http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 21 May 2011 23:23
BY CAIPHAS
CHIMHETE
PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe has dumped the two main rival
factions in Zanu PF,
which for years have been plotting against each other
to succeed him, in
favour of the Minister of State Security in his office,
Sydney Sekeramayi,
authoritative sources said.
The
sources said the 87-year-old leader confided in his inner circles in
February that he preferred Sekeramayi to succeed him ahead of both Vice-
President Joice Mujuru and Defence minister Emmerson
Mnangangwa.
Although he may not openly choose a successor, Mugabe has
vast influence on
who can take over from him in Zanu PF. The issue of
succession has become so
hot in Zanu PF in recent months amid increased
reports of Mugabe’s ill
health compounded by his advanced
age.
For a long time, Mugabe has been oscillating between supporting
Mujuru and
Mnangangwa, causing confusion among his party supporters. This is
not the
first time that Sekeramayi’s name has been tossed in the succession
ring.
Sekeramayi, described as very intelligent and calculating, is seen as
a
presidential contender partly because of his powerful voice in Zanu PF’s
upper echelons.
The “spymaster”, as he is affectionately known in
party circles, has served
as a minister in Mugabe’s cabinet since the
country’s Independence in 1980.
He also still commands both support and
respect among the military.
“It is now common knowledge in our
circles that the President prefers
Sekeramayi,” said one source. “This is
why people like Mutasa (Didymus) can
openly castigate the two factions and
telling supporters to rally behind
Mugabe and no one
else”.
Sekeramayi is considered a moderate and is also “acceptable”
among the hawks
due to his close links with the army and intelligence.
Mutasa, who is Zanu
PF secretary for administration, recently told a rally
in Manicaland that
they should neither join the Mujuru or Mnangagwa factions
but support the
liberation party.
“If you are in either of the
factions, move out as we should all be in
President Mugabe’s faction,” said
Mutasa.
Indeed, said sources, there is a Mugabe faction in Zanu PF
which comprises a
clique of loyalists, who believe Mugabe can rule until he
dies. Mutasa
yesterday professed ignorance that Sekeramayi was Mugabe’s
anointed
successor.
“I don’t know anything about that,” said
Mutasa. “In any case, such issues
are not discussed in newspapers but in our
politburo meetings.”
In 2004 Mugabe appeared to have anointed Mujuru.
When elevating Mujuru to
vice-president in December 2004, Mugabe said she
was destined for “higher
office”, a statement which many analysts concluded
to mean her anointment.
Mujuru is the wife of former army chief,
Solomon Mujuru, who remains highly
influential in government and the
military.
But University of Zimbabwe political science lecturer John
Makumbe said Zanu
PF was unlikely to violate its party hierarchy by imposing
someone junior
ahead of Mujuru, who has been Vice-President since
2004.
“Mujuru is likely to be the successor to Mugabe because she is
the
Vice-President,” said Makumbe. “Zanu PF rarely violates its party
hierarchy.
She (Mujuru) is more acceptable in the party than Mnangagwa and
John Nkomo
(Vice-President) who would be considered junior to
her.”
Mnangagwa’s disadvantage stems from his stint as Minister of
State Security
during the Gukururahundi era, where an estimated 20 000
people were killed.
Mugabe has not forgiven Mnangagwa for his alleged role
in the botched
Tsholotsho saga, in which his faction was accused of plotting
to unseat him.
But, Makumbe said, the securocrats would resist Mujuru
as they considered
her too accommodative and friendly to Prime Minister
Morgan Tsvangirai, a
situation which threatens their political and economic
interests.
Sources said Mnangagwa is the hawks’ favoured successor in
their strategy to
protect themselves in a post-Mugabe era.
“Hawks
would prefer someone who sings from the same hymnbook with Joint
Operations
Command (JOC) and Mujuru is definitely not one of them because
she does not
condone violence,” said Makumbe.
Another analyst said hawks would
rather prefer Sekeramayi to Mujuru if their
plans to prop Mnangagwa
faltered. But the succession matrix would favour the
last acting
Vice-President, should Mugabe resigns or die in office.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 21 May 2011 23:34
BY
PATIENCE NYANGOVE
ZANU PF tried to arm-twist the Sadc at the just
ended summit in Namibia to
change its tough stance on President Robert
Mugabe and his party reached at
a summit in Zambia two months ago, the MDC-T
said yesterday.
Sadc’s troika heavily reprimanded the former
ruling party at the Livingstone
summit in March, and told Mugabe to end
violence and politically-motivated
arrests, among other
things.
But Zanu PF came out guns blazing at last week’s summit
hoping to overturn
the Troika decision in the absence of the facilitator, SA
President Jacob
Zuma, according to the MDC-T.
Other sources said
Zanu PF also wanted to push for early elections by
insisting that the
inclusive government was not functioning as the parties
were not speaking
with one voice on issues such as land, sanctions and
indigenisation.
Zanu PF also did not want the roadmap to free and
fair election, said the
sources.
MDC-T spokesperson Douglas
Mwonzora said his party was happy that Sadc
leaders refused to listen to
Zanu PF. “We understand that Zanu PF wanted
Sadc to review the Livingstone
resolutions on Zimbabwe based on the position
of papers of protagonists of
interested parties,” said Mwonzora.
“We were happy the summit
proposed to review the Sadc position on Zimbabwe
as reflected in the
resolution arrived at in Zambia. It was improper to
review a position of
that nature on the basis of a position paper of an
interested party. It
appears Sadc is being informed by its technical
process.”
Mwonzora said for Sadc to reach a conclusive position
on Zimbabwe, there was
need for it to get a full report from the facilitator
for it to have a
better appreciation of progress being made by the
negotiators.
“We are happy they will be a special summit next month
where the Zimbabwean
issue will be deliberated. At the summit as the MDC, we
will insist on a
clear roadmap to free and fair elections,” said Mwonzora.
“We will also
insist on security sector reform. We will insist that we must
not have a
partisan army, a partisan police and a partisan Central
Intelligence
Organisation.”
A source who attended the summit said
Sadc was very hostile to the Zanu PF
position because it was now aware that
the party was trying to “ambush” all
the processes in a bid to make all Sadc
initiatives irrelevant.
However, Zanu PF negotiator Patrick Chinamasa
said the proposal to put
Zimbabwe for deliberation was put by Botswana
President Ian Khama after
Banda had called for it to be deferred since Zuma
was not present.
“It’s not true what the MDC is saying. What happened
is that the proposal
came from the chairperson on the organ on Defence
President Rupiah Banda to
defer deliberations on Zimbabwe because President
Zuma was not there,” said
Chinamasa.
“However, Khama insisted
that the matter be debated. President Mugabe
chipped in saying the matter
can’t be up for deliberations since the
facilitator and the other two MDC
formations were not around. We are
lawyers, President Mugabe, Mnangagwa and
I and so it would have been
irregular for us to discuss while others were
not there because they are
also affected.”
Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai, who heads the main MDC formation, his
deputy Arthur Mutambara
and Professor Welshman Ncube were not at the summit
after being informed in
advance that Zimbabwe would not be on the agenda.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 21 May
2011 22:51
Disability HIV and Aids Trust (DHAT), head of operations
Hamida Mauto said
HIV-positive people with disabilities faced many
challenges when trying to
access health services.
“Information on HIV and
Aids that includes testing, counselling and
dispensing of medication which
is available in the country only suits those
people who are able-bodied,”
she said.
“Therefore deaf and blind people face a huge challenge as
they remain in the
dark. Confidentiality is being compromised as one will
have to go with a
translator as many health care-givers do not know sign
language and health
institutions do not have Braille, which is meant for
blind people.”
Mauto said fear of stigma and discrimination also
prevented some people with
disabilities from being tested or to seek more
information on HIV and Aids.
She said there was also a wrong perception that
people with disabilities
were not at risk of contracting HIV and
Aids.
Addressing a regional HIV/Aids workshop last week in Harare,
Health and
Child Welfare minister Henry Madzorera said the government was
working to
ensure the accessibility of HIV information to people with
disabilities.
He said health workers at all levels had been trained
on disability issues,
deaf awareness and sign language to improve
communication.
But Madzorera admitted that a lot still had to be done to
improve access to
information on HIV and Aids, as many programmes have not
been taking people
with disabilities into consideration.
It also
emerged at the workshop that the sharp decline in the HIV prevalence
rate of
13,1% did not take into consideration people with disabilities.
The country
does not have statistics on people with disabilities who are
HIV-positive,
therefore it becomes difficult for donors who may be willing
to support
them.
The workshop was hosted by DHAT and was attended by health
representatives
from Botswana, Malawi and Zambia.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 21 May 2011 23:45
BY
PATIENCE NYANGOVE
PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe is reportedly
micro-managing the Ministry of Mines
and Mining Development following
rampant reports of corruption by senior
Ministry officials, authoritative
sources said.
The sources said Mugabe was not happy with the way special
mining grants
were awarded to miners with some paying amo-unts ranging from
US$100 000 and
US$500 000 with an insignificant amount being paid to
government.
They said Mugabe was also incensed by the continued
reports of senior
officials who were demanding bribes in exchange of
lucrative mining rights.
For the past few months, said the sources, Mugabe
has been deeply involved
in the awarding of special grants to miners before
signing them because he
does not trust senior officials in the
ministry.
“The President no longer trusts anyone within our ministry
because of the
rampant corruption among senior ministry officials,” said one
source. “There
is even an incident where a very senior official had his
other eye injured
in skirmishes with some prospective miners who were duped
of their money.”
Responsible minister Obert Mpofu on Friday refuted the
allegations adding
that it was “rubbish” that Mugabe was now overseeing some
major functions
within his ministry.
“I don’t know what you are
talking about. It’s actually rubbish because the
President has got nothing
to do with the issuing of special grants,” he said
before he hung up his
mobile phone.
However, in sharp contradiction with Mpofu,
Presidential spokesperson George
Charamba admitted that Mugabe was in actual
fact overseeing the awarding of
the special grants in the mining
sector.
He, however, tried to downplay the issue.
“They
have always been done by President Mugabe,” said Charamba. “No wealth
can
just be placed in the hands of people without the President’s consent.
So
the President routinely deals with the issue of mineral grants.”
Last
year, Mpofu was accused in front of Mugabe of soliciting for bribes by
Canadile Miners (Pvt) Limited deputy chairman Lovemore Kurotwi, revelations
that are said to have stunned the President.
Kurotwi is
currently being charged with fraudulently acquiring diamond
mining claims in
Chiadzwa in Manicaland province.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 22 May 2011 00:06
BY NQOBANI
NDLOVU
BULAWAYO — The MDC-T youth assembly has embarked on a voter
education
exercise to ensure over 1 million of the party’s youths are
registered to
vote ahead of upcoming elections, officials have said.
The
voter education exercise comes amid the realisation that thousands of
youths
in the Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai-led party are not registered
to
vote.
“We have embarked on a voter education programme,” said Promise
Mkhwananzi,
the MDC T youth assembly secretary-general.
“We want
to ensure that 1 million youths get registered and once that is
done, Zanu
PF is finished.”
He said the programme was also designed to ensure
that the MDC-T youths
would be able to “roll out protests to defend the
party votes should Zanu PF
rig in upcoming elections.”
The Youth
Initiative for Democracy in Zimbabwe, which is spearheading a
programme to
assist youths with voter registration, indicated that “getting
registered to
vote is not youth-friendly” owing to the RG Office’s
tendencies of citing
various excuses to bar youths from registering for
polls.
Mudede
could not be reached for comment last week as he was said to be out
of the
office.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 21 May 2011 23:54
BY NQABA
MATSHAZI
More than five months into the year, Zimbabweans are no
wiser as to when the
next elections will be held with Global Political
Agreement (GPA) principals
seemingly pulling in different directions and
giving contradictory
statements.
At least four dates are being
cited as the time when elections would be
held. Zanu PF prefers to have
polls this year, while Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai has announced
elections could be held sometime next year.
But others say 2013 is
the most feasible date and yet again, Tsholotsho
legislator, Jonathan Moyo
has claimed that if elections are not held this
year, then they should be no
polls till 2016.
Just when the nation was beginning to warm to the
idea that elections would
not be held this year, President Robert Mugabe
thunderously announced that
there was no reason why polls could not be held
this year.
This follows a meeting of Mugabe’s Zanu PF party’s
politburo, which
reportedly berated its negotiator, Patrick Chinamasa for
saying polls could
not be held this year and proposing that they either be
held next year or
2013.
But on the other hand, Tsvangirai told a
press conference on the sidelines
of the World Economic Forum summit in Cape
Town, South Africa, that
elections could only be held within 12 months but
certainly not this year.
Welshman Ncube, leader of a faction of the
MDC told a business conference in
Bulawayo that elections were impossible
this year, with the nearest possible
date for a poll being March next
year.
The main stumbling block, all parties claim, is the
finalisation of a new
constitution, which Mugabe insists should be completed
this year, while
Tsvangirai and Ncube’s parties claim that this is not
possible.
Bulawayo legislator, David Coltart has waded into that
debate saying Zanu PF’s
proclamations should be ignored as it was impossible
to complete the
drafting of the new charter.
“No matter what Zanu
PF says to Sadc (Southern African Development
Community) leaders, fact is we
cannot complete (the) constitutional reform
process and have elections this
year,” he wrote on micro-blogging site
Twitter, last week.
“(We)
cannot start electoral process in Zimbabwe until we know whether we
have an
executive president or prime minister, proportional representation
or first
past the post and dual citizenship or not.”
Coltart, a lawyer by
profession, said any shortcuts that Zanu PF tried would
be equivalent to
tearing up the Sadc-brokered GPA.
Parties must allow wounds to heal—
analysts
University lecturer and analyst Lawton Hikwa said it was obvious
that at
some point elections had to be held but having a poll this year
might not be
a priority, arguing that the constitution and economy needed
more attention.
“This is causing unnecessary anxiety and it confirms
that there are problems
in the GPA,” he said. “Given the 2008 election
violence, people still have
fresh memories and having an election so soon
may not be expedient.”
This anxiety, Hikwa argued, could be a
deterrent to investment as it
portrayed an unstable country at a time
Zimbabwe is desperate for investors.
Hikwa said the best time to hold
elections would most probably be either
late next year or in 2013, when the
constitution would have been dealt with
and the economy back on steady
ground.
Another analyst, who preferred to remain anonymous, claimed
there was a lot
riding on this election and more so for Zanu PF than the
other parties.
But he said he did not see Mugabe going ahead with polls this
year,
dismissing this week’s call as rhetoric and a way to test waters to
see if
election talk would gain favour with voters.
“Mugabe will
not counter (South African president) Jacob Zuma, who has
already spoken of
conditions to be met before any elections are held,” the
analyst
said.
“He might be seen to be contradicting him (Zuma) but I think he is
trying to
show that he is his own man.”
Zuma has called for an
electoral roadmap to be in place before polls, but
Zanu PF seems to be
singing a different tune. Its chairman, Simon Khaya-Moyo
claimed his party
was against the roadmap but would be bound by the GPA.
But without a
definite date for elections, tension continues to mount with
reports of
violence and intimidation across the country.
Comments (0)Add Comment
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 21 May
2011 23:48
BY KUDZAI CHIMHANGWA
ZIMBABWE is still not eligible
for benefits under the Africa Growth
Opportunity Act (Agoa) because it has
not made any progress in promoting the
rule of law and political reforms, a
senior United States official said last
week.
Responding to a
question during a teleconference on Tuesday, deputy
assistant US trade
representative for Africa Constance Hamilton said America
would not remove
economic sanctions against Zimbabwe until there was a
definite move towards
democracy.
“State department officials said that as long as
human rights violations,
land seizures, intimidation of those participating
in the political process
continue, the sanctioned individuals and entities
on the list who continue
to perpetuate and benefit from these acts are
unlikely to be removed,” she
said.
Hamilton’s brief centres on
advancing bilateral, regional and multilateral
US trade and economic
cooperation initiatives with the countries of
sub-Saharan
Africa.
However, Minister of Trade and Industry Professor Welshman Ncube
explained
that Zimbabwe had never been a participating member of Agoa since
the
legislation’s inception.
“Zimbabwe was excluded in the whole
process a decade ago owing to
disagreement between the US government and the
then Zanu PF-led government,”
said Ncube.
“There was no GPA when Zimbabwe
was excluded for political reasons,” said
Ncube, adding that the country has
never sought to apply to join in the Agoa
forum.
Hamilton’s statement
comes at a time when Zambia will host the 2011 Agoa
Forum in a fortnight’s
time. It will be the centrepiece of the US government’s
trade policy with
sub-Saharan Africa.
The 2011 forum marks the 10th year that
government officials, business
leaders, and civil society from African
countries and the US will convene to
promote trade, business, and investment
opportunities that sustain economic
development on the
continent.
The 2011 Forum’s theme is Enhanced Trade through Increased
Competitiveness,
Value Addition and Deeper Regional Integration.
This
year’s forum promises to attract trade ministers and delegations from
the 37
Agoa-eligible African countries, as well as a large US government
delegation
expected to be led by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and US
trade
representative Ronald Kirk.
The forum will bring together over 800
participants.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 21 May 2011
23:47
BY JENNIFER DUBE
HARARE City councillors are up in arms
against the council’s housing
department which they accuse of sabotaging
their efforts to deliver
accommodation to residents.
Councillors who
attended last week’s full council meeting unanimously
slammed the
department, with the sole Zanu PF elected councillor Eveline
Njiri from
Epworth, lambasting housing director Justin Chivavaya for
allegedly
jeopadising her chances of re-election.
“Last year, some people in my ward
were soaked by rain and I went to his
(Chivavaya’s) office and the Town
Clerk (Tendai Mahachi) told him to address
their plight but to date, he has
done nothing,” Njiri said.
“This has caused me problems because my
superiors are now asking why I am
taking too long to deliver what the people
voted me for.”
Mbare’s councillor Friday Muleya expressed concern
that since last year’s
launch of a housing project under a US$5 million Bill
and Melinda Gates
Foundation fund, residents in his area continued to wait
in vain.
“We have been waiting for a report from that department
since the
groundbreaking ceremony in September last year,” Muleya
said.
“The Mayor (Muchadeyi Masunda) is doing his best in securing
funding for
various projects but everything gets blocked in these
departments.”
He said he aimed at providing between 500 and 1 000 new
houses per year.
“But it’s been two years now since we came into office and
we have not
provided even a single house because some people are sleeping on
the job
while others are on a mission to sabotage us.”
Muleya
also complained about the department’s failure to come up with a
Mupedzanhamo Phase 2 project to decongest Mbare and create more
employment.
In an interview after the meeting, Kuwadzana councillor Thomas
Muzuva also
complained at the slow pace at which co-operatives were being
allocated
land.
“I have 10 cooperatives I am working with in Kuwadzana
but only one which
was formed in 2004 finally got allocated some land in
February,” he said.
“Council recommends that a cooperative must be given
land once each member’s
total contribution gets to US$800 but a lot of
cooperatives which have
exceeded this figure continue to be frustrated until
some members drop out.”
Deputy director James Chiyangwa however told
the meeting that the department
had “assisted many who approach
it”.
Efforts to get comments from Masunda and Chivavaya were fruitless last
week.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 21 May 2011 23:47
By Silas
Nkala
SOME church organisations in the country have condemned
apostolic sect
churches and Zanu PF for turning their churches into venues
for political
rallies.
The condemnation comes after Zanu PF has targeted
the apostolic sects in an
effort to boost its dwindling support
base.
It is believed that Zanu PF forcibly obtained most signatures
for its
anti-sanctions petition from apostolic sect church members.
Recently state
media reported that at least 2,2 million people had signed
the
anti-sanctions petition.
Association of Evangelicals
in Africa’s Director of Ethics, Peace and
Justice Commission in Southern
Africa Patson Netha said the church should be
a place of uniting the people
from different political parties.
He said the chanting of political
slogans which have characterised
gatherings of some apostolic sects in
recent months was illegal and must be
stopped.
Such activities are not
only offending to some people but to God as well, he
said.
“The
church must be for everyone so that it can deal with issues of
injustice,”
said Netha. “The Church must not take sides on any party
politics.”
Netha
said the church must speak against the perpetuation of injustice no
matter
which political party is responsible.
The Zimbabwe Christian Alliance (ZCA)
executive director Useni Sibanda said
the “invasion” of the independent
Apostolic Faith sects by Zanu PF was an
unfortunate development that would
infringe on the freedom of religion.
“We call upon the church leaders
to maintain their credibility by not
allowing themselves to be manipulated
by politicians,” said Sibanda. “There
is need to maintain a critical
prophetic distance between the Church and the
State. We also call upon Copac
to respect the views of the Church and the
Christian community on the
separation of the state and the church.”
The Christian community
emphasised during the constitutional outreach that
the church needed to
independently handle its issues through the relevant
Church umbrella
structures without the interference from the state.
Zanu PF
spokesperson Rugare Gumbo dismissed accusations by church
organisations
saying they were nothing but a manifestation of jealousy over
his party’s
cordial relations with the apostolic sects.
“Any church is free to
associate with any party. There is no one who should
come between God and
churches. We know they support opposition parties and
the West. Is that what
God told them to do?” asked Gumbo cynically.
President Robert Mugabe,
Vice-President Joice Mujuru and Zanu PF ministers
Webster Shamu, Nicholas
Goche and former minister Amos Midzi have been
featured on national
television attending Apostolic and Zion churches
services, where they are
said to have preached their party mantra.
Zanu PF politicians have been
featured in the media wearing apostolic sect
regalia, a move which other
churches described as “blasphemous and an abuse
of the sect’s regalia and
misuse of avenues meant for worshiping God.”
Some of the church
leaders have been seen chanting anti-sanctions slogans
and encouraging their
members to sign the petition.
Efforts to get a comment from the Johanne
Masowe, Johanne Marange, Zion and
other apostolic churches were
fruitless.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 21 May 2011 22:52
BY CHIPO
MASARA
While most of us continue to see the used plastic bottles and
waste in
general as nothing more than litter, there are some that have
finally
realised that there is money to be made from waste.
And now they
are doing all they can to not only rid the country of a
persistent problem
but are making quite an awesome living through it. Last
week this column
concentrated on Tisunungureiwo Cooperative operating from
the Graniteside
industrial area, a cooperative that buys all kinds of
recyclable waste,
sorts it out and stores it for resale.
This week, in an attempt to
establish just how well the recycling industry
is fairing in the country,
StandardLife&Style embarked on a mission to find
exactly who it is that
buys the used plastic bottles that organisations such
as Tisunungureiwo
would have gone to such great trouble to collect.
Paying a surprise
visit at Number 21 Conald Road in the Graniteside
industrial area, where CS
Plastics, formerly known as Save$Centre is
located, Life&Style was left
more than convinced that the recycling industry
has finally become a
reality in Zimbabwe. CS Plastics is one of the
recycling companies that
purchase the used plastic bottles that
Tisunungureiwo Cooperative would have
stored.
Most consumers might not actually be aware of it, but the
bulk of the
plastic buckets that we store our water in and the plastic cups
we buy from
the different retailers countrywide actually come from the many
Cascade,
Mahewu and PET bottles that we would have used and more often than
not,
carelessly discarded of.
Having collected the countless bottles, CS
Plastics then tasks themselves
with thoroughly cleaning each and every
single bottle before they are sorted
according to their types, chipped and
placed in the injection machine, the
machine used to manufacture plastic
products, through the injection moulding
process.
In less than
five minutes of processing, they would have produced an array
of highly
marketable plastic products, mostly 15 and 20-litre containers as
well as
buckets, dishes and cups.
“On a normal working day, we can make about
500 15-litre or 400 20-litre
buckets which we then supply to retailers all
over Zimbabwe,” said Commander
Gwatinyanya, an assistant machine operator at
CS Plastics.
Asked whether it was hygienic to use the used and often
dirty plastic
bottles to make such products as kitchen utensils like cups,
Gwatinyanya
said they only used the used bottles to make buckets and dishes
as they
purchased what they called “virgin plastic”, which would not have
been used
before, from such companies as AI Davies.
CS Plastics
are ready to provide transport to collect plastics that weigh a
tonne and
more.
“People should never burn plastics. The least that they can do
is put it in
the bins and we will come and relieve them of it, and we will
pay for it,”
Gwatinyanya said.
And indeed, many people have as a result
found a way to make a decent
living. That is why nowadays it is no longer
rare to come across people
scrapping through bins, carrying bags full of
used plastic bottles.
But most importantly, this is a true reflection
that as a country, Zimbabwe
has come of age and is on the right track to
helping restore our now
degraded environment.
Recycling is definitely the
way to go!
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 22 May 2011 00:15
BY KUDZAI
CHIMHANGWA AND MOSES CHIBAYA
TOBACCO farmers are disgruntled over the
prices being offered at the auction
floors and are urging government to
urgently intervene on the issue.
This year, the number of registered tobacco
growers surged to 60 000 against
last year’s figure of less than 15 000
farmers owing to the profitable
returns that the crop has been known to
offer.
Zimbabwe Progressive Tobacco Farmers Union President Nicholas Kapungu
said
prevailing prices at the floors were only serving to deter new farmers
from
growing the golden leaf next season.
“We have a whole lot of
experienced farmers in our union who have been
farming tobacco for many
years, but the prevailing prices are nothing short
of sabotage,” said
Kapungu.
He said that prices last week were hovering between US$0,80 and
US$1,20
regardless of crop quality.
“As a union, we are not even
consulted when the authorities select buyers,”
said Kapungu. “Government is
not paying attention to the needs of farmers
and, as a union, we call upon
the authorities to address our plight.”
Official statistics from the Tobacco
Industry and Marketing Board (Timb)
showed that 87 million kilogrammes of
tobacco worth US$231 million had gone
under the hammer at an average price
of US$2,65 by day 62 of the selling
season on Wednesday.
Highest prices
offered at Tobacco Sales Floor, Boka Tobacco Floors and
Millennium Tobacco
Floors stood at US$4,50, US$4,85 and US$4,46
respectively.
Farmers at TSF
who spoke to The Standard last week bemoaned poor prices at
the auction
floors and urged government to take urgent action.
Mrs Makuvamombe from
Macheke said she had brought four bales to the floors
in April and after the
tobacco was auctioned, one bale mysteriously
disappeared although
indications were that it had been sold at a good
price.
“I think
government is supposed to intervene because the marketing system is
not
fair,” she said.
She also castigated other farmers for bribing buyers not to
pay commensurate
prices for particular bales that deserved higher
prices.
Blessmore Nyanga from Shamva said he had withdrawn his bales from the
floors
after prices became increasingly unfavourable.
Nyanga said that
the costs involved until the final sale were phenomenal and
did not tally
with what he had expected in terms of price offered.
“I had eight bales and
was charged US$25 per bale. Besides that, I had to
foot the commission and
weighing charges before all my bales were auctioned
at less than US$2 per
kg,” he said.
Bornface Vambe from Chinhoyi said he was not happy with the
prices being
offered.
“As you can see, I can’t pay labour, buy
fertilisers and meet other
overheads,” said Vambe.
Boka Floors
spokesperson Rudo Boka explained that it was not in the interest
of the
floors to short-change farmers but urged authorities to engage and
train
farmers on how best to produce top quality crop.
“The competition among
buyers is still limited but Chinese companies that
have been buying on
behalf of the Chinese market have been offering the best
prices,” she
said.
“A number of farmers are not registered and this affects buyers’
planning
capabilities as they would have already sourced money from
international
markets that is in accordance with available tobacco.”
At
least 90% of auctioned tobacco from Zimbabwe is destined for the export
market.
Millennium Tobacco Floors chairman, Hillary Mombeshora said that
some buyers
had not been participating in the auctioning process despite
being
registered, a situation which may be contributing to low prices on the
floors.
“A number of countries including Brazil and Malawi have taken to
farming
tobacco in large quantities, so that will certainly influence world
market
prices,” he said, adding that as the selling season progressed prices
had
generally been on a low note.
Auctioneers said good quality crops
were getting prices over US$4 per
kilogramme. They said Timb should now
focus more on quality instead of
quantity if farmers are to get good
returns.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 21 May 2011 23:19
BY NQOBANI
NDLOVU
BULAWAYO — Foreign-owned companies opposed to the country’s
indigenisation
and empowerment laws must shut operations and relocate to
their countries of
origin, Minister of Youth Development, Indigenisation and
Empowerment
Saviour Kasukuwere said last week.
He said Chinese and Indian
investors were ready to take over foreign-owned
companies that are resisting
to hand over 51% shareholding to black
Zimbabweans, adding that Far East
countries were ready to comply with the
country’s empowerment
laws.
Speaking at a Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries (CZI)
organised business
seminar on black empowerment in Bulawayo last week,
Kasukuwere singled out
ZimPlats as a company that is resisting to comply
with the regulations.
“Foreign-owned companies are very arrogant,
especially mining firms. If they
don’t want to give us 51% shareholding
under the black empowerment
regulations, they should quit now and go back to
their countries,”
Kasukuwere told delegates.
“The Chinese and the
Indians are waiting to come in. Zimplats and other
foreign-owned companies
and mining firms should go back to Australia and
their countries.
“We are
capable of running our businesses and the whites should never think
that we
will fail to run thebusinesses that we take over.”
ZimPlats, the country’s
largest platinum extractor, is under pressure from
politicians clamouring
for a stake in the company.
Kasukuwere warned foreign-owned firms
against taking legal action against
his ministry for grabbing their
shareholding under black empowerment laws.
“You can take us to court but you
will never win,” Kasukuwere noted.
Early this month, the Affirmative
Action Group (AAG) said white-owned
companies were deliberately closing
companies to avoid being taken over
under the black empowerment
regulations.
President Mugabe has vowed to forge ahead with plans to
hand over 51% of
shareholding of white- owned companies to blacks to enable
locals to own the
country’s resources.
Speaking at the launch of
the anti-sanctions campaign recently, Mugabe urged
party supporters to seize
foreign-owned companies as a way of pushing the
West to remove sanctions
slapped on him and his close allies.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 21 May 2011
23:17
BY KUDZAI CHIMANGWA
THE liberalisation of Zimbabwe’s
power supply sector is the panacea to the
energy woes that are restraining
the country’s economic recovery efforts, an
official at a growing electrical
engineering company has said.
Zimbabwe’s electrical power needs have been
catered for by one parastatal,
the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority
(Zesa) ever since the attainment
of independence in 1980, yet the latter has
failed to consistently meet
demand.
Power Network Projects (PNP)
business development manager, Alois
Matarangwanda said although Zesa is
“warming up” to new players in the power
sector, more needed to be done in
terms of reviewing power legislation.
PNP, which specialises in high
voltage switchgear maintenance and substation
construction, has serviced
electrical infrastructure for a number of
renowned companies and mines in
the country.
Last year, the company, which recorded an annual
turnover of US$1 million,
serviced and constructed power lines throughout
the country.
It is currently negotiating with companies in
Mozambique, Botswana, Zambia,
Uganda and Sudan to expand its
market.
“We need legislation that will liberalise the power sector
for independent
new players to create downstream efficiencies and
competitiveness in terms
of service provision and charges,” Matarangwanda
said.
“What we basically need is an enabling environment that will
open up more
opportunities for the private sector to sufficiently cater for
the country’s
power demand.”
Zimbabwe’s power sector is in dire need of
recapitalisation, as the current
2 200 megawatts being generated falls short
of the country’s industrial and
residential needs.
Zesa’s
maintenance backlog and inadequate investment in power generation,
transmission and distribution has only served to exacerbate the prevailing
electricity load shedding.
Zesa defends
load-shedding
Fullard Gwasira, the Zesa spokesman was last week defended
the power utility’s
new load shedding programme that has seen most
households now going without
electricity almost every day.
“The
winter period has always been a challenging period as demand begins to
peak,” he said.
“Zesa will continue to follow a planned load
shedding schedulethat caters
for clients’ needs while allowing industry to
operate viably.”
Gwasira said sections of the industry that have
applied for uninterrupted
power supplies, at an additional cost will be ring
fenced and will not be
affected by the exercise.