Business Report
March 3, 2006
Harare - An Indian company will invest US$400
million (R2.5 billion) to
rehabilitate Zimbabwe's ailing iron and steel
works in a deal expected to
boost output by 17 times.
The state-owned
Zimbabwe and Steel Company (Zisco) has been plagued for more
than a decade
by a lack of capital to re-equip its plant.
Zisco had entered into a
management contract with Global Steel Holdings
(GSH), Zimbabwe's central
bank governor, Gideon Gono, said in Harare on
Wednesday.
"GSH would
inject foreign currency for rehabilitation of Zisco plant
components," he
said. The deal gave GSH a 20-year management contract for
the plant, which
will remain government owned.
The agreement marks one of the biggest foreign
investments seen in recent
years in Zimbabwe.
President Robert
Mugabe's government has previously identified Zisco among
underperforming
state companies to be privatised under a plan to revive the
ailing
economy.
Zisco was the main foreign currency earner prior to independence
from
Britain in 1980, but output has fallen sharply to just 78 000 tons of
steel
a year because its main furnace, which accounts for 70 percent of its
production, has been derelict for years.
Gono said the deal would
push output up to between 1.1 million and 1.4
million tons within 12 to 18
months.
Meanwhile, Zimbabwe's monthly electricity import bill had shot up
by almost
12 000 percent, the Herald newspaper reported
yesterday.
Its website quoted energy and power development minister Mike
Nyambuya as
saying this might force power utility Zesa Holdings to increase
tariffs to
remain viable.
"The cost of importing power has increased
from Z$5 billion per month to
Z$600 billion, against total income of Z$340
billion per month," Nyambuya
said.
"This has been so because of
the movement of the exchange rate from Z$26 000
per US dollar to the current
Z$99 000."
At official rates, it costs Z$1 600 to buy R1.
Imported
electricity represents about 32 percent of Zimbabwe's national
requirements.
This state of affairs was not sustainable, the minister said
at the
inauguration of a new board for the power utility on Wednesday.
There was
a need to come up with what he termed realistic tariffs, enabling
the power
utility to provide electricity efficiently and to minimise power
cuts.
Nyambuya said Zesa was losing heavily as a result of the low
rates it was
charging against escalating inflation.
"Zesa is
incurring a huge loss and our tariff levels are not sustainable. We
want to
repair and restore machinery at the Kariba and Hwange power
stations."
The government had given Zesa Holdings the green light to
adjust tariffs in
line with rising inflation.
Last year, the
government approved an interim tariff increase of 100 percent
to keep the
power utility afloat.
The minister said he expected the new Zesa board to
expedite generation
projects in response to a power deficit facing the
Southern African
Development Community.
Energy experts say the region
faces a major power shortfall by 2007 if no
capacity expansion measures are
put into place.
At present, Zesa generates a combined 1 440 megawatts at
Kariba and Hwange
power stations. Kariba generates 750MW and Hwange 590MW,
while small thermal
power stations contribute 100MW to the national
grid.
Imports account for 650MW. Zimbabwe imports 300MW from South
Africa, 250MW
from Mozambique and 100MW from the Democratic Republic of
Congo.
People's Daily
The Anti-Corruption Commission of Zimbabwe hopes
to start instituting
legal recourse against corrupt individuals and
organizations at the
completion of an investigative survey on corruption, a
senior government
official said on Thursday.
"Some work has
already been done although we cannot disclose the
details. We want to at
least find the basis of what is deemed corruption,"
said the commission's
Chairman Eric Harid.
This is one of the preliminary activities that
the nine-member
commission embarked on in its effort to uproot increasing
graft.
"(Media) reports indicate that more people are corrupt now
or that the
same people have become more corrupt, but it is important to get
facts to
back that first," he said.
Despite the increasing
number of reports, government maintains it is
not fighting a losing battle.
Minister of Anti-Corruption and
Anti-Monopolies, Paul Mangwana, said the
government was getting stronger on
the issue.
"The reason why
people think corruption is on the increase is because
we have been able to
expose it. We have raised our awareness and people are
reporting it. We are
strengthening our armory," said Mangwana.
An interministerial
agency tasked to coordinate fighting efforts was
expected to report its
findings in the next few weeks, he said.
"The President (Robert
Mugabe) has advised us not to spare anyone no
matter how famous they are,"
said Mangwana.
A number of public officials have been arrested on
allegations of
corruption and some have served lengthy terms in
prison.
Source: Xinhua
People's Daily
The Zimbabwe Tourism Authority (ZTA) on
Thursday called on investors
to develop infrastructure within the Gonarezhou
National Park so as to
attract tourists.
The authority said
existing infrastructure was found mainly in the
urban centers of Chiredzi
and Triangle.
"Given the magnitude of the Great Limpopo
Transfrontier Park ( GLTP)
project, these existing facilities will not meet
the projected demand, hence
the need to attract investors to provide tourism
facilities there," said
ZTA.
The national park forms part of
the GLTP, an investment destination
with high tourism growth potential which
encompasses Mozambique's Gaza,
South Africa's Kruger national
parks.
The Chiredzi-GLTP area and surroundings has been designated
as a
Tourism Development Zone (TDZ), a concept that the government approved
in
2002. The concept was adopted to promote tourism in areas where
underdevelopment is hampering high tourism potential.
The
Beitbridge-Shashe-Limpopo surroundings, Great Zimbabwe national
monument and
Lake Mutirikwi and its surroundings are the first areas to have
been
designated TDZs.
ZTA said Gonarezhou needed better accommodation
facilities and
restaurants, domestic air service, touring services, and
theme parks.
Investors will not be required to pay any tax from
income made during
the first five years of operation. They will start paying
15 percent tax
during the second five years of operation, 20 percent during
the third five
years before normal rates of corporate tax apply thereafter.
There will also
be duty exemption on specified capital equipment imported
for use in the
TDZs.
Most tourist destinations, including the
country's prime resort,
Victoria Falls, are largely
underdeveloped.
Source: Xinhua
March 3, 2006, 48 minutes
and 45 seconds ago.
By Andnetwork .com
The banking
sector, which recently received a clean bill of health
from the central
bank, was yesterday plunged into panic amid speculation
that yet another
banking institution, Sagit Finance House, had gone under.
Although
no official confirmation could be obtained by the time of
going to press,
reliable sources said the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ),
which went on a
bank closing spree between 2004-2005, had closed the finance
house for
unclear reasons.
Efforts to seek confirmation from the central bank
proved fruitless
last night, while an official at Sagit denied the bank had
been closed.
"That is not true, in any case, when the RBZ closes an
institution down,
they lock the doors and put up a notice, neither of that
has happened.
"Maybe the speculation has emerged from the presence of
RBZ`auditors who
just completed their routine on-site inspections today,"
the Sagit official,
who declined to identify himself, said. Sagit inherited
the finance house
left behind when Sunpol folded in 2004.
Experts say Sagit, like many financial institutions, appears to have
loaned
large sums of money to speculators, rather than putting it into safer
investments. With interest rates now between 500 and 600 percent, the
speculators cannot repay the loans. As part of its reform drive designed in
part to crack down on currency speculation, the Central Bank has closed
several banks and asset management companies in the last two years, and some
of their executives now face accusations of massive fraud. Several other
banks have been forced to lower interest rates. Many Zimbabwean banks are in
trouble due to the plunging economy and the shortage of cash.
Economist John Robertson says the daily cash shortfallin the banking
system
is about $US30 million. Analysts blame Zimbabwe's hyper-inflation,
super-high interest rates and high unemployment and poverty on a series of
government policies, including political repression and a disastrous land
reform program. The government blames foreign countries for interfering in
its internal affairs.
Source : Zim Daily
New Zimbabwe
By Lebo
Nkatazo
Last updated: 03/03/2006 11:39:16
ZIMBABWE'S state security agency
has for the second month running failed to
pay the salaries of journalists
and other staff at the Zimbabwe Mirror
Newspaper Group.
The Zimbabwe
Mirror Newspaper Group -- publishers of The Sunday Mirror and
The Daily
Mirror -- was taken over by the Central Intelligence Organisation
in a
secretive take-over paid for with tax payers' money.
Another paper, the
weekly Financial Gazette was also taken over by the CIO,
according to an
invetigation by the Zimbabwe Independent newspaper.
A staffer at the
Mirror said Thursday night that the salaries, which were
due by February 25,
had not been paid out and there was no explanation by
management.
Last month, the CIO also struggled to pay January
salaries until they were
bailed out by the Jewel Bank, cited by the
Independent investigation as the
central plank in the take-over of the
Mirror.
"Apart from the salaries, there is no sign of even pay slips
which are
usually given by the 21st of each month," said one journalist
speaking on
conditition he was not named.
He added: "We now risk
being evicted from our houses for failing to pay
rent."
The
journalist also said the CIO were hesitant to open up their purse
because of
uncertainty over their continued ownership of the Daily Mirror
and Sunday
Mirror, following a court application by suspended mirror
proprietor,
Ibbotson Day Mandaza to have board members jailed for contempt
of
court.
The contempt charges emanate from the board's decision to disobey
a High
Court order reinstating Mandaza.
As a result of the
uncertainty, the CIO are said to have put on hold the
purchase of computers
and vehicles needed by the company. News about the CIO's
failure to meet
their obligations come at a time when they have gone on a
firing and
suspension spree against journalists and other professionals
regarded as
Mandaza's sympathizers.
New Zimbabwe
By Staff
Reporter
Last updated: 03/03/2006 11:39:27
CHEGUTU residents go to the
polls Saturday in a two-horse-race mayoral poll
pitting the opposition MDC
and Zanu PF.
The opposition is represented by incumbent mayor Francis
Dhlakama, who is
aligned to the Morgan Tsvangirai-led faction.
The
other opposition faction headed by Arthur Mutambara initially indicated
that
it would field a candidate but failed to do so under unclear
circumstances.
Dhlakama, who was a lone figure in the Zanu PF
council, will face the ruling
party's Martin Zimani.
During his four
year tenure stretching back to December 2001, Dhlakama was
arrested on
several occasions and suspended once in a move the MDC said was
part of a
grand plan by the Mugabe regime to destabilize opposition led
councils.
Last year, the government reinstated 9 Zanu PF councilors
who were found
guilty of embezzling council funds and corruption by a
parliamentary
committee as well as by a government appointed audit
team.
The Chegutu poll was supposed to be held last December, but was
postponed
due to local government minister, Ignatius Chombo and the Zimbabwe
Electoral
Commission's bungling.
Chombo also moved Harare mayoral
elections that were supposed to be held
this year to next
year.
Opposition officials say Dhlakama and the fired Harare mayor Elias
Mudzuri
are arguably the most terrorised of all MDC mayors.
A day
after he was declared the winner of the poll after beating Zanu PF's
Stanley
Majiri, rowdy Zanu PF youths known as the Top Six forced him out of
office
armed with sticks and assorted weapons.
They alleged that Majiri, who
polled 2 452 against Dhlakama's 2 900, was the
legitimate
winner.
Dhlakama was only sworn in as mayor after he obtained a High
Court order
compelling the Town Clerk to administer the oath office to the
new mayor in
terms of the Urban Councils Act.
Majiri later filed an
application in the High Court challenging his defeat
but it was dismissed
with costs.
Other elections will be held in Bulawayo's wards 3 and 12,
Kadoma ward 7,
Binga ward 3; Bubi ward 20 and Zvishavane ward 2.
New Zimbabwe
By
Lobengula WaZimbabwe
Last updated: 03/03/2006 11:39:05
THE man in charge
of Zimbabwean sports wants all athletes, including
footballers, to undergo a
"national youth service" in order to "instill some
patriotism" in them
before they represent the country.
Gibson Mashingaidze, a serving army
general and chairman of the Sports
Commission made the shock submission in a
report presented to the government
reviewing the Africa Cup of Nations
finals in which Zimbabwe were eliminated
in the group stages.
In the
report to the Ministry of Education, Sports and Culture, running for
10
pages, Mashingaidze said: "We recommend that a government policy be
adopted
where all participants representing national teams be products of
the
national youth service. It would instill patriotism to sportsmen."
If
carried, Mashingaidze's recommendations would mean that athletes like
Zimbabwe national soccer team and Portsmouth forward Benjani Mwaruwari,
sprinter Young Talkmore Nyongani, tennis star Wayne Black or even cricketer
Tatenda Taibu have to undergo some "patriotism lessons" before representing
the country.
For the Zimbabwe soccer team which staged a sit in
before their flight to
the Nations Cup finals in Egypt, demanding that they
paid their outstanding
bonuses, that could be construed as "lack of
patriotism".
Zimbabwean human rights groups have previously registered
their disquiet at
the growing influence of army officials in the civil
service and other
government departments, seen as an attempt to crush
dissent against
President Robert Mugabe.
A BBC report last year into
Mugabe's "youth service" training centers
revealed shocking scenes of abuse
and rape, concluding that Zimbabwe's
youths were being trained into callous
"political zombies".
In the same report, Mashingaidze, who serves as
brigadier general in the
army blasted Zimbabwe Football Association (Zifa)
for the haphazard
preparations in the run up to the Egypt
finals.
Among other issues, Zifa were being blamed for non-payment of
players'
bonuses, attachment of the association's property, lack of
strategic
planning, delay in putting players' contracts and haphazard
requests for
money from the Sports Commission.
The Zifa board has
come under fierce criticism even by President Mugabe who
said on his
birthday last month that the "right people" should take charge
of the
association.
Aeneas Chigwedere, the Sports minister also attacked the
association, in
particular, chief executive officer Jonathan Mashingaidze
who he said was
incompetent.
zimbabwejournalists.com
By Bill Saidi
IN crime fiction -
and in real life too - there is this successful
criminal, a serial killer,
for instance, who becomes so conscience-stricken
they deliberately set out
to be found out.
They start dropping hints or leaving clues at the
scene of the crime.
The motive is to give the dopey detectives clear
evidence of the identity of
the criminal.
I can't, for the life of
me, remember what the psychiatrists and the
psychologists call it. But it is
an irresistible urge by the criminal to be
found out, to atone for their
sins by giving themselves up, virtually,
without actually walking into a
police station and announcing: "I know you
are looking for me. Here I
am."
A criminologist-turned-political-analyst might view Zanu PF's
conduct
in the last five years in much the same light. The party is begging,
it
seems, for someone to find it out, to unmask it, to put it out of its
conscience-stricken misery.
Whether Zanu PF is capable of being
conscience-stricken is neither
here nor there. The point is that since 2000,
the party has been crying out
to be punished, to be jailed, to be sent into
a lunatic asylum, to be made
to stop what is has been doing to
Zimbabwe.
After killing blacks and whites in the 2000 commercial farm
invasions,
the only price it paid as the villain of the piece was the loss
of 57 seats
in the subsequent parliamentary elections,
In the
presidential election in 2002, it provided more evidence that
it ought to be
found out: the election was judged to be biased in favour of
the party
candidate. There were outright allegations of rigging.
So, in spite of
leaving clues all over the place, the party did not
face the wrath of the
law. There were other elections and other outrages but
still the party did
not get its comeuppance.
After the 2005 parliamentary elections, it
launched Operation "Kick'em
Out", which it called "Operation Restore Order".
The campaign was aimed at
emptying the cities and towns of most of those
hundreds of thousands of
voters who had, once again, rejected Zanu PF at the
polls.
Still trying to provide evidence of its perfidy, the party last
month
staged a birthday shindig in the ramshackle township of S\akubva in
Mutare
for President Robert Mugabe's 82nd birthday.
This was at a
time when perhaps half the population is reportedly
facing starvation. This
is at a time when the economy is facing its
stiffest challenge since
1890.
At the birthday bash, the leaders, some of whom are clearly
victims of
the over-eating malady called obesity, gorged themselves, as
usual. There
was no apology from Mugabe himself, for even holding the bash
while
ordinary people were scraping for food in dustbins outside luxury
hotels.
Still not content with this abomination, the party's electronic
media
monopoly showed television footage of party leaders boasting of their
successes as farmers. Among them were Cephas Msipa of the Midlands, and
Emmerson Mnangangwa, also of Midlands.
Vice-President Joseph Msika,
speaking at a ceremony featuring a seed
company, opined why he could afford
expensive seed, which "my grandmother"
could not zafford. He too boasted of
being a successful farmer.
The land reform programme was launched, amid
the carnage of the farm
invasions, to "correct the inequities of the
colonial past". For many of us,
this translated into giving land to the
genuinely landless - not to the
Msikas and the Msipas of Zanu PF.
Before they took over the farms grabbed from the commercial farmers,
these
men were not poor. Their deprivation was not on the same scale as that
of
the peasant farmer eking out a pittance from subsistence farming on a
piece
of land in the most infertile region of the land.
These people had
official government houses, official government
vehicles and huge government
allowances for everything from school fees to
the wages of their domestic
workers.
It's utterly obscene to suggest that they could be counted
among the
people suffering the deprivation occasioned by the effects of the
Land
Apportionment Act.
That footage of these people boasting of
their farming expertise
brought home to many of us the truth that Zanu PF
has tried, so far without
success, to provide evidence of its villainous
role in the destruction of
this country.
Someone will answer its
appeal for retribution. We are not certain who
it will be, or whether it
will be a collective campaign by the people, or
the result of one man's or
woman's crusade to finally lock up Zanu PF,
pending its trial on charges of
depriving Zimbabwe of its potential for
greatness, economically and
politically.
The confession by Mugabe, during his birthday interview,
that most of
his "development" ministers had performed dismally, amounts to
another
appeal for Zanu PF to be arrested. The taxpayer has squandered
billions of
dollars in salaries and allowances for the bloated cabinet which
should have
been trimmed years ago, when the International Monetary Fund
(IMF) tried to
help the country with its balance of payments
problems.
Zanu PF has silenced much of the independent media, which
might have
succeeded in persuading he people to make a "citizens' arrest" of
the party.
Today, there are only two newspapers, both of them weeklies,
which dare to
"tell it like it is", The Zimbabwe Independent and The
Standard.
Four others, among them the largest-selling daily, The Daily
News,
were shut down because their calls for the arrest of Zanu PF on the
basis of
the clues it has left in its path of crime, had become so loud it
was only
a matter of time before the people pounced on the party.
The other newspapers, The Daily Mirror, The Sunday Mirror, and The
Financial
Gazette, can no longer be regarded as champions of the cause of
the people,
assuming by the people we mean all citizens who have lost faith
in Zanu
PF.
In the case of the Mirror group, the plight of Ibbo Mandaza, is
particularly poignant. He was never pilloried by colleagues as "an
apologist" of Zanu PF, but his commitment to a media unfettered by any
affiliation, however tenuous, to Zanu PF, has always raised uncomfortable
questions.
Zanu PF has burnt its bridges beyond repair. The
greatest pity is
that, at a time when the voters would gladly send the party
packing, their
dilemma is what to put in its place.
The split in
the MDC is probably not as tragic as it appeared to be at
the beginjiong. If
the two factions go into an election and perform as
creditably as the MDC
did in 2000, there is still a chance they could grant
Zanu PF its appeal for
punishment, finally.
Parties have split in the past. Joshua Nkomo's
Zapu developed a
splinter group, led by Ndabaningi Sithole. It wasn't the
size of a pimple,
but became a real kingsize boil all over the Zapu body
politic, resulting in
a genuine and formidable rival for power.
That party, Zanu, split again, with a faction dumping Sithole and
eventually
choosing Mugabe as its leader. For a brief period, even that Zanu
developed
a pimple too - Edgar Tekere's Zum which, unfortunately,
disappeared
completely after a dose of penicillin.
In Britain, Roy Jenkins, Shirley
Williams and David Owen split from
the Labour Party to form the
Liberal-Democratic Party. It still exists
today, though the chances of it
ever achieving power are remote, at best.
The reasons for the MDC split
are not entirely clear-cut. There is
talk of values and principles being
violated or compromised. There is also
talk of a democratic process being
sacrificed on the altar of consensus
outside the party
structures.
No wonder the differences have been characterized as
'irreconcilable".
What this translates into is that they don't
amount to a can of
beans. No wonder David Coltart, sitting on the fence
after having initially
backed the pro-Senate faction (nicknamed by its
critics as the pro-Zanu PF
faction) is struggling to find a formula for a
modus vivendi between the
two.
Zanu PF is still begging to be
punished. Its disclosures of massive
corruption within its ranks must
strengthen the case for it to be put out of
its misery.
News24
02/03/2006 16:09 -
(SA)
Johannesburg - Zimbabwe's monthly electricity import bill has
shot up by
about 12 000%, Harare's Herald newspaper reported on
Thursday.
Its website quoted Energy and Power Development Minister Mike
Nyambuya as
saying this might force power utility Zesa Holdings to increase
its tariffs
to remain viable.
"The cost of importing power has
increased from Z$5bn per month to Z$600bn,
against total income of Z$340bn
per month," Nyambuya said.
"This has been so because of the movement of
the exchange rate from Z$26
000/US$ to the current Z$99
000."
Imported electricity represents about 32% of Zimbabwe's national
requirements.
This state of affairs was not sustainable, the minister
said at the
inauguration of a new board for the power utility on
Wednesday.
There was a need to come up with what he termed realistic
tariffs, enabling
the power utility to provide electricity efficiently and
minimise power
cuts.
Nyambuya said Zesa was losing heavily as a
result of low-level rates it was
charging against escalating
inflation.
"Zesa is incurring a huge loss and our tariff levels are not
sustainable. We
want to repair and restore machinery at the Kariba and
Hwange power
stations. We also want to invest in the region. How do we do
this without
funds?"
The government had given Zesa Holdings the green
light to adjust tariffs in
line with rising inflation, Nyambuya
said.
Last year, the government approved an interim tariff increase of
100% to
keep the power utility afloat.
The minister said he expected
the new Zesa board to expedite generation
projects in response to a power
deficit facing the Southern African
Development Community
region.
Energy experts say the region faces a major power shortfall by
2007 if no
capacity expansion measures are put into place.
At
present, Zesa generates a combined 1 440 megawatts at Kariba and Hwange
power stations.
K ariba generates 750MW and Hwange 590MW, while small
thermal power stations
contribute 100MW to the national grid. Imports
account for 650MW.
Zimbabwe imports 300MW from South Africa, 250MW from
Mozambique and 100MW
from the Democratic Republic of Congo.
March 3, 2006, 7 hours, 8 minutes and 46 seconds
ago.
By Oscar Nkala www.andnetwork.com
Matabeleland South governor Angeline Masuku yesterday snubbed a
ministerial
tour of the sub-standard match-box houses built under the
Zimbabwe's
emergency housing programme as government ignored her call for a
probe into
the widely reported corruption that led to the intended poor
beneficiaries
losing out to top civil servants, members of the security
forces and the
politically linked.
Since the allocation last month, a
chorus of condemnation went up in
the province amid revelations that top
civil servants, ministers and the
politically linked had used their
influence to elbow out the real victims of
Operation Restore Order, the
clampdown that led to the urgent need for new
houses.
It turned
out that the beneficiaries were people who were never
affected by the
housing destruction programme and had never been on the
waiting lists in
addition to hailing from other provinces where they could
have rightly
benefitted if they met the criteria.
In remarks published
immediately after the allocation, governor Masuku
said the alleged role of
civil servants in the corrupt allocation had to be
investigated as allowing
it to go unchecked would dent the image of
government in the
province.
She also expressed concern that the real poor
beneficiaries of the
programme and those on the local authority's waiting
lists had been
displaced by people from outside the province and supported
the local
authority's call for a nullification of the whole
process.
However, her concerns were ignored by Emmerson
Mnangagwa, the head of
the provincial inter-ministerial committee overseeing
the housing programme.
On arrival in Gwanda, 126 km south of the second city
of Bulawayo, Mnangagwa
is reported to have ruled out nullifying the
allocation and said no
investigation will be done to prove if there was ever
corruption in the
acquisition and allocation processes.
According to sources who were with the team in Gwanda yesterday,
differences
between Masuku and Mnangagwa came to a head during a closed door
briefing
which the minister held just before the tour of stands.
"There were
serious disagreements as Governor Masuku demanded to know
why government was
endorsing a process whose unfairness had raised such an
outcry from locals.
She also pointed out that such actions risked isolating
the people from
government programme and would certainly provide a breeding
ground for the
growing resentment of the ZANU PF government by locals. But
Mnangagwa
refused to listen and used his power as head of the
inter-ministerial
committee to say all was well.
"He infuriated the governor by
saying government would not reverse or
nullify the allocation, adding it
would not even probe the allegations of
corruption by civil servants. So
when the briefing ended, the governor
refused to accompany the team as
protocol demands. Mnangagwa proceeded to
make the tour on his own," said the
source.
Contacted for comment, governor Masuku refused to discuss
the issue.
However, she was not alone in condemning the corrupt and
exclusive nature of
the allocation of the houses.
Home Affairs
minister Kembo Mohadi also called for a nullification of
the same process in
Beitbridge when it turned out that locals had been
excluded en-masse while
people from outside the district got the cheap
structures. The Gwanda
Municipality also called for a nullification of the
process citing the same
reasons.
A. N. D Africa
By
Violet Gonda
02 March 2006
"Grotesque
extravagance" were the words used by a UK Judge in throwing
out an
application by the Zimbabwe government, through a nominee company, to
expropriate businessman Mutumwa Mawere's company assets.
The
case which was heard in London on Thursday was between a ZANU PF
front
company, AMG Global Nominees Private Limited, and African Resources
Limited
(ARL). The Zimbabwe government needed the consent of the English
courts to
complete the takeover of his company.
Mawere, whose companies were
seized by a presidential decree, said the
judge was able to see that AMG was
a government front trying to acquire his
assets and said it was both illegal
and unjust. He said this ruling means
the takeover of his assets cannot be
completed by the government.
Critics have said the Reconstruction
Order which was passed into an
act by parliament allows the government to
take over any private company on
spurious grounds of state indebtedness and
insolvency.
Mawere said, "If the English court can recognise an
injustice and they
were the former colonial power what does that mean for
you, after 26 years
of independence? How far have we travelled. I thought
independence was to
free us from this kind of oppression but 26 years later
we are being exposed
to this kind of tyranny with impunity."
The South African based businessman has in the past criticised the
fact that
the Zimbabwean government, which always attacks the British, is
being
defended and represented by British lawyers in the UK courts.
It's
reported the cash strapped government spent an estimated
US$2million to pay
top class UK lawyers. Mawere also said, just on this
particular trip, the
government spent a whopping £150 000 on first class
airfares and 5 star
accommodation for it's Zimbabwean representatives. These
included government
appointed administrator Afaras Gwaradzimba and
commercial lawyer and
government purse man Edwin Manikai. Reserve Bank
Governor Gideon Gono sent 4
representatives.
Mawere was accused of externalising foreign
currency and was specified
under the Prevention of Corruption Act, in 2004.
His mines, together with
companies in finance, insurance and agriculture
were seized by presidential
decree. He lost his flagship business, Shabanie
Mashaba Mines (SMM
Holdings), which he had bought for US$60m from British
company Turner &
Newell in 1996, to the state.
Following
the expropriation of SMM Holdings by the government , an
administrator
Afaras Gwaradzimba, was appointed to replace the company's
board of
directors and assume control of the company. Gwaradzimba is
reported to have
accused Mutumwa Mawere of asset-stripping the group and
starving SMM of
foreign currency, leading to its collapse last year.
Mawere was
arrested in SA in 2004, but freed after Zimbabwe failed in
its bid to get
him extradited.
Just last week, Mawere was in the USA as part of
his campaign to
expose how his business empire has been systematically
destroyed and sold
off by the Zimbabwean government. He told representatives
from the
International Monetary Fund that the government raided his
companies to pay
off the IMF loan. Zimbabwe recently surprised analysts by
paying off the
outstanding IMF debt.
MDC official Sekai Holland
has been touring the Diaspora meeting
Zimbabweans in South Africa, New
Zealand, USA and Britain and was at
Thursday's court hearing. She said: "It
is victory for all the people who
are having their properties and their
rights violated by the Mugabe regime
everyday. The British system hit him
(Mugabe) by the head and said, you don't
do that over
here!"
SW Radio Africa Zimbabwe news