http://www.thezimbabwestandard.com/
Saturday, 13 June 2009 21:09
THE turf war pitting Finance Minister Tendai Biti against Reserve Bank
Governor Gideon Gono is set to escalate after the RBZ resuscitated a long
abandoned case of alleged externalisation of foreign currency filed against
the former's law firm.
Information at hand shows that the case
against Honey and Blanckenberg
Legal Practitioners, where Biti is a partner
was filed at the Harare
Magistrates court on Tuesday last week - more than
three years after the
allegations were raised.
A trial date was
supposed to be set but before that could happen the
law firm sprang into
action to stop any criminal proceedings. It filed an
application to have the
case referred to the Supreme Court for a
determination on the validity of
the search warrants and the seizure of
documents protected under the
attorney-client privilege.
The application is expected to be heard
tomorrow.
Court documents seen by The Standard reveal that
allegations against
the law firm were first raised at the end of February
2006.
By end of March that year, a charge sheet had been
prepared by the
Harare Central Police but for reasons known only to the RBZ
which was
relentlessly pursuing alleged exchange control violators at that
time, the
case did not go to court.
The case only came to
the public attention last month when the
embattled governor, fighting to
ward off an attempt by the MDC-T to have him
removed from the central bank,
alleged the minister was waging a personal
battle against
him.
Gono alleged his inspectors had unearthed rampant
externalisation of
foreign currency and money laundering activities at the
law firm where Biti
is a partner.
He alleged the law firm
had externalised over US$1 million it received
from its foreign
clients.
The governor said it was because of this investigation
that Biti was
at the forefront of those "singing the Gono must go
song".
He claimed the matter was at the
courts.
But sources told The Standard the papers were filed on
Tuesday last
week, almost a month after Gono made the allegations in a
letter which was
leaked to newspapers before it was allegedly delivered to
the Prime Minister
Morgan Tsvangirai.
According to the
charge sheet, Honey and Blanckenberg Legal
Practitioners is being charged
with contravening Section 5 (2) (a)(ii) of
the Exchange Control Regulations
109/96 as read with Section 5(1) (a)(i) of
the Exchange Control Act Chapter
22;05.
The law firm is accused of registering patents and trade
marks for
clients and then instructing clients to make payments into its
offshore
account without exchange authority.
Lazarus
Dhlakama, an inspector in the Financial Intelligence
Inspectorate and
Evaluation Unit made the complaint against the law firm to
the
police.
Dhlakama said he received information from a
whistleblower who alleged
the company was externalising funds at the end of
February in 2006.
Following investigations, he says he
discovered that the law firm was
registering patents and trademarks for
corporations domiciled outside
Zimbabwe.
The fees charged
for the services were not brought into Zimbabwe but
deposited into an
offshore, Barclays Bank Account Number 68949366, kept at
the Victoria Isle
of Man, UK.
Dhlakama alleged that the law firm was linked to
another Barclays bank
account in the name of Vernon Consultants, also at the
Isle of Man.
The inspector alleged a cheque book in its name
was kept at the law
firm's offices. But he said he did not get the
exhibit.
A representative of the law firm, Mark Albert
Rosettenstein who was
summoned to Harare Central Police Station on August
21, 2006, denied in a
warned and cautioned statement that the company had
externaliszed funds on
698 occasions between October 3, 2005 and May 3,
2006. The amount involved
was US$1 025 943 53.
"We deny
the charge in its entirety. We do work for Vernon
Consultants Limited, an
overseas entity, and its clients," he said.
"VCL then pays us
for work done being a monthly fee of US$3 000 which
amount is remitted and
banked in Zimbabwe in full compliance with exchange
control laws of this
country."
He said the documents which the State based its case
were illegally
and improperly obtained and in any event were protected under
strict
attorney-client privilege.
In their application for
referral to the Supreme Court, the law firm
says the search warrants used by
the RBZ were invalid.
It said their right to a fair trial was
contravened by the reliance
upon material protected under attorney-client
privilege. They said they
could not defend themselves without breaching this
privilege.
"In the circumstances, it is respectfully submitted
that the matter be
referred to the Supreme Court for hearing and
determination of the questions
raised in this application," the lawyers
said.
BY SANDRA MANDIZVIDZA
http://www.thezimbabwestandard.com/
Saturday, 13 June 2009 21:01
A
LEGAL showdown is looming between Zesa and its customers after the
power
utility threatened to start disconnecting households who fail to
settle
electricity bills dating back to February.
Following the
dollarisation of the economy, the perennial loss-making
parastatal is
sending consumers outrageous bills based on estimates.
Last
week, Zesa said it had been given the go ahead by Energy and
Power
Development Minister, Elias Mudzuri to disconnect supplies to
consumers who
have not been able to pay at least US$30 and US$40 a month for
high and
low-density suburbs respectively.
"There are some customers who
have not paid since the inception of the
foreign currency based payments,"
Zesa spokesperson Fullard Gwasira said on
Friday.
"Initially,
the minister had pegged the amount at $10 per month for
February, March and
April but people ignored this directive.
"The $30 and $40 is
for May and with effect from this month end people
will be receiving actual
billing as our system is now up and we have
procured motorbikes to be used
in conducting actual meter readings."
But consumers have
threatened to take to the streets and to contest
any moves to disconnect
power supplies because they believe that Zesa's
charges did not match
services delivery.
Consumers in most parts of the country go
for months without
electricity.
Zesa has also intensified
its load-shedding exercise because it has no
money to import electricity
while local power stations are always down due
to lack of
coal.
The Combined Harare Residents' Association (CHRA), the
Bulawayo
Residents' Association (Bura), the Masvingo United Residents and
Ratepayers'
Association and the National Residents' Associations
Consultative Forum
(NRACF) are some of the organizations that have
threatened to tackle Zesa
head on if it goes ahead with its
threats.
The associations said they will go to court if Zesa
does not back down
on its threats.
"This response by the
residents' associations is based on the fact
that the electricity tariffs
charged by Zesa are exorbitant while the bills
that are being discharged to
households by Zesa are unjustified in the sense
that they are either based
on estimates or way above the consumption made,"
CHRA said in a
statement.
"It should be noted that more than 80% of the Harare
populace is not
employed and those who are employed have an average income
of US$100 a
month.
"How does the government expect these
people to survive if they have
to part with more than half their salaries
for electricity bills alone?"
Bura chairperson Winos Dube said
residents had other obligations which
include school fees, food and bills
for other services like water and
municipal services.
"Bura
members are seriously concerned about this decision," Dube said.
"The
government seems not to understand what is on the ground. Both
government
and the private sector are not paying people well and one wonders
where they
expect people to get the money from.
"We were hoping the
government will sit down and come up with low,
affordable prices which can
be around $3 or $4 instead of starting from as
high as
$30."
CHRA chairperson Simbarashe Moyo said there was need for
government
and Zesa to rationalise the billing system as failure to do so
will have
negative repercussions especially on the
environment.
"People may be forced to use firewood especially
now that we are in
winter and the demand for power is high," he
said.
CHRA said Zesa was also sending out bills above $50 to
residents in
high-density areas like Kuwadzana and Glen Norah while some
people in
low-density areas are said to be receiving bills of more than $100
a month.
CHRA and NRACF said they would meet Mudzuri while
mobilising
countrywide demonstrations over electricity
bills.
The organizations are also preparing to petition Mudzuri
and mount a
legal challenge against the electricity billing
system.
Harare lawyer Chris Mhike said it was unfair for the
government to
make a demand on consumers without providing a justification
for the high
bills given that Zesa had not been reading
meters.
"What Zesa should do first is to supply consumers with
bills," Mhike
said.
"The authority's failure to produce
statements of accounts cannot be
condoned especially when considering the
exorbitant levels of amounts being
demanded.
"At law, any
demand should be supported with demonstrable
justification."
But Gwasira said there was no need for
residents to go to court
because those who were billed for electricity they
did not consume would be
credited when Zesa starts reading
meters.
"As I said, actual billing begins this month end and we
will be able
to reconcile charges with consumption," he
said.
"If one overpaid, then their money will be carried
forward but if it
is established that they paid lower than they consumed,
they will have to
top up.
"We are not going back on the
disconnections and once actual billing
starts, some people will be shocked
to realize that they actually owe the
authority more than what we are asking
for.
"We know that there are some people who have not been
receiving power
due to faults on transformers among others and we are not
asking those
people to pay for a service we did not render.
"If there are real genuine cases of people who cannot afford the
amounts we
are asking for, we are humane and we urge them to come to us and
we discuss
a payment plan but disconnections stand."
Gwasira warned
customers against misusing power beginning this month
saying if they do so
they may find themselves paying even more as Zesa's
billing system was now
up.
He also urged those willing to read their own meters to do
so to avoid
huge bills for electricity they did not
consume.
"We urge customers to understand that the US$30 and
US$40 were just
interim figures which were temporarily expected from them as
we fixed our
system", he said.
"We could not wait for the
system to be up as we had to honour our
obligations to
suppliers.
"You will realise that there is a general power
shortage in the region
and if we do not pay our dues, the suppliers can
easily disconnect us and
deal with those who are prepared to
pay."
BY JENNIFER DUBE
http://www.thezimbabwestandard.com/
Saturday, 13 June 2009
20:58
AMNESTY International secretary-general Irene Khan arrived in the
country yesterday to assess the humanitarian situation in the country and is
expected to meet senior government officials including President Robert
Mugabe as part of her mission.
She was reported to be in
Bulawayo yesterday but efforts to establish
her mission were
fruitless.
Khan will only address the media towards the end of her
tour.
Her visit will put Zimbabwe's human rights record in the
spotlight at
a time Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai is trying to convince
the West to
give the country financial assistance.
On
Friday, United States President Barack Obama told Tsvangirai that
his
government was not ready to provide direct aid to the inclusive
government
because of concerns of human rights violations and the slow pace
of
reforms.
"From June 13-18, Khan will lead a high level mission
to Zimbabwe,
during which plans to meet human rights activists, victims of
human rights
violations and senior government officials, including Mugabe,"
Amnesty said
in a statement.
Civic society groups say human
rights violations persist despite the
formation of the unity government
between MDC formations and Zanu PF almost
four months ago.
Journalists, lawyers and human rights defenders continue to be
arrested on
"trumped up charges" while farm invasions continue unabated.
Zanu PF supporters and war veterans have been accused of fomenting the
unrest on the farms.
Tsvangirai was forced to defend the
coalition's record on human rights
record after the Minister of State for
National Healing Sekai Holland was
quoted saying threats of violence were
still being made against MDC.
Holland has said the BBC quoted
her out of context.
"I am afraid that is a bit . a bit
exaggerated in terms of those kinds
of threats," Tsvangirai told the
American Public Broadcasting Service.
"I can tell you, that if
you were to come to Zimbabwe. you would
notice that there is a sense of
freedom that is pervading that whole
society.
"There is a
sense that we have moved away from a sense of siege and
fear, to a sense of
being hopeful about the future.
"And so when incidents of that
nature come, it's probably one or two
incidents."
Zimbabwe
has been isolated for close to a decade because of its poor
human rights
record.
BY OUR STAFF
http://www.thezimbabwestandard.com/
Saturday, 13 June
2009 20:57
CAPE Town - Deputy Prime Minister, Arthur Mutambara
yesterday appealed
to leaders attending the 19th World Economic Forum to
lift sanctions imposed
on Zimbabwe to help the country rebuild its
economy.
"Sanctions in this juncture in our history are
meaningless. Help us
help ourselves by removing all those sanctions so
Zimbabwe can have a fresh
start," he told delegates on Friday at the close
of the WEF.
Zimbabwe's cash-strapped African neighbours have failed
to respond to
its pleas for a $2 billion economic rescue
package.
Investors from South Africa are waiting for the
implementation of a
new bilateral investment promotion and protection
agreement before they move
in.
"Zimbabwe doesn't have the
luxury of time on its side," warned South
African deputy president Kgalema
Motlanthe.
Finance Minister Tendai Biti said he was determined
to overhaul the
country's central bank.
Biti has clashed
repeatedly with central bank governor Gideon Gono,
who is a Mugabe ally, but
has managed to push through key reforms, including
ending Zimbabwe's
hyperinflation and rampant black market by effectively
replacing the
Zimbabwe dollar with the US dollar.
Biti said tax revenues did
not begin to cover even basic salaries and
that Zimbabwe's slumbering
state-owned companies were a further drain on the
economy.
But he said despite the huge problems, Zimbabwe also had massive
potential
with a highly educated population.
"We are fossilized and
ossified in terms of the way we have been doing
our thing. We need to raise
Zimbabwe on another platform, we need to make it
an African tiger," he
said.
He predicted the Zimbabwe economy would grow by 4 percent
this year,
above the African average of 1.9 percent. - BuaNews
http://www.thezimbabwestandard.com/
Saturday, 13 June 2009
20:54
NORTON - If the town of Norton had better representation, it
would
have facilities that respond to residents' needs.
Youths
from the area challenged the local authority during a recent
meeting to
speed up the opening of an opportunistic infections (O1) clinic
to minimise
travel costs for HIV/AIDS patients in the town.
Norton Hospital,
the biggest health centre in the town does not have
an OI clinic. As a
result patients have to travel about 45 km to Kutama
Mission Hospital for
medical attention.
Speaking at a recent Simuka Africa -Youth
Dialogue Zimbabwe meeting
with Norton Town councillors, the youths said lack
of proper health
facilities in the town was one of the major issues they
expected to be
addressed by the local authority as the political and
economic situation in
the country begins to normalise.
They
said the local hospital only had one ambulance that was not up to
the
expected standard while other facilities like a mortuary, a theatre and
an
OI clinic were not available.
HIV/AIDS patients were the
hardest hit as they had no alternative but
to travel to Kutama or Harare for
treatment, the youths said.
"The council is supposed to
facilitate the establishment of an OI
clinic because it is costly and
frustrating for patients to go to Kutama,"
one of the participants
said.
Another youth activist added: "The mission hospital gives
preference
to its patients over those that would have been referred from
other
hospitals."
Councillor Precious Mufahore of Ward 6,
who represented the local
authority, said they were trying their best to
improve conditions especially
at health institutions.
"We
are trying our best to normalize things and at the moment we are
building an
OI clinic with the support of Oxfam," she said.
"Members of the
public should be patient with us because we inherited
an ill-run
administration and there is a lot of ground that needs to be
covered." said
the councillor.
BY MOSES CHIBAYA
http://www.thezimbabwestandard.com/
Saturday, 13 June 2009 20:48
THE Parliamentary Select Committee
steering the constitutional reform
process on Friday announced new dates for
public hearings on the new
constitution dealing a severe blow to attempts by
Zanu PF to stall the
process.
Initially the public hearings had
been scheduled to start yesterday
but were cancelled after the Zanu PF
caucus asked for more time because
"people were busy harvesting their
crops".
But sources said Zanu PF wanted to stall the process so
that it could
mobilise its supporters to drown MDC views during the
consultation process.
The legislators from Zanu PF are also
said to have demanded allowances
before they could participate in the
hearings.
Douglas Mwonzora, the co-chairperson of the
committee, told
journalists that the public hearings will be held between
June 24 and 27 in
all the country's 10 provinces.
Article 6
of the Global Political Agreement (GPA) which established
the unity
government gives guidelines on the writing of a new people-driven
constitution.
Mwonzora said the provincial consultations
were in fulfillment of the
article's demand for a process that was owned and
driven by the people.
He said on June 24 meetings will be held
in Harare, Mashonaland East,
Mashonaland Central, Manicaland and Mashonaland
West.
On June 27 Matabeleland North, Midlands, Masvingo,
Bulawayo and
Matabeleland South would hold their meetings.
Zanu PF chief whip Joram Gumbo, who represented Zanu PF co-chair of
the
select committee, Paul Mangwana, at Friday's meeting, said his party's
earlier concerns on the process were "misunderstood".
He
said Zanu PF MPs only wanted to be given more time to assist the
committee
to mobilise people to participate in the consultations.
"It is
not true what some of the papers are alleging," he said.
"To
clear the air, all we said is that Zanu PF MPs were requesting, if
possible,
that the co-chairpersons postpone the hearings as they felt it was
too early
for them to be able to help the committee to mobilise people to
participate.
"We did not snub or try to stall the process .
. . If anything, we
want to see the process succeeding."
Mwonzora
said the committee had secured enough funding to conduct the
consultations
but appealed for more assistance towards other events to be
carried out
later.
The committee is expected to hold an all stakeholders'
conference to
consult civil society on its participation in the Select
Committee's
sub-committees and the process of coming up with the new supreme
law.
Some civil society organisations led by the National
Constitutional
Assembly have threatened to mobilise people to reject the new
constitution
because they believe the process is not
people-driven.
But in a paper presented at a recent
stakeholders' meeting, University
of Zimbabwe lecturer Professor John
Makumbe urged civil society to embrace
the process and ensure that they play
a watchdog role.
He said the country cannot afford to throw
away the chance of ridding
itself of the "much- maligned and over-amended
Lancaster House Constitution,
which Mugabe once described as a good
document".
BY JENNIFER DUBE
http://www.thezimbabwestandard.com/
Saturday, 13 June
2009 20:46
BULAWAYO - Most of the country's remaining white commercial
farmers
are no longer interested in farming and will give up their land if
government gives them fair compensation, the Commercial Farmers' Union (CFU)
said last week.
The farmers numbering about 400 have been under
siege since the land
reform programme began in 2000 and fresh farm invasions
have intensified
since the formation of the unity government in
February.
President Robert Mugabe and his supporters want the
farmers evicted in
defiance of a ruling by a tribunal of the Southern
African Development
Community (Sadc) that said the farm seizures bordered on
racism.
CFU president, Trevor Gilford said the government will
have to fork
out at least US$15 billion to compensate the farmers for the
improvements
they made on their properties.
"The Zimbabwe
constitution says the government should pay for pay full
compensation for
improvements, damages and interest," Gifford said.
"The 400
remaining white farmers face persecution for continuing to
farm.
"It will be better off if the government pays farmers
US$15 billion as
compensation for the improvements on the farms so that they
leave farms
voluntarily."
The figure is almost double what
the cash-starved coalition needs in
the next three years to fix the economy
shattered by Mugabe's disastrous
policies that include the chaotic land
reform exercise.
The Attorney-General's (AG) office continues
to prosecute white
farmers resisting eviction orders.
No
comment could be obtained from the Lands Minister, Dr Herbert
Murerwa on
whether the government was prepared to pay off the farmers who
are willing
to voluntarily vacate their farms.
According to the CFU
president, about 11 600 out of the 12 000 white
commercial farms have since
2000 been forcibly occupied by war veterans,
Zanu PF ministers and Mugabe
allies.
"We (white commercial farmers) are Zimbabweans and we
should be
allowed to farm but politics has turned the land issue into a
racial issue.
There is no need to colour the debate over farms," Gifford
said.
The renewed farm invasions continue to haunt the
inclusive government,
which is trying to convince sceptical Western donors
that it is committed to
restoring the rule of law.
Prime
Minister, Morgan Tsvangirai last month courted the ire of white
commercial
farmers when he said the new push to evict white farmers were
"few isolated
cases".
The farmers accused him of downplaying the crisis so
that he could get
sympathy from donors during his whirlwind tour of Europe
and the United
States.
BY NQOBANI NDLOVU
http://www.thezimbabwestandard.com/
Saturday, 13 June 2009
17:38
CHINHOYI - Mashonaland West governor Faber Chidarikire is suing
controversial Zanu PF party official Temba Mliswa for allegedly calling him
"a ritual murderer".
Mliswa is also said to have accused the
governor of causing problems
on commercial farms in the
province.
According to papers filed at the local magistrates' court
where
Chidarikire wants Mliswa charged with criminal defamation, the two
clashed
during a meeting to prepare for President Robert Mugabe's 85th
birthday
celebrations in February.
Mliswa, the Zanu PF
provincial secretary for lands is said to have
told the governor: "You are a
murderer, uri mhondi inochengeta misoro
yevanhu, uri kunetsa panyaya
yeminda."
The volatile former rugby player, who was chairing
the organising
committee for the communist style birthday bash, is said to
have been
angered by the fact that some Zanu PF officials were not committed
to the
fund-raising initiative.
He reportedly refused to
apologise to Chidarikire when asked to do so
by his
colleagues.
But Mliswa is said to have apologised to Zanu PF
provincial chairman,
John Mafa for raising the matter at "a wrong forum".
The trial date is set
for July 13.
Chidarikire, who is also
a businessman, was acquitted by the High
Court after facing murder charges
more than a decade ago.
This was after he was allegedly found
with a person's head in his
vehicle in 1993.
BY OUR
CORRESPONDENT
http://www.thezimbabwestandard.com/
Saturday, 13 June 2009 17:33
CIVIC organisations have rejected a recommendation by the Minister of
Local
Government, Urban and Rural Development, Ignatius Chombo for a stand
alone
utility to manage Harare's water and sewer system.
The
organisations, which include the Combined Harare Residents
Association
(CHRA), said they were informed about Chombo's plans by Harare
mayor,
Muchadeyi Masunda.
But Masunda yesterday said he had only called
for submissions from
CHRA on what they wanted done to address Harare's
perennial water supply
problems and Chombo's input was only a
suggestion.
Harare has been experiencing serious water
shortages blamed on
mismanagement by the Zimbabwe National Water Authority
(Zinwa).
The government was early this year forced to reverse
the takeover of
water and infrastructure in all urban centres by Zinwa after
the parastatal
was accused of running down infrastructure.
The civic groups said they feared that the creation of another utility
would
be a repeat of the Zinwa mistake, a charge dismissed by Masunda as
alarmist
since consultations were still be carried out on the way
forward.
"The final decision on what is going to happen vests
with council," he
said. CHRA accused Chombo of trying to take advantage of
the confusion
surrounding the handing over of the water and sewer
reticulation to council
by Zinwa to impose his model.
"We
have been informed that Chombo wants to take advantage of the
confusion in
the handover between Zinwa and council to constitute this
body," CHRA
chairperson Simbarashe Moyo said after a joint press conference
with the
Crisis Coalition, Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, Zimcodd and
the
Masvingo United Residents' Association on Friday.
"We have also
received information that this utility will not be any
different from
Zinwa."
CHRA said its preferred model would see the management
of water supply
and sewer reticulation being carried out by a department
within council with
a director who reports to the town clerk and
council.
Masunda said views gathered during the consultation
exercise would be
considered by a full council meeting. He accused the civic
groups of being
"rebels without a cause" for trying to ratchet up pressure
over an issue
that has not been finalised.
BY JENNIFER DUBE
http://www.thezimbabwestandard.com/
Saturday, 13 June
2009 17:33
A Chegutu magistrate has ordered the eviction of 36 farm
workers from
Maridadi Farm to make way for employees of a new farmer
allocated land under
the government's agrarian reforms.
Magistrate Tinashe Ndokera on June 4 ruled in favour of Wayne Naidoo
who
wanted the workers to leave the farm compound within 30 days of the
judgment.
Naidoo said the workers had chosen to work for other
farmers while
staying at this compound when he took over the
farm.
But the workers argued that they had nowhere to go as
they had not
known any other home besides Maridadi Farm.
Ndokera dismissed their argument saying the workers had to seek
accommodation from their new employers.The 36 were employed by the previous
owner of the farm before its occupation in October 2006.
The workers said they sought greener pastures because Naidoo was not
paying
them on time.
Most farm workers in Zimbabwe originate from
neighbouring countries
and have not known any other home outside the
compounds.
The General Plantation Agriculture and Plantation
Workers' Union of
Zimbabwe (GAPWUZ) said that as much as 1 000 workers might
have been left
stranded since the beginning of year because of
retrenchments.
GAPWUZ secretary general, Getrude Hambira called
on the government to
address the plight of workers who have lost their homes
and property during
the chaotic land reform programme.
BY OUR
CORRESPONDENT
http://www.thezimbabwestandard.com/
Saturday, 13 June 2009
17:26
MEDIA, Information and Publicity Minister, Webster Shamu and his
permanent secretary George Charamba face contempt of court charges after
four freelance journalists were barred from covering the just-ended Common
Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa) summit in violation of a
High Court ruling.
Stanley Gama, Valentine Maponga, Stanley
Kwenda and Jealousy Mawarire
successfully challenged the legality of the
Media and Information Commission
(MIC) after Shamu and Charamba insisted
that journalists without MIC
accreditation would not be allowed to cover the
Comesa summit.
In his ruling, High Court judge Justice Bharat
Patel declared that
MIC was a legal nullity and that the journalists should
be allowed to cover
the summit in Victoria Falls.
He also
ordered Charamba and Shamu to retract their statements on
accreditation
using the electronic and print media but by Friday they were
still to comply
with the ruling.
Selby Hwacha, who is representing the four
journalists, said they were
preparing papers for the contempt of court case,
in the face of the defiance
by the minister and his permanent
secretary.
"These people were ordered to place statements in
the media and they
have not done that," he said. "I am working on contempt
of court papers and
we hope to file them (this) week."
The
court case has revealed that Shamu, Charamba and MIC chairman
Tafataona
Mahoso were still unwilling to accept that the controversial media
regulator
set up in 2002 was defunct.
The MIC has been replaced by the
Zimbabwe Media Commission, which is
yet to be constituted.
But Mahoso in his opposing affidavit refers to himself as the "current
executive chairman of the Media and Information
Commission".
He said the MIC "has not died as such". This is
despite legal opinion
from the Attorney-General's office given to Prime
Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai, which said the MIC was now
defunct.
The AG's office called for the ZMC to be
operationalised immediately
saying delays have created a vacuum at
law.
Meanwhile, the Media Institute for Southern Africa (Misa)
Zimbabwe
chapter and the Media Alliance of Zimbabwe (MAZ) have called on
Parliament's
Standing Rules and Orders Committee (SROC) to ensure that the
selection of
the ZMC commissioners is done transparently.
The SROC last week called for persons interested in serving on various
commissions including the ZMC to submit applications for
consideration.
Both Misa and MAZ said the ZMC should only save
as a transitional body
and should give way to self regulation of the
media.
BY OUR STAFF
http://www.thezimbabwestandard.com/
Saturday, 13 June 2009
17:22
WHEN Edith Tugwete, a 27-year-old struggling hairdresser from
Harare
was introduced to the world of "easy money" by a friend she thought
her
financial problems were over.
Although she managed to live
large for some time, the lure of "quick
bucks" finally cost Tugwete her
freedom when she was sentenced to life
imprisonment for drug trafficking in
China in November last year.
For her family and friends who will
not be able to visit her in China
she is as good as dead as they will never
see her again.
Tugwete is one of the 12 Zimbabwean women who
have been arrested for
drug trafficking in Beijing and
Guangzhou.
Investigations have revealed Tugwete and many
desperate women are
victims of a drug syndicate involving Nigerians and
Zimbabweans that now
operates from Harare.
An official at
the Zimbabwean Embassy in China who requested anonymity
said of the 12 women
arrested, two had already been sentenced to death while
others had been
condemned to life imprisonment.
Only three were still to be
sentenced.
Some of the women sentenced to life in prison are
Cynthia Muchero
(20), Noeline Sithole (32), Mildred Kapotsa (35) and
Tugwete.Shirley Rutendo
Maengamhuru (27) and Felistas Marevererwa whose age
could not be ascertained
were jailed for 15 years each.
Asaria Mushangwe (25) and Lauraine Itayi Rufaro Taapatsa (22) were
sentenced
to death.
"These ladies face serious charges because drug
trafficking in China
is treated as a serious crime," said the embassy
official.
He said the latest cases involving Priscilla
Chaparadza and Anymore
Chibaya had seen the largest volume of drugs being
trafficked by a single
person.
"On average the convicts
have ingested between 500g and 1kg.
"As for Chaparadza and
Chibaya they each brought two kg but they didn't
ingest the drugs. They
concealed them in their bags and according to the
Chinese law anything above
50g is very serious and can attract a maximum
sentence," he
said.
The cases involving Zimbabwean women reveal an
underground syndicate
of foreign drug barons operating in
Harare.
Some of the victims said a Zimbabwean woman was
recruiting vulnerable
people like orphans, single parents or single women
between the ages of 20
and 35 for a Nigerian drug lord.
The woman is said to be married to a Nigerian who owns a shop in
Harare.
The drug mules are each promised payment of between
US$5 000 and US$3
000 upon delivery.
"I suspect the name
she uses is simply to disguise the true identity
of the real criminal," said
the official.
Another Zimbabwean woman recruits potential mules at
vegetable
markets or after offering them a lift within
Harare.
Most of the women arrested in China had their air
tickets bought by a
Nigerian resident in Uganda, their relatives and friends
said.
Except for four cases, all the women confessed to have
ingested drugs
in Uganda before flying to China.
Their handlers
bought return tickets using the
Harare-Kampala-Beijing/Guangzhou-Harare
route.
In addition to the tickets, their handlers allegedly
paid for their
hotel accommodation and upkeep in Kampala.
The victims are not given contact numbers of persons receiving them
on
arrival but are given funds to buy temporary sim-cards and airtime to
call
Harare.
The Nigerian in Harare will then contact the receiving
Nigerian in
Beijing/Guangzhou to meet the traffickers upon arrival in
China.
"Obviously they are not given contact numbers of people
they will be
delivering drugs to in case they are caught," said the embassy
official.
The Zimbabwean embassy in China has already warned
Zimbabweans about
the dangers of such activities to themselves and the
country.
Last week five Kenyan nationals were sentenced to
death in China after
they were convicted of drug
trafficking.
Police spokesperson Superintended Andrew Phiri
said they were not
aware of a drugs' syndicate was operating from
Harare.
"What we only know is what we are reading in the
newspapers," he said.
BY SANDRA MANDIZVIDZA
http://www.thezimbabwestandard.com/
Saturday, 13
June 2009 17:22
A HIGH level Swedish delegation that was in the country
a week ago
expressed disappointment at the slow pace the unity government is
implementing political and media reforms proposed in the Global Political
Agreement (GPA).
Sweden's director-general responsible for
International Development
Co-operation, Jan Knutsson, and Pereric Hogberg,
head of Southern, Eastern
and Central African section, arrived in the
country on 3 June to assess the
situation as Stockholm prepares to take over
the rotating presidency of the
European Union (EU) next month.
Sten Rylander, the Swedish ambassador to Zimbabwe, told The Standard,
the
delegation had the "impression that things are moving in the right
direction
on the economic front".
But they were not impressed with the
speed at which the inclusive
government was implementing political reforms
to ensure that there is rule
of law and a free media.
"We
hope to see more progress on that front. It's in the GPA that
things need to
be done," Rylander said.
Key Western donors have insisted that
they would only start supporting
the inclusive government with direct aid
after seeing evidence of political
change.
Several
delegations from Europe have assessed the situation in the
country and its
humanitarian needs since the formation of the inclusive
government in
February but none have promised cash for the country's
reconstruction.
Rylander said there were problems with farm
invasions while media
reforms were still to be implemented.
He said
the team implored the principals to implement what they
promised in the
September 15 power-sharing agreement.
The Swedish team met
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai; Finance
Minister Tendai Biti,
Constitutional and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Eric
Matinenga, Economic
Planning and Investments Promotion Minister, Elton
Mangoma and civic society
groups.
The team also wanted to assess the situation ahead of
Tsvangirai's
whirlwind tour of Europe to rally support for the inclusive
government.
Tsvangirai is scheduled to visit Sweden from 15-16
June.
Last week, the Prime Minister told his party's annual
conference that
the three-month-old government had made little progress on
urgent political
reforms despite scoring some successes in a number of
areas.
BY NDAMU SANDU
http://www.thezimbabwestandard.com/
Saturday, 13 June 2009
14:17
OSLO, Norway - While some say the speed with which the government
is
moving to set up four independent commissions is understandable, the
African
Commission on Human and People's Rights Special Rapporteur on
Freedom of
Expression and Access to Information will be visiting Zimbabwe to
assess
progress on the human rights situation.
Last week, it
was reported that as Zanu PF and the two MDC formations
were moving to
implement provisions of the Global Political Agreement, the
Zimbabwe Media
Commission, the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission, the
Anti-Corruption
Commission and the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission would be in
place next
month.
However, in an exclusive interview here, Advocate Pansy
Tlakula, the
Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression and Access to
Information in
Africa, told The Standard that she would be undertaking "a
promotional
mission" to Zimbabwe in September.
"During the
visit, I will be accompanied by special rapporteurs on
prisons and human
rights defenders. I have already notified the permanent
secretary in the
Ministry of Justice and Legal Affairs (David Mangota)
through a letter which
I gave him in May."
There has been frenetic movement of late to
try and improve the
welfare of Zimbabwean prisoners following damning
evidence of appalling
prison conditions.
Reported fresh
outbreaks of cholera and the anticipated mission could
have pushed
authorities into cleaning up their act.
"During the visit, we
will try and assess what has been done in terms
of the law and see how we
can assist on any challenges being faced," Tlakula
said. "We have been to
Zimbabwe before and then we were looking at what
could be done on Freedom of
Expression, including amendments or the repeal
of Aippa and Posa and we
would want to have a practical look at issues to do
with basic freedoms and
people's rights."
Tlakula told The Standard that there was a feeling
that free
expression was under attack on the African continent with
governments using
alleged lack of ethical conduct among journalists and
state security as
reasons to clamp down on free expression.
The continued existence of criminal defamation laws in some countries'
statutes was another negative development, she said.
Tlakula said the establishment of an inclusive government in Zimbabwe
provided the best opportunities to democratise national institutions which
could be guaranteed in the expected new constitution.
African journalists and Freedom of Expression experts and their
colleagues
from around the world were meeting in the Norwegian capital for a
series of
conferences for the Global Forum on Freedom of Expression.
BY
Foster Dongozi
http://www.thezimbabwestandard.com/
Saturday, 13
June 2009 14:17
DELAYS in resolving outstanding issues from the Global
Political
Agreement (GPA) and mounting evidence that some of President
Robert Mugabe's
close lieutenants are determined to slow down the pace of
democratic reforms
continue to undermine the credibility of the hybrid
government, civic groups
have warned.
The recent controversy
over President Mugabe's unilateral appointments
of Attorney- General,
Johannes Tomana and Reserve Bank governor, Gideon Gono
has exposed serious
fault lines in the fledgling coalition.
MDC-T and Zanu PF officials
have also clashed over media reforms that
were guaranteed in the
GPA.
The MDC-T recently referred the dispute over Gono and
Tomana to Sadc
for arbitration, while differences over media reform are now
playing out in
the courts after four freelance journalists challenged the
continued
existence of the Media and Information Commission
(MIC).
High Court judge Justice Bharat Patel ruled recently
that the MIC was
a legal nullity but the Minister of Media, Information and
Publicity,
Webster Shamu and his permanent secretary George Charamba are
contesting the
ruling.
In a new publication reflecting on
the inclusive government's first
100 days compiled by the Crisis Zimbabwe
Coalition (CZC), 14 civic
organisations say all the hope they had in the
coalition was "dying a slow
death."
The publication is titled 100
days into the inclusive government: A
compendium of reflections from civil
society organisations.
"As we reflect on the recent past we
have to admit that nothing much
has changed," the Ecumenical Support
Services said in its assessment.
"Many negative things are
still happening around the country which we
do not expect to happen under a
government which the MDC is part and parcel
of."
The
faith-based organisation said human rights violations still
persisted to an
extent that the international donor community has refused to
extend
financial assistance to the inclusive government.
Arbitrary
arrests of journalists and human rights defenders have
marred the unity
government's first three months in office, fuelling fears
residual elements
from Mugabe's previous administration were working hard to
torpedo the
coalition.
CZC describes the first three months as a period of
extended
negotiation mainly because of an apparent tug of war around roles
and
responsibilities between Zanu PF and the MDC.
"In
addition, prolonged inaction on issues that were outstanding on
the day the
government went into business, an unrepentant bureaucracy that
is still
largely manned by Zanu PF apologists at its apex, residual
antagonistic
elements who still want to see the death of the marriage of
convenience and
normal dynamics of group cohesion and formation represent
the major
stumbling blocks," the group said.
Organisations representing
students, churches, people with
disabilities and human rights defenders felt
that the battle to control
government in the first three months had shifted
the focus away from the
country's worsening humanitarian
situation.
Aid agencies say three quarters of Zimbabweans need
food assistance
while the situation in education and health sectors still
remains critical.
"Although the inclusive government is rightly
focusing attention on
economic stabilization and recovery and political
allocation of power it
should not lose sight of the people's needs and
aspirations," the Students
Christian Movement of Zimbabwe said in its
submission.
However, the groups were unanimous that the
transitional government
remains the only way out of the country's long
running economic and
political problems.
BY KHOLWANI
NYATHI
http://www.thezimbabwestandard.com/
Saturday, 13 June 2009 14:10
A staggering 70% of African people on antiretroviral treatment (ART)
are at
risk of losing this life saving treatment in the next 12 months due
to the
economic crisis, according to a recent World Bank report.
Considering that only one in three HIV-positive people in Africa
actually
receive ART, the economic crisis holds a serious health threat to
the
continent.
This is one of the concerns expressed on Wednesday by
HIV and TB
activists at the start of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Cape
Town. The
Treatment Action Campaign and Aids and Rights Alliance of Southern
Africa
(ARASA) are calling on the region's leaders to prioritise health, and
in
particular the treatment, prevention and care of TB/HIV during their
planning at the WEF.
"As financial resources become
increasingly scarce, it is more
imperative than ever for regional leaders to
ensure that their priorities
are in line with the needs of the people they
serve," reads a TAC report.
"As world leaders gather in Cape Town to discuss
the economic crisis and to
develop a new roadmap for Africa's future,
activists around the region will
be watching the outcomes of this meeting
for evidence of political
commitment to the rights of people living with HIV
and TB on the continent."
"Access to ART is already in crisis
and the current economic crisis
could trigger a disaster," said Paula
Akugizibwe from ARASA. If leaders fail
to provide resources in the fight
against HIV/Aids, TB and other health
issues, they are actually creating
additional and unnecessary costs to
themselves as an increasingly sick
population will put pressure on
healthcare systems, said Akugizibwe.
-News24.
According to Rebecca Hodes from the TAC, the public health
sector is
already feeling the pinch of the economic crisis as stock-outs and
shortages
of ART, TB-medication, condoms and other basic medication have
already been
reported at clinics in various provinces. - (Wilma Stassen,
Health24)
http://www.thezimbabwestandard.com/
Saturday, 13 June 2009
14:51
UNITED States companies said no investment would come to Zimbabwe
in
the absence of rule of law and respect for human rights in another blow
for
the country's reconstruction programme.
Stephen Hayes,
Corporate Council on Africa (CCA) chief executive
officer told business
leaders in the capital on Thursday that despite the
interest by US companies
in the country there would be no stampede on
investments in the meantime
until drastic changes are made to ensure an
investor-friendly
environment.
"For US businesses to do business with any country we
seek a nation
that follows the rule of law, so that when we invest in a
nation and in a
company, we know that we will be justly and fairly dealt
with," he said.
"We need to know that the judiciary is independent and
that our course
of law is clear and fair.
"If we know the
laws, and we know the laws will be consistently and
evenly enforced then we
can do business with you."
Zimbabwe is in a reconstruction
phase following the formation of the
inclusive government in February
between Zanu PF and the two MDC formations.
Under the Short
Term Emergency Recovery Programme launched by the
unity government in March,
the country plans to increase capacity
utilisation of industries to 60% by
the end of the year with an injection of
US$1 billion.
Hayes proposed changes "in the political and economic management of
this
great country, in particular in the area of rule of law and respect for
human rights".
On the same day that Hayes was addressing
business executives in the
country, CCA was hosting a luncheon for Prime
Minister Morgan Tsvangirai in
Washington.
Tsvangirai
addressed executives of US companies with investments in
Africa.
Hayes invited Zimbabwe companies to participate at
the 2009
CCA-US-Africa Business Summit, a premier economic private sector
meeting
held after every two years.
This year's edition
will be in Washington from September 28 - October
2.
CCA is
a not-for-profit organisation composed of about 180
corporations.
It also has trade organisations representing their interests such as
the
Africa Coalition for Trade representing more than 150 African companies
doing business with the US.
Hayes said some US companies
were already doing business in Zimbabwe,
while others look on from the
sidelines as interested parties.
"In both cases, however, we
cannot expect that these companies will
either enter Zimbabwe for the first
time or expand their operations here
until there are substantial changes in
the way that business is done in your
country," he said.
"Those businesses gathered in Washington also have no expectations of
any
change in US policy until change comes to Zimbabwe."
Investors
are keen on putting their money on Zimbabwe but are waiting
for the full
implementation of the power-sharing deal signed in February.
BY
NDAMU SANDU
http://www.thezimbabwestandard.com/
Saturday, 13 June 2009
14:39
BULAWAYO - Zimbabwe's consumers spend most of their money on
utility
bills, which shot beyond the reach of many following the
introduction of
multiple currencies early this year, the country's main
consumer rights
watchdog said last week.
The Consumer Council
of Zimbabwe (CCZ) said the cost of living went up
by two percent last month
to US437 from US$427 in April.
This was despite a drop in the
prices of basic commodities especially
food.
CCZ director
Rosemary Siyachitema attributed the fluctuations to the
unstable economic
environment still prevailing in the country.
"There are changes
and variations in the figures that exist in the
economy especially in
schools where parents are being asked to pay extra
monies," she
said.
"This has pushed up the cost of the consumer
basket."
Comfort Muchekedza, the CCZ regional manager for
Bulawayo said the
cost of the family basket went up because of
"unreasonable" utility bills.
"Most of the things are going
down but electricity, phone bills and
other local authority rates have not
gone down, pushing up the cost of the
bread basket," Muchekedza
said.
"These need to be included because the basket looks at
the basics that
a family needs to survive."
Muchekedza said rates
and tariffs for local authorities should be
determined by government to
protect vulnerable members of society.
He said parastatals were
taking advantage of the fact that they were
monopolies, which meant that
consumers were left without a choice.
The consumer basket
comprises the total basic goods and services and
the amount of money an
average family of two parents and four children
requires a month to purchase
the commodities and services.
Siyachitema said the food
component of the basket had been
depreciating since the beginning of the
year.
The food component in January was pegged at US$167.23; in April
it
went down to US$111.31 and by last month it was US$111.06
All
civil servants have been earning US$100 since February.
Economic analysts say the economy is showing signs of stabilising
after a
decade of decline, but remains strained by foreign currency
shortages.
BY OUR STAFF
http://www.thezimbabwestandard.com/
Saturday, 13 June 2009
14:35
BULAWAYO - The government is in the process of reconstituting the
National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ) board and is likely to bring in fresh
blood to rescue the parastatal from collapse.
The new board
will replace the one led by Brigadier General Douglas
Nyikayaramba whose
term expired last month.
Nyikayaramba's board has been under fire
from NRZ workers who accuse
it of failing to halt the collapse at the
country's main rail transporter.
The NRZ is facing viability
problems and last month it revealed that
out of its 168 locomotives, 54%
were serviceable.
Government is also under pressure to
demilitarise parastatals in line
with the new political
dispensation.
Sources said this might force Transport Minister Nicholas
Goche to
sacrifice Nyikayaramba.
Besides Nyikayaramba,
acting NRZ general manager Retired Air Commodore
Mike Karakadzai has a
military background.
Partson Mbiriri, the Secretary for
Transport confirmed that changes
were looming at the parastatal but defended
the previous board saying it
performed well under difficult
circumstances.
"I can confirm that the NRZ board's term (of
office) came to an end
on May 31 and that a new board will be appointed as
soon as practicable," he
said.
"In our view, the last
board did a sterling job under the
circumstances in terms of high inflation,
the declining economy, declining
cargo volumes, skills flight, and old
rolling stock, among other factors."
He said some of the challenges
the previous board had to tackle
included ageing railway infrastructure and
the deteriorating business
environment in the country.
"NRZ's
performance should be judged against the performance of the
national
economy," Mbiriri said.
"The last NRZ board ensured the survival of
NRZ at a time when mines
and factories, which constitute over 80 % of NRZ
business, were closing.
"Not doing so is to misconstrue NRZ's role
in the economy as a mover
of bulk cargo required or produced by the
economy."
Last month, the NRZ said it urgently required US$150
million to fund
short-term priority projects that included the hiring of
foreign locomotives
to clear congestion and overdue cargo.
BY
NKULULEKO SIBANDA
http://www.thezimbabwestandard.com/
Saturday, 13 June 2009
14:35
SAFARI operators have asked Tourism Minister Walter Mzembi to
intervene in their dispute with the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority (ZTA) over
the disputed trophy fees in yet another battle that threatens to derail the
growth of the industry.
Operators and ZTA have been haggling
for the past two years over the
two percent levy on trophy fees which the
authority charges operators and
the matter has spilled into the
courts.
In a June 5, 2009 letter to Mzembi, the Safari Operators'
Association
of Zimbabwe (SOAZ) accused ZTA of using the issue of the
disputed levy to
deny them new operators' licences.
Unlicensed operators cannot import tourism products duty free
according to
fiscal incentives given to the tourism industry in April.
Statutory Instrument 46 of 2009 provides the terms and conditions
under
which the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority may grant suspension of duty on
specified types of motor vehicles for licensed tourism operators.
The suspension is effective March 1 and will run up to February 28,
2011.
SOAZ said the industry had always paid the two
percent levy on their
daily rate since the promulgation of the Tourism Act
in 1996.
They argue the daily rate covers all facilities in the
camp -
accommodation, food, drinks, services, and transport but not trophy
fees.
The operators said matters came to a head in 2006 when
ZTA advised
operators that trophy fees were now included.
SOAZ sought legal opinion from their lawyers, Scanlen & Holderness,
who
found out that trophy fees could not be classified as "Tourism
Facility".
The legal opinion was delivered with a cover letter
from SOAZ chairman
Jacob Mudenda to ZTA chief executive officer, Karikoga
Kaseke on January 17
last year.
An appeal was made to the
minister through the then permanent
secretary who responded that trophy fees
should be included in the levy.
"From the beginning of the
hunting season 2008 (April) our hunting
members were being harassed by
demands from ZTA to pay two percent on the
Trophy Fees. SOAZ advised its
members to refer ZTA to the legal opinion,"
the operators
said.
"In June 2008, ZTA sent out letters to all hunting
operators demanding
the two percent and they sent the police around to visit
the offices of
these operators, demanding to see three years of documents,
and implying
that if payment were not made there would be legal
consequences."
This prompted SOAZ to ask Scanlen &
Holderness to write a formal
letter to Kaseke advising their interpretation
of the Act as already made to
ZTA.
The lawyers advised that
should the harassment of their members
continue, they would seek a
Declaratory Order from the courts.
Scanlen & Holderness
wrote a letter to the ZTA's lawyers Gula-Ndebele
& Partners on August 28
laying out the case, and asking them to instruct
their clients to desist
from using threats of arrest in a civil matter to
coerce payment, SOAZ
said.
SOAZ said harassment continued until it culminated in the
arrest of a
number of operators, including the association's administrative
officer on
August 29.
Affected members were Makuti Safaris;
Chapungu Safaris; HHK Safaris;
Lowveld Hunters, Mazunga Safaris, Mokore
Safaris, Threeways Safaris, Big
Five Safaris and Roger Whittall
Safaris.
The lawyers then met privately with the ZTA lawyers
and an agreement
was reached that the matter would be sorted out between
SOAZ and ZTA
lawyers.
It was agreed that both parties would
abide by the judgment although
there would be redress through an appeal if
it was justified.
The case went to the High Court in January
2009 and the ruling is
still pending, the operators said.
SOAZ told
Mzembi that operators had in January received reports that
ZTA were refusing
to renew operators' licences on the grounds they had not
paid their two
percent levy on trophy fees.
The association instructed their
lawyers to write to ZTA advising that
this amounted to extortion and
advising that it was illegal.
Gula-Ndebele responded that their
client, ZTA, denied that this was
the reason for not renewing licences, the
operators said.
"We appeal to you, Minister Engineer Mzembi, to
assist our struggling
industry in reaching an equitable solution to this
problem," SOAZ wrote.
Since his appointment as Tourism Minister
in February, Mzembi who is
on a whirlwind tour of western capitals with
Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai has been diffusing tension among members
who accuse the authority
of killing the industry.
But ZTA
argues that it is merely enforcing the laws. Mudenda was
unavailable for
comment.
BY NDAMU SANDU
http://www.thezimbabwestandard.com/
Saturday, 13 June 2009
16:59
THEY say the perfect eye of a tropical storm is often calm, quiet
and
serene.
The sky is clear and everything seems beautiful, a
welcome relief
after the heavy and violent storm. But at the same time it's
an eerie
silence; an odd and uncomfortable calmness. You probably think the
worst is
over. But this is deceptive.
This sudden reduction
in the intensity of the storm and the apparent
serenity as the eye passes
over the land is only temporary.
For soon, the next eye-wall will
follow causing a sudden increase in
storm intensity - a violent interruption
to the calmness. It is at this
point that one is most vulnerable because it
catches you unawares having
been deceived during the eye-phase of the storm
that the worst was over.
Sometimes, looking at politics in
Zimbabwe, you do wonder whether the
country is simply in the eye of the
political storm; that this is but a
temporary phase which will be followed
by yet another violent storm. To be
sure, this is by no means the perfect
eye of the political storm. The
harassment and arrests of civil rights
activists and defenders; the violence
and disruption at the farms in recent
months continue to disturb the peace.
Yet most Zimbabweans seem
to agree generally that things are different
from and getting better
compared to the chaotic and violent situation of
2008 and the years
preceding it. Some might be forgiven for thinking and
hoping that the worst
is behind us. But is it really over or is this merely
the deceptive eye of
the storm?
I ask this question because the expectation is that
at some point this
GNU will have to give way to a popularly elected
government. It is envisaged
in the Inter-Party Agreement (IPA) that forms
the basis of the GNU that
there will be a free and fair election at some
point in the future. When
exactly that will be remains a grey
area.
Originally, it was said the GNU would last no more than
24 months but
lately there have been mixed signals with '5-years' figure
coming up from
time to time. The way I see it, Zimbabweans may have to get
used to the idea
that this GNU will be with us for a very, very long time. A
number of
factors conspire to make this a real possibility.
First, there is a real fear that Zimbabwe is not ready for an election
and
that it is unlikely to be ready in the next two years. There is a fear
that
the election represents the eye-wall that could violently disturb the
purported calm and stability that the GNU seeks to achieve. The United
Nations' Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) painted
a bleak picture of the situation recently suggesting that the situation
could deteriorate if a new election is called.
Second, an
election would naturally involve competition between the
parties. This would
entail a break in the partnership between the parties in
the
GNU.
Already there are concerns that the parties are scheming
against each
other in order to be better positioned at the next election.
Not only does
this threaten the success of the GNU, it also means that there
could be
further instability as they jostle for power.
Third, at this early stage, there is no evidence to suggest that the
key
conditions and players that existed prior to the GNU will have changed.
The
parties will be the same.
The principal candidates are likely to be
the same. The electoral
structures may have been reformed under the proposed
constitutional reforms
but a change in structures does not necessarily mean
that there is a change
in the behaviour and culture of the human agents who
have played decisive
roles in previous elections.
Given the
prevailing attitude and behaviour of the leading figures in
the security
structure it remains unlikely that any victory other than ZANU
PF's would be
given effect. In short, the election could be yet another
exercise in
futility.
Fourth, there is very little and slow progress on the
fulfilment of
the main structural precondition for new
elections.
It is that there must be comprehensive constitutional
reforms. This
process was initially expected to take 18 months from the
inception of the
GNU. Progress has been painfully slow and success remains
wildly uncertain.
Not only is there a problem of
resource-shortages, there is also
debilitating controversy over the process.
All these factors could conspire
to derail or at best delay the
constitutional reform process.
By-elections: Political
Gamesmanship?
Indeed, given the fears over new elections it is
not beyond
imagination that the GNU itself or parts of it could engage in
political
gamesmanship and dilly-dally with the constitutional reform
process and use
that delay as justification for postponing the
elections.
There are some in government who might see their future
closely tied
to the fortunes of the GNU and a new Constitution is not
necessarily in
their immediate interests. They could throw spanners into the
works just to
prolong the life of this creature.
To be
sure, there are already signs indicating that the GNU is
hesitant about
holding elections in the immediate term.
This is evident in the
confusion surrounding by-elections, which
confusion seems to be deliberately
calculated to avoid by-elections at all
costs. Due to deaths, appointments
to new stations, and other factors since
last year's elections, certain
vacancies have arisen in Parliament. These
vacancies must ordinarily be
filled by holding by-elections in the
respective
constituencies.
The makers of the IPA foresaw the problems that
could arise from
by-elections so they inserted Article 20.1.10 which
regulates the filling of
parliamentary vacancies. It states that, "In the
event of any vacancy
arising in respect of posts referred to in clauses
20.1.6 and 20.1.9 above
[parliament], such vacancy shall be filled by a
nominee of the Party which
held that position prior to the vacancy
arising."
The effect of this is to say for example that if an MDC-T
MP vacates
office for whatever reason, the MDC-T would be allowed to
nominate a
replacement and the other two partners to the IPA would not
contest that
seat.
The idea was to minimise competition between
the partners which could
potentially undermine the stability of the GNU.
This clause forms part of
the transitional provisions in the Constitution
governing the GNU's
operations.
Nevertheless, as we will
see shortly, this is an imperfect arrangement
which fails in legal terms to
achieve what the makers of the IPA intended,
namely to avoid potentially
divisive elections.
It is interesting to note that the related
Article 20.1.1 of the IPA
states that, "For the avoidance of doubt, the
following provisions of the
Interparty Political Agreement, being Article XX
thereof, shall, during the
subsistence of the Interparty Political
Agreement, prevail notwithstanding
anything to the contrary in this
Constitution ." These provisions include
the Article 20.1.10 referred to
above.
This seems to suggest that the clause allowing parties
to nominate
their own candidates to replace those of its members who may
have vacated
office takes precedence. However, it is important to note that
whilst this
clause prohibits the partners of the IPA to contest a vacant
seat it is
silent on whether or not other political parties or independent
candidates
are also prohibited from so contesting.
The
agreement binds the three partners of the GNU and even though it
was made
part of the Constitution it still does not exclude the right of
other
political parties and indeed independent candidates from contesting
any
vacant seats.
In any event doing so would have been a clear breach
of Article 23A
which was introduced by the same Constitutional Amendment No.
19 to provide
for the protection of 'political rights'. These rights include
the right of
a person to vote in and contest in a free and fair
election.
Therefore, evidently, by-elections should be held to
fill the vacant
positions.
The risk of course is that there is
nothing to stop one of the
partners- for example MDC-M and Zanu PF from
'sponsoring' independent
candidates to contest against the nominated
candidate of the MDC-T or
vice-versa.
The 'sponsoring' parties
can pretend that they have nothing whatsoever
to do with the 'independent'
whilst helping him to win the seat thereby
diminishing the parliamentary
position of the other party. These risks mean
that none of the parties are
pressing ahead with demands for by-elections.
Rather, as we
have observed, parliament, the government and the
Zimbabwe Electoral
Commission are shifting responsibility to each other as
if holding
by-elections is something that has never been done before. They
know what
needs to be done but they are reluctant to hold them.
There is only
one reason for this: they are uncomfortable with storm
that would be cause
by elections at this delicate stage of the transitional
process.
The fears are probably not unfounded but it does raise
the question as
to whether and when exactly Zimbabwe will ever be ready for
a free and fair
election?
It seems to me that we are in the
eye of the storm. The storm itself
is not over yet. The question is whether
we have sufficient mechanisms to
deal with the impending storm, as the other
side of the eye-wall approaches.
It will arrive one day.
Alex
Magaisa is based at, Kent Law School, the University of Kent and
can be
contacted at wamagaisa@yahoo.co.uk
or a.t.magaisa@kent.ac.uk
http://www.thezimbabwestandard.com/
Saturday, 13 June 2009 16:50
IT'S not often
there's much to smile about in Zimbabwe these days but
the 'Flying Witch'
story has had me chortling all week.
The story originated in my old
hometown of Murehwa; unfortunately,
there were no pictures to accompany the
story but one report did show a very
small winnowing basket on which the
witch-person was alleged to have
travelled.
It was a very small
basket and I don't think it would even have been
much use for its original
purpose, let alone carrying a full-grown adult.
Witches normally
travel on a hyena's back, I thought, but whatever the
mode of transport,
this particular witch-person had travelled from Murehwa
into Harare on a
winnowing basket to carry out some nefarious purpose.
The
gallant ZRP - always there when you need them - had arrested her
and she was
being charged under the Suppression of Witchcraft Act - a
leftover from
colonial times.
Various experts in traditional practices were
called to give testimony
as to the validity of the witch-person's claim to
have flown from Murehwa
but in the midst of the proceedings the witch-person
went into a trance and
started to make very loud and angry hissing noises!
Absolute panic in the by
now crowded courtroom as the magistrate called a
halt to the proceedings and
demanded to know where the snake noises were
coming from!
Apparently the magistrate was having real
difficulty deciding whether
the witch-person should be released on bail
because the court could not be
entirely certain she wouldn't just climb in
her basket and fly off back to
Murehwa! Who knows, next time we hear of her,
the witch-person may be
striking a rock and bringing forth US dollar notes!
It was diesel fuel last
time and certain credulous Zanu PF ministers were
only too willing to
believe that piece of witchcraft.
I was
thinking about the Flying Witch as I walked to the Polling
Station on
Thursday to cast my vote in the local and EU elections.
The place
was abuzz with activity, all under the watchful eye of the
British
police.
The state of British democracy is nothing to write home
about at the
moment but at least all the murky goings-on are out in the open
for everyone
to see, thanks to a free press and a genuine Freedom of
Information Act.
Details of MP's expenses published on a daily
basis have not
unnaturally caused a huge wave of anger in the British public
which will
certainly be revealed to the Labour Party's detriment as the
election
results come in.
As I said last week, that's how
democracy works; if the people lose
faith in the government they elected,
then they can demonstrate their
disapproval when voting time comes round
again. For that system to work, of
course, you need free and fair elections
- which brings me neatly back to
Zimbabwe.
As Morgan
Tsvangirai and his high-powered delegation were preparing to
travel to
Europe and the US to persuade them to drop sanctions and rescue
the bankrupt
country, ordinary Zimbabweans were wondering why their lives
have not
substantially improved in the 100+ days since the GNU has been in
existence.
One reason for the people's understandable confusion is the
contradictory
voices coming from within the MDC itself. Last Sunday, for
example, the
Prime Minister gave his own supporters a frank admission that
the government
which he leads has not been able fully enforce the rule of
law.
Political intimidation and human rights abuses continue in Zimbabwe,
he
admitted. Not two days later, an upbeat Prime Minister was telling the
BBC
that "the period of acrimony is over."
If that is the case, how
does Morgan Tsvangirai explain why Zanu PF
supporters and war vets continue
to attack MDC members with the ZRP doing
nothing to prevent these violent
attacks. Local chiefs are still punishing
villagers for their support of the
former opposition party. That doesn't
sound as if 'the acrimony is
over'.
How does the PM explain why lawyers and human rights
activists
continue to be intimidated and imprisoned on trumped up charges if
" the
acrimony is over" Are we to believe that Mugabe is a changed man, that
he
has seen the error of his ways in his old age?
Mugabe is
a typical Victorian gentleman, the Minister of Finance tells
an interviewer.
When you meet him, said Tendai Biti, it's hard to believe
that this is the
man the MDC has been fighting for so long, with his
beautiful British
manners, just like a Victorian gentleman. "He deserves a
knighthood" Biti
adds.
Commentators are suggesting that Biti's comments were 'tongue
in cheek'
Well, perhaps, but to me it suggests that the well-known Mugabe
charm has
once again worked its magic.
ners were certainly a
pre-requisite of Victorian gentlemen but that
did not make them any less
ruthless as they marched into Africa and claimed
it for themselves, rather
like Mugabe has done to Zimbabwe.
It's very hard for ordinary
Zimbabweans to understand the MDC
leadership's repeated attempts to make
Mugabe sound good.
They seem to have forgotten why the country is
in such a parlous state
and who caused all the ruin and decay in the first
place. Perhaps they have
made a deal with him, could it be that? "Get rid of
sanctions for me,
promise not to prosecute me for crimes against humanity
and I'll go quietly
into retirement." Could it be that?
Witches might fly!
BY PAULINE HENSON
http://www.thezimbabwestandard.com/
Saturday, 13 June 2009
16:43
THE reality is catching up. And it is this that explains the
sudden
u-turn in demands to consumers by the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply
Authority
(Zesa) to pay up by this Saturday (June 20) or face power
disconnections.
The immediate explanation is that Zesa is hard up
and has to meet its
obligations, principally salaries which fall due before
the end of this
month. It also has to pay for power
imports.
Consumers take issue with Zesa's bills, especially as
they are based
on unrealistic estimates.
There is no way
households across cities and the country can consume
the exact amounts of
electricity. The amounts of US$30 and US$40 being
demanded monthly for the
high-density and low-density respectively for the
last three months are
nothing but downright extortion. It would have been
better for Zesa to
undertake actual readings and then use these to estimate
consumption
patterns for the period in question.
But Zesa's demand suggests
that the new Minister of Energy and Power
Development has come face to face
with reality and acknowledges that his
initial populist move has given way
to facts on the ground:
power exporters want to know why they
should continue to supply
Zimbabwe when the country is unable to service its
debt.
On the other hand there are countries like Botswana, which
require
energy supplies and have the capacity to pay for their needs and are
asking
electricity suppliers to increase their exports.
Zesa says
that it has shut down four of its units at Hwange because
Wankie Colliery
Company is unable to supply coal to the thermal power
station.
The explanations may not be that simple. But in
any other business
failure to meet demand would result in heads rolling.
What business would a
company like Wankie have if it is unable to meet
consumer demand? It
suggests either an appalling lack of anticipation or
creativity on the part
of the company, while it strides vast reserves of the
resource.
The failure to supply Zesa with coal could partly be
due to the power
utility's inability to pay for coal deliveries but it could
also be
attributed to inadequate equipment to extract coal. However for this
to
occur in the middle of winter, when demand for power peaks, when winter
wheat cropping has commenced and when the country is battling to persuade
foreign investors to consider Zimbabwe as an investment destination is a
remarkable lapse in strategic planning.
So the failure to
generate sufficient electricity to meet domestic
requirements will see the
wheat hectarage plummeting. There will be a severe
shortage of bread, which
will have to be met by imports, using scarce
foreign currency which could
have been channelled towards imports of more
electricity in the first place
thus averting the need to resort to wheat
imports.
But
there is an even serious side to the power crisis, whether or not
Zesa or
Wankie is responsible: it is that the targets set under the Short
Term
Emergency Recovery Programme will not be met and that attracting more
investment will not be achieved. Investors want to be assured of regularity
of energy supplies because each time power outages occur they represent
losses in production and missed opportunities.
Zesa's
charges must be realistic and the demands to consumers must be
based on
actual as opposed to estimated consumption. At the same time if
Wankie is
unable to supply coal to Hwange thermal power station because it
has no
resources, it needs to find a strategic partner. Valuable time has
been lost
as a result of indecision.
http://www.thezimbabwestandard.com/
Time We Reached Our Destination
Saturday, 13 June 2009 13:58
THE survival of the inclusive government has been the subject of
considerable debate since signing of the Global Political Agreement
(GPA).
There are varying opinions on whether Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai
should have held on longer as all indications pointed to the fact
that
President Robert Mugabe was about to give in. But there is also the
opinion
that Tsvangirai was sincere in agreeing to an inclusive government
and that
by so doing he saved the country from total collapse.
Others still believe Zanu PF was not going to recapitulate. Either
way, the
MDC-T's decision to participate helped to stabilise what had become
a highly
toxic political environment.
There is a view that the inclusive
arrangement provided a soft landing
because if the MDC-T had been pronounced
winner after the 29 March
harmonised elections, there would have been
bloodshed, especially given the
violence in the lead up to the
elections.
I understand that even within the uniformed forces
there was
considerable uncertainty and tension among the rank and file
officers.
It is fortunate that Zanu PF did not win because a
"cleansing
operation" designed to eliminate those who do not support it
would have
followed. So this arrangement that forces Mugabe and Tsvangirai
to embrace
each other and denounce violence in whatever form from their
supporters
provided a soft landing and saved Zimbabweans.
This arrangement ensured that no single person or political party
could
exercise supreme authority in the Zimbabwean politics.
However,
it should be noted that the people of Zimbabwe did not vote
for this
inclusive government. This is not what we want and neither
President Mugabe
nor Prime Minister Tsvangirai should be happy with this
arrangement. We want
to determine our future through elections.
The three principals
are facing significant challenges within their
parties. For Tsvangirai, this
is not the time to get carried away and forget
our
challenge.
For Mugabe, after Zimbabweans made up their mind to
dump the party,
the challenges are immeasurable. Then there is the issue of
the camps within
Zanu PF. Whether he is going to stand as Zanu PF's
candidate remains to be
seen.
Professor Arthur Mutambara is
fighting to keep his party from falling
apart. The challenge for him is for
his party to remain relevant to the
Zimbabwean politics.
All these intricacies form the matrix of our current political
struggle. We
need elections under a new people-driven constitution. Let us
not lose hope
by focusing on the inclusive government because it is not a
permanent
feature. And let no one try to make it permanent.
We have
followed this river for far too long. It's time we got to the
sea, because
as a nation we deserve better.
V N M Maunganidze Mlambo
Mt
Pleasant
Harare.
---------
Stop
'Hazing' Practice
Saturday, 13 June 2009
13:56
I have recently learned that Zimbabwean police recruits are
subjected to beatings as a kind of indoctrination or "hazing". I have seen a
short video of this practice and I am appalled. No civilized country employs
such practices.
If police are inducted to their service
in this way, you can
expect them to act brutally when performing their
duties, in clear violation
of our laws and international
norms.
Please Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai act
immediately to stop
this highly destructive and counter-productive
practice.
Edna Musarurwa
Harare.
-------------
Directors,
Managers Looting
Saturday, 13 June 2009 13:55
WHAT
does it mean when these parastatals ask for rescue
packages - they first buy
luxury cars? Zesa recently bought top of the range
vehicles for all their
management.
Fullard Gwasira, Zesa's Communications manager is
always in the
media complaining that the parastatal is dead broke. Why
doesn't he come in
the open and say that we are putting ourselves first
instead of the nation?
In Chitungwiza Makoni Unit O we have
had no electricity for the
past three months and we have no hope that we
will have power anytime soon
because Zesa is broke and will not be able to
buy us a transformer. However,
it has money to buy a Toyota Prado for a
manager (name supplied) and sell
him at book value a Toyota d/cab raider he
was using.
In Norton some residents had to contribute to
buy a transformer,
diesel and used their cars to transport Zesa technicians
yet Zesa had money
to purchase some Toyota Landcruiser V8 latest models for
all the directors
of its subsidiaries. Then these directors bought all the
cars they were
using at book value.
They have
generators, their children's school fees are paid by
Zesa, and they have
entertainment allowances, fuel they take as they please.
All ministers with parastatals falling under their ministries
please help
the nation by clipping wings of these directors in time.
If you remember very well President Barack Obama also complained
to the US
financial institutions about executives getting massive allowances
from the
rescue packages.
Ministers, please have a look at the issue
of luxury vehicles at
parastatals that are said to be struggling and
requiring financial
injections from the government.
Zesa
staff
Harare.
-------------
Outrageous Bills
Saturday, 13
June 2009 13:53
FOR the past two years I have been connecting to
the Internet
via TelOne's CDMA phone. For that duration we were charged a
modest fixed
monthly amount which was paid in advance.
However, in April out of the blues I got an Internet bill for
US$4 633.74. A
few weeks later I got the May bill and I owe TelOne US$4
818.25. Where in
the world do you get such an Internet bill for private home
use? Not only is
the bill unrealistic
. . . it's simply
outrageous.
Minister Nelson Chamisa should do something
about these
unrealistic bills. Even if I were asked to pay only 10% of the
bill I would
think that would still be too expensive.
Alois Kachere
Harare.
---------------
MDC Must be Commended for Al-Bashir
Snub
Saturday, 13 June 2009 13:52
PRIME Minister
Morgan Tsvangirai and ministers from his MDC-T
formation should be
congratulated for not taking part in welcoming Comesa
leaders such as
Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir.
It would have been a great
embarrassment to the MDC-T leaders to
be seen shaking hands with a leader
whose hands are dripping with blood
following the murder of thousands of
innocent people in Darfur.
When the international community
is calling for his arrest, the
MDC leaders were correct not be associated
with Al Bashir.
This gesture has shown that the MDC-T
although having formed an
inclusive government with Zanu PF, still respects
the rule of law unlike
their counterparts in Zanu
PF.
The MDC leadership should let President Robert
Mugabe, who is
responsible for the murder of thousands of people in
Matabeleland and the
Midlands during the early 1980s and other hundreds of
innocent Zimbabweans
through Operation Murambatsvina, farm invasions and
violent election
campaigns, wine and dine with other dictators in
Africa.
Trymore Mazhambe
Mutare.
-----------
No Trust in the
GMB
Saturday, 13 June 2009 13:49
IT was with
interest that I read last week that Governor of the
Reserve Bank, Gideon
Gono, was erecting grain silos at his farm in Norton.
Why is
Gono putting up silos when his party Zanu PF has failed
to fill the
country's national grain silos for the past 10 years? Does Gono
no longer
have trust in the Grain Marketing Board (GMB) to the extent he now
prefers
to keep grain at his farm?
Does he remember that he and
other state organs like the police
and soldiers were forcing farmers to
deliver their grain to the GMB or
confiscating the grain if it was not
destined for the GMB? The police even
prevented ordinary people from
transporting maize for their consumption in
towns.
Gono should remember that the people are hurting because of
government
polices he was party to.
E M
Greendale
Harare.
-----------
Gono, not sanctions, to Blame for Economic
Collapse
Saturday, 13 June 2009 13:49
I know for
certain that sanctions have absolutely nothing to do
with Zimbabwe's
hyper-inflation and economic decay. Low agricultural, mining
and industrial
output and money printing have brought economic misery on
this
land.
Money printing, especially, is the major driver of
hyperinflation and even Gideon Gono, the Governor of the Reserve Bank
proudly admitted that he was printing money and boasted he would not succumb
to "bookish economics".
Why would the state media now say
that sanctions have brought
about misery when any economics scholar will
tell you that increased money
supply not backed by production causes
inflation?
You cannot spend what you don't have. The
Minister of Finance,
Tendai Biti, simplified this economic matrix in his
budget presentation when
he said you eat what you kill and gather. How can
you feast on 20 bushbucks
in a year when you only managed to hunt and gather
five?
Everybody knows that sanctions were a reaction to
flawed
elections, disrespect for human rights and many other factors. Gono
further
exacerbated our economic misery by printing money, benefiting a few
individuals, who make up the elite. These are the same individuals who are
in a minority and are now saying that Gono saved this country from
collapse.
These are the same individuals who wanted to
benefit from the
illegal secondary taxing of businesses by Gono's policies.
We are already
overburdened taxpayers, but Gono wanted to impose fees for
using forex
because he destroyed what was left of our
currency.
I want to the thank Biti for unequivocally
dismissing the fees
as unnecessary and stating that it is the domain of
Parliament to come up
with such charges. What was the rationale for charging
us such exorbitant
fees?
Such policies are the
reasons why the majority of Zimbabweans
want Gono to go. We want him to
resign because of the misery he brought
upon.
Biti
might not have anything personal against Gono. It is people
like me and the
majority of Zimbabweans who have everything personal against
Gono because he
destroyed our livelihoods.
I really wonder whether Gono
and his elite circle of friends
genuinely believe such statements when they
say Gono saved Zimbabwe from
further collapse.
There
are many men and women across the political divide
regardless of their
political affiliation who want this man's resignation.
There are also those
who benefited from his policies who want him to go, and
rightfully so for
the sake of progress and in the country's best interests.
Patriot
Avondale, Harare.
--------------
SMS The Standard
Saturday, 13
June 2009 13:59
Have pride
PLEASE have pride
and keep our beautiful city clean. Let us all
get together and stop
littering and causing health hazards.
Burn rubbish or take it
to the municipal dump site. Complain to
the City of Harare if your rubbish
is not collected. Stop littering the
streets or throwing litter from your
vehicle. Do whatever it takes to help
keep our environment green. Our city
is in a shocking mess. It's not a good
sight to attract tourists. A relative
who visited years ago told me that
Harare was one of the cleanest cities in
the world. Do us proud and pick up
your litter. - Concerned,
Harare.
Urgent SOS
WE are urgently
appealing to the Parliamentary Portfolio
Committee on Higher Education to
immediately institute an investigation into
allegations of corruption and
victimisation of staff workers' unions at the
Bindura University of Science
Education. - SOS, Bindura.
Uphill
struggle
JAMESON Timba, the Deputy Minister of Media, Information
and
Publicity, should work extra hard and reign in public media over its
lies,
which it continues to spread despite the advent of an inclusive
government. - Shozhi, Harare.
******
PUBLIC media journalists should think twice when writing their
stories. How
can a rational journalist write that the Dutch government turns
down Prime
Minister Morgan Tsvangirai as if the Prime Minister is on a
mission to the
West in his private personal capacity? - Tindo.
******
IS owning a radio or television set that special? If ZBC
wants
money from its viewers, it should come up with a decoder of its own so
that
we can be free from its shameless greed.- Rindai.
******
THERE is no point in TelOne slashing tariffs by 30% on a
bill
which I disagree with. TelOne for once needs to be serious. I got a
bill of
US$800. Unfortunately I am not paid anything near that amount. - Get
Real,
Harare.
Bosso losing plot
CAN
the executive at Highlanders Football Club care to explain
why we have an
all-rookies outfit except for Gift Lunga, Richard Choruma and
Johannes
Ngodzo masquerading as Bosso when it is evident that they fall far
short.
Why did most senior players leave and what efforts were made to
retain
Cuthbert Malajila, Washington Arubi, Obadiah Tarumbwa or acquire good
players from relegated teams and from other teams just as Dynamos did? Where
is Alumeda, G Banda, Cooper and others? - M K Shumba.
******
THE Highlanders executive must get serious during this
window
period by getting experienced players and a seasoned coach like
Jostein
Mathuthu, assisted by the likes of Willard Khumalo. - Nyatanga
K.
******
MADINDA Ndlovu should be fired
immediately before Highlanders
loses ground on the title race. Just like
Moses Chunga, Ndlovu is a soccer
scout and not a coach. Chunga's kidnet
Norman Maroto, Samson Choruwa, Murape
Murape, Esau Amisi, Eddie Mashiri, Leo
Kurauzvione and others only
flourished long after his departure. It was the
same with the likes of
Tafadzwa Rusike at Caps United. So Ndlovu is a scout
masquerading as a
coach. He must join the juniors - that's where we need
scouts. - M Moyo,
Harare.
Zimra's war
HAS
the government, through the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority,
decided on an
all-out war against cross-border traders? Could the Minister
of Finance and
that of Small and Medium Enterprises rescue us from the
punitive duty? It
is just too high for the majority of us. We are paying R2
000 for goods
worth R1 000 before transport. How are we expected to
survive? -Byo SME
member.
Academic independence
THERE should
be independent vice-chancellors for all state
universities. The continued
closure of the University of Zimbabwe is a shame
and exposes the paucity of
leadership at the institution. Please help. -
Conmash.
Where he belongs
AFTER watching Gideon Gono's so-called "new
Donnington farm" on
ZTV, I am convinced that that's where he belongs and
must stop wasting his
talent at the central bank. - Zivai,
Epworth.
Surprised
I AM surprised Editor on your
comment "Scrap bills based on
estimates" on Zesa. You don't seem to realise
the role of the regulator in
setting electricity tariffs. Where is the rule
of law? - Anony.
******
WHILE the MDC-T is
busy trying to source funds for the nation,
Zanu PF was busy showing off
their looted farms to King Mswati III of
Swaziland. I am sure many voters
took note. - Oracle.
Gono's cushy job
HOW
did Gideon Gono manage to have
5 000 cattle on his farm? How did
he come to accumulate such
wealth? I hope he was able to explain this to his
admirers and to King
Mswati III. He must have benefited from his activities
at the central bank.
Who then would want to leave such a job? -
Observer.
CAN anyone explain why it is that whenever a
company,
organisation or individuals try to justify their service charges
they refer
to the regional or international averages yet do not make the
same
comparisons when it comes to salaries and economies? Is this arrogantly
convenient?
RONNIE Nkiwane, people die for their
principles and beliefs.
That does not make them stupid. Sam Sipepa Nkomo did
not register The Daily
News in protest and due to his principled stand. You
can kiss Jonathan Moyo
but that won't clean his bloody hands. - A
victim.
According to Patrick Chinamasa, sacking Gideon Gono
from the
Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe is tantamount to pushing Zanu PF out of
the
government of national unity. So what the learned lawyer forgot or
rather
chose not to tell us is that the central bank is now a Zanu PF
project and
that the Governor is not representing the interests of the
masses but is on
a Zanu PF mission. - V
Kleere.