Reuters
Fri 13 Jun 2008,
8:43 GMT
HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe police impounded two buses used by
opposition
leader Morgan Tsvangirai on his campaign ahead of the June 27
presidential
run-off election, the Movement for Democratic Change said on
Friday.
Tsvangirai, who has been detained four times in the past week, is
continuing
his campaign, MDC spokesman George Sibotshiwe said.
"The
police have impounded the two buses that we were using. They are saying
the
buses are not properly registered, but that is not true, just
harassment.
"But (MDC) President Tsvangirai is continuing with his campaign
here. We are
using other cars that we had in our convoy," Sibotshiwe said.
France24
Friday 13
June 2008
Some of the military bosses who run Robert Mugabe's Zimbabwe
are ready to
see him go - but only if they get personal assurances they
won't end up in
court for war crimes dating back to the 1980s.
Friday 13
June 2008
By Alex Duval Smith
Zimbabwean opposition leader Morgan
Tsvangirai's claim on Wednesday that his
country is ''effectively being run
by a military junta'' was not a crass
attempt to grab
headlines.
In its 28 years in power, the guerrilla
movement-turned government of
President Robert Mugabe has never shaken off
its militaristic structure.
That President Mugabe felt confident to travel
to Rome last week for the
United Nations Food and Agriculture summit
provides current proof that the
84-year-old leader has full military backing
and did not fear being
overthrown in his absence.
Zimbabwe, which
gained independence from white rule in 1980 after one of the
most bitter and
entrenched liberation wars in Africa, is governed by a cabal
of
battle-hardened ex-guerrillas whose rhetoric betrays their past.
On
Thursday, vice-president Joseph Msika was reported to have told a rally
in
the southwestern town of Zaka that a vote for Tsvangirai in the June 27
run-off election ''will be akin to an act of war.'' He said : "Voting for
the Movement for Democratic Change will be like voting for Rhodesia and the
British, which means voting for war."
The Marxist-bred Zimbabwe
African Union - Patriotic Front (Zanu-PF) has a
political party structure
and there are progressives within it. But the
country is actually run by the
Joint Operations Command - a war cabinet made
up of the defence forces
chiefs and the heads of the police, prisons service
and
intelligence.
Skeletons in the closet block power-sharing
deal
Behind-the-scenes attempts by South Africa to broker a negotiated
settlement
to the fraught and violent electoral process finally floundered
not so much
on Mugabe's reluctance to give up power as on his lieutenants'
fears that
they would be brought before the International Criminal Court in
The Hague.
Some Zanu-PF elders, such as former security minister Emmerson
Mnangagwa,
had conceded of "the need for a power-sharing government after
the
election." Mugabe himself is said by some to have offered to concede
defeat
after the 29 March first round.
But hardliners wanted personal
guarantees. JOC heavyweights such as Air
Force Commander Perence Shiri and
Army Commander Constantine Chiwenga argued
that, in 1980, the security
apparatchiks of Ian Smith's outgoing regime were
even given high-ranking
jobs in the first post-colonial government.
Both Shiri and Chiwenga - and
to a lesser extent Mnangagwa - were involved
in the killings of between
10,000 and 30,000 people in Matabeleland,
southern Zimbabwe, in the early
1980s. Those killings, which were linked to
Mugabe's campaign to oust his
prime minister of the time, Joshua Nkomo, have
been described by the
Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace as a
genocide.
In the
recent South African-brokered negotiations, the MDC briefly
considered legal
immunity or some form of truth commission to smooth the JOC
heavies' exit.
Tsvangirai spoke of a ''comfortable retirement'' for Mugabe.
However, amid
mounting evidence that the same men have been the brains
behind current
violence against MDC supporters, the opposition party changed
its mind.
International Herald Tribune
The Associated
PressPublished: June 13, 2008
LONDON: British Prime Minister
Gordon Brown says there must be an end to
violence and oppression in
Zimbabwe before the country's presidential
runoff.
Brown says
deliveries of food aid should immediately be resumed, and more
election
observers should be allowed to enter the country.
The Southern African
Development Community plans to have 400 observers. The
U.S. ambassador in
Zimbabwe has called for three or four times that number.
Brown was
speaking at a London news conference Friday with visiting U.N.
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
The U.N. leader says Zimbabwe's
election on June 27 must be transparent,
fair and competitive.
The Zimbabwean
Friday, 13 June 2008 07:59
Monday 23 June 2008, 12.30
- 14:00
Outside the Zimbabwe Embassy
429 Strand, London, WC2R
OJR
Nearest tube Charing Cross
On 23 June Lovemore Matombo,
President of the Zimbabwe Congress of
Trade Unions (ZCTU) and Wellington
Chibebe, General Secretary of ZCTU are
due in court to face charges of
spreading falsehoods prejudicial to the
state.
As part of their
bail conditions they are not allowed to address
political or public
gatherings. These charges and bail conditions are clear
breaches of free
speech and freedom to associate.
We urge people to protest at attempts
to silence trade union leaders
and the state sponsored violence and
intimidation which has intensified
since the first round of elections in
March.
We are calling for:
. trade unionists to be free to
organise and speak without being
arrested and tortured
. an end to
violence and intimidation
. real democracy for Zimbabwe.
.
justice and rights for Zimbabwe and Zimbabweans
You can read more
information about the demo on our website.
If you can't be there please
either forward this email onto your
friends and colleagues, or download and
pass around the demo flyer.
As well as the demonstration on 23 June in
London, we are calling on
supporters to contact the Minister of Justice in
Zimbabwe, asking for the
charges to be dropped. Download a copy of ACTSA's
appeal letter.
Your support is essential to help achieve democracy,
rights and
freedom for Zimbabwe.
Action for Southern Africa -
Peace, Justice, Solidarity
New Zimbabwe
By
Innocent Chogugudza
Last updated: 06/14/2008 09:46:13
THE writing is
already on the wall; an MDC government is increasingly
becoming an
unavoidable reality in Zimbabwe.
However, l must warn that to achieve the
above seeming reality, sacrifices
have to be made. The same sacrifices made
in the second Chimurenga war in
which President Mugabe, among other gallant
fighters was a hero.
Fighting for freedom has never been easy, as those
against it will always
guard their interests with the greatest tenacity and
determination they can
offer. It does not need the bishop's brains to note
that defying a
determined dictatorship will not be an easy or cost-free
endeavour. It is
common knowledge that all forms of struggle have
complications and costs;
and the same can be said of Mahatma Ghandi and
Nelson Mandela's struggles.
Fighting dictators will, of course, bring
casualties and all forms of
collateral damage. It is my hope, however, that
this analysis will persuade
democratic leaders and their foot soldiers to
consider strategies that may
increase their effective power while reducing
the relative level of
casualties.
It is not a secret that many
Zimbabweans have suffered and died in the hands
of brutal militias,
overzealous and extremist ruling party zealots in what
analysts have rightly
or wrongly called a 'state-sponsored' wave of violence
against the MDC party
activists. The reality of the situation is that those
who have died in the
political violence are heroes in the struggle for
freedom and will always be
remembered on freedom day.
I have found the following to be reasons why
an MDC government is
unstoppable:
Economic Collapse: the current
state of the country's economy is such that
no one in their right frame of
mind will ever invest their confidence in a
Zanu PF government. This is
irrespective of the genuineness of some of
Mugabe's explanations or excuses
as to why the economy is worse than any in
the world other outside war
zones. The argument about the British reneging
on their land reform
commitments whilst, it has some weight the reality of
life on the seized
farms and the resulted hunger in the country tells
another story.
The
current state of economic stagnation in business activity in Zimbabwe
will
continue until there is a new political dispensation in the country.
With no
hope of new bilateral financing arrangements and balance of payments
support, the situation will only become bleaker in the coming months. There
is also an element of sabotage by those whose businesses have been destroyed
by a combination of bankrupt Zanu PF economic policies and the effects of so
called smart sanctions on Zimbabwe.
Poverty: The ever deteriorating
standards of living in Zimbabwe have
provided the much needed ammunition to
propel the opposition MDC into
government. This process may not happen now
but certainly in the next few
months or two years maximum. Whatever Zanu PF
tries to do now, it is living
on borrowed time and should start preparing
for opposition politics.
The reality of nationalist parties such as UNIP,
KANU, MCP and others is
that once they are defeated, they will never rise
again and the nearest they
can ever get to power is in the form of a shadow
cabinet. Hopefully, the
Zanu PF party possibly under new leadership would be
a loyal and responsible
opposition party for the good of democracy. Poverty
will force the people of
Zimbabwe to chose between Zanu PF for despair and
MDC for hope and a chance
to survive in a democratic
society.
Violence: the brutality and wanton destruction of property being
perpetrated
by Zanu PF militias and rogue elements in the war veterans
movement has made
the people of Zimbabwe resilient and more determined to
defy any attempts by
the ruling Zanu PF party to impose its mandate on the
people. This kind of
situation benefits the opposition MDC party in spite of
whether the party
leader has charisma or not.
As of now, people are
more concerned about removing Zanu PF from power than
they are concerned
about the quality of opposition leadership's quality - an
unnecessary luxury
Zimbabweans cannot afford. Therefore, the debate about
Tsvangirai's
leadership qualities is irrelevant. The people will not vote
for a party
that beats up and fails to feed its people and still claims that
it is a
people's party. As for the opposition, resorting to violence will
always
weaken their reputation and respect amongst the people; an eye for an
eye
leaves the world blind and should not be adopted as a strategy.
Loss of
moral authority to rule: there is growing evidence and realisation
by
Zimbabweans that the 'ruling' Zanu PF party does not have the moral basis
to
extend their rule even if they 'win' the next run off election. Those who
back Zanu PF and are true to themselves should be reminded that protracted
one party rule has the effect of creating resistance in the minds of the
ruled especially when the leadership becomes lethargic, corrupt and
irresponsible.
In Zimbabwe's case, the people generally feel
neglected, abandoned and
betrayed in extreme cases. The people's distrust of
government is growing
everyday and inevitably, this is good news for the
opposition leader.
Tsvangirai's critics can say he is a sell-out,
unintelligent and everything
negative but the reality remains, the collapse
of the economy is his
greatest asset and the man is the only real hope the
people have.
Election Run Off: It is clear that the opposition won the
March 29 election,
whether they won it by 50% or not is irrelevant. In
mature democracies, the
very fact that an incumbent loses to an underdog is
a shocker that usually
prompts immediate resignation. It is embarrassing for
a person of President
Mugabe's stature by African standards to lose the
first round of an election
and insist on contesting a second round which
might bring more embarrassment
to him and his party if he losses it again.
Some even doubt the sincerity of
Zanu PF in participating in
elections.
For many years in Zimbabwe as indeed in other dictatorships,
elections have
been used merely as rigidly-controlled plebiscites to get
public endorsement
for candidates already hand picked. It is true that
dictators under pressure
may at times agree to new elections, but then rig
them to extend their
contested rule. In situations where opposition
candidates have been allowed
to run and were actually elected, as occurred
in previous years, results
have been contested and the "victors" subjected
to intimidation, arrest and
harassment. It should be known that
dictatorships are not in the business of
allowing elections that could
remove them from power.
The sad truth is that the June 27 run-off
election is not necessary and can
be avoided through a negotiated solution.
The reasoning behind stopping the
June 27 election being that another Zanu
PF government will not have any
positive impact on the lives of the people
except more impoverishment. On
the other hand another an MDC victory will
not be accepted by Zanu PF and
their backers and may result in another
stalemate with the possibility of
civil war in Zimbabwe. The extent of
violence is Zimbabwe today is high and
unprecedented and more importantly,
commensurate with Zanu PF's level of
desperation and fear of losing
power.
However, the impending victory against Zanu PF party and its
spiritual
leader should not be interpreted to mean that when the
dictatorship is
eventually defeated; all other problems will also disappear.
The fall of one
regime does not bring in a utopia. Rather, it creates
opportunities for hard
work and long efforts to establish a more just
social, economic, and
political dispensation and the eradication of other
forms of injustices and
oppression
Gene Sharp (1993) states that the
downfall of dictatorships in Africa,
Soviet Union, Asia and South America
has minimally lifted much of the
suffering of the victims of oppression, and
has opened the way for the
rebuilding of these societies with greater
political democracy, personal
liberties, and social justice.
The most
important thing to remember is that of necessity, and of deliberate
choice,
the focus of the struggle for freedom in Zimbabwe should be to
address the
major problem of how to prevent the rise of a new dictatorship.
This
requires concrete an effective constitutional guarantees defining the
terms
and conduct of the country's next leaders.
What Next?
Many
including Kenneth Kaunda, Desmond Tutu, Thabo Mbeki, Simba Makoni and
Kofi
Annan amongst other great thinkers have raised the idea of a government
of
national unity through negotiations between the two major parties. In
reality, this is where the focus of attention should be directed. Given the
nature and level of violence in the country today, a free and fair vote
cannot be achieved. Mugabe should be persuaded or pressured to accept this
reality and move the country forward. Mugabe's reputation will be in serious
tatters if he goes ahead with this election and either losses or wins in
much disputed circumstances.
The Kenyan style of political settlement
should be ideal for Zimbabwe.
However, the issue of power distribution
should be resolved by creating a
Prime Minister's post and split the power
between the Prime Minister and
President with parliament providing the
requisite checks and balances for a
period of one year. The transitional
government can then draw up a new
constitution and hold new elections in due
course and by then, Mugabe will
have retired. If the above plan is not
acceptable then a neutral person,
preferably a retired judge or respected
clergyman, can be appointed to head
a transitional authority for twelve
months.
In essence, negotiations, of course, may not be an option at all
due to a
variety of factors. For instance, firmly entrenched members of Zanu
PF who
feel secure in their positions may refuse to negotiate with the
opposition
MDC for fear of losing their power, wealth and status. The
problem remains
that if negotiations fail, what other option exist which has
not been tried
before?
Ultimately, March 29 will forever be
remembered, as the defining moment for
politics in Zimbabwe should the
run-off election proceed as planned. Once
again, the opposition MDC should
now be thinking of how to either govern as
a democratic movement or consider
power sharing with a belligerent Zanu PF
party as a junior
partner.
The truth is Zimbabwe will never be the same again irrespective
of what
happens on June 27. The road to the return of people power has only
begun
but a word of caution; Mugabe and Zanu PF are not quite finished yet
although the writing is already on the wall for them. Their dignified exit
from power is all the people of Zimbabwe want.
Crisford Chogugudza is
a political commentator based in London. E-mail him:
crisford02@yahoo.co.uk
FinGaz
Clemence Manyukwe
Senior Political Reporter
TWENTY police officers at Headlands police
station were detained last week
when 31 postal ballot paper applications
went missing in an incident that
saw law enforcement agents at four stations
in Makoni district being
summoned for parades and forced to chant ZANU-PF
slogans.
Half of the officers are currently detained at Chikurubi Maximum
prison.
The Headlands police station officers were detained in their
station's cells
before being "screened", leaving at least 12 facing
disciplinary hearings.
The hearings started on Monday under a panel of five
officers who include
the Deputy Officer Commanding Mutare Rural, Joshua
Tigere and the Officer
Commanding CID, Rusape District, who was identified
only as Chief
Superintendent Dube.
Contacted for comment by The Financial
Gazette yesterday, Tigere, a former
police spokesperson for Manicaland
province said: "I no longer comment on
press queries, go to our
spokesperson. I just presided over the case but you
have to contact the
spokesperson, he will tell you how I handled the case."
Police national
spokesperson Assistant Commissioner Wayne Bvudzijena
yesterday said he was
yet to confirm the incident.
Police sources yesterday said some of the
officers were severely assaulted
following their arrest and one, identified
as Muringayi is now walking with
the aid of crutches.
After the Headlands
incident, the arresting officers proceeded to Rusape,
Inyati and Nyazura
police stations all in Makoni District where they
summoned officers for
parades and forced them to chant ZANU-PF songs and
slogans.
"The
arresting officers said they wanted to knock sense into our heads
because we
were supporting the MDC (Movement for Democratic Change). They
forced us to
chant ZANU-PF slogans. Constable Banda of Inyati police station
volunteered
to resign after refusing to chant ZANU-PF songs," a police
source
said.
The names of police officers who were arrested at Headlands police
station
were given as Wilbert Mushayavanhu, Gerison Gome, and Fidelis
Zingwangwa
with the rest being identified only as Nhendere, Munetsi, Maruva,
Nyamayaro,
Mudzuto, Chifamba and Mate.
The checking of applications for
postal votes started on June 4 and will
close on June 17 when all
applications are supposed to reach the Zimbabwe
Electoral Commission (ZEC),
by noon.
A stilted campaign among armed forces has been launched to ensure
that
members vote for incumbent President Robert Mugabe in the June 27
election,
which pits him against first round winner Morgan Tsvangirai of the
MDC.
The MDC has complained about ZANU-PF, in collusion with top military
generals, going all out to coerce junior members of the army, the police and
their spouses to vote for President Mugabe.
The uniformed forces vote two
days before June 27 under the supervision of
their superiors.
FinGaz
Staff Reporter
THE Attorney
General (AG)'s Office has come under fire from human rights
lawyers over its
plans to deny bail to all suspects arrested on charges of
either committing
or inciting political violence.
The Deputy Attorney General in charge of
the Criminal Division, Johannes
Tomana, was quoted in the state media saying
it had been decided "that those
arrested are locked up right to trial. Bail
is opposed as a matter of
policy".
And Justice, Legal and Parliamentary
Affairs Minister Patrick Chinamasa
weighed in with a suggestion on Tuesday
to declare an amnesty for petty
criminals so as to decongest prisons and
make room for suspects expected to
be arrested on charges of political
violence.
But Irene Petras, the national director of the Zimbabwe Lawyers for
Human
Rights, said the AG's intentions as articulated by Tomana were
"regrettable
and unfortunate" as they clearly confused the role of the AG's
office with
that of the judiciary.
"In terms of the Constitution of
Zimbabwe, all accused persons have a
fundamental right to be presumed
innocent until proven guilty by a court of
law. They also have the right to
protection of the law and the right to
their liberty as guaranteed in
sections 18 and 11, respectively," she said.
"Bail is an entitlement that is
provided to accused persons to ensure that,
from the time of their arrest to
the finalisation of their trial, their
right to liberty is not unreasonably
and unnecessarily violated," Petras
said.
An accused person has a right
to apply for bail before a criminal court,
which bail must, in the interests
of justice, be granted where an accused
person has convinced the court that
he or she is of fixed residential
address and is not likely to abscond from
attending trial if set free on
bail; will not interfere with witnesses or
evidence and will not commit
further offences while on bail.
"When bail
is applied for, the State as represented by the AG's office,
cannot simply
oppose the granting of such bail without providing the court
with
substantive and credible reasons (supported by evidence) for such
opposition," Petras said.
She explained that courts would have to be
convinced that there is a
material likelihood that the accused may flee from
justice if released on
bail, interfere with witnesses, or commit further
offences.
The human rights lawyer also said it was then solely within the
mandate and
function of the court and not the AG's office to decide on the
basis of the
evidence before it whether bail should be granted, adding that
these were
elementary tenets of criminal procedure and constitutional
law.
Scores of opposition supporters and officials accused of inciting
violence
are presently languishing in jails after being denied bail. They
include
Eric Matinenga, the Buhera West House of Assembly
representative.
Matinenga, who was released by a court on Thursday, was
re-arrested on fresh
charges of inciting violence in his
constituency.
Lawyers fear that if the AG's proposal is enforced, people
accused of
involvement in political violence will be thrown into jail
unnecessarily
until the June 27 presidential election is held, thus
disenfranchising them.
"The State, as represented by the AG's office, now
seeks to unilaterally
remove in totality the right to even make an
application for bail by
publicising its intention to make it mandatory that
no bail is granted at
all to those arrested on the mere suspicion of
'political violence'. To
simply deny bail as a matter of policy because the
crimes for which accused
is charged amount to political violence is clearly
unconstitutional," Petras
said.
She said it was unacceptable at law and
in practice for the State, through
the AG's office, to override the function
of the judiciary, by issuing a
widely publicised policy decision to deny
bail without just and reasonable
cause. "It usurps the functions of the
judiciary, and places executive
pressure on an independent arm of
government."
FinGaz
Clemence Manyukwe
Senior Political Reporter
A high court judge was allocated a farm two
months ago after performing
"special duties" for the state, Judge President,
Justice Rita Makarau heard
this week.
The revelations were made
during the hearing of a land dispute after an
urgent application lodged by
Justice Chinembiri Bhunu, who is seeking an
order to have another new
farmer, Professor Lovemore Gwanzura, ejected from
Daskop farm in Marondera
on the grounds that the government allocated it to
the judge in April this
year.
Between July 2002 and December 2007, the farm was owned by David
Mangota,
the permanent secretary in the Ministry of Justice, Legal and
Parliamentary
Affairs.
In a sworn statement submitted to the Judge
President, Mangota said he moved
from the Daskop farm after being allocated
a bigger farm in the Midlands.
Mangota said after leaving the farm last
December he handed it over in April
this year to Justice Bhunu, who had been
granted an offer letter for the
property by the Minister of National
Security, Lands, Land Reform and
Resettlement, Didymus Mutasa.
In an
affidavit, Justice Bhunu said after Mangota had handed over the
property,
Gwanzura visited Daskop farm on April 12 and told him that the
land had also
been allocated to him.
"He (Gwanzura) declined to produce his offer letter or
even exhibit it to
me. After I had produced my offer letter, he declined to
respect it and
insisted that he would nonetheless commence his farming
operations," Justice
Bhunu said in an affidavit.
"On the 29th of May
2008, I was phoned by my employees at the farm that
respondent had come back
to the farm and had forcibly occupied the wheat
fields and commenced
ploughing there at."
However, in response, Gwanzura accused the judge of
lying and trying to
remove him from the property because he was
'well-connected."
Gwanzura said he had been the occupant of the property
since June 2007 and
was waiting to be granted an offer letter.
He said he
had planted 40 hectares of winter wheat this year after getting a
$1,8 loan
trillion from Agribank.
Gwanzura, who claimed to have farm workers,
implements, inputs such as
fertilizers and fuel on the property and said how
Justice Bhunu "skipped the
queue and obtained the farm ahead of me is only a
matter of speculation."
"When I heard of the presence of applicant -Justice
Bhunu -I started
enquiries as to how he could be allocated the farm. I was
told through the
Ministry of Justice that applicant had been given special
dispensation by
the President (Mugabe) to get the farm through minister
Mutasa because
applicant was helping and doing special duties," Gwanzura
said.
"This, it was alleged, necessitated the President giving him the farm
by
taking it from me. This story was denied by the President's office and
Lands
Office in Marondera. This proves that this was done by the Justice
Ministry
only."
Gwanzura also challenged the issuing of an offer letter
to the judge on
grounds that it was done without going through the
provincial lands
committee, which is supposed to make recommendations to the
minister before
an application is approved.
He also argued that Mutasa's
offer letter was invalid as he was advised that
President Mugabe had ordered
Mutasa to suspend the issuing of offer letters
after "problems arose
sometime in November 2007."
In response Justice Bhunu denied any wrongdoing
on his part and insisted
that when he occupied the farm two months ago it
was vacant.
"The President acting through the Minister of Lands, is the very
authority,
which has allocated me this farm. Does first respondent dispute
that? First
respondent will never obtain an offer letter since issuance of
same has been
prohibited by the President," the judge said.
Justice Bhunu
handled arguably the most high profile case this year in which
he
recommended to President Mugabe, as part of a tribunal, the sacking of
former Attorney General Sobusa Gula- Ndebele on allegations of improper
conduct.
FinGaz
Shame Makoshori Senior Business Reporter
ZIMBABWE'S banking
sector this week averted a potentially crippling job
action after the
industry's 10 000 strong workforce threatened to down tools
within a week if
employers did not give in to their demands for substantial
wage
increments.
The sector gave in to workers' demands, raising their offer
for salary
increments from 150 percent to 499 percent, the highest offer by
any sector
in recent months.
This was however, lower than what the
workers had initially demanded but
enough to quell agitation among workers
who had already embarked on a
go-slow.
They were scheduled to embark on a
full-scale strike on Tuesday next week
after giving notice to employers in
line with the country's labour laws.
This would have plunged the sector into
a crisis, one that could easily
affect all the country's economic
activities, which are heavily dependent on
the banking sector.
The
Financial Gazette understands that the Zimbabwe Banks and Allied Workers'
Union (ZIBAWU) had demanded an 800 percent salary hike to cushion its
members from the effects of escalating prices that have hit the
country.
Long queues resurfaced in major financial institutions such as
Stanbic Bank,
Barclays Bank, CBZ Bank and others this week, as bank
employees embarked on
a go-slow.
ZIBAWU secretary general Wellington
Likhukhuma told The Financial Gazette
yesterday that they had finally agreed
to have a 499 percent increment for
May.
As they had already received
their salaries for May, the workers will be
given the balance this month
resulting from the increment.
The workers have already opened negotiations
for salary increments for June,
Likhukhuma said.
"We will be doing this
on a monthly basis. We realised that it was not in
the best interest of
anyone to go on industrial action, so we concluded an
agreement on Tuesday
to award a 499 percent salary increment across the
board," Likhukhuma
said.
"We have already opened negotiations for June, starting with housing
allowances and then the cost of living adjustment.
"These banks must be
sensitive. If the civil service can pay $68 billion net
salary to workers
why can't they be able to pay better.
"They are declaring profits year after
year but they cannot look after their
workers.
"In fact, we have been
able stop rampant crimes in banks by declaring zero
tolerance on
crime.
"Our members have heeded our call and we are grateful that no major
incidents have been reported.
"They count trillions of dollars everyday
yet at the end of the day they
have no money for transport," Likhukhuma
said.
After the new adjustments, the lowest paid worker in the banking sector
will
earn $17 billion, from the previous $2.9 billion.
Bank tellers, who
form the majority of workers in the sector, will see their
salaries going up
from about $30 billion to about $170 billion.
Bank tellers in higher grades
will earn more.
FinGaz
Staff
Reporter
ESKOM, one of ZESA Holdings' key electricity suppliers, has
revealed that it
does not have sufficient generating capacity to export
power to Zimbabwe.
Reports from South Africa quotes Public Enterprises
Minister Alec Erwin
saying Eskom has since July 2007 avoided entering into
any firm arrangements
with ZESA, due to the shortages of power affecting
Africa's economic
powerhouse.
Giving a written reply to a parliamentary
question, Erwin told Lance
Greyling of the Independent Democrats that
because of the lack of generating
capacity, no electricity has been
scheduled for sale to Zimbabwe since July
2007.
"Eskom is entering into
non-firm annual agreements with Zimbabwe, which
allows for the sale of
power, by either party," Erwin said.
"These transactions are concluded on a
day-ahead basis subject to the
availability of power. There is no obligation
on either party to supply the
other."
He told Greyling that neither the
Zimbabwe government nor its power utility
owed any money to Eskom for power
supplied in the past.
Zimbabwe imports electricity from Eskom, the Democratic
Republic of Congo's
Snel and Mozambique's Hidroelectrica de Cahora
Bassa.
The region has, however, been experiencing a serious deficit of power
supply
due to rising demand, which cannot be met from the current
electricity
generation capacity.
In a paper presented to energy ministers
last year, former ZESA chief
executive officer Simbarashe Mangwe-ngwende
said the challenges facing the
African power sector are a microcosm of the
many problems facing the
continent that are rooted in its economic and
social underdevelopment.
He said consumption of electricity has been low due
to poor gross domestic
product and electricity access
levels.
"Fortunately, there is strong political will to break with this life
of
poverty in the midst of plenty and this is reflected in the many
national,
regional and continental institutions engaged in the search for a
lasting
solution," he said.
Mangwengwende said energy sector reforms
implemented by power utilities in
the past have only succeeded in providing
for emergency generation through
Independent Power Producers, but have
marginalised the poor and the local
private sector.
"Regulatory agencies
are weak and countries have not managed to attract the
levels of private
sector investment anticipated. Although some of the
problems in the power
sector are attributed to such externalities as drought
and steep increases
in prices for oil importing countries, the root causes
of these problems lie
in weaknesses in planning and regulation.
"There are many wish lists of
priorities that reflect a desire for a better
future but there are very few
bankable projects to make that future a
reality.
"Bankable projects pay
dividends, repay loans and therefore attract
investors. The local private
sector will be able to attract much more
foreign direct investment than what
governments are able to.
"Bankable electricity projects are produced from
coordinated economic and
energy planning, promotion of manufacturing
industry and regional
integration driven by demand of the regional economic
powers and
exploitation of economies of scale," he said.
FinGaz
EDITOR - Why
should people be surprised at what is going on in the country?
It's typical
of an African country's election to deteriorate into a civil
war. The right
word for elections in Africa should be 'controlled mayhem'.
If what is
happening is not controlled mayhem what is? A government calls
out for an
election and when it seems to be losing it unleashes an orgy of
violence
against perceived opposition using state machinery!
That is no election by
any definition. Why call for elections in the first
place if citizens are
not allowed to express their wish? We are in for more
dirty tactics until
June 27.
This so-called 'independence' thing came too soon for Africa - we
have
regimes, which cannot organise an alcoholic revelry in a brewery. This
is by
far the messiest experiment on political and cultural change in
history.
There is no way that MDC will ever come into power through the
ballot box,
never. Holding of 'elections' is just a charade.
This is
effectively a country being run by the military but on paper,
civilians are
the Cabinet. War veterans run the show. Why have law courts
when the people
who are supposed to be custodians of the law perpetrate
unlawful acts of
violence and get away with it? It's pointless for outsiders
to repeatedly
condemn the blatant violation of human rights because as one
war veteran
told me, 'There are no human rights in Zimbabwe'.
Some of these people were
dehumanised a long time ago (during the liberation
war) so an avalanche of
condemnation is like water of a duck's back.
Toothless SADC has not made any
comments.
The delay in announcing the run-off was all strategically planned
to give
time to security agents to bash the opposition in the countryside
first. The
state using guerrilla style operations to smash the citizens is
what is
happening.
President Mugabe doesn't mind because he is told, 'Imi
chef endayi pamberi
nekutonga isu zvese zvimwe tinogadzirisa'. One can
imagine the war vets
telling President Mugabe.
Is it any wonder that
Africa is called the Dark Continent? The only reason
why we had peace or the
so-called reconciliation, which in African terms is
'relaxed chaos' from
1980 up to the late 90s was because ZANU-PF was
petrified of attacks from
apartheid South Africa so they wanted the whole
world on their side.
You
will notice that as soon as the apartheid threat was gone, when South
Africa
came under black rule, the war vets came out of their shells, and
wouldn't
give a toss about anyone on the African continent. That is when the
military
escapades to Congo started.
T Chinengundu
United Kingdom
FinGaz
Shame Makoshori
Senior Business Reporter
THE Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries (CZI)
says the continued injection
of massive liquidity into the market could
weaken measures to stabilise the
economy by further fuelling
inflation.
CZI president Callisto Jokonya last week said in Harare money
supply growth,
the rate at which currency is injected into an economy, had
overtaken
inflation as Zimbabwe's "number one enemy".
He said economic
stability hinged on the central bank halting more cash
injections into the
economy and making sure foreign currency went through
the official
market.
Commenting for the first time on the impact of the liberalisation of
the
Zimbabwe dollar on industrial operations, Jokonya said companies had
registered improved export performances but ultimate viability would be
restored if more foreign currency trickled into the interbank market.
In
the absence of balance of payments support from the International
Monetary
Fund and other multilateral lending institutions, Zimbabwe's
currency has
rapidly depreciated.
This has forced government to rely more on domestic
sources of credit,
particularly money printing, to finance its budget
deficit, itself one of
the major victims of runaway inflation.
"Once the
(foreign currency) is put into the interbank market, this should
obviate the
need to print money," Jokonya told reporters.
"Our number one enemy is the
excess of the Zimbabwe dollars on the market.
If we continue with the
current policy of injecting massive amounts of
liquidity into the economy we
will continue to see a continuous depreciation
of the currency. We need to
act as a matter of urgency to reduce money
supply growth. We will reach a
point where we risk the local currency
becoming unusable," Jokonya
said.
"We are seeing in both urban and rural areas a phenomenon where small
traders, landlords and individuals are refusing payment in local currency
and insisting on barter deals."
Some companies are also demanding payment
in foreign currency, he said.
CZI estimates indicate that Zimbabwe could
receive US$550 million through
tobacco and cotton sales this season.
If
this revenue was channelled into the official market this could help
stabilise the exchange rate.
The past two months have witnessed a
phenomenal decline in the value of the
Zimbabwe dollar on the foreign
exchange market, with the domestic currency
experiencing the worst drubbing
on the dominant parallel market.
This has left sellers of foreign currency
firmly dependent on the parallel
market.
Jokonya said it was high time
the central bank moved in with some form of
control on the rampant foreign
exchange market.
"There are some adjustments to be done. We cannot just let
it (Zimbabwe
dollar) lose. The release of operational modalities on how the
exporters
funds that are currently held at the Reserve Bank will be repaid
are yet to
be announced; the delayed release of the modalities has a very
negative
effect," he said.
FinGaz
Gideon Gono
THERE
have been recent loud calls by some segments of the business community
for
the Reserve Bank to curb money supply growth as the ultimate panacea to
the
high levels of inflation.
Firstly, the logic of this call, which is
deeply rooted in the orthodox
neo-classical monetarists' doctrine that "too
much money chasing too few
goods leads to inflation," is a trivially well
known dynamic, which merits
contextual appreciation.
In the case of
Zimbabwe, it is overly simplistic for stakeholders to blindly
sing the
classical rhetoric of "monetary austerity" as the sole solution to
the
inflation problem for the following reasons:
a) In Zimbabwe, the bulk of
money supply growth is accounted for by growth
in productive loans to the
private sector, in particular to farmers and
industrialists, under the Basic
Commodities Supply Side Interventions
(BACOSSI) as well as through Bankers
Acceptances. Currently, credit to the
private sector constitutes 75-80
percent of total loans in the economy, with
government and public
enterprises only accounting for 20-25 percent. This is
fact.
Blind calls
to shut off this credit from the productive sectors are
therefore, perilous,
as this would unambiguously throw the economy deeper
into a hyper mode of
stagflation, a condition, where high episodes of
inflation co-exist with a
worsening recession on production. Without ASPEF,
BACOSSI and Mechanisation
Programmes, the situation would, therefore, have
been much worse.
b) Most
developing and even developed economies bridge the internal
shortfalls of
savings on desired investment levels through injections of
resources from
off-shore sources, either as loans, grants or investment
inflows. For
instance, the USA is the most heavily borrowed economy on earth
today if one
looks at their perpetual multi-billion dollar balance of
payments (BOP)
deficits year in, year out, but they bridge this gap through
BOP inflows in
their capital account.
In the case of Zimbabwe, the impact of sanctions has
been to literally dry
up BOP support, as well as other forms of capital
inflows, meaning that the
country has to rely on internal resources.
c)
Given that the economy has to make do with internal resources, at a time
when the productive side is not performing well, calling for a reduction in
money supply would mean either asking government to hike corporate and
individual income taxes or outright abandonment of the various
socio-economic and infrastructural projects already being implemented. It
should be apparent to an average mind that doing so would be
catastrophic.
d) The high money supply growth rates Zimbabwe is experiencing
are also a
direct result of the constitutional requirements of the
elections. This is
typical in any country running elections and Zimbabwe is
no exception.
e) Zimbabwe has just liberalised the exchange rate, at a time
when the
central bank has limited gross foreign reserves. The direct
inevitable
implication of this is that the central bank has to also buy
foreign
exchange from the market at the liberalised exchange rates to meet
urgent
national requirements.
This unambiguously injects money into the
market. To blindly call for a
reduction in money supply, therefore, in this
context, would be tantamount
to saying to the Reserve Bank "please do not
buy foreign exchange for
strategic needs like grain imports and other
payments for medicines,
fertilisers and agricultural machinery, among many
other priorities".
It is, therefore, a question of sequencing and timing. Now
is not the time
for big-bang contraction in broad money supply, given our
circumstances.
One way through which money supply growth can be swiftly
curtailed is
through sufficient increase in interest rates. Doing this will,
however, be
folly in that already Zimbabwe's interest rates are way too high
and raising
them further, will lead to company closures, job losses and more
poverty.
As monetary authorities, we are, therefore, well aware of the
classical
connectivities between nominal monetary aggregates, prices and
real
variables in the economy.
We are sequencing our policy interventions
in a manner that protects
production in key sectors of the economy, whilst
at the same time having a
human face to the majority of the people.
Once
we get our productive sectors right, inflation will cease to be the
issue.
We also once again call upon stakeholders to go back to the
negotiating
table and establish a lasting social contract.
The social
contract is imperative and critically needed to weed out what we
now see as
unrepenting speculative attacks on defenseless masses by a few
unscrupulous
business people.
Government, labour, business and civil society need to
uphold the virtues
that come with positive, constructive, and mutually
converging expectations
in bringing down inflation.
Merely shrinking the
money supply belt will not do. Any suggestions to the
contrary will be
patently simplistic and naive.
Gideon Gono is the governor of the
Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe
FinGaz
Chris
Mhike
True democracies allow opposition politicians to exist, campaign and
even
win
LAUNCHING its campaign last month for the forthcoming
presidential election
run-off, ZANU-PF declared kuti ". chave chimurenga ka
ichi!", that is to say
". it is now war .". Blood!
"Chimurenga" is a
Shona word, which means "war of liberation". The First
Chimurenga of 1896
and 1897 was waged by the Shona and the Ndebele
populations against the
colonial occupation. The Second Chimurenga between
1966 and 1979 was waged
by African fighters against settler rule. Blood was
spilt in both
wars.
It is not clear what 'liberation' is referred to in the 'Chimurengas'
that
were waged after 1980.
ZANU-PF has referred to the land-grab
exercise between 1999 to the present
day, as the 'third Chimurenga'.
Operation Murambatsvina/Restore Order, which
was waged by the State against
citizens in May 2005 could well be taken to
have been the 'fourth
Chimurenga.'
While the first and second Chimurengas were targeted against
exotic settlers
or colonialists, the third and fourth were unleashed against
citizens.
The 'Fifth Chimurenga', proclaimed in May 2008, and a few other
times
earlier on, is said to be a war against "Britain and her allies". It
is a
bloody war that cannot be lost. Whether the ruling party wins the poll
or
not, power will not be ceded to the winner. The 'fifth Chimurenga' has
already claimed lives - black blood.
A few cases in point to show that we
are indeed in a state of war - in
another Chimurenga:
On Saturday 7th
June 2008, ZANU-PF held an election campaign for the run-off
at Mai Musodzi
Hall in Mbare, Harare. The Mbare Musika vegetable market was
closed for most
of the day, from about 10:00 hours until about 17:00 hours
as all the
vendors at that market were obliged to attend the rally.
The forced closure
of markets at Mbare whenever ZANU-PF holds a rally in the
area is said to
have become the norm in recent years. When the vegetable
market was
eventually opened after the rally, towards the end of the day,
virtually all
the stalls in the market were draped with ZANU-PF paper flags,
and campaign
posters with the President's image.
It is extremely hard to believe that
every vendor at the Mbare vegetable
market, on June 7 2008, supported the
candidacy of the reigning regime, and
that none of them supported the
opposition presidential candidate. There was
not a single Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC) poster, sticker or flyer
in the entire market on the
day. Results in recent elections have certainly
not reflected a 'one party
state of Mbare'.
At the Mbare bus terminus open trucks packed with ruling
party youths
criss-crossed, with the drivers blasting the hooters as loud
and as long as
possible, and the passengers sang out pro-ZANU-PF songs and
party slogans.
The entire terminus and market area was infested with men and
women wearing
party regalia. Not one person wore MDC material. It is also
extremely
difficult to believe that the MDC has suddenly lost all of its
supporters in
Mbare.
On June 4 2008, at 11:00 hours and at Munhumutapa
offices, corner Sam Nujoma
Street and Samora Machel Avenue, two armed
policemen treated an unarmed
young man in a fashion that would probably have
embarrassed both the late
Samora Machel, and Sam Nujoma. The hapless citizen
was forced to do
press-ups on the hard pavement on clenched bare fists. He
was thereafter
made to kneel on the ground as the two policemen interrogated
the young man
in full view of passers-by, seemingly without any shame about
the crudeness
of their savagery. Advocate Eric Matinenga, Member of
Parliament-elect for
Buhera West was arrested in Buhera on Saturday May 31
2008 on trumped up
charges, which were subsequently rightly dismissed at the
Mutare Magistrates
Court on Thursday June 5 2008.
Only two days later,
the prominent MDC politician and lawyer was picked up
from his home by State
agents, apparently on account of the same allegations
that had been
dismissed as baseless at the Magistrates Court.
As the nation prepares for
the presidential election run-off, the opposition
party has had to struggle
for the right to campaign. The party has had to
apply to the High Court for
an order to enable it (the MDC) to campaign
freely.
A good number of MDC
members of parliament-elect, besides Eric Matinenga,
and local government
Councillors have been arrested and incarcerated on the
basis of ridiculous
charges. Morgan Tsvangirai has lost his liberty twice on
his run-ff campaign
trail.
Many MDC activists and ordinary members of the party have been
assaulted or
murdered. The narrations on the extermination tactics employed
by the
murderers of opposition members are chilling. ZANU-PF members have
also been
assaulted or killed by "suspected MDC members".
Where-ever the
truth lies, the prevalence of politically motivated violence
and horrendous
deaths on both sides of the political divide, show in no
uncertain terms,
that Zimbabwe is indeed in a state of war, a Chimurenga.
Politics in Zimbabwe
has become a dangerous game; a life-threatening
adventure. The backwardness
of the domestic political system becomes glaring
when one takes a glimpse at
the dynamics of the on-going run towards the
2008 United States of America
(USA) presidential elections. No blood there.
Other democracies, not just in
the Americas and Europe, but also some in
Africa, such as South Africa,
allow for opposition politicians to exist,
campaign and even to win, without
adverse consequences from the incumbents.
No blood.
At the beginning of
April 2008, Innocent Chagonda, another prominent Harare
lawyer was arrested
for the funny-sounding crime of "causing disaffection in
the police force or
armed forces".
His trial at the magistrates courts has repeatedly failed to
take off as the
so-called 'star witness' for the State in the case has on
all court
appearances claimed to be unwell and unfit to stand in the dock to
testify.
Chagonda spent an awful night in police cells for educating police
officers
that they could be sued for indulging in unlawful
conduct.
Another human rights lawyer - Harrison Nkomo, is presently on remand
on
allegations of making 'statements that undermine the authority of the
president'. Last year, lawyers were arrested, physically assaulted, and
incarcerated by the police.
Practicing law in Zimbabwe, like delving into
politics, has become
hazardous.
The recent suspension on the aid work of
non governmental organizations is
likely to result in widespread starvation,
or at least significant hardship,
not for "Britain and her allies", but for
Zimbabweans.
Indeed, the spilling of blood, and death, are part and parcel of
any
Chimurenga, including this 'fifth Chimurenga'. What is most sad and
irritating however, about the present 'Chimurenga' is that the lives to be
negatively affected, the lives to be lost, and the blood to be spilt, are
black.
This 'fifth Chimurenga' "against Britain and her allies", is
hurting and
killing dozens of black Zimbabweans. Chave
Chimurenga!
Chris Mhike is a lawyer practicing in Harare
FinGaz
Tendai Dumbutshena
THERE
have been calls from many quarters for a government of national unity
(GNU)
in Zimbabwe to end the economic crisis and political impasse. The
presidential run-off scheduled for June 27 is seen by advocates of a GNU as
a recipe for deepening the crisis regardless of the outcome.
One
fervent advocate of a GNU or transitional authority, as he prefers to
call
it, is Simba Makoni, a losing candidate in the March 29 poll. He argues
that
not only would the run-off not solve the political crisis; the violence
accompanying it would deepen divisions in an already polarised
society.
Moreover, so dire is the current economic situation that the country
simply
cannot afford another election. Makoni quite correctly points out
that
conditions for a free and fair election do not exist because of
violence and
a compromised Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC). He sees the
transitional
authority's mandate as stabilising the economy and creating an
environment
conducive to a free and fair election in two to five
years.
The view that a run-off would be a costly exercise in futility is
shared by
the International Crisis Group (ICG), a Brussels-based think tank.
In a
recent report it argued that regardless of the result of the run off,
Zimbabwe's political and economic woes would deepen and persist.
A
victory for incumbent (President) Robert Mugabe would mean continued
internal political conflict, rapid economic decline and international
isolation. The report predicts a coup by the military should MDC leader
Morgan Tsvangirai win. The only sensible solution according to the ICG is a
negotiated political settlement between the MDC and ZANU-PF.
In theory
there is nothing wrong with the two parties agreeing to form a
transitional
coalition government to arrest Zimbabwe's calamitous decline.
Arguments
advanced by Makoni, ICG and many others in favour of this
proposition make
sense. But are they realistic? Are conditions on the ground
conducive to a
pact between the MDC and ZANU-PF to put the national interest
above all
else?
Political analysis and strategy should not be made in a vacuum. If that
happens it loses credibility and relevance.
Facts on the ground in
Zimbabwe militate against the two parties working
together. An undisputed
truth is that ZANU-PF, so used to monopolising
power, is not interested in
any coalition. It simply will not share power.
To (President) Mugabe the
idea goes against every instinct in his body. The
self-proclaimed apostle of
a one-party state will not for a fraction of a
second entertain sharing
power with even God himself.
President Mugabe, through Patrick Chinamasa, now
peddles the falsehood that
a GNU will be considered after the run-off. This
assumes of course that
(President) Mugabe wins. Should he win the only item
on the agenda would be
the destruction of the MDC and Tsvangirai. To think
that a victorious
(President) Mugabe would entertain any accommodation of
the MDC is sheer
madness. How can there be serious discussion of a GNU when
ZANU-PF has
embarked on a systematic elimination of MDC activists? How can
there be
national reconciliation when livelihoods of defenceless innocent
people in
rural areas are wantonly destroyed even now?
Zimbabwe's
election must be the only one in the world in which a party has
to seek
intervention by courts of law to hold campaign meetings and rallies.
There
is a determination to ensure that people are thoroughly intimidated
not to
be able to make a free choice. Access to state-owned print and
electronic
media is denied to the MDC.
Instead a crude and vicious propaganda against
the MDC has been unleashed
under the direction of the Ministry of
Information. The entire state
machinery has been mobilised to ensure that
President Mugabe wins on June
27.
Yet proponents of a GNU talk glibly
about this notion oblivious to the
mayhem that prevails in the country. To
succeed national unity or coalition
governments must be predicated on the
bona fides of all participants. They
must be premised on a sincere desire to
promote national interest.
(President) Mugabe is no fool. He knows the
composition of a GNU before the
run-off must reflect the results of March
29.This means it must be led by
Tsvangirai whose party won both
parliamentary and presidential polls. Any
other arrangement would be a
negation of the will of the people and
certainly not acceptable to the
MDC.
A Tsvangirai-led GNU is equally unacceptable to (President) Mugabe.
Having
lost the first round (President) Mugabe realised the risks inherent
in a
run-off. It is, however, a risk he is willing to take, given the
unpalatable
alternatives on offer. (President) Mugabe is convinced that the
current orgy
of violence in rural areas coupled with crude propaganda will
reverse the
March 29 result. He certainly is not prepared to entertain the
idea of a
GNU, even with Tsvangirai as junior partner.
Tsvangirai and his
party must just be destroyed. The MDC leader has met
every significant
African leader concerned with the Zimbabwean issue over
the past nine years.
Yet (President) Mugabe has steadfastly refused to meet
him. Given this
reality how can the idea of a GNU be seriously canvassed?
President Mugabe
and the clique that surrounds him will not allow any
sharing of power to
happen even in transient form. There is talk of
reasonable people in ZANU-PF
prepared to walk the path of national unity and
reconciliation. If they
exist their views are irrelevant as they lack
courage within structures in
their party to forcibly express them. Cowardice
and opportunism combine to
make them impotent spectators as their party
plunges Zimbabwe on the road to
ruin.
There is talk of South Africa's President Thabo Mbeki being in favour
of a
GNU in Zimbabwe in his role as SADC appointed mediator. Media
speculation
said as recently as last week Mbeki's officials met with MDC and
ZANU-PF
representatives to convince them to forego the run off in favour of
a GNU.
Little credence should be given to such speculation. Mbeki wants
ZANU-PF to
remain the ruling party in Zimbabwe. He will support whatever
strategy
(President) Mugabe believes can best advance his agenda. At present
core to
this strategy is winning the run-off by whatever means
necessary.
Mbeki is fully aware of the murder, torture and rape sponsored by
the state
that has devastated lives in Zimbabwe's rural areas. Credible
reports say a
fact-finding mission commissioned by Mbeki to look into
allegations of state
sponsored violence presented its report to him two
weeks ago. Composed of
retired generals of South Africa's defence forces it
reportedly confirmed
reports of state-sponsored
violence.
Characteristically, there is no mention of the report by Mbeki. Its
findings
were too unpalatable for his agenda to protect (President) Mugabe
from
international censure. Not a murmur of protest about the murder, rape
and
torture of ordinary Africans Mbeki and his ilk claim to speak for.
Instead
of raising these issues of life and death of Africans he claims to
love and
represent, Mbeki found it more important to write to US President
George
Bush to leave Zimbabwe alone.
Those who believe a GNU or
transitional authority is what Zimbabwe needs are
well meaning. But they
must be realistic. ZANU-PF is not interested in such
a solution. It wants to
bludgeon the MDC and its supporters to submission.
Commanders of the defence
forces have repeatedly said they will not accept a
ZANU-PF defeat. People
are being murdered and rendered homeless by a regime
that does not value
their lives and well being. African leaders watch
helplessly as Zimbabwe and
its people are sacrificed at the altar of ZANU-PF
hegemony.
Whenever
Mbeki is cornered on his Zimbabwe policy he says it is up to the
people of
Zimbabwe to solve their problems. He may well be right. But he
should not
abuse his position as mediator to protect President Mugabe's
regime. It is a
cop-out for a man who has given support to (President)
Mugabe. He is however
right to say ultimately it is up to Zimbabweans to
resolve their
problems.
They should do so by voting President Mugabe out on June 27.
FinGaz
Ray Matikinye News
Editor
WHO would mount a horse in full gallop with one hand tied behind
his back?
Apparently, the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) is being
made to try to
achieve that feat.
Given its role to uphold the Southern
African Development Community (SADC)
electoral norms and guidelines,
conducting the presidential run-off poll in
15 days time, success in meeting
set criteria is not guaranteed.
Simply counting votes, announcing results and
managing an election is what
ZEC staffers presumed would be their prime
task.
They assumed too this assignment was cut and dried.
Yet this time
around the unforeseen eventuality of a presidential run-off
election has
posed unique and extraordinary problems for the electoral body.
It is the
first ever such event in the 28-year history of independent
Zimbabwe with no
precedent in the southern African sub-region.
ZEC officials were the first to
foresee problems that the legislature
overlooked when enacting regulations
stipulating a 21-day period for a
run-off after the announcement of election
results.
With such an eventuality unanticipated, the electoral body did not
voice any
concerns about the impractical timeframe.
"This is the first
time that we have such a situation with its unique
challenges," admitted ZEC
deputy chief election officer responsible for
operations, Utoile Silaigwana,
when asked about delays in announcing a
run-off date.
"But as soon as
that is done, we will set the machinery going and will live
up to
expectation, carry out our mandate as we have done in the past."
It sounded
too routine and easy to execute.
Now that a date is known, the run-off could
prove a serious challenge to ZEC's
capacity given the resources that have to
be mobilised and the replacement
personnel that has to be recruited.
That
task alone dwarfs the mundane task of counting, collating and
announcing the
figures.
The crunch is the financing of the run-off.
Third-placed
presidential contender and former finance minister, Simba
Makoni, says the
run-off is an unnecessary expense in the light of
additional financial
resources needed to conduct the poll in such a short
time. Zimbabwe's
economy is not in the best shape, strangled by galloping
inflation.
When
President Robert Mugabe initially told his South African counterpart,
Thabo
Mbeki, that ZEC needed to delay the polls because it had no funds to
replenish elections materials, the SA leader promised to mobilise
funds.
Even with a pledge of a US$60 million advance from SADC, the
presidential
balloting will leave the country worse for wear.
Talk by
Member of Parliament-elect, Ignatius Chombo, that his party had been
allocated $21 trillion for electioneering purposes in Mashonaland West
province alone, shows the magnitude of the financial commitment required to
stage the contest assuming the remaining nine provinces have been awarded
similar amounts.
Many teachers acted as polling officers on election day
and some have
performed those duties beyond mere proficiency at every
election since
Zimbabwe attained independence in 1980.
Now it is
uncertain they will risk their necks and enlist as polling
officers.
A
wave of politically motivated violence that has engulfed rural areas in
Zimbabwe prompting teachers, civil servants from which ZEC drew its pool of
manpower to flee the conflagration, has put a premium on the electoral
body's
ability to mobilise manpower to man polling stations.
A fortnight
ago the Progressive Teachers' Union (PTUZ) estimated that 7 000
of its
members had fled from schools countrywide, fearing retribution by
revanchist
independence war participants, party youth militia and soldiers.
Several
schools have been shut down because of political violence that has
been
unleashed since the March polls.
"We want the schools reopened because while
it is the poor people whose
children are denied education, the chefs'
children are going to school,"
complained the Governor of Mashonaland East,
Ray Kaukonde, in reaction to
the closure of schools in the
province
Teachers are being targeted, the militant PTUZ says, and many are
fleeing.
More than 5 000 teachers have been beaten, about 600 hospitalised
while at
least 231 teachers' houses have been burnt, the union says.
But
ZEC could draw comfort from defiance shown by some officials of the
teachers' representative body.
Enock Paradzai, a PTUZ executive, says
that members would not be deterred
from acting as polling officers in the
second round, in spite of the
crackdown against them since the March 29
elections.
"We are still hunted down, but even if the harassment continues,
this will
not stop us from participating as polling officers," he said,
adding that if
ZEC sends teachers who volunteer to be polling officers to
distant districts
where they are not registered to vote, they should not
go.
Last week the Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare Ministry decreed
that non-governmental organisations and private voluntary organisations
should suspend operations and register afresh, which could hog-tie those
organisations involved in election monitoring.
Moreover, it appears
unnecessarily risky to volunteer as observers given the
surge of violent
incidents against those that participated in the March
elections.
The
Zimbabwe Election Support Network (ZESN), which provided independent
observers to all polls, is now required to re-accredit, at an increased
cost, all its 9 400 observers, many of whom have been beaten up since the
last election.
ZESN says this is impossible in a situation of regular
attacks against its
members.
At the same time, the Minister of Justice,
Patrick Chinamasa, insists local
election observers need to reapply for
accreditation
"These new requirements for new invitations to observe the
run-off suggest a
deliberate attempt to curtail domestic election
observation that has become
critical in promoting transparency,
accountability and voter confidence,"
says ZESN.
"Domestic observation of
elections is important not just on election day but
in the run up to
elections and during the post-election period when foreign
observers are
gone."
Political analyst, Professor John Makumbe, says it is unrealistic for
people
to think that a call by President Mugabe to end violence was
genuine.
The MDC says more than 25 000 people have been displaced while
nearly 8 000
homes have been torched since March 29. With a ward-based
presidential
election run-off this disenfranchises the displaced.
FinGaz
ZIMBABWE is burning, and could be
on the brink of some sort of civil war.
People from the two rival political
formations, the opposition Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC) led by
Morgan Tsvangirai, and the currently ruling
ZANU-PF led by President Robert
Mugabe, have been engaged in a bitter
warfare, burning down houses and
killing each other.
ZANU-PF activists are killing and beating opponents
to punish them for
allegedly trying to reverse the gains of the country's
independence when
they voted for the opposition in the March 29 harmonised
elections, in which
the MDC formation led by Tsvangirai emerged with more
members of parliament
than ZANU-PF, the first time this has happened since
independence in 1980.
MDC activists are engaged in what has often been
described as revenge
attacks, also beating up and killing ruling party
members and torching their
houses.
This madness has to stop!
We
expected Zimbabweans to have matured enough to the point of realising
that
no politician is worth dying or killing for.
President Mugabe's children are
safely sheltered at State House, away from
the brutal killings taking place
in defence of his bid for the top job in
the country.
Tsvangirai's
children are also carefully protected in privileged mansions in
South
Africa, away from the mayhem precipitated by his bid for power.
If their own
children cannot die for the political causes that they lead,
surely no one
else should.
If they feel compelled to protect their own children and
families from the
murderous environment that now characterises the political
campaign today,
they should also seek, in equal measure, to protect those
that support them.
The women, men and children dying for these two
politicians need protection
as much as their own children and families do;
their lives should not be
sacrificed for the selfish quest for political
power.
The people who are being tortured and murdered are our friends and
relatives; they are part of us.
The protagonists in this battle need to
realise that they need to engage to
stop these murders by their
supporters.
Clearly, there are MDC youths whose parents could be ZANU-PF
members and
vice-versa. The murder of an MDC member, therefore, could be a
bereavement
in a ZANU-PF family and the murder of a ZANU-PF member could
also be a
bereavement in an MDC family.
We recently witnessed situations
where top ZANU-PF party members had their
children given away in marriage to
prominent MDC activists. This is as it
should be: we are one people and
there is no reason for the current
divisions spawned by support for the two
presidential aspirants.
It is therefore imperative that the two political
leaders bury the hatchet
and start talking to each other to stop this
bloodbath and once more
re-unite the nation.
This should possibly be made
in the spirit of forming a government of
national unity (GNU).
We are
mindful that Tsvangirai is not amenable to this idea. On returning
from
brief exile in May, he rejected the idea of a GNU, vowing that he would
defeat President Mugabe at the June 27 polls.
President Mugabe's hatchet
men have equally scoffed at the suggestion,
insisting a runoff has to take
place first before anything of the sort
happens.
We feel the run-off will
not heal the nation. More than anything else, more
people are likely to die
before and even after the runoff.
The outcome of this run-off election is
likely to be contested by both
ZANU-PF and MDC, and we hazard the guess that
this will spawn a worse
political catastrophe.
Over the weekend, former
Zambian President Kenneth Kaunda, a close friend of
President Mugabe, called
for a GNU, saying the June 27 election would not
bring peace to the
country.
Former United Nations secretary-general Kofi Annan also called on
the two
feuding political leaders to prepare for a negotiated settlement
even after
the run-off.
President Thabo Mbeki, whom we feel has done a
great deal in trying to find
a solution to the Zimbabwean crisis, has also
called for a GNU.
The point Mbeki's critics have failed to understand is that
a resolution of
the Zimbabwean crisis should come from Zimbabweans, who
should engage each
other, irrespective of their different political
persuasions, to find a
solution.
Simba Makoni, a defeated presidential
hopeful in the March 29 harmonised
election, has also called for a GNU,
saying the country and its people
cannot afford another election.
"We are
convinced that the last thing Zimbabwe and the people need is
another
election. Between now and June 27 we believe that an election cannot
be
conducted...the people will be short-changed," Makoni told journalists in
Johannesburg, South Africa, this week.
We share the same view, and hope
that the bickering parties will realise
that they are not doing Zimbabwe any
good by adopting hard line positions.
Both Tsvangirai and President Mugabe
need to compromise to allow the country
to move on and avert a civil war.
FinGaz
Mthuli
Ncube
IN the last few weeks, immigrants into South Africa have been
subjected to
an anti-foreign sentiment, which has resulted in violent
attacks on
Zimbabweans, Mozambicans, Somalis, Namibians and Malawians, among
others.
The bulk of these people came into the country illegally. Most
immigrants
are economic refugees who have escaped hardship and political
turmoil in
their countries and want to earn a living in South Africa.
The
financial remittances from these migrant workers is making a
contribution to
capital inflows into their countries of origin. Indeed, for
countries such
as Zimbabwe, the remittances account for a large part of
foreign currency
inflows into the country.
To have a sustainable solution to the migrant
labour issues in South Africa,
it is important to begin to stimulate
employment-creating economic activity
in the neighbouring countries so that
potential migrant labourers find
employment in their own countries.
Of
particular interest is Zimbabwe, whose economy and indeed political
situation needs to be turned around so as to stop the economic meltdown and
reduce the flow of migrants into South Africa.
With inflation currently
pegged at 1 700 000 percent, the economic crisis in
Zimbabwe could not be
more grave. An economic stabilisation plan needs to be
put in place once
there is meaningful change in the political climate.
This plan must be
different from the stabilisation programmes of the past,
and it must do so
by dealing with the poor upfront, and not as an
afterthought. Its 10 key
points must be:
Providing a safety net for the poor
The stabilisation
programme will be painful. It will immediately result in
an increased
availability of goods in the shops, but prices will go up
substantially.
The poor will not have the purchasing power to buy these
goods, in
particular food and medical drugs. Zimbabwe's development partners
must put
in place, and fund, an emergency relief programme.
Our partners
are already operating relief programmes of various kinds in the
country,
with transparent financial management systems in place. They should
immediately increase the scale of the stabilisation
programmes.
Obtaining balance of payment support
The first step in
tackling the Zimbabwean crisis would be through a shock
balance-of-payments
(BOP) support programme - a large inflow of foreign
currency. An amount of
about US5-billion would be sourced for BOP support,
in the first instance,
from the IMF and the World Bank.
To be able to get this BOP support, Zimbabwe
will need to commit to an
ironclad economic stabilisation programme (ESP).
Recall that one of the
biggest problems of the current government is that
nobody trusts it.
Nobody inside Zimbabwe, and nobody outside Zimbabwe. So we
will need to
design an acceptable ESP, and stick to it.
The BOP support
would immediately provide foreign currency for importers,
and ease the
availability of foreign currency for procuring fuel,
electricity and
food.
This will stop the exchange rate from sliding further in what is now
the
parallel market.
Unifying the exchange rate
All exchange
controls would be abolished, as there is nothing to control in
the first
place.
The official rate and parallel rate will need to be unified into one
market-determined rate. This will eliminate market distortions and general
arbitrage (or "institutionalised corruption") opportunities.
Issuing
a new currency
It is paramount to issue a new currency at the prevailing
market rate, but
with a nominal value, which is easier to transact. At the
same time, a debt
management programme with various creditors would be
initiated, with a fair
settlement with equitable burden-sharing between
all.
Eliminating quasi-fiscal activities
Currently the Reserve Bank of
Zimbabwe has taken over the roles of the
finance ministry and commercial
banks by disbursing financial resources to
government entities. It is also
providing free or subsidised foreign
exchange to public enterprises and
selected importers.
This is contributing to excessive growth in money supply
and hyperinflation.
The Reserve Bank would immediately be made to return to
focus on its core
functions, price stability and payment-system
stability.
The loans and bad debts from the Reserve Bank's quasi-fiscal
activities
should be placed in a debt-recovery Special Purpose Vehicle and
managed
separately from the activities of the Reserve Bank and the private
banking
system.
Banks will generally require recapitalisation as
hyperinflation has eroded
their balance sheets.
It has also reduced their
capacity to engage in innovative banking
activities that are required for
the country's economic recovery.
Reducing hyperinflation
There is now
a continuous negative feedback from falling foreign currency
reserves,
currency depreciation and hyperinflation in the face of excessive
money
supply growth. The BOP support would serve to stabilise the currency
and
begin to stop inflation from rising further.
Beyond that, there is a need for
monetary policy to follow an
inflation-targeting approach. This means moving
to positive real interest
rates as quickly as is possible.
Doing it
immediately would mean that interest rates would have to rise to
over 1 000
000 percent, an unimaginable level.
Perhaps a gradual rate increase in the
face of falling inflation is a more
desirable approach, in order to avoid a
complete collapse of the productive
sector, which is barely surviving under
the current circumstances.
Bringing down the budget deficit
The budget
deficit - the root cause of the economic crisis - would be
brought down by
controlling government spending. This will involve painful
expenditure cuts,
which is why all stakeholders should be on board during
the process of
assessing the fiscal deficit and what is sustainable in the
future.
We
will also need to shift, within government expenditure, towards repairing
and upgrading key economic infrastructure.
Sorting out land
reform
The chaotic land reform process needs to be normalised. A process
should be
instituted whereby, farm by farm, a fair solution is reached. This
needs to
be done urgently and systematically, so that there is restoration
of and
respect for property rights.
Offers should be made to white
farmers to come back and be part of the plan
of restoring production in the
agricultural sector and benefit from legally
sanctioned and fair
compensation rules for what they lost illegally.
Supporting the
productive sectors
We need to bring profitability back to agriculture,
manufacturing and
mining. In the short term, the best way to do this is to
liberalise all
markets for inputs and outputs. Farmers, industrialists and
miners alike
should be free to sell to the market, including in US
dollars.
Re-establishing social safety nets
While a transitional
safety net would be put in place immediately, we would
also immediately put
together task forces to bring the health insurance and
pension plans back to
normal.
Once the programme begins to take effect, the stabilisation process
could be
quite quick, and the expectations built into it will begin to
address the
flow of migrants into South Africa.
Mthuli Ncube is director
and professor of finance at Wits Business School,
South Africa
FinGaz
Shame
Makoshori Senior Business Reporter
Top executives in the baking industry
last month refused to take up senior
posts in the vocal National Bakers
Association (NBA) citing continued
harassment triggered by deteriorating
relations with government, which has
previously accused them of working as
regime change agents, The Financial
Gazette has established.
Bread
makers have struggled with losses due to price controls. Executives
who
attempted to increase prices without sanction from government were last
year
arrested and detained in filthy police cells. Government has often
alleged
that industry has been working with President Robert Mugabe's
declared foes
in the west to unseat his administration by increasing prices
to trigger
social upheaval that would result in him losing to the opposition
in
presidential elections. However, despite government posturing, prices,
except those of bread, have continued to skyrocket.
Relations between
government and bakers hit their lowest point in 2006, when
former NBA
chairman Burombo Mudumo and another senior official from Lobels
Bakery were
arrested and detained by the police over what government said
were illegal
price hikes.
But the bakers argued that the prices they were charging were
nowhere closer
to being exorbitant, saying they could only make their
companies reach
break-even point in terms of profitability.
The NBA,
which commands a 125 membership, held its Annual General Meeting
(AGM) at
the beginning of May during which a new executive led by Harambe
Holdings'
Bramwel Bushu took over. Minutes of the AGM seen by this paper
this week,
showed how government's intimidation on the private sector was
beginning to
take its toll on the industry.
Most bakers had refused to take up leadership
positions in the NBA because
they feared for their security, especially
after hostile meetings with the
Joint Operations Command (JOC), a group of
the country's heads of security
agents that is increasingly taking an
influential role in economic issues.
The minutes indicated that an official
with one of the country's top
bakeries (Innscor) had been the hot favourite
to take over the NBA
chairmanship from Vincent Mangoma. He, however,
declined.
"First choice declined the hot seat because of continuous
government
harassment," reads part of the minutes. The minutes said another
choice had
been "reluctant to take the hot seat due to demands the post has
on one's
freedom" while a third choice, an official with Lobels, excused
himself
because he had a pending legal case to do with a previous arrest
over bread
price hikes.
The minutes also show that there was a resounding
agreement to persuade
Mangoma to remain as chairman. Minutes said during his
tenure, Mangoma had
assumed respect from the government, the milling
industry and consumer
groups.
He is described in the paper as honest "but
fearless when it comes to
articulating bakers' issues.
The Financial
Gazette was unable to get comment from Mangoma on why he could
not stand for
re-election.
FinGaz
Mavis Makuni
It
was difficult to imagine, while the Sekesai Makwavarara circus was in
full
swing over a period of more than three years, that service delivery
would
get any worse in Harare.
During her tenure as the chairperson of the
commission running the affairs
of Harare, some people believed the press was
too hard on Makwavarara when
it exposed her bungling and deplored her
extravagance at a time when most
city residents were struggling to make ends
meet. I remember that I used to
get e-mails from irate readers of this
column who wanted to comment
privately on the fact I was too critical of a
fellow woman who had made it
to the top and was a role model for young
girls.
I was unmoved by these accusations because as a journalist I try to
focus on
the truth regardless of the gender of the person involved. I was
unimpressed
by the argument that Makwavarara was a role model because of the
way she
ascended to the status of first citizen of the capital city and then
allowed
herself to be used strictly as a "face" or token incapable of
thinking and
acting independently.
That is not the kind of advancement
and empowerment women should be fighting
for. Youths need role models who
demonstrate that leadership involves more
than cheerleading and ululating.
It will be recalled that Makwavarara was
elected as a councillor on an
opposition ticket and then came out in her
true political colours once
securely inside. There is absolutely nothing
wrong with changing one's mind
or perspective once one has gained new
insights into a situation as long as
one does it openly and in a principled
manner, which was not the case with
Makwavarara's political metamorphosis.
Women should be free to support
political parties of their choice and should
support these organisations out
of principle and conviction. The former
chairperson of the Harare Commission
went in as a member of the Movement for
Democratic Change and then crossed
the floor after being wooed by the ruling
party. This smacked of opportunism
and something upcoming women leaders
should not emulate.
Makwavarara's
bungling was also hard to ignore because of the excesses she
was accused of
. Worst of all, she was never able to articulate municipal
issues and to
inform residents why, for example, garbage was not being
collected from the
streets.
I have recalled Makwa-varara's disastrous tenure of late because
although
the powers-that-be eventually came to agree with her critics and
relieved
her of the job of being chief executive officer of Zimbabwe's
capital, her
departure has not resulted in any appreciable improvement in
service
delivery. On the contrary, things have got progressively worse.
There seems
to be no pretence any longer on the part of the municipality of
fulfilling
obligations such as collecting garbage from residential areas,
replacing
street lights or keeping sanitary lanes, even in the city centre,
clean. The
same is true of the city council's failure to repair potholes,
some of which
now threaten to rival America's Grand Canyon.
The biggest
eyesore, however, is the presence of mountains of uncollected
garbage
everywhere. At the beginning of this year there was an outbreak of
disease
in Tafara and Mabvuku, which was attributed to erratic water
supplies and
the Harare City Council's failure to collect garbage. At about
the same time
the Harare and Chitungwiza municipalities were summoned by the
Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) to explain their dereliction of duty
which had
resulted in refuse not being collected from Mabvuku, Tafara,
Kuwadzana,
Chitungwiza, Glen View, Glen Norah, Mufakose and Budiriro. In
November last
year the Harare municipality was fined $158 million for not
putting a
fireguard around a dump site in Pomona. It had been fined an
undisclosed sum
earlier for not collecting garbage from the streets.
One would have expected
that after all these run-ins with the EPA, things
would improve but one
would be wrong. The council's hands-off approach,
which involves flouting
its own by-laws, means that more suburbs, including
those in low density
areas, are chocking under mountains of garbage. At
their wits' end about
what to do with the refuse they generate every day,
residents have taken to
throwing it into open spaces in their areas and try
to burn it from time to
time. A putrid stench hangs over road verges where
some of the refuse is
strewn .It is not a pretty sight and one wonders when
things will return to
normal.
I used to wonder whether the City Fathers knew of this suburban and
inner
city rot (the pun is inescapable) until someone pointed out to me that
they
were more than aware. Despite its failure to collect and dispose of
garbage
from residential areas, the city council deploys an army of
inspectors to
ticket residents caught dumping refuse in the veld. It cannot
get more
comical and ridiculous than that- the municipality capitalizing on
its
dereliction of duty to make a quick buck from helpless
residents!
Feedback: mmakuni@fingaz.co.zw
Under-estimate ZANU-PF at your own peril
EDITOR - It seems
Zimbabweans are underestimating the level of ZANU-PF's
desperation.
While
many think that the terror campaign is only confined to the rural
areas, the
ruling party has embarked on a less visible but more traumatising
way of
getting votes in the urban areas.
Gangs of ruling party thugs have been
waging a door-to-door campaign at
Mbare's overpopulated flats, telling
residents to vote for ZANU-PF or risk
being evicted from the flats if
President Mugabe loses votes in this
constituency.
I appeal to the
opposition, and human rights organisations to investigate
these threats as a
matter of urgency.
S Gavi
Mbare
----------------
Tsvangirai
blowing hot and cold again!
EDITOR - It is extremely sad that
Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the biggest
opposition party in Zimbabwe, is
once again displaying confusing political
signals that seem to have become
his hallmark.
On one hand he says there will be a trial of perpetrators of
violence and
their leaders, while on the other he says he is open to a
government of
national unity, presumably with the above-mentioned
culprits.
Threatening these murderous morons will only serve to entrench
their
determination not to leave power, Morgan.
Our people are sick and
tired of ZANU-PF, but threats, no matter how
justified they are, will only
serve to take us further into the abyss.
Hell, ZANU-PF thugs are so mentally
damaged they are even prepared to
justify their actions even in a court of
law!
Thankfully, the avenging spirits of the dead victims will deal with
those
who murdered - that they can be assured of. But as for those who have
made
thousands lose everything, the most fitting punishment would be civil
action; sue them for what they are worth, until they are totally bankrupt
and destitute.
Tony
Namate
Maseru,
Lesotho
--------------
ZESA
shocker
EDITOR - ZESA's new charges are outrageously high and
will put some firms
out of business, as well as generally squeezing too much
money out of us
all.
Did ZESA get permission for the new charges? If so,
when and from whom? If
not, why not?
Why did ZESA carefully avoid telling
us, its "valued customers," about the
new charges?
It apparently
increases its charges on the basis of the month-to-month
consumer price
index - but no index has been published for many months and
ZESA makes up
the figures as it goes along.
It has the cheek to impose the new charges on
the basis of estimates of
consumption, disregarding the fact that this will
often mean that consumers
pay for electricity not consumed.
It charges
interest at 250 percent per month when our courts have ruled that
interest
accrual above 100 percent per year cannot be recovered because of
the in
duplum rule.
M Nichols
Harare
--------------
Run-off: Everyone
must go and vote
EDITOR - As June 27 approaches, I urge the
people of Zimbabwe to go to
polling stations in their millions and finish
off the ailing ZANU-PF.
Fellow countrymen, this presidential run-off election
is not about
Tsvangirai versus (President) Mugabe; no. It is about
Zimbabweans versus the
ZANU-PF government, which has brought our lovely
country down to its knees.
This is not the time for finger pointing. Both
MDCs, civic societies,
churches, other political players and all Zimbabweans
in general including
those in ZANU-PF, must work together to make sure
Morgan Tsvangirai wins
this presidential run-off and as a country make a
positive change we can all
trust.
The MDC national council passed a
resolution to support and work together in
this presidential run-off and as
Bulawayo Province, we still stand by that
and will support and work together
with our colleagues in the Tsvangirai
formation.
At this juncture, I
would like to urge the people of Bulawayo to go out in
large numbers and
vote for Morgan Tsvangirai in this run-off election. All
320 000 registered
voters in Bulawayo should vote unlike in March 2008 when
only about 97 000
voted.
There is no room for complacency; we should all be seen to be working
for a
new political order in Zimbabwe. It would be a tragedy if victorious
parliamentarian colleagues of ours in the Tsvangirai formation here in
Bulawayo bask in the glory of winning house of assembly elections and forget
the bigger prize; really it would be treasonous.
Winning Parliamentary
elections only without winning the presidential
election would be totally
useless.
Edwin Ndlovu
Bulawayo