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ZNSPCA - ALERT : Elephant Abuse
Sent: Sunday, April 26, 2009 5:33 AM
Subject: zimbabwe
situation
Research done many years ago proved that in 64% of cases of
people convicted of animal abuse, the same people were/had been convicted of the
abuse of people. Basil Steyn is obviously protected by ZANU PF. We have sent
this alert(see underneath) out to an initial database of 45000 people , with the
email address and tel numbers for Basil Steyn, and are calling for ( as a start)
the reinstatement of the travel warning that the USA has just lifted. Hopefully
this will also help to put pressure with regards to the disgraceful behaviour of
Mugabe and his henchmen and their treatment of the people of
Zimbabwe.
ALERT :
To all our supporters,
It is
with deep sadness that ZNSPCA have to inform you all of yet another cruel and
barbaric capture of ten (10) wild Zimbabwe Elephants from Gwanda in Matabeleland
South Province. The elephants were allegedly bought by Basil Steyn who co owns
Elephant Experience in Victoria Falls. Chengeta Safaris of Selous close to
Harare are said to be buying five (5)of the elephants from Steyn. The elephants
were captured in October 2008 and whilst ZNSPCA heard “rumours” regarding this
capture, after investigating both Chengeta Safaris and Elephant Experience, and
asking the permit office at Parks for details, we met with the Director General
of National Parks and Wildlife Management Authority who assured us that no
permit for such a capture had been issued. We were obviously relieved to hear
this news and assured ourselves that we had been given the correct information
and since we could not find the elephants on both facilities we were confident
that this cruel act had not happened.
Yet the elephants were indeed
captured. Mike Le Grange from AWMC captured 4 elephants on the 21st October
2008 and another 6 on the 22nd October 2008. Reacting to a tip off, ZNSPCA
found the ten elephants on Sondelani Ranch belonging to Steyn in the West
Nicholson area last week. The elephants range from 4years old to two female
elephants of about 18 years old. They are housed in a metal boma with no shade
or shelter and are chained continuously, only being released for training.
The elephants are sprayed with water during hot days to keep them cool.
ZNSPCA Inspectors noted that some elephants had old wounds on their legs
which could have been caused by the chains as well as wounds on their
foreheads. According to the information supplied to us, no vet was present at
the capture or has examined the elephants since the capture.
ZNSPCA are
returning to Sondelani Ranch in the next few days to revisit and monitor the
captured elephants. We will be asking for veterinary reports on all the
injuries we have observed and checking on the training programme in place.
We will keep all interested parties informed of our findings in this
investigation.
Glynis Vaughan
Chief
Inspector
ZNSPCA
156 Enterprise Road, Chisipite, Harare,
Zimbabwe
P O Box CH55, Chisipite, Harare, Zimbabwe
Phone: +263 4
497574
Fax: +263 4 497885
Cell : +263 11 630 403
Farmers win US$21m against govt
The Zimbabwean
| Friday, 24 April 2009 |
Many thousand farms were
looted during farm invasions
HARARE – Thirteen Dutch farmers
kicked off their prime Zimbabwean farms under President Robert Mugabe’s
controversial land reforms have been awarded Euro 8 220 000 as compensation by
the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID).
The ICSID Tribunal, sitting in Paris, France, ruled in favour
of the farmers in their case against Zimbabwe on Wednesday last week but due to
interests of 10 percent compounded every six months the award had ballooned to
16 million euros or about US$21 million as of 22 April 2009.
Counsels Chuck
Verrill of Wiley Rein, Matthew Coleman of Steptoe & Johnson and Boyd Carr of
Coghlan Welsh and Guest, who represented the Dutch farmers, said in a statement
that they hoped the ruling will encourage other farmers who were dispossessed of
their properties despite being protected under bilateral agreements to seek
assistance from the ICSID.
"The award is fair, measured and decisive and is
the culmination of many years of work on the part of our firms, Valuation
Consortium and Agric Africa,” the counsels said in a joint statement.
“We
congratulate the claimants in having the courage, patience and tenacity to see
through this claim and we hope it encourages others to come forward and bring
claims under the bilateral investment treaties,” they added.
The lawyers said
the effect of the ICSID ruling and past rulings by the SADC Tribunal, which has
also ruled against President Robert Mugabe’s controversial land reforms, would
ultimately help to show the Harare authorities that the rule of law and
international obligations must be respected.
They said they hoped that the
award to the Dutch farmers will make Mugabe realise that eventually he will have
to compensate all farmers – regardless of their nationality – from whom he
seized land.
In the submissions to the ICSID, the farmers said by seizing
their farms without paying Mugabe’s government violated a bilateral trade and
investment protection agreement signed with the Netherlands.
Mugabe has
refused to pay for land seized from white farmers which he says was in the first
place stolen from indigenous blacks.
The Zimbabwean leader has said farmers
should be paid only for improvements on the land such as dams, road and
buildings. Even then, the government has failed to pay for these and in cases
where it has attempted to pay the sums offered were way below market value.
Under the bilateral agreement with the Netherlands, the Zimbabwe government
is required to compensate in full the Dutch farmers for the farms, including the
land.
The Tribunal noted that Zimbabwe had admitted that it had expropriated
the farms concerned and had not paid compensation. It further held that
applicable law governing the dispute under the Treaty was public international
law, not Zimbabwean law.
It said the date of expropriation was held to be
the date the section 8 (eviction) orders were issued, or in cases where no
section 8 order was issued and the farm was invaded, the date of the enactment
of the Rural Land Occupiers (Protection from Eviction) Act, which prevented the
removal of invaders.
The level of compensation payable was that as determined
by public international law, which is the market value of the properties and all
other losses arising from the expropriations.
Zimbabwean law and procedures
had no part to play in determining the level of compensation due, the ICSID
ruled.
The tribunal also noted that claimants' experts methodology of valuing
each of the farms as a production unit as at 2001/2002 was correct and that the
government's method of valuation was "not computed properly according to
[international] law" and the government's valuations "are obviously too low".
The Tribunal did not consider that a defence of necessity had been factually
or legally established by Zimbabwe and noted that no state of emergency was ever
declared.
Further, the tribunal refused to discount the damages on the
basis requested by Zimbabwe, which was that the expropriations were part of a
large scale nationalisation; the "number and aim of the expropriations" were,
according to the Tribunal, not relevant.
The victory by the Dutch farmers is
likely to open floodgates for similar claims in international courts by former
white commercial farmers who lost their properties during the land reforms. |
State agents harass MDC officials
THE ZIMABABWEAN
| Friday, 24 April 2009 |
 Ghandi Mudzingwa – Former aide to
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai
HARARE – Prime Minister
Morgan Tsvangirai's former aide Ghandhi Mudzingwa and MDC security chief Chris
Dhlamini, both granted bail last week, have endured week-long harassment by
police and intelligence operatives determined to block their
freedom.
They are accused of planning acts of banditry, insurgency and
terrorism to topple President Robert Mugabe’s government.
The two MDC
officials were under armed guard at the Avenues Clinic together with their
co-accused photojournalist Anderson Manyere, where they are being treated for
horrific torture injuries inflicted upon them by State agents.
They were
granted US$1 000 bail each and ordered to report to police every Friday between
6am and 6pm and would appear in court on April 30 for further remand.
The day
the two senior MDC security chiefs were granted bail, the prison guards left
their hospital beds and Mudzingwa and Dhlamini spent Saturday and Sunday on
their own, unguarded.
Visited
But on Monday, they were
ominously visited by police officers from the Harare Central Police Station's
Law and Order section, Detective Chief Inspector Ntini, Detective Inspector
Muchada, Detective Assistant Inspector Mukwaira and Chief Superintendent
Magwenzi.
Magwenzi was named in an affidavit by Dhlamini as one of the main
actors in Dhlamini’s torture, subjecting him to a brutal torture method called
water boarding or simulated drowning at Goromonzi Prison Complex where the
detainees were held incommunicado for over a month.
The Zimbabwean on Sunday
has been informed that on the same day, a fifth man whose identity could not be
immediately established visited them.
On Tuesday at around 21:30hrs, the five
police officers were replaced by eight heavily armed prison guards from
Chikurubi Maximum Security Prison before the police officers returned on
Wednesday accompanied by Chief Superintendent Tarwirei, who claimed he was
acting on “instructions from above” to keep the MDC activists under guard.
Proof
When it was pointed
out to him that the two men had been granted bail and did not need guarding,
Tarwirei asked for proof.
There were further reinforcements as Sgt Jasper
Musademba from Harare Central Police Station Law and Order section joined the
security details.
The Zimbabwean on Sunday understands the prison officer on
duty, only identified as Gurajera, asked Sgt Musademba why Dhlamini and
Mudzingwa should be having prison guards when they had been granted bail and
Musademba replied: “It is political, just keep guarding them”.
The next shift
of prison guards again asked why Dhlamini and Mudzingwa were under armed guard
when they had been freed on bail but were told there were instructions from
above.
Removed
The prison
officer then ordered the guards to be stationed outside Mudzingwa and Dhlamini's
ward and at about 2.30pm the following day, the prison guards were
removed.
But by 5pm Sgt Musademba and two Central Intelligence Organisation
(CIO) operatives had positioned themselves outside the ward in their place while
a further six CIO operatives were stationed in the car park of the Avenues
Clinic.
Apparently, whatever had been planned was foiled by the heavy
presence of lawyers and other visitors.
In the evening, around 6pm, Sgt
Musademba and the CIO operatives were replaced by two policemen from Harare
Central Police Station. The harassment continues.
BY CHIEF
REPORTER
|
Makoni party launch delayed
THE ZIMBABWEAN
| Friday, 24 April 2009 |
 Simba Makoni urging Zimbabweans to
vote for him in last year’s presidential election.
HARARE – The
transformation of the Simba Makoni-led Mavambo/Kusile/Dawn (MKD) movement into a
full-fledged political party by the end of this month has hit a snag, amid
bickering among the group’s top leaders over control of financial and other
material resources.
The battle for of resources between Makoni and the
movement’s national coordinator Ibbo Mandaza and support mobilisation
coordinator Kudzai Mbudzi has since spilled into the courts.
Mandaza, Mbudzi
and other members of the movement have tried without success to suspend Makoni
and in March this year approached the High Court to achieve this.
Impeccable
sources in Mavambo said transformation of the movement into a formal political
party was put on hold after the eruption of the fight for resources received
from donors and other well-wishers.
“The party will no longer be launched by
the end of the month as originally planned,” a member of the movement’s national
executive said. “Makoni didn’t see it fit to launch the party when there is
bickering in the movement. New dates for the launch will be decided once there
is peace in the movement.”
Makoni’s spokesperson Godfrey Chanetsa last week
said the launch of the party had been put on ice, before refusing to give
further details.
According to documents and information at hand, rifts in the
movement started on October 27 last year when 10 provincial executives nearly
revolted against Makoni during a meeting of the national coordinating committee.
The executives accused Makoni of failure to act with speed to transform the
movement into a political party.
The provinces, with the support of Mandaza
and Mbudzi, demanded that Makoni account for financial and material resources he
received from donors and well-wishers for his presidential campaign last
year.
National Alliance for
Democracy
The sources said the party – to be known as the National
Alliance for Democracy – was supposed to have been launched last August, but
Makoni allegedly continued to postpone its inception arguing that there was need
to come up with a sound constitution and policies.
Apart from accusing Makoni
of delaying the launch of the party, the provinces reportedly accused him of
refusing to distribute to them 20 vehicles donated to the movement before the
March 29 presidential elections.
Makoni contested the March 29 presidential
election as an independent candidate against President Robert Mugabe, Movement
for Democratic Change party leader Morgan Tsvangirai and another independent
contender Langton Towungana.
He came out a distant third in the election in
which Tsvangirai out polled Mugabe, but failed to garner the 50 percent-plus-one
vote to assume the presidency.
In a confidential letter wrote to Makoni by
Mandaza on October 30, the academic accused Zimbabwe’s former finance minister
of not being “transparent and honest with respect to the enormous resources
which were received for the (presidential) campaign.”
Mandaza told Makoni
that former industry minister Nkosana Moyo had told him in June 2008 that he had
alone raised about US$1.5 million and 200 000 litres of fuel for the
campaign.
Moyo was one of Makoni’s fundraisers for his presidential bid
before he withdrew his support after the former Zanu (PF) politburo member
declined to form a coalition with other opposition parties to challenge
Mugabe.
Anger and
irritation
Mandaza claimed that Moyo was also unhappy about the
lack of accountability on the part of the movement’s accounts department headed
by two officials identified only as Mujeyi and Sakutukwa.
“For all your
assertions about honesty and integrity, I was shocked at the defensive posture –
and even anger and irritation – in the face of our enquiries during the session
on resources,” wrote Mandaza.
He also questioned Makoni’s leadership style
and suggested that the former SADC executive secretary had dictatorial
tendencies.
In March, lawyers representing Mbudzi, Mandaza and other members
of the MKD filed an ordinary application to bar Makoni from using the movement’s
property because they suspended him from it last December.
The application
came after Judge President Rita Makarau had thrown out an earlier urgent
application by the movement to bar Makoni from using Mavambo’s resources.
Makarau said the applicants had failed to approach the courts for relief early
enough to show that the matter was urgent.
In the papers lodged at the High
Court, the applicants said Makoni’s presidential campaign was well funded and
received a donation of at least US$3 million and 34 vehicles, some of which were
attached to Makoni.
“Serious problems arose in the Movement after the
elections in March 2008. For reasons difficult to understand, Simba Makoni
literally became a very different Simba Makoni from the Simba Makoni whom the
Movement had nurtured into being its presidential candidate,” the court
application says.
Resolved to support
Tsvangirai
According to the papers, Makoni and a small team of
what are allegedly his personal friends took advantage of their location at the
head office, and their administrative responsibilities to make decisions which
were completely contrary to those of the National Coordinating Committee.
“In
May and June 2008 for example, the Movement resolved to unilaterally and
unconditionally support Morgan Tsvangirai in the event of a runoff. Despite
being present at the meetings and in fact agreeing to the resolutions, Simba
Makoni proceeded to announce a vague, meaningless and ambivalent position of his
own which has hurt the image of the Movement,” the application states.
The
movement also accuses Makoni and his coterie of friends of turning the money and
assets of Mavambo to their own personal use.
The applicants alleges that
there are 20 other cars which despite a resolution, Makoni has withheld and
refuses to distribute to provinces.
BY MUNYARADZI
NDLOVU
|
Generals cannot hold nation to ransom
forever
the zimbabwean
| Thursday, 23 April 2009 |
The army
generals
The warning by the International Crisis Group (ICG) that
there is a real risk of a coup or that Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai could be
assassinated by disgruntled military generals makes for upsetting reading but is
hardly surprising.
The generals have grabbed every opportunity to show utter
contempt of Tsvangirai. They have refused to salute Tsvangirai or to acknowledge
his authority as Prime Minister of Zimbabwe.
The security chiefs disdain
Tsvangirai for the simple reason that they see him as the personification of the
unfolding political transition that has begun to wear down their power and
security in a very serious and rather irreversible way.
The security chiefs
fear the morning after President Robert Mugabe leaves or loses power. In the
words of the ICG: “insecurity within the military is the greatest risk to a
smooth national transition”.
The guilty are always afraid! The generals are
scared because they have blood on their hands. Over the years, they and Zanu
(PF) have played God over us all. They have sanctioned murder, rape, torture and
they have looted property from those that were not part of the establishment and
therefore vulnerable.
In short, the generals and their associates are
perfect candidates for the International Criminal Court.
Yet, no one is
calling for retribution. Indeed the majority of Zimbabweans are happy to let
bygones be bygones. What Zimbabweans yearn for are not the heads of the
Commander of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces and his associates.
We have said
this before and we repeat: all that Zimbabweans want – have ever wanted – is to
have back their country that the generals and Zanu (PF) have for all these years
treated as a private fiefdom.
In return for something as simple as an
apology and full disclosure of the crimes and pain they have visited upon their
compatriots, the generals could keep pretty much of their ill-gotten wealth and
still live to enjoy the freedom that they have denied others for so long.
It
is really their call to make. The security chiefs and their allies in Zanu (PF)
can choose to contribute positively to the change happening in our country and
they will soon discover that their fear of retribution and punishment was just
that – only fear.
Or, the generals can elect to be an obstacle to change, as
they seem so eager to be. They can paralyse the unity government or topple it
altogether. They can even order the murder of Tsvangirai and whatever else they
deem necessary to stop change.
But, of this, the generals can rest assured:
they cannot hold the nation to ransom forever. For, history teaches us that
ultimately no general or army, no matter how strong, has ever won against the
people.
|
Tribunal rules against govt -- again
the zimbabwean
| Friday, 24 April 2009 |
 HARARE – The Southern African Development Community (SADC) Tribunal
has ordered the Zimbabwe government not to evict a black farmer from his
property.
The ruling last Thursday in favour of Luke Tembani is the first by
the Windhoek-based regional court in favour of a black commercial farmer.
Tembani who has been owning the farm since 1980, had appealed to the court
as he was due to be evicted on May 21 by the Agricultural Bank of Zimbabwe
(Agribank) which wanted to sell his farm to recover money he owes the finance
house.
Justice Ariranga Pillay, ruled that "No interference may take place
with the farmer's peaceful stay on the farm," the judge said adding that "nor
may any eviction happen until the application is heard and determined."
The
government, which initially objected to the case, is yet to make a response to
the ruling. Harare has ignored previous rulings by the regional court declaring
its chaotic and often violent land reforms racist and illegal under the SADC
Treaty.
Trouble for Tembani arose after failing to make repayments when
interest rates soared in 1997. The judge said the Agribank had failed to provide
the exact amount which Tembani owed. The farmer had requested the figures as he
wanted to sell off a small portion of his farm to clear the loan.
Last
November, the SADC Tribunal ruled against Mugabe’s land reforms, saying 78 white
farmers could keep their land because the scheme amounted to racial
discrimination.
But the government has ignored the ruling and continues to
evict white farmers while regional leaders appear unwilling or unable to
confront Mugabe over his refusal to abide by the Tribunal ruling. |
Sanctions cost Mujuru US$6m
the zimbabwean
| Friday, 24 April 2009 |
HARARE – European banks are holding more than US$6 million in frozen accounts
owned by Zanu (PF) strongman Solomon Mujuru, according to a report released last
week.
In the first public announcement on how much some of members
of the inner circle of President Robert Mugabe’s party lost following the
imposition of Western sanctions in 2002, the International Crisis Group (ICG)
said the retired army general lost US$6 million when European banks froze his
accounts.
The EU and the US have since 2002 maintained a travel ban and asset
freeze on Mugabe and his inner circle over election irregularities and alleged
human rights abuses by Harare.
The Brussels-based conflict prevention group
said Mujuru – husband to Zimbabwe Vice President Joice Mujuru – was one of the
few Zanu (PF) heavyweights now pushing for the successful implementation of a
power-sharing agreement between Mugabe and former opposition leader Morgan
Tsvangirai with the hope of securing a relaxation of the European Union
sanctions.
“Solomon Mujuru, a businessman since retiring from the military,
also hopes that having Tsvangirai in government will help him gain the release
of $6 million of his funds that are frozen in European banks,” said ICG.
It
did not say which EU countries are holding the frozen funds or whether the money
was in one or several accounts.
The ICG revelation however provides a useful
pointer to the extent of plunder of national resources by members of Mugabe’s
gravy train.
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader Tsvangirai has faced
resistance from hawkish members of Zanu (PF) who see him as a threat to the
system of political patronage they had become accustomed to since 2000 when
Mugabe abandoned Western-backed economic reforms.
Tsvangirai has since
February been Zimbabwe’s Prime Minister under a unity government with Mugabe and
is viewed by most Zimbabweans as the country’s only hope for securing
much-needed economic aid from the EU and other Western countries.
Hawkish
elements in the old regime want to see the new government fail due to fear of
prosecution, loss of power and its financial sinecures, hatred for Tsvangirai or
the MDC or a genuine belief that they are the guardians of the country’s
liberation.
Part of their game plan is to provoke and frustrate the MDC
through continued arrests and detention of MDC activists, refusal of police to
carry out some government orders, efforts to drive out the last white farmers
through continued farm invasions and stalling on the appointment of provincial
governors as well as reconfiguration of ministerial powers.
Zanu (PF) is
desperately pushing for the lifting of travel bans and asset freezes imposed by
the EU, United States and Australia against more than 200 of its officials and
companies with links to the political party.
Western nations led by the US
and Britain – Zimbabwe’s two biggest donors – have said they want Harare to
submit a credible economic recovery programme and to implement genuine and
comprehensive political and economic reforms before they can lift sanctions and
provide financial support.
|
Investment summit raises hopes for GNU
the zimbabwean
| Thursday, 23 April 2009 |
 HARARE – A leading African economic think-tank, Africainvestor, will
in June host an investment summit in Harare to showcase business opportunities
in Zimbabwe and on the continent, in a sign of growing confidence in the country
fowling formation of a unity government two months ago. The Pan-African
Investment Climate summit conference that will run from June 23 to 25 and will
include a “Zimbabwe day” devoted to assessing and exploring investment
opportunities in the country and possible ways to raise funding for such
projects.
“With the recent inclusive government between MDC and Zanu (PF),
several international development finance institutions and investment funds are
now actively assessing projects in Zimbabwe, making this the perfect opportunity
for astute investors operating in the Southern African Development Community to
assess the situation on the ground and secure early mover advantage,”
Africainvsetor said in statement last week.
“A Zimbabwe donor round table
will take place as part of the Zimbabwe day, offering investors insights on new
funding available for projects in Zimbabwe,” the think-tank
added.
Africainvestor is a specialist investment communications firm advising
governments, international organisations and businesses on communication
strategies for capital market and foreign direct investments in Africa.
The
think-tank also publishes a magazine on investing and investments in Africa, The
Africainvestor, which is widely regarded as the leading international newsstand
magazine for Africa’s investment decision makers.
Analysts see the
conference that will bring Africa’s rich and leading investment advisors to
Zimbabwe only weeks after a Common Market East and Southern Africa (COMESA)
summit to take place in Victoria Falls in the first week of June, as a huge
boost for investment confidence in the country.
According to Africainvestor,
the June summit is supported by the United Nations Industrial Development
Organisation (UNIDO), the NEPAD Business Group, NEPAD, SABC International, China
Africa Business Council, and Association for the Promotion of Tourism to Africa
(APTA), World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) and SA Direct
TV.
Among leading figures expected to address the summit are M’Hamed
Cherif, head of ACP Business Climate, Savannah Maziya, Director of WBHO, Paul
Runge, Managing Director of Africa Project Access, Trevor Ward, Managing
Director of W Hospitality Group and Mawuli Ababio, Managing Director of African
Venture Capital Association.
Once a model African economy, Zimbabwe is in the
grip of an unprecedented economic and humanitarian crisis marked by acute
shortages of food, hard cash, deepening poverty and record unemployment.
A
unity government formed by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and President Robert
Mugabe last February has ignited hopes Zimbabwe could finally end years of
decline to regain its former status as a regional breadbasket.
However
failure by the new government to attract direct financial support from Western
donor countries has raised fears the administration could fail.
|
Gono can no longer mislead the nation
the zimbabwean
| Thursday, 23 April 2009 |
 Gideon Gono – The embattled governor
of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe.
OPINION – In the edition of
20 April, 2009 of the state-controlled Herald newspaper, the Reserve Bank of
Zimbabwe (RBZ) Governor, Gideon Gono, published a 20-page supplement to issue a
public statement on motor vehicle allocations to parliamentarians and other
issues relating to quasi-fiscal operations.
The public statement showed: (i)
Funds "disbursed" and not yet refunded under unknown conditions:
US$1,158,192,368.85
(ii) Forex "availed" to parastatals under unknown
conditions: US$2,064,200,000
(iii) Private sector forex "beneficiaries" under
unknown conditions: US$13,700,000
(iv) 50 second hand motor vehicles "loaned"
to MPs: no value given (When were they procured and purpose?)
(v)
Agricultural mechanisation equipment distributed: no value given
(vi) 292
motor vehicles distributed to various institutions in 2006: no value
given
(vii) 1 058 motor vehicles distributed to various institutions in
2007-2008: no value given
(viii) Motor vehicles PROCURED to various
institutions in 2006-2008: no figures and value given
(ix) Computers and
office equipment allocated: no value given (When were they procured?)
Some questions to the RBZ
Having
read the public statement, one wishes to probe deeply the following:
1. If
the RBZ had so much money all these years, why did it not make it available to
the Ministry of Finance for accountable allocation, with adequate checks and
balances?
2. The RBZ has not been capitalised to the tune of
US$3,236,092,368.85 (US$3,2 billion), which is the amount shown in the public
statement. How did it finance all these operations?
3. How much was received
in total and where did it come from? How much of this was from its own internal
revenues, exports, expropriations of FCAs and loans? If part of it is borrowed,
did External Loans Coordinating Committee (ELCC) preside over these?
4. The
role of distribution of public resources to both the public and private sectors
is not that of the RBZ. Why is he trying to create a role for himself outside
his mandate?
5. In an earlier statement to parliamentarians, he used the term
"Point Institution." a. Under what legal provisions or public policy is this
defined and mandate given? b. Which other public institution can be a "Point
Institution"? c. What public accountability; and checks and balances are there
for this so called "Point Institution"?
6. Why is the RBZ subverting the role
of Ministry of Finance and CMED? This is a fiscal responsibility, right? Why is
he so keen to perform duties that are not his?
7. If the RBZ had the
ingenuity to raise so much money, where is its ability to do so when it is
failing to pay its employees?
8. What is the total amount that the RBZ owes
to suppliers and whose accounts it expropriated?
Nowhere has Gono said
anything about the state of the government in general or the Ministry of Finance
in particular to raise funds through taxes and other means during the period of
his tenure as the Governor.
Finance
Minister should not be swayed
The Minister of Finance should
not be swayed or intimidated by Gono's antics of raising emotions of those who
benefited from his "Father Christmas" behaviour.
All what the Minister of
Finance should insist and presumably insisted is that Gono should collect all
that the RBZ is owed so that he can pay the RBZ suppliers of goods and services;
and repay the forex to the owners of the FCAs whose accounts he
raided.
Because he is not able to raise the money required to settle RBZ
creditors, he is childishly misleading the nation that the Minister of Finance
is requesting beneficiaries of all his programmes to surrender back what they
received.
Anything short of that of the repayments, RBZ creditors and owners
of the forex he expropriated should individually or collectively seek legal
recourse.
These MPs will then realise that it is not the Minister of
Finance's worry at all, neither has he set himself against them. Biti should
just fold his arms and keep his mouth shut.
The RBZ creditors do not need the
Finance Minister's assistance to claim what belongs to them.
Gono
expropriated forex, lent money and gave away motor vehicles outside legal
provisions and public policy. He should be the one to be burdened by recalling
them and collecting whatever is owed to the RBZ. He should either do so himself
or engage a debt collecting agency.
Gono’s self-anointed
spokespeople
That is not the problem or worry of the Ministry
of Finance. Be reminded that there are a number of Zanu (PF) MPs who benefited
from Gono’s "bags" and election campaign funding and have taken it upon
themselves to be his spokespeople and public defenders.
Amongst the Zanu (PF)
MPs defending Gono are the two most visible ones, Makhosini Hlongwane and Edward
Raradza.
Hlongwane the MP for Mberengwa East is a former reporter with ZBC,
who has been working for a company allegedly owned by Emmerson Mnangagwa and
last year he allegedly received a lot of money from Gono to mobilise the
youth.
He was sponsored to beat Rugare Gumbo in the Zanu (PF) primary
elections under a project by Gono to change the Zanu (PF) power base in his
favour through the young ones and those aligned to him through quasi-fiscal
oriented patronage.
Raradza, the MP for Muzarabani South and Zimbabwe Farmers
Union (ZFU) vice president, and his companies called "Farmers World Holdings"
and "Zimbabwe Farmer Development Company" were heavily involved in the
procurement of the agricultural mechanisation equipment.
In June 2008 he was
reported as the chairperson and major stakeholder of an obscure "Zambesi Gas
Zimbabwe Consortium" formed to exploit the Entuba coalfield, near Hwange, in the
north-west of Zimbabwe, after the failure of its initial project to set up a gas
plant in the same area.
Raradza was also the architect of a reign of terror
and orgy of violence linked to Zanu (PF) that swept through Muzarabani (more
than 400 kilometres outside Harare near the Mozambican border) before the run-up
to the June 2008 election.
The dubious meetings by the so-called
"Parliamentarian Welfare Committee" should be dismissed with the contempt it
deserves.
We will not be swayed by the massive misinformation trough the
Herald and ZTV news. The more the noise Gono and his defenders are making in the
name of propaganda, the more those whom he owes are irritated.
Gono should not divert attention to the Finance
Minister when it is his problem to deal with.
Fact 1. The RBZ
owes some companies, people and organisations in forex.
Fact 2. The RBZ has
limited time to settle the liabilities.
Fact 3. Gono should be working on
ways and means of raising funds to repay the money he owes.
Fact 4. The RBZ
has debtors.
Fact 5. The RBZ should be working on ways and means of receiving
money from its debtors.
Fact 6. The RBZ faces serious litigation over its
creditors and other liabilities.
Fact 7. Gono has no means of stopping the
legal tsunami brewing for what the RBZ owes.
BY LEVI MHAKA
|
Tsvangirai: No going back on
unity govt
Gulf Times
Reuters/Chinhoyi
Zimbabwe’s Prime Minister
Morgan Tsvangirai said yesterday there was no going back on the unity
government, despite snags in implementing a power-sharing pact with President
Robert Mugabe.
Tsvangirai formed a coalition government with old rival Mugabe
last February, after months of wrangling over the power-sharing deal they signed
last September, in a bid to end years of political and economic upheaval in
Zimbabwe.
Although some aspects of the agreement are yet to be concluded,
Tsvangirai told thousands of supporters of his Movement for Democratic Change
(MDC) at a rally in Chinhoyi, 115km west of Harare, that he was working well
with Mugabe towards implementing the deal.
“There’s no reverse on the
inclusive government. There will be insults, but we will get there. We have one
project, which is the inclusive government. It has specific policies and
specific targets, which is to pull this country out of the quagmire,” Tsvangirai
said.
“We respect each other, although we may disagree. There’s nothing
Mugabe does without me approving and there is nothing I do without him
approving.”
The MDC is still pushing for the finalisation of outstanding
issues in the power-sharing pact, including the senior government appointments
to positions of central bank governor and attorney-general.
Tsvangirai has
recently protested against Mugabe’s decision to strip an MDC minister of the key
telecommunications portfolio, which he handed to an ally from his ZANU-PF
party.
The MDC leader repeated his calls for national reconciliation after
years of political violence, which his party says cost the lives of hundreds of
supporters at the hands of Mugabe’s ZANU-PF party. Tsvangirai himself was
brutally assaulted while in police custody in March 2007.
“There is need for
reconciliation, although we heavily attacked and insulted each other,” he said,
to some jeers of disapproval from a section of supporters in the crowd.
“In
1980 (at independence) we said let’s forgive each other, we should not take the
law into our own hands.”
Tsvangirai also called for an end to recent farm
invasions, saying further disruptions of agricultural activity would hold back
the government’s efforts to rescue the battered economy.
“On the land issue,
let us distinguish criminal activity and land reforms. We are not going to
accept chaos on agric land, there is need for peace and stability,” Tsvangirai
said.
Zimbabwe’s government has said it needs $8.3bn in financial aid to fix
its economy, but most donors have insisted on more reforms and the full
implementation of the political deal.
Years of hyperinflation and economic
contraction, blamed on Mugabe’s policies such as the seizure of land from white
farmers to resettle landless blacks, have left about half of the country’s
population surviving on food aid.
Women Bear Brunt of Hunger Crisis in Africa, World
