http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 06 March 2010 21:31
FIRST
Lady Grace Mugabe has ordered the destruction of 100 households in a
Mazowe
suburb to make way for the expansion of the orphanage she is building
in the
area.
Although the affected households have been promised land
elsewhere, anxiety
has gripped the suburb after the residents were given
notices to vacate
their houses to make way for the extension of the
orphanage she is
struggling to build in the farming town in Mashonaland
Central.
Angry residents on Friday told The Standard that the 100
families had been
ordered by the local council to stop building on their
stands in preparation
for relocation.
Some of the
residents said they bought their stands way back in 1998 from
the Mazowe
Rural District Council and had completed building their homes but
others
were still at foundation level.
The residents said Grace Mugabe
cherry-picked the area, in the manner many
Zanu PF activists did on farms,
despite the fact that desperate home-seekers
had already been allocated
stands there.
"I had already finished building my house but she is
forcing me out," said a
visibly troubled middle-aged woman, who requested
anonymity for fear of
victimisation.
"She is making economic
orphans to make way for other orphans."
She said she was not sure
whether she would be allocated another piece of
land or even, importantly,
be compensated.
Another victim, a 39-year-old man, said he did not
believe the First Lady
wanted to build an orphanage that would benefit
orphans.
"If she is that kind why did she choose an area that was
already occupied?
"Sally Mugabe (President Mugabe's late wife) never
invaded other people's
properties to help poor children.
"She
must be up to something," said the man.
President Mugabe's first wife
is renowned for having had a soft heart for
disadvantaged members of the
community, especially children.
Grace Mugabe's centre was supposed to
be officially opened in 2008 but this
was put on hold as construction was
still underway.
When The Standard news crew visited the centre on
Friday armed police were
not allowing anyone inside without permission from
the site manager who was
unavailable.
But there was little
activity to show that the centre would be opened to
orphans any time
soon.
Local council officials remained tight-lipped about the project
saying it
was a "sensitive" issue.
Liberty Mufandaedza, the
Mazowe council's chief executive officer only said
residents would be
allocated new residential stands.
"We will soon be showing them where
they will be relocated," said
Mufandaedza referring further questions to the
council chairman.
Council chairman Richard Mudavanhu was also afraid
to comment saying: "Small
as I am, I can't comment on such a big project.
Talk to the governor."
Mashonaland Central governor Martin Dinha said
the opening of the centre had
been delayed because of the economic meltdown
caused by sanctions imposed on
Zimbabwe by the West.
He said
construction had resumed and the centre would be opened soon.
Dinha
said the council had identified an area to relocate "60 households"
while
working on compensation modalities.
Asked why Grace chose an area
already allocated to desperate home-seekers,
Dinha chose to shoulder the
blame.
"We as a province, valued so much the development and
construction of an
orphanage and a secondary school by the First Lady that
we offered her land
to benefit orphans," said Dinha.
"But it does
not mean we will neglect our people. We will house them
elsewhere."
When complete the state-of-the-art orphanage centre,
named Amitofo Care
Centre, established in 2006, would consist of 30 five-bed
houses.
Each would accommodate 20 children under the care of two
foster parents.
The centre to take up more than 48 ha on completion
will have the children's
home, a nursery, schools, a vocational training
centre, a hospital, a
shopping centre, a restaurant and guest
chalets.
Probed if the centre would also take children whose parents
were murdered in
the run-up to the violent March and June 2008 elections,
Dinha professed
ignorance of any politically-motivated murders.
"I am not
aware of any children orphaned due to violence during that
time.
"What I can confirm is that there was inter-party violence
which has since
been addressed with the coming in of the global political
agreement."
MDC-T says at least 200 of its activists were killed by
Zanu PF militia and
State security agents mostly in Mashonaland Central and
East during that
time.
BY CAIPHAS CHIMHETE
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 06 March
2010 21:21
IN an open rebuke to Media, Information and Publicity
secretary George
Charamba who has been frustrating the licensing of new
players in the
newspaper publishing sector, President Robert Mugabe has told
the Zimbabwe
Media Commission (ZMC) to get on with its mandate of opening up
the media
space. At a meeting with editors from all media houses at Zimbabwe
House on
Thursday, Mugabe said only commissioners for the Zimbabwe Human
Rights
Commission and the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission needed to be sworn
in
before they start working.
He was responding to a remark by
Charamba, who had said it was "their
understanding" that the nine ZMC
commissioners must be sworn in first before
they can carry out their duties.
Mugabe told him publicly that the ZMC did
not need to be sworn in and should
be getting on with its work.
There were reports last week that the
ZMC's secretariat, inherited from the
discredited Tafataona Mahoso-led Media
and Information Commission was
turning away publishers trying to apply for
new licences.
The publishers were told that the commission would only
start receiving
applications in two weeks' time.
"They were gazetted,
they must be operating now," Mugabe said after
consulting Deputy Media,
Information and Publicity minister Jameson Timba
who sat next to him during
the meeting.
Last month government formally appointed the ZMC
commissioners, namely
Godfrey Majonga (chairman), Nqobile Nyathi (deputy),
Chris Mutsvangwa,
Matthew Takaona, Chris Mhike, Henry Muradzikwa, Lawton
Hikwa, Mirriam
Madziwa and Millicent Mombeshora after the three governing
parties agreed on
the composition of the ZMC.
Alpha Media
Holdings, publishers of the Zimbabwe Independent and The
Standard, have been
waiting for a licence for their new daily, NewsDay,
since last
year.
Raphael Khumalo, chief executive officer of Alpha Media
Holdings, said there
appeared to be a clique in government that wanted to
undo the positive work
done by the coalition especially in freeing the media
space.
"I can't understand why there is so much prevarication on such
a simple
matter," he said. "I hope that we get this done and over within the
next
week or so."
He warned that if the ZMC commissioners do not
become proactive, the country
might slide back to the era where media
plurality was under constant threat.
On the Broadcasting Authority of
Zimbabwe (BAZ), Mugabe told the editors
that Tsvangirai had raised
objections about the manner in which the board
was
appointed.
Last year Media, Information and Publicity minister
Webster Shamu
unilaterally appointed the board, which he stuffed with Zanu
PF sympathisers
and former soldiers.
The law says the board must
be appointed by Mugabe in consultation with
Tsvangirai.
"If the
appointments were irregular they have to be reversed," Mugabe
said.
Meanwhile, Mugabe says negotiators in the on-and-off talks on
the
implementation of outstanding issues of the Global Political Agreement
(GPA)
are too busy to conclude the dialogue.
"They are the same
people who are government ministers. . .they are busy
people," he said.
"Look at (Finance minister Tendai) Biti. He is always out
of the country
looking for money. . . he is a constant absentee.
"(Justice Minister
Patrick) Chinamasa is in Geneva for the Human Rights
Commission and the
schedule lasts for the whole month and those from the
MDC-M, they are often
out of the country."
MDC-T says as far as it is concerned the talks
have reached a deadlock
because of Zanu PF's intransigence and has referred
the matter to Sadc.
But Mugabe insisted most of the issues that were
being discussed were
outside the GPA.
He said the inclusive
government was now working smoothly after six months
of "trying to find each
other".
Every Monday, Mugabe said he meets Tsvangirai and Deputy
Prime Minister
Arthur Mutambara at Zimbabwe House where they have tea
together.
"It was as if we were strangers when we started but we are
much more
intimate now and much friendlier," he said.
"At the top
it has played this wonderful role but it is down there where we
still have
friction.
"The GPA truly speaking is in operation totally."
BY
KHOLWANI NYATHI
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 06 March 2010
20:02
PRIME Minister Morgan Tsvangirai will in May launch a new charity
foundation
to carry on the legacy of his wife, Susan who died in a car crash
in March
last year. Speaking at a memorial service to commemorate one year
since the
passing on of his wife, Tsvangirai said the new foundation would
seek to
empower ordinary people at the grassroots to make a difference in
their
lives.
President Robert Mugabe attended the
memorial.
"After a year of self-searching and consultation, I am
proud to announce
that in May this year we will launch the Susan Nyaradzo
Tsvangirai
Foundation," said the Prime Minister.
The foundation,
said Tsvangirai, would be driven by Susan's philosophy that
"one person can
make a difference".
"If we all share this belief, all of us can make
a positive difference in
someone's life," said Tsvangirai.
"We
celebrate Susan's life for reminding us of the importance of service and
caring. She was a very generous person. Sometimes we forget that we are
people in need."
Hundreds of people gathered at the Glamis Arena
in Harare to celebrate the
life of the PM's late wife.
Speaker after
speaker paid tribute to the woman who was a pillar of strength
to Tsvangirai
from the labour union days to the formation of MDC and the
government.
Supporters in party regalia would break into song and
dance every time Susan's
good deeds were being chronicled.
The
supporters painted the stadium red and white in one of the most
colourful
memorials ever.
Artistes that spiced up the event included Tongai
Moyo, Fungisai
Zvakavapano-Mashavave, Raymond Majongwe, Vabvuwi and Vabati
veVhangeri.
Speaking at a church service as part of the memorial,
Mugabe stressed the
need to sideline political differences and work
together.
"I know the pain of losing a partner, we can all wear
political jackets, but
we are all Zimbabweans let us work together. Even if
I was not invited, I
was going to attend" Mugabe said.
MDC-T
officials Lovemore Moyo, Tendai Biti, Thokozani Khupe, Theresa Makone,
and a
number of civil society representatives gave testimonies of how unique
a
mother Susan was.
By Our Staff
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 06 March 2010 19:57
BULAWAYO -
Matabeleland South and North provinces will require urgent food
aid in the
next two months owing to widespread crop failure this season. The
number of
people in need of emergency food aid has been put at 1,3 million
with
Matabeleland South being the most affected as 700 000 face
starvation.
Angeline Masuku, the Matabeleland South governor on
Thursday said they had
only managed to mobilise 600 tonnes of maize for
drought relief.
"We have so far managed to put together 600 metric
tones of maize just to be
ready for any eventualities that could arise," she
said.
"We are quite aware there are many people in my province that
are still
finishing up their little harvest from last year and they shall be
coming to
seek assistance very soon."
Matabeleland North
governor, Thokozile Mathuthu said three of the seven
districts were in dire
need of food aid.
"Areas such as Ntabazinduna, Tsholotsho, and
Nyamandlovu are in need of
food," she said.
"These areas have
been affected by the incessant rains that fell in those
parts and the
villagers have given up hope of harvesting anything.
"This is because
the crops there have been submerged in water to an extent
that they can no
longer mature."
Mathuthu said the San community, which is mainly made
up of hunters and
gatherers was the hardest hit.
Prime Minister
Morgan Tsvangirai last month went on a tour of the two
provinces to assess
the food situation and he described it as catastrophic.
Agriculture
Minister, Joseph Made recently said 11% of this season's maize
crop had been
written off following a prolonged dry spell.
Zimbabwe has faced
constant food deficits since it embarked on a
controversial land reform
programme in 2000.
BY NKULULEKO SIBANDA
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 06 March 2010 19:59
THE
faces of three old women sitting hopelessly around a small fire say it
all.
Life in the once bustling asbestos mining town of Zvishavane has
changed —
for the worst after government grabbed Shabanie Mine from its
previous
owners, SMM Holdings owned by exiled businessman Mutumwa
Mawere.
Arafas Gwaradzimba of AMG Global was appointed administrator
to reconstruct
the mine, but workers feel he has only succeeded in
destroying it beyond
redemption.
For over a year now, employees
at Shabanie Mine have not received salaries.
Management at the mine
has reneged on a number of promises and withdrawn
crucial benefits for the
workers.
The hospital is usually without any
medicines.
Many secondary school children have dropped out of school.
In most parts of
the town, water is now available for only three hours
daily, from 4am to
7am.
It is most difficult for people like
Mbuya Laina Mhlanga, Eddie Moyo and
Mbuya Madeshi, who now live at a welfare
centre in the local township,
Maglas.
In the past, a lot of noise
could be heard emanating from the neighbouring
Nyaradzai Beerhall in
Maglas.
Although the noise was at times irritating, its absence is
evidence enough
of the collapse of social services in
Zvishavane.
“We are now surviving by the grace of God, everyday now
takes care of
itself,” says Mbuya Mhlanga.
Although she says she has no
clue about her age, Mhlanga remembers well how
she used to be the envy of
her neighbours when her late husband was an
employee at the asbestos
mine.
“For many years, from the time our husbands were still alive
and even after
they had passed away, we stayed at the mine’s houses for
free,” said
Mhlanga.
Together with her colleagues, Mhlanga
believes that life as a widow was
always going to be difficult, but not to
the extent of their present
predicament.
“When the new management
came, we were moved here, and stayed for free. This
was however for a few
months.
“They then told us that we were supposed to pay $5 rent every
month. Where
do they expect us to get that kind of
money?
“Whenever we get a chance, we do piece jobs in the townships,
and this is
how we have been surviving.”
The three old women once
attempted to set up a small vegetable garden, but
the project flopped
because of water shortages.
“We now survive on handouts from
well-wishers,” said Moyo.
“Life is now very difficult; it’s very hard
for one to get even the smallest
amount of money.
“We used to rely on our
friends who still work at the mine, but things are
even worse for them. They
just work and never get paid.”
Gold panners like Nhamo Dube, Dickson
Msipha and Clever Hove used to be
hated by all and sundry in and around the
town, but they are now everyone’s
darlings.
“Wherever we go,
people who used to look down upon us beg us for money,”
says
Dube.
“Things are tough my man. Vanhu varohwa nezhambi". (Zhambi is
street lingo
for hunger)
While everyone else is complaining that they
have no money, the trio is so
disappointed that their favourite hang-out,
Nyaradzai Beerhall, now closes
very early as there would be no
electricity.
Zesa on Tuesday also disconnected electricity to
Shabanie Mine premises —
which include the mining plant, offices and
residential areas like Maglas —
over unsettled bills.
“We have
money but we cannot spend it the way we would love to. We are now
forced to
go home very early. This place is just too quiet. It’s no longer
the Maglas
we used know,” said Msipha.
The effects on business are so
glaring.
People no longer buy groceries and other household
requirements as they used
to.
The very frequent power cuts have
also become a major setback for business.
The Standard witnessed one
tuckshop owner inviting people to come and get
meat on credit before it
rotted.
Even the world’s oldest profession has not been
spared.
During the day, most commercial sex workers try their hand
at vending to
supplement their meagre earnings.
“Since the mine
stopped normal operations, things have not been good for
us,” said Merilyn
Moyo, a prostitute.
“At times I go for more than one week without
getting customers.
“It is now difficult to come up with a fixed
price; you are forced to accept
whatever the client would be offering,
because if you let them go, it may be
very difficult getting
another.”
Although they have not received salaries for a while,
Shabanie Mine workers
still report for duty.
“If we don’t go to
work, we will be kicked out of the mine houses,” said
Givemore
Mahleka.
“The mining plant is as good as dead.
“The
machinery there is now obsolete, and often breaks down. We now rely on
doing
piece jobs for our counterparts employed by nearby Mimosa Mining
Company.”
Every month, Mahleka now travels to his village in
Mberengwa to find some
food.
He has sold four of his beasts, and
with the way things are going, his 11
head of cattle could soon be wiped
out.
A number of his colleagues who stopped reporting for duty last
year when the
company stopped paying them have since been served with
eviction notices.
Lawyer Tichaona Chivasa says workers have run out
of patience, but cannot do
much to help their
situation.
“Management is heartless. This employer is just immoral.
It’s all a circus”
said Chivasa.
Officials at the mine refused to
comment, referring all enquiries to Justice
Minister Patrick Chinamasa, who
was said to be out of the country.
BY VUSUMUZI SIFILE
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 06 March 2010 19:55
YOUTH
Development, Indigenisation and Empowerment Minister Saviour
Kasukuwere on
Friday ordered foreign banks operating in Zimbabwe to start
lending money to
blacks or "ship out' in remarks that are likely to further
unsettle foreign
investors. Briefing journalists at a cocktail party on
Friday on his
controversial empowerment law that seeks to force
foreign-owned firms to
cede 51% of their shareholdings to locals, Kasukuwere
said there were some
banks that were against financing black businesses.
"These British
banks should change their attitudes; either they work to
support our people
or there is no need for them to be in First Street,"
Kasukuwere
said.
The remarks come on the background of concerns that locals do
not have
capital to participate in the indigenisation programme and will
raise
suspicion that government will force banks to fund the empowerment
transactions.
Kasukuwere's outburst is also likely to draw the
anger of the central bank
which superintends the financial services
sector.
Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) governor Gideon Gono has in
the past said
government officials should keep their hands off the delicate
financial
sector.
Kasukuwere said there were some banks who had
imposed "sanctions" by not
lending out to locals. "You want our banking
licence and you behave in this
manner?" he
questioned.
Foreign-owned banks have been getting the rap from both
Gono and Finance
minister Tendai Biti for having low loan-to-deposit
ratios.
Statistics from the central bank show that as at December 18
last year,
Stanbic had a loan-to-deposit ratio of 37,15%, Standard Chartered
(23,15%),
Barclays (19,94%) and MBCA (125,44%).
However, even
locally-owned banks such as FBC Bank had low loan-to-deposit
ratios.
Despite raking in US$97 818 888,52 in deposits, FBC
loaned out a paltry
US$16 255 352,42 representing a loan-to-deposit ratio of
16,65%.
Since the gazetting of the empowerment regulations in January
there has been
an outcry from concerned stakeholders that the move would
scare away
investors.
Kasukuwere told journalists there was no
going back on the regulations.
"No minister must speak on behalf of
another minister," he said in remarks
aimed at Industry and Commerce
minister Welshman Ncube.
Ncube had told business executives on
Wednesday that the regulations were
before the Cabinet committee on
legislation as they were prematurely
gazetted.
He said the
regulations were in place and concessions would be made to take
the views of
colleagues.
"I am implementing the laws of the country and I don't
have to fight anybody
to implement the law," he said.
Foreign
owned banks have become the punching bags in the indigenisation
scheme.
When the empowerment law was being formulated then
Indigenisation minister
Paul Munyaradzi Mangwana, told a parliamentary
committee in 2007 that
foreign banks unhappy with the proposed legislation
"should pack and go".
BY NDAMU SANDU
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 06 March 2010
19:53
BULAWAYO - The city council has admitted that its water quality has
been
compromised by the now-frequent breakdown of its pumping system. Amen
Mpofu,
the deputy mayor told a full council meeting on Wednesday that
council was
inundated with complaints from residents over the deteriorating
quality of
water.
He was contributing to debate on a report by
council's Future Water Supplies
and Water Situation committee highlighting
the worsening water shortages
especially in high-lying
areas.
"There have been numerous complaints about the water that we
have been
supplying to the residents," Mpofu said.
"I would like
to urge this council to note that the water is at times brown
and
dirty.
"Residents have said it takes quite some time for the water to
clear with
the substances in it taking time to settle down."
He
said residents were only using the water because they had no
alternative.
The mayor Thaba Moyo blamed this on the constant
breakdown of pumping
equipment at the council's water works.
He
said frequent power cuts by Zesa were also partly responsible for the
situation.
"The reason for that type of water is that our systems
break down every now
and then," he said.
"When the systems are
brought back on line, they will naturally pump water
even with the
substances that are dragged in."
"We need to replace and rehabilitate
our infrastructure and more broadly, we
need to find an international
partner who will assist us revamp our system."
The country's second
largest city is facing a serious water shortage again
this year after its
four supply dams recorded insignificant inflows this
season.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 06 March 2010 19:51
TO many
in Zanu PF, Saviour Kasukuwere, the Minister of Youth Development,
Indigenisation and Empowerment, is their saviour. Young, rich and
successful, Kasukuwere has businesses ranging from oil to transport and
banking.
His admirers have nicknamed him Tyson.
But his
critics say Kasukuwere is a beneficiary of Zanu PF “gravy train”
determined
to do whatever it takes to make money for himself and to keep the
former
ruling party in power despite the economic ramifications.
They claim
that he has been building his business empire on the back of
political
patronage using the Affirmative Action Group (AAG), a black
empowerment
group where he was once vice-president.
The Indigenisation and
Economic Empowerment Act whose regulations Kasukuwere
recently pushed
through, they claim, is “a looting mechanism” by Zanu PF
whose effects would
be worse than farm invasions that resulted in the
collapse of the
economy.
Under the new law, foreign companies have to “cede” 51% of
their
shareholding to black investors in five years. They have to notify
Kasukuwere how they intend to do it within 45 days after the law came into
force last Monday.
It is also feared that the new law would scare
away potential foreign
investors whose money is badly needed to kick-start
the economy ruined by
over a decade of misrule and
corruption.
Sources in Zanu PF last week said the empowerment law
came under fire at the
party’s politburo meeting last month.
But
Kasukuwere, with the support of President Robert Mugabe, somehow managed
to
push it through.
“The politburo had rejected it but Kasukuwere got Mugabe’s
support at the
meeting. That is how it survived,” said one
source.
Kasukuwere went on to defy Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai
who had declared
the gazetting of the regulations “null and void” because he
had not been
consulted.
Of concern to most Zimbabweans is that
Kasukuwere, who enforces the policy
as the minister, is a businessman in his
own right, with vast business
interests in many sectors of the
economy.
It is feared that he might be tempted not only to enrich
himself but also
his Zanu PF colleagues further as was the case with the
farm invasions.
Already accusations have been made that Kasukuwere
plans to acquire
substantial shareholding in foreign-owned oil companies in
the country to
boost his existing enterprise.
Some of the
foreign-owned oil companies currently operating in the country
and could be
targeted are Total Zimbabwe (Pvt) Ltd, BP Zimbabwe (Pvt) Ltd,
Chevron and
Engen (Pvt) Ltd.
The 39-year-old minister owns ComOil (Pvt) Ltd, an
oil procurement company,
United Touring Company (UTc), Concorpia Farm, and a
substantial shareholding
in Genesis Bank as well as Interfresh (Pvt)
Ltd.
Last year, Kasukuwere was accused of blocking fresh investment
in the energy
industry and of trying to force BP and Shell to sell its
assets to his oil
company, ComOil.
There have also been reports
that the Act targets Old Mutual, the country’s
largest life
insurer.
Sources said senior Zanu PF officials were positioning themselves to
take
over the listed company with the support of some
foreigners.
In return, the foreigners would get protection for their
other investments
in the country.
However, Kasukuwere denies
planning a takeover of BP, Old Mutual or any
other foreign owned-company.
“What people are saying is all nonsensical,” he
said. “Honestly, I am trying
to promote the interests of the majority of
Zimbabweans by empowering
them.”
The minister said the allegations were being peddled by his
enemies who want
to distract him from a national cause.
“I will
stand my ground and will not be distracted,” he vowed. “I will stand
for the
national good; that is promoting the empowerment of indigenous
people.”
But ordinary Zimbabweans say the government’s
indigenisation programme has
never benefited them but a few in Zanu PF and
those politically well
connected.
The AAG last year attacked
Chevron Caltex for allegedly trying to exclude
black fuel dealers from
getting a stake in the company, a clear indication
that hawks are waiting in
the wings to snatch a stake in the firm.
AAG, once led by Kasukuwere
and business mogul Phillip Chiyangwa among
others, is a black empowerment
group closely linked to Zanu PF.
Last year Kasukuwere’s ministry
irregularly recruited into the civil service
Border Gezi graduates as youth
officers without seeking approval for the
establishment of the posts,
prejudicing government of millions of dollars in
salaries.
The
MDC said the youths were rewarded with jobs for violently supporting
Mugabe
in the March and June 2008 elections, where over 200 of its activists
were
killed.
Starting as a low-ranking member of the feared Central
Intelligence
Organisation in the late 1980s, very little is known about how
Kasukuwere
built his vast business empire.
Political analyst John
Makumbe says it was difficult to establish how
Kasukuwere built his
business. “His wealth is very difficult to explain,”
said Makumbe. “It’s all
cloudy and nothing is clear about how he acquired
it.”
But
Kasukuwere insisted his wealth was legitimately acquired. “When I
joined
politics I had already built my business empire. I can tell you my
other
businesses which you did not even mention,” he quipped.
“So I am in politics
not to make money but to empower Zimbabweans. I have
already made my
money.”
BY CAIPHAS CHIMHETE
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 06 March 2010
19:48
PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe has barred Presidential Affairs Minister
Didymus
Mutasa’s lawyer from taking over Rydings Primary School in Karoi in
one of
his most decisive actions against Zanu PF sympathisers abusing the
land
reform programme to seize private assets. Mutasa in 2007 designated
Enthorpe
Farm on which the school is built and allocated it to Gerald
Mlotshwa who in
turn appointed Zanu PF provincial lands secretary, Temba
Mliswa as chairman
of the school’s board of governors.
After
several court battles, parents through the Association of Trust
Schools
(ATS), petitioned Mugabe seeking the withdrawal of Mlotshwa’s offer
letter.
On Wednesday Mugabe consulted Lands Minister Herbert
Murerwa and Local
Government Minister Ignatius Chombo before acting on the
matter.
He told journalists the following day during a rare meeting
with all media
houses in the country that the allocation of the farm “was an
abuse of
power.”
“We have said the offer letter must be
withdrawn,” Mugabe said. “It was very
wrong. . .it is an abuse of
power.”
Mugabe, who had wandered off from a discussion on race
relations in the
country constantly consulted Deputy Media, Information and
Publicity
Minister Jameson Timba who was AST chairman when the dispute
started.
Timba said they were happy the matter had been put to
rest.
“I am delighted as a former chairman of the AST that the
matter, which was
pending when I stepped down, has been finally resolved,”
he said.
“It was both irresponsible and immoral of anyone to
designate and acquire a
farm, which incorporates a school and to accept an
offer letter for such a
farm.”
The school has an enrolment of 400
pupils.
Meanwhile, Mugabe said he was aware some Zanu PF officials
who helped
themselves to white- owned commercial farms were now leasing
them to the
former land owners.
Mliswa has accused Chombo and
Information and Publicity Minister Webster
Shamu of leasing their farms to
former white commercial farmers.
“We will go province by province to
check on those leasing their farms,”
Mugabe said. “Those who do that risk
losing them because it’s not
permissible.”
Mugabe also backed the
land audit, which he said would flush out multiple
farm
owners.
But he seemed uncomfortable speaking about the multiple farms
allegedly
owned by the First Family.
He said he personally owned
Highfield Farm in Norton, which he bought and
Gushungo dairy farm in Mazowe
which he grabbed during the land reform
programme.
Mugabe said he
had wanted Gushungo to be a “centre of excellence” but
admitted the Nestlé
Zimbabwe fiasco had badly affected the business.
Nestlé last year
temporarily suspended operations following attempts to
force it to buy milk
from the farm. This forced them to reduce the milk
output.
Mugabe
complained that Dairibord had failed to pay for milk deliveries for
six
months.
BY KHOLWANI NYATHI
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 06 March 2010 19:46
HIGH
drama is unfolding in Gokwe in a case that will put the national
healing
process to the test. The script goes like this: A man is murdered in
a
highly politically polarised community; the alleged murderers are known
but
are connected to powerful individuals.
A year on the body of the victim
is rotting in an inefficient mortuary
because his people won't bury him
until the families of the murderers admit
to the crime and perform
traditional rites.
But the community is also highly superstitious and
believe in ngozi - the
vengeful wrath of an aggrieved
spirit.
Already claims abound that the victim is taking personal
vengeance on the
perpetrators and visitors to the mortuary have claimed
sighting him
resurrected and seated on his coffin contemplating his next
move. Needless
to say, the community is in the grip of fear.
The
question is: What is to be done to solve the problem, reconcile and heal
the
community?
A provision in the global political agreement (GPA) that
set up the
inclusive government last year constituted the Organ on National
Healing,
Reconciliation and Integration.
This was in recognition of
the political violence that had accompanied the
2008 harmonised elections
particularly during the period leading to the June
27 presidential election
run-off pitting President Mugabe and Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC)
leader Morgan Tsvangirai.
The organ said the process of healing would
be done according to everyone's
customs and religious beliefs. It went on a
two-month nation-wide
consultation meeting community leaders, chiefs,
faith-based leaders and
civil society "in order to ensure full participation
of the public and
exploring with them potential mechanisms to implement a
national healing and
reconciliation process".
The organ led by
three ministers, one each from the three parties that
signed the GPA - Zanu
PF, MDC-T and MDC - should now be in the process of
meeting local, regional
and international experts to assist it with
"formulating recommendations for
appropriate mechanisms to be in place" to
help implement the national
healing process.
But in the Gokwe saga they have got a test
case.
MDC-T activist Moses Chokuda was allegedly murdered on March 22
last year by
two prominent Zanu PF members, named as Farai Machaya and
Edmore Gana
following a dispute over goodies donated by the First Lady Grace
Mugabe at
Masakadza, some 50 km from Gokwe centre.
The two
alleged killers are said to have diverted the items - which included
foodstuffs, wheelchairs and Zanu PF regalia - to their shops at the centre,
prompting an outcry from other members of the community, who included
Chokuda.
The goods ended up in Gawa, where the suspected
assailants caught up with
Chokuda and accused him of breaking into their
shops and stealing the goods.
They bundled him into an official Zanu PF
vehicle and he was never seen
alive again.
The alleged
perpetrators are sons of Midlands governor Jason Machaya and
Zanu PF
district coordinating committee (DCC) chairperson for Gokwe, Isaac
Gana.
One year on, the body is still stuck at the mortuary and
there is no
indication of it being buried any time
soon.
Following the murder, Moses' father, Tavengwa Chokuda says he
invited the
governor and other Zanu PF officials to discuss the matter with
the hope of
finding an amicable solution.
But this has not
yielded anything. Chokuda says he wants the provincial
party heavyweights to
swallow their pride and apologise. "There is no way I
can bury my son when
Machaya and Gana have not apologised," said Chokuda.
Chokuda says
what pains him the most is the fact that he knew of his son's
murder by
chance and the whereabouts of his son's friend who disappeared on
the same
day are still unknown.
Chokuda alleges that instead of investigating
the murder and arresting the
murderers the police are harassing him by
demanding that he take his son's
body for burial. "I told them that I could
not just go ahead with the burial
without getting an explanation from
Machaya and Gana, since their sons had
actually been using a party vehicle
when they committed the offence.
But Machaya says there is no way he
could facilitate the burial. He recently
told The Standard that burying the
deceased was entirely the bereaved family's
responsibility, and it would be
illegal for him to facilitate it.
"The matter is before the courts,
and we should allow the courts to do their
job." said Machaya after fellow
Zanu PF officials complained that the issue
had damaged the reputation of
the party.
Gana also said he would not assist because according to
him, his son was in
fact the victim, as the deceased and his friends had
broken into his shops.
Disputing this claim, Chokuda said there was
never a break-in. "They claim
that there was a theft, but there is not even
a police report to prove that".
Chokuda vowed the family would not
bury the body, believed to be now a mere
skeleton, until Machaya and his
cronies seek forgiveness. And he believes
his dead son is helping him "sort
them out".
"They tried to send a councillor and two other people to
secretly remove the
body from the mortuary, but when they got there, they
found my dead son
sitting on top of his metal coffin.
"Very
often, people tell me he (the dead Moses) has been seen at some
places. They
(the families of the alleged murderers) have tried to exorcise
the avenging
spirit by enlisting the services of different traditional
healers, but all
this has not worked."
The murder is recorded under police records CR
No. 130/03/09. No dates have
been set for the trial, prompting speculation
that Machaya might be using
his political muscle to block proceedings, a
claim he denies.
Midlands police spokesperson Patrick Chademana refused
to give details on
the case.
BY VUSUMUZI SIFILE
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 06 March 2010
19:21
CHIMANIMANI - Tucked in rural Chimanimani, the small Mutambara
Mission
Hospital faces a workload usually associated with the country's
biggest
referral hospitals. Located about 155 km south east of Mutare, the
hospital
provides medical care to an estimated
35 000 people living in
Chimanimani district alone.
In addition to the catchment area the
hospital also accepts patients from as
far as Mutare and Harare who are
escaping the poor health delivery capacity
of government hospitals and the
high cost of medical care in the private
sector.
On average, its
outpatients department treats at least 90 patients a day
while the Waiting
Mother's Home receives between 40 and 60 expecting mothers
per
day.
Rudo Sigauke has travelled about 30 km from Nyanyadzi to
Mutambara Mission
to await delivery of her third child.
Although
there is a local clinic a stone's throw from where she comes from,
Sigauke
prefers seeking medical care at Mutambara.
"Sometimes when you go to
the clinic, they tell you they have no medicines
and there is no doctor
.
. . most of the time they refer you to Mutare General Hospital," she said
last week.
"But it's even worse there than at the local clinic;
you have to wait for
several hours to be attended to.
"To avoid
all these problems most of us just avoid the local clinic and come
to
Mutambara Hospital.
"Here they never send you back home on the
grounds that they have no
medicines or because your illness is too
advanced."
Another patient Edgar Mugari also travelled another 30 km
from Rusitu.
Mugari had been referred to Mutare Hospital from Rusitu
Mission Hospital to
see a specialist physician for what nurses suspected
could be a kidney
problem.
"We get very good treatment at Rusitu
but the only problem is that there is
no doctor and the nurses told me I
need to see one for my condition," said
Mugari.
"I didn't have
money to travel all the way to Mutare.
"To get here I paid US$2 and
to get to Mutare you have to pay US$7 for
transport and then more for
consultation and accommodation.
"Then again it's not certain that you
will get treatment."
Precious Nyamukapa, an expecting mother staying
at Mutare's Dangamvura
low-income suburb chose the rural mission hospital
despite the fact she
would pay at least US$9 more than the fees at
government hospital in the
city.
"Our hospital brings together
Zimbabwean men and women from all walks of
life who are in search of quality
health care and a Christian environment
where they can be looked after whole
heartedly," said Emmanuel Mefor, the
Mutambara Hospital medical
superintendent.
Mefor was speaking last week at the launch of the
Maternity Waiting Homes at
the hospital.
Mutambara Hospital is
not the only mission hospital now overburdened by the
collapse of the
country's public health system.
Other mission hospitals such as
Howard, Karanda, Murambinda, Nyadire and St
Alberts mission hospitals have
also in the past reported a huge influx of
patients.
Since the
formation of the inclusive government there have been attempts by
treasury
to reverse years of underfunding and neglect of the health
sector.
But much work still needs to be done to woo back health
professionals who
skipped the country in search of greener
pastures.
BY BERTHA SHOKO
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 06 March 2010 19:18
CHIMANIMANI -
Chipo Maraidze, pregnant with her first child, has just
arrived at Mutambara
Mission Hospital and is battling for her life. She has
been in labour since
the day before but because of transport problems, has
only managed to reach
the hospital more than 24 hours later.
It's too late because she has
already developed complications. She is very
weak and staff at the hospital
try to save her and the child using all
methods in the book. A few hours
later they are able to save the mother, but
she loses her
baby.
Maraidze has been luckier than many other women who die every
day in
childbirth in Zimbabwe.
According to the United Nations
Population Fund (UNFPA) at least eight women
die every day countrywide while
giving birth, the majority of them in rural
areas where health facilities
are not within easy reach.
The Zimbabwe Maternal and Perinatal
Mortality Study published recently has
estimated that the maternal mortality
ratio in Zimbabwe is at 725 deaths per
100 000 live births. This mortality
ratio is one of the highest in the
region.
According to the World
Health Organisation the maternal mortality ratio is
one of the important
indicators for a country's health status, quality and
access to health care
and service delivery.
Secretary for Health and Child Welfare Gerald
Gwinji recently said Zimbabwe's
maternal mortality ratio is one of the
highest in the region and the
situation was unacceptable.
But
Maraidze's story is the sad reality that many rural communities live
with on
a daily basis; many women continue to arrive at health facilities
too late
to save their babies and themselves.
But there is some light at the
end of the tunnel.
The UNFPA together with the Japanese government is
supporting the Maternity
Waiting Homes (MWH) programme around the country. A
MWH is a facility within
easy reach of a hospital or health centre where a
pregnant woman can stay
towards the end of her pregnancy and await
labour.
Once labour starts, the woman is transferred to the health
facility so that
labour and childbirth are assisted by a skilled birth
attendant.
At some hospitals the programme had been abandoned over
the years as a
result of the economic crisis and the lack of donor support
leaving many
women at risk.
Speaking at the commissioning of the
MWH programmes at Mutambara Mission
Hospital UNFPA representative in
Zimbabwe Basile Tambashe said although the
maternity shelters are important
the MWH programme cannot be a stand-alone
intervention.
"Our
level of success in reducing maternal mortality will depend on the
availability of health workers skilled in obstetric and neonatal care
services and their capacity to handle obstetric and neonatal emergencies,"
said Tambashe.
"There is also need for the continued availability
of the necessary tools of
the trade and commodities for use by these skilled
staff."
Also contributing to high maternal deaths is the fact that as
a result of
the high maternity fees, the poor state of the health delivery
system and
for religious reasons many women were opting to deliver at
home.
Recent statistics from the Central Statistics Office showed that at
least
40% of women - even those in urban areas - are giving birth "outside a
health institution"
To support the MWH programme the Ministry of
Health and Child Welfare and
UNFPA have come up with operational guidelines
for the hospitals offering
waiting services for expecting
mothers.
The UNFPA recognises that there are "three delays" that
contribute to the
high rate of maternal deaths.
These are the delay
in deciding to seek care, the delay in reaching a health
facility and the
delay in receiving appropriate care.
"In a bid to strengthen efforts
directed towards addressing the second delay
the ministry developed MWHs
guidelines through a participatory and
consultative approach, to facilitate
their revitalisation and
standardisation," said Gwinji launching the
guidelines at Mutambara
hospital.
"The overall objective of the
guidelines is to provide service providers at
all levels of care with the
key information on standard operational
guideline procedures for the
maternity waiting homes to facilitate their
revitalisation and
standardisation."
While at the shelters expecting mothers are
supported by the UNFPA and its
partners to get at least three solid meals,
blankets and bedding at no cost
to them. Chipo Mudzokora already a
beneficiary of the new look waiting
shelter said she was very excited about
the benefits of the programme for
women.
"I stay very far away
from the hospital in Rusitu (about 30km away) and when
I heard about the
shelter I felt relieved because I had no idea how I would
get to hospital in
time when I went into labour," said Mudzokora.
"I want to tell many
other people about it when I go back to the village.
The hospital provides
all our meals and all we do is sit and rest everyday.
I think this is good
because we save our energy for the big day."
But for women like
Maraidze the knowledge about this shelter may have come
too
late.
BY BERTHA SHOKO
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 06 March 2010
17:01
ZANU PF factionalism is threatening to derail an ambitious
Agricultural and
Rural Development Authority (ARDA) project in Chisumbanje
and Middle Sabi
with some party heavy weights claiming they are being
sidelined. Last year
ARDA and Billy Rautenbach's Rating and Macdom
Investments entered into a
20-year Built, Operate and Transfer arrangement
to transform estates at
Chisumbanje and Middle Sabi into sugarcane
fields.
But there is still simmering discontent in Manicaland amid
allegations some
Zanu PF politicians are trying to influence the locals to
reject the
project.
Rautenbach, long rumoured to be a business
partner of some senior Zanu PF
politicians is facing similar resistance in
neigbouring Masvingo where his
Zimbabwe Bio-Energy (Pvt) Ltd has entered a
joint venture with the
Development Trust of Zimbabwe.
The two
companies want to utilise about 100 000 ha of land at Nuanetsi Ranch
for a
bio-diesel project.
"We are worried because we were not involved in the
project and only a few
know what is happening," a Zanu PF politician in the
province said.
The politician said only Didymus Mutasa (Presidential
Affairs minister),
Joseph Made (Agriculture minister) and Basil Nyabadza
(former Zanu PF
provincial chairman) were briefed about the project while
the other members
were in the dark.
"How can you have such a
project when the governor (Chris Mushohwe) has not
been involved when he is
the President's representative in the province?"
queried another official
in the province.
What has irked politicians in the province is that
the new investors were
brought on a Zanu PF ticket.
There are fears
that the proposed displacement of families could result in
the party losing
the political vote.
Families surrounding the Chisumbanje estate are
set to be evicted to pave
way for the expansion of the
project.
The land belongs to the State but was earmarked for ARDA's
expansion.
Standardbusiness was told that 500 families under Chiefs
Garawa and Mupungu
would have to be relocated to pave way for the massive
expansion.
To politicians, 500 families is a big number in times of
elections and there
are efforts to derail the resettlement
programme.
Zanu Ndonga had won the Chipinge seat over the years on
promises that the
people would not be relocated to other areas, The Standard
was told.
Nyabadza, who chairs the ARDA board, told The Standard that
he had
personally spoken to Mushohwe and the governor was excited about the
project.
"We believe there is something to show and the governor
will come together
with ministers Made and Elias Mudzuri.
"In the
next 10 days a parliamentary committee will visit the sites to see
for
themselves because we believe we have passed the talking phase," he
said.
Nyabadza said the anger from some politicians could be
justified as they
were "taking a short-term view because yesterday they were
service providers
of ARDA".
Despite the objections by the
politicians, the promoters are moving ahead
with the project.
The
investors have injected US$15 million so far. By November at least US$30
million would have been invested and the figure is set to double by the
middle of next year.
An ethanol plant is under construction at
Chisumbanje and will produce
between 35 000 and 40 000 litres of ethanol per
day when it is operational
next year according Graeme Smith, general manager
of the two projects.
The sugarcane grown at the two estates will be
processed into ethanol and
the first stage requires putting 11 000 ha under
sugarcane.
"By the time we have 20 000 hectares under crop, we will
produce ethanol to
substitute 80% of the country's fuel requirements," Smith
said.
At least 2 000 are employed and the number is set to increase
when the
expansion of the estates is complete.
BY NDAMU
SANDU
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 06 March 2010 16:55
BULAWAYO -
Government is planning to raise mining taxes amid projections of
growth in
the sector this year. Mines and Mining Development Minister Obert
Mpofu
claimed the country was getting very little from the "vast mineral
deposits"
being exploited by foreign firms.
But such revelations are set to further
unsettle investors battling to come
to terms with the controversial
Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment
Regulations, which came into effect
on Monday.
The unity government was last year forced to withdraw amendments
to the same
Act, which would have given it the power to force foreign-owned
mining
companies to hand over a controlling stake to indigenous
Zimbabweans.
The country's mining sector last year contributed less than six
percent of
the gross domestic product as a result of a number of challenges
plaguing
the economy.
"We are reviewing the Mines and Mineral Act," Mpofu
said last week.
"The Act favours the miners and not the country. Very little
is going into
the fiscus despite the various minerals in the
country.
"The country is not benefiting much. We are reviewing that to
introduce new
taxes so that the nation can benefit."
Zimbabwe's mining
sector is struggling to find its feet after years of
collapse at the height
of the country's economic crisis.
The country produced less than four metric
tonnes of gold last year compared
to more than 30 tonnes before the collapse
began.
The Chamber of Mines recently said the mining sector, despite being
hard hit
by power outages, is showing signs of improvement, with estimates
showing
the sector would contribute up to 40% of the GDP.
Industry and
Commerce minister Welshman Ncube last week said government was
reviewing the
empowerment law compelling foreigners to cede 51% shareholding
to
blacks.
BY NQOBANI NDLOVU
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 06 March 2010
16:49
BULAWAYO - Government has been urged to repeal the National Incomes
and
Pricing Act as it is scaring away investors seeking a free-market
economy.
According to a report by the Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce
(ZNCC)
released following research on legislation hindering business
development,
the law is also not in step with the current economic
dispensation.
"The continued existence of this law in the country's
statutes may send
confusing signals to investors regarding the inclusive
government's
long-term commitment to the virtues of a free-market economy,"
ZNCC said in
the report released recently.
ZNCC embarked on the
research to analyse various criminal, financial and
commercial statutes to
enable the body to engage policy makers and other key
stakeholders on the
need for reform.
The National Incomes and Pricing Act is blamed for
speeding up the collapse
of the economy.
Government adopted the
price controls in response to the rapidly increasing
prices of basic
commodities blamed on the ever-shrinking value of the
Zimbabwe
dollar.
President Robert Mugabe accused businesses of trying to
influence
Zimbabweans to rise against his government.
Instead of
curbing inflation thereby putting a stop to ever-increasing
prices of goods
and services, the price controls sparked a serious shortage
of basic
commodities.
"Our view is that this law (National Incomes and Pricing
Act) should be
removed from the country's legislative
framework.
"In any case, controlling prices did not yield anything
positive for the
national economy other than further undermining the
viability of many
businesses that were already struggling to remain afloat,"
ZNCC said.
Government allowed a free market economy after being
forced to abandon the
price controls.
The controls spawned
massive shortages of basic commodities and forced
Zimbabweans to trek into
neigbouring countries for shopping.
ZNCC also called for the review
of the Reconstruction of State Indebted
Insolvent Companies (Chapter 24:27),
Companies Act, and the Indigenisation
and Economic Empowerment Act, saying
the laws were hindering economic
development and posed a risk to existing
and potential investments.
BY NQOBANI NDLOVU
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 06 March 2010 19:41
IN my
desperate attempt to make an impression with my first issue as editor
of The
Standard, I asked my Facebook friends what they would want to read in
the
newspaper or how they thought we could make it more engaging. An old
friend
of mine, Costa Manzini, was the first to respond. “Give it the
zing-zing
man,” he said.
It got me thinking: what is the
zing-zing?
Let me digress a little and tell you a bit about Costa. He
was once senior
photographer at Modus Publications, publishers of the
Financial Gazette and
the now defunct Daily Gazette and Sunday
Gazette.
I met Costa when I worked for the Fingaz in the early
1990s.
He should be world famous by now had it not been for our political
circumstances. He is the guy who took the famous picture of the late
Malawian dictator, Dr Hastings Kamuzu Banda, tripping and falling at the
entrance to the then Sheraton Harare .
The photograph created a
sensation the world over. It defined Banda’s
tipping point: the point at
which the world was shown graphically that the
tyrannical ruler was, like
everybody else, only mortal.
In Malawi, to understate it, the common
people were getting increasingly fed
up with Kamuzu’s rule; not only had he
become senile but he was becoming
increasingly more authoritarian. Malawians
wanted him to go. His age was the
subject of speculation with some claiming
he had become a centenarian.
I remember many editors in Malawi at
that time asking Costa to send them
duplicates. Had he been American he
would have won the Pulitzer. But as fate
would have it Costa’s effort landed
him in trouble.
Our government at that time was getting closer and closer
to Blantyre so the
photograph became an embarrassment to our own leadership;
it had to be
destroyed.
Indeed it was and poor Costa was asked to
destroy all evidence of it. I
remember a downcast Costa relating to me his
ordeal through his ever-present
wry smile.
After we reconnected
recently on Facebook I asked him where he lived now. “I
am living in a small
town called Basildon, in Essex,” he replied.
Like all world-class
newspapers, The Standard has always attempted to stick
to the noble values
of freedom, democracy and reason.
Indeed, ever since its inception 16 odd
years ago it has fought against the
curtailment of people’s freedoms, the
violation of their democratic rights
and has urged reason ahead of the
emotive language with which the powers
that be have harangued the Zimbabwean
body politic over the past three
decades.
Its lowest point must
have been the arrest and torture of its founding
editor, the late Mark
Chavunduka and senior reporter Ray Choto. Although
Mark was said to have
died of natural causes years later, the experience
must have been immensely
traumatic. Ray now lives in exile in the US.
Zimbabwe is as we speak
emerging from a crucible.
The past 10 years have shown how a promising
country, one that is at the
pinnacle of a continent, can easily, and
quickly, tumble to the bottom of
the heap due to a single individual’s
refusal to see reason.
When countries from all continents were seeing the
folly of commandist
economic policies and the necessity of unbridled freedom
of expression and
association, our leadership were in fact tightening the
screws on people’s
liberties.
As many countries had seen the
foolishness of lifetime dictatorships and
were replacing their leaders with
zestful young future-oriented managers,
our geriatric leadership was digging
us further into a hole.
We seem to be emerging from that scenario
through the year-old government of
national unity. Though still shaky, I
hope I am not being overly optimistic
in saying it is irreversible. We all
remember how polarised our community
has been over the past 10 years. The
media too became sickeningly polarised.
But as we emerge from this
Gahenna, newspapers have to reflect the new
circumstance without being
remiss on monitoring all hints at developments
that might send us into
another tailspin.
The Standard will continue to strengthen the
ventilation of diverse opinions
and promote a tolerance of different
thinking without becoming an arena on
which political-party propagandists or
interest groups practise their boxing
bouts.
Through The Standard
we are giving our readers the platform on which they
can reflect, discuss
and analyse national issues without fear or favour.
But this need not
imply that the newspaper becomes a university seminar room
full of grey
professors and bespectacled nerds. When a person is emerging
from a bad
movie, he needs relief. Equally when a nation is emerging from a
cauldron it
also takes relief to unwind the people and refocus.
Are Zimbabweans
capable of laughing again? Are we all still capable of the
kind of laughter
Bridget Gavanga de-stresses us with from the radio in the
morning as we
drive to work?
It was the kind of laughter we revelled in the early
1980s, almost euphoric
without being reckless. It was encapsulated in the
signature song of the
time, Mukadota and Katarina’s
KwaHunyani.
Yes we can! We can have relief through comedy and
entertainment. We can have
relief through our sport and its ambassadors and
also through the arts,
particularly music, theatre and
literature.
The Standard should be able to give us relief and
pleasure through engaging
writing; the kind of writing that invigorates and
motivates the reader. This
kind of writing should not come only from our
newsroom but from our readers
as well.
That way we will have
given the newspaper the zing-zing.
BY NEVANJI
MADANHIRE
The Standard Editor
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 06 March 2010 19:39
PRESIDENT
Robert Mugabe on Thursday did what he should have done a long time
ago:
holding a no-holds barred meeting with editors at Zimbabwe House. The
roundtable meeting was refreshing and should be a constant feature on the
presidential calendar.
Mugabe last held such a meeting well over
a decade ago. I suppose then
Mugabe was still popular and did not need to
worry about being asked
questions that could prompt him to wave his fist in
anger.
But as his policies ruined a country once regarded as
breadbasket in the
region, Mugabe found it very convenient to stay away from
"hostile"
independent journalists.
He branded local and foreign
journalists who dared criticise his rule agents
of regime
change.
Under his watch, journalists were harassed, beaten up,
tortured and
arrested. Many were thrown onto the streets as newspapers
deemed critical
were shut down.
Mugabe found solace in the state
media which saw none of the hardships
brought by his regime on hapless
Zimbabweans.
He would call one or two bootlicking journalists from
the state media for
exclusive interviews.
Predictably these
interviews turned out to be nothing more than propaganda
opportunities where
the "young old president" bragged about his body being
full of muscles and
not fat.
These interviews, however, did little to improve Mugabe's
image which
continued to take a battering over the past 10
years.
It therefore came as surprise when officials from the Ministry
of
Information told editors from the private media late last year that
Mugabe
wanted to meet them face to face at Zimbabwe House.
The
first such meeting was held last week with Mugabe spending over three
hours
in a conference room packed with journalists. This was the beginning
of what
could be Mugabe's attempt to court the media he has bashed in the
past.
Mugabe was not flanked by those menacing security details
who make many of
us sick. His usual hangers on who have shielded him in the
past were reduced
to spectators as a smiling Mugabe sat in a leather chair
behind a banner
inscribed with the words "Meet the Press".
Mugabe
started by telling editors that following the establishment of the
inclusive
environment, he would now convene meetings with journalists.
Mugabe
pleaded with the scribes to promote the GNU. He took particular issue
with a
headline in last week's edition of the The Standard: GNU cracks
widen.
Don't just see the cracks; see the cement on the GNU as
well, he quipped.
He gave an interesting insight into his
relationship with Morgan Tsvangirai.
Mugabe disclosed how the PM was
reluctant to share a meal with him when he
invited him to lunch at the
Rainbow Towers.
"He was hesitating," said Mugabe, describing an
incident that happened when
the two were holding talks to form the
GNU.
"I said to him, don't worry, eat what I eat."
However
with time the mistrust between the two, who now have tea together on
Mondays, was to die down.
Mugabe also spoke about the economy and
the sanctions.
He also rumbled on about other things that did not add
any value to his
conversation with the editors.
Mugabe strayed
into the past, talking for example, about how the Italian
prisoners who
built Kutama lacked morals and left children without fathers
in his
area.
To be honest, as he spoke I fought a strong urge to doze off. I
began to
think about those long Fidel Castro speeches.
However
all this changed when it was the editors' turn to field questions to
Mugabe.
The 86-year-old President was full of life as he defended
his rule. He took
any question, even the silliest of them all, and injected
some humour in his
answers. At one time he probed a journalist who
complained that he had been
arrested for writing falsehoods until the scribe
admitted that some of his
articles were not factual.
On a serious
note, Mugabe took the opportunity to reveal that he would not
retire anytime
soon.
However, the way he fidgeted in his seat betrayed that age has caught
up
with him. He could hardly sit straight frequently slouching in his
seat.
Sometimes he appeared like a man lost in thought, his voice
barely audible
from the corner where I sat.
I left Zimbabwe House
around 4:00 PM pleased that Mugabe had realised,
albeit belatedly, how
important it is for the occupant of the highest office
in the land to
constantly engage the media from time to time.
My wish is to see more
of these meetings, with Mugabe dwelling more on
policy issues rather than
reflecting on his past battles with Tony Blair and
the "unrepentant"
Rhodesian whites.
BY WALTER MARWIZI
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 06 March 2010
19:37
President Robert Mugabe told the media fraternity last week that he
would
stand in the next presidential election if his party Zanu PF asks him
to.
Two things, which confirm our greatest fears, emerge from this
assertion: He
wants to be president for life and his party, without a doubt,
will field
him for his umpteenth term.
And when Mugabe has been
nominated, the election will go his way, by hook or
by crook.
But
the point that has got to be made about all this is that Mugabe has
become a
liability, if not to his party - obviously Zanu PF would like to
ignore this
fact - but to the nation. We know the state Zanu PF is in now.
It is
fractious and through his political gamesmanship Mugabe has ensured it
remains that way to fulfil his long-held desire to be life
president.
Zanu PF will endorse him as their candidate not because
they are not aware
of the foolishness of that decision but because the party
lacks depth in the
leadership department. It is the characteristic of all
revolutionary parties
that eventually all potential leaders are squeezed out
over the years and,
sadly, replaced by buffoons who do not have the nation
at heart but are only
bent on self-aggrandisement.
All the
factionalism that has riddled Zanu PF can be traced to the vaulting
ambitions of its members.
Membership of the party has turned into a
passport to self-enrichment
instead of as a way to continue to fulfil the
ideals of the anti-colonial
struggle.
The nation is in grave
danger.
Mugabe, at 86, is hardly the sprightly fellow who emerged
from the bush in
1980 to take over the helm of the country. Anecdotal
evidence suggests that
he is ailing and, there is nothing unnatural about
this.
The law of diminishing returns which all purveyors of knowledge
know like
the back of their hands, says that a mere mortal cannot continue
to excel
even in his own field over three decades.
Although many
voices, notably that of Didymus Mutasa, have made attempts at
transforming
him into a deity, this apotheosis has been disingenuous. We
know Mugabe has
made some decisions that question his aptitude as a leader.
The latest of
these is the Indigenisation Act but signs of bad
decision-making began to
emerge in the late 1990s with the payout to war
veterans of hefty pensions
that the fiscus could not afford.
Economists believe it was that decision
that propelled the country into the
downward spiral that almost completely
destroyed it.
With Mugabe almost obviously going to run in the next
election the nation
has every reason to be gripped with fear. He lost a free
and fair election
in 2008 and is unlikely to win any similarly
well-organised election.
But because if he stands he will have to win at
any cost, Zanu PF will
naturally dig up all the tactics that have won them
elections in the past.
Elsewhere in this issue we publish the story
that the party is printing 1,5
million party membership cards.
This
wouldn't scare anyone if we didn't know that the party has lost
support.
What we are going to see is Zanu PF going into full gear to coerce
people to
buy the membership cards especially in the rural areas.
This coercion
will obviously come in the form of outright violence
spearheaded by the
notorious Youth Brigades or in the use of food
distribution as a recruitment
method.
When the election comes it will be outright war as happened
in the run-up to
the June 2008 presidential run-off between Mugabe and MDC
leader Morgan
Tsvangirai.
Two worries stand out: The immediate
fear of a resurgence of political
violence, and the prospect of being ruled
for another eon by someone we
already know is bereft of sound policies.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 06 March
2010 19:35
ONGOING discourses around the controversial Empowerment Act
again highlight
what's eating the fabric of our society.
As usual,
the media has two diametrically opposed and parallel points of
view on the
matter.
The private media has voiced its concerns about the
arbitrary nature of the
impending legislation, of course with good reason.
Meanwhile, the supposedly
public media has been vocal in supporting the move
and lambasting those who
think otherwise.
The past decade is
littered with painful memories of so-called Zanu PF
empowerment programmes
that have ultimately achieved the direct opposite. It
is disheartening to
note that the so called public media has been so
consistent in misinforming
the public with disastrous consequences to the
majority of
Zimbabweans.
Are the Zimbabwe government in general and Zanu PF in
particular such
embodiments of perfection that the public media find nothing
worth their
critique? In a progressive society, media criticism has helped
to improve
the general performance of politicians in serving their masters,
the public,
through vocal constructive criticism.
The empowerment
legislation should have been a wake-up call for the
supposedly public media
to play its role in informing the public especially
taking a cue from the
disasters of yesteryear.
No one is against empowerment per se but it has
to be done in a manner that
is beneficial to every Zimbabwean regardless of
race, colour or creed.
There are white people in Africa and Zimbabwe who
were born and bred here
and were also told verbatim, like us black
Zimbabweans, that they came from
Europe but they have never set foot there.
Are these people not indigenous
Zimbabweans?
Nations and
continents were born out of migration and thus no one can claim,
no matter
how high and mighty, that so and so is not an indigenous
Zimbabwean but so
and so is. Saviour Kasukuwere's empowerment programme is
replete with
narrow-mindedness, selfishness and the ever-looming danger of
self-aggrandisement.
That is the major bone of contention surrounding
this controversial
empowerment act.
If black Zimbabweans can afford
to purchase 51% worth of shares from
existing companies, then real
empowerment entails creating an enabling
environment for them to resuscitate
idle industries and/or create new ones.
Grabbing someone's hard earned
assets as we did with the farms does not
sound like empowerment to me. It is
plain theft and patronage, period.
I can bet that most of those
unfortunate companies that will be grabbed,
yes, it's grabbing, will be
dominated by Zanu PF officials and their
bootlickers.
They did it
with the farms, why wouldn't they do it now? The result: most
will lose
their jobs as they will be replaced by "patriots" some of whom
lack minimum
intellectual merit, some will collapse, indeed they will. How
much acquired
farmland is lying idle today or worse still, how much is being
leased to the
same people who were dispossessed of it in the first place?
If civil
servants and most other professionals are earning peanuts then it
is not
speculation that they will not be able to purchase any of those
shares.
Kasukuwere and his cohorts not unmixed with the equally
greedy AAG will
again reap where they did not sow. They are the only ones
with the money and
the political muscle to purchase the shares not
us.
Is that empowerment? Will the public media say anything about it?
Indigenisation and empowerment ought to be objective, realistic and holistic
if ever Zimbabwe is going to move forward.
I think it's high time
the public media started to be the voice of the
voiceless and stop being
used by greedy politicians who have caused us
untold suffering while our
voices are drowned for the sake of patronage.
Joachim Garikai is based at
the Midlands State University Gweru.
http://www.zimguardian.com/?p=2292
Written by TAPIWA MAKORE Politics Mar
6, 2010
Tuesday 23 February 2010
MR GARETH THOMAS MP, MR MARK
LOWCOCK and MR JOHN DENNIS
Evidence heard in Public Questions 50 –
135
USE OF THE TRANSCRIPT
1.This is an uncorrected transcript of
evidence taken in public and reported
to the House. The transcript has been
placed on the internet on the
authority of the Committee, and copies have
been made available by the Vote
Office for the use of Members and
others.
2.Any public use of, or reference to, the contents should make
clear that
neither witnesses nor Members have had the opportunity to correct
the
record. The transcript is not yet an approved formal record of these
proceedings.
3.Members who receive this for the purpose of correcting
questions addressed
by them to witnesses are asked to send corrections to
the Committee
Assistant.
4.Prospective witnesses may receive this in
preparation for any written or
oral evidence they may in due course give to
the Committee.
5. Transcribed by the Official Shorthand Writers to the
Houses of
Parliament: W B Gurney & Sons LLP, Hope House, 45 Great Peter
Street,
London, SW1P 3LT Telephone Number: 020 7233 1935
Oral
Evidence
Taken before the International Development Committee on Tuesday
23 February
2010
Members present
Malcolm Bruce, in the
Chair
John Battle
Hugh Bayley
Richard Burden
Mr
Nigel Evans
Mr Mark Lancaster
Andrew
Stunell
_______________
Memorandum submitted by Department for
International Development
Examination of Witnesses
Witnesses: Mr
Gareth Thomas MP, Minister of State, Mr Mark Lowcock, Director
General,
Country Programmes, Department for International Development, and
Mr John
Dennis, Head of Zimbabwe Unit, Foreign and Commonwealth Office, gave
evidence.
Q50 Chairman: Thank you, Minister, for coming to give
evidence. This is the
final session on our inquiry into the situation in
Zimbabwe. Would you. for
the record. introduce your team?
Mr Thomas:
Mark Lowcock, who is the Director General for Country Programmes,
is on my
left, and on my right is John Dennis, who is the Head of the
Zimbabwe Desk
at the Foreign Office.
Q51 Chairman: Thank you for that. As you know, we
visited Zimbabwe a couple
or so weeks ago. I will start by saying that we
have an extract from an
Economist article saying that, since we left, things
have deteriorated with
strikes. It says things like: the unity government is
“as good as dead” and
that Harare is “abuzz” with talk of early elections
and so forth. What is
the political situation? Has it changed that
dramatically in the last couple
of weeks? Perhaps that would be the first
question to ask, and then a couple
more will arise from it.
Mr
Thomas: I do not think the political situation in Zimbabwe can ever have
been described as easy. We have always expected that there would be
difficult periods between the formation of the Inclusive Government and
eventually free and fair elections taking place. You are obviously aware
that there have been reports of both strike action over salaries and of
other tensions within the Inclusive Government. Whether or not it leads to
elections sooner rather than later, I am not in a position to make that
judgment, frankly, and I do not think any of us are in a position to make
that judgment. We knew that the period between the formation of the
government and elections would be a protracted and difficult period, and
events are bearing that out.
Q52 Chairman: Have you seen this article
from The Economist?
Mr Thomas: I have not seen that article.
Q53
Chairman: Is that an accurate reflection of the current situation? That
is
worse than the situation we would have observed three weeks ago. Saying
things like the Government of National Unity is “as good as dead.” and “Mr
Zuma appears to agree that the unity government has become a sham” but that
he does not want any trouble before the World Cup. It says that Mr
Tsvangirai has given up all his demands, other than to try to see if he can
get space for free and fair elections. There is then this “indigenisation”
rule, saying that every company worth more than half a million dollars needs
to provide a 51% stake to black Zimbabweans – which is a blatantly racist
policy. That, even in relation to three weeks ago, appears to be a serious
degradation of the situation.
Mr Thomas: I have no sense that the
President of South Africa has given up
on the mediation process that SADC
have in place and have under way. Our
sense, certainly, is that the key
players in the Inclusive Government have
not given up the sense of the work
programme to which the government is
committed. As I say, there are tensions
at the heart of the Inclusive
Government. As we all recognise, political
power continues to be very
contested. Inevitably, when you have a situation
like that there are going
to be moments of high tension as well as moments
where tensions are
relatively lessened. I think we are probably in one of
the tenser periods at
the moment.
Q54 Chairman: We will explore this
in more detail, but for the ordinary
people, some of whom at least were
getting access to education and health
and other services, has the position
changed significantly in the last few
weeks? Or, in spite of those
background difficulties and the strikes, are
those services still being
delivered?
Mr Thomas: There has been an improvement in the delivery of
basic services,
as I think you had the chance to see for yourselves when you
were in
Zimbabwe. Having said that, there are huge challenges still in terms
of the
delivery of those services. The crisis in terms of access to
healthcare
which was at the heart of the cholera epidemic in Zimbabwe has
not gone
away, albeit there are more health workers in place. In terms of
your
specific question, our sense is that basic services are still in place,
but
they are very basic, and there is still a much longer transition to more
recognisable, good quality health, education and other services to take
place. The Department staff in Zimbabwe continue to look at what else we can
do to improve the quality of those basic services, but that is very much a
job in hand, as I suspect you will have seen for yourself when you were
there.
Q55 Chairman: The final political point: a call for early
elections. That
was in the air when we were there. The counter-argument was
that you could
not possibly have free and fair elections if they were early
because the
register does not exist – and to the extent that it does exist,
it is
completely stacked to the benefit of ZANU-PF. Is this call for early
elections a realistic call? Is it achievable? Is it desirable?
Mr
Thomas: It is difficult to believe that free and fair elections would
take
place if they took place in the short term. As you say, there are
substantial changes that are required, in terms of thinking through issues
around voter education, constituency boundaries, the behaviour of the
security forces, the role of the diaspora in getting the right to vote. It
is difficult to see how free and fair elections could take place in the
short term, certainly.
Q56 Chairman: That would imply that you think
more time is needed to get
those issues straight.
Mr Thomas:
Certainly, our view is that what was included in the Global
Political
Agreement in terms of changes that were going to be needed has not
happened
as yet. The Electoral Commission is not up and functioning yet,
albeit its
head has been appointed – although not, I believe, formally
confirmed. We
would want to see the Electoral Commission being able to go
about its work,
completing the process of reform that everybody recognises
is necessary if
free and fair elections are going to take place.
Q57 Chairman: Mr Dennis,
do you want to add any comments?
Mr Dennis: I have no comments to add,
thank you.
Chairman: Richard Burden.
Q58 Richard Burden: One of
the pots of support that DFID has been providing
has been to the Office of
the Prime Minister. We understand that the purpose
of that funding is around
enabling that as an office to fulfil its role
under the GPA. When we met
Prime Minister Tsvangirai over there, he felt
that that DFID funding had
been particularly useful in fulfilling the
obligation to the GPA but he felt
more could be done and extra support to
his office would be well used, in
particular, on the same sort of areas:
helping the Prime Minister’s role to
lead executive business in parliament
and so on. Are there any plans to
increase that support?
Mr Thomas: Certainly, if further approaches for
assistance were made to us,
be it by the Prime Minister or indeed any other
ministry that is committed
to reform and to a pro-poor agenda, then we would
look at them very
sympathetically. As you say, our support is designed to
enable the Office of
the Prime Minister to carry out the sort of normal
functions that a head of
state’s office would, including oversight of the
budget, making sure that
the different ministries are following through on
the government’s agreed
work plan, and helping to resolve disputes between
government departments
were they to happen. Certainly, that has been the
purpose behind granting
the assistance that we have done. We also, as you
may be aware, granted
assistance to a number of other departments to help
them carry out the basic
functions of their ministries, not least the
Ministry of Finance to help
them with the budgeting process.
Q59
Richard Burden: In terms of the level of that support, if a case were
made
that increases in that would be consistent with the objectives, would
that
be something that we would be prepared to look at?
Mr Thomas: Absolutely.
We have increased our aid programme to Zimbabwe over
the last 12 months from
£49 million to £60 million. Of course, we are
looking for the measures that
can have most impact most quickly in terms of
helping the Zimbabweans get
access to better services. Clearly, helping key
ministries be better
functioning so that they can drive that process, is
sensible. When a prime
minister or other key minister asks for assistance,
of course we always look
at that sympathetically. We would have to make a
judgment about its relative
merit as against other programme asks, but we
certainly would not rule it
out by any means.
Q60 Richard Burden: What kind of conditionality would
be applied if funding
were to be extended?
Mr Thomas: We would want
to make sure that the assistance that is offered is
being used to help
promote reform, is being used to help deliver pro-poor
services. Those would
be the key conditions, as such. “Conditions” is
probably the wrong
phraseology to use in that sense, in that it has a
resonance of the bad old
days of Structural Adjustment Programmes.
“Conditions” is not a term we
would use, in that sense. Certainly, in terms
of the decisions we might take
about how we allocate aid in future, be it by
a minister’s office or for a
big programme of humanitarian assistance, we
would want to be convinced that
it was helping to deliver a pro-poor agenda,
that it was going to lead to
significant reforms in the way services are
delivered. Those would be, if
you like, the guiding principles for the
decisions we might take.
Q61
Hugh Bayley: I want to ask a question about support for a free and
independent media. I should preface my remark by saying that, if any
government anywhere in the world funds the media, you need to ensure that
that there is editorial independence and no control from the funder, as, for
instance, with the BBC World Service. I recall in the run-up to liberation
in both Namibia and South Africa there was British funding for the Namibian
newspaper, possibly for The Sowetan, and it was seen as important to have
some forums which were not under state control disseminating information.
The print media in Zimbabwe is very strongly controlled by the state. I
wonder what thought both of your Departments have given to ensure that, in
the run-up between now and elections, whenever they come, there is fair and
unbiased information about electoral registration, about the platforms of
relative parties, the achievements of ministers and their ministries. Is
that something which your Department should be funding or possibly the
Foreign Office should be funding, or both?
Mr Thomas: First, there is
no doubt that we would want to see reforms in the
way the media operate and
are organised to allow more independent activity
by different media
operations of one sort of another. The return of the BBC
is undoubtedly a
positive step. Key to wider change in how the media sector
operates is the
establishment of the media commission as heralded in the
GPA. Again, like
the Electoral Commission, it has not yet started doing its
work, and that
will be a key issue for the international community to
continue to watch. It
is certainly a key issue set out in the GPA where
progress is needed. In
terms of the run-up to free and fair elections,
absolutely. A substantial
programme of voter education would be required,
the media clearly would have
an important role in that. If we were asked to
be part of a multi-donor
group supporting an election process, of course we
would want to consider
doing that. Again, where we have been asked to enable
elections to take
place in a free and fair way, we have provided support in
other countries to
election funding arrangements. As I say, we would be
happy to look at that,
if we were asked, when the time came.
Q62 Hugh Bayley: Given that the
barriers to the dissemination of information
and the history of intimidation
are probably greater in rural areas than in
urban areas, I would have
thought radio was a particularly important medium.
Are you satisfied that
there is wide access to radio giving independent and
unbiased news across
the country?
Mr Thomas: It is not just radio where there is an issue; it
is the media in
general. There is not free and fair access to the media in
any way in which
any of us in the room would recognise. That is clearly one
of the areas, as
set out in the GPA, where substantial reform is necessary.
Like others in
the international community, we would want to see progress in
that area, not
just so that elections can take place but, also, so that the
executive can
be held to account regardless of their political affiliation
in that sense.
Hugh Bayley: One final question on culture. DFID does not
normally make the
promotion of culture a priority: you would defer, I
suppose, to the British
Council or others. We held a reception at the
Bookshop Café and that seemed
to me to be an oasis of free
expression.
Chairman: From time to time. When it was not being
disrupted.
Q63 Hugh Bayley: Relative free expression, yes. There is a
strong tradition
throughout Africa of music – I think of Fela Kuti and
Miriam Makeba –
permitting things to be said which could not be published in
a manifesto.
Would either of your Departments – yours through the British
Council, Mr
Dennis, or DFID – think about providing unusually and atypically
support for
freedom of expression through culture or arts?
Mr Thomas:
I do not know where the Foreign Secretary is on music. In terms
of DFID,
again it is about the balance and the opportunity cost of providing
funding
in one particular way as against others. You are right that freedom
of
expression is hugely important, whether it is through music, through
media,
through other sources of activity.
Q64 Hugh Bayley: We were given a
couple of booklets published by the British
Council, which I thought was
quite a courageous bit of work.
Mr Thomas: Do not get me wrong, I think
the British Council does hugely
important work. We are contributing, along
with others, in helping to
promote freedom of expression through the
constitution review process, where
UNDP, with our support, have started to
fund work that we hope will allow
civil society to engage in thinking about
the type of constitution and the
type of state that Zimbabwe should have in
the future. That is one of the
few ways at the moment – though it is very
imperfect, as you will, I am
sure, have had a sense – in which civil society
and Zimbabwean citizens can
begin to air views and bounce ideas around about
the future of their
country. In that sense, it is a hugely important
process. It is not just us
who are funding it – it is being led, as I say,
by UNDP – but it is one way
in which we are beginning to see some signs of
growing freedom of
expression.
Chairman: Mark Lancaster.
Q65
Mr Lancaster: Thank you, Chairman. I want to explore slightly beyond
Zimbabwe’s boundaries and its relationship with other countries in the
region. Of course historically, before 1994, when we saw the end of
apartheid, Zimbabwe was very much the centre for the region, but
relationships with surrounding countries have deteriorated to a degree,
particularly those with South Africa and Botswana because of the Zimbabwe
diaspora. What do you think surrounding countries can do to help in
assisting the development of Zimbabwe, not least when it comes to finding a
permanent political solution?
Mr Thomas: SADC, in that sense, the
group of Zimbabwe’s neighbours, has a
key role to play and has accepted that
role in terms of acting as guarantors
of the Global Political Agreement. It
is encouraging that there is a
mediation process underway. It is a process I
welcome but it is very much a
process that we need to respect, as SADC
leading on that process and
fulfilling the role that it has. You asked me
specifically about South
Africa. South Africa is probably the country that
has seen most migration of
Zimbabweans who have fled the country or have
left the country into South
Africa. Zimbabwe is very much a domestic issue
for President Zuma and the
South African government, as it is an
international or a regional issue. You
are right to flag the continuing
importance of the region for resolving the
political tensions in Zimbabwe.
It is a process that we are obviously
monitoring closely, but SADC is very
much in the lead in that process.
Q66 Mr Lancaster: I agree with you
wholeheartedly, and I think SADC do have
a key role to play, but, given the
Chairman’s opening questions and the
deterioration at the moment, and
notwithstanding that it is right that SADC
should take the lead, what more
can we do in supporting SADC to try to
resolve some of these situations? Or
should we not do anything?
Mr Thomas: First, we have to respect the
mediation process that President
Zuma has put in place. He has appointed a
high-level team with significant
reputations themselves to lead on that
mediation process and, despite
moments of high tension, which we all
recognise will occur as the GPA
process moves forward, we have to respect
that mediation effort that
President Zuma’s team on behalf of SADC is
leading. The other ways in which
we can help are more direct, frankly, and
that is through our development
programme. It is important for the people of
Zimbabwe that there has been
economic progress, and I think the economic
progress is beginning to throw
the spotlight on to the lack of political
progress that has taken place in
Zimbabwe. Through some of the assistance to
the Ministry of Finance and
through our humanitarian programmes we have
played a small role, but an
important role, along with others in the
international community, in helping
the stabilisation of the economy, and in
that sense allowing the issues
around the political process and the lack of
sufficient political reform to
be further highlighted, both for SADC to
continue to deal with and also for
the government to continue to have to
deal with.
Q67 Mr Lancaster: Is it quite a difficult tightrope to walk
really? For
example, when we were there, you will be aware from all the talk
in the
papers that they had seized on comments that the Foreign Secretary
had made
in the chamber and they were being spun one way by one party and
the other
way by the other. Is it quite a difficult tightrope to walk, where
on the
one hand, everybody in this room, I am sure, wants to see development
and
progression within Zimbabwe in helping to secure that political process,
but, as soon as we are vocal, it can sometimes be counterproductive whilst
at the same time trying to support this process? Is that tricky? How do we
find that balance between the two?
Mr Thomas: That is not true just
of Zimbabwe, it is true of a whole series
of relationships that we have with
countries. Sometimes, you are right,
there is a tightrope to
walk.
Q68 Mr Lancaster: Are we getting it right, I suppose is what I am
asking?
Mr Thomas: Are we getting it right? I think we are getting the
balance
right. We have a rising development programme. We do continue to
deliver
tough messages to all members of the Zimbabwean government,
regardless of
their political affiliation, and we continue to look to the
leadership of
both South Africa and SADC more generally to provide that
on-the-spot
mediation work that they are doing.
Q69 Chairman: Taking
The Economist article, it describes SADC as a fairly
spineless 15-member
regional group. Zimbabwe has already defied their court
rulings. They have
just adopted another racist agenda which presumably would
fall foul of the
South Africans. Mr Mugabe’s attitude seems to be: “I don’t
recognise SADC.
It doesn’t bother me. If it suits me, I will pray them in
aid, otherwise I
will ignore them.” What can we do to persuade SADC to stand
up for what it
says it believes in?
Mr Thomas: If SADC was not prepared to play the role
that it is playing, we
would not have seen President Zuma set up a
high-level mediation group, and
we would not have seen that mediation group
engaging in the very direct way
in which it has done. I do think we have to
be careful not to respond to
some of the bluster from particular politicians
in Zimbabwe at the moment
and allow the SADC mediation process to continue.
On occasion, we deliver
blunt messages to all the members of the Zimbabwe
government when it is
required, and we provide direct assistance to help the
journey of reform
where it is appropriate to do so. There is also this
international effort
through SADC, and we have to allow it to continue to do
its work and not be
put off, if you will forgive me for saying so, by
particular articles or
particular comments by particular leaders in
Zimbabwe.
Chairman: Nigel Evans.
Q70 Mr Evans: Thank you,
Chairman. President Zuma is in London next week for
a State Visit. Do I
assume that yourself and the Foreign Secretary will be
meeting with him and,
if so, that you will raise the mediation process?
Mr Thomas: It would be
pretty odd if he came to the UK and there were not
conversations with the
Foreign Secretary and the Development Secretary. I am
sure there will be a
whole series of conversations about affairs in southern
Africa, and Zimbabwe
will inevitably be one of those areas that gets
discussed, but there is a
broad agenda for the State Visit, so it is not the
only issue that will come
up by any means.
Q71 Mr Evans: No, I assume that other things will be
spoken about as well,
but clearly his important role in Zimbabwe is fully
recognised by the world
community.
Mr Thomas: Absolutely. We
recognise that he is playing a key role and we
respect that. The decision
that he took to set up a three-member mediation
team and to include in that
team some people who are extremely well
respected in southern African
politics was a sign of the seriousness with
which he views the situation in
Zimbabwe, but those were decisions that he
took and we have to respect his
leadership, given the importance of South
Africa to SADC. Obviously, as I
say, we will talk inevitably about Zimbabwe.
It is one of the issues that
will be on the agenda, but there will be a
whole series of other issues that
we have to talk through as well.
Q72 Mr Evans: I want to touch on land
reform, but before I do that the
Chairman referred to The Economist piece
about businesses having a 51% stake
by black Zimbabweans. Does the
Government see that as a racist policy?
Mr Thomas: With all decisions in
South Africa, the key test is avoiding
explosive language. The concern we
would have is more about the impact of
particular policies on the economy
and on the people of Zimbabwe, so if it
makes investment in Zimbabwe less
likely, if it reduces the chance of jobs
being made available, then of
course it has to be a considerable concern.
One of the issues, as the
Committee will recognise, as to why so many people
have left South Africa is
the lack of job opportunities, so anything that
prevents the private sector
from beginning to develop, anything that further
discourages private sector
investment, is clearly going to be a major
concern, but in the end this has
to be a decision that Zimbabwe takes for
itself.
Q73 Mr Evans: But
clearly it is a racist policy. If you say that there are a
lot of white
Zimbabweans living there and people who are not black
Zimbabweans living
there, surely they should have an opportunity to be able
to be a major
partner in whatever businesses exist within a country. If any
other country
did this sort of thing, we would be banging the table and
saying, “This is
racist.”
Mr Thomas: We want everybody in Zimbabwe to have equal economic
opportunities in that sense, quite clearly, but sometimes there is a way of
recognising that a whole series of reforms are required. I appreciate, Mr
Evans, that you might want me to use particular phrases to describe a
particular set of policies but, with respect, I am not going to do that. The
broad message is that there has been progress in terms of the economy. We do
not want that progress put at risk. We want the economy to stabilise still
further. That is going to require a whole series of political reforms now to
take place to create the conditions for longer-term private sector
investment to take place.
Q74 Mr Evans: That leads me on to land
reform, which is part of the reforms
that clearly are essential to get some
sort of progress and stability within
Zimbabwe. Have you seen the
documentary Mugabe and the White African?
Mr Thomas: I have not,
no.
Q75 Mr Evans: I would heartily recommend it because our Committee has
had an
opportunity to see it. It is quite startling exactly what pressures
clearly
are on white farmers who exist within Zimbabwe. It is an incredible
and very
moving documentary. Clearly a number of people have had their lands
grabbed,
basically in a way that is not helping Zimbabwe. One can understand
the
reason for reform – we talked to the Commercial Farmers Union when we
were
in Zimbabwe and they can understand the sense for reform too – but
something
that is not orderly, something that is not structured, and
something that
leads to so much farmland being taken out of production and,
indeed, then
handed over to the cronies of politicians or friends within
Zimbabwe,
clearly is not doing Zimbabwe any favours.
Mr Thomas: I
would agree with that. I would go further and say that not only
do we
condemn the huge number of farm invasions that have taken place, but
we have
seen terrible human rights abuses committed as part of those
invasions which
are completely unacceptable, both on an individual basis,
the individual
rights of the people affected, but also, as you quite rightly
describe it,
in terms of the devastating impact it has had particularly on
the rural
agricultural economy. Frankly, “economic madness” would be an
appropriate
phrase to use to describe that. I hope that that situation will
desist. We
will continue to make that clear in our comments to the
politicians in
Zimbabwe. It is clear that we do need to see a land policy
that is fair,
that is pro-poor, that is transparent, because that will, as
you say, help
to revive the economy, particularly in rural areas. It would
help to revive
the agriculture sector. We are a long way from that point at
the moment, but
we would stand ready, as part of a wider donor group, to
help in that
process if the political conditions were right. I suspect,
frankly, the
first step would be for some sort of land audit to take place,
if the
Inclusive Government were so minded, but, at the moment, we are not
seeing
signs that there is a willingness by all the parties to the Inclusive
Government for a fairer land policy to take place.
Q76 Mr Evans: They
seem to be dragging their feet on doing anything about a
land audit, but
clearly that looks like being a necessary forerunner to
making some real
progress in that area. You have just mentioned the
international community
doing its bit, along with the United Kingdom, in
trying to bring some sort
of commonsense solution to this issue. What do you
think the international
community and Britain specifically can do in this
area?
Mr Thomas: As
I have said, we do stand ready to provide assistance, as part
of a wider
donor group, if we are asked to. As I have said, the first thing
would be to
conduct an audit of land. Frankly, we would only see a merit in
such an
audit taking place if we had confidence that the information that
such an
audit gleaned would be used to promote the type of pro-poor,
sensible,
transparent land reform policy that most people independent of
some of those
in Zimbabwe recognise as being necessary to revive the rural
economy there.
We stand ready to help as part of a wider international
effort if the
conditions are right. They are not right at the moment.
Q77 Mr Evans:
Even with the hyperinflation that the country has gone
through, a lot of
white farmers have gone to neighbouring African countries,
as I understand
it, and set up businesses there and are doing rather well. I
suspect that
Zimbabwe is importing some of the produce now of the former
white Zimbabwean
farmers – which is clearly insane. Do you think we are
getting any closer to
the political reality within Zimbabwe that a solution
should be found? Or do
you think that the mentality is still: no, we wish to
right the wrongs of
many generations and we do not care about economic or
humane consequences of
what the policy is that we are now doing in Zimbabwe?
Mr Thomas:
Unfortunately, land is one of those issues around which the
political power
continues to be very heavily contested. As I described in my
comments
earlier, whilst we have seen some progress in terms of the
stabilisation of
the economy in Zimbabwe, we have not yet seen the major
political changes
which the GPA has set out as being necessary. One of the
areas where we are
continuing to see (to use a diplomatic phrase)
“unfortunate activity” is
around land. I hope, as the economy has begun to
stabilise, that there will
be recognition in all parts of the Inclusive
Government of a series of
further steps that need to be taken to help that
economic progress. If those
political realities kick in, then perhaps we
will get closer to the
situation that you describe.
Q78 Hugh Bayley: Do you not think it would
be helpful if the British
Government were to acknowledge that the terms on
which white settlers, many
from this country, obtained land at the end of
the 19th century and the
beginning of the 20th century was not fair and did
not follow the rule of
law, and that the consequence for many indigenous
people was that they were
forced on to marginal land and suffered
enormously? If we were to say that,
then perhaps we would be in a better
position to oppose the wrongs of
fast-track land reform and to move the
debate on to a position you were
talking about, of pro-poor, rural
development – which is what Zimbabwe
clearly needs – rather than a return to
settler plantations.
Mr Thomas: With respect, Mr Bayley, I am not sure it
would be helpful. I
think I should take responsibility for what we as a
party have done since we
took power in terms of our aid programmes and our
foreign policy since 1997.
I am not sure we should try to reach back all the
time into history to look
at what happened a very long time ago. We need to
deal – forgive me for
saying so – with the realities on the ground at the
moment. In that sense,
the report that your party group produced was very
helpful in trying to put
to bed some of the misnomers that have existed
around what happened in 1980,
but, despite the importance of that report, we
should rather think ahead. We
should recognise, as Mr Evans has described,
the continuing adverse
implications of the land policy which particular
elements in the government
are pursuing from time to time and recognise that
there needs to be a
comprehensive change in terms of land policy at some
time which needs to be
led by the government in Zimbabwe, but which, if the
conditions were right,
we would stand ready to support.
Q79 Hugh
Bayley: I think you are right to want to see a land audit, but if
British
money alongside money from other donors is to go towards
establishing land
title for poor landless Zimbabweans, how would you see
that process
unfolding? In other words, how would you select the landless
poor? Who would
get land? Who would you compensate?
Mr Thomas: Mr Bayley, with respect, I
am not going to go down that
particular route. That is a process that the
government of Zimbabwe has to
lead, and I hope it is a government that would
be elected in free and fair
elections so that it had a clear mandate. I have
said that we would be ready
to help as part of a series of donors with such
an audit if we could be
convinced that the information from that audit was
going to be used
properly. We do not have those conditions at the moment. We
do stand ready
to help, as I say, but we are not going to put money on the
table when,
frankly, we know that there is a series of other priorities
where we can
have a sense that our money were to achieve good outcomes for
the poor in
Zimbabwe more immediately. But we recognise the importance of
the land issue
and staff and ministers will be ready to respond if the
political conditions
changed.
Q80 Chairman: We agreed, anyway, that,
whilst we would refer to the land
issue, it was not going to be central to
our report because it is such a
major issue, but I think Mr Bayley has put
his finger on some of the
background to it. You just mentioned about
effective DFID programmes.
Indeed, DFID is doing a lot of the co-ordination
on the ground and that
seems to be welcomed by a number of the NGOs and
charities. Two things were
said to us: one was that if things improve a lot
more donors are likely to
come in and it is important that co-ordination is
established in advance,
otherwise it could get chaotic. That, on the other
hand, may be too
optimistic in terms of what is likely to happen. But you
cannot give the
funding directly to the government in most cases. Does that
make it much
more difficult to co-ordinate? Clearly other donors may not be
very keen to
hand it over to one lead donor, so what mechanisms do you need
to have in
place, or what could you do to ensure that the relationship
between donors
and the government is more direct than it is now? What are
the criteria that
would need to be met?
Mr Thomas: We are a long way
away from having confidence in the systems of
the government of Zimbabwe, so
it is a long way off before we would want to
be putting money directly into
the government of Zimbabwe’s budget.
Nevertheless, there are a number of
ministries which are developing plans
which are pro-poor, which are designed
to help all communities across
Zimbabwe and behind which we feel we can
align some of our support, so there
are discussions with government about
their future plans and we are trying,
as you say, to work with other donors
where we have confidence in those
plans or in the merits of those plans to
put our financial assistance to
support the achievement of those plans. In
terms of the broader issue about
donor co-ordination, you are right that
donors are co-ordinating in general
fairly well, particularly those which
are traditional OECD Development
Assistance Committee donors. There could
still be better co-ordination with
the World Bank and others within the UN
system. In the longer term, if we
can draw some of the non-traditional
donors into the donor co-ordination
process, players like China, like South
Africa, like Brazil, that would
clearly be an aspiration that we would want
to have, not just in the
Zimbabwe context but in a whole series of other
developing country contexts
too. Also, the donor co-ordination mechanisms
are relatively informal at the
moment. As you say, if conditions continue to
improve and other donors were
to come in, then we would need perhaps to
formalise some of the donor
co-ordination structures that are there at the
moment, but, in general,
relations between the main donors are very
positive, as you describe.
Q81 Chairman: You have increased the programme
in recent years in difficult
situations. If you were going to put more money
in, are you satisfied that
the mechanisms you have in place would be
effective, or would you need to
find different or better ways of delivering
it?
Mr Thomas: We are comfortable that the mechanisms we have available
at the
moment are strong enough and robust enough to ensure that the money
that we
are spending in Zimbabwe is going to where it should go. Clearly, if
you
increase your aid programme into a country, you have to think through
what
implications that has for the particular funding instruments that you
use.
We work, as you know, with UN agencies and NGOs but also with a number
of
private sector organisations which manage particular programmes of aid
for
us. As I say, we have a strong process for monitoring how our money
operates. Thus far, we are confident that we have managed to make a
significant difference with our money. If we were to increase funding
substantially, then clearly we would look at the mechanisms we had available
to us.
Chairman: If we are moving on to that, I will bring in John
Battle.
Q82 John Battle: In a sense, the real issue is governance, from
my
experience of the visit we did, in particular the field visit. I would
like
to express gratitude to the staff at DFID who took us out of Harare to
Bulawayo. I went with some of our colleagues to Tsholotsho and I was very
encouraged and impressed by work on the ground, not least around the
Protracted Relief Programme. All these things have great titles, but I found
a programme there to reach to people who were poor, the poorest of the poor,
the people who were landless, to try to get back their livelihoods, with a
whole range of activities from home care right the way through. I was very,
very impressed by that programme. I just want to ask you a couple of
questions about it. If that has gone in the right direction, can it be
amplified and done elsewhere? The programme has two phases, as I understand
it, and we have just entered Phase II. Phase I was going for a few years. I
am lost at the scale of it. As I stood in a field in Tsholotsho with those
older women, trying out new cultivation techniques for getting more water
into their plants so that their fields of maize and cowpeas would look
rather healthier than the ones across the way, I asked whether there was
just one field or thousands of fields like that. In the DFID letter it says
that the programme is reaching over two million poor and vulnerable people,
but the plan for Phase II is to reach two million people, and sometimes we
include the two million that we have not quite yet reached. I want to know
the extent of the programme. Is it really being disseminated across? Do you
have just one field in Tsholotsho or do you have programmes elsewhere in the
country? Can it be scaled up? I know the programme is working with other
donors as well, but is the scaling up happening and is it possible for it to
happen? Can you find the land? Can the people respond to it? Can it be a
much more mobile programme than just one or two little pivotal
projects?
Mr Thomas: I will bring in Mr Lowcock in just a minute, but,
first, thank
you for your comments about DFID staff in Zimbabwe. If I may, I
will to put
on record my appreciation for the work they do. They have had to
operate in
some extremely difficult circumstances in the past.
Q83
John Battle: Indeed.
Mr Thomas: As Members will recognise, we have some
of our most talented
staff deployed in Zimbabwe, given the importance of the
work we are doing
there. The Protracted Relief Programme has expanded. It is
not just that one
field that you were sent to, but let me bring Mr Lowcock
in to amplify on
that.
Mr Lowcock: It is a long time since I have
been in Tsholotsho, so I am glad
to hear that particular report. The
programme covers 300,000 households,
which is about two million people,
which is probably 20%.
Q84 John Battle: At present?
Mr Lowcock: At
present, yes.
Q85 John Battle: The target for Phase II was to reach two
million people.
Mr Lowcock: I think that is the current
coverage.
Q86 John Battle: So you are already well ahead.
Mr
Lowcock: I think that is the case, Mr Battle, yes.
Q87 John Battle: Good.
What about the range of activities? Many of the NGOs
praise the programme
for its innovation in reaching from home care, and
quite personal support,
to innovative agricultural techniques, including
community participation.
While we sometimes focus on, as I said, governance
at the government level,
the new engagement of the people is the real
innovative work that DFID and
other NGOs are leading internationally. Is
that integration being extended?
Is that development of those kinds of
participatory tools able to take
place? I felt the local officials were not
resisting it at the local level,
which augured well for the future of
Zimbabwe if it could be scaled up from
the bottom. Is that the view of the
Department in the work that is going on
at field level, at floor level?
Mr Thomas: Absolutely. We would want to
continue to see that programme
scaled up. There is a series of developing
countries – and I think of
Afghanistan – where we have similar grassroots
programmes. We are
particularly fortunate in Zimbabwe to have very many
committed civil society
organisations which are playing, as you describe, a
crucial role in helping
to identify who needs the support that the PRP
programme can give in
communities most. As you say, the range of support we
are able to give is a
particularly important feature of the programme, from
the very direct
assistance, be it seeds and fertilizers or home care, to
some of the more
technical assistance, to help NGOs help the individual
farmers understand
what they have to do to increase their yields. As you
say, it is an
innovative programme and we have been encouraged by the
international
community’s response to that programme. As you know, Phase I
was very much a
programme that DFID initiated. Phase II has had much broader
donor support
and in that sense has become a proper multi-donor
programme.
Q88 John Battle: What struck me as well was that perhaps with
the word
“farmer” in English we think of some strapping young man who is
ultra-fit
out there in the fields, but there were women who were older than
I am and
what impressed me immensely was they have not had the benefit of my
education but their knowledge of agriculture and agricultural techniques was
incredible. I was quite excited by this new conservation agriculture method
and I wonder whether your Department is able to feed that into DFID and some
of the climate change discussions and see if those methods can be tested out
elsewhere in Africa and South East Asia so that the learning from innovation
can be passed on? I thought as well as the process of engagement with the
people there may be some good agricultural science in there that could be
very helpful as well.
Mr Thomas: Far be it from me to suggest
recommendations to the Committee but
drawing that particular point out would
certainly help us continue to spread
some of the lessons from the Zimbabwe
programme across our other country
programmes. As you quite rightly said,
the lessons in terms of climate
change, in terms of the particular farming
environment, if you like, in
which our programme operates does potentially
give information that would be
useful in a whole series of other developing
countries – Sedex –
particularly in the climate change context. As you know,
one of the
priorities that the Secretary of State set out in last year’s
White Paper
was for us to do more on climate change in developing countries.
Learning
the lessons from successful programmes such as the PRP where there
is a
climate element is exactly the type of thing that we need to continue
to
spread across the Department.
Q89 John Battle: It was noticeable
that we were speaking directly with the
women, the farmers themselves, not
through an intermediary, an agent, the
NGO’s leader or even the DFID person.
DFID is actually involved in the
programming. If I can put it to you this
way: I understand DFID now uses
managing agents and some of the
conversations suggest that using agents can
become bureaucratic and can tie
up resources of the partner NGOs having to
fill in analyses and sometimes
the direct link with DFID is not quite there,
as it were. Although we had
the experience of talking to someone in the
field, when the process is
taking place on a daily programme basis is the
use of managing agents
causing delays in the transaction between DFID and
the work on the ground?
Is it sometimes holding up the provision of DFID
support?
Mr Thomas:
We need to recognise that there was a substantial difference
between Phase 1
of the PRP and Phase 2. Phase 2 is inevitably much more
ambitious and
involves a series of other donors. In a sense, what you want
from your staff
is that they make things happen on the ground in terms of
developing
countries. Our staff initiated this programme and as others come
onboard the
pressures on those staff and their ability to do other things
would
inevitably have been much more constricted if they had continued to
run the
programme direct, so we took the decision to bring in a private
sector
operator and there was an international tender, as I understand.
Inevitably,
when you have that sort of change there are one or two bumps
along the
process. What the head of the DFID office in Zimbabwe is making
sure happens
is that there are regular, I believe quarterly, meetings with
the heads of
civil society groups in Zimbabwe to make sure that we continue
to have good
coordination with civil society. That will clearly be of
importance, not
just in terms of the PRP programme but also in terms of the
other programmes
that we have.
Q90 John Battle: I will pass to Andrew in a second. It was
expressed to us
that there could be a distancing built in. What would worry
me is that what
seems to be really radical – to use a word, I think it is
connected to the
word “roots” – about DFID’s work is that ability to
reconnect at the ground
floor level and get the pro-poor development going
on there and then feed it
back up through. If you build a layer in that cuts
them off again it could
undermine some of the good work that has been done.
I think Andrew wanted to
follow through on this.
Mr Thomas: May I
just pick that point up and bring Mr Lowcock in in a
second. I think if
there was not regular communication with civil society
then, you are right,
that would be a concern. In order specifically to avoid
any suggestion that
we are getting remote we wanted to set up a proper
process for communicating
with key players in civil society, and that is
what we have now
initiated.
Mr Lowcock: I would just like to put on the record that we
have three
members of staff in the Harare office who still work primarily on
this
programme and they are spending less of their time on the routine
administration and more of it on the strategic dialogue and, indeed, at
least once a month going out to regions like Tsholotsho and seeing what is
happening. In terms of the objectives of making sure we stay in touch with
the goals and the delivery of those goals, the way we have organised the
work is an improvement on the past arrangement.
Q91 Andrew Stunell:
If I could just pick up where John finished. First of
all I want to say that
we saw some excellent on the ground projects which
will be the anecdotes and
illustrations of my presentation about the work
the Department does for a
long time. They were very good projects.
Mr Thomas: But.
Q92
Andrew Stunell: The “but” is that there are so many levels between the
money
going in from the office in Harare to the wheelchair-bound lady with
her
four chickens in the compound outside Bulawayo that we have paid for.
There
is the managing agent, there is the Zimbabwe-wide NGO and there is
civic
society. When we pour £100 in at the top in Harare, how much goes out
and
buys chickens at the bottom, where does the other money stop on the way
and
what is the value of that other money on the way in terms of the
investment
in civic society and so on?
Mr Thomas: I would have to get you the exact
breakdown in terms of the
portion of what we put into the PRP programme that
is taken up, if you like,
as administration costs. We need to be careful and
to recognise that those
different layers, as you have described them, also
play a key function in
helping us to account for how the money is spent,
making sure that money
goes to the most needy people in Zimbabwe but also
that we have proper
accounting processes in place. I can see that as the
programme has got
bigger certainly one or two people have raised concerns,
but I do think it
is important that we have that administration element in
there so that we do
have proper checks and balances. We will very happily
provide for the
Committee, Mr Stunell, a more detailed explanation of what
portion of the
PRP programme goes as administrative costs if that would be
helpful.
Mr Lowcock: May I make an additional point? As well as the cost
of
delivering the programme we need to think about what the returns and
benefits of the programme are. It costs about $70 per household to provide
the assistance we provide under the PRP and the value of the production that
is generated by that $70 is about $140, it is a very high rate of return.
The alternative to providing some of the inputs that we have provided would
be in many cases to provide food aid which would cost us between $700 and
$1,000. The opportunity saving of this programme is very high and the rate
of return on the programme is also very high. The numbers I have given you
reflect the administration costs as well as the costs of the inputs. We
honestly think that in terms of value for money this is a very effective
programme.
Q93 Chairman: I think it is a very important question that
Mr Stunell is
asking. As you will know, Minister, we are up against rather
tight
timetables. The constitutional requirements tell us that we have to
have
this report done in a very short space of time, so if you are able to
give
us that breakdown we need it very soon. I think it would be very
helpful.
Mr Thomas: Okay. We will see if we can do that.
Q94
Andrew Stunell: I just want to underline that point. To give us real
confidence that Mr Lowcock’s presentation is resilient, it would be helpful
to have an additional report and note from you.
Mr Thomas: Okay. We
will get that to you even quicker than usual.
Q95 Richard Burden: This is
really on the same subject. From what we saw, I
think we do understand why
managing agents are used and the good pressures
that lead DFID to go down
that road. It is also fair to say that in terms of
the projects we saw in
Tsholotsho and the engagement of the women from GRM
there it appeared to be
good. However, I think the uncertainty that some of
us still feel is whether
we will get to a stage where the tail starts to wag
the dog. If the need to
have those managing agents is because of their
expertise and they get such
expertise that they are used not just by DFID
but other partners as well,
the danger is that they could then become
intermediaries that start
determining what happens rather than
intermediaries that do what is required
from the grassroots or reflecting
policy. I do not think we are saying that
is what is happening but we see
there is a danger that could happen. The
question really is, is it right
that could be a danger and, if so, how do
you guard against it?
Mr Thomas: Let me bring Mr Lowcock in in a second.
When we take a decision
that we want to contract out, if you like, the
management of a particular
programme there are a whole series of
well-established processes which we
follow. We are very happy to provide
some further information to the
Committee if that is what you need to give
you some confidence that the tail
will not wag the dog in this particular
context. There is good donor
coordination in Zimbabwe and, as I say, we have
some very experienced staff
operating in our office, so I do not believe, if
you like, the worst case
scenario that you are posing would happen. Let me
bring Mr Lowcock in to
give you some further detail.
Mr Lowcock: I
think you are exactly right, Mr Burden, that in principle the
problem you
have described could be one we face. We have tried to describe
how we are
mitigating it in this case. The Committee knows very well the
staff of the
Department is quite stretched. If we had more staff available
to us in
Zimbabwe my own view would be that are were other things I would
rather they
did next before more administration and more detailed monitoring
and
engagement on the PRP. I am satisfied with the approach that we have to
the
management of the PRP at the moment.
Mr Thomas: Just one other point to
make. It is not just us as one donor who
plays a role in this, there are a
series of other donors who also are
funders of the PRP. In a sense, it is a
shared process for looking at the
administrative cost element and taking
decisions about tenders, et cetera,
which in that sense I hope gives further
confidence and further checks into
the system.
Q96 Andrew Stunell: I
would like to hear from Mr Lowcock that if he did have
those extra staff and
it is not what Mr Burden was postulating, what would
it be that the extra
staff would be dedicated to?
Mr Lowcock: One of the issues that came up
in discussions yesterday with the
finance minister in Harare was follow-up
to a discussion he had in
Washington last week when the board of the IMF
restored Zimbabwe’s voting
rights. He had some discussions with the staff of
the IMF about what it
would take for Zimbabwe to move towards fuller
normalisation of its
relations with the international financial
institutions, including
potentially debt relief. We have a very good
economist, who I am sure you
met, in our office in Harare, who is one of a
rather small number – I think
I could count them on my fingers, excluding
the thumb, of one hand – of
international macroeconomists in Harare at the
moment. That is a big prize
for Zimbabwe to normalise its relations to that
degree, an awful lot has to
be done to secure that prize, but that would
certainly be an area where it
would be worth putting additional professional
resources in. We will find
ways to do that. That is one example I would give
in answer to your
question.
Q97 Mr Lancaster: We will move on to
health, if we may. The Committee
visited two hospitals, the Mpilo Hospital
in Bulawayo and a hospital in
Harare. We saw the maternity unit and we saw
programmes associated with
HIV/AIDS which Mr Evans will ask questions about
in a moment. What we saw
was very good. One of the key points that was put
across to us, and perhaps
we should not be surprised at this given the
diaspora and the migration, was
that there is a real shortage of skilled
health workers, many of whom have
gone abroad. For example, in the hospital
in Bulawayo they had only
recruited approximately 50% of midwives, although
there is a midwife
shortage in the UK so perhaps that is a bad example. What
are we doing to
try and recruit and retain health specialist staff in
Zimbabwe?
Mr Thomas: One of the things, as I suspect the Committee will
be aware of,
that has, if you like, continued to focus our attention on the
health sector
was the cholera crisis in 2008/09 where the crisis was sparked
by a
long-term lack of investment in water and sanitation, but also the
substantial deterioration in the health sector which was caused by many
health workers wanting to migrate or simply not coming into work because
they were not being paid. What we have done is to ensure that there is an
allowance paid directly into health workers’ bank accounts to provide that
direct incentive for them to turn up to work and to go about their business.
We can provide direct assistance in that way, but in the end there has got
to be further economic stabilisation and a further reduction in the
political instability that exists in Zimbabwe. We can make a difference in
terms of public services, but to get anything like the type of public
services that we would recognise here in the UK those broader economic and
political changes are going to have to happen. As I say, we are making a
difference in terms of the allowances we fund directly into health workers’
bank accounts which has helped recruitment to pick up. We are also helping
to fund the supply of crucial drugs. If you look at the government of
Zimbabwe’s budget, they simply cannot afford to pay all the salaries of
health workers that are required or all the needs for drugs, so it is the
donor community which has to plug that gap. It is not just us, it is a
number of other donors too that are playing a role.
Q98 Mr Lancaster:
You say the government cannot really afford to pay the
wages, so given that
we have strikes at the moment in Zimbabwe, and I think
they are currently
paid $200 a month and they are demanding $500, is that
realistic? What
effect would that have? What can we do?
Mr Thomas: One of the things we
can do is not to get involved in what is a
conversation that has to take
place between those workers themselves with
their own government. What we
can do, as I have said, is to respond to the
requests that we have had from
the government, the Inclusive Government, to
provide support to the health
sector, and through the continuation of these
allowances that is what we are
doing and by making further money available
to target, for example, maternal
health and to continue our different aid
programmes.
Q99 Mr
Lancaster: Workers’ pay and drugs to one side, I suppose the other
key
element to try to improve the health structure in Zimbabwe will be
infrastructure. I know that we are investing in six hospitals in Zimbabwe at
the moment. Can you perhaps outline what the aims of that programme are and
whether or not you intend to increase it, or how you see it us moving
forward in that area?
Mr Thomas: Obviously we want to move from, if
you like, the crisis phase of
the health support to getting a longer term
plan in place for the health
sector, one that can tackle all the different
health challenges that the
people of Zimbabwe face. I would not want to
underestimate to you the scale
of the challenge that there still is, we are
still in a situation where I
think substantial humanitarian assistance will
have to be provided for
Zimbabwe. The scope to dramatically expand our
health programme, whilst I
think it is there, is perhaps more limited than
we would like. You are
right, we have to continue to invest in
infrastructure but continue to make
sure there are health workers in place
and that those health workers are
being paid and, crucially, that the basic
drugs and other supplies that they
need to go about their business are in
place. If you like, the next ambition
that we have is to try to reduce
maternal and child mortality where there
has been a substantial
deterioration in Zimbabwe more recently. We have
recently committed some £25
million over the next five years to help people
continue to get better
access to family planning services, to antenatal
care, to obstetric services
and newborn care services. If you like, that is
the next iteration of our
support to the health sector.
Q100 Mr Evans: Another health subject is
HIV/AIDS, which you have already
touched on. We all had an opportunity to
see some of the projects involved
with that and I think we were all
impressed with what we saw. It is
tremendous if one considers that in parts
of Zimbabwe some of the aid is
somewhat thin. Certainly where we were in
Bulawayo and Harare we saw some
tremendous projects, so I was very pleased
with that, but still last year
140,000 people died in Zimbabwe of AIDS.
Compared to other countries, Zambia
for instance, where the amount of money
spent is way above, I think it is
US$187 per person as opposed to Zimbabwe
where it is $4, why is there such a
staggering disparity?
Mr Thomas:
I think often the disparity, frankly, relates to the political
situation in
Zimbabwe and the ability for the international community to
spend money
effectively to tackle HIV/AIDS. With our programmes on the
health sector we
have wanted to get to a stage where other players in the
international donor
community would support it. The Global Fund are now
funding the health
workers’ support programme. As I say, I think as the
economic situation
stabilises there will be more opportunities to do more on
healthcare, of
which HIV/AIDS will continue to be a priority for ministers.
Nevertheless, I
think the UK can take some pride in the success that there
has been,
notwithstanding the significant levels of death because of AIDS
that there
is in Zimbabwe, for the fact that it has not been even higher.
HIV
prevalence has come down, it has halved over the last ten years, and our
aid
into the sector over that period has been absolutely pivotal to helping
those who wanted to make a difference in this area in Zimbabwe be able to do
so.
Q101 Mr Evans: I have got no doubts about that whatsoever. We
went to see
one of the hospitals there where the storeroom had eight months’
worth of
supply whereas two years ago they would have had nothing.
Mr
Thomas: That is right.
Q102 Mr Evans: Getting the capacity and getting
those drugs out into the
villages and into the more rural areas is clearly
something that needs to be
done. Within the infrastructure that exists
there, are we able to target
some of the high risk groups like sex workers,
children and, indeed, gays
and lesbians?
Mr Thomas: We have a
behaviour change communications programme which is run
by an organisation,
Population Services International, who are very well
established in this
field who are doing hugely important work in terms of
getting those
prevention messages out on AIDS. There is a whole programme of
work around
voluntary counselling and testing which has also been very
important in
making a difference. I am sure the Committee will be familiar
with the way
in which those who have migrated from Zimbabwe potentially
would not get
access to information about how to avoid becoming HIV
positive, but through
funding we give to the International Organisation on
Migration we have been
able to provide support for them to get help and
information to those
migrating from Zimbabwe to avoid the obvious risks at
transit points, et
cetera. One of the keys in terms of preventing the spread
of AIDS and HIV
infection is making sure there is good access to condoms and
that is
something we have continued to be in the lead on in the provision in
Zimbabwe.
Q103 Mr Evans: One other area which helps greatly is male
circumcision which
apparently improves the rate of protection to 60%. The
target is to
circumcise 80% of the males within Zimbabwe as soon as they
possibly can.
Apparently the cost of that will be around $140 million but
they will save
over $3 billion if that could be achieved. We visited one of
the clinics and
talked to a couple of people who had gone through it, so
they were acting as
peers to encourage other males to go through the
procedure. Do you envisage
upping the amount of money that we will be
directing towards male
circumcision within Zimbabwe over the coming
months?
Mr Thomas: Rather than just focusing on one specific intervention
in
response to one specific disease, however important that disease is, and
I
have a longstanding interest in HIV/AIDS, I think the challenge for us,
both
in DFID and the wider donor community, is how do we get more support
more
generally into the health sector in Zimbabwe and get a clear
coordinated
plan that looks at maternal health, that looks at HIV/AIDS, that
looks at a
range of other diseases too. Many of the responses that you need
to tackle
HIV/AIDS or to tackle maternal health are common across the piece
in terms
of having good health workers and good infrastructure in place. The
challenge is to continue that process of coordination under good leadership
from the government of Zimbabwe to get a series of clear health priorities
in place which the international community could get behind. That is
certainly what our ambition would be to support. Whether it has to be just
DFID upping our funding levels on healthcare or whether there are other
players in the international community, such as the Global Fund, who can
take up that extra financial need is something that we need to continue to
review. Health is certainly one of the areas that we watch very
closely.
Q104 Mr Evans: Clearly all the donor organisations talk to one
another
anyway and that is important to make sure there is no duplication or
people
working against one another. When we visited the clinics we saw a
number of
posters with famous Zimbabwean footballers who were saying that
they were
getting this procedure and encouraging others to do so. It does
seem to me
to be economic commonsense, never mind humane commonsense, to
ensure that as
many people as possible have this particular procedure to
better protect the
nation, particularly when you look at the colossal number
of deaths. This is
a bit of a lobbying plea really. All I would ask is that
you look at this
again and make absolutely certain that not for the want of
directing the
money there, which as I say will pay dividends in the short
and medium-term,
we support this procedure as much as we possibly
can.
Mr Thomas: I recognise both the lobbying plea and I fear one of the
specific
recommendations that will emerge from your report, and will
obviously
respond to the report in the usual way and no doubt faster than we
would
normally.
Q105 Chairman: I think it might be the next
government that has to deal with
that.
Mr Thomas: Mr Evans, I think
your point in general about support for
HIV/AIDS is well made, not only in
the context of Zimbabwe but actually in
the context of Sub-Saharan Africa
more generally. We are five years on from
Gleneagles where that commitment
to try to deliver universal access to
anti-retroviral drugs was one of the
pivotal elements of the Gleneagles
Agreement. We are probably two-thirds of
the way towards achieving that
commitment, so massive progress has been made
but the target has not yet
been reached. One of the issues that ministers in
DFID are looking at is how
we can use the international meetings that are
taking place this year to
refocus attention on that commitment to universal
access, to look at what
has worked in Sub-Saharan Africa, what has not
worked perhaps, and what else
the donor community needs to do. There will be
an international meeting that
takes place in London very shortly that looks
at exactly that question.
Q106 Mr Evans: Hopefully when President Zuma
comes as well on South Africa,
maybe pushing him a little bit more on that
area.
Mr Thomas: I hear your message, Mr Evans.
Q107 Richard
Burden: One of the other major health areas, and you have
alluded to it
yourself, is the issue of water and sanitation. Six million
people still
have not got access to clean water and sanitation and obviously
there was
the bad cholera outbreak just a little while ago. When we met the
Mayor of
Bulawayo during our visit, if there was one priority that he wanted
to
identify it was the issue of the water system in the city. He said it was
close to collapse and that was not unique in Bulawayo and his plea was for
donors to concentrate on trying to address that as an issue. Where would you
see the issue of investing in the water and sanitation infrastructure to
rank compared to other priorities in terms of health and so on?
Mr
Thomas: That is a very difficult question to answer. In the longer term
there is no doubt that for a series of economic and social reasons as well
as health reasons we need to see more investment in water and sanitation in
Zimbabwe. That is absolutely clear. Through some of the programmes that we
already have, not least the Protracted Relief Programme, there is work
taking place on water and sanitation, but I would not want to give you the
sense that there is a clear long-term sector-wide plan on water and
sanitation which we are leading. This is one of the issues where as the
humanitarian situation stabilises and as hopefully too we see progress on
the politics in Zimbabwe the donor community with the government can start
to put together a plan for beginning to see much longer-term, more sustained
investment in water and sanitation going forward. It might be one of the
areas potentially that the Multi Donor Fund that we are in the process of
trying to establish under the leadership of the World Bank can look at. In
the same way that water and sanitation is a key long-term issue, so is
investment in the road network in Zimbabwe and investment in access to
electricity. These are long-term issues which we will have to address.
However, given the humanitarian need that still exists, and I think will
exist for at least another couple of years, the balance of our programme
focusing on the delivery of basic services plus, where we can, targeted
assistance to support reforms in key ministries is broadly right for the
moment, but we have got to keep in view those longer term issues like the
Mayor of Bulawayo has identified, I think that is absolutely
right.
Q108 Richard Burden: When you mention the Multi Donor Trust Fund,
are you
saying that this is an issue they could look at?
Mr Thomas:
Possibly, yes.
Q109 Richard Burden: Or that they are looking
at?
Mr Thomas: The Multi Donor Fund is not up and running yet, there is
still a
series of preparatory meetings that are taking place to sort out how
the
fund will operate and what it will focus on. Exactly what it does we are
still in discussion on, but it certainly could look at water and sanitation
issues. Frankly, if you are looking at a series of other longer term issues,
such as infrastructure, roads, et cetera, you have got to think about water
and sanitation issues to some extent anyway.
Q110 Hugh Bayley: Could
I come in on the issue of the diaspora before we
move on to a different
subject. There are many thousands of Zimbabweans in
this country and they
tend to be relatively better educated because the
better educated migrants
migrate longer distances. They are very committed
to their country and
because of human rights abuses or political or economic
pressures they do
not want to be there at the moment, but might well return
if there was
political change. When the Government is talking next week to
President
Zuma, will you be talking about the issue of a right to vote given
particularly that South African citizens in this country are entitled to
vote in South African elections?
Mr Thomas: I think the point you
make about the issue of the right to vote
for the diaspora has been
recognised as one of the issues that the Electoral
Commission when it gets
on to do its work will have to address. We all want
to see progress on those
political parts of the GPA where progress has been
much slower. I think the
big ticket items are getting the Electoral
Commission established so that it
is in a position to do its work, of which
looking at the voter roll and the
issues around the diaspora is one of a
series of issues that are key to
getting free and fair elections to take
place.
Q111 Hugh Bayley: One
other thing I wanted to raise that affects the
diaspora is this: there are
circumstances, as you are acutely aware, where
money from the UK may appear
politically tainted in Zimbabwe. The diaspora
traditionally sent a lot of
money back through remittances which has played
a vitally important part in
allowing Zimbabwe to survive an economic
collapse. When I met the Institute
of Migration’s director of programmes in
Zimbabwe, she talked about
imaginative schemes that operate in other
countries of the world whereby the
government of the country in question
from which the migrants have migrated
and donors match dollar for dollar,
pound for pound remittances that are
sent back. Given that remittances tend
to be spent locally, not by
government agencies but by families on essential
services, would your
Department look at the feasibility of setting up a
scheme both to encourage
Zimbabwean citizens living in this country to remit
money and to find a good
channel for transmitting money from your
Department? Is that something you
would examine?
Mr Thomas: I am not sure we would want to look at a
programme that matches
exactly what one particular Zimbabwean living in the
UK or elsewhere donates
to his or her family as such. There are a whole
series of obvious technical
difficulties with such a scheme. We certainly do
want to make it easier for
remittances to get back. I would go along with
the director-general of IOM
in this regard: there are a whole series of
innovative programmes around
remittances and the use of technology making it
easier and cheaper for
people to get remittances back which are being
deployed in other countries.
One thinks of Kenya’s M-PESA programme, for
example, where remittances are
being sent using mobile phones from a whole
series of countries, as I
understand it, to the individual recipient
in-country. We are looking at a
programme of work to try and spread the
benefits of that technological
innovation around remittances. I would hope
Zimbabwe would be a beneficiary
in that regard. As you may be aware, we have
tried to get much more
information into the public sphere about the
different rates of interest and
different types of financial product that
are available for people who want
to remit money to be able to do so to try
and create much greater
competition and, as a result, drive the
administrative costs, commissions,
down for those sending money
back.
Q112 Andrew Stunell: Children have certainly been victims of the
current
difficulties and it could be said probably that Zimbabwe used to
have the
best educational system in southern Africa, it has now probably got
the
worst, yet DFID is still only contributing about 2% of aid to education.
I
wondered if you could give us some account of how that priority was set
and
whether you feel it should be a greater contribution in the
future.
Mr Thomas: We have a couple of programmes that are supporting the
education
sector. One is a programme of support to orphans and vulnerable
children,
which is managed by UNICEF which helps to pay the school fees of a
number of
the most vulnerable children in Zimbabwe. We estimate that we have
helped
almost 250,000 schoolchildren through that process and we are hoping
that
the programme will expand this year to reach almost 600,000 children
directly. Some of the other benefits of that programme include better access
to nutrition, to healthcare, to welfare and to psychosocial support services
for those young people so that in turn they can benefit better from the
education that is available to them. The other source of funding for the
education sector is an Education Transition Fund which we launched the idea
of back in June last year and pledged £1 million to it. Our interest has
generated pledges now worth a total of $50 million and we are in the process
of sorting out the procurement process to enable the purchase of substantial
textbooks for schools in Zimbabwe. One of the problems in the education
sector, as I suspect you will have seen, is as a result of the political
instability there has been a substantial loss of good quality materials for
teachers to use. We hope that this fund will be one opportunity to begin to
restore that damage.
Mr Lowcock: Can I just clarify the point on your
2% figure, which I suspect
we gave you.
Q113 Andrew Stunell: You did,
yes.
Mr Lowcock: I think that refers to the £1 million towards the wider
Multi
Donor Fund programme the Minister has just described for textbooks in
particular. Probably what we should also have explained is that the
programme of support for orphans and vulnerable children, which again the
Minister has described, is also that education dimension, so to give a fair
overall summary of how much we are putting into education we should include
that as well. I apologise that we did not do that the first time. I just
wanted to correct that on the record.
Q114 Chairman: How much is
that?
Mr Lowcock: I will have to calculate that for you, Chairman. It is
significant, and we can do it quickly.
Q115 Andrew Stunell: Can I
just pull out a couple of points from your two
replies, if I may. The
underlying problem is that a lot of schools have been
lost to use and a lot
of teachers have emigrated or fled from the country.
Are there any specific
plans that DFID is developing or working with the
Zimbabwean government on
to get the restoration of school buildings and
bringing back
teachers?
Mr Thomas: One of the things that the Inclusive Government did
when they
came to power was to offer a $100 allowance to all civil servants,
including
teachers, which has helped to see a series of teachers returning
to post and
in that sense has made a difference.
Mr Lowcock: The
biggest issue in our opinion is teachers. I am afraid it is
going to be a
significant challenge for Zimbabwe to attract back many of the
best teachers
who have left the country. The thing that will attract them
back over time
is an improvement in the political and economic situation and
confidence in
the future of their country, so it all turns back on what the
Minister was
describing about the overall political situation. Clearly there
is also a
school infrastructure problem and textbook issue, but we think
first
teachers, second textbooks and probably third infrastructure would be
the
order of priorities.
Q116 Andrew Stunell: Can I just ask a question about
textbooks? I asked a
number of questions in Zimbabwe and we received
representations from some of
the witnesses there. My impression was that we
had gone for a big bang
solution to getting textbooks in which was leading
to a substantial delay in
getting any textbooks in, when it might have been
better or more appropriate
to have gone for a small-scale solution with more
rapid results. We were
told by an official from the Department of Education,
I think, that they
were still waiting for textbooks which were supposed to
have been ready at
the beginning of the school year, et cetera. I would be
interested in your
commentary on that situation and for some assurance about
how the textbook
programme, for which we appear to have set aside funds, is
actually going to
be delivered to a sensible timetable.
Mr Thomas: I
think the first thing is that our initial interest back in June
in making
money available for the supply of textbooks has sparked
considerable
interest from the wider donor community, perhaps more than
certainly I had
expected. What we are trying to do is to make sure that
money collectively
is well spent by having a central procurement programme.
We believe that
will deliver substantial economies of scale. There has been
a process by
which the Zimbabwe Ministry of Education has been looking at
trying to
prioritise a particular core set of textbooks to be delivered
across the
country. I recognise the appetite inevitably for teachers to want
to have
access to those books, but it is right that we get the procurement
process
right and it is right that we try to deliver economies of scale.
Given the
size of the pot and the increase in the size of the pot it has
clearly taken
some time to get that right, but we hope we are close to
achieving that and
getting the textbooks out.
Mr Lowcock: I would, if I may, like to answer
the question we promised you a
subsequent answer to, which is the share if
we had included the programme of
support in our total programme in
education. It would be about 6%, about
£2.4 million going into education
through the programme of support and then
£1 million this year through the
Education Transition Fund. As the Minister
said, we were trading off speed
with efficiency and value for money. We have
got a much cheaper deal and,
therefore, can buy many more textbooks in the
way we have done the
procurement, but I take the point you have made about
needing to think
carefully about that trade-off between speed and
efficiency.
Q117
Andrew Stunell: So when do we now expect those books to be available to
schools, bearing in mind the money was allocated back in July, August last
year?
Mr Lowcock: We will need to check when we expect the first
deliveries, but
the procurement process is advanced now.
Q118 Andrew
Stunell: And the schools have no books.
Mr Lowcock: Well, most schools
have some books. Clearly, yes, there is an
issue and that was the trade-off
we were trying to manage. I will find out
for you exactly when we expect the
first deliveries.
Q119 Mr Lancaster: The Committee went to see some
projects directed at
orphans and vulnerable children and the Department
estimates that more than
90% of the country’s orphans have been absorbed by
the extended family.
Indeed, 40% of households in rural areas actually care
for orphans and
vulnerable children but they have almost no financial
assistance, so how do
you feel that external donors can help in this process
and support them?
Mr Thomas: There are a number of programmes that we
contribute to which have
an impact on orphans and vulnerable children and
the financial needs either
of the individual children themselves or those
who are looking after them. I
described the programme of support to orphans
and vulnerable children in
answer to Mr Stunell. Paying for education fees
of the most vulnerable
children is one obvious way in which we can help. The
second is through the
Protracted Relief Programme which we talked about in
answer to questions
from Mr Battle. That also provides support often to some
of the young people
of Zimbabwe who have lost parents and who perhaps head
up households
themselves because of the loss of parents. Many of those
people who have
taken in orphans and vulnerable children are beneficiaries
of the Protracted
Relief Programme and in that sense get support from the
international
community. As a Department we do not pick the individual
recipients, that is
done through the NGOs who, if you like, deliver the
process and the support
on the ground.
Q120 Mr Lancaster: I accept
the answer, but I suppose what I am really
pushing for is given the sheer
scale and how a relatively small percentage
are being reached given limited
resources from the Department, how can we
move forward perhaps in greater
collaboration with others. That is really
what I am asking.
Mr
Thomas: I think the Protracted Relief Programme is expanding. It has gone
from the first phase when it was largely just the UK funding it to a much
bigger programme which is allowing us to reach many more people, including
orphans directly or those who are looking after orphans. Similarly, the
expansion of the number of children who will get support through the
overseas programme up from about 250,000 so far to, we hope, 600,000 this
year is an example of the way in which we are trying to expand the numbers
that we can access. As we have discussed, in the end it does come back to
the economic and political situation in the country moving forward and
donors being willing to do more as a result and, frankly, more resources
being able to be generated in-country.
Q121 John Battle: If I could
just go back to the issue of food security. I
think the UN at one point said
five million people would be food insecure
and the Crop and Supply
Assessment Mission estimated around 2.8 million
might need humanitarian
assistance before the next harvest, which is this
April. Some of the reports
are suggesting that the weather has not been all
that good and the harvest
might not be that good. What is your latest
prediction for food aid
requirements that are coming up in the next year
from April?
Mr
Thomas: In terms of prediction in terms of hard numbers, I am not sure I
can
give you that specifically now. We share the analysis that you employed
that
there are some early indications that this year’s harvest is not going
to be
as good as in previous years. As I said, notwithstanding that sense of
what
this year’s harvest is going to be, I think we will have to provide
humanitarian assistance anyway at least for the next two years.
Q122
John Battle: The next two years.
Mr Thomas: In recent years there has
always been a substantial humanitarian
component of our aid programme at
different times, almost 50% or more. We
work very closely with organisations
such as the World Food Programme who
deliver that food aid and humanitarian
assistance. Frankly, the development
of the Protracted Relief Programme is
not only an attempt to meet the
immediate food needs of those affected but
is trying to get at some of the
deeper roots of that humanitarian crisis. As
well as giving the seeds and
fertiliser programme direct support, we are
also giving support to NGOs so
that they can give actual guidance to people
as to how to use those seeds
and fertilisers to increase the yields that
they do get.
Mr Lowcock: I was going to add a point on when we will have
a better sense
of this year’s harvest. It will be March-time probably. Most
people think
that it will be better than 2008 and possibly less good than
2009, so the
numbers requiring emergency assistance will be in that range
that you
described.
Q123 John Battle: Can I thank you for the way in
which you gave the answer
to that longer term rather than immediate relief.
Forgive me, I am not sure
I clearly understand this. You provided £9 million
to the World Food
Programme in 2009 and that aid was mainly for food relief
programmes. I
wonder whether the World Food Programme itself has that longer
term food
programme development as well as relief. It is that distinction
between your
work on the programmes I referred to earlier that are getting
sustainable
agriculture again, but are you working with the World Food
Programme itself
on getting those longer term programmes in as opposed to
just dishing out
food aid, frankly?
Mr Thomas: We are, but it is
important to recognise that the World Food
Programme has particular
expertise at getting food aid to those who need it
instantly, who are hungry
now in that sense. We are looking as a donor
community, which includes WFP,
at a cash transfer programme, in a sense,
which helps people both to plan
for a slightly longer term process as well
as meeting their immediate needs
now.
Q124 John Battle: If I could follow through from Mark Lowcock’s
comment.
When will the figures be available? We are in March next week, are
we not,
so is there a chance that an assessment could be included in our
report?
Have we got time to get that far?
Mr Lowcock: Normally it is
sensible in Zimbabwe to make an assessment of the
harvest level by late
March. We will give you any update we can at the point
at which you want to
go to press, but late March is probably the earliest at
which we can say
something resembling an authoritative answer.
Q125 John Battle: If I can
be absolutely clear, that is two things: one to
get on to those longer term
food development programmes, both our own and
working with the World Food
Programme, and the other is to look to cash
transfers to stimulate that
rather than going to handouts. Have I got that
right?
Mr Thomas: That
is effectively where we are now. Obviously if the harvest is
better than
anticipated then we can move further up that particular
long-term process
earlier.
Q126 John Battle: Also not to lose, and sometimes it is lost,
may I say, and
criticism is made of the UN and the World Food Programme
sometimes. People
standing in queues and just getting it dished out to them
does not always
encourage community participation, whereas other methods
might include that
engagement of development with the people at the local
level, which is where
I am hoping our programmes are geared towards
now.
Mr Thomas: You have to use a range of ways of getting help to people
and you
have to look at the reality on the ground and adjust what you do to
reflect
that reality.
John Battle: The direction of the overall
programme is very clear from that
answer, thank you.
Q127 Richard
Burden: Could we move on to the question of internally
displaced people,
which is clearly a very, very big issue. Estimates vary of
IDPs making up
between just over 4% of the population and 7.5% of the
population. Yet there
is also difficulty, there is quite a lot of evidence,
a lot of concern being
voiced that as far as the Zimbabwean Government is
concerned, because they
take the view that IDPs do not exist, IDPs are being
fairly systematically
excluded from a number of relief and humanitarian
programmes. Some of the
NGOs are saying that really the UN as an institution
is not tackling this
head on and that it needs to be a lot more assertive
around the question of
IDPs, both in terms of Zimbabwe’s own obligation
under UN obligations but
also from a straight humanitarian point of view;
aid is not getting to where
it should be getting. What is your response to
that?
Mr Thomas: I
think that was a situation that was certainly true of the
previous
Government. I think the Inclusive Government has been better at
recognising
both the existence of IDPs and their needs, but I would not want
to downplay
the challenges that still remain. I think many of our existing
programmes
upon which we have touched are also giving assistance to those
who are
internally displaced within Zimbabwe but who are perhaps living with
other
families or who are vulnerable in some other way. Clearly there is
more we
need to do, as we have described, across the range, but I do believe
that
our programmes and those of others in the international community, are
helping to get aid to those who are internally displaced, albeit there is
clearly a lot more that could happen.
Q128 Richard Burden: Certainly
the impression we got was that a number of
NGOs and others were saying that
yes, whilst things may have improved since
the formation of the Inclusive
Government, the issue is still very much
there as far as IDPs are concerned.
Partly because of the nature of some of
the security ministries, it is quite
easy to get in the way of aid
programmes where necessary.
Mr Thomas:
In that sense, absolutely, I would agree with that. There is a
huge problem
in terms of the ability of IDPs to move around in terms of
particular
locations and the level of need that we have described in terms
of
humanitarian issues, in terms of children or young people, if they have
been
internally displaced, it is particularly acute in that sense. What I
would
want to avoid the Committee having the impression is that none of our
programme is thinking through issues around IDPs; they very much are.
However, as NGOs have described to you, certainly there are real
difficulties for IDPs in terms of the security situation.
Q129
Chairman: The aid programme to Zimbabwe has more than doubled in the
last
four years. You said in a press release last August that the Department
was
willing to re-engage and support recovery in Zimbabwe provided the new
Government can demonstrate: its commitment to sound economic management; the
democratic process and respect for human rights; the rule of law; full and
equal access to humanitarian assistance; and a timely election held to
international standards. I would suggest none of those things is what is
happening on the ground. The serious point behind that is, nevertheless, you
have increased it. What capacity is there for increasing it further or
perhaps, putting it the other way round, how do you assess your ability to
deliver and whether you should do more or less? What is the process that
goes round the Department in evaluating this?
Mr Thomas: We do look
firstly at the humanitarian situation on the ground
and we would provide
humanitarian aid almost regardless of the political
situation, and it is
clearly right that we do get help to people who are in
desperate need,
despite the particular governments that they have. In terms
of long-term
development assistance, you are right, we will have to look at
the political
and economic conditions that are operating and are on the
ground before we
can make big decisions about be it substantial increases in
aid or
substantial changes in the nature of our programmes. I think there
has been
progress in Zimbabwe, in particular in terms of the economics of
the
country. Clearly the political progress in Zimbabwe has been much, much
slower, and that certainly affects our ability to do more and more quickly;
there is no question of that. If we were to see faster political progress,
then there is no question that we could do more, and more quickly, and I am
sure that others in the international community would probably see things in
the same way.
Q130 Chairman: We were told, and indeed we saw for
ourselves, that in spite
of the migration of some of the brightest and best
people from Zimbabwe, the
administrative capacity to deliver services was
one of the best in Africa.
Even now we saw effective delivery. Do you
envisage a situation, if the
political background were transformed, where
government support or sector
support would be a possibility? Obviously it is
not today but can you see a
scenario where it would and how would you judge
that? Is that something you
could even incentivise?
Mr Thomas: I
think it is a long way off. I would hope that we could get to a
situation
where the politics of Zimbabwe had moved so radically forward that
we could
have confidence in government systems or in the particular sector
plans of
particular ministries. I think we are a long way off from having
confidence
that the Government’s financial systems are strong enough and
robust enough
and would be free from political interference. Having said
that, there are
ministries that are committed to reform and who are starting
to try and give
direction to what should happen in their particular sectors,
and where we
have confidence in the plans of those ministries, then we are
trying to
align our support as a donor community behind those plans. I think
moving
down the route of sector support or budget support is a long way off.
The
first stage is what we are embarked on, which is where we have
confidence in
the plans of a particular ministry thinking through how,
without going
through government systems, we can support those plans and
move
forward.
Q131 Chairman: And if you were increasing the funding further,
how would you
allocate that between multilateral or donor partnerships as
opposed to the
bilateral work that the NGOs are doing, which, to be honest,
is mostly what
we were looking at, which was extremely good, but the
question is whether it
is best to expand that or would it be best to expand
it through
multilaterals or would it be a parallel process?
Mr
Thomas: I do not think we have a fixed view, frankly, in that sense. We
would want to spend money in a way that was going to have most impact most
quickly and for which we can properly account. Whether that is through UN
organisations or through civil society, I think in reality it will be
through a mixture and quite what the balance of that mixture would be going
forward, I do not think we are yet in a position to say. It does depend on
how particular programmes work. I think the Protracted Relief Programme is a
programme, for example, that has a mixture of a whole series of civil
society organisations and is making a significant difference. If the
humanitarian situation were to deteriorate, clearly using organisations like
the World Food Programme would make a huge amount of sense, but they, too,
use civil society organisations, as I understand it, so it is not a question
of either/or. I think it will simply come down to a hard decision as to
which particular organisations are going to get money on the ground where it
needs fastest.
Q132 Chairman: In spite of the very heavy anti-British
rhetoric, the general
dynamic on the ground is the attitude between the
Zimbabwean and British
people is quite positive in terms of that underlying
trend. It was suggested
to us that Zimbabwe ought to be one of the
overriding priorities for the UK,
in other words one of the three or four
countries in which we do most, not
because of that particular British
interest, which is just stated as a
positive underlying fact, but because it
would have such a dynamic effect on
the whole dynamic of Southern Africa if
it could be turned around. Do you
accept that as a possible analysis and, if
you do, what could DFID do more
that would reflect that priority, taking on
board entirely that it is
complicated and unpredictable but the argument
that so long as you were
working in the right direction it justified that
kind of prioritisation?
Mr Thomas: Zimbabwe takes up a significant amount
of both ministerial and
very senior official time in both Departments in
that sense, so it is
accorded a high level of priority. I think the analysis
about the importance
of Zimbabwe to sub-Saharan Africa is absolutely right.
There is no doubt
that if we were to see further economic stability and
progress and further
political progress, Zimbabwe’s recovery could help to
drive progress towards
the Millennium Development Goals across the whole of
the region. I have a
particular interest in regional integration and in the
transport
infrastructure that helps to drive, if you will forgive the pun,
that
integration, Zimbabwe has a pivotal place in the north-south corridor,
a
network of key roads, and therefore the investment, or lack of investment,
that Zimbabwe puts into its road network has a fundamental impact on the
capacity of sub-Saharan Africa to trade between the countries in that area.
I think the analysis is spot on and that is why I hope that we will see the
type of economic progress and political progress that I suspect all of us
would want.
Q133 Chairman: Thank you very much. The Committee would
want to repeat the
thanks that have already been made to the DFID staff for
the visit they
organised. All eight members of the Committee who went on the
visit came
away with a much more positive impression of what is going on
than we had
anticipated, although I would hasten to add we are not naive
enough not to
realise the huge political difficulties and underlying
tensions and threats
that could blow it all away. We understood that. What
we saw was impressive.
Our report has to focus on the development agenda
rather than the political
agenda, but, again, you cannot deliver the one
without the other. Our
intention is to complete the report in advance of an
Election unless we are
ambushed.
Mr Thomas: With that in mind, I
wonder if I can ask Mr Lowcock to give you
the answer on the textbook
delivery timescale. I think we have that
information.
Q134 Chairman:
Anything you have now and anything you do not have now if you
can think days
rather than anything else.
Mr Lowcock: Could I preface the answer to Mr
Stunell’s question by saying
that of course we are not in complete control
of this because we are a tiny
part of the financing. We have to get all the
other players into place as
well. The answer to the question is that the
contract will be let in the
next few weeks and the first books will be
delivered from about eight weeks
from then, so about 12 weeks from now the
first books will be delivered.
Q135 Chairman: The Committee will
obviously watch with interest the
developments which obviously go through
convolutions almost daily. Perhaps
the one positive thing Mark said was that
whilst nobody knows where it might
head, the feeling was that things had got
to the point where going back to a
situation where there was no space was
perhaps unthinkable unless the
situation deteriorated beyond all hope. If I
may say so, there were comments
and compliments about DFID’s role, and
indeed the Foreign Office’s role
because it is important to recognise this
is a joint operation, in doing
that. I think it was the Dutch development
representative who said
specifically that he wanted to put on record his
appreciation of the
leadership role that was being provided by DFID in
Zimbabwe and how
important it was, both politically and in terms of
development. I am happy
to put that on the record and say that we appreciate
it and we appreciate
that the team there are doing really good work in
difficult and challenging
situations, but at the moment not unrewarding
because there is something
coming back for it. Can I thank you very much
indeed for your evidence. I
genuinely hope that our report is something that
will make a useful
contribution to both your work and a wider understanding
of what we are
trying to do.
Mr Thomas: Thank you, Mr Bruce.
http://www.timeslive.co.za
Mar 7, 2010 12:00 AM | By Karen Van
Rooyen
Four Cape Town properties belonging to the Zimbabwean government
could be
sold off to compensate a group of dispossessed
farmers.
Following a landmark ruling in the High Court in Pretoria,
South African
civil rights group Afri Forum is scheduled to announce details
this week of
civil proceedings to attach the government-owned
properties.
The Pretoria High Court ruled that a Southern African
Development Community
tribunal finding (not "recognised" by Zimbabwe) would
be registered in South
Africa and that a costs order of R160 000 was
enforceable in SA. In terms of
the tribunal's ruling, the farmers are
protected from further persecution
and prosecution under Zimbabwe's racially
discriminatory land seizure
programme.
Afri Forum, on behalf of three
farmers who lost property in Zimbabwe, has
identified four properties in
South Africa owned by the Zimbabwe government.
The non-diplomatic
properties, bought for between R525000 and R1-million 15
years ago,
are:
* A 154m² property in Zonnebloem, Cape Town;
* A 408m²
property, also in Zonnebloem;
* A 1060m² property in Wynberg and:
* A 895m² property in Kenilworth.
Afri Forum's legal representative,
Willie Spies, said the judgment served as
a "trial run towards executing any
judgments against the Zimbabwean
government in South Africa".
Louis
Fick, one of the three farm owners on whose behalf Afri Forum went to
court,
is standing trial in Zimbabwe for not abandoning his farm timeously.
If
found guilty, he could spend two years in prison - along with about 150
other farmers.
The 44-year-old farmer was "slowly forced" off his
property, Friedawil,
where he farmed crocodiles, pigs, cattle and fish in
2007.
Another applicant, Michael Campbell, was so badly assaulted on his
farm in
November 2007 that he has still not recovered. His farm was
razed.
Spies said the court action was not opposed by the Zimbabwean
government.
The Zimbabwean embassy in South Africa referred all requests
for comment to
Harare, but attempts to speak to spokesman George Charamba
were
unsuccessful.
Deon Theron, president of Zimbabwe's Commercial
Farmers Union - and who now
leases land for grazing while he lives in a
city, Harare, for the first time
in 55 years - had a farm taken away from
him three times.
He said this week: "A ruling of this type has a huge
impact on the morale."
http://uk.reuters.com
Sat Mar 6, 2010 9:01pm
GMT
GEORGETOWN, Guyana, March 6 (Reuters) - A determined 88 from
captain Chris
Gayle led West Indies to a four-wicket win over Zimbabwe on
Saturday to
level the one-day series at 1-1.
Zimbabwe made 206 all
out with Elton Chigumbura contributing 50 but West
Indies surpassed their
total with 13 balls to spare, although they were made
to work by some smart
spin bowling from the tourists.
Slow left-armer Ray Price trapped West
Indies opener Adrian Barath lbw and
then removed Dave Bernard with a superb
stumping from keeper Tatenda Taibu
as Zimbabwe looked for a repeat of
Thursday's surprise win.
Although Gayle was timing the ball well at the
other end, the home side
found themselves struggling at 85-4 after
Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Andre
Fletcher went cheaply.
But local boy
Narsingh Deonarine produced a steely display and put on 83
with Gayle before
a wild stroke from the skipper saw him bowled by spinner
Graeme Cremer with
the score on 168 for five.
There must have been some nerves in the West
Indies dressing room after
Kieron Pollard was caught in the deep off Brendan
Taylor with an
unnecessarily aggressive stroke.
However, Deonarine
kept his cool to make an unbeaten 65, his best score in a
one-day
international, with partner Darren Sammy's securing the win with a
four.
The victory was the first one-day international victory for
West Indies in
15 games and Gayle said he was glad to have avoided another
embarrassing
loss.
"It's a relief. Hopefully this is the first of
many to come. I must say
Zimbabwe played really well to push us so far but I
must commend the boys on
coming back from the defeat," he said.
http://www.timeslive.co.za
Mar 7, 2010 12:00 AM | By Sunday Times
Editorial
Sunday Times Editorial : As President Jacob Zuma this week
sought to
persuade British Prime Minister Gordon Brown to lift targeted
sanctions
against Robert Mugabe and his Zanu-PF cronies, the Harare dictator
was once
again demonstrating his utter untrustworthiness.
As Zuma
tried to make Brown believe that Mugabe was serious about
implementing the
Global Political Agreement upon which Zimbabwe's fragile
unity government
was formed, Mugabe began legislating - without the consent
of his GPA
partners - for so-called "indigenisation". These laws effectively
seek to
seize control of foreign-owned companies and hand them over to
locals.
The implementation this week of the "indigenisation"
legislation simply
shows that Mugabe will never cease to outdo himself.
Zimbabwe is still
reeling from acute inflation, chronic shortages of goods
and services, a
breakdown of infrastructure and utilities, capital flight,
company closures,
unemployment, poverty and disease.
How Mugabe can
afford to delude himself into thinking - under these
conditions and under
his rule in particular - that Zimbabwe is an attractive
destination for
investment is beyond comprehension.
Like his messy land reform programme,
which only benefited his protégés and
left a trail of destruction in its
wake, it is difficult to imagine how this
latest piece of legislation will
not be abused for Mugabe's evil intentions.
Zuma must therefore tread
carefully in his dealings with the trickster
Mugabe, or he will end up like
former president Thabo Mbeki, who was like
putty in the Zimbabwe dictator's
manipulative hands.
http://www1.sundaymail.co.zw
Sunday,
March 07, 2010
Mwana wevhu -
Harare.
I would like through your paper to express my concern over the
manner
tollgates have been used in our country.
I strongly feel that
as a motorist, Zimbabwe National Road Administration
(Zinara) is
shortchanging me.
My vehicle repair costs have just gone up as a result of
the poor state of
our national roads. Potholes are a common unpleasant
sight.
With the rainy season you can hardly notice the potholes, as they will
be
filled with water. Road accidents are being blamed on drivers with no
mention of the bad state of our roads. For example, the following:
l
Harare-Bulawayo road between Kuwadzana and Snake Park is so bad to the
extent that one has to drive at an average speed of 15km per hour. I feel
pity for the Norton residents who commute to Harare daily using this death
trap stretch.
l Harare-Chinhoyi road between Westgate and Stapleford has
potholes that are
so numerous with some as deep as 20cm. The potholes are
hard to avoid as you
risk encroaching onto an oncoming traffic lane posing
danger to yourself and
other road users.
l The Darwendale-Banket stretch
is what we call a nightmare of a road. If I
had an option I would rather fly
than drive on our roads. Farmers near
Maryland are trying in vain to patch
their portion of the road using coal
ashes from their tobacco barns. As for
Zupco whose bus is using this route,
I for sure know that your bus will be
off the road very soon.
l With Bindura-Matepatepa road, I propose that
residents take turns to scrap
off the remaining tarmac so that we know that
this is now a gravel road.
l With the Beitbridge-Bulawayo road, 10 kilometres
out of Beitbridge, the
gravel bypass has become a haven of thieves who steal
from motorists who
will be slowly trying to navigate their way in the dust.
I have just picked
the above to elaborate Zinara's shortcomings. Why do we
have to keep on
paying for non-existent roads? The funds we have paid now
are enough to have
the roads repaired, if not let Zinara prove to us why.
These are public
funds and we have a right to know the amount collected to
date, where the
cash is and why it is not being used for the purpose it was
collected for.
To me, this is daylight robbery.
It is high time as
motorists we stopped paying these tolls until at least
one road has been
repaired to acceptable standards that prove the practical
existence of
Zinara not just by seeing the Zinara-inscribed Mazda 323
Familias. In
economics we learn about BOT (Build, Operate and Transfer) and
BOOT (Build,
Own,Operate and Transfer). Surprisingly in our case it is pay
first then
maybe you will see the road.
I was impressed by the short time it took Zinara
to erect the prefabricated
offices. Who supplied them? What happened to the
speed and zeal? I have to
have my tyre replaced before the tyre shops are
closed and hope they are not
owned by Zinara who seem to be aggressively
marketing them through
non-attendance to roads.