http://www.thestandard.co.zw
Sunday, 08 July 2012 11:39
BY PATRICE MAKOVA AND
NUNURAI JENA
AS the Zanu PF succession dynamics continue to have
twists and turns,
Vice-President Joice Mujuru is now flexing her muscles as
she consolidates
power after the recent disbanding of party District
Coordinating Committees
(DCCs).
Information reaching The
Standard shows Mujuru has become increasingly
assertive in the party after
President Mugabe appeared to have anointed her
in the succession battle a
week ago.
Mugabe is said to have told party national commissar,
Webster Shamu during
the recent Politburo meeting that the mess created
during DCCs elections be
resolved in line with a recommendation by Mujuru,
which eventually led to
the disbanding of the structures a few days
later.
Mujuru had lost ground during the DCC elections as many of her
loyalists had
been thumped by those belonging to Defence minister, Emmerson
Mnangagwa.
Sources said Mujuru emerged from the meeting emboldened
and had begun
touring the country to assert her authority and show that she
was in
control.
When Mugabe was away, she was in Matabeleland
North, where she officiated at
a field day at Mines and Mining Development
minister, Obert Mpofu’s Umguza
constituency. On Friday she was officiating
at another field day in Shamu’s
Chegutu East constituency.
Mujuru
was breathing fire as she spoke with an authoritative voice while
condemning
the imposition of candidates by powerful people in the party. She
vowed that
only grassroots people had the right to choose leaders of their
choice.
In another move viewed by her rivals as an endorsement
for her leadership,
sources said Mugabe left Mujuru to chair cabinet on
Monday when he went to
Singapore for a medical checkup.
“The
President (Mugabe) appears to have given Mujuru a vote of confidence by
leaving her to chair cabinet,” said the source.
“Everyone was
surprised because we expected the Prime Minister (Morgan
Tsvangirai) to
chair it by virtue of being the deputy chairman of cabinet.
It is as if the
President was saying to Mujuru, prove yourself and you will
be my successor
when the time comes.”
Another source said Mujuru was now exuding
confidence following latest
developments in the party.
Last week,
she used Mugabe’s absence to summon the party’s provincial
chairpersons to
Harare, where they were addressed by Shamu and other senior
officials.
He said some of the provincial chairpersons loyal to
the faction led by
Mnangagwa were called to private meetings, where they
were allegedly urged
to support Mujuru.
One of them, John Mafa,
was said to have been invited to Harare on Tuesday,
where he was told to
“play it safe” by aligning himself with powerful
politicians in the
province, among them, Local government, Rural and Urban
Development
minister, Ignatius Chombo and Shamu.
The source said it was
interesting that Chombo and Shamu had fielded
different candidates to
contest Mafa for the chairman’s positions earlier
this year and a possible
alliance of the three would make them “strange bed
fellows”.
“It
is the olive branch extended to Mafa by Mujuru that has caused some
anxious
moments for Zanu PF members in the province,” the senior Zanu PF
official
said.
“Mujuru is being accommodative and her plan is to lure the
provincial
chairperson, who backs Mnangagwa. If he agrees, he will then
influence the
rest of the provincial members to back
her.”
Another source said a few provincial chairpersons loyal to
Mnangagwa,
particularly Mike Madiro of Manicaland, faced no confidence votes
before
provincial elections are held in September.
“The Mujuru
faction is now manouvering to silence critics, as it now appears
to be
calling the shots after the dissolution of the DCCs,” said the source.
Zanu
PF spokesperson, Rugare Gumbo, refused to comment, saying people were
interpreting events happening in the party in their own
way.
Mujuru could also not be reached for comment yesterday.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
Sunday, 08 July 2012 11:36
BY TATENDA
CHITAGU
PRIME Minister Morgan Tsvangirai yesterday said increasing
Constituency
Development Fund (CDF) pay-outs could only be done once MPs
across the
political divide proved that they would put the money to good
use.
Addressing hundreds of villagers at Chivamba business
centre in Zaka West,
Tsvangirai queried why the money should be increased
when some MPs had
abused it.
“The US$50 000 was a test to see if
it can be fully utilised, but some MPs
married several wives with that
money,” he said.
“If they fail to account for US$50 000, what more if
the money is increased
to US$500 000. They will marry a harem of
wives.”
Tsvangirai said although the US$50 000 was not much, it could
go a long way
in starting a number of developmental
projects.
However, he said although some MPs had abused it, the CDF
was the only way
to balance the distribution of resources.
“We
believe CDF results in the equal distribution of the national cake so
that
the previously marginalised areas can benefit,” said the PM.
A number
of MPs, including cabinet ministers have been implicated in the
looting of
the CDF.
Attorney-General, Johannes Tomana, has however ordered the
Zimbabwe
Anti-Corruption Commission and the Ministry of Constitutional and
Parliamentary Affairs to stop the arrest of those implicated until all the
constituencies have been audited.
Tsvangirai also castigated
partisan food handouts from Zanu PF, saying it
caused conflicts in rural
areas.
He warned against political violence but assured villagers
that his party
was working flat out to make sure that the next election
would be peaceful
The PM also toured schools that benefited from the CDF in
the Zaka
constituency.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
Sunday, 08 July 2012 11:33
BY Our
Staff
FINANCE minister Tendai Biti (pictured right) has weighed in on the
Anglican
saga, describing excommunicated Harare Bishop Nolbert Kunonga as
the
“devil’s angel”.
Speaking to journalists at Kamfinsa Shopping
Centre after informally meeting
residents from his Harare East constituency,
Biti said he was particularly
hurt by the Anglican saga because he grew up
in the church and it had always
been peaceful.
He said Kunonga
has hounded congregants out of churches they used in the
past as the feud
between him and the Church of the Province of Central
Africa (CPCA)
continued.
“He is also lying that he is a bishop. He is nothing but
the devil’s
incarnate,” said Biti.
“Kunonga has said if we build
churches in Anglican’s name, he will take them
over. He is lying. He is not
Anglican and he does not own the name
Anglican.”
Biti said the
Anglican church was formed in 1534 by King Henry VIII,
centuries before
Kunonga’s great great grandfather was even born.
Biti said CPCA members,
together with other people from his constituency
would soon benefit from a
community hall he intends to build in the Athlone
area as part of projects
under the Constituency Development Fund.
He said the City of Harare
had already allocated two hectares of land for
the hall which would be built
in partnership with donors and the corporate
world.
“We intend to have
the hall, a tennis court and a swimming pool among other
structures on the
piece of land and everyone will be free to use it,” said
Biti who has so far
used US$31 000 from the CDF funds he was allocated for
community
projects.
“Those without churches, including Anglicans, will be free
to use the hall
to hold their services.”
Kunonga, who has since
formed his own Anglican province of Zimbabwe and
declared himself
Archbishop, could not be reached for comment yesterday.
He however
told The Standard two months ago that he would no longer
entertain questions
about the Anglican church.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
Sunday, 08 July 2012 11:30
BY
NDAMU SANDU
THE spat between Youth Development, Indigenisation and
Empowerment minister,
Saviour Kasukuwere and Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ)
governor, Gideon Gono,
over empowerment in the banking sector shows that
government is
dysfunctional, analysts said last week.
In a notice
gazetted over a week ago, Kasukuwere’s ministry gave foreign
banks one year
to hand over 51% to locals as the empowerment crusade reached
the banking
sector.
But Gono dismissed the notice as of no force without
amendments to existing
legislations that give him power to superintend the
banking sector, namely
the RBZ Act and the Banking
Act.
Kasukuwere hit back on Thursday saying he was talking to
shareholders of the
concerned banks and not the regulator.
“We
are engaged with the shareholders, not regulators. The two are very
different. A regulator is not a shareholder. The law is for shareholders to
comply and then we can discuss with others,” Kasukuwere wrote on his
Facebook profile.
The notice comes at a time local banks have
been knocking on the doors of
foreign institutions to open the windows to
international capital due to the
liquidity constraints obtaining in the
country.
Analysts told The Standard last week that Kasukuwere’s
notice was of no
force as it is not law.
“For it to be law, it
must be an Act of Parliament or Statutory Instrument,”
a lawyer
said.
“To enforce it, he relies on the regulator, the entity that
issues licences
which is the Registrar of Bank, an office that resides in
RBZ.”
The lawyer, who could not be named for professional reasons,
said without
consultation with the Minister of Finance, that notice would
remain invalid.
There were indications last week that some banks that
were on the verge of
securing lines of credit were told to wait a bit longer
as those with
capital wanted to make a preliminary analysis of the
implications of
proposed bank take-overs.
This development has
dealt a huge blow to the economy which is already
reeling from a liquidity
crisis as multilateral lenders want the country to
settle its debts first
before they could avail lines of credit.
Foreign-owned institutions
have built a solid reputation among depositors,
more so after the banking
sector had witnessed over a dozen bank failures
involving indigenous
banks.
Statistics from RBZ showed that when ReNaissance Merchant Bank
was placed
under curatorship last year, there was a flight of deposits
amounting US$1,2
billion from indigenous banks to perceived stable banks
that are mostly
foreign-owned.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
Sunday, 08 July 2012 11:28
The
empowerment legislation is seen to be in conflict with existing
legislations
such as the Banking Act and the RBZ Act. In a normal
environment, the laws
have to complement each other.
“If it is government policy,
Kasukuwere, Finance minister, Tendai Biti and
Gono should be speaking with
the same voice. At the moment there is a
conflict of policies and this is
bad for the country,” a commercial lawyer
said.
Political
analyst, Ibbo Mandaza, said yesterday that there was need for
clarity to
remove the discord.
“There is no consensus on the policy, neither
within the party nor within
government,” he said.
Kasukuwere and
Gono’s loyalty to President Robert Mugabe is unquestionable.
Kasukuwere is
President Mugabe’s enforcer of indigenisation while Gono is
close to the
First Family.
Gono is credited with sustaining government in the
hyperinflationary period.
His critics have however accused the banker of
engaging in a futile war,
arguing that his support for banks was not genuine
as the banker was
protecting his borrowings from the foreign-owned
banks.
But the Central Bank boss said while his family had business
dealings with
Barclays and Standard Bank dating back to 1977, he did not owe
any of them a
single penny by way of loans or facilities. Instead, his
family companies
owe millions of dollars to regional and continental banks
that have extended
lines of credit to local banks.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
Sunday, 08 July 2012 11:27
BY NQABA
MATSHAZI
MDC secretary-general, Priscilla Misihairabwi-Mushonga, has said the
military top brass were posturing when they claimed they would not salute
anyone without liberation credentials.
She said the generals did
not have the capacity to carry out a coup in the
event that President Robert
Mugabe lost elections.
“They can wish it, but they can’t. Let us call
their bluff,”
Misihairabwi-Mushonga said at the Quill Club in Harare on
Friday.
“Those are just scare tactics. it’s disempowering because
from there, people
would be scared to go and vote, thinking the result is
predetermined.”
She said the army did not have the capacity to carry
out a coup due to
regional and international focus on Zimbabwe and coupled
with that, the
southern African region did not have history of military
takeovers.
“Army generals do not represent the whole army. There are
young recruits and
when it comes to a coup, do you think these young ones
would stand and fight
against the people of Zimbabwe? it may not be
possible,” she said.
Military leaders have publicly said they would
not support anyone besides
Mugabe, leading observers and parliamentarians to
claim that there was a
soft coup in Zimbabwe.
But the
secretary-general of the MDC led by Welshman Ncube, said this was
the
mindset of people who were benefiting from the status quo and were
afraid of
any form of change.
Misihairabwi-Mushonga, however, conceded that
security sector reform
remained one of the outstanding issues that had been
referred to the
facilitator, South African President Jacob
Zuma.
“As negotiators, we have agreed on 80 to 85% of the issues, but
there are
some things like security sector reform that we have had to refer
to the
facilitator,” she said.
The MDC secretary-general said
while the involvement of the military in
politics seemed like a new thing —
it had been a burning issue since 2002,
when former army boss, the late
general Vitalis Zvinavashe, on the eve of
the election, infamously declared
that the military would not salute anyone
without liberation war
credentials.
This was interpreted to mean that the army implied that
even if Morgan
Tsvangirai had won the election, the military would not allow
him to assume
power.
“What the Nyikayarambas are saying goes back
to 2002, it’s nothing new and
this is an issue that the regional mediation
team is looking at,” she said.
Recently, Defence Forces chief of
staff, Major General Martin Chedondo,
stirred a storm when he said soldiers
must be involved in national politics,
while Major-General Douglas
Nyikayaramba, also declared that no one would
rule the country without any
revolutionary credentials, drawing criticism
from United Nations Human
Rights chief, Navi Pillay, who said the military
should remain in the
barracks.
Misihairabwi-Mushonga said Zuma’s anticipated visit had
since been put on
the back burner, as negotiators had nothing to report
back, since they were
still trying to conclude the constitution-making
process.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
Sunday, 08 July 2012 11:26
BY OUR STAFF
A
campaign to mobilise thousands of youths to register as voters and
participate in the next elections has been launched.
Its target
is to encourage young people to re-assert their strategic
position as
political game changers.
The campaign, dubbed “X1G”, is a
non-partisan initiative aimed at educating,
motivating and encouraging
youths to effectively participate in the
electoral process. It is being
coordinated by the Election Resource Centre
(ERC) in collaboration with a
consortium of 10 youth organisations.
ERC director, Tawanda Chimhini,
said the campaign was being launched after
the realisation that the majority
of youths in the country had lack of
interest in the electoral
process.
“Less than 34% of the registered voters are youths below 35
years of age,
yet demographic details shows that they constitute more than
50% of the
total population,” he said at the launch of the campaign on
Friday.
Chimhini said despite numerous challenges they were facing,
the youths now
sought to become registered voters and ultimately the key
deciders of any
prevailing government.
He said youths faced a
number of constraints, which included failure to
acquire the required
documentation to be registered as a voter, such as a
national identity card
and proof of residence.
The “X1G” campaign will engage relevant
authorities to promote necessary
reforms towards achieveing a youth-friendly
voter registration process.
“The X1G is a platform for collective
action towards achieving the goals and
aspirations of a generation led by
democracy activists, who are prepared to
create a better Zimbabwe,” said one
of the campaign organisers.
A 15-track album entitled Brand X — Set
Free the Youth Vote, has been
compiled by various artists, among them Pastor
G and Willom Tight, as part
of the campaign to educate and inspire young
people to exercise their right
to vote without fear of intimidation.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
Sunday, 08 July 2012 11:25
THE
Catholic University in Zimbabwe (CUZ) last week beat other universities
in
the country to clinch the Boost Students in Free Enterprise (Sife)
national
competition held in Harare on Friday.
CUZ’s projects sought
to help the under-privileged in rural settings,
particularly orphans and
prisoners and impressed the judges because of their
sustainability.
In Karoi, the Catholic University students were
rehabilitating former
prisoners and improving prison libraries in
collaboration with Zimbabwe
Prisons Ministries and the Rotary International.
“Through our market
gardening project in Karoi, prisoners are paid US$120
per month, which they
will get upon release. We have also equipped them with
business and economic
skills,” said Nevanji Madanhire, of CUZ’s Sife
programme.
Midlands State University, Chinhoyi University of
Technology and the
University of Zimbabwe came second, third and fourth
respectively. Winners
walked away with printers, laptops and
projectors.
Boost fellowship programme officer, Tanatsa Mparadzi,
said the Sife Zimbabwe
National Programme was premised on the principle that
there were
opportunities that must be tapped into even during times of
hardships.
Other universities which took part in the competitions
include Solusi, Women’s
University in Africa and Bindura University of
Science Education. Sife is an
international network of university students
initiated in the United States
in 2000.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
Sunday, 08 July 2012 11:24
BY NQABA
MATSHAZI
IF results of surveys in the past three weeks are anything to go by,
then
Zimbabweans are wallowing joyfully in their
failures.
Zimbabweans had everything to smile about when the 2012
Happy Planet Index
claimed they were much happier than their neighbours
South Africa and
Botswana.
After years of political downturn and
an unprecedented economic slide, the
Happy Planet Index showed that
Zimbabweans were still a happy bunch and they
accepted the results
unquestioningly.
But a week later, the country’s smile was wiped off
its collective face,
after the Foreign Policy magazine indicated that
Zimbabwe ranked fifth in an
index of failed states.
Zimbabwe was
placed in the same category as Somalia and the Democratic
Republic of Congo,
and Zimbabweans are livid, saying this cannot be
possible.
“Sure
Zimbabwe is not perfect. But seriously, fifth least functional country
in
the world?” Amanda Atwood, of Kubatana asked.
To follow up on their
claims on failed states, Foreign Policy came up with a
series of pictures,
dubbed “Postcards from Hell”, but Atwood says this is
more reason to
conclude that Zimbabwe cannot be said to have failed.
“There are the
bloody bodies of a suicide attack in Kabul (Afghanistan), a
bloodied
protestor in DRC and a bombed out vehicle in Sudan,” she said.
“It’s telling
that the worst image they could find for Zimbabwe was a torn
election
poster. Seeing as how the last election was in 2008, it’s no wonder
the
poster was torn.”
National University of Science and Technology
(Nust) lecturer, Lawton Hikwa
said it was unconceivable that Zimbabwe was in
the same league as Somalia,
arguing that as with any other research, the
results of this survey had to
be interpreted
contextually.
“Zimbabwe cannot be said to be a failed state,” he said
matter-of-factly.
“In a survey like this there are lots of variables but I
can imagine that
the government has continued functioning and we cannot be
said to have
failed.”
Hikwa conceded that the last decade had
been bad for Zimbabwe, as there were
“political occurrences” that had led to
an economic downturn, but this could
hardly be described as a mark of a
failed state.
But Bekithemba Mpofu, an associate dean at the
University of Reading,
United Kingdom, said every survey had an element of
subjectivity and there
was always conflict between the various surveys
primarily because of the
indicators used to arrive at a conclusion or
index.
“Using the international indicators for failed states,
Zimbabwe is a failed
state,” Mpofu, an econometrics and finance expert,
said. “If you closely
look at the calculation, Zimbabwe has the highest
human flight index and
factionalised elites in the world and these figures
do feed into the overall
calculation.”
Mpofu said the argument
should be centred on the relevance and accuracy of
these indicators as good
inference of failed states.
“l think they are appropriate in the
calculation, thus l do consider
Zimbabwe on these perimeters a failed
state,” Mpofu, who is also a founding
secretary general of the MDC youth
league, said.
“The GNU has not done much to address these issues,
look at the percentage
of people in the diaspora and the factionalised civil
service like the army
and other security institutions.”
As if
that was not enough, another survey that somehow contradicted that
Zimbabwe
was a failed state was released hardly a week later.
Zimbabwe was in the top
five climbers in countries that have improved their
peace situations,
according to the Global Peace Index survey carried out by
the Institute for
Economics and Peace.
The southern African country is the only African
country in the top five
gainers, while Malawi, Egypt and Tunisia were some
of the worst performing
countries in the past year.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
Sunday, 08 July 2012 11:23
BY
SILAS NKALA
A former Zimbabwe People’s Revolutionary Army (Zipra) commander,
Ekem Volta
Moyo has called for a review of the mathematics’ entry
requirement for
prospective students at tertiary institutions saying they
disadvantaged
youths from Matabeleland.
Moyo, a former teacher,
told The Standard that the issue of mathematics and
science teachers’
shortage in Matabeleland was known to the government and
was imposing
restrictions to prospective students from the region.
“It is not the
students’ fault that they fail but that of government,” he
said. “Government
must exercise lenience with students here and allow them
to train for
courses which have nothing to do with science or mathematics.”
He
questioned why mathematics was required for students who wanted to study
arts programmes at institutions such as the National University of Science
and Technology.
“We cannot continue to watch children being
denied entry because they do not
have mathematics and science. This is part
of the marginalisation that we
have been experiencing since independence,”
said Moyo.
NUST School Enrichment Programme (NUSTSEP) project leader,
Semolina
Hove-Musekwa recently acknowledged that low science and mathematics
pass
rates in Matabeleland was the major reason why students from the region
were
failing to make it to the institution.
“There is a need to
help students pass their ‘O’ Level mathematics. NUSTEP
is now there to
introduce new skills to the teaching of mathematics in
Matabeleland schools
and then eventually the whole country,” she said.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
Sunday, 08 July 2012 11:22
BY
STEPHEN TSOROTI
GUTU— A three-year sustainable livelihoods intervention
project launched by
an international non-governmental organisation in Gutu
has improved the food
situation in parts of the drought-prone district, an
official has said.
Oxfam Advocacy and Policy officer, Lucina Machanzi
said over 240 households
in two wards in the district were benefiting from
the establishment of a
60-hectare gravity-fed irrigation project which is
partly powered by solar
energy.
“The project was launched in 2009
after realisation that climate change has
become a major cause of food
insecurity in the district. Food production and
income have since improved
for the over 240 vulnerable households
participating in the project,” she
said.
Sebastian Kasirai who is the village head for Murikitiko in
Ward 13 said the
project had come at an opportune time, when the problem of
erratic rains had
become a cause for concern.
He said domestic
animals like cattle and goats were however still dying due
to tick- borne
diseases, while others were falling prey to wild animals like
hyenas and
jackals.
Chairperson of Ruti Irrigation Scheme, Saviour Muzuru said
challenges in
acquiring inputs like seed, fertiliser as well as pesticides
was hampering
the smooth flow of the project.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
Sunday, 08 July 2012 11:19
BY
JENNIFER DUBE
AFTER using the “bush system” as a toilet for 50 years,
headman Phillip
Mpala of Tsholotsho is now hopeful that he and hundreds of
his subjects
will soon, for the first time, have proper sanitary facilities
courtesy of a
recently launched US$50 million rural water and sanitation
project.
Mpala said of the 85 homesteads in his Siyaphambili village,
only one
household had a toilet, with some children living in the area even
ignorant
of how a lavatory looks like.
“Those who go to school
are better because they use toilets at school and
revert back to the bush
when they come back home,” he said.
Mpala said lack of information
and resources saw many villagers failing to
construct
toilets.
“The only villager with a toilet works in South Africa. So
he probably is
now used to a toilet and had resources to build one for his
family,” he
said.
“About 20 others use pit latrines but the rest of
us use the bush.”
Mpala blamed the almost nonexistence of toilets in
the area to government’s
failure to provide resources and to educate
villagers on the need for proper
sanitation.
“We have always
wished to have toilets and practise cleanliness like
others,” he said.
“Most villagers cannot afford the US$27 annual tuition
fees for each of
their school-going children. So committing resources to
toilets is not a
priority.”
Another villager, David Ncube said, “Health workers at the
local clinic do
teach us about good hygiene practices like hand-washing
after using the
toilet, safe disposal of garbage and the importance of
drinking clean water.
But we do not have the toilets or the clean
water.”
Villagers also said the cholera outbreak of 2008/9 also made
them realise
the risk of using the bush system and welcomed government’s
recently
launched US$50 million rural water, sanitation and hygiene
(WASH)
programme to benefit drought prone areas, including
Tsholotsho.
The programme is aimed at the rehabilitation of 30 piped
water schemes in 30
districts and construction of 15 000 latrines for the
most vulnerable in 10
000 communities. A total of 15 000 latrines at 1 150
primary and 350
secondary rural schools would also be constructed under the
project.
At least 7 400 broken down boreholes were also earmarked for
rehabilitation,
while 1 500 new ones would be
constructed.
Government, in partnership with non-governmental
organisations like
Mvuramanzi Trust and donor organisations like the Unicef
have in the past
assisted villagers in the construction of toilets in
areas such as Plumtree
and Binga.
“We want to create demand for
safe sanitation,” Unicef Sanitation and
Hygiene Promotion Officer Stewart
Nyamuranga said. “We will discuss with
communities about their sanitation
coverage and problems and educate them on
how best to achieve safer
conditions using resources they can afford.”
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
Sunday, 08 July 2012 11:17
By our
correspondent
The Zimbabwe Amalgamated Housing Association (Zaha) was on
Thursday launched
in Harare.
The housing cooperation has about 69
affiliates including political parties,
civil society groups, banks and
churches.
Speaking at the launch, Zaha director Killer Zivhu said
they had decided to
call in different groups to help in solving
accommodation problems that have
marred the country.
“We have
decided to incorporate different members of the society because
everyone
needs accommodation and, let me be clear, we are apolitical,” said
Zivhu.
He said they would soon engage the local councils and the
ministry of lands
to get pieces of land for their clients.
Zivhu
said every client was required to pay US$90 which would incorporate
funeral
services and medical aid for members.
He said they would soon launch
the association in all the provinces to allow
every citizen an opportunity
to join.
Noah Mangondo, who came on behalf of Information minister
Webster Shamu,
said there was need for accountable leadership with great
commitment to the
people’s plight.
“There is need to have an
accountable leadership who are willing to serve
the plight of people because
this is a noble idea,” said Mongondo.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
Sunday, 08 July 2012 11:16
BY
TAWANDA MARWIZI
THE long-neglected St Martins suburb’s recreational park is
undergoing a
major facelift with the assistance of the local community and
the area’s
Member of Parliament.
The park, which was closed in
1985, had become an eyesore as it was now an
illegal dumping site for some
residents and nearby industries located in
Graniteside.
Harare
Central MP, Murisi Zwizwai, said the rundown park was being restored
to its
original state as part of efforts to provide recreational facilities
in St
Martins — a development set to reduce crime and other social ills in
the
suburb and other surrounding areas. “When I approached the community
about
the issue, everyone agreed that we had to refurbish the park,” he
said.
“I then decided to use part of the Constituency Development
fund to start
the project. we are doing this together with the local
community and the
City of Harare.”
Zwizwai said a committee had
been set up to ensure that the project was
completed as soon as
possible.
When Standard Community visited St Martins last week, lawn grass
and flowers
had already been planted on a section of the park to restore its
aesthetic
appearance.
Leader of the committee spearheading the
project, Ron Christian, said the
restoration of the park was being done in
two phases. “The first part is
complete and we are now working on the second
part of the park and the city
council is providing equipment to remove
garbage dumped here,” he said.
Christian said the council had also promised
to provide other machinery
required to complete the project, while the local
community and the MP would
provide the rest.
“We are doing this
because this will help us, our children and the community
and city at
large,” he said.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
Sunday, 08 July 2012
11:13
BY EDGAR GWESHE
RESIDENTS of Glen Norah and other suburbs are
playing hide and seek with
workers from Harare Water, following the launch
of a blitz targeting
defaulters who illegally reconnected
supplies.
Most residents, who had water disconnected for
non-payment, have reconnected
themselves prompting council to act. They were
now leaving their gates
locked, fearing being caught by
council.
Harare Water has for the past few weeks been removing water
meters from
households where water was reconnected illegally. Residents
complained that
the move was too harsh considering that council was
demanding huge amounts
in outstanding charges.
When Standard
Community visited Chitubu area in Glen Norah, gates at several
houses were
locked, while some residents around Chembira primary school
confirmed that
their meters had been removed. residents argued that the high
water bills
they were receiving were unjustified, as council had been
failing to provide
consistent water supplies over the past few years.
“Council has
failed us, especially when it comes to the issue of service
delivery,” said
a disgruntled resident, who identified himself as Keith
Masawi.
“Sometimes we go for weeks without water but at the end of
month they will
be demanding huge sums of money from us.”
Other
residents alleged that some Harare Water workers were now demanding
bribes
in order to spare them from disconnections.
“They (Harare Water
workers) know we are desperate and can’t afford to pay
the high bills we owe
council, so they are now demanding bribes,” said a
woman, who identified
herself as Mai Tadiwa.
Harare Residents Trust advocacy officer,
Pretty Chabuda, said the move by
council to remove water meters from houses
was a cause for concern.
“In our view, this is a violation of human rights,”
she said. “We believe
every resident has the right to clean water. The huge
water bills are also
far beyond the reach of most
residents.”
Residents said they now feared getting diseases such as
typhoid and cholera,
as some were now resorting to unsafe water
sources.
But Harare City spokesperson, Lesley Gwindi, was adamant,
saying those who
illegally reconnected water meters risked
prosecution.
“That is a criminal offence and those who illegally
reconnect water will be
charged,” he said.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
Sunday, 08 July 2012 11:07
BY
NDAMU SANDU
THE ministry of Mines and Mining Development has finally agreed
to transfer
iron ore claims to Essar, a move that would result in the Indian
firm
completing its takeover of Zisco.
The move comes after
intense lobbying by Cabinet on Monday to expedite the
transaction, amid
revelations that Essar were becoming impatient.
Welshman Ncube,
Industry and Commerce minister, told Standardbusiness on
Thursday that Obert
Mpofu’s ministry had written him a letter agreeing to
transfer the iron
claims, key for the completion of the deal.
“They wrote a letter to
us. It has everything we wanted except three or four
claims in Mwanezi,
which they have not included in the letter,” Ncube said,
adding that he had
written another letter inquiring about the omission.
“They have
invited Essar to come and have discussions on the condition for
the renewal
of the Special Grant.”
The special grant was issued in favour of
Bimco, Zisco’s minerals arm, but
had expired. It allows exploration to take
place in an area covering 41 000
hectares.
The transfer of the
iron ore claims was the outstanding issue and a
condition precedent in the
finalisation of the deal.
The claims are held by Zisco and Bimco.
These include Buchwa, Ripple Creek
and Mwanezi.
Claims at Buchwa
Mine, even though existent on paper, had become useless as
Zisco had stopped
operating at Buchwa Mine a long time ago, on the basis
that the iron ore,
although estimated at 30 million tonnes underground, was
now too deep. It
was no longer profitable to access the iron ore.
The Ripple Creek claims in
Kwekwe were being used by Zisco at the time it
stopped producing in
2008.
Claims in Mwanezi are in two categories: Special grant issued
in favour of
Bimco and 20 other claims explored by Bimco in two different
areas believed
to have high-grade ore.
Initially, the ministry of
Mines wanted to transfer Buchwa and Ripple Creek
claims, but was not
prepared to renew the special grant in Mwanezi, saying
anyone interested
should approach the ministry.
However, the ministry of Industry
argued that iron ore at Ripple Creek was
of low-grade because it had 54%
iron content.
During the due diligence exercise, engineers told
Ncube’s ministry that to
successfully revive Zisco and use blast furnace
number four, the iron
content generally accepted, had to be between 64% and
74%.
Essar won the right for Zisco’s controlling stake last year
after agreeing
to take over the troubled steel maker’s foreign debt of over
US$400 million.
The transaction would result in the creation of two
companies, New Zim Steel
(NZS) and New Zim Minerals (NZM), burying the ghost
of Zisco.
Government would have a 40% stake in NZS with Essar owning
the remainder.
In NZM, Essar would have 80% with government owning
20%.
According to Essar’s plan unveiled last year, US$115 million
would be
injected in NZS under phase 1 with a projected output of 500 000
metric
tonnes per annum within 18 months.
The production was
expected to rise to 1,2 million metric tonnes per month
under phase 2 after
an injection of US$275 million.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
Sunday, 08 July 2012 11:03
BY NDAMU
SANDU
ANJIN plans to invest US$30 million in a five-star hotel in Mutare as
the
diamond producer taps into the hospitality sector, one of the largest
foreign currency earners in the economy.
The new hotel will have
150 rooms and the company is in talks with the
municipality to get suitable
land for the project.
The proposed hotel comes after the company
opened a three-star hotel in
Mutare and is building a 350-roomed hotel
adjacent to the National Sports
Stadium, cementing its foothold in the
hospitality sector.
“It’s an upcoming market and from our analysis,
it is the highest earner of
foreign currency in most developing countries,”
Charles Tarumbwa, Anjin
company secretary, said last week.
He
said funding was coming from Anjin’s Chinese partners, Anhui Foreign
Economic Construction (Group) Co. Ltd.
The Chinese and Matt
Bronze have 50-50 shareholding in Anjin.
The proposed venture comes
at a time Treasury is accusing the diamond
producer of not remitting
anything to the fiscus.
However, Anjin said it had paid royalties and
other obligations to the tune
of US$30 million and would declare a dividend
once it started making profit.
Anjin claims the company was still to
break, even after investing over
US$400 million in diamond
mining.
It also comes after an outcry from the civil society that
diamond producers
were exporting jobs to mainly India, as they were selling
the gems without
beneficiation.
Tarumbwa told Standardbusiness,
the issue of beneficiation should come
through a policy from the lead
ministry, Mines and Mining Development.
“This thing (beneficiation)
should not be a company-related issue but a
policy from the ministry. There
is no doubt that beneficiation is good but
there should be a policy on
that,” he said.
Government is in the process of setting up a diamond
policy to govern the
diamond sector.
Finance minister, Tendai
Biti, has proposed the setting up of a State-owned
diamond entity in a
development that could bust economic sanctions imposed
on the Zimbabwe
Mining Development Corporation — a government investment
vehicle.
He said, once the reforms were in place, the country
would be able to
negotiate for the removal of economic sanctions imposed by
the United States
on Mbada and Marange Resources last year.
Biti
said he got guarantees from three US assistant secretaries of
State —Michael
Posner (State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labour), Jose
Fernandez
(Economic and Business Affairs) and Johnnie Carson (Assistant
Secretary of
State for African Affairs) — early this year that the sanctions
would be
removed once the reforms were completed.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
Sunday, 08 July 2012 11:01
BY
CLAYTON MASEKESA
MUTARE — Zimbabwe Tourism Authority (ZTA) chief executive
officer, Karikoga
Kaseke, has accused some hotels and lodges of literally
putting tourists
under a curfew by closing their doors early, thereby
restricting spending by
visitors.
Speaking to
stakeholders in the tourism sector during the official opening
of the ZTA
Eastern Region office in Mutare last week, Kaseke said tourists
visiting the
country were being forced to follow certain Christian values,
forcing on
them an unexciting stay at the various hotels and
lodges.
“Christianity has crippled the tourism sector,” he said.
“Some hotels and
lodges close their doors at 1900hrs and tell tourists to go
and sleep,
against their wishes. They are putting the tourists under curfew,
meaning
that they would not spend their money at all. That is not how
tourism is
done.”
Kaseke said tourists should be allowed to go
about their activities without
any restrictions. “They should visit night
clubs and enjoy night life. This
will result in them spending some money
which will boost our tourism
revenue,” he said.
Kaseke said there
were limited evening activities offered by hotels and
lodges, something that
sees tourists having nothing to do.
“Tourists have no option but to go
indoors. The reasons for tourists to come
here is the fact that they would
want to enjoy themselves and spend some
money, which will boost our
economy,” the ZTA boss said.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
Sunday, 08 July 2012
11:56
Takura Zhangazha
The political parties in Zimbabwe’s
inclusive government have now begun
playing out their electoral endgames
eleven months prior to the expiry of
its constitutional term of office in
June 2013.
There have been varying public statements from the
three parties in
government about the actual date of elections but
whichever way one looks
at it, election season is now firmly upon us again.
Whereas Zanu PF has been
insisting on elections being held this year, that
can now be considered a
moot point given the hints by some of its newspaper
columnists that it is
well-nigh impossible to have both a constitutional
referendum and an
election in terms of a new constitution in the next eleven
months.
The MDCs, on the other hand, have been arguing for the full
implementation
of the Sadc facilitated election road map. They, however,
must most
certainly know that again in the limited time available, they will
not get
everything that they are requesting short of a constitutional
amendment that
extends the lifespan of this current government. And for
this, they would
require an almost impossible to get two thirds majority in
Parliament. At
best the MDCs will probably have to revert (amidst Zanu PF
resistance) to
the Electoral Amendment Bill (among other potential or
existent laws) to try
and integrate the provisions of the Sadc facilitated
road map into domestic
law.
Regardless of the outcome of all of
these contestations, the issue of
elections is no longer as distant as it
was two years ago. In fact, it has
become evidently more urgent for
political parties within and without of the
inclusive government and as
such, the Zimbabwean public must brace
themselves for highly politicised
debates and an increasingly polarised
political environment. In this, there
will be the revival of the old
rivalries of 2008 and mudslinging between
leaders in the inclusive
government about the performance of rivals in the
last four years.
The images of friendly leadership handshakes will
decrease and we will all
be asked to demonstrate loyalty to one party over
the other without really
questioning issues of the policy substance that has
been provided by the
inclusive government in the period that it has existed.
It is because of
such a potential development that one can reasonably argue
that we are now
entering a political period in which we should no longer
expect much by way
of non-partisan or “common ground” policy from the
inclusive government.
Each party will angle what it would call its
own “exclusive” policies in the
inclusive government as evidence of its
ability to govern and therefore its
electability over the others. Zanu PF
will insist that it’s indigenisation
programme has been a success while MDC
will argue that were it not for its
control of broader economic policies,
hyper-inflation would still be
knocking on every citizen’s door. Blame games
for the undemocratic and
expensive constitutional reform process under Copac
will reach a particular
partisan crescendo because it is the one thing that
all parties in the
inclusive government cannot skirt collective
responsibility on.
The actual reality for the everyday citizens will
however not be as frenetic
or as emotive as that of those that will be
seeking their votes. They will
view and participate in the electoral
processes either out of cultural and
political coercion or even
self-aggrandisement than belief in any particular
principles.
This
being a direct result of the fact that the inclusive government has had
little to offer by way of inspiring its own people to believe in anything
else but survival of the “fittest” and the cliched kiya-kiya political
economy. Add to this, the clear distinction between the profligate
lifestyles of those in government and the majority populace has already led
to a cynical electorate which may seek more to gain materially in the
immediate than to challenge political leaders on the country’s future. So
there will be the positioning of money, jobs and drought relief handouts in
direct return for votes from a public that knows that without taking
advantage of the elections, these material benefits would be few and far
between.
So as Zimbabwe enters this protracted election season,
it is of importance
that civil society organisations take non-partisan stock
of the inclusive
government based on democratic values and principles. Where
this is not
done, it is the country that will be the worse off in the
present and in the
future. It is also imperative that the inclusive
government be brought to
account not merely on the basis of the
personalities that comprise it, but
on its performance when measured by
social democratic value and principles.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
Sunday, 08 July 2012
11:54
Tonderayi Matonho
The recent pronouncements by the UN High
Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi
Pillay, that Zimbabwe needs to do more
in protecting children through a
violence-free environment, is profound. The
current social, economic and
political relations do not benefit but destroy
children’s prospects as
leaders in their own right. Pieces of legislation
and policy should be
crafted that deal with issues of past atrocities as
these have a negative
effect on the growth of children in this
country.
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai is also on record saying
mechanisms should
be put in place to create a database of all the victims of
political
violence, especially children and women. These processes will
enable the
creation of the rightful place of children in the socio-economic
and
political development policy across diverse sectors of
society.
Cases that have a direct and an indirect bearing on the
growth of children
abound in this country. Gukurahundi refers to the armed
disturbances that
rocked parts of Matabeleland and Midlands provinces in the
1980s. There are
reports of people who struggled to get birth certificates
because both
parents died during this sad
period.
Politically-motivated violence and the chaotic farm invasions
in the last
decade or so have had their debilitating effects on the
well-being of
children across the country. Child experts say that those in
the margins of
society are also on the margins of justice. This is the case
for children
more than any other group in society.
Operation
Murambatsvina in 2005 was another devastating blow to children.
More than
700 000 families were internally displaced — the effect on
children was the
outright denial of access to shelter, education and justice
by virtue of
their age or immaturity. Orphaned children and those without
parental care
were and are still worse off.
President Robert Mugabe has made calls
for peace with no attendant stern
action on violence protagonists,
especially from his Zanu PF party. Such
situations call for concerted
efforts towards ensuring that children get
access to free legal aid when
they are victims of injustice and when they
give evidence before the courts
of law against perpetrators of violence.
This is where legal aid,
legal advocacy and judicial counselling to children
comes into the picture.
Children not only have the right to food, shelter
and education, but also
the right to unfettered child-friendly justice
systems. Government should
establish ways to strengthen child-friendly
benches and child protection
units in police stations. It should also
enhance the capacity of law
enforcement organs, the judiciary as well as the
media through education,
training and advisory services.
With critical hindsight, the
government has not been taking seriously
legislative and administrative
measures to protect and promote the rights of
children.
Child
protection groups should monitor and advocate for justice reform
systems
that must bring in new and effective programmes in the best
interests of the
child. The establishment of the Child Parliament, Junior
Council and the
Child Friendly Courts are major initiatives, but these have
to be
strengthened and broadened; the voice of the child being clearer and
prominent.
Studies by the African Child Policy Forum have shown
that violence is still
prevalent and is on the increase. All forms of
violence including physical
abuse, rape, sexual harassment, exploitation,
rituals, trafficking and
harmful practices, are still being committed
against children. Therefore,
children need effective protection from all
sectors across society.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
Nevanji Madanhire
What
exactly does the proposed indigenisation of foreign banks mean to
ordinary
people? A bank to the man on the street, in the circumstances
Zimbabwe finds
itself in now, is a place where often-underpaid workers
withdraw their
monthly salaries.
The bulk of salaried people are civil servants,
who as we all know, are a
grossly underpaid lot, most of them taking home
less than US$250. On payday
they go to their respective banks and withdraw
the whole lot and wait
patiently for next month’s payday. The rest are the
weekly wage earners in
our mines and factories who hardly need the services
of a bank; just
collecting their pittances in brown envelops from the HR
department.
For the few salaried employees, it doesn’t matter if the
bank is
locally-owned or foreign. In fact, for most of them to call Barclays
Bank
and Standard Bank foreign banks is wrong; they were born when the two
were
probably the only banks in Zimbabwe. This means these banks are as
indigenous as they come.
For the ordinary people the distinction
between local and foreign banks is
very thin because all the banks operating
in Zimbabwe are run by black
locals. It is very rare now to come across a
white managing director of a
bank. Any whites that are still connected with
banks are probably all in the
board of directors; so from senior down to
middle management, all banks are
run by black personnel meaning they have
been adapted to indigenous
conditions.
What the ordinary people
have known recently is that many black
businesspeople have established their
own banks which have by and large been
very successful. But they also know
that a number have been mismanaged and
have collapsed. They have also read
in the newspapers that the old banks,
Barclays and Standard, have remained
stable.
The conclusion they have come up with is that since both
local and “foreign”
banks are run by their own black cousins but the latter
are more stable, it
is the culture rather than the ownership that matters
when one looks at the
soundness or lack of it in a bank.
A secondary but
profound conclusion has been that the management culture in
the indigenous
banks has not always been sound, hence a number have
collapsed. Given a
chance therefore, they would bank any money they might
fall upon in the
stable banks with a better management culture; it doesn’t
matter if the
government minister responsible for indigenisation tells them
that the sound
bank is owned by white imperialists domiciled somewhere in
London.
Their enemy, as far as their money is concerned, is not
the white man in
London but the poor management culture at Mwendamberi’s
bank!
Recently a bank owned by indigenous black businesspeople was
put under what
is called “recuperative curatorship”, something that means
nothing to the
ordinary salaried Zimbabwean who could not at the end of the
month withdraw
his or her paltry salary. Being underpaid already, it must
have been doubly
heart-breaking to be denied access to one’s
earnings.
So for the average Zimbabwean, indigenisation of so-called
foreign banks
means the introduction of a bad management culture in the
banks previously
well run. The ordinary people begin to wonder why this is
being done. Their
only conclusion is that there must be something in it for
those leading the
crusade to “indigenise” the banks.
Banks are
simply made up of depositors’ money as far as the man in the
street is
concerned; so to him indigenisation means someone who otherwise
would not
have honest access will now gain wrongful access to this money.
This is what
exactly has happened with those indigenous banks that have
found themselves
under curatorship or without licences. These banks have
seen their owners
giving themselves loans that were not backed by
performance; in one
documented case the parent of the major shareholder was
a beneficiary of a
huge loan that he had no chance in heaven of ever being
able to pay
back.
The troubled banks have also benefited from government
deposits, which
deposits have also been abused. In a recent case, it has
been reported that
the government has been prejudiced to the tune of US$17
million of
development money. If this money had been entrusted with the
established
banks, which are now being labelled enemy banks, the money would
probably be
safe and ready to be used for the purpose it had been
raised.
The fact that proponents of indigenisation do not want to
look at indigenous
bank mismanagement in the eye betrays their evil
intentions regarding the
banks they are targeting. It is highly misleading
of them to accuse these
banks of refusing to fund local businesses when they
know they themselves
have created an environment that makes lending
dangerous.
They accuse the banks of refusing to lend money to the
farming sector when
literally no one knows who owns which farm. The
so-called offer letter has
proved to be a counterfeit document which anyone
can obtain from the nearest
land officer whose own credentials are also
highly suspect.
Genuine businesspeople know when they can or cannot
borrow money from a
bank; they know what a real bank requires when it lends
money to individuals
or institutions. When they meet the requirements, they
expect their bank to
treat them fairly and ethically as they meet their side
of the bargain. They
know the same conditions apply inshore and offshore so
they are not overly
worried by the ownership of the bank but by whether the
banks is guided by
international best practice.
Interestingly,
while some ministers are clamouring for the indigenisation of
banks, others
are buying them. Recently a government minister bought a bank
for US$25
million — where he got the money is another story — but here we
get another
model of bank indigenisation which all right-thinking people
would see as
the better model. Indigenous businesspeople interested in
owning banks
should seek funds and buy stakes in any bank they want; our
laws do not
prohibit this, especially if the desired banks are trading on
the stock
exchange.
Indigenisation has become a sensitive issue in Zimbabwe
especially now when
it has been seen to benefit only a few individuals
connected to a certain
system. To think that indigenisation can win anyone
an election is to think
in an outdated manner when some Zimbabweans were
fooled into believing that
grabbing from those who have guaranteed
prosperity for the have-nots.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
For the first time since independence,
Zimbabwe will field the smallest and
probably the weakest sporting team ever
to compete in the Olympic Games.
The games, which run from July 27 to
August 12 in London, UK, afford
athletes the chance to shine on the global
stage and nations across the
world hope to see their athletes striking
gold.
But for Zimbabweans, there is no basis for expecting miracles
after little
or no preparatory work was done to ensure more athletes would
qualify for
the Olympics.
Only seven athletes — swimmer Kirsty
Coventry, marathon runners Cuthbert
Nyasango, Wirimayi Zhuwawo, triathlete
Chris Felgate, rowers Jamie Frazer
McKenzie and Micheen Thornycroft — have
qualified for the London games.
More disheartening is the fact that
for the first time ever, Zimbabwe is not
competing in the track and field
events, after sprinter and long jumper
Ngoni Makusha suffered an injury.
This leaves the “Golden Girl” Kirsty, who
has been plagued by injuries of
late, single-handedly carrying the nation’s
hopes for any medals at
all.
Such a small Team Zimbabwe, bereft of anyone who could have a
chance to take
on the likes of Usain Bolt and Yohan Blake, who form the
golden generation
of Jamaican sprinters, is an indictment of the way sport
is being mismanaged
in the country.
The grim reality is that Zimbabwe
is in this precarious situation as a
result of slack developmental
programmes in all sporting disciplines.
Besides giving athletes diplomatic
passports and cash, nothing meaningful
has been done by government to try
and improve sports development.
Athletes who have done the nation
proud like Coventry can only thank their
parents for nurturing them after
government reneged on its duty to fund
sports programmes.
As soon
as Team Zimbabwe returns from this doomed London adventure, the
Zimbabwe
Olympic Committee and the Sports and Recreation Commission should
go back to
the drawing board and restrategise on building sporting
developmental
structures. Facilities such as the once wonderful Chitungwiza
Aquatic
Complex bear shameful testimony to how sport has been so painfully
neglected
in this country.
