The Theatre of the Absurd continues in Zimbabwe

Cartoon from http://gadocartoons.com/

Why ZANU-PF is in a hurry to hold elections

Grace Kwinjeh elbowed out of parliamentary race, latest winner arrested

http://www.swradioafrica.com/

 

 

 

Grace Kwinjeh said she is not accepting the result

By Violet Gonda
SW Radio Africa
24 May 2013

Former journalist and founding member of the MDC, Grace Kwinjeh, was on Saturday told she had not won the party primaries for Makoni Central, two weeks after she had been told she had garnered the majority votes needed to win.

Kwinjeh told SW Radio Africa that she is not accepting this result, a development that comes as the MDC-T is rocked by allegations of candidate imposition and vote irregularities.

MDC-T provincial spokesman for Manicaland Pishai Muchauraya said the “reported” winner, Patrick Sagandira, has been arrested following a violence complaint made by Kwinjeh’s election manager Tazviona Marima.

Last week there were protests at the MDC headquarters when angry demonstrators demanded answers after Elias Jembere, the MDC-T MP for Epworth, was confirmed as the parliamentary candidate after allegedly losing during the primaries.

There have been similar reports of irregularities in almost every province, with some disgruntled party supporters hijacking ballot boxes and burning them in frustration.

Kwinjeh said she had been told that she was leading with a significant majority in the primary elections that took place two weeks ago but the counting process had to be stopped following disturbances during the vote count.

MDC-T election officials led by Deputy Minister of Women’s Affairs, Jessie Majome, resumed the counting of the five remaining wards on Saturday, but Kwinjeh said this took place without her election manager and several other supporters as witnesses, due to more disruptions.

“There was violence on Saturday and we have a police report of people again who were badly assaulted by supporters of this candidate (Sagandira). Again the party did not say anything.

“So I just feel there are a lot of double standards at play. Something is going on, something that is just so wrong and I am not accepting it.”

She said more confusing is that Sagandara has been announced as the new winner even though election officials claim voting has not taken place in two remaining wards.

“So on the one hand they are saying this guy has won but on the other hand they are telling districts to prepare so that they finish counting in two wards that are remaining. That is the confusion in the whole process which makes it lose integrity … and it’s really sad for internal party democracy,” Kwinjeh said.

Contacted for comment Majome, who is the presiding officer, said the elections in Makoni Central were still underway and there is no winner yet as there are still two wards that are still to be counted.

“That election had a first round and preliminary results were announced. I don’t know who told her information that was incorrect and on Saturday we continued and announced preliminary results again,” Majome said.

Bizarrely, the official MDC Facebook page announced Monday that Sagandira had won the primary election, despite comments by Majome, that the election was ongoing. The MDC announcement said:

Manicaland MDC remaining primary elections and confirmation exercises were done successfully yesterday and below are the results of the exercise:

Dangamvura-Chikanga- Hon Giles Mutsekwa- not confirmed

Makoni Central-Patrick Sagandira won the primary election

Mutare North- Irimai Mukwishu won the primary election

Makoni Central is in Manicaland province. The provincial MDC-T leadership took to Facebook to register their displeasure at what is going on in the area. MDC-T provincial chairman Julius Magarangoma wrote: “Imposition of candidates has been unknown in the MDC, but sadly, it has crept in and no one has the guts to dare say it! Let’s stop this rot.” He said a democratic party without democracy will pay the ultimate price at the hands of the people.

Muchauraya also wrote: “The issue of GK is not disputable guys; she is a founder member of our party and has been tortured many times by soldiers and police. I don’t want to comment about what happened at the weekend because it was done by my bosses. What I can simply say is that she is our hero and remains respected by many. It is not the people of Makoni Central to blame but those who failed to respect her value to the party.”

Majome refused to comment on reports of violence saying she wanted to maintain the integrity of the election so as not to prejudice any of the candidates.

Meanwhile, Kwinjeh’s supporters are surprised that a well known activist and rights campaigner, who last year was honored by her party for her role in coining the name Movement for Democratic Change, was not among the group of women who will be part of the new proportional representation system.

Muchauraya, as provincial party spokesman, confirmed that currently there are only three women vying for the Manicaland seats, out of 26 constituencies.

Others also wonder why long serving female members like Kwinjeh went through a rigorous nomination processes when former ZANU PF MP Tracy Mutinhiri, who only joined the MDC-T in 2011 following her expulsion from ZANU PF, went through uncontested.

Mutinhiri was selected the party candidate for  Marondera East even though the party’s provincial leadership for Mashonaland East gave the National Executive a damning dossier of her alleged role in the violence that took place in that province when she was the ZANU PF legislator for that area.

Kwinjeh, who was battling it out with five men in her constituency, said she does not know the criteria used to choose candidates. She hoped her candidature would encourage more women to participate in politics.

Observers point out that Kwinjeh, who is currently living in Brussels, could be at a disadvantage by not being on the ground where she could be in control of the process.

She said the people of Makoni Central chose her knowing she was out of the country. Furthermore she was stranded in 2005 and could not be with her children for over three years and was taking this opportunity to put systems in place whilst preparing to return to Zimbabwe.

“I am a single mother of three. I can’t just pack my bags and go home not knowing what the future of my children is and what is going to happen to them. In 2005 I went to Zimbabwe. I was locked inside. When (Registrar General) Tobaiwa Mudede refused to give me the passport – the records are there at Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights – I could not be with my children for over three years. So the process to get me to Brussels is again another painful testimony.

She said: “I had my farewell party on Saturday. So I am really someone who had one foot on the road to go home. The leaders are aware of this but nobody has said anything. It is almost as if you don’t exist. You are invisible.”

Below is a copy of a letter Kwinjeh wrote to the MDC-T leadership following reports of irregularities (the letter was sent before the weekend developments):

For the record I am not accepting the charade that took place in Makoni Central. Keep me in your prayers: I have spoken to Mr. Marima, and have come to the sad conclusion that I will not participate in a sham process that some people in the Manicaland province are pushing for in order through intimidation and vote buying to bring success for their candidate. I won the last election and when some people found it difficult to announce me the winner, working together with their preferred candidate, they disrupted the process, in order to buy time and get this seat by hook or crook. I left Zimbabwe many years ago, and I fail to relate to some ways we do things, such as the way the party has handled the Makoni Central election. I have worked hard, have not blackmailed the party or any leaders, to the fact that I am the only female, my sacrifices to this struggle and even by coming home what I stand to lose. Double standards at a broader national level, at which even some constituencies are said to have been reserved for women. I do not have the energy to fight senseless battles, to put people’s lives who have remained faithful to me their chosen candidate, to any further risks. I do not belong to any faction, I support our party and pray that we rise collectively to meet the expectations of those who have died, been maimed for this cause. The bulk of Zimbabweans who have lost faith in us as party, have because of this kind of behavior, they judge us not by what we say but we do. I hope you can bring this to the attention of the party leadership, thank you and God bless you!!

Click here for interview with Grace Kwinjeh

Click here for interview with Jessie Majome

 

Some political heavyweights may crumble in ZANU PF primaries

http://www.swradioafrica.com/




By Tichaona Sibanda
SW Radio Africa
24 June 2013

The political careers of several ZANU PF heavyweights may come tumbling down
on Tuesday in the party’s internal selection process to choose its
parliamentary and senatorial candidates for the upcoming general elections.

A good number of high profile figures in ZANU PF have opted for senatorial
seats, fearing they would not be able to defend their parliamentary seats
from the emerging threat of young turks. Initially the primaries were
scheduled for Monday. At the end of last week that changed to Wednesday,
after supporters demonstrated at the party headquarters against the
imposition of candidates.

Then that date changed again, to Tuesday. Party chairman Simon Khaya-Moyo
told the state media that given the fact that parliamentary and council
candidates are required to register their nominations at the electoral
commission offices throughout the country on Wednesday, the primary
elections would now take place the day before.

A few candidates have qualified without being contested and these include
Vice President Joice Mujuru and Emmerson Mnangagwa, the alleged faction
leaders in ZANU PF.

Sydney Sekeramai, Khaya-Moyo, Olivia Muchena, Ambros Mutinhiri, Obert Mpofu,
Walter Mzembi, David Parirenyatwa, Herbert Murerwa, Angeline Masuku, Didymus
Mutasa, Naison Ndlovu, Abigail Damasani, Flora Buka and Jonathan Moyo are
also among those uncontested.

However big guns like party spokesman Rugare Gumbo, Local Government
Minister Ignatius Chombo and Webster Shamu, the party’s national commissar,
will fight for their political lives as they face challengers in their
backyards. In Chegutu East Shamu will battle it out with John Mafa, the
Mashonaland West provincial chairman, while Chombo will face Innocent
Matibiri, a close relative of President Robert Mugabe.

Gumbo faces July Moyo, an ally of Mnangagwa in the Mberengwa senatorial
seat. Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa squares up against Arda board
chairman Basil Nyabadza, in what is seen as a bruising no-holds barred
battle.

Our correspondent in Harare, Simon Muchemwa, told us that as in the MDC-T
primaries, a lot of party heavy weights in ZANU PF will lose the right to
represent the party in elections.

‘This is going to be a tough battle for most sitting MPs considering that
they have been legislators for more than 10 years and have nothing to show
for it in terms of development in their respective constituencies,’ Muchemwa
said.

Meanwhile in the MDC-T’s internal election process Giles Mutsekwa, the
Housing and Social Amenities Minister, failed the confirmation exercise in
Chikanga Dangamvura constituency in Manicaland.

MDC-T provincial chairman Julius Magarangoma said Mutsekwa polled only 165
votes against 195 No votes. He will now face prominent human rights lawyer
Arnold Tsunga in the primary election on Wednesday.

Zanu PF primary elections to disrupt children’s learning time

http://www.mdc.co.zw


Monday, 24 June 2013




The MDC totally deplores Zanu PF’s intention to carry out its primary
elections in schools countrywide. The move is not only insensitive but a
complete violation of the children’s rights to education as this exercise is
certainly going to cause serious disruption on the learning time of
children.

The inconsiderate and ill timed plan by the chaos faction of Zanu PF is
characteristic of the downright arrogance entrenched in the archaic
leadership of a party that has for years been abusing and trampling on the
people’s basic rights with impunity.

Given the loss of learning time that the Zanu PF’s chaotic exercise is going
to cause to the innocent children, it clearly demonstrates the unflinching
subterfuge of Zanu PF to malign and disregard the millions of already
disadvantaged pupils in schools.

The MDC calls upon the relevant ministry of education to ensure the
children’s basic rights are unnecessarily violated in pursuit of selfish
political expedience. To this end, the party of excellence affirms the
importance of the provision of sound, progressive and affordable education
for all Zimbabweans as a basic human right that is enshrined in the new
constitution.

Yes - Together, we can complete the change!!!

Military strategizes Mugabe’s election campaign

http://www.swradioafrica.com/




By Tichaona Sibanda
SW Radio Africa
24 June 2012

Plans by the military to dispatch senior officers to all the provinces, to
spearhead President Robert Mugabe and ZANU PF’s election campaign, will be
in breach of the country’s new constitution.

MDC-T spokesman Douglas Mwonzora said any breaches of the new constitution
by members of the military will be noted and reported to SADC as a matter of
urgency.

It has been widely reported that Joint Operations Command (JOC), made up of
the heads of the military and state security organisations, has been
strategizing for months now to ensure a ZANU PF win the upcoming elections.

Two week ago a SADC extraordinary meeting on Zimbabwe pushed for security
sector reforms ahead of the elections, because of the partisan nature of the
armed forces.

SADC leaders urged the security sector to respect the new constitution and
to be apolitical. The two MDC formations insist that the security sector
needs to be ‘realigned’, but this has been resisted by ZANU PF, which says
there is no need for that.

Security sector reform is one of the thorny issues in the coalition
government, with senior officials like defence forces commander, General
Constantine Chiwenga and police Commissioner General, Augustine Chihuri
implying in recent utterances that they will not accept a Morgan Tsvangirai
victory.

Concerns have been raised that Mugabe is already using the military to lay
the groundwork for his re-election, despite SADC’s resolution for the
military to stay out of political fray.

Under the military plan, senior officers like Major-General Engelbert Rugeje
will be deployed to his home province of Masvingo to co-ordinate the
campaign, while Brigadier-General David Sigauke will be in Mashonaland West,
and Major-General Douglas Nyikayaramba will oversee Manicaland.
Retired Major-General Victor Rungani will be deployed in Mashonaland East,
Air Vice Marshall Titus Abu Basutu to Matabeleland South with
Brigadier-General Sibusiso Moyo in the Midlands.

Brigadier-General Sibangumuzi Khumalo will run the show in Matabeleland
North, while Colonel Chris Sibanda will be in Bulawayo and retired Air
Commodore Mike Karakadzai will cover Harare. Brigadier-General Etherton
shungu will be based in Mashonaland central province.

Political analyst Pedzisai Ruhanya told SW Radio Africa on Monday that ZANU
PF never respects the constitution when it comes to issues that affect its
survival.

‘If ZANU PF respects the constitution and if it happens that they also
respect the rule of law, they will not win an election, hence they resort to
all the shenanigans to win the poll at all costs,’ Ruhanya said.

However Ruhanya explained that the military will not necessarily employ
violence to coerce people to vote for ZANU PF, as they did in 2008. The plan
might involve harassing and driving out MDC-T supporters without necessarily
killing and beating them up.

Five years ago, the military went on a murderous campaign that saw over 500
people killed, tens of thousands tortured and hundreds of thousands driven
from their homes in an effort by the soldiers to guarantee the re-election
Mugabe against his main challenger, Morgan Tsvangirai.

ConCourt set for key election ruling

http://www.newzimbabwe.com/


23/06/2013 00:00:00
     by Staff Reporter





THE Constitutional Court will on Wednesday hear Justice Minister Patrick
Chinamasa application for a two-week delay on its order for elections to be
held by July 31 in case that will likely end the uncertainty over the key
vote.
The appeal has badly fractured relations between Zanu PF and the MDC
formations as their four-year coalition arrangement, which was formed after
violent elections in 2008, draws towards an unseemly end.

Chinamasa filed the application on the recommendations of the recent SADC
Summit at Maputo which asked the government to seek the two-week delay after
the MDCs – which want the polls held either in September or October –
appealed to the regional body.

The justice minister however, riled the MDCs when he made clear in his
application that President Robert Mugabe had no problem with the July 31
date, in what was seen by the MDCs as a deliberate attempt to weaken the
case and ensure the appeal fails.

The MDC’s pressed for the application to be withdrawn to allow for
consultations between the parties and the submission of what they described
as a “consensus appeal”.

But Zanu PF scoffed at the suggestion saying it was curious that the MDCs
should suddenly find cause for cooperation after attacking it and supposedly
“humiliating” its leader at the Maputo summit.

Said politburo member Jonathan Moyo in an interview with SWRadio Africa:
“They attack Zanu PF inside the summit, they attack the court judgment and
they come out celebrating claiming they have humiliated the president in the
summit, claiming Chinamasa has given the president wrong advise and when we
are here they want to go to the constitutional court and speak with one
voice. That is totally unacceptable!

Moyo also said it was ridiculous of the MDCs to expect Chinamasa to tell the
court that Mugabe was not happy with its order for elections to be held by
the end of next month when the Zanu PF leader had no problems with the
ruling.

“It is common cause that President Mugabe is happy about the judgment, why
should he lie about that. In order to appease the MDC formations? It is also
true that he (Mugabe) had complied with it,” he said.

“It is also a fact that the MDCs lobbied Zuma, lobbied SADC and Welshman
Ncube went there and behaved as if the SADC summit was a court, making legal
arguments before people who are neither judges nor lawyers and thinking that
he had dazzled them with legalities.”



Over the weekend the parties traded accusations over the collapse of a
meeting called to discuss the court application as well as amendments to the
country’s electoral laws.

The MDCs said Mugabe and his Zanu PF delegation failed to turn up for the
meeting at State House on Friday, a claim denied by the president’s
spokesman, George Charamba.

Charamba said Mugabe returned from other engagements to find only deputy
premier Arthur Mutambara at State House, adding that discussing matters
before the courts was a pointless exercise anyway.

“They are realising the futility of tackling legal issues politically. After
all, it did not make sense for parties to meet in respect of a matter that
is before the courts.

“The second point is that it is dawning on them that either way, we are
going for elections soon. After all, the time between July 31 and August 14
is not a century, but two weeks.”

Despite the dispute over the timing of the poll, the parties have stepped up
preparations for the vote with Tsvangirai and the MDC-T leadership holding
campaign rallies in the Matabeleland regions over the weekend.

Zanu PF also said it would hold its primary elections on Tuesday as the
party scrambles the finalise the selection of candidates in time for the
sitting of the Nomination Court on June 28.

Said party chairman, Simon Khaya Moyo: “Given the position by ZEC that
prospective parliamentary and council candidates are required to register
their nomination at ZEC offices throughout the country on Wednesday 26 June
2013, Zanu-PF primary elections will now take place on Tuesday 25 June
 2013.”

Chinamasa appeals for poll extension

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




Monday, 24 June 2013 17:29


Daniel Nemukuyu,  Senior Reporter

Justice and Legal Affairs Minister Patrick Chinamasa has urged the
Constitutional Court of Zimbabwe to invoke its discretional powers to
interfere with its earlier judgment on election dates and urged the court to
extend the poll date from July 31 to August 14 this year.

In the heads of argument filed by Government lawyer Mr Fredrick Gijima of
Gijima and Partners law firm today, Minister Chinamasa urged the
Constitutional Court to invoke its powers to extend the date in line with a
request by Sadc.

Mr Gijima filed the heads of argument this morning ahead of the court
hearing on Wednesday.Minister Chinamasa's case is set to be heard together
with five other election-related matters.

Chief Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku gave the parties involved in the six cases
up to today to file their heads of argument.
By 11am today, only Minister Chinamasa had filed his papers in the main case
while in another case, Ms Maria Phiri and Mr Jealousy Mawarire had filed
their heads of argument.

In the heads of argument, Minister Chinamasa said the court should determine
how the case would go bearing in mind that the May 31 order had already been
complied with.
"This honourable court is now the highest court in the land and is urged to
apply the same reasoning and invoke its powers of inherent jurisdiction to
determine whether or not paragraph 4 of the order it issued under judgment
Number CCZ1/13 should be extended from July 31 to August 14 2013.

"Being the highest court in the land, this Honourable Court has inherent
discretional powers to interfere with its own orders and judgments and
further give directions as to how certain related matters should then be
dealt with.

"This Honourable Court is being called upon to exercise its discretion and
interfere with its own order in judgment CCZ1/13 specifically paragraph 4 by
deleting July 31 2013 and substituting same with 14 August 2013," read part
of the heads of argument.

Minister Chinamasa insists that the President had fully complied with a
court order of May 31 this year and that he had much respect for that
ruling.

"Pursuant and in compliance with this order (May 31), His Excellency the
President of the Republic of Zimbabwe Cde Robert Gabriel Mugabe, on June 13
2013 issued Proclamation 2 of 2013 under Statutory Instrument 86 of 2013
whereat paragraph (d) thereof he fixed 'Wednesday the 31st July 2013 as the
day of the election of President, the election of members of the National
Assembly and the election of councillors..."

Nomination Court date has already been declared as June 28.

Minister Chinamasa contends that Prime Minister Tsvangirai and Professor
Welshman Ncube had misgivings with the court order and the manner in which
President Mugabe had proclaimed the election date and lobbied Sadc to
intervene and set aside the consequences of the court order.

On June 15 Sadc summit in Maputo urged the Government of Zimbabwe, through
Minister Chinamasa, to approach the Constitutional Court seeking extension
of the election date to a date beyond July 31.

Voter campaign a ‘slow and painful’ exercise

http://www.swradioafrica.com/




By Nomalanga Moyo
SW Radio Africa
24 June 2013

Despite assurances that lessons had been learned from an earlier shambolic
20-day mobile voter registration programme, concerns have been raised about
the current process which some have described as ‘slow and painful’.

The ongoing 30-day voter registration campaign is a mandatory step towards
the election, as stipulated in the country’s new constitution.

The initial 20-day trial run, conducted from April 29th to May 19th, was
widely discredited, with irregularities ranging from names of ghost voters
on the roll, lack of voter education, partisan allocation of centres and
suspicions that registration officers were deliberately slowing down the
process for political reasons.

The current campaign started on June 10th amid a fair amount of publicity
and hopes had been raised that maybe this time around the process would be
less controversial than its predecessor.

But a few days into the exercise it emerged that Registrar General Tobaiwa
Mudede had slashed the number of days that registration teams would spend in
each ward from the original 30 to 3, raising fears that many people will be
left out.

Mudede blamed a lack of funding for the unconstitutional move, which also
saw wards being bunched together.

Harare East legislator Tendai Biti, who visited one registration centre in
his urban constituency over the weekend, used Facebook to share his
observations of what he described as “a charade of deception”.

Biti wrote: “On Friday, despite a kilometre-long queue (at Courtney Selous
Primary) 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 (the rural areas of) Gwelutshena, Gumunyu, Rasa or Bare?” Biti
wondered.

Biti also raised concern over the bussing in and preferential treatment of
security personnel by ZEC officials stationed at Courtney Selous Primary,
which he said was a repeat of what happened at Tafara Community Hall, in
Ward 46.

“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.”

Silobela MP Anadi Sululu, who is part of the parliamentary committee on
defence and home affairs, told SW Radio Africa that similar concerns had
been raised in the Tiger Reef area of Kwekwe.

“This is very worrying, and we all know the political party that is doing
this. And Mudede’s clustering of wards is to blame for the long queues that
Biti mentions.

“In my rural constituency for example, Ward 21 alone has more than 5,000
people and if officials are attending to 250 people per day as Biti
observed, it means that when they move after three days, only 750 would have
either registered or checked their names,” Sululu said Monday.

Last week, the committee went on a week-long countrywide assessment of the
registration process. But the team will not be able to report back as
committees have already been suspended ahead of the dissolution of
parliament on June 28th.

Sululu said part of the recommendations his team would have made was for ZEC
to spend more than three days in wards where demand for the teams’ services
is high, amid reports that in some urban areas people are queuing for more
than seven hours to be attended to.

Poll observer group the Zimbabwe Elections Support Network (ZESN) noted last
week that most people were finding “the process very frustrating”, with some
forced to travel long distances to get to centres.

“With regards to the issue of aliens, ZESN noted that potential registrants
were referred back to the RG’s office in their districts for them to address
issues such as long birth certificates with no ID numbers and, in some
instances, they were asked to surrender their original IDs and re-join the
queue to get new IDs, then wait to collect new ones and then re-join a queue
to register to vote.”

One would-be voter who waited seven hours at CJ Hall in Highfield, Harare,
summed up his experience to the Standard newspaper as “just slow and
 painful”.

‘Mugabe doesn’t own Zim’

http://www.dailynews.co.zw/


Monday, 24 June 2013 13:58


HARARE - Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai says President Robert Mugabe does
not own Zimbabwe and will not be allowed to subvert the will of the people.

Speaking at a rally in Bubi, Matabeleland North on Saturday, where he was on
a tour of the province, Tsvangirai said Mugabe and his Zanu PF were taking
Zimbabwe as their personal property and urged people to vote them out of
power in the coming elections.

Among the people who attended the rally were businesspeople, traditional
leaders and MDC supporters in the area.

“If Mugabe and Zanu PF think they are going to subvert the will of the
people, they are joking — we are not going to allow that. This country is
not owned by Zanu PF, it is owned by Zimbabweans. We cannot allow this
country to become Mugabe Private Limited,” Tsvangirai said.

Mugabe, Tsvangirai’s arch-rival withwhom he shares power in a shaky
power-sharing agreement, has been in power since 1980 when the country
attained independence from the British.

The unusual “bedfellows” came into a government of national unity after a
disputed 2008 bloody and sham election which left over 200 MDC supporters
dead.

The two have been at loggerheads for the past four years over Mugabe’s
non-desire to complete reforms as agreed in the Sadc-driven coalition
agreement.

Tsvangirai said Sadc is worried with Mugabe and Zanu PF’s behaviour.

The two are currently locked in a dispute over Mugabe’s unilateral
proclamation of election dates which the MDC leader says should be
process-driven to accommodate, among other things, media and security sector
reforms.

Justice minister Patrick Chinamasa has since filed a Constitutional Court
application as directed by regional power broker Sadc during an
extraordinary summit held in Maputo, Mozambique on June 15.

The application seeks an extension of the election date from July 31 to
August 14.

The case is still pending.

The envisaged elections are set to mark the end of the coalition government
and Tsvangirai has already predicted a crushing victory for his party.

“MDC will win all seats in Matabeleland North Province including Jonathan
Moyo’s Tsholotsho North Constituency,” he said during the weekend rally.

Tsvangirai’s earlier meeting at Lupane Business Centre, about 40 km from
Bubi was disrupted by police, who said the rally was unsanctioned.

“We don’t hate police and soldiers, but we want them to do the right thing.

“And also draconian laws like Posa do not create a conducive environment for
free and fair elections, therefore should be repealed,” Tsvangirai said.

Police went on to arrest Bulawayo Agenda programmes manager Busani Ncube,
whose organisation had facilitated the meeting between Tsvangirai and
traditional chiefs in the district.

A group of armed police officers descended on the meeting venue just a few
minutes before Tsvangirai’s arrival and ordered the traditional chiefs to
disperse before arresting Ncube under the Public Order and Security Act
(Posa).

Matabeleland North province police spokesperson Siphiwe Makonese told the
Daily News that she was unaware of the disturbances.

“We have not received that report from Lupane Police Station yet,” Makonese
said.

Last year, police commissioner-general Augustine Chihuri, who has openly
declared his support for Zanu PF, defended Posa as an effective tool for
curbing lawlessness.

Tsvangirai has in the past said that his record in the inclusive government
makes him a better candidate to steer Zimbabwe’s growth and bring down high
unemployment “after Mugabe’s disastrous 33-year reign” — marked by a
spectacular economic collapse and the world’s highest inflation rate. -
Pindai Dube and Tendai Kamhungira

Journalists' harassment worrying: Misa

http://www.dailynews.co.zw/


Monday, 24 June 2013 10:57
HARARE - Media Institute of Southern Africa (Misa) Zimbabwe has expressed
concern at the escalating harassment of journalists as election talk gathers
momentum.

Addressing journalists attending a one-day Misa workshop on election
reporting and ethics in Bulawayo last week, Misa senior programmes officer
Nyasha Nyakunu said the organisation was worried about the latest attack on
media practitioners saying it flies in the face of the relatively peaceful
environment that had been created when the inclusive government was formed
in 2009.

“Cases of journalists being harassed for merely doing their legitimate work
has generally increased in the past few months since politicians have
started to talk about elections.

“The inclusive government had brought some semblance of normalcy in terms of
treatment of journalists but the recent upsurge of violence against them has
alarmed us and we have every reason to be worried especially where a
journalist in Chinhoyi has been left battling for life.

“We also hear that another journalist in Harare has today (Last Friday) been
detained by members of a political party only to be rescued by the
intervention of minister of Information Webster Shamu,” said Nyakunu.

He added that compared to the region, Zimbabwe had become the most dangerous
place for the media to operate in.

“I think we need to correct our attitude with regards to how we treat the
media in the country.

“In Mozambique we have had one or two cases, five or so in Zambia and a few
more in South Africa but our figures are a cause for concern.”

A few weeks ago a Zimbabwe Independent journalist, who was reportedly
manhandled by supporters of Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s MDC at the
party’s headquarters in Harare had to be rescued after party spokesperson
Douglas Mwonzora intervened.

A Daily News reporter Wendy Muperi was on Friday last week held hostage for
over one hour and ordered to chant party slogans as she was covering a
demonstration by disgruntled supporters who did not make it to the party
primary elections at the Zanu PF headquarters.

The Misa workshop covered a wide range of issues where journalists
interacted and exchanged ideas on the role of the media in covering
elections, electoral processes and what the media should cover in the
pre-voting and post voting period.

The workshop also discussed issues that speak to media ethics, safety and
deployment of journalists and critiqued past articles on elections. - Mugove
Tafirenyika

Scribes under attack

http://www.dailynews.co.zw/


By Fungai Kwaramba, Staff Writer
Monday, 24 June 2013 10:39
HARARE - As Zimbabwe cruises towards a crunch harmonised election, the media
landscape still remains extremely bleak as journalists are being harassed
everyday while newspaper copies are confiscated and vendors threatened for
selling particular titles.

Although the country’s traditionally stringent media laws have been relaxed,
thanks to the establishment under the Global Political Agreement (GPA) of a
coalition government in 2008, practitioners are still alive to the existence
of laws such as the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act
(Aippa) and an unforgiving political environment.

In recent weeks journalists from across both the private and public sector
have fallen victims, either of State intimidation or from  political party
activists; prompting media support groups and organisations such as the
Zimbabwe Union of Journalists (Zuj) to stitch up safety training workshops.

On Friday last week journalists from the private media were detained for at
least an hour by Zanu PF activists, as they covered a demonstration by some
disgruntled members of the former ruling party.

Foster Dongozi, Zuj’s secretary- general said there is need to train its 800
members on the rough media terrain under which they operate saying elections
spell doom for journalists.

“We will be rolling out election    reporting workshops so that reporters
are equipped with the information around a plethora of legislations under
which they operate,” said Dongozi.

With most journalists living in fear of the revolving doors of the country’s
prisons, many are not so keen to push the boundaries.

Not surprisingly, media reforms remain an outstanding issue as the country
plunges into a vicious election season.

In his presentation to the Sadc extraordinary summit held on June 15, in
Maputo, South African President Jacob Zuma, the Sadc anointed mediator to
the Zimbabwean crisis, emphasised on the need to reform the media in order
to create a conducive environment, ideal for free and fair elections.

“It is essential that the playing field in the media arena should be
conducive to free and fair elections. Having regard to the limited time
available, I would propose the creation of an Inter-Ministerial Committee
drawn from the three parties to the GPA and from within Cabinet with
sufficient powers to intervene in order to curb hate speech.

“It would also be the task of such a mechanism to intervene with
State-controlled media to ensure that they maintain an impartial stance,”
said Zuma.

Taught the hard way by history, Dongozi said Zuj is going to carry out
safety training workshops as well as first aid lessons in case its members
are tangled in violence.

It is not only violence that media organisations are bracing for, but also
the spectre of arbitrary arrests.

“We are setting up a legal rabid response team of lawyers so that when our
members are arrested we know who to call,” he said. “We have a small budget
for media defence and safety which we will use to defend journalists if they
are arrested. We want a guarantee from Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec)
of the safety of journalists because they will be running the elections,”
said Dongozi.

Last week Zec, the body that is in charge of running electoral processes,
warned journalists against purveying hate speech and warned of arrests.

“The law has placed your conduct under the surveillance of the Zimbabwe
Electoral Commission,” said Rita Makarau chairperson of the Zec.

Press freedom dropping ahead of Zimbabwe vote

http://blogs.aljazeera.com/


With journalists attacked before the historic election a watchdog has urged
reporters to "exercise caution".
Last modified: 24 Jun 2013 16:24

Haru Mutasa
Haru Mutasa is a South Africa-based correspondent for Al Jazeera English.


I am back in Zimbabwe's capital Harare after a long absence, and am looking
forward to reporting.

The last time Al Jazeera was here, the team was briefly detained.

It's going to be an interesting week ahead of general elections planned for
July 31, with a hearing due on Wednesday which will decide whether the
constitutional court will grant an extension, so that the vote can be pushed
back until August 14.

These elections will be the first held under a constitution.

My Monday morning started by reading the papers to get up to speed with the
main issues of the day.

One headline in NewsDay grabbed my attention: "Journos urged to exercise
caution".

A press freedom watchdog, the Media Institute of Southern Africa Zimbabwe
(MISA), has urged journalists "to avoid risky assignments and exposing
themselves to volatile political gatherings ahead of harmonised elections
this year".

So far this month, at least four reporters have been attacked in the run up
to the election.

"After the advent of the inclusive government, there were a few cases of
attacks on journalists, but since the announcement of election dates, the
attacks are beginning to increase," said Nyasha Nyakunu from MISA.

"We are now worried because of the cases, including the attack on
journalists Herbert Moyo of the Zimbabwe Independent newspaper and Mashudu
Netsianda from the Chronicle newspaper."

'Media is still vulnerable'

Moyo was said to have been attacked while reporting on protests by members
of Zimbabwe's main opposition party - the MDC - who were demonstrating
against the choice of candidate for their constituency.

Netsianda had been briefly detained.

"It is the severity of cases that is worrying, like the incident where a
journalist in Chinhoyi was severely beaten up," said MISA's Nyakunu. "Let's
stay safe. There is no story worth dying for and there is no politician
worth dying for."

Most journalists know the best way to stay out of trouble in Zimbabwe is the
same rule which applies everywhere; to try and tell all sides of the story.

If you interview someone from Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's MDC, it is
only fair to give someone from President Robert Mugabe's  Zimbabwe African
National Union – Patriotic Front party (ZANU-PF) the right to reply.

Of course, it is not always as simple as that. Sometimes politicians do not
want to talk to you, or might be too busy to see you that day.

But where we can, we try, and remembering to always keep a valid press card
handy is also necessary.

Ultimately, we are still vulnerable, especially when reporting on sensitive
issues.

The next few weeks leading up to elections could be tense, for all
Zimbabweans.

After the drama and chaos of the disputed 2008 election, most people in the
country know the basic rule to surviving an election here – keep your head
down.

Demand for new broadcasting licences

http://www.dailynews.co.zw/



By Maxwell Sibanda, Assistant Editor
Monday, 24 June 2013 10:34
HARARE - As Zimbabweans face a crucial election set for anytime this year,
the issue of media reforms has again taken centre stage as it is a requisite
to a free and fair poll.

While media encompasses both print and broadcasting, it is the later that
still has to make any strides in terms of opening up to independent radio
and television stations.

In recent months, government which had all along refused to offer new radio
licences, issued two stations; ZiFM and Star FM the nod to broadcast. But
both stations are not independent and are closely linked to Zanu PF.

ZiFm is owned by a Zanu PF member and former ZBC broadcaster Supa
Mandiwanzira while Star FM is owned by the State-controlled Zimpapers,
publishers of The Herald, H-Metro, Chronicle and Sunday Mail amomg others
The ZTV remains the sole television broadcaster, 33 years into Zimbabwe’s
independence and efforts to license new players have been thwarted over the
years.

The Daily News sought interviews from media practitioners and artistes in
which we asked them what they thought had changed in broadcasting, looking
back from 1980, 90s through to 2000 compared to today.

Political activist and media practitioner Tabani Moyo believes there has
been little movement in the broadcasting industry as the State has
maintained a stronghold on that industry for the fear of unknown.

“Since independence we witnessed two new players in the industry one of
which the State licensed itself through Star FM and then the controversies
or shall I say the demons that followed the whole process which are refusing
to die.

“Questions also touch on the awarding of a licence to a Zanu PF candidate
for Nyanga South. There are so many questions that arose due to such
controversies,” said Moyo.

He said in terms of content generation on the two new radio stations it was
his hope that there will be balance during the elections period.

“The nefarious law such as the Broadcasting Services Act (BSA) that makes it
literally impossible to attract foreign investment into the industry has not
been amended much. So the State has by and large dominated the broadcasting
industry through its State broadcaster ZBC.

“Attempts were made through Capital radio to break the broadcasting
stagnancy but upon winning their case at Supreme Court in 2000, the owners
were stampeded out of the country and their equipment confiscated by the
State,” said Moyo.

He acknowledges that some few changes have been scored in multimedia
communication with the bulk of youth markets broadcasting their materials on
YouTube, which has literally transformed into a television network.

“However, the challenges of broadband speed have become a pull down effect
in this regard.”

Going forward, Moyo said he expected this government or the one coming into
existence after the make or break elections to move with speed to
reconstitute the regulatory authority as an independent Broadcasting
Authority of Zimbabwe as opposed to the current charade being chaired by
media “hangman” Tafataona Mahoso.

He said there was urgent need to “issue out a cocktail of new broadcasting
licences given the fact that the government has capacity to issue out 52
community radio licences, six television stations among others as was
revealed by the then deputy minister of Information, Jameson Timba in 2009.

“Transform ZBC from being a State broadcaster towards a public service
broadcaster. The public service broadcaster that is not manipulated by
centres of power in government, but aims at ensuring that there is high
quality service in terms of programming and serving the diverse tastes of
the nation.

“We should move with speed towards transforming our moribund analogue
broadcasting towards digital migration so that we increase capacity to
broadcast.”

Arts administrator Daniel Maphosa said there must be diverse broadcasting
plays both at television and radio level where competition is high.

“This will help improve the quality of programming. This can also be
achieved by massive investment and re-investment into production of quality
content that will enable competitiveness within national and regional
landscapes.

“Having said that, I think the 75 percent local content while being a good
initiative would not achieve its aims unless there is that investment.”

He said he was happy that the airwaves are giving prominence to local
artists. “For examples if you look at the urban grooves genre, it has
improved in the past 10 years because of the airspace and competition it is
getting from radio channels.”

Pan African commentator Thomas Deve said the State broadcaster has remained
largely loyal to Zanu PF and gives access to other players on very few
occasions.

“In most instances, it portrays Zanu PF in a good light and is always
demonising other players. We have new players now and you have a clear
division that is often characterised as polarised views on national and
related overseas news,” said Deve.

He said the worrying thing at the moment is liberalisation of the airwaves
has been good for musical programmes and talk shows but some political
issues that desire deeper reflections to give the public informed positions
are handled as propaganda platforms.

“What I don’t like is the politicisation of the broadcasting landscape,
particularly in non-entertainment content. There is an overdose of
propaganda than balanced content that serve the needs and aspirations of
various and diverse Zimbabwean groups. This has therefore killed local
people’s confidence in local stations,” said Deve.

Screen actor and director of Pakare Paye Arts Centre, Watson Chidzomba said
while there are many issues surrounding the broadcasting landscape in
Zimbabwe, he recalls the time when Gray Tichatonga was head at ZBC in early
80s.

“He supported drama and created budgets for television dramas. We were
treated like artists hence the quality of our works then,” said Chidzomba.

The actor said broadcasting’s full strength, especially television depends
on adverts. “But that will not improve if television promotes hate language
and is all political propaganda.”

He added that the two new radio stations, Star FM and ZiFM have brought
great change to broadcasting. “We are now praying for more television
stations.”

Chidzomba said the introduction of community radio stations would greatly
improve the broadcasting landscape.

“Take a place like ours (Pakare Paye Arts Centre) community radio would work
wonders.”

Celebrated author Virginia Phiri said a lot has changed in the broadcasting
circles since 1980 to today.

“Certainly a lot has changed. That is from efficiency, friendliness,
openness, listener and customer care,” said Phiri.

Renowned artist and painter Chiko Chazunguza thinks the 100 percent local
content move back then made a huge difference since broadcasting is not an
end in itself.

“It has to propel productive cultural energy — otherwise it becomes a gun
pointing at one’s own culture,” said Chazunguza.

Media commentator Masimba Biriwasha said broadcasting was a big thing in the
early 1980s, 90s through to 2000, and then at the turn of the last decade
propaganda became the staple of broadcasting.

“Suffice to state that Zimbabweans have found alternative ways to broadcast
and receive broadcasting. A lot of online radio stations have emerged.

“In general though, broadcasting in Zimbabwe needs to undergo a revamp to
make it tell the local story more effectively,” said Biriwasha.

Guitarist and music composer Master Pablo Nakappa said the more broadcasting
is opened to other players, the merrier the artists.

“Many players will bring joy even to us artists. You know that out of all
radio stations you will not fail to get one that plays your music.
Information is also getting faster where it is intended to get,” said
Nakappa.

He bemoaned the absence of more television stations. “Laws need to be
changed so that independent players also get involved as well. We are still
backward on television because the only station that is there is not doing
much.”

Curator and deputy director of National Gallery of Zimbabwe Raphel Chinovava
Chikukwa said the arrival of new radio stations is what we need and it is my
hope that step by step we will have more stations.

“Because when one looks at the 80s, 90s up to 2000 we can say the new
stations have brought a lot to the table diverse voices and also created
employment to our local DJs and reporters,” said Chikukwa.

Music manager Marcus Gora said the most important change in broadcasting has
to do with legislation. “I am not sure if there have been any changes on
that front.”

Gora said other important broadcasting issues that were witnessed in
Zimbabwe over the years have to do with the broadcasting of illegal foreign
based radio stations into the country and how that affects society and
politics.

“Another major turning factor is to do with the 100 percent local content
effected by Jonathan Moyo when he was still minister of Information which
resulted in the rise of local urban grooves music,” said Gora.

He applauded the increase in new radio stations — ZiFM and Star FM which are
broadcasting far and wide.

“In terms of artistic freedom of expression it is important to note that
freedom of expression is a qualified right and not an absolute right in
every country.

“The space for artistic free expression on the airwaves has shrunk over the
past decade. While the law provides for this freedom, broadcasters like the
ZBC have simply limited the range and plurality of voices.

“One hopes that the introduction of new stations will and can broaden
opportunities for expression. These gains can only be realised by a nation
that is honest about upholding values such as tolerance and respect,” said
Gora.

A broadcaster who declined to be named said State monopoly on broadcasting
has seen standards deteriorating to deplorable levels.

“State investment into radio and television has dwindled combined with
increased propaganda levels resulted in the predictable flight of capable
and experienced engineers, camera persons and producers, prompting the ZBC
to rely on thoroughly green employees with no immediate and professional
clues on how studio and news gathering cameras are operated.

“This has reduced the corporation to a laughing stock as the rising
propaganda levels competed pathetically with deteriorating standards,” said
the correspondent. He said the only change that is there in broadcasting
today is a constant decline in standards for the worse. “Professional
standards that existed in the 80s are gone, un-replaced and difficult to
cultivate as business and the corporate sector remain reluctant to pump in
money into an incompetent and unprofessional television pit, which can only
be redeemed possibly in a new political dispensation.”

He added the current status quo has consolidated a dead man’s grip on State
television and main radio stations for survival politics at the expense of
profit and professionalism.

“The current so-called radio private stations are offshoots of the State
through a partisan process — though done openly — was executed behind closed
political doors into hoodwinking the public that a professional procedure
was followed.

“In terms of content they are equally a pathetic carbon copy of the former,
and ahead of elections shall mutate into pronounced propaganda outlets of
the State. Nothing has changed. I refused to have wool rolled over my face,”
said the correspondent.

ZANU PF ‘arms dealer’ sues the UK over targeted sanctions

http://www.swradioafrica.com/




By Alex Bell
SW Radio Africa
24 June 2013

Business tycoon and alleged ZANU PF ally, John Bredenkamp, has sued the
British government for being responsible for putting his name on a list of
targeted sanctions against the Robert Mugabe regime.

John Bredenkamp, who was until last year listed on the European Union (EU)
list of restrictive sanctions, has argued in court papers that the UK
Foreign Office unlawfully caused his assets to be frozen as a result of
“unsubstantiated” comments made to an ambassador. He was delisted early last
year along with many other top ZANU PF allies and officials.

Bredenkamp, who has previously been accused of bypassing international
sanctions in the 1970s for the Ian Smith and then providing this same
illicit trade for the Mugabe regime, claims the EU measures placed against
him in 2009 were “devastating for his personal and professional reputation”
and based on “exceptionally generalised” evidence.

Bredenkamp’s lawyers are challenging the UK Government’s decision to freeze
Bredenkamp’s assets and impose a travel ban on him, arguing that the Foreign
Office’s evidence was “based on entirely unsubstantiated, undocumented and
unparticularised comments made orally to the former ambassador of the United
Kingdom to Zimbabwe, Dr Andrew Pocock”.

According to High Court documents, the Foreign Office privately informed the
EU that the businessman had “strong ties” to the Mugabe government and
“provided, through his companies, financial and other support to the
 regime.”

Bredenkamp is known as a key collaborator and business associate of many
heavyweights in ZANU PF, including Defence Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa. It
has also been reported that he was facilitating ZANU PF’s access to arms,
despite embargoes and sanctions against the party.

Bredenkamp maintains he is a legitimate businessman and has no connections
with the Mugabe regime. His lawyers are arguing that the UK Government
produced no evidence to substantiate these kinds of allegations and that
Bredenkamp has always “vigorously rejected” claims that he supported Mugabe.

UK based Zimbabwean activist Ephraim Tapa said the case now makes a mockery
of the UK and Europe’s human rights obligations, arguing that removing
Bredenkamp off the sanctions list was equal to saying he had done nothing
wrong.

“For him to be removed from the targeted sanctions list in the first place
is a mockery of what sanctions were meant to achieve. Nothing has changed in
Zimbabwe to warrant his and many others removal off that list,” Tapa said.

He criticised the EU decision to relax its sanctions, saying it demonstrates
that Europe feels threatened by the amount of business interest shown in
Zimbabwe by competitors like China and Russia.

He added: “His (Bredenkamp’s) decision to sue the British government serves
now to underline the stupid policy the UK has adopted recently towards
Zimbabwe, where their policy has shifted from one of human rights to one of
profit.”

Chiredzi man in court after ‘hitting’ Mugabe picture in anger

http://www.swradioafrica.com/




By Alex Bell
SW Radio Africa
24 June 2013

A Chiredzi man who was arrested for allegedly ‘undermining’ the authority of
the President after hitting an image of Robert Mugabe, will stand trial this
week.

Regis Kandawasvika was arrested last October after he allegedly struck
Mugabe’s portrait in a bar. According to the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human
Rights (ZLHR) Kandawasvika was displaying frustration over failing to secure
employment.

He was charged with contravening the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform)
Act after he allegedly held Mugabe accountable for not being able to find
work, despite his impressive academic achievements.

According to State prosecutors, Kandawasvika struck the ZANU PF leader’s
portrait, which was hanging in Khomanani Bar in Tshovani high density suburb
on 2nd October 2012, after protesting against his unemployment. The incident
followed a verbal altercation with a security guard at the bar over
political affiliation.

Kandawasvika reportedly said: “Ndiri kutambura nokuda kwehutongi
hwezimudhara iri Robert Mugabe. Ndine masabhujekiti six pa”O” Level kasi
handina basa rekuita. Handidi kana kumboriona zimudhara irori. Ikozvino
gwendo runo riri kuenda kamwe chete”, which the police translated to mean:
“I am suffering because of the ruling of this old man Cde Robert Mugabe. I
have six “O” level subjects but I have no job. I don’t want to see this old
man. This time he is going one way.”

After making these comments, prosecutors claim that Kandawasvika then picked
up bottle tops from the floor and threw them at Mugabe’s portrait three
times. He then hit the portrait with a pool cue.

Kandawasvika is out of custody after he was granted $20 bail by a Chiredzi
Magistrate on 31st October 2012.

His trial begins Tuesday in the Chiredzi Magistrates Court.

Party refutes Mutambara's alleged ouster

http://www.dailynews.co.zw/


Monday, 24 June 2013 13:58

HARARE - Breakaway MDC faction has described Arthur Mutambara’s alleged
ouster from the party’s helm as a “monumental dream”.

In a statement, the party’s secretary general Maxwell Zimuto said the
robotics professor was still the leader of the party.

“MDC-M wished to categorically state that contrary to assertions that have
culminated in a plethora of articles which appeared in some newspapers
ostensibly from Robson Mashiri, claiming that Professor Arthur Mutambara,
the MDC-M president had been ousted, these claims are false and malicious
and can only exist in Mashiri’s wildest dreams,” said Zimuto.

Zimuto’s statement comes after Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai said
Mutambara should no longer consider himself a principal in the coalition
government, as the guarantors of the Global Political agreement (GPA), Sadc
has discarded him.

“It is clear from the Sadc meeting that Mutambara is no longer considered a
principal and the legitimate one is Ncube (Welshman). From now on, it is
important for everyone to appreciate that whenever we discuss matters of the
GPA, President Robert Mugabe, Ncube and I, are in charge," Tsvangirai told
the Daily News last week.

The party has been in a leadership wrangle since 2011.

However, despite a High Court ruling, declaring Ncube as the official
president of this breakaway MDC formation, Mutambara took the matter to the
Supreme Court — which is yet to make a determination, giving him a lifeline
to continue as a principal.

Mutambara has been left clinging to the pending court ruling.

Ncube who sided with Tsvangirai  said Mutambara ceased to be a Principal
when the party congress decided so, two years ago.

Despite Tsvangirai and Ncube’s averments, in his statement Zimuto said.

“Professor Mutambara is the president of the party and he remains so until
proper constitutional processes of changing leadership are conducted.” -
Tendai Kamhungira

Interview: Zimbabwe tourism boss hopes to take China by storm

http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/


By Xu Lingui (Xinhua)
19:42, June 24, 2013

HARARE, June 24 (Xinhua) -- Zimbabwe aims to aggressively promote its
tourism to Chinese tourists, relax visa restrictions, and boost air
connectivity to grab a bigger share of the world's largest outbound tourist
market, the country's tourism chief said.

The landlocked southern African nation is blessed with one of the world's
most spectacular waterfalls – the Victoria Falls, but a decade of economic
stagnation has taken its toll on tourism, leaving a huge market potential
relatively untapped.

In a recent interview with Xinhua, Chief Executive of Zimbabwe Tourism
Authority (ZTA) Karigoga Kaseke said the country has however "waken up from
the sleep" to catch up with a previously- set ambitious vision to receive
50,000 Chinese tourists annually by 2015.

That would mean a roughly ten times rise from the less than 5, 000 Chinese
tourists to Zimbabwe in 2012, according to the official figures.

"China has given us the proved destination status, but we have not taken
advantages of that approval," Kaseke said. "That vision now proves to be a
nightmare. But a nightmare is what we have when we are sleeping. "

Overall, nearly 1.8 million tourists visited Zimbabwe in 2012, but more than
70 percent were nationals from neighboring countries, according to a latest
released government tourism report.

Tourism revenue last year was about 749 million U.S. dollars, thanks to big
spenders like Chinese, Japanese, and Western tourists who make up roughly 10
percent of the total tourist arrivals, the report says.

According to the ZTA's first quarter report, the number of Chinese tourists
grew an impressive 165 percent from a year ago to 3,714 in the first three
months, making China surpass Japan to become Zimbabwe's top tourism source
market in Asia.

Though the entire Asian market accounted for only 3 percent of the total
tourist arrivals to Zimbabwe, the report says the market will keep growing
and the trend is commendable "considering that China is the world's top
tourism outbound and spending market."

Statistics show there were 22.6 million Chinese tourists went abroad in the
first quarter of 2013. The swelling middle class have begun to set their
eyes on the wild African continent, after more and more people are bored
with the traditional markets like the Southeast Asia, Europe and want to
look for routes that are more fun and less traveled.

But distance and safety concerns are holding off the Chinese tourists to
Africa. For those who did venture to sub-Saharan Africa, Kenya and South
Africa remain the top choices. Mauritius and Seychelles are most likely to
follow as the two peaceful Indian Ocean island states adopt visa free
policies towards Chinese tourists.

Kaseke said Zimbabwe is more than happen to grant China a Category A (visa
free) status but because the visa regime applies reciprocally a change of
the visa regime needs to be agreed upon by the both countries.

But he said ZTA is piloting an E-VISA platform for China that allows
tourists to apply a visa online and shortens the process to three working
days.

PRIVATE AIRLINE

For another development, Kaseke, formerly head of Zimbabwe's aviation
authority, told Xinhua that he and other investors will launch a private
airline in August.

"Besides daily Harare-Victoria Falls route, Royal Zimbabwe Airlines will fly
to China's Guangzhou via Singapore three times a week," Kaseke said.

Zimbabwe's state-owned Air Zimbabwe used to fly to Beijing and Guangzhou,
but a debt crisis that embroiled the state airline forced it to abandon all
international routes in early 2012.

Though Air Zimbabwe resumed flights to Johannesburg and plans to resume
flights to London, there is no immediate plan to resume flights to China.

The ZTA report indicates that the grounding of Air Zimbabwe's international
flights had a direct impact on the sharp decline of Asian tourists,
especially from China, in 2012.Royal Zimbabwe Airlines, once it takes off,
will become the country's first private airline and breaks Air Zimbabwe's
monopoly, a bold step by the regulatory.

Kaseke did not disclose details of the investment.

Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Transport Munesu Munodawafa confirmed
to Xinhua that Royal Zimbabwe Airlines had applied for a permit to fly to
China and that his ministry had granted them the approval.

"Yes, they have indicated the routes which they want to fly to. One of the
routes is to China," Munodawafa said.

But he said the airline should go back to the Ministry and notify it of its
readiness to fly, after which the ministry would write to authorities of the
intended destination, a process Munodawafa says "won't take too long."

It remains to be seen whether the private airline can thrive.

Zimbabwe's Minister of Tourism and Hospitality Industry Walter Mzembi last
week told a media briefing that most of the foreign tourists to the
continent arrive by air.

"No matter how big is our continent, only three or four African national
carriers are viable," Mzembi said, adding that given the importance of air
transport to tourism, the viability issue of the African airlines urgently
needs to be addressed.

Tighten screws on Mugabe, Obama told

http://www.news24.com/


2013-06-24 11:18



Cape Town – President Barack Obama should tighten screws on Zimbabwean
President Robert Mugabe's administration in order to force the regime to
implement reforms ahead of polls, Human Rights Watch (HRW) has said,
according to Daily News.

Dewa Mavhinga, HRW’s Africa senior researcher told the US Congress last week
that despite the implementation of a modicum of reforms in Zimbabwe, the
political landscape remained hazardous and should be fine-tuned before the
holding of this year’s watershed polls.

"During my visit to Zimbabwe last month, people told me of their great fear
that the coming elections might just be another cycle of political violence
because little had changed on the ground to build their confidence that they
can vote freely," Mavhinga told the committee.

HRW's stance resonates with the Southern African Development Community
(SADC) which on June 15, called upon Mugabe and his coalition partners,
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and Industry and Commerce minister Welshman
Ncube to work on implementing  security sector and media reforms before
holding make-or-break elections.

With disagreements escalating in the four-year-old coalition over poll
dates, Mavhinga called on the US to exert pressure on Mugabe through Sadc to
create an environment conducive for holding credible elections.

"We call on the Obama administration to work closely with SADC and urgently
take steps to: ensure the political neutrality of the security forces,
namely by investigating and prosecuting alleged abuses by security force
personnel and publicly directing the leadership of the security forces to
carry out their responsibilities in a professional and impartial manner, and
appropriately punishing or prosecuting those who fail to do so," said
Mavhinga.

Zimbabwe is expected to hold elections sometime this year to end a unity
government formed in 2009 following disputed elections in the previous year.

- News24

MDCs call Mugabe’s spokesperson a liar

http://www.thezimbabwean.co/



24.06.13


by Sofia Mapuranga

The two MDC formations have dismissed claims that the coalition leaders’
meeting to discuss issues related to the country’s election date and
Electoral Act amendments failed to take place after leaders from the two
parties abandoned the meeting.



In an interview with The Zimbabwean, spokespersons from the two MDCs accused
‘Zanu (PF) of devising ways of derailing collective engagement befitting the
urgency in coming up with an election date’.

Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and Finance Minister, Tendai Biti from the
MDC-T, MDC party President, Welshman Ncube and Regional Integration
Minister, Priscilla Misihairabwi- Mushonga are reportedly said to have
ditched the State House meeting last Friday after President Robert Mugabe
was delayed for the coalition partners' meeting at State House.

Presidential spokesperson, George Charamba last week said the president was
delayed as he was attending other government business and accused the other
principals of prematurely abandoning the meeting.

A statement issued out by the Welshman Ncube led MDC alleged that
representatives from the two MDC formations left the venue of the meeting
after the Zanu (PF) entourage failed to turn up.

“Ncube, Misihairabwi Mushonga, PM Tsvangirai, Biti, Matinenga and two other
people all presented themselves at State House in readiness for the meeting.

“However, after waiting from 10 am until 1 pm 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,” read the statement.

MDC- T spokesperson, Douglas Mwonzora dismissed claims that his party
president had travelled to Matabeleland to garner for support ahead of
elections as “utter rubbish” and said the claim was a “futile exercise by
Zanu (PF) to defend Mugabe’s actions at the expense of the nation”.

He said: “Zanu (PF) is not ready for elections and testimony to this is the
fact that they have postponed their primary elections. Surely they cannot
fool anyone that they are ready for elections yet they do not even have
candidates to field for the various constituencies”.

He said contrary to claims that the party was ready for elections, shelving
the primaries meant that there was chaos in the Zanu (PF) backyard.

Mwonzora said at 89 years old, Mugabe was more likely to forget ‘important
meetings such as this one, hence the need for competent advisors’.

MDC spokesperson, Kurauone Chihwayi, lashed out at presidential
spokesperson, Charamba, and accused Zanu (PF) of derailing the unity of
purpose towards collective engagement in coming up with a solution to the
country’s political impasse.

He said: “Charamba is obviously abusing the state media to misinform the
nation. This is cheap politics and our party has no time for that. His party
obviously lacks commitment to internal engagement and definitely, the party
is not committed to finding ways of coming up with an election date.”

He accused Mugabe’s officers of incompetence and said they failed to
communicate to the other parties in the government of national unity the
whereabouts of Mugabe yet they expected the team to wait for him the whole
day.

Chihwayi said: “We cannot be treated like that and we are not desperate for
an audience with him because there is life after Mugabe.”

Zimbabwe is set to hold harmonised elections on July 31 following Mugabe’s
presidential proclamation made in line with a recent Constitutional Court
ruling.

However, a Southern Africa Development Community special summit held in
Maputo, Mozambique, last week recommended that Mugabe pushes the elections
to around August 14 following submissions from the two MDC formations.

Justice and Legal Affairs minister, Patrick Chinamasa last week approached
the Constitutional Court seeking the extension of the poll date, in a matter
that will be heard this Wednesday.

Rio Tinto to keep Murowa Diamond Mine

http://www.newzimbabwe.com/


24/06/2013 00:00:00
     by Business Reporter




GLOBAL resources group Rio Tinto is set to retain its interest in Murowa
Diamond Mine after the company reversed a decision to dispose of its diamond
business.

The world’s number three miner said Monday it was calling off the proposed
US$1.3bln sale of its diamond operations in operations in Australia, Canada
and Zimbabwe after buyers failed to meet its asking price.

Rio Tinto has a 78 percent interest in Zvishavane based Murowa diamond with
the balance owned by the locally listed RioZim Limited.

"After considering a number of alternative strategic ownership options it is
clear the best path to generate maximum value for our shareholders is to
retain these businesses," said Rio Diamonds and Minerals chief executive
Alan Davies in a statement on Monday.

"The medium-to-long-term market fundamentals for diamonds remain robust,
fuelled by growing demand for luxury goods in Asia and continuing strong
demand in North America.”

Rio Tinto put its gem business up for sale in March last year after
following a sharp fall in prices amid concerns about the eurozone crises
crimping demand. The diamond unit reported a $43 million loss in 2012, down
from a profit of $10 million a year earlier.

Following the announcement last year RioZim had indicated its interest in
taking over majority control of the Zimbabwe unit.
"We're now in discussions with Rio Tinto Plc to acquire the 78 percent of
Murowa that they want to offload," said Harpal Randhawa, whose private
equity group Global Emerging Markets (GEM) recently bought 25 percent of
RioZim.

Murowa has since agreed a deal with the government for compliance with
indigenisation laws which require foreign firms to transfer control and
ownership of at least 51 percent of their local operations to Zimbabweans.

Women in Zimbabwe’s Parliament Will Change Widow’s Lives

http://www.ipsnews.net/

 

By Michelle Chifamba

Zimbabwe’s legislation is silent on the issue of women’s rights to inherit communal land. And upon their husband’s deaths, many widows find themselves evicted from their matrimonial homes. Credit: Michelle Chifamba/IPS

HARARE, Jun 24 2013 (IPS) - When Maude Taruvinga* votes in Zimbabwe’s elections later this year, she will be voting for her local female politician as she has placed her hopes for a better future on the presence of more women in this southern African nation’s legislature.

In January 2012, Taruvinga became a victim of Zimbabwe’s patriarchal traditions when her in-laws forced her out of her matrimonial home in Marondera, Mashonaland East Province, after her common-law husband passed away intestate.

“I eventually decided to leave my husband’s land because I could not endure the harassment any more. No one could help me. Even the police took the side of my husband’s relatives.

“Only a woman in parliament is capable of changing the life of another woman.” -- Member of parliament and chairperson of the Regional Women’s Parliamentary Caucus Beatrice Nyamupinga

“Many widows find themselves thrown out of their homes by greedy relatives and give up because of a lack of knowledge and (because the do not receive) protection from the police,” 45-year-old Taruvinga told IPS.

The Zimbabwe Administration of Estates Act No. 6 of 1997 stipulates that if a spouse dies without a will, the surviving partner inherits their immovable property. Prior to this act, a husband’s estate was dissolved if he died intestate.

However, Zimbabwe Women Lawyers Association director Emilia Muchawa told IPS that although 86 percent of the country’s women earn a living farming communal land allocated to their husbands by traditional chiefs, legislation is silent on the issue of women’s rights to inherit this land.

“Customarily chiefs allocate land to male heads of households, but women do not automatically inherit this upon their husband’s death.

“They may be evicted from the land when widowed, regardless of the years they spent married. Many who remain on the land do so at the goodwill of their in-laws or traditional leaders. Childless widows are often evicted, as are young widows who refuse to be physically ‘inherited’ by a male relative of their late husband,” she told IPS.

Currently, Zimbabwe’s new constitution, which was enacted into law in May, provides for equality of both sexes, and activists who spoke to IPS said that there was a need for laws to be revised to reflect this, and to protect widows married under customary law.

Civic groups here believe that if more women were elected to Zimbabwe’s parliament, they would be more vocal in addressing this and other discriminatory practices against women.

Women in Politics Support Unit (WiPSU), a non-governmental organisation that aims to increase the participation of women in policy- and decision-making, launched a “Vote for a Woman Campaign” ahead of the presidential elections.

The campaign is meant to help the country achieve gender equality in accordance with the Southern African Development Community Protocol on Gender Development .

The protocol includes several progressive clauses and 23 set targets, including the target that women will hold 50 percent of decision-making positions in public and private sectors by 2015. Women constitute some 6.7 million of Zimbabwe’s 12.9 million people.

“The ‘Vote for a Woman Campaign’ will accelerate the number of women taking up positions in parliament and local government. It is meant to raise awareness among the general populace to vote for a woman in the hope that women in parliament will improve the lives of women at the grassroots,” WiPSU director Fanny Chirisa told IPS.

Marlene Sigauke, programmes manager at the Center for African Women Advancement, an organisation that works for the development of African women, told IPS that policies and political party manifestos on gender equality must be fully implemented.

“Women in power should be able to develop strong, gender-sensitive policies (that benefit) women at the grassroots,” she said.

“Only a woman in parliament is capable of changing the life of another woman.” -- Member of parliament and chairperson of the Regional Women’s Parliamentary Caucus Beatrice Nyamupinga

Deputy Minister of Labour and Social Welfare Monica Mutsvangwa told IPS that it was time to fight for women’s rights.

“The new constitution reserves seats for women and we want to take that opportunity … to improve their welfare,” she said. The constitution allocates 60 total affirmative action seats for women in both the country’s 210-seat parliament and 88-seat senate.

“The constitution now approves an 18 percent quota of women’s participation in politics. We are therefore going to use this constitution to implement policies and turn theory into practice,” Mutsvangwa said.

Member of parliament and chairperson of the Regional Women’s Parliamentary Caucus Beatrice Nyamupinga told IPS that although Zimbabwe was signatory to a number of conventions, the government has failed to implement these policies.

“Many victims (widows not allowed to inherit their husband’s property) are afraid to report their cases for fear of being judged and interrogated by authorities and the police. The new constitution has provisions for gender equality and certain clauses protect the rights of women. If women themselves are not present in parliament to make sure that the laws are implemented, then the provisions will never come to pass,” Nyamupinga said.

“Only a woman in parliament is capable of changing the life of another woman.”

*Name changed to protect identity.

 

 

 

Zim: It's too late for free, fair polls

http://www.news24.com/


2013-06-24 12:31



Cape Town - The US and international civic organisations have hinted that it
could be difficult for Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe to relinquish
power if he lost in the forthcoming elections, News Day reported on Monday.

Giving testimonies in Washington during the US Senate Foreign Relations
Subcommittee hearing on Zimbabwe, organisations represented said prospects
of a free and fair election were low due to increased intimidation and
influence of the army chiefs.

The army bosses have declared their allegiance to Zanu-PF.

Chairperson of the subcommittee Senator Christopher Coons said there was
growing concern on government’s untruthfulness to SADC and the international
community to ensure free and fair elections in the country.

"I am concerned by recent reports that the Zimbabwean government is not
working in good faith with SADC and other international partners to ensure
these elections will be free and fair, especially considering the lengths to
which Mugabe and his Zanu-PF loyalists went to preserve power in 2008,”
Coons said.

The outcome

"I am also alarmed by the uptick in targeted harassment and intimidation of
the civil society leaders and human rights defenders who are seeking to
ensure a just contest. Leaders of the security forces are openly partisan
and using their positions to suppress democratic expression, and there are
reports that diamond revenues are being diverted to the security forces for
political purposes."


Todd Moss of the Centre for Global Development said it was too late to
guarantee free and fair elections in Zimbabwe.

"It's already far too late for a free and fair election in 2013. The Zanu-PF
intimidation machine has been running full steam for the past five years and
the systematic campaign of fear is already in place. Thus we shouldn’t be
surprised if election day passes peaceably," Moss said.

"Even if Mugabe somehow loses, Zanu-PF won't allow Morgan Tsvangirai to
become President. We know this because it has already happened in 2008. And
if the outcome is already decided, then how can we possibly ever declare it
a competitive election?"

He said the US government should stop being passive and "get creative".

"Zimbabwe doesn't want to remain a pariah state, so let’s leverage that.
Refuse to endorse a sham election."

He said the US must not rush into normalising relations with Zimbabwe until
reforms are met.

- News24

Mutambara on Redefining Zimbabwe’s Competitiveness

Address at the ZNCC Annual Congress

Prof. Arthur G.O. Mutambara, Deputy Prime Minister of Zimbabwe

13th June 2013, Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe

Introduction
Most of our development and industrialization plans have assumed the
traditional strengths of our country; natural resources, vast arable land,
depth and breadth of our industries, our people, geographical location and
stability. While these remain key factors in assessing our national economic
value proposition, there is need for rethinking and redefining our
competitiveness. Technological advances, the emerging role of talent, and
the imperatives of globalization demand a reassessment. There is also need
to identify infrastructure, an industrial cluster strategy and beneficiation
as the key potential drivers of Zimbabwe’s competitiveness. Furthermore,
contextual and operational competitiveness will come from effective
implementation, monitoring and evaluation, with emphasis on tracking the
right metrics. Of course, all this should be rooted in the provision of
certainty, predictability, and an enabling economic environment by state
actors.
Background and Definitions
Competitiveness refers to the ability of a firm or a nation to offer
products and services that meet the quality standards of the local and world
markets at prices that are lower than those of rival entities and provide
adequate returns on the resources employed or consumed in producing them.
Competitiveness is about the ability and performance of a firm, sub-sector
or country to sell and supply goods and services in a given market, in
relation to the ability and performance of other firms, sub-sectors or
countries in the same market. Within market driven economic systems, the
drive of enterprises is to maintain and improve their own competitiveness.
National competitiveness is defined by the productivity with which a nation
utilizes its human, capital, technology and natural resources. To understand
competitiveness, the starting point must be a nation’s underlying sources of
prosperity. A country’s standard of living is determined by the productivity
of its economy, which is measured by the value of goods and services
produced per unit of its resources. Productivity depends both on the value
of a nation’s products and services – measured by the prices they can
command in open markets – and by the efficiency with which they can be
produced. Productivity is also dependent on the ability of an economy to
mobilize its available assets including natural resources, human capital,
technology and institutional capacity. We have to conduct an asset audit for
Zimbabwe as we seek to assess and redefine its competitiveness.
A nation’s prosperity depends on its competitiveness. Sound macroeconomic
policies and stable political and legal institutions are necessary but not
sufficient conditions to ensure a prosperous economy. Competitiveness is
rooted in a nation’s microeconomic fundamentals—the sophistication of
company operations and strategies and the quality of the microeconomic
business environment in which companies compete. An understanding of the
microeconomic foundations of competitiveness is fundamental to national
economic policy and strategy. There are three broad and interrelated drivers
of foundational competitiveness; i.e., infrastructure and political
institutions, monetary and fiscal policy, and the microeconomic environment.
A competitive nation is able to attract investment, trade and tourism, thus
spurring national development and economic growth. The key parameters to be
managed include Economic Performance, Government Efficiency, Business
Efficiency, Infrastructure, Innovation and Entrepreneurship, and Quality of
Life. Where is the Zimbabwean nation in this framework?

Competitive and Comparative Advantage
Another concept we must define is competitive advantage. It is the edge that
a firm has over its competitors, allowing it to generate greater sales or
margins and retain more customers than its competition. There can be many
types of competitive advantages including the firm’s cost structure, product
offerings, distribution network and customer support. Competitive advantages
give a company an edge over its rivals and an ability to generate greater
value for the firm and its shareholders. The more sustainable the
competitive advantage, the more difficult it is for competitors to
neutralize the advantage.
There are two main types of competitive advantages: comparative advantage
and differential advantage. Comparative advantage, or cost advantage, is a
firm’s ability to produce a good or service at a lower cost than its
competitors, which gives the firm the ability sell its goods or services at
a lower price than its competition or to generate a larger margin on sales.
A differential advantage is created when a firm’s products or services
differ from its competitors and are seen as better than a competitor’s
products by customers. Competitive advantage seeks to address some of the
criticisms of comparative advantage. Competitive advantage theory suggests
that states and businesses should pursue policies that create high-quality
goods to sell at high prices in the market. We should emphasize productivity
growth as the focus of national strategies. This is the route that Zimbabwe
should take. Competitive advantage rests on the notion that cheap labor is
ubiquitous and natural resources are not necessary for a good economy. The
other theory, comparative advantage, can lead countries to specialize in
exporting primary goods and raw materials that trap countries in low-wage
economies due to terms of trade. Competitive advantage attempts to correct
for this issue by stressing maximizing scale economies in goods and services
that garner premium prices.
Competitive advantage occurs when an organization acquires or develops an
attribute or combination of attributes that allows it to outperform its
competitors. These attributes can include access to natural resources, such
as high grade ores or inexpensive power, or access to highly trained and
skilled personnel human resources. New technologies such as robotics and
information technology can provide competitive advantage, whether as a part
of the product itself, as an advantage to the making of the product, or as a
competitive aid in the business process, for example, better identification
and understanding of customers.
In economics, comparative advantage refers to the ability of a party to
produce a particular good or service at a lower marginal and opportunity
cost over another. The essence of comparative advantage is rooted in low
opportunity cost due to location of raw materials, labour, technology,
capital or markets. Even if one country is more efficient in the production
of all goods, i.e., absolute advantage in all goods; than the other, both
countries will still gain by trading with each other. Comparative advantage
is the edge that an entity has on producing and selling a product over other
centers. Zimbabwean companies and our industrialization planners must take
into account both comparative and competitive advantages. As already
explained, comparative advantage is predicated upon having the lowest
opportunity cost through proximity of assets such as raw materials, labour
and markets. What Zimbabwean sectors fall in this category? On the other
hand, competitive advantage is gained by offering greater value by means of
lower prices or by providing greater benefits through economies of
agglomeration and association. Where does this place our manufacturing
sector?
WEF Global Competitiveness Index
In recent years, the concept of national competitiveness has emerged as a
new paradigm in economic development. Competitiveness captures the awareness
of both the limitations and challenges posed by global competition, at a
time when effective government action is constrained by budgetary
constraints and the private sector faces significant barriers to competing
in domestic and international markets. There are several indices that seek
to measure the attractiveness and competitiveness of nations. These include;
The World Economic Forum (WEF) Global Competitiveness Index (GCI), World
Bank Ease of Doing Business Index, Economic Freedom Index, Human Development
Index, and the Mo Ibrahim African Governance Index.
The WEF Global competitiveness report defines competitiveness as the set of
institutions, policies, and factors that determine the level of productivity
of a country. The index is an important determinant for the well-being of
states in an international trade environment. The term is also used to refer
in a broader sense to the economic competitiveness of countries, regions or
cities. Recently, countries are increasingly looking at their
competitiveness on global markets. The WEF GCI framework ranks the world’s
nations and it is based on the latest theoretical and empirical research. It
is made up of over 110 variables, organized into twelve pillars, with each
pillar representing an area considered as an important determinant of
competitiveness. These twelve pillars are organized into three categories;
Basic Requirements, Efficiency Enhancers, and Innovation and Sophistication.
As a nation develops, wages tend to increase, and that in order to sustain
this higher income, labor productivity must improve for the nation to be
competitive. In addition, what creates productivity in Sweden is necessarily
different from what drives it in Ghana. Thus, the GCI separates countries
into three specific stages: factor-driven, efficiency-driven, and
innovation-driven, each implying a growing degree of complexity in the
operation of the economy.
In the factor-driven stage countries compete based on their factor
endowments, primarily unskilled labor and natural resources. Companies
compete on the basis of prices and sell basic products or commodities, with
their low productivity reflected in low wages. To maintain competitiveness
at this stage of development, competitiveness hinges mainly on
well-functioning public and private institutions (pillar 1), appropriate
infrastructure (pillar 2), a stable macroeconomic framework (pillar 3), and
good health and primary education (pillar 4). This is where Zimbabwe is,
i.e., a basic factor driven economy. The same applies to Angola, Mozambique
and DRC.
As wages rise with advancing development, countries move into the
efficiency-driven stage of development, when they must begin to develop more
efficient production processes and increase product quality. At this point,
competitiveness becomes increasingly driven by higher education and training
(pillar 5), efficient goods markets (pillar 6), efficient labor markets
(pillar 7), developed financial markets (pillar 8), the ability to harness
the benefits of existing technologies (pillar 9), and its market size, both
domestic and international (pillar 10). In this stage of development,
examples of efficiency driven countries include Malaysia, Singapore, and
Hong Kong.
Finally, as countries move into the innovation-driven stage, they are only
able to sustain higher wages and a higher standard of living if their
businesses are able to compete by providing new or unique products. At this
stage, companies must compete by producing new and different goods using the
most sophisticated production processes (pillar 11) and through innovation
(pillar 12). In this most advanced stage of competitiveness, examples of
innovation driven economies include Japan, USA, and Switzerland. Some
countries are in between the three stages, i.e., moving from factor to
efficiency driven or moving from efficiency to innovation driven. The impact
of each pillar on competitiveness varies across countries, as a function of
their stages of economic development. Therefore, in the calculation of the
GCI, pillars are given different weights depending on the per capita income
of the nation. The weights used are the values that best explain growth in
recent years.
True competitiveness, is measured by productivity and productivity growth.
We must establish levels of these two variables in the Zimbabwean economy.
Productivity allows a nation to support high wages, attractive returns to
capital, a strong currency – and with them, a high standard of living. What
matters the most is not exports per se or whether firms are domestic or
foreign-owned, but the nature and productivity of the business activities
taking place in a particular country. Purely local industries also count for
competitiveness, because their productivity not only sets their wages but
also has a major influence on the cost of doing business and the cost of
living in the country.
So what are the drivers for competitiveness in emerging economy such as
ours? Almost everything matters for competitiveness. The schools matter, the
roads matter, the financial markets matter and customer sophistication
matters. These and other aspects of a nation’s circumstances are deeply
rooted in a nation’s institutions, people and culture. This makes improving
competitiveness a special challenge, because there is no single policy or
grand step that can create competitiveness, only many improvements in
individual areas that inevitably take time to accomplish. Improving
competitiveness is a marathon, not a sprint. How to sustain momentum in
improving competitiveness over time is among the greatest challenges facing
countries.
The Role of Technology in Competitiveness
Advances in technology such as ICTs, biotechnology, social media,
nanotechnology, robotics and mechatronics mean that Zimbabwe’s competitive
advantage must be reassessed. Disruptive technologies and discontinuities
have changed the industrial landscape. The notion of creative destruction
has become a commercial norm. By creative destruction we mean a company must
not be attached to products as if they were children. One must be able to
abandon current products and embrace completely novel once, and move with
technological innovation, in particular that which is driven by disruptive
technologies. Giant leaps in science, technology, and technology-driven
innovation have become key determinants of industrial development and
economic growth. In fact, the traditional understanding of capitalism as
dealing with the ownership of the means of production, with these being
land, labour and capital; is no longer exhaustive nor accurate. Technology
in general and ICTs in particular are now an integral part of the means of
production. Ownership and deployment of these technologies are now decisive
factors. The ICT driven knowledge economy, means Zimbabwean companies must
be involved in the creation, leveraging and commercialization of knowledge.
By knowledge economy we must also include indigenous knowledge systems.
These must be leveraged as part of our competitive strength. Technological
innovation and creativity are critical. Collaborative and co-creative open
source technology development efforts are now the order of the day. In
particular activities such hackathon where computer programmers and others
involved in software development, including graphic designers, interface
designers and project managers, dynamically collaborate intensively on
software projects; are on the rise. A hackathon led to the development of
twitter.
Enhancing competitiveness requires a national technology policy targeting
specific industries for special treatment. In the USA, certain technologies,
such as high-definition television, supercomputers, and semiconductors, got
special attention from the federal government. In fact most of these
technologies involving electronics or computing define the USA’s competitive
strength. These hi-tech industries could not be developed without a skilled
professional labor force, substantial research and development, and advanced
manufacturing technologies. And it was in these areas that the US assumed it
had its greatest advantages because of its existing educational and research
infrastructure and its general availability of venture capital. For us the
question is then, what is Zimbabwe’s national technology policy, and how is
it linked to our competitiveness.
Historically, technology has always been critical in economic development.
By the end of the nineteenth century, companies at the cutting edge of
technology were competing fiercely in international markets for business
viability. The contested technologies were different then: fine chemicals,
metallurgy, business machines, automobiles, electrical power and appliances,
and telecommunications. But research and development, venture capital,
university-industry relations, patents, and many other factors were at that
time similar to what they are today in technologically competitive
industries. Thus there is a century of experience with technological
competitiveness among firms and among nations from which lessons can be
drawn.
In fact most innovation is technology driven. In fact the word “innovation”
evokes images of inventors, new technologies and new products. Iconic images
come to mind – the Model T, airplanes, computers, rockets, radios, TVs, cell
phones and more. The list is endless, and the impact of these devices on the
development of the modern world has been tremendous. Society would not be
what it is today without the progressive development of science and
technology. Technology-driven innovation usually originates in scientific
discoveries and in hundreds of years of accumulated technical know-how.
These combined forces of science and technology drive ever greater
specialization in the spheres of knowledge. When new technologies make the
transition from the scientific domain to realization in technology,
inventors and corporate R&D groups, companies compete to develop commercial
applications. As we redefine Zimbabwe’s competitiveness we must learn from,
and leverage this framework. In the early decades of industrialization the
development of new technology was itself often a key source of competitive
advantage. Consequently, companies invested heavily in R&D projects that
produced new products in every sector of the economy.
For companies and countries that do not compete in the high tech sector, the
development and deployment of technology is also a critical success factor,
but here the role of technology is largely in operations, because technology
is critical to every aspect of coordination, communications and management
in today’s markets. For these companies and countries, technology is
completely embedded in how people work and improvements in technology
applications can be a significant source of differentiation. This is the
approach that Zimbabwe should take to Technology.
Our definition of national competitiveness must embrace advanced science and
technology including nanotechnology, biotechnology, neuroscience, ICTs,
cloud computing, big data, social media, crowd sourcing, robotics, and
mechatronics. We should neither fear nor fight technology. Let us use
technology and science to address our socio-political-economic challenges.
The conventional wisdom that says the most advanced technology and science
is for the developed world and that emerging economies must settle for older
technologies is not valid. In fact sometimes the most advanced technologies
are more relevant, easier to apply, and more profitable to deploy in
developing countries than in the rich nations. This is because in the
emerging economies, there are no infrastructure sunk costs and legacy
constraints. There is an opportunity to leapfrog. The experiences and
illustrative case studies of mobile telephony and mobile financial services
are clear manifestation and demonstration of this new phenomenon. It is
cheaper, easier, and more appropriate to deploy new innovations such as
Wi-Fi, WiMAX and cloud computing in an environment where there is
nonexistent telecommunications infrastructure (extensive wiring, hardware
and storage). Big Data’s capacity to manage and analyze large amounts of
information can be leveraged to handle geological and exploration data as
Zimbabweans set out to quantify and attach financial value to all their
un-mined natural resources.
In a McKinsey report of 2010, the following was posited; $2.6 trillion –
Africa’s collective GDP in 2020 (of which $1.3 trillion is from consumer
facing industries), $1.4 trillion – Africa’s consumer spending in 2020; 1.1
billion – the number of Africans of working age in 2040, 128 million – the
number of African households with discretionary income in 2020; 50% – the
portion of Africans living in cities by 2030. The summary impact from this
research is that Africa’s competitiveness is more than a resource driven.
The key growth driver, about 50% of GDP, is now coming from consumer facing
industries (retail, ICT, banking, services). This competitiveness analysis
can be extrapolated to Zimbabwe. An enabling environment for consumer facing
industries should be part of our industrial strength.
The Role of Talent in Competitiveness
In the ICT driven global economy, human capital and talent in particular,
are now more important than they were in the last 30 years. With talented
individuals such as Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, and Mark Zuckerberg creating
multi-billion dollar companies, creating financial resources larger than
GDPs of countries, from just an idea; the formulation and naming of the
economic system itself has come into question. If the means of production
were land, labour and capital, why was the system called capitalism? Back
then capital was more important than talent. That is why. Not now. Talent
now trumps cash. We are now in the era of Talentism, not Capitalism. This
has serious implication for competitiveness. In fact the original meaning of
capital had nothing to do with cash. It was about human capacity as derived
from the words capitos or capitalis.
When we say human capital we are signaling a departure from the notion of an
employee as a warm body, but rather as the capability to do work. This is
the basis for the migration from Human Resource Management to Human Capital
Management. There is now emphasis on impact of human capacity, the financial
(economic) value of an employee, and the economic return on human input. It
must be understood that expenditures such as education, training, and
medical care are investments which produce human capital, not physical
assets or financial capital. You cannot separate a person from his or her
knowledge, skills, health, or values. Human capital is thus defined as the
combination of skills, competencies, motivation, capabilities, interactions,
energy, experiences, and institutional memory that create value for the
organization. This is the new definition of an “employee.” An employee must
demonstrate capability and capacity to do specific tasks. Hired individuals
must be able to satisfy identified skills and work needs. Human Capital
Management is then defined as the unleashed, enhanced, and sustainable human
capital that produces measurable results and impact in the organization.
This is the essence of the paradigm shift from a human resource department
to a human capital department. The latter can also be called a human
enablement department. Skills gap analysis, pipelining, and recruitment in
both the Zimbabwean public and private sectors must be carried out within
this new human capital context. In the new knowledge and ICT driven global
economy, firms will not ‘manage the careers’ of their employees. They will
provide opportunities to enable the employee to develop identity and
adaptability and thus be in charge of his or her own career. This is the
only viable modus operandi in this new brave world characterized by a war
for talent. The human capital department has to be a people department, a
center for talent excellence, consisting of seriously cool people who
recruit develop, and retain seriously cool people. In addition, the
traditional human resource practices of lumping employees together do not
work. Employees are all unique. One size NEVER fits all. One size fits one.
Period. The human capital department should have the best talent, the best
information technology resources, and it should be a valued expert resource
to the firm when it comes to strategy, change management, organization
design, and talent management. Our people remain one of our key strengths,
but they have to be leveraged differently.
We are moving away from the concept of life-time employment contracts to the
notion of employability. Given continuity of change in the economy, such as
rapid changes in technology, there is continuous erosion and decay of skills
and jobs. Consequently, skills are being rendered irrelevant and certain
jobs are “dying.” If, for example, you were a skilled expert in producing
typewriters and that’s all you were capable of doing, you will be
unemployable today. Competencies are becoming obsolete. This means there is
need for re-skilling, retooling, ICT literacy, and continuous education. The
question is whether you are employable today, not yesterday. This means
there is need for creative destruction in skills and competences, that is,
be able to abandon your current skills and develop new ones, as you embrace
disruptive technologies. There is now a strong case for temporary jobs or
contracts as opposed to long term jobs. Those 25 and 30 year awards for long
term services are no longer meaningful, neither should they be encouraged.
Demonstration of capacity to do the work is now more important the
qualifications on a piece of paper. Furthermore, we must embrace
entrepreneurial employees. Also rather than just hire on the basis of
qualifications and past experience, firms must pursue employment for
potential, but quickly converting the potential into impact.
In development of the human capital function, analysis of the following is
now critical; skills requirements, skills planning, skills audit, and skills
gap analysis. Skills gap closing is then by learning and resourcing. Surveys
of executives confirm that many believe that finding and developing the
right people define their competitive edge. However, it is one thing to
stress the importance of human capital, and quite another for organizations
to be designed to reflect the importance of human capital. Zimbabwean
corporations must be reconfigured to put talent at the center. In
particular, human capital should have a major impact on organizational
design, corporate boards, leadership, and information practices. Corporate
boards should have both the expertise and the information needed in order to
understand and advise on talent issues at all levels of the organization.
They should focus on developing managers who can provide leadership.
In reviewing competitiveness with respect to the new thinking in human
capital development, we must also address the role of diversity management.
The different types of diversity within the workforce include gender, race,
age, culture, language, disability, HIV/AIDS, skills, expertise, worldview,
religion, nationality, employment band, and geography (urban/rural,
province). Diversity properly managed and leveraged can lead to productivity
growth. The problem is that there has been a wrong approach to diversity
where it is viewed as; a compliance issue, doing the right thing, morality
issue, righting the wrongs of the past, and the cost of doing business. In
fact diversity has not been considered part of core business. This
perception of diversity is clearly not sound. In fact, it cannot be further
from the truth.
The correct perspective is to view diversity as a source of enhancing
profitability, business sustainability, and creativity. But this is only
achievable if we leverage and deploy smart and purposeful diversity not just
diversity for the sake of diversity. In proper diversity adoption and
management we can embrace workforce and market complexity and unlock it. We
also enhanced customer focus and develop a better understanding customer
needs. We gain a broader worldview, leading to better insights, by
accommodating the majority, and this entails greater market access.
Consequently, the benefits of diversity can be summarized as including;
customer centricity, anticipating and responding to customer needs,
sustained supplier relationships, focus on employees, thriving under
globalization, good corporate citizenship, reduced diversity related legal
costs, and triple bottom line benefit, and great impact on society and
communities. In particular, Zimbabwe’s competitiveness will be immensely
enhanced if we embrace the empowerment of women. Gender diversity makes
business sense. There is an economic value proposition for it, characterized
by an increased GDP, better per capita income, improved productivity growth,
increased profitability and better performance. Womenomics – the economy as
enabled, driven and experienced by women- has to be part of rethinking and
reassessment of competitiveness.
In discussing human capital, we must also deal with the matter of
incentives, employee motivation and worker value proposition. We must design
creative incentive altering structures, and address the tensions between
performance based institutions and learning organizations. Motivation of
employees must go beyond Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. The employee, manager
or leader must be given an opportunity to self-transcend, go beyond self and
leave a legacy.
The Impact of Globalization on Competitiveness
Globalization has made regional and continental integration a survival
issue. This is because under globalization the key drivers are regional
attractiveness, regional competitiveness, continental attractiveness, and
continental competitiveness. Regional and continental frameworks are the
only game in town. National economic plans, budgets, visions, strategies and
programs must be aligned between the African countries and fashioned into
regional ones and ultimately into continental frameworks and initiatives.
For example we need SADC and COMESA economic visions and strategies. Under
globalization, the nation state is no longer a viable unit of analysis,
neither is it the best platform for survival or socio-politico-economic
prosperity.
Regional and continental blocs such as EAC, COMESA, SADC, Magreb, ECOWAS,
AU, EU, ASIANA, and NAFTA are better frameworks from which to engage
globalization. Scale, market size, pooling of resources together and
regional consensus improve bargaining power immensely. We need regional
strategies and policies to effectively respond to global trends and
investments. Regional and continental integration is equally important for
companies and corporations. They will not survive as national entities. You
must have a regional, continental or global footprint. Zimbabwean success
stories which have embraced and demonstrated this new paradigm include
Econet, Africa Sun, BancABC and Afrasia Kingdom.
However, globalization must be combined with both local insights and wisdom.
This gives us the new term glocalization, where a global footprint is
buttressed by intimate knowledge of the local conditions, requirements and
needs, while leveraging local human capital. Embracing glocalization will
define the competitiveness of Zimbabwean companies. For the individuals
running the corporations and nations within framework of glocalization, new
skills and competences are essential. High intelligence quotient (IQ) is no
longer sufficient.
In addition to the traditional craft competence and craft literacy, they now
need high levels of both Emotional Intelligence (EQ) and Cultural
Intelligence (CQ). Emotional intelligence is the capacity for recognizing
our own feelings and those of others, for motivating ourselves, for managing
emotions well in ourselves and in our relationships. Cultural intelligence
is the capacity to move in and out of different business, social or
political cultures while maintaining consistently superior human capital
performance. EQ and CQ will define the competitiveness of the Zimbabwean
manager and leader.
The Roles of Infrastructure, Clusters and Beneficiation
Infrastructure is a key enabler of the entire economy, the private sector,
and the public sector. By infrastructure we mean power, water,
transportation (roads, railway, air), telecommunication, ICTs, and public
works. Without infrastructure there cannot be any competitiveness. In the
absence of extensive and well developed infrastructure there is no industry,
economic development, or prosperity. We can say the economy is
infrastructure, infrastructure is the economy. We must strive to build world
class infrastructure as the foundational backbone to our economic
development. This infrastructure will also facilitate intra-SADC and
intra-Africa trade
The cluster strategy which is part of our National Industrialization Plan
must define our competitiveness. We must focus on a few selected sectors and
organize them into our industrial clusters. A cluster consists of core
industries, supporting industries, with all the firms cooperating and
competing and at the same, what has been called coopetition. Examples of
clusters are Silicon Valley (ICT cluster), Michigan (car industry cluster),
New York (financial sector cluster), Hollywood (entertainment cluster), and
Johannesburg (financial cluster). The motivation in all these clusters is to
establish cluster competitiveness.
For us in Zimbabwe, the agenda should be to organize our chosen industrial
sectors into clusters. Potential Zimbabwe clusters include the following;
Marange Diamond Mining and Processing cluster, the Chegutu-Ngezi Platinum
Mining and Processing Cluster, Gokwe Cotton and Textile Cluster, Victoria
Falls-Hwange Tourism and Hospitality Cluster, Bulawayo Heavy Industry
Cluster. The idea is to then identify the requirements of each cluster and
ensure that they are prioritized. The whole country can also be structured
as an ICT and Transportation hub for the SADC region.
We must link the Industrial Cluster Strategy to a Spatial Growth Node
Strategy. Spatial analysis in economic planning is about factoring in the
role of geography in making economic decisions, leading the identification
and development of economic growth nodes, using empirical data and scenario
planning. The objective is to create integrated value chains for growth
dynamics for each node, and also develop spatial linkages between nodes. The
importance of spatial analysis arises from the factor that, i.e.,
geographical distribution of GDP and economics. Industrial sectors occur in
space. People live in geographical locations. These different spaces
contribute in various degrees to the economy.
This spatial perspective and understanding enable us to leverage the concept
of comparative advantage which speaks to the lowest opportunity cost derived
from the location of industrial inputs such as raw materials, labour and
technology. There are spatial linkages between production and processing
nodes. There is also the matter of the nodal GDP contribution to the
national GDP. We can also investigate and leverage the distribution of
Zimbabwe’s GDP by geography. For example what is Harare’s, Bulawayo’s or
Mutare’s contribution to Zimbabwe’s overall GDP? How can this information be
leveraged? We can also define Local economic development (LED) nodes in
order to address the local growth issues based on value chains and GDP
contribution analysis. The idea is to support each node with investment and
infrastructure and promote inter-relations between nodes. There are
externalities that arise from linkages among firms in a geographic area or
in specific industries, such as textiles, leather goods or silicon chips
that cannot be captured or fostered by markets alone. The process of
clusterization, the creation of value chains, and industrial districts are
models that highlight the advantages of cluster networks.
Establishment of industrial clusters and growth nodes will allow communities
where natural resources are found to benefit from their extraction and
processing. While it is important that we maintain national cohesion and
unity by ensuring that our natural endowments benefit all the citizens, it
is not acceptable for communities and regions, contiguous with major
industrial sites, not to receive any direct and meaningful benefits at all.
All economics, just like politics, is local. Communities surrounding a mine
are part of the national population. Charity begins at home. Surely, it does
not make sense to set up a diamond cutting and polishing school in Harare.
Comparative advantage thinking, cluster competitiveness analysis and the
growth node framework, will dictate that these activities must be carried
out in Mutare. Of course we must pay special attention to areas that might
not have any major natural resource, so that we they do not become victims
of the nodal growth strategy.
Conditions that lend themselves easily to beneficiation have to be part of
our value proposition. This must be coupled with a framework of smart
protectionism, where we incubate, protect and then unleash our refined
products when they are ready to compete. We must move from being producers
of raw materials to selling refined products. This means Zimbabwean
companies must move up the regional and global value chains. In other words,
we must adopt beneficiation and value addition as economic values. This is
what will make us competitive. It is important to note that it is not in the
interest of the rich North, Western or Eastern economic powers to promote
beneficiation in Africa. Their preference is for Africa to produce and sell
raw materials while they sell refined goods to Africa. Beneficiation will
happen in spite of these rich nations. Africa is on its own with respect to
the value addition agenda. In fact, the economically strong will
disincentivize Africa from value addition.
However, as citizens we must have the national consciousness and pride to
consume our own products from value addition activities in Agriculture
(agro-processing), the textile industry, mining (refining, processing, up to
manufacturing), ICT sector, and the broader manufacturing sector. That Buy
Zimbabwe mindset will make us competitive. However, beneficiation cannot be
achieved by a business as usual industrial mindset. It requires the
development of backward and forward industrial linkages to the commodity
sector, which linkages, in turn, allow movement up the regional and global
value chains (GVC). This way, Zimbabwe can maximize direct and indirect
job-creation effects, while growing the economy and driving
industrialization. This will make nation attractive to investors and
industrialists.
Further New Paradigms of Competition
Beyond adopting global best industry practices companies must also be
creative, and develop what are called signature processes. Invoking industry
best practices allow a firm to stay competitive, but to achieve high
performance companies need to do more by embracing unique processes that
reflect their unique values and strengths. Signature processes are processes
that embody a company’s character and signify their idiosyncratic nature.
They arise from passions and interests within the company. Combination of
values, experiences, and passion enable these processes to flourish against
all odds. The processes grow with the company and are associated with team’s
passion and values. They are part of the fabric, “way we do things around
here.” The ability to identify and preserve company’s signature processes is
critical. This is the capacity to bring the inside out.
Best practice processes provide a level playing field. However, they are
easily copied. Adoption of best practice is necessary but not sufficient for
superior and outstanding results. Some examples of signature processes
include the following: The CEO of Royal Bank of Scotland requires all senior
managers to meet every week day morning (9:30am 10:30am); Nokia Corporation
has a modular organizational structure that is realigned frequently over the
weekend; Heads of high performing business units at British Petroleum are
incentivized to spend time supporting underperforming business units. Here
are three highly successful companies that have adopted processes that
differ significantly from best practice. Within the idiosyncrasies of the
processes lie the potential to drive performance.
In fact, if signature processes prove especially effective, they are
imitated, and become best practices! A good example is the Toyota’s Lean
Production System. It was a signature process, but ended up being global
best practice. Signature processes, are idiosyncratic, and define part of
the organizational culture and heritage. Hence they are very difficult to
replicate. What Zimbabwean companies must do is to clearly define, develop
and live their signature processes. A combination of signature processes and
industry best practice enhances competitiveness and performance.
Zimbabwe’s sustainable competitiveness will depend on our ability to build
strong and inclusive institutions that encourage prosperity and economic
development. The world over, it is strong and well-designed social,
political and economic institutions that underlie economic success or lack
of it. We must develop a society that creates incentives, rewards
innovation, and allows everyone to participate in economic opportunities.
Achieving a sustainable competitive edge is nearly impossible under the ICT
driven global economy. The dominant idea in strategy where success consists
of establishing a unique competitive position sustained for long periods is
no longer achievable for most businesses. We are now in the era of transient
advantage, where the competitive edge is fleeting. Strategy should now be
viewed differently—as more fluid, more customer-centric, less
industry-bound. Everything is different; the way strategy is formulated, the
lens used to define the competitive playing field, the methods for
evaluating new business opportunities, and the approach to innovation.
Transient advantage entails learning to launch new strategic initiatives
again and again, and creating a portfolio of advantages that can be built
quickly and abandoned just as rapidly. Success will require a new set of
operational capabilities. This new approach requires us to think about
arenas, not industries; set broad themes, and then let people experiment;
focus on experiences and solutions to problems; and adopt metrics that
support entrepreneurial growth. Zimbabwean business leaders and policy
makers must clearly understand the tenets of transient competitive
advantage.
Globally companies that have triumphed are those that have emphasized the
corporate theory of value creation, not product, plan or managerial
attributes. An effective corporate theory is company specific. It identifies
those assets and activities that are rare, distinctive, and valuable. New
dynamics of competition also include the notion of value capture model,
which defines competition in an industry as a tension between the value
generated from transactions that a firm undertakes with a given set of
agents and the forgone value it could have generated from transactions with
other agents. This value capture model has only one force of competition
that works in multiple directions. What is it that defines corporate theory
of value creation for Zimbabwean firms?
Contextual and Operational Competitiveness
Zimbabwe must also seek to achieve contextual and operational
competitiveness, which is determined by effective implementation, monitoring
and evaluation, and the tracking the right measurements; all this being
underpinned by an enabling governmental environment. If plans, programs and
strategies are not implemented, a country cannot be competitive. We have had
the big debate, in academia: What is more important strategy or execution?
There has been raging debate on this execution versus strategy tussle.
However, new view has been proffered. Execution is strategy! If you are not
doing things, you have no strategy. One common and enduring competitive
attribute of all successful economies is execution, the culture of getting
things done. An inspiring industrial vision and outstanding strategic plans
without effective implementation does not make an economy or firm
competitive. Successful strategy execution is fundamental and foundational.
Lack of implementation is a key weakness for both the Zimbabwean public and
private sectors. There are so many plans, strategies and dreams, but very
little execution.
A brilliant strategy, blockbuster product or breakthrough technology can put
you on the competitive map. However, only solid execution can keep you
there. You have to deliver on strategic intent. Enterprises fail because
they go straight to structural reorganization. They neglect the most
powerful levers of effectiveness, which are really the drivers of effective
execution. These include: Information flow (competition, organizational,
metrics, bottom-line, message discipline); Decisions rights (responsibility
and accountability for decisions and actions, decisiveness and second
guessing, managers up the line involvement in operating decisions);
Motivators (alignment of incentives with strategy, performance based
differentiation, non-pay incentives, unique and not generic assessments);
and Structure (lateral transfers, frequent promotions, broad span of
control).
Once implementation has taken place, the next essential activities are
monitoring and evaluation. If you cannot measure it, you cannot manage it.
If you do not measure results, you cannot tell success from failure. If you
cannot see success, you are probably rewarding failure. If you cannot see
success, you cannot reward it. If you cannot see success, you cannot learn
from it. If you cannot recognize failure, you cannot correct it. If you can
demonstrate results, you can win public support. Monitoring and evaluation
are key drivers of contextual competitiveness. This is an area that requires
improvement in Zimbabwe.
However, we must start measuring different economic metrics. The traditional
parameters such as GDP and GDP growth rate are highly inadequate. We must
clearly track per capita income, gini-coefficient (measure of income
inequality), economic productivity, productivity growth, nature of economic
growth, per capita power, social and political issues, national values, and
spirituality. We must measure the size of the middle class as a percentage
of population, in addition to tracking ICT penetration, bandwidth,
connectivity, ICT infrastructure, ICT cost and pricing, and ICT competition.
These are the key measures we should use to judge success or failure of the
Zimbabwean economy, thus creating a basis for a competitive environment.
That which is monitored and evaluated, is what influences policy and
strategy, hence we must measure and track the right metrics. This should be
the philosophy behind our redefinition of our national and industrial
competitiveness.
Monitoring and evaluation must be predicated upon the understanding that the
key to Zimbabwe’s competitiveness is discipline – sustained commitment to a
pragmatic growth strategy. The discussion among our economic planners should
be; which policy reforms, implemented under what circumstances, actually
increase economic efficiency? Forecasts of policy impact should be used to
complement traditional economic measures. Traditional monitoring and
tracking systems such as Balanced scorecard (BSC), Key results areas (KRAs),
Key performance indicators (KPIs), National key result areas (NKRAs),
National key performance indicators (NKPIs) must be leveraged.
A key determinant of competitiveness is the role of state actors. The
Government has a duty and obligation to create a conducive and enabling
economic environment and business climate, which in turn improves
competitiveness. In particular, there is need for certainty, predictability,
respect for the rule of law, and provision of an enabling policy framework
that encourages and facilitates; trade, investment, entrepreneurship,
technology uptake; all rooted in regional and continental integration.
Policy inconsistency, instability, incoherence and reversals do not promote
competitiveness. In fact, a bad policy is better than policy inconsistency.
On these issues, the inclusive government has to plead, guilty as charged.
We must strive to make public policy predictable.
Conclusion
Rethinking and redefining our competitiveness as a nation and as Zimbabwean
companies is of paramount importance at this stage of our economic
development. Major changes in technological advances, the supremacy of
talent, and the pressures of globalization have dramatically changed the
competitive landscape. Moreover, there are new emerging theories of
competition, strategy and value creation. There has to be a re-think. It
cannot be business as usual. There has to be a paradigm shift. The problem
is not new ideas, but how to get rid of old ones. We cannot solve problems
using the same mindset and tools that created them. We need new rules,
definitions, frameworks, and metrics. Contextual or environmental
competitiveness is as important as traditional competitiveness. We must get
our politics and governance issues right. Borrowing, re-phrasing and
customizing that famous Bill Clinton statement one is tempted to retort, “It
is politics, please.” However, we need to do more than resolve our politics.
In order to redefine and reposition our competitiveness we have to reflect
and act on all the matters raised in this treatise.

I thank you

Arthur G.O. Mutambara
Deputy Prime Minister, Republic of Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe 2013 Election Survival Kit for Candidates

http://www.zimeye.org/


By Steve Nkabinde

Published: June 24, 2013



- How to detect spy GPS tracking devices placed under vehicles.

- Short tips to surviving militancy in next few weeks.

As the country nears election time it is crucial to remind those contesting
that they would really need to take all the survival kits for the game is
dirty and costs lives. This short piece of advise is for all parties.

Those who landed from the diaspora-paradise and now contesting the elections
must be reminded that in Zimbabwe things aren’t in black and white as they
are in the western countries where these folks had camped during the
upheavals of the past decade.

Never take things for granted, they are far deeper than they look and here
the game is dirtier, probably bloodier.



Watch what you say. That motor-mouth of yours could get you behind bars
before the first ballot is cast. Remember the clause in the Criminal Code
that criminalises your utterances critical of Mugabe: Many have been thrown
behind bars for calling our dear president ‘old’, which I think he really
is. Watch Out. How can you avoid this? Just say, our dear president who has
led this country for 33 years since he was 56years old. People are not daft;
they have dealt with far larger figures courtesy of Dr Gideon Gono. They
will do the maths along the way as they go

Be cautious of what you eat, never feel hungry suddenly and eat anything
offered to you. Never eat special meals prepared ONLY for you.  Remember
this is a dog eat dog world; you might fall victim to your stomach’s craving
and your belly will send you to a very very dark place where you cannot come
back. In this regard, refuse all and any VIP status offers.

Watch out where you go and who is around. When you drive watch out for cars
that follow. Never drive on a predictable route like a Formula One car until
you CRASH into a trap like a starving mouse. Be unpredictable in all your
travelling. Even change cars and mode of transport if need be. Even your
spouse should not know what you are up to. Unfortunately some may end up
losing their relationships but perhaps this is the price all serious
politicians will have to pay.

Never travel alone especially at night.

Checking for tracking devices.

Check out for tracking devices under your car, bonnet, seats, for they might
be placed by someone close to you. Check for tracking devices that can
monitor your driving location. This way you could just about save your life.
How do you recognise them? Pictures of various tracking devices tracking
devices can be seen here.

These devices which cost a mere USD30 on the common markets, can be detected
and removed physically.

The cost of electronically detecting the devices can be unbearable. An
expert has commented: I can say that there are NUMEROUS ways to track
vehicles besides GPS, and techniques that allow physical observation of
vehicles and individuals much easier than one can imagine. There are also
ways to defeat vehicular tracking as well as locating installed devices. You
can contact any competent TSCM (technical Security counter-measures)
individual (usually a private investigator, w/former FBI/CIA background in
TSCM), and he or she will be able to locate and effectively shut down any
tracking devices, and advise as to other methods of potential surveillance.
These services are not cheap if done correctly, keeping in mind that the
equipment to locate “bugs” will cost $30,000- $75,000 dollars or more.

Telephone usage.

Use a second phone number for communication of confidential plans,
especially in the short period of the election.

Don’t be overzealous when you hit the keyboard: Be careful with what you
post on social media like Facebook, Twitter and others, all these can be
used against you, even though they are clearly part of your freedom of
expression. Freedom of speech is what you whisper, but be reminded that
walls have ears too.

Be smart with words, you don’t need to say the obvious, in Zimbabwe even
folk tale can be used as admissible evidence in Court.

This is a short introductory informational into what Member of Parliament
candidates can do to be safe in the coming few weeks.

COMING NEXT: How to physically trace an email sender to the house address.

Next episode of Nyoka & Kunyepa

Watch it here...

Can South Africa avoid doing a Zimbabwe on land?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/

 

24 June 2013 Last updated at 15:25 GMT

 

 

By Pumza FihlaniBBC News, Eston, KwaZulu-Natal

More than eight million South Africans depend on agriculture for their livelihoods

Continue reading the main story Related Stories

• Apartheid's roots: The Natives Land Act
• South Africa's Jacob Zuma on mines, land and leadership
• Malema: Land reform should be 'without compensation'Watch

Land reform is a thorny issue in South Africa; for some it conjures up images of Zimbabwe-like land grabs and raises tensions in small farming communities.

The 1913 Natives Land Act divided the country into white and black areas and a century later, most of the country's best land remains in the hands of a few thousand white commercial farmers, while tens of thousands of black peasants are crammed together in less fertile areas.

While some fear this powderkeg could explode, the sugarcane industry seems to be proving that reform can happen amicably.

Fifth-generation sugarcane farmer Alan Bruscow has been training his new neighbours, a group of 36 black farmers who were awarded a farm through the land reform policy four years ago.

Continue reading the main story “Start Quote

We can't guarantee peace in this country unless we find an equitable solution”

Mathole MotsekgaFormer ANC Chief Whip

The two farms, the Bruscow farm and the Zibophezele farm, outside Pietermaritzburg in KwaZulu-Natal are about 50 metres (yards) apart.

There is nothing separating them - if you didn't know you would think it is all one big farm.

Mr Bruscow describes his relationship with the black farmers as one of "trust and working together". It is a rare but admirable sight.

"I'd say that trust is a key element here and you build trust by working with people," says Mr Bruscow.

"They need to see that you're for them and they are for you, and you are there to try and make them as successful as possible and vice versa."

Set to fail?

One of the main problems with South Africa's land reform so far, experts say, is a lack of capital to sustain the farms under new ownership.

Sipho Xulu says it is important to pass on his land to his children

The other is that many of the black farmers who win land claims have no skills to run a farm, let alone turn it into a successful business - these farms end up unproductive.

A study presented at the Land Divided conference in March showed that many land transfer projects were failures.

Peter Jacobs of the Human Sciences Research Council reported that only 167 land-reform beneficiaries from a sample of 301 farms were actively farming. And many of them used only a small piece of their land for agricultural activities.

But this is not the case on the Zibophezele farm, where Sipho Xulu is working his land with a tractor in preparation for this season's harvest.

Being a landowner has given him a sense of security.

"Land is extremely important - there is virtually nothing one can do without it. We live off the land - our children will also benefit from it. It has given me a real chance to leave a legacy for my family," he explains.

Mr Xulu says the mentorship he has received has been invaluable.

"There is a lot of suspicion about white farmers in this part of the world but our mentor has proven to be a good man - we wouldn't be where we are without his teachings," explains Mr Xulu.

Land or cash?

In South Africa, agriculture, land and labour are closely entwined.

The South African Sugarcane Association (Sasa) says the only way of securing the future of this industry is through partnerships between new and old farmers.

Continue reading the main story South Africa's Land problem

• The Natives Land Act of 1913 restricted black people from buying or renting land in "white South Africa", leading to the forced removals of black people
• After the end of apartheid in 1994, the ANC government said it wanted to return 30% of this land to its previous owners by 2014
• So far, only 7.5% of this land land has been returned
• Many of the land-reform farms fail due to a lack of skill transference and capital to sustain the farm

This is why Sasa took the pioneering decision to set up its own land reform unit.

"Unless both black and white farmers commercial farmers cross that barrier and understand that we need one another for our mutual successful and for the benefit of the country, we won't get very far," says Sasa land reform unit head Anhwar Madhanpal.

Of South Africa's 1,500 sugar farms, about 300 are now black-owned and most are said to be doing well.

South Africa's land reform programme is divided into four pillars: Redistribution, restitution, development and tenure, according to Land Reform and Rural Development Minister Gugile Nkwinti.

The emphasis so far has been on redistribution - buying land from white owners and redistributing it to black people whose families were forced off it during white minority rule.

But Mr Nkwinti says more people have opted for restitution - cash payments - than having their land back.

The government says that in today's increasingly urbanised South Africa, choosing a financial settlement this "is a reflection of poverty, unemployment, and income want".

Nineteen years after the end of apartheid, there are no official figures on what proportion of land is white-owned.

Mr Nkwinti said his department is now working on getting a breakdown of private land ownership according to race and even nationality.

Racial tensions

Despite the progress made in the sugarcane industry, the government has had to concede that it will not meet its target of transferring 30% of South Africa's land to black hands by 2014.

Sugarcane farming is one of the main industries in KwaZulu-Natal

To date less than 10% of white-owned land has been handed over, with the delays blamed on the government's "willing buyer, willing seller" policy, under which white farmers are not compelled to sell their land.

"This policy has so far allowed property owners to block redistribution efforts, as it allows property owners to refuse to have their property expropriated and also allows them to hold the government to ransom by demanding that the state pay exorbitant prices for property intended for expropriation," says constitutional expert Pierre de Vos.

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A government settlement is temporary but the relationships you can build with people are forever”

Alan BruscowFarmer

In the face of the lack of progress, some activists are calling for a more drastic approach, including taking land from white farmers without compensation - something which the South African constitution makes provision for.

But many look at Zimbabwe's economic meltdown after it seized most of the country's white-owned commercial farms and caution against this approach.

Some 8.5 million South Africans depend directly or indirectly on agriculture for their livelihood.

"We have to co-operate because finding a solution is for the benefit of all South Africans, black and white," former ANC Chief Whip Mathole Motsekga told parliament recently.

"We can't guarantee peace in this country unless we find an equitable solution."

Mr Xulu and Mr Bruscow hope their model can be copied across the country to prevent the situation coming to that.

"It's about thinking of the future," says Mr Bruscow.

"A government settlement is temporary but the relationships you can build with people are forever. Our children will grow up to run these farms one day and we owe it to them to make sure that they are around for them."