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Authorities
blocking youth voter registration
http://www.swradioafrica.com/
By Tichaona Sibanda
13 May 2013
Prime
Minister Tsvangirai’s efforts to get first times voters to register
are
being undermined by a concerted effort from the authorities, who are
cracking down on individuals and groups seen mobilizing youths to
register.
On Saturday, police arrested three volunteers from the Election
Resource
Centre (ERC) for carrying out activities under the group’s popular
1st Time
Voter Generation campaign.
The campaign encourages young
people to register as voters. The ERC named
its volunteers as Farai
Saungweme, Wadzanai Nyaku and Moses Chikura.
On Monday ERC director
Tawanda Chimhini handed himself in to the police in a
bid to secure the
release of the three volunteers. He was immediately
charged under section 40
of the Zimbabwe Electoral Act, which forbids
individuals from conducting
voter education without seeking permission from
ZEC.
On Sunday, six
members of the Youth Agenda Trust were arrested in Glen View
for mobilizing
other youths to register as voters. They were picked up from
Glen View 6
primary school and taken to Glen View police station where they
were
detained for 12 hours.
Police charged them with criminal nuisance and
they were released after
paying $10 fines each. The Youth Agenda Trust named
its members as Anesu
Tevera, Yemukai Singwere, Sanisai Masimo, Siria Sete ,
Arnold Svotwa and
Russel Mutyambizi.
In an effort to encourage youths
to vote the Prime Minister on Monday took
his 18 year-old twins, Vincent and
Millicent, to the Mount Pleasant district
offices of the registrar-general
where the duo registered as first time
voters.
The Premier, who was
accompanied by hordes of local and international
journalists, said he got
his kids to register as a way of encouraging other
young people to do the
same.
The MDC leader, who was asked to write a letter of confirmation of
residence
for Vincent and Millicent, admitted on his Facebook page that the
registration process is cumbersome and he wants to ensure that no one is
disenfranchised.
He told journalists that his party will continue to
push for the removal of
the stringent voter registration requirements,
adding that there will be
another month of voter registration and inspection
after the new
constitution becomes law.
Youth arrested for mobilizing
peers
http://www.youthagendazim.org/
Written
by Francis rwodzi
Monday, 13 May 2013 11:24
Six Youth Agenda Trust youth were yesterday (12 May 2013) arrested
in Glen
View for mobilizing other youth to register as voters. The youth
were
arrested at Glen View 6 primary school at taken to Glen View police
station
where they were detained from 10am until 10PM. They were charged for
criminal nuisance and were only released after YAT paid $10 each for the
youth.
The youth who included 7 month old Dylan Mwasha are, Anesu
Tevera(25),
Yemukai Singwere (23), Sanisai Masimo (19), Siria Sete (23),
Arnold Svotwa
(22) and Russel Mutyambizi were all dragged to the police
station where they
were all quizzed for mobilizing their peers. They were
arrested by Sergeant
Kahiya also of Glen View police.
The youth, who
all expressed dismay over the conduct of the police, called
for principals
in the Global Political Agreement (GPA) to immediately reign
in the security
sector and order them to respect the democratic rights of
all
Zimbabweans.
Youth Agenda Trust last year trained youth from 6 provinces
to effectively
mobilize their peers to participate in elections and has
since been
conducting electoral indabas, road shows and sports tournaments
aimed at
improving the qualitative participation of the youth in the
electoral
process. The efforts of the six, are a culmination of this broader
civic
education that YAT has been carrying out.
Youth Agenda Trust
views the arrests as a deliberate ploy by the police to
distract the voter
registration process as they knew that the youth were not
guilty of any
offence and were detained until the registration process was
closed. YAT
feels that the latest act by the law enforcement agents is the
clearest sign
yet that as we move towards elections, there is high
likelihood that youth
will be intimidated from participating in the
electoral
process.
Calls for security sector reform are growing louder as general
elections
reaches home stretch, and police actions like these reinforces
such calls.
YAT reiterates that all reforms guaranteed by the GPA including
the security
sector should be implemented before elections to ensure that
the polls are
free and fair.
Press
statement on the arrest of three Election Resource Centre
personnel
http://www.thezimbabwean.co/
13.05.13
by ERC Information
The police in
Harare yesterday (11th of May) arrested three Election
Resource Centre
personnel in Borrowdale on allegations of conducting voter
education. The
three, Moses Chikora (32 years), Farai Saungweme (23 years)
and Wadzanai
Nyakudya (23) were part of the X1G Mobile Caravan Campaign
which is aimed at
raising awareness on the need for young people to register
as voters and
take part in the actual voting process. The state holds that
the trio acted
against the law by distributing X1G brand
The arrest come barely
after two separate incidences of harassment and
intimidation of some X1G
officials were recorded in Masvingo and Gweru
respectively. On both
occasions, (May 9, 2013) officials from X1G Campaign
were briefly detained
and questioned by individuals who identified
themselves as state security
agencies. The Masvingo incident witnessed
eleven X1G officials and
volunteers being stripped of their branded X1G
t-Shirts at Great Zimbabwe
University in full view of passersby as the
officials claimed that there was
no authority sought to conduct the
campaign. The security details further
confiscated all the branded T-shirts
and paraphernalia which the X1G team
was in possession of.
The X1G Campaign is a nationwide campaign which was
launched publicly in
June 2012 and the campaign is run through both print
and electronic media,
at times complemented by outreach activities that
reach out to communities
at grassroots level. The X1G campaign has also been
utilizing mainstream
radio stations, in the form of radio programs whose
main import is to raise
awareness amongst the young people on the need to
register as voters. It is
instructive to note that the Zimbabwe Electoral
Commission (ZEC) has also
been part of these programs, wherein the
commission has participated in
collaboration with the Election Resource
Centre
Various initiatives have been used and will continue to be used to
amplify
the call for young people to register to vote especially in the wake
of the
mobile voter registration process. The campaign has worked firstly as
an
information bridge that was meant to service the needs of young people in
Zimbabwe. Secondly the campaign targets to compliment the work done by
Zimbabwe Electoral Commission on mobilizing first time voters to register to
vote.
Meanwhile, the Election Resource Centre shall continue to
engage the
relevant stakeholders who include Zimbabwe Electoral Commission
and The
Zimbabwe Republic Police to ensure a speedy resolution to the matter
of the
of the detained trio.
In conclusion, the Election Resource
Centre commits to continue with it
efforts towards encouraging young
Zimbabweans to participate in electoral
process in Zimbabwe.
Hatcliffe
crew granted bail after spending three weeks in custody
http://www.swradioafrica.com/
By Tichaona
Sibanda
13 may 2013
A Harare High court Judge on Monday granted bail
to 19 MDC-T activists
arrested in Hatcliffe three weeks ago while on a
door-to-door voter
registration campaign.
Police charged the 19
activists with impersonation, after claiming that they
misrepresented
themselves as officials from the Registrar General’s office.
Lawyer
Charles Kwaramba told SW Radio Africa the 19 activists were granted
$50 bail
each and ordered not to interfere with state witnesses. The group
will be
back in court on Tuesday for their routine remand hearing.
The bail
hearing failed to take off twice last week when the
Attorney-General’s
office didn’t provide a prosecutor to deal with the High
Court bail
application.
On the day they were arrested most of the activists were
wearing T-shirts
from the Home Affairs Ministry and had three copies of the
voters’ roll. But
the MP for Harare North constituency and co-Home Affairs
Minister Theresa
Makone, said she’s the one who supplied the group with the
T-shirts and
copies of the voters roll.
She explained that they were
not doing anything illegal by going around
Hatcliffe asking other residents
to check and confirm if their names were on
the voters roll and advising
them to register to vote if their names were
missing.
Meanwhile the
state’s case against MDC-T youth leader Solomon Madzore will
be heard in the
High court on Tuesday in Harare. Madzore has been locked up
in Bindura since
last week when the state invoked a section of the Criminal
Procedure’s Act
to keep him in jail, despite bail being granted. He will
know his fate after
Tuesday’s submissions by the state. He is charged with
insulting President
Mugabe.
The prosecution team, led by Munyaradzi Mataranyika, invoked
Section 121 of
the Criminal Procedure and Evidence Act after Bindura
magistrate Elisha
Chingano had granted $100 bail.
The state accuses
Madzore of calling President Robert Mugabe a ‘limping
donkey’ at a recent
election rally in Mashonaland Central. Madzore denies
the charge.
MDC-T
to unveil policy document Friday
http://www.swradioafrica.com/
by Violet Gonda
13 May
2013
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s party will unveil its policy
documents
and agenda for action at its 8th Annual Policy Conference in
Harare this
week.
Tsvangirai is expected to deliver a keynote address
that will set the tone
for the basis of his presidential campaign and
programme for the next
government, in the event that his party wins in
elections this year.
The former opposition party said the theme for this
year’s three day event
that starts Friday is: “Towards Real Transformation,
a theme that will
include job creation, infrastructure development and
social service
delivery.
“As a pro-poor and pro-people movement,
President Tsvangirai’s speech will
touch on contentious issues of poverty,
an enclave economy, unemployment,
collapsed social delivery service and
infrastructure development.
“He is also expected to touch on among other
issues, the country’s debt,
land and agriculture, institutional reform, the
Constitution and
Constitutional institutions,” the party said in a
statement.
The MDC-T’s director of policy and research, Charles
Mangongera, told SW
Radio Africa that this will be a platform for the party
to explain to the
people and “our friends in the region” the details of the
party’s governance
framework.
“This is an opportunity for us to
reflect as a party, say what we stand for
and what we are proposing for
Zimbabwe,” Mangongera said.
He said ZANU PF are only talking about
indigenization and land “because they
think that those are populist issues
that are going to be drawing voters.
But we are not just doing that. We have
major issues that we think are key.”
Mugabe
laments urban voters’ stomach politics
http://www.newzimbabwe.com/
12/05/2013 00:00:00
by Staff
Reporter
PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe has blamed his party’s
poor electoral showing the
country's towns and cities on urban voters’
concern with bread and butter
issues, but said Sunday that freedom was more
important than food.
Zanu PF has, over the last decade, struggled to win
urban areas with Prime
Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s MDC-T capitalising on
what is seen as a protest
vote against tough economic conditions
charaterised by high unemployment
rates, poor salaries for those lucky
enough to be working and high costs of
living.
Speaking in Bulawayo
at a memorial service for Vice President John Nkomo who
succumbed to cancer
in January this year, Mugabe urged urban voters to be
more “principled” as
the country heads for fresh elections.
“We have noted that the urban
people think of their food first. To them it
doesn’t matter whether you have
Smith or neo-colonists in control; that is
how you people from Bulawayo and
Harare have become. The urban people only
think food,” he said.
“We
are going towards elections and yesterday you might have voted for food
but
now remember we brought your independence.
“We brought independence, we
suffered for it. The settler regime was
absolutely ruthless and some of our
comrades were kidnapped and we don’t
know their graves up to
today.”
Zimbabwe is due to hold fresh elections later this year to choose
a
substantive government, replacing the fractious coalition between Mugabe
and
Tsvangirai which came into office after violent but inconclusive polls
in
2008.
The two leaders are yet to reach a deal over the precise
timing of the vote
with Mugabe preferring an early poll just before the end
of the current
Parliament next month while Tsvangirai is pressing for a
delay so that more
reforms can be implemented.
Meanwhile, Mugabe said
he last week concluded a deal to import 150,000
tonnes of maize from Zambia
to help alleviate local shortages with the World
Food Programme (WFP)
estimating that some 1.6 million will need food aid
this year following a
poor harvest.
“I want to say we have been afflicted this year by hunger
but it should not
become famine. Government is doing all it can to import
grain from Zambia.
Three days ago I was talking to (Zambia President
Michael) Sata; he is
willing to sell us the amount we require which is
150,000,” he said.
“I wanted to discuss price with him but he said
pricing can come later after
people get food. He sent his vice president and
three ministers to discuss
mechanisms on how the grain will be delivered and
it is a question of time
before grain comes.”
Magistrate
in ‘no show’ for trial of staffers in Tsvangirai’s office
http://www.swradioafrica.com/
By Tichaona
Sibanda
13 may 2013
The trial of four staffers in the Prime Minister’s
office, arrested in March
this year together with leading human rights
lawyer Beatrice Mtetwa, was
postponed after the magistrate failed to pitch
up for the case.
Lawyer Alec Muchadehama confirmed that the magistrate
made a ‘no show’ and
the case was postponed to Thursday this week. Thabani
Mpofu, Warship Dumba,
Felix Matsinde and Mehluli Tshuma were arrested on
March 16th, the same day
the country held a referendum on the new
Constitution.
They are facing charges of breaching the official secrets
act, impersonating
the police and illegal possession of documents for
criminal use. All four
deny the charges.
The state alleges that they
were preparing criminal and corruption cases
against police Commissioner
General Augustine Chihuri, the attorney general
and other senior government
officials.
Mpofu is facing additional charges of failing to renew a
firearm’s licence
and not keeping the weapon in a secure
place.
Mtetwa, who was trying to represent the four during searches of
their
offices and homes, was arrested and charged with obstructing justice.
She
will next appear in court on May 27th for trial.
Mugabe
determined to sideline PM on poll dates
http://www.swradioafrica.com/
By Nomalanga Moyo
13th May
2013
President Robert Mugabe vowed Friday to sideline Prime Minister
Morgan
Tsvangirai when it comes to announcing election dates, according to
media
reports.
Online newspaper NewZimbabwe.com reported that Mugabe
told traditional
leaders and local government officials in Mutare that
Chinamasa was now in
charge of drawing up the election road map, apparently
ditching a Cabinet
committee he established with Tsvangirai, which had been
tasked with the
process.
Mugabe told the traditional leaders that
Chinamasa was “now the person in
charge, and not the Ministry of
Constitutional Affairs.”
Mugabe is adamant that the harmonised elections
should immediately follow
the end of the current Parliament on June 29th,
while the MDC formations
insist on a delay to allow implementation of
further reforms, as agreed
under the Global Political Agreement.
Last
week MDC-T President Tsvangirai told reporters in South Africa, where
he was
attending the World Economic Forum on Africa, that a June election
was not
possible and insisted that media and security reforms must be
implemented
first.
But Mugabe said the election dates would become clearer this week,
after the
Senate has completed its deliberations on the new
Constitution.
“We will see from next week what the date can be. We now
await the decision
of the Senate. Only when it is passed shall we be able to
have a roadmap for
elections,” Mugabe said Friday.
A defiant Mugabe
also ruled out extending the life of the current
parliament, and said MPs
will lose their legislative power come June 29th.
MDC
takes war to Zanu PF
http://www.dailynews.co.zw/
Monday, 13 May 2013 11:16
MDC leader, Prime
Minister Morgan Tsvangirai
HARARE - Fireworks are expected at tomorrow’s
Cabinet meeting as the Prime
Minister Morgan Tsvangirai-led MDC takes the
electoral war to President
Robert Mugabe’s Zanu PF over a voter registration
programme mired in
controversy and renewed crackdown on pro-democracy
groups.
Matters have come to a head in the “unity” government after the
police,
accused by critics of being pro-Zanu PF, continued arresting members
of
civil society undertaking voter registration campaigns on charges of
breaking the country’s electoral laws.
Although Cabinet has ordered a
fresh mobile voter registration blitz,
problems continue to dog the whole
electoral process.
The Daily News was swamped with reports of
irregularities, registration
officers closing out the public and aliens
being turned away at voter
registration centres countrywide.
On
Saturday, police arrested three members of the Election Resource Centre
(ERC), while on the same day, five members of the MDC were arrested in
Harare East Constituency.
In both cases, the arrested activists were
charged with impersonating public
officials.
Tendai Biti,
secretary-general of Tsvangirai’s MDC, said the arrest of
scores of MDC
supporters on “trumped-up” charges signals a “desperate action
by a
desperate regime”.
“The arrest of our supporters and civic rights members
is absolute rubbish.
This is a desperate action by a desperate regime devoid
of any ideas.
“This is an issue that will spill into Cabinet and we will
also take it to
the (power-sharing talks) facilitator and the (Sadc) region.
We would like
them to know that Zanu PF does not own Zimbabwe. We are all
stakeholders,”
an angry Biti said.
With Sadc brokering a unity
government in 2008 and at the behest of the
African Union, Zimbabwe is being
ruled by a coalition formed after 2008’s
inconclusive poll and which was
characterised by violence.
However, both Mugabe and Tsvangirai want out of
the coalition, as they hope
that an upcoming election will secure them an
outright win.
In the process, Zanu PF and its MDC partners are tussling
over key issues
such as the voter registration exercise — a vital process in
fulfilling the
electoral roadmap and as the parties seek to get their
supporters out in
numbers to register as voters.
They are also
haggling over the implementation of the power-sharing Global
Political
Agreement (GPA).
With elections likely to be held in the next few months,
time is running out
for the full implementation of the GPA and Zanu PF is
adamant that envisaged
security sector reforms demanded by the MDC will not
be implemented.
A stalemate over the election roadmap which includes
security sector and
media reforms has caused consternation within the MDC,
which is especially
riled by latest statements from army generals that they
will not accept
Tsvangirai’s rule.
Recently, army commander general
Constantine Chiwenga described Tsvangirai
as a “psychiatric patient” and
this issue is also likely to take centre
stage at a closed door Cabinet
meeting tomorrow.
In addition, Information minister Webster Shamu’s
statement that the country
cannot be “sold” through the ballot since it was
won by the gun are also
likely to provide sparks that will touch a storm in
tomorrow’s Cabinet
meeting, according to Biti.
On Tuesday, Tsvangirai
is also expected to take the fight to the
octogenarian leader over his
unilateral declaration that Justice minister
Patrick Chinamasa was now
solely in charge of determining the framework for
forthcoming elections —
billed as one of the most important since
independence from Britain in
1980.
Under an election roadmap agreed to by both parties, Chinamasa is
supposed
to work with Eric Matinenga, the country’s Constitutional Affairs
minister,
in preparing for the general election.
Recently, Tsvangirai
went on a whirlwind tour of the continent drumming up
support to force
Mugabe into fully implementing the GPA.
Setting the stage for a
potentially explosive Cabinet meeting, Biti said we
will do “everything in
our power” to ensure that a new voter registration
exercise is rolled out
even if Zanu PF does not want to reform.
“This is a calculated crackdown.
The election hasn’t even started but the
merchants of violence are bent on
having an unsustainable election period,”
Biti told the Daily
News.
The eight people who were arrested at the weekend join a growing
list of
individuals who have been arrested for breaching the country’s laws
pertaining to voter education.
In Hatcliffe, 19 MDC officials were
arrested recently and are being charged
for breaching section 179 of the
Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act.
'Bullet
mightier than ballot'
http://www.dailynews.co.zw/
Monday, 13 May 2013 11:16
HARARE - Information
minister and Zanu PF political commissar Webster Shamu
says the country
cannot be taken through a pen — in remarks that could set
the tone for
potentially-violent polls.
The Chegutu East MP made the chilling remarks
as he addressed hundreds of
bishops drawn from the Apostolic Church at the
party’s headquarters on
Friday.
Apart from the remarks, which echo
President Robert Mugabe’s 2008 election
statements that the bullet was
mightier than the pen, Shamu proceeded to
shower praise on security
chiefs.
Security sector chiefs have been warning against an MDC electoral
win,
saying they will not respect a party led by a person without liberation
war
credentials, a reference to Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai.
Tsvangirai has described such remarks as a coup plot.
On
Friday, Shamu chose a meeting with church leaders to send shock waves
ahead
of elections which many say could be Mugabe’s toughest. At 89, the
election
could also be his last, hence a spirited campaign of carrot and
stick.
The church leaders, who had come from across the country to
lend their
support to Zanu PF, cheered as Shamu repeated the mantra that
Zimbabwe could
not be “sold” at the stroke of a pen.
“I want to
repeat that this country came about through the barrel of the
gun. It cannot
be taken by a pen, never, never, you can forget,” Shamu said
to a thunderous
applause from the supposed men of cloth.
Observers say this flies in the
face of Zanu PF’s supposed election theme:
“My Vote is My Voice and My Voice
is My Vote.”
In 2008, after a first round defeat to MDC leader Morgan
Tsvangirai, who is
now the country’s prime minister under a shaky coalition
government, Mugabe
insinuated that he would not allow the MDC, a party he
branded as puppets of
Britain, to rule this country even if they won an
election.
Mugabe vowed ahead of June 2008 presidential election run-off :
“We fought
for this country and a lot of blood was shed. We are not going to
give up
our country because of a mere X. How can a ballpoint fight with a
gun?”
Tsvangirai subsequently pulled out of the run-off saying “we will
not be
part of that war”. This was as pro-Mugabe militias chanted “Win or
war!”
While Mugabe has in the recent past tried to redeem his image with
repeated
public pleas for a peaceful election, Shamu’s statements and those
of some
army generals have cast doubt that credible polls and smooth
transfer of
power are possible in Zimbabwe.
Zimbabwe Defence Forces
commander Constantine Chiwenga last week described
Tsvangirai as a
“psychiatric patient”.
A few days later, Zimbabwe Prison Services boss
Paradzai Zimondi and Police
commissioner-general Augustine Chihuri have also
made it clear where their
allegiances lie.
Shamu on Friday praised
them for their stance.
“We would like to thank the commander of the
Zimbabwe Defence Forces
Constantine Chiwenga, commissioner of prisons
Paradzai Zimondi and police
commissioner-general Augustine Chihuri for
making clear their position that
they will not work with anyone who is out
to auction this country,” said
Shamu.
MDC officials trashed
statements undermining the power of the vote.
Speaking at a rally in
Harare’s Southerton area, Clifford Hlatshwayo, the
MDC youth secretary for
information said the ballot remains the only tool to
install or remove
political leaders.
“Liberators fought for one man, one vote but the black
government was borne
through the ballot. The same ballot that voted Mugabe
into presidency is the
same vote that will put Tsvangirai into power this
coming election,” said
Hlatshwayo.
Kambuzuma MP Willias Madzimure
reminded Zanu PF to refer to history.
“We hear them saying a pen cannot
bring regime change, the country was
liberated through the barrel of a
gun.
“Here in Southerton, there was once a Zanu PF MP but what removed
him? It
was the pen. They are joking. The pen installs and removes people
from
power,” said Madzimure. - Mugove Tafirenyika, Fungi Kwaramba and Wendy
Muperi
ZEC
relaxes proof of residency requirement for voters
http://www.swradioafrica.com/
By Nomalanga
Moyo
13 May 2013
The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) announced
Friday that it had
suspended voter registration requirements for those
without documentary
proof of residency, less than a week before the campaign
winds down.
The voter registration programme, which has been beset with
financial and
logistical difficulties, kicked off on May 3rd and is expected
to end on the
19th.
Since the exercise started there has been an
outcry, particularly from
Zimbabweans in the rural areas and those in urban
areas who do not own a
residential home, because they were being turned away
from registration
centres for failing to prove their residence
status.
Addressing political parties on Friday, ZEC chairperson Justice
Rita Makarau
said following discussions with political and other interested
parties ZEC
had agreed to relax the stringent requirements so that those
without proof
of residence documents would just fill in an affidavit
form.
She said the affidavit will be available at registration centres
with
immediate effect, as an additional document to prove residence: “The
affidavit is the fall-back position for all applicants and, therefore, no
citizen should be turned away for want of documentation. The affidavit will
be gazetted soon, to form part of the law.”
According to the
state-run Herald newspaper, the affidavit form was agreed
upon by ZEC and
the Registrar-General Tobaiwa Mudede, who was also part of
the
meeting.
Welcoming the waiver, MDC-T organising secretary Nelson Chamisa,
who
attended the Friday meeting, said the decision should make it “easier
for
all individuals who want to register to be able to do
so”.
However, he said that the MDC-T was also aware that gazetting the
affidavit
into law was one thing, making it operational was
another.
“That remains our area of discomfort and dissatisfaction because
we feel
that there is no attention being paid to the spirit of the law by
the
Registrar-General to move with speed to implement that which we have
agreed
upon.
“That is an issue we are raising with the ZEC, RG’s
office, the Ministry of
Home Affairs, as well as the Justice Ministry that
deals with the issue in
question, Chamisa said.
Questions remain as
to how the information about the relaxation of the proof
of residency will
reach mobile teams and also how the affidavit forms will
be delivered to the
registration points. We could not establish Monday
whether the affidavits
had been delivered to all registration points.
Chamisa indicated to SW
Radio Africa that while they were concerned about
the matter, they could
only rely on the RG’s office to ensure that every
Zimbabwean was afforded
their democratic right of ‘one-man one-vote’.
SW Radio Africa listeners
have been complaining about the lack of publicity
regarding the registration
teams and how many people have failed to
register, as they were not aware of
the full list of requirements.
Speaking on Monday’s Callback programme
Sipambi, from Masvingo, said his
brother was last week turned away after
failing to produce a letter from the
headman and, by the time he returned
with the letter the team, which was
stationed 7km away from his Ward, had
moved away.
Responding to these concerns Minister Chamisa, who reportedly
raised concern
at the Friday meeting over the skewed distribution of voter
registration
centres, added that the principle of mobile registration teams
“was to have
the officials going closer to the people, ward by ward, rather
than the
current situation where teams are skipping a lot of
wards.”
Chamisa said given the concerns, it was necessary for ZEC to
extend the
voter registration exercise. Last week, Makarau told a press
conference that
ZEC was monitoring the situation and would consider an
extension if
necessary.
On Friday, Makarau said ZEC envisaged another
30-day registration period
will come into effect as part of the new
Constitution.
So far about 37,000 new people have registered to vote,
13,345 transferred
their names to other constituencies, and 55,654 obtained
national identity
documents.
Mugabe
lures Bulawayo vote
http://www.dailynews.co.zw/
Monday, 13 May 2013 11:16
HARARE - President
Robert Mugabe yesterday evoked history in order to lure
the elusive Bulawayo
vote ahead of crunch watershed elections expected later
on this
year.
He was addressing a memorial service held in Bulawayo for the late
Vice
President John Nkomo, who died in January this year after succumbing to
cancer.
Zanu PF has struggled to win a single parliamentary seat in
Bulawayo since
2000.
This has caused sleepless nights for the party’s
top leadership who recently
dispatched a high-powered delegation led by
chairperson Simon Khaya Moyo to
this political hotbed with a mandate to urge
party members to put aside
their differences and unite for the task
ahead.
“Never ever forget. Those who come along the way and say, a-ah,
forget about
everything else ... then you begin to think of food, you have
forgotten your
land, your independence and you say a-ah, you give your back
to John Landa
Nkomo and the rest of us,” whined Mugabe.
“The urban
people always think of their food first. It doesn’t matter
whether you have
Ian Smith in government or the British clandestinely as
neo-colonialists
ways of control, no, no, no. Be principled, be principled
says John Landa
Nkomo,” said Mugabe.
The urban vote has remained elusive for Mugabe’s
party since the inception
of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) in
1999.
“We are going to go to elections soon. okay, yesterday you might
have voted
for food and you kept on suffering. We brought independence, we
suffered for
independence. UJohn, John, John!” Mugabe cried out.
“I
have not narrated here the number of prisons he went to, the number of
detention centres he went to. You would be shocked to hear that a person
would still be alive after being treated that way,” Mugabe said.
He
pleaded with the people of Matabeleland to vote for Zanu PF in the
forthcoming elections and restore the former ruling party’s
glory.
“The people are voting for those who yesterday were opposing the
struggle.
It is disenchanting and it diminishes even what you sing as the
national
hymn.
“So, although we are not mourning him, we are
celebrating. The celebration
must not be superficial, and it must be felt in
your heart and in soul when
you say yes, I am really giving this song or
this prayer to you John. Also I
will prove that I am a true follower of you
when I pass my vote,” said
Mugabe. - Kudzai Chawafambira
Infiltration
delaying primaries: MDC
http://www.dailynews.co.zw/
Monday, 13 May 2013 10:55
BULAWAYO - Prime
Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s says delays in conducting
primary elections are
due to infiltration by President Robert Mugabe’s Zanu
PF.
A senior
MDC official claimed Zanu PF had infiltrated the party and was
causing
confusion.
Speaking at a Bulawayo Agenda “Election Talk Show” held at the
Large City
Hall at the weekend, MDC deputy national organising secretary
Abedinico
Bhebhe said he had evidence that Zanu PF infiltrated his party
therefore
causing a delay in the primaries.
“This party (Zanu PF) is
known for infiltration. Even during the liberation
struggle they were good
at that,” said Bhebhe.
“I have evidence as the deputy national organising
secretary of the MDC that
whenever there are fights between our members
there is Zanu PF’s hand.
“So what we are doing right now is to chop this
hand first and clean our
party before we hold the primaries,” said
Bhebhe.
Responding to Bhebhe’s claims, Zanu PF representative at the
event Gabriel
Chaibva dismissed the allegations. He said it had become a
culture in the
MDC to blame Zanu PF for its failures.
“I am
disappointed that Bhebhe wants to talk as if we don’t know the kind of
politics that goes on in the MDC.
“I was in that party before, and we
are fully aware of the antics within the
MDC.
“They always find blame
with others, when in fact the matter is purely and
squarely your
organisational inefficiency and your ideological bankruptcy,
which is why
you find everyone shooting in all directions in that party.
They have no
direction,” said Chaibva.
“In Harare there was violence recently between
their members and they blamed
Zanu PF. In Chipinge and Mutare there was also
violence and they blamed Zanu
PF. They are unable to take responsibility for
their shortcomings,” said
Chaibva.
Zimbabwe is expected to hold
watershed elections later this year to end the
Sadc initiated government of
“national unity” which has been running the
country for the past four
years.
The three political parties in government have started preparing
to hold
primary elections to choose candidates who will stand in the
parliamentary,
senatorial and council elections. - Pindai Dube
Biti:
Theft in Home Affairs Ministry is costing Zimbabwe
http://www.swradioafrica.com/
by Violet
Gonda
13th May 2013
Massive corruption and looting in departments
under the Home Affairs
Ministry, including the police force, is robbing
Zimbabwe of many millions
of dollars every month, Finance Minister Tendai
Biti has revealed.
Biti, who is also MDC-T secretary general, was quoted
in a newsletter from
the Prime Minister’s office saying the Ministry of Home
Affairs and
everything that is below it are not remitting to Treasury, as
there are
“people with degrees of looting and stealing.”
“For
instance, the Passport office collects an average of $1.5 million a
week
although they claim its $800,000. It is not coming to us.
“At roadblocks,
the police are collecting about $2 million a month, the
money is not coming
to us. It is a breach of the law as section 103 of the
Constitution
stipulates that every cent that is collected in Zimbabwe must
be accounted
to the Consolidated Revenue Fund, which is under Parliament
although
administered by Ministry of Finance. It is not happening,” Biti
revealed.
Home Affairs Minister Theresa Makoni said Biti is correct
in his assessment
and said none of the ministries have been remitting money
directly to the
Treasury. “Most departments are still retaining everything
they receive.
They are still taking advantage of the variation which was
made during the
Zimbabwe dollar era.”
Responding to the allegations
of police corruption, especially at
roadblocks, Makone urged the public to
insist on getting receipts from the
police as one of the ways of dealing
with corrupt officers.
A government source, speaking on condition of
anonymity, said there is
rampant corruption in every government ministry and
it applies to every
department in government. Our source said: “All
government departments that
deal with money are keeping that money for
recurrent expenditure and the
minister will never know how much exactly is
being collected, because it is
happening at much lower levels of the
departments.”
The source gave an example of the Ministry of Tourism where
hunting licenses
are given but there is no transparent accounting
system.
Biti, who is battling to find election funding for this year,
recently said
Zimbabwe should not be looking for money from outside the
country as there
are enough resources internally to pay for the election.
But he said there
was also ongoing theft of diamond revenue in
Zimbabwe.
“Our diamonds exports last year were $800 million and only $45
million came
to Zimbabwe. Why are those running diamond firms not patriots
or
nationalists when they belong to a nationalist party? Predatory and
primitive accumulation is killing this country. The cancer of this economy
is corruption,” Biti said.
Despite this, the government official
claimed his ministry has worked hard
to combat corruption with 80% of the
laws passed since the formation of the
coalition government in 2009 coming
from the Ministry of Finance.
“We are proud of what we have done on the
reform agenda. The new Public
Finance Management Act, the amendments to the
Reserve Bank Act, the
amendments to the Revenue Act, a new Audit Office
Bill, the amendments to
the Security Commissions Bill, amendments to the
Banking Act and more are
still to come.”
Mugabe
wades into Chisumbanje dispute
http://www.dailynews.co.zw/
Monday, 13 May 2013 10:21
HARARE -
President Robert Mugabe has been sucked into the raging Chisumbanje
ethanol
project whirlwind, reportedly stalled by factional fights in his
teetering
Zanu PF, the Weekend Post can reveal.
Highly-placed insiders told the
Weekend Post that an order by Mugabe for
negotiators to conclude a deal by
April 30 had not only passed but had
actually been defied.
Energy
minister Elton Mangoma confirmed the deadline.
“It was not president
Mugabe in his personal capacity but, yes Cabinet had
given us a deadline and
we failed to meet it. We are still negotiating and
hope to come up with
something, by end of business today,” Mangoma said this
week.
Mangoma
is part of an inter-ministerial committee headed by deputy Premier
Arthur
Mutambara and mandated with crafting a solution last week.
The Energy
minister refused to comment on claims that infighting in Mugabe’s
party is
stalling progress on the mega-million project.
“I cannot comment on
factionalism in another party. However I can tell you
that Cabinet has a
position and there are no differences regarding that
decision that
government has taken.
“We are going to be meeting the Green-fuel people
to discuss the contents of
a letter they wrote to us regarding the
government offer,” said Mangoma.
Insiders said Zanu PF’s uncontrolled
succession battle pitting Defence
minister Emmerson Mnangagwa and Vice
president Joice Mujuru is said to have
raised the stakes following a visit
by a party delegation that also included
party chairman Simon Khaya Moyo and
fronted by Mujuru.
Zanu PF spokesperson Rugare Gumbo seemed to trip over
the issue.
“My understanding is that Mangoma (Energy Minister) and the
opposition are
the problem. They are trying to cause divisions in
Manicaland.
“It is a Manicaland problem. Zanu PF wants the project opened
and has
nothing to do with the slow progress,” Gumbo said.
Arda
chairman Basil Nyabadza while acknowledging there are fissures within
the
Cabinet committee, claimed Zanu PF wants the project to go ahead.
“From
our side and the community we are working very well. There is
agreement
across party lines in the whole of Manicaland that the project
must go on.
It is probably at Cabinet level where maybe we have people
coming to the
table with different agendas.
“Zanu PF as far as I am aware has never
been at variance with government
position but there are maybe individuals
who are pushing a different line,”
Nyabadza said.
The agricultural
authority represents government in the partnership with
Green
Fuel.
As tensions run high, meetings scheduled between coalition
principals and a
delegation representing the Chisumbanje community to break
the deadlock were
yesterday hanging by a thread.
Pressure group
Platform for Youth Development spokesperson Claris Madhuku
confirmed that a
delegation was in town to meet the country’s political
leaders.
“It
is true there is a delegation from Chisumbanje that is set to meet the
coalition partners and their respective deputies as well as Industry
minister Welshman Ncube.
“We have been denied access to these people
because of politicking in
particular from the Zanu PF side. To them progress
is measured on how much
political mileage they get at each stage and this
has been hindering
progress,” Madhuku said. —Weekend Post
South
African Justice Minister approves spares gift for Harare choppers
http://www.thezimbabwemail.com/
BDLIVE
7 hours 48 minutes ago
SOUTH AFRICA Justice Minister Jeff Radebe, as
chairman of the arms control
committee, has in effect approved the donation
of helicopter airframes and
spare parts to Zimbabwe, finding that they are
not "controlled items" with a
military application.
European Union
sanctions are in place against Zimbabwe and the donation of
airframes and
spare parts for Alouette III helicopters by South Africa’s
defence force
could be in breach of an embargo. Also, the National
Conventional Arms
Control Committee Act stipulates that arms transfers
should not take place
to unstable countries or contribute to repression.
On Thursday Zimbabwean
police raided the office of Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai’s party in the
southern district of Gwanda, two days after police
arrested journalists from
a popular weekly in the capital Harare.
Earlier this year Democratic
Alliance defence spokesman David Maynier wrote
to Mr Radebe asking for the
arms control committee to investigate the
proposed donation.
This
week Mr Radebe wrote to Mr Maynier, saying his committee only considers
applications relating to "controlled items".
" The items to be
donated are unserviceable, have no hard points or weapons
mounted to it and
the spare parts and components have no features and
characteristics that
would transfer it from a civil aircraft to a military
aircraft," he
wrote.
Mr Maynier said: "In the end … the end user for the helicopter
airframes and
spare parts is the Zimbabwe Defence Force."
Mr Maynier
said he would write to Defence Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula
and ask her
to review the decision.
He said the Armscor Act stated that defence
material can only be disposed of
in consultation with the original
manufacturers.
Mr Maynier would write to French ambassador Elisabeth
Barbier to determine
if this consultation had taken place. - BDLIVE
Minister:
Ten women die daily during birth
http://www.newzimbabwe.com/
12/05/2013 00:00:00
by Staff
Reporter
AT least ten women are dying everyday from
pregnancy-related complications,
Deputy Health and Child Welfare Minister,
Douglas Mombeshora has revealed.
Mombeshora said at 960 deaths per
100,000 live births, Zimbabwe’s maternal
mortality was much higher than the
sub-Saharan and global averages.
“This is three times higher than the
global average of 287 deaths per
100,000 live births and almost double the
average for sub-Saharan Africa
which stands at 500 deaths per 100 000 live
birth," Mombeshora said.
“Deaths related to home births are three times
(42%) more than in the
country’s urban areas (14%).”
Speaking during the
handover of 63 ambulances donated by the European Union
through United
Nations agency last Friday, Mombeshora blamed the problem on
the shortage of
transport and qualified personnel, particularly in rural
areas.
“The
risk of maternal deaths increases when women deliver outside health
institutions when the delivery requires surgical intervention or is carried
out by non-skilled persons,” he said.
“Tackling the Millennium
Development Goal (MDG) number 5 provides a
strategic entry point for
addressing health systems strengthening and also
has a synergistic impact on
the attainment of MDGs 4 and 6.”
UNFPA country representative Basile
Tambashe said: “One maternal death is
one too many, especially since most of
these deaths are avoidable.
“One of the factors contributing to this
avoidable tragedy is the delay by
pregnant women in accessing transportation
from home to the hospital and
from hospital to a higher level referral
facility.”
EU ambassador to Zimbabwe Aldo Dell Ariccia added: “The EU
will continue to
be a loyal partner of the Ministry of Health and Child
Welfare in the
future.
“Together we have achieved much in very
difficult circumstances. Our past
experience working with you convinces me
that Zimbabwe has the capacity to
bring maternal and child mortality down in
the next years.”
Health is one of the sectors which was worst affected by
the country’s
economic crisis over the last decade with budgetary support
constrained
while hundreds of nurses and doctors quit over poor working
conditions.
But services have improved over the last few years due in
part to a Health
Transition Fund set up by the government with the support
of international
development.
With a total budget of nearly US$500
million, the Fund was aimed at
improving maternal, new-born and child health
by strengthening the country’s
health systems and scaling up the
implementation of “high impact maternal,
neonatal and child health (MNCH)
interventions”.
Universities,
Polytechnic colleges owed more than US$64m
http://www.herald.co.zw/
Monday, 13 May 2013
00:00
Zvamaida Murwira Herald Reporter
STATE Universities and
polytechnic colleges are owed more than US$64 million
by Treasury in tuition
fees as of December last year, a situation that has
crippled operations in
the institutions of higher learning, an official has
said. Director of
University Education in
the Higher and Tertiary Education ministry, Mrs
Martha Muguti said Finance
Minister Tendai Biti did not consult on the type
of funding for students but
only announced them during presentation of his
national budget statements.
She said this yesterday while giving oral
evidence before a Parliamentary
portfolio committee on Higher Education,
Science and Technology chaired by
Insiza South MP Mr Siyabonga Ncube
(MDC).
"The Ministry of Finance owes us about US$64 million in tuition
fees. You
can imagine the devastating effect the non payment of the money
has on us.
We are in serious financial distress and to say this is actually
an
understatement,” said Mrs Muguti.
“Since January 2013, no single
cent has been released for operations. We
remain open but under serious
financial distress, the debt continue
ballooning on a yearly basis.”
Some
projects in Bindura University of Science Education and Lupane
University,
she said, had been stalled after failing to pay contractors and
consultancies.
On funding mode, Mrs Muguti said Minister Biti announce
them unilaterally.
“The type of funding has been dictated to us. We do
not have the money. We
were only told that they will be loan and grants and
we just read it in the
newspapers. We were never consulted,” she
said.
She said while learning institutions have partnered some
organisations, this
had not brought much changes.
She said it was
critical that Government fund learning institutions.
Mrs Mugutu said
inadequate funding also impacted on industry which requires
human
resources.
“It does not matter how advanced the industry is. Without the
human
resources, you still need them to run those computers. This is the
foundation of economic growth. We produce the manpower which this country
needs,” she said.
She said universities had been urged to offer
programmes that were
consistent with what the market wanted.
Legislators
asked what the ministry was doing to protect female students
from HIV/AIDS,
at the hands of unscrupulous people.
Mrs Muguti said proper teaching on such
issues should start from homes and
tertiary institutions would merely
complement the information.
Director of Finance and Administration in the
Ministry, Mr Milton
Chabururuka said Treasury had sought to introduce
student loans two years
ago through financial institutions but the deal
failed to materialise.
He said Treasury had only released US$750 000 this
year from the US$64
million they are owed.
“If we are getting US$750 000
per year on a US$64 million debt, I do not
know how many years it will take
to clear that. This excluded the new
requirements,” he said.
Application
Made For New Zimbabwe Diamond Deposits
http://www.israelidiamond.co.il/
13.05.13, 11:08 /
Mining
Steve Allen | Dreamstime.com
After weeks of reports
of unlicensed exploration activity in an as-yet
undeveloped area of
Zimbabwe, a government official has confirmed that a
firm has submitted an
application for a license to legally mine the area for
diamonds, All Africa
reports.
At a meeting discussing the country's mineral policies, Zimbabwe
Deputy
Mines and Mining Development Minister Gift Chimanikire said that a
diamond
company called Nan Jiang Africa Resources had requested a concession
in
Bikita, which borders the most diamond-rich area in the country, the
Chiadzwa diamond fields.
While Nan Jiang is thought to be composed of
both Chinese and Zimbabwean
businesspeople alike, Chimanikire noted that the
firm had been informed that
it must comply with Zimbabwe's indigenization
and empowerment laws if it is
to be eligible to mine in the country. Those
laws establish that native
Zimbabweans must own at least 50% of the shares
in any company granted a
mining license in the country, according to All
Africa.
Marange,
Core Mining arbitration begins
http://www.dailynews.co.zw/
Monday, 13 May 2013 11:07
HARARE - An
urgent chamber application filed by Marange Resources (Marange)
at the High
Court to stop an arbitration process initiated by Core Mining
Resources has
failed to help as the appointed mediator begun the process
last
Friday.
Marange Resources, a government investment arm in the mining of
Marange
diamonds, is in dispute with Core Mining after it hounded out of a
joint
venture agreement to explore Marange gems in 2010.
The Lovemore
Kurotwi-led company took its dispute with Marange to an
arbitrator, but
Marange rushed to the High Court seeking an interdict to
stop the
process.
However, on Friday, retired judge Moses Chinhengo proceeded with
the
arbitration as the urgent chamber application filed by Marange had taken
too
long to resolve.
Chinhengo was appointed as an arbitrator by the
president of the Law Society
of Zimbabwe in line with an agreement signed by
Core Mining and Marange in
2009.
According to the joint venture
agreement signed by the two companies, any
dispute that would have arisen
between them should be resolved through
arbitration.
“Any dispute
which may arise as a result of the interpretation or
application of this
agreement which cannot be resolved within a period of
(30) thirty days shall
be referred to arbitration.
“The arbitration take place under the
auspices of the commercial arbitration
centre at Harare,” reads the signed
agreement.
Chinhengo proceeded with the matter, albeit in the absence of
Marange, who
were locked in High Court judge Mary Dube’s chambers trying to
stop the
process already in motion.
Beatrice Mtetwa, the lead lawyer
representing Core Mining, had to send her
representatives to the High Court
while she appeared before Chinhengo.
“We now await the determination by
the arbitrator who will base his findings
on records filed by the two
parties,” said Kurotwi.
Marange and Core were in partnership to mine
Marange diamonds through a
company called Canadile Miners which collapsed
after the arrest of Kurotwi
and other directors on allegations of fraud. -
Xolisani Ncube
Will
indigenisation rescue Mugabe?
http://www.dailynews.co.zw/
By Fungai Kwaramba, Staff Writer
Monday, 13
May 2013 11:16
HARARE - Crusading on an indigenisation programme — the
corporate version of
the farm invasions a decade ago — President Robert
Mugabe is seeking to
shore up his support ahead of an election which
promises not only to be his
last, but bruising as well.
With Zimbabwe
set to go for polls this year, the 89-year-old former
guerrilla movement
leader is using the indigenisation programme as his trump
card to win the
upcoming vote.
But analysts say history shows that banking on populist
policies alone has
failed to rescue Mugabe in the past.
An often
violent land reform programme which benefited close to half a
million
landless blacks has failed to deliver him a commanding popular
support.
Instead, his Zanu PF party’s support has been on a slide
since 2000 until it
was forced in a coalition government with hated figure
Morgan Tsvangirai
being prime minister whom Mugabe has to consult for every
major government
decision.
Analysts doubt the elitist economic
empowerment programme would achieve what
Mugabe’s chaotic land largesse
failed to deliver.
Doubters of the economic empowerment programme include
Reserve Bank Governor
Gideon Gono, who has on several occasions clashed with
Indigenisation
minister Saviour Kasukuwere over the methodology of the
programme.
Other Zanu PF activists such as Themba Mliswa, who is eyeing a
party ticket
for the parliamentary elections, say the programme in its
current form could
hurt Zanu PF.
Addressing war veterans, war
collaborators and Zanu PF supporters in Mutare
recently, Mliswa forecasted
doom for Zanu PF if it does not empower the
youths who constitute 60 percent
of the country’s population.
“We have not benefitted from the empowerment
programme except for a few
people and this is an indication to me that
things will not be rosy in the
election.
“These policies and
implementation schemes that Kasukuwere has stitched and
the community trusts
with companies are not true to the spirit of
indigenisation,” said
Mliswa.
Under the controversial indigenisation law crafted in 2008 but
only being
vigorously implemented now, foreign- owned companies,
particularly those
mining, have been ceding 31 percent shareholding to a
government agency and
another 20 percent to community and employee
trusts.
Analysts and party insiders such as Mliswa think this is
benefitting only a
few and this could cost Zanu PF on election day.
A
scandal involving government empowerment agency, the National
Indigenisation
and Economic Empowerment Board (Nieeb) in mining firm
Zimplats’
indigenisation deal further poked doubt into the programme.
The Daily
News has exposed apparent flaws in the $971 million Zimplats deal.
Touted
as the biggest empowerment deal since independence in 1980, the deal
was
shown to be benefitting only a few politically-connected.
Other
indigenisation deals for top-earning companies have also since been
questioned, planting seeds of doubt to many including Zanu PF
legislators.
A drive back into time to the land reform programme when
about 4 000 white
commercial farmers who were occupying prime land were
driven off by war
veterans and landless villagers, shows a different
picture.
Contrary to the popularly held view that Mugabe rolled out the
land reform
programme, disgruntled war veterans were the movers and
ultimately shakers
of a Zanu PF regime that was getting carried away with
the trappings of
power, analysts say.
They say Mugabe nonetheless
hijacked the programme, polished it and made it
his campaigning machine but
his support continued to plummet.
Dewa Mavhinga, a political analyst and
human rights advocate, says Mugabe
and Zanu PF have misread the mood among
Zimbabweans hence the failure to
recapture the level of support they enjoyed
soon after independence.
“They think parcelling out riches will do the
trick but the problem is that
only a few benefit so at the end, programmes
such as indigenisation will
have a counter effect.
“More people will
be angry at Zanu PF that it is enriching a few,” said
Mavhinga.
He
added: “At the same time, they are dealing with a population angered by
decades of human rights abuses.
“It is unlikely that people who
suffered Gukurahundi massacres, the 2000
land and election-related violence,
Operation Murambatsvina and the 2008
election orgy have forgiven Zanu PF no
matter how indigenisation sounds.”
Mugabe’s partners in the shaky
coalition government say the indigenisation
programme is a feeding trough
for Mugabe’s cronies who are also widely
reported to be multiple farm
owners.
“The risk is that unbridled greed will lead not only to economic
stagnation
but will also fuel asset-stripping as those in favourable
positions pursue a
‘crash and burn’ mentality,” said Tsvangirai.
“One
such contradiction is Zanu PF’s indigenisation policy. We believe this
is no
more than an elitist project which invariably benefits the few in
privileged
positions, but it is being executed under the guise of empowering
communities,” said Tsvangirai.
Tendai Biti, the Finance minister,
says the indigenisation programme is
being poorly implemented and will serve
only a few individuals as
Zimbabweans are generally cash-strapped to buy
shares in major companies.
“You cannot craft an act basing on a
transformation programme that demands
that whatever black Zimbabweans have
to own, they must buy the shares.
“That is a disaster because which black
person has that money in Zimbabwe?
The other disaster is the manner in which
it is being implemented. It is
being implemented in an opaque, nocturnal and
illegal manner."
“These community trusts, you don’t find them anywhere in
the Act and once
again we are back to the matrix of predatory and extractive
accumulation. It
is not transparent because the deals are neither reported
to Parliament nor
Cabinet,” said Biti.
Engaging
Citizens and the State on Governance: Case of Zimbabwe
http://nehandaradio.com/
on May 13, 2013 at
7:36 pm
Speaking Notes for Blessing Vava’s Presentation at the
Zambia’s Civil
Society Symposium on Good Governance at Mika Hotel, Lusaka
Zambia-10 May
2013
Engaging Citizens and the State on Governance:
Case of Zimbabwe
‘An informed and engaged community is a vital component
of a healthy and
resilient democracy’ anonymous
Blessing
Vava
This presentation uses the concept of citizenship to understand the
objectives of self-organisation among civic society players and grass roots
movements.
It is based on experiences and research conducted by the
National
Constitutional Assembly in Zimbabwe and addresses issues relating
to the
governance system, as well as the individual and collective
empowerment of
communities.
In this presentation I sustain and
conclude that, not only do such groups
have a role to play in ensuring that
individual rights and opinions are
respected and embraced, but also enable
people to play a role in enhancing
meaningful citizen participation and
horizontal accountability by political
leadership.
Central to this
paper is the idea that social movements and civics should
strive to develop
citizens’ ability to actively and meaningful participate
in democratic
processes, and that the state must ensure qualitative dialogue
with citizens
on national developmental programmes.
Zimbabwe:
Zimbabwe is
currently governed by a power sharing deal between the country’s
3 major
political formations owing to a disputed and inconclusive election
of 29
March 2008. The current Government of National Unity is premised on
the idea
of reform for democracy and respect of citizen rights and choices.
It is
an outcome of over a decade of people’s struggles for a more open
society
and democratic dialogue in national issues.
However, in this presentation
I put it to you that the current political
dispensation has seen a
perpetuation of dictatorial norms and practises with
silenced citizen voices
which in my view is a classic case of citizen
demobilisation and engraved
apathy.
I look at the different sectors of governance and processes that
characterise Zimbabwean Society:
State and ZANU PF
There is
inseparability of state and the ruling party in which national
policy and
decisions are decided by the political party rendering the
parliamentary
process irrelevant e.g.
o Decision on who is buried at the national
shrine
o Joint Operation Command
o State funding ZANU PF
processes
o Recruitment into state bodies and institutions
o
Appointment of public officials-the prerogative of the president
State of
the Media
• One-sided and polarised, it compromises citizens’ access to
unbiased
information. The state media has become biased towards ZANU PF
whereas the
privately owned (media) is somehow biased towards the
opposition.
• Repressive media laws Access to Information Protection and
Privacy Act
(AIPPA), POSA, Official Secrecy ACT- are systematically used to
suppress
independent or opposing voices e.g. arrests of journalists,
especially those
from the privately owned media houses, community radios are
illegal and are
viewed as regime change proponents.
• There have been
initiatives to provide alternative voices in the
broadcasting field by
pirate stations like Studio 7, SW Radio Africa which
have become popular
amongst citizens. However the government jammed the
frequencies and its
nolonger possible to listen to the stations on normal
radios.
This
prompted several NGOs in Zimbabwe to distribute some small solar radios
that
have better frequency, but the government has now declared them illegal
and
several NGOs and homes were raided. Police spokeswoman Charity
(Charamba)
has said as elections approach it is not just radios that are the
focus of
police investigations, but other equipment distributed by NGOs like
mobile
phones.
“On these cell phones you can even put memory sticks to download
information – to download pictures – and some of the gadgets, even like ball
points [pens], which are being used to record people,” the police
spokeswoman said.
Security
Militarisation of the State- state
security institutions, the police, army
and intelligence services have been
at the fore of suppressing citizen’s
participation in governance issues.
Service Chiefs have been declaring that
they will not salute a President
with no war credentials, a clear indication
that they will not respect the
will of the people if such a presidential
candidate wins an
election.
In Zimbabwe there has been a trend of retired military
personnel now serving
in most state institutions, ministries etc. State
security organs have
instilled too much fear amongst the citizens, the
confiscation of radios
distributed by NGOs is a classic example, and it’s
now a criminal offence to
own such a radio with short wave
frequency.
The Government of National Unity (GNU)
After the
disputed March poll, an unelected and undemocratic government was
installed
after the SADC initiated negotiations between the political
parties. This
government was not elected by the people of Zimbabwe and it
ended up having
individuals who lost elections running the affairs of the
country.
Zimbabweans were not given a chance to elect a government of
their choice.
The political environment still does not allow for a free and
fair election
as violence and intimidation always characterise the electoral
period in
Zimbabwe.
The Constitution Making Process
A product
of the Global Political Agreement signed by the parties in
September
2008.
The agreement initiated Zimbabwe’s constitution making process, and
this is
articulated by Article VI which relegated the citizens in the making
of the
country’s supreme law. (NCA challenged Article 6)
Some of the
arguments we had:-
The process was driven by politicians, who disguised
an outreach phase but
ended up negotiating their positions.
• The
COPAC process left out other political parties and civil society
formations,
making the product wholly ZANU PF/MDCT affair.
• The state media and some
private media houses shut space for the NCA and
other organisations and
individuals which are opposing the draft. This is
despite the clear
violation of the SADC Principles and Guidelines Governing
Democratic
Elections which state access to equal media access as a key
yardstick to
free and fair electoral processes.
• COPAC played the referee and player
role at the same time. After writing
the draft, logic was that they should
not have participated in the awareness
campaigns which, instead of educating
people about what is in the draft they
ended up picking some supposed-good
sections to entice the public to vote
for the draft: a clear case of
canvassing for votes.
• Three quarters of the voting population have not
received the draft, COPAC
only availed 90 000 with a paltry 20 000 being in
vernacular. The courts
reluctantly attend to the NCA urgent application
court case seeking an
extension of date to allow Zimbabweans to be given
enough the copies and
enough the time to decide on the draft.
• there
was no justification in printing 12 million ballot papers with a
country
with a voting population of about 7 million
• The state has unleashed the
police to harass and intimidate civil society
organisations confiscating
radios which they claim were weapons of espionage
and a threat to national
security.
• The barring of polling agents of groups campaigning for a no
vote, opens
the process to rigging and manipulation•
• The notice
period given was inadequate and displayed lack of respect for
the
people
• The “Yes” campaign used hate speech. For example the Prime
Minister
described the No campaign as being made up of “nhinhi”[Sunningdale]
and
those intending to vote “No” as having mamhepo (evil
spirits)[Bulawayo].
• The police disrupted many “NO” campaign meetings
and the atmosphere was
not conducive to public meetings by the “NO” campaign
to the extent that
many voters had no access to the “No” message.
•
The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission was not independent. For example, it
failed to play its role in terms of electoral law to monitor media
coverage.
• The judiciary was not independent. The courts dismissed, on
suspicious
grounds, every application meant to make the referendum more
democratic.
Also, I note a new political culture of political cultism and
the
hero-worshiping of political leaders, which is now characterising our
politics. This culture has destroyed open dialogue straight to the electoral
processes; citizens have allowed politicians to set the agenda for them.
It’s
now more of what is Mugabe saying or what is Tsvangirai saying not
necessarily the issues.
It is this culture that has bred
dictatorship, and the centralisation of
decision making e.g. Mugabe in ZANU
PF and Tsvangirai and his MDCT. Both
political parties are now being
identified more with these individuals than
the party itself and its
membership.
Way Forward
As for the civil society, there is need
for the de-institutionalisation of
civil society and the building and
consolidation of social movements.
Zimbabwe’s civil society used to be more
vibrant and citizen participation
was high, but due to the encroachment of
global capital agenda setting was
transferred to monopoly capital hence the
dilemma of institutionalisation.
Volunteerism must be the key principle
within our social movements, and the
encouragement of active participation
of citizens in governance issues.
There is need for the introduction of
self-financing programs to regain
citizen agenda setting.
Thank
you!
Blessing Vava
Changing
Times
The huge orange ball sinks lazily into the horizon, casting blue
and yellow rays on to dusty streets. I am haunted by the ghosts of times gone
by, silhouettes echoing of my youth, when I played soccer with a home made ball,
fashioned out of plastic bags, players’ bodies painted white with dust.
The passing of day into night reminds me of a happier time, adults
hurriedly bathing, preparing to clock into night shift at work, for companies
that worked 24/7 to meet the demand of their manufacturing sector. Today’s
Zimbabwe is a place where it would seem odd for anyone leaving for work after
dark, neighbours would gossip if that were to occur, speculating that the person
is either a criminal or engaged in prostitution. Children of today’s Zimbabwe
would find it hard to imagine a nation whose workers are so busy they would have
to work the night shift.
The teeming industries are gone, factories now laid idle,
lumbering, inert white elephants that have marched off into the sunset. What we
are left with are bands of unemployed youths, sitting on roadsides staring
blankly at the sinking sun—gambling, drinking cheap liquor and smoking
marijuana. The inactivity after more than a decade of chaotic misrule by
President Robert Mugabe has precipitated an unprecedented economic meltdown,
whose knock on effects are still being felt unto this day, despite what
politicians are telling us about economic recovery.
I am one of the lucky ones, I have a job, as poorly paid as I am.
Sometimes as I stride home from my job, working overtime but unable to claim the
benefit, as late as 11 pm, the streets are still packed with vendors,
desperately coaxing night walkers to buy their goods, anything from cooked maize
and tomatoes to cheap Chinese sweets, sold one at a time.
Harare was once dubbed a city that did not sleep, its industries
thumping late into the night, its clubs packed with revellers, music and dance
reverberating till all hours. But now the late night in the capital is marked
by desperate hungry women whose babies have a tiny turf to crawl around and
exercise their limbs, as they wait for their mothers to take them home and
sleep.
Children today have lost their freedom, that right to play games
such as street soccer and instead spend time on the streets helping their
mothers to eke out a living, some even trading drugs amongst
themselves.
This is Zimbabwe today, where jobs are almost impossible to come
by and the only option open for us is either to be vendors or leave for foreign
lands.