FinGaz
Njabulo Ncube Chief Political
Reporter
.there is a political element
MIDDLEMEN and briefcase companies
are being awarded contracts by the
Government Tender Board (GTB) to supply
goods and services to the Zimbabwe
Defence Forces (ZDF), possibly fleecing
the military of billions of dollars
in botched deals.
This revelation
came during a parliamentary probe into military supply
contracts this week.
The probe was instituted because of what some members
of the Parliamentary
Portfolio Committee on Defence and Home Affairs
referred to as "possible
conflict of interest among the army top brass" in a
report published in The
Financial Gazette a fortnight ago.
Members of the portfolio committee,
chaired by Bikita MP Claudius Makova,
summoned the army top brass to a
hearing on Tuesday to give evidence on the
military's procurement
procedures.
The Financial Gazette article said members of the committee were
concerned
about reports that lucrative contracts were being parcelled out to
senior
military personnel and companies run by their immediate families and
close
associates.
Although the ZDF commander General Constantine Chiwenga
reacted angrily to
the Financial Gazette story at this week's hearing, the
secretary for
Defence, Trust Maphosa, admitted that the ministry, General
Chiwenga and Air
Marshal Perence Shiri, were unhappy with many of the
companies short listed
by the GTB as suppliers to the armed forces, as many
had no traceable
business track records.
Maphosa said the committee
should impress on the tender board to revise the
list of short-listed
companies, some of which he said had badly let down the
armed forces by
supplying substandard services or goods-or not supplying
anything at
all.
"Some of these firms are middlemen who don't have the goods or services
but
buy them from elsewhere. Their prices fluctuate everyday," said
Maphosa.
"We know there is a political element in some of these indigenous
firms on
the government tender board list as part of the government's
empowerment
policy but for the army to get things done or moving we need
reputable
suppliers," he said.
"It is costing us time and money. We have
cases where it has taken some
companies several years to deliver our orders.
Middlemen are playing a major
role in some of these contracts because the
tender board is the one which
has short listed them," he added, without
disclosing names.
Officials from the GTB were not immediately available for
comment, but
allegations of corruption have frequently been raised over the
awarding of
government tenders to companies with no known track
records.
Reacting to concerns over possible conflict of interest, the army
officials
admitted that ZimSafe, a company owned by Chiwenga's wife Jocelyn,
had
supplied the army. But they insisted that these supplies had "not been
much".
Chiwenga said he had recused himself from adjudicating on tenders
applications submitted by ZimSafe.
"To set the record straight my spouse
is not getting any favours as far as
the army contracts are concerned.
Besides ZimSafe being a private company in
its own right with its own
directors, it has no standing arrangements with
the ZDF. It competes in open
tender and when it has won contracts within the
army, which I believe has
not been many times and as lucrative as alleged, I
have never been involved
because there are strict laid down procurement
procedures to follow," he
said.
"When my wife (Jocelyn) brought the issue to this august house in 2004,
I
wrote to the then secretary of defence informing him that I should not
wish
to be part of the adjudicating procedures in the event the said company
tendered for a job."
He informed the committee that ZimSafe's contact
with the ZDF had not been
as significant as suggested. The Zimbabwe Republic
Police (ZRP), the
committee heard, was a bigger client of ZimSafe.
"If
you check the records, the company (ZimSafe) concerned does not supply
much
to the ZNA," said Chiwenga in his defence.
Chiwenga, who has accused textile
company David Whitehead of undersupplying
on its contracts, said he,
together with other top military personnel, would
soon meet the newly
appointed judiciary manager of the company "to try and
sort out the mess
there.'
FinGaz
Charles Rukuni Bulawayo
Bureau Chief
THE Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe is lucky to be getting any gold
at all from
registered small-scale miners if the chaos witnessed by The
Financial
Gazette in Esigodini last week is anything to go by.
No one
ensures that miners are operating from their licensed claims. When
they take
their ore for milling, no one ascertains the quantity of gold they
extract
nor where the gold goes.
There was no scale at one of the mills. Officials
from the central bank last
visited that mill last year. Police have not been
to the mill for more than
a month, though they used to visit it every
week.
It is a free for all despite an outcry from both the Ministry of
Finance and
the central bank about gold leakages into the parallel market
and repeated
pronouncements that these would be plugged.
Production of
gold, once the country's largest foreign exchange earner, has
plummeted over
the last few years, from about 24 tonnes in 2004 to only 11
tonnes last
year, according to the Chamber of Mines.
There is likely to be a further drop
this year. Finance Minister Herbert
Murerwa said in his mid-term review in
July that production for the first
five months had dropped from 6,4 tonnes
last year to 4,3 tonnes this year.
But there is wide spread speculation that
gold production has, in fact, not
declined. It is only the gold that is
delivered to the central bank, the
sole buyer of the precious mineral, that
has declined. Most of the gold is
finding its way into the parallel market
instead.
The operations of small-scale miners are a recipe for chaos.
The
Financial Gazette visited Esigodini last week after one of the miners
had
complained about a fellow miner who had allegedly invaded her claim.
Though
she had reported the matter to both the police in Esigodini and to
the
Ministry of Mines in Bulawayo, nothing had been done. Instead, her
workers
had been driven off the site.
Engelina Msumba, who operates Puma Syndicate
jointly with Lydia Mthethwa,
complained that fellow miner Baron Dube had
invaded her claim, Duizend Tree
Number 41, after she had struck
gold.
Dube is supposed to operate from Duizend Tree Number 10 where, Msumba
claimed, he had failed to strike gold for about two years .
Msumba also
claimed that Dube had surrendered her share of the proceeds
after she had
agreed that he could mill her ore and sell the gold on her
behalf since she
had mined the ore before obtaining a licence.
She claimed Dube had told her
he had only obtained 1,7 grammes of gold while
workers at the mill said it
was between 25 and 30 grammes.
Msumba was issued with a licence on August 18
while Dube has been operating
since October 2004. She said when she reported
the matter to the police,
officers came and drove her off the site instead,
claiming she was working
on Dube's claim.
Dube insisted to The Financial
Gazette that he was working on his claim. He
said it was Msumba who had
encroached onto his claim and was trying to drive
him out because she had
solicited the help of some unnamed powerful
politicians.
Msumba, on the
other hand, claimed that Dube was being protected by the
police at Esigodini
as well as officials from the Ministry of Mines in
Bulawayo. She said he had
not only invaded her claim but was grabbing ore
from other miners with
impunity.
Dube was indeed issued with a letter, reference number 9970/06,
last week by
the Ministry of Mines stating that he should be allowed to work
without any
interference, yet the ministry had not ascertained whether he
was indeed
working on his claim.
The police spokesperson for Matabeleland
South, Inspector Trust Ndlovu, said
he would probe complaints against Dube.
The Financial Gazette understands
that the officer-in-charge at Esigodini
and the officer commanding the
Criminal Investigation Department for
Matabeleland South had been fully
briefed about the matter.
The Mining
Commissioner for Matabeleland Florence Thusi refused to speak to
The
Financial Gazette until she visits the area. The Financial Gazette was
informed that she and her deputy were supposed to visit the site last Friday
but did not do so.
This is despite the fact that three miners are already
fighting for the same
claim.
These are Dube who operates Baron Syndicate
with his brother Sifelani and is
supposed to own Number 10, Tommy Dube who
obtained his licence in April last
year is supposed to operate Claim number
11 and Msumba who is supposed to
operate Claim number 41.
Though Dube
says his claim is about 200 metres wide and 500 metres long, the
three
miners' pegs are within 100 metres of each other, while Tommy's is
about 20
to 30 metres from Baron's and Msumba's about 30 metres from Tommy's.
Each
miner's claim is registered. Baron's is number 42796, Tommy's number
42970
and Msumba's number 43962. Each was issued with a certificate and a
map
indicating the location of individual claims but each miner claims to be
on
the right spot, an issue that can only be resolved by the Ministry of
Mines.
This is not the first time that the Ministry has allowed a dispute
to go
unresolved.
In 2001, then acting regional president of the National
Miners Association,
Daniel Maphosa, accused officials in the Ministry of
Mines of fuelling
conflicts among miners.
He said the Ministry of Mines
was aware of these disputes but was doing
nothing about them. "The law of
the jungle is reigning in the region," he
said.
But what was even more
shocking is the lack of accountability on how much
gold is produced and
where it goes once it has been milled and refined.
Although workers at the
mill are supposed to file returns on the amount of
gold obtained by each
miner, they rely on information given by the miners.
In some cases, the
miners did not bring scales and took their gold home
promising to weigh it
and then tell the millers the weight.
Some of the records seen by The
Financial Gazette indicated that some of the
miners had not given the
millers the figures for gold milled way back in
March.
FinGaz
Zhean Gwaze Staff
Reporter
ZIMBABWE has sold its smallest tobacco crop since independence -
54,2
million kilogrammes - in the just-ended 2005/6 season, further
compounding
the country's foreign currency shortages.
The final tally
of the tobacco crop, the country's erstwhile premier foreign
currency
earner, could be slightly higher once mop-up sales due to take
place on
September 26 are taken into account, but indications are that no
less than a
million kgs will be realised from the exercise.
About US$109 million had been
generated from the season's sales by September
8, the day before the
official close of the 2006 tobacco-selling season.
Tobacco Industry and
Marketing Board technical services director Andrew
Matibiri said expected
deliveries to the country's auction floors after the
deadline were
minimal.
He blamed the poor deliveries on incessant power cuts, diesel
shortages and
labour shortage as many farmers were concentrating on the
winter cropping
season and tending tobacco seedlings for the 2006/7
season.
"We expect just under three quarters of a million from the clean up
sales,"
Matibiri said.
The latest tobacco harvest continues a pattern of
steady decline that began
six years ago.
The predicted 54.9 kgs attained
will represent a further decline from the 80
million kgs sold last season
against an earlier projection of 160 million
kgs.
The golden leaf, whose
production peaked at 220 million kg in 2000, has slid
year on year over the
last six years; from 160 million kg in 2001/2, 85
million kg in 2002/03 and
68 million kg in 2004.
A shortage of inputs, under capitalisation and the
government's chaotic land
reform programme have been blamed for the decline
of the principal foreign
currency earning commodity.
The central bank has
introduced a tobacco performance, research and
development facility, which
rewards growers for actual production in the
2006/07 production in a bid to
reclaim viability to the sector but the
shortage of inputs is the major
impediment.
Under the RBZ facility, growers will get an additional support of
65 percent
of sale value of actual deliveries sold onto the auction floors
and retain
15 percent in their FCA with no liquidation expiry time
frame.
Matibiri said farmers were 'more than enthusiastic' to produce a
better crop
next year but were mainly hampered by the shortage of
inputs.
TIMB said a total of 328 kg of flue cured tobacco seed has been sold,
which
is sufficient to cover 65 000 hectares and would, under normal
circumstances, translate to 100 million kgs of tobacco.
Zimbabwe's
dwindling tobacco crop leaves the country with less hard currency
to buy
vital imported commodities such as fuel, grain and medicine.
The government,
without balance of payments support from the International
Monetary Fund and
other global lenders because of differences over policy
and governance
issues, is battling to import some of the critical national
requirements.
The bulk of Zimbabwe's tobacco is exported to Asia and the
European Union.
FinGaz
Njabulo Ncube Chief Political
Reporter
THE MOVEMENT for Democratic Change (MDC) House of Assembly
representative
for Tafara-Mabvuku, Timothy Mubhawu, is jointly suing police
commissioner
Augustine Chihuri, national police spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena
and the
Zimbabwe Newspapers for $20 million over allegations that he
organized the
assault on fellow legislator Trudy Stevenson.
Zimpapers
- publishers of The Herald - which extensively covered the attack,
is the
first defendant, while Bvudzijena and Chihuri are listed as second
and third
respondents, repsectively.
Mubhawu had charges against him withdrawn before
plea two weeks ago.
"In the issue of The Herald of 10th July 2006, the 2nd
defendant
(Bvudzijena) uttered the words to the effect that Plaintiff
(Mubhawu) had
planned, orchestrated or organized the attack on the Member of
Parliament
for Harare North, one Mrs. Gertrude Stevenson which resulted in
the latter
sustaining grave injuries," reads part of the summons served on
the three
respondents in the defamation lawsuit. "In the same issue of The
Herald, the
1st Defendant (The Herald) published words to the effect that
the Plaintiff
had supplied a motor vehicle that was used by the criminals
who attacked the
said Member of Parliament. The words were understood by
those who read them
to mean that Plaintiff is a man of a violent disposition
who does not
hesitate to use violence against fellow opposition members and
fellow
Members of Parliament."
Lawyers representing Mubhawu said the
words uttered by Chihuri and
Bvudzijena were malicious, false and defamatory
of the Tafara-Mabvuku
legislator. Both Chihuri and Bvudzijena were not
immediately available for
comment.
Harare magistrate Olivia Mariga ruled
that there was not enough evidence
linking Mubhawu to the crime.
The
magistrate, however, said the state could proceed by way of summons if
more
evidence arose. The legislator had been accused of sponsoring the
attack on
Stevenson by allegedly paying $15 000 to youths the state said
were aligned
to Morgan Tsvangirai's faction of the split opposition party.
The state had
alleged that on July 2 this year Mubhawu had, at his Greendale
residence,
organized a meeting where he allegedly declared Tafara-Mabvuku a
no-go area
for members of the rival MDC faction.
FinGaz
Kumbirai Mafunda Senior Business
Reporter
GOVERNMENT has knocked down temporary homes in Epworth, about
ten kilometres
outside the capital, in a fresh wave of demolitions following
last year's
campaign that left thousands homeless.
Armed police and
employees of the Epworth Local Board last Tuesday descended
on the hapless
Epworth families, razing their housing structures re-built in
the aftermath
of last year's Operation Murambatsvina/ Restore Order
crackdown.
Operation Murambatsvina/ Restore Order, which drew local and
international
condemnation, left more than 700 000 people without a roof
over their heads
last May. The demolition exercise also robbed about 2,4
million people of
their sources of livelihood after police bulldozed slums
and what the
government called illegal structures in Harare and other
towns.
Besides having their abodes destroyed once again, the victims in the
Epworth
operation told The Financial Gazette that they were dispossessed of
their
personal belongings, which included bedding and clothes.
"During
the destruction the children were clearly struck with fear and
anguish and
we found them in tears. The violent ferocity of the destruction
clearly
caused them much psychological grief," said Misheck Boora, one of
the
evictees who claimed that they were being evicted to facilitate the
construction of a house for a senior official of the Epworth Local
Board.
The residents have since approached the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human
Rights
(ZLHR), which has filed an urgent chamber application seeking to halt
the
evictions.
In the court application, which is set down for hearing
today before Justice
Joseph Musakwa, the evictees contend that they have
become extremely
vulnerable and are suffering emotional, mental and physical
anguish due to
the continued destruction of their properties.
"This now
amounts to torture, cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment. We
further feel
that our eviction without being given a say in the matter or
option of a
place to go contravenes not just Zimbabwean law but the
international law of
nations which we legitimately expect that the
respondents should
follow."
Listed as respondents in the court application are the Epworth Local
Board,
one Garikayi - an employee of the local authority, Police
Commissioner
Augustine Chihuri and Home Affairs Minister Kembo
Mohadi.
The forced eviction of the Epworth residents comes at a time when a
hastily
arranged successor programme to Operation Murambatsvina called
Operation
Garikai/ Hlalani Kuhle has failed to provide much needed shelter
for the
homeless who are still living rough. The government has turned down
a
proposal by the UN to build temporary shelter for the Murambatsvina
victims.
FinGaz
Chris Muronzi Staff
Reporter
Lawyers appeal for Shah to be specified
LAWYERS representing
jailed Zimbabwe United Passenger Company (Zupco)
chairman Charles Nherera
and Deputy Information Minister Bright Matonga, who
are jointly facing
corruption charges, have asked Justice Minister Patrick
Chinamasa to specify
and investigate businessman Jayesh Shah, the state's
key witness in both
their cases.
This comes two weeks after the lawyers - Wilson Manase and
Joseph Mandizha-
issued an ultimatum to the Attorney General's office
demanding an
explanation as to why Shah was granted immunity from
prosecution in the
graft case.
Shah was a key state witness in the
bribe-for-buses scam that resulted in
Nherera being convicted of corruption
and jailed for two years. He, together
with Matonga, faces fresh charges
arising from more information supplied by
Shah.
The AG's office
acknowledged receipt of the lawyers' letter, but has not
responded to their
concerns, prompting them to approach Chinamasa.
In a letter dated September
11 2006, Manase, who represents Matonga and
Mandizha, representing Nherera,
pleaded with Chinamasa to intervene in the
Zupco bribery scandal, which has
sucked in senior government officials.
"It is neither our client's
jurisdiction, business nor province for them to
tell you what to do . . .
However, they would be failing in their duty as
responsible citizens were
they not to draw to your attention certain issues
relating to Mr Jayesh
Shah's conduct, never mind that they deny their
alleged
involvement.
"For, not to do so would leave germane and million dollar
questions
unanswered such as, why is Mr Shah an apparent sacred cow?" reads
the
letter.
"Our client's position is that were you to allow your mind to
be preoccupied
with these and other questions, there is a very high
probability that you
will reach the conclusion that Mr Shah and his business
should be specified
in terms of the Act, to facilitate thorough
investigations.
"Our clients posit that not to seriously consider specifying
Mr Jayesh Shah
and Al Shams would leave a lot of serious questions
unanswered. Some of them
are these, has Mr Shah been paying adequate or any
duty on all the buses he
brings into the country, and specifically those he
brought in, already
painted in Zupco colours?"
The lawyers urged
Chinamasa to investigate Shah's past deals with some local
banks as well as
to look into his residence status. "What is the position of
Mr Shah as far
as his residence status in Zimbabwe is concerned? Is he a
citizen or a
foreigner with residence status? This question, Honourable
Minister has a
bearing on his dealings locally," added the lawyers.
Attorney General Sobuza
Gula Ndebele declined to comment on whether his
office had responded to the
letter from Matonga and Nherera's lawyers,
saying the director of
prosecutions would be in a better position to
comment.
FinGaz
Rangarirai Mberi Business
Editor
AUGUST inflation data, expected out shortly, will be in the 1100
-1222
percent range, a Financial Gazette poll of analysts showed.
The
August figure had been expected last Friday, but Central Statistical
Office
(CSO) director Moffat Nyoni this week said the data has been delayed
due to
a lack of funding for research over the past month.
Ahead of the new
inflation data, central bank governor Gideon Gono has come
out dovish on
rates.
Gono says the increase in speculative activity that followed his last
policy
statement - played out by the stock market's strong August rally -
was "not
really a function of interest rates expectations alone, but a
function of
(the market's) lack of confidence in the economy."
"We will
not rely solely on interest rates to fight inflation. We are
searching for a
battery of instruments that we can use to fight it," Gono
said last
Monday.
This week's Fingaz poll of six analysts and economists shows the
lowest
forecast for August at 1100.2 percent, and the highest at 1222
percent.
July's 993,6 percent inflation figure was in line with last month's
poll,
which returned a median forecast of 996 percent.
Analysts say the
August figure will not continue July's decline, which came
on the back of a
month-on-month rise of 25.1 percent that was slower than
last July's record
47 percent jump.
"We are not going to see a continuation (from July). And
depending on the
size of the jump, we will see more speculation over central
bank's rate
policy," one of the analysts polled said.
Gono's latest
remarks on rates suggest that he has no plan to lift rates in
the immediate
term, especially as long as he still needs to fund government
spending
cheaply, encourage more lending to agriculture and industry while
restructuring government debt.
But, crucially, he is not completely
discounting a move on rates either.
Analysts say faster-than-expected August
numbers could force Gono's hand and
compel him to reverse the low interest
regime he introduced on July 31.
Latest speculation on the market points to
a return of 91-day paper at a
lowered 150 percent.
FinGaz
Kumbirai Mafunda Senior
Business Reporter
A SENIOR government official has blamed Hwange Colliery
Company (HCC) for
the walkout of Indian company Global Steel Holdings
Limited from a
controversial deal to rescue the Zimbabwe Iron and Steel
Company (Zisco).
It has also emerged that Global Steel had its attempts
to take equity in HCC
stymied by government. Documents seen by The Financial
Gazette this week
show that upon the surrendering of Zisco's management to
GSHL, Zisco had
gone on to terminate a series of supply contracts it had
with local and
regional suppliers of raw materials, substituting them for
new contracts
with South African company Stemcor in unclear
circumstances.
Christian Katsande, the permanent secretary in the Ministry of
Industry and
International Trade, told a parliamentary committee that the
critical
shortage of coal had ruined the deal. Katsande said Global Steel
had grown
impatient over delays in signing the deal, as it was "an
international
investor that has other commitments elsewhere."
In March
government announced a US$400 million management contract with
Global Steel,
saying the deal would rehabilitate the ailing state-controlled
steel works
and boost output by more than 17 times. But the deal collapsed
last month
after representatives of Global Steel who had assumed management
of the
ailing steelworks left, cited the lack of assurances on coal
supplies.
"There were concerns that were raised. They (GSHL) wanted
assurances on coal
supplies and that impacted on the perception on the
investor. GSHL made
representations to us on coal supplies and we approached
the Ministry of
Mines and Mining Development and HCC. Unfortunately these
(representations)
were not taken seriously by HCC because the participation
of GSHL would
involve issues such as ownership of HCC, which is listed here
and abroad. I
think those were the fears," Katsande added.
Katsande
admitted that the government had handed over management of what MPs
said was
a key national asset without a contract, contrary to initial claims
by
government that a deal had been formally signed.
It has been learnt that, in
the six months that Global Steel was in control,
four contracts have were
cancelled and given to Stemcor under unclear
circumstances. First to be
cancelled in April was a contract with the
Reclamation Group, a South
African company, which had been for the provision
of technical services to
assist production processes. In the same month,
Zisco cancelled a contract
with China's Shougang International Trade and
Engineering Corporation to
rehabilitate Zisco's main Number 4 blast furnace.
A contract to supply
high-sided wagons for the ferrying of coal entered into
with Morewear
Industries, a subsidiary of Zimbabwe Stock Exchange-listed
Gulliver, was
also terminated.
In June, Zisco revoked a one-year renewable contract for the
supply of pool
iron, which it had jointly signed with the Reclamation Group
and the
Minerals Marketing Corporation of Zimbabwe (MMCZ) in February
2006.
FinGaz
Chris Muronzi Staff
Reporter
Issues orders for bank account raids
THE National Social Security
Authority (NSSA) has launched a nationwide
blitz against errant companies it
accuses of not remitting employee
contributions to the
authority.
Amod Takawira, NSSA acting general manager, confirmed that his
company had
launched a crackdown on all employers in the capital and was
spreading the
campaign to other parts of the country. NSSA is entitled to
garnish the bank
accounts of companies that are found to be in violation of
the regulations.
"We have a number of companies that have been caught on the
wrong side of
the law and we have had to issue garnishing orders to the
banks. But I cant
give any more details on that. This operation is not only
confined to Harare
but we will go to other towns without warning," Takawira
said.
According to sources, several orders to have bank accounts raided have
already been issued by NSSA against offending companies. Companies had been
making deductions for NSSA from employees, but would fail to remit the
deductions to NSSA.
NSSA recently announced plans to restructure its top
management in a bid to
enhance operational efficiencies, and said it was
also reviewing upwards its
benefits in response to spiralling inflation. The
board says the
restructuring would see the title of general manager being
scrapped to be
replaced by the post of chief executive officer.
FinGaz
Staff Reporter
CLEARLY
buoyed by a set of earnings figures that stunned its many critics,
Agribank
has taken its latest step in shedding its "land bank" past by
announcing its
intentions to set up a corporate banking arm.
This will place Agribank in
direct rivalry with other larger bank players
already in the cutthroat
competition of local corporate banking.
Agribank has over the years been
dogged by concern over high non-performing
loans and allegations of
"political loans".
But, after surprising the market with profit after tax
that competed - and
beat - that of several "big banks", Agribank now says a
corporate banking
division and "executive banking products" aimed at those
who have made money
out of farming are on the way.
"To strengthen the
bank's commercial banking operations and to complement
its agricultural
development functions, Agribank plans to establish a fully
fledged corporate
banking division. This will ensure that the bank provides
competitive
banking services and products, in line with the transformation
of newly
resettled farmers to viable corporate clients," says Agribank
chairman
Steven Makonyere.
Agribank will also launch "Executive Banking products" for
high net worth
clients to enhance income flows and support its agricultural
developmental
role.
Helped by a total of $3 billion it was given to
on-lend by its sole
shareholder, the government, Agribank recorded profit
after tax of $2,4
billion at June. Net interest income, up 2925 percent to
$4,8 billion, was
helped by strong activity on ASPEF, central bank's
concessionary agriculture
lending, the Public Sector Investment Programme
(PSIP), and also Treasury
Bills and placements.
Agribank got $1 billion
for PSIP and another $2 billion for tobacco lending.
Thirty-four percent of
the 50 percent charged to the borrower on loans such
as ASPEF goes to the
conduit bank, a factor that contributed to Agribank
ending the term very
liquid and with lots of money to allocate to TBs and to
place on secondary
market. Cash and equivalents were at $5,8 billion at the
end of the
year.
Treasury assets were up 594 percent to $3,4 billion from $574 million.
The
large income from treasury activities, that added to its agriculture
role,
have now persuaded Agribank to take a stab at a business that it has
previously excluded itself from.
FinGaz
Staff
Reporter
THE head of a parliamentary committee investigating the
affairs of
Ziscosteel says he has been left "shaken" by the decay at the
steel plant,
adding that his committee has failed to confirm whether Global
Steel
Holdings' $400 million investment into the company is still
intact.
Enoch Porusingazi, chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Foreign
Affairs and International Trade, said a recent visit to the company found
the company "at zero production."
"I am a bit shaken by what my committee
saw at Ziscosteel. The company is
basically not producing, it is on a kind
of care and maintenance basis," he
said.
Although Industry and Trade
Minister Obert Mpofu recently insisted that the
Global Steel deal was still
on, Porusingazi said the absence of Global Steel
representatives at the
company cast doubt on whether the deal was dead or
alive.
"We found no
officials from Global or their representatives and from our
investigations I
cannot say the deal is still on," Porusingazi told Reuters.
"But
investigations are ongoing and until we clarify from all stakeholders
what I
can safely say is it's not clear whether the deal is on or not," he
added.
Global Steel in March agreed to a management deal to rehabilitate
the ailing
steel plant, a key foreign currency earner before independence in
1980.
At the time of the signing, officials said the deal would see output
rising
more than 17 times.
The Financial Gazette reported last month that
Alois Goho, Zisco's Projects
and Development Manager, had been named as new
head of the company,
replacing Global Steel's Lalit Kumar Sehgal in an
appointment that virtually
confirmed the end of the deal.
Porusingazi
said Ziscosteel was "at a standstill", unable to produce steel
due to
shortages of coal and funding to recapitalise and procure spare
parts.
The Global Steel agreement had given the Indian company a 20-year
management
contract for the plant, with no option for equity.
Ziscosteel
was the main foreign currency earner before independence, but
output has
sharply fallen to just 78 000 tonnes of steel annually because
its main
furnace - which accounts for 70
percent of production - has been derelict for
years.
Journalists barred
Kumbirai Mafunda
Senior Business
Reporter
REDCLIFF - THE floundering Zimbabwe Iron and Steel Company
(ZISCO) last week
turned down a request by journalists to tour its plant, in
a move that
further illustrates the parlous state of affairs at the
parastatal.
Journalists that were in the town last week had requested a tour
of the
steelworks to observe operations at the troubled steel maker.
But
ZISCO's acting chief executive officer Alois Gowo declined the request
saying the state of operations at the company rules out such a visit.
"Whilst we appreciate the value to be derived from such a tour,
unfortunately, the status quo prevailing in our company calls for curtailing
such visits temporarily. I sincerely hope we will be able to make such tours
possible in the near future," read part of Gowo's letter.
FinGaz
Kumbirai Mafunda Senior
Business Reporter
STEEL manufacturing company Steelmakers, which began
coal production two
months ago, aims to boost its coal production from the
current 30 000 tonnes
per month to 100 000 tonnes by March, and has already
come to the rescue of
three top industries by supplying them with badly
needed coal.
Through its new coal-mining subsidiary Chiredzi Ores of
Athracite Lignites
(COAL Zimbabwe), Steelmakers is mining coal for its own
consumption at its
iron and steel works in Redcliff and at its Masvingo
sponge iron subsidiary,
which trades as Sponge Iron Mining Beneficiation
Industry (Simbi).
Steelmakers group general manager Alexander Johnson said
the company was
selling its surplus coal to sugar refinery ZSR, the Zimbabwe
Mining and
Smelting Company (ZIMASCO) and tyre manufacturer Dunlop. Supplies
to Zim
Alloys will commence soon.
"While we were in the process of trying
to satisfy our needs, other
industries in Zimbabwe in need of coal have
inquired and bought the product
for their own use," Johnson told The
Financial Gazette during a tour of the
steel works' plant. "Fifty percent of
output will be consumed by our
company. Wherever there is a vacuum, we will
fill it. The market is huge and
demand is growing."
Hwange, once
considered one of the top producers of coal in Africa, is
battling to mine
adequate supplies to feed local industries due a critical
shortage of hard
currency to source spare parts for equipment and the plant.
Hwange produced
195 000 tonnes in July, below the national demand of 300 000
tonnes per
month. The shortfall has prompted most manufacturers to commit
scarce
foreign currency resources on importing expensive but inferior grade
coal
from neighbouring countries, among them South Africa and
Botswana.
Steelmakers, which commenced operations in 1998, manufactures hot
roll steel
products for both the domestic and regional markets in the
engineering,
mining and agricultural sectors. It exports steel products to
South Africa,
Zambia, Malawi, Botswana and Mozambique.
FinGaz
Chris Muronzi Staff
Reporter
ACTING Air Zimbabwe chief executive officer Oscar Madombwe was
suspended
last week, and only bounced back after the parastatal's board of
directors
brushed off the ministerial order, highly placed sources at the
airline said
this week.
Sources close to the development told The
Financial Gazette that Transport
and Communications Minister Chris Mushowe
last week ordered the suspension
of the former chief pilot after querying
Madombwe's decision to hire Middle
East Airlines to ferry stranded
passengers from London in a bid to cut the
cost of accommodating the
passengers.
It emerged that the airline, which had increased traffic movement
last
month, was servicing the Far East routes and did not have a plane to
ferry
passengers from London. Air Zim flies to Dubai on Monday, thrice to
the
United Kingdom (UK) and once to Singapore.
Mushowe, who has been
accused of meddling in the parastatal's operations,
was reportedly not
pleased with the decision to put passengers aboard the
Middle East
Airline.
But chairman Mike Bimha and his deputy Jonathan Kadzura, both of
whom are
seen as having significant political clout, brushed off Mushowe's
orders.
Air Zim has a standing agreement with Middle East Airlines where the
latter
can chip in and ferry the former's passengers.
Air Zim currently
has three operational planes, but only one, an ageing
Boeing 767, is fit to
fly abroad. The other two Chinese-made MA 60 that are
prone to faults
service local and regional routes.
According to the same sources, the airline
was over-booked last month and
could not cope with increased volumes of
passenger movements given that it
operates a single plane for international
flights.
"A number of passengers would have been stranded in London if Middle
East
Airlines had not come to the rescue but the move did not please Mushowe
and
he actually suspended Madombwe. He only bounced back after Kadzura and
company stood their ground and said he should stay since he has years of
experience in the business and is the only person suitable to take up that
position," said the source.
When reached for comment Madombwe refused to
comment on the issue and
referred all questions to the board.
FinGaz
Personal Glimpses with Mavis
Makuni
Local Government, Public Works and Urban Development Minister,
Ignatius
Chombo, has shown himself to be an immovable object regardless of
how widely
or deeply felt the sentiments and grievances of stakeholders
falling under
the jurisdiction of his ministerial portfolio have
been.
In the face of incessant and loud outcries over his meddling in the
affairs
of municipalities and his imposition of ZANU-PF commissions to
replace
popularly elected councilors and mayors, the cold-as-ice Chombo has
remained
unmoved and disdainful of residents of cities such as Harare,
Mutare and
Chitungwiza whose voting rights he has usurped and trampled on
through his
boorish ousting of councillors and mayors they have
elected.
But lo and behold, while Chombo has perfected the art of being
impervious to
local sentiment, he has been breathing fire over views and
concerns
expressed by international human rights watchdog, Amnesty
International. The
minister was quoted in the press at the beginning of the
week, blasting the
organisation over a report it compiled, which questions
the effectiveness of
Operation Garikai/Hlalani Khuhle in meeting the housing
needs of the
hundreds of thousands of Zimbabweans who were rendered homeless
by Operation
Murambatsvina last year.
The international human rights
watchdog charged that while 92 460 houses
were destroyed under
Murambatsvina, only slightly more than 3000 units had
been built under
Garikai/Hlalani Kuhle. This has raised the ire of the
minister, who has
illogically dragged the name of the head of the
Matabeleland Diocese of the
Roman Catholic Church, Archbishop Pius Ncube
into his tirade against Amnesty
international. The Archbishop has been
accused of being the author of
Amnesty's report.
Fumed Chombo in apparent self-contradiction, "The report is
untrue, it is
inaccurate and basically mischievous. People in lofty offices
in London
produced it and Brussels using phone calls to some offices in
Zimbabwe."
Chombo said, "For the record, 7400 units have been built with a
small number
nearing completion," which seems to tally with AI's observation
that not
enough had been done under Garikai/Hlalani Kuhle, unless "a small
number"
out of a modest figure of 7000 means something unique to the
minister.
Chombo alleged that the AI report was, like the Tibaijuka report
compiled by
United Nations Secretary General, Koffi Annan's special envoy,
Anna
Tibaijuka, designed to tarnish Zimbabwe's image. The Minister does a
very
poor job of trying to dodge the issues and concerns raised by Amnesty
International. If he were not so impervious to public opinion, he would
recall that similar concerns have been expressed by local stakeholders and
civic groups on numerous occasions.
The minister may not like to hear
this,but the truth is that he has been
unwilling to come down from his own
ivory tower to listen to the people.
He appears to have forgotten that
Murambatsvina was a major operation which
took the army and the police
almost six weeks of bulldozing "illegal"
structures. With all due respect to
the minister, that was a lot of abodes
occupied by flesh and blood humans.
Does the minister know or care where
these people who were rendered homeless
and destitute by deliberate
government action are?
He can fume all he
wants against Amnesty International but the fact remains
that Zimbabweans
are asking the same questions. He has never been willing to
put his cards on
the table .
Moreover, Chombo's attempts to paint a glowing picture of
Garikai/Hlalani
Kuhle are seriously dented by recent reports in which the
government itself
admitted that the scheme had been hijacked and abused by
corrupt state and
ZANU-PF officials who allocated stands to relatives,
girlfriends and
associates. Surely, Amnesty International did not make this
scandal up,
which is to be investigated.
When the government embarked on
Garikai /Hlalani Kuhle, it announced that it
would build 450 000 housing
units in Harare alone by August last year.
Chombo must agree that the 3000
units nearing completion that he talks about
are a drop in the ocean
considering the number of people who were thrown out
into the streets in the
middle of winter last year when their dwellings were
razed to the
ground.
The only people making things up are the minister and his colleagues
in
government who rush to hide behind the flimsy claim that anyone who
questions and criticizes their decisions and actions is tarnishing the image
of the country. It is time to debunk this fraudulent claim which the
establishment is using as a smokescreen to evade scrutiny and
accountability.
Surely, the image of the country cannot be more important
than the freedom,
dignity and intrinsic worth of the people who compose it?
The importance of
the state, the company, the union etc should be measured
in terms of its
usefulness to the people and not the other way round as
officials in
Zimbabwe have been trying to bludgeon the people into
accepting. If the
government does enough positive things to cater for the
interests and
aspirations of the populace, the image of the country will
take care of
itself. Zimbabwe cannot build a "Berlin wall" around itself to
escape
scrutiny and criticism by its own citizens and foreigners alike in a
global
village linked together by modern technology.
Chombo would
therefore do better to redirect the energy he has been
expending on blaming
scapegoats like Amnesty International and Archbishop
Ncube towards
addressing the felt needs of the people of Harare for example,
who are fed
up with the endless intrigues at Town House under the inept
leadership of
Sekesai Makwavarara.
FinGaz
Mavis Makuni Own
Correspondent
SOUTH Africa and Zimbabwe's health ministries are currently
embroiled in a
controversy over their endorsement and promotion of
traditional herbs as
effective alternative treatment for HIV and
Aids.
In South Africa, calls are growing louder and angrier by the day
for the
sacking of health minister, Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, over her views
and
stance on the treatment of the deadly disease. This development comes
hardly
two weeks after the International Conference on Aids held in Toronto,
during
which South Africa angered Aids activists by highlighting the use of
a
concoction of lemons, beetroot, the African potato and garlic to treat the
deadly disease, while downplaying the importance of
anti-retrovirals.
Latest reports say that about 80 international scientists
have joined South
Africa's Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) in calling on
President Thabo Mbeki
to sack his health minister. It is not the first time
Mbeki and the TAC have
been at loggerheads.
A few years ago, the South
African president caused an international outcry
for expressing views
challenging the scientific basis of AIDS. He claimed
the deadly disease was
not caused by the human immuno deficiency virus but
by poverty. TAC which
believed these unorthodox views were a ploy for the
state to shirk its
responsibility to roll out awareness, prevention and
treatment programmes
for economic reasons. TAC was obliged to take the South
African government
to court to compel it to provide free ARVs for the
public. The organisation
resorted to legal action because it was convinced
and research has
confirmed, that ARV drugs are the most effective treatment
for AIDS.
To
its credit, Mbeki's administration made a major climb down in response to
public sentiment and now has various treatment programmes underway. At the
beginning of this year, AIDS organisations, human rights activists and
people living with the disease in Zimbabwe were galvanized into action after
realizing that the majority of AIDS sufferers did not have access to the
appropriate drugs.
The groups sent a petition to President Robert Mugabe,
drawing the
government's attention to the fact that out of two million
Zimbabweans
living with HIV and AIDS, only 20 000 had access to
anti-retrovirals.
The groups were also disgruntled by the fact the government
had trivialized
the marking of World AIDS day last December by scheduling
other high profile
events on the same day.
Zimbabwean activists, TAC and
organisations in other countries in the region
have reason to argue for
greater political will in fighting the pandemic.
Statistics show that of the
estimated 40 million people living with AIDS and
HIV globally, the majority,
70 percent, are citizens of countries in
Sub-Saharan Africa.
South Africa
has the highest infection rate in the world.
The pandemic is silently
decimating the most productive age groups on the
continent. In Southern
Africa, life expectancy has plummeted from 62 years
to 48 years over the
last decade. Over the last six years, the life
expectancy of women dropped
below that of men in Zimbabwe, Malawi, Zambia
and Kenya. United Nations
projections show that by the end of this decade
the average lifespan will
have dropped to 43 years in Lesotho, Botswana,
Swaziland and South
Africa.
In the face of such an apocalyptic scenario, the announcement by the
Zimbabwean government two weeks ago that traditional herbs and medicines
would be incorporated for use side by side with conventional medical
approaches to treat AIDS and HIV is cause for concern. Medical practitioners
and AIDS activists believe that not enough research has been conducted to
establish the efficacy of herbs and their side effects.
Figures released
during the Toronto AIDS conference show that 2,8 million
people died of AIDS
worldwide last year and the majority of these were in
Sub-Saharan Africa,
which has the highest infection prevalence. These
statistics show that 57
percent of infected adults are women and that 75
percent of infected young
people are also female.
One of the reasons why AIDS mortality rates are
highest in developing
countries is limited availability and access to ARVs,
not the scarcity of
herbs and traditional medicines. This is a reality that
government officials
on the continent of Africa need to acknowledge when
planning their anti-AIDS
campaigns and programmes.
Speaking at the
International AIDS conference in Toronto , the chief
executive officer of
the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative, Seth Berkley
said, "The AIDS
pandemic continues to outpace our efforts at prevention and
treatment,
damaging societies and undermining social and economic progress
in
developing countries."
He said it was imperative therefore to focus "the best
tools of science"
towards conducting vaccine research.
The UN Special
Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa, Stephen Lewis has urged the
international
community to support vaccine research. "There is an urgent
need today for a
comprehensive approach to HIV/AIDS - one that balances the
expansion of
current prevention programmes with targeted investments in new
medicines and
preventive technologies to reverse the epidemic." AIDS and
human rights
activists should continue to knock on government doors to
ensure that Africa
is not left out.
FinGaz
Comment
THE Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ), in what in our
own view is a
typical case of throwing good money after bad, has kept
parastatals,
teetering on the verge of collapse, on a life-support
system.
Up to last year, the last time for which figures are
available,
the central bank had doled out an unbelievable $12 billion
(re-valued) for
these bottomless black holes to recapitalise their
operations at a time when
central government was finding it increasingly
difficult to balance the
books. But for all its good intentions, the RBZ
has, to all intents and
purposes, failed to staunch the never-ending
bleeding in the state-owned
companies, which continue to pressure public
finances.
The situation in some of these companies, which are
exhibiting
classic warning signs of collapse is, for want of a better
expression,
shocking and confounding. The companies are not only operating
below the
red-ink line but there are no signs of them returning to the black
any time
soon. By mid this year the parastatals, which have remained an
impediment to
economic growth and a drain on the fiscus, were saddled with
delinquent
loans totalling an incredible $76,4 billion. Thus the central
bank has all
along been chasing its own tail.
The foregoing
makes it clear that hoping to put a fresh heart
into these debt-laden,
underperforming, unaccountable and non-transparent
parastatals through
extending loans at concessionary rates is an exercise in
futility. What
therefore is the way forward that can provide a durable
solution out of this
corporate log-jam?
There is only one option left to breathe new
life into these
monoliths-privatisation. From experience of previous
half-hearted attempts
to sell-off state owned companies, which were
tucked-in piecemeal, it is
clear that this is one word the government is not
comfortable with. But
privatisation is now the only way to go to restore
parastatal viability and
help perpetuate that viability. Our only hope is of
course that government
has learnt from its stop-go asset disposal exercise,
which it subsequently
abandoned in the late 1990s.
Candidates
for the proposed divestiture programme include the
Cold Storage Company,
Small Enterprises Development Corporation (Sedco),
National Railways Of
Zimbabwe (NRZ), Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority
(ZESA), Air Zimbabwe,
the Forestry Commission, NetOne and TelOne, among
others. Most of these
companies have a common thread that runs through them.
Other than being
state owned, the companies are known for their
ever-shrinking
accountability, lack of transparency, inefficiency,
disastrous financial
performance, mismanagement, choking debt-trap and
corruption. There is
therefore need for radical surgery because the
status-quo is simply
untenable in an economy whose survival has depended on
a fortuitous
combination of circumstances.
Concerns that Zimbabwe could be
reduced into branch office
economy or that the family silver could be
disposed off for a song, though
not entirely baseless, can be easily
addressed if only the privatisation is
not a panic measure but a
comprehensive well-thought out exercise, that will
be implemented to its
full expression. The move should be informed by a
genuine realisation on the
part of government that its role is to create an
environment that is
conducive to doing business, rather than being a major
player in business
itself. What's more, as we have said before,
privatisation can also be an
effective tool that must be used to bring down
the high rate of inflation by
transferring control of the greater part of
the economy from government to
the private sector, provided the proceeds
from the sell-off would be used to
reduce debt and not for recurrent
expenditure as is government's
wont.
Sadly though, the government seems to be unable or
unwilling to
move privatisation at a brisker pace. Yet it indicated early
this year that
it would finalise its asset sell-off within a self-imposed
time frame of
eight months to this December. By last April, talk of
privatisation in
whatever format-joint ventures, strategic alliances and
concessioning-seemed
to have returned to the centre-stage of government
deliberations, raising
prospects for yet another round of public sector
asset disposal.
But we had our doubts, which is why we said here
goes nothing.
We knew this was an impossible target given the enormous
diversity of the
state-owned companies which would call for wide-ranging
consultation,
exchange of information, full disclosure and the
time-consuming due
diligence by prospective investors. And we were not
wrong. Government's
stated intentions have not taken that giant leap into
reality and they have
remained just that-good intentions that make good
economic sense. The
thin-on-detail and somewhat clear-on-timetable
divestiture exercise, has
remained mere paper reforms. Yet the need for
government to spin-off the
companies, which are currently on a death-march,
cannot be over-emphasised.
FinGaz
The Geoff Nyarota
Column
IN certain circles in Zimbabwe it is normally frowned upon or
considered
politically incorrect for so-called patriots to speak negatively
about the
motherland or positively about any aspect of colonial
Rhodesia.
In the early days of independence journalists were specifically
enjoined to
concentrate on developmental journalism.
Veteran journalist,
Bill Saidi, cynically characterized this type of
journalism, which was
championed by then Information Minister, Dr Nathan
Shamuyarira, as the
writing by journalists of endless articles about
government ministers
officially opening rural toilets.
Saidi's paper, The Daily News on Sunday was
banned back in 2003 as part of
the ruthless campaign by Dr Tafataona Mahoso
and Professor Jonathan Moyo to
promote the image of the government of
Zimbabwe through the ruthless
suppression of press freedom. Saidi and his
staff, as well as the staff of
The Daily News and two other smaller
newspapers, have been rendered jobless
ever since. Despite their
professional skills and the patriotic role they
played in keeping their
countrymen well informed on issues of interest and
relevance to them, they
now suffer the consequences of tyranny.
I understand Dr Mahoso's tenure of
office was extended last week. His
masters must be happy with his
performance. Meanwhile, Professor Moyo vents
his spleen on his former
masters with venom and vengeance at every available
opportunity. Perhaps, he
hopes this will obliterate from the public mind the
indelibly etched
memories of his nefarious association with them from 1999
to 2004.
Like
many other patriotic and honest citizens, it is with a very heavy heart
that
I am forced by the reality of what is happening on the ground in
Zimbabwe
today to speak with nostalgia occasionally about the era preceding
the
independence for which we made such immeasurable sacrifices. Most of us
are
too jingoistic, however, to state openly that in many respects the
living
standards were better under Ian Smith than they are now under our
supposedly
patriotic and once revolutionary political leadership.
I am certain that over
the past few weeks, a period during which Reserve
Bank Governor, Gideon
Gono, has effectively impoverished both the rich and
the poor as well as the
powerful and the meek, the temptation has been
irresistible on the part of
Zimbabwe's long-suffering population to throw
their hands up in despair and
declare: "This never used to happen under our
oppressor, Ian Smith."
I
have heard this said in private conversations as far back as 2000. Of
course, speakers always cast their eyes around to ensure that there is no
representative of the not-so-gentle men in very dark glasses around. A few
indiscreet but innocuous fellows have been hauled off a commuter omnibus
after they spoke ill of President Robert Mugabe and/or his government
without realising that our feared leader and his men have ears listening in
the most unlikely places.
What triggered off this trend of thought in my
mind was a recent discussion
with the father of a friend. The father had
just visited him in the United
States. Our discussion took me back in time
to pre-independence rural
Rhodesia, where the long trek to the communal
dip-tank was the highlight of
the week for the average village
youth.
Each dip-tank served dozens of villages in the surrounding area. On
the
appointed day young men drove hundreds of cattle for their respective
families to the dip-tank for their weekly dip. This was an occasion whose
significance and magnificence in Zimbabwe may now be lost, perhaps,
irretrievably.
It was a day of fist fights, bull fights and even dog
fights. Without the
luxury of boxing gloves, the local Muhammad Alis would
beat the living
daylights out of weaker opponents, as onlookers urged and
the girls cheered.
The biggest challenge of the day was, however, to ensure
that every beast
took its mandatory dip into the murky liquid which
guaranteed that animals
remained tick-free for the next week. Occasionally
the district veterinary
officer, usually a young white colonial officer
hardly out of his teens
arrived in a government Land-Rover to grace the
occasion with his presence.
He deftly jabbed every animal with a syringe as
villagers looked on with a
curious mixture of awe and admiration.
Even
the lowly job of dipping-tank attendant was a venerated occupation.
Between
them, the veterinary officer and the dipping-tank attendant ensured
that the
rural cattle population remained in excellent health. When a beast
died in
those colonial days it was because the owner decided to slaughter
the animal
for one good reason or another, not because it collapsed,
frothing at the
mouth, with its hind legs kicking spasmodically.
My friend's family hails
from Charumbira District in Masvingo, close to
Bondolfi Mission. The old man
told us that he had lost the pride of his
herd - a hybrid descended from a
Brahman bull that he patriotically
liberated under cover of darkness from a
white-owned farm during the war of
liberation. The bull had collapsed in the
cattle pen, leaving the old man
with no option but to finish him off.
The
old man, whom I had the honour and privilege to meet initially when he
first
visited his son in 2004, said his brother had endured even greater
loss.
Four of his animals died in quick succession during the months of May
and
June. He was unequivocal in diagnosing the ailment that had so
drastically
decimated the family investment in such a short period of time.
"It is now
ages since the cattle last visited the dip-tank," he lamented in
a voice
that conveyed the full force of his grief. "This never used to
happen before
independence. The government is now letting us down."
In a bid to console the
grieving old man I told him that in my own part of
the country, Makoni
District in Manicaland, cattle had died in large numbers
over the years for
the same reasons.
During his visit in 2004 I was impressed by the old man's
unflinching
support for the ruling Zanu-PF party and for Mugabe, especially.
His
political philosophy at the time was simple. The opposition drew the
bulk of
its support from misguided urban dwellers who, unlike their rural
counterparts, contributed little to the struggle for the liberation of the
country. I failed dismally to convince him that the problems encountered by
the majority of Zimbabweans - the commodity shortages, the ever-escalating
cost of living, the rampant unemployment, Gukurahundi, Murambatsvina and the
decline in the standard of health services, to mention some, were the direct
result of negligence or vindictiveness on the part of a selfish ruling
elite.
In rural Zimbabwe, a person's wealth is measured by the size of
his or her
cattle pen. Because of the current economic situation, urban and
even
Diaspora folk have taken to investing in cattle back in the village as
a
hedge against run-away inflation. I understand cattle prices went up soon
after Gono slashed the three zeros from the currency. A week or so before
Gono's devaluation of the currency The Herald, which normally does not see,
hear or speak any evil, where the government is concerned, revealed that the
bulk of the $43 trillion reportedly circulating in Zimbabwe in cash could
not be accounted for.
Far from singing praises of the party, the old man
now spoke in anger about
leaders who visit the village in Mercedes Benz cars
when the government
cannot afford to buy chemicals for the dip-tank.
If
the Mercedes Benz limousines allocated to government ministers,
especially
Agriculture Minister Joseph Made, were downgraded to more
practical and much
cheaper four-wheel-drive vehicles, the resultant savings
would exceed the
amount required to purchase chemicals for all rural
dip-tanks for months on
end. Zanu-PF would instantly win back the support of
my friend's old man and
his brother in Masvingo.
The good health of their herd of cattle is a bread
and butter issue among
rural folk in our country. Yet political manifestos
rarely make reference to
veterinary issues. Not so long ago one of
Zimbabwe's numerous unsung heroes
and heroines, Dr Stuart Hargreaves, the
principal director of the department
of veterinary services, urged farmers
to vaccinate their cattle against
disease. The department also said it
needed at least $1,2 trillion (now less
three zeroes) for the effective
control of diseases countrywide.
My apologies to all concerned for speaking
so positively about the past.
SA, our mighty neighbour
I flew into
Johannesburg International Airport last week at the beginning of
a visit to
the City of Gold. When the Thabo Mbeki cabinet approves a
proposal before it
the airport will undergo nomenclatural transformation to
become Oliver Tambo
International Airport, in honour of the late ANC leader.
What struck me most
during the visit was not the impending change of name.
Rather, it was the
structural metamorphosis taking place to enhance the
image and the capacity
of Africa's largest airport.
The magnificence and efficiency of this airport
have already set it apart
from the rest of airports on the continent,
placing it effectively in the
domain of the gigantic structures that serve
the cities of the First World.
Harare International Airport, a premature
baby, in comparison to such
behemoths, never mind our patriotism, will be
rendered totally inadequate,
once the volume of business and tourist
passengers reverts to normal, when
our current political and economic crises
are resolved.
A total of 42 international airlines fly into Johannesburg,
while South
African Airways operates services to 35 international
destinations.
On the occasion of South Africa's tenth anniversary and the
inauguration of
President Mbeki's second term of office in 2004, the South
Africans
dispensed with the usual Air Force fly-past.
SAA were contracted
to organise what turned out to be a giant fly-past,
literally, over the
venue of the celebrations in Pretoria. Throwing all
modesty to the wind,
they laid on a show of gigantic proportions. The aerial
display comprised
two Airbus 340-600s, flanking a Boeing 747-400. These are
the largest
commercial aircraft currently in service in the world.
Sitting among the
gathering of international dignitaries, President Mugabe,
who had jetted in
on Air Zimbabwe's modest and ageing Boeing 767, must have
felt palpitations
of the heart, as he gazed skywards to watch the giant
aircraft sweeping low
in an awesome display of wealth and might.
The SAA fleet comprises a total of
97 aircraft altogether, including nine
Airbus A340-600s and eight Boeing
747-400s. As a fervent patriot, I will
refrain from saying much about Air
Zimbabwe's pitiful fleet of two Boeing
767-200s, three Boeing 737s and three
MA60s.
Johannesburg International Airport overtook Cairo International
Airport in
1996 as the busiest airport in Africa. Founded in 1952 and
christened Jan
Smuts Airport, it is not only the second busiest airport in
the
Africa-Middle East region after Dubai, but also one of the busiest
airports
in the world.
Oliver Tambo Airport is likely to witness the
arrival of the new Airbus A380
in the early stages of its service. The
double-decked A380, which is
currently undergoing tests, is now the largest
passenger airliner in the
world, with a capacity, in certain configurations,
of up to 600 passengers.
The manufacturer has already listed Johannesburg's
airport as one of the few
destinations worldwide capable of handling the
colossal aircraft.
As I sat in the departure lounge last Thursday, having a
panoramic view of
construction work aimed at enhancing the capacity of the
airport in
preparation for the 2010 FIFA World Cup Tournament in South
Africa, I had
this sinking feeling that Zimbabwe had squandered a God-sent
opportunity for
similar development, while our government pursued misguided
economic
policies with singular and suicidal determination.
Saying of the
week
"It is only in Zimbabwe that government funds are used generally to
build a
retirement home for the president. If President Mbeki is paying this
out of
his own pocket ... there might be some eyebrows raised about where he
got so
much money, but it's his own business." - Douglas Gibson, chief whip
of
South Africa's opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) (The Mail and
Guardian).
FinGaz
No Holds Barred with Gondo
Gushungo
EARLY this year the Committee to Protect Journalists (CJP)
published its
list of the 10 Most Censored Countries, in the
world.
Zimbabwe, where a strong anti-private press sentiment within the
establishment has seen the authorities go to the ends of the earth to muzzle
the media through draconian laws, was not on the list of the countries that
hate freedom of the press, free speech and indeed free spirit for all
people. To many, this was an inexcusable omission.
On the list was North
Korea where the official Korean Central News Agency at
one time unbelievably
reported that the country's leader Kim Jong II is so
beloved that after a
deadly munitions train explosion in a populated area,
people ran into
buildings to save the ubiquitous portraits of the "Dear
Leader" before they
rescued their own family members!
If this is not stretching credulity to the
limit then I don't know what is.
But then again, the destruction of the
distinction between reporting and
creative writing is what happens in
countries where dictatorial regimes
thrive on using power in an unreasonable
way that is contrary to social
justice, equity and good conscience by
telling people what to do and not
listening to their views or wishes.
The
other countries on the infamous list were Turkmenistan, Libya, Eritrea,
Cuba, Uzbekistan, Syria, Belarus, Burma and Zimbabwe's new friend,
Equatorial Guinea, where state radio has reportedly described the country's
leader, President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo as "the country's God" who
has power over men and things!
These countries have one thing in common:
most of them are ruled by
strongmen who have remained in power by
manipulating the media and rigging
elections. The various media in these
countries foster a personality cult.
CJP gave an example of how on state
television in Turkmenistan "President
For Life", Saparrmurat Atayevich
Niyazo's golden image is constantly
displayed in profile at the bottom of
the screen.
It might have been flattering for the powers-that-be in Zimbabwe
that the
CJP thought that the country could not be mentioned in the same
breath as
those dictatorships that muzzle the media through restrictive
laws, fear and
intimidation. The CJP might have felt that Zimbabwe had a
semblance of
democracy-regular though hotly disputed elections; and
Parliament albeit a
rubber-stamping institution which over the past 26 years
has not been able
to always produce faultless pieces of legislation, which
do not contradict
certain provisions of the Constitution.
Thus although
there is a glaring absence of freedom of the press after
Zimbabwe tightened
controls and introduced harsh press laws-the Access to
Information and
Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA) in March 2002, the country
did not deserve
a red flag. Or so the CJP thought.
But as I said in this column on May 25,
2006, the danger signs are flashing
with blinding effect if the latest
manoeuvres to suppress - through
statutory provisions - disclosure,
dissemination and public discussion of
sensitive information are anything to
go by.
The government, which has observably been growing paranoid and
desperate,
does not say it in so many words. But that is precisely what it
seeks to
achieve through widely-condemned laws such as AIPPA, which are to
me perhaps
the central paradox of Zimbabwean politics.
Moreso when
journalists are continuously attacked by ill-poised and insecure
government
apologists, even for stories sourced from courts of law and
public inquiries
by Parliamentary Portfolio Committees into issues of
national interest,
among others. The sixty-four-thousand-dollar question is:
why is government
instituting these inquiries anyway if it does not like
what is coming out of
the wash? Or is it all window dressing for the public's
benefit?
And it
gets worse with the Interception of Communications Bill. The sponsors
of the
Bill, whose passage is being pursued with characteristic fervour,
vitality
and eagerness, speak of it feelingly. But tragically, Zimbabwe is
sailing
very close to the wind. New danger stalks the nation because all
this means
is that the country is on the cusp of joining the North Koreas,
Cubas,
Eritreas, Burmas, and Syrias of this world.
And Zimbabweans have every reason
to be afraid, very afraid. Such laws are
prejudicial to the country's
nascent democracy. And Zimbabwe needs the said
offensive laws as much as the
country's citizens need holes in their heads.
All that is happening now
proves beyond reasonable doubt that AIPPA, one of
the towering obscenities
of ZANU PF rule, was a straw in the wind which
suggested a plethora of
chain-laws that reinforce censorship. The bad laws
are formulated in
reprisal for what the government calls negative publicity
for which it has
absolutely no one but itself to blame.
Among these is the Interception of
Communications Bill, which is meant to
authorise government to monitor and
intercept any communication within the
country or inter-state. It does not
matter what the moving spirits behind
this distasteful Bill say, the bottom
line is that it marks a drift from the
basic fundamentals of democratic
governance by a government that brooks no
dissension, critical and divergent
views.
Otherwise, why the sustained assault on democracy? Why does a
government
that claims to have a popular mandate to rule want to keep an
iron grip on
information? Are these the actions of a popularly elected
government that
does not have anything to hide? The mind boggles!
What is
the government so afraid of that it sees nothing wrong with the
Interception
of Communications Bill which to all intents and purposes, if it
becomes law,
will work against the free flow of information as it will
facilitate the
establishment of a monitoring agency much like Cyber Warfare
Division
established by the military junta in Burma to monitor
telecommunications and
facsimile traffic?
In asking all these questions, my aim is to persuade
government to abandon
the Interception of Communications Bill. But given the
robust and spirited
defence of this monster by its sponsors, and an
assortment of crazy
government apologists, it is obvious that I don't have a
snowball's chance
in hell of convincing the government, hell-bent on pushing
for the bill to
become law for no plausible reason but to suppress
disssent.
But if it's any consolation-and this might be difficult to
understand for a
government which saw nothing wrong in changing the
country's constitution
using its disputed majority in Parliament without
running the issue up the
flagpole to see what people would say- one thing is
clear: the
powers-that-be are spitting into the wind if they think that the
restrictions will stop news about Zimbabwe going to the outside
world.
Even if the intrusive Bill finally becomes law the Zimbabwean
situation will
be no different from other countries where, for all their
restrictions,
like-minded governments have dismally failed to stop
completely the flow of
information. Journalists, particularly foreign ones
whom these governments
have no control over in terms of publishing, will
continue to get
information from underground sources and leads from
sympathetic government
officials.
This has happened elsewhere. Burma is a
case in point. Already, here in
Zimbabwe, we have seen how Studio 7, and SW
Radio have continued to transmit
despite incessant government efforts to jam
them.
Financial Gazette
September 14, 2006
Charles Rukuni
Bulawayo
Operation Hlalani Kuhle, which in
Bulawayo is centred around the sprawling
suburb of Cowdray Park, continues to
be mired in controversy.
The Bulawayo City Council, which is the
responsible authority, says people
should only occupy houses built under the
programme after they have been
issued with certificates of occupation. This
is meant to ensure that the
houses have water and sanitary
facilities.
The government says people should occupy their houses
immediately. Problems
can always be solved later.
While sympathising
with the plight of the beneficiaries, the Bulawayo City
Council says it has
an obligation to protect the health of the residents of
the city.
The
housing scheme was bulldozed by the government, which ignored
standing
council provisions that roads, sewer, electricity and water should
be
provided before any housing construction begins.
The scheme was
implemented haphazardly to appease house-seekers after the
government had
destroyed hundreds of shelters under Operation Murambatsvina.
It involves
nearly 4 000 stands in Cowdray Park most of which were sold to
individuals,
companies and co-operatives to develop after the government had
run out of
money.
According to the council's health department, the construction of
houses on
virgin, unserviced land had inherent problems that would in the
long run
negate whatever gains might have been envisaged.
"Lack of
water and sewer reticulation compromised hygiene standards and
created a
nuisance of fouling in open spaces," a report by the department
said. "Lack
of road networks hindered orderly domestic waste removal,
promoting creation
of mounds and hills of garbage."
Despite these problems, the department
said, some people had gone ahead to
occupy incomplete houses. To ensure that
residents complied with public
health by-laws, the department was serving
residents with notices to ensure
provision of sanitary facilities or to
vacate.
It, however, said this was difficult to enforce because of the
present
shortage of fuel. Police were also reluctant to arrest those
violating the
by-laws so that they could be prosecuted.
The department
said though it is inhumane to evict people who could not be
given alternative
accommodation, firm action needed to be taken to protect
the health of the
communities.
"This problem would be solved when the building inspectorate
ensured that no
house was occupied until it was issued with a certificate of
occupation,"
the health department said.
"The cost of dealing with the
health risk of disease outbreak for both the
occupants and the whole of
Bulawayo would be great. Prevention is better
than cure."
The
department's stance, however, seemed to have divided the council with
some
saying people should be allowed to occupy their houses while a solution
to
the sanitary problems was being sought. Others argue that the city should
not
be put at risk for the benefit of a few since the problem was not
of
council's making but that of government.
To make matters worse,
Local Government Minister Ignatius Chombo, who
bulldozed the programme over
the local authorities, was reported to have
told residents at the weekend
that they should go ahead and occupy their
houses.
Chombo, who has
literally run down the City of Harare, was quoted by the
pro-government media
as saying: "All the beneficiaries should come and
occupy their houses. If it
means we have to establish temporary toilets, let
it be done. Imagine 400
families moving in here. That is the aim of the
operation and that is what we
want to see happening."
An international human rights organisation,
Amnesty International last week
condemned Operation Hlalani Kuhle saying it
had only provided 3 325 houses
instead of the required 100 000, more than a
year after the programme was
launched.
Chombo described the report as
malicious, untrue and unfounded, claiming
that the London-based organisation
was just regurgitating reports from
Archbishop Pius Ncube of Bulawayo.