http://www.thestandard.co.zw
Sunday, 17 June 2012 13:50
BY OUR
STAFF
The visit to China recently by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai
has
strengthened political relationships between Zimbabwe and China. This
was
said by outgoing Chinese ambassador to Zimbabwe Xin Shunkang at his
farewell
party in the capital on Friday. The Chinese government, Xin said,
extended
his term in Zimbabwe to enable him to complete various tasks
including
organising the trip to the Far Eastern country by Prime Minister
Morgan
Tsvangirai.
Xin said the extension of his term by 30 days
allowed him to not only to
organise an official visit to China by Tsvangirai
but to also receive seven
delegations from his country. He said the visit by
Tsvangirai has
strengthened the political relations between Zimbabwe and
China.
China is traditionally close to Zanu PF which has strong ties
with the
Chinese Communist Party dating back to the days of the liberation
struggle.
However Tsvangirai’s recent visit to China is being widely
viewed as an
attempt by the Far Eastern country to reach out to the MDC-T,
the party with
a strong chance to dislodge Zanu PF’s 32-year stranglehold on
power.
“When I came here in 2009, the inclusive government was just
established.
When I am leaving this weekend (today), the Zimbabwean society
is stable,
the economy is on the fast development track,” he
said.
There were claims that the Prime Minister was invited by the
Beijing
Municipality to participate at the China Beijing International Trade
Fair
for Trade in Services.
State media claimed that the Ministry
of Foreign Affairs of China did not
initiate any meetings apart from
seconding the Chinese Ambassador designate
to Zimbabwe and a desk officer to
the delegation. It was also claimed that
ministry only played a low profile
and left the visit to be coordinated by
the Beijing Municipality and the
Ministry of Commerce.
However, on arrival in China, PM Tsvangirai was
received by Assistant
Minister of Commerce, Madam Qiu Hong and Foreign
Ministry officials and
Chinese ambassador designate to Zimbabwe, Lin Lin,
signifying the importance
attached to his visit.
Tsvangirai also
held separate meetings with the China Railway International
Co Ltd, China
Dalian International Economic and Technical Cooperation Group
Co Ltd,
Sinohydro, the China Machinery Engineering Corporation and the China
Export
and Credit Insurance Corporation.
The Prime Minister also delivered a
speech during the Summit of the Forum on
Sino Africa Trade in Services and
Investment.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
Sunday, 17 June 2012 13:44
from Saturday Star
and Our Staff
A close associate of President Robert Mugabe, Robert
Mhlanga, has been
ordered to stop work on his R200 million mansion next to
the plush Zimbali
golfing estate near Ballito.
According to a South
African newspaper, Saturday Star, Mhlanga was building
a luxury mansion with
an underground bunker in Ballito, KwaZulu Natal and
was recently ordered to
stop work on the property. Mhlanga is Mugabe’s
former personal helicopter
pilot and is mentioned in two Global Witness 2010
and 2012 reports on
diamonds in Zimbabwe.
Rumoured to be a bolthole for Mugabe, court
papers have revealed the R200
million compound is being built by Mhlanga,
through his company Formate
(Pty) Ltd.
KwaDukuza Municipality
obtained a high court order to stop construction and
occupation of the
mansion, next to the plush Zimbali estate, because of the
potential impact
on neighbouring properties and the environment.
The interim order was
granted on May 16 in the Durban High Court.
But Mugabe’s
spokesperson, George Charamba, yesterday dismissed the
article.
“There is no substance to that. The only relationship
between them (Mugabe
and Mhlanga) is the name Robert and that they are
Zimbabweans,” he said.
The heavily guarded development comprises two
man-made lakes, a renovated
existing mansion, complete with bullet proof
windows and an underground
bunker.
Municipal building control
officer, Njabulo Ngwane, said when the
municipality became aware of the
development in April, he had gone to
inspect the site.
“The
properties were fenced and guarded but we were denied
access.”
Mhlanga was a prosecution witness in the 2003 treason trial
of Morgan
Tsvangarai and is reported to have been chief of staff operations
at the
National Command Centre, which controlled the announcement of voting
results
in the disputed 2002 presidential election, according to Global
Witness.
Efforts to get a comment from Mhlanga were fruitless
yesterday.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
Sunday, 17 June 2012 13:43
BY JENNIFER
DUBE
The 20th session of the Child Parliament was inaugurated in Harare
yesterday, with President Robert Mugabe urging the new junior legislators to
follow their dreams. The inauguration of the new parliament coincided with
the Day of the African Child, which marks the day South African students
were killed by the apartheid regime in 1976, after they protested the
teaching of Afrikaans in schools.
It was a festive occasion, with
scores of children gathering at the Harare
International Conference Centre,
as early as 8am, and were entertained by
various performers and artists
including Heritage School, journalist Nqobile
Malinga, Jah Bless and Jah
Prayzah.
Formal proceedings started with the arrival of Mugabe, Prime
Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai and his deputy Arthur Mutambara, but they did not
sit on the high
table, as they are accustomed to, as this was reserved for
the child
legislators.
Tendai Rusere was proclaimed the child
president and led a procession by
junior service chiefs.
A mock
session of a parliamentary debate was held, and not before long
Tsvangirai
and Mutambara were captivated by the arguments and they joined
in, to the
amusement of the master of ceremony, who pointed out that there
had been a
breach of protocol.
The debate was centred on the theme of
protecting, promoting and respecting
the rights of children with
disabilities.
The lively debate ended abruptly after the breach of
protocol.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 17 June 2012
13:42
BY NQABA MATSHAZI
SOUTH AFRICAN President Jacob Zuma’s visit to
Zimbabwe, as part of his
facilitation efforts on an impasse in the inclusive
government, has been
drawn further back as the negotiators seek to find
common ground. The
negotiators of the three parties are meeting today in
Nyanga to discuss
what they hoped to table before the South African
president.
“Negotiators will be working this weekend, and the
facilitation team will
return on 25 or 26 June,” Lindiwe Zulu, Zuma’s
special adviser on
international affairs, said.
“When they return
to South Africa, they will meet Zuma, depending on the
feedback, then we
would have a date when the president (Zuma) will come
there
(Zimbabwe).”
Zulu said Zuma would only come to Zimbabwe when there was
progress.
The negotiators’ meeting will also zero in on the
constitution-making
process, with the hope of giving it an impetus to Copac
to conclude its
work.
However, the Sadc troika meeting had
suggested that the South African leader
immediately visit Zimbabwe to get
the faltering negotiations moving again.
It had been indicated that the
negotiators felt they were failing to agree
among themselves and Zuma had
been tasked with coming up with a structure
that would ensure that
negotiations were back on track.
“We told them that we were failing
to agree on anything on our own and the
facilitator should come and
kickstart the process for us,” a source who
attended the Luanda meeting
said.
As if to indicate the lack of pace in the implementation of the
GPA, a Sadc
team that is supposed to join the Joint Monitoring and
Implementation
Committee (Jomic), is yet to start work in the country, as
they have not
been officially told to start.
The Sadc team was in
the country together with the South African mediation
team, but has since
returned to their respective countries, as they await an
official invite.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
Sunday, 17 June 2012 13:41
BY NQABA
MATSHAZI
PRIME MINISTER Morgan Tsvangirai has hit out at Zanu PF politicians
who he
accuses of using their ill-gotten wealth to fund political violence.
“We
have also seen the culture of using the youth in political violence.
Some
are using their wealth, most of it ill gotten, to negatively influence
young
people into committing heinous crimes,” Tsvangirai said, in an address
to
mark the Day of the African Child.
“This must stop if we want
our society to live peacefully and to fully
promote children’s
rights.”
In a thinly veiled attack on Zanu PF, which is allegedly
sponsoring terror
gang, Chipangano, Tsvangirai said many youths had lost
“life and limb” after
engaging in political violence at a time when they
should be preaching
tolerance.
Chipangano has been accused of
unleashing a reign of terror, particularly in
Mbare, where people who do not
support Zanu PF are routinely thrown out of
their vending stalls, while some
are assaulted.
Tsvangirai continued on the offensive, but again
without mentioning anyone
specific, saying some parties were dislodging
children from schools for
their own political end, much to the detriment of
the youth.
“Another disturbing trend is the abuse of children for
political mileage. We
have often seen politicians using school premises for
meetings, thereby
dislodging pupils from their classrooms,” he
continued.
The prime minister said a number of children had also lost
their parents
during the liberation struggle and violent skirmishes after
independence.
“This calls for a change in attitude especially among
politicians. We must
foster a culture of tolerance that allows people to be
free to choose which
football team or political party to support,” he
said.
However, in a prepared speech which was made available to the
media after
the event, Tsvangirai had pointed out the effects of the
Gukurahundi
massacres of the 1980s and the 2008 political
violence.
Many believe Tsvangirai backed down from saying that in
respect of President
Robert Mugabe, who was the guest of honour at the
function, which also saw
the inauguration of the 20th child parliament.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
Sunday, 17 June 2012 13:39
BY
NDUDUZO TSHUMA AND NQABA MATSHAZI
A Zanu PF legislator has vowed to defy a
party directive barring him from
raising a motion in parliament to
investigate the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe
(RBZ). Paddy Zhanda, who is MP for
Goromonzi North, said the matter was on
the parliamentary order paper and he
will go ahead with the motion.
This is despite reports that the party
had whipped its legislators from
bringing motions without approval of the
Zanu PF caucus.
“The motion is still on the order paper and the only
person who can remove
it is me,” Zhanda said. The motion is likely to cause
friction within the
party as some members think it will hurt Zanu PF in
elections which the
party insists should be held this
year.
Sources revealed that after the motion was moved on June 5,
Zanu PF
parliamentarians met at the party headquarters in Harare, where they
agreed
that the motion could damage the party.
“It was raised
that Zanu PF was calling for elections and the ramifications
Zhanda’s motion
would sink the party at the crucial time when we are calling
for elections,”
a party insider said.
The source said chief among the concerns was
that the central bank literally
ran and funded Zanu PF’s activities during
the 2008 election.
“It funded the Zanu PF election campaign by buying
vehicles for the 2008
election campaign, the bank literally operated as a
branch of Zanu PF,” the
source said. “The farm mechanisation programme was
also funded by the
central bank and none of that money was ever paid back.
Their investigations
into the RBZ will thus sink Zanu PF deep in the
mud.”
Another insider revealed how the party’s parliamentarians were
uneasy and
feared RBZ governor, Gideon Gono’s response on the
matter.
He said there was a deep-seated feeling that Gono had
abandoned the party
and he was on the receiving end of many attacks from
within Zanu PF.
“Out of frustration, Gono might say a lot of things
that will expose a
number of senior Zanu PF officials,” the insider
continued.
Some within the party, the source said, felt that Zhanda
was abusing his
privilege as a member of the house of assembly to settle
personal scores
with the central bank governor.
“It is wrong that
Zhanda takes his personal tiff with Gono to parliament at
the expense of the
image of the party,” the insider said.
There is no love lost between
Gono and Zhanda, who have been involved in a
protracted personal dispute
amid allegations of extortion by the latter.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
Sunday, 17 June 2012
13:36
BY NQOBANI NDLOVU
BULAWAYO — A peace prayer musical concert has
been set for rural Lupane in
Matabeleland North province next week to warn
villagers against being used
by political parties to lead violence against
rival party supporters,
especially during elections. The concert will be
held in Gomoza, an area
that was last year described by civic groups and the
MDC formations as
hostile due to harassments, beatings and arrests of their
supporters.
Organised by a local civic group, Bulawayo Agenda, the
concert aims to seek
God’s intervention ahead of a referendum and elections
scheduled for this
year or in 2013.
All political parties,
churches and the Joint Monitoring and Implementation
Committee (Jomic) are
expected to attend the concert.
Bulawayo Agenda executive director
Thabani Nyoni said the concert was a
peace building initiative among
villagers and political parties after
noticing that the organ on national
healing and reconciliation had failed to
embark on sustainable peace
programmes.
“We are targeting mainly the youth who are usually used
by political parties
to lead violent activities against their opponents,”
said Nyoni. “We are
taking this concert to Gomoza in Lupane out of
realisation that most peace
building initiatives, meetings or campaigns were
held in towns instead of
rural communities that continue to bear the brunt
of political violence.”
Nyoni said the prayers were a follow-up to
the Peace Indaba that was held
last year in Harare by the Global Political
Agreement (GPA) principals,
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, President
Robert Mugabe and Welshman
Ncube.
Bulawayo churches recently held
a similar peace prayer meeting early last
month that was graced by South
African gospel artists.
But Zanu PF snubbed the event, saying it’s a
campaign platform for the MDC
formations raising concerns about its
sincerity about its calls for its
supporters to shun
violence.
The Zimbabwe Peace Project (ZPP) and the Zimbabwe Elections
Support Network
(ZESN) recently said political tolerance was still very low
in the country.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
Sunday, 17 June 2012 13:35
BY OUR
STAFF
FORMER Harare City councillor, Warship Dumba, wants Local Government,
Rural
and Urban Development minister, Ignatious Chombo arrested on charges
of
criminal abuse of office. Dumba last Thursday wrote to the Zimbabwe
Anti-Corruption Commission (Zacc) inquiring why the anti-graft body had not
acted on a report he filed in March, seeking the investigation of Chombo for
allegedly victimising him for leading a special investigations committee
which implicated the minister in alleged corrupt land deals.
The
former councillor said he submitted a report and documentary evidence
allegedly connecting Chombo’s actions that resulted in the minister
suspending and eventually firing him from council.
“With this
letter, I have now added a copy of the minutes with the motion
that I moved
on the 16th of December 2010, which I believe made the minister
react the
way he did,” wrote Dumba to the Zacc.
“But, his reaction was both
irrational and illegal. By reference of this
letter, I therefore hereby
write to register my complainant about the way
you have handled my
case.”
Dumba said he was fired by Chombo with no complaint against
him and without
any tangible evidence linking him to an offence, after the
courts had
refused to prosecute him.
“I uphold that minister
Chombo has a case to answer and justice must be seen
to be exercised in
order that innocent civilians like me are protected
against the excesses of
the executive,” he said.
Zacc received a comprehensive dossier
produced by an ad hoc Harare City
Council land audit committee, which
fingered Chombo in alleged corrupt land
deals, mostly during the tenure of
the commissions he has appointed to run
the affairs of the
city.
The committee made a report to the police two years ago, but it
was the City
Fathers themselves who were instead arrested on allegations of
criminally
defaming Chombo and businessman, Phillip
Chiyangwa.
Although Zacc chairperson, Denford Chirindo could not be
reached for comment
yesterday, recently he confirmed to The Standard that
his commission
received the comprehensive report and was “responding
accordingly”.
Chombo also could not be reached for comment.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
Sunday, 17 June 2012
13:33
BY SILAS NKALA
WAR veterans must not be used by Zanu PF to
further the party’s political
ambitions, the Zimbabwe People’s Revolutionary
Army (Zipra) Veterans Trust
chairman, Buster Magwizi, said last week.
Magwizi was responding to the
former national secretary for projects of
Zimbabwe Liberation War Veteran
Association (ZLWVA), Andrew Ndlovu’s call
for unity of all war veterans
associations to form a coordinating committee
which would look into the
welfare of former freedom
fighters.
“War veterans are vulnerable to political abuse,” said
Magwizi.
“What Ndlovu is saying is good but must not be politically
influenced. I
told him it is good but we must not be aligned to any
political party.”
For a long time, war veterans have been used to
campaign for President
Robert Mugabe and Zanu PF during election
time.
‘War vets’ welfare still pathetic’
Magwizi said the welfare
of war veterans had not improved despite their
immense contribution to the
country’s liberation.
“It is true that the war veterans are no longer
catered for properly by the
national government,” said
Magwizi.
“It is even worse with those who did not join the national
army. War
veterans’ welfare is currently hanging and needs to be
revisited.”
In 1999, war veterans, led by Chenjerai Hunzvi, received
Z$50 000 gratuities
and monthly pensions from government.
Ndlovu
said most of the promises made by the government to the war veterans
during
Hunzvi’s executive were not met.
Among the associations, are the
ZLWVA, led by Jabulani Sibanda, Zimbabwe War
Veterans Trust (ZWVT), Zipra
Veteran Trust and the Liberators Platform.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
Sunday, 17 June 2012
13:32
BY CAIPHAS CHIMHETE
THE management committee of the
Constitutional Select Committee (Copac)
meets in Nyanga today amid
indications of a widening rift among the
negotiating parties dashing hopes
for an early finalisation of the country’s
new supreme law. This also
diminishes chances of holding elections this year
or early in 2013 as the
recent Sadc summit in Angola ordered that no polls
would be held without
constitutional reforms to enable a level electoral
playing
field.
Sources who spoke to The Standard last week said Zanu PF would
not
compromise on its new demands in Nyanga because the former ruling party
wants elections under the old constitution, which favours President Robert
Mugabe.
“Zanu PF’s position is not to compromise on most of the
sticky issues so
that they derail or at least delay the whole
constitution-making process,”
said one source. “They will haggle and haggle
during the meeting but in the
end nothing substantive will come out of
it.”
The source said although there were legal issues that needed to
be
addressed, most of the sticky issues were political and centred on power
and
influence.
MDC-T spokesperson Douglas Mwonzora said some of
the contentious issues
included demands by Zanu PF that soldiers must be
allowed to participate in
politics as well as attempts to give the President
power to declare war
without approval from Parliament.
Zanu PF
also wants the President to have powers to unilaterally appoint the
Chief
Justice and judges of the Constitutional Court, a move which is being
resisted by the two MDC formations.
The MDC formations are
arguing that to avoid outrageous appointments of key
state officials, they
must be subject to the approval of parliament, as the
current draft
constitutions states.
The former ruling party also wants removed the
limit to the number of
ministers the President can appoint. In the current
draft constitution, the
president can appoint 25 ministers and 10 deputy
ministers.
Mwonzora said Zanu PF was against devolution although all
institutional
submissions to Copac and the 10 provinces said they wanted
that system of
governance. Zanu PF has already declared that the system
would not be
allowed, describing it as divisive.
“These new
demands have no relationship whatsoever with what the people of
Zimbabwe
said they wanted,” said Mwonzora. “It is doubtful whether these
demands are
being made in good faith or whether they are being made for
purposes of
delaying the constitution-making process.”
Efforts to get a comment
from Zanu PF negotiator and Minister of Justice,
Patrick Chinamasa were
fruitless yesterday.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
Sunday, 17 June 2012
13:26
BY PATRICE MAKOVA
ZANU PF “paranoia” with sanctions should not
be used to mask the looting of
minerals, particularly diamonds from Marange,
civil society organisations
and analysts have said. Mines and Mining
Development ministers, Obert Mpofu
last week shocked participants attending
a Centre for Public Accountability
conference in Harare, when he said as
long as Western sanctions on Zimbabwe
remain in force, a full disclosure of
the goings on in Marange would never
happen.
Finance minister
Tendai Biti, recently accused a small coterie of powerful
Zimbabweans of
looting diamonds from Marange, enabling them to splash
millions of dollars
on private jets and other assets.
Biti also disclosed that Chinese
firm, Anjin, a joint venture with the army,
had not submitted any revenue to
the treasury despite the company being the
largest mining entity in
Chiadzwa.
Civil society organisations which are advocating for
transparency in the
mining and selling of Marange diamonds under the
“Publish What You Pay”
campaign, said as long as the current secrecy in the
sector remained, the
country would not meaningfully benefit from the
resource.
Political analyst and Sapes Trust executive director, Dr
Ibbo Mandaza, said
there was no doubt the country’s minerals, particularly
diamonds and gold,
were being looted but the culprits remained
untouched.
He claimed that he had it on good authority that two weeks
ago, a plane
loaded with diamonds worth US$4 billion left Marange for an
undisclosed
destination, warning that lack of accountability and
transparency had become
a threat to democracy.
“Those benefiting
may want to continue indefinitely and are prepared to go
to war to resist
transparency and accountability,” said Mandaza.
“It is anyone’s
guess, what may happen if securocrats are stopped from
exploiting resources,
including diamonds.”
Mandaza said in the late 1990’s and before the
discovery of diamonds and
platinum, the minerals sector used to contribute
US$3,8 billion annually,
but by 2009, the figure had gone down to US$1,5
billion.
He said if transparency was restored, Zimbabwe could earn
between US$9 to
$12 billion annually from its minerals alone, enabling the
country to pay
off its huge external debt in two
years.
Minerals act posing accountability problems:
Dhliwayo
Zimbabwe Environmental Lawyers Association (Zela) executive
director, Mutuso
Dhliwayo, blamed the archaic and colonial Mines and Mineral
Act for the
accountability challenges facing the sector.
“Much
(revenue) is coming in, but how is this being used?” he asked. “Is
using
diamond revenue to build a military academy a priority for our
country?”
Dhliwayo said he agreed with Deputy Prime Minister
Arthur Mutambara, who
recently said foreign companies were getting the
country’s vast minerals
resources for a song, as cabinet “was deaf, dumb and
blind,” when
negotiating contracts.
Dhliwayo also accused the
private sector and foreign mining companies of
corruption and fixing
prices.
“They trade with their sister companies in other countries at
ridiculously
cheap prices, but the same products are later resold at their
true market
value,” said Dhliwayo.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
Sunday, 17 June 2012 13:24
But
journalist and Minerals Marketing Corporation of Zimbabwe (MMCZ) board
member, Supa Mandiwanzira, accused the civil society of being obsessed with
diamonds because the sector was dominated by local blacks. “Debate on
transparency and accountability must not focus on one mineral,” he said.
“Why are they not debating gold and platinum mining which is dominated by
multi-nationals?
Zimbabwe has the second largest platinum reserves in
the world, but
according to the Finance minister, the mineral is not
contributing anything
significant to Treasury compared to diamonds which
were not there five years
ago.”
Mpofu agreed with Mandiwanzira
saying while the diamond mining firms in
Marange last year alone remitted
over US$160 million to Treasury, Zimplats
has only contributed US$100
million over the past decade.
He maintained that his ministry would
not disclose information regarding the
country’s diamond production and
sales, arguing that this was a sanctions
busting strategy.
“Why
do you want to know who we are selling our diamonds to and for how
much?”
asked Mpofu. “This information may fall in the hands of our
detractors and
jeopardise our buyers, who are afraid of getting
blacklisted.”
But Transparency International Zimbabwe executive
director, Mary Jane-Ncube,
said the paranoia with sanctions was not
justified as Zimbabweans had a
right to demand
accountability.
“Right now we are debating on speculation because the
information is not
there” she said. “We have a right to
question.”
MDC-T spokesperson, Douglous Mwonzora, also said his party
was worried by
the lack of transparency in the mining of diamonds and the
remission of the
revenue, notably by Anjin.
“The party fears that
some of this revenue is going to be channelled by Zanu
PF towards sponsoring
violence in the next elections,” he said.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
Sunday, 17 June 2012 13:20
BY JENNIFER
DUBE
SCORES of people receiving anti-retroviral (ARV) drugs from Harare
Central
Hospital were early last week told to buy their own drugs as the
hospital
allegedly “forgot” to order the life-prolonging drugs. A
beneficiary of the
government-free ARV programme showed The Standard his
health card where “out
of stock” had been written against the second line
drug alluvia which is
used together with tenolam.
“They said they
do not have the drugs,” the beneficiary said. “I was advised
to buy the
drugs but I currently do not have the money to do so. This will
affect me as
I may take long to get the money for the drugs.”
Vice-president of
Zimbabwe HIV and Aids Activists Union, Stanley Takaona
said his organisation
had been told the hospital did not make an order for
the month of
June.
“We have made a follow-up with the hospital together with the
ministry and
we were told the drugs are there at the national pharmacy but
the hospital
did not make an order for this month,” Takaona
said.
“Those are the most expensive ARV drugs, costing US$120 for a
month’s supply
and most people who are on the government programme cannot
afford them.”
Takaona said such alleged negligence on the part of the
hospital was
disturbing as those on ARVs were supposed to take the tablets
consistently,
without skipping any days, for effectiveness.
The
hospital’s chief executive Peggy Zvavamwe on Friday said the hospital
had
the drugs.
“I just made an inquiry with the relevant department and
they told me that
the drugs are in stock,” she said. “We would not want
anybody to buy when
these things are available for free.
“But
since you say it happened early in the week and today is Friday, maybe
the
situation was rectified.”
It is estimated that about 3 500 people die
per week in Zimbabwe due to HIV
and Aids alone.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
Sunday, 17 June 2012 13:15
BY JENNIFER
DUBE
THE government will soon embark on a campaign to encourage members of
the
public to save water and avoid littering to reduce the outbreak of
diseases.
The two-year Water Conservation Awareness and Zero Litter Campaign
will be
launched by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai during the first week
of next
month in Harare’s Budiriro high-density suburb.
The
campaign would later be taken to other cities and towns across the
country.
Budiriro is one of the dirtiest suburbs in Harare, where
a cholera outbreak
killed scores of people in 2008.
Executive
director of the Institute of Water and Sanitation Development,
Noma Neseni,
said the campaign was designed to sensitise society about the
importance of
cleanliness and water conservation.
“At the end of the day, we want a
society which appreciates that littering
is shameful, it is disgusting to
urinate in public, using flying toilets and
open defacation is hazardous and
there is value in conservation among many
other aims of this campaign,”
Neseni said.
The campaign also aims at encouraging residents to use
water sparingly by
using smaller toilet cisterns instead of the current
10-litre ones which are
viewed as wasteful.
It also aims to
encourage the use of buckets for such things as bathing,
irrigation and
washing cars. Residents are encouraged to use bath water for
some of these
chores.
The city council is also working on a project to generate
methane gas
electricity at Firle, which currently receives power for only
eight hours
per day, negatively affecting its operations.
Harare
City Council director of waste management Dombo Chibanda said they
were also
in the process of buying more equipment including four skip
trucks, pole
litter bins and 200 litre bins for use at various places
including shopping
malls.
Once renowned for their cleanliness, Harare and other cities
in the country
have since lost their glitter as litter continues to pile in
alleyways,
roadsides and shopping centres.
Water rationing, too,
is rampant in some suburbs as municipalities try to
make do with the little
water they have.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
Sunday, 17 June 2012 13:13
BY
TATENDA KUNAKA
HARD-PRESSED foreign currency dealers, popularly known as
money-changers,
have found a new lease of life in the form of betting. Since
the country
legalised the use of foreign currency in 2009, business has
never been the
same for the once flamboyant group, who would not hesitate to
spend money.
But the current economic challenges, which are
compounded by a liquidity
crunch, have forced most of them to resort to
betting houses in Harare and
Chitungwiza in the hope of making a fortune
overnight.
Among the most visited betting houses are AfricaBet,
Africa Lotto and the
State Lotteries.
Foreign currency dealers
who spoke to Standard Community last week at
Chitungwiza AfricaBet said they
had been forced into betting because they
were failing to make a decent
living through changing money on the streets
as they used to
do.
Foreign currency dealers offer higher exchange rates than
commercial banks
to attract holders of hard currency to street
corners.
“No money is circulating these days,” said one foreign
currency dealer, who
identified himself only as King. “The situation is
tough for most of us
because people are holding on to their
money.”
King, who has turned to betting added: “We used to make a lot
of money a few
years back but now it has changed drastically so we come here
to bet with
the hope that we can be lucky one day.”
Jethro,
another foreign currency dealer, said changing money was no longer
viable.
Like King, Jethro has also resorted to
betting.
“We used to be flashy but it’s now a thing of the past,”
said Jethro.
Foreign currency dealers were well-known for being
flamboyant and
extravagant at the height of the economic downturn as they
benefited from
hyper-inflation during the time. They were conspicuous by
their
larger-than-life lifestyles moving around with hordes of the Zimdollar
and
foreign currency.
They were also noticeable because they used
to drive the latest flashy cars
and spent most of their time with beautiful
women at expensive food outlets
and hotels for breakfast and lunch, where
they squandered their money
without hesitation.
An employee at
Betting World in Harare, who refused to be named for
professional reasons,
said they were getting brisk business from money
changers.
“This
place is always full to the brink at dusk with people, most of them
money
changers,” said the employee.
For years, betting had been regarded as a
“game” for mostly pensioners.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
Sunday, 17 June 2012 13:11
BY
TONDERAI MATONHO
COMMUNITIES should harness solar energy in the face of
increased power cuts
which are affecting almost all sectors of the economy,
a cabinet minister
has said. Addressing delegates at a three-day national
climate change
adaptation symposium in Harare last week, Minister of
Environment and
Natural Resource Management, Francis Nhema, said the country
was not
adequately utilising the abundant sunshine and water bodies found
across the
country.
“With lots of sunshine and water bodies
littered across the country, there
is need to harness solar energy to
overcome electricity and water challenges
facing the country,” said
Nhema.
Nhema challenged delegates, who were mostly academics and
researchers “to
think deeply and put a human element in their studies and
return to that
little river in their communities and harness the water for
the benefit of
the local people”.
Power supply remains erratic in
most parts of Harare with the Zimbabwe
Electricity Supply Authority (Zesa)
failing to stick to a load-shedding
schedule it published in the media
recently, seriously affecting many
business operations.
Despite
the long hours of power cuts, residents complain of exorbitant bills
at the
end of every month. The cost of electricity is affecting thousands of
households as they have to buy paraffin and firewood at a higher cost, yet
still have to settle their bills.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
Sunday, 17 June 2012
11:20
BY KUDZAI CHIMHANGWA
THE Zimbabwe Pension & Insurance Rights
Trust (ZIMPIRT) wants the insurance
and pensions’ regulator, Insurance and
Pensions Commission (IPEC) to avail
information pertaining to on-going
investigations surrounding policy holder’s
pension and benefits in the
post-dollarisation era. The call comes in the
wake of a probe being carried
out by IPEC concerning the correctness of the
pensions and insurance
benefits entitled or paid out by service providers to
pensioners, pension
fund members in general, and to insurance policy
holders.
“This
(investigation) is a matter of public interest, which must be
conducted in a
transparent manner and must publicly be disclosed, and the
IPEC
administration is a public office that must not hide anything from the
public,” ZIMPIRT general manager, Martin Tarusenga told
Standardbusiness.
Following the adoption of the multiple currency
regime in 2009, most people’s
Zimbabwe dollar savings were wiped out
overnight, with pensioners and
insurance policy holders being among major
casualties of the currency
transition.
Thousands of pensioners in
Zimbabwe continue to receive pittances averaging
US$20 to US$30 per month,
despite having contributed consistently to such
funds since the 1980s and
before.
But Tarusenga said insurance firms and pension funds were
supposed to
provide cover for such economic risks in line with international
best
practices.
According to correspondence, IPEC agreed earlier this
year at a meeting with
ZIMPIRT to conduct an investigation on improper
conduct by pension funds and
insurance companies.
The letter
states that service providers did not and (still) do not maintain
accurate
comprehensive data which would facilitate accurate calculation of
pension
and insurance funds member benefit entitlements.
“Service providers
therefore, generally reneged on their fiduciary duty to
maintain this data,
for future reference,” reads part of the letter.
It was also noted
that in some instances, service providers paid wrong
benefit types, thereby
forfeiting some of the members’ rights in the pension
arrangement, such as
deliberately paying a withdrawal benefit instead of a
retirement
benefit.
“Service providers paid arbitrary pension and insurance
benefits and refused
to substantiate how they arrived at the benefit
amounts,” the letter said.
IPEC recently admitted that the insurance
sector is inadequately regulated
and the former would push for a raft of
measures aimed at ensuring more
disclosures.
Tarusenga said IPEC
still has to publicly disclose the reasons for which it
de-registered more
than 1 000 pension funds in 2011 and why the funds were
registered in the
first place and whether this de-registration did not
prejudice pensioners
and members.
The pension funds were de-registered after failing to
comply with the
requirements of the Pension and Provident Fund
Act.
Among the de-registered funds were those of mining companies,
churches and
clothing firm sectors.
“When did they realise that
they (pension funds) did not comply? All of a
sudden more than a 1 000
pension funds had not complied. Any fund
de-registration is critically
dependent on the financial soundness of the
pension fund concerned (section
19 of the Act),” Tarusenga said.
“In this regard it must be taken
into cognisance that the value of pension
fund assets and their liabilities
are already in dispute, hence the current
investigation.”
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
Sunday, 17 June 2012
11:14
BY KUDZAI CHIMHANGWA
ZIMBABWE’s financial transacting public has
been presented with a plethora
of money transfer options, as the country
moves towards a cashless economy.
Mobile money products on the market
include; Kingdom CellCard, ZB Bank’s
e-Wallet and e-Mali, Econet’s EcoCash
product, as well as CABS’ TextaCash.
FBC has joined the bandwagon
with Mobile Moola, a new Automated Teller
Machine (ATM) card from which one
can send money to anyone with a mobile
phone on any network.
With
the card, one can carry out many other banking transactions within the
bank,
as well as on ZimSwitch enabled ATMs and (point of sale) POS
devices.
The difference between this mobile service and Econet’s
EcoCash is the need
for a customer to open a bank account, specifically with
the bank.
FBC Bank Retail Banking and e-Commerce division executive
director, Agrippa
Mugwagwa said despite the belief that the product is
strictly a mobile
banking product, Mobile Moola is broad-based, tapping into
the banked and
unbanked market.
“We have rolled out Mobile Moola
in its first phase, in which bank customers
will get the value addition. The
next phase, available in a few weeks, will
enable anyone to open a Mobile
Moola account using just their ID and mobile
number,” Mugwagwa
said.
“Our partnership with the networks gives customers the option
of accessing
our service through their preferred carrier. Each carrier is
free to
stipulate the cost of accessing their platform, based on their
internal cost
structure in providing the channel.”
It is not
clear however, whether network service providers would adhere to
the
obligation of drawing up charges related to cost structures considering
their profit motive, but competition may inevitably dictate
prices.
Presently, under the Mobile Moola product, Econet subscribers
pay US$0,07
for each transaction.
However, on the EcoCash
platform, a customer faces a 2% charge of the
transaction for sending money
to a registered EcoCash user, while sending to
a non-registered user
attracts a 7% charge.
Although EcoCash does not charge monthly fixed
usage fees, the charges are
based on the amount of money transferred,
meaning the bigger the transfer,
the more a customer pays.
the
Kingdom Cellcard product however attracts a fixed monthly charge of
US$1,30,
making it popular with the bank’s clientele base.
Although depositor
confidence is slowly returning to the financial sector
since dollarisation
in 2009, most people continue to be averse to the idea
of saving their money
with banks. Estimates state that over US$2 billion is
circulating outside
the formal system of the economy.
CABS’ TextaCash is in collaboration
with Telecel with the distinct advantage
of being linked to one’s mobile
phone, in order to do balance enquiries and
transfers.
Clients
using the TextaCash product have commended the absence of monthly
bank
charges, as normal bank cards attract a monthly fee.
EcoCash has
witnessed a phenomenal uptake ever since its launch last year,
as it
registered up to one million subscribers in the first six
months.
Econet chief executive officer, Douglas Mboweni, believes
there is no reason
why an Econet subscriber should not use EcoCash as this
reduces distribution
costs. The company’s distribution costs presently stand
at 10%-12%, but
through more increased uptake of EcoCash, these are
anticipated to come down
to 3%-4%.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
Sunday, 17 June 2012 11:11
BY
LESLEY WURAYAYI
STAKEHOLDERS in Zimbabwe’s cotton sector want government to
consider
investing substantially in cotton production amid low prices
prevailing on
the market, a move which threatens the viability of the
sector. This came up
at a meeting convened in Harare last week to look into
problems affecting
cotton growers in the country.
The falling
international cotton prices and unfair domestic trade practices
have
negatively affected thousands of rural households who depend on
subsistence
farming, making the crop one of the most important sources of
livelihoods
and national revenue.
Action Aid director, Philemon Jazi, urged
government to intervene in the
crisis bedevilling the sector through adding
value to cotton production.
“Government should invest in infrastructure. we
can process our own cotton,
add value to our crop and sell it at a high
cost, so that farmers can
benefit from the whole process,” he
said.
Jazi said an estimated 20% of the country’s population is
dependent on the
crop while it is also a potential foreign currency
earner.
Naison Mutsananguro, a small-scale farmer from Checheche, who
quit his job
and ventured into cotton farming, said he was disappointed
because of the
volatility of producer prices. “I ventured into cotton
farming in 1996 after
I quit my job, hoping that it (cotton farming) would
uplift my life. At
first I planted 1,5 hectares of cotton in 1996/97 and got
14 bales, which
motivated me to increase to four hectares in 1997/98,” he
said.
“We are simply providing cheap labour for investor companies
such as Cotton
Company of Zimbabwe and most of us don’t have anything to
show for the many
years of labour we have been involved in cotton farming,”
Mutsananguro said.
Despite the minimum selling price in the 2010/11
season being pegged at
US$1,05, this year’s prices are lower, forcing
farmers to withhold their
produce anticipating a reasonable price. farmers
are rejecting the US$0,30
per kg being offered by buyers, arguing that the
price should be pegged
between US$0,85 and US$1,30 per kg.
AMA
recently announced a producer price of US$0,50 cents per kg of Grade A
cotton after weeks of price negotiations between ginners and
farmers.
Lower prices rile farmers: Chief Nemangwe
Chief
Nemangwe from Chipinge said the current prices had angered farmers to
the
extent that Agricultural Marketing Authority (AMA) and Cotton Ginners
Association workers were occasionally threatened with assault.
“We
came here and listened to them talk but nothing was fruitful. farmers
are
still waiting for a positive feedback from us so that they know what to
do
with their produce and plan for the future,” said Chief
Nemangwe.
“Lack of proper education to farmers on the functions of
the two bodies, has
escalated their rage as villagers blame them for the
prices and adverse
poverty they are facing,” he said.
Another
farmer said that on average, one acre of land produces 600 kg of
cotton at a
cost of US$395.
“Compared to last year’s minimum price of US$1,05
cents, the same yield
generated US$900 for the same land,” said the
farmer.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
Sunday, 17 June 2012 11:06
BY NDAMU
SANDU
ONCE again, indigenous banks have flattered to deceive.
The
closure of Genesis Bank and placement of Interfin Bank under curatorship
has
brought back questions about the credibility of local financial
institutions
and the effectiveness of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) in
regulating
the banking sector.
Genesis surrendered its licence after
failing to meet the minimum capital
threshold of US$10 million for merchant
banks. It had a negative capital of
US$3,2 million and despite being given
extended deadlines by RBZ, no knight
came in shining armour.
It
became the second bank after NDH to throw in the towel since the use of
multi-currencies in 2009.
Interfin was placed under curatorship
after RBZ found the institution to be
unsafe and unsound.
The
latest casualties join over a dozen financial institutions that were
either
closed or put under curatorship in the past eight years.
The
casualties, which were all locally-owned, include ReNaissance Merchant
Bank,
CFX Merchant Bank, First National Building Society, Royal Bank,
Barbican
Bank, Rapid Discount House, National Discount House, Century
Discount House,
Intermarket Discount House, Trust Bank, Intermarket Banking
Corporation,
Intermarket Building Society . . . the list is endless.
Before then,
the Roger Boka’s United Merchant and David Chapfika’s Universal
Merchant
Bank had closed in 1997 and 2001 respectively.
The ailments have been
the same — concentrated shareholding, weak corporate
governance,
owner-managed or controlled and insider loans, which all turned
out to be
non-performing.
There was also the siphoning of depositors’ funds
through related party
loans to the main shareholders and their associates
“akin to a declaration
of dividends by shareholders from depositors’
funds”.
All these shenanigans have been associated with local banks
and the question
uppermost on most depositors’ minds is; do these failures
mean that locals
do not have the capacity to run banks?
“Banking
is about systems and controls. Good corporate governance is what
makes banks
adhere to policies and procedures, as well as regulatory
requirements. You
won’t find these problems in foreign-controlled banks
because compliance to
good corporate governance and risk management is
paramount,” an executive
said.
In all the bank failures, shareholders have been exerting
pressure on
management to dish out loans to related parties. This had raised
questions
on what would be a workable model for banks.
Finance
minister Tendai Biti proposed in April an amendment to the Banking
Act that
would bar shareholders from being in both executive management and
the
boards of banks.
“That has to stop. If you are a shareholder, go and play
golf and let other
people run the bank for you, both at management and board
level,” Biti said.
There is also another school of thought that
believes RBZ has been found
wanting as the abuse of depositors funds
continue.
“It’s not enough to say that you are putting a bank under
curatorship and
that the affected banks had concentrated shareholding, as if
the regulator
was not aware of the owners,” a banker said on
Friday.
“It’s a matter of closing the stables when the horses have
already bolted.
RBZ should continue policing banks to weed out rotten
institutions.”
Bankers said last week, local institutions have to
embrace foreign partners
if they are to survive in the environment of tight
liquidity.
“Gone are the days when someone would say I own a bank.
That era is long
done. You either look for a strong institutional investor
or a foreign
partner, otherwise your days are numbered.”
Since
the use of multi-currencies, a number of local banks have embraced
foreign
partners, thereby attaining much needed strengthening of risk
management
systems, good governance and strong capitalisation.
Premier Bank
attracted African Development Corporation before concluding a
major deal
with pan African banking group, Ecobank Transnational
Incorporated, which
led to the bank being rebranded to Ecobank Zimbabwe and
locals retaining 30%
shareholding, but giving management control to the new
shareholder.
NMB invited African Century while Mauritian banking
group AfrAsia bought 35%
into Kingdom Financial Holdings
Limited.
It has been reported that Royal Bank is partnering with a
Kenyan bank while
Trust Bank is in talks with a foreign
investor.
Calls for partnerships on the rise
Despite the
banking sector having more indigenous players than international
banks,
their performance has not been pleasing, reinforcing calls for
consolidation.
Statistics from RBZ show that as at May 24, the 19
local bank’s deposit base
stood at US$2,4 billion compared to US$1,5 billion
for the seven
international banks.
Of the locals’ total deposits,
the top three — CBZ, CABS and FBC’s
contribution was more than half, meaning
the remaining 16 banks shared the
balance.
Based on that
contribution, observers are of the view that while there is a
push for
locals to have equity in foreign-owned banks, the above statistics
should
provide useful guidelines.
“Locals should have shareholding in
foreign-owned banks, but this does not
mean that they have been given
licence to dole out loans to the whole clan,”
an executive said.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
Sunday, 17 June 2012
14:04
By Laiton Mkandawire
The argument that Africa’s greatest
handicap, since the advent of political
independence, has been a lack of
responsible leadership is very sound. So is
its follow-up argument that
Africa needs leadership renewal. Africa’s
emancipation from colonial masters
of the past has largely been on a
political front; and not much more. Even
on the political front, in most
instances, the colonial masters have been
proven to have been better, in
essence, than the native African regimes that
took over. This is in no way a
wish for a return to the colonial times. This
is a quest for the
circumcision of the African mind so that our heads can
work as they should
be without any restricting fetters.
Having
helped emancipate the continent, Africa’s founding fathers created a
new
elite ruling classes in their countries. These classes have been
untouchable
and their appetite for the trappings of power and the
accompanying luxury
has been insatiable; even surpassing the colonial
masters. These elite
classes mimic the colonisers to a fault and in the
words of the late Sembene
Ousmane are “all-ears to Europe”. Along the way,
these classes became
ensconced in wealth-accumulation and forgot the masses.
When the
rich-poor chasm between them and the povo became too wide and
visible, even
for Africa’s uneducated masses to see, the masses wanted them
out. This is
part of the struggle we saw in North Africa in the recent past
and which is
moving south with relentless speed.
Not wanting to go (they ask daft
questions like where do we go?), they have
come up with a ruse of turning
themselves into modern-day economic
emancipators. The truth of the matter,
as anyone with eyes can see, is that
they have no solutions to our economic
problems. All they could do, and have
done well, is to amass massive wealth
for themselves, their families and
their close associates which is
incongruent with their societies. They
cannot be economic liberators; they
can only be economic robbers.
They toy with people’s emotions and
lives, talking, in glorious terms, of
revolutions long gone by. They make
their people live in the past while they
live in the present and look
forward to a brighter future. They create fear
in their countries by
conjuring in the imaginations of their fellow
countrymen images of wars
beyond reality. They alienate themselves from the
culture of their people
and unleash violence on them. They ignore, insult
and generally despise the
cultural values of their people. They become the
enemy of the people they
purport to have liberated. They become brutal and
murderous in most
instances.
I postulate here that the next stage of African
independence is not, and
should not be, economic emancipation, but mental
cleansing. Africans live in
fear. Fear of a return to colonialism. Fear of
some of their political
independence leaders who have turned into murderers.
Fear of an elite
middle-class that enjoys a false sense of cultural
superiority. This fear is
being exploited by sly old political foxes. This
fear needs removing.
Only mentally-emancipated Africans can transform
themselves into economic
success stories. Political leaders need not bring
this success to their
fellow countrymen on silver platters; they simply need
to create enabling
environments. They need to create lasting African
institutions of mental
emancipation. The rest will follow.
But
the current crop of African political independence leaders, though
dwindling, is weak and unfocused. They send their children to schools and
universities in our former colonisers’ countries. They seek medical
treatment in the Far East and the western world. They invest their wealth
(most of it ill-gotten) in our former colonisers’ countries. In Africa, to
think is a crime. A write-up like this one can invite mortal harm on the
writer. As a result, African professionals who should lead the African
development impetus flee their countries to invest their expertise abroad.
African political independence leaders have failed to lead beyond political
independence. They are actually now reversing the gains of independence by
driving fellow African professionals out of Africa. They are undermining
Africa.
Our independence political leaders and the elite ruling
classes they created
have a major shortcoming. Colonial education inculcated
into them “western
values and western individualistic ethos, which have
distorted their
identity, destroyed their commitment and accountability to
African history,
they are good at mimicry and echoing the lifestyles and
outlooks of their
mentors” according to Munashe Furusa.
African
political independence leaders should now go to their retirement
homes as a
matter of urgency. The need for leadership renewal within their
political
parties and nations is compelling.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
Yesterday Zimbabwe joined the rest of
Africa in celebrating the
International Day of the African Child. While
government has religiously
marked the event held in honour of South African
children killed by
apartheid police on June 16 1976, it has failed to show
the political
commitment needed to improve the welfare of the
children.
Just yesterday, it was reported that 89 000 children in
dire need of
life-saving drugs were failing to access ARVs. Other reports
revealed that
disabled children were increasingly being neglected in
Zimbabwe, with no
legal instruments to protect them.
As Zimbabwe
reflects on the rationale of the day, it is an opportune time to
begin a
process that will ensure that more resources are channelled towards
programmes that make it possible for children to reach their full
potential.
So far the state of affairs is dire.
In the
rural areas, many children have no access to critical health care as
babies
are still being delivered by untrained midwives, mostly under
unhygienic
conditions, making them vulnerable to disability or even
death.
Children are also dropping out of schools because the
government’s welfare
system to support vulnerable children collapsed a long
time ago.
In urban areas, children risk contracting cholera and
typhoid as they drink
water from shallow wells due to lack of potable water.
While government
officials were wining and dining commemorating the day at a
local hotel
yesterday, scores of street children were sniffing glue in the
alleys just a
few metres away.
These problems make it imperative
that children’s issues take centre stage
in the Government of National Unity
which has spent more time and resources
trying to solve their political
differences at the expense of these critical
matters.
Laws also
need to be tightened to ensure those who abuse children receive
stiff
sentences.
Both Zanu PF and MDC formations should take advantage of
the
constitution-making process to push for a Bill of Rights that will
guarantee
the rights of children, including those with disabilities who are
the most
prone to abuse.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
Politicians rarely
ever miss an opportunity to be photographed with
children. It’s an
international craze. In the United States, presidential
candidates cannot
miss the child-hugging photo opportunity during their
election campaign
trails because they believe their success or failure may
depend on it. This
they do even when American fighter jets are bombing
villages and schools in
Afghanistan, killing thousands of children every
year.
Some of the
cruellest politicians who wish to clean up their images resort
to
child-hugging so that onlookers may see their soft side, if they have
any.
The famous photograph of former US President George W Bush holding a
hollering child shows this doesn’t always work.
In
Zimbabwe — among the Shona at least — it is generally believed that a
child
will scream when held by a bad person such as a witch or a murderer.
But
that has not stopped politicians holding babies at campaign rallies! But
generally, they avoid doing this and wait for June 16 each year to
pontificate about the African child. The day was declared the Day of the
African Child by the Organisation of African Unity — the predecessor of the
African Union — and has been commemorated on the continent yearly since
1991.
It is the day when Africans purport to honour those who
participated in the
Soweto Uprising in 1976 and raise awareness of the need
to continue to
improve the education provided to African children. Zimbabwe
also
commemorates the day with high-sounding speeches by political leaders.
In
the year between each June 16th, events on the political front suggest a
complete disregard of the needs of the child, especially regarding
education, let alone its improvement.
In Africa, it would seem
the only projects presidents and wives of
presidents ever involve themselves
in have to do with orphans; this is meant
to show that the so-called first
families care about the lot of children.
Whereas this is very noble, the
projects normally disguise something
sinister in the way their governments
have treated children.
In Zimbabwe, the story of Nigel Mutemagau has become
instructive in
demonstrating the depth to which politicians are prepared to
sink in order
to achieve or maintain political power, mostly at the expense
of innocent
children.
Nigel was the three-year-old boy in 2009
who was incarcerated together with
parents for more than three months. His
parents had been abducted together
with a dozen others by state agents on
charges of terrorism. Both his
parents were senior members of the MDC. Nigel
himself became famous
internationally as “Zimbabwe’s youngest terrorist”. He
and his parents were
held at an undisclosed location for two months from
October to December 2009
and when they were produced in court Nigel’s name
also appeared on the list
of the “terrorists”.
During his
abduction, no politicians in the former ruling party Zanu PF
appealed for
the release of the child, at least, even after Nigel and his
parents were
sent to Chikurubi Maximum Security Prison. This was the time
when all those
politicians and their wives — of whatever political
persuasion — who give
speeches on June 16 should have given impassioned
pleas for the boy to be
released.
Prison conditions were at their worst during the time.
There were no
separate sleeping arrangements for babies so mothers and their
children
slept under the same crowded conditions under the lice-infested
blankets
offered by the system.
Now Nigel, who was later released
into the custody of relatives while his
parents continued their stay in
prison, is struggling to adapt to normal
life. Those who visited him five
months after gaining his freedom found him
still haunted by his experiences.
His mother said he cried whenever he heard
voices of people singing and was
terrified by crowds. Sometimes he would
just begin shouting. He had to be
withdrawn from nursery school because he
could not integrate with other
children.
“Nigel was beaten on many occasions during his
incarceration — when he
cried, or asked for food, or wanted to go to the
toilet. He was also
threatened and watched his mother being tortured,
including having boiling
water poured over her followed by iced water and
being forced to remain in
her wet clothes,” Frances Lovemore, a spokesperson
for the Counselling
Services Unit, an organisation that works with the
victims of political
violence, told dpa after visiting
him.
Research has established the adverse effects of keeping children
in prison
with their parents even when done to the best interests of the
children. “A
child who is with her mother in prison is necessarily separated
from her
father and other members of her family. Furthermore, her life
inside the
prison leaves her vulnerable to disease, malnutrition and
possible abuse by
other prisoners or the guards. While the decision ought to
be made on the
basis of the best interests of the child, often it is forced
upon the mother
and child because of circumstances outside their control.”
(Marlene Alejos,
in her excellent report Babies and Small Children Residing
in Prison.
There are hundreds of children in Zimbabwean prisons as we
speak.
The Nigel story is very important in that Zimbabwe is still in
the grip of
political violence whose main victims are the children. Each
time a man or
woman is killed in political violence the people who will
suffer the most
are the children. Recently, Zimbabwe was shocked by the
death of Cephas
Magura in Mudzi at the hands of Zanu PF apparatchiks at a
time we all
thought political violence was on the decline. The story we have
heard so
far is that of the direct victim, the father. What about the
children?
In all political conflicts the children are the grass that
gets hurt when
the proverbial two elephants fight. Zimbabwe has been in a
state of
perpetual conflict since independence in 1980. What happened to the
Gukurahundi orphans? Were any orphanages ever built for them? They were, and
some are still struggling to get an identity because there are no parents to
register them!
When homes were bulldozed in 2005 during the
cynical Murambatsvina, what
happened to the children of the 700 000 families
that were displaced? What
happened to the children of the 200 or so people
who were murdered during
the June 2008 presidential election
run-off?
Politicians should for once be sincere in what they say and
do about
children and not use facile projects to sanitise their
images.
by Nevanji Madanhire
