Zimbabwejournalists.com
By a Correspondent
HARARE - The Zimbabwe National
Students Union (Zinasu) has warned the
Zimbabwe government that students all
over the country will soon rise and
make the country ungovernable if it
continues to hold arrested students
unlawfully.
Zinasu secretary
general, Beloved Chiweshe, said: "The continued unlawful
detention of
students is a highly flammable act of injustice and that the
students in
Zimbabwe will soon rise and turn this country ungovernable."
"We want
regime change," said Chiweshe, speaking as students and Women of
Zimbabwe
Arise members arrested Tuesday remained in custody for the second
night in
Harare and Bulawayo.
The students were arrested at the Harare Polytechnic
where state security
agents foiled their planned protest against the
decaying education sector in
the country, the high cost of learning and
related issues.
Chiweshe said unless and until their demands were
addressed fully, the
students would "continue undiluted and unabated in
fighting the illegitimate
rogue government of Robert Mugabe head
on".
Zinasu president, Promise Mkwananzi, and 11 other students remain in
police
holding cells following their arrest Tuesday.
The students' body
said their arrested leaders are being continually denied
food and legal
representation. Scores of concerned fellow students went to
Harare Central
Police yesterday demanding the unconditional release of their
colleagues but
were harassed and threatened with arrest.
"It is also further reported that
the overzealous Harare Polytechnic College
Principal, little known Steven P
Raza mounted the College entrance harassing
students, lecturers and
non-academic staff," a statement from Zinasu said.
Lawyers from the Zimbabwe
Lawyers for Human Rights have confirmed that some
lecturers were also
arrested during the students' protest but their names
and whereabouts have
not been revealed.
Meanwhile WOZA, which Tuesday said 174 members had
been arrested in Bulawayo
now says 174 members were incarcerated in Bulawayo
and of these, 36 have
been released into the custody of their lawyers.
Of
the 174 arrested, 17 were juveniles, 20 mothers with babies and three
pregnant women.
Only seven of the group are being charged under the
Criminal Law
(Codification and Reform) Act for "participating in a gathering
with intent
to promote public violence, a breach of the peace or bigotry is
committed
whether the action constituting it is spontaneous or planned in
advance, and
whether the place or meeting where it occurred is public or
private".
WOZA said Magodonga Mahlangu, one of its leaders, remains
isolated from the
rest of the group as Law and Order officers have resisted
attempts to have
her moved back to join others, arguing that as a leader she
"deserves the
dignity of having a cell to herself". The group also claims
its members are
being denied medical treatment such as ARV drugs in the
police cells.
The eight women arrested in Harare have been released after
paying admission
of guilt fines.
The Zimbabwean
HARARE -
Zanu (PF) has organised to deploy its militant Green Bombers ahead
of the
Star Rally planned by the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) for
the
Zimbabwe Grounds on Sunday, this paper has established.
Sources privy to the
arrangements said Zanu (PF) Harare Province had
arranged for the Green
Bombers to start patrolling the city tomorrow to
counter any demonstrations
the opposition might plan ahead of the rally.
"We are readying ourselves for
any plans to destabilise the country by the
MDC and its agents. It is our
mandate to preserve peace and order in the
country," the source said.
As
in the turbulent periods of 2000 and 2002 Zanu (PF) supporters have
begunsetting up bases in the high density suburbs and conducting routine
patrols.
Zanu (PF) youth leader, Absalom Sikhosana said: "We are always
available to
prevent bad elements from causing chaos in the country but we
can't divulge
much about our plans."
MDC's MP for Glen View Paul Madzore
said all was set for the Star rally.
"I received a call from Southerton
Police Station and they have received our
notice. They said we should do it
in a peaceful way, which we have always
done. We hope Zanu (PF) elements
will not cause problems as they have done
in the past," Madzore
said.
Tsvangirai plans to launch his party's presidential campaign for next
year's
polls in defiance of Mugabe's intentions to defer the elections to
2010. -
Itai Dzamara
Zimbabwejournalists.com
By Magugu Nyathi
JOHANNESBURG - Dumisani Nleya, the
founder member of Zimbabwe Action
Movement, says his group is prepared to
take up arms against the ruling Zanu
PF government following years of
economic decay and an on-going political
crisis.
Speaking in an
interview, Nleya said: "We are prepared to go back to
Zimbabwe and fight. We
are prepared to go into the bush and fight back this
guerrilla - Mugabe has
done enough damage for the past 27 years. We are busy
re-grouping our
members and soon we are going to catch him by surprise."
But his comments
do not get the support of major Zimbabwean groups in South
Africa such as
the Zimbabwe Exiles Forum (ZEF) which thinks Zanu's PF record
of using
violence against opposition supporters would excel in such a
situation.
Outspoken lawyer, Gabriel Shumba of the ZEF said: "ZANU
PF's culture of
violence and intolerance to diversity of opinion has its
roots in the
thuggery and eliminations that shaped our struggle for
independence. This
intolerance has ample evidence in the torture of Dumiso
Dabengwa and the
persecution of Joshua Nkomo in the early days of our
independence. This
culminated in the genocide committed in Matabeleland and
still persists
today in the wanton torture and murder of opposition
supporters and human
rights defenders and going to war would definitely give
him a room to
exercise it freely. We rather lobby with the international
court to arrest
him and charge him with gross violation of human rights.
"
ZEF has teamed up with the Canadian human rights agency, Rights and
Democracy (RD), to try and help Zimbabweans fighting for democracy in their
country.
The two organisations have committed themselves to up the
pressure on the
international community so they can push for an end to
Zimbabwe's crisis and
avoid the prospect of a civil war sometime in the
future.
The organizations have partnered to empower Zimbabweans through
human rights
education as a way of fighting the ongoing human rights
violations and
tackling Mugabe so he can leave office and pave way for free
and fair
elections.
While RD, ZEF and many others have opted for
Zimbabweans to approach the
International Criminal Court (ICC) and the
defunct African Court to try and
prosecute Mugabe, Nleya says fighting the
veteran leader is the best way
forward.
Says Nleya: "Thousands of
people are dying on a daily basis because of
stress-related diseases caused
by this man.it's too much. Arise Zimbabweans
let's fight. What I know is
that where there is an action there is reaction,
we should not be
intimidated by what we don't know. He will do nothing to
the people. we are
tired with this."
Nleya's outfit is not the first one to claim it will
take up arms against
the Zanu PF government. A shadow group once announced
to the world through a
press conference in London that it had well-trained
members, including
others from the army who were prepared to take up arms
and remove Mugabe
from office by force.
Founding MDC president,
Morgan Tsvangirai was once questioned by the police
in Harare for allegedly
making a statement the authorities regarded as
inciting supporters to oust
Mugabe by force.
He was quoted at the time as saying: "Mugabe should go
peacefully, when you
do not go peacefully you will go
violently."
Nleya does not say how big his organisation is. All he says
is that he
disagrees with colleagues in the pro-democracy groups that want
to follow
the legal route to remove Mugabe from power, especially as the
suffering of
the ordinary person continues, investment remains stagnant with
international companies shunning Zimbabwe. Millions of Zimbabweans have left
the country to seek employment elsewhere.
According to reports
released by South Africa Broadcasting Cooperation,
over 3,5 million
Zimbabweans are in South Africa and about 10 000 are
teachers most working
outside their profession in the construction and
catering industries.
The Zimbabwean
(15-02-07)
By Gift
Phiri
HARARE - The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) has startled civic and
opposition groups contesting Saturday's Chiredzi South by-election and six
Rural District Council elections by announcing key changes to the voting
procedures on the eve of the election.
ZEC spokesman Utloile Silaigwana
announced this week that an ink marker,
instead of dipping the little finger
into indelible ink, would identify
voters who would have cast their
ballot.
"We have realized the dipping method is not smart. We have not
changed the
type of the ink. It still remains the same," said
Silaigwana.
The Mutambara-led MDC's elections director Paul Themba Nyathi
said the move
added to Zanu (PF)'s myriad electoral theft
strategies.
National Constitutional Assembly chairman, Dr Lovemore Madhuku,
said he was
not surprised by the ZEC's gerrymandering on the eve of the
election.
"Anyone contesting this election should have seen this coming,"
Madhuku
said. "Zanu (PF) steals elections and there is nothing surprising
about
this. This is why we are saying lets have a new constitution, which
will
usher in a new electoral management dispensation. Contesting elections
under
these conditions is a waste of time."
Dr Reginald Matchaba-Hove of
the Zimbabwe Election Support Network, a civic
body which will monitor the
by-election, said they were taking up the issue
with the ZEC.
A spokesman
for the Tsvangirai-led MDC, Nelson Chamisa said the change from
indelible
ink to markers showed that the government had no capacity to run a
credible
election.
"Not only is this regime broke, but it so discredited that running
elections
has become another vehicle for rigging," Chamisa said.
The Zimbabwean
(15-02-07)
HARARE - Bankrupt parastatals and other government-controlled
institutions
are once again having to fund President Robert Mugabe's
birthday
celebrations through cash donations and press
advertisements.
The celebrations are scheduled for Gweru on February 24 and
the fundraising
committee has a target of raising Z$300 million for the
function. Less than
$100 million has been raised.
"We have already
received the request and working on the budget, requiring
about $10 million
for the contribution as well as booking of adverts," a
source at the
Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (ZESA) told The
Zimbabwean.
Chairman of the ZESA board, Christopher Chetsanga recently
revealed serious
viability problems at the almost bankrupt power
supplier.
Other parastatals expected to chip in for the birthday bash include
Air
Zimbabwe, the National Railways of Zimbabwe, the Zimbabwe National Water
Authority, Zimbabwe Tourism Authority and the Zimbabwe Omnibus
Company.
Chairman of the fundraising committee, Emmanuel Fundira, said his
committee
would soon embark on a nationwide campaign to raise the required
funds
following the launch at the weekend.
Civil servants are routinely
expected to make donations from their meagre
earnings and donate towards the
celebrations, which Mugabe makes sure to
hold every year under the claim of
raising funds for the Child Survival
Trust.
A brainchild of former first
lady, Sally Mugabe, the trust has ceased to be
significant and many
under-privileged children live in poverty on the
streets amidst
unprecedented economic mismanagement by Mugabe. Many children
have dropped
out of school.
The Zimbabwean
(15-02-07)
HARARE - Property including tractors, barns and crops is
being destroyed on
grabbed farms while millions of dollars in hard currency
are being lost in
potential horticultural earnings, due to the ongoing
nationwide go-slow by
about 250,000 farm workers who are demanding a 200
percent salary increase.
Angry farm workers are damaging property including
vehicles, farm houses,
barns and tractors to spite farm owners, most of them
Zanu (PF) chefs and
senior government officials, who are staunchly refusing
to award a salary
hike, in line with Zimbabwe's galloping
hyperinflation.
Representatives from the General Agricultural and Plantation
Workers Union
and the Agricultural Labour Bureau are hopping from one farm
to the other
trying to break the impasse amid reports that resettled A2
farmers, who are
now the employers, are not registered with any association
that could
represent them in the collective bargaining for better wages.
Farm workers
are currently earning a monthly wage of $8,300 and they want
this increased
to $23,000.
Meanwhile tobacco production figures for this
year have been revised
downwards following the destruction of seedlings by
striking workers and the
wilting of others due to lack of watering during
the strike period.
The sunshine Sunday Mail newspaper, which parrots
government policy, claimed
last weekend that tobacco output would ramp to 80
million kgs this year up
from 50 million kgs last season, but independent
agro-experts rubbished
these forecasts saying the projected figures were too
optimistic and at best
the country could expect only 35 million kgs given
the chaos on the farms. -
Gift Phiri
The Zimbabwean
(15-02-07)
HARARE -
Zimbabwe's capital, Harare, with a population of about 2,5 million,
has been
hit by a critical shortage of ambulances, with the entire city
currently
being served by only eight ambulances.
So serious is the shortage that the
sick or injured have to find their own
means of getting to hospital,
otherwise they risk dying at home. When an
ambulance is summoned, it takes
about four hours to arrive that is if it
comes at all.
Also, because of
the shortage, when an ambulance picks up a patient it
rarely drives straight
to hospital, but has to pick several other patients
in different areas
before proceeding to hospital.
The extravagance-loving chairperson of the
illegal commission running
Harare, Sekesai Makwavarara, has attributed this
state of affairs to the
breakdown of most of the city's ambulances and the
fact that the city has no
money to buy more ambulances since the majority of
patients ferried do not
pay their bills.
She says the city was currently
owed millions of dollars in unpaid ambulance
as well as hospital bills.
The Zimbabwean
(15-02-07)
HARARE - Last
week The Zimbabwean carried on its front page an article about
how President
Robert Mugabe and his officials had been breaching Reserve
Bank of Zimbabwe
(RBZ) regulations by not returning funds issued each time
they travel
official business. Since 1980 it is estimated they have
prejudiced the state
by up to US$20 million.
Investigations by The Zimbabwean revealed that a
number of senior RBZ
employees were tortured by the Central Intelligence
Organisation (CIO) and
subsequently dismissed during the 1990s after they
had compiled statistics
showing figures of what Mugabe and other officials
owed the bank in
un-surrendered funds.
At the time of going to press no
response from the RBZ governor's office had
been received despite repeated
efforts over the previous two weeks to obtain
response to the formal list of
questions sent to him as requested.
An official response has now been
received from RBZ spokesman Kumbirai
Nhongo.
His full response is as
follows:
Q:Dear Dr Gono, I am doing investigations for an article to be run
in The
Zimbabwean newspaper following information supplied by various
sources that
the RBZ has a special foreign currency account called the
Contingency
Account number 020:12500-set aside for provision of foreign
currency to the
head of State and other government officials each time they
travel outside
the country. This is reported to be different from the
general business
travel allowance and to be a special preserve for the head
of State and
other senior government officials. I understand that it has not
been handled
properly over the years. May you therefore shed more light on
this account
and its main purpose?
A:Your sources have supplied you with
complete falsehoods whose main purpose
is nothing but sensational malice and
needless germination of public
distrust in national institutions.
Q:It is
alleged that recipients of funds from this account, including the
president,
are supposed to return the money after their trips in the event
they would
not have used the money for an contingency plans but have not
been doing so
since 1980. Do you confirm this? What is your comment on this?
A:Therefore,
kindly be advised that the entireties of your questions are
trailing the
imaginary creations of your informants.
Q:Sources say the same culture of
government officials not returning the
money has persisted during your
tenure as head of the central bank. Do you
confirm this and may you please
provide details?
Q:It is also alleged that there are some RBZ senior
employees who used to
work in the department under which the Contingency
Account falls that were
dismissed and tortured by officials from the Central
Intelligence
Organisation (CIO) during the 1990s after they had compiled
information
about the amounts of money taken from the account since 1980 by
government
officials including the president but not returned as per policy.
Although
you were not the head of central bank then, it is my expectation
that you
could have established such a major occurrence through records. Are
you
aware of such an event and what is your comment?
Q: If it is the
procedure that funds from the said account are not, or have
not for sometime
been returned to the central bank, could you be in a
position to provide the
amounts that the bank has been prejudiced of and
clarify over what period of
time?
Q: What are the current rates that the bank gives to government
officials,
including the president when they travel outside the country as
contingency
allowance?
A: The Governor and his Team are deeply engaged in
priority national matters
and really implore on the generality of
Zimbabweans to seek to add value to
the economic turnaround journey, than to
invest man-hours creating absolute
lies.
The Zimbabwean
(15-02-07)
BY TSEPO
LIVOMBO
JOHANNESBURG - As thousands of both Zimbabwe National Army (ZNA) and
Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) members desert the security force, it emerged
this week that the Zanu (PF) government has deployed a team of Central
Intelligence Organisation (CIO) operatives alongside the Military Police
(MP) to keep the deserters under surveillance.
The CIO operatives and
military police personnel deployed in Johannesburg
and Pretoria are
understood to have been trained by former Union of Soviet
Socialist Republic
(USSR) spy agency, the notorious KGB.
Investigations by CAJ News revealed
that majority of the CIO operatives were
staying in Braamfontein, while a
few others had been deployed in Soweto,
Hillbrow, Yeoville and
Sandton.
Some are believed to have enrolled at the University of
Witwatersrand. A
visit to Devonshire Hotel, Parktonian, Hillbrow Inn and
several nightspots,
including Summit, Diplomat and Ambassador Hotels,
revealed the presence of
many operatives masquerading as clients to get
female commercial sex workers
for the night.
A former female police
sergeant, who is now into full time prostitution in
Johannesburg, told CAJ
News that she was interrogated for deserting the
police force.
"I was
shocked to see these men when I was about to go up to the third floor
with
my client. Immediately I knew that they were assigned to follow us in
South
Africa," she said.
A former military radiographer and a captain at Inkomo
Barracks in Harare
told CAJ News that he was interrogated on Wednesday last
week about why he
had deserted the army. He said he saved himself from
being taken back to
Zimbabwe by threatening to organise the shooting of the
three military
police interrogators.
"They only set me free when I had
threatened to phone my guys in Soweto and
Hillbrow to take them out. They
could have taken me back to Inkomo Barracks
in Harare for military
punishment. One has to undergo the court martial
when you are tried for
being unpatriotic. Remember the full bench will be
composed of military
judges and prosecutors and once you are convicted,
that's the end of you.
So, come hell come thunder, I am not going anywhere.
I am prepared to die
here in South Africa," said former army captain, who
only preferred to be
called Cde Zvichapera VaMugabe.
A senior CIO operative reported being shocked
when he was questioned as to
what he was doing in Braamfontein. "I'm no
longer with the CIO. I left in
2006," he said.
Several MDC activists, who
fled Mugabe's misrule, say they live in fear
following the arrival of the
CIO and the military police. - CAJ News
The Zimbabwean
(15-02-07)
HARARE -
Parliament is expected to be dominated by debate on issues of
corruption
involving state institutions and high ranking officials when it
re-opens
next Tuesday.
Various parliamentary committees are expected to present
reports following
hearings and top among the list are cases of alleged
corruption at the
Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP), the Grain Marketing Board
(GMB) and top
chefs involved in illegal mining activities.
Leader of
parliament, Patrick Chinamasa said: "The committees will present
their
reports before the house and they will be deliberated on."
ZRP Commissioner
Augustine Chihuri appeared before the portfolio committee
on transport and
communications to answer questions on suspected
irregularities in the
purchase of vehicles by the police force last year.
There are alleged
irregularities in the vehicle procurement deal involving
the force and
Willowvale Mazda Motor Industries, with reports that more
vehicles than were
ordered were delivered to the ZRP.
The committee on mines and environment
also heard recently that Environment
and Tourism permanent secretary Margret
Sangwarwe was allegedly involved in
illegal mining activities and that more
prominent government leaders were
involved.
Allegations of corruption
have also been raised in the manner in which the
GMB has been handling the
distribution of grain, with allegations that top
ruling party officials were
looting the national grain reserve and
submissions being made to the
committee on agriculture. - Itai Dzamara
The Zimbabwean
Editorial (15-02-07)
Zimbabwe's parliament reconvenes next week after its long summer
slumber.
Among the issues to be debated is the question of the
institutionalised
corruption that has contributed enormously to Zimbabwe's
economic collapse.
Various parliamentary portfolio committees, which spent
much of last year
probing corruption in various parastatals, are due to
present their findings
to the House.
During the committee hearings some
startling revelations were made -
particularly concerning the iron and steel
giant, ZISCO, which was milked of
billions by the usual Zanu (PF) fat cats
and their hangers on.
Unfortunately, the source of the information - none
other than minister of
industry Obert Mpofu, whom one would assume to be in
the know - made a
sudden U turn and decided not to release the names of the
looters. Not
surprisingly, his about-turn came shortly after he was summoned
to an urgent
meeting with vice president Joice Mujuru.
This means a
watered-down version of the report, without the names of the
guilty parties,
will be all parliament gets to see. However, the committee
sittings also
heard hair-raising stories about corruption in the Grain
Marketing Board,
the police and the lucrative mining industry - particularly
the Marange
Diamond bonanza.
An enormous amount of useful material has undoubtedly been
gathered and the
committees are to be complimented for their
diligence.
However, most of them were, of course, headed by Zanu (PF) MPs.
These
unfortunate souls were summoned to a special caucus meeting by party
heavies
a few weeks ago, where they had the riot act read to them for
"causing
anxiety in the party's hierarchy".
So it would be unwise to hold
one's breath pending dramatic revelations and
serious debate thereon in
parliament.
The tragedy is that corruption is endemic throughout the top
echelons of
Zanu (PF) and the party is so riddled with it that to try and
stamp it out
would require a stronger stomach than that of the aged
incumbent at the head
of state today.
He seems content to spend his time
playing musical chairs on his political
and economic Titanic. Every time the
media, including the state-controlled
press reported the revelations made
before the committees, his silence was
deafening.
As for the
anti-corruption ministry . words fail us.
We agree with what everybody
outside Zanu (PF) is saying: the only way
forward is a new constitution and
fresh elections - committees,
investigations, even parliamentary debates are
nothing more than an exercise
in futility at this stage.
The Zimbabwean
(15-02-07)
HARARE - Junior
officers in the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) were this
week shocked to
receive an internal message indicating that, with immediate
effect, all
those facing criminal allegations will be sent to police farms
for
reformation.
Legally, when there are criminal allegations against a police
officer, the
concerned officer is immediately suspended from duty pending
the outcome of
the investigations.
The junior officers believe their
supervisors are nursing a calculated
vendetta against them so as to cover-up
their own misdeeds.
"Corruption in the ZRP is concentrated at the top. These
guys are looting
the police resources at will. They issued their wives with
driving licences
when police stations did not have drivers.
"That was a
gross abuse of that facility. We will wait and see how they will
proceed in
their scheming. Our courts will not support this tactic," said a
constable
at Bulawayo Central.
A chief superintendent at Police General Headquarters
(PGHQ) said his senior
colleagues were losing focus.
"The chefs gave
themselves police cars. The same people are buying
themselves a second
vehicle each. The majority of these guys resold those
vehicles at
super-profits. Imagine a person buying a vehicle for as little
as Z$1 500
and reselling it for Z$12 million a week later," he said.
Asked to comment on
the threatening radio message, chief Superintendent
Oliver Mandipaka, said
administrative police issues were not for public
consumption through
newspapers.
"A signal was despatched to that effect, but the details of it
cannot be
discussed through this forum," he said. - John Makura, CAJ News
The Zimbabwean
(15-02-07)
BY GIFT
PHIRI
HARARE - The governing Zanu (PF) party has resorted to a mix of threats
and
intimidation as it battles to secure the forthcoming Chiredzi South
special
election, with the ruling party's campaign manager retired General
Vitalis
Zvinavashe threatening gullible villagers that if his party loses it
would
be viewed as a rebellion and that the army would be unleashed on the
province to deal with "dissidents."
Zvinavashe, a retired four-star
General who was commander of the Zimbabwe
Defence Forces, now Gutu Senator,
told a rally at Chikombedzi Growth Point
recently that if the ruling party
lost the election to the
"British-sponsored MDC", Chiredzi South would be
viewed as a constituency
inhabited by enemies of the State comprising
"British puppets".
Consequently, said the general, government would cut food
aid and deploy
soldiers to the province to deal with the rebellious
residents.
Zvinavashe told the timid crowd: "If the ruling party lose in this
election
then we know that you have rebelled against the government and you
know what
happens when government is threatened by rebels, we will
definitely send our
armed forces to deal with the enemy. So I urge (you) to
vote wisely or you
will regret."
Tensions were reportedly high in the
constituency amid reports that military
trucks have been patrolling the
constituency ahead of the by-election. The
election is a litmus test to the
governing party as it would gauge whether
Zanu (PF) still commands support
in rural constituencies given the deepening
economic hardships.
The Zimbabwean
(15-02-07)
*Rebellious
Politburo silenced
*2010 plan to go ahead
By Staff Reporter, Gift
Phiri
HARARE - A panicky and desperate, yet still wily, President Robert
Mugabe
has instructed his Politburo to scrap all the District Coordinating
Committees - the grassroots structures in the country's 10 provinces that
were expected to have the final say over plans to postpone presidential
elections to 2010.
Sources told The Zimbabwean that Mugabe had foisted
the decision on his
lieutenants during a heated Politburo meeting a
fortnight ago, declaring he
wanted the grassroots structures scrapped
because he did not believe they
could be trusted with such an important
decision.
Zanu (PF) spokesman Nathan Shamuyarira confirmed there were
discussions on
the abolition of the DCCs.
A Politburo member from
Mashonaland East province said Mugabe justified his
move with a vague
explanation that in the past the DCCs had been manipulated
by faction
leaders - in some instances bribed to endorse the candidature of
unpopular
nominees.
Authoritative ruling party sources said Mugabe was leaving nothing
to
chance, and was shaken to the core by the staunch refusal by the two
"dissident provinces," Harare and Mashonaland East, who make no secret of
their opposition to Mugabe's plan to cling to power beyond March
2008.
After failing to railroad the contentious plan to postpone presidential
elections during the December Goromonzi Convention, the Zanu (PF) leadership
referred the case back to the provinces, where the DCC was expected to
ballot grassroots members on the initiative and then provide feedback to the
Provincial Elections Directorate.
But Mugabe, facing a rising tide of
rebellion in his fractured party, fears
the initiative faces imminent death
in the grassroots structures, where
support for him is dwindling.
The
Zimbabwean heard that when Mugabe announced to his decision in the
Politburo
meeting, some members shouted "Aah" - a rare show of defiance.
Sensing open
rebellion, Mugabe warned ominously that "true members" would
toe the party
line unflinchingly. With that masterstroke, he silenced the
Politburo,
resulting in the resolution being unanimously adopted.
The next step will be
to have the Central Committee, scheduled to meet on
March 29, endorse the
decision. Mugabe has insisted that the vote on the
issue be by show of
hands, rejecting suggestions of a secret ballot.
Sources said Justice
minister Patrick Chinamasa had already completed
drafting the statutory
instrument, which awaits gazetting once the ruling
party okays the
changes.
Political analysts sayd Mugabe could impose constitutional changes
as early
as March 2008 - making himself a ceremonial non-executive president
and
choosing a Prime Minister to lead a Zanu (PF) government. That could
then
pave the way for a government of national unity - including members
from the
opposition.
The Zimbabwean
(15-02-07)
HARARE - External
auditors have criticised the University of Zimbabwe (UZ)
for being
over-staffed and have urged the government-run institution to
carry out a
job evaluation exercise to eliminate duplication of activities
and save
millions of dollars in wages.
The problem of over-staffing was particularly
serious in the non-academic
sections, which had 3,134 staff as of November
2006. The UZ has a total
staff complement of 4,063 compared to a student
population of 11,204,
meaning that the staff to students ratio was 1:3, a
ratio described as
unacceptable.
UZ Vice Chancellor, Professor Levi
Nyagura is apparently aware that the
institution was overstaffed and asserts
staff recruitment would remain
frozen until an acceptable level had been
reached.
The auditors, Deloitte & Touche, also urged the UZ to tighten
cash controls
to minimise cases of fraud and to be tough with staff debtors
who currently
owe the institution millions in unpaid advances. - Gift Phiri
The Zimbabwean
(15-02-07)
HARARE - The Zimbabwe
National Chamber of Commerce (ZNCC) has roundly
condemned last week's arrest
of business executives, saying they had not
increased the price of flour as
alleged.
ZNCC president Marah Hativagone said the arrested National Foods and
Blue
Ribbon Foods executives had only applied to the Ministry of Industry
and
International Trade to consider reviewing the price of flour
upwards.
"We had not effected any increase and we think the arrests are
retrogressive
and it does not augur well with efforts to attract
investment. "How do you
think a serious investor will come in such an
environment?" she said.
Her comments follow last week's arrests of Blue
Ribbon Foods chief executive
officer Michael Manga and National Foods
managing director Ian Kind. The
two were arrested on charges of unlawfully
increasing the prices of
self-raising flour without the blessing of
government. It is alleged that
the two sanctioned the increase of a 2kg
packet of flour from $2 600 to 42
904.
The Zimbabwean
(15-02-07)
HARARE -
Close to 500 children, aged between one and four years, are
currently living
behind bars together with their convicted mothers in
Zimbabwe's 42
overcrowded jails where there are acute shortages of food,
clothing and
other basic necessities.
The Zimbabwean was told this week that Zimbabwe's
prisons currently hold
more than 6,500 inmates above their carrying capacity
of 16,000 amid reports
inmates were literally sleeping on top of each
other.
While it was not possible to obtain comment from Zimbabwe Prison
Services
spokesperson Elizabeth Banda, prison wardens confirmed that
children in
prison with their mothers were suffering untold hardships,
including
psychological trauma.
A Parliamentary portfolio committee on
Home Affairs and Defence recently
slammed the appalling conditions in
Zimbabwe's jails, declaring it was
"dehumanizing" to be jailed under such
conditions.
Wardens spoke of a serious shortage of baby cereals and milk in
the prisons.
Zimbabwe's Prison Act prohibits the separation of the child from
its mother
until weaned, and this is the main reason why infants are in jail
with their
convicted mothers. Most mothers actually prefer having their
children with
them, but asked The Zimbabwean to mount an appeal to well
wishers for food,
clothing and other necessities for their babies.
The Zimbabwean
HARARE - THE corruption
trial of Deputy Minister of Information and
Publicity, Bright Matonga, has
been postponed to February 26 by regional
magistrate Morgen
Nemadire.
Matonga and jailed former Zimbabwe United Passenger Company (ZUPCO)
chairman
Charles Nherera allegedly solicited and received US$10 000 bribe
each from
Gift Investments managing director Jayesh Shah.
The alleged
bribe was an inducement not to cancel Gift Investments' lease
agreement to
rent ZUPCO's premises in Southerton, Harare. The two also
allegedly
demanded from Shah US$2 000 for each of the 75 buses that the
public
transporter intended to buy from Shah in 2003. Matonga, whose trial
has
been separated from that of Nherera, was ZUPCO's chief executive officer
when the offences were allegedly committed.
Shah told the court that he
did not voluntarily give Matonga and Nherera the
US$20 000 saying it was
extorted from him as the two threatened to evict him
from the Southerton
property if he did not meet to their demands. He was
responding to
prosecutor Venrandah Munyoro's question on whether or not he
knew that he
was committing an offence when he gave Matonga and Nherera the
money.
"I
did not pay it voluntarily. The demand was imposed on me. The money was
extorted from me. I was never willing to pay. How do you pay when there is a
valid lease and when we were already going to incur costs in putting up the
wash bay (at the ZUPCO premises)? It just does not make sense," Shah said.
Summing up his evidence, the businessman said he had no axe to grind with
Matonga, who used to visit his house and office, even after he had left
ZUPCO.
For the defence, Manase is accusing the State of manufacturing
evidence.
The Zimbabwean
(15-02-07)
HARARE - A wad of
Z$10,000 bearer cheques and a total of 7,000 counterfeit
US$100 bills have
been impounded by police in Harare. Two DRC nationals have
been
arrested.
The fake notes were impounded at a house in the Avenues, and police
have
said they suspect the notes originated from an East African syndicate
operating between DRC and Zimbabwe. Detectives who raided the house found
the notes wrapped in DRC newspapers in a travel bag.
Security personnel
at the US Embassy in Harare have described the notes as
expertly forged. The
notes have six different serial numbers between them.
The distinct purple
$10,000 Zimbabwean bearer cheques were also expertly
counterfeited in
exactly the same material used on the genuine bearer
cheques.
Police have
said the information they have so far suggests that the US bills
were
smuggled from DRC by road via Tanzania, Malawi and Mozambique. Banks
and
members of the public have been warned to be on the lookout as some of
the
fake notes may already be in circulation. - Gift Phiri
The Zimbabwean
EDITOR - What a pity all
the activist groups in Zimbabwe like the NCA, WOZA
and MOZA, the MDC and
the ZCTU, the teachers, the civil servants, the
churches and the Christian
Alliance, the university and polytech students
can't all get together and
make one big demonstration against the corrupt
and callous Mugabe regime ONE
TIME!
A good example of an occasion to do so would surely be the aging
dictator's
forthcoming birthday. I understand the 21st February Movement has
launched a
fundraising campaign for the annual birthday bash to be held in
Gweru on
February 24. They want $300 million to bankroll the
celebrations.
I almost died laughing when I saw that the theme for the party
would be
"Empowerment, Prosperity and Peace". What a pathetic joke. Come on
Zimbabweans let's get our act together. We shouldn't waste our energy
laughing. We should rather be protesting.
Abigail Zhou, Bulawayo
The Zimbabwean
(15-02-07)
HARARE - Following an
upsurge in the number of people falling victim to
unscrupulous used-car
dealers, Zimbabwe's Embassy in Japan has released a
list of reputable
Japanese used car dealers to the Consumer Council of
Zimbabwe.
This
follows a flurry of complaints from more than 100 Zimbabweans to the
Embassy
in Tokyo after cars they had purchased were never delivered.
However, some
Tokyo and Singapore used car dealers are reported to have also
been conned
by some bogus Zimbabwean importers who conduct business smoothly
during the
first few transactions, and then vanish after securing, but
before paying
for millions worth of used cars.
Some Japanese used car dealers are reported
to have withdrawn from African
markets after numerous incidents in which
they were conned out of hundreds
of vehicles.
The Zimbabwean
John
Makumbe
In a desperate bid to give an appearance of a normal government, the
dictator last week reshuffled the cabinet, but it was very much like
reshuffling garbage. As has become his custom, President Mugabe rewarded
those from among his willing wives who had been the loudest praise singers
since the previous reshuffle. Poor old Herbert Murerwa was off-loaded like a
bag of low-grade fertiliser. His crime is that he had dared to have a mind
of his own in relation to matters financial.
In Mugabe's book a good
minister of finance listens carefully to, and does
whatever the Governor of
the Reserve Bank says should be done. Rumour has it
that Murerwa had
previously offered to resign but the dictator would have
none of that. In
his meanest, the dictator must have told him, "Don't
resign, I want to fire
you". Murerwa must be relieved to get out of the
circus with his "gentleman
Jim" reputation unscathed.
Murerwa was replaced by probably the weakest
cabinet minister ever appointed
by Mugabe since his ascension to executive
office. Mumbengegwi has no known
skills in public finance. It is doubtful
that he has the capacity to even
balance his own meagre resources.
But he
suits the position he was appointed to since Mugabe's idea must be to
have a
minister of finance who knows so little that Governor Gono will have
a freer
hand to do as he wishes with both the monetary and fiscal aspects of
that
portfolio. It is obvious that, given his ignorance of public finance,
Mumbengegwi will give Gono no trouble at all.
Joseph Made, former
Minister of Agriculture, must be wondering what has hit
him. A whole new
ministry had to be created just in order to find him
something to do, or
rather, so he keeps his mouth shut regarding the total
collapse of the
agriculture sector since the madness of the fast track land
reform. Well, at
least he gets to keep the Merc.
There has never been a minister for tractors
and combine harvesters in this
country in the past. Made is therefore making
history by being so assigned.
He should consider himself a survivor; worse
things could have happened to
his reputation. Now the agriculture sector has
three ministries fussing over
it. The result will be more chaos and
confusion than order and productivity.
At least Joe Made no longer has to
count green mealies from the sky and
mislead the nation on bumper
harvests.
In his foolishness, Mugabe decided to keep the hated and despised
Ignatius
Chombo in the Local Government ministry in spite of all his
diabolical
interference with the smooth workings of local authorities. Blood
is, indeed
thicker than water. We all know why Chombo cannot commit any sin
in Mugabe's
eyes.
It befuddles the mind, however, why people like Eaneas
Chigwedere and
ailing Mudenge were retained when their performance is well
known to be
lacklustre and destructive to our children's education. To add
salt to the
wound, Mugabe appointed an imbecile, one Maluleke as Deputy
Minister to
Chigwedere.
Those of us who know Maluleke are aware that the
man is entirely devoid of
grey matter; to make him Deputy Minister of
Education and Culture is to seal
the fate of our school-going
children.
But none of all this shuffling and reshuffling of the national
zombies will
save Mugabe and his perishing regime from total collapse. The
only way in
which Mugabe can rescue the national economy and bring about a
turn around
is when he reshuffles himself out of office. There is no
alternative to
regime change.
The Zimbabwean
(15-02-07)
BY
KJW
LONDON - Elinor Sisulu looks exhausted when I meet her in her hotel room.
She had been in the UK for three days en route to the Caribbean where she is
taking up a three- month fellowship with Centre for Gender and Development
Studies, University of West Indies.
While in London she has been doing
advocacy work on the Zimbabwe situation,
meeting NGO's and Zimbabwean groups
and giving interviews. She is about to
leave for France to lobby Chirac not
to invite Mugabe to the French Africa
Summit and to insist France does not
break ranks with other EU members over
renewing the travel bans shortly to
be decided upon.
Sisulu is the well-known author of the biography of South
African liberation
icons, Walter and Albertina Sisulu, and has had a long
history of advocacy
work on Zimbabwean issues. Based in South Africa, she
works with the Crisis
Coalition of Zimbabwe in focusing on regional
advocacy. Sisulu says that a
lot of her work is "analysing how Zimbabwe is a
regional problem. Especially
since Operation Murambatsvina, the situation
has become more urgent".
The biggest problem is trying to convince other
African leaders of the need
to take action on Zimbabwe, particularly true in
her home country. "I
wouldn't describe SA policy as quiet diplomacy," she
says. "They are very
supportive of the Mugabe regime and they have worked
hard to stave off
pressure from the West."
She says the South African
government sees the problem in Zimbabwe as a
political issue between the MDC
and Zanu (PF). "They see the solution in
Zimbabwe as a reformed Zanu (PF),
perhaps without Mugabe. Obviously it's
much more complex, they have the
wrong diagnosis therefore they cannot have
the right solution," she
says.
Sisulu says it is very easy for African leaders to cast themselves as
"victims of the West's imperialism" given the situation in Iraq. However
"their failure to condemn Operation Murambatsvina is
unacceptable".
Sisulu feels Zimbabwean groups abroad have an important part
to play in
lobbying the international community into action. However she
says that they
need to have "more clarity" on what they are asking the
international
community to do.
"Many say that South Africa should pull
the plug on Mugabe, what does that
mean?" she asks. "They are not going to
cut electricity to Zimbabwe, for
example."
She says groups should be
demanding that "SA acknowledge the magnitude of
the crisis. Human rights
violations must be recognised and then Zimbabweans
must be granted asylum in
South Africa. They should stop validating the
elections. They must stop
opposing Human Rights Sanctions against Zimbabwe -
that makes more sense to
me. SA must not replace Mugabe with someone else,
they must tell the truth
about what is happening in Zimbabwe".
During the course of her three month
fellowship in Jamaica, Sisulu intends
to investigate "Afro-Caribbean links
and why it is in the contemporary
period that those links are not stronger
on a people to people basis".
The Zimbabwean
(15-02-07)
HARARE -
Former finance minister Herbert Murerwa tendered his resignation in
December
last year following serious and often bitter clashes with President
Robert
Mugabe over the issues of cooperation with Bretton Woods
Institutions, The
Zimbabwean can reveal.
Murerwa also differed with Mugabe and Reserve Bank
governor Gideon Gono on
budgetary priorities, pushing for policies aimed at
making the country
acceptable to the international community to enhance
trade opportunities
while Mugabe and Gono put emphasis on
agriculture.
Top sources in government said Murerwa had repeatedly crossed
Mugabe's path
by his insistence on the need to negotiate with the
International Monetary
Fund (IMF) and the World Bank on the issues of
Zimbabwe's balance of
payments.
"They had serious clashes and Murerwa was
told by Mugabe that he either had
to change his perception or quit," a
source said. "Murerwa faced a serious
dilemma because Mugabe literally told
him to practice something now called
'political economics'.
"Murerwa
tendered his resignation in December and Mugabe didn't respond
until he
reshuffled his cabinet and quietly left him out."
Murerwa is understood to
have told Mugabe he believed mending bridges with
the Bretton Wood
Institutions and the rest of the international community
was one of the few
options the country had and which could end economic
recession - now in its
seventh year - and start to move towards a recovery.
This, Mugabe dismissed
as textbook economics and the embattled Zanu (PF)
leader has been repeating
his mantra about sanctions by the West as being
the cause for Zimbabwe's
economic problems. Mugabe has also used national
events such as burial of
heroes to fire broadsides at the IMF and Bretton
Wood Institutions, accusing
them of "working for imperialists to suppress
the developing world.
"At
one point Mugabe was very furious when he discovered that Murerwa was
engaged in discussions with representatives of the European Union," a source
said.
Although publicly denied by both Gono and Murerwa, signs of bad
blood
between the two were increasingly evident as they consistently clashed
on
policy issues.- Itai Dzamara
The Zimbabwean
(15-02-07)
There is no public transport
system to talk about in Harare. The plight of
commuters continued to
escalate after the now defunct Zimbabwe Stage
Carriage Organization Trust
(ZSCOT), a membership organization created to
represent the interests of
commuter omnibus operators, lost steam and folded
up due to frustrations
encountered in trying to secure government
recognition of the critical role
that commuter omnibus operators play in
alleviating transport blues in the
city. The Trust had made strides in
training commuter omnibus operators in
collaboration with the then
Canada-General Training Facility. The Trust then
submitted proposals to
government for a country-wide transformation and
reform in the quality of
public transport offered in the cities. The
proposed improvements embraced a
wide range of issues including streamlining
the commuter omnibus industry,
driver training and certification,
discipline, passenger welfare and safety,
viability strategies, capital
development, insurance and risk. The Trust
also wanted to see to it that
upgrading of commuter mini bus parking, rank
infrastructure, better road
planning and traffic supervision were achieved
on an accelerate rate as part
of its efforts to provide a state-of-the-art
public transportation system
befitting Harare rather than Salisbury. The
proposals were to be
complemented by a detailed report of a study undertaken
by local transport
experts with the assistance of a French consulting team,
SITRASS,
commissioned by The World Bank Micro enterprises Sector, who
carried out a
viability assessment of private sector participation in urban
public
transportation. The study generated a profile of baseline indicators
as a
precursor to bench-marking capacity building of private players in the
sector. To date, nothing has changed.
Commuter omnibus operators are now
faced with an ageing fleet that's no
longer viable. The government has made
no indication on how to support the
operators despite the fact that the
sector employs more than 45 000 people
directly and indirectly. The
government of Zimbabwe enterprise, ZUPCO,
popularly known as "zvipiko" tried
to bring in a few Chinese manufactured
buses also referred to as "mazhingi
zhongo". The fleet, not fit for purpose,
is crumbling down within months and
under the context of poor project
implementation and lack of professional
management.
Formidable local empowerment consortia came in to the scene and
offered to
build commuter railway transport based on a built, operate and
transfer
(BOT) arrangement. The consortia pre-financed the enabling works of
the
project to the tune of a couple of billions of dollars. That investment
went
to waste as the project fizzled out in unclear circumstances in which
the
Ministry of Transport and Communications did not give the necessary
approval
for the BOT concession agreement to be signed and implemented on
the ground.
If the grapevine news network is anything to go by, it is now
rumored that
locals are not preferred; hence the Iranians, the Chinese and
the Israeli
based Beit Bridge Bulawayo Railway Company were invited to
implement the
railway project. These parties only gave the project a verbal
nod.
Recent urban transport and road condition surveys revealed that the
Harare
City Council, as a faucet of the Ministry of Local Government, has
abdicated
its responsibility over many transportation and traffic related
issues. They
have failed to replace vandalized traffic lights, road signs
and repair of
deteriorated roads. Some suburban roads have degenerated into
gravel
tracks. Examples of such roads include Goodwood Close, Amwell Road,
Ruwa
Road and many others south of the city.
The City of Harare research,
traffic and transportation unit has ceased to
do its work. It used to be an
excellent facility for tracking lapses in the
traffic and the city has now
ended up with commuter omnibuses allocated to
pick up and dropping points
without any regard for effective urban
interface. The volume of pedestrian
and vehicular traffic that pass through
those ranks is far too much. The
city center continues to be congested by
people who have no business being
there. They only pass through the town
just to board buses to destinations
on the opposite side of the city. There
is no arrangement to level out this
congestion during peak hours. If the
research, traffic and transportation
unit did its work, there would be no
problem of this sort.
There is
wanton neglect of the welfare of commuters within the city. Council
has
forgotten about the importance of public toilets. The squalor,
dereliction
and dilapidation of toilets at ranks continue to be a pain for
commuters.
There are insufficient toilets for the number of people who pass
through the
ranks. People have to scramble to get into the toilets and
privacy while in
the ablution facilities is at a premium. The toilets are
not looked after
and cleaned regularly. Maintenance is very poor resulting
in a terrible
stench around the place. The floors are persistently covered
by water from
leaking taps. The lighting ceased to work probably when Cecil
John Rhodes
died and there are no facilities for workers to wash hands. The
ranks at the
Copa Cabana, Market Square and Fourth Street are examples of
the worst
toilets at the city ranks.
E J Taundi
CHRA-Chairman Waterfalls Residents
Association
Zimbabwejournalists.com
By Eldred V. Masunungure
THE
dictionary definition of harmonising is "to bring onto harmony, accord,
or
agreement". The word sits rather awkwardly as a description of what is
being
intended because you normally harmonise relations between two or more
people. You do not normally harmonise things to do with inanimate matter and
processes like elections. Ideally, and in respect of elections, we should
rather talk about sychronisation or rationalisation or even consolidation.
To synchronise is "to occur at the same time or coincide or agree in
time".
Observations
Observation 1: We note, with considerable
satisfaction, that the
'harmonisation' crusade is a public admission of the
irrationality of the
original decision to 'disharmonise' the elections. It
is an admission that
political parties like human beings, err. Correcting an
error is salutary.
It suggests that Zanu-PF is now open to admitting some of
its past errors,
and I think that is something positive.
Observation
2:assuming thought that "harmonization" is the appropriate
descriptive term
of what is intended, we note with irony , that the intended
harmonisation of
elections has immediately disharmonised the society and
especially the
sponsoring organization itself, the ruling Zanu-PF party. The
harmonization
project appears to have wreaked more havoc in this party than
any other
single issue since the divisive` one-party project that had to be
abruptly
abandoned in mid-1990. In short, Zanu-PF wants to harmonise
elections before
it has harmonised itself.
Observation 3: No sane Zimbabwean who knows
anything about our political
system and its elections would oppose the
synchronization of elections.
Public opinion has for long advocated this-
the Mass Public Opinion
Institute has regularly carried out surveys in which
the synchronization
question has been asked and without exception, the
people's verdict has been
that parliamentary and presidential elections must
be held simultaneously.
For instance, a pre-2000 parliamentary elections
survey showed that more
than two thirds (68%) favoured synchronization and
in fact that the 2002
presidential elections should have been brought
forward to be held
concurrently with the 2000 parliamentary elections. Even
in the fear-ridden
2002 period, still a plurality (47% vs. 43%) favoured a
constitutional
amendment t that would synchronise the two elections. In this
respect then,
public opinion has for long been ahead of the 'people's'
party.
Observation 4: While the majority of citizens prefer synchronized
elections,
a bigger majority appear suspicious of the motive behind the
otherwise
commendable idea. Zimbabweans are now generally highly skeptical,
especially
where our ruling party is concerned. Zanu-PF rarely introduces
anything in
good faith. What exactly is Zanu-PF up to? Many people find it
difficult to
separate the obvious and unquestionable rationality of
synchronizing the
elections from the other issue, the extensions of the
presidential term by
their two years.
Observation 5: for many, there
are two imperatives at play here: the
synchronization imperative, and the
prolongation of presidential tenure
imperative. The former is perfectly
rational and popular. The letter is
deeply unpopular, even inside the ruling
party. President Mugabe once
described Professor Jonathan Moyo as "clever
but not wise", this was on the
occasion of his decision to contest the
Tsholotsho seat as an independent.
The decision or even proposition to
extend the presidential term is, to me,
neither clever nor wise.
The
manner the synchronization issue was introduced makes it difficult to
disentangle it from what many view as the primary reason behind the
'harmonisation' project i.e. the prolongation of the presidential term by at
least two years under the guise of 'harmonising'. In this regard,
synchronization, which has a lot to commend itself, is contaminated by the
prolongation imperative. Once we de-link the two i.e. 'electoral
sychronisation' and prolongation/extension of the presidential term', the
first imperative become unattractive to its chief sponsors. This is because;
"the people" are for synchronization without reservations, and for them the
sooner the better. The minority ruling elite is for prolongation and the
later the better. To make the prolongation agenda attractive, it is couched
in the language of sychronisation and the two are like package. In other
words, synchronizing elections without prolonging tenure is
meaningless.
What is being 'harmonised?' The answer is : Elections! But,
which elections?
I can immediately think of five possible elections that are
routinely held
in Zimbabwe, at two levels of our political system; the
national and local
levels. At the national level are three elections i.e:
presidential; House
of Assembly; and Senatorial elections. At the local
level are ward or
councillor elections in both rural and urban areas , and
then mayoral
elections in urban cities only.
Comprehensive
synchronization of the elections would mean many urban voters
would be asked
to make five different choice: for the councilor, for the
major , for the
senator, for the House of Assembly MP, and for the President
(making
Zimbabweans probably the most over-represented people in the
world!), and
presumably on the same ballot paper, and presumably in one day.
Alternately
the various electoral candidates would appear on separate
ballots, thus
necessitating five different ballots boxes in the urban areas.
If the
latter, the guarding of five boxes at each polling station becomes a
big
challenge, so is the counting of the five ballots in five ballot boxes.
The
administrative and logistical arrangements are going to be a real
nightmare.
Where will the financial resources to but the additional ballot
boxes come
from?
Then there will be the contentious issue of constituency
boundaries, which
presumably will have to be 'harmonised' i.e. rationalized
as well. The
boundary of the presidential constituency is the easiest- there
is normally
only one presidential boundary, which is coterminous with the
boundary of
the country. The boundaries for the House of Assembly and Senate
constituencies will definitely need to be rationalized in two senses: in
terms of physical delimitation of the constituencies and in terms of the
number of people per constituency. The sponsors of the harmonization project
need to be clear. At this point, we note that in many instances, as in
Harare, Bulawayo, Mutare and all major cities, the senatorial boundaries
will be smaller than mayoral constituencies. There can only be one mayor in
Harare, but there will be several senators in the Harare. In other mayoral
towns, like Redcliff and Gwanda, the senatorial constituency will be larger
than the mayoral constituency i.e will absorb the mayoral ones, often
combining rural and urban wards.
Each of the five elections will need
a delimitation process, itself a
mammoth task that time and meticulous
execution. We will have ward
boundaries, mayoral boundaries, House of
Assembly constituency boundaries,
senatorial boundaries and of course the
presidential boundaries. If all five
elections are held simultaneously, it
means every voter will be voting at
ward level in order for them to choose
their councillor. This also means
that each ward will have at least four
voting booths in areas with mayoral
elections. The administrative, human and
logistical resources for this will
be massive and unlikely to be available.
Also opportunities to cheat are
enormous and as we all know the willingness
and inclinations to do s are
readily available. The multiple electoral
frameworks simply multiply the
chances to do cheat. In addition, observing
and monitoring such elections
will be a mammoth challenge.
The second
option will be stagger the elections .g. having the two local
government
elections one weekend and the three national elections the
following
weekend. For the former, one would need to be in one's ward; for
the second
you need to be in your parliament constituency.
If the synchronization is
to be a permanent feature of our elections, then
the tenure various office
holders will also have to be harmonized. That
means synchronizing the
tenures of the councillor (presently 3 years?), the
mayor (presently 4
years), the MPs (presently five years) and the president
(presently six
years). The relevant legislative instruments will have to be
amended
accordingly.
What is being harmonized?
Harmonisation; does it
really matter? What is being harmonized and what is
the quality of those
things being harmonized? Various elections, but what is
the quality of these
elections. Five elections are now a feature of Zimbabwe's
electoral
calendar: at the national level we have three elections for the
president,
House of Assembly members and senators. At the local government
level we
have two elections; for the mayor in urban areas with city status
and for
the councilors in rural and urban wards. All five elections have
sparked
controversy each time they are held. In other words, there I
something
defective about the electoral infrastructure and the quality of
the
electoral outcomes. If this is so, and I think there is generalized
consensus about this consensus about this, why do we need to harmonise
defective things. Harmonising bad things does not produce a good
thing.
What Zimbabweans want are quality elections ; elections where ones
vote
counts i.e elections where the votes of voters really count and
equally.
Presently it's a case of all votes are equal, but some votes are
equal than
others, or, which amounts to the same thing, some votes are less
equal than
others. In short Zimbabweans want votes that count and count
equally. If
harmonizing does not produce this result, then harmonization in
and of
itself is meaningless. So, the slogan must be : no harmonization
before
constitutional and electoral reforms, including and especially
cleaning the
voters roll.
In light of the above , it becomes
irrelevant whether elections are
harmonized and held in 2008 or 2010
because if it is the quality of the
electoral outcome that counts then we
must get electoral infrastructure
right in the first instance and all other
things will follow. This also
means that elections cannot be held as
scheduled, that is, in the first
quarter of 2008. this suggests that we need
a transnational period with
transnational mechanisms to be activated at the
end of the present
presidential term and ending at the end of the Parliament
of Zimbabwe in
early 2010. we need a transitional interlude that will also
act as a cooling
off period. The two year cooling off period will provide a
perfect
opportunity for devising or crafting The Zimbabwe we want and a time
to come
up with a political formula that will fix our problem on a more or
less
permanent basis and in the national interest. In short, 2008 is too
early
for credible elections where people's votes count and
equally.
Lastly, I have observed that there are two projects at play
here; the
harmonization project and the presidential prolongation project.
One is
explicit while the other is hidden. In whose interest are the two
projects?
One is in the national interest while the other is at best in the
ruling
party interest and at worst in the interest of the prince. In either
case,
the prolongation project is not in the national interest. So to me it
makes
perfect and obvious sense to drop the prolongation agenda while
retaining
the harmonization agenda but that must follow the cleansing of the
constitution and electoral framework. This was, we throw away the water
(tenure prolongation) but retain the baby (electoral
harmonization).
New Zimbabwe
By Torby
Chimhashu
Last updated: 02/15/2007 10:28:54
THE struggling Daily Mirror
newspaper has axed one of its senior editors
after he confessed to writing
for a United States-based website.
The Mirror's deputy news editor, Partson
Matsikidze, was fired last week
after management at the Central Intelligence
Organisation (CIO)-controlled
paper confronted him for regurgitating a story
that had appeared in the
daily's issue.
Matsikidze was accused of
repeating the same story on the website of the
internet
newspaper.
Sources said acting editor, Alexander Kanengoni, sold a ruse
to the
Zimbabwean website's news editor by pretending to be a news
source.
The unsuspecting news editor, said sources at the paper, told
Kanengoni to
contact Matsikidze at the Daily Mirror who was ready to take
the story for
their website.
This was all Kanengoni needed to flush
out the journalist who was accused of
writing for a "hostile"
website.
Matsikidze had just started writing for the website. He had only
written
three articles at the time of his exit.
The report now faces
himself jobless, after the website refused to pay him
for the stories he had
written so far, suspecting they were also "lifted".
A Mirror source said:
"Kanengoni asked Matsikidze why he was writing bad
things about the paper on
the news website. He owned-up but suggested his
stories were not damaging to
the Mirror.
"He offered to resign. But he had no choice because
management had decided
to fire him before the meeting".
Matsikidze
follows a string of other reporters who have quit the Mirror,
including the
former editor Tawanda Majoni, who had serious disagreements
with his
bosses.
The Mirror was taken over by Zimbabwe's intelligence services in
a covert
operation. Ibbo Mandaza, the paper's former publisher, was elbowed
out in
the process. He is fighting to regain control in the High
Court.
Since the CIO take-over at the Daily Mirror and its sister
paper, the Sunday
Mirror, morale has hit rock bottom among staff, according
to sources.
The paper is struggling to remain afloat owing to poor
advertising revenues
and a host of other operational problems.
The
flagship Daily Mirror now sells less than 5 000 copies a day. Poor
revenue
has often led to late payment of salaries.
The Mirror finally paid its
workers their January salaries last Wednesday
after failing to raise enough
revenue the previous weeks.
New Zimbabwe
By Lebo
Nkatazo
Last updated: 02/15/2007 10:52:10
ZIMBABWE'S Senate president Edna
Madzongwe on Monday barred members of the
public from using the same
entrance with her saying she cannot use the same
door used by "ordinary
people."
Madzongwe said she wanted her own entrance that would be used by
a few
people, rejecting even suggestions to use another way used by
ministers and
MPs situated along Nelson Mandela Avenue.
The past
speaker of the House of Assembly Emmerson Mnangagwa saw off his
term using
the same entrance used by members of the public along Kwame
Nkrumah
Road.
A memo from Parliament's security department dated February 13,
says
Madzongwe wanted her own way, forcing Parliament to open another
entrance
for the public along Third Street.
"The Honourable president
of the Senate has directed that the above entrance
is reserved for the
following VIPs: (a) the Hon President of the Senate
...," said the
memo.
The memo adds seven other high officials that are allowed to
use that
entrance with her, including speaker of Parliament John Nkomo and
the Clerk
of Parliament Austin Zvoma.
"Security and police officers
have been instructed to enforce this directive
forthwith. Thank you,"
concludes the memo seen by New Zimbabwe.com.
VOA
By Carole Gombakomba
Washington
14
February 2007
South African President Thabo Mbeki said his
government is ready to help
Zimbabwe when all of the parties involved are
prepared to sit down and
discuss the crisis.
His comment, made in an
interview with the South African Broadcasting
Corporation, confirmed that
Mr. Mbeki's earlier approach of "quiet
diplomacy" which critics said had
failed to influence Harare's policies, has
given way to a certain
disengagement. South Africa's Foreign Ministry has
handed off Zimbabwe to a
troika of Southern African Development Community
countries, which has done
little with the brief.
South African Defense Minister Mosiuoa Lekota,
meanwhile, said a
multilateral approach to Zimbabwe is necessary given what
he called
"painfully slow" progress in resolving the crisis. Lekota said
that as
Zimbabwe is a sovereign state, South Africa is adopting an approach
that
acknowledges the autonomy of an African sister
state.
Parliamentary Liaison Officer Herman Honekom of the Africa
institute in Cape
Town, South Africa, offered his perspective on Pretoria's
current policy
toward Zimbabwe in an interview with reporter Carole
Gombakomba of VOA's
Studio 7 for Zimbabwe.
Pretoria News
February 15, 2007
Edition 1
Hanti Otto
Equatorial Guinea president Teodoro Obiang
Nguema would be lured to the
airport to receive a "gift" of 4x4 vehicles
from Nick du Toit. Once there,
he would be surprised by those staging a coup
to overthrow him.
Details of the initial coup plan yesterday emerged in
the Pretoria regional
court where Raymond Archer, Victor Dracula, Louis du
Preez, Errol Harris,
Mazanga Kashama, Neves Tomas Matias, Simon Morris
Witherspoon and Hendrik
Jacobus Hamman have pleaded not guilty to
contravening the Foreign Military
Assistance Act.
State witness
Crause Steyl said the plan would then entail flying exiled
opposition leader
Don Severo Moto from the Canary Islands to Equatorial
Guinea.
Steyl,
a pilot, testified that he had meetings with Simon Mann, the alleged
mastermind behind the coup, about flying people to Equatorial Guinea and how
to get Moto out of the Canary Islands. Steyl said that because the Islands
were part of Spain, he assumed one did not need to go through
immigration.
Speaking to pilots at a small airport, Steyl confirmed that
"en route" to
Spain, an aircraft "could experience technical problems" and
land in Morocco
without Spanish immigration knowing. Afterwards he and
others attended a
meeting near Pretoria. He met Nick du Toit, the other
alleged leader of the
"operation".
"The coup was planned for January
25 2004. Du Toit was close to the
president of Equatorial Guinea and told
him he would deliver 4x4s as gifts
to lure him to the airport," Steyl
testified. The plan was that one aircraft
would fly from South Africa with
unarmed "security personnel". Another would
leave Uganda with ammunition and
the cars. After landing in Equatorial
Guinea, the president would go on
board to inspect the cars. The people on
the South African plane would then
get on the Ugandan plane, grab the
weapons and take Nguema into
custody.
"I would then fly Moto from Spain," Steyl stated.