Zim Independent
Dumisani Muleya
SOUTH
African insurance giant Sanlam has muscled its way into leading local
life
assurance company, First Mutual Ltd, which has diverse interests in the
financial and property sectors, it emerged late yesterday.
Market
sources said Sanlam, South Africa's second-largest life assurer, has
been
buying its way into First Mutual, whose major shareholders were Capital
Alliance and Trust Holdings, since September 23.
This move is
seen as part of vigorous efforts by South Africa - the largest
economy in
Africa - to expand its economic influence in Zimbabwe and the
continent.
Zimbabwe is South Africa's largest trading partner.
South Africa has
interests largely in mining, manufacturing and agriculture
in the country.
South African-owned mining houses control local platinum and
gold
production.
Zimplats, owned by Implats, and Metallon Gold,
owned by South African tycoon
Mzi Khumalo, as well as Anglo Platinum, which
is developing Unki platinum
project, are some of the large South African
conglomerates operating in
Zimbabwe. Old Mutual is
another.
Natural resource giant Anglo American, as well as Mmakau and
Shaft Sinkers
South Africa, which recently took over Eureka Gold mine,
reopened on Monday,
are also prominent players.
South African
banking groups Absa and Standard Bank control Jewel Bank and
Stanbic
respectively.
South African firms are also expanding into Mozambique,
Ghana, Nigeria,
Uganda, Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo, among
other places.
Records show that South Africa's economy is 24 times
bigger than all the
Sadc economies combined. Its economic engine, Gauteng
province, is eight
times bigger than regional economies.
Durban,
the capital of KwaZulu/Natal province, has an economy almost the
same size
as that of Zimbabwe, making the latter slightly above 2% of the
South
African economy.
Sources said Sanlam - listed on the JSE Securities
Exchange and Namibian
Stock Exchange - has been leveraging its way into
First Mutual using local
stockbroking firm, New Africa Securities, via New
Africa Nominees. Sanlam,
established in 1918, on December 31 2004 had a R350
billion asset base.
Documents show a trail of transactions indicating
that New Africa bought New
Africa Nominees large volumes of shares between
September 23 and Wednesday
this week.
First Mutual group CEO
Douglas Hoto said he was not aware Sanlam had bought
into his
company.
"I'm not aware a South African investor has bought into our
company," he
said. "I only know of 581 million shares traded for about $105
billion at an
average share price of $180."
It was not possible
to get a comment from either New Africa or Sanlam last
night.
Documents show New Africa bought First Mutual shares
amounting to 892
million at a cost of more than $177 billion, giving New
Africa Nominees a
25% stake. The ZSE's threshold for a takeover is 31%. The
shares went for a
weighted average price of $198,54.
"New Africa
Securities bought 892 019 349 shares for $177 103 841 150. It
first bought
350 000 shares on September 23 for $35 million and then went
all the way
until Wednesday," a source said.
"The smallest number of shares
bought was 101 000 for $9 999 000 on October
4 and the largest was 590 517
186 shares for $118 103 437 200 on October
21."
Zim Independent
SIGNS that
embattled opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader
Morgan
Tsvangirai is rapidly losing control of his fractious party grew
yesterday
after senior officials warned they would not attend his "illegal"
meeting
tomorrow.
In the clearest sign yet that the MDC is headed for a break-up,
the faction
led by secretary-general Welshman Ncube said it will boycott a
national
executive council meeting called by their leader on
Monday.
The Ncube camp said Tsvangirai "does not have unilateral
powers to convene
such a meeting" and that the outcome of such a meeting in
breach of the
party constitution would be "fraudulent and
illegitimate".
"In yet another move to usurp and violate the
constitution of the party,
Tsvangirai has called a meeting of the national
council for this Saturday
(tomorrow)," MDC deputy secretary-general Gift
Chimanikire said.
"He does not have the powers to unilaterally
convene such a meeting. Having
spent the past three weeks attempting hard to
bribe and coerce members of
the council, Tsvangirai now hopes to 'persuade'
the council to reverse its
decision on the senate
election."
However, Tsvangirai's spokesman William Bango said last
night the MDC leader
had not been "officially informed" about the
boycott.
"Tsvangirai has not received any communication to that
effect and expects
everybody to attend the meeting unless they are held up
by emergency
domestic issues or such other matters," Bango
said.
The MDC national executive council voted on October 12 by 33 to
31 for
participation in the November 26 poll, but Tsvangirai overruled it
and then
launched a nationwide crusade against the election.
This
triggered the power struggle currently unfolding in the party which has
seen
a series of accusations and counter-accusations between the Tsvangirai
and
Ncube camps.
At a rally last weekend in Harare Tsvangirai lashed out
at the Ncube group,
suggesting they were collaborating with Zanu PF on the
senate project and
insisted he as the leader was entitled to take the
decision he did. Those at
the rally sang anti-Ncube group songs and
threatened its members.
There have been cases of violence and
intimidation between members of the
two camps. Chimanikire accused
Tsvangirai of orchestrating the campaign of
intimidation.
Tsvangirai's attacks on colleagues at the Harare
rally came after the MDC's
so-called top six leaders met on Thursday last
week, under the mediation of
Professor Brian Raftopoulos, to find a solution
to the crisis. A further
meeting on Monday failed to break the
impasse.
After the Raftopoulos initiative collapsed in confusion,
Tsvangirai decided
to call for tomorrow's meeting. The MDC leader said he
would present a
report on the "state of the party, the current preparations
for congress and
the way forward". He would also "give the council an
overview of the
campaign for a new constitution adopted in concert with the
MDC's civil
society partners".
If tomorrow's meeting flops,
Tsvangirai, despite his ability to summon large
crowds at rallies, would
have suffered another major setback.
Two weeks ago, he failed to
raise a quorum for a national executive
committee meeting. He also failed to
stop candidates from registering for
the senate poll.
Tsvangiari
also appears to have failed to suspend senior party members and
MP Job
Sikhala over his now withdrawn claims that the party had received
foreign
funding. Sikhala said Tsvangirai has no power to take such action
against
him.
Chimanikire accused Tsvangirai of repeatedly being in "flagrant
breach of
the constitution" and warned "these are the actions of a
dictator-in-the
making". - Staff Writer.
Zim Independent
Ray Matikinye
IF there is one
undisputed trait President Robert Mugabe can be credited
with despite the
commonplace failure around him, it is deft political
manoeuvring to
manipulate his lieutenants by bringing back some shine to
their waning
political fortunes.
No one doubted Mugabe's resolve to reward losing
candidates in pre-poll
campaigns when he said there would be no losers among
the party faithful.
Ordinary Zimbabweans merely second-guessed whose
image among those of his
party's old guard Mugabe would want to spit and
polish. The major interest
the senate election has aroused is in the quality
of candidates that the
ruling Zanu PF has come up with - more for their
history of failure than
success.
With a sleight of hand, Mugabe
is trying to revive the political fortunes of
stay-the-course politicians
such as Dumiso Dabengwa, Sithembiso Nyoni,
Vivian Mwashita, Callistus
Ndlovu, and Forbes Magadu and attempt to freshen
the maverick Dzikamayi
Mavhaire.
Mavhaire is famed for the rebellious remark: "The president
must go." The
remark earned him a two-year suspension until Zanu PF's
structural
reorganisation and support in Masvingo started
sliding.
Included in the coterie of political have-beens needing
freshening, Magadu,
Nyoni, Ndlovu and Mwashita stand out.
In
1995, Mwashita broke a record as the first ever politician in
post-independent Zimbabwe to lose a parliamentary seat to a former
comrade-in-arms in Harare's Sunningdale constituency.
She lost
the seat to Margaret Dongo, who had unearthed irrefutable evidence
of
voters' roll manipulation and official gerrymandering. The court ruling
exposed Registrar-General Tobaiwa Mudede's 15 -year claim that Zimbabwe's
electoral system was foolproof.
Not only that. Dongo achieved the
feat of putting up a vigorous election
campaign to overcome a candidate with
a 98% permanent disability claim from
the liberation
war.
Mwashita joined the long queue of high profile government
officials who
looted the War Victims Compensation Fund but got off with a
slight rap on
the knuckles.
Magadu, who presided over the running
of Chitungwiza Town Council, left a
legacy of burst pipes and
infrastructural decline in Zimbabwe's third
largest urban
settlement.
His tenure at the Zimbabwe Omnibus Company left most
commuters with
lingering memories of how an efficient public transport
service plumbed to
such depths of unreliability in such a short time
span.
His enthusiasm to curry favours for himself from ruling party
heavyweights
and build a political profile led Magadu to dish out buses for
political
rallies without guarantees that the Zanu PF party would pay the
bills.
Mugabe is also keen to put the lustre back on Callistus
Ndlovu's political
fortunes that took a nosedive following the 1988
Willowgate vehicle scandal,
just as much as he is trying to help serial
loser Sithembiso Nyoni find a
foothold on Zimbabwe's political
rollercoaster.
If Nyoni loses, she will have beaten the losing record
set by veteran
politician Enos Nkala who was never able to win an election
despite his long
history in nationalist politics.
Voters in some
senatorial constituencies on November 26 will for the first
time participate
in a poll that has failed to excite regional and
international interest
except for the wrangling currently wreaking havoc in
the opposition Movement
for Democratic Change (MDC).
The electorate will be participating in
an election shorn of properly
delimited constituencies and carrying an
enormous price tag.
It remains to be seen whether international
organisations such as the UN,
AU, NAM, Sadc and Comesa alongside countries
such as Benin, Burkina Faso,
and Gambia share government's zeal to even
bother themselves with observing
the election under a shambolic voters' roll
following Operation
Murambatsvina.
Foreign Affairs minister
Simbarashe Mumbengegwi said the involvement of
foreign observers would
"further enhance the existing transparency of the
electoral process thereby
enriching Zimbabwe's democratic experience".
But how a poll of no
national significance and with arbitrary constituencies
that sidestepped the
Delimitation Commission can "enhance transparency" and
"enrich" the nation's
democratic experience, as Mumbengegwi says, is yet to
be
seen.
Mugabe recently exhorted his party supporters to vote
decisively in the
forthcoming senatorial election to relegate the fractured
MDC to the
political dustbin.
He is keen to convince party
supporters to help him revive waning fortunes
among such politicians as
Stanley Sakupwanya (Makoni-Nyanga), Oria
Kabayanjiri
(Mudzi-Uzumba-Maramba-Pfungwe), Phone Madiro (Hurungwe-Kariba),
Samuel
Mumbengegwi (Chiredzi-Mwenezi), Tsitsi Muzenda (Gweru-Shurungwi) and
Richard
Hove (Mberengwa-Zvishavane) through elections that have failed to
excite
national interest except in so far as the event has exposed a crisis
of
leadership in the MDC.
Zim Independent
Augustine Mukaro
AN
emaciated 11-year-old boy wearily puts down a sack half full of wild
fruits
(hacha in Shona) and groans audibly as he painfully bends down to
take a
rest on his long journey back home after a fruit-gathering
exercise.
Forcing a dry grin from parched lips, the boy prides himself
for having
scored a feat that will save his family from hunger for the
day.
"We have been collecting and eating these wild-fruits because of
food
shortages," Tinaye Mabhande said. "We don't have much to eat and as a
result
we supplement our diet with these fruits."
Mabhande and
other villagers have been gathering wild berries in parts of
Gutu district
in rural Masvingo where, according to folklore, people believe
a season in
which the fruit is in abundance is a harbinger of a bad
agricultural
season.
The situation in Masvingo is no different from other parts of
the country
that have been hit by food shortages over the past four years.
At least two
million people are said by aid agencies to be at risk of
starvation.
Government is struggling to import maize from South Africa to
bridge the
grain deficit.
"We wake up before dawn so that we can
get to the muhacha trees ahead of
others. We have been collecting these
fruits for the past three weeks now,"
another boy
said.
Witnessing several villagers trudging home carrying bags from a
nearby
forest is a miserable spectacle. "My mother is already preparing the
meal,"
the boy says, lifting his bag and moving towards some shade where six
other
family members are already resting.
His mother had emptied
the contents of one of her bags into a wooden
pounding bowl before mixing it
with water to make some fruit paste for the
family's meal for the day. "Life
is difficult here," Mabhande's
forlorn-looking mother says.
"We
last had a meal of sadza three days ago. There is just no grain.
Government
has not given us food assistance for the past two months because
there is no
fuel. Even if you go to the Grain Marketing Board you can't get
the maize to
buy."
She said if it were not for the timely intervention of food aid
agencies and
the donors who introduced feeding schemes at schools there
would have been
mass starvation amongst children.
"Things have
been worsened by the delay of the rains," she said. "If the
situation
remains like this for another two weeks, we are in serious
trouble. It won't
be surprising to see people dying of hunger."
The woman said she was
not optimistic about the rainy season that was
forecast to have started two
weeks ago by the Meteorological Services
Department. She bemoaned the
unavailability of inputs for the current
season.
"We are planting
a very small portion of the land because we cannot afford
seed or
fertiliser," she said.
"Land preparations pose problems for us
because hiring tillage units costs
$250 000 per hectare, which we cannot
afford. Officials tell us there is a
serious shortage of
fuel."
Masvingo province's precarious food situation illustrates how
hunger has
begun wreaking havoc among the rural populace.
Reports
from other areas, particularly Matabeleland provinces, show that the
situation is no better and fast becoming dire.
This is in stark
contrast to President Robert Mugabe's public posturing at
international fora
that the country is able to feed itself.
Mugabe recently told
reporters in New York that Zimbabwe's hungry villagers
and urban poor could
choose to eat potatoes or rice in the absence of the
staple
maize.
But back home, Zimbabweans have over the past five years been
reeling under
the lingering effects of the chaotic land reform programme as
the new farm
owners fail to produce enough food to feed the
nation.
Zimbabwe's problems have been compounded by a stinging fuel
crisis that has
crippled virtually the whole economy.
Two months
ago Mugabe told the international media: "The problem is
Zimbabweans rely
too much on maize. But it doesn't mean we haven't other
things to eat. We
have heaps of potatoes but people are not potato eaters.
They have rice but
they're not attracted to it."
Critics have questioned how many of
Zimbabwe's poor can afford potatoes in a
country which has more than 85% of
its population living below the poverty
datum line while over 75% of its
workforce is jobless and inflation is over
360%.
Zim Independent
Godfrey
Marawanyika/Augustine Mukaro
GOVERNMENT is next week expected to sign an
agricultural agreement with
China that could see vast tracts of land being
ceded to the fast-growing
nation.
The deal, envisaged to boost
agricultural production, should be signed on
November 8 and will be
guaranteed by the Ministry of Finance.
The deal will be in two
phases. The first component is a direct
government-to-government agreement
while the other has an element of private
sector
participation.
Government is expected to enlist private sector
participation under the
Zimbabwe Development Company, represented by
Zimbabwe Farmers Union
vice-president Edward
Raradza.
Government-owned China State Farms Agribusiness Corporation
and the ZDC are
set to sign the partnership agreement early next week, aimed
at reviving
several derelict former white farms that were taken over by the
Agricultural
and Rural Development Authority.
The loss-making
quasi-government agricultural arm acquired about 20 estates
during the land
reform programme. Among the expropriated estates where joint
ventures are
expected to be undertaken are Kondozi Farm, now lying derelict
in the Odzi
area of Manicaland, Foyle Estate in the rich Mazowe valley,
Charter Estate
in the Beatrice area, Greaslee in the Goromonzi district,
Charleswood
Estate, taken from former MDC MP Roy Bennett in Chimanimani,
Bosbury and
Essex in Mashonaland West.
Reserve Bank authorities have been
advocating the promotion of ventures
between new farmers, former operators
as well as new investors to increase
productivity and hasten skills
transfer.
Agriculture minister Joseph Made confirmed that there were
a number of
initiatives taking place. These initiatives, he said, are on an
individual
company basis while others were joint-venture agreements between
the two
countries.
"There are various private sector initiatives
which will be represented by
Edward Raradza of Farmers World and others,"
Made said. Farmers World is
mainly engaged in the sale of farm
inputs.
"Government projects will be guaranteed by the Ministry of
Finance.
Everything is being handled by them."
Yesterday, Raradza
confirmed the deal but refused to give further details on
the proposed
agreement saying: "Why are you in a rush? Just wait for next
week."
Government's chaotic land reform programme that involved
the forcible take
over of white-owned commercial farms to "correct colonial
land ownership
imbalances" has been a recipe for disaster. It has reduced
Zimbabwe from a
net grain exporter to a net importer in a space of five
years.
Agricultural production levels dropped sharply as commercial
farmers took
their skills to countries as far flung as Nigeria, Zambia and
Mozambique.
Zim Independent
Dumisani Muleya
RESERVE
Bank of Zimbabwe governor Gideon Gono has apologised to suspended
Zimbabwe
Mirror Newspapers Group CEO and editor-in-chief Ibbo Mandaza for
engineering
the take-over of his papers by the intelligence service.
Sources said
Gono, who was key in the state apparatus' leveraged buy-out of
the Mirror
papers, told Mandaza at a meeting he was "very sorry" for what
had happened.
The meeting took place on September 26.
It is understood Gono said he
did not know the deal between the security
department and Mandaza would end
up with the founder of the group being
ousted from the
company.
"There was a recent meeting - the only one so far since the
media story
started - between Gono and Mandaza at the central bank offices
over the
issue of the newspaper take-over," a source said. "The two
discussed the
issue at length and Gono apologised to Mandaza for leading him
into the
current situation at the Mirror."
Sources said Mandaza
was exasperated but grudgingly accepted the situation
as a fait
accompli.
"Mandaza was very disappointed with Gono but he accepted
what has happened
and decided to move on," a source said. "To the best of my
knowledge, that
was the only meeting the two have had since the media story
broke out. It
appears their relationship will be strained for a long time,
if not forever,
over this issue."
Although it was not possible to
get a comment from Gono and Mandaza, sources
confirmed the
issue.
"It looks like Mandaza was put in a tight spot by Gono who
brought the
intelligence service into the deal without realising it and this
inevitably
created tension between them," another source said. "In the end
Gono had to
apologise to Mandaza. Though he had betrayed his trust in him,
the mission
had been accomplished."
The Central Intelligence
Organisation (CIO) has taken over the Mirror's two
titles, the Daily Mirror
and Sunday Mirror, and the Financial Gazette
through a front ownership
structure using public funds.
Gono was also instrumental in the
take-over of the Financial Gazette.
The state security agency has
influence in other media organisations and is
still trying to expand its
interests in a bid to win the battle for hearts
and
minds.
Mediagate, as the newspaper take-over saga is now known, has
sucked in
President Robert Mugabe and Vice-President Joice
Mujuru.
A CIO shelf company, Unique World Investments, and another
CIO-linked firm,
Zistanbal Investments, in which Gono is said to have an
interest, control
70% of Mirror shareholding. Mandaza had 30% but this has
been taken over as
well.
In terms of the new shareholding
structure, Unique now has 72% and Zistanbal
28%. The two companies are
trying to recapitalise the Mirror group. The
company two weeks ago received
$10 billion from the central bank, bringing
the total amount in public funds
it has got from the bank to $30 billion.
Zim Independent
Conrad
Dube
SUPREME Court judge Justice Wilson Sandura, breaking ranks with four
other
judges in a high-profile case, says President Robert Mugabe erred when
he
delegated his power of selecting members of a tribunal set up last year
to
probe High Court judge Benjamin Paradza for alleged
misbehaviour.
Justice Sandura opposed four other judges, Chief Justice
Godfrey
Chidyausiku, Justice Vernanda Ziyambi, Elizabeth Gwaunza and Luke
Malaba,
who found that the three members of the tribunal were selected by
the
president as required by Section 87(4) of the
constitution.
Paradza had appealed to the Supreme Court to have the
tribunal disbanded, as
it was not constituted in compliance with the
constitution. He had cited the
three members of the tribunal, Dennis Kamoni
Chirwa from Zambia, John Mroso
from Tanzania and Isaac Mtambo from Malawi as
first, second and third
respondents respectively.
Justice
minister Patrick Chinamasa and President Mugabe were cited as fourth
and
fifth respondents respectively.
Justice Sandura said the president
should have personally appointed the
three members of the tribunal instead
of delegating that task to Chinamasa.
He said the three members of
the tribunal were not selected by the president
as required by Section 87(4)
of the constitution, but were selected by the
Chief Justices of Zambia,
Tanzania and Malawi respectively, who had no power
to do so in terms of the
Zimbabwean constitution.
"In the circumstances, bearing in mind the
fact that in terms of Section
87(4) of the constitution, the tribunal should
consist of not less than
three members, one of whom should be designated by
the president as
chairman, the fact that each of the three Chief Justices
was requested to
nominate only one of his judges to be a member of the
tribunal is clear
beyond doubt that the selections made by the three Chief
Justices were
intended by the president to conclusively determine the three
members of the
tribunal," Sandura said.
"This was an
impermissible delegation of the president's power of selecting
the members
of the tribunal," Sandura said.
He said the tribunal was not,
therefore, constituted in compliance with the
constitution.
"The
selection of the tribunal comprising the first, second and third
respondents
was unconstitutional," he said.
Paradza had argued that the tribunal
was unconstitutional and that the
person leading evidence before the
tribunal was not an independent
practitioner selected by the tribunal itself
but a person who Chinamasa
designated to assist the tribunal with the
state's position. Paradza argued
that the person acted adversarially and had
displayed partisan conduct.
Justice Sandura said the constitution did
not provide for the participation
of such an official in the proceedings of
the tribunal. The tribunal is
supposed to be a wholly impartial body whose
function is set out in s 87(6)
of the constitution.
The role of
the person leading evidence before the tribunal is not to assist
the
tribunal with the state's position, because the state does not have a
position in such an inquiry, but to assist the tribunal by selecting the
evidence to be placed before the tribunal and by calling witnesses and
examining them, Sandura said.
"An inquiry held in terms of
Section 87 of the constitution is not a
criminal offence in which the state
alleges that an accused person is guilty
of the offence with which he is
charged," he said.
The charges against Paradza arose after he
allegedly phoned a Bulawayo High
Court judge asking him to release the
passport of his friend and business
partner, Russell
Labuschagne.
Labuschagne, who is serving a 15-year jail term for the
murder of a
fisherman two years ago, was being held in remand prison
awaiting trial. The
authorities had seized his passport and other documents
so he could not
abscond.
Paradza was arrested in his chambers in
2003 and charged with attempting to
defeat the course of justice.
Zim Independent
Ray
Matikinye
THE Zimbabwe Youth Alliance (Ziya) is seeking a coalition with the
United
People's Movement (UPM), a political party scheduled for launch in
December.
Ziya secretary-general, Moses Mutyasira, said his organisation
was seeking
an alliance with the UPM to avoid a fragmented challenge to the
ruling Zanu
PF.
Former Information minister and independent MP
for Tsholotsho, Jonathan
Moyo, fronts the UPM and there is speculation that
six suspended Zanu PF
chairmen who attended the Tsholotsho meeting last
December covertly support
the party.
"We respect their ideas and
have come to realise that a fragmented approach
will not take us out of the
political and economic mess created by Zanu PF,"
Mutyasira
said.
Ziya is a fringe political organisation that contested
elections in Masvingo
South after the death of Eddison Zvobgo and also
fielded a number of
candidates in the March election.
"We are
still a young political organisation and are convinced that we can
tap into
the experiences of those behind the UPM. The current crisis in the
MDC does
not inspire confidence in the electorate," said Mutyasira.
On
nomination day for senatorial election, Ziya fielded candidates in three
constituencies in Masvingo and Harare.
In Harare, Ziya candidate
Mike Duro will contest the Harare-Mbare-Hatfield
constituency while Wilbroad
Kanoti will contest Tafara-Mabvuku constituency.
Another Ziya candidate will
contest the Gutu North/Gutu South constituency.
Moyo could not be
reached for comment on the proposition for a coalition
with
Ziya.
Moyo fell out of favour with President Mugabe after convening a
meeting in
Tsholotsho to contest the arbitrary nomination of Joice Mujuru to
the
position of vice-president. Six Zanu PF provincial chairpersons who
attended
the meeting at Dinyane School were immediately suspended from their
posts.
Moyo is believed to be the brains behind the UPM.
Zim Independent
Roadwin Chirara/Ray
Matikinye
AUSTRALIA says it will continue to ratchet up pressure on countries
like
South Africa to "stand up to" President Mugabe in the light of his
refusal
to accept assistance for people in need of food and thousands made
homeless
by Operation Murambatsvina.
Foreign Affairs minister
Alexander Downer told parliament four million
people need food aid, but the
government in Zimbabwe has rejected a United
Nations offer of
help.
"We will continue to do what we can to pressure the
international community
to take further action against Zimbabwe," said
Downer.
Downer said Australia would continue "to pressure countries
like South
Africa to be more robust in standing up to President Mugabe and
to pressure
members of the Security Council to consider referring his regime
to the
International Criminal Court".
The Zimbabwean government's
programme to clean up slum areas has caused
concern internationally.
President Mugabe refused aid from the UN because of
the world body's
description of the demolition programme as a humanitarian
crisis, and over
calls for the prosecution of those who orchestrated the
campaign.
Meanwhile, the United States is set to publish a new
list of Zimbabwean
government officials targeted for
sanctions.
The new sanctions list will be made up of two sets. One
list will comprise
limited economic sanctions while the second will be made
up of a visa ban
targeted at 86 government and ruling party officials most
closely associated
with Mugabe's misrule.
The visa ban will for
the first time include children of listed officials
applying to study in the
United States. This will not however include those
currently studying in the
US, nor will it be made public.
US ambassador to Zimbabwe Christopher
Dell confirmed that a new list would
be published soon.
Speaking
at Africa University near Mutare on Wednesday, Dell said: "We are
going to
be having new additions to the current list of these government
officials
and their children up and until Zimbabwe meets and commits itself
to the
restoration of the rule of law, conducts free and fair elections and
places
the military under civilian control.
"We will not stop until they
feel the pinch for what they have done. How can
you have 20% of the
population determine the future of the whole country and
its economy being
entirely in their hands, including multiple farms?" Dell
said.
"We recently had a minister's wife crying at the embassy
after having been
denied a visa to travel to the United States for her son's
graduation in
Texas and this we will continue to do," he
said.
The US ambassador blamed the government for the country's
economic crisis
which he attributed to gross mismanagement and corrupt
rule.
"Mr Mugabe and his officials who have presided over the
collapse bear the
blame," said Dell.
He described claims by
government that laws such as the Access to
Information and Protection of
Privacy Act (Aippa) and the Public Order and
Security Act (Posa) were
enacted for the benefit of the Zimbabwean populace
as "rhetorical
garbage".
"Government's claims that it enacted laws such Posa and
Aippa at the request
of its people is rhetorical garbage. These are
repressive laws that have a
negative bearing on society," Dell
said.
Manicaland resident minister and governor, Tineyi Chigudu, who
was present
at the function, criticised Dell's comments on
Aippa.
"Unlike some, I am not one to call laws of other countries
names such as
garbage," Chigudu said.
"All I got from the
ambassador's speech was a call for the people of
Zimbabwe to revolt against
the Zanu PF government."
Zim Independent
Roadwin
Chirara
IN what are undoubtedly the most forthright remarks made by a foreign
diplomat based in Harare, United States ambassador to Zimbabwe Christopher
Dell has said the current economic crisis has taken Zimbabwe back over 50
years in terms of the average person's standard of living.
Dell
blamed the "gross mismanagement" and "corrupt rule" of President Robert
Mugabe's government for ruining the country's hitherto vibrant
economy.
Citing research by the Centre for Global Development in
Washington, Dell
said Zimbabwe had drifted backwards 52 years in terms of
people's purchasing
power and quality of life.
"It is estimated
that Zimbabwe's economic crisis has set the country back
more than half a
century. The paper calculated that the purchasing power of
the average
Zimbabwean in 2005 had fallen back to the same level as in 1953
when the
Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland was established," Dell said in
a
stinging address on Wednesday at Africa University in Mutare.
"That's an
astonishing reversal of 52 years of progress in only a half dozen
years."
Dell's comments were his first public remarks about
Zimbabwe's crisis since
his arrival in Harare over a year
ago.
Dell said Zimbabwe now has the fastest shrinking economy in the
world. "I
know of no other example in the world of any economy that, in
times of
peace, has contracted so precipitously in the course of six years,"
he said.
Dell said the country's real gross domestic product had shrunk
by 30% in
five years, while manufacturing fell by 51%.
"No issue
today is more important to the future of Zimbabwe nor has the
potential to
harm the region than the growing collapse of the Zimbabwean
economy," Dell
said.
"Not too long ago, Zimbabwe had a vibrant and diversified
economy. It was a
land of great hope and optimism in
Africa."
However, Dell said Zimbabwe had gone "half a century
backwards".
"GDP fell by almost 30% between 1997 and 2003, and the
trend has continued
through 2005. Inflation is at least mid-triple digits
and clearly on the
rise," he said.
"If government continues to
print money to meet its obligations, it could
well drive inflation into
quadruple digits by year's end. Manufacturing has
shrunk 51% since 1997 and
exports have fallen by half. Almost every major
economic indicator has
declined significantly. The investment and operating
environment is
dismal."
Dell said foreign direct invest-ment had "evaporated from
US$444 million in
1998 to US$9 million in 2004".
"Agricultural
production - the mainstay of the economy - has collapsed under
violent
implementation of a necessary but badly thought through land
reform," he
said.
"The human cost of Zimbabwe's economic crisis has been
extraordinarily high.
At least half the country faces food shortages. The
country's human
development indicators, once the envy of sub-Saharan Africa,
have sunk to
the lowest (levels) in the world," he said.
"The
flood of economic bad news has been continuous. Most recently, the
World
Economic Forum said Zimbabwe was the least competitive economy out of
117
economies studied."
Dell said although Mugabe's government blames
drought and targeted Western
sanctions for the economic crisis, "this
explanation does not hold up well
under scrutiny.
"The answer to
this is quite simple, as well as quite shocking: Neither
drought nor
sanctions are at the root of Zimbabwe's economic decline," he
said. "The
Zimbabwe government's own gross mismanagement of the economy and
its corrupt
rule have brought on the crisis."
Zim Independent
Augustine
Mukaro
ZIMBABWE is likely to be grilled at the African Commission meeting in
Gambia
next month over a damning human rights report compiled by civic
organisations chronicling "rampant rights violations" over the past five
years.
Civic groups will present a shadow report that reflects their
own views
against government's official submission.
The African
Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights requires governments to
submit reports
to the African Commission every two years.
Zimbabwe presented a human
rights report to the commission in 1996 and
decided to do so again nine
years later. Civic groups see the belated
submission as a desperate attempt
to defuse mounting pressure and possible
isolation.
The
government's own report glosses over critical issues which have plunged
the
country into the current economic crisis.
It skirts virtually all the
negative incidents that the country experienced
including the violence that
accompanied the land invasions and all three
elections held over the past
five years.
The report is silent on the widely condemned Operation
Murambatsvina that
left an estimated 700 000 people homeless. Government
mentions in passing
the subsequent Operation Garikai without giving any
background as to why it
needed to undertake the nationwide housing
construction programme.
The shadow report by civil society exposes
the state's unwillingness to
uphold its primary responsibility to promote,
protect and uphold human
rights.
It highlights numerous
challenges Zimbabwe has faced since the last report
to the Commission in
1996, including a serious economic recession and
political and social
polarisation.
"Between 1997 and 2000 the increased poverty and
political polarisation was
reflected in food riots in 1998, during which
ordinary Zimbabweans
demonstrated against the rising price of bread," the
shadow report says.
"When the demonstrations became violent the state
security forces used force
to disperse the demonstrators leading to loss of
life," the report by civic
organisations says.
The report
highlights, with examples, the involvement of state security
agents in many
of the violent episodes that marred political activity after
the formation
of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change and the
launch of the now
banned Daily News.
"The ruling party was involved in the violence and
the state failed in its
obligation to prosecute members of the ruling party
for acts of violence,"
the shadow report said.
It also exposes
government failure to protect people during the land
invasions.
"These invasions, illegal under Zimbabwean and
international law, were often
violent in nature including assaults, rapes
and murders and led to
confrontation between the invaders, farmers and farm
workers."
In 1999 war veterans and peasants invaded white-owned farms
with tacit state
approval. These occupations intensified after government
lost a
constitutional referendum in 2000 which included a clause to
expropriate
white commercial farmers without paying
compensation.
The report indicts government for failing to prevent
the invasions, and says
numerous speeches by government and ruling party
officials incited farm
invasions as a form of land
redistribution.
Government, the report adds, failed to provide
remedies to the victims of
violence associated with farm invasions, and has
not prosecuted ruling party
supporters accused of violence during the
process.
The report says polls since the parliamentary election of
2000 have been
marked by widespread violence blamed mainly on ruling party
supporters.
"Approximately 300 people have died as a result of
political and
land-invasion related violence. Rapes, assaults, kidnappings
and torture
have occurred throughout the period," the report
says.
It says perpetrators of these crimes have been identified
mainly as state
agents including army, police and intelligence operatives as
well as ruling
party militias.
The report also highlights how
government adopted restrictive legislation to
thwart opposition voices and
barred any gatherings perceived to be
anti-government. The laws were
ruthlessly enforced through security forces.
Between 2000 and 2002
the government enacted the Broadcasting Services Act,
the Public Order and
Security Act, and the Access to Information and
Protection of Privacy Act.
Collectively, these Acts seriously restricted the
rights to freedom of
expression, association and assembly.
"One daily newspaper that did
not comply with the registration requirement
because it was challenging the
constitutionality of the requirement was
forced to close down. The ANZ and
its assets were seized by the state.
Other newspapers have also been
closed down for failing to meet the
requirements of
Aippa.
"Criticism of the state president was criminalised, as was the
publication
of falsehoods, having a chilling effect on the exercise of the
freedom of
expression. The police were granted wide powers to prohibit
public meetings
and demonstrations," the report says.
Zim Independent
Augustine
Mukaro
A SEVENTH land audit committee has been established to come up with a
list
of new farmers eligible to sign 99-year-leases as government searches
for a
lasting solution to the chaotic land reform
programme.
Officials involved in the audit, led by State Security, Lands,
Land Reform
and Resettlement minister in the President's Office, Didymus
Mutasa, said
only A2 farmers that have the potential and are already
productive would get
the 99-year leases.
A copy of the 99-year
lease agreement in the hands of the Zimbabwe
Independent indicates that A2
farmers will now be charged rentals for land
they lease from
government.
New land beneficiaries will have to go through a rigorous
vetting exercise
and be required to produce a convincing five-year
development plan and a
production plan for a similar period before being
allowed to lease state
land.
The new requirements could see a number
of non-performing chancers falling
by the wayside.
President
Robert Mugabe recently railed against "cellphone farmers" whom he
accused of
turning formerly productive white commercial farms into "weekend
braai
resorts". He vowed to repossess such land and give it to those
committed to
farming although there have never been any publicised cases of
forfeiture.
Government has been agonising over land wrested from
white commercial
farmers that has been lying idle. Some of the beneficiaries
acquired large
tracts of land as status symbols which they have not been
able to put to
production, resulting in current food
shortages.
Last week, government repossessed a 3 000-hectare farm
from Makonde MP, Leo
Mugabe, alleging it was grossly
underutilised.
In addition to paying rent, farmers will be required
to pay all levies, fees
and charges as may be determined by the local
authority.
"An annual rental shall be payable on or before the 1st
January of each and
every year during the currency of this lease. The rental
may be reviewed and
increased annually by the lessor by such reasonable
amount as the lessor may
determine," the document says.
The lease
document requires the new farmer to submit a five-year development
plan and
another five-year production plan to the relevant planning
authority for
approval before the signing of the lease.
"The development plan
should include provision of access roads suitably
sited, constructed and
protected against erosion as approved by the
principal director responsible
for Lands and Rural Resettlement," the
document says.
The lease
bars people from subletting the farms to other operators without
the
approval of government.
"The lessee shall not cede, assign,
hypothecate or otherwise alienate or
sublet in whole or in part, or donate
of his lease or any of his rights, or
enter into partnership without the
consent of the lessor in writing," the
document says.
Zim Independent
Itai Mushekwe
THIS is the
darkest hour in the beauty pageant industry. The customary
spectacle of
celebrating national beauty through Miss Zimbabwe is over
courtesy of what
many view as an ambush by the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority
(ZTA) which has
turned the national beauty pageant into a tourism catwalk
now known as Miss
Zimbabwe Tourism.
The cosmetic surgery becomes the first of its kind in
the history of Miss
Zimbabwe which has seen it inheriting a surname, in what
is largely viewed
as a marriage of convenience between the Miss Zimbabwe
Trust and the ZTA.
Both parties appear to have set out to gain mileage from
each other.
In the face of dwindling tourism activity, the ZTA hijacked
the pageant to
market Zimbabwe's tourism while in return the Trust will
secure financial
support from the tourism authority.
Speaking at
the launch of the new pageant brand last week, Miss Zimbabwe
Trust patron,
Kiki Divaris, expressed gratitude to the ZTA for deciding to
come aboard. "I
want to thank you for approaching us. It's a dream come true
for us," she
said while categorically setting the record straight that the
ZTA had come
knocking at their door.
ZTA chief executive officer, Karikoga Kaseke,
dismissed suggestions that his
organisation had muscled into Miss Zimbabwe:
"We've not taken over Miss
Zimbabwe. What we have done is to ask Miss
Zimbabwe Trust to have one Miss
Zimbabwe pageant," he said making reference
to the harmonisation of Miss
Zimbabwe and Miss Zimbabwe Tourism
respectively.
Kaseke also called for the media's support and an end
to "damaging
reportage" to enable the new-look pageant to be a success
story. "We are
kindly asking for a new chapter and call for a ceasefire," he
said. "We need
your total support. We're not requesting for a cover-up,
although pageants
have their own controversies. Give Miss Zimbabwe Tourism a
chance."
Miss Zimbabwe has been haunted by a plethora of ills
although it
has scored some notable successes. Last month it was enticed
into entering
its first princess, Edwick Madyopa, for the Miss International
Beauty
contest by US-based beauty scout, Ashley Shumba, which turned out to
be a
transvestite pageant.
In 2003, the then national beauty,
Linda Van Beek, was forced to relinquish
her crown after she had reportedly
fallen pregnant. Van Beek was at a loss
for words
during the April 23
handover ceremony.
However for consolation former Miss Zimbabwe, Britta
Masalethulini, scooped
the inaugural Miss Malaika beauty
pageant.
Going for gold was Angeline Musasiwa, the finest beauty
queen Zimbabwe has
ever produced who came fourth at the Miss World pageant
finals in 1994.
Reigning Miss Zimbabwe, Oslie Muringai, becomes the
last Miss Zimbabwe crown
bearer before its change yesterday.
Zim Independent
Itai Mushekwe
IF there's
an industry that has failed to subjugate women, it is the film
sector in
arts and entertainment. Women are now commanding an authoritative
role in
film, thus moving away from the industry's stereotype which paints
them as
script mimics and not as equal competitive script writers and film
directors.
For the fourth year running women through the
International Images Film
Festival for Women (IIFFW) which starts today have
proved just that. The
prestigious film fiesta aims at encouraging women's
participation.
IIFFW is organised by the Women Filmmakers of Zimbabwe
(WFOZ). This year's
catchy theme is "Women of Passion". The festival runs to
November 12.
IIFFW director, Tsitsi Dangarembga, told Independent Xtra
that all is set
for today's official launch and that she's positive the
festival will live
up to expectations and move a step ahead in empowering
women.
"Our workshops and panel discussions encourage us to reflect
more seriously
on the conditions that women live in," she said. "We
passionately hope that
women will find the week empowering so that their
mind sets are changed as a
result of ideas they carry which prevent them
from reaching their full
potential. For men, we equally and passionately
hope that by the end of the
week, they reconsider their positions on some of
the notions that prevail in
society that contribute to the subjugation of
women."
Over 20 participants who include those from the embassies
from Spain, Japan,
Poland, Norway and Iran are set to present their entrant
films, which cover
a spectrum of issues ranging from trials faced in life to
the races in a bid
in finding true love.
Of interest among the
entrants to the festival are Sweden's twin entries,
which are The
arm-wrestler from Solitude and Four Women. The former is a
documentary
directed by Lisa Munthe and Helen Ahisson, while the later is a
feature
directed by Baker Karim. The arm-wrestler from Solitude fits in
properly
with IIFFW as it focuses on a tiny village in the far north of
Sweden called
Ensamheten (solitude). Among the villagers is a 23-year-old
female
arm-wrestler, Heidi Anderssson, a four-time world champion. The
spirit of
togetherness in the small community of sixteen inhabitants teaches
Heidi
that "alone I'm strong, I can go far; together we are stronger and go
further", as she sets out to take on the world.
Zim Independent
Shakeman Mugari
RESERVE
Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) governor Gideon Gono could have got himself
entangled
in the dispute between troubled Zimbabwe Allied Banking Group
(ZABG) and
collapsed banks after he allegedly secretly blocked an
independent
commission of inquiry meant to solve the financial sector crisis
that hit
the banking sector last year.
The commission had been proposed by bankers
at the height of the crisis in
the financial sector last
year.
Gono is now battling to extricate himself from the ongoing
battle between
the state bank and two collapsed banks - Trust and Royal -
which were taken
over by ZABG. Gono was the chief architect of the
takeover.
However, the Supreme Court ruled last month that the
takeover was unlawful,
"null and void and of no force or effect", throwing
the state bank into a
quandary. The ruling meant that without Trust and
Royal's assets, ZABG would
be insolvent and unable to
operate.
The court said the central bank must adjudicate on the
problems between the
state bank and the collapsed banks. The RBZ has however
been evasive on the
issue, fearing that an impartial decision would lead to
the collapse of
ZABG.
Sources say Gono is now in a Catch-22
situation in which he might be forced
to make a decision that is likely to
see the closure of his brainchild,
ZABG. They say he is too entangled in the
issue to be an impartial
adjudicator in the dispute.
The sources,
however, said Gono had got himself entangled in the crisis
because he
secretly blocked an independent commission of inquiry into the
financial
sector. The governor had initially agreed to "look into the issue"
but later
changed his mind.
"We had suggested the inquiry and Gono had agreed
but he later changed,"
said a source that attended the meeting where the
commission proposal was
discussed.
The bankers had suggested that
the commission should be set up by
parliament. According to the initial
proposal, the commission was supposed
to include members of parliament,
bankers, depositors and the RBZ itself. It
was also supposed to include the
auditors, accounting organisations and law
firms.
"At one of the
meetings that I attended Gono had actually agreed to look
into it but he
later went on with his abrupt bank closures," the source
said. Some of the
bankers who were vocal on the matter were actually
grilled, said the
source.
Parliament later again suggested a commission but Gono
allegedly said he did
not think it was necessary. "A commission of inquiry
would have done a
better job but Gono had other ideas," the source
said.
Experts say that a commission would have done an impartial job
without
compromising the central bank. Its absence has put the central
bank's
credibility under spotlight, making it difficult for the RBZ to be an
impartial adjudicator in the dispute.
Zim Independent
Godfrey
Marawanyika
ZIMBABWE'S external debt increased from US$3,857 million to
US$4,270 million
by the end of December last year, the Reserve Bank of
Zimbabwe (RBZ) has
said in its annual report.
During the year under
review, the debt to government dominated the medium to
long-term debt
stock.
As a proportion of the total external debt, government
borrowings accounted
for 77%.
"Zimbabwe's total external debt
disbursed and outstanding (including
arrears) is estimated to have increased
from US$3,857 million in 2003 to
US$4,270 million by end December 2004,
representing an increase of 11%," RBZ
said.
"Although the inflows
were not much in 2004 (only US$22,6 million from
China), the increase
relative to previous years mainly reflects the
weakening of the United
States dollar against all major currencies in which
the country's debt is
denominated."
The RBZ said the medium to long term external debt has
continued to dominate
the external debt stock, accounting for 97% of the
total.
"This category of debt increased from US$3,688 million to
US$4,136 million
by end of December 2004," the RBZ said.
"Short
term debt, which is largely trade finance related; that is, exports
credits,
suppliers credits of up to one year and standby credits sourced by
the
Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe from international capital markets accounted
for
3,0% of the debt stock as at end of December 2004. This reflects a
decline
of 0,5% from US$169 million in 2003 to US$134 million by the end of
the
year."
In 2004, facilities sourced by the central bank for the
procurement of fuel
and grain amounted to US$73 million.
Most of
the 2004 debt was contracted mainly to finance the economic reform
programme
which was launched in 1991. The 2004 external debt includes the
US$305
million debt which Zimbabwe previously owed to the International
Monetary
Fund (IMF).
Zimbabwe has now repaid the Bretton Woods institute
US$135 million,
promising that by next year the debt would have been
settled.
Apart from financing the reform programme, government
external debt
borrowings have been for the purposes of financing ongoing
developmental
projects such as health facilities, rural road networks and
transport.
Various parastatal bodies collectively accounted for 18%
of the total medium
term debt by the end of last year.
In
absolute terms, parastatal debt stock stood at US$765 million, an
increase
of around 7% over 2003. The increases resulted from the
disbursements of
Chinese loans to Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority and
the Zimbabwe
Revenue Authority.
"The external borrowings of parastatal have
largely been used to finance the
infrastructure requirements with regard to
the provision of electricity
(Zesa), rail transport (NRZ) and
telecommunications (Tel*One and Net*One,"
the report said.
"The
private sector continued to borrow for the purposes of importing
replacement
machinery, capital equipment, pre- and post-shipment trade
finance and for
various expansion and new projects. Private sector external
debt declined
from US$191 million to US$125 million."
Of the country's total debt,
48% is owed to multilateral creditors, while
bilateral and commercial
creditors are owed 47% and five percent
respectively.
Zim Independent
Conrad
Dube
"ZIMDOLLAR for sale, $13 500 per South African rand, Zimdollar $13 500."
"Bananas for sale, $5 000 each."
Sounds like fiction?
No,
these are two vendors going about their business at a fuel service
station
about two kilometers away from Beitbridge Border Post.
Fruit vendors
carry a variety of fruits in plastic bags while currency
traders carry
satchels stashed with the local dollar and South African rand,
Botswana pula
and all the other major world currencies.
Currency exchanges hands in
full view of the public. Police and Reserve Bank
of Zimbabwe sniffers are
conspicuous by their absence.
The Zimbabwe dollar is being traded
like bananas and mangos by parallel
market dealers around the
country.
The dealers also mill around Harare's cross-border terminus,
RoadPort.
In Gweru, they have taken over the intercity bus terminus,
Kudzanayi, in the
centre of the city.
The local dollar has taken
a serious battering against major currencies.
Some banks last week
quoted the local currency at about $95 000 to the US
unit before the central
bank intervened to suspend further downfall.
It traded at between $58
000 and $70 000 to the US dollar at the interbank
market.
Kingdom, Jewel and Barclays banks quoted the dollar at
$58 200 to the US
unit.
The rand was selling at $8 655 and $8 796
at Barclays and Kingdom
respectively. The pound fetched between $102 000 and
$105 000 per unit.
The rates will be slightly higher for foreign
currency account holders.
A dealer at Kingdom said the rate was
expected to rise to about $90 000
"soon" as pressure remained on banks to
raise their offers.
She said there was no mechanism used to price the
rate but "it depends on
the market".
The interbank rates are,
however, lower than those offered by parallel
market dealers.
The
greenback is fetching $86 000, the rand $14 000 while the pound is
fetching
as much as $140 000 on the black market.
Zim Independent
Editor's Memo
By Iden
Wetherell
MY thanks to acting editor Joram Nyathi for inviting me to occupy
his space
this week. I thought I would take the opportunity to brief you on
an
important initiative relating to press freedom.
In February I
attended the conference of the Commonwealth Press Union in
Sydney. This is a
meeting held every two years when editors and publishers
from the 54
Commonwealth countries consult together on current issues.
Although
Zimbabwe is no longer a "Club" member, the "Fiji precedent" applies
in terms
of which our civil society and press organisations continue to
retain links
with the world body on the grounds that once democracy is
restored we will
rejoin, just as South Africa and Fiji did.
The editors met first in
Manly, a Sydney ocean-side resort, before joining
the publishers (who
included Trevor Ncube) in the city centre for the main
conference. Foreign
minister Alexander Downer, who chaired the Commonwealth
foreign ministers
group during Australia's tenure as Commonwealth chair in
2002-2003, opened
the conference.
He made generous reference to the role of the
Zimbabwe Independent and my
presence at the meeting in his speech and
described his "substantial
confrontation" with the Zimbabwe government as a
test for Commonwealth
values. Would the organisation be just a loose
federation of ex-colonies or
would it be a force for good in the world by
upholding its principles, he
asked?
President Mugabe's exit from
the group was "the right thing to do if you
can't adhere to the core
values", Downer said, pointing to the importance of
the 1991 Harare
Declaration in establishing respect for democratic rules.
The Mugabe
regime's harassment of journalists was well-documented, Downer
said, and
where the media was restricted in reporting public debate it was
unable to
fulfil its role in society. That placed the opposition at a
disadvantage, he
reminded his audience just ahead of the March election.
The
parliamentary poll provided an opportunity for Zimbabwe to break back
into
the world of democracy and make up for the aberrations of the past,
Downer
said.
We know that didn't happen. Zimbabwe is today more isolated
than it has ever
been. But I felt Australians, now part of a multi-cultural
society and
increasingly part of the Asian matrix around them, were
responsive to our
dilemma and keen to play a role in finding solutions to
our problems, just
as Malcolm Fraser did in Lusaka in 1979.
The
press had a tendency to challenge governments, Downer said in his
address to
the CPU. This was a good thing, he declared. "This is what the
Fourth Estate
should be doing."
Perhaps with that in mind, the Editors' Forum
passed a resolution,
subsequently adopted by the conference as a whole,
challenging Commonwealth
governments to drop criminal defamation, an
egregious anachronism, from
their statute books.
The resolution
deplored the continued recourse to criminal defamation laws
by Commonwealth
governments and their use to inhibit press freedom. It
welcomed the action
of members such as Ghana and Sri Lanka which had
repealed the law and called
on others to repeal all criminal defamation
measures as incompatible with
modern democratic practice.
In particular the conference called on
the UK to scrap its antiquated
criminal libel law - the model for other
measures around the Commonwealth
which were used to suppress nationalist
voices in the past and continue to
be used today by some nations as
justification for draconian acts against
the press.
The
Independent was not alone in having to defend itself in 2004 from the
depredations of a hostile state. Many newspapers around the Commonwealth
have found themselves having to fork out large sums to protect their right
to promote public accountability.
The wheels of power move slowly
in these matters but this week the
Commonwealth Press Union heard from the
Lord Chancellor that he is prepared
to consult the CPU on repealing the UK's
Criminal Defamation Act and related
legislation.
So that is one
important outcome of our deliberations in Sydney. We don't
expect a stampede
in the same direction by other governments! The UK's
legislation was in any
case largely moribund. But we do hope that a body of
opinion can be built,
making it clear that governments that hide behind such
self-serving and
punitive measures place themselves on the wrong side in a
Commonwealth
increasingly attached to the values spelt out in Harare in
1991.
Zim Independent
Dumisani
Muleya
THE opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC)'s
self-destructive power
struggle deepened this week after a meeting of the
party's "top six" leaders
failed to mend fences on Monday.
After an
initial meeting last Thursday to resolve the crisis, MDC leaders
met again
on Monday but emerged without a solution. They seem to have
actually moved
further apart after the meeting, chaired by Professor Brian
Raftopoulos.
The internal war in the MDC erupted last month after a
dispute over the
forthcoming senate election, scheduled for November
26.
The party's national council voted 33 to 31 for participation in the
election. However, MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai pulled rank and overruled
the council, arguing entering elections under hostile conditions "breeds
illegitimate outcomes".
Professor Welshman Ncube, MDC secretary-general,
argued that the party had
to fight the election because its supreme
decision-making body had voted so.
In any case, the Ncube group said,
boycotting elections is not a serious
policy option for a party struggling
for more democratic space.
This triggered a battle of wills between the
Tsvangirai and Ncube camps.
When it became clear the party had put itself in
a quandary, party leaders
agreed to meet in a bid to find common ground.
However, their statements
after Monday's meeting suggest they have moved
poles apart.
At face value, the crisis appears ethnic in character because
Tsvangirai
leads a Shona-dominated faction while Ncube heads a largely
Ndebele camp.
There have also been overtones of tribalism in media stories
that seek to
ignore the policy issues.
The crisis in the MDC is due
mainly to its failure to balance competing
interests. It is also about
leadership and policy problems.
The MDC's obvious lack of ideological
cohesion is another major flaw. Modern
politics are about a fight of ideas.
A party's ideology is vital in shaping
and defining it.
A cursory look at
the MDC's short history reveals that it emerged from the
trade union and
civic movements in 1999. It was an eclectic mix of trade
unions, civic
organisations, business associations, pressure groups,
professionals,
farmers and students. It was in essence a creature of
President Robert
Mugabe's leadership failures.
The MDC was therefore driven by popular
disenchantment with the
establishment while its constituent parts had either
little or nothing in
common.
Conditions for a party like the MDC to
emerge were cultivated by the botched
International Monetary Fund-backed
economic reforms which started in 1991
after government's failed dirigiste
experiment between 1980 and 1990.
When the situation deteriorated
dramatically after 1997, it became only a
matter of time before a
broad-based opposition movement emerged. The MDC
surfaced as a catch-all
party because of the deteriorating socio-economic
conditions.
After
winning almost half the contested parliamentary seats in the general
election in 2000 (57 out of 120), the MDC failed to evolve into a cohesive
unit. Its policies were also vague, especially on the controversial land
redistribution.
The party also failed to recruit some of Zimbabwe's best
minds, and this
explains its intellectual deficit, its policy inadequacies
and its
leadership limitations. It therefore remained an ideologically weak
protest
movement.
It is clear the current fight over the senate is not an
issue of substance
but an eruption of bottled-up problems suppressed over
the past six years.
The implosion was always bound to come. It does not
matter whether or not
the MDC contests the senate election, but this
relatively trivial issue has
been allowed to assume a national character
because of leadership
weaknesses.
This is why neither of the rival camps
is able to sell its position. The
argument over the senate election is
unwinnable because both sides'
arguments have almost equal merit and as a
result it should not have been a
general debate but a strategic
issue.
Tsvangirai is right that there is no point in contesting elections
whose
outcomes are predetermined, but few are convinced about the strategic
utility of election boycotts. There is no point in having a party that
exists merely to boycott elections in as much as there is no sense in
squandering resources fighting Zanu PF over an inconsequential
institution.
The MDC has lost the bigger picture in the heat of the battle.
Zanu PF set
the booby trap for the opposition through its senate project and
the MDC is
right where the ruling party wanted it.
But instead of
providing leadership, Tsvangirai has seized the opportunity
to consolidate
his faltering grip on the party by staging a coup against his
own
constitution. That's where he simply got it wrong. Perhaps that was the
most
important decision he had to make so far and he failed the test.
By
overthrowing the constitution, Tsvangirai set a dangerous precedent. He
could be right in his argument but the risk of allowing him to act
autocratically for opportunistic reasons threatens the founding principles
of the MDC.
Tsvangirai - who can summon large crowds at the hustings -
says after the
boycott, the MDC will confront the regime. But only a few
months ago he said
he would not tackle government head-on by taking people
to the streets
because they will be gunned down by the army. Only recently
he renounced
mass action as an option.
He is also on record saying the
MDC would not focus on constitutional reform
before it gets into power
because it would be unhelpful to pursue "academic"
issues when "people are
starving". Tsvangirai has also been refusing to work
with civil society
organisations, claiming they had no constituency.
But he has now changed the
tune for opportunistic reasons and this is where
the MDC has a problem. It
has no consistent programme of action.
Tsvangirai cannot rise to the
challenge to rescue his party from its
political cul de sac.
Leadership
is a process of making policy and administrative decisions,
particularly
under difficult conditions. It is the leader's responsibility
to hold his
party together - to act as a referee and ensure disputes do not
impair or
destroy the organisation.
But instead of being umpire, Tsvangirai has reduced
himself to a faction
leader. If he had stayed neutral and mediated
successfully in the crisis,
his political credit rating would have gone up
dramatically. Leading a
faction and engaging in a dogfight with his
principal colleagues has damaged
his credibility.
Tsvangirai's failure to
knock heads together has left him facing what social
scientists call a "run
on the political bank". Hirelings following him know
that resorting to
martial law tactics to resolve an issue in a "movement for
democratic
change" is wrong but they want the spoils they can get out of
him,
personally or institutionally.
If the MDC splits, it will be a tremendous
waste of the effort it put into
the struggle for change over the past six
years. It will also be a great
betrayal of the millions who sacrificed -
some their lives - for it. But now
unless something dramatic happens at its
council meeting tomorrow the party
seems headed for a break-up. That's the
last thing the country needs as the
Mugabe-regime daily advertises its
policy failures.
Zim Independent
By Bornwell
Chakaodza
THE other day, a colleague was explaining to me how he had not come
across a
single Zimbabwean who had evinced any interest to vote for the
contested
seats of the senate election scheduled for November 26.
My
own conversations with friends and family members both in Harare and in
rural Guruve where I hail from, have led me to feel that many Zimbabweans
neither understand what this animal called the senate is all about, nor will
they waste their time and energy voting for the remaining contested
constituencies come election day.
For my own part, it was very
heartening to be reassured once again that the
electorate is a very
discerning and questioning one which knows a useless
thing when it sees it.
Zimbabweans are fully aware that the senate which is
almost akin to the
House of Lords in Britain is a futile and idle exercise,
a mere talk shop
for the failed Zanu PF old guard which will not bring any
benefit whatsoever
to them. At least in Britain, members of the House of
Lords are not failed
politicians by any yardstick you care to think of.
Whether some
candidates have filed their nomination papers on MDC tickets or
as
independents is neither here nor there. The point is that they are
contesting the seats to promote their personal interests. And in the
unlikely event that they are elected by the few who will bother to vote,
they will nevertheless remain impotent.
One elderly man from
Mufakose high-density suburb asked me: "This senate
which is being paraded
before us every day in the media, what is it? Will it
put food on my table
or a roof over my head?"
When I responded by saying that the senate
as the upper house will be
charged with the responsibility of reviewing
legislation and scrutinising
bills emanating from the lower house, the House
of Assembly, the elderly man
retorted: "What is that? Does it mean that the
people we voted into
parliament last March are now impotent? If that is the
case, let us do away
with this damn thing called
parliament!"
Clearly, going by what the Mufakose man said and the
people I have been
talking to over the past two months, it does indeed
appear that the
Zimbabwean electorate is an anxious one, worried much more
about their
living conditions than obsession with trivialities and
irrelevant netas such
as the costly senate which will serve as the primary
source of individual
enrichment of pseudo-politicians and nothing more. In
an economy like ours
that is in a critical condition, accumulation is often
dependent on a system
of patronage and state resources and favours. The
struggle for spoils in the
form of senate seats must be understood in this
context.
Zanu PF, as the mover of this useless project, is thus
completely out of
touch with reality. Of course, from the deluded and
brainwashed and lowly
placed Zanu PF supporters, there will be song and
dance but this does not
take away the fact that for the vast majority of
Zimbabweans, the senate
elections are a non-event. The behaviour of such
Zanu PF supporters need not
surprise anyone. For the only time when the
lowly-placed in society become
"politically active" is at the time of voting
and during rent-a-crowd
meetings of the party where they perform the
functions of hands-clapping and
ululating to accompany every speech by the
president of the party and his
lieutenants. Apparently, the deluded
supporters think that these mystical
gatherings will bring about the
disappearance of starvation only for reality
to dawn on them when after the
speeches they trek back to their homes to
face the continuing misery and
poverty alone and out of the sight of the
so-called chefs.
In
other words, we can safely talk about two societies in Zimbabwe. One for
the
ordinary masses, and the other for the political elites. The former
struggles for existence daily and in their deluded state makes it possible
for the latter to earn a senate salary and a new vehicle. The
re-introduction of the senate after it was wisely abolished 18 years ago in
the wake of the establishment of the all-powerful executive presidency has
nothing to do with any lofty ideals such as the further scrutiny of bills
from the lower house but rather with individual self-interest in a situation
in which opportunities for personal accumulation are closely tied to
membership of the ruling party.
Little wonder that since 1980,
positions of leadership in Zanu PF and its
government have been dominated,
to a considerable extent, by the same people
or their close confidants. Let
us therefore be spared all this verbiage
about review of legislation by the
senate or its delaying tactics on the
passing of bills. Amendments or no
amendments, inputs or no inputs from the
senate, the lower house will pass
the bills anyway. This is the bottom line,
which to me reads very well and
that is why for the vast majority of
Zimbabweans, the re-introduction of the
senate is particularly painful.
Essentially, the whole senate thing
boils down to plundering the little
resources we have. That is also the
reason why Morgan Tsvangirai - with
whatever shortcomings you ascribe to him
- is the man who has come to
represent the conscience of Zimbabwe on this
particular issue of the senate.
In fact, almost every Zimbabwean is
asking why the senate is suddenly
necessary after an 18-year absence.
Personal interests that include
providing "jobs for the boys" who will be
needed for a smooth presidential
succession in the same way the senate
closed ranks with the lower house in
1987 when the Constitution of Zimbabwe
Amendment (No 7) 1987 ushered in the
executive presidency which with its
centralisation of power in one man,
provides answers why the senate has been
revived.
Therein lies the context within which the re-introduction of
the senate must
be understood and sub-sequently condemned. When it comes to
things like the
re-establishment of the senate for example, the more
important point is
conceptual. It lies in the argument that events and
happenings should not be
seen as isolated, accidental or superficial
occurrences but as grounded in a
deeper political and social
process.
Zimbabwe is in dire straits. Ordinarily, why should anyone
want to
come up with a senate project that by any stretch of imagination
does not
make sense at all? The question is being asked: How on earth can
anybody do
this? The senate is not going to have any powers of setting aside
any bill
or legislation even it is against right and reason or repugnant to
the
Constitution or anything. The bill can only be delayed but it will
eventually pass. So why have the senate given such a scenario
anyway?
In any event, given the semi-literate nature of many of
would-be senators,
their partisan stances and lack of understanding of the
seriousness of the
current crisis and challenges, I guarantee you that you
will never see a
worse circus like this in your lifetime.
For
this and many other reasons, I will not, for the first time since 1980,
be
voting in an election. Even if there was going to be competition in my
constituency, I was not going to waste my time and effort. No useful purpose
would be served by taking part in this charade. I am cocksure that the vast
majority of Zimbabweans share this position and viewpoint.
*
Bornwell Chakaodza is a former editor of the Herald and Standard
newspapers.
Zim Independent
By Jonathan
Moyo
IN my view, there are two background variables that arise from the MDC
episode of infighting.
The first has to do with the specific matter
at issue: to participate or not
to participate in the forthcoming senate
election and how this issue has
been handled by the MDC leadership. The
second has to do with whether the
first issue about participating or not
participating in the senate election
is a substantive one to warrant the
sort of leadership dispute that we have
seen erupting within the
MDC.
Starting with the second question first, it seems to me that the
question of
whether to participate or not is clearly not a substantive one.
I get the
impression that this question is a trigger point of fundamental
differences
within or among the MDC leadership that have been simmering and
were allowed
to remain unresolved for a long time.
Not that I
know what these differences are, but that it is quite clear there
is
something much bigger and more serious that has not been right and the
question of participating or not participating in the senate election has
turned out to be a convenient opportunity to light up the fires that are now
burning within the MDC.
Paranthetically, while I believe there
are some substantive differences
within the MDC leadership that we have not
yet heard about, it seems to me
self-evident that the MDC has been
infiltrated by state security and this
really saddens me because state
security should not be allowed to become
ruling party
security.
Yet the truth in our country is that state security agents
are running Zanu
PF such that Zanu PF is Central Intelligence Organisation
(CIO) and CIO is
Zanu PF. Naturally, in such a scenario, it stands to reason
that the CIO
will defend and prop up Zanu PF by infiltrating opposition
ranks so as to
cause confusion within them in the hope that the resultant
confusion will
weaken if not kill the opposition.
Otherwise,
there are strong objective considerations and grounds to support
either
participating or not participating and it is a pity that the MDC has
allowed
a rather straightforward matter to rock its foundations. I will
return to
the participating question in a moment.
What is happening suggests
that for any political party to survive for a
long time, it is necessary for
that party to have something ideologically or
morally more important than
just seizing political power.
A political party by definition must
stand for and represent something,
first and foremost. Any political party
that comes into existence merely
because it is against the incumbent party
or its leader is always at risk of
disintegration.
A major
structural weakness of the MDC has been that it is has generally
benefited
from, if not driven by, protest politics. While such politics may
have
strategic utility at some opportune moment, the fact is that protest is
ephemeral and comes and goes depending on the dynamics of particular times
and particular developments. Protest is not an ideology, it is inherently
opportunistic and short-lived.
Political parties that have been
able to take strategic advantage of protest
politics are those that are well
grounded in ideological and policy terms.
Of course, some political parties
(like Narc in Kenya) have been able to
opportunistically take advantage of
protest politics and votes to unseat an
incumbent party (Kanu) but in such a
scenario the day after the victory
brings with it the real ideological and
policy divisions as things begin to
fall apart.
This is what has
been happening in Kenya in recent years where Narc's lack
of a common
ideological and policy grounding is taking its toll. Of course,
we can say
this is not really too bad given that Narc at least managed to
unseat Kanu
and this alone was momentous in the political history of Kenya
as it opened
up new politics beyond Kanu's one party state machine that has
been truly
dismantled.
With respect to the MDC, it was important for its
survival to have won the
critical election in 2000. Evidence around shows
that a political opposition
party - without a coherent or common ideological
platform but riding on
protest votes - which fails to win a critical
election runs a very high risk
of falling apart after that
election.
The 2000 elections were critical for the MDC to win and if
the MDC had won
those elections, indications are that it would have
subsequently found
itself facing serious internal conflicts as a governing
party. Therefore,
infighting within the MDC was bound to take place ever
since the party was
formed in 1999 as the ideological question facing it,
arising from not
having a shared ideology, was not whether such a fight
would happen but
when.
The proposition that the root cause of the
infighting is because of a lack
of a common ideology shared by the MDC
leadership is demonstrated by the
fact that the infighting is very
personalised and when it is not, the issues
at stake are procedural and not
substantive. Neither of the feuding sides
has put forward an ideological
argument beyond the voting saga and the
provisions of the constitution and
this alone shows that participating or
not participating are not fundamental
issues at all.
Let's face it, in politics the only political party
that can survive without
an ideology is most likely the one in power which
abuses its incumbency by
making state institutions and state resources
extensions of its party for
reasons of patronage.
That is what is
keeping Zanu PF together, because Zanu PF is now a dead duck
on the shelf,
only breathing from the evils of state security and the abuse
of state
funds. Otherwise, like the MDC, Zanu PF does not have a coherent
ideology
shared by its members and is no longer capable of coming up with
one. In
conclusion, let me return to the specific issue.
The MDC would have
been well-advised to participate. Yes, we all know that
the MDC opposed the
senate; yes we all know that this senate is intended
only for five years as
a stop-gap measure to satisfy Zanu PF's patronage
needs in order to manage
Robert Mugabe's succession.
These negatives are known and most of
them if not all of them also apply to
the lower house which is full of
Mugabe's appointees. But Zanu PF is not
confident of winning the senate
elections if the MDC participates. A number
of Zanu PF's senatorial
candidates are simply unelectable and it is
strategic to expose Zanu PF by
participating and defeating its geriatrics
who have no chance in heaven to
win a poll even if it is not free and fair.
Zanu PF's gamble, and why
it has created all this confusion, is that in the
end the MDC will not
participate or that only a few MDC candidates will
participate so as to have
its candidates walk into the senate without facing
any
competition.
This is what Zanu PF wanted. They wanted their
candidates to win it all at
the nomination court. Remember, all Zanu PF
wants is to have its geriatrics
become senators so as to collect state
funds, etc. This will be used as
campaigning ground for the presidential
election that Zanu PF is currently
afraid of. Imagine Sithembiso Nyoni or
Dumiso Dabengwa, they clearly are
spending sleepless nights praying that the
MDC should not participate
because they know they cannot win any
election.
Why let them get away with it by not participating? Also,
Zanu PF wants to
dilute the MDC constituencies by having senators who will
use state
resources to "show" that MDC MPs (and this will include me as an
independent
MP) are not doing anything for the people.
Zanu PF
wants its senators to take over constituencies that are currently
held by
the opposition. Therefore, if the MDC does not participate, you will
see
that it will become impossible or even harder to work in their
constituencies. Zanu PF senators will have the impact of the Zanu PF
metropolitan governors who have messed up things in Harare and Bulawayo
where residents had clearly elected MDC councils.
So from purely
a strategic point of view, the MDC should have seriously
considered
participation only for the purposes of containing Zanu PF. In
politics, you
fight every battle and use the battle as experience. Electoral
boycotts are
by definition old-fashioned and thoughtless, they never serve
any useful
purpose at all.
While on this, you might ask why the United People's
Movement (UPM) is not
participating. Well it's simply because it is in its
formation and is
currently building its structures which it will use in
future elections.
Otherwise, UPM would have participated just to expose Zanu
PF and throw
spanners into its evil schemes.
As things stand now,
I believe the MDC has needlessly put itself between a
rock and a hard place.
The conflict has created deep wounds among the
leaders and some of the
wounds cannot be healed. But worse, the conflict has
confused and divided
the party's membership at home and abroad.
It would require serious
statesmanship to bridge the gaps and heal the
wounds. I sincerely hope the
MDC leadership can use this episode as an
opportunity to rise above
personality clashes, mere procedures and related
technicalities and deal
with fundamental ideological and policy issues in
the interest of their
members.
Crises of this kind are known to produce miracles. As for
Zanu PF media
mouthpieces, the glee that has been displayed through dense
propaganda
articles and useless in-house columns is childish. These
mouthpieces have
been falling hard on each other believing that they have
finally cornered
MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai.
Far from it. In
the first place, Tsvangirai's position actually resonates
with popular
opinion on the ground. That is clear. People are now tired of
elections
whose outcome leaves them worse off. Obviously, Tsvangirai has not
handled
the issues at stake properly or wisely but he certainly has an
emotionally -
not intellectually - powerful position.
Also, Tsvangirai's view that
his party has no resources to participate is
not a trivial point. Zanu PF is
using state funds which the MDC does not
have to expand patronage to its
deadwood retrieved from the political
wasteland. Some traditional supporters
of the MDC seem to have become
extremely tired and they appear to have taken
a prior position against the
senate election to which they are not even
sending observers.
What is ironic though is that what the Zanu PF
media mouthpieces are
accusing Tsvangirai of doing is exactly what the
ruling party leader Robert
Mugabe does all the time in his party. The
Tsholotsho saga is a recent case
in point. Mugabe actually does not want the
organs of his party to vote as
required by the Zanu PF constitution. He
simply has no time for that
constitution.
In Zanu PF, the command
is Mugabe's word. Because the Zanu PF media
mouthpieces have made puerile
noises - like baboons that laugh at each
other's foreheads - it is necessary
for neutral observers to use the MDC
episode to look at how Mugabe runs Zanu
PF.
If the truth were to be said without prejudice, in political
terms, the MDC
has shown exemplary courage in debating the issue of the
senate in the way
it has although the debate has been clumsy. For the
neutrals, it's been very
refreshing and path breaking though. It is very
possible that, in the final
analysis, a lot of good will come out of this.
The real loser will be Zanu
PF which is so foolish as not to realise that it
has been exposed big time
by the MDC situation.
* Professor Moyo
is the MP for Tsholotsho and former Information minister
Zim Independent
By John Robertson
IN
his recent monetary policy statement, Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe governor
Gideon Gono urged the nation and the government to ensure that the coming
agricultural season becomes a success to prevent a repeat of the serious
consequences of this year's food deficits.
The governor, his
government colleagues and the nation would do well to
study Bruce Gemmill's
article in the Zimbabwe Independent of October 7.
In his article,
Gemmill makes many important points very clearly. Among
these are the simple
facts that small-scale farming should never have been
expected to feed our
growing urban population and the uncertainties involved
in farming call for
the delivery of vastly more capital, knowledge and
commitment than
small-scale producers are prepared, or able, to supply.
Now we learn
from the long-range weather forecasters that we might have very
poor rains
in the next few seasons. Bad seasons are usually devastating to
small
operators, but experienced farmers have always been more able to take
this
kind of season in their stride.
Considering the food security issues
and also the foreign earnings we used
to bring in from export commodities,
one fact now stands out: we urgently
need to get experienced people back
onto the land.
Zimbabwe is a drought-prone tropical country that has
a fragile ecology and
is subject to a wide selection of tropical diseases,
pests and other
hazards. When the risks from financial, marketing and
distribution
uncertainties are added, the reasons become clear why more than
usually
talented people are needed in the industry.
Gono's
generous allocation of funding to the producers of various crops
highlights
another belief, which is that money can make up for the lack of
other
essentials, or every problem can be solved if enough money is thrown
at it.
Hundreds of billions of dollars in taxpayers' money have been offered
in the
form of productivity enhancement facilities and hundreds of billions
more to
fund tobacco, wheat, maize, sorghum and livestock producers.
The
former large-scale farmers used their land as collateral and sourced
their
funds from banks, not from taxpayers. Being market-driven and highly
responsive to performance, the system itself rewarded the successful. But
the same system expelled those who were less successful, so even the best
farmers had to commit themselves to a great deal of hard work to ensure
success and to repay outstanding loans.
By comparison, the
resettlement farmers of today in Zimbabwe suffer from
major disadvantages.
By taking the land out of the market and allocating it
for nothing to
resettlement farmers, government has made its collateral
value fall to
nothing.
So the land is not "bankable". Its holders also have no
security of tenure.
Land that has been given for nothing can also be taken
away for nothing.
So the new farmers have neither the means nor the
incentive to invest in the
land's longer-term productivity. These farmers
have been rendered almost
powerless to preserve the value of the land given
to them. This will ensure
that good land will soon be incapable of
production beyond subsistence
levels.
Even proponents of land
redistribution concede that these basic flaws in the
government's policies
will lead to massive land degradation and that if no
steps are taken to
remedy the flaws, the land will become progressively less
productive.
Without a realistic chance of developing either their
own potential, or that
of their land, hopes will soon die away that the new
farmers will continue
striving for success.
But in contrast to
the commercial system, that will not mean that they will
lose their land.
Provided that non-performing holders remain politically
acceptable, the land
is likely to remain under their control indefinitely.
This is because
we now have a patronage system under which poor farmers
cannot be displaced
by better farmers. This is the very antithesis of
empowerment. The idea has
impoverished many countries in the past and it is
in the process of
impoverishing Zimbabwe now.
The system chosen sets the limits to what
the farmers can achieve, not the
race of the farmer. East German farmers
performed not nearly as well as West
German farmers before reunification.
Today, South Korean farmers easily
outperform North Korean farmers. The
respective level of prosperity in these
cases was, and is, a function of the
operational system used. In Zimbabwe we
have deliberately dismantled the
system that works.
Commercial farmers are good because the system
stretches them. With constant
pressure on them to meet financial
obligations, they have to invest
carefully in their own skills and in
physical schemes that improve their
prospects of delivering good
crops.
Their object was always to leave as little to chance as
possible because
they might otherwise lose everything. Now they have lost
everything anyway.
But the real loser is Zimbabwe.
Zimbabwe's
commercial farming industry should have been viewed as an
industry as well
as a carefully balanced and easily damaged system. Our
current predicament
and our increasingly frightening prospects are living
proof of both the
fragility and the importance of the sector.
Zimbabwe's population was
able to increase dramatically in the past because
of the success of this
industry. And because of its growth, the same
population came to depend upon
agriculture's continued success many years
ago. We have responded in exactly
the wrong way to the country's
world-record-breaking population growth
during the past century.
Government's policies appear to be based on
an assumption that highly
productive farming practices are instinctive, but
that it can make up for
bad luck with the weather or other natural hazards
by offering an endless
stream of subsidies.
Sadly, the simple
truth is that we cannot afford them. Bring back property
rights and
large-scale commercial farming and we won't need them.
* John
Robertson is a Harare-based economic consultant.
Zim Independent
Comment
R
UNITED States ambassador to Zimbabwe Christopher Dell's
razor-sharp
observations on the economy at Africa University on Wednesday
are
irrefutable. He gave the strongest rebuttal to date by a foreign envoy
of
government's claims that Zimbabwe's economic decline is a result of
drought
and sanctions.
President Robert Mugabe has claimed the economy is
plagued by unpredictable
weather patterns and Western financial and travel
sanctions imposed against
himself and his officials over
misrule.
Apologists of the regime have also been hawking this argument in the
state
media and on the Internet. While it is true that Zimbabwe's current
problems
have been caused by both internal and external factors, it's clear
that
drought and sanctions are the least of these.
The root causes of the
current crisis are Mugabe's populist posturing and
lawless behaviour by his
supporters that scare off investment. This has been
exacerbated by skewed
global economic trends, especially unfair trade
practices and Western
agricultural subsidies which undermine third world
economies that are
largely dependent on agriculture.
There is also the issue of natural
resources control and value addition to
goods which tend to weaken poor
nations' bargaining power. Developing
countries lose a lot by exporting
unfinished products. These are issues of
substance affecting the Zimbabwean
economy, just like other developing
economies. But, as Ambassador Dell so
cogently pointed out, the peculiarity
of Zimbabwe is gross misrule and
economic mismanagement verging on sabotage,
not the terms of international
trade.
To claim that drought and sanctions - imposed in reaction to
repression and
economic vandalism - are solely responsible for Zimbabwe's
economic crisis
is manifestly dishonest.
Dell said these excuses "do not
hold up under scrutiny" and backed his
argument with empirical
evidence.
"On the face of it, it seems possible that drought could account
for
Zimbabwe's precipitous fall in output, especially since so much of the
economy is based on rain-fed agriculture and the region faces a regular
cycle of varying rainfall. This explanation, however, does not hold up under
scrutiny," he said.
Dell quoted the Washington-based Cato Institute's
paper written by economist
Craig Richardson on the collapse of Zimbabwe's
economy, details of which
were published in the Zimbabwe Independent of
October 21. Richardson has
studied the correlation between rainfall patterns
and GDP since 1985 based
on data from Zimbabwe's Meteorological
Service.
The research found that the drought of 2000/2001 was less severe
than 12
other recent low rainfall periods.
"He found that the
historically close correlation of GDP with rainfall
cycles no longer holds
after 1999. Since 1999, when rainfall has recovered,
the Zimbabwean economy
nevertheless has continued to decline," Dell said.
"The Centre for Global
Development carries the rainfall analysis one step
further. It notes that
rainfall patterns are regional, yet Zimbabwe's
decline in maize production
over the past five years has been dramatically
greater than Zambia's or
Malawi's. In fact, Zambia's maize production
actually increased after
2002."
Against this background, Dell said, drought could not adequately
account for
Zimbabwe's agricultural ruin.
"I don't pretend to be an
agronomist, but I do know that Zimbabwe has
experienced cycles of drought
since time immemorial. Its agricultural sector
adapted to conditions and
built impressive irrigation systems and dense
networks of dams," he
said.
The "drought defence" simply didn't account for Zimbabwe's economic
collapse, Dell said.
He said the Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery
Act, the cornerstone of
the US policy toward Zimbabwe, makes democratic
reforms the main condition
for aid.
Without such reforms, he said, the
US, together with the European Union and
others, would maintain financial
and travel sanctions.
"The argument that these narrowly targeted sanctions
have hurt the larger
economy could only be true if the whole economy is in
the hands of 86
government officials on the sanctions list," Dell
said.
"The answer to this is quite simple, as well as quite shocking: Neither
drought nor sanctions are at the root of Zimbabwe's economic decline. The
Zimbabwe government's own gross mismanagement of the economy and its corrupt
rule have brought about the crisis."
This is something we already know
and have said so repeatedly in this paper.
But it was refreshing to have the
envoy of the world's largest economy speak
out on the dishonesty Zimbabweans
are fed every day by their politicians and
state media.
Let's put these
excuses of drought and sanctions to rest. Government must
not shirk
responsibility for the consequences of its policy failures. Mugabe
and his
cronies -- the real saboteurs of the economy - must fix it or do the
honourable thing - admit they have no solutions and quit!
Zim Independent
Eric Bloch Column
WHEN Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) governor Gideon
Gono presented his
third quarter monetary policy statement on October 20, he
used the occasion
as an opportunity to urge Zimbabwe's industrialists to
embark upon toll
manufacturing.
He said: "As monetary authorities,
we are aware that most
manufacturing firms are operating well below their
normal capacity
utilisation levels due to input shortages and the current
severe contraction
of aggregate demand.
"In order to forestall job
losses, as well as promote foreign exchange
generation, we call upon
relevant authorities in government to consider
giving dispensation to
manufacturers who are able to toll manufacture for
regional customers to do
so on the basis that such customers would supply
raw materials, take the
output and pay a toll manufacturing fee in hard
currency."
Toll
manufacturing is far from being a new methodology of transacting
business.
More than 150 years ago, a significant characteristic of
the
industrial revolution was the provision of wool to manufacturers of
woven
products and garments on the basis that the wool was not sold to them,
but
was supplied to the manufacturers to produce woolen cloth and garments
to
the specification of the wool suppliers, and for and on their behalf. In
consideration for that production, the manufacturers would be paid
manufacturing fees which would fund the wages and other operating costs
payable by them, and yield them a profit.
In the 20th century,
these practices became increasingly pronounced,
and especially so within the
clothing industry where they became known as
cut, make and trim.
At
the present time, the concepts of toll manufacturing have very
great
potential benefits for much of Zimbabwean industry, inclusive of the
manufacturers of clothing and textiles, furniture, engineering products,
pharmaceuticals, foodstuffs and much else.
Almost all of industry
has been very severely affected by the minimal
availability of foreign
currency required for the importation of raw
materials and other
manufacturing inputs, including consumables, spares and
packaging.
In consequence, a very great number of industries that were operating
multiple shifts had no alternative but to reduce operations to single
shifts. Others had to reduce production hours from eight or nine per day to
six, and yet others cut back their operations to only two or three days a
week.
But the ramifications of the massively decreased production
were
far-reaching. With production often at levels of less than 30% of
capacity,
operating losses were inevitable. Few, if any, overheads could be
reduced in
tandem with the reductions in production, for most of such costs
are fixed
in nature. Rentals, salaries, insurances and the like do not
diminish
because of contractions in production volumes.
In contra
distinction, some costs increase. In particular, the losses
sustained eroded
the capital base of the enterprises, already radically
impacted upon by the
ravages of inflation, which necessitated greater
application of capital to
fund stocks and debtors. As a result, there was
increased recourse to
borrowings, with consequential increases in finance
costs.
Not only
have the manufacturing enterprises suffered horrendously, but
their
negative, and usually appalling, circumstances have had unavoidable,
very
major, downstream economic repercussions. The services of contract
labour
have been terminated, other labourers have been retrenched, domestic
purchasing power has been increasingly constricted, there has been lesser
spending to downstream suppliers of goods and services, and revenue flows to
a ravenous fiscus have markedly diminished.
However, toll
manufacturing for export customers can dramatically
reverse many of these
ills. A few manufacturers have already established
positive toll
manufacturing arrangements, but they are the exceptions,
rather than the
rule. Most have, as yet, been oblivious of the
opportunities.
Undoubtedly that was the motivation for Gono's reference to toll
manufacturing. As stated by him, the fundamentals of a toll manufacturing
arrangement are that the customer provides certain agreed manufacturing
inputs, the manufacturer undertaking to apply those inputs to production of
mutually agreed goods. Instead of selling product, the manufacturer receives
a toll-manufacturing fee which is calculated to cover any inputs supplied by
the manufacturer, all costs of production, an attributable proportion of
overheads and a fair profit.
The direct advantages to the
manufacturer are that he does not have to
find foreign currency to pay for
imported inputs, and does not sustain the
financing costs attendant to those
inputs. At the same time, he is enabled
to have increased productivity,
restoring prospects of price stability and
of profitability.
The
economy as a whole benefits with the continuance (and possible
growth) of
employment, the downstream economic flows, and the reduced
pressures upon
the foreign exchange resources.
There are also benefits to the
customer. First of all is the greater
assurance of continuity of supply and,
secondly, the customer can usually
command a more favourable price than
otherwise.
Moreover, if the source of the inputs supplied by the
customer is the
same country as the ultimate destination of the manufactured
products, the
customer only sustains liability to Customs duties, other
import taxes, and
value-added tax on the value added to the supplied inputs,
instead of upon
the total value of the manufactured products.
The
RBZ has only one reservation insofar as toll manufacturing
contracts are
concerned, and that is they should not be structured so as to
circumvent
exchange control regulations with especial reference to "transfer
pricing".
The RBZ does require compliance with its normal export
regulations,
insofar as they are relevant, including requisite CD1 export
authorisation,
based upon the toll manufacturing fee volume, and the timeous
acquittal
thereof. And 30% of that fee must be sold to the RBZ at the
official
exchange rates, while the other 70% remains available to the
manufacturer in
terms of the normal 45-day retention protocols.
But
at least the manufacturer is mandatorily disposing of 30% of the
toll-manufacturing fee only, and not 30% of gross product value, because, to
all intents and purposes, the toll-manufacturing fee equates to a normal
selling price for goods of like nature, quality and quantity, net of the
value of the customer-supplied inputs.
It is little wonder,
therefore, that Gono sought to promote toll
manufacturing, and the private
sector should respond positively in its own
best interests.
Zim Independent
Muckraker
CONGRATULATIONS to the Financial Gazette for exposing what it
calls
pervasive corruption at the Ministry of Higher Education and
Technology.
An internal audit, published by the paper, reveals billions of
dollars in
taxpayers' funds were misappropriated through rampant abuse of
vehicles and
fuel allocations.
Ministry officials without going to tender
procured vehicles worth more than
$3,3 billion from local car dealers. With
such intentional over-riding of
procurement regulations by top management,
the audit said, kickbacks could
not be ruled out.
"This is fraud and
corruption," it said.
The permanent secretary in the ministry, Washington
Mbizvo, had eight
vehicles allocated to him which included a Pajero, Mazda
Eagle, Defender,
and Peugeot 607, while the minister, Stan Mudenge, had
three vehicles
allocated to him, a Prado, Mazda 2500, and Mazda
Eagle.
"The allocation and distribution of vehicles can only be described as
corrupt," the audit said. "It is not fair, not reasonable, and not
honest."
It recommended the immediate recovery from Mbizvo of vehicles that
are being
used by non-civil servants such as Mrs M Mbizvo.
Ministry
officials were unable to account for 32 vehicles belonging to the
ministry.
Some were reported to be parked at the homes of senior ministry
officials
while others could have been taken to their farms, the report
said.
There are 28 other vehicles not accounted for in the ministry
register.
"Ministry vehicles not located at the ministry are feared to have
been
stolen, stripped or misused, not only by greedy and dishonest civil
servants, but also by non-civil servants who have no right to use government
vehicles at all," the audit said.
Corruption is so rife in our society
that this shocking report warranted
only Page 4 treatment. But it is
emblematic of how Zanu PF fat cats live off
the carcass of the country they
have destroyed. Stan Mudenge during his
reign as Foreign minister was full
of bombast and hot air over a largely
imagined conspiracy by the West to
undermine Zimbabwe. Now he heads a
ministry that is rotten to the core and
which has been accused of finding
scholarships in the US and UK for progeny
of the nomenklatura. It must be
evident to all, including blind journalists,
judges and policemen, where the
sickness lies in our country.
The
permanent secretary in the ministry, who is also the accounting officer,
meanwhile needs eight vehicles to get around. His wife needs one as well.
All this at a time when the country is desperate for funds to import maize
and fuel.
Nothing could be more emblematic of Zanu PF's parasitic rule
than this
disclosure. And nothing says more about our headlong descent into
Haitian
captivity than the fact that nobody will think any of this as
unusual.
Meanwhile, the US government will soon introduce measures to
refuse student
visas to the offspring of chefs. It is a shame that the sins
of the fathers
are being visited upon their children. But reflect upon this
reality: Pride
Chigwedere is an outstanding product of Harvard University.
His work in the
field of HIV/Aids prevention is widely recognised. But he is
the son of a
minister who is busy battering away at the foundations of
Zimbabwean
education; a minister who is driving out qualified teachers,
making the work
of private schools impossible, and ensuring that the
standard of education
generally is reduced to the lowest common
denominator.
In a word he is a disaster. Yet his son benefits from an
American education.
Indeed many Zanu PF chefs in the forefront of the Third
Chimurenga have
taken steps to ensure their kids do not endure the
third-rate education
their populist policies have spawned. Is it not time
their children were
brought home to live in the paradise their parents have
built for us?
There has been much comment in the op/ed columns on the
internecine fighting
going on in the MDC. This is understandable. But it has
enabled a number of
hostile commentators to say, "told you so" - as if they
had an answer to our
national problems! While they are free to call Morgan
Tsvangirai all sorts
of names, these sniping cowards are not allowed to say
a single word about
the author of the country's headlong descent into
penury. So nobody takes
them seriously.
Caesar Zvayi, Munyaradzi Huni etc
should understand that if they want their
views on Tsvangirai taken
seriously, we need to hear them expose the figure
at the core of the
nation's rot with the same energy. But needless to say
these brave
commentators can't say a single word about Robert Mugabe's trail
of
destruction!
"Tsvangirai a dictator," declares the Herald without any sense
of irony. It's
pathetic. Journalists who can only attack the opposition are
as useful as
snow in Alaska. How will they be remembered when their careers
are weighed
in the balance?
Perhaps the most thoughtful comments to
date are those from liberation-war
commander Wilf Mhanda who was quoted as
follows in the Sunday Argus last
weekend:
"The MDC leadership totally
underestimated Mugabe. They believed the
struggle for democracy would be
hard, but they never understood he was
prepared to destroy everything -
them, the economy, institutions,
infrastructure, the whole country and
everything in it to survive. The MDC
thought they could win by being right,
by appealing to the majority, and
they got that support, but that was never
enough. Mugabe controls the
security forces, the courts, the media, the
intelligence services, the
assets and he has perfected the system of
patronage manipulating each and
every person in positions of
power.
"Mugabe was impossible to defeat in elections because he controls
every
aspect of them too. The task was too big for the decent MDC and the
party
neglected making inroads in the lower ranks of the army who are just
as poor
as everyone else."
Doesn't that say it all? Nobody thought Mugabe
was prepared to destroy
everything to win this struggle. And that is
precisely what has happened.
The economy has been dealt a death blow and
agriculture sabotaged. The
forces of law and order have been suborned and
the media infiltrated, gagged
or shut down.
But have those eager
contestants around him thought for one minute about how
they are going to
rebuild this country from the ashes of his pernicious
rule? Does the
elevated lady have a clue? Do any of them? Or do they think
there is still
milk left in this cow for them to take?
Meanwhile, the rollcall of Zanu PF's
chivalry on the current field of battle
reads like a joke book. Bright
Matonga, Tafataona Mahoso, Aeneas Chigwedere
(and his mudzimu), Joseph
Chinotimba, Sekesai Makwavarara, Vivian Mwashita,
and Joseph Made. These are
the nation's hope for the future!
The Department of Immigration says it
is "worried" about foreigners who
enter the country under the guise of
asylum seekers but later disappear to
unknown destinations.
Chief
Immigration Officer Elasto Mugwadi was quoted in the Herald as saying:
"We
are worried about this trend and feel Zimbabwe is being used as a
transit
point for irregular migration into other countries."
When did he wake up to
this fact? Last weekend?
Nigerians were engaging in marriages of convenience,
he revealed, and there
was a "general flooding" into the country of
foreigners "who were not
employed in the formal system but led luxurious
lives".
Surely not?
Mugwadi said that over the past two months the country
had accepted up to
300 foreigners who claimed they were from Somalia or
Ethiopia. They were
placed in various holding camps for refugees.
"When
we made a check on them, they were nowhere to be found," he said.
He seemed
genuinely surprised!
Mugwadi said his department had also "discovered" that
an increasing number
of Zimbabweans were entering other countries "in
droves" without proper
documentation.
"The challenge," he said, "is that
the government loses the professionals it
trained with the country's
resources to the benefit of those who never
sacrificed anything."
It
seems to have never occurred to Mugwadi that creating a law-based and
conducive environment for investment and growth was one way to discourage
outward migration.
This of course is in contrast to bundling inconvenient
journalists onto
planes in violation of court orders and expelling them to
South Africa. They
then write stories revealing the true state of affairs in
repressive and
lawless Zimbabwe, thus discouraging investment, tourism and
employment. This
in turn leads to further outward migration.
But we doubt
whether Mugwadi has "discovered" that connection yet!
The immigration boss
said his department was working closely with the
International Organisation
for Migration (IOM) which, we are told by the
Herald, is governed by the
principle that humane and orderly migration
benefit both migrants and
society. One of its officials, Nicola Simmons, was
quoted extensively in the
Herald's story on illegal migration.
She should be asked how being kidnapped,
having a hood placed over your
head, and being held all day prior to your
illegal deportation at an unknown
place fits in with the IOM's
mission.
Should Ms Simmons be in bed with these people?
Readers of
this column have been amused by the thought that our new national
currency,
to be introduced next year, according to Gideon Gono, should be
called the
Bob. This is in preference to the Giddy, which is how we all
feel!
Needless to say, the new unit will be introduced without any
improvement in
macro-economic fundamentals or decline in inflation. Those
proposing lopping
off a few zeroes, as Brazil and Argentina did, and indeed
as France did with
the New Franc in 1960, fail to appreciate that without a
package of measures
properly implemented the new currency will be
still-born. We know from
experience that Gideon has no prospect of getting
the looters and spenders
to change their ways.
That is why we feel the
Bob would be more appropriate. Many Zimbabweans
still recall 10 bob being
half a pound. When the dollar was introduced in
1970 its value was set at 10
bob in the old currency. In other words there
were two dollars to the old
pound. The one-dollar note and the 10-bob note
remained interchangeable for
a long time as was the five pound and 10 dollar
notes.
In 1981 62 Zim
cents would buy one US dollar. $2,28 would buy 1 kg of
cheese. Twenty-five
cents would buy a loaf of bread. Fillet steak was $2,80
a kg. A 750ml bottle
of paraffin cost 41 cents. A leg of lamb was expensive
at $3 a kg. A 15kg
pocket of potatoes cost $3,70.
A pair of shorts for your kid starting school
was $2,40. A girl's dress was
$7,70. A pair of shoes $10.
So you can see
what the architects of our economic policy have "achieved"
over a 25-year
period. That is why they need to be remembered. A picture of
Zimbabwe in
ruins on the one side, and the president waving his fists in the
air on the
reverse would be appropriate. The logo "It's all Blair's fault"
comes to
mind.
The Bob. The successor to a currency that was worth 40 cents more than
the
American dollar in 1981. You will need more than one hundred thousand of
them today to buy the same US dollar.
Zim Independent
SINCE Operation
Murambatsvina and its completion, thousands of those
affected are still
sleeping in the open and have not yet managed to build or
have access to
decent lodgings. Only a few are managing to pay rentals.
We are very
bitter about the way lodger matters are being currently handled.
We have
been reduced to destitution at the hands of greedy landlords who
have
devised modes of ripping us off.
Property owners are charging as much
as $1 million per room. According to
our research, we found that one room in
Highfield costs a minimum of $800
000 to $1,5 million and in Mabvuku $1
million to $1,5 million.
This is being done against the average
salaries of $2 million to $3 million.
There is a take-it-or-leave-it
scenario that leaves lodgers with no
alternative means of
accommodation.
Even though the government has been trying hard to
provide stands, the
proceedings are being affected by the failure to provide
necessary
documentation needed in order for developers to start
work.
Developers and housing schemes are waiting for ages before the
certificates
of developing are processed. Because of the need to own houses,
people end
up violating the building procedures.
We kindly urge
the Ministry of Local Government and all responsible persons
to make sure
that they act in the spirit of promoting the building of houses
and that
they speed up all matters and tackle bottlenecks affecting the
development
of housing in Zimbabwe.
In order to ease the housing problems, we
urge the authorities concerned to
allow beneficiaries of peri-urban
residential stands to be allowed to start
residing at their stands while in
the process of building.
Zimbabwe Tenants &
Lodgers
Association,
Harare.
Zim Independent
THIS letter is an appeal to
those who have the power to put a stop to the
rampant corruption that is
strangling our economy.
I have been trying for some time to get a copy of
my late father's death
certificate (John Martin Ronne). After many visits,
letters and telephone
calls to Makombe Building, I was advised that as a
white person I would not
get the required document and that I would be
better advised to send a black
person.
I tried repeatedly to
contact Registrar-General Tobaiwa Mudede, both in
writing and by phone, but
I have had no reply to my letters and was never
able to speak to him, as he
was either away for the day, out or busy.
In desperation, I decided
to do as I had been advised and sent someone. My
messenger went with the
required documents to prove my right to a copy of
the death certificate plus
the receipt showing payment. The messenger
returned with the information
that the document would be ready in two
weeks - this was July of this
year.
He went back two weeks later to collect the death certificate
and was told
that the "book" the information was in was lost.
I
tried a number of times to get the document. My secretary, knowing the
trouble I was having, said she knew a person who could help me.
A
man called Wilbert came to see me and said he could help as he had a
friend
that worked in the office concerned. He took my receipt and the paper
containing the information about the entry.
Weeks later, Wilbert
contacted me by phone saying that he had obtained the
document and that he
required a payment of $6 million. I said he was mad and
refused to pay the
amount.
In September I thought I would try again. I sent my messenger
back to
Makombe with the required proof of who I was and $10 000 to pay for
search
fees. The difference this time was that I had acquired from the
national
archives the date of death which seemed to be the problem
before.
The messenger returned without the $10 000 and no receipt,
but with two
cellphone numbers of a person called Leonard who works at the
birth and
death registration office. The name is probably false but the
numbers get
hold of a person who knows the set-up.
My messenger
said that Leonard required $3 million for the document as he
had incurred
costs, and that I should call him. I called one of the numbers
and the
person who answered the phone said he was Leonard.
I asked why he
required $3 million as I had paid the required amount. He
said he thought
there was a mistake and that he would call me back the next
day. When he
called back he asked if I could meet him in town but I told him
to come to
my office. He said he did not wish to meet my messenger so he
would not come
to the office.
I asked my associate, Matthew Ngwenya, to meet him for
me. Ngwenya arranged
the meeting for after work on October 21. I gave him
$500 000 to pay if
Leonard insisted.
When Ngwenya went to the
meeting place there were two people there. After
much deliberation they
accepted the $500 000 on condition that Ngwenya speak
to me about paying the
rest. He was given the document, which contained
spelling errors - and is
therefore probably invalid!
I do not wish to encourage corruption,
but in this situation what does one
do? If you do not pay the document
becomes lost.
I sincerely hope there are still some honourable people
left working in
government departments who would like to put an end to this
sort of
behaviour that gives government departments a bad reputation. The
scale of
corruption that exists in Zimbabwe amounts to economic sabotage. We
must try
and stop it.
Estelle H Ronne,
Harare.
Zim Independent
ZIMBABWE has always had at
its disposal the wherewithal to have constructed,
completed and commissioned
the Matabeleland Zambezi Water Project a long
time ago. It is tragic,
though, that the perpetual pursuit of wrong, absurd,
upside-down, inside-out
and back-to-front priorities by our so-called
powers-that-be consigns us to
a cul-de-sac from which we are, thus far,
unable to extricate
ourselves.
For 25 years a massive financial outlay continues to be made
in the
perennial procurement of aeroplanes and helicopters to satiate a
syndrome to
globetrot and to placate a phobia of imaginary foes from far and
near. This
has been only one of the numerous wanton ways our money has been
wasted.
The senate is a concoction by a people bereft of objective
rule and obsessed
with the ruin of a people in Matabeleland. The expense
attributable to the
whole senate gamut is far in excess of the cost of
bringing Zambezi water to
us! One is non-essential while the other is
essential.
Droughts are going to intensify, lengthen and become more
and more frequent,
say the experts. Amelioration of the effects of drought
is, however,
possible through the use of the Zambezi water resource at our
disposal.
Arnold Payne,
Bulawayo.
Zim Independent
FROM latest media reports it would seem that the struggle
within the
leadership of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) is not
going to be
resolved.
The fundamental issues facing the MDC are about
leadership and the strategy
needed to remove dictatorship from
power.
The process by which the MDC's national council reached its
decision to
participate in the senate election demonstrates, yet again, the
ineffectiveness of the MDC leadership as presently
constituted.
If there is a single so-called leader within the ranks
of the MDC who
believes for one moment that continuing with the farce of
electoral politics
will in any way address the real issues facing this
nation then they are
either Zanu PF infiltrators, self-serving parasites
wishing to live off a
life in politics or are so politically naïve as to be
useless to the
struggle.
The only half-hearted argument I have
heard in favour of participating is to
defend "political space". That some
genuinely well-meaning persons can hide
behind this absurdly naïve argument
is doubly frustrating.
Have those "leaders" who want to participate
in these elections learned
nothing from the experiences of the past five
years? If they have not, then
they should either resign or be removed from
office.
Following the inevitable passage of the constitutional
amendment by our
"rubber-stamp" parliament in which the word "honourable"
has lost any
semblance of meaning, the task of the MDC leadership was to
explain to the
people why participation in the elections for this senate
would be
fundamentally wrong and counterproductive.
At the same
time they had to offer the people, especially those in areas of
strong
electoral support, an alternative programme of action to combat this
evil
regime.
Let those who claim that Morgan Tsvangirai has "placed
himself above both
the council and the constitution of the MDC" be reminded
that they in turn
are putting themselves above the interests of the people -
people who have
no jobs, people who are hungry, people who are homeless,
people who have no
hope, people who are dying, people who have been looking
to the MDC for
leadership and direction.
Let the opposition
regroup and rededicate itself to the fundamental task of
removing this
regime and introducing a new constitution. But let them this
time learn from
the mistakes of the past and let them abandon the political
charades of
Zimbabwean parliamentary politics in favour of the politics of
mass
action.
I have often referred in the past to the lessons that can be
learnt from the
courage and leadership provided by the likes of Mahatma
Gandhi and Martin
Luther King. There is another lesson from history that is
perhaps of
relevance to the present situation within the MDC: the removal of
Neville
Chamberlain as British prime minister because of his naïve and
ineffective
attempts to oppose a regime whose ruthlessness he could not
comprehend.
Would Hitler have been defeated if Winston Churchill had
not raised the flag
of defiance and committed the British people to
effective opposition to a
dictator?
Let a people-driven
leadership begin by organising a boycott of the senate
elections. Let it
demonstrate its capacity to mobilise the masses.
RES
Cook,
Harare