http://www.swradioafrica.com
By Tererai Karimakwenda
14 June
2011
There was a dramatic turn this week in the ongoing row between
Defence
Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa and Finance Minister Tendai Biti, who
revealed
on Wednesday that the Public Service Commission had illegally
recruited
10,000 new staff members and among them were 4,600
soldiers.
The revelation was surprising because the defence ministry had
recently
demanded $2.5 million from the treasury, insisting the funds were
needed to
feed soldiers who are going hungry in the barracks and to pay for
an
additional 5,000 new recruits. Mnangagwa went as far as threatening
violence, vowing to send army generals to Biti’s offices.
As it turns
out the soldiers had already been recruited without going
through proper
procedures. Biti said the illegal recruitments were made
between January and
May this year, adding approximately $190 million to the
civil servants’
salary bill. The Finance Minister added that the treasury is
receiving only
$230 million and money promised from the sale of Chiadzwa’s
diamonds had not
yet been received.
The issue of unaccounted diamond revenue has been at
the centre of a row
between the coalition government partners, with the
MDC-T insisting that the
military is controlling diamond mining and most of
the funds do not make it
into national coffers.
Harare based
journalist Angus Shaw told SW Radio Africa that although it
remains to be
seen why the army would need so many new recruits, the talk on
the ground is
that they are part of ZANU PF’s strategy of using patronage to
gain support.
They want to appear to be giving jobs to these young
Zimbabweans as part of
their empowerment policy.
“Defence Minister Mnangagwa has admitted they
were under qualified and it
appears they may have gone through training at
the ZANU PF youth militia
camps. It is very much to bolster the numbers of
the army and use patronage
by giving these young men jobs,” Shaw
explained.
Regarding diamond revenue, Shaw said it is no secret that
diamond mining is
being controlled by former military chefs and ZANU PF
politicians who are
living openly lavish lifestyles. “We know diamond
revenue is being stashed
away in private accounts in Dubai, Mauritius and
the British Virgin Islands
and so on,” he added.
Asked whether ZANU
PF made a mistake by letting an MDC-T minister control
the treasury, Shaw
said the voices are being heard but there is no equal
power sharing, so the
MDC-T is unable to do anything to change the
situation.
He added: “It
seems that every government institution controlled by ZANU PF
is doing
pretty much what they want, functioning unilaterally. Biti has long
suggested a system be put in place for collecting diamond revenue but this
has been fought by ZANU PF.”
Political analyst Bekithemba Mhlanga
said he did not think the government
would actually let soldiers starve in
the barracks, but believes something
else may be happening that the defence
Minister is not able to publicise.
“I believe threats by Mnangagwa to
send army generals to attack Biti are
just grandstanding because they would
not need instructions from him if they
were really hungry. They would have
gone to demand the money already,”
Mhlanga said.
Mhlanga pointed to
the fact that Biti was made the villain when civil
servants demanded salary
increases last year, and any segment of society
demanding money is going to
blame Biti if they do not get it.
“This is a strategy to create hatred
against the Finance Minister and
therefore his MDC-T party as well,” Mhlanga
added.
Biti has been strong in arguing that until diamond funds are
remitted into
the treasury, the government cannot afford any increase in the
public
service salary bill or recruitment of new army cadets.
http://www.timeslive.co.za/
Reuters | 14 June, 2012
15:47
South Africa wants Western nations to lift economic sanctions
imposed on
Zimbabwe and is pressing Harare's power-sharing government to
speed up
reforms needed to bring about elections in the troubled
country.
Zimbabwe has been plunged into poverty due to what analysts have
said is
economic mismanagement by entrenched President Robert Mugabe and his
ZANU-PF
party, hit with sanctions for suspected human rights abuses and vote
rigging.
"It's not just Zimbabwe that's saying the sanctions are not
working. The
entire continent is saying that," Lindiwe Zulu, South African
President
Jacob Zuma's top foreign policy advisor told Reuters on
Thursday.
Analysts say the sanctions have been exploited by Mugabe for
his political
purposes, blaming them for his party's economic blunders that
have caused
what once was one of Africa's richest nations to now be among
its poorest.
Zulu is part of a Southern African Development Community
initiative led by
Zuma aimed at ending the political turmoil in Zimbabwe and
holding free and
fair elections by next year.
Mugabe, 88, has ruled
the country since its independence from Britain in
1980. He was forced into
a power-sharing deal with rival and now Prime
Minister Morgan Tsvangirai,
leader of the Movement for Democratic Change,
after a disputed 2008 poll
marred by ZANU-PF violence and intimidation.
"Now the challenge for us is
to speed up the process and have a result that
is lasting, or to make sure
whatever decisions are implemented, are things
that the Zimbabweans
themselves must honour," said Zulu.
South Africa is the country most
affected by turmoil in Zimbabwe. Millions
flooded across their border due to
Zimbabwean election violence in 2008,
straining South Africa's schools,
housing and health services.
Pretoria has been criticised for not pushing
Mugabe hard enough but Zulu
said forcing change would not solve its
neighbour's underlying problems or
bring a stable democracy.
No date
has been set for polls but the time frame for the power sharing deal
known
as the "global political agreement" has key provisions expiring in
June 2013
with one stating national elections should take place before the
end of the
process.
"The fact that the global political agreement does not have an
endless life
span is pushing them to realise that they don't have the luxury
of time
anymore," said Zulu.
Global aid agencies and international
businesses are expected to inject
billions of dollars once Zimbabwe, which
has the world's second-largest
platinum reserves, has a stable
government.
"We do not want to see a repetition of the 2008 scenario. We
know what it
looked like. It is a lesson for Zimbabweans themselves to
ensure it does not
repeat," Zulu said.
"We are very confident that we
still have it in our power, just like the
Zimbabweans still have it in their
power, to turn the tide and do things
better," Zulu said.
http://www.radiovop.com
Harare – June 14, 2012 - The
Comptroller and Auditor General (C&AG) Mildred
Chiri has said Youth
Development, Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment
Minister savior
Kasukuwere is making illegal disbursements under the
government’s youth fund
as the management of the public monies is unlawful.
In her latest
report, Chiri said the operation and management of the Youth
Development
Fund, which was allocated US$5million in the 2012 budget, is
invalid at law,
making the disbursement of the public funds illegal.
“Contrary to the
provisions of section 30 (6) of the Audit and Exchequer Act
(Cap 22: 03)
(section 18(6) of the Public finance Management Act (cap 22:19)
the ministry
established this fund in which an initial capital amount of
US$150 000 was
invested on 21st July 2009. The previous fund by the same
title was
dissolved on July 31 1996 in accordance with treasury authority
granted on
March 4 1996 referenced B/50/86. At the time of signing this
report, the
status of this fund had not been regularised by legal process.
Accordingly,
the operation and management of the Youth Development Fund
remains invalid,”
read part of the report.
“It came to my notice that on August 13 2010 the
ministry concluded a
Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the
Infrastructure development bank
of Zimbabwe (IDBZ) in which the
administration of the fund was ceded to the
IBDZ. I have not been provided
with evidence to prove that the above
arrangements were reviewed and
approved by government law officers.
Accordingly, the propriety of the
cession of the administration of the fund
to the IDBZ remains questionable
as at the time of signing this report.”
Since 2009, Kasukuwere’s ministry
has been distributing the funds to youth
as part of the government’s
empowerment programme with each beneficiaries
getting a minimum of US$1 000
up to a maximum of US$5 000 depending on the
size and type of their project.
http://www.dailynews.co.zw
Written by Bridget Mananavire and Gift Phiri
Thursday, 14
June 2012 11:47
HARARE - Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai said
yesterday he has reached an
agreement with his coalition partner President
Robert Mugabe to implement
resolutions of a special Sadc committee on
politics, defence and security.
A full-scale extraordinary summit in
Luanda — called at the instigation of
President Robert Mugabe’s Zanu PF —
directed Zimbabwe’s parties to implement
all outstanding issues in the
Global Political Agreement (GPA) and to
implement an election roadmap to
pave way for a free and fair poll.
Zambia, Tanzania and South Africa —
who make up Sadc’s troika, gave Zimbabwe’s
parties, 12 months to implement
all outstanding issues.
Officials of the 15-member Sadc, rejected
Mugabe’s insistence on a snap poll
this year without democratic reforms, and
said Zimbabwe will only go for a
fresh poll after implementing all
outstanding issues from the accord he
inked in September 2008 and a Sadc
election plan agreed to a year ago.
Tsvangirai said yesterday Mugabe, who
has previously refused to live up to
his end of the bargain, has now
capitulated and agreed to implement the
outstanding issues.
“As
principals to the Global Political Agreement (GPA), we have agreed to
fully
implement the GPA, complete the constitution-making process, and to
implement the road map towards a free election to ensure lasting peace,
which is the foundation for science, technology and innovation development,”
he told the launch of the second Science, Technology and Innovation policy
at the Harare International Conference Centre.
Tsvangirai said he
hopes the implementation of the outstanding issues will
create peace which
is necessary for the implementation of policies,
including the second
Science, Technology and Innovation Policy launched
yesterday.
At the
event, Tsvangirai was flanked by Mugabe who neither disputed nor
confirmed
what the premier had said.
But Mugabe’s spokesperson, George Charamba
told State TV that elections will
be held this year.
“We have to move
definitively and inexorably towards a general election,”
Charamba
said.
“In the case of Zanu PF, the president has been on record to say
this has to
be this side of the year.”
While Tsvangirai said Zimbabwe
must complete a new Constitution, Mugabe’s
spokesman said there has been a
misconception about the Sadc resolution on
the Constitution.
“There
is a misconception here, when Sadc says the constitution making
process must
conclude, I notice in some heads, that means we must have a new
constitution
in this country,” he said.
“Sadc never, would never have said so, because
to say so would be as it
were, to predict or prepossess the results of the
referendum. That’s an
unknown; no one knows which direction the referendum
will take. Maybe the
current draft, and hey I am asking where is it, the
current draft?
I haven’t seen it. Maybe what pretends to be a draft will
be embraced by
Zimbabwean people, in this case, yes we will move to the
election phase
under a new constitution.
“Maybe, Zimbabweans will be
unhappy about that product in which case they
will reject it. If you look
back at history, you will note that we have a
history of rejecting
constitutions here,” Charamba said referring to the
rejection of a new
constitution in February 2000, which gave Mugabe his
first ever electoral
defeat.
“If you are working against history, you can never be extravagant
in your
expectations of what the Zimbabweans will do come the referendum
time,” he
said.
“So the critical thing for Sadc is, this process must
conclude, whichever
result, whichever outcome it gives us. It could be a
deadlock; if it’s a
deadlock, that deadlock will have to conclude the
process.”
Charamba said the election timetable cannot be predicated on a new
Constitution.
“And as a matter of fact, the president made it very
clear that you cannot
predicate the electoral process on the creation of a
new constitution
because there are matters in the new constitution which
remain matters of
serious differences.”
The Management Committee of
Copac, the body tasked with writing the new
Constitution, met in Mutare this
week to iron out contentious issues from
the draft.
Zanu PF has
rejected the draft, raising major objections on parliamentary
and
presidential powers, the proposed National Prosecuting Authority and
appointment of judges and security personnel.
The party, which was
involved in the drafting of the document, now claims
the draft does not
reflect the views of the people submitted during the
outreach process and
captured in the Copac national report.
It wants substantial changes
made.
Zimbabwe has not had a popular constitution since gaining
independence from
Britain in 1980, following a protracted liberation
struggle against the
racist Rhodesian Government of Ian Smith.
The
country has been operating on the cease fire document, signed at
Lancaster
House in Britain in 1979.
All the ruling parties in the coalition, Zanu
PF and the two MDCs agree that
the Lancaster House constitution is heavily
flawed.
Political analysts in Zimbabwe say a skewed electoral playing
field has
helped Zanu PF dominate all elections held since independence in
1980.
http://www.swradioafrica.com/
By Alex Bell
14
June 2012
The MDC led by Welshman Ncube has blamed ‘rabble rousers’ for
an attack on
the party leader in South Africa over the weekend, who have
also been blamed
for trying to discredit the party.
A group of party
members in Soweto pelted Ncube with t-shirts, threw chairs
and over turned
tables at a meeting in the South African township. The
meeting was convened
to elect local leadership for the party, but it soon
turned to pandemonium
when a group of members turned their anger on Ncube.
The group of
disgruntled members was led by Diliza Mangoye, the
International Relations
Youth Secretary, Women’s League member Sipho Moyo,
and Interim Organising
Secretary Gad Mafikizolo Lunga. They accused Ncube
and the national
leadership of favouritism.
Ncube was accused of filling the leadership
spots in South Africa with the
friends of his son Wesley, as a thank you for
participating at his wedding
when he married South Africa President Jacob
Zuma’s daughter a few years
ago.
But the party has denied this,
calling the incident the result of ‘rabble
rousers’ who were trying to
discredit the congress. Party spokesperson
Nhlanhla Dube told SW Radio
Africa on Thursday that some of the members are
former Zimbabwean police,
who were expressing their anger for not being
voted into the South African
executive.
Dube meanwhile explained that the party is relieved and
pleased about this
week’s court verdict, which once again ruled that the MDC
congress that
elected Ncube to his leadership position was held in
accordance with the
party constitution.
This is not the first time
Ncube’s leadership has been called into question
in court, after former
party leader Arthur Mutambara was ousted in that
congress early last year.
Despite court rulings supporting Ncube’s position
as the leader of the third
party in Zimbabwe’s coalition government,
Mutambara has remained Deputy
Prime Minister.
Party spokesperson Dube explained that “we are not
holding our breaths” for
Ncube to become the Deputy PM, saying ZANU PF and
Robert
Mugabe are “happier to close Professor Ncube out of the political
space.”
“This court verdict validates our argument that the congress was
legitimate
and therefore Professor Ncube is our legitimate leader. But we
won’t hold
our breaths expecting him to replace Mutambara in the unity
government,”
Dube said.
http://www.swradioafrica.com
By Tichaona
Sibanda
14 June 2012
Police in Mutare on Thursday charged the MDC-T
Senator for the city,
Kerensia Chabuka and six other party activists, with
public violence. They
all deny the charges and claim it’s politically
motivated.
The 61 year-old Senator presented herself to the police on
Thursday. Soon
after the charges were read to her she was thrown into police
cells. Her
lawyer, Passmore Nyakureba, told SW Radio Africa the senator is
now expected
to appear in court on Friday.
Nyakureba said he found it
strange that when police alerted him that they
were looking for Chabuka, the
charge they wanted to bring against her was
that of assault.
‘That
charge, including that of the other six, was altered to public
violence.
What the police are saying beggars belief. How can individuals
from one
particular party, having a meeting at their provincial offices, be
found to
be on the wrong side of the law.
‘In any case, we will have our day in
court and we are going to prove
otherwise, Nyakureba said. Police accuse the
senator and the six others of
assaulting the acting Mayor of Mutare George
Jeryson last week Friday.
Jeryson is an MDC councillor who won his seat
on a party ticket but is now
suspected of working closely with ZANU PF Local
Government Minister Ignatius
Chombo.
Party spokesman for Manicaland,
Pishai Muchauraya said their members are
facing trumped-up charges which
they strongly deny. He said the group
believe it’s a political onslaught by
ZANU PF functionaries to tarnish their
names.
‘Senator Chabuka has
been in and out of police custody several times on such
trumped-up charges
and we feel this kind of harassment and persecution is
not necessary at a
time everyone in the country is condemning the selective
application of the
law,’ Muchauraya said.
http://www.dailynews.co.zw
Written by Chengetai Zvauya, Parliamentary
Editor
Thursday, 14 June 2012 13:40
HARARE - A parliamentary
committee on Local Government and Urban Development
has recommended that
Local Government, Rural and Urban Development minister
Ignatius Chombo be
probed by the Anti-Corruption Commission.
The probe has been necessitated
by mismanagement at the Zimbabwe United
Passenger Company (Zupco) which has
resulted in workers being owed close to
$6,4 million in salary
arrears.
Presenting a report to Parliament, chairperson MDC MP Lynette
Karenyi said
the committee had questioned Chombo on the operations of Zupco
board and the
parastatal’s operating status.
“What has riled your
committee even then was that some Zupco employees were
not being remunerated
for their services. At the end of each month they
received payslips showing
amounts they were to get and the names of their
respective banking
institutions. However nothing was ever paid into their
accounts," read the
report.
“In evidence before your committee, minister Chombo stated that
he was happy
with how the Zupco board operated. He said Zupco was performing
very well
despite that Zupco employees were facing serious financial
challenges," said
Karenyi.
He added that Zupco had bought 200 new
buses and a further 200 had been
ordered for the coming year.
Karenyi
said the committee had interviewed Zupco workers who had expressed
their
unhappiness working
under the management of Chipo Dyanda, who had been given
a new mandate to
continue to lead Zupco together with the same team since
2002.
“Your committee also noted that the minister did not have
first-hand
experience on what was happening at Zupco in terms of supervision
and
control. The Minister was oblivious that the Zupco board chairperson had
served the board for more than three consecutive terms. Your committee is of
the notion that such length of tenure compromises the principles of good
governance,” said Karenyi.
The issue of non-payment of workers’
salaries was one of the issues
affecting Zupco. Karenyi said one of the
committee’s recommendations was to
call the Anti-Corruption Commission and
external auditors to probe Zupco’s
salary affairs.
Karenyi said many
of the workers were dismissed unfairly at the parastatal
and were
challenging their cases in court as there was a lot of corruption
and unfair
labour practise at Zupco.
The report noted a lot of corrupt activities at
Zupco which have brought it
down to its knees.
http://www.dailynews.co.zw
Written by Gift Phiri, Chief
Writer
Thursday, 14 June 2012 12:58
HARARE - The High Court on
July 10 will sit to hear arguments why six MDC
provincial governors cannot
be sworn in by President Robert Mugabe.
Judge president George Chiweshe
handed down a landmark ruling on Monday
throwing out attempts by Mugabe’s
lawyers to stonewall MDC demands to have
the President show cause in court
why six MDC governors must not be sworn-in
in line with the Global Political
Agreement (GPA).
Mugabe’s lawyers cited Rule 18 of the High Court which
shields Mugabe from
prosecution, but Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s
legal team successfully
argued that the rule cannot be invoked in this
instance because it was being
used to defeat or delay superior rights
outlined in the Constitution.
Outside the court process, Mugabe had
offered varied reasons why the MDC
governors cannot assume office, including
arguments that the MDC parties
must first call for the removal of a Western
travel ban and asset freeze on
the 88-year-old leader and his inner
circle.
Mugabe says only then can the six MDC governors be
sworn-in.
Tsvangirai has said the principals in the GNU had agreed to a
formula for
the allocation of governors based on results of the 2008
election.
“It is for this reason that the MDC was awarded five governors
as a
reflection of our mandate from the people,” Tsvangirai says. “To then
artificially link the allocation of governors to the issue of restrictive
measures is a blatant attempt to undermine the GPA, the inclusive government
and the will of the people.”
The five mainstream MDC nominees for the
gubernatorial posts are Senator
James Makore (Harare Metropolitan province),
Seiso Moyo (Bulawayo), Lucia
Matibenga (Masvingo), Tose Sansole
(Matebeleland North) and Julius
Magarangoma (Manicaland). Leader of the
smaller MDC Welshman Ncube is yet to
reveal his party’s choice for
governor.
Zanu PF will retain four governors’ posts.
The January
29, 2009 Sadc communiqué, issued exactly two weeks before the
GNU came into
being, says “the provincial governors will be sworn-in at the
soonest
opportunity.” But three years on, the MDC governors are still not in
office.
In addition, the principals decided that the six governors
whose tenure is
to be terminated as a result of that agreement will be paid
an agreed
compensation.
But Mugabe’s Zanu PF has refused to let the
MDC governors take office
ostensibly because there is no money for
termination packages and that the
office of the governor is an extension of
the President’s office.
Therefore, argues Zanu PF hawks, provincial
governors serve at the pleasure
of the President and not the Prime
Minister.
Despite Zanu PF’s remonstrations, the bottom line is there is
an agreement
Zanu PF must abide by. And inversely the MDC is already playing
its part in
getting the sanctions removed.
The EU will next month
make a key decision to get the targeted measures
lifted.
While the
Judge President is expected to hear the merits of this case on
July 10, even
if he rules in favour of Tsvangirai, Mugabe can still appeal
to the Supreme
Court, further delaying the process.
It took almost two years for the
High Court to okay Tsvangirai’s suit.
The Supreme Court appeal can take
longer.
And even if Mugabe decides to install the governors, they will
only serve
for less than a year before Zimbabwe goes for fresh
polls.
It is a classical case that reveals Mugabe’s sincerity deficit in
implementing the GPA and his blatant power-retention agenda.
So much
has happened as the stand-off over governors has rumbled on. Zanu PF
Harare
governor David Karimanzira passed on last year.
And in a sign of blatant
impunity, Karimanzira’s death sparked a fierce race
in Zanu PF, with Harare
provincial heavyweights girding their loins to snap
up the gubernatorial
post, which comes with fabulous perks, including the
traditional Mercedes
Benz and a governor’s mansion in The Grange.
Zanu PF officials Tendai
Savanhu, Amos Midzi, Nyasha Chikwinya were all
being linked to the Harare
resident ministerial post even though the post is
reserved for an MDC
candidate.
Harare has no governor right now.
And nothing is being
said about Makore, the rightful candidate, who is
watching in consternation
as his aspirations go up in smoke.
The High Court hearing on July 10
offers the last glimmer of hope. But like
they say, justice delayed is
justice denied.
http://www.swradioafrica.com/
By Tererai
Karimakwenda
14 June 2012
Chief Otilia Chimukoko has allegedly been
leading ZANU PF activists in the
Mudzi North area of Mashonaland East,
forcing villagers to contribute money
for a legal fund to assist the ZANU PF
members accused of murdering an MDC-T
official last month.
SW Radio
Africa correspondent Lionel Saungweme said Otilia Chimukoko, who is
one of
the few female chiefs in the country and has been a ZANU PF loyalist
since
age 13, is moving around the Chimukoko area with Never Makita, Dudzai
Kamhaka and another activist identified as Nyamuromo.
They are
demanding that each villager pay $1 and that each village should
collect at
least $50 or there will be violent punitive actions. The
villagers are being
told openly that the money is to go towards a ZANU-PF
purse, established to
provide legal fees for the seven party members accused
of murdering Cephas
Magura.
Magura, who was the MDC-T chairman for Ward One Mudzi North, was
killed by a
ZANU PF mob of about 300 who attacked 70 MDC-T activists at a
rally at
Chimukoko Business centre. The seven were arrested after the murder
in May,
a murder which shocked the country.
“Chief Otilia Chimukoko
is known for violence in that area and her name was
associated with attacks
on the MDC members during the 2008 elections. She is
the type that is known
to lead from the front,” Saungweme explained. He
added that Otilia became
chief at age 13, appointed by ZANU PF.
Saungweme said ZANU PF is trying
to disassociate themselves from Sekuru
Magura’s accused killers, because the
incident received a lot of bad press.
“This is why they don’t seem to be
paying for the legal team. It’s just a
strategy,” our correspondent
explained.
He said ZANU PF activists in the Mudzi area continue to make
public threats
against anyone who supports the MDC formations. According to
trusted sources
Ward 2 Councillor Jivas Chiutsa and a war vet named Peter
Chari were seen at
Dendera Business Centre on Tuesday, threatening to kill
MDC supporters in
the same way that Magura was killed.
The Mudzi
disrict of Mashonaland East has been tense since the murder three
weeks ago
and people have been staying at home whenever possible. Saungweme
said the
area is controlled by “die-hard” loyal ZANU PF supporters
http://www.swradioafrica.com
By Alex Bell
14 June
2012
Members of Zimbabwe’s parliament are set to lead the way in the
fight to
stop the spread of HIV in the country, with more than 60 MPs
agreeing to a
public AIDS test next week.
The public action follows
the launch of the Zimbabwe Parliamentarians
against HIV and AIDS (ZIPAH)
campaign, launched in March, with MPs from
across the political divide
pledging to end the stigma of AIDS testing.
ZIPAH Chairperson Blessing
Chebundo told SW Radio Africa on Thursday that as
a starting point,
legislators have volunteered for the public test, set to
take place at
parliament next Friday.
“Legislators should lead an exemplary life by
going for voluntary HIV
testing, urging them to disclose their status as
part of a broader program
to achieve the global campaign that focuses on the
three zeros, namely, zero
new infections, zero discrimination and zero
deaths related to HIV and
AIDS,” Chebundo said.
He added: “On the
22nd of this month 61 legislators will go for testing
while 28 of them will
also undergo male circumcision.”
Chebundo added that this is the start of
what he hopes will be a larger
campaign and that more MPs and community
leaders will join their efforts. He
said it will take a national commitment
towards fighting the disease to end
it’s spread.
http://www.radiovop.com
Bulawayo, June 14, 2012 -
The son of the late Vice President and
nationalist, Joshua Nkomo, said
devolution of power should be included in
the new constitution as this will
help in dealing with Gukurahundi victims’
compensation.
Currently
there is a call by MDC formations and civic groups for the
compensation of
Gukurahundi victims but Zanu (PF) has been rejecting it.
More than 20 000
people were killed during Gukurahundi massacres conducted
by 5th Brigade
soldiers in the late 1980s in Matebeleland and Midlands
regions.
Sibangilizwe Nkomo told Radio VOP that he was fully behind
the inclusion of
devolution of power in the new constitution.
“As
someone from Matebeleland I fully support devolution of power in the new
constitution. Devolution of power should be a starting point to resolve the
issue of Gukurahundi victims’ compensation. It will be used to heal these
wounds as those traumatised will be free to talk about it and get
assistance. Devolution of power actually makes a lot of sense. I don’t see
any reason why we waited for 32 years to have devolution of
power.”
President Robert Mugabe has rejected “devolution of power”
saying Zimbabwe
is too small for that and it will also divide
Zimbabweans.
Zimbabwe Human rights organisations, civic society
groups, pressure groups
and other opposition political parties have called
for the urgent
implementation of devolution of power to stop the continued
marginalisation
of some provinces.
They argue that devolution of
power would uplift some of the country’s
provinces that had remained
marginalised since Independence in 1980.
http://www.radiovop.com
Bulawayo, June 14, 2012 - Frost damaged
crops worth thousands of dollars in
commercial farming areas of Esigodini,
Umguza, Matopos and Nyamandlovu,
which experienced temperatures as low as
minus two degrees this week.
“My two and a half hectare crop of tomato
was destroyed by frost on Monday
night. The crop was almost near maturing
stage and I had secured orders for
the tomatoes in Bulawayo. The entire crop
is a write off and I do not know
how I am going to pay my workers,” said
Edmore Pakathi, a farmer from
Esigodini.
Another farmer from Umguza
commercial farming area said he had also lost his
vegetable crop to
frost.
“My situation was worsened by the fact that my plot is located on
a
watershed. Frost normally favours such areas. I have cancelled my daily
morning trips to the market in Bulawayo because all the vegetables have
turned brownish, an indication that they have been affected by frost,” said
the farmer.
A survey carried by Radio VOP at the vegetable market in
Bulawayo on
Wednesday revealed an acute shortage of vegetables in the city
as a result
of the frost. A bucket of tomatoes, which usual cost $5 per
bucket, is now
being sold at between $10 and $15.
The Meteorological
Services Department has predicted that this year’s winter
season is going to
be one of the coldest with temperatures expected to drop
drastically. The
loss of heat from the ground results in the occurrence of
frost.
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk
War veterans who invaded the once productive Jack
Hulley Farm in Mutare
South during the Zanu (PF) government’s land “reform”
programme are
currently doing brisk business selling firewood from the
exotic and
indigenous trees on the property.
13.06.1208:20am
by
Clayton Masekesa
The war vets, who have failed to use the land
productively, have nothing to
live on except the timber, which they are
felling indiscriminately.
Truckloads of firewood are seen being transported
from the farm to Mutare
city for sale on a massive scale.
“It is so
painful to note that the farm that was the hub of farming
activities in
Chigodora area is now in a sorry state. Those nice trees are
no longer there
– just huge tracts of land being misused,”said Andrew
Masiyazi, a villager
near the farm.
A well-known war veteran Caleb Mwatongera said: “This is
our land and
everything on it belongs to us. We fought for this country. We
are in the
business of selling firewood and I do not see what’s wrong with
that. We
want to survive and feed our families - you know there was drought
last
year.”
He said a fully loaded lorry was sold for $350 and a cord
of firewood for
$60.
The Environmental Management Agency Provincial
Environmental Officer,
Kingston Chitotombe said the agency was aware of the
situation.
“We are working with other various stakeholders including the
Local
Government, Police and other relevant key ministries in order to
control the
situation. We held a meeting with these stakeholders together
with the
farmers last month and explained to them the implications of
cutting down of
trees, which speeds land degradation that would fast
threaten productive
farming,” explained Chitotombe.
Protracted power
outages have led to an increased demand for alternative
sources of energy.
The Zimbabwe Electricity Transmission and Distribution
Company (ZETDC) last
week launched an 18 hour load shedding programme
countrywide.
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk
Police Commissioner General, Augustine Chihuri, took
congregants at a church
service aback when he recently turned a church
sermon into a political
rally. He was addressing members of the force and
recruits who are set to
pass out on June 14 and 18 at a church service held
at Morris Depot in
Harare.
13.06.1208:05am
by Talent
Bhachi
Taking a leaf from Zanu (PF) politicians, now famous for
turning social
gatherings into political platforms, the self-confessed party
zealot
attacked perceived ‘colonial masters’ who he said were trying to
colonize
Zimbabwe through ‘remote control’.
“In the first place,
Zimbabwe must be for Zimbabweans and not outsiders. It
is your duty to make
sure people are living in peace and not under the
remote control of former
colonizers,” said Chihuri.
He also lambasted foreign prophets, saying
they were visiting Zimbabwe
merely to gain popularity. “Some prophets are
coming here for the wrong
purpose. They want to override our own preachers
and our own way of doing
things. They must go back and shine in their own
countries,” he said.
In a veiled attack on TB Joshua, the Nigerian pastor
who has gained fame for
making accurate prophecies, Chihuri said: “They are
saying a lot of bad
things about Zimbabwe, calling it a small country, yet
in their own
countries many disasters are happening, planes are crashing and
people are
dying every day.”
Chihuri said law enforcement was the
core business of the police force and
urged the congregants to safeguard
Zimbabwe’s sovereignty. A former war
veteran, he is one of the security
chiefs who have refused to salute Prime
Minister Morgan Tsvangirai,
dismissing his MDC party as a puppet of western
governments. Twenty seven
squads of police recruits are scheduled to pass
out this month.
http://mg.co.za/
14 Jun 2012 12:27 - Niren
Tolsi
Judge Joseph Raulinga has exercised his right to a "judicial peek"
at the
government report compiled by two SA judges on the 2002 Zim
elections.
In accordance with a Constitutional Court ruling in November
last year,
North Gauteng High Court judge Joseph Raulinga exercised his
right to a
“judicial peek” at a government report compiled by two South
African judges
on the sociopolitical and legal circumstances around the 2002
national
elections in Zimbabwe on Thursday morning.
This, despite
attempts by the government to have arguments over a
last-minute affidavit by
former president Thabo Mbeki – who had commissioned
Constitutional Court
judges Sisi Khampepe and Dikgang to compile the
report – be heard
first.
The Mail & Guardian had, three years ago, brought an
application under the
Promotion of Access to Information Act to gain access
to the report which
the newspaper felt was “clearly a matter of public
interest”.
It is understood that the report would point to the political,
social and
legal context within which the 2002 Zimbabwe elections took
place.
In Mbeki’s affidavit, he said: “I had received reports that
specific
questions were being raised with regard to some of the laws that
were being
enacted in Zimbabwe.
This included the manner in which the
laws were being applied … By way of
example, the common voters’ role, read
with the Citizenship Act, 1984, was
interpreted as resulting in the
disenfranchisement of voters.”
“In the implementation of the Zimbabwe
Public Order and Security Act there
was a view that this Act limited the
constitutional right to freedom of
speech, association, and assembly. Some
of the complaints that reached me
were that campaign meetings were being
disrupted on the basis that they were
prohibited by law,” continued Mbeki in
his affidavit.
It was there reports, stated Mbeki, that caused him to
dispatch Khampepe and
Moseneke to Zimbabwe.
Advocate Marumo Moerane
had argued for the government that Raulinga should
first consider argument
around Mbeki’s affidavit, which states that he
considered the two judges to
be “presidential envoys” and thus “of necessity
confidential in
nature”.
Raulinga however, considered the state’s tactics as an attempt
to “throw a
spanner in the works”.
“My understanding [of the
Constitutional Court order] is that I get the
report, I read the report and
then we proceed,” Raulinga told the court.
At lunchtime on Thursday,
Raulinga had adjourned court and was reading the
report. The matter is
expected to proceed on Thursday after the judge’s
“peek”.
The case
was expected to resume at 2pm.
http://www.newzimbabwe.com
14/06/2012 00:00:00
by Roman
Moyo
THE Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) has vowed to take action
against banks
that fail to review exorbitant service charges which are
eroding servers’
deposits and forcing people to keep their money out of the
formal banking
system.
Authorities say high bank charges are
discouraging savings with individuals
and corporate organisations having to
fork out up to US$40 in monthly bank
charges.
Figures obtained by
NewZimbabwe.com show that individuals are charged
between US$1.50 and US$5
for a single withdrawal while companies pay up to
US$10, depending on the
amounts involved.
Early this month the RBZ gave local banks a two-week
ultimatum to review the
service charges and interest rates with governor
Gideon Gono insisting the
problem was “an aberration he would address
urgently”.
“Funds deposited into banks are supposed to appreciate rather
than
depreciate. I am against the charges being levied by banks on deposits
and I
am going to address the anomaly in the next 14 days. Unfavourable
service
charges would be dealt with successfully,” said Gono at a symposium
organised by the Affirmative Action Group (AAG).
“I have already
dealt with the collateral challenges and the issue of
interest and bank
charges should not be a problem. There is need for banks
to lower interest
rates,” he said.
Banks are charging up to US$6 dollars to maintain
individual accounts while
corporate bodies pay as much as US$10.
Inter-account transfers cost between
US$1 and US$5, depending on the bank
for both individuals and corporate.
Service charges for salary processing
tariffs cost between US$2 and US$4 per
entry for manual salary payments.
Unclaimed salaries cost between US$4 and
US$7. Facility negotiation fees for
companies cost about 5% of the value of
the overdraft or loan while between
US$4 and US$8 is charged for stop
orders.
Accounts closed within six
months attract a penalty of between US$18 and
US$25, while reactivation of a
dormant account cost between US$20 and US$25.
AAG national president,
Keith Guzah said high bank charges were forcing
people divert money from the
formal banking sector. He also accused local
banks of not supporting the
small and medium enterprise (SMEs) sector which
he said was critical to
economic growth.
“Bank charges and interest rates should attract savings.
This applies to all
banks. They (banks) should do more to support SMEs, is
critical to economic
growth,” said Guzah.
“Our hope is that the banks
develop flexible lending strategies and realise
the importance of supporting
SMEs. We now have new banks in terms of
ownership, but the mentality is
still the same when it comes to lending and
banks charges.”
The AAG
boss said warned that the country’s indigenisation programme could
fail
unless banks come up with programmes to support local businesses.
“As AAG
we are not expecting to be advanced money that is not accounted for.
We are
just pushing for the provision of programmes that we can participate
in and
boost economic growth,” said Guzah.
Official statistics indicate that
more than 70 percent of Zimbabweans are
employed in the informal sector. It
is also estimated that more than US$2
billion is circulating in this sector.
http://www.newzimbabwe.com
14/06/2012 00:00:00
by Moses Matenga I
NewsDay
PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe poked fun at Deputy Prime Minister
Arthur Mutambara
Wednesday saying had it not been that Zimbabwe has a good
education system,
the former University of Zimbabwe (UZ) student leader
would have remained “a
mad man” he was back then.
Addressing
delegates at the launch of the Science Technology and Innovation
Policy in
Harare yesterday, Mugabe said Mutambara used to behave like a “mad
man”
during his student activism days, but had transformed into an
intellectual
of note.
“Ten years ago we were here. In between lots of things happened,
lots of
technology and people have become much more sophisticated,” he
said.
“I don’t know what Professor Mutambara was doing then in 2002. He
used to be
a mad man at University (of Zimbabwe),” Mugabe said.
“That
education has its effects on persons. It gives them that essence of
dignity.
It makes an individual that would have been just a lump of flesh
get to an
intellectual level much more advanced than he was born with.”
In
reference to Mutambara, Mugabe said: “It adapts you and you become
mature,
more polished, more loveable, and more handsome. There you are, but
remember
how you used to behave during your university days.”
Mugabe also said:
“While we are very happy with the linkages that we have
with friendly
countries around the world, we are aware that some countries
are hostile to
our interests as manifested in the abrupt cutting of
collaboration linkages
in the past. I remain hopeful that our continued
negotiations with the
international community will result in the total
removal of illegal
sanctions.”
Earlier Mutambara urged Mugabe to dump the Zanu PF party
slogan “Land is the
Economy and the Economy is Land” and adopt “Science and
Technology is the
Economy and the Economy is Science and
Technology.”
Mutambara led several violent protests at the UZ when he was
a student
leader between 1989 and the early 1990s leading to his arrest and
imprisonment.
The launch was attended by Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai, DPM Thokozani
Khupe, several ministers from all the political
parties and MPs, among other
guests.
http://www.trust.org/
Thu, 14 Jun 2012 09:51
GMT
Source: member // International HIV/AIDS Alliance - UK
More
people from Matabeleland are dying from tuberculosis (TB) related
illnesses
than in any other area of Zimbabwe, a situation feared to be
linked to the
drought currently afflicting the southern region.
According to latest
statistics from the Ministry of Health and Child
Welfare, up to 18% of TB
patients in Matabeleland North province, and 14% in
Matabeleland South
province, die while on TB treatment.
Matabeleland region is home to the
South Africa and Botswana borders and
prone to droughts. The region has
received virtually no rain this year,
leaving people in rural areas
vulnerable to hunger.
TB and HIV patients on medication in those
provinces are the worst affected
as their medication requires that they be
well fed. As they are reportedly
starving, they are being forced to take
medication on empty stomachs.
Additionally, studies have shown that in
the body’s attempt to fight
infection energy expenditure is increased
thereby increasing energy needs in
TB patients.
Charles Sandy, the
national TB programme manager, is concerned: “We need to
identify what the
reasons are behind the deaths. We are speculating that
perhaps it’s cross
border health issues because of the mobility of the
population in the
southern region,” he said.
He further speculated that the high death
rates could also be related to
multi-drug resistant TB, attributable to the
fact that there was not
adequate attention to TB- HIV integration in that
part of the country.
TB is among the top ten diseases of public health
importance in Zimbabwe and
remains the leading cause of deaths among people
living with HIV and AIDS.
The country is ranked number 17 among the 22 TB
high burden countries of the
world.
However last year, TB cases in
the country dropped to 40,600 from 47,000
recorded in 2010.
The World
Health Organisation reports that nearly 39 million people around
the world
suffer from TB annually while around 1.4 million of them die of
the
communicable disease related illnesses worldwide.
Addressing residents in
Bulawayo, the Matabeleland capital, Henry Madzorera,
the Health and Child
Welfare Minister, said that the government was in the
process of
investigating the causes of the high death rates due to
TB-related illnesses
in this part of the country. He said that more than 10%
was
unacceptable.
Samkeliso Ndlovu is a Zimbabwean journalist and member of
the Key
Correspondents Team, a vibrant network of some 250 citizen
journalists based
in 50 countries who write about health and development
issues affecting them
and their communities. www.keycorrespondents.org
http://www.dailynews.co.zw
Written by Business
Writer
Thursday, 14 June 2012 16:04
HARARE - As agriculture
minister Joseph Made has disowned Green Fuel’s
multi-million dollar deal
with the Agricultural Rural Development Authority
(Arda), it has emerged
that the parastatal could have violated its own
mandate and statutes on
agricultural development.
While Authority chairperson Basil Nyabadza
claims the closure of the
southeastern Zimbabwe project may jeopardise the
company’s entire
operations, inquiries by businessdaily have shown that Arda
could have
violated Section 18 of its Act, which govern its land
leases.
“State land specified… shall not be granted, sold, leased or
otherwise
disposed of to any person other than on the recommendation of the
Authority,” the laws say.
“Where State land specified… has been
granted, sold, leased or otherwise
disposed of to the Authority or to any
subsidiary company referred to in
Section Twenty, such land shall not be
granted, sold, leased or otherwise
disposed of to a third party by the
Authority or that company, as the case
may be, without the approval of the
Minister and the appropriate Minister,”
added Section 18(5) of the same
Act.
On Monday, Made said Cabinet had concluded that the
built-operate-transfer
(BOT) arrangements between Arda and Billy
Rautenbach’s companies were “null
and void” — meaning the projects were
undertaken without government’s
wholesome approval.
However, Green
Fuel maintains the Bot agreements were in compliance with the
country’s
laws, specifically Section 17 of the Arda Act and done with the
approval of
Nyabadza’s board, and senior management at the time.
Under the
contentious deals, three companies namely Green Fuel, Macdom and
Ratings
Investment are in the business of processing sugarcane, and ethanol,
but
President Robert Mugabe’s government is calling for a review of the
agreements.
According to government’s latest demands, the state will
now hold a 51
percent share in the project, while 39 percent will go to the
investor and
10 percent to the local community.
While the tycoon’s
companies are enjoying 20-year leases on land where the
sugarcane is being
grown, there are fears or concerns that the partnerships
are heavily tilted
in the private investors’ favour and since Green Fuel is
not part of the Bot
arrangement, Arda is not benefitting significantly from
the
deals.
“The ethanol plant is also built on… land being leased from the
Chipinge
Rural District Council, so what benefit will this bring to Arda at
the end
of the 20 years? Will the ethanol plant also be transferred to
Arda?,” said
an analyst.
“Rating (operating at Arda Middle Sabi
Estate) and Macdom (operating at Arda
Chisumbanje) are 100 percent owned by
the investor, and Arda is not a
shareholder (in these entities), and neither
does it have management and
board representatives. So who then monitors
production income for Arda’s
information and who determines the price the
cane is bought at?,” they said.
While hundreds of thousands of acres of
land are under cultivation and Green
Fuel had produced over 10 million
litres of ethanol by January, the company’s
push for mandatory blending are
also facing serious resistance due to
concerns that this would be akin to
creating a monopoly.
As things stand, Energy minister Elton Mangoma has
said the company is free
to export its product.
In recent months,
Rautenbach’s company and government have also clashed over
the former’s
refusal to provide its cost build-up, and other regulatory
requirements.
http://www.voanews.com
13 June
2012
Gibbs
Dube | Washington
A London-based non-profit organization, Jubilee
Debt Campaign, has started
lobbying lawmakers in the United Kingdom and
Zimbabwe to push for the
auditing of the nation’s ballooning external debt
projected to hit the $8
billion mark by the end of 2012.
Jubilee
policy officer Tim Jones told Studio 7 Wednesday his organization
has teamed
up with the Zimbabwe Coalition on Debt and Development and other
stakeholders to press for the audit and subsequent cancellation of the
debt.
Jones said they are calling for the involvement of ordinary people
in making
decisions on government borrowings instead of leaving it to the
state which
has over the years almost mortgaged the country to international
finance
institutions.
“We believe that the debt audit will ensure
that government borrowings will
be questioned for the benefit of future
generations,” he said.
Zimbabwe’s Finance Minister Tendai Biti has
suggested that the state should
seek the cancellation of its debt through
the unpopular indebted poor
countries initiative. President Robert Mugabe’s
Zanu PF strongly opposes
such moves.
The inclusive government adopted
the implementation of a holistic and
internally driven strategy to deal with
the external debt through requesting
for debt relief, the injection of fresh
financing from development partners
and the effective utilization of the
country’s natural resources.
According to Biti, the full extent of
Zimbabwe’s external indebtedness and
the effect of capitalization of
interest due to arrears accumulation should
be quantified.
As at the
end of December 2010, the country’s unvalidated external debt
position was
estimated at $6.9 billion of which almost $4.8 billion was
accumulated
arrears.
Multilateral institutions are owed a total of $2.5 billion of
which the
World Bank is owed $1.1 billion, the International Monetary Fund
$550
million, the African Development Bank $529 million, and the European
Investment Bank $221 million. Arrears to the IMF amount to $140
million.
Total bilateral debt amounts to $2.4 billion of which Paris Club
creditors
account for $2 billion and Non-Paris Club $361 million.
One of our church members was found dead her name is Feebie Zengeya we are
trying to find family or any one who may have know this lady we have her
date of birth as 23 June 1972 it is said her mothers name is Happy. please
can you ask around our Zimbabwean community before she receives a pauper's
burial. She was living in Rochdale. Anyone with information please contact
Maisie on 07957375153 or Mai Sekete on 07984652453. Pass on the text, it
might be the one that will make the difference.
June 14th, 2012
The economic decline in Zimbabwe has left many women with no choice but to find alternate, and often backbreaking, means of surviving.
Some women living in the satellite town of Chitungwiza have resorted to crushing boulders with hammers to make stone chips for a living. Most of the women doing this are desperate to supplement their husbands’ meagre salaries, if they are lucky enough to have husbands around.
Our government pretends to show concern, often calling upon women to bring them project proposals, but continue to turn a blind eye to these local women whose hands are cracked and backs are bent in their attempt to earn an honest living.
I recently visited one such quarry, and I almost wept. In any normal country this work would be done by stone crushing machines. These women told me they make around US$120 per month if they are lucky, selling one full wheel barrow for $2. To hand crush enough stone for three wheelbarrows takes at least a full day, but then they still have to wait on buyers with hope in their hearts.
One major challenge they also face is the game of cat and mouse they play with the Environmental Management Authority, officials who argue they are destroying the environment and either demand huge fines or bribes with the threat of being hauled off to jail.
The women of Zengeza 5 are prepared to continue working as long as they can, even until the call of death beckons and as long as they can still lift the hammer.
http://www.timeslive.co.za/
Lennon Mhishi, via email | 14 June, 2012
16:15
A continuation of 'Revisiting the Democratic Dream'.
Across
the Limpopo where I come from, many believe democracy has been on
hold for
the past decade.
The revolutionary mantra has been that a country that
came on the back of
bloodshed cannot be lost through the vote. The
elections, where citizens
vote, is not a good enough system for choosing
their government because
their choices are manipulated by racist and
colonial capital. In other
words, the average Zimbabwean is too narrow and
stupid to understand the
complicated nature of international politics and
ideology -- their vote
cannot count.
Some have maintained that
Zimbabwe is the only truly independent country in
Africa, because we have
reclaimed our land, our mines, and we are on the
path to empowering the
black majority. Did I say “majority”? Well, I am not
very sure that in the
past ten years the Zimbabwean majority is anywhere
near empowered. I need
enlightenment. I am certainly not the majority. Of
course, I am not there
right now because I did not feel empowered!
There is no doubt in my
opinion that Zimbabwe will prosper and thrive, but
under what kind of
democracy? Elections have been marred by violence, unlike
in South Africa
where they have been 'peaceful'. “Democracy” as it is
popularly chanted has
not brought Zimbabwe the respite it wants. Sanctions,
whether regarded as
targeted or not, have not brought about democracy in
Zimbabwe. For some,
they brought such for South Africa, a mutilated
democracy enjoyed by a
few.
Today there are calls to remove sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe. There
have
been efforts to write a new constitution, but is that enough? What will
bring democracy, what kind of democracy? Today, South Africa is celebrated
for having one of the most progressive constitutions, to whose benefit are
words enshrined in documents when they cannot feed hungry mouths, or shelter
bodies freezing from the winter chill?
In Shona there are two
contradicting proverbs that come to my mind when I
think of
democracy.
One says mwana asingacheme anofira mumbereko (a child that
does not cry will
die on its mothers back) and the other one mugoti unopihwa
anyerere (the
cooking spoon will be given to the silent one). There seems to
be an
assumption that we can give our power to a sovereign who will cater
for the
needs of the majority; that democracy means fair and equal. No. It
does not.
Do we remain silent, or do we cry when our mother's back burns
us? Or we are
the tenderprenuers and praise singers, who will remain silent
so we get the
cooking spoon? Luxuriate in the midst of death?
I have
always argued that there is an ideological vacuum in Africa today,
that is
why it is easy for us to throw around democracy and good governance
as fads,
without a concrete attempt at application or appreciation of
contextual
realities! That is why despots will claim to be “democratic”
because they
hold elections every few years! Possibly because of a past that
has
mutilated our sense of being, or our ineptitude, we seem to fail to
define
what will work for us, considering the lessons of the failures and
successes
of the models of democracy we follow. (Mostly the failures).
Democracy
will never be a free lunch! It will not cater for the majority in
the manner
we are experiencing it today. Even in countries like Egypt where
there were
“revolutions”, entrenched systems of power continue rearing their
ugly
heads. Should we then just sit, and hope things will take their course,
when
history teaches us otherwise? Do we learn at all?
If democracy is near to
what South Africa is today, to what Zimbabwe has
seen in the past decade,
then democracy thrives on violence and ignorance,
on the poverty, hunger and
disease of the majority, on the sacrifice of the
majority on the altar of
the affluence of the minority.
It is a democracy where Africa remains the
world’s prostitute, where people
and nations can come and go, do as they
like, and still hold you in low
esteem, where we are slaves to the world,
and even to our own people, where
respect for life, for self and basic
dignity are exchanged for the meagre!
If this is democracy then I do not
want it!
South Africa will soon be celebrating Youth Day, and Zimbabwe
Heroes day. I
sit and think, what will we be celebrating?
These are
two very different countries, but they are two countries I have
been able to
see parts of, and to sit and think about. A lot has been done,
but a lot has
also been done wrong. We live in South Africa in what some
regard as an
illusory democracy, and in Zimbabwe, in what one may regard as
an aborted
democracy, and in both countries, a miscarriage of social justice
cannot be
denied.
Do we truly want these kinds of democracy? Not me! Maybe as
Edward Blake,
the character of the Comedian says in the film Watchmen says:
“It’s a joke,
it's all a fuckin’joke”
Clifford Chitupa Mashiri 14th June
2012.
News that securocrats have recruited manpower without Treasury
approval is
frightening ahead of what looks set to be a bloody sham election
if Mugabe
gets his way.
Despite announcing last year, plans to reduce
the army’s manning levels from
55 000 to 40 000 for budgetary reasons,
Zanu-pf Defence Minister Emmerson
Mnangagwa was last week demanding US$2.5
million for defence amid reports
that 4 600 soldiers were recruited between
January and May, without Treasury
approval.
There are fears of the
return of the infamous Green Bombers to shore up
Mugabe in the next polls
after Major Gen Martin Chedondo reportedly said,
the army would lower its
standards to accommodate youths from all villages
into the army.
The
military was not alone in recruiting without authority. The Zimbabwe
Republic Police recruited 1 200 personnel also without Treasury approval
consequently straining limited resources in training depots and military
barracks.
The reason why the Zimbabwe economy is underperforming is
arguably down to
the radar-less and partisan indigenisation campaign and a
lack of
transparency in diamond remittances from the military-controlled
Marange
diamond fields.
This comes in the wake of revelations that
the government could have been
defrauded of about US$50 million after
Zanu-pf allegedly irregularly
employed 5 662 suspected youth militia as
youth officers.
Calculations published by the Standard based on an
estimated civil service
average salary and allowances of US$150 for February
2009 to December 2011,
showed that each youth received about US$5 250 giving
an aggregate figure of
US$29 725 500.
The figure could reach US$50
million after factoring in salary increases and
allowances for the militias
who were in Grade B1 from US$160 to US$253 in
July 2011 and US$296 in
January 2012.
The Mugabe regime appears to be working flat out on its
Plan ‘B’ to plunge
the country in a constitutional crisis by dissolving
Parliament and
frog-march people to sham elections regardless of what SADC
leaders resolved
in Luanda.
While SADC’s secondment of its
representatives to Zimbabwe’s JOMIC is a
positive development, the regional
body lacks teeth to guarantee any
credible elections by June
2013.
Indications are that the seconded officials from SADC were being
sidelined
by Harare’s powerful elites and could be withdrawn
anytime.
If the GPA was being properly implemented, the Zanu-pf - run
Joint
Operations Command (JOC) should have been disbanded a long time ago
and
replaced by an inclusive National Security Council. The NSC should be
holding meetings.
That is one of the key reforms that SADC should be
pressing for apart from
constitutional, electoral and media reforms, because
the partisan security
sector is at the core of the Zimbabwe
crisis.
There is every reason to be worried about the activities of the
anachronistic JOC, which is arguably pulling the strings from behind the
scenes in what appears like precipitating a military coup.
Clifford
Chitupa Mashiri, Political Analyst, London,
zimanalysis2009@gmail.com