Solidarity Peace Trust
The Hard Road to Reform
13 April 2011
The Solidarity Peace Trust has today released a new report titled The Hard Road to Reform.
Since the signing and initiation of the Global Political Agreement in Zimbabwe in September 2008 and February 2009 respectively, the politics of the country has been convulsed with a recurring set of problems even as it has allowed for a certain political and economic stabilization. The agreement, with its attendant Inclusive Government, was set up to establish the conditions for a free and fair election. However it was always clear that, in a more determinate sense, it would provide the site for intense struggles over the state between the contending parties, with Zanu PF always in an advantageous position because of its control of the coercive arms of the state. It is thus not surprising that the Mugabe regime has used its control of the police, security and military sectors to contain the constrained promise of the GPA to open up democratic spaces. It is also clear that both MDCs have made strategic mistakes that have added to the already difficult challenges that confronted them at the outset of the process. Moreover the problems of the GPA have, on occasion, been compounded by the different roles of SADC and the West.
In recent months the Zimbabwean crisis has been somewhat overshadowed by the uprisings in North Africa and the Middle East, as well as the violence that has broken out over the contested election in the Ivory Coast. Both events, but particularly the developments in North Africa, have predictably forced comparisons with the Zimbabwe situation. This has often lead to over-optimistic hopes for an ‘Egypt moment’ in Zimbabwe, that are based less on a concrete analysis of the conditions in the country, than a desperate yearning that Zimbabwe’s authoritarian state face such a reckoning. The complex politics of the GPA in the context of the particularities of Zimbabwe’s history make any simple comparisons with North Africa difficult to sustain. This report thus sets out to think through the politics of the last two years in Zimbabwe, setting out the challenges that have had to be confronted, but also noting the opportunities it has provided, and the possibilities for the near future.
The Hard Road to Reform is available in PDF format on our website (1.7MB). Please visit this link to download the report.
Rights reserved: Please credit the Solidarity Peace Trust as the original source for all SPT material republished on other websites unless otherwise specified. Please provide a link back to http://www.solidaritypeacetrust.org/1033/the-hard-road-to-reform/ for this report
This report can be cited in other publications as follows: Solidarity Peace Trust (2011) The Hard Road to Reform. Durban: Solidarity Peace Trust
For further information, please contact Selvan Chetty - Deputy Director, Solidarity Peace Trust
Email: selvan@solidaritypeacetrust.org
Tel: +27 (39) 682 5869
Fax: +27 (39) 682
5869
Address:
Suite 4
3rd Floor
MB Centre
49 Aiken Street
Port Shepstone
4240
Kwazulu-Natal South Coast
http://www.dailynews.co.zw
By Chengetai Zvauya, Staff
Writer
Wednesday, 13 April 2011 16:43
HARARE - President Robert
Mugabe and cabinet ministers from his party are
reportedly blocking
discussions on the civil service audit report, which
unearthed 75 000 ghost
workers, mostly Zanu PF youths, a development which
has delayed civil
servants’ salary increments.
According to government sources, Mugabe
and his ministers do not want the
audit report tabled for discussion and
since it was presented for
discussions in Cabinet last year, the Zanu PF
side of Government has been
dragging its feet.
The ghost workers’
audit report in the civil servants has caused anxiety
among a restive civil
service.
Finance minister Tendai Biti and Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai have in
the past said civil servants will have an increment when
the ghost workers
are rooted out.
The civil servants have threatened
to go on a national strike demanding that
the ghost workers be struck off
the payroll so that the money being paid to
the fake civil servants is given
to genuine civil servants.
Contacted for comment, Public Service
minister, Eliphas Mukonoweshuro, was
evasive on the matter and said the
report was before Cabinet waiting for its
discussion.
‘’The report is
in the Cabinet and it shall be discussed in due time. This
is what I can
only say at the moment,’’ said Mukonoweshuro.
The audit report undertaken
by Government last year in September established
over 75 000 ghost workers
on the payroll.
The report found that thousands of the youths were
employed by the Ministry
of Youth Development, Indigenisation and
Empowerment during the 2008
elections as youth officers.
Most of them
had no employment contracts with Government and have no records
such as
birth certificates, national ID numbers and employment code EC
number to
show that they are Government workers. The report also revealed
10 000
youths were employed in one day in June 2008.
The majority of the youths
had no academic qualifications to justify their
entry into the Public
Service Commission payroll.
This is the first time that such an audit has
been undertaken of the civil
servants.
The audit was piloted by the
Ministry of Public Service and World Bank with
the auditors from Ernst &
Young from India. The audit looked at civil
servants’ academic
qualifications, letters of appointment, payslips and
police
clearances.
Minister of Finance Tendai Biti has in the past said that
Government has no
money to increase civil servants wages, unless the 75 000
ghost workers
believed to be Zanu PF youths are removed from the wage bill.
http://www.swradioafrica.com
By Lance Guma
13 April
2011
Shakespeare Mukoyi was released on free bail on Tuesday. The MDC
Harare
Province Vice Chairperson was arrested and beaten by police, who
crushed a
prayer for peace church service on Saturday in Glen
Norah.
Mukoyi was brutally assaulted by police in the church building and
denied
access to medication after an X-ray examination which showed the need
for
urgent treatment. Police took him to Harare Hospital during the evening
where he was attended to briefly. He was however unceremoniously seized from
the hospital and re-detained at Harare Central Police Station.
Twelve
of the people arrested with him were released on Monday but police
detained
him for an extra two days, claiming he assaulted a police officer
on the day
he was arrested.
Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights spokesman, Kumbirai
Mafunda, confirmed
Mukoyi’s release saying he will next appear in court for
trial on the 18th
May. He said Mukoyi was in pain and was wearing a neck
brace. His clothes
were also stained with blood, a result of the injuries he
sustained from the
brutal beatings.
Mukoyi’s lawyer, Marufu
Mandevere, raised the issue of his client being
assaulted and denied medical
treatment by the police. Although the presiding
Magistrate ordered an
investigation into the assault it’s always known the
police can never
seriously investigate themselves.
At least thirteen people, among them
four priests, were arrested on Saturday
during the prayer meeting in Glen
Norah. The resident priest at the Nazarene
church, Paul Mukome, and Pastors
Caroline Sanyanga and Paul Isaiah Yesah
among others, were arrested when
baton wielding police stormed the church
and threw choking teargas inside to
disperse the worshippers.
Frightened parishioners, among them old women
and children, were forced to
break through the church windows, trying to
escape the menacing police. Many
civic organizations and the MDC-T strongly
condemned the police action,
describing it as barbaric.
HRD’s
Alert
13 April 2011
HON. MADZORE SUMMONED OVER ALLEGED POLICE
ASSAULT
Glenview South Member of Parliament Hon. Paul Madzore on Wednesday 13 April 2011
appeared in court for allegedly assaulting a police officer in
2006.
Hon.
Madzore was on Monday 11 April 2011 served with summons to appear in court today
for trial on charges of assaulting Detective Constable Everisto Maponga, a police
officer.
Prosecutors allege that Hon. Madzore unlawfully and intentionally
assaulted Maponga, a member of the Criminal Investigation Department, who was on
patrol in the suburb on 14 December 2006 at Makomva Shopping Centre in Gleniew 2
suburb in Harare.
The
prosecutors claim that Hon. Madzore punched Maponga with his hands on his chest
and he staggered as a result of the knocking.
However, Hon Madzore’s trial could not commence on Wednesday and was
rescheduled to 17 May 2011 by Harare Magistrate Victoria Mashamba after his lawyer Jeremiah Bamu of Zimbabwe Lawyers for
Human Rights (ZLHR) protested at being served with State papers while in court
on Wednesday morning.
The
State has lined up two witnesses Maponga and Detective Constable Aaron Chipadza to testify against Hon.
Madzore during his trial.
ENDS
http://www.newzimbabwe.com/
13/04/2011 00:00:00
by Staff
Reporter
PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe made his first public appearance on
Tuesday after
his mysterious trip to Singapore last Friday – his fourth in
as many months.
Mugabe, 87, visited the family of Menard Muzariri, the
late Deputy Director
General of the Central Intelligence Organisation, who
died on Monday.
But his wife Grace, reported to be ill, was not
present.
A newspaper report on Sunday said Mugabe had accompanied the
First Lady for
hospital treatment in Singapore after she slipped in the
bathroom of their
Borrowdale mansion and dislocated her hip.
Adding
to the intrigue was Mugabe’s spokesman, George Charamba, who claimed
not to
have been briefed on the President’s latest trip.
Charamba speculated
that they may have been visiting their daughter, Bona,
who is on work
placement in China. She attends university in Hong Kong.
Asked about
Grace Mugabe’s health, the normally reticent Charamba said the
only health
issue he was aware of relating to the First Lady was “slight
discomfort with
her back” which has followed her since the birth of her last
child,
Chatunga, 14 years ago.
It has been speculated that last Friday’s trip,
made possible by a
commandeered Air Zimbabwe plane, may in fact have been
necessitated by
Mugabe’s own health concerns.
Mugabe was in Singapore
at the end of December for his annual holiday and
has returned there two
more times, apparently for a correction of
complications from an eye surgery
operation he underwent during his holiday.
Mugabe appeared in good nick
for his age on Tuesday as he visited Muzariri’s
grieving widow and dozens of
mourners gathered at the family's home in
Borrowdale.
He announced
that the Zanu PF politburo had declared Muzariri a national
hero, a status
which comes with burial at the National Heroes’ Acre.
Public interest
will be heightened at Muzariri’s burial, likely on Saturday,
to see if the
First Lady would be present. She normally attends state
occasions with the
President.
A second chance to see her would be Independence Day on April 18
when Mugabe
normally officiates.
http://www.swradioafrica.com
By Tererai Karimakwenda
13
April, 2011
The Mugabe regime is reported to have turned down an offer by
the United
Nations to fund and supervise elections, accusing the UN of
taking the wrong
side in the Ivory Coast conflict. According to VOA Studio 7
news, the United
Nations Development Program (UNDP) approached Justice
Minister Patrick
Chinamasa with the offer, but ZANU PF hardliners said it
was “unacceptable”.
The report said ZANU PF accused the UN of siding with
Alassane Outtara,
accepted internationally as the winner in the Ivory Coast
presidential
elections, instead of the incumbent Laurent Gbagbo, whom the
party credited
with fighting “the imperialist West.”
VOA quoted ZANU PF
spokesperson Rugare Gumbo as saying the party “is not
comfortable with
Western intervention”.
ZANU PF national chairperson Simon Khaya Moyo made
similar comments this
week, when he said his party would not allow funding
of the elections by the
European Union.
Addressing a bimonthly meeting of
E.U. Heads of Missions in Zimbabwe on
Tuesday, Khaya Moyo said it would be
“very ironic” for ZANU-PF to allow the
funding of elections by “a group of
countries that have imposed illegal
economic sanctions on our country and
have refused to remove them”.
“We will not allow that development. When
it comes to this issue, there's no
compromise and each one of us must carry
their own cross,” he added.
Dr Lovemore Madhuku, chairperson of the National
Constitutional Assembly,
said the statements were made by ZANU PF officials
who are supposed to be in
a unity government with the MDC.
Madhuku
explained that the MDC, as part of the inclusive government, has to
also
take responsibility for decisions made by government, regardless of who
in
that government has more power. He said it was not enough for the MDC to
say
the unity government is not working, but then stay with the
arrangement.
“If we ultimately have the conclusion that says there will
be no foreign
funds accepted for the elections, then it ceases to be a ZANU
PF position.
It must be regarded as an inclusive government position,” he
added.
In his address to the E.U. Heads of Missions, Khaya Moyo referred
to the
country’s expected polls as “the much anticipated elections we expect
to
hold this year”.
This clearly indicates that ZANU PF intends to go
against the wishes of the
MDC and civic groups in the country, who have said
the atmosphere is not
conducive to holding free and fair elections in
2011.
Unfortunately we were unable to get a comment on these issues from
the MDC.
http://www.swradioafrica.com
By Alex Bell
13
April 2011
Zimbabweans are being urged to boycott any early election
called by ZANU PF,
if the party goes ahead and ignores recent resolutions by
leaders in the
Southern African Development Community (SADC).
Such a
boycott has been listed as a critical step in gaining momentum
towards real
democratic change in Zimbabwe, according to the human rights
NGO, the
Solidarity Peace Trust.
The Trust launched a new report on Zimbabwe in
Johannesburg on Wednesday,
which details ZANU PF’s obvious contempt for the
unity government. The 52
page report, titled ‘The Hard Road to Reform’ was
launched together with a
40 minute video, with images of how ZANU PF has
refused to honour the Global
Political Agreement, including images of
renewed violence and intimidation
against Zimbabweans.
The report
states that since the formation of Zimbabwe’s unity government in
2009, the
politics of the country have been “convulsed with a recurring set
of
problems,” mainly because ZANU PF has repeatedly obstructed the full
implementation of the GPA.
“The agreement was set up to establish the
conditions for a free and fair
election. However, it was always clear that,
in a more determinate sense, it
would provide the site for intense struggles
over the state between the
contending parties, with ZANU PF always in an
advantageous position because
of its control of the coercive arms of the
state,” reads the report in part.
It continues: “It is thus not
surprising that the Mugabe regime has used its
control of the police,
security and military sectors to contain the
constrained promise of the GPA
to open up democratic spaces. It is also
clear that both MDCs have made
strategic mistakes that have added to the
already difficult challenges that
confronted them at the outset of the
process.”
The Trust’s Director,
political analyst Professor Brian Raftopolous, told SW
Radio Africa on
Wednesday that although though there have been serious
limitations around
the GPA, and that ZANU PF has moved to obstruct its full
implementation, “it
is an important mechanism to make ZANU PF accountable.”
“Whether in
parliament, in cabinet, in the national budget, or to SADC, the
GPA has
provided some parameters of accountability for a party that is
simply not
used to any accountability,” Raftopolous said.
In its five steps on the
way forward, the Trust suggests that the two MDC
formations within the unity
government, together with civil society, should
keep pressure on SADC and
the AU, to ensure that recent resolutions by the
Troika are enforced “as
fully as possible.”
A recent Troika summit resolved to put in place a
proper election roadmap
towards credible elections in Zimbabwe, after a
meeting that is said to have
outraged Mugabe. The Troika also issued a
statement with unusually strong
criticism of the crisis in Zimbabwe, which
observers believe is a positive
sign that SADC has finally adopted a tougher
stance towards Mugabe.
“Despite his outrage at SADC for breaking ranks
with him and ordering his
party to stop a crackdown on political opponents,
I still think it will be
highly unlikely for Mugabe to simply ignore SADC,”
Raftopolous said.
He added: “But if they decide to ignore SADC call for
an early election
without SADC approval, then the democratic forces in
Zimbabwe must unite in
a boycott of such an election and mobilise a campaign
for the global
isolation of the regime.”
http://www.voanews.com/
Ntungamili
Nkomo | Washington 12 April 2011
Political observers have voiced
skepticism over a call by a Zimbabwean
opposition party led by former
finance minister Simba Makoni for a
non-political transitional structure to
replace the power-sharing unity
government until new elections can be
held.
Makoni's Mavambo Kusile Dawn party says the transitional entity
would be
made up of civic and church leaders as well as business
people.
The party said the coalition could include officials from all
political
parties – but leaders including President Robert Mugabe and Prime
Minister
Morgan Tsvangirai could not be included. Analysts called the
proposal a
non-starter for this and other reasons.
The opposition
proposal also calls for a rigorous national-healing program,
warning that
current political tensions risk blowing up into a full-scale
confrontation.
Mavambo Kusile Dawn Secretary for Administration
Wilson Khumbula said that
ending the often disfunctional unity government is
the best way forward.
"Those who criticize our proposal are those that
are benefitting from the
unity government, which appears to be serving the
interests of a few," he
said.
But political commentator Bhekilizwe
Ndlovu dismissed the proposal for a new
transitional vehicle as naive and
ill-advised. "I wouldn't have thought
Simba Makoni is as naive as to come up
with such a proposal," Ndlovu told
reporter Ntungamili Nkomo.
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk
Written by Staff Reporter
Wednesday,
13 April 2011 08:25
HARARE - Zimbabwe's mining companies are seeking the
intervention of Vice
President Joice Mujuru to revise a new government plan
that aims to
transfer majority control of foreign mining firms to
locals.
According to a government gazette extraordinary dated March 25
announcing
the requirements for the mining sector to comply with the
indigenization
law, all foreign owned mining firms with a net asset value
of more than
US$1 shall dispose of 51 percent of the shares to indigenous
Zimbabweans.
The gazette says the disposal of the shares to indigenous
Zimbabweans must
be completed within a period of six months or by September
25 2011.
Previously, a compliance period of five years had been given in
Statutory
Instrument 21 of 2010.
The Chamber of Mines president Victor
Gapare appealed in his letter to the
VP - an amenable and powerful reformist
Zanu PF politician - that government
extend the period of snapping up the
shares given the cash shortages
currently plaguing the market. He said it
will require US$5billion to US$7b
in fresh capital to revive the
sector.
“We would respectfully suggest that given the current liquidity
problems,
the compliance period should be left at five years or extended to
ten years,
as it will be hard for indigenous players to raise cash in a very
short
space of time,” Gapare said in his letter to the VP.
“The concern
is that buyers of the equity may not be able to put together
financing
packages for the purchase of shares given the liquidity
constraints in the
market.” Gapare said as is currently structured, the
regulations would not
benefit ordinary Zimbabweans.
“In our meeting with Mines and Mining
Development minister Obert Mpofu, he
advised that in reality the
shareholding will pass on to the ZMDC and that
if non-indigenous investors
want to offer shares to their employees or other
parties, they should do it
out of their proposed 49 percent share,” said
Gapare.
“This effectively
means individuals, communities and employees will not be
allowed to buy or
get shareholding from existing non-indigenous companies.
“We would suggest
that mining companies be allowed to choose their own
partners in line with
the Indigenisation and Empowerment Act.”
Gapare again warned that the
regulations as currently structured places
"undue burden" on the investor
and this threatens the revival of the entire
sector, one of the crucial
sectors hard hit by a decade of economic
meltdown. All foreign owned
companies must submit indigenization plans
within 45 days of the date of
publication of the General Notice SI 34 of
2011 or by May 9 2011.
“If as
a nation we want to earn more out of our minerals, the simple
solution is to
allow the development of bigger mines which will earn bigger
revenues and
enjoy economies of scale. “The quality of jobs and contribution
to the
community development is always better in bigger enterprises that in
small
enterprises.
“Zimbabwe has a lot of marginal mines and ore bodies which will
not be
developed if the indigenisation process places undue burden on the
capital
required to develop them. In this regard, the Chamber of Mines urges
the
government to be sensitive to the need of investors, whether domestic or
foreign, if mines are to be viable.” The Chamber of Mines has said it would
be comfortable selling stakes of 26 percent to local owners, divided as 26
percent direct equity and 25 percent being met through corporate social
investment credits.
Gapare said the chamber and government should agree
on a shareholding that
would result in projects being able to raise debt and
equity finance with
the balance to make up to 51 percent local ownership
being sold to
indigenous Zimbabweans at market value or listed on the
Zimbabwe Stock
Exchange. Analysts said cash-strapped Zimbabwe does not have
the money to
buy controlling stakes through the investment vehicles.
http://www.businesslive.co.za
13
April, 2011 12:03
Tawanda Karombo
Deep-rooted problems have emerged at Zimbabwe's state
airline, where pilots
have refused to resume work, two weeks after going on
a job action demanding
salary and wage increases, an issue that is said to
mirror the state of
affairs at the country's loss-incurring state-run
parastatals.
There have been growing calls for the government to
privatise loss-incurring
state corporations such as Air Zimbabwe, the
National Railways of Zimbabwe
(NRZ) and undercapitalised telecommunications
company Net*One.
It appears, however, that the government, which makes
key appointments to
the boards of these parastatals, is reluctant to take
the privatisation
route, which analysts say will bring success and value to
the troubled state
companies.
"We are failing to meet monthly
obligations and the strike by the pilots has
put us in a serious crisis....
We are losing a lot of business," Air
Zimbabwe's acting chief executive
officer, Innocent Mavhunga, told a
Zimbabwean parliamentary portfolio
committee on transport and infrastructure
development this week.
Air
Zimbabwe plies most of the lucrative routes into and out of Zimbabwe,
such
as Harare-Beijing, Harare-London and Harare-Johannesburg.
The government
has previously been slammed by prospective aviation players
who have accused
it of protectionism by denying other players licences for
these lucrative
routes.
The pilots also appeared before the same portfolio committee this
week,
where they vowed that they would not resume their duties until their
concerns were addressed. "We have been very patient with our management, but
the salary cuts grossly affected us.
This action is the only way we
can make management understand our
grievances," said a representative of the
pilots.
As a result, Air Zimbabwe, according to Mavhunga, requires about
$4 million
to be able to pay the backdated salaries and wages that the
affected pilots
are demanding.
Last year, the troubled air carrier
embarked on a retrenchment exercise that
left several of the company's
workforce jobless, while it is failing to meet
a ballooning debt of more
than $108 million owed to international creditors.
Although individual
salaries of the pilots could not be ascertained, it is
widely believed that
the company owes its pilots $4 million in arrears,
while they are also
demanding wage increases.
As a result of the job action by the pilots,
Air Zimbabwe has cancelled most
of its lucrative international, regional and
domestic flights.
This state of affairs is a reflection of the rot that
has crept into
government-run entities, where political interference,
mismanagement and
poor service standards are deep-rooted.
In the case
of Air Zimbabwe, the company sometimes commandeers and diverts
routes to
enable President Robert Mugabe and other senior government
officials to
travel to their destinations while government officials, their
friends and
relatives reportedly fly for free.
It has also emerged that Air Zimbabwe
is overstaffed, with more than 200
engineers employed to service a single
aircraft.
The portfolio committee was also told that Air Zimbabwe's
management lacks
essential skills required to run a national airline with
several routes.
"This is the bigger problem. Why have so many people
employed when that job
can be done with fewer people and because
appointments to management and the
board are done for political reasons,
those people are not knowledgeable nor
are they educated to run such a
company and that's why most of the state-run
companies are struggling and
only surviving on government handouts," said
one analyst.
The
Zimbabwean government has come under fire from lending institutions such
as
the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for its bloated civil service wage
bill amid claims by government officials from the Movement for Democratic
Change (MDC) that there are ghost workers on the wage bill.
Mugabe,
in an apparent bid to endear himself with government employees, has
pledged
to increase the basic salaries of all government workers.
This move has
been resisted by Finance Minister Tendai Biti, who says this
does not make
economic sense.
Earlier this year, the government commercialised the
Zimbabwe Iron and Steel
Company (Zisco) by disposing its majority
shareholding to India's Essar
Group. Essar has agreed, as part of the deal,
to settle Zisco's debt and
resume operations at the big steel-making
entity.
Plans are underway, however, to commercialise other
loss-incurring
government companies such as fixed-line phone operator
TelOne, while Air
Zimbabwe has also been earmarked for
privatisation.
Zimbabwe has maintained a tight stranglehold on the
aviation sector in
Zimbabwe. Reports indicate that in a desperate bid to
save the airline from
losing future business volumes, Air Zimbabwe has
leased aircraft and flight
crew from Zambia Airways. Air Zimbabwe chairman
Jonathan Kadzura confirmed
the move, saying it was a stop-gap measure.
http://www.businessweek.com/
April 13, 2011, 10:16 AM
EDT
By Alaa Shahine and Brian Latham
April 13
(Bloomberg) -- Zimbabwe has complied with international standards
and is
ready to trade diamonds from its Marange fields in a “normal way,”
Susan
Shabangu, South Africa’s mines minister, told a diamond conference in
Dubai.
“We are satisfied Zimbabwe has complied,” she said today. “It
is unfair to
keep Zimbabwe under scrutiny.”
Shabangu’s remarks follow
a Kimberley Process decision April 1 that allowed
the southern African
nation to resume exports of gems from its Marange
diamond fields. The
Kimberley Process, currently chaired by the Democratic
Republic of Congo, is
an organization made up of diamond trade officials
charged with preventing
the sale of so-called blood diamonds.
Speaking today at the same
conference, Zimbabwe’s mines minister, Obert
Mpofu, said his country “would
not be restricted” from selling diamonds and
“would not allow that to happen
again.” The Kimberley Process had previously
banned the sale of Marange
gems, pending an investigation into the alleged
killing of 200 people by
security forces at the mine.
“It’s time Africa did something so that we
get a bit of respect,” Mpofu
said. “Zimbabwe will not continue dialogue with
people who are openly
defiant against the Kimberley
Process.”
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe’s Zimbabwe African National
Union-Patriotic Front party has been accused by groups such as New
York-based Human Rights Watch of profiting from the smuggling of diamonds
from Marange. Human Rights Watch has also said troops and police loyal to
Mugabe have been guilty of human rights violations in the diamond fields in
the east of the country, close to the border with Mozambique.
The New
York-based World Diamond Council, which also monitors conflict
diamonds,
advised its members in a March 22 statement not to trade gems from
Zimbabwe.
http://www.miningweekly.com/
COMMENT PRINT
EMAIL
|
By: Loni Prinsloo
13th April 2011
JOHANNESBURG
(miningweekly.com) – Zimbabwe’s gold mining sector would need
$1-billion
over the next five years to get the industry back on track, a
consultant for
TSX- and Aim-listed Caledonia, which operates a gold mine in
that country,
said on Wednesday.
Speaking at a gold conference in Johannesburg, Dr
Trevor Pearson said that
Zimbabwe had seen almost a complete hiatus in
spending on its mines over a
ten-year period up to 2009/10, resulting in
most operations falling into a
dilapidated state.
In 1999, the
country’s yearly gold production peaked at 28 000 kg, but
almost immediately
started a rapid decline in line with political upheavals
that beset the
country, bottoming at 3 100 kg in 2008 when the economy
collapsed and the
central bank stopped paying mines for deliveries.
After the economic
recession and the establishment of a Government of
National Unity, the
industry started a slow recovery, but was once again
tripped-up by the
uncertainty that the matter of indigenous policy brought
with
it.
Pearson said that an investment of about $120-million this year could
see
the first eight mines being refurbished and starting production. “We are
seeing a strong gold price, and mining companies are ready to start up some
mines, but are being blocked from acquiring the necessary offshore funds,
because of indigenisation issues.
“Companies that are able to
generate some funding of their own have
committed up to about $10-million to
spend on projects this year.”
The estimated gold production in Zimbabwe
for 2010, was about 8 000 kg, and
this year production is set to increase by
30% to 40%, but Pearson stressed
that significant further progress could be
made in the development of the
gold industry only if policy issues were
sorted out.
“Mining companies that are currently operating in the country
would like to
see indigenisation being incorporated as a moderate process
that provides
for the growth of the industry, but does not just seek to trap
all revenue.
“The more economically viable the Zimbabwean government
makes its mining
industry, the more revenue it will be able to generate for
the State,” added
Pearson.
http://www.newstime.co.za/
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
A comprehensive court application
to suppress the judgement for the early
registration and enforcement of the
South African Development Community
(SADC)’s tribunal in favour of Mike
Campbell and 78 others will be heard in
the Northern Gauteng High Court
tomorrow.
The applications were brought one by one since AfriForum took
possession of
properties of the Zimbabwe government in Cape Town. Initially,
the
application was wrongfully brought against the Zimbabwe farmers after a
German bank group, KFW Bankgruppe, also took possession of the properties
and arranged an auction for the properties.
After AfriForum’s legal
representatives set out the correct position in
their court documents, the
Zimbabwe government partially withdrew their
application and brought a new
application where they claimed that they were
not duly informed in terms of
the process against them.
In answer to the last-mentioned application,
AfriForum indicated that the
court already approved the process of
delivering documents to the Zimbabwe
government during a previous court
order. A third application was brought by
the Zimbabwe government to also
nullify this judgement.
The three single applications were consolidated
by means of a fourth court
application which will be heard tomorrow, 14
April and possibly the day
after in the Northern Gauteng High
Court.
The proceedings start at 09:30.
http://www.swradioafrica.com
By Tichaona Sibanda
13
April 2011
Villagers displaced by the political violence that engulfed
Nyamapanda early
this year have returned to their homes, following the
intervention of the
Joint Monitoring and Implementation Committee (JOMIC) in
Mashonaland East
province.
Following a spate of targeted attacks on
MDC-T supporters by ZANU PF youths,
several villagers in Nyamapanda fled
their homes and sought refuge at
Harvest House, the MDC-T headquarters in
Harare.
JOMIC convened its first district meeting in Mashonaland East on
Tuesday,
were purveyors and victims of the violence assembled at Nyamapanda
police
station. Seven villagers who fled Nyamapanda at the height of the
disturbances are now back home, SW Radio learned on Wednesday.
Senior
district and provincial officials from the three political parties,
ZANU PF,
MDC-T and MDC-N condemned the violence and called on the villagers
to put
the past behind them and embrace unity and reconciliation. Tuesday’s
meeting
is one of many planned for the volatile province.
40 villagers, mainly
victims and the perpetrators of the violence, attended
the ice-breaking
meeting. Speaking on the program, the Hidden Story, Piniel
Denga, the newly
elected MDC-T chairman for Mashonaland East said his
message was to
encourage the villagers who held any bitterness to embrace
forgiveness and
reconciliation.
‘This (Mash East) is an area that saw the most serious
atrocities committed
during the 2008 elections and early this year. It is
true that people were
killed and homes and other properties were torched.
But yesterday (Tuesday)
we humbly appealed to all the people who were
affected directly by the
skirmishes to allow forgiveness and reconciliation
to prevail to avoid
future reoccurrence of such mayhem,’ Denga
said.
A study done by the MDC-T’s welfare department between 2008 and
2010 claimed
that Mashonaland East province emerged as the province with the
highest
number of perpetrators of political violence.
The report
released in July 2010, showed there were almost 4,000 people who
perpetrated
political violence in the province. The report identified people
from ZANU
PF and State security agents as responsible for the violence.
‘In
Mashonaland East, the main culprit has been identified as Lawrence
Katsiru.
A few years ago he was imprisoned for nine years for raping a 13
year-old
girl in Marondera. Also named in the report is Aqualinah Katsande,
the Mudzi
West MP who funded ZANU PF youths in the area to unleash a
campaign of
death, terror and destruction,’ the report said.
‘This violence is an
ugly part of our history,’ said Denga, adding he’s
heard of reports that
some perpetrators have already compensated for the
property they destroyed
or took during the 2008 violence.
‘I vividly remember one ZANU PF
supporter, a perpetrator of violence, saying
they admit they wronged their
fellow brothers and sisters, therefore it is
their responsibility to go to
them and ask for forgiveness. If people in
higher positions in ZANU PF were
able to do the same, because they are the
ones that instigate violence, the
future might look bright,’ Denga added.
While they were busy calming down
tensions in the province, army bigwigs and
ZANU PF hardliners were busy
deploying soldiers in Tsholotsho district,
Matabeleland North
province.
Reports there said villagers are now living in fear following
the deployment
that is meant to intimidate villagers in anticipation of a
poll which ZANU
PF wants to hold this year.
A relief worker in the
area, Zenzo Ndawana, is quoted by VOA saying the
deployments over the
weekend left local villagers apprehensive as the forces
reminded them of the
Gukurahundi massacres of the early 1980’s.
http://www.radiovop.com/
13/04/2011
17:11:00
Hurungwe, April 13, 2011 - The Movement for Democratic
Change (MDC-T) led by
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai has been rocked by
internal factionalism
here after provincial elections held last
week.
Party insiders told Radio VOP on Wednesday that members of the
losing
faction code named 'Zvinguruve' (pigs) vowed to send their members to
the
party congress later this month.
''We have losing candidates
making dubious accreditation for the congress
although they are not legible
to attend the congress. They have said they
will gatecrash the congress as
they are disputing the election held in
Chinhoyi'' said an insider who
refused to be named for fear of
victimisation.
Other sources said the
losing camp led by Big Haurobi in Karoi has vowed to
field their own
candidates in parliamentary elections if they are held later
this
year.
''We have had power hungry individuals who want to divide the party
at
grassroots level. They are confusing some supporters'' added another
party
member who also declined to be named.
However,Haurobi, whose
camp is linked to the party's organising secretary
Elias Mudzuri,denied the
allegations saying: "The new crop of politicians
are day dreaming and just
want to tarnish our image. We have worked hard for
MDC and we would not try
to destroy it now.''
Japhet Karemba, who belongs to the Zvipani
Declaration that is seeking to
oust the sitting MPs was retained as
provincial chairperson. He said: ''I
want to rejuvenate the party, re-unite
the people and bring more rural seats
in the next elections. MDC-T is
battling to ward off some splinter factions
ahead of its congress and
elections likely to be held later this year.
Zimbabwe may hold fresh
elections this year to replace the fragile coalition
government. The
Southern African Development Community through Zimbabwe's
mediator, South
Africa's president Jacob Zuma, is working out a road map to
ensure free and
fair elections. The country is expected to hold a referendum
on the new
constitution in September after a parliament led team spearheaded
a violent
stricken outreach exercise to solicit views from Zimbabweans last
year.
http://www.dailynews.co.zw
By Thelma Chikwanha, Senior Staff Writer
Wednesday, 13
April 2011 16:36
HARARE - Douglas Mwonzora, the co-chairperson of the
constitutional making
process has accused Zanu PF of trying to fast track
the constitution making
process during his incarceration in order to
illegally impose views of the
former ruling party.
Mwonzora said
his ‘unlawful’ arrest stalled progress in the constitutional
making process
which parties to the Global Political Agreement, GPA, agree
must be
completed before any elections can be held in the country.
“Zanu PF moved
with speed during my incarceration, there were attempts to
fast track
meetings and we eventually lost one month of work during my
incarceration,”
Mwonzora said.
In an interview with the Daily News, Mwonzora said while
he was in police
custody the Copac team compiled information gathered from
public outreach
programme, but they omitted some information which was vital
for the
constitution making process.
Mwonzora said some of the
information that was omitted was information
gathered from Zimbabweans in
the diaspora.
He said Zanu PF was reluctant to include views that had
been contributed by
people in the diaspora.
“Zanu PF deliberately,
consciously and purposefully argued for the exclusion
of views of the
diaspora. These matters are where my views are fairly known.
Zanu PF knew I
would never agree to that,” Mwonzora said.
Mwonzora said his arrest was
meant to give Zanu PF an edge over the people
and to further push its own
party’s agenda as they tried to exclude
information gathered from
institutions and Zimbabweans in the diaspora. Zanu
PF does not enjoy support
from the diaspora and is also constantly at
loggerheads with human rights
organisations.
Some of the institutions represent groups like women who
need to have their
views noted in the constitution because they make up 52%
of the country’s
population.
Mwonzora, the Nyanga North MP expressed
concern over the partisan manner in
which the Attorney General’s office
handed his matter.
Mwonzora, a lawyer by profession was arrested on the
February 21, 2011 and
charged with public violence. He attacked the Attorney
General’s office for
saying that Mwonzora was not a first
offender.
The AG also went on to invoke the notorious section 121 to
block Mwonzora’s
release on bail. Human rights activists say invoking
section 121 breaches
the constitution of Zimbabwe.
“If you have an
Attorney General of a country who lies about an accused
person and goes on
to quote a case number, then it is dangerous,” Mwonzora
said.
The
co-chairperson of Copac said his arrest was not justified but meant to
give
Zanu PF an edge over other stakeholders in the constitutional making
process.
He said Zanu PF was bent on keeping him in prison so much
that the criminal
investigations department’s law and order section tried to
lure prison
officers at Nyanga magistrate to say that he had insulted the
president.
“Fortunately the prison officers refused,” Mwonzora
said.
Mwonzora however, said normalcy had returned to the constitutional
making
process and a draft constitution would be ready by September
2011.
He said the deadline would only be met if adequate security
measures were
put in place that would protect the people from intimidation
and violence.
Mwonzora said that parties to the GPA had already agreed
upon three
principle drafters which include a former High Court
judge.
The GPA parties will each appoint two lawyers of their choice and
together
with the three co-chairpersons will make up the drafting committee.
http://www.dailynews.co.zw/
By Thelma Chikwanha, Senior Staff Writer
Wednesday, 13 April
2011 09:55
HARARE - Jonathan Moyo's tenure in Zanu PF's hierarchy
could soon become
untenable, amid intra party fears that the erratic former
junior information
minister is working to destroy the party from
within.
Party sources claimed last night that there were “deep
suspicions” around
Moyo’s real agenda, particularly given events of the last
few weeks where he
had taken “some puzzling positions”, including attacking
South Africa and
President Jacob Zuma over their criticism of
Zimbabwe.
One of the sources claimed that while President Robert Mugabe’s
view towards
Moyo was one of ambivalence, other presidium members, who had
always
distrusted the serial flip-flopper, were “sharpening their knives”
against
him.
“Most senior Zanu PF officials are not just unhappy that
Moyo embarrassed
them during the Speaker’s election and also in his recent
outbursts against
South African president Jacob Zuma, which has created
diplomatic tensions
between Harare and Pretoria, they also fear that he is
actually working to
destroy President Mugabe and our party,” the sources
said.
Those against Moyo were also drawing parallels between his recent
moves with
his participation in the 2004 Tsholotsho debacle – where he and
other Zanu
PF heavyweights were accused of plotting to replace the
87-year-old Mugabe
in an internal political coup d’etat.
Another
source told the Daily News that it appeared that Mugabe was the only
one in
the presidium who was supporting Moyo, while vice presidents John
Nkomo and
Joice Mujuru, well as national chairman Simon Khaya-Moyo, were
allegedly
anti-him.
“These three heavy honchos represent a small fraction of the
many senior
party officials who are opposed to Moyo, and many of these
people blame him
for the party’s tactical blunders which cost them the
speaker’s post and
have caused diplomatic problems with
Pretoria.
“Moyo had promised to deliver the speaker’s post, but there
were so many
blunders (that were made) which meant Zanu PF lost to MDC. The
loss has
implications in the party because people are now convinced that we
are not
electable. It might not be true that it is Jonathan’s fault, but the
blame
is being put on him. Zanu PF did not want to field a candidate but he
pushed
and pushed, promising to deliver until we relented, but the end
result was a
disaster.
“Now he is busy attacking President Zuma and
the whole of Sadc. "
“This is worrying because some of Moyo’s criticism
of President Zuma and
other leaders in the region has worsened President
Mugabe’s isolation,” the
source said.
Moyo has previously been
identified with the Emmerson Mnangagwa faction in
Zanu PF.
“Moyo is
on his own now together with a few soldiers. He is always being
seen in the
company of top soldiers but this is only worsening his
situation. In any
case, the fear of another Tsholotsho is isolating Moyo
from others,” the
source said.
However, Zanu PF spokesman Rugare Gumbo said last week that
as far as he was
concerned, Moyo was still in the politburo.
“He
returned to the politburo in December last year and is still with Zanu
PF. I
am not sure about the accusations you are making but as you know
people
always come up with opinions,” said Gumbo.
But analysts who spoke to the
Daily News said Moyo - who is quoted in the
book ‘Dinner with Mugabe’
describing the president as a shallow coward who
joined the struggle by
mistake - should be aware that he is now on notice in
the
party.
Human Rights researcher Pedzisayi Ruhanya said: “Zanu PF is
watching him
like a hawk, he needs to be very careful because if his agenda
is exposed it
might not be good for him”.
Political analyst Charles
Mangongera said Moyo was a man desperate to be
accepted in Zanu PF after
spending two years viciously attacking Mugabe.
Moyo once told journalists
in 2008 that Mugabe was so unpopular that he
would lose even to a donkey in
an election. Mangongera said Moyo’s recent
outbursts against Zuma in the
state media, which did more harm than good to
Mugabe, were a way of
ingratiating himself with the party’s top hierarchy.
“Moyo wanted to show
Mugabe that he could defend Zanu PF at all levels. He
was just trying to
strengthen Mugabe’s point that he was not going to be
dictated to by Sadc.
As for Moyo’s callous language, that is just Moyo being
Moyo,” Mangongera
said.
Moyo refused to speak to the Daily News when reached for comment on
Monday.
http://www.swradioafrica.com/
By Alex Bell
13 April
2011
A community radio station in Harare, which is taking its fight to be
licensed to court, says it is frustrated by the State’s ongoing control of
the airwaves.
Community Radio Harare filed a High Court application
last week, in an
effort to have its broadcasting licence application
considered by the
Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe (BAZ). The radio
station which was formed
in 2003 by residents in the capital, wrote to the
government authority in
September last year to apply for a broadcasting
licence.
But the application was declined earlier this year, on the
grounds that the
broadcasting authority had not actually called for licence
applications.
The radio station’s spokesperson, Gift Mambipiri, told SW
Radio Africa on
Wednesday that they feel “betrayed and let down, because the
government
promised to free the airwaves, and legislation was enacted for
this exact
purpose.” Mambipiri said the government is “simply trying to deny
people the
opportunity to speak.”
Mambipiri said they felt
particularly let down by the MDC within the unity
government, who swore to
advance media reform in Zimbabwe. The Global
Political Agreement (GPA),
which formed the basis for the unity government,
stated clearly that media
licences would be issued. But to date, there have
been no calls for
broadcasting licences for community or other independent
radio groups, and
only some newspapers have been given licences to print.
“We see there are
newspapers coming out and licences to print are being
handed out. But most
of our citizens can’t even afford to buy a newspaper,”
Mambipiri
said.
He added: “The state also has all control of the airwaves, so there
is an
urgent need to have independent and community radio stations to
supplement
what is being aired by the State.”
The radio station is
arguing in its court paper that it has not been
possible to apply for a
licence since the broadcasting authority has not
called for licence
applications since 2004. The station argues that the
authority’s failure to
call and issue licences “...is on its own an
illegality and must be
justified.”
Community Radio adds that the broadcasting authority has a
duty to enable
eligible applicants to apply for and obtain radio licences
and that as an
aspiring broadcaster, they have a legitimate expectation to
be provided a
fair and reasonable opportunity to apply and be granted a
licence.
http://www.radiovop.com
13/04/2011
17:12:00
Harare, April 13, 2011 - Zapu President Dumiso Dabengwa on
Wednesday told
Radio VOP that he will not be buried at the national Heroes
Acre.
Dabengwa who was commenting on the hero's status conferred to
President
Robert Mugabe's top spy, Mernard Muzariri, who died in Harare this
week,
said his party had lost respect for the national
shrine.
The former Home Affairs Minister, who broke away from Zanu
(PF) to revive
the opposition PF Zapu which went defunct at the signing of
the unity accord
1987, said he disagreed with the criteria being used to
confer national hero
status on the country’s outstanding
citizens.
“We have lost respect for that place because the process of
identifying
heroes is being manipulated for political reasons,” said the
former ZIPRA
intelligence supreme. “I have stated that I would want to be
buried at my
rural home in Ntabazinduna where my parents also
lie.”
Dabengwa, a former member of the Zanu (PF) politburo, said he
personally
knew little about the late Central Intelligence Officer (CIO)
deputy
director general but felt his conferment with the highest
honour
in the land was also on partisan lines.
Muzariri, a war veteran, is being
accused to have been involved in the
killing of the majority ethnic Ndebele
civilians when Mugabe dispatched his
notorious North Korean trained fifth
brigade to hunt down and kill armed
supporters of the then opposition
leader, the late Vice President, Joshua
Nkomo.
Zanu (PF) has in the
past made it clear that the national heroes acre is for
party loyalists who
participated in the liberation struggle that helped the
country to attain
independence from Britain in 1980.
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk
Written by Chief Reporter
Wednesday, 13 April
2011 06:41
HARARE – As the diplomatic row hots up, South African
President Jacob Zuma
has bluntly told President Robert Mugabe that he will
abandon Zimbabwe
unless he co-operates fully with the GPA
process.
Reliable sources, speaking for the first time since the Troika
summit, said
Zuma was "furious" with Mugabe and in a private confrontation
had told him
that South Africa could not keep propping him up.
Mugabe,
sources said, appeared ready to contemplate the break up of Zimbabwe
rather
than surrender power. He has undermined the transitional government
and
shown open disdain for the GPA. In what was seen as an act of defiance
Mugabe left the talks before a final communique was issued.
One source
said the SADC summit slated for May 20 in Windhoek, could be
asked to
consider sanctions if Mugabe refuses to adopt the election roadmap.
Zambia's
President Rupiah Banda reportedly raised the spectre of sanctions.
Observers
said a South African blockade could bring Zimbabwe to its knees
within 48
hours. “Don't forget it was South Africa that forced Ian Smith to
the
negotiating table. Beitbridge is the country’s lifeline and Zuma has the
power to strangle us,” said one economist.
Morgan Tsvangirai, Arthur
Mutambara and Welshman Ncube all reportedly told
Zuma that Mugabe's
rejection of the election roadmap did not mean anything.
They said the
consensus that Mugabe was obstructing peace meant that heavy
diplomatic
pressure would now be brought to bear on him. Diplomats said
regional
leaders were so firmly aligned against Mugabe that he could not
disobey
them.
Zuma is expected to get a formal progress report from his chief of
mission
Lindiwe Zulu and report back to regional leaders next month. A
senior
Southern African diplomat in Harare said: "We cannot afford for this
crisis
to rumble on forever. We have made it clear to the president that he
needs
to complete the constitution-making process before any elections."
Other
sources who attended the summit said Zuma had agreed with the MDC
delegations that Mugabe was not fully committed to free and fair elections,
and wanted SADC peace keepers deployed as soon as possible.
Meanwhile,
Zanu (PF) spokesman Rugare Gumbo is back-pedalling furiously in
an attempt
to undo the damage done to Zim-SA relations by former spin doctor
Jonathan
Moyo, whose vitriolic attacks on Zuma in the state-controlled press
have
shocked many. Gumbo insists the party line is being correctly
enunciated by
civil servant George Charamba – and not politburo member Moyo.
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk
Written by WILF MBANGA
Wednesday, 13
April 2011 14:04
This question can be answered in one sentence – the
Chinese, Mugabe, his
cabal of generals and their hangers on.
Of
course the Chinese, being shrewd businessmen, get the lion’s share.
Although
they do try to put a positive spin on their aggressive global
expansion –
for example Heilongjiang Beidahuang Nongken Group, China's
largest
agricultural company, said recently that it plans to acquire or
lease
495,000 acres of farmland in Latin American countries as well as
Russia, the
Philippines, Australia and Zimbabwe.
The group's chairman Sui Fengfu told the
Chinese official newspaper China
Daily that: "In Venezuela and Zimbabwe, the
Chinese group mainly supplies
machinery and labour, and takes about 20
percent of the harvest in return.”
I would be very surprised if this is
indeed the case with China’s
involvement in Zimbabwean agriculture. It is
difficult to get at the facts –
shrouded as they are in the propaganda and
disinformation that surrounds
everything relating to Mugabe and Zanu (PF).
It would be far closer to the
truth to say that Mugabe has virtually
mortgaged Zimbabwe to the Chinese,
and future generations of our children
will pay the price.
China has cleverly positioned itself as the champion of
the developing
world. Unlike the West, which insists on tying its
developmental aid to
democratic reforms, China turns a blind eye – hiding
behind a policy of
‘non-interference’. It is well known that China was the
most powerful and
the most long-standing supporter of Mugabe’s ZANU-PF
liberation army,
providing it with arms, logistics and training. With his
degeneration from
African hero to an international pariah, China represents
Mugabe’s only
major international supporter and a patron for its violent and
corrupt land
reform policies.
When he began to lose Western favour – and
consequently capital, trade and
access to western technology - due to his
increasingly dictatorial
tendencies, Mugabe turned to China as a critical
ally. His much-touted “Look
East Policy” opened the door to Beijing to
exploit our valuable natural
resources and secure lucrative deals for
Chinese state-owned firms.
Zimbabwe-China relations have become so crucial
that our police are said to
have created a “China desk”, to protect Chinese
interests in the country.
Back in July 2005, as then British Prime Minister
Tony Blair turned the
sanctions screws tighter on him, Mugabe flew to
Beijing to meet with the top
Chinese leadership. He begged for an emergency
loan of $1 billion and
invited increased Chinese involvement in Zimbabwe’s
economy.
By June 2006 the visit had begun to bear fruit. State-owned
Zimbabwean
businesses signed energy, mining and farming deals worth billions
of dollars
with Chinese companies. The largest was with China
Machine-Building
International Corporation, for a $1,3 billion contract to
mine coal and
build thermal-power generators in Zimbabwe.
In 2007 the
Chinese government brought farm machinery worth $25 million to
Zimbabwe,
including 424 tractors and 50 trucks, as part of a $58 million
loan to the
Zimbabwean government. In return for the equipment and the loan
the
Zimbabwean government pledged and delivered 30 million kilogrammes of
tobacco to the People’s Republic of China.
Because of his isolation and
the collapse of the economy due to
mismanagement and corruption, Mugabe’s
position has been weak, enabling the
Chinese to drive a hard bargain. They
can virtually dictate the terms. With
the imposition of the targeted
measures against him and his cronies, and the
arms embargo on the country,
imposed by the West, Mugabe became increasingly
desperate. At the same time,
the population grew more restless and he needed
more and more arms to keep
them in check.
Although Zimbabwe has some small arms manufacturing
capability, in the form
of Zimbabwe Defence Industries, it is dependent to a
very large extent on
arms and military equipment from China. In 2008, this
amounted to 39% of all
imported arms, followed by 35% from Ukraine and Libya
27%. Although China
has been Zimbabwe’s main arms supplier for the
past
decade, it is not exactly clear what has been delivered. For example, in
2004 it was reported that Zimbabwe was in the process of acquiring 12
Chinese FC-1 combat aircraft and more than 100 Dongfeng military vehicles in
a deal worth an estimated $200 million.
However, while it is believed
that Zimbabwe took delivery of
Chinese-produced armoured vehicles, assault
rifles and support materiel via
the Mozambican port of Beira in early 2005,
the FC-1 deal was not completed.
Also in 2005 Zimbabwe received six K-8
trainer aircraft with a second batch
of six arriving in 2006.9 The Permanent
Secretary of the Zimbabwean Ministry
of Defence, Trust Maphosa, reported
these acquisitions to the Zimbabwean
Parliament, and China also reported its
delivery of the second batch of six
K-8 aircraft to the UN Register of
Conventional Arms (UNROCA).
The most widely discussed arms transfer from
China was the attempted
shipment of arms aboard the Chinese vessel An Yue
Jiang in the lead-up to
the 2008 Zimbabwean Elections.
Immediately before
the 2008 Zimbabwean elections, the An Yue Jiang, a
Chinese cargo vessel,
attempted to deliver a shipment of weapons and
ammunition. This widely
reported arms transfer involved the planned export
of 3 million rounds of
ammunition, 1500 rocket-propelled grenades and more
than 3000 mortar rounds
and mortar tubes to be unloaded in the harbour of
Durban, and then
transported by land to Zimbabwe.
After this transfer was exposed dock workers
refused to unload the cargo.
Following this, a court ruling rescinded the
initial transfer authorization.
In response to international criticism,
Chinese officials reportedly
justified the attempted export of ammunition
during the political crisis to
be ‘business as usual’.
Whether the arms
ever reached Zimbabwe remains unknown. Some sources claim
that the weapons
were unloaded in Pointe Noire, Republic of the Congo, and
then flown to
Harare, Zimbabwe, by transport aircraft. The same sources also
claim that a
South African ship assisted in the transfer by refuelling the
An Yue Jiang.
This story is in line with the initial remarks made by then
Deputy
Information Minister, Bright Matonga, who claimed that the weapons
were
unloaded in Pointe Noire. This version of the story was denied by both
the
South African and Chinese governments, the latter claiming that the
weapons
had been returned to China. The truth is hard to come by.
How the values are
arrived at for the purposes of trade is anybody’s guess.
One thing is for
sure – the Chinese are not drawing the short straw. Payment
is understood to
be made mainly in the form of land, mining concessions and
tobacco.
As we
all know, Zimbabwe no longer has any manufacturing or industrial base
to
speak of and Mugabe has therefore mortgaged the country’s resources to
pay
the Chinese. This includes mining concessions in the diamond fields of
Marange, one of the richest diamond fields in the world, where there are two
companies operating - Sino-Zimbabwe enterprises and Anjin. Nobody knows how
much they are producing - a huge runway was secretly constructed to
facilitate the airlifting in of massive equipment and out of untold tons of
diamonds. Despite the ban on trade in Zimbabwean diamonds by the Kimberley
process, trade continues unabated.
The Chinese are also mining platinum,
gold, nickel, chrome, copper, silver,
coal, coke. Zimbabwe has the second
largest deposits of platinum in the
world, estimated at over $500 billion,
but due to resource limitations that
wealth remains untapped. In all, the
country has deposits of more than 40
minerals including ferrochrome, gold,
silver, and copper. Other
Zimbabwe-China agreements included a deal between
the Zimbabwe Mining
Development and China’s Star Communications, forming a
joint venture to mine
chrome, with funding from the China Development Bank.
In December 2007,
Chinese company, Sinosteel Corporation, acquired a 67%
stake in Zimbabwe’s
leading ferrochrome producer and exporter Zimasco
Holdings.
Black Zimbabweans who had been re-settled under the controversial
and often
violent Zanu (PF) land grab, have since been evicted to make way
for Chinese
farmers. It is estimated that China’s population will increase
by 123
million by 2025 from the current 1,3 billion. China may have its
sights set
upon a future source of food from Africa’s former
breadbasket.
The Chinese state-owned firm, China International Water and
Electric, has
already been contracted to farm 250,000 acres in southern
Zimbabwe. Chinese
and Zimbabwean developers believe the project will yield
2.1 million tonnes
of maize every year, and require the building of a
massive irrigation
system. Zimbabwe, it is believed, will return the favour
by adding to China’s
already massive imports of tobacco from the
region.
The Chinese are also heavily involved in many other sectors in
Zimbabwe,
including Construction, Road building and other Infrastructure
development.
There is a large Chinese presence in the country, and a
mushrooming of
Chinese restaurants..
They have also provided spying
technology, and are building the
state-of-the-art eavesdropping centre near
Mazowe to intercept internet
communications, including diplomatic
exchanges.
Chinese businessmen in Zimbabwe enjoy protection from the highest
level, as
illustrated by a story carried recently in The Zimbabwean when a
businessman
was arrested in Harare. Despite being handcuffed he managed to
floor two
police constables with his expertly delivered karate kicks. As he
was
dragged away to the police station he shouted “You are all stupid,
nothing
is going to happen to me. I am protected by Comrade Mugabe.” Sure
enough he
was released without charge.
At a time when Mugabe is demanding
that all foreign investors must cede 51%
of their shareholdings to
indigenous Zimbabweans – which has caused jitters
in the business community
and on the stock exchange, the Chinese are
increasing their investment.
Foreign minister Yang Jiechi visited Zimbabwe
recently, bearing gifts in the
form of soft loans, and pledged to invest $10
billion.
Zimbabwean
government officials fell over each other to welcome him, with
the governor
of the Reserve Bank, Gideon Gono, declaring “I would like to
unveil to the
Chinese people the vast investment opportunities that abound
in Zimbabwe,
including our national resource endowments.” Yang Jiechi
praised Zimbabwe
for the indigenisation act, but bluntly told the officials
that Chinese
investments should be exempted.
Last month Chinese Prime Minister Vice
Premier Wang Qishan announced a
US$700 million credit to Zimbabwe to support
agriculture and health. Vice
President Joice Mujuru said the funds will be
directed to high-priority
farming projects and to health care and water
systems. It is not known what
inducement Zimbabwe offered China to secure
this – or whether indeed it is a
goodwill gesture on the part of the
Chinese. I am more inclined to believe
reports attributed to “government
sources” that say the loans are part of
measures by the Chinese government
aimed at ensuring that they won't be
affected by Mugabe’s nationalisation
plans. And Minister of Indigenisation,
Savior Kasukuwere, was quoted in the
media last month saying China would not
be affected by Zimbabwe's BEE
law.
The Zimbabwean this week carries a story about how Chinese companies are
buying up-market restaurants, conference centres, guest houses and
residential accommodation in Harare. However, workers are said to be
suffering at the hands of Chinese employers. In Matabeleland North at Entuba
coalfields in Hwange, owned by a consortium of local business people in
partnership with Chinese, locals from surrounding communities and employees
say they are treated as second-class citizens.
The Chinese do not use
toilets that are used by black employees. "This is
discrimination. They are
trying to tell us that they are better than us," a
villager, Moven Mulenga,
told the press. On the work front the Chinese have
been lambasted by the
Zimbabwe Construction and Allied Trades Workers Union
(ZCATWU). The union
claims that it has received reports to the effect of
gross inhumane
practices on locals by workers in the construction industry.
"Chinese
employers should take people seriously. Locals are fired any time -
there is
no labour law practised in Chinese-run projects," said the union's
secretary-general, Muchapiwa Mazarura. The workers union also accused the
Chinese of not providing protective clothing and even proper sanitation.
"The working sites pose a danger to human life. When you get there the
workers don't have protective clothing," added Mazarura.
Criticism of
Chinese practises in the workplace is not isolated. The
National Union of
Quarry Workers of Zimbabwe recently accused Chinese
managers at Ngezi Mine
in Zvishavane of ill-treating and underpaying their
workers.
By Clifford Chitupa Mashiri, 13 04 11
The humiliating capture of Laurent
Gbagbo in a white vest on Sunday by
forces loyal to his rival Alassante
Quattara who won presidential elections
in Ivory Coast must have come as a
big shock to Robert Mugabe’s ally
Jonathan Moyo.
Poured
scorn
In January Jonathan Moyo poured scorn at the popularly elected
leader of the
Ivory Coast Allasante Quattara in the same way he does to
MDC-T’s Morgan
Tsvangirai going as far as claiming:
“You have a
candidate created by the so-called international community.
Quattara is of
disputed nationality, whom the courts in that country have
over the years
found him not to be Ivorian’ (Talkzimbabwe.com, 05/01/11).
Refuse to
vacate
Despite calls by Jonathan Moyo on Gbagbo to refuse to vacate
office saying
‘the so-called international community’ was meddling in Ivory
Coast affairs,
Quattara had the last laugh when he managed to capture a very
scared and
sweating Laurrent Gbagbo who is said to have shouted ‘Please
don’t kill me’
in the presidential palace. As noted by other analysts, the
fall of Gbagbo
is a clear message to other dictators to heed the warning
from the
international community to think twice before stealing
elections.
Contrary to claims by the state-owned Herald, the Zanu-pf
leader Robert
Mugabe’s name was not on the panel of five presidents named by
the African
Union officials in January to resolve the Ivory Coast leadership
dispute.
Immediately after the clarification, Jonathan Moyo, Zanu-pf
propagandist and
Christopher Mutsvangwa, former Ambassador to China alleged
that the Special
African Union Envoy for Cote d-Ivoire Kenyan Prime Minister
Raila Odinga was
ill advised claiming he was a puppet. It was a typical case
of sour grapes.
While Zimbabwe’s state-controlled media reported ‘Gbagbo
captured’(The
Herald, 11/04/11) and ‘Gbagbo arrested’ (Zbc, 11/04/11) it is
not difficult
to see the regime’s disappointment as the ZBC warned that the
crisis in
Ivory Coast was not over despite the Gbagbo capture. It is
important to
recall that in January, Gbabo sent a special envoy to Harare to
enlist the
support of Mugabe, who like him is accused of stealing an
election and is
under US and EU targeted sanctions.
Did Zimbabwe
supply Gbagbo with weapons?
In March, the United Nations was reportedly
investigating evidence that
Zimbabwe’s president Robert Mugabe secretly sent
weapons to Ivory Coast in
what was suspected as a move to ‘frustrate
Mugabe’s perceived enemies’ like
the US and the UK, since Zimbabwe has no
strategic interest in Ivory Coast
(Guardian.co.uk, 04/03/11). Until the UN’s
findings are published, many
people will still be asking: Did Zimbabwe
supply Gbagbo with weapons?
Although the Zanu-pf Defence Minister
Emmerson Mnangagwa said there was
nothing to fear from the United Nations
investigation, if the allegations
are sustained, Zimbabwe would be at risk
of UN sanctions for breaching an
arms embargo imposed on the Ivory Coast in
2004.
What about South Africa?
South Africa reportedly denied
supplying military support to either Gbagbo
or Quattara following criticism
by the Chairman of ECOWAS, West Africa’s
regional bloc James Victor Gbeho
amid Ivory Coast’s then deepening crisis.
A spokesman of South African
defence department, Siphiwe Dlamini said the
warship was in international
waters for routine training and was there in
case it was needed ‘as a
negotiating venue’ (Associated Press).
After ECOWAS threatened military
invasion to oust Gbagbo if negotiations
failed, Christopher Mutsvangwa and
Jonathan Moyo quickly warned that
military intervention would lead to a long
drawn out conflict in Cote d’Ivoire.
Little did they know that
scaremongering was not going to stop principled
world leaders from executing
a UN mandate expeditiously albeit debatable for
academic
purposes.
Rubber bullets
SADC’s hands may get full very soon if
the Zimbabwe crisis is left to
simmer. Swazi police fired rubber bullets
Tuesday to break up planned
protests to demand reform in Africa’s last
absolute monarchy. Earlier, they
reportedly stormed the teachers union
offices firing teargas and using
batons to beat 1000 teachers and students
who wanted to march against King
Mswati III (Timesonline.co.za, 12/04/11).
Last month trade unions in
Swaziland held the biggest protest seen in
years.
In the Democratic Republic of Congo, violence is simmering
according to the
BBC on Monday 11th April 2011. Part of the ‘secret’ to
Quattara’s success in
removing Gbagbo from office was his own realisation
that without the help of
the international community in particular the
United Nations and France, he
was going to remain a shadow president for an
indefinite period. Hopefully
Zimbabwe’s opposition has learnt a lesson from
Ivory Coast about the need to
see beyond SADC. However, it is such a great
joy to pose the question: Does
Jonathan Moyo know that Gbagbo was finally
captured?
Clifford Chitupa Mashiri, Political Analyst, London,
zimanalysis2009@gmail.com