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Top-form Mugabe keeps succession pot boiling
By Tony Hawkins, Harare
Mugabe's talk of retiring has touched off a scramble for
power
Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe may have had a health wobble 10
days ago,
but in a series of public appearances last week he gave the lie to
mostly SA
media reports that he was seriously ill. From all accounts he was
in top
form at Friday's central committee meeting of his ruling Zanu PF party
at
which he put the wind up many in the business community, with promises
to
restructure national institutions. Number one target is the Reserve Bank
of
Zimbabwe, which is to become "much more of a developmental institution",
but
other parastatals and even his "war cabinet" will not be spared, he
said.
Time will tell just what that means, but bankers are battening down
the
hatches as they anticipate tighter foreign currency and interest
rate
controls. The president is particularly incensed that the banks
have
quadrupled prime lending rates, which reached 160% last week. He - and
many
others - accuse the banks of profiteering in the parallel market for
foreign
exchange and by pushing up their lending rates much more than their
deposit
rates. But because inflation has doubled from 228% in March to 456%,
real
interest rates continue to become increasingly negative, despite prime
rate
hikes. Businessmen and bankers warn that more controls will make
matters
worse, a view shared by senior officials and even cabinet ministers.
But so
frenetic now is the scramble for power once Mugabe finally decides to
step
down or is forced out of office by ill-health that day-to-day management
of
the country and the economy is sidelined.
Cynical outsiders
believe Mugabe is playing his party and the country like a
consummate
violinist. His Delphic references to possible retirement,
including,
according to President Thabo Mbeki, a promise to retire by June
2004, have
set off an orgy of factionalism within Zanu PF. The mood is
fuelled by the
vacancy for deputy president since the death of Simon Muzenda
in September.
The net effect has been to create the conviction, or fear,
that if and when
he goes, Mugabe will leave behind a hopelessly divided
party unable to agree
on a successor. This, cynics argue, suits the
president perfectly.
Parliamentary speaker and long-standing Mugabe loyalist
Emmerson Mnangagwa
remains the frontrunner, but there are reports of a
stop-Mnangagwa front,
spearheaded by two former military men - retired air
force chief Josiah
Tungamirai and one-time army general Solomon Mujuru. They
are said to have
the backing of former home affairs minister and leading
Ndebele politician,
Dumiso Dabengwa. Tungamirai himself is contemplating
contesting the Gutu
North parliamentary seat, previously held by Muzenda.
Also in the running for
that seat, apparently, is yet another military man,
Gen Vitalis Zvinavashe,
head of the army, who is due to retire soon. His
name is being touted, too,
as a possible successor to Mugabe. Mujuru, a
former army chief turned farmer
and businessman, is more a behind-the-scenes
powerbroker than an active
player in the presidential stakes. He has often
been associated with bids to
build up the standing of former finance
minister Simba Makoni (said to be
Mbeki's preferred choice).
On the surface, none of these "newer"
players fits the Zanu PF mould in
which seniority is paramount. Unless this
changes, Mnangagwa's main rivals
are likely to be defence minister Sydney
Sekeramayi (also close to Mugabe
and a man who has held numerous cabinet
portfolios since independence), and
party chairman John Nkomo. His strength
is that he is seen as a safe pair of
hands, a relative moderate and a man
capable of uniting some of the smaller
factions against unpopular party
heavyweights - a category said to include
both Mnangagwa and Sekeramayi. The
party is split on more than personalities
and regionalism. Though there is no
serious ideological divide, there is a
deep split over how to handle the
opposition Movement for Democratic Change
(MDC). Hardliners believe they can
play the country as Mugabe has - using
the courts, the police and army, the
state media, and the "green bombers"
(youth militants) to keep the opposition
under control. The more thoughtful
believe this is no longer possible and
instead favour a Makoni-like figure
in the hope that he would represent so
radical a change from Mugabism that
swing voters would desert the MDC in
droves and support the party of
experience. All of this is academic so long
as Mugabe holds on to power. His
performance last week certainly suggests
that he is in no hurry to move on,
and that speculation that he will quit at
the party congress next month or
when he turns 80 in February, is wishful
thinking.
Zim Standard
ZCTU protest Tuesday
By Kumbirai
Mafunda
THE Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) will from
Tuesday
organise street protests against President Robert Mugabe’s rule and
the
general decay of the Zimbabwean economy.
Top union leaders
told The Standard that the ZCTU, Zimbabwe’s largest
trade union movement, has
now changed its “culture of resistance” from the
largely ineffectual job
stayaways to confrontational street protests.
Union leaders,
including secretary general Wellington Chibhebhe, said
although the police
had been notified, the ZCTU was prepared to go ahead
with the street protests
with or without the requisite police clearance.
“The struggle is
now into the fourth gear and the vehicle has five
gears. The government may
crush the demonstration but the spirit is very
high,” said
Chibhebe.
The ZCTU, which the government accuses of being an
appendage of the
opposition Movement for Democratic Change, has in the past
failed to mount
successful street protests.
Last month heavily
armed soldiers, aided by the police and other State
security agents,
ruthlessly crushed mass protests in Harare and other major
cities organised
by the union to protest against mounting poverty and the
general breakdown of
the rule of law.
Chibhebhe said he believed the ZCTU had turned
around the corner and
that Zimbabweans were now more committed to flex their
muscles against
Mugabe’s government.
He said the union had
consulted “widely” and had taken in workers and
the civic society as well as
employers in its latest showdown with the
government.
“People
are saying you are letting us down by being quiet. So as
workers and trade
unionists we are prepared to go the distance,” vowed
Chibhebhe.
Street protests in Harare would start with a procession from the
State
Lottery Hall near Town House at 12:30 pm and workers are expected to
march
along Julius Nyerere Way to Samora Machel Avenue.
They
would then proceed along Samora Machel Avenue up to Second Street
where a
petition outlining their proposals on tax relief would be handed
over to
Finance and Economic Development Minister Herbert Murerwa at his
Munhumutapa
Building offices.
The petition comes two days before Murerwa
unveils his 2004 National
Budget on Thursday this week.
In
Bulawayo, workers and residents are expected to assemble at the
ZESA offices
and the procession will end at Mhlahlandlela Complex, which
houses government
offices. The MDC said it was supporting the ZCTU-organised
street
protests.
The National Constitutional Assembly and Crisis in
Zimbabwe Coalition,
two influential civic organisations, said they would also
support the street
protests.
Solidarity messages have been
received from COSATU, the Commonwealth
Trade Union Council and the African
Regional Organisation of the
International Confederation of Free Trade
Unions.
Meanwhile, the Progressive Teachers’ Union of Zimbabwe
(PTUZ) has
urged teachers to down their chalks and join the street protests
in large
numbers.
Zim Standard
Lack of political will fuels corruption
By
Caiphas Chimhete
LACK of political drive by government, absence of
a tight legislative
framework and economic hardships have fuelled rampant
corruption in Zimbabwe
such that certain politicians have become “godfathers”
of shady syndicates.
Addressing a Transparency International
Zimbabwe (TIZ) national
anti-corruption conference last week in Harare,
National Economic
Consultative Conference (NECF) spokesman, Nhlanhla Masuku,
said corruption
had become “a staple diet of the greedy and powerful” in
Zimbabwe.
“Lack of political will has fuelled wanton corruption to
the extent
that some politicians have become godfathers of corrupt
syndicates,” said
Masuku, whose organisation has established an Economic
Surveillance and
Monitoring Committee.
The committee monitors
and polices government departments for
effectiveness in dealing with
identified cases of economic crime and
corruption.
He noted that
lack of enforcement of the existing laws was largely
because of the absence
of political will as well as loopholes in the laws,
draining the country of a
great deal of money.
Although StandardBusiness could not establish
the amount lost annually
through corrupt activities, it is estimated that the
figure runs into
billions of dollars.
Speaking at the same
conference, Chief Executive Officer of the
Deposit Protection Board (DPB),
John Chikura, called for the setting up of a
legal and regulatory framework
that encourages honest people while
simultaneously punishing the dishonest
ones.
He said corruption was rampant in all facets of society in
the
country, including the judiciary.
“You know what people say
about our legal system today; ‘why pay the
lawyer when you can buy the
judge’,” said Chikura.
Recent recorded cases of corruption by
government officials and senior
Zanu PF political heavyweights include the
VIP Housing Scheme and the War
Veterans’ Compensation Fund.
President Robert Mugabe himself has publicly admitted the prevalence
of
rampant corruption within government departments and parastatals. He
has
singled out the bankrupt National Oil Company of Zimbabwe
(Noczim).
However, despite the wanton corruption, numerous efforts
are under way
to deal with the scourge at various levels of
society.
Three years ago, Parliament amended the constitution to
provide for
the establishment of an Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC). TIZ
director,
Andrew Nongogo, said an ACC had the potential to deal with
corruption, a
phenomenon that is driving away potential investors the country
desperately
needs.
“Clearly Zimbabwe is a country that is in
desperate need of both
external and internal investment; however, no
substantial investment can be
expected where perceptions about the country
are clearly negative,” he said.
But Masuku said due to the absence
of political will, no progress has
been made save for a poorly drafted Bill
circulating in the country.
“The Bill as drafted is totally useless
as it is silent on providing
for a special investigations unit such as the
Scorpions of South Africa’s
prosecution and witness protection programme,” he
said.
The Southern African Development Community (Sadc) Protocol
Against
Corruption, which many people pinned their hopes on, is also riddled
with
glaring loopholes.
Masuku said missing from the protocol’s
definition of corruption are
crimes such as money laundering, racketeering
and parallel market
activities, making it a weak legislation.
“As a model law, it is too limited and does not address the modern
day
anatomy of corruption,” he said.
This apart, though the
government signed the protocol, it still has
not ratified it.
Already Zimbabwe is ranked among the most corrupt nations in the
world. On
this year’s Transparency International Corruption Perception
Index, Zimbabwe
is ranked 106th out of the 133 countries surveyed.
The index of the
ratings pegs the most corrupt country at 133.
Bangladesh, Nigeria and Haiti
are the most corrupt countries and are ranked
133, 132 and 131.
It is believed that corruption is set to worsen as Zimbabwe’s
political and
economic fabric continues to disintegrate.
Zim Standard
National Budget day: only divine intervention can save
Zimbabwe
By Kumbirai Mafunda
WILL Zimbabwe’s embattled
Finance and Economic Development Minister,
Herbert Murerwa, bow down to
pressure or will he stick to his guns? That is
the question this week ahead
of one of the most keenly awaited National
Budget statements of the Murerwa
era.
Murerwa, as with tradition, will on Thursday afternoon
announce
Zimbabwe’s budget policy for 2004.
The 40 or so pages
that make up the Budget statement are perhaps the
last opportunity for
Zimbabwe to address the debilitating economic mess the
southern African
country is now mired in.
However, Zimbabweans of all rank and file
have expressed pessimism
over Murerwa’s ability to come up with solutions to
the disintegrating
economy.
Their pessimism stems from the fact
that for the past four years — two
of those under Murerwa — Zimbabwe’s
economy has been in the red, finally
declining by 14,4% in 2002.
Economic conditions have deteriorated, weighted down by persistent
foreign
exchange shortages and a growing dependence on the thriving
parallel
market.
Murerwa, who last year pleaded with God to
salvage the country,
promised to reduce inflation — the highest in the region
— to 96% by
December.
There has however been no divine
intervention and inflation has
surpassed 400%, recorded at 455,5% as at end
of October.
Some economists say this figure is an underestimate:
they say
year-on-year inflation is now above 700% and will gallop past the 1
000%
mark come Christmas.
“If the minister is honest, he will
say the government has failed. The
country cannot live on tax revenues,” says
independent economist, John
Robertson, on Murerwa’s proposed
Budget.
“We have an impossible situation for a minister who has no
answers,”
added Robertson.
With personal in-comes increasingly
eroded by taxation and rising
commodity prices, Robertson says the only
remaining source for new money is
the government’s own printing works in
Msasa which will no doubt be
instructed to print more notes.
Already the government has arm-twisted the Zanu PF controlled
Parliament to
allow a whopping $672bn supplementary budget to cover for
expenditure
overruns.
Analysts once again note that a supplementary budget is
inevitable and
most likely in April because of the rate at which inflation is
soaring.
So how can Zimbabwe pull itself out of the current
economic mess it is
in?
“We need a change of government. This
government needs to stand aside
to let a better government take over. It
cannot talk to developmental
partners such as the IMF and the World Bank,”
says Robertson.
Bulawayo-based economic consultant, Eric Bloch,
says Budget day on
November 20 will be a non-event.
“There are
no great expectations. It is going to be a non-event
because all the rational
contributions from stakeholders are incompatible
with the ruling Zanu PF
government’s wishes,” says Bloch.
“The recommendations run contrary
to the ruling party’s policies and
Mugabe’s wishes. Murerwa’s hands are
handcuffed and his feet are tied,” he
added.
The Zimbabwe
Congress of Trade Unions, which has lobbied for low
personal tax, says it
wants taxes to be reduced 10% from January and by 5%
in subsequent years so
that they match international standards.
Prominent banker Nigel
Chanakira — like Murerwa — has been praying for
divine
intervention.
“We are in a greater political and social dilemma so
we really need
wisdom from above. It is only the spirit of God that can give
us wisdom.
Thus I am in prayer for Murerwa,” Chanakira says.
Chances, though, are that Murerwa will be found wanting on Thursday
and —
despite all the prayers in the world there will be no
divine
intervention.
Zim Standard
ZESA loses millions to illegal connections
By
our own Staff
THE financially troubled Zimbabwe Electricity Supply
Authority (Zesa)
is being prejudiced of millions of dollars following a spate
of illegal
electricity connections in hundreds of homes in Harare, especially
in the
high-density suburbs, by its employees, The Standard has
established.
Apart form prejudicing Zesa, the connections are also
endangering the
lives of residents since they are being done without
appropriate switches to
control the voltage recommended for each
house.
A senior official at Zesa said investigations into the
scandal to
establish how much the corporation, currently struggling to pay
its foreign
creditors, has lost through the illegal connections have already
started.
He said the illegal connections were rampant around Harare
because of
an acute shortage of MCBs and electricity cables.
Preliminary investigations, he said, had revealed that most of the
illegal
connections were in Harare’s high-density suburbs of Kuwadzana,
Hatcliff,
Dzivarasekwa, Tynwald and Ruwa.
For the past few months, the
national power utility has not been
installing electricity into newly-built
homes because of the shortage of
MCBs, cables and other electrical components
due to the shortage of foreign
currency.
There has also been
reports of a spate of theft of electricity
components around Harare,
including those of electricity cables.
For each illegal connection,
desperate homeowners pay “a connection
fee” ranging between $150 000 and $300
000 to the technicians. The
connections were mostly done during the
night.
The scandal came to light after one of the junior employees
demanded
payment for overtime for work that was not sanctioned by his
superiors.
“Further investigations then revealed that hundreds of
homes were
illegally connected with electricity prejudicing Zesa of millions
of
dollars,” said the source.
Two weeks ago, Zesa held an
identification parade at its Kuwadzana
depot, where at least eight
technicians and their assistants were pointed
out by people, who had paid
them money for the illegal electricity
connections.
The
identification exercise, said the official, will also be carried
out in other
suburbs. Efforts to get a comment from Zesa management services
officer,
Daniel Maviva, were unsuccessful while questions sent to the
company’s public
relations manager, Shepherd Mandizvidza, were not responded
to by the time of
going to print.
The national power utility is entangled in a web of
debt estimated at
over US$200 million, of which $12 million is owed to Eskom
of South Africa.
The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Mozambique
and South Africa
have on several occasions threatened to switch off Zimbabwe
for non-payment
of electricity debts.
Zim Standard
Fear and hunger in the TCAN
overthetop By
Brian Latham
FOLLOWING the huge success of agricultural reform in a
troubled
central African nation (TCAN), it has been announced that half
the
population needs emergency food aid. Fortunately the other half doesn’t
need
food aid, so that’s a good thing.
Instead, the half that
doesn’t need food aid will be made to buy food,
though they complain this
isn’t as easy as it sounds. The lucky ones will be
allowed to eat if they can
find money, or if they can secure a mortgage on a
loaf of bread.
Meanwhile, a survey conducted by Over The Top has revealed that
Zany
agricultural reforms may well produce enough maize – to feed the
national
chicken flock. This is partly because the minister of
agricultural
destruction spent a great deal of money trying to grow mealies
in winter.
The mealies declined to cooperate.
Of course,
ambitious experimentation in crop science was not the sole
contributor to
mass starvation and possible genocide. Part of the blame must
lie with the
fact that there are no farms left in the troubled central
African basket
case.
While thousands of ex-farmers sit in the troubled capital
twiddling
their once green thumbs, hundreds of thousands of others have been
settled
on the once flourishing farms. Sadly the minister of
agricultural
destruction overlooked the fact that the new settlers’ annual
income was
slightly less than a bag of seed. As a consequence, some hungry
settlers ate
the seed, while others wrung their hands and complained they
couldn’t afford
it.
A drive around the troubled central African
banana republic reveals
that no land has been prepared ahead of the imminent
rainy season. It also
reveals that before very long there will be no bananas
in the troubled
central African banana republic.
Meanwhile, new
farmers interviewed by OTT said they did not know why
they had listened to
the minister of agricultural destruction. They said
they’d have been better
off staying at home and having their homes torched,
which was the other
option offered to them by the ruling Zany Party.
Still, the Zany
Party insists that agricultural destruction has been a
massive success and
blames hunger variously on the weather, economic
saboteurs, the British and
the Americans.
Still, with great good fortune the British and the
Americans have
ignored the accusations and taken on the task of feeding that
half of the
population that can’t get a mortgage on a loaf of
bread.
This has led to a curious phenomenon and much anxiety in the
Zany
Party. Ruling party spin-doctors insist the opposition More Drink
Coming
Party is a creation of unpleasant people in Britain and America who
want to
re-colonise the troubled central African nation. Why they should want
to do
this when it could be bought for 10 quid remains a mystery, but that’s
what
they say.
Still, with food being delivered to hungry
villagers in bags marked as
gifts of America and Britain, the hungry
villagers assume the More Drink
Coming Party is feeding the
people.
It must be so, they say, because the egg head minister
of
misinformation assures them every night that these two imperialist
nations
are hand in glove with the More Drink Coming Party.
The
pleasure of watching this rather pleasant development is
heightened by the
fact that almost all villagers listen to the minister of
misinformation. Not
to do so could result in a large blow to the side of the
head, so the
minister of misinformation finds himself in the curious
position of pumping
out propaganda for the More Drink Coming Party.
It also means that
the starving villagers are growing to like those
crazed imperialists who’re
trying to colonise their country – and that’s
another fact that has the
misinformation minister frothing at the mouth.
Zim Standard
Council debt recovery plan riles Byo
residents
By Loughty Dube
THE Bulawayo City Council is
headed for a showdown with residents over
a proposed new debt recovery system
that would force defaulters to sublet
their properties and the council
collecting rates directly from the lodgers.
The debt recovery
system, drafted by the council’s Finance and
Development Committee, also
proposes that the council engages more debt
collectors to ensure a smooth
collection of revenue and an easy debt
recovery system.
According to the new method, residents who fail to pay their rates
would be
forced to accommodate lodgers who will pay their rents directly to
the
council.
Bulawayo United Residents Association chairman, Winos Dube
told The
Standard that the council’s decision to force lodgers into
residents’
properties was shocking.
“This is going to create
tension and as an association we are going to
resist because there are other
debt recovery methods that council should
have explored before coming up with
this ridiculous method,” said Dube.
The debt recovery proposals are
part of the implementation mechanism
of the 2004 budget announced by council
last week.
The council’s budget is $531,4 billion while the
council’s expected
income is only $20,2 billion.
This would
result in a budget deficit of $511,2 billion which council
says some of this
would be offset by borrowing from the open market.
The council has
in the past relied heavily on the financial market to
sustain its capital
projects, the majority of whom are still at a standstill
as it awaits
approval of a $60 billion supplementary budget that would see
tariffs go up
by more than 80 percent.
Apart from being owed billions by
residents, the Bulawayo City
Council, Zimbabwe’s second largest, is owed more
by government departments
in unpaid rates.
Zim Standard
New visa regime for Zim visitors to SA
By
Henry Makiwa
DESPERATE Zimbabweans seeking to trade in South Africa
or visit
relatives are now being forced to produce traveller’s cheques or
bank
statements in that country’s currency following recent surprise changes
in
the visa requirements imposed by Pretoria.
Zimbabwean
business people and travellers are complaining that they
now have to show the
South African High Commission proof that they have
R1000 in traveller’s
cheques or in their own bank accounts before they can
be issued with
visas.
The new visa requirements state that Zimbabwean visitors to
South
Africa have to produce proof of a bank statement or traveller’s cheques
of
at least R1000 at the immigration offices before they can be accorded
a
visa.
The new developments have reportedly resulted in the
Reserve Bank of
Zimbabwe (RBZ) accusing the South African High Commission of
trying to mop
up the troubled central bank’s last reserves of foreign
currency.
The South African government has however refuted the
charges insisting
that the new visa requirements were universal and did not
affect Zimbabweans
only.
Jeremiah Ndou, the South African High
Commissioner to Zimbabwe, said
the new visa requirements were in line with
new South African legislation
that was enacted early this year.
“The RBZ has already approached us seeking a meeting to iron out
the
misunderstandings which we are unaware of. All that has happened is that
we
have enforced the new visa requirements in accordance with the South
African
Immigration Act of April 2003,” said Ndou.
Prior to new
regulations, Zimbabwean travellers only needed to show
local bank statements
proving that they had a bank balance of at least $102
000 with a local bank
to apply for a South African visa.
“We previously only asked for
the equivalent of 1 000 rands but the
problem is that one can no longer use
the Zimbabwean currency for any
financial transaction in South Africa,” said
Ndou.
“It (the R1000) is not a visa charge or fee, neither is it an
attempt
to prohibit people from travelling to South Africa … but a means to
ensure
that Zimbabweans can sustain themselves when they get there,” he
added.
However, officials at the RBZ and members of the public say
the new
requirements are deliberately meant to curb the influx of
impoverished
Zimbabweans, seeking to flee the country, into South
Africa.
Immigration experts say between 10 to 20 per cent of the
Zimbabwean
population, currently estimated at 12 million people, have left
their homes
to seek jobs in neighbouring countries, most of them in South
Africa.
Abou two million Zimbabweans are reportedly in South Africa
which is
also grappling with the massive unemployment of its own
citizens.
Besides the minimum R1 000 in cash or as traveller’s
cheques,
Zimbabweans are also required to disclose the location of their
residence
while in South Africa.
“All we need to know is where
the holiday-makers, visitors or business
people visiting South Africa would
be putting up to make it easier for us to
locate them while in South Africa,”
said Ndou.
An estimated 1 500 Zimbabweans travel to South Africa
officially every
week while thousands more risk their lives swimming across
the
crocodile-infested Limpopo River or jump the border.
Ndou
said South Africa had now devised special permits for Zimbabweans
living on
the border to allow them to visit friends and relatives on the
other
side.
Zim Standard
Gold suspects on $29m bail
By our own
Staff
THREE alleged gold dealers, who connived and smuggled gold
worth
US$161 000 to South Africa were last week granted bail of up to $29
million
by High Court judge Tadius Karwi.
Under Zimbabwean law,
no one is permitted to export gold except the
Reserve Bank and the three are
being charged for contravening the Gold Trade
Act.
Ian MacMillan
and Ewan Alexander MacMillan were granted $12 million
bail each while Claire
Lynn Burdett, a pilot, was asked to pay $5 million.
Conditions of
bail for the MacMillans are that they surrender their
passports and are to
report to the police once a day between 6 am and 6 pm.
The Civil
Aviation Authority of Zimbabwe has been also ordered to take
custody of two
planes — a Cessna 210 and a Beechcraft belonging to Ian
MacMillan. The two
planes were allegedly used by the trio to smuggle the
gold, said the
State.
Ewan MacMillan owns two gold mills in Bindura and Shamva.
Burdett’s
conditions are that she surrenders her passport and reports twice a
week at
the Morris deport’s CID department, until the case is finalised
Zim Standard
Chinos, Sibanda barred from war vets congress
By Loughty Dube
BULAWAYO — The war veterans’ association has barred
former Harare and
Bulawayo chairmen, Joseph Chinotimba and Jabulani Sibanda,
from
participating in its forthcoming annual congress set for Mutare at the
end
of this month, it was learnt last week.
Patrick Nyaruwata,
the acting chairman for the Zimbabwe National
Liberation War Veterans’
Association told The Standard that Chinotimba and
Sibanda would not be
allowed to contest for positions in the association and
would be barred from
attending the congress.
“The position is clear on the two:
Chinotimba and Sibanda would not be
allowed to contest the elections in the
war veterans’ association because
they are currently under suspension for
various acts of indiscipline and
they will not be invited to the congress,”
Nyaruwata said.
He said Sibanda was barred from the association for
failing to attend
meetings, while Chinotimba was suspended on allegations of
indiscipline.
When contacted for comment, Sibanda accused Nyaruwata
of behaving like
a “mini-God”.
“Nyaruwata says he is not going
to invite me and Chinotimba to the
annual congress but I would not wait for
an invitation from him. It is not
Nyaruwata’s birthday we are attending,”
charged Sibanda.
The move to bar the two, however, is likely to
create divisions within
the association as cracks have already appeared after
some Bulawayo-based
war veterans heckled Vice President Joseph Msika, when he
travelled to
Bulawayo to mediate in the split within the war veterans’ ranks
after
Sibanda’s suspension.
One group alleges that the
suspensions of Sibanda and Chinotimba were
meant to clear the way for
Nyaruwata and friends to continue leading the
association.
Nyaruwata, on the other hand, has said investigations into Chinotimba,
for
instance, had shown that his liberation war credentials were bogus,
proving
that he never joined the liberation struggle.
Meanwhile, Chinotimba
— the self-styled “commander-in-chief of farm
invasions” and leader of a
trade union, has allegedly failed to pay his
workers’ salaries over the past
six months.
Some workers at Chinotimba’s Edlan security company
have already
stopped going to work because they say they have not been paid
for months
Zim Standard
Soaring fuel prices push funeral charges through the
roof
By Wilson Dakwa
BULAWAYO – Funeral undertakers here
have hiked funeral service charges
beyond the reach of most urban poor, The
Standard has established.
The undertakers said they had been forced
to adjust their charges
upwards because of skyrocketing fuel prices as most
of them are now
obtaining their fuel on the black market where prices had
increased
dramatically over the past month.
Gone are the days
when it used to cost a few thousand dollars for one
to bury a loved
one.
Since the fuel crisis began, undertakers say they have been
battling
to make ends meet and their businesses are being threatened with
collapse
due to the exorbitant costs of buying fuel on the black
market.
For a person to accord a relative a decent burial, one has
to fork out
between $200 000 to $600 000, amounts which are unaffordable
especially to
those living in the poor high-density suburbs.
Most undertakers interviewed by The Standard said the critical fuel
shortage
and the exorbitant charges on the black market have left them
operating at a
loss and they have therefore been forced to pass the costs to
the
consumers.
Vivian Pierce, who runs Lalakahle Funeral Services, said
his company
was now limiting burial services outside Bulawayo City because of
the fuel
crisis.
“It is risky that you can carry a body all the
way to Tsholotsho and
end up running out of fuel along the way. This becomes
a nightmare as the
body might decompose,” said Pierce.
Petrol
now costs up to $25 000 for 5 litres on the black market in
Bulawayo while
the official rate is supposed to be $2 600 per litre.
Pierce said
there is now a marked decrease in the number of people
utilising official
funeral companies because of the high costs.
“We appeal to the
government to give us preferential treatment like
they do to commuter
omnibuses since we are an essential service,” she said.
Another
operator, John Phiri of Crocker Brothers, said the cheapest
cost of a funeral
they handle is $200 000. This covers consultation fees,
body grooming, gowns
and transport to the place of burial.
“We used to handle 21 bodies
a day but now this has been reduced to
three bodies a week. It is now no
longer viable to run a funeral parlour as
most people in the Western suburbs,
where the bulk of our customers come
from, are shunning us,” he
said.
The situation was worsened by the current doctors’ strike
that has
meant more people are dying at home.
Bogus undertakers
have also mushroomed in Bulawayo and around Mpilo
Central Hospital where they
waylay mourners coming to collect bodies and
offer them supposedly cheap, but
non-existent services.
Zim Standard
Zimsec workers strike over pay
By our own
Staff
WORKERS at the beleaguered Zimbabwe Schools Examination
Council
(Zimsec) are on strike over low pay and poor working conditions
resulting
once again in the disruption of ongoing final
examinations.
At least 120 workers at Zimsec downed tools on
Tuesday afternoon
demanding a review of their pay and current working
conditions after
management refused to meet them.
The strike is
already threatening to paralyse the ongoing end-of-year
examinations with the
worst to be affected likely to be the primary school
Grade Seven
examinations.
Work on the Grade Seven results has been disrupted
and the issuing of
result slips which was originally scheduled for December 2
will now commence
much later, said Zimsec sources who spoke to The
Standard.
The sources also said some Ordinary level and Advanced
level
examination papers which had been submitted to the Zimsec offices
for
marking have been redirected back to their original schools because there
is
insufficient manpower to handle them.
Officials of the
National Education Union of Zimbabwe (NEUZ), which
represents Zimsec workers,
allege that the examinations body’s management,
ignored their October 30
three-day ultimatum to improve salaries and working
conditions.
“The skyrocketing prices of basic commodities fuelled by the
unprecedented
hikes of transport fares leaves Zimsec employees with no
option but to call
for an immediate redress of the situation,” said Kenias
Shamuyarira, the
general secretary of NUEZ.
Shamuyarira said their demands included
a housing allowance of $45
000, a basic salary of at least $600 000 and a
transport allowance of $120
000.
Addressing workers at the
Zimsec offices on Wednesday, NEUZ’s
information officer Mathias Guchutu said
the strike would have a ripple
effect on the entire education
system.
“Grade Seven pupils will not have their results in early
December as
per tradition and this will affect the secondary school first
form’s
enrolment system,” said Guchutu.
Zim Standard
Bodies pile up in Gweru
By our own
Staff
GWERU — Several bodies are rotting at the government-owned
Gweru
General Hospital because the hospital’s mortuary has become old
and
dilapidated, it has been established.
The deteriorating
condition of the mortuary, where malfunctioning
fridges have gone for the
past seven weeks without repair, have forced some
relatives to abandon body
viewing at funerals because of the advanced state
of decomposition of the
corpses.
On Friday, a reporter from The Standard witnessed
relatives of the
deceased, some without gloves or protected clothing, sifting
through bodies
and some using plastic bags to carry bodies of their loved
ones out of the
mortuary.
Zim Standard
Zanu PF divided over Banana hero status
By
Caiphas Chimhete
MAVERICK politician and former Zanu PF
secretary-general Edgar Tekere
has urged President Robert Mugabe to grant the
late former head of State,
Canaan Banana, a total pardon and declare him a
national hero.
The call comes at a time when the Zanu PF supreme
decision-making
body, the Politburo, is understood to be widely divided about
what status
Banana, convicted of homosexual offences, should be
accorded.
Tekere, who described Banana as “a national luminary”,
said after
Mugabe’s pardon the public would be able to contend with the good
things
that the theologian did for Zimbabwe.
“Everybody knows
Banana erred and that’s a black spot in his history
but what he did for the
nation outweighs all that. I urge Mugabe to grant
him a presidential pardon.
He does not need to explain why,” he said.
Tekere said that he had
been in touch with “some of my friends” in
Zanu PF on the issue but what he
found out was “very depressing”.
Although the Politburo has not
officially met, The Standard has it on
good authority that some members of
the all-powerful Zanu PF body were
agonising on what status Zimbabwe’s first
President should be conferred
with.
Sources said there was a
strong movement within Zanu PF that the
government accords Banana, who died
in the UK, “a State aided funeral” and
nothing more. The sources also said
Mugabe was reluctant to declare the late
Methodist Minister, who they say has
been widely isolated since his
conviction, national hero status for fear that
it would create controversy.
They added that the declaration of
national hero’s status could also
be an embarrassment for Mugabe, known for
his virulent anti-homosexual
views.
Mugabe once describ-ed
homosexuals as “worse than pigs and dogs”.
But Tekere, a former
opposition leader of the now defunct Zimbabwe
Unity Movement, is not
convinced that all that Banana did for Zimbabwe
should be obliterated because
of his conviction.
“They are an unforgiving lot. Given Mugabe’s
position I could have
described Banana in stronger language than ‘worse than
pigs and dogs’ but I
could still have forgiven him,” said Tekere, himself
once thrown into the
political wilderness by Mugabe for lobbying against the
one party State.
University of Zimbabwe lecturer and a former
work-mate of the late
Banana, Heneri Dzinotyiwei, who also strongly feels
that Banana deserves a
hero status as a former State president, said Zanu PF
tactically isolated
Banana after the conviction just like the other “heroes”
who die like
paupers.
Banana was sentenced to five years in
prison on 11 counts of sodomy
and homosexual assault. He served about a year
at the Connemara Open Prison
near Gweru.
Sources who spoke to
The Standard last week said Banana, who died of
prostate cancer last Monday,
confirmed that he had become “a social outcast”
in Zanu PF circles despite
his spirited national contribution not only to
Zimbabwe but to the
world.
The government mouth-piece, The Herald, on Tues-day quoted
President
Ro-bert Mugabe thanking “local medical personnel” for commendable
efforts to
save Banana when it actual fact, the theologian died in
London.
“Something is am-iss here,” noted one analyst. “It appears
as if
Mugabe was not aware of the whereabouts ofBanana because he thanked
local
medical personnel when he had been getting most of his treatment
outside the
country.”
Describing him as “an internationally
renowned theologian and peace
broker”, Dzinotyiwei says Banana was
“under-utilised” by both government and
society at large after his
conviction.
Dzinotyiwei urged government to come up with a clear
role for
“distinguished” personalities, who would have vacated office to tap
in their
experience for the benefit of the country.
Banana’s
contribution to the country spans several decades and that
cannot be wished
away, said the mathematician.
Tekere said Banana — together with
the late Nolan Makombe, Nelson
Mawema and the late Basoppo Moyo — were the
pillars of the liberation
struggle at the home front. “We relied on these
people and were it not for
them, things could have been different and the
struggle would have taken
much longer,” said Tekere.
It did not
end there.
Before his conviction, Banana brokered the unity accord
that ended the
antagonism between Zanu PF and Zapu in 1987, which had led to
the slaughter
of about 20 000 people in Matebeleland and Midlands provinces
by government
troops.
Previously, Banana had also ‘saved’ the
situation when he agreed to
become a ceremonial president after former vice
President Joshua Nkomo had
turned the post down.
“We were in a
desperate situation because Nkomo had refused saying it
was gimmick by Zanu
to swallow his party. Banana agreed and he was accepted
by the people
countrywide including the politicians and churches,”
said
Tekere.
In the 1990s Banana – the country’s first black
president – was
involved in attempts to end fighting in war-torn
Liberia.
And more recently in 2000, he was put forward as a
possible mediator
between Zanu PF and the opposition Movement for Democratic
Change (MDC).
Former University of Zimbabwe vice chancellor
Professor Gordon
Chavunduka dismissed the argument that Banana’s conviction
disqualifies him
for hero status.
Born in 1936 in Esigodini,
Banana did his primary education at
Mzinyatini Mission before moving to
Tengwani High School for secondary
education. He also trained as a teacher at
the same institution.
He is survived by four children and wife
Janet with whom he separated
in 2000.
Zim Standard
Banned skin lighteners resurface
By John
Makura
• It’s back to’Fanta’ faces and “Coca Cola’ legs A GROWING
number of
Zimbabweans are now using skin lightening creams, some of which
which were
banned soon after independence in 1989, a Standard investigation
has
revealed.
In the 1970s, black women with “Fanta” (light)
faces and “Coca Cola”
(dark legs) – as they were called then – were a common
feature in the then
black townships.
Although some men also used
the skin lighteners, it was the women,
believing having a lighter skin made
them more attractive, who mainly
applied the imported creams.
A
survey has revealed that skin lightening creams are definitely big
business
in Zimbabwe at present.
The Standard found that almost all beauty
clinics in the country are
selling these creams and say their clientele base
is growing.
But the quest for beauty carries a heavy price. Many of
the most
popular creams contain hydroquinone, which can cause irreversible
skin
damage and even lead to skin cancer, say experts.
Some
creams also contain the potentially lethal mercury, banned in
cosmetics sold
in Zimbabwe soon after independence in 1980.
Before independence,
the most popular skin lighting cream favoured by
many blacks was called
“Ambi”. These days there are hundreds others, some
imported from West African
countries such as Nigeria.
Some of the most popular creams are also
from the Democratic Republic
of the Congo (DRC) where both men and women have
taken up the craze.
“As long as there is a market, we will sell
these products. The
majority of our customers want to be attractive and light
skin is attractive
to them,” said one beauty clinic owner in Harare who
refused to be named.
It is understood some of the skin lightening
products come in
injectable form to achieve an even result all over the body.
This type is
said to be popular with most Congolese rhumba musicians who are
easily
identifiable by their puffy orange complexions.
Manufacturers of skin creams in Zimbabwe whom The Standard spoke to
say the
harmful creams are being imported and most of them come from as far
as the
United Kingdom.
They said the local products, although they can
lighten one’s skin, do
not contain harmful ingredients. Many of the more
harmful imported products
continue to sell because people want quick
results.
“Are you familiar with the 50-50 concept: someone who has
one black
parent and one white?” asked one beauty therapist.
“When a girl like that walks into a bar all men look at her. So other
girls
will do anything to be like her. The answer is skin lightening
creams,” she
said.
That is a risky way to win admiration.
In the
United States and throughout Europe, hydroquinone is available
only by
prescription.
In small contractions, the bleaching agent poses few
problems and is
often used by skin specialists to treat various skin
conditions. But
prolonged use stops the reproduction of a natural pigment
that protects the
skin from heat and other natural elements.
Black beauticians however say the theory of light skins being more
beautiful
date back to pre-colonial times, but the craze however worsened
during the
colonial era when darker skinned people felt inferior and looked
down
upon.
Besides the light skins being associated with enhanced beauty
and
being easily appreciated, some crafty Zimbabweans planning to settle
in
South Africa have added another dimension to the jigsaw puzzle. They
say
they want their skins to be lighter in order to avoid easy detection
by
authorities since nationals of those countries are naturally light
skinned.
They also point out that many modelling agencies still
shun African
shapes and prefer Western concepts of beauty such as slim
hips.
Add the influence of advertising and television — the
State-owned ZBC
excluded — the result is: many Zimbabweans and other Africans
suddenly feel
it is better to be fair skinned.
“I know all those
things about skin cancers and so forth but it doesn’
t matter how I will look
three, four or donkey years to come. What matters
is how great I look today!”
said Theresa, a striking young Zimbabwean woman
The Standard caught up with
recently at one beauty saloon.
To satisfy the growing desire to
have a light skin is surprisingly
easy, as we witnessed. For those with
shallow pockets, several creams are
available in flea markets and the many
cosmetic shops that have mushroomed
in Harare.
There are various
other products which boast of “extra strength” and
can originate from
“London, Paris and New York”, as per their labels.
“If you buy for
your girlfriend she will look like her,” a vendor at
one flea market in
Harare told this reporter pointing at a photo of a
beautiful woman on the
cover of one of the creams.
So while there are adages such as
“beauty is skin deep” that might
comfort some dark skinned Zimbabwean women,
the rest — and most of them very
young — have decided to throw caution to
wind and are using the banned skin
lighting creams.
Zim Standard
Zim universities lose academic lustre
By
Caiphas Chimhete
THE quality of education offered at Zimbabwe’s
universities is fast
deteriorating as the institutions, several mushrooming
in recent years,
struggle for sustenance on paltry financial and material
resources under an
increasingly inhospitable economic
environment.
Academics and lecturers last week said that the high
esteem in which
Zimbabwe’s universities were once held is fast floundering as
the
institutions can no longer afford the resources needed to produce
“real
graduates”.
They said due to the lack of resources, some
of the universities were
churning out “half-baked graduates” who cannot
easily fit into the job
market.
The University of Zimbabwe, the
country’s oldest institution of higher
learning, was once revered globally
but this high regard is fast fading as
lecturers flock away to greener
pastures. The pathetic situation at the UZ
in Harare is replicated at other
universities throughout the country.
Over the past few years, the
government has promoted the establishment
of both public and private
universities to cater for the increasing number
of secondary school graduates
and other people that need tertiary education.
But government’s
encouragement has not corresponded with the injection
of resources to the new
universities or maintaining the existing ones in
their
splendour.
Among the recently established State and private
universities are the
National University of Science and Technology (Nust)
based in Bulawayo,
Selous University, Midlands State University in Gweru,
Great Zimbabwe in
Masvingo, Catholic University in Hatfield, Harare and
Africa University in
Mutare.
Former University of Zimbabwe
pro-vice chancellor, Professor Gordon
Chavunduka, said the standard of
university education had significantly gone
down, a situation that was
exacerbated by the worsening political and
economic instability.
“The standards have drastically gone down due to lack of funding
from
government, and the fact that donors have also withdrawn funding
citing
gross human rights abuses by Mugabe’s regime,” said Chavunduka, who
headed
the UZ between 1992 and 1996.
The Bretton Woods
institutions – the International Monetary Fund (IMF)
and the World Bank –
together with a number of Western countries, have
slapped Mugabe’s government
with sanctions for gross human rights
violations.
UZ mathematics
lecturer Professor Heneri Dzinotyiwei agrees that the
standards at local
universities are continually falling. Dzinotyiwei, who
has been teaching at
the UZ since 1980, said the current state of affairs at
local universities
was “very worrying”.
“Staff wise it is disastrous and in terms of
resources it is worse –
we now have lecturers who are less qualified and who
need some more years to
become real lecturers.
“It’s no longer
surprising to get a graduate who cannot put together a
coherent argument, let
alone communicate fluently in English,” he said.
A senior Africa
University lecturer, who requested anonymity, said the
falling standards at
universities, compromised the country’s ability to
compete
globally.
“If we have semi-literate graduates how could we compete
in a
globalised world? The world is now a global village so we have to move
with
the times,” he said.
Dzinotyiwei believes the quality of
education in universities began to
fall soon after independence, when the
government promoted mass education
without corresponding financial and
material resources.
He said the colonial government focused on the
minority whites and
very few exceptionally gifted blacks. Because the
students were few, the
government had enough financial and material resources
to adequately cater
for them.
However, after independence, the
UZ was flooded with students but the
government could not provide
corresponding resources. This led to the
deterioration and the straining of
the available resources originally meant
to cater for a few
whites.
“It was a racial setting which was meant for a small ruling
elite and
a few blacks that happened to be enrolled were exceptionally good.
But now
because of mass enrolment without corresponding resource allocation,
rooms
that were meant for a single student now accommodate three or four,”
noted
Dzinotyiwei.
That apart, the students, through sheer
poverty, have converted the
dimly-lit and crowded rooms into “little
kitchens” because their annual
grants have become a “mockery” under the
current high inflationary
environment.
Dzinotyiwei castigated
the government for allowing the mushrooming of
universities without giving
them the necessary support to produce graduates
of mettle.
“Those who are pushing for new universities have no gasp whatsoever of
the
standards and what’s needed – establishing them without giving them
support
is actually destructive,” noted the UZ lecturer.
With the economic
downturn worsening, more experienced lecturers are
leaving the country en
masse in search of greener pastures in such countries
as Botswana, South
Africa and in Europe.
Currently, the UZ has only about 500
lecturers but under normal
circumstances, it should have a complement of 1
200. That apart, the
lecturers at most local universities now spend the
better part of their
teaching time on strike demanding better working
conditions and salaries.
Presently, lecturers at the UZ are on
strike over salaries, a
situation that consumes the students’ precious
learning time.
Said Chavunduka, who is also the head of the Mass
Public Opinion
Institute: “The other universities are equally affected
because they cannot
afford qualified staff. I know for sure the Catholic
University is facing
serious financial problems.”
As a direct
result of the shortage of lecturers and equipment,
universities stopped or
drastically cut student enrolment for such faculties
as medicine, electrical
engineering, quantity surveying, law and geology.
The faculty of medicine
scaled down its intake by about 50 percent.
“The crisis of
lecturers affects the sciences most than humanities.
However, the faculty of
law and psychology are in problems because they are
depending on part-time
lecturers, who as usual, cannot be depended upon,”
said
Dzinotyiwei.
Students that are pursuing disciplines that require
them to carry out
practical lessons at most of the universities have not been
doing so because
of lack of funds and other resources.
“For
example, we were supposed to do nine practical lessons in the
second semester
but we never did any,” one student studying animal health at
the UZ told The
Standard recently.
For the past few years, the handling of
examinations at the UZ has
been largely flawed. For instance, just recently
some students got good
passing marks for subjects they did not sit for or
failed to get results for
subjects they wrote.
The dilapidated
state of UZ’s halls of residence and the lack of
lighting in the corridors
bear stark testimony of the neglect by the
authorities. But the university’s
acting director of information and
publicity, Daniel Chihombori blames the
students for the current state of
affairs.
“They cause extensive
damage during demonstrations, and the next
morning they start complaining,”
said Chihombori, adding that renovations
were underway.
For the
other universities, the buildings are still intact because
they were built
recently.
The introduction of distance education through the
Zimbabwe Open
University (ZOU) has not helped much in consolidating the genre
of education
that is associated with universities.
Analysts said
the programme had helped increase the number of
graduates in the country, as
happened in Nigeria, without really imparting
them with the necessary
academic skills.
But Dzinotyiwei, gave another perspective: “It is
very tricky to
assess graduates from open universities. It was going to be
easy if it was
Unisa (University of South Africa) which has been in existence
for some
time.”
With the economic and political situation
showing no signs of
improving, it is difficult to imagine Zimbabwe’s
universities regaining
their lost academic excellence.
Chavunduka said the solution was to address the political crisis that
has
bedevilled the country for the past few years.
“If stability
returns, then funding will also flow again and
everything will return to
normalcy,” said Chavunduka.
Zim Standard
Laughing and whingeing, Zim style
By Henry
Makiwa
THE wave of roaring mirth sweeps from one end of the bus to
the other.
This is all very odd because, far from being an occasion for
merriment, the
South Africa-bound Tenda bus has just broken down barely out
of Harare and
at least one hundred plus travellers are stranded with little
prospect of
reaching their destination in expected time.
There
is a reason for the feigned hilarity though. Passengers indulge
in petty
social commentary to cover up their anxieties and while away the
time. The
discussions switch from one mundane subject to another and as the
passengers
warm up to each other, they gravitate to the more sensitive
political
issues.
The more vocal of the passengers lash out at the government
for the
crippling economic crisis that has made life unbearable for many
Zimbabweans
over the past four years.
One man boldly accuses
President Robert Mugabe of being the cause of
his miseries and the country’s
ongoing crisis.
“When will the old man (Mugabe) go?” the man asks
no one in particular
and adds: “Come to think of it, this bus would not have
broken down if he
had not plunged us into this mess ... we would have the
much needed foreign
currency to buy spare parts,” he says, to much
laughter.
But the subject that captures more interest is the
supposed behaviour
of Zimbabwean women who are involved in cross-border
trading with South
Africa.
One man in his late forties charges
that the women have become
“southern Africa’s notorious agents of HIV/Aids”,
alleging that most of them
sleep with truck drivers while in
transit.
Offended by this unprovoked attack on cross-border women
traders, a
woman passenger hits back accusing the men “of his generation” of
courting
married women.
South Africa, because of its status as
the strongest economy in
southern Africa, has become the melting pot of all
sub-Saharan peoples who
gravitate towards it to seek jobs and a better
standard of living.
For many Zimbabwean women traders, South Africa
is the land of great
opportunities and pleasures.
The women, who
now form a very powerful economic group, leave their
families each week, to
sell various locally-produced commodities in South
Africa.
They
deliberately dress in long frocks and use the buses or haulage
trucks that
ply the Harare-Johannesburg route.
According to Anne-Maria Nhepure
(33), a housewife-cum-trader, on the
journey down south, the women rarely
have time to rest or eat well.
Their ultimate goal is to amass as
much of the rand, the South African
currency, as possible to bring home high
value household goods and lead a
comfortable life.
Nhepure says:
“Most of us can never cheat on our husbands ... look at
how we dress. What
man would be attracted to us?”
Truck driver Noel Makoni however
tells The Standard a different story.
“Don’t be fooled … most of
these women are of rotten morals,” he says.
“They flag down our trucks hoping
to get free transport all the way to South
Africa, Botswana, Malawi or
wherever we will be going.”
Says Makoni: “I feel pity for their
spouses because they will be
ashamed if they will see how their wives behave
around us.”
Makoni however evades the question when asked if he has
ever indulged
in casual sex himself with the women traders he carries on his
truck.
A report on HIV/Aids prevalence rates along trade routes in
southern
Africa says the disease is most rampant at border
towns.
Among the worrying statistics in the study entitled
Corridors of Hope
in Southern Africa, are projections that at Zimbabwe’s
northern border town
of Chirundu, most “workers” are in the commercial sex
industry.
At Musina, the town that borders South Africa with
Zimbabwe, the
HIV/Aids prevalence rate is between 20 and 59%, a figure which
is
significantly higher than the 11,5 % rate that characterises the rest
of
South Africa’s northern Limpopo province.
Just across the
river, in Zimbabwe’s Beitbridge town, the rates are
between 46 and 59%. This
is far above Zimbabwe’s official Aids infection
rate of 24,6 % of its
sexually active population.
Tendayi Kureya, an information services
official at the Southern
Africa HIV/Aids Information Dissemination Services
(SafAids), attributes the
high HIV/Aids prevalence rates to the long distance
trafficking business.
“We have noted that this is because truck
drivers tend to spend so
many days away from their families and homes and end
up engaging in
commercial sex activities,” says Kureya.
Zim Standard
Academic fraud rampant at UZ
How
disillusioned I was soon after I finally secured a place at the
highest
institution of learning in the land.
Throughout my whole life I had
dreamt and had made it my ambition to
study at the university. I allowed
nothing to deter me. I was to be a
graduate. I was to acquire knowledge from
the “universe”, the centre of
universal knowledge and wisdom.
Nothing however had prepared me for the reality I was to find at
this
supposed citadel of higher learning.
It is not my intention
to dwell on the deplorable conditions at the
institution but to focus on the
academic fraud that is not only rampant at
the institution but which also
appears to be condoned by the authorities.
I will cite examples of
such cases that reveal not only the lack of
but actually the subversion of
educational principles of learning that are
respected worldwide.
Firstly, in the Arts Department, we have the same old curriculum that
dates
back to several decades. The same texts or literature books are still
being
studied, and the same old assessment questions are assigned to
graduates year
in year out. What does this promote – only miseducation!
Undergraduates will
simply ask for “borrow or buy” a file from previous year
’s
students.
That file secured means that the holder can sit back and
relax. It
will now be a matter of reproducing, rehashing or is it
cannibalising the
work done already (the technical term for this is
plagiarism).
The same scenario is duplicated or replicated in the
Education
Department. Here students (dub) assignments’ notes from their
colleagues.
Assignments are rotated. One look at the past examination papers
is enough
preparation. The questions are altogether very
predictable.
It is no surprise therefore that quite a number of our
students do not
bother to attend lectures. They only have to attend the
“compulsory
seminars” where some sort of attendance register is
compiled.
Having been “fed” or presented with recycled material,
the graduates
leave the campus armed with certificates, diplomas and even
degrees which
are no testimony to their training, skills or
competence.
One can be tempted to stick out his neck and say these
are no more
than just “paper qualifications”.
Taurai
Alekisana
Harare
Zim Standard
What happened to the carbon tax?
Some
years ago the government introduced a carbon tax, which all
vehicle owners in
Zimbabwe are paying, adding to the high costs of fuels.
The carbon
tax was introduced so as a mechanism to help reduce carbon
dioxide emissions
and hence help reduce global warming. In principle, such
carbon tax should be
used to address issues directly related to reduction of
carbon dioxide
emissions from vehicles. In that sense it should be an
environmental
fund.
What is disturbing is that while pollution from vehicles
continues to
escalate in our cities, contributing to our people dying from
respiratory
diseases arising from breathing vehicle smoke mildly diluted with
fresh air
in our cities, there is nothing on the ground to show that the
carbon tax
has been used to help reduce air pollution from
vehicles.
This is especially so with the wreckage that our economy
has become.
When fuels and spare parts are in short supply the quality of
smoke from
vehicles worsens and its becomes much more dangerous.
At this rate, even if the new environmental law is put in place,
the
government will use environmental laws to raise funds for pocket
money
instead of addressing the environmental problems in the interests of
the
health of the people.
Simon Bere
Harare
Zim Standard
Gono’s appointment: Yet another mirage
Sundaytalk with Pius Wakatama
THE appointment of Gideon Gono to the
helm of the Reserve Bank of
Zimbabwe has again raised the hopes of naive
gullible Zimbabweans who are
desperately yearning for an end to our seemingly
unending economic woes. He
is being touted by the government media as the
“man of the moment” who is
going to perform miracles to take the country out
of its economic misery.
Some of us are not that naive. We see the
appointment of Gono as just
another political gimmick by our cunning
President to buy himself time. As
sure as today is Sunday, Gono is going to
fail like his predecessors — Kombo
Moyana and Leonard Tsumba. His appointment
is yet another mirage.
Don’t get me wrong, I have the greatest
respect for all these former
governors of the Reserve Bank. They were all
professionals but the political
environment never gave them a chance to do
what had to be done. They,
therefore, failed in that sense.
I
also have the greatest respect for Dr Gideon Gono’s business acumen.
He is a
self-made entrepreneur who has proved his mettle under very
difficult
conditions. I totally agree with business leaders who say that
his
appointment is well merited and deserved.
However, I am
rather sceptical about what he will be able to achieve
under the present
political leadership. I don’t at all agree with the chief
executive of the
Merchant Bank of Central Africa, David Hatendi who in The
Sunday Mail of
November 8, 2003, enthused: “Dr Gono’s appointment is a
breath of fresh air
and should spell a new era at the RBZ.”
I for one will not join the
list of those congratulating Gono. In
fact, I sincerely commiserate with him
even though he, at present, does not
seem to be aware of the misery awaiting
him around the corner – if he is
going to try to bring in a new era, that
is.
Apart from blaming everybody but themselves for our economic
woes, our
president and his loyal lieutenants are adept at raising the hopes
of
Zimbabweans over and over again by appointing commissions and task forces
to
solve this problem and that by appointing well qualified people to
solve
this and that problem. Unfortunately, the “saviours” who are appointed
amid
loyal media fanfare are never given free reign to do what they know
best.
They are stifled by politicians (the president being chief
among them)
who have their own agenda which does not include solving the
economic
problems the country is facing.
We all remember the
excitement following the appointment of “Young
Turks” into the “Cabinet of
technocrats.” What did they achieve? Nothing.
Some of them joined the gravy
train. Simba Makoni tried to solve the real
problems and was promptly fired.
Nkosana Moyo took the gap in frustration.
At the Reserve Bank, Leonard Tsumba
took the “Scapegoat of the year,” award.
I will keep quiet about
the “war Cabinet”. We all know what it
achieved. Nothing.
Zimbabwe may be starved of foreign currency and food but it is
well-endowed
with highly educated and professional leaders capable of
solving our economic
problems and leading us into the promised land.
Our problem is that
our leaders in various sectors are effectively
muzzled by the political
monolith (or should I say monster) which is Zanu PF
and its glib leader,
President Robert Mugabe. He uses all manner of
gimmickry to cling on to power
and is not averse to the use of force to
maintain the same.
It
does not take a man like Gideon Gono to solve our
economic
problems.
The solution is there for all to see and has
often been repeated on
these pages by those who are not afraid to tell the
truth. The real issues
are the exchange rate, tourism, price controls and
mending our relationships
with the international community through democratic
elections, respect for
human rights and good governance. This coupled with
sound market-oriented
economic policies is the real answer to our
problems.
Gono’s appointment as the Governor of The Reserve Bank of
Zimbabwe
maybe a breath of fresh air but as long as these real fundamentals
are not
dealt with head-on, all his prescriptions will amount to nothing but
hot
air. If he insists on tackling the real issues I can bet you he will
find
himself on the rubbish heap like his predecessors.
The very
same media and Zanu PF moguls who are singing his praises
today will
shamefully turn round and call him “a reactionary tool of
imperialists.” Just
wait and see!
Whatever Gono will prescribe to bring foreign
currency into the
banking system will not work. It will continue to be traded
on the black
market with the banks watching with salivating months. I
laughed, albeit
mirthlessly, as I read about the Zimbabwe Republic Police
swooping at Harare
’s Roadport and beating up and arresting hundreds of
foreign currency
dealers.
The only thing I enjoyed about the
exercise is that the majority of
the money changers being so harassed are
members of the Apostolic Faith who
are ardent Zanu PF supporters. I am sure
we will now miss these white sobbed
“holy people” at future Zanu PF
“national” functions and rallies. Well and
good.
No amount of
police action, no matter how brutal, will stamp out the
black market in
foreign currency as long as the official bank rate of
exchange for a $US is
Z$840 (the black market rate which is the real rate is
Z$6 000.) At this rate
only an idiot will take his precious foreign currency
to the bank.
Zimbabweans are not stupid.
Police action will, therefore, not
stamp out the black market to bring
foreign currency flowing into the banks.
It will only serve to drive the
illicit trade deeper underground with the
criminal activities which are the
usual by-product of underground activities
getting into top gear.
If he is going to be serious, Gono should
face the issue of the
exchange rate and prescribe that market forces take
charge. Any other
prescription will be like putting a band-aid on a
gangrenous limb. Soon the
whole body will rot and the patient will
die.
As it is, Zimbabwe is rotting and in a coma. Only major
surgery can
revive it. As my fellow Mbare home-boy, Arthur “Fruga” Nhari
often says:
“Zimbabwe yaora.” (Zimbabwe is now rotten to the core). Coming
from him,
this means a lot for he is a former staunch ruling party supporter
and
Mugabe worshipper.
In previous contributions, I have written
on the issue of price
controls and those with ears to hear heard. If the
spirit so moves, I will
try to discuss the issue of tourism next
week.
He who has ears to hear, let him hear.
Zim Standard
London rebels and ‘gay gangsters’
Shavings
from The Woodpecker
Lonely man THE death in the UK of former
Zimbabwean president Canaan
Banana has once again exposed the double
standards employed by the ruling
elite in Zanu PF.
Banana, who
in his last days was a near recluse because of the
treatment he suffered from
his former close friends and colleagues in Zanu
PF after the Japhet Dube
affair – President Robert Mugabe included – died a
bitter and lonely
man.
When he fell ill about a year ago, it was up to his sons and
other
close relatives who in the end had to hasten his departure from
Zimbabwe,
where the hospitals themselves are in the intensive care unit and
the
doctors on strike over low pay, so that he could seek proper treatment
in
South Africa and the United Kingdom.
But as usual, it was
soon “wafa wanaka” and the State media who took
their cue from Mugabe and
suddenly bombarded Zimbabweans with tearjerker
eulogies that extolled the
virtues of the former Methodist minister who
became independent Zimbabwe’s
first president.
We were now told how Banana was actually the
brains behind the 1987
Unity Accord between Zanu PF and Zapu.
We
were once more reminded of Banana’s selfless dedication to peace in
Africa:
his missions as one of the then OAU’s “eminent persons” that
brokered peace
in war-torn Liberia.
We were even told that the soft-spoken man of
the cloth had at one
time tried to broker peace between — of all countries —
North and South
Korea.
Such noble deeds, were of course, rarely
mentioned by the same media
when fame and fortune deserted the former head of
state.
Deafening silence
THAT Banana’s death in UK was
a tremendous embarrassment to Uncle Bob
and the lying Herald newspaper is
there for all to see.
The Herald, which has lied to Zimbabweans
without compunction in the
past, reported that the former president had died
in Harare while in fact he
passed away in London at Charing Cross
Hospital.
Even Uncle Bob was taken up by the whole charade,
thanking doctors and
nurses who had looked after the former president,
presumably in Harare,
while in actual fact it was British doctors and nurses
– and perhaps
Zimbabwean medical personnel in London – who had looked after
Banana in his
last moments.
The irony of it all though, is that
despite telling the whole world
that Banana had died at a local hospital, The
Herald and ZTV did not even
issue statements to say they had initially got it
all wrong.
That only confirms how standards have deteriorated under
Moyo-Manheru’
s rule.
Down and out in US
STILL on
the issue of bumbling State sycophants, were those two
musketeers thrown out
of the US after all?
Although it was difficult to get independent
confirmation, the
grapevine says Puff Diddy and his fellow renowned
bootlicker, Munyaradzi
Huni – Moyo-Manheru’s two stooges whom Woodpecker
exposed falling over each
other to get to the “hated” US – were thrown out of
that country after it
was realised who they exactly were.
Sources say there was pandemonium within the diplomatic community when
it
dawned on authorities that P. Diddy and his sidekick, some of the most
vocal
supporters of Uncle Bob, had evaded the travel bans on all those close
to the
ruling party leader.
They were soon bundled out of the US after it
was realised that their
presence at some dubious conference did more harm
than good, say impeccable
sources.
It is said that both
gentlemen sheepishly declined to comment on their
US trip when inquisitive
colleagues at Herald House tried to find why they
had returned earlier than
planned.
‘Gay gangsters’
Uncle Bob must be feeling
very happy with himself that his statement
that “Tony Blair and his gay
gangsters” were out to make him jobless,
following the emergence in the UK of
a ragtag army of so-called Zimbabwean
army deserters planning a military
coup.
Why the so-called Zimbabwe Freedom Movement chose Peter
Tatchell of
all people to front their launch in London is anybody’s
guess.
What is clear though is that by appointing Tatchell,
an
internationally known gay rights’ activist who is extremely hated by
Mugabe
and Zanu PF, the so-called army dissidents have, in that act
alone,
dismissed themselves as serious political players in the events
unfolding in
Zimbabwe.
Woodpecker is convinced, and so are many
others who phoned, that
nobody in Zimbabwe really takes Tatchell seriously,
especially when it
involves overthrowing a powerful military machine such as
the one Zanu PF
commands.
My brother’s keeper
Events unfolding in Uganda is that Yoweri Museveni’s Cabinet has paved
the
way for senior figures, including his brother, to be tried for
corruption and
wasting state resources.
The officials are accused of wasting
millions of dollars buying two
unusable second-hand helicopters from Belarus.
Lieutenant General Salim
Saleh, Museveni’s brother, now faces a court martial
in a military court.
According to reports, the helicopters cost
Uganda close to US$13
million but were of such poor quality that they could
not fly.
Talk of being sold a dummy!
Zim Standard
‘Regime change’ no, genuine transition
yes
IN the light of recent developments including the emergence
of a
shadowy organisation calling itself the Zimbabwe Freedom Movement
whose
reported aim is to topple the government, and the flurry of
diplomatic
activity ahead of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting
(CHOGM) in
Abuja, Nigeria, it is important to restate once again, the case
for
Zimbabwe.
Yes, Zimbabwe is a country in distress. For the
people of this country
it is hell on earth. Things have really fallen part.
It is not worth living
any more. The dead are in fact better off than the
living.
More than 90% of Zimbabweans have been reduced to abject
poverty
literally scavenging to keep body and soul together. They are
surviving by
the grace of God. A once thriving economy is in terminal
mode.
President Mugabe and his ruling Zanu PF party are living in
denial of
the consequences of their greed, power, arrogance, political
egotism and
bravado. How a man who was once revered as a genuine
revolutionary can run
down his country like this is
mind-boggling.
And yet in the midst of all this, talk of ‘regime
change’ is anathema
and abhorrent to most Zimbabweans. Even in a situation in
which the 2002
Presidential election was stolen in broad daylight. Why?
Because the
consequences of a ‘regime change’ are too horrendous and too
ghastly to
contemplate. The scope for potential disaster will be
huge.
The stakes will be too high, the political terrain too
complex and the
actors and interests far too many and interwoven for a
simplistic notion
like replacing one leader and one regime with another to
work. It is,
instead, to the idea of a negotiated transition and bargained
outcome that
we must look to in Zimbabwe.
‘Regime change’ and a
negotiated political settlement might have the
same result – the removal of a
post-colonial despotic leader and
kleptocrat — President Mugabe — but the two
differ in many crucial respects.
‘Regime change’ is based on the
false assumption that simply replacing
one individual (President Robert
Mugabe) with another (opposition leader
Morgan Tsvangirai) equates to
democracy. Even if we accept that President
Mugabe is seen as the
personification of all that has gone wrong in this
country, we are
nevertheless not taken in by such an over-simplification
of
issues.
History is replete with many examples where this is
not the case. One
only needs to look next door at the Zambian case to see the
serious
limitations of such an approach.
Negotiated political
transition, in turn, places a lot of emphasis on
mutual outcomes and seeks to
accommodate the positions of all sides. They
stress win-win, not zero-sum
outcome. Most Zimbabweans have a vested
interest in the political stability
of the country and that peace and
stability can never be brought about by
‘regime change’. More importantly, a
negotiated settlement seeks to spell out
clear rules of the game by which
the participants in the transition are
expected to live.
There are enough men and women of goodwill in the
ruling party who are
committed to dialogue and a negotiated outcome and who
want to see that
commitment followed by concrete action.
It is
in the context of re-building a Zimbabwe free from civil strife
and
instability that Presidents Mbeki and Obasanjo are striving for a
negotiated
transition in this country — although of course nothing tangible
or concrete
has been seen on the ground yet.
What is needed in Zimbabwe is a
kind of soft landing and not a hard
and violent one. To most Zimbabweans,
this is the only road of hope. They
understand that a negotiated political
settlement will ensure that the
change when it arrives (and it is inevitable)
will not arrive like a
destructive storm but a pleasant gust of refreshing
wind. Fortunes in the
country can then be turned around in an atmosphere of
peace and stability.
And it is our plea and hope that those
non-African external powers who
are addressing and actively engaged in the
issue of restoring democracy in
Zimbabwe such as Britain , Australia, Canada,
US and the EU are guided only
be a desire to encourage a genuine transition
rather than ‘regime change’.
There is no doubt that there is an
important role for external forces
to encourage, persuade, apply pressure and
even adopt some punitive
measures, but the intention must remain that of
helping trigger a
well-planned restoration of democracy.
Indeed,
the need for a carefully crafted changeover to a new political
and economic
order that would be based on democratically decided rules which
would be able
to sustain democracy well into the future cannot
be
overemphasized.
President Mugabe, for his part, must
appreciate that human destiny is
a choice and that his selfish, arrogant and
greedy quest for status based on
a permanent hold of power has had terrible
consequences for Zimbabwe and its
people, the Southern African region and the
entire world.
You might hate Morgan Tsvangirai with a passion, Mr
President, but as
Zimbabweans you need to work out the grammar of
co-existence with him. In
any event, Zimbabwe is much bigger than any
individual including you Mr
Mugabe. You do not normally negotiate with your
friend, you negotiate with
your ‘enemy’. It is just that simple!
And please take advantage of people who are trying to assist and
facilitate
the process. Stop blaming outside forces. Nobody owes Zimbabweans
a living.
You now have a very narrow window of opportunity at least to begin
to stem
the tide.
As you are now in the sunset of your life, please Mr
President,
negotiate your exit and give other people a chance to make
mistakes as
well — minus of course the Jonathan Moyos, the Mades, the
Chinamasas and
Chombos of this world.
From The Financial Mail (SA), 14 November
Bill Saidi's penchant for annoying leaders
By Abdul Milazi
Veteran journalist was
hounded by Ian Smith and now Mugabe
Author and veteran Southern African
journalist Bill Saidi should be enjoying
the fruits of the liberation he so
fiercely fought for as a young reporter
on the African Daily News, Rhodesia's
only black daily in the early 1960s.
But the bitter irony is that Saidi (66),
editor of the Daily News on Sunday,
is being crucified by his first editor
and mentor, Nathan Shamuyarira, now
Zimbabwe's information minister. A tinge
of mischief lights up in Saidi's
eyes when he talks about African
governments. He seems to have a penchant
for annoying leaders. He was sought
by Rhodesia's Ian Smith on treason
charges for inciting black people against
the government. While in exile, he
was fired from the Zambian Times on orders
from President Kenneth Kaunda in
1975 for his "anti-establishment" reports.
Recently, Saidi was detained
without trial for defying President Robert
Mugabe's decree that all
journalists be licensed to practise their craft.
Defiant as ever, Saidi says
aspects of the Access to Information &
Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA)
violate the right to freedom of expression
guaranteed in the constitution.
Licensing journalists is tantamount to
censoring and controlling the flow of
information, he says, because Harare
can withdraw at will the licences of
journalists judged to have published the
"wrong" information.
On October 25, police raided the Daily News
offices and arrested him and 17
colleagues on charges of running a newspaper
without a licence. The paper
had been shut down in September by armed police,
leading it to challenge the
AIPPA in the supreme court. Saidi quotes
Zimbabwe's constitution: "Except by
way of his consent or by way of parental
discipline, no person shall be
hindered in the enjoyment of his freedom of
expression, that is to say,
freedom to hold opinions and to receive and
impart ideas and information."
Further, he says, s ection 3 states that the
constitution is the country's
supreme law and that "if any other law is
inconsistent with this
constitution that other law shall, to the extent of
the inconsistency, be
void". That was the basis on which his paper appealed
to the supreme court
in September. "The court refused to hear our argument,"
he says. "It instead
ordered that we should comply. The next day the police
shut down our
business and confiscated 127 of our computers, which are still
at Chikurubi
prison."
Yet Saidi and holding company Associated
Newspapers of Zimbabwe (ANZ) CEO
Sam Nkomo were not about to give up. They
applied for a licence from the
Media & Information Commission, which was
rejected outright. "We appealed to
the administrative court on October 24. It
ruled in our favour and allowed
us to publish while we waited for a licence,
to be issued on November 13,"
says Saidi. The next day Saidi and his staff
went back to work and printed
50 000 copies, which sold out in two hours. The
police again shut down the
newspaper and arrested its employees, then all ANZ
directors. But the battle
to get the Daily News back on the streets
continues. "Our next step is to
file an application to the administrative
court for its October 24 order be
enforced pending the appeal. This would
allow us to publish while the appeal
process was proceeding." Though they
have been released, the charges against
Saidi and the 17 journalists are
still pending. "We are now expected to be
engaged in a protracted legal
battle to get the paper back on the streets, "
he says.
Saidi was
forced into exile, in Zambia, in 1963, where he witnessed that
country's
independence the next year. "In Zambia, Mugabe and the late Joshua
Nkomo
visited often and gave us hope that Rhodesia would soon also be free.
We
continued the fight from outside the country. When Ian Smith's
government
took over, we were devastated," says Saidi. He returned to
Zimbabwe at
independence in 1980 and joined The Herald as assistant editor.
The new
Zimbabwe government bought the paper from the Argus group, now
Independent
Newspapers. He then joined the Daily Gazette as editor, where he
broke the
story of Mugabe's affair with his secretary, now his wife, and was
fired as
a result. He joined the Daily News in 1998. Saidi says he
doesn't
deliberately look for trouble, but trouble seems to follow him
everywhere he
goes. "I saw a dead body for the first time when I was 10 and
it traumatised
me. There was a general strike and the dead man had been
killed by strikers
for supporting the system. That people could kill someone
for not agreeing
with them unsettled me and I began to think a great deal. My
mother told me
always to be my own man and to stand up for what I believed
in. I guess that
made me a bit dogmatic about right and wrong," he says.
Saidi's message is
that the situation in Zimbabwe should not be allowed to
set the tone for
Africa.