http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 12 November 2009
20:42
THE succession race has reached fever pitch ahead of the
selection of
candidates for the Zanu PF presidium this weekend, with four
names surfacing
for the two vice-presidents' posts and three for the
chairman's.
As the Sunday deadline looms, Zanu PF insiders say
three possible
lists for the presidium have emerged, making it one of the
most overcrowded
contests in the party's history.
Sources say the groups led by long-time rivals - legal secretary
Emmerson
Mnangagwa and politburo heavyweight retired General Solomon
Mujuru - are
locked in an intensifying power struggle to secure nomination
of their
candidates into the party's top leadership positions.
However,
there is a third group of former PF-Zapu members who are
fighting for the
co-vice-presidency and retention of the chairman's post
which is under
threat from original Zanu PF members who now want to seize
the powerful
position.
The grabbing of the chairmanship from Zapu by Zanu PF
could rekindle
internal political tensions between the two groups which have
always been
uneasy bedfellows and which could completely decimate Zanu PF as
a force in
the Matabeleland region.
The nomination of the
top four elected positions comes against a
background of vicious wrangling
among the two main factions, characterised
by behind-the-scenes lobbying and
formation of alliances to gain control of
the presidium.
The insiders say the Mujuru faction is pushing for President Robert
Mugabe
at the helm with Joice Mujuru and Naison Ndlovu as his deputies and
Obert
Mpofu in the chairman's position. Despite not being nominated by the
Zapu
caucus Ndlovu yesterday said he was in the running for
vice-president.
As a result Zanu PF acting national
political commissar Richard Ndlovu
is today expected to come out in the open
lambasting Naison Ndlovu for
unprocedurally continuing to present himself as
a candidate.
Mpofu is also expected to fire a salvo at party
chairman John Nkomo in
a statement over the fight for the
vice-presidency. Nkomo is struggling
to pin down the vice-president's post
which is vulnerable due to internal
divisions. The Mujuru faction is still
trying to persuade Mpofu to drop out
in favour of Didymus Mutasa for
chairman.
The Mnangagwa camp, which fought and lost the battle
for top positions
in the run up to the 2004 congress, in reality wants
Mugabe as president,
Mujuru and John Nkomo as his deputies and Didymus
Mutasa as the chairman.
Some say the Mnangagwa group could
alternatively come up with Mugabe,
Nkomo and Oppah Muchinguri to challenge
Mujuru for vice-president and Mutasa
for chairman. However, the group could
also field Mnangagwa for chairmanship
if an opportunity arises. While some
in the Mnangagwa faction prefer
Muchinguri to Mujuru, they fear Muchinguri
would easily lose.
If Mutasa eventually becomes chairman,
Mnangagwa is expected to move
up to the number five position as secretary
for administration.
The list from the former Zapu members has
Mugabe, Mujuru, Nkomo and
Zimbabwe's ambassador to South Africa Simon Khaya
Moyo as chairman. The Zapu
caucus met recently and came up with this
list.
However, in practical lobbying Moyo's name has been
dropped due to
fears that he would weaken the ticket for lack of political
muscle and
influence. As a result Moyo is nobody's ticket. Naison Ndlovu was
not
nominated but has bounced back as a candidate.
Zanu PF
provinces are scheduled to meet at the weekend to select their
candidates
and members of the central committee. Senior provincial members
interviewed
by the Zimbabwe Independent said lobbying by the different camps
was
escalating but indications were that Mutasa might succeed in his
manoeuvre
unless Matabeleland provinces blocked him.
The Mnangagwa camp
is claiming that it has Mashonaland East,
Mashonaland Central, Harare,
Midlands, Masvingo, Manicaland and Mashonaland
East supporting Mutasa for
chairman.
However, this has fuelled tensions within the party
as former PF-Zapu
members insist the chairmanship belongs to them in terms
of the parties'
understanding under the Unity Accord.
"There is an unwritten understanding or agreement that came from the
1987
unity accord talks," said one Zapu official. "It is important to
maintain
that balance for the sake of protecting unity in the party. There
are some
ambitious people in the old Zanu PF who want to ignore that
unwritten
understanding."
Another angry Zapu official said those who want
to undermine the Unity
Accord must come out in the open and say whether they
still want the
agreement or not.
"They should just say that
they are no longer interested in
maintaining the Unity Accord so that we
know where we stand," he said.
Former Zapu members are threatening to resign
en masse from Zanu PF and
oppose their party from outside if positions are
seized from them.
Matabeleland provinces are divided with some
aligned to the Mujuru and
the Mnangagwa factions.
Sources
say the former top Zipra members have warned Ndlovu against
aligning himself
with Mpofu, whom they say will leave him hanging high and
dry. Former Zipra
cadres in Zanu PF and within state institutions including
the army, police
and intelligence are said to be increasingly restless as
politicians
undermine the Unity Accord, something they fear could become a
major source
of instability and conflict.
While Zapu members demand the
positions of vice-president and
chairman, a senior Zanu PF official aligned
to Mnangagwa's faction said it
was not agreed during the unity talks that
there should always be a balance
of two each from the parties at the
presidium.
"As far as I know, there is no unwritten
understanding or unwritten
agreement that such a balance should be
maintained. What was agreed on at
the unity talks is that the
vice-presidency should be shared between the two
former patriotic fronts,"
he said.
"The chairman's position is open to anyone wanting to
contest. If you
look at the party structure, the two most deserving people
are Mutasa,
followed by Mnangagwa. So if we want to do it in terms of
seniority, these
two should be the contenders for the
post."
These contestations and manoeuvres are guaranteed to
leave a trail of
divisions and heightened tensions within Zanu PF in their
wake.
Faith Zaba
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 12 November 2009
20:38
ZANU PF this week stepped up its efforts to block in the House of
Assembly the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Amendment Bill which seeks to limit
the powers of the central bank governor.
The battle
over the Bill reflects the broad power struggle between
Zanu PF and the main
MDC wing in the inclusive government. The infighting is
mainly reflected in
the war of attrition between Finance minister Tendai
Biti and Reserve Bank
governor Gideon Gono.
Biti introduced the
Bill in the Lower House on Tuesday outlining its
main purposes as including
the need to refocus the bank to core functions,
especially financial-sector
supervision and payment system.
Biti said he was
introducing the Bill after extensive consultations
with stakeholders
including Sadc, the World Bank, IMF, Law Society of
Zimbabwe and the bank
itself. He said the Bill, which borrowed from
legislation from Uganda,
Georgia and South Africa, among other countries,
was a "progeny of extensive
work" by cabinet and the cabinet committee on
legislation chaired by Justice
minister Patrick Chinamasa.
The Bill, Biti said, was "motivated
by national interest and not any
personal conflicts or subjective
idiosyncrasies".
However, Zanu PF MPs this week escalated their
lobbying to block the
Bill, claiming it was motivated by self-serving
"personal agendas". They
said the Bill was designed to weaken Gono while
giving "too much power" to
Biti himself.
Warning shots were
fired at Biti in the House by Zanu PF MP for Mount
Darwin East Betty Chikava
who tried to disrupt the Bill's presentation.
Chikava demanded the Bill
"should be delayed in order to look into the
welfare of members" before she
was overruled by Speaker of Parliament
Lovemore Moyo to allow Biti to
proceed.
Zanu PF MP Paul Mangwana, who sources say is
spearheading opposition
to the Bill, said on Tuesday Biti was trying to
"settle personal scores"
with Gono. Mangwana said this to journalists at the
Quill Club after Biti's
presentation in parliament.
MDC MP
for Makoni West Webber Chinyadza said at the Quill Club meeting
the Bill was
needed to clip Gono's wings.
In the meantime, Zanu PF's
parliamentary caucus has been intensifying
its mobilisation campaign to
block the Bill which will be further debated on
Tuesday next week. This has
set the stage for a major showdown in the House
of
Assembly.
Zanu PF and the MDC are almost balanced in
representation in the Lower
House, but Zanu PF has a majority in senate to
block the Bill.
Biti justified his Bill saying he wanted to
restore public confidence
in the central bank which damaged the economy
through quasi-fiscal
activities.
"The RBZ has for the past
four years become a major economic player
through quasi-fiscal activities.
The bank easily overtook Treasury as the
major fiscal player," Biti said.
"Some activities financed by the bank
included election-related expenses,
transfers to parastatals, subsidised
direct lending, below-cost provision of
equipment and fertilisers to farmers
and allocation of foreign currency at
subsidised exchange rates. For all
intents and purposes the bank became the
government while the government
became an onlooker."
Biti
said quasi-fiscal activities fuelled hyperinflation and ruined
the economy.
He said while Gono justified the quasi-fiscal activities by
citing
extraordinary circumstances which needed extraordinary interventions
and
measures, there was a misinterpretation of the law to justify these
actions.
Biti said although Gono was acting under
instructions from his
superiors, his activities could not be justified under
the law.
Biti said it was important to pass his sweeping
amendments to the law.
However, information obtained by the
Zimbabwe Independent shows that
Zanu PF MPs are plotting to block the Bill
in defence to Gono. The MPs say
the Bill is "draconian" and is
"personalised" and they are also fighting to
stop Biti from becoming too
powerful. Running meetings are being held to
block the Bill either in the
House of Assembly or senate.
Mangwana, the Chivi central MP who
is and also co-chairman of the
constitution-making process, said on Tuesday
at the Quill Club the Bill
should be stopped or amended to avoid giving too
much power to Biti.
Mangwana, who admitted Gono had a lot of power
which he sometimes
abused, said "the best way to extinguish a fire is with
water not paraffin.
"Two wrongs cannot make a right. This Bill
will give too much power to
Biti. It is wrong for one person to have so much
power, more so if it does
not have checks and balances. I know because I
once had so much power. Power
is sweet and can be abused. Two wrongs do not
make a right," Mangwana said.
Mangwana said the problem was
that the Bill was specifically targeted
at Gono. "We cannot make laws to
deal with personal differences. Imagine the
minister approving everything
that the governor and the Reserve Bank want to
embark on including a
speech," he said.
Chinyadza said the Bill was necessary to
dilute Gono's powers.
"Gono should act within the parametres of
what a normal government
should do. We cannot have a situation where one
person incurs arrears that
run into billions which cannot be accounted for.
It is the people of
Zimbabwe who will pay for these loans that they do not
even know who
benefited from them," Chinyadza said.
Paul Nyakazeya
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 12 November 2009 20:34
A VICTORIA
Falls magistrate court yesterday threw out charges against
Zimbabwe Congress
of Trade Unions (ZCTU) president Lovemore Matombo and four
staffers who were
arrested in the resort town on Sunday for allegedly
holding a political
meeting without police clearance. Magistrate Richard
Ramaboea said the
police had no business in disrupting the labour
organisation's
meeting.
Matombo and ZCTU staff members Michael Kandukutu, Dumisani
Ncube, Nawu
Ndlovu, and Percy Mcijo were arrested for allegedly convening a
political
meeting without authority from the police as outlined by
provisions of the
draconian Public Order and Security Act (Posa).
Ramaboea ordered the police to fully acquaint themselves with the
country's
laws as he said the trade union activists were not covered under
Posa.
Ramaboea refused to place the five on remand when they were
finally
brought to court yesterday, four days after their arrests.
According to one of the ZCTU lawyers Gugulethu Mahlangu, Ramaboea
ruled that
there were insufficient facts to suggest that the five union
leaders had
committed an offence.
Mahlangu said: "The magistrate said the accused
persons were not
covered under Posa to inform the police of their meetings.
He said there was
no need to inform the police."
ZCTU secretary
general Wellington Chibebe in a statement after the
release of the activists
said there was urgent need to reform the police for
it to work
independently.
Chibebe said: "The comments made by the police through
state-owned
media that the ZCTU should have sought police clearance before
holding the
meeting smack of a police force that acts on political decisions
and not on
whether one has a case to answer or not.
"This is not
the kind of police that Zimbabweans want, but
unfortunately we have to live
with such. This points to the fact that we
definitely need to reform the
police so that we have a professional
non-partisan force. The infamous Posa
clearly does not cover trade unions
but the police continue to disrupt trade
union activities in the name of
Posa. The police should be undoubtedly
ashamed of their actions."
Chibebe expressed disappointment in the
actions of the inclusive
government, particularly those of the co-Ministers
of Home Affairs Giles
Mutsekwa and Kembo Mohadi saying the ministers have
failed this nation.
"The best present they can offer Zimbabweans is to
resign," he said.
This arrest of the five unionists was also condemned
by the African
Regional Organisation of the International Trade Union
Confederation
(ITUC-Africa).
Wongai Zhangazha
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 12 November 2009
20:31
DISPUTED Zanu PF Harare province elections have triggered a row
that
threatens to tear the party asunder, alienating the war veterans from
the
political leadership. The former freedom fighters and ex-detainees have
declared war against the new Harare provincial leadership and anyone else in
the party who supports what they described as "fraudulent" elections and a
"dubious" restructuring exercise of the province.
The leaders of
the district co-ordinating committee 3 (DCC3), who
included mostly war
veterans and ex-detainees, told the Zimbabwe Independent
this week that they
had formed a parallel provincial executive with Hubert
Nyanhongo as the
legitimate chairperson until the party's top leadership
nullifies last
weekend's hotly contested results.
They said they will not vacate the
district offices and dared any
member of the new leadership to try and make
them.
Amos Midzi retained the Zanu PF provincial chairmanship after
garnering 1 052 votes against Nyanhongo's 807.
Nyanhongo has since
petitioned the party's national chairman John
Nkomo seeking nullification of
the poll because of alleged irregularities
and vote-buying. He is also
challenging the restructuring exercise, which
left out several districts.
The 13 restructured districts in DCC3 were
allegedly excluded irregularly,
while several others covering Rugare,
Kambuzuma, Warren Park, Dzivaresekwa
and Mufakose high density suburbs were
left out and barred from
participating in last weekend's elections.
A total of 33 districts in
Harare were allegedly barred from
participating in the weekend
poll.
The political commissar for DCC3, Stanford Chisuko said: "We are
freedom fighters and it is our revolutionary party. The objectives of the
revolution should not perish to serve the interests of some individuals. I
am not a supporter but a stakeholder of the party. I went to war as a young
person and it pains me to watch this party being destroyed.
"We
have formed parallel structures. If they don't correct this, we
will operate
as the 23 legitimate districts and Midzi (can stay) with his
13. We are
going to fight to the end till the last man and we are going to
do it in
protection of the party, the revolution and the president."
But David
Karimanzira, who was overseeing the restructuring exercise,
said declaring
parallel structures was rebellious and would be dealt with
strongly by the
party leadership.
He said such a matter should be brought before a
disciplinary
committee and those refusing to vacate the offices would be
removed, without
stating how.
"The complaints are nonsense," he
said. "They are leading a rebellion
and
these are the cases that
should be brought before a disciplinary
committee. Those that were left out
refused to be part of the restructuring
exercise. We can't have that and
zvakatopfuura (the elections were done and
are over).
Nyanhongo and
the members in DCC3 wanted the same districts that
participated in the
December 14 2008 elections to be allowed in last weekend's
elections.
Results of the December elections in which Nyanhongo had
defeated
Midzi in a fiercely contested election were nullified by the
politburo due
to intra-party violence by the feuding
factions.
Faith Zaba
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 12 November 2009
20:14
NEGOTIATORS of political parties which signed the Global
Political
Agreement (GPA) last year are preparing to resume intense
political
bargaining to resolve a series of issues in dispute in what could
turn out
to be a renewed fierce battle of wills between the three main rival
players.
The outcome of the negotiations could make or break the shaky
inclusive
government which recently plunged into a crisis due to the
intensifying
power struggles and rising political tensions within the
coalition
arrangement. The infighting led to Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai and his
ministers temporarily pulling out of government on
October 16.
They returned on Monday.
Following
an emergency Southern African Development Community (Sadc)
Organ on
Politics, Defence and Security summit in Maputo last week, the
political
parties signatory to the GPA were directed to engage in dialogue
with
immediate effect within 15 days and not beyond 30 days.
However, the parties had by yesterday not started negotiations on the
contentious outstanding issues although consultations were underway to fix a
date for the talks. The parties are expected to start the meetings by next
week.
MDC-M chief negotiator Welshman Ncube said yesterday
consultations
were going on to set in motion the talks after the crucial
Maputo summit.
"We have not yet agreed on a date, but we are consulting on
when we should
meet to start the talks," Ncube said. "There are several
issues which came
up in between events. I was away (in Egypt) and an MP for
the MDC-T (Makoni
Central legislator John Nyamande) died and as a result
some people were
attending the funeral."
Despite the
overwhelming pressure being exerted by the Sadc leaders on
GPA parties to
find common ground and solutions on divisive issues, there
has been a slow
start to negotiations, raising fears of lack of urgency to
resolve the
disputes threatening the survival of the inclusive government.
Due to President Robert Mugabe's absence, Tsvangirai and his ministers
only
attended cabinet on Wednesday, officially ending their boycott of
government
ahead of the divisive trial of Roy Bennett which resumed
yesterday. The
Bennett trial, which was expected to gain momentum yesterday,
was postponed
to Monday because the defence wants Justice Chinembiri Bhunu
to recuse
himself.
Tsvangirai and the MDC re-engagement came after the
Maputo meeting
convened to help to resolve the political crisis triggered by
their pullout
from cabinet following the re-arrest of Bennett who is facing
charges of
terrorism and banditry allegedly designed to topple
Mugabe.
Mugabe and his Zanu PF ministers have been holding
cabinet meetings
alone after Tsvangirai and the MDC temporarily withdrew
from the coalition
last month citing disputes over a series of unresolved
issues in the
political agreement that led to the formation of the inclusive
government.
Mugabe and Tsvangirai could not meet on Monday as
expected because the
former was attending the China-Africa summit in Egypt
ensuring the process
did not start immediately after their return from
Maputo. Cabinet was also
postponed from Tuesday to Wednesday as Mugabe was
away. Mugabe, Tsvangirai
and deputy prime minister Arthur Mutambara only met
after cabinet on
Wednesday instead of Monday but did not discuss the GPA
issues.
At the Sadc summit, the issues on the official agenda
included the MDC's
outstanding issues which cover the appointment of Reserve
Bank governor
Gideon Gono, Attorney-General Johannes Tomana, provincial
governors and the
swearing-in of Bennett as deputy Agriculture
minister.
Zanu PF's grievances centred on sanctions, "pirate"
radio stations,
external interference and parallel
government.
The agenda also has other remaining issues which
encompassed the
establishment of Zimbabwe's National Economic Council,
constitution-making
and a land audit.
Briefings with
different government officials and diplomats showed
there were serious
behind-the-scenes attempts to break the deadlock to
preclude the crumbling
of the inclusive government. South Africa, as
facilitator, is playing a
major role to find middle ground on all issues in
dispute.
However, given that the political stakes are high on the issues in
contest,
Sadc might find itself meeting again soon in a bid to secure
closure and
finality on the matter.
Sources said Mugabe recently indicated
to Tsvangirai at their last
meeting after the MDC's disengagement on October
26 (before they met again
on Wednesday) that he was prepared to make
concessions on most of the MDC's
demands provided Tsvangirai and his party
came out openly to denounce
sanctions.
One well-placed
source told the Zimbabwe Independent in Maputo that
Mugabe told Tsvangirai
he was prepared to climb down "in a matter of
minutes" as soon as Zanu PF
and the MDC work together to get sanctions
lifted.
This
provided further evidence Mugabe and Zanu PF are now using the
sanctions
issue as leverage against Tsvangirai and the MDC. The irony is
that
Tsvangirai and the MDC are also using sanctions as leverage against
Mugabe
and Zanu PF.
Negotiators interviewed yesterday said when the
talks resume there are
likely to be renewed clashes at the negotiating
table.
"It won't be easy because the political stakes are high
and no one is
prepared to lose ground anymore," one negotiator
said.
Although Mugabe appears to be saying he can compromise on
Gono,
Tomana, governors and Bennett easily, the reality is that it would be
difficult for him to give in on Gono, provincial governors and now Tomana
because they form a pillar of strength for him on their own.
It
is also common cause Mugabe and Zanu PF hardliners do not want
Bennett in
government for historical and racial reasons politically
connected to land
reform. This would make it exceedingly difficult for the
MDC to extract
concessions on these issues.
Similarly, the MDC does not think
the removal of sanctions is
primarily their responsibility, making it hard
for Mugabe to get what he
wants. With the two main sides still playing
hardball, prospects of a
quick-fix solution are thus bleak.
In fact Tsvangirai clearly demonstrated this on Wednesday. In an
interview
carried by his newsletter, the premier said he was not responsible
for the
sanctions and Zimbabwe's international isolation, setting the tone
for
negotiations by his party.
"I must underline that Morgan
Tsvangirai is not personally
accountable, neither is the MDC as a party
accountable for the removal of
sanctions. This issue in terms of the GPA is
a collective responsibility,"
Tsvangirai said. "Zimbabwe's isolation is a
collective responsibility. It
should not be apportioned to any particular
party, let us approach it from
that angle. The other thing on radio stations
is that once the (Zimbabwe
Media Commission) ZMC is in place you make the
parallel market irrelevant."
However, Zanu PF's position
remains that the MDC is responsible and
must remove the sanctions and stop
foreign radio broadcasts, something
nearly impossible to achieve given that
these issues are not under their
control. Sanctions and radio stations in
relation to Zimbabwe are foreign
policy issues of the US and EU governments
and realistically, the MDC simply
has no control over them.
Sadc however wants the parties to fully implement the GPA first and
then
"engage in a dialogue in order to find a lasting solution to the
outstanding
issues".
Dumisani Muleya
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 12 November 2009
20:09
ZIMBABWE will this month sign a Bilateral Investment Promotion
and
Protection Agreement (Bippa) with South Africa, amid a farm ownership
dispute between deputy Reserve Bank governor Edward Mashiringwana and a
South African farmer, Louis Fick. Economic Planning and Investment Promotion
minister Elton Mangoma this week told journalists that Harare and Pretoria
would sign the long-awaited deal on November 27.
Delays in
inking the agreement with the neighbouring country had been
triggered by
disagreements over a clause that deals with the land reform
exercise.
"To improve the investment environment,
government negotiated several
Bippas with potential investor countries as
well as those in which we sought
to invest," Mangoma said. "In this regard
we will sign the Bippa with South
Africa on November 27 and details of the
agreement will be made public
thereafter."
Government is
seeking US$50 million in lines of credit from South
Africa, the country's
major trading partner.
The trade deal is expected to pave way
for the resumption of a 20-year
US$330 million loan facility suspended by
the South African government last
year due to Zimbabwe's poor credit
rating.
The signing ceremony would take place at a time when
Fick had sought
the intervention of South Africa's ambassador to Zimbabwe,
Mlungisi
Makalima, to ask government to stop Mashiringwana from taking over
his Karoi
farm.
Fick, the vice-president of the Commercial
Farmers Union, was part of
the over 70 white farmers who successfully sued
government at the Sadc
Tribunal, which ruled that the expropriation of their
farms was illegal.
However, government ignored the tribunal's
ruling and has since pulled
out of the Windhoek-headquartered regional
court.
The fight for Friedwill Farm between Fick and
Mashiringwana recently
turned nasty when five labourers were shot and
wounded in skirmishes at the
piggery.
The Zimbabwe-South
Africa bilateral agreement would, according to
official documents, be the
third to be signed by Zimbabwe in the Sadc
region. Signing of similar deals
with other member states are still pending.
Government has since the
start of the 2000 land reform arbitrarily
acquired land covered by Bippas,
further dampening investor confidence.
Mangoma said there was
"nothing contentious" in the Zimbabwe-South
Africa proposed agreement
despite recent remarks made by Justice minister
Patrick Chinamasa that
government would not sign any agreement that
"reverses" the controversial
land exercise.
Zimbabwe has only signed and ratified Bippas
with China, Denmark,
Germany, Netherlands, the Swiss Federation and
Yugoslavia. The country has
not ratified the bilateral agreements it made
with Egypt, France, Iran,
Italy, Singapore, Sweden, United Kingdom and the
US.
Bernard Mpofu
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 12 November
2009 19:50
IT is a sweltering November afternoon and Guruve communal
farmers
ignore the heat, waiting for their turn to receive a bag of
fertiliser and
15 kg of maize seed donated by the European Union (EU) and
the Food and
Agriculture Organisation (FAO) through the Sustainable
Agriculture Trust.
Success or failure, the farmers know, depends on these
inputs as they do not
have their own resources to acquire them.
A
village head from Guruve in Mashonaland Central, Mukambi Chimanikire
(74),
aptly captured the situation when he said the fight at village level
was for
survival and the donation of seed and fertiliser was enough for them
to
prevail.
At village level, Chimanikire said, they were not interested
in who is
getting what post in government, as long as they got the necessary
inputs
for the impending rainy season. He was referring to the standoff
between the
principals in the inclusive government which resulted from
arguments over
positions.
"Whereas the struggle in the past has
been for pieces of land, we now
fight for food while those at the top may be
fighting for positions," said
Chimanikire. "This is a different year and we
wish these people (EU and FAO)
would continue giving us maize seed and
fertiliser in the coming seasons. We
also appeal that the quantities be
increased."
The dishing out of inputs to villagers has become a
spectacle repeated
in almost every district in the country as communal
farmers struggle to get
inputs. Lack of adequate inputs in recent years has
led to poor harvests
which in turn have seen the country importing maize to
meet the deficit.
In the 2009 budget, the then Acting Finance minister
Patrick Chinamasa
said government would provide communal farmers with two
bags of fertiliser
and 10 kg of maize seed, something that has not
happened.
While preparations for the 2009/2010 season appeared to be on
course a
few months after the government of national unity became
operational, the
plot seemed lost as time progressed.
There has
been much abstracting and generalisation by government of
the country's
potential to produce while reality shows that farmers are
struggling to get
enough inputs for a good harvest.
Statistics on fertiliser imports,
seed uptake and land preparations
show that the season, as has become the
case since the turn of the century,
has been lost and it would take a
miracle to save it.
Government has largely abdicated its duty to
support farmers, waiting
for donor agencies to collect and distribute
resources.
It has been reported that government has managed to raise
only US$5,7
million out of US$48 million it had planned to use to fund
agricultural
production this season and there are no solid plans to make up
the deficit.
In the first official confirmation that the 2009/2010
farming season
will again go to waste, agriculture permanent secretary Ngoni
Masoka was
recently quoted saying the country had managed to acquire less
than half of
the amount of fertiliser required by farmers.
The
latest assessment by FAO shows that the country should produce
about 25% of
the staple maize crop, about 450 000 tonnes which is a 70% drop
on the 1,5
million tonnes produced during the 2008/2009 season. Most of the
crop for
the 2009/2010 season is likely to come from farmers supported by
donor
agencies.
Reserve Bank governor Gideon Gono has lately been pushing for
the
immediate disbursement of funds which were raised to support communal
farmers this season.
Gono has gone further by directing banks to
support agriculture
through loans, but this will cater for farmers with
collateral, which means
the communal farmers would be excluded.
A
chief executive of a commercial bank told The Zimbabwe Independent
that
wrong signals were being sent with regards to banks' position on
offering
loans to farmers.
"Not all farmers can access the inputs. There are
administrative
hurdles and issues to do with security before inputs are
released," the
banker said. "Banks look at risk before issuing loans, just
like any other
business. It is unfortunate that some sections of society are
not giving
proper explanations to farmers."
Focus has largely been
on the commercial farmer, with policymakers
trying to ensure that they got
loans for the coming season. But this has
resulted in the neglect of the
communal farmer whose production in the last
decade has been hand to
mouth.
In Guruve, for example, the farming inputs project by the EU and
FAO
targets communal farmers without draft power but with a minimum of half
a
hectare of land. They also focus on the disabled, the elderly and those
affected by illnesses such cancer and asthma.
Farmers outside this
category have to source their own inputs or get
them from government but
this is very difficult and in most cases results in
the underutilisation of
their pieces of land.
In most cases, the donations which farmers have
been relying on are
only a starting point, for example the 15 kg of seed and
a 50 kg bag of
fertiliser, would cover at most one hectare which may not be
enough to
support a family of eight throughout the year.
Jairos
Chingandura, a 34-year-old farmer from Guruve, has received
seed and
fertiliser from the EU and FAO in the last three years but wishes
this
package was increased so that he would be able to increase hectarage.
"I have been able to sell the surplus (maize realised from farming
supported
by EU and FAO) and this has helped me a lot since I am not
formally employed
and have three children," said Chingandura. "We have
improved on our harvest
and we wish the package would be increased to three
bags of topdressing
fertiliser and 30 kg of seed so that we increase the
hectarage."
If
one has been enjoying these inputs for three years and anticipates
continued
support, then it is a sign that it would take long before communal
farmers
become self-sustaining.
Small-scale communal farmers had by 1999 become
the mainstay of maize
production in the country, contributing up to 70% of
grain, as large scale
commercial farmers preferred cash crops which they
exported earning hard
currency. Unlike now the marketing of these crops was
not controlled.
A decade later, communal farmers now rely on seed and
fertiliser
handouts from non-governmental organisations.
Zimbabwe's
annual national maize requirement is 1,8 million tonnes and
the average crop
yield is 0,44 tonnes per hectare.
This means that farmers have to put
around 4,1 million hectares under
maize to meet the country's minimum
consumption requirements before
realising a surplus.
Leonard Makombe/Paul Nyakazeya
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 12 November 2009
19:46
AFTER the Sadc Organ on Politics, Defence and Security met in
Maputo
on October 29 to deliberate on how best to alleviate the political
impasse
in Zimbabwe, one would have been permitted to be optimistic. The
optimism
would have been premised on a seeming shift in Sadc's approach to
issues
that the three political parties have defined as "outstanding" with
regards
to the Global Political Agreement (GPA).
The
involvement of South African President Jacob Zuma, against the
backdrop of
Thabo Mbeki's assumed departure, can also be considered reason
enough to
think that Sadc has a much more urgent approach to the Zimbabwean
political
crisis.
The consideration of the January 26-27 Communiqué of the
Extraordinary January summit as the basis upon which the remaining
outstanding issues should be addressed within 15 to 30 days also gives
impetus to the notion that perhaps Sadc is responding differently to events
in Zimbabwe.
This is because the January 27 Communiqué
gave specific timetables
to the swearing in of the prime minister and his
deputies as well as cabinet
ministers. It also indicated the specific
periods in which the Joint
Monitoring and Implementation Committee (Jomic)
shall meet, stated that the
GPA shall be reviewed after six months and
stipulated that the negotiators
shall meet "immediately" to consider a
National Security Bill submitted by
the MDC-T.
The same
communiqué also mentioned the appointments of the Reserve
Bank Governor and
the Attorney-General by stating that the two posts should
be "dealt with" by
the inclusive government after its formation. On the
latter point it did
not, however, specify a timeline.
And all of this must be
considered with the fact that the communiqué
of the Sadc Troika on October
30 adds a new dimension to outstanding issues
that differs from that of
January.
The inclusion of a clause in the latest Sadc communiqué
that requests
that the international community lift all forms of sanctions
on Zimbabwe
makes one wonder who exactly will undertake the follow up action
on
sanctions.
Zanu PF, given its proclamations on sanctions,
has already identified
this as an outstanding issue that the MDC must deal
with.
How the MDC can possibly address the issue when they do not
have any
control or direct influence on foreign governments that have placed
what
they have called targeted sanctions is a matter for Zanu PF to explain,
but
the fundamental problem here is that the recognition of "sanctions" by
Sadc
creates a dilemma for the MDC. This is because Zanu PF will raise it as
an
outstanding issue, among others, simply in order to attempt to strengthen
its weakened hand with the Sadc Troika.
Having taken all of
this into account, there is limited reason to
doubt that a greater number of
Zimbabweans are anxious to have some sort of
explanation as to what exactly
all of this means both in relation to their
lives as well as their partisan
interests.
To simplify all of these Sadc-led processes one can
explain them in
relation to the vested political interests that are inherent
in the
Zimbabwean political crisis.
First, Sadc, in the
tone of its latest communiqué on Zimbabwe intends
to make this GPA function
against all odds.
The fact that it has followed up on both
its promises within the
context of the six-month review as well as on the
basis of the prime
minister's one week lobbying trip around the region
indicates that it is
fairly serious about averting a collapse of the
agreement.
A question that would however arise is in relation to
what exactly
would be the vested interests of Sadc in trying to make the
parties stay
together in the inclusive government?
One
reason would be that Sadc intends to continue the revamped
Pan-Africanist
mantra of "Africans solving their own problems" and another
that because the
regional economic hub, South Africa, has a football World
Cup to host next
winter, it can ill afford having to grapple with a
troublesome neighbour
next door.
This would mean that Sadc is acting in its own best
political
interests as well as to stave off a regional embarrassment before
the World
Cup.
This should also be taken to mean that Sadc is
not necessarily acting
in the democratic interests of the people of
Zimbabwe, let alone those of
Madagascar or the Democratic Republic of the
Congo, but more for its
political and economic standing as a regional block
but, in particular, for
the protection of South Africa's continued economic
and political hegemony
in the region.
Second, we must
analyse the interests of the three political parties
that are signatory to
the agreement. Zanu PF's primary interests in this
particular Sadc process
was to ensure that somehow it got the issue of
sanctions mentioned again in
the communiqué after the DRC summit held on
September 5. MDC-T's vested
interest, on the other hand, was to get the
issue of the provincial
governors, the Reserve Bank Governor, the
Attorney-General and the
intimidation, arrests, and abductions of its
members recognised as
outstanding issues.
The MDC-M had the particular interest of
making sure the inclusive
government continues to function. All of these
parties got the majority of
what they desired on paper.
As
a matter of consequence, the reference to the January 27
communiqué of the
Sadc Extraordinary Summit held in South Africa is more a
return to the
euphoria that preceded the swearing in of the inclusive
government. And in
part it is to ignore the last seven or so months that
have had serious
political ramifications for the country.
It is almost as though the
political parties are back to square one.
And this might be considered
progressive given the fact that there has been
a lot of unfinished business
in the inclusive government and Zanu PF was/has
been acting with impunity
against what the GPA had been assumed by many to
mean.
There are however downsides to the potential return to the drawing
board as
of January 27. These include the possibility that the MDC-T pulls
out
altogether after the passage of the stipulated maximum of 30 days if it
does
not get what it wants. Or that Zanu PF insists on "going it alone'
regardless of the pressure from Sadc.
Both of the
aforementioned would affect the national economy
negatively because of the
loss of investors who at the moment almost
literally control supply and
demand in the country.
There would also be the return to evident
political turf wars and
potential political violence in preparation for an
election that will not
necessarily occur. And it is this particular fear of
an "Armageddon" that
will drive the political parties to return with
regularity to Sadc.
The latter will then begin to increase its
control over Zimbabwe, to
the extent that the country may not be viewed by
even its own citizens as
sovereign or independent until such a time as one
of the two main parties
relent. And in all of this, it will be the
democratic intentions of the
people of Zimbabwe that will suffer. As a
result of the vested interests of
Sadc as well as a result of the inability
of the three political parties to
remember that theirs is a transitional,
temporary government, and is
therefore not nearly
legitimate.
In conclusion, it is therefore imperative that
those that laud Sadc
for its intervention in Zimbabwe be aware of the fact
that it too has its
own aggregated interests that may not be in the best
interests of
Zimbabweans. It is also important that the three political
parties realise
that making each other scapegoats in their continued quest
for total power
thus far into the formation of an inclusive government leads
to the erosion
of confidence of the people in the ability of the Zimbabwean
state to
provide for their livelihood and thus its national
legitimacy.
This is especially so given the continual
unaffordable social
services, unavailability of social welfare and the lack
of any progress in
the establishment of a democratic constitutional reform
process.
Takura Zhangazha is the National Director of Misa
Zimbabwe.
By Takura Zhangazha
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 12
November 2009 17:28
EARLY in the year, a high-powered South African
business delegation
visited Zimbabwe to assess opportunities following the
formation of the
unity government.
President Robert Mugabe
dined them at the State House and assured them
he respected the "sanctity"
of property rights.
He smiled and waved goodbye to the billionaires
keen on investing in
Zimbabwe. But the business people needed it in black
and white in the form
of bilateral agreements. Nevertheless all looked very
well.
Then came the Indeginisation and Economic Empowerment (General)
Regulations of 2009, rules to expropriate ownership of foreign firms. The
rules betrayed lack of commitment to attract investment on the part of
government.
The South Africans and other prospective investors must
be trying to
figure out the implications of this document before getting out
their
chequebooks.
The proposal seeks to transfer a controlling
shareholding in any
foreign-owned business valued at US$500 000 or above to
indigenous
Zimbabweans in terms of the Indigenisation and Empowerment Act
enacted in
2007.
The regulations spell out thresholds, time frames
and the process of
compliance.
"Any business that within the 60-day
period referred to in Subsection
(1) fails to enter into a transaction that
results in fifty-one per centum
or a controlling interest, as the case
maybe, being held by indigenous
Zimbabweans shall within the next thirty
days submit a proposal within the
next six months from the date of
publication of these regulations on how it
intends to achieve compliance
with the Act," reads the proposed regulations.
But economic analysts
say Zimbabwe is not ready to pursue any
empowerment policy given the poor
liquidity situation in the country.
Mugabe has over the years issued
threats to foreign businesses for
allegedly sabotaging the economy but never
followed them through.
A government economic advisor says government
has picked the worst
time to implement its empowerment policy given that
banks cannot fund
empowerment deals at the moment.
This
unfortunately, theeconomist said,
leaves a handful of business people,
politicians and individuals with
political connections to participate in the
empowerment programme if
government goes ahead with it.
The
economist who preferred anonymity said: "Banks cannot fund
empowerment deals
at the moment. The plan to seize businesses is not in the
spirit and
interest of the global political agreement. You could empower
people through
other things rather than forcing businesses to sell their
shareholding to
black people. Naturally an empowerment of this sort will
benefit a handful
of people and that is a narrow kind of empowerment. There
is no right
thinking Zimbabwean for instance, who will invest in Mozambique
without
control of the business. Why should Zimbabwe expect foreign
investors with
the kind of environment created by such legislation?"
He added that
there was need for a well thought-out empowerment
exercise as opposed to the
one being proposed by government.
The economist said government should
create the right economic
environment to allow Zimbabweans to access
long-term funding for capital.
Already over 60% of companies on the ZSE
are either controlled or
managed by blacks.
Unlike during the land
reform days where individuals would get farms
for free, this time the new
shareholders would be compelled to pay cash for
shares.
Mugabe and
his ministers and senior officials, especially of the old
order, behave
rather strangely for a country keen to convince spooked
investors that they
could finally do business in the country.
This month alone Mugabe and
his loyalists have been behaving rather
strangely. A UN official was
deported and now this empowerment proposal.
Mugabe often appears to be
a crazy uncle holed up in the attic, who
until he appears unexpectedly many
choose to forget exists until he pulls a
totally nutty stunt.
The
empowerment regulations could widen already existing differences
on key
economic and foreign policies with government partners - Prime
Minister
Morgan Tsvangirai and Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara.
And
government has not tried to sanitise its strange plans either.
None of
the main sectors of business including mobile telephony,
tourism, finance,
transport, communication and construction will be spared
as they are
expected to attain empowerment within three years.
On adoption of these
regulations, 30% shareholding must be immediately
ceded to blacks in mines
and telecoms.
Could this be another fast track reform?
"When
one looks at the schedule, the impression one gets is that, for
example,
banks must in three years attain a minimum indigenisation and
empowerment
quota of 30% when in fact a bank should attain 51% by the end of
the three
years. 39% is supposed to be immediate, and the remaining 21% in
three
years," a legal expert said last week.
The expert said the schedule was
ambiguous and mum on numerous issues
emanating from valuation of
assets.
The expert questioned how valuations would be conducted and
whether
this would be arrived at using agreeable formulas.
He
asked: "For example, will this (valuation) be done by asset value
or cash
value and who will be evaluating this? What of assets purchased
through
loans? Will this not cause confusion?"
The move to seize assets is not
without precedent. A decade back
villagers decided to correct historical
imbalances on the farms and forced a
white farmer off the land. Veterans of
Zimbabwe's guerrilla war got wind off
it and headed the operation on a
national scale. Agricultural output fell
and the sector is not showing good
recovery signs.
Some of Mugabe's henchmen own more than one farm.
Mugabe himself has
been fingered as a multiple farm owner.
As a
result investors who have been sitting on the fence will not risk
investing
a dime in the country.
Judging by the proposal, Mugabe and company say
one thing and do
another.
But can Zimbabwe afford to stick it to
the world?
Chris Muronzi
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 12 November 2009
19:34
GOVERNMENT and mining companies are heading for a collision over
a
proposed economic policy to raise mining royalties in the next six years.
Economic Planning and Investment Promotion Minister Elton Mangoma on Monday
presented a draft economic plan that recommended an increase in royalty fees
charged to miners. Proceeds generated from the royalties would establish a
sovereign fund to hedge future depletion of natural
resources.
But the Chamber of Mines of Zimbabwe, which is today
expected to meet
officials from the ministry in the capital to debate the
Mid-Term Policy
(MTP) including the quantum of royalties, said raising
royalties could have
a "negative impact" on the industry given the need to
recapitalise and the
size and quality of ore bodies currently being mined.
Government is
currently levying 15% corporate tax on net profit generated by
miners as
well as royalties ranging from 2% for base metals to 10% for
diamonds.
According to the draft MTP (2010-2015) - a policy
document that is
expected to succeed the Short Term Emergency Recovery
Programme (Sterp)
which expires next month - government intends to make a
10-fold increase in
royalties charged on foreign-owned mining companies
exploring base metals.
Zimbabwe has over 40 different
minerals that include base metals such
as chrome, copper, nickel and
zinc.
Locally owned mines, the MTP proposed would be charged 6%
of their
gross sales for exploring the finite minerals. The draft document
also
proposes to increase to 12% from 10% royalties on miners exploring
precious
minerals while slashing levies on joint ventures and locally-owned
companies
mining the same minerals.
"This is a specific
fund (the proposed sovereign fund) that will be
established to manage
natural resource rents such as royalties," reads the
policy
document.
"The fund will be created by transferring up to 75%
of the royalties
and other designated inflows. It will be used in
developmental programmes in
all provinces and surrounding communities where
the mining companies are
located and also in environmental protection in
case of abandoned operations
amongst other issues.
The fund
will basically be storing and creating wealth for the
country. The
management of this fund is very critical. It will have
overseers from
government, the mining industry and civil society."
Both
government and the miners concur that setting up a fund could be
noble in
avoiding future creation of ghost towns such as Kamativi and
Mhangura.
The Chamber of Mines said the royalties should be
used to create new
industries and skills rather than channel the funds
towards recurrent
consumption. "Part of the fund should be used to make
Zimbabwe more
prospective and this includes more mapping and detailed
magnetic surveys
which make exploration for minerals easier" said Chamber of
Mines of
Zimbabwe president Victor Gapare. "We are in disagreement with the
proposed
royalty levels as they will have a very negative impact on the
development
of the industry."
He said in making a
determination on royalty levels, government needed
to take into
consideration the overall tax burden imposed on the ore body
and its impact
on viability."
Bernard Mpofu
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 12 November 2009
19:24
TELONE, the state-owned fixed-line monopoly, admitted to
restricting
calls from landlines to mobile operators to reduce its debts.
TelOne owed
more than US$22 million to mobile operators in interconnection
fees, acting
managing director Hampton Mhlanga told the Parliamentary
Committee on Media,
Information and Communication Technology last Thursday.
Interconnection fees
are paid between operators to allow cross-network
calls.
Mhlanga also revealed the damage caused by a Cabinet
decision to force
TelOne to slash its tariffs earlier in the year. According
to Mhlanga, the
directive had plunged the parastatal deeper into debt. Its
obligations to
other telecoms operators and the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority
had ballooned
following the directive, Mhlanga told the
committee.
Gift Chimanikire, chair of the committee, asked
Mhlanga whether the
mounting interconnection debt had been the reason TelOne
customers had found
it difficult to get through to mobile
networks.
Mhlanga replied: "There was a time that the
liabilities increased so
much that we took a business decision, as the
amount we owed had kept on
growing. Therefore, we were not allowing 100% of
calls to mobile operators,
especially to Econet, so that we reduce our
liability.
"However, we have since had discussion with the
operators, and we said
to them, we will pay you 10% of our collections,
until such a time as we are
able to collect 100%."
This is
the first time TelOne has publicly admitted to having barred
calls from its
own customers to Econet and other mobile operators.
Under the
interconnection arrangement between telecommunications
operators, operators
pay each other for traffic between their networks. For
instance, if a TelOne
customer calls a mobile operator, TelOne pays that
operator seven cents per
minute. Because Econet is the largest operator,
with over 2 million
subscribers compared to TelOne's 300 000, most of the
outbound traffic from
TelOne is heading into Econet. This means its
interconnection obligations to
Econet and other operators, who are expanding
their subscriber bases, were
always rising.
Mhlanga also revealed the company had been
collecting only about 15%
of its bills from customers, yet the Zimbabwe
Revenue Authority demands tax
returns to be based on what the company bills,
and not what it actually
collects.
In a statement TelOne
said it would resume disconnection of services
to some of its defaulting
customers as from 1 December. "TelOne would like
to remind its valued
customers to settle their revised bills in full. This
is in order to avoid
inconveniences that may arise from service termination,
which would be
resumed in earnest.
"Kindly note that with effect from 1
December TelOne will not hesitate
to re-allocate to those on the waiting
list telephone lines of customers
whose arrears are in excess of 90 days
past due as well as those who have
defaulted on the agreed payment plans,"
said the company. TelOne further
warned the defaulters that the company was
considering taking legal action
against them if they failed to pay the
billed amounts.
"Legal action will be taken to recover all
outstanding amounts that
are over 120 days and legal cost will be for the
accounts of debtors," it
said.
TelOne said it would use
part of the funds to revamp some of its
equipment which was either
vandalised or is now dilapidated to improve its
service
provisions.
"We also take this opportunity to advise that
service will soon be
restored to customers in areas where cables were either
stolen or vandalised
and that replacement cables are being purchased," the
company said.
Paul Nyakazeya/Chris Muronzi
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 12 November 2009 19:22
Mines have sought the intervention of Finance minister Tendai Biti in
a bid
to recover funds misappropriated by the central bank over the years,
businessdigest can reveal. A Chamber of Mines letter seen by this paper sent
to Biti appealed to the Finance minister to find ways of "expediting the
payment of all funds outstanding to" its members.
Early this year
the Reserve Bank owed a cumulative US$30 million to
gold mines going as far
back as 2007 forcing most mines in the sector to
shut down
operations.
A handful of mines have resumed operations this year but
output is
still very low.
The letter reads: "Our members are
saddened by the fact that at a time
that mining should be growing and
contributing more towards government
revenue, mining companies are
struggling to raise working capital to
recapitalise and expand production,
while they are owed substantial amounts
of money by the Reserve Bank of
Zimbabwe."
The chamber says RBZ governor Gideon Gono converted its
members' funds
to other uses without the permission of the companies. This,
the chamber
believes has worsened the situation mines have found themselves
in.
"There have been many statements in which government ministers have
lamented the low contribution of mining to the fiscus at the moment.
However, this assertion ignores the fact that over a long period, the RBZ
converted foreign currency accounts belonging to companies to its own use
without the consent of the concerned companies.
At the time that
the RBZ was converting the funds to its own use, the
chamber did highlight
the fact that there was a price to be a paid in future
as companies were
being deprived of money to keep exploration, development
and capital
replacement going which would inevitably translate into very low
productions
and therefore low revenues to the fiscus in future."
The letter was
also copied to Mines Minister Obert Mpofu.
Gono this year admitted
converting millions of account holders' funds
to RBZ's use to keep the
economy pumping.
But gold mining group, New Dawn managed to convert a
US$2 million
central bank bond into cash this
month through a
financial
institution.
Prior to the freeing of the gold
industry this year, the central bank
through its subsidiary Fidelity
Printers was the sole buyer of gold in the
country. Gono says an acute
shortage of foreign currency forced the central
bank to convert funds to
pressing national requirements.
But since the formation of the unity
government this year, the bank
has been unable to meet any of its financial
obligations.
Chris Muronzi
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 12 November 2009
19:07
MOST households and industries in Zimbabwe are currently limited
to
less than 10 hours of electricity supply daily because of power cuts
which
are a result of lack of investment in power generation since
Independence.
The hardest hit areas are limited to about five hours of
electricity daily.
Only about 30% of the country has access to grid
electricity.
What is more worrying is that despite not having
electricity during
the greater part of the day, households are receiving
electricity bills as
high as US$1 600.
No new power generation
stations have been built in the country since
Kariba Hydro in the early
1960s and Hwange Thermal which was completed in
1986.
Despite
advances in technology, power experts say a lead time of up to
five years is
needed to build a power station.
The current power shortage stems from
a failure by government to
implement numerous power generation
projects.
More recently the annual maintenance at Kariba and depressed
generation at Hwange have increased power rationing.
The old
thermal power stations built in the late 1940s at Harare,
Bulawayo and
Munyati are too expensive to run and are almost obsolete,
despite their
refurbishment in the mid-1990s.
Power utility Zesa Holdings does not
have the funds to buy the coal
and bring it all the way from Hwange to the
small thermal power stations.
The Hwange Colliery Company has failed to
provide Zimbabwe Electricity
Distribution Company, a subsidiary of Zeas
Holdings, with adequate supplies
of coal. Hwange is also being accused of
not treating its business partners
in a professional and progressive manner;
a situation analysts said did not
attract foreign and local
investors.
To add to their woes, the railway line linking the power
stations and
the colliery is in a state of serious disrepair.
This
is a major drawback to efforts to increase capacity utilisation
to 60%,
according to the Short Term Emergency Recovery Programme (Sterp).
The
Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries says industry is currently
operating at
about 33,2% which is still far off the mark.
Questions have been asked
about how government will be able to
increase power generation to meet
increased demand by industry, when the
power utility is failing to meet
demand at a time when industry is operating
at below 40%. Questions have
also been asked why Hwange Colliery Company Ltd
was chasing away investors
when they are said to be failing to operate
viably.
There are fears
of a major coal shortage after Hwange briefly
suspended operations at one of
its mines that was flooded with water.
HCCL's output has already
suffered after its dragline was taken off
line for a month as it underwent
major repairs. The flooding of the
underground mine, which happened after
miners tried to dig deeper in search
of "good coal", worsened the situation,
sources said.
The country's sole producer of coal has already recorded
a decline in
coal sales to 401 114 tonnes during the first half of the year
to 862 392
tonnes during the same period last year.
Zesa has been
badly affected by the coal shortages.
Zesa chief executive Ben Rafemoyo
said increased load shedding was a
result "of annual maintenance at Kariba
and reduced generation in the
country".
He said Sterp adopted by
government was a plan which would increase
demand for electricity and that
the nation should brace for increased load
shedding for the next few
years.
Rafemoyo said depending on the site, type of generation station
and
amount of work, a power station takes between four to seven years to
construct. This suggests that apart from stopgap measures the country will
have increased load shedding for a minimum five years.
Zesa has
been forced to enter into skewed deals with foreign companies
to assist in
the construction and refurbishment of power stations as was the
case with
NamPower of Namibia.
"With regards to the NamPower deal, people should
look at the basis of
the transaction. We (Zimbabwe) did not have foreign
currency and they
(Nambia) did. The refurbishment needed to be done," said
Rafemoyo.
Zimbabwe imports power from Mozambique, Zambia and Snel from
Democratic Republic of Congo.
Rafemoyo said in the event of
increased capacity utilisation by
industry "it was mostly likely that
households would not have electricity
during the day to ensure industry
operates, but the opposite would occur
during the evening".
In an
interview with Movement for Democratic Change newsletter The
Changing Times
this week Minister of Energy and Power Development, Elias
Mudzuri said his
ministry had embarked on a major rehabilitation exercise to
ensure that
Zimbabwe has uninterrupted power supply by June 2010.
"We have managed
to improve the energy situation in the country and as
a result, industry and
commerce have started kicking but due to some
constraints, consumers' cannot
get 100% power supplies at the moment,"
Mudzuri was quoted saying.
"We have also managed to undertake urgent maintenance work at Kariba
Power
Station," he said.
Mudzuri said he hoped that in the 2010 national
budget, to be
presented later this month, his ministry would get between
US$70 million and
US$100 million which would mainly go towards equipment
maintenance and
rehabilitation.
Mudzuri said he was working on a
plan to audit both Zesa and the
National Oil Company of Zimbabwe in order to
"clear off failure in areas we
think management has not done
enough".
Mudzuri also said: "Non- payment of bills is a challenge as
even
government is failing to pay its electricity bills because of the
political
environment"
Regionally, most countries also have power
deficits and it will be
difficult to import power when the country has no
foreign currency.
The country requires 1 960 megawatts daily and is
currently
experiencing a short fall of 310 megawatts a figure analyst have
disputed
saying it was higher as was shown by increased load shedding.
Coronation
Financial Service economist and investment analyst Lance
Mambondiani said
all parastatals were experiencing similar problems as
Zesa.
"The parastatal has been haemorrhaging for a considerably long
time
and teetering on the brink of insolvency. Zesa, like many other
struggling
state-owned enterprises such as Air Zimbabwe and NetOne, has
always been
grossly undercapitalised, poorly managed and surviving only
because of
government funding," he said.
Paul
Nyakazeya
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 12
November 2009 19:01
WHEN President Robert Mugabe attacked former
Finance Minister Herbert
Murerwa in a televised interview for sticking too
much "to textbook
economics", many were surprised. His beef with Murerwa
was that the then
Finance minister had attempted to put a stop to
quasi-fiscal activities - a
euphemism for printing money - before he got
sacked from his job.
By then, central bank chief Gideon Gono's habit of
running the
printing press to fund working capital requirements of state
enterprises was
still in its infancy. The nation got the message loud and
clear; let Gono
print money.
He also gave the nation an insight
into his economic beliefs. He
believed then that printing money to save the
masses was not a bad idea,
never mind the Maynard Keyneses of the economic
world.
Mugabe argued that the greater good of printing money, according
to
him, was by far outweighed the evil of inflation. In simpler terms he
blessed Gono's efforts and castigated reason and knowledge.
Ironically, Mugabe is said to possess an economics degree.
Just when
the nation was beginning to think Mugabe had abandoned his
strange populist
beliefs, he is proving to be a very consistent believer.
The aged
leader wants to see the Zimbabwe dollar back in circulation
by year-end.
Yes, end of this year.
This is not the first time he has made this wish
known this year.
At the Zanu PF Women's League conference a few months
back, Mugabe
told party supporters that the absence of the Zimdollar in
circulation was
hurting the ordinary man on the street especially the rural
folk.
This is the essence of Mugabe's argument. Forget economic
stability.
Forget price stability and consider the rural folk.
Essentially, it could be back to the numbers game again for
Zimbabweans if
Mugabe has his way.
Picture this: going to the supermarket with a
plastic bag of dollars
to buy breakfast. Encouraging the little ones to be
mathematically sharp and
keep counting to a billion. Anything short of a
billion is no good because a
bus ride will be costing trillions and along
with other such norms of living
in a modern day Weimar Republic.
Mugabe is not alone in his campaign to bring back the dollar.
Central
bank chief Gideon Gono has been trying to sell the idea to the
masses.
Gono is proposing a gold standard as a monetary
system.
Never mind the monetary system was abandoned a few years after
the
Second World War. Since then no other country has gold standards. Not
even
North Korea. The pariah state just prints its own greenbacks without
the
support of the US government. Maybe Zimbabwe should take a cue from its
communist friends.
Taking a cue from his boss, Gono is possibly
oiling the printing press
in anticipation of the green light to print
money.
But there is just one problem - getting the populace to accept
the
money.
By December last year, Zimbabweans were rejecting
transactions in the
Zimdollar arguing most denominations mere pieces of
paper. Will the proposed
Zimdollar face the same fate?
Analysts say
lifting confidence in the local unit will be an uphill
task given the
rejection it faced in the past. Supposing that confidence is
remotely
lifted, Gono is seen as a rigid government bureaucrat, who would
free
foreign exchange rates in line with inflation stoking the foreign
currency
black market.
But Gono defends bringing back the Zimbabwe dollar on the
grounds the
exercise is not going to be a "blind" one.
He believes
a "guarded" reintroduction of the currency could work and
that the new
currency would have "real and tangible" worth.
He said: "Such a new
currency will have a real, tangible worth as
embalmed in the real assets
backing it. This gives the new currency the
characteristic of general
acceptability as a fluent medium of exchange in
goods and services
markets."
"Given the country's proven resources of gold, platinum and
diamonds,
among several other minerals, a fully-backed currency which can
freely
convert back to the real underlying assets at the instance of the
currency
holders' wishes will be having the desirable character of being a
legitimate
store of value. In other words, the currency will have a stable
value of
time given the direct link to the volume of tangible assets from
the real
sector."
Mugabe says rural Zimbabweans have no access to
the US dollar and all
other foreign exchange units being used in the
country. He argues that
villagers need the Zimdollar to survive.
Gono's ready commitment to oiling up the printing machines does not
help
that much.
Financial institutions had to fund upgrades of failing IT
systems on a
monthly basis. Gono's solution to dealing with the numbers game
was to
remove the increasing number of zeroes. But the stubborn zeroes
always came
back faster than they had been removed.
Finance
Minister Tendai Biti says he would rather commit suicide than
see the dollar
resurface under his watch.
If Biti quits his job over the issue, then
it could present further
problems to an already troubled unity
government.
Biti said the unity government's formation was the last
nail on the
local unit's coffin. Its resurrection will unnerve many,
analysts predict.
Chris Muronzi
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 12 November 2009
18:55
CHITUNGWIZA South MP Misheck Shoko was on Tuesday scheduled to
ask
Minister of Water Resources Development and Management Sipepa Nkomo to
inform parliament when the suburbs of Units O, N, G and M in his
constituency would get piped water and to explain the problems being faced.
Unfortunately the minister was not present to explain the problems being
faced in the area and the country.
For instance, residents of
Mabvuku and Tafara have gone for years
without water and would want not only
a convincing explanation but also an
apology.
As the heat increases
this summer, seasonal streams - from which
multitudes of the country's less
privileged who cannot afford to sink
boreholes, used to draw water - have
since dried up and water, which is
supposed to be a necessity, has turned
out to be a pricey luxury.
Nkomo is hardly the only troubled man;
Harare mayor Muchadeyi Masunda
seems to be in the same boat. When he took
office in July 2008, one of his
most immediate priority was to resolve the
water crisis in the capital.
But as the year draws to an end, many
areas of Harare still do not
have a reliable supply of the precious
liquid.
Greater Harare requires 1 200 megalitres of water daily. The
Morton
Jaffray Water Works has the capacity to generate 614 megalitres per
day,
while Prince Edward has a capacity to pump 100 megalitres.
With the current shortages of power and water treatment chemicals, the
combined output of the two plants is at 600 megalitres, but a significant
proportion of the water being treated is being lost through
leakages.
Masunda has attributed the water problems to broken pipes
saying "the
city was losing up to 40% of treated water through
leakages".
Taking the leakages into account, slightly more than a third
of the
daily water requirement reaches industrial and domestic user
Although Masunda is credited with repairing water pipes in Harare, the
challenge his team of councillors now face is to ensure that the old pipes
are cleared and the trenches covered and compacted, before the rains
begin.
Nkomo is on record as saying Harare's water problems will
persist
until government constructs Kunzvi Dam and raises financial
resources to
repair plant and treatment facilities.
According to a
document compiled during the third quarter of the year
by Nkomo, the water
crisis was a result of years of absence of funding to
recapitalise and
failure to expand capacity despite evidence that the urban
population was
growing at what he described as an "alarming state."
Nkomo said water
from Chivero and Manyame dams was either of poor
quality or "heavily
polluted with sewerage and industrial waste".
Nkomo added that there
was need to provide a new water source for
Harare to meet growth in water
demand. Loss of skilled manpower has also
taken a toll on the authorities'
ability to deal with the crisis, he said.
To end the water woes, Nkomo
said Kunzvi Dam should be expeditiously
constructed.
While Nkomo
highlighted the cholera outbreak last year as exposing the
dire water
situation in the country, experts warned last week that Zimbabwe
could be
headed for a fresh cholera outbreak ahead of the rain season
because
government has not dealt with structural causes of the epidemic.
A
United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
report
says government has not addressed broken down, "anachronistic" water
and
sanitation infrastructure characterised by burst sewer systems and water
pipes that often result in sewerage contaminating water before it reaches
households.
This, according to the report is what contributed to
last year's
cholera outbreak, which claimed the lives of over 4 000
Zimbabweans.
The report said: "As the next rainy season approaches,
there are,
however, fears of another cholera outbreak because the structural
causes of
the current epidemic have not been fully addressed.The challenge
of limited
safe water and frequent water cuts that force people to resort to
unsafe
sources including shallow wells, ponds and dams among others, has not
been
addressed."
Experts estimate that six million people have
limited or no access to
safe water in the country.
In areas that
are fortunate enough to have water, the precious liquid
is not clean.
Government has also highlighted the shortage of water
treatment chemicals as
a serious concern.
At the official opening of Parliament on October 6,
President Robert
Mugabe shifted the blame onto middlemen, whom he accused of
pushing costs
up.
"Reliance on middlemen in the procurement of
water treatment chemicals
has been a major cost driver in the provision of
water. To obviate this
challenge, government will centralise the procurement
of water treatment
chemicals."
In supporting this view, Masunda
said: "When it comes to the bulk
procurement of anything, let us put our
heads together. This will help us
speak with one voice... Service delivery
has nothing to do with politics. We
need to all do an appraisal and
rationalise these things."
Neither Mugabe nor Masunda named the
middlemen involved in the
procurement of water treatment chemicals. But in a
recent address to
journalists, Nkomo said the middlemen were connected to
influential
government officials.
"By the time a chemical reaches
Harare or Bulawayo (from where it is
bought in South Africa), its price will
be 10 times higher. There are too
many middlemen in between. These are
people who have become very rich
through selling water treatment chemicals,"
Nkomo said.
Paul Nyakazeya
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 12 November 2009
18:47
THE Zimbabwe Trade and Investment exchange conference aimed at
rebuilding the country will be held in Johannesburg, South Africa starting
Monday next week.
The conference will be held under the theme
"Rebuilding Zimbabwe - the
challenges and opportunities to outside
investors".
The theme reflects changes for the better and hope for the
future.
Given the general scope of the event, sectors which will be included
are
financial services, agriculture and manufacturing, infrastructure
development, logistics and transport, tourism, health services and
mining.
The conference is being organised by Omega Investment
Research.
Since the formation of the GNU, there have been signs of
recovery
mainly due to dollarisation and the removal of price
controls.
These policies together with other complementary ones
embarked upon by
government have ushered in a breath of life into what had
become a dying
economy.
Speaking at the 2009 manufacturing survey,
Confederation of Zimbabwe
Industries (CZI) president Kumbirai Katsande said:
"The increased
competition and opening up of borders across the globe to
allow free
movement of goods presents new challenges."
"This calls
for industry to be more innovative and to improve
productivity if we
(Zimbabwe) are to be competitive," Katsande said.
"To achieve this
productivity and competitiveness, a stable
macro-economic and political
environment is critical," he said.
Zimbabwean industries had not been
able to invest and retool over the
past five years, due to lack of funds.
While Zimbabwe was grappling with
economic difficulties, the world was
moving forward.
Zimbabwe's Finance Minister Tendai Biti last month said
he expected
the economy to grow by 6% to 7% this year, a considerably more
bullish
forecast than the 3,7% expansion of gross domestic product the
International
Monetary Fund (IMF) recently projected.
Biti issued
his forecast at the IMF annual meeting in Turkey offering
an even more
optimistic projection for 2010 during which he said economic
growth could
throttle up to a 15% pace as unused capacity comes on line and
state assets
are sold.
Biti said prices would fall 7% this year. - Staff
Writer.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 12 November 2009
18:45
MALAWI has been hit by crippling fuel shortages as the country is
running out of foreign currency because Zimbabwe is failing to pay back a
debt. The money was lent to Zimbabwe in June 2007 loan via the Reserve Bank
of Malawi.
According to that country's Nyasa Times, the blame was
initially put
on Mozambique for the country's fuel woes, claiming that fuel
has been held
up because of congestion in the ports of Nacala and
Beira.
The paper says the "claim was strongly denied on Monday by
managers of
both ports"
Fernando Couto, chief executive officer of
the Northern Development
Corridor, which runs the Nacala port and rail
system is quoted saying Malawi
"had simply run out of foreign exchange and
had even asked to borrow fuel"
The paper accused the government of
Malawian President Bingu wa
Mutharika of "extravagant use" of foreign
currency.
The money borrowed to Zimbabwe was supposed to enable the
Zimbabwean
government to buy maize in Malawi.
The loan, guaranteed
by the Malawi government on the basis of a
"personal understanding between
President Mutharika and his close political
pal President Robert Mugabe" of
Zimbabwe, is due for repayment at the end of
December.
In addition,
media reports indicate that the Mutharika Government has
bought a
presidential jet for about US$15,9 million.
Malawi has for the past
four weeks gone with empty tanks at fuel
service centres. Motorists are
reportedly continuing to abandon their cars
at filling stations in hopes
that they would be served once fuel supplies
arrive at the
stations.
Only six per cent of Malawi's population has access to
electricity
while the rest depend on charcoal and paraffin for cooking and
lighting
respectively, reports say. There are fears that the fuel crisis
could
suffocate the economy. - Afrik.com
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 12 November
2009 17:39
THE Herald this week provided a revealing picture of how
Zanu PF does
business. Harare South MP Hubert Nyanhongo has been disputing
the outcome of
elections for the post of provincial chairman, won by Amos
Midzi, citing
irregularities and vote-buying. Nyanhongo said he had written
several
letters to national chairman John Nkomo raising what he called
"glaring
irregularities" in the way in which the province was restructured
prior to
the elections which took place last Saturday.
Nyanhongo
said that in District Coordinating Committee 3 that covers
Dzivaresekwa,
Kambuzuma, Kuwadzana and Mufakose, 23 districts were scrapped.
As a result,
he said, 24 000 people were not recognised in the party
structures.
"In those districts I was supposed to have 400 delegates," he said.
"We have
the same problem in District Coordinating Committee 6 that covers
Mbare and
Harare South where six districts with 9 500 people were left out."
He
said he was surprised that Central Committee and Politburo members
who
expressed their support for Midzi ignored the party's constitution.
Nyanhongo alleged one person, who he named, was urging people to vote for
Midzi giving them $20 and $10 notes.
Why should he be surprised?
Nobody else is. If Zanu PF runs its
affairs in this chaotic way, why do we
assume it can do any better when
organising national elections?
Then we had an equally revealing story the same day on our judicial
process.
Harare magistrate Chioniso Mutongi, who recently jailed a senior
prosecutor
for disrespecting the court, resigned from the bench citing
interference,
harassment, and abuse by the prosecuting authority.
Mutongi also
alleged that the Chief Magistrate's Office failed to
accord her protection
from such interference and harassment. She had jailed
prosecutor Andrew
Kumire for five days after he had "sucked his teeth
producing a sound deemed
to be contemptuous of the court" after the
magistrate sustained an objection
by a defence lawyer.
This happened during the trial of Harare lawyer
Alec Muchadehama for
facilitating the release of three people accused of
terrorism in defiance of
a High Court order.
Kumire was on the same
day released on $30 bail pending review but
Justice Tedias Karwi upheld Ms
Mutongi's decision and the review failed.
When Ms Mutongi signed a warrant
for Kumire to be brought before the court
for committal to prison, another
magistrate took over and granted him bail
pending appeal.
Mutongi,
in her letter of resignation to Chief Magistrate Hlekani
Mwayera, said she
had experienced "a torrid time during which I was entirely
abused and
harassed at the hands of the state prosecution but I did not get
professional protection from this office as I reasonably
anticipated."
She said she had received threatening calls from
anonymous callers.
"Further," she said, "I only learnt with dismay that
another
magistrate had granted Andrew Kumire bail pending appeal in unclear
and
dubious circumstances wherein I am the trial magistrate for that
particular
case."
This was a classic case of a "convict walking
scot-free as a
beneficiary of unmitigated protection from some quarters,"
Mutongi said.
"How can a person who has been committed to prison by a
trial
magistrate be granted bail by another magistrate who is not seized
with the
matter without spending even a minute in the cells?"
One of the matters tabled by the MDC-T as grounds for its withdrawal
from
cooperation with Zanu PF a few weeks ago was selective application of
the
law of this sort.
Another matter of concern to the MDC-T and civil
society has been
mismanagement of government departments. The office of the
Comptroller and
Auditor-General in a report carried in this newspaper
recently documented
irregularities in government spending in the period
leading up to the
electoral run-off last year. Comptroller and
Auditor-General Mildred Chiri
reported, among other things, that the then
Ministry of Information and
Publicity received a donation of 95 vehicles
from the Reserve Bank but seven
of them could not be accounted for.
The ministry generally had poor record-keeping, she said. The ministry
had
failed to physically count and update its assets register since 2004.
"Consequently no boards of survey/inquiry had been held to assess the
adequacy and suitability of the ministry's equipment, stores and assets,"
she reported, in remarks also carried in the Financial Gazette.
"Although the Information ministry has a fully fledged and ostensibly
functional internal audit unit," Chiri reported, "its effectiveness in the
administration of financial affairs was questionable as not a single
internal audit was issued during the period under review."
The
accounting officer for the ministry is permanent secretary George
Charamba
who likes to castigate the independent press for its spotlight on
government's record. The state of affairs at the Information ministry, as
reported above, illustrates what happens when senior officials become
arrogant and unaccountable.
Munyaradzi Huni has been playing
fast and loose with the facts again.
He has imagined all sorts of strange
goings on which bear no resemblance to
real events. For instance, he
imagined that after his recent tour of the
region, Morgan Tsvangirai "sent
emissaries and made several calls (to the
president) in a bid to convey the
message that his party (MDC-T) had made an
error of political judgment and
the leadership had realised the futility of
their actions."
And
what caused this burst of activity? "It is understood that the PM
wanted a
few notes from the president on how to rein in some of his party's
hardliners."
You have to laugh at this nonsense, almost certainly
gleaned from
officials who have difficulty managing their ministries. But
there's more.
The troika leaders, we gather, gave Tsvangirai "a few lessons
of what
exactly was contained in the GPA".
Is this the same GPA
whose outstanding issues Zanu PF announced it
wouldn't entertain ahead of
the Maputo summit? Then suddenly we heard they
were having to discuss the
outstanding issues and the Pretoria communiqué as
well! If there were any
reversals going on they weren't in the MDC camp!
Huni concluded his
piece on Sunday by having a "political commentator"
tell us that now the
summit had said all outstanding issues must be dealt
with simultaneously,
"the yardstick is now more complex for the MDC-T".
"Zanu PF can meet
their demands overnight but can the MDC-T remove
sanctions, stop pirate
radio stations and stop external interference within
15 days as directed by
the summit"?
If Zanu PF could do their part so easily, why haven't they
already
done so? Don't we recall the president saying there was nothing more
to
discuss?
As for the MDC-T, this should be a walk in the park.
They are not
responsible for sanctions or "pirate" radio stations. If Zanu
PF wants them
removed it had better start behaving better - which we all
know they can't
do!
Is it true that President Mugabe told an
audience in Zhombe last week
that the Zim dollar would be reintroduced
before Christmas? If so, and the
reviled local dollar is revived, Mugabe
will successfully unite the country
on the issue. Because, make no mistake,
there is nobody in the MDC-T or Zanu
PF for that matter who wants the pain
and inconvenience of a return to the
Zim dollar. Can you imagine those
queues and the disappearing zeros as the
Reserve Bank once again plunges the
nation into a cycle of corruption,
instability and misery?
It is an
indication of Mugabe's isolation from public opinion that he
could even
contemplate such a disastrous move. But we haven't heard the
MDC-T's
response. Have they rallied the country around this issue?
Once again,
it would seem, they never miss an opportunity to miss an
opportunity!
Muckraker used to quite enjoy contributions from
Alexander Kanengoni
in the press. They contained insights not available from
other contributors.
But his piece last Friday, "Tsvangirai driving Rhodesian
agenda", was a huge
disappointment. It was unoriginal. Indeed, it looked as
if he had been
handed a script. And it was littered with
inaccuracies.
For instance, he is confused about the events of 1964
when Winston
Field was deposed for being insufficiently robust in his
dealing with
Whitehall. That was an internal RF coup; the Dominion Party,
which he cites,
had long since disappeared from the scene.
Then
there is a good dose of dishonesty - the hallmark of Zanu PF.
Kanengoni
suggests that the vandalism to farms and agricultural equipment
that one
sees along the highways is the product of unforgiving commercial
farmers.
The same people are responsible for stealing road signs, he claims!
"Some of us thought it was the aluminium that the vandals wanted for
resell
(sic). But when they also destroyed the concrete blocks showing the
distances along the roads then the agenda became purely Rhodesian".
If you believe these conspiracy theories you will believe anything.
For
instance, Kanengoni must be the only person in Zimbabwe who
believes Gideon
Gono's claim that the Americans tried to lure him to the
World
Bank.
Gono made the claim in his self-serving book on the Casino
Economy.
The Americans were quick to describe it as unlikely given the
damage he was
doing to the local economy. Kanengoni has another spin. He
thinks the
Americans had identified Gono as the man "single-handedly
preventing
economic collapse".
Really? Is that what the rest of the
country thinks?
Alexander: The next time you are given your marching
orders by
inhabitants of Munhumutapa Building or some other dark place,
think about
your credibility. They are a bunch of losers and some of that
will rub off
on you.
Muckraker has been sent the following
headings from US papers. They
serve as a warning to sub-editors:
"Kids make nutritional snacks"; "New study of obesity looks for larger
test
group"; "Something went wrong in jet crash - expert"; "Panda mating
fails -
vet takes over."
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 12 November
2009 17:32
LAST week this column addressed the tragic circumstance
that, for most
of the last 25 years, major players in Zimbabwe's
governmental hierarchy
have consistently pursued policies which have
devastated the economy. They
did so dogmatically, callously disregarding
well-informed advices as to what
needed to be done to assure a virile
economy. They did so in pitiless
contempt for the consequential suffering
of the Zimbabwean population.
So vigorously did they pursue
their policies of economic destruction
despite the authoritative contrary
advice given them by so many, that it is
an inevitable, and undoubtedly
incontrovertible, that they did so in pursuit
of absolute power and
authority, and with extensively fulfilled objectives
of self-enrichment.
Their actions were indisputably devastating, but that
accorded them no
concern.
Distraught from their malnutrition, pronounced and
endless hunger,
grievous ill health and endless anguish, the populace had
great expectations
of economic recovery when the "inclusive government" came
into being.
And their hopes were not wholly misplaced for the
economic decline
ceased, and progressively Zimbabwe experienced some
meaningful upturn of the
economy, albeit miniscule compared to what was
needed.
Hyperinflation was replaced by deflation, scarcities of all
basic
commodities ceased and were replaced by widespread availability of
most
essentials. Excessive and oppressive economic regulation diminished,
exchange controls were substantially reduced, industrial productivity
marginally increased as did that of mining and many other facets of economic
recovery.
However, clearly these constructive developments
were of great concern
and distress to some of the political hierarchy, being
those who had
previously exercised absolute power and had in 2009 sustained,
for the first
time in 29 years, real erosion of their power
base.
Determined to recover lost ground, they have recently resumed
pursuit
of destructive policies and action targeted at restoring their power
base,
their absolute authority and wealth enhancement.
They are
energetically striving to rebuild their support base by
making specious and
potentially disastrously negative economic promises, by
enacting
catastrophic legislation which can only weaken the general economy
(whilst
increasing their access to wealth), and by ongoing and intensifying
actions
in blatant contempt for law and order, and for due and proper
respect for
human rights.
Farm invasions continue unabated, with increasing
violence,
destruction and misappropriation of property, targeted at the very
few farms
still operated by whites. Not only are there no attempts to curb
the
invasions, or to ensure compliance with law, and not only are Bilateral
Investment Promotion and Protection Agreements (Bippas) studiously ignored,
so too are the cataclysmic consequences upon the economy and upon
Zimbabwe.
Agriculture was always the foundation of the economy
until those
supposed to care for the nation destroyed it. Not only are the
ill-conceived, poorly implemented land policies the cause of the
near-annihilation of agriculture, but the invasions and those policies are a
massive deterrent to investors, whose perception is "they have
expropriated the land, so next they will take the mines, then industry, then
hotels, and then all else".
And that perception is not
devoid of substance. Having
unconstitutionally promulgated the
Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment
Act in March 2008 ahead of the
presidential, parliamentary and senatorial
elections, last week a Statutory
Instrument pursuant to that Act was
apparently finalised for imminent
gazetting.
If it is, in fact, gazetted, it will confirm the
long-declared
governmental intent that all business in general, and foreign
owned
businesses in particular, must be at least 51% owned by indigenous
Zimbabweans. To that end, within periods ranging from 60 days to three
years all such businesses will have to have Zimbabwean indigenous equity
holders of not less than 51% of total equity, existing owners either
divesting themselves of shares, or allowing their equity to be diluted.
With immediate effect, therefore, no non-indigenous existing or potential
investors will invest in Zimbabwean enterprises.
Suddenly,
and very understandably, all investment to enhance mining
production,
industrial capacity, and so forth, has discontinued. This is
not because
investors object to indigenous co-investors (and, in fact, most
welcome it),
but they are unwilling to be reduced to junior partners,
subject
considerably to the whims and fancies of the majority equity holder,
and
especially so as they are not even assured of equitable recompense for
the
capital, technology and other inputs they have provided.
Major
investment is an essential element of economic wellbeing,
yielding
employment creation, market liquidity, export revenues, downstream
economic
growth, fiscal inflow and much, much more. But, in order to gain
political
mileage and, in some instances, self-wealth enhancement, policies
are being
enunciated and pursued fiercely discouraging such investment.
But recently not even those cataclysmic policies sufficed to satisfy
the
obdurate determination of the hard core political hierarchy, striving to
have the masses onside, even if by misleading them, and by promising
impractical and economically catastrophic actions.
Only last
week, if Zanu PF-biased media is to be believed, the
president promised an
almost immediate reincarnation of the Zimbabwe
currency, stating that doing
so would restore liquidity for the populace.
The reality is diametrically
the opposite.
That liquidity would only arise if, upon the
reintroduction of the
currency, Zimbabwe would once again endlessly print
money, in total
disregard for virtual non-existence of resources to support
such money.
That, in turn, would immediately fuel intense hyperinflation,
potentially
even greater than that which was the characteristic of
2008.
Concurrently, foreign exchan
ge availability will
again be minimal, reinstating the previous
environment of extreme scarcities
of virtually all commodities. Business
survival will again be in extreme
jeopardy, unemployment will increase to
levels even greater that the current
more than 85% formal sector
unemployment.
The grievously
suffering populace of Zimbabwe will be subject to even
more intensified
hardships and miseries. There can be no credible reason
for promising
imminent restoration of Zimbabwe currency other than to garner
support from
an ill-informed and misguided populace, and to belittle
minister Tendai
Biti, who is justly opposed to a return of the currency in
the foreseeable
future.
Incontestably, these and other policies, actions and
public statements
are a continuance of the economic genocide that has
plagued Zimbabwe for all
too long.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 12
November 2009 18:16
THE Sadc organ on politics, defence and security
last Thursday in
Maputo for the first time since its inception stood up
against President
Robert Mugabe and Zanu PF by ordering them to own up to
the global political
agreement (GPA) and the regional bloc's January 27
communiqué that set out
timelines for the inception of the inclusive
government and outlined
outstanding issues of the unity pact.
Mugabe went to Maputo screaming and kicking after the organ called for
the
mini-summit to save the shaky inclusive government following Prime
Minister
Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC party's partially withdrawal from the
government for three weeks to protest Zanu PF's intransigence to resolve
sticking points in the GPA.
Despite dissembling propaganda
from the state-controlled media and
hired Zanu PF spin doctors, the Sadc
troika found the ageing Mugabe culpable
in refusing to deal with the issues
threatening the life of the government
of national unity.
The 30-day deadline imposed by the organ for the resolution of the
sticking
points will show to the world whether or not Mugabe and Zanu PF
have
reformed after the Maputo meeting and exhibit their sincerity to the
full
consummation of the GPA and the January 27 communiqué.
Tsvangirai and his party emerged much stronger from the summit given
that
the Sadc troika accepted his case against Mugabe and set a deadline for
the
resolution of the outstanding issues.
It was a victory for
Tsvangirai on five fronts.
The MDC-T scored the first victory
when the troika convened the Maputo
mini-summit despite Mugabe insisting
that the disengagement and other issues
of the GPA should be resolved
internally. Mugabe was dragged to the
mini-summit despite his protestations
and claims that his party had
fulfilled its bargain of the unity
deal.
Secondly, the acceptance by the troika that the January
27 communiqué
was part of the GPA came as a blow to Mugabe and Zanu PF who,
through their
propagandists, had reduced it to a mere press
statement.
Mugabe's plot not to resolve the issues surrounding
the appointments
of Reserve Bank Governor Gideon Gono, Attorney-General
Johannes Tomana and
provincial governors was exposed and shamed by the
acceptance of the
communiqué. The communiqué sets out the outstanding
issues, some of them not
covered by the GPA.
Thirdly, the
buy-in by the troika to issues Tsvangirai raised as
sticking points of the
GPA was also a victory for him and his party after
Mugabe and Zanu PF had
since October been bellowing to the world that the
only outstanding issues
were the continued imposition of sanctions by the
United States, Britain and
their Western allies and hostile foreign radio
broadcasts into the
country.
Fourthly, the troika was also in agreement with the
MDC-T in noting
that little progress had been made in fulfilling some of
the critical
provisions of the GPA such as the inception of the National
Economic Council
to come up with a programme to restore economic stability
and growth; and
the slow pace in coming up with a solid programme for the
promotion of
equality, national healing, cohesion and
unity.
The final victory for the MDC-T at the summit, was the
troika's
decision, though not direct, to remove former South African
President Thabo
Mbeki as facilitator. The organ said the facilitating role
was that of South
Africa and, therefore, President Jacob Zuma took over from
Mbeki.
Tsvangirai fought many battles and lost to have Mbeki
removed as
facilitator. He accused the ex-president of bias towards Mugabe
and Zanu PF.
The MDC-T is hopeful that Zuma will not pull its punches in
dealing with
Mugabe.
Zanu PF spin doctors at the weekend
gave the impression that the
troika had mandated the MDC-T to make sure that
sanctions are removed within
the 30-day deadline.
This line of
propaganda is hogwash to say the least. Nowhere in the
communiqué issued
after the mini-summit is a resolution for the MDC-T to
cause the removal of
embargoes.
It would have been naïve, if not stupid, for the organ
to make such a
resolution because it knows that Tsvangirai and his party
lacked the
capacity to have the sanctions lifted. What Tsvangirai can only
do is to
call for their removal.
The summit simply urged
"the international community to lift all forms
of sanctions on
Zimbabwe".
For the avoidance of doubt, the decisions of the
summit were as
follows: "The political parties signatory to the GPA should
engage in
dialogue with immediate effect within 15 days and not beyond 30
days; the
dialogue should include all the outstanding issues emanating from
the
implementation of GPA and Sadc communiqué of 27 January 2009; (and) the
facilitator should evaluate progress and report back to the chairperson of
the organ on politics, defence and security co-operation".
It is in view of these decisions that Tsvangirai and his party
announced the
suspension of its partial disengagement from government.
At
least now we know that Zanu PF has a regional obligation to address
issues
it has been trying to sweep under the carpet.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 12
November 2009 18:13
I HAVE just got a job and began work this week.
Give me a pam-pam .
but wait a minute. Here is an anecdote:
Before
the day of the assumption of duty I had visited my new place of
work at
least twice for the interviews and all the other little things that
accompany job hunting in a country whose unemployment runs at more than
80%.
On each occasion of course the first point of call was the
security
guard, dark and menacing, seated at the entrance. I had expected to
be
welcomed, as in the past, by a lovely receptionist with the smile of an
angel seated nymph-like on a swivel chair, nimbly punching away on a
keyboard with the phone precariously held to the ear by a shoulder.
But in front of me was a forbidding desk behind which sat Attila the
Hun
himself; so I had to endure the pernickety questions and that suspicious
glare. On the first day I was late for the interview because my answers
would not satisfy him. I had to phone HR for intervention. The same thing
happened on the second visit and then also on the day I assumed
duty.
Strangely I wasn't miffed by all this. In Zimbabwe the most
loathed
individual in society is the security guard; bad songs have been
sung about
him. He has been insulted in the street by mere babes but I
believe society
lays the blame for the guard's behaviour on the wrong
man.
So, rather than getting annoyed, I saw through him; behind that
hostile façade there was deep heartfelt compassion.
Contrary to
public opinion it takes a lot of humanity to be a security
guard; the kind
of humanity that inspires one to protect others who are in
grave
danger.
As he finally allowed me to enter the newsroom I figured out
why he
was wary of strangers. Inside that heavily barricaded newsroom was an
endangered species that had to be protected.
Not long back a
seemingly friendly visitor had delivered a live bullet
in an envelope; the
recipient, an elderly scribe who was running his last
lap in the field of
journalism.
Even as I entered the newsroom for the first time in five
years I was
aware that two of my new colleagues were facing court action for
publishing
a story whose contents was already in the public domain. It was
beholden
upon the security guard to ensure that nobody, but nobody, would
have access
to the two and the others (now including me) who work with them
and do them
harm.
But the question that came to mind was what have
journalist done to
deserve this? Why has our dear country become about the
most dangerous place
in the world for journalists to work in?
There
are many bad things that have happened to journalists working in
Zimbabwe in
the last few years; they are well documented and will be beyond
the scope of
this article, but suffice to say they include arbitrary
arrests, abductions,
and bombings of newsrooms and printing presses.
Recently I had read on
Misa-Zimbabwe website what were called Safety
Measures for Journalists
Working in Zimbabwe. They were summarised thus:
"Instinct, Intuition and
Wisdom should be the operative words for those
journalists working in
hostile environments. Above all, no story is worth
dying
for!"
All very discouraging but I had dismissed this as too
much fuss. I
realised how foolish I had been to think that the atmosphere in
the newsroom
of today would be the same as that of 10 years or even five
years ago when
pompous young reporters would shout at the top of their
voices that they had
landed a "scoop" or that they had had an "exclusive"
interview with such and
such political luminary.
But when a
reporter is continually reminded: "When venturing into
volatile political
areas, journalists should intuitively know when to
retreat", it becomes
rather intriguing for in our country every area has
become a volatile
political area.
At my first editorial conference I noticed that
the young journalists,
behind the façade of self-confidence, were in fact
very cowed. One or two
were chewing on their fingernails while others sat
deep in their chairs as
if hiding from some dark invisible
force.
I could feel they had the leads to great copy but they knew
their
limitations; as they presented their diary items one could feel them
holding
back. They were quietly saying, "I've got a scoop but it's out of my
bounds."
In the good old days it was the duty of the
journalists to prick the
bubbles of the high and mighty; to deflate their
bloated egos. But now a
superfluity of rules and regulations mean this can
only be done at one's own
peril.
But journalists will win
yet because they have a job to do.
Below is a nice little
quotation from a book called Reporting for
Change: A Handbook for Local
Journalists Working in Crisis Areas: ".the
media's core contribution to
democracy and development is responsible
fact-based reporting. Providing
reliable information to support responsible
public debate, hold officials
accountable, and inform the decisions of the
electorate - these are the
underlying tasks of the media in a democratic
society."
The
powers-that-be must be reminded: The higher you build your
barriers the
taller we become.
Madanhire has joined the Zimbabwe Independent
as deputy editor.
Nevanji Madanhire
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 12 November 2009
17:52
DEPUTY Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara is an unwanted
interference in
the government of national unity. He is disliked by Prime
Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai's MDC and equally vilified by those in Zanu PF.
However, in the
numbers game which will soon play out in parliament, both
parties would
require support from the MDC-M to shore up their figures in
the House.
Elsewhere in this paper we carry the story of an
attack on Mutambara
by the MDC-T leadership at a rally in Chitungwiza last
Sunday.
The attack was prompted by accusations that Mutambara at
the Sadc
troika summit in Maputo last week sided with President Mugabe in
claiming
that sanctions were an outstanding issue in the implementation of
the GPA
and that Tsvangirai was running a parallel government. This,
Tsvangirai's
MDC concluded, had made Mutambara an extension of Zanu
PF.
At the weekend Mugabe travelled to Egypt for the
Sino-Africa summit
accompanied by ministers from Mutambara's faction of the
MDC and none from
Tsvangirai's party; a sure way of confirming the
MDC-M/Zanu PF alliance.
The Chitungwiza attack is one of many
skirmishes between Tsvangirai
and Mutambara since the breakaway of
2005.
While Mutambara is loathed by Tsvangirai's MDC, he is
regarded as a
source of irritation by Zanu PF.
In the eyes of
Mugabe's party, he is a disrespectful and arrogant
upstart who should
forever be thankful to Mugabe for appointing him deputy
prime
minister.
From this vilification, Mutambara could take heart in
that he may want
to regard himself as not an appendage of either of the two
larger political
parties.
Occasionally, to demonstrate that he
is his own man, he has fired
salvos at Mugabe and his party for winning an
election which was a "fraud
and a fuss". He has also had a go at Tsvangirai
whom he has branded a "weak
and indecisive leader".
All
this makes him neither a friend of either party but what is
obvious though
is that the current power matrix in parliament makes the
position of
Mutambara not just critical, but strategic in the passage of
Bills,
especially in the lower house.
The MDC currently has 98 members
in the House of Assembly and Zanu PF
is precariously close on
97.
Mutambara's MDC has seven seats which can make or break either
party's
aspirations in the passage of contentious legislation like the
Reserve Bank
of Zimbabwe Amendment Bill which went through its second
reading this week.
Tsvangirai's MDC which sponsored the Bill
through Finance minister
Tendai Biti will require the support of the MDC-M
for the Bill to safely
pass through the lower House. How then does Biti seek
to steer the bill if
his party attacks the MDC-M leader?
The answer is obvious here. The MDC-T is banking on the MDC-M's
pro-democracy credentials to support legislation in the arm-wrestling with
Zanu PF.
In this vein, Mutambara's party is expected to support
amendments to
the RBZ bill and the Public Order and Security Act and the
impending Freedom
of Information legislation.
The plan could be
to alienate Mutambara from MPs in his party and
ensure that they vote with
MDC-T. The same was achieved in August last
year - when buoyed by the
backing of nine MDC-M MPs - MDC-T's Lovemore Moyo
was elected Speaker of the
House of Assembly.
Wily foxes in Zanu PF are also seeing an
opportunity in this. The
attack on Mutambara by Tsvangirai and Biti on
Sunday is the tonic they
require for their anti-democracy
crusade.
In politics, it should be noted that nothing is obvious
and positions
are not always cast in stone. Professor Jonathan Moyo's
rejoining of Zanu PF
is a case in point.
There is therefore no
guarantee that Mutambara's MPs will vote with
Tsvangirai's MDC in critical
matters. The influence wielded by the seven
MDC-M MPs can therefore never be
underestimated. They could be the
difference between democratic reform and
the perpetuation of Zanu PF
demagoguery. It could be the difference between
national progress and a
return to the dark days of
hardship.
Therefore it is critical that Tsvangirai understands
this rather banal
factor in the current power balance. He can only ignore it
at the risk of
sabotaging the reform movement in this country.
To illustrate this, it is important to revisit events leading up to
the
Presidential elections in March last year.
Tsvangirai did not see
the need to work with Mutambara in the
presidential election. Mutambara
joined forces with Simba Makoni. This
Makoni/Mutambara alliance, it turned
out, was the difference between
Tsvangirai getting the majority required to
win the poll and avoiding a run
off.
Frankly, I think it
makes sense to avoid political labels and for the
MDCs to forge a working
alliance. Public attacks on Mutambara - (I do not
discount his weaknesses
here) do not solve the country's problems or ensure
the full implementation
of the GPA. The thrust should be to make Mugabe
reform and not flaunt
egotist credentials.
"After the game (of chess), the king and
the pawn go into the same
box." - Italian Proverb.
Vincent Kahiya, Editor
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Politicians' Road Accident Deaths Must be Investigated
Thursday, 12
November 2009 18:12
THE untimely death of MDC-T MP for Makoni Central,
John Nyamande
(November 7) in a road accident signifies the loss of
modern-day freedom
fighters under mysterious and suspicious circumstances.
Could it be a
coincidence that the death of Nyamande occurred at a time when
there is a
deteriorating political atmosphere marked by a spike in
harassments,
intimidation and threats? The violence started with a wave of
Mugabe-triggered incarcerations of MDC MPs.
To the sceptical and
discerning citizens, it is a known fact that in
the political realm this is
a time-tested modus operandi - turning our
roads into abattoirs. Throughout
Zimbabwe's history, road accidents have
over the years conveniently
eliminated perceived enemies of state and
opposition members. The most
disturbing pattern is that the so-called
accidents have always been
accompanied by a carefully orchestrated cover-up
plan.
The untimely
death of Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's wife - Amai
Susan Tsvangirai -
in another horrific accident this year, which saw the
Prime Minister himself
cheating death, immediately comes to the fore. The
bottom-line is that the
accident was never thoroughly probed by independent
investigators and the
truth was never told. It was a bad precedent for the
unity government to
proceed with business as usual without pinpointing the
exact cause of the
accident.
The Nyamande accident is the latest in a series of events
that could
amount to a drastic and carefully orchestrated
government-sponsored
crackdown on opposition politicians, journalists and
civic groups. In an
effort to seek justice, the first dilemma is that the
accident is first
reported by state-owned mouthpieces such as The Herald and
ZBC. Secondly,
the government will investigate itself, a futile exercise
where evidence can
easily be tampered with. If necessary, MDC must
immediately implore Sadc's
assistance to ensure that a thorough
investigation is carried out.
Suspicious,
Harare.
---------------
Cunning Mugabe in full
Control
Thursday, 12 November 2009 18:04
I READ your
Editor's Memo by Constantine Chimakure about our beloved
leader (President
Robert Mugabe) and the hardliners, and agree with
everything he said except
that the leader is captive to the hardliners in
Zanu PF. He is like a fox,
that old man - he can still run rings around
anybody in the party, and the
party is totally dependent upon him for ideas
and for its very
survival.
Why else does Sadc not do something substantive to rescue the
GNU? If
he were suddenly to die, I have little doubt that Sadc would
suddenly become
aware of its obligations to the people of Zimbabwe, and
start meeting the
guarantees that they promised at the time of signing the
GPA. Mugabe knows
this, and they know this, so I have no doubt at all that
he is in total
control. As it is, I expect they'll get the leader to agree
to swear in Roy
Bennett, all very meaningless in terms of real power. Maybe
even the Zanu PF
governors will be removed but not Gono or Tomana. We shall
see!
Richard McGown,
Harare.
----------
Shocking Cruelty to Animals
Thursday, 12 November 2009 17:59
AS an animal lover and one time
supporter of the Zimbabwe National
Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to
Animals (ZNSPCA), I was appalled to
learn of the plight of hundreds of pigs
at Louis Fick's Friedawil Farm in
Chinhoyi. For over a week now, the pigs
have been without food or water due
to political wrangling over farm
ownership. Sows are currently farrowing in
this sweltering heat, with no
access to water.
As they are being confined in communal pens and
not individual
farrowing pens, mortality will be even higher, especially
amongst the
piglets.
The ZNSPCA is the one independent,
impartial organisation in the
country which can and should take control of
this animal welfare crisis.
However, it appears this has not been the
case.
In spite of the serious plight of the pigs being reported
to ZNSPCA
last week, together with a request for assistance - as the owner
has been
prevented from entering the farm - the suffering of the pigs grows
worse
every day.
Surely the organisation has policies and
procedures to deal with just
such a situation as this as they have done so
successfully in the past? We
trust that the unimaginable suffering of the
animals on this farm will be
dealt with as urgently as
possible.
P Cory.
Chinhoyi.
---------
Mugabe must fulfil outstanding issues
Thursday, 12 November 2009
17:47
THE 30-day deadline set by Sadc for the inclusive government to
settle
the outstanding issues of the Global Political Agreement (GPA) will
only be
applauded after President Robert Mugabe has settled the outstanding
issues
which, among others, include the appointment of the Reserve Bank
governor,
the Attorney-General and provincial governors. These were
appointed
unilaterally by President Mugabe when the prime minister should
have been
consulted.
Further to this the rule of law hasn't yet
been restored, media
violations continue unabated and farm invasions are on
the increase.
We had hoped that the six-month period set at the
inception of this
limping inclusive government to evaluate its workability
would see our
nation making much progress, but this has not been the
case.
With such a background this becomes the second chance for the
unity
government, but what happens to President Mugabe and his Zanu PF party
if he
fails to adhere to the recommendations? Will he also not seek further
compromises, as he is arguing that "sanctions" have not yet been
lifted?
We however applaud the move by MDC-T to express their
disgruntlement
with the unity government by partially disengaging from
interaction with
Zanu PF, thereby drawing the attention of Sadc to the
outstanding GPA
issues. We also maintain that despite the challenges facing
the inclusive
government, it is the best option the country has of moving
forward. Other
scenarios will result in bloodshed and as youths we are a
most vulnerable
group.
Dialogue is indisputably the best solution
to the GPA crisis, and the
transitional phase we are going through is a
process and not an event.
Media and Communications Officer
Youth Alliance for Democracy
youthalliancedemocracyzw@gmail.com
-------
SMS The Zimbabwe Independent
Thursday, 12 November 2009
17:50
IT'S not true to say that the MDC-T and Zanu PF are equals
considering
that Tsvangirai was leading in March. The MDC is more equal than
Zanu PF;
maybe Zanu PF will be more popular in the next world
Jahalamajaha. SADC has just given Zanu PF another 30 days to loot and
destroy Zimbabwe's agriculture, business and to generally perpetrate further
abuse.
Justice.
WE urgently need an exorcist to
exorcise Zanu PF leaders and acolytes
who are repeatedly being spooked by
the ghost of regime change. It is not
Europe that wants to see your backs
but sons and daughters of Zimbabwe. You
can harp on about the regime change
ghost but be reminded that change is
obvious.
Vicar
General.
THE Zimbabwe cricket team currently in South Africa must
be sued for
dragging cricket into disrepute.
A
Mthombeni.
IT baffled me early this year to see vegetable vendors
holding sets of
vouchers and government-printed payslips, knowing what they
did in life, but
after the story about the findings of the audit team I got
a clearer
picture.
Nyathi Shamva.
MAY I thank the
paper for exposing the truth to the public about
millions of dollars which
the ministry of Gender paid to many unemployed
youths because some of us
witnessed it. However my main worry is: What is
going to happen to those
responsible because they should be brought to book?
Nyati
Shamva.
WHOEVER said that people get a government they deserve was
dead wrong.
We voted out Zanu PF but they are still governing us although we
do not want
them. At times people are governed by governments they do not
deserve.
Sintandari.
THERE is nothing the GPA principals
must continue discussing as
everything was agreed on, only implementation is
needed. Mugabe was voted
out last year and is the stumbling block to change.
I do not understand why
the provincial governors have not been sworn in.
Morgan must stand his
ground.
Mutsunga.
WE are fed up of
paying unsent and undelivered messages. Econet, you
are such a good service
provider, but try to fix this issue.
Allen.
CAN someone
please give Econet a full list of all growth points and
towns in Zimbabwe
before they start to claim that they cover all the towns
and growth points?
They must stop this misleading information now before I
sue them.
Mdatsunya.
NEEMA threatens to pull down Econet billboards because
they threaten
the environment. Classic sour grapes.
Scribe.
WHAT people should know is that Simba Makoni is a Zanu PF
member. His
Mavambo is a collective project with Zanu PF to destroy the
opposition,
especially the MDC-T.
Revealed.
ZANU PF
says it has done everything to honour the GPA, right? So what
is it that
they agreed to fulfil in 15 days to the troika in Mozambique?
Michael
Tabbs.
THANK you Mutambara for reminding Mugabe he is not the
president
without the GNU. Again his shots have helped Mugabe to shape up.
Also it is
an important direction for Mutambara as he is a product of
resistance
politics. I will start to respect him. Bravo professor. Hope you
maintain
the balancing stance.
Isaac.
Can Zimind
please throw light on the rumour that govt printers are
busy printing
Zimdollar notes for imminent change back for Zanu PF chefs'
perks to be
reinstated?
N Keately.
NO one is concerned that
state-owned NRZ has had its cable wires of
high value stolen from Harare to
Kwekwe, and now steadily edging towards
Gweru, which has stopped the
electric train service in Zimbabwe. This must
be investigated.
Concerned.
ALLISTER Sparks is right. Simon Khaya Moyo is way out of
line. As a
taxpayer and hence one of Moyo's employers I wish to warn him
that after the
next but first free and fair election he will be out of a
job.
NM.