President Robert Mugabe has signed into law a new constitution,
which was approved by a large majority in a referendum in March this
year.
The adoption of the new charter, which was published in the
Government Gazette hours after Mugabe assented to it, is seen as key to
ending a protracted period of political turmoil and economic uncertainty in
the country.
The signing ceremony at State House in Harare was
attended by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and Deputy Prime Minister
Arthur Mutambara who both praised the document as ‘home grown’, unlike the
Lancaster House constitution.
Some parts of the new constitution came
into operation immediately after it was gazetted on Wednesday, and these
articles will override the corresponding parts in the old
constitution.
The rest of the new constitution will come into effect the
day a new President is sworn into office after the forthcoming harmonized
elections. Parts of the new constitution that are in effect from Wednesday
onwards are contained in the Sixth Schedule of the charter.
These are
chapters relating to citizenship, the Declaration of Rights, elections and
assumption of office of the President, and the election of Members of
Parliament.
The new set of laws aim to curb the vast powers of the
President and the security services that have enabled decades of impunity
for the ruling elite and encouraged a ruinous system of political patronage.
The new constitution also provides for devolved power to often-marginalised
provinces, and improves civil rights and women’s
representation.
Despite an energetic campaign by the National
Constitutional Assembly (NCA) to reject the laws, Zimbabweans overwhelmingly
approved the constitution in a national referendum two months
ago.
The March vote was peaceful, a marked contrast to the 2008
presidential elections that plunged the country into chaos. Passing a new
constitution was a key element of the power-sharing deal to end the
post-election chaos.
Zimbabwe’s new
constitution presents a golden opportunity for the country to break away from a
culture of impunity for human rights violations, Amnesty International said
today.
President Robert Mugabe today signed into law a new constitution,
following a three-year constitution-making process to replace the Lancaster
House constitution adopted at independence in 1980.
“The new constitution
is a positive development with the potential to increase ordinary people’s
enjoyment of their basic rights,” said Noel Kututwa, Amnesty International's
Africa deputy director.
“Not only is the world watching whether the
country has truly turned the corner on this historic day, but millions of people
in Zimbabwe hope that this new constitution will usher in a new political order
where human rights are respected and protected.”
The constitution-making process
suffered ongoing delays and controversy, but March's referendum on the new
constitution passed off relatively peacefully and resulted in an overwhelming
‘yes’ vote.
Repressive laws
that have been used to stifle government critics are expected to be repealed, or
at least amended, under the new constitution.
"Zimbabwe’s lawmakers are
now expected to realign laws such as the Public Order and Security Act, which
have been used in the past to deny people their civil and political rights,”
said Noel Kututwa.
There has
been an increase in human rights violations in Zimbabwe since the political
crisis that started in 2000 and led to millions fleeing the country to escape
political persecution and economic hardship.
In 2008, more than 200
people were killed in state-sponsored violence during the second round of the
presidential elections, while thousands were tortured and injured.
The adoption of a new constitution
is expected to lead to an election of a new government, following more than four
years of a coalition government established under a political deal brokered by
the Southern Africa Development Community.
“The next election in Zimbabwe
presents a real test for the authorities to prove their commitment to the
declaration of rights in the new constitution," said Noel Kututwa.
"The real test is whether all
political parties and civil society organizations will enjoy their rights to
freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly.”
In recent months, a number of high
profile civil society organizations in Zimbabwe have had their offices raided by
police, while human rights defenders have been arbitrarily
arrested.
“More attacks on human rights defenders will cast doubt on the
government’s commitment to uphold the declaration of rights in the new
constitution,” said Noel Kututwa.
“The police authorities must speed up
human rights education, starting with officers in the Law and Order Section of
the Zimbabwe Republic Police who have been at the forefront of restricting
fundamental freedoms.”
Amnesty International also called on the
government to provide adequate funding to the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission,
as well as urging the next parliament to seriously consider total abolition of
the death penalty.
“The death penalty is one of the colonial legacies
haunting a free Zimbabwe today,” said Noel
Kututwa.
Three police officers, who have been detained over
their alleged attendance at an MDC-T rally last month, have denied they are
guilty of this ‘crime’.
Courage Manyengavana, Marshal Zindoga and
Lovemore Mupedzapasi were tried and convicted for contravening the Police
Act, after being accused of acting in a manner which brought ‘disrespect’ to
the police force. The police claimed that the three officers attended an
MDC-T rally held at Mushumbi Business Centre in Mashonaland Central Province
on 27th April.
This was the same rally where MDC-T youth leader Solomon
Madzore was accused of comparing Robert Mugabe to a ‘lame donkey’. Madzore
was arrested over the comments and released on bail last week.
The
three police officers were reportedly spotted at the rally while in civilian
clothing by members of the police’s Internal Security and Intelligence
unit.
Zindonga and Mupedzapasi were tried by a “trial officer” early this
month, while Manyengavana’s trial was conducted in Harare. They were all
sentenced to serve 14 days in detention at Chikurubi Support Unit Camp, and
their sentence is set to come to an end by the end of this
week.
According to the group’s lawyer Tarisai Mutangi, the three maintain
their innocence and insist they were not participating in the MDC-T
rally.
“The three say they were at the Mushumbi Business Centre where the
rally was happening, but they say they were not part of the rally. But they
were identified by other offices as being present and participating,”
Mutangi said.
He explained that the three might appeal their
conviction once their sentence is completed, but he could not confirm is
this was the case.
The Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) meanwhile
said in a statement that it has noted a “dramatic increase in the arbitrary
application of Section 33 of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform)
Act.” This act has led to a growing number of people being charged with
allegedly “insulting or undermining the authority of the
President”.
“ZLHR has attended to 65 cases (since 2010) where clients
have fallen foul of this law. Due to continued delays in the justice
delivery system, most of the cases are pending although two have since been
finalised, with the beneficiaries being acquitted. In other instances,
clients have been removed from remand due to failure by the State to
prosecute timeously. The constitutionality of this provision has been
challenged on several occasions, on the basis that it infringes on freedom
of expression, particularly of a public figure, and one who must be subject
to scrutiny as a political candidate. The Supreme Court, sitting as a
Constitutional Court, is however yet to make a determination on these
cases,” the ZLHR said.
Last week, a university lecturer in Masvingo
sentenced to three months in jail, after allegedly calling Mugabe a “rotten
old donkey.” Chenjerai Pamhiri, who lectures at the Great Zimbabwe State
University in Masvingo, was convicted for insulting the President and is
being held in remand prison. A bail hearing for Pamhiri is set to be heard
sometime this week.
By Chengetayi Zvauya, Parliamentary
Editor Wednesday, 22 May 2013 11:34 HARARE - Members of Parliament
yesterday adopted a motion to start a fresh and new mobile voter
registration exercise countrywide to ensure that every citizen is allowed to
register as a voter.
Legislators across the political divide supported a
motion moved by MDC MP for Mbizo Settlement Chikwinya who asked government
to restart the mobile voter registration.
Government embarked on a
mobile voter registration exercise which began on April 29 to May 19,
2013.
Chikwinya said the registration had not been adequately advertised
and that not enough centres were provided for.
Zanu PF chief whip
Joram Gumbo said the programme was meant to benefit voters in the rural
constituencies who had missed out on the exercise when it
started.
“It is not correct that the programme was organised to exclude
MDC supporters, it also affected Zanu PF supporters as in my constituency in
Mberengwa the message was left with Chiefs who did not convey it to our
supporters. As parliamentarians we support Hon Chikwinya’s motion,” said
Gumbo.
MDC legislators led by Warren Park MP Ellias Mudzuri claimed
that they witnessed many of their supporters being turned away during mobile
voters’ registration. Mudzuri said he ended up seeking audience with Tobaiwa
Mudede, the Registrar General and Lovemore Sekeramayi, Zimbabwe Election
Commission Chief election officer.
He said the registration exercise
is of paramount importance in the preparation of a voters’ roll which is a
key determinate factor of the general election.
The MPs encouraged
minister of Finance, Tendai Biti to provide adequate funding of the
programme.
The new Zimbabwe constitution which was passed by Parliament
last week provides for a 30 day voter registration.
Wednesday, 22 May 2013 11:09 HARARE -
Civil society groups have demanded close supervision of the Registrar
General’s office by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec) during the
30-day voter registration exercise provided for in the new
constitution.
Addressing reporters in Harare yesterday, Zimbabwe Election
Support Network board member Solomon Zwana, said civil society groups (CSOs)
had observed that there was inadequate education and information, lack of
professionalism as well as inconsistencies in procedures and requirements
during the just-ended mobile voter registration exercise.
Zwana said
there was need for the process to be re-started under the supervision of
Zec, making sure that the legal instruments guiding the issue of aliens are
well-publicised.
“Disheartened by the observations by various
stakeholders such as Parliament, the Churches, Cabinet and Zec that the
process was chaotic, slow and did not capture all people interested in
registering as voters, the CSOs recommend an effective supervision of the
Registrar General’s office by the Zec to safeguard the integrity of the
process for which Zec is accountable to stakeholders,” said Zwana, speaking
on behalf of other CSOs.
“As a precondition to the exercise, the public
must be adequately informed of the process, the requirements and the
modalities prior to the commencement of the process which must be
decentralised to ward level,” said Zwana.
The 50 CSOs who endorsed
the press statement observed the just-ended mobile voter registration
exercise was characterised by lack of genuine decentralisation with
registration centres not proportional to the number of intended
beneficiaries.
Some centres failed to adhere to the stipulated opening
and closing times, resulting in thousands of potential voters being
disenfranchised.
The demands by the CSOs come in the wake of Zec
admitting the chaotic nature of the just-ended process as well as growing
consensus in government that Registrar General Tobaiwa Mudede did a shoddy
job and should be fired. - Mugove Tafirenyika
Disgruntled
aspiring voters caused chaos at Crest Breeders Farm Primary School, Harare
South, during mobile voter registration on Saturday.
Fed up with the
slow pace of the process, they broke windows and forced riot police to step
in.
The Zimbabwean visited the area on Sunday and witnessed long queues.
Frustration was evident among those awaiting their turn.
“People had
become frustrated as it was taking long for them to register. Some of them
had come in the early morning but the pace was very slow and this resulted
in pushing and shoving, and eventually chaos broke out. Some classroom
windows were broken,” said a police officer who had been at the
scene.
A Waterfalls police reaction group was deployed to calm the
situation. Police spokesperson for Harare Province, Tedius Chibande, said he
was yet to get a report on the incident.
People at the registration
centre told The Zimbabwean they were concerned that officers from the
Registrar General’s Department were working at a snail’s pace.
“I
think some people will be left out because there is no sense of urgency
among the officers,” said a Southlea Park resident who declined to be named
for fear of victimisation.
In another development that could result
in the exclusion of several MDC-T activists from the registration process,
Zanu (PF) officials were denying proof of residence letters to the
former.
Suspicions are high that the RG’s Department is working in
cahoots with Zanu (PF) officials after farm settlers were told that they had
to bring a proof of residence letter signed by a Zanu (PF) official in their
respective areas.
At Crest Breeders Farm Primary School, The
Zimbabwean discovered that names of people who would have been issued with
the proof of residence letters were being forwarded by Zanu (PF)
Chairpersons to the RG’s officers.
A proof of residence letter seen by
this reporter had the signature of one Ezekiel Karimanzira, who signed in
his capacity as the Chairperson of the Ushewokunze Housing
Cooperative.
When asked about the process of obtaining proof of residence
if one is a farm dweller, an official said: “What you can do is to locate
your Chairman here and he will give you a letter that you will use when you
get inside.”
MDC-T District Youth Secretary for Harare South, Tatenda
Chigwada said several activists from his party were left out after Zanu (PF)
officials refused to give them proof of residence letters. “The situation
was worse at St John’s Retreat Farm where Zanu (PF) youths were manning the
entrance gate and vetting out people whom they suspected to be from the
MDC-T,” said Chigwada.
At Southerton Primary School, proof of
residence proved to be the major obstacle, with many aspiring voters turned
away.
People blamed the officers for being too stringent.
“Imagine
I came here with a ZESA bill bearing my surname but I was told that my
father should write a letter for me to confirm that I reside at the address
on the electricity bill,” said one resident.
Efforts by Dr Simba Makoni’s political party to hold
discussions with the Norton community a fortnight ago were thwarted, after
police went back on their word and withdrew clearance.
Under
Zimbabwe’s security laws, all political gatherings have to be first cleared
by the police, and the Mavambo/Kusile/Dawn (MKD) party had received
permission to hold its ‘Conversations with Simba Makoni’ in Norton on
Saturday, May 11th.
However, a few hours before party president
Makoni was due to meet the town’s business community, police withdrew
clearance citing missing documentation in the MKD application.
MKD
official Liberty Mukwakwami told SW Radio Africa Wednesday that when he
telephoned Norton police for clarification, a Sergeant Demha could only say
the party had not attached an authorisation letter from the owners of the
venue.
“We asked why the police had not informed us in advance but
the officer refused to discuss the issue further, and asked us to visit the
station instead.”
Mukwakwami said this was the first time the
authorisation letter had been used to block his party’s meetings, as
previous applications had been granted without one.
“The police could
not even tell us what section of the Public Order and Security Act they used
to withdraw clearance for our meeting. But this was not the first time this
has happened in Mashonaland West.
“At one time our rally in Makoni was
cancelled on spurious reasons that ZANU PF also planned to hold a meeting at
the same venue.
“It could be that they feel threatened by Dr Simba
Makoni, but we will not give up our fight for a democratic and properly-run
Zimbabwe,” Mukwakwami said.
A visit to a local orphanage that had
been planned for the same day could not go ahead, with police threatening to
arrest the officials if the meeting went ahead.
“President Makoni was
supposed to visit an orphanage in Norton, meet the children and donate
foodstuffs, but we had to cancel this as advised by Norton police,”
Mukwakwami said.
Since POSA came into force in 2002 it has given police,
a traditional ally of ZANU PF, enormous powers to suppress opposition to
President Mugabe’s autocratic grip on power.
With crucial elections
and the campaign season looming, there are concerns that more bans and
arrests will follow as Zimbabwe’s partisan police force steps up its
campaign against suspected Mugabe opponents.
China has continued to strengthen its ties with Zimbabwe with a
visit this week by that country’s Vice Premier, Wang Yang.
The
Chinese official arrived in Zimbabwe on Tuesday on an official visit to
boost business and bilateral relations between Harare and Beijing.
He
was welcomed at the Harare International Airport by Vice President Joice
Mujuru, Defence Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa and Minister of State in the
Vice President’s Office Sylvester Nguni.
Speaking to journalists soon
after arrival, the Chinese VP said his visit intended to implement business
agreements between the two countries.
“I am here to implement the
agreements reached by the Government of Beijing and Zimbabwe to enhance our
cooperation and trade relations,” he said.
China already has the
strongest international business relationship with Zimbabwe compared to
other nations, with the country largely turning a blind eye to ZANU PF’s
destructive policies over more than a decade.
These policies have left
Zimbabwe alienated, with few international nations wanting to do business in
a country where property and other rights are ignored.
China however
continues to enhance its influence, and the visit this week is seen as a
sign that the Asian superpower wants to keep strengthening its hold in the
country.
HARARE - Zambian president Michael Sata, who has offered grain to
Zimbabwe for next to free, faces a revolt at home for adopting measures
which could increase hunger.
An admirer of President Robert Mugabe’s
often violent and chaotic land reforms, Sata has agreed to give grain to
starving Zimbabwe on easy terms which could see Harare taking delivery
without paying a cent upfront.
Zimbabwe is facing grave food shortages
with over a million people in urgent need of aid.
But back home, a
decision by Sata to slash a key food subsidy threatens to hit the poor,
stoke inflation and spark a popular revolt against his
government.
Reports from Zambia indicate that Sata has torn up his
own populist political playbook by announcing weighty maize subsidies will
be scrapped.
He introduced the subsidies when he came to power in 2011
but now argues scrapping them would lead to “real economic and well
distributed growth” as well as save the government much-needed
cash.
Yet, this could also come with dire costs for the populist and at
times brash Sata, reports say.
Famously, a 1977 decision to scale
back bread subsidies in Egypt prompted riots that killed nearly 80
people.
The army was deployed to restore order and the policy was quickly
rolled back.
Zambia itself saw serious food riots in 1990, which
helped push the government from power.
The backlash this time round
has been prompt, but, for the moment, non-violent.
In Zimbabwe, food
riots in the late 90s caused massive headaches for Mugabe.
Some
Zambians are already plotting against Sata after the decision to scrap
subsidies. Thirty-four-year-old Mooya Chilala, an unemployed father of two,
is reported to be lobbying for the removal of Sata from office.
“I
have many dependents and with this increase all I can ask my fellow Zambians
is to remove this government from power,” Chilala is reported as saying. -
Staff Writer
HARARE - Renegade
Anglican bishop and prominent supporter of President Robert Mugabe, the
ex-communicated Bishop Nolbert Kunonga, is in trouble following legal moves
to force him to return cash and shares seized during his five-year illegal
control of the church.
Lawyers for the Anglican Church of the Province of
Central Africa (CPCA) have written to Kunonga demanding the return of cash
and share certificates worth $641 000 held by Imara Asset Management
Zimbabwe (Private) Limited that were seized by ex-communicated
Kunonga.
Imara Asset Management is one of the largest institutional funds
managers in Zimbabwe, with clients including blue-chip retirement funds,
high net-worth individuals and corporates.
Raymond Moyo of Gill,
Godlonton and Gerrans told the Daily News yesterday that the financial
institution held “certain accounts and investments on behalf of the
CPCA.”
The Bishop Chad Gandhiya-led CPCA, through lawyers Gill,
Godlonton & Gerrans legal practitioners, has written to Kunonga
demanding payment of $641 560 for investments seized by the disgraced
clergyman.
“Our instructions are that sometime in the period of August
2011 to September 2011 and without our client’s consent and knowledge you
accessed and realised its investments valued in the amount of US$641 560.00
held with Imara Asset management Zimbabwe (Pvt) Ltd,” said the letter to
Kunonga seen by the Daily News.
“It is common cause that the said
investments were our client’s property. The Supreme Court confirmed this in
its judgement in the matter SC180/90.”
In the landmark November 19, 2012
Supreme Court judgment, Deputy Chief Justice Luke Malaba ordered Kunonga to
hand back all church assets because they withdrew their membership from the
CPCA and resigned as bishop and trustees, thereby relinquishing the right to
control CPCA property in the diocese.
“They left it, putting
themselves beyond its ecclesiastical jurisdiction,” Malaba said in his
judgment. That ruling quashed a High Court decision that gave Kunonga control
of all church hospitals, orphanages and schools and allowed more than two
million evicted Anglicans to return to their parishes to celebrate Mass
after they were banished to worshiping in parks, private schools and
halls.
After the Supreme Court judgement, Kunonga went to the High Court
in an attempt to avoid the consequences of the Supreme Court decision,
seeking a court order stopping the evictions and another court order that
Anglican Church property is owned by Kunonga’s new Church of the Province of
Zimbabwe and that the church was not part of the Supreme Court challenge
which was lodged by the Diocesan Trustees for the Diocese of Harare -
meaning Kunonga and his fellow former trustees, not his church.
After
hearing arguments in the High Court chambers, the judge president on
December 10 dismissed the application to stop the evictions with costs,
leading to a dramatic eviction of the recalcitrant bishop.
In the
latest demand, CPCA demands payment of $641 560 by May 24, 2013, and warns
that it will file in the High Court a claim for the full return of the cash
and certificates.
“In the circumstances we have been instructed to demand
from you (Kunonga) and your colleagues namely Mr Majokwere, Tome, Gatawa,
Gundu, Nyazika and Shamuyarira jointly and severally, the one paying the
other to be absolved payment of the value of the said investments in the
amount of $641 560,” said the letter.
“Each and one of you is
personally liable for this amount. We demand that this amount be paid in
full at our offices before end of day on Friday the 24th of May
2013.”
The letter from the lawyer is focused on returning the cash and
share certificates to the mission and ministry of the Anglican
Church.
“You can return the relevant share certificates in reduction of
this liability,” the letter says.
“In the event that we do not
receive such payment and or receive the share certificates and you do not
male acceptable arrangements for the settlement of the same we will issue
court process without further notice top you.”
Kunonga is yet to respond
to the legal action, according to CPCA lawyer Moyo.
The CPCA alleges
that Kunonga looted the church properties during his controversial reign and
a cursory inventory revealed that the renegade bishop was not even settling
utility bills. - Gift Phiri, Political Editor
By Fungai Kwaramba, Staff Writer Wednesday, 22 May
2013 11:42 HARARE - The die is cast for a potentially explosive general
election with Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s MDC set to hold its primary
elections this week, while Zanu PF finalises its primary elections
guidelines today — setting the stage for a bruising battle among party
heavyweights.
Today, President Robert Mugabe’s Zanu PF holds a politburo
meeting that will see the party finalise guidelines that could further
divide the ex-majority party ahead of watershed elections due later this
year.
This comes amid dogfights with reports indicating that wars to
succeed 89-year-old Mugabe are at a crescendo and will viciously play out
during primary elections.
Dates for elections, likely to be the
hardest fought since independence in 1980, are still a subject of haggling
between coalition partners in government.
Fresh from a two-day policy
conference, the MDC will on Saturday plunge into its first set of primary
elections where sitting MPs will either be confirmed or rejected by their
constituencies.
Party chairman Lovemore Moyo, said primary elections are
the final lap towards polls.
Moyo, who is also Speaker of Parliament,
said the primary elections signal the beginning of a massive campaign period
before elections.
“It is an internal process that the party has to
undertake in order to prepare for the next elections. This is the beginning
of the electoral process in earnest given that we cannot alone decide dates
for elections,” he said.
Moyo added that primary elections are being
held to give “winners sufficient time to campaign”.
“We are not
worried that some people may choose to pursue personal interests if they
lose and we will go with the primaries as part of our preparations for the
general election,” he said.
Across town, Zanu PF is seeking to finalise
the issue of election guidelines which have been a persistent headache and
could widen rifts in the liberation war movement.
Rugare Gumbo, Zanu
PF spokesperson, said if the party clears the hurdles on guidelines, then
primary elections would be the next port of call in order to rush towards
polls which the party insists will be held end of June, notwithstanding
infeasibility of the timetable in the context of required
processes.
“We are meeting tomorrow (today) to discuss the remaining
issues about our guidelines and it is possible to complete the process
tomorrow. After that, the stage would be set for primary elections and then
elections,” said Gumbo.
In preparation for elections, Mugabe and his
Zanu PF, who insist that elections would be held on June 29, have dispatched
restructuring teams that have been touring provinces in an exercise that has
so far claimed several casualties.
In Manicaland, the Mike Madiro led
executive was disbanded while in Bulawayo the former guerrilla movement
imposed Callistus Ndlovu as the chairperson much to the disgruntlement of
the previous chairperson Killian Sibanda, who is now the vice
chairperson.
Sensing that his bid for another five year term could be
jeopardised by infighting, Mugabe has repeatedly called on his party members
to unite.
But insiders say this is unlikely given the sharp differences
and say Mugabe could go into the election with a campaign limping from
internal dissent.
Mugabe has repeated pleas to party officials not to
jump the gun, officials who include so-called young Turks, women and the old
guard hoping to be repaid for years of loyalty have not stopped their
campaigns.
Harare councillors and Zanu (PF) housing cooperatives have accused
Local Government Minister Ignatius Chombo of abusing his powers to rescind
council resolutions in favour of bogus individuals.
Councillors
and residents who spoke to The Zimbabwean on condition of anonymity said
Chombo was using his muscle to rescind council resolutions and causing
divisions within Zanu (PF). “It is clear that Chombo is against this MDC
dominated council and would do anything to discredit it. Last year council
resolved to venture into a business partnership with Stream Walk Arcade to
build a hotel using its stand 19713 STL.
“But Chombo wrote to the Mayor
directing him to forego the joint venture and sell direct to Stream Walk
Arcade,” explained the councillor.
The councillor alleged that Chombo was
using a former soccer manager as a front to get the land. “Chombo thinks we
are not aware that he has interests in the deal,” he said. Research
conducted by this newspaper at the Department of Deeds, Companies and
Intellectual Property revealed that stand 19713 STL belongs solely to the
City of Harare.
According to latest Council Business Committee’s minutes,
councillors came down hard on Mayor Muchadeyi Masunda to contest partisan
directives imposed by Chombo. Another councillor who spoke off record
revealed that last year council resolved to grant a consortium of five
housing cooperatives 292 residential stands after satisfying the local
authority’s requirements. The consortium is composed of Teachers’ Comfort,
Varombo, Mutasa, Legus and Farai Housing Cooperatives. Mushamukuru Housing
Cooperative had applied for 100 stands, Formula 1 applied for 19 and New
Castle never applied, said the councillor.
“To our surprise Chombo on
8 May wrote a directive reversing the resolution of granting the five
housing cooperatives despite them having gone through normal procedures
saying we should find them another piece of land,” revealed the
councillor.
“Mushamukuru, New Castle and Formula 1 Housing Cooperatives
are just applicants who failed to meet council requirements and have since
forcefully invaded the stands and built their houses without proper papers
or authority from council,” he added. One of the leaders of the consortium
of housing cooperative which got council’s approval said Chombo is dividing
Zanu (PF). “Chombo is actually destroying the party in Tabudirira District
of Budiriro ahead of elections. All these housing cooperatives are led by
Zanu (PF). Instead of supporting those who have followed the channel, Chombo
is supporting invaders of land and labelling the rest MDC affiliates,” said
the disgruntled leader.
When contacted for comment Chombo switched
off his mobile in the middle of the conversation when he was asked about the
Budiriro land scam.
BULAWAYO — Bulawayo residents have condemned the
auctioning of property belonging to residents who owe the local authority
thousands of dollars in unpaid water and supplementary
charges.
Although the Bulawayo City Council suspended such moves last
year after complaints from residents, it has since started the auctions with
property from 16 households having already gone under the hammer and more
expected to be auctioned this Friday.
The Bulawayo Progressive
Residents’ Association says this indicates that the city fathers do not care
about residents who are living from hand to mouth due to the current harsh
economic environment.
The association claims that the city council's
billing system is not being properly done, forcing residents to pay bloated
bills.
HARARE - Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe has
appointed two Supreme Court judges one of whom is his well known
loyalist. The two judges appointed by President Mugabe to the Supreme Court
are Justice Bharat Patel and Justice Ben Hlatshwayo. The swearing-in
ceremony of the two new Supreme Court judges took place at State House and
was graced by the Minister of Justice and Legal Affairs Patrick Chinamasa,
Attorney General Johannes Tomana, Chief Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku and
other top government officials. The two judges pledged to serve the country
without fear or favour. The appointment of two more Supreme Court judges is
in line with the new constitution which extended the Supreme Court bench
from seven to nine judges.
A well known Zimbabwean businessman with South
African citizenship was last week told by the Registrar General Tobaiwa
Mudede that he had to renounce his foreign citizenship first, before he
could apply for a Zimbabwe identification document.
Under the new
constitution, signed into law by President Robert Mugabe on Wednesday, an
individual cannot be denied dual citizenship if the person was born in
Zimbabwe and has foreign citizenship. There are thousands of Zimbabweans in
the Diaspora, who were born in the country but have taken citizenship in
foreign countries where they now live and work, whose rights have also been
affected.
Mutumwa Mawere told SW Radio Africa that he had gone to the
Registrar-General’s office late last week to establish his citizenship and
applied for the ID, but became “a guest of the most senior person in that
office,” – Mudede himself.
“How did I acquire that status and how did
the Registrar General know of my application status? What I was told is that
in the computer system my name was already flagged. The fact that I had a
South African passport was already in the system which means for anyone else
who goes to apply they will get their ID documents but they would not even
know you are a holder of a foreign citizenship. But in my case that is not
the way I am being treated,” Mawere said.
He added: “It would appear
that my relationship with the South African government is of such importance
to Zimbabwe that the Registrar General feels that I am not entitled to the
rights that are enshrined to the constitution.”
It is hoped there
will be an easing of citizenship restrictions with the passing of the new
constitution. Constitutional watchdog, Veritas, says the Registrar-General’s
office is now obliged to apply the new provisions when dealing with
applications for IDs, voter registration and passports.
“There should be
a marked reduction in difficulties with officialdom,” Veritas said in a
statement.
According to Mawere, Mudede says dual citizenship is still not
permissible under the new charter.
“He (Mudede) said even under the
new constitution one still has the obligation to renounce foreign
citizenship… before you can acquire Zimbabwean citizenship. That’s the
version of the Registrar General,” Mawere said.
The businessman said
he has written to Mudede to clarify his position before he takes legal
action. He hopes that if his matter is resolved it will clear the way for
other Zimbabweans who face the same predicament.
Mawere also denied
forming a political party in Zimbabwe saying he has only heard about it in
the media. “I have not called anyone to follow me because there is nothing
to follow.”
By Gugulethu Nyazema, Staff Writer Wednesday,
22 May 2013 11:37 HARARE - Researchers and scientists are far from getting a
vaccine that could prevent new HIV infections.
Speaking at an HIV
vaccine meeting held in Harare recently, Nyaradzo Mgodi, a local researcher,
said although vaccines are the most effective preventive measures against
diseases, the world is still grappling with solutions to the HIV scourge
which has killed millions.
There is debate on whether to focus on the
cure or to just concentrate on a vaccine to end the Aids
epidemic.
Mgodi said an HIV vaccine would either protect individuals who
are HIV negative from contracting the virus, or may have a therapeutic
effect on people already living with HIV/Aids.
Activists believe that
the development of such a vaccine and other prevention options can help
fight and eradicate the disease.
“Effective vaccines against polio,
measles, mumps, rubella and other diseases have significantly reduced rates
of these illnesses in many parts of the world. Today, many scientists,
clinical trial teams and communities are working together on the search for
an Aids vaccine,” Mgodi said.
Mgodi said it is difficult to develop the
HIV vaccine because the virus is transmitted in many ways and a vaccine is
still a long way off.
Chimurenga music guru
Thomas “Mukanya” Mapfumo Wednesday backed the country’s new constitution but
urged authorities to use it to improve the lives of ordinary
Zimbabweans.
He said the country’s supreme law should not be used
selectively.
Speaking from Oregon, here in America shortly before leaving
for London where he is expected to perform, Mapfumo says the government’s
number one priority should be to root out corruption, which he says is rife
in the country, affecting efforts to revive the economy.
Mukanya, who
promises fans in Zimbabwe that he will soon be back for a number of shows,
bemoans piracy saying many artists have been reduced to being destitutes as
they fail to make money from their music.
“I don’t know really know what
we should do to eradicate this problem because it’s like a disease now.
Because musicians are being reaped off and there is no protection. This is
something the world has to look at, especially governments. They have to
protect musicians” he says.
Mapfumo says because of piracy, he is
delaying the release of his latest CD, titled “Danger Zone,” until there is
evidence that something has been done to curb piracy.
A
representative of Afrostars Family, who are organising the London shows,
Tomson Chauke, told Studio 7 from his London base that preparations for
Mukanya’s tour are at an advanced stage.
Chauke promised Mapfumo’s
fans the best from the Chimurenga maestro.
“Mukanya will kick-start his
tour with a show on Friday at The Coronet in Leicester followed by another
show at Starlite De Venue in Chester on Saturday.
“On Sunday there
will be a family day-out show at Chester Rugby Club in Slough before another
family day out on Monday, where Nox Guni will be performing while Mukoma
Thomas will be meeting and greeting his fans”, said Chauke.
Mapfumo
will this time be performing alone, unlike in March when he teamed up with
another Zimbabwean superstar Oliver Mtukudzi when they invaded London.
Zimbabwe has long lost any hint of ‘distressed destination’
stigma, as the country, people and world class products were definitely at
the centre of attention at Indaba 2013 here last week. Ross Kennedy, Chief
Executive of Africa Albida, said the excitement about Zimbabwe as a tourism
destination at the trade event was “incredible”.
The Indaba is
one of the largest tourism marketing events on the African calendar and one
of the top three ‘must visit’ events of its kind on the global calendar.
More than 12,000 delegates attended, including exhibitors, buyers, sellers
and media. “Zimbabwe tourism will be hugely boosted by the UNWTO tourism
congress in August this year. We still have a long way to go, but the
industry is most certainly headed in the right direction,” said
Kennedy.
“Zimbabwe tourism is on the way up – obviously it’s been a
rough time between 2000 and 2011 but we have turned a significant corner,”
he said.
“The interest from international buyers was doubled if not
tripled from the past few years, showing immense interest for properties and
products nationwide.”
A key selling point and highlight that was
discussed at Indaba was the construction of the new airport at Victoria
Falls. “The upgrade of this facility will make a tremendous impact on access
and arrivals to Victoria Falls, with the overflow benefiting the rest of the
country,” said Kennedy.
HARARE —
Zimbabwe vowed on Wednesday it would not roll back on plans to seize 28,000
hectares of land leased to a local subsidiary of the platinum-mining giant
Impala Platinum. "If there is anyone who thinks they own land, please prepare
yourselves for the shocks that will actually befall you," said mines and
mineral development minister Obert Mpofu. "No one owns land especially
mining land. It is owned by the state," he told a meeting in the capital to
discuss the government's mining policy. The government has said it wants the
mining land back from Zimplats because it is underutilised. According to
the mines ministry, Zimplats would not exhaust the ore within the tenure of
its 25-year lease which was granted in 1994. In January, Impala Platinum, the
world's number two producer agreed to sell off 51-percent of Zimplats to the
government. But participation in the state-imposed black empowerment scheme
did not fend off government advances. Mugabe, who a decade ago launched a
campaign to seize white-owned farmland, has threatened to take over firms
which do not comply.
Similar projects are underway in
many other countries
A project being implemented under a Global Fund
grant will improve Zimbabwe's health information systems by providing
Internet connection infrastructure for 82 urban and rural sites. The
Zimbabwe project is just one of many similar projects around the world where
modern communications technology is being used to enhance data
collection.
The project is part of a Round 8 health systems strengthening
grant to Zimbabwe for which the principal recipient (PR) is the United
Nations Development Programme (UNDP). The project is designed to improve the
availability of timely quality health data, which is critical for planning,
implementation and monitoring of health programmes in Zimbabwe.
The
project is a response to weaknesses in Zimbabwe’s data collection systems.
An example of these weaknesses is the fact that medical reports have not
been transmitted on time from the district and provincial levels to the
national level because of a poor fixed telephone line network and the
unavailability of an Internet connection. A 2010 study reportedly revealed
that only one-third of the districts in Zimbabwe have access to
email.
In 2011, with support from UNDP and the Global Fund, the Ministry
of Health commissioned a study to assess the specific Internet connectivity
needs of 82 sites comprising district and provincial offices. The assessment
identified broadband technology options that are available and can be
installed at each of the 82 sites. The CCM endorsed the findings and built
the recommendations of the assessment into its proposal for Round 8. The
proposal was approved for funding.
Marcela Rojo, a spokesperson for
the Global Fund, told GFO that the Fund encourages recipient countries to
use part of the funds for health systems strengthening to improve
information systems.
“Across Africa, health information systems require
strengthening to enhance monitoring of disease trends, Ms Rojo said. “To
maximize the quality of data and the reliability of results, the Global Fund
and partners are addressing common weaknesses in in-country data management
and health information systems.”
Other countries
In Swaziland,
the recipients of Global Fund malaria grants use an immediate disease
notification system which allows health workers to report confirmed malaria
cases by calling a toll-free number. The system has significantly improved
reporting by health facilities. In addition, centralised data collection has
reduced the administrative burden on health care workers and has
strengthened information systems.
In Colombia, financing from the Global
Fund has supported the piloting of a system which reads malaria rapid tests
and sends results to the central disease surveillance system – thus
minimising human error and reporting delays. The data is transmitted through
the Internet.
In Nigeria, the Global Fund and its partners supported the
government’s roll-out of a Logistics and Health Program Management
Information Platform. This system transmits routine HIV data from 215
service delivery points to the national level by using mobile phone
technology, while also sending key programme and logistics information back
to the field.
WITH several low-key, but unmistakable
gestures, the United States, the European Union block and other western
countries have signaled that it is moving toward normalising relations with
Zimbabwe after years of frosty relations.
In March, former United
Nations Ambassador Andrew Young was dispatched by the Obama administration
to meet with President Robert Mugabe.
After the 2-hour meeting, Young
told reporters that the State Department had sent him to Zimbabwe to let
Mugabe know the U.S. was interested in repairing its strained relations with
the mineral-rich country.
Last month, another civil rights veteran, Jesse
L. Jackson, Sr., also held a 2-hour unofficial meeting with Mugabe in which
the Chicago-based leader called for open and free elections and pledged to
work for the removal of U.S. sanctions against Zimbabwe.
In the
meeting, Jackson told Mugabe, who at 89 is Africa’s oldest sitting
president: “When there’s growth and investment, everybody wins. And we want
to be a part of helping remove…barriers that stand between our two
countries.”
After controversial land reform and what the U.S. called
flawed elections, the United States applied limited sanctions in 2003
against about 120 key individuals and 70 industries. The restrictions,
including a travel ban to the U.S. except for UN business, are narrowly
targeted.
But earlier this month, the U.S. Treasury Department announced
that it was lifting sanctions against the Agricultural Development Bank of
Zimbabwe (Agribank) and the Infrastructure Development Bank of Zimbabwe,
provided no transactions are conducted with any person who remains on the
sanctions list.
The U.S. move came on the heels of a decision in
March by the 27-member European Union to remove sanctions against 81
officials and eight firms. The sanctions will however, remain in place
against President Mugabe and 10 members of his inner circle as well as two
firms.
The EU’s decision was announced after 95 percent of Zimbabwean
voters approved a new constitution that limits a president to two, 5-year
terms, includes a bill of rights, prohibits the president from vetoing laws
passed by the legislature and establishes an independent electoral
commission.
The election changes are not retroactive and will not
prohibit Mugabe, the only leader the country has had since gaining
independence from Britain in 1980, from running again in the next election,
which is expected to take place in August or September.
Land
reforms
The international community began withdrawing resources from
Zimbabwe after the democratically-elected government decided to reclaim land
from White commercial farmers, land that they said rightfully belonged to
them.
The western media trumpeted stories about how unfair the White
farmers were being treated under the new Black government. However,
Agriculture, Mechanization and Irrigation Development Minister, Joseph Made,
said the black farmers were the ones aggrieved.
“What is very critical is
that 6,000 White commercial farmers controlled prime agricultural land –
about 15 million hectors [36 million acres] – denying a majority of Blacks
an opportunity to also be involved in agriculture in prime areas where
there’s better rainfall and better soil,” said Made.
In an interview,
Made explained, “Our independence was the result of an armed struggle,
primarily for two things: the right to vote and secondly, the land issue. We
were a conquered people in terms of colonial legacy.
“We were defeated by
the British. So, we took up arms to fight for that right to vote, which was
denied to us, and the right to reclaim our land. It was a fight to reclaim
what was rightfully ours. It’s not denying anything to anybody on racial
grounds.”
David Bruce Wharton, U.S. Ambassador to Zimbabwe, called the
land reform effort a failure.
“They have a sovereign right to do
that, but there are consequences,” he said. “If you do it in a way that
looks to the outside world like it’s chaotic, like the rule of law has been
suspended, like there’s no real plan about making sure poor people get land
as well as the wealthy people, there are consequences. Investors will walk
away, tourists will stay away and that’s sort of the reality.”
Made
said critics are ignoring Zimbabwe’s reality. “We were a conquered people and
our land was taken,” he stated. “Naturally, we had to fight and we won an
armed struggle to the right to reoccupy our land.”
Initially, Britain
and the U.S. had agreed to compensate displaced white farmers as part of the
1979 Lancaster House Agreement that brought independence to what would later
become Zimbabwe.
Once the farmers were not paid, the blame was shifted to
the Mugabe government, not the countries that reneged on their
pledges.
“We will not compensate for land that was never paid for,” Made
said. “That land was taken by virtue of conquest – our forefathers were not
given money. That [compensation] is the responsibility of the
British.”
Economic problems
Made said most of the world minimizes
the suffering Blacks experiences under White minority rule. He
said:“There’s all the talk about democracy, but we are the people who were
denied the right to vote. We are the people who were told, ‘You don’t come
through the front door, you go through that rear door.’ That was the system
that operated here.
“We could not sit on the same bench with a White
person in a park. The Black workers could not go on the same lift [elevator]
as White people. It was in this city where you could not walk on the
pavement – you had to walk where the cars were driving – as a Black
person.
“We fought and on the day of independence, the Black people
walked on the pavement en masse. That’s how the law was
repealed.”
Skyscrapers that dot downtown Harare are rusty reminders of a
gleaming city of a bygone era. An car trip from the airport to the center
city is a bumpy one because of deep potholes. Even the sidewalks, now that
Blacks can walk on them, are in desperate need of repair.
President
Mugabe said international sanctions have taken a toll on the
country.
But Ambassador Wharton said some of the wounds were
self-inflicted.
“One of the things I hear Zimbabweans say is Zimbabwe
never did anything wrong,” he recounted. “In fact, I think there were
some mistakes. Wharton said one was the decision to in 1997 to make large
payments to veterans of the liberation struggle. “I’m not saying that was
right or wrong, but when they did that, the currency blew up,” he
said.
“I think they made a mistake in 1999 when they walked away from
their debts to the IMF [International Monetary Fund] – they just stopped
servicing those debts. That cut them off from new credit and debt
relief.”
In addition, Zimbabwe can’t borrow from the World Bank or the
African Development Bank because it stopped servicing those debts as
well.
The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe printed extra money to satisfy growing
government debts, causing the inflation rate to soar from 32 percent in 1998
to an astonishing 11,200,000 percent by 2007. Following a decade of economic
contraction, the economy grew by 6 percent in 2011 and slipped to 5 percent
in 2012.
After a hotly contested presidential election in 2008,
Mugabe entered into a power-sharing agreement with his chief political
opponent, Morgan Tsvangirai, who became prime minister. Pressure is mounting
on both to make sure the next election is a fair one.
New
hope Some businessmen, such as Elzie L. Higginbottom, president and CEO of
Eastlake Management Group, Inc. in Chicago, see enormous investment
opportunities in the country.
“When Zimbabwe was known as Rhodesia,
it was the breadbasket of southern Africa. I like the size of the country –
about 12 million people. I like the fact that it is an English-speaking
country,” said Higginbottom, who has been traveling to Zimbabwe for the past
four years.
“The education level is very high – a 93 or 94 percent
literacy rate. The other thing I like is that they have a basket of
currency, but the predominant currency is the U.S. dollar.”
He added,
“Zimbabwe is a mineral-rich country. It has platinum, gold, diamonds, chrome
– it has all sorts of valuable minerals. It’s a peaceful country, it is
predominantly one tribe and it’s set for redevelopment and
improvement.”
Despite the sanctions, the U.S. maintains diplomatic
relations with Zimbabwe. Trade between the two countries has grown from
approximately $100 million to $160 million annually over the past three
years.
Ambassador Wharton, who says his goal is to see all sanctions on
Zimbabwe lifted, predicts that investors will eventually flood the
country.
“The country has extraordinary intellectual capital,” he
said. “Robert Mugabe invested very well in education and health from the very
beginning, from 1980 forward and the result is that you got an
extraordinarily well-educated population – the highest literacy rate in
sub-Saharan Africa. Culturally, Zimbabweans work hard, they’re honest,
they’re ethical – they are extraordinary people.
“On top of that you
got great mineral wealth – gold, platinum, chrome, diamonds, coal – and you
got fantastic agricultural potential, which is currently underutilized. This
country used to feed the entire region. You harness that intellectual
capital with those natural resources and it’s in an extraordinarily
attractive position for economic growth.”
Only then will you find that money cannot be
eaten.
Cree Indian Prophecy
20th May 2013
PROBLEMS IN HWANGE NATIONAL
PARK
We are extremely disturbed by
reports from concerned tourists of gunfire being heard in Hwange tourist areas.
Investigations have uncovered that there appears to be sport hunting quotas
approved by the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources in areas that
should never have them. The chances of tourists going to lodges around the Main
Camp section of Hwange National Park and hearing gunfire are once again high and
we urge all tourists, local and international, to continue to report all gunfire
heard. The Parks Authority and the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources
have reneged on guarantees made in previous years especially it would seem in
the area of the Presidential elephants of Zimbabwe, and in at least one case
they are believed to have reinstated a hunting quota on land so narrow there is
no possibility of any wildlife actually being resident there, bordering two
prime photographic safari camps, previously declared a no-hunting area when
chaos prevailed in this area about eight years ago. At least one other hunting
quota is said to have been issued in another nearby prime tourism site. When
people's backs are turned underhanded things continue to happen involving people
who have solid government connections. We are also hearing unconfirmed reports
that paying overseas hunters are once again, as did
happen in previous years despite denials by the wildlife authorities, being
allowed inside Hwange National Park to hunt.
With the upcoming United Nations World Tourism Organisation summit in
August, we fail to see how Zimbabwe can hold their head high remembering also
the awful scenario we reported previously about elephants being shipped off to
horrific conditions in China. We urge the Tourism Minister to get involved to
put pressure on the Environment Minister to fix escalating problems in Hwange
photographic tourism areas. These problems also include mining plans reported in
areas right beside Hwange Main Camp which are obviously born out of disrespect
for the environment and pure greed and disrespect for Hwange's important
photographic tourism industry. It is a tragedy that we have received confirmed
reports that the most widely known and read about presidential elephant is dead,
making a mockery of the government's supposed commitment to providing special
protection to these photographic safari areas where Zimbabwe's flagship herd
roams. We are aware that this elephant was known to tens of thousands of people
around the world and anyone reading the literature available can work out that
she was not of an age where she would die naturally. It is past time that the
Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources look after the wildlife that they
are tasked to protect rather than assisting in its destruction, especially in
such an important tourism area as Hwange and we are appalled that no progress in
fixing any of the problems is evident.
SILENT AUCTION
The painting which we are auctioning to raise funds is still available. The
closing date will be 30th June 2013.
The painting, titled "Young Warrior" is an
original oil on canvas painted by Cheryl Rodrigues and measures 77cm x 90cm.
There is a reserve price of USD2 000. If anyone can offer more than this, please
email us with your offer. Any shipping charges will be for the account of the
buyer.
The Zimbabwe Conservation Task
Force relies soley on public donations. Your donation can help to preserve the
wildlife in Zimbabwe. If you would like to assist, please contact
us.
European Union announces a €13.5 million grant to
improve education and nutrition for Zimbabwe’s
children
Press
Release
Harare, 21 May,
2013: The
European Union has today announced a €13 million (US$17 million) grant to the
second phase of the Education Transition Fund and an additional €500,000 (USD
640,000) from the European
Commission’s Humanitarian Aid department (ECHO) to nutrition activities in the country.
Speaking at a press conference in Harare today, the EU’s Head of
Delegation in Zimbabwe Ambassador
Aldo Dell’Ariccia said the contribution was an acknowledgement of the strong
partnership that existed between the Government of Zimbabwe and development
partners to improve the lives of ordinary Zimbabweans, especially the children.
“This contribution reaffirms our
support for the Government’s priority to revitalise the education sector and
ensure that every Zimbabwean child has
access to quality education”, he said. “Itis also in
line with Millennium Development Goal number 2 to ensure that, by 2015, all
Zimbabwean boys and girls will be able to complete a full programme of primary
education.”
Development partners in the Education Transition Fund have pledged
US$123 million to improve the education sector over the next four years through,
among several interventions, improving sector planning, providing grants to
financially constrained schools to meet their non-salary resource needs,
strengthening school monitoring and supervision, improving the quality of
teaching and learning, and reviewing the curriculum. Other interventions include
providing teaching and learning materials, assessing student learning outcomes,
and providing second chance learning opportunities to out-of-school children.
Senator David Coltart, the Minister of Education, Sport, Arts and
Culture, commended the EU
for the contribution.
"The Government of Zimbabwe is extremely grateful for
this further generous contribution by the EU towards the Education sector,” he
said. “Since the establishment of the ETF in 2009 the education sector has been
stabilised and is now poised to start improving steadily. Without the generous
assistance of the EU to the ETF since 2009 we would not have been able to
achieve what we have done. As I have said often before the stabilisation of the
education sector goes way beyond simply improving education; happy children in
school lead to happy parents and guardians which in turn promotes peace
throughout an entire nation. Accordingly, in making this investment the EU is
playing a profound and remarkable role in ensuring that the peaceful transition
of Zimbabwe to a more democratic and accountable era is
supported."
Acting UNICEF Representative to Zimbabwe Gianfranco Rotigliano commended the EU
for the contribution, saying it marked yet another milestone in Zimbabwe’s
efforts to restore the education sector to its former status as the leading
educational system on the African continent.
Furthermore, the ECHO contribution to nutrition focuses on 10 high
risk districts and will be used to provide high impact nutrition services,
support sector coordination, and activate sub-national structures to monitor
food and nutrition security issues.
“We would like to express our gratitude for the support received from
ECHO,” said Director of the Food and Nutrition Council Mr. George Kembo. “This
support will go a long way towards complementing government effort to
resuscitate the food and nutrition security committees at provincial and
district level.Thus we find such
support a good step towards implementing the recently launched food and
nutrition security policy, specifically the commitment to enhance national
capacity for food and nutrition security.”
The contribution brings to USD
34 million
the total EU
contribution to the education sector since the launch of the Education
Transition Fund in September 2009.
___________________________________________
For more information,
contact:
Ellen Shiri, Ministry of Education, Arts, Sports, and
Culture; Tel: 0772 937 881; Email: elshiry@gmail.com;
Victor Chinyama,UNICEF Zimbabwe; Tel: 0772 124 268, Email: vchinyama@unicef.org;
Where to From Here? Developing and Managing the Mineral Wealth of
Zimbabwe for Tomorrow Prof. Arthur G.O. Mutambara, Deputy Prime Minister of
Zimbabwe
17th May 2013, Nyanga, Zimbabwe
The mining sector in
Africa constitutes one of the largest industries in the world. Africa is the
second biggest continent, with 30 million km˛ of land, which implies large
quantities of resources. For many African countries, mineral exploration and
production constitute significant parts of their economies and remain keys
to economic growth. The continent is richly endowed with mineral reserves
and ranks first or second in quantity of world reserves of bauxite, cobalt,
industrial diamond, phosphate rock, platinum-group metals (PGM),
vermiculite, and zirconium. Gold extraction is the key driver of Africa’s
mining activities. However, in spite of this rich mineralization, African
countries are still walloping in poverty. The primary problem has been the
racist and colonial natural resource laws in Africa which empower the
investor at the expense of the citizenry who are the bona fide owners of the
resource. Based on this flawed framework, most of the mining deals and
activities on the continent have been opaque and detrimental to Africans.
Corruption by both public sector and private sector players has compounded
the malaise. Secondly, mining in Africa has been largely extractive without
beneficiation or value addition. This has led to African countries exporting
cheaply priced raw commodities, while importing expensive refined products.
The lack of meaningful benefits to African people from their natural
resources is a key part of what is currently being described as leakage of
resources from the continent. African leaders and industrialists need to
make a lot more noise about the leakage of money from the continent.
Plugging the leaks is one of the major ways of keeping Africa’s growth
steady. If this is addressed we will have enough resources on the continent.
We will have sufficient investable capital from the continent. This will
smash the current unsustainable overdependence on foreign aid and foreign
direct investment. Intra Africa investment and investment outflows from the
continent into the rest of the world will become practical
propositions. African governments and societies must harness the
opportunities created by natural resources effectively. They must ensure the
huge opportunities for economic development and prosperity provided by
resource discoveries and commodity booms will never again be missed. Some of
the poorest countries in Arica have large amounts of natural resources and
these can provide a pathway out of poverty. Yet in the past, these
opportunities have often been missed, and resource abundant countries have
consequently remained poor. Natural resources have the potential to be
transformative if they are properly harnessed for development. However, the
decision and value chain from the discovery of natural assets through to
their conversion into a productive economy is long and complex with many
state and non-state actors involved. This is why the process has so often
been unsuccessful on the African Continent. Africa is too rich to be
poor. It is within this continental context that we assess Zimbabwe’s mineral
strength and how it can be leveraged to improve the quality of our people’s
lives. The recent work of Paul Jordan and ZEPARU has been instructive in
identifying the key policy issues with respect to the mining sector in
Zimbabwe, in particular around geological and mineralization issues. Their
research findings must inform and lay foundation to discussions in the
Chamber of Mines. Zimbabwe has a rich and diverse mineral resource base that
should be an important contributor to sustainable growth and development.
The sector has rebounded dramatically from the hyperinflation economic
crisis and, with dollarization, the value of mineral production has
increased six-fold to about $3 billion in 2011. However, if this increased
mining activity is to ultimately result in more than just
holes-in-the-ground, the crucial mineral linkages need to be realized whilst
the resources are still extant. Zimbabwe has an extensive mineral value
proposition. These mineral assets are mainly found in the following
geological formations and bodies: The Greenstone Belts: Gold and silver, as
well as considerable resources of iron ore, nickel, copper, cobalt and
podiform chromite, also chrysotile asbestos (Mashaba Igneous Complex),
limestone, pyrite and antimony; The Great Dyke: PGMs5 & Au with
associated copper, nickel and cobalt. Also, chromium (chromite seams), as
well as minor asbestos and magnesite; The Magondi Supergroup: Copper and
silver (Dewera Group); The Karoo Basins: Considerable bituminous coal,
coking coal, anthracite and coal-bed methane (CBM) resources; The
Carbonatite Igneous Complexes:, phosphate (Dorowa, Showa); Kimberlite pipes:
diamonds (Morowa, River Ranch); Pegmatites: Lithium minerals,
columbite-tantalite, cassiterite, et al; Recent alluvial & placer
deposits: Gold and diamonds (from Umkondo conglomerates). Paul Jordan and
his colleagues have emphasized that in order to optimize the economic
linkages the current “colonial” minerals governance regime of “free mining”
needs to be fundamentally overhauled to both encourage the discovery of new
mineral deposits and maximise the developmental impact of known mineral
assets through public tender against developmental outcomes. In this regard,
a Mineral Cadastre Information Management System (MCIMS) being developed by
the Ministry needs to be operationalized quickly. The current historically
high mineral prices fueled by strong Asian appetite are likely to continue
for the next couple of decades, so long as the major Chinese and Indian
economies continue to display robust growth. Zimbabwe needs to take
advantage of this window of opportunity to use its finite mineral resources
endowment to catalyze wider national economic growth and development through
the maximization of the key economic linkages. Zimbabwe’s mining sector
has continued to be the lead in economic performance, contributing an
estimated 16% to GDP in 2012, up from 13% in 2011. The sector also continued
to lead in export earnings, rising to USD2 billion in 2012, from USD1.8
billion in 2011. The major drivers of this growth in export earnings were
diamonds, platinum and gold. Overall, mineral production maintained its
upward trend, meeting most Medium Term Plan (MTP) projections for 2012. This
year, 2013, looks no different, assuming the current momentum is maintained.
Militating against higher growth rates, however, is the unavailability of
medium to long term credit facilities for working capital and
recapitalization requirements, as well as perennial power shortages. These
enablers, if they remain unresolved, will continue to be major impediments
to potential growth targets. Being number six in the world in terms of
diamond deposits (potential control of about 25% of world diamonds), having
90% of world platinum between us and SA, and having extensive Gold deposits,
Zimbabwe has massive natural resource potential. In fact, in terms of what
is called natural resource per capita, we are number one in the world. So,
why are we poor? Why are we hungry? This 74th AGM of the Chamber is
fortuitous as it occurs while we are currently fashioning a new mining
policy framework leading to new Mines and Minerals Act. This policy seeks to
ensure the sustainable development of the mining industry and its
contribution to the economy. The current Mines and Minerals Act is clearly
now an archaic piece of legislation which is in dire need of upgrading to
bring it up to date with modern trends in the global mining industry and the
country’s current and future aspirations. More specifically and accurately,
the current Act is a colonial law that empowers the investor at the expense
of national interest. The Government is working on having this Act repealed
in its entirety and have it replaced by a totally new Mines and Minerals Act
that caters for the dynamic modern day needs of the sector, while resolving
historical institutional injustices. Extractive mining in itself is clearly
not sustainable, as it depletes finite national assets. However, mineral
extraction can indirectly become sustainable in so far as it catalyses
sustainable economic activity in other sustainable sectors, through
maximising the economic linkages whilst the resource is still in existence.
Strategies to develop these complex and diverse linkages are therefore key
elements of the new mining policy. Mining proceeds must be used to develop
secondary industries linked to the minerals, and other industries not linked
to mining at all. Schools, hospitals, roads and community housing must also
be spear-headed by mining activities. This way, when the mineral resource is
exhausted the Zimbabwean economy and its communities can continue to
flourish. In redesigning the mining policy and laws in Zimbabwe we seek to
achieve sustainable exploration, extraction, utilization, management,
marketing and beneficiation of minerals. The objective is to understand the
status quo, and then fashion a framework for developing and managing the
mineral wealth of Zimbabwe for posterity. The foundational objective is to
ensure sustainable, shared and inclusive economic development of the
country. A key reform of the mining laws is that the right to mine should be
linked to payment for the value of the un-mined asset. As the State, we must
know the value of each mineral claim. This requires comprehensive knowledge
of our geology and mineralization. Quantification and valuation of the
unmined asset should be done before engaging investors. New technologies
such as aero-magnetics, big data, and cloud computing must be deployed. The
state must invest massive resources in exploration The difference between
working capital and equity capital must be understood and factored in all
mining deals. The value of the unmined asset is the country’s contribution
to equity and the investor must acknowledge and match this. The investor’s
contribution to equity must not be confused with the working capital they
deploy. Working capital must be separate and in addition to contribution to
equity capital. The situation where the value of the unmined asset is not
reflected on the balance sheets of corporates is not acceptable. Unmined
assets have value and can be leveraged. How can mining claims have no value,
and yet corporates list them on foreign stock exchanges and raise billions?
In some cases, the investor goes on to sell the claims (they got for free)
to other investors for tonnes of cash. Moreover, when claims (green fields)
are handed back to government, serious cash is demanded. How is this
possible if claims have no value or their value is said to be difficult to
determine? Discovery of a mineral resource should not mean ownership. In
fact, once a country has established its geology and mineralization, the
mining claims can be auctioned to determine the correct market value of the
unmined asset. The management of natural assets can be improved within a
given political system by both domestic and international actions. In
setting the tax and royalty rates, the government faces an internal agency
problem. The government must delegate the negotiation to a small group of
its members and resource extraction companies have a strong incentive to
bribe these individuals. To protect itself, the government needs to adopt a
process that is transparent. Secret negotiations are ideally suited to
corruption. The agency problem is compounded by an information problem. The
government has considerably less knowledge as to the true value of its
natural assets than does the company. This is called information asymmetry.
A solution to both the agency and the information problem is to auction the
extraction rights, inviting bids on the royalty rate that companies would be
willing to pay. The rate could be conditioned on any observable features
such as the basic geology, world price, and accumulated past volume of
extraction. An auction is a way of forcing companies to reveal the true
value of a right to extract by placing them in competition. Thus, once a
country has established its geology and mineralization, the auctioning of
claims is a way to go. There are two distinct commitment problems; one
concerned with extraction companies and the other with future governments.
If governments cannot make credible commitments with resource extraction
companies, one solution is to establish national extraction
companies. Listing on stock exchanges of unmined assets is global best
practice as done in Australia, Canada, and Norway. However, companies
getting assets for free in Africa and listing them for value has been a
problem. Listing of unmined assets to raise money on stock exchanges without
consent of the real owners of the asset has led to the doctrine and crime of
undue benefit as recently demonstrated in the Court system in India.
Zimbabwe together with other African countries must address this matter head
on. In Zimbabwe’s 51% indigenization program, shares must be ceded for value.
In the mining sector, payment for the shares by the State should be from the
value of the unmined asset. There should be no model or agreement where GOZ
will pay for its shares from dividends. Payment should be made from the
value of the unmined asset. Dividends are neither guaranteed nor
contractual. In any case, given the vast nature of the value of the unmined
resource, the dividend model is absolutely unnecessary. Green fields, that
is, unexploited and unimproved claims, obtained without payment for value
will be given back to GOZ for FREE. We should not pay for what we gave away
for free. The government will not engage consultants to implement simple
indigenization GOZ regulations and policies. Internal capacity must be built
within government technical teams. Where it is absolutely necessary to hire
consultants, there must be total transparency, an open tender process,
independence, clear mandate letters, corporate governance, and reasonable
fees. In this scenario, the Corporates being indigenized must NEVER pay
consultants hired by GOZ as this will result in conflict of interest,
leading to sweetheart deals detrimental to the national interest. On
indigenization and empowerment, we must avoid baseless and unintelligent
binaries: Equity vs. Supply side empowerment; we need both, the two
complement each other. Dividends vs. royalties/taxes; we need both classes
of benefits. Indigenization vs. FDI; they are not necessarily mutually
exclusive as evidenced in India, Norway, Australia, SA, Botswana, and
Canada. The 51% indigenization requirement vs. No One size fits all; we can
stick to the 51% regulation, while creatively applying it in and between
different sectors. Empowerment vs. jobs; this is just plain foolish, the two
are mutually reinforcing. Policy formulation and implementation requires
innovation and creativity. We must reject all these false and unimaginative
choices arising from meaningless and misconceived binaries. The effective
harnessing of natural assets for development raises complex economic issues.
Societies in resource rich countries can only get these decisions right to
the extent that they understand them. Just as there has been a role for the
international community to address the problem of weakened governance, so
there is scope for international action to improve understanding of
difficult but crucial social choices. There is need to leverage global best
practice. Further reforms of the mining sector we should pursue must include
the following: All mining companies in Zimbabwe must have their primary
listing on the local stock exchange. Banks must keep their deposits from
mining companies in the country. Mining companies must bank locally. Banks
must lend to agriculture, indigenized mining entities, and in particular
small scale miners and MSMEs broadly. By way of illustrating the magnitude
of the opportunity, a 2012 McKinsey report showed that in Africa, banks
stand to reap over US350bn from lending to MSMEs, including small miners.
The banks just need to know how to service these sectors that are at the
bottom of the pyramid. This requires volume-driven strategies rooted in
different business models, products, distribution networks, and cost
structures; from conventional ones used at the top of the pyramid. In the
new mining policy framework, special attention must also be given to the
empowerment of women miners and their institutions, not as charity but as
smart economics. Men and women bring different but complementary skills and
competences to the mining sector. Furthermore, there is need to embrace and
capacitate artisanal miners and de-criminalize the so-called Makorokoza.
Empowerment in the mining sector must be broad based. This means enabling
ordinary Zimbabweans to be participants, not just as workers and managers,
but as owners of small mining operations. The financial resources accrued by
the State in the dispensation of the new Mining Law must be channeled into
setting up a Sovereign Wealth Fund (SWF). A Sovereign wealth fund is a
state-owned investment fund of financial assets such as stocks, bonds,
property, precious metals or other financial instruments. It is a means of
empowering citizens. Sovereign wealth funds invest globally. As we reform
our natural resource laws, there is no need to reinvent the wheel. What we
want is that in a resource rich country, there must be evidence of the
impact of the resource. Let us learn from countries that have carried out
this empirical demonstration, such as Saudi Arabia, Botswana, Angola, and
Dubai. In terms of SWFs the following countries are good case studies: UAE
oil based (US$627bn), Norway oil based (US$557bn), Saudi Arabia oil based
(US$439bn), China two non-commodity based US$347bn and US$332bn), Algeria
oil based (US$57bn) Malaysia non-commodity based (US$38bn), Chile copper
based (US$22bn), and Botswana diamonds based (US$7bn). Surely, we should be
able to build a sovereign wealth fund based on just three minerals; gold,
diamonds and platinum. How can we have a sovereign poverty fund of US$9.1bn
debt? There are a lot of unallocated claims in Zimbabwe. These present a
unique opportunity to apply the new mining philosophy we are developing in
the country. Of the 200 000ha of potential diamond area, only 70 000ha are
allocated. Hwedza iron ore deposits are still free. In the Great Dyke, of
the US$52 billion worth of Platinum, only US$5 billion has been allocated.
In the other Great Dyke (550km) there are plenty minerals. Throughout the
country there are many other unencumbered mineral resources (Gold, Copper,
Coal, Coal-Bed Methane (largest known reserves in Southern Africa), Lithium,
Tantalite, and Uranium. In allocating mining rights to all the minerals let
us start applying the ideas propagated in this paper. In particular, the
right to mine must be linked to payment for the value of the unmined mineral
asset. Putting value to the unmined natural resource asset is global best
practice as practiced in Norway Canada and Australia. What’s Good for the
Goose is Good for the Gander. Further lessons from Norway include; on how to
effectively use SWF revenues, good policy and the absence of corruption,
Mining vs. oil differences, handling different risk levels, marriage between
private and public sectors , enthusiasm, creativity, aggression, state as
guarantor of social welfare, and joint decision making. In fact, the
successful resource management models of Canada, Australia and Norway
illustrate that you can get the best of both worlds, that is, fairness and
profit can and should co-exist. They also show that it is possible to
balance between resource nationalism and economic globalization. In terms
of ensuring shared and inclusive prosperity, we must establish national
mineral driven industrial clusters, such as the Mutare-Marange Diamond
cluster, Chegutu-Ngezi Platinum cluster, Kadoma Gold cluster. We must take
into account both competitive advantage (what is done best by an entity) and
comparative advantage (location of resource, skills and markets). While the
overall national interest must drive our mining policy, it is imperative
that communities contiguous with mining operations and other local areas
MUST benefit. While we appreciate the role of FDI in driving the mining
sector, the obsession with FDI as the ONLY source of capital is completely
without merit. We can have investment models that are independent of foreign
Investors. Why can’t we put together a State Company or Consortium of
Zimbabweans, say Entrepreneurs, Financiers, Geologists, Miners, Engineers,
Accountants, and Lawyers. We then give them, for example a Platinum claim
worth US$2bn. They can list on the local or foreign stock exchange and raise
capital, both working and equity types. Alternatively, such a consortium can
also go to the banks and borrow on the strength of the value of the claim.
They can also hire contract miners and equipment. We can then repeat the
process for the different minerals. Surely this can be done. The extent,
quality and breadth of our Zimbabwean Human Capital is amazing. Who is
running all these global and regional mining houses such as Anglo America,
Mimosa, Zimplats, Lonmin, ImPlats, and DeBeers? Zimbabwean names such as Ben
Magara, July Ndlovu, Winston Chitando, Alex Mhembere, and Godfrey Gomwe crop
up. If we can run these giant businesses, why can’t we own them? It is
important to acknowledge the potential psychological barriers Africans have
when it comes to job creation, and ownership of enterprises. Ownership is
alien and unthinkable to a slave or enslaved person or a colonized person.
In fact, such oppressed people are supposed to be owned. The most powerful
weapon of the oppressor is the mind of the oppressed and decolonizing the
mind is the hardest of tasks. Our people must graduate from being workers
and managers of other people’s money and assets. They must become owners of
companies, entrepreneurs and innovators, builders of businesses, and job
creaters. In fact, the most important part of our indigenization and
empowerment program should be the creation of new businesses and companies,
not just acquiring 51% of existing entities. We must grow the Zimbabwean
economy from a GDP of US$ 10 billion to a GDP of US$ 100 billion by 2040;
where we completely indigenize the growth of US$ 90 billion. That will be
sustainable economic empowerment and indigenization To ensure that the
country maximises the benefits from its mineral resources in terms of value,
employment creation, skills and technology transfer and sustainable economic
development, the mining industry needs to promote local beneficiation and
value addition. Currently, there is very limited local beneficiation and
value addition of minerals in Zimbabwe, resulting in about 90% of the
minerals being exported raw or semi-processed, and this is cause for
concern. As a measure to promote the growth of the local diamond industry,
the Government introduced a quota system where 10% of all locally produced
rough diamonds are reserved for the local cutting and polishing industry.
This quota will be reviewed from time to time as the industry grows. In the
Platinum Group Metals (PGMs) sub-sector, the Government is pursuing measures
and policies that encourage investment in a refinery plant in the country.
Our target is that in the next two years, tangible deliverables in local PGM
refining should be achieved. Beneficiation in mining cannot be achieved by a
business as usual industrial mindset. It requires the development of
backward and forward industrial linkages to the commodity sector, which
linkages, in turn, allow movement up the regional and global value chains
(GVC). Provided their resource-processing industries are internationally
competitive and well integrated in GVCs, exporting countries can move into
higher-rent value-chain links and extract the benefits of moving up value
chains. Forward integration confers other benefits. It can reduce the
exposure of countries producing primary commodities to price fluctuations
and thus yield dynamic skills-migration and cluster benefits of linkage
development. By developing backward linkage supply firms to the commodity
sectors and resource-processing industries, Zimbabwe can help to diversify
its technological capabilities and skills base, deepening their industrial
structure. Moreover, the natural resource sector’s need for infrastructure,
to extract and transport the commodities, enhances the potential for
linkages. Linkage development creates an opportunity to maximize positive
externalities derived from clusters. Supplier and resource-processing
industries’ closeness to the extraction location generates agglomeration
effects. Efficiency gains for firms in clusters include gaining access to a
pool of specialist labour and networks of suppliers. The Government
should continue to formulate and implement policies that direct local and
foreign investment into the mining sector. The Government will also continue
to promote joint venture projects in mining between ZMDC and foreign
investors. The objective of Government participation is to ensure that the
nation realizes meaningful benefits from mining operations as evidenced by a
number of benefits including dividends that are accruing to the State from
the joint ventures in Marange. The Government of Zimbabwe, in consultation
with its valued stakeholders, will continue to come up with policy
initiatives and reforms that provide win-win solutions for both the investor
and the people of Zimbabwe. The Zimbabwe Government has a duty and
obligation to create a conducive and enabling economic environment and
business climate. In particular, there is need for certainty,
predictability, respect for the rule of law, and provision of an enabling
policy framework that encourages and facilitates sustainable mining
activities including beneficiation. In addition to the specific
recommendations above, Zimbabwe must embrace the global initiative around
the concept of a Natural Resource Charter, a brain child of independent
academics and practitioners championed by Professor Paul Collier of Oxford
University. Their analysis and proposition involves precepts to inform and
improve natural resource management. This will help to ensure that the
opportunities provided by new discoveries and commodity booms benefit the
generality of the people. Among other principles, the Natural Resource
Charter framework advances the following ideas: The development of a
country’s natural resources should be designed to secure the greatest social
and economic benefit for its people. This requires a comprehensive approach
in which every stage of the decision chain is understood and addressed.
Successful natural resource management requires government accountability to
an informed public. Fiscal policies and contractual terms should ensure that
the country gets full benefit from the resource, subject to attracting the
investment necessary to realize that benefit. The long-term nature of
resource extraction requires policies and contracts that are robust to
changing and uncertain circumstances. Competition in the award of contracts
and development rights can be an effective mechanism to secure value and
integrity. Resource projects can have significant positive or negative local
economic, environmental and social effects which should be identified,
explored, accounted for, mitigated or compensated for at all stages of the
project cycle. The decision to extract should be considered carefully.
Nationally owned resource companies should operate transparently with the
objective of being commercially viable in a competitive environment.
Resource revenues should be used primarily to promote sustained, inclusive
economic development through enabling and maintaining high levels of
investment in the country. Effective utilization of resource revenues
requires that domestic expenditure and investment be built up gradually and
be smoothed to take account of revenue volatility. Government should use
resource wealth as an opportunity to increase the efficiency and equity of
public spending and enable the private sector to respond to structural
changes in the economy. Government should facilitate private sector
investments at the national and local level for the purposes of
diversification, as well as for exploiting the opportunities for domestic
value addition. The home governments of extractive companies and
international capital centers should require and enforce best practice. All
extraction companies should follow best practice in contracting, operations
and payments. These Natural Resource Charter ideas are global best practice,
and must form the foundation of our new mining policy and Mines and Minerals
Act. Beyond Zimbabwe, the ideas presented in this treatise must be
extrapolated to the rest of the Continent. This will dramatically advance
the development of the continent. Currently the African narrative has not
been all gloom. Seven out of ten of the fastest growing economies in the
World for the period 2011-15 are African. These are Ethiopia, Mozambique,
Tanzania, Congo, Ghana, Zambia, and Nigeria. In the period 2001-10 there
were six African countries in the top ten; Angola, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Chad,
Mozambique, and Rwanda. These countries are experiencing what has been
called China or Asia type growth rates of around 10%. Africa is the second
fastest growth region after Asia, and it is projected to overtake Asia
within a year’s time. Africa’s middle class is poised to be greater than
that of China in ten years’ time. All these new statistics about the
continent point to new economic growth and improved country competitiveness
leading to new business opportunities. It also presents scope to uplift
African communities out of poverty. What Africa has an opportunity to do
is not just keep the GDP numbers going between four and ten percent. It’s
about the quality of that GDP growth. African countries are growing at good
rates, but growth alone would not lead to prosperity. While foreign direct
investment (FDI) numbers look good, diversification is needed to increase
trade numbers. If we want to increase intra-African trade country to produce
something that is trade-able, which other countries want. This speaks to the
importance of value addition. Where are our comparative advantages? Are we
able to produce the right type of quality and quantity at the right price?
One of the major problems is producing a new growth model that is more
inclusive, especially of the jobless and poor. While Europe remained a big
trading partner, countries in Africa needed to create export opportunities
between themselves. The economic growth Africa is experiencing needed to
reach more people on the continent. How do we make sure people are not left
out? How do we arrest the growing inequality? Effectively leveraging
Africa’s vast natural resource base will play a significant role in the
sustainable development of Africa where there is strong, shared and
inclusive economic growth. As Zimbabweans, we must be part of this great
narrative. Developing and managing the mineral wealth of Zimbabwe for
tomorrow requires Leadership. Now that brings us to the age old leadership
debate. Are leaders born or are they made? Leadership philosophers,
academics and practitioners have grappled with this subject. Those trying to
be clever and half have posited that “It is all of the above!” Well, the
answer is simply “NONE OF THE ABOVE!” Leadership is a decision. It is a
choice. Anyone can lead. I therefore urge both individual and institutional
members of the Chamber of Mines, together with the rest of the mining sector
ecosystem, to decide to lead, and champion the issues I have raised. It will
take leadership. We had animated debates throughout the country when we were
crafting the new National Constitution. Why are we not having the same
excitement and vigorous discussions as we develop a new Mines & Minerals
Act? In fact, given the immensity and critical nature of mineral resources
in our economic development, it is imperative for the entire citizenry,
government, private sector, and civic society to be actively engaged in the
development of a new mining dispensation in the country which will guarantee
shared national prosperity.
I thank you
Arthur G.O.
Mutambara Deputy Prime Minister, Republic of Zimbabwe
I hope you were all part of our policy
conference last week and the successful rally we held over the weekend and
you saw for yourself that the MDC remains alive and stronger than ever
before.
Today, I just want to stress that as a party and as reinforced by
delegates to our policy conference last week, we have zero tolerance to
corruption.
Our record speaks for itself in that we fired a whole council
in Chitungwiza for corruption and they were protected by the Minister of
Local Government. We remain the only party that has ever fired anyone for
corruption.
Last year, the MDC instituted a Commission of Inquiry to
investigate service delivery in local authorities and the probe team was led
by our deputy secretary-general, Hon. Tapiwa Mashakada.
That
commission uncovered that our local authorities had greatly improved service
delivery but some of our councilors had become compromised.
As a
responsible leadership, we have taken a position that any councilor or
anyone else who was named, implicated, involved or linked to any act of
misconduct or corruption will not stand on the party ticket in the
forthcoming election.
As a party of excellence, we are allergic to
corruption. It would be a betrayal of the party’s values and of the people
of Zimbabwe for any credible political party to field anyone who has been
implicated or linked to shady dealings while purporting to serve the
people.
We are taking a stand that anyone implicated or named in that
report will not stand in our party’s name, even for primary
elections.
The MDC will not tolerate corruption from anyone in the party,
even the party President. We will continue to showcase our qualitative
difference by taking stern action against offenders and corrupt
officials.
We will stick to our history, which shows that we take the
responsibility of serving people seriously and will not brook any
nonsense.
Protecting corrupt officials can happen elsewhere where they
can stop the Anti-Corruption Commission from investigating Ministers, but
certainly not in the MDC.
There are no sacred cows in our party and
we urge the Anti-Corruption Commission to continue executing its
constitutional mandate by investigating anyone without fear or
favour.
We are a party of excellence. We will not compromise service
delivery to ratepayers because of corruption. We have been known to take
action against corruption and we will continue to do so.
Delegates to
the policy conference were clear that corruption is a national scourge that
must be tenaciously fought wherever it rears its ugly head.
We cannot
afford as a party to field the same candidates who betrayed residents’ trust
and the party and its values. In all instances where the councilors soiled
the good name of the party and the good standing of other hard working
councilors, we will ensure that they do not run.
Corruption has become a
national affliction but as a party we say No to what has become a national
disease. We are party that is set to usher in real transformation in the
country when we win the next election in the coming months and we are
setting the tone of zero tolerance to corruption by the incoming
government.
As Morgan Tsvangirai and as the MDC, we will continue to act
against corruption.
True leadership demands that we take a stand and
we are drawing a line in the sand.
Constitution Watch 29/2013 of 22nd May 2013 [New Constitution Act Gazetted]
CONSTITUTION WATCH
29/2013
[22nd May
2013]
The
New Constitution of Zimbabwe was Gazetted Today, Wednesday 22nd May2013
Signing
Ceremony at State House 22nd May 2013
President
Mugabe signed the Constitution of Zimbabwe Amendment (No. 20) Act at State House
this morning.
New Constitution Act
Gazetted House
22nd May 2013
The
Act was gazetted – published in the Government Gazette – this afternoon.
The
Act enacts the new Constitution of Zimbabwe as law.The text of the new Constitution is set out
in the Schedule to the Act.
This
gazetting makes 22nd May 2013, “publication day” for the purposes of the new
Constitution.[The term “publication
day” is defined in the new Constitution’s Sixth Schedule as the day on which the
Act is published in the Government Gazette].For the significance of “publication day”, see the following
paragraph.
Parts
of the New Constitution that are Operative from
Today
The
two-stage transitional process from the old Constitution to the new Constitution
was described in Constitution Watch 26/2013 of 8th May.The parts of the new Constitution listed
below come into operation immediately on “publication day”, today – and they
override the corresponding parts in the old Constitution.The “effective date” for the rest of the new
Constitution is the day that whoever is elected President in the next harmonised
elections is sworn in and assumes office.Pending the effective date, those parts of the old Constitution not
overridden by the new Constitution continue in operation.
The
parts of the new Constitution that are in effect from today onwards are listed
in its Sixth Schedule:
(a)Chapter3,relatingto citizenship
(b)Chapter4, being the Declaration of Rights
(c)Chapter 5, relating to the election and
assumption of office of the President
(d)Chapter 6, relating to the election of
Members of Parliament, the summoning of Parliament after a general election and
to the assent to Acts of Parliament by the President
(e)Chapter 7, relating to elections, except
sections 158, 160 and 161
(f)Chapter 8, relating to the jurisdiction and
powers of the Constitutional Court
(g)Chapter 9, relating to principles of public
administration and leadership
(h)section 208, relating to the conduct of
members of the security services
(i)Chapter 12, in
so far as it relates to the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission
A
full discussion is beyond the scope of this bulletin, but areas in which the new
Constitution should have an immediate impact from today onwards
include:
Citizenship
The
Registrar-General
and his officials will be obliged to apply the new provisions when dealing with
applications for IDs, voter registration and passports.There should be a marked reduction in
difficulties with officialdom.
Election
Preparations
The
President will not be able to issue a proclamation calling the next elections
immediately.He will have to wait for
the Electoral Amendment Bill to be passed and gazetted as law.This is because the new Constitution’s
provisions for elections – e.g. for some members of the National Assembly and
Senators to be elected under a party-list system of proportional representation
– cannot be implemented under the current Electoral Act.[Note: Parliament must do so before the
29th June when it expires.]
New
rights for arrested and detained persons
The
new Declaration of Rights is in force from today.It confers important new rights on arrested
and detained persons.For example,
anyone arrested for an alleged offence “must be brought before a court as
soon as possible and in any event not later than 48 hours after the arrest took
place or the detention began, as the case may be, whether or not the period ends
on a Saturday, Sunday or public holiday ... [and any] person who is not brought
to court within the 48-hour period must be released immediately unless their
detention has earlier been extended by a competent court” [section
50(2)].This overrides current
provisions in the Criminal Procedure
and Evidence Act allowing detention for more than 48 hours before first
court appearance, and allowing senior police officers to issue warrants for
further detention in their capacity as “justices of the peace”.The overridden provisions are no longer
operative.
Veritas makes
every effort to ensure reliable information, but cannot take legal
responsibility for information supplied
