http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Friday, 08 July 2011 10:45
By
Staff Writer
CONTROVERSIAL talks on state security-sector reform and the
regulation and
control of the Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) this
week intensified
divisions among Zimbabwe’s party-political negotiators as
they seek
consensus to create a clear roadmap towards free and fair
elections.
Although negotiators agreed on roadmap benchmarks and
timelines on
Wednesday, they remained stubbornly deadlocked on
security-sector reforms
designed to ensure the army, police and intelligence
services operate within
the limits of the constitution and the law, as well
as the GPA.
The army, police and intelligence service have been
accused by the MDC
parties and their negotiators of unconstitutionally and
unlawfully
interfering in partisan politics and engaging in violence. In the
process,
they have also been blamed for threatening the country’s
constitutional
order through such aberrations.
MDC negotiators
argue the CIO must be regulated and controlled through an
Act of Parliament
to ensure the state security service is accountable and
not used as a
private instrument to further President Robert Mugabe and Zanu
PF’s
political agenda. There have been many complaints that state security
institutions have been politicised.
When negotiators met for five
days in April in the aftermath of the Sadc
Livingstone summit in Zambia, the
issues of state security-sector reform and
the CIO were dominant. These
issues were raised during talks in May and this
week as well. The MDC
formations want security forces to issue a public
statement that they will
unequivocally uphold the constitution and respect
the rule of law in the
lead-up to and following any election or referendum.
Zanu PF argues this is
not an election matter and that political parties
have no right to direct
uniformed forces to issue political statements.
However, it has been
agreed that principals would soon hold meetings with
the
Commissioner-General of the Police and heads of state-security
institutions
and intelligence services to ensure they commit themselves to
operate in a
non-partisan manner.
The MDC parties want state-sponsored violence,
in which they accuse
state-security forces of being involved, to end. Zanu
PF says it is not
aware of such violence. Besides, MDC negotiators are
demanding the
withdrawal of soldiers unlawfully deployed around the country
and
“demilitarisation” of electoral processes, but Zanu PF denies serving
members of army have been deployed to do political work on its
behalf.
On the CIO, the MDC groups want an Act of Parliament to
regulate and control
operations and activities of the intelligence in line
with Article XIII of
the GPA which says “state organs and institutions do
not belong to any
political party and should be impartial in their duties”.
— Staff writer.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Friday, 08 July 2011 10:38
Wongai
Zhangazha
YOUTH Development, Indigenisation and Empowerment minister
Saviour
Kasukuwere’s efforts to re-introduce the controversial National
Youth
Service (NYS) training programme, blamed by MDC leaders and civil
society
for producing aggressive youth militias, has been
blocked.
The proposal, seen by the MDC as part of Zanu PF’s election
strategy, was
thrown out for now after it was condemned mainly by MDC
ministers at a
high-level government meeting on Tuesday chaired by President
Robert Mugabe
and attended by Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai.
The divisive issue was extensively discussed for about
one and three quarter
hours. In the end it was resolved that Kasukuwere
should go back and consult
so that he could take into account concerns of
stakeholders.
The programme was blocked after ministers clashed, with
some raising fears
that the re-introduction of the youth service was most
likely to have a
chilling effect on people and bound to heavily influence
the outcome of the
next election.
During the 2008 elections,
Zanu-PF deployed at least 13 000 youths into the
civil service to campaign
for Zanu PF.
The elections were characterised by violence and
intimidation with the army,
war veterans and youth militias at the forefront
of the campaign of terror
and brutality.
Kasukuwere in a document
in which he wrote the foreword titled, “National
Youth Service Training
Programme in Zimbabwe”, proposes the immediate
implementation of a massive
training of militias, targeting youths up to 35
years, starting from
pre-school to universities.
The document says his ministry wants to
re-launch the project to reorient
young people so that they learn about
Zimbabwe’s “revolution, pre-colonial
political systems, colonialism,
Chimurenga (revolutionary) wars and the
post-colonial state”. It wants to
produce 300 000 youths annually.
According to government sources,
MDC Minister of Housing Giles Mutsekwa,
co-minister of Home Affairs Theresa
Makone, Information Communication
Technology minister Nelson Chamisa, Energy
and Power Development minister
Elton Mangoma and Minister of Regional
Integration and International
Cooperation Priscilla Misihairabwi-Mushonga
opposed the programme on
Tuesday.
Sources said Zanu PF ministers
Ignatius Chombo, Sithembiso Nyoni and Obert
Mpofu supported Kasukuwere’s
proposal before their colleagues Patrick
Chimasa and Emmerson Mnangagwa
effectively killed it by stating it could not
be approved on Tuesday and
implemented immediately as Mugabe had earlier
suggested.
The
sources said the MDC ministers wanted six issues which include
recruitment
processes, activities of the youths, funding, availability of
infrastructure
and curriculum to be clarified before re-introduction.
“The ministers
were sceptical on the type of curriculum to be used for
training arguing
that it was well-known that it was Zanu PF’s set of courses
and programmes
taught at these ideological centres,” one source said.
The MDC and
civil society leaders have always complained that the youths
they referred
to as “green bombers” were taught to fight Mugabe and Zanu PF
political
opponents as they were regarded as “enemies of the state”.
The MDC
ministers, according to the sources, suspected the re-introduction
of the
youth service was Kasukuwere’s agenda of trying to establish a
“private
political army” for Zanu PF with the purpose of campaigning for the
party in
the run-up to elections.
“Some ministers said the youth service is
just a pretext to establish a
private political army,” another source said.
“The reason is youths have
been used as campaign instruments and tools by
Zanu PF in previous
elections.”
MDC ministers questioned where
government was going to get funding for the
programme and how excesses
within the training camp would be controlled.
A recent report by
Ernst & Young (India) through a comprehensive payroll and
skills audit
on behalf of the Ministry of Public Service unearthed more than
75 000 ghost
workers in the civil service, most of them unqualified Zanu PF
militias and
supporters.
The discovery of thousands of ghost workers — which
included 6 861 employed
in one day in one ministry just before the June 2008
presidential election
run-off — has alarmed government ministers and
stakeholders who say it
revealed the extent of Zanu PF’s abuse of office to
create a patronage
network using the public service at the expense of
taxpayers.
According to another source, the ministers were on Tuesday
said to have made
reference to a report that was released by the National
Association of
Non-governmental Organisations (Nango) this year titled: “A
critical review
of the National Youth Service in Zimbabwe”.
The
report says that the weakness of the National Youth Service (NYS)
emanated
from the way it was implemented.
It accuses the previous NYS of not
adhering to the age limit, using a biased
curriculum that promoted Zanu PF’s
political agenda and using the majority
of the trainers who were war
veterans and members of the army and police.
Nango says the majority
of the training camps had poor infrastructure which
were designed to imitate
military training camps leaving Zimbabweans
conclude that the NYS “is simply
a ruse for a youth militia programme
operated by the ruling
party”.
Of concern were the youth militia pregnancies and sexually
transmitted
infections including HIV/Aids that Nango says were reported to
have been
rampant.
Kasukuwere’s document says youths would be recruited
voluntarily and trained
to acquire survival skills and do community service,
while preaching “peace,
tolerance, justice, equality and
democracy”.
Sources said some ministers argued why the training
programme was not being
done under the Ministry of Higher and Tertiary
Education since it had proper
facilities nationwide or under the Ministry of
Defence if it was about
equipping youths with useful and survival
skills.
Mugabe is said to have indicated that although the
re-introduction of the
NYS could be done, concerns raised by others should
be taken into account.
This seemed to have emboldened Mnangagwa and Chinamasa
to effectively help
to block Kasukuwere who could not be found for comment
yesterday.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Friday, 08 July 2011 10:14
By Reginald
Sherekete/Paul Nyakazeya
THE United States dollar will remain the
main currency during the five year
tenure of the Medium Term Plan (MTP),
Finance minister Tendai Biti said
during the launch of the strategy document
yesterday.
“We will make sure that there is no currency regime change during
the
lifespan of the MTP so that its objectives are achievable,” Biti
said.
Zimbabwe introduced multi-currencies in February 2009 in an
effort to end
hyper-inflation and stabilise the economy.
A total
of US$9,2 billion would be required to finance the 2011-2015 MTP in
order to
meet the growth and development targets in the during the five
years.
Economic Planning and Investment Promotion minister Tapiwa
Mashakada said
most of the inflows were anticipated to come through the
country’s saving
and investment efforts, Foreign Direct Investment (FDIs),
Credit lines and
Public Private Partnerships (PPPs).
It is
estimated that Zimbabwe needs about US$10 billion to achieve a
complete
economic turnaround.
Presenting the MTP, Mashakada said the plan was
a national document that
would outlive any political divide.
He
said government would focus on broad-based economic indigenisation and
empowerment during the planned period.
“Key on government’s
agenda will be to ensure that the majority of
Zimbabweans are integrated
into the mainstream economy so that they become
the major drivers and
beneficiaries of the economic activities in the
country,” said Mashakada.
“The form of the broad based empowerment will
include share ownership,
stable employment, housing ownership and awarding
of
contracts.”
He said government would, through the Zimbabwe Investment
Authority, promote
domestic investment particularly into reserved
sectors.
“The main thrust of the MTP is to maintain macroeconomic
stability, restore
and transform the economy’s capacity to produce goods and
services
competitively for empowerment and poverty reduction,” he
said.
The MTP is set to achieve the following
targets:
An average economic growth rate of 7,1% during the
period.
Single digit annual inflation.
Interest rate regime that
promotes savings and fosters investments.
Current Account Deficit of not
more than 5% of GDP by 2015.
Sustained Poverty reduction in line with
Millennium Development Goals
(MDG) target.
Foreign exchange reserves
of at least three months import cover by 2015.
Double digit savings and
investment ratios of around 20% of GDP by 2015.
Budget deficit converge
to Sadc benchmark of less than 5% of GDP by
2015.
Reduce sovereign
debt to at least 60% of GDP by 2015.
Asked if the MTP would fail just
like previous blueprints, Mashakada said
the new economic plan is different
and stems out of the government of
national unity.
He said he was
optimistic it would succeed given that it was informed and
influenced by
socio–economic lessons from the past.
“It (MTP) will guide all
government plans and programmes beyond the short
term stabilisation
initiatives. More importantly, it clearly spells out
Zimbabwe’s national
priorities for both domestic and foreign investors and
cooperating
partners,” he said.
Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara put the
plan into perspective and
called for both government and private sector to
be actively involved in the
implementation of MTP.
“I call upon
all Zimbabweans, government and private sector to take full
ownership of the
plan,” said Mutambara.
He indicated that Zimbabweans should now aim
to lead saying Zimbabwe had
many managers who do not take up leadership
roles.
“We are overmanaged and underled in this country. The success
of the MTP
must be measurable and there should be continuous review of
progress in its
implementation,” said Mutambara.
He proposed the
use of various models in revamping industries by using their
geographical
and strategic presence around the country to meaningfully
contribute to the
GDP. Mutambara set the MTP ball rolling, challenging
political parties to
invest a lot of political will to the success of the
plan.
Prime Minister
Morgan Tsvangirai said Mashakada and his team should make
sure the plan
achieves its objectives.
“Why should Zimbabweans and outsiders
believe in this document? We should go
back to the time when we believed in
ourselves if the MTP is going to
deliver and we should not deviate from
the plan despite our political
differences,” said
Tsvangirai.
Vice President Joice Mujuru cemented government’s support
for the plan and
encouraged all Zimbabweans to adopt the proposals of the
MTP.
“The MTP will guide the budget to ensure sustainable growth and equal
distribution of wealth,” said Mujuru.
Captains of industry said
there was need to fully implement the MTP and
urged government to ensure a
stable economic environment which promotes
business and
investment.
Captains of industry also underscored the need to fully
implement the plan
after other economic blueprints before failed to achieve
the set objectives.
Dairibord Zimbabwe Limited CEO Anthony Mandiwanza said
Zimbabwe needed a
political landscape that allowed value addition for the
country’s resources
if the plan is to succeed.
Confederation of
Zimbabwe Industries (CZI) president Joseph Kanyekanye said
Zimbabwe has a
history of being poor at implementing policy and no one ever
takes ownership
of the failure.
Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce president
Oswell Binha said government
should fully support the MTP and be consistent
if the plan is to succeed.
Chamber of Mines president Winston
Chitando said the MTP should have a
comprehensive plan that ensures that
minerals benefit Zimbabweans. Bankers
Association of Zimbabwe president John
Mushayavanhu said the MTP should put
measures that restore confidence in the
financial sector.
Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Union president Lovemore
Motombo said there was
need to consult labour in the crafting of the
blueprint.
He said: “The document does not have input from the poor
working populace
and public. It does not mean if you are poor you do not
think.”
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 07 July 2011 21:12
Chris
Muronzi
GOVERNMENT had by the end of the first half of this year advanced
around
US$31,9 million towards rehabilitation of power stations in a bid to
increase energy output, information seen by the Zimbabwe Independent
shows.
Finance minister Tendai Biti hopes by channelling more
funds into the energy
sector, electricity output that stood at 1 362
megawatts (MW) last month
could be increased at the country's power
stations.
The money went into Hwange Power station (HPS), three
small thermal power
stations and the rehabilitation of transmission and
distribution network.
According to the information, Biti
channelled US$26 million towards the
rehabilitation of Hwange Power Station,
US$500 000 for three small thermal
power stations and US$5 million for the
rehabilitation of the transmission
and distribution
networks.
But despite government's intervention in the sector,
output remains low.
According to the information, Hwange Power
Station, Kariba Power Station,
Harare Thermal Power Station, Munyati Thermal
Power Station and Bulawayo
Thermal Tower Station have an installed capacity
of 1 920MW.
Although output is still below national demand of 2
200MW, production has
been rising steadily from a total 988MW in January to
1 363MW in June.
Output at Hwange Power Station rose from 335MW
in January to 625MW in June.
Hwange Power Station has an installed capacity
of 920MW. Output at Kariba
Power Station declined from March's peak of 711MW
to 659 MW in June. Kariba
has an installed capacity of
750MW.
Although Munyati and Harare have installed capacity of
80MW each, the
stations operated way below installed capacities for the
better part of the
half year. Harare produced 22MW in June, the highest
since January, while
Munyati rose to 34MW in June from 28MW in January.
Munyati produced 16 MW in
February.
Bulawayo Thermal Power
Station struggled in the same period. The station's
output rose from 17MW in
February to 22MW in June. Output fell sharply in
April and May to 8
MW.
While the rehabilitation exercise enabled all the power
plants to be
functional, most of the equipment is unreliable and leads to
irregular
supplies, the information shows.
The US$5,4 million
channelled towards rehabilitation of transmission and
distribution of power
networks has been utilised for the acquisition of
transformers.
Biti, according to the same information, has
channelled US$7,5 million to
local authorities.
He also
channelled US$17 million for the grain procurement, capitalisation
of
Agribank and irrigation infrastructure rehabilitation.
Of the
US$17 million, US$2 million was spent on rehabilitation and
development of
37 schemes out 63 schemes targeted in the budget.
A total
US$19,67 million has been disbursed by treasury to cater for
establishment
costs and equipment of Tokwe Mukorsi Dam. Government sees work
commencing at
the dam this month.
Whilst there has largely been improvement in
the implementation of some
government projects, according to the information
more needs to be done by
government to ensure government adheres to its own
set targets.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 07 July 2011 21:11
Wongai
Zhangazha
THE MDC-T has ordered its government representative,
Finance minister Tendai
Biti, to cut funding for foreign trips that have
gobbled up more than US$25
million since the beginning of the year.
The
party’s national standing committee also told Biti, who is the party
secretary-general, at its meeting on Wednesday to get proceeds from Chiadzwa
diamond sales for civil servants’ pay increments.
The 13-member
executive committee discussed extensively sources of funding
that could be
explored to raise money for civil servants’ salary increase.
Also endorsed at
the meeting were the timelines to an elections roadmap
agreed to by
negotiators from the three political parties.
The committee also told
Biti to table in cabinet proposal that would ensure
funds generated from
tollgates, traffic offences and passport fees go to
treasury so that the
money can be used to pay civil servants’ salaries.
The civil
servants’ salary increment has been an ongoing contentious issue
with Zanu
PF accusing Biti of refusing to give government workers a decent
salary
while Biti has said he has no money to do so.
Last week the Apex
Council and National Joint Council (NJC) agreed to award
civil servants a
salary increment which will see a US$31 rise in the basic
salary of the
lowest-earning employee.
In the agreement signed last week, the
least-paid government worker will get
a basic salary of US$159, up from
US$128, while housing allowances have been
pegged at US$50 from US$30 and
transport allowances at US$44 from US$28,
bringing the total package to
US$253, which is half of the poverty datum
line figure currently pegged at
US$502.
Party spokesperson Douglas Mwonzora yesterday confirmed that
Prime Minister
Morgan Tsvangirai and Biti have intensified efforts to find
ways of
increasing civil servants’ salaries.
“The standing
committee meeting met to discuss two important agendas - civil
servants
salaries and the talks on an election roadmap. The party was
concerned and
reiterated its support to finding a lasting solution to the
adverse
conditions of service of civil servants,” Mwonzora said.
“It was
agreed that the conditions should be improved in a permanent manner
and not
in a temporary manner. To that end, it was felt that Zanu PF was
politicising the issue without looking at the sources of the money.
Therefore, the standing order committee directed the party’s representative
in government to put before the entire cabinet the ways to raise the money
for civil servants.”
Mwonzora said a few suggestions were put
across which include immediately
cutting off payments to about 75 000 ghost
workers that were unearthed in an
audit and reducing foreign trips for all
government officials including
President Mugabe.
“It was resolved
that the Minister of Mines (Obert Mpofu) releases
immediately the proceeds
from the diamond sales through ZMDC (Zimbabwe
Mining Development
Corporation) to treasury. It was after realisation that
Biti and treasury
are not receiving money from the proceeds. So the ZMDC
should release the
US$40 million per month that it promised Biti,” said
Mwonzora.
He
said it was agreed that all the monies including fines collected by the
police must be surrendered to treasury as well as monies from tollgates and
vehicle licences as a way of raising money for civil servants salary
hike.
“The reason why we suggested sources of raising money for civil
servants is
because we had received a report from the secretary- general of
the party
who is also Minister of Finance, Biti, that the wage increment was
only
sustainable temporarily,” he said.
“Which will mean that as
time goes by, probably by next year, workers will
only get pay slips without
the money at the bank and as a party we do not
want to see such a scenario.
Therefore a lasting solution to sustain the
wage bill is
necessary.”
Mwonzora said the party also welcomed the progress that
has been made so far
by the negotiators who met this week to discuss a
number of issues including
election roadmap timelines.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 07 July 2011 21:05
Wongai
Zhangazha
THE frequent trips by politicians in the inclusive
government to seek
specialised medical treatment and quality education in
foreign countries are
a clear sign of their double standards and an
indication that they do not
trust social services at home.
Since the
beginning of the year a number of politicians in the inclusive
government
were reported in the media as having flown out of the country to
seek
medical treatment, which to them is obviously better than what the
country
is offering.
Earlier this year there were reports that President
Robert Mugabe had flown
to Singapore when he reportedly fell
ill.
His spokesperson George Charamba said Mugabe had gone for a
check-up after a
cataract removal from his eye.
While this left
ordinary Zimbabweans speculating on the president’s health,
a number
wondered why Mugabe had to seek medical attention outside the
country when
his government is supposed to ensure that the country has a
functioning
health delivery system.
Moreover, people wondered why he had to
travel all the way to the Far East
on a trip that is estimated to have cost
millions of dollars when the
country has one of the best eye surgeons on the
continent, Dr Solomon
Guramatunhu who sometimes offers free
treatment.
Ordinary Zimbabweans feel abandoned by the state and are
left to deal on
their own with shortages of medical doctors, specialists,
and experienced
nurses among other problems bedeviling public health
institutions.
What must have miffed many Zimbabweans even more were
reports that Mugabe’s
wife Grace had also been flown out of the country to
seek medical attention
in Singapore.
Later it was reported that
the commander of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces,
General Constantine Chiwenga,
had been airlifted to China on a routine
medical check leaving again
questions whether this regular check-up could
not have been done in our own
hospitals.
It seems Mugabe and his Zanu PF cronies are not the only
ones preferring
foreign medical treatment. Many more top officials in the
MDC formations are
going for treatment outside the country.
Soon
after being sworn in as Prime Minister, Morgan Tsvangirai and his wife
Susan
were involved in a tragic car crash in which Susan died.
Tsvangirai
was rushed to the private Avenues Clinic but was later airlifted
to Botswana
and then South Africa for further medical treatment.
Recent reports
have said Deputy Prime Minister Thokozani Khupe has been
battling breast
cancer and is being treated in South Africa, and ICT
minister Nelson Chamisa
also goes to South Africa for treatment and medical
check-ups.
These are just a few of the many politicians who no
longer trust the local
health delivery system.
Some have also
given a thumbs down to the country’s education sector by
sending their
children to schools and universities outside the country.
One can
remember Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Governor Gideon Gono’s virulent
protests
when his children were deported from Australia as part of the
travel
restrictions on Mugabe’s inner circle.
Mugabe’s daughter Bona is
studying in Hong Kong.
Some of Tsvangirai’s children studied in
Australia while others are in South
Africa.
Most ministers have
their children studying at universities in South Africa,
an indication that
they do not trust the quality of education in the
country.
Ordinary
citizens who cannot afford travelling abroad are made to feel the
day to day
pinches of the deteriorating social services as compared to the
1980s and
90s.
The economic meltdown of the last decade affected the country’s
entire state
university system resulting in an exodus of experienced
academics in the
fields of science and technology, medicine, engineering,
agriculture and
natural resource management departments.
Former
chairperson of the Zimbabwe Association of Doctors for Human Rights
Douglas
Gwatidzo said the politicians’ visits overseas for medical treatment
exposed
their double standards in dealing with critical issues affecting the
health
delivery system.
“In fact what we have are politicians who are
obsessed with a clear
manifestation of double standards. They profess
excellence and availability
of services to ordinary citizens when we never
see them at public health
systems because they know that such service is not
available,” he said.
He said while there has been a gradual shift in
the country’s health system
the situation was still a far cry from what it
was in the 1980s and 90s.
Gwatidzo said: “There are some trained
medical practitioners and health
cadres that are capable of treating
ailments that some of our politicians
are suffering from but we will never
see them getting treatment at these
facilities. How will they know the
problems that are faced by their own
institutions?
“There is need
for politicians to do some kind of introspection to say what
kind of
services we are producing. A lot of double standards exist in our
society
among politicians.”
Political analyst Trevor Maisiri said while it
was unfair for ordinary
Zimbabweans, the trips by the politicians in a way
reflected the extent to
which the country’s social services had
deteriorated. “It just shows the
extent to which we have destroyed our own
institutions by failing to pay and
motivate doctors, nurses and lecturers in
the education sector or investing
in them with equipment.
“But
surprisingly those who seek all these services outside the country are
some
of those at the helm of the social services destruction,” he said.
Maisiri
said it was questionable how this ‘Buy Zimbabwe’ campaign was going
to
succeed if politicians themselves in government had no faith in Zimbabwe
products.
“Rebranding Zimbabwe also means how much the country is
able to provide a
service to its own people. When the politicians seek
services outside the
country it does not give confidence at all to anyone
what we want to
communicate.
“Moreover how then do our
politicians, whom people rely on, feel the pinch
of what every Zimbabwean is
going through and be able to properly improve
and invest in the situation,”
he said.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 07 July 2011 21:03
Brian
Chitemba
RECENT statements by top Zanu PF officials accusing people in
Matabeleland
of inertia have irked people in that area who feel that
President Robert
Mugabe’s government is to blame for the
underdevelopment.
Vice-President John Nkomo said people from the
Matabeleland region did not
make sufficient effort to develop while Bulawayo
governor Cain Mathema said
marginalisation of that area was now a myth.
Deputy president of the Senate
Naison Ndlovu added his voice by saying
parents in Matabeleland should send
their children to school to attain
qualifications that could be exploited
for the development of the
region.
During a recent tour of Joshua Nkomo Airport, Nkomo
urged people from
Matabeleland to work hard for the development of the
region instead of
continuously singing the monotonous marginalisation
hymn.
These sentiments by the Zanu PF top officials have drawn fierce
criticism
from politicians and activists who accuse them of singing for
their supper.
The debate over the marginalisation of Matabeleland continues
to take centre
stage in most political fora.
Apart from
Matabeleland, provinces like Midlands, Manicaland, Mashonaland
and Masvingo,
have not witnessed significant development in the past three
decades of
Independence.
Other critics from the region are questioning if
Manicaland, Midlands, and
Masvingo provinces are more developed than
Matabeleland. The infrastructure
in those provinces is equally dilapidated
since most of it was built by Ian
Smith’s Rhodesian regime. For instance,
Manicaland still lags behind in
terms of development despite having
minerals. The same situation prevails in
Matabeleland where villagers have
not benefited much from the wildlife and
timber-rich areas.
It
seems Harare is the only place where development is taking place while
other
places remain stagnant.
While Zanu PF, which has been in power since
Independence in 1980, refuses
to take any blame, economists argue that the
underdevelopment of
Matabeleland and other regions can be turned around if
the government
decentralises essential services from Harare.
In
one of his budget presentations, Finance minister Tendai Biti said
infrastructure development was sluggish across the country and maybe the
only new thing that someone who died in 1975, if resurrected, would find is
the towering Reserve Bank building in Harare’s central business
district.
Like other parts of the country, the region suffered a
major skills flight
due to a decade long economic malaise since 2000 but it
cannot be denied
that youths in Matabeleland are fond of crossing the
Limpopo river to South
Africa for menial jobs.
The departure of
thousands of the youths with a potential of contributing
towards the
development of the region has created space for other people
from various
parts of the country, sparking an outcry that locals are being
sidelined.
So now, if people are deserting their home provinces,
who then is to blame
for the lack of development in
Matabeleland?
Economic commentator Eric Bloch said the government
should decentralise
entities that offer critical services from Harare to
other parts of the
country to ensure equal distribution of
resources.
He said since Independence in 1980 most parts of Zimbabwe
have remained
underdeveloped due to a myriad of economic
challenges.
Bloch further argued that the prolonged completion of the
Joshua Nkomo
Airport and perennial water problems as well as a poor road
network showed
that Matabeleland was underdeveloped.
“We need
critical services to get to the people instead of referring
everything to
Harare. There is need to improve infrastructure elsewhere
apart from Harare
because Zimbabwe is not Harare and Harare is not
Zimbabwe,” said the
businessman who sits on several boards.
Bloch said it was
disheartening that politicians were using marginalisation
to score political
points during election period.
“There is need to push for
developmental projects all the time instead of
politicking to garner for
votes during election periods,” he said.
In Matabeleland, there have
been projects on the cards for decades such as
the Matabeleland Zambezi
Water Project and Bulawayo-Nkayi Road, among many
others which are only
raised during election time.
Other analysts said Matabeleland is the
worst developed region due to seven
years of disturbances in the 1980s which
left 20 000 people dead during
Gukurahundi.
National Association
of Non-Governmental Organisations (NANGO)
secretary-general Goodwill Phiri
said while other provinces were
constructing schools, people were being
massacred by the notorious Fifth
Brigade.
He suggested that there
should be a deliberate policy such as devolution of
power to spearhead the
much-needed development in Matabeleland.
Phiri attacked Mathema, Nkomo and
Ndlovu for failing to represent the
interests of the people in their region
but were doing anything to please
President Robert Mugabe who appoints them
to influential positions.
“The problem we have with our leaders is
that they are not in touch with
reality; no wonder they find nothing amiss
with the underdevelopment in the
region and thus they will never win
elections,” he said.
Phiri said the closure of over 80 companies in
Bulawayo also showed that the
government did not care about the welfare of
people in the region, most of
whom have been rendered jobless. Companies
have been closing down or
relocating to Harare, citing viability challenges.
A cabinet taskforce has
been put in place to find ways of rescuing Bulawayo
but nothing has been
done.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 07 July 2011 21:13
Paidamoyo
Muzulu
THE Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe (Baz) has neither
the capacity nor
expertise to license new broadcasters now because of
funding problems it
faces since its inception, parliament was told
yesterday.
Baz chairman Tafataona Mahoso made the revelation when he gave
oral evidence
to the Media, Informa tion and Communication portfolio
committee on the
authority's progress in opening up airwaves to allow for
private
broadcasters.
The Sadc-facilitated GPA signed in 2008
calls upon the inclusive government
to open up the media sphere to new and
diverse players in an effort to
entrench democracy. Presently the electronic
media is still monopolised by
state broadcaster ZBH.
Mahoso
said opening up of airwaves was determined by levels of investment by
the
state into monitoring and regulating tools of any new
entrants.
"Broadcasting is mostly a question of investment and
budget, investment in
infrastructure and equipment for monitoring," he said.
"Any serious
regulator about regulation would make sure anything licensed
can be
monitored and regulated in terms of the current laws," Mahoso
said.
He said this in response to committee chairperson Seiso
Moyo's question on
whether the authority had the capacity and equipment to
license any new
players in the short to medium term.
Mahoso
added that they could not license new players whose equipment was not
compatible with the monitoring system they currently
have.
Baz chief executive officer Obert Maganyura said the
authority was severely
compromised when it comes to monitoring broadcasters
and their transmitters
since they are using obsolete
equipment.
"Monitoring is a big challenge we have. We are
currently relying on
rudimentary pieces of equipment we inherited from
Potraz," he said.
Maganyura added that Baz needed over US$3
million to set up a fully fledged
monitoring system, purchase software for
frequency allotment, monitoring of
both technical, frequency use by
licensees and transmitter radiation levels.
The authority said
inadequate funding pushed it to factor licensing costs
into broadcasting
application fees but was afraid this could bar smaller
companies entering
the sector.
"We do not receive adequate funding. Now we are
passing on the burden to the
applicants. It's not an ideal situation because
we could be creating
barriers to new players," Maganyura
said.
Both Mahoso and Maganyura failed to respond categorically
when Zimbabweans
should expect to have a new player in the electronic media
after the
authority received 14 applications for the two national FM
commercial
licences. This prompted some committee members to label them "not
serious"
on opening up the airwaves.
"You are not serious.
You do not want to open the airwaves," retorted Norton
MP Edward
Musumbu.
Moyo said the committee wanted to see movement in the
deregulation of the
electronic media as had happened to the print media
where over seven
publications have been licensed and are
operational.
"We need to start to see some opening up of space.
On the print media we
have seen some progress with several publications
licensed and bringing
diversity to the market," Moyo
said.
Misa-Zimbabwe advocacy officer Thabani Moyo said the
government was not
willing to open up the airwaves as they had more reach
and influence than
newspapers.
The committee's report to
parliament last month accused the state
broadcaster of being perceived as
biased in its reporting thus forcing
people to move over to free to air
satellite decoders.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Friday, 08 July 2011 10:28
ECONET Wireless
yesterday sold its 11,8% stake in Rainbow Tourism Group
(RTG) to the
National Social Security Authority (NSSA) for US$5,4 million in
two special
bargains.
This brings NSSA’s stake in Zimbabwe’s second largest hotel
group to 22,67%.
The sale was split into two special bargains of 181
million shares sold at
2,1 cents a share and 59 million shares sold at 2,5
cents a share.
A senior Econet Wireless Group executive Tracy Mpofu
confirmed the sale last
night, saying NSSA would appoint directors to the
board to replace the
Econet directors “in a few days to
come.”
RTG shareholders last week appointed Econet representatives —
Trynos
Kufazvinei, Godfrey Manhambara, Mpofu, Krison Chirairo and John Gould
— to
the board of the hotel group at an AGM.
Mpofu said Econet’s
investment arm, EW Capital, felt that “RTG no longer
fitted” into the
company’s guidelines.
“Where this is the case, EW Capital plans and
executes a responsible exit
that will not disrupt the operations of the
company in which it was
invested,” she said. Mpofu said Econet had worked
very well with the
Ministry of Tourism and NSSA.
“It was because
of this good working relationship that the Econet exit has
been amicable and
responsible,” she said. The recent controversy surrounding
RTG was petty and
not worthy of a response, she added.
Mpofu said EW Capital has always
listened to proposals from Zimbabwean
business people who were looking for
capital. She dispelled media reports
Econet had made a takeover bid for
African Sun Ltd, saying the company did
not fit into EW Capital’s investment
strategy.
However, EW Capital would retain its stake in Afre, as,
according to Mpofu,
the life assurance group was strategic, as it holds the
mobile life
assurance product Ecolife, through which Econet services its
customers.
Econet’s disposal of RTG shares comes a week after the
hotel group’s major
shareholder Nick van Hoogstraten said he would call for
an urgent EGM after
shareholders strongly resisted his proposed nominees to
the board at the
group’s tension-filled AGM last Wednesday.
Van
Hoogstraten, who has about 593 473 829 RTG shares, which translates into
36%
shareholding, wanted more representation on the RTG board by virtue of
being
the single largest shareholder.
He had proposed Shingirayi
Chibanguza, 27 years old, Alexander Hamilton
(23), Ian Haruperi (32) and
Maximilian Hamilton (25) to the board, but they
were rejected by the other
shareholders who included EW Capital.— Staff
Writer
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 07 July 2011 20:58
HARARE
Residents’ Trust (HRT) condemns the behaviour and action of the
hooligans
masquerading as Zanu PF youths who wantonly attacked a legally
constituted
meeting on Saturday, June 25.
This meeting, sanctioned by the
police, intended to gather representatives
of the Harare Residents across
the political divide, race and beyond class
boundaries.
The
purpose was to have an indaba where Harare residents engaged service
providers to discuss ways of improving service provision and charging fair
rates for services provided. Present were Senior Government officials from
the Ministry of Local Government, representatives of the local authority and
two senior officials from the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority
(ZESA).
The HRT is a non-partisan institution whose main objective is
to empower
Harare citizens to lobby and advocate for accountability,
offering of
quality and affordable services through engaging the council and
city
fathers in continuous dialogue. It has emphasized on its members and
leadership that its business should not be done on partisan lines and does
not wish in any way to be dragged into partisan politics as its clientele
are Harare residents regardless of their affiliation to any grouping be it
religious, race, tribe or political.
It is therefore a serious
cause of concern, when a group of thugs descend on
honest and unarmed
citizens, some who are old enough to be their parents and
grandparents
attacking them with impunity, using booted feet, clenched
fists, sjamboks
and baton sticks.
Many delegates including service providers and
invited guests were left
nursing serious wounds and substantive damage was
caused to the hired
property, the public address system, laptops, phones and
other valuables. We
understand the Zanu PF Youth leadership in Mbare has
dissociated themselves
from these hooligans.
The big question is
who are they, who do they represent and who sponsored
them? Who provides
them with food and beer at Paget House, and at the Joshua
Nkomo office,
inside Gwinyai Primary School where they carry out atrocious
acts against
peace-loving citizens?
We urge Zanu PF, whose image has been tainted
by this latest act of thuggery
against citizens discussing civic issues, to
thoroughly investigate who
these malcontents are. If they are not part of
Zanu PF they will be exposed,
root them out and expose them before issuing
hollow statements defending
ill-disciplined people acting on behalf of Zanu
PF.
Who benefits from this chaos. Some of the people beaten up are
members of
Zanu PF within our ranks who are more concerned with service
delivery than
pursuing narrow partisan interests.
We hope that
this reaches the powers that be in Zanu PF. If no one listens
to this
advice, more people who belong there will abandon the party and join
other
progressive forces that have no intention of resorting to violence to
gain
support.
If they are part of your system, they need to be disciplined
because they
are becoming misguided missiles who may damage your reputation.
Remember
people who attended this function are from the grassroots and
represent the
ordinary people and some are even from Mbare and may know
these hooligans.
To the law enforcement agencies we say a culture of
anarchy should be nipped
in the bud before it gets out of control. These
youths can be easily
identified as they acted in broad day light and there
are people who have
identified some of them and where they
stay.
You need to professionally deal with them, otherwise you will
nurture a
culture of non-respect of the law which will be hard to control in
future.
To Harare Residents who were injured, or suffered in various
ways as a
result of this unwarranted act, we sincerely apologize as
conveners of the
event and hope the law will hastily take its
course.
The HRT remains dedicated to a free and prosperous citizenry.
No one will
intimidate us and we will not back down from our mandate to
raise the issues
of the residents.
Harare Residents
Trust,
Harare.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 07 July 2011 20:56
By
Qhubani Moyo
THE ongoing intensive debate about the role of the
securocrats — the army,
police and intelligence services — in resolving the
Zimbabwe national
question is timely and critical as it provides probably
the most important
piece of the puzzle.
The issue is particularly
important given the reality that the securocrats
or more precisely the
military, which enjoys the "monopoly of violence", in
Zimbabwe, and indeed
most African states, have a significant influence on
who is at the helm of
power .The untold reality about power dynamics and the
architecture of
governance in most African countries, especially those that
fought armed
struggles to free themselves from colonial rule, is that real
power and
influence resides in the triumvirate of the educated, business and
military
elites.
Simply put, the educated civilian authorities and
bureaucrats perform
day-to-day administration in government, business
accumulates wealth on
behalf of the triumvirate, while the military protects
their collective
gains and interests. In other words, the triumvirate is a
business
partnership to cumulate and preserve wealth and each group has a
serious
role to play in this regard. These three groups generally have
common
interests and may share the same fate depending on circumstances.
That is
why they fight from one corner in defence of the status quo. As we
all know
no class commits suicide as it always seeks self-preservation and
to
reproduce itself.
A prominent diagnosis for Africa's
post-colonial developmental crisis has
been the absence of good and
democratic governance among different
countries. This is true of Zimbabwe
and many other countries on the
continent. Part of the problem, among many
others which include poor
leadership, policy failures and bad governance, is
the counter-productive
involvement of the military in institutions of
governance, especially in
countries where civil-military relations are not
properly institutionalised
and defined.
As a result of
blurred or weak civil-military boundaries and failures of
civilian
authorities, the military has found itself involved directly in
politics. Of
course, the military in a way is an institutional actor in
politics,
democracy and governance, but it lacks legitimacy and competence
as an agent
of good governance.
However, it must also be acknowledged that
the military's institutional
involvement in politics in Africa and elsewhere
is unlikely to disappear or
be eradicated. The whole point of informed
debate about security sector
reform therefore assumes a different dimension
which is to institutionalise
good civil-military relations and determine how
the military can be managed
and kept under the constitutional and legal
control by civilians, while
playing a positive role to enhance and promote
democratic governance and
development. This should be the debate on security
sector reform, not the
partisan gibberish churned out by self-seeking and
self-indulgent actors and
opinion leaders on the political
landscape.
This brings me directly to the Zimbabwe situation. It
is important to
realise that in dealing with issues of resolving the
Zimbabwe national
political question we should put the spotlight on the
securocrats whom now
all know are the power-brokers behind the throne.
Significantly so because
in the process of the protection of the interests
of the triumvirate, the
securocrats also committed gruesome and unimaginable
atrocities while trying
to help their civilian partners to consolidate
power.
As a result a number of securocrats are liable to serious
international
action including possibilities of facing The Hague for their
atrocities.
However, it is better for them to be dealt with by Zimbabweans
in terms of
our constitution and laws where applicable and appropriate. This
is not to
say international processes should be
shunned.
Because the securocrats have been the king lynchpin for
the regime which has
been in charge, it is inevitably that they are an
identifiable part of the
problem and in many respects therefore part of the
solution.
Against this background, the major question is then how
do you make them
part and parcel of the whole process without compromising
and militarising
the solution in answering the national political question
and resultantly
ensuring the problem does not go away.
To
assist achieve this, it is necessary to locate the debate in the very
foundation of the establishment of what today comprise the Zimbabwean
securocracy. The location and foundation of these securocrats is the
integration at Independence of three fighting forces each aligned to a
political party and thus grounded on the ideological foundations of those
parties. Zipra, the military wing of Zapu, was oriented on the ideals and
ideology of the party which was basically Marxist-Leninist, while Zanla,
Zanu's military arm, was ideologically inclined towards Maoism. The
Rhodesian army was rooted inthe colonial ideals and background of the right
wing Rhodesian Front. It thus a fact of reality that even after
establishment of the new Zimbabwean security institutions, the army, police,
prison services, air force and intelligence services logically carried with
them their party ideological ethos and positions. This made the creation of
new professional and cohesive security organs and institutions
difficult.
The problem was exacerbated by the fact that after
Zanu had won the
elections in 1980, it sought to exclude or undermine those
from Zipra from
serious positions of influence to shape the institutions in
its own image
and entrench its own dominance. This was achieved through
crude
intimidation, harassment and even violence which escalated during the
Gukurahundi era.
The infighting was vicious and led to
serious problems during integration.
Although Zipra forces were well-trained
and equipped to play a significant
role in the new Zimbabwean security
institutions they were marginalised and
excluded. This left these
institutions controlled and dominated by Maoist
Zanla forces. But the
character and content of Zanla forces was such they
were functionally and
operationally involved in Zanu's commissariat work
conducting also sorts of
political programmes including the all coercive
night political meetings
(pungwes). Effectively they carried the same
philosophy and practices into
the new institutions, which is why security
sector reform is not just
important but critical for Zimbabwe's stable and
prosperous existence and
progress.
While it must be acknowledged a lot was done to create
professional security
institutions through local, regional and international
training programmes,
including those of the British Military Advisory and
Training Team, the
ideological and philosophical outlook of the former
ex-combatants did not
significantly change when all is said and
done.
The professional integrity and credibility of the security
institutions was
further compromised when they were unleashed during the
land reform
programme and elections after 2000 in the name of defending the
country's
national security and sovereignty. This contrived spectre of
national
security is now being raised to further political agendas and in
the process
get the military deeply involved in
politics.
However, in dealing with the issue it is unhelpful to
make sweeping
generalisations and then paint everyone among securocrats with
one brush. As
indicated earlier the military does not exist and function in
isolation.
About the Author
Qhubani Moyo is the National
Organising Secretary of the MDC led by
Professor Welshman Ncube. He is
contactable on qmoyo2000@yahoo.co.uk
.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 07 July 2011
20:55
THERE has been much hoopla over Sepp Blatter’s visit this week.
“Blatter
magic hits Harare,” the Herald proclaimed. Zimbabwe was being
singled out
for a special favour, we were led to believe.
Of
course the only country on the continent Blatter could fit in with
perfectly
is Zimbabwe. According to one blog he likes money, clings to
power, runs a
dodgy administration, and loves travel. We were also struck by
the way he
dealt with his enemies before they could deal with him!
Anyway, no
sooner had we had an opportunity to say hello than he was off to
South
Africa for an IOC meeting, the real purpose of his trip. We were just
a pit
stop.
We all know that the state broadcaster needs to attack
ministers from both
MDC formations as they sing for their supper but they
took it to
preposterous levels on Monday.
This time they were
attacking Education minister David Coltart. His Crime?
Not being at the
airport to welcome Fifa president Sepp Blatter .
What’s more they said this
was because he was trying to organise a meeting
with Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai. There was of course no coverage from
ZBC of Blatter’s meeting
with the Prime Minister.
Never mind that Coltart practically spent
the whole day with Blatter going
with him to meet Mugabe, Tsvangirai as
well as attending the national women’s
Cosafa match against Malawi with the
Fifa boss.
This kind of rubbish has few takers and is among the
numerous indicators
that professionalism at the national broadcaster has
well and truly gone to
the dogs.
And they wonder why viewers
think their television licence fees are just $50
too
much.
Another group of Mugabe praise-singers have come onto the
scene. This time
in the form of the Muzarabani Nehanda Choir. The Herald
quotes group member
Ainesu Kasambarave saying of the objective of the album:
“Our aim as a group
is to promote our area (Muzarabani). We also want to
remind youths of the
sacrifices that Mbuya Nehanda and other heroes and
heroines who came after
her made for the liberation of the
country.”
“We also want to inculcate into people’s minds how our
leaders like
President Mugabe have led the country with vision, courage and
determination.”
Vision and courage? Runaway inflation, rendering
people homeless through
Operation Murambatsvina and declaring that the
bullet can replace the pen
during the presidential runoff campaign after he
lost to Morgan Tsvangirai
in the first round of elections in 2008 hardly
sounds like vision and
courage to us.
And you are hardly going to change
people’s minds by jingles and bottom
wriggling!
The Herald’s
literary standards are definitely sinking. How about this for
an
introductory paragraph from an op/ed piece by a teacher, one Caine
Humanikwa: “The West which I hear calls itself the international community
is the worst notorious (sic) wealth hunter and the path on which it walks is
strewn with trails of blood, cries, death, disasters, great suffering, pain,
and poverty and uses brutal tactics to achieve its so-called permanent
interests.”
Can you imagine a whole generation of Zimbabweans brought up
on this
semi-literate drivel? And were you aware that some Zimbabweans
should not
vacation at the country’s chief resorts?
“In these
tough turbulent times,” the teacher continued, “the kith and kin
have never
stopped holidaying in Nyanga, Victoria Falls, Kariba, clubbing in
hotels or
abroad.
So “abroad” is off limits as well? Where does that
leave?
Sitting in petrol queues apparently. That’s the place to be,
according to
the writer. But ironically the petrol queues were seen at the
time as
recruiting sergeants of the MDC.
The thing about
Herald and Sunday Mail columnists is that they think they
speak for an
authentic Zimbabwean constituency when in fact that same
constituency voted
against these imposters as soon as it had the chance. So
now they have to
threaten and intimidate with half-baked racist rubbish
which gets them
nowhere in the end. The nation in 2000 and 2008 said it was
not interested
in their fulminations.
What is evident is the invention of bogeymen
who are manipulated to scare
voters. They are called “the enemy” but
needless to say they don’t exist.
The real enemy are the people pillaging
the country as they cling to power.
So long as they continue to spout the
sort of ignorant and hate-filled
vituperations we are currently witnessing
in the state media there is little
prospect of national
recovery.
We were amused by Jonathan Moyo’s reference to donkeys
(courtesy of Mahatma
Ghandi) at the conclusion of his interview with Chris
Maroleng. When it was
pointed out to us that it was nothing new and he
frequently made reference
to donkeys, some wag was quick to say that was
because he came from
Tsholotsho.
What has happened to Tendai
Biti? In London to address the Commonwealth
Business Council, he said land
reform was irreversible “no matter how ugly
it was done”.
So
those who were killed and had their properties stolen don’t
matter?
He described the US as “intransigent and aloof” and said the
land reform was
successful when judging production output in crops such as
tobacco.
What we have here is a senior MDC-T official prepared to overlook
violence
and pillaging of property in the name of inter-party solidarity. Is
this the
right thing to do? Is it principled or just expedient? What
happened to the
land reform commission? Has that been glossed
over?
The members of the Commonwealth Business Council who Biti
implored to come
here and invest are unlikely to do so when senior members
of the government
ignore confiscation of property and lack of compensation.
This by the way is
Zimbabwe’s responsibility, not Britain’s. It was slipped
into the 2000 draft
constitution by Zanu PF and rejected by
voters.
Biti sounded as if he was speaking for Zanu PF. He
claimed the country’s
judiciary measured up to any other around the world.
“The judges and
officials are well-read,” he claimed, “well-trained and
respected globally.”
And what of the Sadc Tribunal Tendai, to which
applicants had recourse if
their own judicial systems failed to assist? That
proved an inconvenience so
it was abolished.
Strange justice
there. Again, the MDC-T said nothing.
Biti castigated the Americans
for not taking advantage of the opportunities
Zimbabwe offered. Can the
Americans be blamed for avoiding commitments to a
country whose leading
party — the MDC-T — is so shallow in its approach to
governance?
We recall the visits of MDC-T officials to besieged
farms to see the
evidence for themselves and then returning to Harare with
nothing to say as
if some shady deal had been done. Again, what has happened
to the land
commission?
We were interested to note that
Zimbabwe had been removed from the agenda of
the Sadc organ on Defence,
Politics and Security ministerial committee
“because the political and
security situation has normalised”.
We rolled around with laughter at
that one. Normalised? Is that what they
call it?
And who made
this dubious claim? Secretary for Foreign Affairs Joey Bimha,
we
gather.
Zimbabwe will be left to the facilitator to deal with rather
than the
troika, he said.
Strange isn’t it that this news hasn’t
been published elsewhere.
It was salutary to read the remarks of
Thailand’s generals on the outcome of
their election this week. Thailand’s
outgoing Defence minister, himself a
retired general, said the army accepted
the election result.
“I have talked to military leaders. We will
allow politicians to work it
out,” he said. “The military will not get
involved,” General Prawit
Wongsuwon told AFP. “The people have spoken
clearly so the military cannot
do anything. We accept it.”
Wise
words and a good example to others.
Meanwhile, have you noticed
how all those columnists in the state media who
are batting for Gaddafi
omitted to tell us that China hosted Libyan rebel
leader Mahmoud Jibril last
month? Do we detect a crack in the solidarity
ranks?
Finally
we enjoyed ZBC’s commentary from the Sandton summit last month.
Morgan
Tsvangirai left the meeting with “an egg on his face”, we were
told.
Scrambled or poached?
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 07 July 2011 20:52
By Erich
Bloch
THE world over and for very many generations, almost all
elections have had
an economic impact. The extent to which Zimbabwe's next
elections will
impact upon its economy will undoubtedly rank amongst one of
the greatest
election- influenced economic impacts ever
experienced.
Although the Zimbabwean economy has experienced
minimal recovery since early
2009, it has been gravely embattled and
emaciated for most of the past 14
years. It is still severely debilitated.
More than 80% of the population is
struggling to survive on incomes
substantially below the Poverty Datum Line,
with over half of those earning
less than the Food Datum Line (the minimum
income necessary to sustain
themselves without endangering life through
malnutrition). Less than 20% of
the employable population benefits from
formal sector employment. Hundreds
of thousands are homeless, and millions
cannot afford healthcare or
education for their children.
Concurrently, government is (on its
own admission) bankrupt, despite onerous
direct and indirect taxation upon
the impoverished population and upon
enterprises struggling to survive. As a
result, much of the national
infrastructure is debilitated, parastatals are
unable to provide adequate
service, national debt exceeds US$7 billion
dollars, and Zimbabwe has one of
the world's lowest credit ratings. So great
are Zimbabwe's debts and its
defaults in debt servicing that not only is the
state unable to service
those debts and access critically needed loan
funding from international
bodies such as the International Monetary Fund
(IMF) and the World Bank, but
the private sector is also almost wholly
unable to obtain loan funding or
supplier credit facilities from beyond
Zimbabwe's borders. Concurrently,
availability of such funding from internal
sources in miniscule, for many
banks and other financial institutions are
undercapitalised, and virtually
all of them suffer intense
illiquidity.
These stressed circumstances are notwithstanding
that the past two years
have witnessed a cessation in history-breaking
levels of hyperinflation, a
significant increase in agricultural production,
and meaningful growth in
production by the mining sector. Counterbalancing
these positives has been
an intense contraction of the manufacturing sector,
with numerous industries
ceasing operations, and even more being forced by
the reduction of market
demand to downsize operations. Much of the financial
sector is non-viable,
due to a combination of capital inadequacy, gross
insufficiency of funding
from depositors, and absence of international lines
of credit. Most other
economic sectors are also functioning at levels far
below potential.
Resolution of Zimbabwe's economic ills, and the
restimulation of the economy
to previous level, and thereafter to the high
levels that it has the
potential to achieve, is contingent upon many factors
and actions. However,
foremost amongst those are restoration of both
international and domestic
business confidence in Zimbabwe's future. Without
that confidence being
reinstated and firmly entrenched, there is no prospect
of the substantive
economic recovery so desperately needed, and craved by
all Zimbabweans.
Amongst the key needs for such confidence to
develop is a conviction that
Zimbabwe is governed democratically, by a
government which has been elected
freely after an incontestably transparent,
free and fair election, and that
such government is genuinely representative
of the majority will of the
populace. This means the election must be
conducted devoid of any rigging or
falsification of results, and without any
irrational barriers to the
legitimate populace casting their votes.
Intimidation, harassment and unjust
hindrances to the casting of votes
preclude recognition of an incoming
government's
credibility.
Moreover, the government elected must convincingly
be seen to be one which
has an absolute, inexorable respect for law, human
and property rights, and
which places the interests of the population it
represents first and
foremost and above all else — especially before its own
interests. It must
be one which respects the rights of others to freedom of
speech, including
the rights to express opinions at variance to those of the
government,
provided that such expression is peaceful and non-seditious. And
it must be
one that operates unhesitatingly and totally within the
parameters of the
national constitution, and which interacts harmoniously
and co-operatively
with neighbouring states and the international community
(save for those
that do not espouse democracy, freedom of speech, respect
for property and
human rights, and the rights of other
countries).
If Zimbabwe's forthcoming elections meet those
criteria, there will be
significant inflows of development aid to Zimbabwe
to rehabilitate the
presently afflicted and decimated infrastructure and
economy. There will be
debt relief for much of the country's enormous
international indebtedness,
and rescheduling of most of the balance of that
debt. There will be
significant inflows of loan funding. Most of all,
investor confidence, in
Zimbabwe and abroad, will be restored and
stimulated. This is a certainty
for there is worldwide recognition of the
vast economic potential and
opportunity centred on the vast mineral wealth
with which the country is
endowed, on the great substance that can be
developed in the manufacturing
sector (and especially through value-addition
to primary products), from
Zimbabwe's remarkable tourism resources, and from
the great potential
(previously realised, but forfeited for much of the last
decade) of
Zimbabwean agriculture.
For the elections to
attain the necessary national and international
credibility, being an
intractable absolute for substantive economic
recovery, many of Zimbabwe's
political hierarchy must swallow their
hard-core disregard for reality, and
must:
Ensure that the current voters' roll, viewed suspiciously by
most other
than that hierarchy and those dependant upon it, should be
scrapped and
replaced with new voter registration, independently managed and
supervised,
and encompassing Zimbabweans wheresoever resident. The general
perception is
that the current voters' roll is devoid of credibility, with
thousands of
deceased persons, minors and possibly fictitious persons
thereon. The
registration process, and compilation of the roll, should be
regionally or
internationally managed or supervised, to prove that the
process is devoid
of anything untoward.
Whilst it is desirable that
the elections be conducted at the earliest
possible date, this should not be
with haste that destroys credibility. The
need to complete the constitution,
prepare a new voters' roll, and properly
organise the elections is such that
if they are held this year they will be
devoid of credibility, and therefore
should be conducted in the first six
months of 2012.
Essential to a
nationally, regionally and internationally acceptable
outcome, the elections
must be very properly conducted, either by the
regional or international
community or, at least, with their pronounced
supervision, including
external assistance to ensure an absence of voter
intimidation and
harassment.
If all this occurs, Zimbabwe's economic future, and the
wellbeing of its
people, is assured.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 07 July 2011
20:51
Faith Zaba
EVENTS in the last few months have shown
that President Robert Mugabe will
not resign anytime soon but intends to die
in office after he offered to
contest the next general election now expected
next year.
Despite Mugabe’s old age and ill health, free debate on choosing
his
successor is still almost impossible.
Open discussion on the
succession is taboo. Even the most influential Zanu
PF officials are afraid
to speak out on who they want to succeed Mugabe. The
question they throw
back is why the media now is so obsessed with the
succession debate. They
are also quick to point out that Mugabe is fit to
continue ruling the
country until he decides to step down, while the
military believes that he
should rule for life. They say only when Mugabe
decides to quit will the
debate be opened up.
At the moment, no one will dare to stand up and
register his or her
opposition to Mugabe’s continued rule as politburo
member Dzikamai Mavhaire
did in 1998 when he moved a motion in parliament
calling for a review of the
constitution and advocated limited presidential
terms. Mavhaire was
subsequently suspended from the party, and thereafter
other party officials
have been too frightened to discuss anything to do
with the succession issue
lest the presidential axe falls on
them.
Mugabe has over the years undoubtedly used the confusion he is
creating over
the succession to convince his supporters of the need for him
to continue
ruling to ensure Zanu PF’s survival.
He successfully
created provincial leaders, making himself the only national
leader and over
the years he made sure that he is the only one qualified to
head the party.
Mugabe is also well known for saying one thing and doing the
opposite.
While it is clear in the constitution that one of the
vice-presidents takes
over if Mugabe resigns or dies in office, the Zanu PF
constitution is silent
on who should succeed him.
However, some
political analysts and top Zanu PF officials aligned to
Vice-President Joice
Mujuru believe that it was clear from the party’s
hierarchy who will take
over from Mugabe.
They said the next most senior person, according to
the party hierarchy,
will immediately assume the presidency of the party if
Mugabe resigns or is
incapacitated.
Going by the hierarchy as
outlined in the party constitution, the two
vice-presidents are in the
number two position. Of the two, Mujuru was
elected to that position first,
making her more senior to John Nkomo.
Defence Minister Emmerson
Mnangagwa seemed to buttress this view in a rare
interview with the Sunday
Telegraph.
Mnangagwa, who has been viewed as a strong contender for Mugabe’s
throne,
said: “I am Number 12 in the party, not number two and am just a
humble
person.”
He went further to say: “I have no ambitions to
be president. People
speculate left, right and centre but we have a
structure in our party with a
president and two vice-presidents. The
leadership has to come out of that
group, and I am not part of
it.
“I just wish a legacy of peace, prosperity and growth for the
younger
generation.”
But is it as simple as that? If it was that
simple, then why is there this
debate and jockeying of positions at every
congress? Why are they afraid to
clearly state this and why is everyone
afraid to openly debate the issue?
If it was also that clear, why
then would the military be getting deeply
involved in politics and why are
generals making statements saying that they
would only support their
preferred candidate? And why is Zimbabwe Defence
Forces Commander
Constantine Chiwenga’s name popping up as a possible
successor to Mugabe, if
Zanu PF was so sure about Mugabe’s successor.
Going by the hierarchy
in the party constitution, Mnangagwa’s seniors
include national commissar
Webster Shamu (ranked seven), external affairs
secretary Stan Mudenge (8),
transport and social welfare secretary Nicholas
Goche (10), national
security secretary Sidney Sekeramayi (9), party
spokesperson Rugare Gumbo
(11) and secretary for administration Didymus
Mutasa
(5).
Mnangagwa’s statement rattled the upper echelons of Zanu PF. Top
Zanu PF
officials spoken to by the Zimbabwe Independent do not know whether
to
believe him or not.
One top official described Mnangagwa’s
declaration as “python intelligence”.
Asked to explain what that
meant, he said: “His statement was like seeing a
python basking in sunshine
and thinking it is harmless and only to see its
viciousness when you get
closer to it.”
Political analyst and publisher Ibbo Mandaza
questioned why there should be
debate on Mugabe’s successor when there is a
hierarchy in Zanu PF and these
are ranked in order of seniority in the party
constitution.
Mandaza said: “Emmerson Mnangagwa has also admitted
that there is hierarchy
in the party. The party congress decides the
hierarchy and it was decided at
the last congress and it can only be
modified at the next congress. In that
regard it is cast in stone and at
state level it is also very clear that one
of the vice presidents takes
over.
“Those that are suggesting that the hierarchy doesn’t matter
are saying so
from a politically motivated position.”
Mandaza
challenged Zanu PF to highlight its constitutional provisions on
succession
both at state and party levels.
“Unless these provisions are
highlighted, they would be ignored by ambitious
power mongers. There are
constitutional provisions that guide succession
that go beyond anointing
anybody,” he said.
“We have two vice-presidents and clearly why
should there be a discussion
about who should succeed Mugabe. They are
ranked in order.”
He added that: “We are very concerned about the entire
debate on succession
and the need for a constitutional succession — a
succession that follows the
constitutional provisions of the party and the
state.”
However, constitutional expert Professor Lovemore Madhuku
differs with
Mandaza on succession being a hierarchical issue.
Madhuku
said: “It is not hierarchical as a concept in politics. It is only
hierarchical in a chieftainship. Those insisting that it will be determined
by the party hierarchy want to divert attention — it is a clever way to
divert attention (he was referring to Mnangagwa’s statement). It is a
campaign strategy where he wants to appear like a humble
person.
“It (succession) will not be done in terms of hierarchy and
Mugabe will not
be part of it because he is going to die in office.
Succession will be
determined by events outside Zanu PF and the candidate
who will be chosen
will be measured against the opposition. They will not
get just any
candidate but a strong one that can fight it out with the
opposition.”
To ensure that there is a soft landing and a peaceful
handover, Zanu PF
needs to clearly outline its succession plan. If it is
going to be decided
by the party hierarchy as ranked in the party
constitution That has to be
clearly stated in the constitution to avoid a
situation where the military
carries out its threat to intervene if the
party fails, the analysts
observed.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 07 July 2011
20:49
ZANU PF politburo member and MP Jonathan Moyo has of late been
writing
acerbic articles threatening those who hold a different opinion
from his on
national issues. Last Sunday he claimed Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai,
MDC-T, NGOs, the independent media and other groups refusing to
accept his
latest political views were a threat to “national
security”.
In 2006 Moyo wrote exclusively in the Zimbabwe Independent
that President
Robert Mugabe posed a “fatal danger to the public interest of
Zimbabweans”
and was putting “the nation’s survival at great risk”. He said
Mugabe “must
now go” in order to safeguard Zimbabwe’s “national interest,
security and
sovereignty”.
That was just one in a series of
somersaults by Moyo whose erratic views
change depending on which direction
the political wind is blowing. Moyo
made a name for himself mostly in the
private media through withering and
unrelenting criticism of Mugabe,
including claiming in 2008 the president
could lose elections even to a
donkey. Below is what Moyo said about Mugabe
just a few years ago in
relation to Zimbabwe’s national security.
PERENNIAL wisdom from
divine revelation and human experience dictates that
all earthly things
great or small, beautiful or ugly, good or bad, sad or
happy, foolish or
wise must finally come to an end. It is from this sobering
reality that the
end of executive rule has finally come for Robert Mugabe
who has had his
better days after a quarter of a century in power.
That Mugabe must
now go is thus no longer a dismissible opposition slogan
but a strategic
necessity that desperately needs urgent legal and
constitutional action by
Mugabe himself well ahead of the presidential
election scheduled for March
2008, in order to safeguard Zimbabwe’s national
interest, security and
sovereignty.
One does not need to be a malcontent to see that, after
25 years of
controversial rule and with the economy melting down as a direct
result of
that rule, Mugabe’s continued stay in office has become such an
excessive
burden to the welfare of the state and such a fatal danger to the
public
interest of Zimbabweans at home and in the diaspora that each day
that goes
by with him in office leaves the nation’s survival at great risk,
while
seriously compromising national sovereignty.
If there is
one unified truth among otherwise divided Zimbabweans, a truth
now also
ringing true within key governmental and non-governmental centres
of
regional, continental and international opinion, it is that the country’s
seven-year-old economic recession will worsen as it gets wider and deeper
beyond fuel shortages, unless and until there is a far-reaching political
settlement of the five-year-old Zimbabwean leadership
question.
So what should Mugabe do? The leader of the MDC, Morgan
Tsvangirai, says
Mugabe should be dragged to the negotiating table by the
likes of presidents
Thabo Mbeki and Olusegun Obasanjo and forced to talk a
political settlement
with the MDC.
But calling for
inter-party talks now is really flogging a dead horse not
least because
there’s really nothing to negotiate given the depth of
“Mutually Assured
Demonisation” (Mad) between Zanu PF and the MDC. No wonder
Zanu PF and its
government, gloating over reported divisions within the MDC
as if they
cannot feel the heat from the ethnic fires that are burning
inside the
ruling party, have been quick to dismiss inter-party talks by
reminding
Tsvangirai that his party is in parliament where a lot of talking
is
done.
On March 18 Trevor Ncube wrote an incisive analysis of the
Zimbabwean
predicament ahead of the general election in this paper which
disappointingly concluded that Mugabe was needed now as never before as the
solution to the crisis gripping the country, and challenged him to appoint
able and dynamic deputies to succeed him.
Mugabe has publicly
demonstrated his leadership incapacity to make way for
an able and dynamic
successor by succumbing to manipulative tribal pressure
from a clique in his
party on November 18 2004 at a politburo meeting that
unprocedurally and
unconstitutionally amended Zanu PF’s constitution to
guarantee the
imposition and ascendancy of Joice Mujuru to the
vice-presidency, three days
before the Zanu PF membership was due to elect a
new top leadership and
central committee.
Curiously, this real coup whose tribal story has
not yet been told took
place on the morning of the same day during which,
later in the evening, a
coup plot was allegedly hatched at Dinyane High
School in Tsholotsho giving
rise to the so-called Tsholotsho
Declaration.
Inter-party negotiations or appointment of able and
dynamic potential
successors are no longer viable options for Mugabe not
only because Zimbabwe
has now reached a point of no return to Zanu PF, but
also because the
required critical solution must focus not just on Mugabe
but also, and more
importantly, on Zanu PF itself where there is internal
dictatorship,
institutionalised patronage and refusal to
reform.
This leaves Mugabe with one real option that he must now
exercise: to resign
in terms of the constitution of the land and to allow
Zimbabweans to choose
a constitutional successor now. The nation is bleeding
and it would be very
irresponsible to expect Zimbabweans to wait until 2008
for the presidential
election.
The Zanu PF proposal that the next
presidential election should be held in
2010 together with parliamentary
elections due then is pure political
madness gone too far all because of the
politics of patronage, and must be
rejected with all democratic and legal
force possible.
Apart from the obvious yet very important fact that a
voluntary
constitutional resignation to make room for a constitutional
successor now
would indelibly guarantee him an honourable legacy and avoid
the risk of
looming instability in our country, the following are among
compelling
reasons why Mugabe must follow the constitutional exit door by
resigning
now.
First, Mugabe is now leader of a shelf political
party that exists only in
name even with those seemingly high numbers in
parliament because, in real
terms, the hearts and minds of the bulk of its
members have ideologically
emigrated to a new all-inclusive third way beyond
current party boundaries,
the so-called third force which in fact is a
people’s movement, such that
Zanu PF membership is now only for strategic
survival purposes in practical
and not ideological terms which are
temporary.
Mugabe could of course reverse this were he to resign now
and give the
remaining scattered faithful ones in his party some hope to
inject a new
dynamism before time completely runs out with the result of
consigning Zanu
PF to the fate suffered by Unip in Zambia, Kanu in Kenya and
the MCP in
Malawi.
The rot in Zanu PF smells in government where
the cabinet has become no
better than a status club in which ministerial
positions have no strategic
policy value as they have become instruments of
patronage to gain personal
access to national resources, and the illusion of
power and influence.
This explains why government has now resorted to ruling
through “GBO”
(Government By Operations) led by jittery security
arms, implemented an
undeclared state of emergency and roped in the Reserve
Bank to pursue an
unprecedented law and order approach to monetary policy in
order to
criminalise Zimbabweans, whether as individuals, families or
businesses, to
make them insecure and vulnerable to inhuman and barbaric
attacks in the
name of restoring order reminiscent of the Gukurahundi
days.
This evil has been dramatised by the destruction of houses and
business
properties that has affected the whole nation and invited the
possibility of
international intervention to the detriment of our
sovereignty.
But the most compelling reasons for Mugabe to resign now
have to do with his
own fallen standing in and outside the country. The
prevalence of unkind
jokes about him on text messages and the Internet say
it all. Mugabe now
lacks the vision, stature and energy to effectively run
the country, let
alone his party.
He is without compassion, maybe
because he is now too old, too tired and not
in the best of health. His
failure to visit stranded families left homeless
and suffering from the
irrational acts of his own government speaks volumes
of his cold and cruel
leadership style.
From all discernible indications, Mugabe has lost
influence and is now
viewed with suspicion or cynicism, or both, by his
peers in Sadc, the
African Union and across the developing world where he
used to enjoy
considerable authority. Of course, Mugabe is still respected
as an old man
and he still makes very interesting bombastic speeches that
are applauded
for their entertainment value, and which are full of sound and
fury but
signifying precious little at the level of policy and
action.
Given the foregoing, Mugabe has no reason whatsoever to
continue in office
as that is no longer in his personal interest and is most
certainly not in
the national interest. He just must now go and the
fundamental law of the
land gives him a decent constitutional exit that he
must take while he is
still able to do so to save the nation and preserve
his legacy.
Jonathan Moyo is MP for Tsholotsho and former
Information minister. This
article was first published in the Zimbabwe
Independent.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 07 July 2011 20:47
By Eddie
Cross
IF you want a unique experience you need to try the white
water rafting at
the Victoria Falls. The river below the Falls runs through
a deep gorge that
is carved from black basalt and carries this huge river in
a deep, fast
running white water wonderland. Waves up to three meters high,
whirlpools
and the changing shape of the gorge means you are on a constant
high; we
were thrown out of our raft three times and I seemed to spend more
time in
the water than on board. Great fun, best white water in the world
but not
for the fainthearted.
Zimbabwe is like that and the past
decade has been constant white water. But
now, Zanu PF simply does not know
what to do. The diminishing coterie of
hardliners in the party is desperate
to dredge up a strategy to secure its
tenuous hold on power in the face of
regional hegemony in support of the
Global Political Agreement (GPA) reform
process finishing with a free and
fair election. All their hard work over
the past two years is in tatters and
their carefully crafted ideas disabled.
What do they do now?
The plans for a thinly disguised coup are now
deemed unworkable. The Mugabe
faction in Zanu PF plotted to hold a snap
election under circumstances where
they would have had the following
elements in place:
A distorted and carefully structured
voters roll that would allow
massive rigging of any vote and the reduction
of urban constituencies from
84 in a lower House of 210 to 52 or only a
quarter of the seats after a new
delimitation exercise conducted on the
basis of the roll.
A submissive electoral commission with a staff of
former and serving
security officials who have been responsible for rigging
elections since
2000.
A Zanu PF loyalist Registrar–General who will
administer the poll, count
the votes and announce the results.
Total
control of the former large scale farming areas where they can
control the
vote and ensure that the MDC is totally excluded from the
districts
concerned.
Total control of the traditional leadership in the tribal
areas where
their influence over the voters and the population is almost as
intense as
it is in the farming districts.
Total control of the
state–controlled media.
Generous funding from the illegal sale of
diamonds and other plunder.
It now looks increasingly that such a
scenario is unlikely to come to
fruition. Sadc and South Africa are
insisting that Zanu PF live up to its
signature on the
GPA.
Although they have successfully warded off the planned reform of
internal
governance, the revised road map adopted by the Sadc leadership is
simpler,
less cumbersome, but still means that in the end Zanu PF must face
the MDC
on a level playing field for the first time.
They know
that this would be a disaster for Zanu PF and the other minority
parties. It
would be like being dumped by a wave on the Zambezi and then
swept
away.
Their options are few; they could decide to simply abandon the
GPA raft and
attempt to swim to the bank, because that is what a military
coup would be —
suicidal and quick. Or they could tighten the buckles on
their belts and
ride the roller coaster to the end of the ride in 2013,
hoping that
something, anything, might come up in the process. Failing which
they would
simply get off the ride at the end and leave the gorge,
half–drowned. We all
know what a wet chicken looks like.
Their
only other option is to try to negotiate a compromise which would
leave them
with some dignity and the opportunity to recover and perhaps
rebuild before
the next elections in 2016 or 17.
While this game is being played out
on the river, on the ground the
situation is not standing still. The
strategy to stop the economic recovery
using indigenisation has been very
effective.
Not only has investment slowed or even stopped in many
sectors, capital
flight has resumed and when I spoke to a number of
investment funds in South
Africa a few weeks ago, I found that they were all
of the same mind — they
were holding their positions in Zimbabwe, but would
not increase their
exposure.
A magazine in the USA listed
Zimbabwe last week as the second poorest state
in the world after Congo
Brazzaville which is on the bottom rung. Our
workers are badly paid in most
sectors and living standards are very low. We
are unable to compete
regionally for skills and our civil service is very
restive. The data for
the first quarter of this year confirms the recovery
has
stalled.
If this carries on for much longer it is going to create
difficulties for
us. There is a limit to what our staff and civil service
will accept and
still stay at work.
We are close to those limits and if
we cannot hold out any hope that things
will improve, the country will start
to see human flight again with people
following our capital
assets.
In a world where basic food prices have risen a third in the
past year and
where grain prices are up over 70%, our own production remains
dismal. We
are importing all our foods — even vegetables. I estimate that
perhaps 70%
of our total food needs will be imported this year. Imported
food is always
more expensive than local food.
This, coupled with
our existing poverty, means that the ordinary person in
Zimbabwe is really
in a tough place. This will only change when we can get
the economy back on
its feet and growing strongly.
The potential is there; both the World
Bank and the IMF have stated we are
capable of double digit growth over an
extended period. But that will only
happen when we finally achieve a
legitimate government.
That requires we get off the white water we
are riding and go back to work
in the real world. What will happen next?
Everything depends on what happens
now.
If we cannot get off the
river then we have to try and limit the length of
the remaining ride and
ensure that we climb out of the gorge into a
situation that is acceptable to
all of us. We are all Zimbabweans and we all
have to live with the final
outcome. It’s our common future that we are
dealing
with.
About the Author
Eddie Cross is MDC MP for Bulawayo
South. This article first appered on his
website www.eddiecross.africanherd.com
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 07 July 2011
21:01
LOOKING at the listed companies that appear to be in trouble of
sorts, there
appears to be a common trait; lack of disclosure. You don’t get
to know the
problem the company is facing until it’s in real trouble or on
the brink of
collapse. Disclosure is one of the pillars of good corporate
governance. But
it appears, there is still some time before we really get up
to speed in
this regard. There still remains a general reluctance to engage
stakeholders, particularly shareholders by listed companies. I think this
stems from the old ways of doing things, where stakeholders were there to be
seen and not heard.
The problem with corporate governance is that
it is not statutory and this
applies internationally. However, in the highly
industrialised economies, it
is now mandatory to adopt best practices in
corporate governance. The reason
is simple, if you don’t comply, you’ll lose
out to competition. People in
those countries know and demand their rights
to be informed on every aspect
of their lives, never mind where their money
is concerned.
Evidently, the spirit of corporate governance and the
spirit of democracy go
hand in hand. The more democratic a country is, the
more likely its listed
companies adopt corporate governance practices.
Democracy promotes good
governance, the political sister of corporate
governance. So perhaps, the
problem in our country is cultural, ie dependent
on the political culture of
the country.
This is made worse
by the fact that many counters are tightly held, perhaps
a family business
or some major shareholder that went public, but are
struggling with the
reality that there are no longer a private company.
Information on
listed companies is supposed to be readily available, but if
you go onto
many company websites, their “news” section may be information
that was
posted months ago, sometimes a year or more ago.
Companies in our
country are taking time to realise the real value and
impact of promoting
investment into their shares online, in much the same
way as they were slow
to realise the potential of marketing their products.
I think in some
instance, our evaluation of benefits tends to drag on before
we adjust to
the changing environment.
Now, if they refuse to avail information
that could push their products,
what more information that can subject them
to public scrutiny as to how
their companies are being run?
Mind
you, the companies were not alone in this; even the Zimbabwe Stock
Exchange
has taken a long while to catch on with online disclosures. Up to
today, it
is still not necessarily the first place one can get current
information on
a stock. By the time they actually make a disclosure, the
market would have
been long rife with rumour. By its nature, rumour denotes
an insufficiency
of correct or official information. However the exchange is
to be commended
for the strides it is taking towards increasing availability
of information,
particularly online. More needs to be done though.
Any person is only
as good as the amount of information they have, more so
is an investor. As
long as a company chooses to go public, the rate of
information transmission
to shareholders must increase, and what better ways
than to us the online
platform? Since waiting for companies to shed their
culture of disinforming,
or sometimes misinforming their shareholders,
especially minorities, there
should be statutory requirements on increased
disclosure. Again I draw
parallels between democracy and good governance, be
it political or
corporate, our democracies are still fledgling, hence the
need for forward
thinking persons in our generally non-democratic
governments to push for
such mandatory regulations on disclosure.
As an investor relations
consultant pointed out to me, there is a trend
internationally to use
Twitter and Facebook for business and investor
relations.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 07 July 2011 21:01
GLOBAL
Political Agreement (GPA) negotiators this week agreed on timelines
on a
number of issues in the elections roadmap as directed by Sadc leaders
in yet
another incremental step towards the holding of free and fair polls
to
resolve the country’s decade-long political stalemate and concomitant
problems.
Although disagreements remain on a range of critical issues
which include
the role of state security forces in politics and elections,
control of the
CIO, staffing of the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission, monitors
and political
violence, negotiators have been making measured progress since
the watershed
Sadc summit in Livingstone, Zambia, in March. The Sadc Sandton
summit in
Johannesburg last month kept the Livingstone momentum
going.
This week negotiators put timelines on agreed issues
on the roadmap to
elections. They also agreed to step up the campaign for
the removal of
targeted Western sanctions. Negotiators agreed to enact
agreed electoral
reforms within 45 days from Wednesday. Voter education and
mobilisation for
registration would be done in 30 days, while preparation of
a new voters’
roll, including registration, would take 60 days. Inspection
of the initial
voters’ roll and preparation of the final register would be
done in 45 days.
Negotiators have also agreed there would be meetings
between GPA principals
with the Attorney-General, Commissioner-General of
the Police and heads of
security and intelligence institutions to ensure
that the prosecution
authorities and security establishment operate in a
non-partisan way
consistent with the GPA. The negotiators also agreed to
ensure the Police
Commission and Public Service Commission should operate in
line with the
GPA. The Commissioner-General of Police is expected to meet
negotiators
within a month to discuss freedom of association and assembly —
a clear
admission of repression. Even fundamental rights enshrined in the
constitution still have to be negotiated in Zimbabwe!
While this
progress is creditable, the real problem is always
implementation. When the
GPA was signed in September 2008, it was hailed as
a major achievement in
the history of relations between the three main
political parties in the
country. It allowed the main shades of political
opinion, those trying to
preserve the old order and those agitating for
change, to buy into a vision
of a new society. The agreement provided a
transitional mechanism — a
roadmap as it were — for Zimbabwe to move from
dictatorship to
democracy.
Although there were bitter pills to swallow during the GPA
negotiations,
they proved to be palatable when washed down with some of the
more positive
provisions.
The GPA required - and still does -
that the rival parties which had been
hostile to each other to pull together
and promote the flawed document to
the people in the face of
scepticism.
Since the inclusive government was formed in 2009, the
GPA parties have
continued to negotiate the implementation in the face of
resistance, mainly
from Zanu PF. The MDC-T has mainly been sluggish on the
issue of sanctions.
That lethargy has given Zanu PF the pretext to stall on
implementation.
Although there was initial progress in the implementation of
the GPA,
delaying later came into play. The parties later got bogged down in
counter-productive negotiations and arguments. They also moved to and fro on
a number of issues as their own internal dynamics and the external
circumstances started changing. In some cases they found themselves almost
back to the drawing board.
However, Sadc intervened in March to
revive the process. Last month Sadc
leaders also took a firm stance
insisting on the implementation of the GPA
and crafting of an elections
roadmap. So much has been achieved, although
quite a lot still needs to be
done. The real challenge is implementation.
To ensure full
implementation of the GPA, the parties and inclusive
government must be wary
of the machinations of a fascist Fifth Column, which
includes military and
Zanu PF political misfits, trying to sabotage steps
forward. This sinister
clique, which includes well-known state security
hardliners and Zanu PF
political opportunists, riff-raff and hate-mongers
seeking power and money,
must be stopped in its tracks from sabotaging the
GPA. Implementation of
agreed issues is critical to progress.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 07 July 2011
20:59
IN recent weeks the country has been saddled by a contrived debate
on
whether Prime Minister Morgn Tsvangirai and his MDC-T party, as well as
civil society organisations, NGOs and the private media constitute a
“national security” threat in Zimbabwe.
The debate — whose real
motive is to justify repression and lay a siege on
the people particularly
those opposed to Zanu PF — has been initiated by
military and Zanu PF
elements openly hostile to Tsvangirai and critics of
the status quo. The
most notable and vocal agitators of the debate have so
far been
Brigadier-General Douglas Nyikayaramba and Zanu PF politburo member
Jonathan
Moyo who now claims Tsvangirai is a national security when just a
few years
he accused President Robert Mugabe of the same.
His erratic views
on who constitutes a national security threat depend on
his political
opinion at the time. Moyo is a political chameleon of note and
this has
ruined his credibility and integrity as a political scientist and
actor.
Whatever he says is to be regarded with suspicion and not to be
trusted as
his views change depending on which direction he thinks the
political wind
is blowing.
Nyikayaramba’s claim that Tsvangirai does not constitute
a “political
threat” but does pose a “national security threat” is not
surprising at
all. For years Nyikayaramba and other generals have stated in
public that
they would not salute Tsvangirai even if he wins democratic free
and fair
elections. Some of the generals’ remarks, particularly during 2008
presidential election run-off where widely interpreted as bordering on coup
threats. That was why regional leaders condemned those remarks in 2008.
Nyikayaramba has even gone to the extent of saying he would resign if
Tsvangirai wins, which is not a problem since it’s his democratic right to
do so.
However, to say the military would reject Tsvangirai’s
victory if he wins is
no longer a democratic right but a clear and present
danger to the
constitutional and legal order in Zimbabwe. This is a real
threat to
national security.
To put things into perspective,
there are varying definitions of national
security, but the one proffered by
different scholars as captured in
Wikipedia is the most compelling. The free
encyclopaedia defines national
security as “the requirement to maintain the
survival of the state through
the use of economic, military and political
power and the exercise of
diplomacy”.
The concept, according to
Wikipedia, was developed mostly in the United
States after World War
II.
From this broad definition of national security, it gives us a
clear view of
what constitutes national security and what doesn’t. In the
same vein it
shows what could poses a national security threat and what
doesn’t.
There is absolutely no doubt that silly season is upon us
given recent
political developments in the country where Brigadier-General
Douglas
Nyikayaramba and Zanu PF politburo member Jonathan Moyo have wasted
vast
acres of space in the public media claiming that Prime Minister Morgan
Tvangirai is not a political risk, but a threat to national
security.
In Nyikayaramba and Moyo’s warped worldviews, Tsvangirai is
a national
security risk because of his call to service chiefs dabbling in
politics to
quit and contest for political power. The two also view
Tsvangirai and his
MDC-T party as puppets of the United States and the
European Union, hence
should be stopped by hook or by crook from getting
into power.
We will not bother going into Moyo’s ranting against the
private media and
NGOs, which border on character assassination and rank
political madness.
The issue at hand is the question of whether Tsvangirai
is a national
security threat or not.
Nyikayaramba and Moyo seem
to be confusing the security of the nation as
distinct from the security of
a particular political party within the
country’s body
politic.
We agree absolutely with Deputy Justice minister Obert
Gutu’s observation
that dictatorial regimes the world over often confuse
national security with
political party security.
Since when has
President Robert Mugabe and Zanu PF’s political survival
become a national
security issue? Why is Moyo opposed to the crafting of an
election roadmap?
The electorate knows that Zanu PF hardliners are more
concerned with the end
state of elections, not processes — this is called
fallacy of composition.
The hardliners want an opaque process that would
provide them with the
opportunity to rig poll results.
It is delusional for any
right-thinking Zimbabwean to perceive Tsvangirai as
a genuine national
security threat. Given his political clout and support,
Tsvangirai is indeed
a threat to President Robert Mugabe, Zanu PF,
Nyikayaramba and Moyo. Their
political death is nigh!