http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 04 September 2011
09:58
BY JENNIFER DUBE AND RUTENDO MAWERE
AUGUST was arguably the
bloodiest month in Zimbabwe’s recent history with
over 60 deaths caused by
road accidents. The unrelenting road carnage has
left many unanswered
questions among travelers, some whom are becoming
increasingly wary of using
public transport.
On Tuesday, five people were killed and dozens more
were injured when a
Munenzwa bus from Zimbabwe overturned on a highway near
the South African
capital of Pretoria.
A survivor Jeremiah Mupfapaire
blamed the accident on the driver whom he
said was driving too fast. In
separate interviews last week, transport
operators blamed many factors,
including the quality of vehicle spares,
operating conditions, poor roads
and police corruption for the carnage.
“Some tyres and vehicle spares
are of poor quality,” said Commuter Omnibus
Operators Association (COOA)
president Tererai Katema. “Noone is controlling
the quality of spares being
imported into the country that is why you find
clothes shops being able to
sell tyres.
“Just like everything nowadays, we have imitations and
substandard spares
being used on vehicles and these are popular because of
their cheap price.”
Some transporters said because of economic hardships,
many operators found
it “economic” to buy a new kombi tyre for US$120 and
below.
A good second hand tyre costs between US$50 and US$60 at a
Chinese or
Nigerian shop compared to a genuine import which costs US$180 and
above.
Cosmas Mukoyi, the acting Standards Association of Zimbabwe (SAZ)
director
conceded that some spare parts being imported by reputable garages
were
fake.
He admitted that the fake parts were contributing to
road accidents. “SAZ is
lobbying for regulations to ensure that imported
products are checked to
ensure that they are of the right quality,” Mukoyi
said.
“The association also encourages importers to have imported
products checked
to ensure that that they are of the right quality.” But
most transporters
believe corruption in the police force is to blame for the
road accidents as
unqualified drivers were now allowed to operate public
transport.
Owners of unfit vehicles can also pay to use the country’s
roads with ease,
transporters said. “We find it difficult to encourage our
members to be
compliant because even those with all papers in order suffer
the same way as
those without as some police officers are pre-occupied with
demanding bribes
and not checking compliance,” Katema
said.
Innocent Katuruza, whose company owns a fleet of commuter
omnibuses plying
various routes from Harare, said public transport crews
also operated under
a lot of pressure hence the accidents.
POLICE
BLAME RECKLESS, CORRUPT DRIVERS
However, police spokesperson Oliver
Mandipaka blamed the accidents on
reckless driving. “Let us desist from the
blame game because the police do
not seat behind people’s steering wheels
and cause accidents,” Mandipaka
said.
“People are just not
careful, impatient and irresponsible yet driving is a
science and an art
which requires diligence. “We need discipline starting
from an individual
motorist who will make sure their vehicle is in a sound
mechanical condition
before leaving their home.
“A motorist who will respect the rules and
not overtake where there is a
white continuous line, at an intersection or
in front of an oncoming
vehicle, one who will not shoot through a red robot,
will not stop at
undesignated points and will drive at 60 km on a 60km zone
and not at
140km.”
Mandipaka said many motorists flouted the
Highway Code and become violent
when advised by fellow drivers. “Concerning
corrupt officers, many offenders
have been prosecuted and that is known,” he
said.
“But again, elimination of corruption also should start with
the society
whereby individuals refuse to pay whatever money they are asked
for and we
can see if any officer will pull a gun on them.”
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 04 September 2011 10:57
By Marko
Phiri
Deep in the rural plains of Lupane, in Matebeleland North, Gladys
Jubane has
no experience of life with access to clean water. Jubane, like
many of the
people who live here, has for years relied on open water sources
and crude
pit-latrines.
Fears of water-borne diseases remain a
threat and there is little being done
to keep this constant threat at bay.
The use of open spaces as latrines
heightens this health threat. Villagers
have failed to build or sink enough
pit latrines, or simply neglect to use
those that are available. Many of
these open latrines are close to the open
water sources used by the
villagers.
“We have a few boreholes
close by, but they have dried up and we have to
walk very long distances to
safer water points,” Jubane says pointing her
index finger far into the
distance, in the direction where either she walks
or sends her sons on
donkey-drawn carts to fetch water.
It is these incredibly long
distances to various water points that have
contributed to poor hygiene
among the people. There is often no clean or
safe water close by and they
overlook the washing of hands.
“We know the dangers that we live with
each day,” said Gogo Thembekile
Ncube, another villager, referring to the
lack of clean, safe water and
sanitation access.
Lack of access
to running water, identified as essential in fighting
cholera, — is one of
the factors cited by the teachers’ unions why their
members are reluctant to
accept rural posting. Sijabuliso Ndlovu, a
qualified primary school teacher
working in rural Lupane says lack of access
to clean water was a constant
reminder of the cholera outbreak a few years
ago.
“Even us the
teachers are having a tough time finding clean water and proper
sanitation.
We have to be careful with the little water we get and this can
mean
skipping a bath,” Ndlovu said, highlighting the tough choices these
professionals have to make because of the scarcity of water.
“I
get the water I use from a borehole but it is far from the school. Only
now
are we getting some NGOs coming in to repair old boreholes and sink new
ones,” he said.
While borehole water is seen as relatively safe,
there are concerns about
the possible contamination of this underground
resource in areas where there
are no proper toilets.
Boiling the
drinking water is one of the recommended methods of purification
as this
kills germs that spread cholera.
While health advisors say Jik can be
used to treat drinking water as the
bleach also kills bacteria that harbour
cholera, rural villagers are not
using this method because this is an
expense they cannot afford.
Rural populations remain particularly
vulnerable as traditional methods of
water purification such as boiling the
water are rarely practiced because
renewable sources of energy are either
unattainable or unaffordable.
Firewood is expensive and difficult for the
villagers to find.
“I have to admit I am one of many who have never
bothered about boiling the
water I use. It just is something that many
people do not do, and if no one
you know falls sick, then you see no reason
to take that precaution,” Ndlovu
said.
“It is important for the
people in government and other [humanitarian]
agencies to know that clean
water is the first resource that must be
provided to people before
everything else,” said an official from World
Vision working in
Lupane.
“If there is no clean water, I don’t think anyone can talk
about
contributing positively to the people’s needs and development as we
will
always have these lingering fears about unclean water killing people,”
the
official said, adding that the building of proper toilets in rural areas
was
“a vital developmental initiative” that cannot be ignored.
A
nurse working in one of the clinics in Lupane said villagers were being
informed about cholera and other diseases, such as dysentery and
diarrhoea.
“It has been difficult for people coming in from outside who are
not used to
the water as they soon complain about running stomachs but we
continue
telling the locals that boiling the water will save their lives,”
the nurse
said.
Early this year amid the floods that hit many
parts of southern Africa, the
Red Cross warned that another cholera outbreak
was possible in Zimbabwe
because the conditions that had led to the 2008
outbreak such as poor water
and sewer infrastructure were still to be fully
addressed.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 04 September 2011 10:51
BY NQABA
MATSHAZI
THE adage “frailty thy name is woman” is gaining currency in the
modern age,
as dubious prophets rape women on the pretext of healing them,
with many
females falling for this overused trick.
Examples
abound of women falling into the same trap, as it seems prophets
are using
this method to solicit for sex from desperate women, fitting
perfectly into
the phrase that renowned writer, William Shakespeare coined
to describe what
he saw as an apparent weakness in women.
With social problems
mounting over the past decade, many people have taken
to religion as an
escape route out of their troubles and the unfortunate
have fallen victim to
the wolves in sheep skin who take advantage of such
situations.
The most infamous person, who reportedly took
advantage of women’s
desperation should be Godfrey Nzira who was convicted
of raping seven women,
taking advantage of his lofty position in one of
several apostolic sects.
Nzira was sentenced to 23 years in prison in
2003, but was released seven
years later on a presidential pardon, in what
many claim was because of his
close links with Zanu PF.
Most of
these cases border on craziness, only serving as an illustration of
the low
levels of desperation people would have reached, that they are
willing to do
anything to get help.
In one bizarre case a prophet is reportedly
said to have led to the
separation of a family that was seeking help because
they faced marital
problems.
The prophet, Emmanuel Musonza allegedly
invited the couple to his home for
counselling, where he told them that the
spirits were against their marriage
and they should
separate.
Unbeknown to the couple, the healer’s main target was to
sleep with the wife
and now Musonza faces rape charges. In another case self
styled prophet told
a family that their 16-year-old daughter was possessed
by evil spirits and
should be brought for exorcism
immediately.
Since the “Man of God” had spoken, the lass was taken to
the prophet, with
the parents oblivious to the fact that their daughter was
like the
proverbial sheep being led to the slaughter house.
Aaron
Mutsemu, the false prophet, reportedly told the girl that if she dared
report that she had been abused, the family would suffer bouts of ill
fortune.
The victim, however, took the chance and reported the
case leading to the
prophet’s arrest. But in some cases the women do not
report and instead the
cases only come out when they have been infected or
passed the diseases to
their spouses.
A leader of an association
of apostolic churches, who spoke on condition of
anonymity, described
pastors who took advantage of their flock as fake.
He said a register of such
preachers should be created so they should not be
allowed to
preach.
“There should be a list of such fake pastors and they should
be barred from
preaching,” he said. “Some countries have sex offenders
registers and that
could act as a deterrent.”
The pastor said it
was difficult to control the number of prophets or
register them as new
sects mushroomed daily.
Vimbai Njovana, an advocacy officer at Msasa Project,
said they had received
a number of such cases and all they could do was to
raise awareness and
encourage the women to report the abuse.
“No one
should be subjected to such treatment, we have to raise awareness so
that
they report such cases,” she said.
Njovana conceded that it was difficult for
abused women to report rape cases
to their spouses because of the
patriarchal nature of society.
As the philosopher Karl Marx said “religion is
the opium of the masses,”
many more women, probably led by “blind faith” are
likely to fall into the
lures set up by false prophets.
POLICE MUST
INVESTIGATE THE CROOKS- CHAVHUNDUKA
Leader of the Zimbabwe National
Traditional Healers’ Association (Zinatha),
Gordon Chavhunduka described
such healers as “crooks and unprofessional”.
“In such cases we bring in the
police to help with investigations as these
people are crooks and are
unprofessional,” he said.
Chavhunduka said in such cases healers were
summoned to disciplinary
hearings and in most instances were expelled from
the association.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 04 September 2011 09:31
BY
CAIPHAS CHIMHETE
Vice President Joice Mujuru was estranged from the late
retired army
commander Solomon Mujuru in the first decade of the country’s
independence,
one of the latest diplomatic cables dispatched by the United
States embassy
in Harare has revealed.
The cable
publicised by the whistleblower website Wikileaks throws fresh
light into
what was widely regarded as one Zimbabwe’s most powerful couples.
It also
strengthens claims that the late general did not enjoy the tight
security
provided to a VIP.
There are reports that security was downgraded
because the two were not
living together. Mujuru, a powerful factional
leader in Zanu PF died in a
mysterious fire that gutted his farm house in
Beatrice.
“Mujuru (Joice) is a member of the politburo and serves as
the party
secretary for women’s affairs. She is married to the army
commander and has
three children but is estranged from him,” says the 1988
WikiLeaks cable.
“She is Zezuru and was born in 1955.”
The cable
does not give reasons for the alleged estrangement. The cable
gives credence
to widespread rumours that the two were no longer staying
together.
At
the time of his death, Mujuru was reportedly permanently staying at his
farm
while the Vice-President spent most of her time in Harare.
They said
Joice and other family members rarely visited the farm.
“He was always alone
at the farm and this is why people raise eyebrows about
their marriage,”
said Zanu PF official who was close to Mujuru.
“This is why he spent most of
his time with friends and even invited them
for braais at this
farm.”
Although the 1988 Wikileaks cable claims that the Mujurus were
estranged,
the two had a child, Kuzivakwashe, together a year later. She is
now 22
years old.
They have daughters Kumbirai (33), Chipo (32) and
Nyasha (28).
The two were always seen together at national functions
such as the Heroes
Acre, Independence celebrations, Mighty Warriors games
and important family
gatherings.
The Vice-President could not be reached
for comment.
Repeated efforts to get a comment from the Minister of
State in the Office
of Vice President Mujuru, Sylvester Nguni were
fruitless.
His secretary said Nguni was not in the office.
She
took this reporter’s mobile number claiming that she would give it to
Nguni
to call back. Nguni had not called back by the time of going to press
late
on Saturday. The sources said had they been together, Mujuru would have
had
VIP protection and uninterrupted electricity supply to his
farmhouse.
However, an official with Zesa last week said the
authority does not have a
VIP list for uninterrupted power supplies. “Zesa
only provides uninterrupted
supplies to strategic institutions of national
interest such as airports and
State House.”
The official said
Mujuru’s farm house was also subject to load-shedding just
like any other
residential area. Police say they would not comment on the
circumstances
leading to the late general’s death until they conclude their
investigations.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 04 September 2011
09:47
BY OWN STAFF
A pair of serving army generals allegedly
described their boss, army
commander Constantine Chiwenga as a “political
general” with little
military experience according to the latest leaks by
whistleblower website
Wikileaks.
The two named generals, all
very high-ranking officers in the Zimbabwe
National Army (ZNA), are said to
have made the remarks to US ambassador,
Charles Ray at a private meeting in
January 2010.
In cables Ray dispatched back to America, Chiwengwa is
reported to have been
a political commissar before independence in 1980 and
had only attended one
mid level training course, which he did not
finish.
“If given a choice between a military and a political issue, he
routinely
defaults to the political,” the cable reads.
“His goal is
to be in politics, and he will be very disappointed if he
failed to achieve
that goal.”
Chiwengwa’s political ambitions are reported to have caused
ructions within
Zanu PF and he was reportedly chastised by party leader,
President Robert
Mugabe, for being too “political”.
Mugabe gave the
army commander a rap on the knuckles in 2009, five months
before the two
generals met Ray.
Chiwengwa is often touted as a likely successor for
Mugabe and is sometimes
referred to as “Zim 2”, inferring that he was next
after the veteran leader.
Ray acknowledges that the two generals took
great risk to speak with him and
their identities should be kept secret as
they could be charged with
treason.
Chingono, an artillery officer,
was the last ZNA officer to train under the
America’s International Military
Education and Training (IMET) programme,
graduating from NDU in 1999, while
Satuku received training in England.
Both said they wished for relations
between the US and Zimbabwe to improve
as morale in the military was low.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 04 September 2011 09:53
BY NQABA
MATSHAZI
THE united MDC planned to approach the late Solomon Mujuru hoping he
could
be an emissary between them and the generals, offering the military
men an
amnesty in the event the party assumed power in an elaborate plan
that
involved South African president Jacob Zuma.
Whistleblower
website, Wikileaks last week released a series of damning
leaks, where the
MDC reportedly approached the US embassy with the idea that
army generals
should be granted amnesty as they were seen as the impediment
to what the
party saw as its rise to power.
It is not clear what Mujuru’s
response was although the US embassy also held
clandestine meetings with the
former army general’s wife, Joice.
The plan goes back to 2000, when the MDC
thought it was on its way to a
sweeping electoral victory.
A
Zimbabwean businessman (name supplied) reportedly offered to talk to Zuma
to
approach Mujuru with the idea that the former army general could offer at
least 10 army generals an exit package to pave way for a peaceful
transition.
“The Zimbabwean businessman said that (then) South
African vice-president
Jacob Zuma owed him a favour and he would call it in,
asking the former
Umkhonto weSizwe leader to approach Mujuru as a military
man and lay out the
deal,” read the cables that were dispatched by former US
embassy envoy to
Zimbabwe Tom Macdonald.
At the time Mujuru had
reportedly been taken ill and was in South Africa,
where Zuma could have
easy access to him. Some of the military men
reportedly identified to
receive an exit package were the late former army
chief Vitalis Zvinavashe,
his successor Constantine Chiwenga, Air Force
boss, Perence Shiri, a General
Mashingaidze and the late Air Marshall Josiah
Tungamirayi.
But in
the grand scheme, police boss Augustine Chihuri would not have been
the
beneficiary of an amnesty as he was not seen as being a critical player.
“Although the MDC did not believe in granting pre-emptive amnesties, it
thought it prudent to extend this olive branch to the ‘people with guns’ in
order to mitigate if not completely eliminate the current wave of political
violence,” the cable continues.
Mujuru, who died in a mysterious
inferno three weeks ago, was viewed as a
reformist within Zanu PF, who had
the respect of the military. His widow,
Joice, the country’s vice president,
is also seen as someone who is amenable
to working with the opposition and
the Mujurus were generally thought to be
approachable.
As if to
add credence to the Mujurus’ amenability, the American embassy had
an
informal meeting with Joice, which was not sanctioned by the Foreign
Affairs
ministry.
The ministry is supposed to sanction all meetings and sends a note
taker,
but in this instance the meeting was held without approval at an
unoccupied
house.
US ambassador, Charles Ray who met Joice
informally describes her as a
businessperson who wants closer ties with the
US for economic growth, with
the embassy concluding that “we know from other
sources that she and her
husband would like to see Mugabe move
on”.
Ray said the US would seek more meetings with Mujuru so as to
gain more
insight into Zanu PF, so as to encourage reform. At the time of
the amnesty
offer, the MDC had raised concern on the safety of it leader,
Morgan
Tsvangirai, fearing that a known hit man, residing in Mozambique,
could have
been hired to assassinate him.
“The party thought that
it was best for Tsvangirai to leave Zimbabwe for a
time and would be sending
him to England and the United States on a public
relations and fundraising
trip,” Macdonald wrote.
The ambassador described the named
businessman, who was coordinating the
meetings between the embassy and the
MDC, as an excitable character, but one
who could be relied on in dealing
with the MDC.
“We hope the offer is acceptable to the intermediary
(Mujuru) and that he in
turn is a successful salesman,” Macdonald wrote.
There have been numerous
reports of the MDC approaching army officers in a
bid to have them retreat
from politics.
No comment was
forthcoming from the MDC-T, with Nelson Chamisa’s phone
unavailable for most
of the day.
MDC MPs OFFERED SHIRI EXIT PACKAGE TO
RESIGN
Former legislators, Tafadzwa Musekiwa and Job Sikhala are reported
to have
approached Air Force commander Perence Shiri, with an offer for him
to
resign and accept an exit package. Elton Mangoma is also reported to have
made a proposal for the army generals to resign.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 04 September 2011
10:05
BY PATIENCE NYANGOVE
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai allegedly
received two cars from two
unnamed individuals associated with Reserve Bank
of Zimbabwe Governor Gideon
Gono. According to a US embassy cable released
on Friday by Wikileaks MDC-T
treasurer general Roy Bennett told American
ambassador Charles Ray at a
meeting last year that the two Gono associates
also intended to purchase a
US$1 million mansion for Tsvangirai in
Harare.
Tsvangirai is reportedly under investigation over the
purchase of the house
with allegations that he pocketed US$1,5 million he
received from the
Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe.
Bennett allegedly
said he urged Tsvangirai to turn down the offers. “He was
aware of reports
that Tsvangirai was buying a US$1 million house in Harare,”
reads part of
the cable.
“Bennett said he investigated and discovered that two
individuals associated
with Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Governor Gideon Gono
had proposed buying the
house for Tsvangirai.
“Bennett said he
urged Tsvangirai to turn off the arrangement and Tsvangirai
agreed.
“Tsvangirai had, however, accepted two vehicles from these
individuals.”
Bennett, who could not be reached for comment, allegedly told
Ray that
although the MDC-T was good at campaigning, it lacked a crop of
politicians
to run a government.
He also took a swipe at Tsvangirai for often
going against party positions.
“Apart from the MDC, Bennett acknowledged
that Zanu PF will be involved in a
future Zimbabwe; the challenge is to
identify those in Zanu PF who can play
constructive roles, and to find ways
to bolster them against extremists,”
Ray allegedly said in the leaked
cables.
Tsvangirai’s spokesperson, Luke Tamborinyoka yesterday
refused to comment
saying he does not comment to people’s opinions. “We are
only aware of what
people of Zimbabwe cabled in 2008. It’s not our business
whatsoever as to
what the Ambassador communicates with his people.”
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 04 September 2011
10:25
BY NQOBANI NDLOVU
BULAWAYO — A local pressure group, Ibhetshu
LikaZulu, has begun a process of
engaging management at companies operating
in the city over their employment
policies.
The group
says it wants to lobby the companies to adopt policies with a bias
towards
giving local youths first preference for job openings. Analysts said
the
move shows growing frustration by locals over being sidelined for jobs,
a
situation that has also heightened calls for secession by militant
pressure
groups like the Mthwakazi Liberation Front (MLF) based in
Bulawayo.
They said the growing frustration could be the reason why
Zanu-PF youths in
Bulawayo have been grabbing Indian owned buildings as a
way of empowering
themselves because of lack of jobs.
Mbuso
Fuzwayo, the coordinator of the pressure group said giving
locally-based
youths first preference for jobs is necessary to put a stop to
crime by
unemployed youths who would be desperate to eke out a living.
Fuzwayo
said having such employment policies will also end the violent
grabbing of
buildings by Zanu PF youths.
“Youths in Bulawayo are loitering without jobs
and some are being forced
into crime as some companies, especially
supermarkets, continue to open new
branches in the city but employ
outsiders,” Fuzwayo said.
“We demand that companies desist from
importing labour from other areas when
there are numerous unemployed youths
in every area who can be engaged.”
But Japhet Moyo, the newly elected
Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions
secretary general said such issues were
governed by the Labour Act.
“Concerns over conditions of employment and
inequalities at work can only be
addressed procedures contained in the
Labour Act,” he said.
“It is a bit strange that people and
organisations that have nothing to do
with labour issues are therefore
encroaching into labour issues.
“We are worried about their agenda. As ZCTU,
we view it as a political
agenda. It is tantamount to company
invasions.”
A number of unemployed youths in Bulawayo continue to
trek to neighbouring
countries like South Africa and Botswana in search of
jobs due to lack of
job opportunities in the city.
IBHETSHU
STAGED PROTEST AT TM SUPERMARKET
Ibhetshu LikaZulu recently
organised a protest against TM Supermarket’s
decision to overlook local
labour for their new Cowdray Park branch. Angry
demonstrators waved placards
with messages such as: “No to regional
imperialism.”
In a
petition, Ibhetshu Likazulu demanded that the supermarket give first
preference to locals for employment. Fuzwayo added: “You find a new branch
being set up and the next thing you find it open with a full staff
complement of outsiders yet there would not have been any adverts flighted
in the newspapers about job vacancies.”
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 04 September 2011 11:12
BY STAFF
REPORTER
THE Bankers Association of Zimbabwe (Baz) says lenders should be
given the
same rights as the government in the ownership of land to resolve
the issue
of collateral caused by the nationalisation of
land.
The move is set to provide a lasting solution to lack of
adequate financing
in agriculture with banks having been accused of
deliberately starving the
sector of loans.
In correspondence seen
by Standardbusiness, banks argue that by having the
same rights as the
borrowers, they can recover the debts. “The lender could
therefore get
eligible persons to farm and take over the debt. In short the
lender must be
able to sell the lease,” Baz said.
It said the current land leases
had limited security and cannot be used to
obtain funding. “The land leases
provide limited security and in the event
of default by the debtor, the
chances of recovering the loans are very low
unless the bank takes over and
works the foreclosed leaseholds,” Baz said.
Government has amended
some clauses to the 99-year leases to entice banks to
accept them as
security. Baz said Clause 17.1.1 which states that the lessee
cannot cede,
assign, hypothecate or enter into a working partnership without
the
authority of the lessor and that lessor has six months to respond does
not
work for debt recovery.
It said while Clause 24 gives government the
power to cancel the lease on
account of breach of 17 grounds provided for as
breaches this did not help
their cause.
“There is no provision
guaranteeing the interest of a money lender in the
event of cancellation of
a lease,” Baz said. The absence of agriculture
financing has been identified
as the missing link to boost production in the
sector more than a decade
after government embarked on the chaotic land
reform
programme.
The new farmers do not have access to financing and this
has incapacitated
the thrust to boost production after government said it
could not allocate
adequate resources in agriculture.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 04 September 2011 11:09
STAFF
REPORTER
THE value of shares that exchanged hands on the Zimbabwe Stock
Exchange
(ZSE) fell 17% last month to US$42 389 818,34 on July figures as
investors
took a back seat after government escalated its call to seize
foreign owned
companies.
The drop came after the bourse had
recorded a jump in turnover in July. Last
month, Youth Development,
Indigenisation and Empowerment Minister Saviour
Kasukuwere gave mining
companies and foreign banks 14 days to comply with
the empowerment
laws.
Kasukuwere went a step further advising Mines Minister Obert
Mpofu to cancel
the operating licence of Blanket Mine saying it had failed
to comply with
the empowerment legislation.
Kasukuwere later
backtracked saying the mining company should submit another
proposal. The
move alone ruffled the feathers of foreign investors and they
sold more than
they bought during the month.
Statistics from ZSE showed that
foreigners bought shares worth US$20 502
233,32. They sold shares worth US$
22 921 504,56. Even in terms of volume,
foreigners sold more than they
bought during the course of the month.
While foreign investors bought
69 726 341 shares, they went on to sell 87
055 469 shares. Foreign investors
have been driving activity on ZSE as
locals do not have the cash to
participate due to liquidity constraints.
As such foreign investors
have been determining the fate of the bourse and
when they sneeze, the
market catches the cold. The performance of the stock
exchange is an
indicator of the state of the economy and is closely followed
by
investors.
Its performance affects stock brokers who derive their
income from
commissions on the buying and selling of shares. Analysts say
activities on
ZSE were also affected by the country’s political risk and
that partners in
the government were not speaking with one voice on policy
issues.
They say there is no clarity on the indigenisation
legislation and as a
result foreign investors are scared. Finance Minister
Tendai Biti called on
Wednesday for the introduction of other alternative
markets such as bond and
commodities markets, a move analysts say would
still not work in the absence
of unity of purpose among politicians.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 04 September 2011
11:04
BY NDAMU SANDU
ZIMBABWE’S economy is poised for growth but there
are enormous constraints
that militate against the country achieving its
full potential, a top World
Bank official said last
week.
Kundhavi Kadiresan, the World Bank country director for Malawi,
Zambia and
Zimbabwe lauded the country’s economic recovery driven by mining
and
agriculture but said it was susceptible to shocks and problems that
would
impede growth.
“The constraints are enormous…the demand and
supply when you look at the
energy sector is going to have a huge
deficit.
“Therefore, unless government really starts looking at building the
infrastructure…energy, roads, water supply, ICT, Zimbabwe, to really be able
to recover fully and develop to its full potential, still seems far off,”
Kadiresan said.
She said the growth in mining was driven by
favourable prices on the world
markets while the rebound in agriculture
could be attributed to good climate
and favourable food
prices.
However, she said once prices begin to fall, the sectors’
growth would be
constrained. “History has shown that these commodity prices
can be quite
high and at the same time can come down quickly and we do not
know how the
global economy is going to be.
“If it slows down it
can also bring down demand for the mining products and
also for food,”
Kadiresan said. She said although Zimbabwe had seen
recovery in the
agricultural sector, it was still limited in terms of
unleashing its full
potential unless it resolves some of the land related
issues.
“As
a result of all these constraints, the issue of land tenure, the issue
of
energy, the issue relating to roads and railways, and the cost of doing
business in Zimbabwe continues to be very high.
“That’s one of
the reasons why one feels that the investment climate for
foreign investment
to come into the country is still not very conducive,”
she
said.
Kadiresan, who met Finance ministry officials, among others,
during her
visit, said experts were working closely with government and
non-governmental organisations in terms of putting the foundation ahead of
the normalisation of relations with the World Bank once the country cleared
its outstanding arrears.
The bank was providing technical
assistance to Zimbabwe and would open lines
of credit if the country cleared
its arrears. Zimbabwe has a large debt
overhang. At the end of last year,
the external debt was estimated at US$8,8
billion. Of that amount close to
US$6 billion are in arrears. Arrears to the
World Bank and other
multilaterals are almost US$2 billion.
“For us to come back and have
normal activities to be re-established, we
need to address the arrears
situation for which we would first make sure
that the country has
established a record of good macroeconomic policy,”
Kadiresan
said.
“Unless we have that framework in place, it will be hard for us
to really
start any negotiations on the arrears. We are looking at in terms
of
implementing medium term structural reform programme that is endorsed by
the
World Bank and then hopefully as part of the satisfactory performance on
a
stabilisation programme monitored by the IMF.
IMF and
government are in discussion over a Staff Monitored Programme.
Kadiresan
said the World Bank is hopeful an agreement would be reached soon.
She said
there were three critical areas—ghost workers, indigenisation and
liquidity
of banks—which are holding back an agreement.
Kadiresan was on her
second visit to the country since she assumed the post
of director for
Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe in June. Her first visit in June
was a
familiarisation mission.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 04 September 2011 11:00
BY
CAIPHAS CHIMHETE
A senior official with the National Social Security
Authority (NSSA) has
been suspended for the second time this year to pave
way for a forensic
audit in the investment department, sources at the fund
said last week.
Sources said NSSA equities manager, James Chiwera,
who is accused of
manipulating the fund’s equity deals, was sent on a
three-month forced leave
two weeks ago.
Chiwera was first
suspended in July this year over the same allegations. He
was issued with
another letter of suspension written by NSSA corporate
director, Tendai
Mafunda, when he reported for work two weeks ago.
Allegations against
Chiwera were brought to the fore by Southern Trust
Securities (Pvt) Limited
who wrote to NSSA general manager, James Matiza, on
May 31, expressing their
displeasure on how he was conducting the authority’s
business
transactions.
Documents in our possession show that Chiwera would
sell his shares and
those of his children and wife to NSSA without declaring
his interests. They
indicate that between February and April this year,
Chiwera sold his shares
in Ariston and Pioneer to NSSA.
But
insiders told The Standard that the intended probe could claim the
scalps of
many other senior managers, who allegedly suppressed a previous
audit
report for fear of being exposed.
“The probe would touch on equities
and property investments of the past few
years,” said a senior official with
the fund. “There are so many
irregularities but they were being swept under
the carpet.
“If they had implemented recommendations of an audit
report by the
comptroller and Auditor General we would not have these
problems but they
just ignored it,” the official said.
The report
noted that during that period deals were structured with
unregistered
companies, a move which could have prejudiced the authority of
millions of
dollars.
A NSSA spokesperson said Chiwera’s case was being handled in
accordance with
the provisions of the Labour Act. “The process has not yet
been finalised,”
said the spokesperson. “It would be inappropriate,
therefore, for the
National Social Security Authority to comment on any
issues related to this
at present. Doing so could be prejudicial both to
NSSA and to Chiwera.”
The spokesperson said there would be no reason
for any forensic
investigation that might be undertaken within the
investment department to
encompass the investments in Dominion House or
Ballantyne Park.
“The external auditors were satisfied with the
manner in which these
transactions were undertaken and certified the
financial statements for
2009, the year in which these transactions took
place, without any
qualification,” said the spokesperson.
NSSA
has courted controversy for paying paltry packages to injured workers
or
retired people while investing massively in properties, listed and
unlisted
stocks.
It also pays its senior managers handsomely. NSSA has also
been accused of
financing business projects owned by politicians and their
cronies, as well
as ill-conceived transactions that have resulted in serious
prejudice to
pensioners.
NSSA IGNORED AUDITOR GENERAL'S
REPORT
In 2010, the Comptroller and Auditor General produced an adverse
report on
the operations of the authority and made some recommendations.
NSSA is said
to have ignored the recommendations and instead opted for
internal auditors.
They unearthed a number of anomalies in the manner
in which properties were
bought, the way tenders were offered; irregular
loans extended to board
members and the lack of a comprehensive risk
assessment at the authority.
Among the properties bought is Dominion
House and Ballantyne Park.
The report which covered the period between
December 2009 and March 2010,
said huge loans were extended to board members
in unclear circumstances.
Loans of over US$3 million were given to
two companies that were under the
directorship of a board member who was
also chairman of the risk and
investments committee, says the
report.
In some cases, says the report, shares were bought at prices
lower than
those quoted on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 04 September 2011 10:41
BY JENNIFER
DUBE
AGNES Rugara, a cross-border trader from Harare rues the day government
introduced import duty on basic commodities. “They destroyed my livelihood,”
Rugara said last week. “I did not know about the new regulations until I
arrived at Beitbridge Border Post from South Africa only to be told I had to
pay duty.
“I had shoes and blankets mostly because those
are the things which sold
well on the local market. “But I had to leave
everything at the border as I
had no money for the duty.
“All the
immigration people could say was that we should constantly read
newspapers
so as not to miss out on new regulations.” Rugara has not been
able to
collect her wares from the border, let alone import more wares,
since last
month. Government last month introduced 40% import duty on
blankets,
footwear, refrigerators and stoves, in a move that has left
cross-border
traders facing an uncertain future.
The products were previously
included in the travellers’ rebate where a
person was allowed to bring in
products duty- free once in a calendar month.
Like many traders, Rugara used
the travellers’ rebate to import wares for
resale from neighbouring
countries once a month.
She traded in clothes, shoes and blankets
among other items. Rugara’s
predicament is shared by many who manipulated
the system for survival as
they imported goods from Zambia, Botswana,
Tanzania, South Africa and China
among other places.
Zimbabwe
Chamber of Informal Economy Associations secretary for gender and
women’s
affairs Charity Mandishona said many members of her organisation
were at a
loss over how they will repay loans given to them by a local bank.
“A
local bank assisted some of our members with US$500 each in June, July
and
August so they could import wares for resale and were expected to repay
the
loan over two months,” Mandishona said.
“This was an ongoing project
which we hoped would continue coming to the
rescue of our members as many
who had no money found themselves with enough
to import.
“The
project had been premised on the fact that one could bring in goods
duty
free but now that some have paid duty and others are failing, we do not
know
how we will repay the loans.”
Traders interviewed last week said they
would normally buy wares worth
US$500 per month whereby US$300 would be
covered under the rebate. They said
they usually would return home with R100
or less which is only enough to pay
duty for just one blanket
nowadays.
Officials from the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (Zimra) in
the past said the
duty was necessary to protect local industries. Zimra,
however, said
travellers were still allowed to bring in goods worth US$300
for free per
month.
But electronic goods, such as fridges and
stoves, and footwear and blankets
are no longer part of that list. Rugara
said since the introduction of the
duty, she now struggles to pay tuition
fees for herself and her children.
Others said rising prices for
basic commodities made life even more
difficult. “I used to import wares for
resale together with basic foodstuffs
for the family but now I have to buy
food locally and it is expensive,”
Kumbirai Chimuka said.
“For a
moment, I thought I would resort to buying from Chinese shops and
reselling
as others are doing but there is very little money there and too
many people
are doing it.
“But I am happy because I am told some immigration
officials seem keen to
assist so I may soon resume my trips.
“If
government wants money, they should be reasonable in their demands
because I
would rather pay a minimal bribe than part with a huge amount in
duty.”
OTHER GOODS FOR WHICH GOVT. IS NOW CHARGING
DUTY
Government is also now charging duty on basic commodities
such as maize
meal, cooking oil, potato chips, baked beans and mixed fruit
jam. Duty for
these commodities ranges between 10% and 25%, while that on
salt, rice and
flour would remain suspended until the end of the
year.
Retailers increased prices on these goods long before the full
reinstatement
of the duty. Finance Minister Tendai Biti last week said he
now regretted
re-introducing the duty as it was now putting massive pressure
on annual
inflation which stood at 3,3% in July.
Inflation had remained
at below 3% in the first quarter of the year.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 04 September 2011
14:40
KHAMA Billiat was nine, Ovidy Karuru was 10, and Edward Sadomba was
16 years
old when the National Sports Stadium was turned into a bloodbath on
July 9
2000.
Thirteen people were crushed to death at the giant
stadium when police fired
teargas at the crowd in a bid to quell
disturbances during the World Cup
qualifier between Zimbabwe and South
Africa.
Disgraced Bafana Bafana striker Delron Buckley ignited the
mayhem when he
pulled his middle finger at the fans as he celebrated his
side’s 2-0 win
over the hosts with 10 minutes before the final
whistle.
The agitated Warriors fans reacted by raining missiles onto
the field of
play and the police reacted by firing teargas canisters into
crowd and, in
the ensuing rush to escape the choking smoke, 13 fans were
crushed to death
while scores were injured.
Eularia Made, Tawanda
Gwanzura, Patrick Mpariwa, Killian Madondo, George
Chin'anga, Sam Mavhuro,
Enock Chimombe, Joyce Chimbamba, Benhilda Magadu,
Ronald Kufakunesu,
Tonderai Jeke, T Makonese and Alec Fidesi lost their
lives in the
stampede.
The youngest victim was Fidesi, who was just six years old.
He could have
been 17 years old today when Billiat, now 21, and company
troop into the
National Sports Stadium as the new generation of the Warriors
aim to qualify
for the Nations Cup.
The Mugomba tragedy is one of
the worst football disasters to strike
domestic football. As the Warriors go
for the crunch Nations Cup match we
hope they will remember to honour the 13
who perished at the stadium.
The Warriors/Liberia match is an
emotional match particularly for the
families of those who perished at the
stadium as it comes 57 days after they
were quietly remembered by their
relatives.
It is 11 years now since those 13 lives flickered and were
blown away like
candles in the wind. Continental football has been littered
with some of the
worst football disasters. The National Sports Stadium
disaster had been one
of the worst in Africa until 43 people were killed and
155 injured as fans
tried to push into an overcrowded Ellis Park Stadium in
South Africa during
a match pitting Orlando Pirates and Kaizers Chiefs on
April 11 2001.
Then the continent’s worst football disaster happened
in Accra, Ghana on May
9, 2001 when 127 people died in a stampede after
police fired teargas during
the match between Hearts of Oak and Asante
Kotoko.
The home side scored two late goals to defeat Kotoko 2-1,
which led to
disappointed Kotoko fans to throw plastic seats and bottles
onto the pitch.
The response to this crowd disturbance from the police was
to fire teargas
into the crowd. Panic ensued and a resulting stampede led to
the deaths.
There is something sad about the football stadium
tragedies in Africa. The
annoyed football fans throw missiles into the pitch
when their team is down
and the police react by firing teargas and in the
rush scores of people are
crushed to death. This should stop.
We
hope that there is a new generation of supporters that do not throw
missiles
into the pitch like those of 11 years ago. We also hope that there
is a new
generation of supporters that do not mock players and women. We
also pray
and hope that there is a new generation of police — one that is
not
trigger-happy. It can be a consolation that today ends with no ugly
incident. Go Warriors go!
Feedback: fanuelv@standard.co..zw mobile 00263
772498512.
BY FANUEL VHIRIRI
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 04 September 2011 11:48
The disturbing
photograph of a policeman taking away a three-year-old boy as
a witness to
an attempted suicide in Mbare demonstrates the depths to which
our police
services have sunk.
Not only is the boy, because of his age,
incapable of being a credible
witness but also the mental torture he will go
through as police question
him will probably traumatise him for the rest of
his life.
There surely must be a clause in the Police Act which says
children below a
certain age cannot be used as witnesses just as
mentally-incapacitated
adults cannot. Unfortunately this is not the first
time children have been
picked up by the police, so a worrying trend is
emerging.
The Mbare image is a clarion call to the authorities that
the Zimbabwe
Republic Police (ZRP) in toto needs urgent reform. Recently,
Home Affairs
co-minister Theresa Makone told an MDC-T rally that Police
Commissioner-general Augustine Chihuri must go because of the partisan way
he is running the force.
This was out of her frustration with
the ZRP’s politically-biased
application of the law. But Makone should have
seen the bigger picture,
namely that the ZRP’s weaknesses go beyond the
partisan application of the
law to gross unprofessionalism and sheer
incompetence.
This has been pointed out again and again in the
media. Police corruption —
particularly on the highways — has been an
enduring theme in any discussion
to do with the ZRP.
Last
week they seemed to be doing something about it; 21 traffic policemen
were
suspended from the force for taking bribes; but this was a matter of
too
little, too late.
Recently, the police botched their investigation in
the slaying of one of
their number in Glen View by unprofessionally rounding
up members of the
MDC-T and trying to score cheap political points instead
of going to the
heart of the matter by sifting through evidence without
blinkers.
Now the true killers of the officer may never be
caught. South Africa
reformed its police services soon after the end of
apartheid. Similarly
Zimbabwe ought to do the same as it goes through a
painful transition.
Quote of the week
"It has to be a circumcision
of the mind rather than circumcision of the
organ,” Nelson Chamisa reacting
DPM Khupe’s circumcision call.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 04
September 2011 11:41
The reported ongoing shooting, beating and
unleashing of attack dogs on poor
local unlicensed miners in Marange exposes
Zimbabwe’s unashamed
determination to disregard human rights and the rule of
law.
No sane person would wish that the law of the jungle
takes over in any part
of the country, certainly not in diamond-rich
Marange.
Experts say the rule of law is “a legal maxim that provides that no
person
is above the law”.
In this case, the police, the private
security guards and of course the
unlicensed miners are all not above the
law. What is important is the
professional enforcement of the law using
minimum force and recognising the
possible consequences of acting outside
the law.
The alleged offender, regardless of gender, race,
nationality, political
affiliation and so on, has his or her human rights
especially if their
treatment is going to jeopardise the sale of Marange
rough diamonds.
Universally, offenders have a right to be treated
humanely during arrest and
while awaiting trial by a lawfully-constituted
court to decide the merits of
the case and mete out the appropriate penalty
if found guilty.
Other authorities maintain that the rule of law
requires the government to
exercise its power in accordance with
well-established and clearly written
rules, regulations, and legal
principles. In other words, no-one is above
the law.
Even if the
miners are accused of mining legally, they should be
apprehended in a lawful
manner. The rule of law also requires that those who
allegedly shot, beat
and unleashed dogs at the unlicensed miners be arrested
and put on
trial.
Victims should be made aware of their right to sue for
compensation for any
injuries sustained during arrest including gunshot
wounds and dog bites. It
is important that human rights lawyers afford
assistance to victims of
state-sponsored and privately-perpetrated violence
to ensure justice is
done.
Instead of rectifying the ongoing
rights violations at Marange in particular
and in the country in general,
Zanu-PF is desperately trying to ring-fence
rights abuses from public and
international scrutiny.
For instance, it has tried to restrict the
definition of human rights to
domestic law in the Zimbabwe Human Rights
Commission Bill thereby avoiding
reference to all international human rights
instruments the country has
ratified or to which it acceded.
Even
more curious was the regime’s attempt to exempt rights abuses committed
before February 13 2009 from the Commission’s scope of
investigations.
Sometimes the regime tries to defend the
indefensible. For instance, during
a General Assembly debate in December
last year, Mugabe’s representative to
the UN, Chitsaka Chipaziwa, avoided
discussion of alleged rights abuses in
Marange, choosing instead to play to
the gallery by attacking the
allegations as “the howling of the
jealous”.
“Latter-day colonialists must wake up: the beautiful train
laden with
glorious stones is leaving without you. Choo, choo, choo,”
Chipaziwa is
quoted as saying.
It is unfortunate that the
regime’s sympathisers are in denial. For
instance, President of a
Zanu-P-aligned organisation which advocates seizure
of non-black owned
businesses the Affirmative Action Group (AAG), Supa
Mandiwanzira reportedly
claimed “right thinking citizens of the world
are no longer taking these
Western-backed groups seriously…”.
Neither are any right-thinking
people taking AAG seriously. Until rights
abuses are eliminated in Marange,
the rough diamonds will remain tainted and
not fit for sale as
conflict-free.
BY CLIFFORD CHITUPA MASHIRI
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 04
September 2011 11:37
Harare is the most beautiful city in the world to
live in. Everyone knows
that except the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU).
The London-based
institution, very respected all over the world for its
usually incisive
research, has rated Harare the worst of 140 cities
worldwide in which to
live.
Of course that’s hogwash and I have
got to say so with my chin raised. The
EIU alleges that the threat of civil
unrest, poor health care services and
sketchy and overcrowded public
transport were serious drawbacks to life in
the Zimbabwean
capital.
I will begin with a look at the so-called overcrowded public
transport. The
EIU apparently has never been to Nairobi, the Kenyan capital;
Dakar in
Senegal or Abuja, Nigeria. I spent a week in each of the three
cities.
Have the investigators of the EIU ever been stuck in a
traffic jam for three
hours on end as I was in Nairobi, Dakar or Abuja? What
public transport is
there in any of these three cities to shout about? In
order to catch a 9am
flight at Nairobi airport I had to leave my hotel in
the city centre at 5.30
and only just made it.
In Dakar and Abuja
the traffic lights (we call them robots here) almost
always never work. Has
the EIU seen the holy men of Dakar doing their
rituals on the streets and
pouring their tired water onto the pavements five
times a day facing Mecca,
or wherever? Have they seen the Nigerians of Abuja
doing their thing on the
streets?
Obviously the sleuths of the EIU have never been to New
Delhi or Mumbai in
India. Have they seen the beggars of New Delhi with their
children whose
fingers have been chopped off so foreigners can feel more
pity for them and
donate more generously?
I was there and was
accosted by street kids at every corner. Mumbai was the
only place in the
world where I saw a three-year-old street kid smoking a
cigarette and
enjoying it. In Delhi and Mumbai it’s almost a tradition that
every citizen
should spit on the road every minute.
I was on my way back to Harare
from India at Mumbai International Airport
one day when I experienced the
most depressing thing in my life: the dirt,
the smell and the illiteracy.
Behind me on checking in was a South African
of Indian
extraction.
On seeing my passport he eagerly hugged me as if he
had found a long-lost
brother. He was a fifth generation South African and
had gone to Calcutta to
“discover” his roots. He told me a depressing tale
and said, with tears in
his eyes, that he was only too happy to find a
“homeboy” to talk to.
Homeboy? I told him I’m only a Zimbo and he
said that was good enough. He
had never seen the kind of squalor he saw in
the “Black hole of Calcutta”,
he was just happy to be standing next to
someone from “home”.
Everyone who has come to Zimbabwe as a visitor
has gone out waxing lyrical
about Harare’s hospitality. Harare is still the
only city in the world where
anyone, anyone at all, can walk across the city
from the Rainbow Towers
(formerly Sheraton Harare) to the Holiday Inn 5km
away in the middle of the
night and never get mugged! Do that in
Braamfontein, Johannesburg and live
to tell the tale.
We
experience power cuts and water cuts on a daily basis. A friend of mine
told
me that when he went to Nigeria with his family and they were
conversing in
Shona, a Nigerian, recognising their language, came to them
and said he had
been in Harare for a week and could speak Shona. Amazed,
they asked him to
say one sentence in Shona and he said, “Magetsi aenda”
(“Electrical energy
has been switched off”).
After the uproarious laughter the Zimbos
told him that Zimbabweans were hard
working people; they were not always
cooking and watching TV. They were
always out there making things
happen.
They knew when “magetsi” (power) would be back and would
do their cooking at
such times and store their food only to warm it up after
the next outage.
They knew when “Zinwa” (running water) would be
back, so they stored their
water in plastic bins. It’s only lazy people –
couch potatoes – who spend
their weekends watching Western cultural
imperialism in the form of reality
television programmes such as Big
Brother; Zimbos are, on weekends, only too
happy to go fishing or, for men,
to play or watch boozers’ football!
We are an outdoor people, so
even when “magetsi” are there we would rather
go KwaMereki to roast steak on
open fires rather than fry it at home on
electric
cookers!
Although our president would rather go to Singapore for a
simple cataract
operation and one of our vice presidents to Cape Town, South
Africa for a
routine medical check-up, our healthcare system is still the
best in Africa.
We don’t even know what to do with the 5000
nurses we have trained in the
past decade! Indomethacin (a pain killer)
costs a dollar for a prescription,
so does any antibiotic. You can walk into
any pharmacist’s shop and get any
drug you want.
You can get
any treatment you want (yes this is true) from the general
hospital next to
you. Our response to the HIV and Aids scourge is the best
in the world; we
are the only country where the incidence of HIV infection
is
declining.
As for the threat of civil strife, the EIU must be joking!
Every Zimbo is a
Gandhi; we believe in passive resistance. It’s already
paying off; even the
most violent people in Zanu PF now know that violence
does not give them
votes.
Ask Robert Mugabe what happened to
him in March 2008. Ask him what happened
when people were butchered in the
fake run-off in June of the same year; the
butchery delegitimised him as a
national leader.
Outsiders, such as the EIU and those Zimbos who
chose the Diaspora, should
admire our tenacity in the face of adversity
rather than spew their cynicism
on us.
There are far more
fundamental issues that make Harare the best city in the
world to live in –
the climate, the ubiquitous conviviality and the cultural
gravitas — than
the trivial ones such as power cuts which the ordinary man
on the street has
learnt to cope with. Just as Londoners have their
underground, we’ve our
Kombis — they kill us now and again — but they are
ours.
BY
NEVANJI MADANHIRE
