FinGaz
Staff Reporters
lMinister faces
prosecution
A PARLIAMENTARY committee is baying for Industry and
International Trade
Minister Obert Mpofu's blood and calling for his
prosecution for giving
false evidence before Parliament.
The
committee plans to press the Minister of Finance to make public a report
naming top politicians that looted state-owned steel maker
Ziscosteel.
The portfolio committee on Foreign Affairs, Industry and
International
Trade, which is investigating the collapse of a US$400 million
management
deal between Global Steel Holdings Limited (GSHL) of India and
Ziscosteel,
accuses Mpofu and the permanent secretary in his ministry,
Christian
Katsande, of misleading the committee and committing perjury when
they
testified under oath before it.
The committee had been scheduled to
table a major report yesterday, but
lengthy debate on the Domestic Violence
Bill pushed the tabling off
yesterday's roll. However, The Financial Gazette
has obtained the report,
which reveals that the committee found how GSHL was
chosen out of nine
bidders without due diligence, that the Zisco board was
in the dark about
the deal, and that management at the steelworks had raised
the alarm over
US$145 000 worth of deals agreed between GSHL and Stemcor, a
South African
associate.
Saying it doubted the credibility of Mpofu's
testimony, the committee urged
Parliament to "invoke provisions of the
appropriate legislation relating to
false evidence before a Committee in
regard to the contradicting, false
evidence given to the Committee by the
minister."
The committee found that procedures were not followed in choosing
GSHL as a
partner for Zisco, and reveals how Mpofu had professed ignorance
about
relevant legislation governing such deals. The powers of the Zisco
board,
which was supposed to represent the shareholders' interests, had been
"usurped" by the ministry which signed the GSHL agreement.
Mpofu had told
the committee of the existence of "a thick file which if you
see it, you
will be shocked", that he said he had asked Anti-Corruption
Minister
Munyaradzi Paul Mangwana to "hold on to" so as not to scare
investors
away.
However, the committee's report says in later testimony when he was
asked to
name the culprits, Mpofu said: "I am not aware of anybody and even
the
report that is being referred to was done long before I came . . . I am
not
aware of any individual MP - I even included myself - that could be
benefiting. It was just a supposition because we are dealing with a national
asset which touches on all of us."
The report says, the "committee was
deeply concerned that it had been
deliberately misled by the minister." When
the committee made efforts to lay
its hands on the document, it was tossed
between Mangwana's ministry and the
Finance Ministry, under which the
National Economic Conduct Inspectorate
(NECI) falls.
"The committee
strongly suspects that the report referred to by (Mpofu)
exists and contents
of the report are consistent with the minister's
submission that the
contents are quite shocking. It is also the committee's
considered view
that, contrary to the minister's view of shelving corrupt
activities during
negotiations with investors, culprits must be brought to
book as part of the
solution to Zisco's problems."
The committee will recommend that "the
Minister of Finance avails the
National Economic Conduct Inspectorate (NECI)
report to Parliament for study
and if need be take appropriate action with a
view to curbing corruption in
the country."
The NECI led investigations
into the corruption at Zisco, but its report has
been shrouded in secrecy.
While Mangwana initially raved about bringing to
book those named in the
report, State Security Minister Didymus Mutasa has
denied the existence of
any such report.
Investigations by the committee revealed that GSHL was
awarded a contract
against a background of multi-billion dollar lawsuits
pertaining to
agreements in Nigeria and the United States of America where
the company had
entered into steel deals which it had failed to
honour
The report adds: "The implementation of the contract was unplanned,
improper, and highly questionable. There were no provisions for evaluation
and monitoring mechanisms that were put in place by both parties, a
situation that gave GSHL free rein in the whole deal."
One source added
yesterday: "The committee wondered whether proper
procedures were followed
in the declaration of steel that was exported to
Botswana, Zambia and other
points in Southern Africa. We wonder whether
proper declaration procedures
in the form of CD 1 forms were followed in
these transactions,"
GSHL was
supposed to inject US$400 million into the project as new working
capital
but this did not happen.
FinGaz
Njabulo NcubeChief Political
Reporter
THE government has justified its brutal suppression of the
planned September
13 protest marches by the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade
Unions (ZCTU) by
declaring that the motive of the trade unionists - who were
allegedly
tortured while in police custody - was to unseat President Robert
Mugabe
through violent demonstrations.
In a three-page response to
the International Labour Organisation, the
Secretary for Public Service,
Labour and Social Welfare, Lancaster Museka,
said the ZCTU leaders had no
right to engage in an illegal demonstration.
The ILO had sought the
government's response to the torture allegations.
Museka, however, did not
say anything about the torture of the unionists,
who included ZCTU president
Lovemore Matombo, secretary-general Wellington
Chibhebhe, first vice
president Lucia Matibenga and others. They were all
seriously injured when
they were arrested as they prepared to lead a march
into the streets of
Harare to protest against the harsh economic environment
and other issues
affecting workers.
Medical reports obtained by The Financial Gazette last
month confirmed that
the activists were brutalised while in police custody.
The police brutality
has been roundly condemned the world over. Police, who
defied a magistrate's
order to probe the assault, have claimed they used
'minimal force' on the
protesters.
"A few politically inclined
individuals in the ZCTU
leadership called for the said demonstration in
collaboration with the
oppositional political party (MDC) and other
quasi-political organisations
such as the Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition and
the National Constitutional
Assembly. This demonstration was indeed meant to
provide a litmus test to
the proclaimed MDC policy of unleashing a "wave of
demonstrations" in their
bid to unconstitutionally remove the democratically
elected Government of
Zimbabwe. It is in this respect that the demonstration
ceased to be a
workers' activity and thus was subject to the laws of the
land governing
political demonstrations," said Museka. "It is prudent to
note that in
refusing to sanction the demonstration, the regulating
authority took
cognisance of the fact that the MDC, which was a party to the
said
demonstrations, had recently experienced near fatal internal violent
skirmishes. It was therefore in the internal interest of the common good
that the regulating authority did not grant permission for this
demonstration to be undertaken. Those aggrieved by the decision of the
regulating authority had judiciary recourse to the decision at their
disposal as provided for by the law governing such matters," he
said.
Issues cited by the ZCTU as necessitating the scuttled workers' protest
included the need to link wages and salaries to the Poverty Datum Line
(PDL), availability of antiretroviral drugs and the reduction of income tax
for the generality of the impoverished workers. But Museka said these issues
should have been discussed at the Tripartite Negotiating Forum, a grouping
involving government, business and labour which has been dormant over the
past few months due to sharp differences, especially between the government
and labour.
The government accuses the ZCTU, which gave birth to the MDC
in 1999, of
negotiating in bad faith and working in cahoots with the main
opposition to
unseat it. "I wish to point out that the issues cited as the
reasons for the
demonstrations are within the purview of the social dialogue
process and
some are indeed under consideration by the same process. It is
therefore
mind-boggling to note that one party to a process would elect to
pursue a
confrontational course of action over matters that all parties are
earnestly
preoccupied with", said Museka. "It is clear from the foregoing
that ZCTU
had no cause for the demonstration. This, in my view shows the
political
nature of the ZCTU leadership as they intended to demonstrate over
issues
which can be raised in appropriate social dialogue
initiatives."
The ZCTU leaders' lawyers have given notice of their intention
to appeal to
the Supreme Court to establish the constitutionality of the
Criminal
(Codification and Law Reform) Act under which their clients were
charged
with respect to the foiled demonstrations.
The presiding
magistrate is expected to rule on the matter when the
unionists' trial
resumes on December 4.
FinGaz
Staff Reporter
PRESIDENT
Robert Mugabe has too much power and it must be curbed, church
leaders have
said, in one of a raft of recommendations that have drawn the
ire of
hardliners within the ruling ZANU PF.
Although government spokesmen and
media say publicly that they "welcome" the
document, titled The Zimbabwe We
Want, the initiative has angered senior
ZANU PF officials, one of whom
described the church effort as " reformist
nonsense".
The "vision
document" makes controversial recommendations ranging from a new
constitution - already rejected outright by President Mugabe as
"non-negotiable" - to allowing white former commercial farmers to return to
the land, the repealing of repressive laws and curtailing the powers of the
President.
"There is broad agreement that the powers enjoyed by the
President under the
current constitution need to be circumscribed. The main
differences are in
the manner and extent of the circumspection," the church
leaders said.
Despite public shows of support for the "national vision
document", a senior
ruling party official said yesterday that its contents
would be discussed at
a meeting of ZANU PF's politburo. The official
predicted that the politburo
would reject "much of the document, which by my
own assessment is really
awash with reformist nonsense."
The church
leaders deplored what they called the erosion of tolerance in
Zimbabwe but
conceded that their failure to speak out against ZANU PF
repression had
exacerbated the problem.
"Political intolerance has unfortunately become a
culture in Zimbabwe. The
trading of insults, violence with impunity,
lawlessness and hate speech have
unfortunately been a characteristic of
inter- and intra-party politics."
The document says Zimbabwe "must celebrate
a culture of tolerance of
dissent, political plurality and willingness to
accommodate political
differences."
The church leaders offered a
definition of patriotism that is in sharp
contrast to that of ZANU PF, which
largely sees patriotism as loyalty to it.
"Patriotism does not mean that we
develop uniformity in our thinking,
culture or political party. Citizens
should be able to constructively
criticize their government without fearing
that they will be accused of
being unpatriotic."
Also likely to be highly
contentious is the recommendation that former
commercial white farmers
should be allowed back onto the farms.
"The fast-track land redistribution
programme created new forms of
alienation because of its overtones. Let us
admit that many of those white
people were born and bred in Zimbabwe and
know no other country other than
Zimbabwe as their homeland."
The
possibility of white farmers going back to the land has already been
dismissed by State Security Minister Didymus Mutasa in remarks to The
Financial Gazette last week: "We are taking land from white people, and then
the same white people are applying for land. So which land are they applying
for?"
In remarks seen as critical of an offer by the church to use its
international networks to help Zimbabwe re-engage the international
community and end its isolation, President Mugabe said: "It must be stated
and restated that the Zimbabwe we want must be our Zimbabwe together. We
must have it, own it, and keep it. It cannot be the Zimbabwe we want if we
give it away so easily, under whatever guises."
It emerged this week that
there were already tensions between the church
leaders because of
differences over their approach to relations with
government. One casualty
was likely to be Bishop Trevor Manhanga, head of
the Evangelical Fellowship
of Zimbabwe (EFZ) and a key member of the church
grouping responsible for
the document. There are reported to be divisions
within EFZ, with sources
saying Manhanga would face an uphill struggle to
retain his post at the EFZ
annual general meeting on November 14.
The divisions came to the fore this
week in a teleconference interview with
leaders conducted by London- based
SW Radio Africa, when Manhanga described
as a "big lie" claims by critics
that the document had been foisted upon the
church by ZANU
PF.
Matabeleland Roman Catholic Diocese leader, Archbishop Pius Ncube, a
consistent anti-government critic, called the document "a rushed business",
but said he endorsed it in the absence of an alternative strategy to
confront ZANU PF.
"Zimbabweans are desperate; we are looking for every
possible way. So we are
saying if this document can be a road map towards
peace then perhaps half a
loaf is better than nothing," said the
cleric.
Bishop Levee Kadenge, of the Methodist Church in Zimbabwe, who leads
a
splinter pressure group, the Christian Alliance, said the vision document
had aspects that were similar to some objectives of his own group, but
complained that the larger church groups "continue to exclude us and to call
us names".
Meanwhile, the faction of the opposition MDC led by Morgan
Tsvangirai will
hold a national executive council meeting this weekend to
discuss its
reaction to the churches' initiative.
Tsvangirai's spokesman,
William Bango, said: "Unlike Mugabe who makes
decisions without
consultation, Mr. Tsvangirai has first to hear what other
members of the
national executive say and feel about the document."
FinGaz
Staff Reporter
'We'll
soon have the same problem in telecoms that we have in power'
A NEW law that
came into effect yesterday giving state phone company Tel*One
monopoly over
international traffic could force Zimbabwean mobile service
providers to
charge international outgoing calls in foreign currency, the
head of the
country's largest telecoms company has warned.
A statutory instrument
gazetted in March, compelling mobile phone companies
to route their
international traffic through Tel*One, was due to come into
effect
yesterday.
Douglas Mboweni, CEO of Econet Wireless, warns that this could see
subscribers paying for international calls in forex.
"Currently, making
an international call is a right enjoyed by every
customer, and we need to
keep it that way. If we allow this statutory
instrument to proceed without
amendments, then only a privileged few will
have access to international
calls," Mboweni said this week.
Operators are concerned that, because of
termination rate arrangements with
foreign operators, Zimbabwean operators
will now no longer have access to
foreign currency to pay overseas
networks.
"There will be complete chaos and people will either face blackouts
on
international calls or have to pay in foreign currency. We will have the
same problem in telecoms that we currently have in power," Econet spokesman
Sure Kamhunga said.
He said that whenever a subscriber on a network in
Zimbabwe makes an
international call to a subscriber on an overseas network,
the Zimbabwe
subscriber pays the home network for the call in Zimbabwe
dollars, but the
home network still has to pay the international network to
which the
receiving subscriber overseas is connected, what is called a
termination
rate, and this is charged in US dollars between networks.
On
the other hand, when a
person in Zimbabwe receives an international call,
their home network
charges the operator that sent the call in US dollars. At
the end of each
month, the operators then exchange invoices for calls made
between their
customers.
The operator whose customers made the most calls
pays out the difference to
its counterpart. Operators generally try to get a
balance in the flow of
traffic between them to avoid any net payout.
"If
you divert traffic destined to our customers away from us to come
through
Tel*One, then we will be pushed out of the settlement system
completely,"
Kamhunga cautioned.
If this happens, Zimbabwean operators would either be cut
off, or forced to
charge their local customers in foreign currency for
international calls.
The new law gives Tel*One sole access to the forex
earned on the incoming
calls to other networks, but will only pay them in
Zimbabwe dollars.
However, the mobile operators will not be able to pay
other networks for
international calls made by their customers to those
other networks
overseas.
Said Kamhunga: "There is no precedence for such
an arrangement, and it is
dangerous in a country where there is no foreign
exchange."
CEO Mboweni also said contrary to perceptions, Econet did not make
a lot of
its money from international calls, saying these only accounted for
less
than 10 percent of revenue.
"We are a public company and this
information is available for anyone to
see. The Reserve Bank knows exactly
how much we make, and it's not that
much. What is important about the income
we get from international incoming
calls is that it is used to offset the
foreign currency obligations we get
each time a customer makes an
international call. If we did not have that
off set mechanism our customers
would have to pay for international calls in
foreign currency," said
Mboweni.
FinGaz
Njabulo Ncube Chief
Political Reporter
THE Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) yesterday
lodged a formal
complaint to Speaker of the House of Assembly, John Nkomo
against a motion
moved by Makonde legislator Leo Mugabe calling for the
ouster of the top
leadership of the labour body.
Two weeks ago,
Mugabe, backed by Zhombe legislator Daniel McKenzie Ncube,
served notice to
move a motion to ask the Labour minister to use his powers
to remove the
current ZCTU leadership, which has frequently clashed with
government.
"It has come to our attention that the two mentioned
Honourable Members of
Parliament intend to table a motion in Parliament
condemning the ZCTU and
asking the responsible Minister, the Minister of the
Public Service, Labour
and Social Welfare to interfere in the affairs of the
ZCTU," reads part of
the ZCTU letter of complaint to Nkomo, written by
secretary general
Wellington Chibhebhe. The ZANU PF legislators accuse the
ZCTU leadership,
which has been a thorn in the flesh of the government in
the past six years,
of financial irregularities.
They also accuse ZCTU
leadership of paying its president Lovemore Matombo
unauthorised salaries.
In the motion, they call for Matombo and his
executive to be
replaced.
"The motion contains factual and legal inaccuracies. What is
disturbing is
that our input on the scandalous allegations has not been
sought. We do not
know where and when the said report by the Investigator
was published as a
public document. We are not aware whether the
publication, if any, was
lawful. The Minister called the ZCTU leadership on
the 31st of August 2006
and read out the Executive Summary to them. The
Minister undertook to
convene a meeting within two weeks to enable the ZCTU
to respond to the
allegations raised by the investigator. The Minister did
not convene such a
meeting up to today," said Chibhebhe.
The ZCTU
secretary general said Parliament could not proceed with the motion
as it
had not approached the ZCTU leaders to hear their side of the story.
"The
Honourable Members of Parliament have taken the liberty to gratuitously
condemn the ZCTU without giving them an opportunity to respond; this is
against the rules of natural justice. The Honourable Members of Parliament
are also instigating the arrest of the ZCTU leadership. This is most
unfortunate, coming from Honourable Members of Parliament. Innocent members
of the public may fall prey to the Members of Parliament's motion and start
thinking that something has seriously gone wrong with the ZCTU. ZCTU has no
way of putting across its side of the story in Parliament. It is unfair to
just condemn without giving an opportunity to the affected party (ZCTU) to
respond."
"The Minister and Police should know what to do without being
instigated. As
matters stand, the ZCTU, its Secretary General and two others
have been
arrested in connection with the matters they raised. They are
appearing in
Court facing various charges. The matters raised are therefore
subjudice. As
ZCTU understands it, it is a criminal offence to discuss
matters that are
subjudice. It is our hope that the Honourable Members of
Parliament raising
the motion are aware of the doctrine of separation of
powers and further
that their actions are likely to undermine the courts of
law in determining
matters pending in court."
FinGaz
Chris Muronzi
Staff Reporter
GLOBAL Steel Holdings Limited (GSHL), the Indian firm that
controversially
managed state-controlled Ziscosteel for months without a
signed contract
because of official foot-dragging, suffered another setback
in May when the
government rejected its takeover bid for Hwange Colliery
Company Limited
(HCCL) , The Financial Gazette has
established.
Market sources told this paper this week that, after landing
the management
contract for the Midlands steel company, GSHL began
preliminary talks in may
to buy government's 38 percent stake in the
country's largest coal miner.
British investor Nick van Hoogstraten, who
claims the shares held by
government were his gift to Zimbabwe years ago, is
said to have been
instrumental in blocking the talks. A deal struck between
the government at
the handover of the equity is said to bar the sale of the
shares at any
time. The businessman owns 30 percent of HCCL.
"That (GHSL
bid) happened a few months ago but basically (GSHL) wanted to
buy the
government's shares and were talking to the Ministry of Mines and
Industry
about that. The talks were at a very preliminary stage, but after
some time
it just died," said a source.
HCCL MD Godfrey Dzinomwa was unavailable for
comment.
GHSL announced a management contract with Zisco earlier this year,
but
withdrew from the deal citing government delays in awarding it a formal
contract. Government officials have claimed GHSL left after failing to get
assurances on coal supplies to the steelworks.
Sources say GHSL's planned
acquisition of the Hwange stake had been an
attempt by the Indian investors
to secure coal for Zisco, which they were to
run for 20 years under the
management deal.
It emerged at a recent Parliamentary hearing that after the
Indian firm took
over management at ZISCO, coal supplies to the plant
dropped sharply,
prompting unsubstantiated accusations of
sabotage.
Following the Indians' pullout, Industry and International Trade
Minister
Obert Mpofu told Parliament he was still hopeful of salvaging the
deal.
Mpofu, who blames the collapse of Zisco on rampant pillaging by senior
government officials, said fresh negotiations with GHSL were critical as the
parastatal needed investor support in the form of capital and management
skills.
FinGaz
Rangarirai Mberi Business Editor
SADC
hopes world will forget Zim
EVERY family has one. You know, that barmy uncle
everybody prays will not
make it to the family reunion?
Everybody
hopes he stays away, as he always manages to do or say something
that soils
the family's reputation. But, out of good manners, nobody ever
asks him to
either get himself together or stay away. The best to be done is
to lock up
the drunk in the garage and hope none of the guests notice.
Which is what
SADC leaders must have felt as they watched Zimbabwe belatedly
sign a trade
protocol last week.
While the rest of the region climbs on the commodity
price boom and
democracy to lift their people from poverty, Zimbabwe, like
the black sheep
of the family, is determined to go its own way - but still
wants to benefit
from the increasing prosperity of its siblings.
But
since the region has given up on trying to sway Zimbabwe off its path,
leaders now appear only to be seeking ways to manage the damage.
SADC
head, Lesotho Prime Minister Pakalitha Mosisili, said the region wanted
to
be taken as whole bloc, and not be judged on the actions of one member.
"We
should not be seen in the light of just the one member state out of 14,
(so)
that people will use that as a pretext not to invest in our region
because
one member of the family is unacceptable to them," Mosisili said.
But just
like other leaders, he appears not to have an idea as to how to
lessen the
drama uncle's harm to the family name.
Ten SADC countries agreed a protocol
that would harmonise the region's
business laws, coming a step closer to
economic integration. SADC sees a
free trade zone by 2008 and a customs
union by 2010, creating a single
currency and cutting red tape to attract
investment.
However, it is clear that Zimbabwe's poor economic numbers will
badly dilute
the region's key economic indicators, but leaders have taken
the decision to
ignore Zimbabwe and concentrate on convincing foreign
investors that the
contagion from a member economy will not corrupt the
entire region.
But the SADC protocol has a fatal flaw. Unlike the EU's
Eurozone, SADC is
not demanding membership to the proposed union on the
basis of agreed
performance targets. Membership to the club will not be a
reward for
discipline as is the norm elsewhere. Instead, SADC will just
cross its
fingers and drag its baggage along.
This is probably because
SADC has tried everything to set Zimbabwe right -
from Thabo Mbeki's R1.7
billion carrot-on-a-stick to Festus Mogae caressing
Zimbabwe's ego - without
success.
So regional leaders are now only looking to manage, as opposed to
actually
solving, the problem of having an errant relative among their
number.
Mbeki was probably right when he told his critics that shouting at
Zimbabwe
would only result in his ultra-sensitive neighbour shouting back,
achieving
nothing.
But on the other hand, convincing the world that
Zimbabwe will not hurt the
vision for an integrated economy is a hard sell,
and Mosisili betrays SADC's
frustration, pleading with the world not to say
"because of member X we will
not invest in SADC."
So what is SADC hoping
for here? That the world, and Zimbabweans in
particular, forgets that there
is a little black spot on the SADC map? What
will they do? Hide Zimbabwe in
a secret closet, much like Rochester's mad
wife was kept hidden in the attic
in Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre?
It's not hard to see what makes Zimbabwe
look like the town vandal. The
numbers, key in any such currency union,
don't lie.
South Africa's main inflation measure came out last week at 5.1
percent,
while inflation in Zambia is down from 18.3 percent last year to
8.2
percent. Angola averaged 23.2 percent in 2005, and was down to 12.3
percent
by August.
Against the US dollar, the rand is trading at R7.5,
the Zambia Kwacha at
around K4000, and the Angola Kwanza at 80.37. The
Zimdollar is $250 against
the US dollar on the official market, but trades
at $1600 against greenback
on the black market, the main forex source for
industry.
While the last SA rate hike took its repo to 7.5 percent,
Zimbabwe's key
policy rate reached 800 percent, went down to 300 percent on
July 31 and now
stands at 500 percent.
In his just published memoirs,
former Botswana president Ketumile Masire
criticises what he calls the
"political and economic destruction of
Zimbabwe", saying Zimbabwe "never
trusted" his government.
Far from not making the region's Zimbabwe strategy
look any better, Masire's
remarks show that while neighbours realise the
extent of the crisis, they
have made the decision to leave Zimbabwe to its
own vices, and hope that
everybody else does the same.
It's an
arrangement that suits President Robert Mugabe just fine, but one
that
places the credibility of the region's plans for a Euro-style single
economy
at risk.
FinGaz
Zhean Gwaze Staff
Reporter
THE Combined Harare Residents Association (CHRA) is preparing to
challenge
the commission running the affairs of Harare over the 2007 budget
to be
tabled by the end of this month.
CHRA, an advocacy group
representing Harare residents, said the budget would
be illegitimate, as it
would have been drafted by what it says is an illegal
commission, led by
Sekesai Makwavarara. CHRA argues that there were no
consultative meetings
held with the residents, whose interests the budget
should reflect.
The
Supreme Court and the High Court have on three different occasions
declared
the Makwavarara-led commission illegal, rulings that activists say
render
all operations under the authority of the commission illegal. Another
case
to test the legality of the commission is before High Court Judge
Lawrence
Kamocha, in which the former HCC town clerk Nomutsa Chideya is
challenging
the authenticity of the commission after it recommended his
dismissal. "What
is disheartening is that the due process of consultation
has not been
exhausted and it boggles the mind whose interests are being
reflected in
this new budget. The Harare City Council is riding on the
fallacy of
representative democracy where they mislead the nation that the
budget is
created in the spirit of addressing the needs of the suffering
masses of the
city of Harare," CHRA said this week. CHRA argues that a
commission's tenure
of office is stipulated as six months, after which
general elections are
held, and should not be determined by the consecutive
extensions imposed by
Local Government Minister Ignatius Chombo.
However, council spokesman Percy
Toriro said preliminary consultations had
been conducted and more
consultations would be undertaken after the
presentation of the consolidated
budget to be unveiled soon.
"Residents are more interested in the
consolidated budget. Consultations
should start in a week or so after the
budget has been presented. The budget
is currently before the committees.
Residents want to know the impact of the
budget on their lives," Toriro
said.
Toriro would not be drawn on the possible size of Harare's budget.
FinGaz
Takura
Zhangazha
Notion that religious leaders deserve special attention
misplaced
THE churches in Zimbabwe have had a number of instances where they
have
decided to attempt intervention in national politics after independence
in
1980.
The most notable of these attempts was made in the aftermath
of Gukurahundi
when the Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace in
partnership with the
Legal Resources Foundation produced an all-important
report on the arguably
genocidal tendencies of the Mugabe government.
The
second most notable instance was that of the catalyst involvement of the
Zimbabwe Council of Churches in mooting the need for constitutional reform
in Zimbabwe. And now of late, has been the church assuming the role of
mediator in the context of Zimbabwe's political and economic quagmire in two
forms, that led by the Christian Alliance and the other led by the Heads of
Denominations in Zimbabwe.
In the latter instance, the churches are
seemingly keen on playing a
bridging role between two belligerents, the
ruling ZANU PF party and the
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), with the
intention of ensuring that
some solutions to the political and economic
crises are etched out by way of
dialogue.
Without a doubt, this makes for
interesting politics if one was to study the
importance and significance of
the churches in political transformation
processes. There are a number of
issues, stemming from the foregoing that I
would like to address in this
particular article. The first being that of
what the churches in all of
their actions believe are the issues that need
to be addressed in Zimbabwe.
The second being the issue of where they think
their legitimacy to engage
either ZANU PF or the MDC on behalf of the
Zimbabwean masses stems from and
the third relating to the evident divisions
that the churches seem to have
on the issue of the nature of their
intervention, with one school of thought
keen on engaging the government
directly, and the other more interested in a
'civil society' based approach.
The churches in Zimbabwe began to have a say
in the contemporary political
and economic crises in Zimbabwe largely after
the intervention of the clergy
from South Africa in attempting to broker
talks between the ruling ZANU PF
party and the MDC. Bishops, pastors,
priests and reverends under the
umbrella of numerous religious groupings all
issued statements either
supporting/congratulating the ruling party on its
victory after the 2000
elections or alternatively calling for processes of
national reconciliation
and healing.
The churches clearly had already
taken sides. Some were bent on courting the
patronage of the Mugabe
government by holding and hosting national days of
prayer at which officials
(including President Mugabe) would regularly
officiate. Others took a more
anti-government slant, but mostly as
individual clergypersons (Archbishop
Pius Ncube). Those that were
pro-government supported issues such as its
radical land reform programme
whilst those that were anti-government
condemned a myriad issues such as
unfair elections, Operation Murambatsvina
among others.
The latest initiative by the Heads of Denominations in Zimbabwe
while
seemingly pro-government in its act of engaging and holding a
semblance of a
convention that President Mugabe attended, is clearly not in
line with the
political parroting of ZANU PF.
It talks of issues
concerning constitutional reform, bad laws that need
redress, the necessity
of reviving the economy, all done in the diplomatic
language of courtship.
In fact its document, entitled The Zimbabwe We Want,
apart from its emphasis
on issues concerning patriotism and sovereignty,
reads like most documents
produced by anti-government civil society
organisations, albeit with the
reactionary response from Mugabe, the man
they were courting to buy into
their agenda.
The Christian Alliance, in its hosting of the Save Zimbabwe
Convention,
clearly addressed similar issues in its resolutions but also had
the added
measure of producing what it called a Democracy Charter, a
document that is
much more forthright in its analysis of Zimbabwe's
situation and
significantly calls for democratic change that is driven from
the masses as
opposed to that orchestrated by those in power at
present.
When the semantics of what the churches hope to achieve are placed
aside, it
is imperative that one asks where they feel, or think they derive
their
mandate to do all of this from. The Save Zimbabwe Convention clearly
wants
it to derive both from a religious premise as well as a consultative
process
with civil society as representative of Zimbabweans.
The Heads of
Denominations make no direct reference to a consultative
process. They feel
that their mandate is derived solely from God, and mainly
a Christian
understanding of God. It is clearly the right of any grouping to
speak on
whatever matter they so choose, even in Zimbabwe. In this sense, it
is
applauded that whether they be from the Christian Alliance or Heads of
Denominations, the churches have decided to share their opinions on matters
affecting Zimbabweans.
There is however the problem of the legitimacy of
the churches in attempting
to broker political change, especially in the
processes that the Heads of
Denominations have decided to undertake. The
premise that simply because
they are church leaders they deserve the ear let
alone the voice of everyone
is thoroughly misplaced. The struggle for
democracy in Zimbabwe is one that
is premised on secular values, as a
departure point, holding dear the right
of everyone to believe in whatever
God they choose to believe in and not
placing on a pedestal the religious
sections of society as saviours of this
country.
So when the Heads of
Denominations declare their mandate to be from God, it
is all well and good,
except that it does not let them have the mandate to
either attempt to wrest
leadership of political change from the people by
way of religious
acclamation. Neither is it prudent, in the politics of the
struggle for
democratisation, for the churches to attempt to become leaders
of grand
coalitions when not only a number of secular ones already exist,
but also
when the churches have been largely by-standers in the struggles
that the
people have borne in the last seven years. To hear all those church
leaders
preach about the need for democracy now is reminiscent of persons
that came
out of the blue to attempt to claim leadership of the struggle for
Zimbabwean independence at Organisation of African Unity head of states
summits.
It is my considered view that Zimbabweans should not over
celebrate the
churches, let alone the church leaders' attempts to take over
the processes
of political change in this country. Some of the church
leaders should in
effect be investigated for their roles in perpetuating the
evils of the ZANU
PF government.
If anything, the churches are only a
part of the struggle for democracy in
Zimbabwe, not its primary leaders.
That role belongs to the people of
Zimbabwe.
As such, the church must
stop trying to place its fingers in every political
pie and in the process
attempt to hijack the people's struggles for freedom.
FinGaz
Njabulo Ncube
Analysts say
Mugabe's response ominous
PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe's insistence that some
aspects of his government's
rule are "non-negotiable national interests" has
cast serious doubts on his
commitment to the latest church-inspired
initiative to resolve Zimbabwe's
political and economic crisis through
dialogue.
Church leaders drawn from the Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops
Conference, the
Evangelical Fellowship of Zimbabwe and the Zimbabwe Council
of Churches
have, in their discussion paper titled: The Zimbabwe We Want
proposed the
drafting of a new constitution as part of a process towards a
"national
vision" for the country presently in its seventh straight year of
repression.
In a bold challenge to President Mugabe and the ruling ZANU
PF's policies,
the clergymen also propose the setting up of an independent
land commission
to ensure the fair distribution of farms and a review of
tough media and
security laws that have been used to muzzle the media and
opposition groups.
The church leaders specifically mention the Public Order
and Security Act
(POSA) and the Access to Information and Protection of
Privacy Act (AIPPA),
which they say have contributed towards the stifling of
freedom of the media
and suppression of the opposition. Since AIPPA's
promulgation in 2001,
government has closed four privately owned newspapers
including the popular
Daily News and its sister weekly The Daily News On
Sunday.
However, political analysts were this week pessimistic over the
church
initiative's chances of success.
They said although he described
the document as a "veritable talking point",
President Mugabe has only
embraced the church initiative to divert attention
from divisions plaguing
his party due to the internal battle to succeed him
when he eventually
decides to relinguish office.
President Mugabe was swift to reject some of
the church leaders'
recommendations contained in the 44-page document,
saying some aspects were
non-negotiable.
He effectively ruled out the
drafting of a new constitution as an urgent
matter to address Zimbabwe's
problems, insisting that the constitution
hammered at Lancaster House in
1980 which has been subsequently amended 17
times, was a truly homegrown one
which only needed to be amended when
"deemed necessary."
A new
constitution is one of the central themes of the vision document.
"There
could never be another constitution so dear, so sacrosanct,"
President
Mugabe said in his address at the unveiling of the document last
Friday.
"True, there might be amendments necessary to make, let us say so
but to say
this is not home-grown is as if the British imposed this on us,"
said
President Mugabe, adding that
non-negotiable interests should inform the
process initiated by the clergy.
"It must be stated and restated that the
Zimbabwe we want must be our
Zimbabwe together. We must have it, own it, and
keep it. It cannot be the
Zimbabwe we want if we give it away so easily,
under whatever guises. It
must be independent, it must be sovereign, and it
must be a free country,
which is not fettered by foreign domination. In
other words, our vision must
be of a Zimbabwe whose right to exist, whose
right to grow its own way,
carve and create its own future, must be
recognised and respected. The
Zimbabwe we want cannot be the one that allows
its resources to be owned
exclusively by foreigners, indeed, one that allows
its non-renewable
resources to be scooped and shipped to far-away countries
for no real
benefit to her people."
Analysts said President Mugabe was
yet to demonstrate commitment to the
ideals laid out in the document, beyond
paying lip service.
They added that his rejection, outright, of the drafting
of a new
constitution indicated his reluctance to change his present skewed
economic
and political policies that have kept him in power for the past 26
years.
"The intentions of the document might have been well-meant by the
church but
with Mugabe already digging in his heels on some of the
proposals, it seems
like dialogue of the deaf," said Ernest Mudzengi of the
National
Constitutional Assembly, a civic society organisation campaigning
for a new
constitution.
"We don't see any commitment whatsoever. In fact
we think he has hijacked
the church initiative to suit his own political
machinations," said
Mudzengi. "The document suggests open debate among other
things but ZANU PF
is not known for open dialogue. Mugabe has something up
his sleeve," added
Mudzengi.
Takura Zhangazha, another political analyst,
concurred.
"Mugabe is playing politics with the clergy. He wants to be seen
as being a
very accommodating and engaging person yet he knows deep down he
is not in a
hurry for constructive engagement. He is worried about his
survival and that
of ZANU PF. Period," said Zhangazha.
"The document is
dead in the water. It will gather dust like other
well-thought out
initiatives before it. What do you make of his clear
rejection of some of
the proposals," added Zhangazha. "It is a document that
has no action and
way forward. Mugabe is fully aware of this. He is just
playing with the
church leaders and it fits well with his populist politics
and political
machinations."
William Bango, the spokesman for Morgan Tsvangirai, the leader
of the main
camp of the MDC, said: "Mr Tsvangirai can't immediately comment
on the
discussion document as the national executive committee is yet to
discuss
it. Mr Tsvangirai has first to hear what other members of the
national
executive say and feel about the document." Tsvangirai's national
executive
council is scheduled to meet in Harare this weekend.
Previous
attempts by the churches to create a platform for dialogue among
the
country's political groups flopped, with President Mugabe and ZANU PF
accusing the opposition of negotiating in bad faith.
FinGaz
Njabulo
Ncube Chief Political Reporter
AN American company has incurred the wrath
of United States government
authorities for violating the targeted sanctions
imposed on Zimbabwe's
ruling elite by selling a top of the range Massey
Ferguson tractor to
Anti-Corruption and Anti-Monopolies Minister, Munyaradzi
Paul Mangwana.
The New York Stock Exchange-listed AGCO, which is based in
Duluth, Georgia,
manufactures the Massey Ferguson brand of
tractors.
Mangwana, who has also acted as Information and Publicity Minister
since
June when Tichaona Jokonya died, is among a group of 77 Zimbabwean
government officials, including President Robert Mugabe, on Washington's
sanctions list, which was initially drawn up after the controversial
presidential election in 2002. The US government refused to endorse the
election, saying it was neither free nor fair.
Impeccable sources told
The Financial Gazette yesterday that the tractor
manufacturer proceeded to
supply the vehicle to Mangwana after the US
government had impounded the
US$60 000 paid by the minister. President
George Bush's administration
tightened the screws on Zimbabwe's government
and ruling party officials
with an Executive Order signed in March that
targeted the assets of those
"who have formulated, implemented or supported
policies that have undermined
Zimbabwe's democratic institutions."
It is reliably understood that AGCO has
admitted to the US government that
it supplied the tractor to Mangwana,
saying it had an obligation to deliver
the goods in accordance with an
agreement of sale.
Mangwana told The Financial Gazette he had received his
tractor through a
local dealership with links to the US firm.
"I have got
my tractor and I am farming like it's nobody's business," said
Mangwana. "I
got the tractor on the basis of the legal argument that I had
bought it from
a Zimbabwean registered company which directed me to deposit
the required
foreign currency in a US account. I think when they saw my name
they
confiscated the money. I never went to the US looking for a tractor. I
dealt
with a Zimbabwean firm."
Penalties for violating the Executive Order or
regulations issued pursuant
to the Executive Order range between US$250 000
and US$500 000 for firms,
while individuals may be imprisoned for up to 10
years for a criminal
violation. Civil penalties of up to US$11 000 per
violation may also be
imposed.
Washington has for the past six years
accused President Mugabe and his
government of systematically undermining
the nation's democratic
institutions, resorting to violence, intimidation
and repressive means,
including legislation, to stifle opposition to its
rule. However President
Mugabe, who attributes Harare's economic meltdown to
the targeted sanctions
imposed by the US, Britain and the European Union,
accuses the west of
collaborating with the main opposition Movement for
Democratic Change to
oust him from power.
FinGaz
Staff Reporter
AIR
Zimbabwe is to introduce an additional flight into China, the world's
fastest growing economy, in response to what officials at the national
airline say are increased traffic volumes to the Asian economic
giant.
The additional service to China will take off from Harare and land
in
Guangzhou, capital of the Guangdong Province in Southern mainland China,
and
one of the most important centres of industry and foreign commerce in
China.
Air Zimbabwe is already operating a flight into Beijing, which makes
a
stopover in Singapore.
Although the airline still awaits landing
permits from China, Air Zimbabwe
expects authorisation shortly to establish
a twice-weekly service between
Harare and China.
Air Zimbabwe
spokesperson David Mwenga told The Financial Gazette that the
airline is
responding to increased traffic into China from the region, where
the
airline has code share agreements with other regional airlines.
"We are
opening a new operation to Guangzhou because there seems to be
reasonable
traffic into the Chinese city," said Mwenga. "Research indicates
that it is
a very busy commercial centre. The majority of people we are
carrying out of
Lilongwe and other regional destinations will connect from
Beijing to
Guangzhou for shopping. So it's ideal to fly to Guangzhou."
Guangzhou, which
has express rail and road links to Hong Kong, boasts the
largest population
of overseas Chinese businesspeople.
Air Zimbabwe introduced flights into
Dubai, Singapore and China in 2005 as
part of the government's "Look East"
policy after falling out with Western
countries. Harare says establishing
links with the Asian community will help
revive its bed bound economy.
In
return, China has conferred Approved Destination Status (ADS) on Zimbabwe
under which Beijing allows Chinese tour operators to organise tours to a
counterpart country while the counterpart government allows Chinese tourists
to travel into its territory on a special group visa. This policy has had a
significant impact on the Chinese outbound tourism market in other countries
conferred with ADS status.
Meanwhile, Air Zimbabwe will resume operations
into the Mozambican capital
Maputo and port city Beira in December using its
737 aircraft, which
recently underwent repairs in Germany after it developed
an oil leak in
July. The airline, which last flew to Beira in the early 90s,
is also set to
resume flights to Luanda, the Angolan capital, a business
destination that
is also increasingly attracting tourists.
FinGaz
Staff Reporter
THE hunt for a new
managing director for Zimbabwe's troubled steel maker,
the Zimbabwe Iron and
Steel Company (Zisco), is confirmation of the
government's failure to save a
US$400 million Indian deal from collapse.
Zisco has appointed a human
resources agency to fill an opening for the
position of group managing
director, who the agency says would be
responsible for "strategy
formulation, planning and leading this strategic
organisation."
The new
MD would replace Lalit Kumar Segal of Global Steel Holdings Limited
(GSHL),
the Indian company that had controversially secured a 20-year
management
contract with the government-controlled company, once one of the
country's
main foreign currency earners prior to independence in 1980. The
agreement
was expected to significantly boost production and save over 5 000
jobs.
But due to political interference by government officials, who also
wanted
to benefit from the hefty investment, GSHL opted out of the US$400
million
deal and recalled Segal, leaving production manager Alois Gowo to
act as MD.
Following the Indians' pullout, Industry and International Trade
Minister
Obert Mpofu told Parliament he was still hopeful of salvaging the
deal.
Mpofu, who blames the collapse of Zisco to rampant pillaging by senior
politicians and some government officials, said fresh negotiations were
critical as the parastatal needed support from GSHL in the form of capital
and management skills.
But the search for a new MD now clearly puts to
rest all efforts by
President Robert Mugabe's government's to resuscitate
the collapsed deal,
one of the biggest foreign investments seen in recent
years in Zimbabwe.
The collapse will obviously also hurt Zimbabwe's already
battered image with
international investors, especially given allegations
that corruption and
interference caused GSHL's pullout.
FinGaz
Rangarirai Mberi Business
Editor
RESERVE Bank governor Gideon Gono has just raised the stakes in
his
increasingly bitter war with "speculators".
It's a war in which
neither side is willing to yield any ground, determined
to be the last one
standing, puffing away at a Cohiba cigar in victory.
If the latest statements
out of the central bank are any indicator, the gulf
in opinion between
monetary authorities and market players is getting ever
wider.
Last
week's measures by Gono to stiffen already tough measures by
introducing a
new bond, the Economic Stabilisation Bond (ESB), and extending
the financial
sector stabilisation bond (FSSB) was an escalation of a war
that has raged
for close to three years.
Opinion between the warring parties has never been
more contrasting than it
is now. On one side is the central bank, which
blames the speculators for
stoking inflation. And on the other hand are the
punters, who say their
actions are meant to shield their wealth from that
same inflation, which
they in turn blame on central bank policy.
It's a
battle where one action by either side always attracts an emphatic
reaction
from the other. For instance, when Gono first introduced the
five-year bond,
the stock market lay low for three days, while RBZ officials
enjoyed a cigar
or two in triumph.
But then, analysts sent out a flood of notes to investors,
scolding them for
overreacting, and the market replied with a 9 percent
gain. Now, it was
those speculators that had been piling up on stock in
those few days of ZSE
decline that were lounging on the balcony, puffing
away at their own cigars
in celebration.
The sentiment among the
speculators is that Gono is unlikely to win the war
against the stock market
as long as inflation expectations - more than the
numbers themselves -
remain as grim as they are.
But the attitude at the RBZ, in contrast, is that
it is these speculators
that are building pessimism into inflation
expectations so that they feed on
the resultant rush into assets such as
equity.
So last week, while the stock market was drifting rudderless
wondering what
to make of the rate swings on the money market or the new
thrust from the
RBZ, Gono drove a stake into the ZSE with his new police
moves. And as it
watched the stock market fall 8.9 percent last Thursday,
another cigar or
two must have been lit at the central bank to celebrate at
least this phase
of the war.
Gono said the new bond showed that the bank
"remains deeply concerned with
the current and projected high levels of
liquidity on the money market, as
this militates against our low inflation
objective."
The outlook to the end of 2006 "and beyond" was that of high
liquidity
levels, he said, warning of further "appropriate corrective and
pre-emptive
measures, whenever necessary."
Clearly, Gono's strategy now
is to make himself even more unpredictable, in
order to discourage
speculators from going in too deep on "speculative
assets" that would
reflect to the public where the market thinks inflation
is headed. It's a
tactic that his critics say could work, but perhaps not so
much in the long
term.
As long as every new release of inflation data represents a new knock
on
confidence, the RBZ's task will always be tough. From now on though, it
appears that every time there will be a further hit on confidence, the risk
of new, perhaps even more drastic policy moves would also increase.
The
downside of the conflict is the collateral damage being suffered by
other
sectors of the economy, with an increasingly unstable interest rate
outlook
the prime concern.
This is because either side believes itself to be right,
and is determined
to be the last one to light up a celebratory cigar.
FinGaz
Personal
Glimpses with Mavis Makuni
RELIGIOUS leaders in Zimbabwe have been
investing considerable time and
effort of late into cultivating a cozy and
evidently mutually beneficial
relationship with the government of President
Robert Mugabe.
A few months ago, some church leaders were said to be
spearheading efforts
to help build bridges between the Zimbabwean government
and Britain, the
European Union and their allies.
In June, the men of the
cloth were said to be working towards brokering a
truce between President
Mugabe, the EU and the United states after many
years of a one-sided war of
words in which most of the verbal waterfall
emanated from Zimbabwe. These
efforts however, fizzled out when diplomats
from the countries regarded as
Zimbabwe's enemies questioned whose interests
the clergymen represented. To
make matters worse, Britain, which has been
cast as the villain responsible
for all this country's problems, denied the
existence of a bilateral dispute
between it and its former colony. British
officials pointed out that the
ball was in Zimbabwe's court and that the
problems bedevilling this country
could only be solved by Zimbabweans
themselves.
Undaunted, the church
leaders embarked on another initiative in July when
Reverend Peter Nemapare
who was at that time president of the Zimbabwe
Council of Churches (ZCC) and
Bishop Trevor Manhanga of the Evangelical
Fellowship in Zimbabwe led a
pilgrimage to State House to assure the
President of their support. This
does not seem to have endeared the
clergymen to the generality of suffering
Zimbabweans.
Nemapare lived to rue the day he was shown on television
laughing
exuberantly after the head of state had taken a swipe at the man
who must be
his least favourite cleric, Archbishop Pius Ncube of the
Matabeleland
Diocese of the Roman Church. Nemapare was voted out of office
soon after the
State House meeting after ordinary ZCC members complained
about not being
consulted on the moves the church leaders were taking.
In
August we had the equally questionable spectacle of churchmen from the
north
who were guests of their Zimbabwean religious counterparts, descending
on
Harare to make a grovelling but meaningless apology for the sins
committed
by their ancestors during colonialism. Earlier Nemapare had led
the way in
organising a highly politicised ZANU PF-backed National Day of
Prayer during
which President Mugabe nevertheless ordered the church leaders
to leave
politics to politicians and concentrate on saving souls.
Last weekend,
Zimbabwean church leaders unveiled their most ambitious
project so far when
they launched what is being touted as the "National
Vision Document" which
calls on Zimbabweans to debate issues such as land
reform, human rights,
governance, reconciliation, the economy and the
constitution. The church
leaders seem oblivious to the preposterousness of
imposing their initiative
on the electorate when it is a product of their
collaboration with the
ruling party. The document, which is a godsend to the
propaganda-propped
government, cannot be regarded as a national blueprint
simply because it is
the exclusive work of church leaders who are
sympathetic to ZANU PF and are
most likely beneficiaries of its extensive
patronage system. There is no way
an authentic document embodying the
aspirations of all Zimbabweans can be
produced without exhaustive
consultations with all stakeholders.
The
church leaders involved in this subterfuge should ask themselves why the
government of Zimbabwe is prepared to listen only to them when it has done
everything under the sun to close democratic space and crush dissent in all
other respects. These clergymen must surely be aware of the heavy-handed
manner in which the government has dealt with opposition party and civil
rights activists who have tried to promote the ideals the nation is now
being urged to focus on in the church-initiated blueprint.
Have these
church leaders ever heard of the National Constitutional Assembly
and its
campaign for a new democratic constitution? If they are genuinely
interested
in the welfare and interests of all Zimbabweans, why have they
never thrown
their weight behind such efforts? Why have they maintained a
deafening
silence and passed by on the other side when leaders of opposition
parties,
the trade union movement, the NCA and other civil society groups
have been
subjected to harassment, unjustified arrest and police brutality
for trying
to draw attention to the same issues underscored in the so-called
national
vision document?
As I write this, all believers in genuine democracy and fair
play must once
again be enduring a frustrating sense of déjà vu as the
ruling party
grandstands and gloats about its victory in "free, fair and
peaceful" local
government elections last weekend that were anything but
free, fair and
peaceful. In the run-up to elections to elect a mayor for
Kadoma for
example, suspected ruling party supporters reportedly stoned the
residence
of the Movement for Democratic Change candidate, Jonas Ndenda. The
Zimbabwe
Election Support Network has condemned the violence. If these
church leaders
are genuinely interested in promoting democratic governance,
human rights
and reconciliation, for the benefit of all Zimbabweans, why do
they not
speak out when such flagrant abuses of the electoral process
designed to
tilt the scales in favour of the ruling party are
reported?
Electoral irregularities were not limited to Kadoma during last
weekend's
elections. Widespread abuses including intimidation, vote-buying
and the
placing of obstacles in the way of opposition parties were reported
in other
districts. The ruling party allegedly used chiefs and headmen to do
some of
its dirty work. In many instances, the opposition party was
prevented from
holding campaign rallies either through the withholding of
police
authorisation or other subterfuge. Some opposition candidates were
reported
to have been hauled before kangaroo courts for violating
traditional customs
before being told they could not hold rallies.
In
spite of all these irregularities, however, Zimbabwe Electoral Commission
officials and ruling party apologists have not missed an opportunity to
pronounce the elections free and fair. They are quick to claim that ZANU PF
has regained ground in former MDC strongholds supposedly because the people
have realised the opposition party can not do anything for them, never mind
the fact that only the government has access to tax revenues to enable it to
implement development projects.
The Bible says, "The truth shall make you
free" but these church leaders
have consistently chosen dishonestly to cast
their lot with the government
rather than the oppressed, poor and
downtrodden. It is clear that by
deliberately turning a blind eye on
unfairness, injustice and human anguish
in favour of a
scratch-my-back-and-I-scratch-yours relationship with the
ruling party and
government, these churchmen are looking out only for their
own material
interests. Being so seriously compromised, they have neither
the mandate nor
the moral authority to formulate a vision for the nation.
The document they
have produced can only be a propaganda tool for ZANU PF
and should
accordingly be referred to as such.
Financial Gazette
(Harare)
COLUMN
November 2, 2006
Posted to the web November 2,
2006
Geoff Nyarota
Harare
THIS week I am departing from well
established practice in this and many
other columns published in the
independent press in Zimbabwe and
encroaching, tongue-in-cheek, onto the
jealously guarded territory of the
state-owned media by writing something
positive about the performance of our
government.
While I am a firm
believer in fairness and justice, I must point out that
since the advent of
Zimbabwe's current economic and political crisis it has
become no easy task
to identify any action, policy or achievement on the
part of our government
that can be cast in positive light as being wholly in
the interests of the
generality of the long-suffering citizens of the
country.
It is
my other firm belief that praise showered on government on account of
some
positive achievement, never mind how minute, has the potential to
become an
incentive to greater measures of success if the will is still
there on the
part of the government to accomplish success. Very few human
beings do not
aspire to bask in the glory of achievement and praise.
Unfortunately,
politicians sometimes demand praise and respect for failure
or mediocre
achievement.
Reporters Without Borders, an international organisation
that fights for the
freedom of the press and freedom of expression, as well
as ensuring
protection of journalists by denouncing human rights breaches,
has released
its index of press freedom for 2006. It is in this report that
the
government of Zimbabwe has achieved a modicum of success by steering the
nation from somewhere near the bottom of the list of the world's worst press
freedom offenders to a somewhat healthier position.
By moving 13
positions from 153 with a score of 64.45 percent to position
140 with a 50
percent score in terms of press freedom violations, Zimbabwe
appears to have
achieved minute achievement in terms of press freedom
practices, although
our nation is still nowhere near the top of the list,
among the world's
leading upholders of freedom of the press and of
expression. For one
desperately scouting around for at least something on
which to praise the
government of Zimbabwe in a spirit of fairness and
balance, this microscopic
success will have to do.
The latest index is based on events relating to
press freedom violations
between September 1 2005 and August 31
2006.
Top of the list, in terms of general absence of violation of press
freedom
is Finland with a score of 0.50 percent, while the worst offender is
North
Korea with an incredibly high score of 109.00 percent. The top
echelons of
the list have constantly remained the exclusive territory of
countries such
as Finland, Iceland, Ireland, The Netherlands, Czech
Republic, Estonia and
Norway.
On the African continent the best
performer in terms of liberal media
policies is the poor West African nation
of Benin, with a score of only 5.50
percent, while the worst press freedom
offender is Eritrea in the Horn of
Africa, at position 166 out of a total of
168 surveyed countries.
In what will obviously be a long journey towards
the top of the list, an
event unlikely to happen during the life of the
current government, Zimbabwe
made modest gains by moving 13 places from 153
to 140. This does not
necessarily mean that there has been an improvement in
the performance of
government or the Ministry of Information. The apparent
improvement could
reflect a decline or deterioration in adherence on the
part of other
governments to good press freedom practices.
The
Reporters Without Borders index measures the state of press freedom in
the
world and reflects the degree to which journalists and news
organisations
enjoy press freedom in each country, vis-a-vis the efforts
made by the state
to respect and ensure respect for this freedom.
"Each (country) has a
ranking and a score which together sum up the state of
press freedom there,"
the report says. "A country can change rank from year
to year even if its
score stays the same, and vice-versa."
Reporters Without Borders assesses
every kind of violation directly
affecting journalists, such as murders,
imprisonment, physical attacks and
threats. The news media in general are
assessed for violations such as
censorship, confiscation of issues, physical
searches of premises and
harassment.
Also measured is the degree of
impunity enjoyed by those responsible for
such violations. The government of
Zimbabwe must score highly in this
regard, in so far as it has harassed,
threatened, arrested and subjected
journalists to violence with arrogance
and total impunity. This is
particularly true of the era following the
ascendancy of Professor Jonathan
Moyo in 2000 to the office of Minister of
Information. Remarkably, Zimbabwe
reached its peak in terms of press freedom
violations in 2002, two years
after Moyo assumed office and embarked on a
harsh regime of suppression of
press freedom and harassment of
journalists.
"Eritrea (132nd) and Zimbabwe (122nd) are the most
repressive countries of
sub-Saharan Africa," the 2002 report declared. "The
entire privately-owned
press in Eritrea was banned by the government in
September 2001 and 18
journalists are currently imprisoned there. Zimbabwean
President Robert
Mugabe is notable for his especially harsh attitude to the
foreign and
opposition media."
In Zimbabwe a large percentage of the
privately-owned press, including The
Daily News was to be banned in
September 2003.
The latest report covers the period from September 2005
to August 2006.
Remarkably, the period when the general image of Zimbabwe in
terms of press
freedom violations appears to have improved marginally
dovetails with the
period immediately following Moyo's unceremonious fall
from the position of
extremely powerful Minister of Information. Moyo
inherited a modest office
from lackluster former minister, Chen
Chimutengwende, and transformed it
into government's most powerful
portfolio.
If I had not personally observed the rabid performance
of Moyo during this
period and personally suffered the harsh consequences
thereof, I would
attribute this to coincidence. But I fear that as a result
of such a
charitable disposition I might be subjected to a hail of abuse,
especially
by fellow media practitioners who became victims of wanton abuse,
depredation, deprivation and wholesale humiliation.
Moyo's wholly
devastating legacy will remain indelibly etched on the media
landscape of
Zimbabwe for years to come, or until a change of government
results in a new
era of more liberal media policy.
While authoritarian regimes are eager
to control the press, in reality all
that is required for any government to
effectively control the media is that
the elected politicians deliver on
their election promises, that is by
ensuring that the majority of citizens
benefit from good governance, genuine
freedom, justice, fairness,
sustainable economic development, peace and
prosperity. In that Utopian
situation, any newspaper that consistently
publishes scandalous false-hoods
about a genuinely popular government runs
the risk of being deserted by
readers, without the intervention of the
authorities.
The Reporters
Without Borders report also takes account of the legal
situation affecting
the news media. Penalties for spurious press offences,
the existence of a
state monopoly in certain areas and the existence of a
regulatory body are
also taken into account.
Zimbabwe's repressive legislation, such as the
Access to Information and the
Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA), enacted
under Moyo, and the Public Order
and Security Act (POSA), effectively
undermine the image of Zimbabwe.
The report also takes account of the
main obstacles to the free flow of
information on the Internet, an area in
which the Mugabe government is said
to be currently developing a keen
interest.
"We have taken account not only of abuses attributable to the
state," the
report states, "but also those by armed militias, clandestine
organisations
or pressure groups that can pose a real threat to press
freedom."
For as long as the army, the police, the Central Intelligence
Organisation,
the Green Bombers, the war veterans and a host of ruling ZANU
PF politicians
and militants have free rein in threatening journalists and
interfering with
the free flow of information and the free access of the
public to that
information, Zimbabwe will remain relegated to the lower
ranks of the
Reporters Without Borders index.
If the truth be told,
it is not only governments that pose a threat to the
free flow of
information. Organisations such as Reporters Without Frontiers
and the
Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) should seriously consider the
scrutiny of the activities of media personnel who pose an equally serious
threat to the free flow of information.
In this regard the reported
unceremonious departure of one Innocent Muchemwa
Kurwa from the Associated
Newspapers of Zimbabwe, where he was a senior
executive, brings to an end
the era of destructive management practices
which consigned the once proud
Daily News to oblivion, with a little help
from the
government.
Kurwa was the side-kick of former chief executive Sam
Sipepa Nkomo, also
ignominiously booted out recently, as the latter
dismantled a company that
others painstakingly built over the years. Watch
this and other spaces.
Saying of the Week:
"It has become apparent
that some within our ranks have become professional
purveyors of the
politics of division and disunity." -- ZANU PF national
chairman, John Landa
Nkomo, condemning the controversial comments recently
attributed to ZANU PF
spokesman Nathan Shamuyarira on the Gukurahundi
massacres in Matabeleland
back in the 1980s.
Financial Gazette
(Harare)
OPINION
November 2, 2006
Posted to the web November 2,
2006
National Agenda With Bornwell Chakaodza
Harare
FOR those
of us who have been following the circus at Town House on a
continuing basis
for the past two years, Sekesayi Makwavarara and her team's
appearance
before the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Transport and
Communication
last Monday serves to underline once again the pressing and
imperative need
for this semi-literate woman to go.
Not only for the sake of Harare
ratepayers but for the ZANU PF government as
well. Wilful refusal to accept
the real will of Harare residents through the
dismissal of the
democratically elected MDC-led council is bad enough.
Filling the vacuum so
created with an incompetent, greedy and clueless
political turncoat is even
worse.
It was clear from their Monday meeting with the Parliamentary
Portfolio
Committee that Makwavarara, Stanley Mungofa, the acting Town Clerk
and
Michael Jaravaza, the director of works were ill-prepared and generally
ignorant about what was taking place on the service delivery front in the
city. It was a display of a total failure of leadership, period! Indeed, the
whole episode showed an incredible incompetence.
The latest debacle
on the part of this commission purporting to run the
affairs of the City of
Harare is but one in a series of events that have had
a cumulative effect --
the sort of effect which has led people to wonder why
the government has
remained acquiescent and unmoved thus far.
I think it does raise grave
governance issues when a government, though
having the power and the ability
to act, fails to do so. To put it bluntly,
Makwavarara's antics are truly
stupefying. And why to date the government
has not been induced or jolted
into action boggles the mind.
It is clear to everybody that in showing
Makwavarara the door, the
government has nothing to lose but only this
woman's irrelevance! Harare is
a cosmopolitan city which requires competent,
respected and credible people
to run it. And given the high level of
education in the Zimbabwean
population as a whole, there are plenty of
people who can qualify for
Makwavarara's job.
Above all, it is the
seat of the national government. Such a city is
naturally in need of men and
women who aspire to leadership not because of
what they can get out of such
positions but because of what they are willing
to give of themselves for the
good of the city. Sekesayi Makwavarara is a
far far cry from
this.
Harare is not like a small village in Mashonaland West Province
where both
Makwavarara and Ignatius Chombo, the Minister of Local
Government, hail
from. A village idiot can attempt to run Mamina Growth
Point in that
province but not cosmopolitan Harare.
Is there any
wonder therefore that the encounter with the Parliamentary
Committee on
Transport and Communication engendered in Sekesayi Makwavarara
more
ignorance and confusion than understanding and insight.
But for the life
of me, what I fail to comprehend is the endemic ignorance
and general
confusion which was equally so evident in the other two fellows
namely
Mungofa and Jaravaza. Could it be to do with the fact that both men
are in
their jobs in acting capacities. Whatever it is, there is no escaping
the
fact that there is a crying need -- and responsibility -- on the part of
the
government to clean up the mess it has created at Town
House.
Parliamentary Portfolio Committees can only expose wrongdoing and
highlight
the problems bedevilling the departments of government and
parastatals. They
do not have the powers to do anything beyond that. It is
the Cabinet and
ultimately President Robert Mugabe himself who has to take
the bull by the
horns and act on the recommendations and information coming
from the
Portfolio Committees.
Chombo has proved to be a lame duck
when it comes to dealing with
Makwavarara at Town House. If the President
chooses to do nothing about the
goings-on at Town House, then nothing
happens. It is as simple as that
despite the heroic efforts of the Combined
Harare Residents Association
(CHRA).
There is a perception out there
-- perhaps the word myth is the correct
one -- which talks about the
supremacy of parliament when in fact, in
practice, what we should be talking
about is the supremacy of cabinet. That
is why I am putting a lot of
emphasis on cabinet and President Mugabe
himself in terms of making
decisions and taking action. Charging Makwavarara
with contempt of
Parliament will not make an iota of a difference to the
crisis that we are
going through in Harare.
The supremacy of cabinet over parliament despite
the doctrine of the
separation of powers involving the executive, parliament
and the judiciary
is plain to see. Consider this! Nearly 100 percent of the
bills come from
cabinet. The budget is imposed on parliament by the Minister
of Finance.
Very little input, if at all, comes from parliamentarians. By
and large,
what Members of Parliament merely do is to rubberstamp these
things. In any
event, the party whips are always on hand to ensure
compliance from MPs.
So strong have cabinets become that most
parliamentarians spend most of
their time accosting ministers and always
attempting to please them. I know
what I am talking about because I observed
thesethings at close range when I
was Director of Information for the
Government of Zimbabwe for the better
part of the 90s. Yes, on paper,
Portfolio Committees do get involved in
monitoring and producing reports on
government ministries and parastatals
but what happens thereafter is the
prerogative of government.
That is not to say of course that the
committees do not play an important
role. They do. Getting involved and
producing reports on government
departments and quasi-government departments
is in itself important and
worthwhile. But in the last analysis, meaningful
power in terms of action
rests with the cabinet and the head of state and
government.
It is in this context that the people of Zimbabwe need a
government whose
political will to tackle this country's problems is firm
and strong. Any
government which extols the virtues of silence and inaction
in the face of
such non-delivery of services like we are experiencing in
Harare at the
moment is not worth its name at all. Even things like
sovereignty and
national pride that President Mugabe never tires to talk
about do not mean
much when people are hungry and have nothing to
eat.
Sovereignty and national pride become meaningful and gain respect
and
acceptance at home and abroad as a direct result of national economic
prosperity. In the absence of economic prosperity and general well-being,
they are just but empty words, just a mirage.
In conclusion, I want
to emphasize the fact that a far as the seemingly
never-ending Harare City
saga is concerned, the ruling Zanu PF party needs
to become part of the
solution and not to continue being part of the
problem. Harare rate payers
are entitled to ask: what is so special about
Sekesayi Makwavarara that the
ruling party suddenly becomes impotent when it
comes to do what has to be
done? It is not in the interest of government to
remain mum in the face of
such a leadership meltdown in the capital city of
the country and the seat
of government for that matter.
The least that Harare residents expect in
the absence of a popularly-elected
executive mayor and councilors is a
competent chairperson, competent
minister of local government - both of
which are lacking at the moment - and
of course serious political will to
tackle the deep-seated problems that are
currently affecting this once upon
a time sunshine city.
Financial Gazette
(Harare)
COLUMN
November 2, 2006
Posted to the web November 2,
2006
Gondo Gushungo
Harare
I DON'T believe in tempting fate.
Which is why I would not normally risk
speaking too soon. And the most
prudent thing for me would have been to
hedge my bets on the likely
government reaction to the document: The
Zimbabwe We Want: Towards a
National Vision for Zimbabwe prepared by a group
of church
leaders.
But I have no strength to resist the temptation. I feel, at the
risk of
speaking too soon, compelled to comment. Not because the document
--
prepared by what has widely been dismissed as political pawns used to
buy a
government whose political star is on the wane some breathing space --
makes
compelling reading. No. Far from it because what they said about the
country's politics -- the constitution, human rights, electoral laws and
governance among other issues has been said before by civic
organisations,opposition political parties and the international community,
all of whom have run into a brick wall.
I am commenting because of
the ruling ZANU PF government's likely reaction
to the sections of the
document talking about the need for political
tolerance, contentious laws
such as the Public Order and Security Act (POSA)
and the Access to
Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA) and the
need for a
home-grown domestic constitution which has become so deeply
embedded.
AIPPA and POSA, the source of the insidious kind of
suppression Zimbabwe
experiences today, are highly contentious for very
obvious reasons. Among
the most vital concerns in the world today are the
questions of access to
information and the right to free expression as a
cornerstone of the ongoing
efforts to build and strengthen democracy and
expansion of political
pluralism.
True, after their first public
meeting with President Robert Mugabe sometime
this year, critics argued that
the church leaders kowtowed perhaps a bit too
much towards the ZANU PF
government position on a number of key issues. They
are perceived as lapdogs
of the ZANU PF government's diversionary and
wool-over-the-eyes tactics.
Thus their document is seen as neither national
in character nor
representative of the aspirations of the people.
There is no denying
however that those issues they raised regarding the
constitution and human
rights are not only pertinent but also of legitimate
public concern. And
failure to address these issues means the continued
stifling of democratic
space in the country.
Thus I can never over-emphasise why the issue of
political and
constitutional reforms attracts priority attention.
Constitutional and
political reforms are even seen as key to mending fences
with the
international community, which has always impressed upon Zimbabwe
the need
to deal with the country's internal politics as a prerequisite
towards
building bridges. To the extent that within civic society and the
international community, the ZANU PF government, arrogant enough to think
that it is the only capable political force in the country, is accused of
being too slow with political reforms.
Be that as it may, it deeply
saddens me to say that all the recommendations
of the church leaders are
going to fall on stony ground. I will explain.
First, ZANU PF, a party of
yesterday's people known for its dogmatic
approach to such issues, is simply
incapable of reform. And the betting is
that reform won't come any time soon
because nothing induces flexibility in
this extremely rigid
party.
Second, President Mugabe has already expressed his point of view
very
strongly, in a way that gives a fascinating if not disturbing insight
into
ZANU PF's thinking about the contentious issue of constitutional
reforms. He
thus set the tone for an emphatic rejection of such reforms by
the ruling
ZANU PF whose uniformity of views centres on what President
Mugabe says. And
it therefore remains a tendentious issue that touches off
strong and
passionate emotions.
Lastly but by no means least, as with
most things in life, timing is
everything. This should be particularly so in
politics where contrary to the
laws of physics, any pressure encounters a
strong reaction. What exactly do
I mean?
ZANU PF has been in some
pretty tight corners. And as would be expected it
is behaving like the
proverbial cornered animal. This has tended to
accentuate the birthmark of
the politics of the ruling ZANU PF -- whose
primary concern right now is to
lose as little as possible from a political
point of view -- intolerance of
opponents and hatred of compromise.
Yes, the ruling party can hide its
worries over the chorus for
constitutional reforms behind an air of
insouciance. But the fact is, it is
worried sick. And it will not compromise
anything that threatens to erode
its power base. ZANU PF will only do so
when the spirit moves. Thus the
church leaders are spitting into the wind if
they think that they can
convince the government to contemplate, let alone,
speed up political
reforms.
Here I am reminded of The Financial
Gazette editorial comment of July 13,
2006, which said that engaging the
Zimbabwean government is like having a
dialogue with the deaf! The relevance
and aptness of that comment cannot be
lost on any keen follower of
Zimbabwean politics. I am not for a moment
suggesting that Zimbabweans
should just sit back brooding over the futility
of concerted efforts to make
Zimbabwe the country we want where every
citizen enjoys personal freedom. It
is just that I know from experience how
futile it is.
And perhaps
most telling was President Mugabe's remarks on Friday last week
when he
darkly hinted: "Two days ago, I confessed to the church leaders that
I find
the phrase home-grown confusing . . . It was after the war that we
got the
British to preside over a conference to transfer power to the
majority. It
was not a British constitution. It was not a constitution
foisted on us by
the British, no. We demanded one man, one vote, that's what
we got . .
.
"We have made far-reaching amendments, all of them prompted by our
desire to
have a constitutional instrument that would be responsive to the
overarching
need to transform our society for greater social justice. We
removed certain
clauses in order to simplify and speed up the process of
making laws for
speedier and deeper transformation for the Zimbabwe we hoped
for.
"We also reformed the executive both to abolish titular presidency
and
consolidate national unity. Above all we changed clauses in the
constitution
we read as impediments to the much desired land reform
programme . . . As I
said, all these changes were neccessited by the needs
felt by Zimbabweans in
their transition from colonialism to full
independence . . . They were
home-grown constitutional changes . .
."
In a few words, President Mugabe was saying constitutional reforms are
neither necessary nor desirable. Need I say more?
FinGaz
Comment
CORRUPTION
continues to eat into the very fabric of Zimbabwean society. It
is endemic
in the system. And smoking guns are lying everywhere.
This can be seen
through the comprehensive sector-specific analysis of
corruption prepared by
the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe not so long ago. The
analysis shows a
stupefyingly complex pattern of deceit, fraud and
criminality in almost all
sectors of the economy.
Government acknowledges that the situation as regards
corruption demands
immediate and tough remedial action. But despite the
empty rhetoric about
its unshakable commitment to deal with corruption, it
continues to fold its
arms. There isn't that political will to take the
anti-corruption fight to
its full expression.
That is why, despite
incontrovertible evidence of corruption, cases such as
the abuse of the War
Victims Compensation Fund, the VIP Housing Scheme, the
deplorable multiple
farm ownership racket, looting of farming equipment
under the land reform
exercise and the abuse of the black economic
empowerment initiative where
the government navigated without a compass,
were all swiftly swept under a
thick carpet. And just like the contents of a
closed book, the culprits in
all these cases remain unknown to the
generality of the populace but a
handful of top government officials when
naming and shaming them would have
gone a long way in helping the
anti-corruption drive.
As if this was not
enough, the Public Service Commission (PSC) has
reportedly suspended members
of an audit team that compiled a damning report
on ghost workers at the
Ministry of Higher Education and how senior
officials in the ministry
allocated themselves and their wives more cars
than necessary in a flagrant
abuse of their offices.
Why the shameless attempt to cover up for the
misdeeds of influential and
powerful politicians known to be corrupt to the
dregs of infamy? Shouldn't
the auditors have blown the whistle instead of
abetting and masking
corruption in total disregard of the ethics of their
profession? How
widespread is this practice of arm-twisting auditors in
government? Indeed,
how many of these auditors are being forced to help the
various government
departments to cook the books and shade the
truth?
These are some of the burning questions that government has to address
if it
is to be seen to be serious about fighting corruption. True, almost
two
years ago no less a person than President Robert Mugabe said that the
much-vaunted anti-corruption drive would be taken to its full expression -
meaning no one should be immune from prosecution despite their political and
social standing. Thus, to a visitor from Mars, government is approaching the
issue of corruption with missionary zeal, sincerity and commitment.
But
dare we say blessed are the believers because we know better. In any
case,
public statements and their elaborate tones count for nothing
particularly
in Zimbabwe's case where the evidence on the ground indicates
that contrary
to the official bluster, there are many more sacred cows than
Zimbabweans
might have bargained for. That is why the government stalls
every time the
ZANU PF upper echelon is implicated in corruption cases or
why the names of
the so-called big fish that have been netted in the
anti-corruption dragnet
cannot fill the back of a postage stamp! What other
explanation could be
there for the government dragging its feet over
corruption cases?
We have
said it before and we will say it again. The anti-corruption drive
has
failed dismally because, according to the ruling ZANU PF government, the
identifiable harm to the ruling party of taking the bull by the horns as
regards corruption, outweighs the public interest. The controversial ZISCO
corruption report which has since disappeared into thin air and the secrecy
surrounding the abuse of US$268 million meant for fuel procurement in 2004
are just but two cases in point.
Thus people, as we have said time
without number, will always see the
government's anti corruption drive for
what it is - window dressing for the
public's benefit. Fortunately this
fools no one any more. Not even the
proverbial man in the streets whose wont
is to blindly believe government
rhetoric. They have had enough of the
bluster and have learnt to ignore it
as nothing but empty rhetoric.
The shame surrounding Zim
EDITOR - I want to disagree with
Wilberforce Majaji who is trying to
challenge my opinion. It is very wrong
for someone to assume that everyone
must fall into the same way of thinking
as them on all matters.
This is only an insight into how "ZANOIDS" reason and
the way they govern.
You can do some research into some of these things and
you will find that my
opinion is supported by around 45 percent of
Zimbabweans.
It is very irresponsible for a government like President Robert
Mugabe's to
fail to control anything from domestic affairs to top government
affairs. A
good example is the government's piecemeal policies which will
never curb
the ever rising cost of living and inflation. It is failing to
bring to book
those who are responsible for the mess that our economy is
in.
This is the shame surrounding our Zimbabwean government yet someone like
Majaji fails to see through his veil that the government has failed. Majaji
may fume but the simple question is: Which Rhodesian minister ever got away
with messing up like Zimbabwe's ministers do today? And how was the
commitment to duty like during this era?
Today no one is committed to
their work and the government has failed to do
away with such people. Look
at most government departments - they are full
of corrupt officials but
nothing has ever happened to stop all this.
Does it mean that I as a
Zimbabwean should go on embracing the gospel of
independence when my kids
are dying of hunger? Does anyone eat the word
"comrade" in their
house?
We need real comrades who do not mess our economy but who give us the
right
to ask why the administration in our beloved country has failed us
when we
elected them to power.
What I know from history is we all fought
for this country's inependence and
not a few "chefs" as we are being made to
believe these days. We elected
them to power and they have to do as we
demand.
Thus the reason why I am comparing Rhodesia to Zimbabwe. I repeat:
"If
Zimbabwe was good we were not going to say this about
Zimbabwe".
Lost hope on ZANU PF
UK
-----------
A way out of our
problems
EDITOR - Zimbabwe has a way of out of its present
problems. The people and
government of Zimbabwe must and should allow
multiple parties to exist, just
like in South Africa which has learnt from
our mistakes and is now
prospering.
After all Zimbabwe and South Africa
have the most advanced infrastructure in
Africa, so Zimbabwe should not be
in the position it is in today. It is very
obvious to all now that the
present government has sabotaged our beautiful
country. They must be made
accountable for this abuse of power.
Lionel
Naidoo
Australia
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Mutasa's wings need
clipping
EDITOR - The fact that our country is on a downward
spiral to becoming a
failed state is indisputable. With such tired ministers
like Didymus Mutasa,
who have a propensity of shooting themselves in the
foot, one fears the
worst. Asked about the fate of white farmers in Karoi,
Mutasa was quoted as
saying, "Anybody with no permission to farm will be
prosecuted".
Do people like Mutasa know what they are doing? Are we not
killing the goose
that lays the golden egg? When South Africa was under
apartheid, Thomas
Mapfumo once sang that "Botha anotaura seakasika munhu . .
."
And Mutasa is behaving exactly like that! In a new Zimbabwe with a new
beginning and with a new constitution, Parliament should be given powers to
vet, grill and confirm ministers. People like the disastrous Mutasa should
never be appointed to such offices.
Frank Matandirotya
Polokwane,
South Africa
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ZINWA must be disbanded
EDITOR -
The continuing circus that is the Zimbabwe National Water Authority
(ZINWA)
should be cause for great concern to urban residents of Zimbabwe,
particularly in Harare. The reshuffling of the ZINWA board on October 25
2006 by Minister Munacho Mutezo was clear confirmation that ZINWA has failed
to perform, even to the low standards expected of parastatals. Mutezo
ordered the water authority to urgently address the water woes being
experienced in Harare. Yet again the regime demonstrates its centralist and
commandist attitude, hoping that by issuing orders the situation will be
rectified despite the fact that our water woes arise from a combination of
bad policies and partisan political interference as well as technical and
financial problems.
CHRA believes that these manoeuvres by the regime are
intended to deceive
residents into believing that something is actually
being done to address
their concerns yet the minister is incapable of taking
progressive action to
promote the interests of residents.
ZINWA was
created to provide yet another site of patronage for ZANU PF
apparatchiks,
not to provide added value to our lives. We appeal to
Parliament to take
steps to expose the charade at ZINWA and to call for its
immediate
disbandment. CHRA is opposed to the commodification of basic
services and
especially to the de facto privatisation of our water resources
for the
enrichment of a few individuals. The water system belongs to Harare
and must
be returned to its rightful owners. This debacle illustrates yet
again that
the government is incapable of addressing our problems but is
more concerned
with ensuring that residents do not have any control over
their lives. From
the denial of our constitutional rights to the alienation
of our resources,
it is clear that ZANU PF is aggressively re-asserting
itself as the de facto
master of the city.
Precious Shumba
Information Officer,
CHRA
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Just what the doc ordered!
EDITOR - There
is only one nation on earth willing to do business in the
wastelands created
in the wake of their own foreign policy - the Chinese are
coming. They will
replace every last business. They will replace every last
manufacturer and
they will supply everything you need.
Don't worry about the destabilisation
of our economy, the strong Chinese
colonial force will rescue us from
starvation and enslave us into the cycle
of perpetually producing huge
volumes of produce for their economic machine
for miniscule marginal
benefits to our own people. Just what we needed.
Welcome to the deserts of
tomorrow.
Dingdong
Harare
----------
You are no saint, Enos
Nkala
EDITOR - Are we cowards Mr Enos Nkala? Many people died
following your
rather unwise comments during your time as a minister. I
don't think you
have any right to call anyone a coward.
You were
instrumental in the death of your people in the 80s (everybody
knows when)
and yet you have the nerve to call us cowards. Maybe you are
right we should
have dealt with you first. Please keep quiet and stop this
insanity.
Mgcini Dube KaMcezuka
Bulawayo
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Love or
loathe him, Mugabe an enigma
EDITOR - President Mugabe is an
enigma or else how can one man outlive,
outtalk and outsmart his opponents
the way he does?
The man is an enigma and loathe him or love him, he has
muzzled the
opposition into submission, flown to New York several times and
is still the
President at over 80 years old.
In 2000 I thought Morgan
Tsvangirai would be safely esconced at State House
by now tavakuto chinja
maiitiro! Seka zvako iwe. Never underestimate the
willpower of this man.
Nobody loves power more than he does and if only we
could translate this
energy into economic, social and political affairs we
would long have found
the solution to our problems.
Zenzo
Harare
--------
EDITOR - Not
too long ago Zimbabweans heard from Martin Majaji crying foul
with his
anti-white rhetoric but he prefers to live comfortably in the
United States
where most of the citizens are white. Now we get Wilberforce
Majaji writing
from the USA blowing the ZANU PF trumpet. I just wonder who
exactly these
Majajis are?
Coming back to Wilberforce, he has the audacity to rubbish
people who do not
share his love for ZANU PF, defending its dismal record of
governance in the
last 25 years. Obviously Wilberforce does not have any leg
to stand on as he
is blinded by the realities of extreme hardship which
currently persist in
Zimbabwe today, which he pretends cannot be compared to
the good old days.
Going by his response to a previous writer's letter it
seems it is
Wilberforce who is mentally deranged and naive, pretending that
economic
conditions in Zimbabwe have never been too bad. There are no
excuses for
ZANU PF's appalling record, Wilberforce, and there are glaring
differences
between how the Rhodesians cleverly crafted the economy under
mandatory
sanctions and how ZANU PF destroyed the economy through
corruption.
Obviously Wilberforce does not know there is a huge difference
between
mandatory economic sanctions which were imposed on Rhodesia and the
ad hoc
sanctions imposed by a few selected countries on a handful of ZANU PF
politicians who are instrumental in subverting the rule of law and who are
corrupt. There were no prolonged shortages of the very basic needs in
Rhodesia - petrol, bread and every other necessity was readily available and
at affordable prices too. Yes Rhodesia did have South Africa as a lifeline
but so does Zimbabwe. We have many more but really is there anything left in
Zimbabwe that can be usefully traded. Even if there is, where does the
foreign currency end up? I bet in the pocket of our rich and famous whose
cause you seem to be championing, Wilberforce. I find it rather strange that
you and Martin are still living and enjoying the comfort of the USA, perhaps
Zimbabwe is not good enough for
you.
Zimbabwean
USA
---------------
How dare Nkala call us
cowards?
EDITOR - This is an open letter to Enos Nkala. How
dare you call Zimbabweans
a bunch of cowards? You are no saint sir! I have
not forgotten that you once
wined and dined with the clique you are
disowning today. I need not remind
you of the indelible suffering which
visited innocent citizens of
uMthwakazi.
Do you think you can wipe out
your heartlessness with a mere newspaper
interview? If you are seeking
atonement for the atrocities you presided
over, ie Gukurahundi, then you are
using the wrong forum. The biggest coward
is you, Enos.
Using the
independent media to articulate your warped views will not endear
you to
Zimbabweeans. Demonstrate to me that you are not a coward by
publishing the
so-called 'tell-all' book or else keep it zipped!
Joseph
Mhlanga
Ireland