Zim Standard
BY NDAMU
SANDU
THE Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) allowed the $200 000
bearer cheques
to remain in circulation after failing to print enough
replacement notes, an
investigation by The Standard has
established.
RBZ governor Gideon Gono said last month the $200 000
notes’ shelf
life would end on 31 December last year because unnamed cash
barons were
holding on to the money.
He announced new $250 000,
$500 000 and $750 000 bearer cheques, a
stop-gap measure to alleviate the
cash crisis.
But last Monday Gono was singing a different tune,
saying he had
extended the life of the bearer notes as some areas had become
impassable
because of floods and rugged terrain, which had hindered the
movement of the
swap teams.
An investigation by The Standard
last week revealed the bank’s swap
teams, sent out to various parts of the
country, spent most of their time
loitering at growth points or sleeping in
hotels as they quickly ran out of
new notes to swap with the old bearer
cheques.
The teams did not even show up in some areas, sending
panicky
villagers into shopping sprees to dispose of their hard-earned
cash.
In other areas the teams did not have enough cash to swap
with the
villagers’ bearer cheques. Similar reports were received from areas
such as
Chegutu, Zvimba and Chinhoyi.
Residents in Goromonzi
said the team was nowhere to be seen, despite
promises it would be stationed
at a police outpost.
They said they ended up using the bearer
cheques to buy goods, just to
beat the 31 December deadline.
"I
lost my savings as I ended up buying things I did not want for the
sake of
disposing of the money," said John Aphiri, who sells mushrooms at
the
shopping centre.
"Now I have to look for money to pay school fees
for my children as
schools are opening in two weeks’ time."
Another resident, calling himself just Clayton, said he incurred
unnecessary
expense travelling to Harare to beat the deadline.
At Gosha School
in the bustling KwaBhora growth point along the
Harare-Nyamapanda road the
RBZ team did not have enough of the new notes.
As a result,
villagers and general dealers said the team only swapped
notes for limited
amounts.
"The team would even give one as little as $10 million
when they
wanted to change as much as $50 million," said a trader at the
growth point.
Itai Lindiwe Marekera, who runs a food outlet, said
people failed to
use their money as most shops refused to accept the $200
000 notes in the
run-up to 31 December.
She said: "I accepted
the notes as my suppliers, Delta, were accepting
them."
In
Dema, shop owners recorded low business in the run-up to the
deadline.
Gono won the European Marketing Research Centre
Africa Award, for
instilling discipline in the country’s financial sector
and also in
recognition of his efforts in turning around Zimbabwe’s troubled
economy.
But observers say he failed to resolve the cash crunch
which continued
into the New Year.
Observers said Gono must
name the so-called cash barons he accused of
starving the nation of cash,
unless his comments were aimed at "some
imaginary culprits".
Analysts say the cash crisis exposed the shortcomings of Gono’s
administration and the bells could be tolling for him, as his first term in
office expires at the end of this year.
Economists and trade
unionists have called for his resignation.
Gono was appointed to
the job in 2003, as a turnaround specialist,
having transformed the then
Bank of Credit and Commerce International into
the jewel that became the
CBZ.
But his magic wand has become rusty, or, much more likely, his
luck
has run out, just as he was beginning to plan a political career,
according
to his critics.
Zim Standard
BY WALTER
MARWIZI
FOUR Bills fast-tracked through Parliament before the
Christmas
holidays were hailed by their sponsors — both Zanu PF and MDC — as
heralding
a new era in Zimbabwe’s politics before the country prepares for
the March
harmonised elections.
The Electoral Laws Amendment
Bill, the Public Order and Security Act
Amendment Bill, the Access to
Information and Protection of Privacy Act
Amendment Bill and the
Broadcasting Services Act Amendment Bill were rushed
through Parliament
before the House adjourned for the holidays.
The amendments were
agreed during the SADC-initiated dialogue meant to
resolve Zimbabwe’s
political and economic crisis.
Justice, Legal and Parliamentary
Affairs Minister Patrick Chinamasa
who represented Zanu PF in the
negotiations was upbeat when he moved a set
of motions relating to four
Bills in Parliament on 18 December last year.
Two other negotiators
from the MDC formations, Tendai Biti and
Professor Welshman Ncube, noted the
Bills represented measures they had all
along campaigned for. They needed to
be supported by the MPs, they told
fellow legislators.
Information gleaned from Parliament probably explains why these
politicians,
who have met 63 times on their own and another 17 times with SA
facilitators
are optimistic that the amendments could level the political
playing field,
ahead of the harmonised elections.
POSA has been cited by
opposition parties and civic society activists
as the major impediment to
their efforts to open up the democratic space in
Zimbabwe.
Police have routinely used POSA to ban or disrupt political gatherings
and
to bludgeon defenceless demonstrators in broad daylight.
Under the
amended POSA, political parties will no longer have to worry
about police
clearance when they hold meetings.
The whole meaning of a public
meeting or public gathering consisting
of six or more persons will also
change.
Any meeting or gathering would now constitute 15 or more
people before
organisers have to worry about POSA. Organisers are required
to give written
five days’ notice (or three days during the election period)
at the nearest
station.
The gathering or meeting would proceed
unless someone, under oath,
informs the regulating authority that there will
be violence.
In that scenario, the regulating authority is supposed
to enter into
dialogue with the convener of the gathering before issuing any
prohibition
order. In the present case, he or she can do so if they believe
there will
be violence.
Appeals against the prohibition orders
will be directed to magistrates’
courts, instead of the Minister as is the
case now.
Amendments to the Electoral Laws Act will see the
Zimbabwe Electoral
Commission keeping the voters’ roll open at all times for
voters to inspect.
Important to note is that the Bill outlaws
"electoral intimidation"
and clearly defines it as "attempts to compel a
person to vote for a
political party or candidate, to attend a political
meeting or march as well
as attempts to compel a person to refrain from
signing a nomination paper or
lodging a nomination paper with a constituency
officer.
Election petitions would be lodged within 14 days to the
Electoral
Court whose judges are appointed by the Chief Justice in
consultation with
the Judicial Service Commission.
Amendments
to the Broadcasting Services Act Amendment Bill seek to
stop the Minister of
Information and Publicity from running affairs that
should be administered
by the Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe.
Under the new
arrangement, BAZ would now invite applications for
broadcasting licences
"subject only to the availability of band spectrum and
the observance of
certain formalities".
Currently it does so "if it determines that
there is a need for the
provision of additional broadcasting services" other
than free to air
broadcasting services. This scenario has allowed the
government to get away
with failure to license private players.
In the case of AIPPA, amendments will result in the establishment of a
statutory Zimbabwe Media Council which will replace the discredited Media
and Information Commission (MIC).
But it will basically perform
the same functions as the MIC, such as
licensing journalists and media
organisations and provides little cause for
journalists to
celebrate.
To the negotiators who met SA President Thabo Mbeki
three times last
year, these amendments are "what is needed" to pave the way
for the holding
of the harmonised elections.
But the question
uppermost in critics’ minds is this: can they
guarantee a free and fair
election and is there time for these changes to be
effected and be effective
in time for the elections?
Critics question whether the government,
notorious for disregarding
its own laws, will be bound by the amendments
during election time.
In the House of Assembly, the only MP who had
the courage to condemn
the amendments was St Mary’s Job Sikhala who said the
opposition was being
fooled by Mugabe and Zanu PF in the talks.
Sikhala who has borne the brunt of POSA for countless times, said the
opposition had been abused and taken for a ride by the government, keen on
maintaining "Machiavellian legislation".
Outside Parliament,
MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai echoed the same
sentiments, saying only a new
constitution could guarantee a poll acceptable
to all the
parties.
He said Mugabe was "selectively picking up points of
agreement and
shoving them onto Zimbabwe in a piece-meal manner to present a
picture of
reform, at home and in SADC".
The intention was to
mislead SADC into believing that a lasting
political solution was on the
cards, he said.
Constitutional law expert Lovemore Madhuku, the
chairperson of the
National Constitutional Assembly (NCA) said any
politician who thought the
amendments could clear the way for an even
contest was fooling himself.
"That person should not be in
opposition politics," said Madhuku,
saying the amendments would not change
anything but make things worse.
Madhuku said the amendments did not
remove the major pillars of POSA.
"Anyone who wants to hold a
meeting or demonstration has to inform the
police, who have powers to stop
the meeting from going ahead."
He said under the amended POSA it
became easier for police and
security agents to identify and deal with
whoever was organising a public
meeting, gathering or
demonstration.
"POSA will require that the convener of the
gathering not just
identify himself or herself but release his or her
address when giving
notice. Why do they need those details, one may ask? For
intelligence
gathering, simple," said Madhuku who has been beaten up several
times for
organising demonstrations for a new constitution.
Zim Standard
By Kholwani
Nyathi
BULAWAYO — Isaac Nyathi, the former senior PF Zapu
leader who died on
28 December was granted hero status minutes before his
burial yesterday,
sparking anger among his colleagues in the Zimbabwe
People’s Liberation Army
(Zipra).
The message of his national
hero status was delivered when mourners
had already gathered for the church
service at Stanley Square in Makokoba.
As a result of that
last-minute decision by the Zanu PF politburo,
Nyathi was buried at Lady
Stanley Cemetery, instead of the Heroes’ Acre in
Harare.
Nyathi
joined the late Zipra commander, Lookout Masuku, granted hero
status only
after his burial, and Masala Sibanda, whose burial at the same
cemetery in
November last year riled many politicians in Matabeleland.
He was
declared a national hero long after his burial, in Bulawayo.
The
three were among senior PF Zapu politicians arrested, together
with former
Home Affairs minister, Dumiso Dabengwa after the alleged
discovery of arms
caches on properties owned by ex-Zipra combatants soon
after
independence.
In dramatic scenes, mourners sang songs denouncing
President Robert
Mugabe and other senior Zanu PF leaders for allegedly
sidelining former PF
Zapu officials.
The display came at a time
when there are strong calls from senior PF
Zapu officials to pull out of the
1987 Unity Accord with Zanu PF because of
alleged inequalities.
They sang: "Mugabe senzeni na saze saphelela ko Greyspan (Lady
Stanley)
abanye besiya e Heroes’ Acre. (Mugabe, what have we done that we
are all
going to be buried at Greyspan when others are going to the Heroes’
Acre?)."
Speaking on behalf of Zipra war veterans and Nyathi’s
friends,
Zimbabwe Defence Industries boss Tshinga Dube said the criteria of
selecting
national heroes needed to be revisited.
"We copied
this idea (of national heroes) from the socialist countries
and it now
appears somehow we did not copy it properly," said Dube. "Perhaps
there is
need for people to be declared heroes when they are still alive.
"As Nyathi’s friends we strongly feel that this issue must be
revisited
because debating someone’s life when he is dead is not proper.
"We
now have a situation where we have the highest number of heroes in
the
world. I am not sure whether most of them deserve to be heroes."
Dube said the criteria should recognise that most heroes of the
liberation
struggle died in action and were not "just mere political
activists".
Zanu PF chairman, John Nkomo blamed the late
decision on Nyathi’s hero
status on the holidays, saying most politburo
members were now "farmers",
which made communication difficult.
But his explanation was ridiculed by mourners who wondered why the
delays
only affected former Zipra combatants.
Last year, Zanu PF secretary
for administration, Didymus Mutasa
claimed the politburo delayed its
decision to confer national hero status on
Sibanda because of telephone
network problems.
"The message came when we were already here at
Stanley Square," Nkomo
said. "There are a number of reasons why Nyathi
cannot be taken to Harare,
one of them being that the burial can only be
done on Monday, but the body
has been at the mortuary for too
long."
The Zanu PF Bulawayo province had by Monday last week
informed the
politburo of its request that Nyathi be declared a national
hero. But
throughout the week, Mutasa said they were waiting for Acting
President
Joseph Msika’s directions on the issue.
Msika is
acting while Mugabe is on his annual leave in Asia. Msika was
for a long
time deputy to the late Joshua Nkomo, who led the party until his
death in
1999.
Nyathi was involved in the famed Hwange and Sipolilo battles
of 1967
and 1968 respectively. After independence he became the country’s
ambassador
to Nigeria and Kuwait. He represented Lobengula-Magwegwe
constituency in
Parliament between 1995 and 2000.
Zim Standard
BY CAIPHAS
CHIMHETE
DAVID Butau, the Zanu PF MP for Guruve who fled to the
United Kingdom
a week ago, yesterday challenged Reserve Bank Governor Gideon
Gono to
explain what he called "shady deals" in which he alleged the central
bank
was involved.
Butau fled after the police announced they
wanted to question him on
allegations of foreign currency exchange
violations.
Speaking in a telephone yesterday, Butau alleged Gono
knew of several
RBZ "shady deals" which the Parliamentary Portfolio
Committee on Budget and
Finance, of which he is chairman, was keen to
investigate.
Gono yesterday refused to comment, saying in a subdued
voice: "I am
not taking any calls. He (Butau) can put all the allegations he
wants but I
am not commenting on those matters."
Butau said
Gono had frustrated their investigation by refusing to
appear before the
committee for a long time, saying he was busy.
Yesterday, Butau
said he was personally tasked by "senior Zanu PF
members" to investigate
Gono amid suspicion he was "killing and milking" the
country while they
watched.
Butau said when he was about to make a breakthrough, the
governor
challenged his committee to call him so he could name the alleged
cash
barons.
Butau is a director in Dande Holdings (Pvt)
Limited, a company linked
to Vice-President Joice Mujuru.
Yesterday, he would not name the senior party officials but was
prepared to
disclose some of the findings of his investigations.
He challenged
Gono to explain how a shelf company, Flatwater
Investments, accessed $7
trillion from the central bank when there was a
cash crisis in the
country.
He alleged that Gono instructed the banks not to question
the huge
amounts Flatwater was depositing into its accounts.
Butau said Gono should explain his relationship with Michigan Tractors
in
South Africa and how he failed to use local companies to import the
tractors.
"Gono should publish all the payments he made to
Flatwater, to
Michigan as well as declare how he bought shares in Doves,"
Butau said.
The MP said he feared the "evidence against Gono might
be destroyed to
cover up the offence".
"Let’s hope they have
not tampered with the files at my office. If
they have, we will have to make
do with bits and pieces," Butau said.
He alleged Gono was
"manipulating" his close relationship with
President Robert
Mugabe.
Last week, a Harare prosecutor, Tawanda Zvakare, said he
too saw
conspiracy in the way RBZ released money to Flatwater.
"I find it incredulous that the central bank of a country would
release
trillions (of dollars) to a company on the strength of a mere
letter, which
was not verified. This smacks of a conspiracy between the
central bank and
the company to steal all this money," Zvakare said.
He was leading
the State’s case in the trial of Joseph Manjoro, of
Harare, who was raising
foreign currency for Flatwater to buy tractors from
Michigan.
Manjoro has pleaded guilty to dealing in foreign currency.
The RBZ
was criticised in court two weeks when Dorothy Mutekede, an
illegal foreign
currency dealer was fined $147 million for dealing in
foreign
currency.
Zim Standard
By Kholwani
Nyathi
BULAWAYO — The bodies of three prisoners’ were exhumed
last Friday
almost a fortnight after their pauper’s burial because the
prison
authorities were accused of trying to conceal the cause of
death.
The prisoners from Khami maximum prison were buried in a
single grave
at Luveve cemetery on 21 December.
Prison sources
said the controversial episode could lift the lid on an
alleged cover-up of
prisoners being buried without the proper procedures
being
completed.
The sources said there was suspicion that such burials
were designed
to camouflage the cause of death of inmates who are said to
have died of
unnatural causes.
There has recently been a flood
of reports of alarming deaths in
overcrowded jails due to hunger-related
ailments, among them pellagra, a
vitamin deficiency disease caused by a lack
of vitamin B3 and protein in the
diet.
Other deaths being
targeted for camouflage occur due to HIV and Aids
complications, reportedly
rampant in the prisons.
The relatives of Sibusiso Mkhwananzi (63),
raised alarm after Zimbabwe
Prison Service officials informed them of his
death only after they had
buried him.
They demanded the
exhumation of the body.
Mkhwananzi was serving an 18-year sentence
for rape. He was reportedly
buried within 12 hours of his death, together
with two prisoners from
Masvingo, whose relatives, it was claimed, could not
be located.
Mkhwananzi’s relatives witnessed the exhumation and
said they were
shocked at his treatment while in detention and suspected
foul play in his
death.
"We have arranged for a private doctor
to carry out a post-mortem
examination before we can rebury him," said
Samson Mkhwananzi, a family
spokesperson.
"Ever since they
informed us of my brother’s death they have been
trying to avoid the
exhumation and we have now seen what they have been
hiding.
"The bodies were just thrown one on top of the other, as if they were
not
human beings. Why were they rushing to bury him without following proper
procedures?"
Mkhwananzi’s body was on top of the pile and was
barely 60 centimeters
under a heap of soil. The other two bodies were
reburied in the same grave.
A prison official, who refused to be
identified by name, claimed there
had been a mix-up of bodies at a funeral
parlour, leading to Mkhwananzi’s
body being taken straight from the prison
mortuary to the cemetery.
"We have an arrangement with the funeral
parlour that when we bring
bodies we should remove a certain number that has
been there for a long
time," he said.
"The people who were
removing the bodies could have left Mkhwananzi’s
body in the car while
removing others and ended up mixing it up with those
that were due for
burial."
The ZPS officer commanding Matabeleland, Rhodes Moyo,
blamed the
incident on a mix-up of bodies and pledged the government would
meet the
costs of the re-burial.
During the past two years,
Parliament’s portfolio committee on
Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs
has produced a string of reports
painting a gloomy state of affairs in the
country’s 43 prisons.
The reports say prisoners go for days without
food, toiletries and
essential medical supplies.
Zim Standard
BY JENNIFER
DUBE
POLICE are investigating reports of officers demanding
bribes from
motorists every day on a number of commuter bus routes into
Harare, police
spokesperson assistant commissioner Wayne Bvudzijena said
last week.
His comments follow reports of a proliferation of groups
of officers
setting up permanent fund-raising spots on a number of
routes.
"The (police) organisation is determined to weed out such
bad apples,"
said Bvudzijena, "and we therefore urge the public to report to
us all such
officers involved in corrupt activities of any
nature.
"We also warn the public against participating in such
activities
because once caught, the organisation will also deal with them .
. . they
should keep their vehicles in good order and desist from paying
bribes."
There were recent press reports that in Bulawayo, traffic
police beat
to death a commuter omnibus driver who refused to give them a
bribe.
In Harare, such areas as Dzivarasekwa and Westgate are abuzz
with talk
of a group of four officers, nicknamed The Four Brothers after the
band of
the same name, led by the late drummer/singer, Marshall
Munhumumwe.
In Dzivarasekwa, the group is called The Four Brothers
and a Sister
when accompanied by a female officer who occasionally joins
them on their
now popular spot.
Reports say their modus
operandi is to flag down private cars,
commuter omnibuses, buses and
tractors, creating the facade of traffic
officers doing a thorough job in
their mission to save lives on the road.
Commuters are sometimes
delayed by as long as 20 minutes as bus
conductors negotiate within earshot
of the passengers.
Usually, the driver and the conductor are heard
discussing possible
reasons for negotiating for a lower bribe as they
approach the spot near the
Harare Drive turn-off.
"They do not
do anything, those ones . . . all they do is fund-raise
on this road," said
one driver. "Have you ever seen them checking any
vehicles? All they are
interested in is the conductor who handles our
takings . . . . In the past,
police officers would talk to the driver,
asking for the driver’s licence
and vehicle papers but the conductor is
these guys’ main man."
Several crews interviewed by The Standard said they were forced to
bribe
their way onto the road every day.
They said the police officers,
normally at their base as early as 7AM,
usually "bother" them on their first
encounter of the day.
"They just stop you for the money and we now
have a familiar fee
structure of $2.5m for buses, $2m for kombis and $1.5m
for private cars,"
said another driver.
On payment of the fee —
called the admission of guilt fine — they are
given a receipt which reflects
the altered figure of $40 000.
"On the first encounter, they never
fail to find you with an offence.
Either you admit you have extra
passengers, even if you don’t or you choose
another offence to get the
yellow paper (receipt) which buys your freedom
for the rest of the day,"
said yet another driver. "But when the day is not
very good for them, they
can stop you again and ask you to buy them a drink
or lunch."
In one incident, witnessed by this reporter, a commuter omnibus driver
begged the officers for a single-day exemption.
"Every day,
honestly?" he pleaded. "Kindly forgive me for today only."
He was
allowed to pass without a fine or...a bribe.
The average monthly
salary of a police officer is less than $20
million.
Zim Standard
By Kholwani
Nyathi
BULAWAYO – Villagers in most parts of Matabeleland are
selling their
livestock in South African Rand, citing the volatility of the
Zimbabwean
dollar whose value continues to tumble against major
currencies.
The government already levies "luxury imports" in
foreign currency but
has rejected suggestions to adopt the more stable Rand
to shore up the
economy, in free-fall for the past 10 years.
Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) governor, Gideon Gono, has warned
against the
widespread use of scarce foreign currency in the trade of local
goods and
services, which he says is illegal.
But villagers complain their
savings are quickly eroded by rampaging
inflation, now estimated at over 15
000%.
Their fears have been compounded by the month-long cash
crisis during
which the RBZ banned the use of $200 000 bearer cheques, which
it said were
being kept out of the system by so-called cash
barons.
The ban was later reversed after the shortages worsened.
Cattle for
slaughter fetch anything above R3 000 or $600 million on the
black market
while goats were selling for R500 or $100 million during the
festive season.
"People are no longer accepting Zimdollars, even
for lobola (bride
price)," said Mnindwa Tshabangu of Guyu, Gwanda
South.
"Besides they spend most of their time working outside the
country and
they want an assurance that their savings will not be eroded by
inflation."
The practice is said to be widespread in villages
bordering South
Africa and Botswana, to which most Zimbabweans have trekked
in search of
greener pastures.
Zim Standard
By Bertha
Shoko
ZIMBABWEANS face yet another bleak health year, having
barely survived
the problems that made 2007 a miserable year.
Health experts predicted last week as long as the economic and
political
problems continued, it was unlikely there would be any changes in
the health
sector.
Chairman of the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Health
and Child
Welfare Blessing Chebundo said the health sector enters 2008 with
"arrears"
from previous years.
He said these were the exodus of
professionals, poor working
conditions and the pathetic state of life-saving
machines.
He said there was a serious lack of government commitment
to address
the problems.
"For 2008, I know that ordinary, poor
working people who depend on the
public health system will be bitterly
disappointed again," he said.
"Nurses and doctors are constantly on
strike and the government has
not been able to repair essential medical
equipment."
Parirenyatwa hospital had one dialysis machine out of
the 18
functional. Patients requiring dialysis treatment were receiving
three
sessions, instead of the recommended 20 a week, he said.
Shortage of drugs and other medicines at hospitals continued because
of the
"poor foreign currency allocations" by the Reserve Bank of
Zimbabwe.
The president of the Zimbabwe Medical Association, Dr
Paul Chimedza,
said the health sector required "serious commitment" from the
government,
the corporate world and individuals.
Chimedza and a
group of local business people and those in the
Diaspora formed the Zimbabwe
Health Access Trust to fund-raise for the
health sector.
The
president of the Zimabwe Association of Doctors for Human Rights
(ZADHR), Dr
Douglas Gwatidzo said the government lacked the political will
to solve the
health sector crisis.
Gwatidzo said: "In 2006 just before Christmas
we had a strike by
medical professionals and we entered 2007 with this issue
unresolved. This
year, we entered 2008 again with a strike.
"Since 1997 we have trained 100 doctors a year. By 2007 we should have
at
least 1 000 doctors. But we only have about 120."
For HIV and Aids
activist Zhuwao Zangarati and other HIV positive
persons, disappointment
relates to the government’s failure to scale up
Antiretroviral Therapy
(ART).
Zangarati says he is pessimistic of any changes in
2008.
There are 90 000 people on ART compared with the 600 000-plus
in
urgent need of it.
Zangarati said: "I have watched many of
my friends and relatives die
this year because they cannot afford ARVs. All
we did was to watch
helplessly."
Meanwhile, health
professionals who have been striking for the past
two weeks are said to be
"slowly returning to work, with low morale".
Hospital Doctors’
Association spokesperson, Amon Sivereki said they
had not called off the
strike but confirmed some professionals were
"trickling" back to
work.
"We are still waiting to hear from the Health Services Board
because
they assured us they were looking into our issue," he
said.
The Minister of Health and Child Welfare, David Parirenyatwa,
could
not be reached for comment by the time of going to press.
Zim Standard
By Nqobani
Ndlovu
BULAWAYO — Zapu-Federal Party, which last year
spearheaded the
formation of a Matabeleland-based coalition to contest the
forthcoming
harmonised elections, is now embroiled in a leadership
wrangle.
The party had hoped to join the Movement for Democratic
Change before
the elections in March.
Last week, The Standard
was told that a number of senior Zapu-FP
leaders had ousted their leader,
Paul Siwela, after he allegedly agreed to
form the Federal Democratic Union
(FDU), which would fight the poll
alongside Morgan Tsvangirai’s
MDC.
The leaders claimed Siwela had no mandate to negotiate such a
coalition.
Siwela has been at the helm of Zapu-FP for the past
seven years but
during the 2002 presidential election he stood as an
independent after
disagreeing with other leaders over
participation.
He entered the race against President Robert Mugabe
who won in
controversial circumstances, narrowly beating his main rival, the
then
united MDC’s Tsvangirai.
Zapu-FP negotiated with political
parties in Matabeleland, including
the Patriotic Union of Matabeleland
(PUMA), with which it shares an
ideology, and a number of civic groups, to
form an alliance seeking a
coalition with the MDC.
But PUMA
later pulled out, saying the process was against its
principles and
policies.
Zapu-FP secretary-general, Sikhumbuzo Dube, claimed
Siwela had been
forced to relinquish the presidency by members who opposed
the setting up of
the FDU.
"Siwela is no longer the president
of Zapu-FP," Dube said in an
interview. "He has a right to say he is
president of FDU, not Zapu-FP.
"If he says he is still a party
member, then he is just a general
card-carrying member. We are managing the
situation and I am currently the
acting president until we hold our congress
next month."
Siwela, in an interview, dismissed the reports of his
ouster, saying:
"This is an agenda against me ahead of the elections. I am
still the
president of Zapu-FP. We indeed entered into negotiations with
other parties
as Zapu-FP and formed FDU."
There have been calls
for opposition groups to unite for a meaningful
challenge to Zanu PF in the
presidential, parliamentary, Senate and local
government
elections.
The two formations of the MDC have publicly pledged
their desire to
re-unite but there are reports of differences over the
nature of the
reunification.
Siwela has been president of
Zapu-FP since April 2000 and contested
and lost a parliamentary seat in
Mpopoma during the same year.
Zapu-FP is campaigning for a federal
system in which the provinces
would be governed autonomously. The party
claims Matabeleland lags behind in
development because of the unitary
system.
The party claims this set up has tended to centralise power
in one
region.
Zim Standard
BY
CAIPHAS CHIMHETE
ZANU PF has tightened the screws on the
operations of non-governmental
organisations (NGOs) perceived to be against
the ruling party, The Standard
has learnt.
Representatives of
NGOs last week said intimidation and harassment of
NGO workers by Zanu PF
youth militia and traditional leaders in rural areas
was increasing as the
2008 elections draw nearer.
The NGOs said political harassment was
most pronounced in rural areas
countrywide where Zanu PF commands most of
its support and is determined to
maintain its stranglehold.
The
party has on several occasions accused NGOs of working with the
opposition
and the West in order to effect "regime change".
National
Association for Non-Governmental Organisations (Nango)
expressed concern at
the harassment of its affiliates.
"We are worried by the increasing
cases where workers of NGOs are seen
as enemies of the State," said Fambayi
Ngirande, Nango’s advocacy and
communications manager. "The NGO Human Rights
Forum has documented several
such cases."
He lamented the lack
of a democratic structure to facilitate the full
participation of civic
society in development activities in the country.
Another
organisation, the Zimbabwe Peace Project (ZPP) said it has
recorded
increased cases of people being intimidated for their involvement
in civic
society activities in November.
ZPP said among the organisations
targeted are the Civic Education
Network Trust (Civnet), Zimbabwe Election
Support Network (Zesn), Women of
Zimbabwe Arise (Woza) and the National
Constitutional Assembly (NCA).
It cited an example in Shamva where
Zanu PF operatives recently
accused a local woman of holding MDC campaign
meetings under the camouflage
of a Zesn workshop.
The woman was
threatened with eviction from her plot if she continued
to work for
Zesn.
The woman, who could not be named for fear of further
reprisal from
Zanu PF, was publicly forced to renounce any future
participation in civic
organisations for her to secure her
plot.
"The woman is now living in perpetual fear of eviction and
she has
since withdrawn her participation in civic organisations," said ZPP
in its
latest monthly bulletin. "NGOs continue to be subjected to different
forms
of violations during the course of their work."
Zesn last
week confirmed receiving such a report from Shamva but said
the issue had
been "amicably" resolved.
In some rural areas, people seen reading
newspapers other than the
official State newspapers are being threatened or
being beaten up, in scenes
reminiscent of previous violent elections when
people were assaulted for
carrying The Daily News.
Just before
the 2000 elections, people caught reading or carrying
newspapers critical of
the government such as The Daily News, The Standard
or the Zimbabwe
Independent, were assaulted. Some were forced to "eat" the
newspapers.
The ZPP said in Mashonaland Central Province people
were recently
harassed for listening to the Voice of America-based Studio 7,
reading the
Zimbabwe Independent and The Zimbabwean newspapers, viewed as
opposition
tools for regime change.
"The ruling party, Zanu PF,
continues to stifle people’s access to
alternative information from the only
state-owned broadcasting stations and
few local newspapers," said
ZPP
Ngirande said Nango would continue to lobby government to
consider
NGOs as partners in development, especially in the present
political and
economic crisis, which has rendered 80% of the population
poor.
Zim Standard
BY OUR
STAFF
BULAWAYO — A Zanu PF councillor has been charged with
diverting to the
black market 165 bags of maize meant for starving villagers
in his area.
Reuben Dube, the councillor for Malungu ward in
Lupane, Matabeleland
North, was arrested on Thursday last week.
He was arrested under the on-going police Operation Grain Bora
launched two
weeks ago in the southern region.
The operation was launched amid
allegations of corruption in the
distribution of maize in a province
hard-hit by food shortages.
Deputy Officer Commanding Police in
Matabeleland North responsible for
operations, Assistant Commissioner
Christopher Gora said more than 100
people had been arrested since the
operation began.
Among these was Dube, arrested for channelling
maize to the black
market. He appeared briefly at the Lupane Magistrates’
Court on Wednesday
before Magistrate, Edwin Marecha.
The 165
bags of maize were sourced from the Grain Marketing Board
(GMB) Lupane
depot. Maize is given to councillors in Lupane to distribute to
villagers in
their wards.
Charges against the councillor are that he converted
to his own use a
whole maize meal allocation from GMB meant for starving
villagers in Malungu
area.
Villagers in the area are threatened
with starvation after half of
last season’s crop was written off due to poor
rains and lack of fertilizer
and other farming inputs.
They
have to rely on maize sourced from the GMB.
Zim Standard
By
Davison Maruziva
AS Africans met in Washington recently to
explore multiple approaches
for Diaspora-led development activities, a local
initiative to attract
investment and skills from this group is already
underway, The Standard can
report.
African Diaspora, defined as
peoples of African descent/origin living
outside the continent, play an
increasingly important role in the continent’s
development, both through the
financial resources they send back to their
home countries and through their
professional expertise.
Soon after independence Zimbabwe launched
the National Manpower Survey
and through it a matrix of approaches was
employed to develop, strengthen
and retain critical skills. The initiative
saw growth in the number of
personnel critical to the development of the
country. It did wonderful
things in the 1980s.
Dr Ibbo Mandaza,
who was one of the key figures behind the survey,
told The Standard that
Uganda and Zambia had been able to attract Diasporan
resources to the extent
that these countries no longer suffer from the
skills outflows that
characterise Zimbabwe.
Mandaza confirmed there was a local
initiative that involved the World
Bank — essentially confirming the
Washington indaba. "We are also trying to
engage the World Bank and other
multi-national organisations to do what they
did in Uganda and
Zambia."
Remittance flows from the African Diaspora are in excess
of US$4-6
billion a year and a significant number of professionals from the
continent
are living outside Africa, according to a 2005 World Bank report.
In order
to engage with these groups and support the African Union’s ongoing
effort
to work with the African Diaspora, the World Bank held an African
Diaspora
Open House early this month in Washington with more than 200
representatives
from groups based in the United States and Canada to discuss
opportunities
for closer collaboration.
Among other
initiatives, the World Bank announced that it would
collaborate with the
African Union in exploring the possibilities for the
development of a
Diaspora Remittances Investment Fund, which will be based
on global
experiences that exploit the benefits of and leverage remittances
to finance
Diaspora-led development activities, in a manner similar to
existing
mechanisms in Latin America.The World Bank is also exploring
multiple
approaches for working with the African Diaspora, through six
approaches.
The first of these approaches involves engagement
of the Diaspora—in
collaboration with African member countries— in the
design and
implementation of the ongoing portfolio of World Bank-assisted
projects, and
in the planned pipeline of proposed new World Bank-assisted
projects over a
two-year period, effective from next year
(2008).
The second is on partnerships with private sector
organisations,
notably multi-national corporations with strong business
interests in
Africa.
Support for Diaspora to build on ongoing
efforts through a blended
strategy of "virtual" participation; short, medium
and long term placements;
return and retention; and institutional networks,
is another of the
approaches.
The third involves dialogue with
donors to contribute to a proposed
African Diaspora Engagement and
Facilitation Fund to support programme
activities. Facilitation of
policy-relevant networks on topical issues such
as sub/regional integrated
infrastructure, energy, transportation, and
research on diverse topics is
the fourth approach.
Support to African governments in creating the
enabling policy and
institutional environment to harness Diaspora potential;
strengthening
Africa’s response to globalization, is another of the
approaches.
"The World Bank is in a very strategic position to
assist in the
mobilization of the African Diaspora in support of economic
development on
the ground in Africa" said Melvin P Foote, President of the
Constituency for
Africa (CFA) a 16-year-old Washington, D.C. based network
of organisations,
groups and individuals committed to the progress and
empowerment of Africa
and African people worldwide. "Engaging the Diaspora
in providing technical
assistance in Africa may well create the necessary
synergy to transform how
development will be pursued on the continent in the
future".
More than a third of Africa’s highly qualified human
resources are
presently in the Diaspora. Studies show that the most educated
Africans
increasingly opt not to return to the continent and stay in their
host
country after completion of their studies. A survey of African PhD
students
in the US and Canada in 1986-96 showed that about 44% decided to
stay.
The impact of the non-return has been debilitating on
Africa’s public
and private sectors, in some cases forcing countries to rely
on high rates
of international consultants to tackle development work. A
partnership with
the African Diaspora for the continent’s development is
thus essential to
enable Africa to increase its capacity to use and apply
knowledge and
increase its access to financial resources.
With
support from African governments, the World Bank hopes to use its
engagement
with the African Diaspora to strengthen the performance of its
extensive
portfolio of investment and development policy loans in the region
(about
US$22 billion) by better engaging the African Diaspora with
government
support, in the over US$6 billion of technical assistance which
is financed
by this portfolio.
Zim Standard
By our
reporter
WHEN schools open for the first term of New Year
(2008) next week
children are likely to be greeted by classes without
teachers, The Standard
can report.
A combination of government
failure to pay teachers decent salaries
and increasing demand for Zimbabwean
skills in the region has combined to
contribute to the growing exodus of
professionals.
In December the Provincial Department of Education
in the Limpopo
Province of South Africa announced it had created more than 5
300 teaching
posts "in order to ensure the province’s children receive
quality
education".
South Africa reportedly produces about 5
000 teachers every year but
20 000 of them leave the profession
annually.
The Province lies across the Limpopo River and its
proximity to
Zimbabwe could prove a major pull factor for under-rated and
frustrated
professionals in this country.
Vacancies in Limpopo
Province for more than 3 100 teachers, nearly 1
500 heads of departments,
nearly 600 deputy principals and almost 200
principals need to be filled by
April next year.
Ndo Mangala, a spokesperson for the province’s
Department of Education
said: "We want teachers who want to raise our people
from illiteracy by
providing quality education and instilling
discipline."
Mangala said while some posts had resulted from
teachers resigning,
being transferred, dismissed or dying, most of the
positions were new posts.
Successful applicants would be expected
to commence work at the
beginning of April 2008.
But Mangala
said 200 posts for support staff — administrative clerks —
had also been
advertised with the successful candidates expected to start
work at the end
of January.
In another case of how Zimbabwe is haemorrhaging,
educationists say
just before the end of 2007, officials from one SADC
nation visited Zimbabwe
one weekend. By the time they left, they had signed
up 200 teachers. The
move crippled one high school to the extent that it
lost all its Science
teachers.
While the government’s response
to the skills migration has been to
reintroduce bonding, teachers’ unions
say failure to address demands for a
$310 million a month salary would see
more teachers leaving in droves and
that schools would open to the prospect
of classes without teachers.
One of the organisations, the
Progressive Teachers’ Union of Zimbabwe
(PTUZ), said the government’s
response to their demands had fallen far short
of their expectations. The
result will be more teachers leaving for the
region.
The
government and civil servants representatives have reached a
deadlock over
negotiations for salary increments.
Teachers who are members of
PTUZ plan to down tools this month if
their demands are not met. PTUZ says
they would start mobilizing for a
crippling nation-wide strike once the
government failed to respond to its
request.
Teachers earn an
average of $15 million a month.
Teachers downed tools more than
three times last year demanding better
salaries and working conditions. The
PTUZ estimates that 25 000 teachers
left the country last year.
Nurses, doctors and other professionals are leaving the country in
droves in
search of better paying jobs in Botswana, South Africa, Britain,
Australia
and the United States of America.
Zim Standard
BY our
CORRESPONDENT
HOTELIERS in the Bvumba area are calling for
immediate action to
restore electricity to the area, a month after it was
lost, warning that the
current crisis is costing the local tourism sector
and the country billions
of dollars in lost revenues.
The Lower
Bvumba area outside Mutare has been without power since 9
December, possibly
caused by cable thefts in the Fern Valley suburb south of
Mutare city. As
the days and weeks have passed, the area without power has
extended further
into the Bvumba and it is possible that the entire mountain
range and
surrounds could soon be without electricity.
Power has not yet been
restored, despite promises of action, and local
residents are doubtful as to
whether Zesa is taking any action to do so.
Christmas and New Year —
traditionally busy times for local hotels — came
and went with operators
battling to honour commitments to travellers booked
during the festive
season.
"As was published just before Christmas, we are in a
desperate
situation and it seems that nothing is being done," said Gordon
Addams,
chairman of the Inns of Zimbabwe group.
At Inn On The
Vumba, a popular hotel just outside Mutare, power was
lost on 9 December and
although the hotel remains operational, it has been a
time of major
challenges for the hotel management and staff, as well as huge
costs of
generating alternative power and ferrying in water as boreholes
cannot be
used without mains power.
"There are rumours that we are closed
because of the crisis and this
is hugely detrimental to our business. We
have been reporting the problem on
a daily basis and we have been told that
the problem is caused by cable
theft, but there appears to be no action in
hand to rectify the situation
and get us back on line," said Addams, who is
also Eastern Districts
chairman of the Zimbabwe Council for
Tourism.
"We have been forced to turn away a large number of
potential guests
and the negative effect on the viability of the
establishment is enormous.
Something must be done and, if the cause is cable
theft, then the cable must
be replaced and steps taken to prevent further
incidents of this nature."
The absence of electricity affects all
aspects of a hotel’s
operations, from cuisine and communication to pumping
of water and cleaning
activity.
According to other hoteliers in
the Eastern Highlands, the area
experiences more electrical downtime than
any other part of the country,
extending from full days to periods of
several days at a time.
"The position regarding power to the
Eastern Highlands is a national
shame and something must be done about it
immediately," said a tourism
operator who supplies business to the Bvumba
and Nyanga areas.
"As we said in the press a few weeks ago,
electricity is being cut to
the Eastern Highlands on an almost punitive
basis and we are asking why we
should bear the brunt of the national power
crisis. The relevant minister
should address the problem as a matter of
urgency if he believes tourism
should be supported and nurtured."
Zim Standard
By Jennifer Dube and
Nqobani Ndlovu
THE high inflation rate, at 14 840% as of last
October, is reportedly
dealing heavy blows to Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe’s
Basic Commodities Supply
Side Intervention (Bacossi) facility, with
revelations that some
beneficiaries are back at the central bank with
begging bowls.
RBZ governor, Gideon Gono last October unveiled the
Bacossi facility
in an attempt to assist companies to restock after the
government’s
unpopular July price blitz.
The price freeze
undermined industry’s operations, instead of
achieving its touted objective
of taming runaway inflation.
Although the RBZ is yet to respond to
questions sent to them last
year, industry sources said Gono’s Number One
enemy, inflation, had a feast
on his Bacossi funds.
"That money
is no longer there
. . . it was wiped out well before the festive
season and thwarted
initial plans to restock within three months," sources
said in Harare last
week. "It never enabled companies to get back on their
feet."
Last November, Gono told journalists he had disbursed Z$10
trillion
plus US$13 million to 29 companies under the facility.
Among other beneficiaries was the sugar concern Starafricacorporation,
food
producer Cairns Foods, Bulawayo’s edible oil producer United Refineries
Limited (URL) and Ruwa-based packaging material entity Mega
Pak.
But most basic goods, including maize-meal, sugar and cooking
oil are
yet to be seen in abundance on shop shelves.
URL
managing director Busisa Moyo last month said the oil company had
applied
for a further $2 trillion after earlier support of about $590
billion was
chewed up by ever- increasing production costs.
"We need five times
the amount we thought we required to be able to
maintain the current revival
production levels which had dropped to almost
zero during the price freeze,"
he said. "We have since asked for an
additional $2 trillion."
Mega Pak received US$1 million, the largest chunk of the foreign
currency
portion from Bacossi. But they are now said to have adopted other
survival
strategies, among them hiking prices of their previously subsidised
products
to market levels, following the depletion of the funds.
Asked to
confirm the reports, Mega Pak managing director Martin
Makomva said his
company faced challenges, like any other business in the
country.
"We are in constant communication with the authorities
and they are
fully apprised of our requirements," he said. "Like all
citizens in the
country, Mega Pak faces major problems occasioned by
shortages of foreign
currency, high inflation, flight of skills and poor
aggregate demand."
Zim Standard
BY NDAMU
SANDU
IT’S a New Year and a new beginning for the world but for
most
Zimbabweans, it is a continuation of last year’s problems as they
struggle
for survival in an environment unprecedented in a country outside a
war
situation.
A new round of increases in the prices of goods
and services coupled,
with cash shortages, is not something any consumer
would wish for in the new
year
For the ordinary worker 2008 has
started off badly: commuter omnibuses
hiked fares by 25 percent to $1million
for most routes, wiping out the $30
million tax threshold announced last
year.
Presenting the 2008 national budget Finance Minister Samuel
Mumbengegwi announced a $30 million tax-free threshold effective this
month.
Wellington Chibebe, Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU)
secretary-general, told The Standard 2008 would be bleak for the majority of
workers earning wages below the poverty datum line.
Chibebe
said a number of employers had agreed to pay workers
PDL-linked salaries and
wages. He said the cash crunch had reduced workers
to penury having toiled
for their wages the whole month.
"In a democracy, Gideon Gono
(Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe governor)
should have resigned," he said. "You
spend the whole month working but
cannot access your money; it’s
unacceptable."
Analysts warned of a year of turmoil as the
situation on the ground
did not point to an improvement.
"The
fact that there are no attempts to rein in any of the policies,
2008 is a
continuation of 2007 problems," said economist Dr Daniel Ndlela.
"This year
promises to be a tough one."
On the agricultural front, the
government predicts the nation will
return to its pre-2000 "bread basket"
status, describing the 2007-8 season
as the "Mother of all Agricultural
seasons" in what analysts say is wishful
thinking.
"It’s
raining and farmers do not have maize seed, no fertiliser. The
season will
be a Mother of all agricultural collapse," said Ndlela.
Economic
consultant John Robertson agrees:: "Nothing has been planted
as some farmers
are saying they don’t have maize seed. Some are saying they
do have tractors
but no fuel, while others say they have the fuel but no
tractors. It will be
a mother of all failures."
Robertson said there was need for
political decisions to resolve the
economic problems afflicting the
nation.
"There is need for confidence rebuilding through
restoration of
property rights. Civil rights barely exist and all these
things are forcing
the economy deeper and deeper into crisis," he
said.
The government plans to expropriate 51 percent shareholding
in
foreign-owned companies operating in Zimbabwe. The Indigenisation and
Economic Empowerment Bill was approved by both chambers of Parliament last
year and awaits President Robert Mugabe assent to become law.
The amendments to the Mines and Minerals Act were also gazetted,
giving
locals free 25 percent shareholding in foreign-owned mines.
For
most Zimbabweans, hyperinflation has eroded the little savings
they had
sacrificed. At 14 000 percent as of November, Zimbabwe’s inflation
is the
highest in the world.
Analysts warn inflation will continue heading
northwards "as there are
no attempts whatsoever by the authorities to deal
with the problems".
Analysts say the National Budget presented last
year and the monetary
policy statement offered no solutions.
"By the end of the first quarter in 2008, inflation will be at 40 000
percent, particularly in light of rampant expenditure during the coming
elections," said Ndlela.
Since June 2006, Zimbabwe has been in
hyperinflationary mode, whereby
month-on-month inflation has been over 50
percent consistently over six
months.
Ndlela said: "Responsible
governments give up. In this situation
(hyperinflation); our government
doesn’t give up."
The cash crisis that gripped the nation since
November is still
evident in the new year with queues at every
bank.
Analysts blame the RBZ for holding people to ransom in a bid
to save
the banking sector from collapse due to bad policies.
"People are being punished in order to stop a run on deposits on the
banking
system," said Ndlela.
Business leaders said the issue of foreign
currency shortages should
be addressed.
"Shortage of foreign
currency has created corruption and it has to be
addressed," said Callisto
Jokonya, president of the Confederation of
Zimbabwe Industries
(CZI).
He said there was need for "unity of purpose" as a nation
and an end
to the blame game.
"Last year, business and the
government were drifting apart. As a
nation we don’t want the blame game as
it does not work."
Jokonya said small companies would face hurdles
in restocking for the
year as they did not have the money for raw
materials.
Last year, the RBZ unveiled the Basic Commodities Supply
Side
Intervention (BACOSSI), to help businesses restock after the damage
caused
by the June price blitz. To date only 28 companies out of over 5 000
have
benefited from the facility, Jokonya said.
Zim Standard
Comment
THE government is good at causing crises and then
belatedly stepping
in, wrapping itself in the mantle of a
saviour.
More than 400 cases of diarrhoea have been reported in the
eastern
townships of Harare, but the actual figures in the capital and other
areas
throughout the country will be greater because not all of them are
documented.
Ministers responsible for Health and Water visited
Tafara and Mabvuku
on Thursday to hear complaints about the collapse of
service delivery during
2007. They saw raw sewage flowing in the streets.
Failure to supply water
regularly to residents throughout the country was
creating conditions for
disease outbreaks.
However, the
government is proceeding to decree that an organisation
that is totally out
of its depth — the Zimbabwe National Water Authority
(Zinwa) — should take
over the water and sewer reticulation. The directive
was implemented despite
strong objections and advice from the parliamentary
portfolio committee on
local government, and health professionals.
For the government to
strut around and portray itself as genuinely
concerned about the threat to
the health of citizens in the high-density
areas such as Mabvuku and Tafara
smacks of crass hypocrisy and demonstrates
utter disdain for people. They
knew as long ago as 2005 — in the aftermath
of the urban cleansing Operation
Murambatsvina — that government’s actions
were endangering people’s lives.
But perhaps because they were perceived as
opposition supporters their lives
were deemed inconsequential.
One government official had the
audacity to say they had visited the
townships in Harare two months ago and
seen how bad the situation was. That
two months later hundreds of people are
suffering from diarrhoea because
nothing was done about widespread water
shortages and ubiquitous sewer pipe
bursts is scandalous. In normal
circumstances heads would be rolling.
In Bulawayo, the second
largest city in the country, it is only the
intervention of international
organisations such as Unicef that has averted
a health disaster on a wider
scale.
The rush to Mabvuku and Tafara - in reality just a good
photo
opportunity – is one of numerous cynical gestures by the government.
After
the anti-people Operation Murambatsvina, the government launched
Operation
Garikai/Hlalani Kuhle, which sought to portray the administration
as having
the interests of the ordinary people – its victims – at
heart.
Last week, after unleashing Sunrise II, it made an
about-turn, as if
responding to a nationwide call to come to the rescue, yet
the architect of
the crisis was the government itself.
After
the July price blitz, the government has moved in an attempt to
ensure the
availability of basic commodities in the rural areas – thus
portraying
itself as a saviour of the rural folk. In actual fact, it is
positioning
itself for their votes in a few months’ time.
Last week, the
Ministry of Health announced the proposed construction
of two major
hospitals – in Mashonaland Central and Matabeleland South. This
move is
intended to show the government is concerned about the lack of
health
facilities in these provinces, but it ignores the reality that
doctors and
other health staff are on strike because of poor pay and
conditions of
service, that other health centres have no staff to run them
and that
generally health institutions are woefully short of drugs. The
announcement
– just as that over the outbreak of diarrhoea - should be seen
for what it
is – a campaign ploy.
While we are reminded of Didymus Mutasa’s
statement that the
government would be happy to remain with only its
supporters – suggesting
some form of political genocide should befall the
other half of the
population considered supporters of the opposition - it is
hoped that voters
in areas the government has willfully ignored, will in a
few months’ time
pronounce their verdict on the political barracudas that
have rendered this
country an economic wasteland.
Zim Standard
sundayopinion by Bill
Saidi
AS 2007 ended, there was murder and mayhem in two countries,
Pakistan
and Kenya. It wasn’t the first time there was political
blood-letting in
these two former British colonies.
In a third
country, there was much more political intrigue rather than
mayhem, although
it may be early days yet.
South Africa, since its first democratic
elections in 1994, has seen
much bloodshed, some of it — as in Kenya —
steeped in ethnic rivalry.
In some quarters, the abhorrence in
South Africa of internecine
political killings must stem from the towering
presence of Nelson Mandela
who, even after years out of office, embodies the
best of South African,
African and universal humanity.
But SA’s
reputation as one of the most violent countries in the world
is a legacy of
apartheid. There are psychologists who firmly believe that,
among large
segments of the black population, there is mass amnesia. Nothing
has changed
and apartheid still stalks the land like a racist behemoth and
their only
means of survival against it is through murder, robbery and the
gratuitous
slaughter of famous people, such as Lucky Dube.
South Africa’s ANC,
at its congress in Polokwane, presented the
continent with its own
scintillating version of democracy brewed in the
African pot: it voted out
Thabo Mbeki as president.
He is the president of the country, but
that didn’t faze the
delegates. He was not good enough to lead their
party.
In Kenya, President Mwai Kibaki, seeking a second term in
office, ran
into trouble with Raila Odinga, the son of a hero of Kenyan
politics, Oginga
Odinga, Jomo Kenyatta’s early ally.
Kibaki
claimed victory on the basis of fuzzy legitimacy provided by a
carefully
hand-picked electoral commission, another political ingredient
brewed in the
African pot.
Unfortunately for him, most of the world, including
many Kenyans,
decided this claim was anchored in quicksand.
A
number of commentators focused on the indecent haste with which he
was
crowned president, as the most eloquent testimony of political
tomfoolery.
Bolstering that stench of filthy tricks was the
revelation that, just
before the election, he had transformed the judiciary,
ensuring it had a new
Kibaki-friendly face —much as someone else nearer home
did to the judiciary
during the murderous land reform
fiasco.
No-one could condone the violence that followed Kenya’s
elections, but
then the perceived massive psychological violence against the
electorate
would not be ignored or excused either.
Even the Mau
Mau might have relaunched their liberation campaign
against such a crime
against the people – the voters, in this case.
Kibaki’s rebuff of a
mediation attempt by the Ghanaian president John
Kufuor only added depth to
the widespread suspicion that he had indeed
stolen the election from Raila
Odinga.
For me, TV footage of the destruction in Nairobi brought
back memories
of my first visit to that beautiful country in 1971, two years
after the
assassination, at 39, of one of the most charismatic Luo
politicians, Tom
Mboya.
There were reports Jomo Kenyatta, the
Kikuyu founder-president, had
earmarked the brilliant former trade unionist
as his successor.
Other Kikuyus were outraged enough, it was said,
to stoop to
assassination.
Nairobi, which I was to visit two
more times, was then one of the
neatest cities on the
continent.
On my last visit, in the early part of the new
millennium, I was
confronted by a rather shabby Nairobi. It looked jaded,
like a widow who had
seen it all — the good, the bad, the ugly and the
unmentionable.
Still, I doubt that any admirer of Kenya could have
predicted the
country would explode into such violence so quickly after the
results of an
election were announced.
Odinga’s party had
effectively used corruption as the major component
of its huge arsenal
against Kibaki’s party.
There was little Kibaki could do to counter
the allegations of graft.
At one time an investigator appointed by Kibaki
himself to probe corruption
fled the country in fear of his life after his
dossier was considered such
potential dynamite it could have toppled the
government.
Kenya remains the most stable of the former East
African community
members — Tanzania and Uganda, the others — and its
economy the biggest. But
there has always been political rivalry between the
majority Kikuyu and the
second largest ethnic group, the Luo.
What cannot be disputed today is that Kibaki’s Kikuyu-dominated
government
had so enraged Kenyan voters with its corruption in high places
and seeming
collusion with big business there were even Kikuyus who felt
cheated when
Kibaki was announced the winner.
There were lessons for Zimbabwe in
the ANC ouster of Mbeki, and the
violent reaction to Kibaki’s alleged theft
of the "people’s" electoral
victory.
The lessons are clear: the
ball is now firmly in the people’s court,
as they look forward to the
elections in March.
saidib@standard.co.zw
Zim Standard
sundayview by Mutumwa Mawere
I woke up to the news
that Senator Barak Obama had convincingly won
the Iowa caucus and could not
help but reflect on what his candidature and
victory represents for Africa
and, indeed, for the politics of the world. I
listened to Obama’s victory
speech and many will agree that it was a message
not only to Americans but
to all of us in Africa who believe in a better
tomorrow.
Indeed, it was inspirational and marks a historic and defining moment
in
human progress given the current unipolar global architecture dominated
by
America and some of its foundational values. This year will bring change
to
some parts of Africa and what is for certain in America is that President
George W Bush will not be on the ballot box and even if Obama loses the
Democratic nomination, America will never be the same again.
The context and content of Obama’s daring entry into the American
political
landscape has important implications for Africa not only because
he shares
the same heritage as all of us but because he has challenged us to
believe
in hope and that we have a part to play in shaping our destinies.
Echoing the words of Oprah Winfrey in support of Obama when she said:
"I am
not here to tell you how to think but I am here to make you think." I
thought it would be beneficial on this important day after Iowans have
spoken to challenge my fellow brothers and sisters to deeply and critically
think about Africa and its possibilities if we become as organised as
Obama’s
supporters in investing in the change that we can believe
in.
Obama and Odinga share the same Luo heritage and history has
made it
possible for them to share the same spotlight at this defining
moment in
Kenyan and American histories about hope and fear. The people of
Kenya
thought they had spoken when they joined long queues to express their
choice
about what kind of future they wanted but alas the change they sought
is not
what they have been given resulting in the current confusion and
chaos that
only serve to undermine the hope that through democratic means
people can
get the change they can believe in.
The Obama
victory is more than symbolic it really should capture the
imagination of
all the people who live in fear and have surrendered their
future to the
politics of yesterday. He has challenged the establishment and
those who
felt that they were destined by history and circumstances to be
the natural
leaders. Ordinary men and women were energised by what Obama
represented and
yes there are many who argued that not in America would it
be possible for a
person like Obama to rise above pride and prejudice and
emerge as a winner
in Iowa with its racial configuration.
There are many of us in
Africa who share the sentiments of the many in
America who thought Obama was
a passing phase only to find out that it is
not about him but he represents
the majority of the people who want change
that they can believe in. Obama
has provided an opportunity for Americans to
only think about what kind of
society they should be but about change
itself. What does change mean to all
of us?
Even Senator Hillary Clinton is talking about change but a
different
kind of change. Equally in Africa there is a lot of talk about
change and
yet the people who talk about this subject are not clear about
what kind of
change should visit disillusioned Africa. The euphoria of the
dawn of
independence has been replaced by complacency and fear. The politics
of fear
rather than hope is what dominates the African terrain to the extent
that
citizens have resigned themselves to believe that their future belongs
to
third parties and they have no role to play in shaping it.
Many of us would agree that the Africa we have today that can produce
the
kind of outcome that Kenyans have after the recent elections is not the
kind
of Africa we want to see. While we all agree that there is something
fundamentally wrong in the way we as Africans have organised ourselves
politically, we do not seem to have the kind of leadership that can
galvanise and inspire us to invest in the outcomes we want to see. Surely,
the people who voted in the Kenyan elections cannot be satisfied that the
outcome that is being played on our televisions and in the media is the kind
of outcome that they sought to have by voting.
What would
make Africa and its leaders respect the will of the people?
We have seen
leaders in Africa try to politically engineer outcomes through
a significant
investment in fear to the extent that their legitimacy in
power becomes a
product of manipulation rather than a genuine expression of
the preference
of citizens.
If we really care about Africa’s future we have no
choice but to
critically study how Obama has defied logic not by being
afraid of the power
of the estalishment but his ability to use the
instruments of democracy to
instil hope and not fear in citizens. What Obama
has shown is that when
citizens have a reason to believe in change the
impossible can happen not in
another lifetime but in our lifetime and on our
terms.
The people shall govern how true and hollow this statement
can be
depending on which address you are located in Africa. In South
Africa, the
branch delegates of the African National Congress demonstrated
that it is
possible for people to take ownership of their future without the
assistance
of violence. Africa has been waiting for the Obama/Odinga/Zuma
medicine for
a long time. Independence from the exclusive politics of
colonialism was
meant to be the ultimate dividend for the suffering African
masses but we
are all too aware that this has not been the case not because
Africans are
not smart but they have been outsmarted by their own political
servants who
believe that no change is change.
This
Obama/Odinga/Zuma story has provided a good starting point for
those African
citizens who are privileged to make choices about who should
govern them
this year. This year belongs to Zimbabweans who for the past 28
years have
not known what change is in a seemingly democratic environment
where
citizens have been given space to express themselves but for some
reason the
outcome has been as predictable as sunset follows sunrise.
Change
has been an integral part of the Zimbabwean conversation but
for the past
eight years even the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) would
agree that
they have failed to capture the hopes of the millions of
Zimbabweans who
really need a break from the politics of fear and division.
If any party
that purports to advance the cause of change for a sustained
period and
fails to deliver then it is incumbent upon people to reflect
carefully on
the kind of change that they are being promised. Deferred
change is
effectively denied change.
When the storm in Iowa was over, Obama
was standing and he
demonstrated the kind of leadership that Zimbabwe wants.
Even those who
promised a better Zimbabwe eight years ago must accept that
they are partly
responsible for giving Zimbabweans the kind of change that
they have no
faith in. Indeed, many Zimbabweans have voted with their feet
over the last
eight years confirming that the menu was too limited and
monopolised.
Is it the case that the kind of change Zimbabweans
wanted cannot be
obtained through democratic means? Or is that the kind of
leadership that
Zimbabweans have been exposed to has failed to capture their
imagination in
the same way that Obama/Zuma/Odinga have managed to do in
their own
countries? What confidence do Zimbabweans have in change following
the
apparent consensus between ZANU-PF and MDC about the changes in the
Constitution and laws that Tsvangirai is now attempting to disown? How
credible is the change when the very change agents that purport to represent
the excluded masses do not seem to know what they want and stand
for?
We now hear of threats of boycotting the elections on the
premise that
a new constitution is required. Surely, if agreement on a new
constitution
was a deal breaker, then people need to be informed why Morgan
Tsvangirai
and his colleaagues in parliament saw it fit to become part of
the change
they do not believe in. Why have Amendment Number 18 only to be
replaced by
a new constitution when the very amendment sought and has
achieved the
objective of shortening the term of the current Parliament to
coincide with
the end of President Mugabe’s term? In other words, President
Mugabe’s
mandate will end in March and both Zanu PF and MDC will have no
mandate to
extend the Presidential and Parliamentary term with a
constitutionally
ill-defined transitional term.
Zimbabweans
have demonstrated that they are either too afraid to
express their opinions
about the kind of change they want to see or that the
kind of leadership
that is available makes them too nervous to do what
Zuma/Obama/Odinga’s
supporters have been able to eloquently demonstrate.
Odinga and his
supporters have been able to instil fear even in the minds of
the
establishment to the extent that President Kibaki’s team is no longer as
cohesive and confident as it should be. The opposition in Zimbabwe has
failed to generate the same kind of anger that has been displayed in Kenya
leading people to question the DNA makeup of Zimbabweans. What is it about
Zimbabweans that they will choose to surrender their future to two bulls who
can’t seem to agree on anything while their future is being aggressively
eroded?
Finally, through Obama, Americans have demonstrated
that the only
power people who have no power or feel alienated from the
politics of
yesterday and fear is the power to organise. The fact that
Tsvangirai is
still threatening to boycott the elections after having been
part of the
SADC talks that have produced what he now chooses to describe as
cosmetic
changes means that he is telling Zimbabweans that he is not ready
for the
fight.
Zim Standard
COUNTRIES coming from a crisis often have problems when
it comes to
implementing logistics to enable people to exercise their right
to vote.
More often, due to the crisis, a lot of citizens of voting age
would have
left the country in search of better living conditions,
especially in
neighbouring countries. There is therefore need to put
mechanisms, legal and
structural, to facilitate that these people exercise
their right to vote
where possible.
However, this is not
without problems hence the need to ensure the
pressing obligation of
protecting their inalienable voting rights does not
compromise the quality
of the electoral process and consequently its
credibility.
It
is pertinent here that we outline the reasons why there is need to
extend
voting facilities to people who are now resident outside Zimbabwe in
the
2008 harmonised presidential, parliamentary, senatorial and local
government
elections. The starting point is that the idea of external voting
is
premised on the universality of the right to vote that is, despite being
enshrined in Article 21 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR),
is unfortunately not included in our Constitution, although the sentiments
of 21(3) are in our Electoral Act Chapter 2:13 section 3 subsections (a) and
(b).
The Electoral Act borrows from Article 21(1) which
stipulates that,
"Everyone has the right to take part in the government of
his country,
directly or through freely-chosen representatives" and that
"(3) The will of
the people shall be the basis of the authority of
government; this will
shall be expressed in periodic and genuine elections
which shall be by
universal and equal suffrage and shall be held by secret
vote or by
equivalent free voting procedures."
Allowing people
in the Diaspora to vote, although it has aroused a lot
of debate and
controversy, especially from people who fear this vote might
compromise
their chances of winning in a post-conflict or post-crisis epoch,
has added
legitimacy to the electoral process. In the case of Zimbabwe, most
of the
people who have left the country are economic and political refugees
in
foreign countries thus their absence from the country is not out of will
but
is a result of pressing socio-economic and political realities dogging
the
country. To deny such a group the right to vote would reward those who
author and practise policies which are responsible for large-scale
displacement of people, who would vote against such administrators, in the
event the displaced people are allowed to participate in
elections.
The situation that most Zimbabweans experience, even
those that are
formally employed outside the country, is not different from
that of
refugees. Refugees, like most Zimbabweans in the diaspora, have not
in any
way relinquished their citizenship by seeking asylum, but rather
cannot
avail themselves of the protection of their country of origin because
current conditions therein pose a threat to either their lives or
livelihoods. As citizens, therefore, they have the right to participate in
the electoral processes in their country. This is more so considering the
economic contribution that they afford the country in terms of the foreign
currency remittances they make through various projects aimed at them such
as the Homelink project that was run by the Reserve Bank.
For states with a substantial displaced population as a result of
conflict,
human rights abuses, and or natural disasters, absentee voting
should be
considered a fundamental right protected by international human
rights law.
Electoral processes that exclude significant numbers of these
populations
are likely to be compromised in terms of legitimacy and
inclusivity, and
election observers and the international community should
work with these
governments to ensure their inclusion, on terms of full
equality, with
non-displaced populations is tenable.
However, the provision of
external voting should be availed with
necessary adjustments and innovations
to cope with the challenges that are
particular to external voting, such as
the geographical location of voters,
security in transporting ballot papers,
the high cost of external voting and
other administrative challenges that
come along with this type of voting.
There is need for the country
wishing to extend voting to its citizens
outside its borders to open up
diplomatic understanding with the host
countries to allow for easy
implementation of voting logistics starting with
the issue of
registration.
The more rigorous the requirements for verifying
identity and
registration as a voter abroad, and the more difficult this is
to do or the
shorter the time period allowed for doing so, the more
restricted the
coverage of the potential external electorate will be. To ask
for proof of
residence, work permits, refugee status documentation or any
other documents
as such would disqualify a lot of potential voters who would
have been
driven away from their country by very genuine socio-economic or
political
circumstances beyond their control. There is need therefore, where
there is
political will, for the country whose residents want to vote from
without,
to come up with mechanisms that circumvent the noted challenges
without
compromising the security and credibility of the ballot
cast.
In the case of Zimbabwe, there is need for the country to
liaise with
countries like South Africa and Britain where most of the
Diaspora
population reside, to come to some understanding whereupon, in the
event
that there is provision for external voting, there would be written
commitment that the host countries would not seize on the opportunity when
the immigrants would be voting to pounce and flush out those who are in the
countries illegally. Such an understanding should be in place to ensure that
a lot of the immigrants who wish to register and vote can do
so.
As is the case currently, where there has not been a provision
to
extend the external voting right to citizens outside the country other
than
those in the uniformed forces, or those on government business and
their
spouses barely three months before the polls in 2008, there is need to
relax
the registration requirements in view of the unavailability of time
for a
normal, rigorous registration exercise. It is in this light that a lot
of
people have advocated for voting using one’s national identity document
as
was the case in 1980.
Apart from the issue of registration,
there is the need for specific
legal provisions to install polling stations
abroad, if the method used is
personal voting which is desirable especially
with regards to the poor
postal infrastructure in the country and the
provisions of the Interception
of Communications Act (ICA) which allows for
government officials to open
parcels, letters or any other correspondence.
Where personal voting is the
most preferred option, there is need for the
home country to establish sound
diplomatic or consular networks around the
world, but most importantly, with
countries where the most number of the
immigrants live.
There is also the idea of using a combination of
voting procedures to
encourage electoral participation or to compensate for
limitations or
inadequacies that may arise from the use of only one system.
For example,
personal voting at polling stations abroad better fulfils the
principles and
imperatives of security, confidentiality and reliability in
the casting and
transmission of the vote, but its coverage of the potential
electorate can
be far more limited than that of postal voting. There is no
doubt that, at
least in a strictly geographical sense, the availability of a
wider range of
alternatives implies better potential coverage of voters
abroad. Thus a
country might choose to use any or all of the following
options: (1)
personal voting at diplomatic missions or other designated
places, (2)
postal voting, (3) voting by proxy, (4) e-voting and (5) voting
by fax.
All these provisions could be made, but what is important,
by and
large, is the issue of openness, transparency, close monitoring and
an
electoral process that is open to scrutiny by observers and monitors. It
should also be a process in which there are mechanisms to verify the number
of people eligible for the external voting practice and the actual ballots
cast. In the absence of such measures, notwithstanding the importance of the
external vote, there is need to move with caution on the need to pursue the
diaspora vote as it may open the whole electoral process to
manipulation.
Article produced by the Zimbabwe Election Support
Network
(ZESN).Comments are welcome at info@zesn.org.zw
Zim Standard
PERCHED proudly atop a magnificent Jatropha tree, a
resplendent
rooster crows triumphantly to herald in a new dawn, ably abetted
by The
Herald. The sound reverberates around the conference room. A chorus
of fine
young cockerels, with olive green feathers, take up the refrain
whilst
strutting drunkenly around the room in an impressive display of
military
drill. The room erupts into rapturous clucking and cackling. It is
some time
before the corpulent Chaircock can make himself heard above the
din. He
first leads the audience in enthusiastic chants of "Forward with our
species", "Down with all other species, especially Brown and Merkel like
species" and "One law for us and one law for them". He then proceeds with
his opening address:
Comrade Fowls, we, the chickens have come
home to roost and party. We
have vitally important business to transact
today which will shape the
entire destiny of our Fowl Run. I am not quite
sure exactly what that
business is until this is revealed by our all-knowing
Supreme Rooster. All
our other esteemed leaders are here to parrot the
sentiments of the Supreme
One.
As you know, we passionately
believe in free and open debate on all
issues. There are no sacred chickens
or taboo issues. This includes the
succession issue, although you don’t have
to be a rocket scientist to
realise that no such issue can arise when there
is an everlasting,
incontestable, God-given ruler of the roost. Nonetheless
I would like to
invite any cocky pretenders who harbour silly ambitions to
succeed our
undisputed ruler to step forward. They will be spatchcocked and
dispatched
to the Chicken Inn for permanent disposal. A similar fate awaits
any
cluckard who has the bad grace to talk about coupe de graces or to refer
to
our great organisation as a headless chicken. I must reiterate that we
won’t
tolerate any cock-infighting to spoil our party.
Our
species continue to go from strength to strength. Not only has
failure never
been an option, it is not even on today’s agenda. We are
justifiably
cock-a-hoop about our splendid achievements and total absence of
any
cock-ups. Due to improved productivity, chicken feed has never before
been
in such abundant supply, although this glut has led to much gluttony.
There
has also been a prodigious output of eggs in the hatchery. Now, to
crown it
all, our chicken-brained scientists have discovered a foolproof
method of
extracting refined diesel from eggshells and transforming egg
yolks into
24-caret gold.
But our successes, unfortunately, come at a
price, a price that cannot
be controlled by price controls. The price is
that there are many people who
are resentful about our resounding successes
and who are marshalling many
evil forces to try to effect fowl change. These
malevolent villains have no
respect for the sovereignty and territorial
integrity of poultry mansions.
We must not let down our guard for one
second.
The head of our military forces, General Insecurity, will
address us
later on the need for vigilance, and our intelligence chief,
Corporal
Punishment, will also give us a report. On the other hand, Cde
Jabberwocky
won’t be allowed anywhere near the microphone to make a boastful
report on
the million fowl strut – any such attempt will be deemed to
constitute a
serious ruffling of feathers.
We will also
receive reports from Field Marshall Cockfighter on land
redistribution to
deserving fowls, from Major Disaster on the healthy state
of the economy and
from Governor Cockeye on how to count your chickens
before they
hatch.
Regrettably, we will soon have to go through the superfluous
motions
of holding elections in the country we so ably rule. But the outcome
is a
foregone conclusion as chickens will have 10 votes whereas members of
other
species will only have a half a vote and will be obliged to queue,
something
of which that they have plenty of experience.
But by
far the most important address will be delivered by our Supreme
Leader.
The deliberations were an enormous success as well as
an enormous
feast. However, as the delegates were dispersing, a dissident
laughing hyena
could be heard giving voice to hysterical derision.
MDC must plan strategy to counter massive poll rigging
I am glad
that Morgan Tsvangirai knows the CIO and military have
already put in place a
more polished rigging system that they have continued
to perfect ever since
they realised in 2000 that they could announce their
own fictitious figures
and steal an election without an uprising from the
people.
Once
they knew this was possible in 2000, they did it on a grand scale
in 2005 to
give themselves a two thirds majority. Now they want to do the
same and have
already allocated themselves more than two thirds of
constituencies in the
rural areas so that when they conduct the rigging
there, the people will
believe their lie that rural voters are behind Zanu
PF.
This lie
has been used to rig the elections since 2000. No one
monitors rural areas so
fictitious figures and the lumping of MDC and Zanu
PF votes as all belonging
to Zanu PF occurred and was witnessed by many
intimidated polling officers
who were scared of being killed by the CIO.
They did not, therefore,
challenge this daylight robbery of MDC votes. The
same recipe is going to be
used in 2008.
How does the MDC plan to confront this planned
daylight robbery?
President Robert Mugabe is confident that the CIO, Zimbabwe
National Army,
Police and Zimbabwe Electoral Commission have laid the
foundation for
another massive rigging and he is already talking of a
resounding victory
that sends a message to President George W Bush and Gordon
Brown because he
knows they have perfected the art of rigging from two
previous elections.
What does the MDC and Zimbabweans in general
propose to do about this?
I saw the rigging of elections with my
own eyes and listened as the
people who planned and executed the rigging
boasted after their success. It
is painful to witness the nation being
hoodwinked into thinking a genuine
election has occurred as MDC seats
allocated in advance are announced first
to create an air of expectancy and
credibility and then witness opposition
hopes being dashed as the Zanu PF
seats, also determined in advance, are
announced afterwards.
I
do not particularly want to go through the same pain for the third
time but I
feel helpless that I cannot do anything about the situation.
Ropa Repanyadzonia
South Africa
---------------
What
is it with us Africans?
TRADITIONALLY on New Year’s eve, people
look to the future with hope.
But on the afternoon of the last one, I was
deeply disturbed by news coming
from Kenya.
That incident
reminded me of the 2002 presidential election in
Zimbabwe. Looking back on
the year, I am also reminded of the disputed
Nigerian elections.
What is it with us in Africa? Why can’t we hold elections where
citizens are
confident of the electoral process?
Was it necessary for more than
300 people to die, as happened in
Kenya, just because someone wants to remain
in power?
It is also disturbing that given these allegations of
voter rigging,
the United States initially congratulated Mwai Kibaki on his
re-election.
Dabson Kanyoka
Harare
---------
Nhema, Kaseke disappoint at tourism
congress
I read with interest your supplement on the recent tourism
congress
and wanted to make some observations as I was a
delegate.
It was shocking that the chief executive officer of the
Zimbabwe
Tourism Authority (ZTA) did not bother to turn up at the congress,
or
apologise. This was a major slap in the face for tourism operators
and
showed that he believes he owns the tourism industry rather than that he
is
a servant of the industry, which is what he is supposed to
be.
The sooner he is removed from this post the better. He seems to
want
to be a music promoter — let him go ahead with that instead, but not at
the
expense of taxpayers, tourists and tourism operators, who fund his
lifestyle
and his music ventures. These wasteful events that he organises do
nothing
for tourism and simply serve to give him pleasure and
fun.
The Minister of Environment and Tourism was equally
disastrous. He
arrived late, gave his speech and then ran off, failing to
address any of
the issues of importance facing tourism operators. All he did
was to attack
the Zimbabwe Council for Tourism and anyone else except
himself, his
ministry and his ZTA.
He has been a very
unsuccessful minister and instead of being
unhelpful he should find time to
deal with the real issues of the day and
create an enabling environment for
tourism operators to carry out their
business.
The laugh of the
day was his assertion, in his rambling speech, that
he is proud there are so
many Zimbabweans around the world doing jobs in
other countries. The fact
that they are doing so because their homeland
cannot afford them a living and
they need to go abroad to survive escaped
him (or he pretended it did). How
shocking that he can twist the facts to
make it sound like a wonderful thing
to have millions of Zimbabweans in the
Diaspora instead of here at home,
earning a living in their own country and
helping to build a prosperous
nation.
These two people should be ashamed of themselves. Can they
not do
something positive about tourism development, or have they run out of
ideas?
They should learn to be humble.
Disappointed tourism
professional
Harare.
---------------
'Calamity' Gono
must go
IN your last issue, Elton Mangoma of the MDC hit the nail
on the head
when he called Governor Gideon Gono the No. 1 Saboteur. I would
like to call
him "Calamity Gideon" in view of the damage the man has done
during the past
two years.
The man has been printing money left,
right and centre, while masking
his political ambitions through a smokescreen
of ASPEF, Agricultural
Mechanization and Baccosi facilities; to the extent
that he believes that
the funds so provided are coming from his
purse.
But as certain as death follows birth, this has backfired.
Against
this background, the man is as clueless as ever on how to resolve
the
deepening economic crisis and in turn the social crisis and has
therefore
been firing from all cylinders like a mad man does when given a
gun.
This nonsense must stop immediately before the built-up anger
the
common man has been bottling up, explodes in our faces. I therefore make
a
passionate appeal to President Robert Mugabe to do this "Calamity" a
favour
and fire him immediately and to enable him to go back where he
deserves —
the kitchen!
As a stop-gate measure, former governor
Kombo Moyana could be recalled
from retirement, while a search for a
substantive governor takes place or
former governor Leonard Tsumba could hold
fort.
Zimbabweans do not deserve people like Calamity
Gideon.
Little Dorit
Harare
--------------
'RBZ couldn't organise a piss-up in a
brewery'
IS this Sunrise or Winter? Sunrise 1 was a handstand of
note but the
Reserve Bank Governor, Gideon Gono has really excelled himself
this time
around.
He introduces $20 trillion which does not even
amount to US$0,50 per
person and thinks all our cash flow problems will be
solved.
Forget the cash barons for now — he thinks adding $20
trillion to $67
trillion will resolve the cash shortage when we have 100%
inflation a month.
Sir, you need to double the cash in circulation every
month to stay even!
Has he even thought how to calculate the change
when paying with $750
000 notes? We now all need calculators which will
increase demand for
foreign currency.
Sunrise 1 introduced the
$100 000 note which at the time was worth a
staggering US$200 — possibly the
highest denomination note in the world. By
contrast the $750 000 note is
worth only US$0,30 depending on what parallel
rate you use.
Has
he given even a little thought to the cost of printing notes vs
their
purchasing power? I am sure that it costs more to print one note than
US$0,10
for the $250 000 note (where are they — I heard in South Africa
and
Zambia).
Does he think for one minute that limiting the
amount of money a
person can draw from the bank will reduce the queues? It
only wastes
everyone’s time and slows the economy down as one has to visit
the bank
several times to get what one needs to make even a single purchase
of some
items (even $40 million is only worth US$10 or so and cannot buy
much).
The money was first distributed to the rural areas,
presumably to
catch votes. This only served to ensure that not one city
dweller will vote
for Zanu PF and meant that they could not take Christmas
home to their
families in the rural areas which surely has alienated the
rural voters too.
(Is Gono, like Moyo before him, working for regime change?
Could be the
reason for these strange policies).
On the Monday
before Christmas he issues a directive that only
individuals can withdraw
cash. What made him think that all the companies
had been able to source cash
to do wages?
Individuals had Saturday and Sunday to withdraw cash.
Certainly I know
of many workers who did not get paid and had a miserable
Christmas because
of that directive.
It seems the $500 000 notes
where first distributed, when they had
finished the $750 000s came out and
when they had finished brand new $200
000s were issued, despite them
expiring, to trap 11 cash barons who are
hoarding them. He allows 11
unscrupulous people to hold the whole country to
ransom and is happy to spend
a fortune on printing new notes rather than
having sensible policies that
make dealing in cash non-viable. (How do these
barons do it? They sell one of
their Mercs bought with Reserve Bank money at
US$250:1 for say US$100 000,
take the cash to the trader in Willowvale and
change it to Z$ at $2 500
000:1, take the Z$ to the Reserve Bank and
exchange it to US$ at $30 000:1,
back to the trader and convert to Z$ and,
hey presto! they have $20 trillion
to buy up all the notes.)
If this was Sunrise 2, I cannot wait to
see Sunrise 3! There is the
saying "could not organise a piss-up in a
brewery". Sounds apt for the way
things are being organised by the Reserve
Bank.
Finally, we all owe the thousands of banking staff a huge
thank you
for the long hours they have been forced to endure and our
sympathies for
not having a Christmas.
A
McCormick
Greendale, Harare
-------------
Zinwa's
billing designed to extort money from water consumers
I am seriously
distressed by the attitude of officers of the Zimbabwe
National
Water
Authority and the determination of this illegitimate organisation to
extort
money from hard-pressed citizens.
I recently received a water bill
of $19 million, up from a previous
bill of $3 million. I duly queried this
with their customer inquiries desk
at Rowan Martin Building. I was told
because my water meter was "stuck", my
consumption was being estimated at
higher level "40" and not the previous
level "26", hence the jump from $3
million to $19 million. When I sought an
explanation why my estimation level
had been changed, I was told this was so
that I buy and install a new water
meter. When I last checked, a water meter
was going for $130
million.
When I pointed out that Zesa, a parastatal like Zinwa,
recently
replaced a malfunctioning electricity meter at my premises and I
could not
understand why they should be any different, the fellow became
evasive and
downright rude.
Why should it be my responsibility
to replace a broken down meter when
I did not place the one that is there in
the first place? If suppose, for
argument’s sake, I were to install a water
meter of my own, which I cannot
because I can’t afford one, and tampered with
it so that it records lower
readings, can Zinwa take issue with me about this
since legally it will be
my personal property to do with as I
please?
Does this also mean that if I am renting a house and decide
to move
on, I can then take my water meter with me? All this simply does not
make
sense.
Zimbabwe must be the only country in the world where
a water service
utility demands that consumers contribute to its capital
expenditure in this
fraudulent fashion. It pains me that it appears the vast
amounts of
tax-dollars the government is pumping into Zinwa and the
exorbitant bills we
are paying are going into ensuring that the mandarins at
Zinwa, can pay
themselves obscene salaries and generous perks instead of the
intended
purpose, which is the development of water infrastructure
including
provision of ancillary equipment such as water meters.
And as I write this letter, I have not had any water at my house for
five
days. When I pointed this out to the sod at the Zinwa offices, he
stupidly
argued that since during the times I have water, I fill up
containers which
may include drums, their estimate of my consumption was
justified. To this
illiterate imbecile, filling containers is the same as
running water from the
tap. Huh — where do they get these people from?
Someone has
suggested the shambles at Zinwa is deliberate to punish
urban dwellers for
supporting MDC — I am beginning to wonder about that.
DK
Mabelreign
Harare