http://af.reuters.com/
Sat Dec 12, 2009 9:46pm
GMT
* Mugabe to lead party for another five years
* Mugabe
says will not reform security forces
* ZANU-PF emerges from congress much
stronger, Mugabe says
By MacDonald Dzirutwe
HARARE, Dec 12
(Reuters) - Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe was on Saturday
endorsed to
lead his ZANU-PF party for another five years and vowed to
resist demands by
his opponents to reform the country's security forces.
At 85, Mugabe is
in the twilight of a political career spanning more than
half a century and
has led ZANU-PF since the mid 1970s when the party fought
a guerrilla war
against white minority rule.
But the veteran leader was forced to share
power with Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change
(MDC) party after losing its
parliamentary majority for the first time in
March last year.
The coalition has been rocked by differences over how to
share power and the
MDC is pressing for reform of the security forces it
accuses of being used
by ZANU-PF to stifle dissent.
"May I state this
clearly and categorically, as ZANU-PF the defence of our
sovereignty rests
with us and with no other. Any manoeuvres to tamper with
the forces will
never be entertained by us," Mugabe said while closing a
ZANU-PF
congress.
Many senior officers in the security forces fought in
Zimbabwe's war of
independence and remain loyal to Mugabe. They have vowed
never to recognise
Tsvangirai as leader.
ZANU-PF and the MDC are
involved in a round of talks to clear outstanding
issues of a political deal
signed last year.
The MDC wants the central bank governor and attorney
general replaced, and
party treasurer Roy Bennett and some senior officials
sworn-in as deputy
agriculture minister and provincial governors,
respectively.
ZANU-PF passed a resolution on Saturday rejecting the
demands and said,
instead, the MDC should call for the removal of Western
sanctions and
persuade radio stations broadcasting from abroad to
stop.
SUCCESSION BATTLE
While Mugabe has managed to remain at the
helm of ZANU-PF, a raging battle
is underway over who will eventually
succeed him, threatening the future of
a party that had enjoyed
uninterrupted rule from independence in 1980 till
last year.
ZANU-PF
retained Joyce Mujuru, 54, as Mugabe's deputy while party chairman
John
Nkomo, 75, filled in the vacant second vice president position. He will
be
sworn in as Zimbabwe's deputy president on Monday.
Mugabe on Friday
condemned internal fighting over leadership posts in the
party, saying this
was "eating up" ZANU-PF but on Saturday the veteran
leader said the party
had emerged from the congress much stronger.
"We go back much stronger, a
better focused party raring to go, to take on
the enemy who has sought our
ruin through sanctions," Mugabe said.
He accused Western countries of
plotting to reverse seizures of white
commercial farms to resettle blacks
but said they would not succeed.
Associated Press
By
CHENGETAI ZVAUYA (AP) - 26 minutes ago
HARARE, Zimbabwe - Zimbabwean
President Robert Mugabe said Saturday the
unity government is short-lived
and he plans to regain his hold over the
country he has ruled for nearly
three decades.
Mugabe appeared triumphant after being re-elected to the
leadership of his
ZANU-PF party, which has been severally weakened after it
lost its
parliamentary majority in last year's contested
elections.
The 85-year-old leader was forced into a power-sharing deal
with former
rivals after the 2008 poll, but many fear it is doomed to fail
as Mugabe
clings on to power.
"The inclusive government has a short
life of 24 months," he said. "So we
must be ready for the elections and we
must not be defeated like we were
last year. We must win resoundingly and
regain the constituents we lost."
A new election date has not been set,
but many observers fear that the build
up will see the return of the
violence that has marred previous polls.
Joice Mujuru, a former guerrilla
fighter in the bush war, retained her post
of second vice president. John
Nkomo was elected as the party's other vice
president to replace Joseph
Msika, who died this year.
Zimbabwe's ambassador to South Africa, Simon
Khaya Moyo, will take over from
Nkomo as party chairman.
The party
has been long divided over who should eventually succeed Mugabe,
but the
liberation hero has thwarted any challenges to his leadership.
On Friday,
Mugabe lashed out at about 10,000 delegates, saying infighting
was "eating"
the party and had cost them last year's election.
Election officials
declared a runoff was necessary after the 2008 vote, but
opposition leader
Morgan Tsvangirai dropped out, citing attacks against his
supporters. Mugabe
was later declared the winner, but he formed the unity
government in
February with Tsvangirai as prime minister.
Zimbabwe is struggling to
emerge from political gridlock, economic collapse
and international
isolation and sanctions.
Critics blame Mugabe's land reform policies for
Zimbabwe's economic meltdown
after he ordered the seizures of thousands of
white-owned farms in 2000,
disrupting the agriculture-based economy in the
former regional breadbasket.
However, on Saturday, Mugabe remained
characteristically defiant.
"Land reform is irreversible," he said. "We
took the land and we are not
going to hand it to the white farmers."
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 12 December 2009
22:30
THE inter-party talks to save the unity government, which adjourned
last
week due to the Zanu PF congress, are set to resume on Friday, amid
reports
that an announcement on progress in the talks will be made by the
principals
this week. President Robert Mugabe, Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai and
Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara last week received
reports from their
party negotiators.
They were expected to make the
announcement after their traditional meeting
tomorrow but Mugabe and
Tsvangirai would be in Copenhagen, Denmark, for the
climate change
conference.
The talks were adjourned last week to allow Zanu PF negotiators
Patrick
Chinamasa and Nicholas Goche to attend their party's 5th National
People's
Congress, which ended in Harare yesterday.
The two negotiators
from the Mutambara-led MDC, Welshman Ncube and Priscilla
Misihairabwi-Mushonga, are also currently out of the country on government
business. MDC-T secretary general Tendai Biti is also out of the
country.
Last week, South African President Jacob Zuma dispatched his
facilitation
team of former ministers Charles Nqakula, Lindiwe Zulu and Mac
Maharaj to
Harare for a second meeting with the negotiators.
Zulu
yesterday said they had presented a report to Zuma, who would now relay
it
to Mozambican President Armando Guebuza, who chairs the Sadc Organ on
Politics, Defence and Security. "After our last meeting, we reported to
President Zuma, and he will now report to President Guebuza of Mozambique,"
she said.
"We have not finished our work. But our next visit can only be
determined by
what is happening that side (the parties meeting in
Harare)."
There are growing fears that with the way the negotiations have
been
dragging on, the process which was supposed to have lasted not more
than 30
days would now spill into next year. The talks could be further
delayed if
Mugabe decides to go on his annual holiday in January.
But
Zulu insisted the process was still on track, although she would not
indicate when they expect the parties to be through.
Some of the thorny
issues include Mugabe's refusal to reverse his unilateral
appointment of
Reserve Bank governor Gideon Gono and Attorney General
Johannes
Tomana.
Last night the Zanu PF congress resolved that their negotiators must
not
back down on Gono, Tomana and security forces.
They want a
constitution that guarantees the gains of the liberation
struggle.
The
veteran ruler is also refusing to swear in MDC-T treasurer general Roy
Bennett as Deputy Minister of Agriculture.
BY OUR
STAFF
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 12 December
2009 22:28
BASIL Nyabadza, the Zanu PF chairman for Manicaland who
resigned in dramatic
fashion on the eve of his party’s crucial congress last
week, says his party
has “lost the plot” by sticking to outdated politics.
He said instead of
focusing on regaining the space it has lost to the MDC
during the last
decade, the fractious party was concentrating on rescuing
the 1987 Unity
Accord.
Nyabadza said there was no need for Zanu PF to
risk its demise by trying to
protect the accord because the political
environment has changed drastically
since the formation of the unity
government in 1987 between Robert Mugabe’s
Zanu PF and the late Joshua
Nkomo’s PF Zapu.
The Rusape-based farmer quit his post after Manicaland
province failed to
secure support from other provinces to back Zanu PF
secretary for
administration Didymus Mutasa to become chairman.
Other
Zanu PF provinces did not support Mutasa’s candidacy on the grounds
that the
post of national chairman in Zanu PF was a preserve for politicians
from the
former PF Zapu.
As a result Simon Khaya Moyo, Zimbabwe’s ambassador to South
Africa, landed
the powerful post ahead of Mutasa.
But Nyabadza on Friday
said Zanu PF should realise that its future does not
depend on the accord
but from countering the MDC’s growing political
influence.
“The enemy of
Zanu PF today is not the Unity Accord but the MDC which is
taking our
political space,” Nyabadza said from Rusape.
“That is what we must focus on.
Unity was secured and is secure.”
He said reserving the Zanu PF chairmanship
for former PF Zapu members should
not be a lifelong arrangement.
He said
the controversy of the distribution of the top posts in the
presidium was
the reason behind the intensifying factionalism in the former
ruling
party.
“If we bring a national balance to our politics there will be no
factionalism because everyone will be represented at every level,” Nyabadza
said.
However, he defended his decision to quit in protest against Nkomo
and Moyo’s
elevation saying it had nothing to do with tribalism.
Zanu PF
youths have threatened to “flush out” party officials who shared
Nyabadza’s
ideas because they were “tribalist”.
But the former chairman said Manicaland
nominated President Mugabe, Joice
Mujuru, John Nkomo and Mutasa to create a
national political balance.
He said he did not regret his decision to
quit.
“It’s an issue of principle,” he said. “We are being factual and
honest.
“The issue at stake is to make people see the importance of striking
a
national balance.
“That is why we cannot have a presidium without
Matabeleland so as to
balance our politics.”
Nyabadza said he was not
bitter that his political mentor, Mutasa, had lost
the chairmanship but
admitted he was “disappointed”.
However, he is known to be a long time
political disciple of Mutasa, the
most powerful Zanu PF politician from
Manicaland.
Nyabadza said he was unhappy that Manicaland has not been
considered for
posts within the presidium for the past 30 years. “Our cry in
Manicaland is
that we have not taken part in the presidium for the past 30
years. We want
to give a better balance to our politics.”
He, however,
believes Zanu PF still needs Mugabe saying: “We need Mugabe
more. He is an
astute leader whose vision goes beyond Africa.”
There were reports that
Nyabadza had been arrested for an unknown offence
but on Friday he said he
was “free as a bird”.
BY KELVIN JAKACHIRA
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 12 December 2009 22:25
FORMER
Information Minister Jonathan Moyo made a triumphant return to Zanu
PF's
central committee yesterday as the announcement of his election was
made
amid the loudest and prolonged applause.
But the Fifth Zanu PF
National Congress failed to agree on crucial
amendments to the party's
constitution, after ethnic divisions that have
been simmering over the years
intensified.
In order to contain the explosive situation, the
Congress elected people by
acclamation. The outcome was retention of the old
line up. President Mugabe,
as a result, did not appoint members of his
party's politburo.
The party leadership spent most of the time in
what was supposed to be two
days of serious deliberations scheming ways of
pre-empting a potentially
divisive fall-out from disgruntled members who
felt there was "a serious
disregard of the voices of people at the
grassroots".
After getting wind of plans by some members to move
motions from the floor,
the party leadership decided to defer amendments to
the constitution to the
next central committee.
It is hoped
Mugabe will have a better chance of reining in rebellious
supporters within
the central committee.
Sources said the draft list of amendments had
six pages containing more than
100 items.
The party's legal
affairs secretary Emmerson Mnangagwa confirmed the
deferment of the
amendments, saying the process would now be handled by the
central
committee.
"We have deferred the amendments because they are too
many," Mnangagwa said.
"We cannot finish them at this congress. But
this does not mean we have
dropped them, we can always discuss the
amendments at the central committee
meetings according to the existing
constitution."
Zanu PF sources said the postponement was one of the
many desperate attempts
by the party's leadership to contain the chaos that
had been building up in
the run up to the congress.
"In terms of
what was supposed to be done, it's just as good as this was a
one-day
congress. Most of the issues which we expected to be tackled were
either
deferred or dropped from the agenda," said the source.
"All this is
because of the leadership's fear of a revolt from people who
wanted to
challenge what is now common practice by the leadership to subvert
internal
democracy.
"People elect their candidates, but you have the politburo
just sitting and
reversing those processes, and imposing losers on the
people."
"This fear of internal democracy flies in the face of the
very ideals the
party fought the liberation struggle for - which is
democracy."
Among other things, the disgruntled members wanted to
nominate Oppah
Muchinguri for the Vice-Presidency from the
floor.
In the only province where there was an open challenge for the
other
vice-presidential post, Muchinguri clobbered the incumbent Joice
Mujuru by
84 votes to 25.
"I can assure you, if given a chance,
people would have reversed a number of
politburo decisions, and also clarify
tendency that in the presidium there
is never an election. We are always
presented with names for endorsement,"
added the source.
"What
the provinces claim is not a true reflection of what the districts
want.
Most of those nominees are not wanted by people at the
grassroots."
In the initial list of central committee nominees,
Manicaland had left out
former provincial chairperson Mike Madiro and Freddy
Kanzama, who had been
overwhelmingly elected by their
district.
But the names had to be included after protests from
ordinary supporters
from Manicaland.
Sources said there were near
violent scenes especially during debate of a
report on the state of the
party.
South African Minister of Human Settlements, Tokyo Sexwale who
led a
delegation of the African Nation Congress (ANC) also made reference to
the
"heckling" that characterised proceedings at the congress.
He
pleaded with Zanu PF to fulfill the Global Political Agreement (GPA),
saying
"what goes wrong in Zimbabwe will and must also affect South Africa
because
we are joined by a little river called Limpopo".
The congress saw
National Healing Minister John Nkomo and Zimbabwe's
Ambassador to South
Africa being elevated to Vice-President and Zanu PF
chairman
respectively.
By Vusumuzi Sifile and Valentine Maponga
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 12 December 2009 20:04
JENNI
Williams, one of the leaders of the pressure group Women of Zimbabwe
Arise
(Woza), says state agents have been monitoring their movements since
their
return from the United States where they received the 2009 Robert F
Kennedy
Human Rights award. The group made the observation in Bulawayo last
week
where they were back in court facing charges under Section 37 of the
Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act for allegedly organising illegal
demonstrations.
The hearing failed to take off because an officer
who had keys for the room
where their file was being kept was said to be on
leave.
Magistrate Nonkululeko Mkhonto postponed the case on Tuesday
to tomorrow
after the chief law officer, Martha Cheda, said she needed time
to consult
the Attorney-General's Office on whether a duplicate file was
being kept.
Mkhonto ordered the state to bring the original file.
During that
appearance, Williams said it was clear that they were under
surveillance.
"Throughout the proceedings it was very evident that
plain clothes
detectives had quite a lot of interest in us and what we were
doing," she
said.
"In previous years we have always observed them
around during court
proceedings but this time around there were quite a few
and they did not
make an effort to hide their presence.
"They
were standing very close to us trying to hear everything we were
saying."
Williams however said they were not deterred by the
behaviour of the police
who tried to eavesdrop on their conversations and
followed them outside
during breaks.
Williams says the
prestigious John F Kennedy award, handed by US President
Barack Obama to her
and Magodonga Mahlangu for standing up to "the dictator"
President Robert
Mugabe, has emboldened Woza.
"This award has been an important
development, a welcome opportunity to
speak about the issues that affect us
Zimbabweans on a daily basis,"
Williams said.
"We were able to
bring out these issues such as social injustice, human
rights abuses,
economic injustice from as far back as Gukurahundi up to
today, directly to
policy makers who have influence and power.
"I am glad to say that
President Obama really understood all these issues
that we stand for as
Woza."
The award came with US$30 000 prize money and Woza said it
would mainly be
used for its programmes. The organisation was formed in 2003
and has been a
thorn in the flesh for the authorities with spontaneous
demonstrations to
highlight the plight of long-suffering
Zimbabweans.
BY OUR STAFF
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 12 December 2009
19:58
MASVINGO — A 62-year-old man was last week taken to court for
saying that
ageing President Robert Mugabe “has failed and must go”. The
state says
Rashidu Omar also castigated the land reform exercise, blaming it
for food
shortages that have plagued the nation.
Omar appeared
before magistrate Stanford Mambanje facing charges of
insulting the
President and his Office. He has been remanded out of custody
to January 6
next year.
Charges against Omar, brother to losing Zanu PF Masvingo
Urban candidate
Jusby Omar, date back to February 30 this year when he
allegedly made the
statements in front of a local Zanu PF
official.
The state, led by Sophie Bhusvumani, alleges that Omar made
the statement
publicly in front of Zanu PF Ward 4 Women’s League chairlady,
Hilda Mauto,
at Food for Africa Restaurant.
The court further
heard that Omar said that the violent takeover of mainly
white-owned
commercial farms largely by veterans of the liberation struggle
was “a
failure” since most resettled black farmers are sitting on the land,
“growing grass” and leaving “their crops to compete with
weeds”.
The accused’s statements did not go down well with the Zanu
PF Women’s
League official, who made a report to the police, leading to his
arrest.
BY OUR CORRESPONDENT
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 12 December 2009
19:53
BEITBRIDGE - Enock Madziro (36) was sharing a room with six
colleagues from
Zimbabwe at Westerberg Settlement in South Africa's northern
city of
Polokwane when an army of men wielding iron bars burst in. The
menacing
South Africans were shouting: "Zimbabweans we want to kill you
now!
"You are taking our jobs, you are raping our sisters and you are
killing
South Africans."
Madziro says within minutes his
colleagues were lying on the floor and
bleeding profusely.
"I was
relieved that someone quickly called the police and they rescued us,"
he
said.
The father of two from Makoni district in Manicaland is one of
the hundreds
of Zimbabweans who were caught up in a new wave of xenophobic
violence in
the neighbouring country last week.
The six were
severely injured during the attack forcing the authorities to
evacuate
Zimbabweans who were in danger to a temporary shelter at the Peter
Mokaba
Stadium.
The attack was sparked by the discovery of a body of a South
African woman
who was raped in the streets of Polokwane. Zimbabweans became
prime
suspects.
They were also accused of stealing jobs and wives
of locals.
Shiela Hombe (22), who was also caught up in the violence
with her
six-month-old baby said returning to Zimbabwe had not crossed her
mind.
"We can't just go back to Zimbabwe because the situation is not
good."
About 2 000 Zimbabweans are still living in temporary shelters
in the
farming town of De Doorns near Cape Town after another outbreak of
xenophobic violence.
Despite the formation of the unity
government in February, Zimbabweans
continue to trek into South Africa in
search of jobs that are still hard to
come by in their
country.
According to immigration officials in Beitbridge, 16 000
Zimbabweans enter
South Africa every month while only a handful have been
voluntarily
repatriated.
An estimated three million Zimbabweans
now live in South Africa after
escaping the country's high unemployment rate
and economic collapse.
However, most of them are illegal immigrants
and compete with ordinary South
Africans for menial jobs.
BY
GODFREY MANDIWANA
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 12 December 2009
16:54
VERY few people in Harare are aware that life in the plush suburb
of Mount
Pleasant can be very unpleasant at times. One would think the
people behind
those leafy residential stands are the happiest in
Harare.
To get a clear picture of how life is in Mount Pleasant and
many northern
suburbs in Harare, one should talk to people like Custon
Mutoti, the general
manager for Barbour’s department store in the
capital.
For Mutoti and many other residents in the Groombridge area
of Mount
Pleasant, home is not the best place to be.
“Most of the
time we have no electricity and this is a major setback, both
at home and
for our businesses in the area.
“At times we go for days without
power and whenever we get it, it is usually
at 10pm to 5am, when most people
are in bed,” Mutoti said.
When the problems started worsening, Mutoti
and his neighbours understood
the explanation by authorities at the Zimbabwe
Electricity Supply Authority
(Zesa) that this was due to a problem in Kariba
that was being attended to.
But when it continued to get worse even
after the completion of the
maintenance works and when they gathered other
parts of the capital were not
experiencing the same problems, Mutoti and his
neighbours got worried.
“I believe this is discriminatory. It is very
unfair because some areas are
not affected.
“I am so bitter
because we have been bombarded with all sorts of promises,
but it seems our
situation is actually getting worse by the day.
“I am not a
politician, but I am put under pressure to mobilise other
residents who are
also at a disadvantage like me. There is no fairness. We
need answers. I am
very angry as a resident; as a citizen of this country to
be experiencing
all this.”
Other residents in the area share the same
concerns.
One of them, Phineas Fundira was forced to suspend his
small communications
business after going for months without
power.
“We went for more than 11 weeks without power. Supplies were
only restored
this week on Monday, but still we do not have power most of
the time,”
Fundira said.
“I run a small business here, but I was
forced to dismiss employees because
our work had ground to a
halt.
“I was spending too much money on fuel for the generator, but
at the rate
things were going, I would be broke by now.”
Although
statistics were not immediately available, residents said there
have been
rampant thefts of mostly borehole pumps, electric motors for gates
and
generators.
Ward 17 councillor Warship Dumba said the power cuts were
inconveniencing
residents, and Zesa was not helping the situation by asking
residents to
“donate” replacements for stolen transformers.
Zesa
spokesperson Fullard Gwasira said of late, it has been “problem after
problem” for the power utility.
And it is not the Mount Pleasant
residents alone who are experiencing the
ever increasing load
shedding.
“In October, we had maintenance works at Kariba, which went
on until
mid-November,” said.
“Just after we had completed the
maintenance works and everything seemed to
be getting on track, there was a
technical fault on the Mozambican side and
this meant we couldn’t import
power from Mozambique.”
The Mozambican fault has since been resolved,
but the power outages are
still with us. Enter the rainy
season.
‘The problem now is the rains. During the rainy season there
is a high
failure rate, especially for joints.
“This generally
affects all our customers, not necessarily Groombridge,” he
added.
Gwasira said such lengthy outages like in Fundira’s area
are a result of the
theft of transformers.
“Our greatest
challenge at the moment is vandalism of transformers,” he
said.
“Right now the country needs about 2 000 transformers and
that figure rises
every day.
“The cheapest transformer costs
between US$8 000 and $10 000.
“As a company, we do not have that kind
of money readily available to
replace the transformers.”
Combined
Harare Residents’ Association (CHRA) chairperson, Simba Moyo said
what was
worsening the situation was the failure by the authorities to give
an
explanation.
“This is clearly not load-shedding, it is a blackout,”
said Moyo.
“We expect Zesa to explain to us what is
happening.
“At the moment the power just goes, there is never an
explanation and no one
seems to understand what is happening.
“It
is important for them to at least keep us informed.”
But on the
unavailability of information, Gwasira has one piece of advice to
Moyo and
other residents: they should watch state television and listen to
state
radio.
He did not say what they should do when there is no
electricity to power
radio and television sets.
Moyo said they
had held consultations with Energy and Power Development
Minister Elias
Mudzuri, who pleaded with the residents not to boycott paying
Zesa
rates.
Mudzuri was not available for comment
yesterday.
For some time now, Zesa has been struggling to restore
normal supplies in
most parts of the country.
At some point, the
power utility appeared to have run out of options to get
back on its
feet.
The situation was worsened by the failure to come up with and
abide by a
clear and realistic pricing regime.
BY VUSUMUZI
SIFILE
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 12 December 2009 16:52
THE Meyrick
Park Residents' Association (MPRA) in Harare has come up with a
novel idea
to deal with council's failure to collect refuse from the area.
Regular
clean up campaigns in the neighbourhood are now the in-thing in a
suburb
that has also become one of the cleanest in the city.
Ange Green, the
association's vice-chairperson said the initiative followed
a realisation
that council was still far from restoring normal services.
It is a
similar story with municipalities throughout the country where
refuse
removal is no longer a priority because of the competing areas that
need
urgent funding.
"In my area, we got concerned about the rubbish which
kept piling up on the
roads and in the vleis and we decided to take the
initiative and clean up,"
Green said.
"The first step was to form
a residents' association on October 31 this
year."
But from about
150 households in Meyrick Park, only 30 are participating in
the project in
which the association is partnered by the Harare City
Council.
Under the partnership, the residents pick up all the
rubbish dumped in
various sites in the suburb and the council collects the
refuse for safer
disposal.
"What we do is apply for clearance to
do the clean-up from the police and go
ahead with the exercise once given a
date," Green said. "All the 30 members
participate and for those who cannot
make it, they send their domestic
workers to come and
assist.
Green said although able bodied and working people showed
more interest, old
and retired people too were
participating.
Harare Mayor Muchadeyi Masunda said the partnership
with Meyrick Park
residents was one of many initiatives being undertaken to
restore Harare's
Sunshine City status.
Others include ward-based
initiatives which are being driven by councillors,
with some involving the
clearing of storm water drains.
"Some of these projects have
non-government organisations' support like the
one being done in
Dzivarasekwa with the support of Goal Zimbabwe," Masunda
said.
"In some cases, incentives have to be given to entice
residents to take part
for example Goal pays US$5 per every task completed
and we pay US$0.80."
But Masunda believes a lot still needs to be
done to discourage residents
from polluting the environment.
He said
council intends to engage beverage companies, bottle stores and
other beer
outlets to map the way forward on the disposal of rubbish as they
were some
of the biggest polluters.
BY OUR STAFF
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 12 December 2009 16:49
BULAWAYO
- The inclusive government will next year bring to Parliament the
Judicial
Services Bill (JSB) that seeks to improve conditions of service in
the
country's justice system. Deputy Minister of Justice and Legal Affairs,
Jessie Majome, said the bill will among other things see the introduction of
the Judicial Services Commission (JSC) that would look into issues of
remuneration and working conditions for judicial officers.
Under
existing legislation, President Robert Mugabe through the Judges
Salaries,
Allowances and Pensions Act effectively sets the remuneration of
judges
while other judicial officers are paid by the Public Service
Commission.
Critics say the many assaults on judiciary
independence stem from the
justice system's over-dependence on politicians
and the PSC's failure to pay
competitive salaries.
Two years ago
Reserve Bank governor, Gideon Gono gave judges gifts that
included
computers, satellite dishes and plasma televisions.
Majome said
removing judicial officers from the ambit of the PSC must be a
priority next
year to ensure judicial independence.
"We believe with the tabling of
the Judicial Services Bill and its
subsequent passing into law, we will be
able to deal with the challenges
facing staff in the ministry," she said in
an interview.
"This will obviously involve the setting up of the JSC
which will be tasked
with looking at the welfare of the
staff."
She added: "At the moment, our hands are tied.
"It
is the Public Service Commission that employs and determines the
salaries of
the staffers.
"When the act is in place, we will be able, as a
ministry, to look at the
salaries of our staff and make adjustments where it
is necessary and
according to the grade of a particular
employee."
Majome said government was aware employees in the ministry
were working
under "deplorable conditions."
"It is true that some
of the conditions where our employees operate are bad.
Buildings are in a
bad state or need refurbishment.
"We will strive to ensure that we
make those conditions better going into
2010," she said.
Turning
to top-of-the-range vehicles allocated to judges while some
magistrates and
senior staff in the ministry are forced to scrounge for
transport, Majome
said the ministry was also looking into the problem.
"We appreciate
there is a problem when it comes to vehicles. Some of the
vehicles allocated
to judges are part of their conditions of service," she
said.
"The ministry is looking into means and ways in which we
can address this
problem.
"We are clear that at times our
staffers are exposed to the people they are
supposed to be handling and this
poses a serious threat to their lives,"
Majome said.
Finance
minister Tendai Biti has proposed a separate budget for the
judiciary for
next year saying there is need to delink the judiciary from
the
executive.
In his budget speech, Biti said: "Consistent with the
country's constitution
that recognises a clear distinction between the three
pillars of the state,
the 2009 position where the judiciary and the
legislature were treated as
part of the executive will not be
maintained.
"This does however not mean there will be uneven and
unequal treatment of
actors in the same state."
BY NKULULEKO
SIBANDA
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 12 December
2009 16:47
THE ongoing extensions to a house belonging to a senior
Reserve Bank of
Zimbabwe official, Munyaradzi Kereke, has set tongues
wagging among
residents in Harare's upmarket suburb of Mount Pleasant who
suspect he is
constructing a state-of-the-art clinic. Kereke is the advisor
to the RBZ
governor, Gideon Gono.
He also features among Zanu PF
officials currently restricted from
travelling to the European Union and
other Western countries.
Residents who live in the neighbourhood of
the property located on 92
Norfolk Road in the suburb said they were
suspicious that the current
developments were more than just
extensions.
"He has submitted a planning application to the City
Council for Special
Consent to convert his residential property into a
24-hour emergency Medical
Centre," said one resident, who requested
anonymity.
Among other things, the resident claimed the new
state-of-the-art clinic
would have a "24-hour emergency centre, 24-hour
ambulance services, 24-hour
pharmacy, fully-fledged medical laboratories, CT
scanners and ultrasound
equipment, and eye, dental and other medical
advisory services".
"All this would be on a normal one-acre plot in
the middle of a residential
area at 92 Norfolk Road, Mount Pleasant," said
the source.
But Kereke denied the claims, saying he was merely
extending his house.
He said he did not have plans to develop it or
any of his properties into a
medical facility.
"It is just a
housing extension," said Kereke. "I have got stamped papers
from the Harare
City Council to prove this.
"It is certainly not true that I am
converting the house into a clinic.
"I know there are some people who
just go about making this claim, I don't
know why."
Council
spokesperson Leslie Gwindi was not immediately available for
comment. But
Warship Dumba, the councillor for Ward 17, said he was aware of
the
residents' concerns about the project but would not give any
details.
"I have received concerns from some residents, we are
looking into the
issue," Dumba said.
When The Standard visited
the house on Thursday, construction workers were
busy on the
project.
They said all they were doing was refurbishing the house in
line with the
specifications they had received.
But another resident
was adamant the extension was the first phase of the
surgery.
"Everyone here knows that it is a surgery," said another
resident, who
requested anonymity.
"We have gathered that he will
first disguise the project as a housing
extension, and once it is approved,
he will apply for permission to convert
the premises into a
surgery."
Those close to the project said the various rooms at the
house will be
converted into fully fledged medical facilities once the
extension has been
completed.
This, they said, will make the
whole process much shorter than if Kereke had
applied for permission to
build a medical centre right away.
BY VUSUMUZI SIFILE
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 12 December 2009
16:44
BULAWAYO - The success of the new constitution-making process
hinges on the
national healing and reconciliation programme that seeks to
address Zimbabwe's
deadly culture of political polarisation, Constitutional
and Parliamentary
Affairs Minister Eric Matinenga said recently. Matinenga's
observations came
amid revelations that principals in the unity government
were considering
extending the timeframe for the process to come up with the
country's first
post-Independence constitution due to
delays.
Funding constraints are derailing the process and a fortnight
ago the
Parliamentary Select Committee leading the drafting of the new
supreme law
delayed the deployment of outreach teams.
Differences
between political parties and civil society over what course to
take have
also been cited as one of the reasons behind the snail's pace at
which the
process has moved.
Matinenga said lack of a conducive environment in
the country for
Zimbabweans to input their views without fear is "the
biggest challenge"
affecting the constitution-making
process.
"The biggest challenge that we face in the
constitution-making process is
achieving a conducive environment for
everyone to participate in the process
openly and freely without fear,"
Matinenga told Bulawayo residents attending
an outreach programme at the
Large City Hall .
"How do we achieve this (conducive
environment).without a truly and proper
healing of the nation; it will be
difficult for the nation to produce a new
constitution," he
said.
The Organ on National Healing, Reconciliation and Integration
is conducting
outreach programmes to gather views on how the sensitive
process should be
undertaken.
The process falls under the terms
of a power-sharing deal signed last year
between Zanu PF and the two
Movement for Democratic Change formations.
Under a power-sharing deal
signed last year, the country is supposed to have
a new constitution in the
next two years to pave way for fresh elections.
But Matinenga said
following a realisation that the timeframe for coming up
with a new
constitution will not be met, President Robert Mugabe, Prime
Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai and Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara will
have to consider
extending the deadline.
"The three principals are also concerned
about the delays and they are
discussing the possibility of extending the
timeframe without going to
Parliament," Matinenga said.
Zimbabwe
relies on the 1979 Lancaster House Constitution, which since
Independence in
1980 has been amended a record 19 times.
nMeanwhile, Nqobani Ndlovu
reports that officials and consultants for the
Youth and National Healing
ministries are in Rwanda to draw lessons from how
that country conducted a
healing and reconciliation process following the
1994
genocide.
Zimbabwe's shaky unity government formed in February to
resolve a political
and economic crisis has put high on the list a national
healing and
reconciliation programme in an effort to address the growing
culture of
political violence.
Over 200 Movement for Democratic
Change (MDC-T) and human rights activists
were killed last year while
hundreds were left nursing severe injuries
during the violence in the run up
to the June 27 Presidential election
run-off where President Robert Mugabe
eventually ran uncontested.
MDC-T leader and now Prime Minister, Morgan
Tsvangirai, was forced to pull
out of the poll citing intimidation and
violence against his party
supporters.
The Youth Ministry and
consultants from the Organ on National Healing,
Reconciliation and
Integration who travelled to Rwanda on Tuesday believe
Zimbabwe can learn
from the Central African country, which has undergone a
healing programme in
the aftermath of its own politically-motivated
massacres.
Deputy
Youth Minister Thamsanqa Mahlangu and representatives of Zanu PF and
the two
MDC formations make up the 15-member delegation.
Youth Minister
Saviour Kasukuwere confirmed the trip saying the delegation
returns to the
country this week.
"It's basically a familiarisation tour of Rwanda's
healing and
reconciliation process after the 1994 genocide.and to see
peace-building
initiatives that can be applicable to Zimbabwe," Kasukuwere
said on Friday.
Rwanda witnessed the worst form of genocide in 1994
after clashes erupted
between rival ethnic groups - the Tutsis and Hutus -
resulting in the death
of thousands of civilians.
Zimbabwe's
Organ on National Healing, Reconciliation and Integration is
conducting
outreach programmes to gather views on how the sensitive process
should be
undertaken.
The process falls under the terms of a power-sharing deal
signed last year.
However, differences on how to conduct the
sensitive process have emerged
with analysts saying it is a litmus test for
the shaky coalition government.
Civic groups and churches favour a
truth and justice commission for
perpetrators but political parties seem to
be interested in a blanket
amnesty.
BY NQOBANI
NDLOVU
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 12 December 2009 15:58
THE United
States Agency for International Development (USaid) last week
honoured
groups and individuals for their contribution to raising awareness
about HIV
and Aids as well as fighting stigma. The annual Auxillia Chimusoro
HIV and
Aids awards were presented by visiting American actor Debra Messing
on
Thursday.
Reigning CNN journalist of the Year Hopewell Chin'ono
emerged tops in the
communication category with the film, Pain in my
heart.
The production, which also helped him win the CNN award, tells
a story of
two people living with HIV who are struggling to survive because
of the
unavailability of treatment in the country.
Judges said
they recognised Chin'ono for his "significant contribution,
commitment,
creativity and sensitivity in broadcasting to many Zimbabweans
on issues of
HIV and Aids using film."
In the Community Participation category
Batanai Support Group from Masvingo
walked away with the
prize.
The group was chosen for its "outstanding and significant
contribution and
commitment in mitigating the HIV and AIDS crisis in their
community by
putting in place an effective support system for those living
with HIV".
Former Premier Soccer League boss Chris Sambo was the
winner in the
leadership category.
Sambo was awarded for
demonstrating "conviction and innovation in increasing
the quality and depth
of public discourse on the epidemic".
The veteran football
administrator is behind the formation of the first ever
soccer league for
women living with HIV in Zimbabwe.
This year's league title was won
by a team from Epworth known as the "ARV
Swallows."
Through their
success, the women have managed to change the negative
perceptions of people
in their community about HIV and Aids.
In the Social Investment
category Barclays Bank of Zimbabwe was awarded for
its efforts in mitigating
HIV and Aids by putting in place a "comprehensive,
effective and sustainable
work based policy on HIV and Aids".
A paediatrician at Parirenyatwa
Hospital, Dr Rose Kambarami, also got a
special recognition for her efforts
in helping children living with HIV.
Messing, who said she lost a
close family friend to Aids, said she decided
to become an activist so that
she can speak on behalf of women and girls who
were more predisposed to HIV
and Aids because of gender imbalances.
Health and Child Welfare
Minister, Dr Henry Madzorera congratulated the
winners saying Zimbabwe needs
more and men and women who are dedicated to
mitigating the effects of HIV
and Aids through various ways.
Speaking at the same ceremony the new
US ambassador to Zimbabwe Charles A
Ray said his government would continue
to support Zimbabwe's fight against
HIV and Aids with more
resources.
The awards are named after Auxillia Chimusoro, one of the
first people in
Zimbabwe to openly disclose their HIV positive status in
1987 at a time when
most people were in still denial.
BY OUR
STAFF
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 12 December 2009
15:56
WHEN Lilly Napata was diagnosed with HIV in 2005, she thought it
meant the
end of life and for some moments, the whole world seemed to be
crumbling on
her. Narrating her ordeal, she said she could see all hopes of
a better life
vanishing in the air and all that lay ahead was misery, a hell
on earth
experience.
"The first time I always cried, it was hard
for me. I was so scared and I
could not even tell my parents," she
recounted.
"Whenever I heard people talking about Aids I would be so
much stressed.
"I had no confidence in myself," said Napata with a
smile that confirmed her
hopes for the future.
She says her life has been
clear testimony of "the fact that being HIV
positive does not mean the end
of the world."
Last week, Napata was part of a group of persons
living with HIV and Aids
who recently graduated with certificates in HIV
Care and Counselling
courtesy of the New Life Centre.
New Life
Centre site manager, Stanley Marowa said this year's graduation
ceremony was
the second since 2007.
He said the training for the graduates
consisted of structured sessions
covering topics on HIV, opportunistic
infections, anti-retroviral care,
nutrition for patients, disclosure of
status as well as how to write a will.
The thrust of the programme,
he said was to assist people living with HIV to
lead a healthy and normal
life regardless of their status.
"We believe this will help them to
look after themselves and their
families," Marowa said.
American
actress, Debra Messing who was the guest of honour commended the
initiative
by the New Life Centre and stressed that emphasis on reproductive
health
issues was critical in the fight against Aids.
She called for the
integration of HIV and reproductive health services.
She said,
"Integration of these services is so important in the fight
against HIV and
Aids as well as to reduce stigma and help people to know
their
statuses."
Napata is currently receiving anti-retroviral therapy and
she said the
counselling services she received at the New Life Centre helped
her cope
with life and realize that after all there was light at the end of
the
tunnel.
"I would like to encourage people that living with
HIV does not mean the end
of life but it's the beginning of something new.
It's normal," she said.
She now spends most of her time going around
various firms in the capital
giving her testimonies, a move she believes
will go miles in raising
awareness on HIV/AIDS issues in the
workplace.
She is also writing a book entitled "Life of a Battered
Soul" in which she
gives a narration of her life from when she tested
positive.
Her hopes for a better life, she said, had also been
boosted by her
acceptance by family members, relatives and the society at
large.
BY EDGAR GWESHE
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 12 December 2009
15:53
OSLO — Zimbabwe was under the spotlight once again when United
States
President Barrack Obama spoke after receiving the Nobel Peace Prize
in Oslo,
Norway. Obama mentioned Zimbabwe, Iran and Burma’s despotic regime
in the
same breadth in which he said his country would stand for the
voiceless.
“We will bear witness to the quiet dignity of reformers
like Aung Sang Suu
Kyi, to the bravery of Zimbabweans who cast their ballots
in the face of
beatings to the hundreds of thousands who have marched
silently through
Iran.”
In his acceptance speech, Obama justified
the use of force in fighting
tyranny.
“Where force is necessary,
we have a moral and strategic interest in binding
ourselves to certain rules
of conduct.
“I believe that force can be justified on humanitarian
grounds, as it was in
the Balkans, or in other places that have been scarred
by war. Inaction
tears at our conscience and can lead to more costly
intervention later.”—
Own Correspondent.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 12 December 2009 15:47
THE European Union
(EU) is in the process of implementing a 110 million euro
commitment to
support Zimbabwe’s Short Term Emergency Recovery Programme
(STERP), a top
diplomat said on Thursday.
Xavier Marchal, the EU head of delegation to
Zimbabwe told participants at
the two-day seminar on Economic Partnership
Agreements (EPAs) that Brussels
has been supportive of the county despite
the 2002 suspension of government
to government
cooperation.
“The EU has also committed to implement a 110
million euros Short Term
Strategy, in line with government priorities of the
STERP. This commitment
is now being fulfilled,” he said.
STERP
was launched in March as a stabilisation measure and will be succeeded
by a
medium term plan.
Under STERP, government targeted to lift industry’s
capacity utilisation to
60% from as low as 10%. Some industries such as
beverages are operating at
80% capacity while others are below the forecast,
according to Finance
Minister Tendai Biti.
Brussels’ move to
honour the commitment on STERP is expected to speed up the
normalisation of
relations with Harare based on Article 8 of the Cotonou
Agreement.
The EU has also thrown its weight behind the inclusive
government but says
Zimbabwe has to fully implement the Global Political
Agreement (GPA).
This will see the 27-member bloc responding by its
own roadmap of
progressive normalisation of ties with Zimbabwe, Marchal
said.
Zimbabwe’s bid to normalise relations with Brussels culminated
in the
launching of a dialogue in June between a delegation led by Prime
Minister
Morgan Tsvangirai and the EU ministerial troika.
Marchal
said trade relations were not a subject of restrictions from the EU.
Zimbabwe has benefited from preferences under the African Caribbean and
Pacific (ACP) and EU relations under the Cotonou Partnership agreement,
Marchal said.
“She (Zimbabwe) can meet the existing beef export
quota, and if she has not
met it, it is due to the Foot and Mouth Disease
and not sanctions.
“As a sugar protocol country, she is significantly
benefiting from financial
support for an adaptation strategy for the sugar
industry,” he said.
Zimbabwe is a member of the Eastern and Southern
Africa (ESA) that is
negotiating for EPAs with the EU.
The government
signed an interim EPA with the EU to secure the continuation
of free access
to EU markets for the country as a non-least developed ACP
country.
ACP countries used to enjoy unilateral trade preferences
from the EU but
that honeymoon ended in December 2007 as the two blocs
complied with the
world trading rules that allow for reciprocity in trade
agreements.
The full EPA provides for duty and quota free market
access on 100% ESA
exportable products into the EU.
It also
provides for duty free and quota free market access on 80% of EU
exportable
products into the ESA region by 2022.
Goods excluded from
liberalisation include products of animal origin.
Cereals, beverages,
paper, plastics and rubber and textiles and clothing.
Footwear, glass
and ceramics, consumer electronics and vehicles are also
excluded from
liberalisation.
But analysts say the level of development in ESA
countries is different and
the opening up should also cater for the stages
of development.
“If non-LDC countries are doing it in 15 years, LDCs
are looking for a
longer period.
“The one-size-fits-all ends up
being a problem,” said Moses Tekere, a trade
expert with the Common Market
for Eastern and Southern Africa.
Statistics show that in 2007, total
EU imports from the 11-member ESA bloc
were a mere 0.38% (Euro 3.17 billion)
of all imports.
He says some countries are prepared to open up their
markets up to 75%.
If Zimbabwe had not signed the interim EPA, it
would have paid 14.9% duty on
tobacco to the EU.
However, EU
exports to ESA raked in 3.96 billion euros.
Figures show that 61% of
exports to the EU covered only eight products and
only 10 contributed
provided the bulk of the exports.
BY NDAMU SANDU
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 12 December 2009 15:41
ZIMBABWE will
set up an office to audit the country's external debt in the
first step
towards settling the US$5.4 billion debt. In his 2010 national
budget,
Finance Minister Tendai Biti said the Debt Management Clearance
Office will
be housed in the ministry to validate the country's debt.
"Government
will, in 2010, set up a Debt Management and Clearance Office in
the Ministry
of Finance, whose primary mandate is to validate and reconcile
the country's
debt in conjunction with the creditors," he said.
Biti said the objective
of the office was to come up with "an agreed
National Debt Reduction and
Arrears Clearance Strategy which takes
cognisance of the country's capacity,
growth objectives as well as creditors
interests".
According to
the Debt Sustainability Analysis exercise done this year, the
country's debt
would be highly unsustainable until 2029.
This means that Zimbabwe
currently does not have the capacity to clear its
US$3.8 billion in arrears
and pay for other amounts falling due.
The new thrust to be adopted
by Biti is a shift from the previous government's
way and an admission that
the country has no capacity to clear off the
external
debt.
Currently there are four options Zimbabwe can take to resolve
the debt and
that is using internal resources, Paris Club debt rescheduling,
resource
based restructuring and the Heavily Indebted Poor Country (HIPC)
initiative.
Zimbabwe does not have the money to service the debt as
the bulk of revenue
inflows are chewed up by salaries for civil
servants.
Resource based debt restructuring is premised on the
understanding that
Zimbabwe has abundant mineral resources which can be
used.
In 2007, Angola used its oil reserves to pay off its US$2.3
billion debt to
the Paris Club without assistance from both the
International Monetary Fund
and the World Bank.
In the case of
Zimbabwe it is tricky as the country is bound by the
International Bank for
Reconstruction "negative clause" which compels
countries to seek the bank's
Executive Board approval for mortgaging natural
resources in exchange for
debt financing.
Under the Paris Club Debt rescheduling, Zimbabwe has
an option of seeking
bilateral debt rescheduling from the group subject to
the country being
under an IMF supported programme.
However, the
programme is only confined to Paris Club members only.
At least 34%
of Zimbabwe's bilateral debt is with the Paris Club and thus it
does not
offer a holistic approach that addresses the debt burden.
As a result
of Zimbabwe's situation, some stakeholders have proposed that it
should go
the HIPC route.
For a country to qualify it should be an
International Development
Assistance (IDA) -only and Poverty Reduction
Growth Facility eligible and
should have per capita income of less than US$1
095.
The country is not yet IDA-only and owes IMF US$138 million
under the
Poverty Reduction Growth Facility Trust. However per capita income
as of
2008 was US$340.
For a country to qualify it has to face a
sustainable debt burden.
The country should establish a track record
of reform and sound policy
implementation under the auspices of an IMF and
IDA supported programme.
At the end of August, Zimbabwe met most of
the conditions.
For the country to attain the HIPC status it also has
to clear multilateral
arrears to IMF, World Bank and AfDB.
The
trio has a preferred creditors' status meaning that arrears have to be
cleared first before a country can benefit from the HIPC debt
relief.
The HIPC initiative is credited for reducing debt service
paid.
Of the 35 countries in which the HIPC package was approved debt
service paid
declined by 2.5% of Gross Domestic Product between 1999 and
2007.
This means that countries have more fiscal space and can use
the money for
other activities that stimulate economic
growth.
But critics say Zimbabwe is too rich to be poor and cannot be
humiliated by
being classified as a struggling poor
country.
Since 2005, government has been sued by a number of
creditors including KFW
(Germany), Daro Film Distributors (Switzerland), UBS
AG (Switzerland),SACE
(Italy), ING (Netherlands),Exim Bank (USA), West
Merchant Bank and Lloyds
Bank (UK).
Some of the creditors have
won court cases against the government.
In the case of Exim Bank,
government ended up paying an amount of US$42.2
million in 2007 towards its
arrears.
Daro Film Distributors received a payment of US$0.87
million.
In 2006, ING and KFW won court interdicts to attach
Zimbabwean properties
abroad, thus setting a precedent which remains
precarious for the state.
KFW used its arbitral award to attach ZISCO
shares in Ramotswa Steel of
Botswana and is seeking a court order in South
Africa to attach NRZ shares
in Pan African Mining Development
Company.
A number of litigation cases are pending with judgments
likely to go in
favour of creditors due to Zimbabwe's inability to clear
arrears, analysts
have warned.
BY NDAMU SANDU
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 12 December 2009 15:38
GWERU —
Zimbabwe’s economy will be the same size as it was in 1997 in two
years’
time and in 2019 it will be the fifth strongest economy in Africa,
according
to a Zimbabwean economist. Dr Eric Bloch said this at a
post-budget meeting
breakfast in Gweru organised by the Zimbabwe National
Chamber of Commerce
Midlands Chapter.
Bloch said that there were positive indicators in
the economy and he said
the success of the growth of the economy would
depend on the full
implementation of the Global Political
Agreement.
Bloch said it was not true to say that the economy had
stabilised as alluded
to by the Minister of Finance Tendai Biti in his
presentation of the budget
recently.
“We cannot say there is
economic stability when over 8 million people are
still living below the
Poverty Datum Line and there is still malnutrition in
the country. The
economy is recovering,” Bloch told the Midlands business
community.
Bloch said while the budget was a positive one there
were some ugly and bad
sections in it. Among the ugly sections, the
economist noted, is the
ultimatum given to businesses to have acquired
electronic Tax Register
machines by April next year.
“Business is
likely not to be able to fund the ETRs. They should have been
given until
end of 2010 to acquire the machines.”
Bloch said while he was
positive that agricultural output would improve, he
said the tobacco
production expected by finance minister was wishing for the
impossible.
“To expect to produce 200 million kg of tobacco from
last year’s 46 million
tonnes is not possible.”
Bloch said
farmers were still unable to access farming inputs. “Seed is
expensive in
the market and where it is cheap at the Grain Marketing Board
it is not
available. The new farmers have no working capital and no
collateral value
to the leases they have.”
He urged partial or total privatisation of
loss-making parastatals and said
it was a fact that the government was broke
and unable to pump in money to
parastatals such as the national airline, the
Zimbabwe Electricity Supply
Authority and The NationalRailways of
Zimbabwe.
Bloch also said the US$10 million given to RBZ was too
little. “How can
anyone make investment when the capitalization of the
Reserve Bank is US$10
million? Maybe there is need for private sector
shareholders.”
Bloch also noted that the budget lacked investment
incentives for
employment-generation and said the tax threshold adjustment
was not very
significant.
“The threshold should be above US$300
instead of taxing people living below
the PDL.”
Speaking at the
same meeting, Martin Charumbira an economist from the
Midlands State
University said the budget presented showed that the
government no longer
took planning for granted.
Charumbira said there were positive
indicators in the budget that gave hope
to Zimbabweans including the fact
that, Zimbabwe was now also trying to
match international best practices,
that there would be legal enforcement on
those that evade taxes and are
corrupt and also that this government does
not take people’s input for
granted as the people’s input was taken into
consideration.
The
Midlands business community also hailed the assurance by the Minister of
Finance that the multi-currency system will continue to be in use until 2012
and they said statements by some government officials that the return of the
Zimbabwe dollar was imminent had begun again to unsettle the economy and
scare investors.
Meanwhile other residents said although there
were parts of the budget that
they were not happy with, they said that it
was pleasing to note that
inflation was going down and the projections that
the economy will be
growing were a relief to many families who have been
struggling for the past
decade.
Others also noted the money set
aside for the constitution-making process
and the healing process saying
these were positive steps to show that the
government was still committed to
having a new constitution and also
committed to healing the nation from the
political violence that has been
rocking the country.
By
RUTENDO MAWERE
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 12 December 2009
16:35
WHETHER you are the woman selling tomatoes on the street or the
venerable
economics professor at the university, every Zimbabwean knows that
the main
cause of inflation was the wild printing of paper money. Paper
money
increased by 400 000% in August 2008 and by 2 million% by February
2009.
The concomitant inflation brought about the death of the
Zimbabwe dollar.
Nobody could tell its value any more, as the value changed
within a few
hours of the same day.
Monetary sanity came about when
everyone refused to accept the Zimbabwean
dollar, and the whole country was
forced to change to the use of foreign
currency.
The tragedy could be
seen in the thousands of Zimbabwe dollars thrown on the
streets,
particularly at bus stations.
Today we face another source of
inflation, and it is the city councils,
particularly the Harare City
Council, as well as other utilities such as the
Zimbabwe Electricity Supply
Authority (Zesa) and the telephone companies.
These culprits are
deliberately causing inflation by charging unbelievably
high prices for the
basic utilities, such as rates, garbage collection,
water, electricity and
telephones.
Amazingly we are about five to ten times more expensive than
our neighbours
or overseas countries. It seems these utility companies and
municipalities
feel they are justified in over-charging the consumers in
order to make up
for the past five years of losses.
I will use my
personal accounts as an example. In January 2009 I received a
bill for rates
which came to Z$227 208 767 094, which at that time was less
than 25
revalued Zimbabwean cents.
I actually wrote out a cheque for 25 revalued
cents, but I never sent it as
I realised this was nonsense. How come we had
thrashed our money in such a
way?
In November 2009 my rates came
to US$124. Wow, what a difference! My
electricity bill, US$70; my water bill
was Z$142 (I had failed to pay for
several months - I didn't mind them
cutting it off as I was not receiving
any water any way); and my telephone
bill about US$250. Added together, my
utilities will cost me US$586. My
pension for being a minister for many
years is US$100 a month.
If I
am responsible enough to live within my means, and also responsible
enough
to pay my utilities I will be in a serious minus balance! I guess I
will
have to give up food at this rate!
This is a personal account. What
about business, commerce and industry?
Industries will add their utility
bills to the cost of manufacture, and
shops will add their utility bills to
their prices.
As a housewife who shops for food, I have noticed that
South African
margarine costs US$85 cents, whereas Zimbabwean margarine
costs US$1.65.
Naturally I am tempted to buy the cheaper product. Why is
it cheaper? Is the
cost of utilities one critically important reason? Sadly,
any analysis will
tell you that the extremely high price of utilities is the
main cause of
inflation today.
It is essential for utilities to
look at how their pricing regime is
destroying the economy.
Accepted
that they have not had any money for maintenance, new equipment and
new
construction for the last five years, some for the past fifteen
years.
Nevertheless it is entirely destructive of the economy to charge
the
consumer for problems which were not caused by the consumer in the first
place.
The consumer should be charged the basic cost of running the
utility, plus
perhaps 10 - 15% in addition to this.
The profit motive
should really stop being in terms of hundreds or thousands
of
percent.
It should be more reasonable, in line with our neighbours. How
come prices
are half as much in South Africa as they are in Zimbabwe for
example?
The capital costs should be shared with government, and
government should
make low interest loans available to the utilities to
enable them to repair,
re-equip and renew.
What about utilising a
US$100 - US$200 million of the US$510 million from
the IMF for this very
purpose, lending it out to the utilities at 1%
interest?
IMF is
charging Zimbabwe half a percent interest, so 1% is very suitable for
refurbishing our utilities. In this way the government can help the economy
as a whole. A more carefully considered plan by the utilities and by
government is needed, and the plans need to be synchronised.
It
is also amazing when civil servants, such as a permanent secretary with a
Ph. D. and thirty years of experience, are paid less than US$200 a month,
when utility employees have a minimum wage of at least US$300. Is there no
co-ordination and co-operation between government, its parastatals and its
local authorities?
It appears it's a free-for-all, where each unit
tries to make as much money
as possible, totally forgetting the good of the
ordinary citizen and the
health of the economy as a whole.
Local
government and parastatals need to see their role as pre-eminently to
serve
the country, rather than to serve their own pockets. Central
government
should also stop seeing local government and parastatals as their
milk cows,
from which they can dip in for personal travel and other
luxuries.
The exorbitant charges made by local government and
parastatals are very
destructive of the economy. If utilities actually cost
more than the salary
of a civil servant, if street cleaners earn more than
permanent
secretaries, isn't something wrong?? And isn't this free-for-all
a sign of
a weak government which is not doing its job
properly?
BY FAY CHUNG
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 12 December 2009
16:31
WHEN the Minister of Finance, Tendai Biti delivered the country's
budget, I
was away in Cape Town attending a conference on among other
things,
harnessing the capacity and opportunities presented by the
Zimbabwean
Diaspora for the reconstruction of Zimbabwe's fragile economy.
The business
of that conference and the inevitable demands on time explains
the truancy
of this column from these pages last week.
I have
since read the budget statement. It's fair to say that there is a
sense of
realism that underpins the current approach to Zimbabwe's economic
circumstances. There is an acknowledgement that whilst we may be blessed
with an abundance of nature's offerings, at this point we are of poor
stock.
We are broke. We are, like our hunter-gatherer ancestors of the
Stone Age
era, literally living from hand to mouth. And we must live within
our means.
There is no need to make outlandish promises often fuelled
by the
extravagant and it has to be said, reckless imagination of
yesteryear.
Gone are the days, you could say, when unrealistic promises
were made to the
people on the basis of non-existent resources. The hope is
that the
government exercises the necessary discipline to ensure they stick
to their
undertakings as proposed by the Minister in his
budget.
There are lots of things in the budget warranting some
commentary. But I
like to think there are some who are better placed and
more able than me to
comment on those technical issues. I shall from time to
time in the coming
weeks, pick on those issues that I have the facility to
comment upon.
On this occasion, I wish only to comment on a matter of
concern about public
access to the budget and technical issues surrounding
it. The theme here is
about enabling citizens' democratic participation in
the financial and
economic affairs of the country.
I argue that the
language of the budget, the mode of presentation and the
vehicle for its
dissemination leaves a lot to be desired. It is by and large
inaccessible to
the ordinary members of the public.
This is odd, given that there are
few things that impact directly on the
livelihoods of ordinary people than
the matter of the national budget.
Yet strangely, this subject remains
intelligible only to a few members in
higher stations of society, mainly
those equipped with the technical lexicon
of business and
economics.
The ordinary people, whose circumstances the budget seeks
to deal with have
very little space or indeed, the facility to understand
more clearly how
this process works, let alone what is actually
articulated.
They know that the Minister comes to Parliament, raises his
briefcase to
photographers who dutifully capture the moment.
They
know he will read the long budget statement for a lengthy period during
which the men and women sitting on parliamentary benches retire in large
numbers, snoring violently in broad daylight.
Occasionally, the
television cameras will capture these moments, providing
occasion for
laughter. The point is, even these MPs have very little clue of
what the
Minister of Finance will be talking about, such is the
inaccessibility of
the language of national finance and economics.
This is not
necessarily Minister Biti's problem - it is the problem of a
system that
requires some transformation. Part of the change that people
have been
calling for extends beyond personalities to transformation in the
way things
are done.
Having read every bit of the recent budget statement and
the media reports
that followed, it occurred to me that there is much that
is lost to the
public but through no fault of its own. The traditional
language of the
budget is not for the ordinary person. It's as if there is a
perennial
conspiracy to pitch the budget above the heads of ordinary
people.
Ironically, speaking of the proposed reforms to the Income
Tax Act at
paragraph 399 of the budget statement, Minister Biti had this to
say: "The
Zimbabwe Income Tax Act was first promulgated in April 1967.
Several
amendments have been made to the Act without changing its structure
and
Victorian language which the average taxpayer cannot fully comprehend.
The
Act is, hence, not in line with modern trends".
The Minister
is right and the Income Tax Act needs to be reformed, both to
modernise its
substance but also to make it more comprehensible to users.
The same could
be said for other pieces of legislation on Zimbabwe's statute
books.
Likewise, the budget needs to be expressed in simple and
more intelligible
language. It forms a key component of democratic
participation, especially
in respect of transparency and accountability.
Citizens are more able to
hold their leaders to account if they have clear
information at their
disposal.
The budget provides a good source
of such information regarding financial
accountability. The public should be
able to access and make use of that
information to ensure that it's better
able to hold politicians to account.
Take for example, the issue of
foreign travel that even the Minister laments
in his budget. Some $28.4
million was expended on foreign travel this year
compared to only $8.1
million spent on medical supplies and services.
These items need to be
accounted for and ordinary Zimbabweans need to ask
why so much is spent on
activities that would make Vasco da Gama green with
envy whilst Florence
Nightingale would weep at the sight of spending on
matters of the nation's
health. But they can only ask these things if they
know the meaning of what
they are told.
The language of the budget statement is written on the
assumption that
everyone knows what the minister is talking about. The
technical terms are
not explained; they are just thrown about in the belief
that consumers know
what it's all about. What exactly is "capital
expenditure" and how does it
differ from "current" or "re-current
expenditure"? What is a "Vote of
Credit" and what is its use? Now, my
economist friends will say,
"waMagaisa, these are obvious things my
brother."
But they are obvious to those who know; those who have been
schooled or at
the very least acquainted with the language of finance and
economics. It
makes little sense to those who don't know and yet are
expected to
participate in this supposedly democratic process. In my view,
there is much
to be said for simplifying things. If the budget must be
translated to make
it more accessible to the ordinary members of the public
so that they can
participate fully in the process, then this must be
done.
This proposition of simplification is not new and being a
member of the
legal profession I should know.
The law has
historically been couched in language that is inaccessible to
the ordinary
people who are not trained in the discipline. In recent times
however, there
has been a movement for the simplification of the law, to
make sure that
it's captured in language that is intelligible to the
users.
Similarly, on a larger scale, one of the key features in
Zimbabwe's recent
history has been the constitutional reform
movement.
Whereas few people in the eighties and nineties paid much
attention to the
constitution of the country, today it is a word that used
with much ease by
a greater number of people.
That is not to suggest
that everyone has suddenly becomes an expert on
constitutional law; but at
least, the debates and greater dissemination of
information about the
constitution has raised the issue in the public
consciousness.
More
people are able to converse about the constitution today than they did
in
1999. Indeed, a key goal of this reform process should be to ensure that
the
new constitution is simple and accessible and that citizens start from a
young age to know more about the constitution and human
rights.
But while civil rights literacy has advanced in recent years,
financial
literacy remains embarrassingly low. We know very little about our
country -
it's purported wealth and attendant issues. The Minister proposed
a new
development facility called the Constituency Development Fund
(CDF).
Citizens should be able to ask how this really differs from the
District
Development Fund (DDF) which they have known for
years.
They need to know that this is not yet another vehicle for
siphoning the
little resources of the state. They have to know how the
administrators of
this new facility will be made more accountable than has
been the case with
the DDF.
They need information that this is not
the MP's fund, which can be abused
for political mileage. As I have said, as
part of transforming the culture
of governance, the Inclusive Government and
progressive elements within it
need to do more to make information
accessible and simplifying or even
localising the language of communication
would be a great start.
Our civil society has been very good at
standing guard for people's civil
rights. They also need to step up and
think more about the how to empower
citizens to hold their leaders
accountable in financial matters.
It starts with understanding the
language of the budget. If it must be
written in Shona, Ndebele, Kalanga,
etc then it has to be done. Donors,
there is something useful to
do.
Alex Magaisa is based at, Kent Law School, the University of Kent and
can be
contacted at wamagaisa@yahoo.co.uk or a.t.magaisa@kent.ac.uk
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 12 December 2009 16:29
Much
has been made of the country's image-perception management programme
and how
it is the panacea to attracting more tourists to Zimbabwe ahead of
next
year's soccer extravaganza. But the recent announcements by nations
coming
to the World Cup in South Africa and the Orange Africa Cup of Nations
in
Angola suggest otherwise.
Ghana, Cameroon and Cote d'Ivoire have
announced their training bases for
the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations which
Angola is set to host next month and
World Cup in South Africa in six
months, giving Zimbabwe a wide berth.
Zimbabwe was pinning its hopes
on attracting the continent's major soccer
nations coming to establish
training camps in the country.
It had been argued this would
contribute to its image-perception management
programme with the resultant
influx of foreign tourists. The country is also
trying to lure Mexico and
Brazil.
However Brazil appears to have made up its mind and will be
camping in South
Africa. The announcement by Brazil a fortnight ago is a
blow particularly to
Zimbabwe, which last month serenaded a representative
from the South
American nation.
There is something Zimbabwe is not
doing right or its efforts are clearly
misfiring. When African nations can't
even consider camping here there is a
serious problem. There are major
hurdles to clear in attracting world soccer
representatives from Europe,
South America and far afield when countries on
the continent are avoiding
us.
But if we have to be brutally frank, we have to acknowledge that
taking
representatives from Fifa and from countries such as Brazil to
uncompleted
facilities with no sign of renovations underway and then
expecting them to
take us seriously is taking others for
granted.
We have all along known that Angola and South Africa will be
hosting major
soccer showpieces. Zimbabwe should have engaged local
companies to advise on
and undertake refurbishments.
Renovations at
Rufaro Stadium in Harare and Barbourfields in Bulawayo should
have been
carried out at the same time artificial turf was installed.
South African
companies marketing the facilities there could have been
contracted to
package Zimbabwe's stadiums as part of the overall SA's
marketing strategy.
The mileage would have been considerable.
But with less than a month
to go before Angola there are no major
renovations to the changing rooms at
the soccer facilities at Rufaro or
Barbourfields that Zimbabwe hoped the
visitors would use.
Why the work was not contracted to private companies
if the local
authorities and the football governing body did not have the
resources can
only demonstrate a dearth of creativity. This is an
opportunity squandered.
It is important to know one's limits and to respect
that others are good at
some things that we are not so gifted
at.
It is common knowledge that resources for refurbishments are
scarce, but it
is precisely for this reason that the renovations should have
been farmed
out to contractors who could recoup their money from gate
takings.
If this approach and external marketing had been adopted from
the outset
Zimbabwe would have been assured of hosting some of teams coming
to Angola
and South Africa.
It must be considered a slap in the
face when countries such as Ivory Coast
choose Tanzania ahead of Zimbabwe
for their camp. If we cannot pause to
reflect on the importance of the move
by the Ivoirians, then our claims to
being clever count for
nothing.
Zimbabwe should understand that a mere visit by representatives
of world cup
finalists does not automatically translate into a commitment.
We have been
dealt a blow and supporters of the beautiful game in Zimbabwe
are the real
losers.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 12 December 2009 16:12
I am not
a street activist, but more from the irritable pool of intellectual
key-punchers who hope that President Robert Mugabe and his cronies are
literate enough to notice how collective resentment and hatred for
dictatorship is better expressed in the written word. I say this because
there is a fallacy pervading Zimbabwean society that the number of times and
period that one is beaten and arrested is the only means of verifying
serious political activism.
And perhaps there is precedence to this
malnourished viewpoint, given that
the icons of Africa's liberation struggle
have, at one time or other, had a
bruising encounter with local justice
systems.
The tragedy is that nationalists, like Mugabe, have used
this as a basis for
extended stay in power, arguing that long periods spent
in colonial gaol
give them the right to oppress their
countrymen.
Critics of Professor Arthur Mutambara have raised the same
argument that he
never received as much political bashing and detention as
Morgan Tsvangirai,
thus his claim to political fame is flimsy and
frivolous.
The good news is that this viewpoint is devoid of good
judgement and
destined for extinction.
In awarding Magodonga
Mahlangu the coveted Robert F Kennedy Human Rights
Award, United States
President Barrack Obama mentioned that the firebrand
Zimbabwean activist has
been arrested more than 30 times.
No doubt all progressive cadres of the
struggle against Mugabe's
"scientific" tyranny will and should applaud
Mahlangu's recognition, but I
am one of the few who do not particularly
subscribe to the theory that the
number of times one is convicted for a good
cause emits a force equal to or
equivalent to the motion towards
liberation.
Moreover, the struggle takes a further mortal knock when
one, like Mahlangu
does, goes further to justify activism purely on the
basis that his or her
parents, friends, neighbours and relatives were at one
time or another,
victims of Mugabe's Gukurahundi genocide.
More
often than not, we Zimbabwean activists exaggerate our encounters in
the
struggle. Zanu PF has always been reminded that everyone fought against
colonialism, thus heroism is not only a preserve of former Mozambican and
Zambian exiles, members of the Central Committee or victims of
post-independence detention and genocide.
Girl child activist
Betty Makoni is currently exiled in England, advancing,
like many of those
Zimbabweans who inhabit that land, another case of
persecution by the Zanu
PF government for exposing alleged ministerial girl
child abuse. No doubt
she is in line for another award of recognition for
her "struggle" against
tyranny.
There is no doubt that other cadres like former hostage Jestina
Mukoko,
human rights lawyer Otto Saki and constitutional activist Dr
Lovemore
Madhuku deserve all the accolades they get from the world movement
for
democracy.
A crucial part of the struggle against oppression is
confronting and
defeating Zanu PF it in its natural habitat - in the
streets, but to limit
recognition of this struggle only to the number of
times one is arrested
from the trenches belittles greater
good.
My point is that the struggle to unseat tyranny is not about
"rented"
college students doing street push-ups, old women and lactating
mothers
sacrificed on the altar of fiery fury of the dragon, merely to score
political points.
More often than not, strategic partners of
governance and democracy have
been accused of supporting only institutions
that "raise hell and dust" in
running battles with Mugabe's uniformed
sympathisers in the alleys.
This is a narrow view of resistance, for
there is more like us who find
pride in pounding tyranny from the keyboard.
It may not be glamorous, elicit
blood or swollen foreheads, but the message
spreads far and wide. Street
activists accuse us of "conference room
activism" because there is no glitz
and glamour accrued from making
interviews for CNN from hospital beds.
The moral of my argument is
that when seminar attendance registers and
police charge sheets become the
only genuine evidence of political activism,
strategic partners have taken
the eyes off the ball.
"Anniversary" day activism manifested in protest
handbills and posters,
glossy advertisement, angry press statements and red
roses handed out at
street corners are part of the continuum of the struggle
against Zanu PF
dictatorship.
However, the demands of modern day
transformative revolution require that we
shift the gear from mere defiance
to a higher pedestal of popular
resistance.
The answer lies in
paralysing the business supply systems that keep the Zanu
PF dragon bite
venomous. Restrictive and targeted sanctions are part of this
exciting
high-yield strategy; the other is embedded in protest consumerism.
.
Rejoice Ngwenya writes for AfricanLiberty.org. He is founder of Coalition
for Liberal Market Reforms, a Zimbabwean think tank.
BY
REJOICE NGWENYA