http://www.timeslive.co.za/
Sapa-AFP | 24 March, 2012
11:03
Zimbabwean Foreign Minister Simbarashe Mumbengegwi and two other
government
officials are stranded in Mali because of the coup in the west
African
country, the government spokesman said on Saturday.
"I can
confirm the minister and two officials from his ministry are in
Mali,"
George Charamba told AFP. "He has touched base and indicated that
they are
safe. He is in a hotel which cannot be named for security
reasons."
Charamba said Mumbengegwi was in Mali to attend an African
Union meeting on
peace and security in the Sahel region and could not leave
Bamako as the
country's borders were sealed and airports closed following
the coup.
He said Mumbengegwi was in the same hotel with other foreign
ministers whom
he could not identify.
Kenyan Foreign Minister Moses
Wetangula was also stranded by the coup, his
government said
Thursday.
Coup leaders in Mali on Thursday ordered all borders closed
after taking
over key buildings in Bamako and ousting President Amadou
Toumani Toure,
sparking international concern and condemnation.
"The
situation is expected to become normal in the coming days and we expect
Minister Mumbengegwi to arrive back home early next week," the state-owned
Herald newspaper quoted Charamba as saying.
http://www.independent.co.uk
Politician tells Alex
Duval Smith in Harare why President will never quit
Alex Duval
Smith
Harare
Saturday 24 March 2012
President Robert
Mugabe "will never step down", Zimbabwe's Finance Minister
told The
Independent, creating an image of a lonely man with few interests
outside
politics, and a determination to cling to power to the bitter end.
Tendai
Biti of the Movement for Democratic Change, who entered the
government in
2009 as part of a power-sharing deal with Mr Mugabe's Zanu-PF,
said he felt
"pity" for the 88-year-old President, who is criticised for
human rights
abuses and the slow pace of democratic reform.
"After 32 years in power,
he knows nothing else," Mr Biti said. "I know the
joy of walking into a
supermarket, watching the Black Rhinos [football club]
or going to church
without anyone raising a furore. He does not know there
is a beautiful life
outside politics. He would never want to retire. I think
he will never step
down."
Mr Biti, a 45-year-old lawyer who is deputy to Prime Minister
Morgan
Tsvangirai in the MDC, also launched a spirited defence of his
party's
record in government. He rejected suggestions that his party had
lost
credibility by cosying up to Zanu-PF, which entered the fragile
coalition
with the MDC after disputed, violence-plagued elections in 2008.
But the
power sharing has proved bitter and fractious.
"We have not
stolen money. Zanu-PF has tried to trap us. There are many
temptations in
politics. They have thrown everything at us except incest,"
Mr Biti said in
an interview in Harare.
"The people of Zimbabwe know that we are the
party that has given them
time-out [economically]. The past 39 months have
shown that we are nobody's
puppets and we are ready to govern on the basis
of a simple decision-making
matrix: what is best for our people and the
country."
International donors refuse to pay aid directly to the
Zimbabwean treasury.
As a result, Mr Biti presides over a peppercorn budget
of US$4bn (£2.5bn),
70 per cent of which he spends on civil servants'
salaries.
He said the country's new diamond field, Marange, had brought
in only $19m
to the treasury since the beginning of the year, whereas he had
expected
$77m.
Human rights groups have expressed concern that Mr
Mugabe's party plans to
use the proceeds from diamond mines to fund violence
and intimidation in
upcoming elections – accusations denied by
Zanu-PF.
Mr Biti said the country urgently needed to put in place
structures – such
as a state diamond exploration company – to ensure that
"those diamonds
sweat for us and not for thieves and
middlemen".
Under the deal that followed the disputed elections in 2008,
Zimbabwe is
expected to move towards fair elections. But the process of
writing a new
constitution has become mired in infighting. President Mugabe
has suggested
he will call elections with or without a new
constitution.
This month, Mr Biti said elections probably could not be
held this year
because the state coffers were too low. Mr Mugabe had
reportedly insisted
"money has to be found". Mr Mugabe is currently slated
to be the sole
presidential candidate in the elections.
Mr Biti
repeated the MDC's call for international sanctions to be lifted,
and
criticised the Obama administration. He suggested the US should apply
the
same "constructive engagement" policies – sweeteners rather than
sanctions –
that were used by the Reagan administration in its dealings with
apartheid
South Africa. "When you have a difficult situation you must
engage," he
said. "Some countries are refusing to engage. Their approach is
primitive
and amateurish."
http://www.reuters.com/
HARARE, March 24 | Sat
Mar 24, 2012 10:07am EDT
(Reuters) - Anjin, the biggest miner operating
in Zimbabwe's controversial
Marange diamond fields, said on Saturday a
two-day strike by workers had
ended after management agreed to a 25-percent
wage hike.
In previous strikes by local employees, Chinese-run Anjin was
accused of
unfair treatment including beatings by management.
Wages
were the focus of the latest walkout, Munyaradzi Machacha, a director
at
Anjin, told Reuters.
"We had a strike where workers wanted their pay to
be increased," Machacha
said.
"The workers have since gone back to
work after they were awarded a 25
percent increase in both wages and
salaries."
Keeping diamond mining on track is vital for the government,
which owns half
of Anjin and relies on the industry for
revenue.
Anjin employs 1,500 Zimbabweans and more than 200
Chinese.
The Marange area where it operates, 400 km (240 miles) east of
Harare, has
generated controversy since 20,000 small-scale miners invaded
the area in
2008 and were forcibly removed by soldiers and
police.
Human rights groups say up to 200 people were killed during the
process,
charges denied by the Zimbabwean government.
Human Rights
Watch (HRW) said last August that police and private security
employed by
some mine owners were shooting, beating and using attack dogs
against
unlicensed miners.
Anjin has denied any wrongdoing.
The Marange
area had been the focus of diamond export controls by the
Kimberly Process
for suspected human rights violations in mining of the
precious
stones.
But last year miners including Anjin received export approval
after the
United States, Canada and the European Union dropped objections,
ending two
years of dispute.
Finance Minister Tendai Biti warned this
month that Zimbabwe's government
risked having to shut down because
projected revenue from the diamond
industry had failed to come
through.
Biti is a member of the opposition Movement for Democratic
Change which is
in an uneasy coalition government with 88-year-old President
Robert Mugabe's
ZANU-PF party.
Anjin is a joint venture between the
government's Zimbabwe Mining
Development Corporation and China's state-owned
Anhui Foreign and Economic
Construction Company.
It plans to mine up
to 10 million carats this year. (Reporting by MacDonald
Dzirutwe; editing by
Jason Neely)
http://www.voanews.com/
23 March
2012
According to the Independent newspaper, Chihuri, Agriculture
Minister Joseph
Made, Indigenization Minister Saviour Kasukuwere,
Presidential Affairs
Minister Didymus Mutasa and Brigadier-General Herbert
Chingono are among top
influential people who accessed huge tonnes of
ammonium nitrate fertilizer
Gibbs Dube | Washington
Zimbabwe
police chief Augustine Chihuri, three senior cabinet ministers,
governors
and an army commander, have been implicated in the alleged looting
of a
state-sponsored agricultural inputs scheme, plunging this year's
farming
season into a crisis.
According to the Independent newspaper, Police
Commissioner General Chihuri,
Agriculture Minister Joseph Made,
Indigenization Minister Saviour
Kasukuwere, Presidential Affairs Minister
Didymus Mutasa and
Brigadier-General Herbert Chingono are among top
influential people who
accessed huge tonnes of ammonium nitrate
fertilizer.
Others include Mashonaland West Governor Faber Chidarikire,
his predecessor
Nelson Samkange, chief magistrate Mishrod Guvamombe and
several other
officials linked to President Robert Mugabe’s ZANU-PF
party.
The paper alleges that Chihuri received 80 tonnes of fertilizer
from the
Shamva GMB depot for use at his Inyika farm, Chidarikire got 60
tonnes,
Samkange 42, Kasukuwere 24 and Guvamombe 16. It is not yet clear how
much
was received by Made and Mutasa.
There was no immediate comment
from all those implicated in the scam.
Parliamentary agriculture
committee chairman Moses Jiri said the GMB has
submitted detailed reports
with names of all people who accessed farming
inputs this
year.
Deputy Agriculture Minister Seiso Moyo said he hopes the
parliamentary
committee will investigate the alleged looting of farming
inputs and make
the necessary recommendations.
http://www.voanews.com
23 March
2012
Mines
Minister Obert Mpofu and Indigenization Minister Savior Kasukuwere of
the
President Robert Mugabe's former ruling ZANU-PF are said to be
toughening
their stance as their party swings into election mode
Blessing Zulu |
Washington
Zimbabwe's cash strapped government is now threatening to
force mining firms
to hand over a 51% stake without paying for the proper
value as stipulated
by the country's controversial indigenization
law.
Economic analysts say this big stick approach will scare away the
much-needed investment as the drive now increasingly resembles the chaotic
and ofter violent land reform exercise that started in 2000.
Sources
say the hardline approach is being adopted after South Africa’s
Impala
Platinum demanded that Zimbabwe pay an estimated $375 million before
it can
transfer a 51% stake that the government says it has acquired.
Mines
Minister Obert Mpofu and Indigenization Minister Savior Kasukuwere of
the
President Robert Mugabe's former ruling ZANU-PF are said to be
toughening
their stance as their party swings into election mode.
Mpofu told VOA's
Blessing Zulu that those who do not transfer the shares
risk their firms
being taken over by the government.
But deputy justice minister and
Senator Obert Gutu of Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai's Movement for
Democratic Change formation says Harare must pay
the share value as per law.
http://www.financialgazette.co.zw
Friday, 23 March 2012 13:39
EXECUTIVES at ZESA
Holdings have awarded themselves hefty increases in their
allowances of up
to 75 percent, backdated to 2009, at a time the loss-making
power utility
has intensified both its revenue collection and load shedding,
The Financial
Gazette can exclusively reveal.
Ironically, allowances for non-managerial
staff have been slashed by 35
percent to contain the ballooning overheads in
spite of recommendations for
a 70 percent upward adjustment of the same by
the National Employment
Council for the energy industry.
Pressure has now
been brought to bear on the ZESA board and management by
unions and State
bureaucrats to explain the inflationary adjustments that
are way out of step
with the prevailing pricing trends.
Inflation, dubbed Zimbabwe’s Number One
enemy, receded in January to 4,3
percent from 4,9 percent in December. The
hefty salary increases are
therefore seen not only widening the disparities
between salaries for
managerial and non-managerial staff but angering ZESA
custo-mers who are
unhappy with the high electricity tariffs.
Business
has been passing on the extra cost to the consumer in the form of
higher
prices, worsening the inflation outlook. Impeccable sources at ZESA
said
heads were likely to roll, starting at board level upon the expiry of
the
office tenures of certain of its members.
Adding to the pressure is the
suspicion within the corridors of power that
there could be a hidden
political agenda behind an expose` naming and
shaming top government
officials owing the power monopoly huge sums of
money.
The leaks came as
a huge embarrassment to several government officials, who
are fuming over
what they perceive to be a flagrant breach of client
confidentiality and the
parastatal’s shambolic billing.
The anger has been directed at top ZESA
officials who could pay dearly for
their perceived transgressions by losing
their jobs.
ZANU-PF officials suspect that the matter was being handled in a
partisan
manner given that the energy portfolio is presided over by a
Movement for
Democratic Change appointee. They also fear that the
shenanigans at the
power utility could spark public protests at a time the
country is eyeing
fresh elections to bring closure to the shaky government
of national unity.
It however, emerged this week that the leaks were
masterminded by
non-managerial employees disgruntled by the reduction in
their allowances
and the fact that their bosses had denied them salary
increases.
The Zimbabwe Energy Workers’ Union (ZEEWU) this week said ZESA
managers were
bleeding the parastatal, owed in excess of US$450 million by
both domestic
and commercial consumers.
Representatives of ZEEWU, made up
of ZESA affiliates — the Zimbabwe National
Water Authority (ZINWA), Green
Fuel and the Rural Electrification Agency
(REA) — were yesterday locked in
meetings with management at ZESA as it
emerged workers at the power company
were increasingly getting agitated.
This week, ZEEWU told Parliament that
government chefs’ failure to settle
electricity bills was a contributory
factor to the poor salaries employees
were getting. It alleged that their
respective companies — ZESA, ZINWA and
REA — were failing to pay them due to
the huge amounts the utilities are
owed.
“The bad debtors who are not
paying their utility bills are the big gurus,
and we feel if they were to
pay the outstanding amounts our companies would
be able to pay us,” union
president, Angeline Chitambo told the
Parliamentary Portfolio Committee
on Public Service and Labour.
Energy and Power Development Minister, Elton
Mangoma, confirmed this week
that the terms of office for some board members
would be coming to an end in
June, but refused to divulge whether or not he
would renew their terms.
“Any changes would have nothing to do with mounting
pressure regarding the
issue of debts but some board members’ terms of
office are coming to an end
around June,” he said.
But Minister Mangoma,
who yesterday denied he was under pressure to fire top
managers, said as far
as he was concerned there were no new awards at ZESA
as alleged by
non-managerial staff.
“I have not seen or approved any increase. Any increase
on salaries or
benefits has to be approved by the minister,” he
said.
Mangoma, however, revealed that an investigation was underway to
fish-out
the source of the leak to the media regarding individual
debtors.
“That issue is very unfortunate. Obviously we are looking into it.
We are
investigating to find out who leaked the list to the media,” he
said.
Fullard Gwasirai, the ZESA spokespeson, also denied there was a 75
increment
on the allowances of top executives, saying employees were
misrepresenting
facts.
“There is nothing like that (that executives
awarded themselves increments).
As for non-managerial staff, you know that
people will always want more
money. Generally people are not always happy
with their salaries,” said
Gwasirai.
Economist, Willia Bonyongwe said
while citizens should pay for services
rendered by the power company, ZESA
tariffs were above normal.
ZESA is one of the utilities that has had the most
rapid tariff increases
after the country adopted multiple currencies in
2009.
Cumulatively, these tariff increases are close to 100 percent,
justifying
calls for their review given the liquidity challenges on the
market and the
low profit margins business is getting.
“As for
agriculture, there are limited credit facilities on the market and
farmers
have to wait for a long time to get paid. Agriculture has always had
a
tariff of its own, which was abolished last year. That is when bills shot
up. When you look at margins in agriculture, you cannot produce food under
these tariffs”, said Bonyongwe.
“Under the Short Term Emergency Recovery
Programme, there was a proposed
discount of 20 percent on commercial rates,
which would benefit farmers and
this was not implemented because the fiscus
has no capacity for that
subsidy. A proposal to forgo value added tax (on
the electricity bill) and
the rural electrification levy was then proposed
to enable government to
effect this subsidy but again that recommendation
was not followed through.
It is important to support local agriculture
because depending on imports
and donors is not sustainable,” she
added.
Power outages intensified countrywide this week with most of the
businesses
and government offices running on generators.
There is also
anger that ZESA has mainly been switching off ordinary
citizens, sparring
so-called sensitive or classified government bureaucrats
some of whom owe
between US$150 000 and US$350 000.
Industry, which is currently struggling to
rump-up production, has also
taken the power utility to court over what it
believes are unjustified
tariff increases.
Last August, the Competition
and Tariff Commission ordered ZESA to write off
all pre-2009 bills and
justify some load-shedding programmes as well as to
bill their clients on
actual meter readings.
The power utility has since appealed the order at the
Administrative Court.
http://www.radiovop.com
Harare, March 24, 2012 - MDC supporters
in the Zanu PF dominated Mashonaland
Central’s Muzarabani North district
face starvation as it has emerged Zanu
PF officials are distributing grain
only to its supporters.
The maize and seed being distributed was sourced
through government’s Grain
Marketing Board and is reported to be having
President Mugabe's sticker
pasted on the container plastic bags in an
apparent bid to deny their party’s
opponents the staple.
Itai
Charumbuka, MDC-T Muzarabani North district chairman told Radio VOP in
an
exclusive interview Friday, Zanu PF aligned headmen were colluding with
some
GMB officials and CIO agents in the area to deny known MDC supporters
maize.
“Seed is delivered with Mugabe’s stickers,” he
said.
“We as MDC have insisted Mugabe is the country’s President and not
only a
Zanu PF president but they claim Mugabe is the leader of Zanu PF and
as such
the grain should be distributed to Zanu PF supporters
only.”
Charumbuka said MDC supporters were not allowed to look for
alternative
sources of the seed and maize by militant Zanu PF
supporters.
He said they now rely on earnings from food-for-work schemes
outside the
affected wards and some compassionate Zanu PF supporters or
MDC-T forced
defectors who secretly share their allocations with
them.
Zanu PF spokesperson Rugare Gumbo could not be reached for
comment.
However, cases of MDC supporters being denied food assistance
are rife in
Zimbabwe’s poor rural areas.
In some cases, Zanu PF is
accused of grabbing food donated from
international donor organisations to
distribute it among its card carrying
members.
http://www.dailynews.co.zw
By Lloyd Mbiba, Staff Writer
Saturday, 24
March 2012 14:11
HARARE - Amnesty International says hundreds of
victims of the infamous
Operation Murambatsvina are still living in abject
poverty years after the
government sponsored clean-up operation was carried
out.
Cousin Zilala, Amnesty International Zimbabwe director said
yesterday in
Harare at the commemoration of “Stop forced evictions in
Africa,” campaign
that victims of Operation Murambatsvina, an operation
executed in 2005 to
demolish illegal structures, are still living in abject
conditions as their
source of livelihoods went away with the
operation.
“Operation Murambatsvina has destroyed the lives of many.
People are living
in sprawling and impoverished settlement camps which
include Hopley Farm,
Hatcliffe Extension and Gunhill. In some of these camps
like Hopley Farm
there are no schools and health clinics and how are people
expected to
survive,” said Zilala.
Zilala gave the example of a man
he only identified as Clever whose slum
dwelling was destroyed at Porta farm
during Operation Murambatsvina.
“Clever was 18 and in his third year of
high school when Porta Farm was
razed during the government’s odious 2005
Operation Murambatsvina which
displaced 700 000 people.
“He sold fish
to pay fees at a local school, but with his home in ruins,
Clever had no
choice but to join his family and get on the truck bound for a
transit
camp,” he said.
Clever, who is 24 today is now living in a shack made of
plastics at Hopley
Farm and he would like to know why the government took
away his future,
Zilala said. Operation Murambatsvina, also officially known
as Operation
Restore Order was a large-scale government campaign to forcibly
clear slum
areas across the country.
The campaign started in 2005 and
according to the United Nations estimates
it affected at least
700 000
people directly through loss of their homes or livelihoods although
it could
have indirectly affected around 2.4 million people
http://www.radiovop.com/
Harare, March 24, 2012 - The
Media Institute of Southern Africa Zimbabwe
chapter has appealed to
President Robert Mugabe to clarify the legal status
of the controversial
Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe (BAZ).
The appeal to Mugabe follows
defiance by Webster Shamu, the Minister of
Media, Information and Publicity,
to reconstitute BAZ issued by the three
principals to the Global Political
Agreement (GPA).
Shamu declared to the state media on Wednesday that he
will not reconstitute
BAZ as demanded by the three principals, Mugabe, Prime
Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai and Deputy Prime Minister Arthur
Mutambara.
BAZ is packed with ZANU-PF sycophants and bootlickers. It
caused a stir a
few months ago after it cherry-picked companies linked to
ZANU-PF to open
private radio stations.
MISA-Zimbabwe said on Friday
in a statement Mugabe, Tsvangirai and Mutambara
should come in the open and
clear the confusion on whether the current BAZ
board was legally constituted
or not.
“A joint statement signed by President Mugabe, PM Tsvangirai and
DPM
Mutambara will go a long way in putting the matter to finality. A press
conference would even be of greater impact and effect in clarifying the
matter at hand,” reads part of MISA-Zimbabwe statement.
It noted that
while the media have repeatedly reported the principals as
having ordered
the reconstitution of BAZ within specific timeframes, the
Ministry of Media,
Information and Publicity, still insisted that BAZ was
legally
constituted.
“It is therefore important that the principals take a public
position on
this matter to clear the air on the status of BAZ as well as
affirm their
executive authority that is seemingly wilfully defied,” it
said.
Tsvangirai has publicly stated that the appointment of the BAZ
board was
illegal as it was not done in terms of Section 4 of the
Broadcasting
Services Act and the GPA.
Misa-Zimbabwe added:”It is our
humble submission that the legitimacy of such
a key public institution
cannot be left to continue in confusion at the
expense of Zimbabweans’ right
to full enjoyment of their right to free
expression and access to
information through multiple broadcasting
stations.”
http://www.dailynews.co.zw/
By Gugulethu Nyazema, Senior
Writer
Saturday, 24 March 2012 14:06
BINDURA - Dozens of people
descended on Bindura Magistrates’ Courts where
cops that murdered a mine
worker over $1 were due to appear yesterday.
Arriving in lorries and on
foot, mine workers and villagers dwarfed the
usually dull and small Bindura
court, raising fears of fresh violence if the
killer cops appeared for their
initial remand there.
The Daily News gathered that the 10 cops, who are
still in custody, could
now be tried in Harare for security
reasons.
One of the victims is said to be seriously ill in
hospital.
The 10 cops ran amok at Ashley Mill compound on Saturday,
killing mine
worker Luxmore Chivambo and injuring several others in an orgy
of violence
initiated by a senior officer in the area identified as
Inspector Shumba
over a petty theft.
Shumba commandeered nine juniors
at Shamva Police Station to carry out a
revenge mission at the compound
after his wife complained that compound
residents had stolen her purse with
$1 in it.
The move boomeranged after Chivambo died from injuries
sustained in the
attack and several residents were hospitalised and
residents besieged the
police station baying for the killer cops’
blood.
Emotions are still high in the area as residents demand
justice.
So tense was the situation at the Bindura Magistrates’ Courts
yesterday that
police and other authorities feared violence could break out
if Shumba and
his accomplices appeared for initial remand.
The
residents have not waivered on their demand for the cops to face the
noose,
as evidenced by their strong showing at the court yesterday.
News that
one of the police officers’ victims had to be transferred to a
specialised
hospital in Harare on the same day Shumba and his accomplices
were due to
appear in court left temperatures boiling.
Trouble started when Shumba
and his accomplices stormed Ashley Mill
compound, where they moved
door-to-door assaulting residents using baton
sticks, clenched fists and
booted feet.
The police officers accused the residents of shielding the
thief that had
stolen from Shumba’s wife.
Shamva went on to resemble
a war zone after angry residents thronged and
barricaded the police station
demanding justice.
An employee at Shashi Hospital in Bindura said the
hospital had never seen
an incident of that magnitude.
They said the
violence was so serious that the injured miners had to be
ferried to the
hospital by trucks.
“Generally, the hospital is always busy, but on that
particular day it was
nothing but chaos. People were severely hurt. We did
what we could given the
situation,” said a nurse who cannot be named because
she is not authorised
to speak on behalf of the hospital.
“We
discharged most of them after attending to their injuries but we had to
admit three people. The other miner is currently at Avenues Clinic (in
Harare). It was bad,” the nurse said.
December Maririma, a local Zanu
PF leader in the area, said the community
will not rest until the killer
cops paid the price.
“The police have been doing things their way for a
long time and enough is
enough. An innocent soul has been killed and we will
not rest. Chivambo’s
family has been robbed of a breadwinner,” Maririma, the
district youth
chairman for Wadzanai District told the Daily News in an
interview
http://www.thezimbabwemail.com
By Staff Reporter 8
hours 27 minutes ago
President Robert Mugabe was reportedly
informed Mines and Mining Development
minister Obert Mpofu allegedly
demanded a $10 million kickback from Core
Mining and Mineral Resources
director Lovemore Kurotwi, the High Court heard
yesterday.
Kurotwi’s
lawyer Beatrice Mtetwa asked Zimbabwe Mining Development (ZMDC)
chairperson
Godwills Masimirembwa if he was aware Kurotwi was being
prosecuted because
he reported Mpofu to the President.
Kurotwi alleged he directly reported
to President Mugabe that Mpofu had
persistently demanded the bribe from
him.
Justice Chinembiri Bhunu heard that when Kurotwi introduced wealthy
Israeli
diamond firm, Beny Steinmetz Resources (BSGR) to Mpofu, the idea was
for
BSGR to finance the joint venture between Marange Resources and Core
Mining
as a special purpose vehicle.
Mtetwa said BSGR later pulled
out of the agreement after the government
failed to meet the company’s
conditions such as rule of law, Kimberely
Process requirements and respect
of human rights.
It also emerged Mpofu held meetings with Kurotwi in
Bulawayo, but no minutes
were recorded save for correspondences between the
two.
Under cross examination by Mtetwa,Masimirembwa said it was not
always
necessary for the minister to record minutes since he referred all
investors
to ZMDC.
Masimirembwa almost lost his temper after a
barrage of questions by Mtetwa
about Mpofu’s conduct.
“I put it to
you when BSGR pulled out of the agreement, Mpofu allegedly
substituted it
with Core Mining which was later given the green light to
form a joint
venture with Marange while anticipating to be paid by Kurotwi?”
questioned
Mtetwa. It was a question the ZMDC boss did not take lightly.
“That’s a
fairy tale, you are desperate to involve the minister, he would be
angry to
be falsely accused by a director of a company that had no money and
capacity
to do the job,” Masimirembwa said.
Mtetwa told the court when ZMDC board
members went to South Africa to carry
out due diligence on Core Mining they
knew BSGR had pulled out and another
Israeli national had come on board as
Core Mining financier.
She further said Mpofu was privy to the
development, but went ahead and
signed an agreement with Core Mining whose
director, Kurotwi was now being
accused of misrepresenting to the
government.
“There is everything wrong with the agreement in that the
funder approved by
the government, BSGR is not there.
By replacing
the funder with Core Mining, they knew the proposed investment
of $2 billion
would not come to Zimbabwe,” said Masimirembwa.
However, Mtetwa argued
Mpofu took advantage that at the time of the signing
of the agreements there
was no ZMDC board and pushed for agreements to sail
through in anticipation
of payment by Kurotwi.
After Mtetwa completed cross-examining
Masimirembwa, advocate Lewis Uriri,
representing former ZMDC chief executive
officer Dominic Mubaiwa took over.
Uriri produced correspondences between
Kurotwi and Mpofu which had not been
produced as part of evidence for the
State contrary to his assertion Mpofu
never communicated business with
individuals. Masimirembwa denied any
knowledge of the said correspondences
saying ZMDC was an institution of
records and thus would only comment on
documents from his office.
Kurotwi and Mubaiwa are accused of
misrepresenting to the government that by
forming a joint venture between
Marange and Core Mining an investment of $2
billion would be
realised.
The State is represented by deputy director of Public
Prosecutions Chris
Mutangadura and assisted by senior law officer Public
Mpofu.
The matter continues next week on Friday. Newsday
http://www.thezimbabwemail.com
By Staff Reporter 23/03/2012
19:24:00
ZIMBABWE’S Foreign Minister Simbarashe Mumbengegwi is
marooned in a hotel in
the Malian capital after troops in the West African
country staged a coup,
but some sources said he could be one of the African
Union key architects of
the coup.
Mumbengegwi was attending an
African Union meeting on peace and security in
Bamako when renegade soldiers
stormed the presidential palace on Thursday
and ousted President Amadou
Toumani Toure.
Trudy Stevenson, Zimbabwe’s ambassador in neighbouring
Senegal, said on
Friday: “He’s definitely still there. They can’t leave the
hotel, they are
surrounded by armoured vehicles and there is a curfew. The
airport and
borders are closed.”
Mumbengegwi is one of several
African ministers caught up in the coup. On
Thursday, Kenya confirmed it was
drawing up plans to pull out its Foreign
Minister Moses
Wetangula.
Sources said some African Union countries could be the
architects of the
coup; citing the coincidence of the Summit and the events
unfolding.
Their hotel, she said, was also surrounded by armed soldiers,
adding that
the airport and the country’s borders had been sealed as the
military moved
to consolidate its takeover, roundly condemned by the
international
community.
Foreign Affairs secretary Joey Bimha could
not be reached for comment. But
sources said the inclusive government was
deeply concerned about Mumbengegwi’s
fate and his entourage.
National
Healing Minister, Moses Mzila Ndlovu told VOA that he hoped the
coup
plotters will protect the besieged African dignitaries.
"I want to
believe that those who have seized power will want to observe the
protocols
of the African Union and the United Nations and protect citizens
of other
countries, particularly those on AU business," Mzila said.
Political
analyst Rejoice Ngwenya opined that the Mali coup reinforced the
narrative
of security sector reform not only in Zimbabwe but the whole of
African to
keep the military away from politics.
The mutineers – calling themselves
the National Committee for the
Establishment of Democracy – announced they
had deposed Toure hours after
seizing the state broadcaster.
The
troops said they had acted due to the government's "inability" to put
down a
Tuareg-led insurrection in the north.
Foreign governments, analysts and
some Malians deplored Thursday’s coup — in
a country that has not had one
since 1991 — as a severe setback for
democracy in Africa.
The huge,
mostly desert nation, considered one of the least likely
candidates for a
coup attempt in all of West Africa, was threatened with
immediate foreign
aid cutoffs.
Analysts cited the coup as an example of how Colonel Muammar
Gaddafi’s
overthrow in Libya could yield unexpected political mutations,
destabilising
parts of the vast Sahara region.
In Mali, many of the
rebels had fought for Colonel Gaddafi in Libya,
equipping themselves
extensively from his armouries before returning home
and joining the
rebellion against the Malian government.
The colonel’s weapons have
allowed the rebels, nomadic Tuareg tribesmen, to
score surprising victories
off the Malian army in the desert north, where
they control large stretches
of territory. Previous such uprisings have been
suppressed; this one shows
no signs of being snuffed out.
Toure’s whereabouts were not known Friday, and
human rights groups reported
that a number of his ministers had been
arrested.
The coup was all the more unexpected because of the
presidential elections
scheduled for April 29. Touré long ago announced that
he would respect the
Constitution and not seek another term.
However,
the African Union said on Friday it had been told that Mali
President Amadou
Toumani Toure was safe after mutinous soldiers launched a
coup against him
this week.
"We have been told that the president is safe, protected by a
certain number
of loyalists," Jean Ping, Chairperson of the AU Commission,
told journalists
after a meeting of the bloc's Peace and Security
Council.
"The president is in Mali for sure. The assurances we are
getting from those
that are protecting him is he is not far from Bamako," he
said after the
pan-African body suspended Mali's membership.
Bread
and fuel ran low in Mali's capital Bamako on Friday as mutineering
soldiers
looted petrol stations and shops and hijacked cars, residents said,
while
coup leaders sought to consolidate their grip on power.
The mutinous
soldiers, angered by what they saw as President Amadou Toumani
Toure's poor
handling of a northern rebellion, roamed the streets of the
capital after
over-running the presidential palace and taking control of
state
television.
But Tuareg rebels in northern Mali, aiming to capitalise on
the confusion in
the distant capital, pushed south to occupy positions
abandoned by
government forces, sources said.
Captain Amadou Sanogo,
the head of a body set up by the mutineers, suggested
on Thursday that
soldiers were trying to arrest Toure.
The president's whereabouts were
unknown, though unconfirmed reports said he
was being protected by loyalist
troops in the city.
Despite Sanogo's calls to the soldiers to stop
pillaging and respect private
property, residents said looting was
continuing and had caused shortages
while fuel prices have doubled to over
1,300 CFA francs a litre in about 24
hours.
"People are afraid
because of the soldiers. Often (they take) what is in the
car or they make
you get out and take the car or sometimes the soldiers
themselves just break
into shops," said Bamako resident Adama Quindo.
Around the city, most
shops, petrol stations and businesses were closed
while some residents
ventured out in search of bread and petrol.
"I am a driver but there is
no fuel for the car, I do not even have fuel for
my bike to go back home,"
said Youssouf Diawara as he queued with other
motorists for
petrol.
"Bread is becoming scarce, I made a mistake this morning, I
should have
bought more," said another Bamako resident, adding he had bought
only one
loaf.
REBELS ADVANCE
Mali, which was flooded with men
and weapons after Libya's civil war, was
already facing the MNLA Tuareg-led
rebellion, a growing Islamist threat and
a food crisis when the coup broke
out after soldiers mutinied on Wednesday.
A Malian officer in the
northern town of Kidal said rebels had occupied the
military camp in Anefis,
100 km (60 miles) to the southwest, after
government forces
withdrew.
"The army has pulled back to Gao," a source in Timbuktu,
another main town
in the north, told Reuters, asking not to be named. "There
is no longer any
military leadership. (The rebels) will take the towns in
the north," he
said.
The MNLA said on it website that it had taken
Anefis, which lies on the
Gao-Kidal highway, after Malian troops abandoned
their positions and
withdrew to Gao.
The MNLA, whose numbers have
been swollen by Malian Tuareg returning from
the ranks of Libya's army, have
been fighting since mid-January for an
independent north. They have pushed
government soldiers out of remote towns
but had not yet threatened the
regional capitals of Kidal, Timbuktu and Gao.
PRESIDENT
PROTECTED
Diplomats and officials said they believed President Toure was
being
protected by a pocket of loyalist soldiers, as the U.S. embassy
formally
denied widespread rumours that the president was being sheltered
there.
Mutinous soldiers said they would launch an attack on the
parachute regiment
they believe is protecting the president, who has
overseen a decade of
relative stability.
Toure, 63, a former
paratrooper who seized power in 1991, had gained the
nickname 'Soldier of
Democracy' in his West African state and had been
preparing to cede power in
April after an election.
Mali's neighbours, the United Nations and world
powers from Paris to
Washington called for a return to constitutional rule.
Regional body ECOWAS
said it would not recognise the junta.
The World
Bank and African Development Bank on Thursday condemned the
military coup
and suspended funds to Mali.
U.S. aid group Millennium Challenge
Corporation, suspended operations in the
country on Thursday, criticising
the "unconstitutional actions" of the
mutineers, while the European
Commission said on Friday it had suspended
development operations in
Mali.
Captain Sanogo, president of the newly formed National Committee
for the
Return of Democracy and the Restoration of the State (CNRDR), said
the coup
had been provoked by the government's poor handling of the crisis
in the
north.
Sanogo,
http://www.thezimbabwemail.com
By Staff Reporter 23 hours 43
minutes ago
IN what looks like a weekly routine with the Chinese, on
Friday Zanu PF and
the Communist Party of China (CPC) met and agreed to
step-up what they
called bilateral party-to-party cooperation in the new era
following what
they said was successful execution of Zimbabwe’s liberation
struggle when
China supported the liberation war effort.
The
sentiments came out when President Robert Mugabe, who is also Zanu PF
First
Secretary and President, met with the visiting CPC delegation at State
House
this Friday.
The Chinese Communist Party delegation, which arrived in the
country this
week, is being led by a CPC Politburo Member, Cde Lui
Qi.
The group is on a private visit which has seen them visiting various
places
in the country, including Zimbabwe’s prime tourist destination, the
Victoria
Falls.
president mugabe and cpc politburo
member.png
Speaking during the meeting held at State House in the capital,
Mugabe said
Zimbabwe remains China’s greatest friend and stressed the need
to further
cement Sino-Zimbabwe relations in the new era where China has
grown into a
major global economic powerhouse and a strong political voice
on the
international stage.
The visiting CPC Politburo Member, Cde
Lui Qi said Zimbabwe-China ties are a
role model for other states in the
region.
Zanu PF Chairman, Simon Khaya Moyo, who accompanied the
delegation to meet
Mugabe at State House, described the visit as
significant, adding that
relations between the two parties should be
consolidated through various
channels including training of party cadres,
especially the youth,
provincial chairpersons and politburo
members.
Zanu PF and the Communist Party of China ties are rooted in the
fight for
the independence of Zimbabwe when China assisted the liberation
party and
many others in the region.
http://www.radiovop.com
Bulawayo, March 23, 2012-
Bulawayo City Council (BCC)has reached an advanced
stage in setting up a
Fire, Medical and Rescue College in the City of Kings
that will cater for
the SADC region or the entire African Continent with the
help from Operation
Florian, Aberdeen City Council , Lancashire Fire Rescue
Services and
University of Central Lancashire (UCLAN).
The move was confirmed at a
press conference Thursday.
Speaking to Journalist during a media brief at
BCC Fire and Ambulance
Services were Operation Florian is conducting short
course training for Fire
and Ambulance staff, the BCC Chief Fire Officer,
Mr. Richard Peterson said
they are currently looking for US$15 000 to
refurbish and set up all the
infrastructure required according to Government
standards.
“When we are done in meeting all the Government requirements
of higher
learning and tertiary studies we are going to register our College
and with
the help from UCLAN our courses are going to meet the international
standards and so far we are already grooming our future lecturers from the
tutorials we are receiving from Operation Florian,” said Peterson.
He
said some of their staff members will go for further training at UCLAN in
preparation of the new college and that the expansion of lecture rooms,
kitchen, offices and ablution facilities is what is holding them from
applying for a license
Peterson disclosed that there is no college or
university in Zimbabwe that
offers fire, medical and rescue studies as most
of the courses are done in
the United Kingdom and other
countries.
During the same event, Peterson revealed that Operation
Florian has donated
two Volvo fire tenders and a container that is 20 fit
full of fire fighting,
rescue equipment, medical equipment and protective
equipment including
training and training package that we are going to share
with other councils
around the country.
Other local authorizes that
have been invited by BCC to be trained by
Operation Florian include
Victoria Falls, Hwange Colliery, Zimbabwe
electricity and Supply authority,
Lupane Rural District Council , Beitbridge
Council, Gwanda Council, Plumtree
Rural District Council, Gweru City Council
but Harare City Council failed to
send their team due to financial
constraints.
The chairperson of
Operation Florian, Michael Doherty, explained that his
humanitarian charity
organisation assist fire and rescue services throughout
the world who are in
need of assistance and that much of their work
concentrates on disaster
re-building work, helping to assist and support
communities to improve their
fighting and rescue infrastructure and provide
a progressive move towards
normality and stability of their emergency
services.
“The process
often takes several years to achieve; therefore, Operation
Florian is a
charity that provides continuity and support until the
receiving community
can support itself. The success of such projects can
only be achieved by
working in partnership in an atmosphere of trust and
cooperation,” said
Doherty.
He added that they have a tried and tested model of operation
and it is this
model that they are demonstrating in Bulawayo.
“The
partnership between the BCC, Operation Florian is paramount to the
success
of this mission. This is further enhanced by the elements of support
from
Aberdeen City supporting personnel and encouraging the twin town
relationship that already exists,” said Doherty.
Operation Florian
came to BCC last year and they donated a tender and a
container. The other
tenders that are available at BCC were last donated by
Queen Elizabeth in
1991 and they had outlived their life span. BCC Fire and
Ambulance Serves
Department is the only council with latest equipment, most
council fire and
ambulance departments in the country do not have equipment
and the available
ones have outlived their lifespan.
http://www.financialgazette.co.zw/
Friday, 23 March 2012
13:21
BANKING sector crises always leave stakeholders with tears running
down
their cheeks. In Zimbabwe, depositors have been the hardest hit. And
yet the
country has got a Deposit Protection Board (DPB), whose
responsibility is to
safeguard the interests of those who entrust bankers
with their hard-earned
savings. In this Question & Answer with The
Financial Gazette’s Chief
Business Reporter, Bernard Mpofu (BM), DPB chief
executive officer, John
Chikura (JC), sheds light on a number of issues of
concern to depositors.
BM: The banking sector is currently grappling with
serious liquidity
challenges, with smaller banks being the worst affected.
Is the DPB ready to
swing into action in the event of bank failures?
JC:
It should be pointed out that the liquidation of banks is a last resort
measure, which is taken by the regulatory authorities after establishing
that closure and depositor payoff is less costly than other resolution
strategies. In the event of bank failure, the DPB is in a position to pay
out depositors of relatively small institutions up to the insured
limit.
However, DPB does not have the capacity at the moment to pay
depositors of
systemically important institutions or large banks. Usually,
the regulatory
authorities adopt other bank resolution options like purchase
and assumption
transactions or encouraging mergers and acquisitions for
systemically large
institutions.
BM: To what extent is the DPB funded and
what levels of funding or
capitalisation would be sufficient for the board
to absorb any shocks
resulting from bank failures?
JC: Currently, DPB’s
fund size stands at US$1,9 million and ideally, DPB
would require at least a
capital of US$12,5 million, which is the current
minimum capital requirement
for banks. This figure is also almost equivalent
to the current total
exposure to institutions on the Reserve Bank of
Zimbabwe (RBZ)’s list of
weak institutions.
BM: Apart from capital constraints, what other challenges
confront the DPB?
JC: The main challenges confronting DPB at the moment
relate to legal
constraints.
One of the major challenges is that the DPB
does not have the mandate to pay
depositors for institutions under
curatorship. DPB only moves in once an
institution has been declared
insolvent by an order of court or where a
special resolution has been passed
in terms of the Companies Act. Another
challenge is that DPB is not
empowered to verify the depositor records of an
institution facing imminent
collapse in order to facilitate a speedy payout
to depositors.
In terms
of international best practices, the deposit insurer must be
involved early
in the problem bank process and be provided with depositor
information in
advance in order to adequately prepare for prompt
reimbursement.
BM: To
this day depositors in ReNaissance Merchant Bank (RMB) are still to
access
their funds. What are you doing about it to ensure that RMB
depositors are
not prejudiced?
JC: We are supportive of the direction RMB is taking after
the curatorship
ably carried out by Reggie Saruchera of Grant Thornton,
Camelsa. We will
continue to monitor developments at the bank to ensure that
depositors’
interests are safeguarded. We are heartened by the fact that a
strong
shareholder like the National Social Security Autho-rity has taken
over the
bank.
BM: Then, we have Zimbabwe dollar depositors whose
Zimdollar balances are
still to be liquidated despite endless promises by
the authorities to do so.
What is your take on this?
JC: Our principals
are seized with the matter of liquidating the Zi-mdollar
balances and we are
hopeful that depositors will be reimbursed what is due
to them as this will
also play a big part in restoring confidence to the
banking sector.
BM:
In your view, what needs to be done to improve the levels of confidence
in
the banking sector?
JC: A well capitalised central bank and deposit protector
would be key to
the return of confidence in our financial sector. Also,
resolution of
Zimdollar balances and the issue of funds owed to various
sectors by the
central bank.
Perhaps, government could take a holistic
app-roach and resolve these issues
for the benefit of the nation. There is
also the issue of a possible return
of the Zimdollar, clarity is required
and authorities need to speak with one
voice on the issue; this will foster
public confidence.
BM: A Bill seeking to regulate the DPB has been before
Parli-ament for quite
a while. What influenced the introduction of this Bill
and how is it going
to improve your operations as a board?
JC: As we
speak right now, we are informed that the President has already
assented to
the Bill; it has been signed into law. In its current form, the
DPB was set
up in terms of the Banking Act Chapter 24:20. The new Bill seeks
to separate
the entity from the Banking Act and establish the Deposit
Protection
Corpor-ation as an autonomous entity outside the Banking Act.
In terms of
objectives, the existing bankruptcy/ insolvency laws are not
friendly to
depositors as the liquidation process normally spans a long
period of time
before depositors are compensated. Because of the special
significance of
banks and bank failures, most policymakers all over the
world have reviewed
their bankruptcy/ insolvency laws in order to facilitate
the orderly exit of
troubled banks. It is with this in mind that the Deposit
Protection Bill was
tabled before Parliament.
The Bill will enable DPB to be part of a framework
within the financial
system safety net that provides for the early detection
and timely
intervention and resolution of troubled banks. This will
facilitate the
ability of DPB to meet its obligations incl-uding
reimbursement of
depositors promptly and accurately. The Bill will also
enable DPB to
reinforce legal actions in cases of negligence or other
wrongdoings against
management or shareholders of banks.
BM: You are also
actively involved in corporate governance issues through
being a trainer of
directors and a resource person for the Commonwealth
Association for
Corporate Governance (CACG), the World Bank, SADC and the
Institute of
Directors (IoDZ), where you were the chairman of the training
and corporate
governance committee. You also lectured corporate governance
on the MBA
programme at University of Zimbabwe. What is your honest
assessment of
corporate governance standards in Zimbabwe?
JC: Zimbabwe is in the process of
crafting its own national code of
corporate governance and the government
published a Code of Corporate
Governance for State-Owned Enterprises
recently. We are going in the right
direction and this is commendable.
Corporations have been benchmarking best
practices using international codes
such as CACG; UK Code on Corporate
Governa-nce; Organisation for Europ-ean
Co-operation & Develo-pment and the
King Report in South
Africa.
However, as in other countries, Zimbabwe has its own fair share of
corporate
governance challenges. In terms of awareness, the country has done
very well
even without a national code. The challenge is in putting into
practice
those best practices. While many companies have done well, some
corporate
leaders in Zimbabwe seem to be hearers of the word and not doers,
hence, the
corporate malpractices and failures witnessed in the
country.
BM: In our view, corporate governance standards have been going down
the
drain in this country as evidenced by the rot exposed by the RBZ at RMB
and
at other banking institutions, not to mention other high-profile
scandals by
company executives reported in the media. What immediate steps
should be
taken to improve the levels of corporate governance in this
country?
JC: Since the country will have its own national code on corporate
governance, alongside the Code for State-Owned Enterprises, what will be
required is to establish enforcement mechanisms. For example, regulators
like the RBZ, Securities Commis-sion of Zimbabwe (SECZ) and the Insurance
and Pensions Commission of Zimbabwe could require players in their
respective sectors to comply with the code.
For listed entities, the
Zimbabwe Stock Exchange could monitor the
implementation and compliance with
the code. In terms of the legal
framework, the Companies Act is archaic and
requires a major overhaul. The
code could inform the revision of the Act.
Provisions of the code could be
incorporated in the new Companies Act making
compliance with best practices
mandatory. South Africa has taken that route
by incorporating provisions of
King 2 into their revised Companies
Act.
BM: Africa First ReNais-sance (Afre), where you are a board member, has
had
its fair share of troubles related to corporate governance breac-hes.
How
did you fail to recognise malpractices in an organisation that you
represent
despite your impeccable corporate governance credentials?
JC:
Like in a family set-up as Dolly Parton sings, there are different
personalities with some being saints, some deviating from the norm, best
practices and behaviour. As you know, anyone engaged in underhand dealings
would not announce that fact to others, it is in fact, concealed.
What is
important is what action the board takes upon discovering
malpractices in
the organisation. Immediately after misconduct came to light
the board took
action and informed the regulator and commissioned a forensic
audit to
establish the extent of the prejudice to the company. Those
responsible were
called upon to account for their actions and dealt with
accordingly.
BM:
How effective have been your programmes at the IoDZ given the high
levels of
corruption by some executives both in public and private sectors?
JC: The
IoDZ, like any other professional organisation like the Chartered
Accountants, Chartered Secr-etaries, Zimbabwe Institute of Management, etc.,
promotes good corporate governance throu-gh training and development of
directors and managers and adherence to their own respective codes of
conduct and ethics.
In my view, the corruption witnessed in the corporate
sector is only a
mirror reflection of what is happening in the wider
society. Moral and
cultural values have degenerated to a level where there
is no more shame in
being corrupt. It is not the corrupt person who has to
justify why he or she
is corrupt. It is the one who is straight and honest
who must justify why he
or she remains honest. The country has made
corruption a lucrative career.
This culture is destroying the economy and
will be difficult to change going
forward. The problem needs to be addressed
holistically; there is need for a
change to make corruption a dangerous
activity, as it is an aberration and
cancerous.
BM: How active have been
female directors in this country? Are wom-en well
represented on company
boar-ds?
JC: Gender diversity on corporate boards in Zimbabwe is a sad story.
Women
are significantly under-represented on boards. Internationally and
regionally, countries aim to achieve a 50:50 ratio, but this has remained a
pie in the sky. At the discussion forum orga-nised by the Zimba-bwe
Leadership Forum last week, the issue of gender diversity was spotlighted
and Allen Choruma presented the following statistics, which graphically tell
the story:
Gender statistics in Zimbabwe
• 52 percent of the
population are wo-men,
• Produce 50 percent of food,
• Constitute 70
percent of the poor,
• Earn 10 percent of earnings,
• Only 11 percent of
directorship of Zimbabwe Stock Exchange-listed
companies are women, and
•
Two out of nine Zimbabwe Republic Police commissioners are women (Source:
ZBC).
As you can see, there is an urgent need to address this wide gap on
gender
diversity and it is hoped that in the crafting of the National Code
on
Corporate Governance, this important issue will be taken into
account.
BM: Finance Minister, Tendai Biti, relieved you of your duties as
SECZ
commissioner because of your links with RMB and Afre. Do you think it
was
justified for him to do so?
JC: Well, as you may know, the minister
is the minister and the Minister of
Finance is my principal and he can act
as he deems fit. As a mortal citizen,
who am I to question the
justification? I take it as given and can assure
the minister I am always
available for national service.
However, the fact of the case is that I have
never been on the board of RMB
and I did not have any dealings with it in
any way either as a depositor or
a borrower. RMB was a major shareholder in
Afre where I was a director; and
the major shareholder in RMB was the
chairman of Afre. Now, since when do
directors become responsible or get
involved in businesses of their
shareholders unless they are appointed to
those relevant boards?
BM: Did you declare your interest in Afre when you
were appointed to the
commission by the then Finance Minster?
JC: My
appointment to the board of the SECZ was at the invitation of the
then
Minister of Finance, Samuel Mumben-gegwi. I did not apply for the
position;
in fact, the minister informed me that I was nominated by the
market to
represent them on SECZ.
I declared my interest and informed the ministry that
I was a director of a
listed company, Afre. We were all asked to declare our
interests including
shares that we held for listed companies. My colleague,
Martha Rukuni, who
was sitting on the board of OK Bazaars, which is listed
also, declared her
interest.
We were advised that in terms of the
Securities Act, in its current form,
did not prohibit this. A declaration of
interest was all that was required
unless the law was changed at some future
point. It is pertinent to note
that many jurisdictions have similar laws to
ours, countries like South
Africa, India, New Zealand, Zambia, etc. In
countries like the US, this is
prohibitefd because commissioners are
full-time executives.
BM: What does the future hold for the DPB?
JC: DPB
is poised to play its role as one of the key safety nets in the
financial
services sector. The policy objectives for DPB are likely to be
broader than
before with greater emphasis on financial stability than
protecting
small-scale retail deposits.
As a result of the lessons from the global
financial crisis, policy-makers
are increasingly seeking a comprehensive
safety net framework capable of
ensuring financial stability in all
times.
In this framework, depositor protection is higher than before, but
buttressed by enhanced supervision and resolution techniques applicable to
all institutions.
http://www.financialgazette.co.zw/
Friday, 23 March 2012 13:00
Tinashe Madava, Staff
Reporter
IT is nine in the morning on Saturday. The scene along Harare
Street near
Fingaz House resembles a war zone. Just opposite The Financial
Gazette
offices, about 10 police officers wielding long truncheons are
manning an
impromptu roadblock targeting commuter omnibuses and
taxis.
Three combis have been stopped and are being inspected. Two officers
suddenly jump in front of an oncoming combi, the driver swerves to avoid the
police officers and attempts to escape. The result, one police officer
unleashes a vicious blow to the windscreen of the offending vehicle. His
brute force sends a chill down my spine.
I do not hate police officers!
But their methods of policing commuter
omnibus crews have left me seething!
The combi drivers too! Despite the
presence of more than a dozen passengers,
they still attempt to run away
from the police, putting the lives of the
same passengers, the police
officers and the general public at risk.
The
windscreen shattering has gone on for more than a year now. Various
people
interviewed by The Financial Gazette have been unanimous in their
verdict.
This is wrong!
“They are fundraising for the elections. But how do they
expect us to vote
for them when they are being so cruel?” says a colleague
as we watched the
drama unfolding right close to our offices.
“These guys
are corrupt, you will not see a police officer’s vehicle being
subjected to
the same fate,” chips in a passerby who had joined us in
reviewing the free
spectacle.
The passerby has touched a hot topic! The combi drivers and owners
have in
the past few weeks fought battles with police, accusing them of
corrupt
tendencies at roadblocks mounted across the city.
Police
Commissioner-General, Augustine Chihuri, issued a statement last
month
denouncing corruption.
The police say that most public transport vehicles are
not roadworthy and
some are not properly registered and so the police
operation will go on.
“Let me state categorically that the reckless and
misguided call to remove
the traffic police from the roads is a non-starter.
By nature of their job,
police operate from out there and not in offices.
The police must be
vigilant and must continue to be out there to ensure
total peace, security
and safety of all, all the time,” said Chihuri
recently.
Corruption now runs deep in Zimbabwean society.
The decade-long
economic meltdown the country experienced saw people
resorting to unusual
means for survival.
It is at this time that people from various backgrounds
bought and sold
almost anything. When sugar was scarce, those who were
connected and had
easy access to the commodity connived with their friends
or relatives to
sell the commodity at exorbitant prices. It was the same for
mealie-meal,
cooking oil and many other basic commodities.
Those in the
police force were better off. They could use their uniform to
jump the long
queues for basic commodities or in the process of ensuring
order at the sell
points, got favours.
The favours extended to the transport sector. Members of
the uniformed
services now board commuter omnibuses for free and do not
stand in queues at
the various termini.
Not that the combi crews do not
want them to pay! But it has become an
unwritten rule that the police,
soldiers and Air Force of Zimbabwe officers
do not pay for commuting. This
has worsened the acrimony between the police
and commuter omnibus
crews.
Furthermore, investigations by The Financial Gazette have revealed
that even
within the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) ranks, officers pay
bribes of
between US$10 and US$20 to get a new set of uniforms or a
favourable posting
to a duty station.
Several police details who spoke on
condition of anonymity revealed that it
was common knowledge within the
force that “you grease the hands of those at
ordinance” for uniform requests
to move swiftly.
A cross-border trader who also spoke to this newspaper
alleged that the
police were heavily involved in the smuggling of goods from
Plumtree Border
Post to Bulawayo.
The trader said charges to smuggle
goods from the border are around US$500
per trip adding that the culprits
are usually reluctant to talk to new
“customers” for fear of possible
arrest.
In a telephone interview this week, police spokesperson, assistant
commissioner Wayne Bvudzijena, said police officers engaging in corrupt
practices face the full wrath of the law. He encouraged the public to report
corrupt officers through the police hotlines or by visiting the nearest
police station.
Referring to allegations of bribery of police officers
who issue uniforms,
Bvudzijena said: “That is criminal. The officers know
the process to follow.
Uniforms are issued for free so individuals should
report such incidences”.
He urged those who have information on the alleged
smuggling at Plumtree
Border Post to come forward with
information.
Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index for
2011 put the
country at number 154 out of 183 countries and territories.
Botswana came at
number 32, Namibia 57 and Zambia 91.
The surveys and
assessments used to compile the index include questions
relating to the
bribery of public officials, kickbacks in public
procurement, embezzlement
of public funds, and questions that probe the
strength and effectiveness of
public sector anti-corruption efforts.
So, what is the solution to corruption
in Zimbabwe?
Analysts and social commentators are united in as far as what
the epicentre
is. The saying that all power corrupts is so evident in the
country today.
Analysts concur that the police force, as custodians of the
law, are key to
addressing the scourge of corruption. If they are the
perpetrators, then
society finds itself with nowhere to go for recourse.
More so if the
political elite are corrupt too!
The ZRP’s recently
launched anti-corruption committees therefore have a lot
of significance. It
has the job of restoring public confidence in the force.
While the ZRP has
issued public statements denouncing corruption and taken
what seem to be
bold steps to rein in the scourge within its ranks, the jury
is still out on
the seriousness of these efforts amid a public outcry for
stern action on
corrupt police officers.
Comments (2)
...
written by ryan
mbuya, March 24, 2012
Tinashe, sorry friend you don't hate police officers
but I hate them to the
bone and I will never ever help a police officer in
need, I would rather
kick the hell out of him. These thugs calling
themselves policemen have
become a hell to all zimbabweans. This is a just a
bunch of people you would
never like to see anywhere near you. Have a
burglary at your home they
demand a bribe from you and the tsotsi, get
grabbed by tsotsis in the street
you see a police officer looking aside, you
see a kombi all officers rush to
it, look at road blocks its all about
fundraising. We can do well without
these thugs in uniform.If I have a
burglary at home I no longer report
because you lose out to the police. In
shot we no longer have a police force
in this country but cowboys with
power. Whether it rains cat and dogs I will
never shelter a
policeman.
...
written by Zizi, March 24, 2012
Cry the beloved
country.
http://www.ft.com
Obituary
March 23, 2012
7:48 pm
By Jonathan
Waters
When David Hatendi, the ebullient Zimbabwean banker and bon viveur
who died
this month, was starting his post-university life in white-run
Rhodesia, he
shared a house in a “white” suburb in the then segregated
capital Salisbury.
One day, a nosy policeman appeared and asked what a black
man was doing in
the house. “Why, I’m the butler,” was Hatendi’s response,
to which the
policeman asked, what was the butler doing with a large glass
of brandy in
one hand, and a cigar in the other?
The anecdote is
emblematic of Hatendi’s style and poise, qualities that
served him well in a
distinguished life in turbulent times. Zimbabwe’s first
black Rhodes scholar
and a successful merchant banker, for long years he
helped to sustain the
morale of the country’s beleaguered business community
with his delight in
mocking the absurd, and his resonant laugh. Both were
much needed, first
under Ian Smith – the dour, last prime minister of
white-led Rhodesia – and
then under his successor, the ageing autocrat
Robert
Mugabe.
Cerebral, affable and sporty, Hatendi, who died of a heart
attack in his
sleep aged 58, epitomised the ideal all-rounder that the
Rhodes scholarship
was intended to encourage. With a strong moral fibre, he
was not one of the
businessmen to profit from the questionable opportunities
created by the
disastrous policies of Mr Mugabe that so ravaged the economy
in the past 15
years. While he seemed as at home in his London clubs –
White’s and the
Beefsteak – as in Zimbabwe, he was quick to mock his own
English habits and
plummy accent.
Pulled up once by a policeman after
a merry night in the UK, he would later
recall with delight how the
policemen spelt out all his syllables as he
asked Hatendi: “Dooo yooou
u-n-d-e-r-s-t-a-n-d E-n-g-l-i-s-h?” He replied in
his cheery baritone voice:
“My good friend, I am aware of the rudiments of
your language.”
David
Tapuwa Hatendi was born in a farming town 40 miles east of Harare (as
Salisbury was renamed) on May 22 1953, when the postcolonial independence
spirit was coursing through his continent. After securing a scholarship to
attend a private school he studied economics and political history at the
University of Rhodesia, graduating in 1975. He started working for National
Breweries, and it was then, while sharing a house with the prominent British
journalist Xan Smiley, that the “butler” incident occurred.
While at
University College, Oxford, he was much admired – not least as head
of its
Shakespeare Club. Completing a doctorate in politics in 1980, the
year of
Zimbabwe’s independence, he went on to join Morgan Grenfell in the
City. Two
years later he was selected by the World Bank for its Young
Professionals
Programme and his postings took him to the US, south-east and
south Asia,
and Kenya. He returned to Zimbabwe in 1990 to take up a position
with the
Merchant Bank of Central Africa.
He was appointed MD in 1996 at the
height of Zimbabwe’s post-independence
boom. In addition to the financing
deals he executed, he ran the best
private restaurant in Harare. In the
bank’s dining room, he treated guests
to exotic local and foreign delicacies
not found on the menus of restaurants
in the otherwise bland, boarding
school cuisine of 1990s Harare. A sumptuous
meal, with fine wine, tended to
end with port and a “house stogie” of the
Cuban variety.
Indeed,
sensing that one of the keys to success in merchant banking was
forging
relationships over a good lunch, he replicated this routine in his
private
life where time was of no consequence if those around the table made
agreeable company and mounted a good debate – but he had no time for those
with clichéd opinions and dogmas.
So while he abhorred the naked
racism of Mr Mugabe’s policy of land
expropriations, and helped those he
could to hold on to their land, he liked
to challenge some of the
foundations of the anti-Mugabe argument, pointing
out that Zimbabwe’s
president retained some genuine popular support.
After the post-2000
decade of economic turmoil and hyperinflation he, like
many others, had
spent his savings on his children’s education and was
forced to rebuild his
capital base. He started a private equity firm and
became chairman of
Northern Tobacco, an intermediary between contracted
farmers and tobacco
merchants, now very much the model of farming in
Zimbabwe. For many years he
served as a governor of two Anglican private
schools and in 2009 became the
first black secretary to the Rhodes Trust.
His funeral was at Peterhouse
– 50 miles drive from the capital – where the
600-seater chapel was packed
to capacity. He is survived by his wife
Angelina, a daughter and two sons,
one of whom starred in the television
adaptation of the The No. 1 Ladies’
Detective Agency.
http://www.rnw.nl
Published on : 23 March 2012 - 7:08pm | By
Geraldine Coughlan
A landmark case will begin in South Africa on Monday,
which could compel
South African authorities to prosecute high level
Zimbabwean officials
accused of crimes against humanity. It will be the
first time a South
African court will be asked to provide guidance on the
nature of obligations
on the authorities by signing up to the International
Criminal Court (ICC).
By Geraldine Coughlan, The Hague
The North
Gauteng High Court has been asked by the Southern Africa
Litigation Centre
(SALC) and the Zimbabwean Exiles Forum (ZEF) to set aside
the decision of
the National Prosecuting Authority and the South African
Police Services not
to investigate Zimbabwean officials linked to acts of
state-sanctioned
torture following a police raid on the headquarters of the
Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC) in 2007.
"The High Court has an opportunity to
set an important precedent, which will
ensure that South Africa lives up to
its legal responsibilities to prosecute
the perpetrators of international
crimes wherever they are committed," said
Nicole Fritz, Executive Director
of SALC. She spoke to RNW.
Why now?
This case is five years in the
making. The challenge relates to events in
March 2007 when Zimbabwean police
raided the MDC's headquarters and tortured
scores of activists. Affidavits
relating to those events were collected in
2007 and 2008. We made the case
that torture was committed in a widespread
and systematic way in Zimbabwe
against political opponents of the ruling
party ZANU PF – therefore, a crime
against humanity.
Also, that South Africa's Implementation of the Rome
Statute Act for the ICC
gave the authorities powers to investigate and
prosecute crimes of persons
who were present in South Africa after
committing those crimes (even if they
weren't South African nationals and
the crimes were committed outside the
country).
We maintained that
the Zimbabwean officials named in our dossier as
perpetrators travelled into
South Africa on a regular basis and so could be
prosecuted. We submitted our
case when we did in the rather futile hope of
it having some deterrent
effect on the post-election violence that we
anticipated.
So, how
hopeful are you now?
We believe we have a very strong case and we're
anticipating a positive
outcome. After more than a year considering our
dossier, the prosecuting
authorities informed us that the police did not
intend investigating the
matter. We then began the process of launching a
review application before
the High Court, asking that it review and set
aside the decision that had
been taken. Litigation is notoriously slow and
cumbersome and after many
rounds of exchanging legal papers we now finally
have our court dates.
As it is we think the dates are rather fortuitous -
with developments in
Zimbabwe suggesting that some of the political
authorities are pushing for
elections this year in violation of the Global
Political Agreement. Also,
amid fears that violence again will be used to
intimidate and harass and
there being no obvious domestic attempts to bring
the culture of impunity to
an end in Zimbabwe.
The case, rather than
just submission of our dossier, may have some
appreciable impact (the
message at least, to those who committed violence in
Zimbabwe - that their
impunity ends at Zimbabwe's borders).
What type of precedent does this
set?
If successful, the case itself won't usher in investigations and
prosecutions but will open the door for these to happen. If the court
upholds our arguments, it may order that the prosecuting authorities have
acted unlawfully in their treatment of our dossier, that they didn't give it
the consideration required and that their initial decision not to
investigate/prosecute is set aside.
It would mean that the court
would underline the importance of South
Africa's international obligations
to the ICC and the importance South
Africa must grant to charges of crimes
against humanity, war crimes and
genocide.
It will be the first time
a South African court is asked to make a ruling
regarding South Africa's ICC
Act. Globally it would affirm the ongoing
importance of universal
jurisdiction laws. It will also point to the fact
that international
criminal justice is not only secured in the international
realm but perhaps
most importantly within domestic jurisdictions.
http://www.cathybuckle.com
March 23, 2012, 2:36
pm
Two events occurred this week that demonstrated how erratically the
rule of
law operates in Zimbabwe. One of the reasons is that politics has
increasingly influenced police behaviour. With his publicly declared support
for Mugabe and Zanu PF, Augustine Chihuri destroyed the public’s trust in
police impartiality. A comparison of their behaviour as shown in the
following incidents illustrates police ability - or lack of it - to
administer the rule of law without favour.
In this week’s examples we
have two very different groups of people, each
group choosing to involve
themselves in a form of ‘mass action’ but from
very different motivation.
The first incident concerned the case of
Munyaradzi Gwisai and five others
who were charged with ‘inciting public
violence.’
The charge dates
back to February 2011 where the accused were present at a
lecture entitled
‘Egypt and Tunisia – What lessons can be learnt by Zimbabwe
and Africa?’ 44
people were originally arrested, though 39 were later
acquitted. The police
charged that the group was plotting to overthrow the
government. Munyaradzi
Gwisai and five others were accordingly charged with
treason, a charge which
carries the death sentence in Zimbabwe, but this was
later downgraded to
‘inciting public violence’. The six activists spent 27
days in prison during
which time they allege they were tortured. This week
they were found guilty
and sentenced to a two year suspended sentence,
suspended for five years on
condition no similar offence was committed, 420
hours of community service
and a fine of $500 each.
On first hearing the verdict a student outside
the court cheered, presumably
because he thought the group had got off
lightly, bearing in mind that the
Prosecutor had called for a maximum
sentence which could be as much as ten
years. The student was arrested for
‘being too vocal’- though it is not
clear exactly what law he had broken!
That was the only humorous note in the
whole wretched business; an
outpouring of indignation followed, nationally
and internationally. 100
civil society activists were in court to witness
the trial; the prestigious
International Commission of Jurists expressed
grave concern. “Laws ought to
be used to protect citizens” the ICJ said and
Amnesty International
commented that “the court’s decision is a reminder
that Zimbabwe is still an
unsafe place for activists.” A South African union
of mine workers also
condemned the ‘guilty’ verdict. Meanwhile, Judge
Kudakwashe Jarabani
conceded that watching a video was not a crime but, he
claimed, the
organisers of the lecture had intended to incite hostility to
the
government. The defence will appeal both sentence and conviction. We
await
the result of that appeal.
The second incident is very different in
character and had a very different
outcome. The incident took place in
Shamva, a small mining town some 60 kms
from Harare. From information to
hand it seems the wife of the Member in
Charge, Officer Shumba, had her bag
stolen in the town. In the bag was a
purse containing $1 and a mobile phone.
What happened next is beyond belief.
In the middle of the night, on the
orders and in the company of Officer
Shumba a group of nine policemen went
door to door violently beating up the
residents who were kicked with booted
feet, stamped on and assaulted. It was
a desire for revenge by Officer
Shumba, nothing more than that. “We want
blood, someone must die here” said
the rogue policemen. They certainly got
what they wanted. One man was
reported dead, Luxmore Chiwamba was beaten to
death as he lay sleeping in
his bed and many more sustained serious injuries
inflicted by this gang of
vengeful cops. The town erupted in fury and
Luxmore Chiwamba’s widow gave
voice to the town’s rage. What happened next
was even more unbelievable, it
was unprecedented! After a crowd of angry
residents picketed the main
police station in the town, eight policemen,
including Shumba, were
arrested.
We wait to see if they will stand trial.
Yours in the
(continuing) struggle, PH.
Dear Family and Friends,
I have been writing this letter almost every
week since March 2000.
This very long and sad story that I first sent to just
seven people is
now into its thirteenth year. As a nation we have been
through such
turmoil and trauma during these years and one of the most
painful is
the break up of extended families. It’s hard to know how
many
Zimbabweans have had no choice but to leave the country over the
last
thirteen years. Most estimates put the figure at about a quarter
of
our population or around four million people who left for
political,
humanitarian or economic reasons. Many left behind their parents
and
grandparents, their aunts, uncles, cousins, nephews and nieces.
They
also left behind generations of their ancestors who are buried in
and
scattered on our Zimbabwean soils.
<http://cathybuckle.com/blogCathy/uploads/Marondera
cemetery entrance
March 2012.jpg>
<http://cathybuckle.com/blogCathy/uploads/Stone
pillars at entry to
Marondera cemetery March 2012.jpg>
<http://cathybuckle.com/blogCathy/uploads/Headstones
in the grass
Marondera cemetery March 2012.jpg>
<http://cathybuckle.com/blogCathy/uploads/Remains
of bench Marondera
cemetery March 2012.jpg>
This week a message
came from a Zimbabwean in the diaspora, asking if
I would visit the grave of
a relation and take photographs as a
keepsake for the family. The request
came just a few days after
damning newspaper headlines exposed the shocking
statements made by a
former Zanu PF MP of Mbare who lost his seat to the MDC
in the 2008
elections. Speaking at the graveside during a funeral, the former
MP
said : “I would eliminate whites in Marondera within a week,
especially
MDC Member of Parliament Iain Kay.” The ex MP said he and
his party did not
recognise Marondera’s MP, Iain Kay, and continued:
“Please allow me and
Chipangano Youth a week’s stay here and we
would eliminate Kay without any
problem. Down with all whites.”
There’s nothing like a bit of hate speech
to incite violence 32
years after Independence. There is no doubt that if a
white
Zimbabwean, regardless of their political or personal status were
to
make similar threatening or racist statements, they would be
arrested
in the blink of an eye.
Arriving at the cemetery on my errand
it took some considerable time
to find the grave I was looking for, not
because it is a massive
cemetery but because it is so overgrown and run down.
The sign
directing you to the cemetery is barely invisible in tall,
uncut
grass. The fence, or what is left of it, that surrounded the
once
pretty and tranquil cemetery, is lying rusting and tangled in
the
thick grass. This fence was taken down by the local Municipality
when
they came with chain saws and tractors two winters ago and felled
the
pine trees that lined and shaded the graveyard. When they had
finished
they dragged the timber away but never bothered to put the fence
back
up. A little gate attached to stone pillars with nothing on
either
side is the only sign that something once protected the graves of
the
people of the town. Inside the cemetery the grass was taller than
me
and most of the graves were invisible in the unkempt jungle. A
small
concrete slatted bench where you used to be able to sit and
think
about your relations buried here, has been broken for over two
years.
The odd tall headstone looms out of the golden grass and I found
it
impossible not to keep tripping as I fought my way through
the
vegetation, expecting at every footstep to encounter a snake or
fall
over a grave. Sadly I recalled the occasion two years ago when I
asked
at a Municipal meeting for the cemetery to be maintained in order
that
we may respect our friends, relations and ancestors of all
skin
colours who are buried there. I was silenced by council officials
and
told not to be emotional.
After a while I found the grave I was
looking for and spent a little
time there, paying respects for a family who
can no longer do so
themselves. The overwhelming thought that so often comes
to mind is
how un-necessary all these years of turmoil have been and
wondering
when and how it will ever end. I end with a message of thanks to
the
many, many people who are on this mailing list and have been such
long
and faithful readers of my writings and devoted supporters
of
Zimbabwe. To see the occasional photographs that will
illustrate
descriptions in this letter, please visit my website. Until next
time,
thanks for reading, love cathy. 24th March 2012
Copyright �
Cathy Buckle. www.cathybuckle.com
