Zanu PF busts embargo Vincent Kahiya IN a bid to
beat targeted sanctions, Zanu PF has formed shelf companies to warehouse its
shares in various corners of the economy, the Zimbabwe Independent can
reveal.
The Zanu PF empire, which is crumbling from years of
mismanagement and corruption, is moving funds from well-known party firms to
lesser-known shelf companies to secure its investments.
Zanu PF
investments are in the main held by two companies - Zidco Holdings and
M&S Syndicate. The investments, especially in companies listed on the
Zimbabwe Stock Exchange, are no longer held by the two entities but through
briefcase companies formed to disguise Zanu PF's
involvement.
Listed companies in the financial sector carry out
business with European banks and the involvement of Zanu PF in the firms is
now considered a liability.
The party's interests stretch from
banking, manufacturing, farming, and printing and publishing to real estate.
The reasons for transmutation of M&S Syndicate and Zidco Holdings into
diverse shelf companies are contained in the politburo committee's report on
Zanu PF investments, which is currently being discussed by the party's
leadership.
The Independent first disclosed details of the report on
October 29.
The committee was set up by the party to investigate alleged
graft in Zanu PF's business entities, some of which have been operating
without a profit since Independence in 1980.
Scrutiny of Zanu PF
firms increased when the international community reacted to President
Mugabe's repressive policies with targeted sanctions two years ago. The
party sought to mask its businesses using shelf companies.
"During
the embargo on all companies and banks linked to Zanu (Patriotic Front), the
party formed a company called Segmented Investments," the report says.
"Zidco also formed other briefcase companies and staff shares were also
created."
Briefcase companies which have been set up include
Sovereign, Hustonville, Tescrom, Amelia, Ryobi, Prinfit and M&S
Investments (as distinct from M&S Syndicate).
Records at the
companies registry show that the companies were registered between August
and September last year. Some of them list prominent lawyer Edwin Manikai as
director.
The so-called briefcase or shelf companies now have a
combined 32,05% stake in First Banking Corporation Holdings (FBCH) which
controls First Bank, Southern Africa Reinsurance (Sare), and troubled
NDH.
The shareholding in FBCH is distributed as follows: Segmented
Investments 13,76%, Hustonville 4,36%, Amelia 3,54%, Tescrom 3,54%, M&S
3,06%, Smoothnest 3,06% and Ryobi Investments 0,82%.
Before the
transformation Zanu PF was represented in First Banking Corporation through
AM Treger and Zidco Holdings, which held 13,5% each.
In July M&S
Investments and Smoothnest Investments had a combined shareholding of 37,84%
in Sare, split equally between the two shelf companies.
The
companies now appear to be conduits for siphoning money and the probe has
recommended that they be investigated.
On the formation of First Bank
the report says: "The party wanted a bank to rely on whenever they (sic)
wanted to borrow money. It used to borrow money from the CBZ, which is now
under Absa, and it decided to open its own bank, which is First
Bank."
Its representatives in First Bank were Jayant Chiunilal Joshi
standing in for AM Treger and Dipak Pandya for Zidco Holdings, a company in
which Zanu PF has an interest.
First Bank had a management
contract in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), which has since
collapsed.
The report says the management contract in the DRC was
cancelled after its Congolese partners failed to raise enough money to
operate the bank. First Bank had a 50% stake in the project and the
Congolese 50%.
The directors of First Bank DRC were Zanu PF secretary
for administration Emmerson Mnangagwa, Livingstone Gwata, John Mushayavanhu,
Webster Rusere and Dipak Pandya.
Parly exposes grain deficit Itai
Dzamara GOVERNMENT'S claims that the country has realised a bumper harvest
this season providing enough maize to next year's harvest are not true, the
parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Lands and Agriculture has
established.
The committee found through a countrywide survey on food
stocks that Zimbabwe could by the end of this year have only 574 000 tonnes
from local production and imports. It presented the report to parliament on
Wednesday.
President Mugabe has repeatedly said the country would
realise 2,4 million tonnes of maize from this year's harvest and told donors
to "look for hungrier people elsewhere".
Government yesterday
dismissed the report as inaccurate. It said farmers had not delivered all
their grain to the GMB as they anticipated a poor rainy
season.
The GMB has been supporting Mugabe's claim and insisting
that maize deliveries would eventually reach the claimed
quantity.
However, the report says the food deficit situation is
critical. A sample survey of four provinces by the committee revealed that
maize harvests were only 2,3% of what had been claimed by
government.
The report also states that government is importing maize
contrary to denials by Agriculture minister Joseph Made.
The
quantity of harvested maize combined with imports will give a total of 574
000 tonnes, which is only enough to feed the nation for three and a half
months.
"Your committee failed to understand the huge gap between
current deliveries to the GMB of 388 558 tonnes and the national crop
forecast of 2 400 000 tonnes of maize considering the fact that the delivery
peak period has gone past," the report says.
The committee
dismissed persistent claims by GMB acting chief executive officer Samuel
Muvuti that more maize was still on its way to the silos.
"As at 18
October 2004, GMB had holding stocks of 351 810 tonnes and a commitment of
222 554 tonnes maize imports were yet to be delivered into the country," the
report states.
"This gives a total of 574 364 tonnes of maize.
However, given the fact that the country consumes on average 158 000 tonnes
of maize per month, the country therefore is likely to stock out before the
next harvest in 2005."
A sample survey in the provinces of Masvingo,
Midlands, Matabeleland South and Matabeleland North undertaken by the
committee revealed that the inflows to the GMB from farmers, which reflects
this year's harvest expectations, were only 2,3% of what was claimed by
government forecasts.
The committee blasted the forecasts as having
been unrealistic as officials made blanket claims without considering the
facts on the ground.
"Your committee observed with concern that the
built-up statistics to the forecast figure of 2,4 million tonnes also
included known chronic deficit areas such as Masvingo, Midlands Matabeleland
North and South provinces. It was equally surprising that the national
average yield of 1,5t/ha was applied across the board regardless of the
climatic conditions that prevail in each of the five ecological regions in
the country," the report says.
The committee concluded that the
country would have a wheat deficit of 62 000 tonnes and again described
government forecasts on wheat yields as inflated.
Nkala accused dies of prison-induced ailment Itai
Dzamara NICHOLAS Masera, one of six Movement for Democratic Change (MDC)
officials who were acquitted after being detained in prison for two and a
half years over the murder of Zanu PF's Cain Nkala, died last
week.
Masera, who had developed chest complications whilst in detention,
died last Thursday and was buried on Sunday in Bulawayo. He had been in and
out of hospital since release from remand prison in August when Justice
Sandra Mungwira acquitted the accused MDC officials.
Josephat
Tshuma of Webb Low & Barry who represented the accused MDC officials in
the murder case confirmed the death of Masera.
"He died last week. He
never recovered from the illness that started troubling him whilst in remand
prison."
Mungwira acquitted Masera and five others, who included MDC
MP for Lobengula/Magwegwe Fletcher Dulini Ncube, in August. The other
accused were Sazini Mpofu, Army Zulu, Kethani Sibanda and Remember
Moyo.
The MDC officials were arrested in November 2001 after the
discovery of Nkala's body in a shallow grave outside Bulawayo. They were
denied bail on several occasions and in some instances were held in solitary
confinement at Khami Prison, leading to the deterioration in Ncube's health.
He had to undergo surgery to have one eye removed.
Nkala, who was
the Bulawayo war veterans chairman, suffered a gruesome murder after unknown
people kidnapped him from his Bulawayo home.
The ruling Zanu PF
immediately embarked on a blitz to blame the murder on the MDC ahead of the
2002 presidential election. An anti-MDC propaganda campaign, dubbed "war
against terror", was launched.
Sensationalised reports in the state
media implicated Ncube and the other MDC members in the murder of Nkala, who
was declared a national hero.
A ZTV news crew covered the "discovery"
of Nkala's body in a shallow grave outside Bulawayo and its exhumation. The
footage was repeatedly replayed.
However, Justice Mungwira dismissed
the allegations saying the witnesses, mainly police officers, lined up by
the state were producing works of fiction.
"The witnesses
conducted themselves in a shameless fashion and displayed utter contempt for
the due administration of justice," she said.
Leo Mugabe asks Telecel for more Staff
Writer BUSINESSMAN and former football administrator Leo Mugabe has been
receiving monthly $10 million cheques from cellphone operator Telecel in an
arrangement company insiders this week described as curious.
The
Independent this week gathered that Mugabe, who claims to be one of the
founding fathers of the cellphone company, had been receiving the money for
some time and has recently asked for a rise.
He has over the
years fought a war of attrition with the cellphone company, agitating for a
stake under the auspices of empowerment groups.
Mugabe on Wednesday
confirmed that his company, Integrated Engineering Group (IEG), was
receiving payment from Telecel for services it was providing.
"We are
partners in the Telecel business from the onset," Mugabe said. "All
engineers in the business except the chief engineers are employed through
IEG, so with that arrangement Telecel has always been paying us for the
services they are getting."
It was established this week that of
late there has been resistance from Telecel bosses to paying the amount when
Mugabe demanded a "raise".
Mugabe confirmed he was seeking an upward
review of the payment.
"There is nothing sinister with the arrangement
and there is no problem in asking for an increase in the payment for
services provided," he said.
Telecel engineers who spoke to the
Independent this week said they were not employed through IEG but had
responded to vacancy adverts published in the press.
Telecel
directors including chairman James Makamba and managing director Anthony
Carter are currently in custody after they were last week charged with
externalising US$4,5 million.
Meanwhile four Econet directors, who on
Wednesday were remanded in custody to November 24 following their arrest
last week on allegations of externalising nearly US$5 million, will today
file an urgent chamber application at the High Court requesting a review of
their placement on remand.
The directors, chief executive officer
Douglas Mboweni, John Gordon Pattison, Tawanda Nyambirai and Nyasha Zhou
will argue through their lawyer Canaan Dube of Dube, Manikai & Hwacha
that the decision to place them on remand was "contrary to law, totally
irrational and outrageous in its defiance of logic".
They state
in their papers to be filed today that they were placed on remand for
offences allegedly committed prior to their appointment to the board and
there was no basis of treating Antony Eastwood, who has since been released,
differently from them. They will further argue that no individual
consideration was given to the peculiar circumstances of each applicant
contrary to the provisions of the law.
"The applicants'
fundamental right to liberty is under siege and has been grossly violated in
circumstances where it is grossly unwarranted," the court application
reads.
Keep abreast of forex rates, RBZ told Godfrey
Marawanyika THE Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) and the Ministry of Finance
have been urged to review the country's exchange rate in line with black
market trends, a parliamentary report by the Portfolio Committee on Budget,
Finance and Economic Development has said.
The committee, which is
chaired by Zanu PF legislator Ray Kaukonde, said the central bank should
carry out an audit of volumes of foreign currency coming into the country
from locals in the diaspora.
The recommendations are contained in the
report of the portfolio committee on the mid-term fiscal and monetary policy
reviews of 2004.
"On the auction market it is recommended that the
monetary authorities frequently review the exchange rate as the perceived
low rate results in the re-emergence of the black market, like what is
currently prevailing," the report said.
"Black market rates of $8
000 per US dollar are being heard of against the auction rate of $5 700. The
gap will continue to rise if the price structure is not
addressed."
The report suggested that the central bank undertakes an
audit of the volumes of foreign currency that flowed into the country from
Zimbabweans in the diaspora before December 2003.
"This is meant
to give an indication of how volumes have increased over time and ascertain
whether the policies being implemented are really getting the desired
results."
During the third monetary policy review, the central bank
adjusted its auction rate which determines the diaspora rate to float
between $5 600-$6 200, but only up until January next year.
On
November 25, the Acting Minister of Finance Herbert Murerwa is set to
present the country's 2005 national budget. He is however not expected to
make any radical amendments to the exchange rate.
On public
enterprises, the report said no progress had been made on the management of
parastatals.
"It is disheartening to note that not much progress has
been done on the management of the public enterprises," the report says. "In
his 2004 budget statement (Murerwa) indicated that public enterprises should
charge economic prices in 2004."
"Up to September 2004 your
committee is not aware of any public enterprise that has effected this
policy directive."
Parastatals such Air Zimbabwe, National Railways
of Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe Iron and Steel Company, and Tel*One, among others,
have over the years largely survived on handouts from the
fiscus.
Another problematic institution is the National Oil Company
of Zimbabwe, which the committee described as worrisome.
"Given
that Noczim receives foreign exchange at $824 to the US dollar, collects a
levy that goes towards the reduction of its debt and has recently floated
bonds to raise extra money, your committee was not sure of the impact of all
these concessionary resources that are being availed to Noczim," the report
said.
"Your committee was made to understand that of the US$212,9
million owed to various creditors by Noczim, US$64,1 million has been paid
as at September 2004. The parastatal is said to have received a further
$77,2 billion towards debt redemption account of which $63,9 billion was
paid."
The committee said it was vital for the nation to be given
information on Noczim's debt repayment so that the public appreciates "what
still needs to be done to get Noczim out of the debt trap of yesterday".
ZEC Bill draws adverse report Itai
Dzamara GOVERNMENT'S intention to bar civic groups from conducting voter
education through the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) Bill violates
sections of the constitution, the Parliamentary Legal Committee said in an
adverse report presented on Tuesday.
The committee, chaired by
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) secretary-general Welshman Ncube,
argued that barring civic groups from doing voter education would be in
violation of the right to freedom of expression guaranteed in Section 20 of
the constitution.
Clauses 11 and 12 of the ZEC Bill seek to regulate
the conduct of voter education by making it a preserve of ZEC or people
appointed by it.
"The provisions of paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of
clause 11 and clause 12 of the Bill would, if enacted, be in violation of
Section 20 of the constitution, while the provisions of clause 11(3) are in
violation of Section 18 of the constitution," the report
reads.
Clause 11(3) of the ZEC Bill imposes criminal liability on any
person, other than a political party, who receives authority to conduct
voter education but fails to comply with ZEC terms.
This would be
in violation of the right to freedom of expression, the committee
said.
The committee submitted to parliament that the sections in the
ZEC Bill on voter education provided numerous restrictions, again in
violation of freedom of expression.
"The provisions of clauses 11
and 12 of the Bill limit the free conduct of voter education by providing
numerous restrictions creating a criminal offence for non-compliance with
certain orders of the commission and by prohibiting foreign funding, which
would make it impossible for people to fund and therefore conduct voter
education," the report states.
The committee also criticised the
intention to bar Zimbabweans staying outside the country from taking part in
voter education, either through participating or funding.
The ZEC
Bill will be debated in parliament soon and the MDC has already said it will
oppose it.
Debts scuttle ZBH commercialisation Itai
Dzamara HUGE debts hampered financially troubled Zimbabwe Broadcasting
Holdings (ZBH)'s commercialisation drive, an internal report has revealed.
The report, produced last year by former chief executive officer Munyaradzi
Hwengwere, says ZBH had failed to clear debts dating back several
years.
This, the report says, was the biggest stumbling block to ZBH's
commercilisation exercise.
Information minister Jonathan Moyo,
under whose control ZBH has deteriorated, in June transferred to the state
ZBH's $30 billion debt.
The assamption of debt has not however
increased liquidity as advertising revenue has remained thin.
ZBH
intends to launch another television station, NTV, which could turn out to
be a monumental failure as long as it fails to attract
advertising.
Hwengwere's report states that the exercise initiated in
2001 through the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (Commercialisation) Act,
had failed to work because the state broadcaster could not generate enough
income.
"A major constraint to the corporation's ability to direct
resources to core business has been a huge historical and restructuring debt
with a significant portion in foreign currency and local loan obligations
attracting astronomical interest charges," the report says.
"In
January 2003, the corporation sought to raise money through a bond to pay
off the debt. The bond was unsuccessful due to changes in market conditions
during flotation. Perceived institutional instability within the corporation
also contributed to the failure."
The report provides a breakdown of
income generated as well as expenditure by the state broadcaster last year,
showing that it only managed to realise a profit of $937 million last year,
which was significantly eroded by inflation which peaked at 622,8% in
January.
Advertising, ZBH's major cash cow, generated $4,4 billion
last year, whilst licence revenue grossed a relatively paltry $68
million.
Although the ZBH's operating expenditure was $1,7 billion in
2003, its income was gobbled up by a bloated wage bill, which at the time of
Hwengwere's employment was more than the gross income.
The report
states that most of the space on both radio and television was being
occupied by government's jingles and propaganda programmes which are not
paid for.
Government justifies its refusal to pay for the propaganda
jingles, saying it is entitled by law to an hour's time per week
cumulatively to market its policies.
According to the
Broadcasting Services Act, which governs the operations of the state
broadcaster, government must be allocated a free hour every week for its
programmes.
However, sources said government was utilising more time
than it is entitled to.
ZBH executive chairman Rino Zhuwarara
last week said the corporation was working to improve viability but refused
to discuss the debt situation.
'A minefield for journalists' Gift Phiri THE Access
to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (Aippa) has been described as
the leading weapon of government and the ruling Zanu PF party in their
ongoing campaign to stifle independent media, an international press freedom
organisation, Article 19, has said in its latest report.
The global press
freedom watchdog in its report titled Aippa: Two Years On, said the media
law's trail of destruction witnessed a plethora of arrests, intimidation,
harassment and a raft of measures of control.
The report, compiled in
conjunction with the Media Institute of Southern Africa (Misa)-Zimbabwe,
states that the media law has been successful in undermining freedom of
expression, promoting government control over the independent media and
giving repressive elements tools of intimidation.
Article 19 said
Aippa was placing journalists and journalism in Zimbabwe under the effective
control of Information minister Jonathan Moyo. The report slammed the
requirement that journalists must accredit with the Media and Information
Commission (MIC). Media houses are also required to register with the MIC
before they start operating.
"The system of licensing for journalists
has recently been constitutionally affirmed by the Supreme Court, and it is
likely to play an increasing role in directly targeting those who dare to
criticise the ruling party and the government," the report
said.
The organisation said Aippa created a "minefield for
journalists" that gave rise to the constitutional challenge in the Supreme
Court by the Associated Newspapers of Zimbabwe, the publishers of the Daily
News and the Daily News on Sunday. The Supreme Court made a ruling refusing
to give the Daily News audience on the basis that they had approached the
court with "dirty hands" as the publisher should have first registered in
terms of Aippa.
"Unfortunately the Supreme Court of Zimbabwe appears
to have largely reneged on its obligation to uphold the constitution,
producing rulings that clearly flout established understandings of the scope
of the right to freedom of expression that have led to very serious breaches
of this right in practice," the report said.
Article 19 slammed
some of the offences under Aippa and the Public Order and Security Act such
as writing false statements or writing a story where there is a real
likelihood that it can be false, or engendering feelings of hatred or
hostility towards the president. The report said an unprecedented number of
journalists had been arrested under Aippa.
"Dozens of journalists
have suffered direct legal harassment, mostly in the form of short-term
detentions and this has had an impact on the profession as a whole," the
report said. The report also noted that since the closure of the Daily News,
the people of Zimbabwe have been subjected to unlimited doses of state
propaganda and hate messages. There are virtually no alternative views that
are broadcast by the state media.
"The likelihood of the Daily News
returning to the streets in the foreseeable future seems remote," the report
said.
Article 19 said the closing down of space for freedom of
expression in Zimbabwe was part of a clear strategy. It said the whole
framework of repressive legislation - the Broadcasting Services Act (BSA),
Posa and Aippa - had been carefully crafted to achieve precisely these
ends
"Cynically named, Aippa does anything but guarantee access to
information," the report said.
"Its limited access provisions are
almost entirely undermined by a broad system of exclusions and exceptions.
The vast bulk of its provisions deal not with access to information but with
control of the media."
Article 19 said Aippa, along with related
legislation such as Posa and the BSA, breach the right to freedom of
expression as guaranteed under international law in a number of key ways.
The report states that the legislation fails to strike a balance between the
legitimate interests of the State for example in preserving national
security and public order, and the rights to freedom of expression and
democracy. It also said the registration and accreditation systems were
"illegitimate".
Little hope for recovery as budget looms Gift
Phiri THE government, grappling with a deep economic crisis, will offer
little hope for economic recovery in its forthcoming annual budget, analysts
said this week.
Analysts say acting Finance minister Herbert Murerwa
faces the daunting task of halting the economic tailspin when he presents
his 2005 budget to parliament on November 25.
Zimbabwe is
currently beset by multifaceted economic problems. Half of the 12,5 million
population is at risk of starvation due to food shortages widely blamed on
President Robert Mugabe's chaotic land reform programme.
But among
other problems, the forthcoming budget will be premised on the fiction that
Zimbabwe's currency is trading at its official pegged rate of $5 600 to the
US dollar when in fact it is trading at $8 000 to the greenback on a
flourishing black market.
"With such a discrepancy between the black
market and the official exchange rate you have to assume there are
inflationary implications which will make nonsense of the government's
forecasts," economic commentator Eric Bloch said.
Analysts say
Murerwa, who is standing in for the jailed Chris Kuruneri, will be
hard-pressed to provide solutions to economic problems.
"I believe
there will be a lot of unsubstantiated claims of a recovery. They are still
in denial about the conditions they have caused and I don't believe the
budget will reflect the true Zimbabwe," John Robertson, an independent
economic consultant, said.
A shortage of foreign currency, blamed on
shrinking exports and dwindling injections of hard currency, has widened the
disparity between the black market and the official rate.
"The
spread between the official and parallel market continues to grow," said
Standard Chartered Bank in its latest monthly analysis of African
markets.
"This poses a dilemma for policymakers who have thus far
resisted an official devaluation for fear of stoking even more
inflation.
"But as the spread widens, some kind of adjustment in the
exchange rate - even if only of a small magnitude - becomes more necessary,"
the bank said.
Zimbabwe's economy shrank 7,3% last year and
economists expect it to contract 5% in 2004.
Unemployment is
still hovering around 70% and erratic fuel supply problems have resurfaced,
forcing Mugabe to extend his begging bowl to countries such as oil-rich
Equatorial Guinea for supplies, reports suggest.
"I think we will
remain international beggars all the way through to 2006," Robertson
said.
Although annual inflation has slowed down to 251,5% in
September from a high of nearly 623% in January, month-on-month inflation
has been quickening with the figure rising to 5,9% last month from 5,3% in
August, mainly due to increases in the average price of beverages, meat,
fruit, vegetables and medical fees.
The central bank is certain
inflation will drop to below 200% by year-end. However, economists say
prices will rise faster again next year in line with a weakening Zimbabwe
dollar, which makes imports expensive.
"Inflation will certainly
increase early next year mainly because of exchange rate pressures and
continued increases in the prices of fuel and industrial inputs," Kingdom
Holdings chief economist Witness Chinyama said.
Despite the drop,
Zimbabwe's inflation rate remains one of the highest in the
world.
Zimbabwe has in recent years been in the throes of political,
economic and social instability due to policy and leadership
failures.
The International Monetary Fund says Zimbabwe's economy has
contracted by about 30% over the past four years and is expected to shrink
by another 5% this year.
Dubious national heroes demean shrine Staff
Writer MYSTERY shrouding the death of Bulawayo provincial war veterans leader
Cain Nkala in November 2001 is a case that has refused to go away - not so
much because of how he died but more because of where he was
buried.
Questions are beginning to emerge as to whether Nkala deserved
the hero status accorded him following the recent acquittal by High Court
judge Sandra Mungwira of the members of the opposition Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC) who were the prime suspects in the murder
case.
On the outskirts of the capital Harare is an opulent burial
place for heroes of the 16-year guerilla war for Independence and veteran
politicians who died after Zimbabwe attained Independence. All are entombed
beneath the splendour of glossy, polished marble graves, buried amid pomp
and ceremony.
President Robert Mugabe has seized the chance at each
burial to harangue mourners in fiery eulogies about the sacrifices "these
gallant fighters who lie here" made to defeat colonialism. Each burial has
also given the Zanu PF leader an exceptional opportunity to disparage his
political opponents without accepting blame for his ruinous economic
policies. Instead, he has apportioned blame for the current malaise to
outside factors and forces.
Since 2000 burials have been often
characterised by censorious blame of the MDC and its British "sponsors"
alongside their Western allies for the economic malaise the nation
experiences.
Mugabe has frequently exhorted the audience to view each
visit to the Heroes' Acre as a "period of self introspection", perhaps
mindful of stand-up comedian Will Rogers who said being a hero is about the
shortest lived profession on earth. Or Scott-Fitzgerald, the alcoholic
superstar playboy who said: "Show me a hero and I will show you
tragedy."
Not all interred at the Heroes' Acre are linked to
political or economic tragedy though. But the glowing tribute during each
funeral could be likened to Brutus' eulogy at the burial of Julius Caesar
minus the phrase: "the evil that men do lives after them."
Among
those buried at the shrine is Chenjerai Hunzvi, the militant war veterans
leader who gained acclaim for arm-twisting Mugabe to make an unbudgeted $4
billion pay-out to Independence war fighters as gratuities in August 1997.
Mugabe's expedient benevolence triggered a plunge in the value of the
Zimbabwe dollar.
Hunzvi, a Polish-trained doctor, made counterfeit,
dubious disability assessments leading to a stampede to swindle the War
Victims Compensation Fund by prominent politicians and senior government
officials.
He proceeded to defraud his comrades-in-arms of their
gratuities through various dubious projects and companies ostensibly meant
for their benefit.
Hunzvi dragooned his followers to grab commercial
farmland from white farmers in a campaign that generated disastrous
agro-economic consequences likely to take decades to
remedy.
Border Gezi, the brains behind the creation of national youth
training centres renowned for churning out vicious party militia, is also
buried at the Heroes' Acre. He left Zimbabwe a legacy of marauding ruling
party militias commonly referred to in derogatory terms as Green Bombers
from the fatigues they wear and the brutal torture they inflict on Mugabe's
political opponents.
Both bequeathed the nation a culture of
political violence and intolerance.
Two weeks ago, the acre hosted
Solomon Tawengwa, the first executive mayor of the capital who left behind a
legacy of maladministration, a grimy city and an opulent mansion that is
emblematic of the ruling elite's excesses amid commonplace urban
decadence.
He became the first hero to have been sacked by his
mentors from a plum post for dereliction of duty.
Other heroes
lying at the shrine such as the erudite founder member of Zanu, Eddison
Zvobgo, bequeathed the nation widely resented constitutional amendments that
reposed unbridled powers in the executive president.
The haste with
which national hero status was conferred on Tawengwa has brought back into
sharp focus a contentious issue of the criterion used by the Soviet-style
politburo to determine who merits district, provincial or national status -
a subject that many Independence war fighters have often discussed in loud
whispers.
More importantly, some former Independence war fighters
from Matabeleland have revived the controversial debate accusing the
politburo of bias.
Zimbabwe Liberators Platform Initiative (ZLPI)
president Max Mkandla says: "The problem is that the ruling party's
politburo is dominated by some regions to a point where if one is not from
one of the dominant regions he or she is hardly given deserved
status."
Others, like opposition Zapu leader Paul Siwela, dismiss
outright the idea of declaring people heroes. "Everyone in Zimbabwe is a
national hero because all people contributed towards the liberation of this
country one way or the other," he says.
Mkandla cites instances
when it has taken five to seven days for veteran politicians from
Matabeleland, particularly those in the former PF Zapu to be declared
heroes. For instance, Swazini Ndlovu was declared a hero after his relatives
had given up hope and decided to bury him at the out-of-sorts Greenspan
cemetery. It took almost a week for Mark Dube's status to be
decided
ZLPI is chagrined by the fact that it did not take long
after Cain Nkala's body was discovered buried in a shallow grave outside
Bulawayo for him to be declared a hero. "Nkala was conferred national hero
status immediately unlike his commander during the war of liberation,
Swazini Ndlovu, and was even given national status ahead of Vote Moyo, the
late national organising secretary for PF Zapu," Mkandla points out, adding:
"Veteran politicians from Matabeleland are often ignored."
The
public raised eyebrows when the founder president of Zanu, Reverend
Ndabaningi Sithole, was denied hero status, as was the first ceremonial
president, Canaan Sodindo Banana, architect of the Unity Agreement between
Zanu PF and PF Zapu.
And Siwela argues that if burials at the
Heroes' Acre were national events, leaders of opposition parties such as the
MDC, Zapu and other parties would be invited to participate and lay
wreaths.
"People should not mistake Zanu PF events as national
because the party is not synonymous with the nation. How many people who are
not Zanu PF members are buried at the national shrine?" Siwela questioned,
pointing out that there should be input from other interested groups such as
the church, civic organisations and opposition parties in coming up with the
decision to confer national hero status and not just the ruling party
politburo.
"What Zanu PF has managed to do is create a
class-conscious society by selecting those among its members for burial at
Heroes' Acre. Besides, there are people who have contributed immensely
towards national good, be it in the social or business spheres who deserve
hero status but have been ignored simply because they do not belong to the
ruling party."
Fake US dollars hit Zimbabwe Godfrey
Marawanyika ZIMBABWE'S Criminal Investigations Department (CID) last week
told parliament that there was a flood of counterfeit American dollar notes
- coming mainly in the three largest denominations - allegedly traded by
east and West Africans.
Giving testimony before a foreign and
industrial affairs parliamentary committee, the CID's Senior Assistant
Commissioner Steven Mutamba said there was a new way of forging United
States dollars, whereby offenders use "a special kind of paper" and ink to
make US$20, $50 and $100 bills.
"For them (racketeers) to win your
confidence, they pour a special kind of liquid on equally deceptive money
making paper and you can get US$50, US$20, US$100 notes," Mutamba told the
Phillip Chiyangwa-led committee.
He noted that the fake notes "appeared
so genuine" that some gullible banks and members of the public had fallen
for the con and accepting them as real changeable tender.
"Some
of our bank tellers have fallen victim to this scam. Others have even taken
money from their (bank) tills hoping to make money quickly," the police
investigative chief said.
Further quizzed by the "state of foreign
goods", immigrants and residence status committee on how the paper
"inexplicably" turns into real money and where it could be emanating from,
Mutamba failed to offer an explanation, emphasising though that a number of
people including MPs had been ripped off.
He could, however, not
rule out that the paper could have been stolen from money printers
internationally.
Apart from failing to prove an inherent link between
offenders of the Banking Act, particularly those dealing in foreign currency
illegally, and at-large members of the international ring, Mutamba conceded
defeat in the Zimbabwean police's efforts to nab any US dollar contraband
suspects.
Instead, Mutamba's troops claimed to have recently seized a
US$5 000 bounty in Harare - of genuine notes - meant for the pesky
unofficial market of foreign cash.
The police chief would also
not quantify how many fake greenbacks were in circulation, although the
scourge is rife regionally and notably in diamond-rich Democratic Republic
of Congo, Liberia and Sierra Leone.
And in remarks set to trigger
diplomatic rancour and scotch Zimbabwe's rallying cries about alleged
Botswana and South African xenophobia, Mutamba ascribed the proliferation of
this economic crime to Congolese, Liberian, Mozambican and Senegalese
nationals, whose local habitation status could not be readily
ascertained.
Mutamba said those found in breach of Zimbabwean banking
laws, particularly holders of fake bearers' cheques and legal tender, were
fined a measly $5,2 million.
To bolster his charge, which he said
was also being helped by Zimbabwean accomplices, Senior Assistant
Commissioner Mutamba said there has been an increase in crimes committed by
foreigners this year and that his department stands ready to provide
statistics.
In addition to financial crimes, outsiders were also
involved in drug and narcotics peddling.
Noting that close to 600
foreign nationals apply for citizenship annually, Mutamba rallied home
affairs officials to be more stringent on vetting and asylum granting
measures. People from as far afield as Pakistani seek residence status in
Zimbabwe.
A
NEAR implosion of the Zimbabwean economy, weak business fundamentals and
unimplemented policies have all impacted on the economic prospects of the
country's once-thriving mining sector, analysts have said. Investment
protocols such as the recently announced platinum group metals (PGMs)
beneficiation measures by Zimbabwe's Reserve Bank is one clear sign of
policy somersaults that hurt investment in the critical sub-sector, earning
billions of dollars in foreign exchange yearly. In addition to seri-ous
economic misalign-ments, marked by a fast depreciating local currency, high
inflation and half-a-decade of forex shortages, emotive affirmative action
policies in the form of government's targeted 49% indigenisation quota in
all foreign-held mines is just one of the unsettling issues spooking the
beleaguered sector. With PGM companies, led by vast operator Impala Platinum
Holdings (Implats) and its Zimbabwe Platinum Mines (Zimplats) subsidiary,
already complaining about measures targeting offshore accounts and marketing
of white metals, observers this week said this policy directive could be the
"last straw" to kill off investor interest in local mining. The PGM
measures, contained in Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) governor Gideon Gono's
latest monetary policy statement, entail immediate cessation of operation of
offshore accounts, with PGM proceeds being ceded into special foreign
exchange holding accounts to be opened locally. Zimbabwe, holder of the
world's second largest known PGM deposits after South Africa, is dominated
by international conglomerates including Anglo American Platinum (Amplats),
owners of Unki. These investors came to Zimbabwe at a time when foreign
direct investments had sharply fallen owing to property rights and
protection fears, stirred by seizures of mainly white-owned commercial
farmland since 2000. Meanwhile, fluctuations in the Zimbabwe dollar have
resulted in input costs - accounting for 40% of production finance - soaring
through the roof thereby undermining the viability of most mineral products,
analysts said. Research shows that the local unit has lost 6 200% of its 1980
value against the American dollar, while there has not been corresponding
growth in precious minerals earnings locally. The local unit, stronger
than the greenback at Independence, is trading at a dismal $8 500 against
the United States dollar on the black market where it is more easily
available than the official sources. And mining compa-nies, who have to tap
backyard trade corridors to keep operations afloat, bear the brunt when it
comes to realising returns because they are subject to a hostile government
intervention policy that affects pricing. Ian Saunders, president of
Zimbabwe's main Chamber of Mines, aptly captured the siege mood obtaining in
the mining industry, saying that until such operational uncertainties are
cleared investors were less likely "to proceed with project expansions", let
alone carry out new investments. Saunders, who strongly believes that
Zimbabwe's dollar is overvalued and that the bi-weekly RBZ forex auctions
hamper profitability, argued that investors looked forward to a more stable
Zimbabwe, with consistent application of the Mines and Minerals Act's key
tenets on pricing. "Investment regimes must be predictable for a longer
period of time so that investors can invest with confidence," Saunders, who
runs a gold mine in southern Zimbabwe, said. The vast majority of miners,
especially his gold mining peers, are wary of the local dollar's valuation -
at $5 600 to the US unit - and that the official exchange auctions constrain
cash flow "for reinvestment". Saunders, like otherbusinesspeople
econo-my-wide and particularly those who receive their export proceeds
through centralised channels such as gold miners, feels they are getting a
raw deal, and the technicality of buying costly foreign cash on the black
market, while receiving lower reconciliation rates, is causing serious
problems. Basically, ill-thought-out policy shifts and insensitivity render
"forward planning" difficult, the chamber boss argues. Just to
demonstrate investor resistance, Implats' wholly owned Zimplats subsidiary
has shelved a long-expected three-phase US$700 million underground operation
just outside Harare because "certain issues" have to be
resolved. Zimplats, extracting nearly 85 000 ounces of platinum per year, had
planned to double that tonnage to 145 000 ounces by 2006 with this
shareholder-approved investment, but has hinted it is now waiting for the
finalisation of a bilateral investment-protection agreement between Sou-th
Africa and Zimbabwe. It will thus only proceed with the gigantic
investment - set to see platinum yields notching 345 000 ounces in five
years - upon provision of tangible guarantees by Harare on property rights
and a commitment to business-enabling policies. Competitor Amplats,
saying it is watching Harare over planned empowerment rhetoric, is also
likely to take a cue from Implats and it is known that PGM monopolies were
last week said to be part of a committee tackling government over recently
announced measures that trample on already-sealed agreements. Mining
multinationals are also ruminating the implications of President Robert
Mugabe's 50% mandatory localisation stance and how it contradicts agreed
protocols to give as much as 20% in upcoming or greenfield projects such as
Unki to local players. Interestingly, and at a time the mining industry's
decline has also weighed down gross national product - through a minute 1,4%
contribution as of 2002 - there has been a marked increase in mining, not
only in platinum but gold and diamonds as well. At Independence, mining
contributed 9% to overall economic revenues, but managed a measly 4% last
year. Job cuts are the order of the day, yet at some point mining employment
accounted for close to 6% of total formal employment. By 2002, tens of
thousands of people had been laid off and continue to be retrenched, with
sorrowful statistics showing that only 0,8% of that strong mining workforce
remain on jobs. To reflect the erstwhile robust sector's decline - along with
rampant de-industrialisation economy-wide - Zimbabwe realised 3 426 tonnes
of key export-earning asbestos by August this year from a peak of 13 348
tonnes in January. Figures gleaned from various sources also show that
PGM yield and tonnage, which includes palladium and rhodium, fell to just
under 400 tonnes in the period under review, while gold plummeted from 1 769
kg in January to just 38 kg in August. Significantly, though, investors
who cry about Zimbabwe's endemic political and economic risks, have been
jostling to take up positions in various mining segments and these include
British conglomerate Rio Tinto plc, which is developing Murowa diamond
mine. Rio Tinto, a significant bullion player in its own right, recently
cobbled together an ownership structure favourable to local interests of the
key asset Murowa. Gold has also attracted investor interest in the form
of South African firm Metallon Corporation, owners of five-mine yellow metal
producer Independence Gold Mining Zimbabwe. With investors continually
worrying about Zimbabwe's economies of scale, massive capital requirements
and mineral geological formations, it remains to be seen whether this
renewed mine investment activity is sustainable.
Editors scramble Vincent
Kahiya I HAVE received an invitation to attend a Southern African Editors'
Forum (SAEF) meeting in Malawi in two weeks' time.
The organisers of
the meeting are keen to see editors from the privately-owned press
represented by the Zimbabwe National Editors' Forum (Zinef) and state media
editors under the Zimbabwe Association of Editors (ZAE) working together for
the good of journalism.
A taskforce made up of editors from Lesotho,
Mozambique, Namibia and Zambia resolved last year that Zimbabwean editors
from both the private and public media "should realise that they have a
professional duty, and should not allow themselves to be used by forces
outside the ambit of their profession".
The taskforce, said the
editors, should establish a social club where they could meet and socialise
with the aim of fostering closer working relationships and sharing of
ideas.Zimbabwe's editors had been expected to form one association by
January 2004 ahead of an All-Africa Editors Forum in Kinshasa in
April.
This did not happen and is unlikely to happen. There is no
co-operation among editors in ZAE and those in Zinef. The chasm between the
two bodies has continued to widen in the wake of the state's frenzied
assaults on the private media and those working in it.
This week,
there was some feverish shuttle diplomacy by ZAE to lure Zinef to discuss
the prospects of co-operation. ZAE failed to secure recognition from SAEF at
a regional council meeting in Windhoek in June because "it did not truly
represent the pluralistic nature of the media in Zimbabwe."
ZAE has said
it "is now ready to implement the SAEF resolutions and engage in dialogue
with editors from all the independent media".
This is not surprising
as the Malawi meeting beckons. ZAE's quest to reach out is commendable but
sceptics are inclined to believe that it is an attempt by the association to
clean up its act after its disastrous showing in
Namibia.
Articles containing blatant falsehoods penned by ZAE
delegate and Chronicle editor Stephen Ndlovu have been described by ZAEF as
"an embarrassment to the profession of journalism".
Ndlovu wrote
that former Associated Newspapers of Zimbabwe lawyer Gugulethu Moyo, in her
address to a forum hosted by SAEF and Idasa in Windhoek, advocated war
against Zimbabwe.
Ndlovu in another article alleged ZAE's failure to
win recognition from SAEF was instigated by Zinef chair Iden Wetherell and
SAEF chair Henry Jeffreys.
Ndlovu, quoting "sources", said Wetherell and
Jeffreys, both of whom he claimed "had strong Boer links", had conspired to
have ZAE "thrown out".
The claims were immediately denied by SAEF who
issued a strong statement denouncing the Chronicle editor.
It
said the articles were "a total distortion of the truth, contain(ed)
substantial and obvious fabrications and therefore an unprofessional act
unworthy of any journalist and editor".
SAEF added:
"Falsification of information by distortion and fabrication are unacceptable
professional misconduct and further confirmation of the abuse of the press
by the Zimbabwean authorities."
The article was but one of many false
stories and abusive pieces state papers have penned about journalists in the
private press. Their agenda is undisguised. The editors of these papers are
not looking for co-operation but are instead fulfilling the instructions of
their political handlers. Now they are under pressure from regional
colleagues, they suddenly want to work with us.
A unified
editors' forum cannot be fashioned out of a hate-filled environment when
editors of state papers, hiding behind the façade of columnists, allow
gratuitous insults to be heaped on editors of independent
newspapers.
Nathaniel Manheru in the Saturday Herald, Mzala Joe in
the Sunday News, and Lowani Ndlovu in the Sunday Mail have become agencies
of hate speech. It is now the core business of these papers to churn out
defamatory invective that has no place in publicly-owned media. This is an
abuse of basic journalistic tenets which the Media and Information
Commission, the state-appointed custodians of media ethics, has conveniently
ignored.
I have exercised restraint in using this column to respond
to, or trade insults with other editors because I believe that such
exchanges do nothing to enhance public respect for the media. Editors should
be self-respecting professionals who exercise complete control over their
papers, instead of allowing them to become vehicles for government-inspired
calumnies against their colleagues in the private sector.
We are
prepared to engage in dialogue with state-media editors in the ZAE and a
message to that effect has been sent to them. But discussion has to be built
around adherence to journalistic norms and mutual respect. It is key that
any meeting of minds should ensure that editors uphold media freedom and
co-operate in areas such as training and improving media content. It should
not just be designed to secure ZAE's admission to SAEF.
Going beyond the ideological divide THE
Chinese were in town last week. There was a lot of fanfare to go with their
visit, which almost overshadowed the hype of the American election that
returned President George W Bush with a record majority. There is no doubt
that the state media excitement about the Chinese visit was to showcase
President Robert Mugabe's Look East policy. Government has been trying to
promote trade with countries in the Far East, especially in view of
Zimbabwe's isolation from the West. First it was Malaysia, Vietnam,
Thailand, and Indonesia. Now China has come into the forefront. Before
leaving the Chinese reportedly signed eight agreements with Air Zimbabwe,
Zesa Holdings, the National Railways of Zimbabwe plus Net*One and Tel*One.
Zimbabwe, which has been buying military weapons from China, will now
purchase two aircraft and get a third for free, according to state media
reports. The Chinese have also pledged investment in agriculture and have
already supplied hundreds of tractors. They have also supplied generators
and transformers for use in Zesa's rural electrification
programme. However, while China is the world's sixth largest economy, it has
not been known to make significant investments on the world's poorest
continent, except dumping its sub-standard products in our markets. It is
not known for its mining adventures in the mould of transnationals like Rio
Tinto or Anglo American. Or huge employers of labour such as BAT, Coca-Cola
and Unilever. While it may be true that jobs could be created in the
agricultural sector where the Chinese have been active, not every Zimbabwean
wants to be a farmer or a farm labourer. China has realised that no
economy can deliver prosperity on the basis of agriculture alone and is fast
industrialising. Zimbabwe, arguably the most industrialised country in
sub-Saharan Africa besides South Africa a few years ago, is going in the
opposite direction. At least 800 manufacturing companies have closed shop in
the past four years. The country is lurching towards a primitive
agricultural economy driven by subsistence farming. China is the world's
fastest expanding economy, having sustained an average 9% growth for over 25
years, and we thus need to gradually link our economy to it. But this can't
be done at the expense of our established trading partners. It would
therefore be foolhardy to destroy our vibrant economic sectors to undermine
Western interests in mining, manufacturing, and agriculture to spite Tony
Blair or George W Bush. Nothing will be gained from such populist illusions.
Blair and Bush are not the real issues, except as a mask to conceal
President Robert Mugabe's policy failures. The issues in Zimbabwe are the
current political crisis, which stems from authoritarian politics and stolen
elections, and the economic quagmire, which is a result of policy and
institutional malfunctions. We need to objectively analyse in depth the
internal and external factors that have contributed to the current crisis
and labour our way out. Trying to simplify our problems with the fiction
that it is Blair and Bush is deceitful. We need leaders who not only
understand how countries like Singapore, Malaysia, Ireland, Germany and
Japan rose from economic rubble to become some of the strongest in the world
but are also bold enough to adopt tough measures in an environment with
different dynamics. Only a bankrupt leadership can claim that Zimbabwe's
recovery will follow the same path as those of European countries after
World War II or the Asian Tigers after the 1997/98 financial
crisis. Mugabe's Look East policy - if it is a policy at all - appears to be
predicated on such illusions and distortion of global economic realities. As
we have pointed out in the past, it is relatively easy to refashion
political relations in line with a country's ideological considerations, but
it's extremely difficult to redefine economic links which were created
through centuries of trade and financial circumstances. Whether Mugabe
likes it or not, we cannot wish away Britain and the European Union or North
America because they are some of our established trading partners. Mugabe
appears impervious to this reality. We have to engage economically as
directed by our national interests, not individual or party
interests. China was among the first countries to congratulate Bush on
his re-election despite periodic quarrels over democracy and human rights
issues. This is because China knows there is nothing to be gained from
irrational hostility or publicity-seeking showmanship. Despite its economic
and even military leverage over Britain and the United States, China has
avoided confrontation and sought cooperation for its own economic
benefit. Since China embarked on economic reforms in 1978, dozens of American
companies have gone in to invest in manufacturing. China is also making
inroads in Europe and the Americas. There is no way a full economic
recovery can be achieved when Zimbabwe is still isolated from the world's
powerful economies and when multilateral lending institutions, which we need
badly, are still reluctant to resume business with us. The point in the
end is as we chart new economic territories in far-flung China and
elsewhere, let's try to patch up differences with our major trading partners
and avoid self-destructive politics which undermine the very national
interests which Mugabe purports to be promoting. One thing we can learn from
the Chinese is that it is possible to use American dollars and still remain
a comrade. They are forging their trade links across the ideological
divide.
THE horrendous state of much of Zimbabwe's financial sector, as has
been exposed over the last 10 months, has justifiably created an outcry that
those who are responsible for the immense losses must be held
accountable. Fingers have been pointed in various directions, but
progressively an intensifying castigation of bank auditors has developed. If
the auditors have conspired to occasion the losses, or to conceal them, they
must be severely disciplined, as also if they were guilty of gross
negligence in the fulfilment of their duties, or if they acted in breach of
their professional codes of ethics and conducts. However, recently there
has been growing tendency to seek to blame the auditors of the insolvent,
distressed and troubled banks to such an extent as to type-cast them as the
principal culprits without any consideration as to whether, in fact, they
are to blame and should be held accountable. They have become the Aunt Sally
of the media and of the afflicted depositors, without any regard as to
whether it is just and fair to direct the missives of accusation at
them. It must be acknowledged that, as in any sector of society, there will
be auditors who stray from the straight and narrow. Their professional
bodies, such as the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Zimbabwe strive to
ensure absolute compliance with their laws and bylaws, rules and regulations
of good conduct and, wheresoever they become aware of any infringement, they
seek to act firmly to discipline offenders and protect society. But,
throughout most of the world, the need to do so has been the exception,
rather than the rule, for not only do most accountants and auditors adhere
strictly to their codes of conduct, no matter how onerous those codes may
be, but most of them strive to fulfil their duties with absolute
responsibility, compliance and transparency. However, their doing so does
not automatically protect them from being perceived as those responsible for
untoward activities within entities audited by them, even if such activities
have been transacted and recorded in a manner prima-facie correct and the
untoward characteristics not necessarily being readily identifiable. Most
countries in the free and developed world subscribe to the Basel Committee
on Banking Supervision and the Basel Protocols, which operate to ensure,
insofar as possible, that there be good governance within the world's
banking systems, prevention of money-laundering, containment of the funding
of terrorism, drugs and other international ills and that probity and
integrity should be the foundation stones of the world's financial
institutions. Among those that recognise the Basel Protocols is
Zimbabwe. On the issue of the external auditors of banks, a paper prepared by
the Basel Committee, in association with the International Auditing
Practices Committee of the International Federation of Accounts (IFAC),
addresses the role of the external auditor and the required interaction and
communication between that auditor and those responsible for bank
supervision (in Zimbabwe previously the Registrar of Banks, within the
spectrum of the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development and now the
Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe). That paper states: "The primary responsibility for
the conduct of the business of the bank is vested in the board of directors
and the management appointed by it. This responsibility includes, amongst
other things, ensuring that those entrusted with banking tasks have
sufficient expertise and integrity and that there are experienced staff in
key positions; adequate policies, practices and procedures related to the
different activities of the bank are established and complied with,
including the promotion of high ethical and professional standards; systems
that accurately identify and measure all material risks and adequately
monitor and control these risk; adequate controls, structures and accounting
procedures; the evaluation of the quality of assets and their proper
recognition and measurement; 'know you customer' rules that prevent the bank
being used, intentionally or unintentionally, by criminal elements; the
adoption of a suitable control environment, aimed at meeting the bank's
prescribed performance, information and compliance objectives; the testing
of compliance and the evaluation of the effectiveness of internal controls
by the internal audit function; appropriate management information systems
are established; the bank has appropriate risk management policies and
procedures; statutory and regulatory directives, including directives
regarding solvency and liquidity, are observed; and the interests not only
of the shareholders but also of the depositors and other creditors are
adequately protected." Very clearly, primary responsibility for the
conduct of a bank's operations with total integrity and prudence vests in
the board of directors, as appointed by the shareholders, and in the
management appointed by that board. The paper of the Basel Committee also
addresses, in detail, the role of the banker's external auditor,
stating: "The objective of an audit of a bank's financial statements by an
external auditor is to enable an independent auditor to express an opinion
as to whether the bank's financial statements are prepared, in all material
respects, in accordance with an identified financial reporting framework . .
. The auditor designs audit procedures to reduce an acceptably low level the
risk of giving an inappropriate audit opinion when the financial statements
are materially misstated. "The auditor assesses the inherent risk of
material misstatements occurring and the risk that the entity's accounting
and internal control systems will not prevent or detect and correct material
misstatements on a timely basis. The auditor assesses risk as being high
unless the auditor is able to identify controls that are likely to prevent
or detect and correct a material misstatement and conducts test of the
controls that support a lower assessment of risk. Based on the assessment of
risk, the auditor carries substantive procedures to reduce the overall audit
risk to an acceptably low level. "The auditor considers how the financial
statements might be materially misstated and considers whether fraud risk
factors are present that indicate the possibility of fraudulent financial
reporting or misappropriation of assets. The auditor designs audit
procedures to reduce to an acceptably low level the risk that misstatements
arising from fraud and error that are material to the financial statements
taken as a whole are not detected." The Basel Committee's paper then
asserts: "The external auditor's report is appropriately addressed as
required by the circumstances of the engagement, ordinarily to either the
shareholders or the board of directors. However, the report may be available
to many other parties, such as depositors, other creditors and supervisors.
The auditor's opinion helps to establish the credibility of the financial
statements. The auditors opinion, however, should not be interpreted as
providing assurance on the future viability of the bank or an opinion as to
the efficiency or effectiveness with which the management has conducted the
affairs of the bank, since these are not objectives of the audit."
IT was more than callous of Lowani Ndlovu to gloat over the misery
of thousands of Zimbabwean investors whose banks have been placed under
curatorship or are facing liquidation. It was immoral of him. Lowani sees
Reserve Bank governor Gideon Gono's attempt to gather the insolvent banks
into the Zimbabwe Allied Banking Group as some creative genius born of the
Third Chimurenga when ordinary Zimbabweans cannot access their salaries or
savings. How cynical can one get in the name of specious
propaganda? Nobody is blaming Gono for the problems in the banking
sector. He didn't issue any licences. But he promised that no bank would
collapse. Evidence on the ground suggests at least seven have. We won't
waste time on semantics with Lowani who wants us to believe the ZABG is
evidence of the country's economic recovery. Can hard-pressed customers go
and withdraw their money from the ZABG? And one can be certain that Lowani is
not affected by the collapse of the banks although he claims to champion the
cause of indigenous people. Banks are not merely buildings. They have to be
able to transact business. Has Lowani read Gono's statement where he says
ZABG is an amalgamation of banks that have failed to trade out of their
difficulties despite billions of dollars advanced to them from the Troubled
Bank Fund? Our argument has always been that it is hypocrites like Lowani who
undermine Gono's well-meaning policies by their reckless statements and
populist demagoguery. At least Gono has no need to be a starry-eyed
idealist about the problems in the financial services sector. He warned
those in government against sabotaging his economic plan by making
unbudgeted payments to so-called ex-detainees which could have another
serious impact like the 1997 payout to war veterans. Although he has since
been obliged to revise those remarks, his third quarter statement is
unambiguous. Does Gono really want a mad dog like Lowani, who barks at
anybody questioning the state's facile mantras about a non-existent economic
turnaround, acting as his spokesman in dealing with the media? Is this
frothing-at-the-mouth abuse and juvenile name-calling really the sort of
thing likely to impress the international community and inspire confidence
in Zimbabwe's battered banking system? Somehow we don't think
so. Cosatu's leaders have described Zimbabwe's official spokesmen as
buffoons. Most Zimbabweans would agree. After all, a columnist who confuses
Jim, Jack and Mary with Tom, Dick and Harry is not your best
publicist! Meanwhile, we are enjoying the internecine warfare taking place in
the upper echelons of Zanu PF. Lovemore Mataire, editor of the party's
official mouthpiece, The Voice, this week attacked Lowani Ndlovu for showing
disrespect for his superiors. Lowani himself has not concealed his
contempt for the same leadership, and only defends President Robert Mugabe
for personal gain. As Mataire indicated in his Candid Brief last week,
Lowani is evidently a senior member of the party. One does not need to be a
rocket scientist to tell that Lowani would need to be very close to Jonathan
Moyo's power nexus to write all those abusive articles that the Sunday Mail
carries every week while it claims to be a family paper. "I am sure by
now the president knows the real identity of Lowani Ndlovu," said Mataire.
"This Ndlovu has gone berserk and needs his tail to be cut for his behaviour
is damaging to the party." Which is precisely what we have warned against.
Only "village pumpkins" would deliberately flout government policy on
multiple farm ownership and still go on to defend such action by attacking
the party's leadership when they remind him of some simple rules. But
instead of cutting his tail off, Mataire might consider another strategy
that usually works: give him enough rope and he will hang
himself!
President Mugabe appears keen to consolidate his pariah regime's
ties with another such state - Equatorial Guinea. Reports suggest that
Equatorial Guinea President Theodoro Obiang Nguema shot dead his
predecessor, who was also his uncle, to seize power. What he did next is
too grisly to relate. Despite abundant evidence of Nguema's bloody ascendancy
to power, Patrice Makova of Newsnet insists that alleged mercenaries
arrested in Harare in March wanted to overthrow the "democratically elected
government" of Equatorial Guinea. What does that mean? Which election
brought Nguema to power? Or did Makova mean "democratic election" Zanu
PF-style?
Jonathan Moyo has just made a mammoth discovery. Zimbabwe has
"set high standards" for running elections, he claims. According to the
Saturday Herald, Moyo either discovered or disclosed this information at
Mpandawana growth point in Gutu in rural Masvingo. He said Zimbabwe had
set high standards in running elections and deserved to be respected as a
sovereign state. Our electoral standards were better than American practice,
where there were problems in Florida in 2000 and nearly another problem in
Ohio this year, Moyo told his bemused rural listeners, most of whom probably
didn't even know America was having an election. If our standards are so high
why is government engaged in frantic efforts to amend the law ahead of
elections in March? As Moyo himself is wont to remind us, these electoral
changes started well before the Mauritius guidelines and principles on
democratic elections. Is his memory so short? What did he say about
Zimbabwe's electoral record in Voting For Democracy and why has he changed
his mind?
Newsnet on Monday roped in eccentric "author" Claude Maredza to
attack those thought to be enemies of Zimbabwe. How were such people
identified, you might wonder. It's very simple in the government media where
a label by Lowani Ndlovu, Nathaniel Manheru or Jonathan Moyo is enough to
turn you into an enemy of the state. In this case, a product of pure
coincidence and emergency, the Zimbabwe Allied Banking Group was touted as a
farsighted creation which should be lauded by everyone. Maredza called those
who said the ZABG was formed from the ashes of insolvent banks - ie the
Zimbabwe Independent - "enemies of Zimbabwe". They were "against home-grown
solutions" to the country's problems, he fatuously said. Of course he
didn't need to explain how the idea of enemies got into his head since
reporters in the state media cannot ask a single illuminating question. But
you would expect Maredza as a writer to be more open-minded and amenable to
all manner of disputation. Wrong, of course. Most of his so-called novels are
virulent personal monologues brimming with invective against whoever is
targeted on the day of writing. It's a pity Zimbabweans have to be subjected
to this level of abuse courtesy of government monopoly of the
airwaves.
When friends are few and very far between, you surely have to
cherish all of them. Sifelani Tsiko had to do his patriotic duty this week
to remind us of how popular President Mugabe has become. A clear indicator
was the number of presidential visitors or visits. Tsiko said President
Mugabe had confounded "his fiery critics" who said he had "few friends left
on the world stage". So how did Mugabe confound his critics? "A visit by
Malawian president Bingu wa Mutarika to Zimbabwe in August, another by
Ugandan president Yoweri Museveni last month and his three-day official
visit to Mozambique recently and Equatorial Guinea last weekend has seen the
veteran statesman emerging with renewed vigour at a time when the opposition
is seemingly becoming hopeless and disorganised," said Tsiko
helpfully. Precisely what we are saying - you can now count those friends
on the fingers of one hand. Tsiko forgot to mention the visit last week of
the Chinese delegation led by chairman of the Chinese National People's
Congress Standing Committee, Wu Bangguo, which the Herald ignorantly billed
a "state visit". There was further recognition when Moroccan Foreign
minister Mohammed Benaissa delivered to the president "a special message"
from King Mohammed VI. This included an important international assignment
for the president - to help mediate in the protracted dispute between
Morocco and the Saharawi Arab Republic. You should not stint about
mentioning these victories in these times of scarcity, Cde Tsiko. But how
does Tsiko explain the flurry of damage control gymnastics between the
Information department, the Herald and Lowani Ndlovu if the idea was not to
avoid offending the only friend Mugabe can depend on, Thabo Mbeki? Let's pay
attention to detail. Talking of detail, Newsnet's diplomatic correspondent
Judith Makwanya last week called people gathered for graduation at the
Zimbabwe Open University a "congregation". Government ministers and MPs
have been addressing numerous congregations lately to win voters in next
year's election. So diplomatically speaking she might be right.
The
Sunday Mail last weekend led with a story proclaiming that labour unions in
the region had "snubbed" calls by the Congress of South African Trade Unions
to gang up against Zimbabwe for the embarrassing debacle last week. Tony
Blair was immediately brought in to give the story the usual "conspiracy"
angle to "effect regime change in Zimbabwe". The usual faceless "impeccable
sources" claimed Cosatu had been in contact with labour movements in
Botswana, Mozambique, Malawi and Zambia, all of them being marshalled by
Blair for a "regional onslaught" on Zimbabwe. Unfortunately for Cosatu, the
response was unanimous that there was no labour problem in Zimbabwe,
reported Sunday Mail political editor Munyaradzi Huni. Come Tuesday and
we had "civic organisations" from the whole of Sadc plotting a blockade of
Zimbabwe's four major border posts. To give this bizarre claim an air of
urgency, the Herald said the "demonstrators" planned to disrupt electricity
supplies to State House from the border posts and demolish non-existent
Mugabe statues. It is remarkable how far fiction in the state media can go.
This was of course to support the "witch-hunt" Lowani promised us two weeks
ago "to find out which countries in the region" are working with Blair and
the MDC to effect regime change. That investigation has turned up the whole
of Sadc, yet Tsiko is claiming that Mugabe's critics have been confounded.
It leaves you all dizzy sometimes!
THABO Mbeki has for too long vaccilated on Zimbabwe's crisis. In
fact, his party's spokespersons have given Zanu PF sufficient ammunition to
continue being intransigent.
This has not helped the millions of
Zimbabweans who face tremendous hardships under the most savage conditions
forced on us by President Robert Mugabe who has alone mismanaged our country
to unprecedented levels. Zimbabweans deserve better than
this.
Mbeki's regime seems to be playing down the seriousness of the
current situation which gets worse every day. Does he not remember his own
country's history, or is he merely deluding himself? Has he forgotten that
it was external pressure that forced the apartheid regime to change its
course?
The South African nationalist movement in which Mbeki
featured most prominently had the good fortune of not having to deal with a
type of leadership like the one we have in Zimbabwe.
They had the
much-detested National Party to deal with, but fortunately for them that
party's initial intransigence gave way to external pressures, a rigid system
which FW de Klerk foresaw as suicidal.
He acted quickly to defuse a
potentially dangerous situation. Despite the many obstacles, given the
nature of the racist politics, he abruptly reversed that country's inhumane
system of apartheid. At least the South African blacks were dealing with a
man of vision who saw the writing on the wall.
Is Mbeki too blind
or naive to realise that the person he is dealing with in Zimbabwe does not
have the moral qualities or calibre of De Klerk?
After so many years
of his so-called silent diplomacy, there is no realisation of any change of
heart in Mugabe. This modern dictator still presides over our lives, forcing
himself on us and causing pain and a lot of hardships.
I personally
do not hold much hope that Sadc - or for that matter the African Union -
will come to our rescue. Most of the continent's leadership we know are
inherently corrupt.
We Zimbabweans, I am afraid to say, find
ourselves in a very precarious situation at home. We are not even allowed to
express our opinions as we are not free yet. We have never been free, our
destiny has been taken away first by the whites and now by Zanu
PF.
Many a Zimbabwean is now living in exile while hundreds of
thousands of our educated compatriots are being deprived of a meaningful
contribution to the long-term good of our country.
Certain
critics back home may have contrary views and question our loyalty but deep
in our hearts we know exactly who we are. I for example, although I live in
more conducive conditions in the USA, I nevertheless wish that my country
would change for the good of all our people.
Zimbabweans living in
the West can play a useful role. We can get our host governments to put
increased pressure on South Africa and Sadc to act more decisively on
getting Robert Mugabe to accept legitimate democratic change which restores
basic human rights which every Zimbabwean yearns for, but to this day
remains a mere mirage.
A
RECENT article in the Daily Mirror read "MDC to take postal ballot war to
UN".
In all fairness, every Zimbabwean should be given the
opportunity to participate in any national elections such as the
parliamentary elections scheduled for March 2005.
It is
understandable that the MDC is taking the initiative with the objective of
facilitating the participation in the elections of Zimbabweans living
abroad.
That being the case, one is given the impression that the
initiative is being pursued with the unexpressed understanding that the
majority of the Zimbabweans in the diaspora will vote for the
MDC.
But will they?
It is very possible that a sizeable
number of the Zimbabweans in the diaspora are asylum seekers, a situation
that gives them "refugee status" in whichever country they may
be.
It is also possible that a large number of Zimbabweans in the
diaspora did not leave the country because of the political situation
obtaining in Zimbabwe today, but primarily because of the prevailing
economic situation - in particular those professionals who were gainfully
employed. It is likely that quite a good number of them are gainfully
employed and are better off than they were back home.
Honestly
speaking, home is always best, no matter what. But should the political
situation in Zimbabwe change today and the MDC assumes office, will the
economic situation on the ground automatically follow suit and entice
everybody to return home on the next flight?
What does the assumption
of office by the MDC mean to someone holding a refugee status in Britain or
New Zealand?
I recall at Independence in 1980, most Zimbabweans who
were studying abroad on refugee scholarships did not welcome the Lancaster
House Agreement, wishing the war would continue a little longer because the
Independence of Zimbabwe would mean loss of their refugee status and
returning home before completion of their university degrees, among other
things.
A good number of Zimbabweans actually returned home midway
through their studies because their scholarships were cancelled as they were
no longer considered refugees.
Similarly today, a Zimbabwean in
the diaspora holding a refugee status will lose that status and will be
required to return home by the host country without further
delay.
But then what are the prospects of that person getting a job
the following day after landing at Harare Airport, given the prevailing
economic situation today?
Is that person then, given the choice,
going to vote and lose the refugee status? Is it not possible then that the
MDC may have the moral support of the people in the diaspora but not their
vote? Is it not possible that the people in the diaspora would want the MDC
to remain in opposition so that they will in turn maintain their
status?
I put it that the people in the diaspora - of course not all
of them - are likely to vote for the status quo so that they stay put, and
MDC stays in opposition to give credence to their claims for political
asylum.