Soldiers quit army
Clemence Manyukwe

HUNDREDS of members of the security forces are quitting their jobs because of poor remuneration while some are said to have deserted.

Sources this week said soldiers are not happy with the 231% salary increment awarded earlier this month, which was way below their expectations. Despite the increment the salaries are still less than half the Consumer Council of Zimbabwe (CCZ)’s monthly consumer basket of $17, 6 million in December.

Sources said non-commissioned officers of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces (ZDF) form the bulk of those leaving, while commissioned officers and former ex-combatants have remained largely loyal.

Defence forces can renew their contracts after three, seven and 10 years but due to the meagre salaries, many are opting out, while others are reportedly deserting.

The sources said a wave of resignations had also hit the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) where constables and sergeants were also leaving the force.

In an interview on Tuesday ZDF spokesperson Aggrey Wushe said the call by the chairman of the parliamentary portfolio committee on Defence and Home Affairs, Claudius Makova in parliament late last year for the adjustment of soldiers’ salaries needed to be taken seriously. Makova is a retired colonel.

Wushe denied that the rate of those quitting from the army had increased.

“The position is that if you are not happy, you are allowed to leave. There is nothing new as it has been happening since 1980,” he said.

Asked about the possibility of another salary adjustment this year considering that soldiers were not happy, he said: “Our commanders always try to make sure that the soldiers earn what is in line with the current situation. It is an ongoing exercise,” said Wushe.

Deputy police commissioner, Innocent Matibiri, said: “What we are aware of is that government is working on improving the situation kuti vasaite musikanzwa (so that they do not commit crime).” He declined to comment further.

The sources added that last year soldiers in the lower ranks were receiving between $2,3 million and $2,9 million a month. With the latest increment, the amount will rise to between $6,9 to $7,9 million.

The least paid police officer earns less than $2,5 million.

Police Commissioner Augustine Chihuri told a parliamentary portfolio committee in October last year that policemen were disgruntled over poor salaries, working conditions and shortage of manpower.

Although soldiers got their payslips on January 4 with their salaries coming eight days later, no official announcement has been made on the rate of increment for the police.

There is however speculation within ZRP ranks that the increment is likely to be around the same figure as that given to soldiers.

Last year saw an increasing number of soldiers and law enforcement agents appearing in the courts for armed robberies, corruption and other crimes which observers said were fuelled by poor remuneration.

One soldier who said he would not be renewing his contract said: “Although we received our pay notification slips on January 4 this year, we were aware since late last year that we would be getting 231% following a directive to that effect which was given to the Zimbabwe Army Pay and Records (ZAPAR) department.

Ever since, an increasing number have not been signing new contracts.”

“Army chiefs know that people are not happy,” another soldier said. “When they realised that salaries would also be low this year they resorted to promoting some officers as a way to retain them. Due to the state of affairs, counselling sessions for those who want to quit are being conducted on a daily basis. They are told that if you go out there, conditions are even worse so it’s better to hang on until things improve.”

THE United States government has expressed disappointment with Zimbabwe and says the country is a major blight on an otherwise positive past year for African nations.

The US cited the manner in which the 2005 parliamentary election was conducted and said Zimbabwe remains disappointing because it has failed to stem the downward spiral of the economy and the rule of law.

Assistant Secretary of State for Africa Jendayi Frazer, in her annual round-up of Africa, this week said the US was also concerned about the crisis in the opposition MDC that has split the party into two irreconcilable factions.

Frazer, who was in Pretoria, South Africa this week, said 2005 was a good year for Africa but was spoilt by a few African countries that include Zimbabwe.

"Last year was a very good year for Africa. Let's just review it: a new president - a woman - in Liberia, successful elections in Tanzania, a first-time election in Congo. No one thought that was possible, especially to register so many people.

"Also, a new president in Burundi - which was a success of the African Union as that process was almost entirely Africa-led from the mediation to the peacekeeping mission and then the UN coming in at the end.

"There were some problems and disappointments. I think Mauritania is a huge disappointment, in terms of a military regime being in place. I'm not too high on Togo," Frazer said.

"Obviously Zimbabwe has been a great disappointment. The parliamentary election was a significant disappointment, but overall I think it has been a very positive year for the continent."

Frazer was the US ambassador to South Africa before being appointed Assistant Secretary of State for Africa late last year.

Frazer also said the US was concerned with Ugandan President, Yoweri Museveni, for amending the constitution and arresting his political opponent in a bid to block him from running for office.

Frazer announced that the US government was planning to restart its annual forums with Sadc countries, which were discontinued five years ago over disagreements in dealing with the Zimbabwe crisis. - Staff Writer.

Joram Nyathi

IT was Ghana's first president Kwame Nkrumah who famously said "it is far better for us to govern or misgovern ourselves than to live happily in servitude" to explain his country's quest for self-rule

In its rush to be the first to lead a wholesale land reform in Africa, Zimbabwe appears to have grasped the metaphor but missed the substance of that assertion.

A drive along the highway from Harare to Zvishavane at the weekend was a major revelation for me. Land preparation is just beginning amid complaints of lack of draught power and key inputs like fertiliser.

Most of the farms between Harare and Kwekwe that used to feed the nation still lie fallow. Kintyre Estates just before Norton which used to be a prime research centre for dairy farming and a showcase for visiting international dignatories, has been reduced to a wasteland.

All the way to Zvishavane, there are more people on either side of the road selling mushrooms and tomatoes than are tilling the land. This is in sharp contrast to television interviews of people predicting a "bumper harvest" this year due to above-normal rainfall. In fact, watching those interviews and seeing the barrenness on the ground, you could be forgiven for thinking that people expect the rains to bring down manna from heaven.

The only spot I saw that had some promise was a healthy maize crop at a place called Kaguvi Training Centre just before Kwekwe. But it is only an oasis in a national desert. The lush tobacco and maize crop that we used to marvel at along that highway are all gone, only to be replaced by tiny patches of cleared ground that cannot feed a single family, let alone a whole nation.

That set me thinking about what it is that went wrong with President Mugabe's noble "justice with equity" land reform programme.

As the president himself pointed out at the Zanu PF People's Conference in Esigodini, every year the rainy season catches us flatfooted as if we didn't know it was coming. There is nothing on the ground to support Zanu PF's overused slogan that the "land is the economy". Far from the widespread rains being a source of prosperity, they may turn out to be a source of huge embarrassment as we fail to raise productivity - the excuse of drought may soon be gone.

But the biggest problem with the land reform programme is that it was never planned. From the time President Mugabe fell out with the Labour party in Britain and its Claire Short, things simply went out of hand.

The idea of land invasions appealed to the basest instincts in man, from greed to indolence. Among the hundreds who went in for purposes of farming, there were thousands who went in for what was there already - houses, produce, livestock and motor vehicles. All these items were there for the taking without having to account to anyone since government itself didn't know who owned what. Once the looting orgy was over, interest also waned.

But there is an even bigger problem. This has to do with a lack of culture of long-term investment or a "jackpot mentality". Notice how most of the fuel and farm inputs given to farmers are immediately converted into cash on the black market to buy luxury goods. The money is quickly spent in crude exhibitionism in the form of 4x4 vehicles that never travel off-road.

One is also left wondering what has become of that enthusiasm displayed during the land invasions when everybody boasted that they were the real farmers, the white man was merely a supervisor.

If that is true then we have to go right to the heart of the matter. The government should stop the rhetoric about land audits and weed out those who have no interest in farming. It must immediately assume the same role that was played by the white commercial farmer - it must not only provide farm inputs but also supervise the use of resources given to farmers. To achieve this you need a hands-on Minister of Agriculture who is not ashamed to tell the truth about the country's state of preparedness. Blaming fertiliser companies when everybody knows they don't have foreign currency for key inputs simply won't wash.

Government should also move speedily on the issue of those 99-year leases so that farmers who have an interest and the skill to produce are able to borrow money from banks. It is poor economics for government to pretend that it can dole out money to the "new farmers" forever. That would deny them the chance to be old enough to survive on their own.

Nobody doubts that the new farmers need government support as a starting point. But the billions of dollars that have gone into farming have not been justified by commensurate returns on investment. The results are nothing more than ostentations consumerism while what were previously viable commercial farms have been reduced to what President Mugabe once referred to as "weekend braai resorts".

l I notice Nathaniel Manheru's vain attempt to scare me with the ghost of one Morrison Nyati of Nyadzonia notoriety.

The connection between myself and that fellow's dastardly act can only exist in Manheru's warped tribalistic imagination. In all other rational disputation, the link is as absurd as asserting that every Smith was a prime minister of Rhodesia. How facile can he get?

But I am pleased to note that he knows Oscar Wilde.

I NOTICE that the Herald's Nathaniel Manheru seems to be bothered by your (Zimbabwe Independent) deputy editor's looks.

At first I thought that it was "one of those things", but now I am getting worried.

The cause of my worry is that Manheru has now gone to the extent of quoting Oscar Wilde to justify his attention on your deputy editor. Those familiar with Wilde's works know that he was gay.

I wonder how President Mugabe feels to have a man close to him, obsessed with men's looks and quoting gay "gangsters" as the president would say.

Nobuhle,

Bulawayo.

Loughty Dube

THE pro-senate faction of the Movement for Democratic Change has filed a $100 billion lawsuit against opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai over statements he allegedly made to diplomats and to the media that leaders of the rival faction were plotting to kill him in collusion with President Robert Mugabe's Zanu PF.

The applicants initially filed a $50 billion suit last month but revised it to $100 billion this week after weighing the gravity of the allegations.

The lawsuit is likely to open a Pandora's box in the strife-torn party and put paid to any chances of reconciliation between the feuding factions ahead of the party congress next month.

The plaintiffs in the case are party vice-president Gibson Sibanda, secretary-general Welshman Ncube, treasurer Fletcher Dulini Ncube, deputy secretary-general Gift Chimanikire, and information secretary Paul Themba Nyathi.

The five were initially demanding $10 billion each from Tsvangirai but are now demanding double the amount in damages.

Nicholas Mathonsi of Coghlan & Welsh legal practitioners representing the five said the amendment of the lawsuit arose after further publication of the defamatory statements both locally and internationally.

"We have made an application with the High Court in Bulawayo seeking leave to amend the claim by incorporating further cause of action," Mathonsi said.

"This is because when we made the initial application we had not seen in full the statement made by Tsvangirai and the defamatory article had only been published in the Star newspaper alone.

He said as a result of the wide publication of the defamatory statement the degree of injury sustained by his clients had doubled.

According to court documents in the possession of the Independent, the plaintiffs claim damages for the "payment of the sums of $20 billion to each of them, being defamation charges sustained as a result of the publication of the statements made by Tsvangirai."

Mathonsi said his clients suffered further damage when the full statement by Tsvangirai was published widely and on the Internet after the initial lawsuit had been filed with the High Court in Bulawayo.

"Subsequent to the Star story Tsvangirai made his full statement available on the Internet where it was picked (up) and published by several websites and used locally and internationally and as a result of the damage and injury sustained my clients have increased the claim to $100 billion," Mathonsi said.

In the court papers filed initially, Sibanda and his lieutenants charge that on or about December 21, "the Star newspaper of South Africa published an article on page 3 of that day's edition under the title 'My Henchmen plotted my death - Tsvangirai' which was authored by South African-based Basildon Peta.

"The said newspaper is widely distributed worldwide including Zimbabwe and has an online publication on the Internet and is widely read by the general public both internationally and within Zimbabwe," the group claims.

The plaintiffs say Tsvangirai is the sole source of the story and through his statements stated that plaintiffs were plotting to kill him so that their faction could reach a unity accord with the government and get positions in the cabinet.

They further claim that Tsvangirai stated the plaintiffs participated in the senatorial elections in Zimbabwe in order to give themselves new credentials as the "reasonable element" within the MDC thereby enhancing their political understanding with Zanu PF.

The plaintiffs allege that Tsvangirai, by saying that they had connived with Zanu PF to kill him and remove him as a stumbling block to their schemes, was defamatory to them.

l Meanwhile, in an interview in Johannesburg yesterday, Ncube said of the MDC split: "We know that many people across the country are upset by the division in the party. From Gokwe to Nkayi to Mutoko people have told us their anguish. They have said: 'The MDC was our only hope. The MDC was our only way out of the Mugabe madness'. Men and women have come to us literally in tears.

"We have agonised long and hard over the division. But we found that if we support peaceful, democratic change in Zimbabwe, how do we make accommodation with what Tsvangirai is saying? We need to demonstrate democracy to regain the confidence of the people. We cannot accept an all-powerful president of the party who does what he likes. That is like Mugabe."

Ncube said their congress would be held on February 25 but Tsvangirai would hold his on March 18.

Vincent Kahiya

I DO not know whether I am being cynical or downright unreasonable. January always brings with it the terrible administrative burden of dealing with dozens of applications by students from various colleges seeking attachment at the Zimbabwe Independent.

The media at this time of the year is asked to take on board students from the country's ever-growing number of tertiary institutions that train journalists.

This is a service media houses have to perform in the national interest. We all went through the same mill but things have changed from how the system worked then.

Journalism classes then were small. There were 15 of us in my class. There were only two main training institutions for journalism. Students were often spoilt for choice after college.

There was the Zimpapers stable, the Financial Gazette, the Ministry of Information, Ziana, ZBC radio and television, and magazines such as Moto, Parade, Horizon and at least half a dozen titles under the Munn Group.

Save for a famished and now less robust Moto, most of the magazines have folded. The government media under the Ministry of Information has shrunk.

Opportunities at the ZBH, Zimpapers, the Fingaz the Independent and the Standard which came on board later have shrunk in sync with the failing economy.

The Daily News and the Daily News on Sunday have disappeared together with the Tribune and the Weekly Times.

Against this negative trend, colleges are churning out hundreds of students every year. Spaces for industrial attachment, internship or employment are very limited. Since the beginning of the year, the door has not stopped swinging with students of all manner, attitude and deportment dropping in to plead for attachment.

What worries me is the way colleges and universities appear uninterested in the whole process of attaching students to media institutions.

In the past, Harare Polytechnic would make prior arrangements for students to come on board for three months. This formal arrangement worked well and this is how our news editor Dumisani Muleya, award-winning reporter Brian Hungwe, Loughty Dube, Forward Maisokwadzo and Augustine Mukaro ended up here.

My former lecturer Kudakwashe Gonese was constantly in touch wanting to know how the students were performing. This relationship ensured the trainers were kept informed of areas requiring attention. It's been some time since I heard from anyone at the Polytech.

The same is true of the Midlands State University, Nust, the University of Zimbabwe, CCOSA, Career Management Centre, UMAA Institute and so on. The only time they are in touch is when they go through the ritual of pleading for places for their students.

Everyone is training journalists these days, or are they? The colleges are producing students with all manner of competences. There are those who have to be introduced to a computer for the first time in their lives when they come for attachment. They have to be taught all kinds of grammar, syntax and punctuation let alone interviewing and good telephone manners. The actual art of writing a story is the greatest challenge.

Evidence abounds that students coming for attachments are lacking the lecture-room basics of news-gathering and story-writing. We have availed ourselves to help colleges with this major challenge. Calls for co-operation have however not been answered and our efforts in equipping students have not been reciprocated. But the training of interns is expensive for the media industry, already burdened with huge production costs.

A student on attachment needs a chair, a desk, a computer, a phone (oh they love the phone), tea and allowances. Then there is the on-the-job training. The cost of all this is unmatched by output. This makes it incumbent on colleges to review their dealings with media houses.

Also what colleges training journalists appear to have in common is their apparent silence on the subject of the shrinking industry and media laws. Colleges appear to be keen on producing graduates who will join the rank and file of the jobless.

Unlike other sectors of the economy, the shrinking media space in this country is a direct result of state action. Isn't it ironic that media trainers in this country have looked the other way when the state unleashes terror on the media, only to be heard when they need assistance in the training of their students?

But students should not be punished for the sins of their institutional fathers. They need help and we will every year take on board the few we can, train them, and hopefully engage them as full-time employees one day.

We believe the ideal internship programme is a "win-win" situation for both the student and the employer.

The staff will appreciate the student's contribution to the quality of services provided.

The student will benefit from the unique opportunity to gain invaluable

xperience and knowledge in their field of interest and to develop and demonstrate leadership.

And this country is also crying out for leadership from academia. We cannot succeed if academics allow themselves to become vestiges of a compliant culture through their inaction, thereby knowingly contributing - without so much as a whimper - to social indifference - the stuff dictatorships feed on.

Itai Mushekwe

FILM-MAKERS have called upon government to implement a film policy to attract foreign investment and help to develop the sector.

Zimbabwe's film industry registered phenomenal growth in the early eighties owing to a robust and clear working plan monitored by the Ministry of Information thereby becoming a hotbed of feature film productions. This saw regional countries such as South Africa playing second fiddle in terms of competitiveness.

Filmmaker Rumbi Katedza, who doubles as director of the Zimbabwe International Film Festival Trust told Independent Xtra that potential investors were shunning the country because of lack of a policy in the motion picture business.

"At the moment we don't have such a thing (film policy)," she said. "This makes people think twice about filming in Zimbabwe. They need to know that there is a policy in order to gain interest and assurance about their investments." Katedza added: "Lack of training and funding for the sector is also a major setback while adequate financial support would brighten growth prospects.

"Funding and training are also an issue. We have to encourage foreign investment because of its positive impact on the sector and economy at large. This industry has the potential of generating the much-needed foreign currency."

Veteran filmmaker and Producers Association of Zimbabwe chairperson, Stephen Chigorimbo, echoed Katedza's sentiments calling upon stakeholders in the sector to ratchet up pressure on the government to heed their overdue call.

"Clearly we need a film policy," he said. "The film industry has potential to generate employment, foreign currency and project a good international image for Zimbabwe. Right now there are no clear structures that support the sector. Without a policy how do we get cohesive supporting structures in place to allow growth and development?"

He pointed out that a film policy would allow a Film Commission to be set up whose mandate, among other things, would be to protect filmmakers from overseas competition, foster development and sustainability; implement funding structures and support indigenous productions, distribution and marketing together with spreading film education countrywide.

While supporting the need for a national film policy, Sizwe Thuthuka, a freedom of expression advocate, said civil society organisations should join hands to lobby for a national media policy that would provide the overall policy framework for all sections of the media.

"By clamouring for a narrow need, film groups want to skirt issues related to freedom of expression which would best be addressed by a national media policy. Such a myopic approach would not be in their best interest. For example, independent film production is not doing well because the ZBH (Zimbabwe Broadcasting Holdings) monopoly has killed competition.

Resultantly, independent film producers are paid less than their counterparts in the region. Worse still, some of their productions are subjected to unfair censorship because they fail to satisfy ZBH's unusually restrictive standards when it comes to content considered politically sensitive," said Thuthuka.

He said the country used to boast the now defunct Central Film Laboratories, which was operational in the early eighties and was the only one in sub-Saharan Africa used for film processing and mastering. A government and Unesco film school, the Zimbabwe Film and Video Training Programme, opened in 1991, had brightened prospects for the industry but its closure four years ago cast a dark shadow over the training of local talent.

However, since Independence, Zimbabwe has made positive scores on the local feature films making over 15 productions, including Mwanasikana, one of the earliest productions directed by Ben Zulu. Others are Neria and Everyone's Child directed by Godwin Mawuru and Tsitsi Dangarebga respectively. To date Neria, according to cinema statistics, is the highest grossing local production. More Time and Yellow Card have also made a mark.

A sheaf of international motion pictures has also been shot on location in Zimbabwe, the bulk of them US productions. Some of the popular productions include King Solomon's Mines, which featured acclaimed actress Sharon Stone and Power of One starring Oscar award winner Denzel Washington. It is hoped that a film policy will revamp the sector and allow Zimbabwe to reclaim its status as a film powerhouse to reckon with on the continent.

Shakeman Mugari

THREE months since a political tempest hit the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) last October, all hope for a ceasefire between the warring factions is fast fading.

With almost a month to go to the party's congress in February and the infighting intensifying, it is now certain that the MDC will implode unless reason prevails.

It is not too unrealistic a view to predict a formal MDC split less than a month from now. The only legacy would probably be a vicious dogfight for the party's name and symbol.

Both the pro- and anti-senate factions seem more committed than before to destroying the only party that had inspired hope among the electorate for a democratic dispensation and an end to the political and economic crises that Zanu PF's misrule has spawned.

But there hasn't been any real attempt by either faction to initiate dialogue to break the impasse.

A long phone call from party president Morgan Tsvangirai to deputy Gibson Sibanda on New Year's Day doesn't appear to have bridged the divide.

The struggle in the party has long ceased to be one about senate polls or how to confront President Robert Mugabe's regime. It has degenerated into an ugly fight for internal supremacy.

Both camps are now concerned about victory over each other instead of pulling together for the greater national benefit. In their struggle to outwit one another they have forgotten that this only strengthens Zanu PF and undermines their cause.

In their bid to control the party, the factions appear to have forgotten that Mugabe and Zanu PF are still very much in power.

After besmirching their political careers and the party, the factions will wake up to find another party has taken their place in popular affections.

"The MDC is emerging stronger after the events of the past months," said Tsvangirai in a statement released a week after the senate election.

But the truth, as it shall soon dawn on all of them, is that neither of the factions won in the senate battle. And the MDC is certainly weaker than it was before the election. It is a battle that neither faction can win. Mugabe already has his victory as he watches the unedifying spectacle.

Only Mugabe and his Zanu PF benefited from the senate poll. How things have changed since 2000 when the MDC came within a whisker of unseating Zanu PF! Indeed, in all probability, as court appeals suggest, the MDC did win that poll.

The MDC has been the biggest threat to Mugabe's stranglehold on power since 1980. Now the party is in its death throes. It is a victory that must be very sweet for Mugabe because in a space of six months he has managed not only to guarantee his safe exit through the senate but also to split the MDC and weaken its challenge.

The painful truth is that Tsvangirai, by being party to the mud-slinging in the MDC, has reduced himself to a faction leader instead of being a president of the party. He has failed as leader to hold the party together by wise diplomacy. Instead, he is behaving like the man he sought to displace in 2002.

Tsvangirai may indeed have been right that the party has been infiltrated by state agencies just as the press has, but his actions seem to be helping the same CIO agenda that he blames for wreaking havoc in the MDC.

Those who support Tsvangirai's anti-senate position have been arguing that the apathy that characterised the polls indicates that people listened to Tsvangirai's call for a boycott. Tsvangirai himself seems to believe that too.

But that argument is a self-serving analysis that seeks to give Tsvangirai credit for what he can't do. Zimbabweans have always stayed away from elections whose benefits they do not understand. Only in 2000 and 2002 did they see a chance to change things. And that spirit was soon broken.

In the 1996 presidential poll Mugabe was elected by less than 30% of the electorate after other candidates boycotted the contest. To therefore assume that people did not vote because they listened to Tsvangirai is as good as assuming that Zimbabweans don't know when and how to vote, and that they need Tsvangirai's wisdom to make that decision.

Apathy in an election is a result of many factors and cannot solely be pinned on an individual.

The pro-senate faction, even after emerging out of the election empty-handed except for a few Bulawayo seats, also claimed they were successful.

Their argument goes: "We managed to defend the party constitution and at least fill the democratic space."

The question that stops them in their tracks is: "So what if you did that and ended up with a broken party?"

Perhaps the most disheartening flip side is that while the MDC is busy fighting itself the lives of the people they claim to be representing have become even more miserable.

Instead of improving the people's lives with meaningful debate and challenging Mugabe, the factions are busy stroking their egos.

Another cheap argument is that the camps can do without each other. Its proponents, who are mostly activists, believe that Tsvangirai has the people's support and can therefore break away and remain stronger without the pro-senate faction.

This argument is based more on emotion than good sense. The sober view is that neither of the factions can do without the other's support. Both camps need each other to maintain a truly national party. The MDC needs as many people of goodwill as it can find.

Suffice it to say the struggle in the MDC is reminiscent of the split in Zapu in 1963 that gave birth to Zanu and Zapu. For a year after, the townships around Salisbury were nightly aflame with petrol bombings and faction fights.

It is this split that sowed the seeds of Gukurahundi in Matabeleland which left an estimated 20 000 innocent people dead soon after Independence.

If party secretary-general Welshman Ncube and his faction choose to go it alone they will narrow their support base to Matabeleland and risk being labelled an ethnic party just like the old Zapu.

If Tsvangirai and his camp decide to break away they also risk losing their Matabeleland constituency and being labelled a Shona party just like the old Zanu. When that happens whoever takes over the name MDC remains the leader of a regional party which lacks the vital national outlook. The MDC would never be the same after that.

Both factions have dismally failed to read the game. They cannot understand why the state media that lied that the MDC was planning an anthrax attack on Zimbabwe should suddenly start giving them unlimited coverage.

State media understand that the infighting in the MDC serves their master's purpose - the death of opposition politics in Zimbabwe and the consolidation of an increasingly vicious dictatorship.

Ray Matikinye

BRITISH property tycoon Nicholas van Hoogstraten is not a major shareholder in one of Zimbabwe's premier financial institutions, NMB Bank. Van Hoogstraten, who was declared a murderer by a British court in a civil case last month for the contract killing of a business colleague, owns a mere 8,65% in the bank.

NMB financial officer, Mario Dos Remedios, told the Zimbabwe Independent that the shareholding does not give van Hoogstraten a controlling stake in the bank.

"People might have got this impression from the forceful manner in which van Hoogstraten was expressing himself during the bank's last AGM," Dos Remedios said.

"He was throwing his weight around and that could have given other shareholders the wrong impression."

Dos Remedios said van Hoogstraten kept declaring that he was a major shareholder during the AGM although this was not the case.

In October last year van Hoogstraten splashed £2 000 sterling on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange to buy sharers in NMB.

He latched onto media reports that he had muscled his way into NMB as a major shareholder.

"You can see that van Hoogstraten's 8,65% is not as substantial as he claims," Dos Remedios said, adding that the bank had to probe those claims by auditing the shareholders' register to allay the concerns of other shareholders.

Van Hoogstraten, an admirer of President Mugabe whom he has described as "a gentleman" and "incorruptible", owns vast tracts of land in Zimbabwe despite Zanu PF's political rhetoric that it will not allow foreigners to own land ahead of indigenous Zimbabweans.

State Security, Lands and Land Resettlement minister Dydimus Mutasa in August told a provincial land committee meeting in Masvingo that government would drive out the remaining white farmers from their properties.

Mutasa said this was in line with Constitutional Amendment Bill No 17 that empowers government to nationalise all agricultural land while barring farmers from contesting land expropriation in the courts.

Eric Chiriga

THE recent reintroduction of $300 billion Open Market Operations (OMO) bills by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe is inflationary and will crowd out the private sector, analysts say.

They said the RBZ was using the bills to pick up money from the market to finance government's recurrent expenditure.

The RBZ introduced OMO bills in which they invite investors such as pension and provident funds, insurance firms, life mutuals and commercial banks as well as individuals to subscribe.

The offer opened and closed on January 5.

The 91-day bills will be acceptable as collateral for repo and overnight accommodation by the RBZ and payable at the central bank on maturity.

Interest on the bills is subject to a 20% withholding tax.

"Theoretically, OMO bills are used to mop up excess liquidity in the market but the bills are a way to borrow money by government to finance its recurrent expenditure," an analyst with a banking institution said.

He said initially it will reduce money supply but ultimately it would have the opposite effect when the government starts using the money to finance its recurrent expenditure.

"It will also crowd out the private sector," he said.

Reginald Sherekete, an analyst with Interfin, said the introduction of the bills would be inflationary on maturity.

"In the short-term, excess liquidity will be mopped up but when the bills mature, money supply will again surge," he said.

Farai Dyirakumunda, also an analyst at Interfin, said the introduction of OMO bills was a means by government to borrow money and control interest rates.

However, he said ultimately the move will accelerate money supply growth.

"The bills will increase money supply and push up inflation considering that the economy is stagnant," he said. Zimbabwe's December inflation was 585,8%.