zimbabwejournalists.com
3rd May 2007 10:07 GMT
By a Correspondent
AMNESTY
International in Ireland has today published a version of the banned
Daily
News to mark World Press Freedom as it focuses on the plight of
journalists
in Zimbabwe.
The Daily News in Exile features articles from founding
Editor, Geoff
Nyarota, former Features Editor, Nyasha Nyakunu, former
Political Editor,
Sandra Nyaira and Simeon Mawanza of AI.
Andrew
Furlong of Amnesty International will make a presentation at a
function that
will be held at the Buswells Hotel in Dublin in the evening to
discuss the
situation in Zimbabwe and how journalists have and continue to
be affected
by oppressive media laws, unlawful arrests, intimidation and
related
ills.
Furlong, the Coordinator of Amnesty's Zimbabwe group, will focus on
the
plight of the banned Daily News, now published as the Daily News in
Exile
and is now available on-line on www.amnesty.ie.
The local national
journalists' branch chair Gerry Curran says the event
will provide Irish
media workers with the opportunity to express solidarity
with journalists
who suffer brutal treatment, including kidnapping and
murder, against a
background of restrictive and unjust media laws.
Meanwhile police in
Harare refused to grant journalists in the country
permission to continue
with planned processions to mark World Press Freedom
Day. The police said a
ban effected in march on all political meetings,
rallies and processions
outlawed the intended marches.
Zimbabwe Union of Journalists (ZUJ)
president Matthew Takaona said the
police refused to clear at least 10
processions that were planned in all the
provinces of Zimbabwe as
journalists sought to highlight their plight and
the need for the government
of Zimbabwe to repeal AIPPA and POSA.
"We asked for police permission to
demonstrate in Harare and this was turned
down. Sadly this year, like many
other years, its commemoration and just
that," said Takaona.
"We are
not celebrating anything. In fact we are looking back to a tragic
year where
reprisals against journalists have gone up. We have witnessed
with shock,
abductions, an upsurge in torture, long detentions of
journalists, and in
one case, police has failed to investigate a case of
murder."
Media
organisations in and outside Zimbabwe have today expressed their
sadness at
the continuing persecution of journalists in the country.
The Association
of Zimbabwean Journalists in the UK said: "The intimidation,
unlawful
arrests and beating of independent journalists has continued
unabated since
the beginning of the year and while Zimbabwe did not top the
list of the 10
worst countries in which one could work as a journalists, as
indicated in
the CPJ's recent report, things on the ground have been
worsening with media
space shrinking by the day, independent newspapers
being taken over by the
state security agents, the Central Intelligence
Organisation (CIO), Editors
being fired for being critical of the
government, journalists being tortured
for doing their work and related
issues."
The Media Alliance of
Zimbabwe (MAZ) said the situation of repression was
likely to worsen as the
country prepares for next year's presidential and
parliamentary
elections.
"As other democratic communities commemorate World Press
Freedom Day on May
3 by reflecting on the progressive steps they have taken
to entrench media
freedom and freedom of expression, Zimbabwe marks this day
in the wake of
relentless attacks on the media and the citizens' right to
free speech," MAZ
said.
The widely condemned AIPPA, POSA and the
Broadcasting Services Act (BSA),
continue to be used with impunity to muzzle
the media and harass
journalists.
The Cross Border Association of
Journalists which is based in South Africa
bemoaned the lack of media
freedoms in Zimbabwe and demanded the government
of Zimbabwe should repeal
all repressive laws hindering the growth of the
media in the
country.
To read The Daily News in Exile, please go to
http://www.zimbabwejournalists.com/downloads.php
FinGaz
Charles Rukuni & Nkululeko Sibanda
Staff Reporters
Unity Accord shaken
CHAOTIC scenes during ZANU PF internal
elections in two provinces at the
weekend have exposed deep divisions within
the ruling party over President
Robert Mugabe's leadership, a hot potato the
party has desperately tried to
conceal since last month.
ZANU PF
national political commissar Elliot Manyika, who was instrumental in
curtailing debate on the tricky succession issue at a central committee
meeting held in March that endorsed President Mugabe's candidature in next
year's elections and Nicholas Goche, ZANU PF politburo member, left Bulawayo
in a huff at the weekend after ruffling the feathers of party heavyweights
in the province.
And in Masvingo, Member of Parliament Enita Maziriri and
former provincial
governor Josaya Hungwe were injured in factional clashes
ahead of the
weekend election.
A Financial Gazette correspondent quotes
party officials as saying the
clashes were between rival groups allied to
Vice President Joice Mujuru and
Rural Housing Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa.
Mnangagwa and Mujuru are tipped
as front-runners in the race to succeed
President Mugabe who has had a
change of heart from earlier pledges to
retire at the expiry of his current
term of office in 2008.
In Bulawayo,
an election to choose a substantive leadership was postponed
after two
bitter factions emerged. A group that backs politburo members from
the
province namely Vice President Joseph Msika, Dumiso Dabengwa, and John
Nkomo, the ZANU PF national chairman, locked another allied to a group of
war veterans out of Davies Hall, the venue of the proceedings.
Manyika,
who is accused of subtley aligning himself with the war veterans
cancelled
the election and ordered an audit of the party's grassroots
structures on
May 12 and 13.
He had initially ordered that only party district
chairpersons, secretaries
and commissars would vote in the elections. But he
later turned round and
announced that other groups of supporters would also
be allowed to vote.
After Manyika's announcement of the new voting system,
Dabengwa, who is seen
as a kingmaker in Matabeleland, called a meeting in
Bulawayo with senior
members where a resolution to engage Manyika was made,
sources claim.
When the meeting was eventually held, Manyika found himself
facing a torrent
of heckles from senior members.
"Feeling that he could
not take the insults, all the booing and the
pressure, he tried to storm out
of the meeting but the other members of the
party held him back and closed
the doors so he could not leave. The ridicule
continued after that," the
sources said.
The group that was in the hall is reported to have conducted
District
Coordinating Committee elections the previous week. But the other
group
challenged this, arguing that their rivals could not have held any
elections, as they did not have enough members to elect the 102-member
executive.
National secretary for administration, Didymus Mutasa told The
Financial
Gazette yesterday that he did not have details on the clashes in
Bulawayo,
and was only aware of the postponement of the election.
But
sources say although there were calls for disciplinary action against
those
behind the Bulawayo and Masvingo clashes, ZANU PF has chosen to tread
softly
on the matter, anxious not to further rattle an increasingly fragile
Unity
Accord signed in December 1987 between PF-ZAPU and ZANU PF.
"The issue needs
to be handled with care because it could rock the Unity
Accord. The party's
leadership might have to send someone perceived to be
neutral to handle the
elections in Bulawayo, otherwise the situation will
get out of hand for
good," said a source.
The sources say Manyika's ordeal is linked to
resentment over his role at
the March 30 central committee meeting, in which
he is reported to have
stifled debate over the President's remaining in
power, telling the meeting
in his opening remarks that "the matter of who
will lead our party is
already settled", before breaking into song to seal
the deal.
Interim committees have run the ZANU PF Bulawayo province since the
death of
former PF-ZAPU leader Joshua Nkomo. No elected executive has
managed to
complete its term. The younger war veterans have made a clean
sweep in all
open elections since, only to be sacked and replaced by
provisional
committees.
The last executive, led by Themba Ncube, was
removed after the Tsholotsho
debacle in 2004, involving an alleged plot to
oust political heavyweights
such as Msika, Nkomo and Dabengwa.
Sources at
the meetings say Manyika decided to postpone the election upon
realising
that the divisions, said to be related to retaliation against
those that
supported President Mugabe's candidacy for 2008, ran too deep.
Senior party
officials from the Bulawayo province had opposed President
Mugabe's
nomination, while "younger war veterans", who defied public opinion
in
Matabeleland in 2001 by nominating him at the Victoria Falls annual
conference for the 2002 presidential elections, continue to back the head of
state.
War veteran Jabulani Sibanda led the former freedom fighters at
the time,
but he has since been expelled from the party for "disrespecting
his
seniors".
Ncube, his successor, was also suspended in 2005 and later
severely beaten
by people claiming to be members of the former ZIPRA
command. Although he
reported the assault to the police and identified the
perpetrators, no
arrests were made.
As Manyika endured embarrassment in
Bulawayo, Alex Mudavanhu - reportedly
allied to Mujuru - won the party's
Masvingo provincial chairmanship after
elections in which his supporters
fought for hours with those of his rival,
Paul Mangwana, a reported
Mnangagwa ally.
Maziriri, ZANU PF Member of Parliament for Chivi North, said
she was
attacked by youths loyal to Mudavanhu, sustaining injuries on her
leg and
shoulder. A senior official allied to Mangwana said his group would
seek a
re-run.
FinGaz
Nkululeko Sibanda Staff Reporter
THE Zimbabwe Congress of Trade
Unions (ZCTU) marked May Day this week with
calls for yet another nationwide
strike to press for a $1.5 million minimum
wage, but for most workers,
Tuesday was just one more day in the struggle
for survival.
For Farai
Jere, a 41-year old farm worker, the day was just like any other -
with
nothing worth celebrating.
Holding a plastic bag containing what could be
mistaken for groceries, Jere
looks worn out and tired. On closer examination
the plastic bag contains a
dirty, torn worksuit and a pair of worn out
safety shoes.
He narrates the details of his destitution as a farm worker in
Mazowe, and
his meagre salary, which can no longer feed his family.
Says
Jere: "I started working on the farm when I left school in 1986. I took
up
the job at the farm because I had failed Ordinary Level exams and no
company
would offer me a job.
"At the time a salary was not a serious issue because
the farm owners would
give us some of the basic commodities we required to
supplement the little
money they paid us."
But now, with inflation at
about 2200 percent, his miserable life has only
worsened. With a monthly
salary of $78 000 Jere earns more than other farm
workers, but the money is
still far short of what he needs to cater for his
family's basic needs, such
as sending his two children to school. In fact,
his salary is not even
sufficient to buy a 50kg bag of mealie-meal at this
week's prices.
He is
however one of a lucky few to benefit from the Basic Education
Assistance
Module (BEAM), a government welfare scheme to help deprived
children through
school.
"I am married and we have two kids.
The eldest, a girl,
Zvikomborero, is studying Ordinary Level. The other is
in Grade 5 at one of
the farm schools. It has been a nightmare seeing them
through school," he
says.
To make ends meet, Jere has had to do different menial jobs on
surrounding
farms. However, even with this extra hard work, he cannot
guarantee his
family a decent meal.
"Life has become so difficult that I
shed tears when I try to imagine what
the future of my children will be. I
curse myself for having brought these
kids into the world when I cannot look
after them properly."
Asked whether he has anything to celebrate on May Day,
Jere frowns: "I have
been narrating to you the sorry life that I have lived,
and looking at me
now, you can see that my skin does not match my age. Each
time I meet my
school mates, they say I look much older than my
age.
"There will only be something to celebrate when the people who represent
us
(the General Agriculture and Plantation Workers Union of Zimbabwe) manage
to
convince our employers to increase our salaries. For now, I am in no mood
to
celebrate," he said.
Jere is not alone. Most Zimbabwean workers spent
May Day wondering where
their next meal was going to come from, and hoping
for a time when the
holiday would once again be cause for
celebration.
The only thing that attracts workers to May Day ceremonies are
free soccer
matches at various venues around the country.
Nothing
attracts them to the events, where labour leaders' speeches are no
more than
glory-seeking blame games, and finger-pointing without suggesting
any
alternative solutions to ease the workers' plight.
With labour unions
divided, there is little hope that workers' grievances
will be heard.
Two
rival bodies currently claim to be the genuine representatives of the
workers, - the opposition-leaning ZCTU, and the Zimbabwe Federation of Trade
Unions (ZFTU), which is aligned with ZANU PF.
Listening to the presidents
of the two unions, Lovemore Matombo and Alfred
Makwarimba address the
workers, one
found that the issues confronting their members are the same.
These have to
do with poverty datum line (PDL)-linked salaries, poor working
conditions,
HIV and AIDS, and the rising cost of basic commodities.
Said
Matombo: "The ZCTU demands that workers be
paid a living wage above the PDL.
As the economy continues
to slide, so are disposable incomes. Today's
aggregated wages are lower than
those paid in 1965, thereby creating a sense
of despondency, helplessness,
and hopelessness."
He believes that the
implementation of the Price and Incomes Stabilisation
Protocol will cushion
workers against the impact of inflation.
On the other hand, Makwarimba's ZFTU
pins its hopes on the Tripartite
Negotiation Forum to bring about a change
in the fortunes of workers.
But Matombo's latest strike threat shows how
desperate the labour leaders
are for real solutions.
Addressing workers
gathered at Gwanzura stadium to mark this year's May Day
celebrations on
Tuesday, Matombo said there would be another strike if
workers' conditions
of service and salaries were not improved.
He said the ZCTU would continue to
call for job boycotts despite government's
continued crackdown against trade
unionists.
FinGaz
Zhean Gwaze Staff
Reporter
ZIMBABWEAN journalists mark World Press Freedom Day today amid
increasing
concern for their safety as a government crackdown on its
opponents targets
media practitioners perceived to be hostile to the ruling
ZANU PF.
World Press Freedom Day is this year celebrated worldwide under
the theme,
"journalists' safety", an apt theme locally because of increasing
threats to
the safety of media professionals following recent political
events.
A foiled prayer meeting organised by a coalition of opposition groups
in
March triggered a government crackdown on dissent. In the aftermath of
the
clashes, journalists have been arrested, maimed, and even killed.
A
former Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC) cameraman, Edward Chikomba,
was found dead on the banks of a lake outside Harare after being abducted
from his home. Reports suggest he may have been targeted because he was
suspected to be linked to the opposition.
If it is eventually proved that
state agents as widely suspected, murdered
Chikomba, his would be the first
ever killing of a journalist by the
government, and would open a new sordid
chapter in the history of government's
crusade against a free press.
Gift
Phiri, a reporter on the private weekly, The Zimbabwean, was abducted
and
then brutally beaten while in police custody. He was detained for days
without any charges being preferred against him.
He was eventually
released after being charged under prevailing repressive
media and security
laws.
Freelance photographer Tsvangirai Mukwazhi and producer Tendai
Musiyazviriyo
were arrested while covering the clashes between opposition
supporters and
the police in Highfield on March 11.
They too were
brutalised while in custody and Mukwazhi has filed a suit
against the police
for the return of his seized equipment.
Luke Tamborinyoka, who works as a
press officer for the MDC, and journalist
Godwin Mangudya, were arrested
recently.
The local chapter of the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA
Zimbabwe)
has warned of further dangers ahead of elections next year, and
advised
journalists to be cautious in executing their
duties.
"Journalists should rally behind one another especially where it
concerns
the unlawful arrest, detention, assault and torture of colleagues
as these
actions go beyond the hazards that come with the terrain of the
profession
but blatantly violate the charters, conventions and declarations
that
protect media freedom and freedom of expression," MISA Zimbabwe
said.
The media watchdog said the environment continues to be restrictive
with
laws such as the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act
(AIPPA), the Public Order and Security Act (POSA), and Broadcasting Services
Act (BSA) remaining firmly entrenched on the statute books.
AIPPA, whose
goal government says is to regulate and ease the operations of
journalists,
could not protect Mukwazhi from police beatings when he
brandished his valid
accreditation card, issued by the state-controlled
Media and Information
Commission under the provisions of the very same law.
AIPPA, which was
shepherded through Parliament by former Information
Minister Jonathan Moyo
in 2002, has been invoked over the past four years to
close four newspapers
- The Daily News and its sister paper, The Daily News
on Sunday, The Tribune
and The Weekly Times.
The closure of the papers not only resulted in the loss
of existing jobs,
but it also meant hundreds of journalism graduates could
not find work.
Job opportunities in the sector were already restricted by
ZBC's monopoly on
the airwaves. No broadcasting licences have been issued
since the
Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe invited applications in 2004
for 15
national commercial free-to-air radio broadcasting licences, and
licenses
for a national television broadcaster and community radio
stations.
And while journalists operate under threat because of state
repression,
their plight, like that of workers in other sectors, has
worsened.
Most journalists' salaries are below the official $1.6 million
breadline.
This sorry state of affairs has even been the subject of
Parliamentary
debate.
The impact of the unrelenting economic decline is
also reflected in the
soaring cost of newsprint, supplied by Mutare Board
and Paper Mills, which
enjoys a monopoly. With newsprint accounting for the
bulk of newspapers'
operating costs, real fears have been expressed over the
future of the press
in Zimbabwe.
FinGaz
Charles Rukuni Bureau
Chief
BULAWAYO - The country's second largest city was a hive of activity
last
week with the five-day trade showcase - the Zimbabwe International
Trade
Fair (ZITF) and the presentation in the city, for the first time in
history
of Zimbabwe, of the central bank's monetary policy review
statement.
Nothing could have been more fitting for the business sector
than to be
advised of new incentives aimed at boosting production at the
very time they
were trying to sell themselves both locally and
internationally.
The ZITF was attended by 815 exhibitors, including some from
a dozen
countries and 82 invited buyers.
Central bank governor, Gideon
Gono announced several new measures to boost
various sectors of the economy,
including adjusting the exchange rate to $15
000 to the greenback for those
who bought special instruments aimed at
beefing up the coffers of the
reserve bank.
He, however, insisted that this was not a devaluation as those
who did not
buy the special instruments would still be paid the official
rate of $250 to
the US dollar.
Gono said shipments from manufacturing had
increased by 5.9 percent in the
first quarter of this year compared to the
same period last year realising
US$59.5 million, up from $56 million.
He
said the increase was mainly through toll manufacturing, which was
encouraged by ZITF chairman Nhlanhla Masuku just before the opening of the
fair. Industry is reported to be currently operating at about 20 percent of
capacity
Mining shipments, excluding gold, were up by 38.5 percent from
US$140.1
million to US$194 million. The growth was largely due to firming
international prices of major minerals like nickel and platinum.
Gold
production, on the other hand, declined by 19 percent from 2.76 tonnes
to
2.4 tonnes. Gono said the drop was due to the combined effects of rampant
smuggling and operational viability constraints. He hiked the gold support
price from $16 000 to $350 000 to address the two major problems.
Gono
said no amount of incentives would prop the economy to recover unless
the
people of Zimbabwe adopted a development model that was based on
conviction,
and not mere theoretical conventions.
FinGaz
Clemence Manyukwe Staff
Reporter
ALLEGED British mercenary Simon Mann's
release from prison at the end of his
term next Friday hangs in the balance
pending the outcome of an application
for his extradition filed by the
government of Equatorial Guinea.
In an interview yesterday shortly before
making his closing submissions at
the Harare magistrates court, Mann's
lawyer Jonathan Samkange said his
client was entitled to an automatic
release regardless of whether or not the
hearing of the application for his
extradition had been finalised.
Mann and 61 others were arrested when their
plane landed at Harare
international airport in March 2004.
They were
convicted on arms and immigration related charges. The rest were
released
after serving their prison terms.
However, Equatorial Guinea wants Mann
extradited on grounds that he
masterminded a plot to overthrow that
country's president, Theodore Obiang
Nguema Mbasongo
"They cannot
continue to hold him. There is no warrant for the detention. If
they do so
that will be unlawful," said Samkange.
Prosecutor Joseph Jagada said Mann
cannot be automatically released and can
only be allowed to go free if he
successfully applies for bail.
In court, Samkange argued for the extradition
application to be dismissed
saying his client would be tortured in
Equatorial Guinea. He said the rule
of law did not exist in the country
seeking Mann's extradition and he could
not be guaranteed a fair trial if he
was sent there. "Your worship, I want
to draw your attention to the
constitution of Equatorial Guinea. The
president is the chief magistrate who
directs all magistrates," he said.
He cited testimony by Zimbabwe's former
Attorney General, Andrew Chigovera,
now a United Nations consultant on human
rights, and reports compiled by the
International bar Association and
Amnesty International confirming the use
of torture in Equatorial Guinea.
Samkange said South African Nick du Toit
who was sentenced to 34 years in
prison in Malabo on charges that he was
part of an advance team that was
supposed to topple Nguema in a coup, had
yet to be tried. Samkange said
since the leader of Equatorial Guinea came to
power, he had not respected
human rights and cited his failure to respond to
damning reports before the
African Commission on Human and People's Rights
(ACHPR) in seven
years.
He said to prove that du Toit as being held without trial, no court
records
showed that a transcript of the proceedings requested in May last
year had
still not been provided.
Samkange said in his whole life he had
never seen a witness as bad as
Equatorial Guinea's Attorney General, Jose
Olo Obono.
"Mr Obono performed dismally. He was a very poor and bad witness,"
he said.
"I have never seen a person who says he is a lawyer and performs so
poorly,
pathetically. I was ashamed."
It was surprising, he said, that
Obono, who was once suspended from
practising law because of some
misdemeanours had been appointed
Attorney-General by the government of
Equatorial Guinea.
Samkange said in terms of the law, his client can only be
extradited if a
prima facie case is established against him, but the state
had failed to do
so.
However, Jagada insisted that the conviction of du
Toit and Mark Thatcher
for involvement in the coup plot showed that Mann had
a case to answer.
Magistrate Omega Mugumbate will make a ruling on
Wednesday, two days before
Mann's scheduled release.
FinGaz
David Mupamhadzi
Is social
dialogue central to future of country's economy?
THE presentation by the
central bank Governor, Gideon Gono, of an interim
monetary policy statement
last week did not come as a surprise to the market
despite earlier
assertions made in January 2007 that monetary authorities
would only move
once other partners play their role.
The developments in the economy
during the past four months, clearly called
for an urgent policy assessment
and policy modification.
Social contract-baby steps
The policy framework
announced by the central bank in January 2007, which
was premised on the
assumption that all people would engage in "soul
searching" in February, and
then use social dialogue to solve the economic
challenges facing the nation
has not moved as anticipated and hence the need
for interim
measures.
Interim relief but.
The focus of the interim monetary policy
statement was again on the need for
social dialogue in order to stir the
economy from the current challenges.
Although a number of dispensations were
made with respect to the exchange
rate and interest rates, it is clear that
the future of this economy depends
on the implementation of the social
contract.
For example, support prices that were given to exporters, gold
producers,
and tobacco farmers among others, cannot be mistaken for
long-term solutions
to alleviate the challenges facing these key sectors of
the economy. These
measures will indeed go a long way in enhancing viability
and
competitiveness of the sectors but if the macroeconomic environment
continues to deteriorate, the benefits will disappear in no
time.
Let's not lose focus
It is against this background that all the
key stakeholders in the country
must remain focused on the bigger picture,
and urgently work on the
implementation of the social contract. The
resolution to the economic
problems requires all Zimbabweans to forego their
sectoral interest for
national interest.
The commitment by the monetary
authorities to move towards a market driven
economy, is a welcome
development. Price controls over the years have
resulted in price
distortions thus fueling rent seeking behavior. The use of
price controls
results in an inefficient allocation of scarce resources in
an
economy.
The role of a pricing system in an economy is to act as a signal,
which
directs the allocation of scarce resource across all sectors of the
economy.
Experience over the years clearly shows that price controls in
Zimbabwe do
not benefit the intended beneficiaries. A few "anointed" people
always
thrive in such a market as they take advantage of the system to
exploit
arbitrage opportunities.
Framework important
However,
introducing a market driven economy, in an environment riddled with
massive
distortions, rampant speculation, and divergent interests would not
achieve
the desired results. It is against this background that the issue of
social
dialogue will become central to the future of this economy.
Developments
during the first four months of 2007, clearly show that if
Zimbabweans are
not willing to sit down and work together, then the problems
that the
country is facing are bound to worsen. Monetary instruments alone
cannot
solve the current challenges that the country is facing. This
explains why
it is important to adopt a more holistic approach, which
involves every one
in the quest to turn around the economy.
Empirical evidence from economic
literature clearly shows that adverse
economic conditions can easily get out
of control if there is no
synchronisation of policies. Again literature
shows that there is no easy or
quick remedy to hyperinflation and hence the
need for all to walk the
painful steps to recovery.
David Mupamhadzi is
group economist for ZABG
FinGaz
National Agenda
with Bornwell Chakaodza
Countries with a free press don't have famines: Nobel
Laureate
TODAY, May 3 is World Press Freedom Day. The day before yesterday,
May 1,
was Workers Day. The theme this year in Zimbabwe was: Workers Time to
Fight.
What a time indeed to reflect and fight on so many fronts in
this country.
Times are hard in Zimbabwe at the moment. Not of course for
the tiny
fraction enjoying the trappings of power but for more than 95
percent who
are clearly at the bottom of the pile, it is a very tough
environment
indeed.
Zimbabweans now look like Mozambican peasants when
that country's civil war
ended in 1992. They look much thinner and
emotionally drained. Statistics
paint a very grim picture indeed.
Unemployment stands at more than 80
percent. More than three million
Zimbabweans including journalists have fled
the country to eke out a
precarious existence in foreign lands.
Annual inflation is officially
hovering around 2 220 percent but is believed
by independent experts to be
around 5 000 percent and continuing to gallop.
In 1992, at the time of the
worst drought in living memory in Southern
Africa, the Zimbabwean dollar was
eight to one US dollar. Now it is a
staggering Z$ 25 000 to one US dollar at
the parallel market. Much worse,
Zimbabwe is now a fractured
society.
Democratic countries with a free press do not have famines said
Amartya Sen,
the Nobel Prize winner in economics. What the good professor
meant was that
a free press warns political authorities about the threat of
famine and
droughts and nations are thus better prepared to act swiftly to
avert
starvation.
For example, the manner in which the Zimbabwean
government and other SADC
governments (with the assistance of the
international community) rose to
meet the immense challenge of the 1992/93
drought that struck the Southern
African region is a famous case in point.
The relief operation was carefully
planned and brilliantly and transparently
executed precisely because a free
press acted as an early warning system
among other factors. Back then, we
were not such an impoverished pariah
state as we are now.
And it is precisely the power of a free press and the
sacrifices that are
made by the media, private individuals and various
organisations to pressure
governments that continue to deny their citizens
freedom of the media that I
want to talk about in this article. By this I
mean the freedom of
journalists to gather information without hindrance and
the freedom of the
people to read, see or hear this information
unfettered.
The question that immediately comes to mind is: Should a day be
set aside
for this kind of activity? Absolutely. Consider the perils that
are faced by
journalists around the world in general and Zimbabwe in
particular.
Worldwide, more than 20 journalists have been killed in Iraq,
Afghanistan
and elsewhere in the course of performing their professional
duties.
Many others are currently imprisoned in a number of countries. Yet
others
are trailed or kidnapped in trouble spots or conflict areas around
the
world. Our country, Zimbabwe, continues to be one of the worst places to
work as a journalist. It is an act of enormous bravery, defiance and
resilience to work as an independent journalist and human rights activist in
this country.
The wave of repression and police brutality in the last two
months in which
journalists legitimately covering national events were
detained, assaulted
and harassed testify to the above fact. All these
developments are taking
place against the background of a media environment
which is extremely
embarrassing for a fairly developed country like ours and
with such an
educated and discerning population - thanks to the continuing
terrible
legacy of Rasputin Jonathan Moyo, President Robert Mugabe's former
propaganda chief and Minister of Information and Publicity between the year
2000 and end of 2004.
How this man can sleep easily at night and continue
to live with himself
boggles the mind. Consider his record. First, the
repressive media laws.
Jonathan Moyo will be remembered for all time as the
man who presided over
the enactment of the Access to Information and
Protection of Privacy Act
(AIPPA) in 2002 which resulted in the closure of
four private newspapers
thereby severely limiting democratic space in the
country.
Jonathan Moyo will be remembered for all time as the man who
presided over
the passing of the Broadcasting Services Act (BSA) which has
effectively
prevented the establishment of private radio and television
stations in the
country thereby leaving the government-controlled Zimbabwe
Broadcasting
Corporation (ZBC) the only broadcasting station in
Zimbabwe.
Lesser countries in terms of infrastructural development and levels
of
education and sophistication such as Mozambique, Zambia and Tanzania -
impoverished as they are - opened up their airwaves many years ago. Zimbabwe
is the only country in the region whose population is at the mercy of
full-blown propaganda churned out on a daily basis by the only daily
newspapers, the government-controlled Herald and Chronicle in Harare and in
Bulawayo respectively as well as the government-run ZBC.
The
privately-owned and independent weeklies, The Financial Gazette,
Zimbabwe
Independent, The Standard and the UK- based Zimbabwean as well as
the
private radio stations based outside Zimbabwe and online .coms are no
match
for the dominant state media as they are very limited in terms of
reach and
frequency. So it is indeed bad news all round as far as
alternative sources
of information for Zimbabweans are concerned.
Jonathan Moyo will also be
remembered for many other things including his
echoes in the draconian
Public Order and Security Act (POSA) as well as
rendering former state media
workers destitute through his insensitive and
on-the-spot dismissals. I meet
these guys who were fired from ZBC and
elsewhere from time to time and the
years out of employment have taken their
toll both physically and
emotionally.
The media sector has shrunk terribly, leaving the Zimbabwean
public in the
dark on many happenings affecting their lives - all this as a
result of his
wickedness and lack of tolerance. Unfortunately, nothing to
date has
changed. His terrible legacy lives on. If anything, repression of
media and
other freedoms has intensified in this country.
This is a media
age we live in. Thus as we join the rest of the world in
celebrating World
Press Freedom Day, I dream of the day when we will no
longer have words such
as repressive media environment and draconian media
laws on our lips. This
nation is in need of healing as has been said
repeatedly by many
organisations and eminent individuals across the
political spectrum
including the churches, Archbishop Pius Ncube, the Save
Zimbabwe Campaign,
the Centre for Peace Initiatives in Africa (CPIA), men
and women of goodwill
in ZANU PF, the central bank governor Gideon Gono, to
mention but a
few.
President Mugabe himself struck a healing and conciliatory tone when
opening
the just-ended Zimbabwe International Trade Fair 2007 when he talked
about a
partnership between government and the private sector and I quote
him "that
is synergetic and collaborative and not adversarial and
confrontational".
Unfortunately, his words are seldom matched by action.
This is the tragedy
that we have lived with for a long time now.
Among
many other confidence-building measures that ZANU PF can introduce as
a
matter of urgency, repealing AIPPA and POSA as well as genuinely opening
up
the airwaves to allow more players in the broadcasting field will be an
enormous investment in political goodwill to all Zimbabweans.
Look at the
state of the media and the country today Mr President. Things
are just not
working despite the brave faces that you and your lieutenants
put on
everyday. Last week's Zimbabwe International Trade Fair said it all
regardless of the positive notes you incessantly strike on this and many
other things. Surely it cannot just be business as usual anymore - because
there is no business to talk about really.
There is no need to deny that
reality. Besides, there are too many
declarations on the part of your
ministers and too little action. What we
need is action. Equally important,
we must have a free press. Without that,
Zimbabwe will remain incoherent,
isolated, ostracised, bleeding and lost in
the long grass.
Email: boncha@mweb.co.zw
FinGaz
Njabulo Ncube Chief
Political Reporter
as 300, not 800 farmers accept unrealistic sums in
desperation
UNIONS for white commercial farmers dispute government claims it
has fully
compensated 800 displaced farmers, insisting that the state has
made
payments as low as five percent of the market value of seized land to
only
300 farmers.
Flora Buka, Minister of State for Special Affairs
responsible for Land and
Resettlement, told The Chronicle this week that 800
compensated farmers had
accepted payment offered by government.
She did
not disclose how much government has spent so far on the exercise.
But
farmers' representatives say some 4 000 of the 4 300 farmers displaced
since
2000 still await full compensation for infrastructure on land acquired
since
the fast track land reform exercise began.
The Commercial Farmer Union (CFU),
the main union representing mostly white
commercial farmers, and breakaway
union Justice for Agriculture (JAG), said
their records show that only 300
farmers have accepted compensation.
They say poverty had driven most of the
farmers into accepting what they say
are "unrealistic" payments.
"There
is doubt over the figure of 800 because, in our books, we have about
300
farmers that have been forced to accept whatever money they are offered
by
the government due to destitution," said CFU spokesperson Emily Crookes.
"We
have cases where some farmers are being paid 12 percent of the actual
market
value of their properties."
John Worswick, JAG chairman, said: "We do not
know of 800 farmers, but about
300 that had been coaxed by poverty to accept
unrealistic figures not based
on qualified evaluation. In some cases farmers
have been offered five
percent of the market value of their properties and
many of these are people
that have been failing to buy food and medication
as they are no longer on
their land."
He said because government had
failed to speedily deal with compensation,
the total bill of damages now far
outstripped the value of the land and
improvements.
"Damages now make up
between 60-70 percent of the value of the claims,"
Worswick
said.
Although Buka did not give details on the spending available for
compensation, Worswick, whose group has engaged private evaluators to
estimate how much government would need to fairly compensate the 4 300
farmers, said the state needs £15 billion for the exercise.
FinGaz
Njabulo Ncube Chief Political
Reporter
SOUTH Africa has implored ZANU PF and the opposition Movement
for Democratic
Change (MDC) to stop "grandstanding" so as to create a
political climate
conducive to Thabo Mbeki's tough mediation
efforts.
But a new police account of events
that sparked worldwide
anger and culminated in Mbeki mediation initiative
show how far apart the
two sides remain.
Mbeki was mandated in March by the Southern African
Development Community
(SADC) to broker a settlement to end Zimbabwe's
political crisis. This
followed the torture of Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of
the main opposition and
other activists, in police custody.
Aziz Pahad,
South Africa's deputy minister of Foreign Affairs, told
journalists in
Pretoria this week that Mbeki had impressed upon both parties
the need to
end political violence and
To Page 38
create conducive conditions for
mediation whose outcome would be accepted by
all them and SADC.
"The
problem is that both parties are grand-standing," said Pahad. "Everyday
we
hear ZANU PF has done this, the MDC has bombed this. We don't want this
public posturing. We have asked them to create a conducive atmosphere to
allow for mediation."
Pahad refuted suggestions that Mbeki is using the
mediation process to allow
President Mugabe to buy time, allowing him to
stand for president in 2008.
"President Mbeki is acting as per the SADC
mandate. There are no ulterior
motives," he said.
Despite concern in some
quarters that the mediation had already already lost
momentum, Pahad said
the process was going according to plan. "We are still
in pre-dialogue. We
have the MDC drafts which are being scrutinised to help
President Mbeki come
up with an agenda," he said.
Both the government and the opposition yesterday
declined comment on Pahad's
remarks.
Pahad's comments come as Human
Rights Watch yesterday urged Mbeki and other
southern African leaders to
step up pressure on the Zimbabwean government to
end massive - and
escalating - human rights violations.
The organization said Mbeki should make
human rights central to his mission.
Harare intensified its crackdown on
dissent in March, with police seriously
beating opposition leaders.
In a
39-page report, "Bashing Dissent: Escalating Violence and State
Repression
in Zimbabwe," Human Rights Watch documented the repression with
firsthand
accounts of the government's widespread and systematic abuses.
"Arbitrary
arrests, detentions and brutal beatings by police and security
forces
skyrocketed in March and April, and continue unabated," the
organization
said.
But a police report - which President Mugabe is believed to have taken
to
the SADC meeting - astonishingly denies Tsvangirai was ever assaulted
.
On March 11, more than 50 activists were arrested, and delivered to court
four days later, visibly battered and bruised.
Police insist in an
account just released by the Ministry of Home Affairs
that none of those
arrested was ever beaten:
"Morgan Tsvangirai got out of his car (at Machipisa
Police Station) and he
started pushing and shoving attempting to enter into
the station, but was
held back by police. Officers at the main gate tried to
restrain him from
entering the station and minimum force was used and he was
subsequently
handcuffed and brought into the station and detained in the
cells.
The possibility of the station being overrun by the rowdy crowd led by
Tsvangirai was fast becoming a reality. The police had to quickly subdue
Tsvangirai and his supporters. He was not assaulted whilst in police
detention." Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe intensified his crackdown on
the opposition movement in March, with police seriously beating its leaders.
He has become increasingly defiant since then.
create conducive
conditions for mediation whose outcome would be accepted by
all them and
SADC.
"The problem is that both parties are grand-standing," said Pahad.
"Everyday
we hear ZANU PF has done this, the MDC has bombed this. We don't
want this
public posturing. We have asked them to create a conducive
atmosphere to
allow for mediation."
Pahad refuted suggestions that Mbeki
is using the mediation process to allow
President Mugabe to buy time,
allowing him to stand for president in 2008.
"President Mbeki is acting as
per the SADC mandate. There are no ulterior
motives," he said.
Despite
concern in some quarters that the mediation had already already lost
momentum, Pahad said the process was going according to plan. "We are still
in pre-dialogue. We have the MDC drafts which are being scrutinised to help
President Mbeki come up with an agenda,"he said.
Both the government and
the opposition yesterday declined to comment on
Pahad's remarks.
Pahad's
comments come as Human Rights Watch yesterday urged Mbeki and other
southern
African leaders to step up pressure on the Zimbabwean government to
end
massive - and escalating - human rights violations.
The organization said
Mbeki should make human rights central to his mission.
Harare intensified its
crackdown on dissent in March, with police seriously
beating opposition
leaders.
In a 39-page report, Bashing Dissent: Escalating Violence and State
Repression in Zimbabwe, Human Rights Watch
documented the repression with
firsthand accounts of the government's
widespread and systematic
abuses.
"Arbitrary arrests, detentions and brutal beatings by police and
security
forces skyrocketed in March and April, and continue unabated," the
organization said.
But a police report - which President Mugabe is
believed to have taken to
the SADC meeting - surprisingly denies Tsvangirai
was ever assaulted.
On March 11, more than 50 activists were arrested, and
delivered to court
four days later, visibly battered and bruised.
Police
insist in an account just released by the Ministry of Home Affairs
that none
of those arrested was ever beaten:
"Morgan Tsvangirai got out
of his car
(at Machipisa Police Station) and he started pushing
and shoving attempting
to enter into the station, but was held
back by police. Officers at the main
gate tried to restrain him from
entering the station and minimum force was
used and he was subsequently
handcuffed and brought into the station and
detained in the cells.
"The possibility of the station being overrun by the
rowdy crowd led by
Tsvangirai was fast becoming a reality. The police had to
quickly subdue
Tsvangirai and his supporters. He was not assaulted whilst in
police
detention."
President Mugabe intensified his crackdown on the
opposition movement in
March, with police seriously beating its leaders. He
has become increasingly
defiant since then.
FinGaz
Clemence Manyukwe Staff
Reporter
REGISTRAR-General Tobaiwa Mudede was yesterday summoned by ZANU
PF Members
of Parliament and quizzed about his department's strict
citizenship laws, as
the ruling party begins a battle to salvage votes from
groups it
marginalised in previous elections.
Legislators told Mudede
that they risk losing the support of millions of
potential voters, mainly
farm workers, who have been affected by laws
requiring them to renounce
foreign citizenship if their parents were not
Zimbabwean.
In yesterday's
caucus meeting that also discussed the looting of diamonds in
Marange, which
has been linked to senior government and ruling party
officials, Mudede
addressed those present under an agenda item listed as
"citizenship
problems".
A source said: "Legislators were of the view that every vote
counts. They
wanted to press for the registration of aliens, mostly farm
workers, ahead
of the elections."
Sources said Mudede pledged to speedily
solve problems faced by citizens
unable to vote because they were yet to
renounce their foreign citizenship.
In an interview with The Financial
Gazette yesterday, ZANU PF chief whip
Joram Gumbo said Mudede had been
called in to explain the country's
citizenship laws to the ZANU PF
MPs.
He said the Registrar-General explained that delays faced by those
hoping to
renounce their citizenship were due to the lethargy of foreign
embassies,
and not his own office.
"There was, however, no talk of
amending the Citizenship Act. The R-G said
because of transport problems,
those who want to renounce their citizenship
can submit their forms at
district offices, which can then send the papers
to head office," he
said.
"It was also explained to us that those above 50 years of age can
undertake
self-registration in terms of obtaining birth
certificates."
Self-registration means that an applicant is not required to
bring his or
her parents for the procedure.
Mudede's appearance before
the ZANU PF caucus will renew criticism by
government critics, who have long
accused him of facilitating the rigging of
elections.
Mudede has
previously denied the charge.
The ruling party's new interest in farm workers
is in stark contrast to the
2000 and 2002 elections, when it disenfranchised
millions by declaring
Zimbabweans of foreign ancestry aliens.
Farm
workers also bore the brunt of the violence that erupted on farms
during
government-backed land invasions by landless peasants and war
veterans,
which began in 2000.
Although farm workers were at one time perceived to be
opposed to ZANU PF,
the ruling party will likely take advantage of their
increasing destitution
and use drought relief to secure their vote in polls
early next year.
Critics say government has used the citizenship laws to
intimidate its
opponents by threatening to withdraw their
citizenship.
Justice Minister, Patrick Chinamasa, is said to have cautioned
MPs at
yesterday's meeting against releasing information on matters
discussed in
caucus.
FinGaz
Staff reporter
THE
International Monetary Fund (IMF), which suspended balance of payments
support to Zimbabwe in the late 1990s, has once again raised its voice
against the country's economic policies.
In a recent report, Sònia
Muñoz, who works for the Fund's Africa Department,
said creation and
printing of money had largely contributed to escalating
inflation currently
at 2200 percent year-on-year, the highest in the world.
Muñoz's report
omitted current measures being taken by the central bank to
refocus its
activities.
Last week, central bank governor Gideon Gono revealed that
Fiscorp, a
vehicle meant to manage outstanding past quasi-fiscal balances,
had been set
up successfully.
He said: "Through this vehicle, on going
projects are being managed in a
manner that does not conflict with the
central bank's anti-inflation
stance."
Muñoz said the quasi-fiscal
losses incurred as a result needed to be dealt
with to restore stability in
banking system.
The losses had arisen from a range of activities, including
monetary
operations to mop up liquidity, subsidised credit to key productive
sectors
that were showing distress signs, foreign exchange losses through
subsidised
exchange rates for selected government purchases and multiple
currency
practices, financial sector restructuring, concessionary debts and
loans to
government parastatals.
Muñoz said the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe
(RBZ) had become unsound to manage
the country's financial industry and
needed recapitalisation to regain the
confidence of the banking
sector.
However, she said, recapitalisation could only make sense in a stable
economy.
"When balance sheets have seriously deteriorated as in the case
of Zimbabwe,
a recapitalisation of the central bank would be recommended
once
stabilisation has been achieved," the IMF said.
Its not the first
time the IMF has raised concern over the RBZ's inadequate
capital of just $2
000. An IMF delegation that visited the country last year
on routine
consultations deplored the fact that the central bank had not
been
recapitalised since 1964.
The current legislation is however, silent on how
the RBZ could be
recapitalised.
"These developments have resulted in an
unstable macroeconomic environment
that risks hyperinflation, reinforcing
the argument in favor of far-reaching
and simultaneous reforms in the areas
of fiscal, monetary, and exchange rate
to restore policy credibility and
impose macroeconomic discipline," said the
IMF.
Zimbabwe's flow of
central bank quasi-fiscal losses is estimated to have
amounted to 75 percent
of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) last year.
"Moreover, Zimbabwe needs to
rationalise the relationship between the
central bank and the central
government," Muñoz said.
FinGaz
Clemence
Manyukwe Staff Reporter
IN a complete reversal of events, Levison
Chikafu, who represented the state
in Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa's
high profile obstruction of justice
trial last year, will soon find himself
in the dock facing corruption
charges, with two senior magistrates
testifying against him Chikafu's
lawyer, Chris Ndlovu, confirmed that two
magistrates, Hosiah Mujuru and
Billiard Musakwa, would testify against his
client, who is accused of taking
a bribe from a murder
suspect.
Chikafu, the Area Prosecutor for Manicaland, claims he is to be
prosecuted
on trumped up charges as punishment for prosecuting
Chinamasa.
In his closing arguments in the trial last year, Chikafu stressed
he was not
responsible for the Justice Minister's predicament and had only
followed an
order from Mujuru to have Chinamasa arrested.
Mujuru issued
the order in January last year while presiding over the trial
of ZANU PF
supporters charged with political violence.
During that trial, Chinamasa was
accused of trying to block the ruling party
supporters' case from going to
court, giving rise to charges of attempting
to obstruct the course of
justice being levelled against him.
He was subsequently acquitted. However,
controversy has dogged Chikafu since
then with first, the bribery charges
being preferred against him and
magistrates in Manicaland recusing
themselves from hearing his case.
A magistrate from Masvingo is to be brought
to preside over the trial, for
which dates are yet to be set.
FinGaz
Njabulo Ncube Chief Political
Reporter
ISAAC Matongo, founding chairman of the opposition Movement for
Democratic
Change (MDC), has died.
Matongo (60) died in his sleep in
the early hours of yesterday, party
officials said. Although the cause of
death is not yet known, associates
said he had a history of high blood
pressure.
"Matongo's death comes as a blow not only to his family and the
party, but
to the nation at large, particularly considering the challenges
that our
country faces. His experience, wisdom and vision will be
irreplaceable,"
said Nelson Chamisa, spokesman for the MDC faction led by
Morgan Tsvangirai.
Born in Masvingo on March 12, 1947, Matongo started his
career as a unionist
when he was elected vice president of the National
Engineering Workers'
Union in 1988. At that time, he worked for Precision
Grinders.
He later served as vice president of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade
Unions,
whose secretary-general at the time was Tsvangirai and its president
Gibson
Sibanda.
Matongo later joined Tsvangirai and Sibanda in launching
the MDC in 1999. He
played a leading role in rallying opposition and civic
groups to the All
Working National Peoples' Convention in 1999, which was to
give birth to the
MDC. He was elected chairman of the new party.
When the
party split in 2005, Matongo initially joined a faction opposed to
Tsvangirai, but later reconsidered his position,
He was popular among the
MDC's grassroots supporters and known for his fiery
and humorous speeches,
making his death a huge loss for the MDC as it
kick-starts a difficult
campaign for polls next year.
Yesterday, Tsvangirai and his deputy, Thokozani
Khupe, cancelled a trip to
Ghana after receiving news of Matongo's
death.
He is survived by his wife, eight children and 13
grandchildren.
FinGaz
Dumisani Ndlela Business
Editor
Banks brace for stormy weather ahead of warning
FINANCIAL
institutions were this week preparing for increased market
turbulence after
the central bank warned it would brook no "deviant
behaviour" from market
players as it tightened its policy ahead of increased
liquidity
pressures.
The money market is this month expected to be flooded with
cash on heavy
treasury bill (TB) maturities amounting to just over $210
billion, the
highest level of maturities of that form of commercial paper so
far this
year.
These are likely to be bolstered by heavy cash movements
in the banking
system emanating from the tobacco-selling season, which
opened last week, as
well as increased Consumer Price Index (CPI)-linked
bond maturities expected
to start distressing monetary authorities until
October.
Heavy maturities are likely to subdue interest rates, whittling down
margins
for banking institutions that were last week hit with increased
statutory
reserve ratios.
Banking sector sources said commercial banks
carried the largest chunk of
CPI-linked bonds on their books, as well as TBs
and were likely to bear
surplus cash.
There were suggestions that the
huge cash-carrying financial institutions
could reject deposits from the
public to guard themselves against losses
emanating from forced investments
in long-dated TB paper.
Failure to take up these long-dated money market
instruments could result in
the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe moving all surplus
cash into non-interest
yielding non-negotiable certificate of deposits
(NNCD), which take away any
excess liquidity for between 90 and 270
days.
Indications are that financial institutions could deploy surplus cash
into
shorter-dated private debt instruments such as 90-day NCDs to avoid the
TBs.
Central bank governor Gideon Gono said last week that there would be
liquidity pressures "over the next few months to October 2007".
He said
the central bank would, as a result of the increased liquidity
pressures,
"continue to tighten monetary policy".
"If not effectively sterilised, these
liquidity injections have a potential
to further ferment inflationary
pressures, which are already high in the
economy," Gono said.
He said the
central bank would "closely monitor liquidity developments and
implement
appropriate offsetting instruments, as and when necessitated by
the
liquidity situation".
He warned: "Financial institutions are, therefore,
forewarned that any
deviant behaviour will be matched with appropriate
policy responses."
The Financial Gazette understands that some of the
"deviant behaviour" could
be failure to participate on the daily TB auctions
by the central bank and
rejection of deposits by financial institutions to
avoid loading themselves
with surplus cash that would be invested in the
TBs.
Gono undertook a raft of measures earmarked to deal with inflationary
pressures.
He increased the accommodation rates from 500 percent and 600
percent for
secured and unsecured lending respectively to 600 percent and
700 percent
respectively for secured and unsecured lending.
He increased
statutory reserves for all classes of bank deposits, except for
building
societies, by five percentage points, saying: "The risk of
continued high
inflationary pressures remains significant over the outlook
period,
requiring that tighter money supply measures be adopted."
FinGaz
Kumbirai Mafunda Senior
Reporter
ZIMBABWE'S tobacco auctioneers have bailed out about 100
small-scale tobacco
growers who had been stranded in Harare following a
delay to the start of
the 2007 tobacco auctions.
Auction officials
told The Financial Gazette this week that they took the
decision to assist
the farmers after most of them had failed to raise enough
money for
transport fares and to buy food after selling their crop at $250
for every
US$1.
Zimbabwe's tobacco auctions took off to a tumultuous start last week
after
the government dithered on announcing new incentives.
The delay
inconvenienced most growers as they surrendered all their earnings
to the
transporters they had hired to take their tobacco to the auction
floors,
leaving them stranded in Harare without money to travel back to
their farms
or to feed themselves.
Transport operators were reportedly charging between
$100 000 and $150 000
to ferry a 100kg bale of tobacco from farms in places
such as Karoi and
Mvurwi to Harare.
The Zimbabwe Industry Tobacco Auction
Centre (ZITAC), the largest of the
three auction floors in the country, and
the Tobacco Sales Floor (TSF) said
they had assisted 100 farmers who had
been stranded in the capital.
"We paid 50 farmers and we will recover our
money when they get their top-up
payment cheques," said Lodwin Gatsi, the
operations executive at TSF.
Irene Ushe, the public relations manager at
ZITAC, said the company had
worked out a similar arrangement for the
stranded farmers.
"We have made arrangements with canteen operators to
provide the farmers
with food," said Ushe.
The auctioneers said they
would recover their money when the government
starts effecting the new
support price and
paying the farmers their bonus payments.
The government
last week unveiled new support measures for tobacco farmers
in which they
will pay growers $40 000 per kilogramme of tobacco which
fetches
US$1.50.
Tobacco farmers who delivered their crop in 2006 will be paid the
top-up
bonus of $85 per kg while the Foreign Currency Account retention
level was
increased from 15 percent to 20 percent to boost farmers' ability
to
purchase inputs that require foreign currency.
Once one of the
country's prime export crop, tobacco production has plunged
over the past
seven years, collapsing from 232 million kgs in 2000 to 55
million kgs in
2006.
FinGaz
Chris Muronzi Staff
Reporter
GOLD producer Metallon Gold Zimbabwe says it has incurred huge
losses from
stalled production due to power outages at its
mines.
Chief executive officer Collen Gura said production during the
first half of
the company's financial year, which runs from October to
March, had been
adversely affected by power cuts, causing a significant loss
of production
hours.
"We are losing nine hours of production time every
24 hours owing to power
outages at the mines, which also affect our capacity
utilisation," said
Gura. "Last year we lost 14 percent in terms of capacity
utilisation but
electricity supply has worsened since then. Production has
been affected in
the first half of our (financial) year," he
added.
Metallon is the country's largest gold producer and accounts for over
40
percent of the country's bullion output.
The company produced
138
000 ounces of gold last year although Gura said production could have
been
higher if they had not experienced power outages.
He said his company could
have reached an output of
160 000 ounces of gold.
Zimbabwe, currently
experiencing its worst economic crisis in history, is in
its seventh year of
an economic recession characterised by acute foreign
currency shortages that
have triggered fuel shortages and erratic power
supplies.
Power utility
ZESA has been unable to import enough
electricity from regional neighbours
due to the foreign currency crisis, and
capacity at its plants has been
constrained by lack of foreign currency for
plant repairs and replenishment
of equipment.
Regional countries barely have enough power surpluses for
exports into
Zimbabwe.
They are currently experiencing power shortfalls
because of increasing
demand set off by regional economic growth.
In his
interim monetary policy review statement, central bank governor
Gideon Gono
said combined effects of rampant smuggling and viability woes
spawned by the
current inflationary spiral had weighed down the gold
producing
sector.
The sector registered total production of only 2.24 tonnes during the
first
quarter of 2007, a decline of 19 percent on the 2.76 tonnes registered
over
the same period in 2006. A support price review has since been
introduced to
improve operations in the gold mining sector.
FinGaz
Staff Reporter
THE increase in the gold and tobacco support prices
by the central bank last
week will see more funds going into the money
market but analysts say this
could depress rates.
Last week, the
Reserve Bank Of Zimbabwe (RBZ) introduced tobacco and gold
support prices to
cushion miners and farmers from the severe operating
environment in the
country.
The gold support price was adjusted to $350 000 per gramme, from $16
000 per
gramme, while farmers would be awarded a top-up support price of $40
000 per
kg for tobacco fetching US$1.50 and above.
Analysts said not many
farmers would be paid the US$1.50 per kg given the
poor quality of tobacco
coming from the fields.
They said the quality of tobacco was dealt a hammer
blow by shortages of
chemicals and poor land preparations that characterised
the beginning of the
farming season.
The RBZ also adjusted the effective
exchange rate for foreign currency
holders and earners selling their foreign
currency to the central bank and
invited tobacco farmers and gold producers
to take advantage of the
facility.
Analysts said although the development
was commendable, this could also see
inflation rising as the central bank
could
be forced to run the printing press in order
to meet such
payments.
The local unit is still trading at $250 to the greenback but
foreign
currency holders are earning a premium of at least $14 750 for a US
unit
under a central bank fund multiplying the $250/US$ value 60 times for
foreign currency sold to the central bank.
Foreign currency holders not
selling to the central bank earn just $250 for
their greenback.
"The
increases in the gold and tobacco support prices will mean that more
funds
will be injected into the money market, depressing interest rates," an
analyst with a stockbroking firm said.
A tobacco industry analyst said
the new support price for tobacco would
increase deliveries to the tobacco
auction floors, boosting foreign currency
earnings.
Tobacco farmers had
refused to sell their crop, saying the fixed exchange
rate was likely to
spawn huge losses.
"The higher gold support price will lessen the smuggling
of the precious
metal and also boost deliveries to Fidelity Printers.
However, the RBZ will
have to continually adjust the support prices since
inflation is daily
eroding the real values of the revenues gained by the
gold and tobacco
producers," said a banking sector analyst.
FinGaz
Dumisani Ndlela Business
Editor
ZIMBABWE has become part of a new syndicate expected to influence
the global
market for diamonds, The Financial Gazette learnt this
week.
The African Diamond Producers Association (ADPA), conceived by
African
diamond producers last year, is expected to become operational this
year
with Zimbabwe becoming one of over 10 founding members.
The founder
members, who include six African countries that produce over
half of the
world's diamonds by value, have already agreed on the terms of
reference for
the new body and were in Luanda, Angola last week to agree on
a framework
for ADPA's funding and secretariat.
Zimbabwe's Mines Minister Amos Midzi flew
into the Angolan capital over the
weekend for a scheduled meeting of
ministers that will agree on the final
details of ADPA's terms of
reference.
Midzi is then expected to present these to President Robert
Mugabe's cabinet
for ratification, a move likely to culminate in the
organisation's formal
birth.
"We will establish the OPEC (Organisation of
Petroleum Exporting Countries)
of diamonds," Victor Kasongo, deputy mines
minister in the Democratic
Republic of the Congo (DRC), was quoted as saying
in newspaper reports in
South Africa last week. "We will form united diamond
policies, so that we
have more power on the international arena."
Angola
is said to have initiated the idea for the syndicate, which has
received
backing from Botswana, the world's largest diamond producer by
value,
Namibia and South Africa.
Other regional countries that are part of the
initiative include the DRC,
Lesotho and Angola. Angola, Congo, Botswana,
Namibia and South Africa
accounted for 60 percent of the world's diamond
output last year.
Zimbabwe holds over 15 million tonnes of diamond resources,
according to
central bank statistics sourced from the Geological Surveys of
Zimbabwe.
The push by African countries for the formation of the diamond
syndicate
follows similar initiatives by oil producing nations who operate
cartels
like OPEC and the Gas Exporting Countries Forum.
FinGaz
Staff
Reporter
RESERVE Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) governor Gideon Gono has deplored
government's
approach to diamond mining in the country, accusing the
Zimbabwe Mining
Development Corporation (ZMDC) of lacking capacity for
"gainful extraction
programmes in the diamond sector".
Gono's
comments, which he said were "well considered", are a huge indictment
on the
government-owned ZMDC, which took over the Marange diamond fields
from
British firm African Consolidated Resources (ACR) but has failed to
rein in
rampant smuggling of gems by locals and politicians who have
plundered the
resources with reckless abandon.
Gono said the situation had turned out into
a huge embarrassment to the
country.
"The central bank's well considered
view is that in its present state, the
Zimbabwe Mining Development
Corporation has no adequate capacity - technical
and financial - to
effectively unleash gainful extraction programmes in the
diamond sector,"
Gono said during his presentation of an interim monetary
policy statement
last week.
The ZMDC has already started trial mining for alluvial diamonds in
the
Marange diamond fields, according to Mines Ministry permanent secretary,
Thabani Ndlovu.
It had earlier given Marange locals permission to mine
diamonds in the area
but failed to buy the stones from them because of cash
constraints, leading
to a thriving black market for the gems.
To
C7
From C5
Gono said the central bank had "a genuine concern that our
national
heritage" was being plundered, losing large amounts of foreign
currency
which could have been used to meet "the wide-ranging national
requirements
for funding".
"We urge the relevant authorities in
government to adopt a more workable
formula in the diamond sector, including
the floating of transparent tenders
for able foreign investors to come in
and partner with government in the
sector," Gono said.
ACR, which claims
title over the Marange diamonds, has challenged the ZMDC's
takeover of the
mining claims in the High Court.
FinGaz
Charles Rukuni Bulawayo Bureau
Chief
RBZ governor laments Zimbabweans' insatiable appetite for imported
goodies
CENTRAL bank governor Gideon Gono says Zimbabweans are their own
worst
enemies. Three-quarters of their current problems are of their own
making.
Presenting his monetary policy interim review statement in
Bulawayo last
week, Gono said the solution to the country's current problems
was within
reach provided Zimbabweans had the willpower to implement boldly
and
simultaneously, mutually reinforcing policies.
"This task cannot be
subcontracted to third parties," he said. "While it is
a necessary impetus
for economic stabilisation and growth, external
assistance should not be
overburdened into becoming the entire substitute
for essentially what should
be internally driven and absolutely necessary
macroeconomic and structural
policy reforms, which we should not shy away
from embracing, implementing
and following up."
Gono said one of the major problems was Zimbabweans'
insatiable appetite for
everything external, from economic and technical
advice, to wine, food,
cigarettes and even bottled water.
Zimbabweans
also preferred to listen to external economic advisors rather
than their own
sons and daughters who had exposure and had personally
distinguished
themselves in that area.
Some Zimbabweans had sold their souls in pursuit of
foreign currency and did
not care what this did to the local currency.
He
said Zimbabweans must therefore think and act positively, and avoid
scheming
the downfall of the economy for political or other gains.
It was essential
for Zimbabweans to change their mindsets and to implement
policies that
nurtured and protected private property rights, celebrated
entrepreneurship,
encouraged excellence, innovation, competition and good
profit with the
principle of "Zimbabwe First" in whatever they did.
It was also necessary to
create an environment where viability concerns of
milk producers, tobacco,
groundnuts, maize and cotton farmers, miners,
tourism players and
manufacturers were a principal guide to policy
formulation. At the same time
the business sector had to shun from
profiteering.
Gono introduced a
number of incentives for various sectors in what most
observers felt was a
move aimed at mobilising foreign currency into the
central bank coffers as
the country prepares for next year's presidential
and parliamentary
elections.
Gono had a little something for everyone: manufacturers,
exporters, tourism
operators, miners and the peasants.
He said the
government had imported 439 tractors and 19 combine harvesters
to boost
agricultural production. The central bank had also bought 365
tractor-drawn
ploughs, 361 tractor-drawn harrows, 175 boom sprayers, 101
fertiliser
spreaders and 57 planters.
The Zimbabwe Farmers Development Company, in
partnership with a Chinese
company, had brought in an additional 357
tractors, 65 dumper trucks, 50
truck horses, 50 trailers, eight bulldozers
and 86 water pumps.
A further 250 smaller tractors would be dedicated to
communal areas and
chiefs would oversee their use. In addition 100 000 each,
ox-drawn ploughs,
planters, harrows, cultivators, scotch-carts and portable
fumigation tanks
were already on order for deployment into the communal
areas.
The manufacture of scotch-carts would be subcontracted to small and
medium
enterprises at various growth points.
Gono reviewed the gold
support price from $16 000 to $350 000 a gramme. He
also reviewed the
exchange rate for exporters and those who earned foreign
currency from $250
to $15 000 provided they bought special instruments that
ensured the money
went to the central bank. He, however, insisted that the
currency had not
been devalued.
The central bank chief also reviewed the support price for
tobacco to $40
000 a kg for top quality tobacco that fetched a price of
US$1.50 a kg and
above. Farmers were also awarded back pay of $85 a kg for
tobacco sold last
year.
Though it is too early to assess the impact of
the new measures, as Gono
said, Zimbabweans are likely to be their own worst
enemies as some believe
nothing good can ever come from the present
administration.
FinGaz
Personal
Glimpses by Mavis Makuni
ZIMBABWEAN officials holding high positions in
the public sector can learn a
number of lessons from the storm raging around
World Bank president, Paul
Wolfowitz following disclosures that while he
publicly posed as a global
crusader for ethical governance, particularly in
the handling of donor aid
in Africa, he had his hand in the cookie jar
himself.
Not that he stole a single cent from the World Bank but his
willingness to
approve a lucrative promotion for his girlfriend before her
transfer, is a
reminder that corruption comes in many guises and is wrong at
all levels. It
is hypocritical for the World Bank chief to prescribe moral
standards for
the rest of the world that are higher than those he observes
in his personal
and professional life. In a world where stakeholders are
more determined to
demand transparency and accountability, international and
national public
servants can no longer get away with the "do as I say and
not as I do"
attitude. When Wolfowitz took over as World Bank president when
his
girlfriend already worked at the Bretton Woods institution, he knew he
had a
conflict of interest problem on his hands.
He made a half-hearted
attempt to tackle the issue and has been rightly
crucified for committing a
greater ethical violation while making a show of
dealing with the
professional dilemma he found himself in. It was wrong for
Wolfowitz to
approve a hefty salary increase and a promotion for his
girlfriend prior to
her transfer to the State Department. The financial
windfall that accrued to
his paramour means that the World Bank boss abused
his position by, so to
speak, putting his hand in two cookie jars, the World
Bank and the State
Department, which was obliged to maintain or adjust his
partner's earnings
upwards.
The most important lesson officials in Zimbabwe can learn is the
need for
something that is wrong and improper to be pointed out and
discussed openly
regardless of who the wrongdoer is. As an international
technocrat, the
World Bank boss has had brickbats thrown at him from many
quarters and he
had an obligation to respond and clear the air. He could not
extricate
himself from the controversy by turning the tables on his critics
and
accusing them of being involved in conspiracies of all kinds as is often
the
case when Zimbabwean officials are taken to task for their conduct.
Wolfowitz erred and he had no one but himself to blame. He could not turn a
belligerent deaf ear to legitimate concerns raised by stakeholders and carry
on as though nothing had happened as officials in Zimbabwe do when they
ignore or flatly deny something for which there is irrefutable
evidence.
Not surprisingly, Zimbabwean authorities' aversion to criticism has
resulted
in a culture of impunity taking root, to the detriment of the
country.
Zimbabwean government officials do not seem to be aware that they
are not in
positions of power for its own sake, but they are the servants of
the people
whose taxes pay their salaries. They are also apparently
oblivious to the
fact that issues are raised so that corrective measures can
be taken for the
benefit of all and not necessarily because the concerned
officials are being
targeted. Worst of all, the powers-that-be in this
country cling to the
absurd philosophy that anyone who perceives corruption,
avarice, conflict of
interest, dishonesty, inefficiency and other
shortcomings in the public
sector is influenced by external
forces.
Consequently, what should be a simple case of addressing something
that
needs to be corrected is turned into a battle of wits and a crusade for
the
government to prove its infallibility.
This was the case recently
when the Parliament of Zimbabwe ended a
partnership with the State
University of New York (SUNY) which had been
funding the work of the
legislature's portfolio committees. The committees
had been doing an
excellent job of evaluating the performance of various
ministries and
pointing out shortcomings. But apparently a number of
ministers who were
grilled when they appeared before these committees were
not thrilled to be
asked to account for their actions and decisions, which
should be a routine
requirement in a democracy. Ironically, while the
ministers sulked, the
public thought that here at last, was an effective way
of keeping government
officials on their toes and nipping malpractices in
the bud while
instituting corrective measures to eradicate those already
rampant. The aim
of the portfolio committees was to enhance performance and
efficiency,
surely a win-win situation?
As is now known, the powers-that-be saw things
differently. Officials saw
the assistance provided by the United States
Agency for International
Development (USAID) as a ploy to use the committees
to topple the
government. This, it was alleged, was obvious because the
committees had
become too critical of Cabinet ministers. But the question
is, how much
criticism is too much if it is based on facts? Have the
authorities asked
themselves whether it is not possible that there was so
much criticism
because too much was wrong? Instead of threatening the
members of the
committees or barring the press from hearings, ministers
should have felt
duty-bound to respond honestly to whatever issues were
raised. Slamming the
door on USAID and sweeping the shortcomings identified
by the portfolio
committees under the carpet will not make the problems go
away.
Since the World Bank controversy became public, a chastened Wolfowitz
has
acknowledged that he erred and expressed regret for the lapse. It is out
of
the question to expect that any public official in Zimbabwe would ever
admit
making a mistake, let alone apologise for it. The latest criticism of
the
head of the World Bank was from the European Parliament which called on
Germany, which holds the presidency of the European Union and the United
States, to ask him to step down. A month after the controversy erupted,
Wolfowitz continues to stew in his own juice. This is as it should be.
Sadly, in Zimbabwe, if a chef is caught doing something corrupt, improper
and unethical, the tables are turned and it is his or her critics who end up
being taken to task.
And yet Zimbabweans are not clamouring for
infallible governance, which is
impossible to achieve as long as mortal
humans are in charge. What is needed
is an accountable and responsive
government that listens to the voices of
the governed.
FinGaz
Comment
THE curtain
finally came down over the weekend on the country's premier
exhibition,
which to all intents and purposes has struggled to regain the
glamour and
glitter that previously made it stand out from other trade fairs
south of
the Sahara.
Efforts to raise the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair
(ZITF)'s profile have
come unstuck because of the rapidly deteriorating
economic conditions
confronting industry and commerce.
ZITF no longer
commands the clout it had in the region and beyond because of
the
multifaceted nature of Zimbabwe's problems. In fact, the trade fair is
now a
microcosm of the sorry state of the economy, described by the World
Bank as
unprecedented for a nation not at war.
Interest in ZITF has greatly
diminished despite the hullabaloo in official
circles about the purported
mega deals struck at the exhibition and it is
not difficult see why. The
hostile trading conditions, an indictment of the
country's warped economic
policies, has driven business to the verge of
collapse. And because the
entire industry is bleeding, marketing has been
the biggest casualty. It's
not just about ZITF losing the makings of a
premier showcase - it is about
the quality of the exhibits as well.
While ZITF is far from reaching its
sell-by date, there doesn't appear to be
any reprieve in the short to medium
term, as companies will continue to cut
down on their marketing budgets
until there is stability characterised by
single-digit inflation, low
interest rates and a viable exchange rate.
The swift decline in the country's
economic fortunes has already claimed the
scalps of several other
exhibitions. Zimbex, for instance, had to be taken
off the calendar around
2000. The Banking Expo has been in the deep freezer
for over four years now
following the liquidity challenges that stalked the
financial services
sector in 2004.
In its heydays, ZITF was an effective marketing tool as the
top-flight event
was a window through which the whole world gazed into
Zimbabwe's untapped
potential. Politicians as well saw ZITF as a public
relations vehicle but
with the loss of its lustre, the exhibition now
mirrors the disastrous
nature of their policies.
ZITF had indeed become
the biggest intra-regional trade fair offering the
ideal gateway to trade
routes linking Zimbabwe with South Africa, Botswana,
Zambia and Namibia. At
its peak in 1998, ZITF successfully drew 43 countries
and 1 200 companies to
its stands, eclipsing the successes of 1991 when it
attracted 1 190
exhibitors and 42 participating nations. The trend suffered
a heavy knock in
2000 when only 23 nations and 450 exhibitors showed up in
the host city,
Bulawayo. This year, a total of 815 exhibitors and 12
countries took up
space at the 17.7 hectare site, a slight improvement from
the previous
year.
But, as has become the norm, there is no sign of the return of
exhibitors
that turned their backs on ZITF at the height of the emotive land
reforms.
One wonders what the country's trade attaches scattered all over
the globe
are doing apart from squandering taxpayers' money!
Gideon Gono,
the central bank governor, was forthright in his maiden
monetary policy
statement when he noted: "It is clear that we can no longer
defer actions,
however, painful." Indeed, there is not much time left to
confront the
political and economic crises that have conspired to delay the
long desired
economic recovery despite the country boasting a significant
percentage of
the world's known mineral reserves of gold, platinum and
nickel, among other
minerals.
Zimbabwe has the world's fastest shrinking economy, blamed on the
haphazard
land reforms that have led to internal upheaval, population
displacement,
high inflation and an inability by the country to feed itself.
It is not by
coincidence that the decline occurred during the time the
country embarked
on the land seizures that were executed without much
thought about the
consequences. In no time at all, the country had become a
no-go area for
investors who were quick to rush for the exits when it became
apparent that
Zimbabwe was no longer a safe haven for capital. Consequently,
the pumping
and puffing in industry has literally stopped as capacity
utilisation has
been scaled down to the barest minimum, reducing the country
into a
flea-market economy, something that was quite evident at ZITF. How
things
change!
There is no better way to sum up what Zimbabwe needs than
to quote from
Gono's interim monetary policy statement presentation. Gono
bemoaned the
business of scheming the downfall of the economy as the gateway
to political
or other objectives. He said: "We need as a country to embrace
and implement
hard policy decisions without delay or hesitation in an
environment that
nurtures and protects private property rights, celebrates
entrepreneurship,
encouraging excellence, innovation, competition among
players and good
profit, guided by the spirit of economic patriotism and the
principle of
Zimbabwe first in whatever we do."
Food for thought!
Have we turned into beasts?
EDITOR - I was surprised to read
that a reporter with a weekly newspaper was
stunned when a named police
officer took off his shirt and advanced towards
the magistrate who had
slapped him with a jail term for corruptly converting
exhibit gold to his
own use. What's wrong with that? Why should anyone be at
all stunned for
that matter?
In a country where we have taught and are teaching each other,
our children,
our parents, our police force, our opponents, comrades and
friends to solve
misunderstandings through baton sticks, bullets, catapults,
petrol bombs and
anything that one can find to inflict pain on the next
person, what else do
we expect?
My fellow countrymen, is this the route
that we have chosen for the future
of our country? Is this still the
Zimbabwe characterised by sunshine cities
and a population that is renowned
for hospitality by tourists the world
over? Only yesterday, we were boasting
about being one of the few countries
in Africa to have passed the Domestic
Violence Bill, but today what are we
doing? If what is going on is not
domestic violence, can anyone tell me what
it is?
We are spending days
and nights investing in and plotting violence against
each other, daily
exposing our children to the language of violence on TV,
in the streets, you
name it! Should we be surprised when individuals carry
it to the courts? If
it has come to this in such public places by and
against law enforcement
agents themselves, one shudders to imagine what is
happening in the homes
behind closed doors in the middle of the night?
If the former police officer
dared doing that in broad daylight what more in
the confines of his home, to
his wife and children? In his office, to his
subordinates, complainants and
suspects? Will anyone dare say anything
against him? Imagine him being the
starting point of marriage counselling as
stipulated in the Domestic
Violence Act or overseeing proceedings in the
victim-friendly unit? Your
guess is just as good as mine. Hapana chinobuda!
No, Zimbabwe, we have chosen
the wrong route. We are only making ourselves
the world's laughing stock as
we mount the pulpit, beat our own chests and
openly proclaim how violent we
are against each other. We are teaching wrong
morals to our young ones. Is
this the legacy that, as national leaders,
fathers and mothers, big brothers
and sisters, we want to be remembered for
by the future generations?
Or
maybe we got it all wrong when in the Herald of March 3 2007, Dr Misheck
Sibanda, chief secretary to the President and Cabinet in a notice published
the day before in the Extraordinary Government Gazette said "The following
law, which has been assented to by His Excellency, the President, is
published in terms of subsection (5) of section 51 of the Constitution of
Zimbabwe - Domestic Violence Act (chapter 5:16) (No. 14 of 2006)." At that
time we were euphoric about the bill having been assented to, but maybe a
bit uncritical.
When I look at what we are doing to each other now, I ask
myself, should the
Bill be read as Domestic Violence Act? Or should it not
read as Against
Domestic Violence Act or better still Act Against Domestic
Violence (Act).
Otherwise if we do not clarify things on paper and indeed
and put our act in
order, we shall continue to see convicted officers slap
with open palms
magistrates who slap them with jail terms, and should we be
surprised?
Violence begets violence. And like the proverbial spark, it will
spread into
an inferno. Everyone has the responsibility to keep peace in our
country.
And it must start with each individual, for if everybody acts
against
violence, nobody will resort to violence.
By the way, how does
our (Dis)Honourable MP, who publicly blurted "I stand
here representing God
the Almighty. Women are not equal to men" feel about
his (mis)representation
of God now that the bill he so vehemently opposed
was signed into law? He
should be ashamed of himself. This is the kind of
attitude that feeds into
domestic violence especially against women.
With all these problems dogging
our country, someone affords the luxury to
(mis)represent God, let alone in
that barefaced manner? Who then shall
represent their constituency when they
are busy (mis)representing God? I
suspect (without representing Him), that
God curses Himself for some of his
inventions. Men of integrity know and act
better. The God we all know
teaches men to love their wives, wives to
respect their husbands and parents
not to disappoint their children. And to
love (or to respect) someone, we
are taught, is to do unto others what you
would like them to do unto you. As
a nation, is it what we are doing? As
leaders, is it where we are doing? As
parents is it what we are doing? As
children, is it what we are doing? I
shall ask again, Zimbabwe where are we
going?
Samson Chidiya
Harare
----------------
Is the church not
subverting justice?
EDITOR - Recently there was a laughable
assertion in one of the many papers
that are largely being fronted by the
Catholic Church that with independence
in Zimbabwe, the church relaxed and
let the government take over the
"formation" of morals, hence the decadence
of moral and spiritual values.
It is irresponsible to label Zimbabweans
immoral. It is wrong to suggest
that morals emanate from governments or
religions. It is rich to suggest
that religion is positively correlated with
morality, given that the clergy
is known for immorality, ranging from
incest, adultery, paedophilia, murder,
among many other hideous
things.
No one denies that some people base their moral decisions on
religion, but
it is irresponsible to suggest that religion is the best for
deciding what
is good. Richard Dawkins in The God Delusion rightly suggests
that those who
wish to base their morality literally on the Bible have
neither read it nor
understood it. He quotes the scandalous story of Lot,
who was visited by two
male angels. The people of Sodom and Gomorrah
demanded that Lot let them
know the two visitors, with "knowing" the two as
euphemism for their demand
to sodomise the visitors. The story of Lot goes
on to incest, when Lot's
daughters allegedly got their father drunk so that
they could take turns to
have children with him.
Perhaps it is in this
line of thinking that Cardinal Rodrigo Borgia, who
became Pope Alexander VI,
fathered a child out of incest with his daughter
Lucrenzia. The pope
committed the hideous act in front of his illegitimate
son, Cesare Borgia,
who became a cardinal through nepotism at 16. It is
documented that Cesare
went on to have an incestuous relationship with his
sister Lucrenzia.
The
most displeasing story of the Catholic Church's immorality and
insensitivity
is of Father Tacisus, who worked in a small, poor village in
South America.
This evil man sodomised a little boy who was only five years
old. The matter
was reported to church seniors, and as norm, they tried to
sweep it under
the carpet. Instead he was moved from one Parish to another
to let the case
die down. Is this not subverting justice?
Many Zimbabwean families who choose
not to have anything to do with religion
would surely refuse to harbour a
criminal. The "immoral" Zimbabweans have a
culture of telling their families
that they will call in the police should
anyone choose to be mischievous. It
is rich that the fountain of morals
harbours criminals, and shamelessly
sings excuses.
The way in which the Catholic Church deals with complaints
against the
clergy has never evolved from centuries ago. Their only concern
is the image
of their church. The Catholic Church meddles in social and
family circles.
An example is the ludicrous banning of contraception and
mustabation. How do
their unmarried priests work round the obvious
biological demands? It is a
self-deceiving lie to suggest that prayer
quenches sexual desire. How can
anyone encourage people to abdicate
responsibility and breed to death? Is it
moral to bring children into the
world when parents cannot afford to provide
for them?
The failure of
numerous documents being circulated by the church is enough
evidence that
Zimbabweans cannot be persuaded back into the dark ages
against their better
judgment by the church.
James
Harare
-------------
Opposition
is essential
EDITOR - The country needs an opposition.
However, such an opposition would
need to find a position, which is
acceptable to all. The current one has a
posture, which, unfortunately, many
in Africa find offensive.
Why is this the case? Because it leans on the UK
and has an agenda, which is
acceptable to only itself and the West. An
effective opposition and one that
is acceptable would be able to work with
the ruling party when necessary.
Furthermore, lessons inculcating a sense of
humour during debates in
parliament and avoidance of vicious rhetoric would
need to be avoided.
The sort of opposition that the late Nkumbula in Zambia
was head of is a
case in point.
Mordecai Mutiswa Betera
United
Kingdom
-------------
Threats won't give Commission
legitimacy
EDITOR - The Combined Harare Residents'
Association (CHRA) is saddened by
the approach of the City of Harare towards
finding a lasting solution to the
crisis of city governance. The association
is concerned over the continued
refusal by those in charge at Town House to
accept that they no longer have
the mandate to continue running the affairs
of the city.
Reports reaching CHRA indicate that the City of Harare has been
sending out
letters of demand from their debt collectors, threatening to
seize peoples'
properties if they do not pay up their outstanding rates
within a given
time.
CHRA urges all residents who have received these
letters to bring them to
our offices or take them to the Zimbabwe Lawyers
for Human Rights for
immediate litigation.
The association rejects the
continued stay of the Commission and all its
actions thereof because of the
reasons given below:
lThe High Court in the case between Nomutsa Chideya vs.
City of Harare, the
eight Commissioners including Sekesai Makwavarara, the
Chairperson of the
Commission running Harare, and the four-man probe team
that recommended
Chideya's dismissal ruled that the Commission was illegal
and has no mandate
to act on behalf of the City of Harare.
lThe 2007 City
of Harare budget was formulated, approved and is being
implemented by a
Commission declared illegal by the High Court on 2 March
2007.
lThe
principles of democratic governance require that elections must be held
regularly. In the case of Harare and other local authorities, after every
four years, as enshrined in the Urban Councils' Act (Chapter 29:15). The
last election in Harare was held in March 2002 when Engineer Elias Mudzuri
was elected the first executive mayor.
The term of the Commission running
Harare has been illegally extended by the
Minister of Local Government,
Ignatius Chombo, in total violation of Section
80 (5) of the Urban Councils'
Act (Chapter 29:15). The Judiciary has ruled
on five occasions that the
principle of re-appointing commissions is
illegal.
Precious
Shumba
Information Officer
Combined Harare Residents
Association
The First Post
Charges of rape, sexual abuse and blackmail have been levelled at a
senior
member of Robert Mugabe's government by a group of underprivileged
teenage
girl students.
I can reveal that the man who the girls say attacked
and abused them
is the Minister of Transport and Communications, Christopher
Mushowe.
He denies all the allegations.
The girls are winners of
a presidential scholarship set up by Robert
Mugabe to benefit poor and
vulnerable Zimbabwean children who show
intellectual promise. Most become
students at Fort Hare University in South
Africa.
Mushowe is
director of the scholarship fund, with responsibility for
identifying young
people who qualify for it, and overseeing their progress
at the
college.
The girls have sent a series of messages to the Women's
Coalition, a
grouping of women's organisations in Zimbabwe, who are now
investigating
claims that the Minister has been abusing the girls for some
years, and has
threatened to withdraw them from the programme if they
complain.
One girl student said: "The Minister was on one of his
regular visits
to South Africa to assess our welfare. He told me to accompany
him back to
his hotel as he wanted to give me some literature to distribute
to the other
students."
At the hotel, she said, she wanted to
remain in the lobby, but Mushowe
insisted she go with him to his room, saying
he was tired. In the room she
claims he raped her, then gave her money to get
back to campus.
Another girl claims that Mushowe took her to the
Mimosa Hotel in East
London, South Africa, and violated her. Afterwards, she
says, he threatened
her, and also gave her a mobile phone to buy her
silence.
Subsequently he is alleged to have withdrawn this girl's
boyfriend
from the scholarship programme, when he began to complain about
what was
happening.
FIRST POSTED MAY 3, 2007