http://af.reuters.com
Tue Jul 26, 2011 3:34pm
GMT
* Agriculture, mining to boost economy
* Inflation
seen ending 2011 at 4.0 pct
* Maize harvest to rise
* Biti sees
$700 million funding gap
By Nelson Banya and MacDonald
Dzirutwe
HARARE, July 26 (Reuters) - Zimbabwe's economy is on course to
grow by 9.3
percent in 2011 due to a recovery in the key mining and
agriculture sectors
but wage increases for state workers will be a drag on
the public purse,
Finance Minister Tendai Biti said on Tuesday.
The
southern African country's economy grew by 8.1 percent in 2010, after a
sharp contraction for most of the last decade, which critics blamed on
economic mismanagement by the government of President Robert
Mugabe.
Biti said political problems in Zimbabwe would stop the country
from
registering the double-digit growth needed for a full
recovery.
"We are still on course to achieve our GDP growth rate of 9.3
percent.
Agriculture and mining, with 19.3 percent and 44 percent growth
respectively, are at the epicentre of this growth," Biti said in a half-year
budget review statement.
SINGLE-DIGIT INFLATION
Zimbabwe would
achieve a year-end inflation rate of 4.0 percent, lower than
the initial
forecast of 4.5 percent. Annual inflation rose to 2.9 percent in
June from
2.5 percent in May.
Annual inflation reached 500 billion at the peak of
Zimbabwe's economic
crisis in December 2008, according to IMF
figures.
Mugabe was then forced into a unity government that ditched the
local
currency in favour of U.S. dollars and South African rand, bringing
stability to the economy once crushed by
hyperinflation.
Resource-rich Zimbabwe has experienced single-digit
inflation since 2009.
Also helping to keep inflation in check was higher
maize output, which Biti
said would rise to 1.45 million tonnes in the
2010/11 season from 1.32
million tonnes in 2009/10.
The agricultural
sector has started to recover after years of food shortages
that were blamed
on disruptions caused by Mugabe's seizure of white-owned
commercial farms
for black resettlement.
Biti however warned that the country could run up
a $700 million budget
deficit after wage increases for state employees this
month as well as
planned grain imports, state welfare programmes and
preparations for a
national census in 2012.
He said state wages would
now take up 65 percent of budget revenues.
"The net effect of these
(salary) increases is that we have basically become
a salaries government.
In 2012 we are going to start with a wage bill of $2
billion, we must brace
for a long winter of discontent," Biti said.
The IMF warned in April that
Zimbabwe's budget was skewed by a massive
public wage bill and not enough
resources for social programs for the poor
and important infrastructure
spending.
Biti said on Tuesday the country would increase revenues from
alluvial
diamond sales, freeze recruitment in government departments, weed
out 75,000
suspected ghost workers on the state's payroll, and reform public
enterprises relying on state funding.
http://www.radiovop.com/
Harare, July 26, 2011 -
Zimbabwe has exported more than 700 000 diamond
carats since the beginning
of the year as production levels at the Marange
diamond fields increased in
line with market demands but these exports and
revenues declared are not
tallying, Finance minister, Tendai Biti has
revealed.
Presenting his
2011-2012 budget review, Biti said it was worrying that while
Zimbabwe
exported 716 958 diamond carats to outside markets, only US$103, 9
million
was realised by government from the resource.
He said this was happening
at a time when diamond prices continued to firm
on the international front,
with carat prices hitting lows of US$1, 300 per
carat and highs of US$5000
per carat.
“Mr. Speaker Sir, it is worrying to note that there is no
connection
whatsoever between diamond exports made by Zimbabwe and the
revenues
realised thereof.
“It is worth noting that out of 716 958,
90 diamond carats exported from
Zimbabwe in the period under review, only
US$103, 9 million was accounted
for through forms submitted through CD1
forms at the Reserve Bank of
Zimbabwe,” said Biti.
“18% of the
diamonds mined from Marange diamond fields are of gem quality.
23% of
diamonds mined from the Murowa diamond fields are industrial
diamonds. We
need to put in place proper mechanisms to monitor the movement
of the
diamonds from the point of mining, marketing, export and trade.
“What
this means is that there is need for measures to be put in place to
ensure
there are no leakages in the whole process, which therefore calls for
the
involvement of ZIMRA in all this,” said Biti.
The finance minister
revealed that mineral prices were firming worldwide,
adding there was need
for Zimbabwe to benefit financially from the
development.
“We have a
situation where gold prices and other mineral prices firmed
recently. This
means that we have to take advantage of the firming so that
we cab deal with
other issues at home,” said Biti.
He called on the inclusive government
to speed up its discussion with
Mutumwa Mawere, the previous owner of
Shabanie Mashaba Mines (SMM) over the
handover of the mining concern back to
Mawere.
“While mining is doing relatively well, it is disappointing to
note that
asbestos is not doing that well. It is this light that I call upon
government to move with speed and conclude its discussions over the
re-opening of Shabanie-Mashaba-Mines.
A speedy resolution of the
Government-SMM issues will help re-open the mine
and give the people of
Zvishavane jobs again as this town is slowly becoming
a ghost town,” Biti
said.
According to Biti, Zimbabwe needs to come up with a process of
clearing
international debt amounting to over US$7 billion.
He said
failure to clear the debts could see Zimbabwe failing to cash in on
funds
set aside by the international funding agencies such as the World Bank
and
the African Development Bank (AfDB) for Africa.
“The World Bank has set
aside US$75billion to spend in Africa while the
African Development Bank
(AfDB) has set aside US$30 billion also for Africa.
“If we do not deal
with the debt that continues to hang over Zimbabwe, we
might miss out on
these funds whose intentions are to help boost programmes
in African
countries. It is important that policies to clear the debt are
developed as
a matter of urgency,” Biti said.
http://www.swradioafrica.com
By Irene Madongo
26 July
2011
Economic experts have warned that political troubles are dealing
some of the
biggest blows to Zimbabwe’s economy this year, on the same day
the Finance
Minister announced his mid-term budget review.
In his
statement on Tuesday, Biti said that he was going to have to make
serious
cuts to certain government spending, including procurement of
vehicles and
overseas travel. Robert Mugabe and government ministers have
since the
beginning of the year reportedly blown about $30 million on
foreign trips
alone. Biti also stated that the government should fast-track
the
privatisation of the country’s ailing parastatals, which are affecting
the
government.
Analysts point out that the main problem facing the Ministry
of Finance is a
lack of money, running into millions. The government, which
had a revenue
target of $2.7 billion in the 2011 budget, has already
admitted it will not
hit this figure, with the International Monetary Fund
(which overseas global
financial systems) pegging the shortfall at between
$350 million to
$450million. Faced with pressure to promote economic growth
and also restore
investor confidence, the Finance Ministry is being hindered
by crippling
policies championed by Robert Mugabe’s ZANU PF.
A more
recent challenge has been the civil servants pay rise, which
observers say
ZANU PF forced through to score political points against the
MDC-T Finance
Minister, Tendai Biti. On several occasions Biti explained the
country could
not afford the pay hike at this stage. Despite reports that it
will be
funded by money from diamond sales, analysts now say that because
has been
forced through, it will bleed the Treasury purse. The pay increase
reportedly forced the government to fork out $40m, which was not budgeted
for.
“The downside is political,” explains economic expert Tony
Hawkins, “It’s a
big political issue as you know because the ZANU PF
element, spearheaded by
the president himself, actively pushed hard for a
wage increase and Mr Biti,
as the MDC Finance Minister, is saying look we
haven’t got the money.”
Another economic analyst Masimba Kuchera told SW
Radio Africa that the
sudden wage increase pay-out will have a knock-on
effect, as the government
would have hoped to put more money into capital
expenditure, such as on
roads, schools and airports, but now this has been
compromised.
Hawkins also raised the issue that the wage bill from the
Ministry of Youth
and Indiginisation is allegedly contributing to the
general wage
overspending problem. These allegations come amid reports that
the Youth
Ministry’s wage bill was funding ZANU PF’s youth
militia.
Analysts also say that the controversial Indigenisation policy
is now
hitting black businesses that ZANU PF claimed it would boost. The law
forces
foreign-owned companies to cede more than half of their company
shareholding
to locals, and is widely blamed for deterring foreign investors
from putting
their capital in Zimbabwe. This has been described as a huge
blow for local
business who are baying for foreign help.
Biti is
under pressure to provide assistance to this sector, which has seen
numerous
companies shut down despite talk of economic recovery. The Zimbabwe
National
Chamber of Commerce recently stressed that businesses needed
capital to
overhaul antiquated machinery and revamp structures, but this was
impossible
without foreign investment. And this month, the Confederation of
Zimbabwe
Industries threatened to resort to public demonstrations if
government
failed to heed its calls to address issues affecting the
viability of local
companies.
http://www.radiovop.com
By Ngoni Chanakira - Harare,
July 26, 2011 - While Zimbabwe's inflation
outlook has stabilised, concerns
still exist with regards to the stability
of the banking sector, says a Top
Periodic Report.
The Periodic Report was prepared by the Civil Society
Monitoring Mechanism
(CISOMM). It is for April and May 2011.
"The
Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) is still constrained to play its
supervisory
role," the Periodic Report said.
"While lending has improved as have
deposits, it is worrying to note that
the Ministry of Finance in May raised
concern over the high rate of loan
repayment defaults. A Report on the
sector noted that only 34 percent of the
loans had been re-paid. Perhaps the
biggest default that has triggered
shocks across the sector is the US$50
million loan by mining giant Rio
Zimbabwe Limited (RioZim).
"Related
to this are reports that ReNaissance Merchant Bank (RMB) had a
financial gap
of US$16,5 million which threatened not only the bank but
several other
banks."
The CISOMM Periodic Report said this had prompted the Ministry of
Finance
currently under Tendai Biti, and the RBZ to intervene through the
National
Social Security Authority (NSSA) which had since stepped
in.
"Controversy has, however, shrouded the decision and form of
government
intervention and the issue has been heavily politicised," the
Periodic
Report points out.
"Challenges in the banking sector
severely threaten jobs; with reports
indicating that last year 1 000 jobs
were lost in addition to 1 500 lost
from the RBZ this year. On the whole,
there are clear signs that lending
needs to be contained and managed
carefully to avoid a credit driven bubble
bursting. Meanwhile, interest
rates are still high making borrowing very
expensive and
unattractive."
Early this month, RBZ Governor, Dr Gideon Gono, revealed
that five banks had
still not met the minimum capital requirements by the
March 31, 2011
deadline.
In a report Gono said Kingdom Bank Limited
(Kingdom), Royal Bank of Zimbabwe
Limited (Royal), the Zimbabwe Allied
Banking Group (ZABG), Genesis
Investment Bank Limited (GIB) and Renaissance
Merchant Bank Limited (RMB)
remained grossly under-capitalised.
The
RBZ had set June 30 as the new deadline for financial institutions
operating
in Zimbabwe to meet capital requirements of US$12,5 million for
commercial
banks and US$10 million for merchant banks.
Gono said 15 out of 16 Asset
Management Firms had, meanwhile, complied with
the minimum paid up equity
capital requirement of US$500 000 in Zimbabwe.
http://nehandaradio.com/
July 26, 2011 2:28 pm
By
Everson Mushava
Controversial Minister of Mines, Obert Mpofu has been
implicated in the $2
billion diamond fraud case after lawyers representing
diamond dealer
Lovemore Kurotwi said the minister must also stand
trial.
Kurotwi is being jointly charged with former Zimbabwe Mining
Development
Corporation (ZMDC) boss Dominic Mubaiwa over allegations they
defrauded the
state of $2 billion which was supposed to be invested by a
South African
company.
They appeared before Justice Musakwa who
postponed the matter indefinitely
and scrapped reporting
conditions.
Mtetwa told the High Court that if the state insisted on
charging co-accused
Kurotwi then Mpofu not Mubaiwa, should also be brought
to court to face the
same charges as he endorsed the deal and participated
in meetings including
travelling to South Africa to meet the investment
company.
The state says Kurotwi and Mubaiwa misrepresented government
last year that
Core Mining and Marange Resources had entered into a joint
venture TO
comment on this report send your SMS to: 0772470058 which would
get $2
billion investment from Benny Steinmeritz Group Resources (BSGR), a
South
African company.
But BSGR later pulled out after some of the
conditions including guarantees
on property rights and human rights were not
met. BSGR never invested the
money which the state is saying government
lost. The state argues that by
conniving to misrepresent information, the
two prejudiced ZMDC and the
government of over $2 billion.
However,
the court papers in possession of the Daily News show that Mpofu
was aware
of the deal and allegedly even briefed government on it. He also
granted
BSGR officials access to Chiadzwa diamonds lds and was communicating
with
the company and Canadile on the issue.
This is particularly so taking
into account the fact that he (Kurotwi) is
now being co-accused with Mubaiwa
to whom he was referred by the Minister of
Mines and Mining
Development.
“If what is alleged Mubaiwa did constitutes a criminal
offence, and it is
alleged misrepresentations were made to the ministry, why
is Obert Mpofu,
the minister with whom the first accused (Kurotwi) and his
partners dealt
with not either a co-accused or a witness?
“This is
particularly so taking into account the fact that the minister also
travelled to South Africa for a familiarisation tour,” argued Mtetwa in the
court papers. Mtetwa said Kurotwi could not have connived with Mubaiwa to
fleece the state because Mubaiwa always acted on the instructions of the
minister. The minister would communicate the ministry’s position to Mubaiwa
for execution.
“His and his partners’ representations were with the
minister and if what he
did constitutes a criminal offence, it is the
minister who ought to be his
co-accused,” said Mtetwa, adding that the ZMDC
decisions could not have been
reached as a result of Mubaiwa’s actions
alone, but with the consent of the
minister.
Mpofu, Mtetwa said, was
the one to testify on all issues of alleged
misrepresentations emanating
from their meetings with Kurotwi arguing that
from the list of witnesses,
there can be no doubt that the state sought to
rely on hearsay evidence from
persons who were not even at ZMDC at the
relevant time.
“From the
list of witnesses, it is quite clear that Minister Mpofu’s name is
missing.
It would be grossly prejudicial to Kurotwi to have him tried on the
basis of
alleged misrepresentations to a person who does not testify,”
Mtetwa said.
Mtetwa said Kurotwi would not entertain the roping in of
suspects into state
witnesses.
“What is at issue is the attempt to bring new and fresh facts
through the
back disguised as amendments when these are clearly prejudicial
substitutions. Such attempts, as they are, on issues raised by the defence,
completely undermine the accused’s defence as they will now have to proceed
with new costly procedures which would probably require further pre-trial
applications.
“If the state wishes to bring fresh ‘facts’, it must do
so afresh,” said
Mtetwa.
Mtetwa said it was also prejudicial to
Kurotwi to be indicted on ‘facts’
that did not allege actual prejudice only
to face a charge in the sum of $2
billion without showing how that money was
arrived at.
“As the document on which the state is relying remains the
same, and the
only letter in which $2 billion is mentioned clearly refers to
‘an
investment worth up to $2 billion’, the amendment sought should be
accompanied with a very clear explanation as to how the actual prejudice of
$2 billion occurred,” said Mtetwa.
Representing Mubaiwa, Uriri also
said the decision to enter into a joint
venture agreement was made at a very
high level and was communicated to the
Mpofu who advised that there was a
cabinet approval for the contact and as
such, the misrepresentation also
involves the minister. Daily News
http://af.reuters.com/
Tue Jul 26, 2011 2:35pm
GMT
HARARE, July 26 (Reuters) - Zimbabwe could record a $700 million
budget
deficit for 2011 due to wage increases to public servants and grain
imports,
Finance Minister Tendai Biti said in a half-year budget review on
Tuesday.
Last November, Biti presented a $3.2 billion budget of which
$2.7 billion
was expected to come from domestic revenues and the remainder
donor
assistance.
Associated Press
(AP) –
4 hours ago
HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) — Zimbabwe's parliament speaker says he
wants police
to arrest known militants who violently disrupted four public
meetings
called by lawmakers on reforms to the nation's human rights
laws.
Speaker Lovemore Moyo said Tuesday police must "move with speed" to
apprehend militants who assaulted lawmakers and journalists at the Harare
parliament on Saturday. Graphic photographs of the mob have appeared in the
local media.
He said those who also disrupted provincial
parliamentary meetings were
following a political agenda of violence mostly
blamed on loyalists of
President Robert Mugabe.
No arrests have been
made and police were not immediately available for
comment. Mugabe's party
has demanded colonial era abuses be included in the
scope of the new rights
laws to draw attention away from violence since
independence in 1980.
The chief facilitator to Zimbabwean inter-party talks and South African President Jacob Zuma’s international relations adviser, Lindiwe Zulu, has condemned the Zanu PF sponsored violence in and outside Parliament on Saturday.
Foul mouthed and visibly drunk mobs Zanu PF supporters stormed the Parliament building in central Harare and disrupted a public hearing on the Human Rights Commission Bill. The group assaulted the MDC-T’s Hwange Central legislator, Brian Tshuma and also beat up several Harare based journalists.
Speaking to London based SW Radio Africa on Monday Zulu said “any violence coming from any quarter at any time is really not acceptable and the parties have committed themselves through the Global Political Agreement that they will deal with such issues.” She said she hoped the Joint Monitoring and Implementation Committee (JOMIC) ‘will be up and about dealing with this.”
Zulu added, “it’s very unfortunate, that’s exactly what Livingstone (SADC Troika Summit) was about. The leaders at Livingstone took a firm decision to call on all three political parties to deal with the issue of violence. But they also called on them to create an environment that is conducive for political activity for everybody.
“When there are incidents of violence like that it’s very unfortunate and we feel strongly they all need to take responsibility and make sure that does not happen.”
Commenting on the violence on Saturday, the Speaker of Parliament Lovemore Moyo said “This is yet another unhelpful entry on the long ledger of the political culture on intolerance, violence, and the sanctioning of criminal hordes to do the dirty work of those who cherish violence and violence that continue to keep Zimbabwe high up on the international relations scene for all the wrong reasons.”
http://www.radiovop.com
Harare, July
26, 2011 - Zimbabwe Journalists who were assaulted on Saturday
by Zanu (PF)
thugs in parliament have formally lodged complaints with the
Parliament of
Zimbabwe as outrage continues over the behaviour of the
supporters of the
former ruling party who disrupted proceedings on Saturday.
Officials in
parliament said the office of the Clerk of Parliament, Austin
Zvoma and the
Speaker of Parliament Lovemore Moyo have for the past two days
been
inundated with complaints from journalists demanding a probe into the
mayhem
inside and outside the august house on Saturday.
Four journalists,
including two photographers, were assaulted as they
prepared to cover the
proceedings of the joint committee of the House of
Assembly Portfolio
Committee on Justice, Legal Affairs, Constitutional and
Parliamentary
Affairs.
The Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) legislator for Hwange
Central,
Brian Nkiwane was also assaulted for allegedly failing to sing the
national
anthem.
Zvoma, the clerk of parliament, said they had been
briefed about the
incident and were still receiving reports about the
disturbances.
“The issue has been brought to our attention,” he said.
“The media will be
advised accordingly,” he said.
But media
watch-dogs on Tuesday piled pressure on parliament and the police
to get to
the bottom of the assault of journalists and the (MDC) legislator.
The
Media Institute of Southern Africa -Zimbabwe (MISA) condemned the
assaults
in a statement on Tuesday, calling upon the police to deal with
this
lawlessness and arrest any members of the pubic bent on violating the
media’s freedom to access information and the citizens’ right to freedom of
expression and association.
“The fact that the attacks happened at
Parliament Building with an MP
reportedly being assaulted under the police’s
watch speaks volumes about
these acts of impunity that place the lives of
journalists and innocent
citizens at great risk,” read part of the
statement.
“This lawlessness is very worrying indeed given that the
Parliament of
Zimbabwe is not only a high security zone but is also supposed
to be the
citadel of civility and permissiveness of diverse views as
evidenced by the
multi-party composition of both the House of Assembly and
the Senate,” it
added.
The fact that none of the assailants were
arrested gave the culprits free
reign and endangered the lives of Zimbabwean
journalists especially those
working for the private press as their safety
and security cannot be
guaranteed by the police as they conduct their lawful
professional duties
throughout the country, said Misa-Zimbabwe.
The
media watch-dog said the three principals to the inclusive government,
President Robert Mugabe, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and his Deputy
Professor Arthur Mutambara and their respective political parties, should
demand explanations from the police on what transpired for purposes of
accounting for the culprits who should face the full wrath of the law.
http://www.radiovop.com
Harare, July 26,
2011 - Notorious army commander, Brigadier Douglas
Nyikayaramba last week
forced two young journalists from a Harare-based
publication to run for dear
life after they quizzed him on remarks by a
parliamentarian that he was an
“idiot”, Radio VOP has learnt.
Nyikayaramba, the commander of the 3rd
infrantry battallion in Manicaland
province allegedly threatened to beat up
two journalists from The Mail after
they asked him respond to a comment in
parliament by Masvingo Central
legislator Tongai Matutu that the Brigadier
General is an ‘idiot’ for his
comments he made on the leader of the
mainstream Movement for Democratic
Change (MDC-T) Morgan Tsvangirai whom he
labelled as a national security
threat because he supports Zanu
(PF).
Matutu withdrew his statement in Parliament when Defence Minister
Emmerson
Mnangagwa called for the withdrawal of the statement arguing that
it was
'unparliamentary' adding that Nyikayaramba was not a Member of
Parliament
and could not defend himself from the allegations.
The two
journalists, employed by the recently launched The Mail newspaper,
whose
names are being withheld for their security, had been assigned by the
paper’s editors to interview Nyikayaramba on a wide range of issues,
including calls for reforms in the security sector.
"Our two staffers
(names supplied) were threatened by Douglas Nyikayaramba
on Friday last
week. They called to meet with the Brigadier General; they
met him in his
car to have an interview. But he became angry when asked what
was his
comment on Matutu's comment in parliament that he was an idiot," a
senior
editor at The Mail told Radio VOP.
"He then threatened our journalists
with unspecified action resulting in our
staffers running away from the
interview. We are shocked about his behaviour
because he had agreed to the
interview in the first place."
The paper, though claiming to be
independent of Zanu (PF), is seen by many
as having strong links with the
former ruling party’s establishments, with
claims that some of its major
shareholders are Zanu (PF) heavyweights of
associates of the
party.
Names such as Van Hoog Straten, Mines Minister, Obert Mpofu, Zanu
(PF)
strongman Emmerson Mnangagwa, among others, are linked to the newspaper
although the publishers are yet to disclose the “direct” owners of the
publication.
According to one of the two journalists, all went well
throughout the
interview which centred on mostly, on Nyikayaramba’s
sentiments regarding
the armed forces perceived support of President Robert
Mugabe.
“We were given an assignment to interview Nyikayaramba by the
editors,” said
one of the reporters.
“All was well until we received
a phone call from one of our editors who
asked us to ask Nyikayaramba to
respond to claims, accusations, and
description by one parliamentarian that
he was an idiot. That is when all
hell broke loose,” the journalist
added.
Radio VOP is told Nyikayaramba went ballistic, speaking from the
top of his
voice and threatening to shoot the bemused
journalists.
“When we realised that he was very angry and threatening to
shoot us, we
opened the doors...and took to our heels,” the journalist
added.
In its Monday edition this week, the paper downplayed the story,
preferring
to run it as part of its gossip column, Corridors of
Power.
Reads part of the column: “Two reporters from The Mail ran for
dear life on
Friday after an army commander threatened to manhandle them for
asking tough
questions.
The reporters had called the senior officer
seeking verification of a
tip-off they had received that he had been
involved in an accident as he had
rushed to hospital after a fight with his
wife.”
Nyikayaramba has been at the centre of political discussion in the
past
month for labelling Tsvangirai a national 'security
threat'.
Nyikayaramba's political statements were given as one of the
reasons why
Mbizo MP, Settlement Chikwinya moved a motion in parliament this
month for
security chiefs to re-affirm their allegiance to the Constitution
of
Zimbabwe and for the military chiefs to desist from making political
statements.
Several security chiefs have made public statements in
the past years saying
that they will not support a democratically elected
leader in Zimbabwe who
does not have war of liberation credentials.
By Lance
Guma
26 July 2011
Every Tuesday SW Radio Africa investigates unsolved and deliberately ignored cases of political violence, torture, murder and other forms of abuse, by people in positions of authority. This week we focus on the brutal June 2008 murder of Abigail Chiroto, the wife of Emmanuel Chiroto, the MDC-T deputy Mayor of Harare.
This year alone police have arrested a cabinet minister for calling Mugabe a liar, a police officer for using Mugabe’s official mobile toilet at a Trade Fair, and a group of activists for watching video footage of protests in Egypt and Tunisia. But a group of well known ZANU PF thugs who murdered Abigail in 2008 remain free. Not only are they said to be boasting about it, one of them is still using the mobile phone stolen from their victim.
Emmanuel Chiroto, the MDC-T deputy Mayor of Harare, with his son Ashley
On the 16th of June 2008, a ZANU PF mob from Hatcliffe that included Justin Zvandasara, a lady called Judy, another man called Zulu and several other militants, descended on the Chiroto house in Hatcliffe on the outskirts of Harare. On seeing Chiroto was not there they destroyed the house using a petrol bomb. The mob then abducted his 26 year old wife Abigail and their four-year-old son Ashley.
Fortunately for Ashley the mob decided to dump him outside a police station but his mother was not as lucky as they took her to a nearby farm. Two days later on the 18th June Abigail was found brutally murdered. She was discovered with a gunshot wound to the head and a deep cut on her stomach. A post-mortem report showed she had been savagely assaulted and her limbs broken.
The absurdity and tragedy of the situation is that the killers are all known in the community, as well as by the police and it’s understood they regularly boast about carrying out the murder. On Tuesday, Chiroto told us the police have shown no desire to arrest anyone or even carry out an investigation despite one of the killers still using a mobile phone they took from his wife on the day of the murder.
Chiroto is pinning his hope of justice on a change of government and said it was only a matter of time before the killers will be brought to book. Already one of the killers has died and another is seriously ill and has been admitted at Parirenyatwa General Hospital. He has already confessed to being the one who tied up Abigail’s mouth before they killed her.
The levels of impunity are so high that in September last year, the killers even had the temerity to taunt Chiroto during disturbances that marred the constitutional outreach meetings in Hatcliffe. Four of the killers taunted Chiroto about the murder and said they would finish him off.
“They were armed with iron bars, sticks and stones and at one time wanted to smash my car because they could not stomach my presence at the meeting. But what struck me most was their audacity to refer to my wife’s murder and their boisterous threats to do the same with me,” Chiroto told SW Radio Africa.
http://www.dailynews.co.zw
By Godfrey Mtimba
Tuesday, 26 July 2011
15:36
MASVINGO - Members of Parliament who abused the Constituency
Development
Fund (CDF) will face the wrath of the country’s laws, a top
government
bureaucrat has said.
Addressing journalists on the
sidelines of a CDF capacity building and
induction workshop in Masvingo
yesterday, the Permanent Secretary in the
Ministry of Constitutional and
Parliamentary Affairs, Virginia Mabiza, said
her ministry had intensified an
audit into possible looting of the fund.
She said legislators would be
compelled to justify the use of the CDF funds,
warning those that abused the
fund to prepare to face the long arm of the
law.
Her statements came
as her minister Eric Matinenga told our sister paper,
the Daily News on
Sunday, last week that only 60 out of 210 MPs had
accounted for the
money.
This newspaper understands that among MPs who are still to account
for the
money are Cabinet ministers across the political divide.
MPs
got $50 000 each of taxpayers’ money to embark on community development
projects in their constituencies from the finance ministry.
But the
facility has been riddled with complaints of abuse.
“We have since
started an audit exercise and we expect the legislators to
account for their
funds. The money was meant for development of
constituencies and those who
failed to do that will be dealt with according
to the law."
“After
our audit, we will report to the relevant authorities and those who
will be
on the wrong side will be dealt with,” Mabiza said.
Some MPs are accused
of squandering the CDF for personal use instead of
spearheading
developmental projects in their constituencies.
Others are accused of
buying posh and luxury cars while others invested in
their personal
businesses.
Mabiza said her ministry had been receiving reports of abuse
of the funds in
different constituencies around the country hence the
resolution to take up
the audit exercise to bring culprits to
book.
“We have received lots of reports of abuse of this fund from
members of the
public and other sources and that’s why we are doing this
audit to make sure
that every cent is accounted for although I cannot
pin-point that so and so
have done this,” she added.
She said her
audit team would visit every constituency to inspect projects
undertaken by
the legislators.
Mabiza said the auditors had so far started in Midlands
province and were
expected to finish about 87 constituencies by end of next
month.
She hinted that the process was facing serious financial problems
and the
completion of all the 210 constituencies’ country wide could drag
beyond
this year.
“We will be able to finish 87 constituencies by end
of next month but I don’t
think all the constituencies in the country will
be complete by year end.
http://www.dailynews.co.zw
By Pindai
Dube
Tuesday, 26 July 2011 15:32
BULAWAYO - Police in Bubi
district in Matabeleland North province arrested
and detained for seven days
without charge Sibangani Kesa, an official from
the mainstream MDC party,
for distributing the party’s newsletter The
Changing Times.
Kesa,
who is the MDC ward 12 chairman in Bubi district, was arrested on 15
July at
Drumland Resettlement area by two plain clothes police officers and
detained
at Inyathi and Lupane police stations for a week, only to be
released on
Friday without charge.
The two police officers who arrested him are
believed to have been tipped
off by some Zanu PF officials in the
area.
Relating the incident to the Daily News at MDC Bulawayo province
offices
where he has sought refuge, Kesa said he was arrested near his
homestead in
Drumland resettlement area whilst distributing the party
newsletter he had
brought from Bulawayo to villagers.
“I was arrested
on 15 July and detained at Inyathi police station for five
days before being
transferred to Lupane police station where I was again
detained for another
two days before my release without a charge on Friday
22 July,” said
Kesa.
He said before his arrest, Sithembiso Ndlovu, the Zanu PF councilor
for Ward
12 in Bubi, had threatened him several times that she would fix him
over his
MDC activities.
Bubi –Unguza constituency is a Zanu PF
stronghold under mines minister Obert
Mpofu. MDC chairman for Matabeleland
North Sengezo Tshabangu confirmed Kesa’s
arrest saying: “Zanu PF is on a
crusade to intimidate and harass our party
members using the security
agents.”
When contacted for comment, Matabeleland South provincial police
spokesperson Trust Ndlovu said he was out office.
Kesa’s arrest came
at a time when a 76-year-old white commercial farmer and
miner Mike Van
Royen was arrested in Matobo in Matabeleland South province
in a move viewed
as meant to facilitate the grabbing of his farming and
mining business by
Zanu PF officials.
Van Royen was arrested on Friday in Bulawayo on
charges of insulting
President Robert Mugabe.
He runs Cynthia Mine and
Asher Estates in Matobo district, which was a scene
of earlier clashes
between a group of Zanu PF youth and Van Royen workers as
the Zanu PF
supporters sought to take over the venture by force.
http://www.dailynews.co.zw
By Chengetai Zvauya, Senior
Writer
Tuesday, 26 July 2011 15:20
HARARE - Parliament is on a
fire-fighting mission over the violence that
engulfed a public meeting on
the establishment and functions of a Human
Rights Commission, ahead of a
Sadc summit where Zimbabwe will be under
pressure to show it has made
strides to end violence.
Zanu PF mobsters turned parliament into a
war zone on Saturday, beating up
an MDC MP and journalists as they violently
disrupted the hearing.
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s MDC and the
breakaway faction led by
Welshman Ncube are almost certain to use the events
as a further indication
how President Robert Mugabe has failed to convince
his supporters to adopt
peaceful ways of campaigning.
There was a
hive of activity at parliament yesterday in a bid to manage the
fallout
arising from Saturday’s events.
Similar meetings of the committee in
other areas such as Masvingo were
disrupted in the same fashion, confirming
Zanu PF’s resistance to democratic
reforms.
Speaker of Parliament
Lovemore Moyo and Clerk of Parliament Austin Zvoma
held meetings with
chairman of the joint committee of the House of Assembly
on Justice, Legal
Affairs, Constitutional and Parliamentary Affairs and the
Senate Thematic
Committee on Human Rights to solve the matter.
The committees are chaired
by MDC MP Douglas Mwonzora and MDC Senator
Misheck Marawa respectively.
Marawa confirmed the meetings.
He said he was summoned together with
Mwonzora to meet with Zvoma and Moyo
over the incident.
“I briefed
Zvoma on what happened and this included the entire incidents at
other
public meetings in Gweru, Bulawayo, Gwanda, Masvingo and Mutare. We
noted
the all the disturbances that were happening and in particular this
weekend
where rowdy Zanu PF youths
disrupted the hearing at parliament were
unacceptable and retrogressive,”
said Marawa.
“Mwonzora met the
Speaker later in the day to brief him too but he was not
in Harare on the
day of the incident because he was attending a political
rally in his
constituency. But he is in the picture of what transpired as he
attended
other meetings in the other six provinces,” said Marawa.
Zvoma also
confirmed the meeting with the two chairmen but denied that the
meetings
were part of a mission to manage the wider international effects of
the
violence.
“We received a report on what happened on Saturday as we wanted
to
understand what transpired. It is not true that we are on a fire-fighting
mission.
We shall be holding a press conference tomorrow (today) to
explain what
happened,” said Zvoma.
According to sources, Moyo had
also asked for a report from the security
department of
parliament.
The behaviour of Zanu PF members painted the image of the
party in bad light
as the political parties are marshalling for support in
the Sadc region in
preparation of the summit scheduled for Luanda, Angola
next month, said
sources.
The sources said the situation was worsened
by the fact that the setting up
of a human rights commission was one of the
issues the political parties had
assured Sadc to be on track.
http://www.swradioafrica.com/
By Tichaona Sibanda
27 July
2011
A fresh bail application for the eight MDC-T activists still in
remand
prison on charges of murdering a police officer in Glen View, is to
be heard
at the High Court in Harare on Wednesday.
The hearing was
set for Tuesday but had to be pushed to a day later after
state prosecutors
indicated they were not yet ready. The defence team, led
by Jeremiah Bamu is
hoping a ‘change in circumstances’ and the ‘weakening’
of the state case
will work in favour of their clients.
The eight are part of a group of 24
MDC-T activists facing trumped up
charges of murdering a police officer at
Glen View 3 Shopping Centre in May.
The police officer was killed by unknown
revellers at a night club and the
MDC-T has dismissed the murder charges as
false and trumped up.
16 of the arrested group have been granted bail and
were released from jail.
The eight who were denied bail two weeks ago are;
Tungamirai Madzokere,
Stanford Maengahama, Phenias Nhatarikwa, Stanford
Mangwiro, Yvonne
Musarurwa, Rebecca Mafukeni, Cynthia Fungai Manjoro and
Lazarus Maengahama.
The eight activists have now been detained in remand
prison for over eight
weeks.
http://www.swradioafrica.com/
By Alex Bell
26
July 2011
International experts on genocide have said that justice for
the Gukurahundi
massacres is needed, before real peace can come to
Zimbabwe.
The killings of tens of thousands of Zimbabweans in the 1980s,
at the hands
of Robert Mugabe loyal soldiers, were last year finally
classified as
genocide by the internationally recognised group Genocide
Watch. The group’s
chairperson, Professor Gregory Stanton, said the Mugabe
regime has been
trying to sweep this atrocity under the rug for 30 years now
but this
classification now means the perpetrators can be prosecuted no
matter how
much time has passed.
This position was reaffirmed last
week at a congress of the International
Association of Genocide Scholars in
Argentina, where more than 300 delegates
from around the world gathered at
the National University in Buenos Aires.
Stanton said at that meeting that
dealing with Gukurahundi was essential
before real peace could come to
Zimbabwe.
“That must include a chance for survivors to face their
tormentors in a
judicial environment, and a full investigation of events,
regardless of who
is named among the accused,” Stanton said.
Zimbabwe
author and journalist, Geoff Hill, who in 2009 became the first
African to
serve on the panel of the Association’s advisory council, was one
of the
speakers at the congress. He told SW Radio Africa on Tuesday that so
many
questions remain unanswered regarding the Gukurahundi, and families of
victims are yet to find any peace.
Hill also explained that lessons
from Gukurahundi were especially relevant
to the killings now taking place
in Sudan where civilians are being hunted
down and killed in the Nuba
Mountains. He said the Gukurahundi killings are
of serious interest,
“because they demonstrate how silence by the
international community leads
to massacre.”
“The gun is not the deadliest weapon,” he said. “Sadly the
real danger lies
in silence because it allows the slaughter to continue, and
this was our
crime during Gukurahundi.”
Hill explained that this
growing interest, as well as the classification of
the massacres as
genocide, will help take the fight for justice to “the next
level.” He said
that this could include a case one day being opened by the
International
Criminal Court (ICC).
“This is difficult because the ICC only hears cases
from countries that are
signatories…and Zimbabwe is not,” Hill
said.
But he added that “international law is changing so fast,” and that
justice
for the Gukurahundi through the ICC was a possibility. He explained,
that,
for example, the ICC issued an arrest warrant for Sudanese leader Omar
al
Bashir, despite Sudan not being signatory to the ICC.
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http://www.eyewitnessnews.co.za/
Eyewitness News | 8 Hour(s)
Ago
Four South African truck drivers detained in Zimbabwe since February
on
Tuesday pleaded for their case not to be delayed any longer.
The
four are accused of conniving with South African businessman Ping Sung
Hsieh
to defraud Grace Mugabe and her aide of US$1 million.
One of the four men
- Cassimjee Bilal - said his wife is very ill.
He offered to leave his
vehicle worth R300,000 in Zimbabwe as a guarantee
that he will come
back.
State prosecutors want their trial to take place at the end of
August.
The men are being held until their alleged accomplice is
extradited from
South Africa.
Meanwhile, defence lawyer Beatrice
Mtetwa said that the process could take
up to four years and that will mean
more misery for the four men.
http://www.dailynews.co.zw/
By Eric Chiriga
Tuesday, 26 July 2011
12:53
HARARE - Lobel's Holdings Limited is set to engage a foreign
investor as the
troubled bread-maker initiates its restructuring plan, legal
advisor Dube,
Manikai and Hwacha (DMH) said.
“We are dealing with
a foreign investor, but it is premature for me to
disclose their identity or
anything further,” DMH lawyer Edwin Manikai said.
Manikai said Lobel’s was
set to sign a non-disclosure agreement with the
investor.
Lobel’s –
saddled by a close $20 million debt – is implementing a
restructuring plan
or concept frame following approval by creditors and
stakeholders on July
15.
According to the concept frame, put in place by DHM and Lobel’s
financial
advisor, CBZ Bank Limited, the new investor will inject working
capital to
facilitate reopening of the confectionary makers’ Harare bakery
on August 01
and repay creditors by August 30.
“CBZ as the financial
advisor has engaged an investor with the financial
capacity and technical
competence to resuscitate Lobel’s within the concept
frame,” Manikai, told
creditors about a fortnight ago, but refusing to
disclose the investor’s
identity.
“The investor will be announced in two weeks,” he said, adding
that the
investor wanted guarantees that creditors would not attach further
Lobel’s
property and agreed to the moratorium.
According to market
reports, since dollarisation in February 2009, Lobel’s
has pursued financing
talks with regional investors, including South African
private equity firm
Brait, the Industrial Development Corporation, Premier
Foods, the PTA Bank
and Standard Bank’s private investment arm.
Locally, it entertained bids
from an Interfin Banking Corporation–fronted
consortium.
Lobel’s owes
$15 million to banks, including $4, 1 million and $1, 57
million to NMB Bank
Limited and FBC Holdings Limited respectively. It also
owes a total $475 000
to 138 other trade creditors.
Manikai said the banks agreed to have their
money converted into three year
debentures at 15 percent interest per
annum.
He said Lobel’s would pay the 138 creditors, owed $30 000 and
below, on
August 30, a month after restarting operations.
Lobel’s
will also spend another $3 million in paying 30 percent of non-banks
debts
above $30 000 with the 70 percent balance to be converted into one
year
debentures.
The restructuring plan will also involve the unbundling of
Lobel’s into two
entities namely Lobel’s One and Lobel’s Two.
The
group’s assets will be transferred to Lobel’s 1.
Shareholding or capital
in Lobel’s One would be 98 percent through
debentures and two percent
ordinary shares.
“Lobel’s Two will lease equipment and pay rentals to
Lobel’s one,” he said,
adding that the revenue would be used for redemption
of liabilities and also
fund working capital.
Manikai said assets in
Lobel’s One will form primary security for the
debentures while CBZ and DMH
will be appointed trustees.
He said Lobel’s Two shall be given the first
right of refusal to purchase
assets from Lobel’s One.
Lobel’s Two
will enter into a management and technical services contract or
agreement
with Lobel’s One.
Manikai said following the approval legal procedures to
be done included
incorporation of Lobel’s One and Two as separate entities,
a lease agreement
between the two and the registration of a debenture trust
deed.
He said redemption of the creditors’ debentures will be funded by
the issue
of debentures in Lobel’s One and its initial public
offer.
Lobel’s has a total capacity of 400 000 loaves per day from both
its Harare
and Bulawayo bakeries.
As at June 01, the Harare factory
produced 95 000 loaves while Bulawayo
produced 45 000 loaves per
day.
The Harare bakery was temporarily closed on June 04 due to working
capital
challenges and a huge debt overhang.
Lobels – among the
largest break makers in Zimbabwe – held a 30 percent
share of Zimbabwe’s 1,
2 million daily bread market.
According to independent observations,
Lobel's is valued between $25 million
to $30 million.
http://www.bulawayo24.com/
2011 July 26 19:26:28
The
University of Zimbabwe will in the next semester open its hall of
residence
to students following the completion of construction of a water
reservoir
that has the capacity to serve the whole campus.
After closing its halls
of residence for more than three years, the
University of Zimbabwe will
finally re-open in September.
This was revealed by the Minister of Higher
and Tertiary Education, Dr Stan
Mudenge after touring the 2,5 mega litre
water reservoir at the university
that is almost complete.
Dr Mudenge
said the closure of the halls of residence was a result of water
problems at
the institution due to water cuts by the city council, adding
that the
reservoir which was built to the tune of US$600 000 allows the
university to
have water for three days in times of water cuts.
"In the country's nine
universities, shortage of accommodation has become a
perennial problem and
as a result, the government has availed funds for the
construction of halls
of residents in four of the universities," said Dr
Mudenge.
University of Zimbabwe Vice Chancellor, Professor Levi
Nyagura said
renovations have also been made at the university with two new
block of
residential halls built that will see 100 more students getting
accommodation.
"We have this year set aside more halls of residents
for female students,
considering that they are more vulnerable to abuse and
that there has been
an increase in the number of female students admitted at
the university,"
Professo Nyagura said.
The water reservoir will have
a test run this week.
Currently, UZ's halls of residence accommodates
more than 4 300 students.
Source: zbc
http://www.newzimbabwe.com/
26/07/2011 00:00:00
by Dinizulu
Mbikokayise Macaphulana
THE important truth of the saying that “those
whom the gods want to destroy
they first make mad” has painfully manifested
itself in the unfortunate and
tragic case of Emmerson Munagagwa, the
Gukurahundi mastermind who recently
pronounced the genocide a “closed
case”.
As a suspect in a major case of crimes against humanity and
genocide,
Mnangagwa’s careless talk approaches the limits of negligent
‘vuvuzela’
politics, where one blows poisonous and inflammatory words into
the air
without a thought.
So insulated from reality is the genocidal
‘vuvuzela’ politician that he is
innocent of the grave fact that as he blows
away carelessly, Genocide Watch
International has gathered 300 world experts
in Argentina who have agreed
that Gukurahundi is “a genocide” and “one of
the worst of our generation”.
Not only that, but “perpetrators must be
brought to book” is the consensus
and resolution of the gathering of
concerned scholars and legal experts.
Closer to home, while Mnangagwa
deludes himself about Gukurahundi being a
“closed case”, Mthwakazi
Liberation Front has gathered thousands of angry
survivors and victims of
Gukurahundi throughout the world who are ready to
die for justice. It is
clear that the Gukurahundi case is only about to open
in earnest, if ever it
was closed.
Clearly, Mnangangwa will soon learn that his dream that
Gukurahundi is “a
closed case” is nothing but a horrific nightmare that is
so rich in tragedy
and sadness.
What gives Mnangangwa enough battery
power and temerity to approach such a
grave topic as Gukurahundi with
playground simplicity and flippancy are the
equally deluded assurances of
Matabeleland politicians like Naison
Khutshwekhaya Ndlovu, Simon Khaya Moyo,
Cain Mathema and John Landa Nkomo.
These politicians, who represent no-one
as the former ZAPU leaders still in
Zanu PF, have separately issued
insulting statements bordering on extreme
provocation to victims of
Gukurahundi and survivors of the genocide.
Ndlovu called the people of
Matabeleland tiny mongrels “otitisi” who “cannot
hunt” but continue to
complain of marginalisation. Nkomo on the other hand
echoed Mnangagwa that
Gukurahundi is “a closed matter”. These politicians
and others in
Matabeleland have become Mugabe’s appointed prefects whose job
is to calm
the victims of genocide and inject them with sedative so that
they can be
raped, to borrow Raila Odinga’s terminology.
Instead of being the
representative of the people in government, they have
become Mugabe’s
fawning constables whose dirty job is to defend the tyrant
whose hands are
dripping with the blood of innocent civilians. Civilians who
died for being
Ndebele and for being ZAPU, a party that Nkomo and Ndlovu
claim to represent
in government. It is sad that the victims of genocide
have not yet put a
clear penalty to selling out!
Mnangagwa’s “reasoning” that the late
Joshua Nkomo and Robert Mugabe’s
signatures on the 1987 Unity Accord
document are seals that Gukurahundi is
“a closed chapter” amounts to what
Ronald Suresh Roberts calls “strong
contempt accompanied by weak analysis”.
Joshua Nkomo signed the accord to
stop the wanton slaughter of civilians and
not to confirm that the many
Gukurahundi mass graves, the countless orphans
and millions of aggrieved
exiles are consigned to “closed” chapters of
history.
Mnangagwa’s negligent reasoning and careless ‘vuvuzela’ talk
amounts to the
idiotic actions of the unfortunate proverbial traveler who
provokes a
crocodile before he crosses a river. As sure as the sun will set
today and
rise tomorrow, so it is that the victims of Gukurahundi will
extract justice
from the perpetrators. This is not a threat but a
promise.
In case Mnangagwa thinks we have short memories, the Joshua
Nkomo that he
now pretends to respect is the same man that he boarded the
same plane with
from Harare to Bulawayo, on his way to arrest him for
fabricated charges
about arms caches and other politically motivated
confabulations. It is the
same Nkomo that crossed into Botswana through a
rabbit hole as Mnangagwa and
Mugabe’s Gukurahundi hounds pursued him, baying
for his blood. What
Mnangagwa is doing in pretending to honour Nkomo, is not
only to have his
cake and eat it, but also trying to keep a slice for
tomorrow.
As Mnangangwa and other genocidaires in Zanu PF continue to
somnambulate and
sleepwalk themselves into their impending doom, they
continue to bask in the
comfortable, conniving and conspiring “opposition”
of Morgan Tsvangirai and
his MDC-T who have repeatedly promised to forgive
Mugabe for Gukurahundi.
Whoever sold to Morgan Tsvangirai the foolishness
that he has a right to
forgive Mugabe on behalf of Gukurahundi victims and
survivors needs to have
their head examined by a competent expert because
during Gukurahundi,
Tsvangirai was a loyal and active member of Zanu PF
leading the youth wing
that over turned Nkomo’s car in Masvingo. Any wonder
then that Tsvangirai is
so protective of Mugabe when it comes to the
massacres? In reality
Tsvangirai is a lab creature of Zanu PF’s politics of
tribalism and hatred.
A few weeks ago, I wrote to confront and at a
certain level to condemn Dr
Dumiso Dabengwa’s suggestion that there could be
“meaningful dialogue”
between the victims of Gukurahundi and the
perpetrators. Mnangangwa’s
inflammatory blowings confirm that the
perpetrators have not only acquitted
themselves of their own culpability but
also that they are dancing on the
mass graves of their victims by
celebrating their imagined innocence in such
an obscene
fashion.
Mnangagwa’s indecent words symbolize laughter at the unburied
bones of the
innocents and the tears of the orphans. Exactly what Mnangangwa
means when
he talks about “healed wounds” of Gukurahundi boggles the
ordinary mind. It
is not in the office of the perpetrator to tell the
victims that their
wounds have healed.
Mnangagwa’s mockery of the
blood of the innocent civilians who perished in
the ethnic cleansing gives
weight to the suggestions by the Mthwakazi
Liberation Front that
Matabeleland and Mashonaland be restored to their
pre-colonial boundaries
and separate existences. It is clear that justice
for Gukurahundi atrocities
will not be donated by the perpetrators but it
will have to be extracted by
the victims.
A combination of courage and willingness to die for justice
by the victims,
and the efforts of international players like Genocide Watch
International,
will turn the laughter of the Mnangagwas of our time into
tears.
It does not cross Mnangagwa’s mind or that of Zanu PF that out
there, there
are angry orphans who did not go to school, who will never be
people again;
people who are toiling in exile, enduring disabilities,
haunted by memories
of the slaughter and as a result do not believe in
Zimbabwean nationalism, a
nationalism that has only massacred them and not
protected them as citizens.
It does not occur to Mnangagwa and to Zanu PF
that this which appears like
peace in the deprived region of Matabeleland is
not peace but silence.
Mnangagwa is blind to the truth that Gukurahundi
victims know that even if
the guns stopped in 1987, the genocide continues
in other means. The
occupation of Matabele ancestral lands by settlers from
Mashonaland; the
de-industrialisation of the region; the denial of water
from the Zambezi;
the killing of the language and culture of the people
including the arrest
and the torture of Mthwakazi militant s are all
manifestations of the
intention of the genocidal regime in Harare to
annihilate Mthwakazians.
And most of all, Mnangagwa forgets that this
endangered species of a people
will one day rise to defend themselves and
guarantee their continued
existence and future under the sun, and this in
Mnangagwa and indeed Mugabe’s
lifetime.
Dinizulu Mbikokayise Macaphulana
is a Zimbabwean journalist who is studying
in Lesotho. E-mail him: dinizulumacaphulana@yahoo.com
BILL WATCH 30/2011
[25th July
2011]
Both the House of
Assembly and the Senate will meet on Tuesday 26th July
Medium Term Plan:
Governance and Development
The Medium Term
Plan [MTP] was launched on 7th July. In
his foreword the Prime Minister acknowledged that some previous economic blue
prints had fallen short on implementation.
The plan lists some of the achievements made under the Short Term
Economic Recovery Programme [STERP] in bringing the country from gross economic
instability characterized by hyperinflation to considerable economic
stability. This has enabled the
government to improve social service delivery, especially health and education;
and to bring about some improvements in infrastructure; but there have been only
meagre gains in the rights and interests cluster embracing fundamental freedoms
and national reconciliation. The MTP is
supposed to build on STERP’s gains and plans to transform the economy during the
period 2011 to 2015. Meeting the MTP’s
growth and development targets is optimistically premised on approximately $9.2
billion being harvested from Zimbabwe’s own natural resources and growth
dividend. Foreign direct investment will
be considered “a bonus”. [The glossy
285-page MTP document is available from the Ministry of Economic Planning and
Investment Promotion, 4th Floor, Block E, New Government Complex, Harare. It is not on the Ministry’s website.]
The MTP has a chapter on Governance and Economic Development. Good governance is acknowledged to be “integral to the successful implementation
of the MTP”. Planned measures
presented include:
· Independent
Budget Office for Parliament The plan envisages Parliament having its own
independent non-partisan professional Budget Office to provide information and
analysis concerning the national budget to legislators, parliamentary
committees, civil society organisations and citizens. The idea is to enhance Parliament’s
understanding of the budget and enable it to debate it with the executive on
equal terms, and also to enhance transparency in the use of public funds by
enabling citizen participation in the formulation of budgets and monitoring and
evaluating the performance of Government.
· Anti-Corruption Drive There is a promise of
intensification of Government efforts to crack down on corruption, and to work
towards increased accountability and transparency.
· Transformation of
Security Sector Paragraph 24:13 of the MTP promises that
security organs will be transformed “in a
manner that enables them to perform their constitutional duties without fear or
favour, in defence of the people, the country and its sovereignty”. The security sector will be adequately
resourced and there will be an emphasis on training and ensuring improved
conditions of service for the security forces.
· Prison
Reform The need to improve living
conditions of prisoners is recognized and there are plans to address it.
Mining Sector
Indigenisation: Adverse Report from PLC
On Tuesday 19th
July the Speaker announced in the House of Assembly that he had received an
adverse report from the Parliamentary Legal Committee [PLC] on the
requirements for indigenisation of the mining sector gazetted by the Minister of
Youth Development, Indigenisation and Empowerment in General Notice 114/2011 in
late March. Veritas will provide further
details as soon as they become available.
[Prominent lawyers have given
opinions condemning the requirements as both unconstitutional and ultra vires
the Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Act.]
In the House of
Assembly Last Week
The House sat on
Tuesday 19th and Wednesday 20th. The
Senate did not sit.
Bills
National Incomes and
Pricing Commission Amendment Bill – there was no
movement on this Bill, so it remained awaiting its Second Reading. The responsible Minister is Minister of
Industry and Commerce Welshman Ncube.
Zimbabwe Human Rights
Commission Bill – this Bill was still under consideration by the Parliamentary Legal
Committee [PLC] at week’s end. The PLC
could take until the 19th August to come up with its report on the
constitutionality of the Bill – or even longer if the Speaker grants it more
time. The House cannot take the Bill
further until the PLC has reported.
Motions
Unconstitutional
Statements by Service Chiefs On Tuesday, debate on Hon Chikwinya’s motion [see Bill Watch 29/2011 of 21st July]
lasted for over four hours, with MDC-T and ZANU-PF MPs putting forward
sharply differing views. ZANU-PF members
defended the right of military officers to express publicly their personal
political opinions, and also insisted that the main culprit identified by MDC-T
members, Brigadier-General Nyikayaramba, was not
speaking for the Defence Forces. Debate
petered out at 6.47 pm when the number of MPs present fell below the statutory
quorum of 25 and the Speaker adjourned the House.
Question
Time Wednesday saw full use being
made of the two hours allocated for Ministerial replies to members’ questions.
Topics referred to
included:
Police spot-fines for
motorists Co-Minister of Home Affairs
Theresa Makone told the House that spot-fines
collected by police are, with the permission of the Ministry of Finance,
retained for use within the ZRP; she also said that
there is no law requiring spot-fines to be paid “on the spot” and that people
should be give time [“maybe seven
days”] within which to pay.
Sanctions The Prime Minister assured a questioner that
there was no division within the Government on “sanctions or restrictive measures”;
from a government point of view the issue was being attended to from “a united
position”.
Ratification of UN
Convention against Torture In a question without notice, Hon Madzimure raised Zimbabwe’s continued failure to ratify this
convention. The Speaker directed that
the question be put in writing to enable a properly considered response to be
given.
Asiagate Soccer
Scandal The Minister of Education,
Sport, Arts and Culture said he had only just received the ZIFA report on this matter, and would be raising it with the
police and the Attorney-General.
Police Ban on Public
Transport in Diamond Zone Co-Minister of Home Affairs Makone confirmed the existence of a ban on public transport
in the Mutsago, Mukwada and
Chiadzwa areas “in the interest of state
security”, i.e. to keep the area clear of illegal diamond panners. Private vehicles are allowed to enter under a
permit system administered by police, with permits having to be renewed every
month.
Coming up in
Parliament This Week
Mid-Term Fiscal Policy
Review
The Minister of Finance is expected to present his Mid-Term Fiscal Policy Review in the
House of Assembly on Tuesday 26th July.
The Minister has already said he will not be announcing a supplementary
Budget, i.e., a Budget increasing the overall revenue and expenditure approved
by Parliament for 2011. But he could
still present Amended Estimates of Expenditure proposing adjustments and re-alignments in certain Ministry
votes, without changing the original Budget’s overall revenue and expenditure
figures. That is what happened at this
time last year, when Amendment Estimates were approved and an Appropriation
Amendment Bill passed.
Bills
Electoral Amendment
Bill
– the Minister of Justice is due to present this Bill in the House of Assembly
on Tuesday 26th July. After presentation
the Bill will be referred to the Parliamentary Legal Committee for the
committee’s report on its constitutionality.
[Standing Orders allow the PLC 26
business days – i.e. up to the 2nd September – to present its report, and also
allow the Speaker to grant an extension of that period if the PLC requests
it.]
Deposit Protection Corporation Bill [H.B. 7A, 2010] – awaiting its Second Reading in the Senate.
Public Order and Security [POSA] Amendment Bill [H.B. 11A, 2009] – this Private Member’s Bill, long since passed
by the House of Assembly, has been held up for months in the Senate pending an
amendment to Standing Orders to grant its sponsor, MDC-T MP Innocent Gonese, the
right to speak to it in the Senate although he is not a Senator. The amendment has now come into force, so Mr
Gonese at last has the right to present his Second Reading speech and see the
Bill through its remaining stages in the Senate. [Electronic version
of Bill as amended by House of Assembly available.]
makes every effort to ensure reliable information, but cannot take
legal responsibility for information supplied