Zim Independent
Dumisani Muleya
ANTI-CORRUPTION minister Paul Mangwana said yesterday cabinet
ministers and
MPs involved in the wholesale looting of state-owned assets at
steel-making
company, Ziscosteel, would soon be arrested.
Mangwana
ratcheted up political pressure on officials named in a
report compiled by
the elite crime-investigating unit, the National Economic
Conduct
Inspectorate, by promising arrests at a time when government is
struggling
to counter public scepticism over its commitment to combat
graft.
This came after Industry and International Trade
minister Obert
Mpofu told parliament on Wednesday that "influential people"
had pillaged
Ziscosteel through "underhand dealings that have left the
company bleeding".
"Very soon we will take action and police
will make arrests of
those who were involved in corruption at Ziscosteel
irrespective of their
political or social status," Mangwana said. "It
doesn't matter if they are
ministers or MPs. As long as they were involved
they will be arrested. If we
find that a crime was committed by whoever we
will call in the police and
provide evidence for
prosecution."
The scramble by government officials to pillage
Ziscosteel
assets was said to be outrageous. Reserve Bank governor Gideon
Gono said in
July the central bank had saved Ziscosteel from closure by
providing an
emergency $2 trillion (old currency)
lifeline.
He said production at the company had plunged by
88% from 14 200
to 1 600 metric tonnes in February. The firm is saddled with
foreign debts
in excess of US$126 million. Ziscosteel is one in a chain of
major
parastatals which are technically insolvent.
The
report on high-level corruption at Ziscosteel has been kept
under wraps by
government amid revelations there were fears in the corridors
of power that
it will claim high-profile political casualties. Sources said
the Ziscosteel
saga could ruin the political careers of the culprits and
their
handlers.
"The corruption exposed in the report is beyond
ordinary
criminality," a source said. "It is tantamount to gangland
looting."
Mpofu said the report nailed top officials,
"including
colleagues of mine in this parliament". He however said the
report - which
one source said was "devastating" - would not be published
because it could
damage the country's already battered image. Mpofu said he
pleaded with
Mangwana not to release the names of those
involved.
"The report contains names of my colleagues in the
ministry, MPs
and employees at Zisco. But for strategic reasons I asked
Minister Mangwana
to hold on to the report until we find a foreign
investor," he said.
Indian company Global Steel Holdings
recently withdrew from a
US$400 million contract at Ziscosteel after it was
angered by operational
chaos at the local firm and shortages of critical
inputs such as coking
coal, spare parts, fuel, as well as plant and
equipment.
Asked in parliament if he was not undermining
official policy to
weed out corruption by suppressing the report, Mpofu said
he was not
protecting anyone but did not want to scare away
investors.
"I would not support a situation where a lot of
noise is made
about corruption at Zisco when we are trying to attract
foreign investors,"
he said.
But some observers say the
publication of the report could
actually help to portray government in good
light as it would show a new
attitude of zero-tolerance for
corruption.
In the past corrupt ministers and other officials
have been
allowed to get away scot-free as government either ignored such
issues or
sought to sweep them under the carpet.
Mangwana, who is also acting Information minister, said
government would
assess the report to see if those named were partners in
crime through
systematic corruption or via such things as
"maladministration, incompetence
or inefficiency".
He said the report would not be published
because it was not for
public consumption. "My reports are for internal use,
not public
consumption. They are not for the media. We are (crime)
intelligence people
and we investigate corruption at all levels and make
recommendations," he
said.
Zim Independent
Paul Nyakazeya/ Itai Mushekwe
PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe's trips to Cuba and the United States
for the
Non-Aligned Movement (Nam) summit and United Nations General
Assembly last
week forced Air Zimbabwe to charter a plane from Portugal for
five days to
service its overseas routes as the country's only working
long-haul plane
had been chartered by the Department of State Protocol to
carry the
presidential delegation.
Information to hand shows that Air
Zimbabwe chartered a Boeing
767-300 from Lisbon from Thursday to Monday this
week to service the Harare
to London route and the Dubai, Singapore and
China routes.
The Department of Protocol falls under the
Office of the
President. Sources said the Lisbon-based plane was leased for
US$2 million
for the five-day period. The 767-300, which has a bigger
carrying capacity
than Air Zimbabwe's Boeing 767-200, flew to Dubai once and
to London three
times. The aircraft returned to Portugal after its last
flight to London on
Monday.
The sources said government
chartered the Air Zimbabwe plane to
fly President Mugabe to the Nam summit
in Havana last Thursday and it stayed
in Cuba until Sunday when the
presidential delegation flew to New York for
the United Nations General
Assembly meeting.
Diplomatic sources said the presidential
charter flew about 70
people to New York, including a 26-member crew. The
crew, diplomats said,
had special visas which allowed them to land the plane
in New York to drop
Mugabe's party and immediately take
off.
Due to US targeted sanctions against President Mugabe
and senior
officials in his governments, there are visa restrictions on the
movement of
the Zimbabwe delegation outside the UN base.
From New York, the Air Zimbabwe plane flew to London where it
picked up
passengers to Harare. Meanwhile, on the same day, the
Portuguese-based plane
chartered by Air Zimbabwe flew to London with
passengers and then back to
its homeland.
Sources said Mugabe was not likely to be picked
up in America
after the UN General Assembly as plans had been made to pick
him up either
in West Africa or in France using the regular London to Harare
flight. This
would require a diversion.
Contacted for
comment yesterday, Air Zimbabwe spokesman David
Mwenga said the cost of the
plane lease was below US$2 million. He could not
reveal the actual
figure.
"That's not true. I don't know where you're getting
that amount.
For your information, the actual cost is less than half the
amount you're
talking about," said Mwenga yesterday.
Air
Zimbabwe under normal circumstances operates two Boeing 767s
on its
long-haul routes but one of the planes has been grounded in Germany
for
almost four months due to technical faults. Mugabe travelled with the
first
lady Grace Mugabe, Foreign Affairs minister Simbarashe Mumbengegwi and
senior government officials.
Zim Independent
Ray Matikinye
HARARE
North MP Trudy Stevenson says MDC leader Morgan
Tsvangirai is trying to
wriggle out of culpability for the violence that
resulted in the brutal
attack on her near Mabvuku in July.
Commenting on a report by
a commission of inquiry set up by the
Tsvangirai camp of the fractured
opposition party which dwelt on
infiltration by the CIO, Stevenson said the
MDC leader should take stock of
the commission's findings to cleanse his
party of violence.
"I am hoping Tsvangirai will take it (the
report) as a first
step and start dealing with infiltration and realise his
failure to act on
the violence among some of the people close to him. He has
depended much on
his "kitchen cabinet" for advice and that is the major
reason why the party
split," she said.
Citing the
violence that ensued at Adelaide Acres in 2001,
Stevenson said Tsvangirai
had been warned over the past five years by
executive members concerned
about the infiltration and the violent streak in
some of his closest aides
but he had simply ignored it.
Stevenson said she was
surprised the police had dropped charges
against Mabvuku MP Timothy Mabhawu
when investigations revealed that a phone
belonging to Simangele Manyere,
one of the victims, was found at the home of
the MP's campaign manager who
is Mabvuku district treasurer.
"When I asked the police why
they had dropped charges they were
'mealie-mouthed' about the issue. They
were embarrassed," Stevenson said
yesterday.
Tsvangirai
disputed some of the findings of the report at a
press conference on
Wednesday.
"We disagree with some of the findings because
they are based on
factually incorrect information," he
said.
"The commission states that previous attempts to
address issues
of violence within the party failed to bear fruit. That is
incorrect. We
took action against certain individuals involved in violence
in the past. In
June 2005, we expelled more than 30 youths from the party
because of their
violent activities."
But Stevenson said
the dismissal of five officials from the
party in the initial stages of a
purge, ostensibly to limit damage caused by
infiltration into the opposition
party by government agents, simply
reinforced her assertion. The four
include head of security for Harare
province, Smart Mesa, and chairwoman of
Harare province, Rorana Dandajena.
Also fired were
Mabvuku-Tafara district members - all from one
family - Beauty Duncan Gatsi,
the organising secretary in the main wing,
Judith Gatsi, chairperson of the
women's wing, Albert Gatsi, who had a ward
position, and Reginald Gatsi,
secretary of the youth league.
Victims of the purge, who
refused to be identified for fear of
reprisals said: "We could not imagine
the president (Tsvangirai) stooping
that low. We were shocked by his
behaviour as we did not expect him to fire
us without even bringing us
before a disciplinary committee."
Smart Mesa, who was
responsible for security, was fired when the
party discovered that he was a
former CID police officer who was allegedly
passing party information to the
CIO.
Dandajena was fired because of her alleged strong ties
with
Priscilla Misihairabwi-Mushonga, the deputy secretary-general in the
Mutambara-led MDC.
Zim Independent
Clemence Manyukwe
DEPUTY Health
minister Edwin Muguti was last week forced by
government to retract
allegations that the National Aids Council (Nac) was
abusing funds due to
fears that it would trigger negative sentiments among
donors.
This comes at a time when Muguti has confirmed to
the Zimbabwe
Independent that there was an attempt to poison him last week,
an incident
he said was
being investigated by
police.
Sources this week said although Nac was funded
through taxpayers'
money, Muguti was subjected to immense pressure by
government and the
organisation over the allegations incase donors involved
in Aids funding
shied away from related projects in
Zimbabwe.
Muguti appeared on television two weeks ago saying
a large chunk
of Nac funds was not reaching the intended beneficiaries -
those living with
HIV and Aids - only to stage a dramatic U-turn a week
later.
In backtracking, Muguti said his sentiments were
"misconstrued"
and accused the media of having a hidden
agenda.
"My sentiments were misconstrued. The media
sensationalised what
were historical concerns made by a Member of the House
of Assembly to his
constituency," Muguti said.
However,
sources said Muguti was forced to swallow his words
after Nac wrote to him
and later met him to warn him that his statements
were likely to influence
donors, particularly the Global Health Fund, to
refuse to release funds to
Zimbabwe.
In an interview yesterday, Nac board chairperson
Revered
Murombedzi Kuchera, confirmed that they wrote to Muguti and
subsequently met
him, but said whatever had happened was now water under the
bridge as both
the minister and Nac had set the record
straight.
"We wrote a very short letter to the deputy
minister and later
met him. I do not think you have a story. You should look
for breaking
news," Kuchera said.
On allegations that he
was put under pressure to reverse his
comments on Nac's priorities, Muguti
said: "I am highly resilient, I cannot
be pressured. I am a former military
man, a major and that combination is
dangerous. There may be people who may
want to pressure me but they can't
win."
Asked how he
could be misconstrued on television, Muguti said it
was through editing out
some of his words.
On the issue of poisoning, Muguti said:
"There was an issue like
that, but I cannot comment as it is under
investigation by police."
The poisoning is alleged to have
taken place at a Harare
restaurant last week.
Zim Independent
Ray Matikinye
PRESIDENT Robert
Mugabe's anti-graft unit has failed to take off
the ground after it emerged
this week that people hired for various posts
with the Anti-Corruption
Commission have not started work.
Thirteen people, among them
five directors and six personal
assistants, who were interviewed and passed
a stringent vetting process in
March are waiting to take up their
posts.
Among the recruits are former civil servants and
others from the
private sector.
"We left our jobs some
time in June when we received appointment
letters but up to now we are
roaming the streets," one of the affected
recruits said.
The group that would have formed the commission's secretariat
was supposed
to start work on July 3.
"We were told to leave our jobs to
take up new appointments. But
when we go to the commission's office in
Strathaven, people there tried to
avoid us," one of those recruited told the
Zimbabwe Independent on Tuesday
this week. "You go there and no one seems to
know what is happening. One is
left to wonder whether the commission is
functioning and people start
wondering about the sincerity of the whole idea
of setting up a commission
as without a secretariat the body cannot work,"
the recruit said.
The Anti-Corruption Commission was sworn in
by President Mugabe
in October last year to spearhead the battle against
graft, blamed for
worsening economic hardships.
Eric
Harid, the former Comptroller and Auditor-General, heads
the
commission.
Other commissioners are Police Senior Assistant
Commissioner,
Casper Khumalo, Harare lawyer Johannes Tomana, Retired
Brigadier Elasto
Madzingira, Alice Nkomo, Bessie Nhandara, Juliet Machoba,
Rungano Utaunashe
and lawyer Luziwa Nyamwanza.
The
situation of the recruits has become so desperate that "at
one time the
group contemplated taking the commission to court over the
issue".
One of the recruits who declined to be named but
said he was
representing colleagues facing the same predicament, bemoaned
the delay.
"Nobody thought it was going to get this far. People can't pay
their rentals
or electricity bills because they are not being paid. Most of
us have no
other source of income."
But yesterday Harid
said the recruits had misunderstood the
technicalities of the recruitment
procedure.
"The letters they were given were appointment
letters to assure
them that they had secured jobs," Harid said. "The
procedure works in two
parts. First there is appointment, followed by a
notification of assumption
of duty."
He said the recruits
asked for the letters so that they could be
assured they had
jobs.
"I have assured them that their jobs are secure. What
is left is
the final papers which are with the principal director in the
ministry,"
Harid said.
Anti-Corruption and Anti
Monopolies minister, Paul Mangwana,
yesterday said he was in the process of
finalising the procedures so that
those recruited can start
work.
"As you are aware, this is a sensitive ministry and we
have to
make sure every appointment is done properly. We have to vet the
recruits
properly to ensure transparency," Mangwana said.
"After going through the procedures thoroughly, we will call
them to start
work."
Zim Independent
Clemence Manyukwe
ZIMBABWE'S
new criminal code is invalid as it ousts the
Roman-Dutch law prescribed by
the constitution, a constitutional appeal
lodged with the Supreme Court this
week argues.
The appeal, that may have far-reaching
consequences for the
administration of justice in the country, seeks to set
aside a conviction
and subsequent release from prison of a person jailed
under the Criminal Law
(Codification and Reform) Act on grounds that it is
unconstitutional.
The Act, which became operational in July,
stipulates that the
Roman-Dutch criminal law "shall no longer apply within
Zimbabwe to the
extent that this code expressly or impliedly enacts,
re-enacts, amends,
modifies or repeals that law".
Blessing Mahwire, who is doing time at Chikurubi prison after
being
sentenced to an effective two years in jail in a corruption-related
case,
filed the application on Wednesday through Harare lawyer Lewis Uriri
of
Honey & Blackenberg. Attorney-General Sobusa Gula-Ndebele and Justice
minister Patrick Chinamasa are the respondents.
In her
founding affidavit, Mahwire said whereas Section 89 of
the constitution says
the Roman Dutch law is the one that is in force in
Zimbabwe, Section 3 of
the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act says
the former no longer
applies and as a result repeals it.
Mahwire said it was not
possible for an Act of Parliament to
repeal a section of the constitution,
as this has to be done through a
constitutional
amendment.
The applicant's affidavit reads: "Section 3 of the
Criminal Code
purports to wholly do away with the Roman-Dutch law and to
replace it with
provisions of the criminal code.
"In so
doing parliament acted unlawfully and outside the
parameters of Section 89
of the constitution. Parliament's illegitimate baby
cannot be saved. It is
unconstitutional and as such of no force or effect,"
she
argued.
Mahwire said that if the act is found to be
unconstitutional she
must be released from prison.
"I
further pray that in remedying the breach, this court may be
pleased to set
aside the whole process leading to and including my
conviction and sentence
and that I forthwith be released from prison," she
said.
Zim Independent
Loughty Dube
ZIMBABWE
is the only country on the continent that has not
addressed issues of
concern raised by the African, Caribbean and
Pacific-European Union (ACP-EU)
parliamentary committee at its previous
meeting.
An
African conflict situations report presented to parliamentary
working
committees at the Belgium meeting last week indicated that Zimbabwe
had
refused to address issues raised by the ACP-EU under Article 96 of the
Cotonou Agreement.
The report indicated that Zimbabwe had
done nothing to address
issues of human rights abuses, restoration of the
rule of law and the issue
of free and fair elections.
On
the other hand the report said Sudan, the Democratic Republic
of Congo
(DRC), Liberia, Ivory Coast and Togo had made tremendous progress
towards
resolving issues raised at the ACP-EU meeting.
Zimbabwe was
represented at the meeting by MDC anti-senate
spokesperson Nelson Chamisa
and Zanu PF Masvingo South MP Walter Mzembi.
The ACP-EU
parliamentary committee is the preparatory body that
meets before the main
ACP-EU meetings.
This year's meeting is scheduled for
Barbados in November.
Chamisa confirmed attending the
Brussels meeting but could not
give details as he said he needed to present
a report to parliament before
going public with resolutions reached at the
meeting.
"The issues discussed were varied and Zimbabwe came
under
discussion at the meeting but I cannot give details of what transpired
until
I have presented a report to parliament on matters that came under
discussion," Chamisa said.
The ACP-EU meets four times a
year and two of the meetings
tackle issues to be dealt with by the full
joint parliamentary session.
However, it emerged that the
meeting revealed divisions as some
Pacific and Caribbean delegates supported
their EU counterparts while South
Africa and some other African countries
tried to block discussion of
Zimbabwe.
Zimbabwe has
created tensions at international fora as some
African countries have backed
Zimbabwe on a wholesale basis while the West
has stood resolute in its
criticism of the country's undemocratic practices.
The issue
of the assault on Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions
activists by state
security agents while in police detention last week also
came up for
discussion. The EU has imposed targeted sanctions against
President Mugabe
and his lieutenants that bar them from travelling to
Europe.
Zim Independent
ENVIRONMENT and Tourism deputy minister Andrew Langa
has filed a
report with the police against Small and Medium Enterprises
(SMEs) minister
Sithembiso Nyoni following a telephone spat in which insults
and threats
were uttered.
The two ministers exchanged
harsh words over the phone last week
after Nyoni took exception to
statements allegedly uttered by Langa at a
public meeting where he allegedly
accused her of being involved in stock
theft.
During the
telephone conversation, Nyoni allegedly threatened
Langa who then made a
report to the police.
Police in Insiza have since opened a
docket against Nyoni and
the matter is expected to go to court
soon.
What has remained a mystery are the actual threats that
Nyoni
made against Langa.
Police spokesperson Wayne
Bvudzijena confirmed that a docket had
been opened on the matter but could
not be drawn to reveal what the actual
threats made on Langa
were.
"We received a complaint from Langa and we have since
opened a
docket on the matter but I will not reveal what the alleged threats
were.
Maybe the complainant could give you more details," Bvudzijena
said.
He said the matter was expected to go to court
soon.
Langa when contacted refused to shed light on the
nature of the
threats but invited the Zimbabwe Independent to attend the
Gwanda courts to
get the actual threats uttered by Nyoni when the case goes
for a hearing.
"Threats were made against me and the matter
was reported to the
police and it will go to court soon," said Langa. "I
shall not say anything
on the matter now. Maybe you can wait for the matter
to go to court so that
you know the actual threats made."
Nyoni could not be contacted as her mobile phone was out of
reach most of
the time.
Nyoni was allegedly miffed by Langa's statements
made at a
meeting he held with farmers in Fort Rixon last Saturday to
discuss
increasing cases of stock theft in the area. At the meeting the
farmers
explored ways of reducing stock theft cases in the area, which is
near Nyoni's
property, Fountain Farm.
During the meeting
Langa told the farmers that senior
politicians in the area were behind the
stock theft but did not mention any
names.
It is alleged
that Nyoni later called Langa seeking
clarification on statements made at
the meeting. It was during that
telephone conversation that threats were
allegedly made against Langa. -
Staff Writer.
Zim Independent
THERE was chaos at the Mangwe Rural District Council
nomination
court in Matabeleland South on Wednesday when the presiding
officer
allegedly extended the sitting by two hours to allow a Zanu PF
candidate to
submit her papers.
Members of the opposition
Movement for Democratic Change clashed
with Zanu PF officials over the
extension of the deadline after Zanu PF's
Ward 7 candidate Joyce Dube failed
to arrive at the nomination court by 4pm.
The decision to
wait for Dube, who had delayed by two hours,
incensed members of the
opposition who complained bitterly to the presiding
officer.
A power outage further exacerbated the situation
as the MDC
candidate waited for Dube after the extension of the deadline,
said sources.
This allegedly prompted the presiding officer
to close the
nomination court and allow for verification of the
candidates.
At the end of the nomination process, the Arthur
Mutambara-led
faction of the MDC had 16 candidates while the Tsvangirai's
camp only had
two candidates. Zanu PF had 17 candidates
nominated.
Meanwhile, in other centres in Matabeleland, the
nomination of
candidates was marred by confusion as some candidates were
turned away.
Willie Sibata of Ward 19 in Gwanda rural
district was turned
away after his name was struck off the voters
roll.
The Tsvangirai-led faction, which was reportedly
struggling to
find candidates in Matabeleland South, only managed to put up
one candidate
while Zanu PF had all its 23 candidates
nominated.
The nomination court was sitting in 57 rural
district councils
and six urban local authorities. Elections will be held on
October 28.
Zim Independent
Itai Mushekwe
AIR Zimbabwe's
long-haul Boeing 767, grounded in July after
developing a technical fault,
is now undergoing a mandatory modification in
Germany where it was taken for
repairs, businessdigest established this
week.
The
aircraft, one of two Boeing 767-200 Extended Range planes
flying
international routes, has not been in the air since developing an oil
leak
after flying to London's Gatwick International Airport last July where
it
was declared unfit to fly.
The aircraft runs on a Pratt &
Whitney 4 000 engine.
The remaining Boeing 767 has been
flying to all international
routes previously serviced by the two planes.
These include the London,
Beijing, Singapore and Dubai
routes.
Travel agents said the delay in repairing the plane
had severely
affected servicing of the airline's international
routes.
The airliner was moved for repairs to Lufthansa
Technik's
workshops in Hamburg, Germany, in July. Lufthansa
Technik, which specialises in aviation engineering, maintenance
and overhaul
services, is a subsidiary of Lufthansa German Airlines, which
also operates
Lufthansa Airline.
Although Air Zimbabwe's Boeing aircraft
was expected to have
returned in August, information obtained this week
indicated that Air
Zimbabwe's management had eventually decided that the
Boeing should undergo
the mandatory modification after the technical fault
had necessitated the
opening of the aircraft's engine.
The bearing that had caused the leak was inside the engine,
resulting in
engineers deciding to drop the engine from the pylon for
repairs.
A decision was then made to have the repairs
done concurrently
with a mandatory modification, ordered about three years
ago by the engine's
manufacturer, Pratt & Whitney. Pratt & Whitney
makes, designs and supports
engines for commercial, military and general
aircraft and space propulsion
systems.
Sources said the
modification, meant to improve engine
efficiency, was ordered by Pratt &
Whitney for all Boeing 767s, 747s and
737s.
Acting Air
Zimbabwe CEO, Oscar Madombwe, himself a practising
pilot, yesterday
confirmed the mandatory modification for the Boeing 767.
"We
had planned it would go to the workshop before the (engine
leak)," said
Madombwe. He said the nature of the repairs had later resulted
in a decision
that the modifications be embodied on the engine at the same
time as the
repairs.
Air Zimbabwe spokesman, David Mwenga, confirmed they
had taken
the plane to Germany.
"We decided to take the
plane to Germany for repair because here
in Zimbabwe we do not have the
technical equipment and capacity to open
engines. The Boeing 767 PW 4 000
engine is special and requires expert
attention; this is a job that we can't
handle here," Mwenga said.
In a press statement issued late
yesterday following
businessdigest's press enquiries to his office, Mwenga
said Lufthansa
Technik was Air Zimbabwe's "partner who overhauls our B767
engines".
"Luftansa Technick is about to complete the
overhaul and advises
us that it should be ready for putting back on the
wings the first week of
October," a statement by Mwenga, quoting Air
Zimbabwe's acting director of
Engineering and Technical Operations, Boston
Odongo said.
Mwenga said Air Zimbabwe would be sending 12
engineers to
Lufthansa Technik next month to do an engine re-installation,
general
aircraft inspection and maintenance before the aircraft was brought
back
into the country by October 9.
Zim Independent
Dumisani Ndlela
BUSINESS
leaders yesterday united in condemning a crackdown on
managers accused of
violating government-imposed price controls, saying they
expected
"authorities to fully respect and protect the legal rights of
persons to
conduct their business without fear of intimidation".
The
criticism by the business leaders marked the first ever
public rebuke by
business of government, whose record of using security
agents to violate
people's rights and freedoms has been documented by both
local and
international rights-based groups.
The unprecedented
criticism of the government-sanctioned
clampdown was endorsed by the
leadership of the Confederation of Zimbabwe
Industries, the Bankers
Association of Zimbabwe, the Chamber of Mines of
Zimbabwe, the Zimbabwe
National Chamber of Commerce and well-known
industrialist, Anthony
Mandiwanza, the chief executive of Dairibord Holdings
as well as chairman of
private sector representatives on the National
Economic Development Priority
Programme (NEDPP).
The NEDPP was formulated by the government
through the Zimbabwe
National Security Council, chaired by President Robert
Mugabe.
Its aim has been to revive the country's
crisis-sapped economy
through mobilisation of at least US$2,5 billion by
last month.
"We condemn unreservedly the manner in which the
police have
gone about arresting and incarcerating our managers. There are
clearly laid
out procedures that respect the rights of citizens," the
business leaders
said in a statement.
The reaction by the
business executives follows the arrest of
several managers for increasing
prices without authority from government.
Reserve Bank of
Zimbabwe governor Gideon Gono, who has taken
charge of the country's
turn-around programme, this month called on industry
players to halt price
hikes, saying these militated against his turn-around
efforts.
The business leaders said they were keen to
cooperate with
government in finding "practical and urgent solutions to our
persistent and
very serious economic problems".
"As key
players in the economy we should focus our attention on
inflation and speedy
(policy) implementation that guarantees the reversal of
the downward trend
and change our fortunes," they said.
Zimbabwe is currently
undergoing its worst economic crisis in
history, characterised by shortages
of basis food commodities as well as
acute foreign currency and fuel
shortages that have disrupted the normal
functioning of the
economy.
"Businesses are already operating under extremely
difficult
conditions and any further unwarranted harassment only serves to
delay the
prospects of the turnaround of our economy," the business leaders
said.
Zim Independent
Paul Nyakazeya
ZIMBABWE'S
domestic debt this month doubled in a space of less
than 15 days, touching
an all-time high of nearly $130 billion or $130
trillion under the recently
phased out currency system, latest figures from
the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe
revealed.
The debt opened the month at $64 billion, reaching
$97 billion
within seven days before scaling to $127 billion on September
15.
The high debt level raised fears that inflation, blamed
by
critics on government spending, would accelerate to unprecedented levels
during the year.
The International Monetary Fund last
week said that inflation
would average 1 200% this year, and 4 000% next
year, indicating that it
could breach the 5 000% level next
year.
Inflation, which had eased during the months of June
and July to
levels just over 900%, made an extraordinary surge in August to
touch an
all-time high of 1 204,6%.
The biggest component
of the debt was in interest payments,
amounting to a hefty $81 billion or
64% of the debt.
The interest payments were for treasury
bills, most of which
were issued to the market at rates of between 500% and
525%.
The principal Treasury bill debt amounted to $45
billion, or 35%
of government debt.
Zim Independent
Itai Mushekwe
A SENIOR civil
servant this week revealed that government was
working on legislation that
would compel all foreign-owned companies to cede
half their stakes to
indigenous people.
Threats of forced disposal of key stakes
for indigenisation have
in the past only been directed at the mining sector,
whose ownership
structure is dominated by foreign firms.
But there have been muffled suggestions among ruling Zanu PF
hawks that most
major economic players, particularly banks like Standard
Chartered and
Stanbic Bank, which are wholly foreign-owned, should be
targeted under the
indigenisation programme.
Ozias Hove, the permanent secretary
in the Ministry of
Indigenisation and Empowerment, said government would
broaden the
empowerment requirements to include all economic
sectors.
"I want to take this opportunity to inform you that
the proposed
National Indigenisation and Empowerment Bill that seeks to
legislate for all
indigenisation and empowerment programmes is now in its
final legal drafting
stage at the Attorney-General's office," Hove said
during the presentation
of $40 million to the National Investment Trust by
the National Social
Security Authority on Wednesday.
He
said indigenisation and empowerment would "basically
endeavour to change the
status of black Zimbabweans by providing access to,
control and optimal
utiulisation of economic resources".
"In fact, the policy
provision is that indigenous people shall
control at least 50% shareholding
in all sectors of the economy. For this
objective to be realised.government
has made it policy that a significant
share of equity and business in all
sectors of the economy is in the hands
of indigenous people," Hove
said.
He said the country would not develop at the mercy "of
foreign
interests" and that economic nationalism was "the hallmark of all
sovereign
nations".
The move is unlikely to receive
backing from foreign investors,
targeted by government under its economic
turn-around programme, and will
likely cause further economic shrinkage in
the investment-strapped country.
"That's not a clever idea,"
said independent economic
consultant, John Robertson. "Government appears to
think that a company is a
collection of assets and if someone else owns half
the assets the company
will continue to work. We've seen that happening with
the land reform
programme."
Hove lashed out at
Zimbabweans opposing government's
indigenisation thrust, saying such people
had denounced "their own identity,
their own country and indeed the national
interest while pandering to
foreign imperialist interests".
Zim Independent
Paul Nyakazeya
CONSTRUCTION
costs for residential accommodation have ballooned
by about 350% to between
$100 000 and $250 000 per square metre during the
third quarter of the year,
an industry expert said this week.
Nico Kuipa, president of
the Real Estate Institute of Zimbabwe
(REIZ), said construction costs during
the second quarter were between $50
000 and $70 000 but these had shot up
considerable due to inflationary
pressures.
Kuipa said
the exorbitant construction costs had inhibited
housing developments as it
was now beyond the majority of the population to
build
houses.
"For low density areas, it now costs about $250 000
per square.
For high density areas one has to fork out about half of that
cost," said
Kuipa.
"One likes to think inflation has
peaked and that it will be the
same for property prices and building costs,"
Kuipa said.
Inflation is currently pegged at 1 204,6% for
August, an all
time high.
Kuipa said many building
projects had been abandoned or derailed
because people were failing to meet
construction costs.
As a result, he said, activity on the
property market during the
third quarter of the year had been constrained,
with homeowners holding on
to their properties.
Property
prices had also risen during the period due to
inflationary
pressures.
Kuipa said residential properties were selling at
a premium
because of a shortage in the market.
The rising
costs of construction and properties have had the
effect of pushing up
rentals, which many property owners are reviewing after
every three
months.
"Rentals have continued to skyrocket in line with
inflation.
Significant rises are being recorded in the city centre, were
municipal
rates are also rising at an alarming rate," he said.
Zim Independent
ZIMBABWE'S largest mortgage lender,
Central African Building
Society (Cabs), advanced a total of $940 million
during the financial year
to June 2006, a 252% increase on the $267 million
disbursed during the same
period last year.
The building
society said of the funds lent, $422 million was
advanced on the security of
residential properties.
Funds amounting to $518 million were
made available for
commercial and industrial properties.
"The mortgage book grew to $1,3 billion as at June 30.
Nevertheless, the
year was challenging one in that mortgage lending was not
very active given
the economic fundamentals which affected the property
market," the society's
board of directors said in a statement accompanying
financial
results.
Cabs said the increase in property prices, interest
rates and
building costs remained an obstacle to both property purchases and
developments.
"In light of this, the society's mortgage
book performance was
inconsistent with the previous period. In spite of the
challenging times for
many of our borrowers, the society does not have a
single property in
possession of its books," Cabs said.
During the period under review the building society spent $133
million on
housing developments.
Cabs managing director Kevin Terry told
businessdigest that the
building society would continue supporting housing
development as interest
rates were still beyond the reach of many potential
home owners.
Prices of land and houses have risen by over
500% since the
beginning of the year.
"The building
society made available $133 million to fund
infrastructural development and
servicing of stands in Bulawayo, Kwekwe and
Gweru," Terry
said.
He said of the $133 million, $90 million was used to
service 273
stands in Bulawayo.
"We are committed to
finding ways to develop affordable housing
projects countrywide. The major
difficulty we are facing is the
unavailability of serviced stands with title
deeds," he said.
Cabs said it was negotiating with property
developers to finance
housing development projects country wide to reduce
the housing backlog.
"Our aim is to increase mortgage
finance, but at the moment we
are not earning any money because interest
rates are low. Until we
understand where rates and inflation is going, we
can not say how much we
intend to spend on housing this (financial) year,"
Terry said.
The building society said after taking into
account all
operating expenses, interest to depositors and making allowances
for
provisions, the society recorded a net profit of $4,2 billion for the
period
before appropriations.
Zim Independent
Ray Matikinye
THE arrest
last week of trade union leaders alongside other
political activists and
their subsequent assault at Matapi police station
serves as the latest
installment of how Zimbabwe has been wiping its feet on
international
conventions.
The incident which raised the anger of trade
union organisations
worldwide, refocused a harsh spotlight on Zimbabwe's
already soiled human
rights record.
Various international
labour, human rights and civic
organisations joined in a chorus of
condemnation of government action,
calling for the perpetrators to be
punished.
Zimbabwe became a member of the UN five months
after attaining
Independence from Britain in August 1980, putting itself in
the ambit of the
Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or
Degrading Treatment
or Punishment which came into force on June 26
1987.
The Convention was adopted and opened for signature,
ratification and accession by General Assembly resolution 39/46 of December
10 1984.
Article 2 of the Convention to which 141 of the
192 member
nations are party states: "Each State Party shall take effective
legislative, administrative, judicial or other measures to prevent acts of
torture in any territory under its jurisdiction."
Ten
members signed the Convention but are yet to ratify it.
Zimbabwe, for all its belligerent howls of being a sovereign
state that has
to be left to its own designs, has resisted any attempt to
criminalise
torture. Instead, it has granted culprits immunity as
illustrated by
perpetrators of political violence since the June 2000
election.
Article 4 of the UN Convention says each state
shall ensure that
all acts of torture are offences under its criminal law.
The same shall
apply to an attempt to commit torture and to an act by any
person which
constitutes complicity or participation in
torture.
"Each State Party shall make these offences
punishable by
appropriate penalties which take into account their grave
nature."
Parliament has requested President Mugabe to ratify
the UN
Convention Against Torture but he has taken an inordinate time to
append his
signature.
On Monday more than 50 trade
unionists marched outside the
Zimbabwean Embassy in Washington chanting:
"Stop the beatings, stop the
torture," and "ZCTU, American workers support
you," to protest recent
attacks against members of the ZCTU by government.
Barbara Shailor, an the
American Federation of Labour and Congress of
Industrial Organisations
(AFL-CIO) programme officer, said it was very
important to demonstrate on
the day Mugabe was coming
to New
York to attend the annual meeting of the UN General
Assembly.
"We need to tell the embassy that we will not
stand for the
violation of trade union rights in Zimbabwe. What these people
have gone
through must not go unnoticed as Mugabe moves about the streets of
New
York," Shailor said.
Members of the AFL-CIO, a major
US labour organisation, marched
in front of the Zimbabwean Embassy carrying
placards that read "Promote
workers' rights worldwide" and "Mugabe - free
unionists."
David Claxton, an officer with the Coalition of
Black Trade
Unionists (CBTU) demanded that Mugabe investigate the assault,
medical care
for all those injured, protection of the right of labour to
organise and
"active government engagement with the ZCTU to resolve the
economic crisis"
in Zimbabwe.
Tony Baker, another CBTU
member, told the crowd: "Almost 20
years ago, CBTU led a demonstration to
the South African Embassy protesting
apartheid. There is nothing different
about South Africa then and Zimbabwe
now. The only difference was that
(South Africa) was a white regime
oppressing black workers and this
(Zimbabwe) is a black regime oppressing
black workers."
David Dorn, director of international programmes for the
American Federation
of Teachers (AFT), said: "We are here because this
suppression of labour in
Zimbabwe has just gone on far too long. Our
organisation has been working
with the teachers' union in Zimbabwe for a
number of years now, actually
with help from the State Department. But the
problem is people are suffering
so much it's hard to sustain an education
programme in a country where
people are scrabbling just to get by from day
to day."
The United States, a critic of Mugabe's decades of misrule, has
condemned
the attacks.
US State Department spokesman Sean McCormack
said last Thursday's
action by government against those wishing to protest
on behalf of greater
democracy, better wages and access to treatment for
Aids sufferers, was
another example of its denial of basic rights to its
citizens.
"We call for the immediate release of those
detained and access
to medical treatment for those who were injured," he
said.
Lord Triesman, in a statement from the Foreign and
Commonwealth
Office following the crackdown on the trade union demonstration
in Zimbabwe,
said: "The British government condemns these actions. The
people of
Zimbabwe, suffering from economic decline caused by flawed
policies, have
the right to voice their concerns through peaceful protest.
This attack on
the ZCTU is the latest in a series of well-documented and
brutal crackdowns
by the government of Zimbabwe to suppress any form of
civic opposition. The
violence associated with this suppression is a further
abuse of human
rights.
"Zimbabwe is in the midst of an
accelerating crisis. This is an
economy at the point of collapse. We urge
the government of Zimbabwe to
start a process of national dialogue,
including all opposition and civil
society, and undertake a fundamental and
sustainable reform programme based
on national
consensus."
The statement said the arrests had in some cases
led to
assaults, as well as refusal of access to legal representation and
medical
treatment.
Locally, condemnation came from the
Zimbabwe Association of
Doctors for Human Rights for the assault on ZCTU
members and supporters from
Wednesday until the evening of
Thursday.
"ZADHR condemns the initial refusal by the police
to release the
injured from Matapi police station to a medical facility for
urgent
treatment," the doctors said in a statement.
Chairperson of ZADHR, Dr Douglas Gwatidzo, said his organisation
was also
very concerned that other ZCTU members may be in grave medical
condition at
other police stations in Zimbabwe.
The Zimbabwe Human Rights
Forum (ZHRF), a coalition of 16 rights
groups, said in a statement
condemning the assault on labour leaders and
activists from civic
organisations: "Torture in Zimbabwe is both widespread
and systemic,
demanding both a national and an international response. The
ZHRF demands .
the immediate investigation of all allegations of torture and
the
prosecution of all those guilty of torture."
The Convention
on torture, among other provisions, says "no
exceptional circumstances
whatsoever, whether a state of war or a threat of
war, internal political
instability or any other public emergency, may be
invoked as a justification
of torture".
It says an order from a superior officer or a
public authority
may not be invoked as a justification for
torture.
The Congress of South African Trade Unions demanded
disciplinary
action against police officers found to have been responsible
for the
beating and torture of detainees.
Article 5 of the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights provides
that no one shall be
subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading
treatment or
punishment in conformity with the declaration adopted by the
General
Assembly on December 9 1975.
Zimbabwe's torture record became
tainted a mere two years after
Independence in the Matabeleland campaign
during which an estimated 20 000
people were killed in operations launched
ostensibly to flush out
dissidents.
Six years ago, with
the emergence of a robust opposition
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC)
incidents of torture heightened.
An analysis by the Zimbabwe
Human Right NGO Forum published in
June this year singles out the Home
Affairs and Defence ministers as
defendants in cases of torture which peaked
in 2003.
"The involvement of the army in torture is reflected
in
allegations by perpetrators but it was also the case that the uniformed
branch of the ZRP and the CID were significantly associated with torture,"
the NGO Forum says in its compilation of torture
statistics.
Under the Convention member states have an
obligation to ensure
that education and information regarding the
prohibition against torture are
fully included in the training of law
enforcement personnel.
Zim Independent
By Tony Namate
I RECENTLY
caught a cockroach red-handed in my kitchen.
While this might
sound a trivial non-event to many, I found it
extremely alarming to see this
pest in my home after several years of having
outlawed cockroaches from my
house. It is a hobby of mine to hunt down these
bugs in their dark corners
and eliminate them one by one, methodically
cleaning out their breeding
places with military detachment (no pun).
As the
aforementioned cockroach groggily crawled across my
kitchen table, it paused
to look mockingly at me, mildly mopping its brow,
daring me to do something.
A cold, involuntary shudder crept up my spine as
I quickly drew back in
genuine horror.
Every cockroach to me seems to have Zanu PF
written all over it.
There seems to be a parallel between me and cockroaches
on one hand, and
Zanu PF and the people on the other.
For
some time now Zanu PF has ruthlessly crushed any opposition
or
demonstrations the way we crush our cockroaches. Everytime they think
they
have managed to keep all cockroaches (opponents) out of the way, there
is
always that solitary one that comes out when they are just about to
settle
down, and spoils their appetite.
Zimbabweans are now living
like cockroaches, only daring to
criticise the president in the dark,
scurrying away like cockroaches when
the light is turned on. We've become a
nation living in the dark (Zesa) and
fed daily on filth (state media) like
mushrooms.
We have lost the will to complain. We prefer to
get angry and
complain in the privacy of our homes. In public, we complain
respectfully or
apologetically.
We lack the faith to
agree on a common complaint. There is a
belief among us that if our
complaints continuously fall on deaf ears, then
there's no need to pursue a
complaint to its logical conclusion.
We are too afraid to
complain about the speeding maniacs who
drive commuter omnibuses and prefer
to cling on to our seats in respectful
silence. We are even afraid to
complain about poor service or poor products
or to ask for the correct
change.
Fear has completely taken over our national psyche.
We are
prisoners of fear, willingly surrendering our rights like lambs to
the
slaughter. To misquote George Orwell's 1984, we think that servitude is
peace and ignorance is strength. We have lost the presence of mind to even
think or discuss what is wrong with us, and are even prepared to shout down
anyone who dares to complain about our situation.
I once
boarded a kombi with a woman passenger who kept insisting
to the conductor
that her change was short by $1 000 (old currency). The
moron kept ignoring
her.
Another woman passenger, raising her voice to no-one in
particular, said: "Vakadzi takaitwa sei nhai? Ungapopoterawo one thousand
here?" ("What is wrong with us women? Complaining about a mere thousand
dollars?")
The shortchanged woman was exercising her
right to correct
change, yet a fellow woman saw it fit to support the
conductor's silence by
shouting down the complainant, a clear case of
self-hate that is deeply
entrenched in the African mindset. This self-hate
is even evident in the way
we label people we don't like by using tribal
connotations.
We live in a one-man-for-himself world of
make-believe, where
"my neighbour's problems" are his alone and must be
avoided at all costs. So
long as I get forex from my relative working
abroad, there's no to need to
rock the boat; so long as my black market
deals are doing well; so long as I
have a place at the feeding trough . .
.
The joke doing the rounds is that Zimbabweans are such an
educated nation, every citizen holds a PhD (Pull Him/Her Down)
degree.
If we are to get out of the politically fatal rut we
find
ourselves in, we must learn the culture of complaining about the things
that
are wrong around us, and very loudly.
Complaining is
a legitimate element of democratic expression. It
frees us from
oppression.
It was Ronald Reagan, the 40th US president, who
reminded us:
"Freedom is never more than one generation away from
extinction. We didn't
pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be
fought for,
protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we
will spend
our sunset years telling our children and our children's children
what it
was once like in the United States where men were
free."
Mugabe's generation fought for, and got black majority
rule. Our
generation must fight for accountability, morality and democracy.
The next
generation must fight for something else.
While
our government has been at pains to point out that they
hold elections
without fail every five years, they forget that "it's not the
voting that's
democracy, it's the counting" (Tom Stoppard, Jumpers, Act 1).
In my daily interaction with Zimbabwean commuters, the picture I
get is that
of a people who believe that "democracy" and "independence" are
commodities
that are dished out by a government, and these can be withdrawn
any time. As
a result, we believe that we shouldn't abuse the little
democracy that we
get, lest it be taken away!
It is common to hear political
commentators telling us
"government has broken its own laws", as if laws are
the property of the
government!
In Africa, it is the norm
for people to sit back and relax once
they have won their "independence". It
is then up to the new government to
decide how much independence to give us.
Thus the rich, powerful and
connected find themselves able to afford a
bigger share of this commodity.
Zimbabweans have also psyched
themselves into thinking that it
is only the government which provides us
with seeds, food, clothing,
accommodation - in fact, everything - besides
our rights (just watch the
Talking Farming TV programme where black farmers
always start their
interviews with "dai hurumende").
We
expect government to free us from its own oppression!
The
process of oppression does not start with government, but
with the people.
Most Zimbabweans seem to "agree" that the police can do
whatever they want
with them.
Ruling parties have no business in democracy.
Democracy belongs
to the people, and ruling parties should not hold it in
trust on our behalf.
Democracy must be fought for - renewed, reviewed, and
revisited - everyday.
It must be taken to the workshop for regular
repairs.
So where do we go from here? The way forward is to
realise that
our power lies in consumer power and not voter power. We must
start by
fighting for our consumer rights before we tackle the bigger
political
problem. Ruling parties can rig votes but they cannot rig poor
service
delivery or poor products.
The fight for
democracy must start small, within the mind,
wherever we are - in the homes,
in the shops, at the tuck shops, at the hair
saloons, in the bus queues.
Let's refuse to pay for poor service and poor
products. Let's withdraw our
labour when we get paid low wages.
We must complain about
wrong change at the till, complain about
speeding drivers, corrupt traffic
cops, slow service delivery, about black
men who urinate without shame
everywhere in the townships, about Zesa
incompetence, about the wrong things
we take for granted that have taken
over our daily lives.
We must boycott fake Chinese goods, boycott expensive shops,
withdraw all
our money from the banks and keep it at home, boycott commuter
buses with
rude crews. We must resist the power to just slink away. We must
teach
ourselves to stand our ground. We have more power than we will ever
realise
- and it is right there in our pockets.
That way, we will
garner enough outrage to fight bigger battles.
We need to fight the small
battles in order to win the big war, not to fight
the war in order to win
the battles, because it is like putting the cart
before the
horse.
We must think small but act big. Our small victories
will be the
bricks of the big wall of resistance. Power to the people, and
none to the
opposition!
* Tony Namate is an award-winning
cartoonist.
Zim Independent
By George BN Ayittey
ACCORDING
to Newtonian law of physics, for every force in nature
there is a
counter-force. A force dominates if the counter-force is weak or
non-existent.
President Robert Mugabe has dominated the
political scene in
Zimbabwe simply because the opposition is weak and at
some point, the people
may just abandon the opposition or turn against it.
Its ineffectiveness is
indirectly contributing to the suffering and
misery.
It should come as no surprise that a "broad coalition
of
churches called the Christian Alliance, called a national convention to
debate the way forward". It suggests that the churches are stepping in to
fill the leadership vacuum with the unwritten implication that the
opposition leadership has been disappointing.
There is no
need to reinvent the wheel. What works in removing a
tyrant from power is an
alliance of opposition forces. Political events in
Bangladesh,
Czechoslovakia, Nicaragua, Poland, Benin, Ghana, Zambia, South
Africa, and
many other countries have demonstrated eloquently that one
person alone
seldom succeeds in the battle to remove a tyrant. Nor does one
political
group or organisation.
An alliance of forces, groups, or
organisations is imperative.
This implies that coordination of pro-democracy
activities is mandatory.
In Nicaragua an alliance of 13
opposition parties, including
ideologically mortal enemies (communists and
capitalists), succeeded in
ousting the Marxist dictatorship of Daniel Ortega
in March 1990. The
opposition alliance did not field 13 presidential
candidates. Sensibly, they
put forward only Violeta Chamorro. Had they put
forward six or even three
candidates, Daniel Ortega would have won easily
since the opposition vote
would have been split.
Here is
the mathematics of it. A brutal tyrant in power always
has some supporters.
Let us assume this support to be 30% of the vote. That
means the
overwhelming majority of the electorate is fed up with him.
Now suppose the opposition fields five presidential candidates.
If they
split the opposition vote equally, each would get only 14% of the
vote,
which is not enough to defeat the tyrant with 30% of the
vote.
This was exactly what happened in Kenya's 1992
election. Daniel
arap Moi won with only 37% of the vote over a divided
field. The
second-placed candidate won 32% of the total. They repeated this
folly in
the December 1997 election. Kenya's opposition parties numbered 26,
which
fielded 13 presidential candidates to challenge Moi.
Imagine.
In Zambia's December 27 2001 presidential elections,
the ruling
party's (MMD) presidential candidate, Levy Mwanawasa, won with
just 29% of
the vote. "The 70% of voters who opposed Mwanawasa split their
loyalty
between 10 power-hungry rivals. The withdrawal of one or two of them
would
have helped Anderson Mazoka to victory" (The Economist, January 5
2002).
The opposition in Zimbabwe has suffered enormously and
endured
vicious brutality from a barbaric regime. As such, it is extremely
difficult
to criticise its leaders, lest it might be misinterpreted as
treachery or
rubbing salt into their wounds.
But we need
a "smart" opposition to make democracy work in
Africa. If the leaders of
Zimbabwe's opposition think that, divided into six
parties, they can unseat
Mugabe then they must be living on a different
planet.
So
far, the opposition in Zimbabwe has shown itself to be
feckless. In any
battle, one must know one's enemy: his strength and
weaknesses. One doesn't
fight an enemy on the turf on which he is strongest;
one exploits his
weaknesses and fights him where he is weakest.
It doesn't
appear that Zimbabwe's opposition knows Mugabe's
weaknesses or where he is
weak. It is plagued by internal divisions,
squabbling, personal ambition,
and total lack of imagination.
Such divisions only delight
Mugabe. In fact, it is rather Zanu
PF that has been adept at exploiting the
weaknesses of the opposition.
Surprised that the opposition has been losing?
It is these divisions in the
opposition that have prevented the formation of
an opposition alliance.
There is no chance in hell that a
"free and fair election" is
possible in Zimbabwe. The Zanu PF wrote the
rules of the game and they
control all the levers of power: parliament, the
security forces, the media,
the electoral machinery, etc.
Under these circumstances, anyone who thinks he can defeat
Mugabe at the
polls must be out of his mind. And it is delusional to think
that Mugabe
would level the political playing field and re-write the rules
to "help" the
opposition.
"Regime change" under current "rules of the game"
is totally out
of the question. Opposition leaders must know this from their
own foibles!
Back in 1994 African Business pronounced its verdict, five
months before the
April 1995 elections:
"It is clear that
President Robert Mugabe's incumbent Zimbabwe
African National
Union-Patriotic Front is assured of victory in the April
1995 elections. The
opposition is splintered and ineffective and Zanu PF, in
power since 1980,
boasts a well-oiled machine including control of the
television and radio
networks and the country's main daily newspapers."
Mugabe
still controls much of the media. So why hasn't the
opposition set up
alternative media in the neighbouring countries? Second,
opposition leaders
must know that the regime is stone-deaf. Appeals,
exhortations and
criticisms don't penetrate.
What the regime understands is
force but force does not have to
be exercised violently. There are peaceful
and non-violent ways the
opposition can flex its muscle but so far, it has
not demonstrated to the
people, nor the world, that it is capable of doing
so.
Third, opposition leaders must know that a crafty ruling
regime
will always plant moles or infiltrate the ranks of the opposition to
destroy
or splinter it from within. Jerry Rawlings of Ghana often resorted
to this
tactic by bribing opposition leaders. Mobutu, Banda, and Campaore
all did
this. In Kenya, Arap Moi even passed legislation to ban an
opposition
alliance.
Why should the opposition sit there
and allow itself to be
infiltrated and destroyed from within? Why doesn't
the opposition also
infiltrate the ruling regime and destroy it from
within?
Some opposition leaders are susceptible to bribery
and can even
be bought. For example, in March 1992, opposition groups in
Burkina Faso
finally managed to put together an alliance to confront the
barbaric
military dictatorship of Blaise Compaore in a national forum. Yet
another
example is Gwanda Chakuamba of Malawi, the chairman of the
"presidential
council" appointed by Life-president Hastings
Banda.
As The Economist (November 20, 1993) reported:
"Chakuamba was an
old Malawi Congress Party and ex-minister, who was jailed
in 1980 for
sedition and released only last July. He then flirted briefly
with the
opposition United Democratic Front, but while Banda was in hospital
suddenly
emerged as secretary-general of ruling party and acting head of
state."
Chakaumba's move was roundly denounced "as a betrayal
to the
opposition, who had tirelessly campaigned for his release following
local
and international pressure on the MCP government's poor human rights
record.
Reliable sources have reported that whilst he was in prison,
Chakuamba was
subjected to immersion in water and was chained hand-and-foot
for months on
end" (African Business, December 1993).
How
in perdition could someone, educated at that, whose basic
human rights were
viciously violated in detention suddenly decide to join
his oppressor? No
wonder the communists call their detention camps
"re-education
centres".
Here are other actions taken by the people against
collaborators
in other African countries. The writer does not condemn or
condone these
actions, just reporting them:
In Nigeria,
Chinua Achebe once said this: "One of the most
urgent matters for Nigerians
to address when they settle down to debate the
national question is the
issue of collaboration by professionals and
technocrats with [article ends
here...]
Zim Independent
Loughty Dube
A BITTER struggle
over who will succeed Vice-President Joseph
Msika has escalated in
Matabeleland amid vigorous campaigning for the
position.
The battle for the vice-presidency is threatening the unity of
retired
general Solomon Mujuru's camp as the frontrunners in the race to
succeed
Msika are all from that camp.
Senior politicians in
Matabeleland, who include Zanu PF national
chairman John Nkomo, politburo
members Dumiso Dabengwa, Obert Mpofu, Simon
Khaya Moyo and Sikhanyiso
Ndlovu, have emerged as frontrunners to succeed
Msika.
Also standing an outside chance of sneaking into the presidium
to replace
Msika is political survivor, Sithembiso Nyoni.
Events in
Matabeleland in the last two months have shown a
bitter battle by the senior
officials to win the hearts and minds and the
jockeying has led to open
clashes.
Indications are that a candidate from the Emmerson
Mnangagwa
camp is now a non-starter as most of the shrewd Midlands supremo's
backers
are juniors in the province while those in the Mujuru group are
racing ahead
despite their own infighting.
So intense is
the struggle for control of the party structures
that senior members of the
province are now conducting individual meetings
instead of as groups as they
used to do soon after the Tsholotsho debacle of
2004.
Political analyst and activist, Jethro Mpofu, said despite
machinations to
out-do each other, the people of Matabeleland would back a
compromise
candidate.
"All the contenders in the race have been
disappointing and the
current succession battle shows that all those people
are not popular in
Matabeleland. What the region needs is a compromise
candidate who is not too
deep into Zanu PF," Mpofu said.
He said Obert Mpofu was "too Zanu PF" and his defection from PF
Zapu before
the Unity Accord compromised his chances to succeed Msika.
"From the frontrunners, the only candidate that is not too Zanu
PF and is
acceptable to the people of Matabeleland is Dabengwa because
people still
regard him as more of a PF Zapu cadre and that improves his
chances," Mpofu
said.
He however said politicians in Matabeleland were not
pushing a
development agenda but were bootlicking President Mugabe to be
rewarded with
positions in government.
Another
Matabeleland-based political analyst, Swithern
Chiroodza, also said
Dabengwa's work with Mujuru in the restructuring of the
war veterans'
association enhanced his chances.
"Dabengwa by virtue of
working with Mujuru will get the general's
support and Mujuru will use his
influence to campaign for Dabengwa,"
Chiroodza said.
Just
last week a group of women demonstrated against Mpofu,
allegedly at the
instigation of two other contenders in Matabeleland.
The
demonstrations, according to Zanu PF officials in the
province, were meant
to smear Mpofu and portray him as unpopular in
Matabeleland.
Mpofu has clashed with Matabeleland North
governor, Sithokozile
Mathuthu, who is believed to be campaigning for
Nkomo.
Mathuthu however distanced herself from the succession
battle
and said she was only doing her job as mandated by President
Mugabe.
"I have no agenda against anyone. I am just doing my
job and I
have no agenda against any politician in the region. For anyone to
say I am
pushing another politician's agenda would be untrue," Mathuthu
said.
Political commentator, John Makumbe, said events on the
ground
point to SK Moyo and Dabengwa as likely successors to
Msika.
"Moyo is a loyalist and stands a chance to succeed
Msika but
Dabengwa has been steady and resilient. However, Mugabe is not
happy with
him because of the Gukurahundi issue. But the majority in former
Zapu
recognise that he is the next in line to succeed Msika," Makumbe
said.
He said Mugabe was desperate not to lose Matabeleland
forever
and said Nkomo had not done much to win Matabeleland for
Mugabe.
"Nkomo and Mpofu left PF Zapu when the heat was on
and Mugabe
knows that they are Ndebele. But he knows pretty well that the
two are not
acceptable in Matabeleland," Makumbe said.
Dabengwa has been using his influence in the committee to
transform the war
veterans' association nationwide to position himself
through establishing
committees sympathetic to him in the Matabeleland
provinces.
However, events at the Bulawayo provincial
heroes acre on Heroes
day this year indicated that the former Zipra
intelligence supremo still has
a lot of work to do in the province as war
veterans refused to recognise a
committee put in place by
Dabengwa.
The committee's former chairperson, Themba Ncube,
accused
Dabengwa of imposing the new executive so as to get support when the
succession issue came up.
Over the weekend another
confrontation erupted in Matabeleland
South province when MP for Insiza,
Andrew Langa, filed a report with the
police alleging that Minister for
Small and Medium Enterprises, Sithembiso
Nyoni, threatened him on the
phone.
The telephone conversation between the two government
officials
was a result of a meeting Langa addressed where he is alleged to
have made
derogatory statements about Nyoni at Fort Rixon in Matabeleland
South.
Zim Independent
I WATCHED helplessly as two plain-clothed Avondale
policemen
brutally assaulted an innocent young woman at the intersection of
King
George and Argyle Roads at Avondale Shopping Centre around 9 pm on
September
9.
The young lady was with a female friend
trying to find transport
home from the movies, I presumed. As they were
crossing King George Road to
the bus stop at the corner of the King George
Court office complex, they
successfully flagged down a half-empty white
kombi that was heading towards
Greencroft.
The kombi was
a private vehicle belonging to Avondale filling
station as I later found
out. On board were the two Avondale policemen and
two other passengers, plus
the driver.
The two young women tried to ask if the kombi was
going to
Greencroft, which infuriated the thugs who got off the vehicle and
charged
towards them.
Sensing danger, one of the girls
managed to escape to safety on
the other side of Argyle Road. Her friend,
who was a lot heavier in build,
was unable to run quick
enough.
The two policemen, who were clearly drunk and
shouting
obscenities, started attacking her ferociously all over her body
with fists,
kicks and slaps. She shielded vainly as her cries for mercy fell
on deaf
ears.
When they had beaten the hell out of her,
they left the scene
and followed the kombi to the garage. With three other
shell-shocked
eyewitnesses, we tried to help the young lady, but she was
sobbing heavily
and was obviously in great pain, and her friend was too
scared.
We got help from a Good Samaritan couple who had
witnessed the
attack while driving past into Argyle. They made a U-turn to
investigate,
and then offered to drive the two women home. We all agreed
that they should
first drive to Avondale police station to make a report,
which they must
have done.
One of the policemen who
attacked her, a very huge and rugged
man, is well-known around Avondale
shops because he spends a lot of hours
drinking beer at the two bottle
stores near the garage. I'm told his name is
Ganyata, and does not often
dress in police uniform.
I appeal to your paper to find out
from Avondale police station
if a report was made against these two, and
what sort of action has been
taken against them.
Their
action amounts to more than police brutality. It was a
malevolent assault by
criminals masquerading as policemen, with a plain
intent to cause grievous
bodily harm.
These two lunatics must also foot the woman's
medical bills, and
then face criminal charges and dismissal from the force.
- Eyewitness.
* Police spokesman Oliver Mandipaka had not
responded to this
issue at the time of going to print.
Zim Independent
Editor's Memo
By Vincent Kahiya
THERE is
something anachronistic in titles given to
international institutions. The
"United Nations" meeting in New York this
week are as disunited as ever. In
the same auditorium was US president
George Bush declaring he is not an
enemy of Islam and Iran's Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad who has in the past said he
"does not give a damn about the UN"
in his country's nuclear research. He
has his coterie of supporters in the
misnamed and outmoded Non-Aligned
Movement (Nam) which in essence is
mobilising as an axis against the Western
dominance.
At the Nam summit our Mugabe did not attempt to
disguise his
dislike of the West. "Our small states now live in fear as
daily threats
emanate from the West to attack or undermine our systems in
order to bring
about regime change," state media quoted Mugabe as saying in
Havana last
week. He was joined in this refrain by his comrades Ahmadinejad,
Venezuela's
Hugo Chavez, and North Korea's number two, Kim
Yong-nam.
An attempt at counterbalancing the anti-West
rhetoric came from
Malaysia's premier Abdullah Ahmad Badawi who said he did
not regard the
summit as being anti-US or "anti-anyone".
South Africa's President Thabo said Nam could be an important
instrument in
creating a multipolar world. He took a soft dig at the US
saying there was
"a global imbalance of power".
"Such is the imbalance that
you then get results like the
practice of unilateral action without respect
for the United Nations," he
said.
Leaders attending the
summit were however clear on the need to
strengthen the movement to fight
Western unilateralism. They saw strength in
the growing membership with
Chavez even declaring: "American imperialism is
in decline. A new
polar-world is emerging." If this is the case, Nam now
requires a new
name.
But the strength in numbers theory is a fallacy. It is
not a
guarantee of world peace and prosperity. UN secretary-general Kofi
Annan
told the gathered leaders in Havana that size was not everything. He
said
governments had a duty to "protect populations from genocide, war
crimes,
ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity. That includes a duty
to
protect populations from carnage by allowing the international community
to
make a positive contribution for change."
The African
Union - another misnomer - with 53 member states is
a classical example of
size having no bearing on the end result. The
continent is tainted with
numerous flashpoints especially the Darfur crisis
in Sudan. The AU with a 7
000-strong peace keeping force in Sudan, has been
told to leave at the end
of its mission next week. The Sudanese strongman
has also told the world
that he does not want the UN to send peace-keepers
to the troubled country
because they could be agents for regime change
(sounds familiar). In other
words he would rather see the continuation of
carnage in his country than
allow international intervention.
The Darfur crisis also
debunks the strength in numbers myth in
that the whole continent appears
powerless to deal with Al Bashir's regime.
Recently foreign minister Ali
Ahmed Kerti said his country would not allow
African peace-keepers to be
re-kitted with the blue berets of the UN.
"The AU force can
remain in Darfur only if it accepts Arab
League and Sudanese funding," he
said, tongue in cheek. What does the AU
have to say about this slap in the
face? Nothing, because the body is broke,
disunited and awash with members
who play truant with impunity knowing too
well that African brothers and
other dictators around the world can always
find kind words to justify the
unbecoming behaviour. This is the same AU
that is expected to send troops to
deal with the strife in Somalia. Ha ha
ha! And it was not surprising that
the leaders gathered in Havana could only
come up with a clumsy statement on
Darfur in their lengthy declaration.
Despite the
international focus of attention on the humanitarian
crisis in western
Sudan, just eight lines of the declaration in the 40
000-word document dealt
with the conflict there.
There was no reference to UN
attempts to send peacekeepers to
Darfur. The best the leaders could say was
they supported Sudan's "efforts
to sustain and reinforce peace". What a
crowd!
Zim Independent
Comment
THE US$2,5 billion which government said it would
raise under
the National Economic Development Priority Programme remains
elusive. Save
for last week's announcement that the country had secured
lines of credit
amounting to US$490 million, there is scant evidence that
this economy has
received such a large forex injection.
If anything, there are all the indications of a further
deterioration in the
forex situation as companies threaten closure or
retrenchments to cope with
their invidious positions. Four months into the
NEDPP the economy is nowhere
near on the mend because the key objectives of
the programme remain a
pipedream.
At its inception in May, government said the NEDPP
was a
quick-fix plan to raise forex, reduce inflation and to stabilise the
currency. Sceptics were understandably quick to dismiss NEDPP as another
leap of faith because fundamentals on the ground militated against positive
change, especially the risk posed by the intractable political
situation.
That view is still relevant today. With two months
to go before
the conclusion of the programme, the picture of our economy
remains bleak,
especially following the announcement last Friday that
inflation had risen
to 1 204%. Worse still, the IMF last week said annual
inflation could reach
4 000% by the end of 2007. This is too scary to
contemplate considering
government's own projections.
No
amount of pontificating on "strides" made to date will
airbrush away the
crisis. Events of the past month torpedo assertions that
the economy is on
the mend. We are unfortunately beginning to see symptoms
of a very sick
economy in which basic infrastructure and services, requisite
for the
efficient running of industry and commerce, are collapsing.
This week internet service providers issued a statement
attributing the
serious disruption in internet traffic to Net*One's failure
to pay US$700
000 to Intelsat, the company which provides the connectivity
to outgoing
bandwidth to the World Wide Web as well as for email traffic.
Net*One this week said its SOS to the Reserve Bank had not
helped. The
central bank does not have the forex. But it has splurged
billions of
dollars in foreign currency to purchase 304 vehicles that were
used in
Project Sunrise. This is a government that wants to be taken
seriously!
There is a serious water crisis in the capital
and the situation
is worse in Bulawayo as the local authorities battle to
secure foreign
currency to purchase chemicals and equipment to keep their
water
reticulation systems running.
The perennial problem
of fuel has taken a turn for the worse
with virtually all service stations
in Harare drying up. This is despite
announcements of fuel deals and lines
of credit having been secured under
the NEDPP.
Electricity problems are far from over, so are the dangers on
the country's
antiquated railways network.
Meanwhile, industry is groaning
under the weight of foreign
currency shortages and government's new zest to
control prices. Bata Shoe
Company, one of the largest employers in the
Midlands, has made
representations to the political leadership seeking
foreign currency to
remain operational. Failure to avail the foreign
currency will result in
massive retrenchments.
The story
at Bata resonates throughout the manufacturing sector.
Monetary policy
interventions allowing exporters to retain foreign currency
in their FCAs
for as long as they wish have backfired.
Zimbabwe's problem
is that it is not producing enough goods and
services. The same is true of
agriculture which is supposed to drive this
economy. Because of low
production in the sector Zimbabwe will continue to
import maize and with it
imported inflation.
The current state of the economy four
months into NEDPP does not
give much hope to business and consumers. The
next two months to November
are not expected to bring positive change as
inflation is forecast to
continue marching north while the local currency is
not near any state of
stability.
What has become very
clear is that the central bank governor is
neither a miracle worker nor is
the NEDPP a miracle cure for our woes. When
wonder cures fail, there is
always the chance to fall back on conventional
therapy which is what
Zimbabwe needs today - a comprehensive recovery plan
underpinned by
political reform and international engagement.
Zim Independent
Muckraker
IT does look like Zimbabwe is
fast descending into complete
lawlessness. The shock of it is that thugs now
target high profile
individuals in society.
Recently, it
was Reserve Bank governor Gideon Gono who said
thugs were looking for his
address and that his life was in grave danger.
His security was reportedly
beefed up to allow him to focus on his task to
fight corruption and money
laundering. This was soon after the launch of
Project
Sunrise.
Now Anti-Corruption minister Paul Mangwana says his
home was
attacked by as yet unknown assailants. He has tried to link the
said attack
on his home to his anti-corruption crusade whose effectiveness
is known only
to himself. He nevertheless said the attack would strengthen
his resolve to
fight corruption.
Police have however
dismissed almost as completely false earlier
claims by the minister that
there was an exchange of gun fire between the
policeman guarding his
residence and the attackers. It turned out later that
they were not armed
with anything more than stones.
Could the minister please
tell us what really happened? We
shudder to think what might happen should
he become Information minister.
But that is not the end
of the drama. The guard appears to have
a very fertile imagination. First he
had a faulty gun that jammed after just
single shot at the intruders. An
inquiry is called for there.
Then, under a flurry of attacks
with stones, the policeman
claims to have had the chance to rush to the
Attorney-General's home to look
for another gun. He returned fully armed
only to spend 21 rounds firing
blanks. All his opponents had were stones.
What would happen if they were
armed themselves? Another inquiry
there.
Now unarmed, he suddenly sighted a cab to take him to
Mabelreign
police station for reinforcements. When they returned the stone
throwers
were still ready for the good fight to the extent that the sergeant
he had
brought from the police station had to bolt from the minister's
premises for
fear of his life. A third inquiry there.
The
fourth inquiry should be around the guard himself, whether
he hasn't seen
too many Westerns. It calls for a leap of faith to believe
this fiction over
something potentially serious. Unless he is telling us the
minister's house
is haunted.
Meanwhile we hope there is someone to take
seriously Mangwana's
parting threat. "If you are a criminal, big or small,
you will be arrested.
These are the instructions I got from my
principals."
Talking of setting the record straight, we
were interested to
read that Health deputy minister Edwin Muguti now thinks
the National Aids
Council is a fantastic organisation doing a wonderful job
for the poor. He
discovered this soon after attacking the same institution
for wasting people's
money on salaries, workshops and office furniture. This
was at the expense
of people living with HIV and Aids, he
said.
If you ask Muckraker, that is the general
feeling.
But the minister quickly made a volte-face, accusing
the media
of sensationalism and having a hidden agenda. He said when he made
the
comments, he was talking about the past. As for now, said the good
doctor,
he wanted it known that he was on good working terms with the NAC
and Health
minister Dr David Parirenyatwa.
A ha, now that
is all it is about. He had upset the applecart by
telling the truth about
the how our money is spent. Is there no
parliamentary committee to look into
the health of this department and
pronounce a verdict? It smacks of a
"hidden agenda".
We enjoyed President Mugabe's swansong
to the anachronism
calling itself the Non-Aligned Movement (Nam). He said at
its height Nam was
consulted at the United Nations and that their
adversaries had to think
twice before taking any action against its
members.
Alas, all that is gone, mourned Mugabe. Twenty years
down the
line "we seem to have lost the respect and recognition we used to
enjoy".
Is it a mere coincidence that that loss of respect
and
recognition have occurred simultaneous with the great leader's loss of
stature in international affairs and Zimbabwe's precipitous decline at
home?
It all appears to have something to do with failure to
reinvent
oneself. What counterweight position is Nam serving after the
collapse of
the Soviet Union?
If the Commonwealth was a
useless club, at least he got the
chance to rub shoulders with the rich.
This time around all he had was a
meeting with the deputy Prime Minister of
Nepal, Sharma Oli. Mr Oil would
have had a more positive
ring.
The independent press and NGOs have been accused of
fabricating
evidence of human rights abuses in order to tarnish the
country's image.
Patrick Chinamasa made such accusations when
he was interviewed
in regard to the proposed Human Rights Commission.
Columnists in the state
media regularly suggest that NGOs lie about assaults
and torture even when,
as in the cases of Gabriel Shumba and Tonderai
Machiridza, the evidence is
overwhelming.
This week we
saw Harare magistrate Paradzai Garufu handing a
sharp rebuke to the police
for unlawfully detaining directors of Lobels
Bakery and Saltrama Plastics
for allegedly hiking prices of their products
without government approval.
The police behaved like "a bull in a china
shop", one of the directors'
lawyers said. They need better training, the
prosecutor
said.
A magistrate in Bulawayo recently slammed the police
for
detaining Woza women for distributing roses during a demonstration
earlier
this year to demand affordable food and a dignified life. They were
charged
with disturbing the peace.
But the magistrate
said they did not create a public nuisance or
obstruction by simply singing
and distributing flowers.
"Police are supposed to maintain
law and order," the magistrate
said, "but they failed to do so and went on a
fishing expedition to arrest
any women in the vicinity of the
protest."
They provided no evidence that incriminated the
accused, he
said, and failed to exercise reasonable doubt in the manner of
the arrests.
Last weekend we saw evidence of systematic and
savage assaults
on ZCTU officials after they had been arrested and placed in
police holding
cells.
As none of this has been denied by
the state, we are surprised
that government media made no mention of it. But
pictures of the horrific
injuries sustained by ZCTU members were carried
around the world so nobody
was left in any doubt how detainees, arrested for
exercising their
democratic right to protest against deteriorating economic
conditions, were
treated.
Zimbabwe is a police state
where people are detained and
assaulted regardless of the law. We hope
reports of Chinese training in the
art of brutal repression, Tiananmen
Square-style, are no more than rumours.
But let's not hear any more
dissembling from state apologists alleging that
human rights abuses are
manufactured by NGOs and the independent media.
Evidence over the past few
weeks of how far President Mugabe's regime will
go to suppress legitimate
protest has become abundant.
Can you imagine detaining
company directors in filthy cells just
because they attempt to recover the
costs of production and stay in
business? These are people manufacturing the
nation's daily food supply.
Will directors of Air Zimbabwe or Tel*One suffer
the same fate when they
next hike charges as they so often do? Would a Zanu
PF company director
agree to charge less than what it costs him to produce
something?
But there is another question here. Who is
directing the police
to arrest and assault civic activists? Who is behind
this trail of
brutality? A magistrate has ordered a full investigation after
seeing the
latest victims in hospital. At least the politicians and their
media allies
can no longer pretend it doesn't happen.
Didymus Mutasa is evidently a minister who holds himself in high
regard. In
a letter sent by his lawyers to this newspaper, reference is made
to
Mutasa's standing as "a senior minister and politician, as well as a
member
of the House of Assembly of Zimbabwe".
A report carried in
this newspaper two weeks ago concerning an
assault on James Kaunye was "a
lie and constitutes a deliberate falsehood",
his lawyers
said.
Which is why we were interested to note Prof Arthur
Mutambara's
comments in an interview with the Sunday News last weekend on
remarks made
about him by Mutasa.
Asked about allegations
that he worked for the CIA, Mutambara
replied as follows: "By (Didymus)
Mutasa. This is the tragedy of the Zanu PF
old guard. The argument was
akambosvika seiko ikoko? I am a Zimbabwean who
went to school in the UK, in
America and so on. I am a scientist and to
accuse your own Zimbabwean
product that has worked among the best in the
world in terms of technology
as an agent of the CIA is laughable.It shows
that the Zimbabwean old guard
has no capacity to engage and come up with
solutions to the country. It
should be rejected with the contempt it
deserves."
We
mention this because Mutasa's branding of Mutambara as a CIA
agent, if
correct, is not only "laughable" but also arguably defamatory.
After all,
Mutasa is not only a "senior minister" but also a minister
charged with
security and national safety. He knows perfectly well that
Mutambara is not
a CIA agent. But the charge, it would appear, was designed
to tarnish the
MDC leader's image and cause him maximum embarrassment -
exactly what Mutasa
accuses the Zimbabwe Independent of.
Mutambara should have no
hesitation in inviting Mutasa, given
the portfolio he heads, to either prove
his charge or retract it. We would
hate to think the minister was guilty of
double standards. But Mutambara is
unlikely to do that. The reason? It is
often difficult to take the minister's
remarks seriously. This is the same
man who in 1996 told the BBC "Mugabe is
our king. You don't elect your
Queen."
In this connection we would like to know how the
minister's
threats against the Independent reached the Herald before they
were seen by
the editor of the paper to which they were addressed. How
professional is
that conduct?
Mutambara made some
useful points in his Sunday News interview,
particularly in regard to land.
But on one point he is dead wrong. Britain
did not "renege" on its Lancaster
House agreement to help pay for land
reform, as he claims. It gave over £44
million between 1980 and 1995 for
land redistribution and then pledged a
further £36 million after the 1998
Harare land donors conference on
condition that the UNDP endorsed a workable
scheme that contributed towards
poverty alleviation and did not disrupt
agricultural production. A UNDP
technical team subsequently found the
government's fast-track programme
failed to meet these elementary
conditions.
Mutambara
should know this. It is time he dropped populist
references to Lancaster
House and to "images of puppetry". These are frames
Zanu PF has imposed on
the opposition to divert attention from its misrule
and repression. They are
not claims that somebody of Mutambara's
intelligence should feel the need to
respond to.
Tony Leon meanwhile may be amused by Mutambara's
suggestion that
he is an Afrikaner intellectual!
Meanwhile, anybody reading the Mirror's coverage of the events
of last week
will have been left in no doubt as to who is pulling the
editorial strings
there. The paper's coverage of the ZCTU's protests gave
acres of space to a
group calling itself the ZCTU affiliates, which opposed
the protests, and to
the ruling party's quisling formation, the ZFTU.
Statements
by both outfits sounded suspiciously familiar: that
the government was doing
all it could to meet workers' needs; and that the
ZCTU action was
"political" and designed to bring pressure to bear on
government - as if
that was something people weren't allowed to do!
Nick Goche
issued a statement saying that the protests were by
"political" and
"anti-establishment" elements - again, as if it was illegal
to be
"anti-establishment".
This sort of childishness could be seen
at every level of the
Mirror's coverage. The Tripartite Negotiating Forum
was held up as the
panacea for workers' grievances even though the
government only mentions it
at times like this when it wishes to appear
flexible, and as soon as the
threat has passed it reverts to its usual
indifference to alternative views
on the economy.
"The
existence of yawning cracks within the ZCTU, and between
the ZCTU and the
ZFTU, shows that democracy is anathema to the ZCTU," the
Mirror pronounced
in an editorial.
So the state undermines a legitimate trade
union organisation
and then sets up a rival organisation benefiting from
state patronage which
doesn't even seem able to write its own press
advertisements, and the Mirror
describes this as evidence of the ZCTU's
hostility to democracy!
Joseph Chinotimba, we assume, is the
Mirror's model of
democratic leadership!
The ZCTU was
grandstanding in order to divert attention from
internal corruption, we were
told. Now where did they get that idea? As for
the Mirror's allegation that
the ZCTU was "wood-winking" the public, this we
must assume is to be
expected from boyz-in-the-wood.
Finally, as President
Mugabe grandstands at the UN General
Assembly in New York, his local
mouthpieces are finding it increasingly
difficult to conceal the realities
of his sovereign rule. The Herald on
Wednesday carried the following items:
"Bread disappears from shelves"; "A
man jumps over raw sewage flowing along
a road in Zengeza 4"; "Rain-fed
agriculture faces challenges"; "Nightmare of
living without water"; and
pictures of a dumpsite in Mabvuku which, we are
told, is about to be
cleaned up. All due to sanctions no
doubt.
And just in case you thought government was getting
its
priorities wrong, on the front page of the same edition was a picture of
central bankers in sharp suits handing over 304 vehicles to government
ministries and departments including the President's Office,
Vice-Presidents'
offices and the defence forces for Operation
Maguta.
Oh yes, the cartoon blamed bakeries for pocketing
consumers'
money!
Any chance of a reality check
here?
Zim Independent
By Eric
Bloch
FEW can credibly deny that the majority of the
Zimbabwean
population has never been economically empowered. Until shortly
before
Independence, most were effectively barred from any substantive
economic
activity, other than employment as labour. The black population
could not
own land in rural areas, and therefore could only engage in
agricultural
activities, on a subsistence basis, on state-owned communal
lands. In like
vein, conduct of commercial and industrial operations in most
urban areas,
by blacks, was not permitted, save and except to some minimal
extent in
designated high-density areas which were the only urban in which
blacks
could reside, other than for domestic servants residing on employers'
properties.
Until the late 1950s, few blacks could
receive secondary school
education beyond Form II, let alone tertiary
education, unless amongst the
extraordinarily few who were able to access
education outside the country.
Even when the education constraints
progressively eased, the majority could
not fund tertiary education and,
therefore, had no opportunity of entry into
any economic activity founded
upon tertiary skills. Moreover, it was
exceptional in the extreme for blacks
to be able to borrow working capital
from the financial sector, in part
because of pronounced racial prejudice,
and in part due to being devoid of
any substantial assets which could be
offered as collateral
security.
Very slowly, mainly during the latter part of the
Rhodesian
Unilateral Declaration of Independence (UDI) period of 1965 to
1980, there
was some change in the enablement of black participation within
the economy.
The abhorrent, extremely discriminatory Land Apportionment Act
(which should
never have been enacted), was belatedly repealed, enabling
blacks to engaged
in self-owned agricultural operations, albeit still
subject to severe
working capital constraints in most instances, to
establish commercial
operations, and some other economic activities. A few
forward-looking
companies initiated share participation schemes and in-house
executive
training opportunities but, until after Independence, these were
generally
exceptions to the rule. After Independence, the constraints upon
economic
participation by blacks as prevailed in law wholly ceased, but an
overwhelming majority could not avail themselves of the new environment,
being without the necessary capital resources.
Over 26
years there have, of course, been notable exceptions.
The majority of
Zimbabwe's banks and other financial institutions are
significantly owned by
blacks, as are many of the companies listed on the
Zimbabwe Stock Exchange.
There are numerous retail businesses, industries,
transport enterprises,
tourism operations, and other economically engaged
entities that are now
wholly, or substantially, black-owned or managed.
There are thousands of
blacks engaged in informal sector economic ventures.
But of Zimbabwe's
estimated 11,4 million people, it is improbable that more
than, at the most,
200 000 are economically-independent, and it could well
be a markedly lesser
number.
Some may challenge the credibility of that estimate,
but as it
is widely believed that about 80% of Zimbabweans live below the
Poverty
Datum Line (PDL), which would equate to about 9,1 million people,
and as the
remaining 2,3 million include workers, old aged, and children,
even 200 000
economically-independent is potentially an overly-optimistic
projection.
Such wealth as has been created in black lands is not
exclusively, but to a
very major extent, in the hands of the politically
hierarchy and the
politically well-connected, but there is little spread
across the populace
of real economic empowerment.
Government has long undertaken to ensure meaningful economic
empowerment,
and to a minimal degree has taken some actions, including the
establishment
of the Small Enterprises Development Corporation (Sedco) and
the National
Investment Trust (NIT) and, somewhat more recently, the very
necessary
creation of the Ministry of Small & Medium Enterprises. However,
that
virtually sums up its effective steps towards economic empowerment of
the
black indigenous population. In contradistinction, government has so
devastated the economy as did exist, including its essential agriculturally
foundation, that the overwhelming majority of the population has never been
subject to as much economic distress as is presently the case. As a result,
belatedly sensitive to growing dissatisfaction and, therefore, its own
potential insecurity, government is now talking more than ever of the need
for "indigenisation", meaning black economic empowerment. It is "better late
than never", but pointless if it is not pursued constructively and
effectively.
Government is making three critical errors
in its alleged
policies towards economic empowerment. Firstly, it is placing
great emphasis
upon transferral of existing economic enterprise from
non-blacks to blacks.
When an economy is so emaciated that it cannot support
even a material
fraction of the population, the Robin Hood stance of "taking
from the rich
to give to the poor" does not enhance the economy, does not
create
employment or greater economic activity. It is surely more
constructive and
beneficial, and especially so in the medium to long-term,
to stimulate,
facilitate and motivate economic development, which can
encompass black
participation or entrepreneurship. A mere conversion of
ownership, whether
total or partial, does nothing towards economic recovery,
which is Zimbabwe's
greatest need.
Secondly, government
persists in a belief that if government
owns any enterprise, in whole or in
part, that represents black economic
empowerment. That perception is founded
upon the facts that government is
black, and is in the main elected by
blacks. But state-ownership does not
accord any in the populace, other than
perhaps a few highly governmentally
favoured, any improvement in their
economic circumstance, or status in life
and, therefore, there is no genuine
black economic empowerment. Currently,
in pursuing the "indigenisation" of
the mining sector, government is
contemplating partial state-ownership,
which can benefit none but government
and its chosen few. Moreover, with a
track record of gross mismanagement of
most parastatals, there are no
grounds to expect government to be any more
effective in mining enterprises,
and very understandably there
are extremely few who are desirous
of being co-owners with
government.
Of equal, or even
greater, gravity is the inconsistency of
government's policy statements,
destroying any possibility of any potential
investors according any
credibility to government, its statements,
assurances, and alleged policies.
The president has addressed parliament on
a number of occasions on the issue
of mining sector indigenisation, stating
on at least two of such occasions
that at least 51% of all mines of gold,
strategic and previous metals will
be acquired by the state and not less
than 49% of all other mines would be
similarly acquired. In March the
Minister of Mines and Mining Development
made a statement on the
contemplated basis of such acquisitions, the terms
and conditions being so
inequitable as to alienate all in the mining sector,
and destroy any
investor confidence (not only in mining, but in any
Zimbabwean enterprise,
the international stance being that "First they took
the land, now they're
taking the mines, and thereafter will take all
else!").
Almost immediately the president made placatory
comments,
suggestive that final policies were yet to be formulated, and
would be just
and equitable. In May, government issued an investment
promotion brochure,
detailing diverse investment opportunities. That
document states that
foreign investment in agriculture was restricted to 70%
of equity, but
foreigners could acquire up to 100% in other sector
enterprises' equity.
Only two months later, the Ministry of Mines and Mining
Development has
issued a "Proposed Shareholding Scorecard for Foreign
Investors in the
Mining Sector", restricting foreign investment to 49% of
mining equity, save
where up to an additional 11% can be held by virtue of
"Investment Credits"
gained by the investor funding the construction of
dams, roads, clinics,
schools and other infrastructure.
It is little wonder, therefore, that possible foreign investors
are
sceptical in the extreme as to government's agenda, the genuineness of
its
undertakings and assurances, the security of any investment that would
be
made, and therefore the desirability of investment in Zimbabwe.
Similarly,
it is unsurprising that existing mining sector investors feel
very insecure
and ill-disposed to enhance their investments.
Government
would achieve much more, benefiting the economy and
the populace, if it
would encourage and incentivise, instead of dictate,
partial disinvestment
within the mining sector, in favour of black
investors, and would create a
genuinely welcoming, conducive investment
environment, key elements thereof
being policy consistency, equity,
reasonable deregulation, and unqualified
adherence to undertakings given.
Then black economic empowerment would be
constructive and attainable.
Zim Independent
Candid Comment
By Joram
Nyathi
LAST week's events have fully exposed the sickness at
the heart
of Zimbabwe's opposition politics - division. They also
demonstrated that
the dictatorship we live under has gotten more depraved,
more brazen and
less concerned about the will of the people or international
opinion.
I say events because up to now it is not clear what
it was. The
organisers talked of a procession to deliver petitions to Town
House,
Ministries of Finance and Labour, parliament and Emcoz offices.
Government
warned against illegal demonstrations. The media, for their part,
only added
to the confusion. They couldn't clarify the issues whether it was
a
stayaway, street demonstrations or some other form of
protest.
The petitions, said the ZCTU, were to express the
workers'
problems like failure to access free antiretroviral drugs,
worsening
transport and accommodation problems and a call for a minimum wage
equivalent to the poverty datum line. The student movement and civic society
groups sent solidarity messages.
The MDC was typically
ambivalent about where it stood. First it
said it didn't have anything to do
with the ZCTU protests. This was an issue
for workers. It was focusing on
the national agenda. Then at the last minute
it urged workers to "go out in
their millions" to express their displeasure
with the Mugabe
dictatorship.
We found this ambivalence strange for a party
whose greatest
support base is supposed to be the workers, civil society,
students,
informal traders and others impoverished by the land reform over
the past
seven years and who were dealt a coup de grace by Operation
Murambatsvina in
May last year. What national agenda does the MDC have
outside the welfare of
its major support base?
I normally
want to look for a convergence of either ideology or
aspirations to see how
a group sticks together. It is not difficult to see
the synergies between
the MDC and workers as represented by the ZCTU and its
affiliates. I could
not therefore understand the MDC saying it had a
national agenda bigger than
the workers who supposedly constitute it.
Presumably its
bigger agenda is the road to State House. Which
is natural for any
opposition party. Opposition can't be an end in itself.
The question arises
when that road has to be walked. How is the MDC to walk
the road to State
House without the workers or when their aspirations are
divergent and each
party must pursue its agenda independently? I thought
they had a common
enemy that was the prime source of both their problems.
The
confusion in the MDC epitomises the rot in the democratic
movement in
Zimbabwe. Up until the very day it wasn't clear where the MDC
and its
leadership stood. After expressing their solidarity, the students
also fell
silent, waiting to see what happened.
Where were civic
society groups? Where was the National
Constitutional Assembly and its
leadership? I didn't ask myself about the
Women of Zimbabwe Arise because
they are always on the streets. In fact,
they have become more active and
more visible on the battlefront than the
NCA and Lovemore
Madhuku.
In short, what constituency of the working
population was the
ZCTU appealing to in a country where unemployment is
estimated at 80%? Was
it shop workers, security guards, civil servants or
bank employees? How many
people did it forecast to join its procession to
have the desired impact?
I ask these vital questions because
as it turned out, there were
very few people at Town House at the appointed
time. This made it easy for
the police to encircle the ZCTU leadership and
beat them into their
Defenders, and take them to Matapi police station. It
was their chance to
exact their revenge on ZCTU secretary-general Wellington
Chibebe whom they
claimed had assaulted them at a roadblock along the
Masvingo road during
Project Sunrise last month.
In the
end whatever it was that was supposed to happen on
September 13 lacked the
critical mass to assume any national significance.
Whether this was because
of the prevarication of the MDC or workers' own
scepticism or fear of the
police I don't know. But it doesn't speak well of
the marriage between the
MDC and the workers.
The event also exposed the democratic
forces as dangerously
fragmented to pose any serious threat to the common
enemy they all seek to
dislodge. It was a pity that a few people got
arrested or were beaten by
police and left to limp back home bruised on the
promise of a better
performance next time.
It is a form
of abuse that eventually kills people's spirit to
fight because those beaten
have nothing to show for it while those who
escape are afraid to venture
out. It bodes ill too for those who have their
eyes on State
House.
As for the whole ZCTU venture, it ended in disaster.
Call it
inhuman or degrading treatment, violence, brutality or human rights
violation, the result was broken fingers, fractured arms, bruised bodies and
cracked skulls inside a police camp where they should have sought
protection.
I should add that it left more enduring
questions and scars than
answers on the way forward. The biggest question is
who will save us from a
vengeful police force so emboldened by a culture of
impunity that they can
break people's skulls in broad daylight without any
fear of prosecution?
Water is life but Sunshine City is
dying
By Ambuya Bown
ZINWA advertises
that "Water is Life" but for the past 10 years,
they have become
increasingly incapable of providing us with it until now we
are getting
water cuts lasting six days.
Everyone knows that the Morton
Jaffray plant was put in many
years ago by the "white" regime. I have lived
here for 61 years. So far as
the general populace is informed, it worked
pretty well, even for the past
26 years without any apparent replacement,
and limited repairs or
maintenance, serving an ever increasing urban sprawl,
the planning of which
gave no thought to future water supplies, until the
whole system has finally
given up the ghost and crumbled into
rust.
The second law of thermo-dynamics applies - all matter
disintegrates and descends into chaos unless there is an injection of
intelligent thought and energy. In this case no injection of any kind of
thought or energy whatsoever has been forthcoming. The results are proof of
this.
What is going on at Zinwa and the Ministry of Water
Resources?
This is not a new problem. It has been getting increasingly worse
for years.
Zinwa and the ministry know it, and we, the citizens know it. But
the past
five years have been particularly appalling. Several times a week
there is a
problem with the pumps at Morton Jaffray. We get told they are
repairing
them - these pumps are obsolete and finished. It's no good
repairing them.
They need replacing, not repairing. In the meantime the
general populace in
the affected areas goes without water for days on end.
Disease, discomfort
and increasingly high bills are the only thing we get
out of this.
Efforts to speak to those in charge at Zinwa
elicit a mumbled
slurry of words which mean absolutely nothing. When asked
why the pumps are
not being replaced, we get told the old fable that there
is no currency
available. But in the daily national newspaper we read of
frequent
governmental purchases requiring currency - vehicles, fighter jets,
airliners, printing new currency, and attempts to buy curtains for $36
billion - happily a thwarted effort. But the vital Ministry of Water
apparently never gets any grant of currency. What's the problem? Do we have
too many seat-warmers in this department? It is time to stop warming seats
and to get up and achieve.
Why is it that government
places so little importance on
supplying water to the capital city? There is
plenty of water in Lake
Chivero, so drought cannot be blamed, yet again, for
this disaster. There
just isn't enough water coming through Morton Jaffray
because the pumps are
broken beyond repair.
The solution
is very simple - divert all possible currency to
the replacement of the
pumps, the pipes, the plant and if necessary the
personnel, involved with
the supply of water. You never know, this way we
may even get an adequate
wheat crop next year if they can fix the water
supply in time. But who
knows, we may not need so much wheat next year if
the population has been
drastically reduced by disease and dehydration.
* Bown writes
from Harare.
---------
Government
veterinary doctors silent heroes
HISTORICALLY
veterinary doctors were about the highest
paid professionals in the civil
service. This was in recognition of the long
duration of training and the
tremendous contribution towards the economic
development of the country and
contribution towards public health in
general. This is no longer the
case.
There are various reasons for this situation.
There is no
active unionism in the sector. Representation is through Dr
Hargreaves who
then reports to the ministry hierarchy, which is made up of
non-veterinary
specialists who are probably not interested in the welfare of
veterinarians
or are unable to articulate their problems. No other channel
of
communication is available.
It was only former
Agriculture minister Kangai who was
interested in the conditions of service
of veterinarians. Other comparable
professionals have been able to
constantly push for salary hikes through
industrial action time and again.
It may interest the public to note that
the Public Service Commission or
government in general sees nothing wrong in
paying nurses more than
veterinary doctors. How embarrassing!
The result is
that a massive brain drain is in progress.
Very experienced personnel has
moved to Botswana, Namibia, South Africa and
the UK. Those who have chosen
to remain are trying to do a splendid job in
support of the agrarian reform
programme with no recognition at all. No one
is bothered about the harsh
working conditions in the rural areas.
The Central
Veterinary Laboratory lost 75% of experienced
veterinary doctors in the past
six months alone. Consequently the diagnostic
centre is now manned by
rookies with the obvious effect on standards. The
same applies to the field
service (and we want beef exports to the European
Union to
recommence?).
Maybe there is a need for a separate
Ministry for
Livestock Development and Veterinary Affairs (like in Tanzania)
and
formation of a commission to look into conditions of service for
veterinary
and para-veterinary staff. It is probable that old Dr Hargreaves
is not
presenting matters upwards. He could be scared because he is already
in the
comfort sphere. In any case is it not time for this gentleman to make
way
for new and more proactive blood? Clearly he has overstayed at the
helm.
Can we have a response from PSC?
Takuvara!
Silent hero,
Borrowdale, Harare.
----------
State House guards assault civilians
ON Sunday,
September 17 at about lunchtime I stopped
at a red light at the corner of
7th Street and Josiah Tongogara near State
House.
Across the road from where I was, an
emergency taxi
(kombi) full of passengers broke down at the traffic lights.
The driver and
a couple of passengers were trying to push their taxi (full
of passengers)
through the intersection. The presidential guards accosted
the men pushing
the vehicle and slapped one of them several times across the
face. He was
then pulled across the road and later
released.
One of the passengers in my car was a
visitor who
witnessed, along with us, the incident with horror. He will be
returning
home with first hand experience of the brutality of Mugabe's body
guards and
henchmen. And we have another 15 passengers who have yet another
reason to
hate Mugabe.
If you witness abuse
of power, please make sure that
you report it to NGOs such as the Zimbabwe
Human Rights NGO Forum and
Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human
Rights.
Bev
Clark,
Harare.
-----------
Bob's way back to
God?
WE, the Zimbabwe Christian Alliance,
are
appalled and disgusted by the beating up and arrest of leaders of the
Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) who were intending to march
peacefully and to present a protest petition to Labour minister Nicholas
Goche and Finance minister Herbert
Murerwa.
We unreservedly condemn this
brutal and
unlawful action.
The
government of Zimbabwe calls itself
democratic and accuses its critics of
tarnishing its image. Our
understanding is that democratic governments
encourage and protect such
peaceful activities by citizens as part of their
democratic right.
Instead the government of
Zimbabwe sent out
heavily armed riot police to arrest and assault most of
the patriotic
leaders of the country's biggest trade union who were unarmed.
Who is
tarnishing whose image?
We urge
all Christians to pray for all those
who were brutally assaulted and
seriously injured.
At a recent national day
of prayer, President
Robert Mugabe and some church leaders declared that the
nation was going
back to God. We sincerely ask him whether this is the way
back to God?
Zimbabwe Christian
Alliance.
---------
They will join us
instead
I FIND it deeply distressing that
our
"police force" is still making every effort possible to stop us in our
efforts to improve the situation in this
country.
The unusually savage beatings of
the
Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions officials last week indicated to us
that
these policemen have indeed been to the re-education camps set up by
the
government.
They still can't seem
to realise that what
we are doing will also benefit their children in the
future. I cannot
understand why they should want to beat and torture these
people to the
point that they get physically tired and end up doing it in
relays. Are they
so determined to prove to us how stupid and uninformed they
are about the
current situation, and what the future holds if this situation
is not put
right now?
The other
worrying fact is that the
government is involving the army now. That's quite
sad, because I always had
a lot more respect for the army because they seem
to be that much more
intelligent.
It
remains to be seen how they go about
defeating the masses. Will they shoot
us?
As far as the "green bombers" are
concerned,
they are completely uneducated and have no future here even in a
new
Zimbabwe. We know they will beat, rape and even kill anyone, even
members of
their own family and extended families just for a few
dollars.
We have all their names as well
as the names
of the police who have beaten and tortured innocent
Zimbabweans. Eventually
we will see justice
done.
In the meantime, let us completely
ignore
these people and shut them out of our daily lives. Hopefully, when
the time
comes for us to re-group they will join us instead of beating
us.
We are all looking for a better
future even
for them. Together we can achieve this, divided it's more
difficult but we
will win in the
end.
Peter
Macklyn,
Harare.
----------
Trust, Royal: fight
on
TRUST Bank and Royal Bank's arguments
for
the return of their assets transferred to the Zimbabwe Allied Banking
Group
(ZABG) has foundation and I urge them to keep the fight
on.
The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ)
acted
vindictively in their case.
A
proper judicial inquiry of the happenings
in the financial sector should be
set up. There is more than we are told of
what really happened especially
the RBZ's heavy-handedness in dealing with
the issue raised. There are more
questions than answers in this case.
Royal and Trust have the right to claim
their assets, illegally given to
ZABG, on law and natural justice.
Justice
Wilson Sandura's Supreme Court
ruling should be upheld, not the so-called
independent arbitration by
retired Justice George Smith Commission. The
findings are just shallow and I
was shocked to hear such a verdict from the
esteemed Justice Smith. It had
no bearing on points of
law.
For ZABG to hold on to assets of the
former
is just but wrong. ZABG is a baby of the RBZ. Let it get its assets
from the
RBZ.
Livison
Kahondo,
UK.
------------
City, Zinwa
incompetent
THERE have been reports on
the Harare water
crisis in several publications, but none of them has yet
been able to
capture the truth behind the
situation.
The eastern areas of Harare,
notably
Chisipite and Greendale, have more or less been without water since
mid-August. We who live in these areas were outraged by the report in the
Herald which stated that a water crisis was "looming" when in fact we have
been without water for weeks already. This nonsense was picked up by other
state-owned publications, which also said there was likely to be a problem
in due course.
There have been
several varying explanations
from the City of Harare and the Zimbabwe
National Water Authority (Zinwa) as
to the reasons for the crisis, including
"shortages of chemicals", "broken
pumps", "lack of water from the supply
dams" and (most incredulously) "the
drought".
I assume it is simply
incompetence on the
part of both of these bodies and that these excuses are
just that.
As a result of this situation,
people in
affected areas are undergoing the most unbelievable and
intolerable
experiences and the effects on vegetable gardens is especially
disappointing. So much for the joys of being in the 21st century. So much
for being in the Sunshine City - an urban area which has in the past six or
seven years regressed more than any other on the African continent, save
perhaps for Mogadishu.
The blame for
the water crisis must be laid
squarely on the shoulders of these people: the
ministers in charge of local
government and water portfolios, the unelected
commission in charge of
Harare's affairs and, of course, the staff of the
City of Harare and Zinwa.
All of these are tasked with ensuring a continuous
and clean supply of water
to the people of
Harare.
People should initiate legal
action against
individuals and bodies whose incompetence has brought about
this crisis.
Not
Surprised,
Chisipite.
------------
We haven't suffered enough yet
to protest
SO the state machinery is
being praised for
thwarting last Wednesday's peaceful demonstration by
workers?
The claim that workers did not
heed the call
by the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions is one of the
infamous lies. If the
workers did not heed the call, then why was the riot
police (anti-riot in
normal situations, but in our case they are riotous) at
the places earmarked
for the beginning of the
demos?
Anyway, people are despondent.
Maybe we need
to wait a little longer for people to suffer more until they
realise that
they need no call for a demonstration in town. Rather they will
walk from
the townships and the police will join as
well.
Only then can we say the people
have learnt
to express themselves in spite of the threats from a government
that
unleashes its vicious state agents on civilians who desire to express
their
rights.
It's disturbing people
want things to change
but they remain spectators. The suffering people do
not want to be players
in the battle that is meant to liberate them. They
will continue wailing and
mourning over the tough times - difficult indeed
with over 80% living far
below the poverty datum
line.
How can we change the system when
people are
not willing to participate in their own liberation? Zimbabweans
have become
"crybabies". We want the international community to feel pity
for us, yet we
are not prepared to fight it out
ourselves.
We blame South African
President Thabo Mbeki
for his quiet diplomacy. We expect the Zimbabwe crisis
to be discussed at
African Union, Sadc and United Nations summits, yet we do
not want to
kick-start our own
battle.
True, we are a bunch of cowards,
pointing at
the grit yet not risking to pluck it out. This is what happens
in a country
where people are slowly conditioned to their desperate
situation to a point
when they begin to see every other violent act of
cowardice from the state
as something to be
expected.
The majority of people
remaining in Zimbabwe
fall into three
classes.
The first class consists of
state apparatus
including the security, police, army, youth militia, Zanu PF
and their
sympathisers.
The second
group is a small bunch of
enlightened people who get arrested now and then
for advocating action.
These include human rights activists, student
leadership and trade
unionists, a sprinkling of opposition politicians and a
small cohort of
churchmen.
Then there
are the masses that are too poor
to take time off selling their wares on the
streets (a forbidden practice
under municipal by-laws). In fact, they are
too busy with hand-to-mouth
survival tactics that they cannot conceive of
challenging government
thuggery - even if the thuggery sometimes involves
beating them, destroying
their houses and dispossessing them of money, grain
and dignity.
This group is in the
majority. The average
civil servant falls in this category too. If you think
of nurses, the army
and teachers, then you are looking at a group of people
who have had the
earliest, brutal and worst interaction with the state and
its quasi-military
thuggery.
They are
now a timid bunch. Not without
reason: they have seen their colleagues
harassed, beaten, transferred to
more hostile environments or even killed
without the perpetrators being
brought to
book.
So what will happen in Zimbabwe?
The false
atmosphere of normalcy will prevail for now. It has been there
since 2000.
Seven years later, there is no sign that it is coming to an
end.
In fact, the regime seems to be
getting
stronger and stronger by the day. Don't ever expect a demonstration
to
materialise in Zimbabwe against poverty. Unless its Chinos protesting
Tony
Blair or George Bush's sanctions against ruling party
barons.
Zimbabweans haven't suffered
enough, thus
demos aren't meaningful
yet.
Clyde Muropa
&
Zivanai
Tsvuura,
Harare.