http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
July 20, 2012 in News, Politics
Herbert
Moyo
STATE-RUN Herald columnist Nathaniel Manheru — widely understood to
be
President Robert Mugabe’s spokesman George Charamba — last Saturday gave
readers an insight into his boss’ thinking following the Supreme Court
ruling ordering the president to set a date for by-elections by August
30.
In his column titled Zanu PF: When defeat gets so sweet, Manheru said
this
was “a legal battle where Mugabe the president loses to Mugabe (the)
leader
of a political party seeking an early electoral end” in the
Government of
National Unity (GNU), which he describes as a “political
charade”.
This clearly reflected the interpretation of the ruling the
Zimbabwe
Independent got from senior Zanu PF officials loyal to Mugabe.
Although
Mugabe lost the case, he emerged the winner insofar as the
judgement gives
him a lifeline to resuscitate his plans for general
elections this year
which were thwarted by Sadc leaders at their
extraordinary summit in Luanda,
Angola, recently.
While some observers
seem to think Mugabe lost the matter, the reality is he
lost as president of
the country who has a constitutional obligation to
proclaim election dates,
in this case by-elections, but won as Zanu PF
leader.
Mugabe’s lawyer
Advocate Ray Goba was quick to say he expected his client to
comply with the
order.
“The highest court has ruled and so we expect that the order would be
complied with,” he said.
The indirect Mugabe victory may however be
hollow as it has been stated,
mainly by the MDC led by Professor Welshman
Ncube, (see Qhubani Moyo’s
opinion-editorial piece on page 15), the
moratorium on by-elections is still
valid since Sadc leaders and principals
extended it for the duration of the
Global Political Agreement (GPA) and the
inclusive government in Maputo in
November 2009 after the initial one year
freeze had expired.
So despite the Supreme Court ruling, GPA parties, Zanu PF
and the two MDC
formations, are still bound by their own agreement not to
contest each other
even if by-elections are held. Short of violating or
pulling out of the GPA,
Zanu PF might not be able to benefit anything
politically valuable from the
ruling.
Mugabe had appealed a 2011 High
Court order calling on him to proclaim
by-election dates for constituencies
left vacant following the expulsion of
Abednico Bhebhe, Njabuliso Mguni and
Norman Mpofu from Ncube’s MDC.
While there is consensus the ruling was
legally sound condemning Mugabe to a
rare court defeat, the veteran leader
has ironically come out the winner as
the judgement gave him a lifeline to
revive his call for elections this year
which had been effectively blocked
by Sadc.
Mugabe had been demanding elections this year, with or without
reforms,
including a new constitution.
Showing why Mugabe might be happy
with the ruling, Manheru said the court
ruling had implications “well beyond
the three by-elections to suggest many
possibilities, all of them favourable
to Zanu PF”.
“More dramatically and boldly, the president may use this
judgement to
dissolve parliament and get the country to move post-haste to
harmonised
elections,” he wrote, revealing his and Zanu PF’s excitement at
the
opportunities provided by the judgment.
The coalition government did
not call for any by-elections since its
formation after the three parties
had inserted a moratorium in the GPA
preventing them from contesting against
each other for the first 12 months
of the inclusive government’s
lifespan.
However, the moratorium was further extended in Maputo to cover the
duration
of the GPA — something which ruins whatever designs Mugabe had in
mind to
revive his crumbling elections plans.
Judging by the official
Prime Minister’s Newsletter, the MDC-T seemed to be
holding the wrong end of
the stick and unaware of the wider implications of
the ruling which it
simplistically hailed as one of those rare episodes
where “Zimbabweans must
celebrate the mere fact that for the first time in
its history, the Supreme
Court went against the true intentions of Robert
Mugabe and Zanu
PF”.
While conceding the court decision is legally sound and by-elections are
overdue, University of Kent law lecturer Dr Alex Magaisa however said the
situation could be used by Zanu PF to test the strength of its popular
support and its electoral machinery ahead of general elections like it did
with the February 2000 constitutional referendum whose “No” vote effectively
awakened the party to the real prospect of looming electoral defeat ahead of
the June 2000 election”.
“It is generally agreed that the ‘No’ vote
allowed Zanu PF to re-strategise
and prevent what seemed to be sure defeat
in the 2000 parliamentary
elections,” Magaisa said.
He also said the
ruling might result in a sheer waste of resources, given
the forthcoming
constitutional referendum and general elections.
“The imminence of the
general election, the resource limitations and the
potential instability
that comes with elections all combine to make a
cocktail of challenges that
arise on account of this judgment,” Magaisa
said.
“But we should not
forget the GPA was a product of political negotiation and
if by-elections
are considered undesirable in the run-up to the next general
elections, the
politicians have to, and can find, a way of dealing with this
situation.”
University of Zimbabwe law lecturer Professor Lovemore
Madhuku concurred the
judgement was legally sound but suggested its effect
should have been
suspended. “The best thing would have been to suspend the
effect of the
ruling even for 12 months to allow the president time to find
money to hold
general elections,” he said.
MDC secretary-general
Priscilla Misihairabwi-Mushonga said there was
“absolutely no sense” in
having by-elections now, only to have general
elections soon after.
Zanu
PF strategist and senior politburo member Jonathan Moyo, who has been
spearheading calls for general and by-elections this year, told state
television, ZBC on Monday the country should after the ruling just hold
general elections.
“If all we have is the US$100 million, surely let us
use it to hold the one
that matters,” Moyo said in reference to general
elections.
Attorney Jonathan Samkange dismissed Finance minister Tendai
Biti’s argument
that there was no money to fund by-elections, saying he
would have to “look
for it”.
Manheru further said: “Until this court
decision, the whole debate has
evolved as if only GPA principals watched by
Sadc through its facilitator
have been the only factors at play.”
The
court decision may just have given Mugabe a way around Sadc resolutions
deemed inconvenient by Zanu PF pressing for general elections this year
without reforms — effectively pulling the rug from under the MDC parties’
feet but the moratorium on by-elections might as well foil the president’s
plans once again.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
July 20, 2012 in News, Politics
THIS
week the Zimbabwe Independent, which has over the years been
investigating
the goings-on at Marange diamond fields, carries the third
instalment of the
latest Global Witness report, Financing A Parallel
Government?, which makes
interesting revelations about Chiadzwa.
This week the report by
the UK-based non-governmental organisation which
campaigns against natural
resource-related conflict, corruption and
associated environmental and human
rights abuses exposes how Zimbabwe’s
security forces direct shadowy
companies as a means to fund their agenda
off-budget. The Global Witness
reports sheds light on activities unfolding
at Marange diamond fields,
detailing who is involved and the intricate
networks comprising the Chinese
and Zimbabwe’s security forces, the army,
police and intelligence services
dealing in diamonds, cotton and property
sectors.
Members of the CIO are
directors of three interlinked companies:
Sino-Zimbabwe
Development (Pte) Ltd, registered in Singapore on June 12
2009, with
directors: Lo Fong Hung, Veronica Fung Yuen, Jimmy Zerenie, Gift
Kalisto
Machengete and Pritchard Zhou;
Strong Achieve Holdings Ltd,
registered in the British Virgin Islands on
March 23 2009, with authorised
signatory: Masimba Ignatius Kamba;
Sino-Zimbabwe Development (Pvt) Ltd,
incorporated in Zimbabwe on May 14
2010, with directors: Masimba Ignatius
Kamba and Lo Fong Hung.
Global Witness, through information obtained from
several sources within the
Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO), has
identified three of the
Zimbabwean directors of these companies as members
of the CIO.
The first, Gift Kalisto Machengete, is a director of the
Zimbabwean company
Sino-Zimbabwe Development (Pvt) Ltd, and holds 51% of
that company’s shares,
according to records held at the Zimbabwean company
registry. Multiple
sources from within the secret police identify Dr
Machengete as a director
of finance and administration in the CIO.
Machengete is also currently a
board member of the Grain Marketing Board
(GMB), and on its website he has
publicly listed his career history as
including employment as a research
economist in the President’s Department
(parent department of the CIO) from
1985-1991.
He was also Head of
Coordination and Secretariat in the President’s
Department in 1998; Acting
High Commissioner at the Zimbabwean High
Commission in Malaysia; and from
2006 he was appointed as deputy director
Administration and Finance in the
President’s Department.
Further, there is a company called Sino-Zim Diamonds
Ltd, registered in Hong
Kong on April 15 2010. This shares a director, Jimmy
Zerenie, with
Sino-Zimbabwe Development (Pvt) Ltd, but Global Witness has no
information
to suggest that the CIO has any role in this Hong Kong company,
nor that the
directors or staff of Sino-Zim Diamonds Ltd had any knowledge
of any CIO
involvement in “Sino-Zimbabwe Development”.
The second,
Pritchard Zhou, is a director of Sino-Zimbabwe Development (Pvt)
Ltd.
According to Zimbabwe’s company register, Zhou has been identified as a
CIO
operative by several sources within the secret police. In 2005 he was a
minister counsellor at the Zimbabwean Embassy in South Africa. He is
presently director of the Zimbabwe National Heritage Trust.
The third,
Masimba Ignatius Kamba, is identified by one source as holding a
leadership
position within the Zimbabwean company, Sino-Zimbabwe Development
(Pvt) Ltd,
although he does not appear in the Zimbabwean company register.
He is,
however, listed as a director of Sino-Zimbabwe Development (Pte) Ltd,
registered in Singapore, and as the authorised signatory for Strong Achieve
Holdings Ltd, registered in the British Virgin Islands. Several credible
sources within the CIO identified Kamba as another CIO member.
In
addition Kamba was named in the media as a senior member of the CIO when,
in
2010, he was the beneficiary of the unlawful seizure of Silverton Estate,
a
commercial farm. During the seizure of the farm, Kamba told the owners he
was director of finance in the President’s Office. This claim was publicly
repeated in 2010 in the newsletter of the Office of the Zimbabwe Prime
Minister (MDC), which alleged that Kamba is the director of administration
in the CIO.
In some of the court documentation surrounding the farm
seizure Kamba is
sometimes described as Ignatius Kamba, and once gives his
address as Private
Bag 0095, Gaborone, the address of the Sadc secretariat
in Botswana.
There are also several public reports of men named Ignatius
Kamba, Masimba
Kamba or IM Kamba, who may be the same man, but Global
Witness has not been
able to confirm they are one and the same person. In
1998 Kamba was a
counsellor in Zimbabwe’s Mission to the European Union. In
2004 in a list of
the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe’s governing board an IM Kamba
was publicly
listed as acting director of Economics in the President’s
Department. A man
named Masimba Kamba was appointed to the board of the
National Oil Company
of Zimbabwe in 2006. Finally, in 2011, a Masimba Kamba
attended, as a Sadc
representative, an Asean-EU High Level Expert Workshop
on Preventive
Diplomacy and International Peace Mediation, held in
Indonesia.
Sino-Zimbabwe Cotton Holdings, a company which Global Witness
believes to be
in effect the same firm as Sino-Zimbabwe Development (Pvt)
Ltd, is accused
of being represented by senior Zanu PF politicians and
serving and retired
CIO officers during a 2010 dispute over the company’s
behaviour in the
cotton industry. In court documents senior Zanu PF
government officials are
alleged to have “spearheaded” the entry of the
company into Zimbabwe. These
officials include Saviour Kasukuwere, the
Minister of Youth Development,
Indigenisation and Empowerment, Nicholas
Goche, Minister of Transport and
Assistant Commissioner Martin Kwainona, a
police officer and member of
President Mugabe’s personal bodyguard.
Goche
and Kasukuwere are on both the EU and US sanctions lists, while
Kwainona is
on the EU sanctions list.
Global Witness interviewed some of the parties to
the dispute. They alleged
that during meetings between the parties,
Sino-Zimbabwe Cotton Holdings was
represented by former members of the CIO.
On one occasion, a currently
serving senior member of the CIO represented
Sino-Zimbabwe Cotton Holdings.
At district level Global Witness interviewees
identified local Sino-Zimbabwe
Cotton Holdings representatives as CIO
officers, who were permanently based
in the areas where they operated and
were well known to locally-based cotton
companies.
Sam Pa’s apparent
financial support for the CIO undermines Zimbabwean
democratic processes and
institutions. By its very nature, off-budget
financing of the security
sector undermines Zimbabwean democratic processes
and institutions. The GNU
should decide its spending priorities through
collective agreement in
cabinet. Zimbabwe’s National Security Council should
set a national security
strategy, and the GNU should raise taxes to fund
these priorities. The
process of managing expenditure and raising revenues
should be carried out
by the Ministry of Finance, overseen by the cabinet of
the GNU.
These
processes should be scrutinised by parliament. Off-budget financing
undermines democracy by allowing security forces to set, and fund, their own
agenda.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
July 20, 2012 in News, Politics
FORMER MDC-T
deputy spokesperson and Bulawayo East MP Tabitha Khumalo’s woes
continue to
mount with party insiders saying she is likely to lose her seat
in
parliament as well as her positions in organisations where she is
deployed
as the party’s representative.
Insiders say moves are firmly underway to oust
her as operations committee
chairperson of Jomic, from the Parliamentary
Standing Rules and Orders
Committee where she is a committee member and the
Sadc Parliamentary Forum
where she sits on the committee on
HIV/Aids.
Khumalo was fired as deputy spokesperson last week amid reports of
factionalism and infighting in the MDC-T’s Bulawayo provincial structures
where she is fighting with deputy party leader Thokozani Khupe.
“The
battle is much serious than we thought,” said a party insider. “They
are now
moving to destroy her career in the MDC-T once and for all through a
series
of measures.”
Contacted for comment MDC-T spokesperson Douglas Mwonzora could
not deny nor
confirm there were moves to further demote Khumalo.
“Khumalo
remains a founding member of the party; however there is an ongoing
restructuring exercise where members will be moved from one position to
another,” he said.
Outspoken Khumalo has never been far from controversy
and challenged Khupe
for the deputy presidency at the party’s congress in
Bulawayo last year.
However, disgruntled MDC-T party officials say Prime
Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai not helping matters by alienating colleagues who
helped him
launch the party in a move to give the MDC-T intellectual and
technocratic
fibre.
“It is unfortunate Tsvangirai has roped in people who
are opportunists and
have departed from the founding principles of the
party,” said a disgruntled
party official. –– Staff Writer.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
July 20, 2012 in News
Herbert Moyo
ECONET
Wireless Zimbabwe has called on the government to abolish the
Universal
Services Fund (USF), citing the Postal and Telecommunications
Regulatory
Authority of Zimbabwe (Potraz)’s failure to account for the
revenue paid
into the fund by telecommunications players and failure to use
it for its
intended purpose of further improving the sector.
In his presentation to the
Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Media,
Information and Communication
Technology focusing on policy misalignment on
network development
programmes, Econet chief executive Douglas Mboweni said
that two per cent of
his company’s gross revenue had to be surrendered to
the fund in the absence
of any communication as to how it will be used and
despite the fact that it
was not being ploughed back into information
communication technology (ICT)
development.
Mboweni, who said his company was “quite emotional” about the
money it paid
into the fund from 1998 to 2008, which Potraz could not
account for, urged
the government to abolish the fund.
“The USF is no
longer relevant because we are already doing the work it was
meant to be
doing, especially building base stations,” Mboweni said.
All licensed
operators in the postal and telecommunications sector are
supposed to
contribute to the USF administered by Potraz, which was set up
to finance
the provision of postal and telecommunications services in the
under-serviced areas of the country. It was revealed that Potraz had built a
paltry 8 base stations to be operated and shared by players in the
telecommunications sector.
In 2010, Potraz was accused of sitting on
US$20 million under the USF due to
its failure to come up with a concrete
plan to utilise the funds. It was
reported at the time that government had
decided to direct US$10 million of
the fund towards supporting the country’s
fibre optic backbone, critical for
the maintenance of high standards of
quality in the telecommunication
sector.
However, Econet which revealed
that it had so far contributed US$30 million
since dollarisation, said it
was already investing more funds in the fibre
optic link and
base
stations, which rendered the USF irrelevant.
Mboweni also expressed
Econet’s displeasure at the other cellular
communications companies’ failure
to match his Econet’s contribution to the
fiscus, saying “no company was
given more resources than the other.” Econet
has this year contributed
US$414 million to government through taxes and
licensing fees.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
July 20, 2012 in International,
Politics
Wongai Zhangazha recently in ADDIS ABABA
AS heavy rains
pounded the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, a storm — not
weather-related,
but political — was brewing in the new, US$200 million
Chinese-built African
Union headquarters where the next head of the
secretariat was being
elected.
Incumbent Jean Ping of Gabon was locking horns with South
African Home
Affairs minister for the second time this
year.
Dlamini-Zuma had failed six months ago to oust Ping as AU Commission
chair.
The South African former foreign minister was nominated by Sadc, which
had
not had a chance to head the continental body’s secretariat since the
Organisation of African Unity (now AU) was established in 1963.
Ping had
the backing of Francophone Africa as well as countries opposed to
the
perceived dominance of South Africa — the continent’s largest economy —
including continental political giant Nigeria.
There was palpable tension
among diplomats as they shuttled between hotels
and offices, lobbying for
their preferred candidate and trying to manage an
explosive election which
threatened to divide the AU.
Dlamini-Zuma eventually emerged winner, but it
was not an easy road for her
as she had to survive a vicious smear campaign
waged by Ping.
Ping angrily denied reports claiming his campaign was being
funded by France
and accusing him of failing to manage the crises in Ivory
Coast and Libya,
among other issues.
He hit back, saying SA had voted for
Resolution 1973 authorising the bombing
of Libya, among other
things.However, Sadc was riled by the allegations and
Botswana Foreign
minister, Phandu Skelemani, accused Ping of “sowing seeds
of animosity and
division among AU member states”, and demanded an apology.
But some East
African countries were reportedly angered by Skelemani’s
remarks, as they
preferred comments by another southern African country, not
Botswana or
Malawi which supported the arrest of Sudanese President Omar
Al-Bashir.
Fears in the AU corridors were that Sadc would lose some votes
as a result,
although Zimbabwe’s Foreign minister Simbarashe Mumbengegwi
appeared
confident.
“Everybody now accepts that it is no longer tenable
to continue to
marginalise the southern African region which has not held
the position of
AU Commissioner for 49 years,” said Mumbengegwi.
“Central
Africa has held the position on three occasions and now there is no
way they
can hold it for a fourth time while southern Africa has not held it
even
once. Losing is not an option,” he said.
However, the battle intensified
after a document titled Observations on Ms
Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma’s
candidacy was circulated.
“Accepting Ms Zuma’s candidacy amounts to fully
selling out our continent,”
read the document.
It also claimed: the fact
that South African Reserve Bank had private
shareholders was proof the
country was not a sovereign state and should not
be allowed to field a
candidate for the chairmanship.
“The central bank of South Africa is
privately-owned (although controlled by
the government through legal
arrangements) since the apartheid era by an
Afrikaner coalition. How could
President Jacob Zuma, notoriously unable to
dismantle the Afrikaner
infrastructure that still controls the South African
economy through the
central bank, claim to assume and defend the union
project of Africa?” asked
the document.
Diplomatic sources said Dlamini-Zuma had the guaranteed support
of 30
countries going into the voting, and the challenge was securing the
support
of Ethiopia, Rwanda, Nigeria and Kenya, countries strongly behind
Ping.
When the vote finally got underway, Dlamini-Zuma garnered 27 votes
against
Ping’s 24 in the first round. In the second round she led with 29
votes to
Ping’s 22. In the third, Dlamini-Zuma got 33 votes, just one short
of the
required two thirds, forcing Ping to drop out as per rules.
She
then ran alone in the fourth round to secure the required two-thirds
majority by 37 votes.
As South African and Sadc delegates celebrated
Dlamini-Zuma’s victory, Kenya’s
Foreign Affairs assistant minister Richard
Onyonka blasted South Africa’s
‘bulldozing tactics’, saying they caused
ruptures within the AU.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
July 20, 2012 in International,
Politics
THE African Union’s African Court on Human and People’s Rights
judge
president Gerard Niyungeko has revealed that the institution wants to
expand
its jurisdiction to criminal matters in a manner similar to the
International Criminal Court (ICC) to address its challenges.
The African
Court was adopted at the then Organisation of African Unity
summit in
Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, in 1998 as a continental court to
ensure
protection of human and people’s rights in Africa. It complements and
reinforces the functions of the AU Commission on Human and People’s
Rights.
Speaking at the recent AU summit in Addis Ababa on challenges faced
by the
African Court based in Tanzania, Niyungeko said the court’s
jurisdiction was
only limited to civil matters and the AU’s policy
department was working on
broadening the court’s line of work to enable it
to try leaders, rebels,
security agents and ordinary people on cases of a
criminal nature.
The ICC has been criticised by African leaders as targeting
only them while
their counterparts from the West remain untouchable.
“The
court has been receiving several criminal cases from a number of
countries,
but it cannot yet try anyone in criminal matters because it does
not have
criminal jurisdiction,” said Niyungeko. “AU policy organs have
recognised
that the African Court should be given broad jurisdiction
especially on
criminal matters.”
However, Niyungeko lamented the small number of countries
which had ratified
the court, among them Zimbabwe, which has also not
ratified the ICC.
“Out of 54 countries, only 26 have so far ratified, which
is a challenge
because all of these countries have ratified the Charter on
Human and People’s
Rights.”
Niyungeko said the African Court would
collaborate with the ICC. — Staff
Writer.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
July 20, 2012 in Business
FINANCE minister Tendai Biti has
projected the country’s trade deficit will
widen to US$2,8 billion this
fiscal year, as the local industry continued to
be strained in
capacity.
Presenting the mid-term fiscal policy statement review on
Wednesday, Biti
said the widening trade gap, resulting from total imports of
US$8,2 billion
against exports of US$5,1 billion, would have a very negative
impact on the
country’s current account deficit.
“Capital inflows, which
ordinarily finance the current account deficit,
continue to underperform as
reflected through insignificant foreign direct
and portfolio investment as
well as overseas development assistance,”Biti
said.
He revised the budget
downwards from US$4 billion to US$3,640 billion, in an
environment where
expectations and resource demands are high.
Biti said the buoyant
expectations and ambitious targets of the 2012 budget
had been
systematically devalued by a number of downside risks, which
included a poor
rainy season in 2011; policy inconsistencies and
uncertainties undermining
investor confidence; lack of capital and the
absence of alternative
financing instruments; revenue underperformance
against a high and
unsustainable wage bill; and the crowding out of social
and infrastructure
spending.
However, according to the IMF, Zimbabwe’s budget for this year
would be out
by US$838 million due to an expected revenue shortfall of
US$640 million and
additional fiscal spending of US$198,1
million.
According to the IMF’s recently-concluded 2012 Article IV
consultations, the
original revenue projection of 37% of GDP (6,7% more than
in 2011), included
diamond dividends at 5,5% of GDP.
But the revenues had
underperformed, resulting in government revising
projected diamond dividends
downwards to US$100 million from US$600 million.
This creates a shortfall of
US$500 million. The IMF also estimated that tax
revenue would fall short by
US$140 million.
Biti said there would be various downside risks to the
economy from the
second quarter and into the last half of the
year.
“These include the failure to realise budget revenue targets and
reduced
demand for export commodities, with a negative bearing on overall
GDP
growth,” Biti said.
Mines minister Obert Mpofu recently said that
while diamond production would
maintain its upward trend and was on course
to meet the targets set for
2012, revenue would not meet the US$600 million
mark set by Treasury as the
major company mining in the area was under
sanctions.
Mpofu said initially the ministry had set a monthly target of
US$54 million,
but would not meet it because of the sanctions on the
Zimbabwe Mining
Development Corporation.
Biti said that contrary to last
year’s projections that GDP growth would be
9,4% this year, indications were
that the economy would shed almost four
percentage points to only grow by
5,6%. This fell short of the MTP annual
average target of 7,1%.
“The
slowdown in GDP growth is a reflection of the underperformance of some
key
sectors such as agriculture and tourism,” said Biti.
The IMF Article IV
Consultations’ report notes that expenditure originally
budgeted would
increase by some 3,5% of GDP on account of higher capital
outlays and
full-year effects of the 2011 pay increases would rise further
by US$198
million due to unbudgeted increases in employment costs, including
employee
allowances, in spite of efforts to resist pressure to increase base
salaries.
The mission also identified some further fiscal pressures from
higher-than-budgeted cash interest payments and costs arising from
transporting grain from the northern parts of the country to the drought-hit
south. — Staff Writer.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
July 15, 2012 in Opinion
IT
was useful to have Patrick Chinamasa’s comments on recent political
events
this week.
The purpose of the exercise –– an interview with Munyaradzi
Huni –– was
obviously to promote the myth that Zanu PF was responsible for
economic
policies that provided stability after the formation of the
Government of
National Unity in 2009.
In fact, Zanu PF was responsible
for promoting the anarchy we continue to
witness in the agricultural sector
and behind the indigenisation programme.
The official policy on the land now
is that it is under-utilised. As a
result, Zanu PF will oppose a land
audit.
“Yes, naturally it will be under-utilised,” Chinamasa commented.
“I
have said it on many occasions, I would not want to see any assessment of
people’s productive capacities at this moment because the resources are not
there.”
But we thought land reform was an unalloyed triumph for the
revolutionary
party!
And we certainly don’t recall Chinamasa saying that
any sort of audit could
not go ahead because there were insufficient
resources available to farmers.
Who was responsible for that? Here’s another
disclosure: “The few who are
producing are doing so from their own resources
and you know what we went
through in 2008. All our capital, all our bank
accounts were washed out.”
Again, who was responsible for that?
“We have
had to pull ourselves up by our own bootstraps,” Chinamasa
declared. “I
accept that there is a lot of land that is not being
productive. It belongs
to people with no capacity to use it.”
Goodness, what a comment on his
colleagues!
And there’s more. “What basically brought us to the
negotiating table under
Sadc was the unfortunate assault on Tsvangirai at a
police station.”
So if it was so “unfortunate”, why has the government not
done anything
about it? Does this not promote impunity? What does Chinamasa,
Minister of
Justice, think beyond pronouncing it “unfortunate”? Huni didn’t
ask so
Chinamasa didn’t tell.
This would be a good point to remind
ourselves of what Eddison Zvobgo had to
say about land “reform”.
“We have
tainted,” he said, “what was a glorious revolution reducing it to
some
agrarian racist enterprise.”
And that is precisely what it has
remained!
Meanwhile, here are a few words for Munyaradzi Huni to add to
his limited
lexicon: Mwale, Machipisa, Ndira, Nabanyama.
Very soon we
shall be ruled by failed bankers. We can hear their rabid
barking already
even though cabinet has not approved their plans to seize
control of banks
and schools.
If you are not a registered voter don’t complain when the
collapse which is
just around the corner occurs. You have a weapon against
misrule. You just
have to claim it.
Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe governor
Gideon Gono and Indigenisation minister
Saviour Kasukuwere reached a truce
on Monday in their public row over the
takeover of foreign-owned banks,
reports NewZimbabwe.com.
Kasukuwere who recently went berserk shouting
unprintable words when quizzed
about his contrasting position with that of
Gono had accused the latter of
being “immature”.
He then lectured Gono
that “discharging national responsibilities requires
maturity and sober
reasoning”.
Clearly Kasukuwere does not heed his own advice judging by his
recent f-word
rant to hapless journalists.
Despite being vituperative in
his attacks on foreign-owned banks Kasukuwere
is surprisingly tame and
evasive when it comes to his role in the demise of
the ill-fated Genesis
Investment Bank.
Despite claiming he no longer had anything to do with the
closed bank, we
recently carried a story which revealed Kasukuwere had a
13,8% stake in
Genesis through various investment vehicles as recently as
May 8.
He has blamed economic sanctions imposed by the United States and the
European Union for the collapse of his business empire.
“Here is a
company (Genesis) which has gone under not because of
mismanagement, but
purely because of sanctions,” he said
Kasukuwere has now set his sights on
the already decimated education system,
extending the asset-grab programme
under the indigenisation laws to include
privately-owned educational
institutions including crèches, primary and
secondary schools as well as
institutions of higher learning.
This is despite cabinet ministers such as
Education minister David Coltart
saying there was no such cabinet
policy.
Very soon the sanctions will also be to blame for the closure of
schools.
When will the perennially under-construction library in
Kuwadzana be finally
operational? For the past decade we have been promised
time and again that
the library will open “soon”.
The MP for the area,
MDC-T national organising secretary Nelson Chamisa, at
the weekend told
Kuwadzana residents he had “repossessed” the community
library which had
been converted into a Zanu PF torture base, NewsDay
reports.
“Our
colleagues from Zanu PF used to torture people at this place during the
2008
elections,” he claimed. “They even ended up stealing window panes,
toilet
equipment and other plumbing material. Every resident in Kuwadzana,
including the unborn children, know about this,” he said.
For the
umpteenth time Chamisa announced that the library would be
officially opened
soon. We hope this “soon” will arrive in our lifetimes!
A little less talk
and a lot more action go a long way Cde Chamisa. That
includes hero-worship
of other people’s leaders.
Zambian jester-in-chief President Michael Sata
was once again in the news
for yet another “joke”, this time at former US
President George W Bush’s
expense. Sata and Bush held a press conference
commemorating a charity
project which included the donation of a cervical
cancer-screening centre.
Sata complained about “the young man”, 66-year old
Bush, being late for
their meeting, adding that were he not bringing money
to Africa, he would
not have waited.
“The young man is lucky that he is
the first American leader to have brought
money to Africa through his
Millennium Challenge Account; that’s why I’m
standing here. Otherwise if it
was somebody else I would have handed him
over to one of my ministers to
meet him.”
Sata lashed out at Bush, calling him a “colonialist” who had come
to pay
back all the resources he had stolen from Africa. But this was all
light-hearted we were told. The two leaders know each other well.
In
an effort to mend relations, former Zambian President Rupiah Banda sent a
personal letter of apology to Bush after Sata’s outburst.
Part of the
letter read: “These statements, which were not only factually
incorrect and
undiplomatic, do not represent the true feelings of the
Zambian people, who
strongly recognise the value of positive relations with
the United States of
America.”
Sata then hit back with a strongly-worded reaction to Banda’s
statement
saying he was “deeply embarrassed” by Banda’s exaggeration of his
“light-hearted” conversation with Bush.
He then “encouraged” Banda to
“behave in a manner befitting a former Head of
State” and “behave as a
mature adult”.
“Mr Banda spent his presidency doing wrong things for himself
and his
children. I therefore understand his desperation and attempts to
seek
relevance, though in wrong places this time around,” charged
Sata.
Sata described Banda’s conduct as “unbecoming and unprecedented for a
self-respecting former Head of State”. A classic case of the pot calling the
kettle black!
Muckraker was amused by Nathaniel Manheru’s pathetic
attempt to claim
victory from the outcome of the Sadc summit in Luanda which
blocked
President Mugabe’s push for elections without reforms in
2012.
Zanu PF’s clamour for elections this year should not have been taken
literally, Manheru asserts.
“That urgency has been expressed through a
demand for elections “in 2012”, a
phrase which the two (MDC) formations want
to read literally, want to read
in calendar terms, indeed as a mathematical
magnitude.”
According to Manheru the push for polls this year was a mere
“metaphor” to
ensure “they fall in line with the frenetic election
time-table which Zanu
PF desires”.
“The bottom line is that we are going
for elections; we are ending this
dysfunctional inclusive government, and
this because Zanu PF — the ruler —
has willed it,”Manheru claimed.
This
is despite Manheru’s boss President Mugabe having declared in May that
elections would be held this year without fail.
At the 2010 Zanu PF
conference in Mutare, Mugabe swore that elections would
be held in 2011,
with party members declaring they would not allow the
coalition government
to continue beyond that year.
Part of the resolutions made by the party in
2010 read: “Resolves that at
the expiry of the term of the Global Political
Agreement with two MDC
formations on September 15, 2008 and the inclusive
government born therefrom
on February 13, 2009, the country must hold
harmonised elections without
fail.”
Who is fooling who here?
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
July 20, 2012 in Politics
THE
general position among Zimbabweans is that presidential and
parliamentary
elections will be held within the next 12 months. President
Robert Mugabe
and Zanu PF are on record demanding that elections be held
before the end of
the year.
However, this is unlikely in light of two critical
processes that must be
completed before the end of this year. First, it is
important to reach
finality on the constitution-making process and second,
it is now settled
that Zimbabwe will undertake the national population
census exercise in
August 2012.
Both these processes require time and
resources. Between now and mid-August,
the country will be occupied by the
national census. Thereafter, the country
may be occupied by the
constitutional referendum, provided that the ongoing
political rituals are
completed.
Even assuming that the constitution is adopted before the end of
the year,
we understand there will be a number of reforms that will require
implementation. In our view, reforms would be needed to ensure the
environment is conducive for free and fair elections. It would be utterly
useless to agree on the document, but go to elections under the same old
system.
The Zimbabwe Election Support Network (Zesn) believes the census
and the
constitution-making exercise are critical national processes which
must be
completed before the next elections. Both processes have, in
different ways,
an important bearing on the elections.
The census
produces population statistics from the household to the national
levels and
this data is used by the national government, local authorities,
the
business sector and other stakeholders for planning and other purposes.
It
provides a comprehensive and remarkable source of information with
regards
to the population. The data that is yielded by the census gives a
good
picture of the state of the population across the country including
population density, tracing rural-urban/urban-rural migration and helps in
the allocation and distribution of resources.
Done properly, the census
is an important tool for development since it
should give a complete picture
of the country’s population, enabling the
authorities to plan in response to
the population distribution and resource
needs. At Zesn, we are concerned
not just with the election process, but
also with the overall goal of
promoting good governance.
The census data can be used efficiently by a
responsible government to
respond to the development needs. This is
particularly important now that
Zimbabwe will be adopting the devolution
model under the new constitution.
At Zesn, we believe that devolution can
work more efficiently if the
devolved provincial governments and local
authorities are given adequate
resources. To determine whether adequate
resources have been allocated, much
depends on the levels of the population
and access to such facilities as
schools, clinics, housing, transport,
employment, etc. All this information
should be available through the
census. That is why it is important that the
census be conducted properly
and efficiently so that it produces specific,
precise and accurate
data.
Apart from the developmental aspects of the census, we are also
conscious of
the relationship between census and elections. The census is a
game of
numbers as are elections. It is the most comprehensive resource for
population statistics in the country. As such, other records like the
voters’
rolls will ultimately be measured against the census.
Likewise,
results of elections in the regions and nationally are also likely
to be
measured against the census results. One can easily spot anomalies
between
the census data and the voters’ roll or indeed the election results.
It
would be odd, for example, if the voting figures in a province far exceed
the population figures produced in the census.
A very important aspect
that we will be looking at is the distribution of
the population between the
rural and urban populations. Previous census data
have generally shown
significant differences between the rural and urban
populations.
In the
2002 census, it was revealed that only 35% of the population was in
the
urban areas, with the rural areas accommodating 65%. These patterns tend
to
correspond with voting figures in elections, with the majority of votes
emanating from the rural constituencies.
However, there have also been
complaints of inflation of voting figures,
particularly in the rural areas.
It would be interesting to see how the
events of the decade after 2000 have
affected population distribution
between the rural and urban
areas.
During that period there has been a nationwide land reform programme,
which
among other things, led to displacement of farmers and farm workers
from
commercial farms taken by government. Economic challenges in the rural
areas
have also led to increased rural-urban migration, with most young
able-bodied men and women flocking to towns and cities in search of
employment.
The economic problems which affected the country had a severe
impact on the
rural economy which also suffered heavily due to droughts.
Most observers
have cast doubt on claims the vast majority of Zimbabwe’s
population is in
rural areas. We expect the gap between rural and urban
populations to have
narrowed significantly in the last 10 years due to a
combination of
political and socio-economic factors.
Given the
statistical data that the census will yield, we at Zesn not only
regard it
as an important national process for development, but we will be
watching
the process closely to ensure that it produces precise and accurate
data. We
are mindful of the fact that manipulation of census data could
impact
heavily not just on development planning, but also on the electoral
processes.
The public should take it seriously and ensure that they are
counted.
Accurate census data will play an important role in improving our
national
statistics. We also think people should take advantage of this
season of
counting to go out and register as voters. If the government can
count
people, then people should ensure that their votes count by
registering.
The other national process that is crucial before the elections
is the
completion of the constitution-making process. Although this process
has
taken longer than expected, we understand that it is coming to an end
now.
Zesn will play its role in scrutinising the draft constitution. We will
pay
particular attention to our core area of elections and we shall report
our
findings. We believe that it is important to have the next elections
under a
new constitution that provides for a free and fair
environment.
Although we do not yet have a copy of the final draft
constitution, we shall
be providing some highlights from the drafts that
have been availed to us so
far. — Zesn.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
July 20, 2012 in Opinion
Qhubani
Moyo
THE ruling by the Supreme Court last week specifically ordering the
holding
of by-elections in the three vacant constituencies, namely Bulilima
East,
Nkayi South and Lupane East — and by extension other areas as well —
has
provoked a heated debate and lots of interesting dimensions to the
public
political discourse.
While interpretations of the judgment and its
implications may differ, the
facts are well-detailed and explained in the
ruling itself. The judges of
the highest court in the land ruled in black
and white that the President
(Robert Mugabe) should gazette dates for
by-elections in the said three
constituencies by August 30 2012.
Although
the ruling relates specifically to the three constituencies which
were
subject to court action, the law is clear that there should be
by-elections
within 90 days should a vacancy arise with regards to the
parliamentary
constituencies. There are now 31 vacant positions in both the
House of
Assembly and Senate, some which became unoccupied before those
three
constituencies referred to in the ruling.
The judgment is as clear as an
azure sky of deepest summer and needs no
further explanation. The issue of
not having resources does not arise, as
what is important is to ensure that
the country upholds the rule of law
which takes precedence. The government
just has to find money somewhere to
ensure that the country maintains the
rule of law as required by the
constitution and underscored by the court
ruling. It is however the
political implications of the judgment which are
subject to scrutiny by
various political players and the public. This is to
be expected as the
judgment touches a raw nerve — the issue of
elections.
Polls are always the climax of political and electoral processes
and they
create high levels of excitement. It is therefore not surprising
the ruling
brought back the debate on whether the country should hold
general elections
this year or should stick to the recommendations of the
recent Sadc Luanda
summit. The summit recommended that parties conclude
reforms before
elections and acknowledged that the lifespan of this
government of national
unity (GNU) only expires in June 2013.
However,
the usual suspects in Zanu PF, who were stopped in their tracks by
Sadc
leaders in Luanda recently, are trying to create confusion and
struggling to
revive their collapsing plans to hold elections this year,
which were left
in disarray by regional leaders, under the by-elections
pretext. Their views
and agenda is filtering into the public space through
such manifestations as
the Herald’s Nathaniel Manheru column — believed to
be written by Mugabe’s
spokesperson, George Charamba, under the cover of a
pseudonym — which for a
long time has been used as a faceless platform to
communicate the views of a
Zanu PF cabal dominated by hardliners.
There is no argument against holding
of by-elections; they certainly have to
be held as declared by the Supreme
Court but this should not be used to push
for early general
elections.
While it is possible that by-elections may change the composition
of
parliament given their number, it must be clearly explained this is very
unlikely because of the Global Political Agreement (GPA), which puts a
moratorium of the three parties — Zanu PF and the two MDC formations—from
contesting each other for the duration of the agreement and coalition
government itself.
Initially, the moratorium for GPA parties not to
contest each other in any
of the constituencies where by-elections would
have arisen was expected to
last for a year. However, at the Maputo Sadc
Troika summit in November 2009,
the moratorium was extended by regional
leaders and principals to cover the
entire lifespan of the GNU.
If the
parties in the GNU are serious and sincere about the GPA, then they
should
all honour their commitments — for indeed that is what Sadc said in
Luanda
recently and will almost certainly say during its annual summit next
month.
GPA parties must also be sincere enough not to use shenanigans to
support
independent candidates clandestinely with the aim of violating the
moratorium and the letter and spirit of the GPA for self-serving political
ends.
This is a very important point as it directly touches on the three
litigants
themselves.
All of them are now active members of the MDC-T and
therefore covered by the
moratorium that their new party signed. Abednico
Bhebhe is now the MDC-T’s
deputy national organising secretary, Njabuliso
Mguni is an active member of
the MDC-T in Matabeleland North. In fact, Mguni
contested and lost the
position of provincial organising secretary. Norman
Mpofu is also an active
member of the MDC-T at its Bulilima East district
structures.
Because the three are active members of one of the parties in the
GPA, they
cannot break the rules and seek to contest as independents. From a
principled point of view and in the spirit of the GPA, the party that was
holding that seat should be the one allowed to field and contest with other
parties outside the government or independent candidates as it were.
This
is not subverting democracy, but is actually designed to promote the
same by
avoiding triggering a climate of fear while creating an environment
for free
and fair elections in which all parties could run without being
frightened
by political violence and intimidation. The idea behind this is
to promote
democracy in the long-run. Holding elections such as those in
June 2008 and
before does not help the cause of democracy.
As much as the MDC led by
Welshman Ncube would have loved to contest, for
instance, in the other
vacant constituencies, it cannot do so given that it
is bound by the terms
of the GPA and the moratorium on by-lections. This is
not to say the
Ncube-led MDC is afraid of squaring up with the three
litigants, it has
always been ready to take them on in any election, anytime
and wherever, but
the party is insisting on upholding and implementing the
GPA which parties
signed willingly and hopefully in good faith.
Zimbabweans need to be serious
about national agreements and commitments if
the country is to move forward.
The best approach by the coalition partners
with regards to this issue is to
ensure that they put national interest
above parochial agendas.
If the
GNU partners were to fight each other in the by-elections, it will
take off
the critical players from the processes of crafting a roadmap to
free and
fair elections as they would have become participants in a
dog-eat-dog
affair. It would not benefit the nation to destabilise the GPA
by creating
an election mood that suspends and replaces the spirit of
co-operation with
the spirit of rivalry and acrimony.
General elections should be held only
after key political reforms, which
include the completion of the
constitution-making process that should, among
many other things, enshrine
devolution of power, the de-politicisation of
the state security organs,
opening up of public media space, in particular
the electronic media,
reforming the electoral framework and laws,
strengthening of independent
commissions and the affirmation of their
independence through proper
legislation and resource allocation, have been
adopted.
Thereafter the
country can go for general elections constitutionally due in
June next year.
The Supreme Court ruling must not be used by political
opportunists and
Fifth columnists trying to subvert democracy to push for
ill-planned and
chaotic general elections this year.
Moyo is the director of
policy and research co-ordination in the MDC led
by Professor Welshman
Ncube. Contact: mdcpolicyguru@yahoo.co.uk
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
July 20, 2012 in
Opinion
By Tabani Moyo
THERE is something telling about
resolutions made by Zanu PF politburo and
central committee to disband
District Coordinating Committees (DCCs) last
month. Before being dissolved,
DCCs linked provincial structures with the
district structures. The DCC
polls were keenly contested within the party,
as they were linked to the
succession race.
Zanu PF has passed up several opportunities to fully address
the issue of
succession of party leader President Robert Mugabe. It is quite
unfortunate
that instead of addressing the core crisis, that of leadership
renewal, the
party has often resorted to sanctioning those who make their
presidential
ambitions public.
In disbanding the DCC structures, Mugabe
has again put the lid on succession
politics within the party and engendered
an environment of fear, especially
for Defence minister Emmerson Mnangagwa’s
faction that was on the ascendancy
after winning in most provinces against
candidates aligned to rival,
Vice-President Joice Mujuru. The message is
thus clear: as long as Mugabe is
alive, the succession debate should never
be placed on Zanu PF agenda.
Contrary to assertions by the party that DCCs
are not wanted as they were
divisive as proven by the controversy that
haunted the elections, Mugabe
himself, who has been at the helm of the party
for far too long, is also a
major stumbling block.
This DCC furore leaves
Zanu PF with a false sense of security in the
short-term, but the bottom
line is the party is failing, or rather reluctant
to renew its leadership,
and that is a recipe for disaster as Mugabe is
aging.
With the
disbandment of the DCCs, the party structures will become
voiceless. Zanu PF
has adopted a top-down command structure as opposed to
the ideal situation
of a bottom-up approach. Leadership-related questions
will not be tolerated.
A case in point is when Major-General Douglas
Nyikayaramba said Retired
Brigadier Ambrose Mutinhiri would succeed Mugabe
at a memorial service for
General Constantine Chiwenga’s brother.
Zanu PF political commissar Webster
Shamu was quick to shoot down
Nyikayaramba’s sentiments insisting that “the
joke was not funny and should
never be repeated”.
This is sad given that
even Shamu himself may actually want someone “young”
to lead the party. He
expressed this view almost a decade ago, which saw him
being pushed into
political oblivion for a while.
The disbandment of DCCs confirms that Mugabe
has become Zanu PF himself.
This is well illustrated by the Tsholotsho
debacle of 2004. Some senior Zanu
PF politicians allegedly used the cover of
a prize-giving ceremony at
Dinyane School in Tsholotsho to discuss a
succession plan that would have
shaken up the presidium. Six of the party’s
10 provincial chairpersons were
in favour of the succession plan, but were
later suspended.
Instead of the party’s leadership holding a serious meeting
on why its
senior members were nicodemously discussing succession issues,
Mugabe came
out guns blazing. Within a few weeks of the Tsholotsho meeting,
the six
chairpersons had been suspended and some of the people involved were
strongly warned for trying to stage a “palace coup”.
This structural
decay was confirmed in the manner senior party members
confided in the US
government that they wanted the party leadership renewed,
according to
WikiLeaks. Many senior members of the party expressed
reservations about
Mugabe carrying on as leader, and also cited his advanced
age and
deteriorating health.
Again the party did not convene a serious meeting to
deliberate the
succession issue that had been confided in the US government
— one of Zanu
PF’s “enemies” following so-called targeted sanctions.
Instead, Mugabe has
used the WikiLeaks disclosures to strengthen his hand by
creating an
environment that is divisive, through ignoring this brazen act
of “betrayal”
as a way of creating uncertainty over the fate of the
culprits.
In the first round of the 2008 presidential elections, the party
structures
showed Mugabe their vote of no confidence in his leadership,
taking the
polls as a window of opportunity to resolve the outstanding issue
of
succession. Zanu PF MPs and councillors campaigned for themselves and
urged
their supporters to make a “wise decision” over the presidency, hence
the
“bhora musango” (anyone but Mugabe) strategy when it came to the
presidential poll. Hence, Mugabe lost the first round of voting to MDC
leader Morgan Tsvangirai.
Instead of serious introspection, Mugabe keeps
reminding the party
leadership in politburo and central committee meetings
that they erred by
not campaigning for him, as if to say without him the
party is history.
No doubt the disbanding of the DCCs is yet another blunder
by Zanu PF as far
as the succession question is concerned as it targets
symptoms rather than
causes of the disease. What is clear, although no-one
in Zanu PF will say it
loudly or publicly, is that party members are certain
that Mugabe’s reign is
drawing to a close and sooner rather than later the
succession issue would
be resolved. By then it could be too late as Zanu PF
will realise the folly
of tying its survival to an individual and dissolving
structures to serve
that person.
This is an important lesson to other
parties in the country: the sooner they
start resolving issues of leadership
renewal, the better for their political
parties’ survival.
Tabani Moyo
is a journalist based in Harare. He can be contacted at
rebeljournalist@yahoo.com
