Zim Standard
By Kholwani Nyathi and
Vusumuzi
Sifile
PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe on Friday said he
was shocked at Dumiso
Dabengwa's decision to back Simba Makoni's
presidential ambitions, as
reports surfaced that the ex-Zipra intelligence
chief had turned down an
offer to be Zanu PF vice-president.
Under an unwritten covenant of the Unity Accord signed in 1987 between
Mugabe and the late PF-Zapu leader, Joshua Nkomo, Zanu PF and the State
would have two vice-presidents from the former parties.
Joseph
Msika holds the post on behalf of PF-Zapu, having succeeded
Nkomo. He is due
to retire after the 29 March elections.
Reports say Dabengwa turned
down the offer on the grounds that it had
come too late.
Although Dabengwa remained a Zanu PF politburo member after the 2000
parliamentary elections, in which he lost his Nkulumane seat to the MDC's
Gibson Sibanda, he was not in the Cabinet, his last portfolio there being
Home Affairs.
Last week, Mugabe reportedly vented his emotions
on Dabengwa's
defection at a private briefing of government and Zanu PF
officials in
Plumtree.
He said he had been particularly
incensed by Dabengwa's decision to
back Makoni, "a little man".
"Why should Cde Dabengwa have gone that divergent way?" he asked. "I
can't
understand what the real motivation is. What makes me feel rather
upset is
that Makoni was never in the limelight. Dumiso came from the
grassroots. I
can't understand why, he chose to follow a little man like
Makoni."
Yet Mugabe avoided attacking Dabengwa at rallies in
Plumtree and
Esibomvu Business Centre in Esigodini.
A host of
former Zipra commanders have publicly backed Dabengwa's
stance.
The Standard was told that a few days before Dabengwa went public with
his
backing of Makoni, Mugabe tried to dissuade him, promising him the
vice-presidency.
Dabengwa was said to be away on business in
South Africa until
Wednesday.
Sources said Mugabe tried again
during a surprise overnight stop in
Bulawayo on his way to Beitbridge for
his birthday bash, but was again
unsuccessful.
"No one knew
about the president's visit until the last minute and we
had to run around
to get people to welcome him at the airport," said a Zanu
PF official in
Bulawayo.
"The word was that he had come to find out why people in
the province
were switching to Makoni's camp, but we understand he couldn't
meet with
Dabengwa because he was out of town."
The rift
between Mugabe and Dabengwa first surfaced late last year
when Mugabe
appeared to have re-admitted suspended war veterans' leader,
Jabulani
Sibanda.
Former PF Zapu heavyweights were furious at the
move.
A day after Sibanda's "Million Man March" in Harare, Dabengwa
said he
was "not sure what whoever is using Sibanda is up to when party
rules and
regulations are very clear".
Zanu PF national
chairman, John Nkomo, has been linked to Makoni's
presidential bid. At the
launch of Zanu PF's manifesto, Nkomo avoided an
outright attack on Makoni.
Even when Oppah Muchinguri and Joseph Chinotimba
tried to incite Nkomo to
say "Pasi naMakoni (Down with Makoni)", he ignored
them and simply said:
"Pasi nekuruza ma elections" (losing elections is not
an option).
Zim Standard
BY CAIPHAS
CHIMHETE AND SANDRA
MANDIZVIDZA
THE unrelenting power outages
across the country last week took their
toll on households in Harare's
Kambuzuma suburb, damaging domestic
appliances worth billions of
dollars.
More than 30 households lost electrical appliances,
including
television sets, decoders, radios, stoves and refrigerators after
a sudden
surge in voltage.
The residents said most of the
appliances exploded suddenly, producing
smoke before packing up
completely.
One resident, Munashe Mugoni, said he was watching
television with his
family around 8PM when the incident
happened.
"A bulb in the lounge exploded suddenly," said Mugoni,
"followed by
another one in a bedroom. After a few seconds, the TV blew up,
producing
smoke from the rear."
Marvelous Sibanda was another
resident whose household was hit by the
spate of exploding appliances. She
said she could not afford to replace her
TV set and
refrigerator.
"For all these years, I have been working for these
appliances, only
to lose them in a minute," said Sibanda, a cross-border
trader.
Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (Zesa) electricians
who later
came to inspect a local sub-station told residents the mishap was
caused by
an electrical fault precipitated by the theft of underground
cables.
But the residents were not entirely satisfied with that
explanation
after making a report on the exploding appliances.
For three days, Zesa officials said they did not have 10 litres of
diesel to
drive to Kambuzuma - less than seven kilometres away - to attend
to the
problem. The residents were told to buy the fuel and give it to Zesa
for the
trip to their suburb.
A number of residents said they found this
unusual, as Zesa, a
cash-strapped parastatal, had spent several billions of
dollars last month
splashing advertisements in the government media to
congratulate President
Robert Mugabe on his 84th birthday.
Only
last month, Zesa chief executive officer, Ben Rafemoyo, advised
residents
not to pay or give Zesa workers fuel as this amounted to
corruption.
The Kambuzuma incident is one of a number of cases
in which residents
have lost property worth trillions of dollars because of
the current
electricity crisis, sparked by the economic meltdown which began
in 2000
after the land invasions.
A number of suburbs have gone
for more than two months without
electricity in Harare, Bulawayo, Mutare and
Zvishavane. The residents have
resorted to firewood for cooking and candles
for lighting, which some
described as "a return to the
villages".
Most now have to dig deeper into their pockets to buy
firewood which,
at $10 million a bundle and a candle for $4 million, are
wreaking havoc on
their depleted budgets.
But Givemore Gumbo of
Glen View in Harare will live to regret ever
lighting a candle again when
there is a power cut.
Last week, he forgot to blow it out,
resulting in all his belongings
going up in smoke.
"My
furniture, which included a wardrobe, a bed, television set,
stove, blankets
and clothes were all destroyed. Luckily I escaped from the
fire unscathed
and began to shout for help from neighbours," said a tearful
Gumbo.
The fire was put out by neighbours who doused the house
with buckets
of water, which, while often scarce, was available on that
day.
Zesa spokesperson Fullard Gwasira last week said the power
utility's
fuel storage tanks were empty. He said residents were well advised
to
provide fuel for Zesa vehicles if they want their problem to be attended
quickly.
"We don't encourage people to pay money to Zesa
workers but they could
provide fuel... so that the fault can be swiftly
attended to," he said.
Some of the residents are planning to hire
lawyers to ensure that Zesa
compensates them for all the appliances they
have lost in the power
blowouts.
Zimbabwe Lawyers' for Human
Rights (ZLHR) litigation officer Tafadzwa
Mugabe said ideally residents can
sue Zesa but because they signed "an
exemption clause" on their application
for power this would present
challenges.
"In terms of the law,"
said Mugabe, "it presents serious challenges
because most residents signed a
form which includes an exemption clause
which forbids them from suing Zesa
unless there are very special
circumstances. You have to prove that Zesa was
at fault."
Residents said although Zesa technicians had later
assured them the
problem which had led to the explosion of the appliances
had been resolved,
they could not risk connecting their appliances
again.
Gwasira said Zesa had built-in safety components to protect
its
network and the consumers.
But he said if the components
are tampered with it could lead to
damage of household goods.
"Zesa does not compensate where damages result from a
vandalism-induced
problem because our system has built-in safety components
that protect our
system and the property of our consumers," he said.
Smaller thermal
power stations at Munyati, Harare and Bulawayo have
not been working at full
throttle for over three years now.
If a legal challenge against
Zesa for compensation failed, it would
take Marvellous Sibanda another three
or four years of illegally crossing
into South Africa to sell her wares to
raise enough money to buy another TV
set and a fridge.
Zim Standard
By Nqobani Ndlovu
and Leslie Nunu
BULAWAYO - The Morgan Tsvangirai-led MDC yesterday
drew a huge crowd
at a star rally addressed by its leader at White City
Stadium in a major
show of support in Matabeleland.
The region
is considered a stronghold of the Arthur Mutambara
formation of the
MDC.
Last week's defection of senior Zanu PF members, among them
former
Home Affairs minister Dumiso Dabengwa, appeared to tilt the scales in
favour
of the independent presidential candidate Simba Makoni.
The pro-Senate MDC has endorsed Makoni and observers predict its
support
could be decisive in the presidential race.
Makoni launched his
presidential campaign at the same venue last
Saturday and attracted a crowd
of about 6 000, which almost equalled the
number at the launch of the
pro-Senate MDC campaign the following day.
About 12 000 people
attended Tsvangirai's rally. Most of them were
bussed in from the city's
high-density suburbs and tertiary institutions
after the faction reportedly
hired more than 40 commuter omnibuses.
Tsvangirai promised his
audience he would set up a Gukurahundi
compensation fund and "end the
policy" of marginalizing the region.
"An MDC government will not
allow a situation where this region will
be treated as if it is not part of
the country.
"We must stop this policy of
marginalization."
Meanwhile, shops in the city's central business
district were forced
to shut down yesterday morning after anti-riot police
fired teargas to
disperse marchers commemorating International Women's Day.
Shoppers were
forced to scurry for cover at a supermarket and a
bank.
The police beat up members of Women of Zimbabwe Arise and Men
of
Zimbabwe Arise as they marched past the police district offices, before
firing teargas into the streets. Several people were taken to hospital with
injuries.
Police spokesman, Wayne Bvudzijena said he was not
aware of the
demonstration when contacted for comment but said local police
knew how to
"deal with such situations".
Zim Standard
BY GODFREY
MUTIMBA
MASVINGO - After braving the scorching heat to attend a
rally
addressed by President Robert Mugabe last week, hungry villagers in
Gutu
said later they were disgruntled because he did not deal with what they
called the "pressing issues" affecting their lives.
The
villagers alleged most of them had been forced by their
traditional leaders
and Zanu PF officials to attend the rally at a secondary
school, more than
20 km away.
In interviews with The Standard they said they were
disappointed that
Mugabe had failed to raise their hopes to end their
suffering.
"Is that what we came here for?" asked an elderly woman.
"Travelling
on foot and sacrificing our chores, only to be told what we
already know?
Who does not know about the liberation struggle? We wanted to
hear how he
would end our suffering, if he retains power."
Mbuya Ruramai Mudzamiri said: "When we came here, we expected to hear
something that would give us hope that the horrible life we are leading
today would end soon. We can no longer afford to buy enough food as prices
are rising every day and yet he comes here and tells us Zimbabwe ndeyeropa
(the country was won after a bloody struggle) as if we eat ropa
(blood)."
The villagers had waited for more than eight hours,
braving the
scorching heat as Mugabe arrived late from another rally in
Zaka.
At the Gutu rally, at Maungwa secondary school, hungry school
children
made up most of Mugabe's audience after every school in the
surrounding
areas was forced to close.
All business at Maungwa
centre stopped as all shops were told to close
for the duration of the
rally.
Meanwhile, speculation on the fate of Zanu PF rebels,
particularly
politburo member Dzikamai Mavhaire, ended after he attended
Mugabe's rally
following his forced withdrawal from standing against fellow
party member,
Maina Mandava.
Former commander of the defence
forces, Vitalis Zvinavashe, earlier
linked to Simba Makoni's Mavambo
formation, turned up at the rally as well.
Most Zimbabweans, but
particularly the old people in the communal
areas, have been hardest hit by
galloping inflation and the shortage of
basic commodities.
But
Mugabe skirted the bread-and-butter issues, concentrating instead
on the
15-year liberation war which ended in 1979.
"The liberation
struggle ideology should be passed on to future
generations as we left
friends and relatives during the war and we should go
to the elections with
this, in memory of the struggle that brought
independence," he said. "Those
who vote against us would have sold the
struggle," he said.
Zim Standard
BY OUR
STAFF
OFFICIALS of Simba Makoni's independent candidates for the 29
March
elections yesterday reported two violent incidents against their
members.
The Hatfield house of their Harare South candidate in the
House of
Assembly, Joram Nago, was besieged by suspected Zanu PF youths in
the
morning.
In the afternoon, while driving from Hopley Farm
where he was
scheduled to address a rally today, Nago and his driver were
stopped by
youths who accused them of trying to enter a "no-go"
area.
The police had cleared the rally.
The Standard
caught up with Nago as he made a report at Waterfalls
police station. He
told the police that after beating him, the youths took
away his police
clearance letter. A police officer acknowledged in the
presence of The
Standard they had cleared the rally.
Yesterday evening, Nago was
still to go to hospital for a medical
check-up as he was assisting police
investigators.
In the second incident, two pfficials one of their
vehicles were
attacked while waiting to fill up at a service station along
Samora Machel
Avenue and Fourth Street in Harare.
Never
Mutamba, one of those assaulted, said they were saved by Police
Support Unit
officers passing by the service station.
Zim Standard
By Nqobani
Ndlovu
BULAWAYO - The army has been forced to reduce its annual
recruitment
due to what is described as "perennial under-funding", it has
been learnt.
Since independence in 1980, the army has recruited
soldiers every
three to four months but the frequency has been reduced to
save scarce
funds.
The cutbacks have been implemented despite a
flood of desertions of
soldiers fleeing low pay and deteriorating living
conditions in the
barracks.
Army spokesperson, Samuel Tsatsi
confirmed the quarterly recruitments
had been shelved over budgetary
constraints.
According to army insiders, the quarterly recruitment
exercises were
eating into most of the army's budget.
They said
on a number of occasions the army had failed to feed the
recruits, some of
whom had abandoned the rigorous training exercise midway.
Last
year, the army lowered entry qualifications to cater for
non-holders of the
Ordinary Level Certificate, in an effort to lure more
youths into the
force.
"It is a huge and beneficial cost-cutting measure," said a
source.
"But it does not mean that all the recruits would join the army at
the same
time after the one-off recruitment exercise held across the
country.
"Instead, the recruits will join the army on a quarterly
basis as was
the practice in the past."
The army is reportedly
struggling to cope with massive resignations
and desertions, and frequent
recruitments are the only way to ensure
adequate staff levels.
There are reports that non-commissioned officers formed the bulk of
those
leaving for greener pastures on a regular basis. The commissioned
officers
and war veterans are said to have remained loyal.
Soldiers can
renew their contracts after three, seven and 10 years
respectively but due
to the poor working conditions, many are opting out
before they even
complete a year in service.
Zim Standard
By Vusumuzi
Sifile
THOUSANDS of Zimbabweans with non-indigenous origins could
be barred
from voting on 29 March, even if they have known only Zimbabwe as
their home
and their names appear on the voters' roll, The Standard has
learnt.
This could affect thousands of farm workers and urban
voters.
The likelihood of disenfranchisement emerged in a letter to
the
Zimbabwe Electoral Commission from Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights
(ZLHR)
litigation lawyer, Rangu Nyamurundira.
He wrote that
some "aliens" whose names appear on the voters' roll had
already been told
they would not be allowed to vote.
According to the letter,
MacDonald Lewanika, a Zimbabwean with Zambian
ancestry, was barred from
inspecting the voters' roll on 14 February because
he was considered an
alien.
His brother, Gregory Irvin, was also barred from registering
to vote
for the same reason.
Lewanika, a civic activist, took
up the issue with ZLHR, who in turn
called Zimbabwe Electoral Commission
(ZEC) for clarification. They insisted
that Lewanika be allowed to inspect
the voters' roll as he had the right to
do so under Section 21 of the
Electoral Act.
On checking the roll, Lewanika established he was
indeed registered to
vote in Mufakose constituency. But one of the officials
at the inspection
centre told him that, even with his name on the voters'
roll, he would still
not be able to vote because he was an
alien.
"Despite him being registered as a voter under Mufakose
Constituency
and in fact having voted in all elections since 2000
Parliamentary elections
Mr MacDonald (Lewanika) was told that he would not
be allowed to vote . . .
because he was an alien, and despite the fact that
he was registered to
vote," ZLHR's Nyamurundira wrote to ZEC.
With three weeks to go before the elections, ZLHR and other civic
organisations fear more people could find themselves in Lewanika's
predicament - registered to vote but unable to vote.
"Many
Zimbabweans in fact find themselves in our clients' position and
have been
denied their democratic right to vote. Those already registered to
vote
stand to be denied casting their vote come 29 March 2008," said
Nyamurundira.
Attempts to contact ZEC chairperson, Justice
George Chiweshe, were
fruitless as he was said to be out of
town.
ZEC deputy chief elections officer (operations) Utloile
Silaigwana
said he had not seen the letter from ZLHR.
After
amendments to the Citizenship of Zimbabwe Act in 2001, there has
been
confusion over the status of Zimbabweans registered as "aliens".
Section 9 of the Act prohibits dual citizenship, and requires
Zimbabweans
with dual citizenship to renounce foreign citizenship they would
have
"acquired".
In its letter to ZEC, ZLHR argued that most aliens
never "acquired"
foreign citizenship in the first place.
In the
Government Gazette of 22 November 2002, Justice Minister
Patrick Chinamasa
said a mere potential claim to foreign citizenship, as
opposed to actual
possession, would not result in loss of citizenship.
Nevertheless thousands
of citizens were instructed by the Registrar-General's
office to renounce
foreign citizenships they never had.
Last week ZLHR, in
collaboration with the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade
Unions) and the General
Agriculture and Plantation Workers' Union of
Zimbabwe (GAPWUZ) held a
workshop to sensitise many possible casualties of
the current
"misinterpretation of the Citizenship Act".
GAPWUZ represents
workers at all farms and plantations in the country,
most of whose workers
are descendants of Malawians, Zambians and
Mozambicans.
A
GAPWUZ official said so far the union had identified more than 100
people in
Mashonaland Central with such a status.
The union was currently
compiling a list of all those affected and
once the list was completed,
would mount a legal challenge.
At the Nomination Court on 15
February, Eddie Cross of the MDC was
initially barred from filling his
papers because there was a
misunderstanding on his citizenship status, it
being suggested he was
British.
Cross argued he was a
Zimbabwean, and was eventually allowed to file
his papers in
Bulawayo.
Zim Standard
BY CAIPHAS CHIMHETE
IN the blistering sun, barefoot and frail-looking Mbuya Rukweza (62),
trudged to Sakubva stadium in Mutare for last week's MDC 2008 election
campaign launch.
The grandmother was not alone in the "long
march" from Chikanga
high-density suburb, 5km to the stadium.
Grandparents, some with the aid of walking sticks, students and young
children with lips cracked white by hunger and thirst, trooped to the
stadium to listen to Morgan Tsvangirai.
"I want to hear it for
myself," said Mbuya Rukweza, her voice
quivering with pent-up emotion as she
entered the stadium. "We have suffered
enough."
In the stadium,
breast-feeding mothers, their children blissfully
suckling on their breasts,
sat on their laps. They were shielded from the
heat, as their mothers waited
to hear from the man to whom they have
entrusted their destiny.
These were some of the 20 000 party supporters who braved the
sweltering
midday heat in Mutare, dancing and singing, waiting for
Tsvangirai to
address them.
This was not a captive audience. They had not been
forced out of their
homes, jobs, fields or supermarkets to attend the
rally.
They had not been force-marched to the stadium by 'Green
Bombers', nor
lured by promises of free food, ploughs, combine harvesters,
tractors or
fertiliser.
They had defied attempts by the youth
militia to stop them from going
to the stadium.
They were there
of their own freewill.
When Tsvangirai finally arrived, the crowd
near the entrance surged
forward for a closer glimpse of him. They were
restrained by his security
aides.
As he walked around the
ground, Tsvangirai waved to the crowd, and
their cheers reached a crescendo
when he raised his hand in the party's open
palm symbol.
His
address was punctuated by cheers and whistles. Tsvangirai promised
a
"better-governed" Zimbabwe with no shortages of basic commodities, no
transport problems, no food crisis.
He promised to empower
women and youths, and to fight the HIV and Aids
pandemic.He pledged to fight
inflation, ensure exchange control stability to
stimulate economic
growth.
He told the gathering exactly what he knew they wanted to
hear: this
time he would unseat President Robert Mugabe, repeatedly
portrayed as the
architect of the people's misery.
But the
launch was marred by sporadic violence as party supporters
fought over
T-shirts.
Even journalists were assaulted for taking pictures of
the supporters'
brawl.
The supporters chanted: "We want
T-shirts! We want T-shirts!" for
nearly an hour, forcing a temporary halt to
the programme.
The party's national organizer, Elias Mudzuri
pleaded with them in
vain.
There were different interpretations
of the violence. Some said it was
a graphic demonstration of the poverty
Mugabe's government had inflicted on
the people. Others interpreted it as
outright hooliganism.
Watching from the high table, Tsvangirai
looked embarrassed, then
lashed out: "Those youths are a misfit to our
agenda. They should not be
here."
As the MDC leader left the
stadium after the address, the crowd raced
towards his motorcade, for a last
glimpse. Others wanted a handshake.
For the MDC, the turnout was
clear testimony of the huge following the
party still commands, in spite of
having failed to unseat Zanu PF and Mugabe
in two parliamentary and
presidential elections.
It was a clear sign that the upcoming 29
March harmonised elections
would not be a stroll in the park for Mugabe, his
erstwhile Zanu PF protégé
Simba Makoni and little-known Langton Towungana,
alleged by some to be a
"spoiler" planted by the ruling party.
The huge attendance was achieved in spite of the announcement by
Makoni that
he was after Mugabe's job.
Two weeks ago, Makoni's election
co-ordinator Ibbo Mandaza claimed
voter registration rose by at least 45%
soon after Makoni announced his
presidential bid.
If that is
true, then the election is going to be a very close contest
where none of
the four candidates could clinch the 51% needed for outright
victory in the
first round.
A run-off pitting the two people with the highest
share of the votes
would be inevitable.
The 20 000 who attended
the Sakubva rally may be an insignificant
percentage of the 5.5 million
registered voters but it is enough testimony
of Tsvangirai's support -
considering none of the people had been coerced to
attend.
Mugabe, who turned 84 last week, still claims he has support in the
rural
areas despite the worsening poverty countrywide.
He will continue
to dish out free goodies in return for votes.
Despite his sound
educational background, international acceptance and
his aura of a great
leader, Makoni might still find it difficult to garner
grassroots
support.
It will also be proved today, when Makoni launches his
election
campaign in Harare, whether he really has the "millions" of
supporters that
he claims to have.
Or will those "behind him"
keep their cards close to their chests
until the Election Day.
Or will he, like the clear outsider Towungana, wait for the Almighty
to
clear his path to State House?
Zim Standard
By Vusumuzi
Sifile and John
Mokwetsi
ZANU PF's campaign manifesto launched
in Harare on 29 February focuses
on the party's past achievements,
confirming opposition claims that the
party has run out of fresh ideas to
rescue the country from the current
economic malaise.
The
manifesto centres on the same issues that have been at the core of
Zanu PF's
campaign in elections since 2000 - fighting sanctions and British
imperialism, indigenisation and reforming agriculture, education, health and
mining.
The party is still offering the same unfulfilled
promises it made in
2005 and previous elections. In 2005, Zanu PF said by
2008, the government
would have built 1 250 000 houses. According to the
manifesto, only 7 500
houses were completed under Operation Garikai/Hlalani
Kuhle.
The party promised to stabilise the exchange rate and reduce
inflation
to single digits. At the time, inflation was 237.8%, but it is now
100
580.02%, a world record. The Zimbabwe dollar continues to tumble against
major currencies.
The manifesto says the party would assist the
poor with school fees.
Evidence on the ground is that the exact opposite is
the case: state
assistance to students at tertiary institutions has been
slashed. As a
result, many university students cannot fund their
studies.
The manifesto, launched amid fanfare in Harare, does not
refer to the
2005 promises, but rather to what has been achieved since
independence.
In fact, about 20 pages are devoted to "What Zanu PF
has done", 43
pages - about half the document - dwell on "West bashing".
Some analysts
said the only difference between the 2005 election manifesto
and the 2008
one is the former had 53 pages and the latter 93.
Presenting the manifesto, President Mugabe admitted most of their
previous
policies had flopped, resulting in failure to maintain standards.
Vice-President Joseph Msika said some ministers were only good at
"rhetoric", their policies not bearing any fruit.
Giving a vote
of thanks, Msika singled out Joseph Made, the Minister
of Agricultural
Mechanisation, whom he told to "interpret your rhetoric into
practice".
Zanu PF chairman John Nkomo cautioned party
officials against lying to
the electorate.
University lecturer
and political analyst, John Makumbe, said the
manifesto was a clear
indication Zanu PF had run out of ideas and had
nothing new to
offer.
Makumbe said: "What Zanu PF is proposing is more of the same
and it
will not help this country at all. We need change and not continuity.
Zanu
PF has no capacity to bring about change... So voters must look for a
candidate with better proposals."
The manifesto says "illegal
Western sanctions have undermined the
economy", and claims the MDC lobbied
for sanctions.
John Robertson, an economic analyst says there is no
way the sanctions
could be blamed, as they were only imposed when the
economy was already in a
nosedive.
"The West is not to blame,
the problems are of our own making," said
Robertson. "This is not about
sanctions; the situation started deteriorating
way before the sanctions. The
manifesto does not offer relief because there
is no change in policies that
are causing this economic damage."
Civic activist, Gorden Moyo said
the manifesto was a "glaring failure,
not attractive to any investor, voter,
businessperson or academic".
"The manifesto is empty... hollow,"
said Moyo. "They don't know how to
package issues."
Zim Standard
BY SANDRA
MANDIZVIDZA
AS the cost of sanitary wear and cotton wool - like
other basic
commodities - continues to soar, most women now live with the
almost
perennial risk of contracting infections as they resort to unorthodox
and
unhealthy methods during menstruation.
The Zimbabwe
Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) says most women are now
exposed to
infectious diseases because they use materials such as
newspapers, rags,
tissues and soft fibre from trees to stem the flow of
blood during
menstruation.
ZCTU Information Officer, Khumbulani Ndlovu, said:
"Most working women
can no longer afford to buy sanitary pads. What about
those who are
unemployed?
"All we want is for the sanitary wear
to be affordable to every
woman."
She said with the countrywide
water shortage, it had become a problem
for women to clean and dispose of
the rags they are being forced to use.
A gynaecologist at
Parirenyatwa Hospital said it was dangerous to use
tissues, rags or
newspapers as they could cause infections, which might lead
to cervical
cancer.
"They are not so good in absorbing blood and this can lead
to vaginal
infections. We urge women to use pads or cotton wool because they
are made
to absorb blood," she said.
"The hospitals do not even
have the medication to treat the
infections. So you can imagine the
magnitude of the crisis."
A senior nurse at Mufakose Maternity
Clinic said many women were
coming to the clinic complaining of vaginal
infections which might have been
caused by the use of unhygienic materials
during menstruation.
"If one cannot afford to buy pads or cotton
wool," said the nurse, who
requested anonymity, "it is advisable to buy
flannel material and sew it.
The material is good for absorbing blood.
Newspapers and tissues have
chemicals that irritate the skin and are
dangerous to a woman's private
parts and can cause vaginal infections, such
as thrush."
Sanitary wear has become too expensive for the average
Zimbabwean
woman, although the country is a leading cotton
producer.
Among the most affected are women and girls in the rural
areas,
school-going teenagers as well as domestic workers in the low-income
bracket.
"The cost of cotton wool and pads is now so high,"
said Patience
Bunhu, a domestic worker in Waterfalls, "some of us cannot
even afford it. I
now use rags."
In a snap survey in Harare's
city centre, The Standard discovered that
the sanitary pads and cotton wool
had become almost a luxury because of
their prohibitive cost.
Zim Standard
By our
staff
A FEW winners from last year's Miss Tourism Zimbabwe pageant
were
recently seen actively participating at the launch of the Zanu PF's
manifesto for the 29 March elections.
The Standard saw the
models, including 2006 winner Caroline Marufu,
playing the role of ushers at
different entrances.
Later, in their Zanu PF campaign regalia, the
four models distributed
copies of the party manifesto to the 4 000
delegates.
It is believed that after attending the Miss Tourism
prize
presentation in Harare on 27 February, the winners from outside Harare
were
requested to remain in the capital for two extra days.
The
models were given Zanu PF caps, T-shirts and miniature flags. The
T-shirts,
emblazoned with a picture of party president Robert Mugabe, bore
the
familiar inscription "Zimbabwe will never be a colony again".
The
reigning Miss Tourism Zimbabwe, Cynthia Muvirimi, was not at the
event. Only
her two princesses, Avril Mhembere and Sibusisiwe Dube, were
present.
Mhembere and Dube could be seen shaking their hips when Elliot
Manyika's
"Norah" started playing on the PA system. But their dancing could
not match
that of Joseph Chinotimba, dancing a few metres away.
ZTA chief
executive officer Karikoga Kaseke asked The Standard if it
was "a problem"
that the girls attended the launch.
"Yes, the girls were there and
I invited them. Is there any problem if
they were there or not?" he wanted
to know.
ZTA took over what was then known as Miss Zimbabwe in 2006
and renamed
the event Miss Tourism Zimbabwe.
This sparked
controversy as it was suspected ZTA, a parastatal, would
turn the pageant
into a Zanu PF public relations gimmick. The ZTA argued its
involvement was
primarily to use the pageant as a tourism-marketing tool.
The parastatal has
hired entertainers from Jamaica and the US for the same
purpose.
Zim Standard
By Nqobani
Ndlovu
BULAWAYO - Defence Forces Commander Constantine Chiwenga
says he will
not salute any candidate who beats President Robert Mugabe in
the
forthcoming elections amid reports that soldiers have been granted paid
leave to campaign for Zanu PF in their rural homes.
Chiwenga
joined the head of the Zimbabwe Prisons Service, Paradzai
Zimondi, in
declaring that they would not recognise former Finance Minister
Simba Makoni
and opposition MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai if they won the 29
March
elections.
Echoing similar threats he made with former commander
Vitalis
Zvinavashe in the run-up to the 2002 presidential elections,
Chiwenga
claimed Makoni and Tsvangirai were "sellouts", without
elaborating.
"Elections are coming and the army will not support or
salute
sell-outs and agents of the West before, during and after the
presidential
elections," Chiwenga told The Standard in a telephone interview
last week.
"We will not support anyone other than President Mugabe
who has
sacrificed a lot for the country."
Pressed to comment
on the role of the army in a democracy, Chiwenga
responded
angrily:
"Are you mad? What is wrong with the army supporting the
President
against the election of sellouts?"
A woman then took
over the conversation on the phone and said: "We can
come and take you and
deal with you." Then she hung up.
In remarks described by critics
as being tantamount to scare-mongering
ahead of 29 March, Zimondi told a
pass-out parade of prison officers if
Mugabe lost he would resign from his
job to "defend" the farm he was
allocated during the land reform
programme.
A number of retired officers in the defence forces hold
key positions
in the government and in parastatals, most of whose
performance continues to
deteriorate under their stewardship.
Meanwhile, army sources have told The Standard that soldiers were
recently
instructed to take paid leave so they could go to their rural homes
to help
in the Zanu PF election campaign.
Critics of Zanu PF's campaign
strategy have attacked what they have
called the "decisive role" of soldiers
in ensuring that Mugabe wins,
particularly in the setting up of bases in the
rural constituencies.
It has been alleged that the soldiers have
led party militia in
intimidating the rural electorate to vote for Zanu
PF.
"Those who were deployed were reminded that the hefty salary
increments they received last month were part of the deal to campaign for
Zanu PF," said a soldier based at Brady Barracks in Bulawayo.
Last month the government sparked fury among civil servants when it
awarded
soldiers hefty pay increases, raising the average soldier's pay to
$1.3
billion from $300 million.
The deployment of soldiers in the rural
areas comes amid reports the
government has pulled out all the stops to
improve the diet in the barracks,
once reportedly hit by acute food
shortages.
A monotonous diet of beans and cabbage was said to be
boring the
soldiers out of their enthusiasm for work.
But The
Standard has established that the regular fare now features
such sumptuous
dishes as rice and chicken.
Army spokesperson, Colonel Samuel
Tsatsi referred questions to
Chiwenga when contacted for comment.
Zim Standard
BY our
staff
ZANU PF has devoted a quarter of its manifesto to how it has
successfully empowered citizens in what analysts say is a futile bid to win
the hearts of the electorates ahead of the 29 March polls.
The
party says there is an opportunity to build on the gains of the
empowerment
achieved by the land reform.
"It must now extend to the rest of the
economy so the politics of the
country begins to address and rearrange the
economic domain," it said.
Zanu PF says it has already drawn up a
strategy of entering and/or
supporting entry into critical sectors and
enterprises whose activities
provide vital inputs to most
citizens.
It says: "These sectors, and within them, firms, should
be indigenised
and stabilised to ensure basic goods and services reach the
people
adequately, affordably."
Analysts dismiss the gains from
the land reform as "lies".
"There is no evidence of gains," said
economic consultant John
Robertson "If there were gains, the country would
not be importing food."
Economic consultant Dr Daniel Ndlela
agrees: "You don't empower people
by making them hungry."
The
land reform programme was touted as economic empowerment but has
created the
"landed gentry", where a few well-connected chefs amassed
multiple farms at
the expense of the majority, despite President Robert
Mugabe's call for "one
man, one farm".
For the seventh consecutive year, Zimbabwe, once
the breadbasket of
the region, will be importing food as the new breed of
farmers have neither
the skills nor the capital to embark on successful
agriculture.
Analysts are wary of the government's intentions,
particularly after
it announced that it was pushing the indigenisation
envelope across all
sectors.
The Indigenisation and Economic
Empowerment Bill, now awaiting
President Robert Mugabe's signature to become
law, gives locals 51%
shareholding in all foreign owned companies in
Zimbabwe.
Last year central bank chief Gideon Gono warned that a
fine balance
should be struck between the objectives of indigenisation and
the need to
attract foreign investment.
"Of particular concern
to us, as monetary authorities, would be any
attempts to forcibly push the
envelope of indigenisation into the delicate
area of banking and finance,"
Gono said.
Paul Mangwana, Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment
Minister, had
earlier said foreign banks unwilling to comply with
indigenisation law "can
pack and go".
Analysts note that since
what critics have called the indigenisation
"tsunami" spread across the
country in the 1990s, only a few individuals
have managed to push through
deals.
At the peak of the crusade pressure groups, such as the
Indigenous
Business Women Organisation (IBWO) and the Affirmative Action
Group (AAG)
were formed to spread the gospel.
IBWO and AAG were
fortunate when they went into a marriage of
convenience under the
Empowerment Corporation that culminated in Telecel
Zimbabwe getting an
operating licence.
Despite his vision to set up a mobile operator
Strive Masiyiwa had to
strive for five years in the courts to get an
operating licence for Econet
Wireless.
The pressure groups saw
no evil, heard no evil and spoke no evil when
Masiyiwa was fighting in the
courts. Today, Econet has become a brand and
has enjoyed blue chip status on
the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange.
Zim Standard
THIS year's election is remarkable for the
unashamed manner in
which the State, bereft of a plausible election campaign
platform, has
decided on outright vote-buying.
President Robert
Mugabe leads his party in offering inducements of
computers to schools
throughout the country. Ordinarily such support to the
educational sector
would not raise eyebrows. However, when this is done in
order to rally
voters to a political cause and to garner votes, it raises
serious questions
about the extent to which State resources can be abused
for
purposes.
It is cynical that the government can purport on one hand
to be
concerned about education - by donating computers to schools - when on
the
other it completely ignores the plight of teachers over poor salaries.
Consequently teachers are entering the third week of their strike with no
immediate solution in sight.
Desperation belies the
government's vote-buying agenda. In most of the
areas where beneficiaries of
the President's largesse are located there is
no electricity to power the
computers. But that is just one small aspect of
the paradox.
There just aren't enough computer teachers and equally there is a
shortage
of technicians to maintain them.
Yesterday saw the launch of the
so-called third phase of the farm
mechanisation programme. We know what the
first two phases were about, so
this one is no different: it is a desperate
attempt at vote-buying. The
timing is blatant. This is what happens when an
electoral management body
opts to play the observer and allows an interested
party - the ruling
party - to get into the driving seat of the electoral
process.
Running parallel to this exercise is another in which
urban voters are
being
offered stands by an organisation
that promotes the interests of the
ruling party. And it hasn't been shy
about who the recipients of the stands
should support during the 29 March
elections.
In Harare alone the ruling party has been offering
stands to residents
in Harare North and South constituencies on condition
that they produce
party membership cards.
Rural voters are
being enticed with offers of grain that is being
imported from Malawi and
Zambia, while the military has been awarded hefty
salary increases - this at
a time when government is ignoring the plight of
teachers, nurses and
doctors.
While it may be difficult to end the practice of
vote-buying during
the current campaign, there must be an agreement among
Zimbabweans and
political parties that outlaws vote-buying. Penalties could
include outright
barring from seeking office of candidates guilty of the
exercise.
The problem with entrenching vote-buying is not only its
abuse of
resources bought by taxpayers' money to further the interests of a
particular political party, but it demeans the essence of political parties
going out to voters on the basis of their programmes. Vote-buying is a
dangerous process. It belittles the voter.
For the purpose of
the 29 March polls, voters should go ahead and
accept whatever they are
offered, but they must then proceed to vote for the
party they believe
demonstrates the determination - as opposed to the
rhetoric - to rescue the
country from the crisis it has been subjected to
during the past
decade.
There are a select few who will vote for those dispensing
such
largesse, but the fruits of the struggle for democracy are not for the
few.
The benefits must cascade to all citizens of Zimbabwe.
Zim Standard
Sunday opinion by
Bill Saidi
MAI MUSODZI Hall is a landmark, not only of Mbare, but
also of Harare,
as Mbare - before they stole its original name and bestowed
it on
Salisbury - remains a landmark of Zimbabwe.
For me, Mai
Musodzi hall has such glittering memories, in many ways,
it changed my life.
I almost lost an arm there, in 1949, in an epic battle
with my aunt's
bicycle which I had purloined briefly - talk of The Wages of
Sin.
I had ceased fancying myself as Joe Louis or Sugar Ray
Robinson: my
Moment of Truth arrived with a bang, literally, when I was
given what we
called a "Bindura!" punch to the lower regions, as I boxed a
dirty fighter
at the boys' club located in the hall, when it was still
called the
Recreation Hall.
I was knocked out for the full
count and swore I would never risk my
life like that again, a pugilist with
a weak stomach.
Years later, I made my debut as an entertainer in
the hall, where the
likes of Sonny Sondo had made their mark.
I
saw my first full-length all-black movie there too, Cabin in The
Sky,
starring Ethel Waters, Lena Horne, Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington,
among
others.
The movie was made in 1943, when it was considered cheeky
for African
Americans to take leading roles in any films.
This
one was directed by Vincent Minnelli, later married to the singer
Judy
Garland, Liza Minnelli's mother.
I have recently read this about
that trail-blazing flick:
"One musical number, in which Horne sings
a reprise of Ain't It the
Truth while taking a bubble bath, was cut from the
film prior to release,
though it later appeared in a 1946 Pete Smith short
subject entitled Studio
Visit. As Horne later said in the documentary That's
Entertainment lll in
which the excised performance was also featured, it was
felt that to show a
black woman singing in a bath went beyond the bounds of
moral decency in
1943.
"A second (non-bubble bath) performance
of this song by Louis
Armstrong was also cut from the final print, resulting
in the famous
trumpeter having no solo musical number in the
film."
You don't need to have read Native Son, Uncle Tom's Cabin,
The
Confessions of Nat Turner or Roots to appreciate what humiliation this
was
for all African Americans.
It didn't occur to me to ask
Armstrong and Ellington how they felt at
that time, when I met them in the
1960s and the 1970s in Africa. I was so
intoxicated with the fact of meeting
them such questions seemed inane.
Today, the coincidence of
watching this film in a venue later named
after a Zimbabwean woman in a
white-run country, excited deep reflection
about black people and black
women.
First, as black people we are no different from other races.
We
struggled for independence and dignity, but later decided some of us were
more equal than others. Zimbabwe is the worst example.
It's not
something to be proud of, this affirmation of our being as
fallible as all
other races.
As for black women, we are just as crude, if not
worse. Yes, they can
vote today, but if anybody insists they are free to use
that vote any way
they wish, I would tell them to wash their dirty mouth
with the toughest
detergent imaginable.
Women were the most
vulnerable victims of Murambatsvina, the price
blitz, the prohibitive cost
of sanitary wear. Yet they turn up in huge
numbers at Zanu PF rallies. Their
almost hysterical ululation for every word
that passes through the party
leader's lips is pathetic. The man has almost
destroyed this
country.
Or are they - as all women grievously scorned in 28 years
of male
chauvinistic misrule would - preparing a deliciously devilish
surprise for
him, driven by a fury hotter than anything in
Gehenna?
Are the men girding their loins for a fight to the finish
with the
perpetrators of this sustained attack on their dignity and
manhood?
Mai Musodzi herself was a fearless woman. She dared to be
different
from your average, fearful, Zimbabwean woman raised to be forever
the
helpmate, nay, the serf, of the man whose people paid for
her.
There are few such women left in our midst - Margaret Dongo,
Fay
Chung.
Mugabe started his election campaign in the sticks,
where traditional
mores are still revered, where the word of the man is
sacrosanct.
Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA) probably has no
structures there. But
can the women themselves be shaken out of their stupor
of acquiescence? Can
they listen to this clarion call: "Ladies, it's time to
strut your stuff!"?
saidib@standard.co.zw
Zim Standard
REFLECTIONS WITH
ALEX T MAGAISA
ONE of the primary challenges for every election
candidate is to
appeal not only to the converted but also to the
unconverted, who are likely
to be fence sitters or supporters of other
candidates. The competition
involves reassuring the traditional supporters
but more importantly, to gain
advantage on the others by convincing those
that are otherwise persuaded at
any given time.
Therefore, when
the opposition, broadly defined, attracts a key member
of the ruling
establishment it is, surely, a cause for celebration rather
than
castigation. It symbolises a measure of success in the opposition's
efforts,
in the same way, perhaps, that the priest at the church would
welcome a
converted pagan into the ranks of his flock. Whatever the
divisions in the
opposition, which is regrettable, the conversion of Dumiso
Dabengwa to join
the leadership of the opposition may also be considered in
this
context.
If there is one individual who symbolises the trajectory
of Zimbabwean
politics over the course of its recent history, it is
Dabengwa. His
announcement on Saturday (two weeks ago) that he would back
Simba Makoni's
bid for the presidency is indicative of the topsy-turvy
character of a young
nation that is still battling to find
itself.
Here is a man who was once a "comrade" in the eyes of the
national
pre-independence liberation movement. He was then characterised as
an "enemy
of the state" in the immediate aftermath, during which he spent
many years
in unlawful detention without trial at a time when the majority
of
Zimbabweans were enjoying the bliss of independence - a period that most
Zimbabweans still refer to as the "good old days", oblivious of the scars
that some of their countrymen and women bear from that sad chapter of
history.
He then metamorphosed into a "comrade" once more after
the 1987 Unity
Accord between Zanu PF and PF Zapu. Thereafter, Dabengwa was
a faithful
servant of the government, ironically spending a length of time
as the Home
Affairs Minister, an office previously occupied by predecessors
who had led
his persecution in the early 1980s. Later on, with the
unpopularity of Zanu
PF and the emergence of the powerful MDC, Dabengwa
found himself at the
margins once again. He was unable to secure the
presidential rescue that
saved colleagues like Emmerson Mnangagwa, who had
similarly lost his seat to
the vibrant MDC before securing a seat by
presidential nomination and
serving as Speaker of Parliament.
And now Dabengwa is at risk of once again being referred to as "enemy
of the
revolution" by those who religiously believe, against evidence of
disintegration, that Zanu PF is pursuing some form of
revolution.
Some might argue that Dabengwa's fluctuating career is
indicative of a
man who does not quite know what he wants. But the more
sympathetic might
argue on behalf of a tortured soul whose conscience and
desire to do the
right thing has often been betrayed by events beyond his
immediate control.
Selective memory may, perhaps, choose to
denigrate him as a faithful
and complicit member of a party that has brought
the nation down to its
knees. It may also elect to focus on his role as a
senior cabinet minister
who held the key Home Affairs portfolio, under whose
watch the law
enforcement authorities demonstrated an unkind face to the
public. No doubt,
he will struggle to get rid of the apparel of a key Zanu
PF man deriving
from those years of service to the government.
But it would be unfortunate if such selective memory were to cloud the
significance of the re-emergence of a man who by all accounts seems calm,
considered and decent.
Those that consider suffering under
Mugabe a ticket for leadership may
wish to stretch their memories further
and consider that the suffering
endured by those who have gallantly stood in
opposition in the last eight
years was preceded by unfortunate events which,
in legal terms, will always
be personified by the experiences of Dabengwa
and his late colleague Lookout
Masuku. A better account of their trials and
tribulations leading up to the
tragic death of Masuku can be found in Judith
Todd's recent book, Through
the Darkness: A Life in Zimbabwe Zebra Press
(2007). This article only seeks
to highlight a few points to place
Dabengwa's circumstances in the context
of the current
struggle.
Dabengwa and Masuku were the two high profile victims of
the clampdown
against the alleged security threats in the 1980s. It is
within this context
that the notorious 5 Brigade launched the callous
attacks against victims
for which Gukurahundi is now the common euphemism.
During that time the
Mugabe government retained the emergency laws which,
ironically, had been
used by the Smith regime against the nationalists
during the liberation
struggle.
One of the instruments
available under these laws was the use of
"preventive detention" -
basically, detention of an individual without trial
for purposes of
preventing conduct that would allegedly breach public order
and safety.
Later, between 7 February 1983 and 27 April 1983, Dabengwa was
put on trial
for high treason and acquitted by the High Court. But that did
not stop his
further arrest and detention on basically similar grounds under
the same
emergency laws on 24 May 1983, hardly a month after the acquittal.
The numerous cases that the wives of Dabengwa and Masuku brought to
court on
behalf of their husbands are major precedents to which students of
Zimbabwean constitutional law often refer in their studies. Indeed, it is
through these cases that those of my generation too young and uninformed to
have fully appreciated the nature of events at the time, have come to
understand some unsavoury aspects of our post-independence
history.
In one of those cases, they successfully challenged the
refusal by the
government to allow them access to their lawyers. It has to
be mentioned
that even then, perhaps as punishment for being audacious,
their wives were
subsequently prohibited from visiting them whilst in
detention. Later, they
would stay in detention for months on end without
receiving trial or review,
each time launching legal action led brilliantly
by, among others, lawyers
like Adrian de Bourbon SC and Bryant
Elliott.
It is during that time that Dabengwa witnessed the sad
demise of his
fellow comrade, Lookout Masuku. The misery visited upon the
people of
Matabeleland and the Midlands eventually forced Joshua Nkomo to
compromise
and submit to Mugabe's Zanu PF. When they signed that Unity
Accord on 22
December 1987, it was meant to be the beginning of a fresh
chapter and men
like Dabengwa were suddenly elevated into the ranks of
government - the same
government that had persecuted him, the same regime
against which he had
been accused of attempting top overthrow.
Idealists would question the motives of joining such a regime given
what he
had gone through. They might castigate him for "sleeping with the
enemy" and
joining government simply for selfish gain. Only he can answer
that.
But surely, even from a detached position, it is clear
that Dabengwa
and his colleagues did what was practical and pragmatic under
the
circumstances. Indeed there was a period of relative stability
thereafter,
shaken only by the increasing economic deterioration. We do not
know what
they did behind closed doors. We do not know whether Dabengwa
and/or others
tried to challenge the system from within. He now says he did
but they would
not listen. Indeed, since 2000, Dabengwa has literally been
frozen out,
leading even those outside Zanu PF to now dismiss him as a
"spent force".
Some even go so far as to question his "heavyweight"
status.
If we do have a full understanding of the history of this
nation, I
am not sure we would dismiss Dabengwa as a spent force. I am not
sure we
would simply denigrate him as others choose to. Even Mugabe has, so
far,
chosen his language very carefully, compared to his scathing attacks
against
Simba Makoni and Morgan Tsvangirai.
There can be no
doubt that his long reign in government will forever
taint Dabengwa's
reputation but his re-entry into the ranks of the
opposition should surely
be a cause for celebration rather than the subject
of a summary dismissal.
This, surely, is a man travelling a path that he
knows only too well - one
that he travelled tortuously before the present
generation of opposition
leaders. Of course, few will forget his reign in
government but that is the
price that he has to pay for his tenure, well
meaning though he might have
been.
If winning support by conversion is the challenge facing
the
opposition, then Dabengwa is an important gain. Who knows, it may be an
ominous sign of what is to come, not necessarily prior to 29 March but even
more importantly, after it. If there was one remaining symbol of that Unity
Accord, it was Dabengwa - the one who was persecuted and then embraced,
forgiving but not forgetting. When speaking of men and women who despite
their Zanu PF past may be worth considering whether they have something to
contribute to the future of Zimbabwe, Dabengwa might well lay a legitimate,
though contested, claim.
=Alex Magaisa is based at Kent Law
School, the University of Kent at
Canterbury, UK and can be contacted at a.t.magaisa@kent.ac.uk or
wamagaisa@yahoo.co.uk
Zim Standard
The issue of
whether to allow
residents outside the country to use the postal voting
facility has been
raging on since government decided, in 2005, to restrict
the use of the
postal voting system to government officials and their
spouses outside the
country on official government business.
The arguments for the exclusion of others have been as variegated as
they
might be partisan. What has not been thoroughly scrutinised is the
process
through which current users of the postal voting system cast their
votes,
both within and without the country.
While government has argued
against the extension of the postal voting
facility to every Zimbabwean in
the Diaspora on grounds its officials cannot
access this section of the
electorate due to travel bans imposed upon most
of them by the West, the
opposition has repeatedly pointed out the need for
the electorate in the
Diaspora to participate in elections since most of
them are outside the
country not by choice, but as a result of socio,
economic and political
reasons beyond their control.
Sadly, very few arguments have been
proffered to enable voters inside
the country, who for one reason or the
other might not be in their voting
wards, to use the postal facility or how
this postal facility could be
monitored to avert electoral fraud. Discourse
has mainly centred on the
Diaspora vote.
Issues like the
economic role that the people in the Diaspora play
through such programmes
as the Homelink and the universality of suffrage
have been cited to justify
the need for efforts to ensure this economically
active section of the
polity partakes in the politics of their country. The
need for postal voting
facilities, however, does not start and end with
citizens in the Diaspora,
but includes citizen in the country who by reason
such as infirmity,
pregnancy or calls of duty, might not be in their voting
areas on Election
Day.
There is therefore need to put mechanisms, legal and
structural, to
facilitate that these people exercise their right to vote
where possible.
However, this is not without problems hence the need to
ensure the pressing
obligation of protecting their inalienable voting rights
does not compromise
the quality of the electoral process and consequently
its credibility.
The importance of postal voting is premised on the
universality of the
right to vote, that is, despite being enshrined in
Article 21 of the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), is
unfortunately not included
in our Constitution, although the sentiments of
21(3) are in our Electoral
Act Chapter 2:13 section 3 subsections (a) and
(b).
The Electoral Act borrows from Article 21(1) which stipulates
that,
"Everyone has the right to take part in the government of his country,
directly or through freely-chosen representatives" and that "(3) the will of
the people shall be the basis of the authority of government; this will
shall be expressed in periodic and genuine elections which shall be by
universal and equal suffrage and shall be held by secret vote or by
equivalent free voting procedures."
Governments, for this
reason, derive their authority and legitimacy
from the universality of
suffrage in their areas of jurisdiction and any
compromise on this affects
their credibility. Consequently, the issue of
enabling people in the
Diaspora to vote does not only enhance popular
participation of citizens in
the elections, but significantly gives credence
to the subsequent
government's authority and legitimacy. The same applies to
allowing all
people inside the country, who cannot be at their nearest
polling station,
to use the postal facility to cast their ballots.
This said, there
is genuine need for the powers that be, to review the
situation of postal
voting in time for the forthcoming harmonised
presidential, parliamentary,
senatorial and local government elections so
that all those who are eligible
to vote, but might not be in their voting
areas on election day, can
participate in the elections. This is more
important with the advent of the
ward-based voters' roll that outlaws voting
outside one's ward. There is,
however, need, particularly now, to review the
postal voting facility and
make recommendations for its extensive use among
a whole cross-section of
our polity.
The postal voting system is currently available to
government
officials who are outside their voting districts on Election Day
and their
spouses. This applies to those outside the country and those
members of the
uniformed forces who will be outside their voting areas on
official
government business but not necessarily outside the
country.
The police and armed forces have currently been using this
facility
and concerns have been raised as to the credibility and
transparency of the
voting process where this facility has been used by the
said government
departments.
Investigations have yielded that
despite its extensive use among the
said professionals, this internal postal
voting exercise has not been
supervised by party agents, contestants or
their proxies. Neither has the
voting exercise been subjected to observation
by both local and
international observers.
Furthermore, the
secrecy of the vote of the postal facility user is
allegedly compromised in
the uniformed forces as superiors are often tasked
to supervise the voting
process that involves their subordinates.
Concerns have also
been raised on the security of the ballots cast as
this voting process is
often conducted a month before the official polling
day and no political
party representative or candidates' agents take part in
guarding the ballot
boxes. Consequently, it is difficult for political
parties to ascertain the
number of ballots cast by members of the uniformed
forces. It is also not
possible for candidates to verify the authenticity of
the ballots or the
transparency of the voting system.
The date on which the postal
voting begins and ends should be made
public and the voting procedures
clearly outlined to all would-be users. All
the votes should be counted at
the centre where they are received and these
should be made public for
purposes of accountability when the ballots are
eventually mixed with those
from the normal polling process.
So while people argue for the
extension of the postal voting facility
to every interested citizen within
or without the country, it is equally
important to subject the current
postal voting facility to scrutiny and
where possible, if there is no
guarantee to its universality and
transparency, argue for its total
eradication till mechanisms are put in
place.
It should however
be noted that, where the postal voting facility is
employed with the genuine
desire for universal participation in elections,
it has enabled people who
would not be resident in their voting areas on
election day to exercise
their inalienable right to vote. It has also
ensured that those who are
resident in the country but for reasons such as
illness, infirmity,
pregnancy or call of duty, are not able to access voting
facilities at their
nearest polling station, participate in the election
through the post. In
some countries, the postal facility is available to all
citizens who, by
whatever reason, might be more than eight kilometres away
from their nearest
voting station on Election Day.
It is therefore, ZESN's genuine
concern and utmost conviction that the
use of the postal voting facility can
go a long way in ensuring universal
suffrage, which is a democratic tenet.
But due to the complexities and
proneness to abuse that the facility can be
subjected to, there is need for
caution in its application until such a time
measures are in place to ensure
its transparency and credibility. There is
need for openness in terms of the
numbers involved and how they are
distributed beforehand. There is an urgent
need for the participation of
political parties, international and local
observers where voting through
the system is taking place and the security
for ballots cast postally should
always be available.
Article produced by the Zimbabwe Election
Support Network (ZESN).
Comments are welcome at info@zesn.org.zw
Voters their own worst enemies
PRESIDENT
Thabo Mbeki's brother, and probably one of ANC's harshest
critics, Moeletsi
Mbeki, (pictured) says the problem is that Zanu PF has not
changed since
1963, while the world around it was changing every day. They
have failed to
change from guerrilla leaders to economic managers.
It is a very
accurate assessment if one looks at how our leaders use
the same colonial
style repressive mechanism once used by their
predecessors. They fought for
chefdom, not for people or for independence.
That is why some comrades
milked the Grain Marketing Board of all its money
and still find themselves
in government. It is the reason why General
Vitalis Zvinavashe tells the
peasant grandmothers in Gutu that he will be in
government as long as he
wants, whether they vote for him or not.
I agree with Moeletsi. Our
leaders have failed to change. They are
blissfully unaware of their new role
in a democratic state and still think
as if they are in the bush planning a
guerrilla campaign. I just think that
Moeletsi's thesis is incomplete. We
have also failed to change as voters in
Zimbabwe. Fine, elections are
rigged, but the fact that we still have people
voting for the current
government tells you a lot about us.
When it is clear that the
current leadership is responsible for 100
000% inflation, cash shortages,
fuel scarcity and crumbling education, you
still find some people praising
them. Makes you wonder what we are as a
nation. I asked a relative the other
day why he belongs to the ruling party
and his answer knocked me off. I am
not discussing a semi-literate village
idiot here, but a post-graduate
businessman with a lot of local respect.
He answered, without
missing a beat, that "vamwe vari kudya nazvo"
(others are surviving). I
couldn't believe it. But there you have it, people
vote for a chance to join
the high table, nothing else. Which is why people
still vote for friends and
family. If your uncle becomes a Minister, you
will never cry for fuel, or
queue for a passport, or struggle to get a visa.
It's barbaric!
As long as we vote that way, we then should forget about change. We
will not
be very different from war veterans, gallant children of the soil
that we
all thought fought for our liberation, only to discover lately that
they
only fought to put one man in office!
Zimbabwe is not the
geographical space between the Zambezi and the
Limpopo. It is people; it is
us, a nation, a sum total of our shared
aspirations, values, identity and
sense of being. We want to go to school,
and then go to college and work for
the country when we are qualified. We
want to educate our children to become
teachers, engineers, doctors, and
social workers, not refugees and border
jumpers.
We want to be able to go to hospital and get treatment
when we are
sick, just as they do in Namibia and Botswana. We want to get
home and
switch on the power and cook and watch the news as they do in
Lesotho and
Swaziland. For those who can afford cars, they want to get to
the local
filling station and fill up their tanks and go to work or visit
relatives,
as they do in Zambia and Malawi. Nobody wants to stand behind
some seedy
backyard and buy five litres of diesel from shifty strangers who
can even
rob you if they choose to.
I will vote against my
father, if voting for him and his party means I
have to travel to Mozambique
to buy groceries. I will vote against my
neighbour if voting for him and his
party means candlelit dinners every day.
Just because somebody spent most of
his free time in jail or in the bush in
the 1970s does not entitle him to
traumatise 13 million people.
I want to leave every voter with a
task. When the next candidate
arrives at a township near you and tells you
that they will bring
prosperity, please ask them how? When somebody tells
you that they will give
you land, ask them why they haven't given it to you
in the past eight years?
After all it's free. But most importantly ask them
what happened to the very
land they took, because the national granary is
empty. I have already told a
war veteran neighbour that I have no intention
of moving to any farm
anywhere - I am not a farmer.
When war
veterans come to your village and claim they fought for you,
ask them who
they fought for - Zimbabwe, Zanu PF or Robert Mugabe? Because
if they fought
for us, where is the democracy they were supposed to bring?
And where are
food and health and education?
If anybody dares tell you that we
don't have these because of
sanctions, tell them point blank that you would
rather vote for someone who
can remove the sanctions. It's only logical here
- if we vote them back,
then the sanctions will stay, then the queues get
longer. It will be an
exercise in self-defeat.
I think the most
important are the presidential candidates. If someone
has been in power for
28 years and still wants to continue, the most urgent
question is what do
they want to do that they couldn't do all these years?
In 28 years,
a girl named Cara Black was born, learnt to play tennis,
became a
professional and won several world titles. In less than 28 years,
Kirsty
Coventry was born, played in water, made a good effort at it, won
Olympic
gold medals, broke a world record and finished a degree. This is our
country, not anyone's bedroom!
Davy Tariro
Saruchera
Nyanga (sarches@writeme.com)
-------------------
Makoni
must lead us towards a new order
WHEN change takes place, there are
those who feel threatened because
they would be displaced, and there are
those who realise that there is an
opportunity to change their environment.
Then again there are others who
remain undecided until death.
We, as Liberators, see what the second group sees. We see the
opportunity to
change the environment that we live in. We see so many things
that are not
right in our society, such as sky-rocketing prices,
unemployment, an exodus
of skilled manpower to neighbouring countries, a
serious shortage of drugs
and medicines, a shortage of foodstuffs, a poor
educational environment,
electricity outages, poor water management and
distribution, endemic
corruption, non-observance of the rule of law, failure
to provide
accommodation to all victims of the so-called "Operation
Murambatsvina, the
price blitz, the fat getting fatter, soaring medical
costs and interference
with the judicial system.
For these simple reasons, our
organisation is rallying behind Dr Simba
Makoni, in a bid to win the
presidency in the 2008 general elections. In him
we see a tested leader who
has gone through the mill. He has been called all
sorts of names by failed
politicians for wanting to change the way the
economy is
managed.
One point that is clear to us is that Bulawayo, once the
hub of
Zimbabwe's industry was destroyed by people who wanted every factory
relocated to Harare. This included the Cold Storage Company and the National
Railways of Zimbabwe. For us, supporting Makoni is an absolute necessity. He
has seen the light. His ambition to stabilise the economy has unfortunately
been frustrated by a party whose record of intimidation, thuggery and
blackmail is known throughout the region, and indeed, the whole
world.
For the presidency, our weight is behind Makoni. We wish him
well. All
peace-loving Zimbabweans, please join us in supporting Makoni for
the
presidency.
Max Mkandla
President
Zimbabwe Liberators' Peace
Initiative
----------------
Why spend on generators WHY is the
government busy buying generators under
the farm mechanisation programme,
when the country is suffering from serious
power cuts? Wouldn't it make
sense to pay regional power suppliers the
foreign currency that is going
towards purchase of generators, so that
Zimbabwe has a reasonable and
constant supply of power?
Our priorities have become so warped, if
this is the best this country
can come up with. Generators are a short-term
measure - unless the
government is now admitting that the power crisis will
be with us for a long
time. In that case I would urge voters to look at what
is happening and what
is wrong with the whole picture, and just who is
responsible and give them
the red card, come 29 March 2008.
Really Fed Up
Harare.
VOA
By Taurai Shava, Sylvia Manika & Netsai Mlilo
Gweru, Harare & Bulawayo
08 March
2008
Zimbabwean independent presidential candidate Simba
Makoni took off the
gloves on Saturday in his upstart challenge to incumbent
Robert Mugabe,
calling the 84-year-old leader a "liar" for saying Makoni if
elected would
reverse the land reform program that Mugabe launched in 2000
and return
farms to their former white owners.
Makoni was addressing
about 5,000 supporters gathered at Mkoba Stadium in
Gweru, the capital of
Midlands Province and an important industrial center.
It was the first
hard rhetorical punch Makoni, 57, has taken at President
Mugabe since
announcing his candidacy early last month, following which he
was expelled
from the ruling ZANU-PF party. Mr. Mugabe later called Makoni a
political
"prostitute."
www.cathybuckle.com
Saturday 8th March 2008
Dear Family and Friends,
It's hard to
believe that in three weeks time Zimbabwe will have staggered
to another
election and will have the capacity to put a stop to the most
shocking state
of affairs in our country. Despite all the criticism, insults
and
condemnation from outsiders, we have turned the other cheek again and
again
as one abuse after another has been laid upon us these last nine
years. None
have been spared, no sector is unscathed, everyone has horror
stories to
tell, losses to enumerate, abuses to relate.
We have not resorted to
violence, to civil war, to guns and bloodshed. Those
with financial
resources have turned to the courts for relief - most have
been
unsuccessful. Others have shown great courage and have taken to the
streets
in peaceful protest, repeatedly trying to make our leaders hear our
voices:
WOZA, NCA, MDC, students, lawyers, teachers, church leaders and
others.
Thousands have been arrested, beaten, tortured and endured inhumane
treatment. Tragically, hundreds have died.
In three weeks time we can
say: STOP, we've had enough suffering, enough
abuse, enough oppression. As
we walk and wait and watch during this last
three weeks, the very people who
have reduced Zimbabwe to a beggar State are
descending on our home areas.
Men and women who we haven't seen since the
last election are here again.
Dodging the cavernous potholes they emerge
from their luxury double cabs in
their fancy clothes and smart shoes and
say: Vote For Me! Their physical
appearance and well fleshed bodies is a
clear give away - they have not gone
to bed hungry, have not gone without,
have not struggled these past nine
years. It seems impossible that they can
identify with the thin, exhausted
people sitting in the dust at their feet,
people watched by equally thin,
uniformed police.
Since the last election these men and women who dare
say: 'Vote For Me,'
have stayed quiet and stayed away while the
infrastructure has collapsed;
while the water and electricity has been off
more than on; while the shops
have been emptied and remain barren of food.
They have not been around when
we, their constituents, couldn't get
medicines, couldn't get our own money
out of the bank.couldn't afford to
send our children to school and couldn't
even afford to bury our dead. Now
they come with their gifts - tractors,
ploughs, hay balers, computers and
money. 'More is coming,' they say: motor
bikes, grinding mills and
generators. 'Even generators big enough to power a
small town,' they
promise.
Three weeks is not a long time but to Zimbabweans these are the
longest of
times. As I write this letter it is a glorious Zimbabwean day.
There is a
warm wind, blue sky and the view is of blonde, golden grass and I
have in
mind a couple of lines from our National Anthem:
"May we be fed
and our labour blessed; And may the Almighty protect and
bless our
land."
Until next week, thanks for reading, love cathy.
Sunday Times, SA
Mar 9 2008 12:46AM
Published:Mar 09,2008
In this final extract from her new book, Heidi
Holland
interviews the Zimbabwean president and discovers the unconscious
coping
mechanism he employs to protect himself from the real
world
I greeted Mugabe. He nodded, watching
me closely. The
tension in the room was suffocating. My strained voice
sounded unfamiliar as
I asked if I could record the interview. He nodded,
waving his hand airily.
Then he apologised for the time I had spent waiting
to meet him. As I
reached out to put my tape recorder on the desk in front
of him, George
Charamba, permanent secretary for information in the office
of the President
and Cabinet and the man charged with keeping journalists
out of Zimbabwe,
told me to describe my book to the president before
proceeding with the
questions. Then I began to question
Mugabe.
"How would you describe yourself in a few
words?"
"I feel I am just an ordinary person. I
feel within me
there is a charitable disposition towards others, just as I
find charitable
positions towards me from others. And I don't make enemies,
no. Others may
make me an enemy of theirs but I make no enemies. Even those
who might do
things against me, I don't make them enemies at all.
No."
If Mugabe ever feels ordinary, which is
doubtful, he is
more accurately an ordinary person in an extraordinary mess.
But if he were
to admit that, where would it leave him? It would negate his
whole life.
From his perspective, he does not make enemies - it's not me,
it's "them",
he insists. He is in denial. When something is too much to
bear, he makes it
non-existent, an unconscious coping mechanism to protect
him from the real
world.
"So you're not a
vengeful person?"
"No."
"Are you a forgiving
person?"
"Yes, I think so. Otherwise, I would have
slaughtered lots
of people, including Ian Smith. I always used to joke with
Smith that he had
borrowed hair (meaning Smith's scalp) which rightly
belonged to us, but he
could continue to wear it
..."
He mused almost wistfully about Zimbabwe's white
population's attitude towards his government. "When it came to the land
issue, there was no compromise on that one. But it was actually the British
who spoilt things for the whites."
In fact, it
was the unforgiving part of Mugabe that
allowed the land grab and spoilt
things not only for the whites, but for all
those affected by the damaging
policy. In his view, though, it was the white
farmers who made him their
enemy by supporting the Movement for Democratic
Change
(MDC).
He probably really believes that he is
forgiving,
otherwise why did he let Ian Smith stay on in Zimbabwe? He pushes
his anger
back, masking it with self-deception.
His
unresolved rage towards white Rhodesians as
representatives of British
colonisers was endorsed when Britain and the
farmers supported the MDC,
which is why Mugabe condoned the resultant
violence. If he had given full
expression to his resentment of whites, he
could have done to them what
another African dictator, Idi Amin, did to the
Asians in Uganda. So, while
certainly not forgiving, he has been more
controlled than people
acknowledge.
Mugabe's manner did not allow for any
contradictory ideas.
Whenever I was on tricky territory, I backed off in the
interests of keeping
the interview going.
Had I
stood my ground, there might have been an entirely
different outcome. He
silenced me whenever I drew attention to uncomfortable
realities. He could
not admit that he was in trouble and had made a complete
mess of Zimbabwe.
So he idealised the mess as if he really believed it was
going to be
wonderful two years hence.
"Do you worry
about repercussions in the international
justice system in respect of
Gukurahundi (the campaign of beatings, arson
and mass murder deliberately
targeted at the civilian population and
conducted by Mugabe's personal
militia)?
Mugabe waved his hands dismissively and
sighed in
exasperation. "It's just political. It's just politics that people
try to
gain out of it. Gukurahundi - as it happened - what was it? You had a
party
with a guerrilla force that wanted to reverse democracy in this
country. And
action was taken. And, yes, there might have been excesses, on
both sides.
True, it's not the fact that there was Gukurahundi which is
wrong. It's the
fact that there have been excesses that have caused some
people to suffer.
"But we'd have to start with the
excesses of Ian Smith -
and the colonialists, the British, who were still in
charge - because lots
of people disappeared; lots of people
died."
"But Gukurahundi happened during your time,"
I told him.
"Would you like to place on the record your regret about
it?"
"No, there is no regret about the fact that we
had to
defend the country. But the excess, where it happened, yes. Any death
that
should not have occurred is a cause for regret, and wherever people
have
suffered. But the figures don't make sense because they don't represent
the
truth."
When I told him the estimates of
deaths during Gukurahundi
ranged between 8000 and 30000, he replied icily:
"Who are those people; who
are they? We want to
know."
I had been expecting Mugabe to object to the
question on
Gukurahundi, but it was my scepticism that bothered him. The
question itself
did not disconcert him, because he simply justified his
actions.
He clearly feels Gukurahundi was legitimate on
the grounds
that he was aggrieved. He was settling a problem with a
terrorist group,
though he regretted the excesses.
He sat on the fence, condoning the terrible violence
without actually saying
as much.
Like the husband who beats his wife
mercilessly and then
says he did it because she provoked him, Mugabe takes
no responsibility for
his loss of control or what Gukurahundi says about
him.
"Do you have any regrets,
sir?"
"Of what?"
"Anything."
"It would depend on what you have in
mind."
"Politically?"
"No, no regrets. You go into a fight. It's a fight against
colonialism. You
make sacrifices. And naturally, when people die, you regret
the deaths of
the people. And that's why we have created Heroes Acre in
order to remember
those whose deaths should not have occurred. Yes, we are
sorry that there
are those who have died, but other regrets, I don't know.
We might have
regrets where we've had a policy that we've had to revise. Or
failures in
our programmes because some people have not implemented them
faithfully and
honestly. Yes, you regret those failures. Failures in
government are
regretted, especially when they are because of corruption or
inefficiency,
incompetence or neglect. Sure, we regret."
"How
would you like to be remembered?"
"Just as the son
of a peasant family who, alongside
others, felt he had a responsibility to
fight for his country. And did so to
the best of his ability. And was
grateful for the honour given him to lead a
country and be remembered as one
who was most grateful for the honour that
the people gave him in leading
them to victory over British imperialism.
Yes, for that I want to be
remembered."
Holland's book, Dinner with Mugabe, is
due to be released
by Penguin Books this month