GLOBAL opinion on Zimbabwe's
forthcoming elections is sharply divided with only three weeks left before
the crucial March 31 parliamentary polls - offering little hope for the
former British colony's full re-admission into the international
community.
The poll, which could turn out to be a two-horse race
between the ruling ZANU PF and the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), is
becoming an emotive issue, sparking divergent ideological flames despite
indications that the elections could be a less chaotic affair.
Leading the onslaught against Zimbabwe is the United States and the European
Union (EU), which heightened pressure on Harare in recent weeks through the
publication of a damning report on the country's human rights record and
renewed targeted sanctions against President Robert Mugabe and his
lieutenants. The US and its EU allies have already pre-judged that the
elections would not be free and fair, which has raised the ire of the
Zimbabwe government. However, despite increased isolation that has
virtually dried foreign aid into the country, the government is not without
allies, mainly on the African continent and across the Third World,
contributing to the lack of international consensus on the Zimbabwean
crisis. Zimbabwe's powerful ally, South Africa, has steadfastly stood
by its neighbour in the face of mounting domestic and international
criticism of President Thabo Mbeki's seemingly ineffective quiet
diplomacy. Mbeki, who has expressed confidence in Zimbabwe's much
maligned election process ahead of the poll, remains the preferred mediator
in the Zimbabwean crisis. At the same time, Zimbabwe has continued to enjoy
support, mainly from the southern hemisphere, at key international fora, be
it the International Monetary Fund (IMF) executive board, which is currently
considering the country's fate in the 184-member group, the European Union
and African, Caribbean and Pacific trade talks or the United Nations'
Commission for Human Rights, among others. Zimbabwe, whose
government stands accused of alleged bad governance and human rights abuses,
has largely escaped censure at these bodies due to the polarisation of views
on the country. University of Zimbabwe political science lecturer
Eldred Masunungure said the international community's stance on the
Zimbabwean political crisis mirrored the polarisation within the country
itself. "The polarisation we see within the international community,
where the South Africans, for instance, are saying one thing and the
Americans the other, replicates the polarisation within the country itself,
but then that can be expected, considering that the international community
is by no means homogenous. "Whether those respective positions are
accurate is another matter, but the lack of consensus on the Zimbabwe
question has been a major stumbling block to getting to a universally agreed
resolution to the issue," Masunungure said. Analysts have grappled
with the vexatious issue of how the polarisation has come about.
Others have proffered ethnical explanations that the white west is pitting
itself against a black government, which dared to expropriate land
previously held by a white minority. As a result, they say, states have been
divided along ethnical lines in their position on Zimbabwe. Others
have offered a historical rationale for the phenomenon, saying South Africa
and other regional states which share a common history of white colonial
rule cannot be seen to be deserting a fellow liberation movement in
government. Whatever the reason, Masunungure said, the differences
in how to approach the Zimbabwean crisis only served to worsen the
problem. "The polarisation has compounded the problem," he said, adding
that the invitation of election observers reflects the siege mentality that
had resulted from an inadequate international response to the political
crisis. "The government will invite institutions it perceives to be
sympathetic to what it is doing and shun perceived enemies. Institutionally
there is something tragically wrong about the selection of observers because
it is improper for a government that is itself the result of a political
process to invite observers to validate that process. "The
so-called independent electoral commission should have done that because it
has a veneer of autonomy. A gladiator cannot choose the referee,"
Masunungure said. Since 2000, when the current political and
economic crisis deepened, the country has held two hotly contested elections
and several by- To Page 3 elections- characterised by violence
and intimidation. The Harare government has drawn widespread criticism
and outright condemnation, mainly from western countries led by the United
States and Britain, which have accused the ZANU PF government of holding on
to power through repression. The government denies this allegation.
The two states, supported by the EU, have proceeded to apply targeted
sanctions at President Mugabe and his ruling inner circle, following what
they declared a flawed presidential election in 2002. The
government, on the other hand, has dug in and accuses its western critics of
siding with the small white Zimbabwean population, which lost prime farmland
in the government's land reform, launched in 2000 after years of piecemeal
redistribution to landless blacks. The ensuing years have seen an
unprecedented diplomatic war, which culminated in Zimbabwe pulling out of
the Commonwealth, a grouping of former British colonies. For its
part, Harare has softened its hard-line stance adopted at the peak of the
land and election controversies and has even implemented poll reforms,
which, however, opposition groups and critics have dismissed as inadequate
and half-hearted. The government, however, views these measures as
steps towards a return to universal international acceptance of the
political process and its own legitimacy. While the increased
isolation has clearly hurt Harare, which is having to battle its worst
economic crisis in history without meaningful aid and financial support from
multilateral institutions such as the IMF and the World Bank, the government
is not without allies, mainly on the African continent and across the Third
World. This has been the major reason why there has not been
international consensus on the Zimbabwean crisis, its genesis and what needs
to be done. South African foreign affairs minister Nkosazana
Dlamini-Zuma last week told US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice - who
branded Zimbabwe an "outpost of tyranny" that prospects for a free and fair
election were good. "Now that has been made clear by the ruling party,
by the government, by the police that there should not be violence, and we
understand the police are taking measures against those who are, so we think
that will really remove the big problem that there was in the last
elections," Zuma said. The US state department's public response to
Zuma's assertion was: "We will just have to wait and see." South
Africa's position is doubtless shared by most observers invited by the
government to observe the poll. Apart from states deemed acceptable to
Harare, as well as liberation war movements from the southern African region
and other African regional blocs, the government, which has been accused of
inviting only its allies to observe the election, has also promise to allow
diplomats accredited to Zimbabwe to observe the poll. It is this latter
section, which is likely to produce adverse reports on the electoral
process, in the absence of the Commonwealth group and the Southern African
Development Community (SADC) parliamentary forum, which raised the
government's ire in 2002 by refusing to endorse the election
results.
THE Southern African
Development Community (SADC), with its eyes firmly focused on Zimbabwe's
month-end parliamentary polls seen as a litmus test for the regional bloc's
Mauritius Protocol, is seething with anger amid indications that Harare will
not invite the SADC Parliamentary Forum to observe the
elections.
The forum's secretariat in Windhoek yesterday was
reluctant to comment on the latest developments clouding Zimbabwe's crucial
polls. But sources in the local non-governmental sector sector said
eyebrows had been raised on why the government had omitted the parliamentary
forum from the list of invited organisations yet the same grouping, led by
Speaker of Parliament Emmerson Mnangagwa, observed To Page
23 the Malawi elections last year. The same source added that
the government in 2002 invited the forum in its own right, adding that
failure to accede to the forum's request gave credence to claims that the
government was livid over the regional grouping's damning report over the
disputed 2002 presidential polls. In the disputed 2002 presidential
polls, the parliamentary forum, unlike other African missions invited to
observe the epic race between President Robert Mugabe and Morgan Tsvangirai,
the leader of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), issued an adverse
verdict on the conduct of the election. The parliamentary forum
proceeded to publish a damning report accusing the ruling ZANU PF of
engaging in state-sanctioned violence to burgeon opposition supporters into
submission. On its part, the government dismissed the report as biased and
based on the whims of hostile Western powers who reportedly sponsored the
forum. Sources in Gaborone, Botswana, the seat of the SADC secretariat,
and Windhoek, Namibia, the seat of the parliamentary forum, yesterday
revealed the grouping was still awaiting a response from the Zimbabwean
government, with the election less than three weeks away. The same
sources said the forum wrote to President Mugabe two weeks ago seeking
permission to observe the elections. SADC civic groups and the MDC
charge that the government is punishing the parliamentary forum for giving
the 2002 elections the thumbs down when a number of invited regional
delegations had declared President Mugabe's poll victory as
legitimate. Sources said Botswana's Finance Minister, Duke Lefgoko, had
been pencilled in to head the parliamentary delegation, which had been set
to leave for Harare before the end of next week. Lefgoko was part of the
forum's 2002 mission. "It does not hold water for the government to
say that the forum should come under SADC. These are two different
entities," said Reginald Matchaba-Hove, chairman of the Zimbabwe Election
Support Network. Government spokesperson George Charamba, who was
quoted in the state media saying the invitation extended to SADC covered all
its ancillary bodies and that the parliamentary forum should not expect
special treatment, was not immediately available for comment
yesterday. The African National Congress, South Africa's ruling party,
and the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) have also expressed outrage at the
exclusion of the SADC parliamentary forum.
KEY players
in the watershed March 31 polls, the ruling ZANU PF and the Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC), have upped their campaign tempos, as it also
emerged this week the victorious party would be under pressure to revive the
failed inter-party talks.
Highly placed sources said regional
leaders, out to have free and fair polls, were stealthily pushing the twin
objectives of ensuring a violence-free campaign on one hand and thereafter
roping the feuding parties back to the negotiating table on the
other. The plan, which might hit a brick wall should ZANU PF or the MDC
secure a two-thirds majority, might help stem the political crisis that has
stalked the country since the disputed 2000 and 2002 elections, they
say. "The plan is bound to work this time around. Both parties have a
lot to lose should they continue to pull in different directions," said a
source. Inter-party talks between ZANU PF and the MDC were put in
the deep freezer in mid-2002 mainly because of the intransigent positions
taken by the feuding parties. South African President Thabo Mbeki
had tried to play the midwifery role in striking a negotiated settlement to
Zimbabwe's multi-layered crisis, but his June 2004 deadline also failed to
thaw the freezing political temperatures. Despite the grand plan to
heal the political sores, which have lengthened efforts to resuscitate the
economy, ZANU PF and the MDC are, for now, focused on throwing everything
they have into the March 31 parliamentary polls that have courted the
world's attention. The MDC, which would be seeking to upset ZANU PF's
25-year-grip on power, said it has entered the race "with a heavy heart" and
"under protest" citing government's failure to fully adhere to principles
and guidelines of holding democratic elections in the region.
Preparations for the elections, which would also pit other fringe political
parties against the MDC and ZANU PF, have so far been peaceful with no major
incidences of violence reported. The main opposition party would again
be riding on the politics of the stomach in the wake of imminent food
shortages, which could be aggravated by poor rains this season.
ZANU PF is using the land reform and current efforts to turn around the
economy to woo To Page 23 From Page 1 voters, while
blaming the current economic challenges on interference from the MDC and its
foreign allies out to effect a regime change. Internal fights that have
rocked both ZANU PF and the MDC, which have led to the mushrooming of
independents candidates, could turn out to be their biggest
undoing. Both parties, said analysts, would also have to fight voter
apathy to enhance their chances of winning. ZANU PF secured 62
seats in the previous 2000 parliamentary elections, while the MDC bagged 57
of the 120 contested seats. The MDC mopped up all seats in the towns,
banishing ZANU PF to rural areas and went on to contest the ruling ZANU PF's
victory in 37 constituencies. The MDC has since dropped its 2000
election petition challenge saying it had merely become an academic exercise
given Parliament would be dissolved on March 30 ahead of the 2005 general
elections.
THE Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC), enjoying rare election coverage on public radio and
television, has written to the chairman of the Zimbabwe Broadcasting
Holdings (ZBH) protesting over alleged manipulation of the
airwaves.
The main opposition alleges the country's sole public
broadcaster was deliberately distorting its election programmes on
television and radio to give an unfair advantage to the ruling ZANU
PF. This comes at a time when the government-controlled broadcaster has
been in the news saying that the opposition party was not utilising the
amount of airtime allocated to it. Allowing all political parties
airtime is one of the stipulations of the Southern African Development
Community protocol on free and fair elections. "We hereby lodge a
formal complaint concerning the manner in which you handled our programmes
on national television and radio. We are concerned and aggrieved by your
continued sabotage of the party. You seem to be going out of your way to
ensure that MDC efforts are thwarted," wrote Welshman Ncube, the party's
secretary general, to ZBH chairman Rino Zhuwarara. "Yesterday (Monday),
ZTV featured an interview with MDC legislator and secretary for economic
affairs Tendai Biti. As you are aware, in the major cities, the programme
was clear only in Harare and Masvingo. In areas such as Gweru and Mutare the
interview was not clear, as there was severe interference in the form of
feedback from radio. In Bulawayo there was complete loss of
transmission. "As far as the MDC is concerned this was deliberate
sabotage. It appears to us that the blackout and severe interference was not
coincidental," said Ncube in his letter to Zhuwarara. The Financial
Gazette's correspondent in Bulawayo, Charles Rukuni, said transmission on
the day in question was lost during the ZBH's News Hour. "We,
therefore, call upon you to desist from such actions, which are clearly
designed to undermine the MDC campaign. We also ask for unequivocal
assurance that this will not happen again. Furthermore, we request, and
justifiably so, that yesterday's (Monday) programme be re-screened so that
those who failed to see it can do so. We hope to hear from you in the next
48 hours." Zhuwarara said although he was still to receive the
letter of complaint from the MDC, he was the wrong person to address the
issues raised by the opposition. "This is an issue of Transmedia,
not ZBH. What we do is record the programmes and we are not allowed to
distort them," said Zhuwarara. "Talk to Trasmedia. They are the people
involved with transmission." Efforts to get a comment from Transmedia
proved fruitless yesterday.
A BAN on maize exports by Zambia could worsen the food
situation in Zimbabwe, which needs to import grain to stave off shortages
this year.
Industry players told The Financial Gazette that in the
absence of contingent measures, the country, which has been importing grain
from within the Southern African Development Commu-nity, might experience
famine in areas affected by poor rains. Lusaka slapped a ban on
maize exports last week to ensure the Zimbabwe's northern neighbour has
enough stocks of the staple to feed its own population. Zimbabwe,
whose dependency on the northern neighbour for grain has risen over the
years following disturbances in agricultural production triggered by, among
other things, its land reform, had not anticipated Zambia's new
regulations. Grain Marketing Board (GMB) boss Samuel Muvuti refused to
comment on the issue, accusing this paper of demonising the parastatal to
further "imperialistic agendas". He said: "All you want is to
demonise this parastatal. Forget that story . . . I know where you are
coming from with that." The Millers Association of Zimbabwe conceded,
however, that the country could suffer reduced maize supplies because of the
ban. "In the absence of an alternative source, one would want to think
that it could cause problems for the country's food situation. I am sure
there is a contingency plan on the part of the GMB," said Mike Manga,
president of the association. GMB, which is tasked with the
marketing and procurement of grain, is reportedly running around to stave
off looming grain shortages in the face of relatively low rainfall and the
cumulative effects of persistent grain deficits.
ZIMBABWE trudges towards yet another
election burdened by a growing list of ills, ranging from a failing economy,
a public health delivery system that has virtually collapsed, an inefficient
transport system, rising unemployment and a tenuous food situation, among
other things.
But the buzz that has characterised the past two
elections since the formation of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC),
the ruling ZANU PF's biggest challenger since independence in 1980 is not
evident this time around and political analysts fear widespread apathy by an
electorate that has seemingly surrendered to fate. Yet this could
be the most issues-driven election, after the highly emotional affairs that
2000 parliamentary election and the presidential poll two years later
were. The Zimbabwean economy is in a parlous state. The gross domestic
product (GDP) has shrunk by as much as 30 percent since 2000.
Although inflation has come off somewhat in the past 12 months, it reached a
peak of 622.8 percent in January 2004. The Zimbabwe dollar has been in
free-fall, particularly in the run-up to March 31. The managed auctions for
foreign currency, introduced by the Reserve bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) in
January 2004, have come under strain in recent weeks. The local unit
trades at around $6 000 to the greenback at the auctions, but overwhelming
demand in the face of diminishing supply has rekindled the parallel market
for hard currency, where the US dollar trades at as much as $13 500 to the
local unit. Soon, the authorities will have to review the price of fuel
and inflationary pressures, which saw a marginal percentage point increase
in January, will bubble up. The ZANU PF government, which is blamed
for the country's economic crisis, is upbeat about prospects of a
turnaround, despite the worsening malaise. ZANU PF projects a
return to positive GDP growth this year, within the three to five percent
range, although independent projections by the International Monetary Fund
(IMF) point to a more modest growth, 1.8 percent. After years of
contraction, the ruling party will doubtless take credit for any margin of
positive growth. The ruling party has also promised exchange rate
stability, a sustained reduction in inflation levels, increased investment
as well as manufacturing and mining output. The MDC, on the other
hand, has also promised economic recovery, a return to macro-economic
stability and growth. The opposition party is also running on the
critical issues of jobs, food security and housing, among others.
While Zimbabwe clearly finds itself at a defining stage in its history, the
pervasive apathy that could yet be the overriding factor in this election
begs the question: are our politicians far removed from the harsh realities
confronting the masses everyday? A cursory look at the two major
parties' manifestos would reveal a certain degree of commitment towards
meeting the country's aspirations. The MDC has come up with a social
democratic blueprint, which the party's secretary for economic affairs
Tendai Biti this week said would see the party returning to the days of a
big welfare state. The MDC, Biti said, would commit itself to providing
free primary education, with 15 percent of the national budget going that
way. An MDC government would also create a National Aids Trust to harness
resources to deal with the pandemic. On the other hand, ZANU PF,
which has increasingly become ultra-nationalist in light of what it
perceives to be a direct attack on its survival by hostile foreign powers,
mainly Britain and the United States, following the launch of the land
reform exercise, has declared the polls an "anti-Blair" election.
While critics point that the ruling party has, since 2000, been spoiling for
a fight with the western powers as a diversionary tactic, President Robert
Mugabe has maintained that the British and US governments, which declared
his re-election in 2002 illegitimate, have continuously and actively worked
for his ouster. As a result, President Mugabe maintains, the two powers are
as much a factor in Zimbabwe's politics as any proximal issue.
Analysts have frequently pointed out, however, that both ZANU PF and the MDC
had contributed to the waning interest in matters political. The fifth
parliament, sworn in after the hard-fought 2000 parliamentary contest in
which ZANU PF won 62 seats and the MDC 57, brought with it much promise and
excitement but, according to critics, the country's most balanced parliament
since independence generated more heat than lighting, with the two parties
eager to score political points at the expense of real issues. ZANU
PF members of parliament, on the one hand, became obsessed with toeing the
party line and rubberstamping legislation, while the MDC legislators
revelled in playing the role of spoilers in a display of sheer partisanship.
Public despair grew relentlessly all the time, and both parties could yet
pay the price of squabbling while the nation smoulders. It has been
noted how cases of political violence, which had become the bane of
Zimbabwean elections since 2000 when the MDC emerged as ZANU PF's stiffest
challenger, have drastically gone down. While several reasons have been
proffered for the refreshing phenomenon, apathy appears to have played a big
part. Political activists are no longer as charged as they were in the
past two elections and while it is a truism that no politician is worth
dying or killing for, the experience of the past five years - in which
activists have toiled for precious little in the way of tangible rewards -
has brought this home in the clearest possible way.
INTERNATIONAL
and regional observers cherry-picked by President Robert Mugabe's government
to observe Zimba-bwe's parliamentary elections started trickling into the
country this week but government critics fear their arrival, three weeks
before the polling day, could be too late for them to effectively gauge
Harare's compliance with set guidelines.
Under the Southern African
Development Community (SADC) Mauritius Protocol on free and fair elections
Zimbabwe, as the host state, is obliged to invite foreign observers at least
90 days before elections. But the government, a signatory to the
Mauritius Protocol, sent invitations to 32 selected observer missions in
February, less than 40 days before the March 31 polls. Critics
accuse the government of inviting only "friends" to observe the elections,
in which the ruling ZANU PF seeks to garner a two-thirds majo-rity to tinker
with the constitution and effect some changes, among them the
re-introduction of a bi-cameral parliament. South Africa's ruling
African National Congr-ess (ANC) is among the circle of friendly obser-vers
Harare has invited, whose pre-election period has not been characterised by
violence as was the case in 2000 and 2002 plebiscites. All in all,
Zimbabwe has invited 23 African countries, five Asian, three Americas and
only Russia from Europe. Apart from the ANC, the government has also
invited some liberation organisations, among them the South West African
People's Organi-sation (SWAPO) of Nami-bia, the Sudanese People's Liberation
Army (SPLA), Front for the Liberation of Mozamb-ique (FRELIMO), MPLA of
Angola and Tanzania's Chama-Chama Mapinduzi (CCM). The government
has also invited the African Union (AU), Community for Eastern and Southern
Africa (COMESA), Non Aligned Movement (NAM), the United Nations (UN) and the
Caribbean Community (CARICOM). It has effectively left out countries
and organisations which did not declare the 2002 preside-ntial elections as
free and fair. Analysts who spoke to The Financial Gazette said the
three-week period leading up to the polls was inadequate for obse-rvers to
effectively rule on the legitimacy of the elections. They said cou-ntries
and organisations invited by the government were not known to produce
adverse reports on Zimbabwe and the ruling ZANU PF. "We would have
preferred the invitations to have gone out as per the SADC Mauritius
agreement so that observers scrutinise the pre-election period way before
the actual polling day," said Reginald Matchaba-Hove, the chairman of the
Zimbabwe Election Support Network (ZESN), a coalition of local civic
organisations with interests in Zimbab-we's electoral processes. "The
pre-election period is different from the eve of the election. Observers
should have been here three months ago to get a feel of the electoral
playing field, which has been a cause of concern for the opposition and
other stakeholders." Information obtained by The Financial Gazette
indicates the hand-picked observer missions, including regional liberation
organisations, started trooping into the country on Tuesday this week, the
first being an African National Congress (ANC) delegation led by James
Motlatsi. Apart from the ANC observer mission, South Africa will in the
next two weeks dispatch a 20-member parliamentary observer team and a
national delegation to be led by Membathisi Mdladlana, the country's Labour
Minister. By virtue of its present position as chair of the SADC organ
on defence, security and politics, South Africa is also heading the regional
grouping's observer mission. South Africa's Home Affairs Minister, Nosiviwe
Mapisa-Nqakulai, will lead the SADC observer mission. Mapisa-Nqakula is not
new to Harare. She observed the disputed 2002 presidential poll widely
condemned by the West and the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change
(MDC) as flawed, citing violence and alleged intimidation of opposition
supporters. Her 70-member entourage is scheduled in Harare next
Monday. Eldred Masunungure, who teaches political science at the
University of Zimbabwe (UZ) said jetting into a country, which for the past
five years has fought a political impasse pitting President Mugabe and
Morgan Tsvangirai of the MDC, on the eve of the polls did not augur well for
SADC, which crafted the principles and guidelines of staging democratic
elections. Masunungure said three weeks was insufficient for observers
to fully grasp Zimbabwe's political situation, adding that the foreign
contingent needed ample time to assess Zimbabwe's pre-election
period. "It is impossible to observe an election in two weeks and
proceed to come up with a credible report on its fairness or
unfairness. "The observers need more than two months. The elections are
not about the election day but the campaigns and electioneering as well,"
said Masunungure. "The pre-election period is equally important.
Without prejudging their reports, what we might end up having is a partial
and not a global picture of the reality of the election. Two weeks is
inadequate for them to come up with a fair, balanced and comprehensive
report. They need to know what has been going on prior to the
elections." Matchaba-Hove said the list of countries and organisations
asked to observe the polls was also suspect in that a majority of them had
in the past endorsed alleged excesses of ZANU PF rule. "Invitations
should have gone to as many countries and organisations as practically
possible. This includes inviting people with ideas different from ZANU PF,"
said the ZESN boss, in apparent reference to Harare's refusal to allow the
SADC Parliamentary Forum to observe the elections. Unlike other African
observer missions, the SADC Parliamentary Forum produced a scathing report
condemning violence and other unfair practices during the disputed polls
which saw President Mugabe (81) winning another term in 2002.
Masunungure added: "The criteria used to select 32 countries out of 200
countries that constitute the international community is baffling. It's all
friends invited to a party."
WE warned in our editorial of
December 31 2004 that despite the impressive gains realised so far through
the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe's well-thought out and effective anti-inflation
measures, government, known for its intransigence, was most unlikely to play
ball and adopt austerity measures to put a fresh heart into the sickly
economy.
Our argument was not without foundation. Despite the
consensus that it is critical to see the RBZ measures through to their full
expression, it is difficult to instil fiscal discipline in a government
facing a tough election. Moreso one which has a history of profligacy. In
any case politicians will do anything to get votes - forget the oft repeated
self-serving platitudinous cliche of "doing things for the greater good".
There is no such thing. That is why politicians throughout the world are
known to even lay down lives not necessarily for their respective countries
but for their bloated self-interest. It was once observed of former
US President Franklin D. Roosevelt that if he became convinced that coming
out for cannibalism would get him votes he so sorely needed, he would
immediately begin fattening a missionary in the White House
backyard. So it is with the Zimbabwe government which has decided to
dole out a whopping $156 billion this year to ex-political prisoners and
restrictees, a staggering 25 years after national independence! The
recipients will get $1.3 million each per month. Contrast this with the $2.5
million-$3.5 million given to graduate teachers in whose hands lie the
scholastic development of Zimbabwe's children upon which the salvation of
the nation is very much dependent! Not only that but the timing of
these payouts is both curious and suspicious. Moreso coming as they do, on
the eve of a crucial parliamentary election, making it extremely difficult
not to have the inescapable conclusion that this was done for political
expediency. Now, it does not need a rocket scientist to know that such
unbudgeted expenditures would have a far-reaching negative inflationary
impact - reversing all the real gains achieved so far in the fight against
inflation - the country's enemy number one. Indeed, it would be unfortunate
to see the government reducing the RBZ efforts to naught, presenting a
sadder spectacle of a flower that withers on the stalk before coming to
fruition, especially as the central bank has thus far surprisingly breached
its self-imposed inflationary targets. That the inflation scourge
has been a millstone around the nation's neck is beyond argument. And
Zimbabweans need no reminding of the havoc it wrought on their lives. We are
all aware of the sad story of how the bleeding national ulcer, among other
factors, reduced the economy to a recessionary heap - a prolonged period of
negative growth. All sectors of the once reassuringly resilient economy, now
trying to bottom out of a seemingly deep trough, felt the inflation pinch.
Jobs went up in smoke and productivity gains were undermined. From
housewives concerned with the price of bread, gilt-edged stock investors
interested in real returns to large businesses - the untenable inflation
situation was felt across the whole spectrum of Zimbabwean life. As
pointed out in our editorial earlier on alluded to, businesses were finding
it increasingly difficult to plan as they had to factor in inflation in
their models while consumers had resigned to large automatic price increases
month-by-month if not day-by-day. Not only that but the high inflation, way
out of line with the situation obtaining in Zimbabwe's trading partners,
touched off an accelerated depreciation of the Zimbabwe dollar, which
explains why there was a flight of speculative funds as a bet on the fall of
the value of the unstable local unit. That is until the Reserve Bank of
Zimbabwe adopted tough remedial action to curb what has become a suppurating
national ulcer. The central bank recognised that taming inflation, which
over the years had seemed like a finite game, had to be priority number one.
It is not difficult to see why. Inflation lay at the heart of the country's
economic dilemma. Holding the line on inflation, which stunts economic
growth, was therefore key to economic stability. Even the most influential
person in the global financial markets today, Alan Greenspan of the US
Federal Reserve, once said that inflation interferes with the efficient
allocation of resources by confusing price signals. And the central
bank has made good its commitment to fight inflation with missionary zeal.
This, it has admittedly done with distinction hence the critical acclaim it
has received for its achievements. Reducing inflation from an all-time high
of over 600 percent in January 2004 to 133 percent in January this year was
no mean achievement by whatever definition. Be that as it may, Zimbabwe
is still not yet out of the woods. Yes, battles have been won but the war is
far from over. Not by a long shot. And this explains why fears of
inflationary pressures are not yet receding. Hence the clarion call for the
RBZ not to take its foot off the pedal. But the central bank can only
do so much. All stakeholders have to play their role. It is time for
pragmatism and not populist policies. Government should therefore not ignore
the voice of reason and influence of realities for political capital.
Instead of its intransigent and unrealistic approach where it seeks
political solutions to the country's economic woes, government has to be at
one with the RBZ. Otherwise its populist actions are stealing the bricks
from the anti-inflation wall.
EDITOR - I just want you to come and witness
how we are suffering at the University of Zimbabwe campus. For resident
students to get any meal at all one has to stand in a queue in the dining
hall for at least one hour before one is served with a poor quality meal and
apart from that one has to walk from complex 1,2,5 to the dining hall, a
distance of about three kilometres.
Apart from that
non-resident students have to pay $10 000 for a plate of sadza and one piece
of meat. If the student comes from Chitungwiza or Ruwa he or she has to have
at least $120 000 for transport and lunch just for a week. To make matters
worse, we are only getting just a $1 million for 15 weeks.
THE
Zimbabwe Newspapers (1980) Limited (Zimpapers) board has ordered an
immediate review of its retrenchment policy, having realised it would have
to pay sacked Chronicle editor Steven Ndlovu $900 million in severance pay,
and spend billions more to fund a planned sweep of editors loyal to fallen
Information Minister Jonathan Moyo.
The Financial Gazette has also
heard that the board has resolved to shed what they believe to be non-core
relics of the Moyo administration, as Herbert Nkala's board moves to pare
costs and refocus the group that Moyo had carved into a personal propaganda
instrument. The board's decision could spell trouble for The Southern
Times, a publication Moyo had hoped would dilute the regional influence of
South Africa's Sunday Times. Under Zimpapers' current retrenchment
policy where a retrenched worker is entitled to a package of two months'
salary for every year worked, Ndlovu would have been paid $900 million,
before taxes. Ndlovu is also understood to have demanded to take with
him, in addition to the cash, his company-issued Nissan "Wolf" Hardbody.
However, the board declined to hand it to him for free as the vehicle was
only acquired last year. Ndlovu was instead given the option to buy the
vehicle at its book value of around $200 million. The cost of
letting Ndlovu go immediately awakened the board to the huge amounts they
would have to pay if they follow through with a widely expected reform of
the top editorial structures at Zimpapers, a management source familiar with
the matter said yesterday. "Letting the editors go on the current
policy would blow a hole in our finances at a time the company is returning
to profit," the source said, estimating the probable cost to be over $3
billion. This would match an exchange loss of $3.5 billion that Zimpapers
took in the financial year to December 2004. Other editors targeted for the
sack have worked longer at Zimpapers than Ndlovu, and are on bigger
salaries, which means their claims would be much higher than Ndlovu's $900
million, a factor which has apparently spooked the board into trying to
change its policies. Ndlovu yesterday declined to comment on the
matter, while Zimpapers chief executive officer Justin Mutasa was said to be
away. However, an expert in personal tax told The Financial Gazette
that Zimpapers would risk legal trouble if they hold back on Ndlovu's
package, saying the company should have changed its regulations prior to
dismissing the employee, and not after they took the decision to give him
the sack. Zimpapers a fortnight ago fired Ndlovu, who had stayed
fiercely loyal to Moyo even as his fall became increasingly imminent late
last month. Ndlovu's demise raised the spectre of more sackings at
Zimpapers, whose board is now apparently seeking to rid the company of
Moyo's once fearsome influence. Although The Southern Times is a
joint venture between Zimpapers and New Era, the state-owned publisher of
Namibia, The Financial Gazette understands that Zimpapers' commercial
printing division Natprint was being forced to print the Southern Times at
no cost to the paper. Natprint recorded a $6.8 billion loss in the last
financial year. Sections of the board believe that The Southern Times,
together with a string of other unprofitable rags, are an unnecessary burden
that the group can do without.
Charles Rukuni &
Felix Njini 3/10/2005 7:32:56 AM (GMT +2)
THE foreign
currency black market, which was temporarily dampened by the introduction of
the managed auction system last year, has resurfaced with a vengeance,
prompting Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) governor Gideon Gono to issue a
stark warning to financial institutions.
Rates on the black market
have soared to more than double the auction rate as demand outstrips supply.
Even the so-called "World Bank" in Bulawayo is failing to cope.
While the United States dollar was trading at $6 053.64 at the auction on
Monday, it was selling for as much as $13 500 on the black market the same
day. The rand, which was going for $1 043.50 at the auction floors is
now fetching around $2 500 on the parallel market. The British pound, which
is fetching $11 000 on the official market is now attracting rates of up to
$23 000. The Botswana pula traded at $1 388.10 at the auction but
sold for as much as $3 000 on the black market. The proliferation
of the illegal foreign currency trade comes amid suspicions from monetary
authorities that some financial institutions are actively participating on
the parallel market. Gono, who has wielded the axe against illegal
foreign currency trading and imprudent banking practices last week, warned
financial institutions against "imprudent operations" lashing out at what he
termed "heartless and selfish pursuit of super profits". "We are
deeply concerned by the resurgence of active parallel market trading in the
economy, a result of heartless and selfish pursuit of super-profits by a few
at the expense of the entire economy's stability," Gono said. "We
have also seen some of the players in the financial sector soiling their
hands in these illegal practices, all for want of above-the-moon super
profits," he said. The central bank governor warned of the pain suffered by
some players in the sector caught on the wrong side of the fence.
"The central bank will, therefore, take stern measures against any licensed
operators in the financial sector found directly or indirectly flouting
exchange control regulations. "Equally, as monetary authorities, we
wish to warn retailers and other members of the corporate sector and the
public that the bank is carrying out strict exchange control surveillance to
smoke out illegal dealers, and all defaulters will be brought to book
without fear, favour or hesitation," Gono said Increased demand for
foreign currency and a fixed foreign currency allocation from the auction
floors had seen the local unit on a free fall over the past six weeks,
market watchers said. The allocation has remained static at US$11
million despite bids shooting up from US$29.4 million on January 3 to a peak
of US$101.3 million on February 14 2005. A staggering 4 277 out of 4 404
bids were rejected on February 17. On Monday 3 066 out of 3 206 bids were
rejected. The illegal foreign currency trade has proliferated despite the
central bank's assurance to the nation that foreign currency inflows into
the country were improving. Last year a total of US$1.7 billion found
its way into the country compared to US$301 million in 2003. The
central bank expects inflows to reach US$3.1 billion this year, 77 percent
of the 1996 peak of US$3.9 billion. Foreign currency shortages have
worsened since the announcement of the extension in foreign currency
proceeds repatriation periods by the RBZ in the fourth quarter monetary
policy review statement late January. Since February, exporters can now
hold on to 70 percent of their foreign currency for 90 days, up from 30 days
previously, in their foreign currency accounts and sell the balance at the
ruling auction rate. Analysts have noted that even if exporters exceed
the mandatory 90-day remittance period, the penalty is only 15 percent of
their export proceeds, which they would be required to dispose of at the
official rate of $824 to the US dollar. Since the announcement of
these changes, the market has witnessed an unprecedented increase in the
demand for foreign currency against a background of static supply compared
to the previous period. For instance, the amount of bids that averaged
US$53 million during the last quarter of 2004 against an average supply
threshold of US$10.5 million, increased to US$53.5 million in January
2005. However, since February 2005, the average demand has shot up to
US$94.37 million, as the demand has now breached the US$100 million mark,
against a static supply of US$11 million.
A GLUT of cotton on
the international market may see a 30 percent slump in the price of the
product, reducing Zimbabwe's foreign currency earnings.
Industry players told The Financial Gazette that international lint prices
had fallen from US73 cents per pound in 2004 to US49 cents in 2005. The
price is expected to pick up to around US60 cents in the coming year. A
boom in cotton output from China, the United States of America and Australia
has seen production rising by nearly 21 percent, according to an official
with the Cotton Company of Zimbabwe (Cottco). "International lint
prices are significantly lower (30 percent) than last year's due to
increased world production," said the Cottco official. Zimbabwe
produced 331 000 tonnes of cotton in 2004, but players expect a 30 percent
fall in output this season. Exports of cotton, which was fast taking the
place of tobacco in terms of foreign currency earnings, last year earned the
country more than US$150 million. Apart from the slump in the
international cotton price, local farmers have also been hit by the sliding
value of the local currency against the United States dollar.
INTERFRESH Holdings
Limited's disposal of its manufacturing subsidiary, Interfoods, as part of
its restructuring is now mired in controversy after it emerged the company
was sold to one of the group's non-executive directors, Michael Shongwe
Ndoro.
Sources told The Financial Gazette this week that former
Tedco Limited boss Ndoro, who has been keeping a low profile of late
following his departure from the listed retail and manufacturing group last
year, had acquired Interfoods for $3 billion, payable over 24 months at a
hugely discounted interest rate of 30 percent per annum. It is
understood the deal, sealed in October last year, had the full blessings of
the Interfresh board. When reached for comment, Ndoro, who was also at
the helm of Schweppes a few years back, said he had recused himself from the
board's discussion of the transaction in the "interest of corporate
governance." "I can confirm that I bought the company (Interfoods), but
I can't disclose the financial details of the transaction . . . and it was
approved by the board. In the interest of corporate governance, I recused
myself from the board during deliberations on the specific transaction,"
said Ndoro. Interfresh chief executive Evan Christophides said his
group had arrived at the decision to sell off Interfoods after it was
projected to make a $3 billion loss in the financial year to December
2004. The subsidiary, which was proving to be a black sheep within the
horticulture group, had recorded another $1.7 billion loss in the previous
year, and management had swiftly suspended exports within the
division. It has also been established that Ndoro, who previously held
a 25 percent stake in another Interfresh subsidiary, Marlon Trading, sold
his stock to the group, which has now established 100 percent control of the
unit. Ndoro, who was appointed to the Interfresh board in July
2004, makes up a new-look board for the group, chaired by former Old Mutual
executive Lishon Chipango. Interfresh now has in its portfolio
citrus, flowers, trading and a support services entity. All 11 subsidiaries
have been under the respective portfolio. Its subsidiaries include
Interspan, Transfruit, Intercrop, Wholesale Fruiterers, Citifresh and Marlon
Trading. Interfresh has made significant strides offshore, where it has
clinched markets in Europe, the Far and Middle East, Canada and Russia. It
has also successfully penetrated the southern Africa region. The
group has, however, expressed concern over the listing by the government of
Mazoe Citrus Estates despite repeated pleas that the development was
disrupting production and future investments. Over 88 percent of Mazoe
Citrus Estates was listed for acquisition, while 46 percent was resettled at
the height of land seizures which began in 2000. Interfresh says it
has financiers ready to inject funds into a dam project that would augment
water supply in Mazoe and pave way for the opening up of new land to
farming.
ZIMBABWE'S
commissioner of police Augustine Chihuri says charges by opposition parties
of the resurgence of political violence and selective application of the law
three weeks before parliamentary polls are false.
Chihuri claimed
at a press conference this week police had arrested more ZANU PF supporters
than those of the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) since
January this year. He said the police arrested 67 ZANU PF supporters
compared to 42 supporters of the MDC on charges of politically-motivated
violence. The ZRP boss said ZANU PF had 23 cases while the MDC had 17
cases. He said it was also a falsehood by the MDC to claim that the Public
Order and Security Act were drafted with the MDC in mind. "The
accusations that this piece of legislation was designed for any one
political party are false. Are not all political parties holding rallies
countrywide as we speak? Participants (in the election) should not pile
their shortcomings on the ZRP or the law," said Chihuri. The MDC has
prepared a dossier of violence against its members, which includes arrest of
its officials found distributing fliers or putting up posters in public
places by the police. Chihuri said police were empowered by the
Electoral Act to arrest anyone putting up posters on premises without the
consent of owners of buildings. "As we move towards March 31
parliamentary elections, there are distortions that are already appearing in
the media both here at home and internationally with increasing and
sickening regularity. It could be political expedience that peddlers of such
information sacrifice fact for fiction," said Chihuri.
TWENTY-SIX-YEAR-old Colin does not know yet how he will spend March 31 - but
he knows he will not spend that Thursday anywhere near an election
booth. "There's an election this year? Seriously?" he mocks. "Do
you know anybody who is going to vote? I don't."
Of course,
it is unlikely that Colin does not really know that there is an election
this month-end. But content with sitting in this trendy suburban bar and
ordering lagers by the barrel, Colin admits he has no interest at all in the
coming general election. He is not alone though. Colin is just one of
many of Zimbabwe's young urban professionals who are spending more time
talking about the legendary arrogance of football coach Jose Mourinho, for
example, than they are about the country's political future. It
should be a worrying sign for Zimbabwe's political parties, particularly for
the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), which had appealed to
young professionals in previous elections. But even more, it should be a
worrying trend to organisations involved in voter education. Five years
ago, Colin voted for the first time in his life, one of the hundreds of
thousands of enthusiastic, young, first time voters that the MDC
successfully pulled to voting stations on promises of a modern and competent
government. There was a buzz prior to the general election in 2000
and the 2002 presidential race, a feeling of something big about to happen,
that kind of expectant feeling Bob Marley, the late legendary Jamaican
reggae singer, would have called "a natural mystic blowing through the
air". The result was the largest voter turnout since independence in
1980 - at some urban centres, police had to beat thousands of voters away on
the last day of polling in 2002 after voting closed. But now,
relentlessly cursing at Chelsea coach Mourinho on TV, Colin wouldn't care
less about who wins on March 31. Just as it was ZTV that drove him mad and
sent him running to the polls in 2000, it is something he watched on the
same station recently that finally convinced him to stay away from the
polls. "The other night, you had (ZANU PF political commissar Elliot)
Manyika saying we should vote ZANU PF because they have brought inflation
down from 623 percent to 132 percent. That's a senior government official's
reasoning. Then you had two more guys, one from the MDC and another an
independent saying nothing; all of them are empty," says Colin, who claims
to be an "independent financial advisor". International interest in
March 31 has been building up over the past few months, with scathing
criticism of the poll coming from US Secretary of State Condoleezza
Rice and the British House of Commons. Regional leaders, such as South
African president Thabo Mbeki, have also spent time talking about Zimbabwe.
But in Zimbabwe itself - apart from the relief at a less violent campaign -
the thrill is just not there. Political analysts say the average
Zimbabwean, whether bravely fighting off the wolf from the door or battling
to keep his business afloat, has grown weary of Zimbabwean politics - its
fraud and The trauma of watching the last two elections being
flagrantly stolen through fraud and butchery will take time to
heal. Watching the perpetrators of that violence not only walking free,
but in fact now claiming to be peace-loving saints, has sapped the zeal
right out of the ordinary person, leaving them with no other wish other than
just to be left alone. The voter fatigue is shared among young
urbanites, keen only on getting on with their professional lives, and rural
folk, whose lives are a ritual of receiving food handouts from ZANU PF while
evading violence from the same. After the high expectations of 2000
and 2002 collapsed into a painful anti-climax, it will be difficult for
political groups to rally the electorate around any strong cause.
The land ticket does not sell much for ZANU PF anymore, so an "anti-Blair"
cause is being chased - hardly a cause to whip up passions. The dour
atmosphere that has stayed with Zimbabwe only three weeks to the election
has given rise to fears of massive voter apathy at the polls. Many had
expected more enthusiasm for the vote once the MDC abandoned an earlier
threat to boycott the election, but this turn in public sentiment has never
come. It is a vote of no confidence in a political process that once
promised a lot, but one that delivered little. At an
interdenominational national prayer meeting for a peaceful election last
month, Roman Catholic Bishop of Manicaland, Patrick Mutume, asked: "Why do
we allow those we give power to turn and use that power to suppress
us? "We are at fault because we put evil people into power. Why are we
rewarding them?" Perhaps his answer lies in the suburban pubs where
young men who just do not care anymore get emotional over English football,
in the reeking poverty of city townships where families know no other
struggle apart from staying alive, and in the countryside, where ZANU PF has
long broken resistance.
A WEEKEND rally to
officially launch a loose coalition of independent candidates contesting in
the March 31 parliamentary election flopped in Bulawayo, amid reports that
about 50 people attended the launch.
The rally, dubbed the
"Solidarity Rally" and organised by the newly formed Independent Candidates'
Solidarity Network, was billed to feature 16 of the 17 candidates contesting
in the poll as independents. The grouping, reportedly under probe by
the government over the source of its funding, has already established a
secretariat. Sources who visited White City Stadium told The Financial
Gazette that Jonathan Moyo, the former Cabinet minister who is standing as
an independent candidate in Tsholotsho, did not attend the poorly organised
rally that had been intended to mark the official launch of the independent
candidates' network. Moyo, the former government spin-doctor who is
pitted against incumbent legislator Mtoliki Sibanda of the Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC) and Musa Ncube-Mathema of the ruling ZANU PF party,
is understood to be sympathetic to the coalition. Sikhumbuzo
Ndiweni, the coordinator of the grouping, told this newspaper last week that
Moyo "has been helpful". Ndiweni denied that the former minister of
information and publicity was bankrolling the organisation as widely
believed in government circles. Charles Mpofu, one of the leading
officials of the coalition, which appears to be a loose grouping of
disgruntled former ZANU PF and MDC aspiring candidates, confirmed the rally
"did not live up to expectations". Mpofu, who is facing David Coltart
of the MDC and Sithembiso Nyoni of ZANU PF in Bulawayo South, attributed the
unsuccessful launch ceremony to bad publicity and failure by the police to
speedily process the organisation's clearance to stage the
gathering. "There were about 100 people. This was due to bad publicity
by newspapers and the police, who delayed issuing us with a clearance to
hold the rally," said Mpofu. Mpofu was at the venue with Stars
Mathe, another former MDC Bulawayo councillor who is standing in
Pumula/Luveve against Esof Mdlongwa of the MDC and Bathandi Mpofu of ZANU
PF. Mpofu also confirmed that Moyo was not at the venue. Sources said
Moyo was in Tsholotsho coordinating his election campaign. The
former government-spin doctor was not immediately available for comment
yesterday.
ZIMBABWE on March
31 goes to its third election since the political crisis that started in
2000 shook the once prosperous Southern Africa nation. The March
parliamentary elections are pitting old foes, the ruling ZANU PF party, the
main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) and tribal-based ZANU
(Ndonga).
The last two crucial elections in Zimbabwe, the 2000
parliamentary poll and the presidential election in 2002 left a trail of
destruction and lingering memories of violence, chaos and fear among
millions of Zimbabwe's populace. The elections turned Zimbabwe's
political system into a power game between the ruling party and the MDC,
resulting in the sidelining of popular issues and concerns of the general
populace. All the parties campaigned on the platform that they would
improve living standards of the ordinary people, but the living conditions
of many Zimbabweans have only got worse, leaving many in near
destitution. A number of Zimbabweans now question the value of
elections that have failed to improve their lot. Harare resident
and school teacher Mary Mvurumi says she has not seen life change for the
better after an election. She says by-elections have been held and life goes
on as if nothing significant has happened. "My income has remained
stagnant and I am still living in this shack. To me, the elections are not
significant," says Mvurumi, pointing at one of the many shacks that litter
Dzivaresekwa, one of Harare's sprawling high density suburbs, about 21 km
west of the capital. It is people such as Mvurumi that both the
opposition and the ruling party have started bombarding with campaign
manifestos and other material to canvass for support in the coming election
but the major question emerging is: will the ordinary person take the bait
and vote for either ? Zimbabweans have issues they want addressed, but
successive elections have come up with colourful blueprints for success,
which have remained on paper and not yielded much. Political
analyst and head of the National Constitutional Assembly (NCA), Lovemore
Madhuku, says the political environment in Zimbabwe does not give room or
space for real concerns and issues to be raised and discussed. "The
election itself is an issue and I see it as a ZANU PF election to be held in
an environment that does not provide issues or a case for the election,"
Madhuku says. He says the election is a trap President Robert Mugabe is
setting to preserve his power. "At 81, Mugabe has achieved lots on
the basis of his iron fist rule and people have been playing into his traps.
That is why the MDC is participating in the election, another trap," Madhuku
says. Madhuku says the MDC will not win the election despite its
evident optimism because President Mugabe is setting the rules and virtually
running the electoral system. In the run-up to the last
parliamentary election in 2000, ZANU PF promised to tame unemployment by
creating 850 000 jobs and five years later, the jobless rate is said to be
82 percent. The MDC has also sung from the same hymn book and promises
to provide more jobs should it snatch power from ZANU PF. The
economy has continued declining, sapping ordinary people's interest in
Zimbabwe's political life, resulting in the fading of the appeal that
followed the MDC's formation amid much promise. Stanley Kwangari, a
carpenter at a backyard workshop outside Harare's central business district,
says he was more concerned with his daily survival, adding that he was not
bothered which party was in government as long as his income pulled him
through. "See, I have to make money everyday. I am not bothered whether
or not people are going to vote next week. You are right, some have no
choice but I want cash," says Kwangari. But political analyst
Takura Zhangazha says the ruling party has scored a victory of sorts in
managing to secure the participation of the oppo- sition MDC in the
election. "ZANU PF has finally trapped the MDC into participating in
the election. Succession politics in ZANU PF have had a bearing on
the election. The ruling party is aiming for a two-thirds parliamentary
majority that would enable it to amend the constitution. "The
reorganisation in ZANU PF after its national congress was done to win the
election and now the MDC is in," he said, hinting that the move would serve
to legitimise the ZANU PF government, which has grappled with the curse of
discredited elections in the past five years. Zhangazha says the
forthcoming election would be hit by voter apathy because the electorate has
lost faith in the electoral system. "Judging by the conduct of the
presidential election in 2002 and parliamentary by-elections, people have
lost confidence in the elections and lots of work needs to be done to
convince people to participate in the March election," he said. He
added that civil society views electoral and constitutional reforms as
important and key issues in the conduct of the election. To those in
civil society, Zhangazha said, the issue of concern as the election draws
nearer was the new non-governmental organisations (NGO) law, which bars
foreign funding for human rights work and demands that the NGOs register and
agree to have their work monitored. "Civil society would want the NGO
legislation repealed because of its effects on election monitoring, civic
education and voting," he said. Others however feel that the government
must take firm steps to level the playing field to secure total
participation by the opposition in the election process. Despite
the grandstanding by both the ruling party and the opposition on the coming
election, one analyst says the question of legitimacy looms large over this
election and it is a dent the ruling party would want addressed
now. Eldred Masunungure, chairperson of the political science
department at the University of Zimbabwe, says ZANU PF is battling for
recognition and legitimacy and would use the March election to mend its
reputation. "Yes, they are eyeing a two-thirds majority in parliament
but I don't think they would not take the elections as an opportunity to
correct their battered image," Masunungure said. He said President
Mugabe has dealt with his former information minister Jonathan Moyo in a
manner that shows that he is not interested in Moyo's combative approach in
dealing with the opposition. "The ruling party cannot continue trashing
the opposition as Moyo used to do in the past and the focus is on the
election as a window of opportunity to attract international engagement in
addressing the Zimbabwe crisis," Masunungure said. The government
is under pressure from the opposition to implement a set of electoral
guidelines agreed to by Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) member
states in Grand Baie, Mauritius, last August. The guidelines, which
include access to the public media by the opposition, have not been fully
implemented by government. The government has agreed to single-day
voting, the use of translucent ballot boxes and it has established an
independent electoral commission. Human rights lawyer Brian Kagoro, who
is the chairperson of Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition says people's
expectations would emerge as the main issue in the March poll.
"People are a bit confused with the March election. They are trying to
relate their votes with bread and butter issues. Will people see their votes
make a difference and whether or not the leadership on offer is worth voting
for," Kagoro says. He said some people had come to a point where
they see elections as having no bearing on their lives.
Legal fraternity disputes appeal in mercenary case
March 10,
2005, 06:00
Legal experts in South Africa are dismissing Zimbabwe's
assertion that foreign nationals jailed in that country are not entitled to
reduction of their prison sentences.
This follows the appeal filed by
the Zimbabwean attorney-general against the ruling of that country's High
Court to reduce the sentences of the alleged South African mercenaries
languishing in Harare's Chikurubi prison. The attorney-general says the
reduction of prison sentences is an exclusive privilege of the Zimbabwean
criminals.
Last week the Zimbabwean High Court made a ruling that
effectively reduced the prison sentences of the 62 alleged South African
mercenaries jailed in that country by four months. They were convicted for
breaching Zimbabwe's aviation, immigration, firearms and security laws. This
after they were arrested at the Harare International airport upon their
landing to allegedly pick up military equipment.
Longer prison
terms They were later linked to a coup plot in Equatorial Guinea allegedly
financed by Mark Thatcher, a Bristish businessman. The High Court ruling
meant that the men who were serving a one-year term would now only have to
serve eight months. It also provided the prisoners with a one-third
remission of their sentence for good behaviour in prison. Coupled with this
reduction, all the men except two pilots who received longer prison terms -
were to be released immediately.
But a week went by with them still
languishing in the Chikurubi prison with no clarity for the delay. It has
now emerged that in fact they are still going to be behind bars for some
time as Sobuza Gule-Ndebele, the Zimbabwean attorney-general is opposing
their release. Gule Ndebele says their High Court got it all wrong when it
reduced the prison sentences of these alleged South African mercenaries
because as foreigners they are not entitled to that privilege.
Legal
experts in the country however are dismissing the Attorney General's claim
that legislation dealing with criminals in Zimbabwe makes a distinction on
who should have their sentences reduced, between local and foreign
nationals. Shadrack Gutto of the African Rennaisance Centre at Unisa and
Gail Wanneburg of the South African Institute of International Affairs, says
the reduction of prison sentences is an international phenomenon that cuts
across national jurisdictions.
Wanneburg says the Zimbabwean High Court
could not have deliberately ignored this distinction if it existed, when it
made the ruling to reduce the sentences of the South African
prisoners.
Voter education 'too late for Zim' Posted Thu, 10 Mar
2005
Zimbabwean civic groups on Wednesday said a drive to educate voters
ahead of crunch polls later this month has come too late as the southern
African country's newly appointed electoral commission began training its
own educators.
"It's too late for this year's elections," said
Reginald Matchaba-Hove, chairperson of Zimbabwe's Election Support Network,
a non-governmental organisation dedicated to voter education.
"We
however commend the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission's efforts to conduct voter
education to fulfil a part of its mandate," he told AFP, but added that it
was too late to teach people to inspect the voters' register since it had
closed last month.
"We can only conclude that the government is not
serious about electoral reforms. The so-called electoral reforms are there
in theory, but they are useless," he said.
"The voter education will
be useful perhaps for future elections," Matchaba-Hove said.
This
view was echoed by a member of a lobby group advocating constitutional
reform in the country, ruled by President Robert Mugabe.
"Too little,
too late" - NCA
"Our view is, 'It's too little, too late'," said Jessie
Majome of the National Constitutional Assembly (NCA), a coalition of
Zimbabwe's civic society and rights groups.
The electoral commission
appointed by Mugabe in January conducted one-day seminars for senior voter
educators in Harare and Bulawayo on Wednesday.
The March 31 elections
will be watched closely as a test of Zimbabwe's commitment to adhere to SADC
principles of free and fair elections.
The country's last elections in
2000 and 2002 were marred by allegations of intimidation, violence and
electoral fraud.
The voter educators are expected to train facilitators
across the country.
10 March 2005 Zimbabwe in bid to 'clarify' SADC
stance Dumisani Muleya
Harare Correspondent
ZIMBABWE's
government offered some clarity yesterday on the contentious apparent
exclusion of a key election body from observing this month's
election.
Zimbabwean information and publicity secretary George
Charamba said in Harare yesterday that an invitation to Southern African
Development Community (SADC) observers issued "three weeks ago" had included
the SADC Parliamentary Forum to observe its general election at the end of
the month.
The forum declared the 2002 presidential election in
Zimbabwe not free and fair.
Charamba dismissed as nonsensical
the suggestion that the country had anything to hide in the March 31
election, or that it had intentionally excluded the forum.
The forum
had not been invited specifically because Zimbabwe interacted only with
"countries, national political parties, and regional, continental and
international bodies" in connection with election observation, he
said.
"Zimbabwe has extended a formal invitation to the SADC and this
implies an invitation to any arms of SADC which have a bearing on election
observation," he said.
"And that includes the SADC Parliamentary
Forum unless, of course, the forum considers itself outside SADC, above SADC
or an alternative or even bigger than SADC, which we do not believe it
is."
He also said the forum could not claim to have better eyes than all
the observer missions put together.
However,
Charamba said the organisation, consisting of nongovernmental organisations,
opposition party representatives and Zimbabwe's speaker of parliament and
several MPs, was funded by the west, which coloured its views because of
"sponsored bias".
The forum's standards for elections were drawn up
in Zimbabwe in 1999. Zimbabwe's parliament has acceded to them, and speaker
Emmerson Mnangagwa led the forum's poll observer mission to Malawi last
year.
Charamba also said that there had been attempts by SADC leaders
to rein in the organisation since it pronounced President Robert Mugabe's
hotly disputed re-election in 2002 illegitimate.
Zimbabwe has
invited only friendly states and groups to observe its poll. At least 23
countries, including SA, were invited from Africa, five from Asia, three
from the Americas and Russia.
The US and European Union countries
were not invited although their diplomats based in Harare have been given a
green light to observe the poll.
Zimbabwe's botched effort to
prevent the SADC forum from officially observing the poll threatened to
spark a diplomatic row that could have easily degenerated into a regional
confrontation.
Instead of inviting SADC observers 90 days
before voting begins, Zimbabwe invited them only three weeks ago. The SADC
observer mission is expected in Zimbabwe only on Monday.
The
70-member mission, headed by South African Home Affairs Minister Nosiviwe
Mapisa-Nqakula, plans to leave on March 15.
Earlier yesterday, before
Charamba's announcement, SA's foreign affair department director-general
Ayanda Ntsaluba said in Cape Town that Zimbabwe's refusal to invite the
forum to the election left SA in a "difficult situation".
"I don't
know how to respond. It is obviously a difficult situation," Ntsaluba
said.
He said he was aware that the forum had not been complimentary
about the outcome of the last poll.
Ntsaluba said it was
possible for an SADC delegation to be invited without the forum, "but what
makes this difficult is the backdrop". With Bloomberg, Sapa-DFA