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Voters' roll irregularities uncovered LACK of publicity on the voters'
registration exercise for next year's general elections could be a
deliberate ploy to "rig" the March elections, the opposition Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC) has charged.
Welshman Ncube, the MDC
secretary general, in a letter of complaint to the chairman of the
Delimitation Commission, says: "The Registrar-General's office embarked on a
mobile registration exercise in May 2004 but the exercise was discriminatory
because in urban areas, the RG's office was only issuing birth certificates
and identity documents. In the rural areas, a massive door-to-door voters'
registration was being conducted." The MDC has more parliamentary seats in
urban areas while Zanu PF draws the bulk of its supporters from the rural
population.
The Electoral Supervisory Commission (ESC), which is in
charge of conducting elections in Zimbabwe, operates from Hardwick House in
Harare. The building also houses the Central Intelligence Organisation
(CIO).
ESC chairman, Sobusa Gula-Ndebele is a former director of military
intelligence.
Ncube said in his letter: "In our view, the voters'
roll information submitted to your commission (by the RG's office) is
incomplete and disenfranchises thousands of persons that should be entitled
to vote."
According to figures provided by the RG's office, areas seen as
opposition strongholds gained few new voters since the 2000 general
elections until October this year.
Although the 2002 national census
indicates that Harare's population increased three times more than any
province, according to the R-G the capital has lost 46 780, the number
needed to make up a constituency.
"It is clear from the figures that
Harare, Bulawayo and Matabeleland South will each lose a seat which will go
to Mashonaland Central, East and West. These are regarded as Zanu PF
strongholds and are no-go areas for the MDC because of persistent high
levels of political violence directed against MDC members and
supporters."
ESC spokesman, Thomas Bvuma said the registration exercise
was well publicised and ran from May 1 to July 1. "We used the media to try
and persuade people to register as voters while our teams for civic and
voter education went out to educate the people on voting."
In
Matabeleland North, only Tsholotsho and Bubi Umguza which were won by
President Mugabe in 2002 have received significant gains of new voters of
about 3 000 and 8 000 respectively. Lupane, which was snatched back by Zanu
PF also gained more than 2 000 voters.
Binga, where the notorious
Green-Bombers have a camp, also recorded an increase of about 8 000
voters.
Hwange East remained stagnant on 40 000, as did Nkayi which
remained stuck on 50 000 voters. Hwange West moved from 38 620 to 39
646.
In Mashonaland West province, the rural home of President Mugabe,
there were high increases. Zvimba South rose from 47 903 to 59 807, while
Hurungwe West increased from 42 123 to 54 936. Kadoma West also garnered
more voters, up from 33 887 to 48 182.
Chinhoyi town has about 4 000
new voters while Kadoma Central, which incorporates the town has close to 3
000.
Zanu PF won Chinhoyi by a narrow margin, while Kadoma Central went
to the MDC. Mhondoro, which was won by the MDC, rose slightly from 50 294 to
54 148.
The story is the same around the country with Mudzi and
Uzumba Maramba Pfungwe notching increases of 14 000 new voters
each.
Harare, the perceived stronghold of the opposition also recorded
curious figures.
Zengeza in Chitungwiza dropped from 47 000 to 46
000, while Mufakose remained stagnant on just over 37 000
voters.
Bvuma parried suggestions that requirements for urban voters to
register were stringent.
"I cannot comment on that because that is an
opinion and the requirements for people to register emanate from existing
regulations."
Journalists from The Standard visited the RG's office in
Harare to establish the requirements needed for registering as
voters.
"If you are a lodger you should bring your landlord's identity
documents like a passport or national registration ID. The landlord should
write a letter confirming that you are a lodger and you should bring proof
of residence," said an official at the RG's office.
MDC spokesman,
Paul Themba Nyathi, described as ridiculous reports that only rural
constituencies and largely Zanu PF perceived strongholds could register more
voters.
"Trends around the world are that because of rural-urban
migration, cities and towns register population increases. Surprisingly, a
place like Uzumba Maramba Pfungwe will register huge increases despite not
having farms for resettlement. We have been using the few rallies that are
sanctioned by police to tell our supporters to go and register but they are
always being frustrated."
He said in rural MDC strongholds, villagers
had been told that they were only being issued with birth certificates and
ID cards and would be allocated a time for voter registration.
Nearly 3 000 striking workers at Tel One and Zimpost, who paralysed
operations at the state owned companies have been suspended. Gift
Chimanikire, the general secretary of the Communications and Allied Services
Workers Union of Zimbabwe (CASWUZ), confirmed the suspensions
yesterday.
He said: "The workers have been receiving letters of
suspension since last week but we have decided to negotiate with management
to reverse the suspensions while we continue to negotiate for reasonable
salaries." The workers downed tools on 6 October after management failed to
implement salary increments for the first quarter of the year.
"The
entire telephone services network has also been hit by the strike, including
the International Gateway Exchange in Gweru, which deals with international
calls," Chimanikire said.
Out of nearly 4 000 workers employed by Tel
One, 2 100 were suspended while Zimpost suspended 980 workers out of a total
work force of 1 600.
Workers at the affected companies said their
employers were negotiating in bad faith. "Senior managers are being feted
with expensive vehicles and new office furniture but the companies go on to
tell us that they have no money to pay the workers. The postal and telephone
services are very crucial to the economy but management does not seem to
realize this," said a Zimpost employee.
Farai Chigonero of Kambuzuma
recently applied to study for a diploma in Business Studies at the Harare
Polytechnic.
"I was waiting for a response for the last three weeks and
when I inquired at the college, they told me they had posted letters of
response to us but until the strike ends, I will not know the response,"
Chigonero said.
A member of the workers' union said soldiers had been
called to stand in for the striking workers at Tel One, while Zimpost roped
in casual workers to deliver letters.
Eric Bloch, an economic analyst
said: "The strike by Tel One and Zimpost is jeopardising essential business
communication activities, which has a negative impact on the business
community."
Mugabe's relative fast-tracked in ZRP By Valetine
Maponga
INNOCENT Matibiri, the newly appointed deputy commissioner in the
Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) whose rise has baffled many in the force, is
President Robert Mugabe's close relative.
Matibiri was promoted
together with another assistant commissioner Barbara Mandizha. Their
promotion was described as "spectacular." Commenting on these moves,
assistant commissioner Wayne Bvudzijena said the appointments were
"distinct" in independent Zimbabwe. "The two senior officers have the
distinction in independent Zimbabwe of becoming the first assistant
commissioners to be promoted directly to deputy commissioner, skipping the
rank of senior assistant commissioner," Bvudzijena was quoted
saying.
Matibiri was from the Police Protection Unit, which provides
security to Mugabe and other senior government officials as well as public
institutions.
The newly-appointed deputy commissioner, whose late father
was Gabriel Matibiri Karigamombe, is a cousin to President
Mugabe.
Sources in the police force said the promotions had fuelled
disgruntlement in the force, with some officers threatening to
resign.
They said Matibiri had served in the force for less than 10 years
and if proper procedures were followed he should have risen to the rank of
superintendent.
"This has never happened as far as I can remember in
this country's police force. These promotions are not based on merit and we
are not happy at all," one police officer based in Harare said.
He
said Matibiri was heavily tipped to take over the reigns in the police when
police commissioner Augustine Chihuri retires. Chihuri's term of office has
been extended several times fuelling speculation that Mugabe may not have
found a suitable candidate to replace him.
Contacted for a comment on
Friday, Matibiri confirmed that he was related to the President but as far
as he was concerned he was best suited to carry out the task at
hand.
"It's true I am related to the President and we all come from
Zvimba. I would like to believe that I prepared myself academically, I have
a Masters degree in Business Administration, two higher national diplomas
from Harare Polytechnic and a diploma from the Police Staff College,"
Matibiri said.
Reacting to the disgruntlement over his rise and
appointment, he said:
"All I know is that we were called for examinations
and I would like to believe that I passed them because of the promotion. If
I had failed I would not think I was going to be promoted. I expected that
from all the other competitors but I am not moved at all," Matibiri
said.
A retired senior police officer who worked with most of the crop of
officers who are being elevated described Mandizha as "competent and
committed" to the police force.
On Matibiri's promotion, he said:
"Any person at that level (assistant commissioner) is qualified to be
promoted to any rank, even that of commissioner. In terms of the rank, and
not the person, there is no anomaly, as long as the person has gone through
the process of promotion and has the qualifications."
Other sources
disputed the retired police officer's claim.
Matibiri is not the only
officer close to Mugabe who was promoted to an important position in the
police.
Assistant commissioner Lee Muchemwa, who is believed to be a
son-in-law to the First Family, was promoted to the rank of senior assistant
commissioner.
Cosatu vows to keep pressure on Zim authorities By our
own Staff
THE Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) says it
will not flinch from organising activities in solidarity with its comrades
in the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) and the people of
Zimbabwe.
"We have called for an internal debate on how we should take
forward this struggle, which may include protests at border gates and other
harsher forms of solidarity action. For this we need no permission from our
government or other tripartite alliance formation," said its secretary
general Zwelinzima Vavi writing in the Mail & Guardian of this
week. Vavi, who was among the 13 Cosatu officials, deported from Zimbabwe
about two weeks ago, said they went through "24 hours of hell in Zimbabwe"
where they were arrested, shoved onto and off buses, threatened physically
and mentally abused, as well as being deprived of food.
"The
mission's short visit proved beyond doubt that this is a society where
people's human rights and civil liberties are being
crushed."
Responding to criticism of their visit by South African
President Thabo Mbeki, who favours a policy of quiet diplomacy in finding a
solution to Zimbabwe's crisis, Vavi said they had to express solidarity with
their comrades in Zimbabwe in spite of the diplomatic efforts.
"A
diplomatic breakthrough can only happen when Mugabe is forced to change by a
mass movement from below, by the people of Zimbabwe, assisted by a campaign
of international solidarity action to compel him to restore human rights,
repeal repressive laws and allow free and fair elections.
"This is
exactly how we defeated the tyranny of (Ian) Smith and Apartheid," he
said.
Vavi also attacked Information and Publicity Minister, Jonathan
Moyo, saying his level of buffoonery was such that no one could take him
seriously.
"Moyo's aim is to get ordinary Zimbabweans to be tolerant of
the general assaults on people's civil liberties, on the spurious grounds
that it is all done to protect Zimbabwe from its mythical enemies."
Cash squeeze stalls militia training By Savious
Kwinika
BULAWAYO - An acute shortage of resources has forced the
government to suspend training at various militia youth camps in
Matabeleland, The Standard can confirm.
In an interview, the Deputy
Minister of Gender Development, Youth and National Service, Shuvai Mahofa,
said the government had run out of funds and could not sustain the
programme. Mahofa said: "The government has run short of funds but the
programme will be in full swing next year when we receive our allocation
from the 2005 national budget.
"It's true that we have suspended some
programmes in certain institutions. But the government is making efforts to
ensure that youth training programmes are not completely abandoned since
these programmes are of importance to the nation."
Zanu PF and the
government have used the training centres' graduates, commonly referred to
as "Green Bombers", to terrorise and intimidate ordinary Zimbabweans and
members of the opposition.
Investigations by The Standard indicate that
training at the youth militia training camps in Plumtree, Guyu, Kamativi and
Gwanda in Matabeleland have been acutely affected by serious food shortages,
forcing the ministry to either abandon or scale-down
operations.
Before hunger began to take its toll in the Matabeleland
region, the youth militia from these training camps created turmoil in the
usually peaceful border districts where they terrorized villagers and
supporters of the opposition MDC.
Although the villagers told The
Standard that they had not witnessed any violent cases recently by the
terror gangs, they said the mere presence of the "Green Bombers" was
intimidating.
The militia have been condemned locally and internationally
for their brutality on innocent civilians.
Opposition MDC Member of
Parliament for Plumtree, Moses Mzila, confirmed the reduced activities of
the militia in his constituency. However, he suspected the youths could be
lying low in readiness for the run-up to the March 2005 parliamentary
elections.
"In my constituency these militia operate from the Plumtree
Old Base and always move in groups.
Zanu PF may claim that militia
activity has been scaled down but I am convinced that as we move towards the
2005 parliamentary elections, Zanu PF militia, dressed as Zimbabwe National
Army uniforms will become more visible in the constituency," Mzila
said.
"Their presence has instilled considerable fear in villagers,
especially in my constituency," he added.
He said the political
atmosphere in his constituency would remain volatile unless the government
acted to restore the rule of law in Zimbabwe, particularly among rural
voters who are easily intimidated by the presence of the militia.
"It
is suicidal for MDC to contest the 2005 elections under such threats,
intimidation and psychological warfare.
"The combination of these
youth militia, war veterans and soldiers roaming about would cause a lot of
fear in this country, especially towards elections," Mzila
said.
President Mugabe is on record as saying next year's elections would
be a contest against Tony Blair and his British government, and not against
the MDC. He urged Zanu PF youth militia to campaign vigorously to reclaim
the seats won by the opposition in the region in 2000.
Recently the
Southern African Development Community (SADC) leaders adopted principles and
guidelines governing democratic elections. These call for, among other
things, free and fair polls, a condition the ruling party is violating.
High hopes for Mugabe visit to Equatorial Guinea By our
own Staff
PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe's official visit to the Equatorial
Guinea could result in the government receiving lucrative deals to assist
security forces in that country, while oil could be part of the largesse to
flow from the West Africans.
Mugabe left for Equatorial Guinea on
Friday afternoon aboard a chartered Air Zimbabwe flight. Zimbabwean
military and intelligence services were responsible for trapping and the
subsequent arrest of 67 suspected coup plotters, who were allegedly enroute
to topple the government of President Teodoro Obiang Nguema, President
Mugabe's host this weekend.
The alleged coup plotters were mainly from
South Africa, but also included nationals from Angola and
Namibia.
The alleged coup plot in the former Spanish colony has also
sucked in Mark Thatcher, the son of former British Prime Minister, Margaret
Thatcher.
The Equatorial Guinea president seized power after the
assassination of his uncle, Francisco Nguema, during a bloody coup in August
1979.
State radio in Equatorial Guinea equates the president with God,
saying he has a right to take life, as he is "constantly in touch with
God".
Mugabe was accompanied by the Minister of Defence, Sidney
Sekeramayi, suggesting that military and defence issues would be among areas
for discussion during the visit.
After Zimbabwe uncovered the coup
plot, it is generally agreed, the Equatorial Guinea leader would gladly
reciprocate with the supply of much-needed fuel at "friendly"
rates.
Although Equatorial Guinea is experiencing an economic boom
following the discovery of oil, the wealth has not benefited the country's
600 000 inhabitants. It is believed the only beneficiaries are Nguema's
family and cronies.
The arrest of the coup plotters has brought the
two countries much closer despite Zimbabwe not having a diplomatic mission
in the West African country.
A senior retired army officer told The
Standard at the weekend: "Naturally, the issue of the suspected coup
plotters will be discussed as that is the link that binds the two countries
together. Most of the coup plotters will be out of prison in a few months
and somebody who came to power through a coup like Nguema would be very
jittery as he fears they might re-group and plot another coup."
He
said the authorities in Equatorial Guinea might use Mugabe's visit to
request a transfer of the prisoners so that they could be tried in
Malabo.
Mutare governor 'hijacks' X-mas cheer fund By Our Own
Staff
MUTARE - Manicaland governor, Mike Nyambuya last week launched the
Governor's Christmas cheer fund in Mutare in a move that is likely to rival
the traditional Mayor's Christmas Cheer Fund, organised by mayor Misheck
Kagurabadza of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change
(MDC).
The governor kick-started his fund at a colourful ceremony
attended by Reserve Bank Governor, Gideon Gono among many other
dignitaries. At least $40 million was raised in pledges made by the city's
business community.
The money, Nyambuya said, would benefit the
disadvantaged members of communities in Manicaland.
However, mayor
Kagurabadza told The Standard the move by the governor threatened to
"scuttle" his attempts to get enough donations for the Mayor's Cheer Fund
for this year. "We had hoped as a council that the governor would work with
us, but it was not to be. People need to be united and support the fund that
is already in existence," Kagurabadza said.
Speaking at the launch of the
mayor's Christmas Cheer Fund last week, where about $20 million in pledges
was raised, he said the governor snubbed an invitation to attend the mayor's
cheer fund.
The move, some residents say, is aimed at usurping power from
the opposition MDC dominated council.
The MDC has 17 councillors in
the city's 18 wards. The sole ruling party councillor, Justice Chiwara, died
in a car crash last month near Nyanyadzi, about 100 kilometres south of
Mutare.
Elections to fill the vacancy are yet to be held.
Elisha
Munyarari, a resident of Chikanga, said Zanu PF was doing its best to ensure
it gets control of urban areas, which are believed to be the backbone of the
opposition's continued dominance in domestic politics.
"It is something
we did not really expect, but knowing Zanu PF as we do, they will not leave
any stone unturned."
Kagurabadza has, however, vowed to continue with his
duties despite political interference from Zanu PF in the province.
MUTARE - Acquiring long birth certificates is now a painstaking
exercise, the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee for Defence and Home Affairs
heard on Friday.
Mt Darwin MP, Saviour Kasukuwere, and his committee
heard from Mutare residents they met at the Polytechnic College and the
provincial registry offices that acquring the crucial document was an
unpleasant experience. The MPs were on a fact-finding mission following
allegations that the National Registry is dogged by corruption with
officials at registry offices demanding bribes from applicants of passports
and birth certificates.
Rural teachers lose their glamour By Walter
Marwizi
GUTU - AN empty old gourd in his right hand and a home made
cigarette (chimonera), in the otherhand, Johannes Meke is a sorrowful sight
as he pleads with Ambuya Nemarundwe to give him another cup of the home made
brew, popularly known as "seven days".
Meke wants more beer, less
than five minutes after downing another gourd he obtained on
credit. "Hamubhadahari imi maticha, munongodusva doro redu mari yacho hamuna
(You miserly teachers! You just want beer yet you don't have money) says
Ambuya Nemarundwe contemptuously, as she attends to other customers who are
evidently having a good time at the homestead.
Meke watches in
disbelief as a group of villagers who survive on piecemeal jobs gulp the
frothy traditional brew even though they haven't brought a cent
today.
All they have simply done is promise Ambuya Nemarundwe that they
will bring her money the following day after getting paid.
Only five
years ago, the situation would have been different, with Meke getting any
quantity of beer he wanted, whether he had cash or not. Then, teachers who
were much better paid than most low-income workers in Zimbabwe, hardly went
out to the villages scouting for the cheap "seven days".
Instead, they
would spend most of their time at rural bottle stores drinking the more
expensive clear beer and roasting meat.
Often, some of them would be
heard mocking their less educated compatriots as "tuma form four tusina
mari"(uneducated Form fours with no money).
Their forays to drinking
places, although irregular, generated a lot of excitement with villagers
jostling to court favours of people who were held in high esteem because of
their percieved intellectual prowess.
But how things have
changed.
Earning a basic salary of $670 000 a month, teachers in Zimbabwe
are now among the low-income earners in the country and many of them are
virtually living from hand to mouth.
This reality is more visible in
rural areas where teachers were prominent members of the society and were
held as the drivers of local economies.
"Because of the very low
salaries, it is very unfortunate that teachers have become objects of
ridicule, yet in the past they were considered paragons of virtue and role
models. Their status is gone," said Dennis Sinyolo, the secretary general of
the Zimbabwe Teachers Association (Zimta).
Sinyolo said there was an
urgent need to review the salaries of teachers in order to boost their
morale.
"We want teachers to contribute to the development of the country
by imparting their requisite skills and the right attitude to our learners.
Teachers are professionals and you cannot have professionals in a country
that are not paying taxes. This shows that something is terribly wrong," he
said.
Under Zimbabwe's income tax bands, people earning below $750
000 do not pay tax, an arrangement that is designed to cushion them against
the effects of hyperinflation. And teachers who are supposed to be
middle-income earners have found themselves in that bracket.
The
poverty datum line currently stands at $1 400 000.
Figures supplied by
Zimta show that some of the educational allowances for teachers can
perfectly be described as "peanuts".
A teacher who is head of department
receives an allowance of $500 a month and so is a teacher-in- charge with
six infant classes.
An Advanced Level teacher receives $900, while a head
of a boarding school, receives $22.50.
The situation is no better in
colleges either where a Head of Division in charge of a team of lecturers
gets $3 000, with the Head of Department earning $2 000.
"What can
they do with that money, buy sweets?
We have made several pleas to have
these allowances, which were last reviewed in July 2002, revised but we
haven't succeeded. The situation is really unsustainable," said the Zimta
secretary general, who said teachers could be better off if they were paid a
basic salary of around $3 million.
As protracted negotiations on such a
figure continue, for Meke and other teachers, each day is proving to be an
uphill task.
"Things have become hard, very hard indeed. We don't know
how, but we are just surviving," says Meke.
Magistrate stripped of powers By Richard
Musazulwa
GWERU - TAPERA Sengweni, a Gweru magistrate was last week
stripped of his magisterial powers, a few hours after remanding in custody
two Zanu PF youths.
The youths are facing charges of bombing a
vehicle belonging to Patrick Kombayi, the spokesperson for Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC) in the Midlands South. Sengweni, who will now
understudy another magistrate at the courts, has since lodged a written
complaint questioning his removal from the bench on Monday afternoon after
he refused to grant bail to two Zanu PF activists, Joseph Mambeva and Tariro
Mafohla.
After his ruling, The Standard understands that two senior
officials from the Attorney General's Office approached Sengweni and
allegedly demanded that the two accused be granted bail.
When
Sengweni stood his ground, the two senior court officials summoned another
magistrate who presided over and heard the case before ordering the release
of the two Zanu PF activists who had already been sent to Hwahwa Remand
Prison.
Mambeva and Mafohla, did not have any legal
representation.
Their release only surfaced when the complainant, Kombayi
came across the two in the city centre the following day. Kombayi
immediately went to make a formal report to the police (RB Number
0510335).
Maxwell Takuva, the provincial chief law officer, said the
release had nothing to do with the demotion of the magistrate.
"After
assessment from the regional magistrate it was seen that the way he
(Sengweni) is carrying out his duties is not up to standard," said
Takuva.
Sengweni, however, said he was being punished for remanding the
two Zanu PF activists in custody.
"I am being victimised for denying
Zanu PF members bail. I maintain that all decisions I made in court were
entirely mine and I am proud of them. The two senior court officials cannot
lecture me on the law of bail in Zimbabwe. I am sufficiently informed
without their help," Sengweni said.
Sengweni has since written to the
Chief Magistrate complaining about the way he has been treated.
LOW-income earners and the rural folk can no longer afford to buy
bread regularly because of runaway prices of the basic commodity, making it
a preserve of a few.
With the price of an ordinary loaf almost
hitting the $5 000 mark, having bread each morning has become a luxury that
many hard-up Zimbabwean families can can no longer afford. The situation,
say some analysts, increasingly resembles the colonial era when most
low-income Zimbabweans could only afford to buy bread at
Christmas.
And the bakers who are feeling the effects say their
market is shrinking by the day.
An official with Super bakers
Masvingo, previously Aroma Bakeries, told The Standard demand for bread in
the rural areas had decreased significantly in the past few
months.
The official said: "We used to supply over 300 dozens of bread to
Zaka (among many other places) but now we are down to 150 (1 800 loaves).
The numbers are likely to go down because many people in the rural areas are
no longer consuming bread."
bove the gazetted price is doing so
illegally". [sic]
Town House office for rising Chinotimba By Valentine
Maponga
WAR Veterans leader and ruling Zanu PF central committee member,
Joseph Chinotimba, has been rewarded with an office of his own at Town
House, The Standard has established.
The self-styled commander of the
farm invasions, who rose from being a mere municipal police officer to a
leading Zanu PF official, has also been promoted to a senior security
officer in the Harare City Council. Town clerk Nomutsa Chideya confirmed
Chinotimba's elevation to the rank of chief inspector in the Municipal
police and that he was allocated an office at Town House.
"We are
running a public institution and whatever we do is open for public scrutiny.
Chinotimba is one of our senior chief inspectors here and he has never been
fired," Chideya said referring to the issue when the Elias Mudzuri-led
council recommended Chinotimba's dismissal in 2002. Instead, it is Mudzuri,
the former executive mayor, who was hounded out of his elected post by the
government .
The council, which was dominated by the Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC), citing truancy, wanted drastic action taken against
Chinotimba.
Several unsuspecting council workers told The Standard during
a visit to the Town House: "Handiti munoziva kune office yavo? (You know
where his office is?)"
The Standard found Chinotimba ensconced in an
executive chair behind a large desk in one of the outside offices behind the
main Town House building.
Several pictures of the war veterans' leader
adorned the walls of the untidy office with several chairs. In one corner
was a pile of tyres wrapped in yellow plastic. At first glance the office
looks more like a storeroom.
Chinotimba could however not comment on his
position at Town House saying he was busy. On Thursday, Chinotimba said he
was at a funeral and could not entertain reporters.
Councillor
Shingirayi Kondo of Mufakose, one of the MDC councillors who resigned from
the City Council, said while the council had resolved to fire Chinotimba for
truancy in 2002 , the ruling Zanu PF vetoed the resolution.
10 pupils share one text book at rural schools By
Emmanuel Mungoshi
MORE than 10 pupils are sharing one text book in most
of the remote schools in Mashonaland Central, Provincial Governor Ephraim
Masawi said last week.
Masawi was speaking in Mazowe during a hand over
ceremony of textbooks worth $72 million donated by Mazowe Mine. "I am
very mindful that many schools cannot buy text books and as a result 10 or
more pupils are sharing one book. So wherever I go I donate something," said
Masawi, soon after donating an additional $12 million to schools in the
province.
However, Chengetai Ndlovu, the Headmistress of Storis Golden
Shaft Primary School, one of the beneficiaries, said the Governor had
underestimated the problem in schools.
"Other schools have a ratio of
one text book for the whole class. If it was possible we could revert to
what some might call the colonial set up, whereby pupils have to bring their
own books," said Ndlovu whose school got $4 million from the
donation.
She added: "The book levy is not enough to buy the required
number of books. The money also does not come in one lump sum, so by the
time other parents pay up, the money will no longer be sufficient to buy
anything."
Clever Mutsvangwa, provincial education director for
Mashonaland Central said the low quality material used in the manufacturing
of books was contributing to the low shelf life of the books.
"We are
going to ask the book manufacturers to use strong material in making books
so that instead of replacing we will be replenishing," Mutsvangwa
said.
Apart from Storis Golden Shaft, the other primary schools to
benefit from the donations were Gwingwizha, Gwete and Gwigwida in Chiweshe,
and Mazowe Mine.
Chen Chimutengwende, MP for the area also thanked
Mazowe Mine for the donation.
Zim journalists win Canadian Press Freedom Awards By our
own staff
AFRICA remains intolerant of issues of media freedom and this
year's International Press Freedom Awards presented by the Canadian
Journalists for Free Expression (CJFE) appear to confirm
this.
Journalists operating on the continent won all the three awards on
offer, internationally. Zimbabwe is one of those places where it continues
to be hazardous for journalists to operate professionally. Courage and
determination in the face of extreme hostile conditions have won journalists
from Zimbabwe, Tunisia and Cote d'Ivoire the 2004 International Press
Freedom Awards.
Staff and founders of The Daily News are the Zimbabwean
recipients of the award.
In deciding to recognize the Zimbabweans,
the CJFE said journalists at the newspaper had braved the bombing of its
offices and printing press, police brutality and relentless
harassment.
The newspaper, along with its stable-mate, The Daily News on
Sunday, was forced to close in February. The Press has lived under a virtual
reign of terror. Independent voices have all but been silenced.
The
award presentation will be made on November 17, 2004 in Toronto, Canada and
Pedzisai Ruhanya, the deputy news editor of The Daily News will accept the
award on behalf of his colleagues at the newspaper.
In its heyday it was
the biggest independent newspaper in Zimbabwe. However, it paid dearly for
its popularity and for its uncompromising opposition to government
repression. The paper's offices and printing presses were firebombed; police
had brutally and relentlessly harassed its journalists, and had shut down
the paper for months at a time.
Many Daily News journalists, most
famously, Geoffrey Nyarota, have been forced to flee the country; and even
ordinary Zimbabweans were threatened for buying The Daily
News.
President Mugabe's government used every tool at its disposal to
silence the newspaper, including in 2002, creating the Access to Information
and Protection of Privacy Act, which requires that every journalist be
licensed. Despite many court victories for The Daily News, the newspaper was
forced to close down in February 2004, and now exists only in an online
version published out of South Africa.
Sihem Bensedrine, a Tunisian,
is known as a tireless press freedom fighter and human rights activist. For
her work she has been threatened, her passport was confiscated for three
years. In May 2000 she was arrested and tortured by the police. She was
arrested again on June 26, 2001, and detained for appearing on British
television during which she criticised the Tunisian government of President
Zine Al-Abdine Ben Ali.
She is currently spending a year in Germany at
the Hamburg Foundation for the Politically Persecuted. She continues to
expose the widespread human rights abuses in Tunisia, which is a popular
German tourist destination.
French-Canadian journalist Guy-Andre Kieffer
is this year's recipient of the Tara Singh Hayer Memorial Award.
He
was last seen in an Abidjan shopping centre on April 16, 2004.
While
Ivorian authorities were slow to investigate, the French government
appointed a French investigating judge, Patrick Ramaël who appears to have
made progress in the case. Michel Legré, brother-in-law of President Laurent
Gbagbo's wife, has been charged with "complicity in kidnapping ... illegal
detention ... [and] murder."
Kieffer worked as a free-lance
journalist for several local Ivorian newspapers and for La Lettre du
Continent. Kieffer, who is now presumed dead, was married and had two
children.
ZCTU official alleges police harassment By our own
Staff
ZIMBABWE Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) deputy secretary general,
Collen Gwiyo, says the ransacking of his house by heavily armed police
officers was an act of revenge by the government for his role in hosting the
Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu), two weeks
ago.
Zimbabwean authorities were left with egg on their face after law
enforcement agents and the immigration department failed to bar the
12-member Cosatu fact-finding mission from entering Zimbabwe. The
Secretary for the Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare, Lance Museka,
wrote to Cosatu informing them that their visiting was "unacceptable"
because it was "political".
However, the delegation defied the ban and
flew into the country.
But they were bundled into a minibus and dumped at
the Beitbridge border post, where they found their own way to
Johannesburg.
Gwiyo said three uniformed officers brandishing AK 47,
assault weapons stormed his Zengeza home with the assistance of three men in
civilian clothing.
"The incident happened at about 2.30 pm on Sunday
but they only found a young boy who has still not recovered from the
spectacle of seeing heavily armed people storming the house," said the
unionist.
He said the armed men had deliberately left their vehicle some
distance from his house. "I think their aim was to hand-cuff me and then
parade me through the streets of Zengeza and embarrass me because I am the
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) councillor for the area," Gwiyo
said.
The unionist said he was still assessing the situation to see if
the police had removed any of his belongings from his house without his
knowledge.
TWICE in the past fortnight, President Mugabe has spoken harshly
about corruption among beneficiaries of the indigenisation
programme.
But corruption in Zimbabwe now permeates nearly all sectors of
the economy and society. It has become cancerous, and focusing on just one
sector is to condone other areas where this evil flourishes. Addressing
mourners at the burial of national hero, Solomon Tawengwa, a week ago,
President Mugabe said: "It is a shame for seemingly respectable people to
play games with depositors' funds, ruining people's lives by totally eroding
lifetime savings . They then seek assistance to pay back the very depositors
they would have defrauded in the first place.
". Let it be known that we
will not let such culprits go unpunished. By their very deeds, they have
declared war on the nation and they should and will be thoroughly dealt
with. They will be uprooted from our midst and confined with those of their
kind. We have decided to deny peace to such elements and have declared an
all out campaign against corrupt practices ."
President Mugabe probably
genuinely means and believes what he says. However, the corruption in the
financial services sector is, to borrow an expression, just a tip of the
iceberg. What we face is a gargantuan monster that has taken root in our
society. The financial services sector only began pursuing their extra-legal
activities after they saw what was happening elsewhere.
If Zimbabwe
had a zero tolerance approach to corruption, the cancer would not have found
space to establish and ensconce itself. The problem has its origins in the
political leadership in this country and its reluctance to tackle corruption
soon after independence.
Zimbabwe missed the boat in its efforts to usher
in a clean government coupled with an anti-corruption culture when it failed
to adopt and implement the Leadership Code during the first decade of
independence. For many, this failure was taken as a green light to pursue a
self-enrichment agenda.
Corruption in independent Zimbabwe has its
roots in the food distribution scheme in the early 1980s that saw a
prominent businessperson running foul of the law. He was treated leniently,
while those behind him were allowed to go scot-free. The message was: as
long as one could find pawns, one would always escape the long arm of the
law.
It is against this background that the President needs to appreciate
in order to begin to grasp the scope and nature of the problem at
hand.
In order to lend substance to his anti-corruption drive, President
Mugabe might want to consider two of several options: The first could be to
appoint a panel of retired High or Supreme Court judges from Zimbabwe or the
region, who will be directly responsible to him and will have direct access
to the presidency.
The suggestion of direct access to Mugabe and the
presidency is made because some of the people surrounding the President are
no longer the angels they were assumed to be. It would be an act of letting
the cat among the pigeons.
Many of the people closer to Mugabe or the
presidency have exploited this link for personal aggrandizement and have
become obscenely wealthy. If such people have knowledge of the evidence
being unearthed by the proposed panel, they would fight tooth and nail to
subvert its work, discredit it or divert its attention from the real
rot.
The majority of the people around Mugabe are fully aware of corrupt
activities that have and continue to gnaw at the fabric of our society and
yet they have demonstrated no desire to expose or fight it. Many of them
have been compromised and would therefore become an obstacle to the work of
investigations into corruption.
If the proposed panel has access to
the presidency through intermediaries, its work is likely to be stalled,
while its findings will become useful in alerting those at the centre of
corrupt activities in this country before they are prosecuted. Before long
the panel could, for instance, be accused of being agents of "regime
change", if only to derail their mission and thus guarantee the status quo.
There could be a vicious campaign trying to argue the unsuitability of
members of such a panel.
Once the proposed panel has been sworn in, the
next step would be to establish a secretariat, ideally staffed by people
with impeccable records, if such persons can still be found in this land.
However, no government minister or official should be allowed contact with
the panel or its secretariat.
Once established, the panel could call
for written and oral evidence on corruption in Zimbabwe. The judicial panel
should be allowed to conduct its work in camera because of the danger to
those risking their lives by offering evidence. Any submissions or written
evidence should be handed directly to the panel instead of employing such
channels as postal or courier services because where the stakes are high
they will always be intercepted. Electronic evidence could also be invited,
if its security can be guaranteed.
The panel could also operate a
facility for whistleblowers. The response and evidence could be staggering
and for the first time President Mugabe will begin to appreciate, first
hand, the enormity of the problem before him.
For the time being, the
perpetrators laugh and pour scorn on each and every threat or ultimatum he
issues because they are aware of how entrenched and deep the roots of this
evil have become established.
In fact, each time the President opens his
mouth to talk about corruption, those around him split their sides with
laughter because they know that the net will close in on others not
them.
They are right because the whole policy is being applied
selectively.
When it's still in the post overthetop By Brian
Latham
THE Daily Horrid, a not-so-widely read propaganda sheet run by the
troubled central African regime's ruling Zany Party last week provided
conclusive proof that the British government is conspiring with underground
movements to topple the government.
The proof lies in the fact that a
Zany official received letters from the British embassy and an underground
movement - on the same day! Whether this suggests that the post office is
also implicated in the scandal remains unclear. However, the news is
alarming. Over The Top received his electricity bill eight weeks after it
was posted. And it arrived on the same day as a letter from the United
States of America. This could provide the much needed proof that the US
government is determined to scupper the troubled central African nation's
attempts to sell its power utility to the Chinese.
Still, OTT must
caution readers to be wary of mail. Should you receive more than one letter
a day, it may be construed as proof that you are trying to undermine or
topple the government.
This may be because the state-owned postal service
very rarely delivers any mail, so two letters in a day is hugely surprising.
And if two letters from different sources discuss the same issue; well,
obviously we have a conspiracy.
Of course, this is just nonsense, but
then so is the Horrid newspaper, though presenting wild conjecture as fact
is its trademark these days.
Mind you, the real miracle is that any
letters are ever delivered these days.
Perhaps when the Chinese
eventually do colonise the troubled central African basket case, we can look
forward to mail working again. That's if our confused southern neighbour
doesn't colonise us first.
And there you all were believing that "the
troubled central African nation will never be a colony again."
Sorry
for that, but it probably will. What the Zany Party has been trying to say
is that it will never be a western colony again - especially a British one.
Well, while that's a very good thing because no one wants plane loads of
pale-faced neo liberals arriving to lecture us about our private
lives,
the dangers of tobacco and the merits of a gay lifestyle, it's equally true
that the troubled central African country is up for sale.
The first
punter, Libya, took one look and fled - very sensibly. It had the money, of
course, but it felt rather let down by things like the lack of security of
tenure and property rights.
The Chinese, on the other hand, have no such
qualms. Property rights are new to them and to be taken seriously only when
they apply to Chinese people.
And as democracy and a negligible
understanding of human rights are only now emerging timidly in mainland
China, they're unworried about all the beating of heads going on in the
troubled central African police state.
Of course, the troubled central
African regime has had previous flirtations with Asian nations -
specifically the financially and morally bankrupt North Koreans, whose only
contribution was the erection of some statues.
They left rather hurriedly
when it emerged that their attitude to troubled central African people was
not filled with principles of enlightened socialist brotherhood, but had
more to do with filling their pockets with food, money and rhino
horn.
OTT suggests that while the Chinese aren't as plagued by bankruptcy
as the North Koreans, their presence here has more to do with off-loading
inferior quality shoes than anything else. Their buying of electricity
plants may mean we all have power we can't afford - but it will also mean we
have lots of garish plastic toys that fall to pieces, shoes that collapse
and fireworks that explode in our faces.
State in desperate moves to curtail slaughter of cows By
Kumbirai Mafunda
THE government, which is battling to restock a depleted
national beef herd, has now arbitrary banned the slaughter of female
cattle.
Informed sources told StandarBusiness that the Department of
Livestock and Veterinary Services is on a countrywide campaign to stop
cattle producers and abattoirs from slaughtering heifers and cows, which
contribute 40% of beef supply and 50% throughput of abattoirs. The
unofficial decree was necessitated by the shrinkage of the national dairy
and beef herd.
The Cattle Producers' Association (CPA) estimates that the
commercial beef herd is now down to about a 100 000 head, less than 10% of
its figures in March 2000. Producers blame the haphazard land reform
programme initiated in 2000 for causing the decline of the commercial beef
herd.
"There have been some official movements to try to dissuade the
slaughter of female cows. The officials are trying to force the recovery of
the breeding herd by stopping people from selling at cattle pens," the
sources said.
Most breeders who have been served with Section 8 notices,
which give farmers 90 days to vacate from commercial farms, have had no
other choice except to slaughter their cattle. They are now facing problems
in securing movement permits to slaughter beasts, especially
female.
"No one in the market is willing to buy cattle for breeding. So
we are selling for slaughter," said one producer of pedigree
cattle.
Owing to the inability to control the spread of the foot and
mouth disease (FMD), some lucrative beef exports to the European Union and
South Africa have been lost while regional exports have also been
suspended.
Welbourne Madzima, the Director of Veterinary Field Services,
defended the drive to restrict the slaughters.
"We would like to
influence breeders not to sell presently. It is out of concern from national
interest," he said.
The unofficial regulation of meat has led to a
critical shortage of beef that has resulted in a dramatic rise in the price
of the commodity, say meat producers.
Most meat outlets in Harare
were last week quoting prices at between $26 000 and $30 000 per kg for
ordinary beef.
"Prices are rising because volumes are declining,"
observed Paul d'Hotman, the livestock manager for the Commercial Farmers'
Union.
"We are running out of cattle in the commercial sector and the off
take in the small scale sector is much lower," d'Hotman added.
Zimbabwe needs regime change Sundaytalk with Pius
Wakatama
WHEN Gideon Gono was appointed governor of the Reserve Bank of
Zimbabwe to replace the gentlemanly and apolitical Leonard Tsumba, many
people thought that the economic problems of Zimbabwe were finally going to
be solved.
Business leaders were equally excited by Gono's appointment.
Some went as far as to say it was "a breath of fresh air" which was going to
usher in a new era. A number of realistic economic and political
commentators, myself included, were rather sceptical about the whole
exercise. I warned that Gono was going to face an uphill task, and would be
doomed to failure.
I hate to repeat things which I have said before, but
when some people, who have two appendages to their heads called ears, don't
seem to hear, one just has to repeat. In Shona we say "Kuudza mwana
hupedzesera", which means that when you are talking to a child (or someone
slow in understanding) you have to doubly make sure that the message has
been understood. Of course, I am not talking of those who are spiritually
and intellectually dead. They are impervious to the truth and are in fact
deaf. They are beyond salvation. Of these, the Lord Jesus Christ said we
must shake the dust from our feet and leave them to their unenviable
fate.
On November 16, 2003 I wrote in this column that Gono's appointment
was yet another mirage. I said: "I for one will not join the list of those
congratulating Gono. In fact, I sincerely commiserate with him even though
he, at present, does not seem to be aware of the misery awaiting him around
the corner - if he is trying to bring in a new era, that is."
I said
Gono was not going to succeed because whatever monetary policy he would come
up with would not work unless it was accompanied by prudent fiscal policy
backed by resolute political will.
Don't get me wrong. I think the man
has the best intentions in the world and exceptional financial and business
acumen. However, he over-rated himself in thinking that he could improve the
economy under the present political administration. He didn't realise that
one cannot divorce financial and economic realities and outcomes from
politics. Now, he has gone as far as he can go and is stuck.
When
Gono settled in his office and saw the enormity of our economic woes he
realised that there was no way we could overcome them without the assistance
of the international donor community.
The Standard of April 4, 2004
in a news article entitled "Gono Pleads with WB/IMF for aid", reported:
"Speaking at the first annual meeting of the African Capacity Building
Foundation (ACBF) Technical Advisory Panels and Networks last week, Gono
again conceded that Zimbabwe could not engineer its own economic upturn
without the assistance of the international community."
Gono is reported
as saying to the gathering, which included diplomats and representatives of
international donor agencies: "The pain or adjustment will certainly be felt
across our economies and the region at large, hence the need for your
excellencies to impress upon yourselves to help us overcome the challenges
facing us, the need for your excellencies to speak on our behalf to the
greater international and donor community so that they can support our
efforts."
Gono's plea was in sharp contrast to President Mugabe's oft
repeated attacks on the international donor community. At one time he
actually said the World Bank and the IMF could "go to
hell".
President Mugabe is against the international donor community for
one reason. He is not willing to make the requisite political decisions for
economic recovery to occur in Zimbabwe. The international donor community is
not about to throw money into a bottomless pit. To quote The Standard again:
"But analysts said Gono's public plea alone without a political solution to
the Zimbabwean crisis will do little, if anything, to convince the
international community to assist Zimbabwe.
"They insisted the plea
would have to be accompanied by the restoration of law and order, respect
for property rights, a sound fiscal policy and cessation of human rights
abuses - something that is beyond Gono himself.
Surely Gono can now see
the impossibility of his task. Instead of just being the national banker at
the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, he is now wearing so many hats that he must be
confused. I would be if I were in his shoes.
He is the de facto minister
of finance, the policeman against corruption, the minister of trade and
commerce and what have you. He has also become the national schoolmaster,
lecturing government, banks and parastatals on fiscal prudence and sound
corporate governance norms.
Recently he criticised plans by the
government to pay gratuities to former political prisoners and detainees. He
said any unplanned spending on gratuities would throw Zimbabwe off its
inflation targets. That was an understatement. It will be the final nail
into the coffin of Zimbabwe's economy.
Did the government listen to
Gono? They went ahead and gazetted the Ex-Political Prisoners, Detainees and
Restrictees Bill, under which it plans to give away trillions of unbudgeted
for funds. The Bill is now on its way to become law.
What Gono must
understand is that he can never succeed in turning our economy around
because our government does not make decisions based on financial or
economic commonsense but on political expediency alone. They are not
interested in the national interest but in Zanu PF's interests
alone.
If doling out money will win them votes in the coming
elections they will dole it out. If it is not there, they will simply tell
him to print more paper.
Our government is well known for
scape-goating. When the economy eventually crashes who will be there to
blame? It will be Gono. They might even link him to Tony Blair and George W
Bush in a conspiracy to "sabotage our economy" in order to reverse the gains
of "our independence and successful land reform programme".
It is now
clear to all and sundry in Zimbabwe that there will be no economic recovery
as long as the Zanu PF government is in power. What Zimbabwe needs and now
wants is regime change. Even the ordinary and unsophisticated povo realise
this. This is why they are solidly behind the opposition Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC). They know that if Zanu PF remains in power they
will die a slow and painful death from hunger, disease and exposure. For
them, the fruits of independence will remain a pipedream.
There is
nothing evil, sinister or unpatriotic in wanting regime change as our
present rulers try to convince us. In democratic societies regimes are
changed according to the will of the majority of the people. We have seen it
happen in Zambia and Malawi, our neighbouring countries.
Regime
change has to come through the ballot box. However, God forbid that any
mortal in Zimbabwe or anywhere on earth for that matter, should ever deny
the people the right to choose the regime to rule over them.
A war of words has erupted between
the ANC and Cosatu over the labour federation's fact-finding mission to
Zimbabwe. The ill-fated Cosatu mission appears to have plunged relations
with the ANC to untested lows and has torpedoed plans for a tripartite
alliance summit this month. The ANC has accused Cosatu of playing to the
gallery and the labour federation has said the ANC lied about alternative
structures for confronting President Robert Mugabe. On Friday the ANC
launched a blistering attack on Cosatu, saying it got what it deserved when
its fact-finding mission was deported from Zimbabwe last week. Smuts
Ngonyama, head of the Presidency in the ANC, said yesterday that with
Cosatu's intervention, South Africa had been sending mixed signals and
setting Zimbabweans against one another. "There is no way you can find
solutions to a sensitive situation like this if you try to play to the
gallery," he said yesterday. However, Cosatu general secretary Zwelinzima
Vavi said there was no time to wait for a single-track diplomatic initiative
to deliver, when elections next year could condemn Zimbabwe to another four
years in political and economic limbo. He said Cosatu would launch actions,
possibly including a border blockade, as soon as possible to support
Zimbabwe's labour unions.
In a statement on the ANC website, the
party said Mugabe's government had a right to decide who to admit, and made
no comment on the way the Cosatu delegation was detained, denied food or
water, roughed up and then dumped over the border at dawn. The ANC, the
dominant partner in the tripartite alliance with Cosatu and the SACP, said
the union federation should have worked through the "Joint Tripartite
Commission", formed under the leadership of Labour Minister Membathisi
Mdladlana in 2003. Cosatu fired back yesterday, saying the ANC had lied
about the tripartite commission. "No such structure exists. This untruth is
being peddled in order to create an impression that Cosatu ... had other
intentions when it sent its mission to Zimbabwe," the union said. Vavi told
the Sunday Times yesterday he had no regrets about the failed mission into
Zimbabwe. "Hiding behind spurious notions that Zimbabwe is within its right
to enforce its immigration laws in order to justify ill-treatment of Cosatu
leaders does not help," he said. He said Cosatu was finalising its plans for
action to show solidarity with Zimbabwe's labour unions. "It's not a
question of whether we will go ahead, it's a question of what and when," he
said.
The government believes Mugabe's Zanu PF and opposition leader
Morgan Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change are close to agreement on
constitutional changes that will create an independent electoral commission
to ensure a free and fair poll next year. Vavi said that could be too late,
adding: "There is a very, very real deadline, otherwise we go into another
four years of political and economic uncertainty. The real test, not only
for South Africa and the SADC, but also for the African Union, will be
whether they can deliver a free and fair election." He said a tripartite
summit, that had been planned for this month, had been postponed to next
year.
From Sapa, 6 November
'Let's not put all eggs in one
basket in Zim'
The Congress of SA Trade Unions on Saturday said South
Africa could not afford to place all its Zimbabwean eggs in one basket. The
trade union federation was replying to media comment on an apparent attack
on the labour movement in the ANC Today, the party's online publication.
While reaffirming its support for all attempts to reach a diplomatic
solution to the Zimbabwe problem - and while acknowledging "the sincerity
and integrity of the SA government and the African National Congress in
their efforts to achieve this", Cosatu said diplomacy had to be
"supplemented by mobilisation of the people to change their own
circumstances". "Diplomacy has its role and place, but we cannot afford to
place all our eggs in the basket of diplomacy. Mass mobilisation and
solidarity have an equally important role. The challenge is to co-ordinate
these efforts to reinforce one another and not use one to the exclusion of
the other," the organisation said in a statement on Saturday. Cosatu added
it had a right and duty to act in solidarity with fellow trade
unionists.
"The federation itself is a product of international
solidarity and understands the value of support from the international
community. Apartheid South Africa would not have been brought down in 1994
purely through diplomatic pressure. Apartheid was ended firstly by the
struggle of the mass liberation movement, assisted by an international
solidarity campaign. While Zimbabwe is not of course equal to apartheid
South Africa, there is still a need to express our solidarity with our
fellow workers in their fight for trade union rights and for political
space," Cosatu explained. "Cosatu has consistently taken a similar view of
attacks on trade unions rights in Swaziland, Nigeria and other places and
will continue to do so. "Cosatu cannot be held responsible for either the
ignorance of those who suggest we have suddenly woken up to target Zimbabwe
nor we can be made to account for selective amnesia of others. "Nor can we
be held responsible for views expressed by the media, opposition parties and
political commentators, in response to the expulsion of the Cosatu mission.
Most of the time our views are freely available in our public positions and
resolutions."
"The aim of our mission was not to undermine the
Zimbabwean government, nor to embarrass the ANC or President Mbeki. We
reject any insinuation that Cosatu seeks to unseat the Zanu PF government.
All we have called for is free political activity, repeal of repressive
legislation and ending of routine harassment of trade unionists. It is also
preposterous to say that the expulsion of the mission somehow suggests a
split in the alliance or that Cosatu both deserved and invited expulsion
from the Zimbabwe government," the statement added. If other groups such as
the Democratic Alliance opportunistically derived political capital out of
the Cosatu mission, "this should not serve as grounds to delegitimise our
position," Cosatu stressed. "The letter to Cosatu from the government of
Zimbabwe stated that the mission was 'not appropriate' because it bypassed a
process agreed upon between the governments, labour and business leaders of
South Africa and Zimbabwe which was to address the political dimension of
labour in Zimbabwe.
"An article in ANC Today refers to this as a
'Joint Tripartite Commission' between South Africa and Zimbabwe. But in fact
no such structure exists. This untruth is being peddled in order to create
an impression that Cosatu and the ZCTU (Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions)
failed to use existing structures to address their concerns and therefore
had other intentions when it sent the mission to Zimbabwe. Cosatu said the
"commission", which to its and the ZCTU's knowledge never materialised, was
a consequence of an informal meeting at a International Labour organisation
meeting in 2003, where Labour minister Membathisi Mdladlana had suggested to
Cosatu and business representative Bokkie Botha that South Africa's they
should initiate a more constructive engagement between the parties in
Zimbabwe. "Both the ZCTU and the Minister of Labour of Zimbabwe agreed that
a meeting involving all the tripartite parties of both countries could be
held." This never happened. "Giving the initiative a name 'Joint Tripartite
Commission' is an attempt to give a non-existent structure political weight.
This forms part and parcel of a strategy to launch a political attack on
Cosatu and ZCTU by the Zimbabwe government. The question that must be asked
is when was this so-called Joint Tripartite Commission inaugurated? Who are
the commissioners? When was its first or last meeting? Who attended such a
meeting? Certainly COSATU and ZCTU were not part of the meeting. Neither
were the employers. While this was an excellent initiative... it has
unfortunately not become a reality."
In a shocking revelation, Minister of
Special Affairs responsible for Lands, Land Reform and Land Resettlement,
John Nkomo told The Sunday Mirror that contrary to public belief, the
contentious issue of multiple farm ownership was on the increase in the
country. "We are getting news that there are more multiple farm owners, not
only in the A2 commercial farming scheme but also in the A1 villagisation
scheme...I am having to sign tonnes and tonnes of withdrawal letters," said
Nkomo. He said the lack of a governing law at the start of the fast-track
land reform exercise in 2000 had prompted many individuals to amass more
than one farm. Nkomo said: "They (multiple farm owners) took advantage of
the fact that there was no law then (in 2000), whilst others simply acted
out of greed and the desire to amass more than one farm." The Special
Affairs minister highlighted that the issue was not confined to VIPs in
government and the ruling party, but also extended to ordinary Zimbabweans
in the A1 villagisation scheme, who had managed to grab more than one farm
at the height of the land reform programme.
He however said
government would not compromise on the matter of multiple farm ownership, as
all excess farmland and under-utilised land would automatically revert to
being State land. "Anyone who remains on State land once given a withdrawal
letter by my ministry will be guilty of a criminal offence. We will not
hesitate to prosecute anyone refusing to give up excess farmland." Nkomo
also assured the Zimbabwean public that his ministry would soon be on top of
the problem before the end of the year, saying he had streamlined the system
in a decentralisation drive through which anomalies within the land reform
programme were identified and dealt with effectively. He said that his
ministry would work in conjunction with district land identification
committees, which would identify underutilised land and cases of multiple
farm ownership, before reporting the cases to the provincial land
identification committees. "Provincial land identification committees will
then give head office their findings from the province. The findings are
made up of schedules with names of multiple farm owners and the properties
in question from which my ministry at head office will proceed to sign
withdrawal letters," said Nkomo.
The Ministry of Special Affairs
recently held a two-day workshop where Nkomo warned against corrupt people
who were circumventing normal procedures in acquiring land. At the workshop,
Nkomo admitted that under the model A2 commercial farming scheme, a lot of
land was currently underutilised due to multiple farm ownership. The problem
of multiple farm ownership has long been a contentious issue for government
after a number of senior party stalwarts allocated themselves more than one
farm, more often than not in areas of prime arable land. Nkomo, who was
given charge of the ministry to solve anomalies arising from the land reform
programme earlier on this year, has been struggling to bring the problem of
multiple farm ownership under control. President Robert Mugabe has
repeatedly blasted multiple farm owners over the past two years declaring
that every individual was entitled to one farm under the one-man one-farm
policy, but these efforts met with little success. Tangible results started
to materialise this year for Nkomo after a number of fingered senior
government officials were issued with withdrawal letters for the excess
farmland that was identified in the withdrawal letters.
The ambitions of
Zimbabwe's Speaker of Parliament Emmerson Mnangagwa have suffered yet
another blow. Mnangagwa - widely perceived as Mugabe's heir apparent - has
been named in a Zanu PF corruption probe into party-owned businesses which
he runs. A Zanu PF report in possession of the Sunday Times says that the
party's run-down business empire has been mismanaged. Mnangagwa has presided
over the swathe of companies for a long time. The report is likely to
further damage his reputation ahead of the Zanu PF congress in December
where new leaders will be elected. Mnangagwa and Zanu PF chairman John Nkomo
are seen as joint frontrunners in the race to succeed Mugabe. Mnangagwa has
in the past been accused of trading illegally in gold and of being involved
in the looting of precious minerals in the Democratic Republic of Congo. A
few years ago he was linked to a massive airport bribery scandal and
although he denied the allegations, his image was badly damaged. Mnangagwa
stands accused by colleagues of mismanaging Treger Holdings, Mike Appel,
Catercraft, Fibrolite, Zidlee, Southern African Re-Insurance Company (Sare),
Zidco Holdings and First Bank. The report says that the mismanagement has
led to the closure of some of the firms, including Fibrolite and a First
Bank branch in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
According to the
report:
A Zanu PF investment company, Namibia/Zimbabwe, was recently
also closed "due to mismanagement and its property looted by unknown
people"; Most Zanu PF companies have not been audited for years and their
books are in a shambles. Dividends due to Zanu PF cannot be accounted for; A
$650-million Treger Holdings cheque for dividends declared on February 18
2003 for the year ended December 31 2002, was also missing; and About
$120-million was missing from M&S Investments. The report also
questioned the sale of Zanu PF interests in National Blankets, Woolworths
and the Ottawa Building. Three directors of M&S Syndicate, Zanu PF's
holding company - Manharlal Chiunilal Joshi, Jayant Chiunilal Joshi and
Dipak Pandya - fled in May. Mnangagwa, who was grilled by the investigation
committee, denied that he had assisted the men to flee the country in an
attempt to frustrate the probe. The three directors, who had been in charge
of the companies since 1980, worked closely with Mnangagwa and were
responsible for the M&S Syndicate's financial records.
Johannesburg - A decision by
President Robert Mugabe's government to seize seven privately owned banks
has drawn criticism from analysts who said the move was ill advised and
illegal.
Gideon Gono, the new governor of the government-run
Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, announced the seizure of the mostly black-owned
banks last weekend.
He said the banks would be merged into one,
the Zimbabwe Amalgamated Banking Group, which would be owned by the
government. The newly merged bank would open its doors to the public in
January.
The seven banks are under central bank curatorship because
of alleged mismanagement.
Economists and business analysts said
confiscating and merging the banks might not be a wise idea. The move was a
violation of company law rules, which required shareholders and creditors,
including depositors, to decide the fate of the banks.
Analysts
said the government would now inherit many risks and accumulated
debts.
"It is by no means certain that the government would be able
to run the merged bank professionally and profitably to meet the inherited
obligations," said economist John Robertson.
The Zimbabwe
Amalgamated Banking Group would face a serious credibility crisis because it
would be owned and run by a government with a track record of mismanagement.
"I personally wouldn't put my money anywhere near that entity," Robertson
said.
Tendai Biti, the finance and economic affairs secretary
of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, said the crisis in most of
the banks emerged from monetary policy last year, which imposed more
stringent regulations on the banking sector without regard to legitimate
economic difficulties, including the government-induced liquidity crisis in
the market.
The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe's selective
application of supervision regulations had left a few banks to rot under the
weight of mismanagement while the central bank turned a blind eye on their
operations.
"If a company is in dire straits, it is up to
shareholders and creditors to decide whether it should be liquidated or put
under judicial management," said Biti.
A commercial bank
economist, who did not want to be named, said the success of the new bank
would depend on the people appointed to run it.
"If politicians
stay out of it all and give professionals enough resources to run it, then
it might be a worthwhile project. But can that happen in the Zimbabwe we
have come to know?" he asked. - Independent Foreign Service
Anti-Zim Canadian coalition causes uproar Mirror
Reporter
Fissures have emerged in a broad-based Canadian coalition of
civil society groups over a damning report it compiled on the political,
economic and social situation in Zimbabwe, with eyebrows being raised about
its motives in its stated pursuit to promote good governance in this
country.
The Canada-based Zimbabwe Inter-Agency Reference Group (ZimRef)
has also come under attack from some of its members and Zimbabweans living
in that country after resolving, following the compilation of the report, to
lobby the Canadian government to appoint a special envoy to deal with what
it refers to as the Zimbabwean crisis.
ZimRef consists of Canadian
NGOs, church groups, as well as media and labour organisations. It sells
itself as a "forum for Canadian organisations that supports the efforts of
the Zimbabwean people to achieve a free, open and just society that is
characterised by responsible democratic government and respect for human
rights".
Recently, ZimRef's Zimbabwean co-chair, Margaret Zondo resigned
from the coalition in protest over the report entitled Zimbabwe Under Siege:
A Canadian Civil Society Perspective, which is being distributed widely
among civil society organisations in Canada, Zimbabwe and the international
arena. The 35-page document was published on September 9
2004.
Talking from Toronto, Canada, a Zimbabwean based in that country
informed the Sunday Mirror that Zondo's resignation was offset, in addition
to the report, by "the bias that characterises the deliberations of ZimRef".
Said the source: "Margaret Zondo's resignation was prompted by the group
towards propagating a negative image of Zimbabwe in the international
arena". He said Zondo had been riled by the "deliberate exclusion of
Zimbabwe's input".
He added: "Zimbabweans involved in ZimRef are
constantly consulted but their input excluded for not being anti-Mugabe
enough. In addition, there are so many other Zimbabweans living in Canada
yet they were not consulted when the report was compiled. Who is better
placed to talk about Zimbabwe than the Zimbabweans themselves?" In late May
and early June 2004, a coalition of Canadian civil society organisations
visited South Africa and Zimbabwe and met with numerous organisations and
individuals in Johannesburg, Bulawayo, Harare and Mutare. The Canadian
representatives included Raj Anand, a human rights lawyer, Alison Armstrong
from the Canadian Journalists for Free Expression, Grace-Edward Galabuzi of
the United Steelworkers of Canada Humanity Fund, Alex Neve, the secretary
general of Amnesty International (Canada) and Rhea Whitehead a Canadian
Church representative. According to the report, the mission was meant to
"demonstrate solidarity and strengthen support for Zimbabwean and South
African civil society groups in the context of the current crisis in
Zimbabwe; and to learn how Canadian civil society can effectively influence
policy makers in Canada, Zimbabwe and South Africa".
Ostensibly,
their mission was to hear the views of the people in the run-up to the
compilation of Zimbabwe Under Siege, but concern has been raised that the
consulted people were not representative enough of the Zimbabwean
population.
In its executive summary to the report, ZimRef claims
that "Zimbabweans are experiencing a widespread human right crisis". The
police, army and judiciary come under fire for flagrant human rights
violations, while laws like the Public Order and Security Act are also
attacked for undermining democratic space. The report also takes a swipe at
the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA) for
militating against media freedom, while the NGO Bill comes under attack for
seeking to ban foreign aid to locally based non-governmental organisations.
The Bill is still being discussed in Parliament.
The report also
criticises President Robert Mugabe of besieging the Church and labour
activists. " The Church currently constitutes one of the last democratic
spaces in Zimbabwe. However, through a mix of severe intimidation and
patronage tactics, it is evident that President Mugabe actively seeks to
neutralise church voices critical of him," states the report.
Among
its recommendations, ZimRef calls on the Canadian government to exert
pressure on Harare.
"Canada must convey a clear sense of urgency for
action towards a resolution to the crisis in Zimbabwe. The Canadian Prime
Minister should appoint a special nvoy for Zimbabwe, who could speak out
about human rights issues and play a role in seeking a resolution to the
current crisis. "Canada should also develop a comprehensive Africa-wide
strategy for Zimbabwe, working within and taking advantage of the influence
Canada has within the Southern African Development Community and the NEPAD
Secretariat, and at the African Union and the Commonwealth," the report
says. However, Canada has always maintained a cautious approach to the
"Zimbabwe crisis". At a time when many western countries teamed up to
demonise Zimbabwe and declare virtual sanctions against the country for
alleged human rights abuses, the Canadians were not so aggressive, and
recent media reports indicate that relations between the two countries are
thawing.
Reportedly, ZimRef took its suggestion to appoint a special
envoy on Zimbabwe to the Canadian Foreign Affairs ministry but the move was
met with scepticism, with the authorities saying the group's report was
acrimonious and would be met with resistance by Harare. Comments could not
be obtained from the Canadian government or Zondo at the time of going to
press. There is an increasing perception that if Zimbabwe were to get out of
its political and economic problems, solutions should be sought internally,
rather than with the help of external organisations which could be
harbouring its own agendas.