http://www.radiovop.com
Harare, September 23,
2012-Zimbabwe’s Supreme Court has chastised state
security agents for
torturing prominent human rights campaigner Jestina
Mukoko four years ago in
a bid to induce some confessions implicating her in
a plot to unseat
President Robert Mugabe’s previous administration.
In a full judgment
delivered Thursday by Deputy Chief Justice Luke Malaba,
and which was
unanimously endorsed by Chief Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku,
Justices of
Appeal, Wilson Sandura, Vernanda Ziyambi and Paddington Garwe,
the Supreme
Court ruled that compelling Mukoko to kneel on pebbles and
holding her in
solitary detention for long periods constituted torture.
“Forcing the
applicant (Mukoko) to kneel for a long time on mounds of gravel
whilst being
interrogated falls within the meaning of torture. The severe
pain and
suffering she was forced to endure was intentionally inflicted.
“It was
in aid of the interrogation the purpose of which was the extraction
from her
of information on the assistance her organisation was suspected of
having
given to Ricardo Hwasheni to enable him to undergo military training
outside
the country.
“The prolonged periods of solitary confinement incommunicado
on the
occasions she was not being interrogated constitutes inhuman and
degrading
treatment,” reads part of the 41 page judgment which also outlined
the court’s
reasons.
The release of the full judgment came three
years after the Supreme Court
ordered a permanent stay of the criminal
proceedings against Mukoko in
September 2009.
Mukoko, the director of
the Zimbabwe Peace Project (ZPP) was abducted from
her Norton home in
December 2008 and was held incommunicado and tortured for
several weeks
before being charged with recruiting persons for training as
insurgents or
saboteurs to topple Mugabe’s administration.
Apart from Mukoko, the state
security agents also abducted about 20 other
people including a two year old
minor Nigel Mutemagawu who together with his
parents were held incommunicado
and tortured for several months before being
charged with plotting to unseat
Mugabe and his Zanu (PF) administration.
The other abductees’ application
seeking a stay of prosecution until a
determination is made on the violation
of their constitutional rights is
pending in the Supreme Court.
http://www.radiovop.com
Nyanga, September 23,
2012 -Three quarters of the youths who benefited from
the Old Mutual Youth
empowerment fund diverted the loans, Zimbabwe Youth
Council has
revealed.
“Some of you are now asking the reason why we are have resorted to
paying
for what one would have applied to get for his or her project because
the
money is being diverted,” Livingston Dzikira Zimbabwe Youth Council
Director
told reporters Friday here in Nyanga at the UNICEF organised
workshop,
“So far from the people who have benefited, 70% of them have
diverted the
funds. Some have taken the loans to pay lobola and those are
the same people
you seem at public forums denouncing the
program”.
Old Mutual late last year issued US$11 million for youth
empowerment
programmes.
The fund is being administered by
CABS.
Asked by reporters his affiliation to Zanu (PF) which has raised
concerns by
the public over how deserving youths benefit from youth
empowerment
programme Dzikira said he follows orders given to him by Seviour
Kasukuwere,
the minister of Youth Empowerment Minister who is Zanu
(PF).
“I am an employee, who reports to the board and when the body is
not present
I give reports directly to the responsible Minister and it is
impossible for
you to separate me from that otherwise I get fired, “he
said.
“This same applies to you guys you have your employers and if you
tow the
opposite line you will not survive, that is the same situation which
I am
in,” he said.
Journalists asked the actual number of youths who
have so far benefited from
the Old Mutual Youth Empowerment fund, but
Dzikira said he did not have the
number off head.
“What I can say is
that we are targeting 2 000 youths, and as you can see
the number is very
small compared to the number of the youths we have
nationwide. What is
worrying from all those applying for the funds is that
they are all
submitting chicken rearing project proposals. We have since
stopped
accepting such proposals.
The Zimbabwe Youth Council since the blaming
CABS for denying project
proposals.
CABS said they were receiving non
bankable project proposals and vowed not
to process them.
http://www.dailynews.co.zw/
By Chengetayi Zvauya, Parliamentary
Editor
Sunday, 23 September 2012 12:51
PM Tsvangirai's ex-lover
Locardia Karimatsenga (centre).
HARARE - Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and
“wife” Locardia Karimatsenga
have agreed to settle their divorce outside the
courts and public scrutiny.
In an exclusive interview with the Daily News
on Sunday, Manasa Tsvangirai,
the younger brother to the PM and the
Tsvangirai family spokesperson
confirmed he had started the traditional
proceedings which they hope will
culminate in an out-of-court
settlement.
Manasa spoke for the first time on the marriage issue between
PM and
Locardia, agreeing that he was involved in the matter and paid money
to the
Karimatsenga family on behalf of Tsvangirai last November, which the
magistrate court interpreted as lobola.
Manasa said when they went to
the Karimatsengas’ Christon Bank home in
November, everything was done above
board in terms of paying damages.
“We wanted to legitimise everything and
this is why we went to the
Karimatsenga home last year. Taida kuchenura
Locardia (we wanted to
legitimise Locardia).
“The family cannot now
claim that I am bothering them or Locardia because
they know me from last
year since I came to them to pay damage money,” said
Manasa.
Manasa
confirmed that he had visited Locardia’s auntie, a Mrs Mafaro at her
home in
Borrowdale last Thursday together with his uncle Innocent Zvaipa as
emissaries of the PM to start negotiations.
“We went to Mai Mafaro’s
home on Thursday so that we could talk. I
understand that the two parties —
the PM and Locardia want this matter to be
settled out of court and have
left the matter in the hands of their lawyers.
“As the Tsvangirai family,
we welcome this move as it is good for everyone
involved because we were
seeing a third force behind all these matters,
which was turning out to be
political,” said Manasa.
He said when the matter started they did not
anticipate “all this publicity”.
“We feel that it is better to resolve
this matter outside the courts.
When we went to Locardia’s home last week
on Tuesday, we were looking for
her, wanting to talk to her rather than
intimidate or harass her.
“We were acting on the instructions of our
lawyers, that we should try to
negotiate with her,” he
said.
Tsvangirai is being represented by Innocent Chagonda, and Thabani
Mpofu,
while Locardia is being represented by Jonathan and Everson
Samukange.
Tsvangirai and Locardia are locked up in a legal battle with
the spurned
“wife” claiming maintenance from the PM.
Flanked by her
sister, Biata Nyamupinga, Locardia confirmed a peace
initiative was
underway, adding she was tired of fighting.
“I have always wanted peace
with the PM and we want him to come and we can
discuss about this matter. My
family wants him to come and meet the rather
having many people involved .
Everyone one of us wants peace, this media war
is not necessary,” said
Locardia.
“Manasa and Zvaipa are looking for me in town, they came to my
home Tuesday
and on Thursday they visited my auntie in Borrowdale, they
threw some
objects into my property and hurled some abuse to people who were
present
and I do not know why they are doing it.
“They are
misbehaving a lot. I am now living in fear of them and it is not
the way to
divorce a person, when you do that. I have always wanted peace
with them
from the beginning of this issue, until today,” said Locardia.
Locardia
claims she was customarily married to Tsvangirai, and was the
senior wife
with Elizabeth Macheka being the second wife. She was also
comfortable with
being in a polygamous marriage.
“I am still married to him and he is
still my husband,” she said.
http://www.dailynews.co.zw
By Fungai Kwaramba, Staff Writer
Sunday, 23
September 2012 12:46
HARARE - A time bomb is ticking in some of Zimbabwe’s
biggest urban areas
such as Harare and Chitungwiza, where city fathers
continue to disconnect
water and refuse is piling.
With the onset of
the rainy season usually characterised by communicable
disease outbreaks,
residents in urban areas find themselves relying on
unsafe water
sources.
In Chitungwiza, the country’s third largest populated urban
area, the
million plus residents are lucky to get water two
days-a-week.
Taps are dry most of the time.
Boreholes drilled by
well-wishers such as UN agency, Unicef, after a
ravaging cholera outbreak in
2008 are now derelict due to vandalism and
overuse.
Four years ago
Chitungwiza was the epicentre of a deadly cholera outbreak
that killed at
least 4 000 people and affected 100 000, according to aid
agencies that
moved to contain the situation.
Even though conditions have improved, the
state of affairs is far from ideal
as residents sometimes sleep in queues
hunting for safe drinking borehole
water.
Precious Shumba,
chairperson of residents’ representative group Harare
Residents Trust said
cutting water supply to punish residents for
non-payment of steep rates
could spark a disease outbreak.
“We denounce local authorities that use
water to make money. Water remains a
human right and we are aware that
Chitungwiza and Harare municipalities and
other authorities have resorted to
disconnecting residents who will be
failing to pay,” said
Shumba.
Even those who pay their rates are not spared, as water shortages
have
become the norm. Chitungwiza Residents and Ratepayers Association
chairperson Arthur Taderera said residents had given up hope council would
fix water shortage problems.
“Conditions are pathetic. We have areas
where people have not received water
for the past three years. Boreholes
built by MPs using constituency
development funds are now down and those
that are functioning are
overwhelmed,” he said.
“We are still aware
of the cholera outbreak that killed hundreds of people
here and there are
some pockets in the town that still has the disease. With
the water cuts we
are going to see another outbreak which will spread like a
veld fire.
Council is insensitive to the plight of the people,” said
Taderera.
In the capital, Harare, more than 800 cases of typhoid have
been reported
this year alone, while the city’s health department has warned
that poor
sanitation conditions could also lead to a cholera
outbreak.
Piled up garbage is not just an eyesore in Zimbabwe’s rundown
cities but
also diffuse a smell that pollutes the air and also offers
perfect breeding
ground for bacteria that causes diseases such as
malaria.
Diseases such as typhoid, cholera, diarrhoea and malaria are
spread through
insects, food, water and the threat of further spread, fueled
by chronically
unsanitary conditions is still very real for residents in
Chitungwiza and
other towns.
Overpopulation is worsening the
situation. Urban planners say most towns and
cities are failing to cope with
massive rural to urban migration.
Some of the city fathers claim to be
acutely aware of the problem, but
action has been slow. Emmanuel Chiroto,
Harare’s deputy mayor says the city
is suffering from a resource shortage to
match the population boom.
Chiroto says there is need for rapid
infrastructure expansion.
“Harare is the worst affected town by
urbanisation. You find more than 10
people sharing a single toilet and as a
town we are overwhelmed by demand.
We must upgrade our infrastructure in
order to cope but unfortunately we do
not have the money,” said Chiroto.
http://mg.co.za/
23 SEP 2012 07:09 - AFP
Bulawayo has
ordered its residents to flush toilets at the same time once a
week to
prevent blockages during frequent periods of water rationing.
"We are
going to have a big flush every Monday to push all the waste that
would have
accumulated during the water rationing," Thaba Moyo, mayor of
Bulawayo, told
Agence France-Presse.
"It means everybody has to flush their toilet at
the stipulated time which
will be 7.30pm. This is done to prevent any sewer
blockages as we anticipate
longer periods without water" in the sewer
system, he said.
He said residents could also flush their toilets at
other times of day.
Bulawayo's chronic water shortages force the city
authorities to order
rationing, which reduces the amount of water getting
into the sewer system.
Currently the city rations water for 72 hours each
week.
Moyo said Bulawayo's chief engineer suggested the simultaneous
flush.
"We are urging residents to bear with us as this is nobody's
fault," Moyo
said.
"It's a national problem. Most cities are having
water shortages, and we are
hoping that the supplies will last until the
rainy season and pray that we
have good rains."
Poor hygiene and
sanitation have caused numerous disease outbreaks in
Zimbabwe in recent
years.
The problem is especially acute in suburbs, some of which go for
weeks
without running water as cities battle to maintain
services.
Last October, more than 6 000 cases of diarrhoea were reported
in the
southern towns of Masvingo and Kadoma, with children the worst
affected.
Four years ago more than 4 000 people died of cholera during an
outbreak
that affected nearly 100 000 people. - AFP
http://www.dailynews.co.zw
Sunday, 23 September 2012 12:37
HARARE -
Environment is the buzz word globally, and in Zimbabwe, government
and lobby
groups are not being left out.
Massive campaigns gobbling millions of
dollars are running to sensitise
citizens.
But in a country where at
least eight in 10 adults lack formal employment,
such campaigns come as
nagging voices only out to disturb a people’s sources
of income.
Sand
miners, gold panners and firewood demand make up the list of people
largely
responsible for Zimbabwe’s land degradation.
Yet, struggling to access
basic needs, many are shocked when government
campaigns against activities
they consider a source of livelihood, hence the
dearth of Zimbabwe’s green
campaign.
My family first and the environment later, seems to be the
motto as Zimbabwe
goes off the radar in its environment
campaign.
Take the case of sand miners in Harare’s dormitory town of
Chitungwiza for
example.
The Environmental Management Agency (Ema), a
statutory body mandated with
environmental issues, is constantly at war with
illegal sand miners at the
borders of Chitungwiza and Manyame rural areas
but the miners will not go
away.
This is where they get money to pay
rent and school fees and even the
occasional arrests will not deter them as
this is where their bread is
buttered.
During a recent field trip,
Ema takes journalists to the area. Sand miners
grab their shovels and flee
at the sight of the group from Ema and
journalists.
But one dares and
is willing to talk to the group on how the community has
benefitted from a
business deemed treasonous in environment circles.
“This trade has in a
way reduced crime around this area because it has
provided a source of
income to many,” he says.
“This area used to be known for cattle and goat
thieving but because of the
sand mining this has become something rare
because people are now employed,”
he says.
“Gweja” is the special
name given to the illegal miners. It means one who
digs the soil for wealth,
they say.
The term gweja gained traction during the diamond rush in
Manicaland’s
Marange area when over 30 000 illegal panners descended on the
area.
Sand miners here are proud to be referred to as gwejas, not least
because
their trade brings food on the table.
According to the
gwejas, they get $5 from digging a five-tonne heap of sand
which they sell
to transporters who will sell the same load for around $40
in urban
areas.
With housing cooperatives sprouting all over, finding a market is
the least
of their problems for sand miners.
The Daily News on Sunday
returned to the area after the EMA visit and
discovered that even college
students are earning a livelihood here.
“On a good day I get around $20
after hours and hours of digging. It is not
an easy job,” says a 28-year-old
who claims to be studying for an accounting
course.
“We know it is
illegal but what else can I do? The industries are dead. I
actually pay my
school fees, buy books and stationery and save a little to
help at home,” he
says, shovel in hand.
Laws do not really matter.
Ema stipulates
the transporters be holders of a special license which costs
$173 quarterly
and provide proof of vehicle roadworthiness.
Yet, a regular transporter
of the sand says he is aware of such
requirements.
However, his
vehicle is a smoking ramshackle which surprisingly makes past
several police
roadblocks.
“Sand is our diamond here and I would want to comply with the
law but on the
other hand the money that Ema wants is too much,” he
says.
The sand miners are just part of the chain, Ema says.
Local
councillors, desperate to gain popularity, have been dishing land
without
regard to environmental consequences, Ema says.“They should allocate
places
where sand can be extracted and then the place can be rehabilitated
after it
has served its purpose,” says Astas Mabwe, the Ema education and
publicity
officer for Mashonaland East province. - Bridget Mananavire
The
Vigil has repeatedly warned of the danger to the region of allowing a gangster
state to take root in Zimbabwe. News that the South African government is now
taking legal action against the Zanu PF crony and ANC rabble rouser Julius
Malema confirms that this warning was justified.
We
reported recently that ‘Bling’ Malema had made a mysterious visit to the UK –
mysterious partly because the objective was opaque and partly because it
appeared to be promoted by Zanu PF elements, who have a strong presence in the
UK.
The
Vigil is not surprised that the South African authorities are looking into
Malema’s astonishing affluence – not that he is alone among South African and
Zimbabwean politicians who brazenly parade their wealth. No doubt the CIO is
looking into the ownership of the Bentleys and other expensive cars parked at
Tsvangirai’s glitzy wedding – if they didn’t supply them in the first place!
(See: https://www.zimbabwesituation.com/old/sep22a_2012.html#Z7
– Tsvangirai’s wedding: A new life of luxury.)
But the Vigil is
heartened that relations are clearly fracturing between the ANC and Zanu PF. We
note the reported warning by an ANC National Executive Committee member: ‘It’s
time we took some serious and decisive action, if only to teach these
spoilt brats a lesson, because we can do that’ (see; http://nehandaradio.com/2012/09/21/anc-furious-with-zanu-pf-over-malema/
– ANC furious with Zanu PF over Malema).
The Vigil’s efforts to alert SADC to the poison of Zanu
PF continued today with demonstrations outside the High Commissions in London of
Tanzania and Botswana. We delivered letters for President Kikwete of Tanzania,
the new leader of the SADC security Troika, and others for President Khama of
Botswana (for text of letterssee our diary of 15/09/2012: http://www.zimvigil.co.uk/the-vigil-diary/441-stop-da-circus--zimbabwe-vigil-diary-15th-september-2012).
Our message was shown
in posters such as: ‘Zimbabwe: Stop Mugabe stealing election’, ‘Zimbabwe: No
more fake elections’, ‘Zimbabwe: No to election violence’, Zimbabwe: Election
monitors now’, ‘Zimbabwe Voters’ Roll: Let the 16,800 born on 01/01/1901 vote
first’, Tanzania: Save Zimbabwe ‘jewel of Africa’, Botswana: ‘Nothing less than
free and fair elections in Zimbabwe’, ‘Tanzania, SADC – Zimbabwe needs you . . .
‘ and ‘Zimbabweans demand a people’s constitution . . .’
Arnold Magwanyata of
Zimbabwe We Can and Gladys Hellen Meck, Vice Chair of the Women’s Assembly of
MDC South East District, spoke of the horrors of what was happening in Zimbabwe
and the importance of the diaspora’s fight against it. Martin Chinyanga
reiterated what they said in song. The letters to President Kikwete were
delivered on behalf of the MDC by David Kudzutu and the Vigil by Kelvin Kamupira
and the letters to President Khama by Gladys Meck for the MDC and Linnet Moyo
for the Vigil.
Our demonstration was
part of the global diaspora 21st movement protests (see: http://www.mdcukandireland.org.uk/
index.php?option=com_k2&view=itemlist&task=date&month=9&year=20120
– Press Statement from the 21st Movement Global Free Zimbabwe Protest:
September 22 Mugabe must dig a hole to hide in). Our singing
attracted people from nearby Oxford Street. Thanks to Josephine Zhuga, Louisa
Musaerenge and Ellen Gonyora who stayed behind to maintain the
Vigil.
Other points
·
The vigil received an
email from the MDC Youth Assembly professing their slavish admiration for Mummy,
Daddy (see; http://www.mdc-youthassembly.blogspot.co.uk/
- Congratulations Dad, welcome Mummy . . .). We at the Vigil despair at the
culture in the MDC which results in this infantile
attitude.
·
One of our members
has contacted her relatives in Bulawayo to find out how they are getting on with
synchronized toilet flushing. We have asked them to let us know when it’s
happening so we can flush our toilets in sympathy. See: https://www.zimbabwesituation.com/old/sep22_2012.html#Z14
– Bulawayo asks residents to flush toilets at same time).
·
We received the
following message from Jeff Sango of the MDC about our late member Bernard Hukwa: ‘I wish to thank all the brothers and
sisters who assisted, in different ways, in facilitating the repatriation of our
beloved brother`s remains to Zimbabwe. The family has been in touch and have
asked me to pass their gratitude to you all. The late brother was laid to rest
yesterday 20/09/12. May his soul rest in peace. Allow me to applaud your efforts
in sustaining a real beacon of hope for many of our most vulnerable brothers and
sisters. Well done everybody and be blessed.’
For latest Vigil pictures check: http://www.flickr.com/photos/zimbabwevigil/.
Please note: Vigil photos can only be downloaded from our Flickr website – they
cannot be downloaded from the slideshow on the front page of the Zimvigil
website.
FOR THE
RECORD: 67 signed the
register.
EVENTS AND NOTICES:
·
ROHR Cambridge Branch
Relaunch: Saturday
29th September from 1 – 4 pm. Contact: Memory Simbi 07584759284, Deon
Matora 077866674066, Richard Zvinoira 07810592390. Venue: To be
advised.
·
Next Swaziland
Vigil. Saturday
6th October from 10 am – 1 pm. Venue: Swazi High Commission, 20
Buckingham Gate, London SW1E 6LB. Please support our Swazi friends. Nearest
stations: St James’s Park and Victoria. www.swazilandvigil.co.uk.
· The Rain that Washes
showing
at the Lounge, Leicester Square Theatre, until Saturday 6th October
at 7 pm. Check: http://leicestersquaretheatre.ticketsolve.com/shows/126523428/events
or phone the booking line: 08448733433 for
specific dates and to book tickets, ‘Instantly plunged into a young man’s
compelling story of growing up in turbulent Zimbabwe, we live and breathe his
extraordinary journey from innocence to escape, finally returning to his
homeland to witness the greatest betrayal of all . . . Inspired by a series of
interviews between Zimbabwean Christopher Maphosa and writer Dave Carey, The
Rain That Washes is a true story that is poignant, political and most of all,
personal’.
·
10th
Anniversary of the Zimbabwe Vigil / Zimbabwe Action Forum
(ZAF). Saturday
13th October from 6.30 – 9.30 pm. Venue: Strand Continental Hotel
(first floor lounge), 143 Strand, London WC2R 1JA. Directions: The Strand is the
same road as the Vigil. From the Vigil it’s about a 10 minute walk, in the
direction away from Trafalgar Square. The Strand Continental is situated on the
south side of the Strand between Somerset House and the turn off onto Waterloo
Bridge. The entrance is marked by a big sign high above and a sign for its
famous Indian restaurant at street level. It's next to a newsagent. Nearest
underground: Temple (District and Circle lines) and Holborn. Future special
ZAF meeting: Saturday 10th November when our special guest will
be Ben Freeth. This meeting will take the place of the regular ZAF meeting in
November at 6.30 pm at Strand Continental Hotel (first floor lounge), 143
Strand, London WC2R 1JA. For directions see above.
·
Zimbabwe Vigil
Highlights 2011 can be viewed on this
link: http://www.zimvigil.co.uk/the-vigil-diary/363-vigil-highlights-2011.
Links to previous years’ highlights are listed on 2011 Highlights
page.
·
The Restoration of
Human Rights in Zimbabwe (ROHR) is the Vigil’s
partner organisation based in Zimbabwe. ROHR grew out of the need for the Vigil
to have an organisation on the ground in Zimbabwe which reflected the Vigil’s
mission statement in a practical way. ROHR in the UK actively fundraises through
membership subscriptions, events, sales etc to support the activities of ROHR in
Zimbabwe. Please note that the official website of ROHR Zimbabwe is http://www.rohrzimbabwe.org/. Any other
website claiming to be the official website of ROHR in no way represents the
views and opinions of ROHR.
·
ZBN
News. The Vigil
management team wishes to make it clear that the Zimbabwe Vigil is not
responsible for Zimbabwe Broadcasting Network News (ZBN News). We are happy that
they attend our activities and provide television coverage but we have no
control over them. All enquiries about ZBN News should be addressed to ZBN News.
·
The Zim Vigil
band
(Farai Marema and Dumi Tutani) has launched its theme song ‘Vigil Yedu (our
Vigil)’ to raise awareness through music. To download this single, visit: www.imusicafrica.com and to watch the
video check: http://ourvigil.notlong.com. To watch
other Zim Vigil band protest songs, check: http://Shungurudza.notlong.com and http://blooddiamonds.notlong.com.
·
Vigil Facebook
page: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=8157345519&ref=ts.
·
Vigil Myspace
page: http://www.myspace.com/zimbabwevigil.
·
To sponsor the Mike
Campbell Foundation expedition ‘Sailing across the Makgadikgadi Pans’ which will
raise money for the work of the Foundation, go to www.justgiving.com/Mike-Campbell-Foundation.
·
Useful websites:
www.zanupfcrime.com which reports on Zanu
PF abuses and www.ipaidabribe.org.zw
where people can report corruption in Zimbabwe.
Vigil
co-ordinators
The Vigil, outside
the Zimbabwe Embassy, 429 Strand, London, takes place every Saturday from 14.00
to 18.00 to protest against gross violations of human rights in Zimbabwe. The
Vigil which started in October 2002 will continue until
internationally-monitored, free and fair elections are held in Zimbabwe. http://www.zimvigil.co.uk.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
September 23, 2012 in
Local
AT least 10 soldiers were arrested last week on allegations of
assaulting
and demanding money from rank marshals and touts in Harare’s
central
business district (CBD).
REPORT BY OUR STAFF
Soldiers and
touts have been fighting running battles in the past few weeks
after touts,
known as mandimbandima, assaulted some soldiers in the capital.
In
response, soldiers were deployed at commuter omnibus termini across the
capital where they unleashed a reign of terror, in revenge for the beating
of their colleagues.
The soldiers indiscriminately assaulted
touts, commuters and bystanders.
It has since emerged that after the
crackdown, the soldiers were ordered by
their superiors to stop the
operation, but others continued going to taxi
ranks where they demanded
money from drivers and touts.
“There was an order from army
headquarters that soldiers should stop going
to the ranks, but some soldiers
defied the order leading to their arrest by
military police,” a source
said.
The soldiers were arrested on Wednesday evening and the source said
they had
since been detained for 40 days with hard labour.
The
source added that those who were arrested included lance corporals and
corporals.
A vendor at Copacabana terminus confirmed seeing a
group of soldiers being
rounded up by military police.
“We saw
them being called and they all got into a truck, but we were not
sure what
was happening,” the vendor said.
However, army spokesman Alphios
Makotore said he was unaware of any such
arrests.
“We do not know
anything about that,” he said.
Meanwhile, Police had by last week
arrested close to 400 rank marshals and
touts as they intensified efforts to
bring sanity in the city.
Some of the touts are linked to the
Mbare-based Zanu PF militia group,
Chipangano, which has for years,
terrorised Harare residents and commuters
with impunity.
The
touts and rank marshals charge kombi drivers at least US$3 per trip,
part of
which they pass on to mandimbandimba, who are an offshoot of
Chipangano.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
September 23, 2012 in
Local
Attempts to introduce monetary incentives for rural school teachers
have hit
a snag because the Education ministry has not received enough funds
from
Treasury, a Cabinet minister has said.
REPORT BY SOFIA
MAPURANGA
David Coltart , the Minister of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture
said he
had only received 6% of the US$5 million that his ministry was
allocated by
Treasury.
He said lack of funding had crippled
implementation of most projects his
ministry had planned.
“We are
financially crippled and cannot implement any projects because of
failure by
Treasury to disburse funds,” said Coltart. “Rural schools are
mostly
affected because most of our projects were supposed to be implemented
there.”
He said the ministry was committed to reducing the
existing gaps between
rural and urban schools but such efforts were being
hampered by lack of
financial resources and failure by Treasury to release
funds on time.
Coltart said most rural schools lagged behind in terms
of technological
advancement and had no adequate learning material as well
as furniture.
“The pass rate in the rural schools is low because of
poor infrastructure,
poor human resources and the only way to address this
is if the ministry of
finance avails funds,” he said.
Zimbabwe’s
Education minister has decried government’s decision to spend
more of the
national budget on defence than education, saying the country’s
leaders
needed to change their priorities.
In the current budget, the
Ministry of Defence got a whopping US$35 million,
seven times higher than
what the Ministry of Education received.
Higher Education minister
Stan Mudenge has also raised concern that only a
small percentage of the
money budgeted for his sector had been released so
far this
year.
Efforts to get a comment from the Finance minister,
Tendai Biti were futile
last week.
Government missed the
projected revenue target by US$244 million by the end
of June 2012, forcing
the Finance ministry to review the budget downwards.
Biti had previously
attributed failure to realise projected revenue inflows
mainly to the
shortfall on revenue inflows from diamond dividends.
The minister of
Finance in June reviewed the budget downwards to US$3,6
billion from the
initial US$4 billion.
He also reviewed this year’s Gross Domestic
Product growth projection from
9,4% to 5,6%.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
September 23, 2012
in Local
Most Chinese companies in Zimbabwe violate local regulations and
abuse
workers with impunity because they are protected by the country’s
leaders, a
new book has revealed.
REPORT BY PATRICE MAKOVA
The
book, Win-Win Partnership? China, Southern Africa and Extractive
Industries,
said although such activities have been exposed by a government
audit into
the mining sector, it remained to be seen what the authorities
would
do.
“The reaction of the Zimbabwe government will be a real test of
the
all-weather friendship that has characterised China-Zimbabwe relations
in
the recent years,” said the book by Southern Africa Resource Watch
(SRW).
The book said Chinese investment in Africa did not promote a
win-win
scenario, as it was skewed in favour of the Asian country, blaming
this on
the continent’s leaders, while noting that China was simply pursuing
its
national interests, seeking opportunities where they
existed.
It said China could not be held accountable for the absence
of appropriate
mechanisms and administrative issues.
But in
Zimbabwe, the book said despite violating regulations, it was grossly
exaggerated to label China’s engagement in Sadc’s extractive industry as
conforming to a neo-colonial exploitative approach.
Investment
appeared geared to the longer-term, with large Chinese
corporations having
entered into win-win joint venture operations with
Zimbabwean state
enterprises and private investors.
It also concluded that Chinese
companies in Zimbabwe did not adopt a “one
size fits all” approach, as there
were both large operations and small-scale
individual investors who were
capitalising on the good bilateral relations
between Harare and Beijing, to
establish themselves into the mining sector.
Economist Itai Zimunya
told The Standard that there were a lot of myths
about China’s involvement
in Zimbabwe, one of them being that the Chinese
are a blessing to the
country.
“At the heart of Chinese investment in the country is not
Zimbabwe’s but
Chinese development, with benefits of infrastructure and
employment being
peripheral benefits,” he said. “Do we want to celebrate
secondary benefits?”
Zimunya said another myth originating mostly
from Western scholars was that
China was Africa’s new
coloniser.
“This notion must be dismissed with the contempt it
deserves,” he said. “The
Chinese are exploiting Africa just like Europe has
been doing for over 300
years.”
He said it was necessary for
Zimbabwe to develop programmes that guarded the
country’s wealth for the
benefit of all citizens.
Zimunya said the problem with the current
Sino-Zimbabwe relationships was
that, it was only benefiting a political
elite with the majority being
marginalised.
He said the
construction of Chinese hotels in Mutare, Harare and the defence
college in
Mazowe was of no benefit to the majority of Zimbabweans.
“Zimbabwe
needs education, health and other social necessities and not a
defence
college,” he said. “We need to ask the Chinese why they do not have
a fund
to support Zimbabwe’s colleges and universities, in order to
facilitate
technology transfer?”
Zimunya said Zimbabweans were failing to
negotiate international contracts
in a win-win situation because they did
not have what Professor Jonathan
Moyo called “crafty competency and
statecraft”.
Zimunya cited the case of De Beers which mined diamonds
in Marange in the
1990s, but pulled out claiming that they were of poor
quality and could not
be extracted commercially, yet current events on the
grounds pointed
otherwise.
Business ethics and strategic
leadership expert, Professor Mufaro Gunduza
said the book revealed that when
China was dealing with Africa, Europe or
the United States, the country had
no uniform approach and relied on local
legislation.
He said the
reason why Zimbabwe and most African countries were not getting
maximum
benefits from their engagement with China was weak legislation and
wrong
priorities by leaders.
“China makes it clear that it has a business
approach and only responds to
what African governments want,” said Gunduza.
“If you tell them to build the
African Union headquarters or the Defence
College or provide arms, they will
do that as long as it advances their
interests.”
He said Africa must put its house in order to leverage
its affairs with
China and engage the country from a clear policy
framework.
He said most of the abuses of workers by Chinese
employers were swept under
the carpet by an African political elite ready to
protect them.
Gunduza said the Chinese respected labour laws in
countries such as the USA,
where they were a major player in the textile
sector, but faced allegations
of abusing and exploiting workers in Burma and
Vietnam, where the laws were
lax.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
September 23, 2012 in Local
SEVERAL people are failing to get identity
documents due to endemic
corruption and bureaucratic bungling at the
Registrar General’s Office, a
recent survey has said.
REPORT BY OUR
STAFF
The Research and Advocacy Unit, in a report entitled Identity,
Citizenship
and the Registrar-General, said because of these problems, some
people did
not have identity and travel documents.
“The forms of
corruption reported ranged from individuals selling queue
positions, selling
access to a registration officer, and selling even the
right to be
acknowledged and served within the RG’s Office,” reads part of
the
report.
“Most of the corruption was linked to individuals promising
swift and speedy
processing of documents.
“The women’s assertions
substantiated previous reports in the media about
the levels of corruption
witnessed at the RG’s Office.”
Respondents, drawn from nine of the 10
provinces, said they had to pay a
minimum of US$3 to bribe officials if they
did not have proof of residency,
a requirement for a person to obtain a
passport.
In rural areas, the respondents said some youths failed to
get identity
documents as some chiefs would demand payment before writing a
letter
confirming that the person was indeed a villager in that
area.
The situation is much worse for people who reside outside the
country, who
found it difficult to replace expired
documents.
Some respondents said they had to pay US$50 or more to get
passports, a
princely sum, considering they would have incurred transport
and
accommodation expenses.
Others who responded to the survey
said single women had difficulties in
obtaining birth certificates for their
children, yet the law allowed them to
do so.
“As a result, some
single mothers cannot acquire birth certificates for
their children without
the father, leaving the children vulnerable and
likely to go for prolonged
periods in life without birth certificates,” the
report
continued.
RAU called on the government to ensure that the Registrar
General made it
easy for people to obtain identity documents, as failure to
secure them
meant that others were denied citizenship.
In recent
days there have been reports of bungling at the Registrar General’s
office,
with reports that the late Ian Smith is still on the voters’
roll.
Efforts to get a comment from Registrar-General Tobaiwa Mudede
were
fruitless last week.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
September 23, 2012 in
Community News
A top United Nations official has challenged Zimbabweans to
work for peace.
REPORT BY TATENDA KUNAKA & MICHAEL
CHINGARANDE
Addressing delegates at the International Day of Peace
commemorations in
Harare, UN resident coordinator and UNFPA representative,
Basile O Tambashe
said the UN supported the strengthening of a national
mechanism for
peace-building in Zimbabwe.
“United Nations is
doing a great job in Zimbabwe of supporting the
strengthening of national
mechanism for peace-building and for prevention,
management and conflict
under the Zimbabwe UN development assistance
framework for 2012-2015,” said
Tambashe.
Tambashe said the UN supported the promotion of peace and
tolerance for the
betterment of society.
“Peace has to be
embraced at all levels of society if development is to be
successful,
leading to a sustained reduction in poverty and higher levels of
human
development, “said Tambashe.
He said the organisation would remain committed
in supporting Zimbabwe.
Tambashe also delivered the message of the
day on behalf of the UN
secretary-general, Ban Ki-moon.
The
Minister of information and Publicity, Webster Shamu, who was standing
for
the guest of honour, vice-president John Nkomo, urged political leaders
to
champion peace in the country.
“I am urging political leaders in
Zimbabwe and across the globe to champion
peace for national development and
support the work done by the UN,” said
Shamu.
Co-minister of the
organ for national healing, reconciliation and
integration, Sekai Holland,
said people should embrace tolerance before
challenging the local leadership
to be exemplary.
The commemorations were graced by government
officials, people from across
the political divide and
schoolchildren.
The international day of peace was held under the
theme: sustainable peace
for a sustainable future.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
September 23, 2012 in
Community News
Healthcare has remained inaccessible for the majority of
Zimbabweans,
although it is a basic human right.
REPORT BY DAVISON
MARUZIVA
The Deputy Minister of Health and Child Welfare, Douglas Mombeshora,
said
empirical evidence showed that access to vital treatment is compromised
when
patients have to foot the medical bills out of their
pockets.
Mombeshora made the remark during his keynote address to
delegates to the
recent Association of Healthcare Funders of Zimbabwe
(AHFoZ) Annual All
Stakeholders’ Conference in Victoria Falls.
“I
would like to put it on record that as Government, we appreciate the
complementary efforts made by AHFoZ member societies by enabling access to
quality healthcare for the majority of the country’s workforce,” he
said.
AHFoZ is not only assisting by complementing Government in
making quality
healthcare accessible, it is also training medical
professionals as well as
imparting skills to employees of public
institutions on claims billing as an
on-going project.
The theme
of the conference, held at the Elephant Hills Resort in Victoria
Falls, was
Healthcare Puzzle — Finding the missing pieces.
Mombeshora said the
issue of access was a cause for concern to the Ministry
of Health, adding:
“As a Minister of Health, I am naturally concerned by
reports that
Zimbabweans are now opting to fly to India and Malawi to access
more
affordable healthcare services.”
He asked why there was such a huge
discrepancy, whether there was something
wrong with the current pricing as
well as how this could be corrected so
that Zimbabwe does not continue to
suffer financial outflows since the
country has the relevant skills and
facilities.
Samson Mugumisi, the Vice-President of the Institute of
People’s Management
of Zimbabwe argued that the consumer felt
cheated.
“No one is prepared to pinpoint the missing puzzle. It would
be a tragedy if
at the end of your conference you do not come up with a
resolution… You need
a reality check to see whether you have resolved the
problem. If you have
not, then next year please do not invite anyone from
our organisation,” he
said.
Roseland Jena, the Managing Director
of the National Healthcare Trust of
Zimbabwe spoke on Fostering Strategic
Partnerships in Healthcare. She argued
that such partnerships were critical
because, from a business perspective,
successful corporations need healthy
societies.
Shylet Sanyanga, the Chief Executive Officer of the
Association of Health
Funders of Zimbabwe (AHFoZ), in her presentation on
the Medical Aid Industry
in Zimbabwe, looked at the background of the
industry, the relationship with
stakeholders, the regulatory framework,
funders in service provision, the
statistics and the
concerns.
Sanyanga said the majority of the population did not have
insurance but that
AHFoZ was committed to be part of a process that seeks
coverage of the
majority.
Authorities should consider amending
the regulations to make them more
reflective of the current
environment.
In the meantime, they should enforce compliance of
current regulations, for
example: Section 16A (a) (b) and (c) of Statutory
Instrument 35 of 2004
prohibits providers from denying service to any member
carrying a valid
medical aid card or demanding advance payments from
patients carrying valid
cards.
Section 14 (3) allows medical aid
societies to invest in health-related
activities but prohibits them from
directing patients to their own
facilities.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
September 23, 2012 in
Community News
The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) in conjunction
with the
Department For International Development (DFID) and Australian AID
have
launched a US$11,5 million relief programme which will help poor
households
with farming inputs.
Report By Tawanda Marwizi and Kundai
Marunya
Running under the theme Improving food and nutrition security of
vulnerable
households in Zimbabwe through market-based input assistance, the
programme
will see small-scale farmers receiving inputs.
Speaking
at the launch ceremony in the capital last week, FAO representative
in
Zimbabwe, Gaoju Han said the move was aimed at contributing towards
generating income security.
“This programme intends to contribute
to poverty and chronic malnutrition
reduction, increased production and
productivity, and improved
commercialisation of smallholder agriculture,”
said Han.
“The targeted beneficiaries of this programme are
vulnerable households,
mostly based in Natural Farming regions III, IV and
V”.
“A total of 60 000 smallholder farmers will be assisted during
the 2012/13
agricultural season. 40 000 of these farmers will receive
cropping support
with each receiving assistance valued at US$128 to which
they will
contribute US$32 (20%), bringing the total value of inputs to
US$160.
“The other 20 000 farmers will access livestock assistance
through livestock
fairs and paper vouchers for the purchase of livestock and
livestock
inputs,” said Han.
Speaking at the same occasion, DFID
head Jane Rintoul said they were still
engaging the corporate world and that
the famers would start receiving the
aid in October.
“A number of
farmers usually complain about the time they receive farming
inputs, so for
now we are working with the corporate world, then by October
we will start
delivering to them,” said Rintoul.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
September 23, 2012 in
Politics
THE outcome of the constitution- making process is not what all
Zimbabweans
are singularly happy about. It was never going to be possible to
craft a
document that appeals to personal and individual interests of each
of the 12
million Zimbabweans, yet it was necessary to produce a document
that will
take care of the interests of all Zimbabweans as a
collective.
REPORT BY QHUBANI MOYO
Coming with a document
that would take care of the interests of the
collective was not going to be
easy due to conflicting interests at
ideological level of political parties
involved, different interests of key
stakeholders and most importantly,
internal party conflicts and relations
that defined how some of the people
in the crafting process behaved.
It therefore required extreme
craftsmanship and national resolve to produce
a document that was ultimately
signed by all the parties on July 18 2012.
For some of us who were
intimately involved in the process when in wee hours
of that day the
management committee members began the long but final
journey of signing
each page of the 164 page draft, it was a sweet long
journey because it was
signalling the end of a tumultuous three years and
marking a very new
beginning.
Finally, after the years of conflicts, disagreements and
compromises, the
drafting team had put aside their partisan and personal
interests to pursue
the national goals. This spirit of unwavering commitment
to the nation was a
sign of great patriotism that characterised the
constitution-making process.
Even in deep disagreements and tough
parallel positions, it was the spirit
of nationalism that guided the team.
Where there was an extreme
disagreement, it was the spirit of patriotism
that guided the team in
resolving the disagreements. Simply put, the working
relations of the team
signalled an unwavering commitment to the nation and a
clear appetite for
producing a constitution that will undoubtedly transform
the lives of our
people for the best.
It is for this reason that
some of us believe that despite the new
challenges facing the nation, sooner
than later, sobriety will prevail,
especially among those who know the
amount of commitment and sincerity that
guided the work on the draft
constitution. I have no doubt that even in the
darkest hour of humanity,
evil can never triumph against good.
What is desirable now is for the
people of this country to go through the
draft so that they get an intimate
understanding of what is contained in it.
It is our belief, as the MDC led
by Professor Welshman Ncube, that if the
citizens of this country get an
uninterrupted opportunity to scrutinise the
draft, they will be able to
identify the good, the bad and the ugly in the
document and make informed
decisions about moving forward.
This is the unalienable right of the
people of this country because no
individual group can claim to be endowed
with better thinking faculties than
the people of Zimbabwe combined. This is
not practically possible and anyone
who thinks they are better thinkers than
all the people of this country are
fooling themselves because the collective
wisdom of our people will
ultimately prevail.
This is why the people of
this country should get into the travelling gear
in preparation for the
stakeholders conference and ultimately a referendum.
Both of these events
are long overdue and the constitution-making process
has to be put back on
track by allowing the last two stages to come to
fruition.
But
what are the fears in our coalition partners — Zanu PF — that has caused
them to work tirelessly to try and suffocate the document which they
partially mothered?
First and foremost, it was always never the
interest of Zanu PF hardliners
to embrace any form of reforms and in all
times that they have participated
in the constitution-making process, they
have done so because of extreme
pressure from the democratic forces of this
country.
It is therefore their view that any major reform in the form
of the draft
constitution, is a heavy loss to their party and the only way
they can
maintain self-preservation is by setting the process on fire, in
preparation
for the ultimate burning of the whole country through the
Gukurahundi and
June 2008 style.
This is a group that believes in
the scorched earth policy and only believes
in order out of chaos. It is
this group that is bastardising the document
and deliberately misinforming
the nation on the contents, including such
ridiculous claims that the draft
promotes homosexuality when in fact it
protects the sanctity of the
institution of marriage of men to women and
women to men.
Such
blatant lies aimed at diversionary tactics by Zanu PF are a glaring
sign of
how much Zanu PF disrespects the people of this
country.
Truths about the draft
The
fundamental truth about the new draft constitution is that it provides
the
much-needed checks and balances in the exercise of state power. The
tragedy
with this country’s politics is that we have given out power to one
individual with hope that they will exercise it responsibly but human nature
is not like that. Remember the old but classic adage, power corrupts and
absolute power corrupts absolutely.
So given a free reign and
blank cheque in management of state affairs, human
beings can be damn
dangerous. It is thus important to put in place all the
safeguards to
protect both the leadership from possible gluttonous use of
power and
citizens from abuse by the leadership.
The Copac draft provides a
healthy balance in the exercise of executive
power between the President and
Cabinet. It further provides for clearly
defined separation of powers. The
era of imperial presidents with all the
powers is over and this constitution
provides this much-needed balance. Most
importantly, the draft provides for
a defined term of office.
The new draft constitution provides a
workable and a clear frame-work for
redefinition of the social relations in
our society. It provides the
legalistic framework on the im-portant subject
of gender equality, in
particular how to uplift the status of women in
decision-making without
creating conflict and suspicion and undermining the
important role played by
their male counterparts.
It clearly
provides for a future on how men and women can all be equally
represented in
the governance architecture of the country, so that they are
collectively
able to assist each other in the running of state affairs.
The new
draft constitution pro-vides for devolution of power which addresses
the
issues of equitable distribution of power, resources and national
opportunities. The issue of concentration of power on one individual and
deliberate margina-lisation of other regions has been a cause of disunity in
the country.
The only way of addressing the explosive national
malaise is to empower the
local communities to run their affairs, in
particular what development
priorities they want.
This
constitution, through the creation of the provincial councils and
provision
of appointment of a governor from a party with a majority in the
region,
provides for local communities to have a say in running of the
state. This
addresses the problem of some regions which for many years have
been thrown
out of having a bite from the national cake.
The issue of promotion
and recognition of all Zimbabwe’s languages as
national official languages
given the same status is a positive state in the
right direction. For years
some languages, cultures and customs have been
subject to systematic
domination and annihilation.
Some communities have been looked down
upon because of the undermining of
their languages, culture and customs. The
definition of some languages as
official and some as peripheral have created
discrimination on the basis of
language and led to marginalisation of some
Zimbabwean nationals. The new
constitution thus fosters the spirit of
nationalism by recognising the
diversity of the people of this country by
placing equal importance on all
our languages and cultures.
There
are so many clauses that make this constitution better than any other
that
has been crafted before in the country. It is a perfect document for
moving
Zimbabwe to new heights and as such deserves the support of all the
citizens.
As a party we remain resolutely clear that there should
be no altering of
any clause, paragraph, comma or full stop in this
constitutional draft. Any
changes will distort everything. For now, there is
need for work to start
towards the all stakeholder’s conference and
referendum. The Copac draft is
the only game in town and there is no
alternative to it!
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
September 23, 2012 in
Politics
The tragedy with the counter proposals from Zanu PF to the agreed
Copac
draft of July 18 2012 is that they are legally and morally
unacceptable as a
law. Never mind the basic law of a country.
They seek
to perpetuate the ideology of subversion of the people’s rights,
aspirations
and will. In short, they constitute judicial fascism and fascism
by any name
will always be fascism.
Report By Tendai Biti
At the epicentre of the
Zanu PF constitutional expurgation are three false
jurisprudential premises.
The first one is that a constitution is being made
for one individual, the
incumbent president Robert Mugabe. It is tragic and
blasphemous to craft a
constitution for and around an individual.
The second false premise
is to make a constitution based on the assumption
that the status quo ante
will always be the same and that Zanu PF will
always be in power. Thus,
every provision has been crafted on the basis that
Zanu PF will be here
forever and has a God-given right to rule us forever.
The third
premise of the Zanu PF constitution is the superimposition of
internal party
positions and policies on the rest of the country. Thus, the
internal party
issue of indigenisation, compulsory youth training programme,
homophobia and
the hatred towards the principle of devolution. Private Zanu
PF policies
were now surreptitiously being imposed on the people of
Zimbabwe. A
constitution is not a battleground for party policy issues.
In my
first article on the constitution published in the Zimbabwe
Independent, I
posited the position that there are six principles that we
must use to judge
the Copac draft of July 18. These principles are:
does it create a
break with the past and establish a new order?
does it protect the people
against imperial power?
does it establish and protect a clear separation
of power and authority
in state structures?
does it create independent
institutions, particularly, those bulking
against power and big
government?
does it articulate the developmental aspirations of the
people?
does it create mechanisms for state and generational succession and
regeneration?
To do justice to the Zanu PF draft, it is also important to
subject the same
to the scrutiny of the above principles.
Before
doing so, let me just descriptively summarise 30 major amendments
that are
contained in the Zanu PF revisionist document.
1. Removed devolution
entirely from the draft.
2. Re-inserted provisions proscribing the
re-establishment of an elected
executive mayor.
3. Re-inserted the
provisions authorising the dismissal of elected
councillors by a
minister.
4. Removed the Peace and Reconciliation Commission.
5. Removed
all indigenous languages from being official languages.
6. Introduced
mandatory National Youth Service.
7. Removed the open, transparent and public
interview process for the
appointment of judges and replaced it with a
presidential appointment system
8. Done away with a Constitutional Court so
the Supreme Court doubles up as
a Constitutional Court.
9. Removed the
key provisions in the Copac draft providing for an
Independent Prosecuting
authority and retained the office of the Attorney
General as presently
constituted.
10. Banned dual citizenship for those who are Zimbabwean
citizens by descent
or registration.
11. Took away citizenship granted by
the Copac draft to so- called “aliens”
from the Sadc region.
12.
Mutilated the Bill of Rights in many places by deleting all references
to
democratic society.
13. Redefined agricultural land to include any land used
for poultry and
apiculture so that they would be able to take any property
used to rear
chickens or pigeons.
14. Took away the important Copac
provision that restated the right of every
Zimbabwean, black, white, yellow
and green, of owning any agricultural land.
15. Removed the important Land
Commission whose functions were, among other
things, to audit all
agricultural land and to regulate the sale or use of
any agricultural
land.
16. Taken out the presidential running mate provisions and replaced
them
with the current system with the new provision that in the event of the
office becoming vacant, the replacement will be chosen by the party to which
the president belonged.
17. Reposed all executive authority in the
president by deleting the
provision which vested it in the president and
cabinet.
18. Removed provisions in the Copac draft limiting the terms of
office of
parastatal heads, service chiefs and army commanders and heads of
other
government controlled institutions.
19. Restored the current
presidential immunity provisions.
20. Restored the presidential power to
declare war without any restraint or
constraint.
21. Made all state
institutions subject to the obligation to promote and
defend the values of
the liberation struggle.
22. Stripped the Speaker of the National Assembly of
all administrative
powers and vested these in the Clerk of
Parliament.
23. Introduced unfettered powers of the president to dissolve
parliament at
his or her whim.
24. Removed provisions limiting permanent
secretaries to two five-year
terms.
25. Taken out the provisions
requiring a law to regulate the Central
Intelligence Organisation (CIO) and
requiring the CIO to be non-partisan,
professional and national in
character.
26. Inserted provisions which require independent commissions and
the
judiciary as well to promote and to be guided by the ideals and values
of
the liberation struggle.
27. Reintroduced the useless and failed
Office of Public Protector.
28. Removed the democratic provisions for the
appointment of the
Anti-Corruption Commission.
29. Put a proscription on
foreign funding of political parties.
30. Put provisions that specifically
criminalise homosexuality.
I now present the heresy and infamy
presented by the Zanu PF amendments to
the agreed Copac draft
constitution.
Does it create a break with the past and establish
a new order?
With great respect, the Zanu PF draft does not in anyway create
a break with
the past nor seek to establish a new legal order. On the
contrary, it is
even worse than the current constitution. Its connection
with the past is
that it is pre-dating the past. The current legal order in
Zimbabwe is
characterised by weak institutions, predation and the
concentration of power
in one office and individual.
The Copac
draft sought to vaccinate against this ill-based on the
uncontestable
founding principle of the supremacy of the constitution
predicated on human
rights, good governance, orderly transfer of power and
gender equality. The
Zanu PF draft seeks to reverse these founding
principles by the creation of
a super constitutional principle known as “the
founding values and ideals of
the liberations struggle”. To most of us, the
values and ideals of the
liberation struggle are equality, democracy and the
rule of law, gender
equality, good governance and orderly transfer of power.
By
recognising other values and ideals that are beyond this, then Zanu PF
can
only be referring to the values of predation, patrimonialism,
corruption,
violence, state vandalism, patronage and exclusion. In fact, as
argued
above, the people of Zimbabwe are better off with the Lancaster House
constitution than the Zanu PF draft. We certainly cannot go into the
past.
Does it protect the people against imperial power?
In my
previous article, I argued that the Copac draft dealt with imperial
power in
four facets namely: a broadened definition of citizenship, a
comprehensive
bill of rights, a democratic and accountable president with
shared and
trimmed executive powers and the creation of security services
accountable
to the constitution, parliament and the electorate. In all of
the above
issues, the Zanu PF draft reverses the same and in some instances
creates a
legal order that is even worse than the current status quo.
On
citizenship, the biggest insult is the exclusion of persons born in
Zimbabwe
from parents or grandparents that came from the Sadc region.
Zimbabwe, like
South Africa, had thousands of immigrant workers from Malawi,
Zambia and
Mozambique. To therefore deny them citizenship is not only bad
law but
anti-regionalism and anti-panAfricanism. Moreover, denying dual
citizenship
to Zimbabweans whose citizenship was acquired by descent or
registration is
equally pretentious and malicious. More so, when that very
same constitution
makes it clear that all citizens are equal irrespective of
whether your
citizenship was acquired by birth descent or registration.
The bill
of rights has been tempered with by removing any reference on its
interpretation to practices in other democratic countries. In addition,
women’s protection to their right to reproductive health has been removed.
Also, the general provision that gave everyone the right to information
including government information has been removed. Freedom of expression and
freedom of the press are now defined not to include what Zanu PF describes
as public indecency and morality. In the Copac draft, the right to privacy
included the right not to have one’s medical condition disclosed. Zanu PF
has removed this basic and fundamental right.
In addition, the
right of every Zimbabwean to own land and agricultural
property has been
removed.
Thus, the Zanu PF draft is weak and is fraught with hatred
and concepts that
are foreign to modern jurisprudence. Perhaps the biggest
crime of the Zanu
PF draft is the restoration and creation of a bigger and
more monstrous
imperial president. Their president no longer shares power
with Cabinet, can
dissolve Parliament at any time, appoints judges and
appoints all members of
commissions. He can declare war without going to
Parliament. In short, it is
a president that is above the law and the
constitution itself.
The current constitution seeks to make us slaves
and subjects of an imperial
president.
The Copac draft sought to
reconstitute and redesign the state by creating
security services that were
subject to and accountable to the constitution,
the people and the elected
Executive. The Copac draft went even further to
create a public complaints
body against the omissions and commissions of the
security sector. It went
further to subject security chiefs like the
president to limited tenure of
office of two five-year terms, a provision
that also applied to permanent
secretaries, heads of parastatals and those
heading government
bodies.
Zanu PF has removed all these provisions. It has created a
security service
that is privately owned by the president as if Mugabe will
live forever. It
has also removed the public complaints body as well as the
terms of office
of security and civilian functionaries. In short, there is a
vicious
protection and retention of the old order.
Does it
establish and protect the clear separation of power and authority in
state
structures?
Sadly, the Zanu PF draft fundamentally alters the Copac principle
of clear
separation of power. In the Copac draft, the President cannot
dissolve
parliament save for mandatory elections. Parliament appoints judges
and
therefore there is a clear separation of authority. The office of the
Independent Prosecuting Authority ensures that the President cannot control
and politicise prosecutions. The Zanu PF draft retains everything on the
insatiable table of the imperial president. How sad.
Does it
create independent institutions, particularly, those baulking
against power
and big government?
The Copac draft constitution creates important
independent institutions that
protect citizens. These include the
Anti-Corruption Commission, the
Independent Prosecuting Authority, National
Peace and Reconciliation
Commission, Zimbabwe Gender Commission. It also
goes further to strengthen
existing commissions such as the Zimbabwe
Electoral Commission, the Zimbabwe
Human Rights Commission and the Zimbabwe
Media Commission.
The Zanu PF draft seriously assaults the appointment
process of the
Anti-Corruption Commission and alters the powers of the Media
Commission. By
removing the Independent Prosecuting Authority Zanu PF
amendments seek to
propagate the Zanufication and politicisation of
prosecutions.
Sadly the Zanu PF draft also removes the National Peace
and Reconciliation
Commission which is critical in post conflict
reconstruction and in
vaccinating against what I called the hard and soft
genocide in this
country. This commission resonates with every right
thinking person in
Zimbabwe. Sadly the chaos faction in Zanu PF which was
responsible for
producing the constitution Frankenstein being discussed
herein lives in the
past.
Does it create mechanisms for state
and generational succession and
regeneration?
The Copac draft sought to
do this by providing limits to state
functionaries, the president, security
chiefs, members of independent
commissions and heads of parastatals. As
indicated above, Zanu PF has
removed terms of limits from most of the
above.
The issue of running mates, which has been
tempered with, clearly guarantees
the superiority of the imperial
president.
Furthermore by stating that a political party must choose
which of the two
vice presidents will succeed a departing president, scenes
of instability
are being sown.
Moreover, the proposed provision now
creates discrimination against
independent presidential candidates. More
importantly, is this no Zanu PF
way of ensuring that an individual vice
president from a minority tribe in
Zimbabwe can never become
president.
The Zanu PF counter draft must be rejected and dismissed
with the contempt
it deserves.
What must a good constitution
do?
A good constitution, like any good contractual document, must be
based on
mistrust, the assumption that any individual holding power can
abuse that
power. Thus, a negotiated constitution should thus act as a
bulwark against
that power. Put differently, the Zanu PF Politburo should
have had the
mindset of any ordinary opposition and defined the protections
that they
would want to see in a constitution. Instead, they saw themselves
as
permanent rulers.
Does the amended constitution articulate
aspirations of the people?
Zimbabwe for many years has been subjected to
uneven development. Without a
doubt, the state has produced itself through
Harare and the Mashonaland
provinces. Life in Zimbabwe evolves around Harare
from the application of
passports and the granting of liquor licences and
other mundane tasks which
can be decentralised. To deal with this mischief,
the Copac draft sought to
create a devolved state in clear recognition of
the noble principle of equal
development. The Copac constitution sought to
create powerful elected mayors
who could chat the developmental agenda of
their communities and elected
councillors who could not be fired willy-nilly
at the special instance of a
minister. Sadly, that has been
removed.
The whole of Zimbabwe is undeveloped and will continue to
suffer under the
weight of a dual enclave economy. Devolution is one
important answer to
destroying the thick barriers of enclavity. Those who
say it promotes
tribalism are being disingenuous. The whole world is replete
with devolved
states.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
September 23, 2012 in
Business
THE banking sector has started promoting a saving culture by
exempting
charges on savings products, as well as offering competitive
interest rates,
a senior bank official has said.
REPORT BY KUDZAI
CHIMHANGWA
This is expected to restore confidence in the sector, whose
credibility had
dipped due to high bank account charges and the collapse of
some banks in
the past few years.
In an interview
with Standardbusiness, POSB chief executive officer, Admore
Kandlela, said
fiscal authorities must enable the central bank’s lender of
last resort
function, finalise the Zimbabwe dollar balances, foster policy
consistency
and predictability to boost confidence in the banking sector.
“The
absence of the lender of last resort function has exacerbated the
(liquidity
crunch) situation as banks took a cautious approach with regards
to lending
and participation on the interbank market,” Kandlela said.
He said
the absence of lender of last resort has also negatively affected
confidence
levels of the banking public, hence a sluggish growth in bank
deposits.
The financial sector, Kandlela said, also has high
rates of non-performing
loans, resulting in high systematic and default
risk.
The pervading high bank charges for sustaining bank accounts
continue to
diminish the banking public’s confidence, effectively deterring
them from
depositing their money in banks.
Zimbabwe had a low
bank deposit base of US$3,64 billion as at July this year
from US$3,59
billion in June 2012, representing a marginal 3% increase.
Kandlela
said the liquidity crunch was expected to continue throughout the
year as
banks face challenges of mobilising long-term deposits for
on-lending to the
productive sectors of the economy.
“We foresee the systematic and default
risks continuing to cause
apprehension in the financial sector,” he
said.
According to the Economic Planning and Investment Promotion
Ministry,
internal savings in Zimbabwe in 2008 stood at less than 5% of
investment
over Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
However,
government’s blueprint, The Medium Term Plan, plans to raise the
figure from
less than 10% to at least 25% of GDP over the next five years.
The
latest FinScope Consumer Survey Zimbabwe 2011, which provides a synopsis
of
demand for, usage of and access to financial services, noted that 31% of
adults in the country did not have a savings culture.
The survey
also revealed that a substantial number of people in rural areas
only saved
money outside the formal banking system due to limited banking
products
being offered.
As part of efforts to tap into the consequent US$2,5
billion circulating in
the informal sector, Kandlela said POSB had
introduced cellphone banking so
as to bring convenience and accessibility to
reach out to the unbanked
sector.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
September 23, 2012 in Business
POOR road network is inhibiting the potential
growth of the tourism sector
in Eastern Highlands, Nyanga, the Publicity
Association vice-chairperson,
Nhemias Gurajena has said.
REPORT BY
OUR CORRESPONDENT
Nyanga Publicity Association comprises hoteliers and
tourism players
operating in Manicaland province.
In an interview
with Standardbusiness recently, Gurajena said the Eastern
Highlands had the
potential to become a hub of tourism in the country,
generating the
much-needed foreign currency to revive the economy.
“We have a big
challenge to have access to these sites. We have good
products, but our road
network is pathetic,” said Gurajena.
“There is need for urgent
rehabilitation of our road network to boost our
tourism
industry.”
Gurajena said the local authority and the Department of
Roads were supposed
to rehabilitate the road network, if the area was to
benefit from the United
Nations World Tourism Organisation General Assembly
to be held in Victoria
Falls next year.
Zimbabwe is co-hosting
the meeting with Zambia.
It is expected that before and after the
meeting, tourists would visit major
sites in the
country.
Gurajena said the bad road network was making some tourist
attractions such
as Mutarazi Falls, Pungwe scenic view and Nyangani
Mountains, among others,
inaccessible to both domestic and international
tourists.
An official from roads department in Nyanga said lack of
funding and
obsolete equipment was impacting negatively on their efforts to
rehabilitate
these roads.
Area manager for Parks and Wildlife
Management Authority in Nyanga, Onius
Bepe, however said the Eastern
Highlands continued to record an increase in
the number of tourists despite
the bad state of the roads.
Hospitality Association of Zimbabwe
representative in Eastern Highlands,
Tranos Moyo, said their efforts to
market Nyanga as a major tourism
destination would go down the drain if
roads were not rehabilitated
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
September 23, 2012 in
Politics
As the GPA constitution-making process approaches its final point
whose
conclusion is made more urgent by the looming general election due
within
six months under the current or a new constitution, the GPA
principals
should be commended for their progressive decision to take the
July 18 Copac
draft constitution and the unpublished Copac National
Statistical Report to
the Second Stakeholder Conference expected to be held
in the next two or so
weeks.
Report by by Prof Jonathan Moyo
The
decision is significant not only because it is based on a useful
distinction
between “process and content” issues surrounding the Copac draft
but also
because it leaves as water under the bridge some falsehoods that
had clouded
the constitution-making process with rank confusion. In this
connection, six
considerations are notable.
In the first place, and notwithstanding
media grandstanding by the two MDC
formations which betray their
inexperience and incapacity to govern, no
deadlock has been declared in the
constitution-making process by any of the
GPA parties. Everything is still
on track. Indeed, all serious indications
so far are that the broad-minded
amendments proposed by Zanu PF have
triggered a looming consensus among the
GPA parties not least because the
amendments are supported by Copac’s
unpublished National Statistical Report.
In the second place, it is
now common cause that the July 18 Copac draft is
necessarily subject to
amendment and that it will have to be amended if
there’s to be a referendum
for a new constitution because the draft is not
only just shoddy, as has
been pointed out by everyone who has read it, but
also because it does not
reflect the views of the people on fundamental
issues which among others
include strong support for the unitary state based
on decentralised and not
devolved power; assertion of the supremacy of the
people as the makers of
their constitution that serves as the supreme law of
the land; respect,
promotion and defence of the values and ideals of the
liberation struggle as
the most pervasive pillar of the proposed
constitution to bind all state
institutions and public officials;
overwhelming opposition to homosexuality;
total support for the
irreversibility of the historic land reform programme
along with
indigenisation and economic empowerment; opposition to dual
citizenship for
citizens by descent or registration; a meaningful and
functional separation
of powers consistent with a unitary state that vests
executive, legislative
and judiciary authority with the people in a manner
that creates neither an
imperial nor clerical President; rejection of
importing institutions such as
the so-called National Prosecuting Authority
and Constitutional Court and
formidable support for traditional leaders,
institutions and authority.
In third place, and even though they have
the final say on whether to give
the Copac draft a green or red light, it
would have been unfair and wrong
for the GPA principals to take final
positions on the Copac draft
constitution without the benefit of the views
of the various stakeholders
that participated in the First Stakeholder
Conference out of which the
all-inclusive thematic committees were
formed.
Why 2nd stakeholder conference is necessary
It is
necessary for the Second Stakeholder Conference to be held in order to
enable other voices besides the GPA political parties to express their views
on the Copac draft constitution. The Second Stakeholder Conference is
therefore a very important and an unavoidable process issue that the GPA
principals must honour in terms of Article VI of the GPA regardless of their
respective positions on the content of the July 18 Copac draft constitution.
The important question about the final positions of the GPA parties on the
Copac draft will be resolved one way or the other only after and not before
or during the Second Stakeholder Conference, which will serve not as a
debating forum or decision-making body but only as a feedback
platform.
GPA principals have the mandate to amend
draft
By agreeing on the Second Stakeholder Conference to get feedback
from
non-GPA views on the Copac draft against the background of the Copac
National Statistical Report, the GPA principals have effectively confirmed
that the July 18 Copac draft constitution is not “final” but is subject to
amendment before it goes to Parliament before and after the referendum. Only
the GPA principals can make the amendments given that Copac has finished and
submitted its draft.
In the fifth place, and arising from the
foregoing and as recently confirmed
in public by the Clerk of Parliament,
the constitution-making process is not
and has not been a Parliamentary
process. Rather, it is and has been
entirely a GPA process. This is why its
description and procedures are only
described and detailed in Article VI of
the GPA signed by GPA principals and
nowhere else. There is no Standing Rule
or Order of Parliament, motion in
Parliament or decision of Parliament’s
Standing Rules and Orders Committee
(Sroc) establishing Copac. Indeed, it is
important to note that there is no
other law establishing Copac besides
Article VI of the GPA. With the
exception of Article XX, the GPA is only a
political agreement between Zanu
PF and the two MDC formations and is not
part of any law of the land.
The bottom line therefore is that Copac
is a GPA process. This process is
accountable to the GPA principals who
signed the GPA on September 15 2008.
Only the GPA principals can move the
Copac process forward if and only if
there’s agreement to do that.
Parliament will become involved only if the
GPA principals agree on a New
Constitution Bill and when that agreed Bill is
officially tabled in
Parliament by the government.
In the sixth place, and those who have
jumped the gun to announce their “yes
campaigns” should take note, there is
absolutely no circumstance under the
sun in which Zanu PF can be expected to
support or allow the passage in
Parliament of a draft constitution that does
not contain or reflect the
views of the people gathered during the Copac
outreach programme as
contained in the National Statistical Report. While
the two MDC formations
might have no problems with selling out as creations
of foreigners, Zanu PF
is an indigenous party and has a historical duty and
obligation to represent
and defend the interests and views of the people
especially on something as
fundamental as a new constitution.
By
the same token, only foolish people will expect President Mugabe to put
before the nation a referendum on any new constitution that he as Head of
State and Government and Commander-in-Chief of the Defence Forces, is not
proposing. It should be clear to all and sundry that, on behalf of their
political parties, the GPA principals will have two choices after the Second
Stakeholder Conference: either to agree on some amendments to the July 18
Copac draft to incorporate the views of the people and move towards a
referendum, or agree to disagree, in which case there would be a deadlock.
If that deadlock is not resolved there will be no referendum but elections
under the current constitution.
The success of the GPA
constitution-making process is still very possible
but it depends on the
mutual seriousness and co-operation of the GPA
parties.