WAR VETERANS INVADE JONATHAN MOYO'S FARM Thur 20 January
2005 HARARE - Ruling ZANU PF party militants were last night reported to
have invaded Information Minister Jonathan Moyo's farm as a vicious power
struggle within the party over President Robert Mugabe's successor appears
set to break into open warfare.
And in Manicaland province,
some of the party's leaders openly demanded action against Justice Minister
Patrick Chinamasa and two others who helped Moyo in a failed bid to block
last year's appointment of Joyce Mujuru as party and state second
vice-president.
The vice-presidency is seen as a key stepping stone
to the top job especially as Mugabe and his first vice-president Joseph
Msika are set to retire at the same time in three years.
Sources from Mashonaland Central province, Mujuru's home province and where
Moyo's farm is located told ZimOnline last night that the hordes of ZANU PF
militia and self-styled veterans of Zimbabwe's 1970s independence war had
moved onto the property.
They were reportedly demanding that Moyo
leave the property and the province because of his opposition to Mujuru's
appointment and that he goes and settle in his Tsholotsho rural home in the
semi-arid Matabeleland North province.
It was not clear whether
Moyo himself was on the farm when the invaders arrived. He was unreachable
last night.
Moyo last year convened a meeting in Tsholotsho to plot
ways to block the rise of Mujuru, whom Mugabe had openly backed for the
vice-presidency. He was publicly rebuked by Mugabe for calling the meeting
and was subsequently fired from ZANU PF's key central and politburo
committees.
The information minister also appears set to lose his
job after ZANU PF barred him from contesting March's general election.
Mugabe has said he will not appoint anyone to his government who is not
elected in the March poll.
And from Manicaland, members of ZANU
PF's national consultative assembly and war veterans leaders there sent a
document to party chairman John Nkomo demanding action against Chinamasa,
Agriculture and Transport Ministers Joseph Made and Chris Mushowe
respectively.
In the document that was also publicly circulated in
Harare, the ZANU PF leaders accused the three ministers of closely working
with Moyo to scuttle Mujuru's appointment. They also accused them of
grabbing more than one farm each in violation of the government's
one-man-one-farm policy.
Both Nkomo and the three ministers could
not be reached for comment on the document.
Chinamasa was fired
from the politburo for his involvement in the plot against Mujuru but
Mushowe and Made appeared to have escaped without punishment. -
ZimOnline
Bureaucracy could see thousands of voters
disenfranchised Thur 20 January 2005 HARARE - Confusion and apathy have
hit an exercise to inspect the voters' roll to be used in Zimbabwe's general
election in March with many voters citing stringent registration
requirements as the reason they were shunning the exercise.
In
a snap survey since Monday in the cities of Harare, Chitungwiza, Mutare and
some rural areas in Manicaland province, ZimOnline reporters only saw a few
prospective voters at inspection centres.
Thousands of voters could
find themselves unable to vote in March if their names or residential
addresses are either wrongly entered or skipped altogether from the roll and
they were unable to have them corrected now because of the stringent
requirements to do so. Under Zimbabwe's voting laws, people can vote only in
the constituency they are registered.
For example, in Manicaland,
some villagers with names wrongly entered or mistakenly skipped on the roll
said they had given up on having them corrected because local headmen were
refusing to give them letters confirming that they lived in their respective
areas because they suspected them of backing the opposition.
"What am I supposed to do?" asked a young man, Joseph Maromo, from Zimunya
rural area just outside Mutare.
He added: "My name is not on the
roll, the officers from Mudede's office (Registrar-General Tobaiwa) say I
must produce a letter from the headman of our village to be registered, but
the headman won't give me the letter because he suspects all school-leavers
are anti-ZANU PF."
Mudede has asked villagers whose names have been
wrongly spelt or omitted from the roll or those wishing to transfer to new
constituencies to produce letters of confirmation from their
village.
Farm workers with similar queries must produce letters
from the farm owner that they lived and worked on a respective
farm.
Voters in urban areas must produce water or electricity
bills, lodgers' cards or letters from employers that they reside in a
respective constituency, conditions which many voters who spoke to our news
crew said were difficult to meet.
In a telling example of
difficulties voters were facing, Harare resident Mike Mangeni recounted how
he was turned down when he attempted to register as a new voter at an
inspection centre at Avonlea Primary School in Harare because a letter from
his landlord was not stamped.
A visibly angry Mangeni said: "I
explained to the registration officer that my landlord was a private
individual who did not have an official stamp but he was adamant that letter
should bear an official stamp.
"I had to leave. There was no hope
in insisting. I saw several other people who had other queries but could not
be helped because they did not have the required
documentation."
Mudede could not be reached for comment on the
matter yesterday. But the registrar has in previous elections omitted
thousands of voters from the roll while several more thousands of voters
have been unable to vote because their names were entered in wrong
constituencies.
The main opposition Movement for Democratic Change
party yesterday confirmed that thousands of its supporters were finding it
hard to ensure their names were correctly entered on the roll because of the
stringent conditions set by Mudede.
A senior MDC official,
Remus Makuwaza said the party had already set up centres across the country
to receive complaints from supporters.
He said: "We have set up
command centres where people can immediately raise complaints. We have
received complaints from all parts of the country. Apparently the
frustration of prospective voters is not limited to towns but is rampant in
rural areas as well."
Ruling ZANU PF party elections directorate
chairman Elliot Manyika said the party had not yet received any complaints
from its members. "I have not received any complaints regarding the voters'
roll," Manyika said. - ZimOnline
Andrew Meldrum in
Pretoria Thursday January 20, 2005 The Guardian
A South African
spymaster has been arrested in Zimbabwe in a sting operation and is accused
of running an espionage ring inside the country involving a number of
prominent officials. The Guardian has been told that the agent was captured
on December 15 in Victoria Falls after being lured into Zimbabwe from Zambia
across a bridge spanning the Zambezi river.
At the same time five
prominent Zimbabweans were arrested, all of whom are closely linked to the
inner circle of Robert Mugabe's ruling party, Zanu-PF. All five have been
charged with espionage.
Sources close to the South African government
confirmed the intelligence officer is being held by Zimbabwe's central
intelligence organisation, and is providing information about the network he
had set up. It is expected he will be returned to South Africa.
The
five Zimbabweans charged with espionage are: Philip Chiyangwa, a Zanu-PF
provincial chairman and MP, Godfrey Dzvairo, Zimbabwe's ambassador-designate
to Mozambique, Kennedy Karidza, Zanu-PF's security director, Tendai
Matambanadzo, a director of Metropolitan Bank, and Itai Marchi, Zanu-PF's
director of external affairs.
The identity of the South African has
not been revealed but a South African source said he was a senior officer in
the South African secret service who was 48 and white.
The secret
agent, the Guardian was told, had travelled to Zambia's resort town of
Livingstone where he was to meet a senior Zimbabwean intelligence officer.
At the last minute the Zimbabwean persuaded him to come across to Victoria
Falls where they would meet in a hotel. The South African was arrested when
he crossed the border.
He was allegedly paying Mr Chiyangwa £5,300 a
month for information about the inner workings of Zanu-PF, according to
evidence emerging from Harare court hearings. Mr Chiyangwa and the others
face up to 20 years in jail if convicted of the charges.
The South
Africans are trying to play down the arrest, saying the agent had been
involved in routine intelligence gathering.
But analysts believe South
Africa's president, Thabo Mbeki, had launched a high-level spying operation
against Mr Mugabe.
"It shows that Mbeki has very bad relations with
Mugabe," said Gail Wannenburg, a researcher for the South African Institute
for International Affairs.
"It shows that Mbeki is thinking that he
cannot trust what Mugabe says to him. So far Mbeki has been outmanoeuvred by
Mugabe. Mbeki expected some concessions from Mugabe in terms of election
reforms, something that he could take to SADC [the Southern African
Development Community, a regional body of 14 countries] as superficially
acceptable improvements. But Mugabe has not done that."
The
revelations came as Mr Mbeki's party, the ANC, criticised the Mugabe
government. Kgalema Motlanthe, the ANC's secretary general, said Zimbabwe's
opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change, should be allowed to
hold meetings freely.
It must apply to police to hold a meeting of
more than five people, and the police routinely refuse
permission.
"You cannot have a registered party restricted in this way,"
Mr Motlanthe said this week.
Zimbabwe can play 'pivotal' role in uplifting
Africa: Khatami
HARARE: Iranian President Mohammad Khatami Wednesday said
Zimbabwe could play a "pivotal" role in uplifting the world's poorest
continent, Africa, as he ended a three-day state visit.
Khatami, who
held talks with President Robert Mugabe and visited tourist resorts and met
with scores of local businessmen, said post-colonial Zimbabwe -- which is in
"control" of its land -- could be a torchbearer.
He said Africa had to
exploit its "huge resources" if it is "to emerge as a power on the
international stage" and transform "from an under-developed and
underprivileged continent into a developed continent.
"In this regard
Zimbabwe can play a pivotal role and present a very good example," he
said.
"Today Zimbabwe belongs to the people of Zimbabwe, they have and
control their own resources of land, they enjoy their sovereignty and
independence and they have everything for further... advancement in a lot of
fields," Khatami said.
Government ministers, and the governors of the
two countries' central banks and private sector officials signed 10 trade
agreements before Khatami left for Uganda, the last stop on a seven-country
African tour.
One of the deals will see Iran help Zimbabwe build a
commuter railway system linking Harare to the suburban town of Chitungwiza,
southeast of the capital.
"What we have signed today gives us a
window of opportunity to exploit the future potential and resources existing
in both countries and they must be used to further enhance our cooperation,"
said Khatami.
He hailed Mugabe as "one of the great leaders ... who
helped the African people and all countries to emancipate themselves from
the yoke of imperialism."
Mugabe thanked the Iranian leader, saying
"the visit has not just done justice in regard to our policy of looking east
but it has done justice in the field of cooperation" between the two
nations.
Iran is one of the countries Mugabe has been warming up to as
part of the "Look East" policy, partly forced by Zimbabwe's isolation from
the West over controversial land reforms and allegedly fraud-marred
elections in 2000 and 2002.
Zimbabwe has expropriated land previously
owned by a minority group of about 4,500 whites and given it to landless
blacks in what it says is a correction of colonial imbalances.
Mugabe
said Zimbabwe was bound to benefit more from the deals struck with Iran
since it was more advanced, pledging that Harare would ensure the projects
were implemented.
I've seen citizens' enemy - it's
government January 20, 2005
Throughout history, the
greatest threat facing an individual comes from his or her own
government.
One need only think of the millions who were murdered
by Hitler, Lenin, Stalin and more recently the thousands of minority Tutsis
who were murdered by the Hutu majority government or the thousands of the
Matabele who were murdered by Robert Mugabe's notorious Shona-manned 5th
Brigade to understand this.
The modern notion of countering
this threat is that of an independent judiciary backed by a
constitution.
It is not at all clear why any rational person should
believe that these, in the end, provide any protection at all. These were
wholly ineffective in Nazi Germany and Mugabe's Zimbabwe.
If a
judiciary is to prevail, it can only do so very early in the attack. It is
the first line of defence.
The attack against individuals usually
starts with an attack on their liberty and property as in Nazi Germany. It
started with liberty, then property, it ended in extermination
camps.
When I first read of the Asset Forfeiture Unit (AFU), it was
clear that private property was under direct attack in South
Africa.
With much fanfare, the AFU was trumpeted as an instrument
to fight organised crime, including dealing with the proceeds of such
crime.
I pointed out that the evidence was there for all to see.
This "law" was not being used for these purposes. It was increasingly being
used to target victimless crimes.
This means the government and
its agents can keep more of the proceeds of their activities for themselves
(See The Asset Forfeiture Unit - a warning from History 2001 Freemarket
Foundation Briefing paper 61).
I predicted that the AFU would
expand its activities to take all manner of private property, increasingly
for its own benefit.
Since the judiciary has never been effective
against a determined government, I had little faith that in South Africa it
would protect property against attacks by the government.
However, on January 6 2002 The Star carried a front page report of a judge
dismissing an application by the AFU on the grounds that it was applying the
legislation to a case which, in the words of the judge, could "not by the
wildest stretch of the imagination by categorised as organised
crime".
And so, it was thought that I my predictions would not
be fulfiled - the judiciary and constitution would indeed protect property
in South Africa.
I doubted this, so I had to write a second
article (Freemarket Foundation, April 22 2003) to dispel this foolish
notion.
I predicted that that decision would be a "mere aberration
and that the illegitimate confiscations will inexorably
continue".
Once again this prediction has turned out to be correct,
with the AFU now confiscating, with the approval of judges, motor vehicles
for a mere statutory offence of driving with blood levels in excess of the
statutory limit and speeding.
If private property can be
confiscated by the state for mere speeding, then no property is safe in
South Africa. The judiciary, the first line of defence has now fallen - it
has taken a mere three years for the judiciary to fall. How quickly and how
easily it fell!
If Zimbabwe had this legislation it would need no
other. The mere protesting against the confiscation of a farm or other
property could be declared unlawful and the farm or other property could
then be confiscated as an instrument of crime.
I will point out
that the financial monitoring and money laundering legislation also has
nothing to do with money laundering or organised crime and will not be
applied for this purpose.
It should now be clear to all property is
under attack in South Africa.
Further attacks on liberty and
life cannot be far behind.
BOOK REVIEW January 19,
2005 Posted to the web January 19, 2005
Reviewed by Norah
Vawter Washington, DC
The Dust Diaries: Seeking the African Legacy of
Arthur Cripps. Owen Sheers. Boston:Houghton Mifflin, 2004. 310 pp. $23.00
cloth.
The Dust Diaries: Seeking the African Legacy of Arthur Cripps is
the story of a young man's search for the details of his great, great
uncle's life. The young man is British poet Owen Sheers; his great, great
uncle was Arthur Cripps, a missionary in southern Africa from 1901 until his
death in 1952. Cripps originally went to Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) as
an Anglican missionary to the British colony. Once there, he became an
ardent advocate for the rights of Africans and a critic of colonialism.
After many years he left the Anglican Church and declared himself an
independent missionary. When he died in 1952, the local newspaper, The Link,
wrote of his funeral: "The congregation of Europeans, Indians, Coloureds and
Africans was much too big for the church to hold." People paid tribute to
Cripps with a dance and song, "used only to honor a great
chief."
Owen Sheers discovered the mystery of his great, great uncle
during a family reunion in which a relative mentioned his name. After
finding Cripps' biography and poetry collections, he endeavored to discover
who this man really was. He unearthed details in library archives, finding
photographs and letters, before going to Zimbabwe, where he interviewed
Cripps' secretary and many others, and visited the places where Cripps had
lived. Writing directly to his uncle, the author declares that the
secretary, "continues to guide me through the physical landscape of your
life. He shows me the patch of ground where you grew your own pipe tobacco,
the river in which you baptized him and hundreds of others, and the place on
top of the kopje where you came to meditate."
The result of this
exploration is The Dust Diaries, a book that mixes the true story of Sheers'
search with a fictionalized narrative of Cripps' time in Africa. "It is the
story of Arthur Cripps' life reflected through my imagination," Sheers
explains. "It may not always be true to historical fact, but I hope it is
true to the essence of Cripps' story and to the essence of the man I
discovered buried in the nave of a ruined church far out in the Zimbabwean
veldt."
What follows is a strange mix of novel and memoir. The novel far
outweighs the memoir, and as the novel is slow to begin, readers may wish
that Sheers had focused more on his own search. The narrative picks up
however, as Cripps arrives in Africa and begins to form his own opinions
about the place. Some memorable images are formed from Cripps' long treks
across the veldt: picture Cripps running to save a sick child, "Arthur has
been running across the veldt for over four hours. His feet are bleeding in
his boots and his lungs feel the colour of the ground beneath him: red,
coarse and grained."
Referred to by other characters in the book as a
saint, Arthur Cripps, may be, for a good many readers, a protagonist
difficult to identify with. He is just too good. But, Sheers portrays more
than - and less than - a saint: he gives us a man. He shows us Cripps' anger
and his frustration, his dated views on race and ethnicity, his shyness, his
blindness in old age and he shows us Cripps' vulnerability borne from being
a nurse's patient.
Sheers becomes increasingly intrigued with the
possibility that Cripps had a lover before he left England, and that this
woman bore his child. In his narration, directed at Cripps, he explains, "My
intuition that you lived partly as a pursued man in Mashonaland has
deepened, I feel more strongly than ever that your life of sacrifice was
also somehow a life of personal penance...I know why you came here but why
did you leave?"
Sheers writes that, "One man's life can resonate down the
years in the lives of others." Cripps' story drew me in, but what makes The
Dust Diaries so compelling is the relationship Owen Sheers forges with this
long dead relative. What keeps one reading is the obsession that the author
obviously has for his uncle, an obsession that Sheers is openly chronicling.
Other authors have written about Arthur Cripps. There are two biographies, a
novel based on his life, and Sheers mentions several other books. Sheers,
never having met the man, draws on these sources as well as interviews,
Cripps' own poetry and his correspondence to write the fictional narrative.
Sheers can suddenly switch to take up the point of view of one of his
somewhat-fictionalized characters. One suspects he does so to further
elaborate on his own obsession with his uncle. Mrs. Cole feels that Cripps
makes her recognize herself again. Noel Brettell is reminded of an African
chief. Bishop Paget, who continues to accept Cripps' candidates for
ordination long after the missionary has left the Anglican Church, tries not
to bother him. He calls him a saint, and thinks that the churches he builds
are "perhaps the most suitable churches of all for this maverick priest.
Here there was no partition between the church and land, no entrances, no
windows, the birds flew above them and the wind moved through
them."
The problem with relying on these outside characters, some of whom
did not know Cripps intimately, is that the narrative gets choppy. Captain
Meinertzhagen comes in abruptly to relate Arthur Cripps' World War I
service, but his presence is rather baffling because Cripps' appears late in
the tale. Other characters seem to turn up and then vanish inexplicably. I
was not surprised to find Captain Meinertzhagen's war diaries mentioned in
the acknowledgements.
The Dust Diaries stands out for the lyricism
Sheers employs in telling the story of his great, great uncle. At times the
narrative seems to slow down and even stand still as the poetry of the
language deepens. Whether Sheers is describing Arthur's interactions with
friends in Mashonaland or his reason for coming there in the first place, he
excels in his use of images and metaphor. The lyricism is the poetry of the
moment, and it slows the story down by focusing the reader on images and
contradictions. Far from being meaningless fluff, these images and
contradictions are the true crux of the story. This is a story that always
seems just about to move, as soon as it has pondered its
present.
This is not the quickest read. As the chapters progressed, one
learns bit by bit of Cripps' possible lover. I found myself needing to read
on. The narrative is punctuated with chapters about Cripps' last day of
life, and those chapters show this complicated man in the simplest of
situations: a man about to die at a ripe old age, among friends. Read this
book to honor Sheers' ambition in writing about a man he never knew. Read it
for the chance to delve into Zimbabwe's colonial past. Read it to learn
about an extraordinary man. And, oh yes, read it for the
poetry.
Norah Vawter is an intern at allAfrica.com, focusing on the book
review page. She received her B.A. from the College of William and Mary,
where she studied English literature and edited the fiction section of the
William and Mary Review.
Journalists Shrug Off Government's Media Straitjacket
Tafi
Murinzi
BULAWAYO, Jan 19 (IPS) - Media rights watchdogs have long
criticised the conditions under which journalists in Zimbabwe operate. Since
the start of the year, however, the circumstances of the country's media
have become bleaker still.
Earlier this month, President Robert
Mugabe signed into law amendments to the Access to Information and
Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA).
This law, passed in March 2002,
requires journalists to obtain accreditation from a government-appointed
Media and Information Commission (MIC) - something widely viewed as an
attempt by authorities to clamp down on the activities of the independent
press. In terms of the latest amendments to AIPPA, reporters who are caught
working without accreditation may be imprisoned for up to two
years.
Newspapers and publishers are also required to register with the
MIC.
The tightening of media restrictions appears to have been greeted
with a certain amount of sang-froid in Zimbabwe.
- There has emerged
a culture of acceptance of the repressive nature of the media law, and
people don't make too much of a fuss about it anymore," says Takura
Zhangazha of the Zimbabwean chapter of the Media Institute of Southern
Africa. ôEverybody wants to do their business in as quiet a way as possible
and not draw attention from the MIC."
Other reporters have simply decided
to disregard the amendments.
ôFor me accreditation's one thing I said I'm
not going to bother about," a freelancer told IPS, noting that û if nothing
else û registration is prohibitively expensive. Reporters who work for
foreign media have to pay the MIC fees of about 800 United States
dollars.
Adds the freelancer, ôOne needs to look at what's going on with
Jonathan (Moyo). If he goes, things might improve."
Information
Minister Jonathan Moyo has become the nemesis of reporters in Zimbabwe since
2000, when the ruling ZANU-PF party won parliamentary elections that were
characterised by intimidation and violence, much of this directed against
the opposition.
Considered one of the driving forces behind efforts to
gag foreign reporters and the privately-owned media in Zimbabwe û both
highly critical of the Mugabe administration û the pugnacious Moyo now seems
on the verge of losing his position as government's chief
apologist.
Along with several other members of ZANU-PF, he has been
excluded from running in parliamentary elections that are scheduled to be
held by the end of March. This came after Moyo bypassed party procedures by
holding an un-sanctioned meeting to select candidates for key posts in
ZANU-PF.
Vincent Kahiya, editor of The Zimbabwe Independent û one of
three privately-owned weeklies û is less optimistic about the consequences
of Moyo's possible demise.
ôIt's not like the departure of Moyo would
see the government repealing or amending the laws," he says. ôThe laws will
stay on the statute books as long as they are useful to the ruling
order."
A magistrate's court recently dropped charges against Kahiya and
three staffers who had been accused of defaming the president and his
government. The case arose out of a report carried by The Zimbabwe
Independent early last year which alleged that Mugabe had commandeered a
plane from the state airline to travel to Switzerland, where he attended an
international summit.
In one of the latest spats between the MIC and
Zimbabwe's media, a new weekly fell foul of the commission this month after
publishing only one issue.
According to the MIC, The Weekly Times
misrepresented its editorial policy in order to get an operating licence.
The commission claimed that while the paper had undertaken to concentrate on
ôdevelopmental issues" and ôgeneral news", it ultimately showed itself to be
ôpolitical commentary through and through".
The Weekly Times was
given a week to explain why its licence should not be suspended or
revoked.
Moves to restrict the activities of journalists have drawn
criticism abroad.
U.S. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher noted
that the AIPPA amendments are inconsistent with election guidelines adopted
by the Southern African Development Community (SADC) in August last year.
Zimbabwe is a member of SADC.
ôThe steps raise serious doubts about
whether the government is committed to holding free and fair parliamentary
elections in March," Boucher said recently during a press briefing in the
American capital, Washington.
In the wake of the violence and human
rights abuse that preceded the 2000 parliamentary and 2002 presidential
polls, the U.S. joined the European Union in imposing sanctions on Mugabe
and other key members of government.
The SADC electoral code, agreed on
during a summit of regional leaders in Mauritius, stipulates that all
political parties should have access to state media during election
campaigns, and that they should be allowed to operate in a climate free of
violence and intimidation. The code also requires polls to be managed by
impartial institutions.
While SADC has yet to issue its verdict on the
latest media restrictions to be implemented in Zimbabwe, the ruling African
National Congress (ANC) in South Africa noted this week that Harare's
treatment of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) was not in
line with regional standards.
This appeared to constitute a departure
from the ANC's previous position: the party has generally refrained from
criticising Zimbabwe's government, saying political upheaval in the country
can best be dealt with through low-key, diplomatic
interventions.
Since the start of 2000, Zimbabwe has also witnessed
occupations of white-owned farms by veterans of the country's war of
independence and other pro-government militants.
These occupations
were initially described as a bid to correct racial imbalances in land
ownership that had their roots in colonialism. However, certain political
observers have claimed that ZANU-PF orchestrated the farm invasions to gain
support ahead of parliamentary elections in 2000, when it faced its first
credible challenge from an opposition party û the MDC.
Political
uncertainty and disturbances in the agricultural sector, combined with a
costly involvement in the Congolese civil war, have sparked economic decline
in Zimbabwe. Inflation hovers in the triple digits, while unemployment in
the country is rife. (END/2005)
EMBATTLED Information Minister
Jonathan Moyo has lodged a sensational $2 billion defamation lawsuit against
ZANU PF heavyweights John Nkomo, the ruling party's national chairman, and
Dumiso Dabengwa, a senior politburo member, as political temperatures within
the faction-riddled party continue to rise ahead of the crucial March
parliamentary elections.
Moyo, barred from contesting in primary
elections in Tsholotsho, Matabeleland North, by the ZANU PF national
elections directorate, filed his papers at the Bulawayo High Court on
Tuesday to set up an unprecedented legal war with his political seniors in
the party. In court papers filed through his lawyers, Muzangaza,
Mandaza and Tomana, Moyo claims $2 billion in damages for defamation
emanating from statements Nkomo and Dabengwa are alleged to have made over
the propaganda chief's involvement in a contentious Tsholotsho meeting that
has proved to be the single most divisive incident in ZANU PF's recent
history. The defamation case is centred on a meeting Nkomo and Dabengwa
are alleged to have addressed last week in Tsholotsho. "On the 12th
of January 2005 both defendants addressed a public meeting in Tsholotsho
where both defendants said of, and concerning the plaintiff (Jonathan
Nathaniel Moyo) words to the following effect: "That the plaintiff had
instigated, funded and led the hatching of a coup plot against President
Robert Mugabe and others in the top leadership of ZANU PF with the view of
removing the national leadership of the government. That the coup plot by
the plaintiff crafted a 'Tsholotsho Declaration' that detailed the coup
plot. "That the plaintiff had paid unspecified sums of money sourced
from foreign persons or countries hostile to Zimbabwe to unnamed people
including some members of ZANU PF's Tsholotsho District Co-ordinating
committee. That plaintiff was to be barred from contesting in the ZANU PF
primary elections because of his role in the coup plot," Moyo's papers
read. "The statements by the defendants of and concerning the plaintiff
were false, wrongful and highly defamatory of plaintiff. As a result of the
aforesaid defamatory statements plaintiff has suffered damages in his fair
name and reputation in the sum of $2 billion." Interestingly,
President Mugabe, who has wielded the axe in the aftermath of the Tsholotsho
fallout, has made inferences that some "white capitalists" had funded the
Tsholotsho protagonists. Sources have indicated that allegations of a
conspiracy to influence the composition of the ZANU PF presidency ahead of
the party's December congress were contained in an intelligence document
dubbed the Tsholotsho Declaration. Moyo accuses both Nkomo and
Dabengwa of lying about the purpose of the infamous Tsholotsho indaba, held
at the little-known Dinyane school on November 18 and which has claimed the
scalps of several senior ZANU PF politicians, among them six provincial
chairmen banned for five years each for attending the meeting.
Sources said Moyo's attitude, typified by the mammoth lawsuit against Nkomo
and Dabengwa and the scathing attacks against the two former PF ZAPU gurus,
was an indication that President Mugabe's spin-doc-tor-in-chief was ready to
risk automatic expulsion from ZANU PF and enter the Tsholotsho parliamentary
race as an independent. Moyo launched an acerbic attack on both Nkomo
and Dabengwa - who claimed to have introduced the former academic and
strident ZANU PF critic to President Mugabe in 1999 - labelling them
"primitive liars". "I find it shameful that a man of his (Dabengwa's)
history and stature should travel all the way from Bulawayo Province to
Tsholotsho to make that kind of a primitive lie," Moyo raged.
Contacted by The Financial Gazette yesterday, Moyo referred this reporter to
his lawyers, who were not immediately available for comment. "I
mentioned that I will be suing . . . that is fact, but talk to my lawyers,"
Moyo said. Moyo has launched a bitter fight to run for the Movement for
Democratic Change-held Tsholotsho constituency, where he has committed
significant resources. Elliot Manyika, the ZANU PF political
commissar who is also the chairman of the party's elections directorate,
this week announced that four female ZANU PF candidates - Maria Sithole,
Josephine Moyo, Musa Ncube and Sithembile Dube - would contest in today's
Tsholotsho primary election. "We are not going back on Tsholotsho. The
party has taken a position and this must be respected. If he (Moyo) is a
genuine party member he should adhere to party principles and guidelines.
Who are we to bend the laws of the party to accommodate him? Did he send
you?" Manyika asked. "Both of you must refer to the party constitution,
with special focus on the rights and duties of members in the party. It's
all there for all to see . . . on page four of the constitution," said
Manyika.
INFORMATION and
Publicity Minister Jonathan Moyo this week made a $69 million donation to
underprivileged school children in Tsholotsho and vowed to fight for the
constituency he has courted for three years, but has been barred from
running for on a ZANU PF ticket in the March parliamentary
elections.
Moyo, who dropped a strong hint he might stand as an
independent candidate in a tirade against ZANU PF national chairman John
Nkomo and politburo member Dumiso Dabengwa, all but confirmed this by
immediately heading for the Movement for Democratic Change-held constituency
following his return to the country and after the ruling party upheld a
decision to bar him from contesting. Moyo - whose political
fortunes have taken a nosedive following a fateful meeting he convened in
Tsholotsho in November - was this week back in the constituency
controversially set aside for affirmative action by the ruling ZANU PF for
today's primaries and was quoted by the Bulawayo-based Chronicle as saying
no amount of "persecution" would stop him from working for the
constituency. "It will be a betrayal of the people of Tsholotsho and
the people of this region and our nation if I discontinue the work. If
anything, now is the time to do more and better of the same. "What
is going on is not discouraging me. It is inspiring me. It tells me that
there is a lot of hard work to do under very difficult circumstances. I will
definitely not be stunned and just stand with my hands folded and watch. I
take it as a challenge," Moyo, whose appeal to contest in the ZANU PF
primaries was turned down, said. In his astonishing attack on Nkomo and
Dabengwa, Moyo dropped a cryptic hint at going into the March polls as an
independent, even at the risk of expulsion from ZANU PF. "As to
Cdes Nkomo's and Dabengwa's self-indulgent declaration that they will not
allow me to contest in Tsholotsho on a ZANU PF ticket, I wish to
respectfully remind them that ZANU PF is larger than any two or three
individuals and any attempts to personalise the party are ultimately bound
to fail. "In any event, Cdes Nkomo and Dabengwa should know that
there is no one ticket to heaven; there are many such tickets and that's why
there are many churches and many religions and all with tickets to heaven,"
Moyo charged. This week's donation of school fees to Tsholotsho
children by the embattled propaganda chief is the clearest sign yet that
whoever emerges as ZANU PF's favoured candidate in today's all-woman contest
could yet have to contend with Moyo, who is credited with bringing
development to one of Zimbabwe's least developed districts.
KINGDOM Financial
Holdings Limited (KFHL) founder Nigel Chanakira is poised to fortify his
grip on the banking group, with sources indicating that he is on the verge
of buying out some key investors in the group to increase his stake to over
20 percent.
This emerged as The Financial Gazette gathered that
KFHL - one of the few indigenous banks to survive a banking sector crisis
that has claimed close to 10 financial institutions in the past year - was
preparing to welcome a new foreign investor domiciled in South
Africa. The move would come hard on the heels of the acquisition of a
10 percent stake in the banking group by Econet Wireless Holdings,
majority-owned by South Africa-based telecommunications mogul and
Chanakira's close associate Strive Masiyiwa. Chanakira, who
currently holds an effective 10 percent stake in the banking group, has
obtained options to acquire additional shares from his long-time allies in
KFHL, and will partly underwrite its rights issue together with other core
shareholders to raise $100 billion. Shareholders on Monday approved a
resolution to increase the group's authorised share capital and raise
further capital amounting to $100 billion. Major shareholders
Meikles Africa, Old Mutual, Econet and Chanakira's investment vehicles -
which include Garmony Investments and Valleyfield Investments - have already
committed themselves to supporting the rights issue. Together, they
constitute 60 percent of KFHL's issued share capital. The rights issue
will help Chanakira shore up his equity in KFHL, in which he was restricted
to a maximum 10 percent shareholding in line with banking regulations
barring executive directors from holding more than 10 percent equity in a
financial institution. Chanakira resigned as an executive director of KFHL
in November last year, prompting fears in the market that the institution
could twist in the wind. Chanakira's allies Lysias Sibanda, Solomon
Mugavazi and Frank Kufa hold close to 20 percent of KFHL's issued share
capital between them through various investment vehicles. While
Sibanda, who succeeded Chanakira as the group chief executive officer, and
Mugavazi, who headed Kingdom Stockbrokers, have since left the group, Kufa
is still with KFHL as its chief operating officer. Speaking to The
Financial Gazette on telephone from South Africa yesterday, Chanakira
confirmed that he was interested in increasing his stake in KFHL. A
new shareholder structure, under which Chanakira would become the second
largest shareholder in KFHL after Meikles Africa, would be presented to the
Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) for approval. The RBZ has to approve any
shareholder taking up more than 10 percent equity in a banking
group. Sources indicated that KFHL chairman Richard Muirimi was keeping
the central bank updated on the financial institution's plans. "The
RBZ governor, Dr Gideon Gono, is aware of the developments taking place at
the group and has been very supportive of the process," a source
indicated. Chanakira's move - and the major recapitalisation
exercise on the group - dispels any fears that the banking group was
following the fate of a number of indigenous banks that have twisted in the
wind due to liquidity problems and poor corporate governance. "I
see value in Kingdom and we will distinguish ourselves from the rest," said
Chanakira.
Zimbabwe's five-year political impasse tops ANC
agenda
Staff Reporter 1/20/2005 7:12:28 AM (GMT
+2)
ZIMBABWE'S nagging five-year political impasse topped the
agenda of South Africa's ruling African National Congress' national
executive committee's (NEC) annual planning meeting at the weekend, amid
revelations that the party is concerned by the uneven political playing
field in Harare.
The ANC, which has been in power since 1994,
congregated in Ekurhukeni from January 14-16 for the party's annual Lekgotla
at which the South African liberation movement reviewed its tasks for the
year ahead. Documents made available to The Financial Gazette this week
indicate that the political fallout in Zimbabwe, pitting President Robert
Mugabe's ruling ZANU PF and the main opposition Movement for Democratic
Change (MDC), featured prominently in the ANC deliberations.
President Thabo Mbeki, the key broker in the political stalemate in
Zimbabwe, is expected to lead a Southern African Development Community
(SADC) delegation to Zimbabwe, to assess Harare's preparedness to stage
democratic elections in line with the Mauritius Protocol agreed and endorsed
by all regional leaders in August last year. President Mugabe,
under pressure to win a fair election in March to regain a measure of
legitimacy and credibility in the international community as well as allow
his party to tinker with the constitution, has signed into law electoral
reforms dismissed by the opposition MDC as cosmetic. The MDC has
accused the ZANU PF government of trying to hoodwink SADC leaders into
believing that Harare was committed to the Mauritius Protocol. The ANC
said in a statement on Monday the NEC weekend meeting held a wide-ranging
discussion on the challenges facing Zimbabwe and would go to any length to
help Zimbabweans find a permanent solution to the political impasse in
Harare. "The Lekgotla had a wide-ranging discussion on the challenges
facing Zimbabwe, and the important lessons, which South Africa can draw from
Zimbabwe's experience of liberation. "The Lekgotla agreed that the
immediate challenge is to work with all groups within Zimbabwe to ensure
that the forthcoming parliamentary elections are free and fair and result in
the free expression of the will of the Zimbabweans," said the ANC.
The MDC, which is yet to publicly state its decision to rescind its election
boycott, has accused President Mugabe of rigging and using violence and
intimidation to win elections. Zimbabwe's main opposition party, which
claims to have a realistic chance of upsetting ZANU PF if the government
implemented comprehensive electoral reforms such as the setting up of an
independent electoral commission and the overhaul of the voters roll, is
also pushing for the deferment of the polls to June. The ANC added:
"It (the ANC NEC meeting) called on the SADC community, within the context
of the SADC principles and guidelines governing democratic elections, to
play a leading role in providing whatever support is required." The
ANC NEC indaba said it fully supported President Mbeki's much- maligned
quiet diplomacy approach on Zimbabwe. "The Lekgotla confirmed the
correctness of the approach of both the ANC and government to providing
whatever assistance possible towards the resolution of the economic, social
and political challenges facing the country. "It reaffirmed the
position that it is primarily for the people and leadership of Zimbabwe to
achieve a lasting solution to the country's problems and that the role of
the international community, including South Africa, is to provide support
to their efforts," the ANC said.
THE proposed second
sojourn to Zimbabwe by the Congress of Trade Unions of South Africa (COSATU)
this month looked in limbo yesterday with Harare insisting the powerful
trade union, an influential ally of the ruling African National Congress
(ANC) of South Africa, has no business in dabbling in local
politics.
Government sources said it would be impossible for Harare
to grant COSATU a carte blanche to venture into the country to consort with
the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) and its alleged ally, the Zimbabwe
Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU), a labour movement that has had run-ins with
the authorities. The proposed COSATU mission if granted, the
sources added, would have come at a crucial time when the country is faced
with an election the ruling ZANU PF desperately wants to bag to attain some
measure of legitimacy among international and regional leaders. "I
have not seen their request to come here," Paul Mangwana, Public Service,
Labour and Social Welfare Minister told The Financial Gazette this
week. "Really, what is the problem of this animal called COSATU?
What interests does it have in our politics? We are not a province of South
Africa and as such COSATU should confine its labour politics to that
country," said Mangwana. Peter Craven, the COSATU spokesman, said
last week the labour union, unceremoniously kicked out of Zimbabwe last
November after a botched up fact-finding mission, had written to the
government seeking permission for a second sojourn to Harare. But
Mangwana said even if COSATU wrote to the government, its mission was
suspect. "Whose interest are they serving and for what purpose. I don't
think Zimbabwe is that important to deserve such major attention. COSATU
should stay in South Africa. It is not registered in Zimbabwe. We have our
own labour unions and I don't think we need foreign labour unions to solve
our problems," he added. COSATU's determination to visit the
country for the second time despite advise to the contrary has further
sparked a fresh rift between the ANC leadership, whose President Thabo Mbeki
is a key broker in Zimbabwe's five-year political impasse and the labour
union. The ANC on Tuesday described COSATU plans to send a delegation
to Zimbabwe as mere attention seeking, igniting an angry response from the
labour movement. COSATU had put in place plans to blockade
Zimbabwean borders over alleged human rights abuses. Lovemore Matombo, the
ZCTU president said COSATU's visit was harmless and it would be unfortunate
for the government to bar them from entering Zimbabwe. "We have not
been officially advised but it will be an unfortunate political stance to
refuse them to visit. COSATU is harmless...they want to come here and see
the environment we (ZCTU) are operating in. The suggestion that there are an
opposition, in our view, does not hold water," said Matombo. "It is a norm
among labour union movements to visit each other without any hindrances. We
are allowed in any country as ZCTU, why not our South African friends into
Zimbabwe?"
CRACKS within the
ruling ZANU PF continue to widen as it emerged yesterday that the provincial
executive in Bulawayo was not dissolved but resigned.
The
party's national political commissar Elliot Manyika told the media on Monday
that the provincial executive in Bulawayo had been suspended for
incompetence and lack of direction and had been replaced by an interim
executive led by Norman Mabhena. "The Bulawayo provincial executive was
dissolved for incompetence and lack of direction," Manyika was quoted as
saying. "As the political commissar, I regularly assess party structures and
it was apparent that members of the Bulawayo province failed to
perform." Sources that attended Monday's meeting between Manyika and
the executive, however, said the provincial executive had resigned en masse
after the meeting because they were being frustrated by the local
leadership. The sources said their letter of resignation, which was
accompanied by signatures of about 100 members of the executive, was handed
to Manyika by acting chairman George Mlala who told him verbally about their
resignation. Mlala declined to comment on the issue. Sources said
one of the main reasons why the provincial leadership had resigned was that
they were being frustrated by local members of the politburo who had set up
a parallel structure that had even attended the party's congress in Harare
late last year. The executive also complained that it was being
attacked every day for not voting certain members into the central committee
yet that was not their responsibility but that of district coordinating
committees.
A COMMON political joke doing the
rounds is that troubled ZANU PF and government propaganda chief Jonathan
Moyo will not be dropped from the Cabinet but reassigned to the sleepy
Ministry of Water Resources and Rural Development, just so that he gets to
know how it feels to commission a dam or some such mundane project without
any coverage from the government press, simply because the information
minister does not like you.
Needless to say, the elevation of that
ministry's former head, Joyce Mujuru, to the vice-presidency has triggered a
series of events that have left Moyo and those aligned to him in a political
tailspin. The developments have also touched off fierce infighting that
could yet cost the party in the forthcoming parliamentary polls.
Internecine conflict in ZANU PF has found an unlikely outlet in the
government-controlled press, an unprecedented occurrence that amply
demonstrates that the centre can scarcely hold, both in the government and
the ruling party. Although the government has always had a grip on
the state media, the coming in of Moyo at the department of information and
publicity with his brand of "virile spin" took the relationship to new
heights, or depths, depending on where one stands. Therein lies the
problem. Titles under the government-controlled Zimbabwe Newspapers
(Zimpapers) stable have grown to be so beholden to the embattled propaganda
chief that his diminished standing both in ZANU PF and the government and
the battles Moyo is waging against his foes within the party have produced
startling media schizophrenia. While the government-controlled media's
first instinct is to shout the loudest how the emperor and his courtiers are
apparelled, they have had to carry articles unflattering of some senior
party and government officials - based on the customary vitriol spewed by
Moyo. Last week's startling attack, by Moyo, on ZANU PF national
chairman John Nkomo and party politburo member Dumiso Dabengwa, through
Zimpapers' flagship Herald and the Bulawayo-based Chronicle, bemused many.
Recent history has not recorded as scathing an attack on senior ZANU PF
officials as that in the government-controlled media. To further
illustrate how Moyo has made the government press his personal fiefdom and
alienated everyone, within and without ZANU PF and the government, Nkomo and
Dabengwa - branded primitive liars and mafikizolos in the vituperative
attack - found space for immediate response in the privately-owned Daily
Mirror, Sunday Mirror and the Standard. The government-controlled
Sunday Mail, which has perceptibly broken ranks with its sister Zimpapers
titles the Herald and Chronicle, also carried a statement from Nkomo
responding to Moyo's attack. ZANU PF's own Voice newspaper, directly
superintended by the party's information and publicity department from where
Moyo was recently jettisoned, reported that department head Nathan
Shamuyarira - himself a former information minister and journalist of repute
- was dismayed. Shamuyarira is reported to have cautioned the two
papers - the Herald and the Chronicle - against serving misguided
individuals at the expense of "the nation". "While he may be
joining the so-called independent press (in ridiculing ZANU PF and
government officials), the Herald and Chronicle should not join him,"
Shamuyarira said. These calls went unheeded at the Chronicle, which
this Monday carried another Moyo attack on Nkomo headlined "Moyo dresses
down Nkomo", and another on Tuesday in which a defiant Moyo laid down the
gauntlet for all his antagonists in the battle for Tsholotsho
constituency. ZANU PF officials have long lamented the sweeping powers
they gave Moyo through their blind support for his murderous crusade against
media freedom in the country, but few would have imagined the party being
hoisted by its own petard in the manner Moyo has sought to mobilise the
government-controlled media to fight his own political battles. It
has been hinted in ZANU PF corridors in recent weeks that official patience
with those in whom editorial authority vests at the state papers has run out
and that wholesale changes are in the offing. Party sources this week
indicated that Ephraim Masawi, Moyo's replacement in the ZANU PF politburo
and possibly in the Cabinet, was itching to clean house and punish top
editorial staff, particularly at the Herald and Chronicle, for aligning
themselves with Moyo against party seniors. They said Masawi, who
is reported to have been involved in the establishment of ZANU PF
publications the Voice and Zimbabwe News in 1990, had indicated that it
would be difficult to work with editors whose sense of national service had
been skewed by their desire to ingratiate themselves with Moyo. The
perception is also shared by permanent secretary in the information and
publicity department George Charamba, who recently censured the Herald and
Chronicle for "going overboard in defence of a private party member" and
practising advocacy journalism. Charamba, who has reportedly fallen out
with Moyo, also had to reprimand Chronicle editor Stephen Ndlovu after the
latter ran what amounted to a special Moyo edition that sought to exonerate
his patron from his role in the infamous Tsholotsho tryst. It
remains to be seen how the story will end, but for now, the
government-controlled press, for long a platform for ZANU PF and government
officials great and small to abuse all perceived enemies (in reality rivals
and opponents), has been turned into a battleground, with opposition groups
watching with glee. Some of the more hopeful say this is the
beginning of the end.
BULAWAYO - The meteoric rise of Joyce
Mujuru to Vice-President has left many people baffled.
The
question still lingering in most people's minds, more than a month after she
was catapulted to the country's second most powerful post, is: Is she for
real or is she just holding fort while ZANU PF looks for a suitable
successor to President Robert Mugabe, who has been party leader since
1978? Many in Zimbabwe's male-dominated society are still reeling from
the stark reality that the country could soon have its first woman
President. They cannot stomach this because for years they believed that the
succession battle was between Defence Minister Sydney Sekeramayi and Speaker
of Parliament Emmerson Mnangagwa, with other candidates such as the late
Eddison Zvobgo and Simba Makoni coming in and out of the picture.
ZANU PF supporters and pretenders to the throne were so taken aback by the
rise of Mujuru that her nomination almost split the party, with six
provincial chairmen being suspended for five years after attending a meeting
at which it is alleged they plotted to oppose her candidacy for
Vice-President. They are, therefore, still clinging to the forlorn
hope that Mujuru is just holding fort while the party sorts its internal
problems. But though she seems to have been imposed on the people, in
ZANU PF, the "party" is supreme. Its decision stands. And President Mugabe
did not mince his words. "Moda kuti zvigumire ipapo here? (Do you
want this to end here?)" he asked party supporters who were stunned and
speechless, forcing President Mugabe to add: "Ho, ah, kana kuti tichaita
private yedu next week. (Or shall we have a private discussion about this
next week?)." To show his determination that he wanted Mujuru to
succeed him, President Mugabe added: "I have a dream and I will tell you
about it then." In less than a month Mujuru had already had a taste of
how it feels at the top when she was thrust into the hot seat when President
Mugabe went to the Far East on his annual leave. Observers say
Mujuru's appointment as acting President when she was still learning the
ropes of Vice-President and while the party was in turmoil was an indication
of how President Mugabe wanted her to quickly acclimatise to her new job and
at the same time assert herself. Others, however, feel people should
not read too much into her appointment as Vice-President. "If one
looks at the politics in southern Africa, very few sitting vice-presidents
have assumed the top post when the president retired," political commentator
Heneri Dzinotyiwei said. "If you look at Zambia, Mozambique, Namibia
and Malawi, none of the vice-presidents took over when the president
retired. Mujuru's chances of becoming President are, therefore, just as good
as those of any other party cadre." Indeed, in Zambia, Levy
Mwanawasa, though a former vice-president, beat sitting Vice-President Enoch
Kavindele to replace Frederick Chiluba. In Malawi, rank outsider Bingu wa
Mutharika beat Justin Malewezi who had been vice-president for almost a
decade. Malewezi was so bitter that he quit the ruling United
Democratic Front to join forces with the opposition because he felt that
after nearly 10 years as vice-president, he was qualified enough for the top
job. Though the situation in Mozambique and Namibia is different since the
countries have prime ministers rather than vice-presidents, the situation
was almost the same. Armando Guebuza sprang from nowhere to lead
Mozambique while a bitter Pascoal Mocumbi, who had been prime minister for a
decade or so, was left in the cold. The same applied to Hifikepunye
Pohamba, considered a political lightweight in Namibia, who beat strong
candidates such as Foreign Minister Hidipo Hamutenya, Prime Minister
Theo-Ben Gurirab and former prime minister Hage Geingob. Mujuru's
case seems to be different though. She was "anointed" by the President, who
should step down before the party's next congress which is due in
2009. A former staunch supporter of the ruling ZANU PF said whether
people liked it or not, only God could now stop Mujuru from becoming
President. "There is no way Mugabe can go back to Sekeramayi or
Mnangagwa now because he would have implied that Mujuru is incapable," the
former supporter said. "The way I see it, Mujuru is Mugabe's trump
card. She has all the right credentials. She is a former freedom fighter.
She is a woman. She is fairly clean. But most important of all, she can
protect the family fortunes." He argued that President Mugabe could
not appoint anyone who would do a "Mwanawasa" on him, someone who would haul
him before the courts like Mwanawasa is doing to his benefactor,
Chiluba. "He cannot trust (Joseph) Msika on this, or even Mnangagwa for
that matter. But he is safe with Mujuru."
Njabulo Ncube and
Felix Njini 1/20/2005 7:15:20 AM (GMT +2)
MORE ZANU PF
heavyweights fell by the wayside in the party's primaries, amid a flurry of
accusations and counter-accusations of rigging and vote-buying, which drove
another wedge into fissures that have emerged in recent months.
So widespread were the charges of rigging, vote-buying and disorganisation
in Harare, Masvingo and Mashonaland constituencies visited by The Financial
Gazette that the primary elections, which were supposed to be held on
Saturday, spilled over to Tuesday. Party officials, ordinary supporters
and losers publicly complained of vote-buying, rampant rigging and bussing
of supporters from one polling station to another. Away from the
controversy surrounding the primaries, analysts and party insiders who spoke
to The Financial Gazette said the fall of old faces such as Samuel
Mumbengegwi (Chivi South), Paul Mangwana (Kadoma East), Kenneth Manyonda
(Buhera North), Rugare Gumbo (Mberengwa East) and a coterie of sitting
Members of Parliament (MPs) indicated that the generality of ZANU PF
supporters were yearning for new faces to represent them. Notable
sitting legislators who were sent packing include Walter Mutsauri (Bikita
East), Victor Chitongo (Murehwa North), Gibson Munyoro (Makoni West),
Pearson Mbalekwa (Zvishavane) and Innocent Chikiyi (Chirumanzu).
The analysts said the ghost of Tsholotsho had scared other parliamentary
hopefuls from challenging gurus in Mashonaland Central such as
Vice-President Joyce Mujuru (Mt Darwin North), Nicholas Goche (Shamva),
Elliot Manyika (Bindura), Edward Chondori-Chininga (Guruve South), Saviour
Kasukuwere (Mt Darwin South) and Chen Chimutengwende (Mazowe East).
Observers said President Robert Mugabe's indication that he will only
appoint elected MPs to his new Cabinet, assuming ZANU PF wins the March
polls, had set up fierce jostling in the primary elections, with some
contestants employing all sorts of methods to prevail and position
themselves for bigger things. In Masvingo province, where
Mumbengegwi was the first big fish from President Mugabe 's "war Cabinet" to
fall, elections started after 3pm as disorder prevailed, with voters visibly
incensed by the infuriating delays. The elections were conducted by a
handful of police officers who criss-crossed the entire province manning and
counting the votes, a situation that further delayed the holding of
primaries in other areas. In Masvingo North, won by Stan Mudenge,
supporters of Kudzai Mbudzi complained that Mudenge's camp kept shifting
polling stations. In Masvingo Central, won by Shylet Uyoyo, voting
continued late into Saturday night despite an order from Home Affairs
Minister Kembo Mohadi, who supervised the polls, for voting to end by
7pm. Some ZANU PF supporters complained that the winner's campaign team
used the cover of darkness to stuff ballots, an allegation this newspaper
could not independently verify. The Financial Gazette witnessed
people voting well after the 7pm deadline set by Mohadi at Mashenjere,
Chinhowe, Chikava and Muchakata, all in Masvingo Central. Uyoyo's vehicles,
clearly labelled "Uyoyo, Shumba yeMasvingo Central", could be seen ferrying
supporters from one polling station to another as late as 9pm. "The
tactics used to rig the primaries are so blatant. The retaining officer has
not been here . . . he only came late Sunday," complained a voter. "There is
need for a strong, independent authority to run the primaries. Even now one
wonders how the polling centres were decided," she added. In Zaka
West, controversially won by Marble Mawere, results had to be referred to
the party's national elections directorate following allegations of massive
rigging. Isaiah Shumba won the Mwenenzi constituency amid serious
allegations of intimidation and bullying of supporters belonging to Lamson
Matavire Moyo who was also vying for the seat. In Mashonaland West,
elections were postponed at the last minute in Chinhoyi, Kariba and Makonde.
The decision to move the elections to today was met with disgruntlement by
agitated supporters of parliamentary hopefuls, who threatened to boycott the
deferred polls. In Hurungwe East, retained by sitting legislator Reuben
Maruma-hoko, voting was marred by allegations of intimidation of the
opposing camp by state security agents. The Financial Gazette
witnessed supporters of Marumahoko, the Deputy Minister of Energy and Power
Development, being ferried in three trucks bearing Zimbabwe Electricity
Supply Authority logos. "This is an abuse of power," said a party
supporter, referring to the use of the parastatal's vehicles by the deputy
minister. "Our MP has never done anything for us and we are being forced to
vote for him despite his long absence from the constituency," he
added. Edmore Zimbandi of Chikova village said the constituency wanted
a new face but people had been cowed into retaining the status quo.
"We never got farm inputs as per government programme," said Zimbandi.
Four white farmers had their trucks commandeered to aid the sitting
legislator with transport logistics. Elsewhere in Mashonaland West,
Sylvester Nguni shrugged-off fierce challenges from John Mafa, the acting
party provincial chairman, and Mavis Chidzonga, to grab the ticket to
represent ZANU PF in Mhondoro constituency. Webster Shamu, the sitting
MP for Chegutu, made light work of Edna Madzongwe, the Deputy Speaker of
Parliament. Shamu had earlier indicated his desire to make way for
Madzongwe but sources said his supporters pressured the Minister of Policy
Impleme-ntation to enter the race. There were running battles in
Kadoma East, where Mangwana lost to Bright Matonga. Allegations of fraud
also surfaced. "Matonga used regionalism as his trump card to unseat
Mangwana. He took advantage of the fact that Mangwana originally comes from
Masvingo. "But the old man has done a lot here. Matonga is a mafikizolo
(Johnny-come-lately) . . . we wonder what development he is going to bring.
Is he not the guy who worked for that imperialist British Broadcasting
Corporation which has been demonising the President and our country?"
lamented a Mangwana supporter.
The chickens are coming home to roost at the
worst possible time for several ZANU PF stalwarts - now precariously
balancing on a razor-sharp political knife-edge. This comes after they were
emphatically rejected in the ruling party's controversial primaries by an
electorate expectant of a new generation of public services.
While these primaries have stirred up discord and blown former alliances and
blocs in ZANU PF, we are not going to shed crocodile tears. We therefore
categorically state that we can hardly think of any better way to signalise
the frustration and disillusionment of the people with non-performing
members of Parliament than dumping these good-for-nothing MPs. This is good
riddance and a great New Year present for the great people of this country
who, for a painfully long time, yearned to be rid of egotistical politicians
who have always wanted to be the biggest bugs in the manure pile that is now
Zimbabwe's body politic. It is the electorate that had not only to know
but endure these politicians in order to dislike them. People are just wary
of voting incompetence after the jettisoned MPs failed to deliver on
electoral promises. The MPs showed incompetence like a great racehorse shows
breeding! And in the case of some, their incompetence numbed an entire
nation. Hence the deep well of disenchantment with the MPs who were nothing
more than a pathetic excuse for the people's representatives. So, the people
rejected them despite nauseating threadbare attempts at ostensible altruism
by these hypocrites who have come up with soon-to-be-abandoned,
eleventh-hour self-glorifying projects in various constituencies. Having
matured politically and getting tired of being taken for granted, the people
saw through the politicians' self-serving veils of generosity - they did not
give a damn about the people. Period. Among these rejected
so-called people's representatives are perhaps the most incapable executives
that ever filled ministerial chairs in President Robert Mugabe's government
since the country's hard-won independence in 1980. It is because of this
that we feel that what has just happened at the primaries is electoral and
divine intervention and the nation now waits with bated breath for
Presidential intervention. Hopes are high that President Mugabe will make
good his pledge to appoint his Cabinet only from the pool of MPs chosen by
the people. It is not difficult to see why. Some of the ministers,
without necessarily mentioning names, are the kind of men, who if they did
not exist, could only be imagined, so to speak. Bootlicking, cronyism,
influence-peddling and graft among other ills, are a matter of exaltation to
their weak and diseased minds. They have no known political principles or
even opinions other than just doing everything for political expediency and
selfish parochial interests - its implications on the greater good not
withstanding. It, indeed, is a mystery how it occurred that such men should
"represent" the people. We know only too well the bungling in the
energy sector that threatened to grind the country's industrial wheels to a
screeching halt; the deep-seated crisis that the all-important agricultural
sector has been plunged into and how one narrow-minded and prejudiced
minister, with an ego like a raging tooth, still insists that Zimbabwe is
doing fine in isolation when the country is literally clutching at the
straws in the face of an unprecedented economic meltdown and swingeing
balance of payments problems. Not only that but the country's education
system is, just like the proverbial ships which could not move because there
was no wind, in the doldrums - after the all-knowing responsible minister
threw away the baby together with the bath water. The health delivery system
is itself in intensive care while the public transport services are in a
disastrous condition. Just as well that some of these ministers who
have lost touch with reality to the extent that, typical of those of their
kind, they would look into 98 darkened closets and conclude from this that
the light is not shining outside, have since been rejected by their
respective constituencies and would now deservedly wallow in their
insignificance if President Mugabe fires them. For it has been the political
careers of these men "to begin with hypocrisy, proceed with arrogance and
finish with contempt", as said by Tom Paine of former American President
John Adams. They don't have a sincere fibre in them. It is a
tragedy that ZANU PF has over the years carried a lot of dead wood. This is
simply because a myth has been propagated of how certain powerful
individuals could, if they are fired either from the party or government,
destroy the ruling party (yet nothing could be further from the truth). That
is probably why traditionally for fear of risking the ire of those perceived
to be politically powerful, ZANU PF seemed to prefer having conceited,
self-absorbed and patronising politicians with bloated-self interest inside
its tent, pissing out rather than outside pissing in! This is what some
political streetwalkers who have shown us the extent to which the itch for
public office can break one's own intellectual integrity are taking
advantage of. But the ruling party's primaries have shown that the people do
not want anything to do with the non-performers they have rejected. If ever
there really is people power in ZANU PF, then these ministers, who had
become part of the furniture at governments departments, should go.
In any case, the scapegoating Didymus Mutasa, not only a key but also
important voice in the inner circle of the ruling party, only recently
blamed the country's woes on the people because he claimed they did not
advise the government. "Yes we make political decisions but that is because
you do not advise us . . . If we are sloppy and incompetent, it is because
you let us . . . ", so said none other than ZANU PF's secretary for
administration who has proved beyond reasonable doubt that age does not
always bring wisdom but that it sometimes comes alone. Now, the
people have spoken and their message is loud and clear. They want
results-oriented, passionate, committed and focused political leadership at
all levels that knows the way, goes the way and shows the way. Those that
are incompetent should be allowed to fall by the wayside. So should those
MPs who for fear of ruffling political feathers have hardly said anything
meaningful in Parliament about the socio-economic and political problems
besetting Zimbabwe because a ship in the harbour is safe but that is not
what ships were built for. A case in point is one former Marondera West MP
whose contribution in Parliament never went beyond thanking the President
for the State of the Nation Address yet the state of stagnation and misery
in the constituency stood in stark contrast to relatively developed
constituencies. It is clear from this that the people expect the President
to appoint a strong, resolute and competent Cabinet comprising flexible,
courageous and evolutionising politicians who will find a modus vivendi with
various interest groups.
Lessons? So, after keeping quiet
throughout all this unfolding drama in ZANU PF, the Professor could no
longer take it lying down anymore, and the man decided to sweep clean all
the dark corners of his heart - come whatever may?
That's good,
very good indeed. It is just good to see someone deciding that enough is
enough and standing up to prove that they are really man! So this
Professor fellow now understands what we mean when we say ZANU PF is not
just undemocratic, but tyrannical as well? He is now experiencing what some
of us have been experiencing for far too long? We have always said
there is no way ZANU PF can be democratic when the party has no democracy
within itself, haven't we? That the party is not a party for serious
debates and discussions - which are in themselves more constructive than
empty slogans; that ZANU PF is a party of impositions and yesmen; and that
there is no way the party can be transformed until and unless its leadership
embraces democratic thinking. Have we not said all this? So now the
Professor is experiencing this firsthand? Himself, the person who for the
past five solid years has been fighting with anyone who could dare suggest
that something was wrong with the way ZANU PF is run (and in turn the
country). So he now appreciates our concerns. Anyway, when he decided
to join the party, hadn't he heard this saying by our sages? We mean the
saying that "to sup with the devil, you need a long spoon." Learned
as he is, the man should have known from the onset that he did not have the
requisite long spoon. He thought it was going to fall from heaven like
manna simply because he is a Professor? Didn't he know that ZANU PF, like
America, does not have permanent friends, but permanent interests? He
thought if he would spearhead the party's hate campaign, he would become
indispensable? Simply because he is a Professor? Doesn't he know
that some founder members of that party are now mere spectators watching it
from the terraces, having been thrown out of the window? Enos Nkala, Edgar
Tekere, etc, let alone himself, a mere Johnny-come-lately. He used
to wax lyrical about the abundance of justice, rule of law and fairness in
Zimbabwe when court rulings were being ignored, when former white farmers
were being dragged off their land - their court victories notwithstanding -
and when opposition supporters were wantonly rounded up and locked away for
no apparent reason. And now the party has turned on him. Does he want
us to sympathise with him now that he is being persecuted because he tried
to exercise his democratic right to disagree with the party leadership on
the choice of the second-vice president? Honestly speaking, the
Professor did nothing wrong by trying to mobilise other provinces to support
the candidate of his own choice. There is totally nothing wrong with
that. The only problem is that he tried to do it in a wrong party. You
cannot exercise democratic rights in an undemocratic party. It is
impossible! Surely a whole slew of chairmen cannot be banished from a
party because they chose to exercise their right to disagree. Isn't this
totalitarianism of the highest order? But the Professor didn't see any of
this until right now. If ever he will be able to walk away from the
gangster party without the goons harming him - since he is now privy to
their secrets - we think he has learnt a big lesson and he should write a
voluminous book on it! "To sup with the Devil", "Inside the Devil's
Workshop", "A sojourn to Hell and Back" - there are so many titles he can
give to his book, and it will definitely be a bestseller. That is only IF he
can walk away freely! Rig-masters It was good to hear losers
in ZANU PF primaries screaming that the polling process had been
characterised with massive rigging. Some of those complaining are
actually sitting MPs and Cabinet ministers and we wonder if they think this
is news to an ordinary Zimbo because ZANU PF has built itself a good
reputation as a past-master in the art of rigging. If anything, the party is
now a rig-master, so we wonder why these members didn't find it necessary to
employ the same tactics. It you don't rig your way in, someone will rig you
out, don't they know this reality about their party? We are sorry,
we cannot loan them any shoulder to weep on. If anything, we are too pleased
that they are down and out. We won't miss them. Do they now understand what
the MDC meant when it alleged rigging? ZANU PF musicians
Recently ZANU PF musician Tambaoga was in the news for deciding to eat away
his mother-in-law's finger. Unheard of, isn't? And at the weekend
another ZANU PF musician calling herself Mbuya Madhuve was at it, grabbing
the headlines for allegedly milking some confused Harare businesswoman of
close to $250 million. Yes, the musician who doubles up as a
witchdoctor convinced this already confused woman that for her piled-up
problems to go away, there was an urgent need to import mermaids from the
UK, that she needed thorough cleansing in the river and she could recover
her stolen property - and all such bull and cock stories - and she paid
through her nose. She did not realise she was dealing with a con until she
had paid the musician close to $250 million. That is when she rushed to
report the case to the police! My foot! Which planet do some people come
from as to be so steeped in primitive beliefs? And she did not even
wonder how the mermaids were going to be delivered and such basics as why
they had to come from the UK of all the places on earth. CZ wonders
what sort of problems are haunting this businesswoman . . . kubata-bata
tichinyanya! She deserved it!
Dreamland! Two weeks ago, it
was information department perm-sec George Charamba, and this weekend it was
ZANU PF secretary for information Nathan Shamuyarira . . . both criticising
the way the Herald and the Chronicle continue to be used by the outgoing
Professor. But this week the Bulawayo-based daily continued dancing to the
Professor's tune as he prepared the ground for possibly standing as an
independent. While we appreciate the difficulty CZ's brother might be
having in accepting the sad fact that his godfather is really gone, we think
it might be good for his future if he would stop, pronto,
daydreaming. A fly with no one to advise it will follow the corpse into
the grave! In this case no one will be allowed to say they were not
warned!
A MALAYSIAN team which
visited Zimbabwe last month to sample beef products in the wake of the 2000
outbreak of the dreaded foot-and-mouth-disease is still to break its silence
on the country's suitability to export beef to the Asian
country.
Zimbabwean beef exports to lucrative markets such as the
European Union were suspended in 2000 after a series of foot-and-mouth
outbreaks. Veterinary services director Stewart Hargreaves told The
Financial Gazette that the Malaysian team, which jetted into the country in
December to access the situation on the ground, had gone back to report to
its country's beef committee. The team is expected to give feedback to
Zimbabwe in a month's time. Hargreaves was, however, optimistic
that the team's consultations in Malaysia would confirm that Zimbabwe had
gone a long way in fighting the contagious disease. "We are very positive we
will be able to resume exports although I am not sure on the tonnage that
will be exported to Malaysia," he said. The department recently got
a shot in the arm from the government following a $1 billion capital
injection to rebuild fences, identify cattle movement and control
diseases. The government had failed to secure foreign currency to
purchase the one million doses of vaccines needed to contain the
disease. Organisations such as the Food and Agriculture Organisation,
the European Union (EU) and the Southern African Development Community have
helped the country to curb the disease. The EU team is expected to
start negotiations with Zimbabwe this year on the resumption of beef
exports, a move that will improve the country's foreign currency
inflows. The country was still exporting limited beef to the Democratic
Republic of Congo. The quantities could not be established by the time of
going to press. Zimbabwe had an annual export quota of 9 100 tonnes
of beef to the EU which used to earn the country about US$2 billion
annually. The government last year was in negotiations with China in a
bid to seal a deal to establish a foot-and-mouth vaccination production
plant facility locally and save the country billions in foreign
currency.
LEADING shoe
manufacturer, Bata Zimbabwe's sales declined by a combined 26 percent on the
domestic and export markets in 2004 owing to the influx of cheap Asian
imports, commonly referred to as zhing-zhongs and loss of sales in canvas
footwear.
Edwin Duthie, the company's managing director, said
Bata's sales dropped by 15 percent on the local market, while the export
market had an 11 percent dip due to loss of sales in canvas
footwear. "These imports continue unabated, with requests by the
footwear industry to look at the situation falling on deaf ears. Unless some
control is implemented, I can see 2005 showing a further decline," said
Duthie. Bata has been going through a tough trading period since it was
thrown out of the auction system several times last year due to its failure
clear outstanding Customer Declaration 1 Forms. "With regard to the
foreign currency auction system, although in the last month and a half we
have managed to source some foreign currency, the amounts being received are
still not sufficient to maintain a large production base such as ours and
keep our 3800 workers gainfully employed," he added.
THE
Transport and Communications Ministry has thrown out a report on the losses
incurred by Air Zimbabwe owing to incessant flight delays experienced in the
past few months and has called for a fresh one.
Karikoga Kaseke,
the secretary for the ministry, described the report compiled by AirZim
management as a "fictitious" document and said he had since directed the
airline to give him a comprehensive report. "They gave me a fictitious
report and I think they are trying to cover up their losses, but I have told
them to give me a new report," Kaseke said. He said the report was
actually a sham because the airline appeared as if it did not at all have
any losses during the time it had to regularly reschedule flights and book
passengers into hotels. The airline's new chief executive officer,
Tendai Mahachi, was tasked two weeks ago to prepare a report showing how
much the airline lost as a result of the delays. The cash-strapped
airline has been experiencing frequent delays in the departure and arrival
of its flights on all its routes since November last year and has been
paying hundreds of millions of dollars in hotel bookings everyday for
passengers who miss their flights. Conservative estimates by industry
sources say that the airline lost billions of dollars as passengers
cancelled their bookings and moved to other airlines. It was also
revealed that the airline had been paying more than 300 pounds ($4.5
million) in hotel bookings every day for passengers who missed a flight
because of problems at the airline. Kaseke said the figures in the
report from Air Zimbabwe given as losses were unrealistic. Mahachi,
the man recently thrust at the helm of the underperforming airline, has a
daunting task of remoulding the corporate image of the carrier, which finds
comfort among the worst airlines in the world.
RIFTS within the MDC continue to widen
as it emerged yesterday that losing candidates in the opposition party's
primaries held haphazardly throughout the country, have declared their
constituencies no-go areas to "newcomers" within the party. Justin
Mutendadzamera and Tichaona Munyanyi, incumbent MDC legislators for Mabvuku
and Mbare East respectively, this week threatened to bar the "newcomers"
from campaigning in their areas citing irregularities over the manner in
which they lost the right to represent their party in the forthcoming March
parliamentary elections. Dunmore Makuwaza, another MDC MP (Mbare West) who
was barred from contesting in the primary elections held over the weekend,
has since threatened to de-campaign another party candidate - Gift
Chimanikire - who won the vote. In an interview with The Daily Mirror
yesterday, Mutendadzemera, who lost to Manicaland provincial chairman
Timothy Mubhawu, vowed he would not allow the victor to campaign in
Mabvuku. "I am going to do all I can to bar him from campaigning in the
constituency. I am a seasoned political activist who has seen it all. The
people of Mabvuku do not want him because the party leadership imposed him
on them. We are going to treat Mubhawu worse than we would Zanu PF," he
threatened. After losing Mabvuku, Mutendadzamera wrote to MDC president
Morgan Tsvangirai threatening to quit the opposition party if the outcome of
the election was not nullified. Yesterday, he said Tsvangirai did not
respond to his letter, adding that he would soon meet the opposition leader
to hand in his resignation. "I gave them ample time to resolve my case and
what is now left is that, I am going to mobilise the people to gauge my
support before I deliver my resignation to Tsvangirai. Three-quarters of the
people in Mabvuku support me and I still have enough time to consolidate my
support before the March parliamentary election," he
added. Mutendadzamera's threats follow another warning by Munyanyi that he
was not going to allow party deputy secretary-general Chimanikire to
campaign in Mbare. Munyanyi lost to Chimanikire, but claimed that the
process was flawed. "I have lost to Chimanikire by four votes, but I would
want to state that there was a lot of vote-buying in this election. The MDC
is no longer different from Zanu PF," he said, adding that he was going to
mobilise the opposition party's supporters against Chimanikire. On
Monday, Makuwaza said: "Some members of the national executive have
manipulated the outcome in Chimanikire's favour, and as a result I urge all
our supporters not to vote for him in the coming polls. I am not going to
give in. I declare myself the candidate." What has particularly raised
eyebrows over the manner in which the MDC conducted its primary elections is
that some were held at Harvest House, the party's headquarters in Harare,
instead of in the constituencies. "Chimanikire would not have won the
elections if they were conducted in Mbare," sources within the MDC said
yesterday. They said the people of Mbare liked Munyanyi more than Chimanikire
because the deputy secretary-general did not originate from the populous
suburb. MDC secretary-general Welshman Ncube yesterday said all those with
valid complaints would have their cases looked into by the national
executive. He said: "The national council is going to look into all those
issues at the end of the month when the whole process is over. All
complaints will be heard and there will be re-runs where there are valid
complaints." Commenting on why the MDC was conducting its primary elections
as Harvest House, Ncube said it was because the police were denying the
opposition party access to constituencies. "The police refuse to give us
the permission to hold our primary elections in the constituencies, we would
definitely have wanted to conduct them in constituencies because it costs us
nothing." He said conducting the elections at Harvest House was costly for
the MDC as it forced the party to bus in people from constituencies for the
exercise. Ncube added that the way MDC conducts its elections was different
from that of Zanu PF. "Unlike Zanu PF, the people who vote in MDC are
elected officials in the party structures that are in the districts and as
such it does not matter whether the primary elections are conducted at
Harvest House or in the constituencies."
MYSTERY shrouds the whereabouts of
the report on CFI Holdings following the removal of the company from
specification by the Minister of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs,
Patrick Chinamasa, early this week. The secrecy of the whereabouts of the
report has raised the ire of concerned parties as they allege that this is
against standing statutes. In addition there appears to be no recommendation
whatsoever for the prosecution of any individuals, raising questions as to
the original motive for the specification of CFI. The revocation of the
specification of the agro-concern was announced in an extraordinary
government gazette on Monday, amid a scandalous transaction that led to the
alleged illegal transfer of 37 percent of CFI shares from an offshore
company, Rayberry International, to SMM. This newspaper also has it on good
authority that the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange (ZSE) committee, which convened a
meeting on Monday over the alleged illegal transfer of the shares, had
referred the matter to ZSE's lawyers. However, when asked if he had
caught sight of the report, CFI chairman, Simplicius Chihambakwe said: "We
are not supposed to be privy to that report. It comes from government.
What is of concern to us is that the specification was lifted. How the
lifting of the specification came about is not the issue. But if we decide
that there should be an internal inquiry at CFI, this can be carried out.
But we (the board of directors) do not have access to that report." The
government-appointed investigator of CFI, Reggie Saruchera, was not
reachable on his mobile phone, both on Tuesday and yesterday, to clarify the
situation. Chinamasa referred all questions to his permanent secretary,
David Mangota, as he said he was on leave. "My friend I am in meeting and
in any case I do not talk to people over the phone," said Mangota, before
abruptly cutting his mobile phone. In an interview this week, Mutumwa Mawere,
who was the controlling shareholder of CFI before the alleged "daylight
robbery", claimed that such a development was enough evidence that there was
no rule of law in the country. "It is a travesty of justice to specify
for the sole objective of stealing shares and changing control of the board
when such a travesty is perpetuated by the central bank. One can appreciate
the depth and breadth of the problems confronting corporate Zimbabwe. The
Prevention of Corruption Act is clear and deliberate in that the Minister is
duty bound to furnish the report concerning the specified person and in this
case nothing was done." He charged that the Ministry of Justice was now an
instrument of expropriation using statutes meant to protect national
interests. "Can you tell me how this national interest is protected by
appointing nominees from the Ministry of Agriculture, the Reserve Bank of
Zimbabwe and the SMM administrator onto the board of CFI?" he asked
rhetorically. A Dr Matovanyika from the Ministry of Agriculture, a Mr Sibanda
from AMG Chartered Accountants where SMM administrator, Afarasi Gwaradzimba
is a partner, Oliver Mtasa, the CEO of Zimnat and a Mr Chiremba from the
Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ), replaced the fired directors who were deemed
to be close to Mawere. When quizzed as to why he, as a concerned party,
had not queried the whereabouts of the report, Mawere quipped: "Ndigaswera
ndichitaura nevanhu (Why should I waste time talking to people) who have no
respect for the law? This situation is the same as government specifying you
and then taking your house. After relieving you of your property, they then
revoke the specification, but at the end of the day you would have been
prejudiced of that house." Questions have been raised as to how certain
directors, like Abner Botsh, that were appointed and perceived to be allied
to Mawere were removed while others like current chairman, Chihambakwe, Fred
Lutz, Godfrey Nhemachena, chief executive officer, Steve Kuipa and Grace
Muradzikwa were left unscathed. "I was removed from the board together
with three other South Africans because the SMM administrator believed that
he now controlled CFI," Botsh said, adding that the specification was a
deliberate ploy by some executives to deflect attention away from graft
investigations he was carrying out in companies where Mawere was the
beneficial shareholder. Riverridge Traders Private Limited and Riverridge
Private Limited held the controlling shareholding of CFI. The former had a
7.37 percent stake while the latter had 30.6 percent. The two companies were
controlled by a Hong Kong-based company, I and J Limited, which was in turn
wholly-owned by Rayberry International, a British Virgin Islands-registered
company. The Rayberry shares were then purchased at an offshore level where
Africa Resources Limited (ARL) - another company registered in the British
Virgin Islands - bought the two stakes.
MORE
than 22 labour and employment ministers from English speaking African
countries are expected to attend a four-day labour meeting to start on
February 3 in Victoria Falls. The meeting would be part of the African
Regional Labour Administration Centre (ARLAC) governing indaba to be hosted
by the Ministry of Public Service, Labour, and Social Welfare starting from
January 31. "The ARLAC governing council is to be preceded by a high level
symposium on the role of labour inspection in development on the 1st of
February 2005 which will be followed by a visit to Hwange Colliery Mine on
the second of February," said senior secretary in the Zimbabwe labour
ministry, Lancelot Museka. He added that the Matabeleland North Governor
and Resident Minister, Obert Mpofu would be expected to deliver the opening
address on the first day.
THE
restructuring exercise of the Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans
Association (ZNLWVA) leadership is still in progress, with the committee
tasked with the responsibility still looking at the structures of the former
freedom fighters' body. Retired army general Vitalis Zvinavashe - a
member of the committee that was tasked with restructuring the association
- yesterday told The Daily Mirror that restructuring exercise was still on
course, with the committee still vetting the association's grassroots
structures before a new national leadership is installed. Other members
of the committee include veteran freedom fighters, Dumiso Dabengwa, retired
general Solomon Mujuru and retired air marshal Josiah Tungamirai. "The
restructuring is still going on. We are still organising the structures
before we have the new leadership," Zvinavashe said. War veterans have
been an integral part of the ruling Zanu PF after they led farm occupations
in 2000. They were also criticised in some quotas for perpetrating violence
against MDC supporters in the run up to the 2000 elections that Zanu PF won
by a whisker. Zvinavashe however, said it was still premature for him to
discuss the ground they had covered so far. "I cannot divulge the details
of what we have done so far, it will affect the whole process. You just have
to wait until the process is finished," he added. The high-powered
committee was tasked with establishing a new war veterans leadership after
President Robert Mugabe said the former fighters' organisation had been
infiltrated by fake freedom fighters. The ruling party suspended the current
chairman of ZNLWVA, Jabulani Sibanda, for four years while his deputy,
Joseph Chinotimba had a vote of no confidence passed on him by Harare
province for the roles they played in the November Tsholotsho
debacle. Sibanda, however, maintained that he is still the leader of the war
veterans until his constitutional term ends.