http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 02 June 2012 19:42
BY PATRICE
MAKOVA AND NQABA MATSHAZI
PRESIDENT Jacob Zuma will now have a
hands-on-approach to Zimbabwe’s
political crisis amid fears in Zanu PF that
last week’s Sadc extra-ordinary
summit held in Angola effectively ended
President Robert Mugabe’s ambition
to stand in elections.
Sources
said Zanu PF plans to hold a crisis meeting this week or next week,
following the Sadc Troika on Defence, Politics and Security meeting which
shot down the party’s demands to have elections held this year with or
without a new constitution.
The party also wanted the
polls before the implementation of agreed reforms
to allow 88-year-old
Mugabe to contest the election while still in good
health.
“Our
plans to have Mugabe as our party candidate are now in disarray,” said
a
Politburo source.
“With him turning 89 years next year, we are not
sure how feasible it will
be for him to stand if elections are held in 2013,
given his advanced age
and the health factor. From what I am gathering, the
politburo and Central
committee are likely to meet as a matter of urgency to
respond to Sadc.”
The source said Sadc had stabbed Mugabe in the
back, considering that he
recently sent envoys to various countries seeking
their support to hold
elections.
But Zanu PF spokesperson, Rugare
Gumbo said the party was not in a crisis,
insisting that even if the
elections were held next year, Mugabe would still
be “as fit as a
fiddle.”
“We only want to hold elections this year because we don’t
want this to
interfere with the UN World Tourism Organisation congress,
which will be
held in 2013,” he said.
MDC-T secretary general,
Tendai Biti, said the Angola meeting was probably
the most important
post-GNU summit.
It tasked Zuma, who is the Sadc facilitator to the
Zimbabwean crisis, with
directly ensuring the implementation of the
outstanding GPA issues.
He said Sadc resolved to set up an
implementation mechanism, which would see
Zuma coming to the country soon to
meet the principals as part of Sadc’s new
stance to have a more
hands-on-approach to Zimbabwe’s political problems.
Biti’s
counterpart in MDC, Priscilla Misihairabwi-Mushonga, confirmed Zuma
was
coming to review the implementation of unresolved issues.
Biti said the
troika meeting sent a clear message that for the next 12
months, all agreed
electoral, political, security sector and media reforms
should be
implemented.
Biti said elections could only be held between June and
October next year.
He said the lifespan of Parliament would only
expire in June 2013, five
years after Mugabe was sworn in accordance with
section 28(5) of the
Constitution, meaning that elections would have to be
held within four
months after its dissolution.
But Gumbo accused
the two MDC formations of misinterpreting the Sadc
resolutions saying the
bloc merely said reforms should be implemented within
12
months.
“We still have seven months before the end of the year. I am
confident
within the next few months, we will have implemented the reforms
in time for
elections in 2012,” he said.
Mugabe against inclusive
govt
Sources said Mugabe was not happy with the GNU, which he
described as
unconstitutional. He complained that it had been foisted on
Zimbabwe by
Sadc, the African Union and outsiders.
He said the
two MDCs were afraid of elections and that since his party
differed
ideologically with them on policy issues, the inclusive government
had
become an impediment to progress.
Tsvangirai read a written
statement, where he lamented the resurgence of
violence linked to elections
and expressed dissatisfaction with the police
and appointments, which Mugabe
made without consulting him in violation of
the GPA.
“Tsvangirai
also accused Mugabe of blocking reforms and not putting pressure
on people
like (the Minister of Media, Information and Publicity, Webster)
Shamu to
implement media reforms that were agreed on,” the source
continued.
MDC leader, Welshman Ncube was the last to speak and
disputed Mugabe’s
claims on the lifespan of the GPA and what had led to its
formation.
He is said to have accused Mugabe of being the stumbling block in
the
implementation of the election roadmap. This drew Mugabe’s ire who said
Ncube was unelected and his party was split and he did not recognise him but
instead, he recognised Arthur Mutambara, who he had sworn in as deputy prime
minister.
Fireworks at Angola summit
Sources
who attended the Sadc summit revealed the meeting was full of
fireworks.
They said Tanzanian Prime Minister, Mizengo Pinda,
told Mugabe to behave
like an elder statesman and stop calling for elections
this year, warning
this would only take Zimbabwe back to the “dark days of
2008”.
Pinda did not understand Mugabe’s impatience on holding
elections and told
him to do it “for the people”, not just
himself.
Pinda was however continuously interjected by Zambian
president, Michael
Sata, the only leader to support an election this
year.
“Sata kept saying ‘Pamberi ne Zanu PF’, interjecting anyone who
dared
criticise Mugabe,” the source said, adding that at times, the Zanu PF
contingent of Emmerson Mnangagwa, Patrick Chinamasa and Nicholas Goche,
seemed embarrassed by the chants.
Sata said Mugabe had no
business discussing issues with “these boys who were
not there in 1963 (at
the formation of Zanu), like Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai, who was on
holiday, while the two presidents fought colonial
regimes in their
respective countries”.
Sata visited Zimbabwe last month, where he
bonded well with Mugabe.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 02 June 2012
19:30
SERIOUS divisions within Zanu PF have persisted, with information
emerging
that the six District Coordinating Committees (DCC) in Mashonaland
West have
passed a vote of no confidence in the provincial executive led by
chairman,
John Mafa.
Sources said the DCC’s have petitioned the
party’s national commissar,
Webster Shamu, to fire Mafa’s executive,
accusing it of failing to properly
handle the ongoing restructuring
exercise.
“We have told the provincial executive to stop the
DCC elections until a
proper record of membership has been established and
verified, but they are
refusing to do that,” said a member of the provincial
executive.
He said the Mafa-led executive had also attempted to
suspend Hurungwe DCC
chairman, Temba Mliswa, replacing him with Steven
Karinda, his deputy, as
punishment for contributing to the blocking of the
election of businessman,
Phillip Chiyangwa to be the provincial
vice-chairperson.
Mliswa confirmed that a suspension letter signed by
a Chirongoma, who is the
provincial secretary for transport, had been
written, although the letter
had not yet been delivered to
him.
He said only the provincial vice-chairperson had the powers to
suspend him,
but the post was still vacant. “Zanu PF is a party of
procedures and I don’t
refuse to be brought before a disciplinary committee,
provided this is done
in a proper manner,” he said.
Sources said
Shamu was struggling to bring together the different factions
which have
been jostling for positions in chaotic DCC elections,
particularly in
Manicaland, Masvingo and Mashonaland Central.
Shamu could not be
reached for comment yesterday. — BY OUR STAFF
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 02 June 2012 19:12
BY SILENCE
CHARUMBIRA
THE Book Café was on Thursday night shut down again by the police
under
unclear circumstances.
This is not the first time that the Café has
been shut down as they were
forced to close shop in March, a few weeks after
their official opening.
The closure on Thursday came just an hour before the
start of a highly
anticipated show by Sakaki Mango, a Japanese musician who
is touted for his
knowledge of African music and
instruments.
Events that were lined up for the venue on Friday and
throughout the weekend
had to be cancelled.
A number of people
coming for the Sakaki show were seriously inconvenienced
as they were
informed of the cancellation while on their way to the show.
Contacted for
comment, Book Café staff directed all questions to Paul
Brickhill, the
director of Pamberi Trust, who runs the venue.
Brickhill also refused
to comment insisting that they were going to release
a statement
soon.
“Yes I can confirm that we had to close on Thursday but you
will have to
wait for a written statement,” said
Brickhill.
Ramiouf Chagonda, secretary of the Liquor Licensing Board
said his office
was not aware of any licence irregularities, as speculated
last week.
“Your best bet is to talk to the Book Café people because they
know why they
have closed down,” said Chagonda.
Last year, Book
Café and The Mannenburg were evicted from their old venue at
Fife Avenue
Shopping Centre under unclear circumstances.
The eviction came soon after
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai launched his
book At the Deep End at the
same venue triggering speculation that the
eviction was
politically-motivated.
The place used to house and nurture upcoming
talent by exposing them to the
various markets owing to clientele that cuts
across races and nationalities.
Brickhill had not issued out the
written statement by the time of going to
print yesterday.
Harare
provincial spokesperson James Sabau said he would only comment after
the OK
grand challenge, which was held yesterday.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 02 June 2012 19:08
BY
LESLEY WURAYAYI
CHAOTIC scenes of motorists jostling to get the new
vehicle licence discs at
the country’s post offices continued last week
despite an extension of the
registration deadline to June
30.
Motorists who spoke to The Standard said they were spending many
hours
queuing to get the new licence discs and criticised the Zimbabwe
National
Road Administration (Zinara) for lack of forward
planning.
A Harare motorist, Artwel Sibanda, who was queuing
with hundreds of other
motorists at Borrowdale Post Office, said getting the
new licence discs had
become a daunting task as people were spending up to
eight hours without
being served.
He bemoaned alleged poor
planning by Zinara which had failed to foresee
problems of phasing out old
discs before putting in place proper and
effective mechanisms to help in the
change over to the new system.
Sibanda said he had tried and failed
to get the new discs at Causeway and
Newlands post offices due to long
queues and chaotic scenes.
“Considering the number of motorists that want to
get the new discs and the
few designated points available, Zinara is doing a
disservice to the
people,” he said.
Other motorists also
complained that there were only two tellers serving
hundreds of people in a
process which was slow and labourious.
The elderly, sick and disabled
also complained that they were not being
given first preference as they
queued along with able bodied motorists.
Journalist Ropafadzo
Mapimhidze, who is diabetic, said she had to skip meals
in order to keep her
place in a queue.
“Right now, I am still trying to recover from the
ordeal,” she said. “I
suffered a great deal just to register my vehicle and
no special care was
given to me as I suffer from a chronic
condition.”
Mapimhidze said she was only served after six hours when
a “kind gentleman”
sacrificed his spot in the queue.
Post offices
such as the one in Borrowdale last week had only two tellers
serving over
300 people at a “snail’s pace”.
Zinara corporate communications
executive, Augustine Moyo, attributed the
chaotic scenes to Zimpost, which
he said should have been prepared for the
new system.
“I won’t
speak for Zimpost, but I think they should have been ready enough
for the
computerisation process,” he said. “Another challenge is that the
selected
points are located in residential areas and as a result rampant
power cuts
have stalled the exercise in areas such as Waterfalls and
Newlands.”
Zinara has since bought generators to speed up the
exercise. The
administration phased out the old vehicle registration disc
that has now
been replaced by an improved licence disc with enhanced
security features.
Zinara claims it was losing millions of dollars in
potential revenue
annually to a well-connected syndicate of people who were
producing fake
discs.
The body has so far registered 350 000 out of an
estimated 800 000 vehicles
in the country.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 02 June 2012 19:06
BY PATRICE
MAKOVA
HUMAN rights activists have slammed the inclusive government for lack
of
sincerity and political will to improve the country’s human rights record
after it became apparent that the new draft constitution is likely to retain
the death penalty despite earlier pledges to abolish capital
punishment.
They said if the practice is indeed retained in the new
charter, the country
would be missing an opportunity to significantly
improve its own human
rights record and align itself with the global trend
towards abolishing the
death penalty.
Amnesty
International (AI) Zimbabwe executive director, Cousin Zilala, said
despite
submissions to the Constitution Select Committee (Copac), meetings
and
workshops with senior officials from Zanu PF and the two MDC formations,
it
was shocking that the proposed draft had retained the
practice.
Defence minister and Zanu PF legal affairs secretary,
Emmerson Mnangagwa,
who survived a death sentence during the liberation war
because he was under
age, is among the officials who have publicly said they
were against capital
punishment.
Zilala said MDC-T vice-chairman
Morgan Komichi, MDC legal affairs secretary,
David Coltart and others also
indicated their support for the abolition of
the death
penalty.
The current constitution has three crimes that lead to the
death sentence
which are treason, murder and mutiny, but in the proposed
draft capital
punishment would be restricted to “aggravated
murder”.
But Zilala said the changes were cosmetic and the fact would
remain that
Zimbabwe would still be in the minority of less than one third
of countries
in the world retaining the practice. “There is no excuse to
retain the death
penalty, which was one of the most hated pieces of
legislation and was
applied by the white minority government against freedom
fighters who were
labelled terrorists and executed,” he
said.
Zilala said AI recently wrote to the principals in the GPA,
President
Mugabe, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and MDC president,
Welshman Ncube,
urging them to intervene in order to have the practice
excluded in a new
constitution.
The Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops
Conference has also condemned the death
penalty saying it goes against God’s
law of life and the revelation that
each person was unique.
“We
firmly believe that the abolition of the death penalty would send a
clear
message to the citizens of Zimbabwe concerning our deep belief in
worth and
dignity of each person, no matter what they have done,” the
Catholic Bishops
said in recent Pastoral letter.
“Indeed, it reminds us that the
destructive cycle of violence can be broken,
that the taking of another
person’s life ultimately solves nothing. More
humane methods of responding
to serious crimes can be envisioned.”
But Copac co-chairperson,
Munyaradzi Paul Mangwana, said over 60% of the
people who participated in
the constitutional outreach programmes for “right
or wrong reasons”
supported the death penalty.
“The death penalty for aggravated murder
cases has been retained in
accordance with the wishes of the people. No one
has the mandate to change
this,” he said.
However, Zimbabwe
Association for Crime Prevention and Rehabilitation of the
Offender (Zacro)
chief executive officer, Edson Chiota, argued that the
estimated 560 000
people who participated in the outreach programmes should
not determine the
right to take one’s life.
“The outreach programmes were predetermined
with people being coached on
what to say,” he said.
“We will
mobilise over one million signatures to petition for the abolition
or
alternatively challenge the practice in the courts,” said
Chiota.
Currently, an estimated 55 people are on the death row, with
the last known
execution in Zimbabwe having taken place in 2004, while 78
prisoners have
been hanged since 1980.
Studies in the USA and
Canada have shown that states and countries which
have abolished capital
punishment have lower murder rates than those
retaining the
practice.
Nearly 30 years after Canada abolished the death penalty,
the murder rate
has reduced by 44%.
Death penalty is the worst form
of torture: Mawanza
International human rights researcher, Simeon
Mawanza, said the death
penalty constituted the worst form of torture,
inhumane and degrading
treatment which was used as a political tool by the
colonial regimes.
He said since the earliest known executions of
Mbuya Nehanda and Sekuru
Kaguvi in 1898 ending the First Chimurenga, crimes
such as murder have
continued. “It’s a fallacy that if you execute a person,
then you will deal
with complex crimes like murder,” said
Mawanza.
“To reduce crime, you may need to address social ills such
as poverty and
improve education, as well as having a better trained and
equipped police
force.”
He said “progressive” countries such as
Angola and Mozambique, which
suffered decades of ravaging civil wars and
others such as Namibia and South
Africa have abolished the
practice.
Mawanza said Zimbabwe was a state party to the Universal
Declaration of
Human Rights and other international human rights treaties
that respect the
right to life and outlaw cruel, inhuman or degrading
treatment or
punishment.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 02 June 2012 19:04
BY NQABA
MATSHAZI
ZANU PF’S invitation of the United Nations Human Rights Commissioner
on
human rights recently on the guise that the party had nothing to hide was
miscalculated and blew up in their faces, analysts said last
week.
Justice minister Patrick Chinamasa said his party and government had
nothing
to hide on its human rights record and UN Commissioner, Navi
Pillay’s visit
was supposed to endorse this view, but in the end the party
was left licking
its wounds after the she gave a damning
report.
“Chinamasa’s assessment was misplaced. He thought their house
was in order
and he underestimated civil society’s ability to document human
rights
violations,” Dumisani Nkomo, from Habakkuk Trust in Bulawayo
said.
Nkomo said what probably shocked Chinamasa and Zanu PF more,
was the manner
in which Pillay’s report was detailed, covering even the
Gukurahundi
massacres of the 1980s.
“Who would have thought that
Gukurahundi would come up? She covered
everything including the (army)
generals’ involvement in politics and this
left Zanu PF shocked,” he
said.
Nkomo said Zanu PF had expected to give Pillay a sanitised look
at Zimbabwe
by organising meetings with briefcase non-governmental
organisations, which
were supposed to absolve the party of human rights
violations.
The political analyst praised Pillay for being balanced
and objective in her
assessment and seeing beyond Zanu PF’s
charade.
Nkomo said the human rights situation in Zimbabwe had fallen off the
international radar, as there were more pressing issues like the ones in
Somalia, Sudan and the DRC.
But he was hopeful that with Pillay’s
visit, more attention would be
focussed on the Zimbabwe situation in
Zimbabwe.
He said while there had been an improvement in the human
rights situation in
the country, there was still a lot to be done and
Pillay’s visit might just
be the tonic Zimbabwe needed.
“The
visit was significant because Pillay is the UN’s point person on human
rights and this means that the United Nations is watching,” Nkomo
continued.
Charles Mangongera, a political analyst concurred, saying Zanu PF
had tried
to shepherd Pillay to certain places, so she would not get the
complete
picture.
“The visit was in a way stage-managed and I
think she would have got more
information had she come on her own rather
than being brought in by the Zanu
PF government,” he said.
“But
she made some useful observations, touching on the military and asking
the
parties in the inclusive government to come up with a framework on
election.”
Mangongera said the visit showed that Zimbabwe was
still on the global
agenda and with pending elections, more eyes will be
fixed on the country in
the hope that violence will be
stemmed.
“There is a resurgence of violence and even immediately
after her visit,
there was a politically motivated murder in Mashonaland
East,” he said.
Both analysts agreed that the commissioner should
have also touched on
issues such as the selective application of the law,
with particular
reference to the death of a police officer in Glen View last
year. The 29
MDC-T activists accused of murdering the officer are still
languishing in
custody while police officers who murdered a “defenceless”
person in Shamva
were awarded a US$50 bail.
Soon after Pillay’s
departure, an MDC-T official Cephas Magura (67) was
murdered by suspected
Zanu PF supporters in Mudzi in Mashonaland East
province. Magura is expected
to be buried today.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 02 June 2012 18:09
POWER
supply remains erratic in most parts of Harare with the Zimbabwe
Electricity
Supply Authority (Zesa) failing to stick to a load shedding
schedule it
published in the media recently, seriously affecting many
business
operations.
Despite the long hours of power cuts, residents complain of
exorbitant bills
at the end of every month. The cost of electricity is
affecting thousands of
households as they have to buy paraffin and firewood
at a higher cost, yet
still have to settle their bills.
Community
coordinator, Ronia Gwaze, said that residents of Vainona and
Hatcliffe
suburbs had electricity cut off recently due to unpaid electricity
bills.
Abrupt power outages have resulted in electrical gadgets being
damaged. In
Vainona, a house at 14114 Tern Avenue was gutted by fire caused
by a burst
paraffin stove during one of the numerous power outages. Some
residents have
resorted to using generators or solar lights because of the
constant power
cuts.
Water Supplies
Water supplies in Waterfalls remain poor with
most areas going without the
commodity for several days. During the past
week, several residents had
their water disconnected by the City of Harare
yet supplies are erratic. The
water bills are so high that most residents
feel they are unjustified.
Residents in Glen View are receiving water three
times a week. Given this
situation, residents have to queue at the few
boreholes sunk by humanitarian
agencies.
Women and school-going children
wake up very early to line up for water and
at times are bullied at the
boreholes. Some residents in areas without the
boreholes have dug shallow
wells which are unprotected, raising fears of
disease
outbreaks.
Health and Environment
Refuse is not being collected in
Mbare National and Mbare Musika. The same
situation prevails in Waterfalls
at shopping centres such as Park Town and
Zindoga business centre. Residents
of Hatcliffe Extension have resorted to
burying or burning rubbish in
pits.
This is quite the opposite of what is happening in Hatcliffe 1, where
there
is frequent refuse collection. Refuse is supposed to be collected
every
Saturday in Glen View but they hardly come. This has led to residents
throwing rubbish everywhere in the area, along the roads and on street
corners.
Residents in most parts of Harare pay for their plumbing
services if they
experience blocked sewer pipes on their premises. This is
despite that
council plumbers are supposed to provide that service to the
residents. — By
Harare Residents Trust (HRT)
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 02 June 2012 18:16
BY
JENNIFER DUBE
SOME enterprising Harare residents have taken advantage of
water problems
bedevilling most parts of the capital city to cash in on the
scarce
commodity.
For residents with wells in Harare’s high-density
areas, water has become a
cash-cow.
This is most pronounced in
Mabvuku’s Hanyani, Matongo and Churuwa areas,
which have gone for several
months without a regular supply of running
water.
However, in other areas
such as Belvedere there are people who have taken
the lead in helping others
cope with the water crisis.
These good Samaritans have installed taps outside
their security walls where
anyone can fetch water at no
cost.
Some have signs written “borehole water, help
yourself”.
A number of people from Warren Park, Westlea, Kambuzuma
and Kuwadzana
suburbs fetch water for free from boreholes in Belvedere,
mostly for
drinking purposes.
Such is the benevolence of some
borehole owners that they even provide
hosepipes which people use to fill
their containers with ease.
“I have been living in this neighbourhood
for six months now and I found the
people I live with fetching water from
boreholes outside fellow residents’
yards because the tap rarely has water,”
a Belvedere man who had just
fetched water from one of the boreholes
said.
But it is not everyone who allows the public to fetch water
from their
boreholes.
Some have their taps secured and are only
opened when they water their lawns
and flowers.
Residents said
most of the people who allow the public to fetch water were
Moslems of
Indian origin.
“As Moslems, we believe that water is a gift from God
and as such we freely
share it with others,” a man who preferred anonymity
said. “We cannot ask
anyone to pay for something we get from the ground for
free.”
However, the Harare City Council has ordered all those with
boreholes to
register with the local authority so that they can be charged
for the
commodity.
Efforts to get a comment from Harare City
Council spokesperson Leslie Gwindi
were fruitless last
week.
Meanwhile the situation is getting worse in
Mabvuku.
“We rarely have water in this part of Mabvuku and also in
Hwenga, Save and
Kariana,” said one resident, Arnold Banda. “There is one
borehole in our
area and even if you wake up at 2am, you will find a long
winding queue such
that you may spend half of the day waiting for your turn
to fetch water.
Some of us end up buying water from those with wells and
boreholes.”
A 20-litre container of water costs a dollar but most
households said they
needed at least 60 litres every
day.
Lack of potable water lowers living standards:
residents
Although the residents rarely get running water, they
still receive huge
water bills every month, some reflecting four
digits.
“We have a bill showing more than US$1 000 and I wonder where
that is coming
from because we rarely use council water,” Banda
said.
Some residents said the council’s failure to supply them with
water has
lowered living standards of most urban dwellers who now live like
villagers.
“Look around you and see the many people, especially
teenagers and senior
citizens walking around with dirty clothes on,” Mutsa
Mangwiro said. “It is
no longer surprising to see someone with clothes as
dirty as those of small
boys in rural areas because of lack of access to
clean water.”
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 02 June 2012 19:03
BY
TAWANDA MARWIZI
WAR veterans’ leader Joseph Chinotimba has clashed with the
MDC-T over the
implementation of several developmental projects in Buhera
South
constituency.
Chinotimba, who narrowly lost the constituency to
Naison Nemadziva in 2008
amid charges of spearheading a violent campaign,
recently set up a maize
milling plant and is giving maize meal on credit to
civil servants and
ordinary villagers. However, the MDC-T officials accuse
him of hijacking the
project from the local MP.
Councillor for
ward 24, Bodier Nendanga, also accused Chinotimba of
hijacking the
construction of a bridge along the Nyarushanga River.
“He only took
advantage of the fact that the contractors had ran out of
cement and he
immediately took over,” Nendanga said. “The MP has no power to
stop him
because he even bought some of the equipment that went
missing.”
Nendanga also accused Chinotimba of taking over a
government event where the
local district administrator was distributing
maize to villagers in the
area. “He came to Mutiusinazita claiming to be the
one who brought the
maize. We failed to stop him because most of the
beneficiaries were Zanu PF
activists,” he said.
But Chinotimba
denied the allegations producing receipts of three tons of
maize, which he
said proved he bought the commodity from the Grain Marketing
Board Buhera
Depot.
“They are lying,” said a fuming Chinotimba. “I have the
receipts. If the
District Administrator distributed maize it was his own
programme. I
distributed my own maize and everyone accessed it, including
that councillor
who is also benefiting from my credit
project.”
Chinotimba also produced a contract he purportedly signed
with 10 local
builders to construct the bridge and another one he claimed
he entered with
a Harare-based contractor, for hiring earth moving
equipment, including four
graders to gravel the road for a
month.
“My main aim is to upgrade the constituency, which has been
regarded by many
as backward. To tell you the truth, I have been using money
from my pocket
to implement these projects and these guys (MDC-T) just come
and say they
are their projects,” he said.
Asked where he was
getting the money to fund his project, Chinotimba was
reluctant to tell
where he was getting the money saying he was just like a
father who brought
food for his children. “Iwe kana baba vakabuda
kundokorokoza vodzoka
vakabata chingwa ungavabvunza kuti machiwanepi here
kana kuti unongotambira.
I get the money mandinofamba,” said an emotional
Chinotimba.
While his efforts are welcome, it was reported that
when he lost in 2008 he
demanded some of his “donations” to the people, an
allegation he denied.
Chinotimba known for losing
elections
Chinotimba is an interesting character. He tried many
times to get elected
into political office, abandoning one constituency
after the other, but
losing all the time. His campaigns have however been
dogged by reports of
violence.
Chinotimba contested in Harare’s
Glen Norah and Budiriro constituencies but
lost and then tried his luck in
Highfield where he dished out cheap shoes
without any success. In the 2008
harmonised elections, Chinotimba decided to
return to his roots and
contested in Buhera South constituency where he lost
to
Nemadziva.
But it appears that this time around, Chinotimba, who
reinvented himself as
a pious man, has decided to stick to Buhera South
where he has continued to
be visible.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 02 June 2012
18:38
BY CLAYTON MASEKESA
MUTARE — The Zimbabwe National Water
Authority (Zinwa) has threatened to cut
water supplies to families relocated
to Arda Transau because a Chinese
mining firm, Anjin Investment, is failing
to pay its huge water bill.
The families were relocated from Marange diamond
fields where the company is
mining gems.
Zinwa last week issued a
warning, threatening to close down pumps supplying
water to the 474
families resettled at Arda Transau over non-payment of
bills now amounting
to about US$215 000.
The bill has not been paid for more than six
months since the people started
using water, which is pumped into a
reservoir, before it is piped to
designated points.
Zinwa
Manicaland Area Manager Vengesayi Mazambani last week confirmed that
the
authority was planning to cut water supplies to families relocated to
Arda
Transau.
“As water providers, we provided a service to them which
they must pay for,”
said Mazambani. “We have been having discussions with
the representatives
from Anjin regarding the payment of the bill, but it has
now taken too long.
The account is in their name and they should pay for
it.”
He claimed that the water piping system at Arda Transau was
constantly
breaking down after the Chinese replaced it with their
own.
“They laid their own pipes and changed our water system
replacing it with
theirs,” said Mazambani. “Their system is very difficult
to maintain and we
are experiencing a lot of breakdowns there. We are now in
the process of
rectifying the situation with our own engineers. But, again
they will pay
for the repairs.”
An official from Anjin last week
said they were going to engage Zinwa and
the Ministry of Local Government,
Rural and Urban Development to come to an
agreement over
payment.
The official, who declined to be named, said: “Our senior
officials have
already had talks with the Mutare District Administrator
regarding the
issue. We hope that this issue will be solved
amicably.”
The Mutare District Administrator, Simon Sigauke,
confirmed that he had met
officials from Anjin over the impending water
disconnections.
He, however, could not shed more light on the issue.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 02 June 2012
18:15
BY JENNIFER DUBE
VENDORS in Mbare high-density suburb are making
brisk business selling
cloths used in sewing church regalia or performing
religious rituals as more
people turn to religion in the midst of increasing
socio-economic problems.
The enterprising vendors have taken advantage of the
proliferation of
apostolic sects in Mbare to set up market stalls near areas
where the
churches hold their prayers.
Some vendors are earning a
living through selling the cloths which come in
various colours used for
different religious functions.
One vendor in Mbare, Honest Benza (34) said
selling the materials sustained
his family of four.
“I used to
have a stand inside the bus rank but I lost it to someone else
prompting me
to look for other means of survival,” said Benza, a father of
two. “One day,
as I was walking into town, I saw several groups of people
gathered for
prayers and decided to supply them with some things they may
need.”
Benzo said he started selling soft drinks and buns but was
soon to realise
that the congregants did not eat anything because they
fasted most of the
times.
“Some would walk into town after the
prayers and I soon realised they were
going to buy materials needed at
church,” he said. “There were people here
who were already selling white
cloths but I decided to buy more of the other
colours like red, green,
purple, satin, blue, pink and black.”
Most apostolic sects use satin
to make gowns they wear during baptism, which
they do frequently as part of
their healing sessions.
Most prefer immersion at rivers, where water
is sometimes polluted by soil
deposits, hence the use of satin which is more
tolerant to polluted water
than the popular white material.
Pink,
purple, blue, maroon and green cloths are used for gowns, mostly for
church
leaders.
“Red and black are popular with those who visit traditional
healers,”
another vendor said. “But apostolic members, too, do buy small
pieces of the
cloths for use in healing sessions.”
A quarter
metre of the white cloth costs US$0,5 while the coloured material
costs US$2
per metre.
The vendors said selling the cloths in Mbare helped their
customers save
time and money for transport into town.
Zimbabwe
National Traditional Healers Association spokesperson George
Kandiero said
different colours had different functions.
“Various colours have
different meanings, and these may also vary according
to region and their
sizes,” he said.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 02 June 2012 18:15
A senior
government official has threatened to shut down all unregistered
private
Early Childhood Development (ECD) centres unless they register with
the
ministry of education.
The Permanent Secretary for Education, Sport, Arts and
Culture, Dr Stephen
Mahere said the move was necessary to ensure effective
service delivery in
the ECD centres countrywide.
“It is now
common cause that ECD classes have been established at every
existing
primary school. Over 98% of government primary schools have
established ECD
‘B’ and 68% have established ECD ‘A’ classes to date,” said
Mahere.
“I should however remind all concerned stakeholders that
for effective
service delivery, all private ECD centres should be registered
with the
ministry in line with the Statutory Instrument 106 of
2005.”
Mahere called on provincial education directors (PEDs) and
district
education officers (DEOs) to make sure that all private centres are
registered.
“PEDs and DEOs should identify those private centres which
are not
registered and help them to do so,” said Mahere. “Those which do not
meet
the requirements should be closed.”
—By Sofia Mapuranga
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 02 June 2012 18:13
BY LESLEY WURAYAYI
BINGA
— Professionals, mainly qualified teachers, are leaving Siabuwa, a
remote
area in Binga in droves citing poor infrastructure such as roads,
schools
and health facilities, a local organisation has said.
The Siabuwa Development
Trust (SDT) said for many years the area has been
losing qualified teachers
and nurses to places where there are better roads,
clinics and
accommodation.
Siabuwa is a rural community situated in the Zambezi
Valley, 100 kilometres
from Binga centre. It is home to an estimated
population of 60 000 members
of the Tonga tribe, often referred to as the
“forgotten people”.
Most of the people drink water from unprotected
wells. The Trust said some
of the teachers in the district lived in poorly
ventilated storerooms or in
pole and mud huts.
“Despite the
availability of humanitarian aid agencies, since independence
there has not
been any meaningful change to the lives of the vaTonga,” said
the Trust in a
report. “Currently, residents of Siabuwa drink unsafe water
from unprotected
shallow wells.”
The report added: “Siabuwa has lost 98% of its jobs,
as corporations or
local factories have shut down or moved operations
elsewhere.”
The area has a total of 120 boreholes, 62 deep wells, six
small dams but
“60% of them need to be mechanically rehabilitated and 95%
require head
works rehabilitation.”
Some of the villagers travel
over 100km to access health care.
To compound this problem, most
roads connecting Siabuwa and other parts of
the district “are rundown and
are characterised by collapsing bridges, sand,
stones and streams flowing
across roads”.
The few public transporters that still operate in the
area have hiked fares
citing the poor road network.
This,
according to the report, has also resulted in investors shunning the
area.
The lack of doctors has made it difficult for the few
health care centres to
adequately service the population. There is no
hospital in the area.
The SDT said the health centres at Tyunga, Siabuwa and
Sinansengwe are
seriously understaffed. For instance, there are no doctors
in any of the
centres, which are manned by nurse aides.
While the
government’s teacher-pupil ratio stands at 1:40, in Siabuwa it
tops 1:61.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 02 June 2012 18:12
BY LESLEY
WURAYAYI
MASVINGO — The Zimbabwe Red Cross Society (ZRCS) has launched a
massive
water, sanitation and hygiene (Wash) project set to improve water
accessibility to residents of Chivi through the drilling of new boreholes
and repairing those that had broken down.
ZRCS information and marketing
officer Takemore Mazuruse said the 4-year
project was part of the society’s
nationwide humanitarian efforts to improve
the health and quality of life of
the vulnerable communities through
increased access to safe water and
hygiene promotion.
“A total of 100 000 people in 400 communities in
Chivi district will benefit
from the US$3 286 121 programme which will be
implemented in 16 wards of
Chivi South district in Masvingo,” said
Mazuruse.
“The programme targets rural people, particularly
vulnerable groups such as
people living with HIV, orphans and vulnerable
children, disadvantaged
schools as well as single-parent households,” he
said. “The project is being
implemented in consultation with key
stakeholders in the government.”
Apart from drilling new boreholes
and rehabilitating those that are run
down, a total of 3 400 pit-latrines
will be built for the communities.
The project is funded by the
European Union (EU), the British and Finnish
Red Cross with the Zimbabwe Red
Society (ZRCS) being the implementing
partner.
ZRCS country
representative Majidu Amisi said the society appreciated the
work being done
by volunteers as they were the driving force behind the
whole
programme.
“Volunteers are the driving force behind humanitarian work
that is
consistent with the Red Cross movement,” said Amisi.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 02 June 2012 18:39
BY
NQABA MATSHAZI
WHEN the announcement that Lesotho’s prime minister of 14
years was stepping
down, after failing to win an outright majority, many
Zimbabweans could not
help but wonder if this was possible in their own
country.
Two elections, one in Lesotho and another in Egypt, were held
recently and
all brought about a new wave of democracy and leadership
change, that only
Zimbabweans can imagine and wish for.
A massive
25 million people cast their votes in Egypt and the smoothness
with which
the election was run can all but give Zimbabweans hope that their
elections
can be held in a similar fashion.
Critical to the elections in Egypt
was that for the first time the country
allowed its Diaspora to vote,
something which Zimbabwean authorities sneer
their noses at.
“We
have eight million people outside Egypt and for the first time they were
allowed to vote,” Hassim Bashiri, an official at the Egyptian Embassy in
Harare said. “Maybe because it was the first time something like this
happened, only less than 600 000 voted in that manner.”
Egypt,
unlike Zimbabwe, was able to call in foreign observers, leading to a
somewhat credible election.
The southern African country has
since the 2002 presidential election been
loath to invite foreign observers,
accusing them of having an agenda against
President Robert Mugabe and his
Zanu PF party.
Closer to home, Lesotho’s transition showed that the
country was seriously
transforming into a modern
democracy.
Observers from the Zimbabwe Election Support Network
(Zesn), say they were
impressed with the election and that Zimbabwe has a
lot to learn from the
small mountainous country.
“What impressed
me was the involvement of civic society,” Emma Chiseya, from
Zesn, said.
“Civil society and the IEC (Independent Electoral Commission)
worked
together to come up with a manual on voter education.”
In Zimbabwe,
civil society must get permission from the Zimbabwe Election
Commission
(ZEC) before carrying out voter education, something that has
always caused
friction between the two sides.
Chiseya, who marvelled at the
transparency of elections in Lesotho, said
observers were allowed freely
into the country, compared to Zimbabwe, where
they were expected to pay a
fee, which sometimes could be restrictive.
She said in Lesotho they
had a biometric voters’ role, compared to Zimbabwe,
where the registrar
general was against providing an electronic copy of the
voters
roll.
As Mugabe pushes ahead for elections this year, it remains to
be seen
whether he will allow for reforms considering the risk that
transparency
could ultimately push him out.
But with changes of
guard across the continent, it is only a matter of time
before reforms are
implemented in Zimbabwe.
Egypt allows online
voter-registration
An element that could make Zimbabweans go
green with envy is that Egyptians
can register to vote over the internet,
making voter registration a less
than cumbersome process.
Critics
of the Zimbabwe’s voter registration exercise often complain that it
is
murky and the voters’ roll is in a shambles.
Past researches have revealed
that the Zimbabwean voters’ roll is not
updated, allowing “ghost” and
unregistered voters to cast their votes.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 02 June 2012
18:07
BY NDAMU SANDU IN ARUSHA, TANZANIA
TIME is running out for
Zimbabwe to access the US$500 million facility
availed by the African
Development Bank (AfDB) for countries with
outstanding arrears to the bank
ahead of its review in September 2012.
Zimbabwe, alongside Somalia and Sudan,
have outstanding arrears to the bank
and the facility in place is on a first
come first served basis, Ebrima
Faal, AfDB’s director for the Southern
Region told Standardbusiness last
week.
The US$500 million is
provided under the African Development Fund (ADF), a
concessionary window of
the bank that provides loans and grants to regional
member
countries.
A proven record of policy implementation and commitment is
a key requirement
to qualify for assistance under the
programme.
“Approximately US$0,5 billion has been set aside to help
with the clearance
of arrears of Zimbabwe, Sudan and Somalia. The country
that is ready will be
the first to access the facility. We think Zimbabwe is
well-placed to access
the facility,” Faal said.
Faal said
governors would review whether to continue with the facility at a
mid-term
review meeting in September.
He is hopeful the governors may
ring-fence the facility, “given that
tangible progress has been made in all
the three countries”.
Zimbabwe’s arrears to AfDB, headed by Donald
Kaberuka, are estimated at
about US$500 million.
Faaal said there
has been tangible progress in Zimbabwe’s macroeconomic
issues as the country
had crafted a home-grown debt and arrears clearance
strategy — the Zimbabwe
Accelerated Arrears Clearance, Debt and Development
Strategy
(ZAADDS).
ZAADDS uses a combination of debt relief and resources
pledging to clear the
country’s debt.
“We believe this (ZAADDS)
is implementable during this ADF 12 period. Good
progress has been made at
the technical level because there are requirements
that are needed including
an SMP (Staff Monitored Programme) with the IMF,”
he said.
ADF 12
is the 12th resource replenishment programme for the Fund’s
activities in
the period 2011 up to 2013.
Last year, the AfDB’s board of directors
approved a US$8 million loan to
finance Lake Harvest Aquaculture project on
Lake Kariba, the bank’s first
private sector investment in Zimbabwe after
several years.
Zimbabwe cannot borrow from multilateral and bilateral
institutions due to
the country’s negative arrears situation.
Zimbabwe
has an estimated
US$9,1 billion external debt and Zaadds provides
strategies on how the debt
and arrears would be cleared.
AfDB was
mandated by the AU and Sadc to help Zimbabwe re-engage with the
international community. This culminated in the bank hosting several Friends
of Zimbabwe meetings, including an indaba of Zimbabwe’s creditors in Tunis
in March.
Another meeting was held on the sidelines of the
IMF/World Bank Springs
meeting in Washington in April. Discussions also took
place during the AfDB
Annual General Meeting that was held in Arusha last
week.
Private sector eligible to access funds: Faal
Faal
said despite the arrears the country is facing, the private sector
could
access the bank’s funds, as long as it presented bankable projects and
good
financials.
“If we see good bankable private sector projects that
come to us, we will
look at it.
“At the moment Zimbabwe’s
borrowing capacity with the bank is low because of
the arrears. We look at
private sector investments on exceptional basis
depending on their merits,”
he said.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 02 June 2012 18:05
BY KUDZAI
CHIMHANGWA
INFORMATION Communication Technology (ICT) consultants, ECB,
intends to
establish a US$4,7 million academy before end of year to train
banks on
setting up IT systems that will improve efficiency and lower risks
of fraud.
The company is presently procuring vendor specific hardware such as
US-based
IBM (International Business Machines) products while the expensive
software
has already been acquired.
It has partnered with London
Stock Exchange-listed and FTSE 250 Index
constituent, MISYS plc, to serve
banks across the continent that use the
Misys software solutions, with
Harare serving as a hub. ECB consultant,
Taurai Chinyamakobvu, said the
academy would also train banks that run on
ECB’s treasury dealing system
(TDS.) A TDS allows banks to efficiently
manage treasury operations by
offering a single entry point for all trades.
The system offers
financial instruments such as money market and foreign
exchange deals, as
well as derivative instruments. “The main purpose of
having an ICT system in
a bank is to automate processes,” said
Chinyamakobvu.
“There
are a few banks in town that have spent a few millions on systems
that are
not serving them well. Some of them have had to rip and replace
their core
systems, two to three years after investing in them.”
Zimbabwe’s
banking sector deposits rose to US$4 billion recently from US$3,3
billion in
January this year as public confidence in the financial sector
slowly
returns. “To play an effective intermediary role, banks need a robust
ICT
system. That system will maintain, coordinate, process and marshal bank
balances, transactions, delivery channels, information, and so on,” said
Chinyamakobvu. “Without an efficient ICT system the modern bank would not
exist. That is why many banks are upgrading those
systems.”
Customers have on several occasions been left stranded and
frustrated after
learning that their bank’s IT system would be down or being
revamped thereby
affecting their ability to access their deposited
money.
Said Chinyamakobvu, “To be fully automated, banks must have
systems that
detect and correct their own operational problems. But
acquiring such a
system would not be cost-effective. This means that the
people in the banks
need to check physically across processes, so that
hiccups are detected
before customers feel or see them.”
Earlier
this year, Agribank invested in a US$2,5 million ICT upgrade while
ZB Bank
poured in over US$3 million to enable faster processing of
transactions and
ensure quick turnaround time.
Other banks have also invested
substantially in technological upgrades.
The project targets all
banks in Africa that use Misys’ core banking
systems, in particular,
Equation, Bankfusion Equation and Bankfusion
Universal Banking, as well as
all those that run Misys departmental modules
such as Opics risk and Almonde
for risk management.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 02 June 2012 18:03
BY KUDZAI
CHIMHANGWA
THE general shortage of cash on the domestic market has forced
many
Zimbabweans into a spiraling debt trap. Many are heavily borrowing from
banks as well as micro-finance institutions to keep going.
Some
people have taken credit facilities, for cash, clothing or household
products effectively becoming ensnared in a debt trap as they run multiple
accounts, which they find difficult to service.
Henry
Shirichena, a young man employed at a local milling company, said he
took up
loan facilities from various financial institutions to make ends
meet but
was struggling to service them.
“It all seemed reasonable at the time
considering the unavailability of such
facilities before 2009. However, the
effects of the loan on me and the
family are largely negative,” he said.
“Yes I can repay part of the loan,
but with the present financial
difficulties, we are left with hardly
anything to live on.”
A
government worker who requested anonymity, said he had been driven to take
up a bank loan by the need to settle issues that had
arisen.
“Quite frankly I felt I had no choice but to take a loan. I
had an important
family business to attend to, but had no money at the time.
I couldn’t wait
for month end to access cash,” he said. “I am presently
repaying the loan
but the deductions are taking their toll on my salary.
Fortunately I will be
through repaying the loan by the end of the
year.”
Prior to the use of multi-currencies in February 2009, credit
facilities had
become non-existent, as hyperinflation ravaged the local
currency.
But with the coming in of the multi-currency regime,
various companies and
banks have consequently been forced to revisit their
business models, as the
macro-economic scenario dictates the devising of the
best methods of tapping
into the scarce cash circulating in the
economy.
Some clothing stores have over the past financial quarters
reported solid
performance results against the background of increased
credit accounts
Last year, Truworths recorded a 204% mid-year operating
profit increase
buoyed by an increase in credit time periods extended to
customers while
Edgars this year recorded a US$3,3 million profit as the
number of debtors
accounts jumped by 43%.
Consumer Council of
Zimbabwe (CCZ) executive director, Rosemary Siyachitema,
said economic
hardships were forcing people into debt.
She said businesses have found
themselves with products that are not being
bought so they offer seemingly
attractive payment terms and periods to
customers. She however urged people
to exercise due diligence before
executing a credit
transaction.
“It becomes difficult when month-end comes, as people
have rentals, food,
school fees and other expenses to meet. It ultimately
becomes a debt trap,”
said Siyachitema.
The problem is more
evident among civil servants who earn salaries below the
US$500 Poverty
Datum Line.
Tendai Chikowore, president of the Apex Council which
represents all civil
servants, acknowledged the chronic debt trap that has
engulfed a
considerable number of government workers.
“There are
two sides to the coin. When civil servants began receiving
allowances (in
2009), there was an outcry that they were not deemed
creditworthy, but now
that the business community considers them as fertile
ground, the deductions
are really serious,” she said.
The government-endorsed survey is a
research tool which shows how
individuals source their incomes, and how they
manage their financial lives.
Few borrowed from formal
institutions
However, a 2011 Zimbabwe FinScope consumer survey,
focusing on financial
inclusion indicates that only a small percentage of
people actually had
loans from formal financial institutions or
banks.
The findings also indicate that Zimbabwe largely remains a
cash-based
economy and the rising cost of living due to economic instability
is
perceived to be the biggest risk and the main reason why people save or
borrow.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 02 June 2012 18:35
BY
TAKURA ZHANGAZHA
There are currently two major investment deals that the
government of
Zimbabwe is, surprisingly, unsure about how to proceed with,
even after
initially approving of them.
The first, which was launched
amidst much fanfare, was the Essar deal that
was described as being intended
to ensure the revival of Ziscosteel in the
Midlands. It is now being
reported that cabinet has ordered some sort of
review of the deal because
the processing plant and the iron deposits were
sold for far too
little.
The other investment deal is the Chisumbanje/Green Fuel one
where the
Minister of Energy has publicly told the company involved to
export its
ethanol. Apparently, the minister has not seen any cabinet
minutes on a
directive that the ethanol from Green Fuel be compulsorily
blended with all
imported petrol in Zimbabwe. Deputy Prime Minister, Arthur
Mutambara, has
since told Parliament that cabinet has set up some committee
to look into
the matter. The two deals leave one perplexed as to what
exactly is going on
in cabinet and in the offices of various
ministers.
The two deals, prior to being approved by the government,
had been reported
on for a while in the media. In some instances cabinet
ministers travelled
to various countries to see examples of where the
relevant investor had a
similar operation. In other instances, particularly
as regards the Essar
deal, there were further media reports about serious
jockeying for the
lucrative tender by not only the Indian company but also
South African
companies that were alleged to have strong links with the
African National
Congress.
After all the trips, lobbying,
verification and other measures had been
undertaken, the government, of its
own volition, decided to award Essar and
Green Fuel the relevant investment
contracts. With both deals however, there
now seems to be a turnaround by
government without adequate reason or public
explanation. The versions are
many, but suffice to say, there can only be
something fishy on the part of
cabinet in both cases. The lack of clarity on
these two matters is not only
appalling, but patently indicative of a
government that does not take its
work or its own people seriously.
In fact, it appears that government
is more preoccupied with grandstanding
about private-public partnership when
it does not, in the end, demonstrate
the relevant knowledge of the
intentions of the private partner when putting
pen to paper. It is rather
embarrassing to have a government that argues
with itself about an
investment that is already approved and already on the
ground. Even if one
is to assume that in the case of the Essar deal, all
government is seeking
to correct is an anomaly, it would be irresponsible on
our part as citizens
to let cabinet off lightly.
A key question is why the government
failed to follow up with relevant
mining departments, regarding the content
and nature of iron ore deposits,
before putting pen to paper? And if a
minister is dealing with a
multi-million dollar investment deal, to what
extent is he/she assisted with
the relevant expertise as regards the full
implications of the deal? In the
case of Essar, it appears that the
government did not do its homework and
was quick to claim credit for an
investment that invariably has turned out
to be a sour one.
Where
one reviews the limited public information that is there about the
Green
Fuel deal in Chisumbanje, one can be forgiven for thinking that the
actual
problem relates to community land rights. Instead, the problem is
that the
government agreed to such a massive project, only to say it no
longer wants
to use the end product (ethanol) locally. The relevant minister
then advises
the investment company, via the media, to export the ethanol.
Now, there
could be various reasons why the minister has done this,
including political
reasons, but what stands out is that if cabinet agreed
to this deal, it must
either cancel it altogether or else see it through.
Moreover, if
there are serious differences in the fuel importation industry,
then the
minister must openly seek to iron out these differences and explain
cabinet
decisions for the benefit of not only the fuel oligarchs but also
the
Zimbabwean public. Where government fails to do this, we would not be
remiss
to assume that perhaps cabinet is not functioning in the best
interests of
Zimbabweans.
In both deals, it remains imperative that the government
cleans up its act
quickly and functions on the basis of demonstrating that
it is serious about
running this country. Even where the arguments are that
the inclusive
government does not function fully well, it can only be argued
that all
cabinets the world over have collective responsibility and as such,
botched
investment deals are the fault of all political parties that are in
cabinet.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 02 June 2012
18:30
TONY HAWKINS
On her recent visit to Zimbabwe, Navi Pillay, UN
High Commissioner for Human
Rights, said sanctions on the country applied by
some Western countries were
having “a negative impact on the economy at
large, with quite possibly
serious ramifications for the country’s poorest
and most vulnerable
populations”.
Her claim does not bear
examination.
Nor does her assertion that the sanctions, on more than
a hundred
individuals and on businesses owned by the ruling Zanu PF and the
State, are
“a disincentive to overseas banks and investors” and have
“limited certain
exports and imports”.
Official data tell a very
different story. In the three years since the
country dollarised at the
start of 2009, GDP growth has averaged 8% a year —
the fastest yet achieved
over such a period since Independence 32 years ago.
Inflation has
averaged less than 1% a year, while exports have increased 40%
annually —
about 10 times the growth rate of world trade. Imports — far from
being
limited by sanctions as Pillay says — have almost trebled to reach an
unsustainable 75% of GDP in 2011. The trade gap trebled from US$1bn in 2008
to US$3bn last year.
Pillay’s comments on investment and foreign
loans are equally wide off the
mark. Foreign direct investment rose from
US$105m in 2009 to US$373m last
year while portfolio inflows, mostly through
the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange,
are put at US$140m. In the last two years the
country has borrowed US$1,2bn
offshore.
The real reason why
Zimbabwe’s offshore borrowing is constrained is the
country’s foreign debt
arrears of over US$7bn (70% of GDP). Targeted
sanctions are not part of the
equation.
To claim that the vulnerable and poorest segments of the
country’s 11
million people are suffering because of financial and travel
sanctions
imposed on President Robert Mugabe and his closest supporters is
misguided.
Per capita incomes have risen 5% a year for the last three
years — the first
such growth since the mid-1990s. Some 45 000 new formal
sector jobs were
created in 2010 (there are no employment data yet for 2011)
after a decade
in which over half a million people lost their jobs.
Meanwhile, average real
wages have more than doubled since
2008.
Living standards and employment collapsed in the “lost decade”
to 2008, not
because targeted sanctions were imposed in 2002 but because
Mugabe’s Za-nu
PF government adopted economically disastrous policies, from
fast-track land
reform to reckless central bank credit creation that
culminated in the
collapse of the currency and the disappearance of the
Zimbabwe dollar at the
end of 2008.
The subsequent turnaround in
the Zimbabwe economy is primarily the result of
dollarisation with a little
bit of — usually exaggerated — help from the
inclusive government headed by
Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai
since February 2009. Whatever
adverse effects the sanctions have had were
swamped by the positive impact
of exchange rate stabilisation which squeezed
hyperinflation out of the
system in just a few weeks, reviving the financial
sector and restoring
business confidence, at least in the short term.
But the
dollarisation bounceis beginning to run out of steam. Economists say
GDP
growth in 2012 is likely to be little more than the estimated 9%
achieved
last year.
Because sanctions have had minimal economic and social
impact, their
immediate suspension, advocated by Pillay, would not stimulate
economic
growth. Instead, it would give Mugabe’s Zanu-PF party a boost
before
elections to be held sometime over the next 18 months — thereby
putting at
risk the fragile gains achieved during the last three years
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sadc’s decision to defer Zimbabwe’s
elections until common ground is reached
on all outstanding matters provides
the tonic needed to end Zimbabwe’s
political stalemate.
It may also have,
albeit inadvertently, delivered a killer blow to
88-year-old President
Robert Mugabe’s plans to secure another five years in
office.
Ahead of the Angola summit, Mugabe, fighting to ward off
the combined
effects of ill-health and old age, dispatched emissaries to the
region to
canvass support for a 2012 election but these overtures backfired
spectacularly on Friday.
The Troika ruled that an early election
was impossible under the prevailing
circumstances. The decision by the
leaders was hardly surprising after the
daylight murder of Cephas Magura, an
MDC-T official, killed at a political
rally in Mudzi, provided clear
evidence the environment remained tense in
most rural and urban
communities.
The widely publicised statements made by Major-General
Martin Chedondo,
about the army’s support for Zanu PF, also made it easier
for MDC formations
to argue that conditions did not exist in Zimbabwe for a
free and fair
election.
The formations also argued that the
select committee charged with drafting
the constitution and negotiators to
the GPA, who still have a gamut of
issues to resolve, needed more time to
complete its work. Some of these
contentious matters include repressive laws
which tilt the electoral playing
ground in favour of Zanu PF.
The
Troika should be commended for standing up to Mugabe and rejecting his
feverish push for elections, spearheaded by a coterie of Zanu PF
propagandists that include former Information minister Jonathan
Moyo.
Elections in the absence of genuine reforms can only lead to
another
political impasse that could drag the country further into the
abyss.
The Sadc Troika has agreed that 12 months could be a
reasonable time to
ensure that Zimbabwe puts in place conditions for a free
and fair election
to take place. That time- frame, though unfavourable to
Mugabe, who is 88,
is reasonable and gives the country enough room to fix
the contentious
issues.