Zimbabwe general's death shrouded in suspicion

By ANGUS SHAW, Associated Press – 5 hours ago

HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) — Testimony before an inquest into a Zimbabwean power
broker's fiery death ended Monday, leaving the last hours of Gen. Solomon
Mujuru's life shrouded in suspicion he was murdered by political rivals.

After three weeks of hearings that have been closely followed in Zimbabwe,
Magistrate Walter Chikwanha said Monday that he rejected a request by
Mujuru's wife, who is the country's vice president and has attended several
inquest sessions, to exhume the general's remains for independent forensic
tests. Mujuru, 66, was burned beyond recognition in a house fire last year.

The former guerrilla leader and army commander used his influence and wealth
from a business empire to support his wife against rival factions in
President Robert Mugabe's party.

Magistrate Chikwanha did not say when he would report his conclusions after
hearing evidence from 37 witnesses. He can rule the death was accidental or
criminal, and in the latter case an investigation would be opened. Chikwanha
could also declare an "open verdict," effectively saying he was unable to
reach any conclusion.

Attorneys acting for Mujuru's family had questioned an autopsy by Cuban
pathologist Gabriel Alvero, saying he had been in the country for only seven
weeks and had a poor command of English.

In a translation of his testimony, Alvero said Mujuru appeared to have died
from inhaling smoke. He said he examined the remains of charred limbs and
said his findings were inconclusive "considering the state of the body."

Senior South African pathologists said samples of the remains and ashes from
the house tested in South Africa showed no sign that explosives or flammable
liquids were used to ignite it and create the intense heat that virtually
cremated Mujuru. But the samples were sent in plastic bags, not in airtight
metal boxes or zippered oven bags as required. The samples could have been
compromised, they said.

Mujuru was buried at a state funeral four days after the fire. For the first
time at a state funeral, the coffin remained sealed. A record 50,000
mourners attended the popular general's funeral, but few of his supporters
no prominent politicians from Mugabe's party attended inquest hearings.

In his last hours, Mujuru stopped at the Beatrice Hotel, 60 kilometers (35
miles) southwest of Harare, drank two double whiskies with soda and chatted
with patrons who described him as sober and typically affable. Widely known
as a heavy drinker, the burly general, who routinely carried a pistol, told
them he was having an early night before a long journey early the next day
to visit diamond interests he owned in southern Zimbabwe.

A maid at the farm and a private security guard said they heard gun shots
two hours before flames were seen at his farmhouse. Maid Rosemary Shoti said
Mujuru left groceries and his cell phone in his car, something he had never
done before.

Other testimony showed the general took 40 minutes to drive from the hotel
to his farm, a journey of 10 minutes. No witnesses confirmed he took any
detour or made stops along the way.

Witnesses also testified they saw what struck them as strangely colored
flames rising from the general's remains and said that while the carpet
beneath him was burned through to the floor the carpeting around him was
mostly intact.

Vice President Joice Mujuru, in a written statement to the inquest Monday,
described the response by fire fighters at the general's farmhouse as
"totally ineffective."

The fire department told the court earlier the tanks of all its fire trucks
leaked water. Emergency services have suffered severe shortages of equipment
and spare parts in the nation's decade-long economic crisis.

Police in a VIP protection unit guarding the farm said their radio was
broken, they had no airtime in their cell phones and the nearby Beatrice
police station had no vehicle to reach the scene.

Mujuru lawyer blasted by coroner

http://www.newzimbabwe.com

06/02/2012 00:00:00
    by Phyllis Mbanje

THE coroner overseeing the inquest into former army commander Rtd General
Solomon Mujuru’s death launched an astonishing attack on his family’s lawyer
on Monday as the 13-day hearing ended.

Harare Magistrate Charles Chikwanha accused lawyer Thakor Kewada of
“violating” the Inquest Act with an application made last week for Mujuru’s
body to be exhumed, arguing that the post mortem was bungled by a
pathologist.

General Mujuru, a powerful figure in Zanu PF and husband of Vice President
Joice Mujuru, died in a mysterious fire at his Ruzambo Farm in Beatrice in
the early house of August 16 last year.

Police and forensic experts who testified during the inquest said they could
not establish the source of the fire, and a pathologist who took the stand
last week admitted the equipment provided to him to carry out a post-mortem
fell before professional standards.

Dr Alviero Gonzalez’s testimony prompted the Mujuru family lawyer to seek
his exhumation from the Heroes’ Acre where he was buried on August 20.

To a stunned courtroom, coroner Chikwanha began: "After I carefully looked
over the request by Mr Kewada on behalf of the Mujuru family to grant
exhumation of the body of the late general, I will not grant it for the
following reasons.
"Firstly, for Mr Kewada to conclude that Dr Alviero [Gonzalez] had not
carried out a proper job it is highly inappropriate.

"I have reservations on such comments and according to certain sections
within the Inquest Act, Mr Kewada cannot address the magistrate over facts
provided by witnesses, he is not qualified for that.”

The coroner said the duty of lawyers was to simply assist the court in
asking relevant questions, and that it was not their role to then make
judgement on the evidence heard in court.

"Secondly, even if one is to assume that the law allows it, the opinion that
the post mortem was not carried properly would be misplaced because I have
not yet gone through all the facts from witnesses including Dr Alviero's
evidence," the coroner added.

"It is only after the court has analysed all evidence before me to make
conclusions on how the deceased met his death. The court should be accorded
time to analyse and then make recommendations to the AG's office.”
Chikwanha said the AG's office was the one mandated to act on the
recommendations to be made by the court.

"It is not the court's duty to grant or not to grant exhumation of the body,
we will then be acting outside the Inquest Act,” Chikwanha continued.

"I will therefore dismiss the application and this brings an end and closure
of the enquiry."

Outside court, Kewada, seemed unfazed by the harsh comments from the
coroner, telling reporters that he “sort of expected it and was therefore
not crashed by it”.

"I'm just glad we exposed a fair amount of facts like the possible
contamination of samples, the pathologist performing a post mortem without
the required equipment,” he said.

"We've played our part and made our point. We now wait for the ruling and
believe me we will study it and then take it from there," he said, adding
that he was not sure how long the coroner would take before publishing his
findings.
The late general’s brother, Joel Mujuru, said the magistrate had done his
duty.

In a carefully-worded statement following headline-grabbing outbursts made
during the course of the hearings, he said: "The magistrate was not biased,
he did what had to be done.

“As a family, it is a question of being satisfied or not. If we are
satisfied we will say, if we are not satisfied we will again come out and
say."

Vice President Joice Mujuru, the late general’s widow, was the 39th and last
witness to testify. As expected, she did not take the stand but entered a
sworn affidavit.

Tsvangirai ‘shocked’ at Nyikayaramba’s promotion

http://www.swradioafrica.com/

By Tichaona Sibanda
6 February 2012

Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai has revealed that the promotion of
Brigadier-general Douglas Nyikayaramba to Major-General left him ‘shocked
and saddened.’

In June last year, Nyikayaramba, then a 3 Brigade commander in Mutare before
his latest promotion, made headline news when he described Tsvangirai as a
national security threat.

He told the state controlled Herald that: “Tsvangirai doesn’t pose political
threat in any way in Zimbabwe, but is a major security threat.”

The controversial comments by Nyikayaramba came after Tsvangirai had urged
army generals to resign and run for political office instead of making
intimidating statements.

Last week, the Prime Minister wrote a letter to Robert Mugabe, at which he
sought to reflect on the state of the inclusive government, particularly in
the last year.

The memorandum, dated 2 February 2012 and which has been leaked to the state
media, raises a number of critical issues that Tsvangirai needs the
principals to address. SW Radio Africa is reliably informed that the Prime
Minister raised most of the issues contained in the letter with Mugabe
during their first principals meeting of 2012 on Monday.

“The agenda of the meeting was basically to discuss issues raised in that
letter, which was unfortunately leaked to the state media by Mugabe’s
officials,” an aide to the Prime Minister said.

The MDC President, who is currently using crutches after he sprained one of
his ankles during a recent round of golf, took Mugabe to task over security
sector reforms.

This is evident in the letter to Mugabe last week regarding the appointment
and promotion of service chiefs and other security personnel. Tsvangirai
reminded Mugabe that the amended constitution requires that all appointments
have to be done in consultation with the Prime Minister.

There was speculation over the weekend that Mugabe was to re-appoint
Augustine Chihuri as Commissioner-General after his contract expired on 31st
January. Despite media reports to the contrary, Chihuri has not yet been
reappointed although this is expected soon.

Meanwhile, it is the promotion of Nyikayaramba following his verbal outburst
against Tsvangirai that has appeared to irk the Premier most.

His letter to Mugabe reads in part: “It was with a sense of shock and
profound sadness that I learnt through the press in December that you had
promoted Brigadier-general Nyikayaramba to the rank of Major General, barely
six months after he had committed what can be at very least described as a
serious act of misconduct.”

He added: “The impression that his promotion creates in the minds of the
public is that not only do you condone the statements that he made in June
2011, but that you have also rewarded him for making them. This inevitably
undermines the inclusive government.”

South African based political analyst Mutsa Murenje told SW Radio Africa
that the Prime Minister is justified to seek answers from Mugabe’s
unilateral actions though he remains powerless to stop him.

“Constitutionally, the Prime Minister’s work in the unity government is
greatly impeded by a system that gives Mugabe too many powers even in a
transitional government,” Murenje said.

See

Mugabe, PM in showdown

http://www.thezimbabwemail.com/

MOSES MATENGA 10 hours 42 minutes ago

President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai are today
expected to hold an explosive meeting amid reports the Premier was seething
with anger over leakages of confidential communication between them.

This follows the leakage and subsequent publication of a confidential letter
by Tsvangirai to President Mugabe and Deputy Prime Minister Arthur
Mutambara.

The letter was published by the State-controlled Sunday Mail yesterday.

The meeting will be the first between the two protagonists this year, and is
expected to deal with the leakages of confidential exchanges between the
inclusive government principals, appointments of service chiefs, and
reforming the security sector, among other contentious issues.

President Mugabe last week reportedly cancelled the National Security
Council meeting after Tsvangirai did not turn up, protesting the composition
of attendees.

Both Presidential spokesperson George Charamba and the Premiers spokesperson
Luke Tamborinyoka confirmed todays meeting.

Charamba said: I dont know whether it will go ahead or not because last week
the Prime Minister was not feeling well, and that is why he did not attend
Cabinet. Its a routine meeting so if he is available it can go ahead.

Tamborinyoka said his boss was available for the meeting, and it would go
ahead. He also confirmed the leaked letter was authentic.

The principals are meeting tomorrow (today). Its a crunch meeting, because a
lot of things have happened in between.

The discussion behind the leakages of confidential communications between
the principals is a major cause for concern and will come up for discussion,
said Tamborinyoka.

Tsvangirai, in his letter to President Mugabe, said the agenda for todays
meeting should include: sanctions and measures, disruption of the PMs
government programmes, arrest of MDC-T ministers, appointment and promotion
of service chiefs and other security personnel, including that of
Brigadier-General Douglas Nyikayaramba, media reforms and electoral reforms,
among other issues.

The issue of Police Commissioner-General Augustine Chihuris employment
status could also be discussed. Chihuris term of office expired last month
while Zimbabwe Defence Forces Commander General Constantine Chiwengas term
ends this month.

In the letter, Tsvangirai complained his government programmes were being
disrupted by public officials, including the police. He also accused Zanu PF
officials of sabotaging most of his projects, including supervision of
programmes such as Marange diamond mining.

Tsvangirai was last year barred from touring Chiadzwa diamond fields for a
first-hand view of the goings-on at the site. Last October, police in
Matabeleland North barred Tsvangirai from touring St Pauls Mission Hospital
in Lupane and addressing a campaign rally in Victoria Falls.

This happens nowhere in the world where a Prime Minister is treated like a
common criminal. May I implore you to instruct the police to respect members
of the Executive in the discharge of their duties, Tsvangirai wrote.

In most cases the delegations of the Head of State would send emissaries to
my office when my office is not briefed. I believe this matter needs to be
regularised to avoid embarrassing our country.

This was in apparent reference to the recent visit by Equatorial Guinean
President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo and Malawis Bingu wa Mutharika.

The two recently visited President Mugabe and Tsvangirai claims he was not
consulted on both occasions.

My party and MDC-N agreed that there is need for ZEC (Zimbabwe Electoral
Commision) to instill confidence in contesting political parties and the
generality of the people of Zimbabwe by ensuring that the staffs who work
for them are considered and viewed to be non-partisan.

My partys view is that considering that over the years the institution has
been staffed by both serving and retired security personnel whose leaders
have publicly declared their allegiance to your party, it is important that
ZEC, because of the new order, is seen to act on this, he said - NewsDay

Coalition on the brink: PM’s strong letter to Robert Mugabe

Zim power woes deepen as Mozambique threatens cut off

http://www.swradioafrica.com/

By Alex Bell
06 February 2012

Mozambique has threatened to cut off its power supplies to Zimbabwe, over
the country’s multimillion dollar debt to its neighbour, which could leave
Zimbabwe facing even more power problems.

Mozambique’s Hydro Cahora Basa power plant supplies Zimbabwe with about 500
megawatts to cover shortfalls, with the national Zimbabwe Electricity Supply
Authority (ZESA) battling to generate the growing demand of between 1900 and
2200 megawatts of power. ZESA is said to be generating only up to 1200
megawatts currently and has been importing power from neighbouring
Mozambique and from the DRC to cover the shortfall.

But the national power supplier has been unable to pay its debts and it has
since been reported that Mozambique was threatening to cut off its supplies.
ZESA spokesman Fullard Gwasira, who was quoted by CAJ news, said demand for
power was increasing and they were in the process of finding ways of
boosting power generation.

“ZESA Holdings, through its subsidiary companies the Zimbabwe Power Company
and the Zimbabwe Electricity Transmission and Distribution Company, are
pursuing various projects and measures to boost the electricity supply
situation in Zimbabwe to achieve security of power supply,” he said.

The country has been battling intermittent power supply for years, with ZESA
being just one of many national services that have all but collapsed after
years of mismanagement under the Mugabe regime.

Defiant Zambian Embassy Ends Diplomatic Tiff With Econet

http://www.radiovop.com

Harare, February 06, 2012- The Zambian embassy has disregarded a government
backing shielding it from settling its debt with Econet Wireless for
telecommunication services provided three years ago.

Lawyers representing the Zambian embassy have now written to Econet’s
lawyers Mtetwa and Nyambirai Legal Practitioners offering to settle the debt
which had stirred a wrangle among the two parties including the government
which stood accused of aiding and abetting foreign governments to disregard
court judgments.

“At the time you obtained judgment against our client, the capital owed had
been reduced from US$4 63.33 to US$2 944.88 through payments made directly
to your client. Could you kindly confirm with your client so that our client
settles the US$2 944.88 together with interest and your costs,” the embassy’s
lawyer Stephen Chibune of Chibune and Associates Legal Practitioners wrote
in a letter to Econet’s lawyers.

The government, through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had shielded the
Zambian embassy from litigation by warning Econet that the Zambian embassy
is protected by diplomatic immunity, which forbids the seizure of the
embassy’s assets. This was after Econet started processes to attach the
embassy’s property to recover $6 597.10 which the diplomatic mission was
ordered to pay by the high court.

By agreeing to settle the debt the Zambian embassy ends a wrangle which had
turned ugly after the mobile services provider accused the Zambian embassy
of breaching diplomatic protocol.

Econet still has to recover some debt from the Angolan embassy. The mobile
phone services provider had to resort to litigation to recover debts from
prominent citizens such as Chiefs’ Council president, Fortune Charumbira and
top Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe official Millicent Mombeshora.

Foreign Papers Defy Govt Ban

http://www.radiovop.com

Harare, February 06, 2012 - South Africa’s leading weekly newspaper, the
Sunday Times, has defied the government ban on foreign newspapers not
registered with the Zimbabwe Media Commission (ZMC) from circulating in the
country.

The Avusa-owned publication which publishes the Zimbabwe edition of the
Sunday Times hit the streets on Sunday despite the government's threat,
leading with the story on the proposed ban.

There are fears that following announcement of the threat, there would be a
police swoop on vendors selling the paper and other foreign papers not
registered with the ZMC.

There is speculation from critics that President Robert Mugabe’s Zanu (PF)
is wary of foreign papers which are thought to be hard-hitting on his
unilateralism in the coalition government ahead of the next polls this year
or 2013.

Sources also fear that the ban of foreign papers, among them the Mail and
Guardian, could be followed by the arrested of journalists moonlighting for
the targeted foreign papers. Other foreign papers that are circulating in
Zimbabwe include a number from the United Kingdom.

In a statement ZMC chairman, Godfrey Majonga, said the statutory body had
informed the Zimbabwe Republic Police to bar the newspapers from entering
the country’s borders.

He said the ZMC had written to all foreign papers circulating in the country
advising them to register with his commission but the order fell on deaf
eyes.  The ban is likely to affect South Africa’s Sunday Times, the Mail and
Guardian and plethora of other foreign papers from the United Kingdom
circulating in Zimbabwe. But it was business as usual on Sunday and Monday
as newspaper vendors brandished the papers in the streets.

Majonga claimed that persons affected by the newsgathering and the stories
appearing in the said papers had been coming to the commission seeking
redress or information but neither the publications nor their journalists
appeared in their registers.

Webster Shamu, the minister of Media, Information and Publicity, has been in
the fore-front of threatening to bar the Sunday Times and other South
African papers from circulating in Zimbabwe.

The foreign papers are understood to have been giving the state-controlled
papers especially The Sunday Mail, a run for their money.

The Media Institute of Southern Africa Zimbabwe and the Media Monitoring
Project of Zimbabwe have roundly condemned the ban on foreign papers.

Bulawayo police use Mugabe’s birthday to ban MDC-T workshop

http://www.swradioafrica.com/

By Tererai Karimakwenda
06 February 2012

Police in Bulawayo are reportedly refusing to grant the MDC-T permission to
hold a workshop next weekend, saying that the nation will be preparing for
Robert Mugabe’s birthday, which is the week after.

SW Radio Africa correspondent Lionel Saungweme said the party has organized
a capacity building workshop, to educate their members about the various
roles played by officers in their structures.

The workshop is scheduled for Saturday, February 11 and Mugabe’s birthday
falls on February 21, ten days later. But police have informed the MDC-T
that the date “clashes” with celebrations for Mugabe’s birthday and they do
not have enough manpower.

“In fact if you look at POSA it says organizations should notify. So the
police have no right to deny them,” Saungweme said. The Public Order and
Security Act Saungweme referred to does not require organizations to seek
permission from the police. They are simply required to notify them.

But police have been abusing the law, disrupting public and private events
organized by anyone considered an “enemy of the state” and making arrests.
The MDC-T have been targeted the most by the police. Several rallies were
banned at the very last minute and organizers were harassed.

Saungweme said the MDC-T organizers have not given up on holding their
workshop at the weekend. After being denied by police at Southampton,
Bulawayo, they approached other police stations in the area with the same
results.

“It appears that an order has been given verbally there will be no
 workshop,” our correspondent said. According to Saungweme, the organizers
have vowed to continue with plans for the workshop as it is not being held
on the same weekend as Mugabe’s birthday. He said the organizers plan to go
back to the police and “keep pressing ahead”.

More Zim diamonds set for auction

http://www.swradioafrica.com

By Alex Bell
06 February 2012

More diamonds from the controversial Chiadzwa diamond fields are set to be
auctioned this week, with mounting pressure on the government to put
diamonds profits to good use.

About 1.5 million carats worth will be sold from both the Chinese owned
Anjin mining firm and as well as the Diamond Mining Corporation (DMC) and
the joint venture Mbada and Marange Resources firms. The diamonds are
reported to be worth and estimated US$64 million.

This will be the second auction since the international diamond trade
watchdog group, the Kimberley Process (KP) last year approved the export of
Chiadzwa diamonds. This decision followed a two year deadlock on allowing
Zimbabwe back into international trade circles because of human rights
concerns.

These concerns have not diminished, but this did not stop the KP from giving
the sales the green light. Two KP monitors last month verified that mining
operations were compliant with minimum standards, allowing this second
auction to get underway this week.

Zimbabwe’s Finance Ministry is hoping to realise about US$600 million from
diamond sales this year, and the Finance Minister has pinned national
spending on diamond successes. Everything from infrastructure development,
civil servants salaries, new elections and more are said to be riding on
expected diamonds revenues

But there is still no clarity on when and how the revenues will make its way
into national coffers, after the Finance Minister last year revealed that
about US$100 million in diamond profits had not been accounted for. Civil
society groups concerned with the situation have called for an audit into
recent diamond sales, but so far, nothing has been done.

Education Minister faces parliament over student grants

http://www.swradioafrica.com

By Tererai Karimakwenda
06 February 2012

The minister of higher education, Stan Mudenge, on Monday appeared in front
of the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Education, after university
students pressured legislators to make him account for his failure to
release student grants and loans.

Mudenge has released no funds for student grants even though the last two
budgets had funds allocated for that purpose. According to the Zimbabwe
National Students Union (ZINASU), many students were failing to pay their
tuition fees and were “desperate”.

ZINASU secretary general Tryvine Musokeri, who was at the hearing, said they
were not happy because the committee asked Mudenge “silly questions” and
students were only allowed to ask two questions.

Musokeri told SW Radio Africa that the education minister maintained his
position that the ministry is underfunded and there is no money for grants
and loans. He said Mudenge became “too emotional” when quizzed by the
students and the committee chairman.

“He told us he owes money to several other institutions and had to allocate
grant money to the cadetship scheme, which is not true because even students
on cadetships at institutions around the country are yet to be catered for,”
Musokeri explained.

The education minister was also asked to account for several other issues
students are faced with, including the victimization of student leaders on
campus. ZINASU says prospective candidates for leadership are not being
allowed to campaign on campus and several have been suspended.

“Seven prospective candidates were suspended during SRC elections last year,
including the current ZINASU president Clyde Mukono and myself when I was
still the Midlands State University president,” Musokeri explained. He added
that they were accused of distributing ZINASU t-shirts.

“We will have no choice but to hit the streets at all universities,” the
student leader insisted.

Police Blamed For Rise In Stock Thefts

http://www.radiovop.com

By Vusisizwe Mkhwananzi Gwanda, February 06, 20102 - Farmers in Matabeleland
South province have blamed the Zimbabwe Republic Police for the increase in
stock thefts saying the force is failing to effectively respond to reports
due to its depleted fleet amid revelations that 60 cattle are stolen every
month.

The police reportedly demand fuel from complainants who want their livestock
tracked down, while in some instances they have ordered those affected to
bring their suspects.

“The police are not doing enough to curb cattle rustling; we are now being
forced to dig deep into our pockets to help police track down cattle
rustlers. At one time I went to Guyu to make a report and was told to bring
suspects up to now seven of my cattle are still missing,” said Lerato Moyo
of Ntepe.

Matabeleland South Police Spokesman Inspector Tafanana Dzirutwe conceded
there was a shortage of vehicles but said this has not stopped them from
doing their work.

“The shortage of vehicles is not a problem for Mat South alone; it is a
nationwide problem,” he said.

The police have also come under fire for overseeing auctions for branded
stray cattle without bothering to track down the owners.

In 2011 of the 1 273 cattle that were reported stolen only 600 were
recovered while 60 cattle rustlers were convicted out of the 266 that were
arrested.

Power bills weigh down Sable

http://www.dailynews.co.zw

By Roadwin Chirara, Business Writer
Monday, 06 February 2012 13:36

HARARE - Sable Chemical Industries (Sable) says its power supply has been
restored after the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (Zesa) had
disconnected it over a $45 million bill.

Sable, the country’s sole ammonium nitrate fertiliser manufacturer has
struggled to settle its power bills with Zesa citing an unviable tariff.

Gavin Sainsbury, TA Holdings Ltd (TA) chief executive, a 51 percent
shareholder in Sable said disconnection of power suppliers to the
Kwekwe-based company had resulted in the suspension of production.

“Power has been restored to the plant but at a capped amount. Disconnection
of power means that production of ammonia, the feedstock of fertiliser, is
curtailed completely,” Sainsbury said.

He however, said despite resumption of activity at the company, it continued
to be dogged by power cuts.

“It is best to ask Sable what the capacity is at present, but past capacity
has been affected by load shedding,” the TA boss said.

He said the company was currently engaged in negotiation with Zesa over a
new tariff but any planned increases would affect Sable’s viability.

“A power tariff agreement was reached for 2011. The tariff for 2012 is
currently under discussion and is yet to be concluded. Any increases in
tariffs will have negative effects on viability,” said Sainsbury.

He said the company’s product remained competitively priced but was engaging
government over the influx of cheap imports from Asia.

“Sable produces nitrogenous fertilisers which are an international
commodity. Sable’s prices are competitive on an import parity basis. In
addition there is a well-publicised shortage of Nitrogen (AN) in Zimbabwe at
the current time,” the TA chief executive said.

“Discussions are on-going with the relevant authorities to find a solution
to this problem,” he said.

Sable requires 115 MW of power to operate its 14-unit electrolysis plant
which breaks water into hydrogen, the key ingredient.

The hydrogen is then reacted with nitrogen in an ammonia synthesis plant to
produce ammonia.

Part of the ammonia is piped to a nitric acid plant to generate nitric acid,
which is reacted with ammonia in an ammonium nitrate plant to produce liquid
ammonium nitrate.

At full capacity Sable produces 240 000 tonnes of nitrogenous fertiliser.

TA is currently pursuing a gasification project for Sable which will result
in the company cutting its electricity consumption to 30 MW.

The projected is expected to cost over $200 million and will result in the
total shut down of its electrolysis plant.

Zesa charges Sable $4,5c per kilowatt-hour (kwh) while the company wants its
reduced to $3c per kwh to remain viable.

The power utility has already announced plans to review upwards all supply
contract tariffs for the year, a position that has been condemned by the
Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries.

Harare needs 1.4 billion for new source water system

http://www.swradioafrica.com/

By David Chidende

With typhoid cases continuing to pop up in the capital city, Harare
municipality needs at least US$1, 4 to build new sources of water supply, an
official has said.

Harare town clerk Dr Tendai Mahachi said Harare Metropolitan province need
about 1.200 mega litres of water to cater on daily basis to cater for
residents.
He added that the City Council is only pumping 630 mega litres of water a
day which is far short of the required litters.
“At the rate of which Harare is expanding we are likely to face a critical
water problem in the next three years if no new water sources are built,” Dr
Mahachi said.
The town clerk also added that the water reticulation and sewerage system
was designed to cater for 250 000 residents, but since then nothing has been
done to cater for the evergrowing population.
Dr Mahachi said that the only solution is to build new dams such as Kunzvi
and Musanhi and US$1.4 billion is needed for such projects to be completed
and also a new partner is needed for such projects to be successful.
Harare has been facing perennial water problems for a very long time since
no infrastructural developments have been carried out to upgrade water
reticulation and sewerage systems and this also applies to other satellite
towns.
The water system for Harare was built in 1956 and since then nothing has
been done. The typhoid epidemic that hit the capital in October last year
saw at least 1500 being diagnosed forcing the City of Harare to ration water
supplies in low density suburbs and divert it to the high density suburbs.
Stakeholders said that there is need for government to ensure that money is
available to refurbish the water, sanitation and sewage infrastructure as a
matter of urgency in order to arrest the outbreak of water borne diseases
such as cholera and typhoid which have been a common occurrence in the past
five years.

Zimbabwe PM injured in golf accident

http://www.africareview.com

By KITSEPILE NYATHI in Harare
Posted Monday, February 6  2012 at  08:23

Zimbabwe Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai has not been attending important
government meetings after he broke his ankle while playing golf, it was
reported on Sunday.

A meeting between Mr Tsvangirai and President Robert Mugabe to discuss the
tenure of police Commissioner-General Augustine Chihuri was cancelled on
Friday because the PM was “not feeling well.”
He also failed to attend the first cabinet meeting in more than two months
last week.

Zimbabwe’s Cabinet not been meeting because President Mugabe was on leave.

Local media had predicted a serious confrontation between the two rivals at
the Friday meeting of Friday’s National Security Council (NSC).

Mr Tsvangirai wanted the meeting to discuss the police chief’s
re-appointment after his term expired last month but President Mugabe’s camp
insisted the veteran ruler was not obliged to consult his coalition partners
before making such appointments.

Elections

The Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office Mr Jameson Timba told
the privately owned Daily Newson Sunday that Mr Tsvangirai was still nursing
any injury.

“The meeting did not take place because the Prime Minister was not feeling
well. He has a broken ankle. This means the next meeting will take place in
March,” he said.
Last week, the PM’s office cancelled a workshop for government ministers to
discuss their plans for 2012 saying the postponement was meant to allow Mr
Tsvangirai to attend the NSC meeting.
State media claimed the workshop had been stopped because President Mugabe
who had just returned from leave was not properly consulted.

There are mounting reports of divisions in the inclusive government formed
in 2009.

Zanu-PF supporters promised gold

http://www.eyewitnessnews.co.za/

2 Hour(s) Ago

Press reports from Zimbabwe on Monday said the Defence Minister's wife
promised shares of a gold to supporters if they vote Zanu-PF in the upcoming
elections.

Auxilia Mnangagwa allegedly made the offer near a new lucrative gold deposit
in Kwekwe.

She is the wife of defence minister Emmerson Mnangagwa, who is believed to
have huge mining interests himself.

He is also seen as a front runner in the battle to succeed President Robert
Mugabe, even though he denied the claims.

News Day said  Mnangagwa made the promise at a Zanu PF rally.

Earlier, a court ruled in favour of a former Zanu-PF officials who claims to
own the Kwekwe field.

Ex-ZIFA boss freed on bail in match-fixing scandal

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com

Monday February 6, 2012 12:41 PM

HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) -A former chief executive of the Zimbabwean football
federation will stand trial later this month on charges of fraud, bribery
and corruption related to a match-fixing scandal involving the national
team.

Henrietta Rushwaya was freed on $500 bail on Monday. She was ordered to
reappear in a Zimbabwean court on Feb. 20.

Rushwaya is accused of working with an Asian betting syndicate to organize
several fixed matches involving the Zimbabwe national team in Asia between
2007 and 2009. She denies the allegations.

The scandal has resulted in the suspension of more than 80 players by the
Zimbabwean FA.

ZIFA boss Jonathan Mashingaidze told The Associated Press that the national
team is being "rebuilt'' ahead of an upcoming match against Burundi.

Transcript of Welshman Ncube on Question Time Part 2

http://www.swradioafrica.com/

 

 

Posted by Lance Guma on Monday, February 6, 2012

Lance Guma talks to Industry and Commerce Minister Welshman Ncube

Industry and Commerce Minister Welshman Ncube joins SW Radio Africa journalist Lance Guma for Part 2 of this Question Time interview. Ncube who leads the smaller MDC formation tackles questions from listeners on the dispute with Arthur Mutambara, accusations he connived with Thabo Mbeki to split the MDC, why MPs and councillors from his party are defecting and his chances in the next presidential election among other questions.

Interview broadcast 01 February 2012

Lance Guma: Hallo Zimbabwe and thank you for joining me on Question Time. My guest today is Industry and Commerce Minister Professor Welshman Ncube. He joins me for Part Two of this programme where he answers questions from you the listener. To get the ball rolling, we start off with the on-going legal battle for control of your party Professor Ncube.

We understand Justice Bharat Patel will be presiding over an application by Professor Arthur Mutambara’s loyalists who want the party returned into his hands. Just your assessment – how do you expect this court case to go?

Welshman Ncube: Well within the limits of what we are allowed to say or within the limits of what we are allowed to comment on a matter which is generally sub judice, the case before the high court is essentially an application by one Joubert Mudzumwe the former chairman of the party together with 11 others who have applied to have the Congress set aside, essentially on the ground that there were some people who were not given notice of the Congress.

So what the High Court has to determine once the matter is argued – we don’t know how long it will take to deliver a judgement but the matter will be argued by advocates tomorrow (Thursday) as to why the Congress must be set aside. Their lawyers will obviously made whatever argument they have; our lawyers will equally argue that there were no procedural irregularities in the convening of that Congress. That is what is due for argument tomorrow.

The rest – as to the likely outcome, the argument, the strength of the cases – I’m not allowed to comment upon as the matter is sub judice.

Guma: Are you surprised though Professor Ncube that you have former lieutenants like Joubert Mudzumwe and Tsitsi Dangarembga taking this particular position? Is this something you saw coming or it took you by surprise?

Ncube: Well remember that this application was made almost a year ago, late in January last year, in fact over a year ago and immediately after the Congress; at that time yes, we were somewhat taken aback that the application would be made considering that these people were members of the national executive at that time but on reflection it shouldn’t surprise anyone for the reason that all the people who are applicants in this matter are people who failed to receive nomination for re-election into their positions or other positions at Congress.

And so it shouldn’t surprise anyone that you have a group of people who we think due to what you may call sour grapes decided that they will drag us through all these legal processes. Really the only court which matters is the Congress of the party. The courts of law can never decide who the leadership of the party are – that can only be decided by the membership of the party and that membership, five thousand of them gathered on the 8^th of January last year and elected a leadership.

Guma: Brendan Sibanda sent an email saying in the interview we had with you last time, that’s Part One, you complained that the MDC-T was actively trying to entice your legislators and other officials to defect from your party. Now Brendan’s question is – isn’t this the nature of politics? Winning over supporters is the name of the game, why are you complaining?

Ncube: It is not the nature of politics. You go and recruit ordinary people there, out there, voters out there. If your electoral strategy is simply that you will spend five years enticing, bribing, paying and doing all sorts of unsavoury things to get support from other parties, it is first disrespectful, it is undemocratic, it shows a contempt for the electoral processes.

Every party which is a democratic party must respect that at a particular date, at a particular election, people decided to vote for certain individuals under the ticket of a particular political party and that should be allowed to prevail until the next elections.

But to use whatever financial muscle you have, whatever inducements or enticements you have to actually literally bribe elected officials of other parties, it’s not the behaviour that you expect of a political party which is supposed to lead us in a different direction from the 30 years or so of Zanu PF misrule. If you are a democrat you are likely as I do, to conclude that the path that will be taken to is not different from the 30 years of Zanu PF misrule.

Guma: Are you suggesting therefore that everyone who has defected from your party has been paid to do so?

Ncube: Well we know for certain that there is not one person, whether, at Member of Parliament level or councillor level; we know the NGO’s which are being used, we know that councillors are being given bicycles, are being given cell phones, are being given allowances. We know because some of our members of parliament rejected those offers.

The sort of inducements that have been made to them, we know the trips, foreign trips, they were paid for, we know some of those who were expelled were even taken to holidays with their wives in South Africa. So we know for a fact that there are all sorts of, what in normal society would be considered illegal inducement.

Guma: Butholezwe Nyathi emailed to say what are the possibilities of you winning the presidential elections if they are held say late this year or early next year, looking at your support versus your opponents support. Some say your defeat to Thokozani Khupe in Makokoba should be used as a barometer of your support and that in participating, just like Simba Makoni in 2008; you are just splitting votes and benefiting Mugabe and Zanu PF. What’s your reaction to that?

Ncube: If one election determines results for all time, then democracy would not require us to have elections every five years. The democratic tenet, the democratic principle is that people should be given an opportunity to judge everyone once again every five years in our political system. So it is I think, foolish for someone to think that the 2008 election or the 2005 election is the election which will decide an election in 2012 or in 2013.

In my respectful opinion we have elections because people are supposed to judge performances over the five year period and make fresh decisions and of course people are entitled to re-elect those that they would have re-elected.

Our responsibility as a party, as a leadership is to offer ourselves to the electorate, explain what we stand for, the policies we stand for, our ideology, the things that we believe we will be able to do for the people so that the people can make judgement on our promises and also to present to the people the performance of those they repose trust in, in the previous election. That is where our responsibility is.

Guma: Well if we are to go with that argument, how come your party did not field a candidate in 2008? You chose to back someone outside the party.

Ncube: It is a matter of public record that we had a president who, on the eve of the election, declined to stand and in fact, it’s a matter of public record that on the eve of the sitting of the nomination court, we convened an emergency national council at the request of the then president of the party who put the proposal that we should back Simba Makoni.

When of course the national council was reluctant to support that, it was his position that it’s either that or we have no candidate and at the end of the day the national council, literally on the eve of the election, was presented with that fait accompli and we had to go with that position because that was the position which the then president of the party preferred and presented on the eve of the election we didn’t have too many options.

But we were very clear our supporters, the electorate has been clear to us over the past five years that they were very angry at that decision and that it cost us a lot of votes and that we must stand for ourselves, we must present our own party candidate at presidential level and all other candidates right down to council. We accept that mistake, we have taken responsibility for it and we will not repeat it.

Guma: Takesure Mazani sent us a text saying and I quote – you managed little more than ten MPs in parliament in 2008. Having suffered from defections by the majority of these legislators, what are your chances in terms of trying to build on the numbers of MPs in the next election?

Ncube: Firstly it is false to say we have had the majority of those members of parliament defecting. As a matter of fact it is simply not true. We also did not garner ten members of parliament, we had 16; ten in the House of Assembly, six in the Senate. The majority of those, both in the House of Assembly and in the Senate remain loyal to the party.

We accept and concede that there are those, as we started this programme said, have been enticed, they’ve been bribed to go to other parties and it’s their democratic right to do so. We do not want to live on the election result of 2008; its history, that election has gone.

We await the election result of the elections for if it’s held this year, this year, if it’s held in 2013, 2013 which is why Lance, we have spent the last year since our Congress literally meeting the people in the communities, canvassing, basically selling our policies, the things that we stand for. And we think what we stand for resonates with the people.

We are an honest party, we are a party that has clear policies, a party that is principled, a party which stands for the ordinary person’s welfare and we believe we are the true successors to the values and principles of the liberation struggle on democracy, on equality of people, on the prosperity of all the people of Zimbabwe.

We have the calibre of leadership; we have the capacity of leadership right across our party ranks to deliver on that promise.

Guma: Anthony Taruvinga sent an email to us, he says and I quote from his question – “it has been revealed by many that you were bought by former South African President Thabo Mbeki and Zanu PF to divide the MDC before Senatorial elections and that you were incorporated into the CIO payroll.”

“Also in his book “The Deep End” Prime Minister Tsvangirai claims Mbeki was a central player in the 2005 split of the party. Tsvangirai claims you held secret meetings with the Zanu PF faction led by Emmerson Mnangagwa to forge an alliance in a bid to secure Ndebele interests. Close quote.” Your reaction to this?

Ncube: Just how such a preposterous proposition can be true, just how someone can enter into, even discussion with Emmerson Mnangagwa to secure Ndebele interests is just so ridiculous.

You really need to be an idiot to actually believe that one of the architects of Gukurahundi, one of the architects of the murders committed by the CIO in the early ‘80s could be a person that we would enter into a pact with to secure Ndebele interests it’s just absolute madness, it’s not possible. In fact it’s not even worthy of comment.

Guma: In Tsvangirai’s book, he alludes to the fact that you travelled to South Africa and he received a phone call from President Mbeki at the time while you were meeting him. Would such circumstances not suggest an unhealthy relationship with Mbeki? What’s your reaction to that?

Ncube: Firstly on the basis of unhealthy, I’m not sure what unhealthy Lance in this context would mean.

Guma: Asking Mbeki to intervene in an internal party matter.

Ncube: There’s absolutely nothing unhealthy, let me put it this way – as a person I have known President Mbeki since he was external secretary of the ANC during the days they were fighting against apartheid; I’ve known him when he was coming to the Law faculty to co-ordinate the South African ANC students that were training in the law school and therefore again that is a matter of public record.

In terms of what you refer to was an open trip; in fact made at the suggestion of people who were the supporters of the party who advised us that we needed someone to facilitate dialogue between the section of the party which was unhappy with Tsvangirai’s unilateral cancellation, nullification of the resolution of the national council on the one side which was virtually the entire leadership of the party at that time and Tsvangirai.

And those people who were well meaning, well wishers, supporters of the party who wanted to see the party united, advised us that maybe it was best for us to talk to President Mbeki to try and facilitate dialogue among ourselves. We did that trip openly, that delegation was led by Gibson Sibanda, the late, it had myself in it, it had Fletcher Dulini Ncube, in fact the entire so-called top six at that time with the exception of the late (Isaac) Matongo and Tsvangirai himself.

The rest of the four of us went to that meeting, we did make representations to President Mbeki that on advice we thought it was essential to prevent a split of the party for him to facilitate dialogue so that we can find common ground. And he telephoned Tsvangirai correctly, it’s correct that he did that in order to say look, your colleagues are here, they think that I could facilitate dialogue among yourselves in order to resolve your contradictions and Tsvangirai flatly refused.

And on the day he refused, the path to the inescapable split of the party was opened up. So there was absolutely nothing improper, irregular with the advice that we accepted that we should ask President Mbeki to facilitate dialogue between ourselves and Tsvangirai at that time. He did try and facilitate that dialogue, Tsvangirai refused so I don’t know what is improper in that.

Guma: Now Tsvangirai claims you and the others were riding on his popularity and I quote from his book, he says: “…in the forlorn hope that part of it would rub off onto them. They were uncomfortable with me as a person and a leader and I sensed that they wanted to build their political careers using Tsvangirai as a seat-warmer who could ultimately be dislodged as soon as the right opportunity presented itself.”

Now Gerald in Harare sent us this quote as part of his question and he says after the MDC split, many of you lost your parliamentary seats in Bulawayo. Does this not vindicate Tsvangirai’s assessment?

Ncube: Ummm…Thanks for the question. Of course this statement that you have just read out is one of the falsehoods, the many, many, many falsehoods you find in the book that you are quoting from. The parts you don’t quote which goes with that particular statement is the claim that we as a leadership did not want to do meetings or rallies in the absence of Tsvangirai and we all wanted to be where Tsvangirai was so that that popularity that you are referring to could rub onto us.

That is historically false. Everybody knows that in the MDC we had basically two teams, one operating in the southern region led by Gibson Sibanda in doing rallies, another led by Tsvangirai operating largely in the northern region and that these teams would combine whenever there were star rallies in both northern and southern areas of the country. So it is fundamentally false to suggest that we would not want Tsvangirai to address meetings on his own and that we would not address meetings on our own.

Guma: But the question then arises that as soon as the party split, the majority of you guys in the southern region lost your seats as a result of the split so does that not vindicate the assessment?

Ncube: What is the assessment which is to vindicate? The assessment that Tsvangirai was popular? We built Tsvangirai ourselves, we spent the better part of nearly ten years before that election, us as the rank and file leaders of the party canvassing for him, people lost their lives canvassing for him.

The so-called popularity that you are referring to was the popularity built on the blood and the sweat of the ordinary, on the lives of the ordinary people of this country, the members of the MDC who were obviously campaigning for the party projecting the person who was the current leader of the party.

It’s in fact extremely insulting to then be arrogant when in fact people lost their lives going door to door, doing campaigns to project your image, to campaign for you as a leader of a particular party. It’s self-evident that any political party at any one time is associated around the name, the brand, the name of its leader and that’s simply what happened in 2008.

Guma: Now we have another question from, let me make sure I get the name right, this is Nhamo, he’s in the UK, he sent us an email, he says my issue relates to the Bulawayo troubled industries fund that Professor Ncube has championed.

The concern is that while industries in Bulawayo certainly need to be revived the same situation prevails all across the country. So he says why is it that we’ve not seen the minister showing has much passion regarding industries that have closed down or are operating below capacity in places like Gweru.

He quotes Bata and Zimglass, Kadoma and Chegutu, David Whitehead, Mutare – Cairns Food, Quest Motors, PG Mutare and he goes on and on or even in Harare. He says do distressed companies in these towns not need funds as well?

Ncube: Distressed companies everywhere in Zimbabwe need funds, need to be assisted. It is our responsibility as government collectively. It is my responsibility individually as a minister to make sure that industry wherever it is, is saved. We have shown as much passion for all businesses across the country as we have shown for the businesses in Bulawayo.

The point, the systematic point is that cabinet in its wisdom, decided that since Bulawayo is historically the headquarters of industry in Zimbabwe, whereas Harare for instance is the administrative capital, Bulawayo is the headquarters of heavy industry, the clothing industry etcetera, etcetera and therefore the systematic revival of industry must start at the headquarters, at the centre of industry.

That’s a cabinet resolution and that we must therefore devote some attention to the revival of Bulawayo as, if you like, the headquarters of industry in this country. Why continuing to pay attention indeed I as cabinet minister towards the end of last year did go to cabinet with a proposal that we should then immediately move on to Mutare, then to Gweru.

Cabinet said no, no, no, no, do not focus your eyes on many, on too many things. Focus on Bulawayo, ensure implementation on Bulawayo first and once we are satisfied that the programmes we have agreed on in Bulawayo have become irreversible, you will then move on from one city to the other but let’s not chase too many birds.

In Ndebele there’s an expression which says ‘akuxothswa mpala mbili’-you don’t chase two impala’s at the same time. That was the advice we got from cabinet, we agreed to that and said we are going to focus on Bulawayo but as part of our mandate as a ministry, we will continue to dialogue with businesses in other centres. And we’ve done that;

I was in Gweru this very past Monday, meeting business leaders there and discussions about them, with them rather, they were very clear to us that we need to focus on the strategic industries in Gweru, Bata, Kariba Batteries and so forth and so on and assist them so that they can, their survival can impact on the other small players. I have focussed on the revival of ZISCO because I know for instance ZISCO is very strategic in the whole of the Midlands.

If ZISCO lives and is strong, the impact on the small and other related industries will be high, everybody else will breathe. So that is basically what we are doing and we’ll do that in Mutare as well around the timber industry, around the coffee industry. We have the data, we know what is required, we are working on that so with a limited cake where you cannot give everybody, you give a little piece here for this person to survive, you move onto the next, you go on.

That is the philosophy that we are pursuing.

Guma: Okay now we are clearly running out of time but I’ve got one more minute to go. You are a constitutional law expert; several of our listeners sent in questions wanting us to get your take on the constitution making process that we have currently in Zimbabwe. Just a quick assessment of where you think it’s going wrong and where it could be improved.

Ncube: Well there will of course be difficulties and there are many but in the limited time we have, the most important point is that things are back on track; the drafters are working on a constitution; they have substantially drafted many chapters of the constitution.

Of course there will still will be long, long debates among the parties as to whether or not these drafts correctly capture what the people said, or correct indicator of what is desirable for Zimbabwe but I think we have reached a stage where the process has fundamentally crossed if you like, the Rubicon as it were and I don’t think it’s reversible anymore.

I think we are on the right track and yes there are problems, there will continue to be problems, funding problems, grandstanding problems, politicking problems and so forth and so on but these as a leadership, we will always be able to overcome I believe.

Guma: Well Zimbabwe that’s Industry and Commerce Minister Professor Welshman Ncube joining us for Part Two of this Question Time interview. Professor Ncube, thank you so much for your time.

Ncube: Thank you Lance, have a nice day.

To listen to the programme:

http://www.swradioafrica.com/02_12/qt010212.mp3

 

Feedback can be sent to lance@swradioafrica.com  http://twitter.com/lanceguma or http://www.facebook.com/lance.guma

 

SW Radio Africa – on line 24 hours a day at www.swradioafrica.com and daily broadcasts on 4880 kHz in the 60m band between 7 – 9 pm Zimbabwe time. Twitter : Facebook : RSS feed You can now get SW Radio Africa on the Tunein Radio smart phone app.

Ambassador Gillian A. Milovanovic On Her Role As The Newly-Appointed Chair of the Kimberley Process (KP) for 2012

Zimbabwe’s Sanctions Standoff

Security sector reform: Going beyond personalities

http://www.zimonline.co.za/

by Professor Sabelo J. Ndlovu-Gatsheni     Monday 06 February 2012

OPINION: -- The issue of the interference of the security sector into
politics which is not only symbolized by unprofessional political utterances
and declarations by heads of security sectors of the country but also by the
physical intervention of regular and non-regular forces including green
bombers and war veterans in various acts of violation of human rights, has
ignited animated debates on security sector reform in Zimbabwe.

Now that the employment  contracts of some of key members of security sector
including that of the police commissioner are up for renewal, the debate on
security sector reform has intensified but in a wrong direction. The
reduction of the debate on security sector reform to issues of retiring some
individuals and/or not renewing their contracts is wrong-headed and misses
the bigger problem.
Of course, among heads of various security organs of the state of Zimbabwe,
there are individual variations in terms of levels of enthusiasms for
interference in the political direction of the country and culpability in
human rights violations.

But the elephant in the house is not particular individuals manning the
security sector. It is actually to do with the cultures and traditions
inculcated into postcolonial armies, police forces and other security
officers including the central intelligence organisation and prison
officers.

The key question which needs to be answered not only with regard to Zimbabwe’s
security sector but for the whole of postcolonial Africa is what are the
roots of predatory security sectors? Are they traceable to pre-colonial
warrior traditions? Are they rooted in colonial traditions of conquest and
pacifications? Do they emerge from nationalist struggles for liberation? Are
they a postcolonial invention?
Having studied African history, I can say with certainty that pre-colonial
societies were characterised by cordial civil-military relations. The
military emerged directly from civil society to carryout national military
duties only to return to civil society after accomplishment of military
assignments.

There are no recorded cases of pre-colonial militaries engaging in
terrorizing society on behalf of a particular king or chief. Secret service
existed to predict external threats not to keep society in perpetual fear of
being spied on by other members of the same society.
Dark glasses were not yet invented. Barracks which kept soldiers away from
society and became nurseries of military cultures separate from those of
mainstream society were rare.

Even King Shaka of the Zulus who is said to have quartered young men in
barracks of set age groups (amabutho), this was just a temporary set-up
meant to create a particular camaraderie and national identity among youths
drawn from various social backgrounds.
Amabutho remained an important cog of society playing a fundamental role in
reproducing national identity and cooperative work spirit on behalf of the
nation.

Amabutho were never nurtured into a special human species in possession of
instruments of coercion ready to discipline the society from which they came
from. This way, the pitfalls of militarism and adventurism were avoided by
our pre-colonial progenitors.
But when it comes to colonial period the story of security services becomes
different. Colonial militaries did not emerge from African societies.

They were a collection of rag-tag white people desperate for militarism and
adventurism as well as primitive accumulation of wealth.

The earliest layer of colonial militaries consisted of a coterie of poor
white men who were promised land, mines and other material benefits if they
violently conquered African societies.
The case in point is that of the Pioneer Column that was put together by the
imperialist Cecil John Rhodes and the British South Africa Company (BSACo)
to colonise the lands lying between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers in the
1890s.

There was no pretence that colonial security sectors were impositions on
society. The relationship between the colonial security sector and African
societies was that of domination, repression and violence. Colonial security
sector was a guardian of white society and oppressor of black society.
The black society was a perpetual ‘other’ that needed to be put under
perpetual surveillance. Constant threats of violence were issued to keep
black society under a cloud of terror and fear. Colonial security sector was
predatory on black society.

Under colonialism it became an offence for African people to seek to support
a black leader of their choice.

The notion of black leadership was itself criminalized. Any black person who
aspired to lead black people was deemed a trouble-maker and his/her rightful
place was either prison or detention or restriction camp.

The mind boggling question is how far has our postcolonial military sector
imbibed this distasteful relationship with the black people? The liberation
struggle was predicated on creation of a people’s state and a people’s
security sector. The officers manning the postcolonial security sector were
expected to emerge directly from the African society to service the interest
of the African people. This became the ideal and not the reality.

The young men and women, who scarified their lives to liberate the country
from colonial rule, were organised into forces with people-oriented
nomenclature for example Zimbabwe People’s Revolutionary Army (ZIPRA),
Zimbabwe National Liberation Army (ZANLA) and Zimbabwe People’s Army (ZIPA).
From a close look at these names one can easily detect an emphasis on the
connections between the armies and the people.

But during the course of the liberation struggle itself incidents of
coercion and violence began to spoil the ideal. Of course, exigencies of
fighting guerrilla warfare dictated some of the actions which tended to
spoil civil-military relations. For example, the reality of existence of
sell-outs made it difficult for liberation armies to just maintain cordial
relations with members of society that endangered their lives and mission.

But revolutionaries like Amilcar Cabral who led the PAIGC until his
assassination by Portuguese imperialists, already detected the pitfalls of
militarism and adventurism cascading from the realities of fighting
liberation wars.
He consistently highlighted the primacy of the political over the military,
emphasizing that the political organization led the struggle in the
military, civilian, political, administrative and technical spheres. He
defined the fighters as armed activists (people in arms) who were not a
special species in the struggle.

But despite these attempts to subordinate armed activists to
civilian-political leadership and civil activists the glamour of the gun
always spoiled the civil-military relations.

The history of Zimbabwe’s liberation struggle is littered with dualities and
clashes between old-guard civilian nationalist leadership and young cadres
who had undergone military training and had field experience in the theatres
of war. Throughout the liberation struggles the tensions between civilian
leadership and armed militants continued and spilled over to the
postcolonial period.

In a country like Zimbabwe whose army is still headed at the top levels by
former liberation fighters, this duality has continued with deep and serious
consequences particularly for those civilian leaders considered to be
without war credentials. It’s a pity that liberation credentials have been
elevated to a qualification for leadership.

This thinking has fed into dangerous conceptions of political power as a
straight-jacket fitting only those considered to have war credentials even
in clear instances that majorities of such people have degenerated into
looters and a selfish cabal that is undermining national interests.

An opportunity was lost in 1980 to build a truly people’s army out of
ex-freedom fighters who had already lived among the people for years. What
became known as professionalisation of the Zimbabwe National Army (ZNA) that
was outsourced to the British officers contributed to the missing of an
opportunity.
The strong links that both ZIPRA and ZANLA had created and cultivated with
the rural society even made those who planned to abuse armed young men to
solve political competition for power between PF Zapu and Zanu PF to prefer
to create a typical postcolonial military outfit known as the Fifth Brigade
(Gukurahundi), specially trained by the notorious North Korean military
officers in martial and other arts of dealing violently with citizens on
behalf of a particular political party.

Indeed an opportunity was missed and the nation is today paying dearly for
this!

What was expected to be a people’s army was systematically turned into a
predatory and partisan force by selfish political elites who wanted to be
the alpha and omega leadership of the country. Ironically, that same
leadership is now hostage to the monster they created. Hard thinking is
needed by the collectivity of the Zimbabwean leadership across political
party lines to re-imagine and rethink the type of security sector that the
nation needs.

No Zimbabwean wants to live in perpetual hostage and fear of the security
sector. A security sector is indispensable for any country, but what type of
security sector has the post-colony created is the main challenge? A
security sector modeled on colonial lines will always be predatory and hard
to subordinate to the civilian governments. What is needed is to rethink the
values, cultures and traditions inculcated on our security sector as we try
to liberate ourselves from the monsters we deliberately created over the
years.

Professor Sabelo J. Ndlovu-Gatsheni teaches in the Department of Development
Studies at the University of South Africa (UNISA)

Implication of reforms on popular democracy in Zimbabwe

http://www.swradioafrica.com/

By Fortune Nhengu Siziba
Opinion
6 February, 2012]

“Our demand is just and legitimate. We demand a free and fair election where
international observers will oversee.”- Josiah Tongogara, Zimbabwe African
National Liberation Army (ZANLA) Commander (1978).

Comprehensive, participatory, competitive, free and fair elections are at
the core of the democratization process in any country. Democratization in
Zimbabwe has somewhat taken a lengthy and winding boulevard that has
resulted in electoral outcomes that have been denounced by many governance
scholars, political actors and analysts. Zimbabwe is faced with a situation
whereby most revolutionaries and liberation heroes have long clamored for
legitimacy, freedom and fairness in elections to no avail. There is no
wonder why the international community still refers to us as an upcoming
democracy three decades after attaining independence. There has also been
heated debate about electoral reforms and why it is imperative to have them
in Zimbabwe. This article seeks to decipher the electoral dynamics that are
active in Zimbabwe, deficiencies present in the operational legislative
framework and the retrogression of the military in meddling in electoral
affairs.

In 2009 the Southern African Development Community (SADC) endorsed the call
for reform of the security sector. The security sector was implicated in
noxious political hostility and interfering in the 2008 plebiscite. Although
some principals in the Global Political Agreement (GPA), who are keen on
defending the so called professionalism of service commanders, still insist
that no reform is needed and they also affirm that existing laws on the
military and police force are satisfactory as they are. It is important to
note that the advent of reforms is paramount to the implementation of the
roadmap to the country’s next elections.

The GPA lacks a legal and operational framework for stalling the intrusion
of security forces in electoral processes as it only incorporated reform
legislation two years into its formation courtesy of resistance from some of
the major principals. The reform legislation restricts police and military
involvement in elections and attends to political violence. It also grants
extensive powers to the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) to administer,
direct and control elections, compelling it to publicize election results
within five days of the ballot.

The lack of media reforms in Zimbabwe has worsened already existing
obscurity in terms of attaining dependable information ahead of elections.
Typical of election build up is the violent intolerance of the media where
media practitioners face illegal detention, beatings, torture, harassment
and beatings among other human rights violations. Public sector reforms are
enviable and practical in Zimbabwe in line with the country’s policy
atmosphere. These reforms should start from the leadership composition of
parastatals which are led by former army generals who were placed at the
apex of their echelons. This was a deliberate ploy to facilitate the flow of
funds with regard electoral injustices and violence. This is a scenario
whereby public entities have virtually been turned into income generating
projects for sponsoring violence of the state against its citizenry.

Participation in elections that fall short of security sector, public sector
and media reforms has adverse effects on residents as it negatively impacts
on service delivery, non-violence, tolerance, adoption of people-centered
policies, voter turnout and outcome. Active participation of citizens in
public discourse puts them at a position where they can hold their service
providers accountable. This has increasingly been recognized as being
critical to the role of elections in the democratization process. Zimbabwe
is continually confronted by the challenge of how best to promote better
service delivery with the objective of poverty reduction and the attainment
of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). To be certain, democratic space
is closed and the right to free participation impeded whilst democracy calls
for residents to freely participate both individually and collectively in
decision making. This conviction has long played a role in states designated
as progressive, democratic, open, free and developmental.
In essence, elections that lack reforms undermine democracy and free
participation as they promote violence and apathy. Such elections would be
merely reduced to a one man race with the major political competition being
withdrawn at the final hour. The elections would be widely condemned as no
one would recognize them despite the sole contestant, replicating the June
27 rejected run-off.

Fortune Nhengu Siziba is a Research and Policy Formulation Officer at
Bulawayo Progressive Residents Association (BPRA). He writes in his personal
capacity. He can be contacted on lantsupa@gmail.com

Southern Africa: Democracy without the citizens

http://www.zimonline.co.za/

by Ndumba Kamwanyah     Monday 06 February 2012

OPINION: -- The year 2011 for southern Africa, and sub-Saharan Africa in
general, will probably be remembered for what did not happen in the light of
the people-powered uprisings and protests that swept the globe.

In the Arab world, in particular North Africa, what is being now referred to
as the Arab Spring made 2011 a tough year for the dictatorial regimes of
Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali in Tunisia, Hosni Mubarak in Egypt and of course
Gaddafi, who was killed in Libya.

In the Western world, a movement that started as Occupy Wall Street in New
York stirred up similar protests across major cities in the US, Britain,
Italy, Germany, France, Spain, Portugal and Asian countries as citizens
fought back against growing greed and inequality.

Public anger over the debt crisis brought down prime ministers George
Papandreou and Silvio Berlusconi in Greece and Italy respectively.

Business as usual

Yet, despite the southern African region’s high level of poverty,
unemployment and inequality, we did not see a wave of public anger similar
to what we have seen across the globe.

In a case study of five southern African countries, the Open Society
Initiative for Southern Africa has found that poverty and inequality is
tearing apart Zimbabwe, Swaziland, Malawi, Namibia, South Africa and Angola,
with many citizens living on a mere US$1 per day. The irony here is that
some of those countries, such as Namibia and South Africa, are resource-rich
with some of the highest GDP   in the world.

Amidst this global backlash against greed and inequality, why were most
southern African streets (apart from isolated and sporadic protests in
Malawi and Swaziland) empty, quiet, and business as usual? What happened to
the militant spirit that sent many young people to the streets of Namibia,
Zimbabwe and South Africa against colonialism, poverty and social injustice
in the 1960s and 1980s?

One answer given for this widespread citizenry indifference in southern
African has been explained in terms of the belief that some of the
governments in the region would not hesitate to use harsh measures if
confronted by Arab Spring-like mass action.

True to this, in Zimbabwe some 45 activists were rounded up and charged with
treason for watching a Mid-East uprising video. In Malawi, the security
force launched a violent crackdown on the protestors, leaving at least 18 of
them dead. In Swaziland, pro-democracy activists were banned, arrested,
tear-gassed and sprayed with water cannons.

A little bit ahead

It is also true that when the uprising was under way in Tunisia, Egypt and
Libya, none of the southern African governments (well, South Africa maybe
did but flip-flopped later to save face with the radicals within the ANC and
other hawkish Africanists in the region) picked up the phone to urge
Mubarak, Gaddafi, or Ben Ali to exercise restraint in dealing with the
protestors.

Instead, what we heard from the southern African governments was the usual
song of complaints about Western interference in Africa’s internal matters.

But here is another explanation: Southern African citizens’ indifference can
be explained as a ‘been there and done that’ syndrome.

This is because in some ways southern Africa is a little bit ahead of north
Africa in terms of democratisation, meaning that most governments in
southern Africa are products of democracy and came to power through
elections, whereas north Africa might have been stable and economically
advanced but did not have democratic governments.

However, a distinctive characteristic of the southern African democracy is
that not only do we have a democracy without democrats but also a democracy
without citizens. Southern Africa’s democracies did not and do not produce
citizens but subjects controlled by governments due to the hierarchical
nature of the region’s politics, which demands obedience and loyalty from
citizens. Why?

Landslide victories

Although they claim to have fought for democracy (such as SWAPO in Namibia,
ANC in South Africa, MPLA in Angola, FRELIMO in Mozambique and ZANU-PF in
Zimbabwe), most ruling parties in southern Africa don’t operate as
democrats. Their politics and decision-making are highly centralised. By the
way, the same can also be said about most opposition political parties.

It is against the backlog of this unquestioning and uncritical citizenry,
that we understand why Mugabe is still in power today and why most ruling
parties in the region have won elections with a landslide victory.

This is why the Namibian president can place a moratorium on public
discussions about the SWAPO presidential succession. And the ANC-dominated
National Assembly in South Africa can pass a law (reversing the gains made
against apartheid) to limit free speech.

On the flip side, events in north Africa made the world forget (as the
international media and world governments shifted attention to the Arab
Spring) about southern Africa, especially with regard to what’s going on in
Zimbabwe and Malawi

Predictions for 2012

Here are a few predictions for 2012: The ruling party SWAPO’s 2012 election
campaign to replace the incumbent Namibian president when his term expires
is shaping up to be between Geingob (who is the vice president of SWAPO) and
Pendukeni Ithana (who is the secretary of SWAPO).

One is believed to be a technocrat and the other a populist. But both are
insiders, so expect less change here if either of them wins. What is clear,
however, is that another potential split (this would be the third split if
it happens) from the ruling party is looming as the in-fighting has already
started. More is to come as we inch closer to election day.

In Zimbabwe, it is clear that the opposition party MDC (MDC has lost the
mojo and has been weakened by in-fighting) is not the party that will bring
down Mugabe (as it was hoped), but expect a potential split within the
ruling ZANU-PF party. As Mugabe’s health continues to deteriorate, we expect
infighting as members vie for control and Mugabe’s position.

On the other hand, South Africa will continue walking the populist road and,
of course, with less transparent governance.

Unless restored, expect the worst from Malawi because its lifeline, which is
aid from the international community, has been cut off, which is going to
make life difficult for ordinary citizens.

Angola and Mozambique (riding on oil) will continue unabated because we don’t
really hear much about these two countries in terms of international
coverage anyway.

The remaining question is, will Swaziland eventually collapse economically
or has it already collapsed?

This article was first published by  Pambazuka News.