Peace Won't Come to Zimbabwe

Wall Street Journal

By MARIAN L. TUPY and DAVID COLTART
March 14, 2008

Zimbabwe's presidential and parliamentary elections on March 29 are rigged
in favor of the incumbent leader Robert Mugabe and his Zimbabwe African
National Union-Patriotic Front. Much ink has been spilled on the electoral
prospects of his two opponents -- Morgan Tsvangirai, the leader of the
Movement for Democratic Change, and former Finance Minister Simba Makoni.
But neither have a realistic chance of winning, for Mr. Mugabe knows that
the most likely alternative to the State House in Harare is a prison cell at
The Hague.

The case against Mr. Mugabe and the ZANU-PF for crimes against humanity
would be compelling. They have turned one of Africa's most prosperous and
relatively free nations into an Orwellian nightmare. Since 1994, the average
life expectancy in Zimbabwe has fallen to 34 from 57 for women and to 37
from 54 for men. Some 3,500 Zimbabweans die every week from the combined
effects of HIV/AIDS, poverty and malnutrition. Inflation and unemployment
are at 150,000% (no misprint here) and 80%, respectively. The country has no
freedom of speech or assembly, and the government has used violence to
intimidate and murder its opponents. In the meantime, Zimbabwe's delusional
leader rails against non-existent Western plots supposedly concocted by
George W. Bush and Tony Blair.

By right, Mr. Mugabe and the ZANU-PF should have been voted out of office
long time ago. But one of Mr. Mugabe's first steps after gaining power was
to root out all threats to his rule. In August 1980, newly elected Prime
Minister Mugabe asked Kim Il Sung, the North Korean dictator, for help in
setting up a special army unit devoted to quelling Zimbabwe's internal
dissent. Paradoxically, the potential dissenters Mr. Mugabe wanted destroyed
were not the tiny minority of white Rhodesians, but his comrades in the
fight for a majority rule -- the Zimbabwe African People's Union.

A self-declared Marxist with his sights set on the creation of a one-party
state, Mr. Mugabe knew that ZAPU and its charismatic leader Joshua Nkomo
could become his only serious opposition in the long run. In 1983,
therefore, Mr. Mugabe sent his North Korean-trained death squad into Nkomo's
stronghold in the Matabeleland, where they killed some 20,000 civilians.
This massacre eviscerated ZAPU's strength and sent Nkomo into exile. In
1987, he agreed to merge his party with ZANU in exchange for the largely
meaningless title of Zimbabwe's vice president.

Mr. Mugabe's strategy worked. With minimum opposition, he maintained his
hold on power until the birth of the Movement for Democratic Change in 2000
following Zimbabwe's disastrous intervention in the Congolese civil war and
the ruling party's gross economic mismanagement. Since then, the strength of
the opposition had forced Mr. Mugabe to adopt an array of ever-more
repressive and economically destructive measures.

Mr. Mugabe's desperation is understandable. The moment he loses power, he
could quickly find himself in the dock. The new government would, no doubt,
come under tremendous pressure to ensure that Mr. Mugabe stands trial for
his crimes. An exile to a friendly country, like Angola or Malaysia, had
been rumored, but is unlikely. Charles Taylor was lured out of the Liberian
presidency in 2003 with a promise of a comfortable life in Nigeria. Three
years later, he was flown to The Hague where he has been fighting for his
freedom ever since.

The candidacies of Messrs. Tsvangirai and Makoni might be hopeless, but they
are not meaningless. A fraudulent election will further undermine Mr.
Mugabe's legitimacy. It will energize the opposition's local structures and
allow it some representation in Zimbabwe's parliament.

Importantly, it will open the possibility of another five-year term for
Zimbabwe's octogenarian leader and further economic decline. That prospect
may force the more enlightened parliamentarians from the ZANU-PF, many of
whom are quietly hoping for Mr. Makoni's victory, to jump ship and join the
opposition.

In the event of popular protests, the attitude of the army and the police
will be crucial. Mr. Mugabe has spared no expense to buy the loyalties of
the officer class, but the rank-and-file is poor, hungry and disillusioned.
Considering that Mr. Mugabe cannot afford to give up power, he will try to
hang on. He may then find himself in charge of a paper tiger and unable to
stop a surge of public resentment against his rule. If that takes place, let
us hope it will be fast and bloodless.

Mr. Tupy is a policy analyst at the Cato Institute's Center for Global
Liberty and Prosperity. Mr. Coltart, a member of the Zimbabwean parliament,
belongs to the Movement for Democratic Change.

Zimbabwe's top cop joins army boss' coup threat

New Zimbabwe

By Fikile Mapala
Last updated: 03/14/2008 11:26:48
ZIMBABWE'S top police officer has joined the army commander and head of
prison services in declaring he will not support a change of government in
general elections on March 29.

Police Commissioner Augustine Chihuri said he would not allow "puppets" to
rule Zimbabwe - reference to opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai and
independent candidate, Simba Makoni, who have both been labelled as such by
President Robert Mugabe.

Chihuri made the comments at Police General Headquarters in Harare on
Thursday while seeing off nine police officers who are joining the United
Nations peace-keeping mission in Liberia.

"Most of us in here are truly owners of the land. This is the sovereignty we
should defend at all costs because for us to get at this point others had to
lose their lives. At this point our gains should never be reversed," Chihuri
said.

"This time we are wiser and we are determined, and this must serve as
warning to puppets. we will not allow any puppets to take charge. I am happy
that Zimbabweans are wise."

The top cop also railed at what he called regime change efforts by Britain
and the United States. Britain, in particular, was singled out for imposing
"illegal sanctions" on Zimbabwe, whose economic crisis is dramatised by
record inflation of over 100 000 percent.

Chihuri thundered: "It is unfortunate when people are saying it's not the
illegal sanctions causing all these problems but misrule.

"The illegal sanctions, which Britain imposed on Zimbabwe, were the major
cause of the problems troubling the country."

Chihuri's comments will alarm Makoni and Tsvangirai, already weighing the
effect on voters of similar threats issued by army commander General
Constantine Chiwenga, who vowed "the army will not salute sell-outs and
agents of the West before, during and after the presidential elections".

Chiwenga's utterances, read as a coup threat by Tsvangirai's MDC, were
preceded by similar remarks from the head of Zimbabwe's Prison Service,
Paradzai Zimondi, who said he would resign and "go back to defend my piece
of land" if Mugabe lost.

Analysts say Mugabe is facing his biggest electoral test since coming to
power 28 years ago as he faces growing divisions in his ruling Zanu PF party
and growing unpopularity spawned by a failing economy.

Makoni, a former finance minister, quit Zanu PF on February 5 after
announcing he would challenge Mugabe for president. To mark the growing
rebellion, former home affairs minister Dumiso Dabengwa also quit to support
Makoni. Further defections are expected before the elections on March 29,
Makoni's supporters say.

Retired army generals behind Makoni

Zim Independent

Friday, 14 March 2008 02:00

FORMER Finance minister Simba Makoni's presidential bid was the
brainchild of former liberation war commanders and army generals who since
March last year have been plotting leadership renewal in Zanu PF.
Information gathered by the Zimbabwe Independent revealed that former
members of the general staff during the war of Independence met twice in
Harare last March and agreed to approach President Mugabe and tell him to
quit politics at the end of his current term.
Among the commanders, reportedly drawn from both Zanla and Zipra
forces, were former army generals Solomon Mujuru and Vitalis Zvinavashe,
Youth minister Ambrose Mutinhiri, suspended Attorney General Sobusa
Gula-Ndebele, and ex-Home Affairs minister Dumiso Dabengwa. Makoni is also
working openly with retired Major Kudzai Mbudzi and Colonel Moses Dendere.

Apart from the commanders, sources said, Vice-Presidents Joice Mujuru
and Joseph Msika and party chairman John Nkomo were in Makoni's camp despite
their shrill denials and exhibitions of allegiance to Mugabe.

The sources said contrary to Mugabe's claims on Wednesday that Mujuru
had distanced himself from Makoni, the former lawmaker for Chikomba was the
chief architect of the project to oust the 84-year-old leader.

Mugabe told the state media after his rally at Hama High School in
Chirumhanzu, Midlands, that on Monday he met Mujuru who denied being party
to Makoni's bid.

According to Mugabe, Mujuru said he turned down an invitation to join
the former deputy secretary of finance in the politburo to avoid dividing
Zanu PF and "render(ing) untenable" the political career of his wife,
Vice-President Joice Mujuru.

But our sources insisted yesterday that Mujuru and other army generals
were solidly behind Makoni and would soon come out in public backing the
challenger. Despite Mugabe's claims Mujuru is yet to comment publicly on
Makoni's candidacy.

Mujuru, the sources said, using his strong military and intelligence
connections, was instrumental in coming up with Makoni's military campaign
strategy.

Under the strategy, there would be well-timed abandonment of Mugabe by
Zanu PF bigwigs backing Makoni, roping in state security agents, especially
army officers known as the "Boys on Leave" currently deployed in
constituencies and wards throughout the country to mobilise support for Zanu
PF.

The Boys on Leave are specialists in vote-rigging and stole the 2002
presidential election on behalf of Mugabe.

Makoni would use the Boys on Leave to campaign for his election and
that of Zanu PF councillors, Senators and members of the House of Assembly.

The sources said when the commanders met last March at the two
meetings reportedly chaired by Mujuru, they agreed to lure Rural Housing and
Social Amenities minister Emmerson Mnangagwa into their sensitive programme.
"They wanted Mnangagwa to set up an appointment for them with Mugabe,
but he reminded them that during the liberation war they agreed that members
of the general staff should not dabble in politics," one of the sources
said.

Mnangagwa was Mugabe's personal assistant in Mozambique, while
Gula-Ndebele and an influential group of guerillas backed the president to
seize control of Zanu PF during a turbulent period of the liberation war in
the mid-1970s.

They are reported to have sent a message through Msika that they
wanted to meet Mugabe. Msika tried to set up a meeting but Mugabe refused
and flew out to the Sadc summit in Tanzania.

The sources said Mujuru, Dabengwa and Zvinavashe then resolved to
oppose Mugabe at party meetings.

The sources said from last March, Mujuru, Dabengwa and Zvinavashe
constantly opposed Mugabe during politburo meetings.

Their opposition to Mugabe became intense when Mugabe, through
Mnangagwa, roped in fired war veterans leader Jabulani Sibanda to spearhead
his campaign.

Constantine Chimakure

Mugabe in panic mode

Zim Independent

Friday, 14 March 2008 02:00

PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe is in panic mode due to the turmoil in his
ruling Zanu PF and a surging tide of support for his main rivals ahead of
the critical elections in two weeks' time, it became evident this week.
Informed sources said Mugabe is panicking because of the growing fear that
more senior members of his divided party would resign at a critical time.
Furthermore, his campaign team is disjointed and incoherent, unrest is
worsening among public servants, including soldiers and police, a
groundswell of discontent is rising among villagers, and divisions rocking
state security agencies are widening.

Barely-veiled threats of a coup by army commanders if Mugabe's rivals
win also reveal the depth of anxiety in the corridors of power, inside
sources say.

There is also a problem of funds. Zanu PF is said to be putting
pressure on Reserve Bank governor Gideon Gono to print more money on a large
scale to bankroll its campaign. Gono was not available for comment as he was
said to be in Abuja, Nigeria, for a meeting.

Events within Zanu PF and on the campaign trail are said to have
shaken Mugabe to the point where his advisors and campaign managers now fear
that he is staring defeat in the face. Short of rigging, his rivals say,
Mugabe is unable to win.

Realising this, the electoral machinery has been geared to manipulate
the vote in his favour. State security agents, including what are called
"Boys on Leave", are understood to be in charge of the electoral process,
although civilians remain the face of it. The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission,
which conducts elections, is chaired by a Mugabe appointee, Justice George
Chiweshe, a retired Brigadier-General (Judge Advocate General), who retired
from the army in April 2001.

Chiweshe, currently based at a local hotel for the elections, was
heavily criticised by the opposition after the 2005 general election for
alleged vote-rigging. The number of votes appeared not to tally after
figures announced on state television were different from those released by
the commission.

Sources said a crack team of state agents is believed to be working
day and night to ensure a desired result for Mugabe even though surveys
clearly show his rivals, Simba Makoni and Morgan Tsvangirai, are occupying
much of the electoral ground.

A survey conducted by the Mass Public Opinion Institute shows as of
this week Mugabe was sitting at 20,3% of the vote, Makoni 8,6%, and
Tsvangirai at 28,3%. However, the Institute says a lot of votes are still up
for grabs as a number of voters refused to disclose their choices. At least
23,5% said their vote was their secret, 7,5% had nothing to say, 5,4% will
not vote, 4,4% said "I don't know", 1,9% were categorised as "other", and 1%
will vote for Langton Towungana.

The survey shows the levels of support for each of the candidates is
likely to change as campaigns unfold towards voting day.

Political scientist Professor Eldred Masunungure who heads the MPOI
said the message from the survey was none of the presidential election
candidates would win an outright majority.

"With all things being equal no one will gain 51% of the vote in the
first round and that there will be a run-off is almost certain," Masunungure
said. "No party will be able to gain a two-thirds majority in the House of
Assembly, and by extension, in the Senate. I am not sure what is likely to
happen at the local government level."
This week, the state was planning to roll out its own survey to
ascertain the extent of the opposition to Mugabe's rule. The survey will be
led by University of Zimbabwe academics aligned to Zanu PF.

Informed sources in Mugabe's campaign camp say the veteran leader is
alarmed by the chaos in Zanu PF unleashed by the breakaway of Makoni and
party heavyweight Dumiso Dabengwa. Mugabe's remarks at rallies about Makoni
and Dabengwa, observers say, and his strained tone reveal more worry than
confidence. Dabengwa said the coup threats by service chiefs would not work.

The sources said Mugabe was nervous because he knew the depth of the
problem surrounding the political turbulence triggered by Makoni and
Dabengwa's departure. The two are reportedly being supported by retired army
commander General Solomon Mujuru and retired General Vitalis Zvinavashe. The
whole Mujuru faction is also said to be behind Makoni.

Mugabe tried this week to contain the growing crisis by meeting Mujuru
on Monday in a similar way he met Makoni in January when speculation of a
breakaway started swirling. Mugabe said Mujuru told him he was not involved
in the Makoni initiative, the same line Makoni gave to Mugabe. Dabengwa also
initially said he was not involved. This has been the same signal given by
Zvinavashe. Mujuru and Zvinavashe are expected to soon join Makoni and
Dabengwa if things go according to plan.

Sources said Mugabe was worried because he knew that all those denying
involvement and attacking Makoni and Dabengwa in public were either involved
or were sympathisers. These include co-Vice-Presidents Joseph Msika and
Joice Mujuru. Msika said the Zanu PF presidium was seeking a meeting with
Makoni and Dabengwa to discuss the issue, showing the levels of concern in
the corridors of power.

Dabengwa said he was prepared to attend such a meeting but would tell
Mugabe to step down. Mujuru and Dabengwa recently tried to meet with
Muagbe - using Msika and politburo member Sydney Sekeramayi as go-betweens -
to discuss the crisis in Zanu PF but they failed, leaving them with no
option but take the bull by the horns.

Tsvangirai blasts 'state-sponsored under development'

Zim Independent

Friday, 14 March 2008 02:00
OPPOSITION leader and President Robert Mugabe's strongest challenger
since 2000, Morgan Tsvangirai, on Saturday denounced what he termed
state-sponsored underdevelopment in Matabeleland and promised to address the
1980s Gukurahundi atrocities by the state. Tsvangirai made the pledges in
front of a capacity crowd at Bulawayo's White City Stadium. The ground's
capacity is estimated at 12 000.
If numbers were anything to go by, it was evident that the
presidential race would be a close contest between Tsvangirai and Mugabe,
who launched his glitzy campaign on February 29.

Mugabe has been on the campaign trail in the rural areas.

Tsvangirai, who was travelling with his party's "freedom team",
received a rousing welcome from his supporters clad in the MDC regalia and
chanting the party's slogans.

The previous Saturday, independent presidential aspirant Simba Makoni
took his campaign to the same stadium where he was greeted by about 5 000
people. The following day the Arthur Mutambara faction launched its election
campaign in front of some 3 000 supporters.

In his address, Tsvangirai said the MDC, once elected to power, would
set up a Gukurahundi Fund to assist survivors and relatives of victims of
the government crackdown against dissidents in the 1980s in Matabeleland and
the Midlands.

He said the party would establish a Truth and Reconciliation
Commission in a move to "heal the wounds".

"We will set up a Matabeleland Gukurahundi Repatriation Fund that will
respond to those that were affected by the government crackdown; we will
also have a Truth and Reconciliation Commission," Tsvangirai said amid
cheers from the huge crowd.

Tsvangirai vowed that never again in the new Zimbabwe would government
unleash the military against a defenceless and innocent people.

"We must never again tolerate a government that regards one tribe as
inferior to the other. We should have a situation where everyone,
irrespective of their tribe, should aspire to hold any office in the
country," the former trade unionist said.

Close to 20 000 civilians were killed when Mugabe unleashed the North
Korean-trained Five Brigade on the southern provinces of Zimbabwe.

Despite acknowledging the atrocities, Mugabe has refused to apologise
and has only described the period as a "moment of madness".

The MDC secretary-general Tendai Biti told the same rally that Makoni
was a "fake product" sponsored by Western governments to confuse the
electorate in the forthcoming elections - the same accusations the
opposition is accused of by the ruling Zanu PF.

"We know that there are Western embassies behind the Makoni project.
It is a false project that will fail and will not work," Biti said. "Makoni
is a zhing-zhong who is out to confuse the electorate and people must not be
fooled."

The phrase Zhing-zhong is used by Zimbabweans to deride cheap goods
manufactured in China and are usually not durable.

But Tsvangirai said Zimbabweans should desist from personalising the
election process and vote for issues.

"It is not about personalities, but issues and policies that you will
have to choose that will solve the crisis in the country," Tsvangirai said.
"You must elect those with the best policies that will resolve the crisis in
Zimbabwe."

The MDC leader slammed Mugabe and his Zanu PF government for ruining
the economy.

"As we go to the 29th March election, it is very simple. Do you choose
a man who has promised you independence, but given you no freedom? Do you
choose a man whose time has expired? Do you choose a man who has isolated
Zimbabwe from the rest of the world?" Tsvangirai said.

He said an MDC government would prioritise issues of governance and a
new people-driven constitution, revival of the economy, people-centred
agrarian reforms and a national integration and reconciliation policy.

Turning to the actual polls, Tsvangirai predicted an overwhelming
victory for his party. He said he was positive that the electorate would
vote for solutions to the country's deepening crisis.

"Zimbabweans have gone through nearly eight years of non-stop
violence, intimidation and political intolerance. The nation is now crying
for peace and national healing," he said.

Loughty Dube and Nqobani Dube
 

We deserve better in these elections

Zim Independent

Friday, 14 March 2008 02:00
THE public media is in violation of Sadc Principles and Guidelines
Governing Democratic Elections as it has failed to afford equal and unbiased
coverage of the March 29 harmonised elections. Media monitoring groups,
analysts and opposition parties accused national broadcaster, the ZBC, and
the Zimbabwe Newspapers Group (Zimpapers) of biased reporting, qualitatively
and quantitatively in favour of the ruling Zanu PF.
The ZBC is 100% owned by the government while Zimpapers - which is 51%
owned by government - owns two national dailies, The Herald and The
Chronicle, and two national weeklies, The Sunday Mail and The Sunday News.
It also runs the weekly Manica Post and the vernaculars Kwayedza and
Umthunywa.

The public media were also accused of contravening provisions of the
Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (Aippa) and the
Broadcasting Services Act (BSA).

The Sadc guidelines require all political parties to have "equal
access and opportunity to the state media." However, in Zimbabwe opposition
parties have hardly been covered equitably by the public media as has been
Zanu PF.

The Media Monitoring Project of Zimbabwe (MMPZ) has over the past
month complained of what it termed unfair coverage of the pre-election
period, especially in the public media. It called on the Zimbabwe Electoral
Commission (ZEC) to put an end to the "intolerable" bias demonstrated by the
national broadcaster, the ZBC, and the government controlled newspapers.

"Because government controlled media institutions are funded by public
money and already massively dominate Zimbabwe's media landscape, it is
imperative they provide fair, balanced and equitable coverage of all parties
contesting the elections," the MMPZ said in its latest weekly report.

"But at present their grossly biased coverage in favour of the ruling
party constitutes a clear violation of Zimbabwe's own electoral and
broadcasting laws, let alone the Sadc guidelines on the holding of
democratic elections, to which Zimbabwe is a signatory."

On Friday February 29 all of ZBC radio and television stations,
according to MMPZ, abruptly suspended normal programming to provide live
coverage of Zanu PF's election manifesto launch that lasted for four hours.

By comparison, the ZBC gave no live coverage to the launch of
independent presidential candidate Simba Makoni's campaign in Bulawayo the
following day or for the MDC campaign led by Morgan Tsvangirai at Sakubva
Stadium, Mutare, the week before.

The MMPZ said between February 24 and March 2, ZTV devoted 64 minutes
of news bulletins to reporting favourably on Zanu PF's campaigns, compared
to just three minutes given to the two MDC factions and eight minutes to
Makoni.

The government-controlled daily newspapers, The Herald and The
Chronicle, performed no better as their coverage of campaigns during the
same week also reflected a heavy bias towards Zanu PF.

Of the 51 stories the newspapers carried on the elections, 31 were
favourable to Zanu PF campaigns, while the remaining 20 were distributed
among the electoral preparations of the two MDC camps, Makoni and the other
smaller parties. Nineteen of these potrayed a negative image of the parties
covered, the only exception being the launch of Makoni's campaign in
Bulawayo and Harare.

"Such prominence given to the ruling party constitutes grossly
inequitable, unfair and partisan coverage of important election issues and
essentially reflects the way the national public broadcaster has been
reporting all election campaign activities," the MMPZ said. "The bias shown
by the government media reinforces the public demand that the ZEC applies
the laws governing media coverage of elections, as well as to respond to
calls to allow greater media diversity in the coverage of elections."

The ZEC last Friday gazetted Media Coverage of Elections Regulations
which, among other things, compels a public broadcaster to ensure that
contesting political parties or candidates are treated equitably in the
allocation of airtime for broadcasting election matters.

Michael Mhike, a political scientist, traced biased reporting on the
part of The Herald, The Chronicle and the ZBC to the days of the liberation
struggle.

"The Rhodesia Herald used to broadcast Rhodesian propaganda and the
Bulawayo Chronicle also used to disseminate Rhodesian propaganda," Mhike
said. "What is happening is simply what happened in Rhodesia except that
today we are in Zimbabwe and Mugabe in charge."

Mhike said despite laws in place to curb biased reporting in the
public media, it would be difficult to eradicate it.

"I don't see that coming to an end, but there is room for improvement.
We can see more coverage of the opposition, bit it would not match the
airtime and space Zanu PF will get," he added.

The Tsvangirai-led MDC recently wrote to ZBC chief executive officer
Henry Muradzikwa complaining against biased coverage of the March 29
presidential, legislative and council elections. The party's director of
information and publicity Luke Tamborinyoka accused the national broadcaster
of not adhering to the Sadc guidelines on the conduct of free and fair
polls.

"At that historic (Sadc) meeting in Mauritius in August 2004,
President Mugabe committed himself to these guidelines," Tamborinyoka said.
"You have a party to play in making sure that Zimbabweans truly express
their legitimate will in the watershed election."

This week, the Makoni campaign team, in advertisements in private
newspapers, also accused the ZBC of unfair coverage.

"Mugabe now prefers a Tsvangirai victory to a Makoni one, hence now
the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Holdings is giving significant airtime to the MDC
and nothing to the Mavambo/Kusile/Dawn campaign," the Makoni camp said.

Government control of the media is not limited to Zimbabwe alone, as
it is also the norm in other southern African countries.

The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) passed a law in June 1996
providing that the "setting up and management of the means of communication
required by press agencies, broadcasting agencies and press distribution
services as well as print works and the book trade (should be) free".

This resulted in an exponential increase in the number of private
newspapers, radio and television stations over the past 10 years, in
addition to the publicly owned station, Radiotelevision Nationale Congolaise
(RTNC).

In the 2006 the DRC elections, the RTNC did not escape political
control.

This was in violation of the 1996 law.

"During the Mobutu regime, publicly owned media meant state-owned
media, which in truth meant that the media was controlled by the ruling
party," reads a book titled Outside the Ballot Box - Preconditions for
Elections in Southern Africa 2005/6, published by the Media Institute of
Southern Africa. "The RTNC was therefore initially controlled by the
Mouvement Populaire de la Revolution (MPR) - the Mobutu party, and today it
is controlled by the Parti du Peuple pour la Reconstruction et la Democratic
(PPRD) - the party of President Joseph Kabila."

The book cited how biased the public media was when guards of Kabila
and those of his challenger in the second round Jean-Pierre Bemba confronted
one another with heavy artillery in Kinshasa - the DRC capital.

"The official reports published by the Ministry of the Interior
announced 23 deaths, mainly those of police officers.From 27 July the media
houses controlled by the two main challengers, Bemba and Kabila, tried to
compete against each other by increasingly showing more violent pictures and
unashamedly using bloody pictures of policemen stoned to death by unruly
mobs or pictures of slaughtered civilians during the two wars of 1996 and
1998," read the book.

The idea to screen the gory pictures, the book claimed emanated from
the publicly owned, but ruling party controlled the RTNC who chose such
visuals to introduce its news bulletins.

Constantine Chimakure

The best president Zimbabwe never had

Zim Independent

Friday, 14 March 2008 02:00
SIMBA Makoni's decision to join the March 2008 presidential election
has undoubtedly generated a lot of political hope both inside and outside
Zimbabwe. This is not surprising given that for almost a decade Zimbabweans
have increasingly felt trapped not just by the economic crisis and the
political deadlock in the country but also the dearth of a visionary
leadership.

Under their current leadership, both Zanu PF and the MDC have become
politically redundant organisations offering voters very little to choose
between them. President Robert Mugabe has become a liability to the country,
while the MDC's Morgan Tsvangirai has proved to be a weak, indecisive leader
who cannot be trusted with the delicate task of leading a nation. He has
been making blunderous political decisions and serious errors of judgement
since 2000.
In contrast to Mugabe and Tsvangirai who both epitomise leadership
bankruptcy, Makoni represents hope and pragmatism. He is intelligent,
level-headed and realistic. He has outstanding anti-colonial credentials and
thus cannot be dismissed as an upstart.

While in government, Makoni consistently objected to irrational
policies in both government and the politburo, and this cost him his
position in cabinet. This was not the first time he was booted out of
government for speaking his mind and his principled opposition to unsound
policies.
But most importantly, Makoni is a simple, honest man of honour and
integrity. He is one of the few senior leaders in Zanu PF who have not been
implicated in corruption at a time when almost the entire top leadership of
the party is absorbed in self-agrandisement projects and out-competing each
other to strip the country of its valuable assets.

Makoni's entry into Zimbabwe's presidential elections thus promises a
different future for Zimbabwean politics. As many observers have noted, his
entry presents Zimbabweans with the best prospect for change.

However, Makoni's success depends on the effectiveness of his campaign
in a race that has already started to be dirty, vicious and tight.
Regrettably, his campaign so far seems incapable of rising to the
occasion. His inexperienced team has underestimated the hurdles to be
cleared in this race and clearly did not adequately prepare for the
difficulty of running against a Mugabe team prepared to retain, and even
mummify, him in office at all costs.
All the obstacles that Makoni's team has encountered, such as
transport and fuel procurement problems, printing of campaign material and
even the difficulty in opening a bank account, could have been anticipated
by a better organised outfit. A little consultation with seasoned Zimbabwean
opposition campaigners would have helped Makoni's team to prepare for the
wide range of obstacles to be put in their way. Simple consultation would
have also helped his team develop effective counter-strategies.

Another major problem with Makoni's campaign is that it has no known
structures on the ground. Those wishing to support his cause don't even know
how to do so.

He also has no visible team around him, save for academic Ibbo Mandaza
and the politically inexperienced, retired army major, Kudzai Mbudzi, who
have both been appearing with him since his entry into the race.

All the much-talked-about support of senior members of Zanu PF has
remained speculative. Only former cabinet minister and politburo member
Dumiso Dabengwa and former Speaker of Parliament Cyril Ndebele have dared to
express publicly their support for his project.

The rest of Makoni's backers within Zanu PF have benefited from Zanu
PF's politics of patronage and are afraid to lose their ill-gotten wealth if
they back Makoni publicly. They are not going to come out any time soon.
They will continue to play the usual sinjonjo (hide and seek) politics of
Zanu PF and will come out of their political closets only when they are
reassured of Makoni's victory.

The biggest challenge that Makoni faces is time. Makoni entered the
race very late and he needs to make up for lost time. Until his decision to
enter the race, many Zimbabweans interested in change had given up hope.
Many, having decided not to vote in the 2008 elections, had not even
bothered to register. Makoni's delayed decision to announce his candidacy is
thus going to cost him votes from all those potential voters who will not be
able to cast their vote simply because they were too frustrated by the
choice at their disposal to register.

Against this backdrop, Makoni needs to step up his campaign and reach
out to the electorate. Right now, he has little visibility on the ground.
Apart from the initial announcement of his candidacy and the two weekend
rallies he has had in Bulawayo and Harare, Makoni has not made much effort
to reach out to the voters. Many Zimbabweans, especially those in the remote
rural villages, are definitely ready for a leadership change but are
actually frustrated with the lack of detail about the Makoni project.

His campaign has obviously been ignored by the largely
state-controlled media, but he has not made enough use of alternative means
to reach out to the millions of Zimbabweans inside and outside the country.
Such alternative means include mobile phones, bush telegraphy, independent
weekly newspapers and radio stations operating from outside such as SW Radio
and Studio 7.

Any effective electoral campaign requires media exposure. The media
today has a wide reach and compensates for lack of physical presence in
far-flung parts of the country. In the specific case of Zimbabwe with a
hostile political and media environment, a sympathetic independent media is
a crucial ally for the opposition.
Yet Makoni does not seem to appreciate this point. On the few
occasions that he has been interviewed by the media, he has not effectively
utilised the power of the media to reach out. He has appeared to be aloof,
arrogant and abrupt - a characteristic which is soon going to alienate him
from this powerful fourth estate.
Makoni's campaign in the media has so far been disorganised, to say
the least. Even his manifesto-unveiling briefing was chaotic and
unprofessionally organised. He ducks and dives in response to direct
questions.

In cases where he has been pressured to provide an answer, he has
often provided tactless responses. A good example is the BBC interview he
had with John Simpson on February 28.

Having initially responded well to Simpson's question about
"international prosecution" for Mugabe, Makoni was literally cornered into
making a careless statement about this sensitive issue.

During his recent interview with South Africa's Radio 702, Makoni was
aggressive and abrasive towards both the host and telephone callers. Makoni
did not see the need to justify his candidacy. He arrogantly dismissed
callers with statements like "if you had read my statement" or "if you know
anything about me you wouldn't ask me or think that about me".

The same Radio 702 interview betrayed the lack of a coordinated media
strategy. Makoni repeatedly inquired if the interview was live - something
his aides should have established before handing him the phone. If he did
answer the phone directly, then that's no less worrisome.

Moreover, after being told that the interview was live, he protested
about not being given advance notice. It was only when the talk-show host
reminded him that he was notified about the interview a week back that he
reluctantly agreed to proceed.

There has been an element of overconfidence on Makoni's part - a
factor which might prove to be his greatest undoing. The reluctance to
explain his political credentials points to an egoistical leader who sees
himself as a messianic figure.

Makoni seems to think it is self-evident that he is the answer to the
Zimbabwean stalemate. He may well be that answer, but he needs to do some
serious hard work. Without this, as one Zimbabwean lawyer recently noted,
Makoni might be the best president Zimbabwe never had.

Mcebisi Ndletyana and James Muzondidya are senior research
specialists, Democracy and Governance Programme of the Human Sciences
Research Council, Pretoria.

Mugabe rigged his way at congress: Dabengwa

Zim Independent

Friday, 14 March 2008 02:00
VETERAN politician Dumiso Dabengwa has for the first time spoken
openly about the simmering succession crisis in the ruling party which
forced Simba Makoni and himself to quit after President Robert Mugabe
"rigged" his way back to the top at a special congress in December. Dabengwa's
remarks to journalists in Harare on Wednesday gave a new insight into the
deepening power struggle within Zanu PF which has now left the party facing
a real prospect of disintegration unless they force out Mugabe at the
upcoming elections.
Mugabe himself has expressed fears Zanu PF would break up if he left,
while his rivals say the party would fragment if he clung to power.

Dabengwa, who has not yet been formally expelled from Zanu PF, said
there were heightened manoeuvres since last year to ensure Mugabe was
replaced at the party's extraordinary congress. He said most senior Zanu PF
members were "disappointed" after Mugabe was retained as leader.

Zanu PF was supposed to hold an annual conference in December but
Dabengwa and others pushed for a congress hoping Mugabe would be replaced.
Opposition to Mugabe had mounted since the December 2006 conference at which
he was blocked from extending his term of office to 2010 without an
election. Dabengwa and others also resisted Mugabe's efforts at the crucial
central committee meeting in March last year to endorse him as the
presidential election candidate. Mugabe had declared in February he wanted
to seek re-election despite promising to resign this year.

After that events gathered momentum in Zanu PF. Dabengwa and his
allies set the agenda, forcing a congress against Mugabe's will in the hope
a new leadership would be elected there.

Dabengwa said everything appeared on course for a new leader to take
over from Mugabe at congress until the eleventh hour when the constitution
and procedures were blatantly manipulated to thwart the expected change of
leadership.

He confirmed what was widely reported in the Zimbabwe Independent at
the time that provisions of conference were fraudulently used at congress to
ensure Mugabe was retained at the helm. The fraud was challenged by Dabengwa
at a politburo meeting on November 28 last year but Zanu PF Legal Affairs
secretary Emmerson Mnangagwa, who backed Mugabe's bid to stay on, defended
it.

Dabengwa and others such as Vice-President Joseph Msika and Women's
League head Oppah Muchinguri in that politburo meeting challenged the
proposal to endorse Mugabe instead of using normal congress procedures of
opening nominations for leadership. At that heated meeting Zanu PF was
divided down the middle into two camps: one pro-Mugabe and the other
anti-Mugabe. Dabengwa and retired army commander General Solomon Mujuru's
faction opposed Mugabe's endorsement, while Mnangagwa and his camp backed
it. That situation still remains.

Dabengwa said there were several candidates gunning to replace Mugabe
at congress, but refused to mention their names. He said it appeared that
there would be changes at congress in the four top positions in Zanu PF
until Mugabe's loyalists blocked that by manipulating party procedures.

"Everything seemed to be going on well until the last few weeks when
we were told we were going to endorse Mugabe at congress which is what
happened and we were disappointed," Dabengwa said. Makoni also said he was
disappointed when Mugabe was retained.

"Afterwards we then said no, something needs to be done. Let's have a
rescue mission," Dabengwa said. "When you are in a ship and you can all see
the captain steering it towards a rock and it will crash, you launch a
rescue operation. This is a rescue operation to prevent Zimbabwe from
sinking into deeper waters."

Dabengwa's revelations confirm that the Makoni initiative is an
extension of the Zanu PF succession fight which Mugabe has failed to manage.
It is said the architects of the initiative include Dabengwa, Mujuru and
retired army commander General Vitalis Zvinavashe. Mugabe said Mujuru told
him this week he was not involved, but insiders insist he was not only
involved but he is actually the schemer. When Makoni met Mugabe in January
he also said he was not involved only to emerge as the public face of the
plan.

Dabengwa said his allies in Zanu PF - who are known to be Mujuru and
his camp - and himself sent Makoni to challenge Mugabe and they said would
stand by him. He said 60% of Zanu PF's politburo and central committee
supported Makoni.

This, he said, was motivated by the desire for a "leadership change,
not regime change" to save the country from collapse and preserve "gains of
the struggle". "All we are saying to Mugabe is it's time for you to retire.
You played your part, let a new leader take over and move the country
forward," he said.

Dabengwa said he would not vote for Mugabe because his conscience
would not allow him to do so. "If my conscience can't allow me to vote for
him how then do I convince another person to do so," he said.

Dabengwa, who said he joined and worked with the ruling party under
protest up to date, noted Zanu PF misrule, including Mugabe's "failure to
prevent, if not command, massacres in the region" were responsible for his
defeat by the opposition MDC in Bulawayo in 2000.

He said even though he had a "nasty time" while in detention in
Chikurubi on false treason charges at the height of Gukurahundi, he was not
bitter but he would not forget.

Dabengwa said human rights abuses were reprehensible, but he would
oppose any bid to punish Mugabe for violations, including Gukurahundi,
because there was forgiveness at the Zanu PF and PF Zapu leadership levels.

Dumisani Muleya

If Mugabe was not stopped, Dabengwa said, Zimbabwe could end up
falling into the hands of political opportunists like Zambia after Kenneth
Kaunda was defeated by Frederick Chiluba.

Zanu PF in quandary over defections

Zim Independent

Friday, 14 March 2008 02:00
ZANU PF's decision-making body, the politburo, is in a quandary over
how to proceed with Dumiso Dabengwa's case after his declaration that he
supports independent presidential candidate Simba Makoni. President Robert
Mugabe this week said that the politburo, which is due to meet next
Wednesday, would be seeking to expel Dabengwa from the party.
He said Dabengwa automatically expelled himself from Zanu PF without
citing any specific clauses from the party's constitution.

Mugabe's pronouncements raised speculation that he might manipulate
the rules and regulations governing the conduct of ruling party members,
which stipulate that "any member of Zanu PF who decides to stand as an
independent or joins another party automatically expels him/herself from the
party."

The same clause was fraudulently used to expel Makoni from the party
last month without following the party's due process.

However, impeccable sources said the clause does not affect Dabengwa
in any way since he has neither stood for any post nor joined any other
party.

"The rules and regulations which Mugabe alluded to and which the
politburo relied on to expel Makoni were not crafted for the presidential
election, but to govern primary parliamentary polls," a senior Zanu PF
member said. "Dabengwa does not fall in that category so his expulsion would
be unconstitutional and gross manipulation of the rules and regulations."

Dabengwa on Wednesday said if he was going to be expelled from the
party for proposing the replacement of Mugabe by another Zanu PF leader he
would welcome it. He said that he would attend next week's politburo
meeting.

"If I have sealed my own fate, someone will also seal his fate very
soon," Dabengwa said. "If I am going to be expelled from the party because I
have proposed the replacement of Mugabe by another Zanu PF leader, then let
it be."

The sources said if Dabengwa breached any provisions of the party's
constitution by defecting to Makoni, the chairperson of the national
disciplinary committee John Nkomo should suspend the former Home Affairs
minister and institute a disciplinary hearing.

Zanu PF last month unconstitutionally expelled Makoni from the party
amid reports that the party's secretary for legal affairs, Emmerson
Mnangagwa, manipulated the party's constitution to guarantee Mugabe's
continued stay in power. Makoni was fired by the party using rules and
regulations governing primary parliamentary polls, not a presidential
election, making his expulsion unconstitutional. If Makoni had breached
provisions of the party's constitution, Nkomo should have suspended the
former Finance minister and instituted a hearing.

Ruling party insiders said the due process was not followed because
Mnangagwa allegedly made a misrepresentation to the politburo that Makoni
had contravened rules and regulations governing elections and had,
therefore, expelled himself from the party.

Makoni was dismissed from Zanu PF after announcing his presidential
ambitions on February 5 and said he intended to contest the March 29
election representing the ruling party.

Mnangagwa immediately issued a statement that Makoni had expelled
himself from the party - a decision that was later rubberstamped by a
hastily convened politburo meeting of February 11. This prompted Makoni to
announce that he would stand for the presidential poll as an independent
candidate.

A day after the politburo meeting, Zanu PF secretary for information
and publicity Nathan Shamuyarira said Makoni had breached the central
committee's "rules, regulations and procedures to govern the conduct of the
party and its members".

Augustine Mukaro

'Farm mechanisation a vote-buying exercise'

Zim Independent

Friday, 14 March 2008 02:00
GOVERNMENT and Zanu PF programmes have become difficult to distinguish
in the third phase of the farm mechanisation programme launched last week.
The programme has been criticised as a vote-buying exercise by the ruling
party to sway voters ahead of the March 29 harmonised elections. "In my
view, the whole point is that we are in an election period," said John
Makumbe, a political analyst. "Any programmes such as farm mechanisation are
vote-buying by Zanu PF using state resources to do so and making the
political field uneven."
Makumbe said the distribution of equipment and farming implements
under the programme was likely to benefit supporters of President Robert
Mugabe, thus helping his re-election bid.

"It is typical of Zanu PF to abuse its incumbency to benefit its
members in every election contest. In any normal democracy, that would not
be allowed," he said.

Nelson Chamisa, spokesperson for the Morgan Tsvangirai-led MDC, said
the opposition party had problems with the farm mechanisation programme,
food distribution and national holidays and institutions bearing a strong
Zanu PF signature.

"The problem with such programmes is that they are stuck in the jaws
of partisan politics. That is our fundamental bone of contention. There
should be a difference between the party and the government, regardless of
the fact that the politics of the former influences the policies of the
latter. That is true democracy," Chamisa said.

Former chairperson of the parliamentary portfolio committee on Public
Accounts and deputy secretary-general of the Arthur Mutambara-led MDC,
Priscilla Misihairabwi-Mushonga, said the timing of the exercise was
suspicious.

"If anything was messed up with the farm mechanisation programme, it
is the timing. We all smell a rat because the mechanisation programme has
come just three weeks before elections. It was not strategic, the Reserve
Bank governor (Gideon Gono) really messed up," said Misihairabwi-Mushonga.

Denford Magora, spokesperson for presidential aspirant Simba Makoni,
said his grouping was concerned at the extent to which Mugabe's government
was buying votes.

"As far as we are concerned, this latest bit on farm mechanisation is
blatant vote-buying. It has nothing to do with land and agrarian reform and
Makoni has stressed of late that Zanu PF is out to buy the support of not
only the top echelon in the party and government, but also of suffering
Zimbabweans," Magora said.

Zanu PF spokesperson Nathan Shamuyarira refused to comment.

"I cannot comment on what the opposition says, go ahead and write what
you want and fill your pages. We know that you and the opposition are
bedfellows. Why should I authenticate their claims," he said.

Information minister and government spokesperson Sikhanyiso Ndlovu
could not be reached for comment with his secretary saying he was locked up
in meetings yesterday.

Though no senior party or government official was clad in Zanu PF
regalia during the launch, its slogans were chanted together with the raised
fist - a Zanu PF trademark. Zanu PF national commissar Elliot Manyika belted
out tunes used in the Zanu PF campaigns.

Mugabe told guests at the function that he needed to secure
re-election for his government to carry out plans that would augment
equipment received by intended beneficiaries.

The government distributed 600 tractors, 680 motorbikes, 3 000
grinding mills, 5 000 generators, 460 mechanised ploughs, 470 mechanised
harrows, 95 planters and 20 combine harvesters.

Also distributed were animal drawn equipment which included 33 000
scotch-carts, 26 200 cultivators, 1 000 planters, 50 000 ploughs and 60 000
harrows.

The government also bought 304 buses under the District Transportation
System Scheme with 35 buses being allocated to each province, while major
hospitals and referral centres got 24 buses.

Beneficiaries will also get 3 000 heifers with the two Matabeleland
provinces - a cattle ranching region - getting 500 heifers each, while the
remaining six geographical provinces got 350 heifers each.

Mugabe said his government intended to focus on dams and irrigation
facilities, but said he could only do this if the electorate rallied around
him. His speech had marked references to Zanu PF's electoral campaign.

"That must be an area of emphasis and I promise you, we will
emphasise. But we must win the elections first and not lightly, but win them
resoundingly so that the British can feel the heat," he said.

Mugabe also said the farm mechanisation programme was "announcing with
an irreversible finality that nyika yadzoka (the land is back)."

The Zanu PF's manifesto clearly states that the party would use its
victory in the March elections to reinforce the permanence and
irreversibility of the "land revolution". It also claims that the coming
election will be an anti-British election.

Kuda Chikwanda

Three more arrested on coup charges

Zim Independent

Friday, 14 March 2008 02:00
THREE more suspects have been arrested in connection with the foiled
coup - two of them serving members of the armed forces and the other one a
second year University of Zimbabwe (UZ) student. Elias Gapare and Charles
Mupfudze, the soldiers, have been in detention at 2 Brigade Barracks in
Cranborne since last June. Rangarirai Mazivofa - who is studying Agriculture
at UZ - was also arrested last June and has been in detention since then
after a brief court appearance last year during which they were denied bail.
Mazivofa has appealed to the Supreme Court to be freed.
This comes as a magistrate's court last week set the trial date for
the six men originally accused of plotting to overthrow President Robert
Mugabe last year. The trial is expected to commence on July 7 and the
accused will remain in detention. Albert Matapo and his co-accused Nyasha
Zivuku, Oncemore Mudzurahona, Emmanuel Marara, Patson Mupfure and Shingirai
Mutemachani, were arrested in May and have been in custody since then.

This week the lawyers representing the six, Charles Warara, confirmed
the arrest of the two soldiers and the student. The lawyer is also
representing the three. He said attempts to have them released have been
futile.

High Court Judge November Muchiya last week denied the six accused men
bail saying the police have unearthed new evidence implicating them in the
coup plot.

Warara said his clients were being kept under "D" class conditions at
Chikurubi maximum prison when they have not been convicted.

"My clients have been in custody since the time of their arrest and
they are being kept under "D" class conditions when the courts are yet to
find them guilty of the charges being levelled against them," Warara said.

"D" class conditions are normally applied to inmates convicted of
serious crimes such as murder.

Matapo is also being charged with deserting from the army, but Judge
Advocate Captain Anderson last month postponed the case indefinitely until
the High Court makes a decision on a challenge to the proceedings of the
court martial.

The state is alleging that the alleged coup plotters wanted to topple
Mugabe and replace him with Rural Housing and Social Amenities Emmerson
Mnangagwa. Mnangagwa has since denied any links to the alleged plotters.

Lucia Makamure

Kunonga appeals to Supreme Court

Zim Independent

Friday, 14 March 2008 02:00
EXPELLED Anglican Church bishop Nolbert Kunonga has appealed to the
Supreme Court against rulings by the High Court that he should share church
premises with acting Harare vicar-general Sebastian Bakare. High Court
judges Rita Makarau and Charles Hungwe ruled separately in January and last
month that Kunonga should not interfere with church services of Bakare and
that his Anglican Province of Harare did not exist at law.
In his appeal, Kunonga said Makarau erred when she ruled that
parishioners from both camps had the right to use church premises.

"The Honourable Judge President (Makarau) erred when she found that
the rights of parishioners to use and access church premises should be so
regulated by set time frames, which set time frames created a new status quo
that did not prevail in the church prior to January 2008," wrote Kunonga's
spokesperson Reverend Barnabas Machingauta in his founding affidavit.

Kunonga's lawyers are arguing that Makarau misdirected herself when
she gave an order, which resulted in their client losing administrative
control of the church and having to share "episcopal authority" with Bakare.

"The Honourable Judge President misdirected herself when she gave the
said order which had the effect of granting a final order or an order which
had an effect, in that it changed the status of the appellants, who have
lost adnimstrative control of the church, and are forced to share episcopal
authority and leadership which, in any sect otherwise indivisible and cannot
be shared," read the court application.

"The order has a definitive effect in that it forces the incumbent
Bishop of Harare to share his cathedral, which is the parish that houses his
throne and administrative function, a situation which has seen the breach of
peace at the instance of the Church of the Province of Central Africa and
Bakare and has heightened religious tension."

Kunonga said the order had the definitive effect of causing ambiguity
in that it further muddied the waters and caused parishioners and Bakare to
manipulate the right of worship from episcopal authority and perform
administrative functions within the church.

Kunonga is also asking the Supreme Court to hear the appeal
simultaneously with another one against Hungwe's judgement on the grounds
that the matters are premised on the same facts.

However, earlier this week the Church of the Province of Central
Africa lodged with the Supreme Court a notice of opposition to Kunonga's
appeal.

The church in its notice maintained that Kunonga does not have the
locus standi to bring a court application in the name of the Diocese of
Harare.

"I submit that it is apparent that Kunonga is now a law unto himself
and his attempt to get Madam Justice Makarau's judgment set aside is an
attempt to avoid the consequences of contempt of court proceedings which he
has been warned are coming," wrote Reverend Christopher Tapera in his notice
of opposition.

Lucia Makamure

Zambia yet to deliver Zimbabwe maize

Zim Independent

Friday, 14 March 2008 02:00
ZIMBABWE is yet to receive 114 000 tonnes of maize it ordered from
Zambia despite paying US$28 million in December. This forced government to
pay another US$18 million to South Africa for the importation of a
consignment of maize estimated to be between 100 000 and 130 000 tonnes for
the Grain Marketing Board (GMB) to boost the country's low maize stocks.
Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) governor Gideon Gono told President
Robert Mugabe at a function last Saturday that the country would not have
imported maize from South Africa had Zambia delivered the consignment on
time.

"We paid US$28 million for the importation of 150 000 tonnes of
additional maize from Zambia. Only 36 000 tonnes were delivered. We paid
US$3 million for additional maize being delivered from South Africa. Last
month we paid US$15 million to South Africa," said Gono during the handover
ceremony for farm equipment last week.

Reliable sources said Zambia had delayed in delivering the maize
because of a misunderstanding with the GMB on the labour needed to load an
estimated 200 trucks carrying the maize to Zimbabwe.

"Zambia insisted that Zimbabwe raise the foreign currency to pay for
the labour that would load the trucks. GMB has been finding it difficult to
raise the foreign currency and Zambia has been doing it at its own pace,"
said one RBZ source.

GMB reportedly attempted to send some of its workers to Zambia to load
the maize but they were turned back as they did not have the necessary
travel documents. GMB general manager Isaac Mandizha was not available for
comment but Mashonaland West GMB provincial manager, John Mafa, confirmed
the developments.

Mafa said GMB was hoping that Zambia would soon finish loading the
maize and send the trucks to Zimbabwe by weekend.

"Our guys were turned back as they had no work permits. We are
desperately trying to fix that and as we speak, Zambia is loading that maize
for us. However, they can only do it at their own pace since we were
supposed to send the labour," Mafa said.

Mafa said GMB was also finding it difficult to convince their labour
force to volunteer to go to Zambia.

"They are not willing to go there. We are looking at other strategies
including the use of uniformed forces with passports. We are hopeful that if
we do, we can get the maize at the latest by Sunday," he said.

Asked to confirm whether workers were reluctant to go to Zambia
because GMB had failed to guarantee an allowance for them, Mafa referred
businessdigest to Mandizha.

"I would not know about that. Please phone head office, they can tell
you more," Mafa said.

Gono would not be drawn into elaborating the reasons behind the
failure by Zambia to deliver the maize on time.

Zimbabwe's maize stocks are at a critical level. Mugabe told a rally
in Inyathi that government had also imported another 300 000 tonnes of maize
from Malawi.

Mugabe said the maize from Malawi would complement deliveries from
Zambia.

Kuda Chikwanda

Foreign firms face uncertain future

Zim Independent

Friday, 14 March 2008 02:00
UNCERTAINTY has gripped the few foreign-owned companies still
remaining in Zimbabwe following the gazetting of the Indeginisation and
Economic Empowerment Act which compels foreign companies to sell 51% of
their shareholding to locals. Indigenisation minister, Paul Mangwana, told
businessdigest this week that the law signed by President Robert Mugabe on
January 15 is likely to start operating within the next two weeks. "There is
no going back on the drive to empower Zimbabweans. In fact the Act could
start operating within the next two weeks," Mangwana said.
Sources said government has already started working on a statutory
instrument to operationalise the Bill.

Mangwana said: "The bill will be implemented with or without the
elections. We will not wait for the election because the law has never been
part of this election."

"This is not a campaign gimmick, it's real."

Mangwana's statement seems to indicate that the implementation of the
law is imminent.

The statements could heighten fears in the market that the Act could
open floodgates for well-connected people to muscle into foreign-owned
companies. Reserve Bank governor Gideon Gono has warned of this danger.

Business leaders and analysts said the law was ill-timed and could
lead to massive capital flight. Most foreign-owned companies have been
disinvesting from Zimbabwe due to the hostile economic conditions and
political risk.

LonZim, a subsidiary of Lonrho, is the only company that has invested
in Zimbabwe. Lonrho bought 60% of listed firm, Celsys, last year. At that
time the company said it was looking at the post-Mugabe era.

It is understood that foreign companies are already in the market
looking for locals to partner with in the indigenisation programme.

Businessdigest can reveal that Old Mutual have since submitted their
indigenisation proposal to the government.

Delta has also submitted their proposal. Other companies are likely to
follow suit soon.

Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce president, Mara Hativagone, said
although the idea behind the law was noble, its timing was wrong.

"There are a number of loose ends which need to be addressed before
being signed," she said. "We first needed to turn around the economy, then
embark on such a project gradually targeting sector by sector depending on
how much it is contributing to the gross domestic product, number of
employees, revenue generated, network around the world and how
long it has been in the country," Hativagone said.

"We are unlikely to get foreign investment. It will benefit a few
people who have money, whether it will be for their personal gains or the
whole economy remains to be seen. How do you expect the majority of people
to get money to buy shares or shareholdings in such companies?"

The president of Chamber of Mines, Jack Murehwa, said the law would
damage investor confidence in the mining sector.

"Sadly, some of the key laws being passed, like the one in question,
are destined to achieve the exact opposite. An investor from anywhere in the
world follows the same simple risk-aversion logic as you and I would do,"
said Murehwa.

"They would also seriously question the wisdom in investing in an
environment where the laws are unclear and or uncertain. They would also
prefer to be the major shareholders in investments where the capital is
their own. The investor simply moves on to the next place where he feels
welcome."

Gold production has slumped to an eight year low. Last year Zimbabwe
produced 6,5 tonnes of gold, down from 11 tonnes in 2006.

Companies such as Zimplats and Rio Tinto have put major products on
hold.

Economic commentator, John Robertson said: "The new law will slow down
investment as it is a direct attack on property rights. It is not a good
idea especially for a country desperately in need of investment. No sane
investor would put their money where they feel it is not safe."

"If you want to empower people, assist them in starting a company, not
authorising them to take it from someone.

"Government could have identified which companies need to be developed
and make money available to promote competition," said Robertson.

Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries (CZI) president Callisto Jokonya
said companies had no choice but to comply with the new
law.

"Our request (to CZI members) is that it must be implemented
intelligently. We don't want to lose the gains that we have already made. We
propose that it is implemented without anger, bitterness and looking
backwards," said Jokonya.

"We must go forward. We urge government to seriously consider engaging
business. We also want it to be engaged in a manner that develops prudent
business partnerships. It should value the freedom of choice. It's like
marriage. Business is about good relationships."

What they said about the Act

Zim Independent

Friday, 14 March 2008 02:00
"IT will entail the destruction of the economy. We should have learnt
from the blunders of the land reforms where people who were not properly
equipped rushed to grab farms. The result was a disaster in the agricultural
sector and we are now importing maize from the countries where the former
farmers have migrated to. They repeat the same mistakes over and over again,
expecting different results. This is insanity." - ZCTU economist, Godfrey
Kanyenze (AFP).
"Those who are already on the ground may have prepared themselves for
the eventual passing of the act, but foreign direct investment will be
slower." - ZB economist, Best Doroh (AFP).

"The economy is in a tailspin, inflation is the highest in the world
and world perception of property rights in Zimbabwe is at its lowest, The
possibility of further capital flight from Zimbabwe is not far-fetched." -
ZNCC chief executive, Cain Mpofu (AFP).

"We call upon the government to ensure that the empowerment drive is
not derailed by a few well-connected individuals ... to amass wealth for
themselves in a starkly greedy and irresponsible manner while the majority
remain with nothing as happened in the past with respect to government
empowerment schemes such as the lend reform programme." - Central bank
Governor Gideon Gono, in his monetary policy statement last October.

"As business, we are not opposed to the Bill. We must also appreciate
that Zimbabwe is in the global arena. We produce, buy and sell
internationally. I don't think anyone will oppose properly and legally
implemented indigenous programmes." - Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries
president, Callisto Jokonya (Businessdigest).

Foreign firms to fund own takeovers

Zim Independent

Friday, 14 March 2008 02:00
THE Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Act gazetted last week has
triggered fears of forced takeovers in the market. Some analysts said it's a
campaign gimmick while others insist that it is part of government's plan to
nationalise the economy. Business Editor, Shakeman Mugari spoke to
Indigenisation minister, Paul Mangwana about the law.

Mugari:
What is the motivation of this new law?

Mangwana: We want the indigenous people of this country to own the
means of production in this country. We want to do this by giving them 51%
shareholding in foreign owned companies. To achieve this we believe the
people need cheap funding and that is what we will provide. We cannot have a
situation where a foreign company comes here and exploits our resources.
Those days are gone.

Mugari: But some business organisations are saying this is part of the
Zanu-PF campaign strategy. They are asking why the law was gazetted three
weeks before the elections.

Mangwana: You are wrong and those people who are saying that are wrong
too. This bill was passed by parliament in November last year and the Senate
passed it in December. The president signed it on January 15. Those are the
simple facts which you have to know. We started working on this bill in
2006. The law was debated well before the election date was announced. It's
mischievous to link the elections and this law. It might please you to know
that this bill will be operationalised within the next two weeks. There is
nothing that can stop this act.

Mugari: But the bill is vague in most areas. It is not clear which
specific companies will be targeted. The market still does not know the size
of the companies that will be targeted.

Mangwana: That is what my ministry is already working on at the
moment. We have already started the roll out programme. In the next two
weeks we will decide the specific targets of this act using turnover, size,
workforce and sector. We will look at the nature of the businesses that we
want to indigenise. We are also putting in place a special board for this
purpose.

Mugari: The Act states that companies will contribute to a fund whose
proceeds will be used to assist blacks to take over some businesses. It
sounds like government is forcing companies to fund their own takeover.

Mangwana: The nature of a tax is that it is never fair. In any case
where do you want blacks to get the money when they have been suppressed for
centuries? It is fair for those who have benefited from a wrong system for
centuries to at least help.

Mugari: Still it does not sound right for companies to fund their own
takeover. Why can't people just go to banks and borrow money to buy the
shareholding?

Mangwana: I have told you that blacks have been suppressed for years.
They need to be helped to empower themselves. Every fair minded person
should see logic in this. As we speak the Ministry of Finance is already
working on the modalities to ensure that this levy is established. They will
be able to come up with the modalities of this whole levy issue because that
is their role. This will be done through proper consultation.

Mugari: Who will pay this levy?

Mangwana: Every company will have to pay this levy. I mean every
business operating on Zimbabwean soil.

Mugari: Does that include parastatals?

Mangwana: Of course they will be included because they are operating
in Zimbabwe.

Mugari: The levy will raise Zimbabwean dollars but it requires foreign
currency to buy the shareholding from foreign shareholders.

Mangwana: I admit that the levy will be in Zimbabwean dollars but I
refuse to accept that there is no foreign currency in this country. Foreign
currency is there somewhere.

Mugari: Are you serious?

Mangwana: Of course I am serious. In any case what does foreign
currency mean? It just means money from another country. Kwachas are foreign
currency.

Mugari: Minister you know what I am talking about when I say foreign
currency. Zimbabwe is already struggling to raise enough to import fuel and
pay for electricity yet you are talking about the Zambian Kwacha.

Mangwana: We are creating a law not for now but for posterity. There
might be no foreign currency in this country but very soon there will be.
Why do we have to stop what we want to do because there is no foreign
currency?

Mugari: When do you think Zimbabweans will start seeing the impact of
this law?

Mangwana: My belief is that within five years we will start seeing a
clear change in the ownership structure of companies and the economy as a
whole.

Mugari: We saw what happened during the land reform. There was a
massive looting of farms and in some cases influential people helped
themselves to more than one farm. Does the bill have checks and balances to
ensure that there no abuse?

Mangwana: In every programme there will always be jackals. We know
that there will be people who want to abuse the system. I can assure you
that we will not give resources to such people.

Mugari: But they can still abuse the system even without getting
resources from the fund. Are there any measures to deal with such people?

Mangwana: Those are the modalities that we are working on. We want to
make sure that the system works properly.

Mugari: Given the trend in this country are we not likely to see the
same people buying more companies because they have the money?

Mangwana: We only have control over those people who want our
financial assistance. We cannot stop people who have their own money from
buying what they want.

Mugari: From what I see this law covers all foreign owned companies
including corner shops.

Mangwana: That is wrong. This bill will target specific companies in
strategic sectors of the economy. We will soon issue a statutory instrument
to specify those sectors that we want to indigenise. We will, therefore, not
be chasing every small foreign owned business to comply.

Mugari: The law gives you the right to prescribe the partners that
foreign owned companies can engage in the empowerment programme.

Mangwana: Again you are wrong. The law encourages the companies to
identify their own partners. I will only come in when a company says it has
failed to identify a partner. Only then can I be able to give them a list of
potential partners from the database that the ministry will have. If they
can't get anyone from the list then I will prescribe.

Mugari: What guarantee is there that you will not abuse the role to
push for your connections?

Mangwana: Now what kind of a question is that? I am a law abiding
citizen. I am straight forward. I am a representative of the government and
I am guided by its policies.

Mugari: There are genuine fears that this law will scare away
investors at a time when the country is already struggling to attract
foreign capital.

Mangwana: To the contrary I believe that this bill will actually
increase foreign investor participation in this country. Every foreign
company that comes here will have comfort in the fact that they will be
working with locals who know the market.

Mugari: Who for instance is trying to come in here?

Mangwana: There are many and you will see them soon.

Mugari: What then is the fate of the mining bill in light of this new
law?

Mangwana: This law applies to every business in the country including
mines but there is nothing that can stop parliament from coming up with
sector-specific laws.

NIPC has a 'hit list': CZI

Zim Independent

Friday, 14 March 2008 02:00
THE Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries (CZI) says it believes that
the National Incomes and Pricing Commission (NIPC) and government have a
"hit list" of business leaders that they want arrested before the elections.
CZI president, Callisto Jokonya, told businessdigest this week that business
leaders are living in fear of being arrested.
Jokonya said there were fears among CZI members that the NIPC and
government could heighten the crackdown on business leaders it accuses of
overcharging.

"Zimbabwe is filled with so much confusion and chaos," said Jokonya.
"Frankly speaking, our members fear more arrests after we heard of that
list. Ask the NIPC, they should be able to tell you more on that."

Two industry executives have been arrested over the past week but
Jokonya said more arrests were possible "because there seems to be a new
resolution at NIPC to deal with businesses".

The two are Blue Ribbon Foods chief executive, Michael Manga and
National Foods managing director, Joseph Brooke, who were arrested on
charges of contravening the National Incomes and Pricing Act.

"So far, those two have been arrested but with talk of that list, more
could be arrested and that fear from industry is substantiated."

Manga and Brooke are being accused of selling flour at above the
gazetted price of $600 million a tonne set by the NIPC. The NIPC chairman,
Godwills Masimirembwa, however dismissed the claims as baseless.

"That is totally false. We have no hit list although we have received
reports that several supermarkets are removing products from the shelves and
spreading rumours of a price blitz," Masimirembwa said.

He said the NIPC had warned Brooke and Manga since January 12 this
year to stop overcharging.

"We told them to comply but they would not. It is not a vendetta but
we cannot sit back and watch such behaviour. We try and consult and where
people are deviating from gazetted prices, we warn them first. It is not a
vendetta," he said.

Masimirembwa said the NIPC still wanted to work with businesses to
come up with new prices.

"We are interested in discussions always. But what are we expected
to do when we warn someone and they don't heed the Act?" Masimirembwa
said.

Over 1 328 businessmen and women were arrested last year in the space
of two weeks during a crackdown by government for breaking price controls.

Kuda Chakwanda

Media violates Sadc guidelines

Zim Independent

Friday, 14 March 2008 02:00
THE public media is in violation of Sadc Principles and Guidelines
Governing Democratic Elections as it has failed to afford equal and unbiased
coverage of the March 29 harmonised elections. Media monitoring groups,
analysts and opposition parties accused national broadcaster, the ZBC, and
the Zimbabwe Newspapers Group (Zimpapers) of biased reporting, qualitatively
and quantitatively in favour of the ruling Zanu PF.
The ZBC is 100% owned by the government while Zimpapers - which is 51%
owned by government - owns two national dailies, The Herald and The
Chronicle, and two national weeklies, The Sunday Mail and The Sunday News.
It also runs the weekly Manica Post and the vernaculars Kwayedza and
Umthunywa.

The public media were also accused of contravening provisions of the
Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (Aippa) and the
Broadcasting Services Act (BSA).

The Sadc guidelines require all political parties to have "equal
access and opportunity to the state media." However, in Zimbabwe opposition
parties have hardly been covered equitably by the public media as has been
Zanu PF.

The Media Monitoring Project of Zimbabwe (MMPZ) has over the past
month complained of what it termed unfair coverage of the pre-election
period, especially in the public media. It called on the Zimbabwe Electoral
Commission (ZEC) to put an end to the "intolerable" bias demonstrated by the
national broadcaster, the ZBC, and the government controlled newspapers.

"Because government controlled media institutions are funded by public
money and already massively dominate Zimbabwe's media landscape, it is
imperative they provide fair, balanced and equitable coverage of all parties
contesting the elections," the MMPZ said in its latest weekly report.

"But at present their grossly biased coverage in favour of the ruling
party constitutes a clear violation of Zimbabwe's own electoral and
broadcasting laws, let alone the Sadc guidelines on the holding of
democratic elections, to which Zimbabwe is a signatory."

On Friday February 29 all of ZBC radio and television stations,
according to MMPZ, abruptly suspended normal programming to provide live
coverage of Zanu PF's election manifesto launch that lasted for four hours.

By comparison, the ZBC gave no live coverage to the launch of
independent presidential candidate Simba Makoni's campaign in Bulawayo the
following day or for the MDC campaign led by Morgan Tsvangirai at Sakubva
Stadium, Mutare, the week before.

The MMPZ said between February 24 and March 2, ZTV devoted 64 minutes
of news bulletins to reporting favourably on Zanu PF's campaigns, compared
to just three minutes given to the two MDC factions and eight minutes to
Makoni.

The government-controlled daily newspapers, The Herald and The
Chronicle, performed no better as their coverage of campaigns during the
same week also reflected a heavy bias towards Zanu PF.

Of the 51 stories the newspapers carried on the elections, 31 were
favourable to Zanu PF campaigns, while the remaining 20 were distributed
among the electoral preparations of the two MDC camps, Makoni and the other
smaller parties. Nineteen of these potrayed a negative image of the parties
covered, the only exception being the launch of Makoni's campaign in
Bulawayo and Harare.

"Such prominence given to the ruling party constitutes grossly
inequitable, unfair and partisan coverage of important election issues and
essentially reflects the way the national public broadcaster has been
reporting all election campaign activities," the MMPZ said. "The bias shown
by the government media reinforces the public demand that the ZEC applies
the laws governing media coverage of elections, as well as to respond to
calls to allow greater media diversity in the coverage of elections."

The ZEC last Friday gazetted Media Coverage of Elections Regulations
which, among other things, compels a public broadcaster to ensure that
contesting political parties or candidates are treated equitably in the
allocation of airtime for broadcasting election matters.

Michael Mhike, a political scientist, traced biased reporting on the
part of The Herald, The Chronicle and the ZBC to the days of the liberation
struggle.

"The Rhodesia Herald used to broadcast Rhodesian propaganda and the
Bulawayo Chronicle also used to disseminate Rhodesian propaganda," Mhike
said. "What is happening is simply what happened in Rhodesia except that
today we are in Zimbabwe and Mugabe in charge."

Mhike said despite laws in place to curb biased reporting in the
public media, it would be difficult to eradicate it.

"I don't see that coming to an end, but there is room for improvement.
We can see more coverage of the opposition, bit it would not match the
airtime and space Zanu PF will get," he added.

The Tsvangirai-led MDC recently wrote to ZBC chief executive officer
Henry Muradzikwa complaining against biased coverage of the March 29
presidential, legislative and council elections. The party's director of
information and publicity Luke Tamborinyoka accused the national broadcaster
of not adhering to the Sadc guidelines on the conduct of free and fair
polls.

"At that historic (Sadc) meeting in Mauritius in August 2004,
President Mugabe committed himself to these guidelines," Tamborinyoka said.
"You have a party to play in making sure that Zimbabweans truly express
their legitimate will in the watershed election."

This week, the Makoni campaign team, in advertisements in private
newspapers, also accused the ZBC of unfair coverage.

"Mugabe now prefers a Tsvangirai victory to a Makoni one, hence now
the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Holdings is giving significant airtime to the MDC
and nothing to the Mavambo/Kusile/Dawn campaign," the Makoni camp said.

Government control of the media is not limited to Zimbabwe alone, as
it is also the norm in other southern African countries.

The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) passed a law in June 1996
providing that the "setting up and management of the means of communication
required by press agencies, broadcasting agencies and press distribution
services as well as print works and the book trade (should be) free".

This resulted in an exponential increase in the number of private
newspapers, radio and television stations over the past 10 years, in
addition to the publicly owned station, Radiotelevision Nationale Congolaise
(RTNC).

In the 2006 the DRC elections, the RTNC did not escape political
control.

This was in violation of the 1996 law.

"During the Mobutu regime, publicly owned media meant state-owned
media, which in truth meant that the media was controlled by the ruling
party," reads a book titled Outside the Ballot Box - Preconditions for
Elections in Southern Africa 2005/6, published by the Media Institute of
Southern Africa. "The RTNC was therefore initially controlled by the
Mouvement Populaire de la Revolution (MPR) - the Mobutu party, and today it
is controlled by the Parti du Peuple pour la Reconstruction et la Democratic
(PPRD) - the party of President Joseph Kabila."

The book cited how biased the public media was when guards of Kabila
and those of his challenger in the second round Jean-Pierre Bemba confronted
one another with heavy artillery in Kinshasa - the DRC capital.

"The official reports published by the Ministry of the Interior
announced 23 deaths, mainly those of police officers.From 27 July the media
houses controlled by the two main challengers, Bemba and Kabila, tried to
compete against each other by increasingly showing more violent pictures and
unashamedly using bloody pictures of policemen stoned to death by unruly
mobs or pictures of slaughtered civilians during the two wars of 1996 and
1998," read the book.

The idea to screen the gory pictures, the book claimed emanated from
the publicly owned, but ruling party controlled the RTNC who chose such
visuals to introduce its news bulletins.

Constantine Chimakure

No one should privatise struggle

Zim Independent

Friday, 14 March 2008 02:00
THE past couple of weeks have reminded me of two truisms - the more
things change, the more they remain the same and history repeats itself. On
the eve of Independence in 1980, Elijah Madzikatire led his band in singing
the song Viva Makamarada which went: "Tinotenda vaSamora vakasunungura
Zimbabwe. Tinotenda vaNyerere vakasunungura Zimbabwe. Tinotenda vaMugabe
vakasunungura Zimbabwe. Tozotendawo vaNkomo sahwira wedu muhondo."
("We thank Samora for liberating Zimbabwe. We thank Nyerere for
liberating Zimbabwe. We thank Mugabe for liberating Zimbabwe. We also thank
Nkomo for collaborating during the struggle.")

From the first day of our Independence, Robert Mugabe was cast as the
liberator of Zimbabwe, more equal than all the others who had, before him
and with him, struggled for the country's Independence and Joshua Nkomo who
hitherto had been cast as Father Zimbabwe was reduced to a war collaborator,
a mujibha!

Zapu and Zipra also became peripheral to the struggle. History was
rewritten and in the euphoria of Independence the majority was not concerned
and hence did nothing.

History records that a few months after celebration of our
Independence, Nkomo, Zapu and Zipra were reduced to enemies of the state and
snakes whose heads should be crushed. Thus their role during the struggle
was blotted from the official history of the country's struggle for
Independence and so began the privatisation and patenting of Zimbabwe's
history and liberation.

Parallels have been drawn between George Orwell's classic Animal Farm
and Zimbabwe after 1980. Mugabe's "my party" (Zanu PF), "my Zimbabwe" and
"my people" speeches attest to the privatisation of the public. It is
significant to note that Mugabe's "my people" speeches echo Ian Douglas
Smith's "my Africans" speeches!

In recent times we have witnessed shocking trends towards the
privatisation and patenting of the post-Independence struggle for democracy.
Listening to speeches by leaders of opposition political parties and civil
society organisations, one shudders at the realisation that we have moved
full circle.

A respectable leader of the Morgan Tsvangirai formation of the MDC was
reported to have said his boss was the face of the struggle for democracy in
Zimbabwe. One could hear Madzikatire's voice substituting Tsvangirai for
Mugabe.

While Tsvangirai's role in the fight for democracy in independent
Zimbabwe is not contested, it is regrettable that respectable people should
emulate the much-criticised Zanu PF politburo in assigning to themselves the
role of declaring some people more heroes than others and play gatekeeper to
the struggle. We thought this was one practice that would not find space in
"a new beginning"!

The struggle for democracy in post-colonial Zimbabwe did not start
with the formation of the MDC or the National Constitutional Association
before it. Neither will it end with them.

Many people died for freedom in this country and have no one to sing
their praises. This does not make them less heroes.

Many were and are still being battered for democracy but are neither
lucky to grace front pages of influential newspapers nor be treated at
prestigious hospitals. This in no way makes their contributions
insignificant.

I am mentioning this, unsavoury as it may sound, not to cheapen the
suffering of the prominent members of the opposition but to demonstrate that
the people's struggle for freedom should not be privatised or patented.

Zimbabweans are paying for allowing Mugabe to be cast as the face of
the country's liberation and Zanu PF to patent the struggle. It will be a
negation of our duty to allow the privatisation of the struggle for
democracy.

As the late Eddison Zvobgo once remarked, any individual or group of
individuals that thinks they contributed more than others to the struggle is
dangerous.

When the MDC split ostensibly over the senate, there was haggling over
the use of the name. For some time the two formations operated as
anti-senate and pro-senate. Now that the anti-senate has embraced the
senate, they felt compelled to find a suitable distinction from their
nemesis without really changing their name. They came up with MDC
Tsvangirai!

Isn't this threatening a slide to Mugabe's "my party"? To name a
"people's" party after a person, no matter how popular the person, is worse
than being the face of the party.

I know it is easy to dismiss these concerns as trivial and suggest
that the name change is temporary and only meant to assist the voter on
March 29. But those who thrust Mugabe to power in 1976 thought it was
temporary as well. Today we see all Zanu PF supporters donning his
portrait - the true face of the party!

There is a possibility that March 29 may result in Tsvangirai emerging
as president of the Republic of Zimbabwe and the MDC (Tsvangirai) becoming
the ruling party. I am not convinced this is what the pro-democracy movement
fought for.

To prevent the Mugabe hegemony metamorphosing into a Tsvangirai
hegemony, both Tsvangirai and the MDC (Tsvangirai) need to take corrective
measures to allay fears or address the issues raised herein.

For starters, the MDC should remove Tsvangirai's name from their
party. Surely all those learned people in the party can come up with a
better name. Tsvangirai himself should resist cheap flattery and accept that
he is a man of like nature with all of us and has made his contribution just
like everybody else.

At the same time civil society and other political formations should
not acquiesce in the monopolisation, privatisation and patenting of the
people's struggle. To keep quiet for fear of reprisals once the opposition
is in power is a betrayal of the struggle. After all, political parties and
politicians are mostly interested in conquest of power and retention of
power.

To chastise the opposition for exhibiting traits that we reject and
have been fighting for the past 28 years is not to betray the struggle. The
democratic movement is more than just political parties, certainly not just
the MDC, and ought to be guided by values and not by personalities or
relationships.

To allow the struggle to be privatised and patented is to betray the
struggle and the thousands who paid the ultimate price. Whether or not the
impending election is going to usher in a new government, the pro-democracy
movement needs to remain vigilant and ensure that Zimbabwe's democracy is
the ultimate victor.

Wellington Mbofana is a Harare-based civic activist.

Mugabe obsessed with opponents

Zim Independent

Friday, 14 March 2008 02:00
SINCE President Mugabe launched his election campaign last week, he
has not disguised the fact that he is a worried man. He has not only adopted
an off-message campaign but he can't stop talking about his adversaries in
the presidential race, old rival Morgan Tsvangirai and the nascent
opposition of Simba Makoni.

Mugabe's strategy which is firmly anchored in the tired anti-Western
and anti-imperialism mantras received a major jolt with the defection of
Makoni and politburo member Dumiso Dabengwa, and the realisation that
Tsvangirai cannot be discounted from the race. Now realising the challenge
to hand, Mugabe has revised his strategy to factor in crude tactics meant to
tarnish the image of his opponents.

Government spin doctors have been wheeled into the fray to design
campaign messages which place the opposition at the heart of the national
crisis.

It is preposterous for Mugabe to believe that he can launder his
contemptible record as a leader by telling the electorate that Tsvangirai
was never close to the front during the liberation war. Voters at the moment
are looking at Mugabe's record as a leader 28 years away from the warfront.
What is more apparent with Mugabe today is his record of failure which he is
very much aware of hence he scarcely mentions inflation and the embarrassing
value of the Zimbabwe dollar.

As Makoni said this week, "ideas, not insults will take the people
forward".

"What has now become the tragic climax of their mortal combat (Mugabe
and Tsvangirai) is a political thinking that says any Zimbabwean who
generates new ideas to pull our country out of the mess it finds itself in
is an agent of the West."

He added: "What is completely laughable about this warped political
thinking is that before the emergence of Mavambo/Kusile/Dawn all the
epithets that described this thinking were directed towards the MDC's
Tsvangirai but now the same Tsvangirai has gone into the Zanu PF archive to
pull out the same clichés and direct them at (Makoni.")

Bereft of any inkling about extricating this nation from the current
low, Mugabe has elected to attack others while at the same time elevating
himself to the pedestal of a god. It is this quest to deify himself that has
come to haunt our ageing leader. Mugabe is worried because his godliness has
been exposed by the departure of Makoni and Dabengwa from his fold. Mugabe -
a control freak who has over the years cowed his lieutenants into revering
him - feels exposed and cheapened. "How dare they walk away from me?" The
myth has been exploded!

Firstly, he regards the degree of reverence shown to him by his
followers as the most accurate measure of patriotism and outright personal
sacrifice for the cause of Zimbabwe. Those that sing the loudest in support
of demagoguery are considered to be most patriotic, notwithstanding their
record of failure. The safest way to safeguard a portfolio in government is
to give kudos to the incumbent for every obtuse move he makes. Mugabe
therefore regards Makoni and Dabengwa's defection as outright confrontation
with their maker. It is challenging the anointed leader. It is running away
from a god and anyone taking this route can only do so to join Lucifer.

But not any more. Mugabe is not god neither can he claim to be the
custodian of all canons of patriotism. He is not the personification of
national emancipation as Edgar Tekere's book revealed. Today Mugabe looms
large as a cenotaph of failure. He should not be allowed to capitalise on
his personal distress to seek sympathy from the electorate he has over the
years shown great contempt for. Gukurahundi, Operation Sunrise and
murambatsvina, and price controls are cases in point.

His campaign therefore is not about national recovery. It is
instructed by the fear of losing the throne. It is a selfish undertaking in
which the electorate is being asked to endorse failed policies as long as
these keep the opposition from taking over.

Mugabe is definitely quacking and is currently striking a pathetic
look of one who is beginning to feel the impact of being disliked by former
comrades. This will not win him votes. It is a chink in the armour for the
opposition to take advantage of. Whatever the results of the poll, the cast
has been broken and Mugabe is busy trying to put it back together. It will
take more than papering over the cracks this time round.

Why Makoni's project won't fly

Zim Independent

Candid Comment - 14 Mar
Friday, 14 March 2008 02:00

ON March 29 Zimbabweans will vote in the first ever joint
presidential, senatorial, house of assembly and local council elections
since Independence. Of the four polls it is the presidential race that has
generated the remarkable excitement. Zimbabweans are acutely aware of the
fact that the future of this country will effectively be shaped by the
result of the presidential plebiscite and not the parliamentary or local
government poll.
Four aspirants have indicated they want to be elected as president
this March. Three of the protagonists, President Robert Mugabe, the MDC's
Morgan Tsvangirai, and independent candidate Langton Towungana are not the
reason for the current excitement among the salaried middle class and their
intellectual cousins. The reason has been the dramatic entrance onto the
political scene of Simba Makoni. But something has been amiss in the
apparently confused frenzy by those who have welcomed Makoni as an electable
option.

The majority of those who have embraced the former Finance minister as
their future president have confessed that they know very little about their
candidate of choice. Many who have written columns, letters and opinion
pieces in newspapers and websites have done very little to explain their
excitement beyond stating the obvious fact that Makoni is an option emerging
to challenge Mugabe from the same stable that has presided over the collapse
of our once vibrant economy, inadvertently rendering him culpable by
association in the process.

There is certainly something wrong with a country when grown men and
women publicly declare their support for a presidential candidate on the
basis of ignorance. The most telling demonstration of this ignorant
excitement over Makoni has been the call by others for Tsvangirai to leave
his MDC and join Makoni who neither has a political party nor any
demonstrable support let alone a people-driven agenda. It is imperative that
Makoni answers a few urgent questions before he can be trusted to be the
purveyor of the change that people want. Makoni has been a member of the
ruling party for the past three decades, first as its representative in
Europe in the late 70s before becoming a deputy minister in 1980 and a full
cabinet minister in the Ministry of Agriculture in 1982. The man sat in the
same cabinet that presided over the Matabeleland massacres during the
Gukurahundi era without raising a finger or resigning. Among the
coordinators of his project today is retired Major Kudzai Mbudzi, a former
operative of the Fifth Brigade which spearheaded the military incursion into
Matabeleland during the early 80s.

One question is; what is Makoni's explanation to the surviving victims
of Gukurahundi today as he courts their vote? Makoni has been a member of
the Zanu PF politburo until his expulsion last month. On Februray 5 this
year he declared his loyalty to the ruling party and even expressed his wish
to have stood as its official candidate. From this pedestal, it is clear
Makoni is not the third way that his supporters want him to be and he has
said so. He has stated it very categorically that he is a factional
candidate buoyed by his huge support from within the ruling Zanu PF more
than any other constituency. Those campaining for him military-style are
embedded in Mugabe's Zanu PF so he says.

Listening to Dumiso Dabengwa speaking to journalists at the Quill Club
on Wednesday, it became apparent that the agenda of Makoni and his cabal of
handlers is not to change the status quo but to change the presiding officer
of the blundering regime before it sinks.

This unusual challenge has to be understood in its proper context. The
timid political gladiators in Zanu PF were outflanked by a wily Mugabe in
the succession battle but refused to accept defeat hence their giving the
battle a new lease of life through Makoni's independent presidential
candidature. That is why this unusual challenge to Mugabe came in February
2008, well after the Zanu PF extraordinary congress and after the ruling
party primary elections (from which Makoni was barred) and not 1999 or
before. The agenda has nothing to do with the people of Zimbabwe who have
made it clear that they want a change of governance not the change of
leadership. The Makoni movement mistakenly emphasises Mugabe as the problem
when the people know that the current mess is a direct result of the
collective incompetence, corruption and patronage of the Zanu PF regime
whose leader happens to be Mugabe. The masses are aware that the ageing
Mugabe is only the symbol not the sum total of our problems.

It is critical to understand that Makoni and his conclave of feudal
potentates are exclusively interested in securing the future of the younger
generation of the Zanu PF oligarchy and protecting economic concerns mostly
acquired illegally during 28 years of pillaging the economy. The Zanu PF
stalwarts - and they are many - supporting Makoni today are doing so with a
clear understanding that he is their Trojan horse out to give a beautiful
face to an ugly cause. The agenda is to replace Mugabe not Zanu PF despite
the uncountable and shared failures of its government since 1980.

Those in the Arthur Mutambara faction of the MDC who rushed to lend
support to the Makoni facade did so without a clear appreciation of the
undercurrents driving the factional project. It was therefore unsurprising
that when Mutambara made his infantile overture to Makoni he was snubbed.
The game is "strictly Zanu PF members only", which is also why Makoni's
project will not appeal to the masses.

Muckraker

Zim Independent

Friday, 14 March 2008 02:00
THE former Anglican bishop of Harare, Nolbert Kunonga, has urged
Zimbabweans to vote for President Mugabe because he was "Zimbabwe's anointed
leader", according to reports on Monday. "As the church we see the president
with different eyes. To us he is a prophet of God who was sent to deliver
the people of Zimbabwe from bondage," Kunonga said.
"God raised him to acquire our land and distribute it to Zimbabweans.
We call it democracy of the stomach."

There will certainly be no complaints from his stomach after
reportedly benefiting from the land reform programme!

But now we can see what this whole episode of episcopal delinquency
was all about. Kunonga's mission was to provide church support for President
Mugabe's electoral bid.

It was thought he would carry the authority of the Anglican
establishment in providing a much-needed spiritual boost to counter the role
of the Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops Conference.

But things didn't work out as planned. The Anglican establishment
rallied behind its elected leaders leaving Kunonga to rely upon the police
and the state media for his authority. He ended up looking very much like
Zanu PF's instrument in its battle for hearts and minds, and a rather clumsy
one at that.

Mugabe as "the prophet of God" will actually come back to haunt him.
Zimbabweans don't like that sort of blasphemous lickspittle servitude. And
who is responsible for the "bondage" the nation is currently experiencing?
Kunonga is so obviously not his own man, attending Bright Matonga's rally in
Mhondoro-Ngezi, but at least we now know the background to his appearance in
Zanu PF's election campaign.

Talking of pathetic, we had the predictable bleating of Patrick
Chinamasa in the state media this week. But he sounded completely
implausible.

Is it seriously suggested that somebody like Dumiso Dabengwa would
invent those meetings in South Africa? And is Chinamasa incapable of
responding to the claims made by Dabengwa without having recourse to the
crude propaganda of the ruling party?

Dabengwa was the "chief protector" of white farmers in Matabeleland,
according to this crass defence. He was part of a plan to reverse land
reform and was heavily compromised by the British, Chinamasa dutifully
suggested.

And all this designed to avoid another grovelling and tearful apology
to the president which was reported after the Tsholotsho Declaration in
2004.

"I am a humble foot-soldier in defence of the revolution and the
leadership of President Mugabe," Chinamasa pathetically persisted.

Is this what senior ministers have been reduced to? And how can he as
a lawyer suggest there is such a thing as "political defamation"? Then he
proceeds to call Dabengwa "a liar, a charlatan, a tribalist, a turncoat and
a counter-revolutionary".

Then that ultimate Zanu PF charge - that of "sowing confusion among
our ranks".

That has always been a problem confined to the ruling party.
Apparently they are easily confused and it is a major offence to confuse
them any further!

Chinamasa has done himself no favours with his attack on Dabengwa. It
is unlikely that Dabengwa will reply to this squalid outburst so obviously
designed to propitiate a paranoid tyrant.

"We all know what President Mugabe stands for," Chinamasa asserted.

Indeed we do. We just thought you could see it too Patrick.

Muckraker was intrigued by one small thing in all this. Chinamasa
says: "They started with the spread of falsehoods against me around the
Tsholotsho incident and they went on to mount a malicious criminal
prosecution in 2006 and now we have this."

Who are "they" in this quote? Why did the Herald reporter not ask the
obvious question?

Land belongs to the people of Zimbabwe," the latest Zanu PF full-page
ad states. "It is their birthright."

Let us not forget the thousands of Zimbabweans who were deprived of
that birthright because of the colour of their skin or their descent in
2000.

"Zimbabweans deserve reparations for the occupation and exploitation
of their land," the ad continues.

The other side of that particular coin is of course the restoration of
roads, schools and hospitals to their original owners. And nobody is
seriously suggesting we go there!

"Anyone working to reverse land reform is an enemy of the Zimbabwean
people," the ad declares. How convenient. That means we can't raise the
issue of multiple farm ownership or illegal seizures. Greed is to be
rewarded by a law of limitations.

But do Zanu PF cronies really think they are going to be left in
undisturbed possession of their ill-gotten gains on an indefinite basis,
even if they manage to hoodwink the electorate this time round? Mugabe said
this week the government would investigate multiple farm ownership after the
election.

Morgan Tsvangirai appeared unable to provide a straight answer when
tackled in a SW Radio Africa interview. We understand his difficulty on the
land issue but he should be able to spell out his party's position on
multiple ownership without ducking and diving all over the place. It was a
terrible performance.

The Makoni campaign is headed by experienced public relations
practitioners. Which is why we are surprised they didn't better prepare
their man for his Radio 702 interview a couple of weeks ago.

It went something like this: Redi Direko for The Big Interview: "Today
we are speaking to Zimbabwe's presidential candidate Simba Makoni."

Makoni: "Is this live?"

Direko: "Yes."

Makoni: "No, no, no. Sorry, we can't have this. We've got to clarify
things."

Direko: "But our producer has been trying to set this up for weeks."

Makoni: (Eventually) "Anyway let's proceed."

Harare municipal director of housing Justin Chivavaya made quite a
revelation last week.

Asked by the Independent about the progress of the renovations at
Rufaro stadium, Chivavaya retorted: "It's not my policy to answer you
verbally, whether on the phone or face-to-face, so send me your questions in
writing.

"But I can't guarantee that I'll respond. That's my way of doing
things."

With such haughtiness and dereliction of duty we need not ask anymore
why the capital is in such a mess.

Here is a senior director boasting that he applies his own policies at
work instead of the municipality's policies. You can imagine a situation
whereby every city council worker has his or her own "way of doing things".

Muckraker used to wonder why even road maintenance workers would get
to a site, prepare their lunch first and then start working - and not finish
the job.

Why there are so many potholes.

Why vana madhodhabhini (refuse collectors) no longer collect garbage.

Why traffic lights are perennially malfunctioning.

Relax. Chivavaya, without provocation, told us: everyone has his or
her own way of doing things at Harare municipality.

Why does NIPC chair Godwills Masimirembwa think government employees
should get a 20% discount at hotels? This in effect amounts to a subsidy
from the already hard-hit tourism sector.

Masimirembwa made the pronunciamento after hotels and tourism service
providers increased their charges without his approval.

"Government and local authorities must not be treated like any person
who comes into a hotel to seek an experience," he declared.

The new pricing system was meant to "show the difference between
people coming into hotels for an experience and those who are doing so out
of necessity".

What on earth is he talking about? This is the sort of nonsense you
get when you allow Zanu PF zealots
and chicken farmers to take charge of important sectors of the
economy.

And where do you suppose all those tractors and combine harvesters
handed out last week came from? From the accounts of FCA holders of course.

Here we have a classic case of misrule: people's bank accounts raided
in collusion with the Reserve Bank to enable the ruling party to offer
inducements to new farmers to remain loyal in a forthcoming poll.

And do you have to be a cynic to bet those tractors will end up on the
black market or in the rural transport sector? Expect to see them parked
outside beer halls any day now.

Then we expect the IMF and World Bank to provide balance-of-payments
support to rescue the country from the consequences of Zanu PF's delinquency
and yell that it's all a Western conspiracy when they demure.

New farmers in Mazowe who spoke to Muckraker last week said they hadn't
seen anything of the tractors or other equipment and said the whole scheme
benefited the favoured few.

But don't expect the Angolans, Chinese, Libyans and Namibians to
notice electoral inducements. Their gaze will be studiously averted. And
they will almost certainly give the election the nod as soon as they step
off the plane.

Angola's foreign minister and Sadc's executive secretary appear to be
already batting for the regime.

We liked the Herald heading, "No to anarchist mechanisations", on
March 7. We thought it might reveal special insight into the tractor
distribution programme. But it turned out to be incompetent subbing. It was
all about the MDC's "machinations".

At least they put it in the Entertainment section!

Meanwhile, has anybody noticed some ZEC ads are also semi-literate?
And the language mirrors that of Zanu PF.

"We demand a retraction and an apology," they insisted last week from
the Standard in respect of something their spokesman denied saying.

They are in serious need of professional help in dealing with the
media.

It is not just the state media that detects plots everywhere. A
respectable outfit like the Christian Alliance imagined a plot to compromise
them by our advertising department last week. One of their ads ended up next
to that for the MDC.

What sort of paranoid dementia is at work in the fevered minds of
these worthies?

No plot dear friends. Just an old-fashioned mix-up (incompetence?) on
a busy day. Sorry.

President Mugabe's publicists are always telling us how popular he is
in Africa and how the continent looks to Zimbabwe for a lead. So we were
pleased to see the views of Kenya's Orange Democratic Movement's leader
Raila Odinga in the Mail & Guardian when asked what advice he had for Mugabe
in the forthcoming election.

"I have got very little regard for Mugabe," he said. "He used to be my
hero once upon a time but we parted ways when he began to use a big stick to
deal with his political adversaries. I think he is a disgrace to the African
continent and the time has really come for him to try to move on and let
other people govern. I don't think it is right for someone to hold a country
hostage for generations. I think it is not right for Africa."

A reader has sent us a full-page Herald ad for Zanu PF's March 2002
presidential election campaign.

It warned of "Tsvangirai's bitter pill for Zimbabwe". We could expect
the following from the MDC if Tsvangirai won, it warned back then in March
2002: "Cuts in electricity supply. Total blackout for the nation. Collapse
of industry. Massive job losses. Isolation of Zimbabwe. Shortage of goods.
Price hikes. Massive unemployment."

Obviously Zanu PF stole the MDC's programme!

Economy's death-knell now ringing

Zim Independent

Erich Bloch column - 14 Mar
Friday, 14 March 2008 02:00

LAST week, after holding back for nearly five months, President Mugabe
decided to proceed with final and absolute destruction of the Zimbabwean
economy.

Notwithstanding that the constitutionally prescribed period within
which legislation passed by parliament and the senate must receive the
presidential assent in order to become law had long elapsed, the president
saw fit to give his belated assent to the Indigenisation and Economic
Empowerment Bill.
Thus, despite the effluxion of time in excess of constitutional
prescription, the Bill has now allegedly been promulgated and, subject to
any challenge to the courts being upheld, is of force and effect.
Irrespective of whether this foolhardy, disastrous legislation is
successfully challenged or not, the cataclysmic consequences of its
promulgation are immense, and effectively become the final nail into the
Zimbabwean economy's coffin.
However, despite pronounced, authoritative representations to
government from the captains of commerce and industry, from many
parliamentarians, from some of the hierarchy of the ruling party, from the
central bank, and from many others, the leadership of Zanu PF has
dogmatically dismissed those representations, and obdurately persisted in
its intent to enact the grievously ill-considered legislation.
And, undoubtedly, the timing of the misguided promulgation has been
significantly influenced by an even more misguided expectation that doing so
would positively influence the electorate to vote for the president and for
Zanu PF's senatorial, parliamentary and local government candidates.
None can credibly deny that much is necessary and very long overdue,
to achieve economic empowerment for the majority of Zimbabwe's economically
emaciated populace.
It is unacceptable that almost three decades after Zimbabwe's
Independence, the overwhelming majority of Zimbabweans are extremely
impoverished, with appallingly few having had any significant opportunities
of achieving entrepreneurial aspirations, more than four-fifths of the
employable population being without gainful formal employment, and few
having any credible expectations of economic advance.
Admittedly, a very major portion of the economy is notionally
indigenised, in that the greatest element of economic presence vests in the
state, and in insurance companies and pension funds operating primarily for
the benefit of the indigenous policy holders and members, and almost wholly
managed by indigenous executives.
But despite providers of electricity, telecommunications, rail and air
services, water supplies, media, and much, much more being indigenised
parastatals, and the majority of major companies being substantially owned
by indigenised financial institutions, few of the populace have benefitted
from such indigenisation.
Similarly, the endlessly heralded land reform programme - pronouncedly
trumpeted by government as an overwhelming success - has in reality
benefited very few, whilst at the same time it has rendered hundreds of
thousands unemployed, and millions the victims of extreme poverty and
misery.
That has not deterred government from its vociferous contentions that
in the same manner that land, and agriculture thereon, must be "owned" by
the people, so must the mines, industry, and all other components of the
economy.
Not satisfied with having destroyed agriculture, which was the
foundation of the Zimbabwean economy, government is now determined to
implement similar failed policies upon all other economic sectors.
That the failure of doing so will be just as great is arrogantly
dismissed as baseless mouthings of those presently economically endowed, of
the ruling party's political opponents, and of the mis-perceived, alleged
international enemies of Zimbabwe.
The reality is that one of the greatest and most critical needs for
Zimbabwe's economic recovery, and for the resultant restoration of wellbeing
for much of the population is investment, both foreign and domestic.
Investment creates capital inflows, employment, revenue flows to the
fiscus, downstream economic activity, technology transfer and development,
exports and attendant foreign exchange generation, and much else.
But very few, if any, investors are willing to invest if:
lThey are deprived of control and authority over their investments,
and such deprivation is the result of legislative limitation of
non-indigenous investment to 49% of any controlling interests in the
investment venture. Investors are understandably unwilling to be minorities
in entities funded by them, having little or no authority and influence on
their operations;
lExisting investments are expropriated, for purposes of
indigenisation, without full and fair compensation, as has been the case in
government's theft of agricultural lands, spuriously justified by
contentions that Britain is liable to effect such compensation.
Bilateral investment protection agreements, determinations by
international courts, and common justice, irrefutably demonstrate such
contentions to be false and without justification;
lThe intending investors are not even assured that they can, without
governmental interference, select their own co-investors, and the terms and
conditions of future relationships between the investors, and of the future
operations of the underlying enterprise.
Neither foreign nor domestic investors will invest under such
circumstances, and hence the legislation means that future investment will
be non-existent, depriving Zimbabwe of one of its greatest economic recovery
needs.
Instead, the already gravely moribund and declining economy can only
sink further at an ever-accelerating pace, until it has sunk so low as to be
beyond redemption.
Government would constructively advance economic indigenisation if,
instead of enacting draconian, cyclonic legislation, it would vigorously
facilitate and enable indigenous entrepreneurship.
Thereby it would grow the economy, instead of constantly shrinking it
further.
Economic wellbeing is not forthcoming from emulating the Robin Hood
act of taking from the perceived to be rich, to give to the poor, so that
the rich become permanently poor, a few of the poor become temporarily rich,
and the majority of the poor become poorer.
Hopefully, the legislation's enactment is naught but an ill-conceived
election ploy, to be reversed and abandoned once the elections are over.

Makoni can withstand the political heat

Zim Independent

Friday, 07 March 2008 08:02
WE have been waiting for a formidable party that could bail us out of
the socio-political quagmire. Simba Makoni is a man worth his salt.

The current opposition has so far failed dismally to live up to the
electorate's expectation by behaving like political novices whose main
agenda remains not very clear to us. The only thing we know about
MDC apart from the fact that they nearly caused a stir in 2000, is
that they are a party without a clear-cut vision.

Without taking anything away from Morgan Tsvangirai and Arthur
Mutambara, Makoni has seen it all in issues of governance and brazenly knows
all the concretes and abstracts of leadership.

When it comes to economic foresight he is second to none. When he was
the Minister of Finance he advocated for devaluation, a move that was going
to save us from the series of economic logjams we find ourselves in.

It is only that Makoni's brilliance had been overshadowed by a lot of
greediness within Zanu PF until now when he thought of defying the odds and
made his intentions clear to save the sinking Titanic from further
submerging.

The bold decision Makoni took to disembark from the gravy train should
be commended because it seems there are many people who expressed their
disinterest with the ruling party but could hardly resign or speak out for
reasons best known to themselves.

Now that Makoni has announced his intentions, the onus is left to us
to cast our votes wisely so that we will stop moaning because this is the
time to make positive choices. To be precise it's now or never.

In Makoni, I see a lot of promise and I am confident that we are not
going to be affected by some sectors of the media's assertions that our
favourite presidential candidate is confused. We believe that Makoni didn't
just wake up in the morning and announce his candidature. By openly
announcing his intensions, he exercised his democratic right. Nothing is far
from the truth that this man carries all our hopes hence the need to count
on him as our political and above all our economic saviour.

What we are urging the vibrant Makoni is that he should come in the
open and clear the cloud of doubt that is engulfing the electorate on his
seriousness to stand especially his emphasis that he still belongs to Zanu
PF. While it is not a crime to belong to the ruling party, the electorate
wants to know on which ticket he is going to stand especially after the
elections.

Makoni is the darling of many change-starved people and we can rest
assured that once he is in power everything is going to improve.

* Mswazie is a trainee social scientist.
walterbekiswazie@webmail.co.za

Zim Independent Letters

Zanu PF has had a chance, try others

Friday, 14 March 2008 02:00
I AM a Zanu PF member since 1970. My beloved ruling party and its
leader have shown how a country can be destroyed inside three decades under
their stewardship.

It is telling how such a revolutionary party can abuse our trust and
play house with our lives. What guarantee is there that given another term
of office, Zanu PF and its oligarchy will allow a "leadership renewal"?

As we edge closer to the harmonised elections, let us remember the
record failures of Zanu PF: Esap, housing for all by the year 2000,
education for all by the year 2000, health for all by the year 2000,
Zimprest, NEDPP, the land redistribution programme, Zesa, Zupco, NRZ, Zinwa
and Operation Garikai-Hlalani kuhle.

As we go to the elections we must bear it in our minds that it was not
Simba Makoni who brought Operation Murambatsvina on us. It was not Makoni
who ordered massive price reductions under which all businesses continue to
reel.

The pot-holes, sewage and dirty drinking water are enough evidence
that nothing is working anymore in Zimbabwe. We are starving because most
farm owners are selling fuel on the black market. The RBZ governor knows
powerful people who are milking this nation, but as a person who knows the
side on which his bread is buttered, he has thrown the culprit list into the
shredder.

We need a president who is approachable and down to earth. A president
who listens to people. A servant of the people. One who will not defile the
mandate for him to lead us as a nation.

Lastly, 2008 is a year for us in Zimbabwe to decide what is best for
our children. Soldiers, civilians, civil servants, general practitioners,
the unemployed, rural folk and cross-border traders alike, our problems are
the same. We are in this together. Whoever has not suffered enough will no
doubt dismiss this plea I am making. We need new blood.

The Vulcan,

Harare.

----------
Armed forces must be professional

Friday, 14 March 2008 02:00
RECENT utterances by senior members of the police, army and prison
services have prompted me to speak out.
The uniformed forces should act professionally, uphold the
Constitution and defend the country. It is the duty of politicians to rebuke
other politicians not the armed forces. The duty of the armed forces should
be to intervene in cases of serious incidents without fear or favour. Also
hatred speeches should be far away from the lips of those in uniform.
The armed forces should also know that intimidatory utterances by
service chiefs on the outcome of the election do not make the public fear
them.

The uniformed and armed forces should also know that their allegiance
is to the country and not to individuals.

Tonderai Muchini,

Mutare.

---------------
Consider the greater good

Friday, 14 March 2008 02:00
I HAD a brief and uncomfortable conversation recently with a
friend.There is much confusion and its difficult to sort out the truth from
the propaganda.
In the end, we will all go into the voting booth on March 29 and make
our choices. Our vote is indeed our secret.
The last eight years have been extrodinary as well as difficult and
stressful; we have made the first major challenges to the status quo and
many have lost a great deal and all of our lives have been changed beyond
recognition. I acknowledge and respect the role that Morgan Tsvangirai has
played in that process; and he will always hold a special place in my heart
and in our history. He, and many others who we may have already forgotten.

Nevertheless, the last two years have not been good ones in
Tsvangirai's
faction and I have increasing concerns about his leadership ability,
especially looking at the inevitable changes ahead.

Whether we like it or not, we have to live in the same space as those
who have perpetrated acts of aggression against us or who have remained
silent.

We are all complict one way or another - let us not forget that many
of those in the oppostion were at one time members of Zanu PF; that while
farmers were under siege, urban voices were silent. There are many shades
between black and white, between the good and the bad.

I think we have become very polarised and are stuck in an MDC/Zanu PF
dynamic and that this is no longer productive but only continues to deepen
the divisions between us. How much longer can we hold these fixed positions
while everything around us crumbles and dies?

Loyalty is a great quality, but we have to ask to what exactly are we
being loyal. The argument that we should continue voting for Tsvangirai
because of his past contribution, is the same argument used by Mugabe as to
why we should vote for him.

Didn't he liberate the country from colonial shackles and therefore we
should continue loyalty well beyond his ability or willingness to deliver
"the goods"?

Sometimes, we have to step back from emotional loyalty and look to the
greater good. In this circumstance, I always think of the politics of
post-World War II Britain. Winston Churchill had led them through the dark
and difficult war years to success, yet in the first election afterwards he
was voted right out.

While Churchill's role was applauded and appreciated, the voting
public also realised that he was not a peace-time leader and out he went.
Despite that, 50 years later he still remains one of the most popular
British leaders of all time.
Not voting for someone is not necessarily being disloyal to that
individual.

People's contributions to a cause, does not bestow the entitlement of
office or reward.

We do what we do because it is the right thing, not because we expect
high office. If Tsvangirai doesn't make it to the presidency, I will stilll
respect and honour him. I just want to see my country begin the road to
recovery.

V Mundy,

Bulawayo.

------------------
Why does Dabengwa hate Tsvangirai?

Friday, 14 March 2008 02:00
AT Simba Makoni's White City Stadium presidential campaign launch
rally, Dumiso Dabengwa was quoted by the Standard as having said: "We came
up with this rescue operation (Makoni for president). we could not have our
leadership falling to the likes of Tsvangirai. (That) will see us going back
to the situation where out of desperation they replaced KK with Chiluba".

As a poor worker I was left with many questions which beg for answers
as to the real message Dabengwa was trying to put across to Zimbabweans:

Is the Makoni project a rescue plan to prevent Mugabe and Zanu PF from
being defeated at the polls?

Why would it be difficult for Dabengwa and his friends in Zanu PF to
accept Tsvangirai and the MDC to beat Mugabe if the people of Zimbabwe vote
for him?

Where is the democracy in Dabengwa if he cannot stand the likes of
Tsvangirai beating Mugabe at election time?

lWhy compare Tsvangirai to Chiluba as if they are identical twins? Is
it because they were both workers who rose through the ranks to become
leaders of their trade unions? What makes Dabengwa think that Tsvangirai
will be like Chiluba if he becomes president, while Simba Makoni cannot be
like Mugabe when they are both educated and have been close buddies for
close to 30 years until less than a month ago?
lWere Zimbabwean students, workers, civil society, the peasants and
the professionals who formed the MDC in 1999 desperate to find a leader?

The message we get from Dabengwa is that the Makoni project is a
self-preservation strategy by some in Zanu PF who are no longer sure if
Mugabe can continue to protect them and their ill-gotten wealth. Hence
Makoni can provide them with immunity while the poor remain poor.

Pause for thought - why do they hate Tsvangirai so much? A new broom
sweeps clean!

Anonymous,

Kwekwe.

------------
Polls will disappoint Makoni

Friday, 14 March 2008 02:00
THIS is an open letter to presidential aspirant and former Finance
minister, Simba Makoni.

I should rather begin by thanking you for running to be president of
the Republic of Zimbabwe. We welcome you to the fierce world of opposition
politics. The honeymoon with the barbaric Zanu PF regime is over and because
of you, Robert Mugabe is panicking.
It is however saddening that your decision to participate comes at a
time when the nation seems to be divided between Robert Mugabe and Morgan
Tsvangirai. Personally, I sympathise with you and Dumiso Dabengwa for
nothing positive will be coming your way come March 29.

It is a pity, dear brother Makoni, that a larger section of the public
has even gone to the extent of labelling you a Zanu PF instrument in these
underground succession battles. We cannot defend you Makoni. How can we
defend a shameless politician who for the past difficult years was part and
parcel of barbarians, a politician who saluted an autocrat, a despot and
downright totalitarian. We Zimbabweans, do not need a rocket scientist to
tell us that you and Mugabe are drinking from the same well.

Stop toying around with the electorate. We will never forget the
suffering that we went through during your tenure as Finance minister.

If you think Zimbabweans are so cheap, these polls will tell you a
completely different story.

Nyasha Majoni,

Houghton Park.

----------------
Open letter to Simba Makoni

Friday, 14 March 2008 02:00
I DO have a few questions I wish to ask you, Dr Simba Makoni, before
the elections. Firstly, how are you going to tackle the land question?
Seeing that your former party made a mess in this respect, what correctional
measures are you going to implement? Are you not worried that you are going
to be accused of giving back farms to whites and "reversing the gains of
Independence?"
Secondly, is it only Robert Mugabe you are challenging? If so, are you
saying he is single-handedly responsible for putting this country into the
current quagmire?

Can it be Mugabe alone? I do not think so. What are you going to do
with the rest of your corrupt and incompetent former colleagues in Zanu PF?
How are you going to foster harmonious international relations? Are you not
on the travel ban list? How are you going to relate to the investor
countries that we inevitably need to resurrect our economy? Why are you not
transparently revealing your backers in the army, police, Central
Intelligence Organisation (CIO) civil society and the civil service? I am
sure people need to know this before they decide to vote or not vote for
you.

Lastly, I will make a request to you. Please, do not give us another
Edgar Tekere stunt - leaving Zanu PF in 1989 and forming Zimbabwe Unity
Movement only to rejoin after loosing the elections.

I will also take this opportunity to wish you the best and
congratulate you on your guts in taking the bull by the horns.

But most importantly, I must urge you to continue speaking against
violence. We are too hungry for that.

Tshayamathole Zaba,

Bulawayo.