http://www.thestandard.co.zw
June 16, 2013 in Politics
PRESIDENT Robert
Mugabe was yesterday ordered by an extraordinary Sadc
summit to return to
the Constitutional Court and seek an extension of two
weeks to the date that
he set aside for elections.
BY NQABA MATSHAZI IN MOZAMBIQUE
This
means polls are likely to be held on August 14, if the court grants the
application.
Justice minister, Patrick Chinamasa has been tasked with
the filing of the
application, an indication that Sadc was getting tough on
Mugabe, who last
week unilaterally declared July 31 as the date for
elections.
The directive represented an embarrassment for Mugabe who had
invoked his
Presidential Powers and set an election date in violation of the
Constitution and the Global Political Agreement.
Under the GPA which
was signed in 2008, Mugabe was supposed to consult other
principals before
determining when the country could go for elections.
In a rare show of
unity, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and MDC president,
Welshman Ncube,
yesterday came together to convince Sadc leaders that Mugabe
had erred and
there was need for the order to be revised.
“He [Mugabe] accepted that,
because they adopted the facilitator’s report,
which has a whole range of
recommendations; they also adopted our proposal
to go back to court and seek
an extension,” Ncube said shortly after the
summit.
“From here
Chinamasa, on behalf of the government, will go back and ask for
an
extension and during that time we hope we can do all the things we need
to
do, like proper voter registration and parliament can pass the electoral
amendments.”
South African President Jacob Zuma, who is the
facilitator to the Zimbabwean
mediation, also presented a report which
outlined key reforms, particularly
security sector and media law amendments,
Ncube explained.
He said it was now up to the Constitutional Court to
decide whether it
agreed with the position of the government and
Sadc.
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai said he was happy that sanity had
finally
prevailed and expressed the hope that Mugabe will abide by the Sadc
resolution.
“We have to be seen to respect the region. They are
stakeholders in the GPA
and have a stake in the way the GNU is going to
divorce through elections,”
said Tsvangirai’s spokesperson, Luke
Tamborinyoka.
MDC-T secretary-general Tendai Biti said Sadc had nullified
Mugabe’s
proclamation that elections be held at the end of next month,
describing the
summit as historical.
“The date of July 31 is not on,
the time frame of the things that need to be
done will determine that date,”
he said.
Biti said Zuma, in his report, insisted that amendments to the
Electoral Act
that were agreed on should be taken to parliament and be
fast-tracked, while
the 30-day voter registration must continue unabated
till July 9.
“Summit underscored that we need to attend to media reform,
with the
appointment of an Independent Media Commission, consisting of
Cabinet
ministers, to oversee the implementation of agreed positions, which
include
the appointment of a new boards for the Mass Media Commission, for
the ZBC
and the Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe (BAZ),” he
said.
“On the security sector the summit underscored the obligation of
our
security chiefs to respect the Constitution and to issue a statement
complying with Article 208 of the new Constitution, which speaks to the
neutrality of our security forces, that they cannot be active members of any
political party and that they will respect, salute and obey any legitimate
constitutional order.”
Biti said there were a number of laws that
needed to be amended like Aippa,
Posa, Section 121 of the Criminal Procedure
and Evidence Act and this had to
be done within the given time.
Biti,
who is also Finance minister, described the unlikely alliance between
Tsvangirai and Ncube as an “incredible tag teaming”.
“I think most
Zimbabweans would like to see a grand coalition against
dictatorship and
tyranny in Zimbabwe,” he said, declining to reveal if there
were any pact
negotiations between the two.
Chinamasa said the MDCs and Zanu PF must
first negotiate on proposals that
will be brought, before approaching the
courts.
“We have no guarantee that the court will give the extension and
the summit
actually acknowledges that, because the courts are independent,
so we cannot
guarantee the outcome of any court application,” he
said.
The key operative decisions of SADC are that:
GOVERNMENT
through the ministry of Justice is ordered and directed to make
an
application to the constitutional court following consultations by all
political parties ,seeking to move the date of the election from July 30
2013.
That the agreed amendments to the Electoral Act which had
purportedly been
made into law by the President using the Presidential
Powers(Temporal
Measures ) Act be brought to Parliament this Tuesday for
debate and
adoption.
That the Sadc facilitation team and the troika
team appointed in Livingstone
sit in Jomic and not merely receive reports as
demanded by Zanu PF.
That an Inter Ministerial Committee be appointed to
deal with implementation
of agreed issues on media reform and the monitoring
of hate speech in all
media.
That the security forces publicly state
or restate their commitment to the
rule of law in particular their complete
adherence to section 208 of the
constitution.
That within the time
Parliament has remaining the parties negotiate and make
the necessary
amendments to Posa, Aippa,the Broadcasting Act ,section 121 of
the Criminal
Procedure and Evidence Act, etc.
That Sadc observers be deployed
immediately consistent with the Sadc
Principles and Guidelines Governing
Democratic Elections.
l That any other issue and the implementation of the
above be overseen by
the facilitation team.
Speaking before the
summit, Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition director, McDonald
Lewanika urged Sadc
to ensure that it did not endorse a poll that fell short
of the minimum
standards of a democratic election.
“Sadc should continue piling pressure
on Zimbabwe, saying they will not
recognise an election that is not
credible,” he said.
Attempts to get a comment from Zanu PF spokesperson
Rugare Gumbo were
fruitless as his mobile was not
reachable.
Priscilla Misihairabwi-Mushonga, the Secretary General of the
MDC said
Mugabe was humiliated at the meeting.
She wrote on her
Facebook page: “Am sitting in this summit and so
conflicted, I have listened
to President Mugabe, heard Prime Minister
Tsvangirai, listened to Prof Ncube
give a plain and simple explanation on
the unconstitutionality of the
proclamation.
“I am glad we can put our case but do we have to get here
where a group of
people drag their leader here, advise him wrongly therefore
embarrassing him
in front of his colleagues.
“How do people set their
leader like this, I can’t even look at him, but
more so, am so angry with
this group who want President Mugabe to end his
career this way.”
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
June 16, 2013 in News, Politics
IT is
going to be dog eat dog in the Zanu PF primary elections, after
hundreds of
Young Turks and other first time candidates applied to contest
party bigwigs
in the internal polls slated for June 24, it has emerged.
BY PATRICE
MAKOVA
Hundreds of candidates rushed to beat the 5pm deadline to submit
curriculum
vitaes (CVs) for consideration in the primary elections
yesterday.
Sources said fireworks are expected in the polls after the
Zanu PF politburo
ruled that no one would be spared from the process.
But
there are fears that the party bigwigs will use today’s provincial
coordinating council meetings to try to elbow out some of their
challengers.
Manicaland province which was recently rocked by serious
internal fighting
saw one of the highest numbers of people applying to
contest the same
constituencies.
Sources said in Mutare North
constituency alone, 16 officials were vying to
contest the primaries. These
include suspended provincial chairman, Mike
Madiro and prominent transport
operator and central committee member, Esau
Mupfumi.
The province
recently saw a group allegedly led by Justice minister, Patrick
Chinamasa
and women’s league boss, Oppah Muchinguri petitioning President
Robert
Mugabe to rein in national secretary for administration, Didymus
Mutasa,
accusing him of imposition of candidates and dictatorship.
Mutasa, who
used to be unchallenged as the godfather of Manicaland, will
fight it out
for the Headlands constituency with Ministry of Women’s Affairs
director,
Christopher Chingosho.
Chinamasa on the other hand will face off with
Mutasa’s right hand man and
Arda chairman, Basil Nyabadza.
Manicaland
provincial governor, Christopher Mushowe will face off
businessman, Jonathan
Kadzura in the Mutare West constituency.
Sources said Muchinguri at
Thursday’s politburo meeting was very vocal
against some of the old guard,
warning them if they imposed themselves, Zanu
PF risked losing elections
again.
In Masvingo, provincial chairman Lovemore Matuke will be
challenged in the
Gutu Central seat by Felix Munyaradzi and another only
identified as
Mtsambiwa.
The primary election is likely to produce
fireworks as Munyaradzi belongs to
a group of the Young Turks who are
emerging in Masvingo.
The election will be closely watched as Matuke has
also been fighting
officials linked with the Mujuru faction who want to
dissolve his executive.
Former Zifa boss, Henrietta Rushwaya will square
off with former Women’s
Affairs deputy minister, Shuvai Mahofa and a Mzangwa
for the Gutu senatorial
seat. The seat is reserved for
women.
Zimpapers board chairman, Paul Chimedza will fight it out with
lawyer Vengai
Guni for the Gutu North seat.
In Midlands, Minister of
State, Flora Buka will be challenged by a youth
only identified as Mayor.
Zanu PF parliamentary chief whip, Joram Gumbo will
be challenged by a
retired major. whose name The Standard could not verify
last
night.
Affirmative Action Group’s Chamu Chiwanza will battle it out with
Zimbabwe
Mining Development Corporation chairman, Godwills
Masimirembwa.
Phillip Chiyangwa will be challenged for the Chinhoyi seat
by Mashonaland
West governor Faber Chidarikire, a student leader, Prosper
Ganga and Samuel
Mvurume.
The respective Zanu PF provincial
coordinating councils are scheduled to sit
today to scrutinise the submitted
CVs before handing them over to the
politburo for further
vetting.
But a politburo member said there were fears that the PCCs will
manipulate
the lists to save some bigwigs whose careers now hang by the
thread.
“Some old guards who fear losing elections are saying candidates
must be
selected through consensus in certain constituencies in order to
avoid
primary elections. This will be against the politburo directive
barring any
imposition of candidates,” he said.
The senior Zanu PF
official said the idea of holding primaries in one day
was to try to avoid
the imposition of candidates.
He said politburo members who usually
supervise such events normally favour
each other, but this time around they
would not get that opportunity, as
most of them are being
challenged.
“Everyone will be busy trying to survive politically and
there will be no
time to interfere with elections elsewhere,” said the
politburo member.
Another senior party official said officials from the
Central Intelligence
Organisations and others party officials not seeking
office will be
supervising the primary elections.
Zanu PF
spokesperson yesterday said he was attending a meeting the whole
day.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
June 16, 2013 in News,
Politics
CHINHOYI constituency has been the bedrock of Zanu PF politics
in
Mashonaland West province for a long time.
BY NUNURAI
JENA
There has been massive jostling in both Zanu PF and MDC-T in the
past weeks
as candidates fight for a ticket to represent their parties in
the
harmonised elections slated for next month.
One candidate,
flamboyant bus-inessman-cum-politician Philip
Chiyangwa has shown visibility
and decided to live true to the proverb that
the early bird catches the
worm.
He has been covering the length and breadth of Chinhoyi
constituency in
search of the people’s votes ahead of elections.
“I’m
the people’s choice in Chinhoyi,” boasted Chiyangwa. “An MDC-T MP
failed to
represent my constituency during my absence from politics and let
me warn
him that I’m back with a bang.”
True to his word, Chiyangwa has taken
Chinhoyi by storm.
The businessman recently donated seven piglets; three
hundred chicks and
US$340 airtime for resale to each of the 15 wards in the
constituency.
He also brought the farming town to a standstill when he
recently sponsored
a musical concert dubbed Vhara Gedhi.
In order to
appeal to the young vote, Chiyangwa enticed man of the moment,
Jah Prayzah
and Dendera King Sulumani Chimbetu, who performed to a packed
Chinhoyi
stadium a fortinight ago.
But some Chinhoyi residents are not moved by
Chiyangwa’s flaunting of wealth
a month before the harmonised
elections.
Nathan Buruwuru of Chikonohono high-density suburb said the
wealthy
businessman was a “foreigner” in Chinhoyi and must not be
supported.
He said Chiyangwa, former provincial chairperson, will only
prevail if MDC-T
fields a candidate like the sitting MP, Stewart Garadhi,
who has been
accused of failing to deliver promises he made
previously.
Garadhi, who could not be reached for comment this week, failed
the MDC-T
confirmation process recently.
“Political parties should
field candidates who are worthy their salt as this
time around we will be
looking at the calibre of candidates, not where that
candidate is coming
from,” said Buruwuru.
But for Chiyangwa to fight it out with a candidate
from MDC-T he has to
shrug off challenges from potential Zanu PF primary
candidates, governor
Faber Chidarikire, Mathew Magureyi, councillor Richard
Chafausipo and Samuel
Mvurume.
Chiyangwa however, has an edge above
other contestants in terms of
resources.
If Chiyangwa manages to win
in the Zanu PF primaries, he is likely to face
either Garadhi or former
executive mayor, Peter Matarutse who goes into
MDC-T primary elections with
the MP.
Chiyangwa previously represented the Chinhoyi constituency in
Parliament.
He however lost the seat following his arrest on espionage
charges, before
he was cleared by the courts in 2005.
Whether
Chiyangwa’s resources will translate into votes or not is anyone’s
guess.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
June 16, 2013 in News,
Politics
POLITICAL parties and civil society organisations have the right
to engage
in voter education exercises as they are part of electoral
processes,
analysts have said.
BY OUR STAFF
This comes after
the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) recently said that
it was in charge
of voter education and other organisations needed to be
accredited to
undertake the process.
It said that political parties would only be
restricted to campaigning.
A report in the public media a fortnight ago
insinuated that some sections
of government were contemplating limiting
voter education to political
parties, as ZEC were being partisan in
discharging this particular duty.
National Association of
Non-Governmental Organisations (Nango) chairperson
Effie Ncube said it was
the responsibility of every Zimbabwean, from
churches, civic society and
political parties, to participate in processes
leading to elections.
“We
don’t have to exclude parties from these processes as they are actors.
Issues however, do arise with regard to the kind of information to be
disseminated to the public, which in an ideal democracy should be objective
and non-partial,” said Ncube.
“Some parties can do that, others can’t. So
ZEC must not select people,
anybody should be allowed to do
that.”
Principles of voter education include comprehensiveness, integrity,
inclusiveness, accessibility, transparency, credibility and security, among
others.
ZEC is mandated with supervising the compilation of the
voters’ roll, its
maintenance and voter registration, among other
responsibilities.
In May this year, police charged a local non-governmental
organisation, the
Electoral Resource Centre, for allegedly conducting voter
education without
ZEC’s authorisation citing a breach of Section 40 (C) (1)
(g) of the
Electoral Act.
Political analyst, Pedzisai Ruhanya
concurred with other analysts arguing
that political parties could not be
divorced from voter education exercises.
“It is the primary role of
political parties to do so because they are
involved in the whole electoral
process,” said Ruhanya.
“They have to be involved in informing citizens
on how to vote and where to
vote. For instance, the primary elections that
the MDC or Zanu PF may hold
are all part of a process leading towards
elections.
The only difference would be the partisan nature of the voter
education
process that political parties employ.”
Ruhanya said civil
society also has to be involved in voter education in
terms of how to vote
and encouraging citizens to exercise their rights.
“All this is allowed
under the Constitution, the Electoral Act and Sadc
principles guiding the
conduct of elections,” he said.
Concerted efforts to obtain a comment
from ZEC chief executive officer,
Lovemore Sekeramayi proved fruitless as
the commission did not respond to
written questions, which his office had
requested.
PARTIES TO PARTICIPATE IN VOTER EDUCATION
Crisis in
Zimbabwe Coalition (CiZC) spokesperson, Thabani Nyoni said
political parties
had to participate in this process (voter education)
because they inherently
have an interest in the electoral process.
“From our understanding, it is
proper because political parties are
interested parties,” he
said.
“Political parties can be part and parcel of the whole machinery of
ensuring
more active participation of people in such processes through voter
registration.
“It is their conduct and activities that determine the
ability of citizens
to participate in elections.”
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
June 16, 2013 in News, Politics
FORMER Daily News
Editor, Geoff Nyarota, who is aspiring to represent the
MDC-T in the
forthcoming parliamentary elections, has lodged an appeal
against MP Pishai
Muchauraya’s victory at the party’s primary elections held
on June
9.
BY OUR STAFF
MDC-T Spokesperson for Manicaland Province and
Makoni South legislator,
Pishai Muchauraya was confirmed as a candidate for
the forthcoming elections
after polling 447 votes against 49 votes for
Nyarota.
Nyarota’s camp immediately lodged an appeal against Muchauraya’s
victory.
A delegation consisting of MDC-T Makoni South district officials
and members
of Nyarota’s campaign team are understood to have held a meeting
at Harvest
House in Harare with MDC-T vice-chairperson Morgan
Komichi.
They then submitted a four-page petition detailing
irregularities and
alleged rigging during the confirmation process held on
Sunday.
“We humbly submit that this anomalous election process on Sunday June
9,
2013, be effectively and immediately declared null and void in the
interests
of justice, fairness and democracy,” a section of the petition
reads.
The petition was addressed to MDC-T secretary-general, Tendai
Biti, and
copied to Chairman, Lovemore Moyo and Organising Secretary, Nelson
Chamisa.
Chamisa said that he was not aware of the
petition.
“Well, internal processes have internal remedies but I’m not
willing to
comment about matters that are outside the circumference of facts
and
province of reality,” said Chamisa.
Muchauraya is facing charges
before the courts for allegedly making death
threats against Nyarota, his
election campaign manager Amos Kutiya, and
another MDC-T aspiring councillor
for the same constituency, Sophia
Chibayambuya. He is denying the
charges.
Muchauraya, who was last week denied bail in Rusape is
languishing in remand
prison after the state invoked Section
121.
Reached for a comment, Nyarota yesterday would not talk about the
petition
preferring instead to speak about his kitchen that was burnt
recently.
The veteran journalist turned politician, said police in Rusape
were yet to
make any arrests, more than three weeks after the kitchen at his
homestead
at Gwangwadza Business Centre outside Nyazura was razed in a
fire.
According to Nyarota, the names of three suspects, all of them Zanu
PF
activists, were subsequently reported to the police but no action has
been
taken.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
June 16, 2013 in News, Politics
ZANU
PF is no longer worried about legitimacy and will do whatever it takes
to
wrestle absolute political power in the forthcoming elections, analysts
have
said.
BY CAIPHAS CHIMHETE
They said securocrats and Zanu PF
hardliners have pushed President Robert
Mugabe to have early elections and
use whatever means available to them to
win the polls and deal with the
consequences later while in power.
Under pressure, Mugabe unilaterally
proclaimed dates for elections without
consulting Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai, as stipulated by the
Constitution and Global Political Agreement
(GPA) signed in 2008.
Tsvangirai’s protests have fallen on deaf ears but he
has vowed to fight on.
Armed with a Constitutional Court order that he
must hold elections by July
31 this year, Mugabe has insisted that his hands
are tied by the ruling.
Sadc yesterday held a summit in Maputo,
Mozambique to deal with Zimbabwe’s
political crisis, but it is still to be
seen if both parties will abide by
the meeting’s resolutions.
There
are widespread fears that securocrats and hardliners will push Zanu PF
to
resort to the “scorched earth policy” of 2008 — which left scores dead
and
thousands displaced — just to gain political power.
Analysts said Zanu PF
would not be worried of being labelled a “rogue
regime” if Mugabe won
disputed elections because there were other African
countries led by
governments not liked by Sadc and the African Union (AU).
Madagascar and
the Central African Republic (CAR) have leaders considered
“illegitimate”
but are in power taking advantage of the continent’s weak
conflict
resolution mechanisms.
For the past four years, Madagascar was ruled by
an “unelected and illegal
civilian regime” that assumed power in a coup with
military support.
Political analyst, Phillip Pasirayi said Zanu PF was
not worried about
legitimacy but what was more important for the party was
to regain its
hegemony. It will worry about other things later when they
have the power in
their hands, he noted.
“Zanu PF is aware of
illegitimate governments in Madagascar and CAR which
have continued to rule
even when they are under sanctions and isolation by
some sections of the
international community,” said Pasirayi.
He believes there would be mixed
responses from the international community
if Zanu PF were to bulldoze its
way into office.
Pasirayi noted that the softening in the European Union
(EU)’s approach to
Harare, which was probably motivated more by economic and
strategic
interests rather than the love for democracy.
“So it is not
surprising to see the West embracing a Zanu PF victory even in
controversial
circumstances,” said Pasirayi.
But Phillan Zamchiya, a lecturer at Oxford
University believes that Zanu PF
would not use political violence but subtle
electoral manipulation so that
it gets some form of
legitimacy.
“Subtle techniques of election manipulation will be used that
are less
costly and less visible,” he said.
“But of course, violence
is endemic and institutionalised. It would be
spontaneous in some areas but
not to the levels of June 27, 2008. They will
just rattle the match-box
intimidating people in what I call harvest of fear
in my
works.”
Zamchiya said the Madagascar and CAR cases were far-fetched
examples.
“In those contexts we are talking of overt military coups, in
Zimbabwe if it
happens it will be covert with a civilian leader as the face
of it,” he
said.
Zamchiya said Zanu PF believes the key to gaining
political legitimacy is
not about election dates or padding the margins of
votes, but reducing the
amount of naked State-sponsored
violence.
Once that is done, Zanu PF believes the election will be
declared acceptable
and credible, he said.
“They have made a
calculation on what can be the minimum threshold
acceptable to the region
and international community,” said Zamchiya. If
Zanu PF did not worry about
legitimacy at all they could not have clothed
their chicanery through the
court process, they could have gone for open
style rule by decree consistent
with closed authoritarian states.”
Pasirayi agrees that Zanu PF will not
commit “overt violence”, but will
target known MDC activists for
harassment.
“It is highly unlikely the party will repeat its “scorched
earth policy” of
2008,” he said.
‘SECUROCRATS NOT CERTAIN ABOUT
FUTURE’
Political analyst, Dumisani Nkomo said Mugabe and securocrats
were more
worried about political survival than legitimacy as the country
gears for
elections.
He said his party would rather butcher its
political rivals into submission
than losing power. The MDC-T claimed that
at least 200 of its supporters
were killed by Zanu PF youth militia and
State security agents during the
2008 elections.
“They [Zanu PF] know
that Sadc did nothing in Madagascar and it will do
nothing to them. In any
case it does not have a force,” said Nkomo. “They
can only apply diplomatic
pressure, which Zanu PF is prepared to deal with
after elections, if they
are disputed.”
He added that the United Nations (UN) cannot intervene as
it did in Libya
because there is no outright violence and deaths in the
country that
warrants international intervention.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
June 16, 2013 in News,
Politics
There has been intense debate about the constitutionality of
President
Robert Mugabe’s election proclamation that was made using
Presidential
Powers.
Senator David Coltart points out why he
considers Mugabe’s action profoundly
deceptive and unbefitting of a Head of
State who is obliged to respect both
the spirit and letter of the
Constitution.
In issuing an election proclamation, the President is
obliged to act on the
advice of the cabinet. This is laid down by section
31H of the old
Zimbabwean Constitution, a provision that is still in
force.
Although that section allows the President to act on his own
initiative when
dissolving Parliament, the President has not sought to
consult Parliament in
this proclamation: instead, he is allowing Parliament
to run on until its
five-year term expires automatically on June
29.
The President should have obtained the agreement of the cabinet, at
least of
a majority of the ministers, before issuing the proclamation which
did not
happen. Accordingly, the election proclamation itself is illegal and
unconstitutional.
l The Presidential Powers Act is only to be used in
urgent situations.
Section 2 deals with the making of “urgent regulations”
and situations which
need to be “dealt with urgently”. It has been clear for
over two weeks that
the time frame set by the Constitutional Court to hold
the election by July
31 2013 could not be respected in compliance with the
Constitution.
There has been and still remains ample time to go back to
the Constitutional
Court to request that it review its judgement.
As a
reminder, the Chief Justice himself stated in his judgement that the
court
should not make orders which will result in the President having to
breach
other electoral provisions. In other words, the correct way to deal
with the
situation would have been to go back urgently to the Constitutional
Court.
Section 2(1)(c) of the Presidential Powers Act states the
President shall
only issue a decree if “because of the urgency, it is
inexpedient to await
the passage through Parliament of an Act dealing with
the situation”.
As pointed out above, had the three parties in Parliament
been consulted
about the “urgency”, there is no doubt that Parliament could
have been
convened urgently to debate and pass the Electoral Amendment Bill
in the
form it had been approved of by Cabinet on Tuesday.
Section
2(2)(c) of the Presidential Powers Act states that regulations
cannot be
made for any “matter or thing which the Constitution requires to
be provided
for by, rather than in terms of, an Act”. Section 157(1) of the
new
Constitution states that “An Act of Parliament must provide for the
conduct
of elections”.
In other words, the new Constitution specifically requires
that the matter
of electoral process be provided for by an Act. In other
words, the
Presidential Powers Act, as undemocratic as it is, cannot be used
for this
type of matter even if it is deemed urgent.
l The flip side of
the same coin is that Section 157(1) states that an “Act
of Parliament” must
provide for the conduct of elections. Section 2(1) makes
it quite clear that
the President can only issue “regulations”.
Regulations are not an Act of
Parliament. As I have said elsewhere, a
regulation issued in terms of the
Presidential Powers Act is not an Act of
Parliament; it is but an Act of the
President.
The reason for the specific inclusion of this specific clause
in the
Constitution was to ensure that there was not the arbitrary and
Nicodemian
use of Presidential decrees to change the playing field in favour
of one
party, which ironically is precisely what has happened this
week.
l Section 157(4) of the Constitution states that “no amendments may
be made
to the Electoral Law unless the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission has
been
consulted and any recommendations made by the Commission have been duly
considered”.
As stated above, many changes were made to the Electoral
Law Amendment Bill
by Cabinet and there was at least one unilateral change
(e.g the repeal of
Section 27A) made by the Justice minister as late as
Tuesday afternoon.
I suspect that there was no consultation made with the
Zimbabwe Electoral
Commission regarding these last minute changes and if
that is so, that alone
would render them all
unconstitutional.
Section 157(5) states that “after an election has been
called, no change to
the Electoral Law or to any other law relating to
elections has effect for
the purpose of that election”.
The
regulations were published during the morning of June 13, the
proclamation
was published in the afternoon. Under Section 20 of the
Interpretation Act,
statutory instruments are deemed to have been published
on midnight on the
day on which they appear in the Gazette.
So on that basis, the
regulations and the proclamation were published
simultaneously, and the
regulations cannot be said to have had effect before
the election was
called.
Accordingly, in terms of Section 157(5). these changes to the law
have to be
disregarded. If that is so, then the existing provisions of the
Electoral
Law apply.
For example Section 11 of the Electoral
Amendment Bill 3 of 2012, which
amended section 38 of the original Electoral
Act, states that there has to
be not less than 42 days between the
nomination day and the election.
Accordingly, if this law is to be
respected, the election will have to be 42
days after June 28, namely on or
about August 9!
Three further Statutory Instruments have been published
since the amendments
to the Electoral Law and the Proclamation of the
Election were published in
Statutory Instruments 85/2013 and 86/2013
respectively.
These are the Electoral (Amendment) Regulations 2013
(number – SI 87/2013,
the Electoral (Nomination of Candidates) Regulations
2013-SI 88/2013 and the
Electoral (Accreditation of Observers) Regulations
2013-SI 89/2013.
Clearly, under any interpretation of the law both from
the timing of their
publication and their SI numbering, they were gazetted
after the
Presidential Proclamation of the Electoral dates (SI86/2013) and
therefore
have no effect in terms of Section 157(5) of the
Constitution.
It should be noted in this regard that in terms of section
332 of the new
Constitution, a “law” includes any provision of a statutory
instrument.
Indeed because of the purported proclamation, no further
amendment to the
Electoral laws are possible and give the chaos which now
prevails in the
entire electoral process. This will mean that even with the
best of
intentions, these problems cannot be addressed.
There is no
doubt that the pre-existing Constitutional crisis created by the
government’s inability to hold elections by the 31st July 2013 in compliance
with the Constitution has now been greatly exacerbated by this rash
move.
PRESIDENTIAL PROCLAMATION MUST BE REPEALED
The President has
been advised very poorly and those responsible for this
poor advice should
be held to account.
If the election goes ahead in terms of the current
arrangement, it will be
plainly unconstitutional and illegal.
That in
turn will plunge Zimbabwe into further disarray which is not in the
interests of anyone, save perhaps for the small cabal of hardliners who are
behind these measures.
The only way out of this crisis is for the
President to repeal the measures
introduced by Presidential proclamation and
for Government to apply to the
Constitutional Court for its order to be
reviewed to ensure that our
elections are held in compliance with the
Constitution.
Once we have secured an order from the Constitutional Court
and the
Electoral Act has been passed by Parliament and signed by the
President,
election dates should be proclaimed in terms of the new valid
Act.
Coltart is MDC Secretary for
Legal Affairs
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
June 16, 2013 in News, Politics
WHEN
Gideon Gono took over as Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) governor in
December
2003, he set himself on a path no other central bank chief had
travelled
before in the country’s history.
BY NDAMU SANDU
He started by
boldly declaring he would take “full responsibility for any
weaknesses in
the roadmap, but would not take any credit for whatever
positive impact” his
monetary policies would have on the well-being of the
economy.
Who
could doubt the man credited with turning around the fortunes of a bank
from
collapse, after the government moved in to rescue the then Bank of
Credit
and Commerce Zimbabwe? The bank was to be renamed the Commercial Bank
of
Zimbabwe (now CBZ), which is currently the biggest bank by deposits.
So
charismatic was the central bank chief that his monetary policy
presentations, beamed live on national radio and television, used to be
sold-out, with the “who-is-who” in government, in attendance.
Gono
seemed to have a solution to all Zimbabwe’s economic problems and the
RBZ
soon started printing money as the panacea to the woes.
Gono would
straddle across ministries and through engaging in activities
outside
national budget (quasi-fiscal), the central bank acted like a super
ministry
overseeing Cabinet.
To justify his supra-ministerial roles and
quasi-fiscal activities, he would
not end his presentations without saying,
“extraordinary circumstances call
for extraordinary
measures”.
Government departments, parastatals and ministries would turn
to him for
support.
When then Finance minister Herbert Murerwa announced
in his 2007 National
Budget presentation that quasi-fiscal activities would
be phased-out and all
expenditures had to go through budgetary processes,
all hell broke loose as
he had ruffled some king-sized feathers.
A week
later, President Robert Mugabe responded to Murerwa’s budget
statement
blasting what he called “bookish economics”.
“They have this word they
like using; quasi, quasi. But I tell them that
this is the expenditure that
we need. We are under sanctions, and there is
no room for the type of
bookish economics we have at the Ministry of
Finance,” he said.
It
was no surprise that Murerwa was jobless after a mini-Cabinet reshuffle a
few months later, and Gono had the freedom to print as much quintillions as
he wanted, pushing Zimbabwe’s inflation rate to 231 million %!
Fast
forward to June 2013
Gono is now a pale shadow of the all-powerful governor
who, while presenting
monetary policy statements, once drew a thunderous
applause when he said:
Gideon Gono “it’s time for the governor to drink some
water,” before taking
a gulp from a glass that would be placed in front of
him.
None of those fawning business and Zanu PF leaders are still taking
notice
of his presence at the RBZ, five months before the end of his second
and
final term at RBZ.
Even guards from the police protection unit — a
department with the Zimbabwe
Republic Police in charge of providing security
to VIPs and their
residences — have deserted his residence in Borrowdale.
They were withdrawn
while he was away on a business trip, without
explanation.
Concerted pleas for their reinstatement drew blanks. Ironically,
only a few
years back, Gono would inspect the police guard of honour and
officiate at
pass out parades where police chiefs would plead with him for
RBZ handouts
which included VIP cars and financial support.
Gono’s
position appeared to have started to weaken significantly in Zanu PF
circles
when he clashed with Youth Development, Indigenisation and
Empowerment
minister Saviour Kasukuwere over the implementation of the
indigenisation
legislation, especially on the banking sector.
Gono argued that the sector
was already indigenised and proposed a supply
side model, which he said
would benefit locals more than the equity
approach.
On the other hand,
Kasukuwere insisted foreign banks should cede 51%
ownership and those
unhappy with the process should pack and go.
Gono’s views on indigenisation,
analysts say, were ill-timed, considering
that Zanu PF wanted to use it as a
trump card during elections.
“He has assumed the role of protector of foreign
banks and tried to appear
to be going against politicians who appointed him
in the first place,” a
banking executive said.
Independent economic
analyst John Robertson told The Standard that Gono had
been the biggest
casualty of dollarisation as the central bank lost its
ability to print
money.
“He derived powers through exercising his authority over currency. Now
that
the currency is no longer Zimbabwean, his authority has been
diminished,”
Robertson said.
Unable to influence the economy with
monetary policy statements and his
tenure coming to an end on November 30,
Gono now cuts a lonely figure with
friends deserting him.
He is fortunate
in that President Robert Mugabe is backing him — at least
for
now.
GONO HAS SERVED HIS PURPOSE — NKOMO
Dumisani Nkomo of
Habakkuk Trust said Gono was used by Zanu PF when he was
still
relevant.
Nkomo said the late national heroes Chenjerai Hunzvi and Border
Gezi, former
Information minister Jonathan Moyo and War veterans’ leader,
Jabulani
Sibanda — had at one time like Gono become untouchables.
“At any
given time, there is an individual who wields so much power. He
[Gono] was
there to serve a particular purpose during the Zimbabwean dollar
era,” Nkomo
said.
Gono is credited with rescuing Zimbabwe from expulsion from the
International Monetary Fund by mobilising US$120 million to repay part of
the debt, a week before the global lender’s executive board was to meet to
decide the country’s future.
He has managed to weather the storm from
the two MDCs who seem to have
dropped the “Gono must go” hymn.
“He
had his time and his reign was a colossus with the feet of clay,” one
banker
remarked last week.
His former advisor, Munyaradzi Kereke, has also
accused Gono of corrupt
practices during his reign, a charge Gono strongly
denies.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
June 16, 2013 in News,
Politics
ZIMBABWE is again heading for disputed polls as evidence on the
ground
already shows possible manipulation of the electoral process, a new
report
has warned.
BY PATRICE MAKOVA
The report: Countering
Electoral Manipulation: Strengthening Zimbabwe’s
Chain of Democracy Choice,
expresses misgivings on the integrity,
transparency and the manner in which
the electoral process is being handled
by the authorities.
Produced
by Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition (CiZC), the report says civil
society
organisations (CSOs), political parties, the media and other actors
must
play a key role to mitigate a complex chain of electoral manipulation.
It
says the manner in which the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC)
exercises
control over the electoral process, including transparency and
efficiency in
the exercise of their functions to meet the needs of the
voting public, is
being put to test.
Of concern, the report noted, are five key areas which
include free flow of
information to facilitate voter preference;
participation without any
hindrances; protection from undue pressure,
intimidation and threats;
integrity of electoral authorities; and
irreversibility of results.
It outlines several areas which are possibly
being manipulated during the
different stages of the electoral
cycle.
These include the on-going voter registration exercise where
deceased people
and phantom voters could be put on the roll.
The
report says it would not be surprising to see unexplained surges in
voters’
roll, disenfranchisement based on disputed citizenship, removal of
potential
voters perceived to be sympathetic to the opposition and
deprivation of
formal documents.
It says on election day, there is a possibility of
denying observers access
to polling stations, hot spots, pressurising voters
through threats, abuse
of mobile ballots, multiple and ghost voters and
displacement of known and
suspected opposition supporters.
VOTER
MANIPULATION CANNOT BE RULED OUT — CIZC
CiZC director, MacDonald Lewanika
said during the campaign period there are
fears that the security services
could be used to harass, character
assassinate, intimidate people or
violently break rallies just like what
happened in the 2008
elections.
“During the counting and tabulation process, there is a
potential bias on
validation of votes, spoiling of opposition ballots,
inflating of votes —
take away opposition votes, tampering with results
where election agents are
not deployed and stuffing ballot boxes,” he
said.
Lewanika said the past three elections in the country have been
contested
due to allegations of voter manipulation and violence.
But this
year, he said the election would not be as violent as the last one
in 2008,
as Zanu PF will use psychological warfare premised on manipulating
the fear
inculcated in communities over years.
20 000 local observers needed for
the polls
The report says to contribute to the integrity of the broad
electoral
process, CSOs must have a ready pool of local observers for the
next poll,
based on the logic of two observers per polling
station.
“We argue for a ready pool of 20 000 observers because the
Ministry of
Justice is most likely to be late but swift in calling for
observers,” the
report reads. “As happened in the previous election, the
minister invited 11
000 observers, but only managed to deploy 8 000 due to
time and other
constraints. In areas that are difficult to penetrate, there
is need to rely
on grassroots based organisations with structures in these
areas already.”
The report, whose two researchers are Oxford University
fellow, Phillan
Zamchiya and Rhodes University doctoral candidate, Gideon
Chitanga, says
there is need to intensify the lobby for Sadc to deploy early
election
observers at least two months ahead of elections and one month
after the
polling.
“Early monitoring and observation can minimise
electoral manipulation or at
least influence other observer teams on a
shorter-term period,” reads the
report.
It says CSOs must advocate
for non-partisan recruitment of polling officers.
“This is out of the
realisation that it is now a herculean task to push for
the reconstitution
of the ZEC secretariat, especially the exclusion of
prominent people that
were associated with manipulating elections whose
outcomes have been
contested since 2000. The process as such, has to be
all-inclusive,
including the possibilities of participation in the vetting
process by CSOs
and other political parties,” reads the report.
The report says CSOs must
maintain a watchful eye on the rumoured plans to
field Border Gezi National
Youth Service graduates as election officers in
the Registrar General’s
Office, after they were unilaterally confirmed as
members of the public
service by Zanu PF through the Ministry of Youth
Development, Indigenisation
and Empowerment.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
June 16, 2013 in Community
News
ZIMBABWE is set to achieve a giant leap in the fight against
cervical cancer
following the recent approval of the human papillomavirus
(HPV) vaccine, a
move which will see teenage girls receiving vaccination
against the deadly
disease.
By Wellington Zimbowa
Director of
Epidemiology and Disease Control in the Ministry of Health and
Child
Welfare, Portia Manangazira said a pilot programme is set to be rolled
out
soon in Matabeleland and Mashonaland targeting girls from 10 to 13
years,
ahead of the full programme next year.
“I am pleased that government has
now availed funding for the cancer vaccine
and approved its introduction,”
she said.
“The programme will be fully rolled out in 2014 but for now, we
are working
on how best to prepare for this important national exercise,
hence two
health centres, one in Marondera and one in Gwanda will be
identified for
trials.”
Manangazira said upon the full introduction
of the programme, vaccination
will start from girls aged between nine to 13
years.
She was speaking on the sidelines of a cancer discussion forum at the
Book
Café organised by Tanyaradzwa Cancer Trust.
Manangazira added
that cervical cancer, which is the second cause of high
mortality after
Kaposi’s sarcoma — another type of cancer — is highly
transmitted through
sexual intercourse, hence investing in preventative
measures targeting young
girls was prudent.
“Cervical cancer has some common features with HIV and
Aids in that it is
highly transmitted through unprotected sex with an
infected partner and it
lies for years without one
knowing.
“Vaccinating young girls is strategic in that sexual debut is
unlikely at
that time and their immune [system] will be very strong and
given that the
scourge has no cure yet, this is a positive stride,” she
said.
She also said while the government will be funding the exercise,
Unicef will
be doing the procurement.
Hosted by Tanyaradzwa Cancer
Trust, the discussion brought together medical
experts Mike Chirenje and
doctors Sunanda Rayv and Anna Nyakabau.
It ran under the theme Cervical
Cancer: Awareness & Survival in an effort to
raise awareness of the need
for early diagnosis and counselling especially
targeting ordinary women who
usually are at the periphery of getting
information.
Meanwhile, the
Finance ministry this week released US$480 000 for the
expansion of storage
facilities at Parirenyatwa hospital as the nation moves
towards introducing
rota virus and HPV vaccines.
ALL WOMEN TO BE INFORMED ABOUT SCREENING
PROCEDURES
Talent Yakado, founder of Tanyaradzwa Cancer Trust, herself a
cervical
cancer survivor, gave a chilling account of how she survived cancer
and
bemoaned the ignorance among ordinary women about the need for cancer
screening and the prohibitive amount being charged for cancer
screening.
“There is need to ensure that each woman on the streets knows
about cancer
screening and my organisation will step-up efforts to lobby
government about
this critical issue.
“The charges are also
prohibitive for the ordinary woman and in my case, I
only managed to go for
screening and treatment through help by my boss
since, as a waitress I could
not afford it,” she said.
The 34-year-old mother of three said it was only
last year at the birth of
her third child that she was found to have HPV
strains.
She had to go through the agony of sourcing the consultation and
examination
fees which were close to US$500, only to be saved by her
employer, hence her
pledge to lobby for a revision of the policy.
Her
sentiments were echoed by the medical experts who noted the public
health
system leaves much to be desired in the fight against the cancer
scourge.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
June 16, 2013 in Community News
HIV
and Aids activists have expressed concern over the delay by the judges
to
announce judgement in the case of Douglas Muzanenhamo, a rights activist
living with HIV, and are now mulling a protest march to force the judiciary
to act with urgency.
BY PHYLLIS MBANJE
Muzanenhamo filed a
constitutional application at the Supreme Court in
September 2012
challenging the ill-treatment of people living with HIV in
detention by
police and prison officials.
He sought an order compelling police and prison
officials to respect the
rights to access medication of detainees living
positively with HIV and
Aids.
In the application, he said every
prisoner who is HIV-positive should be
given an opportunity to access
anti-retroviral (ARV) drugs, as prescribed by
medical practitioners while in
custody.
His case was finally heard before the nine judges: Godfrey
Chidyausiku, Luke
Malaba, Paddington Garwe, Bharat Patel, Vernanda Ziyambi,
Anne-Marie Gowora,
Ben Hlatshwayo, George Chiweshe and Antonia
Guvava.
The judges however, reserved judgement, a move which has irked
the activists
who are now calling for collective action in solidarity with
Muzanenhamo.
The activists, drawn from several organisations which
include Women’s
Health, HIV and Aids Southern Africa headed by Tendai
Westerhoff and ZNNP+,
are mulling a protest march to press the judges to
make the announcement and
also highlight the case which they feel is not
peculiar to Muzanenhamo but
to many other people who would have gone through
the same treatment but were
never heard.
The activists said they were
prepared to go to the streets in solidarity
with Muzanenhamo, whose landmark
legal application could change the fortunes
of people living with HIV and
Aids.
The activists said that it would not be a political demonstration
but a
“social change movement’.
Regional Director of The Aids and
Arts Foundation (Taaf) Emmanuel Gasa said
they were not happy with the way
the police handled Muzanenhamo during his
incarceration. They also said the
whole issue should not have been
politicised.
“The State has a case
to answer and it was clear during the court process
that the police’s story
had gaps.”
He said the protest was a way of ensuring that the case
received the
attention it deserved in record time.
“It is a matter of
life and death, period. People should be held accountable
for their
actions.”
The activists were now waiting for the ZNNP+ to coordinate the
protest.
In his application, Muzanenhamo, who has lived with the
condition for the
past 18 years, said he was denied access to his
life-prolonging ARV drugs in
contravention of Section 12 (1) of the
Constitution.
Muzanenhamo was part of a group of 44, including Socialist
Organisation
leader Munyaradzi Gwisai, who were arrested for allegedly
plotting “Egyptian
style” tactics to topple President Robert Mugabe from
power.
Although the case was later thrown out, the activists had already
suffered
much while in detention.
His lawyer Tawanda Zhuwarara of the
Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights said
his client was deliberately denied
medical attention and access to his
cellphone which he intended to use to
make arrangements for his family to
bring him his medication.
In a
statement Zhuwarara said while in prison, Muzanenhamo was placed in
solitary
confinement for complaining that they were not treating him well.
He was
also forced to strip naked in police cells; a move which the
activists are
saying could have exposed him to infections like pneumonia.
In his
application, Muzanenhamo cited the police officer-in-charge for the
Law and
Order section in Harare, Commissioner-General of police Augustine
Chihuri,
Home Affairs co-ministers Theresa Makone and Kembo Mohadi, Justice
minister
Patrick Chinamasa and Attorney-General Johannes Tomana as
respondents
together with the officer-in-charge of Harare Central Prison,
where he was
detained.
The State however, represented by Tinei Dodo from the
Attorney-General’s
office, shrugged off Muzanenhamo’s application claiming
that the police
officers were not aware of his condition.
The police
also disputed several points in the application; grounds which
the State
said warranted dismissal of the application.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
June 16, 2013 in Community
News
VILLAGERS in Esigodini in Matabeleland South are complaining about
increased
cases of cattle thefts in the area.
BY SILAS
NKALA
They told The Standard they made several reports to the local
police station
but nothing had changed.
“We have a serious problem
here, as thieves are stealing cattle especially
calves and then put new
brand marks on them, making it difficult for owners
to identify them as
theirs,” said a villager, Thinkwell Moyo. “Police have
been told about these
thefts, but nothing has been done so far.”
Another villager, who refused
to be named for fear of victimisation, claimed
that the police were afraid
to act because one of those implicated was a
former police
officer.
He said one villager last month recovered his stolen cattle at a
nearby farm
already branded with new marks.
The villager said the
cattle were branded the way the former police officer
put marks on his
cattle.
“Police are aware of these stock theft cases but we are very
worried about
why nothing is being done,” said the villager. “We are calling
for
investigations into the alarming number of stocktheft cases
here.”
But Matabeleland South acting police spokesperson, Sergeant
Nkosilathi
Sibanda professed ignorance over the thefts.
“Did those
people tell the police about that? As far as I know; we do not
have such a
report with us at the moment,” said Sibanda “I will have to
contact
Esigodini police to find out.”
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
June 16, 2013 in Community News
A lot
of men in Zimbabwe are divorcing their wives after they give birth to
children with cerebral palsy (CP), Standardcommunity heard last
week.
BY MOSES CHIBAYA
Cerebral palsy is a condition caused by
brain damage while the baby is still
in the mother’s womb.
Medical
experts say this condition cannot be cured.
In interviews during a media
tour facilitated by United Nations Children’s
Fund (Unicef) recently,
mothers who gave birth to disabled children in
Mutare, Masvingo and Bulawayo
sang from the same hymn sheet, expressing
maltreatment by their husbands and
society at large.
Thandiwe Chirumiko (32), who stays in Chikomba in
Mutare and has been
looking after her daughter, Shailene, single-handedly
for the past 14 years,
said she separated with her husband because of her
child’s condition.
“My husband failed to accept the condition of the
baby, blaming it on a bad
omen from my side of the family. We separated when
the child was
five-years-old. He has not been giving me any support,” said
Chirumiko, who
is a member of Zimbabwe Parents of Handicapped Children
Association (ZPHCA).
Sithembile Ncube of Queen’s Park East in Bulawayo
said her community was yet
to appreciate the plight of children with
disabilities.
“Most of our children make a lot of noise, so at times it
does not go well
with neighbours. Relatives or neighbours do not freely
visit us at our
homesteads because they despise our children,” Ncube
said.
“At times, it is difficult to use public transport because of the
condition
of my child. People dislike children with disabilities.”
Other
mothers with children with such disabilities said children with
cerebral
palsy needed all the help they could get because most of them
cannot talk,
walk or go to the toilet unaided.
Another woman, Jane Deke of Mutare,
whose five-year-old child also has
cerebral palsy, said it was very
difficult to take care of such children.
“We are at pains to raise money.
We cannot even sell vegetables because we
are always looking after them, but
if we can have a centre for our children
[to be cared for] it can help,”
said Deke.
Voluntary care-givers are facing numerous
challenges
The national vice-president of Monica Brewer Day Centre, an
institution that
offers physiotherapy check-ups in Bulawayo, Irene Mhunga,
said most parents
struggle to raise US$100 for their children for each
routine check-up.
“We have quite a number of operational challenges. We
don’t have funds to
run this centre,” said Mhunga.
“At the moment, we
are struggling to make ends meet. The care-givers who are
here are on a
voluntary basis. We don’t have anything to give them to boost
their
morale.”
Unicef said it has been assisting several individuals and
centres with
material and financial support in an effort to alleviate the
lives of
children living with cerebral palsy.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
June 16, 2013 in Community
News
VILLAGERS in Ntabazinduna, in Matabeleland North, are demanding the
re-opening of the Ntabazinduna Youth Training Centre, which was unilaterally
taken from them by government before being converted into a Zimbabwe
Republic Police (ZRP) police training depot.
By Musa Dube
The
training centre used to train local youths on vocational skills such as
welding, carpentry and others before the government took over the
institution and turned it into a police training depot sometime in
2006.
Villagers in the drought stricken area told The Standard that the
closure of
Ntabazinduna Youth Training Centre had dire social and economic
effects to
the entire community.
One of the villagers, Amos Nare
(70), said most of the school leavers in the
area had been deprived of the
opportunity to advance themselves following
the closure of the training
centre.
“We had our youth training centre here and it used to serve the
whole
Matabeleland North. The centre used to offer technical courses in
woodwork,
welding, agriculture, electrical and engineering,” he
said.
“However, after the centre was shut down in 2006 to become a police
training
depot, most of our children now sit at home doing nothing when they
complete
their O’Level studies,” said the visibly frustrated
Nare.
Another villager, Sinini Ncube, said the closure of the centre had
resulted
in many unemployed youths skipping the border going to South Africa
where
they took up menial jobs.
“Most of our children are in
neighbouring countries such South Africa and
Botswana as where they are
working as cleaners, garden boys and house maids.
If we had our training
centre, they could get professional skills and
probably go to those
countries with certificates and work as professionals,”
said the 62-year-old
woman.
The Secretary General of the Bulawayo Business Council Vimba
Masuku, who
hails from Ntabazinduna, said what irked them was that most of
the recruits
being trained at the police depot did not come from the area or
from the
Matabeleland region.
“The police training depot does not
benefit the local community because over
90% of the people who are being
trained there do not come from anywhere in
this region. We are appealing to
the relevant stakeholders to take the
training centre back to the community
since it was a community initiative,”
said Masuku.
He said the
re-opening of the training centre was not only important to the
community
but to the regional industries as a whole which needed skilled
manpower.
Repeated efforts to get a comment from the Youth
Development, Indigenisation
and Empowerment minister, Saviour Kasukuwere
were fruitless.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
June 16, 2013 in Community
News
MUTARE — Revival of collapsed irrigation schemes is the only panacea
to
addressing the food shortage crisis bedevilling several parts of
Manicaland
province, a government official said last week.
BY OUR
CORRESPONDENT
Manicaland provincial administrator, Fungai Mbetsa said
that the food
situation in the province was dire.
In areas of the
province, he said, villagers had resorted to disposing their
cattle, which
is their only treasured wealth, to buy maize meal as the
crisis
worsens.
“We need to be frank, the food situation is not pleasing,” said
Mbetsa. “We
need to revamp the irrigation schemes across the province.
Manicaland can be
self-sustaining. Nyanyadzi is now a dying growth point
because of failure by
government and every one of us to procure and install
pumps into Odzi
River.”
With most of its equipment installed in the
1970s, Nyanyadzi irrigation
scheme in Chimanimani district is one of the
oldest in the country and had
been a source of livelihood for several
families before it collapsed due to
lack of maintenance.
The latest
Zimbabwe Vulnerable Assessment Committee (Zimvac) report says 15%
of 209 364
households in the province was in a critical situation.
The most affected
areas include Nyanga North, Mutare, Chipinge, Makoni,
Buhera, and
Chimanimani where villagers continue to survive on food
hand-outs from donor
agencies and the government.
Mbetsa lamented that the World Food
Programme (WFP) assistance, which was
benefitting mostly those on
anti-retroviral therapy (ART), ended in March
this year, leaving thousands
in desperation.
He said government must stop dolling food hand-outs and
embark on programmes
that ensure self-reliance, especially revamping
irrigation schemes.
Agriculture experts said government should also take
a leaf from a scheme
being run by Organisation for International Migration
(IOM) and WFP at
Masocha-Chisangaurwi in Chipinge.
Raphius Mazhambe,
a beneficiary of the irrigation scheme, said the programme
had made him
self-reliant.
Before the establishment of the irrigation scheme, Mazhambe
and other
villagers in the area used to rely on food hand-outs from donor
agencies and
government.
“I am very grateful that I can now fend for
my family because I can farm on
my two hectares throughout the year,” he
said. “I also sell surplus and
raise funds to pay fees for my children, as
well as medical care.”
WFP public information officer, Tomson Phiri said
irrigation schemes were
part of their broad based strategy to promote
self-reliance among villagers.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
June 16, 2013 in Community News
WITH five
innocent-looking men already on board, there was no reason for
Zandile (22),
and Tatenda Musara (19), to suspect the white commuter omnibus
that
screeched to a halt along George Road harboured criminals.
BY OUR
STAFF
The brother and sister who had spent an eventful Saturday with
relatives in
Harare’s Houghton Park were in a rush to go to Hatfield, so
they quickly
jumped into the kombi.
The ride in the omnibus along
Airport Road however turned into a nightmare
when the driver suddenly
increased the speed of the kombi.
“As the commuter omnibus was speeding, the
conductor opened the front door
where I was seated and the driver attempted
to push me out of the moving
vehicle and I started screaming out loud,” she
said.
As she fought for her dear life — holding tightly onto the door
handle — her
brother Tatenda, who was seated at the back, was being
manhandled by two
men.
The fifth one was rummaging through Zandile’s
handbag looking for money and
valuables.
“I continued to scream and
this prompted the driver to stop by the bridge
along Airport Road and we
were pushed out of the omnibus,” she said.
The robbers got away with cash
amounting to US$130 and two cellphones valued
at US$400.
Zandile and
Tatenda are not the only Harare residents who have a tale to
tell about
omnibus robbers. There have been several cases in the past few
months of
commuters who are being robbed by people who offer them transport
in public
vehicles.
Board kombis at designated ranks: Police
Sheila Amos
(28), said she became a victim recently when she boarded a grey
kombi in
Southerton heading to a nearby suburb of Lonchivar.
There were men, women and
children in the vehicle, erasing any doubts that
it could have belonged to
robbers.
However, to Sheila’s surprise the driver changed route and
started driving
towards Highfield at a high speed.
“When I screamed
one of the women pulled my top and started choking me
demanding cash and my
cellphone,” said Sheila. “I wrestled with her and
managed to open the door
and they snatched my handbag which only had five
rand and my cellphone in it
and I jumped out of the moving vehicle.”
Another victim, wife of a senior
Central Intelligence Organisation official
who requested anonymity, lost
US$5 000 meant for children’s school fees
recently when she boarded a kombi
in Southerton heading for the city centre.
The robbers — three men and a
woman —pushed her out after grabbing the money
and drove off at high
speed.
Investigations by Standardcommunity revealed that some kombi
drivers and
touts were working with robbers as well as thieves to steal from
unsuspecting travellers, especially during peak hours when pick-up points
are crowded.
In most of the cases, such commuter omnibuses display
fake number plates or
do not put them at all to avoid being
tracked.
Harare province spokesperson, Inspector Tadius Chibanda
confirmed that
police had received numerous cases of robberies on passengers
by people
driving commuter omnibuses.
“A large number of people have
reported these robberies though the number is
not conclusive, there have
been arrests made so far,” he said.
Chibanda said the police had embarked
on inter-provincial crime awareness
campaigns educating the public on the
dangers of boarding commuter omnibuses
that seemed suspicious.
“Most
of the commuters are picked up at undesignated points, hence they fall
victim to these robberies, so we encourage members of the public to board
commuters at designated ranks,” said Chibanda.
Police also warned the
public against hitch-hiking following an upsurge in
cases of people who are
being robbed after being offered transport. Some of
the robbers also use
taxis and vehicles such as Spacio, Ipsum, Nadia and
Nissan Elgrand that are
increasingly becoming popular with travellers.
‘HOW I LOST MY
PHONE’
A journalist who stays in Marimba fell victim to kombi robbers
recently.
Below, he explains how it happened.
I boarded a
Machipisa-bound kombi from Kuwadzana recently and inside were
four smartly
dressed “passengers” — two boys and girls and the conductor who
was shouting
at the top of his voice “Machipisa!! Machipisa!!”
In the front seat sat
an equally smartly dressed passenger and a dreadlocked
driver. The conductor
opened the front door for me and I unsuspectingly
boarded the
kombi.
The kombi had barely travelled for 500 metres when the conductor
told me
that the front door at the passenger side was open and I had to
close it.
I was holding my phone and had to put it in my left pocket in
order to close
the door but no matter how hard I tried, the door would not
close.
“Lift the top of the door from the inside while I push from the
outside,“
the conductor kept on saying, but still the door would not
close.
I kept trying without success. When we were approaching High Glen
Road, the
driver suddenly stopped the kombi and told us they were no longer
going to
Machipisa because they had failed to get more passengers. The
conductor gave
me back my four rand.
I disembarked and the kombi
headed towards the central business district. It
was when the kombi was
already out of sight that I realised I did not have
my mobile phone.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
June 16, 2013 in
Business
GOVERNMENT plans to issue a Statutory Instrument containing a
clear formula
for the calculation and remittance of any dividends from
diamond producers
it has shareholding in, as part of far-reaching reforms to
plug diamond
revenue leakages.
BY NDAMU SANDU
The plan is part
of measures government has undertaken to implement under an
International
Monetary Fund (IMF)-supported reform programme.
The IMF’s Staff Monitored
Programme (SMP) on Zimbabwe, approved by the
global lender’s managing
director, Christine Lagarde last week, runs up to
December 2013.
An
SMP is an informal agreement between country authorities and the Fund’s
staff to mo-nitor the implementation of the authorities’ economic
programme.
SMPs do not entail financial assistance or endorsement by the
IMF Executive
Board.
This is Zimbabwe’s first IMF agreement in more
than a decade.
The SMP focuses on putting public finances on a sustainable
course, while
protecting infrastructure investment and priority social
spending,
strengthening public financial management, increasing diamond
revenue
transparency, reducing financial sector vulnerabilities, and
restructuring
the central bank.
In an attachment to the letter of
intent for an SMP to Lagarde, Harare made
a promise to Washington to plug
holes in diamond remittances.
“This [establishing formula for calculating] is
an important step towards
ensuring that all diamond revenue is remitted to
Treasury, in keeping with
government’s commitment under the Diamond
Policy.
“In addition, all rough diamonds produced shall be sold through a
government-appointed agent,” Zimbabwe said in an attachment titled:
Memorandum of Economic and Financial Policies.
The measures on
diamond proceeds stem from the new Diamond Policy for
Zimbabwe that was
approved by Cabinet last year to give Treasury and the
Zimbabwe Revenue
Authority (Zimra) a right to access trading and financial
records for
diamond companies.
The policy gave joint responsibility to the ministries
of Finance and Mines
and Mining Development to ensure the accurate
computation, accounting and
repatriation of diamond proceeds from companies
in which government has a
stake.
“On that basis, by end-June 2013,
Treasury will produce a report accounting
in detail for the diamond
dividends, royalties and other diamond-related
cash flows received in 2012
by the Treasury from all enterprises in
joint-venture partnerships with ZMDC
[Zimbabwe Mining Development
Corporation] involved in the diamond industry,”
government said.
Government told the IMF that it would submit to cabinet
and parliament
amendments to the Precious Stones Act to incorporate the
principles
contained in the diamond policy by end of September and end of
December
respectively.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
June 16, 2013 in
Business
THERE are serious discrepancies between what government receives
from the
diamond mining sector and remittances claims by producers, a
parliamentary
portfolio committee has said.
BY KUDZAI
CHIMHANGWA
In a recent report following a three-year investigation on the
Marange
diamond producers, the portfolio committee on Mines and Energy
observed that
government had not realised any meaningful contributions from
the sector,
despite the increase in production and revenue
generated.
It is estimated that the country now has the capacity to
supply 25% of the
global diamond market.
In 2011, 8, 7 million
diamond carats worth US$ 233 741 247 were produced and
exported while 12
million diamond carats worth US$563 561 495 were produced
and exported in
2012.
The committee chaired by Edward Chindori-Chininga, unearthed a
number of
irregularities and loopholes at each of the different stages of
the diamond
value chain.
The committee noted that when formalised
operations began in Marange in
2009, there were two companies operating,
namely, Mbada Diamonds and
Canadile Miners.
“In January 2010 Mbada
Diamonds attempted to auction its diamonds, in
violation of both national
and international law. The aborted diamond
auction sale opened a Pandora’s
box, revealing several irregularities and
loopholes in the entire diamond
value chain,” the committee said.
It noted that Mbada Diamonds displayed
a “big brother” syndrome such that
some of the government institutions were
rendered powerless to question
Mbada’s decisions or actions.
In one
of its hearings in 2010, the committee said that it was disheartened
to hear
that two senior security officers employed by Canadile Miners were
found in
possession of 57 pieces of diamonds at a ZRP road block at Hot
Springs.
The committee’s worst fears were confirmed in November 2010,
when Canadile
Miners was blacklisted by the government following revelations
that the
company was involved in underhand dealings such as smuggling of
diamonds.
As a result of the financial restrictions, a number of
loopholes have been
created leading to fiscal leakages, promotion of
corruption and national
insecurity, it said.
It recommended that the
Ministry of Finance speedily enact a comprehensive
taxation law which would
address some of the taxation discrepancies in the
mining sector, resulting
in an improvement in revenue inflows to the fiscus.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
June 16, 2013 in Business
THE
African Development Bank (AfDB) has disbursed about US$6 million
directly to
Zimbabwe’s private sector this year, in a vote of confidence for
the
country’s revival programme.
BY OUR STAFF
Ebrima Faal, AfDB’s
regional director said the lines of credit were in
addition to those
disbursed by institutions such as the African
Export-Import Bank
(Afreximbank) and PTA Bank, where AfDB has shareholding.
In 2011, AfDB’s
board of directors approved a US$8 million loan to finance
Lake Harvest
Aquaculture project on Lake Kariba, the bank’s first private
sector
investment in Zimbabwe after many years.
The money was disbursed in tranches
with a balance of US$2 million still to
be disbursed.
Faal said the
bank “envisages disbursing the balance of the Lake Harvest
loan of US$2
million by the end of 2013”.
“Beyond its direct investment in Lake
Harvest, the bank has remained engaged
in supporting Zimbabwe’s private
sector organisations through its
partnership with regional financial
institutions that operate and invest in
Zimbabwe.
“This indirect
exposure is significant and covers all sectors of the
economy, including the
social, agribusiness, manufacturing and financial
sectors,” Faal
said.
“The Bank is a shareholder of Afreximbank and PTA Bank, for which
Zimbabwe’s
country operations amounted to 11% and 26% of investment
operations
respectively in 2012.”
Afreximbank recently said it would
increase its country support for Zimbabwe
by US$200 million this
year.
Faal said AfDB was currently processing lending facilities with
both
institutions, which would contribute in helping both regional banks
continue
to support Zimbabwe’s private sector and private
investment.
“The bank has also provided a LOC [letter of credit] to
Industrial
Development Corporation of South Africa which has on-lend about
US$30
million to Agribank Zimbabwe. The bank is also a limited partner in
private
equity funds that have already or are currently considering
investments in
the country,” he said.
Local banks
constrained
Zimbabwe’s companies are in need of lines of credit to
replace ageing
equipment that are obsolete and inefficient, thereby
increasing the cost of
production. Local banks are however constrained to
offer long-term financing
due to the short tenure of deposits.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
June 16, 2013 in Opinion
Democracy is a
“prostitute” word, everybody’s mistress, and anyone can take
her
home.
Sunday Opinion by Tirivashe Chikumbirike
Some politicians
have used democracy as a means to their end.
Democracy, just like many
other things, has been used for the wrong end by
some politicians, yet if
not abused and properly harnessed, it is the
panacea for all the human
rights violations and the suffering that has
engulfed African
politics.
But what exactly is this democracy and why is it preferred to
other
government systems?
The simplest definition of democracy is
that by former president of The
United States, Abraham Lincoln. He defined
democracy as a government of the
people, by the people, for the people. From
this definition one can easily
identify some of the key tenets of
democracy.
This government rules by popular consent, has populist driven
policies
hence, it is a government for the people. This government has been
elected
by the people through a credible free and fair election and will not
deny
the transfer of power to a newly elected government.
During the
Cold War imbroglio, the rivalry was basically between the
communist bloc and
the democratic bloc, with the latter epitomising
capitalism. When the Cold
War ended, democracy prevailed and communism
collapsed.
Writers like
Francis Fukuyama predicted that the end of the Cold War
heralded the end of
history. His argument was premised on the hypothesis
that in the post Cold
War epoch, democracy would prevail over communism,
hence there would be no
more global conflict premised on ideological lines.
The “wave of
democracy” started spreading to the rest of the world. Most
states in
Eastern Europe that had hitherto been communist started
democratising,
thereby removing the “iron curtain” that had divided Europe.
Africa started
democratising likewise.
Democracy may not be the best form of government
but it is better than any
other.
According to the democratic peace
theory, democratic states do not go to war
with each other, but they go to
war with non-democratic states.
In a democratic state the president does
not declare war without consulting
the legislature. Public opinion will
usually not favour war because it
causes human suffering and is costly to
the taxpayer.
Consider how much the Zimbabwean government spent during
the DRC war. The
institutions within a democracy do not support war but
peace. Given this
backdrop, if every country in the world is democratic then
a “zone of peace”
will be created.
Some would argue that democracy
promotes capitalism. I am not trying to
downplay the adverse effects of
capitalism on developing states that were
experienced concomitantly as a
result of the neo-liberal policies by the
Bretton Woods institutions during
the early 1990s.
The positive effects of democracy outweigh the negative
effects.
Hence democracy is a “better evil”. In Cuba for instance, people
earn
between US$10 and US$20, lawyers, doctors and other professionals earn
as
little as that much per month.
Locals do not afford luxurious
hotels which are a preserve for foreigners
and are a no-go area for locals.
Some of the rich people in that country are
prostitutes and those who work
in hotels as waiters because they get tips
from clients, but the general
populace is poor.
If Cuba had promoted some form of capitalism, life
would have been better in
that island. After all, how many of us are
capitalists? By virtue of having
a housemaid or a gardener, one qualifies to
becoming a capitalist.
If a doctor earns the same money as a shopkeeper
then why would someone
aspire to be a doctor? That is what happens in a
communist state (classless
society).
Capitalism has an incentive for
hard work; children work hard in school
because they know that one day if
they become lawyers or doctors then they
will have a better life and be able
to take care of their families and fend
for their parents.
Democracy
might not be the best, but it is better than the rest. A
government that
does not allow the state to turn against its own citizens is
a better
government.
A government that promotes equality between men and women is
a better
government. A government that does not rig elections and deploy the
army,
police force and youth militia to silence opposition is a better
government.
A government that lets everyone follow a religion of his/her
choice, a
government that allows freedom of expression and association to
thrive is a
better government. Hence, democracy is the best form of
government system
that has ever been developed.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
June 16, 2013 in
Opinion
According to the principles of Security Sector Reform as set out
in the
United Nation’s Secretary General’s 2008 report entitled Securing
Peace and
Development: The Role of the United Nations in Support of Security
Sector
Reform, Security Sector Reform (SSR) is described as, “a process of
assessment, review and implementation, as well as monitoring and evaluation
of the security sector led by national authorities.”
Sunday View with
Tau Tawengwa
In the same report, the Security Sector is defined as “the
structures,
institutions and personnel responsible for the management,
provision and
oversight of security in a country.” The report also states
that the goal of
SSR is, “the enhancement of effective and accountable
security for the state
and its peoples without discrimination and with full
respect of human rights
and the rule of law.”
Zimbabwe’s top
securocrats have recently rejected the notion of SSR in the
country, arguing
that it fortifies a western-led anti-Zanu PF regime change
agenda. This has
consequently ruffled the political feathers of pro-SSR
parties in the
country who are demanding that reforms are enacted before
elections can take
place.
It should be observed that when it comes to security sector
related issues,
the world is full of contradictions. In fact, while it is
acknowledged that
SSR is intended to promote “human rights and the rule of
law,” it also
controversially argued that so-called non-democratic regimes
such as
Zimbabwe, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Tunisa, are most
urgently in
need of SSR. This is a misconception.
Instead of
attempting to delve into the debate of SSR in Zimbabwe, I deem it
a priority
to argue that on the contemporary global arena, no single
nation-state has
the moral high ground when it comes to the relationship
between the security
sector, human rights and the rule of law.
For instance, Professor
Christof Heyns, the UN special rapporteur on
executions recently stated that
robotic weapon systems with varying degrees
of autonomy and deadliness are
being tested or used by the United States and
Britain (countries often
perceived to be at the forefront of the human
rights discourse) without
debate on moral and legal issues. These weapons,
commonly known as “drones”
are believed to have killed more civilians than
militants in Pakistan and
Yemen.
Furthermore, the controversy surrounding Guantanamo Bay prison, as
well as
the recent furore ignited by CIA employee Edward Snowden’s leaks of
state
secrets, all point towards the furtive and duplicitous nature of
security
establishments, even in the so-called open societies of the
world.
The irony resonates in the Sadc facilitator’s tendency to call for
security
sector reforms in Zimbabwe before elections.
Yet, when Jacob
Zuma was asked to answer for the recent surreptitious
involvement of South
African troops in the Central African Republic, he
responded: “The problem
in South Africa is that everybody wants to run the
country… there must also
be an appreciation that military matters and
decisions are not matters that
are discussed in public.” No need to mention
Marikana.
Back in
Harare, The MDC-T is calling for security sector reforms before
elections
can be held this year. Yet, recently MDC-T security guards
allegedly
assaulted Zimbabwe Independent journalist Herbert Moyo and barred
him from
covering a demonstration at the MDC-T Harvest House headquarters.
No mention
of reforms there.
Now what can I conclude of all this? Nothing, except
that all is fair in
love and war.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
June 16, 2013 in Editorial
President Robert
Mugabe’s unilateral declaration of the election date in
clear violation of
the Constitution is a cause for concern.
The Standard
Editorial
Mugabe went against the provision of the supreme law of the
land when he
gazetted Statutory Instrument 85 of 2013, setting June 28 as
the date when
the Nomination Court would sit and July 31 as the election
day.
Section 157(1) of the new Constitution clearly stipulates that no
amendments
can be made to the Electoral Law without an Act of
Parliament.
Using Presidential Powers, Mugabe disregarded this and sought
to justify his
actions by stating that it would be inexpedient for him to
await the passage
of Act through Parliament, given the deadline imposed by
the Constitutional
Court.
Such an excuse, by all intents and
purposes, is unacceptable since there was
a legal option he could have
undertaken. Mugabe could have gone back to the
same court to appeal against
the deadline. Legal experts say such an
application would have
merit.
Or better still, he could have consulted his coalition partners on
the way
forward or wait for the Sadc summit which took place in Maputo
yesterday to
get guidance from the regional leaders who have brokered the
Global
Political Agreement.
But Mugabe chose to go it alone in
flagrant violation of both the
Constitution and the GPA that formed the
basis for the inclusive government.
In doing so, Mugabe showed he
considers himself above the law and everyone
else, including regional
leaders.
Such an attitude means he is only concerned about his survival
and not about
the good of the country. The President is failing to realise
that he is in a
coalition government, therefore his actions must be guided
by the law and by
the common will of all the partners.
He cannot as
President take actions that will disenfranchise thousands of
Zimbabwe who
want to take part in the election and also circumvent a roadmap
that would
lead to free and fair elections.
Above all, as president, Mugabe should
be seen as the defender-in-chief of
the new Constitution.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
June 16, 2013 in Editorial
This weekend
millions of Anglicans across the globe are celebrating the
triumph of good
over evil.
From the Editor’s Desk by Nevanji Madanhire
For the
first time in five years legitimate Anglicans have been allowed to
pay
homage to one of Africa’s first Christian martyrs, Bernard Mizeki, at
the
shrine erected at the place where he was murdered in 1896. Thousands of
colourfully dressed pilgrims from all over the country and many more from
abroad are, as we read this, gathered — as they have been since Friday — at
the shrine outside the farming city of Marondera.
Evil had
personified itself in Nolbert Kunonga, who with the political
backing of
those in power — and their courts — had desecrated the church,
reducing
parishes into brothels, chasing away the infirm from hospitals and
children
from crèches. Great schools that had formed the ribcage of our
education
system were reduced to mere upper-tops (makeshift schools), while
mission
hospitals were looted of money and equipment leaving them shells of
their
former selves.
Orgies of rape were reported from across the country. Many
faithful
Anglicans were made to vacate premises they occupied in fulfilment
of their
calling of ministering the gospel.
Kunonga became a disgrace
to his handlers, so they eventually ditched him,
leaving him panting like a
fish out of water. He will probably repent and
Christian values dictate that
he should be forgiven and rehabilitated into
the church.
But we
should look at the Anglican saga in another way. Is it the miniature
of the
drama that is unfolding in our country?
There has been so much evil in
this country, especially in the past 13
years, that people are beginning to
wonder whether good will ever
materialise. Hundreds have been murdered while
thousands others have been
maimed during satanic episodes of political
violence. Since Independence in
1980 thousands have lost their lives to an
intolerant system that will do
anything to tighten its grip on
power.
What we have as a result is a tormented nation; everyone is asking
when
there will be an end to all this suffering. The truth of the matter is
there
won’t be an end as long as the leadership continues to use some kind
of
“divine” right to rule.
In the past, many nations were ruled under
various systems that could be
called theocracies — a theocracy is a combine
of state and religion — in
which rulers claimed they were divinely appointed
by God. Such governments
recognised God as the head of state; rulers derived
their power directly
from God. In the end they used this “divine” power to
oppress their people.
Zimbabwe has been ruled like a theocracy, the
divinity of its rulers derived
from the liberation struggle. Whereas in
orthodox theocracies religion was
combined with the state, in our own
version the Executive, an arm of
government is combined with the Judiciary,
creating an unholy alliance that
has brought the country to the sorry state
it is in.
In all modern democracies there should be a separation of
powers between the
Executive and the Judiciary.
In the Kunonga case,
the Judiciary was abused to pass judgements that
perpetuated his ravenous
appetite for power and money. At national level we
have seen the Judiciary
also make very questionable judgements that have
even been queried by other
senior judges.
The latest case is the Jealousy Mawarire versus Robert
Mugabe and others. No
less a person than Deputy Chief Justice Luke Malaba
described the judgement
as defying logic, saying it was based on a
“dangerous principle” which goes
against the principle of the rule of
law.
For a party that purports to extol the virtues of the liberation
struggle to
so blatantly deny hundreds of thousands of people the vote when
the said
struggle was a fight for the principle of one-man, one vote, surely
defies
logic.
The declaration of July 31 as Election Day has rendered
thousands of people
unable to register to vote. This seems a deliberate ploy
to ensure that
certain sections of the population are unable to cast their
ballots.
Unfortunately, the hardest hit section will be that of
first-time voters. It
would seem these are not trusted by the geriatric
leadership which has over
three decades ensured that this new generation has
no future. It is clear
that this generation was going to use the coming
elections to demand their
pound of flesh.
Another section hit by this
disenfranchisement is that of the millions of
people the Registrar-General
has, with sickening xenophobia, labelled
“aliens” and has denied the right
to vote. The peopling of Zimbabwe, like
that of all modern states, has been
a complex process of immigration and
emigration over the past hundred
years.
Zimbabwe has over the decades been built by a complex mix of
indigenous and
non-indigenous people who have earned the right to be here
and have a stake
in the way this country has to be governed.
For a
country that has exported three million people in the last decade
alone to
be so insensitive to people who have naturalised themselves in this
country,
is to be xenophobia to the extreme.
Millions of Zimbabweans have already
become voters in the countries in which
they are domiciled. But in Zimbabwe
this section of our population is
sneeringly describes as “totemless people”
who do not deserve to be here.
Today we will know whether the Southern
African Development Community,
guarantors of the Global Political Agreement
will allow Zimbabwe to be
railroaded into another sham election which won’t
move our country forward.
If they do allow the elections to go ahead by
July 31 when they know surely
that the results will be disputed and the
country will sink deeper into
crisis, then they will be complicity in the
clear political chicanery that
we see all around us.
No politicians
should fear elections because elections define them as
politicians, but it
is common cause that any elections be held on a level
playing field.
Elections are the voice of the voiceless; hence they should
give everybody a
chance to express themselves. Denying the people the right
to vote is evil
and goes against the greatest value of the liberation
struggle namely,
universal adult franchise.
Like in the Anglican case, good will triumph
over evil but only if good men
do not give up the struggle.
