http://www.thestandard.co.zw
Saturday, 02 October 2010 19:58
WHILE the case
of the diesel mystic, Rotina Mavhunga was closed with her
conviction last
week, new details have emerged on how she managed to trick
the Zanu PF
politburo and top security chiefs into believing that she could
draw fuel
from rocks.
Politburo minutes of July 27 2007 reveal that Mavhunga
presented President
Robert Mugabe with four “golden boulders” and six
packets of loose stones so
he could appreciate her efforts and those of the
spirit realm.
The stones were supposed to be precious and valuable but it
turned out they
were just ordinary rocks.
Mavhunga, also known as
Nomatter Tagarira, who also preferred to be called
Changamire Dombo or
Sekuru Mboni, had initially claimed that the rocks were
producing diesel but
on seeing the interest from the government, she said
the rocks could also
produce pure Jet A1 fuel, petrol and paraffin.
Excited by the
prospect of finding fuel, at a time the country was facing
acute shortages,
Mugabe and his party called upon the Joint Operations
Command (JOC), a
grouping of security chiefs to investigate the matter
further.
The team comprised of Sydney Sekeramayi, then politburo
secretary for health
and child welfare and Kembo Mohadi, who was deputy
legal affairs secretary.
The two were ministers of Defence and Home
Affairs respectively.
“The team was assisted by Deputy Commissioner
(Godwin) Matanga, Air
Commodore (Shebba) Shumbayaonda, Assistant
Commissioner (Arthur) Makanda and
(a Provincial Intelligence Officer)
Madondo who had already been working on
the project,” read the minutes in
possession of The Standard.
The team is reported to have camped in
Chinhoyi for close to a fortnight,
but strangely they did not detect that
Mavhunga was a fraud.
As if that was not enough several pictures have
emerged showing Didymus
Mutasa (pictured) and Sekeramayi groveling at the
diesel mystic, while the
fuel was splashed all over their bodies as part of
some rituals Mavhunga
conducted at her shrine.
Mutasa who
presented the report to the politburo, said they had been taken
to another
site in Makuti, which was also said to produce pure diesel from
rocks.
“He further chronicled how a number of rituals were
performed on ‘sacred
sites’ along a range of mountains which stretches from
Chinhoyi to
Raffingora,” read the minutes.
The security chiefs
reportedly underwent a host of other rituals to in the
hope that more diesel
would ooze from the rocks, but were disappointed by
the amount they
got.
The JOC team then sent in a police tanker to see how much they
could get
from the source and were disappointed when only 40 litres were
produced.
“The team complied with all Sekuru’s requirements but each time
it was his
turn to deliver the diesel he would make fresh and unrealistic
demands,” the
minutes state.
Seeing that her attempts were in
vain, Mavhunga is reported to have “roped
in new players/spirit mediums such
as Mbuya Nehanda who were not part of the
grand plan.”
It is at
this stage that the government and JOC officials started getting
suspicious,
as they feared that the new spirits being evoked by Mavhunga
wanted to be
recognised by the government and they in turn would make their
own
demands.
As a result of their suspicions, Mutasa concluded that
Sekuru Dombo was
insincere in his dealings and had failed to provide the
diesel.
“He added that it was strongly suspected that the diesel in
question was
being sourced from elsewhere and put into the long pipe at
night,” Mutasa is
said to have told the politburo.
The JOC team,
which had been stationed in Chinhoyi from to June 5-8 2007,
after failing
to get any fuel and strangely failing to catch Mavhunga red
handed, reported
that the exercise had been futile and there was no diesel
in the
rocks.
Mutasa said he feared that the woman was working in cahoots
with other
fraudulent elements in order to fleece the government “of it
resources and
in turn gain underserved publicity”.
Ironically at
Mavhunga’s trial, it was revealed that the fuel had allegedly
been sourced
by the Registrar General, Tobaiwa Mudede, himself a
high-ranking government
official.
At the time Mavhunga held the government spellbound she
lived luxuriously
with the government giving her Z$5 billion, then a
fortune, a car and a
piece of land among the nation’s highest ranking
politicians.
At the time Mugabe claimed that Mavhunga’s beauty had
blinded his ministers.
For her troubles, Mavhunga who had been on the
run for a year and a half
last week was sentenced to 27 months in prison for
defrauding the state and
misrepresenting to government
officials.
BY NQABA MATSHAZI
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
Saturday, 02 October 2010 19:54
FORMER
Information minister, Jonathan Moyo could soon land the deputy
political
commissar's post in Zanu PF's politburo following the death of
Ephraim
Masawi who held the post.
Moyo who was surprisingly left out of
President Robert Mugabe's politburo
line-up after bouncing back to Zanu PF's
Central Committee last December is
one of the few senior leaders from
Matabeleland still committed to the
party.
Jockeying for the
deputy commissar's position has reportedly been going on
for a while and the
death of Masawi could be timely for Moyo to earn his
ticket back into the
politburo.
He is likely to be elevated at Zanu PF's conference in
Mutare in December.
The conference is not an elective one but Mugabe
can fill in vacant posts in
the politburo and the Central
Committee.
Sources within the party last week revealed that there
were efforts even
before Masawi's death to remove him from the position and
replace him with
Moyo, in the hope that the party would ingratiate itself
with people in
Matabeleland.
"The party had already agreed to
replace Masawi with Moyo, this was after a
realisation that Moyo could drum
up support ahead of elections set for next
year," a source
said.
The source revealed that the Tsholotsho North legislator was
key to the
party's branding and strategy ahead of the elections, which
President Robert
Mugabe insists will be next year.
Moyo is
reportedly a man after Mugabe's heart and has managed to snake his
way to
win the ageing leader's affection.
His legal battle to have the
election of the Speaker of Parliament is
reportedly one of the ways Moyo is
using to ingratiate himself with Mugabe.
Another source said despite
Moyo's maneuvering he was going to find it
difficult to work with Webster
Shamu as his boss.
The two are said to belong to opposing factions in
the battle to succeed
Mugabe.
He said there was another campaign
to have Moyo work with Rugare Gumbo, the
party's spokesperson, as the two
were said to be in good books.
Gumbo could not commit himself to
comment though he said he was not aware of
such developments.
"It
may be true, it may not; this is the first time I am hearing that," he
said.
Moyo was unavailable for comment as his mobile phone was
off yesterday.
BY OUR STAFF
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
Saturday, 02 October 2010
19:50
PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe is in the eye of a storm after he accepted
an
honourary degree from a shadowy Anglican bishop in Ecuador as
anti-genocide
activists have launched a campaign to have it
withdrawn.
Mugabe was supposed to fly to Quito, Ecudoran capital from New
York where he
was attending the United Nations General Assembly last month
to receive the
doctor of Civil Law degree but changed his plans at the last
minute.
He flew back home last Sunday.
The veteran ruler
who is already a holder of seven degrees mostly obtained
during his time in
jail was given the honorary doctorate in civil law by the
Autonomous
University in Quito.
Mugabe’s decision to postpone the trip to fetch
the degree coincided with
revelations that Bishop Walter Roberto Crespo had
been implicated in gun
running for Colombian rebels.
The Anglican
Church of Harare said Crespo was also an unrecognised breakaway
bishop.
While in Harare Crespo was the guest of Nolbert Kunonga,
another renegade
Anglican bishop with Zanu PF links.
But it has
since emerged from close sources that Mugabe will travel to the
South
American country between next month and December.
His visit will be
closely monitored by the United States-based Genocide
Watch, which last week
wrote to Crespo warning him against honouring a
“world class criminal like
Mugabe.”
Genocide Watch, which describes itself as an international
movement to
prevent and stop genocide wants Mugabe punished for the 1980s
massacres in
Matabeleland and Midlands.
In the letter to Crespo,
the lobby said it would be immoral for a
church-affiliated university to
celebrate Mugabe’s legacy.
“Robert Mugabe is among the world’s worst
mass murderers,” wrote Genocide
Watch president Gregory H Stanton in the
letter to Crespo.
“His 5TH Brigade massacred over 20 000
Matabele(land) people in 1983-1984, a
genocide that was thoroughly
documented in the ‘Gukurahundi’ report of the
Catholic Commission for
Justice and Peace in 1997.”
Genocide Watch last month classified
Gukuruhundi as genocide leading some
people to think that Mugabe could be
dragged to The Hague to face trial.
However, Zimbabwe is not bound by
the International Criminal Court as the
country is not a signatory to the
treaty that established the court.
The group said if Crespo ignored
their request they would propose a
resolution of the International
Association of Genocide Scholars, which will
meet in Buenos Aires next year,
calling for the honourary degree for Mugabe
to be withdrawn.
“We
will launch campaigns in Ecuador and other members of the Organisation
of
American States to get the honourary degree withdrawn,” Stanton
said.
“If necessary we will appeal to the head of the Anglican Church
to get this
honorary degree rescinded if you decide to award it to this
criminal.”
Two universities in Britain and the US have withdrawn
honourary degrees they
gave Mugabe during his heyday following pressure from
people angered by
human rights violations in Zimbabwe.
BY
KHOLWANI NYATHI
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
Saturday, 02 October 2010 19:48
JOHANNESBURG -
The Constitutional Parliamentary Committee (Copac) on Friday
reached out to
exiled Zimbabweans seeking their views on the ongoing making
process.
The
Copac team led by co-chairpersons Douglas Mwonzora (MDC-T) and Paul
Mangwana
(Zanu PF) met leaders of various groups representing Zimbabweans in
South
Africa, United Kingdom, New Zealand, Canada and the United States.
"We came
to South Africa to engage with the Diaspora groups of which after
this
meeting we would then re-do centres we were unable to cover back home
as a
result of violence.
"Our mission here is to gather data, upload it and then
debate," said
Mwonzora in an interview.
Mangwana said the response from
the Diaspora was "overwhelming."
"Basically our mission here was to hear the
Diaspora's views, of which they
engaged us on various burning issues ranging
from land, cultural rights,
economic empowerment and the issue of war
veterans.
"The Diaspora also raised issues around their right to vote from
abroad, the
issue of dual citizenship and that of the citizenship of their
off-spring
were raised," said Mangwana.
Gabriel Shumba, the executive
director of the Zimbabwe Exiles Forum (ZEF)
described the visit as
historic.
Shumba said the meeting was the first to be organised by Copac, the
Council
of Zimbabwe Christian Leaders UK and the South Africa based
ZEF.
"The purpose of the meeting was for the co-chairs to explain to the
Diaspora
how their views could be effectively collected and incorporated
into the
Copac process.
Shumba said they used the meeting to highlight
demands from the Diaspora
that include the right to vote, both at the
referendum stage and in future
national elections and the desire for dual
or multiple citizenship
Meanwhile, a four member team from civil society
under the Crisis in
Zimbabwe Coalition (CiZC) banner meets President Jacob
Zuma's mediation team
in Pretoria tomorrow to present its views on the
stalled implementation of
the power sharing deal.
The move is set to
ratchet pressure on the mediation team to press the
protagonists to
implement what was agreed on in the Global Political
Agreement signed two
years ago. Tomorrow's meeting was supposed to have been
held last Thursday
but was pushed to a later date to pressing commitments.
- CAJ News/OUR STAFF
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
Saturday, 02 October 2010
19:37
THE Chinese army has joined the rush for the Marange diamonds amid
reports
that precious stones worth millions of dollars are being airlifted
regularly
to Beijing in exchange for weapons.
The Daily Mail, a British
newspaper, says its investigations revealed that
high-ranking officials of
China's Liberation Army are overseeing the mining
activities.
Government
recently revealed that a Chinese company - Anjin - had been given
a license
to mine diamonds in Chiadzwa alongside two other local companies.
But the
presence of the Chinese army has never been officially acknowledged
and if
true the reports will give countries campaigning for Zimbabwean
diamonds to
be blacklisted renewed impetus.
The lobby argues that the Chiadzwa diamonds
are from a conflict zone and fit
the "blood-diamond" tag.
The Daily Mail
claimed an Antonov An-12 cargo plane takes off to Beijing
from a secret
airstrip every two weeks loaded with "rough, uncut diamonds
worth
millions."
"No flight plans are filed and there are no records of these
trips," the
paper said.
"Such secrecy - and sophisticated organisation -
is understandable.
"This is the centre of diamond fever and the scene of the
biggest diamond
heist in history."
Several reports have linked the
Zimbabwe army to diamond smuggling and human
rights abuses ever since the
government deployed the security forces to
secure the diamond fields two
years ago.
The Kimberley Process Certification Scheme - the regulator in the
world
trade of the precious stones - advised government to demilitarise
Chiadzwa.
Mines and Mining Development Minister Obert Mpofu refuses to speak
to The
Standard but he has been under pressure to explain how the three
companies
mining diamonds in Chiadzwa were awarded the contracts.
The
paper says the documents it obtained during its investigations revealed
that
the Chinese were also involved in Mbada Diamonds, which was the first
company to be given the mining rights together with Canadile Miners.
It
said Robert Mhlanga who was President Robert Mugabe's personal pilot set
up
the company with "Chinese partners named as Deng Hongyan, Zhang Shibin,
Zhang Hui, Jiang Zhaoyao and Cheng Qins.
BY OUR STAFF
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
Saturday, 02 October 2010
19:32
EDUCATION, Sport, Arts and Culture minister David Coltart says
Zimbabweans
must not mislead themselves into believing that the country has
the highest
literacy levels in Africa.
Coltart's surprise remarks come
months after some government officials
especially from Zanu PF, gave
themselves a pat on the back following the
release of statistics showing
Zimbabwe overtaking Tunisia as the country
with the highest literacy rate on
the continent at 92%.
But Coltart, a lawyer by profession, said the
methodology used by the United
Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in
coming up with the rankings was
flawed.
He said the UNDP relied on
figures showing attendance at school for the
first four years of formal
education as indicators of literacy rates but the
Grade VII results will be
a more accurate indicator for Zimbabwe.
The recent study had shown that
Zimbabwe's literacy had increased from 85%
to 92%.
"We need to analyse
the basis from which such statements are made otherwise
we will relax
thinking our literacy rates are very high yet they are not,"
Coltart
said.
"I am not convinced that the use of attendance is the best way of
judging
because most of our children have gone for long periods with no text
books
and no teachers.
"We must not think that all is well. Our literacy
rates may not be as high
as we think they are. We have several other
indicators up there."
He gave an example of a recent survey among Grade V
pupils in Manicaland
which showed that there were "alarmingly low" rates of
literacy.
Coltart said most of the pupils in the survey did not have Grade V
literacy
levels but had Grade I and II levels, a scenario he said most
likely applied
to all provinces in this country.
"Our education system is
in a crisis and we need to do a lot of work to
restore the quality of
education for our children's sake," he said.
The minister added that a number
of interventions which he felt would help
improve the quality of education
in the country were being carried out.
Among these is the recent textbook
scheme being spearheaded by the United
Nations Children's Fund in
conjunction with government whereby text books
are being distributed to
schools across the country.
The government has also re-engaged temporary
teachers with the hope of
addressing the student-teacher ratios which
continued to dwindle as teachers
deserted their schools due to
disgruntlement over poor remuneration and
working conditions.
Coltart
said the school inspections of the past were also set to return
following a
US$1,3 million fund allocated to the sector for the purchase of
vehicles to
be used in the exercise.
About 70 vehicles will be bought for use by district
education officers in
monitoring schools.
Among others, they will check
if school heads are carrying out their
administrative roles
properly.
They will also check if schools have the required numbers of
teachers and
the requisite levels of enrolment and text
books.
BY JENNIFER DUBE
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
Saturday, 02 October 2010 19:25
SENIOR officials
in the Ministry of Education, Sport and Culture in Harare
have been accused
of protecting corrupt headmasters and members of School
Development
Committees (SDCs) suspected of embezzling funds because they are
also
indirectly benefiting from incentives that are being paid by parents,
disgruntled senior education officials have revealed.
They allege that
several internal audit reports as well as complaints by
parents and teachers
to the ministry against certain school heads and SDCs
have been swept under
the carpet.
The officials say the payment of incentives to teachers had
resulted in an
upsurge of fraud by school heads who are now exposed to huge
amounts of
money which they were not used to handling.
"Something has to
be done now because the ministry is sitting on many
internal audit reports
that incriminate heads in and around Harare," said
the official who
requested anonymity.
"Some senior officials are being paid incentives by
school heads."
One case, which has caused a furore among the education
authorities,
involves three different audit reports of Queen Elizabeth High
School in
Harare that unearthed massive financial
irregularities.
Allegations are that no action has been taken against the
suspects although
the audit recommended that the matter be reported to the
police.
Two of the reports were compiled by the ministry itself while the
third one
was produced by an independent audit firm, Mazhandu and
Company.
In the audit reports by the ministry dated July 26 2010, Queen
Elizabeth
school head a Mrs C Rayo was accused of inflating charges for the
repair and
servicing of school vehicles.
It said Rayo and SDC bursar, a
Mr Nyaundi, contracted an unregistered
company, AM Motor Spares and
Hardware, of no fixed abode to repair two
school vehicles at a cost of
US$17 793.
It said the company was fraudulently issued the contract because
quotations
from other service providers were not sought.
The quotation
from AM Motor Spares and Hardware was not presented to the
committee for
adjudication purposes.
"The company was paid a total of
US$17 793.00,
purportedly for the repairs of the two vehicles during the
period January 20
to June 24, 2009," said the report.
"The cost of the repairs could not be
verified as the auditors failed to
locate the company premises.
"This
matter should be reported to the police for further investigations,"
it was
suggested.
It was also noted that the school was paying teacher incentives
that were
more than the 10% of collected levies contrary to provisions in
the ministry's
circular Number 5 of 2009.
Although the audit reports
recommended that allegations of fraud at the
school be referred to the
police some four months ago, the ministry had not
done so up to now.
In
August the SDC, through their lawyers Mutezo and Partners, wrote to the
permanent secretary in the Ministry of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture
Stephen Mahere reminding him of the need to report the matter to the
police.
"We write to inquire as to what action has been taken towards the
conclusion
of the audit reports," said the lawyers.
"In the event that
your office would not want to report the matter to the
police, would you
kindly allow the SDA committee to report the matter to the
police so that
this matter can be dealt with conclusively and be put to
rest."
Mahere
never responded.
The SDC which was pushing for investigations into financial
irregularities
has since been dissolved, allegedly by the head who then
facilitated the
appointment of another committee.
Another audit by the
ministry dated December 23 2009 also said Rayo "must be
put on her defence
and held accountable for," among other things -
non-existent procurement of
goods and services as well as for not adhering
to education
regulations."
It also called for the dismissal of the SDC bursar, Nyaundi,
because he has
"fake qualifications and is not honest enough to be trusted
with public
funds."
Disgruntled teachers at Vainona High School have also
written to the
ministry complaining about the misuse of funds and property
by some senior
teachers.
The teachers alleged that they were not getting
incentives while revenue the
school gets from renting out the school
premises cannot be accounted for.
They also claimed that the school bus was
regularly hired out to some church
functions.
"All the money is
unaccounted for (and) the SDA is made to believe that the
school does not
generate extra money except from levy fees," says the letter
that was also
copied to the Police Commissioner General Augustine Chihuri
and the
Anti-Corruption Commission.
The teachers are also calling for an urgent
investigation in the matter.
Efforts to get a comment from Vainona High
School headmaster a Mr DP Makanza
were fruitless last
week.
Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) national treasurer
Ladistous
Zunde said the union had received several cases of abuse of funds
by school
heads across the country.
He said no action had been taken
although the union made presentations to
the education ministry.
"We have
a feeling that there are some senior officials in the ministry
protecting
school heads because they are benefiting from the corruption,"
Zunde
alleged.
"Remember school heads and teachers are getting much more than
ministry
officials because they are getting huge incentives."
Cases of
embezzlement of funds by school authorities since the adoption of
multi-currencies last February have been on the rise.
The police have so
far arrested a number of school heads including those
based at Kuwadzana 4
Primary School in Harare, St Augustine's High School in
Penhalonga and St
David's Bonda High School.
Education, Sport, Arts and Culture minister David
Coltart said he only
received a report on Queen Elizabeth and delegated
Mahere to investigate.
"I received a report on Queen Elizabeth about a month
ago and referred it to
the permanent secretary who is yet to come back to
me," Coltart said.
"I cannot comment on the issue right now because I do not
know if the
allegations in the report are true or not but the permanent
secretary may be
able to give a comment regarding the ministry's
investigations."
Mahere's mobile was unreachable.
BY CAIPHAS CHIMHETE
AND JENNIFER DUBE
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
Saturday, 02 October 2010 19:24
THE
bloated delegation that President Robert Mugabe took to the United
States
recently is an attempt by the 86-year-old leader to cushion his many
hangers-on who are struggling financially because of the low salaries paid
to civil servants, analysts reckon.
The analysts concurred that the
foreign trips, which have become few and far
between because of the targeted
sanctions imposed by the West on Mugabe and
his close associates, have
virtually become "feeding troughs" enabling those
lucky enough to be on them
to supplement their paltry incomes.
Each delegate gets more than his or her
monthly salary in one day as
allowance payouts depending on the country
visited. Unconfirmed reports say
each member of the entourage is entitled to
US$250 a day.
Analysts said Mugabe's delegation of 80 people to the United
Nations General
Assembly in New York was "obscene and unnecessary political
grandstanding"
especially at a time when 90% of Zimbabweans were extremely
poor.
Authoritative sources said the trip gobbled over
US$2 million of the
tax payer's money including the President's emergency
fund of up to US$300
000.
Officials in the President's Office said Mugabe's international trips
had
become "feeding troughs" for many senior officials who cannot survive on
the
meagre civil servants salary of US$150 per month.
"People jostle to
be part of the President's entourage whenever he is going
out because there
is money to be made there," said one senior official.
"Even officers from
foreign affairs and reporters from the state media
campaign to be included
in the delegations because it has become a way of
making money."
Cabinet
ministers who earn US$350 per month on average "fight" to be part of
his
entourage.
Mugabe's lavish trip, which included shopping in New York, comes
at a time
when the restive civil servants are threatening to go on strike
because of
poor remuneration.
Air Zimbabwe pilots were in the middle of a
week-long strike for better pay
when he flew out of the country.
The
octogenarian who has ruled the country for the past three decades, was
last
month granted a 400% pay rise despite claims that the coalition
government
is broke.
"If Mugabe can forgo three or four of his trips, the government
would be
able to nearly double salaries for civil servants for at least one
month as
the country waits for revenue from the sale of diamonds," said
another
senior government official.
As of April this year, the wage bill
for civil servants stood at US$913
million.
Money wasted on the trip,
analysts said, could have been channelled to more
needy sectors such as
health, housing and buying food for the millions
surviving on food
assistance from donors.
Renowned economist John Robertson said it was
hypocritical of Mugabe to
protest in New York that poverty in Zimbabwe was
due to economic sanctions
imposed on the country when he had such a big
contingent tailing him.
"You cannot protest poverty when you are living
lavishly," said Robertson,
adding that the money gobbled by the trip could
have been channelled to
productive sectors of the economy.
He continued,
"I see it as a reward for good behaviour, for loyalty to those
who have
stood by Mugabe during all these hard times."
In New York, Mugabe blasted the
West for maintaining sanctions on him and
his inner circle, charging that
the restrictive measures were keeping the
country mired in poverty.
He
told world leaders that sanctions were hindering Zimbabwe's progress
towards
the fulfilment of the UN's Millennium Development Goals on poverty
and
hunger, among others.
Mugabe took with him a relations re-engagement
delegation that comprised
Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa (Zanu PF),
Energy Minister Elton Mangoma
(MDC-T), Regional Intergration and
International Cooperation Minister
Priscilla Misihairambwi-Mushonga and
Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara
both of MDC-M.
The ministerial
team met officials from the US government to restart
inter-government
dialogue after years of Zimbabwe's isolation by.
But the majority of people
who were part of the delegation were Mugabe's
hangers-on.
University of
Zimbabwe political scientist John Makumbe says Mugabe must be
stopped from
abusing national resources by having a bloated delegation
whenever he
travels outside the country.
He said the amount of money used for the trip
makes a mockery of the US$150
civil servants get monthly as
salaries.
Even heads of state of rich and developed countries such as Britain
and the
US are not as extravagant as Mugabe when they travel outside their
countries, said Makumbe.
"This is reckless statesmanship," said
Makumbe.
"It's unnecessary political grandstanding.
"He wanted to impress
other world leaders that in spite of the sanctions, he
can still afford to
travel with such a large contingent."
Even Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai
was not amused by Mugabe's
extravagance which he said should be
stopped.
"This will have to stop because we as leaders are now talking about
accountability in Zimbabwe," he was quoted as saying last
week.
Tsvangirai said huge delegations were not good for Zimbabwe because
the
government was bankrupt.
The size of Mugabe's entourage could even
have turned Libyan leader Muammar
Gaddaffi, also known for his great
appetite for things lavish, green with
envy.
Nine years ago, Gaddafi's
convoy of at least 80 vehicles snaked into
Zimbabwe from neighbouring Zambia
where he had been attending a summit of
African leaders.
BY
CAIPHAS CHIMHETE
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
Saturday, 02 October 2010
19:21
THE government's controversial decision to ban importation of cars
older
than five years has hit a raw nerve, with most people opposed to the
new
regulations, claiming the authorities were out of touch with
reality.
Last week The Standard broke the news that regulations
barring the
importation of vehicles older and than five years had been
gazetted and this
week we follow up with responses generated by the
publication of the
article.
The regulations also ban the importation of
left-hand-drive vehicles
Readers argued that the new regulations would have
the opposite effect to
that which the government had intended - including
pushing up prices of cars
and making it generally expensive for people to
replace their old cars.
"We will be forced to hang-on to our cars until they
can no longer move,"
one reader said. "It is unfortunate that we are led by
people who are
completely detached from reality on the ground."
Consensus
among most readers was that purchasing of vehicles was going to be
beyond
the reach of many making it a preserve of the rich.
"Everyone desires to
drive the latest model of vehicles but lack of finances
to buy such cars
forces the majority of Zimbabweans to settle for cheaper
used cars," a
reader who chose to be identified as Hopeful Zimbabwean said.
He argued that
this explained why imports remained popular despite the
surtax charged, as
these cars remained cheaper than locally assembled or new
vehicles.
"I
guess it makes the legislators of Zimbabwe happy to see the country going
back to the 1980s scenario where only big wigs had cars and the rest of the
populace had to queue for Harare United (a defunct bus company) because they
could not afford cars," the reader said.
A point which he also sought to
emphasise was that the new set of
regulations would have an adverse effect
on the country's revenues, at a
time when Zimbabwe needed all the money it
could lay hands on.
Other readers lamented the fact that while the
government claimed that the
second-hand cars were responsible for accidents,
there was no research or
evidence to back these claims.
"Where are the
statistics that were used to come to that conclusion?" one
reader
asked.
"Maybe this law is being made more to protect the new rich dealers,
selling
new Nissan, Toyota and Mazda cars."
Another reader blamed the
state of the roads for the accidents and described
the new regulations as
"crazy".
"Whoever suggested that imported cars are causing carnage on the
roads
missed the point, our poor roads across the country are contributing
and
also human error and not imported cars, someone has got a hidden
agenda,"
Dread Lawe, said on the matter.
He argued that if the government
was sincere, then they should first have
empowered Willowvale Motor
Industries (WMMI) - the only car assembly in
Zimbabwe - before coming up
with such regulations.
Importantly, most readers blamed poorly maintained
roads, drunken driving,
poorly maintained vehicles, poor traffic control
mechanisms and police
corruption as the major drivers of accidents and
banning the importations
was akin to shadow boxing.
They said instead the
government should deploy officers from the Vehicle
Inspection Department
(VID) at border posts and these would certify whether
cars were roadworthy
or not.
Another reader said countries like Zambia, Uganda and Kenya had
employed the
services of Japan Export Vehicle Inspection Company (JEVIC),
which inspected
cars prior to their departure from the south Asian
country.
A Harare car sales manager, Given Dhliwayo expressed concern at the
new
measures describing them as ill-timed and unfortunate.
"Prices of
these vehicles that we have in stock will go up and we will see a
closure of
a number of car sales," he warned.
Dhliwayo said the government should look
at ways of re-equipping WMMI so it
could cover the vacuum that would be
created by the new regulations.
The government also announced that it was
banning left hand drive vehicles
from operating in the country, a move that
has drawn the ire of the
Transport Operators Association of Zimbabwe which
argues that this will have
an adverse effect on the industry.
A second
hand car dealer, who requested anonymity, said these new
regulations would
sound the death knell for the industry, which, he claimed
was contributing
millions in revenue.
"There was no consultation and we were shocked to read
in the papers that
our businesses were at risk," he said.
"We have
mobilised and we will make our presentations to parliament, in the
hope that
they will reconsider."
Lawrence Mavima, the chairman of the Parliamentary
Portfolio Committee on
State Enterprises and Parastatals, which has an
oversight role at WMMI said
they had not had the chance to review the
regulations and would only do so
when the house resumed seating this
week.
"Zimbabwe had become a dumping ground for these vehicles and obviously
something had to be done to address this situation," Mavima said.
He
cited the example of South Africa, which barred second hand imports some
time ago.
However, South Africa has a thriving motor industry, with most
major car
manufacturers having plants there.
WMMI, which produces Mazda
vehicles, only resumed assembling cars last
month, raising questions whether
it could meet demand for cars once imports
were barred.
"We only started
in September and at the moment I cannot say how many cars
we are making,
obviously we will start small and then grow as time goes on,"
the car
manufacturer's managing director, Engineer Dawson Mareya said.
Zimbabwe
Revenue Authority (Zimra) commissioner general, Gershom Pasi said
they stood
guided by the new regulations and would only realise its effects
on revenue
generation in future.
"We will have to see with the new patterns, these are
new regulations and we
stand guided by them," he
said.
BY NQABA MATSHAZI
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
Saturday, 02 October 2010
18:48
OVER 3 500 men were circumcised throughout the country last month
alone as
Zimbabweans begin to embrace the latest tool in the fight against
the Aids
pandemic.
Karin Hatzold, the director of HIV services at
Population Services
International (PSI) told a report-back meeting on the
International Aids
Conference held in Vienna, Austria recently that the
figures were obtained
from circumcision centres around the country.
The
feedback meeting in Harare was organised by the United Nations
Population
Fund (UNFPA) and the National Aids Council.
"All our five sites in the
country are fully functional with over 3 500
clients having been circumcised
around the country last month alone,"
Hatzold said.
"There is high latent
demand for male circumcision in the areas we have
visited," Hatzold
said.
She explained that if at least 80% of adult men in the country were
circumcised about 750 000 cases of HIV infections could be
prevented.
Zimbabwe's adult HIV prevalence rate is pegged at 13,7% and
significant
progress has been made in reducing infection rates.
However,
participants were unanimous that Zimbabwe like many African
countries,
needed to integrate HIV testing with male circumcision.
The policy of only
allowing qualified doctors to conduct circumcision was
cited as partly
contributing to the success story that the country is making
in dealing with
HIV.
Two methods are being used as they are timely and cost effective, namely
the
forceps guided method which also has high output and diathermy for
hemostats
which involves coagulation of blood and saves time.
In
explaining the practicality of having male circumcision on a wide scale,
Hatzold cited the recent circumcision of 600 Shangaan men at one go during a
cultural event.
"We recently circumcised up to 1 200 males within the
Shangaan community in
Chiredzi as they began opening up to the advantages of
this important
exercise," she said.
PSI circumcised up to 7 000 men
within the first few months of operation in
2009 within Harare, Mutare, and
Bulawayo. The country's major cities were
host to the circumcision pilot
sites.
Circumcision generally reduces the risk of penile cancer and reduces
susceptibility to sexually transmitted diseases provided men practice safe
sex.
University of Zimbabwe researcher Webster Mavhu said recent research
showed
that Zimbabwean men had embraced circumcision.
"We carried out
research in six districts within Mashonaland East and
Masvingo and noted
that 52% of men were willing to undergo male
circumcision," he
said.
However, most of the respondents did not know how the procedure was
carried
out and were also not aware of the benefits.
Others questioned
why circumcision was being done for free with some people
saying they
suspected their discarded foreskins would be used for ritual
purposes.
BY KUDZAI CHIMHANGWA
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
Saturday, 02 October 2010
18:31
ZIMBABWE'S large informal sector constituting up to 60% of the
country's
economic activity is a reflection of the low levels of economic
development,
according to experts from the US-based Centre for International
Private
Enterprise (CIPE) and the US Chamber of Commerce.
Speaking at the
2010 American Business Association of Zimbabwe (ABAZ) Just
Business forum
last week, CIPE chairman Greg Lebedev called for the urgent
reform of the
country's investment policies to lure investors.
"The informal sector is an
opaque world of business transactions.
"Zimbabwe tops the world list of
economies with informal sector activity and
from our observations across
many countries in the world, a large informal
sector inhibits economic
growth," Lebedev said.
"Although political uncertainty has been a major
contributor to slow
(economic) growth in Zimbabwe, public debt stands at
290% of Gross Domestic
Product which by far is the largest in the
world."
Zimbabwe's high unemployment rate which is pegged at well over 80%
owing to
the decline of economic production has been cited as the underlying
reasons
behind spiralling informal sector activity.
Lebedev said if the
informal sector problem was addressed notwithstanding
the political factors,
Zimbabwe will witness phenomenal economic growth with
the passage of
time.
"The levels of economic development are directly co-related to the
levels of
formal and informal sector activity.
"A free market economy is
the only sustainable path towards economic growth
and prosperity in
Zimbabwe," Lebedev said.
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai told the forum that
Zimbabwe's economic
environment was riddled with bureaucracy and an
uncertain policy framework
hence the growth of the informal sector.
"In
the case of investors, they are tempted to look elsewhere for a reliable
return on their capital while our business people also seek opportunities
elsewhere or opt to operate informally within our economy," Tsvangirai
said.
Tsvangirai said there the transitional government can never be
permanent,
which meant that elections will have to be held soon so as to
create a
conducive environment for investors.
"The pace of progress is
influenced by the lack of a shared common vision
amongst the parties that
comprise this transitional government...disdain for
the rule of law and
property rights continue to undermine our image as a
safe investment
destination," he said.
He said the Ministry of Finance has secured US$100
million for distribution
to small and medium enterprises.
One delegate at
the forum said their small businesses were encountering
difficulties in
accessing credit facilities from local banks.
BY KUDZAI
CHIMHANGWA
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
Saturday, 02 October 2010 18:27
THE
Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) say it is on course to be operationally
ready
to resume its lender-of-last-resort role.
The move is likely to restore
confidence in the troubled financial services
sector.
RBZ stopped playing
the lender-of-last-resort role in 2008 creating fears
that the local
financial institutions were now susceptible to shocks in the
event of
problems in the sector.
RBZ governor, Gideon Gono told Standardbusiness on
the sidelines of the Sadc
Central Banks meeting on Friday that once the
central bank is ready,
Treasury will disburse the money.
He said they
were not performing that role, not because the Ministry of
Finance had not
disbursed the money but for other technical reasons.
"The Minister of Finance
has written to the governor and is on record as
saying as soon as they are
operationally ready he would disburse the money
to kick-start that
process.
"Unfortunately we have not been operationally ready but we are there
now. We
should be able to begin the process," Gono said.
RBZ is in the
process of rationalising its staff in line with the new focus
of sticking to
the bank's core business.
Gono said rationalisation is one of the items on
the agenda but would not
commit himself on the numbers involved because "it
will be pre-emptive of me
to report on where we are to the public before we
have concluded matters and
reported to our principals".
Meanwhile, the
31st meeting of the Committee on Central Bank Governors from
the Sadc region
ended in Harare on Friday with 15 central bank governors and
30 senior
officials in the region in attendance.
Gono said the mere fact that the
meeting was held in Zimbabwe got certain
directional signals to others about
their perception of the venue and the
country.
"You cannot wish away
Zimbabwe's central bank, you cannot prescribe it out
of existence, you
cannot hope to achieve economic turnaround let alone
stability and growth
outside the involvement of your central bank," Gono
said.
"These men and
women showing their weight to come over here is a great
tribute to the
country, an indication that our country is stable, turning
around and they
now want to see and understand Zimbabwe more."
BY NDAMU SANDU
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
Saturday, 02 October 2010
18:25
BULAWAYO - The Reserve Bank has stopped Zanu PF officials in
Matabeleland
from grabbing and distributing amongst themselves its farm
mechanisation
equipment that has been lying idle for the past three years in
Bulawayo.
Zanu PF officials in the southern region recently set up a
six-member
committee to come up with an inventory of the farming equipment
and resolved
to distribute the various type of implements amongst themselves
ahead of the
farming season.
The committee is made up of party provincial
chairpersons for Bulawayo,
Matabeleland North and South provinces.
The
other members are the governors of the respective provinces namely Cain
Mathema, Sithokozile Mathuthu and Angeline Masuku - whose term of office has
expired.
The committee was tasked with ensuring the urgent distribution
of the
farming equipment that has been lying idle at the National Railways
of
Zimbabwe (NRZ) yard in Bulawayo.
Sources said the committee has
however hit a brick-wall as the central bank
has stopped it from grabbing
and distributing the equipment that includes
ploughs, harrows and scotch
carts among others without its consent.
Attempts to engage RBZ governor,
Gideon Gono, to give the Zanu PF officials
a go-ahead to distribute the
equipment have also yielded no results, sources
added, noting that the
former "kept saying he would come back to us".
Zanu PF Bulawayo chairman,
Isaac Dakamela confirmed that the central bank
was refusing to let go the
farming equipment.
"There are hitches that have to be ironed out first,"
Dakamela said.
"We have spoken to Gono and he has promised to come back to us
but he has
not done so as there are some things that he needs to clarify
regarding the
distribution of the farming equipment."
Dakamela however
expressed hope that the RBZ would let go the farming
equipment ahead of the
farming season.
Gono told Standardbusiness on Friday that although the
mechanisation
programme was now the responsibility of the Ministry of
Agriculture,
Mechanisation and Irrigation, there was still need to
distribute implements
bought by RBZ properly.
"The mechanisation
programme was a mammoth programme and it is a programme
that is now the sole
responsibility of the Ministry of Agriculture and
Mechanisation," he
said.
"We do have residual assets that are lying around not just in Bulawayo
but
in other parts of the country and proper procedures will have to be
followed
in terms of their distribution."
Gono launched the farm
mechanisation programme in 2007 in a bid to stimulate
agricultural
production.
However, the programme was abused with politicians and Zanu PF
supporters
mostly benefitting.
In February Gono issued a statement saying
beneficiaries of the farm
mechanisation programme had to pay for the
implements allocated to them.
"Having gone for over 30 months
post-commencement of the programme, it is
now time farmers, beginning the
2010 harvests, start to pay for the
equipment they received," Gono said in
the statement.
"Beneficiaries under the Farm Mechanisation Programme will,
therefore, be
receiving detailed statements and invoices, along with the
payment
modalities which will be delivered to each farm gate."
BY
NQOBANI NDLOVU
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
Saturday, 02 October 2010 19:11
The new
regulations banning the importation of second-hand vehicles which
become
effective in March next year do not make sense considering the
country is
not in a position to satisfy local demand for cars. It will also
leave a
huge dent in the fiscus as the importation of used cars contributed
much to
the country's revenue.
The new regulations will, the government argues, help
to reduce the carnage
on our roads but this sentiment is not backed by
credible scientific
evidence. Other factors than imported cars contribute
much more to the
fatal road accidents the country experiences, especially
during holiday
periods.
No one would dispute the danger left-hand drive
vehicles pose on the roads,
and these should be banned; but to attribute the
mayhem on our roads to
imported vehicles disregarding more important factors
such as driving under
the influence of alcohol or drugs and police
corruption is like burying one's
head in the sand.
Further, there is no
evidence of any consultation between the government and
any stakeholders, so
the decision smacks of unilateralism that has become a
hallmark of the
government.
One certain effect of this regulation is that it will impact
heavily on the
country's revenue generation. It is estimated that at least
300 cars are
cleared daily at our borders and import duties amount to
millions of dollars
in revenue which our bankrupt government sorely
needs.
In addition the government was making a killing through the surtax
imposed
on these import duties. Why government would make a decision that
impacts on
its revenue generation capacity is beyond reason.
But as with
other decisions, government has shown that it has a propensity
to shoot
itself in the foot. Importation of second-hand vehicles had become
a huge
industry employing hundreds of people, with thousands more depending
on the
trade downstream.
Now at the stroke of a pen, these people will soon be
unemployed, to the
prejudice of both themselves, their families and the
economy.
Brand new cars are expensive and only a handful of people and
companies can
afford them. Yet, with the decline in public transport, cars
have become a
necessity rather than a luxury for the majority of Zimbabwean
households.
The country's sole car assembly works, the government-owned
Willowvale Mazda
Motor Industries, only resumed operations last month after
almost going
bust; it simply has no capacity to satisfy local
demand.
Cars will now be out of reach of most people, while those who already
have
vehicles will find it almost impossible to replace their old
ones.
This means that people will drive their cars longer until they are
unroadworthy and cause the very accidents that the government is ostensibly
trying to prevent.
In its haste to come up with these regulations, the
government has thrown
commonsense out of the window.
The government
should suspend implementing these regulations, while
exploring the real
reasons for accidents on our roads and how these can be
tackled.
The
government should address the awful state of the roads which have
certainly
contributed to the rise in accidents.
Traffic cops are quick to take a bribe
and let unroadworthy vehicles through
road blocks. Cattle and donkeys freely
roam our roads contributing to the
dangers, especially at night. Recently a
police officer lost her life when
she hit a stray ox.
The accident also
nearly cost the life of Zimbabwe's top golfer Marc Cayeux.
The Vehicle
Inspection Department should be empowered and given adequate
resources to
monitor the roadworthiness of vehicles. It would be a noble
idea to have
these officers stationed at border posts to monitor the state
of cars that
are being imported.
This will create a win-win situation as the government
will continue
generating revenue, while more Zimbabweans will continue to
afford cars.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
Saturday, 02 October 2010 19:08
Before
the EU lifts targe-ted smart sanctions on Mugabe and his inner
circle, they
should note that the whole of Zimbabwe is a giant crime scene
based on what
happened before and after the 2008 elections as well as what
is happening on
the ground now.
Until a full "forensic" investigation is carried out into
electoral
violence, political murders and human rights abuses in the country
leading
to the prosecution and conviction of the culprits, targeted
sanctions must
stay.
The EU sanctions ban the sale "of arms and of
equipment that can be used for
internal repression," prevent Mugabe and his
allies from "entering or
transiting the EU member states and impose an asset
freeze on people and
firms suspected of supporting the regime. The sanctions
are supposed to
remain in effect until February 20,
2011 (on the eve of
Mugabe's 87th birthday!).
The restrictive measures were imposed in 2002 in
reaction to allegations of
electoral rigging and human rights abuses by
Mugabe's regime. Jacob Zuma's
South African government has declined to
release a report of the role of the
Zimbabwe military in the
2008
election violence. Also of concern is the claim by the Democratic
Alliance
that South Africa gave a total of R600 million in "economic
assistance" to
Mugabe's regime under the African Renaissance Fund (ARF) even
though the ARF
"does not track down how the funding
is spent"'
One of
the reasons why some people feel the measures should stay is the
alleged
revelation by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Governor, Gideon Gono in
a huge
advert in 2009 that he had spent US$18 million destined for accounts
belonging to tobacco growers. In the absence of a Freedom of Information Act
in Zimbabwe, it is unlikely that the full extent of the raids on foreign
currency accounts by the Mugabe regime and their use will ever be audited
transparently. However, the cash strapped government was said to be paying
back the farmers with fertiliser! Other reasons for supporting targeted
sanctions are alleged rights abuses.
According to Human Rights Watch
(HRW), there were human rights abuses by the
Zimbabwe Defence Forces in the
Marange diamond fields including extra
judicial killings, beatings, torture,
forced labour, and child labour during
the period October 2008 to June 2009.
"The first three weeks of the
operation were particularly brutal over the
period October 27
to November 16 2008 the army killed at least 214 miners.
The army has also
been engaged fully and openly in the smuggling of
diamonds, thereby
perpetuating the very crime it was deployed to prevent,"
the HRW said.
On October 27 2008 elements of the ZNA, AFZ and CIO agents
reportedly
launched Operation Hakudzokwi (No Return) in Marange
District.
Prospects of any criminal investigations into the alleged human
rights
abuses have dwindled with Mugabe's recent declaration that there
would be no
trials. Furthermore, it has been alleged that economic
inducements and
threats of physical harm have kept Zimbabwe's judiciary
"beholden" to Mugabe
with the new coalition doing nothing to re-establish
the integrity of the
compromised bench.
Unimpressed by the failure of the
coalition government to prosecute
perpetrators of violence, in January, HRW
slammed Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai's MDC party for shielding abuses by
Zanu PF "in the name of
trying to save Zimbabwe's coalition regime. But that
did not stop MDC from
promising amnesty to Mugabe and senior army officers
"implicated in
atrocities if they voluntarily vacate office".
Have the
sanctions been effective? Who are they hurting if at all, and how?
It is my
opinion that the smart sanctions, though not perfect, have worked
and are
working, therefore should be retained and only reviewed when they
expire in
February next year. In view of the fact that in July, the EU
invited
sanctioned Zimbabweans to make individual cases for delisting, it is
very
worrying to note that the same EU is reportedly "ready to take a fresh
look
at sanctions against Zimbabwe".
The EU should not flip flop on this crucial
issue. The German Ambassador to
Zimbabwe, Albrecht Conze recently made a
pertinent observation saying: "For
the past three years those that
have
put restrictive measures on about 200 people in this country regarding
travel and assets have helped this country with between 600 and 800 hundred
million dollars per year. I fail to understand how travel restrictions and
restrictions on personal assets for a small number of people can be
considered a threat to the economic revival of this
country."
Clifford Chitupa Mashiri, Political Analyst, London, UK.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
Saturday, 02 October 2010
19:06
In the United Kingdom Ed Miliband has taken over the leadership of
the
Labour party. He is only 40.
In Egypt Hosni Mubarak is ready
to stand elections pencilled in for next
year; he is in poor health but if
he fails to stand, his son Gamal (46)
will. It will be the first dynastic
succession in Egypt. He is 82 and has
ruled his country since 1981.
In
North Korea the ailing Kim Jong Il has anointed his youngest son Kim Jong
Un
as heir to the Kim dynasty which has ruled the country since 1948.
In
Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe is preparing for an election sometime
next
year. He has not chosen an heir; he is rumoured to be in ill health. He
is
86.
In Cuba ailing Fidel Castro, who passed on power to his younger brother
Raul
has said the Cuban model does not work; it has failed to work even for
Cuba
itself. Castro is 84 while his brother Raul is 79.
Different
scenarios from different countries?
But at what stage should a leader come
out in the open and say, “This doesn’t
work?”
Fidel Castro is a great
revolutionary; his exploits are legendary. It is
said that a 13 he organised
a strike of farm workers on his father’s farm
because his father was
exploiting them. His sense of justice is what led him
as a young lawyer to
stand for the poor who could not afford legal fees when
they came up against
big corporations mostly American which exploited them.
He joined politics in
1947 because he was attracted to the Cuban People’s
Party’s campaign against
corruption, injustice, poverty, unemployment and
low wages. The party
accused government ministers of taking bribes and
running the country for
the benefit of the large US corporations that had
factories and offices in
Cuba.
He waged a bitter guerrilla war against Cuba’s ruler US-backed
Fulgencio
Batista until he won and took over the leadership of the country.
He imposed
Soviet-style communism on the island. During his entire rule Cuba
was under
as US economic embargo but during a big chunk of it Cuba survived
because of
the support of the Soviet Union and its Eastern bloc allies which
continued
to buy its products particularly sugar.
But in 1991 the island
suffered an economic crisis. Its outdated and
unrepaired equipment meant
that sugar and tobacco production fell. At the
same time, after the fall of
the Berlin Wall, it could no longer rely on
former countries in Eastern
Europe to prop it up. Castro suffered great
embarrassment when his own
daughter sought asylum in the United States in
1994.
In 2005, the US
intelligence reports said that Castro was suffering from
Parkinson’s
disease. Other rumours suggested that he had terminal cancer.
The following
year he underwent intestinal surgery and on July 30 2006, he
transferred his
political responsibilities to his younger brother Raúl
Castro.
On
February 19 2008, Fidel Castro announced he would neither seek nor accept
a
new term as either president or commander-in-chief of Cuba.
Last month he
said the Cuban model has not worked. Cuba is in an economic
shambles.
In
Egypt rumours concerning Mubarak’s health have increased since he had
gallbladder surgery in March. Approaching elections have stirred debate
about whether his 46-year-old son Gamal, a former investment banker, will
succeed his father and whether he has the public popularity to win over the
military and key parts of the establishment. There have also been hints at
rifts in the establishment about whether he is up to the job, even if he is
widely tipped as the most likely contender to be the next president
But
should Egypt have a dynastic succession? Are we saying this nation of
nearly
79 million people is so bereft of leadership that the next president
should
be a Mubarak? Hosni himself has ruled the country with an iron fist;
what
would one expect from a former minister of war and someone who survived
an
assassination attempt? He has cracjked down on opposition. Mubarak’s
government accused the Muslim Brotherhood of helping violent Islamic groups.
Many of the Muslim Brotherhood’s members have been arrested, and several who
planned to run in the elections of 1995 or monitor them were tried and
sentenced to prison. Critics accused the government of trying to eliminate
even peaceful opponents. He continues to win elections because of his use of
state machinery against opponents.
The reclusive North Korea is in a bad
state. According to the CIA, “North
Korea, one of the world’s most centrally
directed and least open economies,
faces chronic economic problems.
Industrial capital stock is nearly beyond
repair as a result of years of
underinvestment and shortages of spare parts.
Large-scale military spending
draws off resources needed for investment and
civilian consumption.
Industrial and power output have declined in parallel
from pre-1990 levels.
Severe flooding in the summer of 2007 aggravated
chronic food shortages
caused by ongoing systemic problems including a lack
of arable land,
collective farming practices, and persistent shortages of
tractors and
fuel.”
With Kim Jong IL ailing, and having anointed one of his sons, believed
to be
28, as his successor, is the North Korean model working?
Back to Ed
Miliband; the Labour model under Tony Blair and Gordon Brown
failed to work
hence its leadership had to be renewed. Ed’s brother David
Miliband almost
seemed to be the natural successor to Brown but he was
beaten to the wire
mainly because he was part of the Blair-Brown outfit
which had plunged the
country into the unpopular Iraq war from which Britain
emerged bruised and
battered. Labour had to make a clean break and they are
looking far into the
future, hence they have picked the youthful Ed.
Closer to home, is the Mugabe
model working for Zimbabwe? What makes him
want to stand in elections again
and again? Are we going to see a dynastic
succession?
Robert Mugabe jnr
is approaching his 20s. Watch this space!
NEVANJI
MADANHIRE
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
Saturday, 02 October 2010 19:04
One
of the most undeniable things is that no matter what Zimbabwe does, the
European Union is of critical effect to the developments in the
country.
To get out of the woods, Zimbabwe needs the EU and a lot of
other western
nations. But the question that troubles many of us is whether
the EU has
good intentions or not?
Is the EU trying to impose its will on
Zimbabwe? Is the EU trying to
dominate Zimbabwe and steal her natural
resources? Discussing these
questions is very important as they form part
of the present political
discourse in our national politics. There have
been mainstream political
arguments touching on these aspects. It is our
duty to respond to such
questions based on our varied experiences.
First,
international political relations are all about "individual national
interests". International relations theories on Realism and Liberalism
significantly discuss these issues. Arguments from historical, economic and
political philosophers like John Mearsheimer, Paul Krugman, Adam Smith,
Charles Doyle, Machiavelli, Julius Nyerere, Kwameh Nkrumah and others points
to the significance of international political realism. Nations are not
forced to relate with other nations. States have options to relate or not to
relate. In most cases nation states relate with countries that serve their
national strategic interests.
In this case it cannot be denied that the
EU has vested strategic interests
in Zimbabwe. But is this abnormal?
Certainly, not. It is rational that an
individual or a family should relate
to people who they think meets their
criteria.
According to the EU,
Zimbabwe has failed to meet its criteria for
friendship. This has led to the
current deterioration in relations. In the
current capitalistic and
globalization era, it is common cuase that blocs
like the EU are looking for
markets and raw materials from developing
nations like Zimbabwe.
So the
truth is that one of the major reasons why the EU has strong
interests in
Zimbabwe is that they want raw materials like gold, diamonds,
agricultural
products and many other things. But it is also true that
Zimbabwe wants
money, technological knowhow and a lot of financial
assistance from the EU
and the rest of the western world. In other words the
EU has the right to
demand what it wants from Zimbabwe in as much as
Zimbabwe should also demand
what it wants from whoever it relates with.
Such is international politics.
But beware; Zimbabwe should know that it
needs the EU, Australia, the US and
almost all major industrialised
countries in order to develop
further.
Japan used the US to develop. Hong Kong and Australia used the
United
Kingdom as a vehicle to develop. Zimbabwe should think deeply and
choose who
it wants to use as its development partner. It is hard to see how
the EU can
be avoided.
It should also be remembered that the pressure
that the EU is putting on the
administrators in Zimbabwe might sorely be
based on the need to promote
democracy and human rights. It is a fact that
the current democratic
credentials of the country are far from
convincing.
Most right minded citizens can clearly see that people want more
space to
air their minds and opinions.
There are lots of qualified and
dignified brains in the country who simply
want to freely debate their
thoughts on national development.
If such freedoms are threatened, then
interested bodies like the EU can
voice their concerns by getting tougher
with the country.
Zimbabwe has the right to respond accordingly but it should
remember that at
the present moment the levers of power are not in
Zimbabwe`s favour.
Zimbabwe needs diplomats of the sought of Bismarck of Otto
von Germany,
Henry Kissinger of USA and Joshua Nkomo. Such diplomats will be
able to
calculate how we can achieve national economic, social and political
interests without antagonising the very same international friends we need
in order to meet our objectives.
Ocean Marambanyika
writes from the University of Oslo, Norway.