Zim Independent
Dumisani Muleya
THE
parliamentary portfolio committee on Foreign Affairs,
Industry and
International Trade investigating Ziscosteel affairs is
expected to summon
top government officials implicated in the scandal
rocking the
company.
Chairman of the portfolio committee Enock
Porusingazi said
yesterday his team might "invite" the officials named by
the National
Economic Conduct Inspectorate (NECI) report, which details
looting of public
funds at Zisco by individuals and companies, to "clarify"
issues surrounding
the government-owned steel-making
firm.
"As a committee we are interested in the new
developments on the
Zisco affair and we might invite all those who have been
mentioned with
regard to the matter to clarify certain issues for us,"
Porusingazi said.
"We need to follow these latest
developments on the issue so
that we get to the bottom of the matter. We
have to make a comprehensive
report to parliament and for us to do that
there is need for the committee
to do a thorough job to ascertain the truth
about the Zisco situation."
Vice-President Joice Mujuru,
widely-tipped to succeed President
Robert Mugabe, has been named in the NECI
report. It also names
co-Vice-President Joseph Msika and several ministers
including Samuel
Mumbengegwi, Olivia Muchena, Sithembiso Nyoni, Stan
Mudenge, and Patrick
Chinamasa, former Zanu PF MP Tirivanhu Mudariki and the
late ruling party MP
Gibson Munyoro as some of the people who could have
benefited from Zisco.
Muchena has disputed the NECI report, while her
colleagues have been mum on
the issue.
Former Zisco MD Dr
Gabriel Masanga, the marketing executive
Rodwell Makuni and a host of other
senior managers been mentioned as the
main culprits in the
affair.
NECI says Zisco finances were raided through
questionable
contracts and a string of payments covering controversial
purchases,
services, airfares, hotel bookings, directors' fees, management
expenses and
entertainment allowances.
Porusingazi said
his committee would approach the Zisco saga
with an "open mind" and give
everyone the opportunity to explain themselves
in a free and fair manner. He
also said the committee needed to go "wider
and deeper" into the Zisco
scandal.
"We are not saying what has appeared in the media
constitutes
the whole truth, but we want to find out what has been going on
at Zisco and
make recommendations to parliament. Whatever our findings will
be, we will
put them in a report which will not be panel-beaten. We have a
duty to
inform parliament, which represents the interests of the people, on
what has
been happening at Zisco that is a government
company."
Government has of late been trying to suppress the
NECI report
to hide its sensitive disclosures. Ministers have been making
statements and
then later backtracking on them over the
issue.
Industry and International Trade minister Obert Mpofu
is now
facing impeachment charges by parliament for perjury after he
allegedly lied
to Porusingazi's committee under oath.
Mpofu initially told the committee senior officials, including
"colleagues
of mine in parliament" had looted Zisco but later backtracked,
claiming that
"I'm not aware of any particular minister or senior person or
MP or anybody"
involved in Zisco.
Anti-Corruption minister Paul Mangwana
initially said those
implicated in Zisco would be
prosecuted.
"Very soon we will take action and police will
make arrests of
those who were involved in corruption at Ziscosteel
irrespective of their
political or social status," Mangwana said. "It
doesn't matter if they are
ministers or MPs. As long as they were involved
they will be arrested. If we
find that a crime was committed by whoever we
will call in the police and
provide evidence for
prosecution."
However, Mangwana later changed his tune,
saying he could not
talk about the NECI report because it was a state
security document.
He then changed again saying some of his
colleagues were under
investigation. "I cannot say the names (of the
culprits), but yes, I can
only inform you a number of esteemed colleagues
are under investigation," he
said.
State Security
minister Didymus Mutasa said the NECI report was
non-existent and challenged
Mpofu to name those involved if he knew them.
Msika, named in the NECI
report, said there was no looting at Zisco.
No proper
official government comment has been made on the
issue, except remarks by an
anonymous columnist believed to be Mugabe's
spokesman George Charamba in the
government-run Herald which claimed no
politicians were implicated in the
Zisco scandal.
Zim Independent
Itai Mushekwe
PRESIDENT Robert
Mugabe this week intensified mortgaging
Zimbabwe's mineral resources in a
bid to secure fuel from Iran, raising
fears about the security of the
country's mineral wealth used as guarantees
in opaque
deals.
Mugabe's desperate hunt for fuel in Iran using
minerals as
collateral came amid recent reports that China and Russia had
also got
mineral rights in exchange for financial, trade and investment
deals which
have remained shrouded in secrecy.
China and
Russia have so far failed to give Zimbabwe any
significant lines of credit
because the country's credit rating has plunged
due to the current crisis.
Zimbabwe has been grappling with a fuel crisis
over the past seven
years.
According to the Iranian news agency, Far, Energy and
Power
Development minister Mike Nyambuya discussed a fuel deal with Iranian
Oil
minister Kazem Vaziri Hamaneh who agreed to meet the country's
needs.
"During the meeting, the Iranian side made a number of
proposals
to meet Zimbabwe's needs in fuel and oil products, which were
welcomed by
the Zimbabwean minister," Far said.
"The two
sides also agreed to assign a group of Iranian experts
to help to renovate
Zimbabwe's oil refineries. Further in the meeting,
Hamaneh said that once
Zimbabwe's oil refineries are reconstructed, Iran
would start crude supplies
to Zimbabwe in order to meet that country's fuel
consumption
needs."
It is understood Harare promised Iran an array of
minerals to
settle its debt as it continues to mortgage natural resources to
foot its
import bill. Reserve Bank governor Gideon Gono has said Zimbabwe
will
leverage its minerals to secure imports like fuel that government is
now
failing to pay for due to foreign currency shortages. Nickel from
Bindura
was recently used as surety in a US$50 million fuel supply deal with
French
banking giant BNP Paribas.
Mugabe has in the past
mortgaged Zimbabwean resources to Libya
after clinching a fuel deal with
Libya's Muammar Gaddafi. But the US$360
million deal later collapsed due to
Zimbabwe's failure to pay.
Gaddafi seems to have dumped
Mugabe after he started moves to
end years of international
isolation.
Zimbabwe has been searching for reliable fuel
supplies in vain
from Kuwait, Angola, Sudan, Nigeria, Venezuela, and Iran.
The countries that
have sustained Zimbabwe although they are not oil
producers have largely
been South Africa and
Botswana.
Mugabe met Iranian leader President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad on
Monday in Teheran where he attended the fifth joint economic
commission
meeting for the two nations aimed at strengthening industrial
cooperation.
Mugabe was accompanied by Nyambuya, Agriculture minister Joseph
Made and
Foreign Affairs minister Simbarashe Mumbengegwi.
A Memorandum of Understanding was signed on Tuesday under which
various
deals were agreed including cooperation in energy and
agriculture.
Iran has also pledged to build a 1 600MW power
station on the
Zambezi, while Zimbabwe is set to buy tractors and other
agricultural
equipment from Iran in the coming two months.
Zim Independent
Augustine Mukaro
AGRICULTURE permanent secretary Simon
Pazvakavambwa faces the
chop over the fertiliser saga which has sparked
clashes between government
officials and the Reserve
Bank.
High-level sources said President Robert Mugabe had
already
approved the dismissal of Pazvakavambwa who was initially due to
have been
fired last week but could not because Public Service Commission
chair
Mariyawanda Nzuwah was not at work.
Nzuwah and
Secretary to the Cabinet Misheck Sibanda were said to
have been informed of
the decision to relieve Pazvakavambwa of his duties.
Sources
said Pazvakavambwa was supposed to have received his
letter of dismissal on
Tuesday after another failure to give him the letter
on Monday. Mugabe was
said to have authorised the dismissal before he left
for Iran this
week.
Pazvakavambwa is likely to be replaced by Arex director
Shadreck
Mlambo.
However, Pazvakavambwa said he was not
aware of moves to fire
him over the fertiliser saga which led to serious
clashes between him and
ministers on the one hand and Reserve Bank governor
Gideon Gono on the other
during a National Economic Recovery Council (Nerc)
meeting last week.
Pazvakavambwa, who was arrested last year
for allegedly stealing
equipment at a farm, was said to have uttered harsh
words against Gono at
last week's meeting during a heated debate over the
fertiliser issue which
involves South African company Intshona Agricultural
Products. Reserve Bank
officials said the fertiliser deal was regular but
media reports insisted
there were problems related to
quality.
Contacted for comment yesterday, Pazvakavambwa said
he was not
aware of steps being taken to fire him.
"I
have not been served with any letter. There is nothing like
that. I am still
at my work and if there is a dismissal or suspension
letter, then I haven't
seen it," he said.
Sources said his dismissal was endorsed
after the Nerc meeting
in which Gono clashed with several ministers,
including Economic Development
minister Rugare Gumbo, Deputy Finance
minister David Chapfika and Industry
and International Trade permanent
secretary Christian Katsande, who accused
him of not consulting on issues.
Vice-President Joice Mujuru chaired the
meeting in which Gono was attacked.
He later stormed out of the meeting,
according to
reports.
Pazvakavambwa is being accused of trying to distance
himself
from the importation of inferior fertiliser from South Africa when
he toured
and tested samples of the product at the Intshona workshop in
South Africa.
He was also accused of failing to issue import permits on
time.
This comes as Pazvakavambwa, Agriculture minister
Joseph Made
and Gono are next week expected to appear before the
Parliamentary Portfolio
Committee on Agriculture to answer questions on how
inferior fertiliser was
imported from South Africa.
Zim Independent
Shakeman Mugari
DANIEL Shumba's
luxury car has been seized and is being
auctioned after his United People's
Party (UPP) failed to pay for the
equipment it hired for its official launch
in June.
The move comes amid revelations this week that the
party, formed
earlier this year, is in serious financial problems and facing
collapse.
Rooney's Hire Services, which hires out equipment
for functions,
has since attached one of Shumba's cars through the Deputy
Sheriff. The
vehicle is now being auctioned by Ruby Auctions to recover
UPP's debt which
sources say runs into millions of
dollars.
Shumba formed UPP after being expelled from Zanu PF
for
participating in the Tsholotsho meeting which claimed the scalps of five
other provincial chairmen.
The party has failed to pay
for the chairs, tents and public
address system it hired from Rooney's for
its official launch five months
ago.
The car that
Rooney's has impounded is a Mercedes-Benz C280 that
belongs to Shumba. The
vehicle whose registration number is 714-141P will be
auctioned on December
2. It is a 1995 model with a mileage of 195 000
kilometres.
Although the quantum of the debt could not be
ascertained, an
official at Ruby Auctions said they were hoping to sell the
car for "around
$10 million".
An official at Rooney's
confirmed the case and sale of the
vehicle but refused to comment further
because the directors of the company
were in Zambia. Shumba could not be
reached for comment as all his known
mobile numbers were said to be out of
use.
News of the crisis in the UPP comes hard on the heels of
information that his other company, TeleAccess Zimbabwe, is also in
financial trouble following the cancellation of its licence earlier this
year.
Sources said Shumba had since lost most of his
workers at
TeleAcess and was battling to pay those remaining. TeleAccess'
offices at
the 11th and 12th floor of the Kopje Plaza have been closed. The
company's
registered telephone numbers are also not working.
Zim Independent
Clemence Manyukwe
MORE
than 30 farmers under the A2 scheme were last week charged
under the Public
Order and Security Act (Posa) by Mashonaland West police
after they staged a
demonstration against Zanu PF central committee member
Jamaya
Muduuri.
The 31 farmers accused Muduuri of engineering their
eviction
from Impalasvale on allegations that they were underutilising the
land.
The group of farmers, who were detained for two days at
Battlefields police station for contravening a section of Posa by not
seeking police clearance before the demonstration, will be notified of a
date to appear in court by way of summons.
Mashonaland
West governor Nelson Samkange last week told the
Zimbabwe Independent that a
recommendation had been sent to the National
Security, Lands, Land Reform
and Resettlement ministry through him that some
of the farmers be removed
from the property on allegations of underutilising
land and vandalising
irrigation equipment.
Samkange said the farmers had blocked
the road leading to
Muduuri's property.
But in interviews
this week the farmers who spoke on condition
of anonymity for fear of
victimisation denied the charges.
They said the reason for
the impending eviction was to
facilitate the expansion of Muduuri's portion
of the farm, which forms part
of Impalasvale.
"We saw a
communication at the DA's office in which the DA was
saying there was no
land for 15 of us who were to be removed to pave way for
Muduuri," one of
the farmers said.
"The central committee member is behind the
plot to evict us,
not these false allegations about not utilising the
land."
Another farmer said the governor had been misled on
developments
at the farm, as he had not visited the area to see for
himself.
On Wednesday Muduuri said it was not true that he
was to blame
for the farmers' woes, saying he could also end up being
affected in the
event that government decided that some people should lose
their land.
"The replanning is not done by me. Government
does it," Muduuri
said.
"As to why they demonstrated
against me, I do not know. I
suspect they were relying on lies someone told
them," he said.
If the Lands ministry adopts a recommendation
that the farmers'
properties be taken, they would become illegal occupiers
of the land,
something that was outlawed by the signing into law of the
Gazetted Land
(Consequential Provisions) Bill by President Mugabe two weeks
ago.
The latest legislation repeals the Rural Land Occupiers
(Protection from Eviction) Act (No 13 of 2001) whose provisions the gazetted
Act says have "become redundant because they do not apply to state
land".
Zim Independent
Paul Nyakazeya
ONE of the
country's leading manufacturers of detergents and
foodstuffs, Olivine
Industries, has ceased the production of cooking oil
after the US government
ordered them not to buy raw materials from 'stolen'
farms, businessdigest
established this week.
The processor of agro-products is a
subsidiary of US food giant
Heinz Group whose operations are monitored under
the Zimbabwe Democracy and
Economic Recovery Act passed in 2001. The Act
discourages US firms or their
subsidiaries from doing business with Zimbabwe
until democracy is restored.
According to information
gathered, the firm can no longer source
raw materials such as soyabeans and
cotton seed, the main ingredients in the
manufacturing of cooking
oil.
Section 4 of the Act directs the Secretary of the
Treasury "to
instruct US executive directors to multilateral development
banks and
international financial institutions to propose review of, the
cancellation
or reduction of indebtedness owed by, or the extension of
loans, credit, or
guarantees to, the Government of Zimbabwe (until) the
President's
certification to the appropriate congressional committees that:
(1) the rule
of law has been restored in Zimbabwe; (2) certain election or
pre-election
conditions have been met; (3) the Government of Zimbabwe has
demonstrated a
commitment to an equitable, legal, and transparent land
reform programme
that is consistent with agreements reached at the
International Donors'
Conference on Land Reform and Resettlement in Zimbabwe
held in Harare,
Zimbabwe, in September 1998".
Under the
Act Olivine, which is an American company, cannot buy
raw materials from
resettled farmers.
Companies and farms which have been doing
business with Olivine
were also warned against doing business with the
American company.
Sources said government had since October
2001 been trying to
localise Olivine and some of its subsidiaries but the
American company was
resisting.
The localisation involved
employees and other local investors
taking up a significant stake in the
company.
Olivine chief executive Ian McKenzie referred all
questions to
the company's commercial director, Phenias Chingono, who said
he was not at
liberty to discuss the issue yesterday.
Owing to the unavailability of raw materials, Olivine stopped
manufacturing
cooking oil two months ago as it faces critical shortage of
soyabean and
cottonseed, important components in the production of cooking
oil.
The development has seen the commodity disappearing
from shop
shelves.
Zim Independent
Augustine Mukaro
FRESH
details of corruption at Zimpapers surfaced this week with
more officials
submitting allegations of graft to the police.
Documents to
hand show that the police investigating the matter
have been provided with a
December 2005 internal audit exposing gross
corruption, abuse of systems and
serious security laxity at the Zimbabwe
Stock Exchange-listed
firm.
Before the audit, the Zimpapers vehicle purchase system
allowed
the chief executive and the financial director to be the only people
to
decide on what to purchase, opening the system to
abuse.
Zimpapers officials have since written to acting
Information
minister Paul Mangwana exposing corrupt practices and the
victimisation of
those employees perceived to have brought the matter to
light.
The audit compiled by group internal audit manager
Andrew
Chinyama says the laxity of systems at the group's workshop
operations,
procurement procedures, inventory management and resource
utilisation had
resulted in the company incurring losses that could have
been avoided.
"The existing vehicle purchase system in place
is negatively
skewed against the group to the extent that the organisation
was not getting
its full value for money from its purchases," the audit
says.
"Of note were two Mazda MPV vehicles which were
purchased on
September 30, 2005. Whilst audit fully appreciated the
aesthetic value
possessed by these cars, there were practically no spare
parts for the
vehicles in Zimbabwe and the garage had been trying to
purchase shock
absorbers for one of the vehicles for over four weeks without
success."
The audit said the purchasing procedure was
structured in such a
way that the technocrats in motor mechanics were only
consulted on the
serviceability of a vehicle and to recommend the
purchase.
"Once the vehicle had been purchased there was no
mechanism to
allow the technocrats to verify whether the delivered vehicle
had all the
accessories intact," the audit says.
"The
branch had already fallen prey to unscrupulous car dealers
who were
tampering with vehicles' accessories. Of note was a Mazda 323
Familia, which
was allocated to the Herald brand manager.
"The vehicle was
one of three cars purchased from Zieper
Investments with car radios such as
Sony, Kenwood or Pioneer. But when
delivered, it was discovered that one of
the radios had been replaced by an
unknown and broken down radio and the
branch had to incur an additional $5
175 000 (old value) to fit a new
radio."
The corruption investigations were prompted by a
letter from the
Attorney-General's office to Assistant Police Commissioner
Nyathi at Harare
Central instructing him to institute an investigation into
allegations of
corruption at Zimpapers.
The AG's office
was responding to complaints from senior
Zimpapers officials who claimed the
company was being invoiced money for new
vehicles when it was receiving
second-hand cars.
The AG's office also ordered the police to
investigate the
reinstatement of Adolf Majome - Zimpapers' financial
director - who was
previously arrested on allegations of corruption but the
company later
withdrew the charges.
"If it is correct
that Mr Majome was reinstated as the chairman
of the purchase committee,
after his arrest on allegations of corruption
arising from his functions in
the same post, then this raises eyebrows and
is a cause for concern. There
is reasonable basis to warrant an
investigation," the letter
said.
Zim Independent
CONTROVESY at Chigwell Estate took on a new dimension a
fortnight ago with deputy Information minister Bright Matonga being accused
of trying to sell scrap metal belonging to the former owner of the farm, Tom
Beattie.
Speaking to the Zimbabwe Independent last week,
Beattie alleged
Matonga, who was allocated part of the farm, had loaded a
30-tonne-truck of
scrap metal from the farm on October
21.
"We alerted the police about our scrap metal that was
being
loaded onto a Marongwe Transport ERF truck," Beattie
said.
"Police intercepted and impounded the truck, keeping it
at
Chegutu police station from October 21 to October 27. The truck was later
taken back to Chigwell Estate to off-load the scrap
metal."
Beattie said police arrested five of Matonga's
workers and
Misheck Nyamkonda who had bought the scrap metal from the deputy
minister.
A docket was opened under CR number
174/10/06.
"The buyer told the police that he had done an
electronic
transfer of $900 000 into Matonga's account on Friday 20th of
October after
agreeing that he would collect the scrap metal the following
day," Beattie
said. "We have since informed police deputy commissioner
Godwin Matanga, and
questioned whether being allocated a plot meant taking
away the scrap metal
on the farm."
Beattie said on
realising that he had failed to illegally sell
the scrap metal, Matonga
wrote to him demanding that he remove the scrap and
that if Beattie failed
to comply he would do so himself.
"As you seem to have been
offended by my clearing away the
rubbish scrap you left behind at your
former farm, I would like to give you
the opportunity of seven days to come
and remove the said rubbish," Matonga's
letter said. "Anything left lying
around after this I will remove so as not
to hinder my development
plans."
The letter was copied to one Ganyani, an
Officer-In-Charge of
ZRP Chegutu, Governor for Mashonaland West Nelson
Samkange, and Assistant
Commissioner Mahayo of Chinhoyi.
Contacted for comment, Ganyani referred all questions to the
provincial
spokesman in Chinhoyi.
"Talk to Mashonaland West provincial
spokesman, he has all the
details," Ganyani said. The spokesman could not be
reached for comment as he
was said to be out of his
office.
Matonga could neither confirm nor deny the
development. Instead
he accused this reporter of pursuing a
vendetta.
"Do you have a vendetta against me?" Matonga said
"Why don't you
come to the farm and see what I am doing, then you can
objectively write
your stories?"
Chigwell Estate has for
some time been at the centre of
controversy with Matonga being accused of
having harvested 140 hectares of
soyabeans and seed maize planted by
Beattie. The proceeds were valued at $10
million
(revalued).
Beattie once wrote to Minister of Lands, Land
Reform and
Resettlement Didymus Mutasa complaining about the situation at
the farm as a
result of the "attitude of Matonga's
employees".
"The situation at the estate is becoming
progressively volatile.
All my staff have been threatened and forced to
vacate their houses," wrote
Beattie in a letter that was also copied to a
number of Zanu PF officials.
He also states in his letter
that Matonga has taken over
irrigation pipes and declined to return
them.
"I require these excess pipes for my winter wheat
irrigation. I
am appealing to your office to help facilitate the return of
these pipes,"
he said. - Staff Writer.
Zim Independent
Clemence Manyukwe
GOVERNMENT is forging ahead with the proposed spying legislation
after
drafting a new version of the Interception of Communications Bill that
has
failed to fully address the concerns of the Parliamentary Legal
Committee
and stakeholders in the communications sector.
Government
withdrew the initial Bill under pressure from the PLC
that is chaired by
constitutional law expert and MDC MP Welshman Ncube and
protests by
stakeholders in the communications industry at a Parliamentary
Portfolio
committee on Transport and Communications hearing, amid promises
of a new
version that would address their concerns.
The new
consolidated version obtained by the Zimbabwe
Independent this week shows
that changes made to the original text are minor
to the extent that,
overall, the latest version retains its repressive
nature.
The new version still says: "An application for
the lawful
interception of communications may be made by the following
persons - the
Chief of Defence Intelligence or his or her nominee, the
Director-General of
the President's department responsible for national
security or his or her
nominee; the commissioner of the Zimbabwe Republic
Police or his or her
nominee, the commissioner general of the Zimbabwe
Revenue Authourity or his
or her nominee."
Communications
minister, Chris Mushohwe and the Attorney-General
Sobusa Gula-Ndebele met
the PLC last month resulting in the committee not
presenting an adverse
report on the Bill in anticipation of an improved
version.
In its draft report, the PLC said the old
version's problematic
areas were: clauses 3(1) (b) (i); 4; 5; 6; 8 and
clause 18.
In the consolidated text clauses 3(1) (b) (i); 4
and 5 have been
retained as they are despite the PLC draft adverse report
having said: "It
is clear, Mr Speaker Sir, that the provisions of all these
clauses
individually and collectively interfere with citizens' right of
protection
from interference with their correspondence."
Whereas in the old Bill, aggrieved persons were required to
appeal first to
the minister and then to the Administrative Court, in the
new version
appeals are made straight to the Administrative Court that "may
confirm,
vary or set aside the warrant, directive or order appealed
against".
Although the previous version gives a list of
people in Clause 5
who may apply for a warrant as well as nominees, the
draft Bill said: "The
Bill does not provide for the criterion for selecting
the nominee, it does
not limit the circumstances in which the minister may
delegate this function
and does not provide a procedure for affecting the
nomination." That
observation was not addressed.
Although
on Clause 6 oral applications to the minister for the
issuance of warrants
no longer apply, the new version has not addressed the
committee's concerns
as it still says that the minister may issue warrants
"on reasonable
grounds".
On that issue the PLC draft report had said: "In
issuing this
warrant, the minister acts alone.The reasonable grounds need
therefore exist
only in the mind of the minister. This is an incredibly
subjective
criterion, which means, in effect, that the minister has
unfettered
discretion in the matter."
The PLC draft
report said there are no safeguards against the
minister abusing his power
in issuing warrants. In the new version, the
government's solution was to
come up with provisions for the review of the
minister's exercise of his
powers to issue warrants by the Attorney-General.
After that review the Bill
says "the Attorney-General may make
recommendations in writing to the
Minister concerning the manner in which
the Minister shall exercise his or
her powers in future".
In its draft report the PLC had said
such controls "should
normally be assured by the judiciary, which offers the
best guarantees of
independence, impartiality and proper
procedure".
Apart from this, in its presentation to the
Parliamentary
Portfolio committee on Transport and Communications the
Zimbabwe Internet
Service Providers Association also proposed parliamentary
review.
It also said in other countries with similar
legislation
warrants are issued as a result of some judicial
process.
Clause 8 still provides that evidence obtained by
means of an
unlawful interception may be admissible in court if the court
deems that
there are compelling reasons to allow its admission, although the
PLC had
expressed reservations to it.
Although on clause
18 the Bill says: "Any person aggrieved by a
warrant, directive or order
issued" may appeal to the Administrative Court,
that also falls below the
committee's concerns. The committee had wondered
how the individuals would
appeal against the issuance of the appeals when
they have not been told by
the minister in the first place that the warrants
had been
issued.
Zim Independent
Dumisani Muleya
THE
National Economic Conduct Inspectorate (NECI) has urged
police to charge
former Zisco managing director Dr Gabriel Masanga and the
company's
marketing executive Rodwell Makuni for corruption related to the
pillaging
of the government-owned firm.
NECI said Masanga and Makuni
should be held to account for
corruption at Zisco unearthed during its
recent probe of graft at the
company.
"Dr Masanga and Mr
Makuni should be charged for corruption,"
NECI said. "It is indeed safe to
conclude that Masanga and Makuni's
Siamese-like attachment to MISA (Macsteel
International South Africa) smacks
of blatant corruption as manifested
through the bargain price arrangements
for steel billets whereby the lowest
of the international metal bulletin
prices is used as the contract
price."
NECI said the agreement between Zisco and Macsteel
was
prejudicial to the former, while it was beneficial to the latter. The
contract dealt with the provision of technical services by Macsteel to boost
Zisco's steel production capacity.
It was signed in
violation of exchange control regulations and
without the company secretary,
who gives legal opinion, being involved.
There was also tax evasion involved
in the issue, NECI said.
Zisco paid Macsteel R915 408,49 in
2004, but later it was found
that Zisco's Botswana subsidiary Ramotswa also
paid R1,6 million. The
payments were not properly explained, NECI
noted.
Prior to the current pre-financing contract with
Macsteel, Zisco
used to deal with UVISCO which later changed to Macsteel,
owned 50% by
Mittal Steel South Africa, the continent's largest steel
producer with a
steelmaking capacity in excess of seven million tonnes per
annum and 50% by
the Eric Samson family.
NECI said it was
clear Masanga and Makuni had vested interests
in the
arrangement.
"Masanga and Makuni should be held accountable
and charged by
the board for all losses incurred under the Macsteel
pre-financing
arrangement," NECI says. "The pre-financing arrangement with
Macsteel should
be reviewed with the view of terminating it provided Zisco
gets alternative
financing structures."
NECI was damning
on Makuni's dealings with Macsteel.
"Makuni's marriage with
Macsteel smacks of gross infidelity to
norms and values of Zisco. Zisco
billets are always received but in all the
instances the prospective buyers
were informed that Macsteel is the official
agent on the international
market," it said.
NECI said Astra Corporation of South Korea,
for example, was not
given an audience even though it had expressed an
interest in Zisco
products. Cosmofer AG/Fobsel was also snubbed when it
proposed a financing
project.
NECI also said there was a
problem in the agreement between
Zisco and the Kwekwe-based Steelmakers. The
contract gave Steelmakers the
right to buy "steel scrap" from
Zisco.
However, there was controversy in how Zisco sold
billets, blooms
and scrap metal to Steelmakers at below market prices when
these could have
been sold for much more outside the
country.
Zisco claimed the reasons it sold steel products to
Steelmakers
at below market price included that there was "dumping" of steel
products
into the country from South Africa and that Steelmakers was
prepared to pay
in advance.
But sources pointed out there
were senior politicians who were
benefiting from the controversial
Zisco-Steelmakers deal by buying steel
products cheaply from Zisco and
reselling them at higher prices outside the
country. One politician
well-known to have a vested interest in the deal is
a cabinet minister very
influential in Kwekwe and in national politics.
"The value
between the quoted price and the charged price was so
high that it could
have grossly contributed to company losses," NECI said.
"Price lists should
be approved according to company policy and procedure.
All the price lists
should be subject to executive approval before
implementation."
"The Zisco-Steelmakers relationship
seems more parasitic than
symbiotic. Whenever the two enter into a marketing
or sales agreement it
seems Steelmakers is always on the winning side. Hence
the contract should
be terminated."
NECI also said
Masanga should be held personally liable for the
contract he offered to
Chartwell Capital Group of South Africa for it to
restructure Zisco's
balance sheet and debt.
"Zisco paid Chartwell Capital Group
R471 827,15 through
Ramotswa," NECI says. "Masanga brought in Chartwell
without the involvement
of other executives. How he identified the company
is not apparent."
The contract was later suspended midstream
after payment.
There was also a problem, NECI said, in the
agreement between
Zisco and the Reclamation Group Ltd for the supply of
machinery. NECI said
Zisco bought substandard equipment from Reclamation on
which a lot of money
was later spent on repairs.
"Truck
number BFC648 was serviced to the tune of R1 718 736,67
whilst machine
number BCF1029 was attended to the value of R653 085,20,"
NECI said "The
point being made here is that the equipment was not a wise
purchase as they
had gone through a lot of repairs, hence the resultant
breakdowns."
Zisco's technical staff was excluded from
the buying of machines
and equipment by Masanga and
Makuni.
"Masanga and Makuni should be held accountable for
the
purchasing of this substandard equipment and subsequent financial losses
incurred by Zisco. The losses incurred by Zisco should be recovered from the
two because they flouted company procedures," NECI said.
"The contract between Reclam and Zisco should be reviewed as
Zisco can be
perpetually married to Reclam for a period of five years with a
possibility
of renewal to 10 years. Makuni must be charged for willfully
engaging Zisco
in a prejudicial agreement with Lenkas (a division of
Reclam)."
Zisco had an agreement to sell Lenkas 10 000
tonnes of steel
scrap consisting of 7 000 tonnes of processed and 3 000
tonnes of
unprocessed scrap.
There were also questions
around the Zisco contract with Indian
firms Bharat Roll Industries/Gayson
& Co to sell scrap melting rolls to it.
The deal was botched and NECI
said Makuni failed to provide details on how
Bharat Roll "came to be aware
of the 'neglected' rolls at Zisco".
In the end, NECI said,
Zisco suffered huge financial losses
through shady deals and payments that
constituted corruption.
Zim Independent
THE High Court has reserved judgement in a case
in which the
Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) is challenging
government's
decision to bar Zwelinzima Vavi, the Cosatu secretary-general,
from entering
the country.
Defence lawyer Aleck
Muchadehama argued that Vavi's deportation
in May this year was unprocedural
as no papers declaring him a prohibited
immigrant had ever been
served.
"No such prohibition ever existed because he was not
given any
notice of prohibition, he was not served with any papers and they
did not
produce any proof of such service."
The outspoken
Cosatu leader was deported on arrival at Harare
International Airport as he
led a delegation that was due to meet the ZCTU
leadership to express
solidarity.
Muchadehama added that when government initially
barred the
Cosatu official from entering the country in 2004, Vavi was
already in South
Africa and they did not accord him the chance to give his
side of the story.
He says government's reasons are
unclear.
"The minister refused to disclose reasons for his
prohibition
and he actually issued a ministerial certificate to that
effect."
Vavi has accused the Zimbabwean government of
infringing workers'
rights and failing to abide by the rule of law. -
SABC.
Zim Independent
Augustine Mukaro
GOVERNMENT has extended Operation Maguta to sugarcane
plantations to revive
collapsing sugar production in the eastern Lowveld.
Farmers
from Chiredzi said Jano Labat had become the latest
victim to be forcibly
evicted by the army.
"On November 20, the army with the
assistance of the Chiredzi
police, forcibly evicted Labat, a French
Mauritian cane farmer from his
homestead, even though he was protected by a
Bilateral Investment Promotion
& Protection Agreement (Bippa)," one
farmer from the area said.
Farmers said the army last month
took over more than seven
sugarcane plots in the Mkwasine Estate and was
currently harvesting and
transporting the cane on behalf of new
farmers.
"The army is now in charge of the transportation of
the cane to
the mills and is being paid for that," the farmer said.
"Previously Mkwasine
Estate would transport the cane to the mills for the
farmers and deduct
their expenses before paying the farmer the
proceeds."
Labat's eviction leaves only about 18 white cane
growers from
more than 50 farmers before 2000, and those remaining are only
subsisting on
about 20 hectares each.
"The evictions have
left the cane industry in turmoil due to the
low yields produced by the new
growers who in fact did not put any capital
to purchase the farms. Several
of these properties are now derelict and
produce no cane at all and employ
only a few people," the farmer said.
In December last year
government launched Operation Maguta
targeting to produce 2,3 million tonnes
of maize, 90 000 tonnes of tobacco,
49 500 tonnes of maize seed, 210 000
tonnes of cotton, 750 000 tonnes of
horticultural crops, and 8 250 tonnes of
tea.
Over the past six years the south-eastern Lowveld has
been
rocked by invasions with land officers taking over five plots with a
ready-to-harvest sugarcane crop.
The farmers, most of
them South African nationals, appealed to
the South African embassy to
intervene, alleging that Chiredzi land officers
Mukonyora and Guruvheti and
an A2 farmer Jambaya had a long history of
plot-hopping.
Farmers in the area said harassment of sugarcane growers had
been prevalent
in Chiredzi, particularly towards the harvesting period, as
some
unscrupulous elements want to benefit from a crop they did not grow.
Zim Independent
Shame Makoshori
ZIMBABWE'S Chamber of Mines has warned of
a "dire situation" in
the gold mining sector, saying in a confidential
letter to the Reserve Bank
of Zimbabwe (RBZ) that a raft of measures put in
place last July had failed
to inject life into struggling mines because of
non-payment of overdue
receipts.
The industry's woes had
been worsened by an unannounced 10%
deduction of the gold miners' delayed
payments towards an Energy
Stabilisation Fund.
The fund
is meant to mobilise foreign currency for fuel and
electricity imports. Some
mining operations are at the same time paying for
their electricity in
foreign currency.
The Chamber of Mines, in a letter signed by
chief executive
officer David Murangari dated November 15, said the RBZ
subsidiary, Fidelity
Printers and Refineries (Fidelity), the sole buyer of
gold in the country,
was failing to pay gold producers in time, creating
severe cashflow problems
for the gold miners.
Gold
producers had by November 14 outstanding payments due from
Fidelity
amounting to US$9 million for the component of gold paid for in
foreign
currency and $610 million for gold deliveries paid for in local
currency.
Some of the gold had been lodged with Fidelity
as early as
September 7 but no payments had been made by the time the
Chamber of Mines
wrote the letter to the RBZ governor Gideon
Gono.
"The new payment scheme introduced in July where 50%
(of which
25% is in Zimbabwe dollars and 75% in US dollars) of the value of
gold
lodged with FPR (Fidelity) is being paid within four days and the
balance to
be paid within 21 days has not worked from inception," the
Chamber of Mines
wrote in the letter, a copy of which was seen by
businessdigest.
The Chamber of Mines' letter followed several
others written
individually by gold producers to Gono highlighting the
problems besetting
the sector due to delayed payments from
Fidelity.
Gono remained silent on the gold miners' pleas,
prompting the
Chamber of Mines to write on behalf of the sector last
week.
The Chamber of Mines said the delayed payments had
caused
serious cash flow problems, something that could force "some mines to
temporarily shut down" unless prompt payments were made.
The Chamber of Mines said there had been serious disruptions to
operations
since the RBZ introduced its new payment scheme in July.
The
letter said foreign creditors had threatened to withhold
supplies while
local suppliers were piling pressure on gold producers to pay
up before
placing new orders.
The Chamber of Mines also sought to find
out why Gono had
ignored the gold mining companies' pleas on the overdue
accounts.
"A number of gold producers have written to the RBZ
advising of
the difficulties being experienced in receiving payment as per
the announced
policy. The silence that prevails in such difficult times does
nothing to
build confidence in policy announcements and we strongly suggest
that the
authorities provide the industry with some explanation of the
challenges
being faced by the RBZ," the Chamber of Mines
said.
"External suppliers mainly in South Africa are due to
close for
the festive season. As a result any new orders for supplies will
not be
entertained where payments for orders already delivered are still
outstanding. This will affect production seriously and could cause some
mines to temporarily shut down," the Chamber of Mines
warned.
The letter was copied to Mines minister Amos Midzi,
Finance
minister Herbert Murerwa, Economic Development minister Rugare Gumbo
and
Chief Secretary to the President and Cabinet Misheck
Sibanda.
The Chamber of Mines also argued that the static
exchange rate,
which had remained fixed at US$1:$250 since July, was not
keeping pace with
the rapid movement of costs.
Zim Independent
Paul Nyakazeya
THE Zimbabwe
Stock Exchange (ZSE), rated the best performing
bourse on the continent by
the African Stock Exchange Association (ASEA),
has failed to attract
meaningful foreign participation due to a struggling
economy, businessdigest
established this week.
ASEA said Zimbabwe's stock market
offered investors the highest
returns in Africa in 2005 and most of 2006,
despite a deep economic
recession.
The country's stock
market had been one of the few investment
destinations where returns
remained above the inflation rate of 1 070%, the
world's
highest.
The Zimbabwe Stock Exchange rose 1 545% in 2005 and
had shot up
by more than 2 000% by the first week of November this
year.
However, businessdigest established this week that
despite its
high performance, the local bourse was struggling to attract
foreign
participation due to an economic crisis that has disrupted normal
economic
activities in the country over the past six years, stunting
industrial
productivity and hurting the performance of a number of listed
firms.
Foreign participation on the ZSE is restricted to 10%
but
figures obtained this week indicated that foreign participation on the
stock
exchange accounted for a paltry 2,31% during the 10 months to October
31.
Last year, foreign participation accounted for 2,8% of
investments on the stock market.
Market watchers said a
high tax regime and capital restrictions
had partnered to ward off foreign
participation on the local stock market.
Investors on the ZSE
are required to pay a 2% stamp duty, 15%
value added tax, 20% capital gains
tax and 5% withholding tax.
Moreover, issues around
repatriation of dividends and
investments had also triggered a flight from
the local market by foreigners
unable to hive off their funds from the
country due to foreign currency
shortages.
Zimbabwe's
economy has contracted by a cumulative 30% over the
last five years. The
country has struggled to attract foreign direct
investment (FDI), said by
economic analysts to be key to economic
development.
Last
year, FDI amounted to less than US$10 million. The country
had on average
received FDI amounting to US$500 million annually before the
six-year
economic crisis characterised by acute foreign currency, fuel and
food
shortages.
Zim Independent
Shame Makoshori
THE Zimbabwe Tourism Authority (ZTA) has
acknowledged that its
high-profile campaign marketing the country to China
has failed, suggesting
the tourism marketing crusade had targeted only a
small segment of the
potential Chinese market.
Chief
executive Karikoga Kaseke said he had been "shocked" to
realise that key
stakeholders in China had no idea about the tourist
attractions available in
the country.
"I was shocked," Kaseke said in an interview
soon after
returning from a tourism exhibition in the Chinese capital
Beijing.
"Let's not fool ourselves, Zimbabwe is virtually
unknown in
China. We have to do a lot of work," Kaseke
said.
He suggested that the campaign targeting Chinese
tourists had
failed primarily because of undercapitalisation and failure by
the authority
to spread its campaign across all regions of the communist
country.
The ZTA's campaigns had concentrated on the small
Beijing market
and ignored other regions in the world's fastest-growing
economy.
"The Chinese market has better knowledge of other
African
countries than Zimbabwe. We are losing potential tourists because
when
marketing, they (other countries) also include the Victoria Falls (as
part
of their marketing packages)," Kaseke said.
"Zimbabwe must now start investing in destination awareness.
However, we
have been researching (and) some of our researchers are in China
learning
the characteristics of that market," said Kaseke.
Most buyers
and travel agents in China were still not aware of
Zimbabwe's attractions
despite popular official perception that the
marketing programmes launched
to attract tourists from China had been
comprehensive.
Kaseke, who was part of a delegation of tourism sector players
who last week
attended the China International Travel Mart (CIT) in Beijing,
said there
was scant knowledge of Zimbabwe's tourist attractions even among
travel
agents.
Zimbabwe, isolated by the West for alleged human
rights
violations, had adopted a "Look East" policy forcing the tourism
sector to
diversify its marketing campaign and capture the Asian market
following
travel warnings by major European and the American source markets
against
visiting the country.
Zimbabwe had lost a
significant share of its tourism market as a
result, and this has provided a
major boost to neighbouring countries like
Zambia and South Africa who have
seen growth in tourist traffic due to the
country's woes.
South Africa has included the Victoria Falls as part of its
tourism package,
resulting in visitors to the world's seventh wonder coming
into the country
for brief periods and spending less in the country as a
result.
Zambia, which shares the Victoria Falls with
Zimbabwe but
provides a less scenic view than that from the Zimbabwe side,
has seen its
tourist numbers increase significantly over the last five
years.
Traditional Western markets led by the United Kingdom
have
slammed their doors on Zimbabwe since 2000 citing the high risks posed
by
farm invaders and an unstable political terrain.
Government funded about 80% of Air Zimbabwe's first flights to
China
introduced in 2004 as part of the campaign to woo tourists from the
Asian
market.
China accorded Zimbabwe the Approved Destination
Status (ADS) in
2003, giving its assent for Chinese nationals to visit
Zimbabwe.
Kaseke said a lot still needed to be done to
increase the
country's visibility among potential Chinese
visitors.
He said they wanted the country to have at least 2
000 Chinese
tourists arrivals per week under a fresh campaign likely to be
undertaken
following his visit to China.
Air Zimbabwe
currently flies about 100 Chinese visitors into the
country
weekly.
Zimbabwe suffered a 72% slide in Chinese tourist
arrivals in
2005 from 26 000 in 2004 to 7 100 in 2005, but statistics for
the first nine
months of 2006 have indicated a rebound.
The major barrier the Chinese tourists face in Zimbabwe and
other African
countries has been the use of the English language by local
guides and the
absence of Chinese cuisine in local hotels.
Zim Independent
Shame Makoshori
ZIMBABWE Stock
Exchange (ZSE) chief executive officer Emmanuel
Munyukwi has called on the
Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) governor Gideon
Gono to give up control of
non-financial institutions, saying these should
be regulated and supervised
by institutions other than the central bank.
Munyukwi told
journalists at a recent workshop on financial
reporting that Gono should
relinquish control of asset management companies,
the banned money transfer
agencies, microfinance institutions, and others
and concentrate on
supervising the banking sector.
He said under normal
circumstances, non-banking financial
institutions should be regulated
separately to ensure effective supervision.
"This is the only
country in the world where the central bank
controls non-banking financial
institutions," Munyukwi said.
"In Zimbabwe the central bank
closes asset management companies.
In my opinion this is not correct,"
Munyukwi said.
Gono, whose central bank controls and
supervises the financial
sector, has largely blamed financial institutions
for spawning a financial
crisis that has disrupted the normal functioning of
the country's economy
over the past three years.
A raft
of measures put in place to restore normalcy in the
economy have resulted in
the closure of at least 15 financial institutions
since 2004 and the banning
of money transfer agencies and the transfer of
asset management supervision
and money lending companies to the central
bank.
However,
these measures have failed to restore confidence in the
economy and spark
the turnaround Gono was tasked to spearhead when he was
appointed governor
in December 2003.
Zim Independent
Shame Makoshori
THE National Oil
Company of Zimbabwe (Noczim) has warned
petroleum companies that Mozambican
authorities might soon impose road
levies on Zimbabwean fuel tankers passing
through that country from Beira
due to the damage the vehicles were causing
to roads.
The levy might result in petroleum product prices
shooting up in
Zimbabwe as distributors pass on the costs to end
users.
Most of the country's fuel imports come through
Mozambique's
Beira corridor using the Feruka pipeline but small fuel
distributors prefer
to transport their oil products by road because the
Feruka pipeline is too
big and would trap small
consignments.
Fuel industry experts last week said it costs
US$0,06 a litre to
transport fuel by the pipeline from Beira to Msasa in
Harare. However, the
haulage companies charged US$0,09 a litre over the same
distance.
But despite lower costs incurred through the
pipeline, 35% of
fuels are still being transported by haulage
companies.
"There is already an outcry in Mozambique that
Zimbabwean
vehicles are damaging their roads and very soon they might impose
a levy in
foreign currency," said Noczim chief executive officer Zvinechimwe
Churu
during a pre-budget seminar in Harare last week.
"Smaller players can group together into big consignments and
use the
pipeline so that their stocks are not trapped in the pipeline," he
said.
Churu said the haulage trucks were also damaging
local roads.
Players in the industry said there were delays in accessing
fuel brought
into the country through the Feruka pipeline. There have been
suggestions
that government should build buffer stocks at Noczim's Msasa
reservoirs so
that once companies brought their fuel through the pipeline,
they could
immediately access it.
Zim Independent
By Morgan Tsvangirai
ZIMBABWE
approaches another farming season with uncertainty over
our food security
needs.
The rains are already with us, but corruption and
inept planning
shall see another failed season following a systematic
destruction of the
agriculture sector that has led to a sustained economic
meltdown.
Despite promises of a good rainy season, what we
are witnessing
is a classic case of bungling: inadequate or fake seed,
sub-standard
fertiliser, heavily subsidised fuel which is being diverted to
the black
market and shoddy preparations for the industry's revival. A false
start
always leads to another disaster.
The same
lacklustre approach was evident last year and as a
result an estimated three
million people are short of food today. A
disastrous beginning always ends
in a national failure. Our wheat crop could
easily be reduced to waste due
to shortages of working combine harvesters,
spares and proper
planning.
Food shall remain scarce and prices beyond reach
out of our
failure as a country to meet our traditional production targets.
The sad
story rests on the chaotic land reform programme, which saw land use
decline
by significant margins and output reduced by more than half of the
previous
records.
As long as Robert Mugabe and Zanu PF
skirt around an obvious
political problem, our prospects for a meaningful
turnaround remain poor.
The collapse of agriculture has affected all sectors
of our economy leading
to losses of jobs, reduced export earnings, power and
fuel rationing, weak
investor confidence, poor tax revenues and a sharp fall
in social services.
Once a net exporter of food, our nation's
plight has been
worsened by expensive food imports and serious shrinkages in
the basket of
basic commodities. Every family is at risk because of seven
years of
continuous disruptions in commercial agriculture and a determined
onslaught
on property rights.
As inflation gallops to
levels never seen in Africa before, even
in countries at war, attention
seems to be directed at the symptoms of the
deeper political malaise
resulting in serious economic distortions and a
sustained flight of local
and international confidence.
Farming is a business and is
better performed when land is seen
as an economic asset rather than a status
symbol. The state lacks the
capacity to engage in productive commercial
farming.
What happened to the huge estates run by the
Agricultural and
Rural Development Authority in Middle Save, Muzarabani,
Sanyati, Kondozi and
other productive areas shows that commercial farming is
better left to
serious investors and farmers capable of making sense out of
an economic
mixture of science, capital and expertise to produce food for
the nation.
The meddling influence of the Mugabe regime in
input procurement
and disbursement, farm management and crop and livestock
production dynamics
is a perfect route towards a perennial state of food
insecurity in Zimbabwe.
History is replete with examples of
failed experiments with
agriculture when partisan interest groups,
especially the military and a
political party militia, are pushed - out of
political expediency -- into a
sector they know nothing about and are
expected to produce food for the
nation. Their reluctance to stay on the
ground and their lack of farming
expertise lead to corruption, crop failures
and a drain on the little
currency available, through food
imports.
The state can print as much money to dole out to
these groups in
the form of support but that process will never deliver a
basket of grain.
Many are already crying out for food
hand-outs!
Our communal farmers, for many years a shining
example of maize
producers, have been abandoned.
There
seems to be an excessive political focus on the so-called
new farmer - a
Zanu PF-created new community with no known interest or
knowledge of
agriculture. This group perpetually looks to the state for
their loot,
rewards and accolades, unlike the communal farmers whose track
record - even
under arid conditions - is beyond debate.
Many of our rural
areas are impassable due to poor roads; the
communal farmers lack essential
support and inputs; the state of our
communal lands resemble a nation at
war, their service centres are now empty
shells totally unable to support
any meaningful economic activity in the
rural areas.
The
former commercial farms are slowly being turned into zones
of inappropriate
activities - the so-called new farmers resorting to
poaching, deforestation
and gold panning in order to survive.
Given our experience
during the last seven years, may I commend
the people for their resilience
during the most trying times.
The humanitarian emergencies
before the nation are daunting. We
must do everything in our power to save
Zimbabwe. With the lowest life
expectancy rate in the world, the number of
orphans in our homes is a major
source of worry.
Without
access to food and drugs, the situation in most of our
homes - compounded by
a devastating HIV and Aids pandemic - has reached
unacceptable and dangerous
levels.
We owe it to our children to resolve the national
crisis
speedily and to cast away our current pariah status in the eyes of
the
international community. We need food, jobs, medical drugs and a good
education system for our children.
The people of Zimbabwe
want to live well, with an affordable way
of life. We maintain our position
that we can only reclaim our respect, at
home and abroad, if we deal with
the nagging political questions and
disputes in our midst. We must move as
one people towards a way out of the
political crisis in order to set a base
for recovery, reconciliation and
national healing.
We
believe a new constitution and an environment that shape the
future and
allow for free and fair elections shall provide the key to a
lasting
resolution of the crisis and open doors to the creation of a
respectable and
accountable government.
We remain convinced that we must
organise ourselves and put
pressure on the regime to respect the power of
the people. We have to fight
for our rights and improve our food sources and
food security.
I look forward to working with all Zimbabweans
to build a better
life for them and their families: to make Zimbabwe once
again one of the
richest countries in Africa where every young person has a
job, where every
child has plenty to eat, where every family can look to
having their own
home, where every old person can have quality health care -
working together
we can and will save Zimbabwe.
To those
in Zanu PF and in the military who still believe in a
free and prosperous
Zimbabwe, it is important to realise that political
insurance and progress
depends on an environment that enjoys national
acceptance and national
support.
We fought against colonialism to stop a few with
privileges from
exploiting the national cake at the expense of the majority.
The continued
segregation of the people through political patronage and a
selective
allocation of scarce resources cannot be
sustained.
The liberation struggle sought to bring about a
new Zimbabwe.
That national project was anchored on a need for a foundation
of equality -
in which our country provides shelter and care for all women,
men and
children who live there, with equal access to justice, to public
goods and
services, and to economic opportunity and resources, and where no
unlawful
discrimination shall be accepted.
We believe in
the unity of our people. We understand the folly
of separate development and
are conscious of the consequences of inequality.
Given the
current damage and its implications on family
relations, we believe it is
important for our nation to heal its wounds and
re-build for the future,
recognising that what binds us is far greater than
what divides us,
celebrating our diversity and differences as individuals
and as communities,
and with a common resolve to institute safeguards to
ensure that never again
will our dignity be undermined by any one person or
political
party.
May I re-state our desire for a Zimbabwe that
cherishes good
governance, compassion, solidarity, peace, security and
respect for women,
men and children. I wish to reaffirm our subscription to
the principle of
sustainable development grounded in prosperity, quality of
life and
community stability. As soon as we deal with our political
problems, the
revival of sustainable agriculture must be the starting point
in our efforts
to kick-start the economy.
* Morgan
Tsvangirai is leader of one wing of the Movement for
Democratic
Change.
Zim Independent
Shakeman Mugari
THE National
Economic Development Priority Programme (NEDPP),
touted by government as the
panacea to the country's economic crisis,
expires next month with almost all
of its major targets missed.
Launched in March with claims of
strong private sector
participation, the programme was meant to reduce
inflation, stabilise the
currency and generate foreign currency. It promised
to increase
productivity, remove price distortions and reduce government
expenditure.
NEDPP was supposed to turn around the economy within six to
nine months or
at least steer it to a recovery path by
year-end.
Perhaps its most ambitious target was to raise
US$2,5 billion
through the disposal of state companies and attracting
foreign direct
investments. The investments were to come from countries in
Asia and the
Middle East whom government says are our new friends after the
fallout with
the western world.
However, with a few weeks
from the self-imposed December
deadline, the NEDPP has met the same fate as
other programmes launched with
much fanfare but which dismally failed to
revive the economy. Failures are
already apparent because the programme has
changed nothing - the economy is
still well stuck in the mud with no
prospect of recovering any time soon.
Inflation is still
galloping ahead, food shortages are still
rampant and foreign currency
remains scare. The dollar, even without the
three zeros, continues to lose
value at an alarming rate. In the face of
such overwhelming evidence of
failure, what remain are claims by government
officials about the success of
the programme.
At times the claims come across as outright
lies born out of
desperation to save political careers in a crumbling
regime.
For instance, the programme said the bulk of the
targeted US$2,5
billion would come from "strategic partnerships" between
government and
foreign investors in specific parastatals.
No known deal has been clinched for strategic partnerships in
ailing state
companies like Air Zimbabwe, Zesa, Tel*One and Net*One as the
programme
proposes. If there were any such deals, they have remained just
that - deals
signed but never implemented.
In the meantime Zesa still
can't supply adequate power while
Net*One and Tel*One are technically
insolvent.
The commercialisation of the Cold Storage Company,
which
government said would be one of the major sources of revenue, has
failed to
take off. Nothing has been heard about the planned investment
deals for Air
Zimbabwe and the National Railways of
Zimbabwe.
Analysts said NEDPP, like other programmes before
it, was doomed
from the onset because government dodged key problems in the
economy, opting
instead to compile a wish-list that was not supported by
sustainable
policies.
CFX economist Blessing Sakupwanya
said the NEDPP was a noble
initiative which was unfortunately thrust into an
economy where fundamentals
were skewed.
"The fundamentals
are just not right and the commitment is not
enough," Sakupwanya said. "The
issue of interest rates, money supply and
investment policies are still
outstanding."
Perhaps the major reason for its failure is
that it was based on
the false premise that the economic crisis was caused
by western sanctions.
It conveniently ignored government's destructive land
reform policies that
have severely reduced production and created a huge
bill for food imports.
Apart from its lack of substance,
NEDPP comes across as a
half-baked programme cobbled together to give an
impression that government
was doing something about the crisis. Apparently
not many people in the
private sector have seen the NEDPP
document.
As has become the norm, government wants to take
the lead in
every revival programme but lacks the will and commitment for
the policies
to work.
For instance, NEDPP talks about
reducing inflation but
government keeps printing money to fund its political
projects like the
senate whose additional burden on the fiscus comes in the
form of salaries
and new vehicles. There is now talk of building a new
parliament because the
old one has "become too small".
Government wants to reduce its bloated expenditure but still
manages to
retain wasteful ministries like Chen Chimutengwende's Ministry of
Public and
Interactive Affairs. For his part, President Mugabe has revived
his
globetrotting habit using scarce foreign currency.
The
country has a serious foreign currency crisis but government
finds it
prudent to use the scarce resource to buy six fighter jets from
China when
it is obvious that there is no security threat to Zimbabwe.
It promises to increase manufacturing productivity but has
failed to remove
price controls on basics commodities like bread, mealie
meal, flour and
sugar.
NEDPP wants to lure foreign investors but government
has shown a
penchant for disregarding private property rights and rule of
law. It wants
investors to commit their money to a country where laws are
changed at every
sunrise and the judiciary is expected to be an extension of
the government.
Government's investment laws are equally
repelling to investors.
For example the fact that the state still insists on
taking 51% in foreign
mines seems to have scuttled NEDPP's plans to increase
foreign currency
inflows by reopening collapsed gold mines like Conemara,
Ran, Golden Kopje
and Bell Riverlea.
It is the same
reason why there have been no takers to reopen
other mines like River Ranch
(diamond), Hartley Platinum and LSM (copper) as
the programme
proposes.
Government's failure to resolve the outstanding
cases under the
Bilateral Investment Protection and Promotion Agreements
(Bippas) is an
indication that it is not serious about investment
protection.
Although NEDPP acknowledges agriculture as the
backbone of the
economy it fails to come up with strategies to increase
productivity.
The programme had also sought, without success
though, to revive
agriculture this year through winter wheat cropping
targeting 110 000
hectares as well as supplying adequate agricultural input
for the summer
crop. The winter wheat programme missed its target by 47%,
translating into
about 57 800h. The agricultural season is under threat with
revelations that
some of the fertiliser imported from South Africa was
fake.
The NEDPP also sought to resuscitate two horticultural
projects
through the revival of Kondozi estate and the activating of
Prochain
Investment Flower Park project. It also makes projections that
agriculture
will grow by 11,5% next year including a production of 2
millions tonnes of
maize.
However, these projections were
made without addressing the
recurrent disturbances on the farms and
perennial shortages of inputs.
Security of tenure issues have not been fully
addressed despite the issuance
of 99-year leases. The farmers who got the
leases a fortnight ago represent
less the 1% of the total arable land
distributed during the chaotic land
reform.
Even then the
leases cannot be used as collateral to access
loans from financial
institutions. The uncertainty over property security
still exists because
the government can withdraw the leases with the farmers
having very slim
chances of seeking redress from the courts. But at least
the NEDPP document
does have some lighter moments - it wanted to attract
back professionals who
had left the country. The incentives for that project
have not yet been
announced.
Zim Independent
By Farai Makumbe
HAS the
Central Statistics Office changed the way they measure
the rate of inflation
as there appears to be a growing disconnect between
the cost of living and
official statistics?
Personal incomes have stagnated and are
failing to keep pace
with the rise in the cost of living while the media
appears to be treating
price increases as non-events.
What is the impact of this?
Annual salary increment
negotiations between employee committees
and management begin with Consumer
Price Index (CPI) adjustments. How many
employees are falling further behind
in their earnings because of an
understated CPI?
How many
landlords are cheated out of competitive rental income
by understated
inflation rates?
Air Zimbabwe is making phenomenal losses due
to the fact that
they are pricing their services below market
costs.
This is a perfect example of why any business needs to
price its
products/services after taking into account realistic economic
data.
An understated CPI also overstates the gross domestic
product of
the country by not removing the full inflationary impact of
pricing from
nominal numbers. Any debate on inflation must begin with the
truth.
By pointing to an understated CPI as proof that
inflationary
forces are under control or stabilising is disingenuous at best
and
fraudulent at its worst.
One of the main drivers of
hyperinflation in Zimbabwe, I think,
is the extreme rapid growth in the
supply of "paper" money through the
monetary and fiscal authorities
regularly issuing large quantities to pay
for a large stream of government
expenditures.
I mention both institutions here as there is
currently a lack of
clarity of responsibility in the aftermath of the
central bank governor's
admission to engaging in quasi-fiscal/monetary
policies. In effect,
inflation has become a form of taxation where the
government is gaining at
the expense of those who hold money whose value is
declining.
Hyperinflation being experienced here is therefore
a very large
taxation scheme in another form.
Zimbabwe's
hyperinflation, like all hyperinflation situations,
is
self-perpetuating.
The government is realising that it can no
longer buy as much
with the money it is issuing and is responding by raising
money growth even
further. The hyperinflation cycle begun this way,
triggering a tug-of-war
between the public and
government.
The public will naturally try to spend the money
it receives
quickly in order to avoid the inflation tax while the government
responds
with even higher rates of money issue. How will this hyperinflation
end?
The standard answer is that the government will need to
make a
credible commitment to halting the rapid growth in the supply of
money.
* Farai Makumbe is a financial analyst based in Los
Angeles,
USA.
Zim Independent
Comment
THE Import Substitution and Value Addition Expo
ended last week
in Harare with government and the central bank promising to
support local
industry to produce goods that would see the country saving on
foreign
currency. There was the usual pontification about the resilience of
local
industry in the face of adversity.
The duplicity of
government with regards to protecting local
industry from cheap imports
should not go unchallenged. In fact, the biggest
threat to the policy of
import substitution has been inconsistent government
policies regarding
local industries. Reserve Bank governor Gideon Gono in
May last year tried
to promote the concept through his "Buy Zimbabwe
Campaign" in which he said
Zimbabwe missed opportunities for growth by
failing to expand industry and
cut back on imports.
"An aggressive import substitution
drive, spearheaded through
aggressive marketing and promotion of local
brands with significant local
content in terms of manufacturing and
packaging effort, would go a long way
in positively restructuring the
economy's consumption patterns," Gono said
in a supplement to his monetary
policy statement.
He added: "It cannot be over-emphasised
that any policy that
encourages consumption of locally produced commodities
will increase
industrial capacity utilisation significantly towards the
targeted 100%
mark."
To date, we are yet to see any
movement on that front. In fact,
Zimbabweans today are buying more
foreign-manufactured products than they
were in 2005 as industry has
continued to shrink. The average household in
Zimbabwe today is using
imported cooking oil, soap, toothpaste, candles,
matches and other basket
goods which Zimbabwe has traditionally
manufactured.
In
most instances, even when the locally-made basket goods are
available, they
are much more expensive than imported substitutes. Our
industry has lost all
competitiveness and this is reflective of the
difficulties the country is
experiencing in exporting local products.
The major reason
for this anomaly is found in monetary policy
pronouncements that are out of
sync with prudent economic thinking.
Zimbabwe's economy is
agro-based hence no export substitution
can take place without optimum
production on the farms. RBZ statistics to
hand show that in 2000 Zimbabwe
spent US$61,7 million importing food and
that figure has been rising
steadily over the years to US$334 million last
year.
There has also been a marked rise in the national import bill
for chemicals
largely because of maize imports. This can be attributed to
importation of
fertiliser.
The two examples of food and chemicals point to
our tragedy.
Zimbabwe has moved from a net exporter of food
to a net
importer. The country has also become a net importer of fertiliser
even
though it has world-class chemical companies.
This
is the area where import substitution is required because
the country is
haemorrhaging from food imports instead of earning foreign
currency from
agro exports. There is also another worrying trend which has
seen the
central bank becoming a major player on behalf of government in the
importation of plant and machinery at the expense of agro-dealers who are
franchise holders for reputable brands.
This
participation in the importation of capital equipment has
seen state-owned
transporter Zupco importing buses from China and Kenya when
local
manufacturers could have produced better products at a cheaper
price.
Local shoe and textiles industries have been hurting
from the
loss of their market to cheap imports from China. Remember Cone
Textiles?
While active industrial policy to promote import substitution
should involve
state support to orchestrate production of strategic
substitutes, protective
barriers and a monetary policy that spurs production
and enhances export
competitiveness, the current initiatives have failed. Or
perhaps government
does not after all care, especially when we consider
deputy Industry
minister Phineas Chihota's statement at a pre-budget seminar
in Bulawayo
last month.
We now know from him that: "Even
if an individual or company
goes to China to purchase shoes which last for
one day, we don't care
because that's not government's business." So the
"Buy Zimbabwe Campaign"
was not government policy? Whatever the case, one
thing is clear: they don't
give a damn!
Zim Independent
Candid Comment
By Joram
Nyathi
"ZANU PF is in a corner and is desperately looking for
a way
out," declared Pius Wakatama in the Standard this week. "Under the
present
circumstances," he went on, "Zanu PF would not win a single seat in
a free
and fair election."
Whenever I hear statements
like this I feel there is virtue in
being naïve. My naivety makes me
sceptical of claims that Zanu PF cannot win
a free and fair election. Given
the state of opposition forces and the
simple fact that history doesn't have
many examples of opposition parties
winning all seats in an election, there
is little reason to credit it.
Instead we have seen that the worst
dictatorships still have supporters.
I am naïve enough to
know that we have never held a free and
fair election. I have never heard of
a country under the sun that has held
free and fair elections. At best
election results must reflect the will of
the majority. The difference
between Africa and the US and European
democracies is that when challengers
lose an election they concede defeat
and congratulate the victor. In Africa
it is un-African to concede defeat,
which is far from saying elections are
not rigged.
Wakatama was commenting on the Zimbabwe We Want
document. What
alarmed me was the cynical slant taken, the opportunistic
venom against the
church initiative. He implied that we were so delusional
as to imagine that
the churches had raised their voice to "put things
right". He had every
reason to be disappointed. Churches don't work magic
and it is therefore
unfair to take their proposal as if they claimed
supernatural powers for
themselves to influence the direction of politics by
turning President
Mugabe into a saint overnight. They are only making a
legitimate
contribution to national debate, a more constructive contribution
than the
self-righteous noises of opposition politicians thus
far.
It is helpful that the opposition MDC has been more
reticent on
the document. The church initiative has become the latest butt
for those who
over the past seven years have been radical in theory but
cowardly in
practice. We have blamed Thabo Mbeki for his "quiet diplomacy"
and praised
the West for its "megaphone diplomacy". None of them has worked
in our
favour. And the churches are fully aware of those
failures.
Threats of confrontation with the regime have come
to naught.
The church has now become the latest scapegoat for the failed
revolution by
providing "a breathing space for the regime". But blaming
everybody else for
your failure cannot constitute a solution to the
political crisis we face.
Wakatama talks of a "divided and
confused" government. But when
it comes to self-preservation Zanu PF is more
united than we imagine. It is
because opposition forces and civic society
are so divided, so confused and
so petty-minded that Zanu PF has become
smugly arrogant despite the
wasteland caused by its bad economic and
political policies. It will take
more than an attack on alternative
propositions to achieve a change of
government or
policies.
If opposition forces want to make headway in the
fight against
Zanu PF they will need to admit a few hometruths. Zanu PF is
less vulnerable
now than when the MDC was formed in 1999. The MDC is itself
much weaker
today than when it was conceived. When the MDC split in October
last year I
pointed out in this column that the leadership had betrayed the
people who
had been beaten, tortured, raped and starved in the name of
change. I was
assured that there was no such split but that a "few
malcontents" in the
leadership had left the party. There was the real MDC
and the necessary
"numbers" to prove it. When the results of recent rural
district council
elections were announced we couldn't see the numbers in
Mashonaland West,
East and Central. Not even in the Kadoma mayoral
election.
Which brings me to the other point - that we should
not discuss
the National Vision document because everybody knows the
solution to
Zimbabwe's political and economic crisis. Really? Are
Zimbabweans so
masochistic they are deliberately prolonging their own
suffering? Why hasn't
that foolproof solution been applied in the past seven
years?
It is further claimed that Mugabe "never promised to
abide by
the recommendations" of the National Vision. This is a
self-invented
conclusion from the self-serving lie that Mugabe dictated the
contents of
the document to the much impugned clerics. Recommendations are
never
binding.
The contradictions can be staggering. How
can Mugabe call for a
homegrown constitution and then turn around to say the
Lancaster House
document is homegrown? Can anybody imagine Mugabe wanting to
reduce his
powers by sharing them with a prime minister as proposed in the
Zimbabwe We
Want?
If it is true, as alleged by those who
think they own opposition
politics, that Mugabe dictated the National Vision
document to the church
leaders, at least they achieved what the rest of the
world has failed to
do - forcing Mugabe to concede that the national crisis
escalated
"exponentially" with the advent of the fast-track land
reform.
After seven years of a mutually destructive war of
attrition
among political players, the churches are saying let's give peace
a chance,
let's accentuate the positive against the negative, let's pick up
the pieces
and build the Zimbabwe we want. I fail to see how this initiative
is
inimical to the militant approach of amadoda sibili who have promised to
lead from the front.
Apparently, it is easier to fight
shadows than the real enemy.
Zim Independent
Editor's Memo
By Vincent Kahiya
OUR
government never ceases to amaze especially when it comes to
penning
legislation. The current desperate situation is - from the
government's
perspective - one which can be put right by legislation and
more
legislation.
That is why government feels it can legislate
against poverty by
coming up with the Price Stabilisation Bill. It wants to
come up with
legislation to ensure that figures from the Central Statistical
Office are
"more realistic"!
Then this week Finance
minister Herbert Murerwa told a Public
Accounts Committee that government
was introducing new Bills to punish line
ministries that failed to produce
accounts of funds from the fiscus.
"These Bills would be a
milestone aimed at creating efficiency
and value for money," Murerwa
reportedly said.
That is to say that the minister believes
that efficiency in
accounting for government funds, curbing over-expenditure
and all other
forms of fiscal prudence can be achieved through
legislation.
With all due respect to the minister, I think he
is missing the
point here because governments which have efficient systems
of public
administration have not achieved this through volumes of
legislation to
punish those who overstep set boundaries. Efficiency,
accountability and
integrity are cultural norms developed by popular
consent. This is easily
achieved if national leaders demonstrate a
willingness to walk the talk.
Our civil servants have been
told that they have to toe the Zanu
PF line. They have to work within the
set parameters of party policy and
systems. Resultantly, this politicisation
resonates in the public service
where inefficiency has become a virtue. The
chaos at the Passport Office,
the absenteeism of teachers and shameless
corruption at the border posts are
all part and parcel of Zanu PF's system
of patronage.
I recall in the late 1990s when
Registrar-General Tobaiwa Mudede
took us on a tour of the Births and Deaths
Registry at KGVI. We were shown
the latest computer bank staffed by dozens
of "highly-trained"
professionals. We were told queues would soon be a
"thing of the past" and
that the waiting period for identity documents would
be cut down to a week.
The computer equipment was no
substitute for a culture of
efficiency as queues today are longer than they
were five years ago despite
a reduced population.
The
same is true of the envisaged legislation to force civil
servants to produce
accounts on time and to account for every dollar spent.
This
is a useless law, especially when Murerwa's ministry
continues to have an
appetite to borrow for recurrent expenditure. It is
also futile because the
central bank has a deliberate policy to crowd out
the private sector by
borrowing for our wasteful rulers. RBZ governor Gideon
Gono has also told us
that he will print more money to preserve national
security and avoid
embarrassment. Will the law weaken Gono's vocation to
keep the presses
running?
What the country requires are systems that promote
openness and
these can be achieved by arming voters with accurate
information. A
government can only enhance its efficiency and accountability
if voters are
armed with the information they need to make certain that ours
remains a
government whose legitimacy is derived from the consent of the
governed.
Open government, of course, is one of the most
basic
requirements of a healthy democracy. It allows taxpayers to see where
their
money is going. It permits the honest exchange of information that
ensures
government accountability, and it upholds the ideal that government
never
rules without the consent of the governed.
Zimbabwe
should move towards open government instead of adopting
punitive systems.
Major obstacles to achieving open government include the
Access to
Information and Protection of Privacy Act, the Official Secrets
Act and the
Public Order and Security Act which have been used to
deliberately bully the
public from scrutinising government.
Murerwa's resolve to
achieve accountability will fail as long as
he does not have the public
behind him. It is the public who demand
accountability and not just himself
and colleagues in cabinet.
The public can only make such a
contribution if there is
governance by consent. True consent of the governed
requires something more
than just holding elections every four years. What
we need is informed
consent. By reforming our information policies in order
to guarantee true
access by all citizens to government records, we will
revitalise the
informed consent that keeps our people free. Informed consent
is impossible
without open and accessible government.
But
sometimes human nature dictates otherwise. Elected officials
and government
leaders want recognition for their successes but not their
failures. But in
a healthy democracy we need to know the good, the bad, and
the
ugly.
Abraham Lincoln put it best: "No man is good enough to
govern
another without that person's consent."
Zim Independent
Muckraker
GOOD news readers. Zimbabwe is not
isolated as the Western media
claim.
President Mugabe was
able to mix freely with seven other
presidents at the recent Comesa summit
in Djibouti, the Herald told us. This
just goes to prove that the propaganda
machinery of Western countries has
been lying about our
predicament.
You may not have heard of Comesa, a half-baked
customs
arrangement, or Djibouti, a barely existent state, but in 2003 it
passed a
resolution calling for the removal of "illegal" sanctions. It also
called
for Zimbabwe's suspension from the Commonwealth to be lifted in line
with
calls from Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo and Thabo
Mbeki.
It is a sign of how desperate the government has
become that it
can dig up a 2003 resolution of a dysfunctional east African
body and
proclaim it to be evidence of normality three years
later!
President Obasanjo is cited as supporting the lifting
of
Zimbabwe's suspension from the Commonwealth. But the state media has
reminded us at every opportunity that the Nigerian leader quickly shifted
his stance.
This followed his realisation that he had
been misled when he
was prevailed upon to send a letter to the Australian
prime minister John
Howard claiming that the authorities in Harare were
addressing shortcomings
in governance and human rights.
When Mbeki attempted to raise the issue of lifting Zimbabwe's
suspension at
the Abuja Chogm, he soon found himself isolated.
So that
leaves Comesa as cold comfort for the regime's
propagandists. Comesa was
praised for sending observers to witness Zimbabwe's
elections when some of
the Western nations that have endorsed sanctions
"have never sent observers
to Zimbabwe".
The propagandists who are fed this junk assume
Zimbabweans have
short memories. The EU adopted sanctions against Zimbabwe's
leadership when
the head of their electoral monitoring team, Pierre Schori,
was prevented
from observing the 2002 presidential poll. As for Comesa's
Electoral
Observation Policy, we can be sure it involves a very tight
blindfold!
But is this the best they can do? A 2003
resolution from Comesa
in which two leaders cited as Zimbabwe's key
supporters are today no longer
quite so enthusiastic. There must be better
news than this.
Somebody trying to work up some good news
is Emcoz senior
vice-president David Govere. Speaking at the Emcoz
convention, he forecast
that despite a bumpy start, "We are heading towards
the inevitable recovery
of the economy in the second half of
2007."
He saw a "thawing of bad political relations", reduced
dependence on food imports, a reduced wheat shortfall, and "unwavering
determination by stakeholders" to rectify macro-economic fundamentals. This
would all lead to a fast-growing economy by 2010, he
predicted.
We rather thought that Pollyanna, Mark Twain's
little girl who
was enchanted by everything she encountered, lived only on
the pages of the
Business Herald. But, it seems, her rose-tinted spectacles
are also worn by
some of our business leaders.
Does
Govere seriously think that inflation will come down when
there is no plan
to tackle it and wasteful expenditure persists at every
level?
Does he really think that with plummeting output
on the land,
where politically induced instability continues, stoked by
ruling-party
bigwigs, the economy will recover?
Does he
think investors will sink their hard-earned cash in a
country where the rule
of law has been suborned?
He admits that the first half of
next year will be "fraught with
major challenges", a euphemism for failure.
And he does concede that the
last seven years have been "seven lean years".
But there the reality ends
and fantasy takes over.
"We
are beginning to speak about the real issues on the National
Economic
Development Priority Programme," Govere suggests.
So perhaps
he can tell us what happened to the six-month miracle
cure we were promised
when the programme was launched? What happened to the
US$2,5 billion
investment that was expected? Which parastatals have been
sold?
We expect political leaders to throw dust in our
eyes as they
seek to excuse their record of misrule. But naive forecasts of
this sort
designed to please those who should be confronted with the hard
truth do
nothing for the credibility of our business
leaders.
Perhaps Govere shares with President Mugabe a secret
formula.
Speaking in July, Mugabe told the country that forex inflows were
beginning
to be felt.
"I won't say much now," he said,
"but between now and December a
lot is going to happen."
He was right: inflation has gone up, employment has come down
and the forex
flows never materialised.
The Herald carried an
interesting snippet last week.
In its "50 Years Ago" column
it reported the following for
November 1956: "During the past 10
years
1 677 dams have been built either by the Division of
Irrigation
or under its guidance. Including the virtually complete Sebakwe
Dam, these
give a total storage of 124 billion gallons. Under construction
is the
Gwenoro Dam south of Gwelo which should be finished in 1958 and will
hold 7
million gallons."
The Kyle Dam was on the drawing
board, it was reported. It was
completed a few years
later.
Meanwhile, the Kunzvi Dam still awaits construction 26
years
after Independence. Isn't this the government that said it would bring
development to correct the anomalies of the past?
On
Tuesday this week the same column had a more sobering tale of
the state we
are in today. Speaking in Shabani, the prime minister of
Southern Rhodesia
RS Garfield Todd said one-third of the African population
should be farmers
and two-thirds employed in industry and commerce.
"We stand
at the beginning of our industrial era," Todd
observed, "but already we have
78 000 Europeans and 604 000 Africans in
regular
employment."
We wonder what ratio of the population Zimbabwe
still has in
formal employment today. We have now entered the era of
de-industralisation
spawned by the Third Chimurenga.
President Mugabe last week lashed out at politicians who tell
lies to
ingratiate themselves with the Zanu PF leadership, the Herald
reported on
Saturday. At first we thought this referred to Industry and
International
Trade minister Obert Mpofu and the looting at Zisco.
We were
wrong. Mugabe told mourners at the burial of his
homeboy, Tony Gara, in
Zvimba that a number of candidates who wanted to be
elected to the senate
last year "told a lot of lies" that Gara was part of
the Tsholotsho gang
that was opposed to Joice Mujuru's elevation to the
presidency.
He blamed individuals in his party for trying
to blemish Gara's
good name by linking him to the Tsholotsho affair in 2004
that cost several
provincial chairmen their posts in the
party.
We wonder why this piece of information waited for two
years
before being made public. It is also one of several wild allegations
that
Mugabe makes when he has nothing better to say, like his now familiar
claims
against his ministers that they consult witchdoctors in a bid to
succeed
him. Why doesn't he name and shame them if there is an iota of truth
to
these allegations?
In another note, the Herald
reported that Zimbabwe Broadcasting
Holdings chairman Justin Mutasa had
"dismissed as false" claims that Chris
Chivinge had been fired as Newsnet
editor-in-chief.
He said Chivinge had not been fired "because
he is serving his
notice on his contract of employment which ends on
Thursday, November 30".
This however did not stop him from
warning that ZBH would not
"condone irresponsible behaviour that displays
insubordination and
indiscipline".
This was one of the
problems that needed to be "eliminated" at
ZBH, he said.
Mutasa did not say if Chivinge had resigned of his own volition.
Nor whether
he was being made an example of to the rest of the employees.
It's all as clear as mud.
Zimbabwe, Iran think alike says
President Mugabe," one news
agency reported this week.
Indeed they do. Both like to portray themselves as victims of
Anglo-American
imperialist aggression. Both have rulers who like to posture
on the world
stage; and both ruthlessly suppress dissent.
President
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is regarded as a dangerous
populist demagogue by Iran's
civil society and the country's student
movement has been battling with the
regime over freedom of expression and
association.
But,
we wonder, does President Mugabe agree with Ahmadinejad
that Israel should
be wiped off the face of the map?
We liked the concluding
paragraph of the Herald's report saying
that Mugabe would be visiting a
tractor factory in Tabriz before leaving
Iran.
The Herald
is probably unaware that in the pre-1989 era a visit
to a tractor factory
was mandatory for any leader visiting an East bloc
country. It quickly
became something of a joke in the Western media as did
fictional reports of
record output from such factories. Needless to say, the
tractors were not of
a particularly high standard!
While Mugabe was visiting
Iran, his Transport minister, Chris
Mushohwe MA, was assuring a gullible
Comesa delegation, touring the
Whitecliff housing project, that Zimbabwe was
successfully countering the
"bad image" that the British, Americans and
Australians were trying to
portray. They were trying to portray Zimbabwe "as
a country where there is
lawlessness and chaos", he
suggested.
Over 700 000 people were rendered homeless by
Operation
Murambatsvina. Most today have still not been
rehoused.
There was support from the Namibians who clearly
thought
dispossession of urban residents was a good thing. But was the
Comesa
delegation given access to civil society or UN personnel concerned
with
resettlement issues? And were they told that many of the recipients of
Garikai houses were well-connected ruling-party
supporters?
No doubt that would have impressed them even
more!
Zim Independent
By Eric
Bloch
IT was almost five years since the government first
stated that
its policy on agricultural land tenure would be the issue of
99-year leases
to farmers, ownership of the land being vested in the
state.
Over those years, there were repeated assurances that
the issue
of the leases was imminent, that the leases would be available to
all as
would use the lands productively, that they would entrench the
farmers'
security of tenure and that they would be the foundation for the
long-awaited recovery of Zimbabwe's decimated agricultural
sector.
The repute of the Zimbabwe government for fulfilment
of policies
and undertakings has long been known to be implemented (if
implemented at
all) at one of three speeds: slow, very slow and
stop.
However, rarely has been governmental inaction as
pronounced,
and inept, as has been the case of the farm leases. The
government has
almost 20 million hectares of land available at its disposal,
albeit that
despite its renowned, prolific and vociferous contentions to the
contrary,
most of that land was unjustly and inequitably expropriated from
legitimate
farmers.
Fifteen years after enacting the Land
Acquisition Act, more than
six years after declared intents of
redistribution of the expropriated
lands, 20 years after much land vested in
the government as a result of
purchases funded by the United Kingdom and
five years after enunciating its
99-year lease policy, the government has
granted 125 leases, encompassing an
aggregate of less than 1% of the land
supposedly to be redistributed and
resettled. Big deal! What a spectacular
achievement! At that rate, all the
land will have been leased to farmers by
about the year 2500!
Nonetheless, there was great blowing of
fanfares, and much
ceremonial, when a fortnight ago the first 125 leases
were released to the
lessee farmers. Although the government is supposed (as
part of its war
against inflation) to be curbing its expenditure, it
unhesitatingly hosted a
massive shindig at the Harare International
Conference Centre, graced by
President Robert Mugabe, the Minister of State
for Security and Lands and
numerous other ministers and dignitaries as well
as a deluge from the media
(mainly state-controlled).
Mugabe implied that the issue of the leases, as commenced that
day, heralded
the start of a new era for Zimbabwe. Not only did he contend
that the wrongs
of more than a century were being righted, but also that the
future of
agriculture was assured.
None can credibly argue that there
were no wrongs perpetrated in
the past. These included the abhorrent Land
Apportionment Act which was law
for over 40 years, unjustly and unacceptably
barring indigenous and
non-indigenous black Zimbabweans from land
ownership.
But there were commensurate wrongs committed by
the present
government: its spurious, never-ending contentions that whites
had "stolen"
the land, now expropriated by the government, remain as
specious as ever.
In fact, in its iniquitous commandeering of
land ownership,
devoid of regard for international precepts of justice, for
human rights,
for enforcement of law and order, and without fair
compensation, the reality
is that the government has done exactly that which
it has repeatedly alleged
were the offences of the past.
However, commensurate in magnitude, to that government offence,
is that in
committing it, the government has brought the entire economy to
levels
commensurate with the greatest poverty prevailing worldwide, has
alienated
most of the international community and, directly relevant,
reduced most
Zimbabweans to near starvation. That contrasts with only 10
years ago, when
not only did Zimbabwe wholly feed itself but also much of
the
region.
The tragedies do not end there.
Key factors driving a successful agricultural economy include
that the
farmers have security of tenure, and that they have access to
funding the
development and working capital. It must be acknowledged that,
to some
extent, the leases may give security of tenure; prima facie, they
are to
endure for 99 years.
That security is an essential if lessees
are to be motivated to
develop and improve the farms, for none will risk
capital and effort if they
fear imminent loss. But, the security of tenure
is not assured.
On the one hand, the government has vividly
demonstrated its
disrespect for tenure laws, readily overturning them, in
its enactment of
the Land Acquisition Act, and numerous amendments thereto,
and then
implementation thereof. How can farm lessees be assured that the
government
will not, in the future, similarly renege on its
leases?
On the other hand, the government also reserves the
right to
terminate leases where the lessees do not properly work and exploit
the
farms. In theory, there is some justification for that right, but the
inequity is that the government retains for itself the determination whether
or not the farms are effectively used. Thus the government will be
prosecutor, judge and jury while the lessees' rights of "defence" are
minimal, not even including an entrenched protection of "vis majeure",
otherwise known as "acts of God".
Therefore, the
assurances of security of tenure are naught but
an elaborate façade, which
may well result in many not proceeding on their
farm development with
commitment and conviction, whereupon the government
can validly give effect
to termination provisions!
Compounding the lease farce is the
government's contention that
the leases accord the lessees collateral to
secure borrowings. That
contention is founded upon provisions that while the
land may not be
encumbered, the improvements thereon can be offered as
security for funding.
Furthermore, the government states that
if there is a change of
lessee, then lenders can look to the new lessee for
repayment of such loans
as secured by the collateral of the improvements.
The sad reality is that
these provisions demonstrate a total lack of any
realistic appreciation of
private-sector provision of loan
funding.
A lender needs to know that collateral is readily
realisable,
should realisation be necessary in order to recover unpaid
loans. To achieve
that, the collateral must be freely disposable, albeit
usually by public
auction initiated by the deputy sheriff. That is not
possible in instances
where a lender defaults, but remains the farm lessee,
unless the
improvements are wholly moveable.
Similarly,
when a new lessee moves on to the farm, and
notwithstanding that the
government states that he will then be liable to
the lender, there is no
effective recourse against him unless the
improvements are moveable, or the
new lessee has other assets which can be
lawfully attached and disposed
of.
Therefore, despite everything the government has said to
the
contrary, the farm leases have no collateral value or, at the least,
very
little, and therefore the likelihood of the financial sector being able
or
willing to provide the new farmers with requisite finance is remote in
the
extreme.
Worsening the situation further, the
government has now
abdicated from its lawful obligation to compensate former
farmers for the
improvements they had effected, for it has now transferred
that obligation
to the new lessees. Once again the government is wiping its
hands of legal
and moral obligations. In the process, it is burdening many
lessees with
unsustainable debts.
I've never been against unity, says Sikhala
"THERE is
strength in Unity", (Zimbabwe Independent Comment,
November 17) refers.
There is no doubt that your paper occupies an important
space in the field
of information dissemination and its balanced reporting
no doubt immensely
contributed to the upsurge in readership as compared to
other papers whose
readership remains stagnant for practising advocacy
journalism.
This difference should be kept so as to keep
yards ahead of
those we hear have their stories written and edited in public
drinking
places with bills of beer being paid in advance.
"It is no comfort to hear that this intransigence was reflected
in the ranks
of Mutambara's faction. St Mary's MP Job Sikhala, deputy
secretary-general
Priscilla Misihairabwi-Mushonga and Nkayi MP Abedinigo
Bhebhe argued
vociferously at their meeting against unity," we are told.
I
heard this statement for the first time from Jameson Timbe,
who over some
bottles of beer in the Quill Club, told our party spokesman
Gabriel Chaiva:
"Sikhala is against unity."
I called him and warned him
against spreading heresy. If it was
manifest of an opinion, it could be
accepted. To vouchsafe it as fact is
dangerous.
The facts
stand as follows: The said Misihairabwi-Mushonga was
not in attendance at
the national executive meeting. She was already a week
out of the country
defending her masters degree dissertation at a University
in the
UK.
Secondly, no such subject was on the agenda. Only through
the
report of the secretary-general was there a mention of progress so far
made
in narrowing our differences. The issue of arguing "vociferously at
their
meeting against unity" is as untrue as the source of such unfounded
allegations coated with mala fide intentions.
I am no
coward contrary to the lie being peddled around that
there is a coterie of
individuals bent on frustrating the reunification
process because they will
lose their positions in the event of unity.
Unity has been my
first prize as pronounced by the president of
the party, Professor Aurthur
Mutambara. I am on record advocating for unity
and urging the elders of the
party to talk to each other.
Positions have never been part
of our agenda. I am one of the
founders of the MDC. We bore the idea,
foundation and construction of the
MDC. It is Zanu PF nonsense that the MDC
is a British and American creation.
We know how we started it. Ask Morgan
(Tsvangirai). He knows it all and
better.
Furthermore,
some of us have been in combat against the enemy of
our people for a long
time. Those who breastfed from Zanu PF did not know
the challenge we were
facing. We have seen it all. We slept in caves,
mountains, ravines and maize
fields in combat against the regime. Our
private parts were burnt during
torture to kill the spirit of resistance.
I am the most
incarcerated member of the opposition in the
history of this country since
2000. I have had more than 30 arrests and
appearances in courts of law and
had acquittals in the majority of them. No
spike of fear was ever
induced.
What kind of fantasy is that; I am afraid of unity?
That is
nonsense. Such issues of national importance should have their
venues moved
from beer halls to places of decency if we are serious to
overthrow
this dictatorship. Spreading heresy when buying
everyone beer in
the Quill Club and behaving like a village bully makes a
mockery of all
negotiations without prejudice.
Bhebhe is
laughing his lungs out.
"The bull of Nkayi" is the only
opposition MP who routed Zanu PF
hands down during the recent rural council
elections after winning 15 out of
21 seats at contest, leaving Zanu PF
clinging to a paltry six.
Mr Editor, it is important to check
with your sources the
authenticity of some claims so as to avoid pedestrian
arguments. We were
also available for our opinion before being unfairly
labelled "political
hawks" who "wish to pursue this senseless
feud".
Job Sikhala,
MDC Secretary for
Security,
Intelligence and Defence &
MP for St Mary's.
----------
Could the
governor please explain ...
By Concerned
Citizen
THE Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) that you
head was
involved in the procurement of fertiliser from South Africa yet
your
November 11 press statement on the RBZ website did not address
pertinent
issues. For that reason, answers to the following questions are
required:
* Are you aware of the state procurement
policies,
procedures and regulations?
* Did you or
any of your officers have any contact with
the State Procurement Board (SPB)
over the fertiliser issue? If you had such
contact, can you explain
it?
* When and how was the decision to import
fertiliser made?
* Who (respective officials and
institutions) were
involved in the decision (to import the
fertiliser?)
* What were the total foreign currency
requirements for
the three local fertiliser companies to recover their
production capacity?
* How many tonnes would have been
produced by the local
companies if there was adequate foreign
currency?
* Was the fertiliser tender publicly floated?
By who,
where and when did it close?
* What were
the product specifications?
* How many suppliers
tendered to supply? What are their
names?
* How
many suppliers won the tender and at how much? What
are their
names?
* Who was on the selection
panel?
* Can you provide a half-page profile of each of
the
suppliers who won the tender? (Who are the shareholders, directors and
managers for the company and how long have they been in business? Who else
have they done business of this magnitude with?)
*
Are the suppliers who won the tender manufacturers or
retailers/agricultural
commodity brokers?
If they are manufacturers, where are
their plants located?
If they are an agricultural product commodity broker,
where did they procure
the fertiliser from?
* Who
was and is the contact person for Zimbabwe in this
deal?
* Who structured the finance for Zimbabwe and
for how many
tonnes? What were the terms? What was the role of Nedbank and
the Rand
Merchant Bank?
* How and when were the
suppliers paid?
* What was the price per
tonne?
* How much has been paid so far and for how many
tonnes?
and
* Any other information you may find
useful to a citizen
of Zimbabwe?
Looking forward to
your timely response.
* Concerned Citizen is a pen name
for a writer based in
Harare.
------------
Gideon Gono's involvement cries for
probe
THE fertiliser importation saga
refers.
I did a company profile search on the
Internet on
the following South African news sites: www.google.co.zw;
www.businessday.co.za; www.busrep.co.za; www.mg.co.za;
www.financialmail.co.za and www.iol.co.za on the South African fertiliser
supplying company Intshona Agriculture
Products.
www.iol.co.za publishes stories from 14 South
African newspapers under the Independent News & Media stable. The search
yielded nothing about the company except a story attributed to the RBZ
governor published on June 28 by www.iol.co.za sourced from Reuter news
agency.
Given the appetite the South Africans
have for media
coverage whenever an empowerment deal is sealed, it is
surprising that the
so-called Intshona Agriculture Products escaped the
attention of the
journalists there.
The
Sunday Mirror claimed that Intshona Agriculture
Products is a Black Economic
Empowerment (Bee) company. If this is true, how
would it escape the
attention of the media in South Africa?
An online
news item on June 29 alleged that Intshona
executive director is a lady
called Dr Crista van Louw. A similar Internet
search about her produced no
results!
There is a website of a company called
Intshona
www.intshona.com that
supplies "All SeasonsT UHT Long Life Full Cream Milk",
whose contact person
is a Lambertus Louw. The website has no other details
except a Malmesbury,
Western Cape telefax number, +27 22 482 2858.
An
online name search on the South African Companies
Registration Office
(Sacro) website:
www.cipro.co.za/registration_forms/reg_forms.asp
reveals that Intshona
Agriculture Products is a company related to Intshona
Milk Products and only
registered on April 5 2005. Its enterprise number is
2005/010852/07.
Can someone go to South Africa
and check what can be
found at AM Trust Building,
5
Church Street, Malmesbury, Western Cape, which is
the company's registered business address. One shudders to think that a
company registered in April 2005 has a manufacturing capacity. We are then
forced to assume that Intshona Agriculture Products is an agricultural
commodity broker, just like Rarefield Investments (Pvt) Ltd, whose major
shareholder and CEO is Walter Mzembi, the MP for Masvingo South. Mzembi
chairs the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Lands, Land Reform,
Resettlement and Agriculture and was present when the fertiliser deal was
unveiled, posing a serious conflict of
interest.
On page 10, in the November 11 press
statement, the
RBZ governor said about this company: "In the case of
Intshona, who are one
of the contractors that have unfortunately been
labelled as fly-by-night
brief-case traders...Contrary to newspaper reports
that Intshona was a small
operation of no fixed abode, Intshona are instead
a formidable force to
reckon with, not only regionally but also
internationally."
Can he repeat this statement
with such a startling
exposure about the
supplier?
It is also surprising that such a
purportedly
high-level deal escaped the attention of the online Nedbank
Media Centre in
which its head of structured corporate finance, a fictitious
Mr Dean Lavits,
is said to have been involved - www.nedbank.co.za. This is an institution
that collects and places on its official website any media article
mentioning its name and activities.
If this
was a rightful responsibility of a
government (which it is not) to import
fertiliser for resale, someone must
account to the nation how the Reserve
Bank governor Gideon Gono is found in
the thick of things beyond allocating
foreign currency.
He and the Ministry of
Agriculture want to destroy
our own local fertiliser companies - Sable
Chemicals, Zimbabwe Fertiliser
Company (ZFC) and Windmill indirectly after
their earlier efforts failed to
create a monopoly by nationalising them. How
much foreign currency did they
collectively require to recover the
production capacity?
In the same press statement
the governor said: "At
current structures, the fertiliser industry is overly
concentrated in a web
of a few intertwined owners, which breeds room for
collusive behaviour, at
the detriment of the country's agricultural sector.
There is, therefore need
for these complex ownership structures to be
simplified in a manner that
stresses on productive
efficiency."
We should interrogate this remark by
showing the
owners of the three fertiliser companies in Zimbabwe. According
to the
Privatisation Agency of Zimbabwe (PAZ) website and the MBendi online
directory of organisations, Chemplex, the wholly-owned subsidiary Zimbabwe
Phosphate Industries Ltd (Zimphos) owns, through a combination of direct and
indirect holdings, 50% of ZFC Ltd.
Shareholding thus consists of Chemplex Corporation
(50%), TA Holdings
(22,5%) and Norsk Hydro, a Norwegian conglomerate (27,5%)
and Yara Zimbabwe,
a subsidiary of Yara, another Norwegian
multinational.
ZFC has two fertiliser plants and
is the largest
fertiliser manufacturer in
Zimbabwe.
Through a 50% equity stake in
Fertiliser Holdings
Ltd and a 26% stake in Chemical & Gas Holdings (Pvt)
Ltd, Chemplex has a
strong position in Sable Chemicals Industries, which is
the sole Zimbabwe
manufacturer of ammonium nitrate. ZFC is the largest
customer.
The government holds 36% equity in
Sable.
Diversified local conglomerate TA Holdings is also a key shareholder
in
Sable. Norwegian firm Yara, which wholly-owns Windmill, is also an
investor
in Sable Chemicals with 11% of the
shares.
From these shareholding details, two of
the
fertiliser companies can be considered to be very local. Is Gono
alleging
"sabotage"? Is this not simply malicious? Why is he showing
resentment
towards foreign shareholders in two of the companies yet he is
part of the
national efforts to bring in foreign direct
investment?
The fertiliser issue is so
embarrassing and
scandalous to say the least. We have had similar incidents
where the RBZ is
said to have been heavily
involved.
Let's revisit the procurement of fuel,
grain, wheat,
agro-chemicals and agricultural equipment. Who are the parties
involved, who
can tabulate the step-by-step process involved and to what
extent was the
procurement rule book flouted or followed?
Icho!
G Mpofu,
Harare.
---------
Analysts stuck in never never land
ERIC
Bloch has written extensively on the need
for
devaluation.
His economic arguments are
clear and
compelling. That the Zimbabwe dollar is grossly overvalued is
obvious to
everyone.
However, Bloch's
economic analysis again fails
to deal with the realities of the Zimbabwean
situation, thus he has failed
to mention the most important reason why there
has not been any significant
devaluation.
The market distortions,
such as exist for
foreign currency, fuel and other commodities, create too
many opportunities
for the chefs to add more millions to their already
bulging bank accounts.
It is they who create the market distortions and they
who subsequently
exploit them for personal
gain.
If the governor of the Reserve Bank
is a man
of integrity, and if he genuinely wants to see an economic
turnaround, then
there is only one course of action for him to follow:
resign and join the
struggle to rid Zimbabwe of those who have destroyed it
economically,
politically and socially.
Any economic analyst whose analysis ignores
our political realities is like
a local doctor who prescribes the latest
medications for destitute
patients.
It's the politics, stupid! Any
analyst who
fails to grasp this simple truth will always remain stuck in
never never
land.
RES
Cook,
Harare.
-----------
It's a good starting
point
IT was refreshing to read the
Candid Comment
"Biggest sin bishops committed", (Zimbabwe Independent,
November 10).
Dialogue is the way to go
and the Vision
Document is a vital step in that direction. Oppressive
regimes will remain
oppressive but engaging them will help to free them from
the siege mentality
they are under. A journey of a thousand miles begins
with the first step.
When President
Mugabe said he wanted
dialogue between Harare and London through the
mediation of Benjamin Mkapa,
it was believed this was the only way the
crisis in Zimbabwe would be
solved.
Bishop Trevor Manhanga and team have just
tried their hand at achieving this
but to our utter surprise, these
so-called activists are ganging up against
them.
Whether the Vision Document was
edited by
President Mugabe or not, it is still a good starting point.
Criticising just
for the sake of it is
unhelpful.
Tapuwa,
Bulawayo.