http://www.thestandard.co.zw
Sunday, 21 November 2010
12:19
By Nqaba Matshazi
MINES Minister, Obert Mpofu
provided the climax to the raging diamond saga,
with revelations that he
described himself as President Robert Mugabe’s
“ever obedient
son”.
While this could have provided comic relief to the intriguing
story
punctuated by the arrest of Zimbabwe Minerals Development Cooperation
executives, it also revealed the level of sycophancy and bootlicking in
Mugabe’s Zanu PF party.
Mpofu has always had an aura of power about
him and is regularly described
as one of the party “heavyweights” in
Matabeleland North, where he comes
from.
As if to cement his stature,
he had the audacity to contest the
vice-presidential seat following the
death of the incumbent, Joseph Msika
last year.
Now the cat is out of
the bag and like others before him, Mpofu (59) has
been revealed to be
riding on the coattails of the octogenarian leader to
the extent of
describing himself as an obedient son, in an unashamed show of
subservience.
It has been argued that Mugabe has created a
personality cult around his
leadership and calls for him to be made life
president cemented this
argument.
But this is not without precedence,
with a number of Zanu PF members
reportedly having knelt at Mugabe’s altar,
either to seek favour or to have
their transgressions pardoned.
The
late William Nhara, one of Mugabe’s numerous praise singers, once
described
himself in almost similar fashion, calling himself the president’s
“loyal
son”.
He had been arrested on allegations of illegally dealing in
diamonds and in
a desperate plea to prove his innocence, Nhara wrote to
Mugabe hoping to win
clemency.
At the formation of the unity
government last year, an MDC minister
described how he had been awestruck
seeing senior ministers literally
kneeling before Mugabe.
Vice
President John Nkomo and Justice Minister, Patrick Chinamasa were named
as
some of the prominent people who knelt before the president.
“They all
kneel! You have to wonder if their wives know they kneel before
another
man.
“Mugabe has total power over them,” the unnamed MDC minister is
reported to
have said then.
But the one that takes the cup should be
the late Zanu PF legislator, Tony
Gara’s statement that Mugabe was the only
other son of God.
"(Zimbabwe) and its people should thank the Almighty
for giving us his only
other Son - by the name of Robert Gabriel Mugabe,"
the late Deputy Minister
of Local Government and Housing said.
At the
time of Gara’s statement, Jonathan Moyo, then a fierce critic of
Mugabe
remarked that comparisons with God were prevalent because like God,
probably
Mugabe demanded absolute respect and loyalty from his supporters.
A
number of ministers and party members also joined in praise singing, with
others describing the President as another Moses, who was to lead the
country to a Promised Land.
Zanu PF has also taken the art of
exalting Mugabe to new heights and
wantonly place the president’s name in
the place of Jesus or God’s name
while singing at rallies and
meetings.
In a 2002 African Sociological Review article, Ezra Chitando
also described
how the words of Christian songs were changed for political
ends.
"I will never cry when Jesus is there," for example, became, "I
will never
cry when Mugabe is there."
Another song states that
despite tribulations, Christians will remain
steadfast and follow Jesus, but
at rallies it has been notoriously changed
to say no matter what, the party
faithful will resiliently rally behind
Mugabe.
Towards elections the
party members routinely enthuse on Mugabe’s virtues,
with some party adverts
describing him as "the most authentic, consistent
and revolutionary
leader".
Despite his Catholic upbringing, Mugabe has never openly rebuked
people who
compare him with God or at least put him on the same
pedestal.
Social commentator, Rejoice Ngwenya said this was typical of
Zanu PF as
Mugabe ruled by fear, violence and retribution, hence party
members had to
hero worship him, failure to which they would be regarded
with suspicion.
“They need to praise him as he rules by political
patronage,” he said. “Such
praises are for very selfish gains, as they know
Mugabe to be a benevolent
dictator and that is the only way they can climb
up.”
Ngwenya said those who were not loud in their support for Mugabe
were often
seen as conspiring with the enemy and those who were opposed to
hero
worshipping him faced certain punishment.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
Sunday, 21 November 2010 11:41
By
Caiphas Chimhete
SOME Zanu PF MPs last week boycotted the party’s
caucus meeting that was
designed to force them to endorse President Robert
Mugabe’s push for early
elections.
Sources said several MPs boycotted
the meeting chaired by Vice President
Joice Mujuru, by giving “flimsy”
reasons for not attending.
“The MPs heard about the motive behind
the meeting and they decided to stay
away because almost everyone is against
early elections,” said one source.
“It’s only Mugabe and a few
people who want elections to be held next year.”
Zanu PF spokesperson
Rugare Gumbo confirmed the meeting but referred further
questions to the
party’s chief whip Joram Gumbo.
“It was a meeting for MPs and senators;
so the best person to talk to is our
chief whip,” Rugare Gumbo said
yesterday.
Joram Gumbo could not be reached for comment.
But
sources said a storm is brewing in Zanu PF after it emerged that
hardliners
in the party were pushing for the ousting of some sitting MPs in
favour of
“retired” soldiers, who will viciously campaign for Mugabe.
The retired
soldiers will represent the former sole ruling party in most
constituencies
in next year’s elections.
The strategy to invite retired soldiers to
contest polls, the sources said,
came after a realisation that most sitting
Zanu PF legislators do not want
early elections.
They argue that it
would be unfair to cut short their terms as they have no
other sources of
income.
MPs from both Zanu PF and the two MDC formations have already
written to
Mugabe highlighting reasons why they were against early
elections.
Sources said Mugabe fears that those MPs would not effectively
campaign for
him as was the case in most constituencies in March 2008, where
the
86-year-old leader fared badly against Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai.
“One MP from Masvingo has protested against deployment of
soldiers in his
constituency saying he will be able to deal with the MDC
without anyone’s
assistance,” said a source.
The sources said the
issue of deployment of soldiers, who allegedly harass
MDC-T activists and
openly campaign for Zanu PF, was discussed at National
Security Council
meeting a few weeks ago.
Rugare Gumbo said he did not know of MPs who
were against elections next
year.
He also denied that more retired
soldiers were set to contest in next year’s
elections.
“I don’t know
of anyone in Zanu PF who does not want elections next year,”
said Gumbo. “If
the President says there are elections, there will be
elections.”
Sources said the groundwork for the retired soldiers to
take over “unsafe”
constituencies, which was done in the past few months,
will enable them to
sail through the Zanu PF primaries.
After sensing
danger, the sitting MPs have called on Mugabe to make sure
that they are
compensated for the two years they would be deprived of if
elections were to
be held next year.
This would effectively bar the soldiers but it is
unlikely that the
hardliners, some of whom have been Mugabe’s electoral
strategists for nearly
three decades, would agree to that
proposal.
But Gumbo said, “We are going for elections. We are going to
follow the
necessary procedure. The MPs should work on the ground so that
they can be
voted back into office.”
Soldiers set to contest the
elections, said the source, include the
so-called “boys on leave” who
spearheaded a violent electoral campaign for
Mugabe in 2008 and some who
were deployed in various provinces around the
country under Operation
Maguta.
The Zimbabwe Independent last week reported that Vice Air Marshal
Henry
Muchena and CIO director internal Sydney Nyanhongo were working with
about
300 army officers to revamp Zanu PF’s crumbling structures ahead of
elections.
Zanu PF political commissar Webster Shamu, who is also
Information Minister,
said he could not give a comment over the phone and
was on his way to Mutare
on Friday.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
Sunday, 21 November 2010 12:16
By
Caiphas Chimhete
HARDLINERS in Zanu PF are trying to provoke Prime
Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s
MDC into quitting the coalition government and
precipitate elections under
an environment that still favours the former
sole ruling party, analysts
said last week.
With the security
forces, war veterans, youth militia and flawed electoral
laws on his side,
President Robert Mugabe - a known political schemer –
believes his chances
of beating Tsvangirai will be enhanced if the elections
were held as soon as
possible.
The 86-year-old leader has already declared that elections will
be held next
year with or without the new constitution that was expected to
level the
electoral field.
The Constitutional Parliamentary Select
Committee (Copac) has just finished
gathering people’s views to include in
the supreme law but it is unlikely
that it would be complete by the time
the polls are held mid next year.
If Tsvangirai pulls out of the
coalition there should be an election to end
the impasse whose effects are
already being felt.
In the past two months, tension between Mugabe and
Tsvangirai has crippled
the operations of the government of national unity
(GNU), which had brought
relief to millions of Zimbabweans who, for the past
decade, have been
wallowing in abject poverty.
Mugabe stoked the fire
by unilaterally appointing provincial governors,
judges, ambassadors, and
other senior public officers without consulting
both Tsvangirai and his
deputy Arthur Mutambara of the smaller faction of
the MDC as stipulated in
the Global Political Agreement (GPA).
A livid Tsvangirai, whom Mugabe has
treated as a junior partner in the unity
government since its formation two
years ago, refused to recognise all the
appointments.
Ever since,
Tsvangirai has skipped several Cabinet meetings as well as their
Monday
meetings protesting Mugabe’s intransigence.
He has called Mugabe a
"crook" and a "dishonest person", who continues to
violate the
GPA.
Last week, security agents tried to subject Deputy Prime Ministers
Thokozani
Khupe and Arthur Mutambara to humiliating body searches as they
entered a
Cabinet meeting in another demonstration of the rising tension in
the
fragile coalition.
But analysts say by showing agitation,
Tsvangirai could be playing into
Mugabe’s grand plan.
Tsvangirai has
written several protest letters to South African President
Jacob Zuma, the
facilitator in the dialogue, but nothing has come out of the
complaints
One analyst said Mugabe was deliberately creating a crisis
because he knows
that disputes, under the current political scenario, favour
the incumbent.
“When there is dispute power resides with the incumbent,”
he said. “So if
they see that the elections could be peaceful, they will
deliberately create
another dispute so that they retain power as the
incumbent.”
University of Zimbabwe political science lecturer, John
Makumbe, said Mugabe
was doing everything possible to frustrate Tsvangirai
to quit the coalition
to facilitate an early election under the current
constitution.
He said under the current political arrangement, if one
party pulls out of
government, elections were supposed to be held
immediately.
Makumbe, a fierce critic of Mugabe, said the veteran ruler
was not confident
that he will retain his Presidential Powers in the new
constitution.
“Mugabe wants elections under the current constitution as
it favours him
because he can still use his Presidential Powers as he did in
2008,” said
Makumbe.
In 2008, Mugabe used his presidential powers to
allow police to enter
polling stations despite protests by civil society
organisations who said
the regulations threatened the freedom of potential
voters.
Zanu PF also wants early elections because they are worried about
Mugabe’s
deteriorating health.
The party wants the elections held
while Mugabe is still alive as he is seen
as the only one in Zanu PF who can
match Tsvangirai in the polls at the
moment.
Apart from that, said
another analyst, Zanu PF used the Copac outreach
meetings to gauge its
ability to mobilise people, whether by force or
otherwise.
“Zanu PF
got confidence after seeing the level of fear in people during the
Copac
meetings.
“So they want to harvest from that fear.”
In what
appears to be early preparations for elections, Mugabe has deployed
soldiers
in rural areas to do “ground work” for him.
Last week, they prevented the
MDC from holding rallies in many parts of the
country.
The police
have also tried to block Tsvangirai’s consultative meetings with
his
supporters but Mugabe can address his supporters anytime and anywhere he
wants.
This scenario is reminiscent of the violent 2008 elections, in
which the MDC
claims that over 200 of its supporters were murdered by state
security
agents as they aided Mugabe in the polls.
Political analyst
Takura Zhangazha said the tension between Mugabe and
Tsvangirai was
detrimental to the smooth running of the already shaky
inclusive
government.
“On one hand Mugabe is more concerned about his divided
party, which is
bracing not only for a tough election next year but
organising its national
conference next month,” Zhangazha said.
“On
the other, Tsvangirai is holding national consultative meetings with his
supporters across the country to prepare for the do-or-die
elections.”
Even if elections were held and Mugabe loses, analysts said,
it was unlikely
that he will hand over power to the winner.
They
analysts said Mugabe believes that with the discovery of diamonds in
the
country, he can now survive sanctions imposed on him and his cronies
through
selling the gems to the East, even without the certification of the
Kimberley Process.
In 2008, Mugabe lost the first round of the
presidential poll to Tsvangirai
but the MDC leader fell just short of the
required 50 plus one vote required
to unseat the octogenarian
leader.
Tsvangirai refused to participate in the run-off citing
violence.
ENDS
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
Sunday, 21 November 2010
12:12
By Nqaba Matshazi
South Africa, Angola and Namibia
are readying up an elaborate plan that
would see them passing off Zimbabwe’s
diamonds as their own, in an effort to
subvert the Kimberly Process (KP)
certification, players in the industry
have alleged.
Sources
revealed that the African countries, with the support of the United
Arab
Emirates (UAE), India and China were frustrated by last week’s impasse
over
the sale of gemstones and were willing to go to great lengths to debase
the
KP certification.
Uppermost on their grievances was the domination of the KP
process by the
United States, Canada and Australia.
“The eastern
market, in particular India, UAE and China are ready to buy
Zimbabwe
diamonds without KP certification,” a highly placed source revealed
last
week.
As if to cement this position, an opaque company, the Zimbabwe
Diamond
Consortium signed a US$2 billion deal with an Indian
company.
However, Zimbabwe already stands accused of selling the
controversial
Chiadzwa gemstones in an effort to “oil Zanu PF’s electoral
machinery”.
The source added that he did not see Zimbabwe selling its
diamonds outside
the KP process, but a more elaborate plan was in place that
will see the
minerals being sold if the KP certification deadlock
persisted.
“I am of the opinion that (Mines minister Obert) Mpofu is only
raising the
stakes but I do not see Zimbabwe openly selling outside KP
structures,” the
source said. “The KP is also wary of the potential crisis
this poses to the
diamond supply chain.”
Additionally, Zimbabwe
Diamond Consortium representative, Supa Mandiwanzira
has warned that "we
have the potential to destroy the whole industry" by
flooding the market
with underpriced gems in response to the KP
certification
deadlock.
The insider said Zimbabwe was desperate to sell the diamonds as
“it needed
the money yesterday” and the KP was wary that if the country was
allowed to
sell its minerals openly it would flood the international market
causing a
plunge in prices.
The KP Certification reached a deadlock over
Zimbabwe, meaning the country
will have to halt the sale of diamonds. So far
the country has been allowed
to sell 900 000 carats and it was expected that
it would be allowed to sell
more.
The sale of the gemstones is
considered to be a cure-all for Zimababwe’s
economic problems, which
accelerated in the last decade.
Deputy Mines minister, Gift Chimanikire
could not be drawn to comment on the
matter, saying he had not met Mpofu
since the Israeli stalemate.
Mpofu is on record as saying he would not
speak with the private media in
the country and his phone went unanswered
yesterday.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
Sunday, 21 November 2010 12:03
By JENNIFER
DUBE
ZIMBABWEAN professionals in the Diaspora are eager to come back home
provided they are given enough time to settle down, a South African based
health tutor has said.
Tichaona Chikafu, who has been working in
South Africa since 2007 and is
part of the International Organisation for
Migration (IOM) programme to lure
back health professionals, said he was one
of those who cannot wait to
return home.
“It is very comfortable here
and a lot of us are willing to come back,”
Chikafu said. “But we need more
time to be weaned off from our current
bases.
“Abandoning everything
all at once and coming back here to take up full time
employment is not
easy.
“It will be easier if they give us longer term contracts of this
nature so
we adjust to local conditions.”
Chikafu returned home in
August to participate in a short-term return of
health professionals
programme being spearheaded by the IOM, in conjunction
with the government
and other donors.
Under the programme, applicants accepted into the
programme temporarily
return into the country to take up employment for
between two weeks and a
month.
Chikafu, who was posted at Silvera
Mission Hospital between August and
September, is now with the University of
Zimbabwe (UZ) for the period
October to November.
His South African
employers granted him a two months leave from August and
he will have to
take unpaid leave to complete the programme.
The difference between his
salary in South Africa and what he earns in the
programme is 2000 rand,
Chikafu said.
But he encouraged the authorities to also improve the
working conditions of
locals who had braved the economic problems in the
country to remain in
their jobs.
He said improving the salaries of
the permanent staff would also encourage
the Diasporans to return for
good.
Christopher Chetsanga, the chairman of the Zimbabwe Council for
Higher
Education, said 23 health professionals had taken up employment since
the
programme was launched early this year.
Another 20 are expected
to take up their contracts before the end of the
next
month.
Chetsanga said some will just come in to mark examinations to try
and
mitigate the negative effects of a shortfall of about 600 tutors at
institutions of higher learning.
The programme is prioritising health
training institutions, which were the
most affected by brain
drain.
Last week, IOM also handed over equipment worth over US$100,000
to the UZ’s
College of Health Sciences, the National University of Science
and
Technology’s Medical School and ten Zimbabwe Association of Church
Related
Hospitals nurse training schools.
According to the recent
assessment conducted by IOM, the UZ - College of
Health Sciences currently
has an average vacancy rate of 55%.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
Sunday, 21
November 2010 14:11
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai made a descent
proposal in Bulawayo
recently when he said that small political parties
should rally behind him
and his Movement for Democratic Change (MDC-T) in
the elections penciled in
for next year if Zimbabweans wish to stand any
chance of bringing democratic
change to Zimbabwe.
This
pronouncement may sound like an attempt at fraud when one considers
that in
2008 Tsvangirai thwarted, at the last minute, a move to reunite the
two MDC
factions. Many people from both factions who had negotiated the
reunion are
still hard-pressed to explain Tsvangirai’s action then, which
with the
benefit of hindsight was illogical.
But Tsvangirai seems to have realised
his mistake; at the funeral wake of
his former deputy Gibson Sibanda he said
the break-up of the MDC in 2005 was
the greatest mistake of his life. He
should also have said his last-minute
u-turn before the 2008 polls was
another mammoth blunder.
Be that as it may, his present call for a united
front should be taken
seriously.
So far it hasn’t; the responses from
the small parties were negative. They
were also not only childish but also
laughable in a sort of cynical sense.
In the March 2008 harmonised
elections we saw how very close the country got
to bringing change but
Tsvangirai’s sad miscalculation scuttled the victory.
MDC-M voters were
driven into the hands of Simba Makoni’s
Mavambo/Kusile/Dawn (MKD) and the 8%
of the votes Makoni garnered made the
difference between change and the mess
the country finds itself in.
Makoni had launched his MKD (sounds like
some Soviet-era spy organisation!)
just three months before the March 2008
elections. Although there was a bit
of a sympathetic explosion of support it
was never likely that the MKD would
penetrate the rural areas where most
voters live and make an impression in
that limited time. The urban areas had
already swung to the MDC-T as has
seen in elections since
2000.
Tsvangirai was therefore guilty of dividing the vote when it was
clear that
there were only two major contestants in the presidential poll.
If he had
agreed to the union with MDC-M Makoni wouldn’t have done as well
as he did.
The scenario is pretty much the same now as it was in 2008.
Next year’s
election will be a fight to the death between Tsvangirai and
Robert Mugabe
who has already been endorsed as the presidential candidate by
his party.
So, small political parties have to begin aligning themselves
with either
one or the other.
In the past it was easy to define the
agendas of the different political
formations. Basically all wished to fight
against Zanu PF tyranny by
bringing democratic change through free and fair
elections. It seems this
might not still be the case! One can see some
political parties are hell
bent on continuing to divide the vote when the
sensible thing to do would be
to form a united front.
What comes to
the fore from all this is that different people are in
politics for
different reasons most of which have nothing to do with
changing the
political landscape. The MDC-M itself now sounds curiously
close to Zanu PF
which means its leadership, or what remains of it, is in it
for selfish
reasons. In the past few weeks we have seen MDC-M
secretary-general Welshman
Ncube going on a warpath against Tsvangirai
berating his leadership
qualities and accusing senior members of the MDC-T
of corruption.
Top
MDC-M leaders wield some power because they are members of the inclusive
government; Mutambara is one of the principals and he is considered to be at
par with the other two: Tsvangirai and Mugabe. They are the power brokers,
controlling the balance of power in the coalition. They might wish to
maintain this after elections next year; so they may not be in any hurry to
combine forces with MDC-T. Their agenda has shifted from one of bringing
democratic change to one of maintaining a status quo that, although
unworkable, guarantees them political power!
But it’s a gamble; in
reality Mutambara no longer has a political party in
more ways than
one.
First, it is clear that he has been a victim of palace coup which is
set to
formalise his deposition come their elective congress early next
year.
Second, the party itself has crumbled. No week passes without the
announcement of mass defections from it to the bigger MDC-T by senior
members of the party most of them elected councillors. It is obvious the
defecting councillors are taking with them their voters.
The MDC-M
leadership knows that the end is nigh and the little noises they
are making
are the sounds from the proverbial empty vessels.
The revived Zapu, which
many say does not stand a chance in heaven of having
any impact on the
political scene, seems also to be driven by the personal
pursuits of its
leaders. Besides a romantic nostalgia for the past, few see
the reason for
its existence. But this week its spokesman Methuseli Moyo had
the bravado to
say in response to Tsvangirai’s proposal: “Tsvangirai should
view other
political parties as equal partners.”
On what grounds?
Tsvangirai
won the presidential election in March 2008 beating Mugabe
although by a
small margin which made it impossible for him to assume power.
If the runoff
that followed had not been marred by such violence and
Tsvangirai had not
withdrawn, it is safe to assume he would have snatched
the 8% that had voted
for MKD and won the election.
He has been the only person to
realistically challenge Mugabe. For Zapu to
claim equality when its leader
Dumiso Dabengwa has not won a constituency
election in the past 10 years is
ridiculous. There already exists a lot of
disquiet in the newly resurrected
party that threatens to tear it apart
pointing to a worrying dearth of
leader.
Faced with this, parties should take Tsvangirai seriously and
join hands
with him instead of continuing to divide the vote.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
Sunday, 21 November 2010
14:01
By Sibusiso Dlodlo
This article is a synoptical analogy of
ZAPU as a new entrant into the
political fray in Zimbabwe. On the one hand,
the revival of ZAPU is a
welcome development as it gives the people of
Zimbabwe a range of political
parties to support and sympathise with in our
quest to achieve multi-party
democracy.
On the other hand, the
revival of ZAPU is as ill-fated as it is
inconsequential. It is a desperate
attempt by a few individuals that seek to
revive their dead political
fortunes.
For starters, ZAPU wants to pretend it is a popular political
party that has
the overwhelming support of the people of Matabeleland. Save
for Dumiso
Dabengwa and Methuseli Moyo, the president and the spokesperson
respectively, one cannot identify any other serious comrades in the ZAPU
gravy train. It appears ZAPU is a personal project for Dabengwa and his
hangers-on. They seem to regard in high esteem the principle of megaphone
politics that seeks to hoodwink the public that they are acting on behalf of
the masses yet they have no electoral mandate whatever.
The party has
shown that it is not as progressive as it wants to portray
itself to the
general public. We have it on good authority that the
Dabengwa-led executive
cowed people into voting them into power during their
elective congress in
August this year by scuttling any form of opposition
before and during the
congress. For some of us that was to be expected from
people like Dabengwa
and Thenjiwe Lesabe who spent the greater part of their
post-independence
political careers in ZANU-PF, a party renowned for its
dirty tricks and
callousness.
It is therefore not surprising to hear that disgruntled
elements in the
revived ZAPU are pushing for a special congress early next
year. We will
keep watching from the sidelines.
ZAPU is in serious
need of leadership renewal. Dabengwa is no stranger to
politics being the
war veteran that he is. But I am of the strong opinion
that Dabengwa is
past his prime and is more of a liability to the party
than anything else.
The man is old and tired and will offer nothing to brand
ZAPU as a modern
party that appeals to the young and old alike. No wonder
ZAPU congregations
appear as if they are a network of old people short of
past time activities.
Their gatherings are like a forum for old people
interested in sharing
ancient folklore.
What we have in ZAPU is a group of angry people who have a
tribal agenda and
are driven by anger and vengeance. I submit that there is
no development
under the sun that a bunch of emotional people, equally led
by a frustrated
leadership, will ever bring to the people of
Matabeleland.
The strategy that ZAPU wants to employ of capitalising on
the frustrations
of the people of Matabeleland will not yield any
significant resultsl. MDC-M
is a classic example of a party that got a rude
awakening when they thought
Ndebele votes were all but theirs during the
2008 general elections.
A tribal agenda, worse still of a minority, will
not steer development. Let
people be aware of the real nature of ZAPU, that
it is a small retrogressive
clique of angry reactionaries who will never
test the echelons of power.
About the Author
Sibusiso Dlodlo
is a political commentator based in Bulawayo.
sibusiso.dlodlo@gmail.com
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
Sunday, 21 November 2010 13:55
By
Dominic Muntanga
In last week’s editorial in this newspaper, Nevanji
Madanhire highlighted
the issue of corruption. A number of readers have also
sent letters to the
editor bemoaning corruption. This suggests that the
issue has become
important to the public. Should Zimbabwe’s next election be
anything like
elections in recent memory, the rival political parties will
make much of
the hot button issues of land, sovereignty, colonialism,
sanctions, the rule
of law and the need for change. Absent from the list of
hot issues will be
the issue that Zimbabweans care about more deeply than
any other, namely,
corruption.
Corruption is the issue that most
affects voters in their daily lives, from
toll officers who collect multiple
payments for single receipts, passports
for cash scams, police officers
requiring bribes to do their jobs, right up
to corruption at the heart of
the allocation of mining claims. How Zimbabwe
deals with corruption will set
the trajectory of our nation for generations
to come. What we decide to do
about corruption in the next election will not
only be a statement about who
we are and what we want to be as a nation, but
will also attest to whether
we can rebuild our schools, hospitals, economy
and most importantly, whether
we can be a democratic nation.
Since independence, Zimbabwe has had its
share of public scandals. From
Willowvale, the War Veterans Compensation
Fund, NOCZIM, ZIFA, ZISCO and
ZUPCO, corruption has been closely linked to
the country’s most precious
resources, and most sensitive public portfolios.
These are the public
scandals, but corruption now extends to the everyday.
The last decade, with
its protracted economic, political, and social crisis
can be said to have
cemented corruption into the fibre of our daily lives.
At the height of the
country’s economic decline, the politically-connected
used their access to
accumulate scarce commodities such as oil, maize, and
even new bank notes
before they were even released to the public by the
Reserve Bank. Resources
that should have been widely available were
subjected to hoarding to create
scarcity so that few individuals could
demand a premium on their purchase.
Those in power established new rules and
delays deliberately to induce
scarcity and charge exorbitant amounts. A few
individuals became
multi-millionaires overnight simply by becoming vanguards
of public goods
and services. At the lower end of the food chain, ordinary
people became
virtual criminals, cutting corners, taking shortcuts and scams
were the only
means of survival. The choice most people faced was between
integrity and
starvation.
Corruption has become so engrained in our
society that bribes are now
considered a legitimate business expense. It is
no longer enough to have
the correct permit and paper work. Similarly,
nobody accepts a small profit
for goods and services anymore. Those who are
entrusted with the public
trust to prevent this from happening have also
become beneficiaries.
Consequently, the whole society is paying the price
for corruption because
the price of the vegetables we eat and the buses we
board daily includes the
cost of that policeman’s bribe.
In the
public sector, the proliferation of corruption is there for all to
see, from
public officials who have amassed whole towns as their personal
property, to
vast amounts of national resources using their political power,
to the
unequal application of laws for some citizens. Services and products
now go
first to those that can pay beyond their cost. Corruption has
rendered rules
and tax codes meaningless as you can now negotiate the price
of your tax to
the government, provided you are willing to split the
proceeds with the
taxman. No wonder our fiscus is broke and our government
institutions are
now weaker than ever.
Corruption is thus the issue that has the most
serious implications for the
future of our nation. For that reason, this
must be the main electoral
focus. The question of how a nation endowed with
vast tracks of land, water,
wildlife, mineral resources, and human capital,
can fail to fend or defend
itself to the point where the country even loses
its own currency, should
make the upcoming election a big deal for all
Zimbabweans.
Zimbabwe is at an important crossroads and the upcoming
election provides an
opportunity for us to choose between competing visions
of who we are as a
nation.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 18 November 2010
19:26
PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe is campaigning hard to ensure his demand
for an
early election is endorsed at Zanu PF’s annual people’s conference
next
month amid growing internal resistance from MPs and senior party
officials
to having polls mid-next year.
Mugabe has for several
months been calling on his party to end factionalism
and to prepare for
elections next year to stop Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai and his MDC-T
from grabbing power.
However, MPs and senior party officials say Zanu PF was
not ready for an
early election because the party structures were
shambolic.
They say early elections would benefit Tsvangirai and the
MDC-T in some
ways. MPs and other party officials are also not “psyched-up”
for the
elections for their own personal and political
reasons.
MPs interviewed this week said there was no reason to go for
elections next
year because that would disrupt national recovery and drain
their resources
and themselves physically after the gruelling experience of
2008.
The legislators also said the country has not recovered from the
political
violence which shook the country in June 2008 when Mugabe launched
a
campaign of violence and intimidation to stop Tsvangirai from seizing
power.
Tsvangirai had defeated Mugabe in the first round of polling, putting
one
foot into State House.
Zanu PF MPs and officials interviewed
said they preferred to stretch the
government of national unity to 2013 to
allow for economic stability and
national healing.
“Almost
everyone in the party, except the president, from MPs to politburo
members,
central committee members and ordinary parry cadres are opposed to
elections
next year,” a senior party official said. “People don’t see the
need to rush
to elections before the country recovers from political
violence and all
that trauma. National healing is still in progress and
people want peace and
stability. The economy is still trying to recover, so
what’s the
rush?”
If Mugabe insists on elections in 2011, legislators said they
want to be
compensated for the two years that would have been cut short and
a guarantee
that they would not have primary elections in their parties. MPs
from all
the three parties in parliament, Zanu PF, MDC-T and MDC-M, do not
want early
elections.
However, Zanu PF spokesperson Rugare Gumbo
told Zimbabwe Independent
yesterday that endorsement for an early election
would be done at the
conference next month despite the grumblings of MPs and
certain officials.
“As far as I know so far, it is not on the agenda
but it is likely to come
as one of the resolutions at the conference,” he
said.
Asked how the party can debate the matter when it is not on the
agenda,
Gumbo said: “It doesn’t have to be on the agenda. It is going to be
one of
those things that will be discussed and endorsed by the
conference.
“It’s one of the things that we will talk about but our
main focus is going
to be how we are going to turn around the economy and
create a conducive
environment that attracts investment and come up with
policies and
programmes that benefit our people.”
But one Zanu PF
official warned: “It’s not about us confronting Mugabe at
the conference
over elections, it’s about the strategic value and wisdom of
going to polls
when we are not ready. We did that in 2008 and we paid a
heavy price. We
must learn from past mistakes.”
Mugabe and Tsvangirai, who seem to be
daring each other on over elections,
are facing resistance within their
parties on the issue. Even MDC-T MPs and
officials are opposed to early
elections.
One MDC-T MP said: “What Mugabe and Tsvangirai are doing
is like boys
herding cattle who build mounds of sand and call them each
mother’s breast
before daring one another to a fight through kicking those
heaps. It’s a
common but childish thing in our societies among growing up
boys.”
Mugabe and Tsvangirai have been daring each other to a third
electoral
contest. The two have locked horns two times, in 2002 and 2008,
since the
MDC was formed in 1999. Mugabe said a month ago elections would be
held mid
next year as the inclusive government cannot be extended by more
than six
months after its expiry in February 2011.
He said he
could not stomach a prolonged extension of the shaky unity
government,
accusing Tsvangirai of being a sellout.
Mugabe ordered Biti a few
months ago to budget $200 million for a referendum
and elections although
the issue has yet to be officially dealt with in
ministerial votes ahead of
the national budget.
A visibly angry Mugabe told a Zanu youth league
meeting last month that:
“The constitution-making process has to be
accelerated because the life of
this creature (inclusive government) is only
two years. It started in
February last year and in February next year it
must end. It would have
lived its full life and it will not be extended by
more than six months or a
year.”
However, this did not go down
well with some senior party officials and
legislators who would have
preferred to have elections in 2013.
Goromonzi North MP Paddy Zhanda
of Zanu PF told Biti that: “If elections are
called for next year, we will
demand compensation on lost and potential
revenue for the two-and-a-half
years remaining on our terms.”
If elections are held next year, it
will be the second time that terms for
legislators would have been cut. In
2008 their terms were cut by two years.
However, Gumbo pointed out
that those opposed were just blowing hot air
because none of them would dare
oppose Mugabe face-to-face on the elections
or any other issue. “Haa, don’t
take those people seriously. None of them
will say a word in protest in
front of the president. Do you see the
president going back on his word –
unless you don’t know him? He is serious
and determined to have elections
next year,” he said scoffing at the idea
that some Zanu PF officials would
oppose the call at the conference.
“Yes we have been talking about it
but not in a formal manner. Are you happy
with the squabbling in cabinet and
in the senate? I am sure you have also
heard that provinces have endorsed
the president as the candidate for next
year’s elections,” said
Gumbo.
Zanu PF national commissar Webster Shamu told an
extra-ordinary politburo
meeting two weeks ago that party structures needed
to be revamped. He said
the structures were shambolic nationwide, raising
fears that the party would
perform dismally during next year’s elections as
it did in 2008.
Faith Zaba
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 18 November 2010 19:22
ZIMBABWEANS
living outside the country will next month convene a conference
in Victoria
Falls, bringing them face to face with senior government
officials, industry
captains and other stakeholders, as they seek ways
through which to help
rebuild the country.
Hosted by the recently launched Development Foundation
for Zimbabwe (DFZ),
the conference, dubbed “Engaging Zimbabweans in the
Diaspora: Towards
economic reconstruction and development”, seeks, among
other things, to
enhance the quality of the partnership between Diaspora
organisations and
the government.
Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara
has been at the forefront of urging
Diasporans to contribute towards the
country’s economic revival.
The multi-stakeholder conference will focus on
the economy, social and human
development, human rights and governance
issues.
It will provide a platform for opinion leaders and implementers to
discuss
the role of the Diaspora community and define mechanisms, processes
and
policies that will allow government, business, civil society and other
sectors to make optimal use of the vast number of Zimbabweans living abroad
to contribute to national recovery and long-term development.
DFZ
director Nokwazi Moyo says the conference, the first of its kind, will
discuss how the Diaspora community can be harnessed for the greater good of
the country, especially now when the country is grappling to recover
economically after almost a decade of decay.
Since the formation of the
inclusive government last February, Zimbabwe has
registered some progress in
its recovery efforts, yet a combination of
internal and external factors has
hindered economic recovery, says Moyo.
“A more creative and robust approach
is needed to support national
development, hence the conference,” he says.
“The DFZ believes that the
Zimbabwean Diaspora community needs to play an
active role in promoting
national reconstruction and cohesion.”
An
estimated three to 4,5 million Zimbabweans are said to be living abroad,
most of them in South Africa.
“These numbers alone underline the scale of
the contribution that they can
make towards the national project,” said
Moyo. “Many Zimbabweans in the
Diaspora understand that their role extends
far beyond sending remittances
for household upkeep. Supporting national
development includes investing in
business, making social remittances in the
knowledge economy, influencing
policies that support economic recovery and
engaging in various forms of
human capacity development for fellow
Zimbabweans.”
He added: “The Zimbabwean taxpayer invested heavily in training
the now
dispersed human capital or broad array of skills. This remains
Zimbabwe’s
wealthiest resource as the country rebuilds and consolidates. The
country
wishes to harvest this resource and the dispersed human capital
wishes to
contribute to their homeland,” adds Moyo. “And the idea of a
multiple
partnership including the private sector; the inclusive government
in all
its parts and the Zimbabwean social, economic entrepreneurs based
outside
the country is key to real sustainable development.”
The DFZ
initiative emerged from a Zimbabwe International Diaspora Conference
hosted
by the Institute of Justice and Reconciliation in December 2009. The
conference brought together Zimbabweans in key institutions across the globe
to inaugurate a conversation on how Zimbabweans abroad could be mobilised to
play strategically defined roles in the economic and social development of
Zimbabwe. The organisation was officially launched in South Africa two weeks
ago.
The conference will be held from December 16 to 18. — Staff Writer.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 18 November 2010
19:08
VICE Air Marshal Henry Muchena is set to quit the Air Force of
Zimbabwe at
the end of this year and work full-time for Zanu PF, as
President Robert
Mugabe militarises his party whose structures have been
ravaged by rampant
factionalism.
This comes as the Zanu PF
national commissariat has been ordered by the
politburo to urgently revamp
grassroots structures in preparation of
anticipated elections next
year.
Muchena, who was appointed Air Vice Marshal in 2002, would join full
time
former Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) director-internal,
Sydney
Nyanhongo at the party headquarters in the commissariat
department.
Their task, sources said, will be to revive the crumbling party
structures
ahead of the elections, which Mugabe wants mid-next
year.
Muchena and Nyanhongo, former Zanla guerillas during the liberation
struggle, are working with a team of 300 army officers –– code named “boys
on leave” –– who are scattered around the country to renew the party
structures which national commissar Webster Shamu described two weeks ago as
shambolic.
One politburo member this week said: “Muchena is quitting the
Air Force at
the end of the year to work for the party and Nyanhongo is
retired. Now that
he won’t be doing anything, he has decided to work for the
party and what is
wrong with that? There are retired army people in MDC and
no one talks about
it.”
Shamu told a Zanu PF extra-ordinary politburo
meeting a fortnight ago that
the party structures had collapsed and were in
a state of chaos, making it
difficult for Zanu PF to win the coming
polls.
He reportedly said Zanu PF was too fractured to face Prime Minister
Morgan
Tsvangirai’s MDC-T and this forced Mugabe to order the commissariat
to
urgently revamp the structures.
Although Muchena will officially
retire from the Air Force at the end of the
year, Zanu PF insiders said he
was already stationed at the party
headquarters and was working with six
senior officers to re-organise and
renew the party structures.
Muchena’s
team is complemented by war veterans and youth militia. War
veterans leader
Jabulani Sibanda has been campaigning for Zanu PF and
causing havoc in
Manicaland and Masvingo provinces.
Zanu PF insiders said as divisions within
the party continue to deepen on
factional lines, Mugabe, in order to
maintain control of both the party and
the government, has been appointing
former military personnel to run the
party. Mugabe has also previously
appointed onto boards and top management
posts at parastatals retired
soldiers.
The army has proved loyal to Mugabe and effective in the political
assignment he gave them. The army has helped ensure Mugabe’s continued rule,
mainly during the presidential elections in 2002 and 2008. Zanu PF’s
politburo resolved after the March 2008 elections in which the party lost
control of parliament and Mugabe lost the first round of polling to use a
more “warlike” strategy to win elections.
Mugabe views military personnel
as loyal to him and this has been shown
through statements from top army and
security chiefs, who have vowed not to
support anyone without liberation war
credentials.
Brigadier-General Douglas Nyikayaramba was recently quoted
saying only a
person with revolutionary credentials would rule the
country.
He told Manicaland chiefs, soldiers and the police at 3-3 infantry
battalion
in Mutare on October 23 that: “The president is being condemned by
some
people because he is calling for black empowerment. Some people are
saying
that Mugabe should be removed from power but that will never happen
when we
are here.”
He added that: “No one without any revolutionary
credentials will rule this
country. We have no regrets over this statement
because a lot of our people
sacrificed their lives for the liberation of
this country and we do not want
them to turn in their graves because we
would have sold out.”
Nyikayaramba said he is not ashamed to be Zanu PF
“because I am where I am
today because of the party. Some of us actively
participated in the struggle
and we cannot stand up and say we do not belong
to that party.”
Yesterday Nyikayaramba declined to comment, while Muchena
could not be
reached on his mobile phone.
Some of the top army and
security officials that have been appointed to
parastatal boards are
National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ) general manager
Air Commodore Mike
Karakadzai, NRZ board chairperson Nyikayaramba, former
GMB CEO retired
colonel Samuel Muvuti, who was replaced by former senior
police assistant
commissioner Albert Mandizha, Zesa board chair retired
captain Noah Madziva,
former Manicaland governor Mike Nyambuya, deputy chief
secretary to the
President and Cabinet retired colonel Christian Katsande,
and retired
Brigadier-General Agrippa Mutambara, who is the ambassador to
Mozambique.
The militarisation of institutions has transcended to six
state-run media
institutions: the Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe,
Zimbabwe Broadcasting
Holdings, Transmedia, Kingstons and New Ziana to which
several retired
military personnel were appointed.
Mugabe is hoping that
the army will root out factionalism and save his party
from
crumbling.
Zanu PF spokesperson Rugare Gumbo confirmed the audit of
structures but
referred further questions to Shamu. “The audit of the
structures is ongoing
but you can get more from Shamu,” he said.
However,
Shamu declined to comment saying he was not at liberty to give
details over
the phone.
“I am no longer entertaining interviews over the phone because
some people
misquote and misuse the information we give them,” he
said.
The party insiders said about 20 officials from Zanu PF headquarters
recently visited the deeply divided Bulawayo province to audit structures
from cell to provincial level.
A team led by politburo member and Mines
minister Obert Mpofu and central
committee member Jonathan Moyo descended on
Matabeleland North last Saturday
where they sacked provincial chairman Zenzo
Ncube for alleged incompetence.
Mpofu told journalists that Ncube was
replaced by Zwelitsha Masuku for
failing to build vibrant structures in
Matabeleland North.
Sources said the team that visited Bulawayo was greeted
by skeletal
districts which needed urgent co-option before the Zanu PF 15 to
18 December
conference slated for Marymount Teachers’ College in
Mutare.
“Shamu has started verification of districts in provinces and a
20-member
team was in Bulawayo on Thursday last week to audit the organs. It
emerged
that the structures have no members,” said one top
official.
Faith Zaba/Brian Chitemba
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 18 November 2010
19:07
BUSINESS tycoon Mutumwa Mawere’s fight to wrestle back the
ownership of
Shabanie Mashaba Mines Holdings (SMMH) from government is
getting fiercer
with the parliamentary portfolio committee on Mines and
Energy yesterday
saying they will summon Justice minister Patrick Chinamasa
to appear before
them to explain how the state took over the multi-million
dollar company.
SMMH was placed under administration in 2004 through
a statutory instrument
for the Reconstruction of State-Indebted and
Insolvent Companies. The
company then owed various state firms a combined
$800 billion Zimbabwe
dollars. Accountant Arafas Gwaradzimba was appointed
administrator of SMMH
and all companies related to it.
Edward
Chindori-Chininga, Mines and Energy parliamentary portfolio committee
chairman, yesterday said Chinamasa would be summonsed to appear before the
committee to explain the reconstruction of Mawere’s companies and the way
forward.
“We are trying to bring the matter of SMM to its logical
conclusion,”
Chindori-Chininga said. “To that end, after we received
evidence from
Mutumwa Mawere on Monday, we resolved to have the minister
come and present
his side of the story. The committee tentatively expects
this to happen
before the end of the year.”
He added that his committee
expected Chinamasa to exhibit the same zeal he
showed when he brought a
report before the committee from Gwaradzimba on
developments at the mines
and other companies linked to Mawere earlier this
year.
“We are only
motivated by the need to have the mines operational again, to
save
employment and to stop the imports of asbestos from Russia,”
Chindori-Chininga said. “The economy should recover through using the
capacity we have.”
On Monday, Chinamasa tried in vain to block Mawere,
who was recently
de-specified, from giving evidence to the committee arguing
that the SMMH
saga was sub judice as it was before the courts.
In his
evidence to the committee, Mawere alleged that Chinamasa and his
cabal were
interested in stripping him of his properties. He claimed that
the minister
acted without the knowledge of President Robert Mugabe or his
cabinet when
he issued the reconstruction order.
“The president was not aware of this,”
charged Mawere. “I asked him (Mugabe)
if he knew Zimbabwe had such a law. He
said that it didn’t have. I suspect
it is a small group working on this.
They did not communicate this and even
parliament may not have the
information. His first assignment was to get
SMMH share certificates.
Without these share certificates everything
Chinamasa has done is
illegal.”
The business mogul questioned Chinamasa’s actions which he equated
to
commercial violence and his state of mind when he issued the
reconstruction
order.
“This was purely commercial violence. It is very
unusual for a minister of
Justice to make a defamatory allegation against
someone. The first thing is
to ask Chinamasa what was his frame of mind when
he did all this,” he said.
Mawere also took a pot-shot at MPs for passing
legislation which he deemed
anti-investment and allowed lawyers using
government offices to deceive and
plunder other people’s wealth as what has
happened in the last 30 years.
“Why should parliament pass a law that
criminalises one having a debt with
state enterprises? You should understand
the law serves no purpose. It is a
threat to you and not me because your
property can be taken away because you
owe Zesa or TelOne,” Mawere
said.
He suggested that parliament should take stock of what happened in the
last
30 years as something has gone fundamentally wrong when legislation
against
economic development like Reconstruction of State- Indebted
Companies Act is
used to strip investors of their companies.
Meanwhile,
Clerk of parliament Austin Zvoma said Chinamasa’s attempt to
block Mawere
from giving evidence before a parliamentary committee may have
been a result
of personal motive.
“It is a matter of record that I shared with you my
contrary interpretation
on the application of the parliamentary sub judice
rules when you telephoned
me in the morning on the matter,” Zvoma wrote to
Chinamasa on Wednesday.
“It is not immediately clear whether you refer to
the parliamentary sub
judice rule or that rule in general. Be that as it
may, I respectfully
disagree with you on this matter. One fails to
understand your motive for
communicating through the press and even before
the addressees have
responded.”
Zvoma further quoted a British judge to
show that justice should not be
shrouded in secrecy.
“Lord Atkin remarked
thus: ‘Justice is not a cloistered virtue: she must be
allowed to suffer the
scrutiny and respectful, even though outspoken,
comments of ordinary men’,”
he added.
Paidamoyo Muzulu
http://www.theindependent.co.zw
Thursday, 18 November 2010
18:52
THE bigger the lie the more people are inclined to believe it, Nazi
Propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels is reputed to have said.
There are a
number of “big lies” currently circulating. Muckraker drew
attention
recently to the claim that Roy Bennett was a Selous Scout. We
noted last
month that Tafataona Mahoso was spreading the false rumour that
Bennett was
a member of the Selous Scouts when he was just a police
reservist.
Now
Joseph Chinotimba is doing the same thing. He claimed last week that
David
Coltart was a Selous Scout.
This was in response to a statement by Coltart
that more than 20 000 people
died in the Matabeleland disturbances of the
1980s.
Chinotinba’s veterans outfit has demanded a meeting with the minister
and
threatened to “invade” his office if he doesn’t accede.
“His
utterances are unacceptable and an insult to our country’s liberation
struggle,” Chinotimba claimed. It was “quite preposterous for Coltart to
talk about human rights and post-Independence disturbances when taking into
cognisance his background as a former member of the brutal and murderous
Rhodesian Selous Scouts,” he said.
“Your utterances have given us second
thoughts on those white farmers who
are still on our land yet you benefited
from the reconciliation policy,” he
said.
So this is how it works.
Chinotimba makes a false and ignorant claim about
Coltart, who as a
prominent Bulawayo lawyer with the Legal Resources
Foundation brought to
light in 1996 the atrocities committed by the Fifth
Brigade in the 1980s.
Chinotimba then uses that false claim as a pretext to
cause havoc on the
remaining white farms.
We hope Zanu PF’s methodology will be drawn to the
attention of Sadc leaders
who have been less than forthright on human rights
abuses in Zimbabwe.
And in this context it was interesting to note the
hysteria last week over
US human rights abuses in Iraq. This was in the
context of George Bush’s
autobiography.
What is interesting about these
outbursts in the state media is the people
shouting the loudest have never
made a single complaint about atrocities in
this, their own
country.
Before they start pointing fingers at the US and Morgan Tsvangirai,
couldn’t
they first tell us what happened to Jestina Mukoko? Who was
responsible for
her arbitrary arrest, incarceration and torture?
Instead
of reminding us about Abu Ghraib, what about reminding us of what
happened
to Morgan Tsvangirai and others at Machipisa police station in
2007?
We
are still keen to know, by the way, who produced that fictional document
described in court as “bedtime reading”, masquerading as a “transitional
document” allegedly authored by Tendai Biti on changes the MDC would make in
office.
It was a clumsy and childish production given acres of publicity
by the
Herald which ended up having to retract it. But we still want to know
who
forged it?
Then there was the iron-bar attack on Nelson Chamisa at
Harare airport. Why
have the details of that episode been kept
quiet?
Those attacking Tsvangirai with such savagery should tell us about
their own
role in these events before excoriating others.
Meanwhile,
Muckraker hears on the grapevine that one reason Biti is so
unpopular with
the Zanu PF aristocracy was his reported bid to prevent
President Mugabe
taking 86 hangers-on (one for each year) to the UN general
assembly in New
York. Biti was evidently thwarted in his bid to contain the
costs of this
trip!
And his advice that there are insufficient funds to stage a referendum
and
election next year seem to have fallen on equally deaf
ears!
Muckraker’s attention was drawn to a front-page statement headed
“Matter of
Fact” in the Herald on Tuesday which apologised to Local
Government minister
Ignatious Chombo for publishing an “extensive” list of
property which the
paper claimed would be distributed at trial in the case
involving the
minister’s divorce.
It has now come to the Herald’s
attention, we are told, that “the property
to be distributed at trial was
far less than what had been published and
that such property was never part
of the property for distribution and its
existence was never
verified.”
It is a pity that the Herald, never the most courageous of
newspapers,
should be clobbered in this way for simply doing its duty as a
public
watchdog.
Muckraker won’t get involved in the nitty-gritty of the
case however
tempting. But we can say this.
Newspapers have a duty to
measure the wealth of public figures against the
office that they hold.
Newspapers have a duty to ask under what
circumstances public figures became
rich, especially when their wealth could
not have been drawn from their
official incomes.
Needless to say, reference will be made to wives, brothers
cousins etc
playing a helpful role.
But the question remains: How did
this person become so rich so quickly?
Newspapers must ask that. And just in
case, dear readers, you thought we
were focusing exclusively on Zanu PF
functionaries, we remain acutely aware
of MDC luminaries who have never
worked a day in their lives and are now as
rich as Croesus. Well,
almost!
Talking of new-found wealth, Muckraker was extremely unimpressed by
Obert
Mpofu’s reported attempts to endear himself to the president by
signing
himself “Your ever obedient son” in correspondence with Mugabe
regarding the
Core mining affair.
Whatever the case, it did the trick.
Mpofu’s detractors were investigated
and arrested. And Mpofu is laughing all
the way to Marange!!
Now it’s Muckraker’s turn to eat humble pie. Last
week we referred to Brian
Mushohwe as Chris Mushohwe’s son. In fact he is
his nephew. Our apologies to
all the Mushohwes except the farm
invader.
Reflecting on the case of Core’s grand rip-off, Muckraker
identified a
national characteristic. How come a company so evidently
ill-equipped to
undertake sophisticated mining operations, without any
capital or
experience, is able to enter into a joint venture with a state
company which
also hasn’t got much to bank on, although its boss quickly
became king of
the castle?
Something rang a bell here. A young girl in
Chinhoyi claiming special powers
managed to hoodwink ministers, senior civil
servants, and police officers
into believing she could produce petrol from a
rock.
It was truly pathetic to see chefs falling for that one and a whole
cabinet
committee mounting an expedition to explore what to everyone else in
the
country looked like a hoax. But now it seems they have fallen for more
promises and illusions. Is it greed? Is it ignorance? Is it plain
stupidity?
Whatever the case, we seem as a society to have these people very
much with
us.
Don’t we Didymus?
Poor ZBC employees! While –– as
reported by the Standard this week –– their
senior executives are getting
“obscene” salaries and allowances, they have
to be grateful when they are
lucky enough to get their measly salaries at
the designated date. According
to the Herald, they went three months without
a salary.
It is sad to
realise that presenters are putting up brave faces, parroting
Zanu PF’s
current mantra of empowerment yet they are getting the short end
of the
stick. Surely ZBC must be “indigenised”!
These sad revelations come at a time
when there are shrill calls for the
revamping of ZTV’s programming which has
alienated viewers and advertisers
alike. As viewership continues to slide it
is quite evident that things will
get worse before they get better.
As if
working without guaranteed remuneration is not demoralising enough,
they
have to contend with obsolete equipment and cameras which constantly
break
down. Pockets Hill has become more of a junkyard –– with car wrecks
sprawled
around the compound ––than the home of the “one and only permanent
choice”
broadcaster.
Meanwhile CEO Happison Muchechetere, apparently unimpressed by
this dire
state of affairs, last month castigated journalists for being
enticed to
provide politicians with exclusive coverage of their events
without the
knowledge of the journalists’ superiors at the corporation.
Isn’t it a
no-brainer why they wouldn’t want to inform their grossly
salaried
superiors?
“Bribing journalists is not proper,” Muchechetere
said on ZTV news, “and
should be stopped because if you [politicians]
continue with that habit, the
journalists are the ones who will suffer the
consequences, because anyone
caught will be fired and other drastic measures
will be taken against
him/her.”
What more drastic measures can be
employed beyond not paying people what is
due to them, Cde
Muchechetere?
Here is the clincher: “He explained that ZBC employees’
salaries are
favourable compared to other media houses, saying that there
should be no
reason for them to be corrupt except that they are driven by
greed.”
Radio DJs are not spared the agony as they are now compelled to play
Zanu PF
propaganda songs. Added to this, they are now required to describe
“with
passion” Zanu PF exploits. Lack of this so-called “passion” could
result in
dismissal.
Cry the less-than-beloved national
broadcaster!
Readers may enjoy this story doing the rounds. A young
police officer was
taking his final exam at Police Staff Training College in
Zambia .
He was asked: You are on patrol in the outskirts of Lusaka when an
explosion
occurs in a nearby township.
On investigation you find a large
hole has been blown in the footpath and
there is an overturned van lying
nearby. Inside the van there is a strong
smell of alcohol. Both occupants ––
a man and woman –– are injured.
You recognise the woman as the wife of your
Divisional Inspector, who is at
present away on a peace-keeping mission. A
passing motorist stops to offer
you assistance and you realise that he is a
man who is wanted for armed
robbery. Suddenly a man runs out of a nearby
house, shouting that his wife
is expecting a baby and that the shock of the
explosion has made the birth
imminent. Describe in a few words what action
you would take.
The officer thought for a moment, picked up his pen, and
wrote: “I would
take off my uniform and mingle with the
crowd.”
Finally, Zanu PF’s incessant propaganda seems to have wearied
some of
Africa’s statesmen. President Joaquim Chissano during his recent
visit was
asked by ZBC’s Judith Makwanya what he thought about sanctions.
“I’m tired,”
came the firm reply.
Join the club Joe!
http://www.theindependent.co.zw
Thursday, 18 November 2010
18:50
VITALICY Kramarenko, leader of the International Monetary Fund
(IMF) team
to Zimbabwe, is reported as stating that fully unlocking the
country’s
considerable growth potential would require significant progress
in
structural reforms. Expanding thereon, he said, the priority areas
requiring such reforms include reducing labour market rigidities,
establishing security of land tenure, and clarifying ownership requirements
under the indigenisation legislation, in addition to other necessary
economy-related reforms.
Although undoubtedly some of the
hard-core Zimbabwean politicians will
vehemently differ with him, his
forthright enunciation of the immense need
for constructive reforms is most
commendable.
Assuredly, the Zanu PF politburo in general, and
President Robert Mugabe,
Didymus Mutasa, Saviour Kasukuwere, and many others
will wholly disagree
with him. Instead, they will seek and strive to
espouse the disastrous
policies which have not only horrendously decimated
the economy for more
than a decade, but will do their utmost to pursue their
fixative policies
which cataclysmically retard the slight economic recovery
achieved since
2009.
However, no matter how vigorous may be
resistance to policy change, major
reforms in policy are a prerequisite of a
substantive economic recovery, and
for realisation of the very immense
economic potential which Zimbabwe has.
Only those who are myopic in their
perceptions of the economy’s needs can
differ with the IMF assessment of
policy change needs.
Kramerenko and his team are deserving of
unreserved commendation for their
forthright recognition of the realities.
Regrettably, however, many will
not only withhold such commendation, but
will also be scathingly castigatory
of the call for those
reforms.
While many different factors will impact upon achieving the
economic
recovery and realisation of the gargantuan potential of the
economy, those
identified by the IMF team are amongst the foremost. Key to
recovery and
growth is that Zimbabwe engender very considerable investment,
both foreign
direct investment, and domestic investment, and that it attract
substantial
international lines of credit and
loans.
Investment is needed to create employment for the hundreds
of thousands of
employable Zimbabweans presently devoid of gainful, formal
sector
employment. Such employment will very markedly lower the appalling
poverty
links characteristic of life for the majority of Zimbabweans.
I
nvestment will generate inflows of critically required capital,
and
technology-transfer. It will be a major stimulus of exports, which
favourably impact upon the downstream economy of the investment ventures,
and will be a significant source of revenue to the fiscus by way of direct
and indirect taxation.
However, the extent of investment will
continue to fall far short of
requirements if the policy reforms identified
by the IMF as being necessary,
and allied reforms, are not determinedly
pursued by government. Investors
will not invest (save for a few
high-risk-takers) unless they have
confidence that their investments will be
secure, and potentially gainful,
and those policy reforms are prerequisites
of investors having such
confidence.
Almost without exception,
investment ventures are reliant upon employment of
labour, with harmonious
employer and labour relationships.
Such relationships existed at
one time in Zimbabwe but, as unemployment in
the shrinking economy
increased, concurrently with labour’s purchasing power
being progressively
eroded by the hyperinflation of yesteryear, that
changed.
Understandably, labour demanded substantial wage
increases, but invariably
meeting those demands was far beyond the means of
employers, whose
businesses were grievously contracting. Labour relations
progressively
declined, and the confrontation intensified as various trade
union and
activist bodies became increasingly aggressive. Now government is
worsening
the situation with intended revisions to labour legislation which
are wholly
targetted at labour aspirations and expectations, in contemptuous
disregard
for employer needs and economic realities.
The issue of
security of land tenure is most key to realising Zimbabwe’s
economic
potential. The foundation of the economy has always been
agriculture, but
from 2001 to 2009 it contracted exponentially. Although
there has been some
increased productivity since 2009, agriculture remains a
minuscule portion
of the tragically contracted economy.
New farmers, precluded from
land ownership, have no collateral to access
essential funding.
Concurrently, having observed government’s diabolical
disregard for property
rights and for obligations under bilateral investment
protection and
promotion agreements in respect of rural lands, potential
investors fear
that in the future government will unhesitatatingly
appropriate urban lands,
enterprises, and other investments. Real security
of land tenure will meet
collateral needs for agricultural and other
entrepreneurs and will allay a
key fear of potential investors.
Allaying those fears also requires a
comprehensive re-think by government on
its indigenisation and economic
empowerment legislation.
The legislation should be facilitative
of indigenous entrepreneurship, and
should give incentives and motivate
collaboration and mutually beneficial
intervention between indigenous and
non-indigenous investors.
It should not reduce non-indigenous investors,
be they domestic or foreign,
to enforced minority status, devoid of control
over the wellbeing of the
enterprises, and equally devoid of security over
provided technologies,
market access and funding.
The
legislation should stimulate creation of new indigenous ventures, whilst
motivating indigenous participation with non-indigenous investors, in
existing and new enterprises, on a reciprocally willing, negotiated basis,
rather than by enforcement and imagery of
expropriation.
Approximately a fortnight ago, Economic Empowerment
minister Kasukuwere,
was reported as stating that revisions to the
legislation will be announced
by the end of this month. Undoubtedly, the
revisions contemplated by
government, and by him in particular, are
founded-upon the reports of the
numerous economic sectoral boards
established by him to consider and review
the
legislation.
However, indications over the last few months suggested
that some of those
boards (or, in any event, of a majority of the appointees
to the boards) had
dogmatically preconceived (and ill-conceived)
perceptions, to a very major
extent founded upon representations of
extremist activist groups.
Government, and all the ministers, in revising
and modifying the laws, need
to have regard not only to the advice of the
boards, but also of the
existing business community at large, of potential
foreign investors, of
bodies such as IMF, World Bank, African Development
Banks, and the like, and
of economic commentators. They need also to learn
from the successful
experiences (such as those of India and Malaysia) and
the unsuccessful
experiences of others, instead of inventing a new wheel
doomed to break not
only itself, but the economy as a whole.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw
Thursday, 18 November 2010
19:00
NOW that the controversial Marange diamond mining activities have
been shown
to be dodgy and corrupt, government leaders, if they still have
any honour,
need to take decisive steps to put their house in order and
start serious
mining to develop the country.
People are up in arms with
corrupt politicians and their business cronies
who are plundering national
resources for self-aggrandisement. Those who
have been stealing or are
planning to steal the nation’s minerals through
manipulation of the system
must be dealt with thoroughly no matter how
well-connected or powerful they
are.
The current investigations and arrests must not just deal with the lower
level corrupt officials but also those in the top echelons of political
power who are living beyond their legitimate means and cannot account for
their wealth.
In the meantime, government needs to rethink its mining
model in Marange.
The approach which was used to bring in Mbada and Canadile
has failed.
Current investigations, which are by no means exhaustive, have
shown that
there was a lot of deceit, lies and fraud in the way these
companies,
particularly Canadile, found their way into the Chiadzwa diamond
fields.
As a result the Marange diamonds have been stolen, smuggled out of
the
country and converted into personal fortunes by corrupt politicians and
their business cronies. Hundreds of millions worth of diamonds were looted
from Chiadzwa.
Police must go after the thieves. There is nothing to
cover up anymore. It’s
now clear to everybody that the Marange deals cut by
the Zimbabwe Mining
Development Corporation (ZMDC) management and government
officials with
those dubious companies which have no mining experience or
capacity must be
reversed.
Even President Robert Mugabe should now see
and appreciate that he might
have been taken for a ride by his ministers,
government officials and ZMDC
executives.
Mugabe must be particularly
concerned because the actions of these officials
have left him exposed in
this convoluted diamonds saga.
When MPs tried to investigate the Marange
diamonds activities earlier this
year, Mugabe in March intervened personally
making a spirited defence and
justification of the controversial diamond
mining arrangements. Mugabe
claimed the Chiadzwa mining deals were above
board but everyone can now see
why we did not believe him. A number of
Mugabe’s “ever obedient” hirelings
also came to the defence of Mbada and
Canadile as they sang for their supper
and tried to pick the crumbs from
under the tables of the Marange diamond
dealers.
Beyond the revelations
of sleaze, bribery and corruption, Zimbabwe needs a
serious model to ensure
diamonds are properly mined and their proceeds are
channelled towards
national development.
Zimbabwe can learn something from its neighbour
Botswana on how to mine
diamonds and use them to develop the country.
Botswana moved from being one
of the poorest countries on earth in 1966 to
being one of the most
prosperous in Africa. There was no magic to this; it
was just competent
leadership, good governance and proper management of the
economy.
Diamond trade contributes approximately US$8,5 billion per year to
Africa
and about 65% of the world’s diamonds are produced by African
countries.
In Botswana, diamonds account for 80% of export revenue, 45% of
the
government revenue, and 33% (approximately US$3,3 billion) of the Gross
Domestic Product.
Botswana produces about US$3,3 billion worth of
diamonds a year.
Diamonds were discovered in Botswana in 1967 and the
government is mining in
a 50-50 joint venture (Debswana) with South African
mining giant De Beers.
Over the past 25 years, Botswana has had one of the
fastest growing
economies in the world, courtesy of effective leadership,
good governance
and capable economic management. Zimbabwe, which is more
naturally endowed
with minerals and human capital, can achieve far more if
it puts its house
in order.
But there doesn’t appear to be much sign of
that on the horizon. There is
just a gloomy picure of the political and
economic situation.
Dumisani Muleya
http://www.theindependent.co.zw
Thursday, 18 November 2010
18:59
ZANU PF will hold its annual conference in Mutare from December 15
to 18 and
over the past few weeks we have witnessed a needless stampede by
the party
structures to endorse the octogenarian President Robert Mugabe as
the party’s
presidential candidate in the harmonised elections he wants by
June next
year.
The rush is unnecessary because one of the
reasons the conference has been
convened is simply to rubber-stamp the
current party first secretary as
presidential candidate. No challenges to
Mugabe’s throne will be permissible
during the so-often choreographed talk
shop. It’s all routine and utterly
predictable!
There is no doubt that
Zanu PF is currently in limbo and that is why Mugabe
has roped in serving
members of the army to restructure the party and
campaign for it.
Zanu PF
spin doctors have tried and failed to sell us the dummy that the
party was
united behind Mugabe when it is evidently clear that the majority
of its
members are opposed to the veteran leader’s demand for elections next
year.
This is precisely because Mugabe wants elections for his own
personal
interest, not for the good of his party or that of the nation.
Mugabe wants
elections to resolve his differences with Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai
in implementing the Global Political Agreement (GPA) and also to
ensure he
becomes life president. His indefatigable desire to remain in
power is
nothing short of astounding. A few years ago he unsuccessfully
attempted to
extend his rule to 2010 without facing an election through a
constitutional
amendment, but the move was blocked by his party. Now we see
that some
zealots have been mobilised to push for Mugabe to be life
president.
As a nation we cannot afford to have elections merely to satisfy
an
individual’s personal interests. If Zanu PF hopes to salvage anything out
of
their morbid legacy they should have the guts at the conference to stop
the
86-year-old leader from pursuing his unhelpful dream. Mugabe should
never be
allowed to turn the country into a personal fiefdom.
Zanu PF MPs
oppose the elections, questioning why Mugabe should drag them to
the next
election before their terms are through. They rightly argue that it
was
Mugabe’s election that was disputed, not theirs. Senior members of the
party
have privately opposed the proposed elections and wondered why Mugabe
was
optimistic that he and Zanu PF will win given the shambolic state the
party
is in.
Besides Mugabe, Vice-President John Nkomo last week joined the
election
bandwagon and shockingly declared that Zanu PF had made a blunder
by signing
the GPA and forming an inclusive government with the two
formations of the
MDC.
That Nkomo has forgotten that Mugabe’s government
had no legitimacy until
February 13 last year when the inclusive government
was incepted is very
instructive. After the bloody June 27 2009 one-man
presidential election
run-off, Mugabe had legal, not political legitimacy.
This is why the African
Union summit in Egypt prompted Mugabe to form a
government of national unity
with Tsvangirai.
It is people like Nkomo who
have not contested elections for the past 10
years who wrongly advise Mugabe
that polls should be held next year. Nkomo
has not contested an election in
the guise that he was a national leader,
but his co-Vice-President Joice
Mujuru and Mugabe have contested elections
since 1980. Are they not also
national leaders?
We hope that if elections go ahead irrespective of logic
and reason, Nkomo
will this time around subject himself to an election and
see if the
electorate wants him!
Nevanji Madanhire
http://www.theindependent.co.zw
Thursday, 18 November 2010
18:58
THE decision to sell the struggling Redcliff-based steelmaker —
Ziscosteel —
this month to Essar Group was government’s unusual step in the
right
direction. But even so, government should broaden its privatisation or
commercialisation drive to include other failing parastatals such as Air
Zimbabwe, Zesa Holdings, National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ) and
Zupco.
All these companies have one thing in common; they are struggling -
have
been struggling for a long time and need fresh capital. Judging by
government’s current financial position, the state cannot re-invest. Real
reforms need to be instituted in parastatals for them to play a role in the
revival of the economy.
At the moment, institutions such as Zesa and NRZ
have become an albatross
around the nation’s neck. Until government fully
adopts privatisation or
commercialisation, the economy will remain in the
doldrums. Obviously this
should be underpinned by the return to the rule of
law and respect for
property rights.
Although State Enterprises minister
Gorden Moyo claims Zimbabwe is
determined to change the fortunes of
government firms, many of them have
continued to bleed the fiscus over the
years. Government last year approved
a new programme to restructure,
commercialise and privatise at least 10
companies and had received interest
from foreign investors.
Targeted firms include GMB, NRZ, fixed-line phone
company TelOne mobile
phone operator NetOne, AgriBank, Ziscosteel, the
National Oil Company of
Zimbabwe, Zesa, Air Zimbabwe and beef producer Cold
Storage Company (CSC).
Moyo last month said details would be available by
year-end. But judging by
the pace it took government to dispose of
Ziscosteel, Moyo’s year-end target
is not achievable. The government solely
controls or is the major
shareholder in 78 corporations in sectors such as
energy, transport,
finance, mining and telecommunications.
The
Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries (CZI) has also urged government to
seriously consider parastatal reforms. CZI says “real action” needs to be
taken. If government cannot privatise parastatal monopolies, then it should
allow private players in monopolised sectors, the business body
says.
Government must take a cue from the success of other privatisation and
commercialisation of parastatals such as Dairy Market Board, now DZL, and
Cotton Marketing Board, now AICO, and see the benefits.
These two
companies — DMB and CMB — are shining examples of how successfully
privatised firms can contribute to the economy’s growth and the fiscus at
the same time. But government has to safeguard the process from influential
individuals, who might be already circling around some of the state
enterprises.
Ziscosteel’s disposal will help other downstream industries
as well. Under
good management, Ziscosteel could steadily rise to be a giant
steel maker.
It is also important to have an investor for Zesa and NRZ.
A
quick glance at a listed company’s challenges show how energy is perhaps
the
biggest handicap to an already troubled industry. Power outages have
contributed to low capacity in industry.
Over the years, NRZ has also
been run down and needs to be recapitalised.
Many businesses in the country
have had to resort to far more expensive but
reliable transport means than
risk spending the entire year waiting for
shipments. Even Zambia has done
much better on the privatisation front.
Ten countries account for most of the
privatisation in Africa so far:
Mozambique, Angola, Ghana, Zambia, Kenya,
Tanzania, Guinea, Madagascar,
Nigeria and Uganda. Undoubtedly, most of these
countries are doing much
better than Zimbabwe economically.
Vital lessons
could be drawn from how privatisation was done in these
countries and use
the best practices as a model for Zimbabwe’s own plans to
roll back the
frontiers of the state from business. A blend of the
continental best
practices and the lessons learnt from the transformation of
DMB and CMB to
successful companies could be a firm foundation for an
effective
privatisation programme.