The Constitutional Court has sent a Mail&Guardian application
for a secret report on the 2003 Zimbabwe elections back to the Pretoria High
Court for further determination.
This was the essence of a judgment
the court handed down on Tuesday.
The judges found that for a court to
decide that the State had properly claimed that a record was exempt from
disclosure, it should determine whether the State had shown that the
withheld information fell within the exemptions claimed.
Because of
the nature of proceedings under the Promotion of Access to Information Act,
courts may sometimes not have enough evidence to responsibly decide whether
an exemption from disclosure was correct.
The judges said this could
happen because the requester, not having access to the record, faced
difficulties raising genuine disputes of fact as to the exemptions claimed
by the State.
It could also occur when the State was limited, under the
act, in its ability to refer to the contents of the record in justifying the
exemptions it claimed.
Therefore, the court ordered that the High
Court in Pretoria be allowed to invoke its right to see the secret report,
so it could decide the case.
The M&G was using the act to see the
report by two South African judges.
Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe
retained his position in that election over opposition leader Morgan
Tsvangirai.
The judges, Sisi Khampepe and Dikgang Moseneke, observed the
elections at the request of former president Thabo Mbeki.
Khampepe is
a judge in the Constitutional Court and Moseneke is deputy chief justice.
Both recused themselves when the court heard the matter in May.
The
publisher of the M&G asked for the report in June 2008, but the
president would not release it on the grounds it contained information given
by Zimbabwean officials in confidence.
The report was to be used by
the president for policy formulation.
The High Court in Pretoria granted
an order compelling the president to make the report public.
The
Supreme Court of Appeal rejected an appeal by the presidency against the
High Court order and the presidency approached the Constitutional
Court.
M&G editor Nic Dawes voiced disappointment over the
ruling.
“I am disappointed,” he said outside the court.
It meant
the presidency's appeal was upheld, and the report could not be released
yet.
The newspaper had been trying to get hold of the report for three
years.
Dawes said the judgment was important in terms of the
controversial Protection of State Information Bill and the difficulties
faced when trying to get information from the State, and in the context of
next year's elections in Zimbabwe. – Sapa
Harare, November 29, 2011
--- Zimbabwean police who have in the past forced President Robert Mugabe’s
rivals to cancel scheduled meetings citing lack of manpower, have pledged to
be in “full force” at the Zanu-PF conference set to be held in Bulawayo from
December 6 to 10.
Police on Monday said the Zanu-PF conference was set to
be “one of the largest gatherings this year in Bulawayo.”
“Some rogue
elements of society always want to capitalise on the large gatherings to
display how uncouth and unreasonable they may become,” Bulawayo police said
in statement to the media.
“Political gatherings are the best platforms
of arraying the critical tenets of democracy – freedom of association,
freedom of expression, freedom of movement among others.
“Indeed it’s
time to give democracy a chance. As ZRP, we will not take a back seat and
watch whilst some unruly elements disturb peace of this beautiful City of
Kings.”
Acting officer commanding police Bulawayo province Assistant
Commissioner Christopher Gora is quoted in the same statement saying:
“Police will not condone any action, which is likely to disturb peace and
the smooth running of the conference and threaten the security of
delegates.”
Early this month, police in Matabeleland North blocked Prime
Minister Morgan Tsvangirai from holding rallies in Victoria Falls and Lupane
claiming they had no manpower.
But at the Zanu-PF conference, the
Bulawayo police said they had adequately deployed on every
street.
“As such members of the public are urged to desist from carrying
firearms, knobkerries or perform any acts likely to provoke or incite
violence in the run up to and soon after the conference.
“We expect
higher level of political maturity to all participants and maximum
cooperation from all delegates.
The Zanu-PF conference will be held at
the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair.
Tsvangirai’s Movement for
Democratic Change held its congress in April at the much bigger
Barbourfields Stadium and police presence was not that pronounced.
By Tonderai Kwenda, Deputy News Editor Tuesday, 29 November 2011
12:01
HARARE - President Robert Mugabe has all but secured his
candidature as the Zanu PF candidate meaning it is all but confirmed that he
is going to be the party’s life president.
Zanu PF secretary for
administration Didymus Mutasa yesterday extinguished ambitious attempts by
elements within the party’s factions to come together and turn their
conference set for next week into an extra-ordinary congress to try and push
out Mugabe.
Mugabe’s candidature has put paid to an interview Justice
Minister Patrick Chinamasa gave to Namibian newspapers about three months
ago when he said Zanu PF has no credible candidate other than
Mugabe.
The party’s officials, who by day bootlick Mugabe and were
exposed by the whistle-blower website Wikileaks, as regime change merchants
for working with foreigners to push out the 87-year-old president, are said
to be still hopeful of a Mugabe ouster.
With indications that the
earliest Zimbabwe can hold elections is 2013, it means that Zanu PF will
present the frail Mugabe at 89 as its presidential candidate.
Mutasa,
told the Daily News there will not be any succession debates at the Bulawayo
meeting ruling out any chance of surprises.
“Who is succeeding who, there
is nothing like that,” said Mutasa responding to questions on whether the
party will discuss any succession plans for Mugabe.
“We have said
again and again but you journalists just won’t listen. New leaders are
elected at congress and this is not a congress.”
Instead, Mutasa said the
party will discuss indigenisation, agriculture, the society, schools and
other issues.
Asked if the WikiLeaks issue will be on the table Mutasa
said, “We are not in a hurry about it.”
It was Mugabe himself who had
announced that the conference might be turned into a congress but the party
made a U-turn on realising that the Zanu PF factions were converging and
plotting to oust the octogenarian leader.
But despite these telling signs
of a tired body due to advanced age, six out of 10 provinces have so far
lined up to endorse him as the former ruling party’s presidential candidate
for any future election.
Mugabe has been to the Far East on several
occasions this year on suspected medical-related trips.
With
elections likely to be delayed until 2013 considering the timetable of
democratic reforms that have to be carried out before an election can be
called, Mugabe could find the going tough.
Zimbabwean elections are
usually characterised by punishing schedules and any delay in the polls will
work against him.
At 89 in 2013, Zanu PF will find him to be a hard sell
as he will be pitted against youthful candidates in the form of Prime
Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, Simba Makoni, Arthur Mutambara, Welshman Ncube,
Dumiso Dabengwa and Job Sikhala.
But party spokesperson Rugare Gumbo
has in the past said “wisdom comes with age,” when he dismissed talk of
putting up the issue of the presidential candidate up for a vote at the
Bulawayo conference.
So far the script of the previous years has largely
been reproduced with Matabeleland South, Midlands, Mashonaland West,
Matabeleland North, Masvingo and Harare having already publicly backed
Mugabe with an endorsement after their provincial conferences.
“We
have one candidate only. That is the president,” said Andrew Langa, the Zanu
PF Matabeleland South chairman.
Excitable Zanu PF chairperson Simon Khaya
Moyo has also brought a new dimension to the whole debate telling party
supporters that the congress will not do anything out of the extraordinary
except to reaffirm the decisions of the party’s last congress which was held
in Mutare.
“Provinces can only reaffirm the decision of the congress. Our
party constitution provides that whoever is elected presidential candidate
becomes the party’s presidential candidate for any election until our next
congress,” said Moyo in an interview with the state-owned media
recently.
The party’s provinces have been endorsing Mugabe in quick
succession and at the current rate, they are all likely to do so before the
start of the conference.
Midlands province, the home province of Zanu
PF legal affairs secretary Emmerson Mnangagwa has also endorsed the dear
leader.
The defence minister, who is believed to be leading one of the
factions fighting to succeed Mugabe personally delivered the message
endorsing Mugabe at a provincial meeting held in Gweru.
He said: “We,
as the Midlands, endorse President Robert Gabriel Mugabe as the party’s
candidate in the forthcoming election,” he said adding that he is a leader
“with a clear vision. He knows all our concerns and has the solution to
solve them.”
Zanu PF Harare province is the latest in what has become a
predictable path every year endorsing Mugabe after a provincial
meeting.
The province’s chairmen Amos Midzi said Mugabe’s candidature is
a foregone conclusion saying the ailing leader was “the best candidate” to
represent Zanu PF.
RESERVE Bank governor Gideon Gono has warned that Zimbabwe’s
nascent economic recovery is at the mercy of the United States dollar, which
is facing new pressures from the Euro-zone debt crisis.
Gono says
Zimbabwe should in fact be looking to the Chinese yuan as its main currency,
while urgently seeking to restore its own currency which was abandoned in
2009 after a dramatic loss of its value.
Speaking in Gweru last Saturday,
Gono said: “The extraordinary happenings in Europe where economic power
houses in the Euro-zone have been hit by a debt crisis deserves
extraordinary measures, especially here in Zimbabwe where we have adopted
the U dollar as the major currency in our multi-currency
regime.
"With the continuous firming of the Chinese yuan, the US
dollar is fast ceasing to be the world's reserve currency and the Euro-Zone
debt crisis has made things even worse.
“As a country, we still have
the opportunity to avoid being caught napping by adopting the Chinese yuan
as part of consolidating the country's look East policy.”
China is
now Zimbabwe’s biggest trading partner, with the Asian giant absorbing most
of the country’s mineral and agricultural produce.
Vice President Joice
Mujuru first raised the possibility of adopting the yuan in September last
year, saying it would be a “logical step” and could help solve some of the
country’s liquidity constraints.
The multiple currency regime announced
in January 2009 has been fraught with difficulties. Retailers are supposed
to accept the Euro and the British pound but those two currencies have never
caught on, with most transactions being conducted in United States dollars,
the South African rand and the Botswana pula.
Finance Minister Biti
presented his 2012 budget last week and expects the multiple currency regime
to remain in place at least until the end of 2012 when ministers hope it
would be replaced by a single currency for the Southern Africa Development
Community (SADC).
Gono, speaking at theConfederation of Zimbabwe
Industries' (CZI) end-of-year business dinner, said the use of foreign
currency was ultimately unsustainable in the long run.
“As long as we
continue to use other people's currencies, where we do not have control over
that currency, we are not going anywhere as a nation,” he said.
“At
the moment the US dollar is going down the tube owing to the Euro-zone debt
crisis and as a country, we are also going down the tube because we do not
have control of that currency.
"The year 2012 should thus see Zimbabwe
coming up with its own currency which we should be using without ruling out
the multicurrency system until the economy stabilises.”
The demise of
the Zimbabwe dollar is attributed in no small measure to Gono’s policy of
printing money, but he insists that his actions were in response to an
unprecedented economic crisis which called for “extraordinary measures”.
The education sector is witnessing growing anger from both
parents of school learners and Zimbabwe’s teachers, because of rising school
fees and stagnant salaries.
Some parents have expressed their anger
to the media about proposed fee increases, which could be as high as 25%.
Reports have said that state schools want to boost fees for day students
from US$160 to US$180, and increase boarding fees to US$585 from US$560 a
term.
SW Radio Africa has been told that some private school boarding
fees are set to rise to about US$13000 for the year. The situation is so
serious and the fees so high that many parents are said to be leaving for
South Africa, where good government schools are still
available.
Education Minister David Coltart said on Tuesday that the fee
hikes are unavoidable, because the sector has been underfunded for more than
a decade. He added that it is the government’s fault for not playing its
part in ensuring the sector improves.
“This year we were allocated
about US$60 million for education but we only saw about US$14 million of
that to run all the schools. This is woefully insufficient and we’ve had to
turn to parents and this means a fee hike,” Coltart explained.
He
added that he hopes to make the process of fee increases as transparent as
possible, saying nothing is yet set in stone. He said that “even when the
fees are set, I plan to make the accounts for each school available on the
bulletin boards every month so parents can see where their money is
going.”
Finance Minister Tendai Biti last week announced more than US$700
million set aside for education in the national US$4 billion Budget. Coltart
welcomed this commitment, but he was also cautious.
“The challenge is
to turn this theoretical budget into a reality,” he said.
SW Radio Africa
meanwhile has also been told that private school gardeners are earning more
than government school teachers, who are still only earning about US$180 a
month. PTUZ president Takavafira Zhou told SW Radio Africa that state
teachers are earning “starvation wages.”
“It is unfortunate that the
national budget didn’t make any room for salary increases because teachers
are now condemned to perpetual poverty,” Zhou said.
Biti has
previously admitted there is little money for salary increments, and made no
direct reference to a much needed increase during his Budget speech last
week. Instead, he adjusted the tax requirements so civil servants won’t be
paying such high tax. Their ‘allowances’ have also been declared tax free as
on January 1st.
Biti is already facing resistance to his 2012 Budget from
within Cabinet, with MPs reportedly holding back approval of the proposals,
until he gives in to their demands for new cars and outstanding allowances.
Legislators from ZANU PF and the MDC-T have told the Daily News they would
not give their approval until their ‘needs’ are met.
An MDC-T
member from Mount Darwin North is recovering after he was assaulted at his
home by known ZANU PF members last week.
Try Pfebve the MDC-T district
security officer for Mount Darwin North was last Thursday “severely
assaulted,” by three ZANU PF members at his home in Mukumbura. According to
an MDC-T statement, the three ZANU PF members who attacked Pfebve are
Tandirai Chakari, Chiripo Chitoro and Tinashe Chakari.
The MDC-T reported
that Pfebve sustained “serious head injuries, his ribs and left knee cap
were also fractured.” He was admitted in hospital for four
days.
Pfebve reported the matter to Mukumbura police station but no
arrests have been made. He said the three ZANU PF members who assaulted him
asked him “why he had played MDC songs earlier in the afternoon. They used
logs to assault him all over the body.”
“ZANU PF thugs have continued
to act violently despite calls by their leader, Robert Mugabe to stop all
forms of violence. ZANUPF needs to put in place mechanisms to control their
bullies to refrain from violence,” the MDC-T said in a statement.
Johannesburg - A vaginal
gel researchers had hoped would help prevent HIV transmission for women is
ineffective, according to a report on Tuesday.
Researchers leading the
Tenofovir gel study at 15 sites across South Africa, Uganda and Zimbabwe
recommended that 5 000 women who participated in the trial should stop using
it, The Times reported.
The results of this second study shocked
scientists when they proved the gel, developed by researchers at the
University of KwaZulu-Natal, could not save millions of lives.
Last
year, the Centre for the Aids Programme of Research in SA found the gel was
39% successful in preventing HIV infection.
'Baffled'
Director of
the Aids research centre Professor Salim Abdool Karim said he was "baffled"
by the results of the new study.
"This was totally unexpected because
there was good evidence from laboratory research, animal studies and human
trials, which showed that Tenofovir gel prevented Aids," he was quoted as
saying.
He and his wife, Quarraisha Abdool Karim, were expecting to have
the gel in clinics next year, but the new findings sent them back to the
drawing board.
He said it was not clear whether the new result was due to
inadequate use of the gel by women participating in the study, insufficient
drug levels in the women at the time of HIV exposure, or some other
reason.
The couple was widely lauded after the gel was presented at the
International Aids Conference in Vienna last year - where the global
microbicide research community agreed a second study was needed to confirm
the protective effects of the gel.
The study saw participants, aged
between 18 and 30, using the gel 12 hours before intercourse and within 12
hours after intercourse.
Funders included amongst others, the science and
technology department, the US government and the Bill and Melinda Gates
Foundation.
By Associated Press, Published: November 29 | Updated:
Wednesday, November 30, 1:27 AM
HARARE, Zimbabwe — A militant youth
group loyal to Zimbabwe’s president is calling for a boycott of a restaurant
chain whose latest advertisement depicts the aging, authoritarian president
as “the last dictator standing,” state radio reported Tuesday.
The
radio quoted the head of the group calling for South Africa-based Nando’s to
withdraw the ad that depicts President Robert Mugabe or face punitive
action. Jimu Kunaka, the head of group known as Chipangano, said the
restaurant chain risked action including a boycott. Chipangano is a
“brotherhood” of Mugabe loyalists.
The commercial that touts
chicken shows Mugabe dining alone at Christmas, his empty table set for
departed dictators including Moammar Gadhafi.
To the soundtrack of Mary
Hopkin’s hit song “Those were the days, my friend,” the commercial shows an
actor playing Mugabe reminiscing about his times with former dictators. It
portrays him and Gadhafi engaging in a water-pistol fight, with Gadhafi
wielding a golden AK-47 water pistol.
The ersatz Mugabe also makes sand
angels with Iraq’s Saddam Hussein, sings karaoke with Chairman Mao, and
holds overthrown Ugandan dictator Idi Amin astride a tank in a scene
parodying Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet in the hit movie
“Titanic.”
The head of Nando’s Zimbabwe franchise said it was not
informed of the South African television and press campaign, and is
independent of them.
Musekiwa Kumbula, corporate affairs director at
Innscor Africa, holders of the Nando’s franchise in Zimbabwe, said in a
statement the 60-second television commercial widely seen on Zimbabwe
websites was generated in South Africa for its market and
clientele.
The Innscor group “strongly feels the advertisement is
insensitive and in poor taste,” he said.
But, he added, “No
consultation takes place between different franchises when they are
formulating marketing strategies.”
It is an offense under Zimbabwe law to
insult Mugabe or undermine the authority of his office.
Mugabe once
maintained close ties with Gadhafi. But relations became strained over
payments for a gasoline deal during acute fuel shortages and shortly before
the Libyan leader befriended Western leaders such as former British Prime
Minister Tony Blair, whom Mugabe harshly criticized for his policies toward
Zimbabwe.
Chairman Mao’s China helped train Mugabe’s guerrillas to end
white rule in the former British colony of Rhodesia and Mugabe has been a
frequent visitor to China ever since.
Mugabe played host to Saddam
Hussein at a world summit of the Non-Aligned Movement in 1986. And though
Mugabe was a sharp critic of apartheid-era South African President P.W.
Botha — depicted in the commercial being pushed on a swing by Mugabe —
apartheid South Africa remained Zimbabwe’s biggest trading
partner.
Business tycoon Ray Kaukonde, a major stockholder in Innscor and
a former provincial governor in Mugabe’s ZANU-PF party, said the advertising
denigrated Mugabe. He called it “a violation of business ethics” and said it
was “in total disregard of African values,” state radio reported
Tuesday.
State radio said Chipangano demanded an apology be made to the
nation for the “negative portrayal” of Mugabe, 87, who led Zimbabwe to
independence in 1980. Critics, Western governments and rights groups have
said he has become increasingly authoritarian and unleashed a decade of
violence, vote-rigging and intimidation amid a breakdown of the rule of law
since he ordered the seizures of thousands of white-owned farms in
2000.
Human rights activists accuse the Chipangano group of forming
violent gangs that roam Harare’s impoverished townships and seize property
from street vendors and householders seen as supporters of Prime Minister
Morgan Tsvangirai’s former opposition party in the nation’s fragile 30-month
coalition government.
Harare-based officials for the South
African-based satellite television provider DStv said that if the commercial
is aired on South African channels, it cannot be filtered out of programs
received by tens of thousands of Zimbabwean subscribers.
Locadia Tembo, the woman at the centre of the marriage
storm with Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, is alleged to have slept
outside his Harare home in Strathaven for 3 days, in an apparent attempt to
force him into marrying her.
In line with the Shona custom of
‘kutizira’ a pregnant woman will either go to the man’s house or his
relatives and refuse to leave until she is taken into the family, or damages
are paid. This could explain why Tsvangirai later sent emissaries to the
Tembo homestead last week Monday, to pay a reported US$10,000 in
damages.
SW Radio Africa has now been told by sources close to the Prime
Minister that “he is battling a major sting operation that is being
coordinated by Mugabe’s regime.”
Tembo travelled to Buhera at the
weekend to meet Tsvangirai’s mother, without the knowledge and consent of
the PM. Tsvangirai was said to be seething with anger about this on
Sunday.
Herald columnist Nathaniel Manheru, who is believed to be
Mugabe’s spokesperson George Charamba, pre-empted Tembo’s visit to Buhera by
writing about it even before it happened. His article ‘Tsvangirai: Tying the
Knot or Knotty Ties’ was posted on Friday evening at 10:19 pm long before
Tembo made her trip.
To make matters worse, Tembo was allegedly
accompanied by journalists from the state owned media and she posed for
pictures outside and inside the house. “Where on earth have you seen a rich
woman like that going into a rural home, clutching ‘mutsvairo’ (broom) while
clearly posing for pictures,” our source said.
It was further
alleged that Tembo distributed cash ‘like confetti at a wedding’ while at
the Tsvangirai homestead, much to the delight of some of the PM’s relatives.
“This is how the state media journalists were able to do their job, taking
pictures etc. Everyone who was travelling with Tembo on the day was treated
well,” he said.
The confusion surrounding whether Tsvangirai paid for
damages or married Tembo has been covered extensively by the state owned
media. “The articles have tended to be a mixture of the truth and outright
lies to try and tarnish the image of the Prime Minister,” another senior
MDC-T official told SW Radio Africa.
Although Tembo was initially
said to be 7 months pregnant, the state owned Sunday Mail newspaper is now
quoting family members claiming she is not pregnant. A source who spoke to
SW Radio Africa however said Tembo is the one who told the PM she was
pregnant and on that basis went to his house in Strathhaven, Harare,
refusing to leave.
Several people in the MDC-T pointed accusing fingers
at co-Home Affairs Minister Theresa Makone, claiming she was trying to
influence Tsvangirai into marrying Tembo, who is her friend. But in an
exclusive interview with SW Radio Africa, Makone denied meddling in the PM’s
private affairs.
But Makone’s claims were later contradicted by Tembo’s
uncle, Isaiah Karimatsenga, who told the Sunday Mail that Makone was present
during the entire ‘marriage’ ceremony in Christon Bank last Monday. We also
received information that it was actually Makone who bought the groceries
taken to the Tembo homestead.
Meanwhile several members from the
Karimatsenga family are claiming they will post video footage of the
‘marriage’ ceremony on the video sharing website You Tube, if Tsvangirai’s
aides continue denying that he married.
An official in Tsvangirai’s
office however told us “they can go ahead, You Tube will not marry Locadia.
The PM is the only person who can make that decision.”
Political
commentator Pedzisai Ruhanya told SW Radio Africa: “I have indicated before
and I will continue to argue that it’s a sting operation. The state media
seems to be aware of every move this woman takes. If you look at the
details, you can tell there is another hand at play.”
Ruhanya said:
“There are those who are naïve, who are saying why are we blaming this woman
and not talking about the Prime Minister. But surely we cannot ignore the
hand of the state. We cannot continue to blame Tsvangirai because if it was
a normal issue, why is the state so interested?”
Harare, November 29, 2011-
Seven Movement for Democratic Change members who have been languishing in
prison for the past six months have launched a fresh bid for freedom by
seeking the high court to grant them leave to appeal to the Supreme
Court.
The Glenview residents who include two brothers Lazarus
Maengahama and Stanford Maengahama want the high court to authorize them to
petition the Supreme Court to appeal against their denial of bail in
July.
Justice Tendai Uchena will hear the matter on Tuesday morning
in his chambers.
The application for leave to appeal against the
refusal of bail for the Glenview residents was necessitated by the
pronouncements made by Deputy Chief Justice Luke Malaba early this month
that such leave was necessary in terms of the bail appeal
procedures.
Justice Uchena threw out the residents’ bail application
in July after ruling that they could flee from the country.
The seven
Glenview residents including the Maengahama brothers, Glenview Ward 32
councillor Tungamirai Madzokere, Rebecca Mafikeni, Phenias Nhatarikwa,
Yvonne Musarurwa and Stanford Mangwiro have been detained in remand prison
since the time when they were arrested in May for allegedly murdering a
police officer, Inspector Petros Mutedzi.
BULAWAYO - Humanitarian organisation, Medecins Sans
Frontieres - Spain (MSF) has called on the Zimbabwe government to scrap
government hospital admission fees saying there are derailing free
antiretroviral treatment (ART) programmes, especially in rural
areas.
MSF, also known as Doctors Without Borders, is an international
humanitarian organisation heavily involved in providing medicine as part of
its humanitarian work.
Addressing a press conference in Bulawayo
yesterday, MSF head of mission in Zimbabwe, Mari Carmen Vinoles said MSF is
providing free ART to over 35000 HIV/AIDS patients countrywide.
The
MSF official said most HIV/Aids patients are now failing to get free ART due
to high admission fees charged by government hospitals.
MSF conducts ART
programmes at government hospitals and council clinics around the
country.
“Our main problem on giving free ART is admission fees charged
at government hospitals.
“Some hospitals are charging as much as
US$30 and most people, especially those in rural areas, cannot afford these
fees. Therefore they end up not having access to our free ARVs treatment. So
we are calling on the Zimbabwe Government, through the Ministry of Health,
to scrap these hospital admission fees, so that everybody especially
pregnant mothers infected with HIV/Aids can be on free ART treatment,” said
Vinoles.
Meanwhile, music superstar Oliver Mtukudzi and Chiwoniso Maraire
will today (Tuesday) collaborate with Tsholotsho and Bulawayo Aids support
choir groups during the launch of an anti-HIV campaign Compact Disk (CD) and
a book by MSF in the city.
In the project titled “Positive
Generation: Voices for an HIV-free future” Mtukudzi will also get backing
from Spanish musician Alejandro Sanz, Dominican Republic musician Juan Luis
Guerra and Carlos Vives from Colombia.
Vinoles said, the project will
bestow international visibility on the reality of HIV/Aids in Sub-Saharan
Africa and highlight the people on treatment.
“The campaign objective
is to pay tribute to a generation of children, adolescents, mothers who are
living “positively” with HIV and they are the best testimonies to fight
stigma and transmit positive messages,” said Vinoles.
Zimbabwe used
to be one of the country’s worst affected by HIV/Aids in the world although
transmission rates have been declining in the last few years.
Researchers
say fear of infection and mass social change have driven a huge decline in
HIV rates in Zimbabwe, offering important lessons on how to fight the Aids
epidemic to the rest of Africa.
The Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe (BAZ)
has invited applications for 14 commercial radio licenses, to be dotted
around the country’s major urban centres.
The 14 local FM licenses
will be in addition to the two national commercial broadcasting licenses
that were recently granted to ZiFM, controlled by AB Communications headed
by broadcaster Supa Mandiwanzira, and Talk Radio channel to be run by
Zimpapers, publishers of the Herald.
Givemore Chipere, communication and
advocacy officer for Community Radio Harare (CORAH), told SW Radio Africa on
Tuesday they were surprised to see BAZ inviting application for local
commercial licenses.
Chipere said the application fee and radio
broadcasting service license cost of US$2,500 and US$7,500 ‘is too much for
would be broadcasters in Zimbabwe.’ The basic license fee is also expensive
at US$50,000.
CORAH is an independent radio initiative based in Harare.
But its biggest obstacle remains the fact that the government will not grant
it, or any other community station, a broadcast license.
‘CORAH is
one of 10 community radio initiatives operating in Zimbabwe. The others are
in Bulawayo, Gweru, Kwekwe, Hwange, Kariba, Masvingo, Mutare and Kadoma. All
these community radio projects are just waiting to be granted a license from
BAZ and we can start broadcasting by Friday.
‘But this new process will
take time, even a year, and its just a gimmick to hoodwink SADC into
believing there are media reforms in Zimbabwe when there is nothing,’
Chipere said.
The BAZ offer for 14 local broadcasting licenses covers
Harare, Bulawayo, Mutare, Gweru, Masvingo, Chinhoyi, Bindura, Gwanda,
Marondera, Lupane, Plumtree, Kariba, Victoria Falls and Beitbridge. Some of
these areas are regarded as pro-MDC areas and are areas where the ZBC radio
and television signal is very weak.
Veteran and popular radio DJ,
Ezra ‘Tshisa’ Sibanda, said the plan to operate radio stations in the MDC
controlled towns is a ZANU PF strategy to try and penetrate the
areas.
‘It’s clear the licenses will be granted to ZANU PF people who
will use the stations to prop up their propaganda. We all know what happened
with the two national commercial radio stations and that will also happen
with local station,’ Sibanda said.
Many observers have also noted
that it would be impossible to run a commercial radio initiative in most of
the areas on offer. Commercial radio depends on advertisers for its revenue
and in Lupane or Marondera for instance, it would be impossible to find
enough advertising to fund a radio station.
Meanwhile, BAZ has also
called for applications for licenses for free to air satellite usage. The
wording of the BAZ advert is so complicated that no one seems to know what
it really means: “Meanwhile, the “Content Distribution Service” applies to
service provided by a content distributor comprising content aggregated
within or outside Zimbabwe that is made available in Zimbabwe with or
without payment of a subscription fee and the reception is through satellite
transmission.”
There are radio stations broadcasting on satellite, for
which you need a satellite receive. Many people in Zimbabwe now also have
free to air television satellite reception. You can also receive various
radio stations on this TV satellite transmission.
Analysts are
assuming that BAZ is trying to stop any Zimbabwean initiative from
broadcasting a radio service in any form, including on a TV satellite
channel, unless they have a license. This license would be even more costly
than the FM channels at US$100,000.
The independent Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA)
Zimbabwe has said the process to award commercial licenses to two new radio
stations recently was not open and fair.
The awarding of licenses was
set to mark a major milestone in media reforms in Zimbabwe but MISA
described it as a ‘sham’ as the two new stations have strong links with
Robert Mugabe’s ZANU PF party.
The two licenses were issued to ZiFM,
controlled by AB Communications headed by broadcaster Supa Mandiwanzira, and
Talk Radio channel to be run by Zimpapers, publishers of the
Herald.
The process was overseen by Tafataona Mahoso, the BAZ chairman
who is a well known ZANU PF apologist. Several media groups said the
decision to grant the licenses to ZiFM and Talk Radio channel ‘cruelly’
dashed any hopes for broadcasting plurality in Zimbabwe.
When BAZ
invited applications, 14 organizations applied but 10 were rejected, with no
reasons given. Among the final four were the two winners announced last
week. Others were Kiss FM, which had music superstar Oliver Mtukudzi among
its directors and Radio VOP, which broadcasts into Zimbabwe from the
Netherlands.
MISA has since dispatched a letter to the three Principles
in the GPA, Robert Mugabe, Morgan Tsvangirai and Arthur Mutambara,
highlighting the fact that BAZ is still not procedurally constituted as
required in terms of the law. BAZ board members were unilaterally appointed
by the Ministry of Media, Information and Publicity on 30th September
2009.
This was not done in consultation with other Principals in the GPA
and the parliamentary Standing Rules and Orders Committee, as required by
the law that governs the unity government.
The MISA letter says: “In
writing this letter of appeal, MISA-Zimbabwe is greatly encouraged by the
fact that His Excellency and the Right Honourable Prime Minister are on
record confirming and conceding that indeed this legal procedure was not
duly followed and that the matter should be revisited.”
‘The matter has,
however remained unresolved up to the time of the issuance of the two
licenses in question. It is MISA-Zimbabwe’s submission this development,
renders the new licenses in question invalid,’ the MISA statement
said.
They went on to appeal to the Principles to correct the illegality
of the situation.
New life ... Hwange's elephants faced an uncertain
future
28/11/2011
00:00:00
by Staff
Reporter
WILDLIFE officials
say rainfall over the last week has averted a major disaster at the Hwange
National Park where nearly 80 elephants died of thirst between August and
October.
Hwange, the
country’s largest game reserve, became a wildlife emergency after the National
Parks and Wildlife Management Authority sent out an international distress call,
seeking pumping equipment for some of the 60 dried-up watering
holes.
As animal welfare
groups rushed in to help, there was concern that their actions would not be
enough to save Hwange’s wide variety of animal species – including a population
of 34,300 water-guzzling elephants.
At the height of
the drought, temperatures soared to above 104 degrees Fahrenheit (40
C).
But rainfall
over the last week has transformed the reserve, with a substantial amount of
water flowing into the dams.
A Parks official
told the Bulawayo Chronicle: “Things look a lot different now. Suddenly we have
grass, trees sprouting and water sources all over the park.
“We pray
that the rains continue to fall as we are still cautious about
everything.”
He said no
elephant deaths had been recorded since the start of the rains slightly over a
week ago. The rains had cut the elephants’ journeys to the few watering holes
which still had water.
Hwange National
Park – home to elephants, zebras, lions, giraffes, buffalo, cheetahs, leopards,
and antelope species – has no year-round rivers and little natural surface
water, making it dependent on wells supplying artificial watering holes known as
pans.
An adult
elephant needs nearly 50 gallons (200 liters) of water a day.
WILDLIFE officials
say rainfall over the last week has averted a major disaster at the Hwange
National Park where nearly 80 elephants died of thirst between August and
October.
Hwange, the
country’s largest game reserve, became a wildlife emergency after the National
Parks and Wildlife Management Authority sent out an international distress call,
seeking pumping equipment for some of the 60 dried-up watering
holes.
As animal welfare
groups rushed in to help, there was concern that their actions would not be
enough to save Hwange’s wide variety of animal species – including a population
of 34,300 water-guzzling elephants.
At the height of
the drought, temperatures soared to above 104 degrees Fahrenheit (40
C).
But rainfall
over the last week has transformed the reserve, with a substantial amount of
water flowing into the dams.
A Parks official
told the Bulawayo Chronicle: “Things look a lot different now. Suddenly we have
grass, trees sprouting and water sources all over the park.
“We pray
that the rains continue to fall as we are still cautious about
everything.”
He said no
elephant deaths had been recorded since the start of the rains slightly over a
week ago. The rains had cut the elephants’ journeys to the few watering holes
which still had water.
Hwange National
Park – home to elephants, zebras, lions, giraffes, buffalo, cheetahs, leopards,
and antelope species – has no year-round rivers and little natural surface
water, making it dependent on wells supplying artificial watering holes known as
pans.
An adult
elephant needs nearly 50 gallons (200 liters) of water a
day.
Louis Trichardt, South Africa,
November 29, 2011 - Hundreds of Zimbabweans working in Louis Trichardt, a
low density suburb in South Africa's Limpopo Province, say they are worried
that they will not return home unless government can guarantee them
employment.
In exclusive interviews in South Africa over the weekend,
some of the Zimbabweans who work at the Mountain Inn Hotel in Lousi
Trichardt said there was rampant "unemployment which would make it difficult
for them to earn a living".
"I cannot come home because there are no
jobs," said a waitress at the three star but plush hotel in South
Africa.
"Even then I do not have sufficient qualifications to get a good
job and earn cash which I am earning here in South Africa. I want to come
home because I am very home sick."
Another worker, a barman in the
same hotel said: "It is expensive in Zimbabwe when you convert Rands into
United States dollars today.
"Here we stay in the hotel, we get free food
and we do not have to travel at all and so our cash is put into the
bank.
"I feel safe here because at least I can send some cash back to my
family whom I have not seen for a long time."
Some workers said even
if they returned they could not get jobs because there is a lot of
"unemployment in Zimbabwe right now".
Officially the country has
published an unemployment rate of about 80 percent, but analysts point out
that this cannot be true because some individuals work in the "informal
sector" - buying and selling - such that they are not counted by the
statisticians who compile the "disputed" figures.
Thousands of
Zimbabwean lost jobs during the period of hyperinflation when the rate stood
at 231 million percent, the highest in the world, a record.
The worthless
Zimbabwe dollar was used as legal tender forcing citizens to dash to South
Africa for jobs.It is believed that there are more than four million
Zimbabwean in South Africa doing menial jobs.
The workers are in
restaurants, on farms, supermarkets, whole some are employed as house girls
and gardeners.
"I really want to return to Zimbabwe but I am worried that
I will not get a job," the barman told Radio VOP.
"President Robert
Mugabe and Prime Minister, Morgan Tsvangirai, must come up with a quick
solution soon or we will stay here despite being labeled refugees." There
are about 20 Zimbabweans working in the three-star Mountain Inn Hotel in
Louis Trichardt, South Africa.
Zimbabwean
asylum seekers in the border town of Musina line up for
pre-registration
JOHANNESBURG, 29 November 2011 (IRIN) - Nearly half a
million asylum seekers in South Africa may lose their right to earn a living or
study while their refugee status is being determined after indications that the
government plans to amend legislation governing those rights.
An
announcement on 23 November that Cabinet is "reviewing" the minimum rights of
immigrants, including the right to work and study, was followed by a media
briefing two days later at which Mkuseli Apleni, Director General of the
Department of Home Affairs, suggested that the asylum seeker system was being
abused.
"The right [of asylum seekers] to work and study has created a
problem," he said. "People by default are going through the asylum seeker
process in order to be able to work, but the majority are economic migrants
using a back door."
Apleni noted that South Africa has the largest
number of asylum seeker applications in the world. The system needed
"streamlining", he said, and an amendment to current legislation would likely be
passed in the next legislative year.
Refugee rights groups have reacted
to the announcement with alarm. A joint statement by several civil society
groups, including the Zimbabwe Exiles Forum, and People Against Suffering,
Oppression and Poverty (PASSOP), argues that the review is a precursor to the
withdrawal of rights that will "force more asylum seekers underground, thus
making them liable to exploitation".
"It's going to limit people's
employment opportunities, deny children living here a right to education, [and]
increase tensions with locals," predicted PASSOP director Braam Hanekom.
South Africa's 1998 Refugees Act is silent on the question of whether
someone who has been issued an asylum seeker permit can work or study while
awaiting a decision on their refugee status. An attempt by Home Affairs to
expressly prohibit work and study was challenged when a case was brought to
court in 2003 by the Cape Town-based Legal Resources Centre (LRC) on behalf of a
Zimbabwean woman and her disabled son.
All these things are
part of a pattern and it's the wrong way of going about things - it's
unconstitutional and it doesn't comply with our refugees act
The matter went to the Supreme Court of Appeals, where
the judge ruled that freedom to work and study were "an important component of
human dignity", and guaranteed by the country's Bill of Rights.
"The
judgement was a resounding endorsement of asylum seekers' right to work, and
they're obviously trying to override that," said William Kerfoot, the LRC
attorney who handled the case.
Asylum seekers, who are not eligible for
any kind of social support, often wait years for their applications to be
processed, and prohibiting them from working "effectively turned them into
criminals or beggars", he commented.
More than half of asylum seeker
applications in South Africa are made by Zimbabweans fleeing economic hardship
and human rights violations. Very few of them are eventually recognized as
refugees, but applying for asylum is often their only legal avenue for remaining
in the country.
The resulting flood of applications has created a
backlog in the asylum system that the Department of Home Affairs attempted to
address in 2009 by introducing a special dispensation to lift the threat of
deportation from undocumented Zimbabwean migrants.
In the latter half of
2010, Zimbabwean migrants were given the opportunity to apply for work and study
permits, and those already in possession of asylum seeker permits were
encouraged to trade them in. Only about 275,000 of the up to 1.5 million
Zimbabweans that the International Organization for Migration estimates are
living in South Africa participated in the documentation
process and many are still waiting for their permits to be issued.
Home
Affairs recently resumed the arrest and deportation of undocumented
Zimbabweans, and according to news reports about 4,000 have been deported via
South Africa's Beitbridge border post to Zimbabwe since early October 2011.
"[The government] has been trying to do something about the asylum
system for a long time, but the rhetoric is all about stopping economic migrants
from coming in," said Roni Amit, a researcher at the African Centre for
Migration and Society at Witwatersrand University in Johannesburg.
"It is true that there are people who are economic
migrants who are applying for asylum because they have no other option. If they
provide an alternative system that would be an improvement, but they seem to be
more concerned about people who are abusing the system than people who are in
need of protection and aren't getting it," she said.
Apleni did not
provide details of any planned alternative system, but suggested that the
amendments would help deal with the backlog and ensure genuine asylum seeker
applications were processed more quickly.
"South Africans must feel
safe," he told journalists at the media briefing. "If we're not able to control
our illegal immigration, people won't feel safe."
Kerfoot interpreted
the latest government announcement as further evidence of "an overall harsher
regime towards asylum seekers". He pointed to recent amendments to the
Immigration Act reducing the time asylum seekers have to report to a refugee
reception office after entering the country, as well as the closure of two of
seven such offices, one in Johannesburg and another in the city of Port
Elizabeth on the south coast.
"All these things are part of the same
pattern and it's the wrong way of going about things - it's unconstitutional and
it doesn't comply with our refugees act," he told IRIN.
The statement
from PASSOP and other refugee rights groups expresses similar concerns about
"what now appears a campaign against asylum seekers".
[This report does not
necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]
Kubatana subscribers
have informed us of some fishy accounting on their bills, where ZESA is over
stating the subtotal of a given unit charge multiplied by number of units.
For example, on one customer’s bill, the first 50 units is charged at 0.02
cents per unit which equals $1.00. The bill however states $1.20. The next
250 units is charged at 0.11 cents per unit which equals $27.50 – the bill
states $28.00.
Together, those two mis-multiplied figures equal 70 cents
– not a lot of money, but taken across thousands of customers each month,
this could really add up.
Another subscriber reported similar
mis-charging on the part of ZESA, with subtotals not adding up to the unit
consumption multiplied by consumption rate, and also with the consumption
not being charged at the correct rate.
According to the tariff schedule
of 1 September, unit charges for domestic metered customers are:
*
First 50 kWh: $0.02 per kWh * 51-300 kWh: $0.11 per kWh * 301+ kWh: $0.15
per kWh
Be informed. Inspect your ZESA bill carefully, and double check
that they are charging you correctly. Query your bill when necessary, and
insist on regular meter readings.
This entry was posted on
November 29th, 2011 at 1:34 pm by Bev Clark
FAR from the
glossy image of himself as a gallant Pan-Africanist and brave defender of
black economic and political rights that Robert Mugabe has sold to the
world, a close scrutiny of his political record shows how he has served
British economic and political interests in Zimbabwe and Africa at large
with an ear-to-ear smile.
So sad this is, because many young
revolutionaries throughout Africa, including the brave Julius Malema, have
exalted the name of Mugabe as a revolutionary role model of the calibre of
Patrice Lumumba, while in reality he is a wrong model of the likes of Idi
Amin and Moise Tshombe - a venal dictator and conspirator against African
interests by night who by day masquerades as an African liberator of
messianic extents.
The violent and chaotic land reform project that has
been sold around as evidence of Mugabe's loyalty to black empowerment
principles because it involved taking land from white farmers and giving it
to blacks, was carried out in panic after Mugabe and his Zanu-PF party were
rejected by the people in a constitutional referendum in 2000.
The
seized land became a fat bribe with which Mugabe sought to buy back the
political favour of the peasants who had resoundingly forsaken him and his
party.
When his political position was not threatened Mugabe was
happy to protect British farms, mines and factories in Zimbabwe.
For
looking after their economic interests, the whites in Zimbabwe supported
Mugabe and his party financially and politically. In the thickness of the
Gururahundi genocide in 1985, which left 40000 Matebeles dead, Jim Sinclair,
the then president of the white commercial farmers union, said the genocide
was "justified", as the government of Mugabe had a "legitimate right to rule
the country as it saw fit".
At the same time, asked by the BBC
Panorama stringers for comment, British deputy high commissioner Roger
Martin defended Mugabe's ethnic cleansing as "comprehensible, it has a
certain rationality other than mere brutishness", he said.
The
symbiotic relationship between Mugabe and the British did not end with
rhetorical support and money changing hands, but it extended to royal
endorsement for Mugabe and his policies.
In 1994 the queen of England
invited Mugabe to England's Buckingham Palace and Knighted him with the
Order of Bath when Mugabe's hands were still dripping with the blood of
black civilians slaughtered in the Gukurahundi genocide.
British
mining magnate and media mogul Tiny Roland, whose disused mine in Bhalagwe,
Matabeleland South, was turned by Mugabe into a huge mass grave, was
splashing money on Mugabe and Zanu-PF.
So generous was Roland to Zanu-PF
in gratitude for mining rights and other fat business concessions that he
fired a journalist, Donald Trafford, from his newspaper in England for
reporting on Gukurahundi as a crime against humanity.
Only in the
year 2000, when the British turned around to support the new MDC party and
Morgan Tsvangirai, a former Mugabe stalwart, did Mugabe start seizing
white-owned farms, mines, factories and other businesses British nationals
and whites to fix them for turning against him and his party that had looked
after their interests so well. It was for political expediency, not
principle, as we are told.
At about the same time, the war veterans of
Zimbabwe's liberation were clamouring for compensation for their war
troubles and injuries and threatening to align with the ZCTU labour movement
to topple Mugabe once and for all.
Mugabe paid them off and turned
them into his private reserve army which he used to punish the whites and
MDC supporters in a storm of political violence.
It was only then,
when whites began to be killed by Mugabe's mobs that the British began to
condemn Mugabe for human rights abuses and to impose travel and economic
sanctions on him and his comrades.
Clearly, both Mugabe and the British
are partners in crimes against the people of Zimbabwe and not the enemies
they present themselves.
Even more hypocritical is the pretence by Mugabe
that he is a courageous son of Africa whose life is dedicated to fighting
imperialism and defending black economic and political rights.
It's
true he spent 11 years behind the bars of a Rhodesian prison for his
contribution to the liberation struggle in Zimbabwe, but he turned around
and conspired with the British against Zimbabweans and with their support
committed genocide and ethnic cleansing.
When Cecil John Rhodes and
his pioneers landed in Zimbabwe, for the mineral wealth of the land, its
scenic beauty, sunshine and fertility, he named it "the jewel of Africa" and
pronounced that "natives must never be allowed to govern their own affairs
because they will finish each other off".
Many decades later Ian Smith
was to vow that "never in a thousand years will black majority rule happen"
in Zimbabwe, then Rhodesia.
By committing genocide, turning violence into
an arm of government and terror into a national policy, Mugabe has given
truth to Rhodes's unfortunate and false prophecy about the blacks and
primitive resort to violence and cruelty.
By refusing to leave office
after being defeated in elections and ensuring that his party - which is now
an unpopular minority - remains in power by force, Mugabe fulfils Smith's
racist statement that black majority rule will never in a thousand years
happen in Zimbabwe.
In true history, Mugabe will go down the annals of
posterity as the man who reduced a country that was the breadbasket of
Africa to a basket case of poverty, disease and pestilence, whose citizens
are now scattered throughout the globe as political and economic
refugees.
Calling Mugabe a gallant Pan-Africanist who is committed to
black economic empowerment is as true as claiming Osama bin Laden was an
Anglican bishop.
Mpofu is a media, journalism and public relations
consultant
Former X Factor contestant
Gamu Nhengu, her two brothers and her mother have won their fight to stay in
the UK.
The teenager and her family, originally from Zimbabwe, had been
refused leave to remain in the UK in February by the Home
Office.
Earlier this year, the family successfully appealed the decision,
but the Home Office then tried to overturn the decision and have the family
deported.
The Home Office confirmed a judge at the Immigration Court
in Glasgow refused the Home Office appeal - meaning that the young singer
and her family have been granted leave to remain in the country.
The
family's lawyer, Frances Farrell, said the family were "delighted".
She
said: "This has come after such a long ordeal.
"The Home Office has a
last resort appeal right to the Court of Session, but I hope they respect
the judgment made today.
"My client has been granted leave to remain in
the UK so now she and her family are able to get on with their lives and put
this behind them."
The teenager, who lives in Tillicoultry,
Clackmannanshire, shot to fame on last year's X Factor when she was
controversially booted off the show during the judges' houses
round.
Gamu was dropped by judge Cheryl Cole, who took Katie Waissel,
Cher Lloyd and Rebecca Ferguson through to the live finals.
The
singer's mother had her visa renewal turned down in August 2010, sparking a
long battle against deportation to Zimbabwe.
But a UK Borders Agency
spokesman said they were "disappointed" with the ruling.
He said: "We
are disappointed with the court's decision in this case and will be looking
closely at the judgment.
"The UK Border Agency considers every case
carefully and where we do not believe someone has the right to stay in the
country, and they do not require our protection, we expect them to return
home."
Marange Diamond Revenue: A Clueless Jigsaw Puzzle?
By Clifford Chitupa
Mashiri, 29/11/11.
The statistics or estimates of proceeds from Marange
diamonds are so mind-boggling in their discrepancies that at the end of the
day, one is left with a clueless jigsaw puzzle, if not a
headache.
For instance, following the lifting of the ban on the sale of
Marange diamonds by the Kimberley Process (KP) Zanu-pf Mines Minister Obert
Mpofu announced that the government expects US$2 billion yearly gross from
Marange diamond sales.
Then there was a hint that of that amount,
US$300 million was earmarked for civil servants bonuses, without clarity
about what the rest of the greater portion of the remaining US$1.7 billion
would be used for after paying shareholders and hopefully
taxes.
Meanwhile, the US$300million for civil service pay arguably
includes an estimated 75 000 ghost workers when government is spending
US$960 million or more than 60 percent of its revenues per year on recurrent
expenditure without any meaningful investment in infrastructure unlike other
SADC countries.
Just two months ago, a war of words erupted between
Finance Minister Tendai Biti and Mines Minister Obert Mpofu over the
remittance of money realised from the sale of diamonds.
Of concern
were the low remittance figures despite the huge production at Marange in
2011. For example, between January and June 2011, Zimbabwe exported 716
958.50 carats from Marange diamond fields and during that period only
US$103.9 million of diamond export shipments was accounted for.
Then, in
his recent budget speech, Finance Minister Tendai Biti confirmed diamond
dividend receipts of US$ 122 million in 2011 and said he had held extensive
consultations with the Mines Minister and diamond producers who had assured
him of minimum US$600 million additional revenue for 2012.
Now, if during
the first half of 2011 only US$103.9 million of diamond exports were
accounted for and by November 2011 the year’s proceeds to Treasury totalled
US$122 million, it means only US$18.1million of diamonds were exported in
the second half of 2011 - a huge discrepancy that defies logic and deserves
clarification.
In 2010, declared total proceeds from diamond sales
amounted to US$313.5 million from which Government received US$48.4 million
while US$41.6 million was belatedly received in February 2011. The rest was
reportedly paid to ZIMRA as royalties, corporate tax, VAT and withholding
tax.
How do the ministers account for such wide variances in their
estimates in view of last year’s unconvincing figures and remittances amidst
allegations of smuggling and undervaluing of Zimbabwe’s gems which were then
sold on Asian markets for a song?
For instance, if in 2010, diamond
revenue was US$313 million how does Minister Mpofu account for his estimate
of US$2billion annually henceforth? Does that mean because there are no more
loopholes, so we can expect more revenue? Can Mpofu’s estimate also apply in
retrospect?
Similarly, if Treasury received only US$122million in 2011,
what has convinced it that it will get a minimum US$600 million in
2012?
I often say to people who have an interest and
concern for what is going on in Zimbabwe that if they are not confused; then
they have not been here long enough. The confusion arises from deliberate
misleading information in the public sphere, and often just because events
move fast behind the scenes and the various players are trying to
outmaneuver each other.
Since 2000, three centers of power in Zimbabwe
have emerged and are engaged in a savage struggle for supremacy. Each of
these power centers have subgroups and divisions of their own – but remain
today as coherent centers of power. These are: - - The JOC, a military
structure inherited by Mugabe in 1980 from the Rhodesian war which has
evolved into a form of a military Junta in the past decade. It is dominated
by the military but has a number of senior hardliners from Zanu PF in its
ranks; - Zanu PF under the leadership of Robert Mugabe, a clever, if
reclusive and aging leader who has maintained an iron grip on the Party and
the State through a mixture of intelligence, hard discipline sometimes
involving targeted assassinations and patronage on a massive scale; - and
the MDC under the leadership of Morgan Tsvangirai, a genuine democrat who
has long association with Zanu PF but who split with the Party in 1997 after
concluding that Zanu PF had to be removed from power if Zimbabwe was to make
progress.
The emergence of this third leg in the power structure gave
rise to a massive reaction from both the JOC and Zanu PF which essentially
destroyed the economy and eventually drew in the region in an effort to halt
the carnage and limit collateral damage on Zimbabwe’s
neighbors.
While these three centers of power struggled for ascendancy
over the past decade, the intervention of the region gradually metamorphosed
into the form it has today and this is critical to understanding the present
situation and assessing any possible outcome.
In 2000, South Africa,
the regional super power, concluded that a MDC victory in the struggle in
Zimbabwe would not be in its interests and over the following three years
they used their diplomatic and regional power to back Zanu PF and Robert
Mugabe, the JOC occupied a supportive role and MDC was totally outgunned –
its only power source being its growing cohesion and popular
support.
In 2004 and 2005, South Africa decided first that Mugabe had
become a liability and sought, with the help of senior Zanu PF leaders and
the JOC, to have him replaced as leader of Zanu PF. In 2005 South Africa
concluded that both Mugabe and Tsvangirai were a hindrance to securing a
workable solution and worked clandestinely to have both men removed from the
legs of the power pot that they represented.
In 2006/7 the South
Africans decided that their strategies in Zimbabwe were not working and they
moved to support a process of negotiated change in Zimbabwe which would
bring into being a workable government that would be able to attract
international support and enable recovery in the economic sphere and
stabilize the political situation. This gave rise to the GPA process and
eventually created the present Transitional Government in which Zanu PF and
the MDC share power.
The main problem was that the new nature of the new
government was a recipe for deadlock and did nothing to resolve the
underlying power struggle. It did however give the MDC real power for the
first time, for many this was a burden, not a new opportunity, and spurred
efforts to co-opt the MDC and blur its image as a real agent of change. MDC
meetings have become associated with rows of luxury vehicles where in the
past only mini busses and broken down jalopies attended MDC meetings – all
the result of its new links to the power and patronage structures of
government created by Zanu PF over the past 30 years.
But the new
arrangement has halted the decline in the economy and started a recovery.
This has been retarded by deliberate subversion of the economy by Zanu PF
because the recovery is seen as being a sole MDC construct. It has also
complicated the nature of the political struggle. Images of Mugabe and
Tsvangirai working together have muddied the water in which the struggle is
being waged.
The other major change has been in the nature of South
African engagement. This has been driven by ancillary developments in the
region – the change in leadership in South Africa, changes within the ANC
and then changes in the nature and character of SADC support and
intervention.
While this situation has metamorphosed into what faces us
today, the situation within the three pillars of power in Zimbabwe has
changed. In Zanu PF the major development has been the decline in the health
of its leader, Mugabe. It is now clear to all associated with our crisis
that a leadership change in Zanu PF is only a question of time. How it will
happen depends on the leadership of Zanu PF itself and the continued ability
of Mugabe to maintain his grip on power within the Party and in
Government.
In the MDC leg to the Pot, power has consolidated around
Tsvangirai who is clearly the man of the future. The other factions of the
MDC that are products of the 2005 machinations of South African meddling
have faded into irrelevancy.
The JOC remains intact but has been
severely damaged by preemptive strikes from South Africa. Denied any
possibility of an independent attempt at grasping power using its military
and political power, the leadership is contemplating how they can grasp
control of the leadership in Zanu PF, now their only hope of remaining
relevant. The belief that they can take control and assume the leadership of
Zanu PF and thereby the Presidency, is astonishing and is characterized by
supreme unjustified arrogance.
For Zanu PF the Rubicon is approaching in
the form of their National Conference next week. If they stick to Mugabe as
their President and candidate for any coming election they will be the
laughing stock of the country. Mugabe is clearly no longer able to campaign
or manage the State effectively.
Last week we understand the South
African Cabinet agreed to a new strategy for resolving the never ending
crisis in Zimbabwe. As the case in the past this will be pivotal in
determining what happens here in the next few weeks and months. For me, the
way is clear; South Africa will force the parties to the crisis in Zimbabwe
to negotiate a compromise. This will bring Tsvangirai to power as President
under a revised constitution and create a reformed National Unity Government
that will dissolve the JOC, normalize the environment for eventual elections
and allow the full recovery on international relations and the
economy.
Bill Watch 53/2011 of 28th November [2012 Budget Highlights and Getting Money Bills Through Parliament ]
BILL
WATCH 53/2011
[28th November
2011]
The
2012 Budget
Note:
Budget for Constitutional and Referendum but No Budget for Elections
The Minister of
Finance, Hon Tendai Biti, presented the 2012 Budget Statement in the House of
Assembly on 24th November, taking just over two hours to deliver his speech, at
the end of which he tabled the Estimates of Expenditure for 2012.[See
Budget Highlights below.]
The Minister of
Constitutional and Parliamentary Affairs, Hon Eric Matinenga,
then
moved the adjournment of the debate, explaining that members and especially
portfolio committees needed time to look into the Budget Statement and
analyse the Estimates. The
House of Assembly accordingly adjourned until Thursday 1st December, when debate
will continue.From Monday 28th November
to Thursday 1st December portfolio committees will conduct their post-Budget
analysis and prepare reports to be presented to the House when debate resumes.
The
Budget on the Internet
The
full texts of the Budget Statement and the Estimates of Expenditure [the “Blue
Book”] can be downloaded from the Ministry of Finance websiteat http://www.zimtreasury.org/downloads/.Both documents
are in PDF format: the Budget Statement is 4.1MB, and the Blue Book is 1MB.[If you do not
have suitable Internet access, both documents are available on request from
veritas@mango.zw]
Budget
Highlights
No funds for
elections:The
Minister has not allocated any funds for the holding of the next general
election – an indication that at this stage a general election in 2012 is
considered highly unlikely by all sides [this is in fact a Government-approvedBudget, not just the Minister of Finance’s
budget].Addressing a Confederation
of Zimbabwe Industries post-budget meeting on 25th November the Minister said it
would be almost impossible to hold an election next year because of the
political situation.The issue was
political than budgetary; if an election was called resources for it would have
to be found. [Note:
When listing the themes on which the Budget would focus, the Minister mentioned
support to “election preparedness, including the Voters Roll” as a
component of “monetizing the GPA provisions”.]
Budget for
Constitution-Making Process and Referendum:The
Minister said that “to facilitate
adoption and approval of the new Constitution, which is currently at its
finalisation
stage”
he proposed allocating $30 million towards “completion of the constitution-making process
and the Referendum”.
A pro-Poor Budget:The Minister emphasised
that the intention of the Budget is to focus on “attaining both growth that is pro-poor,
broad based across all sectors, and a pattern of growth that moves us towards
structural transformation”.There
will be a $20 million Jobs Fund aimed at reducing
unemployment.
Cash budgeting to continue:The watchword will continue
to be that the government can only spend what it earns.
Revenue projection boosted by expected diamond
revenues:The Budget Strategy Paper
framed in August estimated revenue of $3.4 billion for 2012.But the decision by the Kimberley Process on
1st November to approve sales of Marange diamonds resulted in an upward
adjustment of projected revenue by $600 million to $4 billion, with a
corresponding expansion of estimated expenditure.The Minister said half the additional $600
million would go to infrastructure development, and half to recurrent
expenditure, including paying Government arrears to service providers [$17
million], student grants [$25 million] and the constitution-making process and
referendum [$30 million].
State wages bill still disproportionate:The Minister bemoaned the
fact that a high and disproportionate share of Budget expenditures has to go to
wages [57%]
Expenditure - Selected Figures
[All figures to nearest million]
Total projected expenditure:This is $4 billion, made up
of:
·Constitutional and statutory appropriations:$352 million [see below for
details]
·Vote appropriations:$3.648
billion [see
below for selected individual votes]
Constitutional and statutory appropriations [“cons and
stats”]
These amounts must be paid out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund [CRF]
by virtue of appropriations already made by the Constitution and Acts of
Parliament mandating payments from the CRF for specific purposes.As such they do not have to be approved by
Parliament again during the current Budget exercise, but they must be
covered by revenue.Examples of cons and
stats are: the salaries and allowances of the President, the Speaker of the
House of Assembly and the President of the Senate, the judges and other
constitutional appointees such as the Public Protector and Comptroller and
Auditor-General; State service pensions; and war veterans and ex-political
prisoners pensions.Pension-related
payments account for the bulk of cons and stats.Amounts listed under this heading include:
President’s salary and allowances:$97 000
Speaker’s and Senate President’s salary and allowances:$150 000
State service pensions:$178
million
Commutation of State service pensions:$$51 million
War veterans and ex-political prisoners pensions:$91 million
Allocations
[These and all the other “vote appropriations” in the Estimates of
Expenditure require the approval of the House of Assembly and enactment into law
by the Appropriation Bill.They include
the majority of State employment costs.]
President and Cabinet Office:$172 million, including:
Foreign travel expenses:$25
million
State residences:$14
million
Prime Minister’s Office:$19
million, including:
Foreign travel expenses:$7
million
Education and Higher and Tertiary Education:$1.15 billion all told, covering:
Education:$707
million
Higher and Tertiary Education:$296 million
Health:$346 million
Defence:$318
million
Home Affairs [including Police]:$308 million
Police:$274
million
Registrar-General:$18
million
Agriculture:$227
million
Public Service:$126 million
[mainly employment costs]
Justice and Legal Affairs:$111 million
This includes the Prison Service [$83 million] and the Attorney-General’s Office [$4 million], but not the Judicial Service, which comes under the
separate vote for the Judicial Service Commission.
Youth Development, Indigenisation and Empowerment:$48 million, of which
Employment costs account for $30 million
Judicial Service Commission:$23 million [including $9 million for employment costs – salaries and
allowances of magistrates and supporting staff]
Parliament:$18 million
Constitutional and Parliamentary Affairs:$10
million
[he amount allocated for constituency development funds remains the
same as for 2011: $800 000.
Taxation Proposals
Income tax-free threshold:This is to be increased
from $225 to $250 per month, effective 1st January 2012.
Income tax bands:Tax bands will be widened,
starting at $250 and going up to $10 000, above which income will be taxed at
the highest rate of 45%, effective 1st January 2012.
Bonus tax exempt threshold:This is to be raised from
$500 to $700 with effect from 1st November 2011, i.e., it will be applicable to 2011 end-of-year
bonuses.
Civil service allowances to be tax-free: Civil service incentives not already tax-free will be tax exempt,
effective 1st November 2011 [allowances constitute nearly half of civil service
incomes].
Customs and excise duties:Various adjustments to
duties are proposed, both up [e.g., excise duty on cigarettes and customs duty
on some imported finished products, such as selected motor vehicles and
electrical goods, and fruit and vegetables in season] and down [e.g. customs
duties on some imported raw materials].There will be a rebate of customs duty on sporting kit and equipment
donated to registered sports associations.
Royalties on precious metals:There will be an increase
in gold [4.5% to 7%] and platinum [5% to 10%] royalties.
Cooperating Partner/Donor Assistance
The Minister estimated that for 2012 cooperating partner/donor
assistance would be about $500 million.[In 2011 they pledged $618 million for 2011, of which $371 million
had been disbursed by September, outside the Budget framework, mainly in
humanitarian assistance rather than development assistance.] He said that the Government would continue to engage cooperating
partners to increase and broaden support, “preferably by gradually shifting from
humanitarian to development assistance” and “on the need to graduate from off-Budget
support”.Like the 2011 Budget, this
Budget does not list donor funding in the Ministry of Finance’s Vote of Credit [this was last done in the 2010 Budget].
Getting
the Budget through Parliament
When it resumes on 1st December the House of Assembly will debate the
Minister’s Budget Statement before considering the Estimates of
Expenditure.The Estimates will be dealt
with in a special committee of the whole House called the Committee of
Supply.The Estimates are divided into
parts called “Votes”.Each Vote lists
the funds to be allocated to a particular Ministry or other accounting entity
[e.g. the Judicial Service Commission or the Audit Office], giving a breakdown
of the different classes of expenditure authorised.The House will consider each of the 38 Votes
separately.
If the House approves both Budget and Estimates, it will then move on
to consider the two Bills that give effect to the Budget:the Appropriation Bill, which will authorise
Government expenditure for 2012 in accordance with the approved Estimates, and
the Finance Bill, to give effect to those aspects of the Minister’s taxation
proposals which cannot be implemented by statutory
instrument.
Motion
passed to “fast-track” Estimates and Bills:Immediately before the Budget presentation
last Thursday afternoon the House approved a Government motion, proposed by
Constitutional and Parliamentary Affairs
Minister Eric Matinenga, suspending various certain Standing Orders to enable
the House to fast track the consideration and approval of the Estimates, and the
two Budget-related Bills.[This means the House’s ordinary rules about
taking only one stage of a Bill on the same day, adjourning at 7 pm, not
ordinarily sitting on Friday, adjourning at 1 pm on a Friday and allowing the
Parliamentary Legal Committee 26 days to report on a Bill, will not apply.]
It remains to be seen whether
allowing fast-tracking will enable Parliament to get through everything that
needs to be done on Thursday 1st and Friday 2nd December.If it does not, there will have to be a break
of at least a week to allow ZANU-PFMPs
to attend the ZANU-PFconference
in Bulawayo from 6th to 9th December.Depending on progress, therefore, one or both of the Houses may have to
sit during the week commencing Tuesday 13th December.[Note:
The fast-tracking resolution does not apply to any other Bills, so there is no
prospect of any other Bills, such as the lapsed and controversial Human Rights
Commission Bill and Electoral Amendment Bill, being rushed through before the
end of the year.]
Possible Resistance from MPs:MPs have become
increasingly discontented about Parliament being treated as a rubber-stamp
institution by the Executive.What can
they do if not happy with aspects of the Budget?According to Standing Orders MPs cannot vote
to increase allocations proposed by the Minister, but they are allowed to show
their disapproval by reducing or omitting allocations for purposes not
acceptable to them.Or they could refuse
to approve the Estimates and the Bills, thereby forcing a re-think of the
Budget.That would be unusual, but would
not necessarily bring the business of government to a grinding halt at the end
of the year.In accordance with the
Constitution, there is provision in the Public Finance Management Act for
limited temporary financing of government activities for the first four months
of 2012 if the Appropriation Bill is not passed.There are indications from yesterday’s
post-Budget workshop that although a motion was passed to fast-track the Budget
bills the MP’s will refuse to do so and will want to take their time.
Role of the Senate:If passed by the House of
Assembly, the two Budget Bills will be transmitted to the Senate.If the Senate does not want any amendments to
the Bill and the Bill is passed as it comes from the House, it will go straight
to the President to sign.If the Senate
want to amend the Bill, according to the Constitution, as both Bills are “money
bills” it cannot do so directly.It has
to recommend its amendments to the House and the House must consider them, but
is not obliged to accept them.If the
House accepts the Senate’s suggested amendments, they will be incorporated
before the Bill is then submitted to the President for assent.
Veritas makes every effort to ensure reliable information, but cannot
take legal responsibility for information supplied
All these things are
part of a pattern and it's the wrong way of going about things - it's
unconstitutional and it doesn't comply with our refugees act
