http://www.thestandard.co.zw
June 23, 2013 in News, Politics
I left
Courtney Selous Primary School which is the only centre for ward
voter
registration in Ward 9, Harare East yesterday. What a charade of
deception.
As posted by Tendai Biti on his Facebook page
They
started registering voters on Friday and will continue until Monday. On
Friday despite a kilometre-long queue, they only registered about 250
persons. Yesterday when I left they had registered 270.
There was a
deliberate and systematic disenfranchisement of our people being
executed by
Tobaiwa Mudede and the chaos faction.
This was taking place countrywide.
If they can do what they were doing in
broad daylight, in one of Harare’s
most enlightened suburbs, Greendale, what
more [in remote areas such as]
Gwelutshena , Gumunyu, Rasa or Bare?
If the people’s constitutional right
to vote and choose leaders of their own
choice freely and fairly as
enshrined in Article 67 of the new constitution
was to be respected, clearly
on voting day, then those not registered must
be allowed to use their IDs
and a supplementary voters’ roll be prepared.
Without this, forget about
salvaging this election, and I am mean just that,
salvaging.
At
Courtney Selous, just as there was at Tafara Community Hall, Ward 46 a
few
days ago, the system had bussed freshly shaved and hungry looking
recruits
from Chikurubi and Support Unit along Arcturus Road. Our monitoring
team
puts the number of these youths who have been registered just at
Courtney
Selous alone, at 700.
They had a special line, receiving preferential
treatment. making our case
that ZEC staff need to be changed.
I
personally saw and photographed these youths. I personally saw a brand new
police vehicle bringing them food. What shame.
In addition to these
shenanigans, Zanu [PF] was bussing persons from places
such as Proton and
Bobo — nearby farming areas. This, every party can and is
allowed to do.
What is not legal or moral is for these persons to then be
given a special
line for preferential registration.
I am aware that in Harare Zanu [PF]
wants to get at least six seats which
include Harare East, Harare North,
Mount Pleasant, Harare South, Epworth and
Harare West. In these areas they
have stuffed thousands of service members
to register as voters despite the
fact that they do not reside in the same.
This is precisely why among
other reasons there should be a separate period
of voter inspection as
agreed by the parties in the 2010 Road Map and as
recently as June
6.
But let’s just say to Zanu [PF] that our teams are already flushing
out
these ghosts through scoping of the electronic voters’ roll we have
started.
I know that Mai [Theresa] Makone and Mukoma [Jameson] Timba in
Mount
Pleasant are almost completing their audits.
They [Zanu PF]
must also know that they do not own these soldiers and
youngsters. In the
secret inner chambers of their hearts, they [the
soldiers] know the truth.
As a matter of fact, like all of us, they can’t
wait to punish Zanu [PF].
The revenge of history.
But it was not all gloom. As I shook hands with
hundreds of people in the
queue yesterday, I was impressed by the steely
determination of Zimbabweans.
People said to me, “don’t worry minister, they
will not frustrate us.”
I was also impressed by the significant presence,
of young first-time voters
particularly female teenagers of the “salad
type”.
The youths are no longer prepared to be innocent bystanders whilst
selfish
geriatrics continue to strangulate their future. They too, jobless
as they
are and still being looked after by their parents, cannot
wait.
The current voters’ roll process, which is being held a few days in
a ward
is clearly unconstitutional. The law says there must be intense voter
registration in every ward for 30 days.
I reckon that even if ZEC
were given another 100 days, they would not finish
[registering].
Constitutionalism, the basis of the Con-Court judgment
in the [Jealousy]
Mawarire case demands that, every person not on the
voters’ roll must just
bring his ID on voting day and be allowed to
vote.
This charade is just a waste of money.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
June 23, 2013 in Local, News
It was
exactly 11:30am when I arrived at CJ Hall in Highfield.
REPORT BY BY
MOSES CHIBAYA
There were a lot of young people who wanted to
register.
The last time that I saw many people at this hall was in the
mid-90s when we
used to watch films on the projector.
Thirty minutes
after my arrival a police officer came out of the hall and
called names of
people he had jotted down earlier.
He took five people into the hall
where registration was taking place.
I waited at the registration centre
until lunch time but the queue was not
moving.
At most, 10 people
were called inside the registration centre after every 30
to 40 minutes. But
it took much more time for each of them to be served.
It was getting even
worse as time ticked. Tired of waiting in the queue, I,
together with my
other colleagues, decided to buy time.
We went to a bottle store at
Machipisa Shopping Centre and returned at
around three o’clock the queue had
just moved a bit.
Some girls who had also been in the queue had
disappeared.
They got fed up and left.
“I am now going back home.
There is no hope that I will register,” a young
man told his
friend.
The other friend shot back: “You are crazy, we have been here
since morning
and even if we go back home, we are going to do nothing
because Zesa [the
power utility company] is going to cut power soon. Let’s
wait and we will
register.”
What surprised me was the willingness and
extraordinary resilience to want
to register by the youth. Despite the
snail’s pace the queue was moving at,
most of them waited their
turn.
Several people who did not have the required documentation failed
to
register.
At 5:15pm my name was called and I went inside and sat
down on an old bench
awaiting my turn. A lady took my national
identification card and verified
it.
I then submitted my papers to
another lady who then wrote on top of my proof
of residence copy the name of
my ward. On the bench where she was sitting,
were five people — four of them
registering, but doing it slowly.
I put my signature marking the
completion of the registration process at
around 6:20pm. I had spent more
than an hour registering, after entering the
offices.
All in all it
took me almost seven hours to register as a voter. The process
was just slow
and painful.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
June 23, 2013 in News,
Politics
AS people in urban centres struggled to register as voters for
the impending
harmonised elections, those in rural areas were being given
“first class
treatment”, in most cases registering in record
time.
REPORT BY PHYLLIS MBANJE AND NUNURAI JENA
MDC-T draws most
of its support from urban areas while Zanu PF controls
rural
areas.
Visits by The Standard news crew to some rural areas in
Mashonaland East and
Central established that people had no hassles
registering as voters or
acquiring new identity cards.
People turned
up in their numbers at Mabika and Manjonjo Primary Schools in
Murewa ward 28
on Thursday but were served in record time.
Many expressed satisfaction
with the service except for those who did not
have the required
documents.
Bernard Majiga, a 26-year-old subsistence farmer who
registered at Mabika
School in Mashonaland East province, said he was
impressed with the service
rendered.
“I was the fourth person here.
Being the first day, I was afraid that there
would be a long queue but by
8am I was done,” said Majinga.
The registration centres opened at
7am.
“We have been served a long time ago, but we are just waiting for
our
colleagues. We did not encounter any problems,” said one woman who was
relaxing under a tree after she had registered as a voter at the
school.
There was a sizeable number of elderly people who also wanted to
register,
some with walking difficulties and communication challenges as
well as
hearing problems.
But this did not deter them.
Mbuya
Rundende drew laughter from the crowd when she tried unsuccessfully to
pronounce the word affidavit.
So eager was she to register she did
not seem to mind the sniggers from the
crowd when she said “Ndokumbirawo
vitavit iroro iro” (May I also have that
affidavit).
Once served, she
waved her spindly arms and did a “jig-jig” dance.
Mashonaland East has
113 registration centres while Harare and Chitungwiza
only have 25
centres.
Many people are failing to register in Harare in what the MDC
formations
said was a well-orchestrated ploy by Zanu PF to frustrate the
urban voters
their right to cast the ballot.
At another registration
centre at Manjonjo Primary School, there was a large
turnout, but the queue
also moved fast.
However, The Standard noticed that the villagers had a
separate list of
names and each prospective voter was required to record
their names before
going to register as voters.
A teacher at Mabika
School, who requested anonymity, said they were forced
to attend numerous
Zanu PF meetings where they had been told to go and
register in their
numbers.
“There is a very thin line between merely urging people to come
and
threatening them indirectly,” said the teacher. “In one of the meetings,
the
villagers were told that if the ruling party lost they would know that
people had not registered.”
There were reports that Zanu PF officials
provided transport and food to
people who wanted to register as voters in
some provinces. Some villagers in
Marondera, Hurungwe and Kwekwe claimed
that they were forced by Zanu PF
youths to participate in the voter
registration process.
In Chinhoyi residents accused the
Register-General‘s office of deliberately
trying to frustrate them by making
them wait in queues for long hours.
One resident, Peter Mafuta, said the
officials who were registering were
very slow. He said many people would
fail to register by the time
registration process ends this
week.
There were no officers at some centres as advertised, leaving
villagers
stranded and not knowing what to do.
The centres which had
no officers included Ndudza Primary school and
Strathdon primary schools in
Zvimba district, but they had been advertised
in the Press as registration
centres.
Efforts to get a comment from Zanu PF spokesperson Rugabe Gumbo
were
fruitless yesterday.
But Registrar-General Tobaiwa Mudede has
dismissed the reports that people
are purposely being turned away.
He
said those who had the proper requirements were being served.
Mudede
accused the chief secretary in Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s
office,
Ian Makone of peddling lies that people were being turned away from
a mobile
voter registration centre at Shumba Clinic in Goromonzi.
He said
investigations carried out by his provincial office had proved that
the
allegations were baseless.
Meanwhile, a group of war veterans yesterday
allegedly besieged the Combined
Harare Residents Association (CHRA) Drop-In
Centre in Harare and disrupted
meetings on the right to access information
on elections.
The meeting was being held in collaboration with the Media
Alliance of
Zimbabwe.
“A group of eight war veterans besieged the
meetings and demanded that CHRA
volunteers and staff immediately close the
offices,” said CHRA in a
statement yesterday.
“CHRA would like to
inform all members of the public, partners and members
that the office will
be temporarily closed down until the situation
normalises for the safety of
our members.”
Efforts to get a comment from police spokesperson Charity
Charamba proved
fruitless yesterday.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
June 23, 2013 in News,
Politics
CAMPAIGNS by Zanu PF officials contesting the party’s primary
elections are
now in top gear after the party last week published a list of
approved
candidates.
REPORT BY OUR STAFF
Candidates in various
parts of the country are now busy on the campaign
trail with some reportedly
doling out goodies to prospective voters.
It was a hive of activity in
Makoni district where several heavyweights are
pitted against each other. Of
particular interest was Makoni Central where
the two contenders were Justice
minister Patrick Chinamasa and former
Manicaland provincial chairman, Basil
Nyabadza addressed rallies where they
were marketing themselves by promising
to develop the area.
Agriculture minister, Joseph Made was also busy on
the ground in Makoni West
where he is facing stiff competition from Nation
Matongorere, Sarapiya
Makuyahundi and Kudzi Chipanga.
In Marondera
posters of different candidates contesting the elections were
also visible
in at various centres.
Supporters could also be seen donning T-shirts of
their preferred
candidates.
In Mashonaland West, Zanu PF activists
seeking their party’s candidature in
Zvimba West constituency were also
involved in intense but peaceful
campaigning ahead of primary polls on
Wednesday.
There was a hive of activity at Murombedzi Business Centre in
the afternoon
as some of the contesting candidates were donning T-shirts
with their
portraits and messages campaigning for their party’s presidential
candidate,
Mugabe.
Loice Mugadzaweta, who is eyeing the Zvimba
senatorial seat, said:
“Everything is going on well and this is healthy
intra-party democracy. I
have just been talking to Mai Beauty Zhuwawo who is
my competitor. It’s
exciting but peaceful as you can see.”
At Mucheri
Business Centre scores of Zanu PF supporters were addressed by
different
candidates.
“This time around its interesting, because we gather as Zanu
PF supporters
and wait for the candidates to come and convince us why we
should vote for
them,” said a party official who was at the centre on Friday
afternoon. “As
you can see the aspiring candidate for the women’s quota, Cde
Mary Phiri has
just arrived to address us.”
Zanu PF postponed the
holding of primary elections that were supposed to be
held tomorrow to
Wednesday. The party’s election directorate is meeting
today to review and
consider any compalints on nominations.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
June 23, 2013 in News, Politics
THE MDC
formations have blasted Zanu PF for failing to attend a meeting on
Friday to
discuss ways of solving the political impasse, after President
Robert Mugabe
unilaterally declared dates for the harmonised elections.
REPORT BY NDAMU
SANDU
Mugabe used Presidential Powers to pass into law amendments to the
Electoral
Act when they were due to be debated in parliament.
MDC-T
secretary for International Relations Jameson Timba blasted the no
show by
Zanu PF representatives, saying the facilitation team of South
African
President Jacob Zuma was fully briefed on the developments.
“We believe
that as leaders we are not landlords of this country but
caretakers for
future generation,” Timba said. “As responsible parties we
believe that
Zimbabwe is bigger than individuals within a party or a
political party and
as such it must come first.”
Timba told The Standard that he was not sure
“whether they were genuine
reasons arising out of Zanu PF dedicating time to
douse flames in their
backyard, occasioned by failure to meet self-imposed
deadline to have
primary elections on Monday [tomorrow] or whether it was a
snub”.
Zanu PF pushed primary elections, scheduled to be held tomorrow,
to
Wednesday as infighting intensifies over the imposition of
candidates.
MDC leader Welshman Ncube told The Standard yesterday that he
had waited for
the President and was told that he was engaged
elsewhere.
President Mugabe officiated at the commissioning of the US$16
million
motorised graders.
Ncube said as a result of the no-show by
Zanu PF, it means the resolutions
of the Sadc summit cannot be implemented
as the parties are supposed to
agree how and when they had to be
implemented.
Zanu PF legal representative and Justice minister, Patrick
Chinamasa was not
answering his phone yesterday.
Representatives of
the three political parties — Zanu PF, MDC-T and MDC —
had met on Wednesday
to resolve the crisis with Zanu PF requesting more time
to respond to some
of the queries raised.
At the order of the principals, the parties were
told to meet on Friday to
map the way forward but Zanu PF representatives
failed to turn up.
Two MDC formations told the principals that the
proclamation of the poll
date infringed the right of persons to vote in the
30- day period of intense
voter registration, as defined by the new
Constitution.
They also argued that the right to vote was an inextricable
extension of the
right to participate freely in politics and to choose
leaders of one’s
choice as guaranteed by section 67 of the new
Constitution.
They also argued that no proclamation could be made before
an Electoral Act
in conformity with the new constitution had been
passed.
Zimbabwe is in a constitutional crisis after Mugabe recently used
emergency
powers to pass a primary law before it had gone through
Parliament. He also
used Presidential Powers to pass into law amendments to
the Electoral Act.
Mugabe then proclaimed July 31 as the date for the
election drawing the ire
of his partners in the inclusive who felt that the
processes leading to a
credible, free and fair poll would not have been
completed by July 31.
Sadc recently said Zimbabwe should approach the
Constitutional Court to seek
an extension of the election date by two
weeks.
WE ARE COMMITTED TO CREDIBLE POLLS: TIMBA
Timba said the
two MDC formations remain committed to ensuring that the
rights and
interests of Zimbabweans are protected and safeguarded by taking
all
necessary legal steps to ensure we have a credible election.
He said that
in the event the two MDC formations do not get cooperation from
Zanu PF,
they would take the necessary legal and political steps to avert
the
constitutional crisis.
“The facilitation team is fully informed and
apprised of the political
developments,” he said.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
June 23, 2013 in News, Politics
Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai has predicted an outright victory for the
MDC-T in the
forthcoming elections, saying the mood in the country was
“overwhelmingly
anti-Zanu PF.”
REPORT BY NQOBANI NDLOVU
Addressing about 4 000
supporters at a rally in Bubi in Matabeleland
Province on Friday, the MDC-T
leader said the elections would not produce
another coalition government as
his party was romping to a resounding
victory.
“The MDC-T is ready
for the elections. Elections should come now and this
time there will not be
another unity government. The mood in Zimbabwe is
overwhelmingly anti-Zanu
PF,” Tsvangirai told cheering party supporters.
“The MDC-T is confident that
Zimbabweans will not vote for a dark past but
for a bright future, which
lies in the hands of the MDC-T.”
Tsvangirai accused Zanu PF of
deliberately causing confusion over the
election dates in a bid to rig the
up-coming polls.
“We are not against the holding of elections on July 31
or any other date.
What difference does it make? How can we refuse to go for
an election when
we won in 2008?” said Tsvangirai. “What we want are the
reforms that will
bring a free, fair and legitimate election. We do not want
a repeat of the
2008 scenario, where Zanu PF went on to steal an
election.”
Tsvangirai beat President Robert Mugabe in the violent 2008
elections but
not with enough votes to claim the presidency.
Mugabe
unilaterally set July 31 as the election date, only to be forced by a
special summit of Sadc to mount a court challenge seeking a poll
postponement to allow for the implementation of electoral and legislative
reforms to guarantee free and fair voting.
Zanu PF has accused the
MDC-T of being scared of the elections.
Tsvangirai said Zimbabweans would
not allow their “will to be subverted” and
advised the State security organs
to respect the election outcome.
“We want our soldiers to know that at
the end of the day, the people shall
govern. We want them to respect the
constitution and the mandate of the
people,” said Tsvangirai. “If Zanu PF is
ready to subvert the will of the
people, we will say go ahead … but we are
very confident that the people of
Zimbabwe will not allow their will to be
subverted.”
The 2008 harmonised elections were marred by political
violence. The MDC-T
has claimed that 200 of its supporters were killed by
Zanu PF youth militia
and State security agents in 2008 as they tried to
prop up Mugabe.
Zanu PF has however denied the allegations.
Mugabe
and Tsvangirai have also called for peace to prevail during the
elections.
The MDC parties have said election observers should be
deployed immediately
to create a conducive electoral
environment.
KHUPE URGES PEOPLE TO PRAY FOR PEACE
A 10-member
African Union (AU) pre-observer team is already in the country
to assess the
political situation ahead of harmonised elections set for July
31.
Deputy
Prime Minister Thokozani Khupe urged Zimbabweans to pray for peace to
prevail before and after the elections.
“The Bible says that if one
asks, they will be given. We should therefore
pray asking for peace to
prevail. We want an election that will see
Tsvangirai going to the State
House without violence,” said Khupe.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
June 23, 2013 in News, Politics
A
storm is brewing in Zanu PF ahead of primary elections slated for
Wednesday,
amid concerns that the party will pay heavily for the imposition
of
candidates in various constituencies.
Report by Patrice Makova
The
primary elections were initially slated for tomorrow, but had to be
deferred
to Wednesday after protesters from various provinces besieged Zanu
PF
headquarters demonstrating against the imposition of candidates.
As Zanu
PF battles to stem discontent, lack of funds and logistical
nightmares also
contributed to the postponement of the primaries.
Officials said fights
by the different factions in Zanu PF to position
themselves to succeed
President Robert Mugabe, saw many candidates being
disqualified from
standing in the primaries.
Some candidates who had been approved by
provinces were struck off the lists
by the Politburo allegedly at the
instigation of the Presidium.
The lists have candidates loyal to
Vice-President Joice Mujuru pitted
against those linked to Defence minister,
Emmerson Mnangagwa.
There is now tension in constituencies where some
popular candidates were
disqualified from standing. Impromptu demos are
being staged, while others
have dispatched delegations to President Robert
Mugabe and Mujuru to argue
their cases.
A politburo source said while
it was unlikely that “bhora musango” (protest
vote) would be repeated by
disgruntled party supporters in the forthcoming
elections, there were fears
that this time around, apathy would mar
constituencies where candidates have
been imposed.
“Popular candidates who feel that they were unfairly
disqualified will
simply fold their arms and not campaign for the party. I
see a number of
constituencies where Zanu PF won narrowly going to the
opposition because of
this imposition,” said the party official.
Zanu
PF bigwigs who were allegedly imposed include national secretary for
administration, Didymus Mutasa, who is now uncontested after Ministry of
Women’s Affairs director, Christopher Chingosho, was disqualified from
standing.
Chingosho, who has served as senior party official under
various Zanu PF
Manicaland provincial executives, is said to have made
inroads in Headlands
following years of campaigning.
He was also
riding on Mutasa’s current problems which saw some party
officials in
Manicaland province petitioning Mugabe to rein in the veteran
politician,
accusing him of dictatorship and imposition of candidates.
A Zanu PF
official said at last week’s politburo meeting where the list of
candidates
was being considered, Mujuru allegedly literally hit a table and
declared
that Mutasa should not be challenged as he was too senior in the
party.
But Women’s League boss, Oppah Muchinguri is said to have
queried why the
same principle was not being applied to her, as she was also
very senior in
the party.
Muchinguri is being contested by Joyce
Hamandishe in Mutasa-Nyanga under the
women’s quota system.
“There is
a feeling that the Presidium is applying double standards by
protecting some
candidates at the expense of others,” said the party
official. “Why was
national commissar, Webster Shamu not protected as he is
going to face stiff
competition from John Mafa [Mashonaland West provincial
chairman] for the
Chegutu seat? Shamu by virtue of his position is all over
the country and
does not have time to fully concentrate on his
constituency.”
In
Mutare North, where suspended Manicaland provincial chairman, Mike Madiro
was disqualified despite being cleared by the courts, of charges of stealing
cattle donated to Mugabe, there are fears of a protest
vote.
Prominent Mutare businessman Esau Mupfumi and several other
candidates are
eyeing the seat.
Tension is also brewing in Masvingo
province where some perceived popular
candidates were disqualified. In Gutu
there was near chaos at Chihambakwe
Centre yesterday, where hundreds of Zanu
PF supporters demanded to be
addressed by former Zimbabwe Football
Association boss Henrietta Rushwaya.
They said they wanted to know why
she was disqualified from contesting the
Gutu senatorial
seat.
Sources said traditional leaders from Masvingo have also sent a
delegation
to Harare demanding to know why former Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe
staffer,
Munyaradzi Kereke was disqualified from standing in the Bikita West
seat
against his former workmate and musician Elias Musakwa.
Musician
Energy Mutodi who was barred from contesting incumbent, Beater
Nyamupinga
for the Goromonzi West seat warned that Zanu PF chances in the
next
elections have all but evaporated because of imposition of candidates.
He
wrote on his Facebook page that the thousands of people who demonstrated
outside the party’s headquarters were angry over the rejection of their
preferred candidates many of whom were barred by Provincial Election
Directorates (PEDs) comprised of interested parties.
“The
factionalism disease was cited as another deterrent to intra-party
democracy. Consequently, voter apathy is unavoidable or simply people could
vote for the opposition in order to punish the PEDs,” said Mutodi. “If these
issues are not sorted out then we can as well forget a Zanu PF
rebound.”
In Mudzi, Zanu PF members are also mulling protests after the
disqualification of prominent lawyer, Jonathan Samukange.
Mutasa
yesterday said he was not aware of any complaints and protests
against the
imposition of candidates.
“I do not want to talk about the protests
because I don’t know about them.
You want me to comment about that, so that
you will say I am the one who
told you that. I am not telling you anything,”
he said.
Zanu PF national chairman, Simon Khaya-Moyo said PEDs would meet
today to
review concerns raised by the disqualified candidates.
The
issue of logistics is also expected to be discussed at today’s meetings
amid
revelation that the party was broke, and was finding it hard to deploy
agents and officials at each polling station.
“The problem in Zanu PF
is that we have individuals richer than the party.
They do not want to
donate to the party directly, because they want to use
their money to
control certain events including the succession issue,” said
a party
official.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
June 23, 2013 in News,
Politics
THE curtains are about to drop on the 7th Parliament of
Zimbabwe, but
analysts have mixed feelings over its performance during the
past five
years.
Its life ends on June 29, unless President Robert Mugabe
prematurely
dissolves it.
REPORT BY PATRICE MAKOVA
While some
said they were largely dissatisfied with its performance, others
are of the
opinion that it tried its best under the difficult circumstances.
Parliament
plays an oversight role on the executive arm of the State among
other things
such as, passing laws, ensuring transparency and
accountability, monitoring
the implementation of government programmes and
projects and debating
matters of topical interest.
For the first time, the two MDC formations
had a combined majority in the
House of Assembly, but Zanu PF dominated the
Senate.
University of Zimbabwe political science lecturer, Eldred
Masunungure said
the performance of the 7th Parliament was generally
unsatisfactory.
He said it failed to take full advantage of the
opportunities presented by a
political transition to make radical changes to
the political landscape.
“My assessment is that it was an opportunity
lost. The environment presented
an opportunity to break Parliament’s
relation with the Executive, but this
did not happen. As a result the
Executive is still domineering,” said
Masunungure.
He said although
Parliamentary Portfolio Committees were robust and exposed
excesses by the
Executive, overall, Parliament as a collective institution
could have done
better.
National Constitutional Assembly (NCA) director of information,
Blessing
Vava said the calibre of some MPs left a lot to be desired, as some
of them
never uttered a word apart from the swearing in
session.
“They were just rubber stampers and backbenchers, probably not
knowing what
exactly their role was,” he said. Vava said the whipping system
by political
parties also made MPs ineffective, thereby inhibiting
debate.
He said Parliament was reduced to a rubber stamping authority of
decisions
made by Global Political Agreement (GPA) principals namely Mugabe
of Zanu
PF, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai of MDC-T and Professor Welshman
Ncube
of the smaller MDC formation.
But political scientist,
Shakespeare Hamauswa said the 7th Parliament did
its best, especially in
view of the political stand-off that largely
characterised its term of
office.
He said portfolio committees did a good job and managed to come
up with
well-researched reports and recommendations.
Hamauswa said
the challenge was that the environment was highly polarised
and the
Executive and some employees of the parliament interfered with the
business
of Parliament.
He said one of its major achievements include the new
constitution,
realignment of other statutory bodies like the Reserve Bank of
Zimbabwe
(RBZ), and the setting up of commissions such as, the Zimbabwe
Electoral
Commission and the Anti-Corruption Commission.
“It was not
an issue of rubber stamping policies and programmes, like what
if used to be
in the past. Private members’ Bills were introduced in the 7th
parliament
unlike what has been happening in the past,” said Hamauswa.
Mbizo MP,
Settlement Chikwinya brought before the House a motion on
unconstitutional
statements by the country’s service chiefs while Mutare
Central legislator,
Innocent Gonese brought a private member’s Bill to amend
the Public Order
and Security Act (Posa) deemed suppressive of freedom of
expression.
Other bills included the Public Finance Management Act,
meant to improve
accountability in the public resources, the RBZ Amendment
Act, as well as
the National Security Council Act which led to the
disbandment of the Joint
Operations Command (JOC).
JOC comprised
security chiefs that supported Mugabe and allegedly violated
human
rights.
Hamauswa said the debates in Parliament were live and
objective.
“However, in certain instances the Parliament was there to
approve the
decisions of the principals, like in the case of adopting the
new
Constitution. Some members were insulated from scrutiny, such as the
minister of Mines and other ministries especially [those] led by Zanu PF,”
said the political scientist.
Elections Resources Director (ERC),
Tawanda Chimhini was of the opinion that
the 7th Parliament was one of the
most effective since 1980, as it managed
to enact progressive laws,
particularly those related to elections.
He said while Parliament
sometimes rubber-stamped, the portfolio committees
took government to task
on various issues and was on the ground ensuring
that voter registration was
done properly.
“Their public hearings were the most effective and we have
been reliably
informed that this ruffled some feathers in government,” said
Chimhini.
But he admitted that while Parliament played an oversight role,
it was
unfortunate that the Executive ignored its
recommendations.
“The oversight role only works when you have a
responsive government. We
should have seen a lot of ministers and government
officials resigning
because of the works of these committees,” said the ERC
official.
Other committees that were vocal included the budget and
finance, public
accounts, as well as home affairs and defence.
But
some analysts insisted that Parliament has lost its credibility and
integrity, saying the GNU has treated it with absolute contempt and
disrespect.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
June 23, 2013 in News,
Politics
Zanu PF provincial youth chairperson, Jim Kunaka (JK) has
stirred a lot of
controversy in Harare and has been linked to Chipangano, a
militia group
accused of waging political violence against rival party
supporters. The
Standard (S) last week caught up with the youth leader and
engaged him on a
variety of topical issues.
S: Youths are seen as the
game changers in the forthcoming elections. As
Zanu PF Harare provincial
chairperson, what measures have you put in place
to ensure you reclaim seats
that are in MDC-T hands?
JK: It’s true that this election is for young
people, not just in Harare but
in the whole country. That’s where we are
going to define our tomorrow.
Since 2008, we have been working flat out on
the ground to make sure that we
have proper structures. We are ready for
elections.
We have been encouraging young people to go and register to
vote, especially
those who have finished their education. We have managed to
capture a large
number of youths to come and join the party. We are getting
new people
coming to join the party on a daily basis.
S: Zanu PF has
only one seat in Harare (Harare South), how many do you think
you will be
able to wrestle from the MDC-T?
JK: When the MDC joined the government,
the leadership of the party has
proved that they know nothing about
governance. They have been looting
resources, including from the City of
Harare. They were getting allowances,
getting houses and were involved in
corruption when awarding tenders. When
one is elected he or she must come to
develop their constituencies.
Harare South is ours but the rest of them
(constituencies) went to the MDCs.
If you go to those constituencies you
will find that there is no
development, but the MPs were given funds to
develop their constituencies
and they went away with the money. They have
done nothing. (Gift)
Chimanikire and (Pineal) Denga are nowhere to be
found.
S: Is it not because you chased them away?
JK: There is no
violence in Mbare, why should we chase away MPs, we expect
to see
development, you must come back to the people, sit down and have
meetings
and ask them what they want.
We have suffered for the past five years, as
if we have no representatives,
only to be rescued by well-wishers from Zanu
PF. Shadow MPs from Zanu PF
have been assisting us so that we survive, if
universities close, we run to
Zanu PF, if water is not available we run to
Zanu PF, so people now know
that there is a difference between a burial
society and a political party.
The MDC is a burial society.
S: Why
are you confident that the people of Harare will support you this
time?
JK: Where I was growing up, I had never known of load shedding
or water
shortages. People of Harare are saying, we never knew when we voted
in 2008,
now we know where leadership comes from.
Electricity bills
are high, the responsible (Energy) ministry is being run
by Elton Mangoma,
who said he could do it but he has failed.
Even in education, you will be
shocked how children have failed. Who is
running that ministry? David
Coltart of the MDC.
Biti (Tendai Biti, Finance minister) why are you not
giving civil servants
money? Diamonds are not being sold. The same people
like Biti are going to
tell foreign countries not to buy blood diamonds.
Does he think Obert Mpofu
(Mines minister) will lay money just like a
hen?
As the minister of Finance, his job is to look for money for the
country,
but what is he doing?
S: You have been linked with
contesting for Zanu PF primaries in Southerton
Constituency. What do you
want to change if elected into Parliament?
JK: I am not standing as an
MP, I am standing at ward 11 in Southerton
constituency as a
councillor.
I want to make sure the people especially those from Mbare,
benefit. I will
come to the people and consult with them on what they can
pay and include
that in the budget. We also want people without title deeds
to get them.
This City of Harare administration does not want people to
extend their
houses, and it takes a long time to approve plans (for
extension).
People in Mbare know me, spend their time with me. They are
the only ones
who can say if I’m violent, the rest is media propaganda. I
haven’t ever
been arrested because of beating anybody with regard to
political violence.
You can check.
S: Do you think your alleged link
to Chipangano, known for violence, will
work against you and Zanu PF in
Harare?
JK: Since 2008, I chose to live among the people, learning the
people’s
problems and solving them. The MDC decided to tarnish my image
saying I’m
the leader of Chipangano. Can anybody come on board to explain to
me — is it
a beer hall, is it a shebeen or what? Is it an organisation and
is it
registered in whose name? We don’t know what Chipangano is all about,
we
only deal with structures in the party.
S: Why do you (as Zanu PF
provincial chairperson) think Hararians will
support President Robert Mugabe
instead of a younger Vice-President Joice
Mujuru, Jonathan Moyo or Emmerson
Mnangagwa?
JK: You see Zanu PF is a revolutionary party. Even if Mugabe
reaches 200
years, we don’t vote for the 200 years, we are voting for his
wisdom. There
are protocols in the party; we are not greedy about positions
in the party.
That is why we are voting for Mugabe with his 89 years. We are
united.
S: You have been vocal against the construction of a service
station in
Mbare by one Alex Mashamhanda. Don’t you think Mbare will lag
behind when
development moves forward, especially considering the Bill and
Melinda Gates
project was relocated to Dzivaresekwa?
JK: It was good
for Mashamhanda to build a service station, but we only
asked him two
questions. You want to construct a service station, what are
we going to
benefit as the sons and daughters of Mbare? He did not even
manage to answer
that question. Then we decided that it is better for us to
construct a home
industry because we survive on selling our wares here in
Mbare. We once
applied for land before Mashamhanda, and our application was
rejected. We
were told that the land was for extension of Matapi Police
Station, but now
it has been given to Mashamhanda because he is pro-MDC.
There was an
agreement made at Harvest House, to the effect that when he
constructs that
service station, he is going to fund candidates who may want
to stand for
Mbare using money that comes from there.
With regard to the Bill and
Melinda Gates project, we approached City of
Harare and said guys you want
to construct some flats, who are the
beneficiaries? Then they said they
alone would identify the beneficiaries.
We said no to that. They constructed
flats in Mbare at Ardbenie, but not a
single person from Mbare got
accommodation there.
We said why don’t you first renovate the existing
flats and build family
units, then you paint them and construct proper
ablution facilities. Then we
said if you have your own beneficiaries rovai
henyu pasi (go elsewhere).
S: Do you feel the GNU has done enough to
empower youths?
JK: The GNU has three parties so we need to separate
them. The MDCs have
done nothing; they are trying to implement Zanu PF
policies. The ministry of
Indigenisation is for all, regardless of political
affiliation. There are
many young businesspeople who can testify that they
got loans to start
projects. I am one of them. I am not shy, I benefited
from indigenisation
and economic empowerment. I’m doing a lot and I can’t
comment on the
projects because the enemy will start attacking me.
S:
What’s your view on Zanu PF factionalism? Don’t you think factionalism
will
work against the party in the forthcoming elections?
JK: As far as I’m
concerned there is no factionalism in Zanu PF. All that
(factional) politics
is found in independent newspapers. You can’t get that
sort of news from the
Herald . . . you have an agenda to come and divide.
We are united, our
thinking may differ here and there, but we are the
champions of democracy in
Africa. Tsvangirai (Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai) and his people will
not win the elections.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
June 23, 2013 in Local, News
IMMENSE
interest has been generated by the recently held Sadc summit in
Maputo, with
people from all walks of life debating whether President Robert
Mugabe was
indeed humiliated.
REPORT BY OUR STAFF
The extraordinary Sadc
summit ordered Mugabe to return to the Constitutional
Court (ConCourt) and
seek an extension of two weeks to the July 31 date that
he had unilaterally
set for elections.
Analysts said the directive was an embarrassment for
Mugabe who had invoked
Presidential Powers, setting an election date in
violation of the Global
Political Agreement (GPA).
While some readers
of The Standard online edition reacted by posting
comments praising the
decision, others defended Mugabe maintaining that the
summit did not
embarrass him at all.
One reader, who identified himself as Kufandada
said Justice Minister,
Patrick Chinamasa gave bad advice to Mugabe to
unilaterally proclaim the
election date.
“He is still being stubborn
by saying that it will be up to the ConCourt to
agree to extend the date. He
Nicodimously instructed the ConCourt to make
this judgment and must deal
with it,” he said.
One Chitoporo commented that it was bad for the image
of the country to
“drag” their 89-year-old leader to Mozambique to get
embarrassed in front of
the whole of Sadc.
“This is all to do with
silly little factional fights within Zanu PF, now
they are dragging all of
us through the mud. We now appear as illiterate
fools who can’t run their
own house,” wrote Chitoporo.
But John Ndebele said Sadc’s directive was
no victory for the MDCs, arguing
that as Parliament was due to expire on
June 29, it was impossible to
implement the media and security sector
reforms they were demanding.
“Without Parliament is this not a vexatious,
frivolous attempt to undermine
the judiciary and sovereign authority of
Zimbabwe?” asked Ndebele. “Is this
not an attempt to get through the back
door what they failed through the
front door? Will the President and his
party and the judiciary not see
through this gimmick? What is the
possibility of the Court of last instance
overturning its own
decision?”
But TM, another reader, said Mugabe did not expect Sadc to
recommend that he
goes back to the same ConCourt and seek
reprieve.
“If the President wanted a clear road map to elections, he
should have
approached the ConCourt instead of waiting for Sadc to do so.
All the
current government positions are negotiated, a point that the
President
seems to have forgotten,” said TM.
Another reader using the
name, Reason said, he fails to understand how
Mugabe was
humiliated.
“In fact if at all someone was humiliated it was Tsvangirai
and his team,
why? Because they said the ConCourt had no jurisdiction over
this matter,
but Sadc took note of the court ruling and referred all parties
back to the
same court,” wrote Reason. “Mugabe actually won and what does 14
days
change? It’s pathetic that leaders who claim to represent a lot of
people
are celebrating a defeat.”
This view is supported by another
reader who said anyone who said, Sadc
never said Mugabe’s proclamation and
the court order were illegal.
Tafamutekwe accused politicians of taking
delight in causing people great
discomfort every day.
“Zimbabweans
are literally hostages to these politicians. This is why people
are hoping
for the best from these Sadc mediation efforts because truly
speaking, the
only people who will benefit from these rushed elections is
the corrupt
oligarchy,” said the reader.
“In 2008 the Chief Justice proclaimed Mugabe
the rightfully elected
President, after his one man bloody election run-off
race. The rest as they
say is history. So much for your blind faith in this
politically constituted
and inspired ConCourt.”
Another reader
responded that MDC people were “jumping up and down as if
they won
anything.”
“That Sadc statement is not an order. It means absolutely
nothing to the
ConCourt,” wrote the reader.
Justice, another reader,
said even if elections were held now there was no
guarantee that Mugabe
would win.
“Unless if you want to tell me the rigging rumours we are
hearing are true,”
he said.
Liumbez wrote that the Sadc directive
“serves this old man right.”
“We deserve better leadership. Right now we
are struggling in other people’s
countries while our beloved country burns
all in the name of power. Credible
elections are the way to go,” said
Liumbez.
One Wiltshire said while people can analyse and scrutinise the
directive,
the world and the continent’s tolerance of dictators has
evaporated.
“Robert [Mugabe] should not just trick his way to power. He
has to bear in
mind the tricks after the power may run out. Full blown
economic embargoes
can halt him. Plus many other consequences he thinks he
can avoid.
He thinks he is a Machiavelli, but even Mubarak or Gaddafi
thought they
were, until the winds of change came to their door steps,”
wrote Wiltshire.
Mzilikazi, another reader, said Sadc was still toothless
despite its
directive.
“They are scared of Mugabe, they gave us a raw
deal. Mugabe will still
benefit. Remember voter registration is almost
halfway but few people have
been registered, and the large majority is being
denied their Constitutional
right,” said Mzilikazi.
‘REFORMS ARE
POSSIBLE IN TWO WEEKS’
Gutter Poet said reforms could be fast tracked
like what happened to the
Constitutional Referendum.
“Let’s get on
with the real issues at hand: building back our lost glory.
Remember the
greater number of people out there are neither Zanu PF nor
MDC,” wrote the
poet. “They are just Zimbabweans who would like to live in
a normal society
and they wouldn’t care one way or the other who is the
President of this
country, but what he will he do for them. How would the
two major parties
which should know better halt the progress of a whole
country because of
their petty differences?”
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
June 23, 2013 in Local, News
AT 89 years, President
Robert Mugabe would be one of the world’s oldest
Presidential candidates
when he squares off against his arch-rival, Morgan
Tsvangirai for the keys
to the State House in the coming elections.
REPORT BY NDAMU
SANDU
It will be a gruelling battle which is set to end the life of the
inclusive
government formed in 2009, a coalition credited with stabilising
the
economic environment after years of hyper-inflation.
Zanu PF has
been pulling out all stops for an early election, insisting that
the
inclusive government is unworkable due to ideological differences among
the
three parties.
The recent Constitutional Court ruling, mandating Mugabe
to have an election
by July 31, has worked into Zanu PF’s grand scheme of
early polls.
Mugabe recently proclaimed July 31 as an election date using
presidential
powers, at a time amendments to the Electoral Act were set to
be debated in
Parliament.
This angered the two MDC formations who said
the move is an infringement on
the Constitution.
There are
indications pointing to an electoral pact between the MDC
formations, to end
Zanu PF’s 33 years in power.
If Mugabe is voted into office, he will
complete his first term, under the
new Constitution, at a ripe 94 years of
age. The new Constitution allows him
to contest again in 2018 and that would
be his final term.
Age is catching up with Mugabe, who has made several
trips to Asia for
medical check ups in the past few years.
According
to United States whistle-blower website, Wikileaks, a senior
government
official reportedly told the then US ambassador to Zimbabwe,
James McGee in
2008, that Mugabe had prostate cancer and his health would
deteriorate in
three to five years.
The official told McGee that a doctor had advised
Mugabe to cut back on
business.
Fielding an 89-year-old candidate has
raised questions whether Zanu PF is
fast-tracking the election process to
suit a short campaign period, with
Mugabe in mind.
Political analyst
Dumisani Nkomo of Habakkuk Trust said the proclamation of
the election date
and ignoring the reforms currently underway, fits into
Zanu PF’s strategy of
catching the system aimed at ensuring credible polls,
off-guard.
“The
systems that should ensure there is a credible election won’t be in
place.
Foreign and local observers won’t be in place, there would be
manipulation
in terms of special ballots,” Nkomo said.
Zanu PF has been hitting its
election drums louder saying it is ready for
the polls. It postponed the
holding of its primary elections to Wednesday,
as in-fighting over the
selection of candidates intensifies. The primary
elections were supposed to
be held tomorrow (Monday).
Zanu PF banking on State
bureaucracy
Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition (CiZC), director McDonald
Lewanika said Zanu PF
was not banking on the readiness of the party, but on
the preparedness of
the State bureaucracy, which they intend to use as part
of their rigging
strategy.
“It doesn’t make sense with an 89-year-old
candidate, to think that in a
short space of time that candidate can
traverse the length and breadth of
the country.
For Zanu PF if the
state machinery is ready, they are ready, because they
don’t intend to win
this election on the ground,” Lewanika said.
Oxford University lecturer,
Phillan Zamchiya said Zimbabwe is a party-State,
where state institutions
and Zanu PF programmes are conflated.
“So if you say Zanu PF is ready,
then you must be confident that the
military is ready to campaign. For
example, during the primary elections,
Zanu PF will be using the state
designed polling stations and so forth,”
Zamchiya said. He said without
district coordinating committees, Zanu PF
will use soldiers, commonly
referred to as “Boys on Leave”. Zanu PF’s
confidence of winning is coming
from its ability to manipulate electoral
processes using more subtle
techniques, such as vote padding and
intimidation among others.
“They
know that in a free and fair election they stand no chance. It is the
art of
manipulation that gives them confidence first and foremost. Then of
course
they might be buoyed by the recent surveys that show a dip in MDC
support,”
Zamchiya he said.
Zanu PF’s campaign trump card, indigenisation, is
tainted as the term sheets
signed between government and mining companies
for the transfer of
shareholding to locals have been criticised by some
government officials.
Lewanika said for Zanu PF, it’s not about
convincing the electorate, but the
“sophistry of inflation and deflation of
figures and manipulation”.
Unlike in 2008, Tsvangirai is weakened,
tainted by love scandals after
aborted marriage attempts. Corruption
allegations against MDC-T councillors
in local authorities have also weighed
down his chances.
Opinion polls have also projected a Zanu PF victory,
putting a dent on
Tsvangirai’s image. But Lewanika said Mugabe is dirtier
than Tsvangirai and
has had worse scandals than anyone but is considered a
viable candidate.
“Morally who is better, a guy who had multiple girlfriends
while single or
the guy who took someone else’s wife?” Lewanika
queried.
In a recent interview with a South African broadcaster, Mugabe
defended his
relationship with his then secretary, now his wife Grace
Mugabe, saying she
was divorced. “Who is better the guy whose party has
intermittent episodes
of violence or the guy whose party has a history of
killing, maiming and
abducting opponents? In the final analysis people will
choose the lesser of
two evils,” Lewanika said. He said the two MDC
formations need to observe
and monitor the electoral process at each turn,
starting with the voter
registration process and the voters’ roll, to
results tallying and
transmission.
Nkomo forecast the two MDCs
forming an electoral pact, as it was “the most
logical pragmatic thing to
do”.
Zamchiya said it was now up to the pro-democracy family to
check-mate Zanu
PF. “Once the value chain of election manipulation is
brought under the
microscope, Zanu PF is out,” he said.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
June 23, 2013 in Local, News
PRESIDENT
Robert Mugabe yesterday bemoaned the rate of divorces in Zanu PF
and urged
youths to observe their cultural practices and work hard to
achieve success
in life.
REPORT BY OUR STAFF
Speaking at the official opening of
the 21st Session of the Junior
Parliament, Mugabe urged youths to exercise
discipline to avoid contracting
HIV and Aids and other
diseases.
Mugabe bemoaned the high divorce and separation rate in the
country. He said
women and children were the most affected.
“Out of
any three weddings I have attended, at least one couple has broken
up. There
is so much divorce and separation, take your time before marriage,
don’t
rush…study your partner,” said Mugabe. “Even looking at my own
Cabinet, I
ask them ah uyu ndewechingani [I ask is this the first wife]?”
Mugabe
said children find it hard to accept why their mother was
rejected.
Several Zanu PF officials and Cabinet ministers have gone
through nasty
divorces in the past few years.
Among them are Minister
of Local Government, Urban and Rural Development,
Ignatious Chombo, Zanu PF
national chairperson Simon Kaya-Moyo, Minister of
State in Vice President
Joice Mujuru’s Office Silvester Nguni, deputy
Minister of Economic Planning
and Development, Samuel Undenge.
Mugabe also took the opportunity to
launch the revised National Youth
Policy.
The President spoke on
moral decadence and called on youths to avoid being
trapped in harmful
practices, such as drinking and doing drugs.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
June 23, 2013 in Local, News
PRESIDENT Robert
Mugabe’s sister, Bridgette, who was admitted at
Parirenyatwa Hospital in
2010, is still in the intensive care unit at the
health centre.
On August
10 this year, she will make three years in hospital.
REPORT BY DALPHINNE
TAGWIREYI.
Bridgette, the only surviving sibling of Mugabe, collapsed at
the burial of
her sister Sabina at the National Heroes Acre in Harare in
2010.
Family spokesperson Leo Mugabe told The Standard it was a very
difficult
situation for the whole family.
“She has been the same and
we cannot tell if she is responding to medication
or not because she cannot
talk,” family spokesperson, Leo Mugabe said.
“I think she still has her
sense of feeling, because when you hold her hand
you can feel it move, as if
she is returning your handshake.”
He also said that they do not know what
was really going on and they would
be really grateful if she was able to
narrate what she was going through.
Her case is similar to that of Ariel
Sharon (84), who led Israel from 2001
until suffering a stroke in
2006.
He is still connected to a respirator.
The former Israel
Prime Minister recently showed brain activity prompting
his doctors to
suggest that he might wake up from his coma.
According to health experts
a coma is a state of unconsciousness and the
person cannot be awoken as they
lack the normal sleep-wake cycle.
A coma patient may appear awake but
they are unable to consciously speak,
hear or move and injury to
neurological components contributes to a comatose
state.
A person in
a coma can retain basic life support functions, such as
breathing and
circulation.
It is possible that people can recover fully, whereas some
may require
lifelong physical and occupational therapy and others may only
recover basic
functions.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
June 23, 2013 in Community News
THEIR
frustration could be seen by the continual shaking of their heads as
the
long queue, moving at a snail’s pace, snaked to the check point.
BY MUSA
DUBE
Luke Marange (42), and his wife, Chipo Mushowe (34), of Dangamvura
in Mutare
had been in the queue for a gruelling four hours before they could
pass
Beitbridge border post into Zimbabwe last week, as congestion at the
border
continues unabated.
The couple were on their way home from a
shopping trip in South Africa.
When Standardcommunity visited the South
African side, shoppers and tourists
could not hide their anger at the long
time they spent passing through
Beitbridge border post.
They accused
immigration officials from both sides of the border of taking
too much time
to clear a single person, causing unnecessary congestion.
“We spend about
one and a half hours waiting to be cleared at the Musina
border post. There
were scores of people in the queue when we arrived and
the queue was moving
at a snail’s pace as the immigration workers took their
time to clear us,”
said the visibly exhausted Marange.
But the one and half hours delay at
the South African side was nothing
compared to the three and half hours the
couple later spent at the
Zimbabwean side.
Tempers flared as Zimbabwe
Revenue Authorities (Zimra) officials started
rummaging through the
travellers’ luggage, searching for those who had
evaded paying
duty.
The officials took their time searching each and every bag, box and
even
women’s handbags.
“We used to complain of the South Africa
immigration officials ill-treating
us, but our own people have become even
worse,” fumed Mushowe. “They are
also very slow and do whatever they want
with us.
Imagine, we wait about an hour before they even attend to
us.”
She added: “The level of professionalism at the border post has gone
down
and we just wonder when this problem will come to an end? I think they
enjoy
seeing us stuck here at the border.”
Mushowe claimed that those
who paid bribes to avoid paying duty and had
their papers processed
quickly.
The Standardcommunity also noticed that a queue for vehicles was
stretching
up to 100 metres waiting to be cleared.
Efforts to get a
comment from the immigration officials at the border were
fruitless.
Beitbridge is the busiest border post in southern Africa,
handling about 9
000 travellers daily. The figure sometimes soars up to over
25 000 during
holidays.
Tourism players have also repeatedly called
on the government to resolve the
problem of congestion, as it was a “death
penalty” to the industry.
Zimbabwe Tourism Authority (ZTA) chief
executive officer, Karikoga Kaseke
recently said an interim board had been
set up by government to address the
crisis at the border post to guarantee
the swift flow of travellers and
traffic, ahead of the United Nations
Tourism World Organisation (UNWTO)
meeting.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
June 23, 2013 in Community
News
PEOPLE living with albinism have bemoaned lack of sunscreen
medication in
the country’s health institutions including pharmacies,
putting their lives
in great danger.
BY MOSES CHIBAYA
Zimbabwe
Albino Association acting chairperson Richard Nyathi last week
appealed to
government to help them access sunscreen medication and
equipment needed to
detect skin problems early at an affordable cost.
“Sunscreen lotions are
a problem. They are not available in public
pharmacies and that’s one of the
reasons why we are here,” said Nyathi.
“We also need early skin-care
detection equipment placed in districts and
hospitals in Zimbabwe. Children
with albinism usually grow sores and if they
are not detected early they
develop into skin cancer, but if those sores are
identified at an early
stage, there is a chance they may live longer.”
Speaking at the
stakeholder meeting on people living with albinism recently,
Nyathi said
they were also concerned by lack of awareness about the disease
across all
sectors of society.
“We expect nurses to give post-natal education
—telling mothers on what to
do with a child living with albanism, including
not allowing the child to
play in the sun without any protective clothing,”
he said.
Nyathi also bemoaned lack of proper statistics of people living
with
albinism in the country.
“Research has not included people with
disability in general, but I must
stress that albinism has been left out
completely from all the censuses that
have been done since 1982,” said
Nyathi. “They have excluded people with
albinism, so there is no definite
data.”
However, other estimates indicate that Zimbabwe has between 14 000 to
17 000
people living with albinism.
Terrance Mapeni, who lives with
the condition, said the suncreams were too
expensive for most people living
with the condition.
He said the affordable ones lacked the “moisturising
element”, which is an
important ingredient that prevents skin
damage.
“During summer, l may need four to five tubes, in most cases l
have to
travel with the tube,” said Mapeni. “During winter, l may use two to
three
tubes.”
He said on average each tube costs
US$15.
Minister of Health and Child Welfare, Henry Madzorera admitted
that there
was lack of knowledge on albinism among health professionals in
the country.
“We don’t know how to relate to these programmes. I think we
should
strengthen counselling skills in medical schools,” he said. “We must
make
sunscreen services available in public hospitals and
pharmacies”.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
June 23, 2013 in Community
News
THE weakening of the South African rand against major currencies has
brought
mixed feelings among cross border traders, with some enjoying rich
pickings,
while others are counting the cost in lost business.
BY
PHYLLIS MBANJE
The rand has been weakening over the past few months to
R10,2 per US dollar
from R8 per US dollar.
Small-scale traders, who
deal in small items, mostly clothing and electrical
goods, say the weakening
of the rand meant that most of their customers
could now cross the border
and shop for themselves.
In an interview with Standardcommunity last week
cross-border traders who
bring small orders, complained that businesses had
drastically declined,
forcing them to cut down on the number of trips to
South Africa.
“We are now faced with a situation where our former
customers are now buying
their own stuff, instead of placing orders with us
as before.
This is because when one trades the dollar you get more rands, a
situation
which makes it easier to just cross over to Musina and buy the
stuff
themselves,” said Grace Maravanyika from Ashdown Park in
Harare.
“I’m stuck with goods from my last trip. They are not moving as
much, and I
have had to reduce the price. We incur so many costs, like
paying bribes
either to the Zimra guys through the bus drivers or
conductors.”
Another cross-border trader from Harare’s Mabelreign suburb,
Jane Chokoto
said shop owners have also reduced the prices of their goods,
as they are
buying them cheaper, a situation which has brought on a lot of
competition.
“We are now being pushed out of business by shop owners who
are pricing down
their goods or having sales every week, since they are
getting them at a
lower price.
“In South Africa, the more you buy,
the more you can negotiate for a
discount,” she said.
Meanwhile, it
has been a windfall for traders who bring in bulkier stuff, as
they enjoy
larger discounts.
Illegal currency dealers have also experienced a boom
in their trade, as
most people are exchanging the dollar for the
rand.
However, running battles with the police have increased at places
like
Roadport, where most black market traders operate.
“Most of them
[police] come in plain clothes and pretend to be genuine
people looking to
do business. It is difficult now, even though the demand
is high,” said one
money changer.
Economists say the weakening of the rand would have a
positive impact on
Zimbabweans as it makes imports from South Africa
cheaper.
Economic analyst, Innocent Makwiramiti said although there were
some
positive benefits due to the weakening of the rand, there could be
adverse
effects on local businesses.
“Almost 80% of our products are
imported from South Africa, so if the rand
continues its free fall in the
next three or four months prices in South
Africa will obviously rise and
that would mean that the importers will also
increase their prices in turn,”
he said.
He also said in the long run some local companies would suffer,
as it would
become difficult to compete with cheaper
imports.
“Unfortunately, some companies might be forced to close shop, as
operational
costs will become unbearable.”
Another economist, Chris
Magaya said the weakening of the rand meant cheaper
goods and more
competition.
He said it would slow economic growth, since “our goods will
be facing
stiffer competition from cheaper South African
goods”.
FOREX DEALERS HOLDING ON TO THE RAND
At Ximex Mall
the traders were instead buying the rand and holding onto it.
“We are not
selling but buying it because we know that the demand is high,
so as
business people we look ahead.
“There will come a time when the rand will
be scarce.
“We are also buying from those who are selling out of fear that if
it
continues to fall it will be worthless,” said another money changer at
Ximex
Mall.
But it is proving difficult for those working in South
Africa to send money
to relatives and friends back home.
“When my
husband in South Africa sends me money using the mukuru.com
facility or even
through Western Union what I eventually receive in US
dollar terms will be
so little, and I cannot ask for more because his salary
is still the
same.
I could opt to receive it in rand but now most shops are offering
an unfair
rate, even on days when the rand is strong,” said Loice Kokero of
Kuwadzana.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
June 23, 2013 in Business
FINANCE minister
Tendai Biti has equated the coalition government to a
school, saying the
hard lessons learnt were that such arrangements place a
premium on
development.
BY NDAMU SANDU
In an interview last week Biti said
the life of the coalition government was
made tougher by a faction of Zanu
PF hardliners, whom he said were bishops
of chaos.
“A bad thing that
I learnt is that in a fragile situation where hard
decisions have to be
made, coalitions put a premium on development.The buck
must stop with one
individual, that is, the President. If you have a bus
with two drivers; one
is accelerating and one is applying the brakes, it
doesn’t work, and that
has been the experience of the past four and half
years,” Biti
said.
“I wouldn’t want to see a coalition in Zimbabwe as long as we still
have
this group of people with a culture of impunity, a culture of
entitlement.”
Biti said it had taken the government long to negotiate for
an International
Monetary Fund’s Staff Monitored Programme (SMP), as he had
to convince the
Fund that Zimbabwe would adhere to the books.
Some of
the issues Zimbabwe promised to agree to during the SMP, that runs
up to
December, are the issuance of a Statutory Instrument, containing a
clear
formula for the calculation and remittance of any dividends from
diamond
producers. Government has shareholding by month end and a bill to
take over
the central bank’s debt by end of September.
Biti said only a credible,
legitimate election would ensure the success of
the SMP.
“We need a
credible, legitimate election in Zimbabwe. We cannot continue to
be arrested
by predatory politics and vicious cycles of exclusion,
underwritten by the
chaos faction of Zanu PF. So we need to destroy this
huge temple where the
chaos faction of Zanu PF are bishops — this church
needs to go,” he
said.
Biti is due to present the mid-term Fiscal Policy, but the
combative
minister said the polls proclamation had made government a sitting
duck and
his statement won’t have proposals.
President Robert Mugabe
proclaimed July 31 as the date for the harmonised
elections drawing the ire
of coalition partners, who said the processes
leading to the polls had not
been completed. The regional body, Sadc,
recently told Zimbabwe to seek a
two-week extension to the poll date.
The new government, he said, would
have to lay the path forward, riding on
the work that had been
undertaken.
“It’s important that we consolidate the good that Zimbabwe
has done in the
past four years and jettison the bad that we have done,
which is largely too
much of subordination of our economic trajectory to
politics,” he said.
“We must stick clearly to what we have said and speak
with one voice. This
business where every one is an authority in subjects
that they are
illiterate is not helpful to the country. If you are Minister
of
Indigenisation stick to that, don’t venture into things that you don’t
know,
because you will become an authority in chaos.”
The ministries
of Finance and Youth Development, Indigenisation and
Empowerment are at odds
over the implementation of the empowerment rules in
the banking
sector.
Youth Development, Indigenisation and Empowerment minister
Saviour
Kasukuwere, insists that the banking sector won’t be spared in the
indigenisation drive and any foreign bank unwilling to partner with locals
should pack and go.
Biti and central bank governor Gideon Gono insist
that the sector is already
indigenised, and those who want to join the party
should apply for new
banking licences.
Biti and Gono have found
common ground despite having fought at the early
stages of the coalition
government.
“We fought viciously. There was lack of trust between the two
of us. I was
very clear I had to do a certain job which was to make sure
that the central
bank performs its core business of monetary policy
management . . . ,” he
said.
Before then, the central bank was
engaging in quasi-activities, such as
funding agriculture, parastatals and
elections among others.
These activities were blamed for quickening
hyper-inflation as the central
bank resorted to the printing press to
finance growing government
commitments.
“I was super-imposing this on
a bank that basically had been allowed or
forced to become the Ministry of
Finance. We all came to a point that there
is no country that can operate
without the synchronisation of monetary and
fiscal policies. Governor Gono
also understood that I was sincere in what I
was doing, that I was not after
any personal attacks, gratification and
vindictiveness,” Biti
said.
“We also understood that there were people benefitting from our
divisions —
newspapers and factions in Zanu PF. I am glad it’s all in the
past. He is a
very experienced man.”
Biti said the two are on talking
terms and can sit for hours discussing
economic issues.
On the
qualities needed to become Finance Minister in a fragile country like
Zimbabwe Biti said one has to be strong, honest and trustworthy.
He
said one should have craft competence and “understanding your subject and
you must be [the] prime driver of what is good for the economy”. One must be
very strong in defending that which is good for the economy.
He said
one must be a team player and earn the respect of colleagues.
“You can’t rule
by proclamations or decrees,” Biti said, adding that
populism had to be done
away with.
“There are some decisions which in the short-term might be
very unpopular
but in the long-term will be for the good of the nation. I
would have liked
to give a 2 000% salary wage increase to civil servants,
but it’s not
possible,” he said.
He said a Finance Minister has to be
articulate and his legal training has
been a plus for him.
Biti said
one has to be hot-headed and stick to the book, and must have a
good team of
professionals.
FIRST IMF AGREEMENT IN A DECADE
A Staff Monitored
Programme (SMP) is an informal agreement between country
authorities and
International Monetary Fund (IMF) staff, to monitor the
implementation of
the authorities’ economic programme.
SMPs do not entail financial
assistance or endorsement by the IMF Executive
Board.
This is
Zimbabwe’s first IMF agreement in more than a decade.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
June 23, 2013 in Opinion
People always
lie for the same reason; fear. But the precise fear that makes
a person lie
in one circumstance might be different from the fear that makes
them lie in
another.
Sunday Opinion by Robert J Burrows
When a child is young,
it will naturally tell the truth. Most usually, it
starts to learn to lie
(consciously or unconsciously) when it discovers that
it is not believed,
when it tells the truth or it is blamed and punished for
telling the truth
(particularly if the truth is unpalatable to a parent or
other
adult).
In these circumstances, lying might occur in an attempt to be
believed or in
an attempt to avoid blame and punishment and the lie might
take the form of
the child fearfully telling the parent what the child knows
the parent wants
to hear.
Why does this happen? Because a child is
genetically programmed to have
functionally (evolution had to get this right
or individuals and species
would not survive infancy), it would always tell
the truth.
But if it is not believed, then the child must “learn” to
devise strategies,
including lying, to be believed. This might start as a
fearfully conscious
response but it will probably become increasingly
unconscious and automated
as it learns what is “expected”.
If the
child is blamed and/or punished for telling an unpalatable truth,
then again
it must “learn” to devise strategies, including lying, to avoid
blame and
punishment.
Given that many social institutions routinely require
behaviours that
evolution did not intend and which are not functional (for
example, sitting
in a school classroom all day), the child will be
progressively
dysfunctionalised in a variety of ways, including ones that
scare it out of
telling the truth about how it feels and what it needs (as
it would
otherwise do naturally).
By the time the typical child has
reached adolescence, it will live in a
world of considerable delusion about
itself, other people and the world in
general.
In these
circumstances, the emerging adult will now lie unconsciously,
primarily in
order to maintain its delusions about itself and the
complementary delusions
it has about others and the world. This is why most
politicians
lie.
But they are not alone. For example, a mother will want to maintain
a sense
of herself as “a good mother” (however dysfunctionalised and/or
violent she
is), and if one or more of her children decide to challenge her
dysfunctional/violent behaviour or even to discontinue their relationship
with her, then, rather than acknowledge her dysfunctional/violent behaviours
and accept responsibility for dealing with these (which would require her to
have the courage to feel the suppressed fear, pain, anger, sadness and other
feelings that drive her dysfunctionalities and violence), she is most likely
to reinforce her own delusions about herself by lying about herself and her
child, including about the reasons her child no longer wants to have a
relationship with her.
But much of her lying will be unconscious
because, to lie consciously would
mean that she could acknowledge (at least
to herself) her
dysfunctional/violent behaviours and, perhaps, accept
responsibility for
dealing with these.
However, of course, this
almost invariably does not happen precisely because
of her fear (based on
her own childhood experience) of being blamed and
punished for making, and
acknowledging, “mistakes”.
It is far less frightening to fearfully lie
(and act accordingly) than to
acknowledge her delusion about herself and to
accept responsibility for her
dysfunctional and violent
behaviours.
Each child is born with a predisposition to believe the
adults in its life.
This is evolutionarily functional because childhood
survival depends on
adult care. But the child is also born with the
potential to develop a
“truth register” the mental function, related to
anger, that enables it to
detect lies.
Unfortunately, the truth
register, like all potential capacities, is a
subtle and easily damaged
mental function and if a child is lied to
chronically by a parent or other
significant adult during its childhood, the
truth register will either not
develop or it will be weakened to such an
extent that it will no longer
readily detect lies.
A person who has been lied to chronically will
develop a gullibility that is
obvious to those with a developed truth
register, but even the gullibility
of others will be obscure to those with
an undeveloped or weakened truth
register of their own.
What can we
do about lying? Just four things will fix this chronic problem,
always tell
the truth fearlessly yourself, always believe children, always
take
affirmative action in response to the child’s truth, and never punish
anyone
(including whistleblowers like Bradley Manning and Edward Snowden)
for
telling the truth.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
June 23, 2013 in Opinion
In
May 2013, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC-T) launched a set of
policies that will guide its government when it assumes power — Agenda For
Real Transformation (ART).
Sunday View with Shakespeare
Hamauswa
In the introduction, the MDC clearly states that it seeks to
ensure a
democratic transition based on non-violent means.
Through
this, it hopes to establish a sustainable growth path under an
inclusive
environment. Thus, by committing itself to a peaceful
transformation the
MDC-T will be able to usher in a new era in Zimbabwean
politics
characterised by peaceful coexistence, mutual respect and
understanding.
The ART acknowledges the relationship between politics
and economic growth.
Although the relationship between political and
economic development remains
a chicken and egg debate, there are strong
assumptions and tangible evidence
to support the view that democracy can
lead to a sustained and equitable
economic growth.
Therefore, there
is hope in ART that resources in Zimbabwe such as diamonds,
gold and land
will be shared equally in a transparent manner.
Nevertheless, a new
government in Zimbabwe needs to strike a balance between
democratic demands
and promises on the one hand and economic growth on the
other.
Most
democratic governments have a tendency of emphasising redistribution
ahead
of growth. What is required for development is more savings and less
consumption.
Unfortunately, in Zimbabwe it has been less consumption
for the civil
servants and the general public while ministers and top
government officials
have been living large.
Therefore, to be
successful, the MDC government should be prepared to forgo
other dubious
benefits that government officials have been enjoying since
1980.
The
ART also explains the meaning of MDC’s change agenda. In the foreword of
the
ART, the president of the MDC-T states, “…while we remain steadfast on
the
change agenda, we have always been conscious of the fact that change
alone
is not enough.”
What they intend to do is to transform the economy and
the political culture
through the application of the tenets of
transformational leadership, in
order to adequately respond to the people’s
basic needs.
This clearly dispels the machinations by its adversaries who
have been
constantly saying the MDC offers nothing to the electorate beyond
the change
mantra. Coming up with the ART clearly shows that they really
have something
to offer.
Again presenting colourful policies and
programmes is not enough, for it
only shows craft competence, which needs to
be clothed with tequally
important skill — craft literacy.
MDC
leaders from all parliamentarians to senators should be well-versed with
the
policy documents and the thrust of the party’s transformation agenda.
For
the past four years, the MDC has indicated that it has the good calibre
of
leaders that can stand and articulate party policies.
Obviously, problems
have been encountered here and there, but what is
important is fulfilling
the letter and spirit of their policies. When this
happens, the real
transformation will be achieved.
The need to transform the rural areas is
one of the key developmental areas
mentioned in the ART. This comes at a
point when the government had
neglected the rural areas around the
country.
Maybe it was because attention has been diverted to commercial
farming areas
and on how to regain support in urban areas.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
June 23, 2013 in Editorial
When some Zanu PF
youths grabbed and destroyed copies of NewsDay in Mbare
recently, their
leaders apologised and paid for the destroyed newspapers.
The Standard
Editorial
It was a surprising gesture coming from a party notorious for
its hostile
attitude towards private newspapers.
The gesture could
not have been missed by media watchers, who should have
praised the
leadership in Mbare for signalling their newfound tolerance to
opposing
views.
In a crisis situation any small sign that brings hope should be
accentuated,
so as to set an example to all those with an inclination
towards violence
and narrow-mindedness.
Zimbabwe is in election mode
and any period leading to elections has in the
past invariably seen violence
towards journalists doing their job of
gathering and disseminating
information. Political parties have an
irrational hatred of journalists, yet
it is the press that can help them
spread their ideas to the
electorate.
This hatred points to something underhand in the way
political parties
operate among the masses. In the past few weeks alone,
there has been an
upsurge in the number of reporters who have been assaulted
by party youths.
Sadly all big political parties have been guilty of this
violence. Of the
four incidents of violence against journalists reported in
the past four
weeks, three were at the hands of MDC-T.
Journalists
and journalist organisation should have been particularly upset
by this
development because it signals a worrying change in the way the
party
operates.
Touted as the champion of democracy and good governance, the
new direction
the party is taking in dealing with the media should be
condemned in
unequivocal terms.
Whereas the youth leadership in
Mbare, known for its violent streak, was
humble enough to apologise and pay
for their behaviour, the same gesture is
still to come from the MDC-T for
the incidents their youths have been
involved in.
When, on Friday,
two lady reporters were detained at the Zanu PF
Headquarters by
demonstrating youths, they were released in half an hour,
when the party
leaders were informed about the incident.
All political parties should be
firm in restraining their youths from
attacking journalists.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
June 23, 2013 in Editorial
Interesting, isn’t it,
that some people with criminal cases pending in the
courts are among those
fighting in primaries to represent their parties in
the coming
elections?
From the Editor’s Desk with Nevanji Madanhire
I will
not name names but it’s quite common that criminals seek refuge in
political
parties, parties which they hope will protect them when in power.
We have
seen how some of the most vocal campaigners for some parties have
been
accused of rape and a lot others of fraud. The reason they haven’t been
brought to the courts is known only to the Attorney-General’s
office.
The elevation of criminals into political leadership has created
the culture
of corruption that has so deeply etched itself in the country.
In the past
30 years we have seen how the country has been in the hands of
people prone
to using underhand means to acquire wealth.
People who
had nothing to their name when they started out as politicians
are now so
rich we wonder how they accumulated their wealth.
Primary elections are
so hotly contested because contestants see political
office as the sure-fire
passport to riches. Parliamentary salaries are very
low and therefore cannot
be the motivation behind the cut-throat competition
seen during primary
elections.
Those who eventually become ministers also receive salaries
much less than
those given to middle managers in commerce and industry, but
we have seen
many making the transition from highly-paid private sector jobs
to politics.
The reason is that once in power the politicians create
networks among
themselves and with foreign investors who give them kickbacks
for awarding
tenders. They also create shelf companies through which the
siphon money
from government coffers into their own pockets.
Often it
has been asked: “Where are Africa’s leaders?”
The question is asked by
those who have watched most African countries
squander their potential to
become real great countries through poor
leadership.
The truth is,
once the culture of corruption is entrenched in a political
system, it tends
to entrap everybody who dares to walk the corridors of
power. Once one
individual is corrupted he can’t feel safe walking among
clean people,
therefore he has to ensure the clean ones are corrupted too.
Once
everybody is corrupted, they bunch up and begin to hunt in packs like
the
African wild dog.
The pack begins to see cleanliness as deviant
behaviour, so anyone who
begins to question or to call for accountability
becomes an enemy to be
eliminated. This explains the mysterious car
accidents and acts of arson
witnessed in the recent past.
That’s,
tragically, what has happened to Africa’s leaders. All the good
leaders have
either been killed or sent into exile. Those who have political
power in
their grip ensure that no clean people come anywhere near them.
This
explains why rapists and fraudsters stand a better chance of winning
elections, than those who have a sound grounding in academia and business
who might upset the applecart.
Looking at primary election
contestants there is no differential between one
and the other. The new
entrants into the fray — the so-called Young Turks —
are often shadowy
characters who have failed either to get formal employment
or to run their
businesses.
They know nothing about ideology, hence they campaign not by
selling new
ideas but by bribing potential voters with money and food
hand-outs given to
them by their godfathers. Often we have seen a solid
academic or
entrepreneur, who could make a difference, being pitted against
a tout and
the latter winning.
Factions in political parties are
nothing but hunting packs. The faction
leader is the alpha male around whom
all the other members are organised. A
close look at the factions shows a
bankruptcy of thinking and an abundance
of thirst for riches that can only
be sated when political control is
achieved.
The clamour for early
elections is not coming from the people. We have not
heard the voice of the
people saying they are ready for elections at the end
of next
month.
The voice we hear is that of a hunting pack that sees a forced
early
election working to its advantage. Its game plan is based on the fact
that
an early election is easy to manipulate because the voters’ roll would
be in
a mess and the state machinery can be used to their
advantage.
Interestingly this hunting pack comprises individuals
incapable of winning a
free and fair election. The people who have in the
recently surrounded
President Robert Mugabe are perennial electoral failures
and are only in
power due to the incumbent’s patronage. This group is overly
aware it is
running its last lap and would like to extend its lifespan by
hook and by
crook.
It is not providing leadership to anyone and is
averse to the emergence of a
new leadership. One has to look to some of the
guidelines for Zanu PF
primary elections to see how this group wishes to
exclude new thinking from
ever emerging.
One of the guidelines
stipulates that senatorial candidates be at least
40-years old and must have
participated in the liberation war that ended in
1979. But that’s laughable
since a 40-year old individual was only six when
that war ended.
What
Zimbabwe needs is a new leadership identification method that
recognises
people who have made a difference in their communities, rather
than those
who make the most noise during elections.
Zimbabwe doesn’t have a culture
of volunteerism; we don’t see school-leavers
and young graduates
volunteering to work in poor communities. In other
countries people only
become political leaders if they have a track record
of volunteer work. This
way political office can be put into its proper
perspective, for, indeed to
hold political office should be the highest
level of volunteer
work.
Volunteer work is not paid for; people donate long hours and, in
some cases,
their own monies to uplift poor communities. This should be the
same
sacrifice when people seek political office. But in Zimbabwe people
seek
political office for the rewards hence, they don’t, when they achieve
power,
serve the people but only themselves.
This is also the reason
why criminals end up in public office.
