FinGaz
Njabulo Ncube Chief Political
Reporter
lCops fail to produce ZCTU torture report
HARARE magistrate
William Bhila this week rapped the police for failing to
produce a
comprehensive report on the torture of Zimbabwe Congress of Trade
Unions
(ZCTU) officials after they were arrested during an abortive protest
march
in the capital last month.
The police defied the magistrate's order to
conduct an investigation into
the assault and torture of the unionists while
they were in custody. The
magistrate had given the police up to Tuesday to
produce the report.
Instead of submitting the court-ordered report, police
instead lodged
affidavits by officers involved in the arrest and detention
of the 31
unionists and opposition activists rounded up before the start of
the
planned ZCTU protest march on September 13.
Bhila deferred the trial
of the unionists, who have been charged under
section 37 (1)(b) of the
Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act, for
'acting in a manner likely
to cause public disorder,' to October 17 to allow
some of the tortured
demonstrators to recover from their injuries. The
magistrate ordered the
Criminal Investigations Department to undertake the
inquiry, saying regular
police were not taking the matter seriously.
Although Joel Tenderere, a
Zimbabwe Republic Police superintendent and
officer commanding the crime
unit in Harare central district who directed
operations on the fateful day,
has sworn that only 'minimum force' was used
on the demonstrators for
'heavily resisting arrest', a medical examination
carried out by the
Zimbabwe Association of Doctors for Human Rights (ZADHR),
has shown that the
injuries sustained by the demonstrators were consistent
with
beatings.
"The Zimbabwe Association of Doctors for Human Rights states that
the
medically confirmed and documented pattern of injuries sustained by the
Harare and Chitungwiza ZCTU members who were arrested on September 13 2006
and detained in police custody until September 15 2006 is consistent with
the testimony given by the ZCTU members themselves.
"That is, that these
were injuries consistent with beatings with blunt
objects, heavy enough to
cause fractures (nine fractures in seven
individuals) to hands and arms and
severe and multiple soft tissue injuries
to the backs of the head,
shoulders, arms, buttocks and thighs (29
individuals). Soft tissue injuries
to the soles of the feet (eight
individuals) are also consistent with
beatings, and correspond to the
torture method called Falanga, which can
leave a torture victim having
difficulty with normal walking for the rest of
his or her life," ZADHR said
in a statement released
yesterday.
Tenderere, on the other hand, insists that the "demonstrators were
heavily
resisting
FinGaz
By Joseph Ngwawi
Zambia's
economic renaissance to continue
PRESIDENT Levy Mwanawasa has been sworn in
for a second term of office and
another chance to advance Zambia's economic
renaissance.
The 58-year-old lawyer got 1 177 846 votes or 42,98 percent
of the 2 740 178
valid votes cast during Zambia's fourth multiparty
elections held on
September 28.His closest rival in the tightly contested
polls, Michael Sata
of the Patriotic Front (PF), amassed 29,37 percent of
the votes cast or 804
748 votes.
Sata initially led when vote-counting
started on September 28 but was
overtaken by Mwanawasa by the
weekend.
The PF leader got most of his votes in urban areas, where he led
Mwanawasa
in the capital Lusaka and the predominantly urban Copperbelt
region.
United Democratic Alliance president, Hakainde Hichilema, took third
place
with 693 772 votes or 25,32 percent of the total, while Heritage
Party's
Godfrey Miyanda was fourth with 42 891 votes, representing 1,57
percent of
the total votes cast.
All People's Congress Party president,
Winright Ngondo, came last out of the
five presidential candidates, with 20
921votes representing 0,76 percent.
Sata conceded defeat soon after the final
results were announced and
appealed to his supporters to remain calm and
refrain from actions that
might destroy the country, arguing that he had a
political programme in and
outside Parliament to resolve alleged electoral
fraud.
Violent protests involving Sata's supporters hit Lusaka on October 1
and 2
as it emerged that Mwanawasa was headed for victory.
Sata said PF
was not going to petition the election results because it was
"a waste of
time" as courts allegedly have no capacity to resolve political
questions.
He said the PF's main concern at the moment was the role being
played by
international election observers whom he accused of not having an
interest
in the welfare of the people.
Sata charged that the
international observers were a cost to the Zambian
taxpayer and a waste of
time because they did not show any willingness to
investigate the alleged
irregularities that the parties have raised.
Most regional and international
observers, including the Southern African
Development Community (SADC)
Election Observer Mission, the Common Market
for Eastern and Southern Africa
and the African Union, passed a verdict of
credible, free and fair
elections.
Mwanawasa's inauguration at 12 noon on October 3 at the Parliament
building
in Lusaka was attended by President Hifikepunye Pohamba of Namibia,
and the
vice-presidents of Botswana and Zimbabwe.
A second term to
successfully complete the wide-ranging economic reforms and
an
anti-corruption drive is what Mwanawasa had asked for from his supporters
during his campaign.
He said that during his rule, the previously
struggling Zambian economy had
registered five percent growth and a drop in
inflation from 16 percent when
he assumed office in January 2002 to a
single-digit level of 8.2 percent in
September.
Claiming that he took
over a "damaged economy" from his predecessor,
Frederick Chiluba, Mwanawasa
has promised to continue with his policies to
deliver more Zambians out of
poverty.
He argued that through his policies over the past five years, the
level of
poverty in Zambia has declined from 80 percent to 68
percent.
Since his first election into office in December 2001, he has
pursued a
prudent economic policy, making efforts to promote agricultural
production
and encourage foreign investment.
The policy has yielded good
results, especially in the mainstay copper
sector, where output is projected
to rise to 700 000 tonnes by 2010. Copper
production was 400 000 tonnes in
2005.
During his first term, the Zambian leader has also encouraged
agricultural
development through provision of subsidised inputs to
farmers.
Mwanawasa's campaign against corruption has also earned him respect
among
donors and international monetary institutions.
Zambia attained the
completion point of the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries
(HIPC) initiative in
April 2005, enabling it to receive debt relief of an
estimated US$135
million per year over the next two decades.
The HIPC initiative was launched
by the World Bank and International
Monetary Fund to create a framework for
all creditors, including
multilateral creditors, to provide debt relief to
the world's heavily
indebted countries, and thereby reduce the constraint on
economic growth and
poverty reduction imposed by the debt build-up in these
countries.
The opposition has, however, dismissed Mwanawasa's economic track
record as
a smokescreen to endemic poverty among Zambians.
Sata
downplayed Mwanawasa's achievements by asking journalists on polling
day if
"people eat inflation".
During his campaigns, the PF leader promised to
redistribute mine property,
reduce income taxes and chase away foreign
investors and businesspersons who
exploited Zambians.
The opposition also
tried to use Mwanawasa's poor health as a campaign tool,
arguing that he was
not fit enough to lead Zambia for a final five-year
term.
Although
poverty is endemic in the country, the election results show that
Zambians
have shown patience and confidence that, with time, Mwanawasa's
policies
will eventually benefit them. - sardc.net
FinGaz
Zhean Gwaze Staff Reporter
CHIEF law
officer Joseph Jagada has accused lawyers representing former
Finance
Minister Chris Kuruneri of trying to impede progress in the ongoing
trial by
demanding an inquiry into how he handled the case.
Lawyers representing
Kuruneri, who is accused of externalising foreign
currency, made an
application for a probe to be conducted into the manner in
which Kuruneri's
case was dealt with by Jagada and the investigating
officer, assistant
commissioner Samson Mangoma, after it emerged that a key
document was
removed from the docket.
Jagada and Mangoma are accused of removing from the
docket a sworn affidavit
by Felipe Solano, whose family had business
dealings with Kuruneri between
1976 and 1981.
Consequently, the presiding
judge, Justice Susan Mavangira ordered a trial
within a trial to determine
Jagada's impartiality in the case.
In his response to the allegations, Jagada
said the defence had distorted
Mangoma's evidence to suit their own
purpose.
Jagada maintained that Mangoma never stated in court that he removed
the
affidavit after consulting the law officer.
Jagada said the defence
had abandoned its earlier assertion that Mangoma had
categorically told the
court that the removal of the affidavit had occurred
after consultation with
the prosecution.
"'Assistant Mangoma said the statement was removed from the
docket after
consultation with Mr Jagada', now it is being watered down to
the effect
that it was a "revelation in court that an affidavit from one
Felipe Solano
was removed from the police docket by Assistant Commissioner
Mangoma.
"The defence can
no longer commit
itself to who said this as
earlier alleged by it on the 25th of September
2006 because they have now
realised they lied and misled this honourable
court as the evidence of
Assistant Commissioner Mangoma on record does not
support them. The defence
conveniently changes the position to suit their
own game, this should not be
allowed," Jagada said.
Justice Mavangira adjourned the hearing to today to
enable Advocate Julia
Wood, who is representing Kuruneri, to make
consultations over some
allegations raised by Jagada and Attorney General
Sobuza Gula-Ndebele (cited
as second respondent in the matter).
Public
prosecutor Lawrence Phiri is representing Jagada and the Attorney
General.
Kuruneri was arrested in 2004 on allegations of externalising
more than
US$500 000, 37 000 British pounds, 30 000 euros and R1,2 million,
which he
allegedly used to purchase properties in South Africa.
The
former minister is awaiting sentence after being court convicted of
possessing a Canadian passport in addition to his Zimbabwean diplomatic
passport.
FinGaz
Charles Rukuni Bulawayo Bureau
Chief
It only happens in Zimbabwe. The Bulawayo City Council was forced
to fork
out an additional $3 087 000 to pay for fuel it had ordered and paid
for in
June because the price went up before the National Oil Company of
Zimbabwe
(NOCZIM) could deliver.
The council paid $263 000 on June 19
this year for 10 000 litres of petrol
which cost $26.30 litre at the time.
It also paid $248 000 for 10 000 litres
of diesel on the same date.
The
diesel was delivered on July 14 but the council was told there was no
petrol
in stock. After numerous inquiries by both telephone and through
letters,
the council was told that it must pay an additional $3 087 000
because the
price of petrol had gone up to $335 a litre.
The local authority paid the
shortfall but has still not received the fuel.
A council official was
reported to be in Harare on Tuesday arranging the
delivery.
The
government only increased the price of fuel on August 18, two months
after
the municipality had paid for its fuel.
Reports in the pro-government press
have given the impression that fuel
supplies have started coming into the
country but most garages still do not
have any fuel.
The government
entered into an agreement with a French Bank under which a
revolving fund of
US$50 million was to be used to buy fuel.
In Bulawayo fuel is so scarce that
in some cases it sells for more than $1
000 a litre.
The shortage of fuel
has seen the Zimbabwe dollar tumbling on the parallel
market. A rand now
fetches anything between $100 and $125 while the
greenback trades at around
$850.
FinGaz
Nkululeko Sibanda Own
Correspondent
BUSINESSMAN Mutumwa Mawere has hit back at the
state-appointed administrator
of his nationalised SMM and its subsidiary
firms, Arafas Gwaradzimba, saying
his declaration of Mawere's personal
liability for the companies' debts
betrayed malice and ignorance of
corporate law.
In a notice carried in the Government Gazette, Gwaradzimba
says Mawere and
former SMM board chairman William Mudekunye "are each
personally liable for
the debts due to SMM or to the SMM group, from the
Africa Resources Limited
group entities outside Zimbabwe and for amounts
paid by the SMM group to
meet the costs of reconstruction as well as for the
expense incurred by SMM
in borrowing for construction
purposes."
Gwaradzimba said Mawere was liable for expenses amounting to
US$56,5
million, 625 000 Canadian dollars, 53 million rand, 138 000 British
pounds
and Z$66,6 million, amounts he claims were withheld from SMM's export
proceeds by Southern Asbestos Sales (SAS), as well as borrowings to finance
the reconstruction.
Mawere hit back this week, calling Gwaradzimba a
'pseudo creditor.' "It is
unprecedented that a pseudo creditor would
arrogate to him the right to
assign culpability without affording the debtor
an opportunity to represent
himself. Since 2004 Gwaradzimba has not made any
attempt to contact me but
his actions confirm that he is just a highly paid
proxy of the government.
Can you imagine that Gwaradzimba is being paid
about six percent of the
turnover of SMM and any other company formerly
controlled by me? Even an
English judge felt that the remuneration of
Gwaradzimba was grotesquely
extravagant.
"This is the only strange
instance where a thief steals your car and comes
back to you driving the car
and accuses the owner of negligent driving. He
then justifies the theft by
saying that he has now found a better driver of
your car and you should pay
for the bad driving," Mawere said. He queried
how he, as a shareholder,
could become "personally liable for the purported
debts of a
company."
"It is common cause that SMM is a company incorporated under the
laws of
Zimbabwe. It was wholly owned by SMM Holdings (Private) Limited
(SMM), a
company incorporated under the laws of England that was acquired by
Africa
Resources Limited (ARL), a company that I control. ARL is a company
incorporated under the laws of the British Virgin Island. Based on the
ownership tree, I have no direct personal relationship with SMM other than
through juristic persons governed under the applicable laws of the host
countries. ARL is not subject to Zimbabwean laws in as much as SMMH is also
not subject to Zimbabwean laws.
"In terms of corporate governance, SMM
was controlled by a board of
directors chaired by Dr William Mudekunye who
then passed the reins to Mr
Abner Botsh in July 2004. Mr Botsh has since
been personally targeted and
his passport was withdrawn at the behest of
Gwaradzimba. Mr Simplisius
Chihambakwe who was also on the board but has
since been rewarded by
Gwaradzimba for cooperating with the regime's illegal
exploits is now the
chairman of SMM having been appointed by Gwaradzimba
notwithstanding the
fact that no administrator under any law has the rights
of shareholders to
appoint a board. The board of directors was dissolved by
Gwaradzimba when he
was politically appointed as administrator of SMM. To
date no director has
been charged for the alleged gross negligence and
intent to defraud," Mawere
said.
FinGaz
Kumbirai Mafunda Senior
Business Reporter
BELGIUM has relocated its Harare embassy to
neighbouring South Africa,
citing budgetary constraints.
The embassy
was closed at the end of September and relocated to Pretoria.
Diplomatic
sources indicated this week that Belgian Ambassador to Zimbabwe
Boudewijn
Dereymaker has been posted back to Brussels while other diplomatic
staff was
reassigned to other posts. The local staff at the embassy all
resigned.
Bart Pennwaert, the political attaché at the Belgian embassy in
Pretoria,
attributed the relocation of the Zimbabwean embassy to budgetary
constraints.
"We closed our offices on the 30th of September. We will
follow up Zimbabwe
from here. It (the relocation) was purely an internal
managerial decision on
our embassy network taken in Brussels. We will try to
travel to Harare to
try to talk to colleagues," said Pennwaert. Prior to its
closure the Belgian
embassy in Harare also covered Maputo.
Following the
closure of the Harare offices, the Pretoria embassy is now in
charge of
seven countries. Before the relocation, Pretoria was supervising
Namibia,
Botswana, Lesotho and Swaziland.
Belgium joins a growing list of Western
countries that have shunned
Zimbabwe. Ireland, Hungary, New Zealand and
Israel have in recent years
moved to South Africa.
Relations between
Zimbabwe and Europe have been frosty since President
Robert Mugabe won the
2000 parliamentary and the 2002 presidential elections
which Brussels, the
European Union capital, criticised as not free and fair.
FinGaz
Nkululeko Sibanda Own
Correspondent
THE country's last radiotherapy machines, housed at
Parirenyatwa - the
largest public referral hospital - have broken down,
exposing cancer
patients to serious risk.
Radiotherapy machines are
used to destroy cancer cells.
Thomas Zigora, the Parirenyatwa Group of
Hospitals' chief executive,
confirmed that the two antiquated radiotherapy
machines at the hospital had
ceased to function.
"We had two machines in
the radiotherapy department. They both had a shelf
life of 10 years. One of
them was installed in 1987 and the other in 1996.
They have outlived their
lifespan and they are down," said Zigora.
He added that the hospital was
searching for spare parts to extend the
machines' life span.
Zigora said
that the International Atomic Energy Agency, has pledged to foot
50 percent
of the costs of the spare parts, estimated to be around US$120
000.
"The
International Atomic Energy Agency has pledged to pay US$60 000 for the
spare parts and they have asked us to pay the remainder. Fortunately, we
have been informed by the authorities that the money is available and we
hope the problem will be solved soon," added Zigora.
Hospital sources
said some patients suffering from both cervical and breast
cancer have had
to be referred to neighbouring South Africa for tests. A
single test session
for cancer in South Africa is estimated to cost more
than R60 000.
"The
whole country used to depend on four machines that had been distributed
to
Bulawayo's Mpilo and Harare's Parirenyatwa hospitals.
"The two machines at
Mpilo hospital went down in March and have not been
repaired since. The
patients were being referred to Parirenyatwa Hospital
for checks and
treatment and now that the machines here are also down, the
patients are
seriously exposed," said a source.
"The authorities have had to refer
patients to South Africa where they are
charged exorbitant fees. Some of the
patients are so poor that they cannot
even go to South Africa . . . a lot of
people are dying due to cancer that
is not being treated since there are no
machines to test the patients," the
source added.
FinGaz
Nkululeko Sibanda Own
Correspondent
One year on, Murambatsvina victims still homeless as . .
.
MONDAY was World Habitat Day, an occasion so designated by the United
Nations to highlight the need to build adequate shelter for
communities.
This year's event, coming more than a year after the
government's disastrous
Operation Murambatsvina and as signs of the new
rainy season became more
ominous for the victims of last year's widely
condemned 'clean-up' exercise,
further exposed how inadequate the
government's celebrated Operation
Garikai/Hlalani Kuhle has been in
addressing a growing housing shortage.
It also exposed the extent of
government hypocrisy.
A visit to Hatcliffe, where a pre-dawn military-style
raid left hundreds of
families homeless last year as Murambatsvina gathered
momentum, revealed
that contrary to public posturing by government officials
that makeshift
plastic tents offered by humanitarian agencies were not
acceptable (with
President Robert Mugabe famously declaring "we are not
plastic people"),
'model' houses at a location toured by Local Government
Minister Ignatius
Chombo, were actually made of this material.
While
Chombo was extolling the virtues of Garikai/Hlalani Kuhle, poor
residents
were casting worried glances at the grey skies, pregnant with the
ominous
signs of rain.
For Ambuya Rice, a 55-year-old woman squatting at a farm in
Hatcliffe, the
onset of the rainy season spells doom and gloom for her and
the entire
Hatcliffe community who have lived in substandard shelter for
more than 10
years.
She tells a tale of a long life lived outside formal
housing, having
previously lived at Ndabaningi Sithole's Churu farm, which
was the target of
a police crackdown in the 1990s.
"We were evicted from
Sithole's Churu farm after Sithole clashed with
government. Since we were
staying there and fending for ourselves, we were
kicked out of the farm on
suspicion that we sympathised with Sithole.
"From there, the District
Development Fund moved us to this place where we
were allocated stands to
construct houses. The costs of constructing the
houses at the time were so
high that some of us failed to build reasonable
houses and resorted to
shacks and asbestos shelters," she said.
When the authorities descended on
the settlement with devastating effect on
the advent of Murambatsvina during
the winter of 2005, Rice and others were
once again on the receiving end
when their shacks were razed to the ground
while they were rounded up and
dumped at Caledonia farm, where a transit
camp had been
established.
After some were repatriated to their rural homes, those who
remained were
moved back to Hatcliffe, with government providing little more
than roof
sheeting per family.
"We were instructed to acquire our own
building materials and roofing
materials. These items were so expensive that
only a handful managed to
acquire the materials to put up decent houses.
That is why you continue to
see these shacks throughout this place," Rice
added.
Donor agencies, especially the World Food Programme, Christian Care
and the
Roman Catholic Church have assisted these people a lot as they have
continuously provided material assistance to the underprivileged people in
Hatcliffe.
The donor agencies have provided wheat, mealie-meal, and
cooking oil for the
families.
"At times, some trucks come here looking
for people to work at various farms
dotted around this place. The most
unfortunate part of this is that some of
the people here are so old they can
no longer work for themselves and they
then have to depend on these
donations by the agencies," said Mavis, a
single mother.
Margaret
Chitauro, one of the oldest denizens of the Hatcliffe squatter
camp, told
The Financial Gazette that government had promised to construct
proper
houses for them after Operation Murambatsvina, but was yet to make
good its
undertaking.
"Staying here is not nice at all. We are only here because we
are suffering.
The government, and specifically Chombo, (the Minister of
Local Government)
promised that after Operation Murambatsvina, we were going
to have proper
houses and not these shells," she said.
Promises of better
accommodation from the government crumbled recently when
the dwellers were
told they would have to build their own accommodation.
"We hoped government
would abide by its promise to build houses for us under
Operation Garikai
since it is the one that destroyed people's houses during
Operation
Murambatsvina.
"But we were surprised when we were told that we would have to
draw up plans
and get them approved by council. We wondered what had
happened to the
promises of houses by the minister. However, we have come to
realise that we
will have to stay in these squalid conditions for a lifetime
since we cannot
build our own houses due to high construction costs,"
Margaret added.
Apart from the rains, a bigger threat, that of improper
sanitary facilities,
looms large.
Toilets are often dug just one metre
deep, while there is no piped water.
According to United Nations secretary
general Kofi Annan's special envoy,
Anna Tibaijuka's report after assessing
the effects of Operation
Murambatsvina, close to 700 000 people needed
accommodation after the
demolition exercise, a figure that government
vehemently disputed, saying it
was meant to put Zimbabwe under the spotlight
and exert unwarranted pressure
from the international community.
FinGaz
Chris Muronzi Staff
Reporter
The joint corruption trial of Deputy Information Minister Bright
Matonga and
jailed Zimbabwe United Passenger Company (ZUPCO) chairman
Charles Nherera
begins today at the magistrates' courts, although defence
lawyers have
indicated that they could seek a deferment until they have been
furnished
with the exhibits and documents pertinent to the
case.
Nherera is already serving a two-year jail term after being
convicted of
corruption in a different case. Corruption charges against him
and Matonga
stem from allegations that they connived to demand US$20 000
from Jayesh
Shah for the extension of a property lease agreement between the
businessman
and the bus company.
In February 2002, Gift Investments
occupied 9 Hood Rd, Southerton, a Zupco
property, on a one-year lease
covering the period January to December of the
same year.
The state
alleges that on October 25 2002, Matonga, in connivance with
Nherera, wrote
to Shah advising him that the lease would be terminated with
effect from
December 31, 2002.
In the letter, Matonga allegedly stated that the lease was
being terminated
because Zupco would be acquiring new buses and needed more
space.
After negotiations, Gift investments and Zupco entered into a new
agreement,
extending the old lease up to December 2003.
In September
2003, Matonga allegedly wrote to Shah advising him that the new
lease
superseded his earlier letter.
In the course of the same month, Matonga and
Nherera, once again acting in
concert, allegedly connived to terminate the
new lease agreement before its
expiry .
On October 6, 2003, the pair,
through the Zupco chief operations officer Ben
Mauchaza, wrote to Gift
Investments threatening to terminate the lease
unless the firm was prepared
to put up a washing bay at the premises in
compliance with council by-laws.
It is alleged that on the same day, Nherera
and Matonga phoned Shah
informing him that they would only reinstate the
lease arrangement if he
paid them US$20 000.The state alleges they received
the bribe on October 15
the same year.
The state alleges that after Shah had paid the bribe, ZUPCO
granted Gift
Investments a five-year lease on November 25, 2003, knowing
fully well that
the old two-year lease was still binding.
Local
Government,Minister, Ignatius Chombo, who testified in the
bribes-for-buses
case in which Nherera was convicted and jailed, is also set
to testify in
the current graft case.
FinGaz
Staff
Reporter
Industry and International Trade Minister Obert Mpofu has
embarked on an
urgent visit to India in a last-ditch bid to woo back Indian
investors into
struggling Zimbabwe Iron and Steel Company (ZISCO), The
Financial Gazette
has learnt.
Government sources revealed this week
that Mpofu, who two weeks ago told a
parliamentary committee on Industry
that Zisco had fallen victim to rampant
pillaging by senior politicians and
some government officials, left for
India this week to conduct fresh
negotiations with Global Steel Holdings
Limited, the company which pulled
out of Zisco a few months after assuming a
management role.
Mpofu last
week said the parastatal needed support from GSHL in the form of
capital and
management skills.
Industry and International Trade permanent secretary
Christian Katsande
confirmed the visit but could not be drawn into
elaborating on the purpose
of the visit saying only Mpofu could comment on
the issue.
"I can't comment on that, you would have to talk to the Minister
himself or
send written questions," said Katsande.
The minister is on a
charm offensive to entice foreign investors to sink
money into Zisco after
GSHL called it quits reportedly over persistent
interference and rumoured
sabotage.
Mpofu told a parliamentary committee two weeks ago how a detailed
report on
corrupt activities at Zisco submitted to the Anti-Corruption
Ministry had
been suppressed because its release would further damage
Zimbabwe's already
battered international image and slam the door on any new
investment into
Zisco.
"There is a report which we sent to the
anti-corruption ministry involving
some influential people involved in
underhand dealings at Zisco and some of
them are my colleagues in
Parliament. But I fear that publicity of such
activities will not work in
our favour as a country currently under
sanctions. Icala kaliboli. We can
always deal with the issue later. It can
be a month, a year and even two
years but it still is a crime but for now
let's bring in investment," Mpofu
said.
Zisco has been struggling over the years due to myriad
problems
ranging from poor management to poor working capital requirements.
Two years
ago,the Criminal Investigations Department and the Reserve Bank
jointly
probed allegations of insider contracts and the alleged fraudulent
sale of
steel as scrap from the steelworks. However, no arrests were made.
Mpofu, who
could not hide his disappointment at the meeting, told the
committee he
would renogotiate with GHSL.
"I will be disappointed if we don't get this
contract because after so many
years someone has finally agreed to put money
into Zisco," Mpofu said,
adding that he was confident the deal could still
be saved.
According to Mpofu, Zisco needs an average of 50 000 tonnes of coal
to
produce about one million tonnes of steel per month. But a month ago the
steel company received 1000 tonnes, only enough to keep the furnace up. Coal
supplies dropped below 5000 tonnes in March when GSHL took over, said Mpofu,
who claimed this raised the possibility of sabotage.
FinGaz
Nelson Banya
News Editor
Tariff structure favours TelOne, say networks
ZIMBABWE'S
telecommunications sector is heading for a bitter dispute with
the Post and
Telcommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (POTRAZ)
over proposed
new minimum termination rates for fixed and mobile
international traffic,
which firms say favour the state-run fixed operator,
TelOne.
Responding to criticism over delays in bringing the country's
termination
rates for incoming international calls to viable levels that are
also in
line with the regional average, POTRAZ has announced that with
effect from
November 1, calls terminating on the fixed network would be
charged at
US$0.07, while those terminating on mobile operators will be
charged at
US$0.20. A US$0.15 charge will apply to calls in the mobile via
fixed
termination category.
However, telecommunications operators, while
acknowledging the need to lift
the termination rates from as low as US$0.03
to levels that would enhance
their foreign currency generative capacity,
have cried foul at the
discrepancy between the termination rate for the
fixed network, which is
less than half that proposed for the country's three
mobile operators, all
of which operate their own international
gate-ways.
Econet Wireless Zimbabwe chief executive, Douglas Mboweni, whose
company is
the largest telecommunications operator in the country with about
57 percent
share of the whole market, said his company was concerned by the
development.
"Our argument is that let us have a single termination rate
to avoid dumping
of international traffic at cheaper rates, which will
continue to prejudice
the country the much needed foreign currency. There
now seems to be an
attempt to give TelOne the monopoly to carry our traffic
as well, which is
why we are totally against and will vigorously resist
because it is illegal
according to our licence provisions," Mboweni
said.
There is apprehension in the industry, in light of state media reports
that
recommendations have been made for government to "shut down" all other
international gateways operated by TelOne's competitors.
"All operators
have the right, conferred by licences granted by POTRAZ, to
operate
international gateways to carry international traffic originating
and
terminating on their own networks. That right, unfortunately, is being
threatened by this statutory instrument because it is heavily biased and in
favour of TelOne and we believe this issue needs to be addressed urgently,"
Mboweni added.
An industry expert who declined to be named for
professional reasons said
the regulator should fix a flat minimum
termination rate and let operators
use their competitiveness to capture a
share of the market.
"Put simply, it's like saying only TelOne should operate
a gateway," the
expert said.
"TelOne lost the monopoly to operate an
international gateway when the
telecoms market was liberalised. Now we seem
to be seeing yet another
attempt to bring back this scenario, albeit through
legislation which can be
easily challenged because it is patently unfair,
discriminatory and
definitely not good for business or for the country," he
added.
Reserve Bank governor Gideon Gono, who estimates that the country
could have
earned as much as US$75 million over a two-year period running up
to January
2002, has called for a single termination rate in the US$0.20 to
US$0.25
range.
Current termination rates range between US$0.03 to
US$0.12, with TelOne's
rate being the lowest in the market.
FinGaz
Njabulo Ncube Chief Political
Reporter
Food Aid Runs Out
THE prospects for the recovery of Zimbabwe's
key agricultural sector have
grown dimmer, with a parliamentary report
showing that the country is
unlikely to resume full productivity due to a
myriad problems that have
recurred since the government's controversial land
reform programme in 2000.
The parliamentary report says the country is
ill-prepared for the 2006/7
summer crop planting season. It is facing a
critical shortage of fertiliser
and the District Development Fund (DDF) has
no capacity to meet a tillage
target of 224 820 hectares.
A report of the
Portfolio Committee on Lands, Land Reform, Resettlement and
Agriculture on
the State of Preparedness by the Agricultural Sector for the
2006/7 Summer
Crop Season, shows that unless the government moves with speed
to import
fertiliser, fuel, spare parts and address the general chaos in the
farming
sector sparked by the land reforms, the country would certainly
register a
poor harvest next year.
While seed houses have assured the government of
adequate seed maize in the
country to cover a target area of 1.8 million
hectares, the report says the
fertiliser situation for the forthcoming
season remains tenuous.
It says for the six-month period beginning in July
this year to March 2007,
the fertiliser industry had requested foreign
currency provisions to the
tune of US$41.5 million to import raw materials
and spares in order to
achieve a target production of 478 750 tonnes of
fertiliser but the industry
was only allocated US$2.4 million by the end of
August.
"The situation has been further compounded by the breakdown of a
transformer
at Sables Chemicals, which is used for the electrolysis process
in the
production of ammonium nitrate," reads part of the report by the
committee,
which is headed by Masvingo South legislator, Walter
Mzembi.
"Your committee was told that the transformer is not locally
available and
that it would take six months to have it repaired in South
Africa. As a
result of this predicament, your Committee was informed that
this will
further push down the production capacity of fertiliser at Sables
Chemicals
to about 7 000 tonnes per month, at a time when production was
expected to
go up to 12 000 tonnes."
Low fertiliser production has also
been attributed to shortages of raw
materials such as potash, super
phosphates, and coal as well as transport
logistics to move raw materials on
time.
"It goes without saying that this will adversely affect targeted
production
and thus leave the country in a vicious cycle of food insecurity
and further
erode the envisaged economic gains under the NEDPP strategy,"
the report
notes. "The situation regarding agro-chemicals is not any better
either.
Your Committee was told that the agro-chemical industry is heavily
dependent
on imports due to lack of technological capacity and know-how in
the
country. Due to the foreign currency crunch that the country is
currently
grappling with, the agro-chemical industry did not get adequate
resources to
stock up chemicals for the requirements of the forthcoming
summer crop
season. Your committee was further told that
due to
escalation of farm labour costs, there has been an upsurge in the use
of
chemicals such as herbicides and this demand has not been matched by
adequate resource allocations to make the agro-chemicals available in the
country."
The dilapidated state of tillage equipment at DDF required
urgent attention
by the government, as most of it was obsolete. The report
says that the
situation at the government's tillage unit had been
exacerbated by the state's
failure to recapitalise DDF. "Compounding this
problem was the fact that DDF
was charging sub-economic rates for its
services and hence it was not able
to recover costs in order to maintain its
fleet.
"Most of its equipment has become obsolete whereas the little
available
equipment is down due lack of spares. The Acquisition of Farm
Equipment and
Mineral (AFEM) Act passed in 2004, does not seem to have made
any positive
dent with respect to boosting the DDF mechanisation strength,"
Mzembe's
committee noted in its executive summary.
The government passed
AFEM to harness equipment left by dispossessed white
commercial farmers but
influential politicians have reportedly looted most
of the
equipment.
"Your Committee wonders what happened to this equipment. The
Minister of
National Security, Lands, Land Reform and Resettlement gave a
very
disturbing account of this equipment. He informed your Committee that
some
of this equipment was either smuggled to neighbouring countries, stolen
or
unaccounted for, dilapidated and yet some was still locked up in
warehouses," added the report.
The DDF required $1386 billion for its
equipment rehabilitation programme.
But with the available equipment - 400
tractors, 212 ploughs, 93 discs and
72 planters - the DDF projected a target
output of 224 820 hectares at a
cost of $299.2 million for a period of six
months from August to January
2007. The Committee also noted with dismay
that most of the agricultural
parastatals were not sufficiently "geared up"
to meet the demands of the
agrarian reforms with problems ranging from lack
of management competencies,
adequate resources and dereliction of functions
prescribed in the enabling
legislation.
"The situation at GMB, which has
been the sole distributor of agricultural
inputs and buyer and distributor
of grain since the implementation of the
Land Reform Programme, is in a
sorry state to say the least. Revelations of
the goings-on at the GMB belie
this fact. The Anti-Corruption Commission
informed your committee that
management systems at GMB are in shambles.
Apart from late distribution of
inputs there, there are no cheeks and
balances to ensure that inputs are not
diverted to speculative purposes.
Your Committee heard also that farmers are
being paid very late for their
produce, leaving them with very little time
to prepare for the next cropping
season."
The committee recommended that
the government should allow A2 farmers to
sell their produce where they
could get better returns since they were now
expected to buy their own
inputs, including fuel, from the open market. "It
should be those farmers
who benefit from the government inputs support
programme that should deliver
their grain to the GMB at controlled prices."
Kumbirai
Mafunda
Senior Business Reporter
CLOSE to one million Zimbabweans
could face starvation, following reports
that the World Food Programme (WFP)
has run out of food for vulnerable
communities in the crisis-riddled
nation.
The WFP says it urgently requires US$61 million to procure 97 000
metric
tonnes of food to cover the enormous food deficit.
The global food
agency warned last Friday in a crisis report that it had run
out of
emergency food aid needed to address a food gap in the country, which
is
threatening children with malnourishment and patients receiving
anti-retroviral therapy.
The WFP disclosed that its operations in
Zimbabwe were under-funded and it
is battling with a lack of food supplies
as donations to its emergency
operations are not forthcoming.
As a result
of the food scarcity, the WFP has discontinued food distribution
in some
parts of the country leaving the helpless exposed to hunger.
The WFP says the
food distribution problems have affected some 364 000
school children and
190 000 chronically ill people and orphans who were
being supported through
the home-based care initiative and orphans and other
vulnerable children's
programmes. Beneficiaries of the WFP's urban feeding
programme have also had
their rations halved.
"The WFP is currently facing significant pipeline
shortfalls in cereals,
pulses and corn-soya blend. As a result, food
distributions for October 2006
will be cut by 66 percent, affecting some
364,000 school children and
190,000 chronically ill people and orphans
supported through home based care
and orphans and other vulnerable
children's programmes," reads part of the
WFP's emergency report seen by The
Financial Gazette.
The WFP ended its vulnerable group-feeding programme in
April after the
government had indicated that it had grown enough to feed
its 13 million
people. Although food aid agencies and crop assessment
experts put this
years' grain harvest between 900 000 tonnes and 1.1 million
tonnes under the
most optimistic scenario this meant that Zimbabwe still
needed to cover the
food deficit. The government has boasted of a food
surplus which it
attributed in part to a military farming programme called
Operation Maguta.
After getting assurances from the government the WFP was
now only carrying
out targeted activities that include home-based care, and
support for
orphans and vulnerable children, pregnant and lactating mothers,
vulnerable
urban dwellers affected by Operation Murambatsvina and a
school-feeding
programme that seeks to improve the dietary intake of
children whose
households have difficulty accessing food. The programme
contributes to
national efforts to increase school enrolment, attendance and
the ability to
concentrate and learn.
But the targeted feeding programme
which the food agency says plays an
important role in sustaining vulnerable,
food-insecure households and
preventing deaths, destitution and a breakdown
of normal societal functions
is in now under threat and an estimated 1.3
million orphans are at
particular risk of malnutrition, especially in light
of the problems many
families are facing in accessing sufficient
food.
The WFP, which is the UN's frontline agency in the fight against global
hunger, noted that while the availability of maize has improved in some
parts of the country and prices remain relatively stable, the staple food is
still scarce in areas such as Matebeleland North and South provinces. Some
households in the eastern and south-eastern districts are rapidly exhausting
their cereal stocks. The WFP's field reports indicate that most households
in these areas are reducing the number of meals and meal proportions as a
coping mechanism to preserve their limited supplies.
"According to WFP
monitoring reports, food security amongst home based care
and orphans and
other vulnerable children programme beneficiaries continues
to be precarious
with these groups relying predominantly on WFP food
assistance. Likewise,
during a recently completed school feeding survey,
teachers and local
leaders interviewed in Matebeleland North and South
expressed apprehension
for the coming months due to insufficient food at the
household level
resulting from poor harvests in the 2005/6 agricultural
season and severe
economic constraints",reads part of the WFP's emergency
report.
The WFP
now fears that the recent surge in inflation to 1 200 percent could
make it
harder for most households to secure food stocks.
Retailers have since July
frequently increased the price of maize meal.
Currently the price of a 10kg
bag of maize ranges from $800 to$1000 .
The disclosures by the world food
body contradict official claims of a
bumper harvest of 1.8 million metric
tonnes of maize- enough to meet the
country's consumption needs until the
next harvest.
Zimbabwe, which is experiencing one of its worst economic
crises in two
decades, plunged into a food crisis in 2000 after veterans of
the liberation
war forcibly seized productive farmland belonging to white
commercial
farmers.
Since the collapse of commercial agriculture early
into the new millennium,
western countries through the WFP and other donors
have provided food
assistance for up to 5.5 million vulnerable households
both in the urban and
rural areas. Aid agencies say they fear that a similar
number could still be
in need of food aid before next year's harvest.
FinGaz
Chris Muronzi Staff
Reporter
ZIMBABWE Stock Exchange (ZSE) listed coal miner Hwange Colliery
Company
Limited (HCC) hopes coal supplies will improve in the last quarter
of the
year, when it takes delivery of new equipment to boost
capacity.
"The delivery of the mining equipment from abroad is expected
within the
third quarter of 2006. This equipment will be additional to the
new drilling
machines acquired from Europe, and two new cars for the
underground mine
from South Africa. Work is in progress on the acquisition
of and delivery of
the coal fines recovery plant. The company's
capitalisation initiative is
expected to improve production.
"The company
is confident that sustainable production output to meet market
demand will
be realised before the end of the year. The current plant and
equipment will
be refurbished. In the meantime, the company has hired mining
equipment from
a contractor in order to augment the existing production
equipment," the
company said in a statement.
This comes after local companies had resorted to
importing coal owing to
breakdowns and declining output at HCC.
Hwange
sold 883 311 tonnes compared to 1405 960 tonnes achieved during the
same
period last year while deliveries to HPS were 636 483 tonnes compared
to 1
038 870 tonnes within the same period.
Coke sales also dropped to 93 038
tonnes from 104 710 tonnes for the same
period in 2005.
The group
achieved a turnover of $2.7 billion compared to $266 billion
recorded in the
prior period last year while net profit stood at $594
million from 43,5
billion earned for the same period. Management says this
is because of tight
cost control measures and viable pricing.
FinGaz
Staff Reporter
THE
Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (Zimra) has suspended six senior managers for
allegedly embezzling funds and flouting tender procedures.
Insiders
at the revenue collector told The Financial Gazette that the six
senior
managers were served with their suspension letters a fortnight ago.
Some of
the allegations levelled against the senior managers include
colluding with
car dealers to overcharge Zimra in the procurement of company
vehicles.
The managers involved include Andrew Matiza, the finance and
administration
manager, Sabelo Masvaure, the adminstration manager and four
other employees
whose names were not immediately made available.
"It's
suspected that the suspensions have to do with flouting tender
procedures
and getting kickbacks," the sources said.
Although efforts to get a comment
from Zimra Commissioner General Gershom
Pasi were unsuccessful as he said he
was in a meeting, the Zimra boss was
quoted in state newspapers confirming
the suspension of the workers, saying
it was an exercise to rid the
authority of corruption.
Several employees have over the past years lost
their jobs at the state
collector after being implicated in fraudulent
activities. The major
casualties have been employees who man the country's
borders, mainly the
busy Beitbridge post.
FinGaz
Kumbirai Mafunda
Senior Business Reporter
NYANGA - Zimbabwe's Justice, Legal and
Parliamentary Affairs Minister
Patrick Chinamasa has claimed that Zimbabwe's
troubled tourism industry is
on the recovery path.
Chinamasa
reiterated a claim by the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority (ZTA), a
quasi-state
body set up to promote tourism in Zimbabwe, that the battered
tourism
industry was on the rebound.
Without giving figures, Chinamasa told
stakeholders marking World Tourism
Day celebrations here that the country is
registering an increase in the
number of tourist arrivals.
Chinamasa said
aggressive marketing and a thaw in negative publicity about
the country in
key tourist source markets had resulted in a slow revival of
the tourism
industry.
"We have not had many foreign arrivals because of the land reform
programme
and sanctions," said Chinamasa. "But there are signs that the
trend is
reversing," he said.
In August the ZTA reported that
international tourist arrivals grew by 33
percent for the first half of the
year compared to the same period last
year.
Zimbabwe's tourism industry,
once a major foreign currency earner, went into
a tailspin over the last six
years when the country plunged into an economic
abyss. Tourists have been
staying away from Zimbabwe citing a growing
democratic deficit. Prior to the
recession in tourist arrivals the country
used to earn US$777 million before
collapsing to levels around US$100
million.
Although the government
blames the slump in tourism on negative publicity
from western media,
critics say Chinamasa's claims of a recovery contradict
a collapse in room
occupancies as the tourists visit the country during the
day and leave at
the end of the day for neighbouring countries while the
Chinese who are
flooding the country are not big spenders.
FinGaz
Rangarirai Mberi
Business Editor
THE Zimbabwe Dollar faces further and faster decline
ahead in the continued
absence of any formal investment alternative to the
stock market, analysts
say.
The Zimdollar broke the $1 000:US$1 level
on the parallel market last week,
new lows that will increase pressure on
central bank governor Gideon Gono to
get a promised new foreign exchange
system off the ground.
While the exchange rate on the official market
remained at $250 to the US
greenback, dealers on the parallel market quoted
the key rate at $1020 late
last week.
Analysts say a large part of the
renewed pressure on the local currency has
come from the high liquidity
levels on the money market, which are seen
rising further in the coming
months.
The stock market has defied expectations that it was due for a major
correction as investors took profits from the recent run. Although there
have been pauses, no real bout of profit taking has yet been
seen.
Analysts at Imara Stockbrokers had correctly forecast the past trading
week
to be "more likely to be characterised by mixed trading rather than
being
decidedly bearish given that there are few options as to what to do
with the
money once one cashes out."
Other analysts note that one of the
immediate results of the low interest
rate regime would be fired up demand
for foreign currency.
"If one decided to sell out of stocks today, what would
they do with the
returns. Apart from buying back into the (stock) market,
there is a
temptation to buy forex," one banker said, however admitting that
the scope
to go long on the parallel market was limited.
The exchange
rate has remained static since July 31, when Gono devalued the
dollar by 60
percent to $250. He however said this was only in preparation
for a new
system that would see the appointment of an Exchange Rate Impact
Assessment
Board (ERIAB) to "monitor and inform the market of sustainable
bands of
exchange rate adjustments under the new flexible exchange rate."
The ERIAB
would meet monthly to review developments on the foreign exchange
market and
make recommendations to the central bank's International Banking
and
Portfolio Management Division, which would then set foreign currency
trading
bands for the following month.
However, the board is yet to be established,
increasing calls for urgent
action on the exchange rate from industries
seeing the premium on the
parallel market rate broadening to over 70 percent
and annual inflation
hitting a new record 1 204.6 percent.
The Reserve
Bank had since January followed a volume based exchange rate
system, which
only allowed the rate to move according to daily volumes
traded. Under that
system, the rate only moved once - by one percent on
April 25 - before the
July 31 devaluation. Since that move, volumes traded
have remained below the
US$5 million volumes needed to move the currency.
Trades rose from about
US$900 000 on August 21 to a shade above US$2 million
on August 30, before
falling below US$1 million by last Friday. A record low
was September 4,
when US$270 000 was traded.
By December 2008, Gono aims to have achieved "a
regime of market driven and
stable exchange rates free of any artificial
value determination."
FinGaz
Nelson BanyaNews
Editor
ZIMBABWE'S telecommunications industry, whose growth has been
stunted by
foreign currency shortages and tightly regulated tariffs, also
continues to
pay a huge cost for the sectoral regulator's
lethargy.
Although the Post and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority
of Zimbabwe
(POTRAZ) has finally moved to implement a six-month-old
statutory instrument
to bring minimum rates for external calls terminating
in Zimbabwe to
regional levels, the industry was this week up in arms over
what players
said was a playing fied tilted in favour of the state-owned
fixed network,
Tel*One.
POTRAZ announced this week it will finally
increase termination rates to
US20c for mobile calls and US15c for mobile
via fixed network calls while
only US7c will be charged for international
calls terminating on Tel*One's
fixed network. Tel*One's competitors have
said this measure is tantamount to
restoring the fixed operator's monopoly,
which was broken by a Supreme Court
ruling in 2000.
Previously,
termination rates were as low as US3c, way below a regional
average of
US20c. The regulator said implementation had been delayed for
"practical
reasons."
"Statutory instrument 70 is a legitimate law which should have been
complied
with from March 17 2006. However, for practical reasons, the
authority
delayed enforcement in order to allow for a smooth changeover and
to allow
operators time to renegotiate and amend their agreements/contracts
with
foreign administrations/carriers," Potraz said.
Central bank
governor Gideon Gono last month chided the Transport and
Communications
Ministry for delaying the implementation of new international
termination
rates, saying this had cost the local telecommunications
industry foreign
currency revenues they direly need.
Local operators say up 95 percent of
their costs are foreign currency
denominated, a factor which explains the
severely stunted growth of the
industry as the country grapples with chronic
hard currency shortages.
Tawanda Nyambirai, chairman of listed mobile
operator Econet Wireless
Zimbabwe, has said net foreign currency inflows
from international calls go
a long way in funding maintenance requirements
for the network.
"The potential to maximise revenues from international
traffic is however
compromised by the unbalanced tariff regime. The group
continues to make
representations to the regulatory authorities to address
the issue of
international tariffs to national advantage," Nyambirai said in
a statement
accompanying Econet's interim results for the first half of the
year.
The delay in the implementation of the new charges is not out of
character.
Mobile operators have frequently complained that despite adopting
the COSITU
cost-based tariff model, POTRAZ has failed to timeously adjust
phone
charges.
COSITU is the International Telecommunications Union's
model for calculation
of telephone service costs, tariffs and
interconnection.
However, although the review of termination rates should be
welcome news for
operators, there could be a downside if continued increases
drive mobile
call charges through the roof.
Internationally, debate has
raged over termination rates, amid charges that
operators, mostly in
developing countries have inflated the cost of calling
mobile numbers
far-beyond cost by exorbitant termination rates.
FinGaz
Personal
Glimpses with Mavis Makuni
THE marking of World Habitat Day on Monday
should have been a momentous
occasion in Zimbabwe.
After all, it was
the first time the United Nations-designated date of
October 2 had come
around after the government's much-heralded Operation
Garikai/Hlalani Kuhle
had been in force for a full year.
When World Habitat Day was commemorated
last year, the housing programme had
just been launched and it was too early
to expect results, although
government rhetoric had suggested 450 000
housing units would have been
completed by August last year in Harare alone.
The reality of course, was a
different matter altogether. However, after a
full year of implementation,
Garikai/Hlalani Kuhle should have brought
smiles to the faces of many
formerly homeless Zimbabweans on the occasion of
this year's observance of
the day.
Alas, World Habitat Day was an
anti-climax in Zimbabwe with no sign
whatsoever that an unprecedented
government initiative designed to deliver
decent housing to the people had
been underway for over a year. Local
Government, Public Works and Urban
Development Minister, Ignatius Chombo
delivered the main speech to mark the
day at Hatcliffe in Harare on Monday.
Instead of being an occasion for the
minister to present keys to gleaming
new Garikai/Hlalani Kuhle houses to
proud owners, Chombo spoke against a
backdrop of tottering, plastic shacks
stretching as far as the eye could
see. Keys were presented to a few
beneficiaries who are to occupy houses
built by cooperatives.
The nervous
occupants of the plastic shacks swaying in the mud after some
scattered
showers in the capital spoke to a television reporter of their
anxiety about
the onset of the rainy season which could wash away their
flimsy tents.
Others said they were not sure whether to believe Chombo's
assurances that
there would be no more upheavals since he never visited them
when their
original dwellings were demolished under Operation Murambatsvina
last year.
They said they were hesitant to invest scarce resources into
building new
structures when there was no guarantee that they would not be
caught up in
another demolition spree.
The upshot was that instead of being an occasion to
celebrate the delivery
of shelter under the much-touted Operation
Garikai/Hlalani initiative, the
gathering turned out to be a gripe session
which the residents used to
highlight how officialdom had forgotten about
them despite fulsome promises
made when their dwellings were razed to the
ground. The residents complained
about the lack of basic infrastructure such
as ablution facilities and water
reticulation. There are no schools,
clinics, no roads and no shops. Pupils
expressed despondency about the
prospect of studying for final examinations
in such squalid and harsh
conditions.
Deplorably, throughout his official speech, Chombo did not say a
single word
to indicate that the government was still committed to
reconstructing the
dwellings it razed to the ground during last year's
two-month long
demolition orgy by the army and the police. Instead, his
rhetoric had a
menacing and impatient ring, suggesting that the government
is fully
determined to shift the responsibility for dealing with the
ramifications of
its widely condemned clean-up exercise on to others. He
called on the
private sector and individual householders to ensure the
completion of the
programme. What is the government itself doing?
When
Operation Murambatsvina sparked an international outcry last year,
government officials defended the inexplicably rushed and lopsided
initiative aggressively and sanctimoniously. They labelled those who
questioned the wisdom of demolishing existing abodes before alternative
shelter was assured racists who did not believe that blacks were entitled to
live in nice houses. The government alleged that its detractors, led by the
British and Americans, had ganged up in a bid to stop it from providing
decent accommodation for its people. Who can soon forget the torrent of
denunciation UN Habitat executive director, Anna Tibaijuka was subjected to
after her visit to Zimbabwe to assess the humanitarian impact of the
clean-up exercise? The Tanzanian-born technocrat, who had been dispatched as
UN boss, Kofi Annan's special envoy, was crucified and accused of being an
agent of Tony Blair and George Bush after she had compiled a scathing report
on Murambatsvina.
Tibaijuka's fearless declaration that Murambatsvina
"was indiscriminate and
unjustified and conducted with indifference to human
suffering, illegal
under domestic and international law and had caused a
humanitarian crisis of
unprecedented proportions" is now being borne out by
the government's
failure to deliver. Instead of the hundreds of thousands of
houses the
government boasted it would build under Garikai/Hlalani Kuhle, it
seems
there are more plastic shacks than even before judging by those at
Hatcliffe.
The government has had a full year of throwing political
tantrums about the
nobility of its intentions in dreaming up Operation
Murambatsvina/Garikai/Hlalani Kuhle. It has done everything to block
discussion of its actions by the United Nations Security Council, the
African Union and the Southern Africa Development Community. Foreign
Minister, Simbarashe Mumbengegwi has publicly gloated about Zimbabwe's
successes in forestalling being placed on the agenda of any of these
organisations.
The bottom line is however that after all the political
gimmicks and
subterfuge which have convinced the government that it is
infallible and
invincible, the people it is supposed to be serving are still
suffering and
exposed to the elements. Is it not time as the rainy season
looms, for the
government for once to put the needs of the people ahead of
political
expediency? All the government needs to do with respect to the
housing
crisis spawned by Murambatsvina is to swallow its pride and revisit
offers
of assistance made by the United Nations. Continued intransigence
will only
prolong the suffering of the people throughout the country for
whom the
government has failed to cater under the over-rated Operation
Garikai/Hlalani Kuhle.
FinGaz
Mavis Makuni Own
Correspondent
THE Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has
added its voice
to the chorus of complaints about the unflattering coverage
that Africa is
subjected to by Western media organisations and has joined
other
institutions in calling for measures to reverse the trend.
At
an African International Media Summit held in Accra about a week ago to
discuss ways of altering the continent's negative image, delegates proposed
the setting up of a "good news" network as a way to spruce up Africa's
image.
Said Adrienne Diop, ECOWAS media director: "We would like to call
it the
'positive story network' where success stories from individual
countries are
exchanged among African media." Diop suggested that at least
once a week the
print and electronic media should be able to "find" a
success story about a
company, family or individual and share it with other
media organisations
continent-wide.
"We need to tell these success
stories to ourselves before we can expect
others to tell them to the world",
Diop has been quoted as saying. The
ECOWAS media director's sentiments were
echoed by Erieka Bennett of the
African Community Communications Agency, who
said: "When people think of
Africa, they think of war, famine, AIDS,
disaster. That's a shame because
this continent offers a lot more than
that". Delegates, who complained that
international coverage of Africa was
biased, resolved that the continent's
"doom and gloom" image must be
changed.
Similar views were expressed at a roundtable conference sponsored by
Boston
University's African Presidential archives and Research Centre held
at Wits
University in South Africa in May. At the gathering, attended by 10
former
heads of state, it was suggested that a multi-media campaign and
strategy
should be developed to ensure that the story of Africa is told
properly and
positively. The former presidents suggested positive coverage
could be
achieved by developing alternative media and encouraging American
media
organisations and schools of journalism "to develop specific tracks
for
covering emerging economies and emerging democracies, particularly in
Africa."
While concern that Africa should have a better global image is
understandable, it is worrisome that those campaigning for an improvement
seem to be suggesting that the realities that attract negative publicity
should be glossed over. Both the former African presidents and the delegates
who met in Accra a week ago cannot dispute the fact the coups, poverty,
disease, corruption, civil wars, catastrophes and dictatorships that give
Africa a bad name are not the figment of the imagination of western
journalists.
They are ugly realities that have caused untold human
misery, impoverished
entire populations, and led to the massacre or
displacement of millions who
are forced to live as refugees in other
countries. These atrocities cannot
be wished away by focusing on "good news
stories" about individuals,
companies and families as suggested by the
ECOWAS media director.
Individuals, families and companies have never been
the cause of Africa's
problems. A million positive stories about these can
never overshadow the
unnecessary suffering, deprivation, poverty,
starvation, disease,
displacement, misery and oppression inflicted on the
people by greedy,
corrupt and unjust rulers.
The fact that news
organisations are advised to go out of their way to
"find" good news stories
at least once a week, suggests a trend towards
stage managing events rather
than encouraging spontaneous coverage of what
is on the ground, which is
hard to miss!
There is no doubt who will benefit most from this proposed
deliberate
slanting of the coverage of events to portray a contrived
positive image of
a continent where some truly horrendous abuses and
atrocities continue to
occur. The abusers of power who are denying their
people basic human rights
and dignity will only be too happy to cite this
suggested romanticised
portrayal of events to exonerate themselves and
further entrench their
despotic governance.
The media is supposed to play
the role of watchdog for the public interest
and not act as a propaganda arm
of corrupt and repressive regimes. The media
must mirror reality regardless
of how unpleasant or uncomplimentary that
reality is to those in power. It
is only by exposing the greed, misrule,
corruption, war mongering, and
despotic tendencies of some leaders in Africa
that the press can hope to
facilitate tangible positive change. The media
cannot afford to become an
accomplice of dictators and perpetrators of
genocide and other atrocities
who have introduced a slew of repressive laws
to gag the press and that way
forestall scrutiny of their brutal misdeeds.
The see-and-hear-no-evil
approach being suggested would be a god-send for
these strongmen who are
already thumbing their noses at the rest of the
world even when their abuses
are being exposed.
In the 1960s, the media played a vital role in the United
States by
reporting without fear or favour on the civil rights movement and
the
accompanying disturbances complete with images of police attacking
non-violent demonstrators with batons and unleashing vicious dogs on them.
The robust media coverage awakened the nation and political leaders to the
injustices of segregation and eventually led to the redressing of the
grievances of Afro-Americans.
The American media's coverage of the
Vietnam war facilitated
self-examination and introspection which resulted in
widespread
disillusionment with the US involvement in that conflict.
In
the 1970s the same media did not flinch from exposing the Watergate
scandal,
which resulted in Richard Nixon's ouster from the presidency. There
is no
doubt that the media's vigilance led directly to the redressing of
many
injustices and wrongs. It is doubtful that these desirable changes
would
have occurred if the media had chosen to wear blinkers and concentrate
only
on "good news stories" as is being suggested with respect to reporting
on
Africa. No country in the world attracts 100 percent positive or negative
publicity all the time and Africa is no exception. Negative publicity is a
thorn in the flesh for Africa because more bad things than good ones occur
more regularly on an unfathomable scale. Those seeking to spruce up the
continent's image must be honest and admit that they are so touchy because
the truth hurts. But encouraging the press to bury its head in the sand by
practicing self-censorship and selective coverage of events will only
prolong the embarrassment. What is needed is to expose and confront the
evils that give Africa a bad name.
FinGaz
Comment
WE have said it
before that age does not always come with wisdom. It
sometimes comes alone,
hence the remorseless increase in gaffes made by
senior government officials
and the ruling ZANU PF's old guard.
They have lost it as can be seen
through their sense of judgment, which is
mostly not only questionable, but
extremely poor as well.
Nathan Shamuyarira, the ruling ZANU PF's information
chief, is a case in
point. The ageing politician could not and will probably
not realise the
improbability of the offensive and insensitive utterances
attributed to him
early this week. Shamuyarira was quoted as saying he makes
no apologies for
the killings and human rights abuses committed by the army
during a
crackdown on dissidents in Matabeleland and the Midlands areas in
the 1980s.
That Shamuyarira has not yet denied this means that the sickening
remarks
will go down in history as his recorded public utterances.
At a
time when a broad public consensus has formed on the need for a Truth
and
Justice Commission, compensation for the victims of the Gukurahundi
massacres as well as a sincere government apology as a precursor to national
healing, Shamuyarira chose to stir up emotions over the sensitive issue of
the Gukurahundi massacres. Touching on the delicate sphere of tribal
relations in Zimbabwe, he was quoted as having said that the brutal Zimbabwe
National Army crackdown in Matabeleland and the Midlands is "not
regrettable".
". . . No, I don't regret. They (the 5 Brigade) were doing
a job to protect
the people . . ." he said. Now this is cause for grave
concern, especially
coming as it does from not only a key but also important
voice in the inner
circle of the ruling ZANU PF, which rides herd on Cabinet
to make sure its
decisions are in line with the interests of the ruling
party.
How reckless and careless can one get? Why did Shamuyarira make this
irresponsible statement? Does he believe that in a "war situation" killing
of any kind is justified and that soldiers are decorated to kill even
innocent civilians including women and children? Then God help us because no
one else will. If this is the kind of thinking among the ZANU PF senior
members most of whom still influence government policy, how does Zimbabwe
hope to achieve the long-yearned for national reconciliation and healing in
the aftermath of the Gukurahundi massacres? Shouldn't Shamuyarira be the
voice of reason and that stabilising influence given the years he has spent
in politics instead of being the one whipping up emotions over such
sensitive issues? Can he stir up such controversy without knowing where it
will all end? How does one degenerate so quickly into a politically
provocative and loose tongue? Indeed, there are times that Shamuyarira has
shown a curious insensitivity and lack of tact in his chequered political
career. But this is something else. He really put his foot in his mouth this
time around.
The Gukurahundi atrocities for which he has no regrets have
been condemned
by all with conscience. A few years ago, no less a person
than President
Robert Mugabe acknowledged, though belatedly, that the
disturbances in
Matabeleland and the Midlands regions which led to
Gukurahundi marked
probably the darkest of Zimbabwe's historical periods. It
was a period which
engendered dangerous tensions that threatened to tear the
nation apart. He
conceded that the ruthless army operation was an "act of
madness" that
should not have happened.
Yes, critics argue that merely
admitting the army's excesses was not good
enough. Thus there is need for
government to compile a comprehensive report
on the victims of the massacres
and publish all reports on the army
atrocities that it has swept under the
carpet on the threadbare pretext that
it does not want "to open old wounds".
And we could not agree with them
more. The atrocities committed in the
Matabeleland and Midlands regions
cannot be approved in any civilised
society. It was tragic. It involved
unnecessary deaths and suffering. An
estimated 20 000 civilians were
reportedly murdered in cold blood. And
Zimbabwe's political life was
noticeably shaken. The innocent civilians who
survived the atrocities had to
live under constant fear of death with the
thought that any day could have
been their last. And they, to this day,
still bear the emotional and
physical scars.
Yet Shamuyarira, who as
Minister of Information concerned with a more
insidious form of propaganda
at the time and probably stalked every
newspaper page to prevent the media
from making the world know of the
horrors of the disturbances in the
regions, shows no remorse. His political
behaviour leaves a lot to be
desired especially coming from one known for
his political posturing as a
nationalist leader opposed to tribalism and
devoted to national
consolidation.
Such behaviour can only stir up emotions across a wider
cross-section of the
community. It is worse than opening old wounds.
Instead, it is like adding
fuel to an already burning fire considering that
for those who were maimed
or lost their loved ones, the memories of those
massacres are still fresh in
their minds. Thus Shamuyarira's dangerously
irresponsible utterances should
be condemned in the strongest terms
possible.
FinGaz
National Agenda with
Bornwell Chakaodza
Organisations now paying price for being lapdogs of
government
It was coming. And the Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries (CZI)
and the
Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce (ZNCC) have only themselves to
blame.
No sane Zimbabwean will feel sorry for them.
I am of course
referring here to their false tears, which were overflowing
in their recent
statement condemning the arrest of some of their managers
over violations of
price controls. The hysterical statement had a note of
unreality about
it.
"We condemn unreservedly the manner in which the police have gone about
arresting and incarcerating our managers. There are clearly laid out
procedures that respect the rights of citizens".
Oh my God! What rights
of citizens are these poodles of government talking
about when earlier on,
CZI president Callisto Jokonya and ZNCC's Mara
Hativagone waxed lyrical
against the ZCTU's planned peaceful demonstrations.
"We are not into politics
and we do not want to associate ourselves with
those elements that can
create adverse conditions for our businesses in the
future" adding for good
measure that those workers who take part will have a
day's pay deducted from
their salaries.
His counterpart in the ZNCC, Mara Hativagone expressed
similar sentiments
going further to say that the ZCTU peaceful protest was
none of ZNCC's
concern.
I have come across pathetic and unbelievable
statements from past presidents
of both CZI and ZNCC in recent years, but
these ones really take the
biscuit.
For Jokonya to say that "we are not
into politics" is total and patent
nonsense. It is unfortunate for our
country that persons of such mental
capacities hold positions of such
importance as president of CZI and ZNCC
respectively. I find it
inconceivable that anyone can separate politics from
life itself. Politics
has very little to do with the goings on of
politicians but much to do with
how wealth and resources are generated,
produced and distributed.
CZI,
ZNCC, Employers Confederation of Zimbabwe (EMCOZ) and the private
sector as
a whole cannot therefore absolve themselves from the way politics
is
conducted in this country.
I am aware and so are most Zimbabweans that in the
past decade or so, the
above organisations have had no backbone to stand up
to the intimidation of
this regime. They have been content to be, by and
large, lapdogs of
government. And recent statements by Jokonya and
Hativagone have once again
shown the extend to which CZI and ZNCC have
become the voices of Zanu PF in
the private sector. It is poodling, poodling
and poodling all the way! It
need not be like that.
In their zeal to
ingratiate themselves with government, they have lost their
ability to be
frank, candid and be a positive influence on the powers that
be. They are no
longer taken seriously by government and hence the
incarceration of some of
their managers.
I am not saying here that these private sector organisations
should deal and
interact with government confrontationally. No. All I am
saying is that in
their dialoguing with government, they must be frank and
sincere. Turning
around the fortunes of this country require people who are
honest and
straight talking -- amadoda sibili.
It is one thing to say
that such and such is wrong in the country and quite
another to demonise and
insult. Demonising is wrong but exposing wrongdoing
is not. There is nothing
wrong in the CZI and ZNCC saying very forcefully
that ours is a very
unhealthy environment to conduct business, let alone for
economic growth.
Jokonya and Hativagone must deal with the root causes of
this crisis not its
effects.
And that is where these spineless business leaders are letting
Zimbabweans
down very badly: failure to pause and locate the real problem.
Instead they
are naively and tragically laying the blame for this society's
industrial
and economic problems at the door of the workforce - if indeed
there is any
workforce to talk about now. Their statements against the
planned ZCTU mass
action testify to this.
Do not attack the victim - the
working class. Attack the attacker of the
working class, which in our case
is the ruling Zanu PF party. This is what I
would say to Jokonya and
Hativagone. In any event, let it be known that they
will not be arrested if
they decide to face the truth and point out what is
factually
correct.
You're making complete asses of yourselves by pointing out what is
politically correct in the eyes of Zanu PF and not what is factually
correct. You have a credibility problem because of your lack of independence
of action and thought and your ignorance of the political and economic
climate, which has given, rise to this country's crisis.
Of all people,
Jokonya and Hativagone should know that the political
environment in this
country has impacted very negatively on the business
environment. Business
needs an environment characterised by stability,
security, confidence and
rule of law that upholds private property in which
to grow and thrive - not
endless evictions of commercial farmers and
disruptions of farming
activities and endemic corruption as we continue to
witness in this troubled
country.
The two business leaders must know, as everybody else knows, that
consumers
and investors whether local or international dislike uncertainty
and
invariably to don't spent money because of doubts about the
future.
In this kind of environment therefore, where do the following private
sector
organisations which issued the press statement condemning the arrest
of some
managers stand: CZI, ZNCC, Chamber of Mines of Zimbabwe, EMCOZ,
Zimbabwe
Council for Tourism and the Bankers Association of
Zimbabwe.
This is just a rhetorical question on my part. For the truth of the
matter
is that these organisations are out of step with the national mood in
the
country. They do not give a damn about the long-term welfare of the
generality of Zimbabwean. They just sprang from nowhere because some of
their managers were arrested for hiking prices of their products.
And I
do think that they are now paying a price for supporting the status
quo and
dancing to the tune of government. That is why most of us did not
have any
sympathy with the misfortunes that visited those managers who were
arrested.
In fact the lesson must not be lost on the private sector always
and indeed
on everybody that when the push comes to shove a delinquent
regime does not
spare anyone.
A major challenge to all of these organisations therefore is to
be truthful
in their dealings with government. What we have of course are
common
challenges and the need therefore for government, the private sector
and
labour to work together to meet these challenges cannot be
over-emphasised.
The three must guard each other as genuine partners not
opponents. The point
is that, there is absolutely no need for either the
private sector or labour
to become lapdogs of government.
The private
sector must make it clear to government that the latter's
policies are
ruining their businesses and chaining the majority of
Zimbabweans to
poverty. The private sector mandate is not to be a mouthpiece
of the ruling
party. The softly softly approach by business has not worked
in the past.
And it will not work in the future.
My message to the private sector is this:
you have the power and the ability
to oblige government to change policies
in order to rectify our situation.
After all you're Zimbabweans who want to
see this country succeed and
prosper.
Use that power, you have for the
good of the country. You have a
responsibility to the economic implications
of what you do equal to your influence.
Email: borncha@mweb.co.zw
FinGaz
Letter From America by Ken
Mufuka
IT is one of the ironies of life that as an African advances in
the western
education system, that African begins to appreciate the
superiority of
African culture over western culture. Sometimes Christian
missionaries, who
had the good sense to make systematic African ontological
studies like
Father E.
Temples of Zaire, and Father L.S. Leakey (the
father of the renounced Dr.
L.S.B. Leakey of Kenya) arrived at the same
conclusion. I was surprised by
this conclusion when I read a Master's degree
paper by a student who came to
consult me over a paper entitled Peer
Pressure and Its Consequences. Since
40 percent of black youths are under
judicial supervision, this is a very
hot topic here. Here is how it
went.
The aspiring student wrote: "This study gives support to the notion
that
family structures and parent-adolescent relationships variables may
buffer
adolescents from drug influences." So far, that is well and good. But
the
student went on to describe the nature of a Eurocentric family which is
limited to father, mother and two-and-a-half children (US Census Statistics
2000).
Since 60 percent of their marriages end up in divorce, that kind
of a family
is very small and fragile even in the best of circumstances. If
the family
is that important, surely the African extended family must have
been created
in heaven. There are aunts, uncles, nephews and older nieces
and sometimes
what the white man has called fictional relationships like
Sekuru Sorobara,
a Malawian elder who took an interest in my welfare as a
child. Surely, the
African child has a richer experience of family
relationships than an
American child. The idea that an African child would
be unloved is therefore
remote.
The student went on to write about
smoking addictions of marijuana and other
inhalants. "Adoption of smoking
behaviour occurs in stages, such as
preparation, initiation, and
experimentation, all these precede the
transition to regular smoking. Within
African peer groups, there were some
"planted" people who were usually
younger than the actual peer group.
This plant could be six years old and yet
he was sent to play with the elder
peer group of 12-year olds. His job,
whether by planning or by accident was
to report to the mother. "Ndonoreva
zvokwadi, kuti Keni anga achiputa
fodya." Now it turned out that this
tobacco was only baboon tobacco, but the
little guy Master Richard, my
younger brother was determined to tell on us.
Apparently, American teen peer
group teenagers can create a sufficiently
impenetrable wall of silence. With
Richard watching us, there was no way we
could get away with too much wrong
doing. He could not be bribed.
The student says that among African American
teenagers delinquent teenage
behaviour with reference to offensive dress and
illicit sex was twice as
much as among white teen peers, apparently a factor
that reflects on the
wider destruction of the black family. The dress mode
is called the drop
pants, a style that leaves out a belt and shows underwear
underneath the
oversized pants. Surprisingly this type of dress is a
glorification of
prison dress and implies the admiration or the
consideration of prison time
as part of teenage initiation.
I am not sure
that we could have gotten away with this kind of behaviour.
Apart from the
planted spy among us, even when we were herding cattle, there
was an older
boy, perhaps as much as five years older than everybody else,
who was tasked
to safeguard the good name of the tribe. My uncle Pius Mufuka
came from
Chiweshe in order to supervise the three brothers. This is some
kind of
prefect system. If we really got into trouble, Uncle Pius (15 and
the others
were seven, 10 and 12 years old) would have gotten into more
trouble.
Thus in these social studies, an African scholar is bound to
observe that
the Americans are trying to recreate what we already have in
the tribe while
we are busy dismantling a social system that was almost
perfect.
The student says that too much time in the hands of teenagers after
school
is detrimental to their socialisation as responsible adults. When
there is a
lack of teen-parental relationships because parents are working,
the
influence of peers becomes overwhelming. Peers become the main source of
support for teenagers.
Americans have tried to remedy this problem by
allowing teenagers to take
paid employment for four hours a day. Zimbabwean
human rights organisations
have a false impression that any type of
remunerated work for pre-teens is
slave labour. The African society in the
early 50s generally provided for
gender-related work for teenage girls and
boys.
The issue here is that teenagers should not have too unsupervised time.
Girls were supposed to prepare meals for the evening as well as mind younger
babies, wash clothes and iron them. Boys were supposed to look for firewood,
cut it and haul it home. If not they would be doing vegetable gardening.
Most of this work was under some sort of supervision.
Why are we looking
for answers to problems of teenage delinquency in
Eurocentric structures
when we already have them within our Bantu
structures? The great black
American educator, Booker T. Washington said
that some sailors were lost on
the Amazon river. They shouted to a man on
the bank: "Water, water, we die
of thirst." The man said: "Drop your bucket
where you are! Silly!"
(Ken
Mufuka acknowledges assistance for this article from Ms S. Miller)
FinGaz
No Holds Barred with Gondo
Gushungo
THE United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) says the
term asylum
seeker refers to a person who requests refugee status in another
state,
normally on the grounds that they have well founded fear of
persecution in
their country of origin or because their life and liberty is
threatened by
armed conflict or violence.
So why did thousands of
Zimbabwean asylum seekers in the United Kingdom run
into a brick wall? It is
probably in line with what constitutes an asylum
seeker that Britain, which
is under no obligation to accommodate Zimbabwe's
economic refugees, has
resolved to deport an estimated 7 000 Zimbabweans
whom it feels do not fit
in that category. This comes after an earlier
blanket ban on such
deportations by the Asylum and Immigration Tribunal was
recently
lifted.
Inevitably, this decision has touched off a hue and cry among those
affected
and their sympathisers. Having kept their powder dry ahead of the
widely
anticipated decision to deport them, the asylum seekers have
threatened to
take to the streets in protest against the decision or drag
the British
government through yet another legal minefield.
But those in
the know are unanimous that the dice are loaded against the
asylum seekers.
Thus pursuing the case further through the legal channel
would amount to an
exercise in jurisprudential polemics if not sophistry. In
legal jargon they
would say the case against the failed asylum seekers and
would-be appellants
is unassailable. It, however, is neither the intention
of this column to
discuss the case's merits or lack thereof nor stir up a
hornet's
nest.
The big question however remains: are the scores of Zimba-bweans
seeking
asylum in the United Kingdom justified? Are there well-founded fears
that
their lives and liberties are threatened in Zimbabwe? Hardly. That is
why it
was so easy for the British government to blow holes in each and
every one
of the 7 000 asylum seekers' cases.
Admittedly there could be
one or two genuine cases. It is however
inconceivable that 7000 Zimbabweans
would face harassment back home. The
British government was crucified for
its handling of the issue but it was
right to dismiss the majority of them
"as bogus asylum seekers". And it is
not in any way violating the UN
principle which forbids states from
returning asylum seekers in any manner
to countries where their lives are at
risk.
Of course it goes without
saying that those caught up in this mess will not
agree with me at all. But
that should not discourage me from saying it as it
is. In any case the truth
is never dependent on consensus of opinion. By
talking about the issue I
therefore know what I'm getting myself into. It's
the same dilemma that
journalists covering families involved in a tragedy
find themselves in.
There is always the risk of being perceived as
insensitive. Hell, they can
even call me a ZANU PF apologist. But that will
not change the fact that the
British government's decision to expel them
exposed their claims for what
they are - a pack of lies. And if we, as
Zimbabweans, don't talk about it,
it means we are putting a lid on something
that stinks.
Come to think of
it, what have Portia Gwanzura, Japhet Muparutsa, David
Sengu, Memory
Mucherahohwa, Eric Knight, Tichaona Sibanda, Ivy Kombo, Pastor
Kasi and
Ernest Chirambadare done that they could be persecuted for if they
were
deported to Zimbabwe that Pius Ncube, Lovemore Madhuku, Morgan
Tsvangirai,
Arthur Mutambara and Raymond Majongwe have not done?
If Majongwe, Tsvangirai,
Madhuku and others who have the bruises and scars
to show after skirmishes
with law enforcement agents in the fight against
government's stifling of
democratic space, were to seek asylum it would be
understandable. There is a
threat to their lives. Not the media
personalities and singers who only
yesterday were ZANU PF's cheer-leaders
and praise-singers. Or fading
footballers whom the government does not even
know exist.
Instead of
lying, is it so difficult for Zimbabweans to retain the usual
honesty and
integrity they are known for and admit that their reason for
seeking asylum
is purely economic which basically makes the majority of them
economic
migrants or refugees? It is economic insecurity and poverty that
have
spawned bogus asylum seekers who are, in most cases, tempted to seek
admission in affluent countries by submitting claims for refugee status
citing persecution and risk to life.
This is why the largest asylum
applications by Zimbabweans are found in more
affluent regions of the world
- the United Kingdom, Canada, France, the
United States of America and more
recently New Zealand and Australia. Yet I
have not heard of a single asylum
application lodged in Zambia, Mozambique,
Botswana, Malawi, Lesotho and
Swaziland by a Zimbabwean. South Africa yes.
Why? Because it is the biggest
and best performing economy on the African
continent.
If Zimbabweans seek
asylum on the basis that there is a humanitarian crisis
back at home, fair
and fine because that is what it is. Nobody can dispute
that given the
economic meltdown as seen through the disappearance of jobs,
plight of the
black under class, cycle of broken families, runaway inflation
and falling
industrial production. It is this crisis, caused and aggravated
by the
ruling ZANU PF government's mistakes that has forced millions of
Zimbabweans
into the diaspora.
But to claim that they are seeking asylum because they
face persecution in
Zimbabwe makes the whole story far-fetched - a tissue of
lies, if you will.
If they are truly threatened as they claim in their
asylum applications, why
didn't the asylum seekers, when they were still in
Zimbabwe simply cross the
border to the nearest country where their lives
are safe as did the late
liberation war hero Joshua Nkomo. The former ZAPU
leader fled first to
Botswana before seeking asylum in the United Kingdom.
His life was genuinely
threatened because of his differences with the ZANU
PF government, known for
its hatred and intolerance for political opponents
and which probably wanted
his head on a stick. The manner of his departure
suggested a man who feared
for his life although he denied that he disguised
himself as a woman when he
fled as suggested by the government.
Yet most
of those now seeking asylum, say in Britain, had to apply for a
Zimbabwean
passport and wait for six months and a UK visa for which they had
to wait
for weeks - half a year waiting for their papers when their lives
were
supposedly in danger! Which brings me to the question: At what point
did
their lives really become threatened?
I hold no brief for ZANU PF. The ruling
party is directly responsible for
the mess that has condemned the economy
into historic contraction, forcing
three million Zimbabweans into the
diaspora where they cannot stand on their
dignity. They ran away from the
dehumanising effects of grinding poverty and
squalor resulting directly from
the ZANU PF government's irrational policies
and economic mismanagement. And
as I have said before in this column, it is
a crying shame that Zimbabweans
are forced into foreign lands where they are
treated as second class
citizens. They were not, as unbelievably claimed by
Justice Minister Patrick
Chinamasa, incited by the British to leave Zimbabwe
for political
reasons.
Admittedly, these are desperate times for Zimbabwe. And most people
would go
to the ends of the earth to secure an exit. Be that as it may, this
does not
justify lying about the reasons for seeking asylum. Zimbabweans
should have
a modicum of honesty and admit that the reason they are
stampeding for the
exits to other countries where they are
more-often-than-not finding it
difficult to preserve a sense of their own
importance and value is purely
economic. Pretending otherwise is futile as
it can only fool host
governments to a limited extent.
The case of the 7
000 Zimba-bweans denied asylum in Britain is a perfect
example. It is the
asylum seekers' dishonesty that helped the British
government to drive a
coach and horses through their arguments. And they
should, no matter how
hard it is after making such bold claims, just own up
and admit that they
lied.
No 'O' levels but . . .
EDITOR - I do not boast O or A
levels, although I was one of the fortunate
people who went through the
education system when our school standards were
very high and our teachers
trained to world class standards. However, having
said that I don't have any
amazing academic qualifications or letters behind
my name, it is frightening
to think that my logic and understanding of
economic issues seems to be far
superior to that of our government. Could
this be?
I have read, with much
interest, in our comic book (The Herald) of many
reports - nay, indeed,
threats - against company executives who dare to
ignore the "price control
crackdown" imposed by government and the Reserve
Bank! It is amazing to see
that other supposedly "learned" men such as the
national police spokesman
and the Minister of International Trade are also
condemning the increases
being experienced in the cost of living, especially
since the introduction
of our new "monopoly" currency!
But could, perhaps, one of these educated
people enlighten me? How does one
sell a commodity (say a litre of petrol)
for $320 when they have initially
paid $650? The same applies to the bread
problem we are now experiencing and
a million other things. How are these
companies expected to cover running
costs, pay employees, purchase new goods
at the price of $650 (to sell again
at $320) and remain in business? Logic
and basic mathematics tell me that no
one can continue in business if they
sell their goods at half the price they
paid for them! Am I missing
something? Or is government going to subsidise
these companies so they can
continue producing the goods and employing
people? I know we Africans live
for today and don't give much thought to
"Manyana" (until it's too late),
but surely, members of government should be
able to work out that this
practice does not make for good business sense.
Surely a company will be
bankrupt before the first quarter is finished!
Of course, there are always
those who profit unjustly by "ripping" the
public off - but these ones don't
seem to be "called to book", perhaps
because of their connections with "well
placed" people!
Come on you top economists of the country. Let's look at
things logically
and instead of throwing insults and threats around, let's
really get
together and find a solution.
R
Martin
Harare
---------
Mutambara resorts to
vote-buying!
EDITOR - During the weekend of September 9 and
10, I happened to be visiting
my parents and relatives in Mutare and the
surrounding areas.
I was shocked and dismayed to learn of a vote-buying
operation staged by
Professor Arthur Mutambara.
It would appear that the
Mutambara MDC camp was distributing bags of maize
ahead of a rally at Beit
Hall. In exchange, recipients had to give their
information so they could be
placed on the Mutambara MDC membership
register.
I then eagerly went to
the rally with some friends on the Sunday, out of
curiosity, to hear what my
home boy had to say and also to see for myself
whether allegations of
arrogance are true.
Yes, he was arrogant and aggressive but having been
forewarned I was
prepared for it. Rather, what shocked me was the extremely
poor attendance
in his home town.
And what concerned me is that by buying
votes, Mutambara is already acting
like the very President Mugabe that he
wants to dislodge.
Surely, if he had a credible message and had charisma,
people would
naturally flock to him especially given the dire economic
situation.
The right leader for our new Zimbabwe will not have to buy votes!
We will
know him/her when he/ she presents him/herself.
Mutare
Boy
Mutare
------------
Cheating by any name . .
.
EDITOR - ZANU PF is still cheating at the polls and this is
now the norm. It
uses all the dirty tricks to "win" elections. The SADC
guidelines have been
thrown out of the window.
Ignatius Chombo recently
announced that the rural council elections would be
held on August 19
countrywide - why were they postponed? Now we know why?
Picture this scenario
that took place at the nomination court in Chikomba
and I guess,
countrywide.
At the end of the sitting of the nomination court ZANU PF had
won 15 wards
through flimsy disqualification of MDC candidates. So out of 30
wards in
Chikomba before even the ballot was cast, ZANU PF already has 15
wards.
The reasons for the disqualifications were that the MDC candidates had
short
birth certificates instead of long ones!
Some had drivers licences
instead of "proper ID cards". Others had nominees
that were on the
constituency voters' roll instead of ward voters rolls'
that were never
seen!
Tobaiwa Mudede and the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) should be
dragged
to court! Who issued the short birth certificates in the first
place? Is the
Zimbabwean driver's licence not a legal identity? Why were the
ward voters'
rolls not dispatched to the respective wards in time?
Others
were disqualified for not having been cleared by the CID who charged
$2 000
($2 million old currency) for the exercise.
ZANU PF candidates had all their
papers in order. Why does the ZEC
discriminate on electoral information?
Information on what is needed from
prospective candidates should have been
disseminated to all the parties in
time.
Is it fair when before the
election starts ZANU PF already has taken half of
the seats?
Food for
thought for the opposition before the 2008 poll!
Frank
Matandirotya
South Africa
---------
Bornwell hit the nail on the
head
EDITOR - Congratulations to Bornwell Chakaodza on his
bold and brave
statements. I too have been noting the echoes of Rhodesia
within the
framework of the current regime.
A wise poet once said: "We
shall not cease from exploration, and the end of
our explorations will be to
return to the beginning and to know the place
for the very first time . .
."
If our leaders have herded us like cattle back to the nasty patch of bush
we
found ourselves in during the 1960's and 1970's, then perhaps it is time
to
remind them that travelling in a circle no matter how big, we will ALWAYS
find ourselves treading a path we have already been down.
If I recall
correctly, on that path lies war and the fall of the government.
Beware ZANU
PF, beware . . . stop behaving like uneducated teenage herdboys,
and try
leading the nation . . .
Twitchy Diaspora
United
Kingdom
----------
Majaji is lucky he was in the
USA
EDITOR - Welcome to the USA Mr Martin Majaji. Aren't you
lucky your incident
happened in this country where you received the finest
health care,
presumably by white doctors and white health care
providers.
Imagine if you had been in South Africa, where black on black
violence is
rampant. There your assailants would have rendered you one of
the 19 000
victims of murder reported annually. Or for that matter if you
were back
home in Zimbabwe, you obviously know what your fate would have
been at the
hands of our black police force.
Anyway, crying out loud from
a far away land will not help your racist cause
back home. Zimbabweans are
more concerned about their own difficulties which
are only getting worse by
the day. Also, you are in the USA by choice - if
you cannot take the "heat"
your best bet is to return to the motherland
where you may be more
acceptable in certain ranks, overall though I doubt
Zimbabweans will
tolerate your racist attitude.
Nazir
Lunat
USA
--------
Rhodesia vs Zimbabwe: who wins this
match?
EDITOR - Geoff Nyarota and others are tempted to
equate life in Rhodesia
under Ian Smith with that in Zimbabwe under the
current regime.
While I, being then a protected white, cannot deny that
instances of police
brutality and torture did take place, I think it is
accurate to say that it
was individuals' excesses and not government policy
during the Smith era.
I very much doubt that many people engaged in
demonstrations, and there were
any subjected to the horrific torture and
beatings that members of the
National Constitutional Assembly (NCA), Women
of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA) and
Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) are
continually subjected to.
Certainly Smith never said anything about having
degrees in violence or won
elections by threatening to restart the war with
its consequent suffering
which has been ZANU PF's main strategy for many
elections.
I only once saw excessive use of force in interrogation being used
and
police investigated with a view to prosecution. I don't know the outcome
as
I transferred units to one that was multi-racial, and in that unit we all
were treated equally.
I also visited a lot of prisons and police cells
and never saw the appalling
conditions I have experienced under the current
regime. Paul Themba Nyathi
in his book Conscience be my Guide concurs that
life under Smith's prisons
and police was preferable to that under ZANU PF,
and that the Smith regime
respected human rights.
I am sure that all who
have experienced ZANU PF's terror tactics must
concede that these exceed, in
the generality, Smith's Rhodesia excesses.
A
McCormick
Harare
---------
This is legalising
torture
EDITOR - It's now official that the Zimbabwe Republic
Police have got the
right to beat up suspects. I thought we do have a law in
Zimbabwe which says
you are not gulity until proven so by the courts of law.
If a person is
resisting arrest the police should use a minimum force. That
brutality
displayed by the police against Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions
protesters
was really uncalled for.
How can a State President encourage
the police to beat up suspects?
We now know it is legal in Zimbabwe to
torture civilians
Lovemore Maseko
Harare