http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 12 June 2011 13:06
BY
NQABA MATSHAZI
ONE of South African President Jacob Zuma’s top advisors,
Lindiwe Zulu has
warned that President Robert Mugabe’s government faces a
revolt similar to
the ones that swept away top totalitarian regimes in North
Africa.
Zulu’s warning in an interview with the New York Times came
as Southern
African leaders prepared to tackle the Zimbabwean crisis at a
special summit
in Johannesburg last night.
The summit was
expected to start in the evening and drag into the night. It
was preceded by
a huge demonstration by Zimbabweans based in South Africa at
the summit
venue in Sandton, Johannesburg.
The demonstration broke up in chaotic
scenes after the exiles made up of
MDC-T, MDC, Zapu and Mthwakazi Liberation
Front activists started attacking
each other.
“People want to see
democracy,” she said. “People need their voices to be
heard.
“Those
are the winds that are sweeping the continent, and people ignore them
at
their own peril.”
Ahead of the summit Zulu said she did not see elections
being held this
year, despite Zanu PF’s insistence that polls should be
held.
“I don’t think the president (Robert Mugabe) would like to go
against a Sadc
decision,” she said.
The latest statements are not
likely to endear Zulu to Zanu PF hardliners,
who at one time called on Zuma
to remove her from the facilitation team.
Following a summit in
Livingstone, Zambia, state media led the attack on
Zulu, but she has
maintained that she will not be removed from the
facilitation team, saying
the episode was “unfortunate, but we will not be
moved.”
Zulu’s
assertions come amid indications that Sadc will tell the feuding
partners in
Zimbabwe’s inclusive government to delay elections, while
adopting an
electoral roadmap.
“The roadmap is likely to be adopted,” Dumisani
Muleya, assistant editor at
The Standard’s sister paper, the Zimbabwe
Independent said from the summit
venue yesterday evening.
“The
Livingstone communiqué is also going to be one of the main issues
there.”
Muleya said South Africa was also going to push for the
implementation of
outstanding issues in the Global Political Agreement with
indications that
security sector reform was also going to be
discussed.
A Zanu PF team, led by Jonathan Moyo has been claiming that
Sadc has no
mandate to discuss security sector reform, however, modification
of that
sector is one of the issues in the GPA.
In Livingstone the
Sadc troika on politics, defence and security was
particularly scathing on
Mugabe and Zanu PF, with the former liberation
movement calling for a
revision of a report that was compiled after the
summit.
“Zanu PF has
been lobbying leaders to hear their position, claiming that the
Livingstone
report was one sided,” Muleya said. “They claim that it is MDC-T
that is
violent citing the death of a policeman in Glen View and violence in
the run
up to that party’s congress.”
With these claims, Muleya said, Zanu PF
will call for the revision of the
Livingstone Communique, although this was
highly unlikely.
He said he had spoken to some informed sources, who had
revealed that the
Livingstone report was not likely to be revised though
there was room that a
few issues may be included.
An issue which was
likely to be included is that of sanctions, which Zanu PF
believes was
erroneously omitted.
Muleya said, while pushing for the full
implementation of the GPA, Sadc
leaders were likely to tell Mugabe that had
he dealt with outstanding
issues, this political logjam would have been
avoided.
Since the formation of the inclusive government just over two
years ago, the
coalition partners, Zanu PF and the two formations of the MDC
have been at
each other’s throats over implementation of the
GPA.
Zanu PF claims the best way to deal with the impasse is by holding
elections
this year, but its coalition partners claim that polls cannot be
held before
an electoral roadmap is adopted.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 12 June 2011 13:10
By
Staff Writer
A MAJOR fallout rocked Zanu PF over the declaration
of Edgar Tekere as
national hero, with some politburo members reportedly
saying the late
nationalist did not deserve the status.
Zanu PF
has strict regulations for those to be declared national heroes,
with one
being consistency to the party’s ideals, a requirement which Tekere
did not
meet.
Announcing that the maverick politician had been declared a hero,
Zanu PF’s
secretary for administration, Didymus Mutasa claimed that the
decision was
unanimous, but details are emerging to the
contrary.
Politburo members from Matabeleland are reported to have
clashed with Mutasa
over the status, arguing that Tekere should not be taken
to the national
shrine.
“The officials including very senior party
figure opposed the declaration
claiming that Tekere had not been consistent
and had at many occasions
attacked Zanu PF,” it was revealed.
Seeing
that there was opposition, Mutasa is reported to have literally
begged other
party members and personally visited President Robert Mugabe to
ensure that
Tekere was declared a hero.
Mutasa’s view finally carried the day, but a
sign of the conflict emerged
with an unnamed politburo member reportedly
claiming that he did not know
Tekere.
Selection of heroes has always
been mired in controversy, with former Zapu
members in Zanu PF claiming that
their members were being sidelined.
Recently, Thenjiwe Lesabe, considered
a stalwart of the liberation struggle
was denied national hero status and
was only given a state assisted funeral.
This drew the ire of many former
Zapu members, who have often accused Mutasa
of sidelining their
members.
Three years ago, Masala Sibanda was buried at Lady Stanley
Cemetery in
Bulawayo and was only declared a national hero after he had been
buried.
Then Mutasa blamed mobile network problems for failing to get in
touch with
other politburo members, so Sibanda’s hero status could be
deliberated.
A few months later Zanu PF delayed with the conferment of
hero status to
Isaac Nyathi, who was only bestowed with that rank a few
minutes before his
burial in Bulawayo again.
The former Zapu members
were also riled by the delay in conferring Swazini
Ndlovu with hero status
and he was also buried at Lady Stanley Cemetery.
Mutasa denied that there
had been any disagreements as the politburo never
met.
“We never met
so how could we disagree,” he quipped.
However, from the 65 people who
were consulted over Tekere’s hero status, it
is reported that 22 were
opposed to Tekere being accorded the honour.
Another 10 politburo members
were not consulted.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 12 June 2011 13:21
BY KHOLWANI
NYATHI
PRESIDENT Robert Muga-be has stated publicly that fresh elections
could be
held in 2012, departing from his hard-line stance that the polls
were due
this year.
While Mugabe is known for political grandstanding,
the admission that
elections may not be possible this year is a significant
climb-down.
‘If we fail, then elections should be held during the first few
months next
year,” Mugabe said recently.
There is consensus that
Zimbabwe cannot hold free and fair elections before
major reforms are
implemented.
Mugabe is also under severe pressure from his regional
peers who are eager
to see a peaceful resolution to one of southern Africa’s
longest running
conflicts.
But Mugabe is believed to be anxious
to have elections as soon as possible
because of his failing
health.
The 87-year-old ruler has visited Singapore four times this
year and
speculation was rife that he was seeking treatment for an
undisclosed
illness.
A section in Zanu PF also appears convinced
that the opposition, mainly
MDC-T is at its weakest and a snap poll would
help the embattled Zanu PF
regain sole control of
government.
Zanu PF is desperate to regain the parliamentary majority
it lost in the
2008 elections.
Bekithemba Mpofu, the founding
secretary general of the united Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC) said
Mugabe might never have believed that elections
were possible this year but
was only using the threats as a bargaining tool.
“I think they
realise that they (Zanu PF) won’t win the battle to push for
elections this
year,” Mpofu said.
“They were using the 2011 election demand as a
negotiating platform because
it has always been clear that the demand was
unrealistic.”
One of the negotiators in the inter-party talks
recently told The Standard
that Zanu PF initially wanted the unity
government to run for five years but
changed tact when MDC-T appeared wary
of an early poll.
However, the MDC-T has indicated that it is ready
for fresh elections but
will only participate when necessary reforms have
been put in place.
Brilliant Mhlanga, a UK- based Zimbabwean academic
said Mugabe was probably
trying to pre-empt this weekend’s Southern African
Development Community
(Sadc) summit on Zimbabwe.
Sadc leaders
were last night scheduled to discuss Zimbabwe’s roadmap to
fresh elections
amid indications that the region was growing impatient with
Mugabe’s foot
dragging.
“Zanu PF is very good at posting pretentious positions,”
Mhlanga said.
“They have decided to pre-empt Sadc and everyone who
wanted elections next
year so that they can say their position was upheld by
the summit.”
He said what was more important was to ensure that
Mugabe stuck to the
reform agenda proposed in the Global Political Agreement
if Zimbabwe was to
hold credible elections.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 12 June 2011
13:20
BY PATIENCE NYANGOVE
ZIMBABWE will present a report to
the United Nations Human Rights Commission
(UNHCR) that completely ignores
alleged human rights violations by state
institutions, a draft report
obtained by The Standard has revealed.
The report drafted by an
inter-ministerial committee led by the ministry of
Justice will be tabled at
the 12th session of the Human Rights Council in
Geneva Switzerland in
October.
It does not mention the alleged torture, killings,
intimidation and
incarceration of political activists, which have been
exposed in several
court cases.
Instead the report claims that Zimbabwe
is a champion of freedom of
expression and freedom of
association.
On the contrary, police continue to restrict opposition
rallies while
artists have been thrown into jails for being too critical of
President
Robert Mugabe.
The draft also claims that all vulnerable
members of society are given
monthly stipends.
“Harmonised cash
transfers to vulnerable households also ensure that persons
with
disabilities receive a monthly allowance to enable them to purchase
basic
commodities, pay bills and rentals,” the report claims.
It also
claims that government pays examination fees for all Grade VII
candidates.
“Other strategies to promote the right to education
are payment of
examination fees for all Grade VII examination candidates by
government,”
the report added.
Obert Gutu, the Deputy Minister of
Justice admitted that the report did not
portray the true picture of the
human rights situation in the country.
“The report is rather glossy and it
fails to accurately portray the true
human rights situation in Zimbabwe,” he
said.
“However, the national drafting inter-ministerial committee has
since been
tasked to prepare a more accurate and authentic report about the
human
rights situation in Zimbabwe which shall be presented at the Human
Rights
Council.”
Zimbabwe Law Society executive secretary Edward
Mapara said they noted
certain omissions in the draft which they have since
pointed out to
government.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 12 June 2011 13:18
BY PATIENCE
NYANGOVE
THE Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation has appointed 10 new
senior managers
in a move seen as an attempt to bolster Zanu PF’s propaganda
ahead of
elections that President Robert Mugabe wants this
year.
ZBC also re-appointed its former editor in chief Chris Chivinge
who is now
the business development and quality assurance
manager.
He is believed to be close to President Robert
Mugabe’s spokesperson George
Charamba.
Part-time disc jockey
Bridget Gavanga is the new Power FM manager while
Nonceba Mnkandla is now
the head of Montrose Studios in Bulawayo.
The changes have also seen
other managers that include former bulletins
manager Freedom Moyo moved to
head the current affairs section, Walter
Mufanochiya is now heading radio
services, Samuel Mkhithika (head radio
services, Bulawayo), Innocent Manase
(manager quality assurance, radio) and
Samuel Magade (quality assurance
manager).
Bureau chiefs will also be moved to new bases countrywide
in a move that is
said to have raised the possibility of mass
resignations.
Sources said the appointments will come at a huge cost
for the struggling
broadcaster that has perennial problems in paying its
workers as each
manager is entitled to a BT50 vehicle.
Sivukile
Simango, the ZBC spokesperson confirmed that there were new
appointments but
went on to launch a tirade against The Standard. He said
the paper always
wrote negative stories about the country’s sole
broadcaster.
Other appointments
Other new appointments
are Clifford Mufiri (head news and current affairs),
Albert Chekai (manager
news reporters), Charles Kawadza (manager radio
bulletins), Joseph Nhara
(Bulawayo manager news and current affairs),
Dorothy Mavolwane (assistant
news editor), Tendai Munhengwa (assignments
editor) and Autherman Mukotore
(manager TV studios).
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 12 June 2011 13:16
By Jennifer Dube
AN
Anglican pastor whose family was recently raided by thugs suspected to be
linked to the church’s former leader Nolbert Kunonga says his family now
lives in fear.
Reverend Julius Zimbudzana of Anglican’s St Mary’s church
in Highlands
yesterday recounted how eight men descended on his family’s
residence at the
church’s premises in an attempt to illegally evict
them.
Zimbudzana said the people, led by a man only identified as
Chisadza and a
woman called Ruth Jacket spent the day at the church’s
entrance.
They only left in the evening but returned on Wednesday targeting
the pastor’s
residence but they failed to produce an eviction
order.
He said he had tried to report the case at Highlands police
station but was
reportedly told that the matter could only be dealt with by
“people from
above.”
“It was after the arrival of fellow church
members that officers from
Central Police Station came with more than 50
others in riot gear,” he said.
Police spokesman Andrew Phiri referred
questions to his counterpart James
Sabau whose mobile phone was
unreachable.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 12 June 2011 13:15
By Nqobani
Ndlovu
PAULl Siwela, who was released recently after spending 90
days at Khami
Maximum Security Prison on treason charges says his
seccesionist group wants
to meet President Robert Mugabe to discuss their
demands for a separate
Matabeleland state.
Siwela said the Mthwakazi
Liberation Front (MLF) does not hold grudges
against Mugabe because he is
not the one to blame for combining the
“Mthwakazi state” with
Zimbabwe.
He said they blamed Britain for combining the ”two states”
in 1893, saying
all symbols of two combined states “are there for all to
see.’’
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 12 June 2011 14:47
BY JENNIFER
DUBE
Emmanuel Nyamande, an employee at a local media house, realised
the
importance of donating blood after he lost an arm in a horrible car
accident
last year.
As part of the treatment, he received five 450 ml
units of blood.
“All along, I would take giving blood lightly as I
was oblivious of the fact
that I would need blood transfusion one day,”
Nyamande, who is now a strong
advocate for blood donations, told journalists
in Harare last week.
“I could not stand or do anything after the
accident but the donated blood
saved me.
“Let us donate blood so
the blood bank does not run dry. It is not meant for
schoolchildren
alone.”
Nyamande was giving a testimony at the launch of an awareness
campaign by
the National Blood Service Zimbabwe (NBSZ) ahead of the World
Blood Donor
Day to be commemorated on Tuesday.
NBSZ chief
executive David Mvere said his organisation wanted to lure more
adult donors
as schoolchildren still accounted for the majority of blood
donors at
75%.
Only four in 1 000 Zimbabweans donate blood compared to the
World Health
Organisation recommended ratio of 10:1 000.
Mvere
said the ratio used to stand at 6: 1 000 but dropped over the
years.
Among other measures, NBSZ will roll out branches in various
centres across
the country, embark on vigorous media campaigns and also
negotiate for
special incentives from the corporate world and community
health providers.
Mvere said mothers got most of the donated blood,
with 40% of total stocks
used in cases involving complications during
childbirths.
Other major consumers of donated blood are accident
victims.
To encourage people to donate, NBSZ will offer incentives
such as free blood
transfusion for family members of someone who would have
donated blood at
least 10 times.
Mvere urged government to
subsidise blood transfusion services saying money
required for processing,
testing and storage made the product expensive.
A unit costs US$65.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 12 June 2011 14:50
BY
JENNIFER DUBE
Government only provided US$6 000 to the mental health
sector last year,
signalling a lack of will to help people suffering from
mental illnesses,
experts have said.
Contributing to debate on mental
health facilitated by the Humanitarian
Information Facility Centre in Harare
last week, the stakeholders said the
lack of commitment had also hampered
the country’s capacity to deal with
mental health issues.
“A lot
of people think of a person walking the streets naked or talking to
themselves or just behaving abnormally when talking about mental health,”
Nemache Mawere, a doctor at the Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals
said.
“Yet in life, everybody goes through some mental problems
including stress,
depression, anxiety, phobias, epilepsy, mental retardation
and developmental
disorders of children.
“People tend to focus on
schizophrenia which accounts for only 1% of mental
cases in any community
all over the world. We are not doing enough to
address the bigger
problem.”
Mawere said other mental health conditions included
alcohol, drugs and other
substance use disorders.
Other
participants at the forum said donors were prioritising diseases such
as
Aids, tuberculosis and malaria, which they believed were the main killers
yet mental illness exposed people to many risks.
They said the
risks included suicide and accidents caused by people who
would have lost
their minds.
“Lack of funds is negatively affecting procurement of
medication and
admissions for psycho-social services,” said Mercy
Kamuzunguze of
Healthwatch Welfare Organisation Trust.
“Sometimes
patients run out of medication and that negatively affects the
progress made
in rehabilitating them.”
Lovemore Pasina of Tariro Halfway Homes said
organisations lacked money for
community educational programmes and
refresher courses for staff among
others.
He said Zimbabwe only
had 10 psychiatrists, which made it difficult to
properly care for patients.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 12 June 2011 13:26
BY NQOBANI
NDLOVU
BULAWAYO — Residents in the city are calling for an urgent
audit of the
Constituency Development Funds (CDF) because they believe their
MPs did not
use the money properly.
Each MP was allocated US$50 000 for
developmental projects and operations in
their constituencies, guided by a
constitution and accounting officer’s
instructions.
A management
committee was established by the Constitutional and
Parliamentary Affairs
ministry to supervise CDF activities.
But the Bulawayo Progressive
Residents Association (BPRA) says its
investigations revealed that
legislators in the city abused the funds.
BPRA spokesperson, Emmanuel
Ndlovu said the Anti-Corruption Commission must
be roped in to probe the
MPs.
“We have been holding consultative meetings with the residents
in various
constituencies and our findings reveal that there is no
meaningful
development that has been brought to the city by the
legislators,” he said.
However, the MPs have hit it back at BPRA
saying the civic group is a front
for “certain politicians” targeting their
constituencies.
Felix Mafa, the MP for Magwegwe said: “BPRA are
making false allegations
because they have shadow MPs that they fund.”
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 12 June 2011 13:23
BY JENNIFER
DUBE
THE Environmental Management Agency (EMA) has launched a blitz
against
haulage truck drivers who carry dangerous substances without
requisite
permits and is demanding US$2 000 spot fines from
offenders.
EMA’s campaign has unsettled indigenous transporters who say they
cannot
afford the US$650 paid annually for the permit to transport
substances such
as fuel.
“At some point, we paid US$60 for every
entry from such countries as
Mozambique,” said a disgruntled truck
owner.
“We thought that the money was part of the US$650 but EMA
recently started
demanding US$2 000 fines at roadblock along
highways.”
The truck owners, although their business used to be
profitable before the
dollarisation of the economy, said it was becoming
increasingly difficult to
generate any meaningful income.
But EMA
publicity manager Steady Kangata said the fee required from all
transporters
of hazardous and toxic substances like petrol, diesel, acids
and pesticides
was minimal.
“Nobody should be complaining about the level of the fee
because it is in
tandem with what is being charged in the whole region,” he
said.
“The fee, together with the fine, is spelt out under Statutory
Instrument V
of 2011 which requires that these substances be transported
under a
licence.”
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 12 June 2011 14:50
BY CHIPO
MASARA
Although mining activities are undoubtedly at the heart of
most nations’
economic survival, they do cause unprecedented harm to the
environment.
Mining adversely affects the quality of life in areas where it
is
undertaken.
In Zimbabwe, instead of being a blessing for the
impoverished masses, the
mining sector has evidently created more
problems.
For instance, when diamonds were discovered in the
mineral-rich Marange
fields, it came as a huge relief to many as the country
was drowning in
poverty.
But after a few years of daily excavations of
the precious mineral, many
people have started to realise that not only will
the general population not
be able to benefit anything significant from the
activities, but the mining
will further degrade their quality of
life.
Besides the fact that many locals had to be relocated from the
area which
had been their home for many years to make way for the mining
companies, the
activities have, as is to be expected, had a negative impact
on the
environment.
The mining activities are not only
exacerbating the air and water pollution
problems but irresponsible mining
practices are said to be leaving behind an
area that is fast-losing its
aesthetic sense.
Some companies are reportedly not making any efforts
to restore the
environment once they exhaust the minerals. This is inspite
of the fact that
the government has the Environmental Impact Assessment
policy in place.
The responsible authorities need to make sure that
companies are compliant
to the requirements before granting them mining
licences.
Companies must also not be allowed to consider themselves to be
above the
law and go against the stipulated conditions, no matter how close
their
association might be with the responsible
authorities.
How is Mbada reclaiming the
environment?
Mbada Diamonds, one of the mining companies that have been
granted the
licence to mine at the Marange fields, claims to be a step
ahead.
The company’s motto is: “Harnessing diamonds for the people in an
environmentally-friendly way”.
Asked exactly how the company was
doing that, Safety, Health, Environmental
and Quality manager Anthony Nyaya
talked about the land rehabilitation
programme that he said Mbada Diamonds
had incepted in June 2010 and had
since embarked on.
“Realising
the negative impact of mining operations on the environment, the
company
realises the importance of having a mining rehabilitation programme,
which
is guided by the environmental management programme,” Nyaya said.
The
programme, which Mbada Diamonds say aims at resuscitating the mined
areas to
ensure sustainable growth and development, includes the covering of
excavations, levelling, terracing and commissioning it for planting of
trees and grasses.
To ensure the continuity of the rehabilitation
process, the company says it
established a nursery that currently holds 5
000 trees, consisting mostly of
indigenous species and a few exotic ones
that include lakina and jatropha.
It is a pity that the
rehabilitation programme like the one Mbada Diamonds
decided to take on
still appears to be optional to most mining companies in
Zimbabwe.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 12 June 2011 13:47
Edgar
“2boy” Zivanai Tekere died on June 7, succumbing finally to prostate
cancer,
an illness that had plagued him for the last five years.
It was
Tekere’s tenacity of spirit, bravery and courage that remained a
defining
feature of his lifetime, as much in struggle as in illness. Not
until last
week Tuesday when we had to take him into hospital for the last
time did he
confess the end was nigh: ‘‘Ibbo, I feel very low today, very,
very low
…….’’, he muttered to me on the telephone. Prior to that, Tekere’s
tenacity
bordered on self-denial: “I am fighting fit, I will be all
right...”
And, not surprisingly, he would defy the odds,
including the doctor’s advice
to stay in bed. So, on one occasion last
year, while at Avenues Clinic,
Harare, he tried to get out of bed
unassisted: he stumbled and fell, broke
his right leg and bruised his head
seriously.
A Lifetime of Struggle indeed, a title he chose for his
autobiography; and
it was a struggle to the very end.
I met
Tekere for the first time in February 1979, at Zanu PF Headquarters in
Maputo; although we had a glimpse of him and his fellow detainees while
myself and other fellow students were in the Salisbury Remand Prison in
July, 1973.
Tekere had just been elevated to the position of
secretary-general of Zanu
PF two years earlier in 1977. We bonded almost
immediately, as I did with
most of that group of nationalist leaders to whom
we were irresistibly
attracted as young radicals in those heady days of the
struggle: Mugabe,
Nathan Shamuyarira, Eddison Zvobgo, Dzingai Mutumbuka,
Josiah Tongogara,
Solomon Mujuru, Sydney Sekeremai, etc.
At
independence in 1980, Tekere was appointed Minister of Manpower Planning
and
Development. As an entirely new ministry in the maze of the state
structures that were still largely Rhodesian in content, Manpower Planning
and Development proved to have been pivotal, if not also central in the
process of transformation, not to mention the task of human resources
development and genuine indigenisation.
As both secretary-general
of the ruling party and minister of such a key
section of the new state
machinery, Tekere’s role and leadership was
palpable. Without him, it is
doubtful that we, as officials in the
ministry, could have achieved such
feats as were both controversial and even
resisted, not only by the former
settlers but also by some within the new
state
itself.
Tekere: A founding icon of Zimbabwe’s liberation
struggle
EDGAR Tekere was one of the founding members of Zimbabwe’s
nationalist
movement, along with Joshua Nkomo, Joseph Msika, Maurice
Nyagumbo, James
Chikerema and George Bonzo Nyandoro.
Tekere
was hardly 22 years old when he was detained for the first time in
March
1959, after the banning of the ANC of Southern Rhodesia a month
earlier.
Clearly the youngest political detainee among such senior
nationalists as
Nyagumbo, Stanley Parirewa and Sylvester Mushonga, Tekere
was as fearless
and defiant as he has always been throughout his life.
Tekere spent
what would otherwise have been the best years of any young man,
in
detentions, restrictions and prison for more than 10 years, until his
release in December 1974, together with Ndabaningi Sithole, Robert Mugabe,
Nyagumbo, Enos Nkala and Moton Malianga.
Tekere volunteered, in
March 1975, following the assassination of Herbert
Chitepo in Lusaka,
Zambia, to accompany Robert Mugabe to Mozambique.
Tekere was a true
nationalist, a genuine patriot: like Joshua Nkomo, he
lived beyond race,
tribe and ethnicity. So it was that his Ministry of
Manpower Planning and
Development was staffed by cadres from both Zanu PF
and PF-Zapu; it was a
genuine ‘‘Patriotic Front’’ ministry.
Short-lived stint in
government
As is well-known, Edgar Tekere’s stint in the government was
short-lived,
following the ‘‘Adams Case’’ (in which a Mr Adams was shot and
killed in a
bizarre incident involving Tekere and his bodyguards). But the
real
fall-out between Tekere and Mugabe was at the party level when, on
April 8
1981, he ‘‘was suddenly sacked from the position of
secretary-general of the
party, at a meeting I did not
attend’’.
After this, Edgar entered the political wilderness, so to
speak, became a
thorn in the flesh for Mugabe and those who remained around
him, virtually
immune to advice, even from those of us close to
him.
In many respects, therefore, Edgar leaves us in the midst of a
transition
that promises to usher in a ‘‘New Zimbabwe’’, emerging from a
tumultuous
decade of immense political and economic problems, towards a
growing
convergence, among the Zimbabwean people as a whole, around obvious
national
priorities.
Ending Mugabe’s one-party-state project
struggle
The formation of Zimbabwe Unity Movement (Zum) by Edgar Tekere
in 1989
heralded the end of the one-party-state in Zimbabwe, the beginnings
of the
multi-partyism we are enjoying today.
It is true that the
formation of Zum constituted the foundations of a new
democratic Zimbabwe,
of the kind Edgar believed should have accompanied the
post-independence
period throughout.
For him, this would amount to the reassertion of
the very principles and
goals of the struggle for national independence.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 12 June 2011 13:43
BY WALTER
MARWIZI
FRIENDS of Edgar Tekere will leave the Heroes Acre today
happy that justice
has been done to one of the luminaries of the struggle
for independence.
Although Tekere had declared that he did not want to be
buried among
“thieves and crooks”, Didymus Mutasa and others successfully
pushed for the
veteran politician to be buried at a place reserved for
cadres who have been
unwavering in their support of President Robert
Mugabe.
Tekere wasn’t. In fact, he was an arch-critic of Mugabe from
the days of the
liberation struggle up until his death.
The
extent of Tekere’s disdain for Mugabe on one hand, and on the other, the
President’s open determination to punish him, is laid bare in the national
hero’s autobiography, A Lifetime of Struggle.
Published by Sapes
Books in January 2007, the book exposed that Mugabe was
not only reluctant
to lead Zanu PF, but was a coward who had no appetite for
waging the
liberation struggle.
While there is bitterness in his account, and a
begrudging attitude towards
Mugabe, who forced Tekere out of both the state
and Zanu PF, the late
politician revealed the other side of Mugabe that was
unknown to many
Zimbabweans.
Tekere said Mugabe never campaigned
to be leader of Zanu PF. He noted that
when he, Enos Nkala and the late
Maurice Nyagumbo decided to oust Ndabaningi
Sithole from the leadership of
Zanu PF while in prison, Mugabe wanted to
stick with Sithole.
“He
sat silently in the meeting and did not raise a finger. This is when he
was
appointed head of the party,” remarked Tekere.
Tekere said on their
way to Mozambique via the treacherous mountain path in
Kaerezi in March
1975, he started doubting Mugabe’s leadership when he
intended to tell the
fighters that they represented United African Nation
Congress instead of
Zanu PF.
And when Rhodesian forces massacred thousands at refuge
camps, Chimoio and
Nyadzonia, Tekere said Mugabe doubted whether it was
worthwhile continuing
the struggle.
Tekere said even the then
Mozambican President Samora Machel realised that
Mugabe was not up to the
task of leading the struggle.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 12 June 2011 13:39
BY
CAIPHAS CHIMHETE
PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe relented on the late nationalist
Edgar Tekere’s hero
status to gain political mileage and save his heavily
divided Zanu PF party
from further disintegration, political analysts said
last week.
In the past, other towering nationalists were denied national hero
status by
Zanu PF because they were not “consistent.”
But an even
more “inconsistent”, some would say, Tekere was accorded the
right to be
buried at the Heroes Acre today.
Tekere, an arch-critic of Mugabe’s
autocratic rule, died almost a pauper
surviving largely on handouts from his
sympathisers in Zanu PF.
Analysts said failure to give the popular
Tekere — also known as 2Boy — the
hero status was likely to cost Mugabe the
Manicaland province vote in the
next elections.
Even some senior
Zanu PF members, who financially and morally supported
Tekere during his
most difficult times, were likely to be infuriated by that
decision.
Dewa Mavhinga, the regional information and advocacy
coordinator for Crisis
in Zimbabwe Coalition said Mugabe wanted to make
political capital out of
Tekere’s death.
He said the way national
hero status for Tekere was decided showed it would
be used by Mugabe and
Zanu PF as cannon fodder in their political
campaigns.
“It is
shameful, conferring hero status on Tekere is hypocrisy of the worst
kind by
Zanu PF,” Mavhinga said. “Tekere was viewed as an outcast.
“This
gallant son of Zimbabwe who led Mugabe to Mozambique died a pauper and
now
Zanu PF has the audacity to declare him a national hero.
“This is an insult
to Tekere and his family, he must be turning in his
grave.”
University of Zimbabwe political science lecturer John
Makumbe said denying
Tekere the hero status would have cost Zanu PF the
Manicaland vote in the
next elections.
He said Zanu PF had
already alienated itself from voters in the Matabeleland
region by denying
hero and heroine status to nationalists such as Thenjiwe
Lesabe and the late
trade unionist Gibson Sibanda.
“Mugabe wanted to save Zanu PF because
it is on the verge of losing in
Manicaland,” Makumbe
said.
Why others were denied hero status
Zanu PF secretary
for administration Didymus Mutasa has said his party
denied Thenjiwe Lesabe
and Zanu founder Ndabaningi Sithole hero status
because they were not
consistent after they joined other political parties.
He said Lesabe
had joined Zapu led by Dumiso Dabengwa while Sithole had
formed Zanu Mwenje
and therefore could not qualify as they were not
consistent with the Zanu PF
benchmarks.
Just like Tekere, Sithole was at the core of setting up
Zanu but was buried
at his farm in rural Chipinge
district.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 12 June 2011 13:26
BY NQABA
MATSHAZI
AS Zanu PF rolled out its charm offensive last week ahead of
the Sadc summit
in South Africa, a familiar but unlikely character led the
propaganda drive.
Out in the cold six years ago, Jonathan Moyo (pictured
right) is back at the
helm driving Zanu PF’s agenda and has literally been
camped in the
neighbouring country trying to portray his party as the best
for Zimbabwe
and the region.
With a busy schedule, Moyo was on
television, talk radio stations and was a
speaker on a panel discussion on
Zimbabwe and his message was “most
Zimbabweans are Zanu PF”.
But
many consider him a divisive element in Zanu PF and did not shed a tear
on
seeing his back as he was expelled from the party for allegedly
masterminding a shake up at the party’s top.
“We do not even know
what his position is or what his brief is,” a member of
the party’s
politburo said at the weekend. “He is just a politburo member
without any
position.”
Moyo was recruited back into Zanu PF’s top decision body
last December.
Political analyst, John Makumbe says Moyo is trying to
worm his way into
President Robert Mugabe’s heart and curry favour with the
veteran leader.
“I think he is working for a position and a constituency,” he
said. “He will
certainly not win another election in
Tsholotsho.”
Moyo, a political scientist, won his ticket to
parliament as an independent
candidate in Tsholotsho North, before rejoining
Zanu PF.
Moyo strategising for own survival, says
Makumbe
JoHN Makumbe said in the event that an election was held and
Mugabe won,
Moyo hoped to be rewarded with a cabinet position and a
substantive seat in
the party’s politburo.
“He is putting his
mouth where his money is, he knows there is no space for
him in the
politburo or cabinet, but he is hoping to make an opening,” he
said.
Makumbe said Moyo was aware that there was no safe
constituency for either
him or Zanu PF and the best way for him to have any
position was to cosy up
to Mugabe.
The university lecturer said
Moyo and Chris Mutsvangwa were working overtime
so that they could prove to
Mugabe that they had fresh ideas to drive the
party
forward.
Moyo’s flirtation with Zanu PF has earned him many friends
and enemies
within and outside the party.
He drew the ire of many
in the party during his reign as an abrasive
Information minister, where his
critics claim he rode roughshod over
everyone.
Considered brainy by many,
he is seen as one of the “Young Turks” that can
drive the party forward, as
longtime leaders start to fall by the wayside
due to advanced
age.
“Zanu PF has run out of capable leaders,” Makumbe continued.
“They are now
old and bankrupt and Moyo is seen as the only person with
ideas.”
Makumbe said Moyo and Mutsvangwa were positioning and
portraying themselves
as good guys and wanted to take over once the “dead
wood” left.
Moyo’s return has seen him overshadow the party’s spokesman
Rugare Gumbo and
commissar Webster Shamu, the same way his overbearing
attitude landed him in
trouble with senior Zanu PF figures in his first
stint in Zanu PF.
The late Vice-President Joseph Msika, his successor
John Nkomo and former
politburo member Dumiso Dabengwa were known to loathe
the motormouth
professor they regarded as a new comer in Zanu PF out to
cause trouble.
Moyo went on to successfully sue Nkomo for defamation
after the VP accused
his rival of trying to stage a coup against Mugabe
after he allegedly
organised the so-called Tsholotsho
declaration.
While Moyo’s previous brief in Zanu PF appeared to be
about leadership
renewal, he is now believed to be in a camp pushing for a
Mugabe
life-presidency in search of selfish gains.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 12 June 2011 14:13
BY
CAIPHAS CHIMHETE
AFTER almost five years of on-and-off operations,
Zimbabwe’s giant biodiesel
plant faces prolonged closure after the central
bank pulled out of the
project.
Launched amid pomp and fanfare, the
project was touted as the panacea to the
country’s fuel crisis.
The
Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) has already invited bids for its 50%
shareholding in Transload (Pvt) Limited, a fuel manufacturing company that
never made an impact despite its glamorous launch in 2007.
But
investment and economic analysts last week said no local investor would
want
to put money in such “a white elephant”.
Foreign investors, say the
analysts, would be discouraged by the controversy
surrounding the
Indigenisation and Empowerment Act.
The biodiesel plant is a joint
venture between Zimbabwe and Yuon Woo
Investments of South
Korea.
Government mooted the project when the country was
experiencing a fuel
crisis that President Robert Mugabe’s administration
blamed on sanctions
imposed on the country by the West.
Labour
and Economic Development Research Institute of Zimbabwe (Ledriz)
economist
Nyasha Muchichwa said the environment was not ripe for local
investors to
put money into such a project.
“Chances are very minimal that anyone
would put money into such a project
considering our economic and political
circumstances,” he said.
Muchichwa said it had also been very difficult to
access the performance,
management and debt structures of the company from
the central bank.
But independent economist John Robertson sees it
differently.
The project, he argues, would find takers should it be
sold at a reasonable
price.
He said the plant had lots of
valuable equipment which could be put to good
use.
“We have oil
producing companies such as Olivine, United Refineries and
National Foods
which might need the equipment,” Robertson said.
Efforts to get a comment
from Transload Bio-diesel Company of Zimbabwe
managing director Douglas
Musiiwa were fruitless last week as he kept
postponing the
interviews.
Last year, he told The Standard that the project needed
US$650 000 capital
injection to cover cost of seed, transportation and
toll-crushing to extract
cooking oil as well as salaries before resumption
of any operations.
Lack of inputs, non-existent demand for
biodiesel
Kingdom Financial Holdings (KFH) head of economics and
research, Witness
Chinyama, says it would be difficult for anyone to invest
in a biodiesel
project whose product has no demand on the
market.
There has been no meaningful production at the plant, the
first of its kind
in Africa due to the shortage of inputs such as Jatropha
seed, soya bean
seed as well as lack of capital.
Chinyama advised
government to keep the project and dispose it when there
was demand for
biodiesel fuel in the country.
“No private individual would be
interested because there is no market for
the biodiesel fuel at the moment,”
said Chinyama.
“The government should see it through and sell it at a
time we have cars
using the fuel ... when there is demand for that
particular fuel.”
Motorists were even sceptical of the little fuel
that trickled out of the
giant machine when it was still operational.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 12 June 2011 14:12
BY KUDZAI
CHIMHANGWA
ZIMBABWE is yet to respond to a 500 million euro (about
US$771,3m) loan
offer to upgrade infrastructure dangled by a top Germany
bank because of the
paralysis in the unity government, a deputy minister
said last week.
Tichaona Mudzingwa, the Transport, Communications and
Infrastructure deputy
minister said government had not reached a decision on
the Commerzbank’s
pledge to finance the rehabilitation of the country’s
infrastructure four
months after receiving the offer.
The
Germans were eager to strike a deal with Zimbabwe so that they can also
benefit from the country’s untapped mineral wealth.
“We have not yet
officially met them,” Mudzingwa said.
“The 500 million euro offer is
unheard of in these challenging times but
would without a doubt go a long
way towards repairing our dilapidated
infrastructure,” Mudzingwa
said.
“If there was political will by policy makers then this offer
would have
sailed through and noticeable changes would begin
soon.”
He said the constant conflict in the inclusive government made
it difficult
for the ministry to carry out any meaningful infrastructure
development
projects.
A Germany business delegation that visited Zimbabwe
in February expressed a
willingness to invest in the country despite
European Union (EU) sanctions
imposed on Harare.
Germany is the
biggest economy in the EU.
Mudzingwa said the deal, if approved, had
the potential to boost employment
and ensure quicker economic revival.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 12 June 2011 14:10
BY
NDAMU SANDU
AN international Monetary Fund (IMF) team will be in the
country for a one
week mission starting Wednesday to assist government to
come up with a
mid-year budget statement.
The missions will be
headed by Vitaliy Kramarenko.
“The objective of the mission is to
review recent economic developments and
assist the government in the
preparation of the mid-year budget statement,”
said Alistair Thomson, IMF
press officer, External Relations Department.
The mid-year statement
will chart the way forward for the economy, which
risks failing to meet its
targeted growth due to uncertainties caused by the
empowerment regulations,
according to an assessment by the IMF executive
board.
“An
inefficient composition of expenditure, rising vulnerabilities in the
financial system, and the recent announcement of the fast-track
indigenisation of the mining sector would be a drag on the recovery and
cause growth to decelerate to 5,5%,” IMF said.
The Minister of
Finance, Tendai Biti had estimated a growth of 9, 3% this
year.
Kramarenko’s team comes at a time when there are two IMF
missions on the
ground and highlights the global lender’s commitment to help
Zimbabwe out of
the woods by providing technical assistance in key
areas.
Technical assistance by the IMF to Zimbabwe, which was
suspended in 2002,
resumed in 2009 following the creation of an inclusive
government.
In restoring the technical assistance support in 2009,
IMF said it had taken
into account “a significant improvement in Zimbabwe’s
cooperation on
economic policies to address its arrears problems and severe
capacity
constraints in the IMF’s core areas of expertise that represent a
major risk
to the implementation of government’s macro economic
stabilisation
programme.”
Zimbabwe cannot get lines of credit
from IMF until the country clears the
US$141 million debt under the Poverty
Reduction Growth Trust.
The country has agreed to pay quarterly payments
towards settling the debt
and increasing payments over time as the country’s
payment capacity
increases, IMF said on Thursday.
But the global
lender warned of rising vulnerabilities in the banking system
and said the
restructuring of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) and
strengthening of
prudential regulations and their enforcement to contain
liquidity, solvency,
and credit risks must be the priority.
“These steps will help
mitigate financial sector vulnerabilities and ensure
the medium-term
viability of the multi-currency system,” it said.
Confidence in the
banking sector fell once again recently after problems at
ReNaissance Bank
where directors abused depositors’ funds and prudent
corporate governance
was disregarded.
Although the central bank reacted by placing the
bank under curatorship,
observers felt that the regulator had been caught
napping. RBZ is undergoing
major restructuring to align the bank to
international best practices.
The bank is now concentrating on its
core business and is set to sell seven
non core assets and close the chapter
on the era of quasi-fiscal activities.
IMF technical assistance
to Zimbabwe
IMF has two missions in the country as part of its technical
assistance to
build its capacity.
There is a technical assistance
mission on tax administration which started
on May 31 and will be running up
to June 3.
Its brief is to review the status of tax administration
reforms and make
recommendations to update the reform and modernisation
strategy.
There is also a technical assistance team on public finance
management,
which started on Tuesday and runs up to June 17.
“The
objective of the mission is to strengthen the fiscal reporting and
oversight
of public sector,” IMF said.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 12 June 2011 14:08
BY NQOBILE
BHEBHE
BULAWAYO — At least 61% of Zimbabwe’s workers are insecure at
their
workplace, a recent survey has revealed. According to the Employee
Confidence Survey report compiled by Industrial Psychology Consultants
(IPC), 23,5% of the country’s workforce is actively seeking alternative
employment.
The survey was conducted to gauge employee confidence
in the economic
environment obtaining at any given time during the course of
the year.
Memory Nguwi, the IPC managing consultant, said 37% of
workers said they
were secure during the same period last
year.
“Job insecurity is therefore very high in Zimbabwe,” he
said.
“At least 61.30% of the employees do not feel that they are
secure in their
current jobs and a further 23.50% are actively looking for
employment
elsewhere.”
“Employee job security is lowest amongst
non-managerial employees who tend
to be affected the most by restructuring
exercises.”
What seems to aggravate employee job insecurity is the
increased use of
short term renewable contacts by employers.
This
has left employees vulnerable to losing their jobs once the contract
expires, said the report.
The report also revealed that 32.92% of
the female workers felt secure in
their current jobs compared to 42.46% for
males.
Employees between the ages of 31 and 40 are more secure in
their jobs while
the least secure are those below 25.
The
researchers blamed the lack of confidence on the unstable political
environment, which has discouraged foreign investment.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 12 June 2011 14:05
BY KUDZAI
CHIMHANGWA
THE Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of
Zimbabwe (Potraz)
says the country’s licensing framework is conducive for
operators despite
claims that it was holding back expansion plans by
players.
Players in the information and communication technologies (ICT)
sector have
previously said that restrictions on the part of the regulator
are stifling
progress and employment creation opportunities in the
fast-moving sector.
Alfred Marisa, the Potraz deputy director general
said there were some
operators who wanted free licences but that could not
be permitted.
“There is nothing for free in this world,” said Marisa. “Some
operators want
to provide all possible ICT services using a data licence but
that can’t be
allowed, they should simply get the appropriate
licence.”
Marisa said the Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) and
data services did
not necessarily get closer regulatory attention as
compared to other
telecommunication services.
“There has been an
attempt by some operators to provide VOIP services using
a data licence,
which is not allowed by the laws of this country.
“The desire of the
regulatory authority is to ensure that these services are
priced properly
and that acceptable quality of service is maintained,” he
said.
VOIP
allows individuals to make phone calls over a broadband internet
connection
with the advantage of by-passing the tolls charged by ordinary
telephone
services.
“Our view is that data and internet are the growth areas
especially given
that provision of voice telephony is now very widespread,”
he said, adding
that access to internet was still very low in most
developing countries.
Marisa said more focus should be on provision
of broadband by local ICT
companies saying this allowed easier access to
data and internet services.
“While voice telephony still looks like
lucrative business here, in other
countries in Europe and elsewhere voice
services are now part of a
data/internet bundle,” he said.
Potraz
recently issued a new requirement that compels all operators of hot
spots to
register with the regulatory authority.
Operators have been given
until June 30 to comply.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 12 June 2011 14:04
BY NDAMU
SANDU
BUSINESS tycoon Nicholas van Hoogstraten has nominated four
directors on the
Rainbow Tourism Group (RTG) board and is threatening to
“spill the beans” if
his nominees are rejected at an Annual General Meeting
(AGM) on June 29.
According to a notice to shareholders of RTG, “at
the instance of a notice
received from various individuals or companies
controlled by or related to
the Hamilton and Hamilton Trustees Group, it is
proposed that Messrs S
Chibanguza, AS Hamilton, MR Hamilton and I Haruperi
be appointed as
directors of the company by a single
resolution”.
The quartet was supposed to be appointed last
year but the AGM rejected the
move.
“If my appointed directors
are defrauded again of their rightful positions
we will call an EGM
(Extra-ordinary General Meeting) and expose their
self-serving and dishonest
history back to the 2005 fraud,” van Hoogstraten
said.
The
businessman said his nominees were not rejected but were victims of part
of
the “ongoing conspiracy and fraud” and accused former RTG chairman
Patterson
Timba of combining forces with Econet and the National Social
Security
Authority (NSSA) to block his appointments.
“We will see what happens
this time around but one does not need to have the
intelligence of Albert
Einstein to work out that the last thing the present
board would wish
(bearing in mind past history since we were defrauded by
them of a 19%
shareholding in 2005) is to have competent, honest and
non-aligned outside
directors,” he said.
As the single largest individual shareholder,
van Hoogstraten appears to
have failed to call the shots and analysts are
questioning whether this is
not the right time for him to exit the
company.
“This cannot be a serious question,” he retorted. “Also, as
the only
shareholder of any substance with no debts anywhere in the world,
why
should I sell out?
“Econet has disclosed debt of over US$800
million... I am not aware of
anyone in Zimbabwe that would have the money to
buy us out,” he said.
On Econet’s secondment of people to sit on the board,
van Hoogstraten said:
“Econet is playing a double game here — on one hand
seeking to distance
itself from their pawns, Timba and Kundishora, and on
the other hand, trying
to pretend that they are the injured party when, in
fact, it will be
business as usual.”
Econet had not responded to
questions sent to their offices by Friday. Timba
was unreachable despite
promising to “call later”.
Econet recently appointed Tracy Mpofu as
RTG board chairperson, Krison
Chirairo, John Gould and SC Vera as
non-executive directors.
The appointments have to be confirmed at the
AGM.
Fights for the control of RTG have been running for over two
years.
Van Hoogstraten insists that by virtue of being the single
largest
individual shareholder, he is entitled to more board
seats.
Econet chief executive officer director, Douglas Mboweni
yesterday
dismissed van Hoogstraten’s assertion that the mobile operator was
working
against him as mere speculation. “We don’t influence things at RTG
because
we don’t sit on the board. We only have influence when we go to an
Annual
General Meeting (AGM) as a shareholder”.
Tycoon goes
to court over alleged fraud
In a case before the courts, business tycoon
Nicholas van Hoogstraten claims
he was defrauded of 19% shareholding when he
agreed to underwrite RTG’s
capital raising initiative.
Van
Hoogstraten’s family has over 36% of the shares held by Hamilton &
Hamilton Trustees Ltd, Zimcor Ltd, Messina Investments Ltd and his six
children.
“This rises to 55% when the 2005 fraud is reversed. We will
then dispose of
10% of our holding to the market,” he said.
The
businessman alleged that the embattled (Patterson) Timba never owned any
shares in RTG as he used the proxies that he obtained from NSSA and the
pension and insurance funds managed by Afre Corporation.
“A RBZ (
Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe) report draws attention to the fact that
stolen
funds were used to ‘borrow’ from Kingdom Bank, TN Bank and Econet,
all, I
should point out, part of the same corrupt and ‘smoke and mirrors’
operation.”
A report by the central bank showed that Timba and
Kundishora had abused
depositors’ funds at ReNaissance Merchant Bank which
was recently placed
under curatorship by the RBZ .
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 12 June 2011
13:57
By Rueben Madzivo
In 1997 Clare Short, the then
British Secretary of State for International
Development wrote a letter to
Kumbirai Kangai who was Zimbabwe’s Minister of
Agriculture clarifying London
and Labour’s position on the funding of the
proposed land reform which Zanu
PF had requested.
Short stated that the newly elected Labour led by Tony
Blair was not willing
to help in funding Zimbabwe’s land reform or to help
in redressing any
colonial injustice incurred during the Conservative era in
Britain.
The letter stated that Labour was formed by people from
diverse backgrounds
and Short herself was an Irish which is a former British
colony therefore
she distanced herself from the issue.
This
actually meant that London and the Labour party in particular were
opposed
to the way the land reform was to be done and diplomatically it was
clear
that the process was likely to trigger a negative counter response
from
Britain and its allies.
Recently I have heard Zanu PF lamenting
economic sanctions labelling them as
the main hindrance to economic growth
in the country. This was done to an
extent of forcing millions of
Zimbabweans to sign a petition denouncing the
economic
embargoes.
The party led by President Robert Mugabe even went on to
misinform people
about the causes of sanctions saying that Prime Minister
Morgan Tsvangirai
was the main architect behind economic
sanctions.
This is only a move by a frustrated politician
masquerading as a liberator,
teacher or unifier who wants to fulfill his
political agendas.
The real cause of economic sanctions in Zimbabwe
is an issue that remains
controversial and open to debate.
What
Zanu PF has failed to do over the past few months is to educate the
people
of Zimbabwe about the nature of the real thing called a sanction, its
cause
and solution to avoid public misinterpretation.
It is not surprising
to learn that three quarters of Zimbabweans who signed
the petition did not
know the true cause of the sanctions and the solution
to the
problem.
These people were merely driven by politicians who wanted to
fulfill their
political ambitions.
Some Zanu PF leaders have been
telling their supporters that Prime Minister
Morgan Tsvangirai is the one
who is behind sanctions and is the one who must
call for their
removal.
The fact that the issue of economic sanctions was tabled in
London before
the formation of the MDC is an indication that neither
Tsvangirai nor any
MDC official called for the sanctions.
The
truth behind the issue of sanctions is that neither Mugabe nor
Tsvangirai
has got the power to command, order or persuade the British or
the Americans
to remove sanctions.
Tsvangirai as a politician with his own
ambitions may take the current
economic meltdown and political crisis as a
chance to dislodge Mugabe from
power by blaming the ageing politician for
the sanctions.
On the other hand Zanu PF is also benefiting from the
sanctions by trying to
convince the electorate that the MDC are the ones
causing untold suffering
of the people of Zimbabwe by supporting sanctions
and labelling themselves
as the only party that is capable of liberating
people from the bondage of
sanctions.
This means that
politically, both parties are benefiting in one way or the
other from the
existence of sanctions.
Although Tsvangirai seems to be benefiting
politically from the economic
sanctions, I don’t think he advocates their
existence in this country. The
issue of economic sanctions is between
Mugabe, Britain and its allies and
Tsvangirai is not a stakeholder in this
issue.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 12 June 2011 13:54
By Pro
Patria, Pro Lege
I would like to comment on the item in The
Standard of June 5, headed
“Complaints misguided: Police”. Specifically, I
am interested in the
anonymous police officer who said, “For example, people
cannot always
complain about abuse since police are allowed by law to use
minimum force in
their investigations because naturally, people deny even
the most obvious
crimes.”
There is so much wrong thinking
in this statement, both factual and
professional, that it is hard to know
where to begin.
OK, let’s start here. By “minimum force in investigations”
the policeman is
presumably referring to the all-too-commonly reported
practice of assaulting
suspects while they are in custody to force a
confession.
Where in law does it say police are “allowed” to do this?
The Criminal Law
Code says in section 89 that “any person” (which includes
police officers,
since they are persons) who assaults another person
intending to cause
bodily harm (defined in section 88 as pain or discomfort
to the body) is
guilty of assault and liable to a fine of $5 000 or
imprisonment for up to
10 years, or both. The Code doesn’t say police are
exempt from this law.
In professional police work, investigation of crimes
involves questioning
suspects, not assaulting them. You talk to witnesses.
You record statements
from them. You collect physical evidence at the scene
of the crime. You
carry out inquiries in the neighbourhood. You gather
background information.
By clever questioning, you identify inconsistencies
in the suspect’s
statement and show that once he gets to court, the
magistrate will weigh up
the various statements and evidence and, probably,
find him guilty of the
crime and send him to jail. You indicate that if he
confesses, he may get a
lighter sentence.
You use psychology. But
you most certainly do not assault a suspect to
coerce a confession that is
unlikely to stand up in court on its own anyway.
You’re supposed to be a
police officer, not a mafia enforcer.
When a suspect is unable to
walk into the courtroom, or can only limp in
great pain, because the bones
in his feet have been broken while a
confession was forced from him, how can
any self-respecting police officer
claim to be a professional? That is
nothing less than state torture.
It is in such circumstances that the courts
will order investigations into
police brutality. Magistrates know this is
wrong behaviour by the police.
They know that you are supposed to
investigate first, then arrest. They know
you are not supposed to detain,
then assault, then force a confession. They
know that under assault, people
will eventually confess to anything to stop
the pain. That doesn’t make them
guilty. If police are being trained to
assault suspects, and being told that
this is “allowed by law”, they are
being wrongly trained. If police are
being permitted or encouraged by
superior officers to assault suspects, they
are being led wrongly.
The doctrine of minimum force in police work
relates specifically to
maintaining public order, particularly in crowd
control.
The doctrine of minimum force is very specific. Here are the
principles to
be applied when a large group of persons — usually much larger
than the
number of police trying to control them — refuses to disperse when
instructed to do so by the police, who are responsible for maintaining
public order.
Force should not be used to punish.
It should be
used only to prevent further immediate trouble.
It should be the
minimum force needed to achieve the police goal.
It should be
discontinued as soon as the police have achieved that goal.
From
these principles it should be clear even to the most dense that police
are
not “allowed” to use minimum force. Instead they are required to use
the
minimum force necessary, instead of the maximum force.
Inappropriate
use of force irretrievably damages the relations between
police and public.
Has that already happened here? Many people apparently
distrust and despise
the police as brutal. You can hardly expect them to
report their experiences
to co-workers of the very people who brutalise
them. So they don’t go to
police stations. They withdraw psychologically.
The police may think that
through brutality they are winning the war on
crime. But they may have
already lost public approval, public respect and
public
co-operation.
Without public approval and co-operation, the police
eventually cannot
police a society. If the police don’t already know this,
then they are not
paying attention.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 12 June 2011 13:52
When
analysts said the method used to award national hero status was
problematic
President Mugabe was defiant saying that the National Heroes
Acre was a Zanu
PF shrine and any other people deemed by certain sections of
the Zimbabwean
society to deserve hero status should have other burial
grounds provided for
them.
But last week Mugabe must have learnt with a bit of
discomfiture that his
stance on this emotive issue was too simplistic. Edgar
Tekere was the people’s
hero not only because of his unquestionable role in
the liberation struggle
but also because of his rebellious nature. Humanity
in general loves
rebelliousness and is bored with placid
compliance.
Where many leaders of the liberation struggle,
after Independence, chose
docility and pandered to Mugabe’s every whim,
Tekere chose to be different.
The nation is grateful that for him Mugabe’s
wish for one-party-rule did not
come to pass.
But does his
climb-down show an elder statesman willing to listen to the
will of the
people or simply a shrewd contriver once again playing politics?
People will
talk about the treatment of other deserving heroes of our
struggle that
Mugabe snubbed and denied the hero status, such as, recently,
Thenjiwe
Lesabe and going back decades, people like Ndabaningi Sithole. They
will ask
why Tekere has been treated differently.
The answer is simple. The
PF-Zapu element in the so-called united Zanu PF
does not matter to Mugabe.
Mugabe has never won a popular vote in
Matabeleland since 2000 and those
former PF-Zapu stalwarts who window-dress
the so-called Unity Accord are
nonentities in Matabeleland, irritants who
cannot win
elections.
But the prospect of losing Manicaland completely on the
Tekere issue, after
the MDC-T made inroads in that province in the 2002 and
2008 elections, was
too enormous to contemplate.
So Mugabe
acted the shrewd politician he has always been and gave Tekere,
grudgingly,
a berth at the national shrine.
But one thing is instructive: the
people’s will always triumphs over
seemingly unshakeable odds. There is hope
then that if people are united on
something, as the people of Manicaland
were on Tekere, they can move
mountains. Food for thought!
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 12 June
2011 13:55
By Nevanji Madanhire
Our civil servants are
underpaid. Taking home between US$150 and US$200
would be laughable if it
wasn’t so patently saddening. The poverty datum
line is pegged at three
times what they get. It is really difficult to
imagine how they cope. Are
they sending their children to school? Are they
paying their bills? Are they
getting decent healthcare?
The paltry remuneration of these hard
working people is a huge crisis the
country has on its hands. The crisis has
to be handled properly. It seems
this is not happening. For politicians,
civil servants are votes, each one
of them, and they do not wish to lose
these votes. What this has done is
that the crisis has now been politicised.
Politicians are exploiting the
predicament of civil servants to score cheap
political points.
But discerning citizens should be able to see
through the deception that
politicians have put into play. Last week it was
reported that the
President, on the urging of the so-called securocrats, had
given Finance
minister Tendai Biti an ultimatum to increase civil servants’
salaries.
Their argument was that the restlessness among the civil service
rank and
file had now become a threat to national security. They are said to
have
agreed behind the scenes that if the salaries were not adjusted quickly
enough, that is by this month-end, the crisis might spark Egypt-style
uprisings that might topple the government.
Many months ago while
in Egypt President Mugabe had pledged to increase the
salaries on the basis
that government coffers were bursting at the seams
with diamond money from
Chiadzwa. Biti had countered this saying the diamond
money was non-existent
since his ministry had no clue as to how the diamonds
were being processed
and auctioned. The proceeds were simply notcoming into
the public
kitty.
This looked like a huge contradiction between a head of state and a
simple
minister. When confronted Mines and Mining Development minister Obert
Mpofu
said indeed diamond money was flowing into treasury but documentary
evidence
produced showed this was not the case.
So where does this leave
us?
When a head of state and government orders a mere minister to do
something
and the minister doesn’t obey him what normally happens? Biti has
been
accused by some of his colleagues of acting like a “super minister”.
But if
he can defy a head of state he must indeed be a “super minister” and
if the
head of state who has been snubbed that way by a minister goes public
about
it and tells rallies he addresses that he has had an order defied then
we
begin to doubt whether he is in control.
So, should we go
along with the president’s pronouncement and say there is a
crisis in
government where ministers he swore into office are defying him?
The
emotions of civil servants are whipped up now. They have been made to
believe that there is money aplenty in the national kitty. Biti’s colleague,
Public Service minister Eliphas Mukonoweshuro has seemed to corroborate
that; he too is reported to have said there is enough money to up the civil
servants’ salaries. This makes Biti the real
villain.
Mukonoweshuro’s motivation — if he wasn’t misquoted — to go
against what his
party leader Morgan Tsvangirai and former party spokesman
Nelson Chamisa
said recently that there is no such money being alluded to by
the president,
is difficult to figure out. Mukonoweshuro is credited for
coining the phrase
“super minister” in reference to Biti. The two’s
relationship in the party
is an open secret, Mukonoweshuro envies Biti’s
post as secretary-general and
has failed to push the younger man from his
perch. This might explain his
actions. Unfortunately Mukonoweshuro — again
this is on the basis that he
wasn’t misquoted — seems to have been
manipulated. In his bid to undermine
Biti he has played into the hands of
President Mugabe much to the detriment
of his own
comrades-in-arms.
Now he will be used as a propaganda tool to push
civil servants against his
own party. This has already begun to happen.
Reports in the public press
yesterday said the three parties in the
inclusive government had met and
“Mukonoweshuro was actually the one leading
those meetings”. It is reported
he even came up with the figures of US$253
and US$397 as the possible
minimum wages for civil servants. By coming out
with the figures it is
implied that he worked them out from something
tangible; he couldn’t just
have dreamed them up.
Obviously
President Mugabe is already thinking of elections which he wants
this year.
He wants the civil service vote and it’s quite substantial. The
leaders of
the civil servants seem to have swallowed the bait. One of them
is quoted
yesterday saying, “The PM (Tsvangirai) has become so difficult and
insensitive to the plight of workers. We don’t know why he is prioritising
the suffering of state workers. His behaviour is in sharp contrast with that
of President Mugabe who has fought tooth and nail to review the
package.”
This is the refrain we are going to be hearing from now
until the elections
are held. The villain, Biti and his cohort in the MDC
who do not wish to
alleviate the plight of the public servants are now in a
corner. Come June
21, the civil servants want their money or their pound of
flesh.
Biti should just come out clean and give us a “bank statement”. He
should
put it into the public domain so that everyone, particularly civil
servants,
know the truth. If there is enough money in the bank to reward
civil
servants increments then he should tell all and sundry why he has been
so
insensitive to the suffering of the public workers among whom surely are
his
own kith and kin.If there indeed, as he says, is no money, we would like
Mukonoweshuro to tell us how he worked out figures from thin air and the
nation would also like to know where President Mugabe is coming from when he
says Biti is holding on to money he should give to deserving civil
servants.
The political game that is playing out now in which civil
servants have
become hapless pawns is not moving the country forward. The
further it is
prolonged the more volatile the situation will become. Talk of
industrial
action is already gaining currency and what it may spawn is open
to
conjecture.