http://www.thestandard.co.zw
March 18, 2013 in
Politics
POLITICAL parties used the referendum campaigns to sell their
election
manifestos and to gauge their support ahead of this year’s
plebiscite
instead of articulating the real contents of the draft
constitution.
BY CAIPHAS CHIMHETE
The elections are scheduled for
later this year.
Although both Zanu PF and the MDC formations campaigned
for a “Yes” vote,
they were citing different reasons for why people must
support the draft
constitution.
This is more so because Copac failed
to give people enough time to study and
understand the contents of the draft
constitution.
Zanu PF has been stressing on issues such as,
indigenisation and economic
empowerment and the land reform
programme.
These are the same issues that underpin the party’s election
strategy.
In one of several adverts flighted in newspapers last week,
Zanu PF
encouraged its supporters to vote in the affirmative because the
draft
charter “recognises the irreversibility of the land reform
programme”and
ensures that youths and veterans of the liberation struggle
are looked after
and given opportunities for economic
empowerment.
War veterans have been at the centre of Zanu PF and
President Robert Mugabe’s
campaign machinery.
The MDC-T, on the other
hand, urged people to vote “Yes” because the draft
charter allowed
devolution of power and because “aliens” would vote, while
security services
would be subject to parliamentary oversight.
“The people formerly
commonly referred to as aliens, who were born in
Zimbabwe but with parents
from the Sadc region, are now Zimbabweans by birth
and [as] such they are
entitled to vote or be voted for,” said MDC-T in its
campaign
messages.
Electorate being deprived right to make
decisions
Analysts said by informing their supporters on selective data
from the draft
charter, the parties deprived them of their right to
information to enable
them to make independent decisions.
Crisis in
Zimbabwe Coalition (CiZC) spokesperson, Tabani Nyoni said the
convergence of
the “Yes” vote was motivated by different reasons.
He said Zanu PF and the
two MDC formations were using the referendum to
kick-start their campaigns,
as well as confirm who their voters would be
during the forthcoming
elections.
“Both or all the political parties want to claim victory when
the “Yes” vote
prevails and from there build momentum for the elections,”
said Nyoni.
“Basically, it is an opportunity for the political parties to
build momentum
and garner as much support as possible ahead of the
elections.”
Nyoni added: “The running around you saw was not about the
referendum as
such but about preparing for the forthcoming
elections.”
Addressing a meeting on the referendum in Bulawayo last week,
Prime Minister
Morgan Tsvangirai said it was his party that campaigned for
devolution to be
included in the draft constitution.
“Devolution of
power is not a Matabeleland fight but a national cause. For a
very long
time, they [Zanu-PF] thought the ones from Matabeleland were the
only ones
who were campaigning for devolution of power,” said Tsvangirai.
“We [MDC-T]
say a devolved state is the one we want.”
Analysts said this showed that
the MDC-T was trying to get political mileage
from the people of
Matabeleland ahead of the elections by claiming to
champion their
cause.
Political analyst, Alois Masepe said political parties were just
picking
points from the draft charter that interested their supporters so
that they
could be voted into office.
“Parties were basically
campaigning for elections because they were only
picking strong points they
knew would endear them with their supporters,”
said Masepe. “These parties
are already in the election mood and would not
publicise points that will
work against them.
Publicising the whole document was the work of Copac, not
political
parties.”
Zanu PF sympathiser, Christopher Mutsvangwa
admitted that the idea of
picking certain points and leaving out others
disadvantaged people.
“Ideally, they [parties] are supposed to tell people
everything but remember
we are going into an election,” said
Mutsvangwa.
The parties however, agreed on issues such as the rights of
women and the
youth’s right to free basic education.
“This is because
both parties are fighting for votes from women and the
youth,” said one
analyst. “This is why they are highlighting such points.”
Zimbabweans
yesterday voted in a referendum on a new constitution which is
opposed by
the NCA who claim that Zimbaweans were not given ample time to
study the
charter before it was brought to a referendum.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
March 24, 2013 in
Local
INDIGENISATION Minister Saviour Kasukuwere is breathing fire over a
story
published in yesterday’s edition of NewsDay alleging that the Zimbabwe
Anti-corruption Commission (ZACC) was now a battle ground for Zanu PF
succession politics.
BY EVERSON MUSHAVA
The story alleged that
Kasukuwere believed a faction led by Vice President
Joice Mujuru was behind
attempts to arrest him and two other cabinet
ministers on suspicion of being
involved in corrupt activities.
But Kasukuwere yesterday said he was not
given a chance to defend himself
and accused the journalist behind the story
of malicious intent to end his
political career by setting him on a
collision course with Mujuru.
This, however, was despite several attempts
to get a comment from him. On
Wednesday, Kasukuwere answered his mobile
phone and said he was in a
meeting. Subsequent attempts to get a comment did
not yield results.
“You are abusing your privileges as the media. You
want to destroy me. I
have a family to look after. You should know that I am
not your sibling,”
Kasukuwere charged at the reporter yesterday.
“I
have been quite about the issue because I know you want to set me on a
collision course with my leadership. I have never said Mujuru wanted to get
me arrested. It is your sources who said that, not mine.”
Mujuru and
Defence minister Emmerson Mnangagwa reportedly lead Zanu PF
factions angling
to succeed President Robert Mugabe. The two have however
repeatedly denied
harboring presidential ambitions.
According to the NewsDay report, Zanu
PF has allegedly divided the Zimbabwe
Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC) with
some commissioners contemplating
quitting in protest over infiltration as
the anti-graft body becomes the
latest battle ground for the political
party’s succession politics.
ZACC is reportedly heavily divided with some
commissioners claiming their
efforts to crack down on corrupt top Zanu PF
officials were being frustrated
by ‘sell-outs’ in their midst who were
allegedly leaking information to
targeted party big wigs.
The High
Court recently blocked ZACC from conducting searches at National
Indigenization and Economic Empowerment Board (Nieeb) and Zimbabwe Mining
development Corporation (ZMDC) offices.
Kasukuwere, Transport
Minister Nicholas Goche and Mines minister Obert
Mpofu — all Zanu PF
politburo heavyweights were the target of ZACC’s
crackdown.
Zacc
spokesperson Goodwill Shana last week told journalists that the
commission
did not secure search warrants to “pursue under-hand and
malicious
investigations against certain organisations, their officials and
respective
ministries.”
Although Shana denied that commissioners were contemplating
quitting, The
Standard is reliably informed that such plans were being
muted due to
infiltration of the body.
“Even if Zacc has overwhelming
evidence against the ministers, it is
difficult to nab them because the
ministers are informed of every move,” the
source said.
One of the
commissioners recently warned fellow commissioners’ against
probing
ministers. He allegedly said the ministers were “untouchable” and
probing
them would have a reverse effect on the commission. True to his
word, ZACC
is under siege.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
March 24, 2013 in Community
News
THE Harare City Library is set for a major revamp following the
injection of
a US$1 million grant by the Swedish government.
BY OUR
STAFF
Under the project, which is being managed by the Culture Fund of
Zimbabwe
Trust, the major refurbishment works were centred on the leaking
roofs,
dilapidated facades, internal ceilings, walls, windows, floors and
toilets.
A spokesperson for the project said on Friday a large portion of
the funds
would be used to purchase books, update the computer network and
to
modernise the electrical wiring at the main library.
“Once
completed, the library will provide a conducive environment for people
to
access information which is paramount to development,” she said. “The
project will also provide a basis for life-long learning, as well as
injecting new life into the civic centre of Harare.”
The spokesperson
said a number of activities had already been held at the
main library to
bring awareness to library users and other stakeholders of
the project and
services presently offered by the library and beyond the
renovation
project.
She said the Swedish grant, signed in November last year, would
lead to the
preservation of the main library building, which was of
architectural and
aesthetic importance to the City of Harare.
The
spokesperson said it was envisaged that in 10 years’ time, the library
would
become a protected building in accordance with the Museums and
Monuments
Act.
Farai Mpfunya, the executive director of the Culture Fund said the
Swedish
support was a “catalytic fuel” in the library’s quest to develop
into a
modern, world-class library service provider.
Harare City
Library chairman, Mike Curling was hopeful that like-minded
funders would
also provide funds to enable the complete restoration and
re-equipping of
the library.
The eventual total restoration would be of benefit to the
Harare public,
young and old, and will enable extension of the library’s
services beyond
the city.
In addition to the Harare City Library
grant, Sweden has since 2006 been
injecting about US$1 million annually into
the culture sector in Zimbabwe
through the Culture Fund of Zimbabwe
Trust.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
March 24, 2013 in Community
News
MUTOKO — Some villagers in Mutoko are failing to access Nyanga
district
where they sell goods and agricultural produce after Rwenya Bridge,
which
links the two areas, was destroyed by heavy rains last
month.
BY SOFIA MAPURANGA
Villagers who spoke to Standardcommunity
last week said they had not been
able to engage in any form of business with
people from other areas since
the bridge collapsed.
Most of the
villagers sell their wares to gold panners in Nyanga, where
panning
activities are rampant.
“We rely on gold panning for our livelihoods but
we have been stuck here
since the bridge was destroyed,” said Deren Bando
from Mutoko.
He said they cannot swim across or use canoes because the
current is very
strong.
Grace Dziva from Nyamande area, who also
sells her various wares to the
panners, said she had not been able to cross
into Nyanga since the bridge
collapsed.
“Even when we are selling our
agricultural produce, we prefer selling it in
Nyanga because it is closer
than Mutoko centre,” she said.
“Travelling to Nyanga is cheaper and
convenient but as it is, all activity
has come to a standstill. Our link has
been destroyed.”
Efforts to get a comment from Mudzi Rural District Council
were fruitless
last week.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
March 24, 2013 in Community
News
BULAWAYO — A hunger-stricken San community in Tsholotsho is
demanding from
Zanu PF leadership in Matabeleland maize-meal that was
donated to it by the
late Vice-President, John Nkomo before his death early
this year.
BY NQOBANI NDLOVU
Nkomo donated 100 10kg bags of
maize-meal to the starving San community
through the office of Matabeleland
North governor, Sithokozile Mathuthu last
year but that donation is yet to
reach the intended beneficiaries.
Community representative, Madlela
Maphosa said they were shown the
maize-meal by a Zanu PF delegation led by
the party’s national chairperson,
Simon Khaya-Moyo, which visited Nkomo’s
homestead on March 8 this year.
They were told the maize-meal would be
delivered on the same day, but up to
last week the San people had not
received the donation.
There are now fears that the maize-meal could have
been diverted by some
Zanu PF officials for personal benefit.
“We are
hungry and still waiting for the promised maize-meal,” said Maphosa.
“We
were told that we would get the maize-meal as soon as possible, but to
date
there has been no communication.”
The 70-year-old community
representative said hunger was forcing the San to
harvest the maize cobs and
watermelons even before they were ripe.
The plight of the San community has
been worsened by the fact that a local
organisation, which had been giving
them food hand-outs, suspended
operations last week.
The San
community is angry that they have not been able to access the
donated maize
at a time when they are starving.
“We do not know why they are doing this
to us [withholding the maize-meal].
What they are doing is evil,” said
Siwatshi Moyo, a member of the community.
Mathuthu on Friday, however,
said the maize-meal that was shown to villagers
at the late Nkomo’s rural
home on March 8 was just a “sample”.
She said the maize-meal was still
there, but there was no transport to ferry
it to Mgodimasili area, which is
48km from Tsholotsho centre.
“The maize-meal is still there. What we do
not have is the transport to
ferry it to Mgodimasili. Once we get transport,
we will ferry it,” said
Mathuthu. “In fact, that was just a sample [90 bags
of 10kg maize-meal].
There is more maize-meal that will be going to the
San.”
Analyst Dumisani Nkomo said it was tragic that Zanu PF leaders were
making
“false” promises of food aid to the San people who are facing death
because
of hunger.
“It is tragic and evil,” Nkomo said. “The San are
the most marginalised
group in Zimbabwe. We need structural reforms that
will recognise and
respect the San in order to improve their standard of
living.”
Most of the san people in Mgodimasili area, a settlement of
about 200
people, live in abject poverty and in dilapidated huts.
But
just a few kilometres away, there is the Tjitatjawa village, which
boasts of
neat houses with corrugated iron roofs.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
March 24, 2013 in Community
News
CHIPINGE — More than 200 small-scale irrigation farmers in Mutema
and
Chibuwe villages are set to benefit from a banana plantation project
financed by Matanuska, a farming concern controlled by Malaysian
investors.
BY OUR CORRESPONDENT
The company last year gave
villagers inputs such as fertilisers and suckers
to start banana plantations
and they are expected to have their first
harvest “in a few months” to
come.
Matanuska liaison officer, Crispen Manyuchi told Standardcommunity
that the
company had assisted at least 240 farmers with inputs and trained
them in
banana plantations management last year.
“They are operating
on a five-year contract where the company will provide
them with inputs and
requisite training on how to manage banana
plantations,” said Manyuchi. “We
started the project in Mutema village but
because of the interest shown by
other farmers we have included farmers from
Chibuwe village.”
The
beneficiaries hoped that the venture would bring relief to their
financial
problems following the collapse of several tomato and beans
farming projects
in their area.
The projects collapsed after water pumps broke down in
2000.
One of the beneficiaries, Mark Tembwe said, “Since the breakdown of the
water pumps in 2000, there was no meaningful farming project here till last
year when a banana project was introduced. We are set to harvest our first
banana fruits in the next few months.”
A banana plant takes about
nine months to mature and produce bananas.
Another beneficiary, Artwell
Chingara said the project was a real
empowerment venture which would benefit
several other communities.
He said the company also gave them loans which
they are expected to repay
once the farmers sell their produce.
“We
agreed to repay the loans once we sell our banana produce; this is real
empowerment of communities and we are grateful for the initiative,” he
said.
Farmers at Jopa near Chipinge town, who were assisted by another
company to
grow bananas, are already selling their produce.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
March 24, 2013 in Community
News
IT is 200 years since the birth of David Livingstone, perhaps the
most
famous of the missionaries to visit Africa in the 19th
Century.
BY STEPHEN TOMKINS
But as author and church historian
Stephen Tomkins explains, the story of an
African chief he converted is
every bit as incredible as Livingstone’s.
According to the title of one
biography, David Livingstone was “Africa’s
Greatest Missionary”.
This
is an interesting claim about the Lanarkshire-born man, considering
that
estimates of the number of people he converted in the course of his
30-year
career vary between one and none.
The variation is because Livingstone
himself wrote off his one convert as a
backslider within months of his
baptism.
The irony is that this one backslider has a much better claim
than
Livingstone to be Africa’s greatest missionary.
This man on whom
Livingstone gave up became a preacher, a leader and a
pioneer of adapting
Christianity to African life — to the great annoyance of
European
missionaries.
His name was Sechele, and he was the kgosi or chief of the
Bakwena tribe,
part of the Tswana people, in what is now
Botswana.
Born in 1812, he was 10 when his father, the previous kgosi,
was killed. Two
of his uncles divided the tribe between them. Sechele
escaped with a few
followers into the desert for nine years, and returned to
oust one of his
uncles.
This was how things stood when Sechele first
met Livingstone — he ruled a
half-tribe. Livingstone persuaded him to make
peace with his other uncle by
sending him a gift of gunpowder for his
rifle.
The uncle was suspicious that the gunpowder was bewitched, tried
to
neutralise it with fire, and in the resulting explosion was
killed.
Sechele thus ruled over a re-united Bakwena.
Like many kgosi,
Sechele was keen to have a missionary living in his town.
Missionaries came
with guns (and powder), making them an invaluable defence,
and with
medicine.
Sechele amused Livingstone by asking for medicine to make him a
better
hunter. But the thing Sechele wanted above all from Livingstone was
literacy.
He learned the alphabet, upper and lower case, in two days,
compiled his own
spelling books, and set about reading the one book in the
Tswana language,
the Bible.
He ate breakfast before sunrise in order
to start school as quickly as
possible, and then taught his wives to
read.
As Sechele grew increasingly interested in Christianity, he found
two huge
barriers in his way. One was rain.
Tswana tribes had
rainmakers, whose job was to use magic to make the rain
come. Livingstone,
like all missionaries, vehemently opposed rainmaking, on
both religious and
scientific grounds.
Sechele happened to be his tribe’s rainmaker as well
as kgosi, and
Livingstone’s stay coincided with the worst drought ever
known, so Sechele’s
decision to stop making rain was predictably
unpopular.
The greater problem was polygamy.
Sechele had five wives,
and Livingstone insisted that to become a Christian,
he needed get rid of
the “superfluous” ones. This was a political as well as
a personal
nightmare, threatening the political structure of the tribe and
relations
with other tribes.
But in 1848 Sechele divorced four of the women and was
baptised. The
following year, however, one of his exes became pregnant, and
it turned out
that Sechele had fallen. He repented, and told Livingstone:
“Do not give me
up because of this. I shall never give up Jesus. You and I
will stand before
him together.”
Livingstone did give up on him,
going north to embark upon his celebrated
adventures.
Their last
contact was in 1852. Sechele had fought off an attack from the
Transvaal
Boers, and was en route to Britain to ask for Queen Victoria’s
protection.
He got as far as the Cape before being turned back.
At this point,
Sechele largely disappeared from view. His reappearance was
startling.
The first British missionaries who arrived to work with
the Zulu Ndebele
tribe in what is now Zimbabwe in 1859 were staggered to
find that they
already had regular Christian prayers. Sechele had beaten
them to it.
Sechele had decided to lead church services for his own
people after
Livingstone left. He taught reading, the Bible became popular,
and slowly
the Bakwena became Christian. Sechele travelled hundreds of miles
as a
missionary to other tribes, and having withstood the Boers, the Bakwena
became a refuge, absorbing many tribes into their Christian society.
At
his death in 1892, Sechele ruled 30 000 people, a hundred times the
number
Livingstone first found him with.
Stephen Tomkins is the author of David
Livingstone: The Unexplored Story
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
March 24, 2013 in Business
After
receiving an email from a friend, I felt obliged to share it. I
paraphrased
it below.
by Adolf Chirimuta
Picture this: A man works for a
company that makes local Zimbabwean
margarine, he discusses with his wife
how tough things are at work due to
the low demand for margarine and
explains that this is the reason why his
salary was paid late. He proceeds
to give his wife the money for their
groceries.
The following day his
wife goes out and buys “cheaper” imported products,
including imported
margarine.
The following month the margarine plant downsizes and her hubby is
retrenched.
So, are the wives who buy groceries destroying their
husbands’ sources of
income? Did the wife indirectly fire her
hubby?
If this is being replicated throughout the country, are we not
being
irresponsible with our purchasing power and purchasing decisions and
creating jobs for South Africa, China and other nations while our children
are without jobs? Is this not similar to cutting all trees and hunting
animals into extinction because of decisions and choices that we make? I
believe we (you and me) are the largest culprits to blame for the current
state of our economy. (Not entirely of course!)
Remember what
happened to the textile factory employees when mabhero [bales
of second-hand
clothes] started coming into the country and trade started
with
China?
I make margarine for you and you make maize-meal for me, another
guy drives
me to work in his bus and my friend makes plastic packaging for
the
maize-meal that you make. A cousin of yours makes cooking oil and his
brother makes corn cereals, his sister makes clothes for everybody,
etc.
But if one of these products is imported, then one person or several
people
become unemployed. If more of the products are imported, more people
become
unemployed. So make sure at least half of what you buy are local
products,
that way, you will help create jobs in Zimbabwe.
You will
help save my job and I will help save your job and the government
will
collect taxes and sort out the water and power issues (hopefully). We
have
the power to help each other. Let’s create jobs here and not for South
Africa or China, by buying Zimbabwean products.
Every time you buy a
product, you create a job somewhere, so why not create
that job here for
someone that you know and that way, you won’t have to pay
school fees for
your brother’s children because he will be able to pay it
himself. Your kids
will have jobs here and not have to go job-hunting in
South Africa when they
finish school. Before we blame others for our state
of affairs, let’s do our
bit by buying Zimbabwean products.
In light of this, I was moved to think
that we are the authors of our own
financial quagmire as a nation. My
suggested solution is in us adopting what
has been termed the spider web
doctrine as a lifestyle, if not a national
policy, because government is
also guilty of preferring imported goods and
services, and this will help us
to earn more and generate some local
savings.
The spider web doctrine
simply entails what has been described above, I buy
my groceries from the
local general dealer wepa [round the ] corner who has
purchased them from
the local manufacturer weku [from the] home industry, so
that the money
stays within our community instead of a reverse scenario,
where, as if to
show you that I have made it in life and as a status symbol,
I buy my
groceries from foreign-owned shops, who eventually channel the
money to
their home countries.
Instead of sending my car for service to the
unemployed yet qualified and
skilled young man down my street, I send it to
some fancy garage whose name
I cannot even pronounce because it is so
foreign and a tongue-twister.
In simple layman’s terms, when you want to
buy something, goods or services,
first think of the person you are directly
connected to — who happen to be
countless, hence the name spider web — who
offers what you need. Always give
them the first right of refusal to supply
you.
This kind of behaviour has far-reaching dire effects on the economy,
although they may be felt in the most subtle of ways. I am calling for an
immediate paradigm shift for the adoption of the spider web doctrine as a
personal lifestyle.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
March 24, 2013 in
Politics
THE just-ended referendum, which reportedly recorded the highest
voter
turnout since independence, confounded analysts who had forecast
apathy.
BY NQABA MATSHAZI
But the voting demographics serve for
interesting reading, although they are
highly unlikely to be an indication
of the voting patterns at the next
general election.
While some
analysts have claimed that the voting patterns could indicate
which party
had the strongest effect on its supporters to go and vote,
others maintain
the referendum left Zimbabweans none the wiser.
For example, Bulawayo,
where the MDC-T swept all but one seat in the last
parliamentary elections,
recorded the lowest turnout, meaning if the party
is to repeat the feat, it
has its work cut out.
On the other hand, Harare had the highest turnout
in the referendum and has
in the past also been an MDC-T
stronghold.
Zanu PF will on the other hand claim that it has a firm grip
on the
Mashonaland provinces, saying that it was able to encourage them to
go and
vote.
The three Mashonaland provinces recorded significantly
high turnouts and
Zanu PF will hope to maintain that momentum in the next
elections, as these
have always been their strongholds.
If the
turnout were to serve as an indication of future elections, then
alarm bells
should be ringing in the MDC camp, as voters in Matabeleland
South and North
were not forthcoming.
In the last election, MDC got most of it seats in
Matabeleland South and
received a fair share of votes in Matabeleland North
and it will be hard
pressed to encourage supporters to go and vote in the
next election.
MDC-T on the other hand will be encouraged by the large
turnouts in
Manicaland and Masvingo, where it out polled Zanu PF in the last
elections
and will hope that this is an indication of future good
tidings.
The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) announced that 3,3
million people
had voted, by far the highest turnout since independence in
1980.
MASHONALAND VOTES INCREASE
Election Resource Centre
director, Tawanda Chimhini said an inspection of
provincial voting trends
indicated an increase in voter turnout in Harare,
Manicaland, Midlands and
Masvingo compared to the 2008 election.
“These provinces alone can influence
the popular vote in an election,” he
explained. “The Mashonaland provinces
recorded a percentage increase in
turnout of between 33 and 48% compared to
2008 and this jump in
participation could further increase in the next
election given what will be
at stake in that election.”
He said Harare
alone had recorded an increase of 64% compared to the last
election.
Election turnouts have been 3,2 million in the 2002
presidential election,
2,9 million and 2,5 million in the 1985 and 1980
general elections,
respectively.
‘Don’t read too much into the
referendum’
Analysts have warned that Zimbabweans should not read too
much into the
plebiscite, saying it might not be an indication of future
voting patterns.
“Voting patterns are difficult to discern given that this is
a referendum
and analysis that is demographic is hard to do and one which is
geographic
maybe misleading in terms of elections, given that people could
vote from
anywhere,” McDonald Lewanika, the director of Crisis in Zimbabwe
Coalition
said.
“However, if the stats are correct in terms of turnout,
then we can clearly
discern that there is a huge appetite and eagerness to
participate in public
political processes, if it is safe to do so, and the
environment is
conducive to free expression.”
Lewanika noted that past
elections had been fraught with violence, a
characteristic that was
tellingly absent from the referendum and if future
elections were peaceful,
then higher turnouts could be expected.
He said another factor that could
have contributed to the high turnout was
the absence of “cumbersome
processes associated with registration and
actually going to vote”, which
had served to discourage voters, particularly
the youth.
“The ease of the
process – no checking on voters roll, no multiple ballots –
and the relative
absence of politically motivated violence, augured well for
effective
participation,” he said.
Dumisani Nkomo, a political analyst concurred with
Lewanika, saying the
loosened requirements for the referendum could have
driven the turnout
upwards.
“I think in future they should loosen
registration requirements for the
18-25 year age group as this will
encourage the youth to vote,” he said,
adding that the referendum had shown
that there was a huge turnout of first
time voters.
To register as a
voter, one is required to provide proof of residence and
for most youth this
this is a requirement they cannot meet.
Nkomo said he expected the momentum
generated from the referendum to
continue towards the elections.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
March 24, 2013 in
Opinion
The arrest of top lawyer Beatrice Mtetwa on Sunday March 17 has
reinforced
the notion that the selective application of law in Zimbabwe is
rampant.
Sunday View by Maunganidze Mamuse
It also strengthens the
argument that there is need for security sector
realignment if we are to
hold a credible election.
This is not to suggest Thabani Mpofu, Warship
Dumba, Alex Matsinde, Anna
Muzvidziwa and their lawyer Mtetwa were not
supposed to be arrested if any
offence was committed; it is the manner in
which the same police react
whenever anyone from Zanu PF is involved in a
crime.
Even when names were given for the suspects in Christpowers
Maisiri’s death
in Headlands last month, no one was picked up for
questioning, but on March
16 2013, an MDC activist, Samson Magunura from
Headlands was arrested on
allegations of petrol bombing a Zanu PF ward 12
aspiring councillor William
Chapepa in that area.
The police always
develop cold feet whenever a report is made against a
member of Zanu PF, but
will react in a flash whenever the same party is on
the receiving end. This
is probably what Police Commissioner-General
Augustine Chihuri meant when he
professed his allegiance to Zanu PF.
Our greatest worry though is that
the security chiefs have taken it upon
themselves to campaign for Zanu PF,
and this has compromised their
constitutional duty which is to protect the
nation and not political parties
or individuals.
Recent reports which
indicated that, at a police workshop in Matabeleland
conducted and
facilitated by the Police Professional Updating Centre,
officers were told
not only to register as voters but to also vote for
President Robert Mugabe
and his Zanu PF party made sad reading.
There is no problem in urging
everyone to register as a voter but to address
the recruits and telling them
to vote for a political party is mischief.
To the peace-loving and
serving officers of this nation, be careful not to
be used by your superiors
who will turn against you when the tables are
turned. Indeed you should be
registered voters, but as to who you should
vote for, let that be your
secret. You have, like anyone else, a
constitutional right to
choice.
What does it reflect when our police ignore a court order? On
Monday March
18, Mtetwa’s lawyer, Harrison Nkomo was granted a high court
order to secure
her release, but as they wished, the police refused to let
her go. All this
was done in the face of the Sadc observers here for the
referendum!
Is it not therefore far-fetched to say within Zanu PF there
are some who are
working against the party? President Mugabe should be
concerned about this
development.
As it stands now, the action by the
police, especially their refusal to
implement a court order, has managed to
put Zimbabwe on the international
arena for all the wrong reasons. In a
joint statement, the International
Commission of Jurists, the Pan African
Lawyers Union and Sadc Lawyers
Association described Mtetwa’s arrest as
“unlawful’’. The Law Society of
South Africa also added its
voice.
Even if we are to have a new constitution, it will not be the
panacea to our
crisis. A constitution is just a piece of paper, what is
critical is for the
political leadership, especially Mugabe, to ensure that
we embrace a spirit
of constitutionalism. It is one thing to have a new
charter, but quite
another to abide by it. It all needs political will.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
March 24, 2013 in
Opinion
Transparency International Zimbabwe (TI-Z) is deeply concerned by
the recent
happenings as chronicled in media reports in which the Zimbabwe
Anti-Corruption Commission (Zacc) officers are reportedly being victimised
for trying to expose alleged corrupt deals at various government departments
and agencies.
Sunday Opinion by Transparency International
Zimbabwe
While there is merit in the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP)
investigating
alleged corruption within the anti-corruption body, the ZRP
should deal with
the individuals implicated and not seek to discredit the
legitimacy of the
body.
The ZRP should not interfere with Zacc’s
mandate of fighting corruption as
recommended in the United Nations
Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC) and
articulated in section 108 A of
the Constitution of Zimbabwe.
Likewise, the ZRP continues to carry out
its constitutional mandate despite
numerous allegations of corruption within
the police force. Corrupt
individuals must be weeded out of all state
institutions but the
institutions must be afforded an opportunity to
exercise their mandate to
the legitimate expectation of the society they
serve.
This requires that they be unfettered in the execution of their
duties. As
such, the ZRP is encouraged to deal with implicated individuals
and not to
interfere with the Zacc’s mandate as an institution in state
machinery of
law enforcement for the elimination of corruption in the
country.
The ZRP has, in the past, been accused of bias especially in
instances where
investigations involve high ranking government
officials.
The police should not selectively investigate issues that
involve, among
other people, prominent individuals in society. Such actions
show high
levels of impartiality and impunity on a few public
officials.
The police force should be guided by principles of
professionalism; they
must be independent and impartial in the discharge of
duties so that their
actions are not misinterpreted for protecting a few
individuals in society.
TI-Z once again raises concern over the
politicisation of the fight against
corruption.
Perceptions that
there are political agendas or expediency being served by
current events as
detailed in the press cannot be overruled. Unfortunately,
these events
discredit and bring to question not just the legitimacy of the
Zacc but also
the police as arresting officers, the courts as the issuers of
the search
and arrest warrants.
Together these institutions represent the state’s
law enforcement mandate.
This mandate appears to be subverted to other more
dominant interests that
have nothing to do with upholding the rule of law
and fighting impunity.
The legitimacy of law enforcement agencies can
only be re-established when
the impunity of public officials and political
leaders cannot be protected
for political expediency. Whether some officers
of Zacc are guilty of
corruption is not the test for its capacity or
legitimacy to interrogate the
three implicated ministers. These are two
divorced issues that should be
treated as such. One does not undercut the
other. If this was the criteria,
it would also discredit the police’s
legitimacy and capacity to investigate
Zacc because its own officers and
office have similarly been levelled with
allegations of corruption on many
occasions.
It is the position of TI-Z that more attention must be paid by
the current
coalition government and future government on guaranteeing the
independence
of these institutions and releasing them from political
subservience so that
they are not used as pawns for political
vendettas.
No reforms to the Zacc, police or judiciary are possible
within the ambit of
heavy-handed political directives muddying the
issues.
The legitimate expectation of Zimbabwean citizens is that those
agencies
mandated with enforcing and upholding the rule of law should
execute their
duties with the full support and cooperation of the Executive
and
Parliament.
In this instance, if the allegations levelled against
the three ministers
have a legitimate source, they must be investigated and
if found to be true,
the law must take its course.
Similarly with
regards to the allegations made against Zacc. Saying “No to
Impunity”
implies that there are no “sacred cows” in carrying out
investigations; the
probe should go beyond one’s political or social status.
Punitive action
should be taken against perpetrators of corruption not as a
political end
but to guarantee the freedoms and entitlements of all
Zimbabweans. The
Executive and Parliament owe it to the people of Zimbabwe
to enforce and
oversee transparent and accountable rules of Government which
also entail
respecting Institutions created by Constitutional Decree such as
the
Zacc.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
March 24, 2013 in Editorial
The next
elections are going to be a high-stakes game; the signs are already
there
for all to see.
From the Editor’s Desk with Nevanji Madanhire
At
stake are not merely parliamentary seats and the presidency but also the
very political survival of lots of personages.
The events of the past
week have shown how people’s civil liberties will be
painfully taken away
from them, how no one is safe from the reach of a
marauding power elite that
will stop at nothing to win the coming elections.
The lawyers are in
trouble, next it will be the journalists. This is not
difficult to
see.
In the past few weeks it has been the press that has exposed the
rampant
corruption in certain circles of the political elite. The problem is
not
that corruption has been exposed, its existence has for long been an
open
secret.
In December last year President Mugabe said at his
party’s annual conference
he was aware that some of his henchmen were
demanding kickbacks from
potential investors. He promised to act against
such charlatans.
The problem is that the recent investigation into
corruption by the Zimbabwe
Anti-Corruption Commission (Zacc) has hit right
at the core of Zanu PF’s
survival strategy.
The party had wagered on
the success of the indigenisation programme to win
votes. The argument was
that by grabbing stakes in foreign-owned companies
and giving them to
indigenous Zimbabweans, the party would regain its
popularity as it claims
it did at the turn of the millennium with the land
reform
programme.
Looked at from a disinterested angle, empowering the majority
of the people
through the indigenisation programme was a masterstroke. Who
would not
support such a noble cause? The community share ownership schemes
that
President Mugabe launched across the country were a great propaganda
coup.
But like the land reform programme before it, the indigenisation
process was
also fraught with problems and the press was quick to expose
these. The
major problem was corruption. The revelation that while
portraying
themselves as people’s champions by crusading against
imperialism, the
protagonists were also lining their own pockets, was a
major blow to the
campaign strategy.
What is happening to the
anti-corruption commission and to anyone who dares
expose the rampant
corruption are an attempt at damage control. Members of
the commission have
to be exposed as corrupt, by so doing taking away their
moral authority to
investigate the cancer.
Interestingly, the process of smearing the
commissioners has not spared
judges. Any judge who has supported efforts to
expose corruption is also
targeted and his gravitas undermined. In any other
country such direct
attacks on judges would be deemed to be attacks on the
judiciary and would
be seen as highly contemptuous of the High
Court.
It would bring the whole judicial system into disrepute.
When
the courts have been silenced and the judges have been silenced too,
the
press necessarily becomes the next target. It has happened before and it
will happen again. We have already seen how the public press has been
suborned and is being used as the weapon of choice in the dirty fight; next
the private press will be labelled an enemy.
In 2001, a newsroom and
a printing press were bombed. The act showed the
extent to which the
perpetrators could go to silence voices that exposed the
ruling elite’s
impropriety.
Some of the nonsense being published in state-run newspapers
is laughable.
For example, Zacc chief executive, Sukai Tongogara, is no
longer daughter of
the late liberation war hero General Josiah Tongogara
because of her
involvement in the corruption investigations.
She is
also accused of being a member of a political party that’s fighting
her
father’s comrades and their ideals.
The person who has the audacity to
make the accusation not long ago was seen
at Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai’s door asking for help and vilifying the
same party that she now
says her stepdaughter is about to destroy. But how
that little piece of
trivia is supposed to undermine her work, no one knows;
one doesn’t have to
be the daughter of a national hero to be able to fight
corruption.
The move is an attempt at labelling her a liar and
therefore unfit for
office.
It is when the private press continues to
expose this farcical approach to
issues that it will be targeted. The press
will be lucky if it gets away
with litigation only as has often happened but
already threats are beginning
to fly around which are likely to turn very
nasty.
What all this points to is that the next few months – the months
before the
elections some say will be held in July – will be like a crucible
in which
Zimbabwe will be plunged back into uncertainty and
insecurity.
President Mugabe has of late been preaching peace but it is
now apparent
peace cannot subsist in an environment in which there is no
rule of law or
in which the rule of law is subverted to serve certain
interests.
After the successful holding of the referendum, the world was
beginning to
think that Zimbabwe had reinvented itself and was now on a
clear path to
peace. But the events of the past week or so point otherwise.
This means the
world, especially the regional body the Southern African
Development
Community (Sadc) should continue to keep the eye on the
ball.
The roadmap spelt out in the global political agreement that
brought about
the government of national unity that rules the country today
has only been
partially fulfilled. On the roadmap are some important reforms
that are
still to be implemented. These include security sector reform,
media reform
and the establishment of a working human rights
commission.
If these reforms are not implemented, civil society,
particularly
journalists and lawyers, will continue to be vulnerable to
attack as is
happening now.
Sadc should maintain a continuous
presence in Zimbabwe to monitor progress.
The powers that be will argue
Zimbabwe is a sovereign country which should
be allowed to rule itself the
way it wishes, but sovereignty does not mean
bludgeoning civil society into
submission.
Often the sovereignty argument is used by the main culprits
in the
undermining of the rule of law. Vigilance is important at this
critical
juncture so Sadc should not shy away from its responsibility.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
March 24, 2013 in Editorial
Events of the past
week have exposed the fallacy that President Robert
Mugabe is committed to
seeing free and fair elections in Zimbabwe this year.
The Standard
Editorial
Even before the ink had dried on the pinkies of those who voted
in the
referendum, the party has not been ashamed to declare war on the
MDC-T,
which is a partner in the government.
The party’s actions are
a clear signal that, far from the peace and lull
that prevailed during the
referendum, the election would be a different ball
game altogether
characterised by the blatant suppression of those
challenging Mugabe’s grip
on power.
It may even turn bloody, like what happe-ned in Headlands where
12-year-old
Christ-powers Maisiri was killed in an arson attack.
There
are signs that things may get worse as election day draws closer.
The
office of Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai has been raided and staffers
and
their lawyer, Beatrice Mtetwa, are languishing in remand prison.
The
Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (Zacc) has also been under siege
after
it tried to investigate three Zanu PF ministers over corruption
charges.
The attack on High Court Judge Charles Hungwe in the state
media over the
alleged failure to sentence Jonathan Mutsinze of Marondera 10
years after he
was convicted of robbery and murder charges, also raises
eyebrows.
This is the same judge who granted Zacc a search warrant
against the
Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation and the National
Indigenisation and
Economic Empowerment Board, raising the ire of the
targeted ministers and
their hangers on.
Over a month ago, The
Standard wrote about Mutsinze’s predicament, but no
hullabaloo was raised
because Zacc had not threatened Zanu PF ministers.
These unwelcome
developments show Zanu PF will not abandon its strategy of
decimating
opposition forces.
They are a timely reminder that four years after
partnering the MDC
formations in government, Zanu PF has not changed and is
keen to resort to
the same old tactics to maintain power.
Sadc, which
guarantees the Global Political Agreement, is advised to act in
a manner
that will force Mugabe to create conditions for a free and fair
election.