http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
April 12, 2013 in Politics
IN as much as new Kenyan
deputy president William Ruto was critical in
President Uhuru Kenyatta’s win
in the recent elections, Professor Welshman
Ncube particularly and other
democratic forces in general could critically
determine whether or not Prime
Minister Morgan Tsvangirai emerges victorious
in Zimbabwe’s forthcoming
watershed polls.
Opinion Redzisai Ruhanya
In the Kenyan case,
outgoing prime minister Raila Odinga lost more than two
million votes after
he severed ties with Ruto, his key political ally during
the constitutional
struggles in Kenya.
Ruto delivered the presidency to Kenyatta whose team
was pragmatic,
realistic and statistical in analysing Kenya’s
political-electoral system
and its dynamics.
As Zimbabwe prepares for
what appears to be defining elections, the first
after the transitional
government and President Robert Mugabe’s last,
barring political violence
and other shenanigans, these elections would be
won by those who invest in
software politics accompanied by serious voter
registration drive and
accommodation of like-minded forces.
One of the most important things to
note is that like in most sub-Saharan
countries, Zimbabwe has a political
system where parliamentary elections are
largely a sideshow because of the
presidential systems which apply.
This means as the country prepares for
elections, it is critical to
appreciate the key political battle is to win
the presidential race, which
also commands institutional power and
resources.
Due to its constitutional architecture, even under the
proposed new draft
constitution voted for in the March 16 referendum,
Zimbabwe continues to be
characterised by an imperial executive presidency
which hugely influences
political dynamics.
One cannot seek to
understand opposition politics and the counter hegemonic
political struggles
in Zimbabwe at large without making references to the
dictatorial presidency
and its impact on the electoral playing field.
The single biggest
impediment to truly competitive democracy in Zimbabwe and
Africa in general
is the domineering presidency. Any strategies to
democratisation should
therefore target the authoritarian presidency by
capturing it from a
norm-violating dictatorship and reforming it to share
power with the other
two arms of the state — the legislature and judiciary.
Learning from the
past political and electoral processes, especially the
failed democratic
transition after the March 2008 in which democratic forces
won in the
parliamentary poll, but failed to seize the presidency through
elections
because of divisions and fragmentation, there is no doubt
opposition groups
need to unite against Mugabe in the next polls to win.
If they want to
remove Mugabe and start a new dispensation, their strategy
is simple: they
must coalesce around a single presidential candidate.
Three factors
appear to weaken democratic and opposition forces against Zanu
PF and
Mugabe. These include the advantages of incumbency stemming from
executive
dominance; their limited financial and intellectual analytic
resources and
most critically their failure to see or understand the bigger
picture which
demands they unite around a potentially strong presidential
candidate and
craft a genuine democratic framework.
In articulating the significance of
the need for the democratic forces to
unite, the two MDC formations — one
led by Tsvangirai and the other by
Ncube — need to show and exercise
leadership for the broader democratisation
cause.
The idea of an
electoral pact is not limited to the MDC formations, but
should include
other groups such as those led by liberation war veteran and
Zapu leader
Dumiso Dabengwa, Mavambo/Kusile/Dawn president Simba Makoni and
the
leadership of progressive civic society institutions such as the
National
Constitutional Assembly, Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions, the
Zimbabwe
National Students Union, and the Progressive Teachers’ Union of
Zimbabwe.
The referendum outcome suggests these civic groups who
opposed the draft
constitution have a solid following that could hugely
influence the
presidential election outcome.
Most importantly, in
defining elections such as the ones Zimbabwe is
preparing for, there is
nothing called insignificant votes. Every vote
counts, literally, hence the
50% plus one.
The argument why Tsvangirai and Ncube cannot unite is often
feeble, rooted
in petty personal differences rather than serious ideological
and policy
issues. Serious and genuine talks involving the top leadership of
both
parties can easily resolve the issues at stake.
If Tsvangirai
and Ncube could work with Mugabe, why would they not work
together for the
broader cause of democracy and national progress?
If these two leaders
fail again to unite, but collectively claim victory as
they did during the
March 2008 general elections, they will have lost the
best opportunity to
secure change and history will judge them harshly.
Putting aside partisan
issues, is it not statistically clear the MDC
formations won both the
presidential and parliamentary elections in March
2008? The reason why I
emphasise Ncube as a key player is not to demean
other democratic forces,
but empirically argue my case for the need to have
a democratic coalition to
confront Mugabe.
Statistical analysis of the performance of Ncube’s
formation in 2008 shows
if his group supported either Mugabe or Tsvangirai,
the one who would have
had his backing would have won the first round. This
observation is without
prejudice to Makoni who was the presidential
candidate. The reality is
Makoni won huge votes in areas where Ncube’s
parliamentary and council
candidates also won.
So it was largely due
to Ncube’s influence there, hence his significance as
a political player,
especially in the context of coalitions ahead of the
polls.
The
significance of Ncube is further expressed in the overall 2008
presidential
election result in which Tsvangirai got 1 195 562 votes
(47,87%), Mugabe 1
079 730 (43,34%) and Makoni 207 470 (8,31%).
This result, further
illustrated by the nearly 200 000 people who voted “No”
to the current draft
constitution, shows if Tsvangirai, Ncube and Makoni
were fighting in the
same corner, Mugabe would already be history. Mugabe is
still in power
courtesy of divisions among democratic forces.
This also happened in the
1992 Kenyan presidential election.
The March 2008 presidential result outcome
at regional levels show Mugabe
would have won in only three provinces —
Mashonaland West, Central and East
if Tsvangirai and Ncube had
united.
Worse still for Mugabe, his margins in those three Mashonaland
provinces
would have been narrowed down and became wafer-thin if the
opposition joined
forces.
In the March 2008 presidential election in
Matabeleland South province, for
instance, Tsvangirai got 28%, Mugabe 30%
and Makoni 38%. A combination of
Tsvangirai and Makoni who was supported by
Ncube would have meant a deadly
electoral blow for Mugabe as that would have
given the opposition 68% of the
vote.
In Harare, Tsvangirai got 72%,
Mugabe 19% and Makoni 8%, Bulawayo Tsvangirai
51%, Makoni 37% and Mugabe 11%
and Mashonaland West Mugabe 52%, Tsvangirai
42% and Makoni 5%. This trend of
Mugabe hugely losing to the combination of
Ncube and Tsvangirai was recorded
in Masvingo, Midlands, Manicaland, and
Matabeleland provinces.
The
quantitative meaning of these results is clear: a coalition between
Tsvangirai and Ncube will bury Mugabe.
Ruhanya is a PhD candidate and
director of the Zimbabwe Democracy Institute.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
April 12, 2013 in Politics
AS general
elections approach, one of the biggest questions which political
pundits and
participants are grappling with is whether or not Prime Minister
Morgan
Tsvangirai — who is President Robert Mugabe’s main rival — will
finally
rally a coalition to confront his long-standing opponent in the
watershed
polls.
Report by Herbert Moyo
Political parties and organisations
find coalitions to be a useful way to
pull together and enhance their
collective power and stretch resources. At
the same time coalitions can be
hard to form and difficult to hold together.
The main reason why
Tsvangirai needs to build a coalition before elections
is for him to gain
more critical mass and influence during election
campaigns.
However,
for it to work all of the partners involved should feel they have
something
to gain by coming together in a win/win situation.
Analysts say the most
critical thing is for political parties and candidates
is to decide that
they will not compete for the same seats or in the same
areas.
They
say the outcome of the 2008 general elections informs this analysis and
consequent observations by some participants and pundits.
The
parliamentary poll produced a hung parliament with the MDC-T and Zanu PF
separated by a seat. The MDC held the balance hence became a power
broker.
A Mass Public Opinion Institute survey carried out last year
suggested the
elections would be a close-run affair between Zanu PF (33%)
and MDC-T (32%).
Other opinion polls have also suggested more or less the
same.
In the first round of polling in the presidential race, MDC-T
leader
Tsvangirai got 1 195 562 votes (47,87%), President Robert Mugabe 1
079 730
(43,34%) and Sima Makoni — backed by MDC leader Welshman Ncube — 207
470
(8,31%).
After a brutal and bloody presidential election run-off
spearheaded by the
military, Tsvangirai pulled out citing political violence
and intimidation,
leaving Mugabe as the sole candidate in the resultantly
sham poll.
Analysts generally agree had the opposition vote not been
split by Makoni in
the first round, Mugabe would have been defeated
outright.
Brian Raftopoulos, a senior research mentor at the University of
the Western
Cape, said the failure by opposition parties to form a coalition
against
Zanu PF in the 2008 elections offered Mugabe an escape route and
delayed
change.
“Their biggest challenge was that they failed to work
together from the
beginning and even allowed themselves to be divided by
Zanu PF,” said
Raftopoulos who was involved in attempts to re-unite the two
MDC parties.
However, last week Tsvangirai met Progressive Teachers Union
of Zimbabwe
(PTUZ) secretary-general Raymond Majongwe and sent emissaries to
MDC-99
leader Job Sikhala, while efforts are also underway to engage
National
Constitutional Assembly (NCA) chairperson, Professor Lovemore
Madhuku –becoming an increasingly vocal MDC-T critic.
But is it
possible for Tsvangirai to belatedly bring into the fold fierce
political
rivals like Ncube and Makoni, among others, to build a coalition
against
Mugabe?
Political analyst Godwin Phiri said as the biggest contender to
Mugabe,
Tsvangirai stood to gain most from a robust alliance with all
stakeholders
but doubted the prospect of such a pact, saying “there is still
so much
ill-feeling between them”.
“Tsvangirai’s agonising failure to
land the presidency in the 2008 elections
should have demonstrated to him
the need for an alliance with civil society
and other political parties,
especially Ncube.
Even if Ncube might not win elections himself, he has a
following that is
significant enough to make him a power broker,” said
Phiri.
Last week MDC spokesperson Nhlanhla Dube spoke of the “2008
debacle” in
which his party failed to field its own presidential candidate
after being
“betrayed” by the Tsvangirai-led formation during
negotiations.
Madhuku says there is no longer common ground between his
organisation and
the MDC-T.
“In the past four years it has come to
our realisation that we do not share
the same opinions and views on the very
matters allowing us to exist as an
organisation,” he said
recently.
Commentator Blessing Vava said it would be “opportunistic” for
Tsvangirai to
approach his former allies seeking an alliance simply because
there are
pending elections when he actually alienated them himself in the
first
place.
Sikhala also said even if it happened, it was not
automatic that Tsvangirai
would lead it, saying that the presidential
candidate would have to be
negotiated.
While they unsuccessfully
campaigned for a rejection of the draft
constitution last month, analysts
still believe Majongwe, Madhuku and
Sikhala are an important constituency
which Tsvangirai needs.
“Their limited campaign produced 179 489 ‘No’
votes which Tsvangirai needs.
Even if they had less numbers he would still
have to work with them because
politically you do not want to fight wars on
too many fronts if you want to
remove a strong incumbent,” said
Phiri.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
April 12, 2013 in
Politics
ZANU PF’s decision-making body, the politburo, is locked in a
renewed bid to
quell resurgent factionalism and infighting fires burning at
provinces ahead
of primary polls and crucial general elections expected
later this year.
Staff Writer
The politburo was yesterday supposed
to receive a report from the
commissariat department headed by Webster
Shamu, as well as the party’s
election manifesto, before discussing strategy
issues and guidelines for
primaries.
But some issues were deferred
due to a combination of “internal and external
complications”, including
renewed internal strife which has erupted in its
volatile regions, including
Bulawayo and Manicaland. The party is battling
power struggles in nearly all
its provinces.
Zanu PF is divided into two major factions, one said to be
led by
Vice-President Joice Mujuru and the other by Defence minister
Emmerson
Mnangagwa. As President Robert Mugabe gets increasingly old and
frail,
factionalism is worsening.
A clause in the new draft
constitution which says if Mugabe retires after
his re-election, is
incapacitated or dies, he will be replaced by a Zanu PF
candidate, is said
to have added fuel to fire.
Politburo members yesterday spent much time
battling over factional wrangles
which have rocked Bulawayo and Manicaland
provinces after national chairman
Simon Khaya Moyo presented a report on the
problems bedeviling Bulawayo.
Khaya Moyo led a politburo team which
investigated divisions in Bulawayo
where daggers were drawn out against
provincial chairman Killian Sibanda,
seen as close to politburo member Obert
Mpofu. Khaya Moyo and Mpofu are
fierce rivals as they are said to be eyeing
the position of vice-president
left vacant following the death of John
Nkomo.
The politburo yesterday resolved to demote Sibanda to the
vice-chairmanship,
and seconded veteran nationalist Callistos Ndlovu — a
divisive figure in
Matabeleland due to his defection from Zanu to Zapu — to
chairman, while the
rest of the executive were retained.
Zanu PF
spokesperson Rugare Gumbo said the provincial executive will however
be
expanded in a move seen as an attempt to balance competing factional
interests.
The politburo also mandated Khaya Moyo and his team to
travel to Manicaland
today to investigate bickering in the
province.
Senior Zanu PF officials from the province, among them Justice
minister
Patrick Chinamasa, Energy deputy minister Hubert Nyanhongo,
suspended
provincial chairperson Mike Madiro, acting provincial chairperson
Dorothy
Mabika, Buhera North MP William Mutomba, war veterans’ leader Joseph
Chinotimba and Zanu PF women’s league boss Oppah Muchinguri last week
petitioned Mugabe to rein in the party’s secretary for administration,
Didymus Mutasa, whom they accused of fanning divisions.
Mutasa is
sympathetic to the Mujuru faction while those calling for his
censure are in
the Mnangagwa faction. Gumbo however yesterday downplayed
Zanu PF
infighting, referring to it as “challenges” or “non-antagonistic
contradictions”.
Major factional clashes erupted last year in Zanu PF
over District
Co-ordinating Committees elections, leading to disbanding of
the structures.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
April 12, 2013 in Politics
THE country’s
main political parties are now gearing up for primary polls
ahead of key
general elections amid fears there would be blood on the floor
with some
bigwigs falling by the wayside.
Report by Owen Gagare
With Zanu
PF, MDC-T and MDC facing primaries, their senior leaders have been
battling
to ring-fence themselves as they dread defeat in the preliminary
rounds of
selecting candidates before the watershed main elections.
Due to renewed
factionalism and infighting tearing Zanu PF apart, the party’s
politburo
yesterday failed to finalise the long-awaited guidelines on
primaries which
need to be aligned to the new constitution.
The party will now hold yet
another special politburo meeting to deal with
the badgering
problem.
Sources said although the issue was expected to dominate the
meeting, it was
dropped for reasons which include internal strife and
ongoing political and
electoral processes, including the constitution-making
exercise.
In 2008, party spokesperson Rugare Gumbo, former education
minister Aeneas
Chigwedere, David Chapfika and Claudius Makova, among other
bigwigs, lost in
the primaries.
“We will talk about the selection
criteria at a special politburo meeting in
due course. We did not discuss
the issue today (yesterday),” said Gumbo last
night.
The issue has
been on the agenda since October last year when the politburo
rejected
secretary for commissariat Webster Shamu’s proposal for primaries
to be held
in November after the Copac Second All-Stakeholders’ Conference
on the new
constitution.
Shamu’s proposals were strongly resisted by people believed
to be in the
faction led by Defence minister Emmerson Mnangagwa who argued
the issue had
been tabled out of the blue.
Shamu is believed to
belong to the faction led by Vice-President Joice
Mujuru and there were
suspicions he wanted primary From Page 1
elections at short notice to aid his
camp by catching the Mnangagwa faction
unprepared.
“The issue of
primaries is becoming a big problem for all the main parties.
That is why
there is so much quarrelling and infighting,” a source said
yesterday.
“There will be blood on the floor, starting next weekend when the
MDC-T
starts primaries that will claim a lot of political casualties and
leave the
parties further divided.”
The new draft constitution passed at a
referendum on March 16, which is
complicating things for Zanu PF, will be
introduced this month-end before it
is adopted during the first week of next
month, paving way for the mandatory
30-day voter registration and alignment
of electoral laws to the new
constitution.
Hardly three weeks after
the referendum for a new constitution, the main
parties in the coalition
government made an array of secretive amendments to
the proposed
constitution.
Clause 158 required elections to be held “30 days before
the expiry of the
five-year period (from the day, in this case June 29 2008,
when the
president-elect was sworn-in).”
Mugabe has lost the bid to
have elections on June 29. He has been demanding
elections without the
necessary democratic reforms since 2011 in vain.
The voter registration
exercise will further delay polls. Justice minister
Patrick Chinamasa has
said Treasury is delaying mobile voter registration
exercise which should
have started early January by failing to release the
needed US$21 million to
cover the country’s 1 958 wards.
The Zanu PF politburo’s failure
yesterday to conclude the primaries
guidelines would further raise internal
political tensions over the issue as
ambitious young aspirants are itching
to contest in preparation for the
general elections between June 29 and
October 29.
Although the MDC-T has finalised its talks around primary
elections, it had
to come up with a mechanism which sought to ring-fence the
party’s bigwigs.
Seats of members of the standing committee, who consist
of the party’s top
12 officials, will not be contested while sitting
legislators would be
subjected to a confirmation process. Primaries would,
however, be held in
constituencies where top MDC-T leaders fail to secure
enough confirmation
support.
MDC-T spokesperson Douglas Mwonzora said
yesterday his party would hold
primaries from April 20, although the
exercise will not be done in a day.
“We are holding them starting from
the 20th of this month but we have not
yet decided which constituencies we
start with,” said Mwonzora.
The MDC led by Welshman Ncube also wants to
avoid primary elections as much
as possible by asking aspiring candidates to
select one candidate from
competing applications through consensus. Where
there would be no agreement,
the party would then go to primaries as a last
resort.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
April 12, 2013 in Politics
MDC-T
Bulawayo provincial chairperson Gorden Moyo’s candidature in a
constituency
reserved for women has created controversy.
Report by Herbert
Moyo
Moyo has been confirmed as the MDC-T candidate for Makokoba
constituency in
the next elections after he was nominated
unchallenged.
The seat is currently held by Deputy Prime Minister
Thokozani Khupe.
The MDC-T resolved that all seats currently held by
women would not be
contested by men, but the party has seemingly gone
against its own
resolutions and controversially allowed Moyo to contest the
seat.
Moyo refuted claims of controversy about his candidature in
Makokoba saying
the constituency was his “entry point into parliament and
cabinet” where he
serves as State Enterprises and Parastatals
minister.
Moyo said there was nothing amiss as he has been “babysitting”
the
constituency ever since Khupe’s elevation to the post of deputy prime
minister in line with the Global Political Agreement (GPA) signed by Zanu PF
and the two MDC formations.
“The national executive and the national
council approved my candidature
last Wednesday,” said Moyo. “It is misguided
to say Makokoba was ever
reserved for women because I became the MP when
Khupe was appointed deputy
prime minister in line with the GPA in
2009.”
“When the GPA was signed, it was then agreed that vice-presidents
and deputy
prime ministers would all become members of parliament by virtue
of their
offices. This was designed to accommodate the likes of (John) Nkomo
and
(Arthur) Mutambara who were not MPs. It was further resolved that MDC-T
appoint someone to replace Khupe in Makokoba so that the parties retained
the balance of numbers they had obtained in the elections and that is how I
came in,” said Moyo.
However, Clerk of Parliament Austin Zvoma has
dismissed this claim, saying
Moyo was appointed non-constituency MP in terms
of paragraph 20.1.8 of
schedule 8 of the constitution as amended by
Amendment No. 19 which created
the inclusive government and thereby not a
legislator for Makokoba.
Zvoma said Khupe, not Moyo, remains MP for
Makokoba, leaving the MDC-T in a
quandary.
MDC-T spokesperson Douglas
Mwonzora yesterday said the party had cleared
Moyo to contest the Makokoba
primaries because he was “appointed MP to
replace Khupe who had assumed the
post of deputy prime minister”.
“Moyo was a direct replacement for Khupe
and for that reason we regard him
as the sitting MP for Makokoba. Besides,
he was the only one who applied to
represent the party and there were no
female challengers,” said Mwonzora.
Mwonzora also said the party would
start holding primary elections next
week.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
April 12, 2013 in
Politics
THE failure by the MDC formations to form a broader alliance
ahead of the
imminent crucial general elections will bolster Zanu PF’s
chances of
wresting 20 swing parliamentary seats and retaining the
presidency through a
myriad of sophisticated manipulation tactics, according
to research fellow
at Oxford University Philan Zamchiya.
Report by
Paidamoyo Muzulu
Zamchiya lists the 20 swing parliamentary seats as those
won by margins of
less than 5%. These are in Mashonaland West, Mashonaland
Central,
Mashonaland East and Midlands.
In a research paper entitled
“Pre-Election Detectors: Zanu PF’s attempt to
reclaim hegemony” launched in
Harare on Wednesday, Zamchiya says Zanu PF
will go all out to manipulate the
results without resorting to physical
violence as in the
past.
Zamchiya states Zanu PF’s strategy is to get the maximum number of
votes in
its strongholds since MDC-controlled areas have more people
eligible to vote
but are not exercising their right.
Based on the
sham June 2008 presidential election run-off, which MDC-T
leader Morgan
Tsvangirai pulled out of citing state-sponsored violence
against his
supporters, Zamchiya lists Zanu PF strongholds as Mashonaland
West,
Mashonaland Central, Mashonaland East and Midlands.
“Zanu PF envisages
that its presidential campaign will work because the
opposition will be
fragmented due to failure to provide a united front among
the opposition
leaders,” said Zamchiya.
“Capitalising on the divisions, the untold story
is Mugabe actually won
Matabeleland South in a relatively free and fair
March 29 poll with 38% of
the total vote whereas (Simba) Makoni got 30% and
Prime Minister Tsvangirai
had 29%,” Zamchiya said.
The paper further
says Mugabe and Zanu PF are likely to use subtle methods
of manipulating the
vote without antagonising the regional and international
community such as
using postal votes to win swing constituencies, opposition
candidate
manipulation, bussing in of voters in swing constituencies and
creating
electoral buffer zones in their strongholds.
Zamchiya said it was most
likely postal votes by members of the uniformed
forces and civil servants
abroad would be deposited to swing constituencies
where the MDC could win by
narrow margins.
“In (the) June 27 2008 (presidential) election (run-off)
the number of
postal votes increased from 8 000 to 64 000 applications. If
the 64 000
ballot papers were to be evenly distributed in swing
constituencies then
assuming that the MDC does not increase its March 29
2008 vote, Zanu PF will
gain all the seats in the swing zone.”
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
April 12, 2013 in Politics
THE
MDC-T is agonising over its position on the indigenisation policy amid
internal fears that the local and international business communities could
have lost faith in the party’s ability to protect businesses from
seizure.
Report by Herbert Moyo
The controversial indigenisation
policy was launched by the Zanu PF
government in 2007 and the party has made
it the centrepiece of its election
campaign.
Despite the formation of
the Government of National Unity (GNU) with the two
MDC formations in 2009,
Zanu PF continues to unilaterally controversially
implement the
policy.
Sources and internal documents obtained this week show there were
fears the
MDC-T had not done enough to counter Zanu PF on the controversial
policy, as
well as assure local and foreign investors about protection of
their
investment.
In fact, the party has been accused of shifting
from its pre-GNU stance when
it robustly opposed the policy to a current
nebulous position. Presently,
some senior MDC-T officials appear to back the
policy, while others oppose
it.
“The overriding perception of the
MDC-T since the GNU in 2009 is that
contrary to the stance of all-out
opposition we took in 2007 when the Act
was passed, it would appear we are
no longer totally opposed to the policy
and we accept that indigenisation
must be implemented,” reads an internal
MDC-T policy
document.
Sources said even party leader, Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai had been
warned that “the MDC-T’s ambivalence on the
Indigenisation Act is likely to
result in its loss of credibility in the
eyes of the local and international
community”.
They said the
international community felt the MDC-T ought to be “more
robust in resisting
indigenisation”.
“There is evidence pointing to the fact that the
business community which is
vital in economic recovery programme in the
country has slowly come to the
conclusion that the solution to the problems
emanating from the
implementation of the Indigenisation Act can only be
obtained from Zanu PF,”
said a source.
Such is the panic in the
business community this week as rumours continue to
swell that British
banking concern Standard Chartered Bank and other
foreign-owned banks may
have their Zimbabwean assets seized for failing to
provide concrete plans to
comply with indigenisation requirements.
MDC-T insiders say it is
worrying that it has been Reserve Bank governor
Gideon Gono, widely
perceived to be Zanu PF, whose voice has been loudest in
a one-size-fits-all
implementation of indigenisation and warning
Indigenisation minister Saviour
Kasukuwere to leave foreign banks alone.
Gono assured Standard Chartered
Bank this week that its banking licence
would not be withdrawn while the
MDC-T was deafeningly silent.
The MDC-T internal document also notes that
as a consequence of the
shortcomings of the party, the international
community was now courting
perceived Zanu PF moderates, including Gono and
Vice-President Joice Mujuru,
for protection from the harmful effects of
Kasukuwere’s sustained attacks on
foreign-owned businesses.
“Mujuru
has been courted by both local and foreign business concerns that
have lost
faith in MDC-T’s ability to reign in Kasukuwere. That is why in
December
2009, it was Mujuru and not Tsvangirai who was invited to a
business
conference by the local business community.
That is why it was Mujuru and
not Tsvangirai who was approached by the
Chamber of Mines in May 2011 to
revoke the mining regulations issued by
Kasukuwere in March
2011.”
Through General Notice 114 gazetted in 2011, Kasukuwere directed
that mining
companies should only sell their 51% shareholding to designated
entities
approved by his ministry, including the Zimbabwe Mining Development
Corporation.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
April 12, 2013 in News
THE current
vitriolic attacks on Justice Charles Hungwe, mostly through the
state media,
for alleged professional misconduct, including missing court
records and
failure to sentence convicted murderer Jonathan Mutsinze, comes
as no
surprise given Zimbabwe’s polarised political arena.
Report by Wongai
Zhangazha
While an inquiry into the matter is still pending, his crime,
or the genesis
of the sustained attacks, appears to be his decision to grant
a search
warrant to the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (Zacc)
authorising the
search of the National Indigenisation Economic Empowerment
Board (NIEEB) and
offices of senior Zanu PF ministers.
Hungwe’s other
transgression was to issue a court order for the release of
prominent human
rights lawyer Beatrice Mtetwa, in a case deemed to have
political overtones
amid fears of renewed political repression and a
crackdown on civil society
and opposition groups ahead of crucial elections.
Law experts say
Hungwe’s harassment is “symptomatic of a fascist state that
doesn’t tolerate
judicial officers who come across as being fair and
independent-minded,
particularly when handling politically sensitive cases”.
They described
the attacks as part of several tactics that have been used
from 2000 to
frustrate and intimidate judges, while undermining judicial
independence.
This is defined as an important principle that means a
judge has the freedom
to make a fair and impartial decision based solely on
the facts presented
before him/her and the applicable laws, without yielding
to political
pressure or intimidation.
The attacks, analysts say, are
well-calculated to publicly embarrass and
denigrate the integrity of judges
that do not toe the Zanu PF line.
Tensions between government and the
judiciary date back to around 2000, at
the peak of the country’s
controversial land reform programme, when judges
ordered police to evict
Zanu PF militants who had invaded white-owned farms
in an attempt to enforce
property rights. But government accused the
judges –– some of them white ––
of resistance to land reform, labelling some
of them Rhodesian
remnants.
Former chief justice Anthony Gubbay was hounded out of office
by war
veterans, in a move which prominently highlighted the breakdown of
the rule
of law and the advent of lawlessness and impunity.
In 2003,
former High Court judge Benjamin Paradza was arrested for allegedly
obstructing the course of justice after making several rulings against the
state in a case against the then Harare mayor Elias Mudzuri of the MDC-T,
who had been arrested for allegedly holding a meeting without police
clearance.
Paradza had ruled police failed to produce sufficient
evidence and ordered
the release of Mudzuri.
Prior to that in
September 2002, Paradza also ordered the release of
opposition supporters
abducted by war veterans and also struck down eviction
notices against white
farmers.
Police claimed Paradza’s arrest was a “purely criminal” matter
and accused
him of trying to influence another judge to release the passport
of his
French business partner accused of murder.
Paradza, now based in
New Zealand, was admitted to that country’s bar in
2011.
In September
2002, High Court judge Fergus Blackie was arrested at 4am and
charged with
obstructing the course of justice after he sentenced Justice
minister
Patrick Chinamasa to three months in jail for contempt of court.
The
sentence was later overturned on appeal but the judge was further
accused of
racism and pushed out.
Several other Zimbabwean judges, including Gubbay,
Nicholas McNally, Moses
Chinhengo, Sandra Mungwira and Michael Majuru, were
all forced to resign or
retire early for what was seen as their refusal to
compromise the rule of
law by handing out judgments favourable to the state
or Zanu PF.
Esmail Chatikobo was pressured and quit the Zimbabwean bench
in July 2001 to
join the Botswana High Court. He died in Botswana in
2009.
Deputy Minister of Justice Obert Gutu said an independent and impartial
judiciary is the cornerstone of a politically stable and economically
vibrant democracy.
He described the recent “savage” attacks on a
Hungwe as an example of a
state crackdown on independent and fair-minded
judges.
“The bizarre attacks on Justice Hungwe should thus be seen in
their proper
context, that is they are a well-calculated strategy to
publicly embarrass,
lampoon and denigrate both the person and the
professional integrity of the
learned judge,” said Gutu.
“By granting
a search warrant that was basically going to unmask the looting
and
kleptocracy behind the so-called indigenisation programme, Justice
Hungwe
literally stepped on a political livewire. Henceforth, he has become
a
marked man. The system is convinced that he is anti-establishment.”
Gutu
said the system would spare no effort in ensuring that by “hook or by
crook”, Hungwe leaves the High Court bench.
“This has happened to
other independent-minded judges such as Gubbay,
McNally, (James) Devittie,
Paradza and many others,” Gutu said.
Human rights lawyer and chairperson of
the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights
Andrew Makoni said it was strange the
state media propaganda war against
Hungwe was ignoring the role of the
prosecution in the case involving
Mutsinze.
“A judge does not convene
a court on his own. In criminal matters it is the
state which is the dominus
litis (the actual litigant directly interested in
the case and its outcome),
as they often tout. It was the state which ought
to have applied that the
matter be tried denovo (afresh) before a new judge
if records disappeared,”
Makoni said.
“The fact that the role of the state has not been featured
betrays the
deliberate campaign of harassment of the judge by the partisan
public media
and their handlers. The role of the AG (Attorney-General)’s
Office must also
be brought into focus.”
Makoni said Mutsinze was
also legally represented and his lawyer ought to
have pushed for the
finalisation of the matter or retrial.
On night judgments, something Hungwe
is also being accused of, lawyers said
there was nothing amiss with that as
it was not the first time a ruling was
passed overnight. In fact they (night
judgments) were quite normal as long
as the required court officials were
present to constitute a competent court
of law.
Analysts say Hungwe
is a victim of a crackdown on non-compliant judges as he
might soon join the
long list of casualties knocked off the bench since the
renewed judicial
purges began.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
April 12, 2013 in News
AS Zimbabwe
approaches crucial general elections after holding a relatively
peaceful
recent referendum albeit under a shadow of resurging political
repression
and violence, the United Nations (UN) — whose focal point for
electoral
assistance mission is soon expected in the country to assess the
political
and security situation to see if it could help fund the polls —
will be
under close scrutiny following revelations its Harare office in 2008
ignored
internal cholera warnings months before its outbreak exploded into a
full-blown epidemic.
The Atlantic/Staff Writer
A recent UN
tribunal 104-page ruling reveals how former United Nations
Development
Programme (UNDP) chief in Harare, Agostinho Zacarias, who had
close links
with President Robert Mugabe’s previous Zanu PF regime, was
unable or
unwilling to take measures to combat cholera — which eventually
affected
about 100 000 and killed at least 4 000 people.
Zimbabwe, a potential
economic powerhouse which critics say has been ruined
under Mugabe’s rule,
is heading for a potential turning point.
A mostly peaceful, popular
referendum on March 16 approved a relatively
progressive constitution that
includes a theoretically strong bill of
rights, and general elections are
likely be held later in the year.
But the past couple of months have also
seen another, less noted development
that adds an additional layer of
ambiguity to the country’s future.
On February 26, a UN tribunal in
Johannesburg determined that Georges
Tadonki, the head of the UN’s Office
for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian
Affairs (Ocha) in Zimbabwe in 2008,
had been wrongfully fired from the UN
after he attempted to warn UN
headquarters of an oncoming cholera epidemic,
whose severity was compounded
by the on-going political violence.
He was fired after Zacarias, then the
UN’s country chief in Harare and
currently the UNDP resident co-ordinator in
South Africa, decided that his
own closeness to Zanu PF overrode his
responsibilities to the UN’s missions
and values.
Yet Zacarias was
actively abetted by officials at the UN headquarters in
Turtle Bay, a New
York neighbourhood around Manhattan, who gave in to his
demands, which
included the marginalisation and eventual firing of Tadonki,
even as
conditions inside Zimbabwe deteriorated.
The case raises the question of
just how the UN will perform in Zimbabwe if
the events of 2008 repeat
themselves — or in the event that the country
finally experiences its long
sought-after democratic transition.
Tadonki filed a wrongful termination
claim against the UN after the
organisation effectively fired him in early
2009.
The UN’s bulletproof legal immunity necessitates an unusual system
for
adjudicating such cases. Because the UN cannot be sued, tribunals
convened
by the UN itself deal with employment claims, pseudo-courts that do
not
adhere to several important aspects of accepted US and European legal
procedure.
Legal immunity
The UN-appointed judges found that
Tadonki’s firing was the result of
concentric layers of favouritism and bad
faith, tendencies that defined not
only the country head’s relationship with
Mugabe’s government, but Turtle
Bay’s apparently backward view of the UN’s
entire mission in Zimbabwe.
According to the tribunal, in addition to
upholding the egalitarian values
of the UN Charter, Zacarias’ job charged
him with “speaking out about
humanitarian issues and defending humanitarian
principles”.
In these respects, he was a clear failure. He had a tight
relationship with
members of Mugabe’s then Zanu PF ruling
party.
According to Robert Amsterdam, who was one of Tadonki’s lawyers,
Zacarias’
testimony revealed that he had known various Zanu PF leaders when
they were
based in Mozambique during Zimbabwe’s liberation struggle in the
1970s.
According to the decision, during his posting in Zimbabwe,
Zacarias “would
spend most of his social time with Nicholas Goche, a Zanu PF
politburo
member and current Transport minister. This closeness spurred a
wilful
ignorance of the country’s deteriorating conditions”.
In the
run-up to the bloody 2008 elections, “Zacarias seemed to not take
cognisance
of the fact that there was likely to be widespread and
unprecedented
violence”, despite the mobilisation of pro-Zanu PF
paramilitary
forces.
Even as pro-Mugabe militants savaged the opposition MDC and its
supporters,
Zacarias did his best to shield himself from the ruling party’s
scrutiny,
even if it meant discarding commonly-held humanitarian
protocol.
“The bottom line,” the tribunal concludes, “is that the
political agenda
that Zacarias was engaged in with the government of
Zimbabwe far outweighed
any humanitarian concerns that Ocha (Tadonki’s
office) may have had.”
In the report’s most scathing section, the judges
explain that Zacarias’
closeness to Zanu PF made it impossible for Tadonki
to carry out his duties
as the head of Ocha — a stance which had deep
consequences for Zimbabweans
counting on the UN’s assistance in the midst of
a cholera epidemic and
political emergency.
“There was a humanitarian
drama unfolding and people were dying. Part of the
population had been
abandoned and subjected to repression. The issue between
Tadonki and
Zacarias was to what extent these humanitarian concerns should
be exposed
and addressed and the risk that there was of infuriating the
Mugabe
government,” reads part of the report.
Zanu PF links
“Matters started
to sour when Tadonki started doing his job. Zacarias
preferred that he
remain quiet. But if he remained quiet, Ocha at (the UN)
headquarters would
say he was not doing his job. Therefore, while silence
would bring him
trouble from Ocha, noise would infuriate Zacarias.
“When the applicant
started organising a forum made up of the NGOs, the
United Nations and the
donors to discuss the situation in Zimbabwe with the
approval of Zacarias
and to achieve a common understanding of the
humanitarian situation,
Zacarias became angry.”
Tadonki did not stay silent however; he “had the
courage to inform the Ocha
headquarters in New York that Zimbabwe was on the
brink of a humanitarian
crisis while Zacarias was pretending to the
contrary”.
Zacarias had undermined Tadonki at other points during the
Ocha head’s brief
yet eventful stint in Zimbabwe, most notably by convincing
the Zimbabwean
government not to approve residency accreditation for
Tadonki’s wife and
children, who were living in South Africa during his
period of employment.
But Tadonki paid an additional and even deeper
price for his willingness to
warn Turtle Bay about Zimbabwe’s humanitarian
plight — he was fired in
January 2009, after he had warned of the potential
ravages of the looming
cholera outbreak. Tadonki was investigated by a UN
bureaucrat at Zacarias’
behest, even when there was no proof of professional
malfeasance.
“Part of the reason nobody could take on Zacarias was that
his role was
unassailable,” explains Amsterdam. UN headquarters was
convinced that in
terms of their Zimbabwe operations, “Zacarias was the
absolutely critical
pivot, and everything could be sacrificed to
him.”
Tadonki’s two predecessors were also fired after brief and tumultuous
postings to Harare, and Amsterdam believes that the UN knowingly sent his
client into an extremely hostile work environment.
“That they could
have put anybody into the situation after Zacarias had
savaged the prior two
occupants of that post was just inhumane. It was like
they were setting him
up for exactly what transpired,” said Amsterdam.
Still, the UN has stated
that it is appealing its own tribunal’s decision.
For Amsterdam, the
decision to appeal reveals just how little the UN has
learned from the
Tadonki affair.
“If you had a normal organisation, heads would roll,” he
says. “Structures
would change. But clearly this is not a normal
organisation. This is an
organisation that’s pathological in its respect for
its employees.”
The events in the Tadonki case mostly happened in 2008,
but they are less
distant than they seem — and not just because of the UN’s
plans to appeal.
In a plausible worst-case scenario, this year might bear
a similarity to the
crisis of 2008. With elections planned for an
as-yet-unannounced date later
in the year, the country could be heading
towards another inflection point,
or even another explosion — situations in
which international organisations
must take on heavy humanitarian and moral
responsibilities.
New elections
“The UN was being asked, and will be
asked in the future, to play a key role
in the transition in Zimbabwe, and
they have been completely contaminated by
their behaviour,” says Todd Moss,
a senior fellow at the Centre for Global
Development, and an official in the
US State Department’s African Affairs
office during the 2008 election
crisis.
“It comes down to trust. Who is the UN supposed to be working
for?
The signals were pretty clear that parts of the UN office in Harare were
working very closely with Zanu PF,” he said.
The successful
constitutional referendum raises the possibility of elections
that are at
least procedurally sound.
In addition, Zimbabwe and Zambia are co-hosting
the UN World Tourism
Organisation’s general assembly in August, raising
hopes that some within
Zanu PF genuinely want to re-integrate the country
with the rest of the
region and the international community more generally.
A clean vote would be
an ideal place to start.
But Moss sees little
reason to believe that the party’s brutal electoral
calculus has
changed.
“There’s no prospect of an opposition victory as long as Mugabe
is alive,”
he says.
There is evidence that Zanu PF is already going
after opposition and civil
society organisations in the run-up to
elections.
Police have of late targeted civil society groups and
activists, including
human rights lawyer Beatrice Mtetwa, while the MDC
parties are complaining
of resurgent violence.
“There’s an impressive
level of political direction and assertiveness by
ordinary citizens, human
rights defenders, and civil society,” says Jeff
Smith, an advocacy officer
for the Robert F Kennedy Centre for Justice and
Human Rights. “What’s
worrying is that the Zanu PF regime has really been
able to keep these
social forces in check.”
This year’s vote could be no more legitimate
than 2008’s. The question
however is still whether Mugabe will allow the
opposition to win — and
whether it is possible to have any kind of
democratic process in a country
where the government is so determined to
hold onto power.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
April 12, 2013 in News
AS Finance minister
Tendai Biti presented a state of the economy report to
cabinet on Wednesday,
Zimbabwe’s economic growth rate –– which others say is
effectively recovery
–– has confounded critics over the last three years.
Report by Clive
Mphambela
A report released by American think tank, the Cato Institute,
last week says
the country’s GDP grew at an impressive average of 7,3% per
annum between
2009 and 2011, far outpacing the growth registered by Hong
Kong (5%) in the
same period.
However, Zimbabwe’s economic metrics
masks a grim reality that the country
is poorer now than it was at
Independence in 1980. The local currency is now
defunct and infrastructure
is decaying every year.
Water supply systems and other utility services
have virtually collapsed,
with numerous studies showing that Harare’s water
is contaminated by human
waste and industrial effluent.
While
evidence on the ground shows Zimbabwe’s economy has since 1980 grown
in
unstable fits and starts, various schools of thoughts abound as to the
causes of the economic meltdown, especially between 1998 and
2008.
Zanu PF blames Western sanctions for the virtual economic and
social
collapse of the country, but critics point to the party’s suicidal
economic
policies and corruption entrenched in its politics of
patronage.
Zimbabwe enjoyed gross domestic product (GDP) growth rates of
11% in 1980
and 10,7% in 1981, before it slumped to 1,4% in 1982 and
declined by 4,2% in
1983 and 1984. There was a sharp growth of 9,3% in 1985
before another heavy
retreat to 0,2% growth in 1986.
From there was a
general decade of recovery between 1986 and 1996 before the
country embarked
on an ill-advised intervention in the DRC war where the
country spent an
estimated US$1 billion.
While government claimed to have spent US$260
million, actual expenditure
was reportedly between US$25 million and US$30
million a month.
In the early years, Zimbabwe suffered a huge outflow of
capital from
multinational corporates that had general mistrust of the new
socialist
government.
The Bretton Woods-sponsored Economic Structural
Adjustment Programme (Esap)
in the early 1990s also failed to stem the
economy’s decline.
Critics also say the unplanned payment of Z$50 000
(old Zimdollar) lump sum
gratuities to war veterans in 1997 sapped Treasury
while the fast track land
reform programme of 2000 rocked foundations of the
economy, scared away
donors and potential investors.
Zimbabwe has
been without balance of payment support since 1999 after the
International
Monetary Fund and donors withdrew financial aid over policy
differences.
In response to the economic collapse, the Zimbabwe
dollar which was worth
approximately the same as the British Pound Sterling
in 1980, devalued
significantly under pressure from rising inflation and
very low export
earnings.
By August 2005, the currency had devalued
to more than Z$17 000 per US
dollar at the official rate.
In 2008,
the rate was over Z$10 trillion per US dollar. Zimbabwe’s sovereign
currency
ceased to exist in February 2009, confirming the country’s
disastrous
economic failure.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
April 12, 2013 in News
NATIONAL debt
management organisation, Zimbabwe Coalition on Debt and
Development
(Zimcodd), is spearheading the call to audit Zimbabwe’s US$10,7
billion debt
mostly owed to foreign countries and financial institutions
saying the money
was largely used to suppress the general populace or
embezzled by corrupt
public officials.
Paidamoyo Muzulu
Zimcodd has engaged the African
Development Bank (AfDB) to release all
details concerning the US$240 million
owed to the institution which the debt
management body believes was not put
to developmental use during the
Economic Structural Adjustment Programme
(Esap) in the 1990s.
In a letter addressed to AfDB vice-president for
country and regional
programmes and policy, Janvier Litse, on March 20,
Zimcodd chairwoman Joy
Mabenge requested all records pertaining to
Zimbabwe’s debts from the Esap
era.
Zimcodd says that increasing
foreign loans and debt have contributed to the
impoverishment of Zimbabwe
and it is therefore important to conduct a debt
audit to reveal who
benefited as part of lessons to prevent unjust debts and
crises in
future.
“To help show whether or not your belief (that the funds were
used for
development) is true, please release all documents you hold
concerning the
projects which led to Zimbabwe’s current debt, including all
evaluations,”
wrote Mabenge in his letter.
“We agree it is up to the
Zimbabwean parliament whether or not to launch an
audit into the debt; we
are calling on them to do so. However, creditors
also have a role to play by
releasing information on where Zimbabwe’s debt
comes from.”
Zimcodd
estimates the US$240 million Zimbabwe owes the AfDB is mainly from
structural adjustment loans which were not for development projects, but
effectively used to pay out other lenders.
Zimcodd’s initiative is
being supported by Action for Southern Africa (UK);
Both Ends (The
Netherlands); Christian Aid (UK); European Network on Debt
and Development;
and the Norwegian Coalition for Debt Cancellation, among
other international
civic groups.
The debt management group says the new Copac draft
constitution has given
impetus to them to push for a debt audit.
In
Clause 298, the draft sets out principles that seek to guide all aspects
of
public finance in Zimbabwe. Clause 298(1)(a) reads: “There must be
transparency and accountability in financial matters.”
The draft
further prescribes how national debt can be contracted under the
new
constitution when approved.
In Clause 300(1), the draft says an Act of
Parliament must set limits on
borrowings by the state, public debt and
liabilities and obligations whose
payment or repayment is guaranteed by the
state.
The new clauses are a departure from the Lancaster House
constitutional
provisions which did not cap national debt or involve
parliament before the
contraction of debt.
Zimbabwe is struggling to
settle its debts and has come up with a strategy
to deal with the situation
despite lack of resources.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
April 12, 2013 in
News
THE Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec), which struggled to raise
funds for
the referendum, has paid civil servants who took part in the
plebiscite last
month.
Report by Herbert Moyo
The civil
servants were last week paid US$240 each for the six days they
were engaged
by Zec.
They were initially given US$60 each upon reporting for duty last
month,
with the outstanding balance of US$180 being cleared last
week.
However, fears remain over Zec’s ability to adequately carry out
all the
processes necessary to hold a credible general election later this
year,
including voter education and voter registration, due to serious
funding
constraints.
Zec was forced to cancel a voter registration
exercise scheduled for January
after failing to secure funding from
Treasury.
MDC spokesperson Nhlanhla Dube expressed frustration at the
slow pace of
voter education and voter registration for the crucial polls to
end the
unity government, saying inadequate funding was hampering Zec from
fulfilling its constitutional mandate.
“The reality is that Zec is
underfunded for the work they are supposed to
carry out and until that is
resolved, it will be difficult to make a proper
evaluation of their work,”
said Dube.
“However, this is something they could exploit to cover up for
their
operational inefficiencies.”
Dube also lamented Zec’s refusal
to heed his party’s request to introduce
online voter
registration.
“We wrote to them about adopting online voter registration
which would be
faster and easier, but they refused citing so many factors,
including lack
of security. However, the MDC believes such fears are
unfounded as it would
be possible to create adequate security systems,” he
said.
“I think it is more a case of resistance to change and fear of the
unknown.
However, they need to come up with an expedited process that will
ensure
Zimbabweans are not prejudiced of their right to
vote.”
Government was forced to turn to diamond mining and telecoms
companies in a
desperate bid to raise US$250 million needed by Zec for the
referendum and
general elections.
Old Mutual and the National Social
Security Authority helped to raise over
US$50 million for the recent
referendum.
Ongoing attempts to secure election funding from the United
Nations
Development Programme are yet to yield anything.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
April 12, 2013 in Business
THE Zimbabwe
Commercial Farmers Union (ZCFU) has revised downwards 2012’s
maize output to
800 000 metric tonnes from an initial projection of 1,2
million metric
tonnes, owing to a dry spell and poor preparation for the
season.
Report by Gamma Mudarikiri
ZCFU president Wonder
Chapikwa told businessdigest this week maize output
would this year plunge
to 800 000 metric tonnes against an annual
consumption of 2,2 metric tonnes,
due to a dry spell which hit most parts of
the country late last year and at
the beginning of this year.
The situation was further exacerbated by the
late planting season and
government’s failure to avail inputs on time,
further compounded by the fact
that most farmers were abandoning growing
maize in preference to tobacco.
Chapikwa said the areas most affected by
drought included Matabeleland South
and North, part of Mashonaland East,
while Mashonaland West and Mashonaland
Central provinces were expected to
have a better harvest. He said government’s
plan to import maize to cover
the deficit might be thwarted by high costs of
maize, owing to the scarcity
of grain in the region.
“There is general shortage of maize in the
region, which means the
government will be left only with the option to
import and at a very high
cost,” said Chapikwa.
Agriculture in
Zimbabwe has been declining on the back of poor financing and
poor planning,
which have seen the country become a net importer of food
over the past
decade.
Last year, the country also recorded a deficit in maize
production due to a
dry spell. Planted hectarage in 2012 declined 19% to 1
689 786 hectares from
2 096 035 hectares of maize planted in the previous
year.
Chapikwa, however, said government should prioritise irrigation to
revive
maize production as waiting for the rain was no longer sustainable
owing to
changing rainfall patterns globally.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
April 12, 2013 in Business
THE tourism sector
is the next target of the current indigenisation thrust,
businessdigest can
reveal.
Taurai Mangudhla
A new tourism policy aimed at changing
the face of the growing sector
through various provisions, including
mandatory local majority ownership of
companies, is to be unveiled next
month, Tourism minister Walter Mzembi said
in an interview.
The
provisions –– expected to send fresh shockwaves, mostly among foreign
investors who are already wary of losing their shareholding after government
fast-tracked compliance in the mining sector and is now moving to the
banking sector –– are in line with the country’s Indigenisation
Act.
The Act compels all foreign-owned companies to relinquish at least
51%
shareholding to indigenous players through various schemes, including
employee and community share ownership trusts.
Addressing journalists
after receiving an 11-member Indian government
delegation on a follow-up
visit on investment discussions, Mzembi said
companies that did not comply
with the law risk losing their operating
licences.
Although the
biggest local tourism players are indigenous, a good number of
midsized
companies are majority or wholly-owned by foreigners or by
Zimbabweans who
do not qualify as previously disadvantaged prior to 1980, as
dictated by the
Indigenisation Act.
“The tourism industry is worth about US$5,2 billion
in assets and I am
saying part of it should be transferred to our locals
through
indigenisation,” Mzembi said, adding the government had already
devised a
“smart” process to ensure companies are only licensed upon full
compliance
with the Indigenisation Act.
“I am simply sounding a
warning bell because we don’t want any casualties.
They should comply or
risk losing their operating licences,” added Mzembi.
He said under the
new policy, farmers would be granted operator licences for
game reserves,
lodges, tea bars or restaurants as long as they met licensing
requirements
to compliment farming activities especially during bad seasons.
“We have
also seen that it takes private players 10-15 years to construct a
high rise
building that is a benefit to the economy, so we are proposing
that
government secures funding to erect shell assets that are then finished
to
specifications of tenants or owners,” added Mzembi.
In terms of specific
infrastructure projects, Mzembi said government had
already allocated 1 200
hectares of land along the Victoria Falls airport
road for construction of a
modern theme park.
“We are currently using the UNWTO (United Nations
World Tourism
Organisation) general assembly in August as an opportunity to
secure
investment for construction projects on the prime virgin land,” he
said.
The Tourism ministry was by end of this week expected to have
signed a
memorandum of understanding with the Indian delegation on specific
project
areas.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
April 12, 2013 in
Opinion
The 2012/13 summer season is almost over and it is clear that the
country’s
grain harvest will once again not be sufficient to meet the
country’s needs.
Opinion by Peter Gambara
Zimbabwe normally plants
about two million hectares of maize every summer
season, and at an average
yield of 0,7 tonnes per hectare, the country
harvests about 1,4 million
tonnes.
However, this year’s yield is likely to be much less than this.
It is time
to introspect as to why we seem to be getting it wrong so
often.
As the season approached, the Meteorological Department, as usual,
predicted
that the country would receive normal to above-normal rains, but
as we look
back, the season was far from normal. In most cases, the rains
came too late
to save the majority of the maize crop. It is clear from these
weather
patterns that this is a visible departure from the normal. In most
areas,
crops were a complete write-off
Our Met Department is failing
to give an accurate prediction of the rainfall
pattern and we begin to think
they either do not have the right equipment or
adequately trained
personnel.
The world over, weather experts now point to climate change
caused by
uncontrolled gas emissions, particularly by the leading
industrialised
nations.
Climate change refers to any significant
change in temperature, rainfall or
wind patterns, among other effects, over
several decades or longer. The
current climate change is caused by global
warming, a general rise in
average global temperatures caused by increasing
concentrations of
greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.
There is a lot
of research and advice on how farmers can cope with this new
phenomenon.
Most strategies place emphasis on providing accurate
information to farmers
and farming experts so that they are able to adjust
their plans accordingly.
However, our Met Department has not been able to do
this and insists on
selling weather information to farmer organisations for
distribution among
their members.
The other reasons for our failure
to get good harvests seem to stem from
poor agronomic practices by our
small-scale farmers, who traditionally
produce more than 75% of the maize
crop. Special situations require special
tactics.
Some techniques
that farmers can consider when the season is likely to be
short include
water conservation and planting early, especially where there
is irrigation.
Such crops will have high yield potential arising from the
long growing
period and prolonged heat.
Farmers should also consider conservation
tillage techniques that will keep
moisture in the ground such as no-till and
tiered ridges. They may also
consider using crop varieties which mature in
the shortest possible time.
Most small-scale farmers cannot afford to
apply adequate fertiliser and rely
on cattle manure. They are also not able
to fully control weeds, which take
some of the moisture and nutrients away
from the crops. When applying top
dressing fertiliser, farmers should make
this coincide with the wet spell to
speed up its uptake.
The
distribution of inputs such as seed and fertiliser is sometimes riddled
with
corruption and victimisation where those alleged to belong to the
“wrong”
party are denied these. Malawi and Zambia to our north have proved
that if
such schemes are run well, they can alleviate the perennial problem
of food
shortages.
Those in dry areas (Natural Regions IV and V), such as the
southern parts of
the country, should be encouraged to consider planting
small grains as these
require less rainfall compared to maize. The question
is: How many farmers
know these techniques?
On the bigger picture,
the economic hardships and subsequent low salaries
offered to civil servants
have seen a brain drain of qualified personnel
from the civil service. The
posts of experienced agricultural extension
officers have had to be filled
with inexperienced personnel.
Government has also failed to incentivise
maize production by not paying
farmers promptly for maize delivered to the
Grain Marketing Board (GMB).
Maize by its nature is a low viability crop. It
costs US$500-US$700 to grow
a hectare of maize and if one achieves a yield
level of less than 2,5 tonnes
per hectare, they will not be
profitable.
The inability by GMB to pay farmers promptly has driven most
to deliver to
private buyers, who pay less than the US$285 per tonne floor
price for maize
set by GMB. The net effect of all this is that farmers have
been discouraged
from growing maize, resulting in a significant drop in
outptut over the
years.
Having looked at the above scenarios, the
question remains; what now? The
solution is not a simple one, as several
interventions should be taken at
the same time. First, government should
provide its extension officers with
adequate resources.
Second,
government should properly equip the Met Department and ensure its
staff
receive adequate training. Without the latest technology, the
department is
likely to lag behind other countries in accurately predicting
the weather
patterns. Information provided by the Met Department should also
be
user-friendly for farmers and should be provided free of charge.
Third,
government should promote and incentivise the growing of commercial
maize by
farmers through ensuring that government-sponsored inputs reach the
intended
farmers on time and that when farmers have produced the crop and
delivered
it to GMB, they are paid on time.
Gambara is the chief agricultural
consultant at Agri Expert.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
April 12, 2013 in Politics
IT is a
hectic Thursday morning in the sprawling Mbare township of Harare
and the
sweltering heat scorches fiercely on the overcrowded suburb’s
residents as
the sun rises.
Report by Herbert Moyo
The actual day is April 11
2013 – yesterday – exactly a week before Zimbabwe
marks the 33rd anniversary
of Independence from British colonial rule but
there is nothing in the air
to suggest the country is approaching such a
momentous occasion which is
only being hyped in the state-controlled media
daily through advertorials
and songs.
The people appear oblivious of Independence Day which has
increasingly
become a drab occasion that instead of making them proud of
self-rule
reminds them of the ravages of misrule surrounding them.
In
place of joy and expectations about the looming celebrations, the air in
Mbare rather reeks of a suffocating stink of human waste, decaying garbage
and a grating blast of music from squalid apartments whose trademark is now
dilapidation and filth.
Still in their state of disrepair and
griminess, they are homes to
peace-loving and law-abiding Zimbabweans whose
dreams of better lives
promised during the liberation struggle have been
betrayed and shattered by
their yesteryear liberators.
Compared to
the air of jubilation and hope which gripped Mbare after
President Robert
Mugabe and Zanu PF swept to victory in 1980, the situation
in Harare’s most
famous township is now a monument to national failure.
The poverty and
squalor symbolises and reflects shattered dreams and
betrayal.
A day
before Independence, Mugabe had promised: “Tomorrow is thus our
birthday,
the birth of a great Zimbabwe, and the birth of its nation.”
Even if the
words “Black Empowerment” are inscribed right next to the Zanu
PF mantra of
“Unity, Peace and Development” on the Magaba Flats, the reality
inside them
speaks of disempowerment, poverty and suffering. Magaba is part
of the
collection of dilapidated flats, including Shawasha and Matapi, where
throngs of this township’s most enterprising yet poor people
reside.
Climbing the stairs, one is almost knocked over by the mad rush
of children
stampeding downwards in the opposite direction almost gasping
for fresh air
and greater space in the outside world which offers them only
false comfort.
Water leaks from a room on the first floor and cascades
down below to the
basement where a dreadlocked young man engages in the
seemingly futile task
of scooping it away.
Looking at the lad’s
endeavours the visitor immediately recalls the army of
vendors selling wares
on every pathway in the township, a common phenomenon
across
Zimbabwe.
The young man’s grim, but vain determination encapsulates the
general spirit
of fortitude of millions of Zimbabweans, seemingly abandoned
by their
political leaders and left to their own devices to fight herculean
struggles
against poverty and squalor.
The young man is 26-year old
Francis Shumba and he has lived in Matapi flats
since 1995. Shumba has known
no other president since birth except Mugabe
who came to power 33 years ago
promising to create a democratic and
prosperous society with equal
opportunities for all.
“We know that we have councillors, MPS and a black
government,” Shumba says.
“All my life I have only known a black
independence government but I have
never seen any one of these top leaders
around this place where I share one
room with four other family members. The
only time they come here is when
they are being taken to Stodart Hall in
coffins during parades before burial
at the Heroes Acre.”
Shumba’s
life is a tale of personal struggles and sacrifices.
For him, life appears
“solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short” – the
Hobbesian way. Shumba’s
experiences are a microcosm of the struggles of many
ordinary
Zimbabweans.
“We go for long periods without water forcing us to rely on
one borehole
which we often share with people from Matapi and Shawasha
flats. When the
pressure is too much women and children fetch water from the
polluted
Mukuvisi River,” Shumba says.
Besides water shortages, there
are frequent power outages and a general
chronic lack of social service
delivery.
From being a relative prosperous country, Zimbabwe is now
wedged in
political instability and economic doldrums. The country has been
ruined by
extended periods of political repression and economic
mismanagement.
It is nowadays the Zimbabwe in which, according to the
late prolific writer
Dambudzo Marechera, “every morsel of sanity is snatched
from you in the
house of hunger”.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
April 12, 2013 in Opinion
Zimbabwe
could readily be a magnetic destination for Foreign Direct
Investment (FDI),
and such investment would be a catalyst for employment
creation, reduction
of the poverty that afflicts most people, a source and
fuellant of an
ongoing favourable trade balance, eradication of fiscal
near-bankruptcy,
settlement of Zimbabwe’s very considerable international
and national debt,
and almost all of the other ills that have plagued
country’s economy for
many years.
Column by Eric Bloch
Notwithstanding the recessions
that impacted on the United States, European
Union (EU), and various other
international economies in recent years, there
is still a plethora of
substantially-monied enterprises and individuals who
continuously seek
potentially beneficial investment opportunities.
They stem from South
Africa, India, China, the EU, Australia, United States,
Canada, Brazil, and
many other countries, and they are aware of positive
investment
opportunities Zimbabwe has to offer.
Those opportunities exist in the
mining, manufacturing, tourism, and service
provision sectors, among
others.
Although Zimbabwe’s mining sector has witnessed some significant
development
and growth, especially in the gold, platinum, and diamond
sectors, the
magnitude of mineral resources could enable manifold growth,
inclusive of
the exploitation of other minerals,like chrome, nickel,
lithium, coal and
natural gases.
Moreover, a small portion of the
mining production presently undertaken is
subjected to value-addition by
being subjected to industrial production and
conversion into finished
products.
Manufacturing has contracted intensively in recent years,
primarily because
of under-capitalisation and failure to keep pace with
state-of-the-art
technological developments, as well as a result of
intensely diminished
consumer spending-power, non-competitiveness in export
markets, and
intensifying competition between domestic production withand
imported
products.
But, were these factors to be constructively
addressed, the manufacturing
sector could be a great drawcard for investors,
and would attain
considerable investor interest and funding, enabling
refurbishment and
replacement of archaic and derelict plant and machinery,
intensified and
increased production volumes, re-penetration of export
markets, diminution
of import competition, and a demand for more
employees.
In like manner, the growth potential of the Zimbabwean tourism
sector is
very considerable, were it not for the concerns of many potential
tourists
as to security and safety, availability of all needs, readiness of
access
and travel in, to, and from, the country.
Were these concerns
to be addressed, the investment opportunities would be
great, be they into
the creation of additional hotels and other facilities,
into activities to
be enjoyed by the tourists, in fields of transportation,
and much
else.
There is also colossal investment opportunity in the sector of
technical
services provision to the diverse economic sectors, and the
populace in
general.
Because of the deplorable state of the economy,
progressively intensified
since 1997, millions of technologically skilled
Zimbabweans have left for
the diaspora, in order to generate a livelihood
and funding to assist their
impoverished dependants, resulting in an immense
decline in the
technological, skilled, service provision greatly needed in
the economy.
And these are but some of the considerable investment
opportunities that
exist in Zimbabwe, and yet there is a calamitous absence
of capitalisation
on that, with a consequential intensification of
unemployment, poverty, and
innumerable other economic ills.
That it
is so should be of major concern to the government, and all
Zimbabweans, for
it fails prima facie to be consistent with the magnitude of
investor
expectations for constructive and beneficial investment.
Tragically, the
reality is that would-be investors are recurrently
discouraged from
investing in Zimbabwe because of concerns on investment
security.
The
most pronounced cause of the potential investors’ concerns on investment
security is the authoritarian and unjust, counterproductive manner of
Zimbabwean pursuit of much-needed indigenisation and economic empowerment of
the indigenous populace.
Very few are opposed to the principle of
indigenisation, but government
seeks to achieve it with callous disregard
for investor concerns. Investors
will not, as a general rule, be prepared to
be reduced to minority status in
the enterprises they invest in, and
especially so when they are not assured
of timeous and fair compensation for
forced disinvestment.
The magnitude of potential investors’ concerns on
investment security is
intensified by confronational actions and statements
of those in Zimbabwe’s
political hierarchy.
The repeated verbal
attacks on foreign investors in general, and
foreign-owned companies,
alienates not only the non-local investors in those
enterprises, but also
others who would otherwise contemplate Zimbabwe as an
FDI
destination.
Those attacks are intensified by recurrent threats of
actions, of which one
of the most recent has been the declared government
intention to expropriate
more than half of the lands with mining rights held
by Zimplats.
These intentions are validly perceived as irrefutable
continuance of the
land expropriations commenced in 2000, devoid of
compensation, in disregard
of the consequential negative economic
repercussions and the well-being of
the displaced owners and their
employees, and with intensively pronounced
failure to comply with Bilateral
Investment Promotion and Protection
Agreements.
These triggers of
serious investor security fears are exacerbated by all too
frequent
disregard for the fundamental internationally applied principles of
respect
for human and property rights.
The situation is worsened by unconducive
taxation policies, repeatedly
varied exchange controls, and other political
dictates.
Until all these factors are convincingly and constructively
addressed, the
inflows of FDI will remain minimal, grievously impeding
Zimbabwe’s
much-needed substantive economic recovery.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
April 12, 2013 in
Opinion
Thanks to the BBC for their entertaining programme last week
featuring
Patrick Chinamasa.
By Muckracker
Chinamasa had
assumed that he could bluster his way through an in-depth
interview with
Stephen Sackur on Hard Talk and get away with it. But Sackur
had done his
homework and managed to run rings around Chinamasa who barely
managed to
control his temper.
A visibly angry Chinamasa buckled under the barrage
of questions on Zanu PF’s
political repression including the ban on
independent radio stations,
intimidation of judges and violent land
seizures.
Asked how many farms the Mugabe family owned Chinamasa could
only reply “to
be honest I don’t know”. He was also asked about the farm he
had seized for
himself forcing the owner, Richard Yates, into exile in
Australia. Chinamasa
justified it on historical grounds but his overall
performance was largely
comical.
Zanu PF’s ‘problem’
‘But don’t
you think it inappropriate for a Minister of Justice to take a
farm in
situations where he might have to intervene?” he was asked.
Apparently
not. Chinamasa justified everything on grounds of colonial
redress.
Chinamasa said he had “no (sic) conscience”.
The
short-wave radios distributed some months ago were part of the
“regime-change” strategy, he rather lamely claimed.
Chinamasa is
unlikely to get a pat on the back at Shake-Shake building for
saying
Mugabe’s issue of old age and failing health was a “problem” for his
party
and country to solve.
All in all it was a mediocre performance; he should
have had a glass of
water at the ready.
The audience where Muckraker
saw the interview burst into laughter and
applause when it concluded. Here
was how an interview should be done.
An amused reader observed: No wonder
Zanu PF mandarins don’t like to talk to
the likes of BBC and CNN. They are
used to the lickspittle interviews from
the Reuben Barwes of this
world.
Cooking up a storm
The state media has been conducting a
war of words in support of Kenya’s new
President Uhuru Kenyatta. They
compared his opponent Raila Odinga to Prime
Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and
in the process made some wild claims.
“Just like his MDC-T counterpart Mr
Odinga has tried thrice to land Kenya’s
top job and came short every
time…”
“Similarly Mr Tsvangirai lost to President Mugabe in 2002 and
again in 2008
and analysts say Mr Tsvangirai is headed for his third and
probably final
defeat in the pending elections.”
Really? What
analysts, what defeat? Hasn’t Mugabe stated publicly that his
party lost in
2008? Mugabe “won” the 2002 election through violence and
murder and lost in
March 2008.
Herald and Sunday Mail journalists complained bitterly when
they were
blacklisted by the EU for telling tall stories. But they continue
to do so.
Yet Kenyatta’s father Jomo Kenyatta was a close ally of
Britain.
Upon becoming prime minister in 1963, and then president he
inaugurated a
policy of reconciliation long before Mugabe’s phoney
one.
His son Uhuru, although the subject of an International Criminal
Court
warrant, is anxious to shake off allegations of incitement in 2007 and
normalise his international relations.
Despite the Herald’s attempts
to manufacture a war between Kenyatta and the
UK, relations between Britain
and Kenya are cordial. But that hasn’t stopped
the Herald’s campaign of
misinformation.
Blame anyone but us
Speaking of fabrication the
Herald has been unrelenting in its Tendai Biti
bashing crusade.
Biti
was scuttling government plans to “import 150 000 tonnes of maize from
Zambia to feed poor people facing starvation as part of the MDC-T’s grand
plan to instigate food shortages and price increases ahead of
polls”.
Biti’s crime was trying to involve private companies, “a
development that
observers say could be manipulated by pro-MDC-T groups to
trigger food
shortages and price increases”, the Herald
sneered.
Biti’s scepticism with the so-called government-to-government
arrangement is
understandable considering not too long ago senior Zanu PF
ministers were
fingered in a Grain Marketing Board inputs scam. The inputs
had been
diverted to prop up Zanu PF’s 2008 election campaign.
If it
isn’t the “illegal” sanctions it must be Biti’s fault, where Zanu PF
is
concerned.
The fact that we have become net importers of grain from
countries like
Malawi and Zambia conveniently escapes Zanu PF’s notice while
they peddle
the farcical claim of the “successful” land reform
programme.
Adding to the absurdity the Herald goes on to accuse Biti of
making
“reckless statements to foment anarchy” after claiming he was
conspiring to
cause mass starvation.
They must take their readers for
fools!
Back in the saddle
The Job Sikhala-led MDC-99 has called
for the unconditional lifting of
European Union and the United States
sanctions on diamond mining companies.
The outfit’s International
Relations secretary, Robert Matenga, was quoted
by the Herald saying: “These
sanctions are not only hurting our economy, but
our people as well, they
must be lifted.”
In a curious development the MDC-99 is now singing from
the Zanu PF hymn
sheet, applauding Mines minister Obert Mpofu for “standing
his ground” in
fighting the West.
Readers of Muckraker will remember
that Sikhala “pulled out” of the Global
Political Agreement (GPA) in 2009
citing that it “never had the blessing” of
his party and “none of the party
organs know anything about the political
settlement”.
“In view of
this,” Sikhala added, “be advised that the MDC-99 is no longer
bound by any
resolutions of the GPA and the party is going to contest in all
by-
elections.”
Judging by their rhetoric the MDC-99 must have secretly
pulled themselves
back into the GPA as if they are party to it in the first
place.
Say no for a change!
How many of our readers have noticed
the number of newspaper adverts
appearing seeking change-of-use for suburban
homes where the owners want to
turn their homes into a crèche.
Nearly
every day one of these adverts appears seeking the nod of abutting
property
owners.
Where an objection is made, the city is not bound by any such
objection.
Indeed, one wonders how many if any such applications are
refused by the
City Director of Urban Planning Services.
“The
application, plans and any special conditions which the authority is
likely
to impose in the event of the application being favourably considered
may be
inspected at the address below,” we are told.
That is Cleveland House,
Takawira St.
What we have here is a licence to make money. The property
owner doesn’t
have to do anything except extract approval from his
neighbours. Most of the
time they don’t see the well-concealed
ad.
But they do feel the consequence as the little ones make their
presence
known throughout the day.
There is also likely to be
graffiti decorating the crèche walls with a
tasteless tiny-tots
theme.
Please Mr Director of Urban Planning, you don’t have to approve
every one of
these applications. They do nothing for the appearance of the
neighbourhood.
Then there are the numerous restaurants that have sprung
up all over the
place, mostly without the permission of the Director of
Urban Planning. Does
he ever say “No”?
ZBC’s revival
strategy
Finally we picked up some suggestions from the social media
sphere for shows
ZBC could flight to help bring back
viewers:
Zimbabwe’s got Prophets as opposed to America’s Got
Talent
Two and a Half MDCs as opposed to Two and a Half Men
Whose Farm Is
It Anyway? as opposed to Whose Line Is It Anyway
Dating in the Dark proudly
sponsored by Zesa.
SHORT AND SWEET …
Straight-faced
lie
EMMERSON Mnangagwa would have us believe security sector reforms were
never
a Global Political Agreement issue saying they were aimed at
undermining
Zimbabwe’s security and sovereignty.
The only two
outstanding issues, Mnangagwa said, are the “illegal” sanctions
and “pirate”
radio stations. Trust Zanu PF to deny the existence of a
clearly stipulated
provision with a straight face while at the same time
accusing the West of
being dishonest.
The reason “pirate” radio stations thrive is because the
public can’t depend
upon ZBC to tell the truth about what is happening in
the country.
Things fall apart for AGO
ARTHUR Mutambara has found
out the hard way how fluid the political
landscape can be after being
abandoned by five legislators he protected from
losing their parliamentary
seats.
Mutambara had saved the legislators from losing their seats by
telling
parliament to disregard attempts by MDC leader Welshman Ncube to
oust them
saying they belonged to his “party”.
If Mutambara thought
he would be thanked by the legislators for saving their
skins with loyalty,
he had another think coming as the MPs have since
registered to contest in
the MDC-T’s primary elections.
Oh well! There is always robotics.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
April 12, 2013 in Opinion
MY attention was
last week drawn to a report in the Herald of April 5, which
suggests daggers
were drawn against my person, in my capacity as Prime
Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai’s “legal adviser”, apparently for giving “wrong
legal advice” to
him in an elections-related case that was before the High
Court.
Opinion by Alex T Magaisa
This is odd.
First,
there are no daggers, apart from those carried in the words of the
malicious
report. Secondly, I am not the premier’s “legal adviser”.
Thirdly, I may
not be sufficiently knowledgeable about the ethics of
journalism, but I
would imagine a decent journalist or newspaper would seek
comment from the
subject of his or her report before publishing.
In any event, it is a
cardinal principle of natural justice and fair play
that one is given an
opportunity to be heard. None was sought from me.
Hence, my view that the
story was motivated by malice.
I would not normally respond to malicious
reports of this character, but in
the circumstances of this matter it is
important to clarify certain issues.
While I have recently been and am
currently away from the office — and
therefore have not been directly
involved at the inception of this case, I
nevertheless take responsibility
for my duties, as my position commands.
The fact of the matter is that
contrary to information that has been
disseminated through some quarters,
the intervention by the prime minister
in the case produced a positive
outcome and victory for democracy.
Brief facts of the matter are that
three former MPs sought legal recourse
through the courts to compel Mugabe
to set dates for by-elections in their
constituencies.
This matter
has dragged on for a few years, with the president seeking and
getting on
two occasions the courts’ indulgence to delay the holding of
by-elections.
The idea is that if harmonised elections are due to be
held soon after the
by-elections, the latter exercise would be a waste of
resources. Therefore,
it would make practical sense to “combine” the two
elections by simply
holding the harmonised elections. On these issues, there
is a general
understanding and convergence between the principals.
Admittedly, it does
stretch the law, but in a way that does not offend
common sense.
As the March 31 court deadline for Mugabe to set dates for
the by-elections
approached, Tsvangirai raised this issue with his fellow
principals and made
it clear that the issue of by-elections should be dealt
with separately from
the harmonised elections and that it should not be used
to rush the country
into polls without consultations.
This is because
consultations are premised on the fulfillment of certain
fundamental reforms
that must be made under the Global Political Agreement
(GPA) and the
envisaged constitution to make the electoral playing field
level and
fair.
There was a general understanding that the harmonised elections
would be
subject to consultations.
When the court application
submitted at the end of March on behalf of the
president was drawn to the
premier’s attention, there was an indication in
the papers of an intention
to hold the harmonised elections by June 29, the
basis upon which it was
argued that there would be no need for by-elections.
I am advised that
the plea to the court was for the president to be excused
from setting dates
for by-elections “on condition that harmonised elections
are held by 29th
June 2013”.
This, to the prime minister, appeared like an attempt by his
co-principal to
unilaterally set the date for general elections through a
judicial process.
Indeed, in his interview with the media in Rome,
Justice minister Patrick
Chinamasa had stated plainly the intention to hold
the harmonised elections
by June 29. This is what Tsvangirai objected
to.
Tsvangirai’s major interest is that the key reforms that affect
elections
envisaged under the GPA and the constitution must be implemented
before
elections are held. This needs more time than a June 29 deadline
provides.
These reforms include, inter alia, media reforms,
depoliticisation of the
security sector and re-alignment of existing laws
with the new constitution,
among others. The reforms will make the electoral
environment better than
that which existed in 2008.
When the matter
came before the court, and after the prime minister’s legal
representative
informed the court of the premier’s intention to be joined to
the
proceedings in the context of the president’s specific reference to a
harmonised election on or by June 29, the Attorney-General (AG)’s Office
representing the president indicated that they would no longer be pursuing
the argument regarding harmonised elections and would instead focus only on
the by-elections issue.
I am advised they undertook to abandon the
argument that the president
should be excused from the need to call for the
by-elections “on condition
that harmonised elections are held by 29 June
2013”.
Instead, the president would only seek to be excused from calling
for
by-elections.
As a result, the order sought by the president
would have nothing to do with
harmonised elections.
Essentially, they
had changed the thrust of their initial application and
climbed down from
the position against which the prime minister had
objected. I am advised
that the learned judge said in light of the changed
position of the
president, the prime minister might need to re-consider his
application for
joinder particularly as it was largely premised on the
initial reference by
the president to harmonised elections.
Out of abundance of caution and to
be sure, the prime minister sought
written confirmation of this changed
position from the AG. This confirmation
was given through a written letter,
and heads of arguments, both addressed
to the prime minister’s
lawyers.
I quote from the letter dated April 4 2013: “In our current
application in
HC 2362/13 the president seeks to be excused altogether with
publishing the
proclamation in question as the political landscape has
changed …”
Satisfied that he had achieved the outcome that he had sought
in the first
place, the prime minister formally withdrew his application for
joinder.
It was no longer necessary to pursue the application having
achieved the
result that he sought in the beginning. He had managed to
persuade his
co-principal to drop the issue of harmonised elections from the
application.
Any further participation in the case would only have been of
academic
significance.
Magaisa is the adviser to Prime Minister
Morgan Tsvangirai. —
wamagaisa@yahoo.co.uk
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
April 12, 2013 in Opinion
Once again,
it’s gloves off between Indigenisation minister Saviour
Kasukuwere and
Reserve Bank governor Gideon Gono, with neither party pulling
punches.
Candid Comment with Itai Masuku
The battle reached
fever pitch this week when Gono issued a statement
assuring Standard
Chartered Bank Zimbabwe customers their bank would not be
closed for failing
to comply with indigenisation requirements as had been
threatened by the
National Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Board
last
weekend.
In essence the fight is over Kasukuwere’s equity model for
indigenisation
versus Gono’s supply and distribution empowerment model. The
former is
advocating radical indigenisation, while the latter is advocating
moderate
empowerment.
The two concepts are quite separate, as we have
mentioned before. In simple
terms, indigenisation implies accessing milk by
taking over the cow, while
empowerment implies accessing the milk by leaving
the cow under its current
owner, but allowing others to buy the milk, but
make money by building the
cow shed, maintaining it and other things
necessary to keep the cow alive.
At the level of ordinary level Biology,
indigenisation is like osmosis while
empowerment is like symbiosis. Osmosis
is the movement of molecules
(economy) from areas of low concentration
(foreign shareholders) to areas of
high concentration (the indigenous
populace) through a semi-permeable
membrane (the indigenisation
law).
Symbiosis is the mutual existence of organisms (foreign and
indigenous
people) for mutual benefit. The challenge with osmosis is that it
depends on
whether the area of higher concentration beneficiates the areas
of low
concentration.
A living example is the ongoing debate on the
sidelines as to whether the
old PF Zapu really benefited from being
osmotised into Zanu PF.
Similarly, the symbiotic relationship has
challenges in that in the mutual
existence some animals may be more equal
than others.
Kasukuwere is right in his crusade for enfranchisement of
the majority and
has the indigenisation law on his side.
However,
Gono is also right in his sentiments that the current equity model
could
cause instability in the financial sector.
“Destabilising a large bank
such as Standard Chartered has serious systemic
consequences that can lead
to unintended results which are opposite to those
that we would have hoped
to achieve,” Gono says.
He cites many acts which must be complied with if
the indigenisation
programme in its current form is to be properly
implemented.
These include The Exchange Control Act and Regulations
Chapter 22:05, The
Reserve Bank Act Chapter 22:15, Procurement Act Chapter
22:14, Public
Finance Management Act Chapter 22:19, the Corporate Governance
Framework for
Parastatals, The Arbitration Act Chapter 7:15, Mines and
Minerals Act
Chapter 21:05 (if it’s a mining entity) and The Companies Act
Chapter 24:03.
In particular, he quotes The Reserve Bank Act, Chapter
22:15 Sections 6 (1)
which in Section (c) requires the central bank to :
foster the liquidity,
solvency, stability and proper functioning of
Zimbabwe’s financial system
and Section (e) to supervise banking
institutions and promote the smooth
operation of the payment system in
Zimbabwe.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
April 12, 2013 in Opinion
THE late British Prime
Minister Margaret Thatcher who ruled from 1979 to
1990 has been described as
a workaholic, a zealot, and a leader who, even in
death, continues to divide
and polarise opinion like few others before her.
Editor’s Memo with
Stewart Chabwinja
It is unsurprising that after her death more than 20
years after a tearful
exit from No 10 Downing street, Britain is divided
over precisely what the
legacy of Thatcher, who espoused competition,
private enterprise, thrift and
self-reliance, is.
Her supporters
credit her with curtailing the inordinate influence of
powerful trade unions
while restoring Britain’s stature in the world.
But critics say she was
so obsessed with free market policies to the extent
of having no qualms
about the poor paying the price for her policies.
So polarising is her
legacy that there were violent skirmishes in UK cities
as detractors
celebrated her death, with plans for more such bashes this
weekend as
admirers mourned.
Meanwhile, while anti-Thatcher songs moved up the
charts, trending social
media posts derided the “Iron Lady” –– a moniker she
revelled in.
On the surface, it is rather surprising that some sections
in Zimbabwe –– a
former British colony –– Thatcher has received near-glowing
tributes for her
policies. This is despite the general consensus that on
Africa, inflexible
Thatcher who abhorred consensus politics often got her
policies wrong.
Probably in deference to Thatcher’s government’s plans to
fund the land
reform, and ostensibly to spite Blair for allegedly
dishonouring the
agreement, Zanu PF secretary for administration Didymus
Mutasa said his
party had good working relations with her and had no
problems with her
policies on Zimbabwe.
It was Thatcher who, in 1979,
wheedled the then Rhodesia’s warring parties
into signing a flawed Lancaster
House agreement which protected parochial
interests of the minority white
population, including on land ownership and
racialising the electoral system
through 20 reserved white seats for a
period of 10 years.
This was
after she had to be dissuaded from recognising a Zimbabwe-Rhodesia
puppet
regime led by Bishop Abel Muzorewa.
After the agreement Thatcher
virtually adopted a hands-off approach over
Zimbabwe’s internal affairs.
This, it has been argued, allowed then Prime
Minister Robert Mugabe to lay
the foundation for dictatorial tendencies
without scrutiny.
Having
secured the short-term future of her kith and kin she was eloquently
silent
over the political disturbances of the 1980 polls which ushered Zanu
PF into
power.
There were also Mugabe’s attempts to introduce a one-party state
to
ring-fence his rule, charges of institutionalised corruption in the late
1980s by the likes of former Zanu PF heavyweight, the late Edgar Tekere, and
various allegations of human rights abuses and economic mismanagement whose
debilitating effects would be felt years later.
Maybe most damning
was Britain’s silence as Mugabe’s government launched the
Gukurahundi
massacres in which 20 000 people from Matabeleland and the
Midlands were
murdered. Mugabe has since grudgingly conceded the killings
were “a moment
of madness”.
Elsewhere in the region, South Africa’s struggle for freedom
exposed
Thatcher’s lack of commitment and grasp of the liberation cause,
preferring
instead to safeguard Britain’s economic interests. She famously
called world
icon Nelson Mandela a “terrorist”, while referring to herself
as a “candid
friend” of apartheid stalwart PW Botha.
In fact, she is
on record as declaring, in 1987, that those who believed the
ANC would rule
South Africa were living in “cloud-cuckoo land”, and
infamously resisted
sanctions and trade embargoes against the country
arguing they would hurt
the common people.
She watched as South Africa destabilised the region
by, among other things,
bombing Zimbabwe, Botswana, Zambia, occupying
neighbouring Namibia and
sponsoring Renamo bandits in
Mozambique.
Thus Africa in general, and southern Africa in particular, is
unlikely to
have fond memories of Thatcher. While it is deemed unAfrican to
celebrate
someone’s death, former cabinet minister and ANC National
Executive
Committee member, Pallo Jordan reportedly could not resist stating
of
Thatcher’s death: “I say good riddance. She was a staunch supporter of
the
apartheid regime.”
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
April 12, 2013 in Opinion
ZIMBABWE will mark its
33rd anniversary as an independent nation next
Thursday.
Zimbabwe
Independent Editorial
Predictably, there will be countrywide events,
brightly-coloured national
flags hoisted and President Robert Mugabe’s
uniform speeches read by
provincial governors nationwide.
Besides
Mugabe’s soporific speeches, there will be many other largely
symbolic
events happening around the country.
Naturally there will be some
official hype or at least references to the
history of the liberation
struggle, tirades against political rivals and
Western countries, harping on
Mugabe’s past heroics, and Zanu PF
politicking.
The political air
will be redolent with historical and hidebound stuff; not
forward thinking
needed beyond sterile rhetoric and justifications of
misrule.
The
land reform programme, indigenisation and sanctions are often used to
cover
up national failure.
In the process, Mugabe and his Zanu PF loyalists
will briefly try to
imprison our national consciousness in exhausted
formalisms– the sort of
gibberish people are now tired of as it does not
make any material
difference in their lives.
The good thing though is
people are no longer fooled by this.
So instead of wasting our energies
singing praises for Mugabe and his party,
we need to use Independence Day to
reflect on where we came from but most
importantly assess where we are and
think deeply about where we are going.
We cannot forever continue
reminiscing about the past, ignoring current
issues and our future as if
Zimbabwe was the only colonised country in the
world. The history of slavery
and colonialism is well-documented, so we don’t
need to be lectured on that.
What we want are ideas, policies and programmes
addressing current issues
and the future.
People are certainly sick to death of vacuous rhetoric
and promises. They
want action and delivery. Time for rambling speeches
about the past, never
the present and future, is long gone.
In this
age of social media, dishonest nationalist posturing and Orwellian
propaganda which, together with leadership and policy failures, in the first
place led us down this blind alley no longer work.
For a change,
Mugabe and his party must next week take time to reflect. They
must ask
themselves whether this is the kind of Zimbabwe they themselves and
many
others, dead and alive, fought for.
Zimbabweans must take stock of the
country’s successes and failures. Without
being defensive, let’s ask
ourselves what went wrong, why, and what is to be
done going
forward.
Admittedly there are many narratives to the Zimbabwean story ––
a
post-colonial tragedy in many respects –– but our problems are mostly
self-inflicted. Let’s talk frankly about that and find a way
forward.
Mugabe’s departure alone will not resolve these problems but
certainly it
will be a good start. At 89 and frail, Mugabe, especially given
his corrupt
and incompetent regime’s record of misrule, no longer has
anything useful to
offer. Zanu PF in particular must be honest about
this.
They should stop lying about why the country is in such a mess. We
all know
the truth.
Instead of remaining hapless Mugabe hostages, we
must all stand up and be
counted. Let’s use Independence Day to reflect on
issues and the future of
the nation.
