http://www.mg.co.za/
JASON MOYO - Nov 20 2009 06:00
Zimbabwe's feuding parties
will meet over the weekend to thrash out a
compromise, with the first
deadline imposed by the region to resolve the
remaining issues likely to be
missed.
President Jacob Zuma is expected in Zimbabwe next week to monitor
progress,
according to a timetable set by regional leaders earlier this
month. After
the start of the latest round of negotiations was delayed, the
parties are
rushing to find common ground ahead of Zuma's visit.
The
Southern African Development Community's November 6 troika summit gave
Zimbabwe 30 days to resolve the crisis but, as a sign of its impatience,
told the parties to show some progress within 15 days. Yet, no substantive
talks had been held by this week.
"They will work from Friday right
into the weekend to deal with the issues
as mandated by the SADC troika
summit," said Gorden Moyo, Prime Minister
Morgan Tsvangirai's minister of
state. A report on the progress made would
be released at the weekend, he
said.
The Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) wants Robert Mugabe to
reverse key
government appointments he made without consulting his coalition
partners,
key among them is the appointment of allies Gideon Gono as central
bank
governor and Johannes Tomana as attorney general. The MDC also wants
reforms
to media and security laws speeded up and the unconditional
swearing-in to
government of Roy Bennett, whose terrorism trial has rocked
the coalition.
The MDC believes much hinges on the outcome of the trial,
which the party
sees as evidence of Mugabe's continuing persecution of
opponents. Mugabe is
placing much importance on nailing Bennett, sending in
the attorney general
to lead the state's case in court.
But the
state's case was crumbling spectacularly in the high court this
week, so
badly that Tomana faced censure from his own superiors in
government.
A police witness admitted to a judge that not all the
weapons displayed in
court as evidence against Bennett had been retrieved
from Peter Hitschmann,
an arms dealer alleged to be Bennett's accomplice.
The state also failed to
produce proof that Bennett had deposited $5 000
into a Mozambican bank
account for Hitschmann to buy arms.
The
state's setbacks have left Tomana at the mercy of both his critics and
the
government. In a memo seen by the Mail & Guardian Justice Minister
Patrick Chinamasa angrily accuses Tomana of incompetence.
The
country's lawyers' association also approached Chinamasa to demand
Tomana's
resignation over his bias and the "continued harassment and attacks
on its
members". In a petition to protest against a series of arrests and
harassment of lawyers representing government opponents, the Law Society of
Zimbabwe said: "The harassment has been a direct attack [on] and
interference with the independence of the legal profession from the police,
attorney general and other state agents. This has left the integrity and
safety of the legal practitioners at stake."
Meanwhile, the German
embassy in Zimbabwe reported that Wolfgang Thamm, a
Jesuit priest and German
citizen, had been assaulted by "four junior members
of the Zimbabwean Army"
after he was stopped outside an army barracks north
of Harare last
Sunday.
"One soldier took Father Thamm's glasses and slammed him in the
face before
forcing him out of the car. The priest was then ordered by the
soldiers to
kneel in a large puddle of water. When he hesitated to follow
the order, he
was pushed into the dirty pool and brutally kicked several
times by the
soldiers." Germany said this was "totally unacceptable
misconduct" and "a
disgrace to the Zimbabwean armed forces".
http://www.zimonline.co.za
by Own
Correspondent Friday 20 November 2009
JOHANNESBURG - South
African farmers on Thursday called on Pretoria to
ensure that Zimbabwean
President Robert Mugabe's controversial land reform
programme is included in
a Bilateral Investment Protection Agreement (BIPA)
set to be sealed between
the two southern African neighbours next week.
Agri-SA which represents
over 70 000 large and small-scale commercial
farmers in Africa's biggest
economy said in a statement the South African
government should not to
buckle under pressure from Zimbabwe to exclude the
land reform programme
from the agreement.??
"Expectations are still that the agreement should
only be finalised once the
South African government has completed its policy
review on bilateral
agreements, and that the government should not buckle
under pressure from
the Zimbabwean government to exclude its land reform
programme results from
such an agreement," Agri-SA said.??
The
farmers' body said the content of the BIPA had not yet been discussed
with
the South African business community although it has been invited to
participate in an investment seminar on November 27, in Harare, where the
agreement is set to be signed.??
Agri-SA and Zimbabwe's Commercial
Farmers' Union (CFU) will hold a meeting
on November 25 to set up a forum to
raise collective concerns before the two
governments sign the trade
pact.??
"The forum will also consider other mechanisms at its disposal to
ensure
that fairness and justice prevails regarding the confiscation of
assets in
Zimbabwe," Agri-SA said.??
Signing of the agreement between
the countries that are each other's biggest
trading partner on the continent
in addition to being strong political
allies has on several occasions been
postponed on the eleventh hour,
apparently after Harare objected to a clause
in the accord referring to land
investments.
President Mugabe's
chaotic and often violent programme to seize white-owned
farm land for
redistribution to landless blacks has seen several farms owned
by foreigners
and protected under bilateral trade agreements between
Zimbabwe and other
countries seized without compensation.
The seizure of private land has
raised questions about Zimbabwe's commitment
to uphold property rights as
well as agreements entered with other
countries. - ZimOnline
http://af.reuters.com
Fri Nov 20, 2009 12:04am
GMT
* White farmers part of project to reduce Nigeria
imports
* Others from South Korea, Kuwait and the United States
join
* 80 percent of land now under cultivation
By Hannington
Osodo
SHONGA, Nigeria, Nov 20 (Reuters) - When white Zimbabwean farmer
Irvin Reid
arrived in Nigeria almost five years ago, he was given a set of
grid
references in the remote bush and told to find water and build a new
farm.
His dairy farm now has 300 Jersey cows, some of among 800 imported
from
South Africa to start cattle farms in the region. It's a sharp contrast
to
things back in Zimbabwe, where campaigners say farmers face their worst
year
ever.
Reid was one of 13 white farmers invited with their
families to Nigeria in
2005 after land seizures in Zimbabwe -- which
President Robert Mugabe says
are necessary to correct the legacy of
colonialism -- stripped them of their
livelihoods.
Africa's most
populous nation of more than 140 million people, Nigeria
imports about $3
billion worth of food annually and has been trying to boost
its
self-sufficiency.
Farmers from South Korea, Kuwait and the United States
have also arrived in
Kwara state, some 400 km (250 miles) northwest of the
commercial hub Lagos,
which is keen to attract more investors and help
Nigeria end its import
reliance.
Hoping Zimbabwe's loss might be its
gain, Nigeria gave each farmer 1,000
hectares of land under a 25-year
renewable lease in Shonga, the hub of the
state's commercial agriculture
project.
Less than five years on, 80 percent of the land is under
cultivation and the
farmers have asked for more.
"We arrived to
virgin bush. We were basically just given GPS points, told to
mark them out,
clear the bush and find water, build the house, build the
sheds, and import
cattle," Reid said.
"It was right from the grassroots and it was fun. We
all lived in tents for
a while," he said.
Hundreds of tonnes of
cassava, maize and soya beans are harvested for both
local consumption and
export markets.
Graham Hatty, 70, is the chairman of the New Nigerian
Farmers Associations,
made up mostly of white Zimbabweans. He was once
famous for the winter wheat
crop he grew in Zimbabwe.
"This is the
Garden of Eden for us, everything grows here. It has been
exciting coming
here. I am doing what I love to do, which is to feed people,
it is what I
have done all my life," he said, a beaming smile emanating from
under his
straw hat.
"It is quite ironic, I am here in Nigeria and I am told I am
the biggest
individual cassava grower in the country with 600 hectares of
cassava in the
ground," he said.
SPURRING
DEVELOPMENT
White commercial farmers used to own 70 percent of Zimbabwe's
fertile
territory due to a colonial system that drove blacks from their
ancestral
lands.
Ninety percent of the land is now in the hands of
black farmers, but many
lack commercial farming experience and are without
adequate inputs.
"This has not been a land reform programme at all, this
has been a political
programme," said John Worsley-Worswick of Justice for
Agriculture, a
Zimbabwean campaign group, speaking in Harare. "It has seen a
decline in
agriculture production down to levels of 15-20 percent of what
was there
before.
"We are looking at the worst farming year ever this
coming year ... there is
less arable land that is being prepared, less
inputs available ...
Regardless of what sort of season we have, right from
the onset it is
destined to be a disaster," he said.
In Nigeria,
residents of Shonga were initially apprehensive when the
Zimbabwe farmers
first arrived. But that has changed.
"We now have electricity, our health
is improving because we have a new
clinic and water, some of our sons and
wives have found work on the farms,"
said 65-year-old Zubairu Abubakar, an
elder of Chattaburo, one of 33
villages within the Shonga
farms.
Local government officials say the large-scale farming has
increased local
food supply, brought new skills to local farmers and
triggered the emergence
of new agricultural industries.
Professor
Mohammed Gana Yisa, Kwara state's commissioner of agriculture,
said 15 new
commercial farms had been developed in addition to the 13 at
Shonga and that
3,000-4,000 people had found work in the Shonga farms alone.
The state
government has invested in a multi-million dollar cargo terminal
which it
says will be the continent's largest.
"We are (focusing) on the Shonga
farms...They are producing large, so we are
positioning ourselves to be able
to move these large quantities of farm
produce to anywhere in the world,"
said Razak Atunwa, state commissioner for
works and
transport.
FOLLOWING ZIMBABWEAN FOOTSTEPS
Nigeria's
agricultural sector has taken a back seat since the country
started
producing oil more than five decades ago.
The Shonga farms are jointly
financed by Nigerian banks, which have a 45
percent stake in the project
while the Zimbabwean farmers and the Kwara
state government hold 40 percent
and 15 percent respectively.
But, particularly with the global credit
crunch forcing banks to tighten
their lending criteria, access to long-term
funds has been difficult.
"The major challenge the farmers faced was the
issue of credit facilities
for agriculture," Professor Yisa
said.
"Our banks are not used to agriculture banking ... They want to
give you
money for agriculture today and then collect it back after 12
months," he
said.
Nigeria has set aside 200 billion naira to aid
commercial farming in the
country although the funds have not been
forthcoming, slowing down work and
potentially affecting next year's
crop.
But the problems have not deterred other investors from streaming
into
Kwara. Yisa said one group from Syria was clearing 600 hectares for
poultry
farming alone.
David Higgins, a South African who used to
work for dairy processing giant
Parmalat in Johannesburg, recently joined
the Shonga dairy farms and now
manages Nigeria's only milk plant.
"I
saw an opportunity here ... and I can tell you now there is no doubt I am
here for the long term," he said.
"In spite of all the land we have
leased out ... we have not gone beyond
20-25 percent of what is available
for agriculture," Yisa said. "We have
close to 2 million hectares of land
and about 80 percent of this land is
cultivable."
http://www.zimeye.org/?p=10567
By Tonderai
Garisayi
Published: November 20, 2009
Harare -
Zimbabwe's attorney general developed cold feet on Thursday after
MDC
treasurer Roy Bennett's lawyers demanded that crucial computer and
police
log evidence be produced immediately.
Defence lawyers Thursday demanded a
police log book and 'recorded' laptop
email evidence linking arms dealer
Michael Hitschmann be produced. Attorney
General, Johannes Tomana (pictured)
began saying that the logs were
confidential and that the defence could only
obtain them after a successful
court application, which usually takes weeks
to be approved. Tomana also
defended his position saying that production of
the log in court 'would
jeopardise State security.'
When called
forward, the police officer in charge Chief Supt Makone also
began to say
that the State was 'relying on other information' apart from
Hitschmann's
affidavit.
"There is a video clip showing Hitschmann confessing freely
without any
pressure."
"The e-mails are another form of evidence
linking the accused to the
offence," Makone said.
However,
Hitschmann's confession has been challenged on credibility grounds
as
Hitschmann has recently said that he confessed while under duress.
Hitschmann was convicted and jailed for illegally possessing firearms and is
a key prosecution witness. But Chief Supt Makone continued claiming that
Hitschmann was never subjected to torture.
Defence attorney Ms
Beatrice Mtetwa demanded production of the log to verify
State allegations
that a laptop recovered from Hitschmann and bearing
information linking
Bennett to the charges was indeed in police custody at
the time. The State
under Attorney General, Tomana claims that 'e-mail
messages' implicating
Bennett were downloaded from Hitschmann's laptop.
Ms Mtetwa said there
was a possibility State agents tampered with the
laptop, a charge Chief Supt
Makone denied. However, in another dramatic
twist, the state owned Herald
newspaper controlled by both Tomana and
President Mugabe reported Thursday
stating that
"Police logs give detailed accounts of everything done in
investigations and
exhibits are captured there."
The trial continues
on Monday with the defence cross-examining the witness.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 19 November 2009 22:05
ZANU PF's main wing led by retired army commander Solomon Mujuru has
crushed
a rival faction headed by Emmerson Mnangagwa, leaving the party in
turmoil.
This followed a dramatic battle for power last
weekend which is likely
to claim high-profile political casualties ahead of
the party's congress
next month. The vicious political episode could mark
the beginning of the
disintegration of the party along its regional and
ethnic fault lines.
The Mujuru faction heavily defeated the
Mnangagwa camp during the
party's nominations for a new leadership to be
endorsed at congress after a
bruising battle across the country that left
political careers damaged or
ruined. There is also bitterness in the party
as shown by the brickbats
fired by Manicaland provincial chairman Beziel
Nyabadza at a funeral on
Wednesday.
Nyabadza attacked the
Zanu PF leadership at the funeral of party
secretary for administration
Didymus Mutasa's son in Rusape, saying
procedures were flouted during
nominations and some leaders were now like
"UN permanent security members",
a reference to President Robert Mugabe's
continuous 32 years at the helm of
the party. Zanu PF politburo members are
also attacking each other all over
the place after the latest power struggle
and elections.
Inside sources said the Mnangagwa group dismally lost one of the
fiercest
battles for control in Zanu PF in recent times after losing
practically in
all provinces except Masvingo. The sources said Mnangagwa's
ticket which
included President Robert Mugabe, John Nkomo, Oppah Muchinguri
and Kembo
Mohadi was initially projected to secure seven provinces ahead of
Mujuru's
one. Despite losing, Muchinguri is said to be planning to put up a
fight
from the floor at congress to oust Joice Mujuru.
The Mujuru
group initially wanted to have Mugabe, Joice Mujuru, Naison
Ndlovu and Obert
Mpofu for president, co-vice-presidents and party chair,
respectively. There
were shifts and changes later due to shock results in
different provinces.
The Mujuru faction operated on the basis of a loose
alliance.
As in 2004 during the Tsholotsho affair the
Mnangagwa group thought it
was assured of victory until the eleventh hour
when the Mujuru faction
played its main card. The Mnangagwa faction ended up
with four provinces but
this time it has only won one so far. Mnangagwa's
regional powerbase, the
Midlands province, is yet to vote. It might now vote
for the Mujuru
candidates to avoid a political backlash.
Masvingo, which was divided on the day of voting, is now bitter that
Mnangagwa has let it down again by failing to hold his nerve when it
mattered most. In 2004 Mnangagwa's camp was running away with at least seven
provinces but the Mujuru faction made a decisive intervention and
won.
Sources said the Mnangagwa faction had over the years
managed to
regroup to challenge the Mujuru team, again after careful
planning.
However, in the end only Masvingo, instead of six
other provinces
which included three Matabeleland regions, Mashonaland West,
Manicaland and
Midlands, voted for Mnangagwa's line-up. The Midlands is yet
to vote.
Sources said Nkomo had struck a deal after talks with
Mnangagwa in
which the former was put on the ticket on condition he agreed
to surrender
the party chairmanship, a traditionally PF Zapu position after
the 1987
Unity Accord, to the latter. Sources said however Mnangagwa did
not want to
take a risk like he did in 1999 to go for the chairmanship
unless he was
assured to win. Eventually Mnangagwa deferred to
Mohadi.
Nkomo aligned himself with the Mnangagwa faction after
facing
unexpectedly stiff competition in Matabeleland provinces from senior
party
officials Ndlovu, Mpofu, Cain Mathema and Ambrose
Mutinhiri.
The sources said Nkomo had also indicated to Mutasa
the position of
chairman was not in the Unity Accord and therefore open to
contest as in
1999 and 2004. This led to Mutasa throwing his hat into the
ring. But Nkomo
could not assure Mutasa of support because of his deal with
Mnangagwa.
Mutasa then entered the race on the strength of his alliance with
the Mujuru
faction before it ditched him midstream.
The
Mujuru group also dumped Ndlovu and Mpofu after their defeat in
Matabeleland
South and Bulawayo.
They then shifted support to Nkomo
first and then Simon Khaya Moyo.
Moyo beat Mutasa after being backed by the
Mujuru faction which even
reversed its nomination of Mutasa in Mashonaland
Central in his favour.
Nkomo and Moyo were the official PF Zapu
candidates nominated by their
caucus which still exists inside Zanu
PF.
Sources said if the Mnangagwa team won, Mnangagwa was
expected to then
reoccupy the position of secretary for administration while
preparing for an
assault on the presidency. The position was supposed to be
his springboard
to power whenever Mugabe leaves through retirement or
natural causes.
However, the plan started collapsing after one
of Mnangagwa's
candidates, Mohadi, lost to Moyo in Matabeleland South.
Mohadi further lost
in Matabeleland North and Bulawayo, although Nkomo won
in those provinces.
Matabeleland North initially refused to
vote for Nkomo and only did so
after it became obvious he was inevitably
winning. Mohadi only won in
Masvingo but later withdrew after the Mnangwa
faction was trounced.
Dumisani Muleya
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 19
November 2009 21:49
MINES minister Obert Mpofu did not float a tender
to select
prospective investors to partner government in diamond extraction
in the
Marange Diamond Fields amid allegations he overlooked better equipped
and
experienced diamond miners.
Investigations by the
Zimbabwe Independent revealed that Mpofu
cherry-picked Canadile Investments
and Mbada Minerals without going to
tender.
Sources say
Mpofu was grilled by his government colleagues over the
selection process of
the investors but he defended himself saying that owing
to the sensitivity
of the diamond situation and sanctions imposed on the
country, he could not
float a tender.
Government insiders are said to have also
enquired if a due diligence
survey was conducted into the two would-be
partners.
Investigations by the Independent reveal that the two
companies,
Canadile and Mbada, have never been involved in diamond
mining.
Although Mbada Minerals is yet to be registered in
Zimbabwe, the
company is controlled by Reclamation Group, a South African
scrap metal and
iron dealer which has never run a mine.
Reclamation first registered Grandwell Holdings, a special purpose
vehicle
registered in Mauritius, ahead of an anticipated partnership with
the
Zimbabwean government in the diamond-mining project.
Grandwell
was registered as a Global Business Category 2 Company on
July 15 under
company registration number 89386. The registered agent is
Kross Border
Trust, according to documents to hand.
Liparm Corporation
chaired by retired Air-Vice Marshall Robert Mhlanga
is a partner in
Grandwell.
Mhlanga was a key state witness in Prime Minister
Morgan Tsvangirai's
treason trial in 2003. He testified that he had contact
with former Israeli
spy Ari-Ben Menashe who claimed Tsvangirai hired him to
kill Mugabe.
His daughter, Patience Mhlanga, and a Zimbabwe
Minerals Development
Corporation (ZMDC) official, Alex Mukwekwezeke are also
directors of Mbada.
But ZMDC chief Dominic Mubayiwa says
Mukwekwezeke resigned from the
employ of the mining group.
Little
is known about Mhlanga except that he is now based in Sandton,
South
Africa.
But Reclamation, according to our investigations, is no
stranger to
Zimbabwe's business and political terrain.
Over
the years the South African company has been attempting to make
in-roads
into Zimbabwe's mining sector.
Last year the company reportedly
made a bid for Zimbabwe Iron and
Steel Company (Zisco) but the bid seems to
have fallen through.
Before making the bid for Zisco, sources
said Reclamation was buying
scrap from the rundown steel maker.
Reclamation has secured a 50% shareholding in the diamond mine.
In a move that could see Zimbabwe busting sanctions imposed on the
Marange
stones, Mbada Minerals has been awarded the lease of the old Harare
Airport
domestic terminal for the establishment of storage bunkers and
diamond
cutting facilities.
Industry experts said that once diamonds
are semi-cut, the gems would
fall outside the jurisdiction of the Kimberley
Process Certification Scheme
(KPCS), a global watchdog formed to ensure that
conflict diamonds do not
find their way onto the market.
The export of cut or semi-cut stones after the establishment of a
single
facet would fall off the KPCS' radar, essentially removing imposed
sanctions.
Already Marange Resources - a wholly owned
government mining company -
has been ordered to stop mining operations at
its mechanised mine in Marange
to pave way for Mbada
Minerals.
It is not clear yet how much Canadille and Mbada paid
for their 50%
stakes in the diamond projects.
A
joint-venture agreement in the possession of the Independent shows
that
Reclamation will have exclusive marketing rights of diamonds from
Marange.
Reclamation's other South African directors are
Gordon McCrae and his
son, Robby, who together own the company through a
trust.
According to the Independent investigations, Core
Mining, a South
African-based company partnered businessman Lovemore Kurotwi
to form
Canadile Investments.
It is not clear how much
shareholding he owns but he is a director of
Canadile
Diamonds.
He also served in the army and is a retired
major.
The consortium comprising Core Mining is led by an
Israeli diamond
dealer and trader Yehuda Licht or Judah
Licht.
Canadille won the bid ahead of Gem Diamonds, a leading
global diamond
producer with diamond mining operations throughout the world
and
headquartered in London.
Ironically, the same mining
area, a reportedly 1 000 hectares,
allocated to Mbada Minerals is in
dispute.
African Consolidated Resources (ACR) won a High Court
order barring
ZMDC from carrying out mining work. The court also ruled that
ACR was the
rightful owner of the claim.
Satellite images
and Marange production reports in our possession show
that ZMDC is in
contempt of court by continuing to mine there.
Chris
Muronzi
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 19 November 2009
21:11
ZANU PF MPs secured immunity for the Reserve Bank governor and
his
staff after the House of Assembly approved this week amendments to a
Bill to
reform the central bank. Reserve Bank governor Gideon Gono has
repeatedly
pushed for immunity.
According to a report on
the amendments to the banking laws of
Zimbabwe carried out before the
inclusive government, a panel of experts
chaired by Justice George Smith
recommended that the constitution should
confer immunity for the governor or
his deputy for all acts done in good
faith in his or her official
capacity.
The team, which also included former central bank
governor of Zambia
David Phiri, South African retired judge and corporate
governance guru
Mervyn King and prominent lawyer Edwin Manikai, said the
governor or deputy
should be guaranteed security of tenure.
However, Finance Minister Tendai Biti in an interview yesterday
downplayed
the issue of immunity in the Reserve Bank Amendment Bill, saying
it did not
cover where there has been theft, fraud or a breach of the law.
"The Bill is not a malicious piece of legislation and there was no
witch-hunt against anyone. The immunity in the Bill that is given to the
officials stated is the kind of immunity that is to be found in most laws,"
he said.
"The new provision in the Bill simply says those
officials who acted
in good faith and without negligence will not be liable
to prosecution. It
does not say anywhere that where there has been theft,
fraud or where there
has been a breach of the law, the people should not be
prosecuted."
Biti said in this respect, therefore, in many ways
the provision on
immunity is "superfluous."
One of the
amendments pushed for by Zanu PF states that with effect
from August 13 1999
"no claim shall lie against the state, the minister, the
bank, the board,
the governor or any employee of the bank for anything done
in good faith and
without negligence under the powers conferred by this Act".
The
immunity also covers former RBZ governor Leonard Tsumba.
The
decision to include the amendments came after Zanu PF MPs
threatened to
block the Bill which they criticised for granting "excessive
powers" to the
Finance minister and for being "personal".
On plans to force
the Reserve Bank to surrender its subsidiaries, the
Finance minister agreed
that the companies would remain with the RBZ and
could be disposed of with
the consent of the minister.
Initially the MDC-T minister
wanted to force the Reserve Bank to
surrender its companies to their parent
ministries in a quest to stop the
bank from pursuing quasi-fiscal
activities.
The Reserve Bank through the Finance Trust of
Zimbabwe has a
controlling stake in Carslone Enterprises, Fiscorp, Homelink
(Pvt) Ltd and
Zimbabwe Stock Exchange-listed Tractive Power and Astra
Holdings.
"No shares or any assets of a company referred to in
(1) shall be sold
by the bank except with the leave of the minister
responsible for Finance,
and where such leave is given, the bank shall first
apply the proceeds
thereof to meeting on a pro rata basis any liability of
the bank towards
banking institutions arising from the deficiency, if any,
that, on the date
of commencement of this Act is found to exist between the
total minimum
reserve balances deposited by banking institutions on or
before that date
with the bank in compliance with Section 30 of the Banking
Act."
The central bank governor would continue to chair the RBZ
board but
Biti proposed to cut to two deputy governers from the four
catered for
under the current law.
MPs pushed through
amendments that changed sections of the Bill on
the audit committee. Biti
agreed to change the audit committee to the Audit
and Oversight Committee
which would be chaired by "a person employed in the
Ministry of Finance
appointed by the minister".
The new committee according to the
amendments to the Bill would review
the operations of the central bank to
ensure that they are conducted in
compliance with best corporate
practice.
Biti also climbed down on the appointment of Finance
permanent
secretary into the board and accepted many other Zanu PF
amendments. The
Bill faces further scrutiny in senate.
Bernard Mpofu
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 19 November 2009
21:08
THE 15-day deadline set by the Sadc organ on politics, defence
and
security to kick-start negotiations to end the impasse over the
outstanding
issues of the global political agreement (GPA) lapses today with
no
indications as to when the talks will commence.
A mini-summit of
the Sadc troika on November 5 in Maputo, Mozambique,
resolved that Zanu PF
and the two MDC formations' negotiators should open
talks within 15 days and
find a solution to the sticking points within 30
days.
President Robert Mugabe, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and Deputy
Prime
Minister Arthur Mutambara - principals of the GPA - met last Friday
and set
the agenda of the negotiations but the talks failed to take place
because
negotiators from the MDC-M, ministers Welshman Ncube and Priscillah
Misihairabwi-Mushonga, were attending an investment conference in South
Africa.
A meeting on Monday between Tsvangirai and Zanu PF
negotiators,
Patrick Chinamasa and Nicholas Goche, and MDC-T's Tendai Biti
did not last
long because of the absence of Ncube and Misihairabwi-Mushonga.
Economic
Development minister Elton Mangoma - a negotiator from the MDC-T -
was also
out of the country. Biti last night said a date for the
negotiations to
commence was yet to be set because of the absence of the
MDC-M negotiators.
"I don't know when the negotiations will
take place," Biti said.
"Ncube and Priscillah are not in the country and the
talks cannot go on
without them."
Tsvangirai yesterday said
the negotiators would meet soon.
"The whole urgency of the
matter is to try and rescue the credibility
of the inclusive government," he
said before he left the country for Morocco
and Libya, the current African
Union chair, where he said he will brief
Muammar Gadaffi on the unity
government.
Tsvangirai and Mugabe have disagreed on the
appointment of key
government officials such as the central bank governor
and the
attorney-general and provincial governors.
"I am
taking the opportunity of being in the [North Africa] region to
meet the
chairman of the AU about the developments in the country and what
progress
we are making," Tsvangirai told reporters at Harare International
Airport
before his departure. - Staff Writer.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 19 November 2009
20:16
PUBLIC consultations on the crafting of a new constitution are
now
expected to start in January, with a referendum pencilled in for
September -
cutting by nine months the timeframe for the constitution-making
process set
out in the Global Political Agreement. Co-chairperson of the
parliamentary
select committee on the constitution-making process,
Munyaradzi Paul
Mangwana, yesterday said the public consultations would be
done over two
months.
Last month Mangwana said the
committee needed about 65 days to carry
out the consultations throughout the
country.
The training of teams of about 860 people to carry out
the exercise is
scheduled to start some time this month.
Offices have been set up in Milton Park in Harare and the committee
has now
recruited the chief executive officer and other top administrative
staff.
Mangwana said: "Consultation is expected to start in
January and end
in February. At least we now have funding and the process is
expected to
start in earnest this month with the training of the teams that
will be
deployed for the outreach programme."
The
constitution-making process has received funding from the United
Nations
Development Programme (UNDP), which pledged US$2 million, with the
rest of
the funding expected to come from government.
In the meantime
UNDP would be paying for all expenses incurred.
He said
according to their draft work-plan the second stakeholders
conference should
be held in May and presentation to parliament would then
be in July and the
referendum in September.
The only thing that the select
committee has managed to organise since
it was constituted in April was the
first stakeholders meeting in July,
which was chaotic because of disruptions
by Zanu PF supporters.
Initially the consultations were
supposed to start in August and were
first postponed to this month and now
to January due to lack of funding.
According to the timetable
outlined in the GPA, the draft of the
constitution is supposed to be tabled
within three months of completion of
the public consultations and then taken
to a second stakeholders'
conference.
The draft and the
accompanying report are supposed to be debated in
parliament and the debate
concluded within one month.
A referendum on the new draft
constitution should be held within three
months of the conclusion of the
debate.
The whole process, according to the GPA, is supposed to
take 18 months
before the referendum is held, paving the way for free and
fair elections.
But now, according to the committee's
work-plan, everything has been
squeezed into nine
months.
Faith Zaba
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 19 November 2009
20:14
THE Zanu PF congress which was scheduled for the first week of
December in Harare has been postponed amid reports that the party has failed
to raise adequate funding to host close to 5 000 delegates. The party
earlier this month indicated that it needed US$5 million to hold the
congress, which was scheduled to be held at the Harare International
Conference Centre (HICC) from December 8 to 13.
Zanu PF
deputy spokesperson, Ephraim Masawi, yesterday confirmed the
postponement of
the congress but could not give new dates and referred
further questions to
the party's national chairman, John Nkomo.
"The decision to
postpone the conference is an internal matter but
Nkomo can give you details
on when the congress is likely to be held,"
Masawi said.
Nkomo was not responding to calls on his mobile but on Wednesday he
told the
state media that the congress had been postponed because the
conference
venue was booked by another organisation.
He said the party's
leadership would meet to decide the new dates for
the
congress.
"We will have to consult the party's principals on
the new dates
because the venue of the conference, the Harare International
Conference
Centre, is already occupied," said Nkomo adding that the congress
would
still be held in December.
Enquiries at the HICC
revealed that the Civil Aviation Authority of
Zimbabwe (CAAZ) has booked the
entire space at the HICC from December 8 to
10 for an
exhibition.
Zanu PF sources told the Zimbabwe Independent that
the party was
struggling to raise the money required to bring in delegates
from all the
country's 10 provinces.
"Provinces have not
managed to raise enough money and the reason for
postponing the congress is
to allow the party to raise the money," one of
the sources said. "In the
past the money would just come from the Reserve
Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ), but
there is no money to print this time around."
The source said
the congress was being held in Harare to cut travel
costs for the
delegates.
"There are no Zupco buses to commandeer this time
around and if all
the delegates were to connect from Harare to any other
venue, it would have
been very expensive. Also the HICC is not the best
venue for a Zanu PF
congress but there is no choice," the source
added.
Zanu PF is known for its extravagant partying at
congresses.
At last year's annual conference in Bindura, more
than 124 cattle, 81
goats, 19 pigs, kudus and thousands of chickens were
slaughtered while
tonnes of rice were sourced to feed
delegates.
There have been increasing reports in Mashonaland
West province and
areas such as Bikita, Gutu, Zaka, Mwenezi, Zvishavane and
Mberengwa of
teachers and villagers being forced to "donate" towards the
hosting of the
congress.
The reports indicate that teachers
were being asked to pay US$1 each,
while villagers were being forced to give
a bucket of maize a homestead.
The Zanu PF congress is held
after every five years and is expected to
elect a new
leadership.
President Mugabe and his deputy Joice Mujuru have
been assured of
retaining their positions while Nkomo is set to become the
second
vice-president, replacing the late Joseph Msika.
The
post of national chairperson will go to Simon Khaya Moyo, Zimbabwe's
ambassador to South Africa.
Loughty
Dube
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 19 November 2009
19:27
THE government is still to constitute the Broadcasting Authority
of
Zimbabwe (BAZ) board, rendering null and void the board announced in
September by Information minister Webster Shamu Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai said this week. According to Tsvangirai, Shamu appointed the BAZ
board, chaired by Tafataona Mahoso, in disregard of the global political
agreement, which states that President Robert Mugabe should make key
appointments in consultation with the premier.
After Mugabe
and Tsvangirai agree on all the board members, the MDC-T
argued, the
President's Office must then seek the views of the Standing
Rules and Orders
Committee of parliament with respect to nine of the 12
members.
The two leaders are, however, bound to appoint at
least three from six
nominations made by the committee.
None of these processes were followed when Shamu announced the
Mahoso-led
board, which included two retired military personnel - retired
Brigadier-General Elasto Madzingira and retired Colonel Reuben
Mqwayi.
"The final composition has not yet been decided upon,
despite the
premature announcement to the contrary and once it has, I trust
that it too
will play a significant part in ensuring Zimbabwe's broadcast
environment
becomes truly representative," said Tsvangirai at the launch of
the Report
on the Public Broadcast Media.
He said after
having been a victim of the bias and hate language by
the Zimbabwe
Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC), he wanted to see it transformed
into a true
public broadcaster.
"I am in favour of moves to transform our
state broadcaster into a
truly public broadcaster - why not when I have been
a victim. Sometimes I
wonder if they are serving two different governments.
The broadcasting
services in Zimbabwe leave a lot to be desired," Tsvangirai
said.
He also pointed out that although they had approved the
composition of
the Zimbabwe Media Commission, which he described as a fair,
representative
and progressive group of people who are determined to put the
country's best
interests ahead, he believed in
self-regulation.
"Indeed, I do not support the argument that
due to the potential power
of the media the state has an obligation to
ensure it is properly regulated.
Instead, I am a strong proponent of the
view that due to its power, and the
inalienable right of freedom of
information and freedom of expression, the
state should play no role in its
regulation," Tsvangirai said.
Faith Zaba
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 19 November 2009
19:24
BRITISH companies will only invest in Zimbabwe when all
outstanding
issues of the global political agreement are fulfilled,
Britain's ambassador
to Zimbabwe, Mark Canning, has said. In an interview
with the Zimbabwe
Independent in Gwanda this week, Canning said although
companies were
pleased with the gradual stabilisation of the economy since
the formation of
the inclusive government in February, the current political
impasse was of
great concern and was hindering significant
investment.
"Recently, several (British) companies were in the
country to have a
hard look at the investment climate here," he said. "They
noted much
improvement on the economic front since February but they are
concerned with
the continued land invasions, lack of security of tenure and
sound legal
framework to protect investment."
Canning said
the companies wanted firm guarantees that their
investments would be
protected and their operations not interfered with by
government.
"Once the provisions of the global political
agreement are fulfilled,
I am certain significant investment would be made
in Zimbabwe and British
companies are ready to move in, in a big way. But
for now everything is
being watched closely," he said.
He
said the inclusive government presents "a real opportunity to move
this
country forward. There is a long and difficult road ahead, but there is
opportunity, if the will is there and the GPA is implemented in full to move
Zimbabwe forward from the terrible years which it emerged
from".
However, Canning refused to comment on his country's
position on the
proposed indigenisation policy.
Zimbabwe plans to
grab a 51% stake in foreign-owned firms within 60
days of gazetting the
Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Act
regulations.
The regulations seek to transfer ownership of any foreign-owned
businesses
valued at
US$500 000 or above to indigenous Zimbabweans in terms of the
Indigenisation and Empowerment Act passed in 2007.
On the
removal of sanctions, Canning said he fails "to see how
measures targeted at
201 individuals can hurt people in the streets".
"As President
(Jacob) Zuma said when he was here recently that we
should not worry about
limited sanctions, they would be taken care of once
the GPA provisions are
taken care of," Canning added.
Nqobile
Bhebhe
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 19
November 2009 19:13
VINIT Chandra, chief executive of Barclays Global
Retail Banking
Emerging Markets - covering growing regions of Middle East
and North Africa,
East and West Africa, Southern Africa, India and Indian
Ocean, Pakistan and
Indonesia - visited Zimbabwe this week and granted
Zimbabwe Independent
editor Vincent Kahiya an exclusive interview whose
excerpts we carry below.
Kahiya: As a first time visitor to Zimbabwe, what
is your broad perception
of the banking sector here?
Chandra: I think I can answer that in two points: for instance, I
think
Zimbabwe for the last two years has gone through a trying time. It's
been
tough and today you can see a lot of confidence coming back to the
economy
with an open currency regime. Now you can just see a lot more
investment
which is going to happen in this country. We have been here for
97 years, we
have got 40 branches. We have got 76 automated teller machines.
We have a
unique arrangement with Visa whereby our ATMs can be used by any
Visa card
holder to withdraw cash.
We are committed to SMEs, we are committed to
the local business. It's
a very very important part of our work. To answer
this question directly in
terms of what my impression is, we are the fourth
largest market capitalised
entity in the country and when we look at our
competitors . I would say that
we are in a much better position to serve our
customers. Two reasons: Number
one; I would say we have been in the country
longer and the second reason is
the quality of people we have in Zimbabwe
running our affairs.
Kahiya: Barclays Bank is a big player here
but in the broader context,
how do you place the bank in your region
(emerging markets)?
Chandra: It is very important. It's a key
market for us and a very
responsive market.very important. From a
profitability perspective, it has
been impacted by what has happened. From a
risk perspective, we had to
re-look at our risk paradigm in the country. But
for our commitment to the
country, nothing has changed and now we are
gradually building up our assets
and we keep investing in the country. There
is time to grow. It is a very
important market though.
Kahiya: The bank has been impacted but what do you need to do to
rebuild in
the short term?
Chandra: There are a couple of things. I think
we have to start
improving .I mean we should start lending more to the
market and that is
something we are committed to. Again when I say lending,
I mean given the
credit risk appetite that Barclays as a group has. We have
got to be in a
position to keep being the employer of choice. We have got to
attract the
best possible talent.
Kahiya: Talking about
lending, it seems as if the bank has not been as
aggressive as other
financial institutions in the country.
Chandra: So the question
is have you been slower than the competition?
Kahiya: What has
been slowing you down?
Chandra: Very good question and a tough
one. I don't think again I'm
going to go into the politics right now.I think
whatever happened did not
happen intentionally. When the global market
dislocation was happening...we
did become very cautious and the caution was
not because of lack of
commitment. But I think we were cautious to some
extent because of the
circumstances.
Now we are in a position to
open up the market and to the SME
sector.We have diversified in
manufacturing, agriculture, retail and tourism
and we continue to increase
our exposure. Maybe sometimes we are a bit too
conservative but it's not
just about being conservative in Zimbabwe.
Typically as a bank we have been
conservative.
Kahiya: And that was going to be my next
question, that in emerging
markets coming out of a crisis like Zimbabwe
where everyone is trying to be
bullish, is it good to be conservative. How
does it impact on the profile of
your bank?
Chandra: So
again, I will give you a global picture and then I come
back to Zimbabwe.
From a global perspective, if you look at the high street
bank region, if
you look across the banking industry in the world, we are
the most
profitable bank. We have made in the last nine months of the year
4,5
billion pounds profit before tax. Our income grew by 23% to close at 25
billion (pounds). In the first nine months, we made more revenue than the
entire 2008. This is just what we declared in our interim results.
Let's get to Zimbabwe. We are committed, we are going to lend. George
(Guvamatanga, Barclays Zimbabwe MD) has just had some limits approved and we
will keep increasing. And today (Wednesday) we are going to have dinner with
our customers. It's all about telling them that we currently have
approximately 90 000 retail and commercial customers and we are going to
increase.90 000. And how much was it at the beginning of the year
(interjection 11 000 people who had US dollar and foreign currency
accounts).
And if you think about it.we have five premier
locations, we have two
centres where commercial customers come.this area
where commercial customers
come is right in the middle of the industrial
hub, so we are very committed
in terms of growing business in Zimbabwe.
There were times when we set back
but never from the perspective of 'Oh my
God, we have got to leave the
country'. No. This is a very important part
for Barclays.I can say this on
behalf of the CEO of the bank and I can say
this on behalf of the chairman
of the bank.
Kahiya: Looking
at the capital adequacy ratio, it looks like you have
a lot more reserves
than what is required by Reserve Bank regulations. Why
is there such a
phenomenon? I know that it is good business to do that but
the other issue
is why have you not been lending? I've been talking to
analysts who suspect
that there is something you are preparing for?
Chandra:
Nothing, nothing diabolical or sinister happening here.
Nothing at all.
First of all there is financial prudence, we would rather be
well
capitalised than undercapitalised, Second thing is that we are not a
foreign
bank, we are a local bank .And at the end of the day, we want to
manage our
asset to deposit ratio. Like I said, he (Guvamatanga) has got
limits to lend
more. You will see our asset-to-deposit ratio move to about
15% and we
should be climbing those to 29 to 20% ...If you go back and ask
that
question four months back, it would have been a single digit. From 7 to
40%
that is a step in the right direction. We are not lending because we
think
there is something happening in the background? No, no, not at all. It's
just our credit exposure and that is really what it is.
Kahiya: How are you handling Zimbabwe's high country risk?
Chandra: I think you answered part of the question (laughs). From a
country-risk perspective, I think dollarisation has helped and there are
fears at a macro level that we could come back to the Zimbabwe dollar
again.But I think it's a question of managing our exposure. We have doubled
in country risk in some countries. We are extremely committed. I presented
the Zimbabwe case to the CEO and everyone believed that at some point in
time, it will become one of the jewels of Africa.
Kahiya:
When would that happen?
Chandra: I would say it's about
international confidence coming back
to the country.
Kahiya: Are you going to lead that?
Chandra: Indeed, indeed,
you have to see the way we are talking
about.I mean let me go into the two
levels, one is South Sahara and one is
Zimbabwe. We are the largest bank on
this continent.70% of our revenue comes
from emerging markets. And right now
he (Guvamatanga) is trying to work on a
model of trying to capture trade
flow across Asia into Zimbabwe. He wants to
pass a bit of the credit flow on
the receiving side or payment side on
whether lines of credit or foreign
exchange.So we are part in the revival of
Zimbabwe.
Kahiya:
And lately. there is controversy around the indigenisation
legislation. As a
bank, what does it mean to you?
Chandra: At this stage it is
premature for me to comment but I would
make one comment.we are waiting for
the details to come. At this stage we
have not really given it much talk.If
that is part of the rule of the
country you are operating
in.
Kahiya: Is there similar legislation in any of the
countries you are
operating in?
Chandra: Ah, not
really.Only in South Africa which is a different
entity because we operate
under the banner of Absa. There is a certain
amount of equity which needs to
be.in black empowerment.Currently we are 67%
owned by Barclays, 33% is
local. But look at the end of the day we would
want to have majority
control. "I think in any country we need to have a
mixture of local and
international investors. We are listed in three
Sub-Saharan countries which
are Kenya, Botswana and Zimbabwe. Botswana has
the smallest public
shareholding, it should be 7,5-8%, Kenya is quite
similar to Zimbabwe, a
70/30% mix.
Kahiya: Are you happy with your share
price?
Chandra: If you look at our share price, it has probably
been one of
the longest performing shares in FTSE.
Kahiya: And
locally?
(Guvamatanga interjects) It's probably one of the
strongest.
Kahiya: But do you feel that this is where it should
be?
Guvamatanga: I think where it is now reflects the
confidence on the
market and how we are doing business and the direction we
are moving in.
Chandra: And just look at our share price in the
peak of the crisis.At
the end of the day it is a very sound stock and I
would recommend you to buy
it.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 19 November 2009 16:01
ZIMBABWE recorded the biggest jump of the 180 countries surveyed by
Transparency International (IT) this year being ranked as the 34th most
corrupt nation from the number 14 it was positioned last year, indicating a
slight lessening of corruption. TI said Zimbabwe was still ranked in a
worrying position due to the breakdown of formal procedures and structures
at most institutions that are operating in a recovering economic
environment.
TI Corruption Perception Index (CPI) measures
the perceived levels of
public sector corruption in a given country and is a
composite index,
drawing on different expert and business
surveys.
The 2009 CPI scores 180 countries (the same number as
the 2008 CPI) on
a scale of zero (highly corrupt) to 10 (highly
clean).
Zimbabwe, which was ranked overall 146th had a score of
2,2 on the CPI
scale, from 1,8 last year.
The country's confidence
level was ranked between 1,7 to 2,8 out of
the possible 10 marks from last
year's 2,5 to 2,7.
Commenting on the survey TI chair, Huguette
Labelle said as the world
economy begins to register a tentative recovery
and some nations continue to
wrestle with ongoing conflict and insecurity,
it was clear that no region of
the world was immune to the perils of
corruption.
"At a time when massive stimulus packages,
fast-track disbursements of
public funds and attempts to secure peace are
being implemented around the
world, it is essential to identify where
corruption blocks good governance
and accountability, in order to break its
corrosive cycle," said Labelle.
Fragile, unstable states that
are scarred by war and ongoing conflict
linger at the bottom of the index.
These are: Somalia, with a score of 1,1,
Afghanistan at 1,3, Myanmar at 1,4
and Sudan tied with Iraq at 1,5.
These results demonstrate that
countries which are perceived as the
most corrupt are also those plagued by
long-standing conflicts, which have
torn apart their governance
infrastructure.
When essential institutions are weak or
non-existent, corruption
spirals out of control and the plundering of public
resources feeds
insecurity and impunity. Corruption also makes normal a
seeping loss of
trust in the very institutions and nascent governments
charged with ensuring
survival and stability.
Countries at
the bottom of the index cannot be shut out from
development efforts.
Instead, what the index points to is the need to
strengthen their
institutions. Investors and donors should be equally
vigilant of their
operations and as accountable for their own actions as
they are in demanding
transparency and accountability from beneficiary
countries.
"Stemming corruption requires strong oversight by parliaments, a
well-performing judiciary, independent and properly resourced audit and
anti-corruption agencies, vigorous law enforcement, transparency in public
budgets, revenue and aid flows, as well as space for independent media and a
vibrant civil society," said Labelle.
"The international
community must find efficient ways to help war-torn
countries to develop and
sustain their own institutions."
Highest scorers in the 2009
CPI are New Zealand at 9,4, Denmark at
9,3, Singapore and Sweden tied at 9,2
and Switzerland at 9,0.
These scores reflect political
stability, long-established conflict of
interest regulations and solid,
functioning public institutions. Overall
results in the 2009 index are of
great concern because corruption continues
to lurk where lack of
transparency rules, where institutions still need
strengthening and where
governments have not implemented anti-corruption
legal
frameworks.
Paul Nyakazeya
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 19 November 2009 15:55
THE past month has seen Zimbabwe's aviation industry coming under the
spotlight. Landing system failures and the recent near-fatal crash caused by
a sounder of warthogs at Harare International Airport runway are cases in
point. Business reporter Bernard Mpofu makes a follow-up on the Civil
Aviation Authority of Zimbabwe's plans to restore malfunctioning systems. He
speaks to Caaz General manager David Chawota.
Mpofu: CAAZ
this year celebrated 10 years of existence. What have been
the authority's
major achievements and failures?
Chawota: The authority's major
achievements include, but are not
limited to, the establishment of good
corporate governance structures,
development of specialised and dedicated
staff, which had it not been the
case, the authority would not have survived
the 2007/8 economic downturn,
safe airport and airspace operation, good
corporate citizenship as Caaz
participated in various social responsibly
projects and establishment of an
International Civil Aviation Organisation
(ICAO) compliant regulatory
environment.
Mpofu: Last month,
you told this newspaper that Caaz would in a
fortnight restore the full
functionality of the landing system at Harare
International Airport. What
progress has been made since then?
Chawota: Correction, it was
about the runway lights. The lights have
been ordered but there was a
delivery delay arising from payment transfer
systems which I believe you are
conversant with. Delivery is now expected in
a week's time.
Mpofu: We understand a safety audit was carried out at the aviation
authority; when is information on that audit going to be made
public?
Chawota: The Safety Oversight Audit is due in January
2010 having been
postponed from October 2009 and the Security Audit was due
in September
2009. Results will be posted on the ICAO
website.
Mpofu: What progress has Caaz made in pursuing the
open-skies policy?
When are we likely to see more airlines coming
in?
Chawota: A regional approach of implementing the
Yamoussoukro Decision
takes care of the airspace liberalisation. Airlines go
where there are
markets. When Zimbabwe becomes such a market, more airlines
will come in.
Mpofu: How secure is the airport given last
week's break-in reports
at the duty-free shop at the
airport?
Chawota: Experiencing a robbery does not necessarily
mean insecurity.
Airports are some of the most secure places handling large
numbers of
complex characters. Banks are robbed. An investigation has been
launched to
determine whether there was security lapse and if there was,
corrective
action will be taken.
Mpofu: What measures has
the authority taken to ensure that near-fatal
accidents such as the recent
crash won't happen again?
Chawota: The authority is taking its
safety and security oversight
programmes seriously. This is the known
measure to minimise and prevent
accidents. Divine intervention is the
ultimate!
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 19 November 2009
15:53
BANK deposits went up to US$1, 016 billion from US$706 million
between
June and October, an increase of 44%. The increase in bank deposits
within
the four months was merely transitory, thus the funds could not be
used as
long-term loans.
Analysts said over 90% of the
deposits in the economy were under
30-day investments, meaning that as at
the end of October US$914, 4 million
was in transit leaving the market
scrambling for US$102 million.
"The dominance of short-term
deposit together with absence of lender
of last resort is affecting the
banks' ability to advance money to
borrowers," said an analyst at Kingdom
Financial Holdings.
Among the deposits were statutory reserves,
foreign currency account
balances, Zimbabwe Revenue Authority funds and
government money in transit
which cannot be lent out.
This
resulted in continued illiquid position on the market.
Trends
showed that the traditional four big banks accounted for more
than half of
the deposits at 61%.
CBZ had the largest deposits at US$250 million
followed by Stanbic
with US$150 million while Barclays and Standard
Chartered had deposits of
US$112 million and US$103 million
each.
There has also been an increase in the amount of loans
advanced by the
financial institution, though on a short-term
basis.
As of October, US$501 million loan advances had been
made compared to
US$263 million in June.
An improvement in
loan advances resulted in a corresponding increase
in loan-to-deposit ratio
to 49,3% up from 37,3% in June.
Most of the loans which have
been advanced were limited to short
financing for working capital
requirements with short payback periods.
Two weeks ago, the
Reserve Bank set thresholds to guide banks in their
lending to productive
sectors.
Banks are required to achieve 30% loan advancement to
agriculture, 25%
to the manufacturing and mining sectors and 20% to other
sectors.
Analysts said compelling banks to lend under these
thresholds without
looking at the nature of deposits which are being made
might be missing the
point.
"Confidence building in the
banking sector is essential to ensure that
depositors are comfortable with
investing for longer periods," said the
analyst from KFHL. "The
dollarisation of the economy and the resulting
demonetisation of the
Zimbabwean dollar impacted negatively on banking
institutions as Zimbabwe
dollar deposits were rendered useless."
Economic agents which
may be cash rich have chosen to keep foreign
currency holdings rather than
depositing them with financial institutions
until a time when there is solid
confidence in the banking institution.
Confidence may return if
depositors are certain that the banks are on
solid bases, especially after
fully meeting the statutory minimum capital
requirements.
Leonard Makombe
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 19 November 2009
16:28
AFRICAN Consolidated Resources (ACR), the country's focused
mineral
exploration company which recently had its claim for mining rights
in
Marange confirmed by the High Court, is raising US$16,8 million for the
company's portfolio. The amount is going to be raised through the placement
of new ordinary shares and would be used for exploration for gold, diamond
and nickel.
Net proceeds from the share placement are expected to
be around US$16
million with US$800 000 covering expenses.
The
proceeds would be used to fund "an aggressive programme of
exploration
activities across the company's portfolio of projects in
Zimbabwe".
"In particular, the company's intended exploration work programme
includes a
drilling programme at the Blue Rock gold project with the aim of
defining a
maiden JORC (Joint Ore Reserves Committee) resource and drilling
at the
Pickstone Peerless gold project with the aim of expanding and
upgrading the
project's existing 513 000 ounces inferred JORC resource,"
said the
company.
JORC is a professional organisation that examines and
regulates
reporting practices associated with mineral deposits to eliminate
cases of
misrepresentations which may mislead investors.
ACR wants
to undertake a drilling programme at the Giant Mine gold
project to expand
the existing 300 000 ounces (per annum) and the drilling
of the Chishanya
phosphate project to define a resource at Baradanga Hill.
The funds
would also be used to undertake pitting activities at the
Horseshoe nickel
project with the aim of defining a maiden JORC resource.
ACR also
intends to finance the progress of exploration activities
including
electromagnetic survey and drill target definition work at the
Perseverance
nickel project, selective diamond drilling at the Snakes Head
platinum
project and Cedric copper project and regional diamond exploration.
Chief executive officer of ACR Andrew Cranswick said the mining
company's
projects and strategies have been warmly received by the
investment
community.
Leonard Makombe
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 19
November 2009 15:40
IT WAS reported this week that President Mugabe
took an entourage of
66 with him on his trip to Rome for the FAO food
security summit. Many of
those making up the presidential party, we are
informed, were ministers and
their wives.
Here is someone whose
government has done more to reverse the gains of
post-Independence
agriculture than any hostile force or drought could
manage. And then FAO
boss Jacques Diouf is surprised when Western countries
declined to take his
junket seriously and stayed away.
He was photographed "sharing a
lighter moment" with Mugabe.
Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation
Development minister Joseph
Made compounded this surreal atmosphere by
claiming efforts to improve
irrigation infrastructure were designed to
recoup losses suffered "when some
white farmers vandalised equipment when
their farms were allocated to new
black farmers under the land reform
programme".
He didn't say what happened to Kondozi Estate when
ministers
vandalised and plundered one of the country's most productive
agricultural
schemes. Wasn't he Agriculture minister at the time? And there
was Mugabe in
Rome speaking about the West's "ruinous policies". He didn't
have to look
too far to find "ruinous" policies.
What happened to
our horticulture industry? Where is the dairy sector?
What terrible cruelty
has been inflicted on farm animals in Chinhoyi by a
senior Reserve Bank
official who wouldn't allow them to be fed or watered as
he attempted to
wrest control from a South African farmer?
Nestlé has been threatened
with retribution if it doesn't buy milk
from the privileged beneficiaries of
land seizures.
Diouf needs to be acquainted with these realities before
he is next
captured "sharing a lighter moment" with the
president.
President Ian Khama of Botswana cannot be accused of
propitiating
Africa's rulers. He is very clear on the issues Mugabe says
don't exist.
Speaking to the Botswana parliament in his
state-of-the-nation address
recently he said he had to express concern at
the "continued failure of Zanu
PF to fully honour the spirit of the
power-sharing agreement".
In the absence of genuine partnership, he
said, "it would be better
for all parties to go back to the people for they
are the ultimate authority
to determine who should form the government of
Zimbabwe".
"There can be no substitution for free, fair, and credible
elections
where people in any country should be allowed to elect
representatives of
their choice and not have them imposed on them through
rigged elections,
brutalising opponents, military interventions,
constitutional amendments to
stay longer in power, and one-man rule that
goes on for decades."
Khama said: "One thing which I fear may become a
trend in Africa if
not stopped is where an individual and/or a political
party in order to come
into power or stay in power engage in
unconstitutional or undemocratic
actions to achieve this which we have
already witnessed result in
power-sharing arrangements and one-man
rule."
We publish these remarks for the public benefit in the safe
knowledge
that the Herald and its team of lickspittle contributors will
ignore them on
the grounds that they are inconvenient to Zanu PF's political
posturing.
In this connection, we note Tafataona Mahoso's racist
attack on
Georgina Godwin and Gerry Jackson in his rambling column last
Saturday.
He fatuously labelled them "the newly recruited frontline
troops for
white soft power" in the 1990s. This he sees as part of a
Western plot to
"rehabilitate apartheid and settlerism". This led in turn to
the granting of
the Nobel Peace Prize to FW de Klerk, Nelson Mandela and
Archbishop Desmond
Tutu and "the false conversion of the former white racist
settlers into
human rights activists some of whom now form the Rhodie core
of the MDC-T".
Whose rotten core does he form part of, or is it all too
clear?
Actually, Godwin and Jackson were victims of the regime's
failure to
uphold the rule of law. Jackson was fired by ZBC for warning
motorists of
flashpoints to be avoided during riots that were taking place
in early 1998.
When she and Godwin set up their own radio station in
response to a
Supreme Court ruling that the ZBC should not enjoy a
broadcasting monopoly,
they were raided by the police and forced to pursue
their profession abroad.
Many other Zimbabweans followed.
Mahoso
omitted to mention any of this. But he purports to speak for
the regime in
its media policies. Media minister Webster Shamu has assured
editors that
there is no threat to what the regime calls "pirate"
broadcasters if they
wish to return home. Mahoso's menacing remarks suggest
otherwise.
Let's be clear on this issue as the Maputo deadline looms. The public
media
continues to be a captive operation in the hands of a losing political
party. Its manipulators seek to reverse the popular vote. They won't
succeed. People like Mahoso are completely delusional and would be figures
of fun were they not so dangerous.
Is there for instance
anybody left apart from Mugabe and Gono who want
to see a return of the
Zimbabwe dollar? And does Mahoso think that by
slipping the word "British"
in front of Commonwealth he can turn the tide of
history? Is anybody buying
his arthritic mantras?
He accuses the MDC-T of "lying to the people",
believing they are "too
stupid to understand what is going on in the
economy".
This invites the obvious question: Who exactly is lying to
the people,
thinking they are "too stupid to know what is going on"? That
sounds very
much like Mahoso.
Also inviting derision is Reason
Wafawarova who ends his Herald
contributions with the flourish: "It is
homeland or death."
Further examination reveals that the homeland in
question is
Australia!
No wonder he wants to stay there. Life is
more comfortable that side!
What a bunch of hypocrites these apologists
for misrule are:
Wafawarova comfortable in Australia and Mahoso having
resort to his
chauffeur-driven 4x4 because the streets of Harare are no
longer safe. The
money needed, by the way, to keep Mahoso in the style to
which he has become
accustomed comes from state depredations upon media
houses. In other words
we actually pay for him to bore us to tears with his
vituperative and
malevolent outpourings.
'Yes, some mistakes
were made during land reform and we do not want to
repeat that,"
Indigenisation minister Saviour Kasukuwere helpfully admitted
last week.
Indigenisation of the economy should not be mistaken for
expropriation, he
said. Government only wanted to "change the landscape of
this
country".
It has already done that. Where once there was productive
green
pastures, there is now dereliction. Where once there was a trade
surplus,
there is now donor-dependency.
Yes Saviour, you have
surely changed the national landscape.
"We must empower our own people
first and then we can look at
outsiders," he said.
This neatly
encapsulates Zanu PF's approach to the economy. They see
it as something
they own. If foreigners want to come in they must do so on
Zanu PF's terms
which invariably involve losing 51% of their investment to
fat-cats from
Kasukuwere's party.
Just in case a potential investor can't find a
suitable local
partner, government has a list of individuals ready and
waiting to
consume the productive output of others.
This is not
theft, we are told, it's empowerment.
Sadly, foreigners will not see it
that way. They have worked hard to
build their companies and have no wish to
see a predatory elite acquiring
their assets. Why should they when countries
such as Botswana, Namibia,
Mauritius and Mozambique offer more attractive
terms to investors? They get
to keep their money while creating employment
for locals.
Kasukuwere obviously doesn't understand these basics. Under
Zanu PF
there will be no investment and no growth. It's as simple as that.
Nobody is
going to do them a favour by giving them their hard-earned
money.
Finally, we were struck by a glaring contradiction in the
Herald on
Wednesday. The paper carried a picture of "Shona girls stand(ing)
proudly in
short traditional skirts and jewellery".
The picture, we
are told, was taken around 1880. It formed part of a
feature by Joyce Jenje
Makwenda, a researcher, headed "Women must celebrate
their bodies".
The only problem was the Herald had clumsily covered their breasts
with
paper masking so as not to offend its more conservative readers.
So
much for celebrating womanhood. Perhaps Joyce could tell us who was
responsible for this crude censorship which negated everything she had
written!
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 19
November 2009 15:35
THIS columnist has become increasingly confused
whenever he hears the
word "service" used in the context of parastatal
operations in Zimbabwe.
What on earth does it mean when cited as electricity
supply service,
telephone service, air and rail service, water distribution
services and the
like?
None of these are indicative of what
this columnist has always thought
"service" meant. Then suddenly, it became
clear, for last week he overhead
two farmers talking, and one of them said
he'd hired a bull to "service" a
few cows. WOW, all of a sudden he
understood what those parastatals are
doing!
And that is so
catastrophic. Commerce and industry, mining,
agriculture, tourism and
virtually all other economic sectors cannot operate
viably and effectively
in the absence of consistently reliable service
delivery of utilities, of
rail and air service, and the like.
Erratic service availability
destroys productivity, in many instances
results in ruination of products in
the course of manufacture, impacts very
negatively upon cash flows and
therefore enhances needs for working capital,
and can be a major catalyst of
the collapse of businesses.
This applies similarly to the efficacy
of marketing, administration
and almost all the other facets of business,
exacerbated when the
enterprises are recurrently victims of extremely
defective communications,
unreliability of rail and road services, and
frequent non-availability of
air services.
In addition,
decrepit infrastructural resources and related inferior
service delivery of
essential domestic utilities is a major motivation for
many to seek
residence in countries where the discomforts and hardships of
that inferior
service do not exist.
There is no doubt that a very significant
contributor to the mass
exodus of Zimbabwe from their homeland to
neighbouring countries, or
destinations further afield (known as the "brain
drain") has been those
discomforts and hardships occasioned by grievously
unreliable utility
service delivery.
Concurrent are the grossly
excessive, regionally unrealistically high
charges being demanded by the
providers of the defective, erratic, utility
supplies. The brain drain
has greatly deprived all sectors of the economy
of the skills for maximised
viability of operations.
The so-called "service providers"
(which they currently are not,
nearly as often as they are) contend, with
much credibility and substance,
that any deficiencies in service delivery
are due to circumstances beyond
their control.
On the one hand,
without exception they are highly under-capitalised,
being parastatals never
provided an adequate capital base by government, and
having sustained the
same erosion of working capital by hyperinflation and
Zimbabwean currency
demonetisation, as has impacted upon private sector
enterprises. On the
other hand, they have experienced the same brain
drain-driven erosion of
technical and administrative skills as has been the
affliction of commerce
and industry, and others.
Despite the probable substance to the
explanations given by the
parastatals as to why there is such ongoing
deficiency in their service
delivery, these explanations do not counter the
immense harm sustained by
the economy as a result of the grievous defaults
in meeting the needs of
those upon the economy depends.
Furthermore, the magnitude of the inability of the parastatals to
serve the
economy's needs, reinforced by those explanations, which impliedly
suggest
that a transformation in service delivery is far from imminent, is a
major
deterrent to the massive investment that the economy critically needs
as a
catalyst of economic wellbeing.
The harsh facts are that
government does not have the necessary
resources to fund the parastatals
adequately, the financial sector does not
have the liquidity to provide the
required funding to the parastatals and
the international community is
understandably unwilling to provide the
gargantuan resources needed, unless
and until there is an internationally
acceptable, stable, democratic
political environment in Zimbabwe.
Therefore the parastatals have
no real prospect of transformation and,
instead, will in all probability be
in a continuing, cascading decline.
There is therefore only one
tangible, real prospect of the necessary
parastatal metamorphosis. Partial
or total privatisations of parastatals
are an absolute must. For 20 years
government has intermittently espoused
an intention to pursue PPPs (Public/
Private Sector Partnerships) but, save
for a few very successful ones in the
mid-1990s, it has all been
governmental talk, unsubstantiated by
actions.
The tragic reality is that there has been virtually no
evidence of
genuine intent, but only of mouthing of intent. Undoubtedly,
many of those
previously at the political helm, and in the hierarchy of
government
administration, have been equally reluctant to sustain a
diminution of
empirical control and authority, and to lose opportunities of
possible
self-enrichment.
Commendably, ever since his
appointment Minister of Finance Tendai
Biti has stated that PPPs must be
pursued, including statements to that
effect in his 2009 Budget Review
shortly after his appointment to office,
and again in his 2009 Budget
Mid-Term Review.
But there is distressingly little evidence of any
unity of support for
his declared intents, within the so-called "unity
government" and, with the
greater part of a year having elapsed since he
first so credibly enunciated
the need, there is no evidence of any tangible
progress towards
implementation.
The sole possible
exception is the apparent likelihood of an
international investor
acquisition of, or partial investment in, Zimbabwe
Iron and Steel Co Ltd,
being finally determined upon in the fairly near
future.
This
will be a very positive step towards resolving that company's
pronounced
ills, and its recovery will be a boost to the engineering
industry, and to
the economy of the Midlands, but will be only an
infinitesimally small step
towards all that is needed.
Zimbabwe cannot afford to dither
any longer on the issue of
privatisations. PPPs must be very energetically
pursued, with financial and
strategic partners, for Zesa, TelOne, National
Railways of Zimbabwe, Air
Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe National Water Authority and
other parastatals.
The injection of funding and of technical
skills, technology transfer,
and other privatisation benefits will
astoundingly change the parastatals
for the better, enabling and ensuring
their efficacious service delivery,
meeting the needs of an economy set for
growth.
The time for governmental dragging of feet has expired,
and dynamic,
effective action is a grossly overdue need which should now be
energetically prioritised and pursued.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 19 November 2009 15:25
IN Zimbabwe almost every aspect of our lives has a political
dimension.
Hardly surprising since it is the politicians and politics that
have brought
so much misery and stress into the lives of so many of us.
This
preoccupation with politics has crowded out a looming threat that
will
exceed the damage done to our lives by politicians. I am referring to
the
global food crisis. It is in our part of the world, sub-Saharan Africa,
that 25% of the world's hungriest people live.
This
statistic indicates that as a region we are already in a food
deficit
situation. It is projected that the population of sub-Saharan Africa
will
increase by a further 250 million by year 2030.
If this
forecast proves correct and the region is unable to increase
food production
then the present crisis will become a catastrophe.
For the past
decade in times of scarcity the region has been helped
out by developed
countries drawing down and shipping to us part of their
accumulated
surpluses. Over time the region has come to rely on these
handouts to feed
the hungry.
Don't run away with the idea that the developed
world was motivated
only by a spirit of magnanimity.
Generosity
and concern for the hungry played a role but stockpiles
cost money to
warehouse and finance. In the UK and USA surpluses had become
an
embarrassment, so much so that the governments paid farmers to take land
out
of production; it was called the set aside scheme.
These
halcyon days of plenty are over. Grain production now
struggles to keep up
with consumption causing stockpiles to dwindle.
In 2007 the
world saw global carryover stocks fall to 61 days of
global
consumption.
The global food crisis is not going away any time
soon. Pressure on
grain stocks will continue to rise for the foreseeable
future.
Population increase is inexorable; today there are more
than six
billion people on the planet, by year 2050 it is projected this
figure will
rise to over nine billion.
Unless world grain
production can keep pace with the increased number
of mouths to be fed it is
inevitable that pressure on grain stocks will
continue and prices will keep
rising.
Agricultural productivity growth is only one to 2% per
year. This
growth will not be sufficient to feed all these extra people.
Unless more
land goes under the plough hunger and starvation is bound to
increase.
As the price of fossil fuels rises so will the demand for
alternate
forms of energy.
Biofuels are one of these
alternatives and are being produced in ever
increasing volumes. The
feedstocks for these fuels are, in the main,
sugarcane, palm oil and corn
(maize).
All these sources are land-based so they are in
competition with grain
that is intended for human consumption. This means
that grain prices will be
tied to the price of oil. While the price of
oil will fluctuate the trend
line will continue to go up.
Climate change must be factored in when calculating grain production
in the
future. It is difficult to predict with any precision how production
will
be effected. Generally speaking it is expected the lives of grain
producers will become less predictable and more hazardous.
As developing economies such as China, India, Brazil and others mainly
from
the Far East become wealthier their citizens will expect a higher
standard
of living. One of their demands will be for a higher proportion of
meat and
meat products in their diet.
Much of the pork, poultry and beef is
reared intensively on a
grain-based diet. Converting grain into meat in
order to supplement the
human diet is an inefficient way of consuming
grain.
It takes about 6kg of corn to produce 1kg of pork. The
Chinese are
keen meat eaters, as they climb the food ladder half the world's
pigs are
now produced in China.
Per capita pork consumption
since 1993 has risen from 53lb per year to
77lb today. I give these
figures as an illustration of why annual
worldwide grain consumption has
risen from 815 million metric tonnes in 1960
to 2,16 billion in
2008.
On the food front the outlook for all of us who live in
sub-Saharan
Africa is bleak.
The structure of our
agriculture is poor, our productivity is poor,
our conservation is poor - by
every measurable criterion we are below par.
All governments in the region
must bear the blame for this abysmal
performance. Agriculture is largely in
the hands of subsistence farmers,
therefore investment is almost
non-existent, the profit motive is all but
absent. So far we have muddled
through but only with help from the
developed countries.
We
would be remiss to take a sanguine view of what we face in the
future.
Some serious thinking and planning needs to take place right now
while there
is time. It can be done because we in Zimbabwe have done it
already; we were
food-secure and self-sufficient until the land reform
programme left our
agriculture in ruins.
Bruce Gemmill is a former commercial
farmer interested in food
security issues.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 19 November 2009
15:14
ZIMBABWE President Robert Mugabe, blamed for plunging his people
into
starvation, used his platform as Tuesday's opening speaker at the UN
anti-hunger summit to decry what he called his neo-colonialist foes. Another
long-time African strongman, Moammar Gadhafi, held another nightly soiree at
a villa in the Italian capital in the company of hundreds of young ladies
selected by a "hostess" agency.
Tunisia's first lady and
her bodyguards blocked traffic on roads
leading to Via Condotti, a glamorous
street of designer boutiques near the
Spanish Steps. Rome daily Il
Messaggero ran a photo of Leila Zine in front
of luxury jewellery store
Bulgari.
The images bolstered criticism that the summit called
by the UN Food
and Agriculture Organisation is long on rhetoric and
extravagance and short
on solutions for the world's one billion
hungry.
The meeting was branded a failure within a couple of
hours of its
start after the 192 participating countries unanimously
rebuffed the UN's
appeal for commitments of billions of dollars in yearly
aid to develop
agriculture in poor nations.
None of the
leaders of the Group of Eight leading industrialised
nations attended except
for Italian premier Silvio Berlusconi.
"There is a clear
disconnect between what governments are saying, at
least the rich
governments, and what in fact they are doing," said Flavio
Valente, an
activist participating in a forum of NGOs held in parallel with
the
summit.
The G-8 meeting in L'Aquila, Italy, essentially set the
agenda for
this latest summit by endorsing a strategy shift in fighting
hunger: helping
farmers in poor country to produce enough food to feed their
own people,
moving away from decades-long reliance on
handouts.
While the G-8 leaders in July approved US$20 billion
in agricultural
development aid in a three-year package, the countries at
this UN summit
rejected FAO's call to commit themselves to earmark 17% of
their foreign aid
budgets for agricultural development, which UN officials
estimated would
cost US$44 billion yearly.
Ertharin Cousin,
the US ambassador to the UN agencies in Rome, said
the summit wanted to
establish the principle that donors should listen to
the needs of each
country and not decide aid policies on their own.
FAO
director-general Jacques Diouf expressed "regret" and frustration
that the
summit rejected his call to members to fund the new shift in
agricultural
development policy.
About an hour after the decision, Pope
Benedict XVI delivered a speech
to the summit condemning opulence and waste
in a world where the numbers of
hungry have multiplied despite international
efforts to combat chronic
hunger.
Some of the assembly-room
chairs were empty when Mugabe opened Tuesday's
proceedings by lashing out at
the West and defending land reforms blamed for
plunging his people into
starvation. He described the policy, which led to
thousands of white-owned
commercial farms being violently seized in 2000, as
a quest for "equity and
justice."
He blamed the subsequent meltdown of Zimbabwe's
economy on "hostile
interventions" by "neo-colonialist enemies" that have
imposed sanctions on
his regime.
Western countries have
slapped travel bans and asset freezes on Mugabe
and his top aides. The
ban
does not apply to United Nations summits and Mugabe has attended
several FAO meetings in the past few years.
While last
year's FAO summit on soaring food prices rang out with
denunciations of
Mugabe's showing up at forums aimed at slashing hunger, the
Zimbabwe
president's speech on Tuesday was widely greeted with silence.
Italian news reports said Mugabe arrived on a private plane with a
delegation of more than 60 people - most of them on the sanctions list and
taking advantage of the UN summit to visit Europe.
Mugabe
"has gallivanted around the world attending UN conferences and
of course
enjoying the food there when a lot of his people here are
scratching the
bottom of the barrel," said John Makumbe, a political
scientist at the
University of Zimbabwe. "It is a sanctions-busting
manoeuvre. It's a
shopping trip, taking advantage of the UN to actually get
into Europe." -
AP.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 19 November 2009
15:10
ANY chief executive dreads the day when immediate subordinates
and
staff become persistently annoying, especially with the tacit direction
and
blessing of the board. When internally generated executive abuse becomes
visible to shareholders, striking at the heart of patience and motivation,
it is folly for a model principal to remain silent in the forlorn hope that
tomorrow shall sort itself out.
The essence of a legitimate
and successful national election is either
a confirmation of the status quo
or outright regime change.
Even in a traditional African setting,
leadership succession in royal
families is a given, positive step for
communal and national stability.
When Zimbabweans settled for
Morgan Tsvangirai as their first choice
for leadership in the initial
plebiscite whose results were clearly and
deliberately distorted by the
incumbent and his institutions last year, the
people openly rejected the
dominant political party for regime change.
Tsvangirai has
since been vindicated: his short record and copious
patience in a clearly
loveless union has spawned a temporary stabiliser,
national temperance, and
optimism, at home and even beyond.
For about 270 days,
Tsvangirai - the man who won Zimbabwe's
presidential election on March 29
2008 - has endured so much executive abuse
that many thought he could throw
in the towel within hours of his being
sworn-in as the prime minister of the
Republic of Zimbabwe.
Cracks emerged early, hardly before the
ink had dried on the curiously
named Global Political Agreement. Neither the
abduction and torture of
activist Jestina Mukoko and several of Tsvangirai's
agents nor the confusion
at his swearing in ceremony at State House and the
first arrest of Roy
Bennett achieved an expected effect.
The slow recognition of Tsvangirai's new official role by security
service
chiefs attracted mealy-mouthed attention and no sanction from
expected
quarters when convention and the constitution are normally unkind
to such
foul public manners.
Commander-in-chief President Robert
Mugabe, who presided over the
ceremony, seemed unable to notice the absence
of his top military brass.
To Zimbabweans that meant little
compared to a record-breaking climb
down and a rare act of capitulation by
one of Africa's remaining strongmen
and a former liberation war
idol.
The people urged Tsvangirai on, reflecting a national
sentiment that
irked a trembling few.
Since then,
state-sanctioned and celebrated abuse of Tsvangirai has
become incessant.
Given the depth of the meltdown, perhaps Tsvangirai erred
in assuming
unfettered political goodwill and an affirmative institutional
hug to see
through a process that mirrored the changing milieu.
But nine
months into the union, he remains officially homeless
together with Speaker
Lovemore Moyo and all his out-of-Harare ministers and
officials. Suggestions
for executive appointments in his office have to be
vetted and approved; and
so far only four out of the proposed 11 have
passed.
We are
told, ad nauseum, and even by Mugabe himself, that he runs a
parallel state
administration with only four civil servants officially
accepted into his
office thus far, in a country that employs more than a
quarter of a million
public servants.
Mugabe insists he must first clear
Tsvangirai's travel plans. But
Mugabe never returns the favour, nor consults
him on his numerous foreign
forays. Mugabe determines the weekly cabinet
agenda, as all requests for
public debate, policy clarity and national
issues for inspection have to
pass through the President's
Office.
Unilateral Zanu PF decisions, sweeping policy shifts,
positions and
statements, dubious state-sanctioned actions and arrests of
political
activists and partisan directives are often dumped on Tsvangirai's
desk
without the courtesy or prior consultation.
Government
institutions are forced to mask a unique Zanu PF concern;
symbols of change
are either downplayed or simply put off; routine state
business is either
privatised or coated with Zanu PF paint; board and staff
appointments at
public companies are re-furrowed to an old boys' network and
policy
generation and execution is still largely an exclusive Zanu PF
affair.
A traditional Zanu PF bureaucracy still rules the
roost, even though a
ministerial portfolio may officially be under an MDC
politician. Even at
local government level, all the top executives are
either Zanu PF activists
or they sympathise with that party.
They determine the agenda for action and implement decisions at a pace
and
under a strict direction of minister Ignatious Chombo and Zanu PF
because of
deliberate legislative distortions.
Propaganda frames and blame
abound - all directed at Tsvangirai -
specifically to show that nothing of
significance in the area of governance
has changed.
Despite his
commitment to work, a deceptive, over-boiled line that
kept Zanu PF together
about Tsvangirai's past is often beamed and repeated,
to thread a restless
and confused Zanu PF constituency together. New
poisoned arrows point at his
legitimacy and credibility daily, ready to
wreak havoc on his executive
authority.
The Council of Ministers (CoM) and the National
Security Council (NSC)
are the only two significant power centres and
institutions set up under the
GPA. Tsvangirai is supposed to chair the CoM
and (on paper) is an
indispensable player in the NSC.
Suffice to say the old Joint Operations Command is still very much
alive
while the CoM has yet to cut its teeth in the political fray.
The other important institution is Jomic. With all due respect, it is
pointless to bring this body into this debate.
Tsvangirai
faces an enormous character test to survive the vicious
temper of a raging
current as he swims against a well-honed and tested dose
of political
wickedness, insincerity and executive abuse.
Zimbabwe is in
danger as the terrain the country's prime minister is
up against presents a
fresh, irregular dilemma at every turn. When a spouse
packs a few bags and
leaves a matrimonial home, the decision hardly resides
in a latest abusive
event.
Experienced conflict managers search deeper for telling
words beneath
the song before fostering counsel. Tsvangirai maintains that
he is still in
the matrimonial home. He only came out to allow Zimbabweans
and
their neighbours access into a troubled home.
Tsvangirai's most vocal, public critics should know better: almost all
of
them have performed dismally in their private, once-voluntary marriages.
They know from experience the difficulties of voluntary marriages, let alone
those of forced loveless unions.
As a genuine partner,
Tsvangirai needs space, sovereignty and sense of
inclusion to remain true to
his executive mandate. Zanu PF and Mugabe are
unable to explain
Zimbabwe.
By Tagwirei Bango
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 19 November
2009 17:43
EVENTS surrounding the debate on the Reserve Bank of
Zimbabwe (RBZ)
Amendment Bill which was passed in the House of Assembly on
Wednesday
dramatically highlighted an important but often forgotten point:
that a
strong parliament is essential for democracy. The Bill came to the
House of
Assembly after being cleared by cabinet and amid an understanding
between
Zanu PF and MDC ministers that in terms of the Global Political
Agreement
(GPA) a proposed statute cleared by the executive would not be
opposed by
any legislators of parties in the GPA. So the initial expectation
by
ministers - especially the Minister of Finance -in itself a democratic
aberration, was that backbenchers would just rubberstamp the
Bill.
However, for different political reasons MPs from both
Zanu PF and the
MDC were not prepared to do any such thing. Zanu PF did not
want to vote for
the Bill to a certain extent for party political reasons.
They also wanted
to protect Reserve Bank governor Gideon Gono who was going
to be left as a
lame duck had the proposed legislation been passed in its
original form.
An attack on Gono for some in Zanu PF is seen as
an attack on the
party. This is not surprising because Gono put a number of
Zanu PF officials
and MPs on the feeding trough before the inclusive
government was formed. In
a way he also kept Zanu PF afloat until its
inevitable defeat in general
elections last year after the economy
collapsed.
Zanu PF MPs, indeed like their MDC counterparts, are
beneficiaries of
Gono's patronage. They were given top-of-the-range cars and
loans over the
years, something which has left many with several vehicles.
Ministers also
got luxury cars from Gono. So Zanu PF MPs were always going
to oppose the
Bill primarily for patronage reasons.
Parliamentarians have a responsibility to articulate the political
aspirations and opinions of their voters, not to protect their personal
narrow and self-serving interests. But in this case what made it worse for
the Minister of Finance was that the Bill on its own was authoritarian. It
was easy for Zanu PF and even MDC MPs to oppose because it was manifestly
draconian.
In its crude original form the Bill initially
proposed that the
governor of the central bank should not be the chair of
the bank's board.
This was rejected by cabinet because it has no precedent
anywhere in the
civilised world. The Bill also wanted to ensure the
permanent secretary in
the Ministry of Finance is deployed to the RBZ board,
a move which would
have further compromised the autonomy of the central
bank.
Most people want RBZ reforms. Besides they also want Gono
out or a
least reined-in, but frankly the problem is that the minister
failed to even
disguise his personal agenda in formulating the Bill and
wanted to mobilise
the whole of parliament to rally behind his self-serving
crusade.
In the process the minister also wanted to give
himself frightening
powers which could easily be abused. If the original
Bill had been approved
by parliament the minister would have succeeded in
reducing the central bank
into a department of his ministry, something
completely undesirable,
especially at a time when the country is crying out
for progressive
institutional reform.
The country needs reforms
to strengthen democratic processes and
institutions, not individual
politicians or officials.
Providentially, although mainly for
self-serving reasons, MPs were
alert and they stopped the minister in his
tracks. By default backbenchers
achieved an important objective - to
strengthen their hand and that of
parliament. This in turn is important for
the promotion of democracy.
A functional, dynamic and effective
parliament is critical for
democracy. A rubber-stamping House obviously does
not qualify as a modern
and democratic institution.
The
biggest lesson to emerge out of this sordid business is that
ministers,
whether Zanu PF or MDC, must not entertain the notion that the
GPA is the
bible of politics in Zimbabwe and hence it must be slavishly
obeyed even if
some of its provisions are crudely undemocratic.
Ministers must
also understand that backbenchers have a different
role. Trying to railroad
draconian laws through parliament should no longer
be
tolerated.
Parliament is exactly what representative democracy
is all about.
Bulldozing bad Bills through the House of Assembly is a
negation of
democracy and for that reason the minister should never have
been allowed to
set a wrong precedent in the inclusive government
era.
While the formulation and implementation of laws is a
prerogative of
the executive, meaningful consultations must be carried out
with parliament
and members of the public. The notion that the public does
not know anything
about the law is obviously nonsense.
Parliament has to embody the will of the people in government and
carry all
their expectations that democracy will be truly responsive to
their needs
and help solve the most pressing problems that confront them in
their daily
lives. It must not be used as a platform to push elitist or
personal
agendas.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 19 November
2009 17:40
DURING the night of March 10 1985 US President Ronald Reagan
was deep
in slumber when he received a phone call: Soviet leader Konstantin
Chernenko
had died. He was the third Soviet leader to die in two years. Yuri
Andropov
had died on February 9 1984 after only 15 months in office. Prior
to that
Leonid Brezhnev had died in November 1982. Brezhnev had ruled from
1964.
Stalin had ruled for 26 years from 1927 to 1953.
Reagan always the satirist is said to have remarked: "How am I
supposed to
get any place with the Russians if they keep dying on me?"
There are two points to be made in this without mentioning the
possibility
of our geriatric leaders dying on us: one is about life
presidency and the
other is about seniority in the party as the determinant
of who succeeds to
the high office.
In the past few weeks there has been a lot
going on in Zanu PF as the
party prepares for its congress next month. All
the party's 10 provinces
threw their weight behind President Robert Mugabe
to remain the president
and first secretary of the party virtually declaring
him a life president.
Mugabe is 85 years old.
Endorsed by the party to the post of second secretary and
vice-president is
John Nkomo who is 75. Ostensibly the reason for Nkomo's
choice is that he is
the most senior surviving member of the former PF-Zapu
party.
The party has also endorsed the other vice-president Joice Mujuru for
the
simple reason that one of the vice-presidents has to be a woman and she
happens to be the most senior woman in the party.
Mugabe
has ruled Zimbabwe for 30 years. Compare his legacy with that
of Brezhnev.
Historians say: "Brezhnev presided over the Soviet Union for
longer than any
man except Stalin.
He is criticised for a prolonged era of
stagnation called the
'Brezhnev Stagnation', in which fundamental economic
problems were ignored
and the Soviet political system was allowed to
decline. Intervention in
Afghanistan, which was one of the major decisions
of his career, also
significantly undermined both the international standing
and internal
strength of the Soviet Union."
Mugabe too
ignored fundamental economic problems hence all sectors of
the economy
declined from the mid-1990s until they collapsed almost totally
in 2008. The
Zanu PF political system disintegrated with the party torn
apart by
factionalism due to political patronage.
For Brezhnev's
intervention in Afghanistan substitute Mugabe's
intervention in the
Democratic Republic of the Congo or the suicidal way he
carried out the land
redistribution programme. Historians will also talk of
the "Mugabe
Stagnation" which began in the early 1990s and continues.
The
fundamental point is Zanu PF as a party is overly aware of this
stagnation
but as they go to congress to choose the people who will lead the
party for
the next five years, they have chosen to perpetuate the
stagnation. By using
seniority in the party as the yardstick for selecting
leaders they voted for
continuity rather than change.
As Zanu PF national chairman for
the past five years, Nkomo is
co-author of the stasis Zimbabwe has
experienced; the same is true of Mujuru
who has been vice-president in the
years in question. Some would say the
coming in of Simon Khaya Moyo into the
presidium is a breath of fresh air
but, far from it, as ambassador to South
Africa he has been the most vocal
defender of some of Zanu PF's most wayward
policies.
If Zanu PF was not going to be a critical part of the
process of
governing Zimbabwe in the immediate-to-near future the goings on
in the
party would not warrant comment. Unfortunately we cannot wish away
this
moribund establishment so we have every reason to
worry.
Andropov took over from Brezhnev for no other reason but
that he was
very senior in the party. The Washing Post's correspondent in
the Soviet
Union David Remnick described him as "profoundly corrupt, a
beast". He is
also said to have been ruthless against dissent while he was
head of the
KGB.
We know for sure that in the upper
echelons of the Zanu PF power
matrix there are buccaneering beasts who, in
one way or another, have been
linked to every major scandal to happen in
Zimbabwe since Independence,
whether it's Willowgate, VIP Housing and War
Victims Compensation scandals
or diamonds smuggling. These beasts have also
been ruthless with dissent:
remember the violence of all the national and
presidential elections since
2000. These beasts will continue to preside
over our country's fate for some
time!
Nature obliged the
Russians by allowing Andropov only 15 months in
office; the stasis and
corruption however continued under his successor
Konstantin Chernenko who
died anonymously after only 13 months in office. A
historian wrote of him:
"After the death of a Soviet leader it was customary
for his successors to
open his safe and look in it. When Gorbachev had
Chernenko's safe opened, it
was found to contain a small folder of personal
papers and several large
bundles of money; money was also found in his
desk."
Zanu
PF's youth policy is dubious: the face of the youth in the party
is probably
Saviour Kasukuwere who uncannily resembles ANCYL president
Julius Malema
both physically and in his utterances; hardly inspiring!
Zanu PF's
readmission of that shrewd conriver Jonathan Moyo, for some
unknown but
obviously dark purpose, bodes ill for a new Zimbabwean
leadership.
Nevanji Madanhire
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 19
November 2009 16:44
THE House of Assembly on Wednesday passed the
Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe
Amendment Bill after Finance minister Tendai Biti
agreed to amendments
suggested by Zanu PF, which had earlier vowed to block
the passage of the
proposed law. Blocking of the Bill was not the way to
go.
The Bill courted controversy in both Zanu PF and the MDC
formations as
it was widely seen to be targeted at clipping the wings of
central bank
governor Gideon Gono who has been fighting a war of attrition
with Biti
since the formation of the inclusive government.
An economist and investment analyst Lance Mambondiani noted this week
that
Gono had become a symbol of the inadequacies of the central bank as an
institution and its enabling Act.
However, Mambondiani
added the debate should not have been about
personalities, but changing
structures and systems - rationalising and
reforming the central bank into
an optimally configured institution
operating with minimum manipulation from
politicians, increasing
transparency and accountability and enacting clear
limitations to functions
and avoiding gross misuse of resources for
political purposes.
There was no doubt however that the
governor's interpretation of his
role in financial intermediation was based
on a very generous and elastic
interpretation of the Reserve Bank of
Zimbabwe Act which was perhaps not
specific enough. There can be little
doubt that the central bank, whether
justifiably or not, was primarily
responsible for the country's
stratospheric inflation due to quasi-fiscal
operations carried out without
provisioning in the state
budget.
Because of this, Biti came up with the Bill passed on
Wednesday to
keep in check the central bank, which has been at the
forefront of
destroying the country's economy through unbridled running of
the mint to
finance quasi-fiscal operations that drove inflation to
unprecedented
levels. The economy almost imploded on Gono's
watch!
The motive of the Bill was more or less of the "James
Makamba law"
hurriedly gazetted to keep the beleaguered businessman in
custody for 21
days before appearing in court on charges of foreign currency
externalisation.
Biti's Bill, its critics say, was aimed at
"fixing" Gono, not to
improve good governance and financial prudence of the
central bank.
Laws throughout the world where good governance
reigns are promulgated
for posterity's sake, not to deal with current
problems or to settle scores.
Biti was accused of trying to
usurp the powers of a central bank
governor and this did not curry favour
with Zanu PF and even some of his
colleagues in the MDC-T.
Section 18 of the Bill, wholly struck off on Wednesday, sought to
confer on
the minister powers to reverse decisions of the central bank not
in line
with his thinking.
New clauses agreed between Biti and Zanu PF
no longer make it a
requirement that the permanent secretary of the Ministry
of Finance should
be a board member of the central bank as this was
tantamount to removing the
autonomy of the bank.
But the
most shocking amendments suggested by Zanu PF and accepted by
the House of
Assembly were the granting of immunity to the central bank
governor and
deputies, the bank, the minister, the board and any other
employee for any
claims that may arise for anything done in good faith
without
negligence.
What have they got to hide?
Given that
this country is coming from a period where the central bank
abused its power
and that a lot of questions are yet to be answered on the
bank's role in
fuelling the parallel market, financing of Zanu PF and
quasi-fiscal
operations, one is tempted to ask why grant immunity before a
forensic audit
of the bank is done.
There was need to first improve the bank's
transparency and
accountability to the taxpayer through a strong bipartisan
finance committee
in parliament with real power to grill or recommend the
removal of a
governor in the event of abuse of power.
Given
what Biti told parliament last week, there was need for a
forensic audit of
the central bank before anyone was granted immunity. The
minister gave a
vivid account of how the bank had usurped the powers of
government and even
engaged in activities that border on criminality.
Biti said:
"Within the context of Zimbabwe, the RBZ has for the past
four years become
the major economic player through QFAs (quasi-fiscal
activities). The bank
easily overtook treasury as the major fiscal player.
Some of the activities
financed by the bank included election- related
expenses, transfers to
parastatals, subsidised direct landing below cost of
equipment and
fertilisers to farmers, and allocation of foreign currency at
subsidised
exchange rates.
"These expenses were financed by surrender
requirements on export
proceeds, the retention of earnings of gold and
agricultural sectors in
excess of mandatory surrender requirements, the
confiscation of most foreign
currency deposits, external borrowing, purchase
of foreign currency at the
parallel market exchange rates and monetisation.
For all intents and
purposes, the bank became the government while the
government became an
onlooker while these developments took
place."
Biti reminded legislators that the quasi-fiscal
operations contributed
to the loss of confidence in the economy. The
unprecedented hyperinflation
had led to the demise of the local currency and
the de facto dollarisation
of the economy.
The issuing of a
blanket amnesty in the circumstances sets an
appalling precedent. Parliament
has let the country down and, as we have
warned, the MDC formations are
happy to be compromised.
Constantine
Chimakure
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
MDC-M detractors will fail to destroy the party
Thursday, 19
November 2009 17:35
THE Arthur Mutambara-led Movement for Democratic
Change (MDC-M) is
scaling greater heights despite the hostile efforts of
chequebook scribes.
The MDC is an institution with resources and the
capacity to deal with
political problems within the party. I am pleased to
say that the Mutambara
of yesteryear is different from the Mutambara of
today.
Mutambara is a young intellectual with the necessary
attributes to
become a head of state if he plays his cards right. We see a
black foreign
hand in the crusade to demonise Mutambara and his MDC
formation, which is a
shame and sheer waste of time.
We
shall remain steadfast, committed and well focused because some of
us
believe in quality and principled leadership. To date we are happy with
the
performance of Mutambara and his team in the inclusive government.
Political
prostitution by some MPs in the MDC-M is alarming and shameful.
The MPs should be expelled as a matter of urgency because we cannot
afford
to have double-faced legislators in our midst.
If it is Zanu
PF's CIO or MDC-T which is causing confusion, I advise
them to stop now. We
are not in this game to make up numbers but to wrestle
political power from
the embattled Robert Mugabe regime.
Yes, we entered the
previous elections when the party was at its
lowest ebb but we are turning
the tables and boosting confidence in the
electorate, and our capacity is
now more visible than before when
considering the performance of Mutambara
and his team in the inclusive
government.
Those willing to
go should go now as deputy secretary-general
Priscilla Misihairabwi-Mushonga
stated in her statement after the split on
12 October. A rebel will die a
rebel, and it is good for the party to
offload excess baggage now rather
than later.
Kurauone Chihwayi,
Chihwayi is MDC-M Harare
Provincial Secretary for Information and
Publicity. He writes here in a
personal capacity.
--------
Mkhalipe Village Cries out for
Help
Thursday, 19 November 2009 16:41
I'VE never written
to newspapers but I like reading them, especially
yours. I wish to raise my
deep concern about my home area, Mkhalipe village
in Matabeleland South. Can
donors help this area? It is not well represented
in parliament; our MP is
deadwood. There is no one to help lure investors or
initiate development
projects.
In the early 1990s there was a vibrant goat-rearing project
called
Maphakela Cooperative. It collapsed due to lack of skills and
finance.
Ministers should not develop their home areas only.
Let's
share the national cake by ensuring all areas are developed.
Obvious Dube,
Mkhalipe.
----------
GPA Negotiators
Must be Serious
Thursday, 19 November 2009 16:36
THE
Masvingo MDC-M leadership is really aggrieved by lack of
seriousness in the
full implementation of the Global Political Agreement
(GPA). It solely
blames the GPA negotiators and principals for lack of
sincerity to the
suffering man on the street. Shame is not on the people of
Zimbabwe but on
them, the implementers of the GPA. The three principals do
not have the
people at heart. How can they let the few remaining issues
derail the
recovery of our beloved nation? It does not take days to just
appoint new
governors, swear in Roy Bennett and let go either the RBZ
governor or the
Attorney-General. One of them should just go. Once that is
done then we have
to see what excuse the Western countries and other
sceptical people will
give. Why should the whole nation suffer because of a
few individuals? Isn't
Zimbabwe greater than the principals?
They should just use their power
as principals to sort out this mess.
We can't clamour for the sanctions to
go first because at the end of the day
it's not the ordinary person in the
US or Britain who is suffering but
ordinary Zimbabweans.
A
negotiator with people at heart would not say 30 days is not enough
to agree
and implement the outstanding issues. Ask any unemployed family man
or woman
who can't feed his/her family if 30 days is not enough. Shame on
the
negotiators and implementers of the GPA. They need to be locked in a
room
and only freed when they have finalised the outstanding issues and are
ready
to jointly demand the removal of sanctions.
Also, why wait for other
negotiators who are enjoying useless foreign
trips when the few remaining
issues can be resolved between MDC-T and Zanu
PF which after all have to do
with these issues. For our leaders in
government to say there is no
alternative to the GPA is another insult to
Zimbabweans. There are other
viable options such as to call for fresh free
and fair elections or for them
to resign and let other serious and
people-centred Zimbabweans lead the
nation to a better future.
Jomic is one useless body that needs to be
abolished or revamped. What
has Jomic achieved so far to justify their
existence and burden to the
taxpayer? Different people need to be appointed
onto Jomic so that we don't
have the negotiators as members. They are simply
asking the implementer to
monitor himself and what do you expect; one to
shower oneself with praises
as an achiever? We the common people say Jomic
is a useless board.
John Zishumba,
MDC-M Masvingo
provincial
secretary.
----------
Local Ownership -
for the Benefit of a few
Thursday, 19 November 2009 16:34
FOLLOWING Independence many listed companies made efforts to encourage
greater Zimbabwean participation in company ownership and a chance of
sharing in the country's wealth. Unfortunately for the last few years many
of these very same companies have been treating small shareholders with
contempt even to the extent of making efforts to divest themselves of this
"nuisance" group.
A recent example of the disdain was shown
by OK which decided to send
its annual report and notice of the AGM only to
a few of the larger
shareholders, clearly exposing the dishonesty to which
some companies are
prepared to stoop.
This meant that some
small shareholders, such as myself, were deprived
of our rights! I have
never been happy with the quality of OK's top
management, particularly that
of its CEO, the above action only
strengthening my belief!
Over the past 10 years or so, there has been a distinct trend and
noticeable
deterioration in the quality, care and concern shown to small
shareholders
by the new breed of executives and top management, a view
expressed by many,
who are seemingly more concerned, at any costs, with
making themselves rich
in the shortest possible time!
The government's aim is for 51%
Zimbabwean ownership of foreign firms,
but clearly only for the benefit of a
few!
M Leppard,
Harare.
OK Zimbabwe Ltd
respond:
WE would like to advise the writer and for the benefit of
other
shareholders that as a listed company, we endeavour to treat our
shareholders equally regardless of whether they are major or minor
shareholders.
Notices of shareholders' meetings and our
financial statements are
published in the press in accordance with the
requirements of the law.
In terms of article 142 of our Articles of
Association, notices are to
be sent to all members by way of advertisements
published in the daily
press. To this end, a notice of the annual general
meeting was published in
the Herald of July 8.
However, given
our large shareholder base of over 28 558 as at August
31 2009, it is very
costly to send annual reports and notices to every
shareholder, and some of
our shareholders may not receive annual reports due
to circumstances beyond
our control. In order to improve communication we
encourage our shareholders
to constantly check the local press for notices
and annual accounts that we
publish from time to time.
We also advise our shareholders to
contact our offices should they
have any queries regarding the affairs of
the company. For shareholder
information they can ask for the company
secretary who should be able to
assist.
L Murinda,
Company Secretary.
------------
SMS The Zimbabwe
Independent
Thursday, 19 November 2009 16:43
ZANU PF needs
MDC-T more to claim legitimacy to the outside world so
they should tread
carefully and adhere to the GPA.
Andy.
CHAIBVA must think
before he opens his mouth. He is one of
the Zanu PF devils who worked
tirelessly to destroy MDC from inside.
You can never beat light if you are
darkness.
Never.
THANKS to MDC-T for the first time in
years Zimbabweans will have a
happy Xmas, with plenty of food.
Economist,
Harare.
ECONET we are tired of you charging us
for undelivered messages. Be
careful Telecel is becoming more attractive by
the day. We want value for
our dollars.
Hazel.
GIVEN the two organs' inabilities to achieve their respective
objectives,
and in the interests of saving scarce national resources, I
suggest that the
organ on national healing and reconciliation and Jomic be
disbanded.
Political intolerance, violence and other serious violations of
the GPA have
of late escalated to unprecedented levels. In line with
results-based
budgeting philosophy, these two organs should not even get a
single cent
from treasury. I challenge them to justify their existence and
mandate.
Zim patriot and realist.
UN torture expert
Nowak should have consulted Annan or Mandela first
before coming to
Zimbabwe. Sadc troika aside, ministers like Mumbengegwi
could have been busy
planting crops. After all they are multiple farm
owners.
Observer.
IMAGINE Zesa charging a minimum US$70 per month with
power use US$6
per month. They claim that the basic charge is for their
equipment on site
which in my case has been paid for over 50 years. Pure
extortion.
Gore.
ALL thanks to Alexander Kanengoni for
confirming my long held
suspicion. You are such a diligent Zanu PF disciple.
Now be open about it
like Tomana.
Kiri.
YOU got it
wrong about Mutambara being kingmaker. Voting
against the Gono Bill
will spell their doom.
Correction.
THE Zanu PF independent
MP Prof Jonathan Moyo thinks Zimbabweans do
not use common sense. Hold on
Moyo, for you have not seen anything yet.
Jokosburg.
ZANU
PF should worry about turncoats who portray it as so foolish that
it cannot
see beyond its nose or recognise its rabid detractors. The worm
Zanu PF
recently re-absorbed returned more for self-preservation than party
interests. After allegedly swindling hefty funds from a foreign foundation
for personal gain, grabbing three farms thus trashing party policy and
ruthlessly lambasting the party and the generality of its leadership from
the highest level before joining, and after the divorce from the party the
turncoat is maliciously taking cover from the consequences of his sins. It
has nothing to do with freedom of association and choice. Watch him as he
seeks to further soil the party's image and alienate the people from the
party.
Mzaya.
IF ever Gono and Zanu retards bring back
the Zimbabwe dollars let all
firms close, then all Zimbabweans can go and
settle and loot from our chefs'
farms for the sake of solidarity.
Fred.
MAY Zanu PF remove the sanctions they imposed on ordinary
Zimbabweans
since 2000. We are tired of people who blame all their failures
on sanctions
instead of poor policies. Enough is enough.
Dzimbanhete.
CAN Zimind please throw light on the rumour that
government printers
are busy printing Zim notes for imminent change back to
the Zimdollar for
Zanu PF chefs' perks to be reinstated?
NK.
WHY did president Mugabe sign the GPA - to hoodwink the world
again?
Sanctions must remain until he shows change.
Andy.
THE Zim government is the only one that can make people
pay for
services not rendered. Maybe Julius Malema should come and lead
service
delivery protests since he is from a "friendly" party that doe not
have
regime change agenda.
Ripped.
WE don't care what
political parties said about any of the draft
constitutions. This time the
people will have their way. Politicians,
especially Zanu PF, butt
out.
NM.