BBC
07:29 GMT, Friday, 9 May 2008 08:29 UK
Zimbabwe's "war veterans" militia
plan to intimidate voters by posing
as police officers during the
presidential run-off, a policeman has told the
BBC.
He said
they would be based inside polling stations during the vote,
whose date has
not yet been fixed.
The report came as South Africa's President
Thabo Mbeki, the lead
Zimbabwe negotiator, prepared to hold talks with
political leaders in
Harare.
Mr Mbeki has played down talk of a
crisis in Zimbabwe.
The opposition Movement for Democratic Change
says its supporters are
being systematically targeted by the "war veterans"
and other supporters of
President Robert Mugabe ahead of the
run-off.
A trade union official on Thursday said that 40,000
farm-workers and
their relatives had fled their homes because of violent
attacks.
The government has in turn accused the MDC of staging
political
attacks, while saying the extent of the violence has been
exaggerated.
But a South African election observer has said that
the violence makes
it impossible to hold a run-off.
Reuters
Fri 9 May
2008, 5:36 GMT
By Nelson Banya
HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe's
opposition MDC will not participate in a
presidential run-off against Robert
Mugabe, a top party official said on
Thursday, after reports of escalating
violence deepened a post-election
crisis.
The Movement for Democratic
Change believes its leader Morgan Tsvangirai won
the outright majority in
the March 29 election he needed to avoid a second
round. But if he does not
contest, Mugabe is automatically declared the
winner.
"Our
official position still remains the same that we are not
participating," MDC
Secretary General Tendai Biti told reporters in Cape
Town.
But he
added the party will hold talks with civic society groups from
Zimbabwe in
Pretoria on Saturday and hold a news conference afterwards "to
put this
issue to rest".
South Africa's Foreign Ministry said President Thabo
Mbeki, who has been a
primary regional mediator in Zimbabwe, will travel to
Harare on Friday to
meet political leaders.
"During his visit
President Mbeki is expected to interact with the
Zimbabwean political
leadership," said Ronnie Mamoepa, a spokesman for South
Africa's department
of foreign affairs.
Mbeki, who has faced a barrage of criticism for not
taking a tough line with
Mugabe, had said there was no crisis in his
southern African neighbour.
Tsvangirai has said Mbeki was no longer fit to
mediate in Zimbabwe.
INTIMIDATION
Weeks of political stalemate
have increased tensions in Zimbabwe, which is
suffering an economic meltdown
that has sent millions of people fleeing to
neighbouring countries and left
those who remain struggling with the world's
highest inflation rate, rampant
unemployment and shortages of basic
necessities.
Critics have accused
the ruling ZANU-PF party of resorting to violence to
frighten
voters.
Farmers' groups said ZANU-PF has pushed 40,000 workers off farms
in a
campaign targeting supporters of the opposition ahead of a possible
presidential run-off. The groups said armed youth militias drove workers off
the farms.
"We have had security agents going out to the farms,
addressing the farm
workers," Gertrude Hambira, general secretary of the
General Agriculture and
Plantation Workers' Union of Zimbabwe, told a news
conference in
Johannesburg.
"Some of them saying that we need to
discipline you because you voted for
the opposition," she said adding, 400
workers were in hiding and three were
in hospital after being
assaulted.
Zimbabwe's government rejects accusations from the opposition,
human rights
groups and Western countries that ZANU-PF has launched a
campaign of
violence to ensure Mugabe wins a run-off. The party says the MDC
has carried
out attacks.
The White House renewed its call on Mugabe
and his supporters on Thursday to
end "violence and
intimidation".
Zimbabweans had hoped the election would usher in a period
of prosperity and
greater freedoms.
Instead, they have fallen victim
to a struggle between their president and
Tsvangirai, who has raised
questions about his leadership by touring African
states seeking support
from leaders instead of taking on Mugabe at home.
Critics blame the
economic collapse on Mugabe's policies, including the
seizure of white-owned
farms to give to landless blacks. Mugabe, 84, says
sanctions imposed by his
Western critics have ruined the country.
His government has been cracking
down on dissent.
ARRESTS
Police on Thursday arrested the leaders
of the country's main trade union
over speeches they made during a workers'
day rally last week, their lawyer
said.
Zimbabwe Congress of Trade
Unions (ZCTU) President Lovemore Matombo and
Secretary-General Wellington
Chibebe, who are critical of Mugabe, were taken
into custody after
surrendering to police, who were reportedly looking for
them, their lawyer
Andrew Makoni, told Reuters.
"They have been arrested on allegations of
communicating falsehoods
prejudicial to the state and are being detained in
police cells," he said.
Police have also arrested the editor of a
privately owned weekly that is
critical of the president over its
publication of an opinion piece by a
leading opposition
politician.
Central bank governor Gideon Gono, who has been critical of
some government
policies, called on the political opponents to work together
and said
failure to end an election deadlock could undermine efforts to
rescue the
battered economy.
Gono said he was not suggesting that
there should be a "forced government of
national unity" but he warned a post
run-off political crisis "would be a
tragedy of unimaginable proportions" in
an opinion piece in the Financial
Gazette.
Biti called for
reconciliation and said any future government should include
all parties,
except for Mugabe, after a comprehensive political settlement.
FinGaz
Clemence Manyukwe Staff Reporter
...as
succession issue refuses to die
PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe has hinted to his
close lieutenants that he will
resign in two years if he wins the impending
run-off to be held this month,
but details remain sketchy on how the veteran
nationalist plans to manage
his exit without causing further harm to the
fractious ZANU-PF.
The contentious succession issue surfaced at the
party’s politburo meeting
held last Wednesday at which reform-minded ZANU-PF
members openly told the
meeting that the revolutionary party would have to
renew itself soon after
the tricky run-off in which President Mugabe squares
up against Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC) leader Morgan
Tsvangirai.
While the meeting of the party’s supreme decision-making body
renewed its
pledge to support the incumbent in the run-off, consistent with
President
Mugabe’s endorsement at last year’s special congress held in
Harare in
December, it took the unprecedented step of lifting the lid on the
succession issue, once considered a hot potato in ZANU-PF.
In 2004
President Mugabe invited ZANU-PF members to discuss his succession
openly,
but the Zimbabwean President had to kill the debate fearing it would
tear
apart the party.
At the time, intense jockeying for the high-pressure job had
emerged between
Rural Housing Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa and Vice-President
Joice Mujuru,
backed by her husband, retired army general Solomon
Mujuru.
The defection of former politburo members Simba Makoni and Dumiso
Dabengwa
from the party and ZANU-PF’s loss of its majority in Parliament has
however,
jolted the party’s leadership to revisit the succession debate
albeit after
the run-off.
Highly placed ZANU-PF sources told The
Financial Gazette this week that it
became apparent at the politburo meeting
that President Mugabe would not
complete his term of office that is supposed
to end in 2013 if he won the
impending second round of voting.
According
to presidential results released by the Zimbabwe Electoral
Commission (ZEC)
last Friday, President Mugabe lost to Tsvangirai but
neither of them
garnered sufficient votes of more than 50 percent as
required under
Electoral Laws to avoid a run-off.
ZEC said the ruling party leader garnered
43,2 percent; Tsvangirai had 47, 9
percent, independent candidates Makoni
and Langton Toungana had 8,3 and 0, 6
percent of the vote
respectively.
But the MDC claims that its presidential candidate won the poll
with 50,3
percent of the vote and there was therefore no need for a
run-off.
ZEC is yet to decide a date for the polls and it remains to be seen
whether
or not it will comply with the country’s election law that requires
that the
second round of voting should be conducted within 21
days.
Sources this week said President Mugabe indicated he would not finish
his
term and the person to succeed him would be chosen at the party’s
congress
to be held next year.
They said ZANU-PF is also amenable to a
government of national unity (GNU)
but would want to buy into the proposal
once it has secured victory for
President Mugabe who will then take charge
of the resultant governing
structure.
“Buying into the proposal now would
mean that Tsvangirai as the winner of
the first round of voting would assume
control of the GNU, which we
(ZANU-PF) may avoid if President Mugabe is to
win the runoff,” said a
source.
Asked why the ruling party leader could
not stand down now, the source said:
“ The president felt standing down now
would confuse the electorate. It is
like the casino, you cannot change the
bet when the ball is already rolling.
We have to make sure that the wheel
spins full circle.”
The source added that the politburo also deliberated on
the reasons why the
president had lost to Tsvangirai.
Divisions brought
about by the party’s primaries that witnessed ZANU-PF
having two candidates
representing some constituencies before some were
ordered to withdraw were
cited as one reason for the poor showing.
“It was decided that next time,
primary elections should be held long before
the elections unlike the
situation that prevailed. This would enable party
members to solve
differences before the elections are held. We went into the
last election
when wounds were still fresh among some losing candidates in
the primaries,”
the source added.
ZANU-PF’s Patrick Chinamasa who heads a recently
established information
committee could not be reached for comment.
But
the party’s parliamentary chief whip, Joram Gumbo, who is also a member
of
the politburo yesterday told The Financial Gazette that he was not aware
that President Mugabe would retire in 2010, but confirmed that the party
would appoint new leaders next year.
“What you are saying is news to me.
However, ZANU-PF appoints new leaders at
congress and the next congress will
be held next year. In ZANU-PF the first
secretary of the party is the
president,” Gumbo said.
He said President Mugabe’s representation of the
party in the last
presidential election was above board as he had been
elected as the party’s
first secretary at the party’s 2004 congress.
“At
last year’s special congress, there was only confirmation and
endorsement
because the president had received the nomination at the 2004
congress,”
Gumbo added.
There have been calls for President Mugabe, in power for almost
three
decades, to step down and allow a leadership renewal in his party by
people
such as South African Nobel Prize winner Bishop Desmond
Tutu.
President Mugabe has resisted pleas from his peers to step down. Most
post-independence regional leaders like Nelson Mandela of South Africa,
Joachim Chissano of Mozambique, Benjamin Mkapa of Tanzania and Festus Mogae
of Botswana have passed on the leadership baton.
FinGaz
Njabulo Ncube
Political Editor
EMBATTLED South African President Thabo Mbeki on Monday
dispatched a
high-powered delegation to Zimbabwe to look into allegations of
rampant
violence in the rural areas.
The visit to Harare since Monday
night by President Mbeki’s team – led by
his local government minister
Sydney Mufumadi – came amid revelations Morgan
Tsvangirai’s Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC) party last Thursday wrote
to the South African
leader informing him that they were seriously
considering severing ties with
him as the Southern African Development
Community (SADC)-appointed mediator
in the Zimbabwean crisis.
SADC observers are expected to arrive in Harare on
Sunday to investigate
allegations of violence in the country as the
opposition yesterday claimed
the death toll of its supporters had risen to
24.
Information obtained by The Financial Gazette indicates Mufumadi on
Tuesday
held closed-door discussions with President Robert Mugabe and
Zimbabwe
Electoral Commission (ZEC) chairman George Chiweshe.
While
details of the deliberations were not immediately available The
Financial
Gazette is reliably informed the discussions focused on the
disputed March
29 elections and the violence that has ensued.
Yesterday the Mbeki team met
leaders of the MDC who sources said complained
about violence against their
supporters, especially in the rural areas
previously considered President
Mugabe’s strongholds.
The MDC, which ZANU-PF counter accuses of fomenting the
violence, is said to
have produced dossiers implicating ZANU-PF supporters,
militias and state
security agents in the orgy of terror and turmoil
sweeping the countryside.
The MDC, according to insiders who attended the
meeting with Mbeki’s team,
categorically stated that the ZEC had discredited
itself and had shown that
it has no capacity to organize a
run-off.
Nelson Chamisa, the spokesman for the Tsvangirai camp of the MDC
confirmed
his party met with the South African team, which has been involved
in the
SADC mediation process in Zimbabwe for nearly a year.
“I can’t go
into specifics,” said Chamisa, declining also to elaborate on
the letter the
MDC is said to have sent to Mbeki over its displeasure
regarding the manner
in which he has handled the mediation.
But The Financial Gazette was shown
part of the letter written to Mbeki last
Thursday, which informs the South
African leader of the MDC’s decision to
cut all ties with him.
According
to the letter, the MDC accuses Mbeki of aiding and abetting
President Mugabe
and being part of the ZANU-PF strategic committee allegedly
advocating
resistance to Western and international interference in the
resolution of
the crisis.
Among the MDC’s other major complaints is an accusation that
Mbeki has been
complicity in dividing the opposition by holding secret
meetings with the
breakaway faction led by Arthur Mutambara.
In the
letter Mbeki is further blamed for allegedly failing to act against
President Mugabe when the Zimbabwean leader announced the date of the
harmonized elections on January 25, 2008, “without consulting and failing to
reprimand (President) Mugabe over Section 48 allowing police inside polling
stations during the March 29, 2008 elections.”
Yesterday, Reserve Bank of
Zimbabwe (RBZ) governor Gideon Gono called for a
mutually binding pact over
the presidential run-off to avoid post-election
bickering on the
outcome.
No presidential candidate garnered the required 50.1 percent
required for
the ZEC to declare a winner.
Gono expressed fears that the
absence of a pre-poll agreement could trigger
a sharp meltdown of the
beleaguered economy.
“We fear that post the run-off, there may be no
Zimbabwean economy to talk
about, and in that eventuality, the pursuit of
democracy will have dealt an
unjust blow to the ordinary Zimbabweans who
will find themselves sunk much
deeper in the then inextricable
socio-economic hardships,” Gono said.
He said there was no room in Zimbabwe,
given the bad state of the economy,
for “bickering in disruptive ventures
for political expediency”.
It was his strong view that the signing of such an
agreement would help
promote the predictability of the possible environment
to prevail in the
country in the post election period.
“Such
predictability has invaluable merit in that it will allow individuals
and
corporates to get on with the job of making productive business
decisions in
the interest of the economy,” said the RBZ governor.
The pact, whose details
are matters for negotiation by the contestants,
should itself be thoroughly
communicated to the electorate, so as to anchor
restrained behaviour and
maturity in the post run-off period, the RBZ chief
said.
He added that
Zimbabweans should therefore “work in unity to foreclose any
possibility of
tearing each other apart in the lead up to, during, and after
the run-off
polls”.
“Zimbabweans must rise above sectoral interests and converge their
minds on
the basic principles of justice and democracy,” Gono added.
He
said while there could be differences in ideologies among Zimbabweans
these
differences should not be allowed to divide the country and influence
the
escalation of tensions in the country.
Gono said the political parties should
recognise that democratic processes
must find meaning by leading to the
achievement of socio-economic goals in
ways that are efficient and
consistent with justice through the advancement
of the nation’s
welfare.
“One wishes that there was a way or legal instruments through which
an
amicable, more progressive path could be established between the two
parties, without having to subject the nation and the economy to further
delays in the resolution of the political question,” said Gono
“Zimbabwe
is currently facing formidable socio-economic setbacks whose
resolution
cannot be postponed any further. As we are experiencing
(electoral delays),
electoral processes can be long and winding, but in our
case, the proverbial
grass that is suffering is the economy.”
“Like my advice given to the nation
at the start of the price blitz and
price wars at the beginning of July last
year, good and noble intentions do
not always result in intended outcomes,”
Gono said.
He said at no other time had it been clearer that the Zimbabwean
economy’s
state could not be divorced from the unfolding political dynamics
in the
country.
The RBZ governor objected to accusations by some
politicians and the public
that his economic policies had led to the current
economic crisis.
Analysts however, said while Gono had offered sound advice
to the nation, it
was an uphill task to get the country’s two main political
parties to the
table because of their deep-rooted antagonism.
Since last
year, Thabo Mbeki has been shuttling between Harare and Pretoria
in a
desperate effort to salvage a resolution to the country’s political and
economic crisis.
But, to date, his efforts have been futile.
FinGaz
Dumisani Ndlela Business
Editor
THE official foreign currency market burst into life this week as
Zimbabweans trooped to banks and money transfer agencies (MTAs) to offload
their hard currencies, rocking the once-thriving parallel market, the major
beneficiary of the country’s currency crisis.
There was an
unprecedented shift in allegiance as hundreds of people
streamed to
authorised dealers to offload their foreign currency for
Zimbabwe dollars,
shunning the parallel market where exchange rates
struggled to catch up with
those on the inter-bank market following exchange
control reforms that let
up currency pricing to market forces Scores of
people huddled in banking
halls or outside, ignoring the long queues as they
desperately sought to
cash in from higher rates on the official market.
All banks, except CFX Bank,
were offering foreign currency sellers Zimbabwe
dollar equivalent in cash
for foreign currency amounting to up to US$150.
CFX, which struggled for
customers when the other banks were overwhelmed,
was only giving cash of up
to $5 billion and the balance through deposits or
bank transfers.
Rates
surged from the initial $160 million per United States dollar pegged
at the
start of the new foreign currency policy on Friday to close to $200
million
at most banks.
The official rates had been fixed at $30 000 to the US unit
prior to the
latest reforms.
CBZ Bank was buying the greenback at $185
million, while Barclays Bank’s
offer was higher at $189 million.
Stanbic
Bank, FBC Bank and ZABG Bank were buying the US unit at $188.7
million, $183
million and $199.5 million respectively.
Standard Chartered Bank was buying
the greenback at $199 million, although
bank officials said they had stopped
trading owing to a systems breakdown
when The Financial Gazette visited
their banking halls yesterday.
ZABG had also run out of cash but trading
resumed in the afternoon.
CFX’s rates were pegged at $190: US$1.
Kingdom
Bank was offering a rate of $193 million for the US dollar for cash
transactions, and a rate of $197 to the greenback for transfers.
The
Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ)’s money transfer agent was buying the US
dollar at $190 million.
Yesterday. RBZ governor Gideon Gono warned of
risks associated with the
liberalisation of the exchange rate, as the market
may be susceptible to an
influx of counterfeit foreign currency
notes.
“Increased foreign exchange trading activities may inadvertently
attract
persons with criminal intent, and prejudice innocent persons of
their hard
earned foreign currency. In this connection, the Reserve Bank of
Zimbabwe
would like to advise the public to exercise caution in their
foreign
currency dealings.
“The public is further advised that the formal
systems, which include
authorised dealers, MTAs, foreign exchange purchasing
centres and Homelink
centres, provide a safe, secure, convenient,
transparent and reliable
platform for foreign currency trading.
“In
addition to systems already put in place to deal with money laundering
in
the financial sector, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe has also put in place
stringent measures to ensure that all institutions licenced to purchase
foreign currency from the public, have the requisite risk management
structures and equipment to detect counterfeit notes,” said
Gono.
Parallel market dealers and cash barons were left stunned by the surge
in
rates, but vowed to remain defiant, saying they would continued moving
rates
to compete with the inter-bank market.
By yesterday, the parallel
market rate for the US dollar had shot up to $180
million, from between $98
million and $100 million before the inter-bank
market started trading under
the new regime.
“We’re offering convenience – no queues and you can call us
to change your
money from your office,” a parallel market dealer
said.
However, he admitted trade on the parallel market had been held back by
the
resurgence of the official market, but hoped it would rebound.
A
dealer with a local bank said exporters were also trekking to the market
to
sell foreign currency.
“They are coming,” said the dealer, who could not,
however, give figures
because she is not authorised to do so.
FinGaz
Ray Matikinye News
Editor
THERE is growing impatience among politicians, single issue
lobbyists and
civic organisations over the unresolved March 29 election
impasse and the
impending presidential poll re-run, which have sparked a
fresh wave of
violence against innocent civilians in many parts of rural
Zimbabwe.
Lobbyists and civic organisations are worried about escalating
post-poll
violence, amid a flurry of diplomatic activity to find a seemingly
elusive
solution.
On Tuesday this week the General Council of the Bar of
South Africa (GCB)
joined a swelling number of rights organisations in
condemning the on-going
wave of politically-motivated violence that has
re-emerged in the wake of
the inconclusive general polls.
In a statement,
the Johannesburg-based GCB noted “the compelling evidence of
orchestrated
brutal political intimidation that has targeted supporters, and
in
particular organisers, of the party that has democratically come into
power”.
“We are concerned that the African Union and the SADC leaders
have failed to
speak out and condemn the serious repression of human rights
perpetrated by
President Mugabe’s regime against citizens of Zimbabwe, who
exercised their
basic democratic right to vote for change,” read part of the
statement.
GCB chairman, Jan Eksteen, said it was essential that the rule of
law be
restored and that an environment free of fear and intimidation be
established before Zimbabweans can be expected to again exercise their right
to vote.
“There can be no democratically competent election re-run
without ensuring
beforehand that repression, intimidation and fear of
reprisals ends,” said
Eksteen.
The Bar said the provisions of the African
Charter to which Zimbabwe is a
signatory, can only be respected if there is
freedom from fear at the ballot
box.
Patience among political leaders
within SADC and outside the regional
grouping has been eroded by the
inordinate delays in resolving the
Zimbabwean electoral impasse, close to
six weeks after the polls were held.
Early this week, the chairman of the AU
Commission, Jean Ping, met President
Mugabe to discuss the situation in
Zimbabwe following the March 29 elections
ahead of the continental body’s
executive council meeting in Tanzania.
The African diplomat also met Zimbabwe
Electoral Commission officials, who
are yet to announce the date of the
run-off.
On Tuesday, maverick and outspoken Kenyan prime minister, Raila
Odinga, said
the political crisis in Zimbabwe was an embarrassment to Africa
and promised
to ask the AU to be “more proactive when dealing with the
issue”.
He spoke after meeting MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai in South
Africa
“The fact that elections can be held in an independent country and it
takes
more than a month for the results to be announced is sad.
“That is
not really how you want to run a democracy. The rest of Africa is
silent and
this is not good for democracy. We must speak when an injustice
is being
done,” said Odinga.
But a flurry of diplomatic activity to find a solution to
the political
impasse invented by the polls is gaining momentum, indicating
impatience
with the slow electoral process.
United Nations secretary
general Ban Ki-moon on Monday also added his voice
on the deteriorating
political situation in the country and said he was
consulting with African
leaders on how to resolve the crisis.
Among the African leaders the UN chief
intends to meet are AU Commission
chairman Ping, AU chairman, Tanzanian
President Jakaya Kikwete and SADC
chairman, President Levy Mwanawasa of
Zambia.
Even South Africa’s ruling African National Congress (ANC),
considered a
staunch ally of ZANU-PF and to have enough political and
economic muscle to
persuade the government to change course, is becoming
frustrated.
ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe this week told journalists
at an ANC
press briefing in Johannesburg that it “had been difficult to try
to talk to
ZANU PF”.
The ANC also expressed concern over reports of
violence and intimidation. At
least 25 people are said to have died as a
result of post-election
retributive violence, according to the
MDC.
ZANU-PF and the MDC blame each other for the violence.
FinGaz
BULAWAYO — The Morgan
Tsvangirai faction of the Movement for Democratic
Change almost swept the
Bulawayo City Council elections when it won 23 of
the 29 seats, according to
official results finally released by the Zimbabwe
Electoral Commission
yesterday.
The Arthur Mutambara faction, which previously held 18 seats,
only walked
away with six.
Thirteen sitting councillors lost their
seats.
The new councillors are now expected to elect a ceremonial mayor and
his
deputy at a function that will be presided over by the provincial
administrator for Bulawayo Metropolitan province.
The post of executive
mayor was abolished just before the elections. Reports
say the former
executive mayor Japhet Ndabeni-Ncube was recalled briefly to
carry out some
council functions, especially during the Zimbabwe
International Trade Fair,
which was officially opened by President Robert
Mugabe.
Bulawayo was
almost paralysed as it did not have a substantive mayor or town
clerk.
FinGaz
Njabulo Ncube Political
Editor
AS Zimbabwe braces for the first ever presidential run-off in its
post
independence history, analysts say the authorities must meet baseline
conditions if the second round of the disputed presidential elections is to
be acceptable at law and in practice.
The Movement for Democratic
Change (MDC) won the March 29 Presidential vote
but the Zimbabwe Electoral
Commission (ZEC) said it faced a second round
because its leader Morgan
Tsvangirai failed to garner an absolute majority.
Tsvangirai secured 47,9
percent of the vote, while President Robert Mugabe
polled 43,2 percent.
Simba Makoni, the former ZANU-PF politburo member,
garnered 8,3 percent of
the vote with another independent presidential
aspirant Langton Toungana
securing the balance or 0,6 percent.
While ZANU-PF this week declared it was
ready for the second bite of the
cherry, the MDC, which claims its leader
should be declared winner, has been
non-committal with Tsvangirai’s
spokesman George Sibotshiwe saying he would
only make a decision after the
announcement of the date of the run-off.
But analysts who spoke to The
Financial Gazette this week were adamant that
the authorities, including the
ZEC, the sole body charged with running
elections, the police and the army,
should address specific issues, such as
the retribution underway in the
rural areas and the need to withdraw
militias blamed for the escalation of
political violence in the countryside.
The analysts said the effect of the
retributive political violence was to
ensure that the presidential election
result announced by ZEC was still
disputed and of no value to those who
voted on March 29 for a return to the
rule of law, peace and democracy in
Zimbabwe.
The Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) said it should be made
clear to
the authorities that certain critical issues needed to be addressed
as a
matter of utmost urgency before a single vote was cast.
“Should the
two presidential candidates agree to participate in the second
election,
there is a need to be clear on exactly what issues need to be
addressed in
order for such an election to conform, at the most minimum
level, to
Zimbabwean constitutional and electoral norms and regional and
international
standards, most particularly the SADC Principles and
Guidelines Governing
Democratic Elections,” said Irene Petras, executive
director of ZLHR.
The
issues to be addressed urgently include the immediate deployment into
Zimbabwe of expanded regional and international observer missions,
especially those of the SADC, the Common Market for East and Southern
Africa, African Union and the United Nations.
These expanded regional and
international observer teams, according to the
analysts, should be allowed
full access to all areas of the country to
ensure, among other things, that
ZEC, through its officers on the ground at
each and every polling station,
was able to perform its constitutional
functions transparently and without
fear or favour.
Useni Sibanda, the co-ordinator for the Christian Alliance of
Zimbabwe,
concurred, adding that the on-going violence rendered the
conditions
non-conducive for the staging of a free and fair election in a
democracy as
agreed by SADC heads of state and governments.
“The SADC
guidelines and principles are already being violated with all this
violence
in the rural areas. This should stop before the country goes for
the second
round of voting,” said Sibanda.
“We need to re-establish the peaceful
conditions that we enjoyed before
going to cast our votes on March 29,” he
said, adding that the violence had
created no-go zones for the opposition
MDC in certain areas of Mashonaland
and Manicaland.
Petras echoed the
same concerns, saying there should be an immediate
cessation of all
political violence in Zimbabwe, especially at the local
community level,
perpetrated by both state and non-state actors with the
acquiescence of the
state.
“This includes, but is not limited to, commanders and officers of the
Zimbabwe Republic Police (especially the Law and Order Section and the riot
squad), the Zimbabwe National Army, the Central Intelligence Organisation,
Police Internal Security Intelligence, so-called war veterans and graduates
of the National Youth Service,” she said.
But this week the Zimbabwe
National Army (ZNA) came out in defence of its
integrity. ZNA deputy
director of public relations said none of the ZNA
units were ever involved
in any acts of violence. “The army does not conduct
such activities and if
any of such incidents do occur, the owners of such
establishments, and
revellers are advised to report to the nearest police
station so that
members will be dealt with according to the Defence Act. If
they are not
members of the army, they will be dealt with according to the
rules and
regulations that govern the behaviour and conduct of civilians,”
he said in
specific reference to reports that soldiers were terrorising
revellers and
musicians
Petras this week said the lawyers’ pressure group demanded an
immediate
comprehensive public statements using print, all publicly-owned
newspapers
throughout the country, and electronic media, state television
and all four
state-controlled radio stations, by the “Minister” of Home
Affairs, the
Commissioner-General of Police, the Commander of the Defence
Forces, the
Commander of the Air Force of Zimbabwe, and the Commissioner of
Prisons,
denouncing all forms of political violence.
These state agents
should comply by “instructing their subordinates to cease
all such violence,
and assuring voters that they will all be protected, no
matter their
political affiliation, and that all perpetrators will be
brought swiftly to
justice to ensure that impunity is fought”.
In an apparent response, ZANU-PF
secretary for information and publicity,
Nathan Shamuyarira, on Tuesday said
the party “was urging its members to
avoid violence and preach
tolerance.
“We are urging our members to avoid violence and to go and
campaign
peacefully. We are also urging the opposition to avoid violence and
respect
people’s lives,” Shamuyarira said
But Sibanda said: “People are
already saying they are afraid to exercise
their right to vote in the
run-off because of the violence, the intimidation
and assaults.
“This
should not be the case. All the instruments of political violence
should be
disbanded to allow for free and fair elections.
“The two candidates should
campaign freely anywhere in the country. But this
is not possible at the
moment especially for the opposition candidate who
has sought refuge outside
the country.”
Petras said lawyers, medical practitioners, humanitarian
organisations and
other groups, should be given immediate access to all
victims of political
violence.
Other groups that provide emergency and
ongoing support services should be
protected and authorities should ensure
their safety throughout the second
election period and beyond.
She said
there was also a need for an immediate and public assurance by the
“Minister” of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs, of the institutional
and individual independence of the judiciary, especially judges of the
Electoral Court, so that they can carry out their constitutional functions
without fear or favour.
Other baseline conditions analysts say need to be
in place include the
immediate end of arrests of ZEC presiding officers and
other election
officers, the withdrawal of all charges against those already
arrested, and
their immediate release from detention.
There should be a
public undertaking and issuing of an order to all law
enforcement agents by
the “Minister” of Home Affairs and the
Commissioner-General of Police that
ZEC officers would not be targeted and
their safety and security would be
guaranteed during the second election and
in its aftermath.
Assurances
should also be given that all local observers will be allowed to
continue to
fulfil their obligations as stipulated by law. It should also be
possible to
increase the number of accredited observers if this is deemed
necessary, to
ensure state compliance with electoral law and procedure at
all times,
especially, but not limited to, the Zimbabwe Election Support
Network and
its member organisations.
Analysts also called for strict compliance by the
authorities with the
Constitution of Zimbabwe and the Electoral Act,
especially regarding the
posting of results outside polling stations
immediately after counting and
tabulation has been completed.
Petras
said: “ZLHR wishes to finally make it very clear that there will be
zero
tolerance for any attempts by the incumbent president to utilise his
disputed and unconstitutional powers or any other means to amend in any way
the current electoral laws and processes, most particularly the time-frame
within which any second election must be held — the deadline of which is on
or before 24 May 2008.”
FinGaz
Ray Matikinye News
Editor
“There are no vacancies because I am still here ka, pane (is there
a)
vacancy? Iwe urikuona vacancy yacho (Do you see a vacancy)? Ko, handiti
ndakavhara musuwo (Didn’t I shut the door)?” This ominous statement from
President Robert Mugabe to contain the unbridled ambitions of those wishing
to succeed him as party leader has a hollow, but chilling ring.
The
hollowness stems from announcements by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission
(ZEC) last week; that there is, after all, a vacancy for the presidency at
stake after the inconclusive March 29 presidential elections.
Cut and
paste the remark from the succession backdrop and pin it against the
forthcoming run–off and you begin to appreciate why former army commander,
Vitalis Zvinavashe threw the toys out of his pram and blamed President
Mugabe’s obstinacy for Zanu–PF’s most dismal showing in its 28–year
governing history.
If you re–paste the remark against attempts to
“massage” presidential
election results through ordering a recount in 23
constituencies the tail
end of the remark has ominous predictions for the
impending run–off.
“Ko, handiti ndakavhara musuwo.” spells an onerous task
ahead for the
presidential contender if set in the context of the
presidential run–off.
But Tsvangirai garnered the most votes in the first
round, so he would start
as the favourite notwithstanding President Mugabe’s
long tenure in office.
The March elections proved he had lost his perceived
invincibility, and this
might lead to more people voting against
him.
Although some give independent candidate Simba Makoni the decider vote,
those who voted for him wanted some kind of change, so more of them would
probably back Tsvangirai. Makoni was also supported in the presidential
contest by a break–away MDC formation that has since reunited with
Tsvangirai.
But fears are already mounting that the impending
presidential run–off polls
might be heavily weighed in favour of the
incumbent through expedient
constitutional amendments.
Analysts say,
apart from the violence that has been unleashed on the
electorate since the
parallel general election results were announced,
intricate, yet
constitutionally expedient methods to manipulate the
presidential run–off
polls are in the offing.
The United Nations and the European Union have
already expressed doubts
about the existence of a free and fair environment
for a run–off given
widespread violence that has already claimed 20 or more
lives. Yesterday
Kingsley Mamabolo, leader of the Southern African
Development Community
observer mission in Zimbabwe said the presidential
run-off could not take
place in the current violent climate.
Mamabolo
said President Mugabe and Tsvangirai should pronounce themselves
against
violence as it is dragging the country into more chaos.
Human rights lawyers
warned this week against machinations by Zanu–PF to
amend electoral laws to
arbitrarily extend its term of office using
presidential powers.
The
Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) expressed fears that President
Mugabe might attempt to use presidential powers to amend the electoral laws
to batten down the hatches and gain unfair advantage over MDC leader, Morgan
Tsvangirai.
“ZLHR wishes to make it very clear that there will be zero
tolerance for any
attempts by the incumbent president to utilise his
disputed and
unconstitutional powers or any other means to amend in any way
the current
electoral laws and process, most particularly the time–frame
within which,
any second election must be held – the deadline of which is on
or before 24
May 2008,” the human rights body said on Monday.
“In
addition, the ZEC must ensure that it complies strictly with its
obligations
in this regard and does not seek to unlawfully justify the
further delay of
this electoral process.
Already, Zanu–PF is talking about challenging results
in 52 more
constituencies, despite failure to materially alter the results
in 23
constituencies already recounted. They are seeking to nullify the
results,
paving the way for bye–elections in those constituencies.
The
run-off, needed to resolve Zimbabwe’s electoral impasse, would radically
change along with it the landscape largely dominated by President Mugabe and
his Zanu-PF party hitherto perceived as an indestructible behemoth
ZLHR
demands immediate comprehensive public statements using print and
electronic
media by the “Minister” of Home Affairs, the Commissioner–General
of Police,
the Commander of the Defence Forces, the Commander of the Air
Force, and the
Commissioner of Prisons, denouncing all forms of political
violence,
instructing their subordinates to cease all such violence, and
assuring
voters that they will all be protected, regardless of their
political
affiliation, and that all perpetrators will be brought swiftly to
justice.
The human rights lawyer’s body demands public denouncements on
both state
radio and television.
An MDC executive on Tuesday said his
party’s threats to boycott the run–off
comes in the wake of the violence and
systematic destruction of its
structures in the rural areas following its
unexpected victory.
“We will insist on international observers apart from
those from continental
bodies such as SADC and AU,” a senior MDC executive
and MP–elect told the
Financial Gazette.
But when MDC leader Morgan
Tsvangirai noted: “We have no guarantees that
Mugabe will accept defeat this
time if he loses the second round,” he might
have recalled President
Mugabe’s remarks against those in his party who
wished to supplant him.
FinGaz
Charles Rukuni Bureau
Chief
MEASURES taken by the central bank last week to revive the
country’s ailing
economy, especially the liberalisation of the exchange
rate, have been
widely welcomed but are not likely to yield the expected
results because of
mismatches between the monetary and fiscal
policies.
Bulawayo-based vice-president of the Zimbabwe National Chamber
of Commerce
(ZNCC) Obert Sibanda, said although some of the measures had
come a little
late, he was happy because this was what business had been
calling for all
along.
He, however, pointed out that the measures were
not likely to solve the
country’s current economic problems because they
were being implemented
piece-meal.
“The monetary policy on its own cannot
solve our current economic problems.
This needs a holistic approach.
“But
I am glad because the central bank is now accepting reality,” Sibanda
said.
Business consultant, Luxon Zembe, said the liberalisation of the
exchange
rate was a major step in the right direction but it needed to be
complemented by other measures such as the lifting of price controls and
limits on cash withdrawals.
He said the success of the exchange rate
liberalisation would depend largely
on supply and demand and the gap between
the inter-bank and parallel market
rates.
The central bank liberalised
the exchange rate last week allowing banks to
reach their own rates. They
immediately agreed on $160 million to the
greenback way above the parallel
market rate, which was about $100 million.
The parallel market is still
trailing behind the bank rate but is fast
catching up.
Zembe said what
was needed was a constant flow of hard currency into the
banks because as
long as people were assured they could buy or sell money to
banks, most
people would go to the banks rather than to the parallel market.
The problem,
however, was where this money was going to come from.
He said there was no
production to guarantee this constant flow. One of the
measures that central
bank governor Gideon Gono had introduced — that
foreign currency not
utilised within 21 days would be liquidated — was a
disincentive, he
said.
Gono said the measure was aimed at ensuring that there was support to
the
economy’s productive sector through greater circulation of foreign
currency,
but Zembe said the governor had not taken into consideration the
production
cycle.
He said business needed at least 60 days to complete
its production cycle
given the bottlenecks such as shortages of electricity,
water, raw
materials, and in some cases lack of communication.
“This
measure is only going to benefit the central bank itself because it is
one
of the major consumers of foreign currency,” Zembe said.
“If the exchange
rate is left to market forces this means that once a
company loses its
foreign currency it may not be able to buy the same amount
of foreign
currency with the Zimbabwe dollars dumped on it,” he added.
Zembe said the
availability of foreign currency on paper meant that any
company with
Zimbabwe dollars could go to the market and buy foreign
currency, but most
companies did not have Zimbabwe dollars because they were
exporting their
goods because of price controls. They could not sell their
products locally
because this would be suicidal.
The new measures should therefore have been
accompanied by the lifting of
price controls as they are responsible for the
current shortage of goods in
shops.
He also said while it was safer to
change currency at the bank, people would
only do so if they were assured of
getting cash.
The central bank increased maximum daily withdrawal rates from
$1 billion to
$5 billion a day but this was considered still too little
especially for
business.
“This is ridiculous because you cannot buy
anything with $5 billion. You
cannot run a business when you have to go to
the bank everyday to withdraw
cash.
“So if people cannot get cash from
the bank, they will take their money
where they can get cash, and that is
the parallel market,” said Zembe.
He said the central bank should “walk its
talk”. It cannot argue that it is
against controls and price distortions
when it controls how much money one
can withdraw from one’s own
account.
“We are a cash economy so we need to come up with measures that
respond to
the reality on the ground.
“You cannot go to the bank everyday
to withdraw money that does not even
meet your daily needs,” he said.
FinGaz
Clemence
Manyukwe Staff Reporter
THE on-going violence is unlikely to alter the
political preferences of a
significant number of voters in the impending
presidential run-off.
A terror campaign is currently underway, especially
in the rural areas
following the March 29 polls that saw ZANU-PF losing
control of parliament
for the first time since independence in
1980.
Presidential poll results, released last Friday after more than a
month’s
delay also showed the incumbent, President Robert Mugabe, losing to
longtime
rival, Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader Morgan
Tsvangirai.
A second round of voting is to take place because, officially, no
candidate
garnered more than 50 percent of the vote to clinch an outright
victory and
make a second round of voting as stipulated under Electoral
Laws,
unnecessary.
According to the Zimbabwe Electoral commission (ZEC)
Tsvangirai got 47,9
percent of the vote, while the ZANU-PF leader polled
43,2 percent setting
the stage for a run-off.
Independent presidential
aspirant Simba Makoni received 8,3 percent while
Langton Toungana garnered
0,6 percent of the total votes.
After March 29, violence flared up in
different parts of the country with
church leaders saying some people have
been murdered as the attacks have
escalated.
Heads of the Zimbabwe
Council of Churches, the Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops
Conference and the
Evangelical Fellowship of Zimbabwe said in a statement
released a fortnight
ago: “People are being abducted, tortured,
humiliated…they are told that
they voted for the ‘wrong candidate’ and
should not repeat it in the run-off
for president and in some cases people
are being murdered.”
The church
leaders blamed war veterans and youth militias whom they said
they have set
up torture bases in the countryside.
But despite the violence and killings,
analysts doubt that this will
significantly affect voting patterns.
The
president of the Zimbabwe Peace Project (ZPP) Jestina Mukoko whose
organisation has been documenting acts of violence said although some people
would be swayed because of safety and security considerations, that would
not make a difference on the overall scenario.
She however, said the
disturbances could lead to voter apathy.
“My other concern is that a lot of
people are being disenfranchised. Homes
are being torched and some people
are losing their identity documents in the
process. Others will not vote out
of fear,” Mukoko said.
Legal practitioner and electoral law expert Chris
Mhike said the resort to
violence was calculated to render the environment
unsuitable for conducting
a free and fair poll.
He however, noted that
despite the use of violence in previous elections
people had still gone
ahead to vote against the ruling party.
“In my view, there certainly will be
a portion of the population that will
be cowed into submission by the
on-going violence, but on the whole the
strategy will not work,” Mhike
said.
“The use of violence is inimical to the traditions, practices and
customs of
holding free and fair elections at regional and international
level,” Mhike
said.
A political science professor at the University of
Zimbabwe Eldred
Masunungure said the race will be tighter as a result of the
violence.
“There will be a close race. It is difficult to predict who will
win at this
moment.”
Masunungure said the winner is likely to be
determined by the candidate
Makoni will back, given the number of votes —
270 470 — the former ZANU-PF
politburo member received in the March 29
polls.
He said in terms of the electorate, voters could be categorised into
core
voters of a particular party and marginal, non-committed voters or new
voters for a particular candidate.
Masunungure explained that core voters
— those who are committed to a
particular party and are motivated by its
ideology — are less likely to be
swayed than new voters.
“Those who are
passive, mild, the non partisan — the new voters — would be
swayed,”
Masunungure said.
“The epicentre of the violence has not been in Matabeleland
or urban areas
where the MDC has its core support. In Mashonaland Central
and other parts
where there is violence, there was a major shift from
ZANU-PF to the
opposition by new voters
“The expectation is to influence
“stray voters” and bring them back home to
ZANU-PF.”
Although ZANU-PF
spokesperson Patrick Chinamasa could not be reached for
comment, on Monday
night state television aired comments by First Lady Grace
Mugabe absolving
the ruling party of responsibility for the violence.
But former ZANU-PF
secretary general Edgar Tekere, who in 1990 moved a
motion in parliament
against alleged ZANU-PF violence against his supporters
after he challenged
President Mugabe in that year’s presidential poll said
the party has a
tradition of using violence when the odds are stacked
against it.
Tekere
said the use of violence would not work, as people are “tired” of
ZANU-PF
rule.
He said the on-going unlawful acts are likely to prod even those who
had
voted for the ruling party on March 29 to switch sides in the
run-off.
“I said it a long time ago, that (President) Mugabe does not like
competition. The run-off will be very bad because he is unashamed about
using violence. But even those who voted for him will see that he is a bad
person and will not vote for him,” Tekere said.
FinGaz
Simba Makoni
THE best
way forward for our battered nation is the establishment of a
Transitional
National Commission, National Authority or, as others have
called it, a
government of national unity.
This route, the only one left open to
Zimbabweans who actually have the
interest of the nation at heart, has been
grossly misrepresented and, at
times, deliberately misunderstood.
No
effort has been made to interrogate this route.
First, we need to see clearly
why this route is the only one left for the
country to pursue.
We have
two major parties in parliament, divided almost exactly in half. A
sliver-thin majority for the MDC, with a majority of two seats, is not a
basis for the establishment of a government.
Parliament will frustrate
the efforts of the Executive in the hope of
forcing a situation of an
ungovernable state.
The purpose would be to force a new election, where the
incumbent will be
hoping to win a fresh and bigger mandate.
The calling
of new elections would most likely not happen, though.
Instead, we will still
be operating under the current fatally flawed
constitution, with its
authoritarian entrenchment of presidential powers.
The temptation will then
be for the incumbent president to invoke these
powers and effectively rule
by decree.
This will be understandable in the first instance, if the
provisions are
being used to take the country forward.
But it will be the
beginning of a slippery slope to dictatorship.
Zimbabwe’s politicians, so
blinded by the obsession with power, have simply
closed their ears and
consciences to this eventuality, demanding that any
accommodation should
involve giving them power.
So, what exactly is this animal being
proposed?
How would it work and would it be reasonable?
The questions
demand clear answers if the interrogation of this concept is
to result in a
clear appreciation of the abyss at which this country is
staring and how we
can draw back from the edge.
This is because the idea of asking the Heads of
State to get (President)
Mugabe to step down for another person sticks in
their throat.
Stepping down for a comprehensive transitional mechanism is
another matter
entirely. It rules out the possibility of them being seen to
be speaking up
for a specific party or individual.
As already mentioned,
the idea finds favour with them and would most
probably see an end to the
current impasse within weeks.
The National Commission, National Authority or
whatever you might call it,
would be a purely transitional authority, with a
tenure of office not
exceeding two years.
This authority will be the
government for those two years.
It should be composed not only of the major
political formations in the
country, but should also include members and
leaders of civil society —
National Constitutional Assembly, Zimbabwe
Congress of Trades Union, Youth
Movements, Zimbabwe Election Support
Network, Zimbabwe National Chamber of
Commerce, Confederation of Zimbabwe
Industries, Ecumenical, faith-based
(including Muslims) organisations and
groupings as well as all those
organisations that have been at the forefront
of trying to shape the
Zimbabwe we deserve.
This is important because the
task of the national authority will be to
emerge from those two years with a
framework for a working Zimbabwe in which
all stakeholders will have made a
meaningful contribution.
The future and fate of this nation should not be
left to an elite class of
politicians only.
There is no evidence that
only the ideas of the politicians are capable of
guaranteeing Zimbabwe a
future as bright as the African sun.
The co-option of civil society into the
National Assembly of the National
Authority, therefore, would be
non-negotiable.
Once the whole nation (so to speak) is sitting in a room
together, with
representatives from all major constituencies in the country
talking to each
other, the business of sorting this country out will then
begin in earnest.
The tasks to be set for the National Authority should
include the immediate
setting up of a Constitutional Conference — which
should also be a National
Assembly — to stand in the stead of parliament to
draft and agree on a new
constitution.
Input into this constitution will
be sourced from all the constituencies
represented in the National Assembly,
who will also be tasked with
consulting their grassroots on the document
throughout the process.
At the end of those two years, Zimbabwe should have a
new, respected,
respectful and tamper-proof constitution.
The details
will obviously be worked out by the National Assembly, but
should ideally
include the provision that the constitution cannot be amended
unless the
issue is put to a referendum first.
By the time the two years end, we should
also have a strong economic base,
should have stabilised the currency, and
restored productivity.
Simba Makoni was a presidential candidate in the
March 29 polls and got 8.3
percent of the vote
FinGaz
Takarehwa Humba-Makombe
AS
ZANU-PF navigates a tricky post–election conundrum, its leadership needs
to
wake up to the fact that the party is not only in trouble because of the
quarrel they willingly provoked with the West.
Beyond Whitehall and
the White House, serious systemic weaknesses are
corroding ZANU-PF’s core
and unless these are addressed, the party risks a
hastened dispatch to the
political cemetery.
The ruling party has clearly lost its soul. The party is
today, a shadow of
its former self. It is no longer the all–inclusive and
truly national
political movement, which led the country’s independence
struggle.
ZANU-PF has over the years progressively morphed into an
exclusivist
association; one pandering only to the selfish caprices of elite
elements of
the liberation generation. And this is where the party’s
problems largely
reside.
The leaders over–indulged on the narcotics of
incumbency and have gotten so
stoned they are beginning to make the most
elementary of political errors.
Somehow the leadership has arrogantly, but
mistakenly decided that the
liberation struggle generation alone can
guarantee the movement’s long–term
political prospects. How the party has
failed to realise that this
generation is a constituency in decline is
beyond all rational conjecture.
The most shocking development however, has
been the party’s wanton
alienation of workers and the urban underclass who
are contemptuously
dismissed by the leaders as a totemless and rascal
mob.
In their tortured privacies, the ZANU-PF leadership knows that the
freedom
struggle would not have triumphed without the successful
mobilisation of
critical masses among the rural peasantry and the urban
poor. The liberation
struggle also enlisted key backing from the liberal and
left-leaning
sections of the knowledge class. But today the workers and the
knowledge
community have been marginalised.
In addition, the party
leadership has failed to develop the movement’s
regenerative capacity to
ensure it remained dynamic and therefore responsive
to the ever-fluid
internal and global dynamics. The party has dithered over
coming up with a
workable leadership renewal programme and stubbornly
refused to create
political space for the post-liberation generation which,
today is a key
voting constituency.
The case for leadership renewal (which is not synonymous
with regime change)
is obvious enough and claims by the likes of
Vice-President Joseph Msika
that the country cannot afford the luxury of
changing leaders are laughably
self–serving. To use examples from the
region, fraternal liberation
movements have managed their own leadership
renewal processes more
competently and thus remain in power.
SWAPO in
Namibia, Frelimo in Mozambique, the ANC in South Africa, Chama
Chamapinduzi
in Tanzania and the Democratic Party in Botswana are some of
the obvious
examples.
Elsewhere however, founding leadership chose to reign for too long
which, in
part, explains why the likes of KANU in Kenya, UNIP in Zambia and
the
Congress Party in Malawi struggle today. ZANU–PF needs to come up with a
transformational leadership; one that bridges the age and ‘values’ gap
between the liberation and post–liberation generations.
Related to this,
the party needs to find ways of integrating the
post-liberation generation
into its politics as well as ‘spice–up’ its core
liberation/sovereignty
ethos so they can find resonance with the modernist
values that this
constituency espouses.
The ‘born–frees’ lack any substantive experience of
colonial rule and
therefore find little, if any, resonance with the
‘Zimbabwe will never be a
colony again’ mantra. ZANU-PF must realise that
‘born frees’ are now a
voting constituency and their political choices are
informed not by the
romance of the liberation narrative, but by their
frustrations with the
present.
The party must also recognise that those
born just before and after
independence understandably feel excluded from
and unwanted by an
organisation whose Youth League comprises people old
enough to be their
parents.
It is however, shocking that a left–leaning
political movement deliberately
alienates and becomes blatantly contemptuous
of workers and the urban
underclass. Instead of addressing the genuine
existential problems workers
grapple with, party leaders accuse them of
selling out on the liberation
struggle.
There is nothing pedantic about
the fact that workers are generally tolerant
of the corrupt excesses of the
ruling elite as long as they earn decent
wages to be able to afford the
basics of life.
It is cynical but true that as long as these existential
fundamentals are
not threatened, workers are generally ‘interested
spectators’ in democracy
and other abstracts that occupy ‘men of
learning’.
However, when the economic fundamentals come off the cliff, as is
the case
with Zimbabwe, workers are quick to express their displeasure
which,
progressively develops into open dissent and, finally,
opposition.
The challenge for the ruling elite would be to find and implement
appropriate intervention mechanisms before the discontent degenerates into
dissent. In Zimbabwe’s case, ZANU-PF’s interventions were comical and at
best downright irrational. To begin with, the party’s decision to cobble up
a surrogate outfit fronted by war veterans of questionable credentials was
not going to fool anyone. Secondly, the party launched a full–scale assault
on business by imposing price controls and then went on to antagonise the
imperial autocrats with an ill–planned and politically motivated land
seizure programme.
Zimbabwe is a pseudo market economy and the logic
about capitalism is that
the rich must be allowed to get richer and, while
they are at it, enough
crumps hopefully fall off the high tables to feed and
keep the poor happy.
The attacks on business induced massive capital flight
while the land
seizures induced a vicious backlash from the West.
These
challenges, coming on the back of a run on the Zimbabwe dollar, which
was
precipitated by the country’s participation in the DRC war and before
that,
the war veterans’ gratuity payments, only worsened an already dire
situation.
Still, prudent use of the party’s patronage system and crony
economic
policies could have defended ZANU-PF and the country’s economy from
the
worst effects of retributive actions by the West over farm acquisitions.
The
party’s leadership needs to look at how cronyism has not only guaranteed
president Vladimir Putin lifelong tenure (should he wish it) as Russia’s
leader, but also taken the country back to its rightful place in the
community of powerful nations.
After assuming power, Putin moved swiftly
to take back into direct state
control, critical state assets in the energy
sector that had been privatised
for a song by his predecessor. He also
ensured the state retained proxy
control over other important companies by
using regime cronies otherwise
known as oligarchs.
Under the Russian
system, regime cronies running state assets can nick a
penny in the dollar
as long they give the balance to the state and ensure
that these companies
continue to grow and remain profitable.
During the recent general elections,
Russian youths told Western media that
they were not bothered that the
country is virtually a one–party state.
Instead, they were proud that Russia
is once again economically strong and
on the way to regaining its position
of power and influence in the world.
China is doing the same thing. But in
Zimbabwe, incompetent regime cronies
have made an absolute mess of the state
enterprise sector while there is
little excuse for the terrible chaos in
agriculture.
The ZANU-PF leadership needs to come to terms with the fact that
agriculture
is dead not because the country kicked out white farmers.
Recurrent droughts
and unpredictable weather patterns are not to blame
either, because most of
these farms had adequate irrigation capacity. The
fact is, agriculture is
dead because of the failure of patronage. The most
productive farms were
allocated to regime cronies most of whom are men of
considerable means and
influence.
These include members of the cabinet,
the politburo and the ZANU-PF central
committee. Ruling party
parliamentarians and senators, governors, provincial
and district
administrators, top civil servants and diplomats in foreign
postings also
benefited.
This means that more than three quarters of the acquired farms
were given to
the ruling elite — people who are wealthy enough to have the
wherewithal to
maintain and increase productivity.
These are people who
were influential enough to be able to access whatever
capital they might
have needed to maintain and improve farm productivity.
Indeed the central
bank has made available trillions of dollars to try and
improve farm
productivity so that the country can once again export more
than 200 million
kilograms of tobacco.
If regime cronies had managed to maintain and improve
tobacco and
horticultural exports the manufacturing and mining sectors could
have
survived the country’s exclusion from the world capital markets. But
the
party entrusted critical state resources to regime chums and failed to
enforce accountability.
As a result agriculture collapsed and, as sure as
day follows night, other
economic sectors soon followed. The writing is
clearly on the wall for
ZANU-PF.
The leadership needs to understand that
internal weaknesses and the party’s
failure to address these have made the
movement vulnerable to western
imperial aggression. The party regularly
carries out restructuring
exercises, but these have failed to address the
core problems.
What ZANU–PF needs to carry out now is not another
restructuring exercise,
which does not entrench existing weaknesses, but a
root and branch reform
and modernisation programme, which, would once again
make the party a truly
national all inclusive liberation
movement.
Takarehwa Humba-Makombe is a Zimbabwean journalist based in
England.
FinGaz
Dumisani Ndlela Business
Editor
Foreign currency inflows start trickling in
ZIMBABWE’S beleaguered
currency slumped to a historic low on the official
market as rates began
moving after the central bank let up on controls to
encourage the inflow of
hard currency into the inter–bank market.
The United States dollar, which
had been fixed at $30 000, was fetching $160
million on Friday and dealers
said they expected a gradual decline in the
value of the domestic currency
on intensifying demand. The Zimbabwean dollar
was expected to breach a low
of $200 million to the greenback this week.
Other currencies moved around the
benchmark greenback rate to the Zimbabwe
dollar, and in line with
international developments, which saw the US dollar
rising to a five–week
high against the Euro.
“We made representations to the central bank to start
trading at $160
million to the greenback and they agreed,” a dealer with a
commercial bank
said.
The rate was slightly higher than the parallel
market rate on Friday,
suggesting the central bank was determined to see
rates move to levels that
would wipe out the parallel market, blamed for the
country’s unrelenting
economic woes.
The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ)
governor Gideon Gono announced the move
to relax the exchange rate and allow
it to trade on the open market under a
willing buyer/willing seller
arrangement he said was meant to cushion
exporters and win the confidence of
a restive business sector to take the
economy back on a recovery
path.
Under this new policy, exporters and importers can now freely trade
foreign
exchange in the de–controlled inter–bank foreign exchange market,
but they
will use a pre–determined list of key sectors for disposal of the
foreign
cash.
Top on the priority list is the grain, food producers,
fertilizer, seeds,
animal drugs, good–related machinery and seeds category,
commanding 35
percent of allocations, followed by fuel, electricity (20
percent) and the
non–food equipment and other industrial machinery (20
percent).
Other priority payments include public and commercial transport,
vehicle
kits, tyres, batteries, wind–shields and other essentials (20
percent);
school fees, business travel, professional fees, IT licences and
dividends
(10 percent); and medical drugs and equipment (10
percent).
Authorised dealers are expected to match sellers and buyers of
foreign
currency under this arrangement.
Authorised dealers, who include
banks, money transfer agencies and the
central bank-owned Homelink, can now
buy and sell foreign exchange at
market–determined exchange rates under the
same policy.
They will be compelled to display the average buying and selling
prices for
foreign currency for willing sellers and willing
buyers.
Non–governmental organisations, embassies, international
organisations and
Zimbabweans in the Diaspora as well as other foreign
currency holders would
also be able to dispose their foreign currency at the
inter-bank rates,
likely to replace the fixed exchange rate of $30 000 to
the US dollar.
Bankers were already canvassing for foreign currency holders
to dispose
their foreign cash through their respective dealers, as
competition for hard
currency emerged as a result of the latest
measures.
The Bankers Association of Zimbabwe (BAZ) said it welcomed Gono’s
measures,
particularly those related to the selling and buying of foreign
currency
through authorised dealers and competitive exchange
rates.
“These measures will have a positive impact on the management of
foreign
exchange inflows ...we encourage the public, SMEs (small scale
enterprises),
corporates and Zimbabweans in the disspora to conduct all
their foreign
exchange transactions through authorised dealers,” BAZ
said.
In its weekly commentary, Kingdom Stockbrokers (KSB) said the
effectiveness
of the inter–bank market in harnessing foreign currency that
lies outside
official channels so that everyone, including government, can
easily access
it, depends on the transparent implementation of the system
based on market
forces of supply and demand.
“This is very important to
build the much needed trust and confidence since
the major initial source of
the foreign currency is the illegal parallel
market. This requires
authorised dealers to limit their participation in the
market to their
traditional intermediary roles of matching deficit units
with surplus ones
and taking their stipulated commissions of +/- 0.25
percent for their own
books.
“Surplus units are the exporters and holders of free funds while the
deficit
units are the importers who need foreign currency to import
essential raw
materials. An important worry by participants in the foreign
exchange market
is the possibility of private players being crowded out by
the Central Bank
given that it will also be competing for the scarce foreign
currency
resources with everybody else.
An ideal situation would have
been for the Central Bank to limit itself to
its regulatory role.
Be that
as it may, the quasi–fiscal role of the Central Bank in supporting
the
productive sectors of the economy, hence the need for it to also raise
foreign currency from the market is, however, noted and appreciated,” said
KSB.
FinGaz
Shame Makoshori Staff
Reporter
. . . as foreign operators heed travel warnings
TEN chartered
flights that were expected to fly tourists into Victoria Falls
in the past
three weeks were cancelled after foreign operators responded to
travel
warnings issued by mostly western and European governments in the
wake of
rising political tensions in the country.
Tourism industry sources told
The Financial Gazette from Victoria Falls this
week that the political
stand-off that has unfolded in the post election
period between ZANU-PF and
the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) had cost
the industry millions of
United States dollars.
Initial indications had been that the political crisis
in Zimbabwe had
resulted in the cancellation of 78 percent of bookings, but
The Financial
Gazette was told the highlight of the crisis was the
cancellation of the
chartered flights, which usually bring high spending
western travellers.
Unofficial estimates put the number of tourists who put
off plans to travel
to Zimbabwe as a result of the travel warnings, at
200.
“Arrivals had been picking up since the beginning of the year,” a source
in
the prime tourism destination of Victoria Falls said.
“But the bad
publicity in the western media has affected the flow of
tourists in the past
three weeks.
“The United Kingdom (UK) and the US (United States) have issued
travel
warnings. As a result, we witnessed not less than 10 chartered
flights
(being cancelled) and many more tourists have also decided not to
come,” the
source said.
Two weeks ago, the UK’s Foreign Office cautioned
its citizens against
traveling to Zimbabwe unless for pressing commitments
“due to the continuing
tension surrounding the election and the deployment
of uniformed forces and
war veterans across the country.
“The current
situation is unpredictable, volatile and could deteriorate
quickly, without
warning,” the office said.
International pressure group, Human Rights Watch,
told of the escalating
violence meted out against MDC supporters by ZANU-PF,
which for the first
time since independence lost its parliamentary
majority.
The human rights watchdog said ZANU-PF had set up torture camps to
“systematically target, beat up and torture people suspected of voting for
the MDC”.
No comment could be obtained from the Zimbabwe Tourism
Authority (ZTA), but
chief executive officer, Karikoga Kaseke confirmed the
cancellations in a
recent interview, saying the developments were of “real
concern”.
“It must be noted that the perception management programme was
initiated as
a deliberate move to reverse the adverse effects of the same
negative
publicity, but the negative impact caused by the current onslaught
(in the
western media) is of real concern to us,” he said.
ZTA statistics
indicate that although tourists from the west had remained
subdued, inflows
had increased by about 20 percent to 2,7 million in 2007
from 2,2 million in
2006.
This number is among the highest in the region and was expected to
increase
by not less than 30 percent in 2008.
But with the violence
continuing, the figures could decline.
The cancellations come at a time when
the hospitality industry is preparing
to reap the benefits accruing from the
2010 FIFA World Cup to be hosted in
South Africa in 2010.
FinGaz
Staff
Reporter
CUSTOMS clearing agents have begun manually processing duty
after a systems
failure hit the industry following the depreciation of the
Zimbabwe dollar
on the official market.
The systems, which had been
stretched following a drastic devaluation of the
domestic currency for duty
purposes from $30 000 to the United States dollar
to a staggering $285 000
per greenback in December, were further overwhelmed
after a new rate became
operative on the market this week.
The Zimbabwe Revenue Authority last year
drastically devalued the domestic
currency from $30 000 to the United States
dollar to a staggering $285 000
per greenback as it battled to shore up its
dwindling revenue base.
Sources in the sector said the new exchange rate of
close to $200 million
per greenback had resulted in systems failures at most
clearing agencies
because their systems were failing to calculate duty
involving large
figures. Software on their operating systems had limited
space for figures.
Duty that ran into millions became billions and that which
amounted to
billions was nearing or even beating the trillion–dollar level
as a result
of the depreciation of the Zimbabwe dollar.
The high duty
payments are likely to boost coffers for the Zimbabwe
government, battling
dwindling revenue due to a blitz on the business sector
last year which
forced prices down by at least 50 percent and forced Value
Added Tax and
corporate tax into a tailspin.
Government domestic debt spiralled out of
control to touch an incredible
$6.4 quadrillion on April 17, 2008 on
mounting government spending.
FinGaz
Staff Reporter
ZIMBABWE’S
retail outlets continue to grapple with shortages as the economy
remains on
a recession path, with the manufacturing sector still battling
against power
outages and foreign currency shortages.
There was little sign of an
immediate relief to the manufacturing sector as
a result of a monetary
policy statement by Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe governor
Gideon Gono last week,
although commentators said measures to do with the
liberalisation of the
exchange rate could bring industrial operations,
particularly exporters,
back to life.
The Zimbabwe dollar, which had been fixed at $30 000 to the
greenback,
slumped to a historic low against the US dollar, trading at $160
million to
the greenback after new measures became effective on Friday last
week.
The movement in the exchange rate was expected to improve the Zimbabwe
dollar cash flow position for most exporting companies, which had previously
incurred loses due to the fixed exchange rate.
It was also expected to
give a new lease of life to other companies battling
to survive due to lack
of foreign currency to import critical inputs and
machinery parts. Under the
new exchange rate policy, exporters and importers
can now freely trade
foreign exchange in the de–controlled inter-bank
foreign exchange market,
but they will use a pre–determined list of key
sectors for disposal of the
foreign cash. Shelves in most major outlets
remained empty, with stock
levels depressed.
Gono said last week that he expected the situation to
improve as a result of
the new foreign currency policy, as well as other
measures meant to
resuscitate the ailing economy.
He encouraged
government to move away from a rigid price control regime to
allow for
economic turnaround.
Zimbabwe’s Attorney General over a month ago revealed
plans to tighten the
country’s law to control escalating prices of basic
goods and essential
services, including a jail term for retailers or
manufacturers charging
prices above those stipulated by
government.
Current market-wide shortages have created an environment of fear
in the
country, with the arrest of business executives for violation of
price
controls having added to increasing shortages as a result of a
slow–down in
production.
Highlighting such fear was a recent spate of
advertisements by key producers
of basic commodities disowning the trading
of their foodstuffs on the black
market.
Unilever Zimbabwe, a subsidiary
of Unilever South East Africa, recently
issued a public notice saying it was
sticking to controlled prices for its
products, warning retailers and the
public “against charging more than the
stipulated prices”.
“We urge
anyone who is overcharged for our products to report to the police
immediately,” Unilever said in a notice which had a schedule of prices
approved by the National Incomes and Pricing Commission.
Dairibord
Zimbabwe, a subsidiary of the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange listed
Dairibord
Holdings, also issued a notice saying, due to “the
hyperinflationary
environment and supply challenges, it has come to the
company’s attention
that milk and milk products are being sold at prices way
above the official
approved levels”.
Bread maker, Lobels Bakery, whose executives have been
arrested several
times for overcharging, also came out with a plea to direct
the police to
retailers violating price controls on its products, saying it
was complying
with the law.
Surprisingly, most key products by these
companies are scarcely available on
the official market.
FinGaz
Mavis
Makuni
I bear old scars from being ambushed and bitten by my younger
sister when we
were children zillions of years ago.
At that time
I was about seven years old and she was two years younger. We
were regularly
at each other’s throats over the usual things kids fight
about at that age
and invariably my younger sibling would lose. It was after
losing one more
fight that she threw out all the rules of fair sibling
combat and decided to
“defeat” me by pouncing on me when I was not looking.
After this ambush when
she took advantage of an uneven playing filed, she
pranced around declaring
that she had beaten me at last. When I appealed to
my parents for redress
for the injustice of being sprung upon when I was not
looking, they winked
at me in a knowing way that said my sister’s move was
cowardly but, for the
sake of peace, I should allow her to believe she was
the victor. Needless to
say, it was a bitter pill to swallow for a
seven-year old.
My parents
were however, to use the same philosophy when I was in my teens.
This time,
my siblings and I were urged to turn a “blind eye” and let my
paternal
great-grandmother, who was temporarily living with us, have her way
each
time she threw a tantrum. She must have been in her nineties and
although
still quite lucid and entertaining, there were bad days when she
withdrew
into her own world. When this happened, she became paranoid and saw
“conspiracies” against her in the family’s every move. On such occasions she
could accuse my father of plotting to kill her; my mother of denying her
food and me and my siblings of conniving with the other children in the
neighbourhood to harm her.
These early experiences taught me life-long
lessons about the few
circumstances when unreasonableness can be tolerated,
that is, when dealing
with very young children and very old people within
the family environment.
Being bitten by my sister when I was not looking
also taught me neither to
aspire to nor be proud of pyrrhic victories gained
at too a great a cost to
myself and my opponent.
I have sadly found
myself harking back to these experiences from my
adolescence because the
Zimbabwean political landscape is currently
characterized by behaviour that
should only be limited to small children or
very senile adults. It includes
the preparedness of ZANU-PF to embrace a
blood-soaked pyrrhic victory in the
presidential run-off through not only
ambushing the Movement for Democratic
Change (MDC) but the very people who
must vote freely and safely in these
polls.
Despite having played by the rules and believing itself to have won
the
presidential poll fairly in the first round, the opposition party is now
being forced on to a blatantly skewed playing field. Those who supported the
MDC candidate in the first round are being terrorised, abducted, attacked
and killed allegedly by state agents and ZANU-PF militias.
This is clear
from the fact that post-election atrocities have been
perpetrated in
provinces where the MDC won overwhelmingly in the March 29
polls. The lame
attempts being made to attribute the barbaric acts to the
winning party only
serve to make it crystal clear who the culprits are. The
losers are behaving
like my little sister all those years ago who thought
suddenly springing
upon me to bite me was a smart move. But she was an
illegitimate victor who
was only allowed to delude herself to keep the peace
and because she was a
child.
But national politics should neither be a child-like nor senile
pursuit.
Politics should be a game for rational, humane, fair-minded people
of
integrity, capable of taking the rough and tumble of the game in their
magnanimous stride without resorting to vindictive sadism. What difference
is there between violent rapists, robbers, extortionists and fraudsters who
seize what is not freely given and politicians who resort to brute force in
the hope of gaining political support that is not genuinely and freely
offered?
Nothing highlights the perversity and depravity of this approach
more
painfully than the on-going retributive violence which targets the very
people who are supposed to be enjoying the freedom, liberty, progress,
safety, security and human dignity that are supposed to be the guiding
principles of any candidate worth voting for. Elections would have lost
their intended purpose if the electorate is to be bludgeoned against its
will, to vote for a candidate it does not support. Zimbabwe does not deserve
leaders who are prepared to accept “victory” under these
circumstances.
Many pictures have been published in the press showing the
horrific injuries
inflicted upon innocent Zimbabweans by ZANU-PF thugs on
the rampage in the
countryside. But none of these images are more
heart-rending than when
innocent children are victims of this retributive
orgy. The question to ask
is how sweet is power for it to cost the dignity,
safety, security and lives
of others? I asked this question this week after
seeing a picture of 10-year
old Francis Zondo of Mudzi North in the May 4
issue of the South African
newspaper, The Sunday Times . The paper reported
that Francis and his aunt,
Esther Dewe were assaulted by suspected ZANU PF
supporters. They are said to
be part of a large group from Mudzi who have
been given refuge at a safe
house in Harare
Peering with swollen eyes
from under a blood-soaked bandage around his head,
little Francis seems to
be asking every adult in this country: What have I
done to deserve this
brutal punishment ? Who will answer him? Jesus said:
“Suffer little children
to come unto me.” How tragic that political leaders
can say: attack, maim,
burn or kill innocent children so that we can win an
election.
Feedback:
mmakuni@fingaz.co.zw
FinGaz
Gideon Gono
Personal reflections of appeal
OVER the past four
years, I have come to appreciate even more the enormity
of the challenges
confronting the Zimbabwean economy like no other man or
woman in this
country.
I have known the economic gymnastics that I have had to do or
engage in with
the obvious guidance of my principals in order to move the
country forward
like no other man or woman would know in this country.
I
have known when we have had the last drop of oil in our pipeline, when we
have had the last tonne of maize or wheat in our silos and I have also known
when we have had or about to have the last consignment of medical
drugs.
In the same breath, I have also known when Air Zimbabwe, our national
flag
carrier, had almost failed to take off because of one reason or the
other
like no other man or woman has known in this country. And every day I
have
prayed for better economic fortunes and better days for our
country.
I believe, therefore, that I am qualified to give advice based on my
personal reflections. I am quite aware that many people have taken many
things for granted, and that the modest success we have registered has also
been taken for granted.
No one has ever paused to imagine what this
country would have been had the
team at the Central Bank, guided by its
principals, not taken certain
decisions and acted in certain manners, which
are still to be documented.
First and foremost, for the avoidance of doubt, I
wish to state at the
outset that what I am expressing herein are deep
personal reflections,
motivated and guided by my own convictions on what is
right for the
Zimbabwean economy and the sustenance of the welfare of its
people.
In expressing these entirely personal views, I therefore, neither
hold any
brief from ZANU-PF nor from the Movement for Democratic Change
(MDC-Tsvangirai) or from anybody for that matter, local or
foreign.
Electoral processes, as we are experiencing, can be long and
winding. But in
our case, the proverbial grass that is suffering is the
economy, which is
where I come in as one of the superintendents for our
economy.
My constituency as the governor is not political, but the economy;
and the
enemy which I seek to fight — and fight to win — is called
inflation, simply
defined as the continued rise in the general level of
prices.
My customers are to be found not just in the two main political
parties,
ZANU-PF and MDC-T, but in all the socio-economic constituencies of
the
Zimbabwean landscape, within and outside the country, within and outside
the
voting age, across gender considerations, across regional, provincial,
religious, and any other sectoral considerations.
It is with these
constituencies in mind and realising the enormity of their
plight and, at
the same time vulnerability to political processes within and
or outside
their control of influence that I submit the following thesis for
intellectual debate and practical consideration by those capable and able to
influence events of the day in bars, soccer fields, boardrooms and political
meeting places.
Like my advice given to the nation at the start of the
price blitz and price
wars at the beginning of July last year, good and
noble intentions do not
always result in intended outcomes.
There will be
those, as was the case in July last year, who will be tempted
to give or to
attach unpatriotic labels on the people who seek to make a
positive
difference, and therefore, will be compelled to attack this
governor and my
response to those so inclined is that the governor in his
personal or
official capacity is not new to such attacks.
As governor, I modestly submit
that, over the years, I have gathered
experience, which some in our midst do
not have and exposure to economic
histories of other countries by way of
actual visits and interactions with
different people and or wide
research/reading – with understanding, which
has always given me and
fortified me with courage of my convictions where
national matters in areas
of my competency relate.
Therefore, here are my humble views:
Politics
and the economy
Fellow Zimbabweans, at no other time has it been demonstrated
that the
Zimbabwean economy’s state of affairs cannot be separated from the
politics
of the day than now.
This reality remains as factual as it has
always been since 10 or so years
ago, when the country started to be
confronted with the burden of what are
essentially politically motivated
sanctions.
Others have sought to suggest that the country’s economic
policies,
specifically those of the Reserve Bank, have been the causal
factor to the
current hardships.
Matching these assertions against
reality, however, clearly reveals that in
doing what we had to and still are
doing, we have been and are reacting to
the untenable socio-economic
environment that has been bred and fed by the
sanctions, themselves patently
motivated by the political reactions by some
nations to the Government of
Zimbabwe’s implementation of the land reform
programme.
Even when one
looks at the UDI Rhodesian era, extraordinary measures had to
be taken to
sustain the economy in the face of ever-escalating sanctions at
that
time.
In our own present situation, therefore, the subsidies, concessional
financing schemes we are extending to our farmers and other strategic
producers, as well as the Farm Mechanisation Programme, are virtuous
reactions to the adverse international environment the country is finding
itself operating in.
The ensuing extra-ordinary circumstances, therefore,
inevitably warranted
and continue to call for the implementation of
practical interventions that
had to and have to sustain the economy from
giving in to the sanctions and
other exogenous factors, such as the vagaries
of droughts, excessive rains,
corruption and other negative behaviour
patterns of Zimbabweans such as the
lack of unity among and between key
economic players.
Realising the intricate overt and covert interconnections
of the economy and
the politics of the day, in January, 2008, I announced
that the Reserve Bank
was going to issue a “Post-Elections Economic Recovery
Programme”, which was
to cultivate appropriate remedial measures in the
context of the political
outcomes as would have arisen had the electoral
programmes been completed by
now.
The Harmonised Elections
On
March 29 2008, Zimbabweans across the board received regional and
international commendation for successfully holding historic harmonised
elections in an environment that was characterised by the virtues of
calmness, tolerance, peace and stability.
The build-up to the elections
was equally peaceful, elevating Zimbabwe onto
a high moral plane in the
realm of socio-political and economic
co-existence. The maturity of its
people also received international
commendation.
As the electoral
processes took their cycle, the degree of diversity among
Zimbabweans, as
interpreted and grounded in the context of the solemn
Zimbabwean laws,
evolved to the present reality where Zimbabweans face the
likelihood of a
Presidential run-off election.
Resource constraints aside, this likely
eventuality, itself predicated upon
the dictates of our shared
constitutional democracy, seeks to once again,
provide fellow Zimbabweans
with the opportunity to exercise their two
fundamental rights — exercising
their capacity to pursue the sense of
justice and their capacity to pursue
the birth-right conception of the
common good.
As free and equal
citizens, under the bedrock of Zimbabwean laws, it is,
however, imperative
that we collectively examine the implications of our
legitimate choices and
programmes on the collective welfare of present and
future generations in as
far as the economy is concerned.
One wishes that there was a way or legal
instruments through which an
amicable, and more progressive path could be
established between the two
parties, without having to subject the nation
and the economy to further
delays in the resolution of the political
question, which itself is so
critical to the turnaround of this economy, so
critical to investment
attraction, so critical to the inflow of foreign
exchange and the reduction
of inflation, which is my core business hence
this personal reflection.
This is particularly so, especially when one
accepts reality, which we face
at the present moment, which is that Zimbabwe
is currently facing formidable
socio-economic setbacks whose resolution
cannot be postponed any further.
But, as Zimbabwe has repeatedly shown over
its young history, the country
cherishes the pursuit of utmost respect for
its laws and, as such, the issue
of the run-off is a matter, which I
modestly believe cannot be wished away
if the wishes of the Zimbabwean
people as enshrined in their constitution
are to be met.
This is not a
matter for outsiders in much the same way as it is also a
matter for
outsiders to respect that this is an internal issue.
As we, therefore,
collectively exercise our senses of justice, democracy and
the application
of each free individual’s powers of practical reason and
thought in forming,
revising, and rationally pursuing our conception of the
political good, we
need to put Zimbabwe first.
We need to guarantee, not only the political
liberties of every Zimbabwean,
but equally important, to ensure that we
cultivate a socio-economic
environment that places the welfare of the people
as a sacrosanct
fundamental that should not be subject to political
bargaining or to the
calculus of selfish sectoral
interests.
Legislative Impasse
The dynamics of the Parliamentary and
Senatorial Elections results have, for
what they are worth, resulted in a
legislative impasse, which if not
resolved soberly, through frameworks that
place the interests of Zimbabwe
first, will result in retrogressive “tugs of
war” in both Houses of our
legislative arm.
The attendant
“Hung-Parliament” as has obtained is such that no individual
political party
can easily transmit the interests of the electorate through
successful
sponsoring of needful pieces of legislation, without having to go
through
the inevitable process of winning favour and support from the other
parties.
The risk is therefore, that critical pieces of progressive
legislation, may
suffer needless blockades on the altars of political
expediency, whilst the
business and effectiveness of governance is seriously
compromised.
In the process and recognising the intricate relationship
between politics
and the economy, my ability to deal with inflation and the
normalisation of
the economy might also be seriously compromised.
In the
likely “stop-go-mode”, it is not far-fetched to postulate the
possibility of
the legislative arms failing to pass National Budgets,
Supplementary Budgets
and other emergency funding programmes, which would
throw the country into
serious governance problems, resulting in more
pressure on the Central Bank
as Ministries would naturally fail to discharge
their duties without
financial resources.
There is, therefore, a compelling need for unprecedented
reflections by the
relevant political parties in shaping workable solutions
to this impasse.
The run-off
Accepting the run-off as an inevitable
constitutional requirement, the
nation is faced with the reality that where
two forces are battling to win,
more so in a high stakes “ring game”, the
outcome of a win, or a lose will
most likely invoke undesirable and
irrational reactions from either of the
contesting sides.
On the part of
the ultimate winner, whether it is ZANU-PF or MDC-T, the
likelihood could be
one of arrogance and refusal to yield to any proposal of
cooperation in any
unity-focused proposition.
In the wrong hands, therefore, the opium of
victory can itself engulf a
nation in a maze of perpetual incineration of
any prospects of an integrated
society.
Conversely, on the part of the
losers, as there definitely is going to be a
loser, there is the risk that
the attendant deep sense of humiliation may
radiate equally precipitous
irrational reactions that may spell disaster for
the economy and even the
secure existence of our society.
The case for
a pre-run off
PACT
The realities on the ground and the intrinsic risks the nation faces at
this
juncture do impel that sober consideration be given for the
establishment of
a mutually binding pre-run-off PACT, spelling out the
expected behaviours of
both parties, whoever emerges the winner or loser in
the run-off.
To each party, ZANU-PF and the MDC-T, the PACT would spell-out
the dos and
don’ts to either side post of the run-off date and post
announcement of
results. What we have just witnessed of claims and
counter-claims and
litigious behaviour of both parties will not augur well
for the economy if a
pre-runoff PACT is not sealed prior to the
event.
The severity of Zimbabwe’s economic setbacks is such that we cannot
afford
the luxury of post-run-off bickering or engagement in disruptive
ventures
for political expediency.
It is, therefore, strongly recommended
that such a PACT of behaviour be
negotiated and agreed upon upfront, with
the necessary binding covenants, so
as to promote predictability of the
likely obtaining environment post the
run-off.
Such predictability has
invaluable merit in that it will allow individuals
and corporates to get on
with the job of making productive business
decisions in the interest of the
economy, therefore of Zimbabwe first.
The PACT, whose details are matters for
negotiation by the contestants,
should itself be thoroughly communicated to
the electorate, so as to anchor
restrained behaviour and maturity in the
post run-off period.
As Zimbabweans, we should, therefore, work in unity to
foreclose any
possibility of tearing each other apart in the lead-up to,
during, and after
the run-off.
The sooner the political parties are
seized with this matter, the better the
mileage the nation will move in
building an assured conducive socio-economic
and political environment post
the run-off.
We need to build a Zimbabwean society that is a vibrant
cooperative venture
for the mutual benefit of all, supported by democratic
institutions that
assign rights and duties, as well as distribute justly the
benefits and
burdens of social cooperation in the post-run off era.
In
shaping and sustaining this society, Zimbabweans must rise above sectoral
interests and converge their minds on the basic principles of justice and
democracy, knowing that even when we may have placed excessive demands on
one another in the past, we must, nevertheless, acknowledge the common point
of view from which our disparate interests and claims must be adjudicated
internally.
Indeed, it is a fact that through differences in ideologies
and schools of
thought on economic management, as Zimbabweans, our vigilance
against one
another cannot and should not be allowed to escalate to the
uncontrollable
levels of self-destruction that has been witnessed in other
countries. There
is no need for the loss of any single life as all hands and
minds are
required to turnaround the economy.
Our shared conceptions of
justice and democracy, if grounded on the higher
moral plane of Zimbabwe
first, must establish the bonds of civic unity of
purpose, which would limit
the pursuit of actions and programmes that are
precipitous to the collective
welfare of the majority of Zimbabweans and not
in the reversal of what our
society has already gained through the
sacrifices of those still with us
today and the departed.
In the democratic society that we are working to
continue building upon, it
is therefore, highly recommended that we build a
lasting scheme of social
cooperation among Zimbabweans, which is stable: it
must be acted upon
mutually and voluntarily, such that when inadvertent
infractions occur,
stabilising mechanisms must find expression through the
binding PACT.
Where the international community comes in, in respect of that
PACT is their
subordination of their wishes to those of the people of
Zimbabwe and not
their own and respect for the outcome of the process
without pre-determining
such outcomes and agreeing to the lifting of
sanction for instance and
restoration of normal economic flows, balance of
payments support and other
necessary ingredients that have constrained
growth and stability
If, for want of pursuit of political interests we draw
spears at each other’s
throat post the run-off, or if we adopt scorched
earth policies of negation;
then whatever political institution that would
emerge can never secure
agreement on the measures of true democracy, or what
is just or unjust.
And in the absence of a reasonable measure of what as
Zimbabweans we are to
collectively call just and unjust upon ourselves, it
is clearly apparent
that it will be more difficult for the citizenry to
coordinate individual
and sectoral plans efficiently in order to guarantee
mutually beneficial
economic growth and developmental programmes. The
economy, without fail,
takes fatal blows or soothing panaceas from the
politics of the day,
depending on what we choose as Zimbabweans.
It is,
therefore, my well considered view that pre-and post any electoral
process,
the overriding consideration ought to be that of choosing that
critical path
that delivers a Zimbabwe that is better for all.
The pursuit of the paths of
violence, whilst possibly potent on delivering
polar political ends, risks
coming short on delivering a unified, let alone
thriving Zimbabwean
nation.
It is against this background that in my modest role as governor and
advisor
to stakeholders across the board, I deeply urge all political
players to
elevate their spirits above partisan lines and cultivate a
unified nation;
one that anchors its democratic institutions on the
principles of tolerance
and diversity.
Short of this, we fear that post
the run-off, there may be no Zimbabwean
economy to talk about, and in that
eventuality, the pursuit of democracy
will have dealt an unjust blow to the
ordinary Zimbabweans who will find
themselves sunk much deeper in the then
inextricable socio-economic
hardships.
As a progressive society, we
cannot afford the luxury of experimenting with
the collective welfare of our
God-given heritage; our motherland Zimbabwe.
Let us therefore resolve the
current political hurdle prudently and
expeditiously.
In so writing and
expressing my views, I am not suggesting that people go
into forced
alliances, into a forced government of national unity (GNU) or
into whatever
forced this and that. I am only appealing to political players
to realise
that there is an economy to take care of, an economy to defend,
which is
above us all.
It would be a tragedy of unimaginable proportions, and a great
setback if we
are to have a loser in this race refusing to recognise the
winner and
engaging in precipitous actions that takes us back in years in
terms of
economic turnaround.
Dr Gideon Gono is the Governor of the
Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe.
FinGaz
Matters Legal
with Thabani Mpofu
On June 16 2000, parliament passed the Genocide Act.
As its name suggests,
the Act’s primary purpose is to deal with genocide,
which is recognised by
the entire civilised world as an international
crime.
The Act has to date not received any application in our courts and
the
purpose of this piece is to dissect its major provisions and stimulate
debate on some pertinent issues that might one day arise for
consideration.
Predictably, the Act criminalises genocide. It draws from the
provisions of
the Convention On the Prevention And Punishment Of The Crime
Of Genocide and
in fact domesticates the provisions of that
convention.
In terms of our Constitution, international conventions can only
have the
force at law if they have been incorporated into our law. It is
significant
that our government could find it within itself to unreservedly
make
provision for the application of such an important convention. The
breath of
fresh air is probably buttressed by the penalty provisions, which
provide
for capital punishment or life imprisonment against the perpetrators
of
genocide.
It took me years to understand that what I had witnessed in
the Midlands
province when I was three years old was genocide, the time from
which my
conscience dates back. If a person, with the intention of
destroying in
whole or in part a national, ethnic, racial or religious group
commits any
of the acts listed below, then that person is guilty of the
crime of
genocide:
lKilling members of the group or,
lCausing serious
bodily or mental harm to members of the group or,
lDeliberately inflicting on
the group conditions of life calculated to bring
about its physical
destruction in whole or in part.
As can be clearly gleaned, the definition is
wide, all encompassing and
permissive. That is why Gukurahundi was an act of
genocide.
However, the authorities in their wisdom decided that the Genocide
Act would
only apply from June 16 2000 onwards. I have deliberately chosen
not to
dwell on the definition aspect as I consider the necessary
ingredients of
this crime to be self explanatory. In addition, any
definition would
compartmentalise the crime and stultify the debate that
should naturally
ensue as a result of this article.
Although the Attorney
General is the ultimate prosecuting authority and
indeed the authority under
whose name all criminal proceedings are
instituted, the Act provides that no
proceedings can be commenced under it
without his/her authority.
The law
however, does not prescribe the form and nature of such authority.
This
provision is a potential stumbling block to all those that might
otherwise
want to seek justice in terms of the Act. Really, there is no need
for the
Attorney General to give his/her express authority before any
butcher or
murderer is brought to book as no such authority is given in
relation to all
other murderers.
What this provision probably shows is that the seriousness
of the
authorities alluded to earlier on, might as well be a mirage. It is
consistent with ZANU–PF’s give and take approach whenever it comes to
important matters. When it comes to critical issues, the system has an
inbuilt mechanism, which stops it from functioning. By now, it is clear that
the Attorney General is politically biased.
I believe however, that this
provision can be circumvented, in fact, it
should be. The Criminal Procedure
And Evidence Act confers the right of a
private prosecution on any one who
can show some substantive and peculiar
interest in the issue of the trial
arising out of some injury individually
suffered by the commission of an
offence.
The right is also available to husbands in relation to crimes
committed
against their wives, legal guardians in relation to crimes against
their
wards, wives or children and next of kins and public bodies
specifically
empowered by the statute.This right can only be exercised if
the Attorney
General refuses to prosecute a matter. Under such
circumstances, he/she is
obliged to grant a certificate to the effect that
he/she has refused to
prosecute.
It is my view therefore that anyone who
is aggrieved by what appears to be
genocidal acts should ask the Attorney
General to prosecute and the moment
that he/she refuses or does not take any
action, then he/she should be
pressed to grant a certificate to the effect
that he has refused to
prosecute and thus give way to a private
prosecution.
The granting of the certificate will therefore, imply that the
authority has
been given, but the Attorney General declines to prosecute,
and that is what
it should be made to look like. If the Attorney General
takes a different
view, then the issue should be pressed and he/she would
have to say why
he/she has decided to fight those that seek
justice.
Indeed such a dog fight could itself be an act of misconduct on the
part of
the country’s prosecutor, thus justifying his/her removal from
office. I am
mindful that my prescription sounds tenuous, but I believe it
produces
results.
Having made the above observations, one is left with a
question from which
they cannot escape, namely, is there genocide in
Zimbabwe? I have
confidently and without any contemplation of retracting my
words indicated
that Gukurahundi constituted an act of genocide.
The more
difficult question is whether there has been any genocide in this
country
from the year in which this act was promulgated. Quite clearly there
has
never been any attacks on any racial, religious or ethnic group after
Gukurahundi. There have instead been attacks of a political nature, which
came after the announcement of the results from the just ended harmonised
elections.
The genocide convention evidently does not cover political
groupings, at
least not directly. That has been one of the major weaknesses
of the
convention. But what is a national grouping, which this convention
provides
for? It is clear that Zimbabwe is a nation just as it is clear that
any
political grouping is part of a nation.
Could it therefore be that,
any persistent attacks on members of a political
party constitutes an attack
on a national grouping or at least part of it?
Is killing or causing serious
bodily and mental harm to such a group
therefore, an act of genocide. If the
soul of any political grouping is its
activists, is killing those people not
consistent with an intention to cause
the destruction of that grouping?
I
remain mindful that political groupings have by and large not been a
factor
in the definition of what genocide is, probably because the issue has
not
yet been pressed hard enough.
I believe however, that if answers are to be
found to any of the questions
posed above, then we could as well refocus and
probably apply the Genocide
Act in this country in the days to come.
Difficult it may be, but one might
try to stretch the piece of string, whose
length is currently not clear.
Thabani Mpofu is a final year law student
at the University of Zimbabwe,
presently attached to Muza and Nyapadi Legal
Practitioners. e-mail:
thampoce@yahoo.com
FinGaz
Mavis Makuni
Own Correspondent
I WAS skeptical when I first saw a headline in the May
3 issue of The
Saturday Star suggesting that after the tirade of criticism
following his
“There is no crisis in Zimbabwe” outburst, the Southern
African Development
Community (SADC)’s mediator, Thabo Mbeki, had finally
spoken on Zimbabwe.
My cynicism was vindicated when upon reading the
story I discovered that
Mbeki had indeed spoken on the situation in Zimbabwe
but only to slam the
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) and to blame
scapegoats for his failure
to bring leadership and integrity to his role as
peace broker between
ZANU-PF and the opposition. In a nutshell, he blamed
every one but himself
for his failure to deliver over almost a
decade.
The South African paper reported that while speaking to a delegation
of
clergymen from across Africa who had sought an audience with him to
express
their concerns about Zimbabwe, Mbeki slammed MDC leader Morgan
Tsvangirai
and complained that political interference by Britain and America
had
threatened his capacity and abilities as mediator.
“He said he was
worried about statements made by US President Bush and the
US mission in
South Africa. Mbeki criticised the overt presence of these
countries around
Tsvangirai. Mbeki sees this certainly as political
interference,” The
Saturday Star reported.
It is clear that in the face of their own impotence
and collusion with the
authorities in Harare, Mbeki and other African
leaders within SADC and the
African Union are riled that it is only Western
nations that have offered
both material and moral support to the embattled
populace.
But for Mbeki to blame political interference for compromising his
skills as
a mediator is to take the art of passing the buck too far. If he
has any
such skills, Mbeki has done a very good job of concealing them under
the
bushel of “quiet diplomacy”, whose efficacy in an escalating crisis such
as
the one in Zimbabwe is doubted by almost everyone except Mbeki
himself.
It is unrealistic for the South African President to expect that in
a world
that has become a global village characterised by instantaneous
communications and information dissemination, he can operate in a vacuum in
which other leaders throughout the world never express opinions about
developments in Zimbabwe.
Being skilled as a mediator means the ability
to act decisively and with
integrity despite distractions. This is what all
mediators in disputes have
to contend with; they cannot gag the rest of the
world.
The paper referred to Mbeki’s “genuine” commitment to ensure that the
MDC,
which has threatened to boycott the presidential run-off, would
participate.
Mbeki’s belief that the MDC’s refusal to participate is the
biggest obstacle
to his efforts is misguided. The biggest threat to any
successful resolution
of the electoral impasse is the state violence
unleashed against the
populace about which Mbeki has remained resolutely
tongue-tied.
In view of his continued silence on this issue, his motives for
leaning on
the opposition to literally enter a lion’s den to participate
under such
fraught conditions are questionable. As mediator, Mbeki has done
nothing to
call for a conducive atmosphere in which the people of Zimbabwe
can vote
safely without fear of reprisals afterwards..
Mbeki’s idea of
sending a regional team to Zimbabwe to investigate incidents
of violence is
ridiculous in view of the fact the violence being perpetrated
against
innocent citizens is self-evident through the figures compiled by
human
rights groups and pictures published in the press.
What more does Mbeki need
to condemn the onslaught by the state against
unarmed and innocent
villagers? He cannot claim that political interference
from Gordon Brown and
George Bush has kept him tight lipped on the issue of
state sponsored
violence, which has been prevalent in Zimbabwe since the
advent of land
invasions in 2000.
Rather than political interference, the biggest obstacles
to Mbeki’s efforts
in Zimbabwe are his inability to be impartial and
objective as well as his
disdain for the people of Zimbabwe for whom he has
never shown any
compassion or empathy.
Apart from being openly partisan
in his dealings with ZANU-PF and the MDC,
Mbeki has regarded his role as
being a purely academic exercise without any
human dimensions. The crisis in
Zimbabwe needs to be resolved because the
people are suffering under
repressive governance, the highest inflation in
the world, rampant poverty
and unemployment, lack of access to essential
services and commodities,
etc.
Mbeki’s reported idea of sending a regional team to investigate
allegations
of state violence in Zimbabwe is more confirmation of his
nonchalance. It
can only be put into its proper perspective by asking
whether it would have
made any sense for any one to send a team to
investigate apartheid in South
Africa when it was a self-evident fact.
By
proposing time-wasting investigations, Mbeki seems to be almost saying
the
retributive post-election beatings, abductions and killings and
displacements can continue in the mean time.
This is the only conclusion
to be drawn from his quibbling about
interference by those who have spoken
out in solidarity with the besieged
people of Zimbabwe while he himself
continues to tacitly condone the
atrocities.
In addition, he has failed
to learn any lessons from the debacle of the SADC
team that observed the
March 29 polls, turned a blind eye to irregularities
and rushed out of
Zimbabwe after declaring the polls free and fair. State
sponsored violence
broke out while some of them were still in the air on
flights back to their
countries and besieged Zimbabweans have been at the
mercy of state agents
and militias since then.
The lesson Mbeki has failed to learn is that
elections are not only about
the day the people turn out to cast their
votes. The safety and security of
voters need to be ensured in the months
leading up to polling day and after
it.
mmakuni@fingaz.co.zw
FinGaz
Comment
THE
floatation of Zimbabwe’s troubled currency is indeed welcome news for a
country grappling with an economic crisis for the past nine years.
For
far too long, the pricing of the Zimbabwe dollar, against the backdrop
of
escalating inflation, had proved a very contentious issue, with
government
and the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) often being forced to
adopt draconian
measures to encourage foreign currency inflows to the
official market
because foreign currency holders were not happy offloading
at an
unrealistic, fixed exchange rate.
They therefore resorted to the parallel
market, which had thrived despite
concerted government efforts to punish
both buyers and sellers on the
unofficial foreign currency market.
Some
of the measures taken by both government and the RBZ did not encourage
exports at all, and often resulted in many companies devising criminal
schemes to evade forced disposal of part of their foreign currency receipts
on the official market.
It was not only the companies that were forced
into criminal activities to
evade tight exchange controls that precipitated
losses on disposal of their
receipts on the official market; every
Zimbabwean who accessed foreign
currency, either from relatives in the
Diaspora or from work done for
employers entitled to pay in foreign
currency, equally avoided the official
market and instead diverted their
earnings to the parallel market, which
offered realistic rates reflecting
the fundamentals on the ground.
They too became criminals due to the poor
pricing of the Zimbabwe dollar on
the official exchange market.
As events
of the current week indicated, Zimbabweans did not necessarily
want to evade
the legal market in the disposal of their foreign currency;
once the
exchange rate on the official market became realistic, they trooped
to the
banks to sell their foreign currency, evading the parallel market and
enduring the long queues in the banking halls.
As RBZ governor Gideon
Gono pointed out in his monetary policy statement
last week, the pricing of
foreign currency is an important tool in the
influence of the country’s
overall economic performance.
Acknowledging that the issue of currency
devaluation rested with the
Minister of Finance and was, therefore, outside
the mandate of the central
bank, Gono used his genius to employ the
instruments within his job
description to allow for the floatation of the
Zimbabwe dollar without
usurping the powers of his
principals.
Highlighting the urgency of such measures, Gono said: “With over
80 percent
of Zimbabwe’s imports constituting critical inputs, machinery,
spare parts,
electricity, fuel and chemicals among many other essentials,
smooth
functionality of the foreign exchange market is a pre-requisite for
enduring
macroeconomic stability.”
“In order to significantly move the
economy towards stability, increased
capacity utilisation, availability of
basic commodities and, hence, reduced
and declining inflationary pressures,
it has become necessary that the
pricing and allocative frameworks in the
foreign exchange market be reformed
in a manner that guarantees viability
for all generators of foreign
exchange, whilst at the same time ensuring
availability and affordability of
this resource to users of foreign
currency, particularly the non-exporting
producers of basic goods and
services.”
Apparently, even critics of the central bank governor have
privately
acknowledged that his latest move is indeed a bold one, and could
provide
the solution to Zimbabwe’s entrenched economic predicament.
But
the road ahead is still rough, and it is not yet time to pop the
champagne
bottles.
The liberalisation of the pricing of foreign currency should be
quickly
followed by the liberalisation of commodity prices, irrespective of
whether
these commodities are basic or not.
The control of commodity
prices has been one other hold-up to efforts to
turnaround the
economy.
Again, as Gono pointed out, price controls “should be a transitory
intervention”.
Inevitably, these, as he points out, have often had “the
unintended
consequences of infringing on producer viability, in the long
term
constraining new investment in whatever sector, compounding maintenance
progress, critical skills retention and sometimes promoting the parallel
market activities”.
How well that this is coming from the horse’s
mouth!
As The Financial Gazette pointed out in an article in May last year,
the
current regime of price controls, while meant to benefit the poor, had,
in
fact, benefited the rich and politically connected.
The government
might have had good intentions in imposing market controls,
but the record
for such controls has simply proved unhelpful and dangerous
to the economy,
with widespread shortages and company closures ravaging the
productive
sectors.
We do recognise that the pricing of commodities is outside the
sphere of
operations of the central bank, but we take heart that Gono has
exhorted
respective government departments and ministries to move towards
lifting all
forms of price controls to complement his monetary policy
measures.
On his part, Gono has meanwhile created a Strategic Price Controls
Mitigation Fund under which producers of strategic and basic commodities can
get financial support to, in his own words, “make up for and recover the
genuine adverse effects of price controls and/or delays in the approvals of
justified price reviews”.
We do hope that government moves fast to
eliminate price controls in the
economy to boost supplies and ameliorate
shortages.
The pricing of goods will work itself out in the market, as
overpriced
products will simply meet resistance.
Consumers are also
likely to become temperate in their consumption patterns
until the economy
turns around.
Winds of change blowing across
Zimbabwe
EDITOR — I watched with keen interest the address by
the President and first
secretary of ZANU-PF (President) Robert Mugabe to
those gathered at Gwanzura
Stadium for Zimbabwe’s 28th Independence
Celebrations on April 18 2008.
My spouse had advised me not to waste my
precious time listening to
(President) Mugabe, as nothing meaningful was
likely to come out of his
address. She instead asked me to assist her in
looking for basic
commodities, which are in short supply. I, however,
ignored her plea and
listened to (President) Mugabe’s address.
Any
national address by a ‘head’ of state is a very important occasion and
nearly every citizen listens attentively to such an address. The nationals,
the writer included, wanted to hear from the President how the nation is
expected to move forward more so having gone for over a fortnight after the
historical harmonized elections.
The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC)
took, not only its own time but the
nation’s time at large, to announce the
Presidential results. I expected
‘President’ Mugabe to tell the nation the
‘challenges’ that ZEC was facing
in verifying and announcing the
presidential results.
We expected the ‘president’ to inform us how he hoped
to address the main
challenges that the nation is facing especially how he
intends to tame
record breaking inflation currently estimated at over
165,000 percent. How
is he going to address the supply of basic commodities,
as our shops are
virtually empty? How is he going to address the issue of
continual price
increases? How does he propose to address the
non-availability of drugs in
our clinics and hospitals and the related
health staff exodus to other
countries? How will he make sure that our over
4,000,000 relatives scattered
in Britain, America, South Africa and New
Zealand come back and contribute
to nation building? How does he intend to
address the issues of political
violence being perpetrated by members of his
party, ZANU PF? How will he
tackle the issue of potholes that are a common
sight on our roads? Does he
have a plan for tackling the problems of
overflowing raw sewerage in our
residential areas? How is he going to
address the power outage problems? How
will he create an enabling
environment that would encourage industry and
commerce to increase
production levels from the current levels of below 20
percent to say just
over 50 percent?
We acknowledge that Zimbabwe’s literacy rate at 97 percent
is one of the
highest in Africa and for that you deserve to be
congratulated. Your firm
stand on keeping family values is another plus for
you and the government.
However, higher literacy rates and firm family values
have not translated
into an improved standard of living for the majority of
Zimbabweans. An
unemployment rate of over 80 percent is just one of the
indicators of our
social ills and current and future generations will hold
you responsible for
this predicament.
The question, which my fellow
countrymen might want to ask me is whether my
expectations from the
‘President’ mentioned above were met. The answer is
definitely NO. Maybe my
expectations were misplaced. ‘President’ Robert
Mugabe’s mandate to address
all these issues expired on the March 28 2008
when parliament was
dissolved.
The mandate to address the people’s expectations lies with the
winner of the
March 29 presidential election. It is however, common
knowledge that the
winner of the March 29 presidential election is Morgan
Richard Tsvangirai,
leader of the Movement for Democratic
Change.
(President) Mugabe must condemn political violence especially by
members of
his party, the soon to be crowned ‘opposition party’. Instruct
your Zimbabwe
National Liberation War Veterans Association to stop violence
against
supporters of the ‘ruling party’.
Commissioner General of police
Augustine Chihuri must instruct his forces to
act professionally at all
times and arrest perpetrators of violence
regardless of political
affiliation.
Commander of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces Constatine Chiwenga
must instruct
his troops to remain in their barracks and stop harassing
innocent civilians
on charges of having voted for the opposition on March
29.
Church leaders must start the process of national healing and commence
the
process of coming up with programmes of integrating members of our
society
who were and are being used as tools of oppression against innocent
people.
Programmes to counsel, treat and rehabilitate those affected should
be put
in place.
Threatening business persons with takeovers if they do
not produce goods at
a lower price will not yield intended
results.
Change is imminent. Delay does not mean denial. Nothing can stop
that whose
time has come!
Lovemore
Kadenge
Harare
----------------
Poll paradox
EDITOR
— I could not help but laugh at the first paragraph of an article in
The
Herald’s Opinion and Analysis section, which read: “ZEC has a
constitutional
mandate to ensure that the electoral process in Zimbabwe is
run in a manner
that bestows credibility and authenticity”.
In the 2000 general elections and
2002 presidential election the MDC didn’t
agree with the vote counting in
certain constituencies but this didn’t stop
ZANU-PF from declaring
themselves winners of the polls and directing the MDC
to the courts for
redress.
Now, the MDC won and ZANU-PF now wants to play by the constitution
and yet
it never allowed the MDC that privilege in 2000 and 2002.
This is
called double standards. Quoting bad examples from the USA doesn’t
make it
moral and better. The whole idea is to cling on to power by any
means by
making sure that Tsvangirai doesn’t win. This is called vote
rigging.
If
ZANU-PF believes in the people’s mandate why do they send militias to
bash
opposition voters?
T Chinhori
UK
--------------
Is there a
‘Bermuda Triangle’ at Zimpost?
EDITOR — I wonder if I may
encroach on the space in your correspondence
columns to raise an issue,
which is very dear to my heart and which I have
gathered is increasingly a
problem for others.
The subject is postal deliveries, or more accurately, a
lack thereof. In the
past, I have attempted to raise these issues with my
local Post Office,
which happens to be Highlands, and although I’ve had some
sort of response
from there, it’s made no difference to deliveries.
Any
correspondence I’ve sent to the higher echelons of Zimpost has remained
unanswered, but there again, the correspondence may not have been
delivered.
My first question, which Zimpost may care to respond to ought to
be very
easy to answer. Why does it take a week or more for a letter to get
from
Harare CBD to Highlands or for a letter to take five weeks to get from
Johannesburg to Highlands?
My last ZESA account in fact took 11 days.
Along with virtually every other
local resident, I then get accused of not
paying my bills on time and become
the victim of iniquitous interest
charges. The fact that in many instances,
the bill was posted the day before
it was due is not the issue here.
Of much more importance to me is the
persistent non-delivery of magazines
sent by air mail (or RSA surface mail)
from outside the country. These
magazines simply do not arrive, and they’re
not returned to the sender,
which suggests they are being intercepted and
probably sold off.
My hobby, surprise surprise, is motor cars and to satiate
my appetite for
these mechanical marvels, I happen to subscribe to a fleet
of titles from
the UK, USA and South Africa.
In the interests of brevity,
I can tell the people that count at Zimpost
that the last “airmailed” copy
of British Car to enter my post box was dated
May 2007. Constant checks with
the publishers indicate that all copies were
despatched. The last issue of
South African Car carried a January 2008
dateline and this was received some
six weeks after despatch.
The weekly AutoCar from UK has not been seen since
February 6 2008 and prior
to that date, deliveries were highly erratic. A
few copies of the UK-sourced
weekly, AutoSport, dribble through but many are
missing and the few that do
arrive take on average five weeks by air
mail.
There are four other titles on my list and I doubt that I’ve received
one in
four of these in the last year. I’ve now resorted to having one of
the more
prized titles delivered to my daughter’s address in RSA.
In
every case, I’ve entered into regular correspondence with the expediters
in
the respective countries of origin and they’ve confirmed that all issues
have been despatched on schedule. In many instances, duplicate copies have
been sent but these also disappear into thin air.
To say this situation
is exasperating is an under-statement. Maybe Zimpost
would care to respond
and just maybe they’d care to view the reams of
correspondence between
myself and the foreign-based publishers.
As a final comment, I should add
that all these problems began when the
Graniteside sorting house came on
stream. In the days prior to this
establishment, the weekly magazines would
often arrive in three days and
generally not more than five days.
RN
Wiley
Highlands
----------------
No need for exaggeration when
reporting
EDITOR — I appreciate the fact that our country is
going through a tough
time and everyone accepts that. In my last published
letter, I noted that
there were some pictures, which were being shown here
(United Kingdom),
which we had seen before during the violence in
Kenya.
Obviously someone wanted to convey his or her message, even though it
was
the wrong way. Pointing out such travesties, as I did in my letter does
not
make me ‘out of touch with reality’ like Mlambo said in his
letter.
As long as these kind of things come out of our country no one will
take us
seriously. Why should we misrepresent things? Yes there is political
violence and people are getting injured, but to use pictures from another
country was out of order.
There are pictures from Zimbabwe, and why were
they not used in that report?
If there is hunger in our country should we
then tell the world that;
‘Things are so bad that people are eating their
children’? Let’s correctly
present our plight, as it is, it’s bad
enough.
I was surprised to see one guy who used to steal from Gweru Bus
terminus
parading his scars claiming that he was a victim of political
violence when
in actual fact they were from the ‘mob justice’ he got after
stealing. Those
are the things I am talking about and if they mean I am ‘out
of touch’ then
I would prefer it that way.
People have a tendency of
assuming that if someone is abroad they don’t come
back home frequently, no,
we do come back home now and again and our
families suffer the same but the
way things are presented this side
sometimes misses the mark.
If you were
in touch with what is happening now, you would realise that some
people are
now questioning MDC’s integrity because of some
misrepresentations by some
party representatives.
Should we all then say because there are problems in
Zimbabwe, anything said
is true? Well I won’t be part of that I will say
things as they are like
this paper.
Bomby Vanjick
Portsmouth,
UK
Nehanda Radio
09 May
2008
Dear Editor
Comments by South African officials that there is
violence on both sides in
Zimbabwe should be dismissed with the contempt
they deserve.
How do thousands of unarmed and innocent villagers in the
rural areas fights
thugs who are being armed by the Zimbabwe National
Army?
It looks like South African ambassador Kingsley Mamabolo is trying
to help
Mugabe postpone the presidential run-off by hiding behind the
violence.
The last thing Mugabe needs is time, and this is the reason he
delayed
announcement of the results in the first place. A run off must be
held 21
days after the announcement of results!
The current attempts
at buying time to kill more people should be exposed.
Richard Ndlovu,
Harare.