Zim Independent
Loughty
Dube
SENIOR Zanu PF officials on Monday called for a probe, and
possible
expulsion from the party, of politburo member Dumiso Dabengwa
(pictured) on
allegations that he harboured presidential ambitions and that
he had links
to Simba Makoni who is challenging President Mugabe in next
month’s
elections.
Party sources said Dabengwa, who was absent
from the poorly-attended
politburo meeting hastily arranged on Monday, was
"skinned alive" by
colleagues mainly from the faction aligned to Emmerson
Mnangagwa.
Calls to expel Dabengwa come amid reports that the
former Zipra
commander was being pushed by former Zanla and Zipra cadres to
contest the
presidential election to fulfill what they termed an "unwritten
clause" of
the 1987 Unity Accord between Zanu PF and PF-Zapu.
According to the unwritten agreement, senior Zanu PF officials said
Mugabe’s
successor should come from the former PF-Zapu.
"Dabengwa wanted to
fulfill the unwritten agreement and had the
backing of both former Zanla and
Zipra members," one of the sources said.
"It is former Zanla forces this
time around who were pushing hard for
Dabengwa to challenge
Mugabe."
Apart from Dabengwa’s presidential ambitions, the
Mnangagwa camp wants
the former Home Affairs minister expelled for
questioning how Mnangagwa
allegedly manipulated the politburo to convene an
extraordinary congress in
December to endorse and confirm Mugabe as the
party’s presidential
candidate.
A source who attended the
meeting said the anger against Dabengwa also
stemmed from an article
published in the Zimbabwe Independent two weeks that
he wanted to run in the
presidential race. Dabengwa’s opponents also alleged
that the veteran
politician, by not showing interest in running for House of
Assembly and
senatorial posts, he had "something up his sleeve".
The sources
however said the calls were generally ignored by the
presidium which was
more interested in discussing the Makoni issue and
outstanding primary
elections.
The politburo source said the attack on Dabengwa was an
act of
mischief as he had not made any statement regarding his presidential
ambitions or support for Makoni.
This comes amid reports of
other Zanu PF politburo members in
Matabeleland, among them Vice-President
Joseph Msika and chairman John
Nkomo, not attending party meetings in the
province because they are backing
Makoni.
Sources in the party
this week alleged that the politburo members were
also not involved in the
recent Zanu PF primary elections to select
candidates for the House of
Assembly, senate and council elections.
The sources said Msika last
weekend was expected in Bulawayo to drum
up support for the candidates, but
he did not pitch up.
Msika, Nkomo and Dabengwa, the sources said,
have not attended Zanu PF
functions in the province since the party’s
extraordinary congress in
December when the former PF Zapu leaders were
irked by war veterans leader
Jabulani Sibanda’s attempt to address the
indaba.
"In the past, Dabengwa, Nkomo and Msika have visited
Matabeleland
North and Bulawayo every weekend to address party meetings, but
since the
congress last year they have been nowhere near party activities in
the
provinces," one of the sources said.
Dabengwa, Msika and
Nkomo do not recognise Sibanda as a party member
after his expulsion in
December 2004 for being part to the infamous
Tsholotsho Declaration. The
plan was meant to end the political career of
Msika and Nkomo, and also to
block the ascendancy of Vice-President Joice
Mujuru into the
presidium.
The sources said Information and Publicity minister
Sikhanyiso Ndlovu
was the only senior party leader who has been holding
meetings and
addressing party structures since the beginning of the year.
Ndlovu is a
member of the politburo and is eyeing the Mpopoma House of
Assembly seat.
Repeated efforts to get a comment from Msika, Nkomo
and Dabengwa were
fruitless yesterday.
Zim Independent
Constantine Chimakure
INDEPENDENT presidential candidate Simba
Makoni and the MDC formation
led by Arthur Mutambara yesterday reportedly
forged an alliance that will
see the former finance minister filing his
nomination papers today with the
backing of the faction.
The
alliance was agreed amid reports that Zanu PF politburo member
Dumiso
Dabengwa had given up his presidential ambitions to back Makoni.
Dabengwa was until earlier this week reportedly seeking nominations
from the
country’s 10 provinces to challenge President Robert Mugabe, Makoni
and
MDC’s Morgan Tsvangirai in the March 29 harmonised polls.
The
sources said Makoni and Mutambara representatives met yesterday
and agreed
that the expelled Zanu PF politburo member will stand as their
presidential
candidate and that the MDC would field House of Assembly,
senate and council
election candidates.
"The deal is that Makoni will be the
presidential candidate, while the
Mutambara faction will field candidates
for other elections," one of the
sources said. "During the two sides’
election campaigns, Mutambara will urge
voters to elect Makoni and the group
will appeal to the electorate to back
the MDC candidates."
The
sources said the Makoni group met the Mutambara faction on
Wednesday to
deliberate on the alliance where a common position was
reportedly
agreed.
Yesterday, the two groups met again in the capital and
Makoni’s side
reportedly asked the Mutambara faction to issue out a
statement that they
were backing the former Sadc executive
secretary.
"At the meeting (yesterday) there was a conflict on the
emblem to be
used in the elections. There was a strong feeling that the
Mutambara faction’s
symbol was almost similar to that of the Tsvangirai camp
and that this could
work against the alliance in the elections," another
source said.
However, the source said the two groups would use
different symbols
despite their alliance.
Launching his
manifesto in the capital on Wednesday, Makoni said he
was aware of only
three presidential candidates.
"I am aware of three presidential
candidates, President Mugabe, Mr
Tsvangirai and Simba Makoni," the
ex-Finance minister said. "I am not
challenging President Mugabe, but I am
offering myself to be the president
instead of President
Mugabe."
Efforts to get a comment from MDC spokesperson Gabriel
Chaibva failed
yesterday as he was not reachable on his mobile
phone.
However, the party at the weekend said it was prepared to
work with
"progressive opposition groups" to oust Mugabe from
power.
The other faction of the MDC led by Tsvangirai has refused
to form a
coalition with Makoni saying he was "old wine in a new
bottle".
Nelson Chamisa, the faction’s spokesperson, said: "The
problem with
Makoni is that we do not know what he stands for. Zanu PF
cannot swallow the
MDC. It doesn’t make sense to be part of a Zanu PF
faction. What happens to
the MDC if Makoni wakes up tomorrow and says he is
going back to Zanu PF?"
Meanwhile, Makoni on Wednesday did not
reveal the bigwigs in Zanu PF
supporting his presidential bid, amid reports
that they would not come out
in the open, but campaign for him behind the
scenes.
The sources said the heavyweights would not campaign for
Mugabe, but
for Makoni as they felt there was need for leadership renewal in
the
country.
"Mugabe is aware that within the party, especially
in the politburo,
there are members who will de-campaign him and that is why
he appealed to
the people during the congress in December not to sacrifice
the party," a
senior Zanu PF official said.
Zim Independent
Bernard
Mpofu
ZIMBABWE’S year-on-year inflation for December surged by
39 741,5
percentage points to reach a new high of 66 212,3% as the economy
continues
to crumble.
The new figure, released by the Central
Statistical Office (CSO) this
week, means that prices increased over 660
times between December 2006 and
December 2007.
This is the
highest price increase that Zimbabweans have experienced
since the crisis
started in 2000.
The year-on-year inflation rate for November was
26 470,8%. The
release of the December figures means that Zimbabwe’s
inflation numbers are
two months behind.
Under normal
circumstances the CSO was supposed to be releasing the
January figures this
week.
Although the figures were announced yesterday, the press
release is
dated January 30.
The CSO said the month-on-month
inflation rate for December was 240,1%
increasing 108,7 percentage points on
the November figure of 131,4%.
"This means that prices as measured
by the all-items CPI increased by
an average of 240,1% between November and
December," the CSO said.
The year-on-year inflation rate for food
and non-alcoholic beverages
was at 79 412,0% while non-food was at 58
492,9%.
"The month-on-month food and non-alcoholic beverages
inflation stood
at 309% in December. The month-on-month non-food inflation
stood at 199%,
gaining 50,4% points on the November 2007 rate of
148,6%.
The consumer price index for December was $441 490 130,8
compared to
$129 862 060,8 recorded in November.
Last month the
International Monetary Fund said Zimbabwe’s inflation
for December was
around 125 000%. The IMF said the figure had increased to
150 000% in
January.
An economic analyst said it was worrying that the CSO was
still
delaying publication of the figures.
Economic consultant,
John Robertson, said: "Delaying these figures
benefits government in two
ways. First, it saves government from
embarrassment and secondly, it eases
them from the Public Service Commission
salary adjustment
pressures."
Zim Independent
Constantine Chimakure
THE Morgan Tsvangirai-led MDC formation
has come up with its 2008
harmonised elections manifesto in which it
promises to restructure the
functions of the central bank and the Finance
ministry.
The policy programme will be unveiled at the launch of
its campaign in
Mutare on February 23.
The MDC said its
government would face a daunting task as it would
inherit not only a
collapsed economy, failing infrastructure and a massive
humanitarian crisis,
but also a civil service that would be highly
politicised and decimated by
the loss of both skills and experience.
"The MDC will, therefore,
initiate a six-month (economic)
stabilisation programme immediately upon
taking over the reins of
government. This will take the form of
re-establishing the correct economic
and administrative relationship between
the Ministry of Finance and the
Reserve bank," reads the policy document.
"New leadership in the form of a
new Minister of Finance and governor of the
Reserve Bank will be appointed,
and a technical assistance team of
experienced international specialists
brought in to assist both the ministry
and the bank with the programme."
Nelson Chamisa, the MDC
spokesperson, yesterday confirmed that the
party now had the presidential,
legislative and council elections manifesto
plus a detailed policy
programme.
"We have finalised the manifesto and the policy
programme document,"
Chamisa said. "The manifesto outlines in short what our
party will deliver
to the people of Zimbabwe once elected, while the policy
programme document
reveals how our policies will be
implemented."
The Kuwadzana lawmaker said the manifesto and the
policy programme
document were now with the printers and would be unveiled
when Tsvangirai
launched the MDC election campaign next
Saturday.
A copy of the policy programme leaked to the Zimbabwe
Independent this
week revealed that the MDC had come up with various
policies to address the
country’s political crisis that have left over 70%
of the people wallowing
in poverty.
The programme covers
governance, the economy, social issues and the
state of the country’s
infrastructure and how to rehabilitate it.
The MDC said there would
be a complete restructuring of the government
that will see the reduction of
ministries to 15.
In addition, the structuring of the government
would be streamlined to
ensure that state expenditure is justified and
managed effectively.
The party proposed to form a National Social
and Economic Council to
ensure that the MDC government consults
stakeholders.
"The goal of the stabilisation programme will be to
bring inflation
down to treble-digit very quickly and to double-digit
figures as soon as
possible and to restore confidence in interest-rate and
exchange-rate
policy," reads the policy document. "Both will be anchored on
market
principles and unified. The present system of multiple interest and
exchange
rates will be eliminated immediately."
On land and
agrarian reform, the MDC said it had always recognised the
need for land
reform, but rejects the manner in which the Zanu PF government
has pursued
land redistribution since 2000.
It said the government’s land
reform had compounded rather than
resolve the land issue and at the same
time destroyed the core of the
national economy and its food
system.
"When the MDC forms the next government in Zimbabwe, it
will accept
neither the status quo that existed prior to 2000 nor the
position it will
inherit after eight years of mayhem and destruction by a
criminal elite,"
the policy document reads.
"The MDC is fully
committed to righting the historical imbalance in
land distribution. An MDC
government will bring the land crisis to closure
through a democratic and
participatory process that achieves equitable,
transparent, just, lawful and
economically efficient distribution and use of
land, both for agricultural
and other purposes."
The party said it would establish a Land
Commission under an Act of
Parliament to oversee the land reform process.
The commission’s first task
would be to conduct a physical and legal audit
of land occupation and
ownership in the country.
"On the basis
of the outcome of this audit, the commission will
determine the status and
future of all existing settlement, the status of
those holding title, and a
method of regularising the situation without
further dislocating farm output
or disturbing those in productive occupation
of farm land," the MDC
said.
The party also outlined its policies on health, education,
labour and
social security.
Meanwhile, independent presidential
candidate Simba Makoni on
Wednesday unveiled his manifesto in the capital
and pledged that once
elected he would embark on national reengagement and
dialogue for economic,
social and political revival.
Makoni
said he would undertake immediate and urgent tasks to resolve
the food,
power and fuel, water and sanitation problems facing the nation.
The former Zanu PF deputy secretary for finance in the politburo said
he
would develop a policy framework for economic and social renewal, in the
short, medium and long term.
"I will re-engage key national
constituencies, namely youth, women,
workers, students, employers, rural and
urban people, with the state in
national development," Makoni said. "I will
implement gender policies to
ensure equal rights and opportunities for both
men and women."
Makoni said land reform in the country was
necessary and if elected,
he would ensure transparent and equitable process
of reform.
"I will review the current land tenure systems as a
means of
rationalising and refining the land reform and stimulating
productivity. I
will also revive agricultural production through programmes
to ensure that
agricultural inputs and other resources are available,"
Makoni said.
He said a new people-driven national constitution will
be crafted
after full consultation.
Makoni added that he
already had comprehensive policies on
industrialisation, empowerment and
employment creation.
Makoni was expelled from Zanu PF on Monday for
announcing that he
would contest the presidential election.
Zim Independent
Augustine
Mukaro
THE government’s bid to expropriate business mogul
Mutumwa Mawere’s
companies registered in the UK failed this week when a
London court ruled in
favour of his Africa Resources Ltd.
Justice Evans-Lombe of the Company Court, Chancery Division, on
Wednesday
ruled that ARL retain the "right as the ultimate shareholder" of
Shabane
Mashaba Mines (SMM) and related companies.
"The judgement implies
that the companies are all under my control,"
said Mawere. "No notification
was ever issued to me regarding the intentions
of the government of Zimbabwe
to unlawfully acquire my assets."
Afras Gwaradzimba, appointed by
the government in September 2004 to
assume control and management of
Mawere’s assets, admitted before the court
in December the state’s
involvement in the acquisition of SMM.
Gwaradzimba told the court
that the nationalisation of Mawere’s
business interests was done through AMG
Global Nominees (AMG).
The administrator was a witness on behalf of
the government in a case
in which Mawere’s company, Africa Resources Limited
(ARL) is a claimant
against AMG, a shelf company used by the state to
expropriate his assets.
Gwaradzimba said AMG was a nominee of the government
and was funded by the
Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe to acquire SMM.
Asked by Mawere’s lawyer, Francis Tregear, before Justice Evans-Lombe
of the
Company Court, to confirm that he and AMG were government nominees,
Gwaradzimba initially said he was a nominee of the RBZ, but later admitted
that he was representing the government.
According to a
transcript of the court proceedings, Gwaradzimba said:
"That is correct (I
am a nominee of the government). But what I have said as
well is correct in
that I got it (funds to run SMM Holdings) from the
Reserve Bank of
Zimbabwe."
The battle between AMG and ARL has been in the UK courts
for the past
three years.
Zim Independent
Orirando Manwere
THE just-ended voters roll inspection and
registration exercise have
exposed the government’s shortcomings in the
compilation of the newly
introduced ward voters’ rolls, among other critical
factors likely to affect
the harmonised elections on March 29.
A survey by the Zimbabwe Independent during the inspection period
revealed
that the exercise was marked by logistical problems and lack of
coordination
between the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) and the
Registrar-General’s
Office (RG).
Candidates and prospective voters have complained of
attempts by RG
officials to deny them their right to inspect the rolls and
register to
vote.
Harare North lawmarker Trudy Stevenson and
aspiring Harare Ward 7
councillor Brighton Chiwola, both of the MDC
(Mutambara formation), were
this week forced to seek a court order to
inspect the voters’ roll.
The two wanted to check the names and
details of their respective
nominators at two inspection centres in the
constituency.
High Court judge Justice Tendai Uchena on Tuesday
granted a consent
order to Stevenson and Chiwola.
Despite the
granting of the order, Registrar-General Tobaiwa Mudede,
later addressed a
press conference refuting allegations that the applicants
were denied their
right to inspect the rolls.
During the Independent’s survey, it
emerged that names of people
originally registered within wards and
constituencies were missing from the
ward rolls that were reportedly hastily
compiled by ZEC from previous
constituency rolls.
A Zanu PF
official coordinating the nomination of an aspiring
councillor in Harare’s
Ward 17 told the Independent at Beit Hall in
Mabelreign last week that he
could not find names of 10 nominators backing
him.
This, the
official, who asked for anonymity, said was despite the
nominators having
registered and voted in previous elections in the area.
It was only
after a ZEC supervisor who was present phoned the
Registrar-General’s Office
and ascertained that they were in the national
database that he got
help.
The supervisor advised the Zanu PF official to tell the
nominators to
re-register at the inspection centre.
After
getting the court order to inspect the rolls, legislator
Stevenson said six
names of her nominators were not on the ward voters roll
despite having
registered in the constituency during the previous
registration
exercise.
She had to replace them ahead of the sitting of the
nomination court
today since a candidate should have at least 10 nominators
in the voters
roll, according to electoral laws.
It emerged
that the building of ward-specific voters rolls from the
previous
constituency and national voters rolls after delimitation was a
cumbersome
process that could have resulted in most people being left out.
"The introduction of the ward voters rolls is causing a lot of
confusion. It
was a mammoth task for the RG’s Office to have gone through
the national or
constituency voters roll from A to Z and look at addresses
of people one by
one and then come up with individual ward rolls for the
whole country," the
Zanu PF official said.
Stevenson, Chiwola and MDC (Tsvangirai
formation) spokesman Nelson
Chamisa questioned how the RG’s Office came up
with the ward voters rolls
before the proclamation of the final delimitation
report was made.
The ZEC presented the initial report to President
Robert Mugabe on
January 16 before it was tabled before parliament, which
was expected to
examine and debate it in terms of the
constitution.
This was, however, not done as parliament immediately
adjourned to
April 8.
President Mugabe proclaimed the final
delimitation report with the
constituency and ward boundaries into law on
February 8, a week after the
inspection of the voters roll had
started.
"We wonder how the RG’s Office came up with the wards
voters rolls for
the whole country before the proclamation of the final
delimitation report,"
Chamisa said.
"Everything is being
fast-tracked. Parliament was not afforded the
opportunity to input into the
report which has remained a secret document
and that is why we have always
expressed concerns over issues of legitimacy
in our electoral
processes."
There are 1 958 wards nationwide.
The
electorate will vote simultaneously for the presidential, House of
Assembly,
senatorial and local council candidates within their wards.
Chamisa said
there was need to extend the voters roll inspection to enable
people to cast
their votes.
The Independent also established that most prospective
voters were not
immediately given registration slips at the centres as forms
were taken to
the RG’s office where information was to be fed into the
national database.
The slips were returned to the centres for collection a
week later. It took
two weeks for one to get fully registered and issued
with the registration
certificate.
It was not clear when and
where prospective voters who registered
during the last days would collect
their certificates.
At Haig Park Primary School, prospective
voters, including this
reporter, who registered on Tuesday last week, were
advised to collect their
registration certificates after two days. Those who
returned on Thursday
last week could not collect them until Wednesday and
Thursday this week.
"This is very inconveniencing. It’s not easy to
get time off from work
to come and register and then be told to come back
for collection on another
day," said one man at the inspection centre. "I
have been here on three
occasions and I only managed to collect the
registration certificate today
(yesterday)."
The ZEC director
of public relations Shupikai Mashereni referred
questions on registration
and the voters roll to the RG’s Office where
officials could not be reached
for comment.
The ZEC says all the necessary logistics are in place
for the
elections.
Noel Kututwa, the Zimbabwe Election Support
Network (ZESN)
chairperson, said the inspection was characterised by a low
turnout during
the first week. He said this could be attributed to lack of
voter education.
The turnout however increased during the last
days.
He said ZESN officials had established that most residents
were not
aware of the exercise while some centres only started operating on
Monday
instead of Friday last week.
Kututwa said the working
class did not have time to inspect the voters
rolls and there was need to
extend the inspection period by two more weeks.
Zim Independent
Augustine Mukaro/
Lucia Makamure
THE Morgan Tsvangirai headed MDC faction has
plunged into further
intra-party squabbling with supporters protesting
against criteria used in
choosing candidates to represent the party in the
forthcoming harmonised
elections.
Reports from a number of
constituencies show that members objected to
the handpicking of candidates
by senior party leaders.
They also protested against the party’s
decision that sitting
lawmakers and members of the standing committee should
not be challenged,
saying this amounted to an imposition of
candidates.
Highly placed sources from a number of constituencies
besieged the
party headquarters, Harvest House, in Harare to protest against
the
imposition of candidates.
"The standing committee
unilaterally decided that the sitting MPs and
members of the standing
committee would not go through primaries for a
ticket to represent the party
in the elections," one of the sources said.
"Tsvangirai last week wrote to
all provincial chairpersons instructing them
to stop any primary contests
against sitting MPs and the 10 members of his
standing
committee."
The source said Tsvangirai, however, ordered primaries
against Timothy
Mubhawu and Emmanuel Chisvuure in Mabvuku-Tafara and
Budiriro constituencies
respectively.
Party spokesman Nelson
Chamisa said the primaries for the two
constituencies were held at Harvest
House resulting in new candidates being
chosen to represent their
formation.
"There are now new candidates for the two
constituencies," Chamisa
said.
"Shepard Madamombe won the
primaries in Mabvuku while Professor Heneri
Dzinotyiwei will represent the
party in Budiriro."
Sources said Mubhawu and Chisvuure were
punished for supporting former
chairperson of the national women’s assembly,
Lucia Matibenga, when she was
controversially toppled from the post in
favour of Theresa Makone late last
year.
"Tsvangirai’s decision
to impose candidates prompted a demonstration
at Harvest House early this
week, with a number of supporters sleeping at
the party headquarters forcing
the leadership to order primaries in the two
constituencies," the sources
said.
The primary elections have been characterised by chaos and
objections
in most parts of the country which the MDC considers as "safe
seats".
Meanwhile, in Chitungwiza, Tsvangirai’s faction candidate
for St Mary’s,
Marvelous Khumalo, was arrested and appeared in court on
Tuesday for
inciting violence.
Magistrate Patience Ururu
granted Khumalo a $250 million bail.
Khumalo is facing charges of
inciting violence against St Mary’s
sitting MP Job Sikhala who is from the
Arthur Mutambara-led MDC faction.
Khumalo, an employee of Crisis
Coalition, was arrested on Sunday with
four other MDC members from both
formations of the opposition party,
Brighton Mazhindu, David Chipunza and
Simbarashe Makuwaza.
Khumalo is alleged to have led a group of his
supporters in carrying
out unsanctioned door-to-door campaigns against
Sikhala.
"On February 10 at about 18.00 hours, after an MDC rally
at Huruyadzo
Shopping Centre, St Mary’s, accused persons in the company of
about 50 still
at large being led by accused number one, Khumalo, an
aspiring candidate for
St Mary’s constituency proceeded to house 569, St
Mary’s Chitungwiza where
Job Sikhala, the sitting member lives singing
anti-Sikhala songs and
conducting unsanctioned door-to-door campaigns,"
reads the charge sheet.
"When the group arrived at Sikhala’s
residence, accused number three
(Chipunza) started assaulting Mercy Makwasha
at number 836 with open hands
accusing her of supporting Job Sikhala as she
was wearing an MDC T-shirt
written ‘MAN OF THE PEOPLE JOB
SIKHALA’."
Sikhala, the complainant in the case, alleged that
Khumalo and his
supporters threw stones at his residence and damaged a
window.
"During the process, some supporters from MDC anti-senate
who were
being led by accused one (Khumalo) started throwing stones into
Sikhala’s
residence thereby damaging a window," the charge sheet
read.
"The accused skirmished for about an hour and were dispersed
by Mike
Chenai, a deputy security officer employed by the Municipality at
Chitungwiza, who fired one warning shot in the air and accused persons
dispersed."
lMeanwhile, members of Criminal Investigation
Department yesterday
raided Crisis Coalition offices and reportedly arrested
two civic education
officers in connection with the whereabouts of
Khumalo.
Pedzisayi Ruhanya of Crisis Coalition said the police
officers picked
up the organisation’s information officer Thabani Moyo and
Zinasu gender and
human rights officer Maureen Kademaunga.
"Thabani and Maureen were picked this afternoon and we are worried by
the
police naivety to believe that the two are Khumalo’s custodians,"
Ruhanya
said.
Ruhanya added that the police had also confiscated a digital
still
camera and documents belonging to the two organisations during the
raid.
Crisis and Zinasu share offices.
Zim Independent
Augustine
Mukaro
THE second attempt to reunify the two factions of the
MDC collapsed on
February 3 after the formations failed to agree on the
proposed coalition
agreement put together by the top 10 leaders from both
sides.
The bone of contention remained the distribution of
parliamentary
seats between the two camps.
The opposition MDC
split into two formations in October 12 2005,
resulting in the Arthur
Mutambara-led formation having its congress in
Bulawayo in February 2006 and
the Morgan Tsvangirai formation in Harare in
March 2006.
The
Mutambara faction last week released details of the events
culminating in
the failure of the transitional coalition agreement.
On February 2,
the two MDC formations’ national councils were in the
morning presented with
the transitional document that the top 10 leadership
from both parties had
agreed upon for consideration.
They were told of endless debates
held until the early hours of the
morning, saying they faced the hardest
negotiations of their lives.
The document tabled showed a
comprehensive reunification process,
which would culminate in a congress
shortly after elections dissolving both
parties and making one reunited
MDC.
The document also set out the distribution of parliamentary
seats
between the two formations while declaring that all sitting MPs would
not be
contested.
It also spelt out that the formations would
field a single
presidential candidate to be chosen by the Tsvangirai
formation.
The new seats allocation gave the Tsvangirai formation
approximately
70% in six provinces, 50% in the Bulawayo province and 30% in
the three
Matabeleland provinces.
The Mutambara faction
expressed concern over the seats allocation, but
agreed to adopt the
agreement.
By 12.00hrs midday they had adopted the agreement and
were ready to
meet with the other team to sign it.
Instead,
they waited for four hours while the Tsvangirai formation
debated.
Eventually the Mutambara formation’s top 10 were
called back into
negotiations in which they were informed that the
Tsvangirai formation’s
national council had not accepted the transitional
coalition agreement so
they needed to go back into negotiation amongst
themselves.
From 16.00hrs until 20.30hrs, the Tsvangirai formation
was demanding
two more seats in Bulawayo. The Tsvangirai formation was then
asked to make
a decision by the next morning, as the Mutambara formation
could not yield
to the demands.
On Sunday morning February 3,
the Tsvangirai formation brought an
entirely new and different set of
demands to the negotiating table. They now
demanded 50% of all the
Matabeleland and Bulawayo seats, including those
where the Mutambara faction
MPs were already sitting.
The new demands were rejected, prompting
the Mutambara formation to
call a press conference to announce that they
were going it alone.
Zim Independent
Bernard
Mpofu
THE Associated Newspapers of Zimbabwe (ANZ), publishers
of the banned
Daily News and the Daily News on Sunday, yesterday filed an
application for
registration with the Media and Information Commission
(MIC)’s special
committee chaired by blacklisted lawyer Chinondidyachii
Mararike.
The application came a day after the MIC wrote to media
houses saying
the ANZ had failed to seek registration despite an invitation
extended to it
by the commission.
Mararike confirmed receipt of
the application from ANZ lawyers, Gill,
Godlonton and Gerrans legal
practitioners.
"Today (yesterday) we have received an application
letter from the ANZ
contrary to some media reports that we were dragging our
feet in dealing
with its registration," Mararike said.
"We may
be cynical, but let me assure you that we are extremely
genuine and this
matter will receive the highest level of transparency and
fairness it
deserves."
He said the special committee would come up with its
determination on
the application within 30 days. The ANZ stopped publishing
the Daily News
and the Daily News on Sunday in September 2003 when the
government forced it
to shutdown after it refused to register with the MIC
in line with the
Access to Information and Protection of Privacy
Act.
The High Court has since ruled that the ANZ should apply for
registration and that the MIC should consider it.
The court
barred MIC chairman, Tafataona Mahoso, from being part of
the committee to
look into the matter saying he was biased.
Meanwhile, Mararike said
prospective media players should not hesitate
to seek registration from the
commission.
"We take this opportunity to encourage any and all
prospective media
players to register with us," Mararike said.
"Seriously speaking, we are a progressive commission committed to
promoting
media diversity, in fact, such diversity is a matter of national
importance
to us because we are convinced that an informed society is a
society that is
capable of making informed decisions."
He said the MIC wanted to
open the media space to greater public
participation.
"Our
serious commitment to media diversity is one reason why, in the
near future,
we shall be hosting workshops and seminars to which all
stakeholders in the
media industry will be invited," Mararike said.
"This will be part
of our collaborative efforts to share ideas and
stimulate dialogue so we
remove any possible suspicion and misconception
about the roles we should be
playing."
Zim Independent
Lucia Makamure
AS the Harare Anglican Church diocese saga
continues to unravel, fired
Bishop Nolbert Kunonga has reportedly set up
residence at the cathedral in
the capital and locked up the church’s doors
to bar acting vicar general
Sebastian Bakare from carrying out his
duties.
The move by Kunonga, sources said, was in defiance of High
Court
orders stopping him from interfering with Bakare’s
activities.
Bakare is also the acting bishop of
Harare.
The sources said since Sunday, Kunonga, his wife and a
group of over
40 people believed to be members of the national youth service
had been
staying at the cathedral.
Kunonga is alleged to have
used the militia to block Bakare’s
followers from holding a service at the
church on Sunday afternoon.
The youths reportedly assaulted members
of the congregation.
Reverend Christopher Tapera, the acting
diocesan secretary and Bakare’s
spokesperson, yesterday confirmed the
incident to the Zimbabwe Independent
in a telephone interview.
"We were meant to have a church service at 12.30 (hrs) at the
cathedral in
line with the judge president’s (Rita Makarau) judgement, but
Kunonga locked
up the church," said Tapera.
He said Bakare’s followers then went
ahead with their service outside
the church and this did not go well with
Kunonga and the youth militia.
"Kunonga sent his thugs to grab a
camera from a young man who was
recording the service and this disrupted the
service as his parents tried to
protect their son from the thugs," he said.
"The thugs ended up assaulting
some of the followers."
Bakare’s
spokesman claimed that the disturbances took place in the
presence of the
police who did not do anything to stop Kanonga’s thugs from
assaulting
members of the congregation.
"We phoned Superintendent (Isaac)
Tayengwa who then sent constables
from the Law and Order section, but when
they arrived the thugs
disappeared," Tapera said.
Tapera said
he was shocked by the behaviour of the police who did not
arrest Kunonga for
setting up residence at the cathedral.
"Kunonga has defied all
three judgements at hand on the case and I
have personally taken the
judgements to the police but they are reluctant to
arrest him," Tapera
claimed.
A parishioner at the church who spoke to the Independent
said youths
barricaded the main cathedral to stop a service which was
supposed to be led
by a priest aligned to Bakare
"Less than 10
people attended Kunonga’s 7 am service yet more than 60
followers turned up
for the 1230 (hrs) service which was to be conducted by
a priest from
Bakare’s side," the parishioner said.
Zim Independent
Bernard Mpofu
MEMBERS of President Robert
Mugabe’s Presidential Guard yesterday
allegedly chased away Zanu PF
supporters from Zvimba East who had besieged
the party headquarters in
Harare to protest the alleged imposition of
Patrick Zhuwao as the candidate
for the constituency.
The supporters burst into songs denouncing
the party’s elections
directorate soon after Mugabe arrived at the
headquarters, prompting the
soldiers into action.
Zhuwao,
Mugabe’s nephew, was allegedly imposed by the politburo
following the
rejection of Francis Mukwangawira’s candidacy.
"A group of people
in Zanu PF regalia were chased away from the party’s
premises moments after
the president’s arrival," said one on-looker. "This
must have been the same
people that were singing revolutionary songs
denouncing Zhuwao at the
party’s offices yesterday (Wednesday)."
Party insiders have
confirmed that Mugabe did not address the party
supporters from the
constituency who had been coming to the Zanu PF
headquarters since
Tuesday.
Moments after the incident, this reporter witnessed more
than 20
people clad in party regalia running away from the party
headquarters.
Efforts to interview the fleeing supporters were
fruitless.
Earlier on Wednesday, party officials from Sally Mugabe
district
submitted a petition objecting to the imposition of
Zhuwao.
The Zimbabwe Independent is in possession of a letter
addressed to the
national commissar and elections directorate chairman,
Elliot Manyika.
"We strongly object to the candidature of Patrick
Zhuwao as our party
candidate," reads the letter. "Please be assured that we
will not give him
support for another term to go and snooze. We strongly
feel robbed of our
freedom of choice to choose, as the president indicated
that whoever enters
office must enter on merit not totem
(sic)".
Manyika accused the supporters of being "used by enemies of
the
party".
Mukwangawira was told by Manyika to stand for
council elections.
He is the current councillor for Ward 35 in the
Mashonaland West
constituency.
Similar protests were held last
week over the party’s criteria for
choosing election candidates. Protests
were made against senior party
heavyweights in Mashonaland Central. Bindura
town mayor, Martin Dinha,
Garikai Msika and a senior Reserve Bank official,
Fortune Chasi, were
disqualified from contesting in the House of Assembly
primaries.
This year’s elections have seen clashes between veteran
politicians
and young turks in Zanu PF. The opposition MDC (Tsvangirai
faction) is also
facing intra-party squabbles over the selection of
candidates in primary
elections.
Zim Independent
Shakeman
Mugari
THE crisis with the central bank’s Real Time Gross
Settlement (RTGS)
payment system is costing the banking sector close to $5,2
trillion per day
in interest payments to clients whose transactions would
have been delayed.
Bankers said the system, which should ideally be
instant (real time),
is now costing financial institutions which are forced
to compensate clients
whose payments would have been delayed.
The RTGS system has been experiencing problems for the past three
months.
Investigations by businessdigest revealed that the system has been
down an
average two days a week.
Just last week the system collapsed on
Friday and Saturday. It was
down on Monday this week and a greater part of
Wednesday. The cost to banks
has been huge.
On average the
whole banking sector pushes transactions worth $162
trillion through the
RTGS system everyday.
Each commercial bank pushes between $12
trillion and $14 trillion
worth of RTGS transactions every day.
If the system does not work for one day it means that transactions
worth
$162 trillion would not have been processed.
That means the flow of
money in the economy would have been affected
because transactions between
buyers and sellers would not have been
completed.
The
hyperinflation environment means that any delay in payment will
cost
companies money. This translates to a cost to the whole economy.
When the system collapses banks are forced to pay the affected clients
at
the overnight interest rate of 1 200%.
The problem however is that
banks are picking up the costs even though
they are not to blame for the
crisis in the system. Banks are merely users
of the system which is owned by
the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ).
The system only works when the
Tel*One link is operating.
For example, when a CBZ client instructs
the bank to transfer money to
Barclays the instruction will be routed
through Tel*One’s system which is
used by RTGS.
The instruction
from CBZ will be carried by the Tel*One line to South
Africa from where it
is relayed to Brussels in Belgium.
From Belgium the instruction
will be routed through the same system
back to Barclays for the transaction
to be processed.
The problem however arises when the system
collapses along the way
because banks will not be able to
communicate.
The problem, experts say, lies with the Tel*One’s
telecommunications
infrastructure which has virtually collapsed because the
parastatal is thin
on both financial resources and skills to deal with
problems in the system.
The power outages have not made things any
better for the system.
Tel*One is unable to buy fuel to power the
generators at its various
bases along the line.
Analysts
however said the bigger problem is that the system is too old
to sustain the
increased traffic that is coming through the RTGS system.
"The
problem will get worse unless the whole system is revamped. The
problem is
that Tel*One does not have the money and the RBZ is still
dragging it feet,"
said a chief executive of a commercial bank.
"There will come a
time when whole system will completely collapse.
When that happens there
will be chaos in the banking sector and the whole
economy," he said.
Zim Independent
Kuda
Chikwanda
THE Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries (CZI) has
blamed the National
Incomes and Pricing Commission (NIPC) for the recent
slump in manufacturing
output.
CZI president, Callisto Jokonya
told businessdigest this week that the
manufacturing sector capacity has now
dropped to around 10%.
The figure had previously averaged 20% since
2002. Last year capacity
utilisation in the manufacturing sector was around
25%.
Jokonya accused NIPC chairman, Godwills Masimirembwa, of
failing to
assist industry to survive in a volatile and harsh economic
environment.
"The average is now 10%, not all companies are
producing at that
level," Jokonya said.
"Several companies are
producing at levels lower than that. To be
honest with you, if we find a
company producing at 10%, it is rather
pleasing at the moment."
Jokonya said Masimirembwa was only approving price increases after
products
had already disappeared from the market.
"No one will produce at a
loss. It is wrong to label businesses which
are not producing as being
unpatriotic. When production stops, NIPC tells
everyone that it is giving
industry price increases. I want to find out why
NIPC is the habit of doing
this," Jokonya said.
Jokonya said NIPC was being used as a
political tool and antagonising
business.
Zimbabwe National
Chamber of Commerce (ZNCC) president, Marah
Hativagone, said the NIPC was
slow in the making decisions on prices.
"They are always too slow.
They are now just beginning to understand
issues. What we said last year is
what they are beginning to implement this
year," said
Hativagone.
"But still that remains a problem because time does not
stand still
and things change everyday."
Hativagone said NIPC
had failed to understand that it was supposed to
research into the causes of
escalating prices and find lasting solutions
instead of seeking to control
prices. Masimirembwa however dismissed the
accusations saying the CZI and
the ZNCC had a political agenda.
"It does look like these two
umbrella organisations have a political
agenda and are always making false
accusations against the NIPC," he said.
Masimirembwa said NIPC was
vetting applications for price increases
and approving them within seven
days.
"We are doing the best we can to approve prices within seven
days. In
cases of basic commodities, there is not a single outstanding
application
apart from fertiliser," he said.
Masimirembwa said
NIPC would no longer work with the ZNCC and the CZI.
He said the two
organisations were slowing down the price applications.
"We have
since discovered that these two umbrella bodies slow down
things. We are
making much more progress working directly with manufacturers
and companies
than working with them through the ZNCC and the CZI,"
Masimirembwa
said.
NIPC has come under fire from the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe
for
overstepping its mandate.
The central bank recommended that
the NIPC should control the prices
of three basic commodities — maize meal,
bread and flour — and monitor the
prices of 16 other products. The CZI and
the ZNCC estimate that 80% of all
products in shops and supermarkets are
imported goods as local manufacturers
are yet to recover from last year’s
price blitz.
Zim Independent
Shakeman Mugari
NMB Bank will next week receive a US$2,5
million loan from an offshore
financial institution to cover the hole
created by a series of fraudulent
activities that rocked the bank last
year.
The money will be used to pay exporters and individual
foreign
currency account holders who lost their money between 2006 and
2007.
NMB lost about US$6,2 million to a syndicate of officials in
the
treasury department who siphoned foreign currency from the bank’s
accounts
for onward sale on the parallel market.
Businessdigest
can reveal that the loan is being facilitated by ABC
Bank. Although the
identity of the source of funds is still unknown, a
source said it is a
South African financial institution.
The loan documents have been
prepared and the parties have agreed to
the terms, the source said this
week.
"Probably by the end of next week the deal will be
completed," said a
senior official in NMB.
The central bank’s
External Loans Coordinating Committee is understood
to have approved the
loan deal two weeks ago. The committee is responsible
for assessing and
approving external loans for companies in Zimbabwe.
NMB has two
options it can use to repay the loan. The bank can go back
to its
shareholders to raise additional capital through a rights issue to
repay the
loan.
The other alternative will be to convert the debt into equity
to give
the lender a shareholding.
For this option to work, NMB
will have to seek shareholder approval to
issue new shares. This would mean
that NMB will have a foreign shareholder.
An external audit found that the
money was siphoned from NMB Bank through
210 fraudulent
transactions.
Businessdigest understands that no arrests have been
made since the
scandal was unearthed in April last year.
The
RBZ team of investigators submitted its findings to the police
together with
the names of the directors of companies that are at the centre
of the fraud
in May last year.
The RBZ has also submitted statements from NMB’s
management to the
police. In their statement officials from NMB denied any
involvement saying
the transactions were approved in error.
A
forensic auditing firm completed its comprehensive investigation
into the
fraud in November last year.
The audit shows that the beneficiary
companies held accounts with
Kingdom, Barclays, Stanchart, Zimbabwe Allied
Banking Group, MBCA, Premier
Bank, CBZ, ZB and Stanbic Bank. A few clients
from Cabs, the biggest
building society in the country, also benefited. The
money was transferred
into an offshore company called Cardinal Finance (Pvt)
which holds an
account with AKB Bank of Switzerland.
A conduit
company, Haus (Pvt), would then transfer to Zimbabwean
companies in exchange
for Zimbabwean dollars. NMB is still pushing for the
central bank to reverse
its decision to cancel their foreign currency
licence following the
fraud.
NMB believe that it would be unfair to cancel their
dealership licence
when new evidence shows that other banks were used in the
transactions.
NMB Bank wants the RBZ to carry out thorough
investigations into the
whole foreign currency system in order to establish
how the other banks were
involved.
Zim Independent
Paul
Nyakazeya
MOST mining companies have stopped their long-term
projects because
they are still unclear about the fate of the Mines and
Minerals Amendment
Bill which proposes drastic changes to the ownership
structure in the mining
sector.
The Bill, which proposes to
allow government to take over 51%
shareholding in foreign owned mines could
not be finalised because
parliament had to adjourn in preparation for the
March 29 elections.
Parliament will be dissolved on March 28. This
means that there will
be no progress on the Bill until a new parliament
comes in on April 8.
Under parliamentary regulations and
procedures, the Bill which was
tabled in parliament in December falls away
and can only be passed to the
next parliament if the new government supports
the idea.
If the new government supports idea, the Bill will have
to be
re-introduced to parliament. Any changes to the Bill will go through
the
drafting committee.
The Bill will also have to go through
the senate.
Analysts said this further heightens the uncertainty in
the mining
sector which is already facing foreign currency shortages and
power outages.
This means that foreign investors would have to wait
until around May
to make an informed decision about investing in Zimbabwe’s
mining sector.
The few companies that were expanding have also
stopped long-term
projects until they are clear about the fate of the
bill.
Chamber of Mines president, Jack Murehwa, said even though
the Bill
was not passed, its mere presence will continue to affect the
mining sector.
He said mines were unable to plan unless they are clear about
the fate of
the Bill.
"For as long as the revision of mining
laws is not completed,
investment will most likely stay away from Zimbabwe,"
Murehwa said.
"Investors want to know the rules of the game before
they risk their
money. Investors are just like you and me. Would you invest
a large sum of
money in an environment where you do not know the rules of
the game?"
"Of note was the added section on empowerment and the
approach adopted
on this section plus the fact that there seems to be no
conclusion to the
revision project which has been going on now for up to
five years," Murehwa
said.
The first section of the Bill
revises the mining laws that have been
in existence for the past 30
years.
"This attempt is commendable and while there are sections
that we feel
could have been approached differently, in general this section
has been
well done," Murehwa said.
The second section deals
with the indeginisation of the mining
industry.
"It is our view
that the authors and sponsors of this section are not
concerned about the
views of both internal and foreign investors. We can
confirm, however, that
the contents of that section will certainly leave
potential investors
uninterested in Zimbabwe."
"Certainly, if our suggestions were to
be considered and adopted, we
believe this would go a long way in building
confidence in investors in the
country and potential investors from outside
the country," Murehwa said.
Zim Independent
Jesilyn Dendere
MAJOR manufacturing companies are scaling down
operations due to
shortages of foreign currency, raw materials and
persistent power cuts.
Businesses are also struggling to remain
viable because of the rising
cost of production.
The situation
has also been worsened by government’s new policies to
control prices of
basic commodities.
Manufacturers of basic commodities interviewed
by businessdigest this
week said they were still operating below 50% despite
claims by the central
bank that most companies had raised their capacity
utilisation to about 60%
after receiving funds under the Basic Commodity
Supply Side Intervention
(Bacossi) facility.
Companies that
received the Bacossi funds said they only managed to
increase capacity
utilisation from levels below 30% to around 50%.
Officials at
Dairibord said retailers who want bulk supplies of milk
will have to book in
advance.
Its milk brands, Chimombe and Fresh Milk, are not
available in the
shops.
Delta Beverages said the shortage of
sugar had impacted heavily on the
production of soft drinks, though the
company said it was working with the
main suppliers of the
commodity.
"The sparkling beverages business is a major user of
bottler grade
sugar. While the general shortage of sugar impacts adversely
on our ability
to produce the full range of our brands we are doing our best
to cope with
these supply challenges," said George Mutendadzamera, Delta’s
general
manager for corporate affairs.
"The suppliers of sugar
continue to do their best to minimise
disruption to our production and we
work closely with them all the time," he
said.
Last year, Delta
Beverages disposed of their Mr Juicy brand which was
launched in 2004 due to
serious supply problems of by-products like oranges.
The company
sold Mr Juicy and Premium Plus Mahewu in order to
concentrate on beer and
carbonated drinks.
Barely a month after the Reserve Bank governor
Gideon Gono hailed the
Bacossi funds as having gone a long way in restoring
productivity for
beneficiary manufacturers and retailers, StarAfrica
Corporation the main
supplier of sugar and one of the beneficiaries of the
funds, is failing to
meet demand of sugar supplies.
"As a
result, most companies were operating at capacity levels of
below 30% before
the introduction of the Basic Commodity Supply Side
Intervention Facility on
October 1 2007. Most beneficiaries under Bacossi
increased capacity
utilisation from well below 30% to 50%," said Gono last
month.
A survey by businessdigest revealed that most retail outlets had no
sugar.
The little that they manufacture finds its way into the thriving
black
market.
A salesperson at Zimbabwe Sugar Sales, a company that
distributes
sugar said the shortages were caused by problems at the sugar
milling
estate.
He said the only available sugar was being
given to a few major
retailers.
"We are not selling sugar to
individuals or those with small shops but
we are supplying the little that
is there to large retailers and wholesalers
who we are asking to collect
their own sugar from Chiredzi."
An official at Hippo Valley Estates
said the sugar industry was facing
the same problems as other key sectors of
the economy.
"With the current shortage of basically everything,
electricity,
money, water, one should not be surprised by short supply of
any commodity."
National Foods Limited (Natfoods) which was one of
the first
beneficiaries of the Bacossi funds has also scaled down its
operations due
to lack of raw material and power outages.
Natffods manufactures mealie-meal, cooking oil and flour. Consumers
have
been forced to import flour and cooking oil from South Africa.
"We
don’t have enough raw materials, that is our major constraint here
at
National Foods," said Chekenyere, spokesperson for National Foods.
"Another constrain that has been of major concern is the intermittent
power
supplies, the disruption in power supply has been costly. We are
running a
loss every time there is a power cut. For example if the mill is
running and
power stops we can lose the product or it can be affected. We
lose money due
to such stoppages."
He said the company has been battling to get
raw materials from the
Grain Marketing Board which is their sole
supplier.
Unilever South East Africa have been scaling down
operations due lack
of raw materials and shortage of foreign currency that
is needed to purchase
raw materials. The company has to import fats which
are crucial in the
manufacturing of soap.
Unilever also needs
foreign currency for import packing material and
spare parts.
Unilever has been struggling to manufacture some of its products,
which
include OMO washing powder, surface cleaner and soap.
Their
margarine brand, Stock, has virtually disappeared from the
market.
Rama, another margarine brand from Unilever, is also in
short supply.
"It has been long since we stopped manufacturing
detergents and we
have no idea when they will be back because we are
currently facing massive
raw material shortages and the lack of foreign
currency has not made it any
better," said an official in the company’s
sales department.
The official said the company now only
manufactures per order.
Bata has also been affected by lack of
capital and raw materials.
There is a serious shortage of leather in the
country.
Bata’s branch along George Silundika and another one in
Highlands have
been temporarily closed.
"They are two branches
that had closed due to low levels of supply
after the price blitz. These
were however just temporary closures, we will
be reopening soon," said an
official from Bata.
Zim Independent
Jesilyn
Dendere
A NUMBER of asset management companies are likely to
merge within the
next few months as they battle to survive in a sector that
is already
crowded.
There are currently 17 asset management
companies. Sources say almost
half of them are already in financial problems
and could face collapse if
they do not merge.
In his monetary
policy presentation last month central bank governor,
Gideon Gono, said the
asset management sector was overtraded and some firms
were no longer
concentrating on their core business.
"We implore institutions in
the sub-sector to take up this advice or
risk losing their asset management
licenses on the back of inadmissible
dealings," Gono said in his monetary
statement.
"An analysis of the sub-sector’s income statements shows
that there is
resurgence in the tendency by some institutions to rely
heavily on income
from non-core business," Gono said.
"Incomes
and investments under management are not enough to sustain
operations."
Gono said asset management companies were not
making profits from
their core businesses hence the need to
consolidate.
Some asset management firms that spoke to
businessdigest said it was
becoming increasingly difficult to operate under
the current economic
conditions.
"Some of the asset managers
have as little as a total of $5 trillion
for their funds under management
and it’s difficult to explain how they are
surviving on the management fees
generated by such funds," said one
investment analyst with a local asset
management company. "Asset managers
are only supposed to survive by growing
their own book and management fees
from funds under management, no margin
trading and no front running."
According to one investment analyst,
most asset management companies
are operating on very thin profit margins
and which force them to resort on
non-core business for survival.
Zim Independent
By Tonderai Nyazika
THE issue of the Zimbabwe Independent of
January 25 had at least four
articles dedicated to the so-called "banking
crisis". The next issue of
February 1 carried follow-up articles on the
problem the banking sector was
facing.
Readers of the newspaper
must have thought that a banking Armageddon
was coming, for the articles
spared no financial institution.
There was a deliberate attempt to
paint a gloomy picture of the
banking sector.
There is no doubt
in the minds of financial sector players that the
details which were
published in these issues of the Independent were leaked
from the central
bank. Bankers are convinced that the Independent would not
have been able to
get these details without assistance from someone at the
central
bank.
It is pertinent to appropriately locate where the danger to
the
banking sector lies in the face of the "partnership" between the central
bank and the Zimbabwe Independent in relation to this matter.
It is common cause that the banking industry’s survival depends on the
confidence of the customer. The assurance the depositor will be able to get
their money on demand is what gives them confidence.
That is
why many bank notes, including our own useless bearer cheques,
have the
inscription, "I promise to pay the bearer on demand" on their face.
As such any central bank that undermines that confidence will be
committing
suicide upon the very sector whose sanctity it should protect.
It
is unprecedented desperation for a whole national bank to call
reporters to
see its vaults just to prove that there is cash in those
vaults.
Geoff Nyarota once observed that the greatest problem
with Zimbabweans
is not their docility but rather their short memory. The
cash problem that
affected this economy started way back in late October
2007. At that time
the monetary authorities in their wisdom or lack of it
decided against a
pragmatic course of action.
The Herald on
November 21, 2007 ran with the headline: "Cash shortage,
Gono speaks". In
the story the paper reported that the governor had told
business leaders and
journalists that the central bank had adopted a "wait
and see attitude with
regards to the cash shortages". This was despite the
fact that queues had
become the order of the day at the time.
Later, the governor made a
statement in which he threatened to change
the currency and blamed cash
barons for the cash shortages. The media
revealed at the time that there was
only $2 trillion of the $67 trillion
which the central bank had released
into the market that could be accounted
for.
By unwittingly
making this revelation, the central bank exonerated the
banks because
quick-witted Zimbabweans did their arithmetic and concluded
that even if the
so-called cash barons were not hoarding it, it would still
not have been
enough.
Sunrise Two was introduced in December but we all know that
it did not
solve the problem.
On January 19, 2008 it was
reported by the Herald that "at least $13
trillion was yesterday released
into the market as the Reserve Bank of
Zimbabwe stepped up efforts to ease
cash shortages".
This was soon after the introduction of the higher
denomination bearer
cheques.
Three days later, on January 21,
the governor reported through the
Herald that the RBZ was stuck with
trillions of dollars which banks were not
collecting. He invited reporters
and captains of industry to demonstrate to
them that the culprits were the
banks.
On January 25, the Independent had a "scoop", detailing the
misdemeanors bankers were engaging in to the detriment of the public. There
was a field day on the banks, detailing the crisis each was facing and
attributing the liquidity crunch to the "unlawful speculative
investments".
In simple terms, banks operate by taking deposits
from natural and
juristic persons as well as advance loans to the same.
Advances made by
banks in the form of loans are made from these deposits.
These sit on a bank’s
balance sheet as liabilities and assets.
This system works well on the basis of confidence. However, as an
instrument
of managing inflation, central banks can reduce the amount of
money in
circulation through the use of reserve assets, commonly known as
statutory
reserves.
At that time the cash crisis started the statutory
reserves
constituted 50% of all deposit types whether demand or savings. For
the
simple man in the streets this means that if they deposited one dollar
in a
bank, 50 cents is taken by the central bank. This means that assuming a
customer demanded their dollar, the bank would only be able to pay 50c. This
is where confidence comes in.
Each customer, because of
confidence, does not have to come and demand
their money at the same time
since the bank would definitely have a
liquidity problem.
However, it definitely gets more complex than that since banks have to
lend
to the productive sector. Out of the remaining 50c a bank has to lend
to the
productive sectors of the economy. Assuming such an advance
constitutes 25c
of the remaining 50c and that the loan is for 12 months, it
theoretically
means that that 25c is tied for a whole year and will not be
available to a
customer.
That will leave the bank with 25c to do business and also
meet the
customer’s cash demands. It is also from this 25c that banks have
to buy
security which they should lodge with the central bank to obtain
cash. Such
security is in the form of treasury bills.
In
reality the situation is more complex than this but what I have
described
here is the basic framework. The liquidity problems were not only
caused by
market distortions but also steep statutory reserves which took
away 50% of
depositor’s funds.
It is for this reason that the central bank in
an unprecedented
fashion released a first quarter monetary policy statement,
which was made
very quietly without the usual pomp and fanfare, in which he
reduced the
statutory reserves to around 40%.
After this
explanation, readers have probably seen that the articles
on the banking
sector in the Independent were shallow and demonstrated a
lack of
appreciation of how the banking sector works. Whilst banks indeed
had a
liquidity problem, the explanations given were no doubt a red herring
by the
monetary authorities to shift blame on the cash crisis to banks.
A
bank’s balance sheet is fairly standard and the line items may be
summarised
with descriptions such as securities and investments. This
balance sheet is
supposed to be displayed in banking halls, which makes it
public
information.
Securities are fungible and negotiable instruments
that represent
financial value. These can be bonds, treasury bills, banker’s
acceptances,
debentures and equity instruments, to name just a
few.
When balance sheets are published, accounting standards
require
disclosure which is sufficient to show the true and fair view of the
position of an institution. A number of instruments can be grouped under the
line item securities and investments.
For a reporter to allege
that banks were engaging in unscrupulous
activities such as putting
"depositors’ funds in securities and money market
instruments" is either a
very naïve assertion or a deliberate act to mislead
the public.
It is possible that some banks may have bought shares, but to claim
that
securities are akin to equities shows a lack of understanding of
financial
jargon.
In any case, it is banks that are dealers in the money
market anyway.
The news reports also portrayed the seeking of
accommodation as a very
dangerous situation. One of the key functions of the
central bank, apart
from being a banker to banking institutions is to be the
lender of last
resort. This is the fundamental role of a central
bank.
There is therefore nothing sinister about Zimbabwean banks
getting
overnight accommodation from their central bank.
The
banking sector operates as a web with each bank depending on
other. As such,
a problem with one institution can affect several others.
This is what is
referred to as systemic risk or contagion effect.
Furthermore,
banks owe each other money. In that light, to report that
Kingdom Bank owes
CBZ $10 trillion without seeking how much CBZ owes Kingdom
Bank is
irresponsible to the extent that it portrays imprudence on the part
of
Kingdom. The fact is that banks owe each other on a daily basis in the
ordinary course of business.
There was anger in the banking
sector owing not only to the dangerous
behaviour of the officials at the
central bank for undermining the
confidence in the sector, but also the
complicity of the Independent.
The paper should have known better
to distinguish information from
propaganda.
The banking sector
is very complex. Writing stories on it requires
journalists to seek a good
level of understanding so that they appropriately
inform the public.
Anything short of that will mislead the public. This
means it takes more
than using dossiers from the RBZ’s information
department.
Doing so will give rise to the publication of misleading information
which
can kill the banking sector. A wholesale collapse of the banking
sector
spells doom for a fragile economy like ours. It will also affect
everyone
including newspaper publishing companies.
*Tonderai Nyazika is a
pseudonym for a Zimbabwean banker who wrote
this article in response to a
series of stories published by this paper
three weeks ago.
Zim Independent
Augustine
Mukaro
THE just-ended Zanu PF primaries have exposed the ruling
party’s
tendency of breaking its own ground rules, with provinces coming up
with
their own selection criteria to stop senior politicians from being
challenged.
The unsanctioned decisions have resulted in a
number of disputed
primary elections, forcing the party leadership to order
reruns to correct
the anomalies.
In some cases Zanu PF
primaries have been characterised by violence
after supporters failed to
agree on the procedures of choosing candidates.
This, in some
cases, resulted in the abandonment of the polls.
The disputes left
Zanu PF with no option but to extend primary
elections by another week to
allow for the finalisation of candidates’
selection in several
constituencies.
The objections and complaints, which were
registered with the party’s
national election directorate, forced President
Robert Mugabe to delay the
nomination court by another week from February
8.
In all the objections, Zanu PF heavyweights were implicated in
either
vote rigging or imposition of candidates without going through the
primaries, forcing party supporters to besiege the party headquarters in
Harare demanding a reversal.
A number of provinces complained
that senior politicians abused the
technicality of five years in provincial
leadership requirement to avoid
potential challenges from parliamentary and
council hopefuls.
They also objected to the last minute declaration
of constituencies as
reserved for women candidates, a development viewed as
an attempt by the top
leadership to block young turks who wanted to
represent the ruling party.
These developments prompted a number of
local structures to write to
the party’s national election directorate
denouncing the imposition of
candidates.
Zanu PF insiders said
the chaos that characterised the primaries
throughout the country exposed
policy contradictions and the double
standards by some party heavyweights to
protect themselves.
"The primaries’ confusion reflected policy and
implementation
contradictions," a source said.
"It exposed that
the leadership surrounding Mugabe deliberately misled
him to protect
themselves, so that by the time correct information gets to
him, the
decision making process would have lapsed. That is why the party
often makes
wrong decisions."
The source said political heavyweights were
manipulating the system to
impose their own candidates even if they are not
the electorate’s choice.
"The sad part is that there is no system
to hold these people to
account, except ordering a rerun of the elections,"
she said.
A classic example was in Mashonaland Central where the
provincial
leadership declared that no politburo members would be challenged
in their
constituencies.
The declaration gave ministers Eliot
Manyika, Chen Chimutengwende,
Nicholas Goche and Saviour Kasukuwere
automatic tickets as Zanu PF
candidates.
Although the decision
prompted protests with party supporters
complaining that there wasn’t such a
provision in the guidelines, it failed
to sway the provincial
leadership.
Supporters in Mashonaland West and Masvingo provinces
have accused
provincial leadership of "ambush politics" in which some
constituencies were
declared as reserved for women just before the primary
elections.
Supporters from Mashonaland Central last week
demonstrated at the
ruling party headquarters and denounced the imposition
of candidates and
alleged declaration of candidates as uncontested when the
directorate was
preparing for primaries.
The supporters cited
outgoing Makonde MP Leo Mugabe’s case when he
sought to be senator for
Mhangura but was shocked when he was told that the
constituency had been
reserved for a woman on the day of the primary
election.
His
immediate response was to file an appeal. The directorate reversed
the
decision, allowing Mugabe to stand as the senatorial candidate in
Makonde.
In Masvingo, the provincial executive tried to impose
themselves and
their lieutenants as candidates in constituencies of their
choice with the
chairman Alex Mudavanhu going further to declare that he
should not be
challenged.
Chaos in the province was only
averted after the intervention of
retired army general Vitalis Zvinavashe
who nullified the declaration.
Zvinavashe is understood to have
told the provincial leadership that
if the highest office is being contested
then no one should become a
candidate without going through primaries.
Mudavanhu and a number of his
provincial executive were defeated in the
primaries.
In Gutu South Dr Paul Chimedza, the former president of
the Hospital
Doctors Association who had reportedly bankrolled a
multi-billion dollar bid
for political office, suffered a major setback when
he was informed that he
could not contest in primary elections because the
constituency was reserved
for a woman.
The provincial election
directorate’s decision, which had declared
long-serving and controversial
politician, Shuvai Mahofa, candidate without
challenge, was however reversed
by the election directorate.
Mahofa had to go into primaries
against Henrieta Rushwaya and Jane
Muzangwa. Again how Rushwaya got the
ticket to contest in Gutu South after
she lost another primary in Gutu East
leaves a lot of questions unanswered.
In Mutare a serious clash
erupted between Gender minister Oppah
Muchinguri and Irene Zindi following
the declaration of Sherlington Dumbura
as the Zanu PF candidate for Mutare
South.
The decision was nullified following Zindi’s complaint
accusing
Muchinugri of misrepresenting facts and presenting Dumbura as a
woman
candidate to the party leadership.
Zindi confirmed that
the decision had been reversed, but was surprised
by the call for any other
candidates interested in the constituency to
submit their CVs for
consideration to contest in primaries.
"I asked the national
commissar whether there was a provision for new
candidates to submit their
CVs since the process was closed last month,"
Zindi said.
"I
also asked him whether those CVs would be submitted for vetting
considering
the fact that the closing day for primaries was Wednesday," she
said.
Manyika said the issue would be finalised by the
provincial
leadership.
Observers, however, said even before
Zindi’s complaint, the idea that
after the delimitation process the
provincial leadership should meet on
January 3 to parcel out constituencies
and declare themselves as unopposed
candidates was
unprocedural.
The meeting had agreed that ministers Mike Nyambuya
and Oppah
Muchinguri, and Mandi Chimene and Zindi would go in
unopposed.
In Bulawayo province, clashes forced the postponement of
primary
elections after rival factions clashed in protest over unfair
selection
criteria.
Members aligned to war veterans’ leader
Jabulani Sibanda protested
against a move by a rival faction led by the Zanu
PF old guard to bar them
from contesting in the primaries. The provincial
party leadership was
accused of imposing candidates and delaying announcing
the list of
contestants until shortly before the nomination court
sits.
In Matabeleland North, Industry and Trade minister Obert
Mpofu
allegedly barred an aspiring candidate, Retired Major Mark Mzulu
Mbayiwa,
from contesting primaries, claiming that his papers were submitted
unprocedurally.
Mbayiwa has lodged a complaint with the party’s
national directorate.
In Matabeleland South, another aspiring
candidate for Insiza, Charlton
Siziba, has filed a High Court application
seeking an interim order to
nullify the result of the primary
poll.
In the court papers Siziba wants the High Court to interdict
the
Zimbabwe Electoral Commission from holding the nomination court for
Insiza
until the finalisation of his court case.
Zim Independent
Comment
THE real deal is here for Simba Makoni — who recently broke ranks with
the
ruling Zanu PF — and the cacophony of dissenting voices against the
Mugabe
administration.
All oppositional forces will today parade
candidates to fight the Zanu
PF system which has been in charge of this
country for almost three decades.
It is embarrassing that after
more than five years of planning the
opposition forces to present their
papers in nomination courts today are
still fragmented and at times
displaying traits of disorganisation and
indecision. They have not seen the
benefits of combining forces to tackle
the Zanu PF machine.
There has been immense excitement around Makoni’s challenge to Mugabe.
There
is belief among many that the former Finance minister can put up a
real
challenge to Mugabe. But there is still faith in the opposition MDC
despite
its leadership frailties. As we reported two weeks ago, there was a
real
chance of former Zipra commander Dumiso Dabengwa throwing his hat into
the
ring and also challenging for the top position. This would have meant
three
opposition leaders lining up to contest against Mugabe yet there is
only one
strong opposition political party — Tsvangirai’s MDC — in the
contest for
the house of assembly and senatorial seats, which could work
well in favour
of Mugabe.
At the close of the nomination court today, the strength
and
seriousness of the Makoni project will be put into perspective. The
nation
awaits the calibre of men and women to line up behind him because he
will
need them to campaign for him in the election. He has the backing of
the
Arthur Mutambara faction of the MDC but that is support concentrated in
the
southern part of the country.
Makoni, at the launch of his
party manifesto on Wednesday, appealed to
those who lost in the Zanu PF
primary elections and those who won to join
him in his new crusade. That is
to say that he expects defections from Zanu
PF. But there is a danger here
that he might only attract those who lost in
the primaries. It will be a
tragedy if Makoni becomes leader of Zanu PF
rejects. His strength and appeal
will be based on his ability to attract
high level politicians from the
ruling party and the MDC.
Makoni cannot bank on the support of the
Mutambara faction of the MDC
alone. He needs his own people. The way the
alliance between Mutambara and
the MDC has been fashioned could pose a
problem for voters. They are being
asked to vote for the Mutambara faction
candidates in the House of Assembly,
senatorial and council elections but
vote for Makoni for president. Is it
necessary to subject the voters who
believe in the same cause to multiple
symbols on election day? By the way,
there is also the Tsvangirai faction to
contend with. His party shares the
same name with the Mutambara faction and
their symbols are not very
different.
There is a problem here of not only splitting the
opposition vote but
further confusing the electorate in an election bound to
be characterised by
organisational chaos. Elections are all about symbols
and brands. For the
purpose of our elections here, the opposition will
feature three symbols of
the two MDC factions and Makoni’s. Too many of them
perhaps.
The challenge that faces the opposition in this election
is to justify
to the electorate that this fractiousness is necessary and the
most suitable
plan to win the general and presidential elections. The danger
is for the
opposition to start to campaign against each other. It is
possible
considering statements which have been uttered to date by the
Tsvangirai
faction against Makoni.
We also reported last week
that interlocutors in the unity talks
between the two MDC factions felt that
their relations had become
irreparable. But all oppositional forces have to
find common ground in this
election. It is not just about the opposition
articulating Mugabe’s failures
in almost all spheres of governance. The
electorate already knows this.
Leaders in the opposition have to show that
they are better organised than
Zanu PF.
The last minute rush by
the opposition to forge alliances is a sure
sign of organisational
inadequacies and lack of tact in dealing with a sly
customer in the form of
President Mugabe. It must be noted that Mugabe still
commands a large number
of followers and is still in control of key
government institutions and
machinery that he has employed in the past to
win elections. This is what
Tsvangirai, Makoni and Mutambara are up against
and not each other.
Zim Independent
Candid Comment
WHAT is happening in the Anglican Church in Zimbabwe
is not only
disturbing but should also be very embarrassing to true
believers. What
started off as a minor tiff between head of the Harare
diocese former Bishop
Nolbert Kunonga and the province of Central Africa
ostensibly over
homosexuality has mutated and ramified way out of control,
threatening to
tear asunder the church and shake to the core people’s faith
in the
Christian religion.
The struggle for power pitting newly
re-ordained retired Bishop
Sebastian Bakare and Kunonga gives the church a
bad name. It doesn’t really
matter who is right or who is wrong. The public
violence and the uncouth
verbal exchanges in the media are far from edifying
spiritually. Are these
fights in the service of God and the spiritual needs
of the flock or is it
all now about earthly power and dominion? For we now
have the shameful
spectacle of the proverbial wise man arguing with a fool.
The difference is
the same.
Sadder than that, it is unfortunate
for the bishops that their dirty
fight for the control of the church
reflects the polarised political climate
in the country. While Bakare has
not taken an obvious political position,
Kunonga has made no secret of his
alignment to Zanu PF. But if we are
genuine that Zimbabwe’s present
political and economic crises are due to a
huge democratic deficit, I can’t
find a valid reason why Kunonga should not
enjoy his democratic right to
support Zanu PF. Didn’t Jesus Christ say as
much, that we should love our
enemies, for even Gentiles love their friends?
It all goes to show
how badly everything in Zimbabwe has been poisoned
by our brand of politics
where things are never what they are but are seen
for where they emanate
from. For all the noise about democracy, tolerance
and love for one another,
Zimbabweans still fall far short of the bar.
Democracy is a concept to which
we pay only lip-service. There is just too
much intolerance; no one wants to
compromise even if the outcome means
mutual self-destruction.
We have seen this brinksmanship in the negotiations between Zanu PF
and the
MDC. We have seen the same repeated in the negations between the two
MDC
formations. In our daily lives now the nation drinks from the same
poisoned
chalice. The nation’s suffering is perpetuated to serve the
inflated egos of
party leaders because everyone wants a winner-takes-all
outcome.
I often wonder when sanity and maturity will return in
our lifetime. I
have come to expert dirty tricks in politics, knowing that
man will always
be greedy, selfish, immoral and self-aggrandising, but I
expect church
leaders to fare much better, to provide a good example to us
who are frail
of spirit and quick of temper. I find it difficult now to see
how the church
can preach tolerance among politicians and their followers as
we enter this
critical stage in the election process when it can’t measure
up to our
minimum expectations.
Last year a number of religious
organisations came up with a national
vision document, the Zimbabwe We Want.
It proposed local initiatives on how
to resolve the current crisis and
alleviate people’s suffering. That project
was spearheaded by Trevor
Manhanga. He was known to have shared a cup of tea
with President Robert
Mugabe at State House. That was enough to besmirch
that document before
Zimbabweans of good will could debate it. Nothing
constructive has replaced
it to give the nation direction even as we fumble
blindly for
solutions.
The Zimbabwe We Want document suffered the same
unlamented fate as the
draft constitution which was rejected in a referendum
in February 2000 —
both victims of self-serving propaganda, deliberate
misinformation and
misconception. It was only much later that there were
feeble, grudging
admissions that that draft constitution was far better than
anything which
has so far been presented to the public. The reason it was
rejected was
because Zanu PF spearheaded the project.
The
church had remained so far the only place less contaminated by
this hate
politics, hate propaganda although it has been lambasted by
government for
the occasional pastoral letter condemning state-sponsored
violence. It was
the only place some of us looked to for sobriety in
debating the national
crisis, knowing that churches normally don’t select
followers along party
lines. Little did I suspect that their leaders were
equally as susceptible
to the corrupting influence of the devil as are
seekers of political
glory.
In the despicable opera playing out in the Anglican Church
in Harare,
initially it took the form of a standoff between supporters of
Kunonga and
Bakare. This soon degenerated into court battles which Kunonga
has lost but
chooses to ignore. The latest episode involved physical
assaults on
worshippers by people said to be aligned to Kunonga. Then there
was
destruction of property in Glen Norah last week by people aligned to
Bakare.
All this takes away from the church the moral authority to
speak with
sincerity on issues of violence between rival political parties.
It is a
sure recipe for disaster, a descent into real lawlessness. They must
hang
their heads in shame. We’re fed up.
Zim Independent
Editor's Memo
By Vincent Kahiya
THE Zimbabwe Electoral
Commission on Wednesday called us to a meeting
to discuss the conduct of the
media in the elections set for next month.
The import of the
meeting was to discuss the amendment to the
Electoral Act which inserted a
whole new section dealing with how the media
should conduct itself during
the election period.
The amendment, which went generally unnoticed
by journalists, contains
useful guidelines, a lot of which we have embraced
as stated in this column
last week.
We however did not wholly
agree with the commission’s interpretation
of a clause in the Amendment Act
which reads: "During an election period
broadcasters and print publishers
shall ensure … their media do not promote
political parties and candidates
that encourage violence and hatred against
any class of persons in
Zimbabwe…"
The commission reads the clause to mean that the media
should not
report hateful and inflammatory statements uttered by politicians
as this
could lead to political violence.
During the meeting,
the commission sought to buttress this by bringing
in the case of the
Rwandese genocide in which the media, and in particular
radio broadcasting,
was instrumental in instigating and sustaining ethnic
conflict.
As we stated last week, it is not the role of the media to
deliberately
excise information uttered by political protagonists because
the information
could result in political violence.
Instead, our role is to report
as accurately as is possible and to
provide information about those seeking
public office. This includes
candidates’ views, past performance, their
decorum and so on.
If a candidate’s views are always couched in
foul and inflammatory
language, then voters have a right to know this. For
us to deliberately
ignore this is a great travesty because it only serves
the politician whose
dark side will never be known and denies the voter an
opportunity to make
choice premised on accurate information.
The relevance of the reference to Rwanda in attempting to focus the
media
away from hate language by our politicians is questionable if not
dubious.
Media researcher Richard Carver, in a paper on the
role of the media
in the Rwandese genocide and elections, wrote: "The first
point to note is
that RTLM was not an ordinary radio station reporting the
extreme views of
others. It was an instrument of Hutu extremists who planned
and instigated
the mass killings of Tutsi. Hence it is not directly relevant
to the issue
of campaign reporting, where extreme statements may be made and
then relayed
through the news media."
He added: "In its early
months, up until the beginning of the genocide
in April 1994, it broadcast a
form of subtle and entertaining anti-Tutsi
propaganda. But once the genocide
started, the character of RTLM’s
broadcasts changed. Then it began giving
details of those who were to be
hunted down and killed — right down to
individual descriptions and car
number plates."
The media in
Zimbabwe have not plumbed these depths of depravity but
an important way of
pre-empting this is to report accurately offending
utterances by politicians
and to publish reactions condemning such
statements.
There have
been a number of these like President Mugabe bragging about
his "degrees in
violence" or the widely quoted statement: "Our party must
continue to strike
fear in the heart of the white man, our real enemy . . ."
Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai was also quoted warning Mugabe:
"If you
don’t want to go peacefully, we will remove you violently."
If two
politicians were to make similar statements during this
election period, the
commission is saying that we should exercise restraint
and look the other
way. Our advice to the commission is that it has an
important role to curb
hate speech at source and not at the outlet.
For example, does the
commission consider this statement by war
veteran leader Joseph Chinotimba
offensive or commonplace political power
play: "From today to the nomination
date we will
have finished with them. Traitors should know that Zanu PF
has a
history of dealing harshly with their kind."
We are
looking forward to bold statements by the commission condemning
hate
language by politicians and we have made a commitment to provide space
to
publicise such statements.
We have also invited the commission to
point out instances where this
paper has used hate language likely to cause
violence and other untoward
outcomes. This we do in the hope that the
commission will treat all media
objectively and fearlessly.
The
challenge for the commission is to judge between free speech — the
hallmark
of democracy — and hate speech. When it’s convenient to
politicians, there
is a very thin line between the two.
Zim Independent
MuckRaker
INFORMATION minister Sikhanyiso Ndlovu has ruled that
only journalists
from "friendly" countries will be admitted to cover the
election.
That raises the obvious question: friendly to whom? Are
countries like
China, Russia, Cuba, and Angola friendly to the people of
Zimbabwe or to its
leaders?
Many of the countries described as
friendly are only defined as such
because they don’t ask awkward questions
about electoral cheating or
misgovernance. In fact they turn a blind eye to
political coercion and
electoral manipulation.
In South
Africa’s case, in the 2002 presidential poll ministers
arrived from Pretoria
to give observers directions on what to find and what
to ignore. Asked about
the shortage of polling stations in the capital at
the end of voting,
observer mission head Sam Motsuenyane said he was sure it
was "an
administrative oversight".
Reporters present fell about
laughing.
Ndlovu made his remarks on friendly media at the Bulawayo
Press Club
where challenging questions are rarely asked. We have never
understood what
explains this supine response to ministerial declarations.
But it could be
something in the water.
Ndlovu, it would seem,
is on a mission to discredit the Zimbabwe
Electoral Commission. How else do
we explain his usurping their role? In
terms of the Sadc guidelines it is
the function of the commission to manage
the election including accrediting
observers and foreign media. By
announcing that only those media palatable
to the regime will be admitted,
Ndlovu is making the ZEC look weak and
pliable.
Amazing isn’t it that the government doesn’t grasp the
damage to the
credibility of the electoral process of statements of this
sort!
That credibility will have been further undermined by
claims made in a
court application by Jonathan Moyo and Margaret Dongo last
week. Their
lawyer Chris Mhike argued the nomination date was proclaimed
before the
publication of the final report on the boundaries and names of
constituencies which had the effect of reducing the nomination preparation
period of would-be candidates.
Mhike said the constitution
required the proclamation of a nomination
date 14 days but less than 21
after the publication of the final
delimitation report. He said judging by
press reports the postponement was
prompted by practical concerns of the
major political players without regard
to the law.
"My clients
argue," Mhike said, "that the primary focus should be on
compliance with the
law as the law is designed to protect the interests of
citizens and parties
other than the major political players."
The president, it was
argued, had fixed the sitting date for the
nomination court and the date of
the general election on the basis of a
preliminary report by the
delimitation commission.
Moyo argued in his affidavit that the
failure to distribute the report
for the benefit of the electorate and
aspiring candidates was a serious
breach of the law and a subversion of the
democratic process.
Indeed, he said, "the failure is the clearest
neutral evidence that
despite the first respondent (Mugabe)’s proclamation
fixing the date of the
sitting of the nomination court and fixing the date
of the general election,
the relevant authorities are in fact not yet ready
to hold the general
election and to ensure its freeness and fairness purely
from an
administrative and logistical point of view".
Now we
can all understand why the Herald, in reporting the extension
of the
nomination process, slipped in a paragraph saying Moyo and Dongo’s
court
application had "fallen away".
Not only was this a usurpation of
the court’s role, it explains why
Mugabe was so quick to move the dates.
Moyo and Dongo’s court application
exposed a shocking disregard for
electoral due process that speaks volumes
for the arbitrary conduct of our
electoral system. But where was the ZEC in
all this? Should they not have
spotted the glaring error and advised the
president
accordingly?
The MDC, which should be pointing out this sort of
transgression, has
said nothing.
Another recent event has
proved emblematic of our political and media
lethargy. Simon Mann, accused
of leading a mercenary gang to overthrow the
government of Equatorial
Guinea, was charged with violations of the Aviation
and Immigration Acts,
served his term and was then secretly abducted and
incarcerated in
Equatorial Guinea, arguably the most savage regime on the
continent.
When Mann’s sentence was complete he was detained in
Zimbabwe,
contrary to every notion of natural justice, on an extradition
warrant from
the government of Equatorial Guinea.
Nobody in
Zimbabwe’s self-satisfied civil society said anything.
Very simply
they didn’t want to be identified with a mercenary leader
and thought it
prudent to keep quiet.
This reflects the immaturity of our civic
and paralegal watchdogs. The
whole point about democracy is that you speak
out on behalf of those you don’t
like, not just those you do. You apply firm
principles to all who are
victims of a regime that has repeatedly used
abduction as a weapon against
its critics.
Mann paid the
penalty for his clumsy escapade. But nothing can excuse
the odious
arrangement that saw two brutal regimes conspiring to keep a man
in jail
long after his sentence had expired. Mann is now languishing in the
notorious Black Beach prison.
Outfits like Zimbabwe Lawyers for
Human Rights need to speak out for
all victims of the regime, not just the
politically correct.
Which brings us to the case of
Attorney-General Sobusa Gula-Ndebele.
Whatever you may think of
Gula-Ndebele, it is both iniquitous and damaging
to Zimbabwe’s reputation
that the country’s chief law officer should be
charged in the first place on
what many will see as concocted allegations.
This is political vengeance,
the public will conclude, not the rule of law.
Without wishing to
anticipate the current hearing, it is important
that civil society condemns
the harassment of judicial officers by a
predatory state. It should at the
same time express a view on courts which
deny commercial farmers their
constitutional rights because government has
declared its arbitrary land
seizures to be a matter of "settled policy".
When are we going to grow up as
a society?
Something to be framed and hung in the office: a
caption accompanying
a picture in the Business Herald this week saying
congestion at border posts
will "soon be a thing of the past" following
installation of an advanced
customs clearance system by Zimra. This will
remove the need for paperwork,
we are told.
But we all know
from experience that as soon as the Herald announces
some problem becoming
"a thing of the past", it comes back to haunt us! So
cut out the picture and
place it prominently somewhere to remind you next
time you face maddening
congestion at Beitbridge.
Equally delusional, Minister of
Energy Mike Nyambuya told the press
that government had made available $2
trillion for the rehabilitation of
Hwange thermal power station under
ongoing efforts to "ensure
self-sustenance of power generation and
supply".
"By September this year Zimbabwe would enjoy stable power
generation
and supply following a cocktail of measures being taken by
government," he
was quoted as saying.
So come September, as the
last lights go out across the land, we must
approach Nyambuya and ask him
how he likes his cocktails: Shaken or stirred?
This is not the
time for demonstrations and marches," Police
Commissioner-General Augustine
Chihuri has declared.
Right now what our people need is peace and
tranquility and not
aimless demonstrations, marches or
processions…"
Did he say this when Zanu PF conducted its so-called
Million Man demo
in the centre of Harare in November? No, he bit his tongue
on that occasion.
And does his declaration that "violence will never be
tolerated in Zimbabwe"
extend to opposition leaders who were savagely beaten
at a police station
last March? What has happened to the perpetrators of
that violence,
and to those responsible for abducting and beating Law
Society
president Beatrice Mtetwa and her colleagues?
Chihuri
urged the public to draw lessons from other trouble spots. He
is quite right
to do so. Violence has erupted in Kenya because the public
saw the electoral
process as flawed. They saw the country’s electoral
commission as beholden
to the incumbent. They saw the forces of law and
order as suborned and
appeals to the judiciary as pointless. We must indeed
learn lessons from
Kenya.
Simba Makoni’s decision to challenge President Mugabe in
the
harmonised elections next month seems to have touched a nerve with
Nathaniel
Manheru big time, given his apoplectic rambling in the Saturday
Herald. He
made an effort to discredit Makoni’s candidature because he was a
nonentity
who has never achieved anything on his own except as Mugabe’s
"appointee".
That makes him unfit for the presidency, we were
told.
Secondly, he can’t fight Joice Mujuru because he is a
son-in-law of
sorts; he can’t challenge Morgan Tsvangirai because his wife
comes from the
same neighbourhood in Buhera.
No one could miss
his thinly disguised racial slurs in reference to
Ibbo Mandaza.
Cool down Manheru. We appreciate your invidious position. The future
is very
uncertain, and the Ides of March loom. Beware!
Zim Independent
By Eric
Bloch
ZIMBABWEANS are renowned for their pronounced resilience to
adversity. Years
and years of intense hardships, fuelled by the
never-ending, appalling
mismanagement of the economy by government, and
exacerbated by the magnitude
of governmental disregard for the fundamental
principles of democracy, law
and order, human rights, and collaborative
international relations have bred
this resilence.
So determined were
Zimbabweans not to succumb to the pressures and hardships
to which they were
being subjected, that they vigorously and ingeniously
sought ways and means
to minimise their economic and allied ills and
afflictions.
The
Zimbabwean coat-of-arms bears the inscription "Unity, Freedom, Work,",
but
Zimbabweans found that the only widespread unity was that of mutual
misery
and suffering, that they craved freedom from poverty and its
associated
torments, and that they had to work endlessly to assure survival.
But
this did not dissuade them from continued determination to overcome
their
heart-rending burdens, to such an extent that, to all intents and
purposes,
the national motto that should have been borne by the coat-of-arms
became
"We’ll make a plan".
For year after year, with the only major exceptions
being those Zimbabweans
who sought opportunities in neighbouring states, and
further afield,
Zimbabweans strove to use initiative and effort to minimise
their hardships,
to survive, and to await better times.
But as
conditions progressively worsened, with government not only doing
naught to
bring about positive change, and only falsely blaming others, and
dogmatically adhering to proven disastrous policies, the resolve of
Zimbabweans eventually began to weaken. Despondency has become more and more
pronounced, with ever greater numbers becoming resolutely convinced that
there is no longer any prospect of a positive upturn. and that life in
Zimbabwe can only worsen exponentially. More and more are fleeing the
country, whilst those remaining become increasingly certain that there is no
future, other than one of boundless misery. The "We’ll make a plan"
philosophy is fast disappearing.
It has therefore been interesting to
note some recent developments in
Zimbabwe’s economically powerful neighbour,
South Africa.
Until recently, South Africa not only had the largest
economy in the region,
but also extreme economic stability, with minimal
inflation and a highly
effective infrastructure.
Suddenly, some
crevasses in that economy have begun to surface, albeit to an
insignificant
extent as compared to the cataclysmic Zimbabwean economic
circumstance.
Inflation has begun to rise, although the extent
therefore is unimportant
when compared to Zimbabwe, but nevertheless
sufficiently to evoke concern
amongst the populace.
And the
infrastructure is showing intensifying stress and lack of capacity
to meet
the economy’s needs.
Less than three weeks ago, energy delivery become so
inadequate and erratic
that gold mines were forced to discontinue
operations.
Pronounced daily loadshedding was introduced nationwide, and
traffic
movements became so chaotic — with the non-operation of thousands of
traffic
lights, causing thousands of cars to back-up at intersections — that
almost
all South Africans were severely affected.
In contrast to the
Zimbabwean "we’ll make a plan" philosophy of so many
years, the initial
reaction of South Africans appears to have been of
stunned horror and
dismay, accompanied by despair.
Such is the despondency that, apparently,
a new prayer is now widely in use
in South Africa: "Our Father who is in
Eskom, powerless be thy name. Thy
kingdom badly run, thy power undone, in
Jo’burg as it is in Kwazulu-Natal.
Give us this day our half-baked bread,
and forgive the trespassers who shoot
us dead. Lead me not into a dark
nation, but deliver me from load shedding.
For thine have no kingdom, no
power and no electricity. Amen."
Of course, one could substitute Zesa for
Eskom, and Harare and Bulawayo for
Jo’burg and
Kwazulu-Natal.
However, although the South African populace are
distraught to such an
extent that they are not yet disposed "to make a
plan", and that country’s
government and Eskom appear to be as lethargic
about addressing the problems
as has been the constant characteristic of the
Zimbabwean government and
Zesa insofar as Zimbabwe’s prolonged energy
problems are concerned,
nevertheless it was inspiring to note the immediate,
very positive and
constructive reaction of the city of
Johannesburg.
That could well be an example which Zimbabwean authorities,
and the
Zimbabwean people, should seek to emulate and, for the sake of the
country’s
economy and Zimbabwean morale, it merits summation in this column,
in order
to prompt like local, albeit necessarily different,
actions.
In other words, Zimbabweans need to revert to a dynamic
philosophy of
achieving survival by "making a plan".
Within 10 days
of the commencement of horrendous levels of load shedding in
South Africa,
the city of Johannesburg developed and announced extensive
plans to
alleviate electricity blackouts.
These include an immediate installation
of 200 000 geyser "ripple controls",
which will enable the switching off of
geysers by remote action from a
central point, and as rapidly as possible
thereafter a further 500 000 are
to be installed.
This action,
without direct cost to consumers, will save 150MW during load
shedding. In
due course, similar devices are to be installed on
air-conditioning units in
business premises.
The city also intends, within six months, to supply
300 000 households with
energy-efficient light bulbs, thereby saving 45MW,
and to reinstate a
decommissioned diesel and gas turbine, which will add
120MW to the grid.
In addition, within a year, the City intends to
install solar power for
traffic lights and public lighting, saving up to
100MW, and will intensify
and accelerate its programme for installation of
domestic solar
water-heaters.
These are but a few of many measures
which are planned by the city of
Johannesburg, and there are already
indications that other South African
cities, and even Eskom, are being
motivated to follow suit.
Moreover, many householders appear to be
withdrawing from their negative
acceptance of energy crises, and are also
beginning to make plans to
diminish the hardships of recurrent, extended,
load shedding.
Zimbabweans used to address the innumerable, mainly
governmental-created
crises, with similar initiative and innovativeness, but
having been
economically whipped and
beaten for so long, appear to have
lost the drive to do so.
That drive must be restored, if there is ever to
be a real economic
recovery. This restoration will only happen when
government — be it the
present or a future one — sets aside its
self-interest and misguided
ideologies, to further the interests of the
people it is supposed to serve.
New constitution first before Makoni
WATCHING from far the
political drama in Zimbabwe which faces imminent
elections, I thought I
should add my voice to the multitudes of voices of
others.
It
is apparent that Zimbabwe needs a new democratic constitution made
through a
people-driven process, first before holding any meaningful
elections. It is
also equally true that President Robert Mugabe will not
allow that process
to happen as he has always been the major stumbling block
towards any calls
for change towards democracy in Zimbabwe.
It is also very true that
without a proper and democratic constitution
any Zimbabwean who is given the
presidency whether from the opposition or
from the ruling party will be like
Mugabe, if not worse.
Progressive Zimbabweans represented by
groupings like the National
Constitutional Assembly have remained steadfast
in pressing for a democratic
constitution in the face of all odds. Notable
progress may have been made in
their endeavours, but the fact remains that
Zimbabwe is yet to get a new
constitution and Mugabe continues to use the
Zanu PF dominated parliament to
amend the constitution to suit his selfish
motives.
On the political side the opposition MDC has participated
many a times
in elections but failed to achieve a level playing field partly
because of
the defective constitution and the lack of democratic
institutions.
It is also true that the MDC is at its weakest point
with two splinter
groups trying to field separate candidates for they cannot
agree on any
issues of national significance. It is therefore foolproof that
if the two
weak formations of the MDC go to the elections in their current
form and
under the current tainted constitution, they will not only betray
the masses
by losing dismally but by legitimising the perpetuation of the
tyrannical
Mugabe to continue to hold fort.
Now with the advent
of Simba Makoni as a breakaway from Zanu PF,
people need to look closely at
how Zimbabwe may move forward. It’s true that
Makoni is Zanu PF at heart and
has been in the chief decision making body of
the party for a long time. It
is true that Makoni was in the same Zanu PF
that has presided over the
current economic and humanitarian crisis in
Zimbabwe. It is true that by
association Makoni has been part of a regime
that has denied Zimbabwean a
long deserved democratic constitution.
Nevertheless, Makoni has his
own illustrious history and has presented
himself as courageous person whom
Zimbabweans and others elsewhere may place
their trust in. He has done what
most Zimbabweans will not dare do —
challenging a monster at its own
door-step. Given that Makoni may present to
Zimbabweans as a compromise and
as a leader who can appeal to many people in
different ways in both the
opposition and the ruling party, Zimbabweans
ought to try to come together
and rally behind him.
What Zimbabwe needs is to get out of the
current crisis through having
a proper constitution and democratic elections
that are done under the
provisions of a democratic constitution. It is
prudent for all forces, the
MDC included, to rally behind Makoni and clearly
make it apparent to him
that Zimbabwe needs a new constitution and
democratic institutions first.
Maxwell Saungweme,
maxwellsaungweme@hotmail.com
-----------------
It's the future that matters
THE first week of Simba Makoni, the former
finance minister’s
availability for election as Zimbabwe’s next president
has generated a very
healthy debate among Zimbabweans.
Zanu PF
has also made some significant contributions to the debate
through its
actions and the debate is still raging but some consensus is
emerging around
Makoni as the only candidate with substance. The only
criticism seems to
centre on where he is coming from rather on where he is
going.
Looking at people’s past can be a very dangerous practice. I do not
know
where people like Giles Mutsekwa come from but I know that he could
have
been in the Rhodesian Army but Tsvangirai has no problems with such a
past.
Even NCA’s Lovemore Madhuku has a criminal past, but people have no
problems
with embracing such. Zimbabwe needs a leader who embraces everyone
and
Makoni is already showing leadership in tolerance and inclusion.
The genuine remaining anxiety regarding the Makoni project however is
around
clarity on his platform and other people associated with him. This
could be
a matter of strategy and time.
makwanya@yahoo.com
--------------------
* BEFORE I endorse the candidature of
Simba Makoni, I would like him
to answer the following
questions:
Is he still a member of Zanu PF or not, and does he
still subscribe to
Zanu PF ideology?
What is his political
platform?
What is his position on land reform, will he welcome back
white
commercial farmers?
Is he a beneficiary of the Zanu PF
land reform, and can he state
categorically that he does not own more than
one farm?
What is his position on land reform in
general?
How does he plan to turnaround the economy, and how will
he deal with
the endemic corruption in the country, and in particular, how
does he plan
to deal with those who have benefited from corruption and
economic crimes?
How does he plan to reconcile the country, and in
particular, does he
beleive in truth and reconciliation?
Can he
share with the Zimbabwean people his views about Gukurahundi
and
Murambatsvina? Will he try to address past injustices and will he bring
to
book those reponsible?
Does he have a programme for attracting back
professional Zimbabweans
in the diaspora?
I will not vote for
Simba until I have answers to the these
fundamental
questions.
Farai Douglas Mtshaka,
Belgium.
---------------
* TOWARDS the 2002
presidential elections, Vitalis Zvinavashe made a
startling statement that
he would not support a person with no liberation
war
credentials.
Reading Makoni’s history, I did not see where mention
is made of him
having fought in the war of liberation. Probably that was the
time in the UK
studying, perhaps through sponsorship sourced by
Zanu?
There is nothing wrong at all for Makoni or anyone else to
run for
presidency even if they did not participate in the war of liberation
at all,
but Makoni may only need to beware of the people who are trying to
push him
to the throne.
Zimbabweans still await a satisfactory
explanation from Zvinavashe.
Benjamin Chitate,
New
Zealand.
----------
Makoni is courageous
I SAW
Simba Makoni last Friday and I was stunned. This man, who has
challenged the
feared Robert Mugabe did not have a bodyguard or even another
person in his
car.
He was driving around all by himself and walking around as if
he were
just another citizen and not the man who has just set the country
ablaze.
When I saw that, any doubts I had regarding just how courageous he
is
evaporated. He appeared to have no fear at all.
Of course,
there are those who have aligned themselves and fear that
if Makoni is
elected then they will have no chance to jump onto the gravy
train and steal
the nation blind, but to an objective observer, this was
just confirmation
of the inherent courage of this man.
Come March 29, I cannot
wait.
Denford,
By
e-mail.
------------
Joe Thomas cannot help
tourism
THE notoriously ill-concieved and sickening idea of using
public funds
to bribe celebrities into Zimbabwe is an act of desperation
which must end
with this last very expensive visit by Joe
Thomas.
Zimbabwe desperately needs foreign currency. Paying people
to come
here and enjoy themselves is a very silly and childish idea. To win
tourists
you need to make sure they know there is peace in the country, rule
of law,
that they won’t be targeted, that they will spend less for more
value, that
they can be sure to have water to drink, there is electricity,
fuel or
reliable transportation systems. These are the things tourists are
concerned
about not who else has visited the place before. Of course
recommendation
works but if Joe should really be honest what does he make of
the hungry and
sullen faces, the potholes, the erratic water and electricity
supplies?
The money could have been better used cleaning up the
messy city and
bridging the potholes for other tourists who might want to
spend money here
and not get paid for their visits. This whole ambassador
programme is a weak
and insufficient attempt to re-market a country that has
created for itself
a reputation of violence.
Courage
Shumba,
United Kingdom.
---------------
21st
February Movement a waste of resources
THE 21st February Movement
has earmarked $3 trillion to celebrate
President Robert Mugabe’s
birthday.
I pity the Beitbridge folk, it’s their turn to witness
Zanu PF
hospitality at its best. As always, the "aged" youths in Zanu PF are
behind
this sham. Absolom Sikhosana will get his 15 minutes of fame to
preach his
dim understanding of patriotism to the poor youths of
Zimbabwe.
Teachers, farmers and business people are expected to
"donate" in cash
and kind to make this worthwhile cause a resounding
success. Mind you all of
these have not been spared the economic
turmoil.
Spending such a colossal amount of money on a birthday
bash is insane,
considering the extent of economic decay and excessive
poverty faced by the
majority of Zimbabweans. That money would go some way
in easing the shortage
of drugs in hospitals, books in schools, chemicals
for water purification,
the list is endless.
How a birthday
party can mould the youth into becoming responsible
citizens is beyond me.
That Mugabe has failed Zimbabwe is not in doubt. To
urge the youth to
emulate a failure raises a lot of questions about the
calibre of the youth
leadership in Zanu PF.
I certainly hope this year is the last we
hear of this
Communist-insipired way of idolising Mugabe.
Joseph Mhlanga,
Dublin, Ireland
---------------
Tsvangirai should work with Makoni
I THINK Morgan Tsvangirai and
President Robert Mugabe are the same.
The two have traits of dictatorship
running in their veins. To me theirs is
just a case of the pot calling the
kettle black.
The solution to the Zimbabwean crisis will not come
from those who
claim to have suffered the most under an oppressive
government.
This is the tired argument that Mugabe has been using
to justify his
claim to power. When Tsvangirai says Simba Makoni did not
suffer any teargas
attack he is singing the same hymn sung by the Mugabe
regime.
Mugabe cronies claim that they suffered imprisonment and
torture under
white rule and therefore deserve to (mis)rule this country
forever.
If Tsvangirai has the people at heart he should be willing
to join
with other progressive forces in order to bring change as a united.
Elections are not just about participating; they are about bringing change
through collective effort. It is of no benefit for opposition forces to be
attacking each another.
Everyone should come to a realisation
that team work is more effective
than selfish lone battles. If it is true
that many Zanu PF members are
behind Simba Makoni then Tsvangirai should not
miss the opportunity to pull
together with the majority. Being a hero is
great, but team work rewards are
greater.
Thuthukile
Mkhize,
Harare.