http://www.thestandard.co.zw
Sunday, 24 June 2012
10:39
BY NQOBANI NDLOVU AND BLESSED MHLANGA
SILOBELA — Prime
Minister Morgan Tsvangirai yesterday read the riot act to
partisan
traditional chiefs and police officers who are abusing their
positions to
prop Zanu PF in rural areas.
Addressing villagers in Midlands
province’s Silobela area during a tour of
Constituency Development Fund
projects, Tsvangirai said traditional leaders
should concentrate on
developing their communities instead of meddling in
politics.
“Those who are here, go and tell the other chiefs and
headmen who did not
come that the days of meddling in politics are gone,” he
said. “If you are a
chief you should not select who you
serve.”
Traditional leaders have caught the ire of the MDC formations
in the
inclusive government for openly declaring their allegiance to Zanu PF
and
vowing to protect the party’s interests in their
jurisdictions.
Speaking at the same occasion, Home Affairs
co-minister, Theresa Makone,
warned that partisan traditional leaders and
police officers who meddled in
politics would now risk getting
arrested.
“There are some police officers who are still living in a
dream world of the
pre-2008 era, who think they belong to political parties
yet they should be
apolitical,” she said.
Makone said partisan
police officers were refusing to act against certain
people who were
committing crimes because of political reasons.
“I want to say to you
(villagers), take down the names of all police
officers and their station
and forward the names to me through your
councillor or legislator so that
they can be brought to book for violating
the Police Act,” she
said.
“Such police officers don’t deserve to be in the force, we are
going to
arrest them.”
However, Police Commissioner General,
Augustine Chihuri and other security
chiefs have declared their allegiance
to Zanu PF, vowing that they would not
salute anyone without liberation
credentials, referring to Tsvangirai.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
Sunday, 24 June 2012 10:42
BY
PATRICE MAKOVA
Vice-President Joice Mujuru is now isolated in the
fight to succeed
President Robert Mugabe as her late husband’s former allies
have switched
their allegiance to her rivals, top Zanu PF officials have
said.
The officials said although Mujuru is one of the
strongest contenders to
succeed President Mugabe, she faces a stumbling
block in the form of
securocrats whose allegiance lies with her rivals,
Defence minister,
Emmerson Mnangagwa and State Security minister, Sydney
Sekeramayi.
They said despite attempts to block debate on Mugabe’s
succession, the two
main factions in Zanu PF; one led by Mujuru and the
other loyal to
Mnangagwa, were positioning themselves to succeed the
88-year-old leader
through the current restructuring of district
coordinating committee (DCCs).
They said most of the generals who
used to be loyal to the VP’s late
husband, Retired General Solomon Mujuru,
had shifted their allegiance to
Mnangagwa, while others including Zimbabwe
Defence Forces Commander,
Constantine Chiwenga were now pushing for
Sekeramayi.
“The generals have made it clear that they want to ensure
a Zanu PF victory
in the next elections,” said a source close to the
generals “Some of them
are loyal to Mnangagwa, who they believe can protect
their interests, but
others led by Chiwenga are now lobbying for
Sekeramayi.”
Chiwenga was himself, until recently, harbouring presidential
ambitions, but
after a lot of soul-searching, the party sources said, he
decided to back
Sekeramayi, a former close confidant of the late
Mujuru.
Some sources said the securocrats have little respect for
Mujuru because she
was a nonentity during the 1970s liberation
war.
Another Zanu PF source said party national commissar, Webster Shamu had
failed to stem factionalism, even in Mugabe’s backyard in Mashonaland West
province because the stakes are too high.
Mnangagwa has made
inroads in Mujuru’s strongholds of Mashonaland East and
West, while the VP
has on the other hand lost ground in her own Mashonaland
Central
province.
Her candidates were thumped by those of a faction led by
Transport,
Communication and Infrastructure Development minister Nicholas
Goche and
Youth Development, Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment
minister, Saviour
Kasukuwere, which claims to be loyal to
Mugabe.
Mujuru recently accused Goche and Kasukuwere of undermining
her, questioning
where they were during the liberation
struggle.
“The question behind people’s minds, including the
generals, is that, if
Mujuru can lose in her own backyard, what are her
chances against Prime
Minister Morgan Tsvangirai?,” said the
source.
But Zanu PF spokesperson Rugare Gumbo, while admitting that
Shamu was
struggling to deal with factionalism, said the current
restructuring was
normal. “There is nothing untoward with what we are doing.
The restructuring
has nothing to do with elections or the succession issue,
but simply to
ensure that the party is more organised,” he
said.
Party Secretary for Administration, Didymus Mutasa and Gumbo
recently said
Mujuru was better positioned than Mnangagwa to succeed Mugabe
because of
hierarchy.
The country’s constitution stipulates that
in the event that Mugabe dies in
office or is incapacitated, Mujuru as the
first vice-president, assumes
power for 90 days before elections are
held.
But political analyst, Alois Masepe, said the restructuring
presented
Mnangagwa with an opportunity to control the party structures
considering
that his faction and securocrats delivered “the throne back to
Mugabe” after
presiding over the June 2008 presidential election
re-run.
He said through the DCC elections, Zanu PF found itself,
consciously or
sub-consciously, preparing for political life without Mugabe
as “all and
sundry can see that he is on his last legs politically and is
inexorably
moving towards his end”.
“The squeals, accusations and
counter-accusations coming from the provinces
clearly show that the
succession battle is in full swing and it’s not taking
prisoners,” said
Masepe.
“The situation is fluid and the water is muddied and the
position of the
next leader is not there for Mujuru’s taking,
notwithstanding the
pronouncements of Mutasa and Gumbo. There is a lot of
fighting to be done
and the cup may come or pass.”
He said the
direct involvement of the securocrats in the equation introduced
a new but
not unexpected dimension.
But University of Zimbabwe Political
Science lecturer, John Makumbe,
insisted Mujuru had a better chance of
succeeding Mugabe.
“The party normally follows its hierarchy, but we
cannot rule out the
possibility that she can be upstaged by others who might
be stronger,” he
said.
Makumbe said securocrats would find it
difficult to put spanners on the way
of Mujuru if she was to get support of
congress.
“Mujuru is generally a likeable character and has a better
chance of uniting
Zimbabweans, unlike Mnangagwa who is largely a hardliner,”
he said. “I can
see Mujuru literary begging Tsvangirai to say let’s work
together for the
sake of peace and our people.”
Makumbe however
said Mujuru would need a lot of “hand holding” in order to
manage the
country’s foreign affairs
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
Sunday, 24 June 2012 10:22
NQOBANI
NDLOVU
BULAWAYO — Constitution Select Committee (Copac) co-chairpersons
have been
gagged from issuing statements to the media on the
constitution-making
process to avoid conflicting reports on the progression
of the process and
contents of the draft.
Edward Mkhosi, one
of the co-chairpersons told The Standard last week that
the Minister of
Constitutional and Parliamentary Affairs, Eric Matinenga,
was now the only
official charged with issuing progress reports regarding
the
constitution-making process.
This was agreed by negotiators from the
three parties in the coalition
government after a meeting in Nyanga last
week, held to iron out sticky
issues in the drafting of a new
constitution.
“We (Copac chairpersons) are no longer commenting
on anything about the
constitution-making process. It’s the new position
because it was agreed by
the management committee that we tended to give
conflicting statements
regarding the contents of the draft and the whole
process,” said Mkhosi.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
Sunday, 24 June 2012 10:23
BY
NQABA MATSHAZI
DESPITE gains of the past three years, Zimbabwe remains in the
top five
failed states, according to an annual worldwide
survey.
The survey — a collaboration of American magazine, Foreign
Policy and the
Fund for Peace, a US non-governmental organisation (NGO) —
assessed 177
countries, looking at primarily inadequate health care, paltry
infrastructure, and basic hunger.
The only countries that ranked
worse than Zimbabwe are Somalia, the
Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sudan
and Chad.
Zimbabwe scored 106,3 out of 120, making it the fifth worst
country in the
survey, with the researchers saying there was a slight
improvement from
2011, where the country had a mark of 107, with a higher
mark indicating
poorer performance.
However, in the previous
year, Zimbabwe had ranked sixth, indicating a fall
in rankings this year.
Zimbabwe’s worst ever position was in 2009, where it
scored 114 out of 120
and was only slightly better than Somalia.
“The economy has begun to
expand again, growing by an estimated 6% in 2011,
but Zimbabwe remains
politically fragile. Mugabe’s power-sharing arrangement
with opposition
leader Morgan Tsvangirai remains more theory than reality,”
reads an
assessment of the country by the survey.
“The country’s future, and
how much worse it will sink on this list, depends
largely on who will rule
when the 88-year-old Mugabe dies.”
Among the indicators where
Zimbabwe fared the worst, was the rise of
factionalised elites, in which
state institutions are fragmented along
ethnic, class, clan, racial or
religious lines.
Zimbabwe scored 9,8 out 10 in the indicator, which
surveyed the use of
nationalist political rhetoric by ruling elites to
confine power among
themselves.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
Sunday, 24 June 2012 10:21
Among the critical
indicators where Zimbabwe did badly, were the state
security apparatus,
where the study revealed that there was the emergence of
an elite group of
soldiers that were loyal to a leader and by-passed the
chain of
command.
One of the debates engulfing Zimbabwe at the moment are
security sector
reforms, where the top brass in the military and police say
they would not
salute Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and would not
recognise him in the
event that he won an election.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
Sunday, 24 June 2012
10:38
Turning to food distribution, Makone said she had agreed with
Agriculture,
Mechanisation and Irrigation Development minister Joseph Made,
to dismiss
all corrupt Grain Marketing Board (GMB) officials and arrest
people such as
traditional leaders and MPs who used their political muscle
to acquire grain
and inputs.
“The message that we have for
everyone is that they should not be afraid to
record names of all GMB
workers, chiefs, and MP’s who are distributing food
on political lines,” she
said.
“We agreed this with Made in cabinet to ensure that all those
responsible
get dismissed.”
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
Sunday, 24 June 2012 10:35
BY NQABA
MATSHAZI
A section of the war veterans has vowed to defy a Zanu PF directive
to stop
them from visiting Njelele shrine in Matabeleland South, threatening
to
create further fissures in the already fractured party.
The
war veterans have gone further and passed a vote of no confidence in
their
leader, Jabulani Sibanda, whom they accused of failing to defend them
and
instead siding with people who wanted to block their visits to the
shrine,
which some consider sacred.
They plan to have a major cleansing
ceremony on July 7, which they insisted
would go ahead despite opposition
from the party.
Matters came to a head, the war veterans said, when
Sibanda, instead of
supporting their cause, described them as
“renegades”.
In a letter to Zanu PF politburo and provincial
governors, war veterans’
publicity secretary, George Kativhu said: “He
(Sibanda) could not get
details from us as our leader, but labelled us
renegades.”
Kativhu, who confirmed having written the letter, accused
Sibanda of
destroying Zanu PF and meeting with Zapu leader Dumiso Dabengwa
and local
chiefs, when the war veterans were planning their cleansing
ceremonies.
Sources said the war veterans wanted Joseph Chinotimba,
the self-styled
commander of the farm 2000 farm invasions, to take over as
leader.
But Chinotimba said he was not aware of the vote of no
confidence, but if
his colleagues wanted him to take over as chairman, he
would gladly do so.
“I have always been a leader of the war veterans, if they
want me I will
take over that portfolio,” he said. “There’s nothing amazing
about
Chinotimba taking over.”
Chinotimba confirmed that there
was disquiet within the former freedom
fighters’ ranks over Sibanda’s
leadership, as it was felt that the war
veterans’ leader was oblivious to
their plight.
“Sibanda and I are in different categories, there is
need to address the
welfare of war veterans and find out how they are
living, but Sibanda is
quiet about that. There are problems as some comrades
are losing their land
but the leadership is quiet,” he
said.
Observers say this is endemic of the factionalism in Zanu PF,
with one
faction using the disgruntled war veterans to frustrate
Sibanda.
A source revealed that some party leaders were uncomfortable
with Sibanda’s
countrywide campaigns, fearing that he wanted a higher post
in the party.
The source said this could be a plot to distract
Sibanda’s campaigns.
Sibanda was accused of failing to convene a
single war veterans meeting and
had never addressed the social welfare of
the former freedom fighters.
But Sibanda shot back insisting that he was
still in power, describing those
calling for his ouster as,
“misguided”.
“I was not chosen by spirit mediums, those are not war
veterans,” he said.
“It’s just four people and they are being misled by a
Jezebel of a woman.”
Sibanda charged that the Njelele trip was not sanctioned
by either Zanu PF
or the war veterans association.
Sibanda
seems to have the backing of Zanu PF leadership, with party
spokesman Rugare
Gumbo saying anyone who went to Njelele should have the
blessing of the
local leadership.
“No one is going there, if they go they will be
arrested,” Gumbo said.
Recently, Zanu PF chairman Simon Khaya Moyo
described those who insisted on
going to Njelele as
hooligans.
But the war veterans have hit back and have instead hired
buses from Harare
and Bulawayo to Njelele, some 50 kilometres outside
Bulawayo.
“Come 7 July and you will see,” Monica Mguni-Sikhosana, one
of the leaders
of the pilgrimage said. “Some people are opposed to these
ceremonies but
they will come around. Some of them were also opposed to the
land reform
programme, but now they have benefited.”
The
cleansing ceremonies are reportedly led by a medium only identified as
Nehoreka.
“Nehoreka says he has conducted cleansing ceremonies
for some of the same
people who today do not want us to go, but we will go,”
one of the pilgrims
said.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
Sunday, 24 June 2012 10:33
BY NQABA
MATSHAZI
A section of the war veterans has vowed to defy a Zanu PF directive
to stop
them from visiting Njelele shrine in Matabeleland South, threatening
to
create further fissures in the already fractured party.
The
war veterans have gone further and passed a vote of no confidence in
their
leader, Jabulani Sibanda, whom they accused of failing to defend them
and
instead siding with people who wanted to block their visits to the
shrine,
which some consider sacred.
They plan to have a major cleansing
ceremony on July 7, which they insisted
would go ahead despite opposition
from the party.
Matters came to a head, the war veterans said, when
Sibanda, instead of
supporting their cause, described them as
“renegades”.
In a letter to Zanu PF politburo and provincial governors, war
veterans’
publicity secretary, George Kativhu said: “He (Sibanda) could not
get
details from us as our leader, but labelled us
renegades.”
Kativhu, who confirmed having written the letter, accused
Sibanda of
destroying Zanu PF and meeting with Zapu leader Dumiso Dabengwa
and local
chiefs, when the war veterans were planning their cleansing
ceremonies.
Sources said the war veterans wanted Joseph Chinotimba,
the self-styled
commander of the farm 2000 farm invasions, to take over as
leader.
But Chinotimba said he was not aware of the vote of no
confidence, but if
his colleagues wanted him to take over as chairman, he
would gladly do so.
“I have always been a leader of the war veterans, if they
want me I will
take over that portfolio,” he said. “There’s nothing amazing
about
Chinotimba taking over.”
Chinotimba confirmed that there
was disquiet within the former freedom
fighters’ ranks over Sibanda’s
leadership, as it was felt that the war
veterans’ leader was oblivious to
their plight.
“Sibanda and I are in different categories, there is
need to address the
welfare of war veterans and find out how they are
living, but Sibanda is
quiet about that. There are problems as some comrades
are losing their land
but the leadership is quiet,” he
said.
Observers say this is endemic of the factionalism in Zanu PF,
with one
faction using the disgruntled war veterans to frustrate
Sibanda.
A source revealed that some party leaders were uncomfortable with
Sibanda’s
countrywide campaigns, fearing that he wanted a higher post in the
party.
The source said this could be a plot to distract Sibanda’s
campaigns.
Sibanda was accused of failing to convene a single war
veterans meeting and
had never addressed the social welfare of the former
freedom fighters.
But Sibanda shot back insisting that he was still in power,
describing those
calling for his ouster as, “misguided”.
“I was
not chosen by spirit mediums, those are not war veterans,” he said.
“It’s
just four people and they are being misled by a Jezebel of a woman.”
Sibanda
charged that the Njelele trip was not sanctioned by either Zanu PF
or the
war veterans association.
Sibanda seems to have the backing of Zanu
PF leadership, with party
spokesman Rugare Gumbo saying anyone who went to
Njelele should have the
blessing of the local leadership.
“No one
is going there, if they go they will be arrested,” Gumbo
said.
Recently, Zanu PF chairman Simon Khaya Moyo described those who
insisted on
going to Njelele as hooligans.
But the war veterans
have hit back and have instead hired buses from Harare
and Bulawayo to
Njelele, some 50 kilometres outside Bulawayo.
“Come 7 July and you
will see,” Monica Mguni-Sikhosana, one of the leaders
of the pilgrimage
said. “Some people are opposed to these ceremonies but
they will come
around. Some of them were also opposed to the land reform
programme, but now
they have benefited.”
The cleansing ceremonies are reportedly led
by a medium only identified as
Nehoreka.
“Nehoreka says he has
conducted cleansing ceremonies for some of the same
people who today do not
want us to go, but we will go,” one of the pilgrims
said.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
Sunday, 24 June 2012
10:28
BY OUR STAFF
ZANU PF plans to dish out residential stands to
home-seekers in Manicaland
in an attempt to woo voters ahead of elections
next year, party provincial
chairperson, Mike Madiro has
said.
The party fared badly in Manicaland in the 2008 elections,
winning only six
out of the 26 constituencies in the
province.
But the MDC-T has dismissed the strategy, saying there was
no guarantee that
the beneficiaries would vote for the former ruling
party.
Madiro recently told home-seekers in Mutare that the party had
roped in
Reverent Obadiah Musindo and his Destiny of African Network (DAN)
to
spearhead its election campaign by dolling out residential stands in
various
cities and towns in the country.
“Every beneficiary of
this scheme should vote for Zanu PF and betrayers will
be kicked out from
here. You can’t benefit when you don’t want to vote for
us,” he
said.
Under the scheme, potential beneficiaries were supposed to
become members of
DAN and upon acquiring a residential stand; they would
become party
activists and expected to recruit a minimum of 10
people.
Musindo said he would ensure the project succeeded in order
to get more
votes for Zanu PF.
“Of course we will support
this because we believe Zanu PF is for the
development and empowerment of
the people,” he said.
“Those who are not pro-Zanu PF will have their stands
taken away from them.
“It’s a do-or-die election.”
Musindo
however declined to reveal the source of his funding, saying it was
“clean”
Zimbabwean money, targeting a local cause.
Sources say a local financial
institution in which government has
significant shareholding, is backing the
scheme.
But several other housing projects which were spearheaded by
Musindo’s DAN
in the past years have collapsed, with prospective house
owners losing out
in the process.
The past few years have seen
the proliferation of co-operatives linked to
Zanu PF in peri-urban areas
across the country, benefiting mostly supporters
of the
party.
However, Zanu PF spokesperson Rugare Gumbo professed ignorance
of the
scheme.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
Sunday, 24 June 2012 10:27
MDC-T deputy
spokesperson, Thabitha Khumalo rubbished the Zanu PF election
strategy
saying there was no guarantee the beneficiaries would vote for the
party.
“These are the issues that are actually perpetuating
corruption and we say
this is totally unacceptable. “There are procedures
that need to be followed
because we have millions of people on the housing
list,” she said.
“They (Zanu PF) are turning the right to housing
into a privilege. The
question then is how will the beneficiaries sustain
these stands?”
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
Sunday, 24 June 2012 10:29
BY NQABA
MATSHAZI
THE late former President Canaan Banana’s son has spoken of the
family’s
frustration at being neglected by the government, saying the sodomy
charges
his father faced could have been a political
sting.
Nathan Banana said his father’s family had been abandoned by
the government,
with more prominence being given to the sodomy charges, yet
Banana had
played a priceless part in the independence and unity of
Zimbabwe.
“I asked him a year before he died of cancer, about the
whole episode of the
charges that were levelled against him and he told me
that ‘politics is a
dirty game, if ever you decide to play, do not expect
any fairness as there
will always be dirty politicians trying to rub some
dirt on you so that they
can continue manipulating the people’s trust for
their own selfish ends’,”
Nathan wrote on his blog last
week.
Nathan says things turned for the worse, when Banana developed
a close
relationship with MDC-T leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, as some Zanu PF
members
thought the country’s first president was supping with the
devil.
The former president’s son concedes that his father may have
had consensual
relationships with some of the people who later came out to
accuse him of
sodomy, but maintains that the manner the allegations were
made, smirked of
a political conspiracy.
Nathan speaks fondly of
how his father brokered a peace deal between Zanu PF
and (PF) Zapu, bringing
to an end the Gukurahundi massacres.
He also spoke about how his father
bought a farm and donated it to the
government, laying the foundation for
Kushinga Phikelela Polytechnic
College, yet this role is never
recognised.
Among other things, Nathan says his father, a staunch
football lover, is
hardly ever credited with launching the international
football careers of
Peter Ndlovu and Benjani Mwaruwari. He engineered the
players’ move to
foreign clubs, Nathan claimed.
“Canaan Banana is
the only Zimbabwean president to resign from his official
position in
government and did not use his position to enrich himself and
his family,”
Nathan said.
Banana’s estate is yet to be wound up, as the government
is yet to pay
outstanding amounts, raising frustration within his family, as
the former
president was also excluded from the Amended Presidential Act,
which covers
the benefits of a retired head of state.
“The former
First Lady Janet Banana has not been treated as a respectable
member of
society from such a high office, Zimbabwe has not been fair in the
treatment
and welfare of individuals who served in high office and fought
for the
independence of Zimbabwe,” Nathan writes desolately.
Banana was
charged and convicted in 1998 on 11 accounts of sodomy and
indecent assault
and was sentenced to 10 years in prison, of which nine were
suspended. He
only served six months of his prison term.
At one time he fled
Zimbabwe for South Africa fearing an assassination plot,
but former
President Nelson Mandela, convinced him to return.
He died in 2003
and was buried without the honour that would normally be
accorded to heads
of state, despite President Robert Mugabe describing him
as a “rare gift to
the nation”.
The then Zanu PF spokesman, Nathan Shamuyarira said
Banana could not be
declared a national hero as matter of principle, as
homosexuality is
regarded as beyond the pale in Zimbabwe. Mugabe has
described homosexuals as
worse than pigs and dogs.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
Sunday, 24 June 2012 10:25
BY CLAYTON
MASEKESA AND NQOBANI NDLOVU
MUTARE — Suspended Mutare Mayor Brian James has
called for the investigation
of the local authority alleging that senior
council officials were bleeding
the city of millions of dollars through
corrupt and irregular deals.
In a letter to Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai, a copy of which is in
possession of The Standard, James said he
together with some councillors
suspected that a number of fraudulent
activities were prejudicing council of
critical revenue.
“The
purpose of this letter is to place on record my extreme concern about
these
matters which maybe seriously prejudicial to the council and its
ratepayers,” said James. “It is also further intended to urge you to
immediately investigate these allegations and take whatever corrective
measures may be necessary to best protect the city and its
ratepayers.”
He said during his tenure as mayor, he placed great
emphasis on the
transparent and accountable management of public
funds.
“My concerns were also clearly reflected in my speech made at
the Centre for
Public Accountability meeting in August 2011 where I simply
asked why people
in authority would continually avoid or frustrate external
independent
audits or scrutiny, especially when dealing with public funds,”
said James.
The suspended mayor said he wrote to Town Clerk Obert Muzawazi in
October
last year registering concern over irregularities in the financial
affairs
of the city. “The Finance Committee and the full Council resolved to
instruct the Town Clerk to investigate and report back, but up to now no
such report had been made,” he said.
James listed 21 points of
grave financial concerns which he wants
investigated and corrective measures
implemented.
James was suspended in January this year by Local Government,
Rural and
Urban Development minister, Ignatius Chombo over allegations of
gross
mismanagement of affairs of the council.
Meanwhile,
Zvishavanve Town Council chairman, Alois Zhou, who was suspended
by Chombo
last February on allegations of fraud and corruption, has been
acquitted by
the courts and is demanding his job back.
Police arrested Zhou after
his suspension by Chombo on corruption charges
and took him to court
claiming that he defrauded council of US$310.
Zhou was alleged to have used
the money to repair his personal Mercedes Benz
vehicle in Harare. In the
second charge of fraud, Zhou was alleged to have
corruptly sold a council
housing stand and converted the money to his
personal
use.
However, a Zvishavane magistrate last week acquitted Zhou in
both counts
saying the state’s case was weak and fraught with
inconsistencies.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
Sunday, 24 June 2012
10:24
BY OUR STAFF
Marange diamonds come under scrutiny this week when
diplomats from the
European Union bloc visit the gem fields on a two-day
mission starting
Tuesday.
The diplomats will also visit Arda
Transau where villagers from Marange were
relocated.
Early this
year, the EU renewed its restrictive measures against rough
diamonds from
Marange area describing them as blood gems. The measures will
be in place
until February 2013.
The visit by the diplomats comes after a tour by
Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai and his delegation, members of parliament
and members from civil
society as government opens up to scrutiny after
getting the nod to sell
diamonds from Marange last year.
Prince
Mupazviriho, Mines and Mining Development permanent secretary told
The
Standard the visit “has been a standing invitation to the diplomats to
see
our system on the compliance of the Kimberley Process”.
Four
companies — Mbada Diamonds, Marange Resources, Anjin and Diamond Mining
Corporation — are mining diamonds on the resource-rich fields.
The
companies are working in partnership with the Zimbabwe Mining
Development
Corporation (ZMDC) which holds title to the 120 000 hectare
concession.
ZMDC, which wholly owns Marange Resources, has a
50-50 joint venture with
foreign companies in Mbada and DMC.
Finance
minister Tendai Biti told our sister paper, the Zimbabwe Independent
that
ZMDC was supposed to partner the Chinese in Anjin, which is not the
case.
Revenue from diamonds is expected to contribute US$600
million to this year’s
national budget.
The target is now off the
mark as contributions in the first quarter of the
year have been
pathetic.
Between January and March, revenue from diamonds was at
US$30,5 million
against a target of US$122,5 million.
Biti told
civil society organisations last month that the underperformance
of the
diamonds was worsened by the fact that Anjin had not contributed
anything to
the fiscus despite being the biggest diamond producer in
Marange.
He has also claimed some of the revenue from diamonds
was being used by Zanu
PF to fund a parallel government.
Biti
proposed far-reaching reforms that include the removal of diamonds from
the
wings of ZMDC to a new entity.
Biti said once that was in place, the
country would be able to force the
repeal of US sanctions imposed on two
diamond producers, Mbada and Marange
Resources last year.
Biti
said he got guarantees from three US assistant secretaries of State —
Michael Posner (State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labour), Jose
Fernandez (Economic and Business Affairs) and Johnnie Carson (Assistant
Secretary of State for African Affairs) — early this year that the sanctions
would be removed once the reforms have been completed.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
Sunday, 24 June 2012 10:18
The
oft-quoted example of the power of new media has been the Arab Spring, a
series of popular revolts in North Africa and the Middle East, where masses,
powered by mobile phones and the internet, stood up to and removed
dictatorships.
“We all know how political opinion was shaped in
the Arab Spring and the
role of Twitter and Facebook, it is a matter of
debate whether word of mouth
then took over to complete the revolution. But
we can safely say an opinion
was nurtured and spread first by the internet,”
John Mokwetsi, an online
media journalist said.
In addition,
large numbers of people, particularly those living in border
areas and some
remote areas, do not have access to either Zimbabwean radio
or television
and listen to broadcasts from neighbouring countries.
Only last year,
the government, through Transmedia, put up a transmitter in
Beitbridge, but
the people of that town have more access to, and prefer,
South African radio
and television than Zimbabwe’s, meaning the transmitter
is a little more
than a white elephant.
Recent statistics reveal that Zimbabwe, at 92%, has
the highest signal
piracy percentage in the region, meaning a significant
proportion of the
country is not confined to ZBC radio and
television.
But critics of new media have pointed out that most new
media platforms have
remained the preserve of a few due to
cost.
Mokwetsi reckons that at this stage, new media like mobile phones
and the
internet can only play a complementary role to traditional
media.
“I think the internet still needs newspapers, radio and TV in
order to be
truly influential in Africa. If something is on the internet and
is ignored
by other media, it will not reach the general public,” Mokwetsi,
a Master’s
degree student in digital media said.
“A medium of the
masses is needed for people to pay attention and internet
in Zimbabwe is not
yet a mass medium and that is why radio is Zanu PF’s
biggest weapon and
indeed many other African countries.”
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
Sunday, 24 June 2012
10:17
By Nqaba Matshazi
With the debate raging over new radio
licences, advances in technology mean
radio is no longer at the core of
information dissemination in the world,
meaning the Ministry of Media,
Information and Publicity’s refusal to open
up the airwaves may be an
exercise in futility.
While radio remains an important tool in disseminating
information, its
influence has been somewhat on the decline with the advent
of the mobile
phone, DVD players, the internet and satellite
television.
Media minister Webster Shamu has indicated that his
ministry will not be
dishing out new radio and television licences, raising
fears that Zanu PF
felt that with access to more communication platforms its
unease grip on
power could be under threat. Only Zimpapers and AB
Communications have been
granted licences, but critics say this is just a
pretence at opening up the
airwaves as both companies are aligned to Zanu
PF.
But such an approach, some analysts felt, was anachronistic, as
Zimbabweans
had moved to other platforms. With the region and the world
moving towards
digitalisation of media space, more channels would be added
to the spectrum,
meaning licensing should no longer be an
issue.
Alongside the internet, mobile phones have also become an alternative
for
people to receive news and with more people on the platform, the radio
is no
longer that important.
The Post and Telecommunications
Authority of Zimbabwe estimates that nearly
three out of every four
Zimbabweans have access to mobile phones.
At one time Econet had a programme
called “News on Demand” where they would
provide news via text message or
through a listen-in programme.If that
scheme were to be revived, it would
reach about six million people, slightly
more than the registered number of
voters.
This service would reach both urban and rural areas, as far
flung as Binga
in the far north and Mukumbura in the far
east.
Econet says it has about two million people on its mobile
broadband
facility. While statistics for other networks were not available,
this
already means that a significant chunk of the population is receiving
information through other means, making new radio stations only a bonus
rather than a necessity.
However, media rights organisation, Misa, said
while the convergence of
media platforms was ideal, the first step was the
licensing of more radio
players and then the country could build on
that.
“Our struggles should first make broadcasting accessible to
every citizen
and in that pace move swiftly to address issues of ICT of
which we don’t
have an ICT regulatory framework as a country,” Misa
president, Njabulo
Ncube said.
“In the long run we yearn for
total convergence, but from where we stand,
Minister Shamu, sir, play your
role in ensuring the opening of the
broadcasting environment and stop
misleading parliament, cabinet and the
people of Zimbabwe on the
broadcasting capacity, we have the space to
accommodate more players.”
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
Sunday, 24 June 2012 11:38
BY CLAYTON
MASEKESA
MUTARE — The chaotic land reform programme has resulted in a plunge
in
coffee production in Zimbabwe, an official from the Confederation of
Zimbabwe Industries (CZI) has said. Speaking at the Mutare Press Club
recently, a senior official with CZI, Henry Nemaire, attributed the plunge
to the fact that beneficiaries of the land reform programme had no technical
skills in coffee farming.
“Coffee production in Manicaland has
dropped from 7 000 tonnes to 500 tonnes
per year,” said
Nemaire.
“This was mainly caused by the fact that those who took over
coffee farming
did not have any technical skills in coffee farming. I am not
against the
land reform programme, but we are against the idea that the
farmers who took
over were not trained in coffee
production.”
Nemaire, whose presentation centred on the business
analysis in Manicaland,
said it was sad to note that coffee growers in the
province used to grow 300
hectares but the hectarage had plummeted to
12.
“The other contributing factor that also resulted in the
reduction of coffee
production is the fact that those who were trained in
coffee farming left
the country and offered their services elsewhere,” he
said.
“The coffee industry suffered a huge brain-drain that resulted
in some
coffee commercial farms failing to produce.”
The
agricultural sector was the major casualty of the fast-track land reform
programme which was spearheaded by war veterans in 2000.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
Sunday, 24 June 2012
11:33
Three years into the Inclusive Government, Nicholas Goche has very
little to
show Zimbabweans as to why he heads the Ministry of Transport and
Infrastructural Development. If anything, Goche, like any other Zanu PF
minister, has become synonymous with the dismal failure of parastatals under
their ministries.
Since the formation of the GNU in February
2009, the Zimbabwe economy has
shown remarkable resilience and recovery but
the transport sector remains in
a complete shambles demonstrated by a number
of examples.
Air Zimbabwe had the best safety record of any airline
in the world and was
a recognised flag bearer for Zimbabwe in all areas
where it operated. It is
now bankrupt, being liquidated and is unable even
to operate at low levels
inside the country. Strikes caused by failure to
pay salaries for months are
now a common phenomenon.
The Civil
Aviation Authority of Zimbabwe has failed to complete construction
of the
Victoria Falls, Buffalo Range and Joshua Nkomo airports despite being
allocated funds by the Ministry of Finance.
Zimbabwe once had the
best road network in Africa after South Africa with 25
000 km of main trunk
roads and 35 000 km of rural trunk roads and 45 000 km
of feeder roads in
rural areas. Now all major roads are in need of
upgrading. All secondary
roads are seriously potholed and in many cases
impassable. Damage from
Cyclone Eline has not yet been given attention and
most rural roads can no
longer carry traffic.
Another Transport and Infrastructure
Development ministry entity, the
Zimbabwe National Roads Authority (Zinara)
has shamelessly constructed
sub-standard tollgates across the country’s
major highways, which are
inferior to those built by South Africa decades
ago. Zinara has been failing
to dualise the country’s major roads despite
collecting revenue from
tollgates for five years; the organisation has
allegedly been abusing the
revenue.
The abuse of the taxpayer’s money has
been evident in the non-completion of
the bridges near Houghton Park, along
the Harare-Masvingo highway and the
one near Norton along the
Harare-Bulawayo road.
The National Railways of Zimbabwe which once
employed 30 000 people and
moved over two million tonnes of cargo a month as
well as millions of
passengers in comparative comfort around Zimbabwe now
can hardly move 1,7
million tonnes of cargo and a few thousand passengers a
year in its derelict
wagons. Employment levels have collapsed to 9 500 and
the transporter, just
like Air Zimbabwe, cannot even pay salaries to its
workers and remittances
to its pensioners.
The worship of power
at the expense of ordinary people’s needs has been the
dominant
creed.
In a study on the challenges of downsizing the NRZ carried out
in 2012, one
scholar noted; “Most of these parastatals lack managers who are
appointed on
merit.”
Poor performance, high staff turn-over,
derailments, low investment in the
sector, political meddling, working
capital shortages and the skewed role of
the government and merits and
demerits of downsizing constitute some of the
host of challenges bedevilling
the NRZ. All these obstacles lead to its
current poor state and its
consistent dismal failure to deliver quality
goods and
services.
The parastatal has been militarised through the appointment
of both active
and retired military personnel as senior managers ostensibly,
according to
one minister “to expedite the change process at the parastatal
at a military
pace with military compliance”.
This created
serious conflicts between the civilian working population and
the civilian
management on one hand and the military outfits on the other.
The scholar
also noted: “Further to militarising NRZ, the government in 2009
ordered the
quasi-government institution to recruit more than 2 000
personnel comprising
war veterans, youth militia graduates from Border Gezi
Training Camps around
the country, serving army technicians, soldiers,
Zimbabwe Air Force high
command personnel at the rank of lieutenants,
colonels, brigadiers,
sergeants and wing commanders, just to mention a few.”
Central Intelligence
Officers were also brought in under different
assignments. There is also a
tug-of-war as to who gets relieved of their
duties to cut down costs at the
parastatal.
The writing is on the wall, that all state enterprises
controlled by Goche’s
ministry are known to be corrupt, one way or the
other, and making decisions
on a partisan basis that does not serve the best
interests of the nation.
Our experience since 2009, when Goche took over,
shows that far from
learning from the mistakes of the past, the ministry
continues to mismanage
the affairs of state enterprises under his
control.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
Sunday, 24 June 2012
11:31
One message rings loud and true as Rio+20 co-mes to a close: we
must listen
to and invest in people’s abilities to bring about long-lasting
development
in their communities.
We cannot count on governments
alone to solve the world’s problems and meet
the needs of the most
vulnerable.
The “we” refers to all partners needed for strengthening
resilience and
development, namely civil society organisations, Red Cross
and Red Crescent
Societies, the UN, the private sector, local communities
and governments. We
all must work closely as a team and make sure that
resources reach the most
vulnerable. Our innovative partnership with the
global business community
and the World Economic Forum —through the Friends
of Rio call to action — is
an example of converting this rhetoric into
action. We urge governments to
provide an enabling environment for this and
the many other sustainable
development initiatives.
Sustainable
development will not be shaped by a document that comes out of
Rio +20 but
determined by how well we mobilise the power of humanity for
action. The
message and the needs are clear — vulnerable and marginalised
populations
need our support.
The best support we can give is to work closely
with people and their
communities, often through Red Cross and Red Crescent
volunteers, who have
the knowledge and initiative to drive long-term
solutions that promote
resilience and in turn, sustain
development.
In fact, one theme that emerged again and again at the
Rio+20 Conference
events and discussions was recognising women as key
stakeholders in
development approaches.
Take the pressing issue
of food security for example: in some countries 60%
of the agricultural
labour force is made up of women. As fathers, brothers
and sons leave rural
areas to seek work and secure income, the focus on
women and support for
smallholder farmers has become urgent. Breaking the
chronic cycle of food
insecurity requires policies and laws that protect
women’s rights and also
to facilitate access to farmland, favourable
small-business loans and —
crucially — to education and equipment.
Creating the space for women
to play a greater role in their environment
builds resilience. Building
resilience creates strong communities; strong
communities create strong
economies and ultimately sustain development.
Bottom line, building
resilience is key to protecting long-term development
gains.
As
part of our investment to build resilience, the International Federation
of
Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies is committed to allocating up to 10%
of
appeals for disaster risk reduction. We are now calling on others — many
of
whom have been talking these past eight days about sustainability — to
also
commit more funding towards long-term efforts to build
resilience.
Cutting through the clutter of tens of thousands of
people, dozens of
important issues and the debate over the outcomes of
Rio+20, the
International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies
has one
thing to say after our time in Rio: “Governments, donors, the
corporate
sector and the humanitarian sector must invest more in
strengthening the
resilience of people and their communities most at risk to
crises and
disasters.”
Finally, we would like to applaud and
thank the Brazilian Red Cross for
their support and the Brazilian government
for creating the space for an
event that brought the world’s attention to
sustainable development.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
The testing of Members of Parliament for HIV and
the subsequent circumcision
of some of them, though welcome, is likely to
send all the wrong messages to
the people, particularly the youth and
women.
The youth may get the message that once a man is
circumcised, he can no
longer contract or spread the virus. This is the main
message proponents of
male circumcision are spreading. It is wrong, not only
from a statistical
point of view but also because the research supporting it
has not been 100%
conclusive.
Mainly based on mathematical
models, the research has predicted that one new
HIV infection could be
averted for every five to 15 men who are newly
circumcised. From this,
researchers have extrapolated that six million new
HIV infections and three
million deaths could be prevented in 20 years if
all men in sub-Saharan
Africa become circumcised.
The statistics, therefore, claim that
through circumcision a man reduces his
chances of contracting HIV, the virus
that causes Aids, by 30%. Sceptics
have described this as similar to the
Russian roulette!
If one is told that a gun has only one bullet in
one of its six chambers, so
one has only a less 20% chance of being shot
dead by the first pull of the
trigger, does that make it safe to fire at
one’s own head?
How far can mathematical models be banked
on?
Many scientists and groups interested in the HIV research are
agreed that
research needs to continue into how effective circumcision is as
an HIV
prevention method. They also want people to know the other impacts of
male
circumcision on the spread of HIV such as: will it not lead to a return
to
the permissiveness of the past?
Young women may falsely
believe that circumcised men are safe while
circumcised male predators may
take advantage of this belief.
Male circumcision is only good for
hygiene; people ought to remain as
vigilant as they have been in the past.
The fact that some MPs tested
HIV-negative despite their ages is testimony
to the effectiveness of the
known methods of preventing infection.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
Nevanji Madanhire
When was the
last time anyone saw or heard an advert for a radio set? Up
until a little
over 10 years ago the radio was at the centre of family life
dominating the
home’s living room; now children are asking their parents to
please take
“this monstrosity” to the garage.
What happened to those days
when the radio provided communal entertainment,
culture and news? Does
anyone remember the ghetto-blaster or those
radiograms which families in the
high-density suburbs took out of their
living rooms during weekends to
show-off on the family lawn?
The radios had an important social
impact in that they quickly relayed
information to the masses, whether it
was news or advertising. Radio also
promoted popular culture. Now the only
radio anyone ever listens to is the
one in the car as motorists drive to and
from work. Most motorists don’t
even bother to tune into programmes on the
national broadcaster preferring
instead to listen to the music they have
compiled themselves onto compact
discs or on flash sticks which they play on
their FM modulators.
The golden age of radio is over; radio belongs
to the dark ages. People no
longer seek entertainment, information and
fellowship from radio.
Worldwide the coming of the information age has meant
that people have
switched to quicker and friendlier sources of information
and entertainment
than radio. The information age, also known as the
computer or digital age,
has taken over the space formerly occupied by
radio. This new age is
“characterised by the ability of individuals to
transfer information freely,
and to have instant access to information that
would have been difficult or
impossible to find previously”.
What
is most important in the digital age is that people no longer want to
listen
to something that has been packaged for them; they want to be active
participants in the compilation of their own entertainment and news. The
last vestiges of radio are in talk radio but that too will die soon because,
as they say, “radio is a background medium” as most listeners would be doing
something else while listening, eg driving or household chores. It’s
expensive too, as the phone charges while one talks.
Radio as we
used to know it is now out-dated the world over; hence it is
very
interesting that in Zimbabwe the Ministry of Media, Information and
Publicity has the impudence to say that it will keep the monopoly on who
gets broadcasting licences when Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC) is
already clearly obsolete.
According to The Concise Oxford
Dictionary of Current English, 9th Ed,
“Obsolescence is the state of being
which occurs when an object, service or
practice is no longer wanted even
though it may still be in good working
order. Obsolescence frequently occurs
because a replacement has become
available that is superior in one or more
aspects. Obsolete refers to
something that is already disused or discarded,
or antiquated. Typically,
obsolescence is preceded by a gradual decline in
popularity.” An apt
description of ZBC!
Whereas in other
countries, radio has been made obsolete by the coming in of
the information
age alone, in Zimbabwe its death has been accelerated by the
poor
programming and its partisan use for spreading tired propaganda. Poor
programming has meant that the ZBC has not been responsive to people’s
needs. Glaring examples are the recent failure to broadcast the on-going
Twenty20 triangular series and the Castle Lager Premier Soccer League.
Instead, the national broadcaster has never failed to carry tired propaganda
music and grainy film footage glorifying a past everyone wishes to forget
because it has become a millstone around our necks.
But the
writing is on the wall, literally. The satellite dishes that now
ubiquitously sit on the walls and roofs of even the humblest dwellings round
the country show that the generality of our people have moved on from ZBC.
The ministry may deny this but it is a universal truth that people have
sought and found alternative sources of information and
entertainment.
Through the satellite dishes people are able to access
television programmes
of their choice beamed from all over the world. Most
of the countries from
which these programmes are beamed have done better
than us in terms of
democratic advancement hence their influence on the
thinking of Zimbabwean
viewers is immense. If the Ministry of Media,
Information and Publicity
believes that by keeping ZBC backward they are
denying Zimbabweans
information on how other countries are being run and how
the information age
has influenced how people wish to be ruled, it is
grossly mistaken.
Satellite television is hardly the only source of
information and
entertainment Zimbabweans have migrated to. It’s not an
overstatement that
almost every household in the country now has access to a
mobile phone; this
includes rural households. It’s also important to note
that most phones used
by youths in urban areas are what are called
smartphones. These transmit
written messages, voice and video; users can
send each other information
backed by photographs and videos. This means
faster access to information
and news.
Even the simple cellular
phone can be used through its messaging system to
send information and news
and also to entertain at very little or no cost.
Through a platform such as
WhatsApp, users can send information across the
world for literally
nothing.
Governments can try to control this movement of information
but new
technologies are constantly being thrown onto the market to
circumvent this.
The Zimbabwe government’s paranoia which has driven it to
refuse to open up
the airwaves by licensing independent players in radio and
television
becomes laughable in the face of the new technological
advances.
The Zanu PF side of government thinks that it can turn back
the information
age and keep the populace in the dark age of ZBC radio and
television so as
to stem the democratic movement which they fear might lead
to North
African-style uprising that led to the fall of autocratic regimes.
If such
uprisings have to happen in Zimbabwe they will despite the shutting
up of
the airwaves because information has become a spirit that can no
longer be
restricted within certain boundaries.
In the near
future, this side of government may have a rude awakening when
no one needs
radio licences anymore.
