FinGaz -
Comment
The price of
recklessness
1/30/03 9:33:02
AM (GMT +2)
AFTER more than two years of
relentless hostility towards white
landowners, there are signs that the
government is now cosying up to
Zimbabwe's discarded white farmers as its
chickens come home to roost.
The Ministry
of Agriculture and representatives of the Commercial
Farmers' Union (CFU)
have held meetings in the past week, the main aim of
which seems to be to
charm the CFU's members into making available resources
that newly resettled
farmers cannot do without.
The commercial
farmers, who the ruling ZANU PF has in the past more or
less invited to pack
up and leave the country, are now being assured that
land will be made
available to them if they wish to continue
farming.
The government is at pains to
convince the public that this has been
its policy all
along.
But Zimbabweans will be forgiven
for cynically questioning the timing
of this reconciliatory stance, coming as
it does when it has become
glaringly obvious that like so many of the
government's policies, the land
reforms were not well thought out beforehand
and have been shoddily
implemented.
The
inevitable consequences of the reckless seizure of commercially
productive
land in a haphazard programme that lacked transparency are now
being felt by
the nation as a whole: close to eight million Zimbabweans need
emergency food
aid and countless farm workers are jobless and
homeless.
The tobacco industry, the
country's single largest foreign currency
earner, is on the verge of collapse
as are many other companies that rely on
agriculture for inputs and
markets.
And there is no end in sight to
this litany of problems.
Resettled farmers
have no money to buy inputs or hire agricultural
equipment and the government
is unable to assist them. As a result, they
cannot produce enough food to
sustain themselves and their families, let
alone a country facing a
potentially devastating drought for the second
successive
year.
In addition, Agriculture Minister
Joseph Made has indicated that the
government intends to repossess land
allocated to beneficiaries that have
not come forward to claim
it.
It is estimated that this applies to
more than 60 percent of allocated
land, which is unoccupied and is not being
farmed about two months into the
2003 agricultural
season.
Indeed, reports at the weekend
suggest that a recent audit of the land
reform programme has found that far
from benefiting landless peasants and
aspiring black commercial farmers, the
agrarian reforms have only
facilitated the further unchecked looting of
national resources by ruling
party officials and their
cronies.
In short, recent events would
seem to suggest that the government has
finally realised what everyone knew
all along and tried in vain to make
clear to it: that a land reform strategy
that is not transparent,
well-funded and addresses the issue of poverty is
not sustainable.
If indeed ZANU PF has
reached the same conclusion as all rational
Zimbabweans, then immediate and
comprehensive steps must be taken to stamp
out the chaos in the farming
sector, which happens to be the backbone of the
country's tottering
economy.
Securing equipment from
commercial farmers is only addressing one of
the manifestations of a
deep-seated problem that can only be corrected if
the Ministry of Agriculture
returns to the drawing board.
If Zimbabwe
is to regain its status as a regional bread basket, then
the government will
have to admit its mistakes and commit itself to a land
reform plan that will
put the interests of the neediest first, be adequately
funded, respect
property rights and, above all, be
transparent.
No patriotic Zimbabwean
disputes the need to redress colonial
imbalances by redistributing land. But
the government must abandon the
populist measures that have already come back
to haunt it.
FinGaz
Why I'm against the
'exile' exit option
1/30/03
10:09:32 AM (GMT +2)
LAST week I wrote: "I
believe civil unrest can be avoided by our
leaders acting responsibly in the
days that lie ahead and the greatest
responsibility lies on the shoulders of
Robert Mugabe because he is
the
President.
"And fellow Zimbabweans,
we have an even larger responsibility in the
whole issue. Assume James'
thesis (that Mugabe won't change his mind about
retiring early) is proven
wrong. What do we do then?
"Do we
encourage the President to seek asylum elsewhere or do we
encourage him to
stay home? For, we did love him once. What cause have we
now to delight in
the fact that we can't keep our own; right or
wrong?"
An American friend who has gotten
hooked on the column immediately
phoned me and asked: "Mas, do you really
believe Mugabe believes you are
sincere in this, that he should stay home
instead of going into exile?"
"Are you a
doubting 'James', I mean a doubting Thomas?" I responded
with a question of
my own, trying to continue sounding biblical and to
lighten up the
conversation at the same time.
"I am both
a doubting James and a doubting Thomas. I doubt if Bob will
change his mind
and retire any time soon. In fact, I think he plans to die
in office," he
said.
"I am a doubting Thomas in that I
don't see any signs that he feels
tired to retire, or is under any pressure
for an early retirement besides
these sporadic statements attributed to the
retired colonel Dyck and army
commander Vitalis Zinavashi . . . I can't
pronounce his Russian name."
(I tried to
help him pronounce Zvinavashe's name but failed. The more
I tried, the more
it sounded Russian to him. He asked about how he should
pronounce the
Speaker's name. Again, I failed to make him Karanga. I
gave
up!)
I believe the President knows
I am sincere in my sentiment and in what
I am going to say. But he probably
thinks I am naïve in holding these
sentiments, being the pragmatic person
that he is.
I am going to be somewhat
philosophical in my sincere sentiment and
view. Don't be turned off,
philosophy is simple. There is nothing to it, but
simple common sense. I bet,
when you finish reading this contribution you
will ask: ko philosophy yacho
ndeipi?
Mugabe has been with us; in fact,
has led us for the past 23 years,
rightly and/or wrongly. He did not come
through the backdoor; he openly
presented his credentials and we elected him
to power at independence in
1980.
I was
there, although I didn't vote for him. It would be insincere to
say I did,
even during the pinnacle of his popularity. Since philosophy and
candid
confession go together, frankly in 1980 I voted for my brother,
of
course!
But Mugabe was once popular,
veduwe-e; hatidi zvokunyeperana; amanga
mabi; let's not tell lies. Everybody
wanted to see and hear him speak the
Queen's language. Kunge Tony Blair
chaiye! Have you heard Tony Blair speak?
Ehe-e, kanogona kunge VaMugabe
chaivo! How fascinating. Could it be that we
underlings are victims of a
sibling quarrel, siblings in politics
and
oratory?
If he was popular then
because he had charisma (a divinely conferred
gift or power to attract
affection and obedience), now that the charisma is
gone, the ability to
attract "affection" is through force. Gods, from whom
we derive charisma,
made us great yet so fickle that we fail to see that
charisma, being a
special gift from the gods stays with us for only a short
duration, then is
conferred to another as gods see fit.
Ten
years is long enough; 15 is stretching it; 20 you begin to offend
the gods;
more than 20 you are fighting with them because you begin to think
you are
just a cut from them, and the gods don't like it. This may be naïve,
but I
sincerely believe this is where leaders fail us and themselves in
the
process.
"Professor, ndava kukuti
ka charisma tsvoti kuti udzidzise vamwe
political science, iwe pfocho, wava
kufunga kuti unogona zwese. Political
science dzacho wati wadzigona
here?"
Meaning: "Professor, I give you a
tiny bit of charisma so you can
teach others some political science, but
there you are, you start to think
you know everything. Do you even fully know
political science?"
I often tell my
students two of my philosophical "truths" (and my
students will know why the
quotation marks on "truths"!):
That when I
can't produce at least three students in a year who
promise to be better than
me, it's time I should consider retiring from
teaching. For, teaching must
entail improving the individual and society.
This cannot be unless we
reproduce ourselves better each year. If we fail,
let it not be for lack of
trying.
A corollary of this is that I am
conscious that by teaching them I am
digging my own grave. Each generation
must make itself obsolete by
empowering the future generation to outperform
it.
If the present generation thwarts the
growth of the future generation,
some will rebel against it. So, either way,
each generation is its own
gravedigger. The only question is: shall it be
honorable or dishonorable
graves?
I
tell my students that over the years, several of my former students
have been
chairmen of my department. Naivovo, in their turn, they can be
chairmen; this
is as it should be. Moreover, it doesn't take much, really.
Lami, I was once
chairman and dean of the faculty myself. I know what I am
talking about.
Handisati zvangu ndava vice chancellor, at least not yet.
Ndiri panzira.
Hokoyo Nyagura!
Today, as I look at the
department computerising, one version after
another, I wonder where the
department would still be had I still been
chairman, manoeuvering through my
superiors to maintain the chairmanship. We
would still be using Word Perfect
3.5.
I will never forget the day I almost
gave Dr Makumbe (one of my former
students who used to give me hell!) a heart
attack when he came to my office
and found me using that version of Word
Perfect. He said: "Sekuru, what is
this? Why don't you use
Word?"
I said: "What
word?"
He said: "Sekuru, everybody is now
using Microsoft Word."
The only electrical
equipment I knew that had the word "micro" in it
was a microwave. Now John
was talking about Microsoft Word!
John
took me to his office and showed me what he meant and let me
borrow one of
his computers. I am now using Microsoft Word. I don't even
want to know about
Word Perfect, even the latest version!
All
I am trying to say is that there is so much innovation a human
being (even
the gifted among us) is capable of making in a lifetime; beyond
that is just
forcing matters - literally forcing matters. I believe the
President has had
his day; he should just call it quits. Nobody will blame
him for quitting at
the beginning or in the middle of his term. As we grow
old, the law of
diminishing returns starts working on us.
I am trying to phase in my sons to begin managing me and my affairs,
a
difficult thing to do, even if I was grooming them for it. Mumwe
wacho
ndirikumuona sekunge ari in a hurry to phase me
out!
But then again, I could be imagining
things. All my sons think I work
too hard and that it's time I should retire.
But I keep on saying: "It's all
for you vana vangu, at least until you finish
graduate school. Then I can
announce my retirement plans and
date."
They are unkind those who say
Mugabe doesn't care anymore. Power is
difficult to abandon, particularly
after enjoying it for so long, even if
you can't enjoy it anymore. Inga
chitenda. As if a disease.
It's not Mugabe
alone, even myself - three years directing a mere
research institute,
zvavakutapira; sokumnandi; it's getting sweet! And let
problems emerge; I
have to solve them, even when it is apparent each year
that passes my ability
to solve them diminishes, vanaCharlie vachingoti
"Zvirikuhamba,
Prof!"
The gift of charisma, being given
to us by the gods without asking for
it, is taken from us once the time has
come; there is no prayer powerful
enough to change the minds of the gods. To
try is a waste of time.
I honestly believe
the gods who give us charisma will protect us if we
humble ourselves before
them. To err is human but to forgive is divine. It's
up to them to forgive.
We all make mistakes.
And finally, it is
by the grace of God we are alive; not the armour
and motorcades around us. If
it we so, then kings could live forever. If the
exit option is to escape
death or punishment, the gods, whose eyes are
everywhere even in Malaysia,
will catch up with us.
So why not
reconcile with them and your people at home? I sincerely
believe the gods
will counsel that outcome instead of the exit
option.
(By the way, the United States
Institute of Peace - where I am
spending my sabbatical - is hosting a
briefing on: "What Future for
Zimbabwe?" Panelists are Walter Kansteiner
(Assistant Secretary of State for
African Affairs), our Ambassador Simbi
Mubako, Robert Rotberg (Kennedy
School of Government), Yours Truly (a leading
UZ political scientist) and
Chester Crocker (former US assistant secretary of
state for African affairs)
will be the moderator. The next contribution will
be my take on this
briefing.)
Professor
Masipula Sithole is a lecturer of political science at the
University of
Zimbabwe and director of the Harare-based Mass Public
Opinion
Institute.
FinGaz
Countdown to the
day of redemption
Taungana
Ndoro
1/30/03 10:05:19 AM (GMT
+2)
As anger, fury and rage cumulate to
levels never surpassed in human
emotion one can prudently listen to the sweet
melody of the clock as the
countdown to the redemption showdown doubtlessly
becomes apparent.
With the stench of
poverty becoming stronger by the hour and the
rumbling of empty stomachs
becoming louder by the day, the estranged
government must make swift, bold
decisions to avert the looming and
inevitable civil strife which will
certainly be of disastrous proportions.
The ruling party must not be complacent that Zimbabweans are incapable
of
staging a general protest against its grotesque
misrule.
The noble failure of the
stayaways called for by the NCA and ZCTU does
not reflect cowardice among the
people but rather scepticism since the two
organisations are not political
parties.
It goes to show beyond doubt that
the ball for the call to mass
protest has always been in the MDC's court but
why the opposition has
remained silent, only the devil
knows.
It's crystal clear that the people
will not heed any call to mass
action from either the NCA or the ZCTU because
even if the showdown
succeeds, the two organisations do not have the mandate
or the structure to
take over the reigns of
government.
What all tormented Zimbabweans
are anxiously waiting for is a
steadfast incitement for a general protest
from a populous opposition
political party such as the
MDC.
After having the election stolen
right under its nose, the MDC has
only the option of mobilising for civil
unrest if it is serious about ever
governing this country in Mugabe's
lifetime.
The mass action call from the
MDC will be a divine second chance and
it is very likely to succeed because
the people cannot stomach a life of
hand-to-mouth
anymore.
Let us take caution though that
if against all odds, the call fails to
materialise then - by God - the
successful removal of ZANU PF might take
much more than we have ever
bargained for.
However, if ZANU PF
continues to stupidly and stubbornly intimidate,
terrorise and harass
dissatisfied citizens then their perilous idiocy will
stun them by inviting
the heaving wrath of the dehumanised masses of this
declining
country.
Any fair-minded Zimbabwean
citizen will concur with the wisdom of all
action-driven civic assemblies
which rightly believe that the time has come
in the life of this nation when
those who are governed tell the ruling
politicians a straight message - that
you are causing us (untold) misery.
In
history, paranoid ruling politicians who ruthlessly ill-treated
their
subjects were sent clear messages through both planned and
spontaneous
collective action that saw them tumble with an unenviable thud
from despotic
thrones. History has an uncouth tendency of
duplicating.
The streets and avenues
beckon for the stamping of thousands of feet
and the making of noises so loud
that the alarm bells at State House will be
drowned a hundred fold signalling
the ultimate collapse of ZANU PF's
treasonous grasp on
power.
All is there for us to reckon that
with serious shortages that range
from sliced bread to white maize meal and
from blend fuel to human blood,
Zimbabwe has become such a squalid, sordid
place to inhabit.
It is therefore, not
unwise for the civil society to prioritise
action-packed remedies rather than
resort to passive responses that
guarantee no
salvation.
Indeed, it is for the paramount
welfare of the general public that a
pragmatic MDC denunciation of our
shamefully unsuccessful government be
implemented without much delay lest the
uniformed forces fail to resist the
temptation of a coup whose environment
has been made conducive by
half-witted perceptions of reality by the ZANU PF
government.
The good old professor
Masipula Sithole has dealt convincingly with
the issue of the uniformed
forces scrutinising whether or not they will
really shoot to kill. A moment
will come when they won't even shoot as they
patiently anticipate that the
MDC will organise a victorious protest but if
nothing applaudable occurs and
it becomes apparent that the MDC is full of
pretenders then they won't only
shoot but they will also kill.
As a
humanitarian principle, the uniformed forces are supposed to
protect and
support the wishes of the people and so if the people feel and
believe that
they have had enough of this miserable regime the forces must
be able to
honourably rally behind the public showdown which even the
dullest
mathematician cannot fail to calculate is so
close.
What we need now is hope and
optimism. We should rejoice and be
cheerful because finally we have some
consolation: that's the prospect of an
imminent full-blown run-in with a
wretched remnant of ZANU PF apologists.
As
I predicted late last year that a split in the ruling party is how
it will
flip-flop and sure enough there are already speculative reports
about that
dormant division.
No matter how the ruling
party might console itself that the split or
Mugabe exit reports are just a
smokescreen, they will remain party true -
there is smoke, and there is no
smoke without fire.
And the smoke that has
led me to begin a credible countdown is not
only in the papers but is the
reality on the ground, for instance the
eyesore
queues.
Someday in the very near future
the cursed ministry of energy and
power development will have to dare to
announce a horrendous hike in the
price of
fuel.
The MDC must exploit this imminent
utterance for it will kindle a wild
fire among the masses making each
disgruntled citizen a red hot firebrand
with one noble mission to accomplish
- the complete razing of the entire rot
in a pig-headed government that
played with fire for too long.
We must
never despair days before the ultimate confrontation with a
thoughtless
regime that has taken us for granted since it signed the
ill-fated Lancaster
House covenant.
If those at the top are
going to feed fat on the basis that they
fought in the war of liberation,
then behold, those who have been deprived
because they did not fight then
will surely take to the streets to fight for
freedom now, so as to guarantee
a satisfied stomach in future.
If anyone
at the top, employers in particular, is going to manipulate
the governance
crisis we are presently drowning in and exploit the suffering
populace
further, then an action-avalanche will descend upon them perhaps
much swifter
than our communist comrade's flight to their roots in the
Far
East.
Most will admit that we have
endured disappointments, shattered
dreams, disillusions and general
discontent but, even though, we must expect
and accept these as natural
deterrents in the long and bitter road to
our
salvation.
With all this strange
gloom and pessimism that is hovering above us we
must never lose infinite
hope and courage. Let the countdown to the
redemption showdown
commence!
Taungana Ndoro can be contacted
at taundoro@yahoo.com
FinGaz
Constitutional
reform remains top priority
1/30/03 10:06:09 AM (GMT +2)
IN the past
few months, some self-serving analysts and armchair
observers of the
Zimbabwean situation have been preaching monumental
falsehoods as follows:
that there are such things as bread and butter issues
which are divorced from
matters of governance such as constitutional reform
and respect for
fundamental human rights.
It is said by
these false analysts that Zimbabweans, in the face of
biting economic
hardships such as food shortages and an unaffordably high
cost of living, are
only concerned about "how to survive" and have no time
for issues of
governance.
As proof of the correctness of
these propositions, the false analysts
point to the perceived "failure" of
recent mass actions such as the
stay-away calls and public demonstrations by
the NCA. Then a startling
conclusion is profered: civic organisations such as
the NCA and opposition
political parties have become irrelevant to the
resolution of the Zimbabwean
crisis.
A
prominent member of this school of false analysis is Jonathan
Moyo,who is
employed by President Mugabe to preach falsehoolds. He is not
the only member
of this school. There are others in the media and civic
society who have
become disillusioned by the failure of the generality of
the people to
participate in pro-democracy mass
activities.
Instead of intensifying
programmes aimed at mobilising the masses into
democratisation struggles,
they have chosen not only to believe, but also to
propagate, the false notion
that people are more concerned with "bread and
butter" issues than with
matters of good governance, rule of law and respect
for fundamental human
rights.
Without any doubt, it must be
stressed that "bread and butter" issues
cannot be separated from matters of
governance. It was only in the primitive
communal society which had no state
or government, where the pursuit of life
's necessities could proceed without
being affected by governance issues.
In
our societies, governance is at the very root of matters of
survival and
until governance questions are resolved satisfactorily, the
pursuit of "bread
and butter" issues cannot yield meaningful and
lasting
results.
The starting point is
to ask the following question: why are we in
such a state that the quest for
"bread and butter" is so painful?
In other
words, why do we have food shortages, high cost of living,
unemployment, poor
health facilities and so on?
The answer is
simple.
We are in such a state because we
have a government that has not only
failed to provide "bread and butter" but
also has no capacity to do so.
Then the
next question: if the government is responsible for our sorry
state of
affairs where we have no access to "bread and butter", why not
remove that
government?
The answer is that the
government has put in place rules / laws which
make it almost impossible for
us to remove it or even make it
accountable.
A further question arises:
How about changing those rules / laws to
enable us to make the government
accountable or remove it from office?
This
last question is what the constitutional reform process is
all
about.
There are countless examples
of how the state of governance has
impacted on "bread and butter" issues. For
example, there is no avenue
through which Mugabe can be asked to explain the
food shortages and
hyperinflation.
He
is not even obliged to answer questions in Parliament. There is
therefore
neither pressure nor an incentive for him to address the
issues.
The Mugabe regime decides which
land to acquire, when to acquire it
and to whom it must be redistributed. If
this process leads to the
destruction of commercial agriculture, our bread
and butter is affected and
that is a question of
governance.
The Mugabe regime decides the
foreign currency exchange rate. It comes
up with an unrealistic rate and a
parallel market emerges. The cost of
living shoots up and our bread and
butter is affected. There is no doubt
that this is a governance question. We
can go on and on and on.
Good governance
is a precondition to social and economic development.
This is the bedrock of
the NCA.
Constitutional reform is not an
end in itself. The call for a new
constitution is not a slogan nor is it an
elitist obsession as suggested by
some sections of our society. It is a bread
and butter issue - the way
society is governed, particularly the extent of
accountability of the
political leadership, is one of the most significant
factors in the delivery
of basic necessities of life to the
people.
This is why every politician on
the campaign trail in an election
promises the electorate "bread and butter"
issues!
To say that governance issues are
irrelevant to the resolution of the
Zimbabwean issue is as idiotic as
suggesting that there is no need to have a
government under the current
circumstances in Zimbabwe.
The point to be
made is that any society that desires to achieve
prosperity requires a
government that leads it towards the desired
goal.
Government is about leadership. Can
anyone doubt the fact that to get
out of a crisis, there is need for a
leadership that directs society's
collective efforts out of the
crisis?
If you are in a crisis, and you
discover that the leaders you have are
incapable of getting you out of the
crisis, and you discover further that
the rules in place allow incompetent
leaders to remain your leaders
regardless of their performance, is it not
part of the solution to the
crisis that you put in place rules which ensure
that you get a leadership
which is competent, accountable to you and
removable from office in the
event of betraying the
cause?
If you, by a miracle, succeed in
merely replacing an incompetent
leadership without changing the rules, the
likelihood is that sooner or
later, the new leadership will again prove
incompetent and get protection
from the same unchanged rules which in the
first place, had made it
difficult to remove the other incompetent
regime.
Our point in the NCA is that we
must not rely on miracles to remove an
incompetent leadership. We must have,
in place, rules [in a constitution]
which empower the people to monitor the
operations of government and, if
need be, easily remove a government that
fails to create an
environment in which we
have "bread and butter".
The NCA is
seeking a comprehensive solution to the governance question
in fighting for a
constitution which addresses both the immediate and future
aspirations of our
society.
A new constitution addresses the
immediate governance issues in the
sense that once it is put in place, new
elections must be held in accordance
with that
constitution.
It thus answers the MDC's
call for a "re-run" of the presidential
elections and (ZANU (PF)'s scramble
for an "exit plan" for Mugabe. Both the
MDC's call for a "re-run" and ZANU
(PF)'s scramble for an "exit plan" are
centred on
Mugabe.
The NCA's call for a new
constitution is not centred on Mugabe. It is
a call based on those universal,
immutable and everlasting principles which
underlie democratic and prosperous
societies.
Mugabe is merely a casualty of
this call only because it is being made
at a time he has already played his
part. If he were not obtuse, he could
easily facilitate the dawn of this new
era rather than play the stumbling
block role he has chosen for himself and
his regime.
In principle, and precisely
because the NCA's call for a new
constitution is not centred on Mugabe, the
NCA is conscious of the fact that
the removal of Mugabe will not, in itself,
usher a democratic society.
For that
reason, the NCA's participation in anti-Mugabe processes is
limited to
removing a stumbling block to constitutional reform. The Mugabe
regime is the
sole stumbling block to a new and democratic
constitution.
That participation must not,
however be seen as the endorsement of any
particular person as the future
president of this country. Some leaders in
the MDC and other opposition
political parties who are in the NCA must be
reminded of this
point.
The NCA is not, has never been and
will not be an avenue to merely
remove Mugabe and end there. The NCA is an
assemblage of persons who desire
a new democratic dispensation through a new
constitution. Mugabe has become
a factor solely because he is standing in,
and blocking, the way.
This brings me to
the NCA's continuous mass struggles in the form of
stay-aways and
demonstrations. Those who consider NCA actions to be failures
are missing a
fundamental point. It is not the NCA's primary objective to
overthrow the
Mugabe regime. This is a role for opposition
political
parties.
The NCA will welcome
the removal of the Mugabe regime only in so far
as it opens an avenue for
constitutional reform. But the NCA agenda is not
dependent on the removal of
the Mugabe regime nor does the NCA have any
illusions about those who may
replace Mugabe. They may be equally averse to
constitutional
reform.
Already, we are beginning to
notice discomforting elements of
incompetence, intolerance and dictatorship
in the MDC. In its various
statements on the way out of the current crisis,
the MDC has not clearly
articulated the constitutional reform route favoured
by the NCA. That
difference of approach between the NCA and the MDC is
clear.
The NCA will confront, head on,
whoever has the apparatus of state
authority, and demand a people-driven
constitution. This is why the NCA does
not agree with the MDC's notion of
"restoring legitimacy" first before
making demands for a new constitution.
Whether legitimate or illegitimate,
if Mugabe is pressured to accept a new
constitution, there will be a
new
constitution.
If our calls for
stay-aways and demonstrations are viewed as attempts
to ovethrow the Mugabe
regime, then it may be fair to regard them as
"flops". But they are not so
intended. These actions have two main
objectives. First, it is to raise
public awareness about the NCA agenda of a
new constitution. It is an
innovative way of public education
and
mobilisation.
There is no doubt
that our stay-away calls and demonstrations have
dramatically captured the
domain of public debate. Who, in Zimbabwe, does
not know the NCA's desire for
a new constitution? Thousands of Zimbabweans
flock to our offices after every
stay-away and demonstration to register
themselves as members, to collect
materials on the constitution and even
more interestingly, to offer
suggestions on how future actions may
be
conducted.
Through these actions, we
have succeeded in raising public awareness,
mobilising support for our cause
and most importantly, making gradual
inroads into the public domain with a
view to expanding our base for future
action. Secondly, it is to put pressure
on the Mugabe regime to yield to
constitutional
reform.
It does not require the whole
population to rise for Mugabe to give
in. What is required is to ensure that
sufficient numbers of our people
participate in these actions, in such a way
as to effect irresistible
pressure on the Mugabe regime. The NCA has made
tremendous progress in this
regard. Many people heeded the recent stay-away
call. The state reaction to
the 22 January 2003 stay-away says it all. The
NCA has built, and is
consolidating, the capacity to harass the state every
two weeks through
demonstrations and
stay-aways.
If the Mugabe regime is
forced, on a continuous basis to deploy
helicopters, armed tankers, soldiers,
riot police and ZANU PF youths and
militia to crush the people's drive for a
new constitution, something else
will happen. The people's resolve will
increase, more people will be
inspired by the heroic efforts of the initial
group and the much awaited
massive onslaught will
occur.
The NCA is not waiting for a
future, once- and-for-all encounter,
because there is no such encounter in
the history of political struggles. It
is the small qualitative struggles
which mushroom into full-blown and
decisive battles. Mugabe is clear on this
and this is why his regime
descends heavily on the NCA each time it calls for
mass action.
The way forward is clear. The
NCA is guided by a deep conviction of
its relevance to the current crisis. It
will continue to call for mass
action in the form of demonstrations and
stay-aways. These actions will
eventually make the Mugabe regime
succumb.
There is no doubt about this,
given the NCA's commitment
and
determination.
..
Lovemore Madhuku is the chairman of the NCA and a law lecturer
at the
University of Zimbabwe
FinGaz
Govt to recruit 6
000 extension workers
Staff
Reporter
1/30/03 9:44:27 AM (GMT
+2)
THE Ministry of Agriculture will this
year recruit 6 000 new extension
workers at a time some agro-experts hired to
assist farmers resettled under
the government's land reform programme say
they have not been paid for their
services last year, it was learnt this
week.
The experts, many of them graduates
of agricultural colleges, were
recruited at the height of the land reform
programme last year by the
ministry's Agricultural Rural Extension Service
(Arex).
They are supposed to provide
technical assistance to people resettled
under the agrarian reforms under
which most of Zimbabwe's commercial
farmland has been taken over by the
government.
The principal director of
Arex, xx Zishiri told the Financial Gazette:
"We are recruiting more people
right now. We are looking for 6 000 people to
assist the new
farmers."
He would not disclose how many
agricultural extension workers had been
hired by his organisation so
far.
However, several extension workers
interviewed by this newspaper this
week said they had not been paid for their
services in the past year, and
were hampered in their duties by the lack of
resources.
Most of the workers have to
work in remote rural areas where they
require an efficient transport system
in order to visit resettled farmers.
But the technicians said the ministry
had been unable to provide them with
cars to make their work
easier.
They said they had been forced to
resort to using bicycles to
visit
farmers.
"We have not been paid
anything since we were officially employed by
the government last year," one
extension worker said.
"We were only given
$40 000 advances in October last year. Since then,
we have not been given
anything at all. We do not know how the government
expects us to
survive."
The workers said the advances
were given as loans that would be
deducted from their salaries when these
were finally paid.
An extension worker
said: "At times we use our own vehicles and we are
never paid even for
maintenance costs. It is even worse when you go to head
office - all the
vehicles are grounded because there is no fuel. Others are
grounded for petty
reasons."
The extension workers said the
severe shortage of agricultural inputs
had also adversely affected their
work.
Zimbabwe is facing serious shortages
of seed, fertiliser and
chemicals, which have made it impossible for many
resettled farmers to plant
crops for the 2003 agricultural season which began
last November.
An extension worker said: "
When these pieces of land were allocated,
we were expected to show the other
resettled farmers proper farming
techniques. But we have failed to do that so
far because of lack of inputs.
"We (also)
do not have accommodation and we are forced to share with
some school
teachers and at times with war veterans."
But Zishiru said as far as he was aware, all extension workers had
been paid
for their services.
He however said that
the experts could not be given their salaries if
they did not have identity
documents.
"Everyone has been paid as far
as I know," he told the Financial
Gazette. "But we can't pay somebody without
proper documents. Some people
who are complaining do not have births
certificates to start with, you can't
blame us when they are not
paid."
Zim Independent
Massive fuel price
hike on the cards
Vincent Kahiya
THE price of petrol could soon go up to at
least $300 a litre if the
government agrees to implement a pricing regime
recommended by oil companies
in on-going stakeholders' meetings, the Zimbabwe
Independent has heard.
Sources privy to the discussions this week
said the current fuel supply
situation, characterised by erratic supplies
which have resulted in
widespread shortages, was untenable and could only be
solved by a radical
review of the pricing structure. The meetings were
attended by Energy and
Power Development minister Amos Midzi and senior
officials from Noczim.
This week Midzi confirmed the meetings but
could not provide details on the
figures being suggested by the fuel
marketers.
"I can't give you that information," said Midzi. "That is
confidential. We
cannot discuss that until we have finalised
discussions."
Sources said the stakeholders agreed that there should
not be radical
increases in the price of diesel, as this would have a serious
impact on the
economy.
The government has stepped up efforts to
control prices of basic commodities
and any increase in the price of diesel
would mean a review of the prices of
items on the controlled
list.
The price of petrol, currently pegged at $74,47 and diesel at
$66,44 a litre
was last reviewed in 1999 despite movement in the price of
crude oil on the
international markets, the steep decline of the Zimbabwe
dollar against hard
currencies and the seismic inflationary
environment.
In 1999 year-on-year inflation closed at around 60%. It
has since risen to
198,8%. The Zimbabwe dollar was pegged at $38:1 to the
greenback in 1999
before it was revised upwards to $55 nearly two years ago.
The black market
rate is about $1 500:US$1.
The marketers want the
government to deregulate the industry by ceding
control on the price of fuel
to restore viability.
Both established and new indigenous players
were agreed that there should be
a price increase as they have invested
heavily in building service stations
and purchasing tankers. They are agreed
the price should be at least $300 a
litre.
"Our margins are very
low because of the current prices," said one
indigenous
player.
"There are no real returns on our investment because
government policy is
not benefiting the industry."
Chairman of the
indigenous fuel marketers, Gordon Musarira, last week
referred all questions
to Midzi, while the Petroleum Marketers Association
representing most of the
established marketers, had not responded to written
questions sent to them
last week.
Sources said Midzi promised to take the recommendations to
cabinet.
The current fuel woes could be a permanent feature of the
country's economic
life as government is unable to negotiate significant
lines of credit.
Two weeks ago the government announced it had
secured a US$10 million line
of credit from Badea, an Arab bank but this will
only purchase a week's
supply.
The country requires US$40 million
a month for fuel procurement.
Industry sources said government was
generally resigned to negotiating any
major deals, as these would only
increase the country's indebtedness.
Currently the Independent Petroleum
Group of Kuwait is supplying the country
with bulk fuel despite a
presidential directive to renew deals with the
Libyans.
Midzi this
week said that was being worked on.
"Just be patient. We will let you
know soon about what we are doing," he
said.
Zim Independent
MDC in moves to set
up offices across Africa
Mthulisi Mathuthu
IN an attempt to raise awareness on the
Zimbabwe crisis, the Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC) is stepping up
efforts to establish offices in all
the regions of the continent.
This
comes at a time when the Morgan Tsvangirai-led party is establishing
ties
with the newly-elected Kenyan government in a bid to rebut President
Mugabe's
claims that the MDC is a puppet of the British.
The MDC election
directorate, whose members Nomore Sibanda and Remus
Makuwaza observed the
Kenyan elections, said in their report that plans were
being drawn up to
spread awareness of Mugabe's misrule throughout the
continent.
The
report, which was released this week, recommends that the MDC should
open
offices in East and West Africa to complement those they have in
southern
Africa.
"The MDC should second party officials to East and West African
blocs to
make clear the party position and explain the current crisis in
Zimbabwe,"
the report says.
"We must engage Ghana in order to tap the
experiences of that country and
its leadership."
The MDC hopes to
spread its influence to Botswana, Nigeria, Senegal, and
Tanzania, among other
countries, to counter Mugabe's populist claims.
"We have an obligation to
sell our story. Mugabe has made claims to African
patriotism and we therefore
have to rebut those claims because as you know
the issue in Zimbabwe is about
repression," said Moses Mzila-Ndlovu, MDC
spokesperson for foreign
affairs.
In their report, Sibanda and Makuwaza called on the MDC and
civic groups to
push the government into adopting democratic norms similar to
those
practised in Kenya during the recent elections.
The report
called on the parliamentary legal committee to seek a High Court
injunction
to enable counting of ballots to be done at polling stations
immediately
after close of the poll.
Also recommended is an injunction to compel the
registrar-general to make
available the supplementary voters' rolls
beforehand and to provide a list
of polling stations at least a month before
the first day of polling.
Zim Independent
UN wants
devaluation
Augustine Mukaro
THE United Nations has recommended a
devaluation of the Zimbabwe dollar and
scrapping of price controls as
priority issues to reverse the declining
economic situation.
The call
comes barely two weeks after business executives expressed to
government,
through Vice-President Simon Muzenda, the need to, among other
things,
devalue the dollar to $800:US$1 in line with the realities on
the
ground.
In an overview of the Zimbabwe humanitarian crisis, the
United Nations
Country Team, which is actively engaging government to drop
its damaging
policies, said the change in government policy was the only way
to put the
country back on a sustainable recovery.
"Priority issues in
the change of policy should focus on devaluation, the
lifting of price
controls, allowing private-sector commercial imports and
the free movement of
grain throughout the country," the UN team said.
The overview document
was part of UN Special Envoy James Morris'
presentation to President Robert
Mugabe last Friday.
The UN said the government budget for 2003 will
exacerbate economic decline
and worsen foreign exchange shortages.
The
budget reaffirms government's backslide to a command economy
characterised by
price controls, fixing of the exchange rate and government
monopoly in the
pricing and marketing of agricultural commodities.
Other than devaluation
and lifting of price controls, the UN team said
government should allow the
private sector to import and distribute grain.
"Government should change
its policies by allowing private sector commercial
imports and the free
movement of grain throughout the country," the UN said.
It also
recommended that government should provide more operational space
for NGOs to
expand their humanitarianactivities as well as adopt an
integrated approach
to humanitarian assistance, particularly with exploring
the effect of
HIV/Aids on food security, nutrition and
agricultural
recovery.
Zimbabwe is experiencing rapid economic decline
with a record high inflation
rate running at almost 200%, a parallel market
exchange rate of over 2 700%
more than the official rate, and an estimated
12% decline of the GDP in
2002.
Analysts concurred with the UN
recommendation saying what was needed to
revive the economy was not selective
application of devaluation but
competently addressing all macro-economic
fundamentals.
"Sectoral devaluation won'thelp the country before
fundamental issues such
as restoration of investor confidence, reduction of
uncertainties and risks,
restoration of rule of law, and preservation of
property rights are
addressed," an analyst
said.
Zim Independent
Commission collects
data on rights abuses
Blessing Zulu
THERE may be a glimmer of hope for Zimbabwe's
ever-growing list of victims
of politically-motivated human rights abuses,
the Zimbabwe Independent has
learnt.
The London-based Accountability
Commission - Zimbabwe project, an
organisation launched recently, has started
to gather information on human
rights violations with a view to setting up a
special court to try
perpetrators of violence. Rwanda and Sierra Leone have
similar courts.
The commission wants to see justice meted out to those
found guilty of
crimes of torture and violence, which have been allowed to go
unpunished.
The commission comprises local and international human rights
lawyers.
"The great strides being made towards universal jurisdiction
mean the
closing of loopholes for flagrant abusers of human rights is around
the
corner," said David Banks, speaking in London on behalf of the
commission.
The commission is appealing to witnesses to come forward with
details of
incidents of politically-motivated murder, torture, rape and
beatings. It
then aims to prepare dossiers with a view to opening
dockets.
"We are building up files of evidence, person by person, on the
illegal
activities that individuals have been involved in but where no
charges have
been brought in the present environment of impunity," said
Banks.
"We also hope to develop as detailed knowledge of their personal
details and
crimes that have been committed.
"The Accountability
Commission is a results-driven organisation.
Ourmandate is to build up
evidence against individuals instead of
institutions or state bodies. In the
past there has been a tendency for
perpetrators to hide behind their
employers," he said.
"Following the South African experience, the
Accountability Commission does
not believe a Truth and Reconciliation
approach should be seen as a
blueprint for Zimbabwe," Banks said.
"In
order for the justice system to be resuscitated people need to see
that
criminals are made to pay the price for their
deeds."
Zim Independent
Envoy slams arrests,
torture
Dumisani Muleya
AS political
repression mounts ahead of the Commonwealth troika meeting on
Zimbabwe,
Australian High Commissioner to Harare, Jonathan Brown, has
expressed dismay
at the deteriorating situation in the country.
In some of the strongest
remarks made by a senior diplomat in Harare, Brown
told an Australia Day
gathering last Sunday that his country, which
supported the process leading
to Zimbabwe's independence and reconstruction,
was shocked by the current
dramatic national decline.
"Australia has watched with dismay as the
people of Zimbabwe have become
poorer," Brown said. "They are now more
vulnerable to ill-health. They are
more hungry, more often."
In
remarks consistent with Canberra's hardening stance against Harare,
Brown
said Zimbabweans had become victims of growing repression.
"They
are less able to enjoy the democratic and human rights guaranteed to
all
peoples in the Commonwealth," he said. "Above all, the people of
Zimbabwe
were, in Australia's views and in the view of the Commonwealth
Observer
Group, denied the free expression of their will in the March
2002
presidential election."
Brown noted that since the disputed poll,
repression has been intensifying.
"Since that election, we have seen the
government of Zimbabwe tighten its
grip on its people, further denying their
freedoms of speech and
association, and their protection under the law
without discrimination," he
said. "In October, Australia imposed targeted
sanctions on the government of
Zimbabwe as a means of influencing it to
return to good governance and the
rule of law, while avoiding harm to the
people of Zimbabwe."
Brown's remarks came as the Commonwealth troika
meeting on Zimbabwe to be
held in Pretoria in March nears. The troika, which
suspended Zimbabwe from
the Commonwealth councils last March for blatant
vote-rigging, comprises
Australian Prime Minister John Howard, who is also
the club's current chair,
South African President Thabo Mbeki and Nigerian
President Olusegun
Obasanjo.
The group's mandate is to ensure Zimbabwe
complies with the Commonwealth's
commitment to human rights, good governance,
and electoral standards. It
also wants to see government addressing the issue
of land reform, the
economic crisis, lawlessness and political
instability.
While South Africa and Nigeria are battling to prevent
Zimbabwe's full
suspension from the Commo-nwealth, Australia has been
pressing for the ban.
Australia is arguing that nothing has changed since
the troika last met in
Abuja in September to review the situation. Mbeki and
Obasanjo blocked
Howard's push for a full Zimbabwe suspension at that
meeting. But Zimbabwe
was given a six-month grace period to
improve.
However, Brown said nothing has changed since
then.
"There is little sign of improvement," he said. "The recent arrest
and
torture in custody of an MP was deeply disturbing and
incontrovertible
illustration of the extent to which the rule of law has
broken down in
Zimbabwe."
Brown said "no one, whatever his or her
political affiliation or alleged
offence, should suffer an abuse of human
rights at the hands of state
authorities as happened in that case, and there
are related cases."
Australia, Brown pointed out, would continue to
support Zimbabweans in their
quest for democracy like it did when the people
fought Ian Smith's colonial
regime.
"We will continue to stand by the
people of Zimbabwe as they seek to defend
and promote these values in their
own country," he said. "We will also
continue through the Commonwealth to
press for an early return to democratic
freedoms and the protection of the
rule of law for all Zimbabweans,
regardless of their
race."
Zim Independent
UN extends probe
into DRC plunder
Mthulisi Mathuthu
IN what could spark further official
indignation in Harare, the United
Nations has extended its inquiry into the
plunder of DRC resources by
looters who include Zimbabwe's ruling elite by a
further six months.
The UN panel of experts investigating the illegal
exploitation of natural
resources and other forms of wealth in the Democratic
Republic of Congo
whose initial report provoked fury last October, had its
mandate extended by
the Security Council last Friday.
It has emerged
that the UN Security Council unanimously agreed to grant the
panel a further
six months with a view to updating the October report which
named top army
and government officials as beneficiaries of the war economy
in the central
African country.
The five-member panel, chaired by Safiatou Ba-N'Daw of
Ivory Coast, was
asked to review and update the lists of those involved in
illegal activities
in the DRC since the war broke out in mid-1998.
The
council mandated the panel to recommend measures that could be taken to
curb
further looting of the Congolese resources. The panel is also expected
to
investigate steps taken by governments in response to its
previous
recommendations, including information on how reforms in the region
are
affecting plundering.
"The panel should also include (in its
report) information about steps taken
by government in response to its
previous recommendations, including
information on how capacity-building and
reforms in the region are affecting
exploitation activities," a UN report
says.
President Mugabe's government cried foul last year after
government
officials who include Speaker of Parliament, Emmerson Mnangagwa
and Defence
minister Sidney Sekeramayi were linked to the exploitation of DRC
resources.
In its October report, the panel recommended that punitive
measures be taken
against organisations and individuals looting the DRC. They
also called for
financial restrictions against 29 companies based in the DRC,
Rwanda,
Uganda, Zimbabwe and South Africa and for the imposition of a travel
ban on
54 persons who include Zimbabwe's ruling elite.
The panel was
named by the UN secretary-general Kofi Annan in August
following a request by
the security council, in a presidential statement
issued on June 2 for
establishment of a panel to investigate the plunder of
the Congo and to
establish the link of that illegal exercise with the war.
Zimbabwe,
Rwanda and Uganda were singled out as countries that had adopted
"strategies
for maintaining the mechanisms for revenues generation, many of
which involve
criminal activities, once their troops have
departed".
Zim Independent
Militia impose
curfew in Kuwadzana
Taurai Dzengerere
ZANU PF militia have imposed a dusk-to-dawn
curfew in parts of Kuwadzana in
the run-up to the parliamentary by-election
due to take place on a date
still to be announced.
The militia have
taken over the council library and a community hall in the
suburb from where
they launch raids against residents who fail to observe
the
curfew.
Residents who arrive home late because of transport problems are
vulnerable
to harassment by the youths who move in groups of up to a
dozen.
Harare mayor Engineer Elias Mudzuri on Wednesday challenged the
police who
were barring people from entering Town House for a consultative
meeting to
first go and evict militias illegally occupying council buildings
in
Kuwadzana.
"Will you please go and evict militias who have camped
at Kuwadzana library
and community hall," Mudzuri told more than a dozen
policeman who evicted
residents he was addressing in the Town House's Flag
Room.
"I have made a formal report to the police about these illegal
occupiers but
no action has been taken," he said.
Civic organisation
Zimbabwe Civic Education Trust (Zimcet) this week
condemned the activities of
the militia and called on the police to restore
order in the
constituency.
In a statement, Zimcet said freedoms of movement,
expression and association
were being stolen from the people of
Kuwadzana.
"If violence rocking Kuwadzana is not controlled, there is
every reason for
the majority to worry that the reign of terror will soon
engulf Highfield
constituency where another by-election is due soon," Zimcet
said.
In a statement, the MDC said two of its officials in Kuwadzana,
Resias
Masunda, chairperson for Ward 44, and Derek Madharani, organising
secretary
for Kuwadzana District, were recently arrested and severely
tortured by
police.
The two were arrested in separate incidents by the
police, who the party
claims have been working closely with the Zanu-PF
militia.
The MDC said the arrests were geared to thwart the party from
campaigning in
the constituency.
The MDC said armed police broke into
Madharani's house at midnight on
January 21 and started assaulting him,
asking him to give the names of the
people who petrol-bombed the Zanu-PF base
at Kuwadzana 5 Shopping Centre.
When he professed ignorance, they
blindfolded him and took him to Goromonzi
Police Station, where he was
severely tortured and sustained a crack on his
eardrum, the MDC said. He was
released without being charged on January 24.
Masunda was also arrested
on January 24 and taken to Goromonzi Police
Station where the opposition
party says he was severely tortured while being
questioned about the burning
of a Zupco bus.
Paul Themba Nyathi, MDC's secretary for information and
publicity, said
Masunda's wife, Rebecca Nengomasha, was also severely
assaulted by the
police before they took away her husband.
"They said
they would come back and press her to reveal the place where her
husband's
gun was hidden," Themba Nyathi said.
Zim Independent
Publisher's Memo -
Now is time to act
Trevor Ncube
Zimbabwe is in the grip of an unprecedented
crisis. The hopes and
aspirations that political independence promised have
been dashed. The
prevailing economic, political and social crises are
certainly not what many
of our compatriots risked life and limb
for.
The most disconcerting thing is that there does not seem to be an
end
anywhere in sight. None of the two major political parties seems to have
the
slightest clue as to how to extricate this well-endowed nation from
the
current morass.
Worse still, none outside these political
structures is bold enough to
propose a viable solution. Our international and
regional friends do not
seem to understand the magnitude of our problems, or
if they do, they do not
give a damn. The more this situation is allowed to
deteriorate the more
difficult it will be for us to get out of
it.
Millions of Zimbabweans face starvation due to a combination of
factors,
namely the drought and the man-made disaster in the form of a
self-serving
and disastrous land-grab policy that has crippled agricultural
activity.
Economic activity has ground to a halt because there is no
policy framework
to talk about.
Unemployment and inflation are at
record levels. The acute shortage of fuel
and the high cost of foreign
exchange have resulted in many company
closures, while the survival of many
still operating is in jeopardy. The
incomes of those few still lucky enough
to hold onto their jobs have been
severely eroded.
While there is
reluctance in the Zanu PF leadership to admit publicly that
there is a crisis
in the country, one gets the sense that this is being
acknowledged as much in
private. They realise more than ever before that
they no longer have the
ability to pull the country out of the hole they
have dug us into.
It
is clear to all and sundry that the political path that Zanu PF has
embarked
on is totally unsustainable. They cling to power because they are
not men
enough to concede their mistakes and seek local and international
advice to
effect a policy shift that would result in a change in our
fortunes as a
nation. They have totally lost the confidence of the majority
of Zimbabweans
and most of the international community whose support is
desperately needed
to restore this country to normalcy.
The MDC, on the other hand, appears
content with the supine posturing that
had it not been for an undemocratic
constitution that allows Mugabe the
right to appoint 30 additional members of
parliament, things would be
different in the legislature. Had Mugabe not
stolen the election they would
be in power, they seem to reason.
They
have become victims of the politics of entitlement that afflicted Zanu
PF
soon after Independence. By the simple fact that they were brave enough
to
stand up to Mugabe and his murderous regime, they believe now they should
do
no more than sit and wait for Mugabe to go. They believe Zimbabweans owe
them
eternal gratitude for having done a good job in challenging Zanu PF.
Beyond
that they are totally blank as to what to do to get rid of Zanu PF.
They also
have no concrete solutions to the problems afflicting the nation.
All that
they want now is to be given a chance to rule.
All this has thrown the
nation into a state of political paralysis. Those in
power lack the
legitimacy, authority and, more importantly, the vision to
effect meaningful
economic and political change while those in the
opposition have, by acts of
omission, shown they cannot be trusted with
power. The MDC has over the past
two years evidenced shocking levels of
political naivety, immaturity and lack
of cohesiveness. The public's
confidence in the MDC has significantly waned
after its failure to devise
effective strategies to challenge Zanu PF's
fraudulent victory.
They have not shown the selflessness and personal
sacrifice that was a
critical factor for the successful prosecution of the
liberation struggle.
This is not to downplay all the dirty tactics employed
by Zanu PF to render
the MDC ineffective. The point is the MDC should have
known long before
getting into the game that you have to be streetwise to
survive in politics.
On this score alone, Zanu PF has completely outwitted
them. The MDC has
failed to strengthen its leadership and to mobilise the
people.
They will argue they are faced with the dilemma of all opposition
parties
that are confronted with brute force by a regime that refuses to
observe
democratic tolerance.
But the situation here is not unique.
South Africans faced a similar
situation in the 1970s. So did Indonesians in
the late 1990s and the people
of the Ivory Coast and Venezuela more recently.
There is no substitute for
popular mass action, however painfully suppressed
at first.
On the whole MDC has been reactive rather than proactive, with
Zanu PF
taking the initiative on almost all issues. Many now believe the
MDC's
failure to get into power was a blessing in disguise. Their obvious
lack of
decisive leadership and a clear vision for the nation would have
plunged
this country into another crisis in the mould of Fredrick Chiluba's
Zambia.
This political paralysis must not be allowed to continue any
longer. It is
time for those patriotic Zimbabweans inside and outside Zanu PF
and the MDC
to put real or imagined differences aside and work for the good
of the
nation. It is time to put our personal interests aside and work to
save this
country from further decline. Let us all cut our losses while there
is still
time.
A winner takes all approach will not
work.
We have to go for a win-win strategy. Our point of departure is
that Zanu PF
will not be able to do this alone. It lacks local and
international
credibility and legitimacy. The MDC cannot go it alone either
as it lacks
the vision, passion and people within its ranks who can be
trusted to run
this country on their own.
We have to find a third way
that will draw on the resourcefulness of all
Zimbabweans. We pride ourselves
on being the most educated and resourceful
people on the continent and yet we
have shown that we are completely
incapable of saving ourselves.
This
is unacceptable from a nation that fought the most sophisticated war
of
liberation on the continent.
The way forward is one that recognises
that we have one common destiny and
that none of us benefits from allowing
our country to go to the dogs. In the
absence of anything else to go by, the
South African model of a peacefully
negotiated settlement seems to be the
only way to go, with the involvement
of the UN as the honest
broker.
The object of this dialogue would be to retire President Mugabe
and grant
him immunity from prosecution, hammer out a democratic and
durable
constitution and pave the way for fresh parliamentary and
presidential
elections under UN supervision within the next nine
months.
Time is of the essence. We cannot afford to lose any more time
and inflict
more damage on the economy and the body
politic.
Zim
Independent
Troika braces for angry replay of
Abuja
Dumisani Muleya
THE Commonwealth troika meeting on
Zimbabwe in Pretoria in March presents a
battleground for South African,
Nigerian and Australian leaders who will be
gathering to review the crisis
here.
They last met in September.
Political analysts say South
African President Thabo Mbeki, his Nigerian
counterpart Olusegun Obasanjo and
Australian Prime Minister John Howard are
set for a dramatic replay of their
uneasy encounter in Abuja last year. The
meeting ended in a standoff as they
failed to agree on further measures
against Harare.
Mbeki and Obasanjo
closed ranks against Howard to oppose Zimbabwe's full
suspension from the
Commonwealth.
The two African leaders - who now seem to be fighting
Mugabe's corner on
every international platform - opted to give their ally a
six-month grace
period to deal with issues of concern to the 54-member
club.
Howard, who chaired the Abuja meeting, expressed disappointment at
the
outcome.
"There was a difference of opinion," he said. "My view is
very clear. I
think we should have suspended Zimbabwe forthwith. My two
colleagues are of
the opinion that the progress of Zimbabwe should continue
to be monitored
over the next six months."
Obasanjo however admitted
that there had not been a "noticeable or
sufficient" improvement in the
situation. He said he believed Mugabe "should
be co-operating with the
Commonwealth on the issues that we have raised" and
"I believe he
can".
Asked why he was confident Mugabe would comply, Mbeki said: "As you
know
there is none of us here who can speak on behalf of President Mugabe. So
it'
s difficult to answer that question."
The troika all the same gave
Mugabe time to tackle as a matter of urgency
the current economic crisis,
land reform, food shortages, restore political
legitimacy, ensure
reconciliation and stability, and conduct future
elections in a free and fair
manner.
Zimbabwe - which, apart from the cricket, has now fallen off
the
international radar with attention focused on Baghdad and Pyongyang -
was
suspended from the Commonwealth councils for a year on March 19 last
year
following the hotly-disputed presidential election in which
blatant
intimidation and vote-rigging were found by poll
observers.
The decision was taken on the basis of a report by the
Commonwealth election
observer mission led by former Nigerian military ruler
General Abdulsalami
Abubakar which said the election was not free and
fair.
It cited violence, intimidation, and manipulation.
The
Commonwealth report was corroborated by the findings of the Southern
African
Development Community Parliamentary Forum, Ghana, and other
international
observers such as the Japanese.
Despite the fact South Africa and
Nigeria's own observer missions claimed
Mugabe's re-election was
"legitimate", Mbeki and Obasanjo had no choice but
to endorse Zimbabwe's
suspension because they were bound by the Commonwealth
's
findings.
Howard, the club's current chair, and Commonwealth
secretary-general Don
McKinnon attended the meeting at Marlborough House in
London that obliged
Mbeki and Obasanjo to ignore their own reports which
tried to whitewash
Mugabe's claims.
Analysts say the approaching
Pretoria meeting is likely to be explosive
because diplomatic knives were
already out for the encounter. Mbeki and
Obasanjo seem to be preparing
themselves for further resistance to Zimbabwe'
s full suspension while Howard
is vigorously pushing for the ban.
South African Institute of
International Affairs director Greg Mills said it
was clear Pretoria was
reluctant to act against Harare.
"Pretoria has been unwilling to provide
leadership necessary to extract
Zimbabwe from its spiralling economic and
political crisis," he said. "The
reasons for this relate to the weaknesses of
South Africa's own political
structures, which are apparently still too
fragile in racial terms for the
government to risk a more, direct
interventionist role."
But Mills said the political price of official
inertia in Pretoria could be
serious.
"The cost of doing nothing is
too great, however, for the region and for
Zimbabweans," he said. "The longer
Mbeki fails to act decisively in dealing
with his septuagenarian Zimbabwean
counterpart, the more he and not only
Mugabe will also be viewed as part of
the problem."
All the three troika members have of late been hardening
their positions,
thus heightening tensions in the run-up to the meeting in
which the
Commonwealth's credibility will be on the line.
Differences
of opinion within the troika actually widened over the weekend
with Pretoria
and Abuja continuing to firm their pro-Harare positions while
Canberra also
stuck to its guns.
Nigeria's High Commissioner to Zimbabwe, Wilberforce
Juta, said sanctions
would be the last resort.
"The Commonwealth is a
community and we want to assist Zimbabwe get back
in," he said. "The interest
of the Commonwealth is to see peace and
prosperity, and how to correct the
problems in Zimbabwe. Ostracising and
maligning the country will not achieve
that."
Mbeki's spokesman Bheki Khumalo said there was no need for
sanctions.
"We are totally opposed to it," he said. "It is not even a
last resort.
There will be total chaos and a meltdown that will threaten the
very
Zimbabweans we are trying to help."
Australia's Deputy High
Commissioner in South Africa, Billy Williams, said
his country's position
towards Zimbabwe was "consistent". He said: "We don't
want to pre-empt
anything . . . But we haven't seen any change or progress
in
Zimbabwe."
Australian High Commissioner to Zimbabwe Jonathan Brown has
also said the
situation is worsening. In a hard-hitting speech to mark
Australia Day this
week he referred to Zimbabwe's departure from Commonwealth
principles
including recent reports of torture.
The opposition
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader Morgan Tsvangirai
told diplomats
in Harare last week the meeting would be a non-event. He said
Mbeki and
Obasanjo's diplomatic initiatives have become a farce.
But Aubrey
Matshiqi, a South African political analyst, said the MDC has to
act on its
own instead of waiting for the international community to do so.
"The
ultimate truth about Zimbabwe is that no amount of external pressure
will
yield the desired results unless the levels of popular resistance
within the
country increases considerably," he said. This is the gist of the
South
African argument about the Zimbabwe crisis.
McKinnon is to submit a
report to the troika on developments in Zimbabwe
since last year although
government has spurned his requests to visit the
country.
The South
African and Nigerian comments came shortly after the visit to
Harare by their
foreign ministers.
Both Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma and Sule Lamido expressed
views consistent with
their leaders' stances that what was needed was not to
punish Zimbabwe but
to engage it in dialogue.
The two ministers
apparently took their cue from Harare claiming the
situation had improved
since the September meeting. Obasanjo is next month
expected to be given the
same briefing.
Mbeki was expected to use these arguments to defend
Zimbabwe during his
meeting with Prime Minister Tony Blair in London this
week.
The purported evidence which Harare is hawking includes claims that
land
reform has been concluded, the rule of law has returned on farms and
farmers
are engaged in a dialogue with government, agricultural labourers who
came
from countries in the region before 1980 will be given the right
of
citizenship, amendments will be made to repressive media laws, and
the
pull-out from the Democratic Republic of Congo is now
complete.
But observers say in reality nothing has changed. Land reform
remains
chaotic, lawlessness persists, press suffocation is intensifying,
political
repression and harassment of opposition parties is on the rise,
and
displaced farm workers have not been rescued from desolation.
The
economy has further deteriorated and the food situation has
worsened.
Elections remain volatile and violent. In short, the situation has
not
changed. If anything, it is getting worse. That is the reality Mbeki
and
Obasanjo have to confront.
Zim Independent
Eric Bloch
Column
Zimbabweans' changing sense of
values
THE disastrous state of both the economic and
sociological environments in
Zimbabwe are creating a very rapid change in the
sense of values of most
Zimbabweans. The fundamental change is that whilst
previously most
aspirations centred on the medium to long-term, now the
distress is of such
magnitude that the primary focus, and therefore the
highest values, lies in
the immediate. In the past, most Zimbabweans ascribed
highest values to
acquiring education, procuring employment for themselves or
their children
which offered opportunities of advancement, acquiring
possessions of lasting
value, such as a home, furnishings, self-transport
resources, and the like.
But now government has so destroyed the economy that
the attention of almost
all is directed towards fulfilling their very
immediate needs.
For most Zimbabweans, happiness is being able to buy
20kg of mealie-meal
without having to queue for more than six hours (and
without having to
present a political party membership card). Happiness is
being able to buy a
loaf of bread. Happiness is obtaining at least half a
tank of petrol or
diesel on the same day as one first enters a kilometre-long
queue of motor
vehicles, all manned by motorists with a like hope that
supplies will only
run out after they have been served. Happiness is finding
a much needed
product on the shelves of the shop, and even greater happiness
is when the
price of that product is no greater than it was a week
earlier.
Happiness is passing through a road-block without having one's
petrol,
mealie-meal, flour, bread, sugar, soap or cooking oil confiscated.
Happiness
is not having to return to a government department six times
before
resolving the issue at hand, be it renewal of a passport, obtaining a
copy
of a birth certificate, acquiring an ID card, or anything else that
would,
in almost any other country, be expeditiously addressed. Happiness is
having
job security instead of a perpetual fear of job loss due to business
closure
or enterprise insolvency. Happiness is being able to afford health
care, and
finding required medications, which is increasingly
rare.
Very clearly, Zimbabweans' sense of values has changed markedly. It
is now
those which in the past were the little things in life as are becoming
of
foremost importance. The perceptions are increasingly becoming "Worry
about
today, and tomorrow we'll worry about tomorrow!" instead of
strategising to
take care of both today and tomorrow. Desperation has removed
the will to
plan ahead, all attention being directed towards the
immediate.
This catastrophic transformation of desires, ambitions and
aspirations from
those of enduring benefit to those of immediate consequence
reflects the
dismal lows to which government has driven the economy. It
insisted upon
pursuing a land reform programme devoid of co-operation and
collaboration
with established commercial farmers. It spurned all offers of
co-operation,
and then unhesitatingly accused the commercial farmers of
trying to
frustrate and obstruct the programme for the acquisition,
re-distribution
and resettlement of rural lands.
It repeatedly
contended that established commercial farmers were unwilling
to facilitate
the programme, in contradistinction to a very pronounced
willingness to do
so, provided that the programme would be structured in
such a manner as to be
just and equitable, constructive and attainable
without destruction of
agriculture as the foundation and mainstay of the
economy.
But such
proviso did not align with government's desire to claim all credit
for the
programme by disregard for law and order, and government's
determination to
achieve its objectives by dictates instead of by positive
interaction with
all concerned to achieve that which would be in the best
interest of
all.
So the bulk of agriculture's contribution to the economy was
demolished,
causing a major reduction in foreign exchange inflows, and
substantial
shrinkage of the downstream economic sectors that had flourished
as a result
of agriculture's previous wellbeing. Worst of all, the
government-induced
collapse of agriculture was the fundamental cause of
massive food shortages,
although government alleges that the shortages are
primarily the result of
adverse climatic conditions.
Undoubtedly the
president, the Minister of Lands, Agriculture and Rural
Resettlement, Joseph
Made, and the vociferous Minister of Fiction, Fable and
Myth must be rubbing
their hands with glee at the prevailing drought
conditions, providing them
once again with an excuse for food shortages,
although those shortages would
have been relatively minimal if the
agricultural infrastructure had not been
decimated, commercial farmers
prevented from farming and if newly-settled
farmers had been provided with
adequate inputs.
However, all this did
not suffice to destroy the economy. It only weakened
it. For more than five
years government has pursued the elements of a
command economy, instead of
one driven by market forces, with endlessly
intensifying regulation, dictates
and constraints. Unable to learn from its
mistakes, the government repeated
them, over and over again, imposing
evermore draconian controls which
worsened the economy.
And, as government believes itself to be both
infallible and omnipotent, it
could not acknowledge that anything that it had
done, or had failed to do,
would conceivably be the cause of the accelerating
economic decline.
Government believed that the ills afflicting the economy
must be the result
of machiavellian machinations of those that it perceived
to be its enemies.
If government spokesmen are to be believed (which is
not easy to do) all
that is wrong in the economy is as a result of the
actions of its political
opposition, of profiteering businessmen, of
international monetary
institutions, of diplomats of those countries as, in
the perception of
government, are concentrating upon its demise, and
especially if those
accused are of foreign ethnicity. Aided and abetted by
the state-controlled
media, government castigated any and all it could blame
for economic ills,
irrespective of whether or not it could do so with any
credibility. In doing
so, it created a racial divide, undermining the
reconciliation and unity all
had striven for after Independence.
It
created a divide between businesses and customers, and between employers
and
employees. In doing so, it caused still further economic collapses, for
its
actions created an environment that is not conducive to investment,
alienated
those in the international community who had long been willing to
assist
Zimbabwe, it propagated widespread demoralisation and loss of
confidence,
resulting in a massive brain drain which has left the economy
critically
short of many vital skills.
But as government has convinced itself that
it can do no wrong, and that it
and the economy are the victims of scurrilous
economic saboteurs, of those
motivated only by self-enrichment, and of
domestic and international
political opponents, it pursues the policies which
theoretically give it
absolute control of every facet of the economy,
ignoring that such controls
are only destroying the economy further. It
persists with price controls
which create shortages because manufacturers and
distributors cannot sell at
prices which only yield losses. The only ones to
benefit from price controls
are black marketeers.
For the rest of the
populace, price controls mean shortages, and for many
they trigger
unemployment. It enacts labour laws which can only result in
employers
holding back on employment creation. It prescribes monetary
policies which
exacerbate foreign currency shortages and, therefore, product
shortages. It
pays lip-service to containing corruption and generally allows
corruption to
flourish. It prepares annual budgets which should receive
international
awards for fiction, and spends with disregard for
non-availability of
resources, and thereby fuels even greater inflation.
All of these, and
other government impacts upon the economy, have reduced
most of the
population to lives in abject poverty, and those fortunate to be
amongst the
few not poverty-stricken, are also subjected to intense
discomforts. As a
result, most are convinced that the Zimbabwean economy has
passed the point
of no return, and that therefore things can only get worse.
Therefore,
they now value that which gives immediate (even if only
temporary) partial
relief. Zimbabweans' sense of values have radically
changed, and who can
justifiably criticise Zimbabweans for that change, when
witnessing the
distress, the discomforts, and the inconveniences and
hardships which have
become characteristics of daily life.
Zim Independent
Muckraker
The
importance of being earnest
JAMES Morris is evidently
nobody's fool. In President Mugabe's presence he
knows it is inadvisable to
smile. After all, the Herald's favourite caption
("Sharing a joke with Cde
Mugabe.") would hardly be appropriate when his
discussions with the president
focused on the threat of starvation to half
the country's
population.
So he remained dead pan in the Herald's front-page pic on
Saturday - as he
did in Rome last year taking the shine of the state media's
claims of a
triumphant presidential parade.
It was therefore unlikely
he would speak about "the irreversibility of land
reform". When the Herald
casually popped those words into his mouth last
Saturday he called the paper
a liar.
That sort of robust response from a UN official is all too rare.
Far too
often their remarks after meeting the president have been emollient
and
diplomatic. Morris knows the time for that has long since passed. Mugabe
is
directly responsible for the crisis we face.
And he is denying
others the means to solve it, blocking private-sector
participation and
refusing to license MDC imports. This was no time for
smiles.
Which
makes the grin on Stephen Lewis' face in the same pic on Saturday all
the
more difficult to understand. What is funny about the Aids pandemic?
What
does he find amusing in Mugabe's response to the crisis? He should take
a
leaf out of Morris' book: No hostages to fortune - or in this case,
a
government media desperate for a smile!
By far the most naïve gift
to the state media last week came from new
Japanese ambassador, Tsuneshige
Iiyama. Following a "courtesy call" on
Jonathan Moyo the ambassador was
quoted as saying he didn't agree with calls
from MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai
for Zimbabwe's isolation.
"We don't agree with that call," he helpfully
told the Herald. "No country
can exist in isolation and we don't think there
is any reason for the
international community
to focus its attention on
Zimbabwe."
He drew parallels with Japan which had suffered "negative
media propaganda"
in the area of trade.
How can he compare a country
which has suffered criticism in the US press
over trade-related issues with
one that is guilty of torturing its political
opponents and inducing mass
starvation? It is clear from his remarks that
Iiyama has been living on
another planet before he fetched up on our shores.
But the ambassador's
remarks raise another issue: Is it appropriate for an
envoy who has only been
off the boat five minutes to immerse himself in the
politics of his host
country by criticising the speech of an opposition
leader? This is the sort
of unprofessional thing we expect from the envoys
of Cuba, Namibia and
Nigeria. Not Japan. Even China is no longer quite as
clumsy as it used to be
in this area.
And what did Iiyama think he was doing paying a "courtesy
call" on a
minister who has no public mandate for his anti-media agenda and
then
swallowing that minister's self-serving remarks about land reform
being
completed?
Let's hope Iiyama adjusts quickly to the realities on
the ground in
Zimbabwe. He has not got off to a good start!
On
the subject of naivety, we had the BBC's Joe Winter, in a report
headed
"Harare safer than Cape Town", telling us that violent crime was "a
far
greater problem south of the Limpopo".
This was in reference to
the forthcoming cricket World Cup. We concede that
Winter's remarks may have
been distorted somewhat by the Herald which
claimed he had "admitted to the
reality that cricketers, fans and officials
will be safer in Harare and
Bulawayo than in Johannesburg or Cape Town".
But Winter's report missed
the point entirely. Violence in South Africa is
not an instrument of state
policy. It is not directed against the
opposition. It is not designed to
suppress civil liberties and uphold a
vicious tyranny. By visiting South
Africa the touring players will not be
used to promote the legitimacy of an
illegitimate regime.
We had the usually tenacious Robin White recently
giving Nathan Shamuyarira
one of the easiest rides he has ever had on radio.
Shamuyarira was able to
get away with the claim that there was no crisis in
Zimbabwe. White had no
facts and figures on food or fuel shortages to throw
at him. Shamuyarira
bulldozed his way through the interview largely
undisturbed.
Let's hope the BBC is not so anxious to get back into
Zimbabwe that it is
prepared to sacrifice its editorial cutting
edge!
Malcolm Speed was similarly happy to swallow the assurances he was
given by
Augustine Chihuri about security at World Cup matches. Some 430
policemen
will be deployed for this purpose, we were told.
Speed
should have been asked: Are these the same policemen who will crack
open the
heads of any demonstrators protesting against the team's presence
in
Harare?
Who would feel safe with assurances from Chihuri?
Ali
Bacher, that's who. When Speed was asked if the ICC would take
responsibility
for growing repression in Zimbabwe at the ICC press
conference at the airport
last week, Bacher intervened with a curt "Let me
answer that".
"We
have every confidence in the assurances we have received," he said,
laying
down what has become the ICC mantra.
Is this by the way the same Ali
Bacher who organised rebel tours of South
Africa in the 1980s? We hope
not.
Last week the Sunday Mail usefully provided a comprehensive
shopping list
of all the areas South Africa and Nigeria have been working on
the
government to improve. These include the legality of land reform, changes
to
Aippa, the Congo withdrawal, and citizenship. Patrick Chinamasa has
since
provided another clue as to where government is vulnerable to
neighbourly
criticism when, in announcing Justice George Smith's retirement,
he made the
improbable claim that there had been "no purging of white judges
as alleged
in some quarters".
This list will now be triumphantly
presented by Thabo Mbeki and Olusegun
Obasanjo in Pretoria at their troika
meeting with John Howard in March as
evidence of improved behaviour in
Harare.
But events are conspiring to deprive them of their set piece.
That includes
the now pervasive reports of torture by the police. Because the
South
Africans and Nigerians will find such reports difficult to shake off at
the
Pretoria meeting, we will continue to see statements of the sort
that
featured prominently on the front page of the Sunday Mail last weekend.
The
police will be setting up investigating teams left, right, and centre
to
give the appearance of actually doing something about it.
Then
along comes George Charamba to spoil things. Torture is not torture if
it
only happens occasionally, he inventively submits.
"Torture is only
torture when it is systematic and carried out
with impunity," he told the
Sunday Mail.
So what about the court-ordered investigation into the
abduction and torture
of Mark Chavunduka and Ray Choto? What has happened to
that inquiry George?
And all the "isolated" instances since, including the
accused in the Cain
Nkala case?
Where is Amani Trust and the Human
Rights NGO Forum when we need them? When
some fool of an official claims that
torture is isolated or victims are
"only playing to the gallery", we need a
prompt statement of exactly how
many torture claims have been investigated to
date and what the findings
were.
In the same way we need NGOs with
facts and figures to rebut ministers who
claim, as Paul Mangwana did last
Sunday, that depriving developing countries
of EU aid was a "victory" for
Zimbabwe. He said Zimbabwe was able to win the
hearts of ACP countries. But
he didn't explain his altercation with a
Botswana MP who has lodged a
complaint against him. Her heart was definitely
not won.
And why does
he think Cuba and Jamaica are Pacific countries? It would be
worth knowing
where countries are before seeking to convince them of
anything!
Mind
you, Mangwana could be the victim of rogue sub-editors. "Veteran"
journalist
Samu Zulu, whose undiluted admiration for President Mugabe has
been growing
by
leaps and bounds in recent
months, was allowed to describe the ZCTU as
an "acronym" last
weekend. He also characterised Tony Blair as President
Bush's "wagon tail" -
as distinct from his wagging tail.
Zulu didn't
say whose wagging tail he is, but it is more evident by
the
week!
Last week we commented on a scurrilous story written
by the seriously
deranged Ugandan fugitive David Nyekorach-Matsanga that was
carried in the
Herald two weeks ago and asked if this was a sign of things to
come under
the Mahoso media regime. Now we have the case of a story
ostensibly filed by
Reuters covering an Amnesty International report that
contained whole
paragraphs that were almost certainly not written by
Reuters.
The Amnesty report was based on research by Sharmala
Naidoo.
The story appearing in the Herald last Saturday included the
following: "A
police spokesman questioned why Naidoo conveniently ignored the
cold-blooded
murder of a Zanu PF supporter in a petrol bomb attack at the
party's offices
by suspected MDC youths.Amnesty International is either
practising double
standards or is suffering from selective amnesia and
Zimbabwe will continue
to be subjected to such hogwash by people with
sinister agendas, said the
spokesman."
We can understand why a police
"spokesman" should wish to hide under a cloak
of anonymity when making such
partisan and unprofessional - not to mention
downright stupid - remarks. But
citing Reuters as the source for the whole
story including the bits popped in
by somebody at the Herald is not exactly
the ethical standard Mahoso has been
lecturing us about, is it? Can we have
a comment please.
We were
pleased to hear Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma had a good time during her
visit to
Harare last week. She was taken to dinner at Amanzi by Stan
Mudenge, SK Moyo
and other Zimbabwean ministers including the shopaholic.
The party of
about 10 people would have got through at least $15 000 a head
during their
three-hour session. Not much if Dlamini-Zuma was paying. But a
lot if we
were!
Somebody who doesn't look short of a good meal is Mashonaland West
governor
Peter Chanetsa. According to a report in the Daily News this week he
was in
the middle of a dispute between businessman Chester Mhende, who
has
reportedly occupied two farms in Zvimba, and
the evicted farm owner,
Joe Whaley.
Whaley claims that Mhende is using his equipment, occupying
his farmhouse,
and harvesting his crops. Mhende, who is also in dispute with
war veterans,
claimed in a court affidavit he paid US$100 000 to Chanetsa in
the presence
of Whaley for the farm and equipment.
Mhende claims
Chanetsa was "the farmer's agent and the two have
a
relationship".
Contacted by the Daily News for comment Chanetsa
denied the claims.
Where did Mhende get that much foreign exchange when
there are serious
shortages, he wanted to know?
"Why is Mhende
involving me in such things, a person of my stature?"
He said
it!
Zim
Independent
Comment
Government shoots itself in the
foot
IT could not have been a more persuasive display of
Zimbabwe's unsuitability
as a venue for the cricket World Cup even if it had
been designed as such.
The sight of riot police tear-gassing and beating a
peaceful crowd that had
gathered to hear a report-back by the mayor of Harare
said it all. This is a
regime that rules by force, not popular
consensus.
The mayor of Harare was popularly elected. He has every
constitutional right
to hold a meeting of his followers whatever Posa might
say. In dispersing
that meeting the police were fulfilling a political agenda
that is bent on
the suppression of civil rights.
Officials of the
International Cricket Council have said how happy they are
to have assurances
from Commissioner Augustine Chihuri on the safety of
players and spectators
when the matches begin here on February 10. The force
that has been deployed
to safeguard those with an interest in cricket is the
same one that showed
the world what it can do outside Town House on
Wednesday.
With scenes
such as these beamed around the world it is little wonder that
the cricketers
themselves are beginning to have second thoughts about the
wisdom of coming
here. Even the ICC is talking now of dashing in and dashing
out before
anything untoward happens. The England and Wales Cricket Board's
Tim Lamb and
the ICC's Malcolm Speed - all battle-ready and bluster just a
few weeks ago -
are now adopting a less confident tone. Only the voluble Ali
Bacher continues
to insist there will be "no going back".
The ICC, to its lasting
disgrace, reached an accommodation with government
that sports writers would
be let into the country so long as they stuck to
cricket - as if cricket is
devoid of a social context. The arrest last
Friday of five Lutheran church
workers monitoring food distribution
illustrates the hazards faced by even
those confining themselves to their
brief. This government is so paranoid
that it will arrest anybody suspected
of reporting on things as they are.
After all, the evidence on the ground
speaks for itself whether it is
partisan aid distribution or a partisan
police force crushing a lawful
gathering.
Zanu PF simply cannot help itself. Its media started boasting
of how the
tour would endorse the official view that Zimbabwe was a normal
society
experiencing only marginal difficulties to do with drought long
before it
was wise to do so. Now a series of arbitrary arrests, reports of
torture,
and crude repression have convinced many who were at first sceptical
that
Zimbabwe is not a suitable venue for an international contest of
this
nature - nor indeed any other such gathering.
It is by the day
degenerating into a brutal dictatorship that even its
friends will have
difficulty selling when they roll out President Mugabe's
"reforms" in London
this weekend and in Pretoria in March.
Tony Blair, who was at first
prepared to contemplate an entente with France
over Mugabe's visit to Paris
next month, now seems to have been stirred into
opposition by the complaints
of Clare Short and Peter Hain, as well as
resistance from Labour backbenchers
and MEPs.
Diplomats suggest stories appearing in this paper and the
British media last
week scuttled the accord that would have seen Britain
agreeing to Mugabe's
visit to Paris in return for a renewal of
sanctions.
But the role of Greece and Portugal, who together with France
form an axis
of weasel, cannot be ignored in all this. As we report today the
Greek
embassy in Harare last week pulled out every stop to prevent EU
ambassadors
based here from submitting a report to Brussels on the
deteriorating
situation. As a result, ministers meeting in the Belgian
capital on Monday
were ill-equipped for a resolution on renewal.
We
can expect more of this moral cowardice as Commonwealth states decline
to
meet their responsibilities under the Millbrook accord in March. But at
the
same time we can rely upon the authorities in Harare to remain civil
society
's greatest ally in exposing the true nature of the regime.
As
the weasel states attempt to nibble away at sanctions or indeed
any
principled position, Zanu PF will persist in doing what it knows best.
The
events of Wednesday at Town House proved that. With a bit of
luck,
increasingly brutal repression will shame the proponents of
collaboration
just as it has shamed the cricketing authorities who with each
passing day
realise this is not the sort of country they can use to showcase
their
sport.
Zim
Independent
Letters
Paul Taylor's article on cricket
obscene
I HAVE been silent for many months but I have to comment
on an article which
appeared in the Zimbabwe Independent of January 13
headlined: "Obscene to
play cricket in House of Hunger" by freelance writer
Paul Taylor
What is obscene is Taylor's article. He has used emotive
language and
circumstances and told downright lies to stir up anti-cricket
feelings in
Harare and perhaps around the world. Let me repeat some of his
writing:
"But should the worst come to pass and these unlucky matches
go ahead, it
should be clear to you supposedly 'national' players that you
will be
representing your own interests, not your country. When you walk out
on to
the pitch, look into the stands. You will see spies, war veterans
and
murderers, new moguls who are growing fat on a dying economy the way
maggots
grow fat on septic wounds and ruthless politicians basking in the
pretence
that all is well in Zimbabwe. You will not see their
victims."
Mr Taylor, I suspect you do not live in Zimbabwe. Why is it
right for you to
earn money from doing what you do best and not right for a
Zimbabwe
cricketer to do the same?
And who, exactly, will be in
the stands if these matches go ahead? I will be
in the stands. My two sons
will be in the stands. My 70 something plus old
doctor will be in the stands.
All four of us make a living in Zimbabwe. We
do what we do best to put food
on the table for our families and to educate
our children.
And we
pay our taxes to the Zimbabwe government. My doctor continues to
practise his
profession partly because he has to and partly because he loves
what he does.
Because there is a grave shortage of doctors in Zimbabwe, his
patients,
mostly black, owe him much.
He has been looking forward to the World
Cup, not for days or weeks or
months, but for years. He can no longer afford
his DSTV licence fees and he
can only watch world class cricket when it is
played in Harare.
The other people in the stands will be much like
this foursome. Farmers (who
are still on the land) and grow flowers or
tobacco or whatever to put food
on the table and educate their
children.
Businessmen of all shades and kinds, bankers, lawyers,
draughtsmen,
accountants, book-keepers, administrators, managers, traders,
computer
programmers, students and many of the retired who have little money
and
little opportunity for escape from the petrol and other queues that are
a
feature of Zimbabwean life today.
I doubt there will be too many
politicians, but if they do come, they can
expect a cold
shoulder.
Would you describe my sons, my doctor and myself as "spies,
war veterans and
murderers, new moguls growing fat on a dying economy the way
maggots grow
fat on septic wounds?" Or would you describe us as ordinary
people trying to
make a living amid chaos and uncertainty? Should we stop
doing what we do so
that we can add ourselves and our children to the numbers
of starving people
in Zimbabwe? Or should we make sure that we don't end up
that way ourselves?
Should our cricket players and administrators stop doing
what they do so
that they can end up in a queue for handouts from
Oxfam?
I salute the Zimbabwe cricketers who have to face the kind of
misinformation
peddled by Taylor. They have every right to do what they do
best to put food
on the table for their families and to educate their
children.
It is not something they should be ashamed of. Taylor, and
those who send
anonymous, threatening letters to the English cricketers
threatening
violence if they come to Zimbabwe, are no better than the people
that you
and me despise.
David
Young,
Harare.
Zim
Independent
Letters
Let's organise streakers during
matches
I AM appealing to you to take forward an idea of mine
with whomsoever may be
able to bring it to fruition.
It concerns the
international cricket matches in Zimbabwe. While I
sympathise with these
English sportsmen but do not agree with their stance,
I am totally appalled
by the spineless response from the UK government which
must have been aware
of all the implications of playing in Zimbabwe for 12
months and more, and
now avoids the responsibility for a decision.
I believe my suggestion
will carry a message of ridicule to the British
government as well as being
hilarious.
My suggestion is quite simply that hundreds of streakers
should be organised
to perform during a match - and subsequent
matches.
I suggest that several should perform simultaneously, just as
the bowler is
about to deliver the first ball of his over, and repeat this
for as many
overs as possible, each time from different areas in the
grounds.
I suggest that if each performer were given a prize of 10kg
mealie-meal to
be collected "privately", it might ensure the continuance of
the fun and
encourage many contenders.
It is not at all unusual to
see the odd streaker, viz Wimbledon in 2002,
with the Duke and Duchess of
York in attendance. (Is it something peculiarly
British?) It would cause
tremendous hilarity (which we all need now).
Thousands will wish they
also had tickets to witness it. It would also be
tremendous advertising for
cricket. TV cameras will beam it all over the
world. It will be a topic of
conversation in the annals of cricket for years
to come. It would be a first
for Zimbabweans. In fact, it could be the joke
of the century and express our
ridicule for the event and most apposite in
the circumstances at this
time.
Government thugs will find it difficult to respond in their
usual manner
with the whole world watching them. (Should we open it to both
sexes? Would
they hold back from beating up women in public?) There is a
degree of safety
in numbers (for the streakers) and I think the public in
general would
shelter them in the crowd.
What a stunning day of
frolic and hilarity it could be - to be repeated?
mallard@mweb.co.zw
Zim
Independent
Letters
Mugabe's signature to Lancaster a
forgery?
THE continuous stream of desperate lies that flows from
the Zanu PF
hierarchy is more than nauseating.
One of their biggest
lies relates to their ceaseless claims that Britain has
reneged on the 1979
Lancaster House Agreement.
This 57-page document is freely-available
on the Internet,
(http://home.wanadoo.pl/rhodesia/lancl.html) and from other sources for
anyone wishing to read it in
detail.
On occasions, the Zanu PF stalwarts even suggest that there
was an
"unofficial agreement" on the land issue.
Both Lord
Carrington, the then Secretary of State for Foreign and
Commonwealth Affairs
and former US Assistant Secretary for African Affairs
Chester Crocker have
recently confirmed that no such "agreement" ever
existed.
The six
prime signatories to this agreement included President Robert Mugabe
and the
late Dr Joshua Nkomo.
An excerpt of what they signed
includes:
4. (e) to campaign peacefully and without
intimidation;
4. (f) to renounce the use of force for political
ends;
4. (g) to accept the outcome of the elections and instruct any
forces under
their authority to do the same.
That constitution versus
the mutilated and abused one that Zimbabwe lives
with today reflects the
extent to which Zanu PF has gone to deprive its
citizens of their
citizenship, property, fair judicial process and other
rights.
All
this Zanu PF has done to cling to power against the wishes of
the
people.
The relevant texts relating to the land matter in this
agreement are:
"18. V. Freedom from deprivation of property.
1.
Every person will be protectedfrom having his property
compulsorily-acquired
except when the acquisition is in the interests of
defence, public safety,
public order, public morality, public health, town
and country planning, the
development or utilisation of that or other
property in such a manner as to
promote the public benefit or, in the case
of under-utilised land, settlement
of land for agricultural purposes.
When property is wanted for one of
these purposes, its acquisition will be
lawful only on condition that the law
provides for the prompt payment of
adequate compensation and, where the
acquisition is contested, that a court
order is obtained. A person whose
property is so acquired will be guaranteed
the right of access to the High
Court to determine the amount of
compensation.
2Exception will be made
for the taking of possession of property during a
period of public
emergency.
3.Compensation paid in respect of loss of land to anyone who
is a citizen of
or ordinarily resident in Zimbabwe (or to a company the
majority of whose
shareholders are such persons) will, within a reasonable
time, be remittable
to any country outside Zimbabwe, free from any deduction,
tax or charge in
respect of its remission, but subject always
to:
(a).Its attachment by order of a court, in connection with
civil
proceedings; and
(b).Reasonable restrictions as to the manner in
which the payment is to be
remitted.
From the above, it is clear who
is, or is not telling the truth. It is a
tragedy for Zimbabwe that the likes
of the South African Minister of Foreign
Affairs, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma,
continues to enhance her image as one of
the more limited persons in
President Mbeki's cabinet.
This, she has done recently by lapping up and
believing the Zanu PF lies
that Britain has reneged on the Lancaster House
Agreement.
Her bizarre utterances on this matter clearly indicates that
both she and
her advisers have not done their homework or that they think
that the rest
of the world are ignorant fools.
Perhaps Jonathan Moyo
would like to publish their full version of "the real
facts" in the Herald -
otherwise known as the epicentre of all Zanu PF
truth.
Perhaps we will
also be told that RG Mugabe's signature on this document
was
forged.
Walter Hurley,
Pretoria.
SABC
Zimbabwe admits to 'admin errors' in land
reform
January 30, 2003,
21:15
The Zimbabwean government has admitted that some "administrative
errors" have
occurred during its land reform process, Thoko Didiza, the land
affairs
minister, reported
today.
Among these errors were that some commercial farmers whose land
was seized
for redistribution, were left without any land, despite the
government's
policy that they should be allowed to keep one farm, she
said.
"There are some instances where a person who had two farms was
left with none
at all," Didiza told reporters at the Johannesburg
International Airport
after a two-day visit from
Zimbabwe.
The minister took representatives of Agri SA and the National
African
Farmers' Union with her on her tour. The agricultural bodies will
stay in
Zimbabwe until Saturday for more visits of their own, she
said.
Didiza said other examples of administrative errors included
instances where
two prospective new land owners were allocated the same
farm, and where
applicants for land were allowed to settle on that land,
only to find out
later that the farm had been allocated to someone
else.
"The government and the commercial farmers have started
discussions to
correct the administrative irregularities," she said. They
would also discuss
how to deal with foreign farmers who had invested in
Zimbabwe, including some
from South
Africa.
Although the uptake of land among small-scale farmers was
between 80 and 90%,
that of commercial farmers was only about 30%, Didiza
said. "That indicates
to you that there are indeed challenges," she
said.
Land reform faces many
challenges
Among the factors that made the task of redistribution difficult
were the
high cost of seed, fertiliser and farming implements due to the
foreign
exchange rate. "Indications are that all is not hunky-dory. There
are
successes, but there are also challenges," she
said.
The Zimbabwean government estimated that the maize that had been
planted,
would yield a crop of 1,1-million tons, if the season went well,
the minister
said. "The challenges are there, but you are beginning to see
some process of
mitigation."
One of the problems farmers faced was the cost of labour. The
government had
set a minimum wage of ZD300 (R47) per month, but going
salaries ranged from
ZD600 (R95) to ZD800 (R127) to as high as ZD8000
(R1272). "If the farmer
can't pay enough, the workers move to another
farm."
Foot-and-mouth disease broke out in Zimbabwe two years ago and
has still not
been brought under control. Didiza said the South African
cabinet would
discuss the possibility of helping its neighbour with the
vaccine it needed
to fight the disease. - Sapa
BBC
Thursday, 30 January, 2003, 14:39
GMT
Zimbabwe migrants 'flood' neighbour
Crops have failed across
Zimbabwe
Botswana is unable to cope with the massive flow of illegal
immigrants from Zimbabwe, says the head of its immigration service.
Roy Sekgororwane told the French news agency, AFP, that Botswana was sending
back 1,600 people every month to Zimbabwe.
 We are now repatriating two truckloads of illegal immigrants
from Zimbabwe every day  Roy Sekgororwane, Botswana's chief immigration
officer
|
Its detention centres
are full to capacity but a large number of people are never caught, he said.
Botswana and South Africa are the richest countries in the region and both
are magnets for people fleeing the food shortages, political instability and
economic meltdown in Zimbabwe.
South Africa also regularly repatriates illegal immigrants to Zimbabwe.
In both countries, they seek work as domestic servants or farm labourers.
'Losing battle'
The region which borders Botswana, Matabeleland, is among the worst hit by
the food shortages faced by up to half of Zimbabwe's population, some seven
million people.
It is also a stronghold of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change and
people there say they are refused food aid from the government and are
persecuted for their ethnic group and political beliefs.
South Africa is also struggling to cope with Zimbabwean
emigrants |
"We are seriously losing our battle to deal with this problem. This is the
worst immigration problem we have ever seen in this country," Mr Sekgororwane
said.
Some 125,000 Zimbabweans legally enter Botswana every week, according to a
recent estimate but Mr Sekgororwane says many stay behind after their travel
permits expire.
"We are now repatriating two truckloads of illegal immigrants from Zimbabwe
every day, and this costs the government a lot of money," he said.
But the head of Botswana's immigration service admits that this is no
long-term solution.
"What has happened is that, to some of them (Zimbabweans), it is like a joke.
They just drop their things upon repatriation and come back," Mr Sekgororwane
said.
French Foreign Minstry
GAC /
Zimbabwe
Last update :
28/01/03
Statement by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Spokesperson
(excerpt)
(Paris, January 28,
2003)
Three questions relating to Zimbabwe were raised yesterday at
the General
Affairs Council: the renewal of sanctions, Mr. Mugabe's visit to
Paris for
the France-Africa Summit in February, and Zimbabwe's participation
in the
EU-Africa Summit in Lisbon slated for
April.
Let
me remind you that sanctions against Zimbabwe expire on
February 18. France
remains favorable to the renewal of sanctions provided
that they effectively
permit, per our common position of February 2002, to
conduct a political
dialogue likely to promote democracy, the rule of law
and human rights in
Zimbabwe. The common position must make it possible to
reach satisfactory
solutions both for the Africa-France Summit and the
EU-Africa
Summit.
We are actively continuing our discussions with our European
partners to
reach an
agreement.
I would like to avoid any misunderstanding. What is at stake
here is whether
the international community, whether nations can or cannot
make their views
known in Zimbabwe face to face, eye to eye. In all systems
of targeted
sanctions, from the most severe to the most flexible, exceptions
are allowed
for contacts enabling diplomats to express their views and their
arguments,
as the minister noted earlier.
Government wants new farmers in wage
talks
Financial Gazette (Harare)
January 30,
2003
Posted to the web January 30, 2003
Harare
THE agricultural
industry has resumed collective bargaining after the
government threw out a
wage agreement reached last year because farmers
resettled under the A2 phase
of its agrarian reforms were not involved in
initial discussions, it was
learnt this week.
Industry executives said negotiations had resumed
between the Agriculture
Labour Bureau (ALB), the General Plantation Workers'
Union of Zimbabwe
(GAPWUZ) and the government.
The ALB represents
mostly white commercial farmers while GAPWUZ looks after
the interests of
most of Zimbabwe's farm workers.
Industry officials involved in the wage
discussions, which resumed last
Thursday, said farmers resettled under the A2
or commercial farming phase of
the government's controversial land reform
programme were not involved in
last year's collective bargaining because they
did not have an employers'
organisation representing their
interests.
They said the government was therefore afraid that the A2
farmers would not
be able to pay the salaries agreed between the ALB and
GAPWUZ.
The officials however said it would be impossible to convince
GAPWUZ to now
accept lower salaries for farm workers.
Agriculture
industry executives said it might be necessary to introduce a
two-tier salary
system for the sector, under which newly resettled
commercial farmers could
pay less than their established counterparts.
"The government felt that
there had not been wide consultations during the
negotiations and by that
they meant the new farmers were not included and
this is true," an official
with ALB said. "But this was because they did not
have their own organisation
representing them in the negotiations.
"But what I see happening now is
that there will be a two-tier arrangement
where the new farmers will say,
because they are new, they would need more
time to be able to pay what we had
agreed with GAPWUZ."
But analysts said a two-tier system would not be in
the best interests of
workers employed by resettled commercial farmers, while
delays in
implementing a collective bargaining agreement would also prejudice
all
agricultural workers.
If the collective bargaining agreement
reached last September had been
sanctioned by the government, the minimum
wage in the agriculture sector
would have risen by more than 50
percent.
Wages for the lowest paid workers would have risen to $7 500 per
month from
$4 300.
The highest paid workers would earn $18 400, up
from $11 000.
Although the new wages would have improved the lot of most
farm workers,
they are still lagging far behind inflation, which surged to
198.9 percent
in the year to December.
Farm workers are among the
least paid employees in Zimbabwe, despite
previous government promises to
encourage farmers to revamp their salaries.
The difficulties faced by
farm workers have been compounded by the
government's agrarian reforms, which
have left most farm employees jobless
and homeless in the past two
years.
Water rationing slated for March
Augustine
Mukaro
WATER rationing for Harare and its dormitory towns of Chitungwiza,
Norton,
Ruwa and Epworth has been set for March because of serious
discrepancies
between the pumping capacity and consumption levels plus the
fast-dwindling
inflows of raw water in the catchment
areas.
Speaking at a consultative meeting that was forcibly
dispersed by the police
this week, Harare executive mayor Engineer Elias
Mudzuri said council would
be forced to ration water by the beginning of
March to enable it to survive
the current water problems.
Mudzuri
said the demand for clean water was now exceeding supply because of
the lack
of forward planning by past councils and the commission which ran
the affairs
of the city from 1999-2002.
"The water crisis is being exacerbated by
the inconsistent supply of foreign
currency for chemicals by the Reserve Bank
of Zimbabwe and government but
this could have been under control if the past
local authority leadership
had carried out the recommended projects," Mudzuri
said.
He said according to the 1997 plans, the construction of Kunzwi
Dam and
supply of water to the city would have been completed by
2002.
"Demand outstripped yield of the Manyame area as far back as
1998 and by
2001 demand even outstripped the Morton Jaffrey water treatment
plant design
capacity," he said.
Currently Harare has a
consumption level of 720 million litres a day while
its production capacity
stands at around 550 million litres. The situation
translates to a shortfall
of 170 million litres of water needed for daily
use in both domestic and
industrial work.
Mudzuri said water rationing has to be introduced to
prolong the current raw
water supplies in the dams. The quality of raw water
drastically
deteriorated due to the drought and massive pollution of water
sources.
"As we speak we have a 14-month supply of water left in the
sources and in
the face of a predicted drought, conservation measures have to
be put in
place to prolong the current water in the dams," he
said.
He said the water problems were not likely to end unless
government
immediately embarked on the Kunzwi Dam project.
"Even
if government embarks on the project right away, the water crisis will
haunt
us for the next four years before the project can be completed,"
he
said.
Harare has been hit by intermittent shortages of clean
water as chemicals
used in the treatment process are in short supply due to
the scarcity of
foreign currency in the
country.
Smells Like Disinformation
Psych OPs To Me
by NY Daily News •
Thursday January 30, 2003 at 06:11 PM
This article claims Iraqi spies and agents
infiltrated and started the anit-war movement here. They sure did a fantastic
job....even retired General Schwarzkopf was duped..he is against the invasion
without UN full support.
schwarzkopfuniformed.jpg, JPG image, 96x120
Report: Iraqi spies in U.S.
By JAMES GORDON MEEK
DAILY NEWS WASHINGTON BUREAU
WASHINGTON - Iraq sent spies from Canada to New York and Washington this
month to snoop and stir up anti-war demonstrations, according to a government
report obtained by the Daily News.
The classified document also reveals a plot by Al
Qaeda-linked militants in Zimbabwe to attack American targets in that country
and elsewhere if the U.S. declares war on Iraq.
It suggests the group, Tablik Ja'maat, could be a "conduit
for communication" between Osama Bin Laden's terror network and Iraqi leaders.
The threats, disclosed to U.S. spy agencies yesterday, are
detailed in a secret report prepared by an intelligence unit in the Homeland
Security Department.
It comes as the White House weighs the release of
classified information to prove Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein's links to Al
Qaeda and efforts to evade UN weapons inspectors.
A source identified as a member of the Iraqi opposition
told U.S. agents that Iraqis in Canada were ordered to recruit Arabs and other
foreigners for espionage missions in the U.S., the report said.
The Iraqi Embassy in Ottawa sent operatives to New York and
Washington with instructions to "intensify spying activities and to carry out
anti-U.S. demonstrations to stop a war against Iraq," the report said.
The report said the Iraqis were willing to spend "large
sums" to back the effort.
The report also describes a plot by Tablik Ja'maat to carry
out "coordinated attacks" against U.S targets in Zimbabwe if war is declared on
Iraq. Other attacks, revealed by the group's leader at a Jan. 18 meeting at a
mosque in Harare, would take place in Pakistan, Indonesia, Nigeria, Turkey,
South Africa and Israel, the report said.
An Associated Press report last week said that the FBI is
looking to question as many as 50,000 Iraqis living in the U.S. to root out
potential spies and terror cells.
newindpress
Officials, politicians not allowed on field
during World Cup
PTI
DURBAN: English cricketers' dilemma
about whether or not to shake hands with
president Robert Mugabe if they have
to play their World Cup match in
Zimbabwe has been put to rest by an ICC
decision which denies any official
role to politicians or administrators
during the mega event.
After the inaugural ceremony on February 8, not a
single administrator or
politician would be allowed to step on to the grounds
till the World Cup was
presented to the winning team by ICC President Malcolm
Gray, World Cup
organising committee chairman Ali Bacher said.
"This
was a policy decision taken jointly by the ICC and myself," Bacher was
quoted
by media reports as saying. "Once the tournament starts, it is the
cricketers
who must be on the front pages, not the administrators."
"Politicians may
be invited as VIP guests to the games but they will have no
official role to
play, apart from the opening ceremony, where president
Thabo Mbeki (of South
Africa) will officially open the eighth World Cup,"
Bacher said.
The
decision means that even if England have to travel to Zimbabwe to play
their
match against the hosts in Harare on February 13 they would be spared
of the
embarrassing possibility of having to shake hands with Mugabe.
Bacher
said whether Mugabe attended any of the six games to be played in
Zimbabwe
was an issue to be sorted out by the Zimbabwe Cricket Union (ZCU).
Mugabe is
also the patron of ZCU.
JAG COMMUNIQUE January 30,
2003
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Zimbabwe's
"Agrarian Revolution" is a Cancer
For once the effluvious mouthpiece of
Zanu(PF), the Herald, has actually
printed something that has a ring of truth
to it: "The land revolution
that was sparked in Zimbabwe is likely to eat
like cancer at most
governments in Africa and beyond if not addressed in
time". The chaotic
and nepotistic manner in which the "fast track" land
reform programme has
been executed has effectively killed the economy in
Zimbabwe, and like a
cancer, is in danger of metastasizing to neighbouring
regions of the
continent. From much of the commentary thrown Zimbabwe's way,
it seems
that South Africa and Namibia are viewing Zimbabwe with much
interest, to
see the long term results of this campaign. We must certainly
address this
potential hazard "in time", for there is a great danger for the
entire
region should it follow in Mugabe's devastating footsteps.
The
sympathy and approbation for the Zimbabwean land reform programme
expressed
by the South African Minister of Foreign Affairs, Nkhosana
Dhlamini-Zuma, and
by her Namibian counterpart, is worrying in the
extreme. The short term
effects of our "jambanja" exploits are undeniably
famine and anarchy,
compounded by an economic collapse second to none in
recent history. How then
can any sane politician view it as "a model that
can be the answer to other
African countries' problems", as the secretary
general of the Land Access
Movement of South Africa puts it. Obviously the
cancer is already
spreading..
And at first glance one might consider the recent Scottish
land reform
bill as symptomatic of a longer distance metastasis. However,
despite the
apparent similarities, there are a number of crucial differences
that make
this something else entirely. Certainly, nobody can question
the
importance of agrarian reform in a society where there is an inequality
of
land distribution. And this is more the case in Scotland than in
Zimbabwe
- some 50% of all rural land in Scotland is owned by just under 400
people
or bodies. This represents the highest level of private land ownership
in
the world, and none of it has changed hands within the last fifty
years.
In contrast, only 18.5% of the land area of Zimbabwe was
encompassed by
white commercial farmland in 2000. In 1980 this was pegged at
28.2%
represents a decrease of 10% over the course of twenty years.
Furthermore,
despite government's lamentation at the slow rate at which
the
"willing-seller, willing-buyer" policy was progressing, 82% of the land
in
Zimbabwe under commercial agriculture changed hands after 1980.
This
means, had the government not passed up the opportunity to buy
land
(considering they have the right of first refusal on all land offered
for
sale), white commercial land ownership might have been as low as
5%.
Furthermore, land is made fertile through years of careful maintenance
and
husbandry - there is no innately fertile soil in Zimbabwe, as we are
led
to believe. Had the government made available the facilities for
communal
farmers to undertake small-scale commercial or market gardens, (as
with
ARDA farms in "marginal" areas,) many more people would have access
to
fertile land.
In Scotland, the reform bill calls for those who are
currently working the
land at the behest of the owners to buy the land from
them, the argument
being that they are entitled to ownership of the land that
they have
worked for years. They are seen as holding a legitimate claim to
the land
by virtue of the fact that they have kept and maintained the land
for
generations. In Zimbabwe, this might be equated to farm
labourers
purchasing plots directly from the commercial farmers. It is not
uncommon
for farmers to grant plots of land to those farm labourers who
retire, and
that when the farms change hands, one of the conditions of sale
is that
they retain these plots. However, the current "fast track" land
reform
programme has not provided many ousted farmers with any compensation
for
the land that has been taken, and has furthermore evicted the majority
of
those people that actually worked the land in preference for
more
"politically acceptable" tenants. The only way that any
reasonable
comparison could be made with Scotland is if Blair were evicting
all
tenants from the farms and putting Tony's cronies in their
place.
It is hard under Zimbabwean law to subdivide plots - a fact that
is being
used to excuse the government's failure to facilitate the provision
of
title deeds for the new "owners". A more realistic reason for this
failure
is that title cannot be obtained without purchase - unless the land
is
paid for by the government, they will be unable to get the title. It
can
be argued that Zanu(PF) is happier with peasant farmers who retain
no
title for their land, since they cannot obtain loans and
economic
independence, but must rather rely on the government to provide
the
necessary inputs. This makes it easier to "keep them in line", to
make
them toe the party line. Under the Scottish system, the tenant
farmers
will obtain title for the land that they have been farming, and
will
compensate the current owners of the land. It is not a case of theft
as
has been seen in Zimbabwe, but rather a case of enforced
purchase.
Land reform is undeniably a sticky problem, and it is
guaranteed that
people will be unhappy with any solution that is settled on.
But at least
the Scottish land reform programme is somewhat equitable, in
that people
with a legitimate claim to the land are empowered to purchase it.
In
Zimbabwe, the chaotic process of "jambanja" has failed to empower
those
who have been allocated land, because they have no inputs, tillage,
or
facility to obtain these things for themselves. It is odious for any
group
to deal with a government that has so wantonly destroyed the
agriculture
of a country, especially in the midst of a drought cycle. And in
this
light, the recent meetings of the CFU with government ministries must
be
seen as a betrayal of faith of the highest order. The CFU can hardly
claim
to represent its 1200 members when it is pledging to assist the
government
in an agricultural recovery programme that excludes them
from
participation. Until a complete return to the rule of law is observed,
any
dealing with an illegitimate and corrupt government betrays a
dangerous
and wanton naïveté.
Where the Scottish programme might
progress at a more sedate pace, closer
to the willing-seller, willing-buyer
programme, it will at least avoid the
horrific destruction of agricultural
infrastructure, and the concomitant
breakdown of law and of the economy that
Zimbabwe has suffered. We can
only pray that the rest of the region will be
spared the cancer of
Zimbabwe's agrarian reform programme, because it will
result in more
deaths than could ever be justified. Like any cancer, we need
to treat it,
and
fast.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
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