became apparent that many of her loyalists had lost DCC elections
in
provinces such as Masvingo, Mashonaland Central, Mashonaland West and
Manicaland to her main rival, Defence minister Emmerson Mnangagwa’s
faction.
“Mujuru, with the support of Webster Shamu (national
commissar) managed to
convince Mugabe that the DCC elections have become a
playground for his
succession and had created divisions which can destroy
the party ahead of
elections,” said a Politburo source.
“Mugabe
bought the idea, but we all know that Mujuru was fighting for her
political
survival, after her rivals upstaged her candidates even in her own
backyard
(Mashonaland Central).”
Another Zanu PF official said provincial
elections had already been set for
September this year, and the ground was
now even for both Mujuru and
Mnangagwa if they were to go
ahead.
“It is back to square one for the two camps, but from the look
of things,
Mujuru has been given a breathing space and for now, she has time
to
re-strategise,” said the official.
He predicted that DCCs would be
reconstituted in another name, after
national elections expected in June
next year.
Most officials in the disbanded DCC structures said they
were shocked by the
Central committee decision.
But DCC chairman
for Hurungwe, Temba Mliswa, said they were bound by the
decision.
“The Central Committee has spoken. We are now waiting
for the party to tell
us where we stand and the way forward,” he
said.
The Zanu PF aligned Zimbabwe Lawyers for Justice commended
the party’s move
saying DCCs were being manipulated by “opportunists and
pseudo
revolutionaries.”
“The DCCs served no purpose and had been
hijacked in the succession agenda,”
said Advocate Martin Dinha, National
coordinator of the ZLJ.
“It is now incumbent upon the party to ensure that
cells, branches and
provinces become dynamic and vibrant. There is also need
to relook at other
institutions of the party.”
He said after the
disbanding of the DCCs, the next step should be for the
presidium to wield
the axe on other non-performing elements in the party.
Dinha said the party
could withstand the challenge of the MDC-T, but it was
necessary that it
reconsidered the composition of the central committee and
politburo,
including decentralising and modernising the institutions taking
a cue from
the Chinese Communist Party.
But University of Zimbabwe Political
Science lecturer, Shakespeare Hamauswa
said removing DCCs from its
structures would not solve the root causes of
problems within Zanu
PF.
“DCCs are needed for mobilisation of voters,” he said. “Removing
them is not
going to solve the internal divisions which may actually get
worse because
there will not be an authority to resolve conflicts at
district level.”
Hamauswa predicted that divisions would resurface
when the party holds its
primary elections and once the talk to succeed
Mugabe begins officially.
Zanu PF spokesperson, Rugare Gumbo could not be
reached for comment, but on
Friday said DCCs had outlived their purpose and
were causing divisions
instead of unity among members.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
Sunday, 01 July 2012 10:08
BY OUR
STAFF
RESERVE Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) governor Gideon Gono said yesterday
there won’t
be any changes to the bank’s stance on empowerment unless the
laws governing
the banking sector were changed.
Gono’s remarks
were designed to calm the nerves of the banking industry in
the face of an
onslaught by proponents of indigenisation.
National Indigenisation
and Economic Empowerment Board chairman, David
Chapfika, was quoted last
week as saying foreign banks had a July deadline
to submit proposals on how
they would comply with the Indigenisation Act.
Youth Development,
Indigenisation and Empowerment minister, Saviour
Kasukuwere, told a Zanu PF
economic cluster meeting on Thursday that his
ministry was in advanced
discussions with foreign banks regarding their
empowerment
programmes.
“Until the Banking Act is amended, the process, unlike in
other sectors,
will be a consultative and inclusive one, involving the
banking institution
itself, the ministry responsible for indigenisation and
the Reserve Bank of
Zimbabwe. It’s that plain and simple,” Gono said
yesterday.
Gono said RBZ wondered whether participants in bilateral
discussions were
aware that the central bank had to approve the results of
any discussions as
required by-law, “something we have not done
yet”.
Gono said the Banking Act mandated RBZ to oversee the banking
sector.
He said Section 26 of the Banking Act specifically gave RBZ
the right to
oversee the section.
Gono said sub sections 5, 6 and
7 of the same section, are self-explanatory
to those interested in the
banking sector.
“All we are saying is that much as the indigenisation
of the banking sector
is essential, the banking sector was deemed by
lawmakers to be special and
sensitive as to require additional checks and
balances in terms of any
changes to the ownership of any bank or financial
sector and what this means
is that no authority can change that ownership
structure and make it
effective without the concurrency of the Registrar of
Banks and Financial
institutions, who is under the Governor,” Gono
said.
There are seven foreign-owned banks out of 24 operating
institutions in the
country. This has lent credence to the notion that the
sector is highly
indigenised.
Critics of indigenisation have said
the banking sector is sensitive and
their cautious approach should have been
vindicated following the recent
closure of two locally-owned banks, Genesis
and Interfin.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
Sunday, 01 July 2012 10:00
BY
CLAYTON MASEKESA
MUTARE — A Marange man who was allegedly assaulted by a
senior police
officer on suspicion of illegally mining diamonds in Chiadzwa,
last week
told a High Court judge that he was no longer sexually active due
to the
serious injuries he sustained in the attack.
Testifying
before Justice Hlekani Mwayera who is presiding over a High Court
circuit in
Mutare, Pikirai Kusena said his sex life had been destroyed due
to injuries
he sustained when Chief Superintendent Joseph Chani of Support
Unit in
Chikurubi allegedly assaulted him.
In an emotional narration, Kusena
said “As we speak right now, my wife is
complaining about our sexual life
because I am not satisfying her due to the
injuries that I sustained after
being beaten by Chani.”
Kusena said his children were also affected
by his poor health.
“My children are traumatised by the state of my
health. I am still in pain
and they see me in agony and always ask me when
the pain will stop. This is
very disturbing,” he said.
Chani, a
well-known senior police officer during his time as Officer
Commanding
Mutare district, is facing a murder charge and three assault
counts.
Jane-Rose Matsikidze, who is representing the State told
the court that on
September 23 last year, Chani allegedly assaulted, using
switches, the now
deceased Tsorosai Kusena and his brothers – Pikirai and
Onesai and their
nephew John Gwite after they were arrested by Mbada
Diamonds’ security
guards. They were being accused of illegally panning for
diamonds.
Chani, who is being represented by Harare lawyer, Takesure
Thondhlanga, has
pleaded not guilty to all the charges. The trial continues
on Tuesday.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
Sunday, 01 July 2012 09:58
BY SILENCE
CHARUMBIRA
THE country’s first commercial radio station, Zimpapers’ Star FM
is not
different from the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC) which has
over
the years lost its relevance due to partisan programming, analysts and
aspiring broadcasters have said.
With ZBC largely perceived to be
a Zanu PF propaganda mouthpiece, most
people are no longer interested in
both Zimbabwe radio and television.
Participants attending a joint Misa /
Zimbabwe Association of Community
Radio Stations (Zacras) radio festival in
Harare yesterday told The
Standard that the new station was a continuation
of the state monopoly over
broadcasting.
“It is a pure
consolidation of a monopoly. They have simply created another
ZBC,” said
Joseph Mututi, chairperson of Kwekwe’s Radio Kwelaz.
Gift Mambipiri,
Chairperson of Zacras said it was impossible for the new
stations to be
divorced from the Zanu PF ideology.
“This is just a smoke screen of
lies that they have presented to the
nation,” said
Mambipiri.
“The two stations have their roots in the same pot and I
do not see them
being divorced from the system. The good thing is lies have
short legs and
if this is a dummy, it will not go a long
way.”
Star FM general manager, Admire Taderera said there was nothing
unusual
about the station not offering anything new citing a case of the
then Radio
3 which opened in 1981.
“Unlike what you are alleging
that we are replicating Power FM, we have a
youthful team that is
different,” he said.
Taderera said the new station was targeting a
cosmopolitan listenership and
denied reports that it would push for Zanu
PF’s agenda just like other
government-owned media stables.
“We
are not aligned to any party because this is a privately owned
commercial
radio station and our shareholders determine what we are going to
broadcast,” he said.
“The other determinant is money because that is the
basic reason for a
business.”
When the new station went on air
last week, many could not help but notice
the similarity with Power
FM.
Over the past week that the station has been on air, there was
more of music
than talk which prompted questions over whether or not Star FM
fit into the
model that it was licensed for.
Taderera said they
were balancing between music and talk.
“People love to talk and
listen to music and that is what we are doing,” he
said.
“We are
simply replicating the life of a Zimbabwean because people do not
talk
continuously.”
According to Wikipedia, talk radio is a format
containing discussion about
topical issues. Most shows are regularly hosted
by a single individual, and
often feature interviews with a number of
different guests and include
listener participation.
Star FM in
essence does not fit into the model, The Standard observed last
week.
Misa Zimbabwe chairperson, Njabulo Ncube also said he was
not impressed by
the new radio station.
“I listened to Star FM’s
bulletins on June 25 and 26 where they took
everything from The Herald. That
says a lot about the station,” said Ncube.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
Sunday, 01 July 2012
09:58
BY EDGAR GWESHE
OUTGOING United States ambassador to Zimbabwe,
Charles Ray, has implored
Zimbabwean youths to spearhead community
development projects in their areas
and desist from pursuing futile
political agendas.
Speaking at a United States Public Affairs
discussion last week, Ray said it
was sad to note that some politicians had
created artificial divisions among
the people, which was working against the
development of local areas.
“Talk of the born-frees and the
born-before. It’s these divisions that keep
people apart,” he
said.
Ray said Zimbabwean youths had the challenge of overcoming the
artificial
divisions and work towards the development of the country through
building
trust and economic security.
“Young people can and
should take an active role in the development of their
country and
communities,” he said.
“In the last three years that I have been
here, I have noticed that politics
dominates almost every conversation. I
know political decisions can affect
your lives but it’s really the
day-to-day activities you make that affect
your lives.”
The US
envoy added that it was important for the youths to put politics in
its
rightful place and ensure it does not distract them from pursuing
projects
beneficial to the country and their communities.
“I am not saying you
should ignore politics, but put politics in its proper
place. You should use
your energy in building a better environment for your
community,” he
said.
Ray also urged youths to complement efforts by local
authorities to build a
better environment, saying that in so doing, they
would be creating income
generating projects for themselves.
He
said if the youths saw that the responsible authorities were being slow
in
collecting refuse, they should organise themselves into groups and remove
the trash and charge the local community a small fee, among other
initiatives.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
Sunday, 01 July 2012 09:57
LESLEY
WURAYAYI
FIRED ANC youth league leader, Julius Malema’s recent criticism of
South
African President Jacob Zuma’s mediation in Zimbabwe is a case of sour
grapes and an attempt to maintain political relevance in the region,
analysts have said.
Malema recently told a local state-owned
weekly that Zuma was not a neutral
facilitator, accusing him of having
strong views against President Robert
Mugabe and Zanu PF. But analysts said
Malema’s comments should not be taken
seriously.
Political
analyst and social rights activist, Hopewell Gumbo, said whatever
criticism
Malema had against Zuma would be taken as sour grapes after the
youth leader
was fired from the ANC.
“This does not however mean Zuma is the
perfect mediator,” Gumbo said.
“He has more serious flaws than just
the hatred of Zanu PF that limits his
capacity to bring a speedy resolution
to Zimbabwe’s over a decade-long
crisis. On the contrary, it is his soft
gloves dealing with Mugabe, among
other factors, that has allowed Zanu PF to
remain adamant.”
Gumbo said Zanu PF would continue “dining with
Malema” even if this would
not change anything, as Zuma’s mediation was
just but one of the several
ways to resolve Zimbabwe’s
crisis.
Another political analyst, Joy Mabenge, said it was a pity
that the country
was being used as a pawn in the feud between Malema and
Zuma.
He said it was South Africa as a country which was responsible for
mediation
efforts in Zimbabwe according to Sadc resolution and not Zuma in
his
personal capacity.
“It is rather unfortunate that Malema has
been reckless in order to
discredit Zuma,” said Mabenge.
“Zanu PF
is using Malema, who is known to be a loose cannon, so that they
can derail
and discredit the mediation process and return the country to its
old
system, where the party will have absolute power.”
Malema struck a
chord with Zanu PF when he visited the country in 2010 at
the invitation of
the party. Since then he has been attacking the MDC-T
party labelling it an
imperialist-funded movement.
Zanu PF spokesperson, Rugare Gumbo,
could not be reached for comment
yesterday.
Malema was thrown
into political wilderness by the ANC after he was fired
for indiscipline and
has since found a leeway to remain politically relevant
by attacking and
soiling Zuma’s image.
Despite criticism from Malema and some elements
in Zanu PF, Zuma, the Sadc
appointed mediator on Zimbabwe, has stood firm on
the need for the country’s
political parties to implement agreed political
and other reforms necessary
for the country to hold free and fair elections.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
Sunday, 01 July 2012
09:55
Some activists argue that circumcision was recommended because it
was being
backed by powerful lobbyists and governments in most African
countries also
accepted it as it was donor driven and was done for
free.
But perhaps more damning is that throughout history,
circumcision has often
been believed to cure a plethora of incurable
ailments and HIV may be one of
such cases.
In another report Howe
says, as a medical procedure, circumcision was first
introduced in the 19th
century in English-speaking countries as a means of
preventing and “curing”
masturbation, which was then believed to cause
everything from epilepsy,
insanity, tuberculosis, spinal paralysis, to hip
dysplasia.
But
Health minister, Henry Madzorera is sticking to his guns, maintaining
that
circumcision is an important tool in the fight against HIV and
Aids.
“Studies have been carried out that show that circumcision
reduces
transmission by 60% and this is a significant figure,” he
said.
Madzorera said the government had come up with a policy
document on
circumcision.
When asked about the new researches
that have come to light, the minister
said he had not seen them, but advised
that circumcision should not be used
alone but rather in conjunction with
other methods.
But others have questioned that if circumcision was to
be used in
conjunction with other methods, then there was no need for it.
Other methods
are less painful, less invasive and did not run the risk of
harming sexual
organs.
Madzorera said the government would
continue to preach abstinence,
faithfulness and the use of
condoms.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
Sunday, 01 July 2012 09:53
BY
NQABA MATSHAZI
ZIMBABWE continues to promote male circumcision as an HIV and
Aids
prevention method despite research that questions the practice, meaning
tens
of thousands of circumcised people could be at
risk.
To underline the importance that has been put on male
circumcision, more
than 10 legislators had the surgical snip last week,
reportedly setting an
example that others should follow so as to reduce the
HIV scourge.
However, new researches are questioning the link between
HIV reduction and
circumcision, with some studies showing that HIV was more
prevalent in
circumcised Zimbabweans than those uncircumcised.
A
USAID report indicates that out of 15 countries surveyed, the result
between
circumcised males and the uncircumcised was negligible, with only
Kenya
having a substantial difference.
“In 10 of the countries — Cameroon,
Guinea, Haiti, Lesotho, Malawi, Niger,
Rwanda, Senegal, Tanzania and
Zimbabwe — HIV prevalence is higher among
circumcised men,” reads the USAID
report, which was published in 2009,
effectively questioning the efficacy of
male circumcision.
The study was carried out between 2003 and 2005 in
the 15 countries and in
Zimbabwe 5 848 men took part in the research, ahead
of a World Health
Organisation and UNAids recommendation in 2007 that
circumcision could be
used as an HIV preventive method.
Yet more
scholars continue to question the method, instead advising that the
world
bodies should have waited longer before recommending the
procedure.
Two medical scholars last November also questioned the
usefulness of
circumcision, describing it as a dangerous distraction in the
fight against
HIV and Aids.
It is believed that circumcision
reduces transmission rates by 60%, but
Gregory Hill and Gregory Boyle, in
the Australian Journal of Law and
Medicine say the snip only reduces
transmission by no more than 1,3%, which
they say is statistically
insignificant.
“Examination of epidemiological data shows that male
circumcision does not
provide protection against HIV transmission in several
sub-Saharan African
countries including Cameroon, Ghana, Lesotho, Malawi,
Rwanda and Tanzania,
all of which have higher prevalence of HIV infection
among circumcised men,”
Hill and Boyle said.
The two also
questioned research that led to the adoption of circumcision,
saying WHO had
taken it without critical questioning, as the study was
fraught with
problems, among them inadequate equipment, selection bias and
the studies
were stopped before adequate data could be analysed.
“Evidence
suggests that mass circumcision programmes may exacerbate the HIV
epidemic
among women (and) under these circumstances it would be
irresponsible and
unethical to advocate mass circumcision programmes in
southern Africa,” the
two scientists noted.
Instead, they advised that more emphasis should
be put on promoting condoms,
which are 80% effective. The two also pointed
out that HIV prevalence is
higher in America, where a significant percentage
of the male population is
circumcised, compared to Nordic countries where
most men are intact.
Another study, appearing in the Journal of
Public Health and carried out by
Robert Van Howe and Michelle Storms, says
circumcision is a costly sideshow,
which in the end might lead to an
increase in HIV prevalence.
The report was published last year.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
Sunday, 01 July 2012 11:54
BY JENNIFER
DUBE
THE Chivhu branch of the United Assemblies Africa (UAA) Church has
embarked
on a project to rescue children who are facing abuse in the local
community
while also caring for orphans.
A total of 23 children
aged between two and 18 years are currently under the
care of Vana
Orphanage built by the church in the small agricultural town.
“A lot happens
to children, especially orphans left in the care of relatives
who may fail
to view them as children just like their own,” UAA pastor
Makoni Goredema
said.
“You may find a nine-year-old being made to mould bricks on
behalf of a
relative instead of going to school with his peers.”
The
church has built three houses for the children, with four boys and four
girls living in each house under the care of a grown up woman who acts as
their foster mother.
“We hope that the children will go back to
their relatives when they are 18
years old,” Goredema said. “It is
unfortunate that we do not know the
relatives of some of the children, but
we continue looking for them.”
The home was started in 2009 and the
UAA intends to build a total of 40
houses to accommodate 320 children on the
piece of land the church got from
council.
The church also pays
school fees for other disadvantaged children who live
with their relatives
in Chivhu. It also has a feeding scheme where the needy
children eat lunch
at the orphanage before proceeding to class or going
home.
“We
believe that a child should have at least one decent meal that can keep
him
or her going until the next day,” Goredema said.
Goredema, a former
trader in sculptures, said he first considered starting
an orphanage for his
church in 2006 when he noticed that some members of the
community were often
ill or mentally unstable, making it difficult for them
to care for their
children.
The 44-year-old father of four then studied a model of an
orphanage in
Uganda and decided to duplicate it in
Zimbabwe.
“Called Watoto, which means Vana, the orphanage has many
houses and
accommodates more than 1 000 children,” he said.“We aspire to do
that and
even build a library and other facilities for the children because
people in
other countries even have universities for orphans.”
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
Sunday, 01 July 2012 11:54
BY
TAWANDA MARWIZI
CHIPINGE — A clinic built under the Constituency Development
Fund (CDF) in
Chipinge East has been handed over to the United Church of
Christ in
Zimbabwe (UCCZ) to run it on behalf of the local
community.
Speaking at the handover ceremony at Muswera Community
Centre last week, the
MP for the area, Matewu Mathias Mlambo, said the
community had agreed to
hand over the clinic to the church, which also runs
Mount Selinda and
Chikore hospitals.
“We have confidence in the
church, so we saw it wise to let the church run
the clinic on our behalf,”
he said.
Mlambo said the new clinic would serve thousands of
villagers who were
walking up to 20 kilometres to Nyazvindete to access
medical facilities.
President of the UCCZ, Reverend Edward
Matuvhunye, told Standard Community
that the church would ensure that
quality health services we are delivered
to the community, which is mostly
affected by diseases such as malaria.
“A number of people from this
area have been dying from preventable and
treatable diseases such as
malaria. Through this clinic, we want to assure
them that they will get the
assistance they need,” he said.
Rev Matuvhunye said his church had
served Chipinge district for more than a
century and was happy with the
level of confidence shown by the local
community.
The clinic,
which was officially opened by Health and Child welfare
minister, Henry
Madzorera last year, was currently being operated by the
local
community.
Patients were paying US$5 to access services, an amount
which contributed
towards the salaries of the health staff and other
employees.
Matuvhunye said the church had since applied to the
ministry of health to
have the clinic registered with it, which would enable
staff members to be
paid by government.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
Sunday, 01 July 2012
11:51
BY SILAS NKALA
THE Matojeni Cultural Society has called on
government to speed up the
erection of the late vice-President Joshua
Mqabuko Nkomo’s statue in
Bulawayo and the renaming of the city’s Main
Street after him.
Members of the cultural group last week put
portraits of the late
nationalist at the pillar meant for the installation
of the statue as a way
of advertising the Joshua Nkomo memorial celebrations
which take place today
in Bulawayo at the historic Stanley
Square.
Son of the late nationalist, Sibangilizwe, was present when
the posters were
put but declined to comment.
Leader of Matojeni,
Albert Nyoni said the group wanted to send a clear
signal to the
authorities, that people of Matabeleland were eagerly waiting
for Nkomo’s
statue to be installed to recognise his contribution for the
liberation and
development of the country.
“We want to show the powers that be, that
we want the statue to be installed
soon, as long as it is not from North
Korea,” he said.
Nyoni said the rejected North Korean made statue
rekindled bad memories of
what happened in Midlands and Matabeleland region
when the Korean trained
Fifth Brigade army unleashed the Gukurahundi
massacres in the early 1980s.
“We would not want our people here to
be reminded of that experience,” said
Nyoni.
The group also
wanted Bulawayo’s Main Street to be named after Nkomo who
died 13 years
ago.
“How can a veteran nationalist fail to have a road named after
him in the
city in his region,” asked Nyoni.
Plans to install
Nkomo’s statue have been dragging since 2010, but recently
Home Affair
co-minister Kembo Mohadi indicated that the process was expected
to begin
soon.
Nyoni said traditional beer has been brewed for the Nkomo
commemorations,
while Ingwebu breweries have pledged opaque beer, with the
local business
community chipping in with food stuffs. He said no party
regalia would be
allowed at the celebrations.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
Sunday, 01 July 2012 11:50
BY NUNURAI
JENA
THE husband of a woman who confessed to practising witchraft in Chinhoyi
is
a troubled man.
Kerry Kamanga can hardly face residents of
Shackleton in Chinhoyi after his
wife and her colleague were caught in an
alleged dead of the night fracas
over human flesh.
Kamanga’s
wife, Rosemary (48), and a colleague, Esnath Maodza (56), were
unceremoniously drop-ped off a winnowing basket by their alleged
partner-in-crime, Shylet Muzeza when an alleged witching expedition by the
women went horribly wrong. The two fell into the compound of Erenesi
Mafunga, a member of the Paul Mwazha-led apostolic sect, who later said her
divine powers had caused the mishap.
Mafunga said she woke up
following strange noises and was confronted by
Rosemary who was calling for
a Muzeza to bring back human flesh they had
taken from Alaska. On seeing the
naked women, Mafunga screamed, waking the
whole neighbourhood at around
3am.
The pair was arrested and later confessed to practising
witchcraft.
The two women last Wednesday appeared before Chinhoyi
magistrate, Fanny
Nyakudya, on charges of contravening section 98 of the
criminal law
(codification and reform) act Chapter 9:23, pertaining to
“engaging in
practices commonly associated with witchcraft”.
They
were granted free bail and would be back in court on July 11.
Public
prosecutor, Clarence Majongosi, said the State would, among other
witnesses,
call the Zimbabwe National Traditional Healers Association
experts to
enlighten the court on the practice of witchcraft. While the
women await
their fate, Rosemary’s husband is struggling to cope with the
infamy brought
about by his wife and her colleagues’ conduct.
Kamanga said the
incident had made him a laughing stock in the community. “I
cannot move
around freely like I used to do, as people stare at me as if I’m
the one who
was caught practising witchcraft,” he said.
“Unfortunately I know
about it because when I went from one n’anga and to
prophets looking for
someone who could help my wife to conceive, I heard
stories about her being
a witch.”
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
BY LESLEY WURAYAYI
AN estimated 100 000
people in Chivi district of Masvingo will have improved
access to clean
water after the launch of a US$3,2 million European
Union-funded water and
sanitation project last week.
Speaking at the launch of the Chivi
Water, Sanitation and Health (CHIWASH)
programme, project coordinator Abel
Gumbo said the four-year programme would
see the drilling and rehabilitation
of boreholes, as well as the
construction of pit latrines to benefit mostly
vulnerable groups.
He said the project was being implemented in
response to a baseline survey
which revealed that several parts of semi-arid
Chivi had poor access to
clean drinking water and lacked proper sanitation
facilities.
“This is an integrated programme that looks at the
diverse humanitarian
needs of the vulnerable groups,” said
Gumbo.
Zimbabwe Red Cross Society acting secretary general, Lucky
Goteka, said 16
wards in the district would benefit from the
project.
“Vulnerable groups including people living with HIV,
orphans, vulnerable
children, disadvantaged schools as well as single
parents will benefit from
this project,” he said.
Goteka said
access to safe drinking water and improved sanitation would
boost health
standards in the area.
Two Toyota Hilux trucks and four motorbikes
were also handed over for use by
volunteers for the project.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
Sunday, 01 July 2012 11:28
BY
NQOBILE BHEBHE
MINISTER of Industry and Commerce, Welshman Ncube, has
disclosed that of the
US$10 million made available for Distressed Industries
and Marginalised
Funds (Dimaf) in Bulawayo in April, not a single dollar has
been disbursed
due to political bickering.
In an interview with
The Standard in Gweru last week, Ncube said all
struggling Bulawayo firms
might not benefit from the fund set up last year
to revive struggling
companies.
He said government should have gone it alone instead of
teaming up with Old
Mutual as political bickering over the funds had
worsened the dire
situation.
Ncube said the concept and the principle of
assisting struggling firms was
noble but there were problems that needed to
be corrected.
As part of the agreement signed by the two parties, Old
Mutual and the
government have to provide US$20 million each to the
fund.
The money would then be loaned to companies that need to
recapitalise their
operations.
Ncube said Finance minister Tendai
Biti had supported the Dimaf committee
and the cabinet on the funds, he was
yet to provide the funds.
Ncube said between March and April, the
cabinet agreed to Biti’s proposal
that he would bring in US$125 million from
the International Monetary Fund
(IMF) meant to shore-up Zimbabwe’s reserves
and out of this amount, US$30
million would go into Dimaf.
Ncube
said even though the two parties were to put US$20 million each, there
were
now fears that Bulawayo might not even get a dollar.
“It would have
been better to take the US$10 million that is there and make
it available
even if each company would get US$300 000.
“That would benefit in
excesses of 30 companies. The US$10 million has been
sitting in a CABS
account since April and not a dollar has been distributed
to any Bulawayo
firm.”
Recently, youths from MDC threatened to invade CABS offices in
protest over
delays in disbursing the money meant to resuscitate Bulawayo’s
comatose
industry.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
Sunday, 01 July 2012 11:26
BY OUR STAFF
THE
African Development Bank (AfDB) has warned Zimbabwe that opening its
domestic markets to the European Union under the Economic Partnership
Agreement (EPAs), exposes local industries to unfair
competition.
In May, Zimbabwe alongside Mauritius, Seychelles and
Madagascar, agreed to
an EPA with the EU, which has since come into
effect.
Under the agreement, exports from Mauritius, Madagascar,
Seychelles and
Zimbabwe, would have duty and quota-free access to EU markets
while in
return, the African countries agreed to gradually open their
markets to
European goods over a period of 15 years, with the exception of
certain
goods deemed sensitive.
In its Zimbabwe monthly economic
outlook for June, AfDB cautioned that local
industries would suffer from
competition from the West.
“However, the opening up of domestic
markets to European markets through the
elimination of tariffs will expose
local producers to competition from EU
firms as their ability will be highly
limited due to severe supply side
constraints and also the country’s ability
to use its tariff policy will be
bound by the EPA,” AfDB
said.
Zimbabwe’s manufacturing sector, though recording increased
capacity
utilisation, is constrained by lack of long term funding for
retooling.
In addition, erratic power supplies have seen industries
investing in
alternative sources of energy thereby increasing the production
costs. This
has made local products expensive as compared to
imports.
The caution by AfDB comes after a report by the Geneva-based
South Centre
said that Zimbabwe would benefit by signing a trade agreement
with the EU.
In its report, South Centre said that Zimbabwe would
lose US$15,4 million in
tariff revenue but gains US$39,2 million in duties
under the EU General
Systems and Preferences (GSPs).
Under GSP,
exporters from developing countries pay lower duties on some or
all of what
they sell to the EU.
This gives them vital access to EU markets
contributing to the growth of
their economies.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
Sunday, 01 July 2012 09:46
by Jimmy
Chasafara
Revelations in Parliament that some of Zimbabwe’s liberation
war heroes such
as the late Josiah Tongogara were not entitled to get
anything from the war
veterans’ fund, or subsequent state benefits such as
pensions enjoyed by
others, is shocking.
It also serves to
illustrate the hypocrisy of the leadership who enmeshed
itself with the late
liberation heroes’ names while simultaneously enacting
laws that expurgated
their surviving dependents’ financial entitlements.
Is it not
shocking to us as a nation that the liberation struggle leaders
rushed to
think about themselves forgetting the surviving families of their
comrades
who had perished during the struggle?
Is it not shamelessly
hypocritical that the individual and collective deeds
of the likes of Josiah
Tongogara, Jason Moyo, Hebert Chitepo, Nikita Mangena
and others have been
glorified, yet when it came to appreciating and
acknowledging the need to
financially cater for their families, they were
left in the
cold?
While legislating their way into the national coffers, the
leadership
conveniently forgot their fallen compatriots, yet as Thomas
Campbell noted,
“The patriot’s blood is the seed of freedom’s
tree.”
Over the years we have read about widows of national heroes
complaining
about being neglected, yet few realised it went way far deeper
than mere
neglect.
I recall the late Ruth Chinamano complaining
about this appalling treatment
of their dependents by the
government
.
Writing, reciting, singing and shouting out the names of
dead liberation
heroes is hollow if we neglect their living dependents. How
do we reconcile
our revering the heroes’ names while on the other hand
despising, through
deliberate neglect, their families whom we view as a
national encumbrance?
Further shocking revelations were made by the
late President Canaan Banana’s
son Nathan, that his family never received
any state benefits accorded a
president upon his death. Again, the
importance alluded to the 1987 Unity
pact between Zanu and Zapu rings hollow
without the essence of the enduring
persistence by the late Banana to see it
succeed.
It would appear as if the powers that be not only tried to
erase Banana’s
eminent deeds from the history of Zimbabwe, but also decided
to wipe his
name off its financial records by not according his estate what
was due to
him as the first president.
Surely, if the nation
cannot acknowledge and appreciate the prominent role
the late president
Banana played leading to the 1987 Unity Accord and his
national service as
the state president, then whose national duty are we to
hold in high
esteem?
A leadership and a nation that does not appreciate its fallen
heroes, except
when it suits it to use their names for electioneering, is
morally sick to
the core.
It is even surprising that war veterans and
their leaders like Dumiso
Dabengwa and the late General Solomon Mujuru, who
is reported to have played
a role in enacting this legislation, overlooked
their fallen compatriots.
It is equally surprising that the MDCs, in
their pursuance against the
persona of one Robert Mugabe are totally silent
about taking on such a
national case. Instead, it allows itself to be
portrayed and perceived as
opposed to liberation war
participants.
Zimbabwe’s independence was not only brought about by
the living liberation
leadership and war vets. One would have thought such a
case would be an
opportunity for the MDCs to enamour themselves not only to
war vets, but
also to the liberation conscious masses of
Zimbabwe.
Zimbabwe’s liberation heroes are a national asset, not a
monopolistic entity
that belongs to one particular political party.
Individuals change their
opinions or allegiance along the way in their
course of life depending on
prevailing circumstances, as John Moyo would
attest.
The illustrious sons and daughters of Zimbabwe like Joshua
Nkomo, Josiah
Tongogara, Edgar Tekere, Jason Moyo, Sydney Malunga, Herbert
Chitepo and
others could have easily belonged to any other party other than
Zanu PF or
Zapu. Simba Makoni and others are a good example, yet their
patriotic
contributions towards building Zimbabwe cannot be
trivialised.
Having won our independence, can we afford to turn our
backs on fallen
comrades’ surviving dependents, or as George Canning asks,
“When our perils
are past, shall our gratitude sleep?”
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
Sunday, 01 July 2012
09:43
Ambassador Charles Ray
Reflecting on my nearly three years
in Zimbabwe, I remain cautiously
optimistic; the long-term future for this
country is bright, and that is due
in large part to the overwhelmingly
energetic, dedicated, and intelligent
young people, people who make up the
majority of Zimbabwe’s population.
How can young people build
a better country, you might ask? After all, the
culture does not give the
young such power. Well, I will concede that
culture is a limiting factor —
but, only a limiting factor — it does not
have to be a complete
barrier.
Young people can — and should — take a more active role in
the development
of their country, but that must start with
self.
So, what can you do, beginning in the here and now, to create a
better
Zimbabwe, a country that you can be justly proud of?
You
can start by defining what kind of society you want to live in, what
kind of
country that you, can leave to your children and grandchildren.
And,
you need to decide what kind of person you want or need to be in that
society. This means that you need to clearly define “you”.
Don’t
wait for things to happen, or for others to do things for you.
Identify what
needs to be done, and then do it. Start small — you should
aspire to reach
for the stars, but take that journey one step at a time, one
challenge at a
time. Is there a problem in your community that has bugged
you for some
time? The government’s slow or non-performing about picking up
trash?
Well, quit complaining about it; get a group of your
friends together and
start a volunteer project to “clean up your
neighbourhood”.
Never stop learning. Don’t restrict your learning to
the classroom,
textbooks, or what teachers have told you. Read widely;
question every
assumption, and put every theory to the test. Reach out to
the broader world
and see what it has to offer.
Don’t fear
failure. I read somewhere recently that “fear; is an acronym for
Forget
Everything and Run.” Well, drop that habit, and stop running. My
definition
of success is “a string of failures that you survive and learn
from.” If
you’ve never failed at anything, you’ve probably not learned
anything new.
Remember, it’s not how many times you fall down that matters,
but how many
times you get back up.
Develop tolerance. The world is a diverse
place, and so are the countries in
it. A tolerant society, one that values
every member and gives each member
the opportunity to contribute to its
development, will prosper.
Intolerant societies might do well in the
short term, and I have my doubts
about that actually, but in the end will
fail and fail miserably.
Go beyond the surface. This is related
somewhat to my injunction to keep
learning, but it’s important enough that I
highlight it.
Develop the habit of educating yourself on the nuances
of situations and
people, and avoid the dangerous habit of judging merely on
surface
appearances, incomplete information, or sound
bites.
Maintain a positive attitude. If you’re an optimist, sometimes
you’ll be
wrong, but, if you’re a pessimist, you’ll always be right. Look
for the
positive side of a situation, and take advantage of
it.
Sometimes, things that we think are negative, if viewed properly,
can work
out to our advantage.
Put your focus on the things that
really matter. I have noticed that
politics dominates every
conversation.
It’s as if nothing else matters. I know that political
decisions can affect
our lives — bad economic decisions can raise prices,
drive away investment,
cost jobs — but, it’s really the day-to-day personal
decisions we all make
that truly determine our lives.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
When the National Social Security Authority (NSSA)
was set up in terms of an
Act of Parliament of 1989, hopes were high among
workers that it would
provide relief to pensioners.
Workers who
got injured at work, or those that suffered from work-related
diseases also
stood to benefit from the body entrusted with collecting
premiums from
workers and investing them wisely on their behalf.
But NSSA has
turned out to be an antithesis of what it was meant to be.
After
contributing to the authority for years, pensioners have to find other
means
to ensure a decent retirement on a measly US$40 monthly payout they
get from
NSSA.
Instead of providing a decent pension to contributors, the
authority chooses
to sink millions of dollars of hard-earned workers’
contributions in dubious
investments.
NSSA was left exposed after
the recent closure of two banks, Interfin and
Genesis. This is bad news for
the workers and pensioners who have no control
over the body’s investment
choices.
For the record, this is not the first time that NSSA has
been exposed to
troubled banks. When ReNaissance Merchant Bank was put under
curatorship
after shareholders had spirited away depositors’ funds, NSSA was
left with a
US$9 million exposure. Ordinarily, this should have been an
eye-opening
experience for the body.
However, reports show that
the authority remains exposed to the tune of
US$200 million to indigenous
banks that are reeling from the effects of a
liquidity crunch. This,
clearly, is no good news for pensioners, some of
them now poorer than
church mice.
While it is noble for NSSA to invest in the economy, its
continued exposure
to unstable institutions shows the body has gone off the
rails.
What NSSA is doing is akin to gambling with pensioners’ money and
should be
condemned in the strongest terms.
The authority’s
investment policies need to be brought under public scrutiny
for the benefit
of the workers. Parliament can take the lead in scrutinising
how NSSA
conducts its business before workers lose more of their hard-earned
dollars.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
by Nevanji Madanhire
One only
hears of places such as Katerere when something has gone
desperately wrong;
a political murder perhaps, or a terrible bus disaster or
maybe a natural
disaster such as a cyclone, or a visit by the police! This
means one can
safely describe such an area as situated “at the back of
beyond” without
feeling that one is insulting anybody.
Katerere is not the only place
“at the back of beyond” — Kwekwe also is —
but it was in the news recently
because the national broadcaster ZBC sent a
team of its licence inspectors
there to collect taxes; it will be wrong to
call them listeners’ licence
fees. For the people of Katerere, it was like
Cyclone Eline had
revisited.
This was very painful for the people of Katerere not only
because the tax
collectors came in the company of overzealous junior
policemen who
manhandled them but also mainly because the people of Katerere
receive no
ZBC signal. Instead, they listen to Mozambican radio stations
which
broadcast from just across our eastern border.
“They are
coming in our homes demanding licences. We do not listen to any
ZBC radio
stations because there is no signal at all,” one of the villagers
said
wistfully adding most people in the area listened to Radio Manica from
Mozambique through the shortwave radio band.
But the law, as they say, is
an ass.
The law says any gadget that was manufactured for the purpose
of receiving a
radio signal must be taxed. So when a ZBC licence inspector
visits your
home, he is looking for the gadget and doesn’t care whether the
gadget is in
fact receiving any signal or not. It also doesn’t matter if the
gadget is
defunct or not.
Now that is interesting: that gumba-gumba your
uncle brought back from
Joburg during the Wanela days in the 1970s and which
has not worked since
the liberation war days when guerrillas, now war vets,
abused it at a
pungwe, is back to haunt you. You have kept it only as a
memento but you are
now told it still has to have taxes paid for it in spite
of all your
protestations! Even if you open it and show the taxman that it
no longer has
the “singlest” copper wire in it, it still has to be paid
for.
Interestingly, any person who lives in the area that doesn’t
receive radio
signals but owns transistor radio or any semblance of it is
twice penalised
by the authorities for no fault of their own. It would be
ZBC’s fault that
the area doesn’t receive a signal but instead of ZBC being
penalised for
this, it is the people who are made to pay. The people are
also penalised
for owning property they have worked for!
Many of
our remote areas receive foreign radio signals; often it is all they
ever
receive and they are being punished for this. It would be
understandable if
this only applied to remote areas. But who can explain why
cities such as
Kwekwe also don’t receive ZBC signals? Kwekwe is only a
little more than
200km from Pockets Hill! It also is only about 70km from
the step-up
transformer at Guinea Fowl, just outside Gweru.
What percentage of
the country is covered by ZBC? It would seem a miniscule.
But why do the
people have to continue to be abused by the national
broadcaster with the
assistance of law enforcement agents?
ZBC is already funded by the
taxpayer. Every year the Minister of Finance
allocates money to the ministry
responsible for the national broadcaster
which means the people are paying
taxes twice. Why do our leaders in
parliament allow this to happen?
It
seems only listeners in the major cities namely, Harare and Bulawayo
receive
the full signal but even these are not happy because they hardly
ever listen
to ZBC radio stations because of the poor programming.
ZBC has chosen to be a
partisan broadcaster serving only the narrow
political interests of a
section of the community. Listeners have complained
about this to no avail
and have as a result switched off ZBC and are instead
listening to foreign
radio stations for news. These foreign radio stations
have been labelled
“pirate” broadcasters but they are popular because they
offer the listeners
objective coverage, which is what the people look for in
any radio
station.
Why should money be extorted from people simply because they own
radio sets
even if they don’t tune into local broadcasts? This is the kind
of question
that our legislators ought to be asking in Parliament! Why
should people be
taxed for a service they don’t enjoy?
Up to now
most imported cars come with radios that have no access to ZBC
signals
because their bands don’t reach those of the ZBC, but motorists are
made to
pay ZBC licences anyway! Is that fair?
During the colonial era,
Africans were taxed without parliamentary
representation. They went to war
for this; but that war has not corrected
the thinking of those in government
who still think people should pay for
something they don’t
enjoy.
The law that says people should pay listeners’ licences even
if they don’t
enjoy the service should be scrapped. The law is ridiculous
because it taxes
a gadget rather than a service. In fact, it says listeners
don’t exist; only
their gadgets do. It doesn’t demand that the broadcaster
be accountable to
listeners. This explains the impunity with which the
broadcaster gets away
with by ignoring the listeners’ demands.
If
listeners pay for something, it means they become stakeholders who should
demand that their interests are catered for. But that is not the case with
ZBC.
The coming in of new radio station, Zimpapers-owned Star FM,
if anything, is
good for only one reason; it has introduced the concept of
free-to-air radio
broadcasting. This is bound to have a huge impact on ZBC.
It is likely to
take away all the listeners and the advertisers — it is also
reachable from
cars. When people have got an alternative — even a poor one —
how much
longer can they continue to be forced to pay for services they
don’t enjoy?
It is more than likely the Ministry of Media will soon
pounce on Star FM so
it complies with certain norms; they wouldn’t allow it
to continue to
cannibalise ZBC, but the time is not too remote when
listeners will begin to
demand their pound of flesh.
