July 16, 2009 THE following is the full text of the Mid-Year Fiscal Policy Review presented
in the House of Assembly by the Minister of Finance, Tendai Biti, on Thursday,
July 16, 2009:
http://www.swradioafrica.com
By Lance Guma
16 July
2009
Finance Minister Tendai Biti used a budget presentation Thursday to
announce
that civil servants will now be paid salaries, in place of the
current flat
US$100 allowance. He also scrapped import duty on all
Information
Communication Technology (ICT) products like computers and cell
phones. Duty
on capital investment equipment will be scrapped while duty on
basic
commodities will be waived until November this year. Those importing
passenger type motor vehicles of 15-20 passengers will pay duty of 15
percent beginning August.
Biti did not give specific figures on how
much teachers and other civil
servants will now earn in place of their
allowances, but Newsreel
understands the Public Service Commission will make
the announcements. The
last few weeks have seen several demonstrations from
the Progressive
Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) demanding an increase in
their wages. It
means they will have to wait a bit longer to be able to
assess the new offer
from government.
Information Communication
Technology Ministers Nelson Chamisa told Newsreel
he was happy that Biti's
budget had acknowledged the importance of ICT in
developing the country. He
said the scrapping of duty on products like
computers and cell phones should
see an increase in the use of such devices,
both in the urban and rural
areas.
Minister Biti meanwhile also announced that people with Zimbabwe
Dollars
trapped in their accounts will have these converted into foreign
currency.
He did not disclose what rate would be used in doing this. He
quipped that
this was 'putting a tombstone on the graveside of the Zimbabwe
dollar.' He
urged banks to encourage a 'cashless society' were people used
credit and
debit cards, instead of carrying huge sums of money
around.
Turning to agriculture, the Minister said he had allocated US$146
million to
help with inputs for small scale farmers. He said the government
had a
target of 2 million metric tons of maize for next season, compared to
this
years 1.2 million metric tons. Biti also used his speech to urge a
resolution of all the outstanding issues in the Global Political Agreement
(GPA) saying without this foundation all their efforts would come to
nothing.
http://news.yahoo.com/
1 hr 53 mins ago
HARARE
(AFP) - Zimbabwe's Finance Minister Tendai Biti on Thursday predicted
that
the country's economy, ravaged by years of hyperinflation, would grow
by at
least 3.7 percent by the end of the year.
Presenting the country's
half-year national budget to parliament Biti also
ruled out the return of
the Zimbabwe dollar in the near future, increased
the salaries of civil
servants and slashed import duty on key raw materials.
"The country's GDP
(gross domestic product) is poised to grow by 3.7
percent," Biti told
lawmakers at a sitting also attended by Prime Minister
Morgan Tsvangirai and
deputy prime minister Arthur Mutambara.
"The figure of 3.7 percent is a
very pessimistic one," he said.
"The economy remains fragile and unable
to sustain the return of the
Zimbabwe dollar," he added.
Biti said
the growth would be spawned by "buoyant mineral prices on the
international
market" and increased production in the manufacturing sector.
But he
warned the economic "green shoots" were no reason for complacency,
urging
the country's political leaders to stick to a power-sharing agreement
between Tsvangirai and long-ruling President Robert Mugabe, meant to haul
the country back from the brink of collapse.
"The green shoots of
recovery that are beginning to sprout don't mean we are
out of the woods,"
Biti warned.
"Key to confidence building is the desire by all our
partners to see that
the political agreement is working, the global
political agreement is being
implemented to its letter and spirit and that
there's no policy reversal.
"I urge our principals to ensure the
credibility and integrity of the global
political agreement is respected not
in terms of having tea together," he
said.
He bemoaned the state of
the economy with its low revenue base and 70
percent of the meagre
collections being swallowed by wage payments.
"Payment of a decent wage
to our civil servants remains a priority," Biti
said. "The payment of the
100 US dollars, while welcome, has proved
inadequate."
The government
was increasing the salaries of civil servants and the
salaries would vary
according to experience and position, Biti said.
"The public service
commission is working out a pay structure they will
announce in due course.
I wish to commend civil servants for their
resilience."
Zimbabwe's
unity government started paying civil servants in US dollars in
February to
counter near worthless local salaries.
The move came after civil servants
such as teachers, nurses and doctors
downed tools last year demanding that
they paid in hard currency.
Zimbabwe's once-vibrant economy was shattered
by a decade of world-record
hyperinflation that has left half the nation
dependent on international food
aid, while unemployment was last estimated
at 94 percent.
http://af.reuters.com
Thu Jul 16, 2009 10:58am
GMT
By Cris Chinaka
HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe will change
wages for state workers in a
mid-year budget review on Thursday and will
also announce plans to issue
government bonds for grain purchases, a
state-owned daily newspaper reported
on Thursday.
Analysts said they
also expected Finance Minister Tendai Biti to cut some
taxes as part of
reforms by a new unity government to lure foreign investors
to the battered
economy.
The Herald quoted Biti as saying that he would also soon
introduce proposals
in parliament to retire millions of dollars of debt
incurred by Zimbabwe's
central bank in financing government programmes and
when it raided some
private foreign currency bank accounts.
Biti said
he was also going to announce what would happen to Zimbabwe dollar
deposits
and cash which was rendered useless when the government introduced
the use
of multiple foreign currencies in January to tame hyperinflation.
Wages
for state workers, currently set at a flat monthly allowance of $100,
would
be changed.
"We are going to vary the amount earned by civil servants,"
Biti said.
"The government will issue a paper for the support of the GMB
(Grain
Marketing Board)," he added.
"We will issue grain bills in the
sum of $10 million at a rate of about
seven percent and that will ensure
that GMB will be adequately funded."
The GMB had recently been allocated
$2 million for grain purchases, but the
state agency was saddled with a $1.5
million debt to farmers.
HYPERINFLATION
In January, Harare lifted
a ban on the use of foreign currency to stem
hyperinflation that had
rendered the Zimbabwe dollar almost worthless.
The move left Zimbabwe
without an interbank market and reduced the central
bank to a simple
supervisory role as it lacked foreign currency reserves to
be banker of last
resort.
Eric Bloch, a businessman and leading economic commentator, said
he expected
Biti to cut some taxes, including on oil imports, to try boost
an economy
many say was destroyed under President Robert Mugabe's
controversial
policies.
"The economy needs massive support to get off
the ground, and investors are
looking for incentives, respect for private
investment, security of tenure
and a competitive tax regime."
"The
government is broke, I think the minister has an opportunity to
demonstrate
that it is trying to address some of the outstanding issues," he
said.
A unity government formed by Mugabe and old arch-rival Morgan
Tsvangirai,
now Zimbabwe's prime minister, says it needs about $10 billion
in foreign
aid to help repair an economy which last year suffered an
inflation rate of
over 230 million percent.
But many Western donors
say they will only give massive support needed to
rebuild pot-holed roads,
bare hospitals, dilapidated schools and ease 90
percent unemployment when
the new administration has implemented radical
reforms.
Many Western
countries imposed sanctions on Mugabe's ZANU-PF government over
charges of
human rights abuses, vote-rigging and its seizures of white-owned
commercial
farms for redistribution to blacks without paying compensation.
Mugabe,
85, and in power since independence from Britain in 1980, says
Zimbabwe's
once-prosperous economy has been wrecked by sanctions and that
his land
policy is aimed at correcting colonial injustices.
http://www.zimnetradio.com
By KING SHANGO
Published
on: 16th July, 2009
ZIMBABWE - HARARE - State television on Thursday
blacked out the eagerly
awaited supplementary budget presentation by Finance
minister Tendai Biti.
The patently biased ZTV, broadcast a cartoon as
Biti was presenting his
mid-term fiscal review policy to
parliament.
Earlier, the infrastructure to beam the event live was set up
outside
parliament, with a ZBC outside broadcasting van stationed outside
the august
house.
It was not immediately clear why the ZTV did not
beam the supplementary
budget statement.
This is the first budget
statement that has been presented to Parliament
without live
broadcast.
ZTV has shown its open bias in the inclusive government. The
MDC information
department has been forced to write to ZTV CEO Happison
Muchechetere
complaining about the blackout of party activities and the
Prime Minister's
functions and press briefings.
The blackout of the
Finance minister's statement was said to have been on
instructions from the
information ministry, pointedly from George Charamba,
the permanent
secretary in the ministry.
Charamba was not immediately available for
comment.
With a civil servants' strike looming, Biti was expected to
announce
improved benefits for state workers. Civil servants have already
made it
clear they are ready to down tools if Biti cannot find the money to
increase
their salaries.
At present, all civil servants earn the same
- a paltry US100 a month and
teachers were particularly eagerly awaiting the
budget statement.
Business was also miffed by the decision to blackout
the supplementary
budget.
"Its surprising that they have taken this
decision given how important this
presentation is," said a financial analyst
in Harare.
Biti was expected to give an assessment of the performance of
the unity
government against its agreed action plans and how much money
government has
raised so far.
He has said it was presentation of his
report card on the performance of the
economy.
http://www.swradioafrica.com
By Tichaona Sibanda
16
July 2009
MDC activist Patrick Danga, who was arrested by the police
while restraining
ZANU PF MP Patrick Zhuwawo from manhandling an MDC MP, is
still detained at
Harare Central police station. Zhuwawo is also Robert
Mugabe's nephew.
The MDC MP for Mutare Central, Innocent Gonese, told us
on Thursday that
Danga has not been taken to court and is still detained,
and yet the real
criminals, who threw bottles and disrupted proceedings at
the
All-Stakeholders constitutional conference, remain free.
'In
spite of there being video footage of the perpetrators of the chaos, to
date, no arrests have been made. Instead, an innocent young man, Patrick
Danga, whose only crime was trying to restrain Patrick Zhuwawo who was
manhandling Amos Chibaya (MDC) a member of the select committee, got
arrested,' Gonese said.
Gonese, who is the MDC chief whip in
Parliament, blasted the police and the
attorney general's office for
applying the law selectively. He said the MDC
believes all people must be
equal before the law, adding 'these values must
be enshrined in a new
people-driven constitution and inculcated in all our
law enforcement agents
whose loyalty must be to the constitution and the
laws of the land and not
to a political party.
'Just on Monday.in full view of television cameras,
rogue elements of ZANU
PF, including legislators and war veterans, caused
mayhem at the Harare
International Conference Centre but the police simply
folded their arms and
took no action,' he said.
Equally disturbing he
said, is the failure to prosecute various ZANU PF
luminaries who have been
implicated in cases of the illegal mining and
smuggling of diamonds, gold
and other precious minerals. Others have been
implicated in various shady
deals but again nothing has happened, complained
the MP.
Commenting
on the suspension of Chipinge West MP Mathias Mlambo from
attending
Parliamentary sessions, the Mutare central legislator said this
was a
calculated objective of achieving sinister political ends.
Mlambo was
suspended from Parliament on Wednesday after he was recently
sentenced to 10
months in prison on trumped up charges of public violence by
a Chipinge
magistrate.
The MP maintains his innocence and claims the charges he faced
were
concocted by ZANU PF with the help of the police. The MP said he was
working
with lawyers in the capital to lodge an appeal at the High court
against the
suspension.
'In this instance one does not need to be a
rocket scientist to figure out
that the intention of the politically
motivated prosecution of members of
Parliament of the MDC is to reduce its
numbers in Parliament,' Gonese added
He said the exuberance with which
these cases have been pursued contrasts
sharply with the failure of the
police to arrest the thousands of criminals
who were responsible for the
madness that characterized last year's
presidential run-off.
'Police
have been given reports of names of people who committed various
crimes such
as murder, arson, public violence and rape but significantly,
virtually no
arrests have been made,' he said
http://www.newsnet.co.zw/index.php?nID=16238
Posted: Thu, 16 Jul 2009 13:30:34 +0200
The Head of
State and President Cde Robert Mugabe has warned that the
Non-Aligned
Movement faces renewed attempts by some western powers to
interfere in the
internal affairs of the movement's member states.
The Head of State and
President Cde Robert Mugabe has warned that the
Non-Aligned Movement faces
renewed attempts by some western powers to
interfere in the internal affairs
of the movement's member states.
Addressing the 15th NAM Summit in the
Red Sea Resort town of Sharm El Sheikh
in Egypt, President Mugabe said "The
big brother is watching " state of
affairs among NAM states is a grave
danger to international peace and
security and should be dealt with
decisively.
The President explained that the severity of the machinations
by the western
has often manifested itself in the use of surreptitious and
illegal attempts
to abuse the UN Security Council to unjustly push
developing countries
through the imposition of illegal and unilateral
sanctions and other
intimidatory measures and in some cases outright naked
aggression against
those without military might where the western powers
seek the overthrow of
constitutionally elected government , through regime
change.
Cde Mugabe explained that attempts have also been made to
introduce new
concepts of international law in order to impose
extra-territorial laws on
developing countries.
Zimbabwe has been a
target of these machinations by those who wanted to
abuse the UN Security
Council to unjustly impose punish Zimbabwe through the
imposition of
international sanctions, a move that was blocked by Russia,
China, SADC, NAM
and the African Union Cde Mugabe said.
The reform of the UN system is one
of the ways of addressing the unwarranted
international interference, said
the President, and called on NAM to assert
the movement's demand to demand
for the reform of the world body and its
principal organs especially the
Security Council.
On the second day of the summit which ends in Sharm
-El-Sheikh this
Thursday, President Mugabe was given the honour to preside
over the summit
as he chaired the summit.
http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=19870
July 16, 2009
By Owen
Chikari
MASVINGO - Tourism and hospitality minister Walter Mzembi has
described
so-called Zanu-PF hawks who are been lobbying for his ouster from
the party
as "foolish and immature".
Mzembi's critics, led by
self-styled war veteran and pioneer of farm
invasions Joseph Chinotimba have
lobbied the party to expel Mzembi for
allegedly aligning himself with the
mainstream MDC led by Prime Minister
Morgan Tsvangirai. Mzembi was part of
Tsvangirai's delegation on his recent
tour of Europe and the United
States.
Chinotimba had been reportedly been lobbying hardliners in the
Zanu-PF
leadership to either suspend or expel Mzembi from the
party.
Addressing hospitality and tourism players in Masvingo Mzembi said
those in
the Zanu-PF leadership who had been calling for his expulsion were
"foolish
and immature".
"I was on a trip which was sanctioned by
cabinet and to say I am now an MDC
supporter is certainly foolish", said
Mzembi. "After all what is wrong with
travelling with the Prime
Minister?
"This is an inclusive government and we can not waste time
listening to
people who roam the streets of Harare with nothing to do but to
discuss me
"This shows that some of us in Zanu-PF are still immature and
need
education."
Sources in Zanu-PF say Zanu-PF hardliners have
viewed Mzembi as an MDC
supporter since he accompanied Prime Minister
Tsvangirai on his
international tour in June.
Chinotimba had earlier
on said that war veterans had lined up a number of
demonstrations starting
in Masvingo, Mzembi's home town, to press for his
expulsion from the
party.
Turning on the land issue Mzembi said that the government will
remove all
farm invaders who settled themselves on the shores of lakes or
water
reservoirs.
The minister said as party of his strategy to
revive the country's tourism
sector he will make sure that all those
occupying pieces of land located on
the shores will be removed.
"We
are not against the land issue but we want to make sure that come 2010
we
are ready to get as many tourists as possible", said Mzembi.
The
minister's remarks come at a time when there are reports that hordes of
people invaded land around the shores of Lake Mutirikwi the country's
largest inland body of water.
The invaders, mostly Zanu-PF
supporters, are allegedly occupying the plots
amid reports that the new
Masvingo governor who will take charge at the
beginning of next month would
want a land audit.
Lucia Matibenga of the MDC-T is the governor and
resident minister-designate
for Masvingo Province.
"We are occupying
these plots so that when the new governor comes she will
find us in place",
said one of the farm invaders who requested anonymity.
"We have to make
sure that when these political changes take place they will
find us already
on the land".
"We are not going to listen to what Mzembi is saying
because he is not the
Minister of Lands or the Minister of Agriculture.
After all we are going to
make sure that he is suspended from Zanu-PF."
http://www.swradioafrica.com
By Alex Bell
16 July
2009
A beleaguered Chegutu farmer, whose farm has been over run by land
invaders
working for a top ZANU PF official, has lashed out at the
government for
repeatedly denying that the current wave of land invasions
are happening.
Ben Freeth from Mount Carmel Farm has relentlessly tried
to hang on to the
land that even the human rights court of the Southern
African Development
Community (SADC) has ruled rightfully belongs to his
family. Freeth's
father-in-law Mike Campbell, who he co-owns the land with,
led the legal
challenge in the SADC tribunal against the government last
year. Campbell,
and the more than 70 farmers who joined the case, walked
away victorious
with a ruling that declared the land 'reform' programme
essentially
discriminatory. The government was ordered to protect the
farmer's right to
their land, and make compensation to those who had lost
land.
But SADC has been openly defied, and the renewed offensive against
the
remaining commercial farming community got underway in earnest earlier
this
year. Since then, almost 100 farms have been forcibly taken over, more
than
100 farmers are facing prosecution for being on their land, and
thousands of
farm workers have been left jobless. The farm attacks
themselves have often
been violent, and those farmers who have refused to
leave their properties
have faced continued harassment and intimidation. The
farmers even returned
to SADC seeking an implementation order against the
government. The Tribunal
ruled that the government was in contempt by
defying the earlier ruling, but
this ruling again has been
ignored.
The Chegutu farming community has been the worst affected by the
offensive
to remove the remaining commercial farmers off their land. Earlier
this year
Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara and a delegation ordered by
Prime
Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, toured the affected farms in Chegutu to
see for
themselves the extent of the farm attacks. A shocked Mutambara
ordered all
the land attacks to cease and the land invaders off the farms,
and
Tsvangirai was seen to be doing the right thing by handing over the
responsibility for investigating the attacks to the Joint Monitoring and
Implementation Committee (JOMIC). But Mutambara's order was completely
ignored within hours of him leaving the area.
Tsvangirai went on to
play down the land attacks, calling them 'isolated
incidents' that had been
blown out of proportion by the media. JOMIC has now
reportedly followed in
the footsteps of the government's leaders by denying
that the land
invasions, witnessed by the Deputy Prime Minister, have taken
place. In an
unpublished preliminary report by JOMIC on the land attacks,
JOMIC
co-chairperson Welshman Ncube dismissed the incidents as mere
'disturbances'
that were caused by uncooperative farmers refusing to hand
over their land
to holders of offer letters.
Freeth on Thursday expressed his anger,
saying what is happening on his land
is theft with impunity that is being
supported by the police and the
government. Invaders hired by ZANU PF top
official Nathan Shamuyarira have
completely taken over Mount Carmel, and
have repeatedly used violence to
threaten and harass Freeth, his family and
his staff.
"If he (Ncube) were to come here right now he would see
Minister
Shamuyarira's men busily reaping thousands of US dollars worth of
sunflowers
in broad day light with complete impunity using our tractors on
land that we
have court orders and international judgements protecting,"
Freeth
explained.
The new invasion at Mount Carmel started in April
and since then it has been
an ongoing battle to get support from the police
and the government. Freeth's
workers have been beaten, abducted and
hospitalised; houses and sheds on the
property have been broken into; people
have been terrorised; water has been
cut off by the invaders for weeks and
they have plunged the workers into
darkness by cutting off their
electricity; tens of thousands of productive
fruit trees have been left
without irrigation, fertilisation or spraying.
"Police know all about it
and refuse to arrest anyone or even stop them
despite the two High Court
orders saying the invaders must be evicted and
the SADC Tribunal judgement
saying that Mike Campbell and his family and
workers should be allowed to
farm without disturbance," Freeth said.
Freeth questioned how the
government can continue to "condone theft and
thuggery with lies and with
silence in a starving country with no job
creation and no investment taking
place?" He explained that a full
investigation needs to get underway into
the illegal activities taking place
on all the invaded farms, but he
expressed doubt this would ever take place.
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk
16
July 2009
By MDC
Pressroom
The MDC is dismayed by the purported suspension of the
Honourable Member of
Parliament for Chipinge West, Hon Mathias Matewu
Mlambo, from attending
Parliamentary sessions and executing his duties as a
Member of Parliament.
This emanates from his dubious conviction
on trumped-up charges of
obstructing the course of justice against which he
has noted an appeal. In a
normal situation where the rule of law is applied
uniformly and the law
enforcement agencies such as the police and the
judiciary discharge their
duties in a non-partisan manner, one would
understand the application of the
provisions of the law such as section 42
of the Constitution of Zimbabwe.
However, we have pointed out before that
the law is being applied
selectively with the calculated objective of
achieving sinister political
ends and in this instance one does not need to
be a rocket scientist to
figure out that the intention of the politically
motivated prosecution of
members of Parliament of the Movement for
Democratic Change is to reduce its
numbers in Parliament.
Apart from
Hon Mlambo, Hon Shuah Mudiwa and Hon Meki Makuyana have been
convicted and
sentenced to terms of imprisonment in excess of six months to
ensure that
they are prevented from attending Parliament. Hon Trevor
Saruwaka's trial on
trumped up charges of public violence commenced in
Mutare on the 6th of July
2009 and will continue on the 20th of July 2009
while Hon Blessing Chebundo
is due to be tried in August and at this rate
one wonders how many members
of Parliament the MDC will have by the end of
the 7th Parliament. Is it a
coincidence that these excessive sentences were
imposed after an earlier
attempt to prevent Hon Lynette Karenyi from
attending Parliament was foiled
and found to be legally untenable as she had
only been sentenced to pay a
fine and the provisions of section 42 (1) were
clearly not
applicable.
The exuberance with which these cases have been pursued
contrasts sharply
with the failure of the police to arrest the thousands of
criminals who were
responsible for the madness that characterised the
so-called Presidential
farcical run-off of June 2008. Reports have been made
to the Police on the
various crimes that were committed such as murder,
arson, public violence
and rape but significantly, virtually no arrests have
been made. Equally
disturbing is the failure to prosecute various Zanu-PF
luminaries who have
been implicated in cases of the illegal mining and
smuggling of diamonds,
gold and other precious minerals. Others have been
implicated in various
shady deals but again nothing has
happened.
Just on Monday, the 13th of July 2009, in full view of
television cameras,
rogue elements of Zanu-Pf including legislators and War
veterans caused
pandemonium and mayhem but the police simply folded their
arms and took no
action. It is perplexing that the Speaker of the House of
Assembly and
President of Senate together with members of Parliamentary
Select committee
can be pelted with bottles of mineral water and have a
constitution
conference disrupted by unruly elements at the International
Conference
Centre with impunity.
In spite of there being video
footage of the perpetrators of the chaos, to
date, no arrests have been
made. Instead, an innocent young man Patrick
Danga whose only crime was
trying to restrain Patrick Zhuwawo who was man
handling Hon Amos Chibaya, a
member of the select committee, got arrested.
He has not been taken to
court, but is still detained at Harare Central
Police station and yet the
real criminals remain scot free.
This culture where the victims become
the accused and the perpetrators
remain untouched must come to an end. It is
in this context that the
prosecution of members of the Movement for
Democratic Change particularly
its elected representatives must be seen for
what it is- a cynical and
diabolical attempt to reverse the gains that the
Party achieved in its
historic win of 29 March 2008 Harmonised
elections.
There is therefore a need to revisit the provisions of section
41 of the
constitution which purport to deprive a Member of Parliament of
his or her
rights as an elected representative of the people where he or she
has noted
an appeal. Equally it deprives constituencies of representation in
circumstances where the conviction may be set aside or the sentence reduced
to less that six months.
This can not be retrospectively rectified
and as we move forward in crafting
a new people-driven constitution, these
are issues which should be looked
into so that never again will we have a
situation where the law can be
abused to achieve political
objectives.
The Movement for Democratic Change is a Party of Excellence
and it believes
all people must be equal before the law. These values must
be enshrined in a
new people -driven constitution and inculcated in all our
law enforcement
agents whose loyalty must be to the constitution and the
laws of the land
and not to a Political Party.
Hon Innocent
Gonese
MDC Secretary for Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs
From The Daily Nation (Kenya), 16 July
By Kitsepile Nyathi
Harare - Zimbabwe is preparing
to re-launch a military crackdown on illegal
diamond miners in the eastern
part of the country, risking an international
ban on its precious stones.
Only a fortnight ago, the Kimberly Process (KP)
the international diamond
certification group gave the Zimbabwean government
up to next week to
demilitarise the area. A KP team led by Liberian deputy
mines minister Mr
Kpandel Fiya dispatched to investigate reports of human
rights abuses at the
Chiadzwa diamond fields concluded that security forces
were looting diamonds
and committing atrocities against civilians. The team,
which will release
its final report this month end, also recommended that
the soldiers must be
withdrawn immediately. But state media reported:
Operation Hakudzokwi (You
don't return) which was jointly carried by
security personnel to restore
sanity at Chiadzwa diamond fields is bouncing
back bigger and more
re-invigorated to deal once and for all with illegal
diamond dealers and
panners, says the governor and resident minister for
Manicaland province,
Cde Chris Mushowe. Mr Mushowe who is a strong President
Robert Mugabe ally
was said to have given a strong warning to illegal
diamond dealers and
panners to stop forthwith their unlawful activities as
they will have no-one
but themselves to blame when the operation is
reinvigorated. At the height
of the operation that began in August last year
and claimed hundreds of
lives according to human rights groups, Mr Mugabe's
spokesman Mr George
Charamba said the troops were employing shock therapy.
Last month,
the New York based Human Rights Watch said 800 soldiers were
deployed and
villagers were forced to reclaim gullies with their bare hands.
The injured
were denied medical care and victims were reportedly buried in
mass graves.
The government said there was no evidence to back the claims.
Mr Fiya told
Zimbabwe's Mines Minister, Mr Obert Mpofu at the end of the KPs
mission that
villagers recounted tales of senseless violence. Our team was
able to
interview and document the stories of victims, observe their wounds,
scars
from dog bites and batons, tears and on going psychological trauma, Mr
Fiya
said. "I am from Liberia Sir, I was in Liberia through out the 15 years
of
civil war and I have experienced too much senseless violence in my
lifetime,
especially connected to diamonds. In speaking with some of these
people,
Minister, I had to leave the room. This has to be acknowledged and
it has to
stop." University of Zimbabwe political scientist Mr Eldred
Masunungure said
the military was not likely to leave the diamond fields
because influential
people from Mr Mugabe's previous administration were
benefiting from the
disorder. It is a political minefield because there are
powerful forces that
are being touched, he said. The Reserve Bank of
Zimbabwe says if properly
the Chiadzwa diamonds can generate up to US$200
million a month for the
bankrupt government.
http://www.reuters.com
Thu Jul 16, 2009 2:38pm
EDT
* New power line to ease transmission congestion
*
Southern African countries plan to raise generation
By Nelson
Banya
LIVINGSTONE, Zambia, July 16 (Reuters) - Four Southern African
countries
have agreed to develop a $225 million power line that would allow
an extra
600 megawatts to be transmitted around the region, an official said
on
Thursday.
The project is expected to be completed in the last
quarter of 2010. It
seeks to connect Zimbabwe, Zambia, Botswana and Namibia
-- all of which plan
to boost the amount of power they generate in coming
years -- in a project
known as Zizabona.
It will ease congestion on a
transmission corridor to South Africa, the
region's largest consumer of
electricity which is battling to meet demand.
It also will allow the four
countries to export more power and to trade
energy with each other via a
regional power pool.
The project also will allow easier transmission of
hydropower from the
Democratic Republic of Congo to South Africa and the
rest of the region.
"The four utilities will develop, build and own the
transmission
infrastructure. This project seeks to reduce losses and
congestion on the
SAPP central corridor," said Musara Beta, an official from
Zimbabwe's ZESA.
ZESA is one of the four promoters of the project along
with Zambia's ZESCO,
Nampower of Namibia and the Botswana Power Company. He
was addressing a
power conference hosted by the Southern African Power Pool
(SAPP).
The Zizabona transmission line will extend from the Hwange
substation to a
switching station near Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe, into
Livingstone, Zambia.
The line will also link Pandamatenga in Botswana and
the Zambezi substation
in Namibia.
"The project clearly would serve
the national electricity needs of all four
member countries and the
interconnector would also ... decongest the central
corridor," Beta
added.
With the region facing increased power shortages, the SAPP is
turning its
focus to smaller initiatives with relatively short timelines in
order to
meet growing demand, which experts say will peak at 100,000MW in
2025.
Apart from the Zizabona link, Zimbabwe's ZESA has also proposed the
construction of a 160 kilometre transmission line to increase the
north-south transfer capacity of the Zimbabwe network to 600MW, against the
current 200MW.
The proposed Central Transmission Corridor (CTC)
project is to be jointly
developed by ZESA, which would have a 20 percent
shareholding in the
venture, while prospective private investors would take
up the additional 80
percent.
ZESA chief executive Ben Rafemoyo said
the project would require $100
million.
Rafemoyo said the CTC had
reached a long-term agreement with South Africa's
Eskom, which is seeking to
import more power from the DRC and Mozambique to
meet domestic
demand.
"Eskom are the long-term offtaker. Key terms of the contract,
including
tariffs, have now been agreed with Eskom," he said.
CTC
expected to raise long-term debt against the security of the Eskom
offtake,
according to a project document by ZESA. The CTC project is
expected to be
complete by December 2012 and is expected to significantly
reduce costs
associated with congestion and lead to more efficient power
trading.
16 July
2009
CHRA has received disturbing reports from some sources
within the Harare City Council to the effect that there is rampant corruption in
the City Treasury. It is alleged that ratepayers’ money is leaking from the City
Treasury to ZANU PF coffers. The news comes in the midst of the City’s failure
to restore quality municipal service delivery claiming that they are facing
financial constraints.
Sources within Council have pointed out that the City’s
Finance Director; Mr. Zvikaramba has fallen out of grace with Councilors who
accuse him of approving the disbursement of funds from the City Treasury without
Council approval. It has been revealed that a couple of thousands of dollars are
finding their way out of the City Treasury and they are allegedly feeding into
ZANU PF coffers. There are some allegations that the ZANU PF party is continuing
with its tradition of heavily relying on the City of Harare for its financial
survival. Mr. Zvikaramba is said to be receiving instructions from the Minister
of Local Government to release money from the City Treasury. Some Councilors
have pointed out that this is the reason why the Minister of Local Government,
Ignatius Chombo, continues to heavily interfere with the affairs of Town House.
They have also said this is the reason why the City’s former Finance Director,
Mr. Mubvumbi was relieved of his duties on flimsy allegations which the Minister
has failed to substantiate to date. The Councilors said that Mubvumbi was
professional in his work and he would not release money anyhow; a situation that
subsequently led to his unfair suspension. The Minister of Local Government’s
strong support for Zvikaramba emanates from his (Zvikaramba’s) allegiance to the
Minister rather than to the Council.
Residents are deeply concerned with these incidences of
corruption that have the potential to permanently cripple the City’s financial
capacity and take away any hope for the revival of quality municipal service
delivery in Harare. These reports come barely six months after 300 of the
Council’s cattle disappeared from the City’s farm at Crowborough. The sad thing
is that the Minister did not do anything to bring the culprits to book. Residents cannot continue to pay their hard
earned money to satisfy the greed of inconsiderate politicians and we thereby
make the following demands;
CHRA remains committed to advocating for good,
transparent and accountable local governance and lobbying for quality municipal
(and other) service delivery on a non partisan
basis.
Combined Harare Residents Association (CHRA)
145 Robert Mugabe Way
Exploration House, Third Floor
Harare
Landline: 00263- 4-
705114
Contacts: Mobile: 0912 653 074, 0913 042 981, 011862012
or email info@chra.co.zw ,
and admin@chra.co.zw
It only takes a visit to Binga to instill in one, just how totally decimated
that part of the country has been over the last ten years. The Tonga people had
succeeded in building themselves a life here, fifty years after the construction
of Lake Kariba had forced them into what is possibly the most arid and
inhospitable terrain in Africa. They had adjusted to a life of herding cattle, subsistence farming where
there is little or no rainfall, wood carving for tourism, and fishing for those
lucky enough to be relocated fairly near the lake. But in recent times, as their dislike of the hated ruling party became
obvious, the wrath of Zanu-PF descended on them, turning a tidy little colony
into the dusty begging bowl that it is today. Politics, in spite of the GNU, is
still spoken of in hushed voices, many Zanu PF supporters had been moved in to
Government positions here to keep an eye on the people, and the entire Binga
area, a total of 1500 hectares, with a population of 130 thousand, has been
under siege virtually since the constitutional elections in 2000. A visit to a “growth point”, just south-west of Binga, showed us just how the
economic and political upheavals of the past few years had affected the rural
community. They are desperately poor. The rains were not too bad this year, but
with a lack of seed and fertiliser, the impoverished community was unable to
capitalize on the unusually high rainfall and crops are sparse. Cotton is one crop that does fairly well in Binga and the Cotton Marketing
Board had a fairly good system running before the political wheels fell off the
country. At the foothills of the Chizarira Mountains I saw the remnants of what
once was a good subsistence cotton crop. Great piles of giant hessian bags
marked “Cotco 2008” were everywhere awaiting collection. It was very dirty poor
grade cotton, the bags were already rotting in the boiling sun, and cotton -
someone’s livelihood - was spilling out and blowing away in the wind. “They will come and get it one day, when a price has been negotiated” was the
calm response to my question. “One day” is an indifferent term in Zimbabwe time; it could be weeks, months
or years, but someone will come “one day” and collect it, as sure as day turns
into night. Terminology has moved on in Zimbabwe. We now do not speak of “Change” or
“Chinja”. We do not say wistfully with almost every breath “When things change”;
we now speak of “When things get better” - and so it seemed this way too in
Binga. I never fail to be proud, but always astounded, at how self-effacing, how
humble, and peaceful Zimbabweans can be in the face of hardship and despair. Logistics play a big part in rural Binga’s economy. What trucking company
will come all this way, on a road that shatters your bones to pieces, when
diesel is short yet again, and hard currency is hard to come by? No doubt the
cotton farmer will be paid with the peculiar “Government Voucher” which allows
him to buy at certain supermarkets around the country. How many of them are in
Binga, I wonder? Thankfully the “User”, the local name for the US$, does not devalue and the
farmer may one day get some goods, or some cotton seed to replant for when
“Things come right” - hopefully not when its too late. Another glaring anomaly in this remote Binga district was the incongruous
sight of a mighty brand-spanking-new Kipor Generator, officially marked with
some sort of reference number. It must have been all of 100 Hz, enough to
provide power to a hotel, but sitting as proud as punch in a pole and wire
lean-to, goats nestling against it cosily for the shade! Next to the giant sunshine yellow generator was a brand new grinding mill,
untouched by human hands, pristine and unsullied. Not a gram of maize had been
ground by it. It was a gift from the ‘ruling-party’ Zanu-PF, prior to the
elections in 2008. This donation is a big expensive effort to bribe the Zanu-PF
loathing community into voting for it. Which consortium of brilliant government
intellectuals had thought of this interesting scheme? How does one come across
hundreds of litres of diesel to run this mighty machine in the middle of darkest
Africa? It is such a gigantic beast, one would probably be looking at one litre
an hour at the least, and where were the spares and where was the maintenance
program ? All of this is irrelevant, I assume, because the real point was to try
secure votes! A generator of this size in a community where survival requires musika pods
and umcaga berries to be harvested from trees by elderly grandmothers? Where
bullfrogs and flying-ants are a delicacy? Where one single hand-pump borehole
must supply a community with villages as far as twenty kilometres away? Where
cattle, sheep, goats and humans drink from the same hand-pump? But the goats were comfortable and the yellow peril stood proud and tall. The
people smiled ironically at the machine as they walked past to the hand-pump
borehole, carrying endless buckets on their heads. There’s no folling the people
of Binga - they now this machine is yet another useless legacy of proof of a
government with its back once seriously against the wall.
Concerns that bringing to justice those who committed atrocities would deplete political capital and spirit of inclusive government are outrageous. It is the height of insensitivity to those aggrieved.
Unfortunately the atrocities did not end by instituting the inclusive government. Instead they are continuing to this present day. The unpleasant reality is that, more likely than not, they will escalate come election time. The whole point of bringing this to light (to justice If I had my way) is to cause those abductors, murderers, torturers, asset grabbers and rapists to completely surrender. Doing so also prevents any future recurrence of such heinous crimes on innocent civilians.
Talk of the Ministry of National Healing, better call it Ministry of National Concealing, the starting point should be to reveal the terrible crimes against humanity that were committed by the Zimbabwe’s politicians. As it stands, the Ministry smacks of a national healing among politicians seeking to rehabilitate one another at the expense of bringing true relief to those who suffered terribly from various crimes ranging from rape, murder, torture, maim, injury, for instance.
The main reason Nuremberg trials were immediately carried out soon after World War II was to clean the system of residual Nazis and to make sure that no such crimes would ever be committed against innocent citizens ever again. The process would later on be dubbed ‘Denazification’. As a result perpetrators were properly tried and those found guilty were punished according to the crimes they committed.
The road to destruction started when the Fuehrer Adolf Hitler convinced the German public that the problems of the German nation were to be squarely blamed on the Jews. Is that not an all-too-familiar Zimbabwean / African escapism? Blame the white men and his ‘West’ for all your problems. It’s not about your corruption, mismanagement or looting of national resources. Not even about an unpopular President getting ready to rule eternally while Zanu PF is still boasting of a monopoly of incompetence.
While the Nuremberg-type trials are a remote possibility in Zimbabwe at the moment, some movement towards Dezanufication is long overdue. Recent disturbances by Zimbabwe’s own residual ‘Nazis’ at the All-Stakeholder Constitutional Conference remind us of that history will repeat itself if no remedial steps are put in place as a matter of urgency.
Like Denazification, Dezanufication is a political imperative necessary to remove active lawlessness and those who subscribe to torture doctrine from Zimbabwe’s peace-loving communities. There are people out there who believe that they are still above the law the same way they broke the laws yesteryear with impunity. We all saw how the recent Constitutional Conference in Zimbabwe was called off having been run over by the same ‘war vets’ who previously brutalized defenseless citizens while unrestrained by (immune to) law enforcement.
Isn’t it ironic that all the members of the regime who committed atrocities were rewarded by the inclusive government? But one would think that they at least have a sense of collective guilt as to be ashamed of their horrible recent past. Wouldn’t this be the opportune time for them to withdraw into some form of personal purgatory and begin to work and lead for a better Zimbabwe free from violence given the Gehenna that they created for the people of Zimbabwe?
For a fact we know that thousands of people succumbed to political violence, economic failure, hunger and poverty as well as unnecessary and preventable diseases. The net result was a plundered civilization and a return to the medieval times. For instance, we witnessed a country without functioning hospitals and schools.
This week, Zimbabwe was again beamed internationally for the wrong reasons, just a laughing stock. Recently the Prime Minister was on a critical international mission to woo investors, against backdrop of a fragile coalition which he tried hard to conceal. Wasn’t that the same undercutting by Zanu PF he suffered he was promoting Zimbabwe as a safe investment destination only to coincide with news of escalating violence and political thuggery? Where does one get the motivation to invest in a lawless society? What guarantees one’s security of his/her investments given Zimbabwe’s notoriety for asset-grabbing in the name of reversing colonial injustices (whatever that means)? What about the state of property rights?
The lesson that we are also getting here is that for those of us who believe in the MDC change agenda, we need to learn patience as it was never going to be easy dealing with people who have ruled for three decades uninterrupted. However our politicians should also listen to those who are criticizing the inclusive government, who hold different views about how to move forward. It is true that some of the greatest patriots are those who criticize the government of the day because they care deeply about their country and they want the best for its citizens.
The inclusive government should be fully supported so that a stable and legitimate government can soon be put in place, born out of free and fair elections. A new constitution means everything to all Zimbabweans and to the International community. Any decision by MDC to pull out of the inclusive government will certainly play into Zanu PF’s hands as naturally preferred by many of Mugabe’s compatriots belonging to his kleptocratic camp.
I have no doubt that the Prime Minister ‘plays dumb’ on many occasions even though it appears as if he is sycophantically appeasing Mugabe. He knows that in the grand scheme of things, getting a new constitution acceptable to the people of Zimbabwe will probably be one of his the biggest achievements.
However in my previous article (available on www.nationalvision.wordpress.com) I warned against the perfidious game of political correctness. Simply summarized, we have a Prime Minister who has a tough and delicate balancing act: being careful not to rattle Mugabe while at the same time not losing his mojo as a leader of an opposition that has been hardwired to hearing anti-Mugabe rhetoric (justifiably so, especially before the inclusive government). The third factor is that the man himself has also morphed into a co-leader of a nation.
People have to understand that Mugabe joined the inclusive government much against the will of many powerful politicians and security chiefs who populate the corridors of power. They know that their power privileges are slipping away very fast hence the attempts to subvert the process of re-writing of the new constitution. At least for that reason I give Mugabe credit.
For now, Ignore Arthur Mutambara, the Mugabesque Deputy Prime Minister, who is trying to buy more time for the inclusive government, the same way he bought his way into Zimbabwean politics. It’s understandable for him to call for five more years because his political future without the inclusive government is as clear as mud.
However engaging in unnecessary compromises has the potential to raze the party to the ground. For instance, there is nothing to compromise on unilateral Tomana and Gono appointments. There is nothing to compromise on the continuing malicious arrests of your MP’s facing concocted charges. There is nothing to compromise on continued farm invasions. There is nothing to compromise on the rule of law, free press and illegal detentions. Our outrage and condemnation of rule of thuggery must be unequivocal. There is nothing to compromise on a people-driven Constitution. The inclusive government cannot unilaterally decide to run for five years.
With Attorney General Johannes Tomana in charge, dockets have conveniently vanished and many more are disappearing each extra day he stays in office. Only in Zimbabwe can that happen! Tomana is the same AG at the center of a firestorm of criticism having been unilaterally appointed by Mugabe in direct violation of GPA terms, the basis of the inclusive government. Retention of Mr Gono and Mr Tomana undermine the mission to bring change in Zimbabwe. Insisting on retaining these two hardliners proves a point that there is a deep-seated insidious agenda.
We should all think about how Zimbabwe came to be what it is today – A banana republic. As an advocate of the inclusive government myself, we cannot expect the Prime Minister Tsvangirai to undo overnight what we all allowed to happen for three decades. Obviously there will be missteps along the way and we should be able to point at them loudly. With the same measure, it is every progressive Zimbabwean’s responsibility to educate fellow brothers and sisters who are enslaved as agents of political thuggery that they are in actual fact fighting against their own interests. They are simply being used by cold-hearted politicians for personal gain.
http://www.swissinfo.ch
July 16,
2009 - 1:52 PM
The Swiss
foreign ministry says it has no alternative but to end the
freezing of
assets belonging to the late dictator of Zaire, Mobutu Sese
Seko.
Its
decision, announced on Thursday, followed a ruling two days ago at the
Federal Criminal Court in Bellinzona.
The court rejected a citizen's
appeal by Basel University criminologist Mark
Pieth to keep a freeze on the
assets in Swiss banks valued at SFr7.7 million
($6.68 million).
Pieth
had opposed returning the funds to Mobutu's heirs, who he alleged were
suspected of criminal activities in what is now the Democratic Republic of
Congo.
The foreign ministry said it did not agree with the situation
but there was
nothing more it could do.
"[The foreign ministry]
deplores this outcome, which ends 12 years of
freezing of the assets in
which all options to come to a fair solution were
attempted", it said in a
statement.
Change legislation
It said the case underlined the need to
change legislation to prevent
similar situations in the future.
The
ministry said it had informed the banks and the parties concerned
through
their lawyers on Wednesday.
Switzerland blocked assets deposited by
Mobutu and his clan in 1997
following a request from the country's
government.
In 2008, Swiss authorities agreed to keep the assets frozen
so that a
Congolese government lawyer could initiate proceedings in
Switzerland to
block the assets and enable the competent legal authority to
decide how to
deal with the case.
But in April this year, the Swiss
Prosecutor's Office said the statute of
limitations had run out in the case
and the assets should therefore be
handed over to Mobutu's
heirs.
"Considerable lengths"
Thursday's statement argued that the
Swiss government had gone to
"considerable lengths" to bring the case to a
satisfactory end.
Mandated by the government, the foreign ministry had
helped the parties
concerned to find a solution.
However, the lack of
support over a long period from the Congolese
authorities, together with the
inflexibility of the Mobutu heirs, meant that
it was not possible to reach
an agreement, the statement added.
The foreign ministry said the
requirement finally to make restitution to the
Mobutu assets underlined the
need to adapt Swiss legislation to prevent
similar cases from
recurring.
It was instructed by the government in December last year to
draft a law
making it possible to confiscate and to return illicit assets of
so-called
politically exposed persons.
This legislation is now being
drafted and a bill should be ready by next
year.
Progress
After
the ruling, Pieth told the Tages-Anzeiger newspaper he was unable to
continue his legal fight - "I've used up all my ammo."
He added that
it would be wrong to portray all dictators as mafia bosses,
but said there
were individual criminal regimes to whom that description
applied.
"The Mobutu regime tortured and killed opponents en masse in
order to
consolidate its power, get rich and exploit the country over
decades. Robert
Mugabe is doing a similar thing in Zimbabwe," he
said.
Pieth believed however that it had become harder for dictators to
hide
illegally acquired fortunes in Switzerland.
"The problem is that
a bank doesn't know, just like that, who's behind a
corporation - potentates
don't use their real names. But imagine a bank
taking money from Mugabe,
despite the fact that they must realise what's
going on. That would be so
bad that they'd probably worry about their
licence. We've taken a big step
forward."
swissinfo.ch and
agencies
From ZWNEWS, 16 July
The plight of
Zimbabwean asylum seekers in the UK, who are not allowed to
work, was
highlighted in a report publishes this week. Based on a survey of
Zimbabweans in the UK, and more detailed interviews with some of them, the
study shows the loss of skills associated with enforced worklessness, with
negative effects on both the asylum seekers and the communities in which
they live. People seeking asylum, and those who remain in the UK after their
asylum claims have been rejected, are routinely refused permission to
undertake formal employment. As one of those surveyed put it; "It doesn't
make sense to me that someone who is able-bodied and mentally fit to work
cannot do that. I think the whole point is just to frustrate one to the
point where you say I've had it, I'm leaving…"
Zimbabwean
asylum seekers are perhaps uniquely fit to slot easily into the
UK
workforce. They speak English and are products of an education system
which
shares many features with the UK system. And they tend to be well
qualified.
Of those surveyed, 64% had attained O-Level (GCSE) standard, over
a third
had reached A-Level, 13% had studied to degree level, an 6% had
post-graduate degrees. Teaching was the profession which featured most among
the survey group, with almost half of respondents having worked as teachers
or lecturers, but there was also widespread experience in the
administration, finance, health care and retail sectors. Yet only 8% were
given permission to work, with the result that most had to rely on the
generosity of others. 30% reported having been homeless, and 21% having
suffered from hunger since coming to the UK.
As one asylum seeker
put it; "I have been left destitute and I play hide and
seek with
Immigration. I have sometimes resorted to prostitution to get
money for food
and clothes not out of choice. I was never a prostitute in
Zimbabwe. But
life is tough here. I want to be granted asylum here and work
legally." The
report's authors urge the government to recognise the
contribution these
skilled asylum seekers could be making to the UK economy,
and grant them
permission to work if their cases are not settled within six
months. They
also want an end to the Foreign Office and the UK Border Agency
working at
cross-purposes, with the Foreign Office recognising the serious
human rights
abuses in Zimbabwe, and the Border Agency working flat out to
send people
home.