Zim Independent
Lucia Makamure
THE public has expressed
outrage over the withdrawal of essential and
life-saving emergency telephone
services by the national fixed phone
services provider Tel*One during the
evenings and weekends.
Tel*One instituted the unwelcome changes
that include switching off
emergency numbers for the fire brigade, ambulance
and police hotline at
night and over weekends as well as other
operator-assisted call services.
Concerned clients said the changes
were inconveniencing many people.
"If your house catches fire at
night and you cannot get through to the
fire services department, you risk
losing everything or should someone get
sick at night that person can die,"
a Harare resident who said his name was
immaterial because he was expressing
a public concern said.
Sources within the service provider revealed
that Harare Tel*One
operator services had for the past months been operating
from 8am to 8pm
from Monday to Friday with two supervisors per
shift.
"Some of the operators who used to operate the Harare office
were
moved to Gweru International Exchange and Bulawayo Sales Offices last
November leaving only four supervisors to do work that was previously done
by more than 60 operators," the source said.
Peter Simon, a
fire technician at the Harare Ambulance and Fire
Brigade Office said, the
emergency number 99 was connected to five telephone
lines at the fire
station office.
"It is difficult for us to tell whether or not
there is a reduction of
traffic from Tel*One emergency numbers to our
offices unless we receive
public complaints," Simon said.
He
said his office was in the process of introducing toll-free
telephone
numbers for use by the public to get in touch with the Ambulance
and Fire
Brigade services. The office has applied for toll-free telephone
lines from
Tel*One.
Mufakose resident, Tsungirirai Muungani complained that it
was a very
difficult to get through to the operator's desk even during the
day. The few
attendants appear unable to cope with handling the traffic from
the whole of
Harare and the three Mashonaland provinces that the Harare
Operator Office
caters for.
"The management is more interested
with cost-cutting measures yet they
are putting the lives of many people at
risk. We have made many complaints
regarding failure to access the Telephone
Exchange but up to now nothing has
been done," she said.
Meanwhile, workers at Tel*One have complained about the unfair grading
system being used by the company.
Under the present grading
system workers in the technical department
earn more than those in the
commercial department do.
This has resulted in a scenario where
technical workers without
professional qualifications earn more than those
in the commercial
department with professional qualifications like National
Certificates and
Diplomas in accounting and book keeping.
"I am
employed as a clerk here and I have an accounting diploma yet I
am earning
less than what someone in the technical department without
professional
qualifications is earning. It is just not fair as it mean that
my
qualifications do not matter at all.
Efforts to get a comment from
Tel*One were fruitless as they failed to
respond to the questions sent to
them two weeks ago.
Zim Independent
MOVEMENT for Democratic Change leader Morgan
Tsvangirai has said his
party is not banking on the reunification of its two
factions to mobilise
Zimbabweans to resist President Mugabe's bid to extend
his term to 2010.
He said the Save Zimbabwe Campaign, a broad
coalition of civic groups,
was the only way to go in confronting the Zanu PF
regime.
Responding to calls for a reunification of the splintered
MDC,
Tsvangirai said there was a mistaken view that resolution of the
national
crisis depended on unity in the opposition.
In an
interview at his Strathaven home in Harare on Wednesday,
Tsvangirai said his
party's focus was on finding a way to resolve the
national crisis which he
said was spawned by Mugabe's intransigence.
This follows statements
by the other faction leader, Arthur Mutambara
in his New Year message that
only a united MDC had the chance to loosen
President Mugabe's grip on
power.
Mutambara called for urgent cooperative "action" by all
opposition
forces, saying if there was a failure to do so, the people of
Zimbabwe
should reject the MDC and look for other alternatives.
"People tend to forget that the national crisis was not caused by the
split
in the MDC but by Zanu PF," Tsvangirai said.
"There are those who
want to perpetuate the status quo and those who
want a democratic
transformation of our society and that project - the Save
Zimbabwe Campaign
- is the only game in town," Tsvangirai said.
He said the MDC sees
a great opportunity that is also a challenge on
how to rally the people
against a life presidency.
"In the MDC we believe that our focus
should be on how to resolve the
crisis created by Zanu, not to emphasise the
fact that there was a crisis
and divisions in the opposition," Tsvangirai
said.
Through the road map adopted by a broad coalition of
democratic forces
under the auspices of the Save Zimbabwe Campaign (SZC),
the choice of a
presidential candidate for 2008 would be determined, he
said.
"If there is anything that has rallied people across the
political
divide it's the 2010 project," Tsvangirai said.
"The
feeling is as strong in Zanu PF as it is in the MDC that Mugabe
cannot be
allowed to extend his illegitimacy beyond 2008, that the country
cannot
afford another protracted political stalemate for three years without
a
resolution in sight," he said.
He said for his party and its civic
partners, the solution to the
national crisis is defined by the road map
which demands a transition, a new
constitution, and free and fair elections.
He said his party and members of
the broad coalition believed this was the
only road that Zimbabwe can travel
to resolve the national crisis.
Tsvangirai said in order to confront the
Zanu PF 2010 project, the first
task the coalition had was to demand that
elections must be held in 2008 as
scheduled. Together with its civic
partners, the MDC has to engage in a
campaign against the life presidency
which 2010 actually implies, he
said.
"We have to insist on the democratic control of national
institutions.
Today we are all agreed that Mugabe has abused national
institutions to
protect his power," he said.
Tsvangirai also
discounted strategies to sideline the broad democratic
movement and try to
work with factions within Zanu PF as an alternative
solution to the crisis,
saying such strategies only served to defend the
status quo.
"There is no such thing as a reformed Zanu PF. That simplistic
arrangement
is saying the political and economic conditions that now apply
should
continue under a different face," Tsvangirai said.
"That is not
what Zimbabweans are looking for. What Zimbabweans are
looking for is not
change for change's sake, but serious transformation,
serious political and
economic transformation for them to benefit. What
Zimbabweans are looking
for is far deeper transformation than what we have
experienced over the past
26 years."
He scoffed at suggestions that unity of the two MDC
factions was
paramount in launching a credible challenge to Mugabe. "I don't
believe
there is a crisis in the MDC. That is why we all came together in
the SZC.
It is a unity of purpose. The so-called disunity in the opposition
is
imaginary."
Tsvangirai said there was a historical precedent
when PF Zapu and Zanu
formed the Patriotic Front in a joint effort to
confront Ian Smith's regime.
Mugabe could still be successfully confronted
under a different political
formation, he said.
Zim Independent
VETERAN
nationalists Edgar Tekere and Enos Nkala yesterday slammed
President Mugabe
saying their decision to bring him into the struggle for
Independence was a
huge mistake.
At a function to launch Tekere's book Tekere - a
Lifetime of Struggle,
the two veterans of the struggle for Zimbabwe's
liberation said Mugabe had
to be persuaded to join the nationalist cause yet
he now regarded himself as
a "king" who had solely delivered the country
from colonialism.
"We produced a creature that has destroyed this
country," said Nkala,
who said he was instrumental in convincing Mugabe to
join the National
Democratic Party, the precursor of Zanu and
Zapu.
The function at Sapes offices in Belgravia - attended by
diplomats,
academia and the media - contained drama when Nkala attacked the
Financial
Gazette for misrepresenting him in a story the paper published
last year. In
acerbic remarks about the Fingaz, Nkala told the gathering
that the paper
was owned 60% by the Central Intelligence Organisation and
40% by Reserve
Bank governor Gideon Gono. He announced his intention to sue
the paper
together with its editor Sunsleey Chamunorwa who was present at
the book
launch.
But it was former Zanu PF secretary-general
Tekere's riveting
off-the-cuff speech which stole the show at the launch as
he chronicled his
involvement in the struggle claiming that Mugabe was today
"benefiting from
his sweat" despite joining politics much
later.
"I am more Zanu PF than Mugabe," Tekere said.
Wearing a navy blue blazer and red checked shirt, a lively Tekere said
the
country's economic problems would worsen as along as Mugabe remained
leader.
"I have heard prayerful predictions that 2007 would be
a better year
for this country," said Tekere. "No, it cannot be. It is going
to be worse
as long as we continue with the slogan 'Pamberi navaMugabe
chete-chete'," he
said.
"Mugabe has become a liability to the
people of Zimbabwe."
The statement resonates throughout the book
and is aptly captured in
its postscript on page 173.
"The old
saying rings true, that you cannot hold one man responsible
for all of a
nation's ills. But in Zimbabwe, it is becoming increasingly
difficult not to
believe that Robert Mugabe is right at the centre of the
nation's problems;
in my view 90% of the blame should go to him, and 10% to
those who have
uncritically huddled over him over the years," he wrote.
"I have my
share of responsibility, as well as Maurice Nyagumbo, Enos
Nkala and those
of our leadership who in extolling Robert Mugabe as we did
at Independence,
forgot to put in place the institutional arrangements that
would ensure that
the party was sustained by collective leadership,
democratic discourse,
adherence to the principles that fuelled our struggle
for Independence, and
accountability."
He added: "In retrospect we have to acknowledge
that, in the absence
of such institutional arrangements, any one of us, and
not just Mugabe,
could have lost the course and degenerated into a virtual
dictatorship,
buttressed by the combination of political patronage and the
threat of state
brutality if one dared to defy the
powers-that-be."
Tekere said despite his expulsion from the party,
he had continued to
enjoy more respect from Zanu PF than from
Mugabe.
"Senior people in Zanu PF actually say to me: 'Hushef
hwaramba kupera',"
he said.
Nkala, who also addressed the
gathering, said Mugabe had virtually
become a king despite being invited
into the party leadership.
"He speaks as if he and he alone
delivered this country from
colonialism. It's a lie. That is the greatest
lie," he said.
Nkala said he was also writing a book on the
liberation struggle which
he said would expose sellouts. He said the
government of Ian Smith had left
documents which showed sellouts in the
struggle.
"I am busy in Bulawayo creating a structure that will
meet Mugabe
halfway," he warned.
Nkala has in the past said his
book will only be published after his
death.
Tekere's book was
edited by Ibbo Mandaza and published by Sapes - the
Southern African
Political Economy Series. - Staff Writer.
Zim Independent
Loughty
Dube
THE Bulawayo city council, which is facing a serious water
crisis, has
imposed stringent measures to save dwindling water supplies
after it
decommissioned one of its main supply dams last month.
At an emergency meeting held at the city headquarters this week, the
council
resolved to impose stringent restrictions that will see industry and
household water allocations drastically reduced.
A full council
meeting on Wednesday resolved, among other issues, to
ban the use of
hosepipes for domestic and industrial use, and the use of
council water for
brick moulding and construction purposes.
The council also imposed
steep fines for offenders and also resolved
to reduce water allocation for
household and industrial use.
Under the new measures, households in
high density suburbs had their
water allocations reduced from 400 litres a
day to 300 litres while in low
density areas daily consumption will be
reduced from 550 litres to 450
litres.
Hospitals, clinics and
hotels will have their water allocations cut by
10% of the prescribed
council allocations.
Bulawayo executive mayor, Japhet
Ndabeni-Ncube, said the new measures
would be in place until there was a
review of the water levels in the city's
supply dams.
"The
situation is precarious at the moment and the measures that we
have put in
place are aimed at saving the little water that we have in our
supply dams.
As long as the situation continues to deteriorate we will
maintain water
rationing," Ndabeni-Ncube said.
He said the inflows into the dams
were not encouraging as there was
little rainfall in the
region.
The council also introduced stringent enforcement and
compliance
measures that include hefty fines for offenders.
Residents who are found using hosepipes will be fined $80 000 and will
have
the hosepipes confiscated while persistent offenders will have water
supplies permanently cut off.
A new fine of $150 000 will be
imposed on residents found using
council water for brickmoulding and
moulding equipment will be confiscated
by the council.
Residents using council water for construction purposes will be fined
$200
000 while those caught bypassing legal water connections will be fined
$500
000.
Bulawayo last month decommissioned Umzingwane dam after water
levels
fell drastically. The city now relies on Inyankuni, Upper and Lower
Ncema
and Insiza dams for water supplies.
Ndabeni-Ncube however
said dam water inflows for the month of December
and January were very low
and council was worried that the supply dams will
not receive adequate water
to last the whole year.
Zim Independent
Itai Mushekwe
THE contentious National
Indigenisation and Empowerment Bill that
seeks to compel foreign-owned
companies to cede half their equity to
indigenous players is set for
presentation before cabinet's committee on
legislation, a cabinet minister
said yesterday.
Minister of State for Indigenisation and
Empowerment, Samuel
Mumbengegwi, told the Zimbabwe Independent that the
Bill, that is causing
anxiety among foreign companies due to its
controversial provisions, would
soon be presented before
cabinet.
Mumbengegwi could not give a specific date because he did
not prepare
the agenda.
Government is going ahead with the
piece of legislation, which will
force foreign owned companies to relinquish
a mandatory 50% of their equity
to local players in line with government's
empowerment policy thrust.
"The Bill will soon go before a cabinet
committee on legislation,"
said Mumbengegwi. "After that it will be
presented before parliament for
debate. I cannot tell you exactly when the
Bill will go to cabinet because I'm
not the one who prepares the
agenda."
The Bill, currently with the Justice ministry for
fine-tuning,
provides for indigenous people to take at least 50%
shareholding in all
sectors of the economy. But economic analysts have
predicted such provisions
create the risk of scaring away foreign
investment.
Mumbengegwi defended the legislation saying that it was
not unusual as
investment patterns across the world were like
that.
He said the Indigenisation Bill must not be construed as
nationalisation because government wants only half the equity and not 51%
ownership of the economy as a way to empower black Zimbabweans.
"Investment patterns all over the world are the same. There is nothing
unusual about what the Bill is all about. We want 50% and not 51% ownership,
so we're not talking of anything unusual.
Contacted for
comment, Indigenisation and Empowerment secretary, Ozias
Hove, said it was
premature to talk about the Bill as it was still being
drafted and will be
tabled before parliament for public debate.
There has been muffled
suggestions among ruling party hawks that major
economic players,
particularly foreign-owned banks should be targeted to
embrace government's
indigenisation programme.
Government has also fired a broadside at
people opposing its
indigenisation thrust saying that such people had
renounced "their identity,
their own country and national interest" in
pursuance of "imperialist
interests".
Government's latest
indigenisation target, in the form of a mooted
amendment of the Mines Act,
created confusion and alarm in the mining
sector.
Zim Independent
Lucia
Makamure
THE World Bank in 1999 abandoned a project to build a
hospital and two
clinics in Harare after having differences with government
over expenditure
overruns.
The almost complete hospital
building within Wilkins Hospital
premises, has been lying idle for the past
eight years and there are fears
that soon it might be a target for thieves
wanting to steal building
materials.
This was revealed on
Wednesday when the council's medical director, Dr
Prosper Chonzi, took the
Zimbabwe Independent on a tour of city council
hospitals.
"This
building has been like this for the past eight years," said
Chonzi.
"The World Bank was sponsoring the project but after
squabbles with
the government, they decided to withdraw their funding and up
to now we are
still to engage a sponsor to take over from where they left
off. Two other
clinics in Budiriro and Kuwadzana were also left
uncompleted."
Chonzi revealed that his department has not received
any grant from
government for the past 10 years and that it had been relying
on rates from
the city's ratepayers.
The urban poor who cannot
afford fees charged by government hospitals
and private doctors mostly use
council hospitals and clinics. Late last year
the Minister of Health, David
Parirenyatwa, lashed out at the city council
for hiking treatment fees but
Chonzi says the increases are justified.
"For a long time we have
been charging sub-economic fees but at the
end of the day we still have to
buy drugs and other medical supplies," he
said.
"So if we
continue charging these sub-economic fees we are going to
end up with
clinics and hospitals with no drugs at all."
Council hospitals and
clinics are responsible for the treatment of
infectious diseases and the
distribution of tuberculosis (TB) drugs and
antiretrovirals
(ARVs).
Zimbabwe's economic decline has witnessed a rise in the
number of
people who seek cheaper health service at council hospitals,
especially for
ARVs.
The clinics are failing to cope with
demand as they are facing a
critical shortage of skilled
manpower.
"I have been coming here (Wilkins Hospital) for the past
week and up
to now I have not been able to get registered for the ARV
programme," said a
patient who refused to be named. The visibly sick woman
said she had been
tested for HIV infection and was waiting for results next
week.
Chonzi attributed the delays to manpower
shortages.
"It is true that people are dying before accessing ARV
drugs because
at the moment all our establishments depend on Beatrice
Infectious Diseases
Hospital laboratory for pre-testing," Chonzi
said.
"A process which should take hours is now taking days. We are
losing
our staff to neighbouring countries. At the moment we have shortages
of
nurses, pharmacists and laboratory technicians."
A man the
Independent spoke to at Beatrice Infectious Hospital said:
"I am unemployed
and could not afford to buy ARVs but since I got into the
programme I have
been getting a month's supply of ARVs for $50 and I am very
grateful for
this service."
A tour of the drug storerooms at both hospitals
revealed that TB drugs
and ARVs are readily available and more people could
be accommodated into
the programmes.
Chonzi said they were
working on plans to raise salaries for health
personnel.
Zim Independent
Itai Mushekwe
PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe does not fear facing the
International
Criminal Court (ICC) on charges of crimes against
humanity.
Mugabe made the disclosure last month during a
wide-ranging interview
in Harare with the Canadian television station
OMNI.
According to the television interview transcript made
available to the
Zimbabwe Independent this week, Mugabe said he had no fear
of any kind even
if his potential successor from Zanu PF might be tempted to
go after him in
a bid to score political points as has happened in
Zambia.
He was responding to his interviewer, Jonathan Rooth, a
senior
producer with the station on whether or not he feared leaving office
on
suspicion that he might be hauled before the ICC to answer charges of
crimes
against humanity committed during his 26 years in
office.
"No, I have no fear of any kind, none at all. I don't see
any outsider
coming here to arrest us, what for?" said Mugabe. "It would
amount to
interference in our domestic affairs and this is what we have
resisted all
along."
There has been an outcry from
international organisations such as the
United Nations, Amnesty
International and Human Rights Watch over Zimbabwe's
human rights record,
which they blame on Mugabe's government.
Mugabe castigated the West
for its philosophy of human rights saying
that once Western governments grow
to dislike a leader they trump up charges
and find him guilty of violating
human rights.
"The West is subjective in its definition, and we
feel they should be
objective about it (human rights)," said
Mugabe.
"If they don't like a particular leader, the best way of
getting to
him is to find him guilty of violating human rights. And this is
what is
happening. Once you have that kind of psyche, that kind of
mentality, then
there is no objectivity about it. In the final analysis, no
justice along
the way. And so we do not accept the way they interpret the
whole system or
philosophy of human rights."
In what could
amount to stirring further tension between Washington
and Harare, Mugabe
concurred with the interviewer's question when asked if
he believed American
president, George Bush should stand trial for crimes
against humanity at the
ICC.
"Yes, yes. All these thousands who have died in Iraq who need
not have
died at all, because at the end of the day we ask the question:
'You told
the world that Saddam Hussein was guilty of amassing weapons of
mass
destruction, but later you say no, he hadn't done so. And yet in the
process
so many people have died. You must be arrested for it, arraigned for
it, and
tried."
Mugabe's 26-year-old regime stands accused by
the international
community of flagrantly violating guaranteed international
human rights
provided for under the United Nations Universal Declaration of
Civil and
Political Rights to which Zimbabwe is signatory.
Cases amounting to gross violation of human rights include Operation
Murambatsvina unleashed two years ago, which according to the United Nations
left more than 700 000 people homeless and the ever contentious Gukurahundi
atrocities committed in the 1980s against the people of
Matabeleland.
Zim Independent
Augustine Mukaro
THE scramble for dispossessed Zimbabwean
farmers intensifies in Africa
with Somaliland becoming the latest country to
offer land to evicted farmers
looking for a new start.
More
than 20 African countries are scrambling to snap up Zimbabwe's
commercial
farmers displaced from their properties by the chaotic and often
violent
land seizures in their bid to develop commercial agriculture.
Somaliland, a former British colony, broke away from Somalia over 10
years
ago.
Foreign minister Abdulali Duale told Farmers' Weekly in South
Africa
that he was keen to discuss agri-investment with experienced farmers
from
anywhere in the world, "but I must say we would favour our fellow
Africans,
of any colour, because they have an emotional stake in the
continent".
"There are many projects waiting to be developed, to
restock our
wildlife, open up commercial farming and rebuild the forest,"
Duale said. "I
know we are not one of the glamour destinations, but we do
have a sound
democracy and total commitment to a new age of commercial
farming. I hope
some farmers and conservationists will come and have a look
at our little
country.
"We are a sovereign state with a great
future. Our government and
people would be honoured to see new immigrants
from southern Africa coming
to build our farm sector," he said.
Commercial Farmers Union (CFU) spokesperson Emily Crooks said although
there
wasn't an official approach from the Somaliland government, a number
of
overtures had been undertaken and farmers would readily accept any offers
enabling them to restart their businesses.
"As farmers we are
very excited about the recognition of their skills
by other Africans
states," Crooks said. "We would take any opportunities
that would allow our
members to go back into faming."
Officials at CFU said the success
of the farmers' venture in Nigeria
had generated intense interest from
African governments keen to develop
commercial agriculture.
"The Nigerian project has opened many doors, and will continue to open
more
doors in other surrounding countries with private companies and
government
departments approaching us, wanting to put together similar
projects," an
official with the CFU division of Farmers In Touch said.
"Countries that
have contacted us include Ghana, Cameroon, Sudan, Guinea
Bissau, Benin,
Central African Republic and Namibia."
The official said a team was
working on getting a project similar to
the one in Nigeria together in
Senegal.
"Three trips have been made to Senegal and proposals are
being put
together. All parties involved are positive about this venture,"
he said.
Fifteen farmers and their families have already relocated to Kwara
State in
Nigeria.
Zim Independent
Augustine Mukaro
GOVERNMENT is planning to hire
an internationally recognised counsel
to defend its emotive land reform
programme taken to the International
Centre for Settlement of Investment
Disputes (ICSID) court by dispossessed
Dutch farmers.
A source
who attended the first hearing last December in Paris said
Zimbabwe
indicated its intention to hire a counsel and would soon notify the
ICSID.
"Zimbabwe plans to hire a counsel," the source
said.
"They have been allowed to do so and will notify ICSID as
soon as
possible."
The source said Zimbabwe was represented by
two lawyers from the
Attorney-General's office in Harare, accompanied by two
counsellors from the
Zimbabwean embassy in Paris.
The
Attorney-General Sobuza Gula-Ndebele could not attend the hearing
after he
was refused a visa due to EU restrictions on him.
"Chief law
officer in the Attorney-General's office, Virginia Mabhiza
was the team
spokesperson accompanied by a Mrs Mandimika," the source said.
"The two were
joined by a Mr Hove and Mugaviri from the Zimbabwean Embassy
in
Paris."
The source said concerned parties agreed that the tribunal
was
properly constituted and proceeded to draw up a schedule for the
case.
"We agreed that the claimants should submit their full
affidavit by
March 16, 2007, to which Zimbabwe was given to June 15, 2007 to
respond,"
the source said. "The final hearing has been set for October 29 to
November
1, 2007, again in Paris."
If the Dutch farmers win the
case, it could open the floodgates for
similar claims in international
courts by white farmers of different
nationalities whose businesses were
protected under Bippa agreements but
were still expropriated without
compensation. Bippas are Bilateral
Investment Promotion and Protection
Agreements.
The Dutch farmers argue that their properties were
protected under a
Bippa in which Harare promised to pay compensation to
Dutch nationals in
disputes arising out of any investments in
Zimbabwe.
Zimbabwe has Bippa agreements with several EU countries,
four of them
ratified by President Robert Mugabe. The trade pact compels
government to
protect the investments and properties of other countries from
arbitrary
expropriation.
Zimbabwe's case will be heard by a
tribunal of three arbitrators,
Judge Gilbert Guillaume of France, former
Boston University School of Law
dean Ronald Cass representing the farmers,
and former Pakistani Justice
minister Mohammad Wassi Zafar on behalf of the
Zimbabwe government.
Judge Guillaume, a former president of the
International Court of
Justice and a designee of the government of France to
the ICSID panel of
arbitrators, will preside as the casting vote in the
case.
If Zimbabwe loses the case it will be expected to pay in
excess of
US$15 million as compensation for improvements, land (title deed
value) and
expropriated moveable assets. The claim is currently accruing
interest
backdated to the time land was expropriated.
Zim Independent
Loughty
Dube
POLICE are keeping a tight lid on the identity of the
senior officer
who gunned down a 25-year-old Bulawayo man while he was
celebrating the
coming of the New Year. It has also emerged that the police
have now said
they will not be held responsible for the man's death since
the officer who
shot him was off duty.
Police have refused to
name the police officer who shot the man,
Artwell Magagada, in the head at
point blank range.
Magagada was shot when the police officer fired
at a crowd of
revellers who were celebrating on New Year's eve outside a
food outlet where
Magagada worked.
However, it has emerged that
enraged superiors have summoned the
police officer to a disciplinary hearing
expected in Harare today.
Magagada was hospitalised and kept in the
intensive care unit at
Catholic-run Mater Dei Hospital in Bulawayo but he
later died after he was
declared brain dead.
He was buried at
the West Acre cemetery in Bulawayo on Wednesday.
Police
spokesperson, Oliver Mandipaka, was curt when contacted on the
matter this
week.
"Police will investigate the matter to find out what
transpired before
the shooting incident, we are still investigating the
matter," Mandipaka
said.
When pressed to reveal more details on
the matter and to give the
identity of the police officer who pulled the
trigger, Mandipaka said it was
not in the public interest to reveal such
information.
"It is not in your interest to know that but that is a
police issue
and we are still doing investigations," Mandipaka
said.
The family of the deceased has already approached the
Zimbabwe Lawyers
for Human Rights (ZLHR) to assist them to sue the
police.
ZLHR chairman, Otto Saki, confirmed the latest
developments.
"Our lawyers are going to represent and assist the
family to take the
matter further in the courts because the police action is
unacceptable,"
Saki said.
The Zimbabwe Independent has
established that the senior police
officer who shot Magagada is a
superintendent.
It also emerged, according to police sources, that
the officer has
fatally shot two other people before the latest shooting
incident.
"The man is dangerous. He was transferred from Harare in
2004 after
shooting someone before he shot another man in Bulawayo in 2005
and this is
the third man he has shot in a space of three years," said a
police source.
Zim Independent
Vincent Kahiya
THE Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe has
since last October failed to remit
foreign currency payments to gold
producers in a development that saw gold
production plummeting to record
lows in the last quarter of the year.
The situation in the gold
sector is so dire that some producers who
closed for the Christmas break
have indicated that they will not re-open
their mines until they receive
their payments from the central bank.
Mining sources said most gold
mines were operating at below 40% of
capacity owing to a myriad problems,
chief among them an overvalued
currency, unsupportive monetary policy system
and power outages. The failure
to pay the producers on time has added to
their woes resulting in miners
cutting back production further by at least
30% in the last quarter of last
year.
The miners under the
Zimbabwe Chamber of Mines, together with
officials from the Mines ministry,
have since September held meetings with
the Reserve Bank to try and resolve
the crisis but to no avail.
One such meeting was held last Thursday
but there has not been any
development yet.
The RBZ through its
subsidiary Fidelity Refineries is supposed to pay
for 50% of gold within
four days of delivery, with the balance being paid
within 21
days.
"The RBZ has not been living up to this promise and in most
cases is
taking up to 60 days to pay," said a an executive at a
Midlands-based gold
mine. "This has serious cash flow implications for gold
producers."
He added: "Most inputs have to be imported for cash as
few foreign
suppliers will give credit to Zimbabwe companies. When the RBZ
is over 45
days overdue, it means a gold producer has to have working
capital for
consumables like cyanide, explosives, drilling spares, pump
spares, fuel etc
of at least 90 days, which is near impossible in these days
of tight cash
flow and high interest rates."
The gold mining
companies have been brought to their knees by this
latest development. It is
estimated they have lost at least 30% of their
production during the period
September to December due to the late payment
of sales proceeds by the
RBZ.
Last August, the RBZ increased gold miners' foreign currency
retention
package from 40% to 75% but later reduced it to 67,5%. Miners have
two main
options of receiving payment from the central bank. They can be
paid in
local currency at a rate of $16 000 a gramme or they can opt for
payment in
the foreign currency/Zimbabwe dollar blend.
Under
the former arrangement, payment is effected within a week and
sometimes as
early as three days. Under the latter, the value to be paid is
determined by
the ruling price on the international markets at the time of
delivery.
The miners should receive their foreign currency
payment within 21
days while the Zimbabwe dollar payment is usually done in
four days
calculated at the rate of $250:US$1.
Gold is
currently fetching about US$620 an ounce on the international
markets
It is the remission of the foreign currency that has
created problems.
Miners this week said they had not in any way felt the
impact of the upward
revision of the foreign currency threshold due to late
payment.
Central bank governor Gideon Gono when increasing the
threshold last
year said he expected gold production to increase in tandem
with the new
policy. Miners have however said the sector does not operate
that way.
"The RBZ harbour this misinformed opinion that by
increasing the forex
retention levels, there would be an automatic increase
in production," said
one miner. "For a start, we are not mushroom growers.
This is a complicated
business in which policy changes like the increase in
retention takes a
minimum of 24 months to take effect."
Zim Independent
Shakeman Mugari
THE Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) has been
buying gold from informal
miners who are now under siege from government and
the police for engaging
in illegal activities.
According to
regulations, it is illegal for any one to buy gold from
unlicensed gold
miners.
Investigations however revealed that unlicensed miners have
been
selling their gold to government through Fidelity Printers, a
parastatal
which falls under the central bank. The investigations show that
Fidelity
does not ask to see a mining licence before accepting gold from
sellers.
This is the not the first time officialdom has been
involved in
shadowy purchasing of precious minerals. At the height of the
diamond rush
in Marange last year, the Minerals Marketing Corporation of
Zimbabwe was
buying precious stones from villagers on a no-questions-asked
basis. MMCZ
only stopped buying diamonds when the illegal mining activities
were stopped
by the police.
A call to Fidelity revealed that
the RBZ arm is paying $16 000 for a
gramme of gold. "Just bring your gold
sir, the issue about licensing will be
dealt with later. There are no
questions asked," said an official at
Fidelity.
Asked whether
they will not report the matter to the police, the
official said: "Fidelity
just buys gold, it is the police who arrest." The
central bank has been
financing small-scale miners to buy mining and
processing equipment,
especially in the Kwekwe area which is the hub of gold
panning in the
country.
Fidelity will then dispatch teams to those areas to buy
the gold.
Those involved in the sector said the officials from Fidelity who
go into
the field were not issuing receipts or any form of documentation to
authenticate their transactions with the informal miners.
Experts in the sector say some registered small-scale miners claim
licence-holders have been taking advantage of the porous system to buy gold
from unlicensed miners for on-selling to Fidelity.
Police have
over the past three weeks arrested thousands of gold
panners under Operation
Chikorokoza Chapera. Gold panning is however
unlikely to stop because the
miners have a ready market in the form of
Fidelity.
Zim Independent
Ray Matikinye
A NOTICE stuck at the entrance
tells you all is not well at Harare
Hospital.
It notifies
visitors of an immediate cancellation of the traditional
morning visits to
see sick relatives.
Next to it is a whimsical warning in the Shona
vernacular: "Kupfeka
chibhachi chichena hutengesi" ("Putting on the white
doctor's frock is
selling out") beneath a slew of sarcastic rhetoric that
represents striking
junior doctors' grievances.
"Are you able
to put food on your family's table? Are you able to
clothe and feed
yourself?" read some of the remarks.
And competing for space on the
same door is a stereotype notice
cautioning staff about having to "clock in
and clock out" to register their
presence as a way of monitoring staff
levels during the job boycott.
It contrasts sharply with the
warning against putting on the doctor's
white dustcoat and dangling a
stethoscope around one's neck.
"The money we earn is equivalent to
two crates of beer which a brewery
across the road routinely doles out to
its general hands," one doctor said.
Along the long corridor an
absent-minded cleaner nonchalantly wipes a
spot on the edge of the corridor
apparently without any intention to
complete the task.
Outside
across the driveway dispirited relatives hover over a body
crumpled on a
stretcher in searing mid-day heat, looking puzzled what to do
next.
Stroll into the admission block and witness much of the
same.
A junior resident medical officer stands in the consulting
room
doorway. He alternates between bobbing his head to register
comprehension
and twiddling with his stethoscope, while the younger son of a
patient
pleads: "He has been a regular patient here and has his medical
records with
him, please doctor."
He is one of the few striking
junior doctors who decided they should
only attend to emergency cases on a
rotational basis.
A few paces from the doorway, the pleading man's
brother tries to
suppress spasmodic jerks from a languid body slumped in a
wheelchair.
The sick man tries to draw his son's head down to tell
him something,
but the groping hand collapses into his lap in
vain.
Moments earlier, the emptiness of the admissions ward at
Harare
Hospital had echoed with the tearless wail of a middle aged woman who
had
stomped out, too shocked to witness the tear-jerking spectacle of an
equally
disposed relative.
"The doctor says he cannot help,"
the son reports back to a group of
relatives huddled in a
corner.
As the family tries to assist the patient into the back
seat of the
car, the elder brother's mobile phone rings.
He
explains the situation. "We are taking him back home to Mufakose
because the
doctors here are unwilling to help," he says, adding after a
long pause: "We
don't have the money to take him to a private doctor."
From the
thread of the conversation, the voice at the other end of the
line suggests
they take the sick man to a rural hospital. "We neither have
the money nor
the fuel for that. We hope and pray God will intervene and not
allow people
to die because of their poverty," the man says in desperation.
Before the family leaves, they huddle again in an open prayer pleading
for
divine intervention that their relative lives through the ordeal.
As they drive off, a municipal ambulance takes up the vacant parking
space.
Out come two enthusiastic medics to retrieve a patient they had
brought in
from Nazareth Infectious Diseases hospital.
One of the medics has
wrapped plastic bags for lack of latex gloves
round his hands.
"We still don't have doctors and the people at your hospital should
know
better than send their patients here," a nurse clutching a sheaf of the
emaciated patient's medical records reminds the medics.
A few
minutes later two hearses from different informal funeral
parlours
accompanied by a police officer each drive off too after
registering two
deaths at home.
Nowhere in Zimbabwe's hospitals would one probably
encounter the kind
of scene described by Axel Munthe in The Story of San
Michelle, where a
surgeon, his frock spattered with blood and pus, carves up
patient after
patient with the same scalpel and flings severed limbs into a
pile besides a
table.
But the horror akin to medical care
before the advent of anesthetic
chloroform is gradually creeping within
spitting distance of that
illustration owing to a shortage of drugs,
manpower and a demoralised staff.
For a ministry that flaunts its
mission as "human resource management
with special emphasis on retention of
staff and improving conditions of
service for health workers, improving
logistics and supply management
including ensuring drugs, laboratory and
hospital equipment and transport,
especially ambulance availability", a work
boycott over deteriorating
working conditions has unravelled Zimbabwe's
health delivery system.
Since December 21, frustrated junior
doctors unfrocked themselves of
their traditional medical garb and laid down
their stethoscopes in protest
over unresolved pay and other working
conditions.
"We cannot live on false promises and we have realised
that dialogue
with our employers has not yielded desired results over the
past six
months," says Simbarashe Ndoda, one of the junior resident medical
officers
(JRMO) on strike.
Ndoda stays in Chitungwiza and has
to commute to Harare Hospital daily
although he is supposed to be resident
at the hospital. Out of a hundred
doctors, there is only accommodation for
30. Others share available
accommodation, while five junior doctors on
stand-by duty share one
call-room.
Ndoda says the Hospital
Doctors Association that represents doctors
who have completed a year of
internship does not represent JRMOs.
The chairman of HSB, Dr
Lovemore Mbengeranwa, told junior doctors that
his board does not recognise
them.
"The Health Service Board does not recognise us," Ndoda says
explaining that none of the incentives the junior resident medical officers
were promised six months ago when they resorted to similar work stoppage had
been forthcoming.
Under the present arrangement, a doctor who
qualifies from the
university is obliged to undergo two years internship,
divided into medics
and surgery during the first year and operations,
pediatrics and anesthetic
during the second year before going on further
attachment at a rural
district hospital for open practice before he can be
given a letter of good
standing.
"We operate in an environment
where nothing is concrete. There is no
written undertaking by our employer
of the way the system operates," says
another junior doctor, Amon
Severegi.
He says JRMOs are not against the internship conditions.
"But one is
not guaranteed that after a year at a district hospital he or
she will
receive their letter of good standing. One might end up doing the
stint for
more than five years as long as the station has not achieved a
full
complement of say five doctors," Severegi says.
Health
minister David Parirenyatwa on Tuesday met with hospital
consulting doctors
in an effort to break the standoff to the strike by
junior doctors without
success.
Doctors dug in their heels while Parirenyatwa insisted
that the
strikers go back to work while the government considers their
grievances.
President of the Hospital Doctors Association, Dr
Kudakwashe
Nyamutukwa, said on Wednesday that doctors would not return to
work until
their demands for a salary hike from $56 000 to $5 million as of
January.
Doctors equate the salary demand with R12 000 earned by
their
counterparts in neighbouring South Africa.
"You will
realise the demand is realistic considering the rate of
inflation," said a
second year intern manning the doctor's recreation club
at Harare
Hospital.
The junior doctor who insisted his name was immaterial
said most of
his colleagues could not even afford to buy a
stove.
Although he said the Health Service Board was a noble idea
he likened
its lack of mandate to make concrete decisions to buying an
electrical
gadget and sending it to the rural areas where there is no
electricity.
"The Health Service Board has no answers to our
problems and until it
is empowered to make financial decisions without
resorting to dipping into
the ministry's depleted coffers I see no
breakthrough," the doctor said.
A parliamentary committee on the
Health and Child Welfare ministry in
October recommended that conditions of
health workers be addressed as a
matter of urgency if the ministry was to
accomplish health goals.
"Over the years, the earning capacity of
health workers had been
eroded due to the prevailing high inflationary
environment," the committee
report says.
"This has visibly
frustrated professionals who cannot afford to pay
school fees for their
children, cannot purchase decent accommodation and
afford decent
transportation."
"Government accuses us of lack of patriotism, but
I think it should
show more commitment to fulfilling its promises before it
can point fingers
at junior doctors," says Severegi. He says most junior
doctors are willing
to plough back the investment government put in their
training by deploying
to rural hospitals provided government keeps its part
of the bargain.
Zim Independent
Pindai Dube
THE National Social Security
Authority (Nssa) has abandoned plans to
construct a multi-billion dollar
shopping complex in the resort town of
Victoria Falls after government
vetoed the project.
Businessdigest is informed that government has
now instructed Nssa to
use funds earmarked for the shopping complex towards
the construction of
facilities in Beitbridge in anticipation of increased
tourist traffic during
2010 soccer World Cup to be hosted by South
Africa.
Philemon Chereni, the Nssa public relations manager,
confirmed that
government had ordered them to suspend construction of the
Victoria Falls
complex.
He also confirmed that the ministry
ordered Nssa to focus on
constructing a complex in Beitbridge in
anticipation of the 2010 World Cup.
"The government has ordered us
to suspended the construction of the
complex in the resort town and to
re-directed our resources to Beitbridge
complex in preparation of 2010 World
Cup," said Chereni.
Nssa is a compulsory pension scheme falling
under of Public Service
ministry.
Government is hoping that the
country, facing its worst economic
crisis in history, characterised by acute
foreign currency shortages, will
benefit from South Africa's hosting of the
World Cup through increased
tourist traffic into the country.
No official comment could be obtained from Public Service minister
Nicholas
Goche and his deputy Abednico Ncube.
The construction of the
complex in the resort town, which was mooted
some five years ago, had been
affected by a number of problems, including
foreign currency
shortages.
Last year construction had to be shelved after the
Administrative
Court nullified the awarding of a tender to construct it to a
Chinese
company following an outcry by other companies that tender
procedures were
not followed.
Zim Independent
Paul
Nyakazeya
COMMERCIAL banks have increased their minimum lending
rates (MLR)
after the central bank quietly hiked the key accommodation rate
at the end
of December.
The central bank, which was expected to
review the accommodation rate
during the monetary policy review later this
month, increased the key rate
to 500% and 600% for secured and unsecured
borrowing respectively, from 300%
and 350% which had been announced at the
last monetary policy review in
July.
The accommodation rate is
the rate at which financial institutions
borrow from the Reserve Bank to
cover daily shortfalls, and determines all
other rates on the money
market.
FBC Bank, ZABG and ZB Bank, formerly Zimbank, increased
their MLRs to
500%, from 300%, 400% and 300% respectively.
Kingdom and NMB increased their MLRs to 400%, from 295% and 300%
respectively. Metropolitan Bank's MLR went up to 550%, from
300%.
Barclays Bank, which had increased its lending rates to 500%
from 375%
on December 21, went against the tide by reviewing the rate back
to 375%
this month.
Stanbic Bank increased its MLR to 450% from
350%.
Zim Independent
Dumisani Ndlela
ANALYSTS this week hinted at
extensive support for the central bank's
$160 billion bills from pension
funds and insurance companies but said the
fixed coupon rate on the
instrument was too low to attract other
institutional investors
Pension and insurance funds are compelled by law to have a determined
percentage of their portfolios in prescribed assets and central bank
governor Gideon Gono last year called on the sector's regulatory authorities
to compel these institutions to meet prescribed asset levels.
Market watchers said the majority of investors were still undecided
over the
investment course to take this year, and were still awaiting Gono's
monetary
policy statement for a cue.
However, the tender for the bills,
released to the market on Friday
and whose take-up started on Monday, had
already sent punters scurrying to
the stock market after analysts said it
provided the most credible cue on
the direction of interest
rates.
"This indicates the governor's desire to keep rates low," an
asset
manager said, referring to the coupon rate on the bills. "He (governor
Gono)
is unlikely to move rates higher than what he is offering on the bills
when
he presents his monetary policy statement."
The bills,
three-year government of Zimbabwe local registered stock,
will be listed on
the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange (ZSE), with interest being
charged on the
general revenue account and assets of the country, are meant
to raise funds
to finance government capital projects.
Other analysts however said
support for the bills was likely to be
scant.
"We do not think
the paper will garner enough market support to
negatively affect money
market liquidity," an asset management firm said in
a weekly update to
investors.
The coupon rate for the bills, which have a prescribed
and liquid
asset status, is fixed at 350%, 250% and 100% over 2007, 2008 and
2009
respectively.
The bills are acceptable as collateral for
repo and overnight
accommodation by the central bank and are redeemable at
the Reserve Bank of
Zimbabwe (RBZ) on maturity.
Interest on the
bills will be paid half-yearly on dates to be
indicated on the stock
certificates by remittances to the credit of the
investors' bank
accounts.
"The stock will be redeemed at par in the currency of
Zimbabwe.The
stock register may be closed as regards transfer of amounts of
this stock
for a period of not more than thirty days immediately preceding
the
redemptive date," the RBZ said in a public notice accompanying the
tender.
Zim Independent
By
a special correspondent
IT is no secret that the Zimbabwean
mining industry has been shrinking
over the past six years and has not
witnessed any significant new investment
other than in the platinum and
diamonds sectors. The gold industry has been
particularly affected with
production having fallen from a high of 29 tonnes
per annum at its peak to
the current 12 tonnes expected to have been
produced in 2006.
Why has the gold sector contracted so dramatically when the platinum
sector
has been expanding? Recent press and company market briefings
indicate that
the two current platinum producers, Zimplats and Mimosa, have
systematically
increased production and new investments over the past six
years and will
continue to do so in the near future. A third producer, Unki
Platinum, under
Anglo has committed and started its capital investment to
bring another mine
into production in the next few years. This is in direct
contrast to the
Zimbabwean mining industry in general and the mining sector
in
particular.
The answer is very simple. The platinum industry enjoys
a fiscal and
monetary regime far superior to any other sector of the
Zimbabwe economy.
The platinum industry is allowed to retain 100% of its
foreign currency
earnings offshore, and only liquidates into the Zimbabwe
dollar as and when
it so wishes.
The mining industry is a
capital-intensive industry and typically it
takes a long time before any
profits can be realised. Most of the capital
required in this industry is
forex-based as most of the items are imported.
In addition, most of the
consumables in the industry are imported and
typically, up to 75% of a
mine's input costs including capital are imported.
It is a known
fact that although gold producers operate in an
environment of high capital
requirements, long lead times to production,
high recurring foreign exchange
requirements, they have been subjected to
the worst monetary regime of any
other exporter in the country.
Indeed, the anomaly whereby gold
producers enjoyed only 40% retention
of their earnings in US dollar, whilst
the majority of others enjoy 70%,
whilst simultaneously requiring high
foreign exchange retentions to sustain
and grow operations, has contributed
to the fall of production and new
investment in the gold
industry.
Until August 2006, gold producers were required to
surrender 60% of
their forex earnings to the government at a sub-economic
exchange rate. The
40% forex retention was hardly enough to take care of
working capital
requirements, leaving virtually nothing for critical capital
such as
exploration, equipment, etc.
What is the typical cost
of mining gold in Zimbabwe? No two mines have
the same cost profile. For
simplicity, one can take two typical examples
which are an open pit, shallow
to medium depth ore body, heap leach
operation (category one) and an
underground deep, narrow ore body with a
long strike that uses standard
crushing, milling and leaching technology
(category two). These costs have
also been exaggerated because of the
overvalued currency to some extent, but
essentially represents the typical
costs of a gold miner in Zimbabwe. Table
I shows data for the two typical
example.
One may ask, if the
costs of gold production are so high, how gold
mines have survived over the
years when gold prices have been below US$400
per ounce. The answer is
simple; when prices are high, most mines undertake
their long-term capital
investment and when prices are low, capital
expenditure is brought to a
minimum.
Based on the above figures, one can easily determine the
forex
retention level required by gold producers to maintain and grow
operations
at different gold prices and table II shows the retention levels
required.
Therefore, based on these numbers, the operational
retention as a
percent of revenue needs to be between 51% and 68% for
category one and
between 46% and 61% for category 2. The capital retention
as a percent of
revenue needs to be between 19% and 25% for category one and
between 25% and
32% for category 2.
The total retention to
ensure the continued operation and increased
exploration and development of
the mines is thus between 70% and 93 % for
both categories of mines.
Therefore even at the higher gold prices, a
retention of at least 70% is
required. These figures include a percent for
return on capital and
management fees of between 4% and 5%.
Over the years when gold
producers have been allowed to retain only
40% of their forex earnings, it
stands to reason that no capital expenditure
has taken place. No new
exploration, development ramp up and equipment have
been done by gold
miners. They have been preoccupied with just survival to
worry about
replacement let alone expansion capital.
What the authorities do
not realise is that whatever capital a miner
does not do today, he will have
to do it in future. You cannot reap where
you did not sow. In order to
maintain production, a miner must replace what
he mines today through
exploration and development and equipment has to be
renewed at appropriate
times. To increase production, a miner must carry out
additional exploration
and investment in new equipment.
In October last year, gold
producers were summoned to a meeting with
the governor of the RBZ and the
Minister of Mines. The governor berated gold
producers for not having
increased production despite the retention having
been increased from 40% to
75% (and then down to 67,5% later) since August
2006. The miners responded
that it was impossible to see the effects of the
increased retention in such
a short period of time as policy changes in the
mining industry take a
minimum of 24 months to take effect.
Obviously to increase
production, capital has to be spent, development
and exploration has to take
place and whatever capital work functional was
not done during the period
when the authorities were milking the forex from
gold producers would have
to be done now. It was obvious from this meeting
that there seemed to be a
lack of trust between the miners and the RBZ and
the expectations that gold
production would increase in the short-term were
misplaced.
The
issue of the exchange rate at which exporters surrender their
forex to the
RBZ has also contributed to the slump in gold production. Since
August 2006,
the exchange rate has been fixed at $250:US$1. Inflation has
been going up
by 20% to 30% per month since then. Wages and salaries in the
industry have
gone up dramatically and all costs have been going up and yet
the exchange
rate has been kept at an unrealistic level.
Essentially the revenue
exchange rate is set at $250:US$1 while the
cost exchange rate is the
parallel rate. No business can operate like that
for too long and sooner or
later the impact will be apparent to everyone. It
must be remembered that
the exchange rate has largely been fixed for the
past four years, which has
driven all exporters to be unviable, thus driving
many of them out of
business.
More shocking in the gold industry are developments since
September
2006. The RBZ is supposed to pay for 50% of gold deliveries within
four days
of delivery, with the balance being paid within 21 days. The RBZ
has not
been living up to this promise and in most cases is taking up to 60
days to
pay. This has serious cash flow implications for gold producers.
Most inputs
have to be imported for cash as few foreign suppliers will give
credit to
Zimbabwe companies. When the RBZ is over 45 days overdue, it means
a gold
producer has to have working capital (consumables like cyanide,
explosives,
drilling spares, pump spares, fuel etc) of at least 90 days,
which is near
impossible in these days of tight cash flow and high interest
rates. The
gold mining companies have been brought down to their knees by
this latest
development. It is estimated that gold mining companies have
lost at least
30% of their production during the period September to
December due to the
late payment of sales proceeds by the RBZ.
It is difficult to understand the motive behind this failure to pay
gold
producers on time; surely, by paying on time, gold producers are able
to
produce more gold and therefore earn the country more foreign currency.
Representations made to the RBZ and the Ministry of Mines, which is
responsible for administering both the Mines and Minerals Act and the Gold
Trade Act, have yielded no positive result. It is now near impossible to
plan procurement of inputs and production at the operations. In the
meantime, companies have to meet fixed costs like wages and salaries,
pumping and general maintenance even when production is curtailed through no
fault of theirs.
Mining companies have also been inundated with
officials from the RBZ
and the ZRP. There is a proliferation of people with
not much mining
knowledge visiting operations and disrupting operations as a
lot of
management time is spent on these visitors. One big company was
approached
by the ZRP who wanted to see the specifications of the locks to
the elution
tanks so that they (ZRP) could buy their own locks and that
elution would
only take place in the presence of ZRP officers.
Recently the government engaged an international inspection company to
audit
gold producers to ensure that producers do not side market gold. The
gold
industry welcomed this move as it will show once and for all that gold
leakages are not from formal producers, but are from the korokozas. Chamber
affiliated mines are unlikely to side market gold due to the risks
associated with it; that would jeopardise a whole investment worth millions
of US dollars for a few pieces of silver. The reduction in production
witnessed over the years has more to do with viability in the industry than
side marketing by formal producers who are mostly Chamber of Mines
affiliated. The industry has welcomed the clampdown on illegal mining as
this is good for the country in terms of the environment and the eradication
of the black market for gold.
It is crazy that gold producers
are on their knees when gold prices
are at historically very high levels.
Gold mining in other countries has
taken off, but in Zimbabwe it has fallen
to pathetic levels.
Government and RBZ officials need to work
closely with industry to
ensure viability and growth. The Ministry of Mines
has been supportive to a
very large extent, but there seems to be
difficulties at the RBZ.
* The author is a large-scale indigenous
gold miner.
Zim Independent
Augustine Mukaro/ Shakeman Mugari
POURING money into the Cold
Storage Company (CSC) in conformity with
President Robert Mugabe's political
machinations could turn out to be
another of government's futile efforts at
economic revival unless key
problems affecting the agricultural sector are
addressed.
An angry Mugabe in December told a rally that the
Marondera abattoir -
one of the CSC branches that have been closed for years
- should be revived
immediately.
He directed Minister of
Agriculture Joseph Made and Finance minister
Herbert Murerwa to ensure that
the abattoir was opened.
With feigned enthusiasm, hordes of
ministers together with top
government officials, rushed to tour the plant,
injecting billions of
dollars to kick-start the revival
programme.
Suddenly there was renewed interest in the affairs of
the abattoir,
which had been shut down for the past four years. In their
customary style
ministers started making wild promises.
Made,
who watched haplessly while CSC collapsed, promised to bring in
the
Department of Veterinary Services to help in the speedy implementation
of
the slaughter stock resuscitation programme.
Already $5 billion has
been provided to purchase slaughter stock,
which Made said was the beginning
of the revival of the CSC which started
going down the tubes as early as
1996.
Murerwa said a further $5 billion was going to be poured into
the
Marondera abattoir for it to reach full capacity.
Analysts
however said giving money to CSC or any other troubled state
company could
be a waste of taxpayers' funds unless the key problems are
addressed.
They said all parastatals are collapsing because of
corruption,
mismanagement, government interference and patronage, all of
which have
nothing to do with lack of money.
They said this was
another sign that government still believes,
erroneously so, that throwing
money at troubled parastatals will solve their
problems. Money has never
been a problem for parastatals and should
therefore not be used as a
solution for their perennial woes, the analysts
said.
The
period from 2004 to 2005 when the central bank poured more than
$70 billion
into parastatals clearly indicates that these companies cannot
be turned
around even with all the money in the world.
Over the past two
years there has been a mad rush to inject billions
into Zisco, National
Railways of Zimbabwe, Air Zimbabwe and Zesa. Other
parastatals like ZBC,
CMED and Zupco also fed from the treasury. In all the
cases the results have
been the same - failure.
"It's clear that these parastatals do not
need cash but a complete
overhaul of their structures and the way they are
run," said an economist
with a local bank. "All the state companies have
received money from the
central bank but they are failing to
perform."
Even after getting money last year, CSC still failed to
turn around.
The economist said CSC problems are directly linked to the
chaotic land
reform which destroyed the national herd as new farmers went on
a slaughter
spree after getting onto the farms. The results have been
disastrous for CSC
and the whole agricultural sector.
CSC's
problems seem to have started as early as 1996 when the company
started
losing its market share after its monopoly as the only meat
processor was
removed.
From 1988 to 1996 CSC's market share slumped from about
88% to 45%.
Over the past decade its market share has slumped further as it
battles
pressure from private abattoirs that are run commercially and
efficiently.
Zimbabwe used to earn around US$38 million annually
from the 9
100-tonne European Union (EU) beef quota before the contract was
suspended
in 2001 due to the country's failure to control stock diseases
like
foot-and-mouth and anthrax.
Beef exports accounted for
about 4% of the country's total foreign
currency earnings.
The
launch of the land reform programme six years ago plunged the
agricultural
sector into chaos resulting in the country's national herd
plummeting by a
massive 82% from 1, 4 million cattle as of 2000 to less than
250 000 at
present. This decline coupled with the uncontrolled cattle
movement at the
peak of land reform resulted in the industry falling way
below EU
standards.
The situation was worsened by the recurring
foot-and-mouth disease
outbreaks which government has failed to eradicate
over the past five years.
The FMD recurrence thwarted the country's effort
to resume its lucrative
exports to the European Union which in turn starved
government of the
much-needed forex to fund the restocking of the depleted
herds on its
ranches.
Beef exporting expert and former CSC
general manager Eddie Cross said
piecemeal solutions and pouring money into
CSC would not remedy or even
sustain the parastatal's life unless
fundamentals were addressed.
"CSC problems are institutional and
trying to deal with them abattoir
by abattoir would be a wrong approach,"
Cross said. "The collapse of CSC was
mainly caused by poor policy decisions
by government and failure to
administer the entity on commercial lines
resulting in producers shunning it
for private abattoirs."
Cross said CSC over the years was sustained by its export proceeds,
which
were very profitable.
"Domestic markets and the day to day running
of CSC have always been
heavily subsidised by exports so the collapse of
commercial agriculture
triggered the collapse of the parastatal," he said.
He said commercial
farmers used to supply 97% of the slaughter stock while
3% came from
communal farmers.
"The collapse of commercial
agriculture in the country transferred
cattle into the hands of the communal
farmers where cattle are treated as
measurement of wealth and are not
disposed of easily," he said.
"That development reduced slaughter
stock from 750 000 animals per
year to around 25 000 animals over the
period, pushing up demand and
prices," Cross said.
Beef experts
said the chaos in the agricultural sector has resulted in
the industry
falling far short of meeting EU standards, particularly the
system of
identification, registration and labelling of bovine animals.
"The
first requirement for all operators and organisations marketing
fresh or
frozen beef or veal is to label it with individual traceability
codes which
may be the identification number of the animal from which the
meat is
derived or an identification number relating to a group of animals,"
the
expert said.
Experts said continued farm seizures and equipment
vandalism of
facilities have resulted in producers failing to maintain
slaughterhouses
and de-boning plants in shapes adhering to export standards.
The situation
has been exacerbated by the uncontrolled movement of cattle
and wildlife,
resulting in FMD outbreaks that have forced the suspension of
beef exports.
In their latest report Cattle Producers Association
(CPA) FMD
continued to recur over the past five years because of
uncontrolled
movements of cattle.
"FMD continues to haunt us,"
the CPA report says. "Veterinary services
ability to source vaccine from
other countries is directly related to the
availability of foreign currency
to pay our debts and this has been a major
problem. However, vaccination is
not the total solution to FMD control and
until the fundamental issue of
illegal cattle movement is addressed,
Zimbabwe will continue to see the
recurrence of FMD."
EU compels all beef exporting countries to
introduce the same system
of identification, registration and labelling,
together with provision for a
parallel voluntary system.
The EU
also requires the member states to label their products with an
approved
number of slaughterhouse and de-boning plants, date of slaughter,
category
of animal and the ideal maturation period.
CPA officials said the
chaos in the agricultural sector has destroyed
the internationally
acceptable beef exporting facilities and has made the
FMD uncontrollable in
most of the affected areas.
"I am sorry to say that FMD has still
not been brought under control
in some areas," a CPA official said. "Vaccine
has been in short supply to do
vaccinations consistently but it is also
recognised that vaccination alone
does not control FMD. Only restrictions on
movement can achieve this."
He said the continued farm seizures and
harassment and eviction of
farmers from their properties have forced
producers to slaughter large
numbers of cattle including pedigree animals
genetically adapted to the
environment.
Zim Independent
Shame Makoshori
A DISPUTE over the confiscation
of small-scale miners' equipment and
closure of their operations by the
police has been referred to
Vice-President Joice Mujuru's office after Mines
minister Amos Midzi made a
veiled admission he had no clout to intervene on
the miners' behalf, mining
industry sources said this week.
The
admission by Midzi is said to have been made during his meeting
with
small-scale miners' representatives on Thursday last week.
Sources
who attended the meeting told businessdigest that the miners
accused
government of double standards.
On the one hand, government was
licensing the miners to operate
small-scale mines, on the other, it was
arresting the same miners and
closing down their operations for alleged gold
smuggling by unregistered
gold panners.
Small-scale miners'
representatives, said to have been highly charged
during the meeting, had
lambasted government for hypocrisy, in that while it
publicly pledged to
promote the development of the small-scale mining sector
through its
indegenisation policies, it was at the same time destroying
enterprises
created by long-suffering citizens in that spirit.
"It was an
acrimonious meeting. The minister decided to refer the
burning issues to
acting President Joice Mujuru," a source said yesterday.
Police
last month launched a controversial programme dubbed Operation
Chikorokoza
Chapera in what they alleged was a bid to stop illegal gold
panning and
rampant gold leakages in the country.
Zimbabwe Miners Federation
president, George Kawonza, told the
Zimbabwe Independent last week that the
organisation was contemplating
taking legal action against government if
police continued arresting
registered
miners.
"We
support fully the eradication of gold panning in this country but
for
legally licensed miners to be harassed in this manner is unacceptable,"
Kawonza said.
Police have, however, vowed to continue with the
operation which has
so far resulted in the arrest of more than 20 000 gold
panners and about 250
registered small-scale gold miners.
Businessdigest understands that Midzi is scheduled to hold a meeting
with
Mujuru to discuss the dispute, said by analysts to have the potential
to
further reduce official supplies to the central bank, the sole buyer of
gold
in the country through subsidiary Fidelity Printers.
Midzi could
not take businessdigest's questions yesterday, saying he
was in a
meeting.
Last week, police destroyed millions of dollars worth of
mining
equipment in the crackdown but most small-scale gold miners argued
that they
supplied gold to Fidelity Printers.
But the police
have said they were not shutting down any mines but
were arresting people
who were committing crimes.
Zim Independent
Comment
THE New Year has opened with one of the MDC factions raising
an early
warning about the obstacles that lie ahead. In his New Year
message, Arthur
Mutambara said there was no alternative to unity among
democratic forces if
they wish to make an impact on Zimbabwe's political
scene.
The challenge to opposition forces was both a wake-up call
as well as
a possible requiem. He said it was puerile for the opposition
party to hope
that Zanu PF would author its own death as has been much
talked about
following failure by the ruling party to pass any resolutions
at its
December people's conference and divisions over President Robert
Mugabe's
plans to extend his tenure by two years to 2010.
Mutambara at the same time said if the opposition factions failed to
cooperate "as a matter of urgency, the people of Zimbabwe must reject them
completely and develop other alternatives".
We found it
salutary that the message comes early in the year to give
all democratic
forces enough time to set out and publicise their agendas. It
is also
important that Mutambara realises that no leader is indispensable
and that
all their decisions must be informed by the national interest over
the quest
for personal glory.
What is not clear is how the other faction led
by Morgan Tsvangirai
views the issue of a united front.
What
however has emerged since the acrimonious split of the MDC in
October 2005
is that the party has been greatly weakened to the obvious
advantage of what
should have been their common enemy.
Results of last year's rural
council elections made this evident
enough when the party failed to dent
Zanu PF's predominance in the rural
areas. While the two factions have
continued to feud over who is the real
MDC and the leader of the opposition,
Zanu PF has been setting the agenda on
national discourse.
What
has been most discouraging to opposition supporters is the lack
of action
throughout the whole of last year. This was despite threats of
decisive
action against President Mugabe's regime. This was despite a
deepening
political and economic crisis for which Zanu PF appears unable to
offer
remedies of any sort.
As we enter the New Year, Zanu PF has already
set the national agenda
over an issue which should have been confined to the
party - Mugabe's
successor and how this is now being linked to the
harmonisation of all major
national elections in the future. There is
universal agreement across the
political divide that Mugabe has become an
albatross around the nation's
neck and the biggest obstacle to any immediate
economic revival. Yet the
forlorn hope that a significant number of Zanu PF
MPs will vote with the MDC
to block a constitutional amendment to give legal
effect to Mugabe's
manoeuvres is no more than wishful
daydreaming.
The MDC's reaction to these plans has been very
feeble, hoping against
hope that Zanu PF would roast itself because there
are some in the party who
have finally seen the light. There were similar
pious hopes that there would
be a mass exodus when former Zvishavane MP
Pearson Mbalekwa left Zanu PF to
protest the brutal execution of Operation
Murambatsvina in 2005.
Once he was out in the cold the rest made
tactical retreats. To
imagine anything dramatic over Mugabe's exit is naïve
and foolhardy. That is
until the opposition MDC demonstrates that it is
strong, viable and can
offer an alternative shelter to those who are tired
of Zanu PF's misrule. If
this sounds like political opportunism it is
because we are talking about
political prostitutes in both
parties.
There are few who have a single principle they can
advertise as the
reason why Zimbabweans should vote for them.
This is evident among careerist officials in the two MDC factions
where talk
of unity poses a serious threat to their livelihoods. Each one of
them
thinks about their position in the party as a form of employment, not a
national duty that can be surrendered to others. There has been talk that
while the leaders have been well disposed towards unity, their underlings
fear being cast by the wayside.
While Mutambara's call for
unity among democratic forces is most
welcome to Zimbabweans who are
frustrated by the current paralysis, its
success will largely depend on how
the MDC resolves internal uneasiness by
officials who fear losing their plum
sinecures and the manifold benefits
they derive from posturing as fighters
for freedom.
As we have said in the past, merely standing on
pedestals and calling
Mugabe a dictator is not enough to change Zanu PF's
destructive policies.
This is because there are thousands of others who make
a living by propping
up the establishment. Whether the MDC is up to the task
of shifting the
balance of political forces this year is still to be seen.
That starts with
the party putting its house in order and setting a
convincing agenda rather
than waiting for the succession crisis in Zanu PF
to give it a boon.
Zim Independent
Muckraker
WE were intrigued by a statement carried in
the Herald last Thursday
from the Media and Information Commission on Trevor
Ncube's court case which
has attracted widespread international
attention.
Ncube is fighting to have his passport renewed while the
Registrar-General's office claims that he is not entitled to Zimbabwean
citizenship because his father was born in Zambia.
Ncube was
born and raised in Zimbabwe.
The MIC released a statement saying it
was "outraged by a campaign of
disinformation originating from Ncube's own
papers but circulated mainly
through Internet sites in which the writers
suggest that the commission is
somehow behind the case."
The
MIC denies this saying it only learnt of Ncube's difficulties
through the
press.
Perhaps the commission could tell us which of Ncube's papers
"originated" the story of Ncube's passport difficulties? We are aware of a
story appearing in the Herald of December 30 headed "Ncube contests loss of
Zim citizenship". But there is no evidence of a story appearing in any of
Ncube's papers before that date. The Mail & Guardian covered the case in
its
issue of January 5.
We would hate to think newspapers are
being falsely accused in this
instance. Perhaps we could have some
clarification from the MIC so we are
clear on exactly where the
"misinformation" came from!
And still on the subject of the
MIC, is it appropriate for the
commission's chair, Tafataona Mahoso, to use
his column in the Sunday Mail
to abuse journalists in the independent press
as he did in the case of the
Financial Gazette's Mavis Makuni last Sunday?
He should make a much greater
effort to avoid any comment that may reflect
poorly on the professionalism
and impartiality of the commission he
heads.
He should make up his mind: either he functions as a
regulator the
media can respect or he remains as an unbalanced and vitriolic
commentator
in the state-run press. He cannot have it both
ways.
If international press reports conclude that the Zimbabwean
authorities are preparing the ground for the closure of the Zimbabwe
Independent and Standard, that may have something to do with Zimbabwe's
record under Aippa in this regard.
And if anyone is in any
doubt about Mahoso's balance, let us just note
that in last weekend's
edition of his African Focus column he accused the
Financial Gazette of
ignoring his claim that American occupation forces in
Iraq murdered Saddam
Hussein's sons, assassinated his defence lawyers, and
forced presiding
judges to resign "until they got one whose judgement was a
foregone
conclusion".
Ironic isn't it that an apologist for the Zanu PF
regime can accuse
authorities of forcing judges to resign until they got one
whose judgement
was a foregone conclusion!
But that aside, the
latest hefty hikes in registration and
accreditation fees by the MIC should
be enough to demonstrate that this is
not a regime concerned with sustaining
journalism.
Still on the subject of professionalism in
journalism, it was
interesting to note that in its report on the MIC
statement on Ncube's
passport wrangle, the Herald managed to slip the
following paragraph in:
"Ncube's father is Zambian while his mother is
Zimbabwean."
That is of course one of the issues under examination
in the courts.
But the Herald declared it as fact.
One of
the main charges critics level against Zanu PF is its abuse of
power. An
illustration of that abuse was on parade at the party's Goromonzi
conference
where it was proposed that taxpayers should pay for Zanu PF's
failing
propaganda machine. The party should appoint information officers to
be paid
by government to counter news from foreign-based radio stations
beaming into
Zimbabwe, it was proposed at a meeting of the information and
publicity
committee.
A member of the committee, Kariba MP Shumbayaonda
Chandengenda, said
the party should adopt a similar scheme to that used in
the case of local
government promotion officers whose major task was to
promote the party in
rural areas while on the state payroll.
"Zanu PF must revive that strategy because we have areas where rural
people
listen to foreign radio stations because our own ZBC transmission
does not
cover remote areas," Chandengenda said.
"We have found it difficult
to convince the people there of government's
development thrust aimed at
improving their lives on the basis of the news
bulletins they receive from
foreign stations on donated radios."
So there you have it. People
no longer believe what they are told by
Zimbabwe's Goebellian broadcasting
system because they have access to other
sources of
information.
Muckraker has a suggestion. In 1930s Germany the
broadcasting
authorities produced a cheap household receiver called the
Volksempfenger
(people's receiver) which was the sole instrument allowed
because it could
not pick up foreign broadcasts.
"All Germany
hears the Fuhrer on the Volksempfenger" was the Ministry
of Propaganda's
selling pitch.
Already Zimbabwe's Nazis are jamming foreign
broadcasts. But still the
people don't believe their propaganda, it would
seem. Hence the plan to
recruit information officers whom Webster Shamu said
must be "well-drilled
party cadres". They needed to be thoroughly vetted so
government did not
recruit people hostile to the ruling party, he
said.
At the same meeting committee members wanted to know why
permanent
secretaries were not present at the conference. They also needed
vetting,
they said.
Secretary for Information, George Charamba,
was however present where
he helped party information bosses, including
Shamu, Ephraim Masawi and
deputy Information minister Bright Matonga, answer
questions from members.
The members proposed the vetting process
should start with Charamba.
But senior party officials came to Charamba's
defence saying the top brass
knew where he was coming from. He was after all
the president's spokesman.
Word of advice to our colleagues in
the state media. If you continue
to insist that Kofi Annan "expressed his
willingness to have sanctions
scrapped" when his office has denied the
claim, and that southern European
states "insist that illegal sanctions
should go" when they have said no such
thing, you will all be in for a huge
disappointment come February.
This is a case of the wish being
father to the thought. For the EU to
lift sanctions and thus reverse its
"common position" on Zimbabwe, there has
to be clear evidence that Harare
has restored the rule of law, including the
independence of the judiciary,
put an end to arbitrary arrests, and brought
to justice notorious state
officials accused of killing opposition activists
in 2000.
Contrary to the deceitful propaganda the state puts out, the sanctions
were
not imposed in response to land reform but followed the expulsion of
Pierre
Schori who headed the EU team monitoring the 2002 presidential
poll.
If state journalists persist in cultivating the myth that
sanctions
are a response to land reform and that EU governments only
maintain them
because of "British arm-twisting", how will they explain to
the Zimbabwean
public that they were misled when there is no change in the
common position
next month?
Zim Independent
By Eric Bloch
IT has become
traditional that, at the end of each year, President
Robert Mugabe delivers
a State of the Nation address shortly prior to
departing for vacation in
distant holiday destinations - undoubtedly those
as also accord the First
Lady great opportunities for shopping!
Of course, it is not only
traditional for the First Family to travel
at year-end. For decades,
hundreds of thousands of urban dwellers travel to
visit families in their
traditional rural homelands.
However, 2006 witnessed a partial
departure from tradition. While the
presidential party could still travel to
the Middle East and the Far East,
presumably using scarce foreign exchange,
many could not afford the
ever-escalating bus fares to Gokwe, Nkayi,
Goromonzi, Buhera, Nyika, Mwenezi
and the like.
Despite the
latter, unfortunate, departure from tradition, the same
cannot be said of
the 19th State of the Nation address. That address
demonstrated a total
absence of recognition for realities, or a pronounced
detachment from
them.
Until the president, his ministers and the entire
governmental
hierarchy are prepared to recognise facts, admit to them, and
effectively
address them, Zimbabwe's economy will continue to decline, the
pronounced
widespread poverty and misery will become evermore intense and
economic
recovery will become increasingly distant.
At the
outset of his address, the president yet again claimed: "The
underperformance of the economy we are now turning around is largely a
product of the illegal overt and covert sanctions imposed on us by Britain
and her allies, for daring to reclaim our land."
When will
Zimbabwe's government be, albeit belatedly, prepared to
recognise that it
has destroyed the economy?
It did so by embarking upon a programme
of "compensation" to war
veterans (actual and pseudo) far beyond the
nation's means.
It did so by recognising a critical need for land
reforms, but then
arrogantly, unjustly, inhumanely, incompetently and
catastrophically
embarking upon a grossly destructive programme of land
reform, instead of
one that could have been nationally beneficial and in the
interests of
Zimbabwe's people.
It did so by casting out the
almost worldwide efficiency of
market-driven economic principles and instead
espoused and enforced those of
command economics, which have virtually never
succeeded anywhere.
It did so by prodigious overspending, far
beyond its means.
It did so by making Zimbabwe a near international
pariah, resorting to
diabolic oppressive actions such as Operation
Murambatsvina, endless
demonising with false allegations the very countries
as would befriend
Zimbabwe, and creating an appallingly unconducive
investment environment.
Compounding this, the government has by now
totally deluded and
convinced itself that Zimbabwe is the victim of
diabolical international
sanctions (described as "illegal", which is
childish in the extreme, for
even if the sanctions exist, they would not be
in breach of law!).
The reality is that Britain and its allies
still trade with Zimbabwe,
the balance being in Zimbabwe's favour, permit
their nationals to invest in
Zimbabwe, although few are now disposed to do
so, do not bar travel to and
from Zimbabwe and, in fact, Britain's largest
airline still flies to
Zimbabwe, and Britain still provides Zimbabwe much
humanitarian aid. These
are "sanctions"?
The government is also
blindly determined to deny that Britain and its
allies have always, since
Independence, supported the principle of land
reform in Zimbabwe. Britain
provided many millions of pounds for the state
acquisition of land after
Independence, and has intimated willingness to
provide further
funding.
Britain has made it clear, however, that it opposes
injustice to white
farmers, theft and vandalisation, abuse, disregard for
international law,
contempt for human rights, nepotistic allocation of land,
destruction of
agriculture and, thereby, destruction of
Zimbabwe.
Equally detached from reality is the contention that the
economy is
turning around.
How on earth can that be, when
inflation continues to soar upwards at
a galloping pace, when the
overwhelming majority of the population is
struggling to survive on incomes
far below the poverty datum line, when the
economy is still contracting,
having shrunk more than 40% in the past six
years, when Zimbabwe is
endlessly reliant upon international food aid, when
the energy-generation,
water supply and other essential infrastructural
resources are unable to
meet national needs, and foreign currency is so
scarce that the country
cannot
even meet the needs for antiretrovirals?
The hard
fact is that, although economic turnaround remains a very
real possibility,
if approached positively and realistically, that
turnaround has not yet
commenced, and a governmental metamorphis of thought
and factual recognition
is a prerequisite for it to commence.
In contradistinction to such
a transformation, the president claimed
that "ingenuity and pragmatism . . .
have contributed to the home-grown
programmes aimed at rejuvenating" the
economy, and that the National
Economic Development Priority Programme
(NEDPP) is an example thereof.
The president contended that NEDPP
"prioritises implementation of
quick response and high sectoral impact
projects, and is the major launch
pad for the various current turnaround
programmes".
However, Zimbabwe is yet to see that this is anything
other than a
mirage. After a year, nothing substantive has emanated from
NEDPP (other
than much talk), the economy continues its downhill momentum,
and the
government has announced an extension of the time-period of NEDPP,
undoubtedly because nothing has been forthcoming from it, other than many
contentions to the contrary.
The president reiterated that "the
recent inauguration of the
long-awaited 99-year leases constitutes an
important milestone in the
evaluation of our agrarian reform as it gives
security of tenure, which we
hope, in turn, will leverage more resources
into the development of the
agriculture sector".
Unfortunately,
this is not so. The leases do not give security of
tenure, for they include
numerous provisions enabling the government to
rescind them (apart from
which, having previously changed the law to enable
it to expropriate land,
what guarantee is there that the government won't do
it
again?).
And the prospects of leveraging more resources are zero,
for the
leases accord lenders no collateral security whatsoever. Unless, and
until,
the government finally appreciates this fact and strives to reverse
the
immense damage it has done, the agrarian reform will continue to be
negative
and Zimbabwe's lot will only worsen more and more.
Still on the agricultural issue, the president claimed that in 2006
"the
majority of our people this year were generally self-sufficient in
relation
to their staple food although imports were still needed to ensure
greater
food security up to the middle of next year".
However, in 2006
Zimbabwe had to import over a million tonnes of maize
and several hundred
thousands tonnes of wheat. Some was paid for by
international generosity,
but much had to be paid for with critically scarce
foreign exchange
resources.
And it is already clear that, in 2007, Zimbabwe will
have to import
more than 900 000 tonnes of maize. At this very time, maize
is in extremely
short supply, and when it is available, many cannot afford
it.
Space constraints preclude addressing many of the other
misconceptions
in the State of the Nation address (although possibly so in a
future
column).
Particularly disturbing, however, was the
address's concluding advice:
"Let us desist from ivory tower theorising, and
better still, from being
long on critique, but short on
prescription."
That was really illustrative of the old maxim of
"the pot calling the
kettle black", for almost all of the address was
clearly "ivory tower
theorising", in total disregard for actualities. It was
very "long in
critique" in trying to attribute blame to others, and the only
prescriptions
that it contained are likely to kill the patient.
Zimbabwe's economy can recover and might have a great future, but only
if
those in authority are prepared to accept that they do not possess
infallibility that those who disagree with them are not necessarily enemies,
and that policy changes can be evidence of maturity and of good governance
rather than of prior error and admission of fault, although such admission
is usually also a positive.
Zim Independent
Editor's Memo
By Vincent Kahiya
LAST week's editorial
exposed the Health ministry's futile attempt to
revive service delivery
through the formation of the Health Board and a
Health Services
Commission.
The evidence of its failure became manifest this week
as hospitals
remained dysfunctional with patients dying on stretchers before
being
attended to. There is all the evidence that whenever government runs
out of
ideas in solving a national problem, it forms a layer of bureaucracy
to
focus public opinion away from the issue at stake.
The
attendant costs of setting up the commissions and agencies are
usually not
commensurate with their output. This is called patronage. There
is a new kid
on the block providing another layer of bureaucratic blubber.
It is called
the State Enterprises Restructuring Agency (Sera).
It has already
started recruiting senior staff and is in typical
fashion buying new
vehicles, furniture, computers and tea-cups. The new
vehicles and the
furnishings will no doubt be the only novelty about the
agency. It is not
anything new but a ghostly reincarnation of the hopelessly
ineffectual
Privatisation Agency of Zimbabwe (Paz) formed in 1999 to, among
other roles,
"assist, support and accelerate the privatisation process,
working closely
with the public enterprises" and "to lead to eventual
successful
privatisation transactions".
There weren't any transactions. If
anything, the government's
administration of state enterprises has largely
been contrary to the
original remit of Paz. Government still believes that
state enterprises can
be rehabilitated. It believes that it can run large
state enterprises when
it has unashamedly advertised all-round
failure.
During its tenure though, parastatals such as the corrupt
Ziscosteel,
shadowy Zesa, incoherent ZBC, ever-plunging Air Zimbabwe and the
not-so-fresh Cold Storage Company became state-owned companies incorporated
under the Companies Act. This was accompanied by an unbundling craze,
especially at ZBC, Zesa and Air Zimbabwe.
This was a careless
and costly blunder as splitting the state
enterprises had nothing to do with
improving service delivery but became an
extension of Zanu PF's patronage
system.
Last year government realised how careless it had been with
the
hatchet. It initiated "rebundling" exercises at ZBC and Zesa to gather
the
shards and hopefully recreate the monoliths. After papering over the
cracks
and applying a new coat of paint the edifices have been
re-established as
citadels of corruption and inefficiency, funded by the
taxpayer.
Frankly speaking, what can the restructuring agency do
today which
government has not experimented with already? Two weeks ago
Vice-President
Joice Mujuru was talking tough on the performance of
parastatals, warning
management that they would be rewarded according to
performance.
We will only believe this when ministers in President
Mugabe's cabinet
apply the same principles to themselves. Their general
failure and
inefficiency is monumental. They play a supervisory role in the
running of
state enterprises and they are also responsible for the
appointment of
senior staff. Parastatal heads' inefficiency usually mirrors
that of parent
ministries.
A key example is the Cold Storage
Company whose once world-class
facilities have been looted and left to decay
due to years of neglect and
confusionist thinking. It required a directive
from President Mugabe in
Marondera last month to reopen the closed abattoirs
for Agriculture minister
Joseph Made to come round from his reverie. There
is now a flurry of
activity to reopen the facilities with senior government
officials strutting
about in white coats like archaeologists exploring an
excavation site.
The CSC story sums up government's handling of
state enterprises. Here
is a government that runs its own company into the
ground and before
exploring reasons for its demise the president commands
that it be
re-opened.
In the case of CSC, it shut down due to
the acute shortage of quality
slaughter stock following the demise of
commercial agriculture. Suddenly our
rulers believe that the company can be
revived without cattle for slaughter.
Was its chief executive Ngoni
Chinogaramombe not saying late last year that
Zimbabwe could be forced to
import meat due to the decimation of the
national herd?
The
same Chinogaramombe is today being asked to revive a company in an
environment he knows is practically impossible. Maybe the president read too
much into the poor CEO's name.
But this is the nature of
restructuring that we have become accustomed
to. It is reorganising a few
rickety pieces of furniture in a room with
hopes to turn it into the Ritz.
Some hope!
Strikes denote rejection of Zanu PF's sterile agenda
THE strikes by
doctors and workers at Zesa as well as the go-slow in
the schools, the
police force and the army reflect a serious national
paralysis authored and
orchestrated by the Zanu PF regime.
As a labour-backed party, the
MDC supports the basic freedoms of
workers to engage in collective job
action and to express their discontent.
At the core of our social democracy
philosophy is the respect of the working
people and their inalienable right
to demand a living wage and better
working conditions. We stand in
solidarity with the workers and their right
to strike, which is not
negotiable.
The strikes in the civil service and the time-bomb of
general
disgruntlement in critical parastatals, industry and the whole
country
reflect a vote of no confidence in the Zanu PF regime. They reflect
a
rejection of Zanu PF's sterile agenda of perpetuating misery and looting
to
2010. They reflect the national sentiment that postponing the
presidential
election is abetting tyranny and oppression.
The
strikes reflect a government that has basically collapsed. They
reflect
policies and systems that have dismally failed at a time when the
suffering
people of Zimbabwe desperately need efficient services in health,
education
and other critical sectors.
The MDC laments the humanitarian crisis
that the regime has caused by
refusing to address the grievances of the
striking workers. The regime must
be held accountable for the human,
financial and social cost of these work
stoppages.
Lives have
been unnecessarily lost in our hospitals, power shortages
have cost this
nation millions of dollars in lost production, there is
strained service
delivery in all sectors of the economy while morale is at
an all-time low
among the country's teachers, soldiers, policemen and the
entire civil
service in general due to poor salaries and dismal working
conditions.
Ordinary Zimbabweans are struggling to bring food
to their table.
Pensioners are receiving pitiful monthly amounts of about
$12 000.
The majority of our people have resorted to selling goats,
cattle and
other personal belongings to meet the escalating cost of their
children's
basic right to education. School fees and levies have shot up to
unaffordable levels and most parents cannot afford to discharge their basic
obligation to educate their children.
Such is the cost of the
dictatorship which has failed to address the
visible signs of collapse that
have engulfed our nation. The MDC believes
that no worker should be
dismissed for expressing themselves. We condemn the
victimisation of doctors
and Zesa workers for exercising their democratic
right to articulate their
grievances through collective job action.
The strikes and protests
are danger warning signs which can only be
ignored at the risk of a
full-scale national expression of discontent. In
the very near future, these
seemingly scattered protests shall blow into a
bigger and more comprehensive
national programme to achieve change and a new
Zimbabwe.
The
simple message coming from the people is that the nation is
restless for
change. The crisis is now realising its gestation period. It is
time for
delivery. We need to deliver a new Zimbabwe. The national chorus
for change
has engulfed the nation and the demise of the dictatorship is
inevitable.
Ours is simply a crisis of governance and a
leadership paralysis that
requires a comprehensive political
solution.
The regime should be forced to embrace sweeping political
reforms that
include a new, people-driven constitution, free and fair
elections under
international supervision, and a reconstruction and
stabilisation programme
in a post-transitional era.
Zimbabwe
deserves nothing less. 2007 is the year of action, the year
of galvanising
all democratic forces - Zimbabweans in and outside the
country - to reclaim
their destiny.
* Chamisa is MDC Secretary for Information and
Publicity.
---------
Benz purchase proves Gono worst
hypocrite
IT is with shock and horror that we hear Reserve Bank
governor Gideon
Gono has bought himself a Mercedes Benz for the kingly sum
of US$365 000.
This amount on the parallel market (US$1:$3 000)
translates to a
whopping $1 095 000 000. What a staggering
amount!
This expenditure is in the face of acute economic and forex
shortages
the country has experienced for the past six to seven
years.
Currently, doctors are on strike, there are no drugs and
equipment in
hospitals, no ARVs, no maize meal, no cooking oil, no sugar, no
electricity,
no chemicals for purifying water, no fuel, no school books etc.
The list is
endless. Yet Gono has the cheek and disdain for Zimbabweans to
buy this
vehicle.
Even the super-rich in Europe and America do
not drive such cars. Yet
a poverty-ridden third world tin-pot dictatorship
like ours, which is
constantly begging for donations and alms to feed its
own people can,
without any shame or embarrassment, go ahead and buy such a
car for use by
one person. How much of this money could have been used to
alleviate some of
the problems besetting the nation?
I thought
it was the sanctimonious Gono, in his marathon tirades,
(read "monetary
policy speeches") who has always been castigating other
people for the
failures of this country, yet he is the worst hypocrite.
Very soon
some ministers, parasitic parastatals chiefs - including
Sekesai Makwavarara
- will be wanting this type of car in a fools'
competition for who drives
the latest Merc in town, never mind that the
nation is on its knees wracked
by hunger and disease. Cry the ever-suffering
and ever tolerant Zimbabwean
taxpayer! Now we know where the Homelink money
has been
going.
Ripped Off Zimbabwean,
Harare.
--------
Sage advice for the RBZ
SEVERAL people have told me that since the introduction of the new
bearer
cheques on August 1 2006, confusion caused by the similarity of the
$10 000
and $1 000 cheques has made them to unwittingly lose or gain $9 000
on some
transactions.
I have had the same experience myself.
I
would like to advise the Reserve Bank to put a thick line beneath
the
figures on the top right hand corner of the $10 000 cheques to make them
markedly different in appearance from the $1 000 notes.
Also,
when inflation prompts them in due course to start printing
notes of $100
000 denomination, they should print that figure vertically
along the right
hand edge and not horizontally.
Watchful Mason,
Harare.
---------
Bad politics consume the
perpetrator
By Cuthbert Mudzingwa
THE letter by
Joel Knox Matara "Unity agenda, issues of substance
should guide discourse
on succession", (Zimbabwe Independent, December 8)
raised an interesting
point about the abuse Zipra cadres endured in the
early years of
Independence.
I am an ex-Zipra combatant who was sent by Zapu to
train as an
electrical engineer in the then Soviet Union.
I
came back to Zimbabwe in early 1981 and sought the assistance of the
manpower planning department then headed by Ibbo Mandaza.
Mandaza simply did not entertain any Zipra cadres.
I then sought
employment and was engaged by the Ministry of Education
and Culture as a
temporary science teacher for a year. Nothing had prepared
me for this kind
of hostility in a free and independent Zimbabwe.
I had left
Rhodesia where oppression against blacks was
institutionalised but not
personal. The treatment I got from Mandaza was
crude and traumatising for
someone who had fought for Independence whilst
Mandaza was pursuing his
studies at York University, UK, where he supposedly
acquired his
revolutionary and Marxist credentials!
Mandaza's behaviour was
emblematic of the general attitude of the new
bureaucracy.
We
still encounter residual animosity even today although the methods
are
subtler and refined. I have forgiven Mandaza even though he has
forgotten my
name and face, but I can never forget the rejection and
humiliation that
visited me in a free and independent Zimbabwe.
At times, as former
Zipra cadres, through chance encounters, we
reminisce over the bad old days
in an independent Zimbabwe. We have always
wondered why we had to go through
all this abuse from pseudo-revolutionaries
who have since abandoned Zanu PF
altogether and are now prominent figures
within opposition ranks or have
left Zimbabwe for the UK or the USA in
disillusionment.
We are
still here doing our bit for national development if allowed
to. The lesson
we draw from all this is that vile, vindictive and
vituperative politics
eventually consume the perpetrator.
* Cuthbert Mudzingwa writes
from Harare.
--------
How vindictive can Chingoka get
really?
I WOULD like to register my dismay at the new Zimbabwe
Cricket board.
In fact it is to denigrate the word "board" and the
respectable ICC
affiliate international cricket boards to refer to this one
as such.
I don't listen to what Peter Chingoka says anymore. His
defence of his
newly-picked board in the interview "Will Chingoka leave
office?", (the
Herald, January 5) was of course a knee-jerk reaction. Him of
all people,
knows too well that he is surrounded by people who know nothing
about the
game, who do not command respect and who worst of all, will pull
down
Zimbabwe cricket even further.
A board like ZC's, I
believe, must be constituted by people with
impeccable professional,
financial and societal standing.
Just what, in terms of governance
and policymaking resoluteness, can
we expect from needy teachers and
small-time "indigenous" businessmen who
sit on this board?
Clearly, these guys want to make a living through the board.
I
laughed when one ZC employee told me how his provincial chairman who
sits on
the national board envies his job and aspires to be in his
position.
To Chingoka, I say congratulations on being re-elected,
made possible
by clandestinely changing the constitution and creating
ineffectual little
provinces to back him up.
The gentleman is a
survivor and schemer. Realising the danger they
posed outside, Givemore
Makoni and Steven Mangongo were called back onto the
gravy train, not
because their services were valued, but to weaken the
opposing side, which
has truly committed people with love and knowledge of
cricket, but find
themselves purged by a greedy regime. Chingoka said they
are not
stakeholders because they are out of his ring and therefore do not
have a
"stake".
How vindictive can you get, sir?
To the true
stakeholders of the game, I say please don't give up on
Zimbabwe Cricket.
Right will prevail over wrong, and the game shall one day
be returned to its
rightful custodians.
Adam Sibanda,
Harare.
---------
These two are crucial
NO one
can argue with Eric Bloch's analysis of our forex crisis
(except the use of
20 words when five would do).
However, he does not really address
two issues which are crucial:
* For as long as mankind has been
walking this earth, no better
pricing mechanism has been invented than the
market; prices are set by the
supply/demand equation. This includes the
price of foreign currency; and,
* The wanton printing of money to
maintain trough levels for the
snouts of the privileged, with no real
increase in value, must cease.
The implementation of such medicine
is going to hurt and may take some
time, but we have sunk to a level where
few options are left.
Peter Pyle,
Harare.
-----------
Governor's priorities
warped
ON being appointed governor of Bulawayo, Cain Matema
promised to
economically develop the City of Kings and improve service
delivery.
What came to my mind was the luring of investors to the
city as well
as the completion of a string of unfinished projects, the most
glaring one
being the Matabeleland Zambezi Water Project.
However, the governor seems to have turned a blind eye to all this,
focusing
attention on insignificant issues which do not economically
strengthen
Bulawayo. An example is the rechristening of streets with names
of sons and
daughters of the soil.
In as much as it is noble, I think this
should be lower on the list of
priorities, if one is serious about
Bulawayo's prosperity. Renaming streets
will not magically translate into
Bulawayo's prosperity. It was once done
and the country reaped
chaos.
What needs to be done, Mr Governor, is to source funds to
complete the
water project and to give lucrative incentives to would-be
investors to the
investor-dry city.
I am sure these two
milestones will console the governor, make him sit
back, smile and then
rename the streets. The residents could even give him
the privilege to
rename one of the streets after himself.
MD
Kufakunesu,
Jerera, Masvingo.
--------
Nothing
wrong with checking if wound is healing
By MK Moyo
DUMISANI Moyo, in his column headed "Gukurahundi Bill: to serve what
purpose?", (the Chronicle, January 5), seems peeved that Professor Jonathan
Moyo intends to introduce a Bill about the Gukurahundi era in
parliament.
He attempts to whittle down the significance of this
epoch in our
history.
"...The 'blame game' viewed as
ineffectual in the nation building
exercise..." What blame game are you
talking about, Mr Moyo?
Stating that the 5th Brigade massacred over
20 000 innocent civilians
is not just blaming. It is a statement of fact.
The president has
acknowledged it as a moment of madness. Apart from the
need of
bestowing upon future generations a legacy of the truth, it is
essential for the historical record itself that the truth be recorded as it
happened.
"...the dissidents from Zipra, Zapu's former military
wing, and
colleagues who had deserted the army perpetrated numerous
indiscriminate
acts of violence."
Let us grant that this is
correct! But if you fall short of
acknowledging the full extent of
atrocities committed by the 5th Brigade of
the ZNA and the glaring official
complicity, then you are a pathetic
hypocrite who has sold soul for coin and
is fully employed in singing his
master's tune. What a shame!
Equally futile is Moyo's attempt to blame others for what happened in
Matabeleland other than those responsible.
Attempts to
discredit the document, Breaking the Silence on the
grounds that it was
authored by Mike Auret and David Coltart, who are white
and had worked for
the Rhodesian government in whatever capacity, is facile.
And you,
Dumisani, moral purist, where do you get the moral authority
to down-play
the Matabeleland massacres and agitate for the removal of this
era from our
historical record?
Whether they were sponsored by Super Zapu, John
Vorster or whoever,
dissidents were as such - dissidents. Their moral
blameworthiness is far
out-weighed by that of a legitimate government that
turned to a mass killer
of its own defenceless citizens. It is irrelevant to
talk about Super Zapu
or dissidents in the face of wholesale murders by
government agents. The
dissidents had no responsibility over protection of
the populace. The
government had an unshakeable responsibility for the
security of the
citizens.
Then Moyo wants to sell us the myth
about the undesirability of
opening old wounds: If they still exist as
wounds then they have not healed!
It is folly to ignore them hoping that
they will go away.
* MK Moyo writes from Mahatshula, Bulawayo.