http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
December 7, 2012 in Politics
AN
unexpected Zanu PF succession drama, precipitated by controversial
remarks
by a daring woman party official, rocked a central committee meeting
chaired
by President Robert Mugabe at the party’s headquarters in Harare
yesterday,
forcing a postponement of debate on the issue as tempers flared
and emotions
ran high.
Report by Faith Zaba
Although the explosive succession
issue and factionalism were not on the
agenda cleared by the decision-making
politburo on Wednesday and approved by
the central committee, the hot potato
was dropped onto the table by a
controversial Manicaland provincial
official, Mandy Chimene.
Chimene, an ex-combatant and a well-known
forthright speaker, shocked Mugabe
and central committee members, including
senior party leaders, when she told
Mugabe that he was supping with the
devil as top party leaders sitting at
the high table were always plotting to
oust him.
Senior party leaders who attended the tense meeting told the
Zimbabwe
Independent last night Mugabe was stunned and did not know how to
handle the
issue. Instead of allowing debate to flow after senior party
leaders,
including Vice-President Joice Mujuru had joined the fray, Mugabe
postponed
the debate, saying there was no time as party members had to
travel to Gweru
for today’s official opening of Zanu PF’s annual
conference.At the time when
Mugabe prematurely closed the debate, tempers
were beginning to flare while
emotions were starting to rise.
A
number of party officials had their hands up, prepared to contribute to
the
debate, showing most Zanu PF members actually want to talk about the
issue
considered as taboo.
Initially, deathly silence descended upon the
meeting when straight-talking
Chimene, no stranger to controversy,
sensationally claimed Mugabe was eating
with the devil on the high table.
She said he is in the company of enemies
who shamelessly posed as loyalists
when they were actually power-hungry
backstabbers who held clandestine
meetings to plot toppling him.
As a result of the surprise disruption
caused by the succession issue, a
report on the constitution-making process
and the agricultural season were
not discussed.The agenda of the meeting
included Mugabe’s opening address,
chairman’s report on the conference
preparations and adoption of the
conference agenda.
Chimene was
commenting on the national commissariat’s report presented by
national
commissar Webster Shamu which touched on the state of the party,
provincial
elections in the troubled Matabeleland provinces and the party’s
mobilisation strategies.
Shamu presented the report after party
national chairperson Simon Khaya Moyo
spoke about conference preparations,
Mugabe’s opening address and the
adoption of the conference agenda presented
by legal affairs secretary
Emmerson Mnangagwa.
Sources said Chimene
confronted those widely seen as faction leaders vying
to take over from
Mugabe. Mujuru and Mnangagwa are widely seen as rival
faction leaders,
although of late they had been denying it as they ran
scared of Mugabe’s
wrath over the issue.
Sources said Chimene even went as far as telling
faction leaders to have the
courage of their convictions and stand up to
openly challenge Mugabe at the
meeting so that party members could vote for
their preferred presidential
candidate to lay the matter to
rest.
Predictably, no one stood up to challenge Mugabe. Instead, Mujuru
made some
interventions, pleading she is not a faction leader and is not
challenging
Mugabe.
“Chimene raised the issue of succession and
factionalism, saying Mugabe was
supping with the devil as those sitting with
him at the high table were
always plotting against him,” a senior Zanu PF
official told the
Independent.
“She told the president that he was
surrounded by hypocrites who pretended
to like him in his presence when in
actual fact they were busy holding
secret meetings plotting to unseat
him.”
Stung by Chimene’s remarks, Mujuru said she had never conspired
against
Mugabe. Mujuru made similar remarks recently. Realising she had
exposed
herself, Mujuru further said Mnangagwa had also not plotted against
Mugabe.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
December 7, 2012 in Politics
ZANU PF is
going for broke in the next high-stakes elections and will throw
everything
at its disposal — including deployment of troops particularly in
Manicaland
and intimidation — to win the polls, party officials attending
the annual
conference in Gweru said yesterday.
Report by Owen Gagare
The
campaign will focus on the party’s rural strongholds, although the swing
Manicaland and Masvingo provinces would be a priority.
Zanu PF is
confident of retaining the three Mashonaland provinces and
Midlands to seal
victory, although Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and his
MDC-T party,
which won the last parliamentary elections, stand in their way.
A senior
party official said yesterday the spectre of conflict in Mozambique
after
Renamo leader Afonso Dhlakama’s threats of another war has presented
Zanu PF
with a pretext to deploy more security forces in Manicaland.
Troops have
already been deployed ostensibly to defend the country’s eastern
border and
protect villagers as well as infrastructure, although they would
also
campaign for Zanu PF. The officials say some troops would play a more
political role in the run-up to the elections.
“The justification of
deployment of troops will be the explosive security
situation in
Mozambique,” said the official. “Also bear in mind that
Zimbabwe intervened
in the last civil war because of the historical ties
between the countries;
so deployment is totally justifiable.”
Apart from military manoeuvres,
Zanu PF, which recently sent its provincial
leaders to China for training,
is working on new strategies of mobilising
voters, including a mass voters’
registration exercise. Sources say the
party is working hand in glove with
the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission to
register voters in areas it holds sway.
Its women’s league boss Oppah
Muchinguri this week said they had registered
a million voters, raising
fears the party, now engaged in open vote-buying,
was laying the ground for
ballot-rigging.
President Robert Mugabe’s
controversial US$20 million inputs scheme, would
be key in rural areas.
Party insiders say only small quantities of seeds and
fertiliser would be
distributed through the Grain Marketing Board, largely
because of inadequate
funding from Treasury, to create space and justify the
president’s inputs
intervention.
The indigenisation policy would be the key campaign theme.
Zanu PF has also
bought new vehicles for US$14 million and other materials
for campaigns. The
party’s mobilisation committee is preparing for vigorous
campaigns.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
December 7, 2012 in Politics
PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe has
for the first time openly blasted the Copac
constitution-making process,
saying it had to be closely monitored because
the drafters constantly
drifted away from their core duties.
Report by Elias
Mambo
Addressing the Zanu PF central committee in Harare yesterday ahead
of the
official opening of the party’s annual conference in Gweru today,
Mugabe
said he had to take control of the draft constitution because those
entrusted with the process had been overcome by “ill-winds”.
“It
became our duty; our calling; a national service to monitor the
constitution
exercise for it became clear that those entrusted as drafters
had
regrettably been overcome by ill-winds and become drifters in the
process,”
said Mugabe.
“Who can forget the trickery and chicanery we had to look
out for,
eventually fight, as dirty Western hands tried to cheat their way
into the
constitution- making process. While our people’s views were simple
and
straightforward, sincere and reflective of the history of their
existence,
the Western crooks, apparently here to help us, soon proved to be
conduits
through which to smuggle foreign, clearly anathema views into our
constitution,” Mugabe said.
The initial Copc draft tried to bar
Mugabe from re-election through term and
age limits.
At the
all-stakeholders meeting in Harare in October, Mugabe set himself on
a
collision course with the two MDC formations, parliament and civil society
by declaring that the principals would have the final say on the draft
constitution.
Mugabe, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and Deputy
Prime Minister Arthur
Mutambara have since appointed a ministerial committee
to renegotiate the
final Copac draft presented to the all-stakeholders
conference.
Mugabe assured the central committee that Zanu PF would
provide solid
leadership and solutions, hence the takeover of the process
from Copac.
Zanu PF was accused of stalling the constitution-making
process on several
occasions after the party made wholesale revisions to the
draft
constitution, mostly to retain Mugabe’s imperial powers which have
been
curtailed by the draft.
Zanu PF said the Copac draft, which the
party’s mandated representatives
approved, did not capture the views and
aspirations of the people or
protect gains of the liberation
struggle.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
December 7, 2012 in News
ZANU PF yesterday
enlisted the services of its youths to assist in a
desperate attempt to put
final touches to the Gweru Convention Centre ahead
of the official opening
of its annual conference to be addressed by party
leader, President Robert
Mugabe today.
Report by Nduduzo Tshuma
An inspection in loco by
the Independent yesterday afternoon saw former
labour minister July Moyo
sweating to make sure the venue is ready by the
time Mugabe and his
entourage arrive as the party has promised.
The youths were divided into
groups under the supervision of senior party
leaders. However, their
desperate efforts were disturbed by the heavy rains
which fell in the city
yesterday.
The conference centre, dubbed the “Hall of Shame”, which the
party started
building two months ago failed to meet its targeted 5 000
seats by 500, with
some offices still incomplete.
Speaking at the
venue, Zanu PF Midlands provincial vice-chairman Larry
Mavima said: “We are
working 24 hours. Everyone is working round the clock
to get the venue
ready. The construction work has been done and now we are
laying carpets in
the conference room and we expect to finish at 9pm.”
Mavima said contrary
to the conference centre being labelled a “Hall of
Shame” by some sections
of the media, the facility was actually a “Hall of
Fame” because “we did
this in two and a half months”.
He dismissed reports the location of the
conference centre was a farm
grabbed from a white farmer, saying “this farm
was acquired by government
through legal channels seven years ago. The farm
had been derelict for six
years”.
Meanwhile, Mavhima said plans were
underway to construct a 300-room
five-star hotel at the same location and
turn the development into a tourist
attraction.
He said the project
was a culmination of efforts by the Midlands Development
Association Board
of Trustees that comprises business people, civic
organisations and Zanu PF
leaders.
“There have been reports that the structure will be a white
elephant after
the conference but they said the same about the Harare
International
Conference Centre and the National Sports Stadium.”
He
also dismissed claims by some business people from the Midlands that they
did not benefit from the construction of the conference centre as
“nonsensical”.
Meanwhile, reports continue to swirl that the
conference centre was a
project by Defence minister Emmerson Mnangagwa to
boost his image as he
positions himself to succeed Mugabe.
But
Mavhima said: “This structure is for the people of the Midlands and
Zimbabwe, not individuals. It is for the party and has nothing to do with
the political leadership.”
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
December 7, 2012 in News
ZANU PF’s
efforts to resuscitate its moribund Bulawayo and Matabeleland
provincial
structures ahead of elections next year have hit a brick wall
amid reports
of renewed infighting which has cascaded down to the party’s
youth
wing.
Report by Staff Writer
Five months after Butholezwe Gatsi
was sacked as Zanu PF youth chairperson
in Bulawayo, the structure has
failed to a elect substantive leadership and
is being represented by an
interim committee at the on-going annual people’s
conference in
Gweru.
Factionalism in the party’s Bulawayo youth wing turned violent
three weeks
ago when party members aligned to Gatsi fought pitched battles
with the rest
of the membership as they sought to prevent the national youth
executive
from entering the party’s provincial headquarters at Davies Hall
in Makokoba
to conduct elections.
The province sent a 13-member
interim committee led by Mabutho Moyo to the
conference. Gatsi appeared
resigned to his fate saying he would attend the
party’s national conference
as an ordinary member.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
December 7, 2012 in News
ZIMBABWE’S
inter-parastatal debt ballooned to a staggering US$1 billion at
the
beginning of this month, up from US$600 million in April, in a
development
further demonstrating the coalition government’s failure to deal
with the
country’s socio-economic ills.
Report by Herbert Moyo
This was
disclosed by State Enterprises minister Gorden Moyo in a memorandum
on the
progress of state enterprises and parastatals (SEPs) dated December 3
2012,
which cited government departments and local authorities as being
among the
culprits.
While the memorandum sought to paint an optimistic picture by
detailing
improvements in the operations and cash-flow of some of the SEPs
like the
Zimbabwe Electricity Distribution and Transmission Company, there
is no
hiding the fact that the inclusive government has woefully failed to
arrest
parastatal rot.
“Inter-parastatal debt has been a major
challenge for most SEPs and this has
led to cash-flow problems, inability to
attract investors and access to
lines of credit due to unattractive balance
sheets,” reads part of Moyo’s
report.
Disclosure that government
would pay US$124 466 249 to SEPs to meet their
statutory obligations to
Zimra is a tacit admission that government has
failed to restore
profitability and good corporate governance to the
troubled
SEPs.
Moyo also revealed parastatals neglected even the most basic
tenets of good
corporate governance.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
December 7, 2012 in News
GOVERNMENT has
approved construction of a semi-permanent conference centre
at African Sun
Limited’s Elephant Hills resort in Victoria Falls, a move
likely to boost
the listed hotelier’s operations ahead of the United Nations
World Tourism
Organisation (UNWTO) general assembly next August.
Report by Staff
Writer
The aluminum glass fabrication structure with a lifespan of 30
years and
capacity of more than 1 000 delegates is set to be the main
conference
centre for the assembly which Zimbabwe will co-host with
Zambia.
Sources close to the development said government is working with
private
players to finalise the project, including proper evaluation.
Government had
been pushing for construction of a permanent 4 000-seater
conference centre
in Victoria Falls to become the country’s legacy for
generations after the
assembly, but sources said it had ditched the
plan.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
December 7, 2012 in News
SOUTH Africa’s
Transnet Freight Rail (TRF) is reportedly engaged in
negotiations with the
National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ) and Beitbridge
Bulawayo Railways (BBR)
to create a consortium of four African railway
organisations to form a
unified railway system on the north–south corridor
linking South Africa and
the Democratic Republic of Congo that will be based
in
Bulawayo.
Report by Staff Writer
Media reports from South Africa
say apart from the two Zimbabwean railway
companies, TRF will work with
Zambian Railways and the DRC’s Societe
Nationale des Chemins Fer du Congo to
create a joint operating centre based
in Bulawayo. The project aims to
ensure integrated resource planning would
take place to achieve operational
efficiency in the region.
NRZ public relations officer Fanuel Masikati
declined to comment when
contacted for confirmation, referring the Zimbabwe
Independent to the
Southern African Railway Association (Sara).
Sara
said they were not aware of the development.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
December 7, 2012 in News
CONSTRUCTION
of West Properties’ US$100 million Mall of Zimbabwe in the
plush Borrowdale
suburb of Harare has received the green light from the
Environmental
Management Agency (EMA), the property firm has confirmed.
Report by
Taurai Mangudhla
West Properties chief executive, Mike van Blerk, said in
an interview this
week that EMA had approved his company’s application to
develop the entire
open space between Borrowdale West and Dandaro Village
after 11 months of
negotiations.
West Properties will construct a 68
000sqm mall, office parks, cluster
homes, a school and medical
facilities.
“The approval is for developing roads and sewer and the
like,” van Blerk
said.
“The plan was approved on condition that we
maintain a central wetland core
of some sort so we want to create a weir or
dam so that there will be
surface water.”
There used to be a river
about 75 years ago so we want to create a canal,”
van Blerk said.A weir is a
low dam built across a stream to divert its water
or to control its flow.The
50 hectare weir would be built at the centre of
the land development to
allow water from the area to be drained into it.
Construction is expected
to start in February 2013 with completion earmarked
for October 2014.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
December 7, 2012 in Politics
THE on-going Zanu PF
annual conference which officially opens today in Gweru
will have a palpable
air of déjà vu about it, while being some sort of a
homecoming for President
Robert Mugabe who will be retracing his political
footpath to the city where
he started his long career in the party in 1964.
Report by Herbert
Moyo
Almost 50 years ago, Zanu PF, after breaking away from the late
vice-president Joshua Nkomo’s Zapu, held its first congress in Gweru from
May 21-23, 1964, with Mugabe being among the founding leaders.
Zanu
PF had been formed the year before.
Interestingly, Mugabe will today be
the only surviving founding Zanu PF
leader who was at the Gweru congress in
1964.
This partly explains why the on-going Zanu PF conference is unable
to
discuss the explosive succession issue.
As the last man standing
from the initial generation of leaders attending
the conference, Mugabe is
now virtually unassailable as those working with
him are relative
newcomers.
Zanu PF officials told the Zimbabwe Independent this week
there is now an
emerging consensus in the party that while Mugabe is now old
and has
overstayed his welcome, no one was able to challenge.
Senior
party officials say Zanu PF is in a Catch-22 about what to do with
Mugabe.
Those vying to replace him, Vice-President Joice Mujuru and
politburo bigwig
Emmerson Mnangagwa, are not his political peers and are
running
scared.
Mujuru was just nine years old at the time of the 1964 congress,
while
Mnangagwa was a young cadre receiving military training in
Egypt.
“There is a whole range of factors why he remains the undisputed
party
leader even if some people are complaining that he is now too old and
has
overstayed,” a senior Zanu PF leader said.
“There is the issue of
history. He is the only founding Zanu PF leader who
attended the first
congress who is still part of the leadership. He has been
in Zanu PF for
about 50 years now. In other words, most, if not all, of
those around him
are newcomers.
Besides, he has been party leader since 1977 and in power
since 1980.
“Add to this his non-nonsense leadership style and fearsome
reputation, you
then understand why no-one can openly challenge him or
question his
suitability as our presidential election candidate next
year.”
Although Mugabe (88) is reeling from old age and associated health
complications, he was endorsed in the run-up to the conference to be the
candidate without question.
All the party’s 10 provinces stampeded to
endorse him and this has been
happening since the death of the late army
commander General Solomon Mujuru
and the departure from the party of his
fellow politburo heavyweight Dumiso
Dabengwa.
“The succession issue
won’t be raised in any way at the conference. However,
people are concerned
about the future of the party and are asking whether he
(Mugabe) will seek
re-election at next year’s congress or pass on the reins
of power to a
younger leader, especially if he wins the election. It’s a
worrying
situation, but no one can speak out about it,” a Zanu PF official
said.
Zanu PF founder and former treasurer-general Enos Nkala
recalled in an
interview with the Independent this week that the 1964
congress had many
luminaries including the likes of Ndabaningi Sithole,
Leopold Takawira,
Herbert Chitepo, Henry Hamadziripi, Trynos Makombe, Simon
Muzenda, Eddison
Zvobgo and vibrant youths like Edgar Tekere (all late),
among others.
“Many of the founding leaders have died. Muzenda is dead,
Makombe is dead,
as well as Zvobgo, Tekere and (Noel) Mukono, among others,
leaving Mugabe as
the sole survivor with Zanu PF now tucked firmly in his
pocket,” Nkala said.
During last year’s Zanu PF conference in Bulawayo
Mugabe made an oblique
reference to the fact that most of his contemporaries
had died and he was
the only remaining one.
At the 1964 Zanu PF Gweru
congress, Sithole was elected president, Takawira
vice-president, Mugabe
secretary-general, Chitepo chairman and Tekere deputy
secretary for
youth.
As a teacher who had returned from Ghana a few years earlier
before joining
the National Democratic Party and Zapu, it is said Mugabe was
a reluctant
leader perhaps fulfilling the Shakespearean axiom of having
greatness thrust
upon him.
He showed his reluctance by hesitating to
join the liberation struggle,
leaving Zapu to join Zanu, refusing to engage
Sithole at the Gweru congress
to fight for the party leadership, and later
resisting efforts in jail to
oust Sithole through a prison coup.
In
his autobiography, A lifetime of Struggle, Tekere writes: “Contrary to
common perceptions, Mugabe tended to defer to his leaders right to the end.
This was to happen again in the case of the sacking of Ndabaningi Sithole as
leader of Zanu in mid-1974.”
Although Tekere later fell out with
Sithole, he observed the founding Zanu
PF leader –– and not Mugabe –– was
the leading light in the party at the
time as he was forthright and not
reluctant to lead from the front.
Given how Mugabe is now running Zanu PF
and Zimbabwe, his late colleagues
must be turning in their graves. As
Mugabe’s political contemporary, Nkala
remains the only critical voice
against his leadership and policy failures.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
December 7, 2012 in Politics
THE recently
formed MDC-T Supporters’ Forum has rejected as “undemocratic”
the party’s
controversial proposal to hold confirmation exercises for
sitting MPs,
saying all aspiring party candidates must be subjected to open
primary
elections ahead of crunch polls next year.
Report by Wongai
Zhangazha
The forum comprises the party’s supporters from the
high-density suburbs of
Kambuzuma, Mufakose, Rugare, Dzivaresekwa, Warren
Park and Kuwadzana.
It is a loose union of MDC-T district executives
disgruntled over their
party’s selection process for candidates for the
forthcoming polls.
The forum says it is totally opposed to the imposition
of candidates, urging
the party to stick to its founding democratic
principles which must not be
compromised to protect party
heavyweights.
In a bid to protect their current seats from internal
rivals, senior MDC-T
leaders came up with a divisive confirmation method to
circumvent open
primaries ahead of general elections.
Under the
confirmation process, the party’s constituency structures would be
asked to
affirm the incumbent to be the party nominee by a majority vote,
while
primary elections would pit all aspiring candidates against each
other.
The frustrated supporters have also started mobilising
independent
candidates they would defiantly campaign for in the event the
party ignores
their demands.
“There are scenarios which the
supporters’ forum has observed which are
threatening the unity of the
party,” said the forum in a statement.
“First, current MPs, senators and
councillors fear that primary elections
would cost them their
jobs.
There are also those who did not make it in 2008; these are a group
of
political opportunists who take parliament and council as a commercial
enterprise where they can earn salaries and make a living instead of
ensuring public service delivery.
Zimbabweans expect nothing short of
real change.”
The forum said supporters voted for change in 2000, 2002 and
2008, but now
they would use their vote wisely and not allow the party to
impose
candidates.
“The party says it does not want to impose
candidates for the 2013 elections
when it is actually imposing them through
the party constitution which
pampers the national council with unfettered
powers to decide the process to
choose prospective candidates,” the
statement read.
“This is dictatorship at its highest level.”
The
forum added: “The party has had the same MPs in most constituencies
since
2000 because of this undemocratic method. They (MPs) have been
misinforming
the national elections directorate of the party that they
obtained the
two-thirds majority of the wards and branches to avoid primary
elections in
their constituencies. This process of confirmation is open to
manipulation.”
The forum wants the MDC-T to call for a meeting of the
party’s general
membership in the constituencies where aspiring candidates
would be
nominated by 10 voters for them to contest primaries.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
December 7, 2012 in
News
ENVIRONMENTALIST and University of Zimbabwe researcher Professor
Chris
Magadza has partly attributed the contamination of Harare’s water to
the
destruction of wetlands and government’s failure to take protective
action,
while warning residents of the capital are drinking filtered
urine.
Report by Wongai Zhangazha
Magadza made the remarks during
a field trip to several Harare wetlands
under threat, which include
Cleveland Dam, wetlands in Msasa Industrial
area, Gunhill, Borrowdale and
Monavale.
Government has ignorantly dismissed preservation of wetlands as
irrelevant
saying the nation cannot be put to a standstill saving a “few
frogs and a
few trees”.
Authorities controversially approved the
building of a hotel and shopping
mall by a Chinese company on a wetland in
Monavale opposite the National
Sports Stadium in Harare.
Construction
is almost complete and it is already advertising shops to lease
at the
complex.
Magadza said without wetlands Harare’s water supply was doomed,
as almost
all open green spaces in the city are vleis of wetlands that form
the
“fragile headquarters of the Manyame, Marimba, Gwebi catchment basin
upon
which the city is built”.
He said Manyame River now supplied 50
% of clean water while the remainder
was “our returned urine”.
“Lake
Chivero receives so much sewage and there is algae called Microcystis
which
can cause liver cancer,” said Magadza. “For example, in South Africa
this
algae has killed a lot of cattle.
Water in Cleveland Dam is among the
cleanest water in the country because of
wetlands around the dam which clean
any pollution,” Magadza said.
Magadza claimed that fertilizer maker,
Zimphos, produced the most pollution
that finds its way into Cleveland
Dam.
“The amount of substance found in the water in the 1960s to 1980s
was around
25 microzymas, but today there is about 60-80 microzymas due to
increased
pollution. The acid waste from Zimphos ends up in Lake Chivero.
The wetlands
are an asset to water purification as they filter off
fertilisers,” Magadza
said.
According to statistics by environmental
experts, the average water table in
Harare has declined from 15m to 30m in
the past decade because of wetland
loss and illegal sinking of
boreholes.
Environmental expert Dr Willie Nduku said Harare was badly
located in terms
of water supply as the city was on a catchment basin yet
government was
allowing companies and individuals to build in areas that
paused threats to
the city’s water sources.
Harare Residents Trust
chairperson Precious Shumba said the local authority
was not committed to
improving water purification and supply although
pre-budget consultations
indicated that 58% of the US$64 million collected
by the Harare City Council
up to the end of July this year was from water
bills.
“From our
analysis of the revenues being collected by the city, the bulk of
the money
is coming from the water services, confirming that water is the
council’s
cash-cow, which has reportedly financed most council operations,
including
payment of salaries and administration costs,” said Shumba.
“But there
has not been any meaningful investment of the revenues
collected from water
services into infrastructure development and
expansion.”
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
December 7, 2012 in News
THE writing
off by government of US$9 million car loan scheme debts for
legislators has
provoked uproar amid criticism that MPs are lazy and greedy,
seeking
self-aggrandisement like fortune hunters instead of dealing with
development
issues in their constituencies and ensuring public services
delivery.
Report by Herbert Moyo
The decision by Finance
minister Tendai Biti to write off the debts has
caused outrage as critics
say the current crop of legislators has benefitted
substantially despite a
struggling economy which they have done little to
revive.
Besides
their failure to deliver, a recent United Nations Development
Programme
(UNDP) report titled Baseline Survey on Sector Specific Capacity
Building
Requirements for Committees of Parliament, says 65% of Zimbabwe’s
current
MPs require intensive training in legislation and budget analysis as
they
are not skilled and competent to perform their tasks.
At least 300
legislators, including Lower House MPs and senators, got US$30
000 each
under the car loan scheme which is a revolving fund. In addition to
the
cancellation of debts, it also emerged last week that in December last
year
Treasury deposited a flat US$15 000 into all MPs’ accounts.
This was
despite the fact that MPS were not entitled to the allowances.
Biti let
the cat out of the bag when he told the House of Assembly last
Tuesday: “We
wrote off the US$30 000 loans for the vehicles even though the
law says you
must repay. Last year, we gave you that bonus, which I shall
not mention,
otherwise it will be written in the papers. We have done a lot
of things for
you because we really understand your plight.”
In May legislators
demanded residential stands at subsidised prices in
“respectable suburbs”,
arguing this would save Treasury the burden of paying
exorbitant hotel bills
for their accommodation. The term “respectable
suburbs” is an indirect
reference to residential areas which are not high
density neighbourhoods,
meaning MPs want to distance themselves from poor
communities.
In
July, they demanded laptops and desktop computers from Information
Communication Technology minister Nelson Chamisa.
And in September,
the MPs said they wanted US$8 million from Copac for the
90 days they
claimed they were underpaid during the constitution-making
outreach
programme. They said the US$25 they received was way below the
approved
allowance of US$75 per day for any parliamentary business, but
their demands
were dismissed.
MPs also arm-twisted the executive into making blanket
payments of US$15 000
each as sitting allowances despite records showing
some of them only
attended parliamentary sessions
sporadically.
Currently legislators are supposed to be paid a US$1 400
base salary per
month, along with US$75 in sitting allowances and stipends
for leadership
positions or committee posts.
However, they claim that
they were being paid US$250 per month from 2008 to
2011.
While the
legislature made one demand after the other, their performance has
been
heavily criticised.
In June NewsDay reported about 52 House of Assembly
legislators and 23
senators had not uttered a word in debates, let alone
delivered maiden
speeches.
The image of MPs has been further dented
by truant ministers some of whom,
according to the NewsDay article, had
missed sitting more than 20 times by
June.
The main pieces of
legislation that the current parliament has passed since
2008 include the
Public Finance Management Act, the Audit Office Act, the
national Security
Council Act, the Reserve Bank Amendment Act, the
Constitution of Zimbabwe
Amendment No 19, the Deposit Protection Corporation
Act and the Small
Enterprises Corporation Amendment Act.
Executive director of the Southern
African Parliamentary Support Trust John
Makamure has pointed out that: “The
GPA (Global Political Agreement)
mandated parties to come up with a
legislative agenda that conforms to the
spirit of the agreement of promoting
democratic values, human freedom and
security of the person. One can safely
say that there has been limited
progress in that regard.”
He said MPs
had limited time before the next elections to make a difference
in terms of
enacting good laws, noting “failure to do so means this
parliament will only
be remembered for clamouring for improved conditions of
services which
cannot be justified in the absence of tangible outcomes on
the law-making
front”.
Makamure urged MPs to make a difference through introducing
private bills.
In 2010, Treasury introduced the Constituency Development
Fund (CDF) through
which MPs were given US$50 000 to fund development
initiatives in their
constituencies.
However, some of that cash was
abused by unscrupulous MPs who have been
arrested or are facing arrest over
the issue. An audit into how the funds
were used was indefinitely put on
hold amid fears culprits would be allowed
to get away with it.
Former
MDC MP Job Sikhala, who represented St Marys from 2000 to 2005, said
although legislators were advanced vehicle loans during his time, the money
was deducted every month from their salaries.
“We chose cheaper cars
we could afford because you had to pay back
everything or risk the car being
sold to defray expenses,” said Sikhala. “We
didn’t have any of this madness
in which MPs get cars for free.”
However, Bulawayo East MP Tabitha
Khumalo (MDC-T) defended MPs, arguing they
were only trying to ensure their
remuneration reflected their social status
as elected
representatives.
“It is only fair that we also engage the executive on
issues pertaining to
our welfare because we haven’t been paid our sitting
allowances,” she said.
Institute for a Democratic Alternative for
Zimbabwe public policy and
governance manager Jabusile Shumba said, of the
19 bills presented in the
course of the fourth session of parliament that
ended on October 29 2012,
only the the Finance and Appropriation Bills
giving effect to the 2012
Budget and Older Persons Bill were passed, showing
MPs have been sleeping on
the job.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
December 7, 2012 in Politics
ALTHOUGH the
run-up to Zimbabwe’s general elections have always been
characterised by
violence and intimidation since 1980, the intensity scaled
new levels in
2000 when the emerging MDC threatened Zanu PF’s two-decade
grip on
power.
Report by Elias Mambo
After losing the referendum on a
government-backed Constitutional Commission
draft constitution in 2000, Zanu
PF embarked on a violent seizure of
white-owned commercial farms as its main
elections campaign drive.
Exploiting a legitimate historical grievance,
the party used the land reform
issue as an instrument to mobilise votes,
while unleashing terror across the
land.
This became Zanu PF’s trump
card for the 2000, 2002 presidential polls and
2005 general elections as it,
underpinned by violence, somehow worked to the
party’s
advantage.
Although the issue appealed to masses of dispossessed
peasants, it also
offered the party an opportunity to use its dependable
weapons to win
elections: brutality and fear.
The MDC was formed in
1999 against a backdrop of growing demands by civil
society and political
activists for political and economic reform as the
country started
deteriorating due to extended periods of misgovernment and
maladministration.
While Zanu PF used the land issue as its campaign
theme, the MDC campaigned
on the platform of change.
But towards the
2008 elections, Zanu PF started changing its campaign theme,
shifting focus
from land reform and toning down on the attendant rhetoric to
concentrate on
its new strategy based on indigenisation.
The indigenisation campaign
approach is now reinforced by Zimbabwe
Broad-Based Economic Empowerment
Policy (2013-42) developed by the Ministry
of Youth, Indigenisation and
Economic Empowerment.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s MDC-T
party last week launched
a new economic blueprint, Jobs, Upliftment,
Investment, Capital and the
Environment (Juice) to succeed the
Reconstruction Stabilisation Recovery and
Transformation (Restart): Our Path
to Social Justice plan which was part of
its last election’s manifesto and
campaign strategy.
The MDC-T blueprints, including the initial Bridge,
Restart and Juice, were
designed to buttress the party’s manifestos and
electoral messages based on
its change rallying call.
With elections
fast approaching, the two main political parties are once
again crafting new
manifestos and sharpening campaign strategies. Although
the effectiveness of
the land reform programme and indigenisation are
questionable, a recent
Freedom House survey claimed they have helped Zanu PF
to recover lost
ground.
The survey, which addressed political power, elections, fear and
violence,
the constitution, and socio-economic conditions, said the MDC-T’s
support is
plunging, while Zanu PF has been recovering, although almost half
of
potential voters remained undecided, at by July.
“It is only a few
of the most popular reasons for party choice in Zimbabwe
that show up clear
differences between the two pain parties’ supporters.
Land, indigenisation,
foreign interference in Zimbabwe and especially
liberation from colonialism
do differentiate. The survey results clearly
show that Zanu PF has crafted
itself a number of effective election and
party choice platforms,” the
survey says.
“The MDC-T largely relies on its emphasis on change, and to
some extent on
civil liberties, to achieve such platforms.
“The item
on defending Zimbabwe against ‘foreign interference’ shows that
this Zanu PF
‘battle cry’ finds resonance across the party and undeclared
boundaries. The
same applied to the themes of indigenisation and land
reform. On the theme
of ‘liberation from the British’ Zanu PF is more
isolated, with the MDC-T
and undeclareds not supporting this platform in
great numbers,” the survey
said.
The survey also says there is a high level of consensus between the
supporters of the two political parties that the way they govern is an
important reason for them to be supported.
It follows both from the
survey and from common logic that perspectives on
the parties’ respective
performance in government – and in particular in
inclusive government –
would help shape voters’ minds and voting trends.
Although violence has
been simmering at a low level for the past couple of
years, it is still
there in sufficientmeasure to remind people that it can
be stepped up in an
instant.
The Zanu PF military-political complex has honed low intensity
violence to a
fine art: when announcements of pending elections are made,
violence
usually erupts.
So the biggest question now is: what will
swing the next elections likely to
be a close affair, Zanu PF’s
indigenisation policy or the MDC-T’s change
agenda? Or will the “margin of
terror” make the real difference as it has
done in the past?
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
December
7, 2012 in News
PRIME Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s MDC-T party last week
launched its new
economic blueprint, Jobs, Upliftment, Investment, Capital
and the
Environment (Juice) to succeed the Reconstruction Stabilisation
Recovery and
Transformation (Restart): Our Path to Social Justice plan which
was part of
its manifesto and campaign strategy in the last
elections.
Report by Clive Mphambela
Restart was concerned with
the country’s immediate stabilisation and
reconstruction, as well the
party’s industrialisation strategy, through
which jobs and economic growth
would be sustained in the long-term.
The main objectives of Restart were
to reconstruct the social fabric and
economic infrastructure, to stabilise
the macro-economic fundamentals,
recover levels of savings, investment and
growth, and to transform the
economy and society to achieve equitable,
inclusive national development.
It was set to increase real incomes and
employment, empowering previously
disadvantaged groups by providing them
with access to resources and
opportunities to increase their incomes in a
meaningful way.
The programme also sought to ensure Zimbabweans had
equitable access to
high-quality, affordable health, education and social
services, which are
essential for economic development.
Prior to
Juice and Restart, the MDC-T launched Bold, Revitalising &
Innovative
approach to the economy based on Development, Growth & Employment
strategies (Bridge).
Its key elements were job creation, driven
initially by increased public
spending on health, education and housing,
exchange rate stability, cutting
inflation, alleviating poverty,
privatisation and, crucially important,
agrarian reform.
While
nothing much about Bridge and Restart has been achieved during the
MDC-T’s
foray in the inclusive government, except macro-economic
stabilisation after
the introduction of the multicurrency regime in 2009,
the party has now come
up with Juice, promising a million jobs under it.
In what appeared to
have been a response to the Ministry of Youth
Development, Indigenisation
and Economic Empowerment’s framework,
underpinned by the current economic
empowerment thrust, Zimbabwe
Broad-Based Economic Empowerment Policy 2013-42
(ZBBEEP), the MDC-T launched
a new plan for economic recovery and job
creation.
Whilst these policy documents are not quite two sides of the same
coin, they
have one thing in common: they make big promises but don’t
elucidate on the
how part of it.
The MDC-T’s Juice is an initiative
for the next five years but has a
long-term outlook of 30 years.
It
aims to initially deliver one million new jobs by 2018 and a US$100
billion
GDP by 2040. However, it does not address the key issue: how will
all this
be achieved?
The ZBBEEP, driven by the Indigenisation ministry and guided
by the
Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Act (Chapter 14:33) of March
2008
and the Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment (General) Regulations
issued
in February 2010, also suffers from the same problem: it does not
address
how company seizures will translate into economic growth, job
creation and
employment, and empowerment of the people.
The essence
of the widely-criticised empowerment laws is “to endeavour to
secure that at
least 51% of the shares of every public company and any other
business shall
be owned by indigenous Zimbabweans”.
The regulations provide that all
businesses in Zimbabwe with a net asset
value equal to or above US$500 000
should formulate plans that will lead to
5% of its shares being transferred
to “indigenous” Zimbabwean shareholders
within five years from the date of
operation of the regulations.
While the MDC-T and Zanu PF policy
documents agree unemployment is a huge
problem in the country, they both
fail to detail credible job creation
initiatives beyond wishful
thinking.
Juice says it will deliver one million jobs by 2018, whilst
ZBBEEP claims it
will create five million jobs by 2042. But they propose no
viable job
creation strategies and implementation mechanisms, leaving them
open to
criticism that they are just unrealistic and empty election
manifestos.
According to Juice, the wheels came off Zimbabwe’s economy in
1997 when the
controversial land redistribution exercise began, resulting in
the fallout
with the international community and a toxic local business
climate.
These issues combined to drive the loss of jobs and livelihood
for a large
number of people across various sectors of the economy as new
investment
dwindled and companies’ output shrank.
In an apparent
reference to Zanu PF’s economic empowerment programme, Juice
argues the
creation of new jobs is more empowering than opaque
share-ownership schemes
via obscure community share-trusts, which may
ultimately not benefit the
intended marginalised people.
“As a direct result of Juice we expect to
achieve the creation of one
million new jobs between 2013-2018 within the
framework of a projected
average GDP growth rate of 8% per annum during that
period, macro-economic
stability anchored by single digit inflation, the
deepening and
strengthening of the role of SMEs, widening domestic savings
mobilisation
and the normalisation of Zimbabwe’s international relations,”
the MDC-T
says.
The MDC-T blueprint, just like the Zanu PF one, is
good in describing the
problems not offering a solution. The party says it
will implement a
Natural Resources Charter and promote a green economy,
increase power
generation capacity to 6 000 megawatts by 2018.
It
hopes in that timeframe to drive reconstruction of the country’s
infrastructure and attract FDI that is at least 30% of GDP. The aim is to
lay the foundation for a US$100 billion economy by 2040.
Juice also
promises creating decent employment opportunities for all
Zimbabweans,
whilst providing opportunities to every citizen to pursue
happiness,
achieving social justice and nurturing their natural environment
in a
democratic society without state bureaucratic hindrance.
Its other key
elements include creating an investor friendly environment to
attract
domestic and Foreign Direct Investment.
This would help increase the
productive sector’s capacity utilisation to
ensure job creation through
capital investment.
The blueprint also proposes policies that promote
capital formation through
efficient financial markets and greater
integration with regional and global
markets to facilitate sustainable
growth.
Juice also aims at a comprehensive programme that provides for the
delivery
of good-quality social services such as education and healthcare in
a way
that is affordable to all.
In addition to managing the
country’s foreign debt, Juice also promises
restructuring the ownership and
control of the economy through a broad-based
economic empowerment
programme.
ZBBEEP says it is underpinned by the desire to expand the
economic base
through promoting, encouraging, forming and growing existing
and new
industries of all sizes, across all sectors of the economy,
particularly the
creation of a vibrant micro, small and medium enterprise
sector dominated by
previously disadvantaged Zimbabwean
entrepreneurs.
However, judging by experience, these programmes are
likely to suffer the
same fate as the plethora of other plans such as the
Transitional National
Development Plan in 1980, Five-year Development Plans
in the 1980s, Economic
Structural Adjustment Programme (Esap) and Zimbabwe
Programme for Economic
and Social Transformation (Zimprest) in the 1990s,
Vision 2020, Economic
Revival Plan, Short Term Emergency Recovery Programme
(Sterp) and now the
Medium Term Plan after 2000, among others.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
December 7, 2012 in Business
Zimbabwean
banks have proposed a new low-cost bank account to be rolled out
to low
income earners in a bid to drive financial inclusion and lower the
cost of
banking.
Report by Staff Writer
Details of the mooted account are
contained in a memorandum of understanding
entered into among participating
banks through the Bankers Association of
Zimbabwe, the Ministry of Finance
and the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe.
The new account, to be called
“Zimtransact”, will be an entry level account
requiring a small minimum
opening deposit and minimum balance of US$5,00.
The Zimtransact account
will have a free ATM card and ATM withdrawals will
be free, while point of
sale transactions at retail outlets will attract a
small US$0,10
fee.
However, fees for RTGS and mobile banking transactions will be
determined by
banks individually,while withdrawals from the branches would
attract normal
bank charges.
A monthly account maintenance fee of
US$3,00 would be applicable to the
account.
“Banks incur costs of
building and maintaining the infrastructure within the
branch, even the
tellers have to be paid, so it is reasonable to expect
customers to pay for
the services accessed through the branch,” a senior
banker said to
businessdigest.
Deposits made into the Zimtransact account would be
capped at US$300 per
month to curb potential abuse by high income earners. A
1% levy would be
applied to all deposits above US$300 per month, the MOU
says.
The one-year agreement is motivated by the need for a concerted and
consultative approach in addressing the issue of bank charges and interest
rates in the economy and seeks to promote financial inclusion and the
promotion of electronic banking.
The savings account would attract
interest at the rate of 2% per annum
provided such funds are in line with
each individual bank’s minimum balance
requirements.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
December 7, 2012 in Business
Industrial
espionage allegations against British American Tobacco Zimbabwe
(BATZ) have
opened a Pandora’s box, amid revelations this has attracted the
attention of
the Competition and Tariffs Commission, which this week
disclosed to
businessdigest that there would be a formal enquiry on the
goings-on at the
country’s largest cigarette manufacturer.
Report by Clive
Mphambela
Senior officials from the CTC, who spoke to businessdigest on
condition of
anonymity, said the allegations against BATZ warranted a closer
look as it
was possible the law could have been broken.
“As you are
aware, we have taken a keen interest in the reports carried in
your paper as
well as others. We are now gathering evidence so that we can
establish if
there were material breaches of the law by BAT in the conduct
of their
business,” a senior CTC official said.
CTC had taken an interest in the
case since the allegations against BATZ
might amount to “anti-competitive
behaviour” which is outlawed under the
competition laws of this
country.
The CTC is a statutory body which was established by the merger
of the
former Industry and Trade Competition Commission and the Tariff
Commission.
The enabling statute is the Competition Act (Chapter
14:28).
According to the CTC, its mandate is to promote and maintain
competition
and fair trade in the economy of Zimbabwe through the
prohibition of
restrictive and unfair business and trade practices; the
investigation of
unfair trade practices hindering the growth of the domestic
industry; and
the promotion of the growth of efficient export-oriented and
internationally-competitive industries within the framework of the economic
policy of the country.
The CTC investigation comes hot on the heels
of similar enquiries being held
by other law enforcement agencies, the
Criminal Investigation Department and
the Zimbabwe Republic Police.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
December 7, 2012 in Business
Embattled national
carrier Air Zimbabwe believes it will claw back its
market share on the
lucrative US$30 million-a- month Harare-Johannesburg
route since
re-introducing flights on this circuit two months ago.
Report by Staff
Writer
The airline is currently pursuing a re-penetration pricing
strategy through
a promotional fare of US$317 return for economy class,
which runs until
December 31, 2012.
SAA and Comair charge an
average of US$600 and US$450 respectively.
The absence of Air Zimbabwe on
the route for the most part of the
multi-currency era has meant South
African Airways and British Airways
Comair have been raking in all the
revenue therefrom, which is about US$7
million a week.
Air Zimbabwe
resumed flights to Johannesburg at the end of October on a four
times-a-week
frequency, flying the 767-200ER, which has a seating capacity
of
203.
Airline spokesperson Shingai Taruvinga said plans were in place to
gradually
increase the frequency of the flights.
At present, the
airline services the Harare-Bulawayo-Victoria Falls route
using the smaller
Boeing 737, with the domestic load factor at +80%. The
London route will be
re-introduced early next year.
During an Air Zimbabwe promotional trip
last week, one passenger Advocate
Neeta Nagar said she was happy the local
airline was flying again, noting
that other airlines were beginning to
display monopolistic tendencies by
manipulating the price.
The
re-entry of Air Zimbabwe is set to realign the market.
ZTA chief
executive Karikoga Kaseke said Air Zim had lost out on its brand
presence
and the re-penetration pricing were the best strategy it could
pursue at the
moment as it needed to regain the market share it had been
gradually losing
for over a decade.
At the moment Air Zim’s load factor for the
Harare-Johannesburg flight was
at a growing 50%. However, Kaseke said the
airline could not expect to
regain its market in three months.
“It
will take them a minimum of a year, provided government is willing to
support them financially. Without that it will take longer.” Kaseke
said.
Tourism in Zimbabwe could never reach full potential if it was a
destination
which relied on foreign carriers, Kaseke stressed. A strong
airline pulls
other airlines into the destination and in turn pushes
tourism, he added.
The ZTA chief noted that because SAA was strong, the OR
Tambo airport was
one of the busiest in the world.
South Africa is
the leading tourist destination in Africa and its national
carrier, SAA, was
a member of the largest air transport alliance in the
world, Star
Alliance.
Kaseke was against insistence that Air Zim should always be
profitable,
arguing that, the world over, governments supported their
national carriers
because of the role that air transport played in the
development of an
economy.
Profitability in airlines was therefore a
myth, Kaseke asserted. He held
that the viability or profitability of an
airline lay in what it
contributed towards economic growth.
Air
Zimbabwe’s reach at the moment is still limited although plans are in
place
to reintroduce the Bulawayo-Johannesburg flight and some international
routes. Taruvinga said the introduction will be in phases.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
December 6, 2012 in Business
The cost of living, as measured
by the Consumer Council of Zimbabwe’s low
income urban earner monthly basket
for a family of six, went up 0,08% in
November, pushed mainly by the
rise in meat prices.
Report by Gamma Mudarikiri
The cost of
living in the period marginally increased to US$572,63, up
from
US$572,18 in October.
The food basket rose to US$160, 22 in November,
from US$160,01 in October
representing a 0,13% increase.
“Of all
the commodities in the basket, meat has shown a consistent upward
increase
in price as from July 2012,” CCZ said.
The price of beef has been rising
steadily this year. Between July and
August,the price of economy beef
increased marginally to US$3,95 per kg
from US$3,92 per kg. In September the
price went up 13,8% to US$4,50 per kg.
For October and November, the economy
beef price recorded further increases
of 13,33% and 13,73% to US$5,10 per
kg and US$5,80 per kg respectively.
The prices of the other basic
commodities, among them bread, salt, onions,
cabbage, bath and laundry soaps
remained unchanged from the October figures.
The CCZ survey is conducted
twice; during the first and the last weeks of
each month. The total cost of
the food basket and the price of each
commodity are arrived at by averaging
prices gathered from several retail
outlets throughout the country.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
December 7, 2012 in Opinion
Zanu PF
apparatchik Christopher Mutsvangwa recently laid bare what we
already know
about the workings of his party, describing any challenge to
President
Robert Mugabe as “perilous”.
Column by MuckRaker
No one would dare
openly challenge Mugabe without his approval, Mutsvangwa
told The
Zimbabwean.
“Anyone who challenges Mugabe for the top job does so at his
own peril. Any
party official who wants to succeed him will only do so with
his (Mugabe’s)
blessings,” Mutsvangwa averred.
Clearly Mutsvangwa was
not reading from the official party script.
Party spokesman Rugare Gumbo
would have us believe Mugabe’s candidature is a
result of the collective
will of the “people”.
“Even if, as a senior member of the party I might want
Mugabe to go, who am
I to go against the will of the people? Let the people
decide,” Gumbo said.
Mutsvangwa has called it as it is, Cde Gumbo, there
is no need to pretend
any longer!
Faceless ‘people’
The state
media has been awash with claims that Zanu PF provinces
“unanimously”
endorsed Mugabe’s candidature to represent Zanu PF in the
forthcoming
elections.
Mugabe prefers to take a posture of humility on the issue,
resorting to his
oft stated “as long as the people want me to stay”, a
refrain underpinning
his vice-like grip on the party.
Mugabe is on
record stating he will not groom a successor assigning the
responsibility to
the “people” who “when the time comes shall decide”.
“For as long as the
people want me to stay but not for eternity, of course,”
Mugabe said in
2004.
The identity of these “people” becomes even vaguer considering
Gumbo’s
opinion of party members pushing for leadership renewal and opposing
Mugabe’s
candidacy in the next elections.
Opposition to Mugabe’s
candidacy was being spread by Zanu PF’s enemies,
Gumbo declared last
month.
“It is not for individuals to decide, but for the people,” he
said. “I think
it’s mere rumour or propaganda from the MDC to destabilise
the party.”
We are very keen to know what Gumbo and Mugabe mean by the
“people”.
Big Man syndrome
Former United Nations secretary-general
Kofi Annan was scathing in his
description of the “Big Man” system which he
said is creating dictators in
the mould of Mugabe.
Annan told New
African magazine many dictatorships in Africa were a result
of politics
encouraging the cult of the personality.
“The support for the Big Man system
–– Robert Mugabe an example –– created a
political culture that simply
encourages autocrats and dictatorships,” Annan
said.
“The struggle
that led to independence in many African nations, sometimes
led to the
creation of national movements, and not necessarily political
parties.
“When independence was achieved in these countries, they
often found
themselves in one big group. This led to the party-regime where
the leaders
did not tolerate differences, and stay on.”
“The sort of
qualities that make dynamic and revolutionary fighters, are not
necessarily
the same qualities you need to run a nation,” he said.
He couldn’t have
put it better!
Ideology of looting
A war of words has erupted
between the sponsors of the MDC-T’s Juice and
Zanu PF’s indigenisation
policy.
The Juice proponents say their programme stands for Jobs,
Upliftment,
Investment, Capital and Environment. It is designed to address
the chronic
unemployment stalking the land, we are told.
But Zanu PF
has retaliated with accusations it is a “stale plan” with ideas
borrowed
from other parties. Saviour Kasukuwere rubbished the MDC-T document
saying
it did not have a shred of pro-poor content.
“If you don’t have an
ideology and clear plans, no amount of putting
lipstick on a pig will change
it,” he said.
That, by the way, is a cliché. Anyway what has it got to do
with ideology?
Kasukuwere must know political parties are dumping ideologies
around the
world precisely because they are stale and
unattractive.
What happened to the Soviet Communist party? And the SED in
East Germany?
Tony Blair was a success as Labour leader because he moved his
party to the
political centre ground and dropped all reference to
nationalisation after
80 years of socialist posturing by his
predecessors.
South Africa has yet to heed the lesson. Nobody seriously
talks of ideology
now. It is the kiss of death. In any case, does anybody in
Zanu PF have a
clue what ideology is about? Indigenisation is about a
post-liberation
aristocracy clinging to power, not uplifting the poor. We
can all understand
that.
As for the MDC-T, their success will derive
from good governance, not some
coterie around a fading power structure. By
the way what happened to
economic blueprints, Restart and Bridge, now that
there is Juice?
MDC-T’s own goal
Since the formation of the
inclusive government, Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai and MDC-T officials
in government have been throwing plaudits to
President Mugabe and Zanu PF,
however, without reciprocation.
Tendai Biti described Mugabe as a
fountain of knowledge and stability while
Nelson Chamisa, applauded Mugabe’s
“visionary” leadership, claiming “the
president has provided leadership from
the cockpit and we are prepared to be
the passengers”.
Chamisa went
on to say Mugabe’s “wisdom” makes sure the plane does not
crash.
Following in this disingenuous path is Tsvangirai who last
week said his
party would have caused chaos if it had gone into government
without the
“apprenticeship course”, under Mugabe’s mentorship.
“It would
have been chaos and fighting each other if we had gone straight
into power,
but God had a plan,” the Herald quotes him saying.
“God has a purpose for
everything. He did not allow us to go straight into
power, but allowed us to
go through an apprenticeship course where we have
been taught how to rule
and know where the keys to govern the country are
found.”
Taught by
who, we wonder? We hope it is not Zanu PF. Such daft comments are
unlikely
to inspire confidence in voters ahead of elections.
The ‘chosen’
one
We are amused by the brickbats being exchanged between erstwhile
chums
National Constitutional Assembly (NCA) chairman Lovemore Madhuku and
the
MDC-T.
Madhuku had lambasted Tsvangirai who he said exhibited
“childishness” over
the constitution-making impasse in contrast with Mugabe
who he said
approached the issue with the “highest level of sophistication
and
intelligence”.
The MDC-T responded with a stinging statement
dismissing Madhuku as “simply
confused”.
“It is one thing for Madhuku
to constructively criticise our president
(Tsvangirai) and another thing to
hurl empty insults at him as if someone is
on the Zanu PF payroll,” the
statement read.
The NCA hit back, dismissing the MDC-T statement “with
the utmost contempt”.
In April Madhuku, who said he would soon relinquish
his post at the NCA and
venture into active party politics, claimed to have
been approached to help
topple Tsvangirai and replace him with an
academic.
“There is a mentality throughout Western embassies that MDC-T
must be led by
an academic.
“They have confided in and consulted me
on the best candidate to lead the
party instead of Prime Minister
Tsvangirai,” he said.
Judging by Madhuku’s approach could he be the chosen
one?
Handover/takeover
Finally a reader has texted us to say that
now Not-so-Bright Matonga is no
longer in the news, his place seems to have
been taken by No-Brains Kunonga!
Quite interesting.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
December 7, 2012 in Opinion
For too many
years Zimbabwe has raised one barrier to foreign direct
investment (FDI)
after another.
Column by Eric Bloch
There is an abysmal and
contemptuous disregard for the irrefutable fact that
the country desperately
needs such investment in order to attain substantive
growth of its economy.
That growth is critical if a comprehensive reduction
of the overwhelming
unemployment that has plagued Zimbabwe for too long is
to
materialise.
A virile economy is essential to alleviate the immense
poverty and suffering
that has not only afflicted an overwhelming majority
of Zimbabweans, but has
also significantly contributed to the decline in the
key infrastructure
required by the populace and the
economy.
Facilities that have deteriorated include most parastatals,
national health
and education, and many other utilities.
Our economy
needs a solvent, stable and effective fiscus.
Zimbabwe has sizeable
resources which are a magnetic attraction to FDI,
including a vast array of
minerals much sought after internationally,
ranging from gold and platinum,
to tantalite, lithium, chrome, diamonds,
methane gas, and much else. Its
soils and climate enable it to produce
various agricultural commodities in
national and international demand.
Zimbabwe has diverse tourism
attractions. Its geographic location puts it at
an advantage to be a
supplier of primary and secondary industrial products
to an extensive
portion of southern and central Africa, which has a
potential customer base
of more than 420 million people.
This is over and above an ability to
export to further afield.
Complementing these, and many other potential
economic resources, Zimbabwe
has a population which, with a few exceptions,
is very able and
work-motivated (notwithstanding the considerable extent of
Zimbabwe’s “brain
drain” to the diaspora in recent years).
With all
these and many other economic assets, Zimbabwe could have been one
of the
foremost economies in Africa, had it been a recipient of the
considerable
FDI essential for the development and exploitation of the
economic
opportunities.
It would also have accessed internationally-developed,
state-of-the-art
technologies.
However, with ever-increasing
determination, Zimbabwe has not only refrained
from accommodating the
reasonable expectations of foreign investors, but
has increasingly created
one barrier after another, or deterrents to
investment.
Any investor,
be they foreign or domestic, save for a few exceptionally
high-risk takers,
requires that investment be into an environment that has,
at the very least,
a stable economy, and preferably one which is attaining
real
growth.
In addition, he or she expects assured investment security,
political
stability, absolute respect for property rights, and an
environment which
has an assured, high level of law and order.
Over
and above these essential characteristics, investors inevitably have an
expectation that the operations of the enterprise into which investment is
made would not be endangered, or their returns unduly minimised by
peremptory, overly-authoritarian bureaucracy and state interference, or by
unduly excessive taxation or other imposts.
Tragically, not only does
Zimbabwe consistently disregard these investor
needs, and has steadfastly
failed to ensure fulfilment of essential
requirements for a conducive
investment environment, but it recurrently
pursues new and additional
policies which worsen that environment, resulting
in an endlessly ongoing
decline in new investments very desperately required
to restore well-being
of the Zimbabwean populace.
As if the unilateral expropriation of lands,
(effected without
compensation), the recurrent incidents of violence in
order to displace
farmers from accessing their lands (without any State
interventions to
contain that violence), did not suffice to alienate
investor interest,
government has continuously enabled or condoned many
other occurrences which
negate investor interest in Zimbabwe.
This
includes the contemptuous disregard for the many Bilateral Investment
Promotion and Protection Agreements, and the introduction of oppressive,
ill-considered, counter-productive laws for the indigenisation of
business.
The country has failed to administer its resources
constructively, in
consequence of which it has allowed the majority of its
parastatals to
decline to such a great extent that virtually none of the
utilities and
services essential for a vibrant economy are
available.
These include a grievous inadequacy of electricity supplies, a
near-derelict
national airline, grossly insufficient rail services, as well
as innumerable
other economically-essential needs.
It blatantly and
has brazenly allowed and enabled endless, fiscally and
economically
disabling corruption to prevail in both the public and private
sectors. It
belittles and threatens the banking sector in general and
foreign-owned
banks in particular, thereby continuously diminishing public
confidence in
the banking sector, with inevitably consequential adverse
effects upon the
economy.
It also unceasingly alienates international goodwill and strives
to deflect
recognition of its economic misconduct by attributing all
negatives to
allegedly “illegal international sanctions” which, in reality,
are only
restrictions and constraints upon the government and its underlying
entities, and upon many of those who constitute the government.
As if
all these and many other acts of commission and omission do not
suffice to
be very major deterrents to the extensive investment needed to
resuscitate
and develop the economy, endless pursuits that discourage
investments are
pursued.
Most recent is the declared intent that the Zimbabwean security
forces are
to become actively involved in monitoring and enforcing
government’s
oppressive, non-constructive, indigenisation programme, to
ensuren that
indigenous Zimbabweans have the mandatory 51% equity in
companies.
Recent reports record that an entity of senior military,
police and
intelligence service officers is to be mandated to monitor
private sector
compliance with the indigenisation policies, legislation and
regulations.
The functions of the security forces are to ensure the
defence of Zimbabwe
and its people against any enemy actions; and to assure
nationwide
compliance with the human rights-centred constitution and the
like, but not
to engage in, or interfere with, economic and business
policies.
Zimbabwe cannot benefit from security forces interfering in the
day-to-day
conduct of commerce and industry, and doing so yet further
dissuades
investors from pursuing investment opportunities in the
country.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
December 7, 2012 in
Opinion
WHILE stories on Zimbabwe’s controversial land reform programme
have
virtually disappeared from the mainstream media, save for tangential
references, a heated debate is raging among scholars on the issue,
especially following the publication of the contentious book, Zimbabwe’s
Land Reform: Myths and Realities, by Professor Ian Scoones, an agricultural
ecologist in the UK, and his local co-authors.
Opinion by Dale
Dore
The exercise emerged as a highly contested reform process both
nationally
and internationally.
Scoones and colleagues claim to have
come up with new, in-depth and
much-needed empirical research showing the
process provides the greatest
scope for improving Zimbabwe’s agriculture and
development.
However, some researchers such as Zimbabwe’s Dr Dale Doré,
former Oxford
scholar and agricultural economist, vehemently
disagree.
Ian Scoones and his co-authors caused a splash with the
publication last
year of their controversial book Zimbabwe’s Land Reform:
Myths and
Realities.
Accompanying the book were a series of eight
videos, Voices from the Field,
as well as downloadable summaries, YouTube
debates, blogs and interviews
with BBC World TV.
Articles were
serialised in The Zimbabwean newspaper and a website was set
up, replete
with congratulatory sound-bites from distinguished professorial
colleagues.
Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. This
review therefore
assesses the evidence behind this mass of publicity for the
study’s
findings.
It begins with a synopsis of the book as told by
its lead author. It then
examines some of the book’s main themes.
The
first is the authors’ insistence that their study is based on solid
empirical evidence that is used to analyse the complexities of
resettlement.
Second, it reviews the study’s research methods, especially
the analysis
used to dismiss the so-called “investment myth”. Third, it
looks into the
book’s assumptions, objectives and narrative to explain the
gaps in their
story of resettlement.
Finally, the conclusion
discusses whether there is any substance to the
hype, and it compares two
visions of land policy in Zimbabwe.
The Scoones story
Scoones has told
his story to many different audiences, but always in the
same well-practiced
and carefully scripted way. In essence, he claims that
the realities on the
ground reveal a far more positive picture of
resettlement than the negative
images or “myths” portrayed by the media.
He begins his story by noting
that the issues surrounding resettlement are
complex and nuanced. He then
disarms his audience with certain caveats by
admitting, with hand on heart,
that the story of resettlement is mixed.
Yes, he says, the process was
deeply problematic. Violence, abuse and
patronage certainly did occur, and
Masvingo province’s experiences (research
region) were of course different
to other parts of the country.
But these contentious issues are quickly
shelved as he deftly steers the
debate towards the study’s main objective,
which is to find out how the
livelihoods of those who were resettled had
been transformed. “To be
honest,” says Scoones in all sincerity, “we were
surprised. We had a whole
set of unexpected results.”
Contrary to the
myths that there was no investment in resettlement areas and
that a rural
economy had collapsed, their research revealed an important and
as yet
untold story of land reform. They found that new patterns of mixed
small-scale farming based on crops and livestock had transformed the dual
agrarian economy. He tells how resettlement has benefitted a broad set of
people: the land-hungry from nearby communal areas, townspeople making a go
for farming and civil servants investing their skills.
One of his
main claims was that two-thirds of the settlers were just
ordinary people.
Only a few were cronies. In sum: they found hardworking and
entrepreneurial
new farmers who made significant investments to create a
vibrant and dynamic
rural economy.
But he goes further. Just as commercial farmers were
assisted in the 1950s,
and smallholders supported in the 1980s,
newly-settled farmers deserve
external support and investment to build on
their entrepreneurial dynamism.
Given this opportunity, he claims, new
farmers will rise to the occasion by
contributing to local livelihoods,
national food security and broader
economic development.
Empirical
evidence and complexity
There are two key facets of their study that the
authors emphasise.
The first is the strong empirical foundations of their
work. Their research,
they say, was based on detailed, solid evidence bought
to light by real,
on-the-ground facts involving 400 households across 16
survey sites over a
10-year period.
Moreover, they aver that their
study was both objective and balanced because
they were “agnostic to the
diversity of theoretical positions”.
The second facet they emphasise is
the complexity of resettlement issues.
One of their stated aims was to
challenge simplistic generalisation (or
myths) with solid data on complex
realities.
For Scoones, it was therefore indefensible for the BBC to
treat his
“mountains of research evidence (reality)” as if they were
equivalent to an
“unsubstantiated commentary” by the Commercial Farmers
Union (myths).
But is Scoones claiming too much for this study? Is it
plausible for a study
to be both detailed, empirical and objective as well
as also being capable
of analysing complex systems?
Noam Chomsky
recently said: “As you deal with more and more complex systems,
it becomes
harder and harder to find deep and interesting properties.” He
believes that
research needs to confine itself to simple questions to find
credible and
convincing answers.
Not surprisingly, Scoones struggles hard to sustain
the contradiction
between analytical rigour and complexity. Good examples of
this difficulty
are the book’s chapters on labour markets (Chapter 6) and
“real” markets
(Chapter 7).
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
December 7, 2012 in Opinion
RECENTLY,
in the latest of the Sokwanele “land debate” contributions, Dale
Doré used
his slot to critique our work in Masvingo.
Opinion by Ian
Scoones
Since the publication of the book, Zimbabwe’s Land Reform: Myths
and
Realities, exactly two years ago we have had plenty of reviews, and a
number
of critiques.
Most common is the refrain, that Masvingo is
different to other areas (of
course, it is: see the blog on Masvingo
Exceptionalism). Others have focused
on the credentials and backgrounds of
the research team, while others have
questioned our sampling and
methodology.
Still others have called us names familiar to the discourse
from the
liberation struggle (sell-outs, collaborators, sympathisers,
liberals,
apologists and so on). Others have been plain bonkers or simply
abusive, and
I won’t share these, in case there is a family
readership.
All this shows the heated nature of the debate, and
frustrations felt. Doré’s
piece focuses on methodology, while offering no
new data to counter our
arguments.
He questions our approach to the
study of complexity in particular which
aimed at discovering emergent
patterns from diverse data, arguing instead
for a model-driven
reductionism.
In this regard, he has problems with our chapters on labour
and markets,
suggesting that they are neither novel nor revealing. Well,
others disagree,
and so do I.
This data offers, I would argue,
fundamentally new insights into labour
regimes and market processes, which
have not been discussed before, and
certainly both chapters analyse the
processes and outcomes in great detail.
The frustrations Doré feels may
be due to disciplinary preferences (he is an
economist), but exploring
patterns and processes on the ground in great
detail, I believe has
important merits, and reductionist approaches may do
violence to the
complexity observed.
Also, as part of his methodological assault, he
disputes our use of
baselines against which change is measured. But if you
read the book you can
see we were careful on this — using data on nearby
communal areas, the past
work of Bill Kinsey and colleagues on old
resettlements and the limited
available data on the production and economics
of commercial farms.
And in relation to the baseline costs on
investments, I am afraid he missed
the detail in the footnotes which
contains all the assumptions: the analysis
cannot thus so easily be
dismissed as “sheer nonsense”. Doré goes on to
accuse us of simply creating
“straw men” myths to ease the flow of our
narrative.
This is an
argument I have heard before.
Surely, people have argued, no-one ever
believed these myths! Well, just
take a look at any media commentary, donor
document and many academic pieces
and you will see these myths (and many
more) are alive and well.
A particularly pure form appeared in the press
recently penned by University
of Zimbabwe Professor Tony Hawkins if you need
convincing further.
Later, in the piece, Doré also accuses us of lack of
triangulation, an
approach to probing the robustness of
data.
Triangulation may be of methods (and we used every method,
qualitative and
quantitative we found appropriate) or of cases (and again
the site
comparisons, within and between clusters, was central in the book),
although
we do admit that we did find it difficult to gain perspectives from
former
farm owners and workers, despite many attempts.
Finally, Doré
accuses us of making “egregious false claims” about the
process of land
reform.
Again, I beg to differ. Our book offered the stories of what
happened on 16
farms — all were different (as is clear from studies from
elsewhere). The
simplistic picture Doré paints, backed up not by empirical
information, but
by broad proclamations, is not enough to understand the
diversity of
settings, processes and outcomes of Zimbabwe’s land
reform.
Two years on (and why did it take this long for his review to
emerge?), we
actually have many more cases to compare with, improving
possibilities of
triangulation. In several talks recently in Harare, I
presented a map,
showing all the studies I know about which have looked at
what has happened
in the new resettlements since 2000.
It (a series
of researches) is an impressive array, with pretty good
geographical
coverage, although clearly still some gaps. This is definitely
an incomplete
picture, so please let me know if you are doing something that
is not
captured here, as it is an important base for comparative analysis
and
reflection, both on commonalities and differences.
While there are
important variations across sites, there is an emerging,
common story that
Doré and others still find difficult to accept. These are
indeed
inconvenient truths.
The accumulating and converging evidence points to
the following:
A1 farms are doing relatively well (although could do better),
with a solid
“middle farmer” group within them who are re-investing profits
from
agriculture in their farms.
By contrast, A2 farms have
struggled, although things have improved since
the end of hyperinflation and
in the multicurrency environment since 2009.
They have been greatly assisted
by contract farming arrangements that have
provided much-needed capital and
inputs.
Private and community investment in the resettlement areas is
significant,
especially in the A1 sites. But more needs to be done, with
clear needs for
public investment in infrastructure.
Capture of farms
by high-level, politically-connected elites has taken
place, and this varies
between different parts of the country, especially in
relation to proximity
to Harare. However, even in these areas, the dominant
story remains small
and medium-scale A1 and A2 farmers.
A1 farmers, particularly on land that
was invaded and occupied, are largely
from nearby communal areas and small
towns, while A2 farmers are
predominantly former or serving civil servants,
teachers and businesspeople,
with urban connections.
The potential
for production across the resettlements is far from being
realised due to
inefficiencies in input markets, a lack of credit and rural
finance and the
high costs of transition in infrastructure, and up and
downstream
industries.
However, production has not collapsed, and is booming in some
commodities
and areas. Markets may be informal, but they generate employment
and
spin-off benefits from economic linkages in an area.
There are
nuances and variations — yes complexity — but the picture is
increasingly
clear, as are the policy challenges.
The now infamous five myths we set
out to examine in Masvingo are rejected
countrywide, although with important
qualifications — as indeed we offered
in the 288 pages of small type in our
book for Masvingo.
As Zimbabwe moves into a new phase, and a new election
settlement sometime
next year, the more consensus building and solid debate
around facts and
evidence that occurs the better.
Scoones is a co-author
of the controversial Zimbabwe’s Land Reform: Myths
and Realities.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
December 7, 2012 in Opinion
NEXT year’s
high-stakes general elections in Zimbabwe will mark a political
watershed
for this troubled country and careers of gladiators, especiallly
leading
presidential poll candidates President Robert Mugabe and Prime
Minister
Morgan Tsvangirai, as well as their political parties.
Opinion by
Dumisani Muleya
The elections would come at time when Zimbabweans remain
uncertain about the
political future of their country which has been locked
in a political
stalemate triggered by disputed election outcomes for over a
decade now.
Zimbabwe’s modern history has been characterised by periods
of tranquility
punctuated by intervals of turmoil.
Although the
country enjoyed structure-induced stability after Independence
in 1980, with
ruthless suppression of dissent, it has since 2000 been going
through
another rollercoaster period.
The situation remains volatile and as a
result people are showing evidence
of having been torn in all directions,
especially during the current
transitional period. If one follows public
debates, be it through direct
engagement or via social media platforms,
there is clear evidence
Zimbabweans are polarised and deeply
divided.
The nuanced and sometimes openly hostile political and
socio-economic
relations among Zimbabweans need to be situated in their
proper political
context.
People have been idealistic and hoping for
a better future for a long time
but they have been frequently clashing with
disillusionment and compromise.
In the midst of the heated national
debate about the future direction of the
country, a consensus is emerging
that the only way out for Zimbabwe is
through free, fair and credible
elections. Even Mugabe and his Zanu PF
diehards now agree, at least in
public, that violence is not the solution.
Yet despite lingering optimism
that the next elections could bring some form
of relief and change, many
Zimbabweans continue to fear a recurrence of
political violence and
instability.
That is why the next elections could be a turning point for
Zimbabwe in many
ways.
The polls would also be a breaking point for
political movers and shakers.
For Mugabe, the elections are simply a
do-or-die affair: either he wins and
saves himself potential trouble or is
condemned to hell through defeat.
If Mugabe loses, that will certainly
mark the end of his long and
controversial political career.
If he
wins, depending on whether legitimately or through fraud, he might
have a
chance to redeem himself. But then again his victory might still be
divisive, beyond guaranteeing himself as president for life and immunity
from accountability for his excesses in power.
However, he also has
another problem in view of the party’s congress next
year. While Mugabe had
an easy ride leading to the ongoing Gweru conference,
the situation might be
different at congress, depending on the elections
outcome.
Having
said this, the next elections might give Zanu PF a new lease of life
or bury
the party. The trouble with Zanu PF is that its fate is largely tied
to
Mugabe’s.
For Tsvangirai the elections could also be a make-or-break
affair.
If he wins, he would be guaranteed longevity in politics, but if he
loses he
might find himself under pressure to quit.
Going by his
remarks that he might go if he loses (although he later claimed
to have been
“joking”), he seems to understand this. Like Zanu PF and
Mugabe, the MDC-T’s
future without Tsvangirai, leader and face of the party,
is bleak.
Of
course, the next elections would also be a moment of truth for MDC leader
Welshman Ncube and his party.
If they have a decent showing, their
future could be bright, but if they
lose outright they would be gone. So
careers will be made and broken in the
next elections.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
December 7, 2012 in Opinion
CLEAN
and plentiful water provides the foundation for the prosperity of any
community for it to survive. Water supply issues should not be a problem for
Zimbabwe since we share the Zambezi, Pungwe, Save and Limpopo water basins
with neighbouring countries Mozambique, Zambia, Botswana and South
Africa.
Candid Comment by Dingilizwe Ntuli
However, mere access to
water is not sufficient as the lack of potable water
poses huge challenges
for Zimbabwe.
Polluted water is now the country’s biggest health risk as
most of our water
resources lack basic protection rendering them vulnerable
to pollution from
industrial plants and raw sewage.
The current water
crisis, among other things, is emblematic of Zanu PF’s
failure to govern.
Three decades of Zanu PF rule have been characterised by
neglect for the
country’s basic infrastructure.
Never mind the comatose economy, rampant
electricity shortages, potholed
roads and uncollected garbage, clean water
is the most basic of needs and
government has failed to provide that to its
citizens, and there are no
indications it will do so anytime
soon.
Disposal of sewage and waste water poses a major threat.
The
treatment capabilities for sewage and waste water remain below
expectations
in Zimbabwe, especially in Harare. Large amounts of
sewage-polluted
untreated water are discharged into the city’s water sources
every
day.
Harare is built on a watershed but ironically the city’s residents
have gone
for years struggling with water shortages.
Some Mabvuku
residents went for more than six years without a drop of water
from their
taps while parts of Borrowdale close to Hatcliffe have been dry
for about 10
years now.
Those lucky enough to get running water are not safe either as
the water is
so contaminated that it is not uncommon for residents to turn
on their taps
only to collect a brownish, greenish or yellowish
liquid.
Environmentalist and University of Zimbabwe researcher Professor
Chris
Magadza this week warned polluted drinking water is commonplace in
Harare as
the city’s water supplies consisted of “50% returned
urine”.
It is estimated roughly 80% of raw sewage is discharged into
Harare’s water
sources. No wonder the city’s residents continue to endure
primitive
waterborne diseases like cholera, dysentery and typhoid.
If
residents in the capital, the seat of government where most of our rulers
reside, literally drink purified urine, what are those in smaller towns
drinking?
The Ministry of Water Resources says the condition of
national water
infrastructure has deteriorated rapidly and operating
capacity is currently
under 40%. But how did we get to this tragic
stage?
There has been no long-term planning for provision of clean water,
or other
basic services for that matter; it is hard to recall the last time
government invested in water supply and other essentials.
Plans to
draw water from the Zambezi River to supply Bulawayo and intentions
to build
Kunzwi Dam to provide Harare remain a pie in the sky.
Industries have
shut down in Bulawayo as a result of water shortages.
Businesses and homes
in Harare continue to suffer without water. How does
government intend to
attract investment when it cannot even guarantee
adequate water
supplies?
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
December 7, 2012 in Opinion
PRESIDENT Robert
Mugabe, increasingly sounding like a broken record due to
his droning
rhetoric, will today strut the podium of the controversial
US$6,5 million
Zanu PF convention centre in Gweru like a colossus when
opening his party’s
annual conference.
Zimbabwe Independent Editorial
Predictably,
Mugabe, buoyed by his endorsement as the party’s presidential
election
candidate in the run-up to the conference, would be strutting his
stuff:
stale rhetoric on the history of the liberation struggle and his
supposed
heroics during the time; railing against internal and external
enemies, real
and imagined; attacking imperialists and sanctions; going on
about land
reform and indigenisation and also elections, among other things.
Given
that this conference comes ahead of crucial general elections next
year,
Mugabe might also try to scratch around for evidence of achievement
during
his barren 32-year rule in a bid to mask his egregious failures. The
most
familiar claims of success he usually makes revolve around social
services,
particularly education.
Now the indigenisation campaign — a coded
reference to company seizures — is
his new trump card after the disastrous
land grabs.
Zanu PF is going for broke in the next elections coming up
with all sorts of
campaign strategies and tactics, including community share
trusts, input
schemes, residential stands distribution, community projects
and deployment
of security forces. Although Zanu PF is officially broke,
according to its
previous conferences’ central committee reports and botched
fund-raising
bids before the current conference, it has been splashing money
on dubious
initiatives whose source is not known.
It is widely
thought Marange diamond fields, a hotbed of looting and
corruption, are the
source of the funds. It has already bought new cars and
campaign materials,
showing how desperate it is to win the next polls.
However, whatever
Mugabe says today in Gweru and his party does leading to
the elections, it
will not change facts on the ground: that they have failed
and are now
unelectable. Even if they win by hook or by crook, their record
will not
change. It will remain long after they are gone that they destroyed
this
country through appalling economic mismanagement, corruption and brutal
repression.
Evidence of Mugabe misrule is everywhere around us: a
struggling economy,
ruined agriculture sector which was the mainstay of the
economy, food
insecurity and hunger, and poor social service delivery,
particularly the
shortages of water, electricity, crumbling education and
health facilities,
and collapsed infrastructure, including roads, dams and
bridges.
As we carry in a story somewhere in this edition of our paper,
experts say
Harare residents are now drinking “filtered urine” as water. If
this is not
evidence of failure, then what is?
Besides, whole cities,
Bulawayo being the main example, are dying under his
watch. Leaving alone
the breakdown of state enterprises as but one example
of national failure,
the collapse of Zanu PF’s own companies shows beyond
reasonable doubt that
Mugabe and his cronies can’t run anything.
Given all this, Mugabe must
get off stage for his own sake and that of the
nation.
