FinGaz
Njabulo Ncube Political Editor
SADC
leaders jittery over Zim price war
PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe faces the prospect
of sterner criticism at next week's
make-or-break Southern African
Development Community (SADC) meeting in
Lusaka, Zambia, with a price war
that has accelerated the exodus of
Zimbabweans into the region likely to
take centre stage.
Diplomatic sources said yesterday that the crafty
Zimbabwean leader, who
outwitted his opponents at the extraordinary SADC
summit held in March, will
struggle to justify the crackdown against his
opponents, as he did in
Tanzania four months ago using a much-hyped
"terrorism" case that now lies
in disarray.
Ironically, the host country
for next week's regional meeting has raised the
alarm for the first time
over the influx of Zimbabweans crossing its borders
for basic foodstuffs.
This, according to diplomats, might bolster Pretoria's
mediation effort
aimed at finding a political settlement to the Zimbabwean
crisis.
An
estimated three million Zimbabweans now reside in South Africa, most of
them
illegally.
SADC diplomats have been worried at the snail's pace of South
African
President Thabo Mbeki's mediation efforts to end the crisis, which
has
affected neighbouring countries.
In fact, others believe there has
not been any progress at all, except for
preliminary consultative meetings
held so far to find an agenda for the
dialogue.
But a preliminary report
prepared by Mbeki's mediation team shows that the
region is unlikely to
completely veer from its current policy of quiet
engagement to adopt the
stronger censure and isolation of Zimbabwe favoured
by the West.
Mbeki
will report to the summit that his mediation effort is working and
that ZANU
PF and the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) are "sliding
towards an
agreement", reports said yesterday.
"It seems there are no real substantive
issues between the government and
the (opposition) MDC. There are strong
indications that the two sides are
sliding towards an agreement," the
report, which is being circulated among
diplomats ahead of the SADC summit,
said.
President Mugabe would be hard-pressed to explain the actions of his
government, both before the March summit, and during the subsequent period
of the Mbeki mediation effort, sources told The Financial Gazette this
week.
The arrest and torture of opposition activists had spurred SADC to put
Zimbabwe on the agenda of its March summit, but President Mugabe told the
summit that police had reacted to a campaign of violence perpetrated by the
MDC.
But the evidence he presented to the summit, in a much-touted
two-volume
40-page document titled "Zimbabwe Violence Report", prepared for
Foreign
Affairs by the Zimbabwe Republic Police, has been severely
discredited by a
High Court judgment that said much of it was based on
fabrications.
The government also sponsored a full-colour 20-page supplement
in the
London-based New African magazine, repeating the now discredited
claims
against the MDC.
"The cases (of violence), which were well
documented when we were in
Tanzania seem to have collapsed," said an African
diplomat yesterday. "These
are some of the questions that we hope to put
across when we review
progress."
The mediation effort has stuttered, with
the major stumbling block being
ZANU PF's refusal to discuss a new
constitution and erratic attendance by
the ruling party's two emissaries to
the dialogue, Patrick Chinamasa and
Nicholas Goche.
ZANU PF insiders have
previously hinted that the progress of the talks
hinged on President
Mugabe's "mood", as he battles to keep peace within his
fractious
party.
SADC executive secretary, Tomaz Augusto Salomao, who sent a team to
Zimbabwe
to assess the country's economic situation, has already completed a
report
on what the region can do to rescue Zimbabwe's economy.
At the
time of the assessment, inflation had reached 4 500 percent in May.
But
latest projections by the International Monetary Fund grimly suggest the
figure could hit 100 000 percent by year-end.
Diplomats said Tanzanian
President Jakaya Kikwete, who heads the regional
Organ on Peace and
Security, would present the economic report to the summit
next
Friday.
But Salomao's economic rescue package, completed on July 29, is
unlikely to
have factored in the full impact of President Mugabe's price
war, it is
feared.
"We wonder whether what is happening in Harare at the
moment is in sync with
the SADC economic rescue package the executive
secretary was tasked to come
up with," said a source.
But despite being
clearly misled on the MDC's "terror tactics", and facing
the threat of more
illegal Zimbabwean immigrants, regional diplomats doubt
that SADC is ready
to shift completely from its brotherly treatment of
Zimbabwe.
SADC will
not want to be seen to be pandering to the whims of the West, and
will most
likely stick to its policy, driven mostly by Mbeki, of engaging
Harare.
This appears to be vindicated by the leaked Mbeki report, which
criticises
Britain, which has led western pressure on President Mugabe's
government,
for denying "its role as the principle protagonist in the
Zimbabwean issue
and (its persistence) with its activities to isolate
Zimbabwe".
Both the ruling ZANU PF and the opposition have constantly refused
to
comment on the progress of the talks, citing a gag order issued by Mbeki
at
the start of the process.
But President Mugabe has publicly stated his
opposition to MDC demands for a
new constitution before elections in
2008.
State media editorialists have also warned against surrendering the
country
to what the Sunday Mail described as "the wrong people", a reference
to
Mbeki.
This week the government-run daily Herald carried a conspicuous
story in
which Zambian opposition politician Michael Sata urged SADC
countries to
"join hands and launch strong protests against attempts by the
West to
recolonise Zimbabwe".
FinGaz
Njabulo Ncube Political
Editor
THE decision by Local Government Minister Ignatius Chombo to let
former
Harare City Council commission chairperson Sekesai Makwavarara go was
influenced by the ruling party's desperate bid to win elusive votes in the
metropolitan province and intense factional fighting within ZANU PF, it has
emerged.
ZANU PF insiders revealed this week that Chombo had been
pressured to sever
ties with Makwavarara, whom he installed as chairperson
in 2004 after
dismissing popularly elected Movement for Democratic Change
(MDC) executive
mayor Elias Mudzuri.
They said ZANU PF, which despite
embracing Makwavarara after her defection
from the MDC, had long begun to
view her as a liability to the party's
unsuccessful efforts to win urban
support.
Chombo claimed this week that Makwavarara had tendered her
resignation on
her own volition and that she did not seek re-appointment to
the new
commission now chaired by Michael Mahachi.
Makwavarara declined
to comment when approached by the Financial Gazette
yesterday.
"Why
should I do that? I don't think I have reason to do that. As it has
been
reported, she (Makwavarara) tendered her resignation. That is all I
know, I
have nothing to do with her resignation," Chombo said on allegations
he
pushed Makwavarara out.
Ruling party insiders point to two main factors as
having forced Chombo to
abandon Makwavarara. Firstly, they said, Chombo had
been under incessant
pressure from his party's Harare provincial leadership
to kick out the
former MDC councillor from council to give the ruling party
a better chance
to wrestle control of the capital from the
opposition.
Secondly, ZANU PF sources say, politicians in the so-called
Mujuru camp felt
Makwavarara was too close to a rival camp, led by Emmerson
Mnangagwa.
"She (Makwavarara) offended some politicians in the Mujuru camp by
some of
her actions," said a source, without elaborating. "The camp (Mujuru)
is
powerful at Town House. She rubbed some of them up the wrong way as
rumours
were emerging she had friends in the other camp."
Until Monday,
Makwavarara had been at Town House since 2004 when Chombo
controversially
fired Mudzuri on allegations of gross incompetence, charges
the MDC says
were trumped up to nudge their man out of office. The ruling
party is
keeping an eye on the 2008 polls, and is desperate to win Harare
and other
urban areas to shame "doubting Thomases" in the Southern African
Development
Community (SADC) and in the west.
Makwavarara's fate had appeared sealed last
year when ZANU PF's Harare
province came out publicly against the extension
of the term of her
commission. Chombo, it is said, had agreed to sack
Makwavarara on May 1 this
year, but had delayed his decision pending
finalisation of the controversy
surrounding town clerk Nomutsa Chideya's
stay at council.
Makwavarara's catalogue of misdemeanours at council, among
them her
propensity to spend ratepayers' funds on luxuries, had become
embarrassing
to ZANU PF.
She drew protests when she proposed that the
Mayoral Mansion in Gunhill be
refurbished at a cost of $35 billion (old
currency), and then went on to
install a satellite dish at the residence for
an incredible $104 million
without council approval. At one time, she spent
$175 million on groceries.
Makwavarara also used her position to acquire a
council house at a cut-price
of then $5 billion when its market value at the
time was $20 billion.
Chombo had again undermined the Urban Councils' Act
(Chapter 29:15) and
ignored the five court judgments that declared the
commission illegal. "The
action of the regime against their own is
consistent with the way it abuses
its power over gullible opportunists," the
Combined Harare Residents
Association (CHRA) said in a statement to The
Financial Gazette.
"Makwavarara allowed herself to be abused by the regime.
She was always an
expendable pawn. Her replacement, Michael Mahachi, is
equally being used to
further the interests of this insensitive
regime."
CHRA said Harare residents had demanded that elections be held
urgently to
replace what it said was the "illegal" commission.
FinGaz
Staff
Reporters
PUBLIC violence charges against Movement for Democratic Change
(MDC) Member
of Parliament for Glen View, Paul Madzore, have been withdrawn,
while
government's crumbling terrorism case against its opponents took
another
twist yesterday with the release of two more opposition
activists.
The violence charges against Madzore were withdrawn on Monday
before Harare
magistrate Betty Chidziva. The claims stemmed from alleged
disturbances in
Highfields in March after police scuttled a meeting called
by Save Zimbabwe,
a coalition of opposition and civic groups.
Magistrate
Chidziva set Madzore free after state prosecutors indicated they
were
withdrawing the public violence charges before plea.
Yesterday, the High
Court released two MDC members accused of recruiting
opposition activists
for military training in South Africa for purposes of
launching attacks
against government.
In releasing the two, Morgan Komichi and Denis Murira,
High Court judge
Justice Lawrence Kamocha said the state's case was riddled
with
contradictions.
The police had alleged that Komichi was the director
and Murira the
secretary of an alleged terror squad - named by police as the
Democratic
Resistance Committee (DRC) - that was behind a spate of petrol
bombings.
The state had opposed the granting of bail, saying the the pair
would
abscond, commit similar offences, or slip out of the country to
recruit more
insurgents.
The judge said the state had failed to
strengthen its case after months of
investigation. Komichi and Murira were
released on a $10 million bail each.
Alec Muchadehama represented the MDC
members.
Last month, in granting 13 other members bail, Kamocha said police
spun a
story about a non-existent South African farm and created two
fictional
witnesses in a bid to nail the opposition members.
In May,
while releasing MDC elections director Ian Makone, who had faced
similar
allegations, another judge, Tedious Karwi said: "He (Makone) had
left the
court with the impression that although he was opposed to the
government and
wanted to see a change of government he was opposed to the
use of violent
means."
FinGaz
Clemence Manyukwe Staff
Reporter
A GOVERNMENT doctor has revealed in court that a group of
alleged coup
plotters was tortured in custody.
The alleged coup
plotters appeared in public for the first time this week,
in remand hearings
at the Harare Magistrate's Court.
A medical officer at Chikurubi Maximum
Security Prison Complex Hospital,
identified only as Dr Toungana, presented
a report on the condition of the
suspects, two months after the group
alleged vicious assaults by the police.
Albert Matapo, the alleged ringleader
of the seven men facing allegations of
having plotted to oust President
Robert Mugabe and replace him with Rural
Housing and Social Amenities
Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa, has multiple scars
on his back and whip lashes
on both knees, according to the report.
Another accused, Patson Mupfure, was
said to have lost his upper incisor
tooth.
Part of the medical report
says Mupfure has a "healed scar (on) right wrist,
back of thighs and lower
limbs.He is in a stable condition. The only
permanent injury is the missing
tooth."
On another accused person, Nyasha Zivuku the report said: "Scar on
back.
Thoracic region, 1cm diameter. Multiple scars on lower
limbs."
Meanwhile, the state yesterday made an application before the
magistrate
that a defence application be heard in camera.
Prosecutor
Joseph Makwakwa said proceedings should be held in camera because
there were
people who would be mentioned, and that their identities must not
be
divulged in public.
Makwakwa argued this was because the country does not
have any witness
protection programme.
However, the defence team, led by
prominent lawyer Jonathan Samkange,
opposed the application, saying his
clients do not want to be acquitted in
secrecy, as the public would be left
with the impression, created by the
state, that the group had indeed
intended to overthrow the government.
Samkange added that although the state
had during a bail hearing in June at
the High Court made a similar claim
that there were some prominent names
that needed protection, no individual
had yet been named.
The court is yet to rule on the application.
On
Thursday last week, the seven men made their first public appearance.
Looking dishevelled but smiling and waving to relatives, the group sat
quietly - cuffed and in leg irons - as Samkange challenged the state to show
why the seven should remain in custody.
Pointing to one of the suspects,
20-year-old Shingirai Mutemachani, Samkange
said: "I want the state to tell
me why this young boy should be kept in
custody, in leg-irons. What would he
do if he were released today? Take over
the country? What would he do with
it?"
FinGaz
Charles Rukuni Bureau
Chief
BULAWAYO - Members of the price monitoring task force in Bulawayo,
including
two senior police officers, were the major beneficiaries of the
price
crackdown that began last month, it has just emerged.
Bulawayo
suffered the worst crackdown in the country and had the highest
number of
arrests.
A war veteran who preferred not to be named said members of the
taskforce
had taken advantage of the political crisis in the city to "loot"
because
they had no one to answer to.
Bulawayo has been a divided
province for years and the ruling party has
failed to hold elections since
April.
To make matters worse the owners of the businesses affected are so
scared
that they declined to talk about the issue for fear of
victimisation.
Police were also not able to comment on the issue though they
were supplied
with the names of the officers allegedly involved.
Shops
that were devastated by the crackdown included Fazak, a gift shop that
was
packed with electrical goods including fridges and television sets; Gold
Medal Furnishers, which sold beds and bedroom suites as well as lounge
suites; Bellevue Spar; Makro and almost all cement suppliers.
One senior
police officer is reported to have bought six cartons of cooking
oil when
the taskforce ordered Bellevue Spar to slash prices.
Another is reported to
have bought 20 sheets of asbestos when they a
hardware store was ordered to
reduce prices from $3 million to $1 million.
Consumers who went to query why
prices at one shop had not been reduced
while those at a shop across the
street selling similar products had been
slashed with all the goods being
"looted" by customers were arrested but
later released when the Consumer
Council of Zimbabwe said they had a right
to demand an
explanation.
Consumer Council of Zimbabwe regional manager for Matabeleland,
Comfort
Muchekeza said his organisation had been sidelined during the
operation yet
it could have helped stop the "looting" as it had been
monitoring prices on
a weekly basis and knew the prices that prevailed on
June 18, which was the
benchmark.
A cement supplier said the sector had
been hit hardest because though the
product was not controlled but monitored
they had been ordered to sell
cement for $150 000 per bag, just $5 000 more
than the cost of an empty bag.
The price as of June 18 should have been
around $875 000.
The supplier said not only had members of the taskforce
looted the cement
but in some cases they demanded free cement. They also
sold cement that had
been bought and was awaiting delivery.
What was even
more irritating was that one hardware shop believed to be
owned by a senior
politician but run by members of his family was left
untouched though it had
a lot of cement in stock.
One supplier said he had been ordered to sell 370
bags belonging to 64
customers at the reduced price of $150 000 though he
had invoices to show
that the cement had been bought.
"They were not
buying but looting. One member of the taskforce demanded 25
bags and another
25 for his colleague for free.
"He then ordered me to give other members of
the taskforce and senior police
and army officers five or 10 bags each for
free. Though I told him that the
cement had already been bought and paid for
he ordered me to sell 200 bags
to members of the public to cover up for
their looting," the supplier said.
"What is even more disturbing," he added
"is that I have received reports
that the same cement was being resold from
a police camp at $1.5 million a
bag."
FinGaz
Stanley Kwenda Staff
Reporter
THE Commercial Farmers Union (CFU) says members still on farms
targeted for
resettlement are not resisting eviction, but are waiting for
the outcome of
applications for land lodged with the Ministry of
Agriculture.
Some of the applications were made two years ago, a
spokesperson for the
union said, and farmers continue to work pending
responses from the
Ministry.
"Some of them have already acquired inputs
for summer production. If a
decision is not reached, then most of their
investment secured through loans
from banks will all go to waste," said
Emily Crookes, CFU spokesperson.
The Lands and Land Reform Ministry has sent
out a circular to all chief land
officers in all provinces ordering the
police to arrest all white farmers
remaining on farms marked for acquisition
after the expiry of a 90-day grace
period to wind up
operations.
Government accuses the farmers of being in defiance of its land
reform
exercise.
"To say they are being defiant will be using the wrong
adjective. What
surprises us is that those productive farms are the ones
that are being
targeted. These farmers have already complied with government
directives to
downsize and are co-existing with the new farmers."
Didymus
Mutasa the Lands and Land Reform Minister this week said he was
working out
a plan to settle the confusion, which continues to surround
tenure on the
farms.
The CFU has however, reported an increase in the number of attempts to
evict
its members from farms.
"There have been an increased number of new
farmers turning up at farms
occupied by white farmers armed with offer
letters. The new farmers are
insisting on evicting the white farmers from
the farms while these same
farmers have also applied for land. We are
wondering what criteria is being
used because the former permanent secretary
in the Ministry of Agriculture,
Ngoni Masoka, said in January this year that
all genuine farmers should
apply for land."
FinGaz
Charles Rukuni Bureau
Chief
THE Bulawayo City Council is headed for a collision with Local
Government
Minister Ignatius Chombo.
It says it is still opposed to
the takeover of its water supplies by the
Zimbabwe National Water Authority
(ZINWA) and the water body will have to
bulldoze its way over the council if
it wants to take over.
The government announced towards the end of last year
that it was taking
over all water supplies in the country but Bulawayo
appealed against the
decision in February saying water contributed more than
40 percent of the
city's revenue.
The council, which is dominated by the
Movement for Democratic Change,
received the backing of industry and
commerce and all the city's residents,
including the Bulawayo United
Residents Association, which is closely linked
to the ruling
ZANU-PF.
Debate on the takeover was sparked by ZANU-PF councillor Stars Mathe
at the
full council meeting last week when she asked whether the council
should not
be looking at the welfare of its staff instead of continuing to
oppose the
take over.
The council's future water supplies committee had
passed a resolution that
the council was still opposed to the takeover and
would only address issues
of concern if the takeover was forced on
it.
The committee was responding to a letter from Chombo in which he turned
down
the council's appeal against the takeover.
"We cannot continue to
debate this matter ad infinitum," Chombo wrote to the
council. "Accordingly,
Bulawayo City Council is expected to cooperate with
both the provincial
administrator,
To Page 14
From Page 9
Bulawayo Metropolitan
Province, and ZINWA in discussing implementation
modalities relating to the
transfer of water and sewerage systems to ZINWA.
"To this end, guidelines
have already been given to your city council by my
permanent secretary.
Council's compliance with these guidelines shall be
appreciated. In order to
manage the transfer process effectively, the acting
provincial
administrator, Bulawayo Province, shall direct the process to its
logical
conclusion."
The council said while there were some legal issues that had to
be ironed
out before the takeover as well as other issues such as that of
staff and
compensation for infrastructure and loss of revenue, it would only
deal with
these issues if the takeover materialised.
Alderman Charles
Mpofu said councillors had been mandated by the people to
oppose the
takeover so they would not budge. If the government wanted to
take over,
they would have to do so by force and the councillors would go
back to the
people to tell them that they had done their best but the
government had, as
usual, taken over by force.
Former deputy mayor Angilacala Ndlovu said there
was nothing to debate.
Council stood opposed to the takeover. "My people
have told me that I should
resign if the council changes its resolution.,"
he said.
Executive mayor Japhet Ndabeni-Ncube said council stood by its
position. It
was now the only local authority that continued to resist the
takeover by
ZINWA.
The mayor refuted a report in the Sunday News which
claimed that the council
had "thrown in the towel" on the takeover and
described the report in which
he was allegedly accused of selling out as
mischievous.
"I would be glad if you could put the record straight. We are
opposed to the
takeover," the mayor said. "We are supported in this by the
people of
Bulawayo. We know cabinet made a decision to takeover water
supplies. If
they want to take over they can. We can't stop them but we are
appealing to
them to change their decision."
FinGaz
Staff Reporter
THE National
Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ) will introduce special day trains
between
Bulawayo and Harare and Harare and Mutare tomorrow to ease the
transport
problem.
Thousands of passengers are currently stranded because of the
shortage of
buses, which most people attribute to the current price
blitz.
Reports say most bus operators have parked their buses because they
cannot
afford to operate under the new fares ordered by the government
because the
National Oil Company of Zimbabwe (NOCZIM) has not been able to
supply them
with cheap fuel.
The government has ordered service stations
to sell fuel at $60 000 a litre
but most garages, including those operated
by the NOCZIM, do not have this
fuel. Diesel is selling for $240 000 a litre
on the black market.
NRZ public relations manager Fanuel Masikati, said there
will be special
daylight trains from Harare to Mutare and Mutare to Harare
tomorrow and on
Sunday. There will also be daylight trains from Bulawayo to
Harare tomorrow
and from Harare to Bulawayo on Saturday. Additional coaches
have been added
to all existing inter-city passenger trains between Bulawayo
and Victoria
Falls, Bulawayo and Harare, Harare and Mutare, Gweru and
Masvingo, Bulawayo
and Chiredzi, Harare and Lions Den and Harare and Shamva.
FinGaz
National Agenda
with Bornwell Chakaodza
Leaders can be expected to be cowed like terrifed
small boys in Mugabe's
presence
ONCE again, that regional talk shop that
has promised much in the past but
delivered very little is upon us.
I
am of course referring to the forthcoming Southern African Development
Community (SADC) summit in Lusaka, Zambia where the seemingly unending
Zimbabwean crisis is expected to top the agenda.
President Thabo Mbeki of
South Africa will report on progress or otherwise
of the talks between the
ruling ZANU PF party and the main opposition
Movement for Democratic Change
(MDC) following the mandate given to him by
the SADC leaders in their March
extraordinary summit in the Tanzanian
capital, Dar-es-Salaam.
The most
likely news in Lusaka, barring any miracle, is that there will be
no news.
People need hard evidence to believe that significant progress has
been made
to resolve this crisis but alas there is none whatsoever.
It has always been
difficult in a regional environment in which all SADC
leaders, including
President Mbeki, are viewed by President Mugabe as "mere
boys" to see a
solution in sight. And confronted by President Mugabe, they
do indeed behave
like terrified small boys.
The grand old man of Zimbabwean politics is the
only one now left of the
so-called first generation post-independence
revolutionary leaders in this
part of the world - besides President Eduardo
dos Santos of Angola whose
political impact on the regional stage is very
minimal anyway. And despite
his advanced age, President Mugabe's cunning and
intellectual prowess appear
to be no match for most if not all of these SADC
leaders - young as they
are!
I do think that these are some of the things
that explain the timidity and
failure of the SADC leaders to seize the bull
by the horns when it comes to
tackling the Zimbabwean crisis although that
intellectual prowess has ruined
a once prosperous country. Otherwise, why do
these leaders always melt like
butter when President Mugabe presents his
side of the story at the summits -
a story which is at variance with the
reality on the ground here in
Zimbabwe.
For example, one would think that
the extreme brutality against people who
are peacefully demanding greater
democracy would make SADC leaders pause and
say "hey, what's going on in
Zimbabwe?" In such a situation, President
Mugabe's bedrock of support would
naturally have turned against him but we
do not see this happening in a
meaningful way.
Over and above the extreme repression, President Mugabe is
pushing ahead
with plans to amend the constitution in order to consolidate
his hold on
power, contrary to the spirit and letter of President Mbeki's
mandate of
ensuring free and fair elections come March 2008. All this point
to a very
gloomy prognosis and that there are no mediation efforts worth
writing home
about.
This is the political reality that SADC leaders must
confront in Lusaka.
This is the truth that they must face. The leaders may
not do anything about
it but at least the truth will set them free. It is
wishful thinking on the
part of SADC to continue to claim that everything is
on course. It is not.
President Mugabe and his lieutenants may continue to
say that they have not
yet given up on negotiations but actions speak louder
than words. ZANU PF
has in reality given up.
ZANU PF has been immune to
outside pressure because of the position and
support of SADC in particular
and Africa in general. The docility of
Zimbabweans in general has not helped
matters. A combination of a weak
internal opposition and a divided
international community has meant a
continued lease of life for ZANU PF. If
the ruling party had faced a hostile
world, both internal (people of
Zimbabwe) and external (literally the whole
of the international community
including Africa) perhaps, things would have
been different. The limits of
ZANU PF ambitions would have been
significantly checkmated, no doubt. A sea
change in our political fortunes
or misfortunes would have been produced
quite early on, But alas, this was
not to be!
And this is where the SADC
region can be a real and meaningful catalyst for
change. Difficult as it is,
the region really holds the key in terms of
assisting Zimbabweans resolve
their crisis, which has impacted very
negatively on it. South Africa might
be benefiting from the skills of the
many Zimbabweans who have flocked there
but in the long term it is not in
the interest of South Africa to have a
neighbour who is in a state of
collapse and whose economy is in a terrible
meltdown.
Zimbabwe is at the crossroads as far as this political and economic
crisis
is concerned. The Lusaka Summit is yet another occasion for SADC
leaders to
come face to face with a fearsome President Mugabe. Will the news
be no news
yet again? Or will they this time try to hold their colleague to
account,
albeit in a typical African tradition of respect for elders but
truth
telling at the same time?
The hope of the vast majority of
Zimbabweans is that the summit will
seriously and meaningfully discuss the
prospects for political normalisation
and economic recovery in Zimbabwe and
how they can help that process of
normalisation - the proposed 18th
Amendment to the Zimbabwe Constitution
notwithstanding.
It may appear to
be merely indulging in a futile and idle exercise on the
part of SADC
leaders to discuss these things, given the fact that the 18th
Amendment
would be passed in this session of Parliament anyway but summits
of this
nature have one, if nothing else, great merit: that of putting a
failed
state under the regional spotlight. That in itself is a good thing.
In any
event, given the way President Mugabe tells everybody including the
West to
get lost, it naturally falls to SADC leaders as his allies to advise
him (to
put it mildly) to be part of a stable and democratic Southern
Africa.
We
continue to live in hope.
borncha@mweb.co.zw
FinGaz
Shame Makoshori Staff
Reporter
ZIMBABWE, hemorrhaging under a severe foreign currency crisis,
registered a
$16,8 trillion trade surplus in 2006 despite evidence of a
severe economic
crisis that has ravaged key industrial sectors, figures
obtained by The
Financial Gazette this week revealed.
Export trade
promotion body, ZimTrade, quoting Central Statistical Office
(CSO) figures,
indicated that Zimbabwe had a surplus last year, but critics
said this did
not reflect a robust export regime in the troubled country.
The import and
export trends report covering 132 countries worldwide
revealed that annual
imports totaled $145.4 trillion against export revenues
of $161.8 trillion
during 2006.
This translated to a $16.8 trillion current account
balance.
But Zimbabwe does not have the foreign currency reserves to reflect
the
surplus and is battling to secure offshore credit facilities to import
food,
fuel, medicine and other critical requirements.
The acting director
of the CSO, Moffat Nyoni confirmed the statistics, but
agreed the trade
surplus in favour of Zimbabwe did not indicate that the
country's exporting
sector was on a rebound.
"I know where you are coming from, that there were
high demand for imports
in 2006 and we could not have exported more. But it
could be that companies
did not access the foreign currency they required to
import goods and
services so this depressed the import figures," Nyoni told
The Financial
Gazette this week.
ZimTrade chief executive officer Herbert
Chakanyuka said there were
"misnomers, which are a bit tricky in the CSO
data".
He said this could have been caused by the volatile value of the local
currency.
"The Zimbabwean dollar component gives us a distortion. If you
want to
authenticate further you should check with the central bank,"
Chakanyuka
said.
"In fact the African Capacity Building Foundation has
agreed to fund the
improvement of the data capturing process. But you will
also find that part
of the free funds are not accurately captured. This has
contributed to the
distortions," he said.
He could not explain why, if
there was a feeling within ZimTrade that the
figures were inaccurate, they
were being made available to the public.
At $38.3 trillion worth of export
revenue to Zimbabwe, neighbouring South
Africa remained the country's
largest trading partner, accounting for 24
percent of Zimbabwe's exports and
49 percent of imports.
South Africa exported $70.8 trillion worth of goods to
Zimbabwe, the figures
revealed, followed by the United States of America
whose exports to Zimbabwe
totaled $19 trillion, representing a 13 percent
share of imports by
Zimbabwe.
South Africa also dominated the list of
Zimbabwean exports at $38.3
trillion, 24 percent of the country's overall
exports in dollar terms.
FinGaz
COUNCILLOR Phil
Lamola, who represents the city's central business district,
has been
appointed Bulawayo's deputy mayor. He replaces Councillor Cornelius
Ncengani
who died on July 2.
Lamola, who is a director of Masedi Holdings, which he
formed in 2004, is
likely to serve only six months, as the government is
planning to hold
harmonised presidential and parliamentary and local
government elections
early next year.
He was elected to council in
September 2003. - Staff Reporter
FinGaz
Clemence Manyukwe Staff
Reporter
THE government has resolved to bypass the Media and Information
Commission
(MIC) and appoint a special committee to deal with the issue of
the
licensing of the banned Daily News.
Documents seen by The
Financial Gazette show that the Attorney-General (A-G)'s
office has directed
that the Ministry of Information appoint the committee
to resolve the case
of the Associated Newspapers of Zimbabwe (ANZ),
publishers of the Daily News
and the Daily News on Sunday.
This follows court orders that found the MIC to
be biased.
Information Minister Sikhanyiso Ndlovu has accepted the advice,
according to
senior officials in the A-G's office.
This represents a
major climbdown by government, which previously refused to
appoint an ad hoc
committee to deal with the matter, insisting that the MIC
had not erred in
its treatment of the Daily News.
The A-G is representing the minister while
Harare lawyer Mercy Chizodza is
representing the MIC in the long running
case.
The decision to have the MIC recused from the Daily News case is being
made
more than a year after Judge President Rita Makarau advised government
to do
so.
Makarau's advice was previously ignored, triggering another
legal battle in
which the ANZ approached the same court seeking to be deemed
registered.
However, Justice Gowora dismissed the application, saying
assenting to it
would be turning the court into a licensing authority.
In
her judgment, Justice Makarau had based her decision on a Supreme Court
ruling in 2004 that noted that Tafataona Mahoso, the MIC's executive
chairman, had made "certain utterances and remarks about the applicant
likely to make any reasonable man conclude that ANZ was not going to have a
fair hearing".
Sources at the A-G's office said Ndlovu's decision to
appoint a special
committee to deal with the matter is in part due to the
criticism heaped on
him by Gowora.
In her judgment, the judge said the
minister did not seem to be serious in
dealing with the matter.
"What is
however, surprising is that despite the findings by the Supreme
Court in
2005 that the remarks by the chairman of the commission prior to
the
application having been heard could have created an apprehension in the
minds of reasonable people that justice would not be done, there has been no
effort on the part of the minister to put in place a legal structure or
framework that would permit the application to be heard and determined by an
impartial body," the judge said.
"Instead of this being done, the
minister permitted a situation to prevail
where those same members that had
been found to be likely to be biased
against the applicant, received and
considered yet another application for
registration of the applicant in
terms of the Act."
Although the MIC will not hear the matter, it is not under
any threat of
dissolution, as pressed for by media groups, as government
retains
confidence in the body.
FinGaz
Shame Makoshori
Staff Reporter
Govt seen scoring own goal with slow action on
projects
ZIMBABWE'S preparations for the 2010 World Cup have gained momentum,
with
government officials canvassing for support from the business community
to
bankroll what appears to become one of the most expensive projects in
recent
years.
But the progress has been slow considering the mammoth
task that Zimbabwe
faces in preparing for the first World Cup ever hosted by
Africa.
According to details of an ambitious business plan compiled by the
Sport,
Tourism, Image and Communications Taskforce titled World Soccer Cup
2010
Strategy, an array of projects have been proposed to allow the country
to
benefit from millions of soccer enthusiasts likely to come to watch the
major soccer showcase in South Africa.
Zimbabwe plans to generate at
least US$50 million from tourist arrivals
during the World Cup
tournament.
Some of the ambitious projects lined up under the campaign
include the
construction of hotels and lodges, the refurbishment of existing
hotel
infrastructure and the construction of football stadiums.
But a
close look at the progress made so far indicates that the
cash-strapped
government had done very little or nothing in meeting its own
commitments
for the construction of the stadiums.
"Air transport systems need to be
addressed to provide adequate access from
the 2010 source countries and the
host nation/cities before, during and
after the event," the strategy
document reads.
"Facilitation of the smooth movement of visitors at our ports
of entry as
well as availability of fuel is critical," the document
says.
The taskforce, led by Education Minister, Aeneas Chigwedere, announced
in
June it was spearheading a campaign to attract international airlines
that
have pulled out of Harare to resume their services.
Airlines that
abandoned the Harare route, fleeing subdued demand, include
Austrian
Airlines, Germany's Lufthansa, Swissair, and KLM of the
Netherlands, Balkan
Airlines, Air France and Portugal's TAP.
But critics say while the idea of
luring international airlines back into
the country was noble, the current
economic crisis was likely to make this
impossible.
The primary concerns
that led to the departure of the airlines from the
country - aviation fuel
shortages, low tourist traffic and an unstable
economic environment - remain
entrenched.
Moreover, the country would be competing for the service of the
airlines
against more stable economies in the region, which have vibrant
low-cost
airlines (LCAs) already operational
"International airlines are
highly unlikely to come back due to the
deteriorating economic crisis in
Zimbabwe and future air travel patterns
look bleak," a tourism expert
says.
But this will have a strong bearing on the success of Zimbabwe's plans
to
generate at least US$50 million during the tournament due to
transportation
problems.
Research has indicated that transport consumes
nearly 50 percent of a
tourist's travel costs, but due to the vastness of
southern Africa, most
travellers would require air transport.
Coming up
with strategies to reduce the cost of air travel would therefore
be a trump
card for Zimbabwe against its competitors during the tournament.
The Zimbabwe
Tourism Authority, quoting international surveys in its 2005
annual report,
acknowledges that global tourist arrivals increased by 5.5
percent to 808
million due to the tempting offers made available by online
travel services
and the LCAs.
With more and more intra-regional destinations served by LCAs,
tour
operators are moving to more exotic medium and long haul
destinations.
This has opened up opportunities for the LCAs, which are also
suitable for
most regional tourists who form the bulk of Zimbabwe's
arrivals.
Pending the return of the more lucrative western tourists, Zimbabwe
has to
critically study the available LCA options in the region and come up
with
cost effective synergies and linkages to boost the potential offered by
the
aircraft.
What the country requires in the remaining period is
capacity building in
such areas as training for hotel staff, giving
facelifts to public places
and tackling the transport problems posed by
spiralling costs and the
absence of reliable airlines, which the taskforce
has acknowledged
FinGaz
Personal Glimpses
with Mavis Makuni
WHERE does patriotism end and lunacy begin? This is a
question many
Zimbabweans must have asked following a series of events
reported in the
media over the past week.
The authorities often
bristle with indignation at any suggestion that the
rule of law has broken
down in Zimbabwe and the powerful and well connected
can get away with
murder, with impunity. Lawlessness has become so prevalent
that individuals
connected to the ruling party have no qualms about
arrogating to themselves
powers and authority to act arbitrarily in ways
that infringe upon the
rights and freedoms of others. It has truly become a
matter of anything goes
as far as these individuals are concerned.
Last week this newspaper led with
a story involving Jocelyn Chiwenga, the
wife of army commander Constantine
Chiwenga, who sparked a right royal
ruckus while out shopping at one of the
biggest wholesalers in Harare,
Makro.
The Financial Gazette's story
described how the army top brass wife had
screamed insults and obscenities
at leader of the Movement for Democratic
Change (MDC), Morgan Tsvangirai
when she saw him in the same supermarket.
She is reported to have accused
him of being responsible for the economic
crisis prevailing in the country
and to have proceeded to shout at a
photographer whose equipment she
reportedly tried to grab.
After The Financial Gazette's story was published,
attempts were made to
refute the report but it soon became clear that this
was damage-control
spinning. The best confirmation of this was the story
published in the
state-controlled daily, The Herald, under the banner
headline "Tsvangirai
flees."
The paper claimed that the leader of the
main opposition party was made to
flee "after being confronted by Harare
businesswoman and wife of the
Zimbabwe Defence Forces commander Mrs Jocelyn
Chiwenga at Makro Wholesale in
Harare on Wednesday."
The paper said
Chiwenga became upset at hearing that the "President" was
coming into the
shop and then discovering it was only Tsvangirai. The Herald
reported: "Mrs
Chiwenga confronted Tsvangirai and told him in his face (sic)
that he was
responsible for the illegal sanctions hurting Zimbabwe and the
western
machinations to use price increases to effect illegal regime
change."
In
an apparent self-contradiction after describing this extraordinary scene,
the state daily said: "In an attempt to twist what has happened, some
newspapers and online news websites claimed Mrs Chiwenga caused mayhem at
the shop by attacking journalists and shoppers and insulting
Tsvangirai."
What the paper did not explain in its valiant effort to defend
the
indefensible is in what capacity Jocelyn Chiwenga acted when she
"confronted" Tsvangirai in such a manner that he had no choice but to flee?
Was she acting on behalf of the army, the ruling party or the government?
From what constitutional provision does this woman derive the authority and
power to "confront" and challenge other Zimbabweans while out doing routine
things such as shopping? These are the questions that need to be answered
honestly. Through Chiwenga's boorish actions are Zimbabweans to believe that
they should quake in their boots upon meeting spouses and relatives of the
powerful and influential?
Another story published by The Financial
Gazette in its last issue was
equally disturbing. This was a court story,
which described how a
brigadier-general who has illegally seized a farm in
Manicaland has ensured
that he would get away with this atrocity by using
brute force. He is
reported to have deployed a group of soldiers to camp
permanently at the
property to repel anyone who tries to take him to task
over his illegal
actions.
The soldiers are reported to have defied a
directive issued by Vice
President Joseph Msika to vacate the farm and to
have threatened police
officers who were due to serve the army boss with a
court order with force.
Even the most fervent patriots who make it their
business to
see-and-hear-no-evil must surely acknowledge that something is
seriously
wrong when individuals can command "private armies" to safeguard
their
personal interests. To make matters worse, these interests are not
even
above board.
We often hear praises being heaped on the army for
safeguarding Zimbabwe's
territorial integrity and sovereignty. But abuses
such as the deployment of
soldiers to enable an individual to break the law
show how state
institutions and resources are now routinely used to promote
the interests
and agendas of powerful individuals.
These abuses remind me
of a book I read many years ago, titled, Who is
running America? It dealt
with issues pertaining to the institutional basis
of power, power in
collective decision-making and power in governing
circles.
Its author,
Thomas R. Dye of Florida State University observes in one
chapter: "It is
the necessity in each society - if it is to be a stable
society not a rabble
- to order the relations of men under institutional
ways of achieving needed
ends. Organised power exists as always and
everywhere in societies large and
small, primitive or modern because it
performs the necessary function of
establishing and maintaining the version
of order by which a given society
in a given time and place lives."
The incidents referred to in this piece
clearly show that we now live in an
anarchic society where the powerful and
well connected can be a law unto
themselves in the comforting knowledge that
nothing will happen to them. If
anything, they will be lauded for their
misdeeds while the victims of their
abusive conduct are ridiculed and
portrayed as the villains as has happened
in the case of Tsvangirai's
encounter with Jocelyn Chiwenga.
The question is, where will all this end?
Today it can be the spouse of a
chef throwing her weight around. Next it
will be a son, a daughter, a
nephew, a brother, a friend . . . the list is
endless and the prospect is
frightening.
mmakuni@fingaz.co.zw
FinGaz
Stanley Kwenda Staff
Reporter
Victoria falls - insignia, mottos and slogans are normally used
in branding
a particular business. But in the prevailing economic situation,
marketing
has taken an original direction in the resort town of Victoria
Falls.
"Come and stay at the Victoria Falls Safari Lodge, where you get
your fuel
tank refilled for your journey back home," is an example of how
establishments use novel ways to promote themselves.
Many tourism
operators in Victoria Falls have learnt the art of survival the
hard way and
businesses have become self-reliant.
Upon arrival in Victoria Falls, visitors
from Harare, where power and water
cuts have become the norm, could be
excused for imagining that they were in
a different country.
How to cope
with the power and water shortages has become a key marketing
theme in the
resort town.
Tourism operators are experiencing a boom, the result of various
initiatives
designed to meet the challenges presented by a crumbling economy
where the
most basic commodities and services are hard to find.
"We have
learnt to live within our means, and tried to foster a culture of
self-reliance in difficult times such as these," said Costa Shinya, general
manager of the Stanley and Livingstone Hotel.
While Harare tourist
locations suffer because of the breakdown of services,
talk of power and
water shortages is foreign to people here.
Many ventures have devised ways to
beat these problems. Hotels are building
their own dams, their own water
purification plants, installing generators
and growing their own
food.
"We never think of (power utility) ZESA. We hear that ZINWA (the
Zimbabwe
National Water Authority) will soon take over the water affairs of
our town,
but we are not worried. We have our own things in order," said the
operations manager of another lodge,
Apart from securing their own
amenities, tourism entrepreneurs have embraced
overcome another challenge;
they are developing their own infrastructure,
including roads in wildlife
parks.
Shearwater, a major activity operator, has built a recreational
facility in
the wildlife parks, afford tourists luxury even when away from
the ambience
of their hotels.
The resort town has long abandoned the
hand-to-mouth approach that is the
norm for operators elsewhere as tourist
arrivals have increased steadily.
Some of the new ideas have emerged from the
monthly tourism indabas held in
the town by major players in the industry,
under the "Go to Victoria Falls"
marketing campaign.
A number of new
initiatives to attract more visitors are being established.
These include
elephant rides, lion walks, canoeing and helicopter rides over
the falls.
Apart from the actual viewing of the falls, only the boat cruise,
famously
known as the sunset cruise, bungee jumping and white water rafting
were
previously the other major activities.
Victoria Falls is also developing
sports tourism, with an increasing number
of international golf, marathon
and rugby events.
In addition, there is the annual jazz festival, which is
hosted over the
Christmas holiday, which attracts artists from around the
world.
With all these developments, Victoria Falls appears to be on the move,
fast
re-gaining ground lost to Livingstone across the border and other
tourist
destinations in the region.
Despite attempts to spend more on
advertising, operators say word of mouth
has significant impact in changing
perceptions and the fortunes of the
tourism industry in that part of the
country.
"Zimbabwe is by far much safer than South Africa, having been here
for two
weeks. We came because we wanted to relax a bit and recover after we
were
hijacked in Johannesburg for the fourth time in two years," said an
elderly
South African couple.
According to operators, the resort town
records brisk business at this time
of the year, when visitors from Europe
arrive for their summer breaks.
Ilala Lodge, a five-star establishment, was
fully booked last week.
FinGaz
Clemence Manyukwe
Staff Reporter
ALONG Pasipanodya Street in the high-density suburb of
Dzivaresekwa, Harare,
residents were this week queuing to buy sugar, enough
only for a single cup
of tea.
Traders on this dirty road specialise
in this sort of business - the sale of
basic commodities packed into
ridiculously small packets - which they brand
"emergency" food.
At
lunchtime on Tuesday, apart from the tiny sachets of four teaspoons of
sugar
each with a price tag of $10 000, small packs of tea leaves and salt
were
also on sale for an outrageous $5 000 each.
Amai Chipo is one of the
"emergency" market's most enterprising salespeople,
whose business is
experiencing a sudden boom owing to the recent price cuts,
which have
createdbrisk business on the informal market.
Because of government's
directive to slash prices by 50 percent, shelves in
all the supermarkets are
bare of basics that are finding their way into the
illegal parallel market
at exorbitant prices.
Informal traders have been making a killing out of the
resultant shortages.
"Here, you can buy coffee, powdered milk and sugar
enough only for one
person. It costs $20 000 to prepare one cup," said Amai
Chipo.
There is a reason why this market is thriving, she says. The shortage
of
basic commodities and the ban on bulk purchases - "only two per
customer",
notices in shops say - has driven black market prices up, and
these miserly
packets are what is available, and affordable.
Amai Chipo's
husband is unemployed, so every day he goes into town with two
of his sons,
where they spend the day hunting down whatever they can lay
their hands on
for resale at the "emergency" market.
The packaging of basic commodities into
small packets is not confined to
Pasipanodya Street, but has spread to other
poor suburbs across the country,
a sign that the price freeze is just not
working.
At Nyaguwa supermarket in Dzivaresekwa 2, the only products selling
in huge
quantities were condoms.
In commuter omnibuses, food shortages
are the topical issue.
"When I was growing up salt never used to run out.
When we went to the rural
areas our grandmother would always say 'everything
you brought from your
last visit ran out, but I still have salt'," one
middle-aged women joked.
"If I can't find food for my own family, I wonder
how my mother, who depends
on what I send, is surviving. If the situation
remains like this for the
next three months, I think we will die."
The
scarcest commodity is meat. Many have gone for weeks without a taste of
any
kind of meat. A Herald report on Monday highlighted the desperation.
The
paper said a Beitbridge man was making a killing, preying on the
desperate
by selling them donkey meat.
"I actually bought donkey meat from a certain
man who was moving around
carrying a basket, which contained the
meat.
"In fact, this man had an ear of a cow, which he was using to hoodwink
residents into believing that it was beef he was selling," the paper
reported.
It has also been reported that police were on the trail for
another man who
sold dog meat to people at a Norton farm.
Last week, the
United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) launched an urgent
appeal for aid,
saying hundreds of thousands of Zimbabweans were running out
of
food.
Many of the most vulnerable would also be urban residents.
In
Harare's Central Business District, workers now resort to unlicensed,
unhygienic food outlets for meat.
On Monday, a worker at a downtown TM
Supermarket said meat was last
delivered to their shop in June.
A
conversation on the Dzivaresekwa commuter omnibus revealed that even those
in sensitive jobs have not been spared.
"My brother is a soldier at
Inkomo Barracks. He now comes home to eat
everyday. He says sometimes they
are told that there is no food," one woman
said.
It was not clear whether
the soldiers have been ordered to go home for food,
or that they do that on
their own volition.
"It is now confusing. Was the crackdown good or bad?" the
woman asked.
Last week, government postponed implementation of a restriction
on the
importation of groceries to the end of the year as it had created
"too much
confusion", according to Trade and Industry Minister Obert
Mpofu.
Cephas Zinhumwe, the chief executive of the National Association of
Non
Governmental Organisations, said on Monday that the rate at which prices
were rising was a cause for concern, but cast doubt at the methods being
used to bring them down.
"Nobody is supplying in large quantities.
Government solved one problem of
prices, but it has given rise to
shortages," he said.
In its appeal, the WFP said people, especially in rural
areas, risk eating
poisonous roots as shortages deepen.
FinGaz
Chris Mhike
THE recent
enactment of the Interception of Communications Act deals a
deadly blow to
the civil liberties of ordinary Zimbabweans in ways that are
glaringly
inconsistent with modern democratic governance.
Espionage, eavesdropping,
spying, surveillance and other anti-privacy
activities of the government
against citizens are now set to be further
entrenched as part of the local
governance system.
These repugnant activities have now been 'clothed' with
the garb of legality
because the basic object of the new law is "to provide
for the lawful
interception and monitoring of certain communications".
So
wide is the reach of the law it affects telephonic, postal and "any other
related service or system in Zimbabwe".
This means that the
communications statute will affect every conceivable
form of interpersonal
communication between individual, corporate or
organisational
citizens.
Before its publication as law in the Government Gazette on Friday
last week,
the Bill preceding the Act was subjected to intense debate both
within and
without the House of Assembly. Those who shall be affected
eloquently voiced
their concerns. Only a few bureaucrats supported the
legalisation of this
espionage.
Tafataona Mahoso of the Media and
Information Commission, and Cuthbert
Chidoori of the Postal and
Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of
Zimbabwe (POTRAZ), were some of
the few people who were reported to be in
favour of the spying law.
A
wide array of communication-based organisations, legislators, and
concerned
citizens all denounced the proposed law as draconian and, or
retrogressive.
The government has all the same forged ahead, and President
Robert Mugabe
signed the Bill into law.
Many of the negative effects of any espionage law,
including the local
Interception of Communication Act, are
axiomatic.
Because the interception of communication interferes with one's
ability to
communicate with the other, it naturally follows that any
Interception of
Communication law violates a citizen's freedom of
expression.
Another obvious violation relates to the individual's right to
privacy.
Correspondence between friends, spouses, lawyers and clients,
journalists
and news sources, will all be susceptible to unlimited intrusion
by the
State.
These situations will therefore lead to the depreciation of
the citizen's
other constitutional rights including the freedoms of
conscience and of
association.
The expression of one's conscience through
tele or postal communications
could now, under the new legal regime, land
the expressive citizen in
trouble.
Correspondence has now become
hazardous as any citizen could at any time, be
classified as an
"interception subject", or "target", whose incoming or
outgoing mail should
be intercepted.
The new statute also threatens the safety of citizens'
intellectual property
rights. Pre-publication intellectual works could be
seized in the very broad
and indeterminate "interests" of "the national
security of Zimbabwe", that
is, "matters relating to the existence,
independence and safety of the
State".
All these real and potential
attacks on enshrined rights and freedoms
therefore render the new law
unconstitutional.
Other notable blemishes of the Act include its lack of
clear objectives, the
broadness and unacceptable width of powers given to
the State over citizens'
communication lines, and the re-introduction of
statutory provisions that
were declared to be unconstitutional by the
Supreme Court in 2003.
To Page 15
Like the two draft bills that
preceded this law, the Interception of
Communications Act is not reasonable
in a democratic society for numerous
reasons. As stated earlier on in this
presentation, the new statute is
unpopular. Internet Service Providers
(ISPs) opposed the introduction of an
interception law on the grounds that
they would no longer be able to
guarantee the safety of personal and
business communications on the
information super highway.
Service
providers are forced under the Act, to bear extremely high capital
and
foreign currency costs in installing the necessary interception and
hardware
and software.
While the Act refers to "assistance by service providers" in
the
interception process, the use of the term "assist" is in the sense of
persons under arrest "assisting the police with investigations.
In the
case of citizens "assisting police", such assistance includes
deprivation of
liberty, subjection to assaults or torture, and all other
unpleasant
experiences associated with being a guest of the State.
In the case of
service providers "assisting the State" in its spying
activities, "the
assistance" entails involuntary capital-intensive expenses,
and interference
with customers' correspondence.
The Act provides for compensation in respect
of costs incurred by service
providers for interception technology, but
considering the credit worthiness
of the current government, chances for
meaningful recovery of expenses are
between slim and nil.
The legal
profession has expression concern about the law's disregard for
citizens'
rights and freedoms. Concerns have also been raised about the new
threats to
lawyer-client confidentiality, as well as the limited role of the
judiciary
in the implementation of the Act.
The Chief of Defence Intelligence, the
Director-General of the President's
department responsible for national
security, the Commissioner of the ZRP,
and the Commissioner-General of
ZIMRA, or their nominees, are all authorized
to seek interception powers.
This list is clearly top-heavy, safeguarding
only the interests of the
rulers, and without the interests of ordinate
citizens.
A non-judicial
individual and political appointee, namely the "Minister of
Transport and
Communications or any other Minister to whom the President may
from time to
time assign.", is vested with the wide powers of deciding
whether on not a
citizen's communication lines should be targeted for
interception.
The
banking sector is concerned with the banker-client relationship, as all
notions of confidentiality in that field, will now be completely eroded by
this scary enactment.
While other parts of the world are improving their
banking system by
introducing electronic transfer and transactional systems,
Zimbabwe's
legislature is throwing the sharpest arrows towards technological
advancement in the banking and other business activities.
The wider
business and economic communities have voiced their concern at the
possible
negative effects of the interception law on investment in the
country.
Existing private postal and telecommunications businesses could
be forced to
wind up as the direct result of the prohibitive costs of
complying with the
interception requirements. And potential investors in the
industry could
also be scared away by the existence of this draconian
law.
The Media Institute of Southern Africa, mass media houses, and numerous
media rights advocates and media practitioners have highlighted the dangers
that the interception law poses to the media industry.
Correspondence
between media practitioners of institutions with news
sources, or
inter-media communication, will all be subjected to State
interference,
thereby threatening the free flow of information.
All these concerns were
raised at the Bill stage of the new law. But the
revised Bill, and the Act
that has now been passed, are both not materially
different from the initial
draft that was rejected by the concerned
stakeholders.
An argument has
been made, that the new law should be accepted
notwithstanding its
shortcomings, because similar laws have been promulgated
in Western
countries including the United Kingdom, Australia, and New
Zealand.
The
latest reference made by politicians and by the State media, relates to
the
United States of America. Laws enabling spying activities by the
government
in the USA include the USA Patriot Act (2001), the Communications
Assistance
for Law Enforcement Act (2004), and more recently this year, the
Foreign
Intelligence Surveillance Act.
Western and the USA Constitutions and statutes
have, on the one hand many
brilliant provisions that are worthy of emulation
by any democratic nation,
including Zimbabwe. But they also, on the other
have grotesque
constitutional and statutory instruments that are absolutely
contrary to the
principles of democracy and of constitutionalism.
In
other words, progressive as many Western and American laws might be, the
West and the USA are still not fallible as far as democratic discourse is
concerned. Even in those countries, the interception laws have met with
strong criticism from numerous sectors of society.
Westerners and
Americans have their justifications for enacting spying laws.
Space
constraints make it impossible to consider the acceptability of
otherwise of
such justifications. But it should suffice for the current
discussion, to
note that even the Westerners and the Americans are capable
of violating the
civil liberties of citizens though legislation.
The repugnance of the
violation of civil liberties is universal. Such
violation remains
unacceptable, whether committed in the USA, in Zimbabwe or
anywhere else in
the world.
Whatever laws exist in other countries, Zimbabwe's newly enacted
Interception of Communications Act remains counter-revolutionary as it
defies the wishes the numerous citizens who have spoken out against it, and
as it remarkably diminishes the civil liberties that the rulers claim to
have fought for, and won for the population.
Chris Mhike is a Harare
based lawyer
FinGaz
Takura
Zhangazha
IN the first quarter of this year, and on these pink pages, I
had promised
to vote in 2008, regardless of whether the ruling ZANU PF party
would permit
it.
Among other reasons, I had declared that because I
do not derive my right to
vote from the benevolence of ZANU PF, I was going
to insist on my right to
select leaders of my choice.
Now that time has
elapsed, and the ruling ZANU PF has been proselytising its
intention to hold
an election in 2008 with the assistance of an 18th
constitutional amendment,
my position needs revision.
And the revision that I seek to make does not in
any way take away my right
to vote in the year of 2008. I still hold that
right to be most dear to my
existence as a Zimbabwean. But because of the
events of the last three or so
months and especially because of the proposed
constitutional changes that
have been gazetted, it is necessary for me to
explain and re-argue a number
of perspectives vis-à-vis 2008.
The first
of these perspectives is that of how Zimbabweans must begin to
view 2008. In
my view, it is a watershed year in the processes of state
making that have
enveloped us since independence. This is primarily because
the ruling ZANU
PF party, in its introduction of Constitutional Amendment
number 18 seeks to
manage its arrival to a post-Mugabe era in a number of
ways.
They intend
to pass the amendment and go all out to win a not so free and
fair
'harmonised' election in 2008 in order to allow themselves the latitude
to
then elect a successor to their current leader and current national
president through a joint sitting of what is now known as the House of
Assembly and the Senate.
This will be done without a national election,
as has been the case since
the introduction of the executive presidency.
They further intend to
perpetuate their system of patronage for ruling party
stalwarts by
increasing the number of Senate and House of Assembly seats
whether elected
by the people or appointed by the President.
This will,
in their view, ensure that there is no one within their ranks
that will
complain of being left out. So, in short, ZANU PF has reduced the
art of
state making to processes within the arbitrary structures of their
central
committee and their rubber stamping parliamentary majority.
Their politics
therefore is devoid of the people's legitimacy within the
framework of such
a crucial state changing exercise as constitutional
reform. And this is
probably why I still insist on my right to vote, because
I have not been
consulted on these proposed constitutional reforms, neither
do I foresee
them trying to do so because they are so embedded in their own
struggles for
political survival both as a party and individuals, that they
do not for
once have the nation's greater interests at heart.
Because of these
constitutional reform proposals, there is obviously a new
ball game in town.
The issue is no longer whether the ruling party will go
through with
amendment number 18, because they are not going to change their
minds on
that one as it fits smugly into their post-Mugabe scenario
planning. It
therefore becomes more imperative to consider what can be done
in order to
challenge the intended effects of Constitutional Amendment 18.
And this task
can only be informed by a process that understands the
importance not only
of the 'no vote' of 2000, but also the potential risk
that, if allowed to
proceed, No. 18 will severely set back the struggle for
democratisation in
Zimbabwe.
This is sad because should the ruling party succeed in winning the
general
election next year, they will essentially guarantee themselves a
stay in
government for another five years. And that is an open sesame for
their
succession issues.
So, there is an urgent need for comrades in the
oppositional movement to
target this proposed amendment if the elections
next year are to have any
national and state making meaning.
As I have
argued in other forums, there is need for the equivalent of the
'Vote No'
campaign that characterised the 2000 referendum. I know I seem to
argue this
casually as though I am unaware of the repressive environment,
but there is
a chance yet that the people of Zimbabwe understand
constitutionalism and
constitutional reform issues as part of a political
change process more than
they would an opposition party seeking political
power.
This is primarily
because of the good work that was undertaken by the
National Constitutional
Assembly (NCA) in informing citizens countrywide of
the need for a
people-driven constitutional reform process.
It is also because of the
significant political landmark that was the 'no'
victory in the 2000
referendum, the first time ZANU PF had ever been
defeated in a national
plebiscite, a defeat that the population of the
country has never
forgotten.
I also understand the sentiment within leaders of civil society
organisations that the country has probably a couple of months left for it
to either reform or collapse. But these are things that are hard to predict
because they have been part of discourses undertaken ever since Chenjerai
Hitler Hunzvi acquired monetary concessions from the ZANU PF central
committee.
It is important to understand that a ruling party with a
semblance of
regional support, and 'friends' like China always has an ace up
its sleeve.
Collapse is an easy word to use, but I dare say, ZANU PF wants
to at least
stick it out until March next year, force through an electoral
victory and
start courting international capital through a semblance of
democratic
reforms. In raw political discussions, this is normally called
the politics
of survival.
The best option that I have, I now realise, in
order to retain my
democratic, liberation war won right to vote, is to
target Constitutional
Amendment 18, and be part of any public process that
seeks to make
Zimbabwean citizens understand what it is, and what it will do
to the future
of our country.
I will highlight the sections that allow
any newly elected parliament under
the amendment's provisions to elect a
President of its choice without any
input from the masses.
I will also
highlight this in conjunction with the fact that ZANU PF wants
to hold
elections next year in order to make sure that it can allow its
current
leader to retire while leaving its party in power.
I will also make sure I
offer an alternative constitution, and for this, I
will turn to the NCA
draft constitution, because it was derived from some of
the widest
consultations on governance ever before seen in the history of
Zimbabwe.
I will explain this draft's content to whomsoever I meet, and I
will now
carry it in my pocket everyday just in case anyone asks me what
options do
Zimbabweans have.
Above all else, I still plan to vote in
2008, at least symbolically if we
can't stop Number 18, but I will be voting
for a Prime Minister, as is the
case in the National Constitutional Assembly
Draft Constitution.
lTakura Zhangazha is a senior officer with
MISA-Zimbabwe
FinGaz
Comment
THE sun has
finally set for Sekesai Makwavarara, whose uninterrupted stay at
the helm of
the capital city was a real pain to embittered residents of the
cosmopolitan
city.
We doubt if any of Harare's residents will miss the political
turncoat who
jumped ship from the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) in
May 2004 in
search of glory at Town House, which turned into a nightmare as
the sunshine
city's service delivery system plumped to irretrievable depths,
making her
one of the city's most unpopular citizens.
Makwavarara will be
remembered for the wrong reasons altogether, but more
for her contribution
to the demise of Harare, her lavish lifestyle and her
role in the dismissal
of town clerk Nomutsa Chideya.
How Makwavarara's bosses kept faith in her for
four years in spite of her
glaring shortcomings boggles the mind and betrays
ZANU PF's contemptuous
attitude and arrogance towards the people, who
understandably became
apprehensive after popularly elected mayor Engineer
Elias Mudzuri, was
hounded out of office on flimsy charges to make way for
her.
Makwavarara has bowed out eventually but her tenure has left indelible
marks
that will act as constant reminders of how not to run public
institutions.
Heaps of uncollected garbage, burst sewer and water pipes,
potholes, poor
street lighting and the general deterioration in service
delivery had
combined to widen the chasm between Makwavarara's commission
and the
residents.
The chaos reigning in Harare also overshadowed her
record as Zimbabwe's
first woman to serve as deputy mayor and subsequently
mayor of a major city.
Makwavarara rewarded herself, through her overbearing
influence on the
city's administrators, with a residential property in one
of Harare's leafy
suburbs, which she acquired at a ridiculously low price,
and received a farm
in the rich farming area of Raffingora after defecting
from the main
opposition party.
It is unfortunate, however, that an
impression has been created that the
appointment of Engineer Michael Mahachi
as head of the reconstituted
commission for the next six months will bring
back smiles on the faces of
Harare residents. Far from it.
The biggest
challenge confronting Harare is that of legitimacy, which is
currently the
subject of a Supreme Court appeal. Several court judgments,
including the
latest by Justice Lawrence Kamocha, have ruled the
commission's continued
existence as being in breach of the Urban Councils
Act, which calls for
elections after the expiry of the first term of any
commission. A change of
guard, which does not come through the ballot box
will therefore, not erase
these concerns, let alone legitimise the Mahachi
commission.
Without
taking anything away from him, Mahachi is likely to come unstuck
despite
possessing the requisite qualifications needed to turn around
Harare's
fortunes. The problems bedevilling Harare and, indeed, other
municipalities
run deep into the politics of the country where appointments
to public
office are made for window dressing purposes, with key decisions
being made
outside council chanbers for political expedience.
Mahachi will be a rare
breed of technocrats to emerge at Town House if he
succeeds in ignoring the
overbearing influence of ZANU PF politicians who
are out to fleece council
and abuse it for political gain. Harare residents
will soon discover that
the new commission does not have the carte blanche
to operate council's
affairs viably, more so with the 2008 elections looming
large on ZANU PF's
agenda.
Ironically, Mahachi was part of the Makwavarara-led commission and
one
wonders what it is that he will do differently this
time!
Interestingly, Mahachi has wasted no time in outlining his vision,
which
sounded populist. While the vision sounds good on paper, it is not the
first
time that Harare residents have been promised housing stands and
roads,
among other niceties. Statements of intent will not clean up the mess
left
behind by years of bad governance. Following the takeover of water and
sewer
reticulation by the Zimbabwe National Water Authority, Harare's
revenue, and
indeed the cash flows of a number of other municipalities, has
suffered
serious knocks. Without the resources, plans to turn around the
city will
remain nothing but a pipe dream.
Unless there is a paradigm
shift in strategy towards finding ways to
generate additional revenue,
crushing patronage and corruption, which have
bled council white, Harare's
deplorable situation will not change for the
better. Ideally, council should
rope in the private sector but that will not
happen overnight and in any
case, we do not see Mahachi's principals
accepting the rigors of
accountability and transparency, which will be
demanded by the business
community.
Mudzuri, of the MDC, came into office with an enthusiasm to
restore Harare's
sunshine city status; but he lost steam because the job had
nothing to do
with performance but preservation of the status quo.
The
harmonised elections are eight months away, but it is clear that the
shenanigans at Town House and elsewhere are not helping the situation. They
can never be a substitute for the people's will.
9th August 2007
Dear President Mbeki
We are
encouraged by your stated desire to promote free and fair elections
in
Zimbabwe next March. However we fear that the reality on the ground is
not
conducive to these aims for the following reasons:
1. The
Registrar-General's Office is conducting voter registration in a
way widely
perceived as partisan.
2. The registration excludes Zimbabweans who
have fled the country - a
large proportion of the electorate.
3.
We are disturbed by the declaration by the armed forces that they
will
ensure Robert Mugabe is re-elected.
We doubt whether there can be
free and fair elections unless these matters
can be addressed and call on
you and other SADC leaders to take steps to
ensure democratic space in
Zimbabwe and that Zimbabweans in the diaspora are
allowed to
vote.
We are disturbed at numerous reports of ill-treatment of
Zimbabwean asylum
seekers in South Africa, most recently by vigilante action
by white farmers.
We urge you to afford protection to our people in their
time of trial. We
fear that the situation in the region may not be conducive
to the holding of
the World Cup in 2010 if Zimbabwe is allowed to descend
even deeper into
crisis.
The Zimbabwe Forum and
Zimbabwe Vigil
Please send any job opportunities for publication in this newsletter to: JAG
Job Opportunities; jag@mango.zw or justiceforagriculture@zol.co.zw
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Secretary/PA
required (preferably a displaced farmer’s wife
An opportunity has arisen
at the JAG Trust for a secretarial/personal
assistant to the CEO. The
successful applicant must be punctual, reliable,
able to use initiative,
meet deadlines, engage in a high degree of public
relation skills and able
to work as part of a team and independently. JAG
is a small office but a
fun and challenging environment to work in, although
can be stressful at
times.
Skills required:
- Typing
- Minute
Taking
- Diary Management for CEO
- Knowledge of all
Microsoft Office Programs
- Good PR skills
A competitive,
inflation proofed remuneration package is offered plus a fuel
allowance.
Interested applicants should contact the JAG Office on
04-799410 and furnish
a written application with cv via email: justiceforagriculture@zol.co.zw
and jag@mango.zw for the attention of the
Trust’s
CEO.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(Ad
inserted 19 July 2007)
ENGINEERING MANAGER - Swaziland
A large
progressive farming estate in Swaziland has a vacancy for an
Engineering
Manager.
THE JOB
Reporting to the Estate Manager the successful
applicant will be responsible
for the management of all the engineering
functions on the estate including
vehicle, machinery, pump, electrical and
building maintenance as well as
monitoring capital projects.
He will
be responsible for the maintenance of all aspects of the
Occupational Health
and Safety Act and the Company's adherence to the
National and international
standards.
THE PERSON
The ideal candidate will be suitably qualified
with at least 5 years
experience in a senior management position. He will
have had at least 15
years work experience covering all aspects of the job.
Computer skills are
also essential.
THE PACKAGE OFFERED
-A highly
competitive negotiable salary
-Free housing lights and water
-Assistance
with children's education
-Generous leave
-Assistance with Medical
Aid
-Group Life Insurance
-Vehicle Scheme
Interested persons should
send their applications in writing to
STUMAC RECRUITING - PO Box 177,
White River, 1240, RSA
Email to mac28@telkomsa.net giving full details of
themselves.
Closing Date 31st July
2007
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(Ad
inserted 19 July 2007)
HOUSEMAID/COOK REQUIRED
Anyone knowing of
an experienced housemaid with a bit of cooking experience
PLEASE send her my
way. I am desperate. Phone Mandy Gilmour 0912 409750 or
0912 570521 or 069
3878. We live on a farm 40kms from town so accommodation
is available with
lights and
water.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(Ad
inserted 19 July 2007)
Secretary – Morning’s Only
Morning’s only
secretary required at small engineering company in Mt.
Hampden. Must be
proficient in excel and word for low-key bookkeeping and
typing etc. Must
have own transport. Normal perks + fuel apply. Start
immediately. Please
send CV's to dichwe@mweb.co.zw or dichwe@zol.co.zw
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(Ad
inserted 19 July 2007)
Position for manager of Meat Factory in
RSA
I hope and pray that you are well in these difficult times
and
circumstances.
I have an opportunity for an honest hard working
couple who is destitute
though unforeseen uncontrollable
circumstances.
They would need to re-locate to De Aar where the wife can
run a Guest
House/Bed & Breakfast and husband can run a Meat Processing
facility/Biltong
factory. I have everything re the business except the time
to run it. I only
need able; hard working honest people. Profit sharing is a
possibility.
The success/failure will depend solely on the manager/s of
these
businesses.
The position is available immediately and is rather
URGENT.
Please reply to: nigel.paul@mweb.co.za
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(Ad
inserted 19 July 2007)
SA ORGANIC FARMING
OPPORTUNITY
Organic/Bio-dynamic farmer or organic-oriented farmer with
mechanical skills
required to operate 26 hectare certified organic
small-holding one hour east
of Pretoria and Johannesburg. 8 hectares
currently in production with
another 8 hectares to be developed growing
vegetables. Poultry for eggs in
another opportunity. Would suit younger,
energetic, hands-on, organized and
business-oriented couple. Must have
mind-set to take direction and regularly
report to owner. House available.
Profit sharing. References required.
Non-organic farmers will be considered
as organic conversion training
available. Send details to e-mail: ged@africanorganics.org or fax: ++ 27
696
0750. Head responses: "SA ORGANIC FARMING
OPPORTUNITY"
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(Ad
inserted 26 July 2007)
Vacancies
We are seeking to fill two
vacancies in our tourism related business in
Kariba, these can be filled by
individuals or by a couple.
Senior bookkeeper / Accounts department
supervisor
This position requires an experienced Pastel bookkeeper to manage
our
accounts department that consists of 3 additional staff. The successful
applicant will be required to supervise the entire accounting functions of
the company including cash controls and preparation of monthly trial
balances and management trading account reports. This is predominantly a
female environment, but the position may suit a retired male accountant
seeking a quieter lifestyle.
Workshops Manager
This position
will require a more mature person with considerable mechanical
and
maintenance experience as our workshop, with a staff compliment of 10
employees, not only maintains a fleet of speedboats and outboard motors, but
also our property and buildings as well as all types of maintenance on
houseboats. Experience of outboard motors, while not absolutely necessary,
will be a distinct advantage.
Apply with CV to General Manager at dernat@zol.co.zw
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(Ad
inserted 19 July 2007)
BUSINESS FOR SALE
4 year track record,
ready for expansion with new market, and finance
waiting.
Owners
moving for personal reasons. Will provide all handover assistance to
new
owner. Opportunity for investor to set up in moz quickly.
Complete sales
sought or would consider property in victoria falls.
For serious inquiries
contact for further info. -- chicamba@yahoo.com
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(Ad
inserted 19 July 2007)
Unique Own Business Opportunity
To the
right person a rewarding opportunity exists to ‘operate your own
business’
in partnership with Zimbabwe and UK based businesses and a
Non-Profit
Organisation. No financial investment is required of you,
HOWEVER, this
opportunity has specific requirements which would be your
contribution to
the ‘partnership’.
Kindly Note:
This is not a ‘job’ - this is an
opportunity to ‘operate your own business’
Self righteous religious zealots
will not be considered
Timewasters will not be responded to
About
Us:
We are a low-profile service orientated business (inc 1994) and
organisation, providing commercial services to the business community, and
strictly confidential services to private clients, and non-profit
activities.
The Partners
The partners adopt a philosophical
approach to Life, believing in the
significance of an individual’s need to
find their very own unique and
special purpose, and to then live out their
personal dream.
About You
Business skills:
Excellence &
proficiency in: secretarial & office practises, written &
spoken
communication, computer skills (especially MSOutlook & File
Management)
Working knowledge of Company formation procedures
Basic
knowledge of computer hardware (you know what’s in the tower)
Basic
accounting experience - accounts are contracted out
Willing to learn
LINUX
Responsibilities:
As the successful ‘partner’ person you will be
self-motivated, and
competently & with dedication, carry out the daily
activities, expand the
market of our services in Zimbabwe and further
develop, maintain & operate
various Address Book data bases (Network
Marketing).
Personal attributes:
You will possess and be able to
practically demonstrate: personal
responsibility, a high degree of personal
integrity and trustworthiness,
that you are a ‘people person’ with
compassion and empathy, emotional
maturity and stability. Good health and
bodily disposition. Be committed to
staying....for the next year at least.
An added ‘feather in your cap’ will
be that you subscribe to the philosophy
as expounded in the movie and book -
‘The Secret”
Rewards
It goes
without saying that you will be generously rewarded
Quo Vadis
Write an
Email letter (attaching your Résumé) telling us sufficient about
yourself
that we would be wanting to meet with you for consideration as a
‘partner’
in Zimbabwe.
Thomas Vallance ACIArb, Executive Director, PARADiGM
Trust(Pvt)Ltd
Trust Executives & Administrator, Para-Legal Advisory
Services
POBox HG750, Highlands, Email:
[paradigm@zol.co.zw]
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(Ad
inserted 19 July 2007)
Accountant / Bookkeeper - at least 3 years
experience required in the
accounting field.
To work for a busy
lodge, friendly environment, Monday to Friday 8am to 5pm.
Good package
offered including fuel. Please forward your CV's and References
to wgl@hms.co.zw or post to T J Cornish, Box BW198,
Borrowdale,
Harare.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(Ad
inserted 2 August 2007)
Cotton Production Specialist
A local
cotton company is seeking the full time services of an experienced
cotton
consultant to work locally and in the region with contract growers.
Applicants to submit full C.V via email details of which are available
through
0912233415.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(Ad
inserted 2 August 2007)
QUALIFIED MECHANIC
Required to run a
workshop on a busy farm in Matabeleland North.
Applicants must have a
sound knowledge and long-term, hands-on experience in
the servicing,
maintaining and repairing of a wide diversity of vehicles and
equipment.
The incumbent will be responsible for the supervising and
development of
workshop staff and tractor drivers.
Administrative
work would include the timely procurement of inputs and
spares, ensuring
on-farm stocks and minimal downtime of vehicles and
equipment.
The
ability to operate a lathe would be an advantage.
The successful
applicant will take up his post on 2nd January 2008.
Very competitive
remuneration and fringe benefits are commensurate with the
job.
If
you feel that you meet the requirements, send your CV and traceable
references to:
The Advertiser, Box 1288, Bulawayo or email: pevans@mweb.co.zw or Phone:
085-309.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(Ad
inserted 2 August 2007)
IT Technician
Wanted - IT Technician with
standard hardware and network experience.
Papers not necessary but need
somebody with reasonable common sense and
motivation. Contact Donald on 091
2 258159 or
771101/771097-9.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(Ad
inserted 2 August 2007)
BOOKKEEPER
Qualifications : Must have
excellent qualifications in Pastel Vs 7, 8, 9 and
be proficient in Excel
& Word
Duties : Perform all basic tasks of data
capturing into Pastel and
interpreting into Excel & Word Spread
Sheets
Balancing inter Company Accounts (no wages or
salaries)
Produce monthly balances of Expense Accounts in
Pastel
Responsibilities : Ensuring daily sales are
accurate
Reporting to Financial
Manager &
carrying out duties
allocated
Supervising Accounts
Clerk
Qualities : Well organised &
Punctual
Efficient &
Dynamic
Must work well under pressure & in
busy environment
Suit mature
female/male
Be prepared to work 6 day
week
Forward updated C.V. with contactable references to :
Glynis
Wiley, ABC Auctions, Hatfield House, Seke road, Harare
Telephone: 751343
/ 751498 or Email: auctions@yoafrica.com
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(Ad
inserted 2 August 2007)
ACCOUNTS CLERK
Qualifications : Must be
very proficient in Excel, Word, Pastel and have
good working knowledge of
VAT
Duties : Data capture from departments and interpretation
onto Spreadsheets
RTGs applications
Balancing spreadsheet to Pastel
Produce cheques & write
out orders
Responsibilities : Ensuring accurate daily data
capture
Reporting to Financial Manager &
carrying out
duties allocated
Qualities : Well organised &
Punctual
Efficient &
Dynamic
Must work well under pressure & in busy
environment
Be prepared to work 6 day
week
Suite mature female/male
Forward updated
C.V. with contactable references to :
Glynis Wiley, ABC Auctions, Hatfield
House, Seke road, Harare
Telephone: 751343 / 751498 or Email: auctions@yoafrica.com
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(Ad
inserted 2 August 2007)
Accountant / Bookkeeper
At least 3 years
experience required in the accounting field.
To work for a busy lodge,
friendly environment, Monday to Friday 8am to 5pm.
Good package offered
including fuel. Please forward your CV's and References
to wgl@hms.co.zw or post to T J Cornish, Box BW198,
Borrowdale,
Harare.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
EMPLOYMENT
SOUGHT
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(Ad
inserted 19 July 2007)
Employment Sought
I am an ex-Zimbabwean
farm manager with 6 years experience in Horticulture
and just recently
established a 12.5 Ha project in Ethiopia working together
with Richel and
Netafim. I also have 3 years experience in Dairy and Beef
farming. I am
looking for a vacancy in any of these fields. My contact
email is brianschee@yahoo.com
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(Ad
inserted 2 August 2007)
Employment Sought
Position sought -
Finance, Salaries and Administration.
Work experience
Currently
serving as a Finance and Administration Officer for a regional
organisation.
17 years solid work experience, 8 in the NGO
sector.
NGOs, Embassies, Regional or International organisations
preferred.
Current salary in foreign currency.
Clean class 4 driver s
licence.
Qualifications
Diploma in Personnel Management.
Higher
National Diploma in Accounting.
Bachelor of Commerce Degree majoring in
Finance.
Contact details
Juliah Murima – 04-2920769 home, 0912699258
cell, 091405281 husband
Email murimao@yahoo.com or oliver@uz-ucsf.co.zw
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
For
the latest listings of accommodation available for farmers, contact
justiceforagriculture@zol.co.zw