http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 05 December 2010 15:02
BY NQABA
MATSHAZI
PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe’s plan to have elections next year
suffered a major
setback after a report from the negotiators to South
African President Jacob
Zuma all but said it was impossible to hold the
polls, as the electoral
roadmap would not be ready.
Last week
Zuma told his Zambian counterpart, Ruppiah Banda that he had
received the
report from Zimbabwe and it would be tabled at a special summit
to be held
in Lusaka early next year.
The negotiators, drawn from the three parties,
stated that there were a
number of outstanding issues that needed to be
settled before the elections
and this made it almost impossible for the
polls to be held next year.
According to highly placed sources, the
report has struck a fatal blow to
Mugabe’s electoral plan and it has set the
stage for a confrontation between
him and Zuma.
“The report makes it
clear what is needed for a credible election and
mentions the electoral
roadmap and at this rate elections cannot be held
next year,” a source
said.
The insider said the report had also detailed the outstanding
issues to the
Global Political Agreement that needed to be resolved before
elections.
“The usual outstanding issues like electoral reforms, the
constitution,
among other things still stick out and have to be sorted out
before any
election,” he said.
It was also revealed in the report
that the parties had agreed on the
implementation of some issues in the GPA
but had failed to find common
ground on the swearing in of Roy Bennet, the
appointments of Gideon Gono,
Johannes Tomana, the governors and
ambassadors.
Despite disagreements over a number of issues, the source
revealed that
there was unanimity among the negotiators that polls should
not be held next
year.
“The three parties are frustrated with having
to work with each other but
they need to be patient in coming up with
suitable conditions and finish the
work they started if ever there is going
to be a credible election,” the
source added.
MDC-M secretary
general, Welshman Ncube, one of the negotiators, confirmed
that there was a
report written to Zuma but would not shed further details.
The other
negotiators are Priscilla Misihairabwi-Mushonga from MDC-M, Elton
Mangoma
and Tendai Biti from MDC-T, while Patrick Chinamasa and Nicholas
Goche
represent Zanu PF.
Zanu PF spokesman, Rugare Gumbo retreated, saying he
was in a meeting when
asked about the latest setback to the party’s
electoral call.
Nelson Chamisa, MDC-T spokesman, accused Zanu PF of
putting the cart before
the horse in its call for elections.
“Conditions
for a free and fair election are the horse, whereas the
elections are the
cart, so we should have the conditions being put in place
first,” he
said.
Chamisa said Zanu PF was obsessed with short-term solutions but
warned that
this would result in another disputed election.
It has
also emerged that Mugabe has developed a “wait-and-see” attitude
while hawks
in his party champion the cause for an early election.
“There are people
like Emmerson Mnangagwa and Jonathan Moyo who are
campaigning for an
election next year,” another source said. “The message
they will take to the
party’s conference is that elections should be held
whether or not the
roadmap or the constitution are in place.”
Zanu PF will hold its annual
conference this month in Mutare, where the
party is expected to adopt a
campaign strategy.
The source said in the absence of the roadmap, the
army was likely to be
deployed and people would be coerced into voting for
Zanu PF.
He said Mnangagwa would be the beneficiary of such a scheme as
he was the
Defence Minister and he would score “Brownie points” against his
rivals in
the Zanu PF succession dogfight.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 05 December 2010 15:13
BY
GODWIN MUZARI
ANOTHER influx of Zanu PF jingles on the local airwaves
is looming following
revelations that the party has ordered all provinces to
come up with
compositions in the mould of Mbare Chimurenga Choir’s
Nyatsoteerera.
Sources say selection processes are being held in the
provinces to come up
with representative groups that would go into the
studio.
Gramma Records producers are working extra hard because some of
the province
representatives are already in the studio.
An official
from the record company who spoke on condition of anonymity said
the stable
will be a hive of activity for some months to come since most of
the
provinces had already booked their studio slots.
The official also
revealed that some provinces in Matabeleland were
reluctant to do the
jingles but efforts were underway in the party ranks to
bring them into
line.
“The provinces come with different lyrics and different beats but
they have
to follow a strict theme.
“This is a hard time for
producers because some of the stuff being submitted
for recording is
terrible. Some people are just jumping in to record without
proper
rehearsals because they have been promised good sums of cash,” said
the
official.
Although Life&Style could not get the actual theme of the
jingles,
information at hand shows that the lyrics are serious campaign
material in
preparation for possible elections next year.
When the
programme is complete, there are likely to be at least 50 jingles
competing
for airplay at ZBC besides other Zanu PF praise songs from
numerous youth
groups that are already being aired.
Sources say the intention is to make
sure that campaign messages are
hammered throughout the country through the
songs.
Radio presenters are likely to get an order to infest their
playlists with
the jingles.
Gramma Records managing director, Emmanuel
Vori, confirmed that Zanu PF
provincial groups were recording the jingles at
their studio.
But he distanced the stable from the deal saying the
recordings were
strictly independent and all the groups that were recording
paid for their
studio time.
Initial indications were that Gramma
Records owner, Elias Musakwa, a
well-known member of Zanu PF, was sponsoring
the recordings but Vori said it
was strictly commercial.
“Those are
independent projects and all those recording are paying for
studio
time.
“It is up to them to choose us as the marketer and distributor of
their
projects but for now they are just recording,” said Vori.
He
could not recall the number of groups that had booked to record their
jingles.
“I do not have that information at hand and I will have to
check with the
studio.
“What I know is that some are already recording
their music.”
Chances are high that Gramma Records would be distributing
the jingles since
they are already handling Nyatsoteerera from the Elizabeth
Bwanya-led Mbare
Chimurenga Choir.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 05 December 2010 15:18
BY CAIPHAS
CHIMHETE
CONTROVERSY surrounds the dualisation of the Harare-Beitbridge
road with a
consortium of mostly indigenous construction companies, which
was earmarked
to construct the road, accusing some government officials of
wrestling the
project from its jaws for individual gain.
A
month-long investigation by The Standard has revealed that the indigenous
consortium trading as Zimhighways was on the verge of losing out on the
nearly US$1 billion project, amid charges that some government officials
were demanding 10% of the value of the project as
kickbacks.
Zimhighways which is made up of 14 local and multinational
firms that
include Murray & Roberts, Costain, Stafenuit Stocks, Bitcon
and Stewart
Scott International tendered for the project and was awarded the
right to
negotiate with government on a Build Operate and Transfer (BOT)
basis in
2002.
The company said it had already received assurance
from the Development Bank
of South Africa (DBSA) that it would fund the
project.
But Zimhighways officials said they were shocked when government
started
negotiating with DBSA behind their backs.
The officials claim
that in December last year, DBSA sent a “mandate letter”
to Zimhighways for
the Harare-Beitbridge stretch to allow the bank to raise
both project
preparation and investment funding.
The letter was copied to the Ministry
of Transport and Communication (MoTC)
and other government
departments.
This was after a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) had been
signed between
DBSA and Zimhighways five months earlier.
While the
consortium was discussing with DBSA on the project, the government
was also
in touch with the bank talking about the same project and others
such as the
dualisation of Harare-Chirundu road.
The Chirundu-Harare-Beitbridge dual
carriageway is estimated to cost US$1,3
billion.
“While Zimhighways scope
was limited to Harare-Beitbridge, DBSA had already
indicated their interest
to get involved in the whole North-South Corridor,”
said a Zimhighways
official who requested to remain anonymous.
“It is at this stage that
government decided to work with DBSA to pursue a
larger scope going all the
way to Chirundu. In this context, MoTC started
pushing for a different form
of arrangement.”
The new arrangement with DBSA is said to have been
negotiated by officials
from the Ministry of Transport and Finance headed by
Nicholas Goche and
Tendai Biti respectively.
The Infrastructural
Development Bank of Zimbabwe (IDBZ) has since been
appointed the financial
advisor to the government on the project and will
work with the DBSA as the
lead financial advisor.
“The project entails the design, engineering,
financing, procurement,
construction, operation, tolling and maintenance of
the
Beitbridge-Harare-Chirundu Road as a public-private partnership (PPP),”
said
Charles Chikaura, IDBZ chief executive officer in a written response to
The
Standard last month.
The bank was appointed the financial advisor
to the government and will work
with the DBSA as the lead financial advisor
on the project.
A total of US$1 billion is required for the project. The
bank and DBSA will
spearhead the fundraising initiatives.
Zimhighways
said the changes in contractual agreements in the financing area
meant that
the company could not continue to fund the project preparation
works.
“Zimhighways would like to see this project revert to basic
BOT principles,”
the consortium’s spokesperson said.
“The officials
fear that if Zimhighways is given the contract they will not
receive the
kickbacks so they want another partner preferably a foreign
company to
partner with on the project,” said one source.
It is suspected that the
tender could be awarded to Group 5, a South African
construction company,
which is already involved in the dualisation of
Plumtree-Bulawayo and Harare
to Mutare roads.
But Patson Mbiriri, secretary for Transport,
Communications and
Infrastructural Development dismissed the
allegations.
“I am not aware of any officials demanding bribes of 10% of
the project,”
said Mbiriri. “Negotiations are never done by one individual.
There are
always teams from both sides.”
Mbiriri said government had
negotiated with the DBSA to fund the dualisation
of the
Beitbridge-Harare-Chirundu road.
He said the first stage involved carrying
out a feasibility study.
Mbiriri denied that a tender had been awarded to
Zimhighways for the
dualisation of the Harare-Beitbridge road.
He
said Zimhighways was given the go-ahead to draft a concession agreement
with
the government which would be signed once “certain” covenants were
satisfied.
“The concession agreement was completed but the agreement
was not signed
because some covenants have neither been agreed to nor
fulfilled,” Mbiriri
said.
“In particular, Zimhighways was expected to
secure own funding for the
project. To date, no evidence of funding has been
availed to this ministry
by Zimhighways.”
But the Zimhighways
spokesperson said, “We believe that because so much work
has already gone
into documentation, contractual arrangements, negotiations
for the
concession agreement and some project preparation work including
completion
of the traffic studies by December 2009, this project has now
reached quick
win status.”
Mbiriri also denied that the controversial project would be
awarded to Group
5, adding that “loan covenants with DBSA would not allow a
direct award
without going to tender.
In any case, it is in everyone’s
interest that an award of this magnitude is
open and
transparent.”
Efforts to get a comment from DBSA were
fruitless.
Calls for the dualisation of the road have grown louder in
recent years
after a series of deadly accidents, including one in March last
year which
claimed the life of Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's wife and
left him
slightly injured.
Presently, government is dualising a 15-km
stretch from Highfield Road in
Harare to Manyame Bridge using own financial
resources. Government plans to
complete this section -- which Mbiriri said
was part of the
Chirundu-Harare-Beitbridge project -- before the end of this
year.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 05 December 2010
17:01
Maria Lurdes Mutola popularly known as the Maputo Express on
the
international athletics scene has turned down the Sport and Recreation
Commission's invitation to grace the 2010 edition of the Annual National
Sports Awards gala.
SRC's director-general Charles Nhemachena revealed
that the former world
800m champion did not even respond to the Commission’s
gesture for her to
present the awards to Zimbabwe's most outstanding
sportspersons for the
year.
This is the second year running that
Mutola who comes from neighbouring
Mozambique has snubbed the SRC's
overtures for her to be present at the
glamorous occasion. Last year, the
Commission also extended an arm to Mutola
but the athlete just like this
year did not respond.
Nhemachena said they had targeted Mutola because of
the way she had risen to
the top of the world from her poor
background.
Born in the dusty streets of Maputo, Mutola is one of the
fastest female
800m athletes in history. She was the world's number one 800m
athlete from
1993 to 1995 and was runner up Track and Field News' Female
Athlete of the
Year in 1993.
She competed in six Olympic Games
winning gold at the 2000 Sydney Games and
bronze at Atlanta Olympics in
1996. She won three World Championships in
1993, 2001, and 2003. She also
holds seven Indoor World Championships in
1993, 1995, 1997, 2001, 2003,
2004, and 2006 on top of two Commonwealth gold
medals from the 1999 and 2002
competitions.
These achievements were enough to persuade the SRC that
Mutola was indeed
the perfect choice to inspire young Zimbabwean athletes
through her presence
at the Ansa gala. That unfortunately, will no longer be
the case.
Nhemachena said because of this development, the SRC will have
no choice but
to break tradition and look for other probabilities, the most
immediate
being to consider Zimbabwe's own sporting icons to present the
awards.
The Commission has set December 16 as the day the sports awards
would be
presented. The sports' body's supremo said there was inadequate
time to
bring in an international sports icon.
This, he added, had
also been necessitated by the fact that, their two other
targets, former
South African cricket star, Makhaya Ntini and former Olympic
middle distance
champion, Kipchoge Keino of Kenya, said they would also not
be available for
the event. According to Nhemachena, both sports greats,
indicated they had
other engagements on the day the awards were to be
presented..
Traditionally every year, the SRC invites a
world-renowned athlete to add
international flavour to the awards gala. This
has seen the occasion being
graced by the likes of such international
superstars as Sachin Tendulkar of
India, two time Olympic 200m silver
medalists Frankie Fredericks of Nambia,
and former South African
international cricketer Mike Proctor, amongst many
other international
stars.
Although Nhemachena could not be drawn into revealing who they
have now
turned to, sources at the SRC told Standardsport that the
Commission had
already extended an arm to former Zimbabwe tennis ace Byron
Black as well as
to soccer legend Peter Ndlovu for the two to grace the
occassion.
Samson Muripo, who won the world kyokushin title last year is
the reigning
Zimbabwe Sportsperson of the Year but is unlikely to repeat
that feat having
lost his belt in his first defence earlier this year. This
means Muripo will
no longer join the elite band of the likes of Byron Black,
boxing legend
Langton Schoolboy Tinago and swimmer Kirsty Coventry who have
won the awards
more than once and twice in succession.
In a year
where there were few successes for Zimbabwean sportspersons on the
field of
play, the selectors have athen unenviable task of coming up with
the winners
for the various categories. Although most of last year's
category winners
and finalists have not done well, there are a few others
such as Cara Black,
Sharon Tawengwa and Cricket Zimbabwe who are likely to
return to the podium
once again.
Athletes will be rewarded in the categories of junior
sportswoman of the
year, junior sportsman of the year, junior sportswoman of
the year with
disability, junior sportsman of the year with disability,
sportswoman of the
year with disability, sportsman of the year with
disability, team of the
year, coach of the year, referee or umpire of the
year, sportswoman of the
year, sportsman of the year, sports administrator
of the year. From the
winners of all these categories the best achiever will
be crowned the
sportsperson of the year.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 05 December 2010 16:12
BY
NQOBANI NDLOVU
This is my story. It all begun around 5pm on
Tuesday, November 16, when a
call came through my cell phone. I was having a
beer drink at a popular city
joint with a friend, when our Bulawayo office
manager Belinda Moyo, called.
She was to deliver some
worrying news.
Moyo informed me that detectives from the Criminal
Investigation Department
(CID) had just been to our office looking for me. I
could detect a hint of
worry in her voice.
I knew immediately
that my inevitable rendezvous with the CID would not be a
rosy affair. I
knew I could be locked up for days like many other local
journalists who
have been accused of writing stories deemed untrue or
offensive to the
government. I also knew that harassment and physical harm
were highly
probable. I had an uneasy sleep at home that Tuesday night. As I
headed for
work Wednesday morning my mind was working overdrive, churning
out questions
whose answers I could not find.
Will they arrest me? If indeed I am
arrested, will they throw me into jail?
Will I stand the filth in the cell?
Are they disputing my story? Or do they
perhaps just want me to reveal my
source?
All these questions came fast and furious. But only the
police could answer
them.
With my lawyer Josphat Tshuma, I
voluntarily reported to the CID Law and
Order Section at the Bulawayo
Central Police Station around 9am. This was a
visit that was to result in my
incarceration and subsequent nine-day
detention.
A case of
criminal defamation against the police was opened, my finger
prints were
taken, and then, a gruelling back-and-forth interrogation
started.
The
police demanded to know the source of my story. They called my story
malicious and false. They demanded evidence as the questioning went on and
on.
At around 2:30 pm, the detectives broke the news that I most
dreaded. They
were detaining me overnight. My lawyer protested to no
avail.
I knew from others’ experience that the cells I would be thrown into
were
unfit for human habitation. It was unsettling and
bloodcurdling.
The police tossed me into a squalid cell that reeked like
hell. I joined a
motley crew of petty criminals ranging from loiterers to
pick pockets.
I was detained for two days at the Central Police Station.
Family members
and colleagues brought me mounds of otherwise delicious food;
I found it all
tasteless but my fellow inmates devoured it ravenously; I
became their
benefactor.
There were no ablution facilities at the
Central Police Station, and that
translated into two days without a
shower.
Due to poor ventilation, the stench in the cell was
unbearable. It was so
uncomfortable that at some point, I
chocked.
Two days of hell passed and on November 19 in the afternoon,
I was arraigned
before the court for initial remand. I was highly hopeful
that I would be
granted bail and regain my freedom.
But those
hopes were shattered when presiding magistrate, Sibongile Msipa
deferred my
bail application ruling to November 22, remanding me in custody.
I
was to spend the weekend at Khami Prison, tasting first-hand life at a
facility notorious for disease and death. It’s also a place where the
hardest of criminals are interned.
Friday, Saturday and Sunday
nights were the most difficult days of my
incarceration.
The fear
of being bludgeoned or sodomised by some hard-core criminal was
traumatising.
The weekend appeared to stretch like a whole month.
I just couldn’t wait to
be bailed out of the damn place.
And when
November 22 came, I breathed a sigh of relief. Together with other
detainees, I was transported back to court for a ruling on my bail
application.
Like a big-time criminal, I was brought to court in
leg irons, handcuffed
with a suspected murderer.
Indeed, my bail
application was granted.
At last I was tasting freedom, I assured
myself. But it was not to be.
The prosecution invoked Section 121 of
the Criminal Law (Codification and
Reform) Act opposing my bail and seeking
further detention while they
prepared to appeal.
Section 121 was
intended to ensure that dangerous criminals are not let
loose on the streets
by ensuring that they are kept behind bars even when
granted
bail.
Technically, this meant that the State could detain me for a
further seven
days.
But my lawyer promised he would pull out all
the stops to move the process
forward and facilitate my release. My stint at
Khami came to an end on
Friday, November 26 after spending nine days in
custody.
It was around 12:30pm when I was called to the
administration office and
informed that I was a free man. High Court Judge
Nicholas Mathonsi had
ordered my release. I was overwhelmed.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 05 December 2010 16:07
BY RUTENDO
MAWERE
GWERU — Council has been forced to withdraw its US$15, 6
million budget
proposals for next year following spirited resistance from
rate payers.
The struggling local authority will now stick to the U$12
million it
budgeted for this year, which means rates and tariffs will remain
static.
If the budget had been approved, service charges will
have gone up by over
40%.
Taurai Demo, the deputy mayor told a
stakeholders meeting in the city last
week that council had taken input
from residents on board but warned there
may be a supplementary budget
before the end of the year.
“Our councillors as usual went for
consultations in their various wards but
we have heard that residents are
saying the budget is too high,” Demo said.
“We are therefore forced to revert
to the 2010 budget but we may be forced
to draw a supplementary budget later
on in the year. ”
Sandra Takaendesa, a Senga resident said the
proposed tariff increases were
not justified as council had failed to
provide them with any service.
She said most of the suburbs did not have
water for the better part of the
year.
“We are paying for
services but there is no service delivery,” said Matthew
Gore from
Mkoba.
We are just paying our hard-earned cash for them to give each
other hefty
salaries and allowances, she said.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 05 December 2010 16:06
BY
OUR STAFF
THE Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) has been given
this year’s
International Human Rights Prize Emilion Mignone award by
Argentina.
ZLHR, which has in the past come to the rescue of scores of human
rights
activists and opposition supporters who fell victim to state
repression, is
the first winner of the award based outside the
Americas.
The award was created in 2007.
Carlos
Sersale di Cerisano, Argentina’s ambassador to South Africa informed
ZLHR of
their success recently.
The award, organised by the South American
country’s Ministry of Foreign
Affairs, consists of a commemorative plaque
and
US$5 000.
A ZLHR representative has also been invited to an
all expenses paid trip to
Buenos Aires to participate in a series of
activities that include among
other things, meetings with national
authorities and members of academic
institutions, the judiciary and human
rights organisations.
According to a citation seen by The Standard
the award is given to “foreign
institutions that are making or have made
outstanding contribution towards
the promotion and/or protection of human
rights in their own countries in
the fight against impunity in cases
involving systematic violations of human
rights.”
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 05 December 2010
15:58
by Our Correspondent
THE United States has lauded
Zimbabwe government officials for their efforts
in fighting HIV and Aids in
the country, presenting two senior government
officials with awards for
outstanding commitment in fighting the spread of
HIV.
Owen Mugurungi, Principal Director in the Aids and
TB unit, received the
award for outstanding leadership.
The
Auxillia Chimusoro Awards Judges committee noted Mugurungi’s “consistent
leadership in the fight against HIV,” stating that “under his leadership,
the country was awarded the largest Global Fund grant ever awarded to any
single county in the history of the Global Fund.”
Another senior
government official, Tapiwa Magure, director of the National
Aids Council,
received special mention for “strong leadership in
coordinating the national
HIV response.”
“We are impressed by the government of Zimbabwe’s
leadership of HIV
programmes, and we are seeing more effective utilisation
of resources,” said
US ambassador Charles Ray.
Ambassador Ray
pledged his country’s commitment to partnering with Zimbabwe
“to defeat the
Aids epidemic and eliminate pediatric Aids altogether.”
The US is the biggest
contributor to modern Aids counselling, testing and
treatment centres across
Zimbabwe, which have tested and counselled two
million
people.
The US Embassy Public Affairs Section said the United States
government has
invested over US$245 million in Zimbabwe’s fight against
HIV/Aids.
The US intends to increase funding for HIV/Aids programmes in
Zimbabwe by
US$10 million next year, bringing the total 2011 US investment
in fighting
HIV/Aids in the country to approximately US$57,5
million.
Zimbabwe’s HIV prevalence rate declined from a peak of 26%
in 1997 to 14,2%
in 2010.
Over 200 000 people are on treatment
and more than 39% of the adult
population now know their HIV
status.
Other recipients of Auxillia Chimusoro Awards were the late
Monica Glenshaw,
former District Medical Officer for Manicaland and
Superintendent of
Murambinda Hospital for 30 years, who received the Lynde
Francis Award.
The winner of the Social Investment Award is Africaid,
which runs the
Zvandiri HIV Programme for adolescents.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 05 December 2010 15:53
BY
KHOLWANI NYATHI
A Harare magistrate has ordered an investigation into
the conduct of police
for their unjustifiable 24-hour detention of Nevanji
Madanhire, editor of
The Standard last week.
Don
Ndirowei’s order on Wednesday came amid growing concerns that police
were
abusing their powers to muzzle journalists who have become a thorn in
the
flesh of the force, which is nursing a battered image.
Madanhire was
detained at Rhodesville on Tuesday despite handing himself
over at the
Harare Central Police station after officers from the notorious
Law and
Order Section visited the paper’s offices the previous day.
The
editor’s arrest came hard on the heels of the heavily criticised
nine-day
detention of The Standard’s Bulawayo -based reporter Nqobani Ndlovu
over a
story on cancelled police examinations.
Madanhire, who was charged
with publishing an article that “undermines”
confidence in the security
forces, which was penned by Ndlovu last month was
remanded out of custody to
December 16.
Ndirowei asked the state to produce a report explaining
the police’s conduct
on the editor’s next court appearance.
This
was after his lawyer, Chris Mhike charged that it was time the Zimbabwe
Republic Police (ZRP) was forced to respect basic human rights.
“There
has been a disturbing trend by police to arrest and detain people
even
without any evidence,” Mhike told the court. “This is clear abuse of
office
by the police.
“It appears the days of human rights abuses are back
and I urge the court to
make investigations.”
He said his client
was detained even when it was clear he had no case to
answer and this could
have been calculated to intimidate journalists.
The harassment of The
Standard journalists by the police has attracted
condemnation from local and
international organisations.
Journalists fear that politicians from
the Zanu PF side of the unity
government are using the police to intimidate
journalists and stave off
critical reporting ahead of elections expected
next year.
A fortnight ago the scribes petitioned Prime Minister
Morgan Tsvangirai and
South African President Jacob Zuma seeking their
urgent intervention.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 05 December 2010 15:32
BY
NQABA MATSHAZI
ZIMBABWE on Thursday launched the Consolidated Appeal
Process for 2011 (CAP)
of $415 million, as the country moves in to stave
looming food shortages.
This is expected to be the last appeal for
the country, as donor agencies
feel Zimbabwe has now moved from relief to
transitional development.
Despite the economic improvements, at least 1,
7 million people are expected
to suffer acute food shortages and would be in
need of food aid.
“The CAP 2011 will focus on the rebuilding of the
livelihoods of the
population and to strengthen their resilience to further
shocks,” United
Nations Resident Humanitarian Coordinator for Zimbabwe,
Alain Noudehou said.
The CAP 2011 comes after the 2010 one where humanitarian
organisations
appealed for $478 million but only 47% of that amount was made
available.
Noudehou was optimistic that this time they would get more
money than last
year as they had developed a programme based
approach.
“As a result of this consultative approach and in order to
accommodate the
dynamic nature of the current economic social context in
Zimbabwe,
stakeholders decided to adopt a more responsive approach,” he
said.
“The Cap 2011 introduces a new programme based approach in lieu of
the
previous project based approach.”
More than 100 agencies, the
government, community and faith based
organisations participated in the
crafting of the appeal.
It was noted that there had been an improvement
in agriculture, but there
was need to continue supporting the sector, while
water and sanitation
remained priority areas.
There are reportedly 1,6
million orphans and vulnerable children, who are
also supposed to be funded
by the appeal.
ENDS
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 05 December 2010 15:29
BY NQABA
MATSHAZI
HARARE City councillors last week lashed out at Local
Government Minister
Ignatius Chombo, whom they accuse of being overbearing
and trying to wield
his power over the local authority.
The
latest attack follows an order by Chombo that council should first seek
his
approval before hiring any new employees.
The minister also ordered that
new recruitments be frozen.
They were mixed reactions at a full council
meeting on Tuesday with some
councillors accusing Chombo of acting as the
“mayor-general” of all urban
authorities.
Some councillors felt that
Chombo’s directive was being driven by paranoia,
as he feared that if
recruitments were allowed to go ahead the new employees
would dilute his
influence on the municipality.
“Some feared that this is a political
move,” Councillor Warship Dumba
intimated.
“Most of the
senior people were appointed by Chombo, he might not have more
influence on
new employees.”
Dumba said council was top heavy, with more managers than
necessary and
this, to some extent, justified the recruitment
freeze.
He said the council was in the process of evaluating its staff
complement
and it would be pointless to hire new people without completing
the
exercise.
“I think it is pointless to hire new people when there
is no money, but the
way Chombo went about the order drew the ire of some
councillors,” he said.
Harare mayor, Muchadeyi Masunda confirmed receipt
of the letter, though he
said council had long resolved to freeze new
recruitments.
“We agreed as a council that we freeze new posts except
establishment posts,
which we will continue to fill once they fall vacant,”
he said.
Masunda said once the survey had been complete they would decide
what to do,
as it was clear that some departments were
overstaffed.
“Previous councils and commissions had policies of
indiscriminate
recruitment and we have to control this,” he
said.
Chombo and Harare councillors have been at loggerheads since early
this when
a special committee set up by the local authority to investigate
unlawful
land deals implicated the minister and some Zanu PF
officials.
The report called for the arrest of business tycoon Philip
Chiyangwa and the
Zanu PF heavyweights including Chombo.
But it was
the councilors and the mayor who were arrested and charged with
criminal
defamation.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 05 December 2010
15:28
Zanu PF, MDC-T in violent clashes
BY SIMBARASHE
MANHANGO
POLICE yesterday arrested nine MDC-T supporters who were on a
clean-up
exercise after a violent confrontation with Zanu PF youths in
Chitungwiza.
Although police could not immediately confirm the
arrests, MDCT-T spokesman
Nelson Chamisa said the youths were being held at
the Chitungwiza police
station.
Trouble started when Zanu PF youths
allegedly tried to disrupt the clean-up
operation at Makoni Shopping center
around lunch time.
An MDC-T official said the Zanu PF youths pounced on
the party’s supporters
without any provocation after they had carried out
similar clean-up
campaigns in Unit H and D suburbs.
“As a party we
are disappointed by the actions of Zanu PF and I can confirm
that efforts
are in progress to investigate the issue,” Chamisa said.
The Chitungwiza
incident comes hard on the heels of violent clashes between
MDC-T and Zanu
PF supporters in Mbare last week.
MDC-T issued a strongly worded
statement on the violence amid increasing
fears that the country is sliding
back to the dark days that preceded the
unity government.
“The party
wishes to caution the perpetrators that they are spoiling for
conflagration
and unnecessary mayhem from which Zanu PF would emerge as a
crying loser,”
read the statement.
“Against this background, the MDC calls on the police
to act decisively on
the purported evictions and the violence in
Mbare.
“That Zanu PF youth leaders can dislodge and harass innocent and
law abiding
citizens with impunity is totally unacceptable.”
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 05 December 2010 15:25
BY OUR
STAFF
THE eagerly awaited contest between Deputy Prime Minister Arthur
Mutambara
and Industry and Commerce minister Welshman Ncube for the control
of the
smaller faction of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) is likely
to be
next month, it has been revealed.
Officials said the MDC-M
national council will meet this week to decide the
dates for the party’s
watershed congress, which they expect to be held in
Harare in early
January.
Ncube who is not eligible to contest his post of secretary-general
has made
it clear that he is eyeing Mutambara’s position in a challenge that
might
end the robotics professor’s eventful flirtation with
politics.
An official said although January 8 had been set as a tentative
date for the
congress, it was up to the national council meeting on
Wednesday to make the
final decision.
Ncube yesterday said the congress
would have to be held before February 26.
He also confirmed that the
national council was meeting to finalise dates
for the congress.
Lobbying
for the two candidates has intensified with some supporters taking
their
campaigns to social networks like Facebook.
A senior party official said
Mutambara’s camp was now proposing changes to
the party’s voting system to
halt Ncube’s surge.
“They are now pushing for a one-man-vote method
instead of provinces voting
as a block because they realise that Ncube now
has the majority of the
provinces fighting in his corner,” the source
said.
“However, this proposal will be thrown out by the national council
next week
because it is divisive.
“Some provinces have more people
than others and we may end up having a
leadership that is not representative
enough.”
Mutambara, a fiery student leader in his heyday was brought back
home from
abroad to lead the MDC following the split of the country’s
biggest
opposition party in 2005.
But his tendency to align himself with
President Robert Mugabe has cost him
support and many feel he is now a
liability to the opposition.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 05 December 2010 16:15
BY OUR STAFF
THE
Zimbabwe Statistical Agency (Zimstat) has engaged a top human resources
consulting firm to recruit a substantive director-general, six years after
the statistical body has been operating without a substantive
head.
LoriMark Recruitment, one of the country’s top human resources
consulting
firm, says it is looking for a person who has demonstrated
success in
inspiring the teams towards the execution of agreed strategic
objectives.
It also states that the person must be strategic in
orientation, with a
passion to delight users, demonstrate business
understanding and with
unquestionable integrity among other
requirements.
Zimstat, formerly Central Statistical Office, has been
operating without a
substantive head since Lazarus Machirori left the
organisation in 2004.
Machirori’s then deputy, Moffat Nyoni has been
holding forte since then
mirroring the absence of sound corporate governance
in parastatals and quasi
government bodies.
The longest acting head
of a parastatal or quasi government body is Amod
Takawira who spent seven
years as acting general manager at the pay as you
go pension scheme,
National Social Security Authority.
Asked whether Nyoni would be
considered for the job, Douglas Hoto, Zimstat
board chairman said all the
people who are eligible should apply for the
job.
The appointment of
a substantive head is part of the reforms taken by the
Hoto-led board to
make Zimstat a credible source of statistics in the
country and provide up
to date statistics for national development and
policy
management.
Zimstat’s credibility was battered when it failed to produce
statistics such
as inflation figures during hyperinflationary
periods.
However, the organisation has managed to release inflation numbers
in a
timely manner since the advent of multiple currencies nearly two years
ago.
Zimstat’s board has approved a number of reforms such as
organisational
redesign, and development and is finalising the National
Strategy for
Development of Statistics informed by sector strategic plans
for statistics
involving all sectors of the economy.
The country’s
statistical agency has been receiving support from the African
Development
Bank (AfDB) to strengthen its statistical development
activities.
In
the period 2009-2011, AfDB has set aside US$2 million to restore
institutional and human capacity of the Zimbabwe national statistical office
to generate reliable and timely data for national development policy
management.
AfDB’s activities are coordinated in the office of the
chief economist and
vice president of the bank, Mthuli Ncube.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 05 December 2010 16:24
On
Christmas Day 1978 I was picked up by the police; it was me and five
other
youths. There had been a small act of sabotage at the council beer
hall and
police suspected the mujibhas in the adjacent village had committed
it.
That village just happened to ours. It was at the
height of the guerrilla
war and the British South Africa Police had become
another section of the
military. Being captured by the police meant torture
or even death. We were
defiant teenagers and saw the incarceration as some
form of adventure but
that was before we saw the captured
guerrilla.
We were thrown into a cell in which he was; he insisted he
was not a
guerrilla but everyone knew he was. He couldn’t sit up but the
wounds that
resulted from the constant torture he was subjected were there
for all to
see. The same awaited us. I swear we had not committed the little
act of
sabotage but that detention became my humble contribution to the
liberation
struggle.
My only other brush with the police (besides
refusing to pay bribes at
roadblocks) came last week – 32 years to the
month.
When I entered office 77 at the Law and Order Section of the
CID at Harare
Central Police Station on Tuesday November 30 memories of 1978
came back;
almost romantic. I expected what they insist is “minimum force”
in their
interrogation tactics such as had been used on that guerrilla.
Instead I was
confronted by a debonair and ever-smiling Detective Assistant
Inspector
(DAI) Murira and his senior whose name I forget. Although the
senior guy
looked a trifle too menacing at first he turned out to be all
wool – he was
doing the easy crossword puzzle in the Herald. To his right
was a wall board
on which was a photograph of a newborn baby all in
flannels, eyes open
looking determinedly into the future.
“That’s
my only daughter,” the senior detective said with the smile of a
proud
father. “I have had three boys and this came at the very last try. We’re
so
happy.”
I was disarmed.
So what was this all
about?
My principal DAI Murira informed me that I was being charged
under Section
31(b)(ii)(C) of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act
which says
something about the publishing and communication of false
information
prejudicial to the state.
My colleague Nqobani
Ndlovu had already spent nine days in custody in
Bulawayo over the same
story and had been granted a US$100 bail. It appeared
to me that my being
summoned to the CID was just for the record since
Nqobani had now been seen
not to be a flight risk. If Nqobani, who penned
the article in question, was
not a flight risk, why would I be?
A warned and cautioned statement
was recorded by lunchtime. I asked the
detectives if I could be allowed to
go out and get something to eat and then
return at 2pm. This was granted
without argument. I went out for lunch
unaccompanied and at 2pm I was back
at CID.
My lawyer Chris Mhike and I spent a long afternoon in a waiting room
waiting
to hear if I would be allowed to go home and return the following
day. Chris
had argued that there was no motivation for me to take the
gap.
But 4.30pm a detective – not Murira – came over wielding a
green form that
had the legend “Detention Order” at the top. So the dye was
cast; I would
spend the night in notorious cells at Harare Central. I asked
Chris to
negotiate that I be taken to another police station where the cells
were
less crowded and cleaner. I was about to taken to the cells when I
summoned
to the office of the Officer Commanding CID, who, to my surprise I
found
most affable. He joked and laughed and granted our wish without much
ado.
Chris and I were getting rather puzzled by the police’s
hospitality.
But the afternoon had been full of little anecdotes that
pointed to the fact
that the police details we were dealing with were, in
fact, not the real
deal. I thought I gleaned from the anecdotes that these
middle-ranking
officers hated doing what they had to do. When I mentioned
similar cases in
the past that had come to nought, they avoided eye-contact.
They had become
mere automations following the bidding of faceless senior
officers at HQ.
Greater surprises awaited me at Rhodesville Police
Station. Of all the 10 or
so officers I talked none had read the article
that had allegedly offended
the police! When I told them it was that same
article that had condemned me
to a night in a cell, they all became too
polite, polite to a fault. Instead
of being told to sit on the hard floor of
the charge office I was offered a
chair. They were very worried about my
glasses saying I couldn’t go into the
cells with them but then if I could do
without them the choice was mine. I
had them taken home when my wife
visited.
I was thrown into the cell around 8pm. In there were two
23-year-old amateur
burglars who said they had broken into houses in
Chisipite and stolen
flat-screen TVs and decoders. These were young
criminals in the making; they
didn’t regret their deeds and were pondering
their next move. I had been
surprised how junior-ranking policemen were also
so polite in dealing with
these young thugs.
The answer was soon
to come as the reprobates were discussing which
constable to give the US$300
one of their colleagues who was still at large
so their case could be made
lighter.
It was all very instructive of the workings of the
police.
My night in the cell was uncomfortable but not too shocking;
the blankets
stunk like high heaven and the floor too hard for my hips and
ribs.
But what was the big deal? The whole episode was just meant to
embarrass me
for the state did not oppose bail the following day at the
magistrate’s
court.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 05 December 2010
16:21
BY BLESSING-MILES TENDI
This piece is penned with a heavy
sense of exasperation and bewilderment at
the inability of Zimbabwean
political opposition and some civil society
groups and private media to come
to grips with Zanu PF’s political uses of
the various forms of sanctions
imposed on it by America and the European
Union (EU).
Last week
Zambian President Rupiah Banda and South African President Jacob
Zuma called
for the lifting of Western sanctions. This has been received
with derision
in many civil society and media quarters. The call has been
interpreted by
some as “an indication of Zuma’s and Banda’s support for
Robert Mugabe and
Zanu PF”.
“Zuma and Banda believe Mugabe’s propaganda”, others in civil
society bleat.
For some “the West must keep punishing Zanu PF for its human
rights abuses”.
The Zimbabwean political opposition is silent.
If
you are one of those who shares the aforementioned views pause a moment
to
ask yourself why there are sanctions on Mugabe and Zanu PF but none
against
Swaziland’s King Mswati or Angola’s Eduardo dos Santos – both
leaders who
are not anymore human rights respecting than Mugabe.
Zanu PF has and
continues to work hard at casting Morgan Tsvangirai's
Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC-T) as "sell-outs" who campaigned for the
imposition
of unjustified sanctions that are "racist" and interference in
the country's
internal affairs. Today Tsvangirai's MDC is asked to advocate
the removal of
sanctions because it instigated them.
While the MDC-T denies that it ever
campaigned for sanctions, its message on
the sanctions issue has never been
as coherent and consistent as that of
Zanu PF. Only in November during a
parliamentary debate MDC-T MP Jefferson
Chitando called for the extension of
Western sanctions and he suggested that
the opposition had indeed invited
the imposition of sanctions in the early
2000s.
Zanu PF refuses to
fully implement power-sharing reforms for as long as
Western sanctions
remain in place. The sanctions standoff is one of the main
reasons why the
power-sharing government has made little headway in
reforming Zimbabwean
institutions in time for the next elections. By
campaigning for sanctions to
be lifted Zuma and Banda are attempting to take
a key impediment to reform
implementation off the table. Calling for an end
to sanctions is not
indicative of support for Mugabe.
Moreover sanctions have become a
convenient scapegoat for Zanu PF because
they allow the party to argue that
Zimbabwe's breathtaking economic decline
was not caused by its adoption of a
disastrous Economic Structural
Adjustment Programme (ESAP) in the 1990s,
massive corruption by Zanu PF
elites, an ineptly implemented land reform
programme and the country's 1998
involvement in the Democratic Republic of
the Congo (DRC).
ZANU PF is a violent party and they have made many bad
policy decisions
while in government but they are nonetheless astute
political operators. And
yet the manner in which civil society, private
media and the MDC-T are still
struggling to comprehend and strategically
counter ZANU PF’s political uses
of the sanctions matter is making me
increasingly question whether Mugabe’s
party is indeed a clever assemblage
or civil society, private media and the
opposition are simply intellectually
ill-equipped. Perhaps there is nothing
to Zanu PF – they are a shallow lot
who just happen to be a tad cleverer
than the mediocrity that surrounds
them.
About the Author
Blessing-Miles Tendi is the author of "Making
History in Mugabe's Zimbabwe:
Politics, Intellectuals and the Media".
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 05 December 2010 16:20
Many
political analysts are beginning to ask what the Movement for
Democratic
Change (MDC)’s policy on media freedom is.
One of the key clauses of
the Global Political Agreement is that media
freedom should be guaranteed
and no future elections should be held in an
atmosphere where the press is
not free to report on issues affecting the
electorate.
Events of the past
few months, in which journalists have been harassed by
the police, have
focused attention on this important issue.
The MDC, especially the larger
faction led by Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai, has been conspicuous by its
absence in this discourse.
Journalists working for the private press have
been arrested in recent
weeks, the latest being the editor of this paper.
The grounds for the
arrests have been sections of the Criminal Law
(Codification and Reform) Act
which are being contested in the Supreme Court
because they impinge upon
media freedom.
The nation expected a robust
stance by the MDC against this onslaught on
media freedom. All that has been
heard is a whimper from those that purport
to be the champions of democratic
change.
The MDC-T has a co-minister at Home Affairs but she has not
raised as much
as a squeak when journalists have been incarcerated for doing
their job of
keeping the public well-informed. That includes informing the
public on what
is happening in national institutions -- such as the police
-- that should
be accountable to them.
Compare the co-minister
Theresa Makone’s reaction a few months ago to the
arrest of controversial
Zanu PF provincial leader Temba Mliswa to her
reaction to the arrest and
incarceration of journalists. She was animated in
the former but
disturbingly quiet in the latter.
Deputy Prime Minister Thokozani Khupe
is suing this newspaper for a story in
which she sought to dispel a rumour
circulating last month.
Is there a connection here? Is the MDC-T
complicit in the ongoing police
crackdown on the media?
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 05 December 2010
16:17
BY BRUCE GEMMIL
The ongoing land debate continues to
centre on past injustices of the
colonial era. This fixation with the past
although understandable does
nothing to prepare us for the challenges that
lie ahead; we cannot change
history, but we should learn from
it.
Food security, job creation and the building of a modern
diversified economy
are the challenges we face now and in the future. These
challenges are
linked; therefore addressing them should become the core
issue of the land
debate.
The global food crisis is the
greatest challenge facing humankind now after
the threat of nuclear war that
haunted the world for three decades after
WWII. Hardly a day goes by
without the media reporting on starvation,
chronic undernourishment and food
riots somewhere in the world. The common
link connecting these reports is
the location; it is always in the third
world and the victims are always the
poor and underprivileged.
Rising world population, climate change,
rising oil prices, using grain to
produce bio-fuels, reliance on subsistence
agriculture, lack of property
rights in the third world and bad governance
are the main forces driving and
intensifying the global food crisis are: It
maybe a cynical observation, but
farmers and traders in the first world have
a vested interest in the global
food crisis and profits from
it.
The first world has created this advantage for itself by
promoting and
protecting its commercial agriculture. The third world has
made little
effort to develop in a similar way and integrate commercial
agriculture into
the mainstream of their economies. Culture, tradition and
inertia seem to
prevail over any ambition to modernise and diversify their
economies,
particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. It is human nature for
people to put
their own interests first, we in the third world must
understand this and
react accordingly.
The majority of third
world countries rely on subsistence agriculture and
imports to feed their
people. Subsistence agriculture is structured to give
food security to its
practitioners, producing a tradable surplus is regarded
as a bonus. It may
reduce hunger but it makes no contribution to building
a modern diversified
economy or the creation of job opportunities outside of
agriculture. It
has changed very little over the past hundred years.
Modern seed varieties,
oil-based synthetic fertilisers and pesticides have
helped, but it’s main
features remains the same: rain-fed, labour-intensive,
low productivity,
abysmally poor crop and livestock yields, starved of
investment, no
rotational cropping and damaging to the environment.
So why does subsistence
agriculture still remain the dominant system in the
third
world?
In much of Africa underdevelopment is linked to the vulture
politics of many
post-colonial governments.The precursor to food security is
the development
of a modern diversified economy that is supported and
supplied by a
commercialised agriculture.
Good governance,
property rights and private investment is the key to
long-term food
security, broad-based prosperity and sustained economic
growth.
Only commercial agriculture, be it large scale, small
scale or a combination
of the two can provide the surpluses that are then
described as food
security.
In a small economy such as ours
commercial agriculture and commerce and
industry are linked and
interdependent, their relationship is such that one
will not thrive without
the other.