http://www.independent.co.uk
By Basildon Peta in
Johannesburg
Thursday, 11 September 2008
President Thabo Mbeki
has come up with a unique compromise proposal in which
Zimbabwe would adopt
a "twin cabinet" arrangement. This as he desperately
tries to get that
country's negotiating parties to conclude a much-awaited
power sharing
deal.
Morgan Tsvangirai has accepted Mr Mbeki's proposal and for the
first time in
the latter's mediation initiative, the ball is now effectively
in Robert
Mugabe's court to end the deadlock in the long-stalled
talks.
A final deal was not signed yesterday, despite the optimism raised
by all
the three leaders of the negotiating parties when they left the
Rainbow
Towers Hotel on Tuesday.
Authoritative sources said this was
because much of the day was spent
debating on the configuration of powers
between the offices of president and
prime minister as they continued
exploring the most appropriate method to
adopt. Mr Tsvangirai had gone back
to insisting on being designated head of
government with power to chair the
cabinet while Mr Mugabe would be head of
state. Mr Mugabe was, on the other
hand, not willing to relinquish chairing
of cabinet to Mr
Tsvangirai.
Mr Mbeki then suggested a compromise proposal in which a
"council of
ministers" chaired by Mr Tsvangirai as prime minister would be
created. The
"council of ministers" would be charged with debating and
formulating
government policy and overseeing its implementation, among other
things. Mr
Mugabe would then remain as chairman of cabinet, which would
review the work
of the "council of ministers".
While Mr Tsvangirai
accepted the proposal, sources claimed that Mr Mugabe
had rejected it,
saying it would render him largely ceremonial. Mr Mugabe
preferred to just
have one cabinet which he would lead, with Mr Tsvangirai
as his deputy,
though as a compromise Mr Mugabe would also cede more
supervisory power to
the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader.
Before accepting Mr
Mbeki's compromise proposal, Mr Tsvangirai had insisted
that it would be a
major anomaly to have a prime minister who did not chair
cabinet.
If
Mr Mugabe changes his mind and accepts Mr Mbeki's proposal, the parties
would finally seek agreement on the allocation of the 31 cabinet portfolios
and on a demand by Arthur Mutambara, a leader of a smaller splinter faction
of the MDC, to be appointed deputy prime minister, before they sign a deal
today.
The allocation of cabinet portfolios should not present a
major challenge as
Mr Mugabe had earlier accepted that the prime minister
could play a more
supervisory role over all ministries, dropping his earlier
demand that all
security ministries be his sole prerogative.
"The
problem has been the changing and shifting of positions in these talks
and
if everything holds and Mugabe concedes on Mbeki's proposal, then
perhaps
all will be finished today," said a senior source. Mr Tsvangirai is
opposed
to Mr Mutambara's elevation to deputy prime minister because he does
not
think that the robotics professor deserves it. Mr Mutambara did not
contest
the presidential elections on 29 March, preferring to back Mr
Mugabe's
former finance minister Simba Makoni, who fared dismally. In
parliamentary
elections, Mr Tsvangirai won 100 seats against 99 for Zanu-PF
and 10 for
Mutambara. Mr Tsvangirai believes there is no basis for Mr
Mutambara's
demand since the numbers don't support it and he would prefer
any deputy
slots to be filled by his own nominees.
An agreement has already been
reached that Mr Mugabe retains his two
vice-presidents.
The
negotiating parties had resolved another sticking point about the
constitution. They had agreed on embarking on a new constitution-making
process as soon as the power-sharing deal becomes operational and to
complete the entire exercise with a national referendum on any draft supreme
law within two years.
Although the idea of a "twin cabinet" was a
potential recipe for disaster,
the MDC thought it would have given it a base
for outwitting Mr Mugabe, who
would not sit in the "council of
ministers".
Even though most of the participants in the council and the
cabinet would be
the same, the latter would effectively have been reduced to
an appendage of
the "council of ministers".
Mr Mugabe, who believes
this would strip him of real power, had asked for
the council idea to be
reconsidered and to have just one cabinet. For the
first time in the talks,
it is Mr Mugabe who is stalling progress.
Previously, it was Mr Tsvangirai,
who had refused to sign a proposed deal,
which he argued would have left him
in a ceremonial role.
A meeting of the 14-nation Southern African
Development Community on
politics, defence and security that had been
scheduled in Swaziland
yesterday, in anticipation that a Zimbabwe power
sharing deal would have
been signed, had to be postponed.
http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=3853
September 11, 2008
By Our
Correspondent
HARARE - President Robert Mugabe has refused to sign a deal
that gives MDC
leader Morgan Tsvangirai powers to chair a hybrid committee
of ministers
while Mugabe chairs the Cabinet under fresh proposals tabled by
President
Thabo Mbeki of South Africa.
The MDC is said to have been
ready to sign the revised deal.
Leaders of the three parties to the talks
left the Rainbow Towers, venue of
the meetings, without reaching an
agreement over roles in a government of
national unity.
While talks
reached a deadlock last month in August after Tsvangirai refused
to sign a
pact that would have made him a ceremonial Prime Minister, this
time it was
Mugabe's turn to hold back and refuse to sign.
Tsvangirai had earlier
said he was not prepared to sign a "bad deal".
Negotiations were held up
yesterday over the issue of a ministerial council
arrangement that would
separate powers between Mugabe as head of state and
government and
Tsvangirai as executive Prime Minister.
But Mugabe has refused to sign
the deal, insisting that he should chair both
the cabinet and the
ministerial council.
The previous round of negotiations broke down after
three days of late-night
talks in August when Tsvangirai refused to sign a
deal that would make him a
ceremonial Prime Minister reporting to the
President.
Sources say Mbeki, who is mediating in the long-drawn
negotiations, had
brought a new set of power-sharing proposals set out in
terms of an African
Union (AU) recommendation that power be shared equally
between the two main
presidential contestants.
On leaving the talks
venue Morgan Tsvangirai told journalists the talks
would resume Thursday to
try and unlock the logjam. "We have been advised by
the facilitator that we
will reconvene tomorrow at 4pm and that he needs to
further
consult.
"But I must say that very little work is left."
In
contrast, Mugabe said there was slow progress. "Tomorrow people will sign
I
hope," he said. "So far so good. People seem serious, very serious to get
an
agreement."
Meanwhile six MDC MPs who were arrested during the opening of
Parliament
last month have been granted bail, The State continues to detain
two of
them, however, after it appealed against the granting of
bail.
Bednock Nyaude, MP for Bindura South, Shua Mudiwa (Mutare West),
Mathias
Mlambo, Chipinge East, Pearson Mungofa of Highfields East, Eliah
Jembere
(Epworth) and Trevor Saruwaka, representing Mutasa Central were
arrested in
Harare.
Nyaude and Mungofa are still in remand prison
after the state appealed
against granting bail to the two MPs.
"The
arrest of the six legislators on trumped-up charges of inciting
political
violence is meant to frustrate the people's project following the
MDC's
victory in Parliament in the 29 March harmonised elections," a
statement
issued by the mainstream MDC said Wednesday.
The MDC lawyers have applied
to the High Court for the release of the MPs.
http://www.hararetribune.com
Thursday, 11 September 2008
00:01 Trymore Magomana
Amid widespread reports of a GNU deal being
imminent, the Tribune heard from
civic society leaders that the deal that is
currently on the table will
leave Robert Mugabe as the president, deputized
by two vice presidents, both
drawn from ZANU-PF.
Morgan Tsvangirai
will assume the role of Premier, with two deputy prime
ministers, both
coming from the MDC-T.
The civic society leaders spoke following their
GNU Talks briefing Tuesday
by MDC-T's spokesperson, Nelson
Chamisa.
The civic leaders spoke on condition of anonymity as is the norm
for matters
concerning the GNU talks.
The Tambo Mbeki proposal
further suggests that Arthur Mutambara, leader of
the rebel splinter MDC-M,
be made the third deputy prime minister, the
Tribune was also
told.
The revelations by the civic leaders is in line with what Mbeki has
been
pushing for. Mbeki has taken the position that, even though ZANU-PF
lost the
March 29 election, and stole the June 27 elections, executive
powers should
be shared equally between the MDC-T and
ZANU-PF.
And even though Mutambara lost out there in Zengeza on March
29, the Mbeki
proposals indends to parachute him to the role of a third
deputy prime
minister, something the MDC-T is against.
The civic
leaders that were briefed by Chamisa were drawn from the
Progressive
Teachers Union (PTU), the Zimbabwe National Students Union
(ZINASU),
National Constitutional Assembly (NCA) and the Zimbabwe Lawyers
for Human
Rights, among many other groups.
Among issues still to be resolved
are which party will be responsible for
what ministries in addition to the
lifetime for the GNU. ZANU-PF wants the
GNU to last for five years, while
the MDC contends that a period of 18
months is enough.
Analysts said
ZANU-PF is pushing for a GNU with a longer half-life as it
knows that in any
free and fair elections it will lose to the MDC. In
pushing for a
transitional period of five years, ZANU-PF will buy itself
time to deal with
the succession issue and the future of those with blood on
their
hands.
The Mbeki proposal also creates a 'Council of State,' a body
set up to deal
with the appointment of key public servants, from ambassadors
to RBZ
governor.
Analysts argued Wednesday that a 50-50 GNU will
further tear Zimbabwe apart.
There will be accusations and counter
accusations from MDC and ZANU-PF
government officials in ministries that
overlap, analysts said, a prospect
that would bring government functions to
a halt.
The Mbeki proposal also makes Mugabe and Tsvangirai co-chairs,
with equal
power, of the cabinet.
http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=3841#more-3841
September 11, 2008
By Our
Correspondent
THE MDC's control of Parliament stands doubtful in the face
of a
constitutional court challenge against the election of its national
chairman
to the post of Speaker of Parliament.The plans for a legal
challenge on the
election of mainstream MDC national chairman Lovemore Moyo
as Speaker have
been set down by the Legal Affairs committee of the Arthur
Mutambara-led MDC
working in collaboration with Professor Jonathan
Moyo.
Lovemore Moyo was elected Speaker by a surprising 110 votes to the
98
clinched by the Mutambara MDC's candidate, Paul Themba-Nyathi, following
a
surprise change in allegiance on the part of the 10 MPs representing the
breakaway faction of the MDC.
The distribution of the votes left
little doubt that legislators of the
Mutambara camp had gone against their
party and voted for the candidate of
the rival MDC party led by Morgan
Tsvangirai. Zanu-PF had strategically
refrained from fielding a candidate
while ordering its legislators to vote
for the Mutambara faction's
candidate, Nyathi. A combination of the Zanu-PF
MPs and those of the
Mutambara faction would have delivered the required
mortal blow on the
mainstream MDC candidate.
The tables were turned on Mutambara, however,
when his MPs betrayed him and
aligned themselves with Tsvangirai by voting
for Moyo. Zanu-PF and the
Mutambara faction have been fuming since then and
the proposed court
challenge seeks to reverse the victory of the mainstream
MDC and the newly
elected Speaker.
The legal challenge, mooted at the
Kadoma Ranch Motel during a so-called
strategy workshop of the Mutambara
faction last weekend is being finalised
amid advanced negotiations between
the three political parties in Harare to
create a power-sharing arrangement.
The independent MP for Tsholotsho, Prof
Jonathan Moyo, who by all
indications has now returned to the Zanu-PF fold,
checked into the motel for
the duration of the workshop, sources say.
The sources informed The
Zimbabwe Times that the faction's Legal Affairs
committee chairman, David
Coltart, was asked during the workshop if he
believed the election of
Lovemore Moyo was constitutional. He reportedly
slammed the election as a
sham and said it had been inconsistent with normal
procedure.
In a
long and winding statement issued Tuesday, Coltart said the insistence
that
mainstream MDC MPs show their ballot to the party's vice president
Thokozani
Khupe prior to voting for the Speaker was not only unlawful, but
it also ran
against one of the fundamental tenets of democratic
parliamentary
practice.
Reports also suggest Mutambara MPs had shown their ballot
papers to
mainstream MDC chief whip, Innocent Gonese, to assure him they had
had
protested against Mutambara and voted for Lovemore Moyo.
Prof
Moyo is alleged to have suggested during a session of the workshop that
a
legal challenge be immediately mounted against the election of Lovemore
Moyo, saying the election process on August 25 had flouted parliamentary
standing orders and was, therefore unlawful.
Prof Moyo, who could not
immediately be reached for comment, is said to have
suggested that the
faction stood a good chance of winning the legal
challenge because it had
the blessing of Zanu-PF. The two Moyo's are
apparently unrelated. They,
however, both come from the western regions of
Zimbabwe, as do the rest of
the players in the unfolding drama, except for
Mutambara.
"Prof Moyo
even suggested that there could be arrangements to assign the
case to
judge(s) with official instruction to nullify the election," said
our
source.
He had pointed out that Article 5 of the Standing Orders would be
used as a
basis for legal challenge before Zimbabwe's Constitutional
Court.
Coltart, in his Tuesday statement which provided the first hint
that court
case was looming, said: "In short the election of Lovemore Moyo
was illegal,
could be set aside by a court and establishes an unacceptable
standard of
behaviour for the new Parliament."
The source said the
legal firm of Coghlan and Welsh was likely to be briefed
to handle the
case.
Sources say the stakes were high as Prof Moyo and Mutambara and his
top
deputies had been promised key appointments in a new Mugabe government,
if
they could use their legal expertise to install Nyathi in the coveted
Speaker's chair.
Prof Moyo had been promised the Information and
Publicity portfolio.
Mutambara, who lost the parliamentary election in
Zengeza West during the
March elections, was tipped for appointment as
non-constituent senator and
thereafter to Cabinet as Minister responsible
for Science and Technology.
Under Zimbabwean law, all Cabinet ministers are
required to be members of
Zimbabwe's bi-cameral Parliament.
Mutambara
is a robotics professor who has worked for top US aeronautics
firm,
NASA.
The secretary general of the faction, Welshman Ncube, who lost his
parliamentary seat in Bulawayo, was also earmarked for appointment as
non-constituent Senator as a stepping stone to the post of Minister of
Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs in the new Cabinet.
Ncube is
a law professor.
The deputy secretary-general of the faction, Priscilla
Misihairabwi-Mushonga
had reportedly been promised the post of ambassador of
Zimbabwe in London.
The deal also involved two gubernatorial posts for the
Mutambara MDC -
reported to have been earmarked for agriculture secretary
Renson Gasela and
national chairman Joubert Mudzumwe in the Midlands and
Masvingo
respectively.
The Zimbabwe Times yesterday heard that Zanu
PF has kept the carrot of
Cabinet posts for the Mutambara faction dangling
as long they can reverse
the election of Lovemore Moyo.
Mugabe and
his Zanu-PF deputies were said to be desperate that Nyathi
becomes Speaker
by any means possible - a crucial post that gives the
incumbent powers to
draft the House's schedule and also appoint committee
chairmen. The plot for
the removal of Moyo envisages the election of Joram
Gumbo -the Zanu-PF chief
whip - to the position of Deputy Speaker.
"Even now they are determined
that they repossess the Speaker's chair," said
a source.
The
mainstream MDC yesterday issued a statement saying it was horrified by
the
plot. The MDC accused Zanu-PF and Prof Moyo of trying to reverse the
people's will in Parliament by claiming that the voting process was not
transparent.
"The MDC would like to make it clear that the MPs' vote
for Hon. Moyo was a
true reflection of the will of the people of Zimbabwe,"
said the statement.
"It represents a triumph for democracy, which has
shocked the deadwood in
Zanu-PF. The election of Hon Moyo as Speaker of
Parliament remains a
historic occasion, which cannot be reversed by the
losers, regardless of
whatever machinations they can concoct to reverse the
people's will."
Considering the high stakes and apparent determination on
the other side,
merely expressing horror might not be sufficient for the
mainstream MDC to
retain Lovemore Moyo in the Speaker's chair in
Parliament.
Reuters
Wed 10 Sep
2008, 18:40 GMT
HARARE, Sept 10 (Reuters) - Zimbabwe's main opposition
leader, Morgan
Tsvangirai, said on Wednesday he had been told by South
African President
Thabo Mbeki that "very little work" was needed for a
power-sharing deal with
President Robert Mugabe.
"I've been advised
by the convener (Mbeki) that very little work is left ...
the position is
that we have been advised by the facilitator that we
re-convene at 4 (p.m.
local time on Thursday)," Tsvangirai told journalists
as he left the Harare
venue where negotiations have been held.
Officials said the talks would
resume at 1400 GMT on Thursday. (Reporting by
MacDonald Dzirutwe)
Reuters
Wed 10 Sep
2008, 18:25 GMT
HARARE, Sept 10 (Reuters) - Zimbabwean President Robert
Mugabe said on
Wednesday he was hopeful that a power-sharing deal could be
signed with the
main opposition Movement for Democratic Change on
Thursday.
Asked by Reuters if he was hopeful of a deal, Mugabe said:
"Yes, I hope so,
I hope so."
"So far the progress is encouraging, so
far so good, we are hopeful of
signing tomorrow," Mugabe said as he left the
hotel where negotiations have
been taking place. (Reporting by MacDonald
Dzirutwe)
http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=3817
September 10, 2008
By Our
Correspondents
HARARE - The mainstream MDC led by Morgan Tsvangirai
claims it has uncovered
a plot to reverse the recent election of the party's
chairman, Lovemore
Moyo, to the position of Speaker of
Parliament.
Moyo beat former parliamentarian Paul Themba Nyathi, who was
sponsored by
his party, the breakaway faction of the MDC led by Arthur
Mutambara and had
the full backing of President Robert Mugabe's Zanu-PF.
Moyo secured victory
through the votes of the 10 legislators of the rival
Mutambara MDC, while
Nyati received the votes of the Zanu-PF Members of
Parliament.
Moyo won 110 votes to Nyathi's 98. This turn of events was a
major
embarrassment for both Zanu-PF and for Mutambara, who regarded the
rebelling
legislators as the backbone of his new-found electoral
clout.
A statement issued by the Tsvangirai-led MDC Wednesday claims the
party had
now uncovered a plot spearheaded by Zanu-PF and Tsholotsho North
independent
MP, Prof Jonathan Moyo, described in the statement as a
"celebrated
political turncoat", to reverse the election of Moyo on August
25 as Speaker
of the 7th Parliament of Zimbabwe.
"Two weeks after the
elections Zanu-PF and the MP for Tsholotsho North, Hon.
Jonathan Moyo, who
were backing Nyathi, want to reverse the people's will in
Parliament by
claiming that the voting process was not transparent and
therefore want to
reverse the outcome," the statement says.
"The MDC would like to make it
clear that the MPs' vote for Hon. Moyo was a
true reflection of the will of
the people of Zimbabwe. It represents a
triumph for democracy, which has
shocked the deadwood in Zanu-PF. The
election of Hon Moyo as Speaker of
Parliament remains a historic occasion,
which cannot be reversed by losers,
regardless of whatever machinations they
can concoct to reverse the people's
will."
The statement does not give details of how Prof Moyo connived with
Zanu-PF
to plot the unseating of Lovemore Moyo as Speaker. It has been
reported that
the MP for Tsholotsho booked into the same hotel in the
Mashonaland West
town of Kadoma, where top executives of the Mutambara
faction held a meeting
to discuss the victory of Lovemore Moyo as well as
the embarrassing
defection of the faction's 10 parliamentarians.
A
decision was taken in Kadoma not to punish the rebellious MPs for fear of
splitting the small MDC faction into two further factions. Moses Mzila
Ndlovu, leader of the Mutambara faction's parliamentary caucus called a
press conference in Bulawayo Tuesday, where this decision was announced. He
was accompanied by the faction's secretary for legal affairs, Senator David
Coltart.
Also on Tuesday Coltart, circulated to various online
publications,
including The Zimbabwe Times, a 6,900-word long article in
which he dwelt at
length on the issue of Moyo's election to the influential
position of
Speaker of Parliament. Coltart lamented the fact that Nyathi, in
his opinion
the better of the two candidates, had lost.
He further
suggested that Moyo had been elected through an undemocratic
process.
Coltart fell just short of calling for the rescission of the
election
result.
"Anyone who knows Paul Temba Nyathi will agree with me when I say
that he is
a man of absolute integrity," Coltart said, "a man of great
humility; a man
with a wonderful sense of humour, who has the ability to
make even his
fiercest adversary laugh; and a man who is simply a great
human being.
"I have deliberately laboured my praise of Paul Temba Nyathi
because some of
our colleagues in the MDC T, including some people who
should know better,
have stated and written that our nomination of Paul
Themba Nyathi was part
of an agreement with Zanu-PF."
Coltart said
the hope of his faction that they would get a sizeable number
of MDC
Tsvangirai MPs to vote for Nyathi had not materialized.
"On the evening
of Sunday 24 August, a meeting of the MDC Tsvangirai
parliamentary caucus
was held and its members were threatened with expulsion
and the loss of
their parliamentary seats if they voted for Paul," Coltart
asserted. "If
anyone doubts the truth of this, the fact remains that when
the vote for
Speaker was conducted MDC T MPs were obliged to show their
ballots to MDC T
MP and Vice President Thoko Khupe prior to voting."
Coltart said the
insistence that mainstream MDC MPs show their ballots to
Khupe prior to
voting was not only unlawful, but it also ran against one of
the fundamental
tenets of democratic parliamentary practice.
"In short the election of
Lovemore Moyo was illegal, could be set aside by a
court and establishes an
unacceptable standard of behaviour for the new
Parliament." the Senator
said. "
Coltart said that subsequent allegations that mainstream MDC MPs
had been
induced to vote for Moyo and that Sithembiso Nyoni, a former
Zanu-PF MP for
Nkayi North and cabinet minister had campaigned for the new
Speaker had
further besmirched the entire process. Nyoni is apparently
Moyo's
mother-in-law. Coltart did not explain why it should be deemed
unlawful for
the former Minister of Small and Medium Enterprises Development
to campaign
for her son-in-law to become Speaker of Parliament.
Nyoni
lost her seat in the March 29 parliamentary election.
"In short," Coltart
said, "this election, far from being a celebration of
the new order many of
us have fought for, is in reality a reminder of how
much further we still
have to travel to achieve a new democratic order in
Zimbabwe.
"That
some of our MDC colleagues went to such great lengths to defeat the
candidacy of an outstanding founder member of the MDC of impeccable standing
is distressing."
Nyathi, along with Coltart and secretary general
Welshman Ncube and vice
president Gibson Sibanda, defected from the
mainstream MDC in October 2005
to set up a breakaway faction under the same
name.
They were all rejected at the polls in parliamentary elections held
on March
29. So was their leader Arthur Mutambara.
"The regime is so
shocked by people power as expressed by the 7th Parliament
that it will try
to do anything to derail the train of democracy," the
statement issued by
the mainstream MDC Wednesday says.
"The good thing is that we have
history and the truth on our side. They are
trying very hard to prevent a
robust and vibrant Parliament, which will be a
platform for constructive
debate."
http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=3775
September 10, 2008
By Mafira
Kureva
I WAS touched by the article by Jane Madembo dated September 8,
2008
entitled: "Will the real war veterans please stand up?" I am myself a
war
veteran and I briefly sketch my profile below.
I left for the war
in 1975, at the age of 14 when I was in Form II at then
St. Mary's Hunyani
Secondary School. On arrival in Mozambique I stayed at
Zhunda briefly then
went on to Nyadzonya in October 1975. At Nyadzonya I
underwent my basic
political education and training in military tactics
using wooden guns. I
left in April 1976 for Chimoio where I completed my
military training then
joined Wampoa Political Academy (whose history is
hidden from
Zimbabweans).
I then became a political instructor first at Chimoio, then
Chibavava
holding camps, which have been termed refugee camps by those who
manipulate
history for their ends. I briefly stayed at Beira (Manga Base)
before going
to operate in Mutambara Detachment covering the areas of
Chayamiti, Muusha,
Gwindingwi Estate, Chimanimani etc. I was wounded in
battle and went back to
Mozambique then to Chaminuka Sector, Mazowe
Detachment. I operated in Tete
Province till the ceasefire in 1979. We were
then moved into the Assembly
Points.
This brief sketch is to
illustrate that I do not doubt my standing as a war
veteran of Zimbabwe's
liberation struggle and I am not shy about it.
My answer to Jane's
touching plea is as follows. It is sad that the history
of our struggle for
emancipation as a nation is yet to be written. I say
this because whatever
is claimed to have been written is not the truth of
what we know as veterans
of the liberation struggle of Zimbabwe, at least
from my view
point.
What I have so far read except for few marginalised texts, is
about history
of the ruling elite, about the heroism of nationalists and
their exploits.
For example, I know of many comrades who lost their limbs at
Nyadzonya on
that fateful 9 August 1976 when Morrison Nyathi attacked the
camp. But
towards Heroes Days, ZBC presents what it terms the history of the
armed
struggle. And whom do they show about Nyadzonya attack - Eddison
Zvobgo and
Simon Muzenda who say they were driven to the scene as a
delegation.
They say what they saw long after the attack was over and the
bodies were in
a state of decomposition. Even Zvobgo, the eloquent Chicago
lawyer,
struggles to capture the images to convince the media about the
devastation
at Nyadzonya. The simple question is: why has our society,
intellectuals,
ruling clique, politicians and the state failed to give
audience to people
who really suffered these experiences? Why has our
society tended to shun us
even well before the negative picture painted
about us now?
After Independence we were treated worse than the rebels of
Sierra Leone,
for example. I mean it literally, not figuratively. Do you
know that no one
who fought the liberation struggle of Zimbabwe was ever
rehabilitated,
mentally, physically, socially or economically yet the rebels
of Sierra
Leone were rehabilitated? To bring the issue home, do you know
that the
Rhodesian soldiers were given pensions, medical attention,
retrenchment
packages, alternative employment and retraining for them to fit
back into
civilian life? But this was not done to the war veterans. Why? The
answer is
simple. The ruling nationalists had an agenda of liberation that
was
different from that of the fighters, peasants and farm workers in the
struggle. They quickly forged an alliance with the very same people the
struggle was fighting against and this created a fissure in the movement.
The peasants, war veterans and farm workers were relegated. If you see
people they parade as war veterans, next time ask yourself the interest of
the person who is making that parade.
Relegation of war veterans is
well-known as it was captured in the print
media from 1980s-90s. Their
suffering was debated in Parliament but nothing
was done about it. This is
what led to the street demonstrations against
Mugabe, Zanu-PF and the state
in the 1990s as Jane herself recalls. The
point is that the revolution of
the masses, the poor and the exploited was
highjacked by the ruling elite
who wanted to advance their interests with
white capital. That is what led
to the invasions of land beginning 1997/98,
led by war veterans.
The
actual issue at hand then was not just white capital but the alliance
between the ruling classes with white capital. This is why the Zimbabwean
issue is so complex and not a simple Zanu-PF/MDC issue. As Jane recalls
Mugabe was at the centre of attack by the war veterans until they besieged
State House after holding ministers hostage, stopping an American
businessmen investment conference, demonstrating in the streets etc. But
what was the reaction of our society to this?
The ZCTU, which was the
leading civil society movement then failed even to
utter a statement of
support contrary to their usual stunts for teachers,
doctors industrial
workers when they strike for more pay and improvement on
their living
conditions. War veterans were not even asking for improvement,
but for basic
survival. I know many who died of wounds they had sustained
during the war
because they were not treated after independence. Why did
society keep quiet
when war veterans rose against Zanu-PF, Mugabe and the
state?
Now,
when the government was forced to pay back what was due to the war
veterans
what happened? Workers and the whole society was mobilised against
war
veterans and there is all mockery and scorn about the $50 000 pay-outs
yet
the Rhodesian Security Forces who earned this without resorting to the
streets did not get this treatment. Why? In any case, that money was looted
again by people who really did not participate in the war as fighters. Many
of those people you hear were in the armed struggle were actually in Maputo
perhaps closer to the Indian Ocean than they were to the border with
Zimbabwe. A lot of these were recruited by letter from overseas with the
purpose of displacing real fighters from the leadership of the struggle and
this persisted after independence. Have you ever asked yourself why war
veterans never featured in Zanu- PF structures despite their mobilisation
skills and demands by the peasants that they be part of the
structures?
Nationalists do not have the same agenda with war veterans
and the later
have remained a threat. As such they are silenced and our
society, because
of ignorance, has danced to the tune of the nationalists
and alienated their
own heroes. The propaganda about marauding war veterans
is clearly a
creation of the ruling class because they know that if the
people would
unite with the war veterans then they cannot manage to
terrorize anyone and
commit all those atrocities that Jane
mentions.
The people of Zimbabwe should know that war veterans are not as
cheap as
presented by the media and the ruling elite. But it is not only the
ruling
elite who have presented the war veterans as such, the international
media,
local media and opposition politicians as well. All these people also
want
to gain mileage from this depiction. It is easier to convince anyone
that
someone is committing atrocities against the other only if there is
evidence
that the victim is weaker. War veterans being militarily trained,
with a
record put by especially western trained scholars and ruling class
that they
were murderers during the war, it becomes easy to construct
violence around
war veterans.
But is this true?
Yes, war
veterans started the land occupations as I said but I challenge
anyone who
would want to carry scientific research to come with evidence
that confirms
extreme violence against white farmers, farm workers etc
committed by war
veterans. I researched in the Mazowe, Mutepatepa and
Nyabira areas for a PhD
study. I am sincere about this. Another researcher,
Angus Selby, a son of a
white farmer, also did research in that area just to
demonstrate that I am
not just a war veteran trying to protect my lot. I
have not read anywhere
Selby has pointed out that anyone was killed in that
area.
In my
personal archives I have letters written by white farmers, High Court
documents besides interviews I did with them and the land occupiers and
these illustrate that the white farmers themselves are aware that war
veterans were not violent. They did not want to totally dispossess the white
farmers of land but to share. They wanted land to be distributed to the
landless peasants; not the ruling elite. I was there myself. I took part in
it and with a very clear cause for that matter. I am not even ashamed of
that role. Through the process I even made some of my best friendship with
white farmers and I could give specific names if this were not to infringe
upon their rights.
When the ruling elite discovered that the war
veterans had managed to occupy
land and were moving to distribute it to the
needy and simultaneously
managing to have little effect on white commercial
farming as they targeted
unused land, excess land and multiple ownership
farms the state knew that
the war veterans had demonstrated their heroism
and mission of not only
redressing the land grievance but also managing to
accommodate their former
enemies, the white farmers. What did this mean to
the ruling class?
They would lose support as the people would clearly see
that war veterans,
who had not been afforded an opportunity to rule the
country, were better
that the nationalists. The opposition also panicked and
instead of uniting
with the war veterans they were against them and
campaigned against land
seizures as if they did not know this national
grievance and its potential
danger. Once again the ruling elite sought to
discredit the war veterans and
it implemented the Fast Track Land Reform
without making revealing to anyone
that they were seeking to negate the
initiatives of the war veterans.
The objective of that fast track
programme was to thwart the war veteran-led
land movement to cripple their
ability to mobilise the masses to claim
national wealth which they had been
denied, worsening during ESAP. The
ruling class did not want the masses to
have faith in the true heroes of the
nation. This would erode their power
base and trust and support would shift
from them to war veterans. This is
why you see that the fast track programme
targeted the war veterans and
peasants who had occupied land and weeded them
out. Even the Charles Utete
Commission report points out this dispossession
of war veterans.
A
question that has not been asked is, "Why did the ruling elites carry out
Murambatsvina? And our society seems to forget so easily as well. Remember
the famous story that Comrade Chinx stood on the roof of his house when the
bull dozer was about to raze it to the ground? Who is Chinx, the singer?
Chinx Chingaira, the war veteran! War veterans had moved to engulf the urban
areas in their mobilisation for resource distribution among the marginalised
and they gave land to the urban poor for housing. They even attempted to
form housing co-operatives in order to safeguard the interests of these poor
people.
This was the most frightening thing to the ruling elite and
the opposition
alike.
The opposition and Zanu-PF had both thrived on
holding on to the workers and
peasants exclusively as their constituencies.
The land movement broke this
and merged the two struggles. War veterans had
taken the struggle for
economic emancipation of the marginalised Zimbabweans
at a very high scale.
The opposition was put in an awkward position of
condemning land allocation
to the urban poor through land occupations yet it
purported to stand for
their cause and to fight for their rights. So what
was wrong with war
veterans getting land and distributing it to the landless
workers? Were they
not fulfilling the very cause they went to war for? In
the end the picture
painted by the opposition about war veterans is exactly
the one the ruling
elite would want portrayed. They have the same agenda
when it comes to real
emancipation of Zimbabwe's peasants and
workers.
Another thing, do you know that Murambatsvina was followed by
Chikorokoza
Chapera? Why did the opposition keep silent about this? What was
the motive
of the ruling elite? All this was an attempt to hit at the rural
occupiers
so that the ruling class would assert its power. They wanted to
dislocate
the rural workers so that they had no economic means to propagate
their
ideas and exercise their will freely. And again the conditions of
small
scale mining were created by the land occupations, everyone knows
that.
Chikorokoza as we know it today was part of land occupations. But
again only
the peasants and farm workers know the truth because they are
part of these
struggles in which the rest join hands against war
veterans.
The answer therefore to Jane's touching question and plea is
that our
society has to distinguish between war veterans and Zanu-PF ruling
elite.
They have to judge correctly when war veterans taken action in the
interests
of the poor and support that. Otherwise society will continue to
take
actions which are against the interests of the majority and in the
interest
of those who are only fighting to get into power in order to do
exactly the
same as those who are there or the whites who colonized
us.
What would this mean for the emancipation of the marginalised
people?
For me as a war veteran, this is the moral question that hounds
me. I see
beyond MDC and Zanu-PF, beyond Morgan Tsvangirai and Robert
Mugabe. I
consider my historic mission as being that of fighting for the
poor. I know
that many want to create a bad image of me precisely because
they have a
different agenda.
This is true about the Zanu-PF ruling
elite, including Robert Mugabe, the
opposition including Morgan Tsvangirai
and international capital which would
prefer either or both of these than
the war veterans. They realise that
emancipation of the marginalised poor of
Zimbabwe means cutting strings of
exploitation of the nation's resources by
these imperialists.
The new revolution towards Africa's emancipation in
the post-colonial era
will have triumphed!
6 Responses to "The real truth about us, the war veterans"
1.. Matigari
Manjiruungi on September 10th, 2008 9:35 am
The question you don't clarify
on is, since the land invasions, which
killed the economy and left the war
vets with the land but worse off, which
one was a better devil. You also
don't explain the link between the ruling
elite and the issue of war vets
and the constitutional referendum in 2000
and why the invasions took place
immediately after the people had spoken at
the referendum.
2..
Mamukira Kusareva on September 10th, 2008 11:13 am
You have opened our
eyes. But my biggest question is that why do war
veterans allow Joseph
Chinotimba and Jabulani Ndlovu to lead them? They
tarnish the image of real
war veterans.
3.. Mr K on September 10th, 2008 12:38 pm
Mafira
Kureva
Well said Comrade, but:
What action(s) did you take or are
you taking to clear the names of the
real war veterans?
Why don't you
speak out against the actions of Joseph Chinotimba and
Jabulani
Sibanda?
Wouldn't I be correct to say you opted to further your studies so
as to
occupy a high post in society, dumping the values of the liberation
struggle?
Why didn't you articulate your views on democracy in your
article? Does it
mean that you subscribe to the notion that only ZANU (PF)
is entitled to
rule?
Whereas your assertion that the ruling elite has
always fought to alienate
war veterans from the common people, why don't you
tell us why some of you
genuine war veterans are the worst oppressors? Think
of Chihuri, Chiwenga
and Zimondi!
I appreciate that the war veterans
were neglected as soon as they left the
assembly points, but what did those
of you who are enlightened do to
alleviate your colleagues' suffering?
I believe there is something really wrong with you all, guys! It's not
that
your vision of independence differed with the nationalists', but your
generality simply do not know what freedom and democracy is. You never
fought for these! You never appreciated the role us ordinary people,
civilians, played in the liberation struggle. No one of you has ever thought
of sparing a thought on how we felt when we got caught up between you and
the Rhodesian army. You are simply trying to clear your name without
addressing the real problem with you guys. Why didn't you challenge your
comrades' "popular" sentiment that you'll take up arms if the opposition
wins an election?
I think you owe us a lot more explaining, comrade.
What were you taught in
Political Education? This can give us a clue to why
your rank and file
behave the way they do.
4.. Clapperton Mavhunga
on September 10th, 2008 3:05 pm
Here is my pledge to you. The younger
generation whom this corrupt
political elite has scattered are acquired and
preparing to unleash their
talents to rewrite the history of our country.
They shall leave nothing, the
good, the bad, and the ugly.
We know,
I know, that many of these mandarins were nowhere near where the
training,
the battles, the real suffering, was taking place. We also know
that there
may never be one big story about this war, that war vets also
committed
attrocities in the name of freedom.
The no frills approach the imminent
generation of historian will take will
not start or end with the war you
fought. It will interrogate how free we
were, in all our different chiefdoms
and kingdoms before colonials arrived;
the various struggles for freedom in
the Rhodesian era, including the war
you fought, and the struggle against
tyranny even after we thought we were
independent.
The stories we
shall write will not please the politicians and even those
who think they
fought to liberate us. It will tell the story of the many
chickens, goats,
ducks, and cows our parents slaughtered to feed the
guerrillas, because they
said they did not eat okra lest they become
weak-kneed.
The story
we shall tell will wonder about 'freedom fighting' for one
question: on what
place to accord that war if all it did was to put in power
an even more
brutal beast? Or was it okay to be oppressed by a white guy, as
if it is
fine if a black guy oppresses his fellow blacks?
Because, you see, to
be a genuine war veteran is first and foremost to
agree that no guerrilla
traveled from Mozambique or Zambia (except the early
days) with a backpack
full of rations. So where did the logistics come from?
Because the
guerrillas were never all-seeing, and did not have the
capacity for
intelligence about their enemy given the small numbers they
operated in. So
who were their eyes and ears?
Because the guerrillas received their
training from communist and
pan-Africanist countries, yet they needed
medicine, food (for rear bases),
and so forth to function. So if the
argument is that we were fighting
against western imperialism with help from
our Sino-Soviet friends, how come
Dr. Herbert Ushewokunze, the secretary for
health, Dzingai Mutumbuka
(education) and others were always in the US,
Britain, the Nordic countries
and western Europe, literally begging for
supplies?
It is fine to verbally own the war-quite another thing when
historians
write about it, in light of what has turned out to be "A Great
Betrayal".
The politicians may say what they wish; it's their choice. As
Steve Bantu
Biko said, so too the historian: 'I write what I like'.
5.. davidtaylor on September 10th, 2008 8:39 pm
Mr Kureva - many thanks for
writing this article. And I would like to read
more of your writing. We each
have a perspective, and that is important.
One of the points that I got
out of your writing is the extreme hardships
that war veterans have had to,
and still have to endure.
The second aspect is that you and other war
veterans remain very
frustrated in your dealings with the nationalists (and
you include the
leaders of both the major parties here) and white
farmers.
Third, you are frustrated with the lack of recognition, and
the
misperceptions that people have of the war veterans.
I hope
political leaders, the heads of the farmers unions and of commerce
and
industry, and aid agencies, read your article. Continue writing!
6..
davidtaylor on September 10th, 2008 8:44 pm
Mr Kureva - I do not know if
you will read the responses to your article,
but I would very much like to
better understand why you and other war
veterans occupied farms owned by
white commercial farmers.
Were you and the other war veterans simply
desperate, and the white
farmers appeared to be wealthy? Did you see them as
flaunting their wealth?
Did you see them as enemies, like a carryover over
from the civil war?
I am interested, did you simply want to take the
land from them, or did
you want to farm the land? If you wanted to farm the
land (or at least part
of the land) did you want help from the farmers? Were
you interested in
having them teach you how to farm?
Again, thank
you for your article and views.
VOA
By Jonga Kandemiiri & Carole Gombakomba
Washington
10 September 2008
Self-styled Zimbabwean war
veterans, ruling party militia and suspected
agents of the state security
apparatus are disrupting efforts by
non-governmental organizations to
relaunch food aid in rural districts of
Masvingo province, sources said
Wednesday.
Sources in Masvingo say the veterans and militia in Masvingo
districts
including Gutu, Bikita and Mwenezi accused the NGOs of defying a
government
ban on aid distribution imposed in June but nominally lifted late
last month
and supporting the opposition - charging in addition that MDC
founder Morgan
Tsvangirai has caused Zimbabweans further suffering by
refusing to sign a
power-sharing agreement.
Sources told VOA's
Studio 7 for Zimbabwe that the war veterans chased away
Red Cross workers
attempting to follow up on people displaced by
post-election
violence.
They said Care International was also among the groups feeling
pressure from
the war veterans and militia backing President Robert Mugabe
and his ZANU-PF
party.
Masvingo is feeling the pinch of hunger
following a failed harvest and
disruption for the past three months of food
assistance distribution
channels. Reports said many villagers are surviving
by foraging for edible
roots and other available
foodstuffs.
Harare late last month lifted the ban on NGO humanitarian
aid activities
that it imposed in June accusing such groups of backing the
opposition
Movement for Democratic Change ahead of a presidential run-off
election. But
such organizations have not fully geared up as the government
has imposed
new registration and reporting requirements.
Chivi
Senator Mwenezi Noel Mutisi of the MDC formation led by Morgan
Tsvangirai
told reporter Jonga Kandemiiri of VOA's Studio 7 for Zimbabwe
that it is
ironic the war veterans are harassing aid providers as they have
benefited
from handouts.
War veterans and militia members are said to be also
harassing humanitarian
aid workers sent into the countryside by churches,
though the ban on
non-governmental organizations imposed in June did not
extend to church
activities.
Sources said Bishop Paul Mkome of the
Church of the Nazarene in Headlands
has been under pressure from suspected
ZANU-PF militia and war veterans over
the assistance he has been providing
to victims of political violence in the
areas.
Such sources said the
bishop's residence has been surrounded in the evening
four times in the past
few weeks by the suspected war veterans and militia
who have urging him to
come out and talk about his work. Mkome has arranged
victims of violence
from the area to be transported to a Harare hospital.
Studio seven was
unable to reach Bishop Mkome to confirm the reports.
Elsewhere,
Pastor Wilson Mugabe of the United Baptist Church in Gweru, a
Christian
Alliance member, told reporter Carole Gombakomba of VOA's Studio 7
for
Zimbabwe that he was detained and warned late last week by Masvingo
police
and Central Intelligence Organization agents after seeking clearance
for a
prayer meeting and peace march.
VOA
By Patience Rusere
Washington
10 September
2008
With dollarization taking firm hold in the
Zimbabwean economy, the Reserve
Bank of Zimbabwe is reported to have
authorized some 1,200 retail and
wholesale businesses to charge for their
goods in the U.S. dollar, South
African rand and other hard
currencies.
Internet news agency ZimOnline quoted RBZ Governor Gideon
Gono as saying his
order will remain in effect for an initial 18 months as
"an experiment."
Gono is said to have emphasized that the Zimbabwe dollar
is still the
official currency and that this doesn't mean the economy is
being officially
dollarized.
The Harare Tribune Web site also
reported the development.
With hyperinflation officially measured at
11.2 million percent in July and
now estimated by many to have accelerated
far beyond that, businesses are
determined to secure hard currency revenues
to hedge against losses in the
plunging Zimbabwe
dollar.
Businessman and former Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce
president Luxon
Zembe told reporter Patience Rusere of VOA's Studio 7 for
Zimbabwe that the
move will help businesses obtain foreign currency to buy
raw materials,
boosting production and thereby making now-scarce goods more
widely
available.
But Acting Secretary General Japhet Moyo of the
Zimbabwe Congress of Trade
Unions said that if businesses are to be allowed
to charge hard currency for
food and other essential goods and services,
then workers should be paid in
hard currency.
Consumer Tafadzwa
Mlambo of Harare echoed Moyo's sentiments, saying only
those with access to
foreign exchange will be able to afford basic goods.
VOA
By Peter Clottey
Washington, D.C.
11 September 2008
The Southern
African Development Community (SADC) will hold its meeting
today (Thursday)
after postponing it to allow the Zimbabwe peace
negotiations time to reach a
possible agreement. The Politics and Security
Committee of SADC was supposed
to meet Wednesday in the Swazi capital
Mbabane, but the summit was
postponed, to allow the mediator of the talks to
focus more on finding a
solution to the Zimbabwe crisis. The move to
postpone the summit came after
Zimbabwe political rivals meeting in the
capital, Harare hinted they could
sign a power-sharing deal yesterday
(Wednesday).
George Mkwananzi is
the deputy chairperson of the National Constitution
Assembly. He tells
reporter Peter Clottey from South Africa's capital,
Pretoria that
Zimbabweans are waiting with baited breath for a final peace
deal.
"It really means a lot. It means that the SADC group of
countries takes the
issue of Zimbabwe as a very important one, which must
not be allowed to
destabilize the whole region. So, they are even choosing
to postpone their
own organ's meeting so that Thabo Mbeki (South Africa's
President and
mediator of the Zimbabwe talks) could get more time to get the
Zimbabwean
belligerents to reach a settlement," Mkwananzi pointed
out.
He said members of the Southern African Development community are
aware of
the seriousness of the Zimbabwe crisis.
"It really means
that they realize the enormity of having a bad apple
amongst themselves. And
they would really want to ensure that this is solved
before it ruins the
rest of the region," he said.
Mkwananzi said Zimbabweans are expressing
strong optimism about a possible
final agreement between the ruling ZANU-PF
party and the main opposition
Movement for Democratic Change
(MDC).
"I want to believe that every Zimbabwean and not just the
Zimbabwean people,
but everybody in the Southern African region and
elsewhere are waiting with
baited breath to hear the good news that a deal
has been clinched in Harare.
So, that they can get on with life so that they
can cease to be viewed as a
miserable lot. And if a deal doesn't come out of
particular round of
negotiations, I'm sure it would be a devastating piece
of news to the
majority of Zimbabweans," Mkwananzi noted.
He said
Zimbabweans are hopeful that both the opposition and the ruling
party would
realize what the bone of contention is so it would be surmounted
to enable a
final deal to be signed.
"In fact the optimism is not without a good
cause because after the collapse
of the initial attempt to come out with a
solution. We would like to believe
that the three parties have been on the
side of belligerent, but have now
seen what caused them not to reach a
settlement before. And the arrogance
that some of them might have been
bearing, they would be walking to these
talks knowing fully well that they
cannot get away with the same level of
arrogance a peaceful conclusion of
this agreement," he said.
Mkwananzi said that the resentment reportedly
existing between the ruling
party and the opposition could make working
together difficult.
"In fact it is actually a difficult situation to
imagine ZANU-PF and MDC
working together. But what is important is that in
any situation of war that
people start being far apart, but as they start
working together the
differences are getting minimized everyday, as they
begin to negotiate their
relations. And what is most important and paramount
for both parties is that
they have been given this mandate by the people of
Zimbabwe who are tired of
their condition, which caused the dispute between
the two major parties. So,
they should also push that agenda of always
knowing that it is the people of
Zimbabwe who are the greatest beneficiaries
and not their individuals
selves," Mkwananzi pointed out.
Meanwhile,
main opposition leader, Morgan Tsvangirai said Wednesday that
South Africa's
President Thabo Mbeki informeed him that "very little work"
was needed for a
power-sharing deal with President Robert Mugabe.
http://www.zimdaily.com
By NOZIPHO MASEKO
Published: Thursday
11 September 2008
ZIMBABWE - HARARE - The embattled Arthur Mutambara
group is frantically
trying to put sheen on widening cleavages in the
faction, with a hastily
organised pressa Tuesday rebuffing widespread
reports of an open revolt in
the party.
The party, which met at
the Kadoma Ranch Hotel last weekend, baulked at
censuring the rebellious
MPs, who have not hidden their fierce resistance to
Mutambara's spirited
efforts to ingratiate himself with Robert Mugabe.
ZimDaily heard that,
fearing a nasty fallout from the weekend meeting where
Mutambara is said to
have frantically headed off challenges that he was
cutting deals with
Mugabe, the robotics professor - who had gone to the
meeting threatening to
crack the whip - was forced to eat a humble pie.
Secretary-general
Welshman Ncube was forced to come clean on allegations
that he was on the
CIO payroll. He was grilled, said our source.
Efforts by Ncube to
censure the rebellious MPs who voted for an MDC
Tsvangirai Speaker two weeks
ago and showed the main MDC chief whip Innocent
Gonese their ballot papers,
fell through.
Ncube claimed that showing of ballot papers by his MPs
after voting to the
main MDC chief whip was illegal and made the Speaker
election a sham.
He said the conduct was in contravention of Article
6 of the Parliamentary
Standing Orders.
Moses Mzila Ndlovu, one
of only two MPs who are still on Mutambara's gravy
train, addressed a press
briefing in Harare Tuesday seeking to defuse the
tension in the party, "and
to set the record straight."
Mzila-Ndlovu, who remains part of two
MPs still supporting Mutambara
together with Max Mkandla and senator David
Coltart, denied that there was a
revolt in the party claiming that the MPs
reported to have met MDC national
chairman in Botswana "to whip them into
line using cash" and vote with the
main MDC, had all denied the
charges.
Said Mzila-Ndlovu: "Included in the (weekend) meeting was a
discussion of
the alleged meeting of some MDC members of the House of
Assembly and
Senators with the national chairman of the Tsvangirai-led MDC,
Lovemore
Moyo, in Botswana and a related allegation that some MDC Members of
Parliament did not vote for the MDC's candidate, Paul Themba
Nyathi.
"The MPs involved advised the meeting that while they saw
Lovemore Moyo in
Botswana, this was purely coincidental and that no
agreement had been
reached with Moyo that they would support his
candidacy."
Mzila-Ndlovu staunchly denied reports that there was any
power-sharing deal
between senior officials in the Mutambara
camp.
"Concern was raised in the meeting regarding press reports that
the MDC
leadership had entered into an agreement with Zanu (PF) in the
ongoing SADC
talks," Mzila-Ndlovu insisted.
"Detailed
assurances were given by the leadership of the party, in
particular by
Professor Arthur Mutambara that no bilateral agreement had
been reached with
Zanu-PF and that no bilateral agreement would be reached
with Zanu-PF in
future. The President assured the caucus that any agreement
would have to be
a tripartite agreement."
But sources said Mzila-Ndlovu was locked in
denial and was refusing to
acknowledge that the Mutambara camp was now a
crumbling edifice mainly
because of elite deals with Mugabe that have
sparked a revolt among the
camp's 10 MPs.
"How does Mzila explain
Zanu (PF) backing an MDC Mutambara Speaker, how does
he explain the two
non-constituent senatorial posts left vacant by Mugabe
for Ncube and
Mutambara?" said a source.
"This is a coalition of losers and no
amount of denials will mask Mutambara
and Ncube's shocking treachery and
sell out affinity."nasty fallout from the
weekend meeting where Mutambara is
said to have frantically headed off
challenges that he was cutting deals
with Mugabe, the robotics professor -
who had gone to the meeting
threatening to crack the whip - was forced to
eat humble pie.
And
secretary-general Welshman Ncube was forced to come clean on allegations
that he was on the CIO payroll. He was grilled, said our
source.
Efforts by Ncube to censure the rebellious MPs who voted for
an MDC
Tsvangirai Speaker two weeks ago and showed the main MDC chief whip
Innocent
Gonese their ballot papers, fell through.
Ncube claimed
that showing of ballot papers by his MPs after voting to the
main MDC chief
whip was illegal and made the Speaker election a sham.
He said the
conduct was in contravention of Article 6 of the Parliamentary
Standing
Orders.
Moses Mzila Ndlovu, one of only two MPs who are still on Mutambara's
gravy
train, addressed a press briefing in Harare Tuesday seeking to defuse
the
tension in the party, "and to set the record
straight."
Mzila-Ndlovu, who remains part of two MPs still supporting
Mutambara
together with Max Mkandla and senator David Coltart, denied that
there was a
revolt in the party claiming that the MPs reported to have met
MDC national
chairman in Botswana "to whip them into line using cash" and
vote with the
main MDC, had all denied the charges.
Said
Mzila-Ndlovu: "Included in the (weekend) meeting was a discussion of
the
alleged meeting of some MDC members of the House of Assembly and
Senators
with the national chairman of the Tsvangirai-led MDC, Lovemore
Moyo, in
Botswana and a related allegation that some MDC Members of
Parliament did
not vote for the MDC's candidate, Paul Themba Nyathi.
"The MPs
involved advised the meeting that while they saw Lovemore Moyo in
Botswana,
this was purely coincidental and that no agreement had been
reached with
Moyo that they would support his candidacy."
Mzila-Ndlovu staunchly
denied reports that there was any power-sharing deal
between senior
officials in the Mutambara camp.
"Concern was raised in the meeting
regarding press reports that the MDC
leadership had entered into an
agreement with Zanu (PF) in the ongoing SADC
talks," Mzila-Ndlovu
insisted.
"Detailed assurances were given by the leadership of
the party, in
particular by Professor Arthur Mutambara that no bilateral
agreement had
been reached with Zanu-PF and that no bilateral agreement
would be reached
with Zanu-PF in future. The President assured the caucus
that any agreement
would have to be a tripartite agreement."
But
sources said Mzila-Ndlovu was locked in denial and was refusing to
acknowledge that the Mutambara camp was now a crumbling edifice mainly
because of elite deals with Mugabe that have sparked a revolt among the
camp's 10 MPs.
"How does Mzila explain Zanu (PF) backing an MDC
Mutambara Speaker, how does
he explain the two non-constituent senatorial
posts left vacant by Mugabe
for Ncube and Mutambara?" said a source. "This
is a coalition of losers and
no amount of denials will mask Mutambara and
Ncube's shocking treachery and
sell out affinity."
http://www.zimonline.co.za
by Hendricks Chizhanje
Thursday 11 September 2008
HARARE - Zimbabwe is one of the
least investor friendly countries in the
world with a glut of bureaucratic
bottlenecks that make doing business in
the country costly and time
consuming, according to a report by the World
Bank and the International
Finance Corporation (IFC).
The report entitled "Doing Business 2009" and
published on Wednesday, ranks
crisis-torn Zimbabwe a dismal 158 out of 181
surveyed countries.
"In Zimbabwe a severe administrative backlog has
substantially increased the
cost of procedures relating to construction
permits and led to delays
averaging 474 days for approvals," said the World
Bank and the IFC.
The report, covering the period April 2007 to June
2008, ranks economies on
their ease of doing business, from 1 to181, with
first place being the best.
The Doing Business 2009 rankings were based
on 10 indicators of business
regulation that track the time and cost to meet
government requirements in
business start-up, operation, trade and
taxation.
A high ranking on the ease of doing business index means the
regulatory
environment is conducive to the operation of business.
In
contrast to Zimbabwe, Mauritius came first among African countries that
are
dismantling barriers to conducting business on the continent, followed
by
South Africa whose President Thabo Mbeki is attempting to stitch together
a
power-sharing deal between Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe's and
opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai.
War-torn Democratic Republic of
Congo (DRC) anchors the rankings at 181.
Singapore kept its top ranking
for the third year in a row as the world's
easiest place to do business,
followed by New Zealand and the United States.
Hong Kong, Denmark, Britain,
Ireland, Canada, Australia and Norway conclude
the top 10.
"Economies
need rules that are efficient, easy to use, and accessible to all
who use
them. Otherwise, businesses are trapped in the unregulated, informal
economy, where they have less access to finance and hire fewer workers and
where workers lack the protection of labour law," said Michael Klein, World
Bank/IFC vice president for financial development.
The World Bank and
the IFC reported that nine of the 10 most difficult
countries to do business
in were African, with Venezuela the sole exception.
In descending order,
the worst were Niger, Eritrea, Venezuela, Chad, Sao
Tome and Principe,
Burundi, Republic of Congo, Guinea-Bissau, Central
African Republic and
Democratic Republic of Congo.
Zimbabwe's poor ranking means that there is
little or no progress being made
in improving conditions to conduct business
in a country where Mugabe has
over the past eight years seized white-owned
farms to resettle landless
blacks, which have called into question Harare's
commitment to uphold
property rights.
Mugabe - who often accuses
foreign-owned businesses of plotting with his
Western enemies to bring down
his government and externalising foreign
currency earnings - has in recent
months stepped up pressure against the
businesses by threatening to force
them to sell controlling stake to
indigenous blacks.
Zimbabwe, which
once had one of Africa's best economies, is battling its
worst recession in
28 years marked by world record inflation of more than 11
million percent,
growing unemployment, shortages of foreign currency, food,
fuel, water and
electricity. - ZimOnline
http://english.ohmynews.com
Hungry, tortured, downtrodden Zims coin
words to ease their plight
Stephen Tsoroti
Published
2008-09-11 04:56 (KST)
A telephone conversation with a Zimbabwean's
exiled relative usually takes
longer than expected these days. It is not
because of the narratives of how
bad things have turned out in Zimbabwe --
but simply, the time it takes to
explain the meanings of new
words.
In the last five years, Zimbabweans have coined several words that
have
become synonymous with their checkered history. These words have become
the
lingua franca that largely reflects their political and social
plight.
During the run-up to the 2002 and subsequent 2008 presidential
elections,
the word "Jambanja" was a battle cry of the war veterans and
ZANU-PF youths.
Neither Shona, nor Ndebele, nor English -- the three
official languages in
this southern African country -- Jambanja hailed the
tortuous experience
where wanton terror was unleashed on the opposition and
ordinary Zimbabweans
alike.
The cry rang out in both cities and rural
areas where several people died,
houses were razed to the ground and
thousands became internal refugees.
Teachers in mostly rural areas and
farmers became targets. They became
asylum seekers at offices of political
parties and human rights
organizations. Pictures of scorched human bodies
and burned huts were etched
on the minds of many people as the word
resonated countrywide.
Literally meaning "a people centered revolution"
or "anything done in a foul
way to reverse the status quo" the word still
haunts many who are living
destitute lives in their own
country.
"Tsunami" is a word relative to Asia, mainly due to the December
2004
tsunami that unleashed loss and destruction of horrific magnitude in 12
countries in Asia and Africa. It is touted by locals in Zimbabwe to reflect
the destruction of their property by the state. The government embarked on
an operation that saw massive destruction of dwellings and shacks that left
thousands of people homeless. The people called the operation
"Tsunami."
In an attempt to clean up the state of informal trade, the
government also
mounted a countrywide blitzkrieg dubbed "Operation Restore
Order" on flea
markets and other businesses, arresting 17,000 people and
displacing
700,000 -- more than 220,000 of which were children -- in the
process. The
flea markets, a major source of goods ranging from basic
commodities and
electronics to fuel and foreign currency, housed a thriving
black market as
the price of food increased sharply, store shelves were
emptied and many
other factors entangled Zimbabwe in its worst economic
recession in years.
As the police forces tore through flea markets,
demolishing stalls and
structures, they were indiscriminant in their
destruction. Many of those
affected in these markets were legitimate
vendors. After about two months of
madness, the United Nations formally
issued a report confirming and
condemning the mayhem that had been in and
out of the news throughout the
duration of the sweeps.
In recent
times, the acronym "Baccosi" (Basic Commodity Supply Side
Intervention) has
echoed in the streets of major cities and urban centers.
It was coined by
Gideon Gono, the governor of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe.
It has assumed a
localized meaning: "anything that is free, cheap or
affordable." Vendors and
even government officials are using it to advertise
their wares. Even places
are being named after this program that many
Zimbabweans find
sinister.
The Baccosi program, which was being spearheaded by the Central
Bank, seeks
among other things to make sure that all Zimbabwean families
have equal
access to affordable basic commodities.
Most people are
battling to get basic goods, which have been priced beyond
their
reach.
With so many twists and turns in Zimbabwe's situation, a new
dictionary will
be necessary soon.
http://www.zimonline.co.za
by
Simplicious Chirinda Thursday 11 September 2008
HARARE -
Zimbabwe state doctors returned to work on Wednesday calling off a
two-week
strike for more pay but gave the government two months to work out
a new
salary package in hard currency or face more industrial action.
Hospital
Doctors Association president Amos Severegi said doctors had
returned to
work out of concern for ordinary people who depend on state
hospitals for
health care. But he vowed doctors would go on an indefinite
strike should
the government fail to pay then in foreign currency.
"We are back at work
as a principle because people are suffering and need
our help, said
Severegi.
"We have given the government a two-month ultimatum to work out
a figure in
foreign currency or else we will undertake another strike action
which will
be indefinite," he added.
Health Minister David
Parirenyatwa was not immediately available for comment
on the doctors'
demand for payment in foreign currency.
The doctors, who claim that
several donor groups and the European Union have
indicated interest in
helping pay Zimbabwe doctors in hard cash, want to be
paid either in United
States dollars or South African rands.
With its value eroded daily by the
world's highest inflation of more than 11
million percent, the Zimbabwe
dollar is nearly worthless, a point made clear
by the country's central bank
when it announced on Wednesday that it was
licensing shops and garages to
sell basic commodities and fuel in foreign
currency.
A collapsed
currency is the most visible sign of Zimbabwe's devastating
economic
recession that is also seen in rising unemployment, deepening
poverty,
shortages of food and every basic survival commodity.
Zimbabwe's public
health sector, once lauded as one of the best in Africa,
has been one of the
hardest hit by the economic crisis with the government
short of cash to
import essential medicines and equipment, while the country
has suffered the
worst brain drain of doctors, nurses and other
professionals seeking better
opportunities abroad. - ZimOnline
http://www.hararetribune.com
Wednesday, 10 September 2008
22:44 Phil Matibe
The policy of "one man one farm" has to be enforced
in a transparent fashion
and all Zimbabwean farmers disadvantaged by the
2000 fast track land
programme have to be embraced in a new all inclusive
land reform programme.
Land reform in Zimbabwe as a means of reducing
poverty is an absolute
economic and political imperative. The agricultural
and non-agricultural
sectors have a direct impact on foreign trade and any
reform needs to be
cognisant of the ramifications caused by the disruptions
to organised
agriculture.
Prior to the archaic land grab,
commercial agriculture used to contribute
40% of market delivery of maize,
cotton, groundnut; 90-100% of market
delivery of wheat, soyabean, tobacco,
coffee, tea and sugar cane; 80% of all
commercial beef sales and virtually
all milk deliveries. A third of the raw
materials to local manufacturing
were sourced from the farming sector and
contributed 50% of all export
earnings through the export of tobacco, maize,
cotton and beef, in the
normal seasons.
Organised agriculture was 16% of Zimbabwe's GDP
providing employment for 70%
of the population and accounting for 40 to 45%
of the country's merchandise
exports before ZANU (PF) opted to invade farms
as a way of appeasing an
agitated rural electorate.
The idea of
nationalizing all productive farmland in Zimbabwe, abolishing of
all title
deeds and replacing them with 99-year leases was ill advised and
counterproductive.
If all the agricultural land in Zimbabwe were
equitably distributed amongst
its 12 million citizens, each person would
receive 2.75 hectares of land.
Yet most politically connected people who
belong to ZANU (PF) have grabbed
over five thousand hectares of prime land
each for speculative purposes.
Zimbabwe has a total land area of
about 39 million hectares of which 33.3
million hectares are suitable for
agricultural purposes and the remaining 6
million hectares reserved for
National parks as well as Wildlife and Urban
settlements. At independence,
agricultural land was divided along racial
lines as follows: 6 000 white
large-scale commercial farmers controlled
about 15.5 million hectares,
almost half the total agricultural land in the
country, while 840 000
communal area farmers controlled about 16.4 million
hectares.
The
mainly white commercial farmers held title to about 51% of the land
outside
urban areas and national parks, including most of the land in
Natural
Regions I, II and III. This constituted 44% percent of the total
land in
Zimbabwe.
Zimbabwe's agrarian structure, four different land tenure
systems, communal
areas, resettlement areas, large-scale commercial farms,
and small-scale
commercial farms, operate across its five natural
regions.
Region I, 613 233 hectares, 1.56% of total land, receives more
than 1000
millimetres of rain per year and is suitable for dairy farming,
forestry,
tea, coffee, fruit, beef and maize production.
Region II, 7
343 059 hectares, 18.68% of total land, receives 750-1000
millimetres of
rain per year and is suitable for intensive farming based on
maize, tobacco,
cotton and livestock.
Region III, 6 854 958 hectares, 17.43% of total
land, receives 650-800
millimetres of rain per year is a semi-intensive
farming region where severe
mid-season dry spells are common. Suitable for
livestock production,
together with production of fodder crops and cash
crops under good farm
management.
Region IV, 13 010 036 hectares,
33.03% of total land, receives 450-650
millimetres of rain per year and is a
semi-extensive region subject to
periodic seasonal droughts and severe dry
spells during the rainy season.
Suitable for farming systems based on
livestock and resistant fodder crops.
Forestry,
wildlife/tourism.
Region V, 10 288 036 hectares, 26.2% of total land,
receives less than 450
millimetres of rain per year and is a farming region
suitable for extensive
cattle ranching or game ranching. Zambezi Valley is
infested with tsetse
flies. Forestry, wildlife/tourism.
1 220 254
hectares of land constituting 3.1% of Zimbabwe's land is
unsuitable for any
agricultural use.
Almost all member of the ZANU (PF) Central Committee
and Politburo have
grabbed all the productive farms in Natural Regions I,II
and III.
Natural regions IV and V, which are arid and semi-arid and where
75% of
Zimbabwe's poorest people live has been carved into 45 hectare plots
for the
masses. These areas present a negative cost-benefit scenario for
current
resettlement models coupled with an uneconomical livestock carrying
capacity
for subsistence farming.
Forty-nine percent of Zimbabwe's
total land is forest and woodlands while
12.5% is grazing. Only 8% of
Zimbabwe's total area is arable meaning that
about 3 080 000 hectares of
land are suitable for agriculture. Only 3.5% of
the cropland is irrigated
and of this land 120 000 hectares is under full
irrigation.
Forty-three percent of the arable land is earmarked
for cereal production -
1% wheat, 32% maize, 7% millet 3% sorghum. In 1996
with 26 000 tractors,
Zimbabwe used 185 000 metric tonnes of fertiliser and
was ranked 46th in the
world with a total area of 2 057 685 hectares under
cereal cultivation which
equates to 5.2 % of the total land area of
Zimbabwe.
In 2000 Zimbabwe produced 2 108 100 metric tonnes of maize,
85 600 metric
tonnes of sorghum and 320 000 metric tonnes of wheat. This
healthy food
surplus has since been replaced by a 1 000 000 metric tonne
maize deficit
and a 400 000 metric tonne wheat deficit due to antediluvian
agrarian reform
policies.
Of the 243 centre pivots irrigation
(CPI) that were in use in 2000,
satellite imagery reveals that only 60 are
in partial and active use in
Zimbabwe today. A CPI is a self-propelled
sprinkling irrigating apparatus
that can irrigate about 150 hectares from a
pivot point that supplies water
and electricity. The model of CPI's that
were imported into Zimbabwe cost an
average of US$95 000.00. Equipment worth
18 million dollars and capable of
irrigating 50 000 hectares is now
unaccounted for.
The government announced that it is about to fork
out US$ 10 million dollars
for vehicles to give to the 280 senators and
MP's. As soon as Mugabe
appoints his full cabinet, another 10 million will
be required for vehicles
for ministers and other gravy train riders. This
combined amount is more
than what is required to restore our national center
pivot irrigation
systems to their pre-2000 level.
If these
missing center pivots were operational and competent farmers
appointed to
manage them, Zimbabwe would easily harvest 500 000 metric
tonnes of
early-planted maize grain that would be germinating by September
15 after
the wheat harvest. The remainder of the maize crop, 1.2 million
metric
tonnes would be harvested from another 250 000 hectares. With
supplementary
irrigation, yields would average of 5 metric tonnes per
hectare. A total of
300 000 thousand hectares divided into 1000 hectare
farms managed by less
than 300 agricultural professionals could produce our
national grain
requirements.
Contrary to popular belief, Zimbabwe is in its fourth
land reform and
resettlement programme (LRRP). All of which were dismal
failures due to
corruption, cronyism and partisan allocation of land to
incompetent
individuals.
The first phase from 1980 to1997,
redistributed 3,498,440 million hectares
to 71,000 families and the second
phase lasted from 1997 to December 2004.
LRRP2 was in the second phase and
acquired 5 million hectares between
September 1998 and December
2004.
Then there was the catastrophic fast track resettlement phase
from July
2000-December 2001 which sought to redistribute 9 million hectares
creating
160,000 model A1 communal farmers and 51,000 small to medium-scale
'indigenous' commercial farmers.
Four thousand white farmer
families have since been displaced together with
their 600 000 worker
families to make way for 127 000 resettled new farmers
through invasions
backed by nefarious legislation. Commercial agriculture
has been ruined and
the poor landless are now poorer than when they started.
The solution
to Zimbabwe's food security lies with its competent farmers,
politicians
have no business owning agricultural land.