Tsvangirai: MDC Will Win Presidential Election

Gibbs Dube

22.06.2013

WASHINGTON DC — Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai says he is confident that he will win the presidential election set to be held sometime this year.

Addressing thousands of people Saturday in Tsholotsho, Matabeleland North province, Mr. Tsvangirai said his party is ready for elections even if unity government principals still have to finalize election dates through the courts.
 
If elected, the prime minister said, “I Morgan Tsvangirai and the MDC will not betray the aspirations and expectation of the people of Zimbabwe.”
 
He said his party will come up with various economic programmes benefiting the country if his party is elected into power.

“This province has the largest deposits of coal, almost billions of tonnes. There is so much hard wood and the largest deposits of gas which can be used for manufacturing fertilizer or for generating electricity. In this province, there is the Zambezi water which we should harness to turn this region into a greenbelt. Why does this country import food when we have so many natural resources?”

He said Zimbabwe is currently crippled by corruption and singled out Mines Minister Obert Mpofu of Matabeleland region of allegedly amassing massive wealth at the expense of poor people.

“He (Minister Obert Mpofu) has bought the whole of Victoria Falls. He has bought Bulawayo. We are told that one day he asked his aides about a certain building which he saw in the city. His aide told him that chef you bought it. It’s yours. He does not know how much he has. He has too much money. Ask yourself this question: Is he doing this alone? Somebody, somewhere up there (government) is benefiting quietly.

“I want to warn anyone who is coming on an MDC ticket that we do not tolerate corruption … Zero tolerance towards corruption because with corruption that is when there is uneven distribution of our national wealth.”
 
 
He further said there is need for peace and reconciliation in Zimbabwe.
“This country has been too traumatized. We need reconciliation because without reconciliation and without stability the will be no development. Reconciliation does not mean we suppress information and the truth because the truth leads to justice. It’s when people feel free and accept that there is justice in the country that there are able to move on with their lives,” he said. 
 

Rural Zimbabwean Woman

Mr. Tsvangirai said Zimbabwe should cater for the needs of senior citizens who were dumped by the previous government led by President Robert Mugabe.
 
“When I finally leave politics, I want to leave Zimbabweans and senior citizens satisfied that I did a lot for them. We should always care for senior citizens who an important social fabric,” he said.
 
In Bulawayo, 80 kilometres away from his rally, his party was conducting primary elections in disputed areas where there have been conflicts among party supporters over the selection of candidates.
 
Some party activists claim that some of the candidates are being imposed on the electorate. But the party’s Bulawayo provincial organizing secretary Albert Mhlanga said the situation is currently under control.
 
In Matobo constituency, Matabeleland South province, the MDC formation of Industry Minister Welshman Ncube was Saturday conducting primaries in the region. Youth secretary, Descent Collins Bajila, said he is among candidates who have been chosen by the people to represent his party in the forthcoming general elections.
 
In a related development, Zimbabwe’s military chiefs under the dreaded Joint Operations Command (JOC) are reportedly preparing to deploy senior army officials in all parts of the country to campaign for Zanu-PF in the run up to this year’s general elections.
 
According to the privately-owned Zimbabwe Independent newspaper, JOC members – drawn from the Zimbabwe Defence Forces, the police and Central Intelligence 0rganization – have been of late holding meetings in Harare to layout plans for ensuring a Zanu-PF win in the elections.
 
The paper says some of the JOC members to be deployed in the 10 provinces include Major-General Douglas Nyikayaramba, Brigadier-General David Sigauke, Brigadier-General Sibangumuzi Khumalo and Retired Major-General Victor Rungani.
 

President Roberty Mugabe consulting some members of the Joint Operations Command in Harare

Air Vice Marshall Henry Muchena is currently running the Zanu-PF political commissariat.
 
The JOC is suspected to have spearheaded President Mugabe’s 2008 presidential election re-run with then opposition MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai, who withdrew claiming that his supporters were being butchered by Zanu-PF supporters and security forces.
 
Political analyst, Nkululeko Sibanda of Hudderfield University in London, said this Zanu-PF strategy of intimidating people before elections will not work.
 
“(President) Mugabe has always used the military strategy, the gun strategy, the fear strategy since the 1980 elections. I don’t see how anybody in Zanu-PF understands any other political methodology other than the Maoist military strategy that intimidates the population,” said Mr. Sibanda.
 
Zanu-PF spokesman Rugare Gumbo and Minister Mpofu were not reachable for comment.

Zanu PF defers primaries amid protests

http://www.newzimbabwe.com/

22/06/2013 00:00:00
     by Staff Reporter

DISAFFECTED supporters gathered at the Zanu PF headquarters in Harare on
Friday protesting the disqualification of a number of prospective candidates
for the party’s primary elections.

Among those demonstrating were supporters of Mariam Chombo who was barred
from challenging ex-husband and local government minister Ignatius Chombo in
Zvimba North constituency.

Zanu PF was due to hold its primaries on Monday but national chairman, Simon
Khaya Moyo, who also heads the party’s elections directorate, said they had
been delayed to Wednesday.

“This is to give teams being deployed to all provinces to supervise the
elections enough time,” Khaya Moyo told reporters in Harare.

“Provincial elections directorates are directed to meet on Sunday 23 June
2013 to review and consider any complaints on nominations and submit their
reports to the national elections directorate on Monday 24 June 2013 by
 4pm.”

The primaries will choose the party’s candidates for this year’s general
elections which will elect a successor to the coalition government.

But the selection of candidates for the primaries has sparked disputes in a
number of constituencies apart from Zvimba North. Complains have also been
raised in Bikita West, Mhangura, Muzvezve, Goromonzi West and Mutoko South.

Said one of the supporters: “We want to inform the President (Robert Mugabe)
of what is happening because we don’t want the party to lose through
imposition of candidates.”

National political commissar, Webster Shamu, said the party encourages its
supporters to express their concerns.
“Even if a complaint is raised against me while I’m in a leadership
position, I must allow the due process of seeking redemption and resolution
of the problem. I should give a chance for the matter to be handled in a
satisfactory way,” he said.

“The process of deepening intra party democracy is not an overnight event,
it’s a process. We would like to see that continue to be strengthened and
deepened. After this, we should talk of democracy.”

Shamu however, said Miriam Chombo had not been a member of the party for at
least five cumulative years as required under regulations for contesting the
primaries.

“As for Marian Chombo, she did not meet that criterion. That is actually in
her own curriculum vitae. But we should also not leave such issues
unattended as a party,” he said.

Key Zimbabwe Reforms in Limbo as Mugabe Snubs Opponents

http://www.voazimbabwe.com/

Blessing  Zulu,  Ntungamili Nkomo
21.06.2013

WASHINGTON — The rift between President Robert Mugabe's Zanu-PF party and
the two Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) formations is widening after
attempts to meet Friday at State House to resolve outstanding issues ahead
of general elections and expiry of parliament failed to take off.

The MDC is alleging that Zanu-PF officials did not turn up though their
leaders had to endure long hours of waiting. President Mugabe, Vice
President Joyce Mujuru, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, Deputy Prime
Minister Arthur Mutambara and MDC leader Welshman Ncube and several
government ministers were expected to meet to discuss the outstanding
issues.

According to a statement issued by Ncube’s MDC formation, Zanu-PF
representatives failed to turn up. “Professor Ncube, Misihairabwi Mushonga,
PM Tsvangirai, Biti, Matinenga and two other people all presented themselves
at State House in readiness for the meeting."

It adds that, "For the Zanu-PF group, who did not turn up, the MDC and MDC-T
teams realised that their wait was futile and left to attend to other
business."

The statement says no explanation was given by Zanu-PF as to why it did not
attend the meeting. “In apparent disregard for common courtesy, no
explanation has thus far been given by the Zanu-PF team for their
non-arrival for this very important meeting. We hope that this is not a
deliberate delaying ploy to render the SADC recommendations unachievable.”

Issues on the agenda included the extension of the election date beyond July
31, the aligning of laws such as Access to Information and Protection of
Privacy Act, Public Order and Security Act, and Broadcasting Services Act,
Police Act, Defence Act and others with the new constitution.

The Southern African Development Community at its Maputo summit last week
called on Harare to implement these outstanding issues. The life of
parliament ends June 29 and MDC officials are saying it’s unlikely that
these outstanding issues will be resolved soon.

Constitutional Affairs Minister Eric Matinenga told VOA that Zimbabwe is
"headed for another disputed election as Zanu-PF is resisting reforms."

But Zanu-PF spokesman Rugare Gumbo dismissed the allegation saying the MDC
parties "are afraid of elections and are just interested in embarrassing Mr.
Mugabe and his party by appealing to SADC"

Spokesman Nhlanhla Dube of the MDC led by Mr. Ncube condemned President
Mugabe and his team for not showing up at Friday's meeting.

Residents Threaten to Oust Sitting Councilors

http://www.voazimbabwe.com/

Irwin  Chifera
21.06.2013

HARARE — As political parties move to ensure that the candidates they field
for Parliament are well qualified, Harare residents say candidates for city
council must also be scrutinized.

At a meeting organized Friday by the Harare Residents Trust, the major
parties were urged to select knowledgeable and competent people to contest
in the forthcoming elections.

Residents met to review service delivery and discuss the performance of city
councilors in power since the 2008 election.  Many people came forward to
say that the councilors had not performed up to expectations and that most
of them should not be retained.

Residents like Garikai Mabheka of Kuwadzana extension and Silvia Bhakisoro
of Mabvuku said they are so disappointed by the current crop of councilors
that they would like to see new people elected.

“There are many of those we call to attend meetings but they don’t come,”
said Ms. Bhakisoro.  “It’s like they are scared of us when in fact we are
the ones who chose them.  In this coming election, we are now thinking of
voting in the youths and forget about you, the old ones.  That is what we
are thinking. When we elect the young generation, they may do the job well
because they have the energy.”

Precious Shumba, the director of the Harare Residents Trust, said most
Harare City councilors spent much of their terms unaware of their duties,
which made it naturally difficult for them to perform to expectations, but
even after training many councilors disappoint.

“Most of the councilors were in total darkness about their roles and
responsibilities,” explained Mr Shumba.  “However, through some trainings
that were conducted by the Urban Councillors Association of Zimbabwe, we
realized that there was slight improvement.  However, we still have around
50%...we give them 50% rating on performance because they have failed to
articulate residents’ issues and pursue policies that would address
residents’ problems.”

Nonetheless, Mr. Shumba said, the trust will ask political
parties—especially the MDC-T, which controls Harare—to drop inexperienced
and “corrupt” candidates in the upcoming election.

“We are going to approach the MDC-T, which has the biggest chances for
electoral victory, telling them that we do not want them to bring back
councilors that failed to perform in the last council,” Mr. Shumba said.
“We do not want councilors that were linked to corrupt activities.  We would
want them [the MDC-T] to try new people—more experienced and more passionate
about community development.”

Studio 7 called Harare city council chief whip Victor Chifodya to react to
the criticisms, but Mr. Chifodya was unavailable.

However, there are signs that the MDC-T is taking residents’ anger
seriously.  In May this year the party reportedly blocked Deputy Mayor
Emmanuel Chiroto and some city councilors alleged to be corrupt from
standing for reelection.  Local Government Minister Ignatius Chombo has even
suspended or fired several councilors from office for alleged corruption.

Given the extent of urban problems, including the lack of clean water, the
poor state of roads, and a perceived decline in service delivery, councilors
across the country will undoubtedly face a similarly discontented electorate
as harmonized elections sometime this year approach.

Tourist arrivals up 49pc

http://www.herald.co.zw/

Friday, 21 June 2013 00:00

Martin Kadzere Senior Business Reporter
TOURIST arrivals by air rose 49 percent over the past two years to about 54
000 as a result of new airlines into Zimbabwe, latest statistics from the
Zimbabwe Tourism Authority show.

Several foreign airlines suspended flights into the country between 1998 and
2008 due to economic challenges induced by illegal sanctions, which
contracted the economy by 50 percent.

Among them were Austrian Airlines, Swiss Air, Air India, Air France and TAP
Air Portugal, Air Mauritius, Linhas Aereas de Mocambique Airline, Royal
Swazi Airlines, Air Seychelles, Air Tanzania, Ghana Airways, Air Uganda and
Air Cameroon.

But there has been renewed interest in Zimbabwe among foreign airlines since
2010 after the adoption of the multi-currency system which stabilised the
economy. The airlines include Dubai-based Emirates Airlines, Air Namibia,
Air Egypt, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, LAM Airlines. Air France, Austrian
Airlines, Swiss Air and Bulgarian Airlines.

Qantas and Lufthansa have also expressed interest in flying to Zimbabwe. The
ZTA statistics show that air travellers into the country increased from 36
373 in 2010 to 54 097 this year. The 2013 arrivals are for three months to
March.

Compared with the previous quarter of 2012, arrivals were up 8 percent from
50 081. Arrivals by air and road increased 17 percent last year to 404 282
from 346 299 in 2011.

“There has been a general increase in arrivals by air over the past (two
years), thanks to the new airlines that came into this destination over the
last two years,” said ZTA.

“However, 2013 has seen a decline in the market share of air travel from 14
percent in 2012 to 13 percent, losing a percentage point to road users. This
is especially so considering that most arrivals into the country are
regional and these usually travel by road.

“With improved air access, Zimbabwe is projecting tourist arrivals will grow
4 percent next year,” the ZTA said.

Overall tourist arrivals into the country increased by 17 percent, rising to
404 282 in the first quarter of this year. The number of tourists from
Europe and the rest of Africa rose 8 percent and 86 percent, respectively,
while Oceania and the Middle East did not have significant numbers of
tourists visiting the country.

The country co-hosts with Zambia the United Nations World Tourism
Organisation General Assembly in August and this presents an opportunity to
work on the perception the world has on the country.

South Africa says July election problematic

http://www.newzimbabwe.com/

21/06/2013 00:00:00
     by SAPA

THE South African government hopes Zimbabwe’s top court will allow the
crucial election date to be pushed back from 31 July, Deputy International
Relations Minister Ebrahim Ebrahim said on Friday.

In line with resolutions of a Southern African Development Community (SADC)
summit held in Maputo, immediate steps had to be taken to create conducive
conditions for credible elections, Ebrahim told journalists in Pretoria.

"Without undermining the Constitutional court decision as such, I think any
reasonable court will see that there are certain constitutional and
logistical problems that will arise [if elections were held on 31 July]," he
said.

"The court will have to look at it in a very favourable way. An extension of
14 or 15 days will not be an unreasonable request and a reasonable court
will allow for an extension."

Ebrahim said he was informed of previous instances in Zimbabwe where
extensions were granted for local government elections.
Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa filed papers on Tuesday that sought "a
postponement of the date for the harmonised elections from 31 July 2013 to
14 August 2013".

That announcement came just days after Southern African leaders pressed
President Robert Mugabe to delay the polls to allow more time for democratic
reforms.

In setting the original election date, Mugabe had said he was complying with
the Constitutional court's ruling to hold elections by 31 July.

The elections were to choose a successor to the uncomfortable power-sharing
government, which was forged four years ago as a path away from a decade of
political violence.

Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, a long-time Mugabe rival, has called for
reforms - to free the media, depoliticise the security services, and make
sure the electoral roll is accurate - before the vote is held.

Analysts in Zimbabwe warned on Friday that Mugabe, though he appeared to
have caved in to regional pressure to delay the key elections, could yet
forge ahead with the polls without making vital reforms.

Zimbabwe bleeds diamond revenues

http://mg.co.za/

21 JUN 2013 00:00 WONGAI ZHANGAZHA

A powerful  Zimbabwean parliamentary committee, comprising members of both
Zanu-PF and the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), has raised the alarm
about the lack of accountability for the sale and smuggling of diamonds from
Marange, which is costing the Zimbabwe fiscus hundreds of millions of
dollars in lost revenue.

The mines and energy portfolio committee also put Mines Minister Obert Mpofu
on the spot by demanding that he justify the choice of a South African
company, the New Reclamation Group (Reclam), for a diamond mining joint
venture with the state-owned Zimbabwe Mining Development Company (ZMDC).

The committee's report, presented to Parliament last week, dealt with mining
in the Marange fields in Eastern Zimbabwe from 2009 to 2013. It highlighted
a number of irregularities and loopholes in the revenue chain.

The committee, headed by Edward Chindori-Chininga, a vocal Zanu-PF MP and
former mining minister, visited four mining companies operating in Marange:
Anjin, Diamond Mining Corporation (DMC), Mbada Diamonds and Marange
Resources.

The report quoted Mbada Diamonds as saying that it had paid $293-million to
the government since it started mining in 2009, including $117-million in
2011-2012. But it pointed out that Finance Minister Tendai Biti said in his
2013 budget statement that the government received a total of only
$41-million in diamond revenues in the previous year.

The report also said that Anjin, Marange Resources and DMC, which could
supply a quarter of world demand, refused to disclose the payments they had
made to the government.

A recent report by Partnership Africa Canada (PAC) stated that the lack of
transparency surrounding Zimbabwe's diamond revenues was depriving the
treasury of much-needed revenue and could be funding a "parallel government"
other than the government of national unity.

The PAC said the lack of transparency over the flow of the money pointed to
systemic failures in Zimbabwe's internal controls, including an illegal
trade.

The committee added that since the formalisation of mining in Marange's
heavily protected Chiadzwa area it had been dogged by problems of
transparency and accountability; the smuggling and leaking of diamonds from
Marange and controversy over the selection of joint venture partners and
governance systems in the joint venture companies.

In its report the committee expressed concern that, since Zimbabwe was
allowed to trade its diamonds on the world market, the government had not
received meaningful contributions from the sector, despite "the fact that
production levels and the revenue generated from exports has been on the
increase".

It highlighted serious discrepancies between the government's receipts from
the sector and what the diamond mining companies claimed to have remitted to
the treasury.

The committee also described its frustrations in trying to access
information on diamond revenue, saying Mpofu had not responded to its
queries. It said that, between 2010 and 2102 it was not allowed to conduct
on-site inspections of the mining companies operating in Marange.

The committee said Mbada Diamonds' attempted diamond auction in January
2010, blocked because of national and Kimberley Process requirements,
violated national and international law and "opened a Pandora's box,
revealing several irregularities and loopholes in the entire diamond value
chain".

Institutions involved in the chain, including the ZMDC, the Minerals
Marketing Corporation of Zimbabwe, the Zimbabwe Republic Police Minerals
Unit and the ministry of mines, professed ignorance about the proposed
auction.

"This was a sign that the institutions were not well co-ordinated in the
production and marketing of the diamonds in Marange," said the committee.
"It seems Mbada Diamonds took advantage of this weakness and attempted to
auction the diamonds without the knowledge or presence of these
institutions."

The committee expressed concerns that the selection of companies to operate
in Marange was flawed and that the choice of Reclam and Core Mining for
joint ventures with the ZMDC was "not in accordance with any known
precedents, procedures or with reference to any legislation in the country".

It said Mpofu would not be drawn into revealing who chose these investors.
He said: "I was a new minister and directed to go that way."

The committee said it was "clearly unacceptable" that Mpofu and his
officials did not want to disclose who selected the joint venture partners,
creating the impression that the selection process was conducted by an
unknown person or body.

The committee also expressed displeasure over the mining contract with
Grandwell Holdings (Reclam's holding company), which led to the formation of
Mbada Diamonds, which, it said, showed that government could have been
prejudiced in a number of ways.

Tycoon denies acting on Mugabe's behalf

The chairperson of Mbada Diamonds, the mega-rich Zimbabwean businessperson
Robert Mhlanga, is President Robert Mugabe's former personal pilot and is
alleged to be his business agent. But Mhlanga, through his lawyer, Lazelle
Paola, has denied acting for Mugabe.

The Mail & Guardian reported last year that Mhlanga had been on a
R185-million property-buying spree, acquiring prime real estate on the
KwaZulu-Natal North Coast and in Sandton, Johannesburg. His dealings raised
eyebrows, as he appeared to be content to pay up to six times the going rate
for the properties.

The M&G also reported that he is at the centre of an opaque network of
companies based in South Africa, Mauritius, Hong Kong and the British Virgin
Islands.

Mbada Diamonds is a 50-50 joint venture, which the New Reclamation Group
entered through its Mauritian registered subsidiary, Grandwell Holdings.

In May this year Mhlanga told the Zimbabwean Parliament that Mbada Diamonds
had had a turnover of just less than $600-million over the past two years.
It had paid half of this in dividends and taxes to Zimbabwe's treasury, 26%
towards working capital and 24% (about R612-million) to private
shareholders.

Last year Mbada Diamonds claimed sanctions against it were an attack by a
"jealous and outright anti-Zimbabwe and anti-African agenda".

How Frelimo succeeds where Zanu PF fails

http://www.newzimbabwe.com/

20/06/2013 00:00:00
     by Obert Gutu

FROM May 29-30, 2013 I was humbled to represent my party, the MDC led by
Morgan Tsvangirai, at a policy forum on wealth distribution and the role of
ruling parties in Southern Africa that was held in the beautiful coastal
city of Maputo in Mozambique. The forum was co-hosted by the governing party
in Mozambique, the Frente de Libertacao de Mocambique (FRELIMO) and the
Friedrich Ebert Stiftung Maputo Office.

It was attended by representatives from the governing political parties in
Mozambique, the  Movimento Popular de Libertacao de Angola ( MPLA),the
Botswana Democratic Party (BDP), the People’s Party of Malawi (PP), SWAPO of
Namibia, the African National Congress (ANC) of South Africa, the Patriotic
Front (PF) of Zambia and Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) of Tanzania.

The historic policy forum was officially opened by the FRELIMO
Secretary-General, Filipe Paunde, a very powerful diminutive politician who
is most likely going to succeed President Armando Guebeza when he completes
his second and final term. The forum was held at the FRELIMO party school in
Matola, a few kilometres outside Maputo. For some of us, that historic
gathering marked a defining moment in the political trajectory of governing
parties in Southern Africa. Indeed, it is no longer business as usual. Times
are changing and obviously, people and institutions have to adjust to the
times or they will simply become obsolete and utterly irrelevant.

I am an ardent admirer of Samora Machel, the late fiery and charismatic and
revolutionary  military commander and socialist leader who led Mozambique to
independence in 1975 until his tragic and untimely death in a very
suspicious air crash on October 19, 1986. I believe that he loved his people
and also that he loved Africa. He was a revolutionary, a nationalist and a
Pan-Africanist; ideals that some of us hold most dearly. He was a man who
despised and hated tribalism, nepotism, racism and corruption. Put simply,
he was a hero. Thus, I make absolutely no apology for my great admiration of
this African icon and Pan-Africanist statesman. The story of Mozambique
bears very stark lessons for us in Zimbabwe.

I am a proud member and supporter of the Movement for Democratic Change
(MDC) led by Morgan Tsvangirai. I am a lawyer by profession and a politician
by choice. I joined the MDC at its inception more than thirteen years ago
mainly because I had been thoroughly disillusioned and frustrated, if not
downright angered by the incessant, vile and rampant intolerance and
corruption in the then sole governing political party in Zimbabwe, Zanu PF.
My family history inevitably dictated that I became an ardent and fervent
supporter of ZAPU led by Joshua Nkomo. Up to this very day, I fondly
remember that sunny June day in the late 1960s when Joshua Nkomo and his
delegation spent some time at the small rural business that was run by my
parents at Mushayavanhu business centre in Gutu. To this day, Joshua Nkomo
remains my hero; my role model and ultimate revolutionary.

The revolution in Zimbabwe has gone completely off-track. Somewhere along
the way, the revolution was hijacked by sharks, looters, thieves and later
day nationalists and fake socialists. What started as a very noble and
salutary struggle for self-determination and indigenous socio-economic
empowerment has since been hijacked by daylight robbers and fake
revolutionaries who are solely driven by the morbid and sordid desire for
primitive wealth accumulation and self-aggrandisement.

These are men and women with absolutely no shame. For as long as they line
their own pockets with ill-gotten wealth and money accumulated from bribes
and kick-backs they don’t give a damn what happens to the majority of the
people. These are the sort of political charlatans that will easily make
revolutionary icons like Samora Machel and Joshua Nkomo turn in their
graves. The revolution has gone astray and with it has gone the self-less
spirit of ubuntu and patriotism. Quite honestly, if this greedy and corrupt
gang of fake and later-day revolutionaries is not stopped, then Zimbabwe
will surely and irretrievably go to the dogs.

The MDC’s formation is a direct result of the decay, incompetence,
ineptitude and rampant corruption in Zanu PF, the erstwhile revolutionary
party. The MDC is not a creation of the white imperialists. If anything,
Zanu PF created the MDC and as fate will soon prove, Zanu PF’s inevitable
collapse is directly linked to the resurgence of the MDC; a political party
whose bedrock is democratic socialism as opposed to dogmatic and Stalinist
socialism.

Unlike FRELIMO, Zanu PF has utterly failed to transform itself into a
conventional and democratic political party with a bottom-up approach to
running its affairs. They have remained as a Stalinist top-down rag tag
organisation with a top heavy so-called political bureau which is basically
hand-picked by the party strong man. This paradigm of doing business simply
doesn’t cut. It no longer works and this is fundamentally the reason why the
MDC is better organised and better focused compared to Zanu PF which is now
a pale shadow of the political movement that participated in the liberation
struggle that ushered Zimbabwe into independence in 1980. The failure to
periodically and strategically renew its leadership has inevitably led to
the virtual collapse of this erstwhile revolutionary party. Quite honestly,
any organisation that fails to change its leadership in almost four decades
is doomed to fail. It is as simple as that.

One doesn’t have to be a rocket scientist to appreciate the fact that
revolutionary parties such as FRELIMO and Chama Cha Mapinduzi remain
immensely popular and robust to this very day mainly because they have gone
beyond bullets and rockets. They have long since seen reality and as such,
they periodically renew and re-energise their leadership. They appreciate
that politics is not a profession but a vocation. People have to come and
go. Even the Communist Party of China (CPC) has since realised the need to
periodically renew its leadership. In modern-day China, no leader lasts more
than ten years in office no matter how popular they may be. This is what our
colleagues in Zanu PF have dismally failed to appreciate. Put simply, no one
is indispensable.

Political parties have to continuously reform or else they die. This is the
main lesson that some of us got from that well-maintained FRELIMO party
school in Matola. The school is a modern complex, complete with a conference
centre that can easily and comfortably accommodate 3,500 delegates. There
are sporting facilities that include basketball pitches, soccer and cricket
pitches. There are even classrooms and computer laboratories were young
FRELIMO cadres are taught the ideals of the revolution as well as selfless
dedication to their country.

In other words, FRELIMO is no longer that rag tag guerrilla movement that
fought a bitter armed struggle against Portuguese colonialism in the 1960s
and 1970s.They have modernised and transformed themselves into a viable
political party that is run like a viable business enterprise. Some of us
couldn’t not help but admire the way in which the FRELIMO party school even
has its own cafeteria with professional chefs. All meals were served at a
very modern and up-market FRELIMO cafeteria within the precincts of the
party school. What impressed me most was the regalia shop at the party
school where all FRELIMO regalia is on display and is sold for the benefit
of the party. They have everything from party T-shirts, golf shirts,
baseball caps, key rings, shirts etc. As if that is not enough, FRELIMO also
runs another party regalia shop in the central business district of Maputo.

Zimbabwean political parties have a lot to learn from how successful
organisations like FRELIMO are run. Little wonder that the Mozambican
economy is booming and there is tremendous foreign direct investment (FDI)
into that country. While we are busy scaring away potential investors by
shouting misguided slogans about so-called indigenisation and empowerment,
FRELIMO is quietly and effectively turning around the Mozambican economy;
which has in fact, become one of the fastest growing economies in
Sub-Saharan Africa. Zimbabwe’s economy is still in trouble and we can only
but add more damage by adopting ruinous and populist policies such as the
ill-designed and ill-fated so-called indigenisation and empowerment program;
that “program’’ is just an excuse for looting and personal aggrandisement.

Some of us see more vision and focus in the JUICE (Jobs, Upliftment,
Investment, Capital and Environment) and ART (Agenda for Real
Transformation) policies as enunciated by the MDC. Indeed, we need a real
and concise agenda for transformation if we are to take Zimbabwe to the next
level. We have to create jobs as well as uplift our people’s standard of
living. Surely, there is JUICE in ART and there is also ART in JUICE.

Obert Gutu is the Senator for Chisipite in Harare. He is also the MDC Harare
provincial spokesperson as well as the Deputy Minister of Justice and Legal
Affairs.

Economy: Where Biti is losing it

http://www.newzimbabwe.com/

22/06/2013 00:00:00
     by Melusi Nkomo

A FEW days ago Zimbabwe’s Minister of Finance, Tendai Biti gave an interview
to Bernard Mpofu of the newspaper Newsday. A few minutes into the interview
I was dismayed at the minister’s cynicism towards those who are seeking
‘alternatives to neoliberalism’ and by implication those who cherish the
idea of social democracy itself.

The utterances by Minister Biti could not have come at a worse time, in the
sense that millions of toiling Zimbabwean have been pinning their hopes for
a better social democratic Zimbabwe on his party, and with elections just
around the corner, that is where the timing is very unfortunate. Some of us
now have an idea of the kind of ‘anti-poor and anti-working people’ policies
that we have to expect in the event of an MDC-T takeover of the reins of
power, come August 2013. This will be unfortunate for the poor majorities
who have suffered the most during three decades of Zanu PF malfeasance.

After the interviewer asked the question “What does the International
Monetary Fund Staff Monitored Programme mean to Zimbabwe?” Minister Biti was
quick to flaunt the struggle of his ‘friends from the left’ against
neoliberalism arguing that the Bretton Woods system as represented by the
World Bank and the International Monetary Fund are irreplaceable
“gatekeepers” vis-à-vis “small” countries like Zimbabwe. Nothing could be
further from the truth.

If anything the Honourable Minister’s responses reflect a deliberate,
cold-blooded effort to ignore the potential of social democratic policies to
transform the fortunes of millions of long suffering Zimbabweans for the
better. He confirms my fears and that of many others particularly in the
labour movement that his MDC-T party’s mere brush over of social democracy
in its so-called Jobs Upliftment Investment Capital Ecology (JUICE) policy
document  is a derision of the toiling workers and the rest of long
suffering poor majority in Zimbabwe.

Many renowned experts, amongst them Ha-Joon Chang a development economics
professor at Cambridge University and former consultant to the World Bank,
Joseph Stiglitz a former senior vice president and chief economist of the
World Bank and Noam Chomsky, who is a Philosopher at the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology (MIT) have provided compelling arguments against
neoliberalism and the failure of this ‘hegemonic ideology’ especially in
developing countries.

Minister Biti is surely swimming against the tide. His argument that “a very
small country like ours” cannot successfully repudiate odious debt is
defeatist and smacks of a leadership banked on carrying out short-sighted
post-Mugabe financial programmes through reckless borrowing. The minister
should be reminded that taking the reins of power is a means to an end and
not an end in itself. In other words he should stop being concerned about
the short term glory and personal aggrandisement that will definitely come
if an MDC-T led government takes over and chooses to blindly implement the
neoliberal policies that define the Bretton Woods system’s programmes.

The socioeconomic and political transformation of Zimbabwe is a struggle
that has just began and will have to continue even after the ouster of
Robert Mugabe. Occupying the government offices at Munhumutapa Buildings is
definitely not the final destination for change seekers in Zimbabwe. So the
repudiation of odious debt is one step in a journey of a thousand miles.

The resentment against neoliberalism is quite palpable around the world.
People are fed up with what Minister Biti is prescribing for post-Mugabe
Zimbabwe and they are rising up. Since 2011, we have witnessed
‘anti-neoliberalism/ anti-capitalism’ protests at the heart of capitalist
establishment in New York. This sent chills down the spines of the ‘one
percent’ rich people whose gluttony has caused untold suffering of the ’ninety-nine
percent’ majority who are struggling everyday to make ends meet. In Europe,
particularly in Greece, Spain and Germany, riot policemen and policewomen
are working extra hours to contain disenchanted masses that are fighting
against the European Union’s austerity policies. Mind you, these are the
same policies that Minister Biti wants to shove down Zimbabweans’ throats.

Zambia, one of the countries that minister Biti wants Zimbabwe to emulate
has received encomiums from the International Financial Institutions for its
‘economic growth’, but a closer look at its social indicators provides a sad
picture of ‘hunger amidst plenty’. A February 2013 report by the
organisation, Actionaid, citing empirical sources points out that the
proportion of rural Zambians living in poverty increased to 90% since 2001
and that despite the country’s position as an exporter of foodstuffs around
“45% of Zambian children are undernourished to the point of being stunted”.
Further to this, the International Labour Organisation (ILO) reported in
2008 that Zambia had a shocking Gini Coefficient of 0.67. Such levels of
economic inequalities are not anything to admire let alone even strive to
emulate.

The Minister must also realize that free market fundamentalist policies will
not help achieve the ‘Asian Tigers’ status reflected in his party’s policy
documents, particularly the so-called JUICE. Zimbabwe will further be
deindustrialized and the toiling majority will further be sidelined from the
mainstream economy. This is one among the many economic miscalculations
Robert Mugabe’s government committed when it adopted Structural Adjustment
Programmes in the early 1990s.

Minister Biti must also be reminded that the developmental state achieved by
the ‘Asian Tigers’ that his party purportedly wants to emulate developed not
because the swallowed neoliberalism hook, line and sinker but because they
did not leave their nascent industries completely at the mercy of free
market and all the other challenges that come with adopting its unbridled
version.

No amount of economic mumbo-jumbo, neither Zimbabwe Accelerated Arrears
Clearance, Debt and Development Strategy (ZAADS) nor the Zimbabwe
Accelerated Reengagement Economic Programme (ZAREP) can vindicate the naked
fact that the Minister’s plans are banked on short-term alleviation of the
country’s developmental malaise through placating donors. There is no long
term vision to see Zimbabwe achieve sustainable prosperity now and for
posterity. The Minister spewed out neoliberal rhetoric quite similar to
South Africa’s Growth, Employment and Redistribution (GEAR). Such policies
have only succeeded in pushing South Africa’s poor into a tight corner and
leaving the whole socioeconomic fabric tainted by unemployment, poverty and
lewd inequalities.

If Honourable Biti meant what he said seriously then Zimbabwe is in for a
shocker if his party manages to capture power in August. Years from now, we
will still sing the same songs of poverty, inequality and the burden of
unmanageable debt.

Melusi Nkomo is a Ph.D candidate at the Graduate Institute of International
and Development Studies (University of Geneva) Geneva, Switzerland. He can
be reached at mnkomozim@yahoo.co.uk

SADC’s Maputo Summit: Zanu PF’s view

http://www.newzimbabwe.com/

22/06/2013 00:00:00
     by Nathaniel Manheru

AMAZING how even the five years in the Inclusive Government have not taught
our democrats much. They still don’t know how to read Summits. Or was this a
coping mechanism after a dizzying smite? We went to Maputo last Saturday,
stalked by hopeful MDC formation personages. In the crowd were two twitting
twins I dedicate this instalment to. Things happened, in and outside the
Sadc Summit venue where leaders of nations gathered, accompanied by aping
leaders of little parties.

Late afternoon, the gathering broke up, delegates beating different paths in
different directions, at different times, all to different country
destinations. Among them, one Robert Mugabe, who bade goodbye to the Sadc
Executive Secretary, Dr Salamao. He said, “Well, we leave you to do the
rest.

It has been a very good meeting. Thanks a lot.”  He left before the
communiqué was out. Those who know RGM enough will tell you that is his
valedictory trade mark, especially the last sentence. Along the way to the
car park of the Summit venue were Welshman Ncube and his pitiably small
crowd, talking to ZBC in his typical drooling style.

At the Airport, Guy Scott, Zambia’s Vice President pulls a fast one on
President Mugabe. He had occupied a departure lounge adjacent to that
occupied by the Zimbabwean President. Could he be spared a moment for a
quick ear bite, importuned the Zambian Vice President? RGM obliged, obliged
with blind courtesy he is wont to give unconditionally when all is well. He
went to the VP’s lounge.

Soon Mugabe realises he has been tricked: the Zambian leader wanted the
President to address the Zambian press on the outcome of the Maputo Summit.
Protesting feebly, he again obliges.

His response is long-winded, seemingly directionless. Again, those who have
known him enough follow the build-up, so lazily done yet a harbinger to some
grand finale. The gem is always in the parting shot. “Tell President Sata
that although he did not come, matters went on very well, and we are very
happy with the outcome. Very happy.”  The story is the mood, a playful mood
all along hidden beneath folds of a brooding face, one so used to cheating
the world through deceptive slumbers!

Flash of big English
Back home the little men and women in opposition finally make it, twits
overflowing in their heads. Sooner the network comes abuzz with vivid
descriptions of events in Maputo. It is a colourful story of boastful
“winners”, placid, expressionless “losers”; all made in words or in nowadays
parlance, twits. Priscilla goes wild with imagination, describing her party
president’s performance in superlatives, pitying the President of Zimbabwe
for a humiliating encounter, an imperilled legacy.

The unsuspecting reader does not realise the poor minister is describing
presentations in the Summit, and not decisions of the Summit, which she
avoids like a plague. Summit resolutions are lost in her composition which
ends up as an elegy to her party president, a professor.

The accent, the stress, had been totally lost by this otherwise genial
minister. And inside the conference, Welshman’s strength had proved his
weakness. He went professorial, turned the Summit into a court. He advanced
beautiful arguments, all well cited, flashing with big English. Alas, all to
a yawning regional leadership!

The voice that finally turned the tables was that of President Pohamba, a
simple man wielding a simple, practical mind. He paid perfunctory tribute to
the learned professor, but quickly cut into the heart of the matter: could
Sadc ever ride roughshod over national courts? Could Sadc encourage its
leaders to sidestep court decisions? Not in my country, he declared. So in
whose? The grand reasoning simply crumbled, albeit in a manner not so
apparent to two mating minds drunk with self-adulation.

Read against the professor’s colourful presentation of Priscilla’s delight,
you wondered why  so simple, so little is so lost upon such a labyrinth of
vast, professorial thought. Maybe that is why the world does not belong to
professors!

And Biti twits wild
And TB? Oh Biti! As always yarning things-which-are-not, to use Jonathan
Swift’s phrase! On Facebook, he built his own world, using hard bricks from
supple, jelly words. He invented his own resolutions, to self-delight, to
self-deceit.

He even deployed peremptory language so foreign to Summits, so unlike Sadc.
So Sadc never recommended; it “directed”. So Sadc never proposed; it
“ordered”! He had decided to put armour on wafer, all to attain day-long
glory. It taught me one thing: that the new media has the reach, enormous
reach. But it has no scruples. This is why it is a platform for scoundrels
who seek and cultivate evanescent glory, while spitting on truth.

And both ministers got evanescent glory, savoured it. It taught me another
thing. That never fight what time takes care of, what time removes or
repairs. And Zanu PF waited for time, only paid for by mere patience and
maturity. It could have dived in to rebut or challenge those twits: as
words, as the two humans. It didn’t, and that took quite extraordinary
equanimity in the face of outrageous lies, frontal provocation. By Monday,
time was already delivering on Zanu PF’s doorstep.

The true story of Maputo began to unfold, reclassifying early victors, early
losers alike! What cures childishness in political upstarts? I wonder.

Numbers did not matter
President Mugabe was ready for hardballs, whether tossed to him or by him.
Sadc is incredibly important to Zimbabwe, to be allowed to mislead or be
misled. But he didn’t have to play hardballs. He had done enough canvassing
for intended outcomes. The matter would be decided, not by numbers as those
who blocked Mutambara thought.

Not by presentations as both Ncube, and Tsvangirai’s speechwriters thought.
The day would be carried by practice and experiences in statecraft. Here was
a practical imbroglio of governance, one to be decided by practical minds,
never by ideologues or starry-eyed snobs, intellectual idealists. And that
is exactly what happened. The resolution came from men of governmental
affairs, not from students of law, or those totally lacking in studentship.

Challenged the sun
I said Mugabe did not have to play hardballs. Two key things came right, and
so disarmed him. The judgment of the Zimbabwean Constitutional Court was
recognised and upheld by Sadc. Secondly, the same Court’s role as the final
arbiter was upheld, both by way of its earlier ruling, and in respect of
future actions proposed by the Summit.

That did it. The President could afford to ruminate. Chinamasa, who should
have responded to Ncube’s presentation - blow by blow - thereby showing
professorial shallowness beneath well-cited, verbose pretences, was stood
down by the President himself. Enough damage had already been done by the
Namibian President. Enough had already been gained. So Madame Priscilla,
your man shone with the brilliance of a firefly.

Well and good for as long as you pit him against other flies. But once his
boast transports him to another realm, a realm where he challenges the sun
to the glow, then his shine becomes something else. And these two ministers
must learn one simple lesson in diplomacy: once your invisible goal is
attained, speak less, and do less. It is not a sign of weakness, of defeat.
Fatefully, they brought their hands together in thanks to the gods, well
before the bird was in the hand.

Ball in Zimbabwe court
The sum of it all is that Sadc pushed the matter back to Zimbabwe, itself
the goal and wish of Zanu PF. The Court to which the action is turned is in
Zimbabwe. The actors, again all Zimbabweans. Meanwhile the much awaited Sadc
Summit is done and is thus over, leaving the way clear for full electoral
action here in Zimbabwe.

Literally, the ball is in Zimbabwe’s court, the play here at home. Not away.
Zimbabwe’s sovereignty has been upheld, while attempts to drag Sadc away
from its founding principles have been defeated. And check my word; no one
will go back to Sadc for money. To individual Sadc countries with stronger
bilateral ties with Zimbabwe, maybe.
We have been bitten already, and once is a bite too many, too hard, too
deep.

A beggar is granted no pride. And Zimbabwe’s pride is too enormous, too
brittle to be bent. But something else has happened. Madame Zuma,
representing a higher political court - higher to Sadc - has pronounced
herself on the same matter. Zimbabwe must respect the rule of law! This
forecloses possibilities to mischief makers. Sorry. Craving to share
ignominy?

What is this noise about doing an appeal to the Constitutional Court
together? Together with who? The two MDCs? Why? I thought the formations
jubilated when Sadc placed that burden of approaching the Court on the
Minister of Justice who is Zanu PF? Was that not part of the victory they
relished on twitter? They should let Chinamasa do his demeaning Sadc chore,
surely?

Why want to share an ignominy, share the motions of defeat? The matter is
very simple: Chinamasa did what was expected of him by Sadc. And when Sadc
gave him that “humiliating” role, it knew he was Zanu PF but still trusted
him to do the task for Government. Achebe has a saying which fits in nicely.
You give a child love embers to hand-deliver to the neighbour, telling him
to hold the parcel with utmost care, what do you expect?

He handles it with the care that appropriate! Chinamasa did the correct
thing. He appealed in the best manner he knew how. The resolution of Sadc
was fatally flawed, and no part of it asked him to do any repair work. He
carried through that inherent weakness, faithfully.

Fobbed by flashy folly
But there is another side to it. Why are Ncube and Tsvangirai’s people
crying for co-authorship of the application to the Constitutional Court?
Chinamasa cited them as respondents, all to allow them to bring forth their
profound arguments so they can make an impression on the court, persuade it
if they can. Why do they want their wisdom tucked under Chinamasa whose
competence they have been lampooning?

Surely they crave for a second shine? Let them have it. Or they can mount
separate action if they so wish, as indeed they should have done soon after
the judgment. Today they tell the world Chinamasa’s application is weak?

Why did they not place before the same court a strong case soon after the
judgment? Suddenly they are wiser, when there is a back on which to ride?
And a minister who is supposed to defend the Bench is being made to assault
it?

And a lawyer whose own client has complied with a judgment is being made to
note an application for an extension? What strong argument can emerge from
such absurdities? The key is to know what Sadc did, namely to fob fools by
gladdening them with flashy folly. Happy twits honourables!

Grand alliance whispers
Is anyone getting the same whispers reaching me on the grand coalition? That
the sleek Simba Makoni has weaved his way in, to become Tsvangirai’s right
hand man, much to the consternation of core MDC-T ministerial personalities?
There is a rumble. There is terror, and the talk is that MDC-T is about to
be done another mavambo!

Wait and see if you have eyes; wait and hear if you have ears. The people he
does not have on the ground, he makes up for in well- rounded words! Bvunzai
veZanuPF vanomuziva! Pamashoko chete, haa-a ruvava!  And Dabengwa too, what
does he bring kumadzakutsaku aya? A whole war veteran? A whole commander who
claimed he formed Mavambo to save the liberation movement?

What now, black Russian? When did this sellout collaboration start? How do
we see you now? It will not be long before the grand alliance becomes a
grand headache. Many days of more laughter. Icho!

This is part of Nathaniel Manheru’s article for the The Herald newspaper.

Jukwa, Nyoka and Kunyepa

http://www.cathybuckle.com/

June 22, 2013, 8:29 am

Dear Family and Friends,

Eyebrows are up, suspicions are high and whispers are spreading about the
car crash which led to the recent death of a senior politician in Zimbabwe.
The ZANU PF MP for Guruve South, Edward Chindori-Chininga died on the 19th
June 2013 when his car hit a tree. The death of the MP came just as Zanu PF
began the process of candidate selection for their primary elections.

Rather than suppressing people’s suspicions, the photos of the car and
description of the crash location, together with the events of the past
week, have opened the flood gates of doubt. MP Chindori-Chininga was the
chairman of the parliamentary portfolio committee on mines and energy and
had become known as ‘the whistleblower’ for tenaciously tracking and
fearlessly exposing the involvement of Zanu PF officials in the Marange
diamond mines.

Just a week ago Mr Chindori- Chininga presented a report to parliament in
which he wrote of ‘diamond barons’ and disclosed how millions of dollars of
diamond royalties had disappeared. According to Mr Chindori-Chininga’s
report, one diamond company, Mbada, said it had paid $293 million in taxes
over four years but the government said it had only received $82 million.
Everyone got busy on their calculators trying to work out how many things
could be fixed in our poor, broken down country with the missing 211 million
US dollars – and that was just from one of the diamond companies in Marange,
what about the rest?

The mysterious death of Mr Chindori Chininga received widespread coverage on
internet Facebook pages. Revelations, names, accusations and phone numbers
relating to the mysterious car crash were posted on the massively popular
Baba Jukwa Facebook page caused a dramatic increase to 167 thousand
followers, a jump of over six thousand people in just two days. The meteoric
rise of Baba Jukwa is the talk of the country and everywhere people are
logging in from homes and offices, laptops, desktops and cellphones to get
the latest inside information about the wheeling, dealing and dirty deeds of
people in positions of power and responsibility. One contributor describes
Baba Jukwa as: “the national spirit of rebellion that has entered and found
comfort in the hearts of all Zimbabweans.”

Joining the  Baba Jukwa ‘spirit of rebellion’ in recent weeks have been two
satirical, snivelling, secret agents who you love to hate. They are CIO
characters called Nyoka and Kunyepa (Snake and Liar) whose schemes, plots
and grovelling phone calls feature on You Tube clips. The latest Nyoka and
Kunyepa cartoon caused much mirth when it included Baba Jukwa, showing him
taking notes at a cabinet meeting. That clip attracted over eight thousand
views in the first three days of its release.

Strange as it may seem, the cartoon faces of Nyoka, Kunyepa and Baba Jukwa
are becoming the identity of election 2013 and as NewsDay newspaper said in
an editorial about Baba Jukwa this week: “It will be naïve to ignore what
this Facebook character says as we go towards elections.”  Who knows,
perhaps these three faces will even be on ballot slips in a few months time?
Until next time, thanks for reading. Love cathy