Massive pay hike for war veterans By Foster
Dongozi
WITH less than eight weeks to go before the general elections
scheduled for March 31, the government has awarded war veterans a hefty
pension increment, The Standard can reveal.
The Minister of Public
Service, Labour and Social Welfare, Paul Mangwana, yesterday confirmed that
pensions for war veterans would be increased this month. Former
detainees, who are estimated at 6 000, would also receive the one-off
payments, and pensions this month, Mangwana explained, but would not
indicate the amounts.
"You cannot expect me to memorise people's
salaries. I can confirm that war veterans will be earning the equivalent of
a serving Warrant Officer I. In fact, the war veterans were supposed to
receive the increments at the end of January but there were some hiccups
between my ministry and the Ministry of Finance," Mangwana said.
He
declined to say what the hiccups were.
According to Colonel Aggrey Wushe,
an army spokesperson, a Warrant Officer I earns "slightly more than
$3million before tax".
The war veterans, who are an integral part of Zanu
PF's campaign machinery, could earn an extra $3 million from the end of this
month, The Standard understands. War veterans currently earn $200 000 a
month.
The Ex-Political Prisoners, Detainees and Restrictees Act, which
awards them one-off payment, educational and health benefits to ex-political
prisoners, detainees and restrictees, became operational this
month.
Ex-political prisoners will also receive assistance in the form of
grants or loans for income generating projects.
The one-off payments
would be $10 million each, gobbling about $60 billion from the
fiscus.
Andrew Ndlovu, who was appointed by President Robert Mugabe to
supervise the "re-organisation" of the war veterans' association, last week
confirmed that the former freedom fighters had been awarded hefty pension
increments. He refused to say what the increase was.
Ndlovu said: "I
cannot reveal the figures for security reasons. I had meetings with military
chiefs, officials from the Ministry of Defence and the Ministry of Public
Service, Labour and Social Welfare and came up with fruitful discussions.
The comrades will be happy with the pensions increments including burial
allowances, health care and school fees."
Jabulani Sibanda, the chairman
of the Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans' Association (ZNLWVA), also
confirmed that members of his association would get more money this
month.
"This is a process that started last year but we do not publicise
our negotiations. The facts are available from the Ministry of Public
Service, Labour and Social Welfare," Sibanda said.
A large number of
the Zanu PF leadership qualify as beneficiaries under the Act, while most
will also receive payments as former prisoners as well as for being war
veterans.
The unbudgeted for expenditure is expected to wreak havoc with
the economy.
Zimbabwean authorities believe the economy is experiencing a
boom.
The money being doled out to war veterans, ex-detainees and former
political prisoners would be enough to revive struggling government health
institutions, which are facing collapse because of severe
under-funding.
Other people interviewed last week warned that while it
was noble to reward former detainees for their role in the struggle, the
economy would not sustain the increases and pay outs. Why now, some
asked.
Joseph Mdluli, a former detainee, said he was looking forward to
being compensated, but added: "I would have preferred to be rewarded with a
piece of land rather than money because I fear these gratuities could hasten
the demise of our economy."
THE
recently appointed Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) which has the
responsibility of running the 31 March general elections, is yet to start
operations, raising questions about its readiness to conduct the
polls.
The ZEC chairman, Justice George Chiweshe, last week admitted his
commission's lack of preparedness for the elections. "We do not have any
structures in place. We are still setting ourselves up," Chiweshe told The
Standard on Friday. When asked if his commission would be able to run the
elections, Chiweshe referred this newspaper to the secretary of the ZEC,
Terence Machawira. Efforts to get Machawira were fruitless.
The ZEC
briefly operated from the offices of the Ministry of Justice. Legal and
Parliamentary Affairs soon after being appointed before moving to the Harare
International Conference Centre (HICC) on Thursday. When The Standard
visited the offices on Friday, there was no one on the premises.
MDC
spokesperson, Paul Themba Nyathi, said there was no way the ZEC would be
able to conduct the elections in March because it was heavily
incapacitated.
"Those people have no vehicles or staff. They are supposed
to be in charge of running elections and yet they have no input in the
compilation of the voters' roll," Nyathi said.
Meanwhile, chaos
marred the last day of registration as hundreds of prospective voters made
last minute attempts to register, prompting the MDC, which has alleged that
the voters' roll is in shambles, to suspect vote rigging.
Tapiwa
Mashakada the MP for Hatfield-Epworth (MDC) claimed that Zanu PF bused its
supporters from rural areas, who applied for birth certificates at the
Market Square's registrar's offices before proceeding to get new instant
identity cards, which they would use to register as voters.
GOVERNMENT
began a promised clean up of state owned enterprises last week by
threatening to sack non-performing heads at an eight-hour long meeting
chaired by Vice President Joyce Mujuru.
At the meeting - held on
Tuesday at Reserve Bank - Mujuru and central bank governor Gideon Gono
announced a raft of performance targets that the parastatal heads will be
expected to meet in the next few months. Failure to successfully institute
these reforms would result in dismissal, a source that attended the meeting
told StandardBusiness. Top management of over 16 parastatals, their board
members and senior government officials under whose ministries parastatals
fall attended the heated meeting.
"There was a lot said about the
mismanagement that has gone on at the State owned enterprises. There is a
feeling in Government that it is largely the inaction on parastatals that
has brought much scorn on the government," a government official said after
the meeting.
Gono has announced what he calls the Parastatal and Local
Authorities Reorientation Programme (PLARP), under which he will avail $10
trillion - funded through a medium to long term stock issue - to help save
debt-ridden parastatals. However, Gono has tied strict performance targets
to the funding. A new division has been set up at central bank to monitor
use of the funds, Gono told the Tuesday meeting.
RBZ's new plan for
parastatals was announced a day after Cabinet separately agreed tougher
action to try and end the decay at State-owned enterprises. Cabinet is said
to have agreed to a wholesale overhaul of management at parastatals, an
action it has steadfastly refused to take in the past despite widespread
calls for reforms.
Mujuru, who has been placed in charge of State
enterprises, is said to have spelt out government's new approach towards
parastatals. There would be quarterly, and in some cases monthly inspections
into the financial affairs of the companies, Mujuru is said to have declared
at the meeting.
Tuesday's meeting would represent a sharp about-turn by
government in its treatment of State utilities. The appointment to top
positions of figures with close ties to senior government officials have
bred a long-standing tradition of incompetence and corruption at state-owned
companies.
Senior government officials have also benefited from the rot
through business dealings with the parastatals. These factors have kept many
sceptical that government will actually follow through on its reforms as
strictly as it says it will.
800 families faceeviction from farm By our
Correspondent
MASVINGO - More than 800 families of mainly war veterans,
who invaded a farm which is part of Triangle Estates in Chiredzi, have been
ordered to vacate the farm by government with immediate effect, The Standard
has established. But the settlers say they will fight to the bitter
end.
The former combatants have vowed to resist the eviction, saying they
can not leave their maize crop, which is at tasselling stage. The farmers
had also planted groundnuts, round-nuts, traditional beans (Nyemba) and
rapoko, which are at an advanced stage of growth.
Some of the farmers
have huge herds of cattle.
The development highlights the chaos that
characterizes the land redistribution exercise, which began in 2000 with the
seizures of commercial farms by war veterans.
When The Standard
visited the farm, scores of farmers who have already built houses said they
were not going to leave the farm, claiming that they invaded the farm at the
height of the land invasions, with the government's blessing.
"It is
surprising that the government now wants to evict us four years after we
invaded this farm. At the same time, the Zanu PF provincial leadership
encouraged us to invade the farm although it was a company property,"
complained a war veteran who identified himself only as Comrade
Danger.
"The government is so insensitive to our plight. If I leave today
what will happen to my crops? I can't start building new houses in this
rain," complained one elderly woman, who refused identification for fear of
victimisation.
The farmers say that the sudden turn of events came
when the Triangle Director of Public Affairs, Farai Msika, met Masvingo
Governor, Josaya Hungwe and other provincial leadership two weeks
ago.
Hungwe confirmed that the government had ordered the settlers to
move out of the farm.
"Yes, the government has ordered them to leave
the farm because their invasion was unlawful. It was the law of the land
reform programme that company properties were not supposed to be invaded.
What these people did was contrary to the law therefore they are going to be
resettled somewhere," Hungwe said.
He added that Triangle had already
offered to resettle the farmers at a farm called Masangula, a move, which
the settlers were resisting.
"It is their right to have a piece of land
where they can grow crops but if they defy the law, we are going to force
them out. If they don't want to go to Masangula, then they have to go to
their rural homes," Hungwe said.
More Zanu PF 'bribes' for traditional leaders By
Valentine Maponga
THE government last week raised allowances and salaries
of headmen and village heads by 150 percent with effect from January, in a
move that will see it forking millions of dollars every month.
In a
Government Gazette published a fortnight ago, the Ministry of Local
Government, Public Works and National Housing announced new salaries and
allowances for headmen, acting headmen, village heads and messengers. The
increments will now see a headman getting a monthly salary of $1 million, up
from $400 000. An acting headman is also going to get a monthly allowance of
$630 000.
Messengers of chiefs and headmen will receive $500 000 and $250
000 respectively. Village heads will get $100 000, up from $40 000 - far
below that of messengers.
The allowances fall under the Traditional
Leaders (Allowances of Headman, Acting Headman, Village Heads and
Messengers) Regulations, 2005.
The Deputy Minister of Local Government,
Fortune Charumbira, who is also a traditional chief, said there were more
than 400 headmen in the country.
He said the allowances were reviewed
annually in line with the ever-rising inflation.
"There were no
elections last year but chiefs were awarded vehicles. Let us not demean our
traditional institutions, they are not a creation for political convenience
and they have always been there," he said.
Charumbira, however, refused
to reveal how much chiefs would be earning after the reviews. Chiefs'
salaries before the review, were pegged at $1million a
month.
Opposition political parties said the ruling Zanu PF had forged
ahead in their bid to secure the loyalty of traditional leaders around the
country by increasing their allowances a few months before the parliamentary
elections.
Wilson Kumbula the leader of Zanu, another opposition
political party, said the move was clear vote buying.
"Whenever we
are approaching an election Zanu PF will always give out money and we have
warned our supporters to be wary of those tactics. The timing itself shows
that Zanu PF is very desperate to win the elections," Kumbula
said.
Priscilla Misihairabwi-Mushonga, MDC MP for Glen Norah said the
party was not surprised by the government's move because Zanu PF had used
the same strategy in past elections.
"Zanu PF has perfected the art
of bribery during elections, it's clear vote-buying. They do it with food,
money and everything that they think will win them elections. However, what
they should know is that a headman is only one person and one day the people
will revolt against them," she said.
Misihairabwi-Mushonga added that
Zanu PF was using traditional leaders as its trump card because they can
ensure that their subjects vote for the ruling party in return for the
favours the the government has bestowed on traditional
leaders.
Chiefs now preside over what are known as Community Courts,
while headmen preside over primary courts.
The government has
bestowed more powers on chiefs in the run-up to the parliamentary elections,
allowing them to fine people up to $100 million.
Middle Sabi farmers cry foul over water charges By our
own staff
MIDDLE SABI - Newly resettled farmers in the Middle Sabi area
are up in arms over what they term "high water charges" that are threatening
the viability of their farming operations.
In a letter dated 31
January, 2005 to Manicaland Governor and resident Minister, Mike Nyambuya,
the farmers said water charges had increased five-fold since 2000, rendering
their farming operations non-profitable. The letter was also copied to
Central Bank Governor, Gideon Gono, the provincial land office and to the
Zimbabwe National Water Authority (Zinwa).
Chairperson of the Middle Sabi
Farmers Syndicate, Lucky Mhlanga, appealed to the government to subsidise
the cost of water because most of the new farmers could not afford to pay
the high rates.
The authorities, he said, should take into consideration
the fact that they can not be compared to their counterparts in the
Highveld, who get high yields although they use less water because they
receive more rain.
"As farmers we are unable to farm profitably with the
high water prices. Most of our members have failed to service their wheat
loans with the State-run Grain Marketing Board," Mhlanga wrote.
The
farming syndicate has 88 farmers, 46 Model A1 farmers while 42 of them are
under the A2 Model, the commercial farming scheme.
Mhlanga said some
farmers paid an average of $60 million for water alone for the
wheat-cropping season.
He said that in 2000, farmers used to pay about
$356.08 a cubic metre but the price had risen to $55 500 a cubic metre, an
increase of 2 053.4 percent.
Mhlanga said the Lowveld region required
a lot of irrigation water compared to other geographical areas due to its
high temperatures, which also shorten the growing season.
The region
also received less rain compared to the Highveld, a situation which forces
them to rely on irrigation water all the time.
Mhlanga warned that
agriculture in the Middle Sabi would soon grind to a halt since farmers
could not produce crops such as soya-beans, maize, wheat and cotton without
irrigation.
He said the problem was compounded by the high cost of
farming inputs, fertilisers and seeds.
Efforts to get a comment from
Nyambuya and the Zimbabwe National Water Authority (Zinwa) were
fruitless.
MUTARE -
THE government has appointed a four-member committee to carry out an
administrative systems audit at the Mutare City Council, The Standard has
established.
The committee will take charge of financial, human
resources and corporate governance management of the opposition Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC)-dominated council. A letter from the Ministry of
Local Government and National Housing to the council, dated 14 January, 2005
and signed by the Ministry's permanent secretary, David Munyoro, says the
team was appointed to clean-up the mess in the eastern border
town.
"With regard to your brief on the purported poor state of affairs
in the management of Mutare City Council I have duly appointed a team to
carry out an administrative systems audit of Mutare City Council," reads
part of the letter, a copy of which is in our possession.
The
four-member team comprises Cosmas Chiringa, who chairs the committee and is
a district administrator (DA) for Makoni; Justin Chivavaya the DA for
Mutare; and a Mr E M Mhlanga, a senior Internal Auditor in the
council.
A Mr W Mashava, who works at the provincial administrator's
office, is the secretary of the committee.
The audit team will look
into the effectiveness of human resource management, development and the
level of transparency in the council as dictated by the laws of the
country.
It will also make sure the council complies with statutory
requirements with regard to approval of budgets and submission of audited
accounts.
After the audit, it will make recommendations to the Ministry
of Local Government, Public Works and National Housing.
Munyoro, in
his letter to the council says: "I hope after the completion of the team's
work, normalcy will be restored in the management of the Mutare City
Council."
Mutare executive mayor, Misheck Kagurabadza, said the committee
had already started its work.
"But we pray they will do their work
without a predetermined verdict on council operations," said Kagurabadza,
who promised to co-operate with the audit team.
He met the audit team
twice last week to brief it on the operations of the council.
But
independent analysts believe the appointment of the team was designed to
render the MDC-dominated council powerless.
Political analyst, Dr
Arufeya Gungumakushe, of Africa University in Mutare said the appointment of
the team was meant to wrest power from the MDC-run council, in a similar
fashion as happened to former Harare mayor, Elias Mudzuri and his
council.
The government last year dismissed Mudzuri accusing him of
maladministration. He was replaced by political turncoat Sekesai
Makwavarara, who chairs a commission packed with government
appointees.
The government has also created positions of Governors for
Zimbabwe's two largest cities - Harare and Bulawayo - in what analysts say
was a ploy to usurp power from the MDC, which controls most urban local
authorities.
Other urban centres that are run by the opposition party
include Victoria Falls, Gweru, Gwanda, Kariba, Masvingo, Bulawayo and
Chegutu.
"They will get what they want, that is to find fault in the
affairs of the council," said Gungumakushe.
He believes that all
local authorities in the country are under-funded because the government has
deliberately frozen all rates increases.
The freeze was aimed at baiting
voters in the March polls, said Gungumakushe.
AFTER the
annoucement last week of the elections date by President Mugabe, the
critical question that everyone should be askng is whether the Harare
authorities have fully complied with the Southern African Development
Community (Sadc) principles and guidelines governing democratic
elections.
The honest truth is that the government of Zimbabwe is far
from observing these basic tenets of democratic elections. What is evident
are half-hearted electoral reforms which amount to no more than window
dressing attempts to hoodwink Sadc and the international community that
Zimbabwe is serious about democracy. This is the dilemma that the Movement
for Democratic Change (MDC) faced as it kept the nation guessing whether or
not to participate in the March 31 parliamentary elections. Now that the
guessing game is over, what the majority of Zimbabweans and indeed, all men
and women of goodwill everywhere, are concerned about is the huge gap
between the actions of the Zimbabwe government thus far and the moral high
ground against which we should be measuring the Sadc principles and
guidelines.
Examining the facts on the ground - what do we see? The
Public Order and Security Act (Posa) continues to rear its ugly head
effectively preventing the opposition MDC from organising meetings and
rallies. How on earth, we must ask, can the party get its messages across to
the electorate in such a situation?
Equal access to radio and
television and the media generally is at the heart of the whole process of
democracy and yet the MDC is completely shut out of these tools of
communication. In the name of God, how does the MDC or anyone expect them in
such an environment to inspire enough public hope and confidence to
win?
It is nothing to do with us as a newspaper whether the MDC wins or
loses but we would want them to be accorded a fair chance in a transparent,
free and fair election. It is just as simple as that!
Gone are the
days in this modern world when governments seek to control information. The
ruling Zanu PF must change its mindset. A major challenge to Zanu PF is not
to seek to run the race by itself but to level the electoral playing field
and compete with other parties openly and freely.
Indeed, it is in the
interest of Zanu PF to ensure a level electoral playing field if it hopes to
be judged to be legitimately in power after the elections. Such legitimacy
will not be forthcoming where the ruling party is seen to be running a race
all by itself and winning. Can they, in all honesty and sincerity, celebrate
such a 'victory'?
President Mugabe and his colleagues must examine their
own consciences on this one. Why continue to have the repressive Access to
Information and Protection of Privacy Act (Aippa) on the statute books if
they believe their policies resonate with the Zimbabwean electorate? Why
continue to have partisan institutions such as the Registrar General's
office, the Zimbabwe Electoral Supervisory Commission, the Electoral
Directorate to run the elections when one and truly independent Zimbabwe
Electoral Commission should suffice?
No one in his or her right mind
would regard the recently created Zimbabwe Electoral Commission as an
independent commission in the truest sense of the word. Apart from
everything else, its role is confusing, vague and imprecise, more so in an
environment in which its responsibilities are not clearly defined vis-a-vis
the other institutions outlined above. To crown it all, we have a voters'
roll which is in shambles with many eligible voters' names either not
appearing on the roll at all or transferred without their knowledge to other
constituencies away from the constituencies in which they
registered.
Evidently, most of the Sadc leaders and citizens are not
aware of the extent to which Zimbabwe's political conditions are tilted in
favour of the ruling party.
The media therefore, has an important
role to play in ensuring that everything is done to inform and educate our
brothers and sisters in the region about this. At critical times like this,
it is important to correctly interpret the situation here for many of our
friends in the Sadc region who do not have the time, the inclination or the
knowledge to interpret it for themselves.
It is most important to
continually remind Sadc leaders and Sadc citizens that radio and television
in Zimbabwe continue to propagate the ruling Zanu PF line only, emphasizing
the 'dangers' of imaginary 'enemies' such as Tony Blair and the
'British-sponsored' MDC. Zimbabwe Newspapers, which are supposed to be
public media serving Zimbabwean society as a whole are day in and day out
dominated by bitter tirades, lies and distortions rather than constructive
discussion.
Both the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation and the Zimbabwe
Newspapers are nothing more than government mouthpieces with other voices
completely shut out. In the absence of the banned Daily News, the besieged
independent weeklies namely The Standard and the Zimbabwe Independent cannot
be expected to be substitutes for a full-blown independent
daily.
There is a real need to free the media from Zanu PF control
particularly Radio Zimbabwe which is listened to by the majority of
Zimbabweans in both the rural and urban areas.
Zimbabwe is a
signatory to the Sadc principles and guidelines governing democratic
elections. The political commitment to these principles has to be followed
by concrete action. Political legitimacy through a transparent, free and
fair electoral process is absolutely fundamental. And the role of the media
without any restrictions is very crucial in this.
Sadc principles and
guidelines on elections represent a new and unique process of cooperation
between the ruling Zanu PF and the opposition MDC. The forthcoming March 31
parliamentary elections is yet another landmark event for the millions of
Zimbabweans who count on both Zanu PF and the MDC having equal access to
Radio Zimbabwe and harassment-free rallies to help them realize their hopes
for the future.
Puppeteers and pollsters overthetop By Brian
Latham
TROUBLED central Africans learnt with wry amusement that there
would be an election after all next month, though quite what sort of
election remains to be seen.
Elections in the troubled central
African banana republic are frequently among the most interesting anywhere
on the planet. While in less robust nations, candidates go from door to door
kissing babies, in the troubled central African police State it is just as
common to go from door to door setting houses on fire. Other candidates
hire youths in green uniforms to rampage through streets, encouraging people
to vote for Zany Party by beating them on the head with
knobkerries.
It is this form of electioneering that has in the past
led foreign observers to conclude that polls in the troubled central African
nation are far from free or fair, still less a passable representation of
the will of the people.
Of course, this just means that most foreign
observers are gay or women. Or both. The ruling Zany Party, which intends to
rule at any cost until the end of time, has used this as an excuse to bar
foreign observers from coming anywhere near polling stations in next month's
election.
Also barred from the polls will be most journalists who are not
members of the ruling Zany Party - and, if the Zany Party has anything to do
with it, anyone who intends to vote for the More Drink Coming
Party.
This is because the leaders of the Zany Party believe fervently
that it is impossible to be a patriotic troubled central African and a
member of any party other than theirs.
Still, while almost all
troubled central Africans disagree with this claim, they also believe no one
other than the Zany Party has a snowball's hope in hell of winning the
election.
Again, there are no surprises here, because officials with
undying loyalty to the Zany Party control the voters' roll and it will come
as no surprise when, months from now, they learn that several thousand
deceased persons miraculously managed to cast their votes. Naturally this
will be deemed to be perfectly fitting because Varidzi VePasi are all
card-carrying members of the Zany Party.
Still, now that a date has
been announced, troubled central Africans are bracing themselves for a fresh
round of tough electioneering. Houses are being barricaded and known members
of the opposition (who constitute almost all living troubled central
Africans) are sleeping elsewhere for the time being.
Few people
welcome midnight visits from members of the notorious Charlie Ten, still
less the green-clad Dzaku-dzaku, bearing large sticks and bottles filled
with what's left of the nation's petrol.
On the other hand, the More
Drink Coming Party is pinning small hope on the fact that the food shortage
that isn't might encourage some people to vote for them.
The reason
that the food shortage simultaneously exists and doesn't exist is simple.
While there is no food in the shops, the Zany Party says there is plenty of
food for all troubled central Africans. This is a situation that has led to
considerable confusion among foreigners, though troubled central Africans
have no difficulty reconciling the flawed logic. This is because they know
the Zany Party is just pretending there's lots of food, as there indeed may
be for it's half dozen remaining members.
Meanwhile Over The Top can
dispel rumours that the ballot papers have already been filled out, giving
the Zany Party an overwhelming majority that even the lunatic leaders of
North Korea and Cuba would envy. It is simply not true. A shortage of
foreign currency led to a shortage of ballpoint pens, which in turn led to a
shortage of ink to fill in the ballot papers.
I REFER to your report on the above. The Zanu PF government
believes that Zimbabweans don't think. They pretend that they alone
understand and they alone have the interests of this country at heart. They
believe they can, through their compliant and obtuse media, change the
thinking and understanding of the people of Zimbabwe.
They believe
that if they pretend or appear to take action on certain individuals, who
may appear not to be singing the same tune as themselves, they will gain
acceptance. They have carefully nursed corruption to the level where it has
now matured and is full blown. There are examples where the obvious
vindictiveness and callous manner of their actions have shown that it is
nothing to do with stemming corruption. Cases in point are the James Makamba
and Chris Kuruneri charade. Repressive and targeted laws were passed by the
last session of parliament. It is instructive to mention that as such laws
are passed, they end up "eating their own children".
Zanu PF members
of Parliament were blind to the repressive nature of some of the laws they
passed. Each time we in the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) talked
about rule of law and selective application of the law, we were continuously
scorned and ridiculed. The equality of all people before the law defines the
existence or lack of democracy in a country. Democracy was a temporary
visitor to this country.
The point I am trying to make is that there is
so much corruption in this country that only those who get out of line
attract attention and get probed. For example, last year, The Herald carried
a story, including pictures, on how the Secretary for Lands, Simon
Pazvakavambwa, had failed to utilize the A2 farm given to him. Almost all
those allocated A2 farms are grossly underutilizing them. Many of the farms
are lying fallow. The reason for his story in The Herald was because he was
being accused of writing and sending withdrawal letters. So he had to be
smeared with dirt.
If it is true that Jonathan Moyo is being probed; are
we supposed to believe that all of a sudden, the corrupt regime has
discovered that the Agricultural and Rural Development Authority (ARDA) was
ploughing and providing free labour to Moyo's relatives? Are we to believe
that they have suddenly discovered all those alleged prejudices to the
State?
If they knew all along, why was no action taken? Who knew all this
and decided to do nothing? Moyo is now singing from a different hymn book,
so he should be nabbed. Like his other colleagues, the laws he gleefully
engineered and helped pass, may soon visit him.
ARDA has been used,
ad infinitum, to enrich the powerful by providing all the services
supposedly on hire but never paid for. I challenge the government to
investigate my assertion that ARDA is a milk cow of the powerful in Zanu PF
and the government.
A new Zimbabwe will be delivered by the suffering
masses of this country. This is feared so much by the guilty. Let us
together remove the cancerous ruling party and ring in a new
beginning.
THE
Movement for Democratic Change is going to be taken for a huge ride. The
relentless pressure being applied by South Africa on the opposition party to
participate in the March election is a nasty trap.
President Thabo
Mbeki is virtually asking the MDC to cut its own throat. Here are the cruel
facts. POSA and AIPPA have got the MDC hamstrung and this means they are
already out of the race. It is impossible to hold a meeting or a rally in
most towns, let alone the rural areas. Until such maddeningly suffocating
legislation is scrapped there really is no election contest to talk
about.
Unless Morgan Tsvangirai and his top brass know something we don't
, I say stop this madness of taking part in a sham elections that will only
serve to strangle the MDC.
THIS
letter is addressed to the administrators of the Local Authorities Pension
Fund (LAPF).
My mother receives $7 429,07 a month as her pension. In
September 2004, she received a letter from the LAPF, which said the LAPF
Management Committee had resolved to accord her a choice to either commute
her pension in full as at September 30, 2004 or to continue receiving her
monthly pension. The payment of a full commutation was valued at $924 652.
November 15 2004 was given as the deadline for the replies to be
submitted. As old (and poor) as she is, my mother felt going for the full
commutation made great economic common sense, after all what could she do
with the $7 429,07? (But it may still be asked, what can she do with $924
652?).
Because of the vagaries of nature and as old as she is, she felt
it wise then to get the $924 652 and "enjoy" the rest of her remaining days,
than get a paltry seven grand and live another 20 or 30 years.
It is
now mid-January 2005, and my mother is still making trips to the bank to
check the full commutation of her pension, but alas, she is still getting
the monthly deposits of $7 429,07.
And one can see the desolation in
her eyes. I believe she is not the only one in this abject situation. Would
it then be improper if these old people - and everybody else - started
speculating about what is going on with these funds?
I have tried to
phone the LAPF offices to at least get clarification on what is going on,
but the phones do not seem to be working thus my resort to the
Press.
The LAPF should tell these old pensioners when they are
getting their monies as the poor folks feel cheated already by the pitiable
pensions they are getting.
On behalf of my mother and her
contemporaries, I sign myself as
THE loss of livelihood of former commercial farm workers due
to the government's controversial and chaotic land reform programme left
many households vulnerable to poverty and general abuse by the new
farmers.
The new farmers are failing to pay their workers the gazetted
wages on time. The loss of incomes or delays in receiving their wages has
severely hampered the ability of the farm workers to support their
children.In cases where a family is headed by a woman, she is compelled to
resort to prostitution in a bid to support herself and her
children. Previously, these households would have been supported by the
farmer through timeous payment of wages, rations, shelter and support for
basic education of their children.
Many people who have risen to
positions of prominence today were raised on commercial farms and received
part of their education on commercial farms. However, the new farmers are
selfish and cruel.
A visit to farms around Guruve will reveal the extent
to which farm workers are suffering at the hands of fellow blacks. There is
a stark contrast between the farms occupied by new farmers and those which
were spared acquisition by the government.
I wish the powers that be
could think first before they act, because a country is not run purely on
the basis of flexing political muscles. Common sense and proper planning
should prevail.
MONEY
market rates slipped ever lower last week, as the market continued to
respond to central bank's recent rate cut.
Rates on the 91-day
Treasury Bill fell to 92% per annum from 107,5%, leading rates on the
secondary market lower. Seven day and 14-day deposits fell to 50%, levels
last tested mid last year. The 30-day and 60-day investment rates are at 60
to 65% while rates on 91-day deposits are down to 80% from about
100%. RBZ slashed the key bank rate from 110% to 95% in February, and
announced a plan to progressively cut rates down to 70% by June. The rate
cut is a sign of confidence at central bank that it will meet its revised
inflation targets, despite concerns from economists that inflationary
pressures still threaten the economy.
"Over the outlook period, the
targeted further reduction in inflation is expected to induce a concomitant
fall in market interest rates," RBZ chief Gideon Gono said.
Although
the rate cut became only effective Tuesday, rates immediately fell a day
after Gono's statement.
"This is a trend that will continue. The bank
rate is some sort of ceiling for inter-bank and other money market rates.
This means that each time RBZ cuts that rate, the rest of the market will
follow it lower," a dealer said.
Other market players say central bank
will be eager to keep rates depressed in the run up to the general election,
scheduled March 31, to give government access to cheaper credit. However,
excessive demand for money from the State would put pressure on
rates.
Standard Chartered was the first bank to announce a fresh cut on
rates, saying Friday it would cut its lending rate to 110% from February 11.
Controversial ZABG is charging 105% for its loans. More retail banks are
expected to slash rates this week, continuing a trend lower for rates which
had risen as high as 700% last year.
On the currency market, the
Zimbabwe dollar weakened against the US dollar, sliding to $9000 on the US
greenback on the parallel market. This is in sharp contrast to the level of
$6000 at which the dollar is trading on the official foreign currency
auction. Against the British pound, the Zimdollar traded at over $15000,
compared to the official $11216 against the Sterling.
Despite repeated
official claims of improving hard currency inflows, supply at the auction
floors continues to badly lag demand.
Tourism congress cancelled - again! By our own
staff
THE Zimbabwe Council for Tourism (ZCT) has for the umpteenth time
been forced to cancel its annual congress indefinitely after the event
coincided with last month's presentation of the monetary policy
statement.
The congress, a platform where industry players from the
private sector were supposed to group and take stock of the operating
environment for the year 2004 and devise some means of recovery this year,
had been arranged for January 26-27. However, the event clashed with the
fourth quarterly review of the monetary policy, to which much attention was
centred. The congress was initially set for October 2004 but the event
corresponded with another presentation by Reserve Bank Governor Gideon
Gono's monetary policy review and was cancelled.
ZCT CEO Paul
Matamisa last week confirmed the adjourning of the congress.
"We faced a
lot of incidences that divided attention," was all Matamisa would say. A
mini congress would now be held in June to look at issues of administration
and finance for the council.
Musindo campaigns for Zanu PF By Richard
Musazulwa
MIDLANDS - CONTROVERSIAL pastor and president of Destiny of
Africa Network Church, Reverend Obadiah Musindo, last week likened President
Robert Mugabe to the "Biblical Moses" and openly campaigned for Zanu PF
ahead of the March general elections, The Standard can
reveal.
Musindo said people should rally behind Zanu PF because the party
could lead them out of the current problems bedevilling the
country. "There are many similarities between the ruling Zanu PF party and
the Bible. President Mugabe is like the Biblical Moses who was sent by God
to free thousands of Israelites who were suffering at the hands of Pharaoh.
Mugabe did that when he led us through the struggle to become what we are
today," Musindo told hundreds of people at the city's EduCare hall
recently.
The Destiny for Africa Network president made the remarks after
donating equipment for making freezit and peanut butter to G-6 co-operative,
comprising largely of Zanu PF women.
Musindo promised to create about
200 jobs in the Midlands town.
A few days after his eulogy, Musindo on
Monday openly denounced the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC),
at the launch of a housing project being spearheaded by his
church.
At the launch some church members, pastors and Zanu PF supporters
carried banners and placards, supporting Zanu PF, while denouncing the
opposition MDC.
Some of the banners read: "Destiny of Africa Network,
A Vote for Zanu PF is a Vote for Your Land" and "MDC: Anti Land
Movement".
The government has given a huge swathe of land in Ascot suburb
to Destiny for Africa Network in Gweru for construction of 669 600
houses.
After handing over the stands, Midlands Governor, Cephas Msipa,
promised that the government would give Musindo additional land in the
city's suburbs of Senga and Herefordshire. The stands in Ascot are reserved
for houses, three churches, a crèche and a primary school.
Gweru
executive mayor, Sesel Zvidzai, said the land given to Destiny for Africa
Church belonged to the State. "Council is not part of this programme since
it is not our land. The land being given to Musindo belongs to the State.
There are some portions of State land in the city," Zvidzai said.
In
Harare, Musindo has also been given land by the government, a move seen by
many as rewarding him for supporting the ruling party.
MDC chairperson
for Midlands South province, Lyson Mlambo, condemned the partisan stance of
Musindo's church.
He said Destiny for Africa Church should concentrate of
spreading the word of God rather than propping up Zanu PF.
Understanding the sources of corruption sundayopinion By
Dr John Rwambiwa
ALTHOUGH political leaders may be doing what is humanly
possible to stamp out corruption, the rot is getting worse, causing some
people to wish to commit suicide.
While we are familiar with the
notorious greedy individuals who swindle funds entrusted to them by the
masses through financial institutions, real sources of corruption are in the
least expected places, which are better called "Cans of Worms" These places
are among the major causes of the country's economic destruction and I am
pleased to note that individuals are being encouraged to talk or write
against corruption. At the end of Zanu PF Congress of 2004, we heard
President Mugabe, in a humorous mood over the radio, emphasizing the words -
veni, vidi, vici, which means: I came, I saw, I conquered. These are famous
Latin words of a Roman general and they reminded me of the popular poem
which says "Theirs is not to reason: why? Theirs is but to do and die .".
The whole poem describes the life of soldiers.
Among the soldiers are
liberation war veterans and more respect is given to freedom fighters
because they sacrificed their lives for a good cause. The freedom fighters
of Zimbabwe, who include President Mugabe, brought about our independence.
But the freedom is now being spoilt by many forms of corruption, some of
which have resulted in the closure of financial institutions. The closures
have caused scores of people to lose their savings resulting in their being
seriously inconvenienced. President Mugabe is on record as being adamant in
his determination to stamp out corruption, but alas! the wickedness
continues to get out of control.
Zanu PF, was reported as saying let the
people choose their own leaders, and Vice President Joyce Mujuru of Zanu PF
says she wants to see peaceful elections, as does Morgan Tsvangirai, leader
of the MDC. This shows that our top leaders do not condone any form of
corruption.
But how can this growing cancer be nipped in the bud? Can the
question "Who is my neighbour" be honestly answered? Knowledge of the hidden
sources of corruption might help.
One of the major sources of
corruption happens to be some institutions of higher learning and main
culprits involved in corrupt activities are members of the black leadership
of these institutions. The forms of corruption involve tribalism, nepotism,
regionalism etc., which, if allowed to go unchecked, will continue to ruin
any good prospects of better life in our country. For example, essential
programmes have been stopped at some of these institutions. Yet such
programmes are considered to be the cornerstone of development in all other
countries.
Academic appointments have been made of people who did not
apply, while those who applied were ignored. Some academic promotions are
made at the leader's discretion regardless of who supports them while there
are some questionable dismissals from employment or other forms of severe
victimization. Other machinations and terrifying situations surrounding
employees, continue to haunt many of them.
Some of the innocent
victims have had to be counselled after wanting to commit suicide. This is
mainly because reliable sources say that such leaders have close connections
with some MPs who are known to be equally corrupt, causing further
frustration in trying to report such cases.
I have also seen gross
unfairness and frustration faced by some of our highly qualified, competent
and principled women. Such women will have beaten all men at interviews, but
a man gets the job! One wonders why the women are called to such
interviews.
Some of the victims get better jobs, conditions of service
and friendly environments in other countries, but they still feel having
been alienated & enslaved by their own people, they are forced to join
people who say that life was better under colonialism. Yet there are some
competent, professional black leaders here, who are overshadowed by corrupt
leaders.
Other sources of corruption are the law courts. For example,
innocent people have been declared guilty, only to find that the magistrate
will have accepted bribes and this happens after judgments have been passed.
The victims have to accept the verdict because they will have no money to
pay for more competent lawyers.
Some form of corruption exists in
Radio broadcasts, and this is basically due to gross ignorance. The
broadcaster, not knowing the injuries he/she may be causing listeners, may
continue to hurt their feelings. Proper training on communication and ethics
is urgently needed for such people.
Some teachers have also become
corrupt in schools. But this is mainly due to the fact that they are
underpaid. For example, it was publicized in 2004, that 84% of the country's
workforce was below taxable level, and this included teachers. It is
gratifying to read about the 2005 substantial increase in teachers'
salaries. But this will only hold if the cost of living does not continue to
rise, otherwise teachers will be left behind again.
Yet teaching is
the cornerstone of everything - medicine, agriculture, industry, history,
languages etc. Christians give the greatest honour to Jesus Christ, whom
they say sacrificed His life for them. They even put capital (H) whenever
they write "his" or "he". They also say He was their greatest teacher. If
teaching is that important, then it should be more decently rewarded. It
could be argued that teaching is not a direct money-making field, but
teachers are implementers of policies that come from above.
For
example, in some workshops that I have attended, goods from certain
countries were downgraded. Yet here we cannot make even the downgraded
goods. But these other countries make policies that will have curricula
developed to include creativity and manufacture of goods in their school and
college syllabuses. This is not the case in Zimbabwe, where corrupt leaders
prefer to swim in pools of ignorance and do not accept advice from other
people. This point has been made ad infinitum for a long time in local
newspapers.
Some of the corruption involves unfair discrimination
against other races. For example, there are whites who have genuine love for
Zimbabwe. Some have obtained Ph.Ds in Zimbabwean languages, while others
have adopted Zimbabwean names; and, although many cannot speak local
languages, they are quite happy to be under a black government. Some of them
speak eloquently against discrimination based on the colour of the skin of a
person. It is unfair for Zimbabweans to discriminate against such people,
especially when the worst forms of corruption are being committed by other
black Zimbabweans.
Of course, it would be foolish to deny the fact that
there are certain whites who remain blinkered in the colonial era. My
previous articles have noted the fact that those whites who lacked genuine
love, were defeated by Zimbabweans who had far less experience of using
guns.
I could go on and on, showing that there are some black people who
do not deserve to be leaders regardless of their qualifications on paper.
They deliberately do not practise what they might have said at the
interviews.
Remember all these negative issues never took place many
years after Independence, when there were other black leaders, but now that
faith and trust is being destructively abused. All leaders must practise
what they say to the public.
The South African police have questioned four Zimbabweans - three
of them members of that country's intelligence - for allegedly trying to spy
on a meeting between unionists of both countries in Musina last week. Ronel
Otto, the Limpopo police spokesperson, said she could confirm that the four
- three members of Zimbabwe's Central Intelligence Organisation and one
civilian - were allowed to go back to their country after being
questioned.
"They came over the border legally, with passports. They were
not arrested, they were questioned and freed to go without any action being
taken against them," she told said. The four were apparently "arrested"
while trying enter the lodge where the meeting between the Congress of SA
Trade Unions (Cosatu) and the Zimbabwean Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU)
took place.
The unionists had arranged the meeting after Zimbabwe turned
away a Cosatu delegation at Harare's International Airport on Wednesday. On
Thursday, members from both unions travelled to Musina, South Africa, to
discuss the way forward. Zwelinzima Vavi, Cosatu's general secretary, said
he heard that members of Zimbabwe's CIO were arrested while trying to spy on
the meeting. But, he said: "I cannot confirm or deny that."
Tummi
Golding, the police's spokesperson on crime intelligence, said: "So far this
matter is under severe investigation. We can't comment on it."
Otto, when
asked about the four and the circumstances in which they got to be
questioned, she said: "I don't know much about them." She said she could not
even confirm whether they were spying on the Cosatu-ZCTU meeting. -
Sapa
Zimbabwe 'makes mockery' of African democracy: Tutu
February
06, 2005, 16:45
Archbishop Desmond Tutu, the anti-apartheid icon,
criticised Zimbabwe for "making a mockery" of African democracy and urged
regional leaders to scold contemporaries who fail to foster justice and
freedom.
Tutu last year hit out at "kowtowing" in the ANC, including over
President's Thabo Mbeki's policy of quiet diplomacy toward its neighbour
Zimbabwe, sparking a fiery public debate between the two men. The archbishop
told a Sunday newspaper that Robert Mugabe's Zimbabwe was making a mockery
of African attempts to improve governance and defend democracy as the
continent tries to secure more aid from rich countries.
"We have a
responsibility. People should see that we do really care about things like
freedom, justice the basic freedoms for which we have fought," he was quoted
as saying. "We have to say, places like Zimbabwe make almost a mockery of
our saying that we are committed to these things and makes it difficult for
those who are our friends."
Economic crisis The diminutive cleric said
Zimbabwe was a "huge blot on the record" of the world's poorest continent.
He was speaking ahead of this weekend's G7 meeting of rich nations, aimed at
finding new ways of helping Africa tackle poverty and extending billions of
extra dollars in aid. Critics blame Mugabe for a political and economic
crisis that has ruined the once prosperous southern African country and say
elections in 2000 and 2002 were rigged. Zimbabweans go to the polls again in
March. Mugabe last year called Tutu "an angry, evil and embittered little
bishop".
South Africa is Zimbabwe's most important trading partner and
has been criticised for its "softly softly" approach toward a key regional
ally. In recent weeks South Africa stepped up emphasis on the March vote as
a test for the troubled democracy. Long a thorn in the side of South
Africa's former white regime, Tutu said his recent caustic exchange with
Mbeki during which the president accused him of resorting to "empty
rhetoric" had made him "sad for his country".
Stressing that he did
not want to reopen that debate, Tutu said the ANC could do little to "really
affect me or affect those of us who were privileged to have participated" in
freeing South Africa from white rule. Without directly pointing the finger
at Mbeki or the ANC, Tutu said firmer action was crucial on HIV/Aids, which
affects more South Africans than in any other country and has been a source
of contention due to long delays in rolling out life-saving treatment to
million infected. -Reuters
The ministry of intelligence is reacting with sealed lips to the
fate of its agent, operating under the false name of Andrew Brown, who is
being held in Zimbabwe. A Sunday newspaper reported that Tendai Matambanadzo
(42), a Zimbabwean banker, said he was given thousands of US dollars for
information on likely successors for President Robert Mugabe.
He said
he had worked with a spy known to him as Andrew Brown who had told him he
was a risk management consultant, a 48-year-old white man who lived in a
suburb east of Pretoria. When asked what was being done to secure Brown's
release, or see to his welfare, Lorna Daniels, the intelligence ministry
spokesperson, said her office was not commenting. "Not at all that's as much
as I can say," she said.
Ronnie Mamoepa, the department of foreign
affairs spokesperson, would only refer the matter to the intelligence
ministry.
Sports and rugby The newspaper claims they know the alleged
spy's true name, but were informed by a spokesperson for the ministry of
intelligence that it was illegal to publish the name. Matambanadzo said he
met Brown at several hotels in Zimbabwe over the three years since he met
him in 2001. He said Brown was also dressed casually and once even took him
to his house near Pretoria where they talked about sports and
rugby.
Matambanadzo said he used to get a call just saying that Andrew
was in Harare and could they meet. He also claimed that he gave some of the
money he was paid for information back to Brown who allegedly had financial
problems. "He said he had personal problems with alimony and child support,"
Matambanadzo said. "I actually hand(ed) money (back) to
him."
Matambanadzo, Itai Marchi, the Zanu(PF) external affairs director,
and Godfrey Dzvairo, a diplomat, were arrested in December after Brown was
arrested. He named them and three others as part of his "spy ring". Brown
was being held at an undisclosed location in Zimbabwe. Matambanadzo claimed
that he did not know he was involved in espionage. The attorney representing
Matambanadzo and the other two said nothing in their confessions involved a
state secret or a stolen document. - Sapa
Residents of Zimbabwe's best-known township harbour no illusions about next
month's elections, with many too busy struggling to survive to ponder what's
at stake.
The mood in Chitungwiza, a sprawling and dingy
township south-east of Harare that is home to nearly two million people, is
a mixture of apathy, disgust and hopelessness ahead of the March 31
parliamentary polls.
"What elections?" snorts Tamburai
Garikai (53), her face crinkling into a grimace.
Garikai,
who is unemployed, said she has lost all hope.
"Yesterday,
today, tomorrow, it's the same thing," she said, speaking in Seke, an
impoverished quarter of Chitungwiza -- one of Harare's main black townships
during British colonial rule.
"The rulers always win, so what
is the point of voting?" she said. "In the old days, I was working at the
family planning department. My family had food on the table. I was laid off
after independence. It's a miracle how I and my family are
surviving."
President Robert Mugabe's governing Zanu-PF party
-- at the helm since independence from Britain almost 25 years ago -- is
expected to consolidate its stranglehold on power in the
vote.
The sheer drudgery of living in a country whose once
model economy is in tatters with the world's highest inflation rate, 70%
unemployment and startling poverty levels has fostered widespread apathy
among Zimbabweans.
Margie Chadzera is struggling to bring
up five grandchildren orphaned by Aids.
"Back then, the
money was strong. You could use it," said Chadzera, who earns hand-outs to
feed her family once a day.
"Can we hope the elections will
change anything? I think we can say that the same people will win," she
added.
The upcoming elections will be closely watched as a
key test of Zimbabwe's pledge to hold free and fair elections that could end
the political crisis that has raged in Zimbabwe since the 2000 and 2002
elections, which were marred by violence, fraud and
intimidation.
The main opposition Movement for Democratic
Change (MDC) party, which began in Chitungwiza in September 1999, has posed
the stiffest challenge to Mugabe's rule.
Last week, the
MDC reluctantly decided to contest the polls even though its leaders said a
free and fair vote would not be possible.
The MDC cites
police harassment of its supporters, new election laws that give Mugabe the
power to appoint members to a commission supervising the vote, and the
proliferation of pro-government "militias" as some of the violations of
democratic standards.
"I'm not at all sure about the fairness
of the elections," said a young man in his thirties, who gave his name as
Chimbaira.
"The only excitement for me is the current
infighting in the ruling party. At least they will focus some of their
energy in putting their own house in order instead of beating up opposition
supporters as usual."
Patrick Marufu, a metalworker, said he
has not decided whether to exercise his franchise.
"So
far I am not getting into it very much. I will see how things go. For me my
vote is my voice, I want to do what's in my heart, not be forced to vote for
someone."
Chitungwiza was also the worst-affected area during
violent food riots in 1998 when Zimbabweans went on the rampage to protest
against a 21% increase in the price of cornmeal and a subsequent 30% hike in
the prices of meat and bread.
The ruling party, through
the state media, has been underscoring its role and that of Mugabe in
freeing the Southern African country from colonial shackles, leading to
independence from Britain in 1980.
Meanwhile, MDC chief
Morgan Tsvangirai has voiced confidence that the elections will help end 25
years of "tyranny", adding that Zimbabweans have realised that "neutrality
or fence-sitting helps the tyrant". -- Sapa-AFP
Sun February 6, 2005 12:39 PM GMT+02:00 HARARE
(Reuters) - Zimbabwe's electoral commission says it is ready to conduct
March polls but the country's opposition said on Sunday the body had little
time to prepare and was using old, discredited structures for the
vote.
The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission was set up last month
as part of President Robert Mugabe's government electoral reforms with a
mandate to organise and monitor the vote.
Critics say Mugabe
has failed to deliver on international demands for wide-ranging democratic
electoral reforms, and has compounded the Zimbabwe crisis with a set of
cosmetic measures designed to keep his ZANU-PF party in power.
Commission chairman judge George Chiweshe told the state-owned Sunday Mail
in an interview that the electoral body would use existing structures to
conduct the March 31 elections.
"For us the time is
adequate...there is nothing new about such elections and the argument that
the period given is too short has no basis at all," Chiweshe
said.
The opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) wanted
the poll delayed, saying the commission would not have enough time to
prepare. But the government said it would be illegal to postpone the
vote.
On Sunday MDC spokesman Paul-Themba Nyathi said the
commission was using the "discredited" structures for the elections,
referring to the commission sharing offices and staff with other poll
bodiess.
The MDC says that it was robbed of victory in the 2000
parliamentary elections won by ZANU-PF and the the presidential vote two
years later, won by Mugabe amid charges of vote-rigging and
violence.
Four other bodies are involved in running of
elections.
"They are using structures of discredited institutions
which have failed to run credible elections since independence in 1980,"
Themba-Nyathi told Reuters.
Themba-Nyathi said the commission
could not deal with disputes arising from elections. The MDC wanted the body
to be given powers to punish perpetrators of violence which it says has
tilted previous polls in favour of ZANU-PF.
"What is crucial is
for the people to gain confidence in their electoral body which should be
able to deal with electoral disputes," said Themba-Nyathi.
Mugabe on Saturday accused MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai of seeking financial
support for his party from the West, which he says wants to punish his
government for its land seizures to resettle Blacks.
Mugabe, 81
later this month, says he has won elections fairly and his party will bury
the MDC in next month's polls.
DA to send delegation to Zim 06/02/2005 17:05 -
(SA)
Johannesburg - The Democratic Alliance says it is to send a
delegation to Zimbabwe.
The DA said on Sunday the team would go in
the next few weeks in order to determine whether a free and fair election
were likely in that country next month - and what minimum conditions were
necessary to make it possible.
DA federal chair and spokesperson on
Africa, Joe Seremane, said the decision came after the DA's federal council
passed the resolution on Sunday.
"The federal council notes the
disgraceful treatment meted out to Cosatu by the Mugabe government, which
obviously believes that no insult or injury to South Africans by Zanu-PF
will attract any adverse reaction from the ... government (of President
Thabo Mbeki)," Seremane said.
Seremane said the council also rejected the
statement by Labour Minister Membathisi Mdladlana, which attacked Cosatu and
said Cosatu had not abided by Zimbabwean law.
"In this regard, we
invite the minister to state exactly what law had been breached by a
peaceful visit from South Africa to Zimbabwe for the purpose of meeting and
talking to legal participants in the socio-political life of that
country."
Seremane said the council noted the state of civil society,
manipulation of food supplies, intimidation of the electorate, the
persecution of opposition MPs and thousands of other opposition
supporters.
"The restrictions on the media, the partisan nature of the
electoral commission and the difficulties of campaigning and obtaining a
voters' roll all contribute to our view that a free and fair election in
Zimbabwe at this stage is almost impossible."
Cosatu and the
Zimbabwean Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) met on Thursday in Musina,
Limpopo, to discuss the socio-economic conditions in Zimbabwe and how best
Cosatu could assist.
This was after the 20-strong Cosatu delegation was
prevented from entering Zimbabwe on Wednesday afternoon.
ANC: DA trip 'provocative' 06/02/2005 20:39 -
(SA)
Cape Town - The Democratic Alliance's plan to send a delegation
to Zimbabwe to determine whether next month's elections in that country can
be free and fair, is "highly provocative", says the African National
Congress.
Earlier on Sunday, DA federal chair and spokesperson on Africa,
Joe Seremane, announced a team from his party would leave "in the next few
weeks".
Reacting to the news, ANC spokesperson Smuts Ngonyama told
Sapa such a plan was "meant to cause sensation, and will mar elections in
Zimbabwe".
"I don't know what this sensation is about. Zanu-PF and the
MDC (Movement for Democratic Change) have committed themselves to free and
fair elections.
"The DA must stay away from that situation... they are
not doing any good to our neighbour."
Might be turned
away
Asked if he thought the DA delegation might be turned away if they
tried to enter Zimbabwe, he said: "I wouldn't be shocked if that was the
situation.
"The DA's attitude is highly provocative."
Contacted
for comment, Cosatu spokesperson Patrick Craven told Sapa on Sunday his
organisation had "a very different political outlook to the DA", but it
would nevertheless be interesting to see the response of the Zimbabwean
government to the arrival of a delegation from that party.
Asked whether
he thought the DA might meet a similar reception to the one meted out to his
union - a Cosatu delegation was refused entry to the country last Wednesday
- he said this was difficult to predict.
"It's very difficult to say
because the Zimbabwean government has not told us why Cosatu was not allowed
in," he said.
Headlines
Also contacted for comment, South African
foreign affairs department spokesperson Ronnie Mamoepa said whatever was
done by either government or civil society in terms of Zimbabwe, had to
answer to the question: does it advance or help the people of that
country?
"Or whether it is meant to catch headlines," he said.
By Rowan
Philp and Bonny Schoonakker Last updated: 02/07/2005 02:01:01 ONE of three
men found guilty of spying on Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe's inner
circle for South African intelligence has told his story to The Sunday Times
from inside a Harare prison.
Tendai Matambanadzo, a former bank
executive, said he was paid thousands of US dollars by a South African agent
operating under the false name of Andrew Brown for information including the
names of likely successors to Mugabe and relations with Botswana. He and his
fellow spies face up to 20 years in jail after being convicted of espionage
by a Harare magistrate.
He claimed that "Brown", a South African Secret
Service agent, tricked him into believing he was a private risk-management
consultant - and claimed that none of the information he sold was a state
secret.
The Sunday Times says it has established Brown's true identity,
but has been told by a spokesman for the Department of Intelligence, Lorna
Daniels, that it is illegal to publish the name. Brown, 48, is a father of
three who lives in a suburb east of Pretoria.
Approached at their
townhouse Saturday, Brown's wife acknowledged that he was being held in
Harare. She would only say: "The government is working on
it."
Matambanadzo said that all meetings with Brown were one-on-one -
there was a never a group meeting, as claimed in previous media reports -
and that he met Brown every second month over the next three years, at
hotels such as the Zambezi Sun in Victoria Falls. Brown, he said, was always
dressed in casual slacks and shirt - "never a suit and tie".
The
agent became increasingly frustrated at the lack of "real secrets" as the
meetings went on. Once, in 2002, he said, Brown drove him to his home near
Pretoria where he met his three teenage children.
"He doesn't drink
[alcohol], so I'd have a Coke - I remember we had tea that time," said
Matambanadzo. "We talked about sports, rugby." According to Matambanadzo,
this is how Brown operated: "I'd get a call in Harare like this: 'Hi, it's
Andrew, I'm in Harare. I'm in this room at the Holiday Inn - when can we
meet?' "We'd go into the room. He'd say, 'Okay, last month I asked you to
look at this; what have you got for me?' I'd say, 'Okay, I've prepared a
report on land reform and the economy.' I told him my contacts at the party
were not willing to divulge anything top secret. He would give me the money
- $700 or $800 [US], or R3000 - and I would sign for it." Matambanadzo
alleged further: "Then he would say: 'Can I have 500? Can I have 1000?' He
said he had personal problems with alimony and child support. I would
actually hand money [back] to him."
Matambanadzo and two others, Zanu PF
director of external affairs Itai Marchi and diplomat Godfrey Dzvairo, were
arrested in December after Brown was seized by Zimbabwean intelligence
officers and named them and three others as members of his spy ring. Brown
is now being held at an undisclosed location in Zimbabwe and the Sunday
Times was unable to put Matambanadzo's claims to him.
This week,
Matambanadzo - a wealthy banker who played squash with Harare's elite - was
the picture of a desperate man. Wearing dirty khaki overalls and suffering
from a newly acquired skin disease in Harare Remand Prison, he said: "I
admit I took money from [Brown] and made a big mistake, but I did not steal
any documents and I gave away no state secrets - and I have been denied the
opportunity to defend myself on that basis. For instance, in September last
year, I just gave him an analysis to say I think that [retired General
Solomon] Mujuru is going to win over the [parliamentary Speaker Emmerson]
Mnangagwa camp in the succession to the vice-presidency and [eventually] the
presidency." Matambanadzo alleged that Brown had questioned fellow accused
Marchi almost exclusively on the succession issue and the make-up of rival
"camps" in Zanu PF.
Newly married, Matambanadzo, 42, owns a home in the
exclusive Harare suburb of Chisipite as well as two luxury cars. His younger
brother is Tich Mataz, the former 5fm DJ and presenter of the SABC's Woza
Weekend show.
Matambanadzo said Dzvairo - then a consul-general to South
Africa - had advised him to meet Brown in Johannesburg in 2001 and consider
helping him "as a bit of extra money for me". "He was introduced to us as a
consultant who worked for a company in South Africa which did risk profiles
of countries in the region," he said.
Daniels, the Intelligence
spokesman, said the department "would not comment" on Matambanadzo's claims
or Brown's status. However, Riaan Labuschagne, a former intelligence officer
who had a Zimbabwe spying job similar to Brown's in the 1980s, said he
recognised "a classic false-flag operation" from Matambanadzo's account.
However, he "seriously doubted" that Matambanadzo did not know he was
involved in spying.
This week, Matambanadzo admitted that the meetings -
if not the information itself - had been secret. Asked if he had known what
he was doing was wrong, he replied: "Not really; no." Matambanadzo said he
had signed a confession after 11 days in detention in which he admitted
giving Brown information. "But there were never any allegations that we
stole documents. We broke no law," he said. Selby Hwacha, the attorney
representing the three accused, said nothing in their confessions involved a
state secret or a stolen document, and therefore "no offence was committed".
Mataz said it was "awful" to see his brother manacled during his visits. "I
hope the judiciary will be lenient," he said - Sunday Times
Zimbabwe opposition blasts
20-fold hike in election fees
By Independent Foreign
Service
Yesterday Zimbabwe's main opposition party accused President
Robert Mugabe's government of trying to subvert democracy through a 20-fold
increase in the deposit fees for candidates contesting the March 31
parliamentary polls. "This is a clear attempt to use money to prevent
democracy," the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) secretary-general
Welshman Ncube told AFP. The government late Friday issued a notice hiking
the registration fee for a candidate from 100 000 Zimbabwean dollars to two
million dollars. Furthermore, candidates wishing to obtain a copy of the
voters' roll will now have to pay one million dollars against 200 000
dollars earlier. The steep hike came 24 hours after the MDC, which had
earlier threatened to boycott the elections, said it was contesting with "a
heavy heart" despite a very flawed playing field. Ncube also indirectly
accused the government of trying to fudge the voters' rolls. "It seems the
government is trying to hide something because political parties that cannot
afford these exorbitant fees will not be able to access the voters' rolls,"
he said.
Ncube said the MDC would need to raise 260 million dollars
by March 8 to be able to contest in all the 120 constituencies. Under
Zimbabwean law, political parties cannot receive foreign funding. The
government accuses the MDC of receiving money from overseas but the party
denies the allegation. The MDC received 300 million dollars from the
government under a law on funding political parties, Ncube said, stressing
that the going was much tougher for smaller opposition parties who got less
money. "Imagine how much more difficult it is for the smaller parties," he
said. Meanwhile, at least 800 000 deceased Zimbabweans are still on the
country's voters' roll, which was closed for inspection on Friday, and the
Mugabe regime has made no effort to correct it, says an audit by a
Zimbabwean non-government organisation. Although the figure is markedly
lower than the 2.4 million previously regarded as being ghost voters, it
still presented a perfect opportunity for fraud in the March 31
parliamentary elections, Zimbabwean electoral organisations
said.
FreeZim, a non-government organisation involved in electoral
issues, said that although nearly half of Zimbabwe's 5.6 million voters were
not necessarily "ghost" voters, it insisted that they remained suspect in
several respects. Up to 300 000 names of voters are duplicated over and over
in different constituencies, while another 900 000 people listed as eligible
voters are either not known or do not live at the addresses under which
their names appear. In the Harare North constituency, 50% of the voters
registered do not live at the addresses under which their names appear.
Under Zimbabwe's constituency-based parliamentary system, voters have to
prove that they reside in a constituency before they can be registered. Once
registered, they cannot vote in any other constituency. FreeZim contends
that these major anomalies present major opportunities for fraud. It has
submitted its report to the newly launched Zimbabwe Electoral Commission
headed by pro-Mugabe High Court judge George Chiweshe. But Chiweshe's
commission, which was only appointed last month and still does not have
offices, staff or telephones, does not have the capacity to investigate the
complaints.
Reginald Matchaba-Hove, chairman of another
independent election NGO, the Zimbabwe Election Support Network (ZESN), said
the solution would be a new computerised roll with all the necessary links
to regularly update it. But the government did not seem eager to accept
offers to help upgrade the role. Matchaba-Hove said: "We need a
professionally computerised voters' roll which is linked to all the systems
in the Registrar- General's office. If somebody dies, the death certificate
does not speak to the voters' roll and that is a problem. We need a system
whereby as soon as my death certificate is issued, my name gets
automatically deleted." Matchaba-Hove said there was simply no time to
correct anomalies, which is why the ZESN had been calling for a postponement
of the election until June. Mugabe snubbed all such calls and set the
election date for March 31.
In yet another twist to
Information Minister Jonathan Moyo's political script, lightweight
opposition party Zanu, formerly known as Ndonga, is claiming that the
spin-doctor cut his political teeth with their party in the 1970s and they
were now working towards wooing him back. The party's Information and
Publicity Secretary, Reketayi Semwayo, told The Sunday Mirror last week that
their attempts so far to meet Moyo - whose future in Zanu PF and in
government is hanging in a balance - have hit a brick wall. "We have been
trying to meet him but we are being told that he is not in office and has
not been coming to work. The last time we contacted his office, we were
given his mobile phone number and when we tried to phone him several times,
he was not responding," Semwayo said. Asked why they had not tried to woo
him back earlier on since he left the party before independence in 1980,
Semwayo said they had realised now that Moyo would be more at home within
Zanu where they understood him better. "At the moment, we are trying to
renew our relationship with him because we have discovered that it is only
within our party that he can work because Zanu PF is failing to understand
him. We are saying to him, come back to your roots," said
Semwayo.
Prior to joining Zanu PF ahead of the watershed 2000
parliamentary polls, Moyo, according to sources, had never been Zanu PF. In
his CV submitted to the Zanu PF Elections Directorate that was to consider
his suitability for standing on the party's ticket in Tsholotsho, Moyo made
a slight reference to his connections with the founder of Zanu Ndonga. "I
was raised by my mother who was separated from my father from my birth, and
who was very close in the early sixties and mid seventies to the family of
the late Reverend (Ndabaningi) Sithole who was at the time the president of
Zanu," Moyo wrote in his CV. Moyo, who was reportedly conscripted into the
guerrilla movement as the liberation war of the 1970s gathered momentum,
left for Zambia in 1973 and later emerged at Mgagao training camp in
Tanzania in 1976 before leaving for the University of California in 1978.
His travels, according to sources, where through the assistance of the late
Sithole, who broke away from the then Zanu after a misunderstanding with the
rest of the leadership. Sources also allege that Moyo was the late Sithole's
personal assistant during the infamous internal settlement deal that saw the
emergence of the short-lived Zimbabwe-Rhodesia.
Moyo's CV - which
left out his role in this deal - was described by Zanu PF National Chairman,
John Nkomo, as "a pack of lies" that "no one can take seriously". "It (the
CV) clearly shows that the man was at pains trying to doctor his profile to
meet the criteria set out by the party," Nkomo said. Although Moyo
highlighted in his CV that he had "not known any other politics and as a
matter of fact... never been part of or associated with any opposition party
in post independent Zimbabwe," neither had he been Zanu PF. Moyo remained
anti-Zanu PF during his tenure as lecturer at the University of Zimbabwe
(UZ) during which time he penned a chain of vitriolic, articulate and
incisive articles lashing out at the government in several independent
magazines. He went as far as describing President Mugabe as a man with "an
uncanny propensity to shoot himself in the foot (and) has become a national
problem which needs containment". Semwayo - who will stand in Chipinge North
in the March polls - however said the ball was in Moyo's court to decide
whether or not he will return to the party. He said. "We cannot make a
judgment for him. It is up to him to return."