http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 27 November 2011 11:01
BY
CAIPHAS CHIMHETE
MUNYARADZI Kereke, a senior policy advisor to
Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ)
governor Gideon Gono, has been accused of
raping his 12-year-old niece. She
was 11 years old when the alleged rape
took place last year at the
businessman’s home.
Kereke is also
accused of sexually assaulting the girl’s 15-year-old sister.
In the past
two weeks, Kereke has splashed several advertisements in
newspapers accusing
two Standard journalists of asking for bribes from him.
He
claimed to be a victim of blackmail but was trying to suppress the
publication of the rape case. In the adverts Kereke denies the
accusations.
The case was first reported at Highlands Police Station
CR0202/11/10 and
transferred to Borrowdale Police Station CR37/11/10. This
was because
Vainona suburb, where the alleged rape took place, falls under
Borrowdale
Police and not Highlands.
Highlands Police Station
recorded statements from both girls on November 1
2010. The statements
indicate the incident happened on August 22 around 0300
hours.
After the incident the little girl informed her elder
sister and aunt. A
medical report by Dr E T Chanakira at Parirenyatwa on
November 1 2010
indicates that the minor’s hymen was broken and penetration
was effected.
It also further says the girl had not started
menstruation and had had no
previous intercourse. According to the doctor’s
report two fingers could
enter into her vagina after the alleged
rape.
The children’s guardian said he had on several occasions sought
audience
with senior police officers over the issue who categorically told
him that
the matter was beyond them.
“I have lost faith in our
police force here in Zimbabwe,” said the guardian.
“I respect the law in its
entirety. I will continue to pursue this issue
until justice is
attained.”
The girls’ legal representative, Charles Warara of Warara
and Associates
Legal Practitioners has written several letters to the
Officer-in-Charge of
Borrowdale Police Station, Chief Inspector
Mbiringa.
Some of the letters were copied to the Attorney General’s
Office and Police
General Headquarters (PGHQ) addressed to the
Commissioner-General.
In one of the letters dated December 11 2010,
Warara expressed fear that all
the people involved in the matter might be
victimised.
He said the AG had been advised of the matter as a step
to try and protect
everyone involved in the matter “as it seems there is
real danger to the
family of the victim and everyone who will fight on the
side of the victim”.
“You already know that the accused is armed and
he can do anything in the
circumstances, but you have done nothing about
such danger to society,” said
Warara.
In another letter dated
January 13 2011, to officer in charge of Borrowdale
Police Station, Warara
expressed concern that no headway was being made into
the rape
issue.
“We note with concern that you do not seem to want to take any
action in
this matter and we are by copy of this letter requesting the
Attorney
General to advise us if nothing will be done so that we can apply
for a
right to do private prosecution if the Attorney General declines to
prosecute the rape case,” he said in another letter also copied to the AG’s
office.
In a letter dated February 21 2011, officer-in-charge ZRP
Borrowdale said
the matter was investigated and the docket is currently at
the AG’s office.
“This was prompted by the correspondence you copied
to the Attorney General
and to the Commissioner General hence they had to
have a sight of the
docket,” said the police.
Efforts to get a
comment from AG Johannes Tomana were fruitless yesterday.
But Warara last
week said there has not been any progress since his last
letters.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 27 November 2011
11:38
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s office on Friday slammed the
awarding of
Zimbabwe’s first independent radio licences to companies aligned
with
President Robert Mugabe as a “farce”.
“Yesterday’s
(Friday) granting of the two licences is the final nail in the
coffin of
media plurality in Zimbabwe. It is unacceptable,” Tsvangirai’s
spokesman
Luke Tamborinyoka said.
Tamborinyoka said the announcement “is a
farce that flies in the face of
true media reforms and media plurality in
Zimbabwe. Zimpapers publishes The
Herald newspaper, a media vehicle for
Mugabe’s Zanu PF party. Mugabe and
Tsvangirai had agreed to name new members
to the BAZ, but the announcement
came before the changes were made, the
spokesman said.
Media in Zimbabwe have operated under strict rules
for the last decade, with
several newspapers forced to shut down while local
journalists and foreign
correspondents have been deported and harassed by
police.
Media reform remains one of the key disagreements between
Mugabe and
Tsvangirai, who accuses the 87-year-old of riding roughshod over
reforms
agreed to in their ruling unity pact.
“The reconstitution
of BAZ is one of the outstanding issues in the Global
Political Agreement
and therefore the two awards are basically a non event,”
MDC-T spokesperson
Douglas Mwonzora said.
“The Zanu PF front has given licences to Zanu
PF-related institutions and
that does not translate to the liberation of the
airwaves but strengthening
of Zanu PF’s monopoly in both print and
electronic.”
— AFP/OUR STAFF
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 27 November 2011 11:30
BY JENIFFER
DUBE
JOURNALIST-cum entrepreneur, Supa Mandiwanzira is upbeat about his
recently
won broadcasting licence despite the criticism surrounding it. The
Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe (BAZ) last week announced that
Mandiwanzira’s AB Communications and Zimpapers were the recipients of the
two free-to-air national commercial radio broadcasting licences, prompting
an outrage from media organisations which dismissed the process as a
farce.
The announcement met criticism from the Voluntary
Media Council of Zimbabwe
and the Zimbabwe Chapter of the Media Institute of
Southern Africa (Misa)
among others who said the outcome was predictable
given the constitution of
BAZ, widely believed to be a Zanu PF
front.
But Mandiwanzira yesterday said he did not understand
why people, who did
not contest were criticising his win yet those who lost
congratulated him.
“John Masuku of VOP congratulated me but Misa is
criticising me yet I employ
its chairman Njabulo Ncube,” Mandiwanzira
said.
“If I am such a bad media owner, why is Njabulo not protesting
by resigning
from my Financial Gazette where I am the chairman?
“For
those who say there will be no diversity, do they watch Talking
Business? Do
they read The Patriot? Do they read the country’s leading
business weekly,
the Financial Gazzette? Is the content the same?”
He said the content
in all the outlets he has interests in will differ as
does content in the
various Zimpapers and Alpha Media Holdings’
publications.
Mandiwanzira
added that he has never declared the party he supports to
anyone for people
to start linking him with any political party.
“Who else deserves a
licence other than me?” he said. “Am I not Zimbabwean?
“For those who are
basing their criticism on my being a former Zimbabwe
Broadcasting
Corporation journalist, SW Radio Africa’s Jerry Jackson, VOP’s
Masuku and
most Studio 7 staffers are also former ZBC employees and that is
not a crime
because ZBC was the only institution available to give us
broadcasting
experience.
“Those who think The Patriot, Zi FM or the Financial
Gazzette should not
exist simply because they are owned by Supa are enemies
of the media.”
Mandiwanzira said he has worked for serious global news
organisations and
his reputation was unparalleled.
“Journalists
should actually be happy that one of their own won the licence
instead of
writing negatively about me,” he said.“Politicians should have
applied for
licences if they wanted them and those who have complaints about
the
application and adjudication process should have complained when the
process
was underway, not when it has been completed.
“For those who missed
the process, BAZ recorded everything on video and I am
sure they can make
that available to anyone who wishes to see what
transpired.”
He
said his radio, which will be on air within six months, will do what will
make him make money as a business person while being guided by continuous
research into what the listeners want.
Mandiwanzira is the
biggest shareholder in Zi FM with 70% followed by Hebert
Nkala (15%), a
South African company, Urban Brew, (10%) and Molice
Mandinyenya (5%).
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 27 November 2011 11:57
BY
JENIFFER DUBE
The year 2011 was the best teaching year in a long time,
although more still
needs to be done to make education more accessible in
the country, Education
minister David Coltart said last
week.
Coltart said unlike in other recent years, there were
less strikes this
year, allowing pupils and students more days in class. “We
spent much of
this year laying a good foundation for the rehabilitation of
the sector,”
Coltart said. “The Education Transition Fund (ETF) went a long
way in
ensuring that primary and secondary schools got enough textbooks for
all
children.”
The international donor community, led by the
United Nations Children’s Fund
(Unicef), early this month launched the
second phase of the ETF, starting a
massive nationwide distribution of at
least seven million textbooks to the
country’s secondary
schools.
This exercise brought to more than 22 million the total
number of textbooks
procured and distributed to primary and secondary
schools as a way of
assisting government as it struggles to restore normalcy
in the sector, once
the envy of the region.
Other positives this
year include embarking on a curriculum review and
Statutory Instruments
relating to education which will come into effect next
year, Coltart said,
adding that a lot was also done towards assisting
schools to improve their
administrative duties, especially in the area of
data capture with computers
being distributed to many schools.
“We have also completed a
five-year strategic plan and that will be
presented to cabinet soon,” he
said.
More still needs to be done: Students
Students
Solidarity Trust coordinator Simba Nyamanhindi agreed that there
were some
positives which justified the celebration of this year’s
International
Education Week a week ago.
“There was a marked improvement in terms
of availability of education
although accessibility remains an issue
especially because of the fees which
remain high,” Nyamanhindi
said.
“The multi-currency system and the prevailing political
environment all
helped bring some normalcy in the sector. “The ETF has also
gone a long way
in alleviating the plight of especially primary school
pupils.
“Generally, education is now available but more needs to be
done to make it
universally accessible.” Nyamanhindi said the
re-establishment of the grants
scheme for tertiary education is one of the
ways which can help improve
accessibility.
He added that although
halls of residence at the University of Zimbabwe were
re-openned,
accommodation too remained a problem as these were unaffordable
to many and
students continued renting in nearby suburbs.
In a statement, the MDC
Youth Assembly equated tuition fees to “exorbitant
learning fines”. “As the
students of Zimbabwe, we are the gross source of
the much needed human
capital for the attainment of economic growth and
sustainable development,
or at least equitable development,” part of the
statement
read.
“Demanding the reinstatement, in full, of the grants, the
scrapping of the
insane user fees, the accordance of fundamental freedoms
and our rights is
what our blood is worth.”
Coltart admitted that
gaps remained, citing dropout rates as an example.
“Sadly, we are a long way
away from attaining the millennium development
goals, especially regarding
primary school education,” he said. “Education
remains very inaccessible to
an unacceptably high number of children.
“Dropout rates are unacceptably high
as parents and guardians cannot afford
the fees.”
GOVERNMENT
URGED TO GIVE MORE PRIORITY TO EDUCATION
Coltart said government
needed to prioritise education and allocate more
funds to the sector for it
to fully recover. “While I am grateful for what
the minister of finance
allocated us, the funds are still insufficient,” he
said.
“We are
spending way more on foreign travel than on education and that is a
warped
priority. “We were allocated a non-salary amount of US$66 million
last year
and only US$14, 8 million has been received so far compared to
US$50 million
spent on foreign travel.”
Coltart said the US$27 million allocated
for the rehabilitation of schools
in last week’s budget was also very little
as he had 8 000 schools, which
meant that each school would get US$3 300 to
cater for its needs.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 27 November 2011
11:53
BY MOSES CHIBAYA
THE City of Harare has embarked on a US$4,4
million programme to upgrade all
traffic lights in an effort to reduce
congestion, which has become a
nightmare for both motorists and
pedestrians.
Harare City Council acting operations manager (public
lighting) Calvin
Chigariro said the new traffic management system would
improve traffic flow
thereby reducing the number of accidents occurring at
intersections.
Motorists who violate traffic laws can also be
captured on cameras, he said.
“This implies that traffic violations can be
monitored without the need of
physically deploying police details at the
junctions,” said Chigariro.
Harare’s traffic signalling system
consists of a total of 186 controlled
intersections, of which 75% of these
are not functioning properly. Chigariro
said the new system will also reduce
maintenance costs as no bulb
replacements are necessary, a move which would
save almost US$ 30 000 per
annum.
Chigariro added that the
project would facilitate improved maintenance
through early detection and
reporting of faulty signal operation. He said
the programme is being
hampered by lack of finance as the local authority
relies heavily on money
paid by ratepayers.
Apart from improving the traffic system, the
council is also seeking to
reduce power consumption through use of
energy-saving mechanisms. The city’s
director engineering services Engineer
Philip Pfukwa said several
manufacturers were pursuing research and
development into lighting that
could replace the current high intensity
discharge lamps.
He said the new lights are now functioning in some
parts of the central
business district.The system is buttressed by the use
of CBD solar traffic
signals.
The city would need at least US$1,8 million
to complete the project.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 27 November 2011 11:49
BY EDGAR
GWESHE
Home Affairs co-minister Theresa Makone has said sexual harassment of
women
was rampant in government departments, including the police force,
which she
heads.
Makone, who is Zimbabwe’s first female
Home Affairs minister, said her
presence in the ministry has opened up a can
of worms as female workers now
reveal their ordeals at the hands of their
unruly superiors.
For a long time, she said, cases of sexual abuse
were being swept under the
carpet. “I think it was my presence there as a
woman that gave other women
the power to write to me and tell me what they
were experiencing,” said
Makone.
“There were piles and piles of
letters with sexual harassment complaints and
I said I was going to resolve
these issues. Little did I know that this is a
man’s world.”
She
was speaking during an award ceremony organised by the International
Images
Film Festival (IIFF) for Women last week held to reward women who
have made
outstanding contributions to the film industry and their
communities.
Makone said efforts to deal with the perpetrators of
the sexual abuse were
scuttled by fear of victimisation. Said Makone: “I
insisted there should be
investigations and told them (the victims) to write
letters with their names
and those of the abusers but there were no names
attached to these letters.
“My heart burns because I know these
injustices are still taking place and
there is no hope for these women.” It
was disheartening that people who are
supposed to act as custodians of the
law are at the forefront of violating
human rights, she said.
The
Home Affairs ministry encompasses the police, Immigration Department and
Registrar General’s Office. “How can you be treated unfairly in the
department of police, immigration or the registrar general’s department?
Violence is happening (even) in the police force. That suffering is
happening right now,” said Makone.
According to statistics, one
in three working women at all levels in
Zimbabwe is reported to be subjected
to sexual harassment at the workplace
while 38 percent of women have been
victims of some physical, sexual or
psychological abuse.
Makone
said cases of sexual abuse of women at workplaces also extend to the
private
sector as well. “I did experience sexual harassment and you had to
decide to
fight or leave,” said Makone. “But in the end I had the last laugh
because I
stood my ground and made the noise.”
Makone’s sentiments were
provoked by scenes from a South African film, A
Country for My Daughter,
which showed incidents of women being sexually
abused even at the hands of
the police.
She urged women film makers to come up with stories that
reflect what is
happening in society if they are to remain
relevant.
1 in 3 working women prone to sexual
harassment
According to statistics, one in three working women at
all levels in
Zimbabwe is reported to be subjected to sexual harassment at
the workplace
while 38% of women have been victims of some physical, sexual
or
psychological abuse.
Makone said cases of sexual abuse of
women at workplaces also extend to the
private sector as well. “I did
experience sexual harassment and you had to
decide to fight or leave,” said
Makone. “But in the end I had the last laugh
because I stood my ground and
made the noise.”
Makone’s sentiments were provoked by scenes from a
South African film, A
Country for My Daughter, which showed incidents of
women being sexually
abused even at the hands of the police.
She
urged women film-makers to come up with stories that reflect what is
happening in society if they are to remain relevant.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 27 November 2011 11:48
BY NQOBANI
NDLOVU
BULAWAYO — Civic groups in Matabeleland have called for a unity pact
among
the structures of political parties in the region to ensure a united
movement for the development of the under-developed
province.
According to Bulawayo Agenda, multi-party democracy has not
brought
development to Matabeleland, hence the need for Zanu-PF, MDC, MDC-T
and Zapu
to unite on the cause for the betterment of lives of Matabeleland
people and
the region.
Thabani Nyoni, the Executive Director of
Bulawayo Agenda on Friday said, as
a result, the local- based civic
organisation had begun a process of
facilitating dialogue between structures
of political parties in
Matabeleland to forge a united front for
development.
“We have been holding consultative meetings in the
region and the major
highlight on these meetings is the need for political
parties that campaign
in Matabeleland to come up with a political
pact.
“As Bulawayo Agenda, we feel that issue is very important and
we are now
facilitating dialogue among political parties centred around that
because as
much as we support multi-party democracy, we feel this should
also translate
into meaningful change of people’s lives,” Nyoni said in an
interview.
Calls for a united front amongst political parties have
however been met
with resistance from the Welshman Ncube led MDC which
recently said it does
not exist for the purposes of forming coalitions but
to contest political
power.
According to Bulawayo Agenda, its
consultative meetings and research also
show that devolution of power has
been a major call by political parties and
civic groups in the region.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 27 November 2011 11:47
Founder Member
of Insiza Shangani Farmers Association, Jabulani Phetshu
Sibanda, who is
also a Zanu PF stalwart, yesterday lambasted Zapu for
portraying his
organisation as an affiliate of Zapu and threatened to pull
out of
it.
This was after Zapu spokesperson, Methuseli Moyo was quoted as
claiming that
Zapu members of the association were angry over Zanu PF’s
attempts to extort
donations for its conference from the association members
by force.
Sibanda said farmers in Insiza and Shangani areas did not
all belong to
Zapu, but some were members of Zanu PF, MDC and MDC-T. He said
for Zapu to
portray itself as the owner of the association was malicious and
destructive
to the organisation which was founded with the core objective of
pursuing
independent and non-partisan farming activities in the
area.
Zanu PF and Zapu allegedly locked horns over the former’s
attempts to force
the farmers to donate towards the party’s conference set
for Bulawayo
between December 6 and 10.
Sibanda said they founded
the Insiza Shangani Farmers Association in the
year 2000 with Bathandi Mpofu
and Molly Mpofu, among others. He said after
the formation of the
association, they then incorporated numerous farmers in
the
area.
“The organisation was apolitical but was based on the ideology
of Zanu PF
because Zanu PF was the only party with a clear land policy then.
The
constitution of the association deals with farming. It was aimed at
dealing
with the issue of inputs and the pegging of farming land,” said
Sibanda.
“The mention of Zapu in the association is not what we
planned for in the
first place. There are many people from other political
parties.” Sibanda
said Zapu must respect other members in the association.
He said since the
association was founded under the ideology of Zanu PF,
there was nothing
wrong with the party asking for the donation from it.—BY
SILAS NKALA
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 27 November 2011 11:43
Own
Staff
SOUTH African fast food giant, Nando’s, has released a tongue in cheek
advertisement depicting Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe as the “last
dictator standing”.
The advertisement, which uses look-alikes,
was launched last Thursday and
some fear that Nando’s may have crossed the
line and risked its Zimbabwean
business.
Mugabe is featured as a
lonely man in the 46-second advert after the demise
of fellow dictators such
as executed Libyan strongman, Muammar Gaddafi,
former Ugandan leader, Idi
Amin and apartheid leader PW Botha.
The advert starts with Mugabe
laying a place for Gaddafi at a lavish dinner
table before falling back into
a nostalgic moment where he and the Brother
Leader played cheerfully,
shooting each other with toy water guns.
Mugabe is then shown with
former executed Iraqi strong man, Saddam Hussein
as they make sand angels in
the desert. The scene then shifts to the
Zimbabwean leader playing with
Botha on a swing, as Mugabe naughtily grabs a
hat from the former South
African leader.
Finally, Mugabe is shown with Amin driving around in
a tanker holding hands,
as if re-enacting a scene from Titanic. In the
background the theme music
being played is Those Were the
Days.
Mugabe is then shown sitting alone at the long dinner table,
with the advert’s
secondary theme that this has been a tough year for
dictators around the
world.
Gaddafi was killed by rebels last
month after more than 40 years in power,
while Amin and Hussein also had
inglorious exits from power. Mugabe’s
spokesperson George Charamba could not
be reached for a comment as his
mobile phone was not
reachable.
Nando’s has over the years been rolling out what some may
say are
“politically incorrect” adverts, with the most popular in recent
times being
one that featured ANC Youth League leader, Julius
Malema.
Last year South African pop outfit, Freshly Ground were
forced to cancel a
show in Zimbabwe after they released a spoof of Mugabe’s
continued stay in
power, titled Chicken to Change.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 27 November 2011
12:21
BY NDAMU SANDU in ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA
THE African
continent can use trade to extricate itself from poverty if it
deepens
intra-trade and value-add products, speakers at a regional
conference said
last week.
Experts told participants at the inaugural Africa
Trade Forum (ATF) in Addis
Ababa that there are opportunities for
intra-Africa trade to be exploited
for the benefit of regional member
countries.
Lamin Barrow, African Development Bank (AfDB)
representative in Ethiopia
told the forum that the crisis in the euro zone
and other emerging threats
that might lead to a global economic slowdown
provides an urgency to reflect
a new vision of Africa’s “economic diplomacy
through enhanced intra-African
trade”.
“While the continent might
not be under immediate threat from the direct
consequences of these
challenges, our reliance on primary commodity exports
make it impossible to
escape the medium to long-term impacts — the more
reason we should boost
intra-African trade,” he said.
He said that intra-African trade was
low stagnating around 10-12% at a time
other regions have increased trade
among themselves. The low intra-African
trade, he said, has many far
reaching implications for sustained growth and
poverty reduction in
Africa.
In Europe, intra-trade is 72%, in Asia 52%, and 48% in North
America. In the
Middle East, intra-trade is 16%. This low intra-African
trade means there is
scope for expansion, according to
exports.
“… it is evident that there is scope for expansion in
regional trade,” said
Abdoulie Janneh, UN under-secretary general and the
executive secretary of
Economic Commission for Africa.
African
Trade Ministers have proposed that one way of boosting intra-trade
is
through accelerating the process of setting up a continental Free Trade
Area
(FTA).
According to statistics, harmonisation of regional economic
communities’
trade policies through a continental FTA would result in an
additional US$34
billion in intra-African exports, just from eliminating
current intra and
inter-REC tariffs. If non-tariff barriers are tackled
through improved trade
facilitation, intra-African trade could rise to about
22% in the next 10
years showing that intra-African trade can be
optimised.
Barrow said, as the continent pushes for increased
intra-trade, transaction
costs have to be examined to lower the cost of
doing business through
commensurate investments in regional and national
infrastructure and
improved policy harmonisation among African countries.
Zimbabwe has been
trading primary commodities with no value
addition.
In addition, because the country is picking its pieces
after a decade of
recession, the finished products are expensive compared to
those obtaining
in the region due to the high cost of
production.
Oswell Binha, Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce
president told
Standardbusiness that the country needs to have a long-term
vision, identify
its comparative advantage and create the necessary
environment for
businesses to operate.
“We need to start
identifying critical markets we have not been able to
serve. Mauritius is
begging for Zimbabwean products and we need to revisit
on the traditional
products we used to supply them before,” he said. He
said that the country
can intensify trade in services “because we are better
placed to call the
shots in the region”. According to Binha, there is need
for political will
and Zimbabwe must cease to talk politics but business.
Regional
blocks’ trade growing
Janneh said recent analysis in the
forthcoming Economic Report on Africa
2012 shows that some regional economic
communities have exceeded the
intra-African growth.
“Intra-Comesa
trade offers one such example growing by at least 35,4%
between 2009 and
2010, rising from US$12,7 billion to US$17,2 billion,” he
said.
He said intra-African growth can be accelerated by regional
value chains
which have contributed to high intra-regional trade elsewhere.
This, he
said, has helped firms in other parts of the world to be key
players in
global value chains.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 27 November 2011 12:19
BY KUDZAI
CHIMHANGWA
Three students were awarded prizes at the 24th edition of the
annual
Mathematics Olympiad at a function held in Harare last week. The
Mathematics
Olympiad is an annual contest organised and sponsored by Old
Mutual and the
University of Zimbabwe Mathematics department which aims to
identify and
reward mathematics talent at high school
level.
Kudakwashe Tiriboyi of Highfield 1 High School scooped the
first prize which
entailed a certificate and a gold shield while Luke Du
Toit of St John’s
College won the second prize, a certificate and silver
medal.
The third prize, also certificate and silver medal, went to
Gerald
Kasungesunge of Goromonzi High School. A total of 166 students
qualified to
make it to the final round but the three boys came out
tops.
Old Mutual Managing Director Jonas Mushosho said that the
Olympiad was a
very important event on the Old Mutual calendar. “Mathematics
is a key
driver in the development of the country,” said Mushosho. “Through
Maths we
are able to solve the problems we face in life and it is a
respected and
accepted measure of performance.”
Guest of Honour
at the function Professor David Mtetwa lauded the
competition and urged the
students to be analytical, systematic, and
creative.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 27 November 2011
12:15
BY KUDZAI CHIMHANGWA
FINANCE minister Tendai Biti
(pictured) has appealed to the country’s
leadership to make sustainable
decisions that guarantee the economic growth
trajectory achieved since the
adoption of the multi-currency regime in 2009.
Speaking at a
post-budget breakfast hosted by the Confederation of Zimbabwe
Industries
(CZI) in Harare on Friday, Biti said the budget formulation
process was the
result of a series of consultations and prudent measures
albeit under
constrained fiscal space. “It will be important for the
political leadership
of the country not to squander the relief given to the
people of this
country. We need sustainable decisions,” said Biti.
Zimbabwe is
next year expected to register a 9,4% economic growth rate on
the back of
political stability and adherence to a cash budgeting framework
among other
measures.
“We need to convince our (international) partners that we
are bankable, it’s
all basically an issue of trust,” Biti said. He said
economic growth would
be curtailed if the seizure of farms and private
properties continues
unabated.
Developments during the first half
of the year to June 2011, indicate that
average capacity utilisation in the
manufacturing sector improved to about
57,2% compared to 43,7% last
year.
The 2012 budget is focused on themes such as growth with jobs,
inclusive
growth, efficient growth and sustainable growth.
Minister Biti
noted in his 2012 budget presentation that most industries,
particularly out
of Harare, remain distressed with high unemployment levels
pervading.
The unemployment rate tops 75%. Biti said the little
business activity there
is anchored on commercial activities of retailing;
liquor undertaking, small
to medium enterprises and vending all mostly
supported by incomes of public
servants.
The finance ministry
will co-ordinate financial sector support to industry
to the tune of US$60
million for a broader Industrial Revival Fund, a move
which local industry
lobby group, CZI commended.
Rameck Masaire, a member of the CZI
standing committee on economics and
banking called for restraint in
penalties for companies that fail to
formally register with tax
authorities.
He pointed out that local companies are constrained in
terms of capacity to
fiscalise as wider problems that are inherent in the
economy serve to hamper
any such efforts.
“The problem is not
about the lack of compliance but is reflective of bigger
problems. We need
to address practical challenges before penalising
business,” said
Masaire.
Minister Biti in his budget statement proposed a penalty of
a maximum of
US$25 per point of sale, for each day that the taxpayer remains
in default
with effect from the first of January
2012.
Non-compliant taxpayers would also be required to pay an
additional amount
of Value Added Tax (VAT) equivalent to the estimated
revenue loss
attributable to non-compliance with the VAT Fiscalised
Recording of Taxable
Transactions Regulations.
Masaire pointed
out that the objectives and appeals system within the tax
regime needed to
be revamped while the fiscalised registers implementation
still needs to be
sanctioned. “We noted that there are no changes in
corporate tax. The
effectiveness of presumptive tax needs to be evaluated to
encourage SMEs to
contribute to the discussion and formalise,” said Masaire.
Biti
addressed major concerns: Kanyekanye
CZI president Joseph
Kanyekanye said Biti had taken critical issues raised
by industry into
consideration as reflected in his budget statement.
“The budget is consistent
with the Medium-Term Plan, there was little
political populism in this
budget, it was a rational decision. We wouldn’t
want more deficits on the
back of consumption,” said Kanyekanye.
“As CZI, we are of the view
that where there is semblance of local industry
being able to supply
particular products then duty on imports of the same
product should be
restored,” he said.
Kanyekanye also suggested the adoption of a legal
basis on the tenure of the
multi-currency regime that would provide comfort
to people and investors in
the country.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 27 November 2011
12:12
The tragedy about the response to my call for a sex strike at a
rally in
Magwegwe on November 6, was that it exposed a much bigger and
fundamental
problem facing this nation’s new generation in this new age of
techonology.
The fact that young journalists working with young
editors could publish a
distorted version of a sex strike can only mean that
none of them had heard
or read of the concept of a sex strike or where it
had been practised.
A sex strike can be broadly defined as a method
of non-violent resistance in
which one or multiple persons refrain from sex
with their partner(s) to
achieve certain goals. It is a form of temporary
sexual abstinence. Sex
strikes have been used to protest many issues from
water resources to
employment equity.
In the year 2011 alone,
several sex strikes have been undertaken with great
success, for example;
Marleen Temmermann, a Belgian politician and member of
Senate called for a
sex strike to break the deadlock in the formation of the
Belgian government.
She called on the spouses of Belgian politicians to
withhold sex until they
formed a government.
In June 2011, in the small Columbian town of
Barbacoas, women went on a sex
strike demanding the construction of a tarred
road for the town of 40 000
inhabitants who previously could only access the
rest of the country through
a treacherous mountain road. The strike ended
when army engineers began
construction on the road in late
August.
The latest Nobel Peace Prize was awarded jointly to Ellen
Johnson Sirleaf,
Leymah Gbowee and Tawakkol Karman “for their non-violent
struggle for the
safety of women and for women’s rights to full
participation in
peace-building work”.
Of interest to this
debate is the work of Leymah Gbowee, in which she
encouraged a sex strike in
Liberia aimed at ending the 14-year-old civil
war. Gbowee chronicles her
story in her new biography Mighty Be Our Powers:
How Sisterhood, Prayer, and
Sex Changed a Nation at War.
Most feminists around the world agree
that sex strikes are possibly the most
effective tools in many democratic
struggles. While I expected a challenge
to the efficacy of a sex strike,
what was surprising was the level of
ignorance on the subject, particularly
from young people given the fact that
in the majority of the recent
“revolutions” that have taken place from the
so-called Arab-Spring to the
electoral changes in Zambia was through the
youth that have mobilised people
through the social media. A simple Google
search on sex strike gives one
numerous examples on where and how this
strategy had been
used.
The second surprise for me were the nature of comments from
women given that
for time immemorial in their relationships with men, women
have used sex as
either punishment or reward. Even Bill Clinton in his
biography admits to
getting the couch treatment during the Monica Lewinsky
drama.
The No Vote No Sex Campaign therefore should at the very least be
understood
by every sexually active female.
The legitimate
question could be on whether women are sufficiently angry and
committed to
democratic change or like the risks we have taken before with
unprotected
sex, will we continue to allow irresponsible men who refuse to
take action
to effect change? The question that remains is whether we, as
women, will
choose sex over the vote?
BY PRISCILLA
MISIHAIRABWI-MUSHONGA
Priscila Misihairabwi-Mushonga is an MP and a
Zimbabwean Feminist.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 27 November 2011 12:07
As
we mark Africa Industrialisation Day this Sunday, we should keep our eyes
firmly on the first days of December. An important process which started
three years ago will then begin to move forward decisively. It promises to
be an important instrument for the future of trade and industrialisation in
Africa.
The first round of negotiations to establish a free trade
area covering 26
countries in Southern and East Africa will kick off on
December 8 in
Nairobi. It is envisaged that the negotiations will be
completed in 36
months.
The three trade blocs involved — the
Southern African Development Community
(Sadc), the East African Community
(EAC) and the Common Market for Eastern
and Southern Africa (Comesa) —
decided in October 2008 in Kampala to move
towards a free trade
agreement.
The intention is to boost intra-regional trade because the
market will be
much bigger, there will be more investment flows, enhanced
competitiveness
and the development of cross-regional
infrastructure.
Industrialisation, making goods to sell instead of
selling primary products,
is a possible and also necessary spin-off.
Competition with older
established and also bigger emerging economies might
be a stumbling block
initially, but the huge new market may make it possible
for locally
manufactured goods to compete with those imported from outside
the FTA.
Close to 600 million people live in the FTA with a gross
domestic product of
US$1 trillion — suddenly we are boxing in the same
weight division as China,
India, Russia, Brazil, the US and the
EU.
Africa Industrialisation Day is exactly about switching the eyes
of the
world to this continent, to promote the need for building factories –
but it
is becoming easier because the continent is already being touted as
the next
economic frontier, as the place to be because the future is
here.
For some confirmation of this, look at some figures: Africa’s
combined
consumer spending in 2008 was US$860 billion and will be US$1,4
trillion in
2020
In 2040 there will be 1,1 billion Africans of working
age with 43% now under
15.
Urbanisation enhances growth – Africa
already has 52 cities with more than a
million inhabitants, more than
Europe. In 2030 50% will be living in
cities. Africa’s returns on FDI are
the highest in the world.
South Africa, with its advanced and
sophisticated economy, is best suited to
take advantage offered by such an
expanded market. Already the World
Economic Forum (WEF) has rated South
Africa first in the world for the
strength of our auditing and reporting
standards and for the regulation of
securities exchanges.
The
soundness of our banks — rated second in the world — is an important
asset
in these troublesome days when banks everywhere else are shaky.
Add in the
certainty offered by the recently announced National Development
Plan, which
sets out the country’s path until 2030, and it is clear that
South Africa’s
competitiveness will be enhanced.
We know that our fellow BRICS
countries started their upward economic trend
based on their huge domestic
markets. With the establishment of the FTA,
South Africa will now have a
market which will be 12 times bigger than the
50 million customers it now
has.
It is understood that the road setting up the FTA could be
rocky. The
Minister of Trade and Industries has pointed out that
negotiations over
industrial policy could be tough. South Africa has just
set out to implement
its Industrial Policy Action Plan (Ipap) and talks
around the trade in
manufactured goods will be of particular
concern.
But South Africa does have an advantage. As the minister
correctly pointed
out, that unlike exports to the rest of the world, a high
percentage of
exports into Africa are already made up of value-added
products.
Other problems would be the levels of protectionism between
African
countries, restrictive trade permit needs and very obvious economic
disparities. Additionally, the fact that three existing trade blocs aim to
merge into one is a stumbling block as they are at different levels of
integration with different rules and regulations. All of this will be part
of the negotiations that start next month.
Fact of the matter is
that economic growth in all participating countries
will be boosted by
increased intra-regional trade. For Africa as a whole at
the moment, this
stands at only 12% of all cross-border trade whereas in
Asia the figure is
rising toward 50% and in the European Union 80%.
The FTA would also
be an important building block towards achieving the
vision of the founding
fathers of the Organisation of African Unity in
1963 — a continent-wide
African Economic Union.
The December talks may truly be the first
concrete sign of Africa rising to
take its rightful place in the
world.
BY MILLER MATOLA
Matola is the CEO of Brand South
Africa.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 27 November 2011 12:04
Two young
girls — one of them preteen and the other just in her teens —
reported to
Highlands police station that they had been sexually assaulted
by Munyaradzi
Kereke, a senior employee of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe.
Their
harrowing tales, painstakingly recorded at the police station in front
of
police officers who appended their signatures to the girls’ written
testimonies, make sad reading.
A doctor’s report corroborates one
of the victim’s stories. The report, done
by Dr E T Chanakira, was presented
to the police and the copy in our
possession bears the stamp of the
officer-in-charge of a Harare Suburban
District and that of a commissioner
of oaths. It’s dated November 5 2010.
The victims’ lawyers Warara and
Associates wrote to the Officer-in-Charge of
Borrowdale police station on
December 17 2010 asking why the accused person
had not been arrested in a
case which had been duly reported.
The letter was copied to the
Attorney-General and the Commissioner-General
of the ZRP. We also reproduce
Warara’s letter. There was no immediate
response from the police prompting
Warara to write a follow-up letter on
January 13 2011.
The
officer-in-charge of Borrowdale then responded a month later on February
14
2011 saying the matter had been investigated and the docket was at the
Attorney-General’s Office.
Surprisingly, to date no arrest has
been made. It is common cause that
Kereke is a powerful, well-connected
personage. Recently, he had journalists
from this newpaper picked up by the
police and incarcerated overnight over a
civil rather than criminal
matter.
Over the past week or so he has bought yards of space in
national newspapers
portraying himself as the victim of some conspiracy yet
this newspaper was
only interrogating his probity.
It is every
decent newspaper’s calling to protect the weak from the
powerful. It is
interesting to note that every article that has brought The
Standard into
trouble has sought to do this. All the troubles we have
endured show the
unfettered power of certain individuals in our society.
This must
end.
Kereke must have his day in court.
Quote of the
week
"The BAZ is clearly an illegitimate body; it must be
reconstituted.
Clearly the airwaves have not been freed, this has maintained
Zanu-PF’s grip
on the broadcasting sector,” said Douglas Mwonzora, spokesman
for MDC-T
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 27 November 2011
12:10
When we were schoolchildren many years ago, one of our teachers
came for a
lesson with his zipper undone.The boys looked down in shame while
the girls
giggled in mischief.
But one of the more precocious boys
wrote something on a piece of paper and
threw it at the teacher. The teacher
read it and walked out of the
classroom; he returned a few minutes later
with all his dignity restored.
At break we mobbed the boy who had
thrown the little paper at the teacher
asking him what he had written. He
said he had written only three letters of
the alphabet “XYZ” which meant,
“close your zip”.
Can someone write the same three letters and please
throw them at Prime
Minister Morgan Tsvangirai? In the wake of his November
marriage, or
whatever it was, no one knows what he will do next. Sing
Zuma-style Mtshina
Wami, Mtshina Wami (Bring my machine gun) or like Silvio
Berlusconi, host
bunga-bunga parties?
President Jacob Zuma is a
former guerrilla who was, we guess, good with his
Kalashnikov but as he
inched towards the presidency the world got to know
his AK47 was hardly the
only machinegun he was an expert at.
November madness! — What is
wrong with the month of November? People say
there shouldn’t be any
celebrations in November; no marriages, no weddings,
no parties! No one,
until last week, had explained to me why this was so.
A friend
told me that November, in Shona called Mbudzi or Month of the Goat
is
considered sacred in Shona culture because it is the month that marks the
beginning of the rainy season and the beginning of the Shona
calendar.
It is the month when the cropping season begins and
cattle regain their
weight because of the new grass after the long dry
season. It is also the
month when nanny-goats give birth, hence the name.
People therefore shelved
all ceremonies to concentrate on planting and
looking after the goats’ kids.
Quite fascinating!
It is because
of this that whatever Tsvangirai did is deemed taboo. But in
the new
circumstances marked by urbanisation can we still be talking about
goats?
The real taboo that Tsvangirai committed was that he made yet another
woman
pregnant.
Why is this taboo? How much bed-hopping can a man continue
to do in this age
of HIV and Aids? The fight against Aids needs role models.
As leader of one
of the biggest parties in the country, Tsvangirai is
well-placed to play
that role. But Locardia is not the only woman in the
recent past to confirm
that the premier does it without a condom, taking a
shower perhaps, after
the act! Can some cartoonist begin to put a small
shower on his head as
controversial South African cartoonist Zapiro does
with Zuma?
Tsvangirai is loved in this country and respected the
world-over for the
change he has brought to this country but it will be
these little
indiscretions that will begin to eat away his
armour.
November madness! November was also the month that the
onslaught on the
freedom of the press reached new heights. Newsrooms were
invaded by the
police and journalists taken away and locked up. Forget
about the Access to
Information and Protection of Privacy Act which had
hitherto been used as
the weapon of choice to suppress the
media.
There is a more obnoxious piece of legislation called
“criminal defamation”.
With this tool any journalist who publishes the truth
about how the powerful
are involved in acts that break the law and
disadvantage the poor is picked
up by the police and locked up. Instead of
seeking damages through the civil
process, the powerful want to first punish
the scribes. What is interesting
is that police are fully complicit in this.
Instead of advising the offended
official of the proper channels to follow,
they pander to his whim.
The Zimbabwe Media Commission (ZMC) is a
constitutionally set up body to
deal with complaints on published articles
considered defamatory by
individuals. It then arbitrates and where damages
are due the offending
newspaper has to pay. Many journalists and media
organisations are not
against this aspect of the ZMC; it is its licensing
role that they loathe.
There is also the Voluntary Media Council of
Zimbabwe (VMCZ). It was set up
to allow journalists and their organisations
to self-regulate. One of its
key functions is to arbitrate between members
of the public who feel
aggrieved by what the media publishes and the
offending publications.
But many powerful individuals in politics and
business choose to ignore
these and instead seek to punish journalists by
having them locked up.
Incidentally, individuals who continue to use this
legislation are linked to
the former ruling party Zanu PF.
What
we haven’t heard is an outcry from the other two parties in the
inclusive
government against this patently unconstitutional legislation and
its
continued abuse.
The awarding last week of free-to-air radio licences
to Zimpapers and AB
Communications shows how low Tafataona Mahoso and his
Broadcasting Authority
of Zimbabwe (BAZ) can sink. Not only is the body
unconstitutional, its also
clearly partisan.
Its chairman,
Mahoso, has never hidden his political affiliation. He is Zanu
PF through
and through. For him to scandalously award the licences to
organisations so
blatantly affiliated to Zanu PF is not only shameful but
flies in the face
of what the Global Political Agreement (GPA) sought to do.
One of the
clauses in the GPA advocates for the opening of the airwaves so
independent
players can also play a part. BAZ has not done this; instead it
has
tightened Zanu PF’s grip on the dissemination of information.
The
MDCs must reject this and ensure the BAZ is properly constituted and
applications for radio licences are re-invited. If need be the assessment of
the applications must be done by a body chosen by the new BAZ which would be
non-partisan. No organisation that is affiliated to any political party
should attain a radio licence; radio stations should never be used for
propaganda purposes.
BY NEVANJI MADANHIRE
