HARARE - A spat of desertions has hit Zimbabwe's security forces as
servicemen and women flee hardships at home to neighbouring and overseas
countries, ZimOnline has learnt.
Sources said at least one in
every five people who joined the army, police or the secret service Central
Intelligence Organisation since 1999 had left without official leave in the
last three years.
About 20 soldiers attempting to flee Zimbabwe
were arrested at Harare International Airport since March when immigration
officers were ordered to report members of the security forces travelling
out of the country, according to sources.
Pressure by senior
commanders on all soldiers and police officers to support President Robert
Mugabe and his ruling ZANU PF party was also driving many younger officers
to leave the security forces, the sources said.
Some of the
younger soldiers and police officers recruited in the last ten years do not
share the same affection for Mugabe and ZANU PF as their seniors who fought
under the ruling party during Zimbabwe's 1970s liberation war.
A senior army officer, who spoke anonymously, said: "The heavy
politicisation of the security forces in the last few years is also forcing
many of our young officers to desert because they cannot just stand it. The
matter has been discussed at the highest level."
A former
secret service operative, who did not want to be named for fear of
reprisals, told ZimOnline from London at the weekend that he fled after
being given what he called an "untenable assignment". The deserter, who is
now doing care-work in the British capital, said: "I fled after being
assigned to track and harm a very senior member of the
opposition."
Defence Minister Sydney Sekeramayi refused to speak
about the matter, while Home Affairs Minister Kembo Mohadi and State
Security Minister Nicholas Goche could not be reached for comment yesterday.
Mohadi is in charge of the police and Goche oversees the secret
service.
But sources said the three ministers, alarmed by the
growing number of servicemen and women who have gone AWOL, (Away without
official leave) two weeks ago ordered the formation of a joint team
comprising senior army and police officers to work out the exact
figures of missing officers and measures to stem desertion.
Another
army officer said: "It has been noted (by the senior officers) that it is
very dangerous to have such a high turnover in the security forces,
particularly when the majority of those leaving cannot be accounted
for.
"A number of suggestions had been thrown around, including
confiscating passports from everyone and only releasing them for authorised
travel."
He said the senior officers were also considering
reviewing the vetting of new recruits to ensure that only the "most
patriotic" candidates were given jobs with the country's security
forces.
Most of the deserting soldiers and police officers were
fleeing to Britain, United States, Canada, Botswana and South Africa where
more than four million other Zimbabweans are already living and doing mostly
menial jobs. Economic hardships and political violence at home have
been blamed for triggering the exodus.
Zimbabwe is in the throes of
a five-year economic crisis which has manifested itself in acute shortages
of food, fuel, electricity, essential medical drugs and hard cash. The
government has kept its top officers in the army, police and secret service
happy and well looked after but ordinary servicemen and women bear the brunt
of the crisis. - ZimOnline
Minister tables controversial Bills in Parliament Thur 7
October 2004
HARARE - Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa yesterday
tabled two controversial Bills in Parliament, one seeking to restrict
Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) in Zimbabwe and another proposing
electoral reforms dismissed by the opposition as inadequate.
Chinamasa, who is also the ruling ZANU PF party's legal affairs secretary
and is considered a radical, steered the NGO Bill and the Zimbabwe Electoral
Commission Bill through their first reading in the House.
The first
Bill seeks to ban civic society from carrying out voter education while
those focusing on human rights and governance issues will be prohibited from
receiving foreign funding. An NGO council will be appointed by the
government to monitor and close down civic groups failing to comply
with the proposed law.
The Electoral Commission Bill proposes the
setting up of a new commission to run elections in Zimbabwe in accordance
with norms and standards agreed by Southern African Development Community
(SADC) leaders last August.
The SADC electoral protocol
requires among other key issues that independent commissions run elections
and that the electoral process must be sufficiently transparent while human
and individual rights must be upheld during elections.
The two
Bills will now need to go through the second reading, the stage at which
they will be debated by the parliamentarians before going through the third
reading at which the House will vote to adopt, or reject them.
The opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party which holds 51
seats in Parliament has said it will fight to block the two proposed laws.
However, ZANU PF can easily use its simple majority in the House to push
through the Bills.
The ruling party controls 97 out of Parliament's
150 seats. A smaller opposition holds one seat and another seat is still
vacant following the death of veteran ZANU PF politician Eddison
Zvobgo.
The MDC says the proposed electoral commission will lack
independence because Mugabe will appoint its chairman.
Civic
society leaders say the new restrictions proposed by the government could
see humanitarian support to Zimbabwe drying out. Several NGOs are already
closing down operations in Zimbabwe and re-locating to neighbouring Botswana
and South Africa.
Meanwhile, the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights
that is representing 60 women activists arrested outside Parliament on
Tuesday while demonstrating against the NGO Bill, said the women were still
in custody by late last night.
A lawyer with the organisation,
Jessie Majome, said three journalists, arrested while taking pictures of the
women being bundled into police trucks, were however released
yesterday.
The women, who walked 440 kilometres from Bulawayo to
Harare in protest against the proposed NGO law, had submitted a petition
against the Bill to the Speaker of Parliament before police arrested them. -
ZimOnline
Amnesty releases names of squatter camp victims Thur 7
October 2004
HARARE - Amnesty International has released the names
of 10 people it says died last month after a clash with the police at Porta
Farm squatter camp, about 20 kilometres west of Harare.
The
world human rights watchdog, which blames the police for causing the deaths
when they fired teargas into homes and confined places in an attempt to
force the families off the squatter camp said an eleventh person also
believed to have been exposed to excessive teargas during the clashes
has since died.
Amnesty yesterday said families of the 10 people
who died during and soon after the police raid at the squatter camp had
given it permission to release the names of the deceased, five infants and
five adults.
In a statement released yesterday the group said:
"Amnesty International with the permission of relatives is naming the
deceased.
"They are: Fungai Livison's one day old son (he was not
yet named), Ronald Job Daniel, 5 months, Matilda Matsheza, 5 months; Yolanda
Rungano, 5 months; Monalisa Banda, 7 months; Kuyeka Phiri, 30; Viola
Mupetsi, 30; Julia Nheredzo, 32; Raphael Chatima, 40 and Vasco John,
65."
A postmortem was still to be carried out to establish whether
Angeline Nhamoinesu, 46, who lived at Porta Farm and died about two weeks
ago, was also a victim of the misuse of teargas by the police, Amnesty
said.
The human rights group has already called for an independent
inquiry into the conduct of the police when they raided the squatter camp on
September 2. The police fired teargas canisters inside houses and other
confined places. They also set several homes on fire during the
raid.
Police spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena yesterday refused to speak
about the matter saying the law enforcement agency needed time to carry out
investigations first.
When Amnesty first accused the police
three weeks ago of misusing teargas and causing the deaths of the squatters,
Bvudzijena dismissed the claims and challenged the human rights group to
name the people it said had died.
Several local and
international human rights groups have in the past accused the police of
heavy-handedness especially when dealing with cases involving the
government's political opponents.
The about 3 000 families at Porta
Farm were put there by the government in 1992 after being rounded off from
the streets of Harare and from Churu Farm squatter camp just outside the
capital.
At the time the government said it would find better
accommodation for the families within a year. It never did and now says they
must move from the camp. - ZimOnline
US court rules in favour of Mugabe October 07 2004 at
01:45AM
New York - A federal appeals court on Wednesday threw out a
human rights abuse lawsuit filed against Zimbabwe's ruling political party
because it had not been properly notified of the case.
The US
Second Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a trial judge's earlier finding and
ruled that the ZANU-PF political party had not been properly notified
because Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe was served with court papers while
he was in New York in 2001.
The appeals court held that Mugabe's
immunity as a head of state meant that his political party had not received
proper notice of the case. The court sent the lawsuit back to the trial
judge with orders that it be dismissed.
The suit in Manhattan
federal court was filed by a number of Zimbabwe citizens who alleged that
Mugabe and his Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriot Front orchestrated a
campaign of violence to intimidate political opponents through torture,
assassinations and property seizures.
The case was brought under a
federal law that allows foreign nationals to file suit in the United States
for injuries suffered in violation of international law.
The
trial judge had ruled earlier that Mugabe could not be held liable because
he was entitled to head-of-state immunity.
However, the appeals
court judge found that Mugabe's immunity did not protect ZANU-PF, a private
entity. Mugabe had been served with two copies of the suit, one in his
personal capacity and the other on behalf of ZANU-PF
By Mordekai
Chikambure Last updated: 10/07/2004 08:06:25 ZIMBABWEANS who since 1999
have been flocking from their country have painfully found that the mere
leaving is no easy feat. Thousands have been deported from Britain, Botswana
and South Africa for small reasons even when their plight for sanctuary
would be genuine.
This desperate want for departure from Zimbabwe, a
country that has become a confluence of bad news has caused the rise in the
fraudulent travel documents and even residential permits in most of these
host countries. South Africa is the most affected. It is home to a large
number of foreign nationals, which has made the Police Service therein wary
of any story from a person found without legal residential
papers.
One member of ZIPOVA was told that he "should go and apologise to
ZANU-PF so that you can go back and live in Zimbabwe." Another: "Why don't
you find a gun and shoot Mugabe and stop crowding us here?" They were both
deported - and came back.
Zimbabwe Political Victims Association
(ZIPOVA) is an organisation formed by Zimbabwean Political Exiles in South
Africa, some of whom are victims of torture. It assists Zimbabweans with
basic socio-economic commodities like food, clothing acquired from
benevolent churches , organisations and companies in South Africa. So far it
has registered a membership of 2 872 needy exiles and has managed to
distribute food to 1 039. It seeks to empower Zimbabweans in the Diaspora
with income generating projects and education skills that will help them
when they return to their country after the much awaited holy departure of
the devil holding Zimbabwe to jihad ransom.
Inevitably with its large
membership of needy, traduced exiles it seeks to organise massive protests
to pressure the international community to act on Mugabe, an effort whose
past influence is on the wane.
Be that as it may, many people who have
run away to South Africa from real fear of their lives find their way back
unwillingly through Lindela, a filthy holding place for illegal immigrants.
They are arrested while at work, at ungodly hours in the night, while going
to buy bread or when taking a casual stroll. They are then dumped at Beit
Bridge, left without any money for travel to their home areas. More often
than not, the easy solution would be to return to South Africa, sometimes
even be caught by police in the way and deported yet again.
Members
of ZIPOVA come with many stories of suffering that are sometimes even worse
than those they leave behind. For example, one said that he had to board
every bus that came in his way. When conductors found he did not have money
they would beat him and drop him in the road, and he would do that again and
again until he arrives in Johannesburg, with a pulpy swollen face. Another
waited for a goods train at a corner where it would be sure to slow down and
then he would fly and cling to a trailer and then jump inside. He said he
would find a lot of Zimbabweans inside.
The stories are horrifying as
they go on. A pregnant Zimbabwean woman who had been living with a South
African man for survival while trying to find employment was one day
arrested. She was then eight months pregnant. She did not have money and her
man forgot her the moment she went into Lindela. She was then deported after
two weeks and dumped at the Beit Bridge border post. She then teamed up with
5 men who were crossing on foot through the breadth of Limpopo at
night.
"That evening my labour pains had increased but since it was my
first child I didn't know what to do. What I only wanted was to return to
South Africa where I would afford to be hospitalised," she emotionally
recalls.
Soon after they had crossed the river she started to feel dizzy
and the pain had intensified. She requested her companions for a rest but
three men went on. The other two helped her to lie down, and later to
realise that the baby was arriving. "At first they were shy but when I
started groaning they helped to receive my daughter. We did not have water
so we had to bath her with Fanta."
It was too painful to walk but she
had to go on because these man would leave her if she lagged behind. One of
the men was holding her infant wrapped in adult clothes of the men, while
the other supported her. However the unfortunate happened in form of
soldiers patrolling the area. At the same time the child started
crying.
They tried to calm the infant to no avail. The men who had the
child stifled the thin shrills with a cloth. She became quiet from then on
by the mother was in too much pain to wonder. They arrived at a farm in
Messina where they sought help for the woman and found it. The two men then
left.
"When I tried to nurse the baby I saw that she was asleep so I left
her and tried to make myself comfortable, but later when I touched her cheek
she was very cold. It was then that I realised that she was dead," she
recounted crying. In trying to keep her quiet the good Samaritan had killed
a newly-born baby.
She is not alone in this trauma, as many have
suffered trying to find freedom. This has reduced their dignity and hope;
that tomorrow is worth waiting for. They need all the assistance to see them
retie the thread ends of their lives now in tatters. They all have a painful
story to tell.
. A young woman now ravaged by a venereal disease, who was
a student at Masvingo Technical college tells of having had to sleep with
truck drivers to get passage to South Africa.
. A young man who
arrived limping heavily was robbed by people who had assisted him to cross
Limpopo on foot. They left him for dead only in his trousers with a stab
wound in his thigh. . Another guy saw his six companions swept away by an
overfull flood of the Limpopo. When he tried to alert the authorities on the
South African side he was deported.
Even when they arrive they have
to learn the art of detecting police presence. When they are robbed they
cannot go to report for fear they would be deported. Employers love them
because they can work for a month, and when the payday comes the employer
calls the police who then deport them.
How often we hear about these
stories, how easily, almost callously we forget soon after. How many
incidents should happen before the Zimbabweans fight from the outside angle
to bring change in Zimbabwe? This has become impossible for citizens inside
who whenever they try to hold a protest march, it is called "illegal".
Considering that many NGOs are going to be closed in Zimbabwe, the serious
fight should start, - from the millions the outside. The author is the
Information Officer for ZIPOVA and is based in Johannesburg
Mugabe forced to back down on mine
ownership October 7, 2004
By Stewart Bailey
Johannesburg - Zimbabwe scaled back plans to force the world's largest
platinum producers to sell local assets to black investors, seven months
after opposition from mining companies prompted Robert Mugabe's government
to abandon a bigger sale.
Companies led by Impala Platinum, the
world's second-largest platinum miner, would have to sell 30 percent of
their assets to "historically disadvantaged individuals" within 10 years,
according to a proposal from the Harare-based ministry of mines. Twenty
percent stakes would be sold in the first two years.
Harare
withdrew a plan in March to force a sale of as much as 49 percent of the
mines in the country, which holds the world's largest platinum reserves
after South Africa.
Mugabe, who has ruled Zimbabwe since 1980,
needs investors after the economy collapsed following his government's
seizure of white-owned commercial farms. Impala is the top foreign
investor.
"A lot of people have been factoring in the worst," said
Darryll Castle of Stanlib Asset Management. "This might clear the path" for
further investments by Impala, he said.
Impala is relying on
Zimbabwe for growth after production peaked at its South Africa mines. It
might spend much as $750 million (R4.9 billion) to expand mines in Zimbabwe
within seven years, said finance director David Brown.
"Zimbabwe is a very big part of Impala's future," said Sandy McGregor of
Allan Gray Asset Management. Impala expects its Zimbabwean mines to produce
22 percent of the company's total by 2014, up from 7 percent.
Impala shares traded up R1.01 to close at R523.01. The sector was up 1.25
percent. The stock has slumped 10 percent this year, valuing Impala at about
R35 billion. Of 13 analysts covering the stock, six have buy and seven have
hold recommendations.
Other companies with operations in Zimbabwe
include London-based Rio Tinto, the world's third-largest mining firm, Anglo
Platinum, the world's largest platinum producer, and Bermuda-based Aquarius
Platinum. Impala's mines are the biggest new investments in Zimbabwe since
the turn of the century.
Demand for platinum, mainly used in
catalytic converters to reduce vehicle emissions and in jewellery, had
exceeded supply for the past five years, said platinum distributor Johnson
Matthey.
Platinum for immediate delivery was up $8 to $847.50 an
ounce in London in morning trade. It reached a six-week high of $876.50 on
September 28.
The economy of Zimbabwe has contracted by
two-fifths since 1999, according to the International Monetary Fund. Annual
inflation was at 314.4 percent in August, following a peak of 622.8 percent
in January.
Zimbabwe's main industries are tobacco, gold and
manufacturing, according to the World Bank. Zimbabwe's tobacco crop, its
biggest foreign exchange earner until last year, has shrunk to the smallest
in 33 years after farmers were driven off their land.
This
year's expected harvest was about 65.5 million kilograms, auctioneer Tobacco
Sales Floors said last month, down from a record 237 million kilograms in
2000.
VICE President Joseph
Msika, the no-nonsense man of ZANU PF politics, has ordered immediate
investigations into the conduct of Innocent Chibaya, the Central
Intelligence Organisation (CIO) boss in Bulawayo, fingered in allegations of
kidnapping, torture and severe assault of four ruling ZANU PF youths last
week.
The Vice President who, despite strong denials, could be
seeing out his last term in office together with his boss, President Robert
Mugabe, also wants Assistant Commissioner Charles Mufandaidze, the chief of
police in the country's second largest city, investigated after his
subordinates failed to act against CIO agents named in the act.
This, party insiders said, came after the youths told Msika that they
suspected they were brutalised in the presence of Chibaya for supporting a
faction vehemently opposed to the political machinations of Jabulani
Sibanda, the war veterans' leader based in Bulawayo.
They said
that the matter, which gives a new twist to the violence that has earned
Zimbabwe a bad name internationally, where some countries are ostracised on
the basis of poor human rights records, has since been brought to the
attention of Nicholas Goche, the State Security Minister and Kembo Mohadi,
the Minister of Home Affairs.
The party sources said so shocked was
Msika that he immediately summoned the two top security agents to his
Gumtree home where the severely injured youths had been taken by disgruntled
ZANU PF supporters. The two security chiefs were reportedly given an earful
by the mercurial Msika, thought to be the tough man of ZANU PF
politics.
"The youths named the CIO agents and mentioned that the
CIO boss witnessed their torture," said the ZANU PF insider. "They showed
Vice President Msika the injuries they sustained. Msika was shocked by the
extent of the injuries especially on their private parts and broken bones.
Msika was visibly furious. He said ZANU PF was against ZANU PF. He mentioned
that it was wrong for people to be beaten even if they did not support ZANU
PF," said a source who also witnessed the injuries.
Msika
confirmed on Tuesday evening that he had asked that the top security brass
in Bulawayo be investigated over the alleged torture of the four
youths.
"The boys were seriously injured. I want a full
investigation into the whole thing. I am very concerned and want to get to
the bottom of the whole issue because we don't want violence," said Msika
who intimated that people should be allowed to freely follow their political
convictions.
"Who was beaten up and for what reasons. Who
authorised that they be beaten and tortured? I want answers and I am going
to find out. Those who were involved must account for their actions. The
police have to tell us why they did not investigate when the boys reported
the matter," he added.
Msika however, could not indicate how far
the probe he instigated on Monday this week had gone, except that "nothing
will be swept under the carpet".
"These are not just normal
injuries, these are very serious and a cause for concern," Msika
said.
The youths, according to impeccable sources, were taken to
Msika's residence last Sunday afternoon where about 300 people had converged
to offer their condolences to Msika, who lost his brother.
Party insiders said the youths, who were struggling to walk, narrated to the
Vice President their ordeal at the hands of the CIO agents at Magnet House,
the head office of the dreaded secret service in the region.
"They
sustained serious injuries to their private parts. Vice President Msika
asked them to remove their clothes and was shocked by the extent of the
injuries," said a source that witnessed the incident.
The four ZANU
PF cadres were allegedly kidnapped from their homes in Emganwini
high-density suburb and driven to Magnet House where they were allegedly
tortured for four hours.
It is understood that Msika lost his cool
when the youths showed him severely injured private parts and broken limbs
they claimed were sustained after four hours of being brutalised by the
CIO.
All along, ZANU PF had previously been accused of systematic
bullying and intimidation against opposition supporters. Up to today, the
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) claims that President Mugabe won an
election in 2002 tainted by unfair campaigning and violence against its
supporters.
These reports come as the political battling in ZANU PF
and its attendant psychological crises reaches new levels underlying the
growing intolerance and confrontation within the ruling party. Of late there
has been high incidences of intra-party violence with ZANU PF chiefs
squaring up against ZANU PF supporters.
Didymus Mutasa, the
Anti-Corruption Minister who bounced back into President Mugabe's Cabinet
last year, is fighting for his political life after he was accused of
fanning violence. Mutasa, Zimbabwe's first Speaker of Parliament, was
implicated in skirmishes where 20 ruling party supporters, mainly fighters
of the liberation struggle that brought Zimbabwe's independence, were
severely beaten up in Makoni North as they experienced first hand the ugly
face of the ZANU PF attack machine.
The party sources said so
shocked was Msika that he immediately summoned the two top security agents
to his Gumtree home where the severely injured boys had been taken by
disgruntled party supporters. The two security chiefs were reportedly given
an earful by the mercurial Msika, thought to be the tough man of ZANU PF
politics.
"The youths named the CIO agents and mentioned that the
CIO boss witnessed their torture," said the ZANU PF insider. "They showed
Vice President Msika the injuries they sustained. Msika was shocked by the
extent of the injuries especially on their private parts and broken bones.
Msika was visibly furious. He said ZANU PF was against ZANU PF. He mentioned
that it was wrong for people to be beaten even if they did not support ZANU
PF," said a source who also witnessed the injuries.
Msika
confirmed on Tuesday evening that he had asked that the top security brass
in Bulawayo be investigated over the alleged torture of the four
youths.
"The boys were seriously injured. I want a full
investigation into the whole thing. I am very concern and want to get to the
bottom of the whole issue because we don't want violence," said Msika who
intimated that people should be allowed to freely follow their political
convictions.
"Who was beaten up and for what reasons. Who
authorised that they be beaten and tortured? I want answers and I am going
to find out. Those who were involved must account for their actions. The
police have to tell us why they did not investigate when the boys reported
the matter," he added.
Msika however, could not indicate how far
the probe he instigated on Monday this week had gone, except that "nothing
will be swept under the carpet".
"These are not just normal
injuries, these are very serious and a cause for concern," Msika
said.
The youths, according to impeccable sources, were taken to
Msika's residence last Sunday afternoon where about 300 people had converged
to offer their condolences to Msika, who lost his brother.
Party insiders said the youths, who were struggling to walk, narrated to the
Vice President their ordeal at the hands of the CIO agents at Magnet House,
the head office of the dreaded secret service in the region.
"They
sustained serious injuries to their private parts. Vice President Msika
asked them to remove their clothes and was shocked by the extent of the
injuries," said a source that witnessed the incident.
The four ZANU
PF cadres were allegedly kidnapped from their homes in Emganwini
high-density suburb and driven to Magnet House where they were allegedly
tortured for four hours.
It is understood that Msika lost his cool
when the youths showed him severely injured private parts and broken limbs
they claimed were sustained after four hours of being brutalised by the
CIO.
A SENIOR management
shake-up is looming at the bleeding Kwekwe-based steelmaker, the Zimbabwe
Iron and Steel Company (ZISCO), as the firm's reconstituted board intends to
start on a clean slate.
It has been established that the imminent
shake-up at ZISCO, formerly one of the largest integrated steel works in
Africa, could see long-serving managing director Gabriel Masanga, who has
been heading the firm for close to eight years, being given the
sack.
The sentiment within the newly restructured board at the
perennial loss-maker is that the top managers at ZISCO, blamed for failing
to revitalise the steel manufacturer, should be booted out. Also top on the
agenda is the recapitalisation of ZISCO, which requires nearly US$300
million to effect a turnaround programme.
"Minister Samuel
Mumbengegwi (Minister of Industry and International Trade) has strongly
emphasised that senior management at ZISCO should go. We are, however, going
to take a holistic approach to the restructuring of management. In any case
there could be differences of opinion among board members," said a
well-placed source.
ZISCO chairman David Murangari remained mum on
the subject of the impeding purge, saying he had not even seen the agenda
for the Wednesday meeting.
"We still have to meet as the board
and I am still waiting for the agenda items," said Murangari.
To set the tone, the industry and international trade ministry has appointed
a new board headed by Murangari, who is deputised by Jonathan Kadzura, a
local businessman and economic consultant.
Other board members
comprise George Mlilo, Ndabezihle Dube, Nyembe Rogers, Nyengetai Manyere and
Zvinechimwe Churu.
Mumbengegwi, who himself has not fared too well
as Minister of Industry and International Trade, is reported to have
expressed his displeasure over ZISCO's performance and failure by management
to come up with a proper turnaround programme.
In 2002, a
parliamentary portfolio committee on industry and international trade
accused the ZISCO board of failing to turn around the fortunes of the
company and called for the dissolution of the board and dismissal of senior
management for non-performance.
"Apart from restructuring
management, the board is also going to look into the issue of
recapitalisation, of which a number of options have been lined up, and debt
structuring," the source said.
ZISCO has been on a two-decade-long
trail of self-destruction characterised by dismal production levels and
billions of dollars lost in potential revenue.
Previous
government efforts to breathe new life into the steel-making firm have come
unstuck. Despite multi-faceted problems dogging ZISCO and mounting domestic
and foreign pressure to dispose of the loss-making operation, the government
has dug in its heels and refused to invite potential investors in
equity-capital swap deals.
It has instead approached Chinese
investors for soft loans to rebuild the firm.
The steelmaker,
with a potential to export more than 70 percent of its output, netting more
than US$150 million annually, is currently operating at less than 25 percent
of its capacity.
BULAWAYO - The
Bula-wayo City Council, which was in the red for the greater part of the
first half of this year after its budget was upset by a government freeze on
rates and service charges, is back in black though it is now owed more than
$30 billion by ratepayers.
The council had a surplus of $6.7
billion in July, having spent $49.7 billion against income of $56.4
billion.
It should have collected $105.5 billion and spent $98.8
billion by July, according to its approved $180 billion budget for this
year. But it says it is only likely to collect $90 billion this
year.
Government departments owed the council $8.4 billion in
unpaid bills at the end of July, up from $6.9 billion the previous month.
They only paid $887.5 million in July against a bill of $2.3
billion.
Residents owed the council $25.4 billion, up from $18.6
billion the previous month.
The council is currently finalising
its budget for 2005 and held its final consultations with residents on
Tuesday this week.
Councils should submit their budgets for next
year to the government by end of this month.
JAPHET
Ndabeni-Ncube, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) executive mayor for
Bulawayo, has stuck to his guns in the wake of mounting pressure from the
government, which is out to dismiss him over reports of residents in that
city succumbing to malnutrition.
Council officials said
Ndabeni-Ncube, surprised that a report on the causes of deaths recorded in
the city had assumed political connotations, wrote to Local Government
Minister Ignatius Chombo on Monday clarifying the council's position on the
issue, which has drawn in Jonathan Moyo, the government's chief
spin-doctor.
They said Ndabeni-Ncube emphasised that releasing
statistics on the causes of deaths recorded in the city was an "innocent"
procedure that the council has been doing since time
immemorial.
"The issue is being politicised," said a senior council
official who spoke on condition of anonymity. "What we suspect is that
Chombo wants to do a Mudzuri on Ndabeni-Ncube. The government has all along
failed to fault the Ndabeni-Ncube-led council. In fact, the council is the
only one being run professionally irrespective of political
affiliation.
"The issue of the statistics is nothing new, we
release these every month. It is just a ploy by the government to interfere
with council operations - something they have achieved in Harare," said a
council official who has been with the Bulawayo municipality for the past 15
years.
Ndabeni-Ncube confirmed to The Financial Gazette in an
interview that he had written to Chombo on the issue.
"I wrote
to the minister yesterday (Monday) telling him what we are doing," said
Ndabeni-Ncube, who beat George Mlilo, the ZANU PF candidate in the mayoral
polls in September 2001, to the mayoral post. Ndabeni-Ncube polled 60 000
votes against Mlilo's paltry 4 000 votes.
"The figures recorded are
true because we get them from the register of deaths. We don't alter them,
we just use them as they are. Maybe the question is what do we use the
figures for. We need these figures from the register of deaths solely for
intervention purposes," said the executive mayor.
"We come in
as council to assist basing on these vital statistics.
"For
instance where people are recorded as having died of malnutrition, we talk
to non-governmental organisations who then chip in with supplementary
feeding schemes.
"The statistics do not only show people who would
have have died of malnutrition. They also show those who would have died of
malaria, HIV/AIDS and meningitis, among other causes," Ndabeni-Ncube
added.
Chombo said: "We will be visiting him (Ndabeni-Ncube). How
can he report deaths due to starvation when we gave the mayor's office money
to assist people."
Municipal sources said what seemed to have
raised the ire of the government was the fact that the shocking malnutrition
figures came at a time when the government, under a microscopic gaze because
of the land reforms, was battling to convince the world that it had enough
food to feed its citizens.
The government says it expects a
bumper harvest of about 2.4 million tonnes of grain, but non-governmental
organisations and government critics are adamant the government would be
lucky to receive 1 million tonnes.
This comes amid unconfirmed
reports that the government has imported 100 000 tonnes of grain from
neighbouring Zambia.
ZANU PF, which is already on an election
campaign crusade six months before the next parliamentary polls, desperately
wants to reclaim its lost glory in urban areas.
It has already
crippled the once MDC-dominated Harare City Council after several
councillors resigned at the behest of the opposition party which cited
interference by government.
Chombo dismissed the popularly elected
Elias Mudzuri in April last year on allegations of insubordination and
incompetence, charges the former mayor refutes.
Local
government sources said this week Chombo would be dispatching a team to
Bulawayo to grill Ndabeni-Ncube and his executive over alleged "careless
statements".
They said the idea was to impress on the council that
the government was in charge and would not hesitate to remove the mayor as
has happened in Harare.
Former River Ranch owners want Mujuru, Mudariki
probed
Felix Njini 10/7/2004 7:16:19 AM (GMT
+2)
THE River Ranch Diamond debacle, in which ZANU PF kingpin
retired army general Solomon Mujuru is alleged to have used unorthodox means
to wrest control of the mine, has sucked in Anti-Corruption Minister Didymus
Mutasa.
The former owners of the mine, who now face a court
challenge to release crucial mine documents, have accused Mutasa of dragging
his feet over investigations surrounding the change in the ownership of
River Ranch.
Mutasa, they say, has sat on the request for a probe
into the issue.
"The Ministry of Anti-Corruption has, as yet,
failed to resolve the various complaints, but has maintained to Bubye that
it (the issue) is 'still under investigation'," said Adelle Farquhar, one of
Bubye's associate directors.
Bubye Minerals, which took control
of River Ranch in 1999, accuses Rani International, Aujan Southern African
Development and Kupikile Resources of "unlawfully and forcibly" taking over
control of the diamond mine, situated in Beitbridge.
Mujuru and
former ZANU PF legislator Tirivanhu Mudariki represent Kupikile Resources in
the new shareholding structure.
According to court documents,
Mujuru, whose wife Joyce is vying to be Zimbabwe's first female
Vice-President, is reported to have remarked that "the paper work has been
prepared and all he (Mujuru) had to do was to tell the President (Robert
Mugabe) to sign."
Bubye Minerals, which managed the mine until it
was forced out, is accusing the new shareholders of grabbing the company
using political connections.
Bubye claims it owns a controlling
70 percent of River Ranch.
"The Ministry of Mines has not acted to
date, claiming it is under instructions from the Ministry of Anti-Corruption
not to act without a directive from that ministry," Farquar
alleges.
"The Ant-Corruption Ministry has released Bubye's
confidential documents to the party, which Bubye Minerals is complaining
against, which has in turn resulted in the leakage of that document to the
press," Farquhar said.
Bubye Minerals is also accusing Home
Affairs Minister Kembo Mohadi of acting illegally when he allegedly
personally authorised police to assist the new shareholders in raiding and
physically taking control of the mine. Mohadi is the ZANU PF Member of
Parliament for Beitbridge.
Mohadi is reported to have corroborated
with the new shareholders when he personally authorised security agents to
go and help the new investors take physical control of the mine early this
year.
In an unprecedented move, River Ranch last month initiated
legal proceedings against the ousted Bubye Minerals directors, demanding the
release of company documents.
In a High Court application filed
on September 7 2004, Adel Aujan, chairman of the new board of River Ranch,
demanded that the ousted directors account for their dealings and assets of
the mine from October 1999 to date.
"They will also have to
surrender all documents, including the share register, asset register, maps,
working papers, core drilling results, original of the Special Grant No.1278
and any geological reports in their possession," the new board
said.
The new shareholders are also alleging that Bubye is indebted
to the Aujan group of companies as well as Rani to the tune of a total
US$1.16 million.
"Despite demand for repayment of the loans,
Bubye Minerals has failed to repay the amount," Aujan alleges.
Bubye was originally given the right to operate River Ranch by liquidator
Peter Bailey of KPMG after a lull in production when the original owner,
Auridium of Australia, pulled out citing falling diamond prices on the
international market.
Bubye's associates include Michael Farquhar
and his wife Adelle, and Sibonokuhle Moyo, wife to Zimbabwe's ambassador to
South Africa, Simon Khaya Moyo.
In an opposing affidavit,
Adelle Farquhar accused Rani of taking control of the mine
fraudently.
Farquhar also queried the links between Rani and
"politically connected" people such as Mujuru and Mudariki, who were not
previously involved in the financial transactions between the two
companies.
"No court order was obtained by Aujan, Mujuru and
Mudariki as a basis for their actions on which minister Mohadi could
legitimately act," Farquhar argued.
Can shuttle diplomacy
succeed for South African President Thabo Mbeki where his widely discredited
quiet diplomacy failed vis-a-vis the Zimbabwe crisis?
This must
be the question observers are asking following Mbeki's suggestion while he
was attending the United Nations (UN) Security Council meeting in New York
two weeks ago that he was ready to adjust his strategy as mediator in the
impasse.
Mbeki told journalists after meeting President Robert
Mugabe on the sidelines of the UN meeting that he was ready to intensify his
efforts.
He indicated that he was ready to fly to Harare "everyday"
if necessary as he had direct access to both President Mugabe and leaders of
the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). He was ready for
"greater and regular engagement" with ZANU PF and the MDC.
These are interesting remarks considering that Mbeki has given the
impression that there was always a flurry of activity behind the scenes when
critics questioned the effectiveness of quiet diplomacy.
But if
Mbeki is indeed now prepared to fly between Pretoria and Harare regularly in
his role as peace broker, he would be engaging in shuttle diplomacy, which
was popularised by Henry Kissinger under Richard Nixon in the
1970s.
Zimbabweans who have been sceptical of Mbeki's role while he
operated under the fly-by-night banner of quiet diplomacy will be eager to
know what he will do differently during the proposed regular forays into
Harare.
After almost four years, quiet diplomacy has been shown to
be an unviable and inappropriate strategy in confronting a problem as
complex as the Zimbabwean governance crisis.
After the debacle
of Mbeki's infamous June deadline which came and went uneventfully despite
the South African president's prior assertion that a "breakthrough" would be
achieved by that time, he needs to re-evaluate his focus.
Mbeki's insistence throughout 2003 and part of this year that talks were
underway between ZANU PF and the MDC when the two parties themselves
persistently denied that this was happening has seriously dented his
credibility.
Zimbabweans could be forgiven for questioning
whether a man who was so mistaken about talks he was supposed to be
facilitating and overseeing can come up with new ideas to break the
deadlock.
Mbeki is said to have told President Mugabe when the two
met in New York that resumption of talks between ZANU PF and the MDC was the
only way forward.
But observers would ask whether the South
African president should not listen to the advice of his younger brother,
Moeletsi Mbeki, who has suggested that the African National Congress and the
South African government should intervene in the Zimbabwean crisis on the
"side of democracy and not back ZANU PF".
The younger Mbeki's
view that the South African leader must do more than insist on talks that
have not gone anywhere for a long time was echoed by veteran apartheid-era
crusader, Helen Suzman, who called on the president to "publicly condemn"
the Zimbabwean head of state.
Mbeki has refused to say anything in
public against President Mugabe before, saying this would be
counterproductive. But at this stage of the Zimbabwean deadlock, it would
seem that the way forward is encapsuled in Moeletsi Mbeki's
advice.
"Our intervention should be to support democracy and not be
tolerant of the use of violence, torture and rigging of elections and, if
necessary, we should support the opposition," Mbeki's brother is quoted as
having said.
The millions of struggling Zimbabweans who look up to
Mbeki to help them out of their predicament would fervently hope that he
will abandon his obsession with promoting talks between the ruling party and
the MDC and focus on helping to make it possible for them to determine their
own destiny through free and fair elections.
Mbeki is lucky in
this regard in that the Southern African Development Community Protocol on
Principles and Guidelines for the conducting of democratic elections has
virtually fallen into his lap when his mediation efforts needed a fresh
impetus to push them forward.
The main opposition party in Zimbabwe
has indicated that it will not participate in next year's parliamentary
elections unless these stipulated conditions are met.
The MDC
has accused President Mugabe's government of being interested only in
introducing cosmetic changes while keeping an electoral machinery heavily
skewed in its favour virtually intact.
The opposition party, which
does not enjoy access to state television and newspapers, has complained in
advertisements flighted in the private media that the holding of elections
at regular intervals is the only principle the Zimbabwean government has
fulfilled.
The opposition party charges that an environment
conducive to free, fair and peaceful elections will never exist until the
government undertakes a complete overhaul of the old system.
Mbeki's main concern in the past seems to have been to avoid ruffling
feathers. His mediation efforts have therefore been limited to urging the
disputants to talk. But this has failed.
He now needs to move
the process forward by using his prestige and powers of persuasion to
suggest a solution. He is in the right place at the right time to push for
genuinely free and fair elections.
An enduring legacy of
former Matabeleland governor Welshman Mabhena's term of office is the
crusade he spearheaded against what he perceived as discrimination against
the region in the facilitation and allocation of national resources for
development.
His quest to have this perceived anomaly corrected
began almost as soon as Mabhena, a former deputy speaker of the House of
Assembly, succeeded Jevan Maseko in 1993.
The former governor,
who was relieved of his post in 2000, was so vociferous and outspoken in
articulating his belief that Matabeleland was being marginalised that calls
for his resignation were already being made by the end of his first year in
office.
He was accused, along with then Makokoba Member of
Parliament, the late Sidney Malunga, and Joshua Malinga, who was mayor of
Bulawayo, of promoting tribalism and anti-Shona sentiment.
This
was after Mabhena had been quoted in the press calling on the people of
Matabeleland to demonstrate against tribally motivated injustices in the
higher education sector. He claimed that there was a conspiracy by certain
individuals to underdevelop the region.
This became his battle cry
throughout his tenure as governor as he slammed government procrastination
or inertia with regard to facilitating the building of schools, roads and
other infrastructure.
He railed constantly against the deployment
of Shona speakers to teach pupils whose first language was Ndebele. He
charged that a majority of students attending institutions of higher
learning such as the National University of Science and Technology (NUST) in
Bulawayo were enrolled from other provinces at the expense of candidates
from Matabeleland.
Asked this week whether he still believed these
accusations to be true, the former governor maintained that he had, in fact,
since been vindicated.
Speaking from his home in Four Winds in
Bulawayo, he cited the lack of progress in implementing the Matabeleland
Zambezi Water Project and completing the construction of the NUST campus as
examples of the government neglect he had tried to draw attention
to.
When it was pointed out to him that the Bulawayo-Nkayi road,
whose terrible state he had regularly complained about was now being
upgraded, he shot back: "But after how long?"
Mabhena said he
was sacked as governor for telling the truth and describing situations on
the basis of what the people at the grassroots told him.
He
accused "some politicians from Matabeleland" of ganging up against him and
pestering President Robert Mugabe to drop him as governor in their
"overzealousness to show solidarity with those in Mashonaland". Their
failure to speak up for the region had resulted in Matabeleland being left
behind as other provinces advanced.
Ironically, veteran
journalist and educationist Saul Gwakuba Ndlovu, who agrees that the region
is lagging behind other provinces, also blamed former PF ZAPU leaders for
this state of affairs but faulted them for only being prepared to complain
but not taking any initiatives.
"Historically, Matabe-leland was
left behind because of the dissidents stigma which was attached to it and
its continued affiliation to Dr Joshua Nkomo's PF ZAPU" Ndlovu
said.
The ZANU PF leadership did not see why it should promote
development in a region that was a hotbed of rebellion and stronghold of its
political rival, he said.
He said even after the signing of the
Unity Accord in 1987, former PF ZAPU leaders had still failed to grasp ZANU
PF's approach to development.
"ZANU PF expects leaders such as
Members of Parliament and members of the politburo to take the initiative to
develop their localities and regions. They are expected to promote their own
economic development strategies and not expect central government to
initiate ideas."
He cited the example of the late Simon Muzenda,
who he said had used his influence and prestige as co-vice president to
promote the development of Gutu, his home area.
In contrast,
Joshua Nkomo, who held a similar position, had not done anything for Kezi,
his rural home.
Ndlovu said former PF ZAPU politicians who had
grasped the ZANU PF approach included Simon Khayo Moyo, who tarred part of
the road from Plumtree to Sanzukwi in his home area.
He said
the PF ZAPU leadership was hampered by a belief that central government was
responsible for identifying development projects throughout the country and
then equitably funding them.
Because ZANU PF's original objective
was to create a one-party state, the existence of widespread support in
Matabeleland for the Movement for Democratic Change, which the ruling party
sees as a threat to its hold on power, continued to put Matabeleland at a
disadvantage. Socio-economic or infrastructural development projects
suggested by the opposition party were unlikely to receive government
support.
Stressing that this approach was not peculiar to ZANU PF,
Ndlovu said Zambia had experienced a similar scenario when Kenneth Kaunda's
United National Independence Party neglected the country's southern region
because it was the stronghold of Harry Nkumbula's opposition
ANC.
Mabhena said by failing to treat all provinces equally when
allocating resources, the country's leadership had lost direction. "They
must change if genuine social integration is to occur."
While
conceding that factors such as inefficiency and corruption which resulted in
resources allocated to certain parts of Matabeleland remaining unutilised
for years and played a part in slowing development, Ndlovu said the way
forward was for local leaders to take the bull by the horns.
"The
former PF ZAPU leadership's mentality is still centralised in its focus and
approach whereas the ZANU PF thrust is based on some form of local and
regional autonomy which goes right down to village level," Ndlovu said.
IT is either South African President Thabo
Mbeki sees his foreign policy on Zimbabwe through the wrong end of a
drainpipe or the situation in his northern neighbour through rose-tinted
spectacles.
For how can he be so wrong? ZANU PF talking to the MDC?
Sounds more like an illusion. Doesn't it? True, politics is fluid and
anything can happen. But we wouldn't bet on it. Nor would Zimbabweans who
have been wearing the shoe and therefore know how and where it
pinches.
Surprisingly though, while all and sundry are agreed that
there are no prospects for a breakthrough in the long-stalled talks between
ZANU PF and the MDC Mbeki, who many erroneously thought had the diplomatic,
political and economic clout to assume the responsibility of mediator, still
thinks the negotiations can resume.
He has since failed his
stiffest credibility test when he was at the centre of the delicate
arbitration. Not only that but leading hawks in President Robert Mugabe's
government have since voiced their opposition to a negotiated settlement in
Zimbabwe. And worse still, Mbeki has insisted for more than a year that
talks were underway between ZANU PF and the MDC. But both parties denied
this and instead poured cold water on the idea.
Despite the
foregoing imponderables Mbeki, who ended up with egg on his face after
pledging that the crisis in Zimbabwe would be solved by June this year,
still believes that there is a glimmer of hope for the resumption of the
largely sterile talks which were put in the deep freezer more than a year
ago.
Now, Mbeki's good intentions and sincerity might not be in
doubt. And like we have said before, from a face value judgment, Mbeki is an
extraordinary and cautious politician who is unlikely to stir this kind of
controversy without knowing where it would all end. But the Zimbabwean
situation could be much more complex and distinctly challenging. And with
all due respect to the South African President, aren't his high hopes for
the talks a delusion of expectation on his part or does he know something
that we don't?
While disillusioned Zimbabweans who were taken
for a ride after their expectations ran far ahead of what Mbeki could
deliver first time around know better than holding their breath over the
South African leader's pledges, what makes Mbeki, who treated criticism of
his quiet diplomacy as something like water off a duck's back, believe that
the feuding MDC and ZANU PF will go back to the negotiating
table?
If, in his first attempt which drew a blank, he failed to
wring concessions from the two political parties whose entrenched positions
cast a huge shadow over prospects for the resumption of talks, where is
Mbeki's optimism coming from? We have to categorically state that contrary
to Mbeki's ill-founded confidence about the Zimbabwean situation, we do not
have any high hopes for the talks.
As we said in our editorial
comment of March 25 2004 entitled "Get over the illusions" we have our
doubts about the talks - doubts not without foundation. First, Zimbabwe is
like the proverbial house on fire where it would be foolish to discuss fire
prevention without acting expeditiously. But if the time it has taken to
bring the politicians to the negotiating table is anything to go by, then
the two parties are not interested in the talks. Forget their initial public
posturing to the contrary. That was all window dressing for the public's
benefit meant to buy them time to continue playing their seemingly finite
but expensive political games.
Second, the birthmark of Zimbabwean
politics - deep-seated intolerance and hatred for compromise, is so visible
on both parties. No matter how far the pendulum swings and the crisis
deepens, having lost all sense of honour and shame, the politicians do not
have time for remorse. They will continue, like they have done in the past,
to pursue their parochial and self-centred political goals.
That is precisely why the first attempt at talks was stillborn and why
Mbeki's eleventh hour efforts will fail again. Remember his comrade-in-arms,
Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria whom the Zimbabwean situation has reduced to a
politician of monumental littleness in the world of diplomacy? Mbeki could
meet the same fate. With such a glaring lack of understanding of Zimbabwean
politics, Mbeki's impact on the country's history would be no more than the
whiff of scent on a lady's handkerchief, as once said by David Lloyd
George.
This is especially moreso now. The two parties are not
interested in the aborted talks. It is the forthcoming parliamentary
plebiscite that has now taken centre stage. With the 2005 make or break
parliamentary election just five months away, both parties now have their
eye on the crucial poll. Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC are hoping to
capitalise on the general disillusionment and frustration among the
generality of Zimbabweans, while President Mugabe's ruling ZANU PF, with its
new-found confidence, hopes to exploit the power of incumbency. The prospect
of talks being resumed therefore sounds airy-fairy to us. The issue is a
forgotten one. It has been put on the back burner. Period. So, instead of
wasting precious time talking about talks, Mbeki should, if he has as much
clout as he wants to make us believe, focus on prevailing on his Zimbabwean
counterparts and encourage them on their intentions to ensure free and fair
elections for citizens to exercise their universal suffrage without any
fear.
THERE are
punitive laws that have been passed without careful assessment of their
impact on citizens. Some of these laws have even worked against the very
legislators.
The current NGO Bill has elements which will make all
mothers wonder about the welfare of their children and the future of the
country. The Electoral Bill, which does not seek to create an enabling
environment, has the potential to trigger violence during election time. The
possibility of these bills being passed into law is very high.
One wonders whether all stakeholders are aware of the implications. One of
the major stakeholders is the Zimbabwean woman. This article intends to
discuss the potential of women parliamentarians to work hand in hand with
spouses of male legislators to influence decisions made in
Parliament.
Most Zimbabwean women are either Christian or follow
African traditional religion. In both religions life is valued and human
dignity respected. Women, because of their nature, are more religious hence
the appeal to them to practice their convictions. Women have power in their
hands. It's high time the power is exercised for the good of the
country.
There is need for a woman's touch in Parliament. Women are
the ones who mostly take care of the petty details at home and this makes
the home a comfortable place to live in. The same is needed for the House
(Parliament). Women face the brunt of political, social and economic
depredations and are quick to sacrifice themselves in the same. Sometimes
issues concerning women and children are not given the same weight as
others. Oftentimes issues are not even considered from the perspective of
the majority of citizens i.e. women.
This ashamedly includes
decisions concerning women that continue to be taken without significant
representation from them. It is for this reason that there is need for more
feminine voices in parliament.
Women constitute 51percent of the
population in Zimbabwe and a disheartening 10 percent is their current
representation in Parliament as there are only 15 women out of 150
legislators. Even if women legislators are to vote as women, their combined
impact is negligible as compared to the men.
There is a general
consensus by women legislators from both sides of the House that there is
need for a deliberate policy to increase women representation in the House
and other institutions of power. The recent ZANU PF Women's League resolved
to push for a woman vice-president at the party's December congress. SADC
recommends a minimum of 30 percent women representation in positions of
authority, power and decision-making. In the Zimbabwean context this may
take longer than we need, perhaps until March 2005, hence the call to wives
of legislators to bring the feminine voice to the House through engagement
with their spouses as well as working with women legislators.
As spouses of legislators, the contribution starts from the home front by
encouraging spouses not to engage in activities that violate other people's
rights or prejudice the lives of fellow citizens. In this regard the woman
becomes the conscience of the man. By encouraging their spouses to be guided
by virtues of truth, mercy, justice and peace, the House will only pass
humane laws.
The participation by wives of legislators will
increase the number of women voices in parliament from 15 to 150 i.e. 15
women parliamentarians plus 135 proxies.
CZ is told that most
of our former judges who were forced to flee the bench when the wise men
from the east started indigenising our "colonial" judiciary are doing well
in the different parts of the world they are right now. E-eeh, they say you
can never keep a good man down.
What else can they do with
themselves when conditions back home cannot allow them to practice their
chosen professions with a clear conscience?
Let's all hope they
will find it vastly different wherever they are because African politicians
can be the same throughout the continent.
And this reminds CZ of a
story he was recently told by his friend in Malawi.
The story
about this opposition leader Gwanda Chakuamba, a personal creation of the
late Ngwazi, Kamuzu Banda, just to spite people like veteran politician John
Tembo who were violently opposed to the Ngwazi's mistress taking over the
reins of the Malawi Congress Party (MCP) after it had lost the first ever
democratic election in 1994.
So there was a big row in the MCP. A
real big row. Gwanda wanted the MCP presidency. Tembo also wanted to be at
the helm.
Because of the animosity that had resulted from this
great schism, the two leaders and their armies of equally violent supporters
called for separate MCP conventions. Each one won at their respective
conventions.
As a result, the case went to court for a decision on
which of the two MCPs was bona fide. The court decided that the old status
quo should be maintained, that is, Gwanda as MCP president and Tembo his
vice.
Tembo was not satisfied and he went back to court. And the
case was set for a hearing before Justice George Chimasula
Phiri.
The court was packed with fuming supporters, some of them
redundant members of the Ngwazi's notorious militia, the MIP, the equivalent
to our own "Green Bombers".
Now it was time for Gwanda to be
cross-examined by Tembo's lawyer, Ralph Kasambara, now Malawi's
attorney-general. And what does he do?
He pulled a surprise. He
said before answering any question from Kasambara, he needed to make a
prayer since he was a devout Christian.
There was a big argument.
Tembo's lawyer objected, arguing that the prayer was not necessary and,
besides, the man was already under oath. The lawyer further argued that not
everyone in the court believed in Christianity and that this prayer business
could unduly influence the outcome of the court hearing.
Gwanda
and his lawyers cited provisions in the constitution which mentioned
something about freedom of religion and this and that. It was a rather noisy
argument.
Justice Chimasula Phiri adjourned the court for about 20
minutes to make a decision on this issue that had a rich potential to cause
a bloodbath in the court.
When the court resumed, he did not
take his time in delivering his ruling. He ruled that it was Gwanda's
constitutional right to pray. But he went one crucial step further: Gwanda
was to be allowed to pray in the court on these conditions . . . in silence
and for just one minute!
So after a minute's silence, the wise
judge assumed that Gwanda had finished his prayers and the hearing
continued. Everyone had won and a war was averted!
Chombo
please!
And this man calling himself Ignatius Chombo, notorious
for behaving like God (who takes it for granted that all people on earth are
his), was somewhere in Mwenezi, Masvingo, at the weekend where he was
installing one of the ruling party's political chiefs.
And what
does this Chombo man tell the crowd? That chiefs are "duty-abound" to rally
communities in their domains behind ZANU PF to ensure that the ruling party
wins next year's elections.
He said chiefs had an obligation to
ensure that the MDC did not get into power. So as the elections got nearer,
it was their duty to ensure that "no dubious meetings by equally dubious
political groups and parties" are allowed to take place in their areas. In
short, Chombo said chiefs should ban all opposition (MDC) meetings in their
areas.
So Chombo would want to dream that because some people,
excluding himself, went to war, then no one else should ever lead the people
of this country?
When time comes, he will realise that his is
not just a dream, but a very bad dream, if not a criminal dream. Whether you
liberated people or not, that is not a valid reason to make them your
prisoners.
So if ZANU PF is the only party that will be allowed to
hold meetings, where is the so-called freedom which we are being made to
suffer for? Talk of free and fair elections! And, on the other hand, one
professor is ranting and raving that the MDC will never be given access to
the public media because he simply doesn't want to!
Can
someone please confirm this juicy story doing the rounds in the most
politically violent area of Mashonaland? We mean this story. Yes this story
. . . you also know it nhai?
This story about one party chef who
only realised recently that, while in the busy process of consoling one of
the wives of their dead party and government colleague, the consolation
process had gone too far and in the process the widow was pregnant . . . yes
she was "carrying herself"! Do you believe it?
This man - who
is buried at the heroes' acre - died a few years ago in what we are
officially told was a road traffic accident. And before national tears are
even dry, the woman is carrying a baby from the party chef? Yes that is
true, the bun is in the oven.
And we are told that the man is just
too randy . . . he is also involved in another sex scandal . . . this one
which explains why he (nearly) lost his good job recently.
The
man is just a man . . . randy, violent, dangerous, dull and . . ? Can
someone please confirm this? Thank you!
Chimoio
So the infamous Chimoio gala - now officially changed
to bash to steer away from being vulgar - is finally on this weekend. We
wish the hardworking organisers of the event all the best of
luck.
But what about this rumour that most of the people who are
planning to go there are, in fact, members of Killer Zivhu's Zimbabwe Cross
Border Traders' Association who want to take advantage of the loosened visa
and customs conditions to make roaring business?
THE government is
set to recapitalise the crumbling national rail utility, the National
Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ), whose decrepit locomotives have seen it
operating at less than 40 percent capacity over the past
decade.
Insiders at the troubled rail operator told The
Financial Gazette this week that the parastatal, which failed to raise its
own funds, had taken its begging bowl to the government for the umpteenth
time.
Sources said the government had intervened in a desperate bid
to recapitalise the rail operator, which has been scouring the Asian
countries in search of soft loans with little success.
Transport and Communications Minister Christopher Mushowe confirmed that the
government was helping the ailing firm to recapitalise.
The
government's intervention also comes amid increasing calls from industry to
stop the bleeding at the NRZ, which is struggling to pay salaries. The
parastatal's wage bill gobbles up 140 percent of revenue.
Mushowe
said his ministry has tasked the NRZ management to submit a proposal to the
treasury department for consideration under the 2005 national budget
normally presented in November.
"This is just part of the
turnaround strategy we have started at the parastatal. Critical to this
turnaround is recapitalisation. Everything will be done to make sure we
recapitalise the NRZ," Mushowe said.
The firm, which used to
transport more than 12.3 million tonnes of goods in 1999, now ferries just
5.8 million tonnes.
The NRZ's failure to service various sectors of
the economy has seen the business sector resorting to road transport, which
is four times more expensive, industry experts said.
Observers
have however pointed out that the government lacks the resources to effect
any meaningful change and its turnaround programme risks being thrown into
the dust bin, as has previously been the case.
Business, which has
felt the pinch of the incapabilities of the rail utility, accuses the
government of paying lip service to the need to revamp the
parastatal.
It has been suggested that government should consider
shedding some equity in return for fresh capital injection.
Mushowe said the government had no intention of privatising or shedding
equity in the NRZ.
"What we are doing is not privatisation. Part of
the money will come through the fiscus and the rest we hope to get through
soft loans. These will be loans to the government and not the NRZ. There
will be no privatisation of the NRZ," Mushowe said.
NRZ has for
the whole year been casting around for resources to be able to transport up
to six million tonnes by the end of 2004 and nine million tonnes by the end
of 2005.
Government's interference in the operations of the
parastatal has seen the NRZ failing to run on a commercial basis.
THE Petroleum
Marketers Association of Zimbabwe (PMAZ), the country's sole fuel importers'
association, has split up on racial grounds in a move analysts say is likely
to worsen recurrent fuel shortages.
It has been established that
indigenous fuel importers, feeling they were being sidelined by established
fuel procurers, have formed a splinter grouping, the Indigenous Petroleum
Group of Zimbabwe (IPGZ), which claims its membership comprises of 68 fuel
importers.
IPGZ members maintain they were being given a raw deal
by associate members when they were still under PMAZ.
Allegations of racism have started surfacing with IPGZ accusing PMAZ of
favouring established fuel importers ahead of indigenous business
people.
Robert Zhuwao, vice-chairman of the IPGZ, said his
organisation represents the interest of indigenous oil companies, "which are
being muscled out of the industry by varying forces".
"The
breakaway was because there was no empowerment policy in place," Zhuwao
said.
IPGZ, which claims to supply 33.5 percent of the market with
fuel, accused PMAZ of trying to push out indigenous players.
Zhuwao said IPGZ members were being denied access to storage facilities,
handicapping their efforts to import fuel.
"We have no storage
facilities. They are being used by established importers who are denying us
access. We have enlisted the services of government to intervene but there
is no legislation which compels them to share the facilities with them,"
Zhuwao said.
Efforts to get a comment from PMAZ chairman Masimba
Kambarami were fruitless. Rodrick Kusano, one of the PMAZ committee members,
refused to comment, saying he was not aware of "any problems".
Zimbabwe is reeling under a five year-long fuel crunch which has been
worsened by the emergence of bogus fuel importers and inefficiency and
corruption at the state-led fuel procurer, the National Oil Company of
Zimbabwe.
THE
long-simmering dispute between Zimbabwean tour operators and their Zambian
counterparts appears to have boiled over, with the Zambians accusing their
southern neighbours of violating rules and regulations on the cross-border
transfer of tourists.
Zambian operators accuse their Zimbabwean
counterparts of operating in the border town of Livingstone, just across the
resort town of Victoria Falls, without operating licences from the Zambian
authorities.
Tour operators on the Zimbabwean side have long
accused the Zambians of unfair trade practices in luring tourists from
Zimbabwe, whose image has taken a battering in recent years, following
violent land seizures and rising political temperatures.
Sources from Zambia said that country's tour operators were taking steps to
lodge a formal complaint with the Zimbabwean authorities.
"Tour
operators in Zambia are planning to lodge an official complaint with the
Zimbabwean authorities on the matter," said a source.
The same
sources said the issue was initially raised at Zimbabwe-Zambia joint
commission meetings.
The Zambian Tourism Authority could not be
reached for comment by the time of gong to press.
Official
documents at hand, however, indicate that the commission directed that the
technical committee on tourism should meet annually and resolve problems
affecting tourism players in both countries.
The Zimbabwe Tour
Operators Association administrative officer Sally Bown however, said the
association had not received any official complaints from tour operators in
Zambia.
"They need to make an official complaint to us. We cannot
act on rumours. We can only respond when they give us the statistics, dates
and time," she said.
Bown could not be drawn to disclose some
of the rules and regulations on cross border transfers of tourists in
Zambia, saying she was not well versed with rules in that
country.
The tourism sector, which this year is expected to
contribute two percent to the gross domestic product (GDP), is projected to
suffer a heavy knock ahead of the 2005 parliamentary elections.
Statistics indicate that in 1999 the tourism sector earned the country
US$770 million.
Direct employment in the sector has also fallen
from 128 244 in 2003 to 42 748 workers in 2004. International tourists
continue to shun Zimbabwe owing to the negative publicity the country is
receiving abroad.
Tourist arrivals tumbled a massive 36 percent
from 1 303 901 recorded last year to a low of 827 245 visitors in the first
half of the year.
The majority of the visitors during the period
January to June this year were from mainland Africa, which constituted 675
538 visitors while the overseas market contributed the
remainder.
The United States of America emerged as the leading
overseas source, contributing 23 300 visitors, while the United Kingdom, for
long the country's major source within the international market, only
contributed 19 892 visitors.
China, which accorded Zimbabwe
Approved Destination Status, contributed 11 percent.