http://www.thestandard.co.zw
Saturday, 18 September 2010 20:31
BULAWAYO - The
Affirmative Action Group (AAG) has started visiting
white-owned companies in
the city demanding that the firms must cede10-30%
of their shareholding to
employees, officials said last week.
The visits, which the AAG says are in
line with the country's controversial
black empowerment laws have reportedly
resulted in the firms suspending
re-capitalisation projects as they fear
losing their businesses.
Government recently appointed empowerment committees
that will recommend the
percentages that foreign-owned companies must
transfer to black Zimbabweans.
Sources told The Standard that the southern
region AAG executive had taken
advantage of the development to terrorise
company owners.
AAG southern region president, Roy Sibanda on Wednesday
confirmed that they
had visited some companies but denied accusations that
they were threatening
forced takeovers.
"We are visiting the white-owned
companies to urge them to give 10% of their
shareholding to
employees.
"We are also meeting the employees to educate them about the 10%
that they
are entitled to under the country's empowerment laws," Sibanda
said in a
telephone interview.
Sibanda said the visits were informed by
the failure of white- owned
companies to comply with the government's August
deadline to submit plans on
how they intend to transfer their shareholding
to black Zimbabweans.
"Most of the companies have not complied with the
government's deadline to
submit their proposals," he said.
"We are
however facing resistance and hostility from the white owned firms
who are
trying to stop us from meeting employees to educate them on how to
demand
the 10% shares that they are entitled to."
President Robert Mugabe has
pledged to forge ahead with plans to handover
51% of shareholding of white
owned companies to blacks to enable locals to
own the country's
resources.
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai last week said the empowerment
law would be
implemented gradually and without forced sales.
However,
Tsvangirai's comment that "its willing buyer, willing seller" was
yesterday
criticised by Nathaniel Manheru, a Herald columnist.
Manheru is believed to
be a pen name for Mugabe's spokesman George Charamba.
Recently, government
named committees to spearhead the empowerment
programme.
The committees
will cover the financial services, mining, agriculture,
energy, transport
and motor industry, telecommunications and information
communication
technology, trading, engineering and construction.
Other committees were
appointed for the tourism and hospitality, arts,
entertainment and culture,
education and sport, services, and manufacturing
sectors.
BY
NQOBANI NDLOVU
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
Saturday, 18 September 2010 19:50
THE
decision by companies mining diamonds in Marange district to build a
processing technology centre in President Robert Mugabe's home province,
over 400 kms from where most of the country's gems are being extracted, has
caused dismay in social and political circles.
The multi-million dollar
cutting and polishing centre is being built in
Mashonaland West province's
Mt Hampden area, a few kilometres outside
Harare.
The Zimbabwe Diamond
Technology Centre, which is being constructed by
Canadile miners, one of the
three firms operating in Marange, is set to
become operational within six
months.
Once complete, the US$20 million centre will have among other things
banks,
a diamond college and insurance firms.
Political and social
commentators said the decision was based more on
political considerations
than moral and economic judgement.
They doubted if it was mere coincidence
that the diamond centre, which is
expected to create 7 000 jobs in local
diamond processing and downstream
activities when complete, was being built
in Mugabe's home province, one of
the most developed areas in the
country.
They argued that had the centre been built in Manicaland province it
was not
only going to stimulate economic development but also create jobs
for
locals, most of whom were evicted from their original homes to make way
for
mining operations.
Currently, the "beneficiaries" of diamond proceeds
have been senior
politicians and service chiefs while the evictees from
Chiadzwa in Marange
are now living in squalid conditions in tobacco barns
that were converted
into living quarters.
Those who spoke to The Standard
last week said this was why some provinces
were calling for the devolution
of power during the current
constitution-making process to ensure that
people benefited from resources
in their provinces.
Former Finance
minister Simba Makoni said setting up a diamond processing
centre in Mt
Hampden makes a mockery of the government's policy of
decentralisation which
was adopted at independence in 1980.
At independence, said Makoni, Mugabe's
administration declared a policy of
decentralisation, which was abandoned
along the way.
"What is happening makes a total mockery of that policy to
mine diamonds in
Chiadzwa and process them in Mt Hampden," he said. "It also
shows that the
government is not committed to the principle of balanced
national
development."
Makoni, who is the leader of Mavambo/Kusile/Dawn
party, said the location of
the centre in Mt Hampden meant that people of
Chiadzwa were being denied a
chance to access better services such as
housing, transport and
communication.
"There will definitely be no
expansion of retail services or downstream
industries to benefit people of
Chiadzwa and apart from that they (mining
companies) are increasing
operational costs by airlifting the diamonds.
"It also makes the diamonds
uncompetitive on the world market," said Makoni.
Pishai Muchauraya, the MDC-T
spokesperson for Manicaland province, said the
people from the province were
very angry that resources were extracted from
their areas to benefit other
provinces.
Had the centre been built in Manicaland, he said, the people of
Marange
would not have felt "robbed" because their children would be
employed at the
centre and the downstream industries.
"This is economic
piracy," fumed Muchauraya who is also MP for Makoni South.
"This is why
people are calling for devolution of power to be included in
the new
constitution.
"We are saying natural resources must be processed in areas
they are found
to generate employment for the local
communities."
Muchauraya's sentiments were also echoed by the Catholic
Commission for
Justice and Peace (CCJP) director Alouis Chaumba, who added
that the people
from Marange were suffering a double tragedy.
They are
being evicted from their homes of several years and not benefiting
from the
diamonds, he said.
"If the centre was built in Mutare, the affected families
would have solace
in that they will be benefiting from employment
opportunities created and
development associated with the centre," Chaumba
said.
"As we speak, they don't have anything to show that diamonds are being
extracted from their areas except harassment by security forces."
Mutare
was the ideal place for the centre, Chaumba suggested, because it was
centrally located and has easy access to the Indian Ocean.
Diamonds are
also mined in Masvingo and Matabeleland provinces but most of
them come from
Manicaland.
Zapu spokesperson Methusili Moyo described the location of the
centre in
Mashonaland West as "exportation of jobs" from Manicaland
province.
"Our policy is that natural resources in a particular area must be
harvested
and processed in that area as a way of creating employment and
further
downstream economic activities," Moyo said.
Moyo noted that apart
from diamonds, granite from Mutoko, coal from Hwange
and beef from
Matabeleland South and Midlands provinces were mostly
benefiting or
processed in Harare and Mashonaland provinces.
Most people from Matabeleland
provinces feel they have been marginalised by
Mugabe's regime for a long
time and are calling for devolution of power.
Canadile chairman Cougan
Matanhire could not be reached for comment to
explain the location of the
centre and whether it was influenced by
political considerations.
Early
this year, Mugabe's rural home district of Zvimba and other Zanu PF
strongholds in Mashonaland controversially got the largest amounts of money
from tollgate fees collected nationwide, in a move that caused consternation
in government and political circles.
Mugabe and his loyalists have over
the years been accused of grabbing
national resources to develop their own
regions at the expense of others,
creating imbalances in national
development.
An analysis of the distribution pattern of tollgate money
contained in the
recent Mid-Term Fiscal Policy review statement showed that
most of the US$15
million already disbursed by the Zimbabwe National Road
Authority (Zinara)
to different districts for the maintenance of the
country's road network
went to Mashonaland West and Mashonaland
Central.
Zvimba, a growth point which is Mugabe's home area, and Bindura got
the
biggest chunk.
"This is politics of marginalisation," said Moyo. "No
resources from
Mashonaland provinces and Harare are ever processed in other
provinces."
BY CAIPHAS CHIMHETE
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
Saturday, 18 September 2010 20:38
THE
constitutional outreach programme was aborted at a school in Chitungwiza
after a gun was pulled out to settle disagreements at the start of the
meeting.
A dispute arose over who should lead the opening prayer
as chaos marred the
beginning of the crucial process in Harare and Bulawayo
yesterday.
At Shingai Primary School there was a disagreement over
who should lead the
prayer and in the ensuing confusion a participant pulled
out a gun sending
other participants scurrying for
cover.
The meeting was later aborted.
Before the
start of each meeting, team leaders of the Constitutional Select
Committee
(Copac) hold prayers.
Copac co-chairperson Douglas Mwonzora told The
Standard yesterday he was
advised of the incident and when he went to
investigate with his counterpart
Paul Mangwana, police details refused to
cooperate.
Earlier on Mangwana is reported to have denied the
incident when asked by
Mwonzora.
"My interpretation of no comment
is that he (the police officer) was not
saying that no gun was produced," he
said. "To me 'no comment' was
confirming the allegations."
He
said the meeting was called off and would be reconvened when the
environment
was more stable.
Asked why the team leaders were the only ones who
lead in prayer sessions,
Mwonzora said such a position had been taken as
some participants were
saying "blasphemous and political
prayers".
"At Chizungu Primary School in Epworth today (yesterday)
one of those
prayers said in front of myself and Mangwana was political,
blasphemous and
called for the death of some people," he said.
In
Mabvuku the meeting started late, a situation which Mwonzora attributed
to
violent disturbances, with his car being attacked as he was leaving
Tafara
Hall.
Violence broke out at Vimbai Primary School in Chitungwiza over
dual
citizenship and the meeting only resumed under a heavy police
presence.
Youths threw stones and there were some skirmishes over
party alliances with
suspected Zanu PF youths expressing anger that they
were not being accorded
equal time to speak as was the case with their MDC-T
counterparts.
Mwonzora said despite the setbacks, MDC-T would
nevertheless proceed with
the constitutional process "to its logical
conclusion".
In Bulawayo, the process had teething problems too after
drivers and
technicians downed tools over outstanding
allowances.
Zanu PF members who are also part of the Copac team were
also accused of
disappearing from embarking on the long-awaited programme in
a bid to
sabotage the process.
The drivers' and technicians'
strike was blamed on Zanu PF, who were accused
of encouraging the strike, in
the hope of derailing the outreach.
Copac meetings which were set to
begin at 9am at various wards in the city
only began three hours later after
an agreement was reached with the
striking drivers and
technicians.
Mwonzora confirmed the strike action also laying the
blame on Zanu PF. "Zanu
PF wants to sabotage Copac in Bulawayo. Its members
are also nowhere to be
seen," Mwonzora said in an interview
yesterday.
"We cannot tolerate this nonsense and we have fired all
the drivers for
trying to sabotage the outreach programme in
Bulawayo.
"I have instructed all the MP's to drive themselves to the
venues."
But Sikhanyiso Ndlovu, a senior Zanu PF politburo member,
dismissed
accusations that the party had influenced Copac drivers and
technicians to
down tools.
"I deny that. Zanu-PF is more than
ready to see this process finish.
"We have been having meetings as a
party about the outreach programme and
would we all of a sudden sabotage
this project.
"Zanu-PF wants to defend all the gains that the party
has made since
independence," Ndlovu said in a telephone
interview.
The Standard was told that Copac drivers and technicians
were initially
promised their outstanding pay on Friday but Copac
co-chairperson, Edward
Mkhosi reportedly did not turn up with the
money.
The striking workers were yesterday promised that they would
get their
outstanding pay before the end of the day.
They vowed
not to report for duty today if they were not given the money.
At
Unit L Community Hall in Chitungwiza, tempers flared when it was
discovered
that one of the participants had the same questionnaire that
Copac members
had.
Participants had to be calmed by Copac officials who pleaded
that the
meeting had to progress.
Calls by the participants to
evict those who had questionnaires fell on deaf
ears as Copac officials
feared the move would disrupt the meeting.
The questionnaires were
later handed over to the Copac officials.
The participants were
unanimous that the death sentence should remain on the
country's
statutes.
They called for a self-regulating media which is apolitical
and reported in
a balanced manner.
They were also calls for the
establishment of an independent commission to
register media
practitioners.
Dual citizenship was condemned so were same-sex
marriages.
Participants said government should accord citizens the
right to education,
health, clean water and the right to choose
religion.
Property rights, they said, should be respected and that
Zimbabweans should
have ownership of the mineral resources.
Women
participants said widows should be protected and that property should
not be
confiscated by greedy relatives. They said women should have a choice
on
inheritance.
On youths, one participant felt that they should attend
national services
but others felt that those institutions should not be
abused to turn youths
into thugs who beat up people during
elections.
The process to write the country's first post-independence
constitution has
been dogged by many problems, many related to financial
issues from the
onset.
BY NDAMU SANDU, NQABA MATSHAZI, PERPETUA
CHIKOLOLERE AND KUDZAI CHIMHANGWA
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
Saturday, 18 September 2010
20:33
BULAWAYO - A senior police officer was killed while a junior
officer and
four civilians were critically injured after they were shot by
armed robbers
during a raid at a pub in the city centre shortly before
midnight on Friday.
The bloodbath at Cape to Cairo pub and restaurant
located about a kilometre
from the Bulawayo Central Police Station came
after a series of armed
robberies hit the city.
The robbers pounced when
patrons were drinking the night away and the city
awoke to news of one of
the most violent crimes since armed robberies peaked
last
year.
Sources said the drinking spot was frequented mostly by senior
police
officers and business executives.
A chief superintendent
(name given) who was reportedly having a drink at the
pub with an assistant
commissioner (name also given) and other police
officers was shot dead after
he allegedly tried to challenge the suspects.
Cape to Cairo workers
Nonhlanhla Moyo and Ndodana Tshuma, two unidentified
patrons and a junior
officer were also critically injured after they were
shot by the
robbers.
The five are admitted at United Bulawayo Hospitals. The
suspects allegedly
got away with US$700.
Bonisani Mafela, a Cape
to Cairo manager who was on duty on Friday night,
confirmed the shootout,
saying the armed robbers fired no less than 20 shots
to scare terrified
patrons.
"The four robbers were drinking with other patrons and all
of a sudden
ordered everyone to lie down," Mafela said.
"They
ordered everyone to cover their heads with their hands and during that
time
they were just firing randomly at the ceiling and windows.
"According
to people who were sitting near the senior police officer, he was
shot dead
after he was seen pulling a pistol from his jacket.
"They took away
his pistol. Two of our employees were also shot and are
admitted at
UBH.
"The robbers emptied the bar tills and took away all the cash
that we had
made at the time.
"The robbers ran away on foot after
they had emptied all the tills," said
Mafela who looked traumatised during
the interview at the pub yesterday.
The condition of the injured could not be
ascertained but they were said to
be in the Intensive Care
Unit.
Bulawayo police spokesperson, Inspector Mandlenkosi Moyo
refused to comment
when contacted for comment referring questions to his
superiors in Harare.
Senior Assistant Commissioner, Wayne Bvudzijena
could neither confirm nor
deny, preferring only to say that he will
investigate the matter.
The raid at around 11:45pm came less than two
days after armed robbers
raided Dickeys restaurant also in the city
centre.
It also came less than a month after daring armed robbers
raided Nkulumane
police station and made away with a number of guns which
have since been
recovered.
Questions have been raised on how
armed robbers obtain firearms despite
government claims that it has
tightened its firearm licensing processes.
Police
Commissioner-general Augustine Chihuri recently indicated that police
have
adopted a "shoot to kill" policy when confronted by armed criminals.
Chihuri
expressed concern over the upsurge in armed robbery cases.
According
to police statistics, Bulawayo has recorded the highest number of
armed
robbery cases.
Police suspect that people who used to survive on
black market activities
are behind the spate of robberies and killings
around the country.
BY NQOBANI NDLOVU
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
Saturday, 18 September 2010 20:32
BULAWAYO -
Prominent visual artist Owen Maseko who is facing charges of
undermining
President Robert Mugabe's authority after he mounted an
exhibition on the
Gukurahundi massacres was a relieved man yesterday when
his case was
referred to the Supreme Court.
A Bulawayo magistrate Ntombizodwa Mazhandu
granted Maseko's application that
the highest court on the land must
determine the constitutionality of
charges criminalising his artistic
work.
In her judgment Mazhandu said: "It is not a secret that Gukurahundi
took
place at a certain point in Zimbabwe and it is not in dispute that it
took
place in Matabeleland.
"Whether it was a certain tribe or race that
was affected is not known to
the court.
"It can only be determined
through leading evidence whether or not the
portrayal of that period is
purely a work of art or is the material false."
She said the Supreme Court
was also better placed to determine whether or
not any of Maseko's rights
had been violated.
On Thursday the magistrate accompanied by the defence and
the prosecution
teams visited the National Art Gallery in Bulawayo to view
the controversial
paintings.
This was after the magistrate had pointed
out the previous day that she
would not be in a position to make a ruling
without first seeing the
paintings.
Maseko's defence lawyers Lizwe
Jamela, Nosimilo Chanayiwa and Jeremiah Bamu
of the Zimbabwe Lawyers for
Human Rights made an application seeking the
Supreme Court sitting as a
constitutional court to determine whether or not
criminalising his artistic
work was a violation of his freedom of
conscience.
They placed special
emphasis on freedom of thought enshrined in Section 19
of the constitution,
freedom of expression, enshrined in Section 20 of the
constitution and the
protection at law as outline in Section 18.
The state represented by Tawanda
Zvekare opposed the application.
Zvekare argued that the rights in question
were not absolute and were
subject to certain exceptions under which they
could be waived.
He further noted that Maseko's case was an example of the
type of
circumstances under which the exercise of the rights was
restricted.
Bamu said the ruling meant that the trial would not continue
until the case
was finalised by the Supreme Court and also that Maseko had
been placed off
remand.
"Human rights are not absolute but they should
not be restricted to protect
governments or anyone for that matter from
exposure," said Bamu.
Maseko was arrested on March 26 after putting up a
Gukurahundi exhibition
named "Sibathontisele" (Dripping blood).
He was
charged with violating Section 33 of the Criminal Law (Codification
and
Reform) Act which alludes to insulting or undermining the authority of
the
president.
The charge was then dropped and he was charged under Section 31 of
the
Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act: publication of false
statements
prejudicial to the state, or alternately undermining the
authority of the
president.
Government last month banned Maseko's art and
statue of a naked man titled
"Looking into the future" mounted outside the
Bulawayo gallery saying they
fell foul of the country's censorship
laws.
Maseko's victory in court came a day after a United States-based human
rights group said Mugabe and several of his cronies should be charged for
crimes against humanity for their role in the Matabeleland and Midlands
killings.
Genocide Watch, said the military campaign led by the North
Korean-trained
5th Brigade, which human rights groups say left 20 000
civilians dead can be
classified as a genocide.
Mugabe who has referred
to the mass murder as "a moment of madness" has
refused to
apologise.
BY ZENZELE NDEBELE
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
Saturday, 18 September 2010 19:53
A group
of Anglican parishioners in Chitungwiza are searching for a new
venue to
hold their services after they were chased away from a church they
built
following the acrimonious split of the Harare Archdiocese.
The parishioners
from Unit K who are aligned to Chad Gandiya's Province of
Central Africa
(PCA) say they were hounded out of their church by police and
people who
claim to be followers of Nolbert Kunonga.
Kunonga who has strong links with
Zanu PF was pushed out of the church in
2007 after he unsuccessfully tried
to pull the archdiocese out of the PCA.
He claims that his bone of contention
with Gandiya's group is that they
supported homosexuality in the church, a
charge that has been dismissed as
dishonest.
A tussle for the control of
properties is currently raging in the courts but
the Chitungwiza incident
has brought a new dimension into the wrangle.
Gandiya's group say they moved
to the stand in Unit M after they were
evicted from the old church in 2007
by Kunonga's supporters. They started
building the church using money
donated by members.
Displaced parishioners who spoke on condition of
anonymity for fear of
victimisation said trouble started two weeks ago when
they were putting
final touches to the church.
A Chief Inspector Chipadze
from Makoni police station ordered them to stop
using the premises claiming
he was following "orders from above."
Gandiya's group accuses the police of
siding with Kunonga as they are always
at hand to disrupt PCA services.
A
man identified as Pastor Mugomo from Kunonga's faction allegedly moved
into
the church premises with his family and has been living there ever
since.
The parishioners believe he was sent by their nemesis
Kunonga.
"He (Kunonga) does not even care about the maintenance of the
church, he is
just obsessed with taking properties.
"Look, the vestry
side which is supposed to function as the priest's office
and place for
keeping holy sacraments and ornaments is being used as a
bedroom," said a
distraught parishioner.
Another parishioner said Kunonga's group was taking
advantage of its
political connections to terrorise its
rivals.
"Surprisingly, they waited for us to build everything from scratch
before
they came demanding the property," she said.
Kunonga reportedly
wants to seize all church properties that were bought
before the split. He
was not available for comment throughout the week.
Police spokesman Wayne
Bvudzijena who in the past has said police were not
taking sides in the
dispute was also not answering his mobile phone
yesterday.
The lawyer for
the Gandiya group, Michael Chingore said although he was yet
to receive a
report of what transpired in Chitungwiza, the continued
interference by the
Kunonga faction was in violation of court orders.
"Justice Susan Mavangira's
judgement is the latest standing order," Chingore
said.
"We will seek
appropriate recourse after the outcome of the Supreme Court
ruling, although
it's been some time since we lodged our papers."
Meanwhile, Gandiya's group
in Chitungwiza will today hold demonstrations
against Kunonga and the police
whom they accuse of bias.
They will also hold a meeting to plan the way
forward concerning their
leadership and the acquisition of their own
properties.
BY KUDZAI CHIMHANGWA
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
Saturday, 18 September 2010
19:52
BULAWAYO - A senior government official yesterday declared that he
was not
prepared to work with Farai Maguwu as a representative of civil
society
under the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS)
partnership.
Thankful Musukutwa, the permanent secretary for the Ministry of
Mines and
Mineral Development said this at the end of a two-day capacity
building
workshop for the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Mines and
Energy held
at a city hotel.
"Maguwu handed over a government document
marked 'restricted' to a foreigner
(KPCS monitor for Zimbabwe, Abbey Chikane
from South Africa) and when I
discovered this I pointed this out to the
minister because it is a serious
matter," he said.
"That is treasonous.
In other countries you can be shot for that.
"Maguwu has adopted a
confrontational stance against government and as a
civil servant unless
government's stance changes on that I am not prepared
to work with him as a
focal person for civil society."
Maguwu - who spent more than two years
investigating alleged human rights
abuses in the controversial Marange
diamond fields in Manicaland - denied
the charges of handing over a secret
document to Chikane.
Maguwu was however arrested for allegedly handing the
secret document to
Chikane.
Musukutwa said government was prepared to
work with civil society but it had
to organise itself and work towards the
economic development of the country.
He said at one time, some
representatives of civil society approached him
for a meeting in which they
were trying to rope him into their "scheme of
things that ended with the
activists carrying placards demonstrating against
government in Mutare the
following day."
"Had I attended that meeting it would have looked as though I
incited them,"
Musukutwa said. "I am a civil servant and would rather leave
politics to the
politicians."
Civil society has been rocked by divisions
over the choice of its focal
person in the KPCS agenda with some sections of
it against proposals to
appoint Maguwu.
Non-governmental organisations
aligned to Zanu PF are trying to appoint
someone from among their
ranks.
Musukutwa said Zimbabweans should learn to put politics aside when
dealing
with issues of economic development for the prosperity of the
nation.
KPCS was formed to stamp out illicit production and trade in
"conflict
diamonds" or "blood diamonds".
Conflict diamonds are "rough
diamonds used by rebel movements or their
allies to finance conflict aimed
at undermining legitimate governments".
Zimbabwe has so far held two
KPCS-sanctioned diamond auctions this year
although controversy over human
rights abuses in Chiadzwa has persisted.
BY DUMISANI SIBANDA
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
Saturday, 18 September 2010
19:51
A big signpost on a dusty road to a cluster of flats in Tynwald
North in
Harare reads: "Always adding value to land".
But the owners of
the flats, which have no electricity or proper roads, say
they feel insulted
by the imposing signpost erected by Develop-It-Zimbabwe,
a construction
company and land developer.
They are threatening to uproot it.
The flat
owners, who bought incomplete residential flats over a decade ago,
are up in
arms against Develop-It-Zimbabwe, which they accuse of failing to
develop
the area despite receiving payment from government.
The four blocks of flats
housing 24 households were constructed in the late
1990s by the then
Ministry of Public Construction and National Housing.
However, in 2008 the
government tasked Develop-It-Zimbabwe owned by Samuel
Mudavanhu to electrify
the flats and construct tarred roads in exchange for
a piece of land
adjacent to the flats.
But two years down the line, the residents still live
in the dark and the
roads have not been built.
"It is insulting to talk
of adding value when he has done nothing to develop
this area in the past
two years," said one flat owner who requested
anonymity.
The owners of
the flats said Mudavanhu reneged on the agreement and
abandoned the project
after erecting a few electricity poles.
Some of the poles are already
collapsing because of neglect.
"Up to now we are living in darkness after he
failed to electrify the
place," said another flat owner.
"Worse still
the area is swampy and is a no-go area during the rainy
season."
During
the rainy season, flat owners and tenants park their cars in other
people's
premises at owner's risk some three hundred metres away from their
flats.
They also risk being mugged at night because of the absence of
electricity
and proper roads linking the block of flats to a nearby
suburb.
"Now the rain season is fast approaching but there is no drainage, no
road
infrastructure to talk about yet he is busy selling stands to people on
a
daily basis," said another flat owner.
What irks the flat owners is
that Develop-It-Zimbabwe is developing some
stands around the same area on
the piece of land given to it by government
on condition that the company
electrifies the flats.
And less than 5km away, the company is also building a
private school,
Maranatha Junior School.
When The Standard news crew
visited the flats last week, workers from the
Zimbabwe Electricity Authority
(Zesa) were busy erecting poles after the
flat owners pulled resources
together.
In a letter to the chairman of the residents association a Mr
Hlomayi dated
June 2, 2008, the Ministry of National Housing and Social
Amenities said the
electrification of the flats had been delayed by lack of
funds.
The letter says the ministry approached Develop-It-Zimbabwe on the
understanding that the company would be given rights to develop the
flats.
"The developer has managed to do at least 90% of the works and is now
unable
to complete the outstanding works because of the current economic
difficulties," said one SM Sibanda who signed the letter on behalf of the
secretary for National Housing and Social Amenities David Munyoro.
The
letter added: "Given the above we sincerely call for your participation
in
the project.
"It is our conviction that if you work as a team with the
developer we can
overcome the current setbacks."
Mudavanhu, who is
Develop-It-Zimbabwe chief executive officer, denied all
the
allegations.
He said the electrification of the flats and road construction
had been
slowed down by the economic meltdown that bedevilled the country in
the past
years.
Mudavanhu claimed to have bought a 500 KVA transformer
and cables. He said
Zesa will start the electrification soon.
"I did
almost everything," said Mudavanhu. "The problem is that some of the
residents want the project to be completed over night, which is not possible
considering where we are coming from."
He said some of the flat owners
were jealous of him because of the
successful construction projects he was
developing in the area.
After the completion of Maranatha Junior School, he
plans to construct a
secondary school and a university.
"These are long
term projects," said Mudavanhu, who claims to have
successfully completed
several construction projects in Harare.
Munyoro last week said he was not
privy to the details of the agreement
between his ministry and the developer
as the contract was signed before he
assumed office.
He referred
questions to Sibanda, who was said to be out of town.
BY CAIPHAS
CHIMHETE
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
Saturday, 18 September 2010 19:26
GOKWE
- Just before addressing members of his party at the 11-year
anniversary
held in Gokwe, MDC-T leader Morgan Tsvangirai pleaded with party
leaders to
stop heckling each other and allow others time to address the
crowd.
This little incident went largely unnoticed, but exposed
the deep divisions
that are rocking the party.
Despite posing as a united
party celebrating 11 years of existence, the
schisms within the party could
not be papered over.
Trouble started when an unidentified lady, said to
represent the Women's
Coalition, was supposed to address the
gathering.
There was a chorus of boos from the tent, which had been erected
for the
party's hierarchy.
"We do not know her, who is she representing,"
a woman from the Midlands
said.
Another heckled the woman, saying she had
been at her house the previous
morning asking where party cards were sold,
meaning she could not have been
a member of the party then.
Issues got
out of hand when, Women's Assembly boss, Theresa Makone took to
the
podium.
She paid tribute to her predecessor, Lucia Matibenga and immediately
that
provoked a round of cheers from a section of the women that were
sitting
next to Matibenga.
"She could have joined Welshman (Ncube -
secretary general of the other
faction of the MDC) but she remained here,
she is still with us today,"
Makone said, generating applause that was
probably for the wrong reasons.
She proceeded to thank the women for their
resilience and loyalty to the
party, despite the problems they had
faced.
"We want the old assembly, that is the one we know," the restless
group of
women chanted again.
At this point, Tsvangirai would have none
of it and demanded that the
section of the party leaders responsible for the
noise keep quiet as they
were disrupting the rally.
Matibenga had the
last laugh though, when she got a standing ovation after
she stood up to
interpret for party chairman, Lovemore Moyo.
Both party leaders and people in
the crowd kept applauding her, with some
women claiming that she was their
legitimate leader.
In 2007 Matibenga was dislodged as the Women's Assembly
boss and replaced
with Makone.
Two separate congresses were held in
Bulawayo, but the Makone grouping ended
up being regarded as the legitimate
one due to her close links with
Tsvangirai.
Since then there have been
simmering divisions within the party, over the
issue, although it seemed
these had been managed.
After this incident the theme of the celebrations
changed and all the
speakers were hard pressed to talk about unity and how
they did not want
another split in the party.
MDC-T secretary general,
Tendai Biti, who has long been regarded as eyeing
Tsvangirai's position,
blamed the 2005 split on the Central Intelligence
Organisation (CIO).
"We
are never going to split again, the CIO will never be able to create
more
divisions within us," he said seemingly hard pressed to maintain the
unity
theme.
MDC split in 2005 over participation in the Senate election, while
others
claim there was more to it than that.
Among the reasons cited were
violence and tribalism within the united party.
Efforts to reunite the party
failed in 2008 reportedly after MDC-T leaders
in Matabeleland declined to
forge an agreement with MDC-M.
Tsvangirai is often accused of having a
"Kitchen Cabinet", which dictates
how the party is run and often contradicts
the national executive.
BY NQABA MATSHAZI
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
Saturday, 18
September 2010 19:10
CHIKOMBA — Thirty-one-year-old Nomore Rwambiwa from
Gonzo Village in
Chikomba, Mashonaland East is still haunted by several
deaths that occurred
in his area a few months ago during the measles
outbreak.
Rwambiwa says many children succumbed to the preventable
disease in the
area.
He said parents of most of the victims were members
of Apostolic Faith sects
who were against the use of modern medicine.
“It
was a very difficult time for us because we watched helplessly as
children
died like rats,” Rwambiwa said.
“It pains me up to now because there was
nothing we could do as we had no
power to stop the tragic loss of
life.”
Rwambiwa said even after reporting the deaths to the police and health
officials they were unable to save many other affected
children.
“Whenever health officials visited their homes they would run into
the
mountains and hide their sick children or even hide them in granaries at
their homesteads,” he recalled.
Rwambiwa is himself a member of one of
the sects known as the Church of God,
which however does not discourage its
members from using modern medicine.
He says the deaths spurred him to become
a village health worker under a
programme promoted by the Community Working
Group on Health (CWGH) with
support from the United Nations Children’s Fund
(Unicef).
He was among 300 volunteers who graduated at a ceremony held at
Chikomba
growth point recently and will be expected to play a key role in
providing
desperately needed primary health in their area.
“When I heard
about the village health worker’s programme I immediately knew
that was a
calling from God,” he said.
“I knew that this was a chance to help my
community and prevent what
happened during that measles
outbreak.”
Rwambiwa believes that being a member of an apostolic faith sect
will help
him convince those who still shun modern medicine to
reconsider.
CWGH’s programme se-eks to reduce the high rates of maternal and
neo natal
deaths in Zimbabwe by bringing health services closer to rural
communities.
Sarah Munyanyi from Masaraure Village also in Chikomba who is a
member of
the Zviratidzo Zvevapostori sect and now a volunteer health worker
believes
she can also make a difference.
“The measles outbreak was very
unfortunate as a lot of children died because
of the ignorance of their
parents,” said Munyanyi who was one of the
graduates.
“Had I been a
village health worker then I don’t think I would have allowed
such suffering
and loss of life.”
“I want to reach out to these religious objectors and show
them that going
to hospital is simply moving with the times.
“The world
is now full of sin that’s why there are many diseases, which
makes seeking
treatment important.
“It is now different from the times of Jesus and that’s
what people need to
understand.”
Munyanyi said she aims to reach out to
women who are easily influenced by
their husbands who may be religious
extremists.
“Many times during the measles outbreak I would speak to these
women after
losing their children and they would say they don’t want to lose
another
child.
“They wanted to take those who survived to hospital but
they were afraid of
their husbands.
“Women are easily touched by pain and
death than men.”
Itai Rusike, the CWGH director speaking at the graduation
ceremony said he
believed the inclusion of members of the apostolic faith
sects in the
progamme will go a long way in changing attitudes towards
modern medicine in
the traditional churches.
“Being members of apostolic
faith sects themselves they are better
positioned to talk to their own since
they are all believers,” Rusike said.
The government and its partners were
early this year forced to embark on a
nationwide emergency vaccination
programme to stop the measles outbreak that
killed hundreds of
children.
At least 90% of the measles deaths were attributed to the refusal
by
religious groups to have their children immunised.
BY
BERTHA SHOKO
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
Saturday, 18 September 2010
19:07
FOREIGN investors are ready to do business in Zimbabwe but want
clarity on
the empowerment laws, stakeholders at the second mining indaba
heard last
week.
Estimates by the Business Council of Zimbabwe, an
amalgamation of all
business associations, say that the industry requires a
staggering US$5
billion injection to optimally exploit the vast mineral
resources in the
country.
The mining industry has been starved of
fresh capital injection in the past
10 years as the economic crisis took a
toll on the sector.
Fidelis Madavo, representing the Public
Investment Corporation (PIC), South
Africa's leading investment managers,
told stakeholders that certainty in
the mining sector is paramount if the
country is to lure investors into the
capital intensive
industry.
He said the country's proposed empowerment laws have to be
explained clearly
to remove the uncertainty which scares away prospective
investors.
Under the empowerment laws, locals should have 51%
shareholding in foreign
owned companies operating in Zimbabwe in the next
five years.
"The 51% is a number but it scares away a lot of people,
particularly new
investors," Madavo said.
"But if it is explained that
the government is bringing in the resource and
the company is, let's say,
bringing in US$100 million and you meet
together, you agree either a 50-50
split in the profits or 49: 51, I think
it can become palatable."
PIC
manages assets valued at R800 billion (about US$112 billion) and has
invested half of that amount in South African equities.
He said PIC has
taken a decision to invest outside the borders of South
Africa and "Zimbabwe
will be practically competing with other African
countries for a slice of
the money".
"The PIC is now putting money outside the borders.
"We are
going to be learning from the way IDC (Industrial Development
Corporation)
and DBSA (Development Bank of Southern Africa) and others who
have been
doing this for a while have been doing it.
"We will be open for business
pretty soon," he said.
Abel Malinga, who is the IDC's head of mining and
beneficiation, said the
development finance institution was open for
business in Zimbabwe.
"We have started financing projects in Zimbabwe.
"To
date in the last 12 months we have approved projects and those funds are
at
a stage where we are ready to disburse the funding.
"We are still negotiating
one or two things with the Reserve Bank to enable
those monies to be
disbursed to those projects."
IDC has a pipeline of projects in Zimbabwe
worth US$380 million of potential
funding.
"As IDC we are open for
business in Zimbabwe in project development," he
added.
In the last 12
months, IDC made two investments in Zimbabwe totaling US$114
million.
Malinga said the IDC was looking at financing new mines and
rehabilitation
of precious and base metals among others.
He said the
development finance institution was also interested in large
scale
beneficiation projects that would be a catalyst for job creation in
downstream industries.
There has been little beneficiation in Zimbabwe's
minerals as exports are
mainly done on raw products.
Zimbabwe's second
mining indaba, which ended in the capital on Thursday
brought together
captains in the mining industry and other related sectors
as well as
prospective investors.
The mining industry is undercapitalised and weighed
down by erratic power
supplies which affect production.
In his mid term
Fiscal Policy Review statement, Finance Minister Tendai Biti
said the
realised output during the first half of 2010 had prompted
downwards
revision of overall mining sector growth to 31% from 40% this
year.
BY NDAMU SANDU
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
Saturday, 18
September 2010 19:23
DANIEL Chingoma never got to know why Zimbabweans
did not appreciate that he
had “invented” a chopper. Year-in-year-out, for
several years, he would
exhibit it at the Harare Agricultural Show at the
Exhibition Park.
Show-goers at first would only give it a curious look and
pass by without
comment. Later when he produced a second version he became
somewhat popular.
But eventually out of frustration he dragged it out of the
grounds and left
it on the open ground adjacent to the show grounds where it
rusted away.
He claims to be an engineer but he is not; he works at a firm
that
manufactures water pumps. The lesson that he never learnt was that one
cannot invent a chopper just as much as one cannot invent the wheel! Simply
put, one cannot invent something that has been invented already. To invent
is to come up with something that is original or has not been made before.
If someone chooses to expend his energies re-inventing the wheel he
shouldn’t
expect the public to applaud him.
But Chingoma is not entirely
without originality. He has just formed a
political party; we would say
forming a political party is not an original
idea. Fair enough, but he has
alsocome up with an original idea to sell his
party to the
public.
“Everyone goes to the toilet and so I have decided to put up my
posters in
the toilets for both men and women,” he said when asked how he
was
advertising himself.
“Since the ZBC TV and radio only allow Zanu PF
to advertise I will do so in
toilets.”
The rationale behind his forming
the party is also refreshingly new.
“I think Zimbabweans need a party that is
for intellectuals,” he said in an
interview.
“There are no parties for
intellectuals in Zimbabwe and that is why things
are going down especially
the infrastructure. This is very bad and that is
why I have formed my own
party.”
He himself was educated in Rusape and at St Mary’s Mission. “I’m a
natural
engineer,” he says. That, one may suppose, makes him a natural
intellectual
too.
According to reports he says he is putting up his
posters and campaign
message in toilets throughout the country. He already
has put up several
photocopied posters in toilets in Harare at several bus
terminus and people
are laughing all the way because they have never seen
such a political
campaign.
The question to ask is: Is Chingoma’s Zimbabwe
Integrated Revolutionary
Party going to be the next Tea Party?
Ever heard
of the Tea Party? In history lessons long ago we used to be
taught about the
Boston Tea Party. This was an invent in 1773 when American
colonists in the
middle of one night went on board a ship anchored outside
Boston and threw
its whole cargo of tea into the sea. They were protesting
against various
acts by the British government which, among other things,
attempted to
establish a monopoly on the importation of tea into the
colonies by giving a
cut on re-importation tax imposed on theEast-India
Company.
The Tea Party
has now caused a stir in American politics. It was founded
amid a
groundswell of populist anger over government bail-outs of failing
banks,
insurers and auto companies following the economic meltdown of 2008.
Now it
is winning elections and has shaken the US establishment.
Chingoma says he
will soon approach “well-wishers especially academics to
help him raise
funds for his campaign against the MDC-T, MDC-M and Zanu (PF)
in the next
election”. But the toilet is hardly the best place to begin; few
intellectuals ever go into toilets at bus stops so the “Toilet Party” is
likely to suffer a stillbirth but it’s great for a
laugh.
NEVANJI MADANHIRE
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
Saturday, 18 September 2010 19:22
Last
Wednesday marked the second anniversary of the signing of the Global
Political Agreement (GPA) by the three main political parties on September
15 2008. In the wake of a massive social, economic and political crisis
triggered by an extremely violent presidential runoff election whose outcome
was rejected many within and outside Zimbabwe, the three principals, set
down to craft the GPA with SADC's assistance.
As they signed the GPA, the
principals expressed a determination, as noted
in the GPA preamble, "to
build a society free of violence, fear,
intimidation, hatred, patronage,
corruption and founded on justice,
fairness, openness, transparency, dignity
and equality". They further
declared and agreed to work together to create a
genuine, viable, permanent,
sustainable and nationally acceptable solution
to the Zimbabwe situation and
to chart a new political direction for the
country. After two years of the
GPA the question that remains to be answered
is: Has the implementation of
the GPA achieved these stated
objectives?
Reflecting on the GPA brings to mind a phenomenon known in Shona
as "kubatwa
nechadzimira". This occurs when travelers through a bush lose
their bearings
and all sense of direction but remain convinced that they
have the correct
bearings and sense of direction. Often, as a result of this
disorientation,
people travel in circles, without realizing this, until they
come to the
point where they began their journey. Those who believe that
immense
progress has been made in implementing the GPA maybe suffering from
such or
similar delusions.
MDC Home Affairs co-minister Theresa Makone
maybe under the chadzimira
delusion when she pronounces, as she did
recently, that Zimbabwe's police
force has turned over a new leaf. Evidence
on the ground strongly suggests
that key sections of the police force remain
highly politicised and
partisan. Clear confirmation that the leopard will
not change its spots come
from recent comments by senior Zanu-PF official
and government minister
Didymus Mutasa who has allegedly vowed that
Tsvangirai will never be
president of Zimbabwe even if he defeats Zanu-PF at
the polls.
The GPA dispensation is credited with restoring some stability in
the
economy, bringing inflation down from quintillions to single digits
levels,
and putting food back on the tables of ordinary Zimbabweans. Schools
and
hospitals have re-opened and there is a sense of hope that Zimbabwe may
now
be on a firm path to recovery. But the bigger challenge that the three
principals face is how to build public confidence that these small gains
will last. This point is critical especially considering that the same
Zanu-PF that held the reins of power during the birth of the crisis
continues to wield pretty much the same powers under the GPA
dispensation.
The capacity of those that control the election violence
machinery to
unleash violence on the scale witnessed in 2008 has not
diminished. Our
security sector remains pretty much what is was in 2008,
with pretty much
the same capacity and determination to block democracy. A
key benchmark on
the success of the GPA would be in designing a mechanism to
address the
security sector factor. Without this mechanism, there is no
guarantee that
the outcome of a fresh election will be respected leading to
a transfer of
power to whoever would have won elections under free and fair
conditions.
Where the security sector poses a significant risk to democratic
processes,
external intervention is crucial. And Sadc, as the guarantor of
the GPA, can
play the role of facilitating a democratic poll in Zimbabwe.
The United
Nations has carried out similar missions in Cambodia and East
Timor.
If the GPA cannot create an environment free of violence, where there
is
certainty of hope, then it has failed to meet its objectives. If the GPA
cannot facilitate reforms that enable a peaceful transfer of power to
whomsoever wins a democratic election, then again, it has failed dismally.
We all want to have hope, but a reality check cautions us not to be
naļve.
Freedom Chari
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
Saturday, 18 September 2010
19:21
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai was in South Africa last week
where he
addressed an investment conference sponsored by The Economist
magazine. In
his address and in the interviews he gave to various media
including the UK's
Guardian newspaper he waxed lyrical about President
Robert Mugabe's heroism.
He described his weekly meetings with the president
as "cordial" saying of
Mugabe, "he's as human as you are".
"Because he
will want to secure his legacy, he will not want to be
remembered as a
villain," Tsvangirai said. He referred to Mugabe's
liberation war
credentials saying he was a liberator and a founding father
of the
nation.
"I suppose Robert Mugabe has been portrayed as a demon," he told the
Guardian. "He himself made a contribution to that caricature because I
cannot defend what he did over the last 10 years in terms of violence, in
terms of expropriation and all these other activities.
"But there is also
a positive contribution to our country that he has made.
Remember that he
was the national liberation hero, and so those are positive
years. I suppose
there is the personality conflict between a hero and a
villain, of which you
have to make an assessment. History will have to judge
him."
Tsvangirai
repeated what he has said before that Mugabe is part of the
solution to
Zimbabwe's problem.
Many people may not agree with this. Tsvangirai seems to
have been taken in
by the personality cult that has, over the years, been
attached to Mugabe's
name.
Over the past 30 years Zimbabwe's history has
been so cleverly rewritten
that a person can be forgiven for believing that
Mugabe single-handedly
fought and won the war of liberation.
But a look
back at 1980 will show that his name was only one among the many
luminaries
of that war. In 1980 he would probably have only just made the
top 10 of
Zimbabwe's most illustrious war heroes. Read Edgar Tekere's
autobiography if
in doubt!
Even a cursory glance at the past 30 years would show that Mugabe's
apotheosis is misplaced. Only last week Genocide Watch, a United
States-based genocide watchdog classified the Gukurahundi massacres as
genocide.
Its chairman, Professor Stanton, said: "It's been clear to us
from the
beginning that this was genocide. The reason why it is important to
label it
as genocide is because genocide is the crime of crimes. It is the
worst of
all crimes against humanity."
Gukurahundi refers to the mass
killings of civilians in Matabeleland and
parts of the Midlands between 1982
and 1987.
By praising Mugabe as a hero Tsvangirai may have alienated himself
from the
thousands of people who have been in the trenches with him since
the
beginning of the millennium in a bid to do away with Mugabe's tyranny.
Hundreds have died in this fight while thousands have been displaced. Only
five years ago Mugabe left hundreds of thousands of people internally
displaced or homeless during Operation Murambatsvina.
Millions of people
have been denied their birthright and have found solace
in foreign lands
where the have endured xenophobia and the sheer humiliation
of not
belonging.
Those who have remained in the country still cannot come to terms
with how
the economy spiralled completely out of control leaving a
once-vibrant
country a basket case.
All these people, inside and outside
the country, would be hard pressed to
see how Mugabe could even remotely be
said to be part of the solution to the
country's problems. He is the
architect of the problems and the earlier he
removes himself from the scene
the quicker the problems will be solved.
Tsvangirai has been entrusted by the
people who have stood by him and who
have given him their mandate in polls
to remove the scourge that has haunted
them for the past 30 years.
We
appreciate he wants to promote reconciliation and nation-building in the
post-Mugabe era. But disregarding the plain truth is not the way to go about
it.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
Saturday, 18 September 2010 19:20
Our
nation called Zimbabwe is at the crossroads. This is arguably one of the
most defining moments in our post-independence experiences as a
nation.
The current conditions in Zimbabwe are tough but they present an
opportunity
for permanent change. Zimbabweans in the Diaspora are eager to
help in
rebuilding the country. They are eager to play their part. But they
have
concerns and fears which can easily be addressed.
I followed the
comments made by Trevor Ncube at the Economist conference in
South Africa
concerning dual citizen.
The Diaspora thinks that the constitution should
allow dual citizenship for
Zimbabweans. Zimbabwe can adopt the American or
Israeli citizenship models.
This will make a Zimbabwean always be a
Zimbabwean. This will make it easy
for the Diaspora to invest in their real
home called Zimbabwe. Israelites
have the guaranteed constitutional security
that their home is in Israel and
as such they always invest back home.
It
is a fact that a significant number of Zimbabweans have left the country
and
they still love to be Zimbabweans. But the fact is many in the Diaspora
have
found stable jobs and established families abroad. The trouble they
have is
where to invest their earnings. It is secure to invest back home
when they
know that the question of dual citizenship is solved.
This is partly because
most children born to Zimbabweans abroad have adopted
non-Zimbabwean
citizenships when in most cases both parents are Zimbabweans.
I have learnt
some lessons here in Scandinavia on how Diasporas can help
rebuild their
countries. In Sweden, Norway and Denmark, the governments have
advisory
boards which help their Diaspora citizens to invest back home.
This means
that if someone wants to buy a house in Zimbabwe there should be
a
clear-cut, transparent, reliable and efficient organ to help people in the
Diaspora to invest in the property markets in the country.
The private
sector can also play the same role. But the private agencies
need clear
public oversight and monitoring so that they don't steal from
people. We
might have these things in Zimbabwe but there is need to bring
transparency
and remove corruption.
This will make it easier for people to decide to
invest funds in the
country. These are simple things that people in and
outside the country need
in order to invest in Zimbabwe.
Another key
issue is that people want the freedom to express their thoughts
on anything
concerning national reconstruction. The negotiators of the power
sharing
agreement are totally disregarding the will of the people of
Zimbabwe. The
negotiations are so secret as if they are negotiating family
matters.
What they are negotiating are national issues that affect
everyone in the
country. The suggestion is that the national media,
especially TV and Radio
should have public programmes where people can
publicly call or have talk
shows where people can contribute their opinions
on the way forward.
Zimbabwe belongs to Zimbabweans and not politicians.
People must have the
right to know what is negotiated before it becomes law.
It is people who
should decide if something becomes law or not. This will
increase the
democratic credentials of the country and people can freely
invest in an
environment where they can air their genuine
opinions.
Ocean Marambanyika is a Peace and Conflict Expert in the
Department of Peace
and Conflict Studies, University of Oslo,
Norway.
Email: ceaniamars@yahoo.no