http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
November 30, 2012 in Politics
SINCE
the death of former army commander and Zanu PF kingpin retired General
Solomon Mujuru, President Robert Mugabe has been having an easy ride in the
party as politburo members have no guts to openly confront him over the
succession issue.
Report Dingilizwe Ntuli
The situation has
been made even worse by the departure of former politburo
guru Dumiso
Dabengwa who together with Mujuru could stand up to Mugabe,
demanding to
know when he would relinquish power and usher in leadership
renewal.
Mujuru and Dabengwa forced Mugabe to call for an
extraordinary congress in
2007 where they plotted to replace him with former
politburo member and
ex-finance minister Simba Makoni.
The late
Vice-President Joseph Msika also used to intervene at critical
moments like
when he blocked suggestions by Zanu PF officials in 2007 that
Mugabe be
declared life president.
Ironically, it was Mujuru who was instrumental
in helping install Mugabe as
Zanu PF leader in Mozambique in 1976 when
guerrilla fighters were resisting
his ascendancy.
Before his death in
a mysterious fire in 2011, Mujuru had become a thorn in
Mugabe’s
flesh.
Mugabe has been at the helm of Zanu PF since 1977 after seizing
its
leadership from founding leader Ndabaningi Sithole in a prison coup in
1974
and has ruled Zimbabwe uninterrupted since 1980.
With the
departure of Mujuru and Dabengwa, Mugabe has been having it easy.
At the
party’s Goromonzi conference in 2006, Mujuru and his allies blocked
Mugabe’s
attempts to extend his presidential term by two years outside an
election
from 2008 to 2010. He had been controversially re-elected in
2002.
Mugabe’s six-year term was due to end in 2008 while parliament’s
five-year
term was to run until 2010 following parliamentary polls in 2005.
So in a
bid to ensure the presidential and parliamentary terms ran
concurrently,
Mugabe and his loyalists tried to extend his tenure by two
years but Mujuru
and others rejected that.
After blocking Mugabe,
Mujuru’s faction, which had triumphed during the 2004
congress, gained
momentum in the run-up to the 2008 elections and forced an
extraordinary
congress in December 2007 as the internal power struggle
reached its
zenith.
Their plan was for Makoni to challenge Mugabe for the presidency
with
Dabengwa as his deputy, but this was blocked by presidential loyalists,
including Defence minister Emmerson Mnangagwa.
After this, Mujuru and
his allies tried to fight Mugabe from outside. Makoni
sensationally quit
Zanu PF with a plan to register himself as the party’s
candidate on
nomination day just before the 2008 elections supported by
Dabengwa. Mujuru
and the rest would then leave to urge Zanu PF supporters to
back Makoni in a
bid to stage a palace coup against Mugabe.
Dabengwa confirmed this in a
recent interview with the state-owned Sunday
Mail, although the Zimbabwe
Independent extensively reported on this at the
time.
However, Makoni
lost the plot and the entire plan was thrown into disarray.
After the
departure of Dabengwa and Makoni, and the subsequent death of
Mujuru, Mugabe
virtually has no challenger in Zanu PF.
No one has the courage to
confront him anymore and that is why before party
conferences in Mutare,
Bulawayo and now Gweru he easily retained his
position.
Before Mujuru
and Dabengwa emerged as firebrands, Mugabe used to have
problems from the
late Edison Zvobgo, Edgar Tekere and Enos Nkala, among
others.
After
Tekere was expelled from Zanu PF and Nkala fell by the wayside
following the
Willowgate scandal, Zvobgo became the main voice of dissent
within the
party. Zvobgo gave Mugabe problems until his death in 2004, just
before the
explosive congress that year.
Current actions by the party’s factional
leaders Joice Mujuru, widow of the
late General Mujuru, and Mnangagwa show
Mugabe is no longer under any
challenge.
All Zanu PF structures have
endorsed Mugabe to continue leading the party
and stand for re-election next
year when he would be 89 years old ahead of
the Gweru conference next
week.
When Mujuru was still alive and Dabengwa in Zanu PF, Mugabe was
always
forced to sweat to retain the party leadership and remain as the
uncontested
candidate in presidential elections.
Although senior
party leaders believe Mugabe is no longer a viable but risky
candidate given
his advanced age and health problems, they are unable to
mobilise to force
him out because of the party’s strict disciplinary codes,
hierarchical
arrangements, patronage and internal rivalry which allows his
divide-and-rule tactics to thrive.
Mugabe survived spirited attempts
during the recent constitution-making
process to bar him from standing in
the next elections on term limits and
age grounds.
Senior Zanu PF and
MDC party officials, working in cahoots, recently tried
to insert in the
draft constitution clauses to render Mugabe ineligible for
re-election but
the veteran ruler viciously fought back to defeat the plot.
Joice Mujuru
and Mnangagwa have been locked in a protracted battle to
succeed Mugabe
despite their recent official denials for fear of a backlash.
Denials
they are interested in succession even when their supporters confirm
it show
how much fear Mugabe has instilled in them and why he is once again
the
undisputed Zanu PF leader even though he lacks popular support and
legitimacy.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
November 30, 2012 in Politics
ZANU
PF’s chaotic infighting in Bulawayo has intensified after elections in
the
province for a substantive chairperson scheduled for last Saturday were
postponed indefinitely following bitter clashes among party bigwigs seeking
to influence the poll outcome.
Report by Brian Chitemba
The
failure further proves the party is facing extinction in the city as its
fortunes continue to plummet in the province.
During the 2008
elections Zanu PF failed to garner a single seat in
Bulawayo, making it the
only province where it was whitewashed.
President Robert Mugabe got zero
votes in some polling stations in Bulawayo
during the 2008
elections.
Zanu PF’s abject performance in Bulawayo has been a recurring
theme dating
back to when the city was a PF Zapu stronghold. The town was
also reprised
during the MDC’s pre-split heyday and even after the party was
torn into two
formations — MDC-T and MDC-N.
The party has repeatedly
failed to hold elections as intense factionalism
continues to divide its
dwindling support.
Bulawayo has over the years been the epicenter of
discontent against Zanu PF
rule with its populace complaining about
marginalisation. This has been
exacerbated by the perennial water problems,
the Gukurahundi massacres in
which about 20 000 people were killed in
Matabeleland and Midlands
provinces, and deindustrialisation, among
others.
The province has been pushing for devolution of power during the
current
constitution-making exercise along with the rest of Matabeleland, a
move
being resisted mainly by Zanu PF as a step towards
secession.
While the latest poll was shelved due to serious infighting,
the party
deflected attention by announcing the postponement was caused by
the death
of party provincial secretary for legal affairs Josiah Thwala in
an accident
two days earlier.
However, provincial sources said the
fight between politburo members
Sikhanyiso Ndlovu and Angeline Masuku was to
blame as accreditation for Zanu
PF’s annual conference went ahead last
Sunday.
Politburo members Webster Shamu, Francis Nhema, David Chapfika,
Jabulani
Mangena, Cephas Msipa, Tendai Savanhu and Edward Chataita descended
on
Bulawayo on Friday to oversee the elections on Saturday, but failed to
solve
the long-running feud in the province.
Shamu has made several
attempts to end infighting in Bulawayo but in vain.
Sources said the
elections were first thrown into doubt last Thursday night
following a clash
between Bulawayo politburo and central committee members,
including Ndlovu,
Masuku, Fidelia Maphosa and Raphael Baleni during a
meeting to prepare for
the poll.
The stalemate resulted in the decision to indefinitely shelve
elections.
Masuku and her allies were said to be pushing for the election
of Simon
Khabo for the provincial chairmanship while Ndlovu and associates
preferred
former chairperson Isaac Dakamela who was suspended earlier this
year for
allegedly bringing the party into disrepute.
Acting
provincial chairperson Killian Sibanda does not enjoy the support of
party
heavyweights but the grassroots members are reportedly rallying behind
him.
In Matabeleland North, election results were delayed by four
days but Mines
minister Obert Mpofu’s ally Richard Moyo from Umguza district
beat party
chairman Simon Khaya Moyo’s ally, Patrick Utete.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
November 30, 2012 in News
DEPUTY
Chief Justice Luke Malaba tore into High Court judge Justice Ben
Hlatshwayo’s 2008 judgment giving excommunicated Anglican Archbishop of
Harare Nolbert Kunonga control of all the Church of the Province of Central
Africa (CPCA) immovable and movable assets after he seceded from the
fold.
Report by Paidamoyo Muzulu
Kunonga left the (CPCA) in 2007 to
form his own Anglican Church of the
Province of Zimbabwe over the issue of
homosexuality saying he could not
accept the CPCA Harare Diocese’s refusal
to “exclude from our fold such
people or elements that have embraced out of
their own free will, support or
sympathy for homosexuals”.
Malaba
ruled that Hlatshwayo had not carefully applied his mind to the
matter when
he handed Kunonga and his followers control of the CPCA assets.
Malaba
said Hlatshwayo had “shut his mind to the other evidence which had a
direct
bearing on the matter”.
“It was his duty to decide the question of
withdrawal of membership upon
consideration of all the relevant evidence
placed before him,” he said.
“Had the learned judge carried out his duty,
he would have appreciated that
the anti-homosexuality stance adopted by Dr
Kunonga and his followers was no
longer consistent with their remaining
members of the church”.
Malaba said the belief of a Christian church must
be founded, in general,
upon the Holy Scriptures.
He said Kunonga and
his followers reached a stage where they regarded it a
matter of faith that
homosexuals and members of the church who supported or
sympathised with them
should not be associated with.
“To them, these people (if they regarded
them as such) had no right to
worship God in the church. It did not matter
whether there was practice of
homosexuality or not. Their faith in Jesus
Christ did not entitle them to
membership of the church,” said Malaba in his
judgment.
Malaba said it is important to bear in mind when carrying out
the analysis
of the evidence that it is not what the court might think of
the importance
of the difference between Dr Kunonga and his followers on the
one hand, and
the others on the other, on the question of homosexuality,
which matters.
“The court is interested on what the parties thought about
the matter.
Equally it is not for the court to say whether the principles
adhered to by
either party on the question of homosexuality are good or
bad,” said Malaba.
Malaba said respect for human dignity is a founding
principle of faith. He
said it must have been clear for Kunonga and his
followers the position they
had taken contradicted the accepted expression
of the doctrine of the church
which requires every person to be treated with
respect and dignity.
Malaba said Kunonga and his followers occupied the
CPCA property without
permission.
Kunonga’s group had grabbed parish
buildings, schools, orphanages and
clinics across the country.
Most
of the buildings and institutions such as boarding schools St
Augustines in
Penhalonga, Daramombe in Chivhu and St David’s Girls High
(Bonda Mission) in
Chimanimani, are tottering on the brink of collapse.
CPCA congregants
under Bishop Chad Gandiya have been holding services in the
open or rented
buildings.
Veritas, a local lawyers grouping welcomed Malaba’s judgment,
although it
complained about the time it took before the appeal was
heard.
“It is regrettable that it has taken so long for the matter to be
resolved.
Although the Supreme Court was commendably prompt in arriving at
the
decision less than a month after hearing the appeal on 22 October
(2012),”
Veritas said.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
November 30, 2012 in
News
ZANU PF’s controversial US$6,5 million conference facility –– dubbed
the
“Hall of Shame” ––being built in Gweru ahead of the party’s annual
conference next week is reportedly being constructed on stolen farmland with
the evicted owner set to take legal action.
Report by Elias
Mambo
Impeccable sources close to the developments said an indigenous
farmer
bought Bertram Winery farm after its previous white owner, who was
the sole
producer of Green Valley wine, moved to South Africa in 2000 at the
height
of the country’s violent land seizures.
The sources say the
current owner, who works at a financial services firm in
Harare, entered
into a viable partnership with another dispossessed white
farmer so they
could continue cultivating grapes.
They said the partners invested US$50 000
to refurbish the property and
acquire farming implements in preparation for
the agricultural season.
However, on March 13 this year the indigenous
farmer’s partner and his
family were given 24 hours to vacate the farm after
Zanu PF identified it as
a site for the construction of its 5 000-seater
conference centre.
Investigations by the Zimbabwe Independent revealed
Zanu PF sent its youth
militia to order the white family to vacate the land
immediately or face the
consequences. Zanu PF acting treasurer Didymus
Mutasa could neither confirm
nor deny the land grab, saying the party is not
directly involved in the
project, and referred questions to Midlands
province.
The conference hall has been at the centre of controversy
within Zanu PF
with politburo hardliners opposing Defence minister Emmerson
Mnangagwa’s
role in spearheading it because he allegedly harbours ambitions
of
succeeding President Robert Mugabe.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
November 30, 2012 in
News
SECUROCRATS are setting up a team of senior officers drawn from the
military, police and intelligence services to monitor the indigenisation
programme ahead of elections next year.
Report by Staff
Writer
The empowerment programme is the ace in Zanu PF’s campaign
strategy ahead of
polls President Robert Mugabe wants held by March 2013,
hence the keen
interest from his security sector loyal to him.
A
source said: “A number of senior officers from the police, intelligence
and
military have been approached with an offer to be part of the team and,
in
return, been promised new vehicles and generous packages. The recruitment
is
being handled at a very senior level as in the police, for example,
Deputy
Commissioner-General Innocent Matibiri is the point man.”
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
November 30, 2012 in Politics
THE late
1940s, ‘50s and ‘60s in Southern Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe, witnessed
the
development of a national consciousness among African people, and a
concomitant rise of nationalist political parties fighting colonial
rule.
Report by Herbert Moyo
However, as these parties grew in
support, strength and capacity they were
riddled with political divisions
and infighting as well brutal colonial
repression.
Despite these
impediments, by the end of the 1960s nationalist movement,
mainly comprising
Zanu and Zapu, had launched the guerrilla warfare that
would ultimately
bring majority rule to Zimbabwe in 1980. However, divisions
and infighting
within and between them never ended.
Nationalist politics started in
earnest with trade union protests and
activities in the late 1940s before
successive political parties emerged in
the ‘50s and ‘60s. Political
activism in Southern Rhodesia remained moderate
until the late 1950s
although anti-colonial groups remained committed to
reforming the
system.
The first challenge to the colonial order appeared shortly after
World War
II when African workers staged a series of strikes to protest
urban
segregation and low wages.
The settler regime ultimately broke
the strikes and imposed further
restrictions on Africans. This early
political activity established a
pattern of African protests and severe
government backlash that would
characterise colonial politics until
independence 1980.
There were several parties before the formation of the
National Democratic
Party (NDP) in 1959. When the Southern Rhodesian
government banned the NDP
in 1961, its leadership formed
Zapu.
However, the government banned Zapu shortly after its formation,
and this
time the leadership decided to go underground.
After Zapu’s
banning the party suffered a split that had devastating
consequences for the
future. In 1963 Ndabaningi Sithole and his followers,
including the future
leader of independent Zimbabwe, President Robert
Mugabe, broke away from
Zapu to form Zanu, while Joshua Nkomo remained the
leader of the
Zapu.
The two parties were divided by differences in approach,
personality clashes
and ethnicity.
But their objectives essentially
the same. After the split, fierce clashes
broke out between Zanu and Zapu
supporters.
The conflict, which lasted for years, had a disastrous effect
on the
nationalist movement. Among other things, the fight sowed the seeds
of
conflict among blacks and introduced a culture which still endures up to
this day: political violence.
Zimbabwe has hardly known peace after
independence when it began to lurch
from one crisis to another, starting
with the Gukurahundi killings following
a fall-out between former liberation
allies, Zanu and Zapu.
Prior to that, there were clashes between Zanu and
parties like Abel
Muzorewa’s UANC and Sithole’s Zanu (Ndonga). Intra-party
and inter-party
clashes were pervasive and that entrenched a culture of
violence in local
politics.
After the 1980s massacres, an inquiry was
set up but the findings have never
been made public. Zanu PF also reacted
violently to the formation of the
Zimbabwe Unity Movement by its
ex-secretary general, the late Edgar Tekere.
The advent of the MDC in
1999 raised expectations of a new political
culture, free from violence,
given that this was a different generation
coming during a different era and
under different circumstances.
However, the MDC’s promises of a new
democratic culture were shown to be
mere rhetoric in 2005 when the party
faced a split over violent internal
power struggles, with the dispute over
senatorial elections as the catalyst.
Today, there exist two formations
of the MDC, one led by Prime Minister
Morgan Tsvangirai and the other by his
former secretary-general Welshman
Ncube. The two foes joined a coalition
government in 2009, but violent
tendencies seem to have taken root among
them, mainly in the formation led
by Tsvangirai, indicating the cult of
violence remains embedded in local
politics.
In the run-up to its
congress in Bulawayo last year, the MDC-T was rocked by
intra-party violence
which swept across its Bulawayo, Chitungwiza, Midlands
North, Masvingo and
Mashonaland West structures.
Tsvangirai moved to tackle the problem after
last year’s ugly events.
However, a growing lack of consensus over the
issue is delaying its
conclusion and punishment of the culprits, Political
analyst Blessing Vava
said the MDC-T’s failure to confront internal
political violence was
worrying.
“The MDC-T has many heads like an
octopus and there is no discipline at
all,” said Vava. “In the morning, one
official says the colour of blood is
red and in the afternoon another says
it is blue, and in the evening another
one says it is pink,” he
said.
Bulawayo-based commentator and director of Habbakuk Trust, Dumisani
Nkomo,
said the conflicting statements were symptomatic of “major policy
confusion”
within the MDC-T which needs to be addressed before
elections.
“It may also be an indication that the party is in a quandary
as to how to
deal with big-wigs implicated without destabilising the party
ahead of
elections,” said Nkomo.
While many are willing to give the
MDC-T the benefit of the doubt, the party’s
leaders are under immense
pressure to root out internal violence to avoid
going the Zanu PF route
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
November 30, 2012 in News
A MESSY
dispute over Indarama Mine, an operation with vast gold deposits
linked to
the late retired army chief General Solomon Mujuru, has erupted
between a
local tycoon and a multinational conglomerate, sucking in cabinet
ministers
and the Affirmative Action Group (AAG) in the process.
Report by Owen
Gagare/Brian Chitemba
Local entrepreneur Nhamo Chitimbe, through his
company Shumba
Instrumentation, is battling to secure a 51% stake in the
mine in which he
had links since 2005 when he embarked on a joint venture
for the production
of antimony metalloid used in the making of bullets and
bullet tracers,
cosmetics, even paint and glass art crafts.
The
parties agreed to a joint project before signing a Memorandum of
Agreement,
giving Shumba Inst first right of refusal to purchase the Kwekwe
mine should
it be put up for sale.
Indarama Mine –– whose owners also have interests
in exploiting untapped
rare blue diamonds around the Sansukwe (also written
Sanzukwe) area
southwest of Bulawayo on the Zimbabwe-Botswana border –– is
owned by Pan
Reef Company (Pvt) Ltd, which in turn is owned by Bayham Mining
Ltd, whose
parent company is the British Virgin Islands-registered Great
Lakes Minerals
Ltd listed on the Canadian Stock Exchange.
Sansukwe in
Mangwe district in Matabeleland South province has diamond
deposits which
different companies are exploring.
The diamondiferous deposits around the
area have seen exploration works that
have proven the existence of
kimberlites and indicator minerals.
Shumba Inst entered into an agreement
with Bayham Mining in 2005, but in
2008 Great Lakes gave a management
contract to Arcadia Energy and Mining Ltd
(Arcem) to run Indarama and its
subsidiaries, resulting in Shumba Inst being
elbowed out, thus igniting a
fierce battle for control.
Correspondence seen by the Zimbabwe
Independent reveals the new Indarama
Mine management claims it only got to
know of agreements signed by the
previous executives after Shumba Inst
registered its complaints.
With the indigenisation programme campaign
intensifying, and under pressure
from the Indigenisation and Empowerment
ministry to comply with regulations
as well as Shumba’s demands, Indarama
roped in Mujuru as a partner for
protection.
A letter dated May 9,
2011 to Indigenisation and Empowerment minister
Saviour Kasukuwere by Pan
Reef Mining MD Richard Farrel reads: “With
reference to our letter submitted
to the ministry on 8 April 2011, we can
now confirm that our shareholders
have agreed the sale of shares to our
indigenous partner, General S Mujuru
(Rtd).”
“The selection of our partner was driven by the imminent
requirement to
participate in the mine plan submitted to the ministry of
mines and mining
development showing a future investment requirement of
US$165 million. In
order to continue with the mine development it is
essential for the
shareholders to fulfill their financial
obligations.”
But Pan Reef Mining chairman retired Colonel Godfrey
Matemachani, who is
said to have been a close Mujuru associate, wrote to
Kasukuwere a day later
withdrawing Mujuru’s name, in what was reportedly an
attempt to hide his
identity since he was involved in many other
indigenisation deals.
Mujuru was involved in River Ranch diamond mine in
Beitbridge and tried to
muscle into Zimplats, among other companies. He had
built a multimillion
dollar empire through the use of political influence
and grabbing of assets.
“This is a formal notification for the withdrawal
of the document dated 10th
May 2011 that we submitted to your offices. We
seek the minister’s extension
of 30 days, until 10th June 2011, to finalise
our consultations on our
indigenisation plan,” wrote Matemachani to
Kasukuwere.
Matemachani was appointed a director in Pan Reef Mining in
2010, and was
believed to be representing Mujuru’s interest.
Letters
have been flying between Chitimbe, Kasukuwere, Mines minister Obert
Mpofu,
AAG and Pan Reef, with Chitimbe demanding a 51% of Indarama Mine
arguing he
invested over US$750 000 in the mine and that he had the first
right of
refusal should the entity be disposed of.
Shumba Inst invested capital in
the building of a processing antimony plant,
milling circuit, holding tanks
and pumps including an electrowinning
circuit.
Chitimbe has been
complaining about interference from bigwigs and wrote to
the National
Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Board (NIEB) board,
copying his
letter to Kasukuwere and Mpofu in June this year, taking
exception over how
the matter has been handled.
“We are privy to a lot of information that
suggests that the other party has
never been forthright with us and it now
appears that there is a tendency in
the direction taken by the powers that
be – that of the use of influential
people to block ordinary citizens from
benefiting from a very important and
life changing policy (which) is not
only difficult to defend but morally
questionable,” he wrote. “As of now,
our view is that decisions that reflect
a predisposition towards the rich
and famous will defeat the whole purpose
of indigenisation.”
Davison
Gomo, the AAG CEO, has also been fighting in Chitimbe’s corner, and
instructed Farrell to comply with the indigenisation policy by ceding shares
to the local businessman.
Contacted for comment yesterday, Chitimbe
said Kasukuwere has been slow in
resolving the matter. “It has been promises
after promises. The
Indigenisation ministry and NIEB are acting too slowly
for us,” he said.
Kasukuwere said he was unaware of the involvement of
Mujuru but said he
would check what was happening at the mine before hanging
up.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
November 30, 2012 in Politics
THE
Morgan Tsvangirai-led Movement for Democratic Change (MDC-T) yesterday
launched its economic blueprint, acronymed Juice, which it says is aimed at
correcting Zimbabwe’s structurally weak economy characterised by
“enclavity”,
huge levels of poverty, social underdevelopment, decayed
infrastructure and
a crippling debt overhang.
CLIVE
MPHAMBELA
Juice stands for Jobs, Upliftment, Investment Capital and the
Environment,
and is apparently a counter proposal to Zanu PF’s
Indigenisation and
Economic Empowerment Programme.
“Juice is our
framework to create jobs and build a strong, growing economy
that is
financially and environmentally sustainable, where growth is evenly
shared
across the country and not by a privileged few,” reads part of the
detailed
document.
The MDC-T says with more than eight in every 10 people in
Zimbabwe
unemployed, the pressing need is for creating new jobs, which is
more
empowering than indeterminate share ownership.
The blueprint’s
thrust is to reverse the economy’s inability to grow and
create jobs. The
MDC-T document says 32 years of a Zanu PF government had
compounded the
country’s structural problems as self-induced policy
distortions were
effected by a government with no vision, craft or
competence of moving the
country forward.
According to Juice, jobs are not just the engine of
poverty reduction or a
derivative of growth – “they are transformative in
and of themselves, and
can help drive the pathways to
development”.
The policy document lays out the MDC— T’s job plan and sets
out what it says
are “the foundations of a multi-sectoral approach to job
creation, wealth
creation and poverty alleviation. The policy document also
lays out key
benchmarks which it sets out to achieve over a five-year
period.
“As a direct result of Juice we expect to achieve the creation of
one
million new jobs between 2013 and 2018, with a projected average GDP
growth
rate of 8% per annum,” the document says.
Macroeconomic
stability anchored in single-digit inflation, deepening and
strengthening
the role of SMEs, widening domestic savings mobilisation and
the
normalisation of Zimbabwe’s international relations, are among Juice’s
objectives.
The MDC-T says it would implement a Natural Resources
Charter, promote a
green economy, and increase power generation capacity to
6 000 Megawatts by
2018. The MDC-T hopes to drive reconstruction of the
country’s
infrastructure and attract FDI of at least 30% of GDP.
The aim
is to lay the foundation for a US$100 billion first world economy by
2040.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
November 30, 2012 in News
AS
tales emerge that British American Tobacco Zimbabwe Holdings (BATZ) Ltd
is
employing industrial espionage against its competitors — Kingdom, Savanna
Tobacco, Breco (Fodya), Cutrag, Trednet and Chelsea — more information has
surfaced suggesting this is the group’s modus operandi in other markets in
Africa.
Report by Chris Muronzi
Information gathered by the
Zimbabwe Independent this week shows the first
country to blow the whistle
on BAT’s grimy business practices on the
continent, South Africa, discovered
startling evidence while investigating
the leading tobacco
company.
According to a report by Premium Times of Nigeria, in April 2002
a legal
team from the South African city of Port Elizabeth secretly obtained
urgent
court orders in three South African High Courts authorising them to
raid the
offices of BAT, South African Revenue Services (Sars) and a firm of
private
detectives called Forensic Security Services — the same firm
believed to be
covertly running the company’s local operation with the help
of a Zimbabwean
security company, Ticoz Protection Services.
The
investigation eventually opened a can of worms and gave the public a
glimpse
of how BAT ran its businesses.
The investigations came in the wake of
phone-tapping and industrial
espionage allegations levelled by
Pretoria-based cigarette manufacturing
company Apollo Tobacco, against BAT,
Sars and Forensic Security Services.
On April 9, three High Court judges
ordered searches at BAT offices in
Durban, Johannesburg and Pretoria as well
as the offices of the Sars and
Forensic Security Services, a private
investigating firm allegedly hired by
BAT.
In a 95-page court
application, Apollo Tobacco accused BAT of plotting with
tax authorities and
private detectives in “industrial espionage”.
Apollo alleged BAT
conspired with the Sars officials using hired detectives
and bugging devices
to obtain confidential information about Apollo’s
business
operations.
The raids on BAT offices yielded incriminating documents from
seized
computers.After a week of silence, BAT denied it had done “anything
that was
aimed at undermining Apollo Tobacco’s legitimate business”,
admitting
however they had sent allegations to the proper authorities — in
this case
Sars.BATZ has also denied involvement in espionage
activities.
According to the Premium Times extensive report, the secret
surveillance of
Apollo began when BAT, which had a business presence in 180
countries and
was the market leader in 50 countries, formed BAT South Africa
in 1999 as a
result of the global merger of Rothmans International and
British American
Tobacco plc.
Detectives claimed in some cases the
phone tapping was a prerequisite for
payments from BAT. Apollo’s phones were
bugged for as long as two months –
at a time – and the tapping took place on
at least three occasions.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
November 30, 2012 in News
THREE former liberation
movements in southern Africa are holding important
political gatherings this
year to map the way forward in this ever-changing
political and
socio-economic landscape.
Zimbabwe Independent Editorial
Swapo of
Namibia is holding its congress this weekend with the land question
topping
the agenda as the party seeks effective ways of equitably allocating
and
sustainably managing the resource for the benefit of all Namibians.
The
African National Congress (ANC) in South Africa holds its elective
conference in Mangaung next month where leadership changes are set to be
effected as the ruling party seeks to rejuvenate itself to counter the
increasing electoral gains of the main opposition Democratic
Alliance.
Back home, Zanu PF will gather for its annual conference at a
brand new 5
000-seater conference centre built on disputed land to erect the
massive
structure outside Gweru on the Mvuma Road.
The only thing
these three parties have in common is that they are former
liberation
movements. Their policies, objectives and operations are clearly
different.
While the leadership contestation seems to have caused chaos in
the ANC, the
leadership collective elected in Mangaung will quickly close
ranks and work
towards unity.
Disgruntled members have a platform to raise issues
internally.
Although President Jacob Zuma’s allies have been accused of
intimidating
those believed to be opposed to his re-election, at least the
party has an
open process where branches actually nominate their preferred
candidates.
ANC nominations come from each of the party’s over 4 000
branches.
Each branch makes nominations for the party’s top six
officials, including
the president and deputy, and the national executive
committee as well as
delegates to the conference.
Branch nominations
are put in a sealed envelope and kept by the Independent
Electoral
Commission (IEC) to be opened at the provincial conferences.
While
intimidation may cow branches and influence nominations, they at least
have
the chance to rectify this at the national conference where voting is
through secret ballot conducted by the IEC.
Several branches and NEC
members have openly nominated Zuma’s deputy Kgalema
Motlanthe to contest
against his boss, and although he has not indicated
whether or not he will
stand, they continue to meet at cabinet meetings.
Not so with Zanu PF.
The party has an authoritarian approach leaving no room
for democracy as
shown by events leading to next week’s Gweru conference. In
Zanu PF,
delegates are chosen by the leadership and politburo members are
appointed
by the presidium.
Vice-President Joice Mujuru and Defence minister
Emmerson Mnangagwa have
vehemently denied leading factions or harbouring
presidential ambitions.
Mnangagwa is even suing the media to prove he has no
presidential ambitions.
Only the late former army commander General
Solomon Mujuru, former politburo
heavyweight Dumiso Dabengwa, Enos Nkala,
the late Edison Zvobgo and Edgar
Tekere stood up to Mugabe. Since their
death or departure, there has been no
attempt to challenge his autocracy.
Zanu PF needs to democratise its
internal processes to survive, or
die.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
November 30, 2012 in
News
ZANU PF continues to struggle to woo members amid revelations that
the party
only has 18 860 members in Matabeleland North — a figure less than
an
average constituency.
Report by Nqobile Bhebhe
This was
disclosed by party national commissar Webster Shamu in Lupane on
Tuesday
after the provincial chairmanship elections won by Richard Moyo.
Shamu
said only 7 415 members in 139 out of 181 party districts voted in the
provincial elections, showing serious apathy. “We expected a total of 18 666
people to vote but 47% voted,” said Shamu. According to a Zanu PF central
committee report tabled at the national conference in Bulawayo last year,
Matabeleland North had 11 153 card carrying members in 2011. The latest
figure means it has attracted about 7 700 members.
The report said
Zanu PF Mashonaland Central had 18 730 members, Bulawayo 13
725,
Matabeleland South 17 046, Masvingo 22 868, Manicaland 50 511,
Mashonaland
West 46 718, Harare 131 331, Mashonaland East 101 198 and
Midlands 166 032,
bringing the total to 579 312.The collapse of grassroots
structures has
prompted the party to deploy politburo members and other
senior party
officials on a nationwide drive to revive structures ahead of
polls expected
next year.Zanu PF plans to introduce new cards as it
intensifies its mass
mobilisation campaign.
War veterans’ leader Jabulani Sibanda is said to
have told President Robert
Mugabe about the party’s waning support and
claimed that imposition of
candidates and factionalism were destroying the
party’s support base.
Zanu PF disbanded its district co-ordinating
committee structures
responsible for mobilising supporters at grassroots
level for allegedly
fomenting divisions and factionalism. However, some
believe this has
crippled the mobilisation of supporters.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
November 30, 2012 in News
ROGUE
bank executives and shareholders who abuse depositors’ funds must be
jailed,
as such criminal activities cannot go unpunished, President Robert
Mugabe
has said.
Report by Taurai Mangudhla
Addressing delegates at the
Indigenisation conference held in Harare on
Wednesday this week, Mugabe said
taking depositors’ funds entrusted to a
financial institution was tantamount
to theft and should not go unpunished.
“If you do that then you deserve
to go to jail. They are not your funds so
don’t cheat or steal,” Mugabe
said, adding abuse of depositors’ funds was
common among fly-by-night
bankers.
“Some of our people think they can get rich in a week or two and
if they can’t
then it doesn’t matter what other means they use to get
money,” Mugabe said.
“You start a bank, people deposit their funds, after
two years you see you
are not what you thought you would be and yet you see
lots of money. Others
gamble with the money and they lose.”
He said
bankers and all indigenous businesses should adopt good ethics and
protect
the interest of their clients and investors.
Mugabe’s remarks dovetail
with Finance minister Tendai Biti’s statement that
bogus local businessmen
are opening banks to take advantage of unsuspecting
depositors for personal
enrichment.
Last week, international audit firm KPMG recommended the curator
of Interfin
Banking Corporation (Interfin) to consider civil action and
criminal charges
against the directors and shareholders of the bank.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
November 30, 2012 in Politics
AS Zimbabwe gears
for a referendum on the draft constitution prior to
elections expected next
year, politically-motivated violence against women
is one of the country’s
biggest challenges, but efforts to tackle the
scourge have so far fallen
dismally short of expectations.
Report by Wongai Zhangazha
Rape,
murder, emotional, verbal, psychological and economic abuse,
intimidation
and harassment have largely become synonymous with Zimbabwean
elections
which have repeatedly been disputed over various charges,
including
gerrymandering, vote-buying, and ballot-rigging.
As Zimbabwe joins the
rest of the world in commemorating 16 days of activism
against gender-based
violence which started on November 24, there are
indications very little
progress has been made in tackling this problem,
especially given the
violent nature of the June 2008 presidential run-off
which left thousands
traumatised and scarred.
This year’s activism commemorations are being held
under the theme “From
Peace in the Home to Peace in the World: Let’s
Challenge Militarism and End
Violence against Women!”
It is thus
critical for the nation to deeply reflect on political violence
in general
and gender-based violence in particular to avoid a repeat of the
2008
violence against women as the make-or-break elections fast approach.
The
theme’s exhortation to “challenge militarism” is relevant considering
that a
brutal and bloody campaign by the security sector in the run-up to
the June
2008 presidential poll run-off is credited for President Robert
Mugabe’s
retention of power. The military has repeatedly publicly declared
its
support for Mugabe, stating it would not allow anyone without liberation
war
credentials to rule.
According to the Research and Advocacy Unit’s July
2011 report titled Women
and Political Violence: An Update, Zimbabwean women
often make up the bulk
of participants at any rally or political event
despite being marginalised
in various spheres of life. The majority of women
in the country live in the
rural areas where Zanu PF maintains a stronghold
and where women are coerced
into voting for the party using food handouts,
force and other means, the
report says.
“Rural women are denied a
voice and their counterparts like (Zanu PF
secretary for women’s affairs
Oppah) Muchinguri speak for them,” the report
reads. “Choosing a women’s
league meeting to announce decisions to hold
elections is tantamount to
instilling fear and influencing the way such
women will vote. It is at
another level an emotional violation of women’s
right to peace and choice
during elections.”
To compound matters, the Organ for National Healing,
Reconciliation and
Integration, established to promote political tolerance,
has not made
significant impact on the antagonistic relations among
different political
parties and members of the same communities. Zimbabweans
remain deeply
suspicious of each other and the political terrain is
tense.
Political analyst, Gladys Hlatshwayo, said given the history of
Zimbabwe’s
electoral processes where much violence has occurred, women have
been the
most affected.
“Women ended up being raped and assaulted
while their husbands fled the 2008
violence,” said Hlatshwayo.
She
cited the abduction and murder of current Harare deputy mayor Emmanuel
Chiroto’s wife, who was taken in place of her husband.
“It’s quite
important for women and the nation at large to reflect on this
kind of
violence given there are no substantive reforms, especially security
sector
reforms, knowing that some of the perpetrators are from that sector.
If
nothing is done, there will be a repeat of the 2008 violence,” she
warned.
Women’s Affairs, Gender and Community Development deputy
minister Jessie
Majome said Zimbabwe’s violent history was not a
post-Independence
phenomenon, but dated back to pre-liberation war days and
warranted
domestication of international and regional protocols and
resolutions on the
rights of women.
“Whenever violence is discussed,
it is merely the statistics or the body
count, but never the rape and other
associated sexual crimes perpetrated
against women,” she said.
“There
is a stigmatisation of the victim especially in the case of rape,
which
renders the whole experience her deep, dark secret which is never
told.”
Majome, who is Copac spokesperson, said she had met rape
victims from the
2008 election in Mt Darwin in the course of conducting
civic education on
the constitution-making process, citing the case of a
70-year-old woman
raped along with many other women. The women did not
receive medical
attention and no investigation was
conducted.
Politically-motivated violence should be treated in similar manner
to
domestic violence and perpetrators should be brought to book, says
political
analyst Blessing Vava.
“There has been much focus on
domestic violence, but the issue here is that
violence against women should
be condemned whether domestic or
politically-motivated. The message should
be that it’s a heinous practice
and this is a challenge to all Zimbabweans
to raise their voices against any
form of violence targeting our mothers,
wives and sisters,” said Vava.
As elections draw nearer, those
commemorating the 16 days of activism
against gender-based violence are
likely to spare a thought for women who
bear the scars of the last violent
election, knowing fully well many could
suffer similar ordeals.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
November 30, 2012 in
Business
FINANCE minister Tendai Biti recently presented his long-awaited
2013
budget.
Opinion by Peter Gambara
Even prior to the
presentation, analysts said he faced an enormous task in
trying to work with
a revenue estimate of US$3,8 billion. His major
challenge, as he put it
himself, was to try and ‘broaden and deepen the
revenue
base’.
However, Biti tried to address all the issues that came from the
budget
consultation process.
He had to address the issue of civil
servants’ salary increments; he had to
deal with issues to do with
investment in energy generation and
infrastructure development; he had to
set aside something for struggling
industry as well as agriculture; he had
to put in place measures to try and
protect the manufacturing sector from
massive imports from the south and he
also had to set aside funds for a
referendum and elections due next year.
About 68,7% of total budget
expenditure, or US$2,645 billion, had to be set
aside for civil service
salaries after increasing them by an inflation
adjustment of 5,5%. It is
surprising that the civil service associations
still want a doubling of
their salaries. Such a scenario would see the whole
budget go towards civil
servants’ salaries.
The associations risk becoming irrelevant here by
demanding that the least
paid workers who earn about US$290 should get at
least US$600 (the poverty
datum) per month.
Question: Is the least
paid civil servant, the office orderly or groundsman,
underpaid if he/she is
getting US$290 per month before housing and transport
allowances? Salary
surveys are available on the market for everyone to
peruse.
If the
truth be told, that person is actually getting more than what a
similar
person would be paid in the private sector.
The real issue should be that
professionals in the civil service like
teachers, nurses and those with
degrees in the civil service are being
underpaid. Civil service associations
should sharpen their arguments to
remain relevant.
While in the
private sector management and employees sit down at Works
Council meetings
to assess and agree on how well the company is doing, and
agree on levels of
salary increments, the same is not happening in
government.
Labour
minister Lucia Matibenga is not doing us any favours by refusing to
meet the
civil service associations. She should meet them and let them lay
down their
demands, but also important, let them say where they expect the
resources to
double their salaries come from.
The most interesting issue to come out
of the budget was the 15 point plan.
Hats off to our cabinet for having come
up with such a brilliant plan,
although it remains to be seen whether it
will be implemented.
The plan is a good basis for moving ahead. It
touches on many issues,
including deepening and expanding the revenue base,
controlling expenditure,
efforts to improve our exports, addressing
agriculture and food security
issues, attending to social service issues of
health and education and
finalising the reform agenda as it relates to
parastatals, labour market,
pensions, issues of security of tenure and the
state procurement board.
Biti mobilised US$10 million for the livestock
sector, which continues to
suffer from effects of drought in the southern
parts of the country, with
US$7 million coming from the private
sector.
He also set aside funds to top up the irrigation development
funds, as well
as a land information management system, which will
facilitate keeping of
records on who owns what.
Government will also
avail US$5 million in addition to some US$19,3 million
provided by private
partners, that will go towards assisting vulnerable
farmers with inputs. We
hope the inputs will be moved with speed so that
they reach the intended
beneficiaries on time.
Biti acknowledges that the country needs US$4
billion to support
infrastructural rehabilitation and development as well as
to boost the
sluggish economy.
However, the challenge remains how to
mobilise such funding in the absence
of support from traditional funders
like World Bank and African Development
Bank.
The minister has
announced that he had concluded arrangements with
Afreximbank for a US$70
million facility, in addition to the US$565 million
that he had set aside
for the capital budget for 2013.
This will go towards the rehabilitation
of the Hwange thermal power station,
upgrading of the roads network, housing
development, ICTs and rural
development.
While government played a
great part in providing housing to the low and
middle income families after
Independence, it seems to have slept on the job
of late. A lot of families
are eager to build their own houses, but they
cannot find serviced stands at
reasonable prices. Private developers are
just fleecing potential
homeseekers by selling them literal bush areas
without any roads or other
services as water and electricity.
The presentation of the 2013 budget
came a week after the presentation of
the Confederation of Zimbabwe
Industries (CZI) survey that actually shows
capacity utilisation in industry
has gone down from an average 57,2% to
44,5% over the past year.
Over
the years Biti seems to have ignored pleas from industry for some kind
of
protection against massive imports from the south that were crippling
local
industry, but it is good he now appears to accept that there is need
for
some kind of intervention.
He imposed a 25% surtax on soap, meat
products, beverages, dairy products
and cooking oil, in addition to imposing
a US$1,50 per kg or 40% customs
duty on imported chicken. What a relief to
local industry!
At long last the minister seems to have done something on
the interest rate
issues in the banking sector! He has now realised that
moral suasion is not
working with the kind of banks we have here.
His
suggestion to create an ombudsman to oversee the operations of the banks
is
most welcome. Curiously, what happened to the government ombudsman who
used
to handle complaints against government? Biti also proposed measures to
recapitalise the Deposit Protection Fund.
It is clear the minister
listened to concerns and requests for resource
allocations from a wide
spectrum of people and groups.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
November 30, 2012 in
Business
INDIGENOUS Zimbabweans are fronting for foreign airlines that
want to take
advantage of the various opportunities in the country’s
domestic aviation
market, in violation of indigenisation laws, a government
official said.
Report by Staff Writer
Permanent secretary in the
Ministry of Transport Munesu Munodawafa told
businessdigest regional
airlines were approaching local Zimbabweans to
establish false partnerships
so that the companies could claim to be
indigenous owned and meet licensing
requirements.
The players are seeking to fill the gap created by the
absence of a viable
national carrier after Air Zimbabwe failed to
effectively resume flights.
“Some of these people that come to register
are not Zimbabwean operators,
they appear to be indigenous but they are
foreign institutions wearing a
Zimbabwean face,” said Munodawafa in an
interview.
“Some are coming from South Africa because of the issues to do
with our
Bilateral Air Service Agreements which stipulate the maximum
frequencies
they can have. South Africa have almost used up theirs.”
The
licensed indigenous operators have failed to take off, citing government’s
bad route allocation system, saying it was proscriptive and skewed in favour
of Air Zimbabwe.
They argue it is not economically viable to develop
new routes without
getting the major domestic routes as the
Harare-Bulawayo-Victoria
Falls-Harare route, currently reserved for Air
Zimbabwe.
Developing new routes takes at least two years, according to
aviation
experts. Following a September tourism all stakeholders’ meeting in
which
industry players identified the need for viable domestic airlines, a
team
led by Zimbabwe Tourism Authority chief executive Karikoga Kaseke met
Munodawafa to negotiate for liberalisation of the skies.
“The meeting
resolved that the permanent secretary will have to look into
this issue and
talk to his minister; which I know he is already doing. If
need be then the
minister will talk to cabinet, but at the moment I don’t
think there is any
problem in that area,” said the ZTA chief.
For more than a year,
indigenous aviation company Sol Aviation Private
Limited (Sol Air) has been
seeking approval to ply the Harare-Bulawayo,
Harare- Victoria Falls routes
which it says are profitable.
Sol Air was granted the Harare
–Kariba-Victoria Falls-Kariba-Harare and the
Victoria Falls –Buffallo
Range-Victoria Falls routes as well as the
Harare-Beira, Harare-Maputo and
Harare –Tete regional routes.
The airline’s financers and advisors say the
company faces collapse unless
it secures lucrative domestic and regional
routes.
Sol Air MD Nkosilathi Sibanda recently said his company needs
profitable
routes like the Harare-Bulawayo and Harare Victoria Falls routes
and the
Harare – Johannesburg routes to operate sustainably, while
developing
unproven routes over a period of at least two years.
“I
can’t make a loss for two years,” said Sibanda during the tourism all
stakeholders meeting in September.
In the letter, the Sol Air
managing director cites Solenta as one of two
airlines that have failed to
service domestic routes without the major
proven routes.
“They
eventually gave up after accruing massive losses. The ministry must
therefore be realistic regarding this issue,” reads part of the
letter.
A Zimbabwean registered low cost airline, Fresh Air, is today
expected to
launch its first flight from Johannesburg to Victoria
Falls.
Fresh Air is a joint venture with South African budget airline 1
time.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
November 30, 2012 in Opinion
At
the Zenith of the hyperinflation era in Zimbabwe, there were many
“businesspeople” whose core activity was getting freebies from government
and on-selling them.
Candid Comment with Itai Masuku
Needless
to say, we all know that his model failed. Economic hardships that
ensued
after this Utopian way of doing business have hopefully taught us all
that
only sheer hard work and ingenuity can lead to prosperity. Anything
else is
based on false premises, as the thousands of the overnight successes
of that
era can testify.
To borrow from a popular phrase of the time, these
“entrepreneurs” went from
zero to hero and back to zero. Some of those who
were treading on such thin
business ice are those whose empires are still
crumbling up to now.
We trust the penny has dropped. If we have truly
learnt from our mistakes,
we should thus pick up the pieces and move on. The
opportunities for genuine
business abound, what more with the entire world
viewing our Africa as the
new destination for investment and economic
growth.
Only two days ago, the world’s largest economy, the United
States, launched
its “Doing Business in Africa” campaign. US Acting
Secretary of Commerce
Rebecca Blank, launched the initiative in
Johannesburg, South Africa, which
she said was her country’s traditional
gateway to Africa in terms of
investment and trade.
According to
various websites Blank was visiting South Africa to advance
elements of US
President Barack Obama’s “Strategy Toward sub-Saharan Africa”,
launched in
June.
She was also expected to visit Kenya, while many in her entourage
would
cover other countries ranging from Zambia to Burundi. Zimbabwe did not
seem
to be included although the official word is the initiative will not
exclude
any country.
“Overall, the campaign is about finding new ways
to form stronger
partnerships for prosperity,” Blank is quoted as having
said. The campaign
is expected to leverage the federal government’s trade
promotion, financing
and strategic communications capabilities to help US
businesses identify and
seize opportunities in Africa, and to help them
overcome any challenges they
face in establishing business relationships
with Africa.
Those good at reading the tea leaves would have at least
anticipated this
development following new US Ambassador to Zimbabwe, Bruce
Wharton’s
statement to journalists a couple of weeks ago. He was
tongue-in-cheek about
what signified a potential shift from Washington,
following frosty relations
with Harare that saw imposition of economic
sanctions on the country as well
as on particular
individuals.
Wharton, who can be safely termed a friend of Zimbabwe,
having served here
in a junior capacity before being posted to South
America, said during his
tenure in the next three years, he would work to
improve the bilateral
relations between the two countries through marketing
Zimbabwe as a ripe
investment destination.
We should quickly prepare
ourselves and take advantage of this new leaning,
which one understands may
be echoed by the EU.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
November 30, 2012 in Opinion
LAST Sunday
editors from the country’s mainstream media houses converged at
picturesque
Troutbeck resort in Nyanga to reflect on patterns of coverage,
with
particular emphasis on “conflict-sensitive reporting”, mingling with a
wide
variety of presenters.
Comment by Stewart Chabwinja
The workshop,
organised by the Organ for National Healing, Reconciliation
and Integration
(ONHRI) and stakeholders, tackled issues such as how media
can play a
positive role in fostering social cohesion and transformation,
the role of
the media in peace-building for sustainable development,
professional ethics
and media culpability in the Rwandan genocide.
Dr Leonard Kapungu of the
Centre for Peace Initiatives in Africa expressed
concern that in Zimbabwe we
tend to act only just before elections when the
seeds of conflict had been
sown and are germinating.
The workshop was timely as it came prior to the
constitutional referendum
and high-stakes elections next
year.
Election season brings anxiety and fear for most Zimbabweans. Since
Independence in 1980, national elections have been synonymous with political
violence, human rights abuses and bloodshed.
Disputed outcomes have
left a trail of bitterness and retribution.
Given all this, naturally the
role of the media in mitigating conflict or
stoking the fires of conflict
should come under scrutiny, as the media is a
double-edged sword.
It
has the power to influence society and set the agenda and partly
determine
people’s behavioural patterns for better or worse.
Over the years, media
polarisation has become increasingly pronounced mainly
during elections,
with some embedded journalists throwing ethics out the
window and becoming
hired guns. The decade preceding 2009 saw Zimbabwean
media deeply divided
along party political lines and other partisan divides.
Against this
backdrop, the need to restore professional and responsible
journalism
assumes ever greater significance, particularly ahead of
elections.
Unsurprisingly, workshop participants were unanimous that
journalists must
go back to the basics, which means upholding cardinal
ethics, including
fairness, accuracy, balance, objectivity and the public
interest in
reporting. Facts and truth must be respected.
There were
also calls for journalists to eschew hate language.
As in war situations,
truth is usually the first casualty when it comes to
elections in Zimbabwe
as journalists abandon ethics and become shamelessly
partisan and act like
activists or political commissars.
Of course, the state-run public media,
which has always acted as propaganda
mouthpieces of Zanu PF and government,
simply dumped ethics previously and
became publicity platforms for President
Robert Mugabe and his loyalists.
That bearing and approach has not
changed up to now although there has been
a toning down of their
Soviet-style propaganda. However, with elections
looming they will revert to
their script of hearing, seeing and speaking no
evil about Mugabe and Zanu
PF.
Soon some state media reporters will be acting as Zanu PF bootlickers
again.
The private media has also been part of the problem. Some
journalists
unashamedly acted as MDC publicity agents. This unprincipled
breed of
reporters, still holed up in some media houses, have jettisoned
ethics and
descended into gutter journalism and irresponsible
distortions.
So we need as journalists to go back to the
basics.
It must be pointed out though responsible reportage must never be
mistaken
with kowtowing reporting or sunshine journalism. Censorship is no
longer an
option.
As Mugabe’s spokesperson George Charamba rightly
observed at the workshop,
the best secret in this information age is that
which is out on your own
terms because at least you can manage it!
We
must continue to expose abuse of power, corruption and malpractices like
vote-buying and ballot-rigging, as well as political violence and
intimidation, through solid professional and ethical journalism, not
sensational and grossly unscrupulous reportage we continue to witness in our
midst.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
November 30, 2012 in Opinion
There
has been much controversy of late over the source of funds President
Robert
Mugabe uses when distributing farm inputs worth US$20 million.
Opinion by
MuckRacker
Mugabe recently launched the Presidential Well-Wishers Special
Agricultural
Inputs Scheme with maize and fertilisers being distributed
through Zanu PF
structures, according to newspaper reports.
The
campaign, however, is becoming a tad scruffy with Mugabe’s spokesman
George
Charamba telling state media Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai finds
enough
money to “atone for his carnal excesses”. He claimed Mugabe raised
the money
he needed for distributing farm inputs by carrying a food hamper
to save
money from his travel and subsistence allowance.
The MDC-T hit back,
NewsDay, reported, saying Charamba’s remarks were a
clear indication Mugabe
had failed.
“For Mugabe who is repeatedly and monotonously referred to as
head of state
and government by state institutions to concede that the same
government he
is head of failed to support its farmers is not only
astonishing but
self-defeating…”
While this is clearly a serious
matter, Muckraker couldn’t help but chuckle
at Charamba’s claim the
president carried a food hamper around with him to
cut costs from his travel
and subsistence allowance. Does this include Air
Zimbabwe meals we
wonder?
The real little man
How the mighty have fallen! On Tuesday
excommunicated Anglican Bishop
Nolbert Kunonga and his surrogates were told
they had up to 4pm to vacate
all Anglican Church properties.
The
Daily News reports the Church of the Province of Central Africa obtained
a
“Warrant of Ejection” from the High Court for which Kunonga was liable. He
was reportedly in contempt of court for failing to abide by the court ruling
and thus liable to arrest.
This is a far cry from the Kunonga of
years past who bristled with
confidence following High Court judge Justice
Ben Hlatshwayo’s ruling
granting him ownership of all Anglican Church
property in Zimbabwe.
In September the boisterous Kunonga told the Sunday
Mail’s Munyaradzi Huni:
I don’t have anything against (Bishop Chad) Gandiya.
He is a little man. I
have never considered him to be significant. I don’t
know where he came from
and there is nothing personal between us . .
.”
“It’s an insult that people say I am fighting Gandiya. Even Bakare, he
is no
equal to me. I am fighting Rowan Williams. That’s where these people
are
making a mistake. I am not fighting any black man. I am fighting Britain
and
America. I am not petty. This is where they misunderstand me,” bellowed
Kunonga.
Who is the little man now Cde Kunonga?
Chickens home to
roost
Here’s another quotable quote from Kunonga: “One of the reasons why
I
succeed is that I don’t operate outside the law.”
Except this time
around the law did not work out in his favour and Kunonga
is crying
foul.
Following his loss, Kunonga said his concern was now with the
“level of
moral decadence” affecting Zimbabwe.
Oh, puh-leeze! Kunonga
cannot claim any moral high ground considering
allegations several churches
he had seized had been desecrated with some
being turned into bedrooms and
brothels.
He had once crowed “I am not controversial. I am the controversy”.
It seems
the controversy has finally come back to bite him.
Tomana
loses the plot
Attorney-General Johannes Tomana says he will crack down
on what he calls
saboteurs of state interests.
Replying to a question
from what sounded like an interested party in the
diamond sector, Tomana
said things would be done differently from now on.
“If we truly want this
country to experience the hope that we are a secure
country, an orderly
country, we need to upgrade our law enforcement side …
“Things are now
going to be done differently. That level of tolerance is now
suspended. I
wish to advise accordingly.”
A delegate had asked at the Victoria Falls
indaba if the country did not
have sufficient laws to punish those that had
campaigned against Zimbabwe’s
Marange diamonds which resulted in the
international community questioning
the cleanliness of the gems.
“For
the record, I am sure you remember those from civic society, they have
gone
on record to actually say that those laws that protect us are bad laws
and
because they are bad laws they can be ignored, and that is the reason
you
would see people violating those laws in the name of democracy…”
Tomana
appears not to understand the basics of democratic rule. The public
are
entitled to describe bad laws as such if they impinge upon people’s
rights.
Billions of dollars in diamonds have reportedly been syphoned from
the
Marange diggings. Should that claim be ignored? Newspapers and civil
society
surely have an obligation to fulfil a watchdog role in this
regard?
Instead of threatening civil society, Tomana should be thinking
of ways to
enhance democratic safeguards for the nation’s minerals output.
Zimbabwe has
a bad record of sweeping inconvenient problems under the
political carpet.
And what of the human rights violations in 2008 which have
not seen the
light of day? Jestina Mukoko may have a view on the state’s
level of
“tolerance”!
Selous Scout by force
Jonathan Moyo, it
seems, refuses to accept that David Coltart was never a
Selous Scout.
He
has an explanation for his error.
“Any Rhodie who served any organ of
Rhodesian forces was a Selous Scout in
letter or spirit or both and so the
difference was in detail and not in
orientation or purpose,” he
declared.
So there you have it. We can count on Moyo not allowing
inconvenient facts
to get in the way of his agenda.
Back to ‘Dark
City’
Of late Zesa Holdings had given its tortured customers a reprieve
from its
incessant load shedding which had earned Harare the infamous “Dark
City”
monicker.
Zesa had finally turned a corner, or so we thought,
before Zesa spokesperson
Fullard Gwasira –– without warning –– announced the
useless utility would
once again embark on massive load-shedding until the
beginning of next year
effective this Monday.
Gwasira said
load-shedding had been caused by “extensive maintenance
programme at Hwange
and Kariba power stations”.
“The original plan was to implement the
maintenance works between April and
May, but we realised that it is the
winter peak period so we decided to
postpone to December where demand is low
considering companies would have
closed down for the festive period,”
Gwasira said.
Why consumers were not warned of this impending blackout
only Zesa knows.
And we are unimpressed by the way it suddenly “realises”
something like when
winter falls.
As if to rub salt in the wound
Gwasira claimed Zesa would “put in place
measures to reduce the
load-shedding”.
“Our aim is to ensure that the consumer is not affected
adversely by our
attempt to improve power supply so we have put in place
measures which are
within our jurisdiction to alleviate the situation,”
Gwasira bleated
offering cold comfort to households and businesses already
plunged in
darkness.
For Zesa the adage “the more things change, the more
they stay the same” is
certainly apt.
Bank loan mogul
Mines
deputy minister Gift Chimanikire recently took time to exonerate his
boss
Obert Mpofu from accusations his vast wealth has been amassed through
misappropriating proceeds from diamonds.
Mpofu had made his fortune
through his sweat, Chimanikire declared at the
Victoria Falls diamond
conference.
This realisation had been made after working with Mpofu at
the Mines
ministry, we were told.
“When I joined the Mines ministry,
Mpofu had been there for a year. He
already had that kind of wealth,”
Chimanikire said as if Mpofu had not been
in government before.
This
is despite Mpofu being among Zanu PF officials fingered as multiple
farm-owners still clinging onto the farms they grabbed ignoring the
one-man-one-farm policy as well as restrictions on farm sizes.
In
September we carried a story which revealed Mpofu was still holding on to
three farms.
Mpofu once claimed to have acquired much of the property
he now owns through
a bank loan.
If anyone believes that they will
believe anything!
Too close for comfort
Though they were from
different political parties, Chimanikire said, he had
worked very well with
his boss whom he went on to describe as “King of
Matabeleland”.
The
Daily News reports MDC-T spokesperson Douglas Mwonzora said the party is
demanding an explanation from Chimanikire as he “does not have the capacity
to determine the wealth that is in the hands of Mpofu”.
Mwonzora said
Chimanikire is trying to “provide flattery to Mpofu” but does
not have the
“ability nor means” to determine sources of Mpofu’s wealth.
A report
released in London by Partnership Africa Canada detailing
corruption in the
Marange diamond fields makes interesting reading.
“His (Mpofu) unexplained
wealth is emblematic of wider problems of revenue
transparency associated
with this promising national resource,” the report
stated.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
November 30, 2012 in
Opinion
By its own admission, the Zimbabwean government is to all intents
and
purposes bankrupt.
Column By Eric Bloch
It is
substantially devoid of the resources needed to fund the essential
needs of
the country’s educational sector and national health.
It also does not
have funds to promote the economic recovery and development
of national
infrastructure (including electricity generation and
distribution, water
resources, and much else) which is key to the country’s
development.
When entities and individuals in the private sector have
inadequate funding
for their needs, they generally seek opportunities of
cutting-back and
reducing their expenditures, and prioritise spending in
accord with their
most essential needs. But not so with
government!
All too often, the expenditures incurred are those which the
politicians
desire for self-enrichment and this is notwithstanding their
recurrent
public declarations of intents to contain and curtail
expenditures.
Over and over again, the alleged intentions of expenditure
probity and
containment bear no resemblance to the actual expenditures
incurred, and
result in an ever-intensifying national indebtedness.
Moreover, all too
frequently the State spendings are of minimal benefit, if
any, to the
populace.
The latest of these expenditure intents became
known very shortly after the
tabling of the 2013 national budget before
parliament.
In presenting that budget, Finance minister Tendai Biti very
correctly and
unreservedly bewailed the magnitude of Zimbabwe’s debts in
2012, and
emphatically urged curtailment of expenditures, save and except
for those of
an absolutely essential need.
However, his advice clearly
fell upon deaf ears, for only a few days later
hardcore elements in the Zanu
PF upper echelons announced plans for the
construction of an entire new
city, to be situated at Mt Hampden, styled to
resemble South Africa’s
Sandton City in Johannesburg.
The Mt Hampden city is to house parliament and
the senate, in place of the
building presently opposite Africa Unity Square
in Harare. It is to host a
considerable number of ministries and other
governmental departments.
Numerous mansions, including a presidential
residence and a state house will
be within that city, as well as houses for
ministers and civil servants. To
service the needs of the intending
residents, Mt Hampden city will have a
state-of-the-art shopping mall,
parks, other leisure areas, and much, more.
Indisputably, all this will
necessitate expenditure of billions of dollars,
which Zimbabwe does not
have, and can only access by incurring yet further
debts.
The alleged
motivation for creating the proposed new city is in order to
eliminate
congestion that afflicts traffic in Harare, and it cannot be
denied the
combination of the growth of Harare’s population, and the greater
numbers of
vehicles traversing that city, has occasioned very considerable
congestion.
The city’s ills have also been compounded by numerous
infrastructural
deficiencies occasioned both by increased population and
scarcity of
financial resources and technically as well as
administratively-skilled
municipal personnel. Certainly these ills and woes
require substantive
attention, but surely not constructing a complete new
city! Widening of
streets, construction of ring roads and fly-overs,
effective and
consistently operating traffic control lights and like actions
would
considerably alleviate much of the congestion that presently afflicts
Harare, and at considerably lesser cost. Likewise, at far lesser cost,
Harare service delivery of water and other utilities and services can be
addressed, as against having to initiate such facilities in a new
city.
In any event, governments must strive to identify priorities
realistically,
and to pursue them to an extent as is practical within the
bounds of
available resources. How can any right-thinking representatives of
the
populace credibly contemplate colossal expenditures on the creation of a
new
city when, on the one hand, the country clearly has a national debt in
excess of US$11 billion? A total of three years’ budgets would be required
to settle Zimbabwe’s current national debt.
Moreover, it is
incomprehensible as to how anyone can contemplate the
massive expenditure
entailed in the development of a large, modern city,
when funding is
critically required for almost all the state’s parastatals,
and for the
rehabilitation and enhancement of infrastructure.
Zesa is tantamount to being
insolvent. Air Zimbabwe is, to all intents and
purposes, bankrupt; able to
provide only very minimal services, to the
prejudice and endangerment of
tourism and the business sectors.
National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ) is in a
like parlous state. The Zimbabwe
National Water Authority is burdened by a
considerable lack of resources
needed for full delivery and provision of
essential water supplies to many
urban centres, and to rural communities.
TelOne has frequent constraints on
the operation of intercity, regional and
international telephone services,
and recurrent interruptions of internet
operations.
Hospitals and clinics are ill-equipped, as also is the case with
governmental educational facilities, be they schools, universities,
polytechnics or others. Many of Zimbabwe’s roads and bridges are in grievous
disrepair. And those are but a few of the state-driven operations and
services that are in urgent need of state funding.
However, the political
hierarchy instead wish to build a brand-new, very
up-market city. Is the
reason for so wishing genuinely out of exaggerated
concern at the congestion
that afflicts the present capital city, or are
there self-edification
aspirations or other ulterior motives driving this
grossly ill-conceived
declared intent? Or has that political hierarchy gone
completely
beserk?
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
November 30, 2012 in Opinion
AS Zanu PF
approaches its usually choreographed annual conference next week,
familiar
signs of President Robert Mugabe’s undemocratic leadership are
being further
exhibited, with the party’s 10 provinces stampeding to endorse
him through
an opaque and sham internal process to stand for re-election
next
year.
Opinion By Pedzisai Ruhanya
Never mind that Mugabe, battling
old age complications, will be turning 89
on February 21 2013, a month
before the date when he wants general elections
to be held.
According
to Mugabe bootlickers, his advanced age and health problems do not
matter.
He can still stand for re-election and rule until he is 94 by
the end of his
next term, that is if he wins!
Mugabe is said to have
been endorsed by all the 10 provinces of the party in
an internal process,
which amounts to an election of sorts although without
choice.
As
usual, Mugabe was the sole nominee even though his party had a choice to
call for an extraordinary congress to elect a new leader from a pool of
contenders and endorse him/her as candidate for elections.
Congress
elects a leader and conferences robotically endorse him/her before
the
subsequent elections.
During the 2007 extraordinary congress to elect and
endorse a new party
leader ahead of the 2008 elections, Mugabe and his
loyalists made sure he
was the only candidate.
The same applied
during the 2009 congress and since then every annual
conference has just
been endorsing him without question.
This is what is happening now —
Mugabe has been unthinkingly endorsed to be
candidate in the elections next
year even if he is going to be 89 and
ailing.
Mugabe has always
resisted an open process to elect a new party leader and
candidate for
elections since he took over the party in 1977 following a
prison coup
against founding leader Ndabaningi Sithole.
Mugabe’s loyalists, using
internal nomination shenanigans, claim he is
popular, but how can that
popularity be measured in the party without an
open leadership contest
arrangement and transparent electoral process where
other candidates come
forward to contest the presidency? How can his
popularity be measured?
Through stage-managed nominations?
It is important to interrogate the
meanings and possible implications of the
Zanu PF nomination process to the
broader national democratic process.
The question to ask is: how can a
political party that is allergic to
internal democratic processes abide by
transparent procedural or minimalist
democratic demands at the national
level?
This is a critical question because Zimbabwe seeks a democratic
transition
after a failed attempt to break away from Mugabe’s authoritarian
rule in
2008, leading to the formation of the inclusive government after the
signing
of the Global Political Agreement in September 2008.
Under
Mugabe and his Zanu PF regime and their record of authoritarian
practices
stretching over 30 years, Zimbabwe can best be described as a
pseudo-democracy.
A pseudo-democracy is a nation with opposition
political parties and which
meets some basic tenets of electoral democracy
such as regular holding of
elections, but fails to provide “a sufficiently
fair arena for contestation
to allow the ruling party to be turned out of
power”.
Zimbabweans have shown a consistent belief that a democratic
transition can
take place through elections.
This is the main reason
why civic society organisations and the democratic
opposition, including
regional bodies such as the African Union and the
Southern African
Development Conference (Sadc), continue to insist on free,
fair and credible
elections in Zimbabwe in which the people’s free will is
expressed and
respected.
The Zanu PF internal processes are a repugnant aberration of
democratic
electoral processes, hence intensifying demands to open up the
closed and
fixed system to promote in-house democracy.
Zanu PF’s
opaque internal processes for choosing its leaders has been
undemocratic and
in most cases accompanied by the deployment of brutal
authoritarian methods
such as the coercive use of party vigilante militia
groups, the security
apparatus, especially the military, the secret agents
and partisan
police.
This has had chilling effects on democratic practice and reform
in Zimbabwe.
Studies have shown that many of the transitions to democracy
in recent years
have been protracted, evolving over several
elections.
In particular, this applies mainly to what has become known as
“electoral
authoritarianism” in which elections have emerged as an important
mode of
democratic transition.
Zimbabwe is going through this route
and in that direction albeit with
superficial democratic processes underway,
some of them, like Mugabe’s
endorsements, bordering on fraud. The
unfortunate part is that the
malpractices in Zanu PF replicate themselves at
the national electoral
level.
Zanu PF’s mutilation of democracy must
not however deter people from using
the electoral route to democratic
transition.
What is encouraging though when one examines worldwide trends
is that far
from the refusal by the Zanu PF regime to embrace democratic
electoral
processes even within its structures and institutions, quite a
number of
elections in Africa, especially in Sadc, are increasingly becoming
free and
fair.
New evidence on electoral studies suggests the
repetition of electoral
processes, even if flawed or manipulated as has been
the norm in Zimbabwe
under Mugabe’s leadership, can result in
democratisation.
There is some evidence and hope in this postulation if
one were to examine
empirical evidence on Zimbabwe’s electoral history since
1980.
The February 2000 constitutional referendum defeat of Zanu PF; its
close
shave in the June 2008 general election where Zanu PF won narrowly
through
the margin of terror and the defeat of Mugabe by Prime Minister
Morgan
Tsvangirai in the first round of the March 2008 presidential
election; and
the regime’s loss of parliamentary control and defeat in local
government
elections since 2000 prove that even in circumstances of
malpractices
continued elections can result in erosion or loss of power by
an incumbent
regime.
However, elections in manipulated circumstances
do not always promote
democratic reform and change.
Under certain
conditions such as witnessed for years in Zimbabwe, most
specifically the
sham presidential poll run-off in June 2008, elections can
become an
instrument by which an authoritarian regime perpetuates itself.
Yet
democratisation by elections has occurred often enough that systematic
analysis and interrogation by researchers is necessary.
Zimbabwe can
achieve democracy through elections. The Zanu PF regime is
vulnerable
because its followers are disenchanted by lack of internal
democracy.
Opposition and civic groups need to unite to confront this
regime as it
cannot withstand purposeful and co-ordinated democratic
actors.
Ruhanya is a PhD candidate and director of the Zimbabwe Democracy
Institute.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
November 30, 2012 in Opinion
THAT our country
is in a persistent political stalemate and locked in a
stalling transition
is not contestable.
Opinion By Gideon Chitanga
Realising the
political patch-work in form of the inclusive government is
failing to
unlock the impasse and move the reform process forward, concerned
citizens
are asking whether the pro-democracy movement does not need a grand
coalition to supplant the Zanu PF regime.
While these concerns are
legitimate and warrant serious as well as urgent
attention from national
leaders in the pro-democracy camp, for now it is
clear we are unlikely to
see any coalition emerging unless the same question
is approached
differently.
The pleas to unite the pro-democracy factions against the
authoritarian Zanu
PF regime trying to re-invent and entrench itself are as
old as multi-party
politics in the country.
Retrospectively,
political analysts have pointed to the advantages of a
united front in every
election.
The disputed outcomes of the 2008 elections could have been
avoided through
a coalition of the two MDC parties, while a parliamentary
coalition post the
same elections could have more likely benefitted the
political reform
process.
The failure by any of the parties to win an
outright majority set the stage
for both a parliamentary crisis and an
executive that was always going to be
hamstrung by polarisation, partisan
and self-interest at the expense of
national interest.
A grand
coalition in the form of some sort of a parliamentary coalition has
failed
given the evident failure of pro-democracy parties to collaborate
even
informally in pushing for key electoral reforms.
So why have pro-reform
groups failed to form such a grand coalition or an
informal relationship to
work together?
What kind of grand coalition are we talking about here?
Who are its drivers
and what chances are there that such a coalition can
deliver change?
It is obvious that outside the framework of the inclusive
government any of
the political parties in the country would face a serious
legitimacy crisis
if they were to govern without the other.
The
results of the parliamentary and presidential elections of 2008 show
that
the victory margins between the main political parties were slight.
Of
course, going by a simple majority, first-past-the-post or
winner-takes-all
formula, a victory is a victory.
Yet our political leaders remain blind
to the reality of their limited
expressed political support and legitimacy
in the context of 2008 elections
even though the coalition arrangement is an
admission of that fact.
Maybe before dealing with the attitude of the
political leadership in the
country, I must also say the pro-reform
political parties and civil society
actors seem to be oblivious to the
changing demographics, trends in
political socialisation, demonstrable
political values and an emerging
culture rooted in individual freedoms
mediated by new technologies,
particularly social media
platforms.
The most important fact of this change is a demonstrable quest
for inclusive
participation and bottom-up approach anchored on grassroots
politics.
Thus any imagination of a grand coalition for change should
focus at
mobilisation and organisation outside traditional limits defined
and limited
to partisan functionality and constrained by misplaced personal
ambition and
narrow agendas.
To go back to the first question, the
pro-reform factions have not made a
deliberate effort to embrace inclusivity
and diversity to push a broad-based
democratic agenda.
If anything,
they are failing to move away from the typical African politics
of divisive
political organisation and mobilisation based on ethnicity,
regionalism,
patronage and personality cults — the cancer gnawing Zanu PF.
A close
analysis of the situation shows existing political parties in
Zimbabwe seem
to imagine the state in the same way Zanu PF does, of course,
subject to
colonial institutional legacies.
Thus the main political parties are
organised on the basis of ethnic
negativity buttressed by a retrogressive
Shona-Ndebele dichotomy and
hierarchical hegemony which excludes other
ethnicities, while relegating
Ndebeles to second-class citizens, with the
rest seen as other lower
classes.
The Welshmen Ncube-led faction of
the MDC has embraced this negative feature
of politics as a strategy in
building a regional political constituency,
thereby succeeding Zapu in its
later years after the emergence of Zanu in
1963. The MDC-T also has a clear
ethnic structure generally masked by its
relatively national base, while
Zanu PF is built around ethnic and regional
arrangements.
Zanu Ndonga
and the Zimbabwe Unity Movement had similar structures and faced
the same
problems associated with this sort of politics.
Besides, the MDC-T seems
to have quietly shifted from its social democracy
philosophy in relation to
its former key constituencies in worker and
student
movements.
Although the party retains elites formerly in the labour and
student
movements, it cannot claim the majority of workers and students who
were its
main social base and key drivers still belong to it in a coherently
organised way and in the context of proper political mobilisation by a
grassroots organisation.
Our political elites believe in a form of
representation that begins and
ends with elections. Once they are elected,
they act like they know
everything, and in the culture and traditions of
Zanu PF, leaders know
everything and the masses should just listen, obey and
follow.
Typically, some elite actors within the MDC factions, for some
impolitic
reasons, find any form of a united front objectionable.
It
is therefore evident efforts to inspire a grand coalition by way of
coalescing pro-reform actors led by the same political parties will fail
just like in the previous attempts.
The pro-reform factions should
engage with their social base in its
diversity and create spaces that
structures of political parties do not
necessarily provide.
There are
so many people who can run an effective campaign for change
outside the
partisan political machinery. There is a whole “e-generation” of
“Facebookers” and “Tweeterites” who can be key drivers of such a grand
coalition.
Such grassroots campaigns on the social media would create
platforms of
regular daily interactions between communities of voters and
publics which
rallies cannot provide because of their sporadic
nature.
While political parties have been rushing to engage with the
clergy and
religious communities, such opportunistic interventions are
dangerous.
Outside a clear agenda to advance progressive societal
democratic values,
such political overtures should be treated as
suspiciously manipulative.
A grand coalition for democratic reform and
change is therefore possible so
long it is constructed on a strong
foundation of politics of inclusivity,
diversity and broad-based
participation.
Chitanga is a PhD candidate, Rhodes University and a
fellow of the Centre
for the Study of Democracy, Rhodes University and the
University of
Johannesburg.