The Zimbabwe Situation

http://www.swradioafrica.com/

By Tichaona Sibanda
SW Radio Africa
5 July 2013

A grand coalition that will see five political parties agreeing to field
just one presidential candidate against ZANU PF’s long term ruler Robert
Mugabe is expected to be announced next week, sources said.

MDC-T, MDC, ZAPU, Mavambo/Kusile/Dawn (MKD) and ZANU Ndonga went to great
lengths to conceal the fact they have been having secret talks.

They also devised a strategy to deceive the media in general, by pretending
nothing was happening, perhaps wary that the information would be leaked to
their opponents in ZANU PF.

On Friday ZAPU and MDC leaders Dumiso Dabengwa and Welshman Ncube announced
at a media briefing in Bulawayo that they had signed an alliance that would
see the parties work together during and after the elections.

This announcement will culminate in all the parties meeting in Harare next
week to sign up to a grand coalition.

This is where Dabengwa and Ncube are expected to announce that they are
withdrawing their presidential candidatures, leaving Tsvangirai to challenge
Mugabe for the third time in a decade. It’s believed that Dabengwa will be
offered a senior ministerial post for allowing his party to be part of this
coalition.

MKD leader Simba Makoni is also earmarked for a senior ministerial post
while big guns from the MDC-N, like Priscillah Misihairambwi-Mushonga, Paul
Themba Nyathi and Moses Mzila Ndlovu, might get less influential cabinet or
deputy ministerial posts.

While all parties have backed MDC-T leader Morgan Tsvangirai to be the flag
bearer for the coalition, there is still a major sticking point on who will
become the first Vice-President if the coalition wins power in 26 days’
time.

The MDC have proposed that their leader, Welshman Ncube, becomes the first
Vice-President with the MDC-T’s Thokozani Khupe assuming the second Vice
Presidency post.

This proposal is being resisted by Khupe, who insists she has always been
senior in the party to Ncube and wants the roles reversed so she has the
first Vice-Presidency.

Part of the deal will see the MDC-T asking Patrick Sangandira, its
parliamentary candidate for Makoni central, to withdraw his candidature
there so that Simba Makoni will contest against Patrick Chinamasa.

On Thursday MDC-T structures and Makoni’s team met in Rusape to map out a
strategy to ensure the constituency rallies behind the MKD leader. In
return, Makoni has made it public he will campaign for Tsvangirai in the
Presidential race.

ZANU Ndonga has already indicated they would back Tsvangirai in the pending
crucial elections, with its chairman, Reketai Semwayo, last week filing his
nomination papers to stand as an MP in Chipinge Central on an MDC-T ticket.

ZANU PF ‘manifesto’ launch silent on policies, loud on rhetoric

http://www.swradioafrica.com/

Nomalanga Moyo
SW Radio Africa
5 July 2013

ZANU PF launched its manifesto at a poorly attended event held at Zimbabwe
Grounds in Harare Friday, with the MDC-T set to launch theirs on Sunday.

The party, through its mouthpiece the Herald newspaper, tried to drum up
attendance by making reference to the crowds that gathered at the same
Highfields venue in 1980 to welcome the country’s nationalist heroes.

Reports suggest that 150 commuter buses were laid out to ferry people to
Zimbabwe Grounds, with popular musicians Sulumani Chimbetu, Jah Prayzah and
Mathias Mhere on hand to provide entertainment.

If the plan was to use free entertainment and transport as bait to lure the
crowds to the grounds before President Robert Mugabe’s address it failed, as
only a thin crowd attended amid reports of serious divisions within the
party.

“The sparse crowd – dressed in yellow T-shirts and green caps – is an exact
antithesis of the bumper crowd that graced the stadium in 1980 when Mugabe
returned from the bush war,” the Daily News reported.

The theme of the party’s manifesto was ‘Indigenise, Empower, Develop and
Create Employment’: ‘Bhora Mugedhi/Ibhola Egedini’, but Mugabe’s speech was
said to have been the usual rhetoric, devoid of any meaningful
implementation strategies.

Mugabe steered clear of the challenges facing Zimbabweans, such as how his
party intends to create jobs in a country with 95% unemployment, or revive
the economy that has succumbed to three decades of ZANU PF mismanagement.

In the past ZANU PF has subjected the country to ill-conceived, knee-jerk
policies such as the chaotic land reform program and the controversial
indigenisation drive, in a bid to appease disgruntled party supporters at
election times.

SW Radio Africa correspondent Simon Muchemwa said Mugabe’s address did not
focus on what the party had in store for Zimbabweans should it retain power.

“Mugabe’s address emphasised his party’s revolutionary credentials. He urged
his supporters to ensure that the MDCs did not come to power, and to say
‘never again’ to another unity government.”

Riding high on his recent poll-date court victories Mugabe chided his
co-governing partners in the GPA whom he said should have known before
approaching SADC that the regional bloc had no power to reverse ConCourt’s
decisions.

Mugabe and party stalwart Joice Mujuru took turns to applaud the ConCourt
bench for endorsing ZANU PF decisions.

Meanwhile, MDC-T President Morgan Tsvangirai is expected to officiate when
his party launches its manifesto this Sunday at Rudhaka Stadium in
Marondera.

MDC-T national organising secretary Nelson Chamisa told SW Radio Africa that
this is an historic event in the party’s calendar, as this is the first time
that the party will be launching such an important document in Mashonaland.

“We will be unveiling to Zimbabweans our party’s policy tools and
programmes, mainly the agenda for real transformation and our job creation
plan.

“Our manifesto also outlines our action plan for the first 100 days in
office: and it’s not a question of if we get into office, but when, because
it is self-evident,” he said.

Chamisa said some of the key issues that the document outlines include a
jobs plan, infrastructure development and social service delivery and how
the party will address corruption.

He said: “We expect the President to highlight how the MDC-T will revive the
economy and also to touch on national healing and reconciliation as we know
that our country has a troubled past.”

Chamisa also said that the MDC-T was happy with the performance of the
finance ministry, under the stewardship of the party’s secretary-general
Tendai Biti.

“We achieved more than we thought we would, given that ZANU PF had killed
the economy. While they were busy scheming, we were busy planning and we
managed to resuscitate the economy. And although it is not yet kicking, it
is breathing. Our focus now will be to grow it,” he said.

Zimbabwe's Mugabe launches 'fight for life' poll campaign

http://www.reuters.com/

By MacDonald Dzirutwe
HARARE | Fri Jul 5, 2013 12:01pm EDT
(Reuters) - Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe launched a "fight of our life"
campaign on Friday to extend his three-decade grip on power in a July 31
election already being criticized as poorly planned, underfunded and plagued
with irregularities.

Speaking to tens of thousands of supporters in a sports ground in Harare's
Highfield township, the 89-year-old said his ZANU-PF party wanted to stay in
office to push through its plans to increase black ownership of the economy.

Critics accuse Mugabe, who led the former Rhodesia to independence from
Britain in 1980, of ruining one of Africa's most promising economies by
seizing white-owned farms and giving them to landless blacks with no farming
experience.

"This is the fight of our lives. This is a battle for survival," Mugabe told
the crowd, adding that ZANU-PF had reorganized and strengthened itself for a
"devastating victory" after nearly losing power five years ago.

"Those who work with our enemies, our former colonizers the British, never
again shall we allow them to taste leadership of the state," he said.

Although there have been no formal opinion polls, surveys in the past year
by Freedom House, a U.S. political think tank, and African research group
Afro-Barometer have given Mugabe a narrow lead over his main rival, Prime
Minister Morgan Tsvangirai.

The campaign launch comes a day after the Constitutional Court rejected
appeals, including from Tsvangirai, to delay the vote in order to allow more
time for reform of the security forces and state media.

OPPOSITION FEARS

The legal argument over the election date has raised fears of another
disputed poll, although with just three weeks to go, there are few
expectations of the kind of violence and bloodshed that marred the 2008
elections, after which Mugabe and Tsvangirai were forced into a
power-sharing government.

Instead, Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) says the biggest
threat is ZANU-PF "software rigging" - essentially tampering with the voters
roll, or making it hard for MDC supporters to register to vote.

ZANU-PF have denied the allegations.

The MDC also alleges that some members of the army have been deployed in the
countryside to intimidate potential opponents - a charge the security forces
also deny.

In a 90-minute address on Friday, Mugabe urged ZANU-PF to avoid any
violence, saying it was set to win cleanly.

He also mocked Tsvangirai with references to recent sex scandals and
attacked the 15-nation Southern African Community (SADC) for trying to get
Harare to delay the poll, saying it amounted to interfering with Zimbabwe's
top court.

"Let it be known that we are in SADC voluntarily. If SADC chooses to do
stupid and idiotic things we can pull out," he said.

Mugabe singled out South African President Jacob Zuma's top Zimbabwe
adviser, Lindiwe Zulu, for particular criticism, saying she was behaving as
if she were his country's prefect by saying Harare should postpone the vote
by at least a month.

Mugabe warns Zanu PF against ‘Bhora Musango’

http://www.newzimbabwe.com/

04/07/2013 00:00:00
by Staff Reporter

PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe called on Zanu PF candidates to reach out to
colleagues defeated in divisive party primaries as he rallied his troops for
general elections which will now go ahead at the end of the month.

Zanu PF is working to prevent a number of officials who registered to
contest the elections as independent candidates after either questioning
their defeats in party primaries or being completely blocked from
contesting.

The party is concerned the rebels could fatally divide its support base in
the key elections which will choose a successor to the coalition government.

Mugabe told a meeting of Zanu PF’s central committee at the its Harare
headquarters Thursday that the party must fight the forthcoming elections as
a united front.

“The duty that we all have now and especially those of us who have won and
been nominated to stand for the party is to ensure that those who opposed us
will support us,” he said.

“You have to sit with them individually and talk. Work out a common strategy
so that there is no Bhora Musango. Let us win them over. We must go into the
election battle united.

“Apart from individuals, our organs must now also assist the process of
unity by appealing to those who lost to become supportive of those who won
and support the national struggle. This election is a national struggle.

“Let us also try as much as possible if we are in a better situation
financially to assist those in situations of need … All of us must arouse
the people’s revolutionary enthusiasm which I noticed from the queues we had
exist among us. Get as many people to vote as possible.”

The Zanu PF leader, who turned 89 this year and his ruled Zimbabwe since
independence in 1980, will seek another five year-term in office when he
leads Zanu PF in the crucial elections.

In 2009, he was forced to share power with bitter rival Morgan Tsvangirai
who won the first round of the presidential ballot in 2008 before pulling
out of the run-off vote, claiming the Zanu PF leader had unleashed violence
against his supporters.

But on Thursday, Mugabe said the coalition arrangement had been a “strategic
retreat” for his party and not a humiliation.
“Yes, we have had four and half years, going to be five years perhaps, of
this ugly creature - the inclusive Government that we went into because we
had slept and missed our revolutionary step . . . A disastrous fall,” he
said.

“It was a sudden (fall) from which we rose and looked around and said the
time demands that we use tactics. Some might not have understood us but
revolutionaries when they suffer a reversal they do not call it defeat.

“It was time for us to reflect and assess the mistake we made along the way
and try to win as much support as possible. It was time for us to walk
cautiously . . . All this after humiliation of having to work with those who
never believed in the ideals of the revolutionary struggle.

“If you are to supper with the devil you must have a long spoon. We had a
very long spoon indeed and we knew how to use it to feed ourselves.”

The veteran leader said the coalition arrangement had given Zanu PF time to
recover and regroup.

“It was a backward step we had taken in order for us to recover,” he said.”
“The moment has come indeed for us to assert ourselves once again and say we
are out of this shell. We are growing out of this shell, global national
whatever, and we want to become ourselves; pure, pure, pure
revolutionaries!”

Zanu PF admits primaries 'irregularities'

http://www.dailynews.co.zw/

GIFT PHIRI • 4 JULY 2013 11:02PM

HARARE – President Robert Mugabe’s Zanu PF has admitted there were electoral
“irregularities” during the recent primaries, but brushed off claims of
outright poll fraud, stating the malpractice was too insignificant to
influence the result.

Rugare Gumbo, the Zanu PF spokesperson, told reporters after a Politburo
meeting on Wednesday that it is possible there were irregularities in the
internal elections, but said the party wanted to close that chapter and
focus on the crunch harmonised poll.

The primary election was marred by gross and widespread irregularities,
infractions and malpractices as well as electoral violations which
fundamentally impugned the validity of the results.

During the primaries, Zanu PF provided four pieces of bond paper to each
voter to write the name of the preferred candidate for MP, Councillor,
Senator and provincial council representative.

There was a single ballot box for these four votes. Instead of writing the
four names on each paper for the respective candidates, the majority of
voters wrote just the name of the MP, on all the four papers, dramatically
inflating figures for aspiring legislators.

Gumbo spoke amid angry demonstrations by vanquished candidates and their
supporters who claimed their share of the vote was stolen to inflate the
winning candidates’ tally to bring them a crushing win.

The petitioners presented several instances of irregularities which vitiated
the votes cast and the sheer volume of these irregularities had a material
and substantial effect on the outcome of the election as a whole.

Despite attempts to paper over the poll fraud, there is lingering public
outcry over the rigged primaries that disgruntled members say were achieved
mostly through “falsification”, meaning multiple voting by the same citizens
and ballot stuffing.

Waving placards outside the party headquarters as the Politburo sat,
disgruntled candidates said the vote was unfair but stopped short of calling
it illegitimate.

In an apparent attempt at conciliation, Gumbo said the primaries were now
water under the bridge.

“Generally, the party’s position is that yes there may have been
irregularities, there may have been problem cases that may have occurred, as
of now we want to close ranks and focus on the elections,” Gumbo said.

He said the Politburo received a report from the chairman of the national
elections directorate about what happened in the primary elections and
nomination court.

“All we are saying to everyone, those who were affected by the unfortunate
irregularities is that let’s close ranks and forget about what has happened
and look to the future,” Gumbo said.

“We expect everyone to support those who were nominated. The grievances will
be resolved after. We have made a commitment today that after the elections
we are going to sit down and look at various cases; we create an environment
whereby people feel that they are part of Zanu PF not renegades.”

Meanwhile, Gumbo said ?ex-Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe advisor Munyaradzi Kereke
was not cleared to be the party candidate for Bikita West saying Elias
Musakwa was the approved candidate.

“No, no its only one candidate, that is Musakwa who was endorsed by the
party,” Gumbo said.

“The other, Munyaradzi Kereke was from the beginning told that he can’t
stand because of his cases, or problems but the provincial leadership in
Masvingo decided to do otherwise. The fact of the matter is that it is only
Musakwa standing for the election.”

Despite Gumbo’s ?denial, Kereke and Musakwa were both duly nominated Zanu PF
candidates for Bikita West by Rex Pudurai, Zimbabwe Electoral Commission
provincial officer at Masvingo Magistrate’s Court last Friday.

Kereke is facing allegations of sexually assaulting an 11-year-old girl
three years ago, a charge he strongly denies, claiming police had not acted
up to now because they found no case against him.

The girl, now 14, through her lawyers has mounted a spirited campaign to get
her alleged attacker on trial, writing to police chief Augustine Chihuri and
to ?Attorney General Johannes Tomana saying she has the right to seek
justice against her attacker and that there should be no impunity granted to
powerful men who rape minors.

Kereke’s candidacy was said to be facing fierce resistance from the Zanu PF
presidium.

Disgruntled Zanu-PF rebels stand their ground

http://mg.co.za/

05 JUL 2013 00:00 RAY NDLOVU

Disgruntled Zanu-PF members who lost in primary elections are abandoning the
party and opting to go to the polls as independent candidates.

The politburo, Zanu-PF's highest decision making body, which laboured in
marathon meetings that lasted into the night compiling a list of "rules and
regulations" for the internal polls, is now baying for the blood of the
independent candidates, whom it warned it would automatically expel from the
party.

The politburo took its time crafting rules to ensure all members would be
happy and there would be no challenges to the results.

Political observers said the primary elections held last week had brought to
the surface divisions that party officials have been trying to keep under
wraps.

"Some of those who lost the primary elections have pulling power among their
supporters and can use those votes against the party and President Robert
Mugabe as a way to vent their anger," said Dumisani Nkomo, a political
analyst.

Webster Shamu, Zanu-PF's national commissar, whose task involves mobilising
party support at grassroots levels for the party, announced the verdict
against those who would be standing as independent candidates in the coming
election.

Independent candidates warned
"Anyone standing as an independent has automatically expelled himself or
herself from the party … Anyone contesting as an independent candidate will
not be accepted back in the party," he said.

Some of those who had initially announced their decision to contest as
independent candidates such as Mike Madiro, the former Manicaland governor
accused of pocketing donations from diamond companies meant for Zanu-PF's
conference last year, developed cold feet after Shamu read out the riot act.

"I made the decision that Zanu-PF is bigger than individuals. Hence it is
important that Zanu-PF as a party goes into the elections united. If we are
not united, we risk dividing votes that are due to Zanu-PF," Madiro said.

"I realise those who are persecuting me have an agenda and by standing as an
independent candidate, I will be playing into their hands."

Madiro denies the charges that he looted party funds.

However, other contestants have vowed not to back down from the contest,
including Marian Chombo (Zvimba North), Jonathan Samkange (Mudzi South),
Dorothy Mabika (Chipinge South), Rumbidzai Mujuru (Chikomba Central) and
Shylet Moyo (Bikita South).

Marian vs Ignatius Chombo
Marian is the former wife of Ignatius Chombo, the local government minister,
and is challenging her ex-husband for the Zvimba North constituency.

She cited "unfair treatment" during the primary elections as the reason for
loss to Chombo.

But the face-off is likely to be more motivated by personal vendettas after
Marian, through the courts, claimed a huge stake of her husband's wealth
during their divorce in 2012.

Court papers filed by Marian during the divorce proceedings revealed that
her ex-husband owned properties in Harare, prime land in the city and its
outskirts, as well as several farms and luxury vehicles. The two settled the
matter in court.

John Mafa, the Mashonaland West provincial chairman, criticised Marian for
contesting as an independent. He said her actions were sowing divisions in
the party.

Losing candidates besieged the Zanu-PF headquarters in Harare last week
claiming vote-rigging and questionable winning margins that did not match
voter turnout.

"We do not encourage people to stand as independent candidates because even
if one is not satisfied with the way things went, they should swallow their
pride and accept that their time will come. There are many other ways of
expressing disappointment through the internal party channels," said Mafa.

Political turncoat Jonathan Moyo said: "It is unfortunate, unwise, misguided
and career-threatening to those concerned."

He stood as an independent candidate twice in the 2005 and 2008
parliamentary elections.

Moyo made an appeal to his peers to think twice before standing as
independents. He rejoined Zanu-PF in 2009.

Zimbabwe roll excludes millions of young voters

http://mg.co.za/

05 JUL 2013 00:00 WONGAI ZHANGAZHA

Zimbabwe's register is inaccurate and biased towards older citizens, a
research group has found.

As Zimbabwe prepares for a presidential and parliamentary elections, a
respected research organisation in Harare has found that the voters' roll
contains a million people who are either dead or have left the country, 116
000 people over the age of 100, and 78 constituencies with more registered
voters than adult residents.

The report by the Research and Advocacy Unit, which will be released on July
5, also notes that close to two million young Zimbabweans below the age of
30 are unregistered.

Young people tend to support the opposition parties.

The research unit's revelations follow Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's
challenge this week to the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) to
investigate allegations that a shadowy Israeli firm, Nikuv International
Projects, had been contracted by Zanu-PF to work on the voters' roll and
help to rig elections.

Earlier this year the Mail & Guardian reported that there were suspicions
that Nikuv was working with the country's intelligence to manipulate the
voters' roll.

The M&G has also reported on Zanu-PF tactics to sway election results,
including resettling landless people in selected Movement for Democratic
Change strongholds in urban areas, such as Harare, to boost the number of
Zanu-PF votes.

Zanu-PF also allegedly intends to ensure that soldiers and the police are
mobilised in its favour.

In its report, titled Key Statistics Report from the June 2013 Voters' Roll,
the research unit compares the roll with the preliminary results of the 2012
census and percentages of the population in different age bands supplied by
government statistical agency Zimstat, which it used in its 2012 survey on
health and demographics in Zimbabwe.

Slow population growth rate
According to the unit, Zimstat is of the view that these percentages have
not changed significantly in the past few years and this is supported by the
fact that last year's census shows that Zimbabwe has a slow population
growth rate of 1.1%.

The unit's analysis revealed that only 8.9% of Zimbabweans under the age of
30 appear on the voters' roll, meaning that nearly two million people in
that age band are not registered to vote.

Similarly, the 2012 population census indicated that there were 1.1-million
people in the 20-to-24 age range, but only 22 5000 of them, or 19.6%, appear
to be registered.

The report states: "In numerical terms, this means that a total of 1920424
people under the age of 30 ought to be registered as voters but are not.
This is almost 29% of the total adult population of 6 647 779."

Coupled with this under-registration of young voters is a marked
over-registration in all age groups of 30 years and above, indicating that
the number of registered voters exceeds the population of Zimbabwe by a
considerable margin.

In the 40-44 age group, for example, the census indicated that there were
about 467 000 people, whereas 759 000 are registered to vote - a 62%
variation. Some of this discrepancy might be explained by the fact that
people were out of the country during the census, the unit said.

It also found that there were 116 000 registered voters over the age of 100,
which it described as "unlikely".

Constituencies
The unit found that the number of registered voters exceeded the adult
population in no less than 78 of Zimbabwe's 210 constituencies across the
country. In Bulawayo, for example, seven constituencies - or more than half
of the total - had more registered voters than adult residents.

In Mashonaland East, a mainly rural Zanu-PF stronghold, the unit revealed
that 12 constituencies were over-registered.

It said the problems of "over-registration" and "under-registration"
affected the delimitation of constituencies, "since it is based upon the
number of registered voters in each constituency".

"Delimitation will be inaccurate to the extent that the voters' roll
incorrectly reflects the number of voters in each constituency," the report
states.

"Constituencies were last delimited ahead of the 2008 elections. There is to
be no new delimitation ahead of the 2013 elections despite extensive
demographic changes and changes to the voters roll since 2008."

Coltart: School calendar changed due to elections

The Ministry of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture advises all Responsible
Authorities, heads of schools, parents, learners, stakeholders and the
general public, that, due to the harmonized elections scheduled for 31 July
2013 ,schools will close on 26 July 2013 . This is necessary to enable the
participation of teachers in this national exercise as well as the use of
schools as Polling Stations.

In order to compensate for some of the lost time, the Third Term will begin
on 3 September 2013 instead of 10 September 2013.The end date for the Third
Term remains 5 December 2013.

If individual schools have particular events which they will find difficult
to adjust or postpone they may apply to the Permanent Secretary for
permission to continue with these events. Sympathetic consideration will be
given to these applications so long as they do not clash with the election
itself and do not involve keeping the entire school open.

The Ministry hopes that all concerned will take note of this change to the
school calendar.

Honorable Senator: D Coltart
Minister of Education, Sport,Arts and Culture

Poll date ruling proves court bias: MDC-T

http://www.newzimbabwe.com/

04/07/2013 00:00:00
by Staff Reporter I Agencies

PRIME Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s MDC-T party has said Thursday’s
Constitutional Court ruling upholding President Robert’s proclamation for
elections to be held on July 31 was evidence of the court’s Zanu PF bias.

“This was a predictable ruling by the constitutional court because it was
clear it was going to make a political decision rather than a legal
decision,” MDC-T spokesman Douglas Mwonzora said in an interview with
SWRadio Africa.

“This application was destined to fail anyway because it was poorly written
by the Minister of Justice who wanted this particular outcome. The
Constitutional Court did not want to displease the emperor.”

The court unanimously rejected a series of appeals – including one by
Tsvangirai - to delay the elections in order to allow more time for reform
of the country’s security services and state media.

"For the avoidance of doubt, elections should proceed on the 31st of July in
terms of the proclamation by the President of Zimbabwe in compliance with
the order of this court. Reasons for judgment are to follow," said Chief
Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku.

Lawyers for Tsvangirai argued Thursday that Mugabe's poll call was illegal
because Tsvangirai had not agreed to the July 31 date under the terms of the
coalition deal that required consensus on major policy decisions in
Zimbabwe.

The MDC-T leader, had applied for a 25-day delay from the July proclamation
by Mugabe last month.
But the court said Thursday that Tsvangirai should have sought the delay
soon after the judgment instead of waiting for Mugabe to announce the date.

"He left it to the President to do want he wants or else he could have come
to the court sooner," said one of the nine-judge court, Justice Luke Malaba.

Malaba said Tsvangirai's reluctance to approach the courts earlier "meant he
was happy with the date."

Still, Tsvangirai’s spokesman Luke Tamborinyoka said the MDC-T leader would
abide by the court ruling.

"Since the court has ruled, it means we have to go by that date,"
Tamborinyoka said.
President Robert Mugabe’s lawyer, Terrence Hussein, said there had been
lengthy arguments during the hearing but all the nine judges eventually made
a unanimous decision which “reaffirmed that the constitution of Zimbabwe
prevails.”

Cornered MDC-T Candidate Vows to Take Part in Elections

http://www.voazimbabwe.com/

Loirdham Moyo
05.07.2013

MUTARE — Former Mutare mayor Brian Leslie James says he will not pull of
this year’s election following a letter purportedly written by the party’s
secretary general, Tendai Biti, asking him to withdraw his nomination papers
for Mutare’s Murambi Ward 12 council seat.

James told VOA Studio 7 on Friday that he is not going back on his decision
to stand as a candidate for the MDC-T, adding confusion over the letter has
been dispelled by another one from Biti and his deputy, Tapiwa Mashakada,
clearing him to stand in the elections.

The MDC-T also has another candidate standing for the same council seat. The
former mayor says he is not sure how the party will handle the situation but
he proposes a fresh primary election with the loser being asked to withdraw
their nomination papers.

James said the first letter which was sent to the provincial leadership was
a bit ambiguous showing that it could have been fake as it may have emanated
from some in the MDC-T pushing their own candidates.

James also said the letter could have been penned by some people in the
party who are not happy about his public pronouncement that the MDC-T’s
recent primary elections were a sham.

Biti told VOA that he did not write the letter that demanded the former
Mutare mayor pull out of the elections.

Other MDC-T candidates who chose to stand as independents in the election
include Regai Tsunga in Mutasa South, who will battle it out with Misheck
Kagurabadza and Zanu PF’s Irene Zindi.

Ngaaite Zimunya, another so-called MDC rebel, will contest against Robert
Saunyama and Zanu PF’s Nyasha Chikwinya.

Zimbabwe shuts door on asset seizure

http://mg.co.za/

05 JUL 2013 00:00 WONGAI ZHANGAZHA

The Zim government has taken swift action to block the seizure of its assets
in SA under various court rulings by conferring diplomatic immunity.

It has conferred diplomatic immunity on three Cape Town residential
buildings it owns.

This emerged following last week's landmark judgment by South Africa's
Constitutional Court confirming that white farmers who had lost their farms
in controversial land seizures in Zimbabwe could sue in the South African
courts for compensation and attach Zimbabwe government assets here.

Rejecting an appeal by the Zimbabwe government against a ruling by the
Southern African Development Community tribunal in 2008, Chief Justice
Mogoeng Mogoeng said that the tribunal had "imposed an obligation on South
Africa to take all legal steps to facilitate the execution of [its]
decisions" and that these were "binding and enforceable" on all SADC
nations.

Mogoeng found that "Zimbabwe was duty-bound to assist in the execution of
that judgment, and so is South Africa".

The tribunal was disbanded in August last year at the SADC summit in Maputo,
allegedly in preparation for a new protocol that would reconstitute it.
Following the tribunal's 2008 judgment, the 77 farmers who had brought the
application, originally led by Michael Campbell and now led by Ben Freeth,
attached one of the Zimbabwe government's buildings at 28 Salisbury Road,
Kenilworth, in Cape Town. It was purchased by Zimbabwe in 1994 for R52 5000.

AmaBhungane has learnt that the Zimbabwe government owns three more
properties in Cape Town, numbers 53 and 55 Kuyper Street in the suburb of
Zonnebloem and number 46A Tennant Street in Wynberg.

However, the farmers have not succeeded in attaching these assets because
the Zimbabwe government swiftly moved to protect them from seizure by
claiming diplomatic impunity.

Willie Spies, the legal spokesperson for nongovernmental organisation
AfriForum and the farmers' attorney, said this week his clients would
probably hold a sale in execution of the Kenilworth property, which would be
disposed of at auction.

Commercial property
Spies said: "We managed to attach the house in Salisbury Road, Kenilworth
because it was leased to a third party, meaning that it was a commercial
property. The house is worth between R3.5-million and R4-million .

"Though we initially attached the houses in Zonnebloem and Wynberg, the
Zimbabwe government stopped efforts to lease them and moved into them. This
was to make them non-attachable in terms of diplomatic immunity."

Spies said the combined value of the latter houses was between R10-million
and R15-million.

During the interview, Spies also revealed that the farmers had considered
tracking down other assets of the Zimbabwe government in South Africa,
including aircraft owned by Air Zimbabwe. The airline recently restarted
operations and now lands at OR Tambo Airport in Johannesburg.

"At one point, we discussed putting efforts into seizing an Air Zimbabwe
plane, but then decided not to at this stage. At the moment, we want to
establish the principle and apply pressure," Spies said.

"There may be other Zimbabwe government assets in South Africa whose
existence we have not yet established, and we may consider going for them as
the matter progresses. South Africa remains Zimbabwe's most important
trading partner and goods and services flow through this country en route to
and from Zimbabwe," he said.

Enjoyment of rights
Elaborating on Mogoeng's ruling, a government communication statement said
that it had extended the common law on the enforcement of foreign judgments
to those of the SADC tribunal. The court held that this extension was
provided for by SADC legal instruments regarding the enforcement of the
tribunal's judgments in the region.

The judgment also held that the Constitution enjoined the local courts to
develop the common law to facilitate the enjoyment of rights provided for in
the Bill of Rights. These included the right of access to the courts and
compensation for expropriation, which the farmers had been denied.

President Robert Mugabe's spokesperson, George Charamba, said on July 2 that
the Constitutional Court's ruling undermined bilateral relations between the
two countries and violated the Vienna Convention, which governs diplomatic
relations between countries.

He said the farmers would not succeed in attaching the properties owned by
the Zimbabwe government because they were subject to diplomatic immunity.

Don't ignore Baba Jukwa: Analysts

http://www.dailynews.co.zw/

THELMA CHIKWANHA • 4 JULY 2013 10:36PM

HARARE – IT is “dangerous” and foolhardy to dismiss Baba Jukwa’s online
survey which showed Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai leading the
presidential race, political analysts say.

The online opinion poll show Tsvangirai leads the pack with 85 percent of
votes, while Mugabe can expect to be backed by 10 percent of Zimbabweans.

Welshman Ncube, leader of the smaller MDC, can expect to garner three
percent of voters, while Zapu leader Dumiso Dabengwa and Kisinoti Mukwazhi
were both tied on one percent.

While there was need for caution in the treatment of the data or survey
since it was non-scientific, analysts told the Daily News that it would be
equally foolish to ignore the outcome of the poll, as it conveyed a bold
message of a people hungry for change.

Reverend Levee Kadenge, founding member of Christian Alliance, said: “It
would be foolish to rubbish the survey on the basis that it was not
scientific enough because we cannot deny the influence social media has.

“Even as Pastors, we are now on Facebook so we can keep track of what our
parishioners are seeing so that we can preach messages that are timely and
relevant.

“It is the same with politicians, they should also take heed because if they
ignore this poll, it will be the same as ignoring the people,” Kadenge, who
is also a senior lecturer at United Theological College, said.

Joy Mabege, a pro-democracy activist, said what was important was the spirit
in which the poll was conducted.

“On a balance of probability, if we remove a margin of error of 30 percent,
it still means the leading candidate (Tsvangirai) will still lead,” Mabenge
said.

“Even if you go beyond the margin of error, it’s all about the spirit of
those people who participated. The spirit is that people want something that
is different from Zanu PF and they think it is embodied in the MDC.

“Social media influences politics; it played a critical role in North Africa
uprisings.”

Zanu PF on one hand say they have no time for Baba Jukwa even though some of
the party’s heavy weights like Youth and Empowerment Minister Saviour
Kasukuwere claim the faceless character, with over ?200 000 followers, was
destabilising his family life

Charity Manyeruke, a University of Zimbabwe political scientist urged
politicians not to underplay the importance of social media.

“If you want to take results from the Facebook poll, you have to make it
scientific; you need to verify using other factors on the ground,” she said.
“This poll means nothing; it’s about one person using their public space. It’s
like going into someone’s bedroom and seeing what is happening there and
thinking that it is happening everywhere.”

Dewa Mavhinga, a senior researcher with Human Rights Watch, said in the
context of a country with a 70 percent rural population, people should not
exaggerate the relevance of social media.

“Most Zimbabwean Facebook users are in the diaspora with limited political
influence back at home,” Mavhinga said. “But as a source of information,
social media is increasingly becoming important in Zimbabwe politics, but
the decisive factor remains on the ground mobilisation and connections.

“It’s a feel good poll but probably all those who took part are not
registered voters, it’s a campaign tool, not a scientifically credible poll,
unfortunately.

“But that is not to say its result are not relevant, only that there should
be caution in relying on Facebook polls.”

He also added that while the survey was an indicator of the general desire
of change by Zimbabweans, it was not entirely a good indicator.

Zim army gets down to business

http://mg.co.za/

05 JUL 2013 00:00 TAKUDZWA MUNYAKA

The military's increasing involvement in private enterprise has raised
concern that it is preparing to back up a parallel government.

The Zimbabwe National Army (ZNA) is increasingly expanding its business
empire, raising concern in the opposition party that it is strengthening its
financial muscle to back up a parallel government.

Of late, the army has been involving itself in private business, raking in
concessions in the mining of diamonds and is heavily involved with a company
that has tourism and retail ventures. Now it is going into energy
production.

Energy interests
A senior army source has revealed that the army has shares in China Africa
Sunlight Energy, a company that will roll out a $2.1-billion project that
involves coal mining, methane gas extraction and power generation in Gwayi
in Matabeleland North.

Apart from getting a mining licence, the company has so far also managed to
secure water rights, a power-generation licence from the Zimbabwe Energy
Regulatory Authority and has finalised national grid power modalities with
the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority.

In an interview, Gift Chimanikire, the deputy mining development minister,
confirmed that his ministry had granted the army and its Chinese partner the
authority to carry out mining activities.

"I am made to understand that the army is involved in that project, which
has also to do with methane gas. The army is also in partnership with Anjin
at the Chiadzwa diamond fields. It has some subsidiaries that are involved
in other mining activities as well that may be difficult to trace," said
Chimanikire.

Asked for clarity on the partnership in terms of the army's ownership and
what it uses the profits for, retired colonel Charles Mugari, China Africa's
deputy general manager, declined to comment.

"I have nothing to say. You can go ahead and write what you want. You have
previously shown that you do not want to work with us," Mugari said.

New diamond ventures
This week, Giles Mutsekwa, the secretary for defence in Prime Minister
Morgan Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), told the Mail &
Guardian that his party had new information to the effect that the army was
also mining diamonds in Chimanimani, in the same Manicaland province where
the Chiadzwa fields are located.

Mutsekwa said the MDC was worried about the army's business ventures because
the military was turning into a government sustaining itself outside the
national purse.

"The money it is raising could be a source of conflict. The temptation for
the army to run a parallel government is imminent," said Mutsekwa.

"For the sake of stability, every institution should draw from the national
purse. This is a worrying factor. The army could refuse to submit to
government authority."

Some of the country's army generals have vowed not to recognise any
electoral victory by Tsvangirai and his party and have openly declared their
membership and allegiance to Zanu-PF.

"Under such circumstances, what can stop them from using some of the money
to fund Zanu-PF's election campaigns?" asked Mutsekwa.

Defence Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa was not immediately available to answer
why, if the army received full funding from the government, it needed to
venture into private businesses.

The defence ministry was allocated $356.7-million, representing 9.2% of the
total 2013 national budget.

It had the third largest allocation after the education ministry, at
$754.9-million, and the health ministry, at $380-million. It is doubtful,
however, whether it would have received its full allocation in the light of
the precarious state of government finances.

The Mail & Guardian last month also reported that the army had continued to
hire personnel despite a government moratorium freezing all posts owing to
the financial squeeze.

Diamonds, tourism and a college
The army is also in a 50-50 partnership with Anjin, a Chinese firm, in the
Chiadzwa diamond mining fields. Through Anjin, Chimanikire said, the army
had managed to enter into retail, tourism and higher education.

In a response to parliamentary questions last year, Chimanikire said Anjin
was owned by the Chinese and the government of Zimbabwe in a deal where the
parastatal Zimbabwe Mining Development Company owned 10% and Zimbabwe
Defence Industry, an arms company owned by the Zimbabwe national army, owned
40%.

Said Chimanikire: "Through Anjin, they have managed to enter into mining,
tourism, retail and higher education. Anjin built the shopping centre in
Belvedere and a hotel in Manicaland."

The Manicaland hotel is the three-star Golden Peacock, opened last year, and
plans are in place to build a five-star hotel, after the group purchases the
popular Meikles Park in Mutare.

"Anjin also built the military college," Chimanikire said.

The National Defence College is affiliated to the University of Zimbabwe,
with plans to transform it into a fully fledged military university by 2016.

The $98-million university was built with a Chinese loan in a deal by which
the loan would be repaid from the proceeds of the Anjin diamond deal in
which the army has shares.

According to the loan agreement, building materials must come from Chinese
firms and the Chinese may demand their money back should Zimbabwe's
government policies change.

Barter trade of national resources
Chimanikire said there was an element of barter between the army and the
Chinese as, in some instances, the Chinese brought in mining equipment and
were not given any cash, but mineral resources, as payment.

Two weeks ago, Finance Minister Tendai Biti told Parliament that in the
first quarter of this year $200- million worth of diamonds had been sold,
but the treasury had got nothing, raising suspicion about where the revenue
was being channelled.

A recent parliamentary report fingered Anjin as one of the worst culprits in
terms of diamonds proceeds not reaching the treasury.

Biti also told legislators that the treasury did not have any funds to
bankroll the forthcoming polls, in part because of the non-remittance of
diamond proceeds.

Biti told the House of Assembly that only President Robert Mugabe could stop
some of the illegal activities, adding: "It requires political will from the
leader. Unfortunately, that is not coming. That is the internal aspect."

Political analyst Gideon Chitanga said the illegal activities were left
unhindered as Zanu-PF was benefiting from the deal because the army was
linked to it.

"There is mutual benefit for the Chinese, Zanu-PF and largely individual
military actors who have corruptly amassed massive wealth in opaque deals
that prejudice the state.

"The Chinese know very well that the military is a key strategic player in
Zanu-PF's hold on state power," said Chitanga.

"Other than their personal interest in accumulating wealth, military actors
are proactively involved in ensuring that diamond deals with the Chinese are
used to fund Zanu-PF instead of government business."

Controversial business
The other army partnerships are also not free of controversy. The Anjin
shopping centre was built on a wetland despite opposition from the
government watchdog, the Environment Management Agency, and the Harare
Residents Trust. Building on wetlands is outlawed.

Two months ago, the Gwayi Valley Intensive Conservation Area also lobbied
the government to block China Africa Sunlight Energy from operating in the
area, saying it was affecting tourism.

Mutare residents have since launched a campaign dubbed "Save Mutare Meikles
Park" to prevent the sale of the park to Anjin.

"Meikles Park, in the central business district of Mutare, is a place that
is special in our hearts. The only place you could sit down and have pie
while enjoying the cool breeze. Anjin has arm-twisted the city council to
sell them our park so they can build a hotel," reads part of the campaign's
protest messages.

In a parliamentary debate, MDC Mbizo MP, Settlement Chikwinya, said the army
was using retired soldiers as fronts in its deals.

He said the companies were registered in such a way as to make it difficult
to trace the ownership.

Chikwinya added that Mbada Diamonds and Canadile Miners, a partnership in
which the army also has interests, was registered in Mauritius in 2009, even
though it operates locally, and a court order would be needed to obtain its
shareholding. Canadile's licence was later revoked.

Chikwinya said retired Air Vice Marshall Robert Mhlanga, the chairperson of
Mbada Holdings, was a former soldier.

The MP identified Canadile shareholders as retired Brigadier Victor Rongai,
retired Colonel Charles Mugari, retired Major General Charles Ruwodo, and
retired Major Lovemore Kurotwi.

No more SABC for Zimbabwe

http://mg.co.za/

05 JUL 2013 00:00 TAKUDZWA MUNYAKA

Zimbabweans have been left with no choice but to watch ZTV as the SABC has
switched its channels off.

Zimbabweans make no secret of their intense hatred of local broadcaster
Zimbabwe Television (ZTV). But now they have no alternative but to watch it
after the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) switched off access
to its channels.

For years, about three million locals have used free-to-air decoders to
watch all three SABC channels, mainly in protest against programmes on ZTV
that they say amount to propaganda and are also of poor quality.

ZTV, the sole television station operating in the country, is
state-controlled and is owned by the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation
(ZBC).

Decoders, including Wiztech, Philibao, Fortec and Vivid, became especially
popular among low-income groups. The decoders allowed free access to certain
channels, including the SABC's channels, with no subscriptions.

The decoders are a common site in rural areas, farming communities and urban
townships. In Mbare, Harare, one can find as many as 50 satellite dishes at
one hostel. South African soaps such as Generations and Isidingo enjoy a
huge following in Zimbabwe.

The disconnection followed a ruling by the Johannesburg High Court last year
ordering Sentech, a South African television signal carrier, to encrypt its
signal within three months after eBotswana, a subsidiary of South Africa's
e.tv, asked Sentech to scramble its signal due to signal piracy.

Complaints
The move left viewers with no choice but to revert to watching ZTV. Those
who can afford it will move to the more expensive Digital Satellite
Television (DStv), which is offered by Multichoice.

A large number of Zimbabweans this week took to social media sites to
express their displeasure over the withdrawal of the South African channels
on the free-to-air decoders.

"It came as a complete shock. Of course, last year there were rumours that
SABC 1, 2, and 3 would be cut off but as time lapsed we thought the rumours
were false. I'm totally gutted. I had become a keen follower of Generations,
Muvhango and Zone 14, so it will be difficult to adjust to ZTV," said
Mildred Mhondera, a resident in Mabvuku who said she had been watching South
African channels since 2008.

"The channels were withdrawn at a terrible time — just before elections — so
you can imagine the amount of propaganda we will be subjected to. Zanu-PF
will be rejoicing because of this move," she said.

In addition to complaints of propaganda, people who spoke to the Mail &
Guardian also complained that ZTV airs too many talk shows on limited
subjects of farming and histories of ethnic groups, bland Korean movies,
little international news and has an obsession with Chinese news channels.

Media Institute of Southern Africa Zimbabwe director Nhlanhla Ngwenya said
the SABC had become not only a major source of quality entrainment for
millions of Zimbabweans, but an outlet of alternative news on events taking
place in Zimbabwe.

Demans for alternative channels
"And as the country heads for elections, the free-to-air satellite dish
would have provided another angle on the management of the process than that
provided by ZTV. SABC is also a potential channel through which political
parties and civil society could air their advertisements given the tight
controls and manipulation of ZBC," said Ngwenya.

Ngwenya said the timing of the switching off could not have come at a worse
time due to pending polls.

"I am sure those in authority and those accused of obstructing the free flow
of information to distort the realities on the ground are overjoyed by this
turn of events because it snugly fits in with their tyrannical schemes".

Harare Residents' Trust co-ordinator Precious Shumba also said switching off
the SABC channels was unfortunate and leaves the locals at the mercy of the
ZTV monopoly.

"For years, Zimbabwe's civil society has been demanding the freeing of the
airwaves to allow for the operation of private and independent broadcasters,
and this decision by the SABC has increased the demand for alternative
channels of broadcasting services," she said.

Shumba said that residents are already stressed about having to "endure long
periods of partisan reporting and broadcasting services from ZBC's radio and
television stations, which have a traceable history of denying citizens a
platform to air their political views".

Shumba said few could afford DStv due to a stagnant economy. The cheapest
DStv package costs $10 a month, and the most expensive is $75.

The unity government had resolved to end ZTV's broadcasting monopoly, but
Zanu-PF has resisted implementing the agreement. The reform of the state
broadcaster is one of the outstanding issues the opposition wants resolved
before an election is held.

All power in Mugabe's court

http://mg.co.za/

05 JUL 2013 00:00 TAKUDZWA MUNYAKA

Zimbabwe's Parliament has been dissolved and there are fears that President
Robert Mugabe may abuse the legal vacuum in the lead-up to elections.

President Robert Mugabe now has absolute power until the elections to make
and pass laws and amend existing ones without consultation after the
dissolution of Parliament last weekend.

The Constitutional Court ruled on Thursday that polls will take place on
July 31.

The dissolution of Parliament means Zimbabwe is operating with two arms of
state, the executive and the judiciary.

Legally, Mugabe should also consult Cabinet before changing any laws, but he
is the final authority in legislating laws and can bypass Cabinet.

But on Tuesday two sources who sit on Cabinet meetings said Mugabe had bade
them farewell and said Cabinet would not sit again until after the poll.

There are now fears that Mugabe will take advantage of the situation to
invoke the controversial Presidential Powers Temporary Measures Act and
change legislation, including electoral laws.

Election date shock
Mugabe last month used the Presidential Powers Act to unilaterally amend the
Electoral Act and declare July 31 as the election date. That move, on the
eve of the extraordinary Southern African Development Community summit on
Zimbabwe in Maputo, shocked his political opponents who said Parliament was
still sitting and there was no justification for him to resort to using
sweeping powers.

Professor Eldred Masunungure, a political science lecturer at the University
of Zimbabwe, said the situation of not having a sitting Parliament is
unfortunate for the country because it allowed for unilateralism at a time
when the country is trying to move from "an authoritarian, closed and opaque
system to a more democratic one".

"Ruling by decree is inherently undemocratic because there are no checks and
balances. In our case, we have the executive and the judiciary, but none of
these two pillars is elected directly, unlike Parliament, which in essence
represents the people," he said.

"We have already seen the activation of the Presidential Powers Act while
Parliament was active, and the fear is that there may be more proclamations,
which will tilt the balance of power in favour of Mugabe and Zanu-PF."

Masunungure said, although the new Constitution says once the Electoral Act
has been promulgated there are not supposed to be any amendments, the recent
amendments when Parliament was sitting are good reason for concern.

"The president's decree went ahead oblivious of the existence of Parliament,
so what then can stop him from making more changes?"

Mugabe's 'unilateral tendencies'
Masunungure said, under the current conditions, Mugabe should run the
country in conjunction with Cabinet, but his behaviour suggests that he
wants to do it alone.

"Cabinet is likely to be rendered superfluous and redundant given the
unilateral tendencies exhibited by Mugabe," he said.

In the past, Parliament has dissolved at midnight before the poll date, but
the life of the seventh Parliament ended while the Global Political
Agreement partners were still haggling over election dates and over the
implementation of reforms.

Deputy Justice Minister Obert Gutu, who belongs to the MDC-T, said although
Mugabe can abuse the Presidential Powers Act to change legislation
unilaterally, the presidential powers could also be used for positive
reforms.

"If all parties, through their negotiators, agree on specific reforms such
as the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act, the Public Order
and Security Act and other legislation that is relevant to elections, the
Presidential Powers Act can be used effectively and for the good of the
country," said Gutu.

"The presidential powers are supposed to be used in exceptional
circumstances and for the good of the nation. The problem though is that
they can be used negatively like we saw with the declaration of election
dates and amendments to the Electoral Act."

Presidential powers
The Presidential Powers Act was enacted in 1987 when Mugabe became executive
president after the abolition of the ceremonial presidency. In past polls
Mugabe has used the Act.

On the eve of the 2002 presidential elections, for example, he used his
presidential powers to introduce a raft of amendments to the Electoral Act,
which influenced the running and outcome of the polls. This included the
banning of postal votes and limiting the number of polling stations in urban
centres.

In 2008, Mugabe amended electoral laws again, this time to allow for the
presence of police officers in polling stations. The opposition complained
that this was a tactic that would be used to intimidate the electorate,
especially in rural areas.

MyZimVote goes mobile

http://www.swradioafrica.com/

4 JULY 2013
MyZimVote Helps Zimbabwe Voters Verify Registration
Working to Help Ensure Free and Fair Elections in a Zimbabwe: that Many
Times is neither Free nor Fair

For the first time ever Zimbabwean’s can now check their voter registration
status online at www.myzimvote.com . Access to a copy of the voters’ roll
containing those registered prior to 27 May 2013 is available via both an
online and mobile platform.

The voters’ roll database consists of more than 5.8 million registered
voters. Anyone can search this database by entering his or her Zimbabwean
national ID number.

Your information will NOT be used for any reason other than to check your
voter registration. Each search is managed by the person entering the ID
number: whether that is you or a friend you have asked to check the
database.

If registered, individuals can view their Full Name, Date of Birth, ID
Number, Ward, Constituency and Constituency Number (Physical addresses have
been withheld for privacy purposes).

For those whose registration is accurate, the next step is to encourage
others to check their status.

For those who find inaccuracies in their registration, please report these
inconsistencies via the online reporting map also hosted on
www.myzimvote.com as outlined below.

The site is also used to inform people on where and how to register and the
documentation required to register to vote.

Since the launch of the online voters’ roll on 28 June 2012 MyZimVote has
received nearly 100,000 unique visitors.

As citizens of the 21st Century, MyZimVote saw an opportunity to use simple
technology to help Zimbabwe voters accomplish one task: checking the status
of their voter registration. We are providing public information, legally
accessed, via a user-friendly interface; saving voters time and helping
determine inaccuracies and instances of potential fraud.

MyZimVote is an independent organization and is not affiliated with the
government of Zimbabwe and that is why it is efficient and easy to use. We
support free and fair elections and are sharing this information in a secure
manner online, because the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission has not.

Instructions for Checking the Voters’ Roll on MyZimVote
From a computer visit: www.myzimvote.com
From a mobile phone (or device) visit: www.myzimvote.com/mob

One must enter his or her ID number EXACTLY as show in the example
[01-1234567-A-01] using dashes where required without spaces.

Once an ID number is entered in the search field, the system will scan the
database for an exact match. You will then revive a positive or negative
search result.

If your information is incorrect or your search result was negative, you are
then encouraged to report this by using the online reporting mechanism,
known as a crowdmap. The crowdmap will pool all reports into an easy to
monitor map. This service can also be used to report violence, fraud and
intimation leading up to and after the harmonized elections set to take
place later this year.

Things to look out for:
Your information must be accurate on the voters’ roll in order to vote in
the upcoming elections.
You must cast your vote in the constituency you are registered in (as shown
on the online voters’ roll) or you must change your address at the Registrar
General’s Office or at a Mobile Registration Unit.
Remember the registration period for the upcoming harmonized elections ends
on 9 July 2013.

Be sure to check the following:
- Correct spelling of your name
- Date of Birth
- Ward Number
- Constituency
- Constituency number

Please note: ID numbers are not used for any purpose other than to search
the existing database. It is important to note, if someone’s national ID
number is incorrect in the database, their information will not appear, as
this is currently the only search field to check ones voter registration
status.

Citizens and members of the Diaspora are encouraged to use the online
reporting system to report voters’ roll inaccuracies, voter fraud,
intimidation and acts of violence leading up to and after the harmonized
elections set to take place later this year.

Since launched, we have received hundreds of reports from concerned citizens
ranging from the incorrect spelling of names to being registered in the
wrong constituency, to not appearing on the voters’ roll. In order to vote
in the harmonized elections one must vote in the consistency listed on the
online database or change their constituency.

MyZimVote cannot make any changes or updates nor can we add or delete anyone
to the voters’ roll. Should someone need to change, add or update his or her
information they must do so in Zimbabwe by visiting Registrar General’s
Office or a Mobile Registration Center. This must be done before 9 July
2013, when the registration period ends.

On Spending Your Day Waiting To Register

http://www.kalabashmedia.com/

FRIDAY, 05 JULY 2013 07:57

WRITTEN BY TAFADZWA SHARAUNGA

Take along food and drink, watch your place in the queue and be prepared to
grow roots during the registration process

It’s been three weeks now since the inception of round two of mobile voter
registration across the nation, by now some people have a routine for this
process. Since you can’t just wake up in the morning and register as a voter
in this country you have to plan for it like a vacation!

Take the following: breath mints, breakfast, lunch and a little gift of
monetary value for the police officer who is going to attempt to arrest you
for public indecency because most public toilets died with the economy
during the struggle. Terms and conditions apply, especially if you are
registering in a high-density area such as Mufakose, Mbare, Highfields or
Budiriro. For those in the rural areas it’s the regular bush system (no
extra costs incurred).

Get ready for the excursion. Don’t use flashlights unless you like being
mugged because it’s 4:30 am. Upon arrival at the registration centre do not
be intimidated by the chitchat you hear from a distance, it’s probably
people who got there before you woke up. Humbly join the long, winding
queue. At this time you will realise it’s already 5:00 am, imagine that.

Now the waiting game begins, the Z.E.C. officials arrive between 7- 8:00 am
to re-align all the chaos as they, and the resident police officers, create
multiple queues for voters roll inspection, registration, then national I.D.
and birth certificate registration.

The queues will initially move fast and then come to a halt, this is the
moment when you establish certain facts like who the person standing in
front, or behind you, is going to vote for depending on their level of
sympathy for the police. You are definitely not going to work or school by
now.

Go for a pee break, leaving your ballot buddy to save your place.

Enter the latecomers who queue jump. Their manifesto on tardiness states
that if you do it Feya-Feya you will spend the whole day Theya-Theya (there)
but thanks to comrade ballot buddy, who can identify you as one of the
masses in the struggle, you can reclaim your position in this hotly
contested race to the voters roll.

Lunch hour approaches and all of a sudden you are surrounded by truants who
are most likely potential first generation voters, mainly using voter
registration as an excuse for bunking school or pursuing their romantic
interests.

Often, between the power cuts and generators being switched on/off, inkpads
will dry up and a Z.E.C. official will dash off to get some more ink. By the
time they get back you will have spent the entire day there.

Walking home, tired as hell, you realise that the official Z.E.C. statement
saying that close to 500,000 people have been added to the voters roll over
the past month (increasing the tally to above 5 million registered voters)
was total hogwash. If your name is not on the voters roll by now then Z.E.C.
probably stands for Zimbabwean Elections Cancelled, well at least for you
that is.

HOT SEAT: Interview Beatrice Mtetwa

http://www.swradioafrica.com

Violet Gonda’s guest is prominent human rights lawyer Beatrice Mtetwa

Violet Gonda’s guest is prominent human rights lawyer Beatrice Mtetwa who was in London recently to launch the film about her work in Zimbabwe, ‘Beatrice Mtetwa and the rule of law.’ The award winning lawyer is currently on trial for allegedly insulting the police while trying to defend her clients. She talks about the rule of law ahead of elections and explains how ‘the abnormal has become normal.’ How independent are the Constitutional Court judges? Why does Mtetwa say the MDC formations often keep quiet when the machinations by ZANU PF are going on? To what extent has civil society been neutralized and infiltrated? She also responds to criticism that she is driven by fame and money.

BROADCAST: 04 JULY 2013

LISTEN HERE

VIOLET GONDA: My guest on the Hot Seat is prominent human rights lawyer Beatrice Mtetwa who was in London recently for the official screening of her film “Beatrice Mtetwa and the Rule of Law”. Welcome on the programme Beatrice.

BEATRICE MTETWA: Thank you Violet.

GONDA: First of all, what is your main take-away from this film?

MTETWA: It’s a film that I’m hoping will really be used as an advocacy tool in any country where there’s a rule of law deficiency. Although Zimbabwe is being used in the film, the story there could be in any other country really. So I’m hoping that it might help advocacy on rule of law issues and how lawyers can play a role in trying to restore the rule of law.

GONDA: You actually say in your film that President Mugabe and Zanu PF have always engineered the legal and judiciary system in their favour; you said: “Unlike a lot of other dictators, Robert Mugabe doesn’t just go out and do what he wants. He first goes to parliament and passes a law and when you say ‘hey you can’t do that’, he will say that is the law.” Can you elaborate?

MTETWA: Well we have seen many unjust laws being put in the statute books to say that this is the law. You take for instance AIPPA which resulted in many journalists having to leave the country and many media houses being shut down. Everybody knows that, that law ought not to have been really passed and that it ought not to have withstood constitutional scrutiny. It is an unjust law but it was meant to target a specific group in the media industry. And we have many such laws which were used including the laws used in the appropriation of farms. So you find that what was illegal yesterday automatically becomes legal today because the law now says so regardless of how unjust and how unconstitutional that law is.

GONDA: Do you agree with people, especially in the MDC formations who are saying Zanu PF is manipulating electoral rules in their favour?

MTETWA: But they’ve done that, they’ve always done that – why should they stop now? The problem is that the MDC always cries foul at the end of the day; when the machinations are going on they are quiet. When judges were suddenly sworn in ahead of the constitution becoming law, and they were made Constitutional Court judges – and these include a judge who is known to have subverted electoral rules before – they (MDCs) completely kept quiet about it. There was not a squeak from them. What did they think was the plan? That was such a dead giveaway, you would have expected them to have complained at that stage – that hey you can’t pack the Supreme Court ahead of the constitution becoming law, you have to consult us and yet they didn’t do anything like that. They started crying foul after the event, not before.

GONDA: So are the MDC being out-maneuvered by Zanu PF?

MTETWA: You know I think they give too much good faith to a grouping of people that has never really had good faith. And they certainly are being out-maneuvered because they are not as pro-active as they ought to be. They do not look at strategies ahead of things happening, they do not analyse what might have gone on just before key events take place – to say why is this happening, how can we stop it?

GONDA: Some observers actually say it would actually appear that what is happening is a perfect plan or plot by Zanu PF to obstruct their partners in government from dealing with the issue of elections and preparing for elections. Do you see it as that?

MTETWA: Well that’s part of politicking. If you are politicking and you want to remain in power, you have to strategise. You look at ways of how to defeat your competitor and that’s what Zanu Pf is doing. And if the MDC doesn’t see that as an diversion strategy that is meant to really make them worry more about when elections are than getting themselves prepared for elections, they’ll have themselves to blame at the end of the day. It’s a game for politicians and those games unfortunately are not black and white ruled games, you do what you think will make you get back into power.

GONDA: A lot of people are surprised that the MDCs were actually shocked that President Mugabe would use a presidential decree to controversially fast-track amendments to the Electoral Act to by-pass parliament and that that Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa unilaterally filed a court application requesting an extension of the July 31^st poll date without consulting. Your thoughts on this?

MTETWA: If we go back to the beginning of the GNU soon after they signed the Global Political Agreement, we have had acts of unilateralism from Zanu PF from day one. Appointment of judges, appointment of governors, virtually everything has been done on a unilateral basis. I don’t know why suddenly they should think that Zanu PF would change at the end of the GNU – particularly where the stakes are so high. So there’s no trick that they’re not going to use in the book to really try and secure power for themselves. So I don’t understand why anyone should be surprised that what has happened in the last week has happened because it’s been happening for the past four years.

GONDA: What did you make of the idea of extending the poll date by a couple of weeks?

MTETWA: Even if you extend and even if you put new electoral rules into place, and you do the relevant amendments, I don’t know that there’s sufficient time that will make the people out there, for whom these amendments are meant, understand that the game of playing politics has now changed. Those who committed political violence – when are they going to be told that political violence this time around will be treated differently? How are they going to then conduct themselves differently when there’s hardly any time for any advocacy – to say to people out there – this time around, if you do x, y, z, these are the consequences?

The time is just not there and with the limitations that are there in terms of access to information, I frankly do not believe that out there in the rural areas people will believe that the rules of playing the political game have changed at all.

So yes you can have those amendments but on the ground I don’t know that at a practical level, they will inform the electorate of any changes in our electoral system.

I personally think that the advocacy for people out there to know what is doable and what is not doable is crucial and that therefore they ought to have pushed for dates certainly in October at the very earliest – to make sure that really on the ground people are aware that there are these changes and what these changes mean for them and that there’s nothing to fear in going out to vote for a person of your own choice. A two-week extension is not going to change anything on the ground. It might change stuff in the statute books but if there is a new law that the people don’t know, how do you expect it to really influence the voting patterns of persons?

GONDA: What did you make of the initial Constitutional Court judgment?

MTETWA: There was nothing surprising about it for me actually but I was quite pleased that there were two judges who were able to assert their independence and interpret the constitution as they saw fit. But I honestly do not believe that anyone unexpected any differently from the judges who agreed with each other on the interpretation, the majority decision that is.

GONDA: How independent are the judges who sit on this bench?

MTETWA: It’s very difficult to say because independence can be very difficult to judge. The fact that two of them had dissenting views means that when they want to exercise their independence they can do so but I don’t know that we can say all of the ones in the seven are not interested in elections. I mean Justice Chiweshe is known to have played a crucial role in the last election. One of the questions that one would have to ask is should he have been one of those judges to sit in an electoral case of this magnitude particularly taking into account his involvement in the last elections. I don’t know that he can be as independent as he ought to have been particularly on the issue of elections.

GONDA: The fact that there are 31 cases in the Constitutional Court that was just constituted about two months ago – what are the implications of this?

MTETWA: I don’t know what the other cases are about and whether they’ve been brought on an urgent basis but certainly all election cases are treated urgently on the basis of the precedent that they set in the Mawere case – because if you were able to find urgency in the Mawere case you ought to find urgency in every other constitutional case. Because there ought to be equality before the law for all persons who bring to court constitutional matters to do with the upcoming elections.

GONDA: In his application, on behalf of the government, Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa apologized to the judges saying he didn’t want to file this poll date extension application but that he was forced by SADC to do that. What did you make of that?

MTETWA: Well Chinamasa has set a precedent before where he has gone to court in Zimbabwe to say to that court it should disregard decisions of the SADC Tribunal because that’s an external body. So he virtually wanted to use that very same precedent to this Constitutional Court to say that these are the external busybodies who are trying to influence our legal system, therefore you are at liberty to disregard their decision as you did before with the SADC Tribunal decisions. There can be no question that that was the intention. For him it is a game particularly when you take into account the fact that Chinamasa was not an applicant in the original judgment. In fact they were respondents and it’s one of the most unusual cases where you are sued, and then instead of Mawarire running with that judgment, now saying ‘it is me whose rights are being violated’, it is now the person who was sued who is saying ‘oh I am sorry, this is what I wanted’. It is a dead giveaway that clearly Mawarire was a proxy for the Chinamasa’s of this world. And that therefore the Constitutional Court was really hoodwinked into thinking that this was a Mawarire matter. Why should he apologize? He never went to Court to ask for that order. It is an order that was supposed to be in favour of Mr. Mawarire. The issue was whether Mr. Mawarire’s views overcame the views of all the other persons who were now before the Constitutional Court and had various issues to take with the elections.

GONDA: The others wanted Chinamasa to withdraw the original application, but wouldn’t that have influenced the judges already since they would have seen the first affidavit talking about all these other problems he had noted, such as being forced by SADC?

MTETWA: If it was withdrawn obviously it ought not to have influenced them but we recently had a case in the High Court where a judge proceeded to give judgement in a matter that had already been withdrawn so you never really know how it would pan out. But you know there is a precedent where the President has gone to Court to ask for extensions in the case of those MPs who wanted by-elections held and Chinamasa went to Court time and again to say ‘oh we need an extension, we need an extension and we need an extension’ and the Court granted him that. So it’s not like going back to Court in this particular case would have be any different. What will be happening is something that has already been done and has already been granted because Justice Chiweshe heard the last of those applications where extensions were being sought and granted them. So it’s not like it was something new for the Court to vary its own judgement and to extend the period in an election case.

GONDA: I remember around this time five years ago, you were busy defending many victims of political violence or political detainees – is it different this time round?

MTETWA: I don’t think it is different, that’s why I’m concerned with the short time periods where really civil society will not be able to be involved in electoral processes, where there’ll be no advocacy particularly on the issues of political violence because the time just won’t be there – and where really you hardly have had any advocacy issues around political violence even from the political parties and so I don’t expect that there will be any difference because the violence will be there.

GONDA: But around this time in 2008 there was a lot of violence, there was a lot of abductions, arrests. Hasn’t that changed though to some extent?

MTETWA: I think that what you are not looking at is the fact that last time around this was the run-off period where now the stakes were even higher than first time around. So clearly that run-off period had a lot of political violence because of what is was, and if you recall the MDC leader actually withdrew from participating in that run-off because of the violence. So there’s that slight difference but we don’t know what actually is going to happen this time around because it’s not like there’s been an election and then there has to be a run-off. That certainly makes a huge difference because of that run-off period that resulted in the stakes being higher than in any normal election.

GONDA: A lot of people have been excited that Zimbabwe now has a new constitution – do you feel that we are heading in the right direction with the new constitution?

MTETWA: It’s a good thing to have one’s rights clearly defined in a constitution, they are useful but at the end of the day, a constitution is just a piece of paper that has to have its provisions interpreted by the Constitutional Court and whether that Constitutional Court will interpret it in a manner that will give people rights, the jury is still out – we don’t know whether that is going to happen. So for me I think that there’s over-excitement on there being a new constitution because we’ve always had a constitution, it’s always had a Bill of Rights but those Bill of Rights were not interpreted in a way that gave the people of Zimbabwe basically the rights that were guaranteed. So I don’t know what has changed particularly when you look at who is going to interpret the constitution. It’s exactly the same men and women who were interpreting the previous one. I don’t know why people think there will be a damascene change in the interpretation of the new constitution.

GONDA: What about the Criminal Procedures Act? I know a lot of human rights lawyers have been complaining about that as the State has invoked this provision several times to keep political detainees in prison for longer than is required by law. What is the status of that in the new constitution?

MTETWA: That section has been challenged even under the old constitution and the challenges have not as yet been set down but there’s been no attempt to have that section repealed because it clearly is unconstitutional to have a court decision suspended on the mere say so of one party to proceedings. It just clearly is unconstitutional because it is taking away rights that have been granted by a Court because one side to the proceedings has just said ‘I invoke the section’. There’s no attempt to get the Court to then say why are you invoking? This is not a proper case for invocation and therefore my decision stands no. So you have one side making a decision and it’s the kind of provision that you would expect the Constitutional Court to have really taken seriously and heard those cases seriously. But it goes back to the selective application of the law, sections like that will be there, they can be repealed but the point is we are still going to have arrests that are based on who is who and not who has committed which crime until there is a political will to really ensure that there is equality of all before the law.

GONDA: I’m sure you are aware that there are quite a few army personnel who are going to contest in the next elections on a Zanu PF ticket. How does the law interpret civil servants who break their code of neutrality?

MTETWA: You’ve seen how unevenly that law has been applied – if you get someone who’s not politically connected to Zanu PF standing as a civil servant, they immediately lose their job but you have serving police and army persons going out to participate in elections without resigning and nobody challenges that. And the courts are not very quick to stop that unless of course Jealousy Mawarire runs to court to say I have issues with this and the Constitutional Court quickly convenes.

GONDA: Can you remember how many perpetrators of political violence have actually been brought to book?

MTETWA: I wouldn’t have the figures offhand frankly but very, very few perpetrators of political violence have been brought to book, even those that are very well known. But I don’t have the figures with me.

GONDA: So is the police force just incompetent or they just can’t find these perpetrators?

MTETWA: There are many good men and women in the police force but the police force works on a command structure and however much the police might want to do certain things if those who are in charge of them do not want those things done they are unable to do so.

GONDA: How has it been like, Beatrice, to do your kind of work in this environment?

MTETWA: It’s so difficult. Sometimes the lines are blurred, you really don’t know what the law is and how you are expected to behave because the rules change depending on who is involved. And it’s been going on for so long that the abnormal has become normal. Sometimes you don’t even realize that hey this is not supposed to happen because it happens with such regularity that you even think it is a normal thing to do.

GONDA: So how do you respond to attacks against you in the state-controlled media and especially by Zanu PF Politburo member Jonathan Moyo who says you are only doing this for the money, for the fame and that you are being used by western countries?

MTETWA: It would be great if somebody was paying me huge amounts of money for what I do but if I told you how many cases I have done for which I have not been paid you’d be extremely surprised. I have been impoverished by the kind of work I do because if I had told myself that I’ll just do corporate work I definitely would have been able to charge for that but unfortunately if you go and represent some activist who has no money, who is going to pay you?

The attacks are expected but for me I really don’t mind them. What it means for me is that what I’m doing is getting noticed and it’s making a difference. You wouldn’t attack somebody if you didn’t think that what they are doing is having an impact. So I always cut out those stories where I get attacked and I frame them and I call them my Zanu PF awards because that’s how I look at them.

And the attacks do get ugly. When I was arrested, the sexism, the xenophobia that came out – I’m supposed to practice law as a muroora –it’s like wow how do I practice law while I’m behaving like a good muroora? That is just so sexist it’s unbelievable and you can see that nobody even looks at the gender aspects of it, nobody would ever write something like that about a man. It’s sexist, it’s xenophobic but that’s what we expect of them.

GONDA: There were also some reports in the state media implying that you could face deportation. Are you worried about that?

MTETWA: Violet if I really stayed all night worrying about everything that is being plotted against me, I wouldn’t be able to do my work. You know I’ll just take whichever comes my way as and when it comes; my focus is my work.

GONDA: Some observers say it would appear that human rights defenders are being tied up in endless trials defending themselves. Would you agree?

MTETWA: Well it’s certainly part of the strategy. If you look at how many human rights defenders have been arrested in the last couple of months you’ll see that ZimRights personnel are being prosecuted in court right now so if they had any advocacy work to do around elections they can’t be doing that because they are tied up in trials and the same with lawyers. Basically lawyers are being tied up with trials in order to ensure that they don’t represent their clients and they don’t concentrate on their work. You look at some of the MDC members who are part of the Glen View 29, some of whom have been exonerated even by the State witnesses but they are still in court to make sure that they are tied up in trials that are endless. So yes it is part of the strategy to direct all of our attention from doing our core business to defending ourselves personally in the courts.

GONDA: I know we can’t discuss your trial, your case right now but when do you think it will be finalized?

MTETWA: The trial resumed on the 29^th of June – a Saturday – I’m being tried on a Saturdays I don’t know why. We are still cross examining the first witness.

GONDA: How united is the pro-democracy movement as observers say there appears to be a lot jostling for power and fighting for donor funding in the civil society. Is this a correct observation?

MTETWA: There has been infiltration of some of the civil society formations but also people shouldn’t forget the fact that most of the NGOs are competitors in a lot of respects and therefore there’s bound to be tension here and there if one NGO is seen to be behaving as if it is a super-NGO or has more funding than the others. So that aspect of competition will also come in from time to time.

I also think that once there was the Government of National Unity, there are some NGOs that were seen as extensions of the MDC and therefore have not been as vocal in speaking against the MDC when it became part of government as they were before it became part of government. So that sort of neutralized some of the NGOs to an extent where if you say something against the MDC you are seen as being Zanu PF or you know how everybody gets labeled in Zimbabwe. You are either for us or against us which really ought not be the case because civil society ought to be there to deal with issues of concern right across the board and they shouldn’t be seen as part of any political formation.

GONDA: What role has the donor community played in this?

MTETWA: Well the donor community also has had a role to play in that there are some who feel very strongly that the MDC hasn’t performed too well in the inclusive government, there are some who desperately want to re-engage with Zanu PF. So all of those different contestations have filtered down to civil society and you can see that there’s influence on the ground on what might be actually going on.

GONDA: And a final word?

MTETWA: I just hope Zimbabwe will have free, fair and peaceful elections and that human rights defenders will be able to do their bit without being harassed.

GONDA: Thank you very much Beatrice.

MTETWA: Alright.

"Democracy"

http://www.cathybuckle.com/

July 5, 2013, 1:28 pm

Was it or was it not a military coup? That is the question being asked about
what has happened in Egypt. Certainly the military appear to have taken over
but that hardly fits the definition of a coup as: “a sudden violent seizure
of power” As far as we know, 16 people have been killed during clashes at
the university. The thousands of people in Tahrir Square for the last five
days have been vocal but not violent. Then came the news that the
democratically elected President Mohamed Morsi and his closest allies were
being detained by the military; a judge has been appointed temporary leader
of the country until fresh elections. How this situation will resolve itself
remains to be seen but in the two years since the last upheaval in January
2011 very little has changed for the better in people’s lives. And it is
that which is causing the unrest. Yes, Mohamed Morsi was democratically
elected but in the year since his election, he failed to do the things he
had promised. That is why Egyptians are out on the streets in their
thousands.

It is tempting to draw a parallel between Zimbabwe and Egypt, both
countries are in Africa but Egypt has the added complication of religion to
make it even more difficult for outsiders to understand exactly what’s
happening - and there are many different branches of Islam to confuse the
problem even further. It is the issue of democracy that concerns western
commentators. To listen to some of these various commentators on the BBC one
would think we are back in the days of the Empire! Their understanding of
the term ‘democracy’ appears to be confined to the Westminster model but the
concept of democracy has a very different meaning, depending on when and
where you live in the world. The struggle for Zimbabwe’s liberation thirty
three years ago was seen then as a struggle for democracy ie.‘one man one
vote’ but that was against the background of a very limited franchise for
African people. Now, in the twenty-first century, people have realised that
democracy means much more than casting your ballot on election day.

While he was in South Africa, the US President called for ‘free and fair
elections’ in Zimbabwe and civic groups in the country have also called for
credible elections. Zanu PF’s Rugare Gumbo’s rambling response hardly
sounded like the response of a democrat. On the contrary, it was more like
a defence of dictatorship. “Who’s Obama?” asked Gumbo, “He’s the President
of America. They can do that in America but we have a different situation in
Africa. Those who are in power know exactly what their people want, like
President Mugabe knows exactly what the people of Zimbabwe want.” That’s
pure paternalism, I’d say. The people are just children and must listen to
‘baba’ because he knows what is best for them! Speaking of Africa’s struggle
against colonialism, President Obama commented, “the promise of liberation
gave way to the corruption of power and then the collapse of the economy.”
That got The Herald going and they launched into a vitriolic attack on
America’s first black president, calling him a hypocrite who is “mired in
international barbarism, drone assassinations and spying.” Earlier in the
week it was Lindiwe Zulu in the Herald’s sights because she had called for
Zimbabwe’s elections to be postponed to allow for reforms to take place. In
a sexist rant, the Herald called on President Zuma to “tether your terrier”
describing Ms Zulu as an “outsider who is shooting her mouth off.” Someone
should tell the Herald leader writer: personal abuse is not responsible
journalism; it is the gutter press at its worst. Is that what the Paymaster
wants?

Yours in the (continuing) struggle, Pauline Henson

Bill Watch 28/2013 of 4th July [Constitutional Court Confirms 31st July Election Date]

· dismissed the challenges to the President’s election date proclamation and his Presidential Powers (Amendment of Electoral Act) Regulations and the arguments for an extension of the 31st July election date raised in the applications brought by the Prime Minister, Professor Ncube and others

· dismissed Minister Chinamasa’s application for a two-week extension of the election date

· declared for the avoidance of doubt that the coming elections must be held on 31st July in compliance with the court’s order of 31st May and in accordance with the President’s proclamation.

A consolidated version of the Electoral Act incorporating the amendments made to the Act by the Presidential Powers (Temporary Measures) Regulations, 2013, gazetted in Statutory Instrument 85/2013 is now available from www.veritaszim.net or veritas@mango.zw

The Zimbabwe Election Commission has used the amended Electoral Act for its election preparations and training of polling officers, voter educators, etc.

In this afternoon’s decision the Constitutional Court rejected arguments against the validity of the statutory instrument raised by the Prime Minister.

Last week’s two-day Parliamentary fast-tracking of the Money Laundering and Proceeds of Crime Bill on 19th and 20th June [see Bill Watch 26/2013 of 25th June] was followed by an exceptionally prompt gazetting of the resulting Act in a Government Gazette Extraordinary dated 21st June. To achieve this unprecedented feat the Act must have been signed by the President at some time between 3.35 pm on 20th June, when the Senate approved its Third Reading, and the release of the Gazette on 21st June.

Already in force The Act came into force immediately on 21st June, although even subscribers to the Government Gazette are unlikely to have been aware of its gazetting until it reached them together with their copies of the next regular Gazette dated 28th June. Moreover, as the Bill for the Act was only gazetted on 19th June, the very day the Minister of Finance rushed it through the House of Assembly, bankers, building societies and asset managers – to name only some of the institutions affected by the Act – must have been seriously inconvenienced by the sudden emergence, without reasonable warning, of this major new legislation.

Defects in the Act as gazetted Regrettably, but perhaps inevitably with such a rushed job, the gazetted Act shows signs of hasty preparation and/or inadequate proof-reading. It will need repairs either by the Law Reviser or the next Parliament. For example, the word “Bill” still appears in the heading on its first page; sections 12(5), 13 [definition of “suspicious transaction report”], 58 and 102 all have blank spaces waiting to be filled in; and there is an Incorrect cross-reference in section 98.

Election proclamation – error corrected SI 96/2013, gazetted in another Gazette Extraordinary, this one dated 26th June, corrects, from “Thursday” to “Friday”, the mistaken references in SI 86/2013 to a non-existent “Thursday 28th June, 2013” as nomination day for the harmonised elections.

[Comment: [1] A correction notice of this sort is only appropriate to correct a typographical mistake [changing “Friday” to “Thursday”?] mistake made by the Government Printer – but would not have been in order if the erroneous “Thursday” appeared in the proclamation actually signed by the President. [2] As the legal effect of the mistake had already been raised in the Prime Minister’s application to the Constitutional Court, the proper course would have been to leave the court to decide that question on its merits.]

Civil penalties for late submission of tax returns SI 97/2013, the only SI gazetted in the regular Government Gazette of 28th June, provides for the levying of civil penalties of $30 per day [up to a maximum of 180 days] for failure to submit tax returns for income tax, VAT and capital gains tax. The penalties can be waived by the Commissioner-General of Taxes where he or she is satisfied that the default was not wilful or not due to want of reasonable care.

Public holidays 2014 GN 348/2013 lists next year’s public holidays for public information.

Police promotions GN 347/2013 contains five pages of promotions of police officers by the President. The promotions take effect from 10th July 2012. This list covers promotions to the ranks of Chief Superintendent (Legal Officer), Chief Superintendent, Superintendent, Chief Inspector and Inspector.

· Constitutional Court order in Mawere v Registrar-General & Others [the dual citizenship case].

Veritas email requests service is still available at veritas@mango.zw for those who do not have Internet access.

Veritas makes every effort to ensure reliable information, but cannot take legal responsibility for information supplied

Constitution Watch 31/2013 of 4th July 2013 [Local Authorities: Is their Early Demise and the Ignoring of New Council Boundaries Constitutional?]

Is their Early Demise and the Ignoring of New Council Boundaries Constitutional?

There has been much controversy about constitutionality of the amendment of the Election Law by Presidential Powers regulation and the subsequent court challenges which are before the Constitutional Court today.

With the welter of news about these challenges and the nomination of Presidential and parliamentary candidates for the forthcoming election, perhaps the constitutionality of what is being done in the lead up tothe local authority elections has not been thoroughly questioned.

Elections in Zimbabwe are “harmonised”, and voters will be called upon to vote not only for a new President and Parliament but also for councillors of local authorities and these also must be held within the terms of the Constitution.

· The first is a report that the Minister of Local Government, Rural and Urban Development has appointed caretakers and commissions to run all local authorities following their “automatic dissolution” on the 29th June.

· The second is an advertisement by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission [ZEC] to the effect that the electoral boundaries for local authority elections will be those delimited in 2008.

According to a report in The Herald, the Secretary for Local Government sent a letter to all local authorities saying that “in terms of section 58(1) of the existing Constitution of the Republic of Zimbabwe, all councils shall be dissolved by the affliction of time [sic: the error may be the reporter’s, not the Secretary’s] on 29 June, 2013.” To avoid disruption of local services, the Secretary said that caretakers and commissions would be appointed to run the local authorities until the election of new councillors.

It seems clear that the Secretary and, presumably, his Minister were acting in the belief that since the life of Parliament came to an end on the 29th June, the terms of office of all local authority councillors also came to an end. Is that so?

Section 58(1) of the former Constitution [viz. the Lancaster House Constitution], which was cited by the Secretary, says nothing about the dissolution of local authority councils; all it says is that a general election and “elections for the governing bodies of local authorities” must be held on a date fixed in a Presidential proclamation. In any event, section 58 is no longer in force, having been superseded by the new constitution when it was published on 22nd May [this is by virtue of paragraph 3(1)(e) of the Sixth Schedule to the new Constitution]. The equivalent provision of the new Constitution, section 158, is substantially the same: it lays down the time-limits for elections and states that general elections to local authorities must take place concurrently with presidential and parliamentary general elections. Nowhere does either provision — sec 58(1) or 158 — state that local authority councils have the same life-span as Parliament; indeed there is no such provision in either Constitution. Nor is there a provision in either Constitution setting any limit to the life of local authorities.

The Minister seems to have assumed, from the fact that parliamentary and local authority elections are harmonised, that local councils are automatically dissolved when Parliament is dissolved. That is a heroic assumption, to put it mildly. Neither the old nor the new Constitution says so expressly, and the fact that elections for different institutions are held together does not necessarily mean that the office-bearers in those institutions must serve the same terms. After all, the President and members of Parliament are elected at the same time but while Parliament has died but the President’s term has not come to an end. He and his Ministers continue in office and will do so until after the next election.

If therefore it had been intended that local authorities expire when Parliament expires, one would have expected a specific statement to that effect in the constitution or in an Act of Parliament.

There is nothing in the Electoral Act or the Urban Councils Act that sets specific time-limits on councillors’ terms of office; this is not surprising in view of the constitutional provisions that require council elections to be harmonised with Presidential and Parliamentary Elections. The Rural District Councils Act], on the other hand, does set a limit. Section 30(1) of the Act states:

“Every elected councillor shall assume office as a councillor on the day following the day of his election, and … shall hold such office until the day following the day on which a new councillor is elected for the ward concerned.”

In other words, councillors remain in office until their successors have been elected — and, quite clearly, the councils themselves remain in place from one election to the next, because one cannot have councillors if there are no councils for them to sit on.

If therefore the Secretary’s letter to local authorities was based on legal advice, then the advice was questionable at best in regard to urban councils and downright wrong in regard to rural district councils.

“…notwithstanding the publication of any proclamation creating new local authorities … the electoral boundaries as determined by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission in its 2008 delimitation report will apply for the 2013 harmonised elections.”

In most cases it will be sensible for ZEC to base the forthcoming local authority council election on the 2008 delimitation of wards, because in most cases they have not been any changes. Paragraph 5 of the Sixth Schedule to the new Constitution waived the usual need for a fresh countrywide delimitation based on population changes, as it was anticipated there would be no time for this between the publication date of the new Constitution and the forthcoming elections – a countrywide delimitation exercise is usually done before new elections but it is a time-consuming process that should be completed at least three months before an election. BUT paragraph 5 does not say that the 2008 electoral boundaries must be used. What it says is:

“The boundaries of provinces, constituencies and wards as they were immediately before the publication day [i.e. 22 May 2013] apply for the purposes of the first election.”

So ZEC may use the 2008 boundaries only to the extent that they were not altered between 2008 and 22nd May 2013. If they ignore those alterations, as the advertisement clearly suggests they intend to do, they will be acting illegally in contravention of pararaph 5 of the Sixth Schedule to the Constitution.

Illegality aside, it will surely be impossible for ZEC to ignore all the post-2008 boundary alterations. New councils have been established: Mbire and Mhondoro-Ngezi Rural District Councils, for example, and Mvurwi Town Council in 2010, and their new boundaries will have to be taken into account if meaningful elections of councillors are to be held.

Because it will be both illegal and in some cases impossible for ZEC to ignore changes to electoral boundaries, it is probable that the advertisement does not accurately reflect ZEC’s true intention. If so, it will be in the public interest for ZEC to clarify as soon as possible what it really means to do.