http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
April 26, 2013 in Politics
AS
general elections draw closer, Zanu PF and other political parties,
mainly
the MDC-T, are locked in political combat over a series of issues
ranging
from political violence, involvement of security service chiefs in
politics
and electoral issues, democratic reforms, poll dates and now the
voters’
roll.
Report by Brian Chitemba
Internecine fights over the voters’
roll exploded into open conflict this
week, with senior Zanu PF officials,
including politburo member and State
Security minister Sydney Sekeramayi,
coming in the public to accuse the
MDC-T of registering voters
illegally.
The MDC-T has always charged that Zanu PF uses voter
registration and
attendant fraud to manipulate the electoral
process.
Other parties, including the MDC, have also been complaining
about potential
vulnerabilities in the electoral system and the integrity of
electoral
administration processes in Zimbabwe.
Political parties met
with Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec) officials on
voter registration and
the voters’ roll as conflict over the issue
intensified. Some civil society
leaders have been arrested over claims of
fraudulent voter registration
activities.
Cabinet was also forced to deal with the issue, with co-Home
Affairs
minister, Theresa Makone, this week announcing a raft of measures
designed
to facilitate smooth voter registration.
The registration of
voters and their registers is a problem the world over.
In January, after
his re-election, United States President Barack Obama
emphasised the need to
modernise the US electoral system.
A Bill to do just that was introduced
by the civil rights hero
Representative John Lewis — who knows a thing or
two about how to expand
democracy.
It was said such a reform would
cost less than the current US system —
because computers are cheaper than
piles of paper, while marking a paradigm
shift on how voters were
registered. It would also curb the potential for
fraud and error on voters’
rolls. The biggest problems in the US stem from
an outdated voter
registration system rife with errors as it relies on a
blizzard of paper
records. The voters’ rolls in the US contained millions of
dead people,
countless duplicates and inaccuracies.
This is the same problem Zimbabwe
is also facing as its voters’ roll is
shambolic, which has long been
contentious and was originally part of the
reforms envisaged under the
Global Political Agreement (GPA), although later
dropped.
It has been
suggested transparency and accountability in the election
processes would be
enhanced by utilising a biometric voters’ roll in which
there is
computerised automatic identification of people based on how they
look
(physical characteristics, eg fingerprints and face), and behavioural
characteristics such as voice and signature, but this has been resisted by
Zanu PF which prefers the chaotic trail of paper to a computerised
system.
Mugabe and Zanu PF have been accused by civil society, MDC
parties and the
international community of rigging previous polls using the
flawed voters’
roll which MDC-T secretary-general and Finance minister
Tendai Biti recently
claimed has millions of dead voters.
According
to Zec, the number of registered voters stands at about 5,7
million after
the recent striking off of 345 400 names of deceased people,
while over 60
000 new voters were registered.
Zec says in the disputed March 2008 general
elections, the voters’ roll had
5 934 769 people who dropped to 5 589 355 in
November 2012, only to rise to
5 651 600.
However, these figures have
sparked a fierce war in the inclusive government
where MDC ministers last
week raised the issue — which was tackled in
cabinet — in a bid to avoid the
systematic disenfranchisement of potential
voters by the Registrar-General
(RG)’s Office accused of deliberately
turning away potential voters in areas
perceived to be MDC strongholds.
RG Tobaiwa Mudede is under pressure to
quit amid accusations of incompetence
and corruption within his
offices.
The voters’ roll is likely to remain a source of acrimony until
elections
are held as long as the matter is not addressed to the
satisfaction of all
political parties vigorously pushing for its audit and
registration of their
supporters.
Apart from a clean voters’ roll,
the country needs a raft of other electoral
reforms including competent
electoral administration, an independent Zec
which the MDC parties claim is
staffed with pro-Zanu PF security agents, a
non-partisan public media and
professional security services if elections
are to be free and
fair.
Political pundits say the credibility of an election outcome lies
in the
integrity of the electoral process and institutions, including a
reliable
voters’ roll.
The MDC formations have complained the ongoing
voter registration exercise
was underfunded and inaccessible to many
citizens, a factor which they
allege would work in favour of Mugabe and Zanu
PF who may manipulate it to
achieve their desired outcome.
Questions
have already been raised as to why the electoral body printed 12
million
ballots for the March 16 referendum when Zimbabwe does not have more
than
six million voters.
Consequently, this prompted political observers to
query the numbers which
voted in the referendum, with suggestions Mugabe and
his party wanted to use
the high voter turnout cited in the referendum to
rig elections.
National Association of Non-Governmental Organisations
secretary-general
Godwin Phiri said the voters’ roll was the game-changer in
elections since
it determines who votes and who does not.
“The RG’s
Office is the least qualified given the manner in which it is
created and
the well-known bias of its leadership,” Phiri said.
But Institute for a
Democratic Alternative for Zimbabwe public policy and
governance manager and
political commentator Jabusile Shumba said:
“Political stakeholders must
work on mechanisms to ensure all eligible
Zimbabweans can vote irrespective
of whether they are registered or not,
especially for the presidential poll
although it will not be possible for
constituency seats where only voters
from the particular constituency should
elect their
representative.”
Another important component of an election is voter
education which Phiri
said was critical to enable citizens to vote from
informed positions, and
avoid spoilt votes.
“This process must be
democratised to allow for a multiplicity of players to
reach out to the
people,” he said.
There are many problems with the voters’ roll. The
Zimbabwe Election Support
Network, for example, says the register contains
voters whose names have
been duplicated in different voting districts and
tens of thousands more who
are living abroad and are disqualified from
voting.
There is also the controversy over the Israeli computer
technology company
that specialises in population registration and election
systems, something
which has raised new fears of high-tech manipulation of
results.
The company, Nikuv, has expanded its facilities and increased
its staff in
the country and is believed to be working with military and
intelligence
chiefs loyal to Mugabe.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
April 26, 2013 in Politics
AFTER appearing to
have softened his stance towards President Robert Mugabe
and backing down on
key issues, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai yesterday
flexed his political
muscles declaring there would be no elections until
outstanding reforms are
implemented.
Report by Brian Chitemba
Tsvangirai said polls would
only be held when the elections roadmap has been
fully implemented. He also
said he would launch a diplomatic offensive
within Sadc and other strategic
African states to lobby their leaders to
pressure Mugabe to adopt
reforms.
Tsvangirai spoke about the elections roadmap, security of the
vote, Zec
secretariat, invitation and accreditation of observers, electoral
law
amendments, voter education and the conduct of security forces during
elections.
“The major stumbling block to the implementation of the
above already agreed
reforms remains a palpable deficit of political will to
implement agreed
issues, without which we are likely to reproduce electoral
contestations and
a disputed outcome,” Tsvangirai told journalists in Harare
yesterday.
“In a short while, I will be visiting players within Sadc and
the AU to
ensure that the people of Zimbabwe are guaranteed of a free and
fair
election that will usher in a new dispensation.”
He said
security forces must not interfere in politics and intimidate
voters.
“All Zimbabweans must vote in peace without intimidation,
victimisation,
violence or being forced to attend a political meeting of
this or that
party. No ‘bases’ and vigilante groups in our villages, suburbs
or
communities. The people’s will must be respected and guaranteed,” he
said.
“The security sector must be professional, impartial and
non-partisan and
desist from overtly making partisan political statements
and abusing state
resources to further narrow partisan interests.”
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
April 26, 2013 in News
SINCE
Independence from British colonial rule in 1980, the Zimbabwe Defence
Forces
(ZDF), initially reputed as one of the most professional armies in
Africa,
has increasingly been reduced to a partisan outfit, sometimes even
operating like a para-military wing of Zanu PF, especially during elections
periods.
Report by Elias Mambo
The Zimbabwe military was one
of the best in Africa with good training, vast
operational experience and
progressive doctrines and policies drawn from all
over the
world.
After three armies which fought against each during the liberation
struggle,
the Rhodesians and Zanla and Zipra, were integrated in 1980 to
become a
relatively modern and professional force, it was deployed in
Mozambique from
1983-1992 and later Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) from
1998 to 2002.
The Zimbabwe National Army, which together Air Force of
Zimbabwe form the
ZDF, also participated in observer and peacekeeping
missions in Angola,
Rwanda, Somalia, Lesotho, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Nepal,
Burundi and Sudan.
Furthermore, it also took part in natural disasters
rescue missions in
Namibia, Zambia and Mozambique.
That is partly why
the South African government has requested Air Force of
Zimbabwe instructors
help in training and modernising the South African Air
Force, a positive
testimonial for the ZDF.
Despite its good organisation and its vision to
“provide a highly
professional land force capable of carrying out its
constitutional mandate”,
the ZDF has in recent years seen its integrity and
credibility diminishing
due to its growing politicalisation and brazen
dabbling in partisan politics
by its commanders at the behest of Zanu
PF.
Although this has been happening since the 1980s, the military
started being
consistently deployed into political terrain when President
Robert Mugabe
and his Zanu PF were facing serious problems beginning 2000
following the
emergence of the MDC.
During every election since then,
the military is deployed covertly and
sometimes openly to do political
commissariat duties for Zanu PF which has
now formally employed former Air
vice-Marshal Henry Muchena and ex-CIO
director-internal Sydney
Nyanhungo.
While in some instances, military units are deployed in
uniform to posture
politically and campaign for Zanu PF, there are also
clandestine
deployments, mainly of soldiers who have now come to be known as
“Boys On
Leave” as they are given time to be off their professional duties
to do
political work for Zanu PF.
As Mugabe and Zanu PF came under
increasing political pressure, security
service chiefs – who are now some of
the richest people in Zimbabwe with
farms, huge houses and fleets of luxury
cars – have openly declared their
political loyalty to Mugabe and Zanu PF,
ensuring the military is
manipulated and abused for campaign
purposes.
Since Zanu PF is engulfed in internal strife and its
structures have
collapsed in many areas, state institutions, particularly
the military, are
now propping it up and that is why security forces are
currently its pillar
of strength.
During the Global Political
Agreement (GPA) negotiations, the issue of
security sector reform loomed
large.
Calls for reformation of the military, police, prisons, state
intelligence
services and other critical arms of the security sector are
growing.
Despite clear provisions in Article XIII of the GPA which
stipulate that
“state organs and institutions do not belong to any party and
should be
impartial in the discharge of their duties”, senior top ranking
military and
police officers have been quoted on several occasions openly
supporting Zanu
PF while clothed in uniform and on official
duty.
Defence minister Emmerson Mnangagwa recently claimed security
sector reforms
are not part of the GPA and parties pushing for this are
driven by an
“illegal regime change agenda”.
Zimbabwe Democracy
Institute director Pedzisai Ruhanya said the security
sector has always been
the driving force behind Mugabe’s rule, hence Zanu PF’s
stiff resistance to
reforms in that area.
“The state security apparatus has been deeply involved
in the politics of
the country and has been the vanguard in defence of
Mugabe’s rule for 33
years now,” he said.
Ruhanya also said security
forces have openly played Zanu PF’s commissariat
role in all previous
elections, citing the June 2008 presidential poll
run-off after Mugabe had
suffered a historic defeat to Prime Minister
Tsvangirai in the first round
of voting.
The security sector’s open support for Zanu PF has raised
legitimate fears
that imminent crucial elections could lead to a repeat of
the bloody June
2008 poll — condemned internationally as a sham — in which
200 opposition
supporters lost their lives.
Eldred Masunungure, a
professor of political science at the University of
Zimbabwe, said despite
professional integration and retraining of the
military since 1980 the state
has failed to cut the symbiotic relationship
between former guerrilla
commanders and Zanu PF political leaders.
“In 1980 the British Military
and Advisory Training Team (Bmatt) failed to
inculcate professionalism in
the Zimbabwe Defence Forces through a
separation of military activities from
political ones as there was no clear
division between military and political
engagements during the armed
struggle,” Masunungure said.
“That
relationship makes it unavoidable for the military to react in defence
of
Mugabe and Zanu PF. So when Zanu PF began to weaken politically around
2000,
political threats from a vibrant opposition MDC automatically forced
the
military to jump to the rescue of their former liberation movement,” he
said.
Analysts say the partisan role of the military in politics is a
threat to
reform and transition to democracy. However, another political
analyst
Alexander Rusero said the problem is not the security forces but
political
manipulation. “Mugabe is employing Machiavellian politics in which
he does
not want to rein in the security sector because this will lead to
his
downfall,” Rusero said. “He has created a patronage network and a
situation
of an interdependent relationship between politicians and military
commanders.”
Analysts say the reason reforms are needed in the
security sector is that,
military commanders are not only violating the
constitution and laws, but
their own vision and core values which include
professionalism and
integrity”.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
April 26, 2013 in Politics
PRIME Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai’s MDC-T is engaged in sensitive high-level
talks with security
service chiefs, including military commanders, ahead of
crucial general
elections later this year in a bid to allay fears they would
be removed if
President Robert Mugabe is defeated.
Report by Owen
Gagare
Military sources said the talks with top security service chiefs
are also
aimed at preventing possible political instability or a potential
coup if
Tsvangirai trounces Mugabe.
While opinion polls show
President Robert Mugabe is recovering support,
Tsvangirai is widely seen as
the front-runner if elections are free and
fair.
The sources also
said the MDC-T approached senior military commanders to
discuss their
current and future roles in the security services and packages
if Tsvangirai
wins. The MDC-T has reportedly told them it is willing to work
with those
prepared to respect the elections outcome and legitimate will of
the
people.
The Zimbabwe Independent can exclusively reveal MDC-T defence and
security
secretary Giles Mutsekwa — a retired major — has held talks with
hardliners
in the military, including Zimbabwe Defence Forces (ZDF)
commander General
Constantine Chiwenga,Zimbabwe National Army (ZNA) chief of
staff (general
staff) Major-General Martin Chedondo and chief of staff and
quartermaster
Major-General Douglas Nyikayaramba.
He is also in the
process of engaging ZNA chief-of-staff (administration)
Major-General Trust
Mugoba.
Mutsekwa, also an MP in Mutare and Minister of Housing has also
held talks
with Commissioner-General of the Zimbabwe Republic Police,
Augustine
Chihuri.
Chiwenga, Chihuri, Chedondo, Nyikayaramba and
Mugoba have all publicly
declared their partisan support for Mugabe and Zanu
PF.
This clique and other senior security service chiefs have become some of
Tsvangirai’s vicious critics and are feared to be obstacles to the peaceful
transfer of power should Mugabe and Zanu PF lose the
elections.
Nyikayaramba, Chedondo and Mugoba — who are close allies of
Chiwenga — hold
the most critical functions in the ZNA and are responsible
for its
day-to-day running. They have said they would not allow Tsvangirai
to rule
even if he wins, implying a coup or other worse
interventions.
Heads of the army, police and intelligence services
operating under the
auspices of the Joint Operations Command (JOC) are
Mugabe and Zanu PF’s
pillar of strength.
Since 1980, the military has
always played a key role in politics and
electoral processes, although that
drastically increased after the emergence
of the MDC in 1999. The military
was influential in Mugabe’s disputed
victories in 2002 and 2008.
As a
result the MDC-T has been engaging army commanders since 2002. Sources
said
Mutsekwa, who fought in Mozambique in the 1980s, told army commanders
their
future would be secure under an MDC-T government as they would retain
their
positions if they so wish and receive full benefits if they chose to
retire.
The MDC-T also said it would work with the service chiefs as
presently
constituted “lock, stock and barrel”, although it appreciated that
some of
the commanders may not be willing to serve under a Tsvangirai
government and
should thus be allowed to retire without
retribution.
Sources said military commanders and senior officers in the
intelligence
services were consulted by party leaders in the formulation of
the MDC-T
defence and security policy, which aims at, among other things,
having
leaner, well-maintained and well-equipped armed forces. The policy
will be
unveiled at the party’s policy conference next
month.
Mutsekwa confirmed talks with top military commanders, saying his
engagement
process has made them appreciate the MDC-T’s position although it
is clear
some of them, especially those publicly opposed to Tsvangirai, were
still
firmly behind Mugabe and Zanu PF, and were not prepared to work under
an
MDC-T government.
“I can confirm we have been talking to them.
During our interaction, whilst
they have not directly expressed that they
will resign if we win, you can
read in between the lines that they are not
prepared to work with us. They
fought the liberation struggle under a
certain political leadership and
system, so they believe in that system,”
Mutsekwa said.
“We have however assured them that their pensions and
their future would be
secure. From the look of it, some of them would prefer
to go into politics
full time and we have guaranteed them that their
decisions will be respected
in terms of the constitution as long as they
don’t destabilise the civilian
government. We have, however, told them that
we are willing to work with
them.”
Mutsekwa said his party respected
military commanders’ views and would
honour them for the role they played
during the liberation struggle.
“The attitude of the security forces,
even among those who have been making
public statements, has drastically
changed. They understand that they will
not be victimised and they can see
that their future will be secure even
without Zanu PF,” he
said.
MDC-T has been holding informal discussions with the military for
some time
now. Ahead of the 2002 presidential election former original MDC
MPs Job
Sikhala, who was secretary for defence and security, and Tafadwa
Musekiwa
held talks with Air Force of Zimbabwe commander Air Marshal Perence
Shiri.
In January 2003 Tsvangirai revealed he had held talks with retired
Colonel
Lionel Dyke who said he was acting on behalf of the late ZDF chief
Vitalis
Zvinavashe and Defence minister Emmerson Mnangagwa. Efforts to get
comment
from Mnangagwa, the army and police were unsuccessful.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
April 26, 2013 in
Politics
PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe, seeking to extend his 33-year
stranglehold on
power, has given the Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO)
the nod to vet
Zanu PF aspiring candidates countrywide ahead of the party’s
primaries in
preparation for general elections.
Report by Elias
Mambo
Sources told the Zimbabwe Independent Mugabe and Zanu PF are
leaving no
stone unturned in their quest for victory, hence the move to
engage CIO
operatives to do background checks and assess the potential of
each aspirant
to avoid the 2008 scenario in which the party lost control of
parliament.
“We submit our CVs through the President’s Office (CIO
Department) which
will then forward them to the district,” a source said
this week.
As part of the background checks, sources said the CIO was
particularly
interested in a person’s role in Zanu PF over the last five
years, and one’s
private life which includes close observations of aspiring
candidates’
political background and social connections.
CIO sources
said teams have been dispatched to each of the country’s 10
provinces to
check, among other the things, the popularity of the potential
candidates
and whether they have the capacity to win against rival MDC
parties’
candidates.
“We have reports on each and every candidate. It will soon be
handed over to
the (Zanu PF) national chairman (Simon Khaya Moyo),” said a
top CIO source.
The intelligence operatives have been going ward by ward
checking on the
integrity and popularity of aspiring candidates.
“In
fact, they claim they know approximately how many votes we will get in
the
forthcoming elections,” said a source who is eyeing a parliamentary seat
on
a Zanu PF ticket.
These revelations confirm Zanu PF Hurungwe East
legislator Sarah Mahoka’s
recent claims in court that Mugabe, Zanu PF and
the CIO are one and the same
thing.
Mahoka alleged that she saw “Zanu
PF aspiring candidates’ papers at the
President’s Office, which had invited
aspiring candidates to submit their
papers. That is also where I submitted
my own papers”.
However, State Security minister Sydney Sekeramayi
refuted the allegations
saying candidate vetting is a party
process.
“Those are false accusations because vetting is a party process
which has
nothing to do with state security,” Sekeramayi said.
Zanu
PF secretary for administration Didymus Mutasa said vetting is done
through
the election directorate chaired by the party’s chairperson SK Moyo.
“Our
vetting process is done by the election directorate which is chaired by
our
party’s national chairperson,” said Mutasa. “We do not involve the
security
apparatus in checking the suitability of our candidates,” he said.
The
involvement of the CIO in Zanu PF structures partly explains the party’s
resistance to security sector reforms aimed at ensuring professionalism and
levelling the political field in the forthcoming elections.
All
attempts to reform the military or the broader security sector have been
met
with fierce resistance from Zanu PF which has vowed never to allow
changes
in the sector, arguing it would be detrimental to state security.
The
Joint Operations Command, which brings together heads of the army,
police
and the CIO, has played a strong commissariat role for Zanu PF in all
previous elections, especially the disputed June 2008 presidential run-off
polls.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
April 26, 2013 in Politics
THE MDC led by
Industry and Commerce minister Welshman Ncube has lost its
role as
“kingmaker” in the National Assembly after it recently dismissed a
further
five MPs for crossing the floor to the rival MDC-T, effectively
making its
presence in parliament symbolic.
Paidamoyo Muzulu
MDC
secretary-general Priscilla Misihairabwi-Mushonga (pictured) recently
wrote
to Speaker of parliament Lovemore Moyo requesting the expulsion of
five MPs
from the House for seeking nominations on the MDC-T ticket in the
next
elections.
The five are deputy speaker and Umzingwane MP Nomalanga
Khumalo, Tsholotsho
South MP Maxwell Dube and his Gwanda North counterpart
Zinti Mkandla as well
as senators Dalumuzi Khumalo (Lupane) and Kembo Dube
(Umzingwane).
The decision to expel the MPs effectively reduces MDC
representation in the
National Assembly to four, including Ncube and
Misihairabwi-Mushonga,
critically eroding the party’s influence in the midst
of the
constitution-making process and ahead of crucial legislative reforms,
among
them the Electoral Act Amendment Bill, Urban Councils Act and Rural
District
Councils Act, expected to be done in parliament before it is
dissolved on
June 29.
The expulsions mean the party has now fired a
total of eight MPs since 2009.
Njabuliso Mguni, Abednico Bhebhe and Norman
Mpofu were expelled in 2009 for
voting with MDC-T MPs in elections for
Speaker of the National Assembly.
The Speaker is expected to rule on the
application soon. Political analysts
say the MDC’s relevance in the
legislature has now been further weakened by
this.
Bulawayo-based
analyst Dumisani Nkomo said: “It will be quite tricky for
them in that
regard but the good thing is that the legislative reform agenda
of
parliament is more or less a shared process as it is mainly
implementation
of agreed reforms.”
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
April 26, 2013 in Politics
AS elections loom in
the second half of this year, Zanu PF has allegedly
embarked on a
vote-buying spree in a bid to secure victory by allocating
1000 stands in
Mutare to party supporters and other prospective voters.
Report by Wongai
Zhangazha
Local Government minister Ignatius Chombo is alleged to have
ordered the
Mutare municipality to give land to a housing co-operative
called
Mushamukadzi, which has strong Zanu PF links.
In the 2008
polls the party fared badly in Manicaland in which Mutare lies,
winning only
six of the 26 seats.
Zanu PF is leaving no stone unturned as it battles
to regain political
dominance and lost ground after four years of a forced
partnership with its
MDC rivals in a shaky coalition government, following
inconclusive elections
in 2008.
Sources said Chombo directed acting
Mutare mayor George Jerison to allocate
stands to the co-operative whose
patron is said to be Zanu PF Women’s League
boss Oppah
Muchinguri.
Jerison confirmed Chombo directed his council to allocate 1
000 stands
valued at between US$1,5 million and US$2 million, each measuring
150 square
meters.
“We were given a directive last year by Chombo to
allocate 1 000 stands at
Dimboki North which constitutes both state and
council land to the
co-operative,” said Jerison. “Currently the place is
occupied by 3 Brigade,
which uses it as a shooting range. The stands will be
allocated once the
army is done with its shooting practice.
We were
told that the stands were meant for women empowerment and I only
know of a
Mai Zindi as the one in charge; I don’t know about Muchinguri,”
Jerison
said.
The land allocation directive follows a strategic mobilisation
meeting at
the end of last year at the Zanu PF headquarters in Harare
chaired by the
party’s secretary for administration Didymus
Mutasa.
The meeting, which was also attended by commissar Webster Shamu,
discussed
ways of seizing control of seats lost to the MDC-T through a
series of
tactics, most of which appear to be brazen
vote-buying.
Among the proposed tactics was the mobilisation of housing
co-operatives,
community-based organisations and burial societies as well as
the setting up
of community banks to secure votes. This is in addition to
trying to secure
the support of indigenous churches, particularly the
Vapostori sect, through
promises of community development projects and using
diamond proceeds to
sponsor a robust electoral campaign.
Housing
minister Giles Mutsekwa said he was aware of the housing scheme and
has
ordered his officials in Mutare to investigate the issue.
“I’m actually
in the process of finding out how that co-operative is
operating,” said
Mutsekwa. “I know that there is this project being run
under Muchinguri.
Those are dubious projects and I want to know their
origins,” he
said.
However, Muchinguri said on Wednesday she was not aware of the
housing
project.
Chombo was not available for comment.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
April 26, 2013 in News
ZANU PF and
the two MDC formations are involved in an intense battle over
control of the
voters’ roll ahead of crucial general elections this year
amid revelations
that even Home Affairs co-minister Theresa Makone’s name
did not appear on
the register as of April 15.
Report by Owen Gagare
Makone is
leading the fight to ensure the voters’ roll is cleaned up before
the polls
and to ensure the Registrar-General (RG)’s Office registers all
potential
voters. The RG’s Office falls under the Home Affairs ministry and
is also
the custodian of the voters’ roll.
The RG is responsible for registering
voters and issuing national identity
documents, which are required for one
to register as a voter as well as to
vote, but the department has been
slammed for failing to discharge its
duties competently.
Zimbabwe’s
voters’ roll has been in shambles for a long time and parties in
the
inclusive government agreed to compile a new register during the Global
Political Agreement (GPA) negotiations, but this has not been
done.
However, all parties have placed the voters’ roll under close
scrutiny ahead
of the polls resulting in them conducting ward-based
verifications of the
register to analyse registration trends, while also
checking if their
supporters are on the roll.
The verification
process has resulted in shocking revelations. For example,
Makone, who has
voted in all elections since 1980, discovered to her shock
she had been
struck off the roll in her ward.
A check of the voters’ roll for Harare’s
Ward 18 in the Harare North
constituency on April 15 by MDC-T officials
showed Makone, who is also MP
for the area, was not on the register
containing 8 305 people.
After Makone’s party aide, who is from the same
ward and was also missing
from the voters’ roll, complained about the
anomaly, their names re-appeared
on the register on April 17 while the
number of registered voters had in 24
hours jumped to 10 076
people.
Makone’s middle name Maonei was however mispelt “Maoneyi” when she
was
restored on the register.
In ward 42, which is also in Harare
North, the voters’ roll had 5 196 people
on April 15, but the number had
more than trebled in two days to 17 068 on
April 17. The addition of 11 872
in just two days raised eyebrows and
allegations of tampering with the
voters’ register.
Makone this week confirmed the anomalies and said the
realisation was
shocking given that the RG’s Office has her records as she
often renews her
passport and has been on the voters’ roll since 1985,
although she voted
using her identity card in the 1980 polls.
Makone
also said she changed her middle name from Maoneyi to Maonei 10 years
ago,
and this was reflected in the previous voters’ roll as well as her ID
and
passport, but was surprised that the RG’s department had retained her
old
name when it restored her name on the voters’ roll.
Zanu PF has also been
conducting its own verification exercise and is
accusing MDC-T of
manipulating the voters’ roll. The party’s secretary for
security Sydney
Sekeramayi on Monday complained to the Zimbabwe Electoral
Commission (Zec)
that in Marondera 60 people were registered under Mahachi
Building while 200
people were registered under Goromonzi Secondary School.
In recent weeks,
cabinet has been forced to tackle bureaucratic bungling and
systematic
disenfranchisement of potential voters by the RG’s Office
countrywide
following an outcry from members of the public who were finding
it difficult
to register.
Ironically, thousands of people, mainly from the country’s
uniformed forces
and members of some apostolic church sects as well as
people bused in to
registry points by Zanu PF officials, have been easily
registering.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
April 26, 2013 in Business
THE
Zimbabwe government is facing challenges in the prioritisation,
focussing
and management of government expenditure and is as a result
failing to
influence the economy towards sustainable growth, economists have
said.
Clive Mphambela
In a recent study by economic policy
analyst and public finance expert
Jabusile Shumba and Mohamed Jahed, a Wits
University professor and
divisional executive at the Development Bank of
Southern Africa, entitled
Fiscal Space Challenges, Policy Options and
Zimbabwe’s Economic Recovery,
the country is faced with a difficult
challenge of reconstructing the
economy after a long period of
recession.
“Zimbabwe has no option but to reform its budget and financial
management
and move away from political grandstanding, and instead instill
strong
fiscal controls and procedures,” the authors
say.
Businessdigest spoke to Shumba, who said the study had been done
following
the country’s precipitous economic decline between 1999 and 2008
where they
say the country cumulatively lost at least 48% of its
GDP.
“Following the economic meltdown of the lost decade, Zimbabwe finds
itself
in a more than desperate situation as far as revenues are concerned.
The
challenge we are exploring is how the country came out of the
hyperinflationary period to re-orient itself, and kick-start the economy
onto a sustainable growth path,” Shumba said.
He said given the
limitations of the country’s fiscal space, a comprehensive
public recurrent
expenditure review must now pre-occupy Zimbabwe’s policy
makers in order to
free more resources.
He said the study had challenged conventional wisdom
that a strong state was
required to power economic growth.
“We feel
strongly that presently, Zimbabwe should really consider cutting
its defence
spending and seriously deal with the heavy expenditure by
parastatals in
order to create fiscal space.”
Recently, Finance minister Tendai Biti said
the civil service wage bill was
consuming more than 75% of the budget, a
situation he said was not
sustainable.
While revenue collection has
improved remarkably since 2009, Shumba and
Jahed contend the government has
limited scope to increase revenues, further
leaving the only options open
being the reprioritisation of public
expenditures towards growth-enabling
public expenditure on infrastructure,
health and education and cutting
fiscal expenditure in the non-productive
sectors such as parastatals and
defence.
Shumba said the country’s public expenditure was dominated by
recurrent
expenditure and therefore typical public expenditure reductions
should
include cutting down the wage bill, trimming and eliminating
subsidies,
reducing transfer payments.
“The government currently
employs an estimated 250 000 people generating a
wage bill of more than
US$960 million, working out at more than 70% of
revenue collections, 60% of
the total budget, and more than 15% of GDP,” the
study
states.
“Zimbabwe should seriously consider downsizing the civil service
in order to
make it more affordable, whether by merging ministries and/ or
retrenching
employees.”
Zimbabwe also spends significantly more in
the security and safety sector
than it does in the productive sectors with
26% of public spending going
towards defence and security.
“Measures
targeted at reducing government-sponsored military interventions
and cutting
down the size of the security sector are critical to freeing
resources
towards growth-enhancing endeavours,” says the study.
Defence
expenditures can only be productive if they are supporting, for
example, an
enterprise for exporting military equipment, something that has
not been the
case for Zimbabwe in a long time.
The economists further recommended
that, in addition to privatising
loss-making parastatals which have been a
drain on the fiscus due to
inefficiencies and ballooning losses; government
should also consider
public-private partnerships (PPPs) to finance
infrastructure rehabilitation
and development in the transport and energy
sectors.
“This approach has shown positive results within the Sadc region
including
South Africa where PPPs have been successfully deployed in the
development
of the transport sector,” the study says.
In their
concluding remarks, the experts said that the creation of an
enabling
business environment was critical, describing the current business
regulations as confusing, arbitrary and costly.
“They inhibit business
start-ups, repel foreign investment and reduce
productivity.”
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
April 26, 2013 in Business
EXECUTIVES
in Zimbabwe’s banking sector are not keen on indigenisation of
the banking
sector, a research survey by a South African research house,
Econometer
Global Capital (EGC), has revealed.
Clive Mphambela/Fidelity
Mhlanga
Presenting the results of the survey carried out early this year
to
journalists at a Harare hotel this week, head of research at EGC,
Christopher Mugaga said indigenisation was a “hot topic which also raises
emotion and the ire of mischief”.
The survey, titled 2013 Bankers
Confidence Index was designed to gauge the
views of Zimbabwe’s top bankers
on three topical issues.
It sought the opinion of bank CEOs on the
prospects of the banking sector in
2013, the Indigenisation and Economic
empowerment policy as it relates to
the banking sector as well as the
regulatory environment and internal
management of the
banks.
According to Mugaga, 82% of banking heads participated in the
survey, while
senior representatives of two key stakeholders Afreximbank and
the Zimbabwe
Stock Exchange were involved in the survey. Afreximbank is a
major lender
to Zimbabwe’s economy through lines of credit while a number
of Zimbabwean
banks or their parent companies are listed on the
ZSE.
“In our polls, 94% of the interviewed CEO’s believe indigenisation
policy is
not suitable at this juncture, while 1% said they could not
comment. The
other 5% saw nothing wrong with the indigenisation drive as
long as there
was transparency in the implementation of the programme,”
Mugaga said.
However, the 5% in favour of the programme went on to argue
that there was
need to introduce management contracts where the day to day
management of
banks is left to the foreign heads while equity can be
transferred to the
indigenous citizens.
“The 94% went on to buttress
their argument by claiming that the banking
sector in Zimbabwe is already
well indigenised as evidenced by the number of
banking institutions owned by
black Zimbabweans,” Mugaga said.
However, Youth Indigenisation and
Economic Empowerment minister Saviour
Kasukuwere dismissed the survey
results, saying bank executives were
employees who had no option but to
parrot the views of their foreign
shareholders in order to protect their
jobs.
He argued the CEOs were not being sincere in denouncing the moves aimed
ultimately at empowering employees and communities.
“What can they
say, remember they are mere employees and they would be fired
if their
shareholders know that they are openly in support of the
programme,”
Kasukuwere said.
He reiterated his view that his Zanu PF- sponsored
programme was the law of
the land and would be implemented.
“We are
not going to be told what to do by a few bank CEOs. This is a
national
programme that is looking at the broader interests of the economy
and the
future of our country and its citizens,” Kasukuwere said.
Critics of the
indigenisation drive say indigenising banks will further harm
the economy as
foreign investors are jittery about the whole programme.
They say
foreign lines of credit will dry up as banks, particularly foreign
banks,
play a key role in the economy.
Kasukuwere however argued that evidence
on the ground shows that all of
Zimbabwe’s present active lines of credit
amount to almost US$500 million
have been mobilised through locally-owned
banks with very little having been
provided by the foreign banks.
As
the debate on indigenisation of the banking sector rages on, the survey
results show that 92% of the banking CEOs think the sector is robust and
expressed confidence the sector will grow in the last three quarters of
2013.
However, 6% of CEOs strongly believe the elections to be held
in 2013 will
impact on the trajectory of the sector while only 2% feel the
sector is
doomed as we progress in 2013.
According to EGC, those who
are pessimistic were basing their arguments on
the recent introduction of
memorandum of understanding which was signed
between the central bank and
the banks early this year.
On a scale of 0 to 10, where 0 implies the
worst case scenario without any
prospects for growth while 10 is the height
of confidence where growth
prospects are very strong, the banking CEOs in
Zimbabwe have scored an
average of 6 in their rating of the banking sector
in particular.
Mugaga said the research also showed that 86% of the bank
CEOs believe the
banking sector is well managed by the Reserve Bank of
Zimbabwe.
“The bankers pointed out the central bank is doing its best
given the
limited resources available to bring sanity and growth into the
sector,” he
said.
However, 10% believe the RBZ erred by introducing
measures to curtail bank
profits such as the scrapping of bank charges for
accounts below US$800
alongside the raising of capital thresholds to
US$100million from
US$12,5million saying these moves had put a lot of
pressure on banks.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
April 26, 2013 in
Business
CONSTRUCTION of West Properties’ US$100 million Mall of Zimbabwe
is expected
to start anytime after May with the completion of a tender
process expected
to start early next month, West Group CEO Ken Sharpe
said.
Report by Taurai Mangudhla
Sharpe told businessdigest this
week the property division of the
diversified group plans to move on the
construction site of the
multi-million-dollar property in the plush
Borrowdale area next month to
start work.
“We are going to tender
next month for most of the services and we expect
adjudication to be
completed in May after which construction will start
immediately,” Sharpe
said in a telephone interview.
“We will move on the site next month and put
up a fence and start erecting
billboards.”
He allayed fears the group
was facing capital problems, saying it was riding
on its partners for
capital and technical support.
“I agree that capital is tight anywhere in
the world and it would be
difficult to get it in here, but we are in
partnership with McCormick
(Property Development) and they are the ones we
are relying on for capital,”
he said.
“We are using their
credibility, experience, network and balance sheet to
see the project
through so there are no capital worries. In fact, we are on
schedule on our
part.”
McCormick Property Development is a South African registered
company that
has pioneered the development of emerging markets for nearly
three decades
and has completed 49 shopping centre developments to a value
of over US$1
billion.
As of this week, Sharpe said, West Properties
had signed 60% of the leases
with tenants for the project through their
South Africa leasing agent who
has been in the country since
February.
West group said the leases were signed earlier to give room for
any major
structural alterations to meet tenant
specifications.
Recently, West Properties CEO Mike van Blerk said
construction of the
project would go ahead after the company received the
green light from the
country’s Environmental Management Agency (EMA)
following 11 months of
negotiations and making some adjustments to the
initial proposed subdivision
of the prime land.
West Properties’ 68
000-square -metre mall, office parks, cluster homes,
residential stands,
schools and medical facilities will be built on the open
space between
Borrowdale West and Dandaro.
Van Blerk said the project is expected to be
completed in October 2014
instead of April 2014 due to delays in securing an
environmental impact
assessment clearance from EMA.
When completed,
the mall would be the biggest mall complex in Africa outside
South
Africa.
The mall is said to have already attracted in excess of 170
potential
tenants.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
April 26, 2013 in News
This
is a continuation of last week’s interview of veteran local
journalist-turned politician, Geoffrey Nyarota (GN), by Zimbabwe Independent
chief reporter Owen Gagare (OG).
OG: You contributed a lot to the
Zimbabwe media. What do you see as your
successes?
GN: I believe my
greatest achievement in the Zimbabwean media was the launch
of the Daily
News in 1999 and seeing it grow to become the country’s
largest, most
popular and most influential newspaper in one year. Seeing a
new newspaper
rise from zero to 129 500 copies sold in one day is no mean
achievement by
any standard and I am proud of that. I also believe I have
been instrumental
in keeping the flame of investigative journalism burning
in
Zimbabwe.
OG: You won many awards but there was a general feeling among
colleagues
that you hogged the limelight at the expense of your foot
soldiers. What do
you say to that?
GN: Very interesting question indeed.
Leaders quite often bask in the glory
of the achievements of their
organisations, much as they are singly
castigated and often forced to resign
for the collective failure of their
staff. That is natural.
Do the
winners of the various categories of the Zimbabwe Union of
Journalists’
annual journalism awards ever go back to their newsrooms to
share their
prizes with colleagues?
The majority of my nine international awards were in
the form of trophies.
One award took me to the University of Western Ontario
in Canada. Should I
have taken the Daily News staff with me there? From a
different
perspective, when I was repeatedly arrested and when an assassin
was hired
to kill me, I never heard colleagues complaining that I was
stealing the
limelight. They never even came to Harare Central or
Rhodesville police
stations to check on me. Only my wife came.
OG:
You were the editor of the Chronicle when the Willowgate scandal broke.
What
role did Mines minister Obert Mpofu play in helping you with the
investigations?
GN: Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein of the Washington
Post had their “Deep
Throat”, Mark Felt who provided them with secret
information in 1972 about
the involvement of President Richard Nixon’s
administration in what came to
be known as the Watergate scandal. Mpofu, who
was then general manager of
the Zimbabwe Grain Bag Company in Bulawayo in
1988, was my “Deep Throat” in
the Willowgate Scandal.
OG: Although
you did very well with the Willowgate story, your critics say
you were
unwilling to cover the biggest story of the time, the Gukurahundi
massacres.
How do you respond to these allegations?
GN: By denying the allegations! My
critics make one cardinal mistake. They
look at me today –– a highly
successful and multiple award-winning
journalist, then take me back in time
to locate me in the office of the
editor of the Chronicle in 1983, 30 years
ago. They conveniently ignore the
fact that at the material time I was a
young journalist, a 32-year old
father of two, with one year experience as
an editor at Manica Post, a small
weekly newspaper from where I was promoted
in April 1983.
My critics then make another serious mistake. They
overlook the very
important fact that the Chronicle was owned by the
Government of Zimbabwe,
the perpetrators of Gukurahundi.
They forget
that government declared a state of emergency and imposed a
curfew over the
operational areas, thus rendering access by journalists
virtually
impossible, or suicidal to say the least.
It is important to note that
the Chronicle was by no means the only news
outlet covering Matabeleland. In
Bulawayo there was the Sunday News, the
Bulawayo Bulletin, Ziana and the
Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation. They
have surprisingly all escaped public
censure over Gukurahundi. Perhaps this
is because their editors did not
subsequently become award-winning
journalists many years
later.
Therefore, their professional obligations at the time are deemed
to have
been of no or lesser consequence.
My critics also overlook
the heavy presence of the foreign press in Zimbabwe
at the crucial time. Why
are the Ian Mills and John Edlins of the BBC and
Reuters (may their souls
collectively rest in peace), as well as the many
other accomplished foreign
journalists covering Zimbabwe at the time, not
accused by my so-called
critics of failure to cover the biggest story of the
time.
After all,
their organisations were not owned by the Government of Zimbabwe?
In fact,
it was Donald Trelford, editor of the Observer, who finally broke
the jinx
by flying in from London, mysteriously venturing into Matabeleland
South and
interviewing victims of Gukurahundi. Then he caught the next plane
out of
Harare. Only when he was back in the safety of his office in London
did he
bash out his sensational story for publication.
Even then he was disowned
and dismissed as an incorrigible liar by none
other than his own publisher,
the powerful and fearless Tiny Rowland, boss
of Lonrho, owners of the
Observer. As my young critics bay for my blood
today all these pertinent
issues surrounding the inadequate coverage of the
Gukurahundi atrocities are
conveniently ignored.
I devoted a whole chapter in my book, Against the
Grain: Memoirs of a
Zimbabwean Newsman to Gukurahundi. The book was
published in South Africa. A
second edition is being prepared for
publication in Zimbabwe by Buffalo
Communication.
OG: You were later
fired from the Chronicle, then the Financial Gazette and
also the Daily
News. What happened and how do you feel about it?
GN: I was fired from my
position as editor of the Chronicle because I
exposed corruption in
government, resulting in the resignation of six
cabinet ministers and
suicide by one. The owners of the newspaper,
government, reacted angrily and
removed me. I was also fired from the
Financial Gazette because my boss, the
late Elias Rusike made a sacrificial
lamb of me when his company Modus
Publications wanted to import a new
printing press from Sweden. He required
a foreign currency allocation from
government. Government wanted me out of
the editor’s office. There was a
trade-off. I sued for illegal dismissal and
won the case.
My dismissal from the Daily News was a little more complex.
My chief
executive officer, Sam Sipepa Nkomo, sought to settle scores with
an editor,
myself, who exposed his corruption and caused his dismissal from
his job as
CEO of the Mining Industry Pension Fund. A while later he
resurfaced as my
boss at ANZ. My fate was sealed. Well, I feel exploited and
cheated over the
years.
OG: The Daily News was closed under your
watch because it had not
registered. With the benefit of hindsight, do you
think you could have done
things differently and avoided the closure of the
paper?
GN: It is not true that the Daily News was closed under my watch. I
was
fired from the paper on January 2, 2003. The paper was closed eight
months
later, on September 12.
I had personally argued in favour of
the registration of the Daily News,
acting in concert with other editors
under the ambit of the Zimbabwe
National Editors’ Forum, of which I was
chairman. Other independent papers,
the Zimbabwe Independent, Financial
Gazette and Standard, registered. But
Nkomo, who was really an outsider in
the media world, held a different
opinion for some strange reason.
I
was fired. Nkomo refused to register the paper. The then Information
minister Jonathan Moyo duly banned it and the rest is now painful
history.
OG: As an experienced journalist what do you think about the
state of the
media in Zimbabwe and its prospects going into the
future?
GN: I know I will be roasted, hauled over live coals and generally
excoriated for saying it, but somebody must say this: The quality of
journalism has deteriorated tremendously over the years. Investigative
stories inherently sell more newspapers than reported speeches, praise-songs
composed in honour of politicians, or the self-indulgent outpourings of
so-called analysts. Newspaper circulations have thus plummeted.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
April 26, 2013 in News
THE recent crackdown
on civil society organisations, human rights defenders
and the apparent
political victimisation of Justice Charles Hungwe has
re-ignited debate on
the need to reform Zimbabwe’s justice delivery system
and the significance
of the rule of law in a constitutional democracy.
Opinion by Pedzisai
Ruhanya
Zimbabwe requires transitional justice in order to address the
rot in the
justice system. The Justice Hungwe matter and all cases of
official impunity
highlight the need to overhaul the established judicial
order.
Given the gross human rights violations associated with President
Robert
Mugabe’s three-decade authoritarian rule, Zimbabwe needs human rights
trials
to deter future violations while at the same time efforts are made to
overhaul the current justice system.
The main justification for such
trials is that punishment is necessary to
deter human rights violations as
the country grapples with a violent past
and the urgent need to change to a
democratic society.
Given successful human rights trials violation in
post-war Germany and
Europe in general, Yugoslavia, Rwanda and South Africa,
it is posited that
such processes during and after the transition may lead
to improvements in
human rights protection .
The justification for
human rights violation trials is rarely merely
retributive as argued by
some. The purpose is not only to punish
perpetrators, but to use this
punishment to deter future violations.
The deterrence hypothesis states that
increases in the probability or
likelihood of punishment should diminish
repression if there are trials
against human rights
violators.
However, some scholars say human rights violation trials will
not deter
future abuses and that in some circumstances they will actually
lead to an
increase in repression. It is argued the threat of prosecution
could cause
powerful dictators or insurgents to entrench themselves in power
rather than
negotiate a transition from authoritarianism.
But human
rights abuse trials are required in Zimbabwe because of impunity —
certain
sections of society are encouraged to believe they are immune from
legal
responsibility for their actions.
International human rights treaties, to
which Zimbabwe is a state party,
impose on the country the obligation to
stop and prevent human rights
violations, investigate, prosecute and remedy
injustices and abuses. Victims
of human rights violations have a right to
justice and reparations from the
government.
The MDC-T’s justice and
legal affairs policy needs to be critically
evaluated. The party says it is
committed to building a society that values
justice, fairness, openness,
tolerance, equality, non-discrimination and
respect for all people without
regard to race, class, gender, ethnicity,
language, and religion, and
political opinion, place of origin or birth.
These values are the bedrock of
the party’s justice and legal system which
are the foundations of democracy
and good governance.
Legal and social justice, coupled with sound
administration, creates the
safe environment that allows citizens to pursue
their common good in a free
and secure environment where there is respect
for life, freedom of movement
and freedom to elect leaders of their choice
with no fear or intimidation.
The policy says Zimbabwe can only prosper
economically in a context of
political stability, and this can be achieved
through democracy and respect
for the law.
It also says the main
problem regarding justice and the law in Zimbabwe
revolves around low levels
of human security and partisan administration of
justice and selective
interpretation and application of the law. There is
low personal security
among citizens due to the arbitrary arrests and
intimidation.
This
state of affairs has made predictability of outcomes functional only in
so
far as the law serves members of Zanu PF while being used as a tool for
persecuting opposition members.
The justice infrastructure is in need
of a complete overhaul as judicial
processes are expensive and unnecessarily
drawn out. Women are more
vulnerable with respect to recognition, respect
and protection of their
rights.
The MDC-T says in its justice policy
it envisions an orderly society based
on “justice, equality, respect for
human rights, supremacy of the rule of
law and security of persons and
property and will thus enact, administer and
uphold just laws and facilitate
the operation of proper state institutions
and systems of justice delivery
in a manner that ensures observance of the
supremacy of the rule of law and
security of persons and property by the
state and citizens of
Zimbabwe”.
It seeks to restore the supremacy of the rule of law and
de-politicise the
justice delivery system on the path to professionalisation
and
democratisation of the sector, strengthening the administration of
institutions of justice (from arrest, trial, conviction and sentencing), and
restore administrative independence.
This will be done to upgrade the
justice delivery infrastructure, modernise
court equipment, computerise
record keeping, ensure separation of powers,
roles and functions between the
judiciary, executive, legislature, while
building legal and civic literacy
as well as promoting a culture of human
rights, non-violence and the law
among the general populace to restore
confidence in the system.
The
current justice system is littered with repressive laws that mirror the
Rhodesian colonial state.
To its credit the MDC-T says it seeks to
overhaul unjust laws as such as
Posa, Aippa, Indigenisation Act,
Guardianship of Minors Act, the
Broadcasting Act and the Electoral Act as
well as patriarchal values in the
interpretation of the law and women’s
rights.
Practical constraints and challenges in the application and
administration
of the law such as politicisation of the justice delivery
system with
regards to law enforcement will have to be reformed. This
includes the
selective application of the law and non-prosecution of certain
offenders
based on political affiliation and arbitrary arrests and
detentions.
Disrespect for the fundamental human rights values as
evidenced by the
reluctance to ratify international conventions and
treaties, domestication
of the same and disregard of due process,
trivialisation of women’s rights
as evidenced by their humiliation during
arrests and prosecution, as well as
lenient sentencing of violators,
politicisation of presidential appointments
to the judiciary, which have
largely compromised the independence and
objectivity of the judiciary, will
also have to be done away with.
As is the view of many law-abiding
citizens, the party says politicisation
of the office of the
Attorney-General by virtue of political appointments
and operations of the
office, under-resourced prisons with sub-human living
conditions for inmates
where structures have been declared unfit for human
habitation, would need
to be reformed as well.
This is what needs to be done to revamp the
Zimbabwean justice delivery
system, restore the rule of law and build a
progressive democratic society.
However, there is a huge gap between what
ought to be and what is. The
practical aspect of policy pronouncements and
implementation are different,
but the overall, the country’s justice system
needs an overhaul.
Ruhanya is director of Zimbabwe Democracy
Institute.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
April 26, 2013 in Opinion
SINCE the advent
of the government of national unity (GNU), there has been
considerable
confusion over when the next general elections should be held.
Opinion by
Derek Matyszak
The confusion has been compounded by various inaccurate
claims as to what
Zimbabwe’s constitution does and does not mandate in this
regard.
One of the most recent additions to the many conflicting
pronouncements, all
of which claim to be authoritative on the matter,
appeared as a comment in
the Zanu PF-controlled Herald daily
newspaper.
The editorial averred that a new parliament must be elected
before June 29,
2013 and that a failure to do so would be “unconstitutional”
and would sully
the fact that “one of our proudest traditions is
consistently holding
elections as and when they were due”.
In so
doing, the Herald echoed statements to a similar effect made by
others, most
notably Justice minister Patrick Chinamasa.
Polls after two years into
GNU?
From the commencement of the GNU on February 11 2009, a central part of
the
MDC-T’s political rhetoric was to portray the GNU as a transitional
arrangement, pending the adoption of a new constitution, which would lead to
free and fair elections thereafter.
The Global Political Agreement
(GPA) set a 19-20-month timetable for the
constitution-making process.
Accordingly, in this scheme of things, the
transitional government would
last approximately two years. For this reason,
it came to be assumed the GNU
had a two-year lifespan. In fact, the GPA
provides a start date — the day of
signature — and no end date.
The existence of the GNU and GPA are
coterminous. Thus the GNU likewise has
no specified end date.
It is
possible that the omission was deliberate with both political parties
wishing to keep their options open in this regard. However, Zanu PF has
since alleged that the MDC-T had sought a two-year timeframe during
negotiations although it had wanted a five-year arrangement.
The GPA,
despite assertions to the contrary, contains no requirement that
elections
be held once the constitution making process was completed.
Furthermore, the
GPA also does not provide that the GNU is to be a
transitional arrangement
terminating after the creation of democratic
conditions leading to free and
fair elections.
It was merely implicit that the GNU would come to an end
with the next
general elections.
The notion that the GNU expired in
February 2011 and that elections would
then be a legal necessity, continued
to be advanced mainly in the Herald,
quoting President Robert Mugabe in
October 2010 and January 2011, stating
that the inclusive government could
not be extended beyond a few months
after its expiry. When the expiry date
arrived, they reported that all
parties were considering a six-month
“extension”.
Elections after new constitution?
The alleged
expiry date of the GNU came and went without elections, as did
the purported
six-month extension. Mugabe’s statement that the GNU “could
not be extended”
was quietly forgotten. The timetable for the making of a
new constitution
was likewise abandoned.
However, by the end of 2011, it had become
generally accepted the timing of
elections was now linked to the completion
of the constitution-making
process politically, strengthening the false
perception that this was a
legal requirement.
With the process beset
by bickering, financial constraints, and consequent
repeated delays and
stagnation, Mugabe’s statements throughout the second
half of 2011, that
elections would be held in March 2012, were thus met with
considerable
scepticism.
However, it was obvious the new draft constitution was
unlikely to be
finalised by this date and the annual Zanu PF conference
studiously ignored
their resolution of the previous year on the matter. The
conference
resolutions of 2011 thus simply referred to polls “to be held in
2012”.
Undeterred by the fact that his previous definitive pronouncements
as to
election dates had not come to pass, Mugabe continued to claim, from
early
2012, that elections were imminent. Since the lack of tangible
progress on
the new constitution was apparent to all, Mugabe sought to give
these
pronouncements some credibility by stating that the elections would be
held
with or without a new constitution, and an attempt was made to de-link
the
process from elections.
In one of his articles, Zanu PF politburo
member Jonathan Moyo correctly
pointed out that there is no legal
requirement or provision in the GPA that
a new constitution must be in place
prior to elections, but incorrectly
sought to argue that court proceedings
pertaining to the three Matabeleland
by-elections legally oblige Mugabe to
call elections before the end of March
2013.
Mugabe had previously
ignored constitutional provisions requiring that he
should secure the prime
minister’s consent when appointing governors, judges
and
ambassadors.
However, Sadc, the “guarantors” of the GPA, indicated that
it would not
countenance elections without the completion of the
constitution-making
process. Many believed that Mugabe would not defy Sadc
on the issue, and his
threats to call for elections without a new
constitution were treated
accordingly and were increasingly
ignored.
The fact that, since 2010, Mugabe had been stating that election
dates were
soon to be announced, without the dates actually being set, led
some to
postulate an ulterior motive behind the pronouncements.
Given
Mugabe’s advanced age and concomitant health problems, many within
Zanu PF
doubted that Mugabe would be fit and able to contest the next
presidential
election. These doubts were underscored after the Sadc meeting
in Zambia in
January 2011, when pictures of an extremely frail Mugabe
clinging to a golf
cart for support appeared in the press.
Mugabe was too weak to walk
unaided and compelled to rely on the cart.
The question mark that thus
appeared over Mugabe’s candidacy in the next
election had the potential to
widen the already deep fissures in Zanu PF
caused by the race to succeed him
as party leader.
Mugabe’s repeated statements that elections were
imminent, that he would
thus be around for elections, and be the Zanu PF
candidate to contest it,
could thus be viewed as merely a means of managing
the succession issue
within his party, and were made without any actual
intention of proclaiming
the dates.
It should be noted that although
the constitution requires Mugabe to secure
the prime minister’s consent
before dissolving parliament ahead of general
elections, and the MDC leader,
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, indicated
he would not give such consent
before the constitution-making process was
completed, Mugabe’s failure to
announce election dates despite claiming that
he would do so, is unlikely to
have been on account of this legal nicety.
At the end of last year, in
mid-December, the Zanu PF annual conference
resolutions “note(d) that the
GPA and the inclusive government, legally and
constitutionally, ought to
have come to their end after the expiry of the
two years reckoned from the
inception of the inclusive government” and
“implore(d) the GPA parties to
conclude the constitution making process
before Christmas this year, failing
which the head of state and government
and commander-in-chief of the Defence
Forces (Mugabe) should, in terms of
the law, issue the relevant proclamation
dissolving parliament and fixing a
date for the holding of the harmonised
elections under the current
constitution.”
The resolution was not
implemented. Political considerations, Sadc pressure,
the need to finalise
the constitution-making process, and the constitutional
requirement to gain
Tsvangirai’s consent meant that the determination of the
election dates did
not lie solely with Mugabe.
The new draft constitution was only put to a
referendum on March 16 2013. As
the failure to finalise the
constitution-making process had been viewed as
the major stumbling block to
calling elections, the referendum re-ignited
the debate as to the timing of
the elections and highlighted the
significance of a sub-plot relating to
elections which has been running
since 2008.
New constitution and
poll dates
One issue relating to the timing of elections remains. The new
constitution
will (re)introduce provisions relating to a system of
proportional
representation in elections. The Electoral Act will need to be
amended
accordingly. Thus, it seems, at first glance, that elections cannot
take
place until parliament (currently in recess) has passed this necessary
legislation into law, and it must do so before automatic dissolution on June
29 2013.
The MDC formations would have it that several other pieces
of legislation
are also required to ensure the integrity of the general
elections, and that
these too must be passed into law by parliament before
dissolution.
However, the new constitution will do nothing to remove the
president’s
power to make regulations while parliament is in recess in terms
of the
Presidential Powers (Temporary Measures) Act.
The regulations
“may provide for any matter or thing for which parliament
can make provision
in an Act”, and may be made whenever “because of the
urgency, it is
inexpedient to await the passage through parliament of an Act
dealing with
the situation”.
They remain in force unless amended or repealed at the next
sitting of
parliament. Mugabe may choose to use these powers to bring such
legislation
as he deems necessary into being and does not require a sitting
parliament
to do so.
Conclusion
One of the prominent
characteristics of the Zimbabwean polity is the heated
and protracted
disputes around issues which can be resolved by a simple
reference to the
black and white provisions dealing with the point. This has
been the case
with regard to the GPA, the indigenisation legislation, and
the
constitution. The debate around the date for elections is merely more of
the
same.
Despite the dust that has been raised around the timing of
elections it
remains clear that:
The five-year lifespan of parliament
ends on June 29 2013 (Section 63(4) of
the current constitution) at which
time parliament will be automatically
dissolved.
Parliament may only
constitutionally be earlier dissolved with the consent
of the prime minister
first obtained (Section 20.1.3(q) of Schedule 8 to the
current constitution
as read with section 115 thereof).
Elections must be held within four
months of the dissolution of parliament
(Section 58(1)) of the current
constitution.
Matyszak is a lawyer and senior researcher with the Research
and Advocacy
Unit.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
April 26, 2013 in Opinion
Proponents of a
market economy always insist the state should stay out of
business and let
the market find its own pricing levels.
Candid Comment with Itai
Masuku
However, elementary economics says there are two extremes of the
market
economy, one where there is perfect competition and another where
there is
imperfect competition.
It is generally held that where there
is perfect competition, the market
rules and will match demand and supply to
come up with optimal prices.
All things being equal, this should result
in lower prices for the consumer
for perfect competition encourages
efficiencies, and any efficiency should
by implication result in the
reduction of raw materials required, labour,
where this applies, the time
used in producing that good or service, or any
other input.
If this
is on-passed to the market, this should result in reduced prices. A
friend
who recently attended university in one of the EU countries revealed
he
spent at most 120 euros on monthly requirements. However, the same
products
would cost him at least twice the amount, if not more in this
country.
He laments that we don’t have an open market economy and as
a lawyer, points
this is made worse by the fact that we have weak
competition laws. This is
not to slight our Tariffs and Competition
Commission, but how many times do
you actually see them preventing the
monopolistic and oligopolistic
practices by many of our major
businesses?
This is particularly so because many of the anti-competition
enterprises are
supported by or include influential politicians.
While in
the developed economies money rules, here politics rules and
businesses are
wary of being caught on the wrong side of the political
divide, even if they
are right.
As a result many businesses here are cartels that are very
difficult to
penetrate. Ever wondered why South Africa’s MTN has failed to
enter the
local market? We have legislated cartelisation of the mobile
telephony
sector. Who says an economy can only absorb so many telephony
companies?
Only the market should say that.
The reason why our roads are
in such a state of disrepair is because there
are too many heavy trucks
(goneyets) on roads that can’t sustain their
loads. Why is that so?
I
only learnt this week this was a result of yet some cartelisation of the
transport sector where operators and freight agents ensure that anyone
importing would only be quoted on road costs, not rail, which can be up to
26 times cheaper? The reason is simple, the more it costs the better for the
agent, whose commission is based on the total cost of freight. That NRZ in
its ineptitude abated this cartelisation did not help either.
The same
goes for the Beira Corridor route, which functioned well during the
days of
sanctions against South Africa, yet, instead of increasing safety
and
volumes after apartheid we started using Durban more.
The story is the same
for Beira which is a nightmare. But why do the South
Africans use Beira and
Maputo for least-cost-to-shore?
The tales are endless, but there is need for
serious examination of the
cartelisation of Zimbabwe’s industries, which
among other things are
distorting import bills and the prices of goods.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
April 26, 2013 in Opinion
ZIMBABWE’S
political and economic decline since 2000 has been a major
pre-occupation
for South African policymakers, severely testing Pretoria’s
ability to
juggle often contradictory narratives in its foreign policy
discourse: on
one hand, a commitment to democracy and human rights, and on
the other,
liberation solidarity, the promotion of an African consensus and
a residual
anti-Western sentiment lingering in the ruling ANC.
Opinion by James
Hamill
With Zimbabwe now on the cusp of fresh elections, this issue is
set to
return to the top of the South African agenda (Harare wants to borrow
US$100
million from Pretoria). The elections will take place under a new
constitution overwhelmingly endorsed by Zimbabwean voters in a referendum
last month.
If respected, the constitution provides for a scaling
down of presidential
powers and the possibility of a democratic advance.
Progress will be
confirmed if the upcoming elections allow a genuine
expression of the
popular will. Zimbabwe can then finally move into a
post-crisis era, and
South Africa will be removed from the horns of a policy
dilemma on which it
has been impaled for 13 years.
Unfortunately,
such a benign scenario seems improbable, and the peaceful
atmosphere
surrounding the constitutional referendum gives little insight
into the
likely conduct of the upcoming elections campaign.
Both Zanu PF, under
President Robert Mugabe, and its main challenger, the
MDC-T led by Prime
Minister Morgan Tsvangirai had campaigned for a “Yes”
vote on the new draft
constitution, thus reducing the stakes and lowering
the political
temperature of the referendum.
By contrast, the elections will see
heightened tensions, and there is little
basis for optimism that Zanu PF
will allow a free and fair vote. No
Zimbabwean election since 1980 has been
free of intimidation, with the nadir
reached in 2008, when a campaign of
state terror bludgeoned Mugabe back into
power.
While the referendum
raised the prospect of a new political dynamic in the
country, a more
accurate foreshadowing of the upcoming elections is provided
by the ongoing
state harassment of civil society and opposition activists.
The formal start
of campaigning will certainly see intimidation intensifying
and
spreading.
Second, in post-independent Zimbabwe, the lines separating
party and state
have virtually disappeared, with the army, police and state
broadcaster
acting as appendages of Zanu PF. In previous elections, the
military has
made clear it would not accept any result other than a Zanu PF
victory,
making constitutional government and free elections
impossible.
Third, the powerful elite concentrated in the Zanu PF
hierarchy and the
security forces has too much to lose by permitting free
elections and
respecting the outcome. This would endanger its patronage
networks and a
whole range of self-enrichment schemes, with the
“redistribution” of land by
the Zanu PF elite to itself being but one
example. Zanu PF’s political
statements are inevitably cloaked in the
language of “anti-imperialism”, but
such nationalist bluster is only a
smokescreen for its systematic looting of
state resources.
The high
likelihood of violence and electoral fraud will precipitate a
renewed
international crisis over Zimbabwe that in turn will compel South
Africa to
respond.
In 2008, then-South African president Thabo Mbeki helped mediate
the
formation of a government of national unity in Zimbabwe, but there is no
enthusiasm within either Zanu PF or the MDC parties for a revival of that
arrangement in 2013. Current South African President Jacob Zuma (Sadc
facilitator in Zimbabwe) too faces competing pressures on the issue, and any
choice he makes will alienate important constituencies and generate
considerable costs.
Zuma has two broad options. First, he could adopt
the unashamedly pro-Zanu
PF position Mbeki embraced. This could see 2013 as
a repeat of 2002, in
which the South African government accepts rigged
elections as a valid
expression of the popular will. There are important
forces in favour of this
option, not least the ANC’s strong feeling of
liberation solidarity with
Zanu PF, already signalled by the open support of
ANC secretary-general
Gwede Mantashe for a Zanu PF victory.
Given the
re-assertion of party control over the government in South Africa
since Zuma
assumed leadership in 2007, the ANC position will likely be very
influential
in shaping government policy.
Other factors likely to reinforce the
pro-Zanu PF position are South Africa’s
desire to remain aligned with
mainstream opinion within the Southern African
Development Community (Sadc)
and the African Union, where democracy has
traditionally been subordinated
to regime solidarity.
Zuma’s second option is to insist on free and fair
elections and refuse to
recognise the outcome of any rigged poll. Pressure
for this approach will
come from Western capitals, at least some sections of
African elite opinion
and civil society, but also, within South Africa, from
the Cosatu.
Zuma’s position on Zimbabwe has always been more nuanced than
Mbeki’s. Zuma
denounced the country as a police state in 2008, and, as the
Sadc mediator
on Zimbabwe, he has adopted a more neutral position than
Mbeki, drawing
considerable hostility from pro-Zanu PF media in
Zimbabwe.
However, Zuma has never enjoyed greater standing in the ANC
than since his
re-election as party chief at Mangaung in December last year,
and that
authority may allow him space to engineer a policy
change.
He will also be aware that South Africa’s moral standing, once a
prized
asset, has been eroded in recent years on account of its defence of
states
abusing human rights, as well as increased levels of corruption and
recent
cases of police brutality.
Defending another stolen election
in Zimbabwe will further erode that soft
power to the detriment of South
Africa’s broader diplomatic interests.
Whichever option Zuma chooses will
be revealing about the character of his
second-term presidency and about
South Africa’s ability to see the limits of
“liberation” politics that is
stifling Zimbabwe and producing the very
antithesis of democratic
government. Given that the ANC comes from the same
political tradition, a
defeat for Zanu PF in Zimbabwe could raise the
spectre of the ANC’s own
demise.
Either way, Zuma will be forced to choose, as straddling these
positions —
his preferred modus operandi — is likely to prove impossible. —
World
Politics Review.
Hamill has been a lecturer in the Department
of Politics and International
Relations, University of Leicester, UK. He has
a long-standing research
interest in South African politics, particularly in
the country’s
post-apartheid development.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
April 26, 2013 in Opinion
The Zimbabwe
Investment Authority (ZIA) recently disclosed that Foreign
Direct Investment
(FDI) it licensed in the first quarter of 2013 amounted to
approximately
US$33 million, as compared to approximately US$136 million in
the same
period in 2012.
Column by Eric Bloch
Effectively therefore,
intended FDI declined by almost 76%. That horrendous
decline in foreign
investor interest in Zimbabwe as an investment
destination should send a
very loud message to Government, and especially
so, as much of Africa is
attaining very considerable FDI growth.
Tragically, however, that message is
falling on deaf ears, for there are
none so deaf as those who will not
hear.
That Zimbabwe is not attracting considerable FDI, in contrast to
the
substantial extent of such investment in various other countries in
Africa,
is not because it does not have numerous, and diverse, positive
resources
which provide opportunity for investment.
Zimbabwe has a
wealth of very valuable mineral resources, many of which are
currently only
minimally exploited. There is exceptional potential for
tourism sector
development.
Manufacturing in Zimbabwe could yield considerable benefits
to investors,
and especially so where there is value-addition to Zimbabwe’s
countless
primary products of high quality in both the agriculture and
mining sectors.
Similarly, many opportunities exist for positive
investment in the provision
of technological and other services. The
reality as to Zimbabwe’s inability
to attract substantial FDI is that it is
perceived, regionally and
internationally, as having no investment security
and that its governance
and legislative environment is unconducive to
attaining satisfactory,
ongoing, investment yields.
Undoubtedly those
(mainly within Government) who have been, and continue to
be, culpable for
the many investment deterrents would allege, albeit
falsely, that in no
manner are they blameworthy.
They maintain that the lack of considerable
investment is almost wholly due
to the imposition, by certain western
countries, of the allegedly “illegal”
international sanctions.
Such a
contention is devoid of substance as, on the one hand, those
restrictions
that have been imposed relate solely to transactions, provision
of funding
and the like, to the Zimbabwean Government, its parastatals and
other
underlying entities, as well as 21 specified individuals, and not on
the
economy as a whole.
It is also evident that attribution as to the absence
of much investment is
unfounded in that the restrictions have only been
imposed by certain
developed countries, and yet there is also little
investment from countries
that have not imposed the embargoes. Zimbabwe
repeatedly professes a “Look
East” policy but currently there is little
investment from the east, be it
from China, India, Malaysia, Russia, the
Arab states, and many others.
The foremost deterrent of FDI is the manner
that Zimbabwe vigorously pursues
economic indigenisation, forcefully
prescribing and enforcing that not less
than 51% ownership of all
economically engaged enterprises must be held by
indigenous
Zimbabweans.
Intending investors are invariably willing to have
indigenous co-investors,
but not to an extent that the non-indigenous
investor may only be possessed
of a minority stake in the enterprise, not
exceeding 49% and, therefore,
devoid of authority and control of the
investment undertaking, despite
provision of all, or the greater portion, of
the funding, the transferral of
technologies and usage of patents and
trademarks, devoid of appropriate
recompense.
Moreover, more often
than not, the indigenous participants in the enterprise
are not selected by
the investor, but (to all intents and purposes) imposed
upon the investor by
the State. This imposition, and enforcement, by the
State is unacceptable
to most potential foreign direct investors.
The abhorrence of such
possible investors is compounded by the large extent
to which Zimbabwe has
demonstrated contemptuous disregard for the many
Bilateral Investment
Promotion and Protection Agreements (BIPPAs), and by
Government’s blatant
disregard for property rights.
Interactive with the negative consequences
of the Indigenisation and
Economic Empowerment policies (which have
grievously failed to empower the
majority of Zimbabwe’s immensely
impoverished population, and has in fact
increased that poverty, and the
resultant hardships and suffering, by
intensifying the extent of
unemployment, and has almost solely increased the
wealth of the few who are
politically well-connected) is repeated racism,
with statements such as
those recently made by War Veterans’ leader,
Jabulani Sibanda, that Zimbabwe
does not want whites, and that all whites
should reside solely in the
western countries from which they, or their
ancestors, emanated.
As
if these obstacles to potential investors converting their real, but
deeply-concerned and grave reservations as to effecting investment in
Zimbabwe, do not suffice to starve Zimbabwe of the considerable investment
which is a prerequisite to any substantial economic recovery, and national
wellbeing, numerous others have been created, and continued, by many in
Government. That is so despite the fact that the primary onus to achieve,
and continue, a positive economy, is the responsibility and obligation of
those who govern the country. Amongst the very many other factors that
destroy potential investor willingness to invest are:
The endlessly
deplorable inability of many parastatals, and local
authorities, to provide
the utilities and services which are essential for
the viable operations of
almost all enterprises, including the provision of
energy, water, rail
transportation, reliable air services, effective
telecommunications, and
much else.
In most instances the key constraint upon the provision of
unimpeded,
reliable, supply of the essential utilities and services is that
the
enterprises are pronouncedly under-capitalised, and in some instances
due to
the gross incapability of some senior management, whose appointments
were
not driven by their suitability and capability to fulfill their duties,
but
solely by their connections with those effecting the
appointments.
Taxation policies, which are almost wholly only such as
perceived by
Government to enhance its revenue inflows, with myopic failure
to recognise
that those inflows can best be enhanced by achieving
considerable national
economic growth.
Some of the destructive
policies include prescription of taxation rates
significantly greater than
applied elsewhere in Southern Africa, a near
total absence of export
incentives (greatly needed if Zimbabwean exports are
to be competitive with
those of other countries which do incentivise
exports), and excessively high
duties and other imposts on many imports of
essential manufacturing
inputs.
Compounding these ills is the magnitude of bureaucracy at
Zimbabwe’s border
posts, occasioning very frequent, prolonged delays in the
clearance of
imports and exports.
Very extensive corruption in
numerous avenues of Government, and the
private sector, with the
Anti-Corruption Commission repeatedly being
emasculated when it seeks to
investigate allegations of corrupt practices
being pursued by those
possessed of relationships with empowered
politicians, Instead of
corruption being contained and curbed, it is
endlessly intensifying, and
becoming more pronounced, with the State doing
almost naught to curb
it.
For decades the devolution of governmental administration from the
capital
city has been minimal, with ministries’ offices, and those of
parastatals,
in other centres generally being devoid of authority, their
sole roles
being, to all intents and purposes, only acting as “post offices”
for the
transmission of matters to their head offices in Harare.
Consequential
delays are often extremely great, with resultant negative
economic impacts.
Continuing monetary market instability and illiquidity,
due primarily to
the fears of the private sector as to the market’s
stability, provoked by
recurrent expectations of a premature reinstatement
of Zimbabwean currency,
devoid of any support of appropriate reserves.
Although the Minister of
Finance, Tendai Biti, has repeatedly stated that
reinstatement of Zimbabwean
currency will not be entertained until the
economy has attained, and
maintained, real and comprehensive economic
recovery and growth for at least
2 years, others frequently suggest
otherwise, including a resolution at the
ZANU-PF Congress last December,
calling for reversion to Zimbabwean
currency.
These are some of the
hindrances to Zimbabwe attracting the substantial FDI
that is vitally
essential for any great economic upturn, and almost entirely
the onus is
upon Government to contain and reverse the massive slump in
foreign
investment that has afflicted Zimbabwe for many years.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
April 26, 2013 in Opinion
The “Look
East” policy is the panacea to the economic hardships caused by
the illegal
sanctions, Zanu PF chairman Simon Khaya Moyo recently declared.
By the
MuckRacker
“We told them (the West) to go to hell with their sanctions.
We have friends
in the East,” a bombastic Khaya Moyo said.
However,
as reported by this publication last week, these so-called friends
from the
East are following the West’s cue by insisting government settle
all
outstanding arrears before accessing any more funds.
The Chinese
government, much like the IMF, has raised red flags on Zimbabwe’s
creditworthiness and is now arm-twisting Harare to settle its debts,
including those owed by Zimbabwean companies to Chinese firms.
Like
all businesspeople, the Chinese know solidarity can only go so far and
will
not pay the bills. Cold hard cash does that! That is why China also has
a
“Look West” policy.
Neo-Goebellian
We were interested in remarks
by Charles Taffs, president of the CFU, in
response to remarks he is
supposed to have made recently on the land issue.
Speaking to the
Zimbabwe Independent last week, Taffs and his deputy, Peter
Steyl, dismissed
as falsehoods stories in the state media alleging the
organisation had made
a dramatic U-turn on its opposition to the chaotic
land reform and now
wanted to be considered for land allocation by the
government.
“Contrary to claims that we never applied for land, the
truth is that we
applied to be considered as well,” said Taffs. “Over a
thousand applications
(were sent) to Agriculture minister (Joseph) Made but
we did not get even a
single response; not even an acknowledgement
letter.”
So who told the Herald that CFU members had not applied for
farms when over
a thousand applications were sent to Made’s office? It is
extraordinary that
the Herald could tell such a blatant lie and get away
with it. But this
simply reflects the standard of journalism in the state
media.
They tell a lie of this Goebellian magnitude and then it is
repeated all
over the public media platforms.
Reverse
racism
Taffs dealt with another issue which has been distorted in the
press.
“Fourteen years after the start of the fast-track (land reform) people
have
access to land,” he said. “but they cannot raise the capital to farm.
Production has consequently fallen and many farms lie idle.”
This
contrasts with President Robert Mugabe’s claim on Independence Day that
agriculture had experienced growth. Taffs said the authorities were aware of
the problems in the agricultural sector and CFU’s proposals to tackle them
but meaningful progress is being hampered by political posturing ahead of
this year’s general elections.
How many people recallMugabe’s claims a
few years ago government only wanted
to share the land with the white
farmers? It didn’t work out like that did
it? Then there was the agreement
reached in 1998 under the auspices of the
UNDP but that quickly fell apart
under political pressure. Populism trumped
production.
Now we have a
constitution that is explicitly racist on the land issue,
excluding white
farmers from participation in land reform, and a land audit
that doesn’t
materialise because it would expose the extent of land greed
and abuse by
those in power.
Baying for Tobaiwa
Another abuse that needs urgent
exposure is that of the voters’ roll.
Tobaiwa Mudede appears indifferent to
the seriousness of the issue when we
learn that Ian Smith’s name has only
recently been removed from the voters’
roll. So has that of Desmond
Lardner-Burke who died in 1984, among others.
Their names were among the 345
000 deceased on the roll. Now we can
understand why Patrick Chinamasa and
his colleagues don’t want the UN
involved in examining the political
landscape ahead of polls!
All the while the state media is spewing fibs
claiming Zanu PF “unearthed”
irregularities in the voters’ roll where it
claims MDC-T officials
registered their supporters using other people’s
addresses and unoccupied
condemned hostels.
Adding to the circus, in the
same report Zanu PF secretary for security
Sydney Sekeramayi said they
wanted the Registrar-General’s office to address
the anomaly before the
elections.
“We don’t want the voters’ roll ever to be prostituted,” said
Sekeramayi.
“It must be a voters’ roll that has the integrity that is
expected of it.”
Not anything Zanu PF or Mudede has been involved in
then?
By pointing the finger for the shambolic voters roll in the MDC-T’s
direction Sekeramayi ensured we can’t take his utterances seriously.
The
buck stops with Mudede and everyone knows it.
Soiled climate
The visit
of Andrew Young was manipulated by the state media to suggest it
was all
part of the re-engagement process that started with Chinamasa’s
visit to
London and included the distortion of Taff’s remarks.
We recall Young’s
disappointing alignment with Zanu PF in his remarks on a
previous visit
several years ago, which is why presumably he was chosen by
the State
Department for this mission.
But before the Herald draws too many
conclusions, it should be borne in mind
that he was here to explore whether
the climate was right for elections.
No sooner had he left than the
government announced it would not entertain
the UN Needs committee which it
had kept cooling its heels at OR Tambo
Airport in Johannesburg, South
Africa.
It will be interesting to see what Young makes of that episode. There
are
some things that cannot be swept under the carpet.
And those who
think David Owen is about to pop up in Harare on the
assumption that it is
still 1977 are likely to be disappointed.
In all this talk of re-engagement
and reconciliation certain realities need
to be kept in mind. There is a
real possibility that Zanu PF and the MDC
could score fairly equally in the
election.
Zanu PF is loathed in big urban centres. But it has successfully
manipulated
the electoral process and established a formidable power nexus
that could
keep it in office for several more years.
The MDC on the other
hand is popular but maladroit. It stumbles from one
crisis to the next as
its leader changes his mind with every changing day.
There could well be no
clear outcome in Election 2013.
That will leave the country where it is now.
Not something we can look
forward to!
The prodigal son
Muckraker
was amused by the Sunday Mail interview of former Zimbabwe
National
Students’ Union leader, Tafadzwa Mugwadi, who has since defected to
Zanu
PF.
Since aligning himself with the “revolutionary” party he has thus been
referred to as Cde Mugwadi and was more than willing to repay the favour by
now claiming the MDC-T leadership, his erstwhile allies, were “ideologically
bankrupt”.
“They (MDC-T) are clueless. They don’t even have a solution to
the
sanctions-induced challenges the country is facing, yet they are the
ones
who spent a lot of time clamouring for the imposition of this diabolic
embargo on Zimbabwe,” Mugwadi said, singing all the right notes to appease
his handlers.
Like Gabriel Chaibva, Psychology Maziwisa and Jonathan Moyo
before him,
Mugwadi pulled out all the stops to compensate for his previous
uncharitable
remarks about Zanu PF
Asked to what he attributed the
belligerent relationship which exists
between Zanu PF and Zinasu, Mugwadi
claimed it was a case of the students’
movement lacking “enough information
on the revolutionary party’s policies”.
“That seemingly sour relationship is
not about Zanu PF not being good enough
to represent the interests of the
majority Zimbabweans, who are mainly the
youths,” yelped
Mugwadi.
“Clearly there is an information gap between Zinasu and Zanu PF, but
this is
something that can be worked on as no one in their right senses can
argue
against the fact that the revolutionary party’s policies are for the
good of
Zimbabwe.”
So it seems Mugwadi was mad all this time considering
his belligerence
towards Zanu PF.
We wouldn’t bet against him changing
his mind again.
Subhead 14/15 black
MY advice to Zambian President
Michael Sata is for him to stop trying to be
a clown and concentrate on
being president. If he cannot do that he should
relinquish power
immediately.
The Zambians will soon regret their folly of electing a jester
into office.
ZANU PF must quickly disassociate itself from Zambian President
Michael Sata
particularly after his antics in Luanda. They cannot afford to
be affiliated
with such a comedian.
Is this the only leader whose support
we can bank on in the region? If that
is the case we are surely in trouble.
Zambians will have to endure five
years of embarrassment.
It was their
choice, after all, and they will have to live with it. As a
Zanu PF
supporter I urge our leaders to keep Sata at arm’s length. He is
just a
noisemaker and will do us no good. It looks like President Robert
Mugabe has
now lost all his friends in Sadc and no one .
wants to be associated with his
policies except the fawning Michael Sata.
President Michael Sata is not a
blessing but a liability to the African
continent. We can no longer afford
to have leaders without a coherent
strategy to take us out of the doldrums
as a continent. We are tired of
populists.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
April 26, 2013 in Opinion
ZIMBABWE
should diversify its export markets to avoid putting all eggs in
one basket
and at the same time maximise value on exports in order to
cushion itself
against potential global shocks on trade, experts say.
Report by Taurai
Mangudhla
Latest Zimbabwe National Statistical Agency figures quoted in
the African
Development Bank (AfDB)’s March issue of the Zimbabwe’s Monthly
Economic
Review, show that there are some trade imbalances between Zimbabwe
and most
of its trading partners, particularly South Africa.
The AfDB
report indicates that although 69% of Zimbabwe’s exports go to
South Africa
while about 43% of the imports come from its southern
neighbour, there is a
trade imbalance in South Africa’s favour in absolute
terms since Zimbabwean
exports to South Africa were only US$2,67 billion
while imports from the
same country were about US$3,21 billion between
January and March this
year.
The regional bank further notes that although countries like the
United
Kingdom (UK) and the US are important sources of imports with UK
accounting
for 19,9% of total imports and the US accounting for 7,5%, the
value of
Zimbabwe’s exports to these countries is not significant and the
same is
true for countries such as Zambia, China, Mozambique and Kuwait as
Zimbabwe’s
imports are more than its exports to these countries.
The
United Arab Emirates, a major buyer of the Marange diamonds, accounts
for
12,4% of Zimbabwe’s exports followed by Mozambique which accounts for
7,3%
and Zambia and China with 2,5% and 2,2% respectively.
“It is important
that Zimbabwe’s export destinations are diversified to
minimise shocks
affecting trade. For example, the implementation of the
Preferential
Procurement Policy in South Africa, intended to ensure that
South African
firms receive priority in procurement, could close off some
opportunities
for Zimbabwean exports,” AfDB said in the report.
Bulawayo based
economist Erich Bloch said while Zimbabwe’s trade relations
with China was
important, an economy cannot afford to put all its eggs in
one
basket.
“We need to diversify into other markets and government needs to
introduce
export incentives so that we remain competitive in other markets,”
he said
in a telephone interview.
Bloch said the country was
exporting clothing and textile competitively in
the 1980s and 1990s to as
far as China and Malaysia, but the situation has
changed after government
abandoned previous export incentives. He argued
Zimbabwe’s resource based
economy needed to focus on value addition in order
to maximise on
return.
“More than 90% of our produce goes unprocessed, be it chrome,
cotton or
platinum so there is need to value add,” Bloch said. He said
government
needed major policy reforms and ability to ensure rule of law in
order to
attract the much needed foreign direct investment to support
development of
beneficiation plants locally.
Economic analyst Takunda
Mugaga agreed with Bloch’s assertion on the need
for value addition, saying
it should be Zimbabwe’s primary focus.
“Value addition will improve our
current account which is what we need,” he
said.
Mugaga said the
country should focus on increasing its exports to South
Africa, given the
neighbouring country’s economic position.
“A focus on widening export markets
right now would be a luxurious policy
move which we cannot afford right
now,” argued Mugaga. “South Africa is a
richer market in terms of buying
power and it belongs to the Brics. It is a
bigger economy than any other in
Africa and especially southern Africa to
the extent that even if there are
external shocks that will force the
economy to shrink by 50%, it will remain
better than any average African
country economy.”
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
April 26, 2013 in Opinion
SADC leaders want
South African President Jacob Zuma to uphold one of their
key resolutions on
Zimbabwe by visiting the country to engage unity
government principals and
party political leaders before make-or-break
elections later this year,
diplomatic sources have said.
Report by Hazel Ndebele
Regional
leaders want Zuma to visit Harare for talks with President Robert
Mugabe
(Zanu PF), Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai (MDC-T), and Industry and
Commerce minister Welshman Ncube (MDC).
Although Deputy Prime
Minister Arthur Mutambara is still attending
principals’ Monday meetings,
Sadc leaders resolved in Maputo, Mozambique,
last year Ncube should instead
be involved.
“We have now reached critical stages on the Zimbabwean
situation in terms of
political and electoral processes. After four years of
the coalition
government, Zimbabwe is now approaching crucial general
elections, so some
Sadc leaders think Zuma should visit Harare to engage
with the principals
and political leaders to assess whether the country is
now ready for free
and fair elections,” a senior Sadc diplomat told the
Zimbabwe Independent
this week.
“Sadc has passed resolutions at
several summits imploring Zuma to visit
Harare, especially before important
meetings or events to assess the
situation directly.”
Since Zimbabwe
has reached critical stages in the life of the Global
Political Agreement
(GPA) which led to the wobbly inclusive government, Sadc
leaders believe
Zuma should now have a more hands-on approach on the
situation than
before.
At the June 2011 summit held in Sandton, Johannesburg, Sadc
leaders agreed
Zuma should visit Zimbabwe ahead of the regional bloc’s key
meetings to
enable him to get first-hand briefings on the country’s
political
environment and preparations for polls.
Zuma last visited
Zimbabwe before the Sadc summit of August 2012 held in
Maputo. During that
visit the process to exclude Mutambara and include Ncube
from principals’
meetings was initiated.
Sadc diplomats said it was critical for Zuma to
visit Harare to personally
engage the principals and assess how far they
have gone with implementation
of the GPA, including the elections roadmap,
and preparations for the polls.
Zuma’s facilitation team has been
frequently visiting Zimbabwe to check
progress on reforms and preparations
for elections. The team was in Harare
last week to try and resolve a
stand-off between Zanu PF, MDC parties and
itself on whether it should
attend full Joint Monitoring and Implementation
Committee (Jomic) meetings.
Zanu PF Jomic members last month refused to
allow Zuma’s team to attend full
Jomic meetings, contrary to MDC parties’
position.
Zuma’s envoys last
week met Jomic co-chairs Elton Mangoma (MDC-T), Priscilla
Misihairabwi-Mushonga (MDC) and Nicholas Goche (Zanu PF).
It also met
Ncube after he wrote to Zuma and Sadc Troika chair, Tanzanian
President
Jakaya Kikwete complaining Mugabe and Tsvangirai were still
sidelining him
in violation of Sadc resolutions.
Efforts by Zuma’s team to meet President
Mugabe and Tsvangirai were
unsuccessful.
Zuma’s international
relations adviser Lindiwe Zulu said this week the
facilitation team would
return to Harare on April 30 in a bid to meet all
the
principals.
“Zuma will definitely come to Zimbabwe because that is part
of his
responsibility, but as of when, we are not yet sure,” said Zulu. “We
will be
coming back to Harare on April 30.”
Following the recent
crackdown on civil society organisations and a
resurgence of political
violence, Tsvangirai dispatched Minister of State in
his office, Jameson
Timba, to update regional leaders on the Zimbabwe
situation. The MDC-T wants
an extraordinary Sadc meeting on Zimbabwe before
the elections, but Zanu PF
is resisting the move.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
April 26, 2013 in Opinion
AS Zimbabwe
joins the rest of the world in commemorating International
Workers’ Day next
Wednesday, local workers have nothing to celebrate because
their working
conditions and remuneration have become worse off over the
years due to
economic failure.
Zimbabwe Independent Editorial
Workers have
borne the brunt of unemployment, poor working conditions as
well as low
salaries and wages. This has weakened trade unionism, leaving
them
vulnerable to exploitation.
In Zimbabwe May Day commemorations always now
come amid growing
disillusionment among the workforce over poor working
conditions,
unsustainable remuneration, job losses and poverty.
It
has now become a hackneyed complaint that there is nothing to celebrate
for
workers on May Day, primarily because of the dearth of wages above the
poverty datum line, basic social services and freedom.
How did
Zimbabwean workers find themselves in this situation? While
President Robert
Mugabe and Zanu PF inherited a functioning economy in 1980,
they slowly but
surely destroyed it through leadership and policy failures,
as well as
corruption and incompetence. The poor have seriously suffered
consequences
of economic mismanagement, political thuggery and violence
under
Mugabe.
The mass of the Zimbabwean peoples are resultantly struggling as
the quality
of their lives has deteriorated to calamitous levels. Workers’
Day was
originally meant to pay tribute to the achievements of the working
class and
raise awareness on the struggles faced by workers.
But gone
are the days when men and women held well-paying jobs, performed
work of a
high quality craftsmanship and were proud of their hard work and
ability to
provide for their families.
Workers are no longer appreciated and live in
miserable conditions as they
are paid less than a living wage in most cases.
The majority of Zimbabwe’s
workers earn less than the poverty datum line
currently pegged at US$506.
The workers’ voice has also been suppressed and
they can now easily lose
their jobs with no recourse to justice. Official
statistics place the
unemployment rate at about 75% although it is believed
to be as high as 90%.
Since the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions helped
form the MDC in 1999 with
all its senior leaders entering into mainstream
politics, the trade union
movement is now virtually dead.
Instead of
fighting for the rights of workers and organising to ensure that
jobs pay
livable wages in safe workplaces, trade unionists now use the
labour
movement as a springboard to launch their political careers.
Again it’s
workers who suffer. As a result of the deterioration of the
labour movement,
corporate greed is actually threatening the existence of
workers by
accumulating profit through exploitation. Initially, trade unions
were
traditionally strong in mining as well as manufacturing industries like
steel, coal and engineering.
But by the 1990s these industries were
all in decline and the economic
collapse from 1997 accelerated their demise,
with millions of jobs lost and
hordes of professionals leaving the country
as the brain drain intensified.
Thousands of companies have closed, leaving
workers languishing in poverty
in a country with plenty of resources.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
April 26, 2013 in Opinion
AS part of its
well-orchestrated ploy to forestall implementation of Global
Political
Agreement reforms while maintaining its electoral advantage, Zanu
PF and
security sector chiefs have been making increasingly strident
statements
resisting security sector reforms.
Editor’s Memo with Stewart
Chabwinja
Defence minister Emmerson Mnangagwa and his State Security
counterpart
Sydney Sekeramayi have lately been particularly vocal in this
regard, as has
been the state media churning out reportage packaged to
discredit the reform
calls as a foreign-sponsored agenda.
These
demands for professionalism in the security sector were this week
presented
in the state media as a grand plot by the MDC-T to fire military
commanders
and outsource the country’s security to the West should the party
win
elections.
In his latest pronouncements Sekeramayi claimed Zimbabwe’s
security was
under threat from the West relentlessly pursuing an “illegal
regime change”
agenda, in the hope of installing a puppet government. This
shrill sentiment
has become Zanu PF’s refrain as high-stakes elections
beckon.
The reason for the campaign which dovetails with Zanu PF’s
mounting
resistance to agreed-to reforms is easy to pin down. The defence
forces have
been Zanu PF’s pillar of strength and electoral trump card since
Independence.
In fact President Robert Mugabe is indebted to the
security sector’s rescue
mission through a bloody campaign in the June 2008
presidential poll run-off
which ensured his continued reign after an initial
historic defeat by Prime
Minister Morgan Tsvangirai (MDC-T).
Zanu PF
even claims the realignment of the security sector is not part of
the Global
Political agreement which sired the unity government. Contrary to
this
dissembling line, the GPA in Article XIII is clear that “state organs
and
institutions do not belong to any political party and should be
impartial in
the discharge of their duties”.
It further states in article XIII (b) and
(c) “. . . all state organs and
institutions (should) strictly observe the
principles of the rule of law and
remain non-partisan and impartial. Laws
and regulations governing state
organs and institutions are strictly adhered
to and those violating them be
penalised without fear or favour…”
It
is thus evident that by making public statements backing Zanu PF and
campaigning for it, commanders are in breach of the laws of the land and
should be “penalised without fear or favour”.
The defiance to
security sector realignment is clearly intended to
radicalise politics and
possibly unleash another bout of electoral
violence –– a staple for
Zimbabwean polls. This resistance is epitomised by
the failure, attributable
to Zanu PF, of the National Security Council –– a
GPA creature –– to meet
and fulfil its obligation of reviewing policies on
security, defence, law
and order and recommending or directing appropriate
action.
The
council should, among others, comprise the president as chairperson,
vice-presidents, prime minister and his deputies and ministers responsible
for finance, defence forces and the police force.
A frustrated
Tsvangirai has accused the service chiefs of masterminding a
“silent coup”,
claiming he doubted Mugabe was still in charge of the
country, but this is
rather simplistic as the two clearly enjoy a symbiotic
relationship.
The last thing Zimbabwe needs is another stolen
election, but such a spectre
remains alive if the security sector is not
reined in and told to desist
from playing a commissariat role for Zanu PF,
thus poisoning the electoral
environment before and after
elections.
Senior army commanders, the likes of Major-Generals Douglas
Nyikayaramba,
Martin Chedondo and Trust Mugoba, have thrust the military
into the
spotlight by insisting as “patriots” they are prepared to fight to
defend
Mugabe and Zanu PF to safeguard the gains of
Independence.
What they will not concede is the motive is much more
mundane: they fear
losing their assets and privileges if Mugabe is defeated
as Zimbabwean
military chiefs are among the richest in the region, living
lavish
lifestyles under a patronage system while the majority wallows in
abject
poverty.
