Zim Independent
Constantine
Chimakure
THE arrest of Attorney-General Sobusa Gula-Ndebele
this week is part
of President Robert Mugabe's succession battle and signals
the beginning of
an onslaught on the faction that was backing Vice-President
Joice Mujuru's
presidential aspirations.
Impeccable sources
said the crackdown on the camp led by retired army
general Solomon Mujuru
was timed to take place before Zanu PF's five-day
special congress starting
on December 11 to coerce the camp's members to
rally behind
Mugabe.
Gula-Ndebele became the first casualty as Vice-President
Mujuru made a
dramatic announcement that she had never harboured
presidential ambitions.
The sources said Mujuru was compelled to
make the announcement after
it became clear that members of her camp were
under sustained attack from
the pro-Mugabe faction.
Inside
sources said yesterday that Mugabe and his backers in the
ruling party were
turning up the heat on the Mujuru faction to demolish it
before the congress
in December where it initially planned to challenge
Mugabe to prevent him
from standing as the party's candidate in next year's
elections.
Despite Joice Mujuru's latest denial, her group has
since February
been working behind the scenes in a bid to force Mugabe out.
Numerous
strategic meetings were held at various places and plans of action
were
devised to seize the leadership of the party, the sources
said.
The sources said before last month's politburo and central
committee
meetings, members of the Mujuru camp were reportedly told that if
they
continued to press for Mugabe's retirement they would lose their
individual
businesses and farms.
Addressing Mashonaland Central
provincial leaders on Wednesday in
Bindura, Mujuru reportedly said: "If
there is a person who wants to succeed
President Mugabe, it's not me. A-a,
aya mashura andirikutonzwa muno (These
are ill-omens I am hearing
here).
"The presidium is made up of four people and I am already in
the
presidium. I am not going anywhere."
She reportedly backed
Mugabe saying reports that she intended to oust
him were lies meant to
tarnish her image.
Before the politburo and central committee
meetings Mujuru was
reportedly eyeing Mugabe's post and was being challenged
for it by Rural
Housing and Social Amenities minister Emmerson
Mnangagwa.
The sources said Gula-Ndebele had become the latest
casualty of Zanu
PF's succession politics because he is reported to belong
to the Mujuru
faction.
The arrest of Gula-Ndebele and top NMBZ
banker James Mushore, also
linked to the Mujuru faction, is said to be part
of a campaign to destroy
the group.
"We are under siege at the
moment," a senior official in the Mujuru
camp said. "The arrest of
Gula-Ndebele and Mushore is part of a campaign to
destroy us. Last week they
harassed some of our guys at the airport and it
seems the crackdown is
systematic. The moment you try to challenge Mugabe
for power all hell breaks
loose. Mnangagwa's faction learnt it the hard way,
now it's us (the Mujuru
camp) on the receiving end."
The camp, the sources said, was
suspected of trying to forge an
alliance with the MDC faction led by Morgan
Tsvangirai. There have been
reports that the Mujuru camp had struck a deal
with the Tsvangirai faction
on a power-sharing arrangement in the
post-Mugabe era. Gula-Ndebele is
believed to be linked to Mujuru because of
their shared military background.
The Mujuru camp, riding on the
crest of a wave of success against
Mugabe at the party's Goromonzi
conference in December last year where it
blocked his 2010 plan, thwarted
Mugabe's bid for endorsement, forcing party
spokesmen to cover up the
embarrassing failure. Mugabe was not endorsed to
be the Zanu PF candidate at
the meeting. He was only endorsed last month.
However, the Mujuru
faction was defeated during the politburo and
central committee meetings
last month.
Mnangagwa was the first to back Mugabe and allegedly
roped in war
veterans to rally support for the veteran leader through
solidarity marches
throughout the country.
Gula-Ndebele was
arrested on Tue day on allegations of conduct
contrary or inconsistent with
duties of a public officer after he reportedly
met former NMBZ deputy
managing director James Mushore while he was on the
police wanted
list.
The AG was charged under the Criminal Law (Codification and
Reform)
Act for the meeting he held with Mushore when he visited Zimbabwe in
September.
The president was also reportedly angered by the
failure by the AG's
office to successfully prosecute 35 MDC activists who
were arrested in March
on allegations of terrorism.
The case
against the opposition activists has collapsed after the
state indicated
that there was no evidence to successfully prosecute the
alleged petrol
bombers.
Gula-Ndebele, the sources added, was also at loggerheads
with National
Security minister Didymus Mutasa whom the AG's office wanted
prosecuted on
charges of political violence.
Zim Independent
Shakeman Mugari
TOP banker James Mushore has been caught in the
Zanu PF power play as
police and the Attorney-General's Office clashed over
the handling of his
arrest on charges of contravening the exchange control
regulations.
The Attorney-General's Office appeared to have given
Mushore - former
NMBZ deputy MD - immunity from arrest preferring to take
him straight to
court while the police said this arrangement was faulty.
Attorney-General
Sobusa Gula-Ndebele was this week charged over the case
while Mushore has
been behind bars for over a week.
Mushore is
related to retired army commander General Solomon Mujuru
who leads a faction
in Zanu PF allegedly opposed to President Mugabe's
continued stay in
power.
Mushore, who has been refused bail, is facing six counts of
contravening exchange control regulations and one of violating the
Immigration Act. The banker, who fled the country in 2004, was arrested last
week. He had earlier visited the country in September.
When the
charges arose Mushore appealed to Mujuru to intervene to save
him from being
arrested, to no avail.
Mushore fled the country together with three
other NMBZ directors,
Julius Makoni, Otto Chekeche and Francis Zimuto.
Police at that time said
they wanted to charge the four with foreign
currency externalisation.
The Zimbabwe Independent is in possession
of a confidential letter
which the Attorney-General's Office wrote to
Mushore's lawyer, Martin
Makonese, in April last year, promising that his
client would not be
remanded in custody once he came back to Zimbabwe. That
immunity also
covered Zimuto.
Makoni was cleared and
subsequently de-specified by the government.
"Please find attached copies of
the charge sheet and state outline to the
above case," said Joseph Jagada,
chief law officer in the AG's Office in the
letter dated April 3,
2006.
The letter was also copied to the office of the Director of
Public
Prosecutions in the AG's Office.
"Can you please advise
as to when you are likely to be ready for trial
so that your clients will
not need to be placed on remand but proceed to
trial on that date," read the
letter.
"We find this arrangement convenient to all parties
concerned in this
case."
Jagada's letter was in response to a
request by Makonese for the state
to provide the charge sheet, outline and
other relevant details concerning
Mushore and Zimuto. Makonese had said he
wanted to use the details to
prepare for trial.
Makonese made
the request in a letter dated March 27 last year.
Mushore's legal team is
understood to be arguing that this letter clearly
stated that he would not
be arrested on his return to Zimbabwe.
Gula-Ndebele is said to have
been aware of this arrangement.
The police have however dismissed
this procedure.
Spokesperson Wayne Bvudzijena yesterday said police
had proceeded to
charge Mushore because a warrant of arrest had been issued
as far back as
2004 and a docket had been opened on the case.
Asked if he was not aware of the Attorney-General's promises in the
letter,
Bvudzijena said if the police knew about the arrangement they would
not have
charged Mushore.
Meanwhile, the High Court is today expected to
hear the state's appeal
against Mushore's bail granted by a regional court
this week.
Zim Independent
Augustine Mukaro
A SUPREME Court judgement
allowing government to seize farming
equipment from farmers whose properties
have been expropriated has triggered
a farm-equipment looting orgy
throughout the country.
Reports reaching the Zimbabwe Independent
show that on the farms
invaded, high-profile politicians are taking
advantage of the judgement to
force farmers to leave all movable
implements.
Another group has started invading garages and
workshops that repaired
and housed farming equipment from displaced
farmers.
In the Karoi area in Mashonaland West, Major General
Nicholas Dube who
invaded Grand Parade farm forcing the owner out despite
the existence of a
court order allowing him to stay, is now reportedly
seizing his farming
equipment.
The 15 soldiers which Dube
initially deployed on the farm have now
taken over irrigation equipment
including centre pivots and a host of other
implements. They are threatening
to take over dairy cows and the dairy
processing plant plus other
infrastructure on the farm.
In Masvingo, Chiredzi South MP retired
Brig-General Kalisto Gwanetsa,
who had given farmer Lyle Engles of Farm 28
14 days to vacate, this week
ordered the farmer to leave all his movable
equipment behind. Engles, who is
in the process of relocating to Mozambique,
has challenged the equipment
seizure.
Other workshop and
storage owners said they had been approached by
people with notices to
acquire their equipment. They are also offering
ridiculous figures as
compensation for the equipment.
The Supreme Court on Monday ruled
that government was allowed to
acquire all farming equipment and machinery
belonging to former white
commercial farmers whose farms were compulsorily
acquired for resettlement.
The ruling was on a constitutional
application by a group of farmers
challenging the acquisition of their
equipment stored at Manica Zimbabwe
Ltd.
The judgement was met
with criticism from farming organisations whose
members are challenging
their eviction from farms.
Zim Independent
Constantine Chimakure
A BATTLE of the titans is on the cards in
Makoni North, Manicaland,
amid reports that provincial governor Tinaye
Chigudu wants to take the seat
from State Security minister Didymus
Mutasa.
Zanu PF sources this week said Chigudu, the party's
provincial
chairperson, has already launched his campaign for the 2008
parliamentary
election in the constituency and was determined to elbow out
Mutasa, the
party's national secretary for administration.
"Chigudu has vowed to slug it out with Mutasa in the party's primary
elections," one of the sources said. "The two protagonists have since
launched their campaigns and there are reports of political violence in the
constituency."
The source added that party youths were being
used to perpetrate the
violence.
A central committee member in
Manicaland told the Zimbabwe Independent
that when he recently visited Tande
area in the constituency to pay
condolences to a relative, mourners fled
after mistaking his car for that of
one of the two contestants.
"The mourners only returned after realising I was not one of those
vying for
the seat," the central committee member said. "There is a war of
catapults
in the area. It is really serious."
Mutasa yesterday declined to
comment on the matter.
"Comrade, I cannot talk to you. I am rushing
for a meeting," he said.
Repeated efforts to get a comment from
Chigudu were in vain at the
time of going to press yesterday.
Violence broke out in the constituency in 2004 when war veteran James
Kaunye
challenged Mutasa for the seat. Mutasa triumphed.
Chigudu is
currently embroiled in a row with Youth Development
minister Saviour
Kasukuwere after the latter dissolved the party's youth
executive in
Manicaland that was reportedly opposed to President Robert
Mugabe's
candidacy next year.
According to media reports, Kasukuwere, a Zanu
PF politburo member
representing the ruling party's youths, attracted the
ire of Chigudu after
he dissolved the ruling party's provincial youth wing
about a month ago
accusing them of corruption and incompetence.
Zim Independent
Constantine Chimakure
VICE-PRESIDENT Joseph Msika and eight
ministers currently in
parliament on the basis of President Robert Mugabe's
benevolence will have
to contest and win next year's legislative polls if
they are to retain their
seats in cabinet.
Msika, Justice
minister Patrick Chinamasa, Rural Housing minister
Emmerson Mnangagwa, Mines
minister Amos Midzi, Water Resources minister
Munacho Mutezo, Information
minister Sikhanyiso Ndlovu, Small Enterprises
minister Sithembiso Nyoni,
Indigenisation minister Paul Mangwana and Foreign
minister Simbarashe
Mumbengegwi are in parliament courtesy of their
appointment as
non-constituency MPs by Mugabe.
But with Mugabe's assent to
Constitutional Amendment No 18 last week,
Msika and the eight ministers will
have to contest and win next year's
polls - a move Zanu PF sources said
would be a Herculean task for most of
the Zanu PF bigwigs.
The
sources said some of the ministers would fall by the wayside next
year
judging by their performances in previous elections.
Amendment No
18 abolished the posts of non-constituency legislators
with effect from next
year.
The membership of the House of Assembly will be increased to
210 from
150.
All the MPs will be directly elected by voters
registered in the 210
constituencies to be delimitated by the Zimbabwe
Electoral Commission.
This entails that everyone who was appointed
by Mugabe during the life
of the current parliament as a non-constituency
lawmaker should find a
constituency, contest and win it if he or she
entertains ambitions to remain
in the House.
The Constitution
of Zimbabwe states that for one to be a
vice-president or minister, he or
she must be an MP.
"There are strong fears that Msika, Mnangagwa,
Midzi, Nyoni and Ndlovu
would not make it into parliament next year," one of
the sources said.
"Mnangagwa, Midzi, Ndlovu and Nyoni contested in the 2005
parliamentary
polls in urban constituencies and lost. The same scenario is
expected next
year."
Msika and Zanu PF national chairman John
Nkomo have not contested any
election since 2000 arguing that they are
national leaders.
However, the reason by the former PF Zapu
stalwarts was dismissed amid
assertions that Msika and Nkomo no longer
commanded support in Matabeleland
and were afraid of being humiliated by the
MDC.
Mnangagwa, Midzi, Nyoni and Ndlovu have repeatedly lost
parliamentary
elections since 2000 to the MDC, while Mugabe invited
Mumbengegwi into
politics after the 2005 legislative election.
Before then Mumbengegwi was Zimbabwe's ambassador to the United
Kingdom.
In the 2000 and 2005 polls, Mnangagwa lost the Kwekwe
seat to the MDC's
Blessing Chebundo, while Ndlovu was twice hammered by the
opposition party's
Milton Gwetu in Mpopoma.
Midzi lost the
Hatfield seat to the MDC's Tapiwa Mashakada in the 2005
general election,
while Nyoni was wallopped in 2000 by the opposition's
vice-president
Thokozani Khupe in Makokoba and five years later she lost to
David Coltart
in Bulawayo South.
The Zanu PF sources said some of the affected
ministers were
contemplating contesting the elections in rural
constituencies where the
ruling party enjoys massive support.
"Mnangagwa is likely to contest in one of the two constituencies in
Gokwe,
Mangwana in Chivi North and Nyoni is eyeing a constituency in
Matabeleland
North," another source said. "The outcome of the delimitation
exercise will
give a guide to the affected ministers to select 'safe'
constituencies."
A Zanu PF senior official told the Zimbabwe
Independent this week that
Msika was not going to contest in any election
next year, but would be
appointed by Mugabe to the Senate as one of the five
senators the head of
state must select.
"Why would Msika
contest?" the official questioned. "President Mugabe
will simply have to
appoint him into the Senate. Other ministers have to
fight it out in the
constituencies - from the party's primary elections to
the proper ones next
year. That is the name of the game."
Mugabe, the source said, was
also expected to appoint Nkomo, Joshua
Malinga, Aguy Georgios and Kantibai
Patel to the Senate. Beginning next
year, the membership of the Senate will
go up to 93 from 66.
The Senate will be made up of six senators per
province directly
elected by voters registered in the 60 senatorial
constituencies and 10
provincial governors appointed by the
president.
The president and deputy president of the Council of
Chiefs, 16
chiefs - being two chiefs from each provinces other than
metropolitan
provinces - and five senators appointed by the head-of-state
would comprise
the Senate.
Zim Independent
Augustine Mukaro
THE battle to control the Morgan
Tsvangirai-led MDC faction's women's
assembly remained open after the
party's national executive council refused
at the weekend to endorse the
election of Theresa Makone to replace Lucia
Matibenga.
Sources
in the party said at the Saturday meeting the national council
forced
Tsvangirai to shelve the women's assembly debate following concerns
about
the "Bulawayo restaurant" elections, plus allegations that Makone had
splashed thousands of South African rands bribing senior party officials in
all provinces to vote for her. The allegations have however not been
substantiated.
Tsvangirai had before Saturday's indaba met
provincial leaders and the
party's parliamentary caucus to rally them to
endorse Makone's election.
The MDC leader had tried to race through
Makone's election in his
presidential report, telling party officials that
the matter was now "water
under the bridge". But the officials insisted on a
full debate since the
item was on the agenda.
Makone was asked
to leave the meeting in a clear message that the
national council did not
recognise her election. Matibenga, who had
indicated that she would attend
the meeting, was asked to stay away.
Several senior MDC officials
then took turns to attack the process
that secured Makone's election, itself
a condemnation of Tsvangirai, who has
staked his political career on dumping
Matibenga for one of his friends.
Makone, whose husband Ian is one
of Tsvangirai's top advisers and
financiers, was controversially elected as
the head of the women's assembly
to replace Matibenga.
Matibenga's supporters said her ouster was unprocedural and
unconstitutional, accusing Tsvangirai of failing to uphold the party's
internal procedures.
Nelson Chamisa, the party's spokesman,
emerged as a surprise opponent
of Matibenga's ouster during the meeting.
Chamisa was joined by former
Harare mayor, Elias Mudzuri, deputy
secretary-general Tapiwa Mashakada,
Kwekwe MP Blessing Chebundo and
Thamsanqa Mahlangu, the youth leader.
Several other senior
officials have thrown their weight behind the
"Friends of Lucia Campaign",
which has been a rallying point for Matibenga's
supporters.
Following the tension-filled deliberations, the national council
agreed to
reopen debate on Makone's election on November 11, when the
national
chairman Lovemore Moyo would be expected to present a report on
Theresa
Makone's controversial election.
Moyo missed Saturday's meeting
because he was in South Africa, where
the MDC is involved in talks with the
ruling Zanu PF.
However, impeccable sources said the proposed
Sunday meeting had since
been shelved and the matter would be deliberated on
at another national
executive council meeting in December.
Chamisa said the party resolved to put the issue of the women's
assembly
aside and wait for the report from Moyo.
"The national chairman
will compile a report about what happened in
Bulawayo regarding the women's
assembly and we expect that report in a few
days' time," Chamisa said.
"However, there is consensus on the way forward
and the party will soon make
its position known to the public."
Non-governmental organisations
who observed the restaurant elections
said the entire electoral process of
the women's assembly was severely
flawed and could not have constituted a
legitimate process in terms of the
MDC's internal party procedures, basic
electoral norms and the Sadc
guidelines regarding elections.
Officials supporting Tsvangirai said the dissolution of the women's
assembly
was justified because Matibenga had failed to lead the most
important organ
of the party as shown by the nomination results.
"Following the
recommendations to reform the organ, the best was to
ask the affected people
to seek a fresh mandate," one of the officials said.
"Makone was then
nominated for the post by 11 provinces while Matibenga was
nominated by a
single province."
The officials also alleged that since the
beginning of the year,
Matibenga failed to organise a single meeting for the
women's assembly,
seriously crippling the party's drive to harness the
majority of the voters.
Women constitute 52% of the voters in
Zimbabwe.
The officials also alleged that when the talks started,
the MDC
created four committees to research, advise and make recommendations
to the
negotiating team and Matibenga was made leader of one of the
committees.
"Her committee is the only one which failed to come up
with a report
and recommendations to the negotiating team," the official
added.
Zim Independent
Lucia
Makamure
JONATHAN Moyo, the former Minister of State for
Information and
Publicity in the Office of the President, this week came to
the aid of
prominent lawyer Terrence Hussein who was last month accused by
Information
secretary George Charamba of unethical conduct for allegedly
challenging a
law he helped craft.
Hussein is representing
Ndabenhle Mabhena who is challenging the
constitutionality of sections of
the Broadcasting Services Act.
Moyo in a supporting affidavit that
was filed together with the notice
of opposition, denied that Hussein helped
him craft the Broadcasting
Services Act.
"I am the one who, in
my capacity as the then minister responsible for
Information and Publicity,
personally initiated and secured the professional
services of Mr Terence
Hussein to provide me with legal advice soon after
this Honourable Court on
September 22, 2000 struck down the monopoly of
broadcasting services created
by Section 27 of the Broadcasting Act," he
said.
Moyo said
Hussein was not in any way involved in the drafting of the
broadcasting law
being challenged.
"The applicant (Hussein) was not in any way
involved whether directly
or indirectly with the drafting of the
Broadcasting Services Bill which was
done during my tenure as Minister of
State for Information and Publicity,
nor was he involved in the defence of
the legal challenges to the Act
between 2001 and 2002," Moyo
said.
Moyo said he never had any confidential agreement beyond the
normal
and standard client-attorney relationship with Hussein.
"At no time during the same period did Mr Hussein receive in writing
or
otherwise from me or from anyone else in my office any protected or
confidential information or official secret," added Moyo.
According to Moyo's affidavit, Jennifer Tanyanyiwa, who at that time
was at
the Attorney-General Office, was responsible for drafting the
Broadcasting
Services Bill with his help. Mabhena, however, feels that the
attacks on his
lawyer are a tactic being used by Charamba to pressure
Hussein to drop the
case.
"The applicant has sought to trivialise my challenge by
attacking and
scandalising my legal practitioner. The aim of doing this is
to get my legal
practitioner to abandon me on the basis that the matter
poses too high a
personal risk against him. If my legal practitioner ceased
acting, the
applicant would be comforted in the hope that no other legal
practitioner
would want to go through this ordeal," said
Mabhena.
Mabhena added that the tactic is not new as individuals
like the
editor of the Daily News and directors and personnel of Capital
Radio who
have challenged aspects of the media legal regime in this country
have
suffered in one way or another for doing just that.
Zim Independent
Augustine Mukaro
IN a desperate effort to bridge the
intra-party differences that have
rocked the MDC, party leader Morgan
Tsvangirai is set to re-deploy ousted
women's assembly chairperson Lucia
Matibenga as the national
vice-chairperson.
Highly placed
sources said Tsvangirai agreed to put aside the
Matibenga issue during last
Saturday's meeting hoping to convince her to
accept the new offer before the
MDC annual conference scheduled for next
month in Harare. The post of
national vice-chairman fell vacant following
the death of former national
chairperson Isaac Matongo in May and the
automatic elevation of his deputy
Lovemore Moyo, in terms of the MDC
constitution.
MDC spokesman
Nelson Chamisa confirmed that his party was due to hold
an annual conference
in December where it would review progress and fill-in
vacancies that could
have arisen during the course of the year.
"Any appointments or
election of members to the party is a prerogative
of the congress or the
annual conference," he said. "In this particular case
we are going to hold
an annual conference but as to who is going the be
elected to what post,
it's for the conference to decide."
However, sources said Matibenga
had turned down offers for the post of
vice national chairperson before the
women's assembly debacle came to the
fore, arguing that the move would
relegate her to a less powerful position
and gradually into political
obscurity. Although the Matibenga issue still
remained unresolved,
Tsvangirai impressed upon the MDC leadership in his
address last weekend to
treat the issue as "water under the bridge" and to
now concentrate on other
priorities.
Moyo, who oversaw the election of Makone, failed to
attend the
Saturday meeting as he was reportedly in South Africa for the
ongoing
President Thabo Mbeki-led talks between the MDC and Zanu PF.
Zim Independent
Orirando
Manwere
LEGAL experts from East and Southern Africa concerned
about the
continued abuse of power by governments have adopted a set of
guidelines to
set regional standards on how to adhere to democratic
principles and
constitution-making in the Sadc region.
The
experts adopted the guidelines last Saturday in Harare after a
three-day
symposium on the Rule of Law, Human Rights, Constitutionalism and
the
Constitution Making Process in the Sadc region.
The guidelines form
the basis of a proposed draft constitution for the
region which is being
coordinated by National Constitutional Assembly
chairperson Lovemore Madhuku
and will be presented to Sadc leaders for
consideration and possible
adoption.
This comes at a time when Sadc member states are
undergoing
constitutional reforms, notably in Zimbabwe where the process has
stirred
controversy after being left to the ruling Zanu PF and the
opposition MDC
under the Sadc-brokered mediation initiative by South African
president
Thabo Mbeki.
The two parties adopted the Zimbabwe
Constitution Amendment No 18
Bill, which was last week signed into law by
President Robert Mugabe.
The civic society and members of the
public are bitter that the
constitution making process has been left to
politicians who can abuse their
authority to promote their own selfish
interests.
Delegates to the symposium resolved to advocate the
adoption of a
regional constitutional framework similar to the guidelines on
elections,
drawn from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights to provide
checks and
balances on law-making processes in member states.
This was also reiterated by High Court judge and former acting
Attorney-General Bharat Patel in his presentation at the
symposium.
The effects of a flawed constitution were confirmed in
this week's
Supreme Court ruling on a constitutional application by a group
of
ex-commercial farmers challenging the seizure of their
equipment.
The Supreme Court dismissed the farmers' submission that
the
Acquisition of Farm Equipment Act fails to provide for payment of fair
compensation within a reasonable time as required by the constitution of
Zimbabwe.
Chief Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku said the
constitution provided that
compensation had to be paid within a reasonable
time.
"The payment, in view, has to be made within a reasonable
time.
Whether payment will be in one lump sum or in installments is
something the
constitution chose not to prescribe," said
Chidyausiku.
He noted that the outside time limits set out in the
Act were
indications of what the legislature considered as the outer limits
of
reasonable time for payment.
"They do not circumscribe the
discretion of the court which will
decide the reasonableness of time for
payment on the basis of the facts of
each case," said
Chidyausiku.
Commenting on the ruling, NCA chairperson Madhuku said
this was one
example of how a defective constitution undermined the rights
of citizens
without due regard to the property rights of the
minority.
Madhuku said despite the constitution not making specific
provisions
on the timeframe for compensation, the court should have ordered
that
compensation be immediate given the prevailing hyperinflationary
environment.
"The current constitution is so defective on
private property rights
as it was premised on colonial history.
"In as much as there are laws on compulsory acquisition of land, the
compensation for equipment should be made within a reasonable time and in my
view that should be immediate under the current economic climate," Madhuku
said.
"Such loopholes in our law can only be addressed through
the adoption
of an all-inclusive and people-driven constitution, hence our
efforts to
push for a regional constitutional framework through the
symposium we had
last week," said Madhuku.
The symposium was
jointly organised by the Open Society Initiative of
Southern Africa and
Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights.
It was attended by South African
Constitutional Court judge Justice
Albie Sacks and Ugandan Supreme Court
judge Justice George Kanyeihamba, High
Court judge Patel and members of Sadc
law societies.
Zim Independent
Kuda Chikwanda in Berlin, Germany
ZIMBABWE'S tax on the ailing
agricultural sector is the highest in a
group of transforming and urbanised
economies and is a result of a highly
overvalued currency, the World Bank
(WB) has said in its 2008 World
Development Report.
The report
titled Agriculture for Development said Zimbabwe's high net
agricultural tax
was in direct contrast to efforts by fellow countries in
the transforming
and urbanised nation categories, which were all reducing
tax on
agriculture.
"Some countries shifted to protect the (agricultural)
sector more .
while others continued to tax it, although at lower levels
than in the
1980s. Zimbabwe is the only country of this group that had a
higher net tax
on the sector, mainly because of an overvalued currency," the
World Bank
said.
Transforming countries are those where
agriculture contributes less
than 5% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and
where poverty is mostly amongst
the rural population. Urbanised countries
enjoy less than 5% of agricultural
contribution to GDP and poverty is mostly
amongst the urban class.
Net tax for most countries in these
categories fell from around 15% to
an average of 4% as countries halved
their net taxation to strengthen their
agricultural sectors. Changes in net
tax are measured by calculating the
nominal rate of assistance offered
farmers, which is the price of a product
in its domestic market minus its
price outside the country as a percentage
of its external
price.
However, in a country with foreign exchange distortions,
changes in
net taxation are measured through a process which accounts for
the
difference between the exchange rate used by importers (parallel), the
one
used by exporters (weighted average of official and parallel rates), and
an
estimated equilibrium exchange rate. Zimbabwe has serious foreign
exchange
distortions with the parallel market rate currently at US$1:$1
million while
the official rate for the greenback is $30 000.
Government has steadfastly refused to devalue the overvalued dollar
resulting in serious foreign currency shortages, which have crippled the
economy over the years.
In addition, the central bank has
unsuccessfully tried to support the
agricultural sector through subsidies on
inputs and fuel but this has served
only to make the situation worse with
the cheap inputs finding their way
onto the parallel market
instead.
At the presentation of the report in Berlin week, it was
revealed that
Official Development Assistance (ODA) had been cut drastically
from 12% in
1990 to just 4% in 2006. It was also revealed that public
spending on
agriculture is currently at a meagre 4%.
German
minister for Economic Cooperation and Development, Heidemarie
Wieczorek-Zeul
said most African countries had not met their Millennium
Development Goal
targets to date but called for more international support
from developed
nations to achieve this.
Zim Independent
Shakeman Mugari
RETAIL companies continue to take a battering
as the government keeps
a tight lid on prices resulting in shortages of
basic commodities.
For the listed retail companies government's
price crackdown has
delivered a double blow. Their share prices are
suffering and so are the
profits.
The share prices of retail
companies on the market show that the
market has declared "hands off" on the
counters. Stocks like OK Zimbabwe and
Redstar have not moved significantly
compared to the rest of the market
since the launch of the price crackdown
on June 25.
For instance OK Zimbabwe's share price has only moved
by 140% ($7 500
to $18 000) since June 25. Redstar's share price has moved
by only 167%
during the same period. The industrial index has however grown
by 1 123%
over the same period.
Other retail companies like
Tedco and Pelhams have not fared any
better. Edgars and Truworths have not
been spared either. Their share prices
have remained subdued despite the
bull-run on the stock market.
Other sectors have directly
contributed to the crisis in the retail
sector as they try to cushion
themselves from inflation and price controls
by demanding cash
upfront.
The old reputation of a retail sector that is cash rich
has
disappeared as manufacturers and suppliers now demand cash on
delivery.
The basic concept of retail in the past was that the
supermarkets
would sell the commodities before they pay for
them.
This was made possible through credit terms of between seven
days and
60 days on some products. Retailers would then use the credit days
to hedge.
Retailers who spoke to businessdigest this week said the
game plan has
changed. "We now have to pay cash on almost everything that we
want," said a
commercial director with a retail chain.
The
effect is that the companies are always in a cash-flow crisis as
they now
need to have cash available when they have to restock.
The problem
though is that most retail companies have not made any
significant cash over
the past three months because of the price controls
and lack of
stock.
Their volumes and margins have hit rock bottom while
operational costs
have skyrocketed on the back of increased power tariffs,
rates and wage
bills.
OK and TM the largest retail companies in
Zimbabwe recently laid off
some contract workers but officials said the
companies are still bleeding
because the current workers are being paid from
reduced stock and thin
margins.
Government has maintained that
retailers should effect a profit margin
of 20% on all commodities, a figure
analysts say would force most companies
to close shop.
There
are also additional problems for the sector. Manufacturers and
suppliers
have stopped delivering goods to the shops. This means that
retailers will
have to cover the transport costs to collect the goods.
They are
however not allowed to recover this cost component on the
price of the
goods. With less stock in the shops retail companies are likely
to record
serious losses this year.
"In the past we used to turn our stock
about 14 times, now we just do
about four. We are making huge losses," said
an official from TM
Supermarket.
For the fast moving products
like milk and other basic commodities
more stock-turns mean more profit for
the retail companies.
Under the new regulations retailers are not
allowed to charge
replacement costs.
This means that with
inflation around 8 000% the companies will need
to borrow every time they
need to restock because of the price changes.
For companies that
might have the foreign currency to import goods
from South Africa the
National Pricing and Incomes Commission will not allow
them to use parallel
market rates in their pricing models.
Zim Independent
Paul
Nyakazeya
THE consequences of blackouts in Zimbabwe have been
disastrous with
families complaining of water-related diseases because the
Zimbabwe National
Water Authority (Zinwa) cannot pump water due to power
outages.
Industries have drastically reduced
production.
In the education sector, practical examinations have
been postponed.
Some employees no longer look forward to going home
soon after work as
they do not know whether electricity will be on or
off.
The Zimbabwe Independent last week tried in vain to get
officials from
Zesa to outline what the real problems were at the power
utility and what
lay ahead for Zimbabweans. The official excuse from the
parastatal has been
that of foreign currency shortages and low power
tariffs.
The company also says the increased theft of cables and
oil from
transformers and vandalism of substations have resulted in a number
of
substations catching fire at a rate which the power utility cannot
replace.
However, sources in the power utility said equipment
breakdowns and
theft problems were minor issues. The current shortages, they
said, were
mainly due to problems caused by a reduction of generation
capacity and
reduced imports due to unpaid debts, poor planning and wrong
priorities.
"As we speak Zesa is closing some of its thermal power
stations
because of failure to procure spares due to lack of foreign
currency," an
engineer with Zesa said.
Mozambique's power
utility Hydroelectrica de Cabora Bassa in October
reduced power exports to
Zimbabwe citing unpaid debts. The supplies to
Zimbabwe were reduced from 300
megawatts to 195 megawatts over a debt of
US$35 million, forcing Zesa to
increase load-shedding by 50%.
To make matters worse, frustrated
residents were recently warned that
there would be a significant increase in
load-shedding due to reduced
generation capacity at Kariba from October 26
to November 6.
"This has been necessitated by critical corrective
maintenance which
is being undertaken on the generator transformer serving
Units 1 and 2 at
the power station which is now long overdue," said Zesa in
a statement.
The engineer said government's laid-back attitude
towards power
problems started after the 1996 World Solar Summit hosted in
Harare. At that
summit participants warned that Southern Africa was going to
experience
serious power shortages in ten years. Regional countries were
therefore
urged to make contingent plans to avert the potential crisis. This
warning
was repeated in 2003. Zimbabwean authorities did not do
anything.
Zimbabwe remains the region's worst hit, importing about
30% of its
power requirements from increasingly incapacitated
neighbours.
Ironically, Zimbabwe has the best power generating
capacity after
South Africa in the region. It has two big generators and
about 200 small
ones.
South Africa, Zambia, Mozambique and
other countries in the region
reportedly have made great strides in
investing in new infrastructure to
deal with the projected shortages. The
three medium size generators in
Munyati, Bulawayo and Harare have been left
idle due to shortage of spares.
The bulk of the equipment at these
power stations have been
canibalised to keep the large stations at Kariba
and Hwange running.
Scores of new power projects such as the Batoka
and Sengwa have been
on the cards for close to two decades. In the case
Bakota Zimbabwe has
failed to raise fund to contribute to the construction
of the power station.
Mozambique, the other partner in the deal has
expressed its willingness to
put its shares of the capital needed to kick
start the project.
Many families are relying on firewood for
cooking but the price of
wood has been escalating due to high demand. A
bundle of firewood enough to
prepare one meal costs about $600
000.
"On average I am spending about $12 million every month on
firewood,"
said Owen Mutetwa, a father of three in Mabvuku.
"What surprises me is that even if we go for one week without power,
the
bill from Zesa is always the same or more. Meat, milk and other
perishable
foods have gone bad, we no longer have long-term plans in such an
environment," he said.
Government in September promised that
industry would be spared of
frequent power blackouts but some industrial
workers could be seen this week
spending crucial production time playing
ball games due to sporadic power
supplies.
Confederation of
Zimbabwe Industries president Callisto Jokonya,
however says industry has
benefited and government's decision to black out
domestic consumers is
justified.
"I think industry is benefiting from the present
arrangement," Jokonya
said.
"We were consulted and we agreed
the best way forward was to starve
the homes to help the productive sector,"
he said.
Industry players argue that while government has blamed
its political
stand-off with the West for the economic crisis, the reluctant
manner in
which it has handled proposals to end Zesa's monopoly was the
reason behind
the deteriorating situation in Zimbabwe's power
sector.
They argue that private investment has the capacity to
drive the
troubled power sector out of the current crisis because it will
bring
competition.
"Apart from foreign currency shortages, poor
foresight by government
is one of the reasons for the crisis as officials
did not act on warnings of
an impending crisis which had been given through
research by the Southern
African Power Pool in the late 1990s," the engineer
said.
As it came into office in September 2005, the Zimbabwe
Electricity
Regulatory Commission (Zerc) warned that the lack of urgency in
developing
power projects would be disastrous for the economy.
Last year, government rejected crucial foreign investment proposals
for
power generation by European companies fearing criticism for "supping
with
the devil", preferring Chinese companies.
Five Western companies,
Benadale, Australia's Africa Energy, Perigil,
Kudu Resources and Omega
Corporation in 2005 put in bids to exploit uranium
deposits in the Zambezi
Valley.Experts said if authority had been granted,
the projects could
provide an alternative source of energy.
But a proposal by the
mining affairs body (MAB) to grant Australian
Stock Exchange-listed Omega
Corp the uranium claims in a joint venture with
a local investor were
blocked.
Australia is a fierce critic of President Robert Mugabe's
human rights
record.
China Aero Technology Import and Export
Company, which was given the
tender to rehabilitate Hwange and Kariba in
2005, is yet to start work
because Zimbabwe does not have the required
foreign currency to buy spares.
Zim Independent
Jesilyn
Dendere
A ZIMBABWEAN business leader working in South Africa
says the current
economic problems will take a long time to end because some
people are
benefiting from the crisis.
Speaking at the Harare
Chamber of Commerce awards ceremony, Alexander
Forbes group chief executive
Peter Moyo said some local businessmen had
taken advantage of the economic
crisis in the country to enrich themselves
and as such it would be difficult
to try to change the system.
"Some people are benefiting from this
(economic crisis) and will
obviously not want to change. These people need
to understand that the whole
is greater and better than the sum of the
parts," Moyo said.
Moyo said such people were not interested in a
new dispensation and
will stifle change whose outcome does not benefit them
directly.
"To change they have to believe in a better vision and
future. If not,
let us not be surprised if we cannot move forward," Moyo
said. He said there
was need for foreign investment to boost major sectors
of the economy that
has been under-performing over the past four
years.
"The sooner we accept that we need international capital the
better it
is for us," he said. "One thing about capital is that it will only
go to
places where the rewards are better.
"We therefore have
to accept that Zimbabwe will be competing with
other nations. The challenge
is to make Zimbabwe a better capital
destination than a lot of other nations
that are the recipients of that
capital.
"This therefore
requires clarity on why the international community
must invest in
Zimbabwe."
Moyo said in order to effect change, there was need for
government to
come up with new strategies "an approach that has credible
people who are
not tainted".
"It is obvious to me that it is
only a new order that can have the
credibility of the international
community and the people of Zimbabwe. The
old order can only make (the
situation) it worse," Moyo said.
Moyo said the state was also
involved in corrupt activities, which
have been deliberately
ignored.
"We also have allowed a lot of people to grow and be
successful,
purely because of corruption," said Moyo. "Some of the state
institutions
that business depends on are rife with
corruption."
He also said although these entities might resist any
change for the
better there was a need to come up with plans to deal with
such cases. He
said business had played a role in corrupting some of the
entities and
officials and that it was up to the business community to make
sure that
they eliminate corruption in the system.
"If we want
to change this country for the better, we also have a role
in making sure
that we do not allow our businesses to be the corruptors or
the conduit of
corrupt practices."
Moyo called for ethical awareness in business
practice, he said it was
their mandate to ensure that companies and
businesses are run in the most
ethical way that promotes good corporate
governance.
"What sort of businesses are we running? Are we running
businesses
that can only be successful, if the people of Zimbabwe are
suffering and
there is turmoil? Can we therefore be part of the change, or
are we going to
be the stumbling block."
He said it was the
duty of business people to prepare for a brighter
Zimbabwe, not only for the
politicians.
"It is not only the politicians that must worry about
this. At any
rate, I don't trust them. It is also us and the way we run our
businesses."
In conclusion, Moyo said those that run businesses
must make sure
their enterprises are attractive to capital
inflows.
"Let us not forget that the corporate world also sees
Zimbabwe through
the Zimbabwean businesses."
Zim Independent
Orirando
Manwere
THE scheduled March 2008 harmonised elections should be
postponed to a
later date during the year to allow for the mobilisation of
adequate human
and financial resources for the Zimbabwe Electoral
Commission, the
Registrar-General's Office and the police to efficiently
carry out their
roles, political observers have said.
They said
last week's report to the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee
on Defence and
Home Affairs by the RG's chief accountant, Edwell
Mutemaringa, that his
office required $3,5 trillion to print the voters roll
and over $8 billion
to settle bills before year-end was a cause for concern
as elections were
ostensibly only three months away.
Only $735 billion was allocated
for preparation for the elections in
the 2007 supplementary budget announced
by Finance minister Samuel
Mumbengegwi in September.
Zimbabwe
Election Support Network chairperson, Noel Kututwa, said the
RG's office,
which is carrying out a voter registration mop-up exercise
until November
15, needed adequate time and funds to compile the voters roll
which should
be subsequently inspected by the electorate before the polls in
terms of set
regulations.
He also pointed out that the ZEC, which is not fully
staffed, was yet
to start the delimitation process which in the past
normally took over six
months but was now expected to take less than three
months for 210
constituencies.
Kututwa said the ZEC had so far
appointed senior managers and needed
to recruit more operatives, a situation
that would affect preparations for
the polls.
The Zimbabwe
Republic Police, which should provide at least four
officers per polling
station in terms of the law, wants to increase its
force from the current 25
000 to about 60 000 as part of next year's
elections.
However,
the police force was allocated a mere $1,5 trillion for all
its
operations.
Deputy Commissioner Levy Sibanda told the same
portfolio committee
that from the budgetary vote, the ZRP had only $85
billion left in its
coffers and that it was battling to service its debts
and meet its other
obligations like buying uniforms for
recruits.
Kututwa said the failure by the government to adequately
finance the
RG's office to prepare the voters roll and police recruitment
was a clear
testimony that Zimbabwe was unprepared for next March's
elections.
"A lot still needs to be done. Delimitation is yet to
start," he said.
"We have not seen any action on the ground despite the
announcement by the
ZEC chairperson (Justice George Chiweshe) last week.
Considering that there
is an increased number of constituencies, more
personnel is needed for the
exercise as well as voter education as there
will be new boundaries.
"The inspection of the voters roll is very
important and this will
require more time against the backdrop of the
delayed compilation of the
voters roll. If the elections are held in March
as scheduled, I foresee a
lot of logistical problems. I think there is need
to postpone them to a
later date if they are to be run more
efficiently."
Kututwa said because of the increased number of
constituencies and the
tripartite polls, more ballot boxes and papers,
voting booths and other
related materials were needed.
He said
the acquisition of these materials would take time.
"The coming
elections will be quite involving given the increased
number of candidates
and constituencies and there will be need for intensive
voter education by
ZEC and other stakeholders. There has been a slow
response to the ongoing
mop-up exercise, which I attribute to lack of
publicity, especially on
radio," Kututwa said.
"The advertisements which were placed in the
print media were limited
because of reduced print runs of local papers of
late and the majority of
people in rural areas do not have access to them.
The electronic media,
particularly radio, has not been effectively used and
the voter educators
deployed to the areas are not enough. This area should
be stepped up in the
coming exercises."
Over 109 900 new voters
were registered during the initial
registration exercise between June 18 and
August 17.
The opposition MDC called for an extension of the
exercise and 939
areas nationwide were identified as having not been
adequately covered.
MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa said the RG's
report to the committee
vindicated his party's concerns that the
institutions charged with preparing
for elections lacked the necessary
capacity.
He said there was need for ZEC to be reconstituted and
for government
to provide adequate funding for the various institutions
involved in
elections to ensure credibility and public confidence in the
electoral
process.
Chamisa however pointed out that the
question of the timing of the
elections was a matter that could only be
determined by the outcome of the
ongoing talks between Zanu PF and the MDC
being mediated by South African
president Thabo Mbeki.
"This is
one of the many issues being discussed under the ongoing
talks." Chamisa
said. "However, it is clear that ZEC and the RG's office do
not have the
capacity to run the elections and this is a worrisome
development. That is
the reason why this matter is being resolved through
dialogue.
"By making those announcements (RG's report) people's confidence in
the
electoral process is eroded. The situation is not good enough. The
ongoing
mop-up exercise is being [ends here...]
Zim Independent
Jacob
Rukweza
THE national executive committee of the opposition MDC
has deferred
discussion on the contentious dissolution of its women's
assembly until the
national chairman of the party, Lovemore Moyo, presents a
comprehensive
report on the circumstances surrounding this
debacle.
In the wake of the MDC fiasco, Zimbabweans in general and
the local
media in particular have reacted with outrage, attacking and
maligning party
leader Morgan Tsvangirai in the process.
A
barrage of vituperative expletives has been thrown at the MDC
leadership
with embittered women calling Tsvangirai a male bigot, while
others have
called him a dictator.
Others have called him a hopeless politician
while the state media has
celebrated the current goings-on in the MDC while
conveniently flagging the
"we told you so" placard.
The
hysteria that has characterised the reaction of these Zimbabweans
to the
controversy surrounding the ouster of Lucia Matibenga should be
understood
in the context of a desperate populace which cannot stomach
watching its
dream of a new Zimbabwe seemingly going to the dogs.
However, the
clearest signal from this public anger is that
Zimbabweans from all walks of
life are heavily banking on Tsvangirai and the
MDC to deliver a new
Zimbabwe.
The MDC national leadership is set to meet again soon to
discuss the
matter of the women's assembly in order to come up with a way
forward.
In coming up with a viable way forward on this matter, it
important to
avoid playing to the gallery and take time to correctly locate
the dynamics
at play in the life of the MDC as a political
party.
Party members have used different premises to characterise
the
problems bedevilling the MDC which they say are as old as the
party.
What is notable in the recent frenzy against the MDC
leadership is
that at the forefront of the crusade are known sympathisers of
the MDC
leader some of them having stood by Tsvangirai during the tumultuous
October
2005 split.
Ordinary party members have called it
dictatorship, and fervent
feminists in the MDC have been quick to point to
male chauvinism.
Officials in the party have talked of nepotism and
patronage and MDC
MPs and founder members have blamed the "kitchen cabinet"
for ill-advice.
Intellectuals in and outside the party have
referred to lack of
sophistication on the part of Tsvangirai.
What all critics of the MDC leadership have failed to appreciate in
all this
political grandstanding is the manifestation of a basic instinct in
human
nature - the pursuit of power.
In pursuit of power (personal or
collective), chauvinism,
dictatorship, nepotism and patronage are atavistic
tendencies conveniently
employable by anyone pursuing power in the absence
of binding restrictions.
The modern concept of constitutionalism is
premised on the
appreciation of the fact that human beings are products of
the most
undemocratic societal unit called family.
For
instance, as children human beings do not elect to be born, as
children
human beings do not choose parents or relatives, children do not
choose
their race or nationality, they do not choose their religion,
lifestyle,
diet, attire or the schools they go to.
All these fundamental
choices despite their permanent bearing on one's
life are dictated by
powerful parents who are not obliged to consult their
off-springs as
espoused by democratic principles.
Human beings are products of a
process of socialisation in which the
father or mother as breadwinner and
powerful head of the family dictates
moral principles, ethics and values
with children expected to cooperate lock
stock and barrel.
The
bottom line here is that because the family institution is an
express
dictatorship it can only produce power-mongers and dictators.
This
short lesson in elementary sociometry may assist Zimbabweans in
general and
MDC members in particular to understand that because humans are
products of
an institution that is administered by dictatorship they are
bound to revert
to this way of life if no checks and balances are put in
place to deal with
and contain this tendency in human beings.
These checks and
balances should not just be put in place, they must
be collectively enforced
by those who are bound by such regulations.
Human beings are not
born democrats - democracy is a virtue that human
beings struggle to embrace
and practice.
It is one thing for the MDC members to call
themselves a democratic
movement and quite another thing to practise
democracy.
Constitutions whether national or organisational have
been designed to
deal with the caprices of dictatorship as a human tendency
while ushering in
a dispensation of constitutional democracy where members
or signatories to a
constitution are bound by the democratic precepts of
that document.
In as much as MDC members have a moral obligation to
abide by the
dictates of the party constitution they have an even greater
obligation to
enforce the constitution to guide the conduct of any member
who displays the
expected propensity to undermine the constitution -
including the party
president.
More than anything else the
current problems in the MDC are a result
of ignorant party officials who
have failed to appreciate the crucial and
forever sacrosanct function of the
MDC constitution as a microcosm of the
national constitution.
Accusations that Tsvangirai has subverted the MDC constitution only
become
possible in a situation were timid national executive committee
members
collectively and consistently fail in their duty to make the MDC
leader and
members abide by the constitution.
That the MDC constitution has
been subverted should not surprise
anyone in the MDC.
In any
case why do nations and organisations have constitutions if no
one is bound
to break them?
What should surprise and anger people in and outside
the MDC is if and
when the party's elected national executive committee
fails to enforce the
constitution at its crucial meeting this weekend and in
future.
And when it happens, it is not just Tsvangirai who will be
culpable
but all those elected men and women in the national executive and
other MDC
structures who have campaigned for leadership positions when they
are not
clear of their duties and obligations in the party.
The
infantile anger that we are currently noticing in the rank and
file of the
MDC is indicative of a group of weak and undiscerning party
officials who
have been tolerating the subversion of the party constitution
by powerful
individuals in the party while naively hoping that one day it
would stop on
its own.
Already, detractors of the MDC are busy writing the
epitaph of the
opposition party on the basis of the current divisions
spawned by the
unconstitutional dissolution of the women's assembly and the
attendant
ouster of Matibenga.
Conclusions have already been
made by reactionaries and doomsayers who
have already written off the MDC's
preparedness to win general elections
next year.
The
over-excited state media - desperate for dramatic news - is
already
forecasting another split that, in their wishful thinking, will
paralyse the
MDC before its burial in the March 2008 elections.
But the future
of the MDC will not be decided by clueless media
functionaries whose
interpretation of national politics is at best
pedestrian and often informed
by parochial beer talk.
The future of the MDC will be decided by
those men and women elected
and entrusted with enforcing the MDC's
democratic constitution as a guiding
compass towards a new
Zimbabwe.
It is also critical to remember that the turmoil rocking
the MDC today
is not a new phenomenon at all.
It is a common
characteristic of political movements in Zimbabwe and
across the
continent.
A revealing book by the late professor Masipula Sithole
- A Struggle
Within The Struggle - tells of more colossal upheavals that
rocked Zanu as a
liberation movement between 1963 and 1979.
The
protracted internal powers struggle that characterised the life of
the
nationalist movement before Independence did not just prolong the
liberation
struggle thereby giving a longer lease of life to colonialism; it
had fatal
intra-party ramifications.
The current turmoil in the MDC is not
insurmountable.
If anything, it is a test of character for those
elected MDC officials
who have a collective responsibility to enforce the
party constitution as we
struggle towards a new Zimbabwe.
However, if the elected MDC leaders collectively fail to manage their
affairs meticulously beginning now, the ultimate result will be a delayed
new Zimbabwe and prolonged suffering for the masses.
Let it be
known that entertaining the futile adventurism represented
by the purveyors
of the so called "third way" solution will not take the
struggle for a new
Zimbabwe forward but backwards as the history of the
liberation struggle
will show.
Misguided elements calling for new leadership in the MDC
will find
themselves in the same predicament once again if there are no
party cadres
strong enough to enforce the party constitution and stand their
ground in
the face of powerful or power-mongering new leaders.
* Jacob Rukweza is a sub editor at the Zimbabwe Independent.
Zim Independent
By Luke
Tamborinyoka
"Zuva nezuva hachitonge matare
chibhakera
Hachina zvachinoshanda
Hachingabatsire
Ngoromera ingoromera
Harina
zvarinoshanda
Haringabatsire"
OLIVER Mtukudzi is a
polished musician and his music continues to
touch the hearts and minds of
ordinary Zimbabweans.
I am not an ardent fan of Mtukudzi myself. I
believe Alick Macheso is
the real deal. After all, I grew up in Chitungwiza
and I am naturally
inclined towards sungura music.
But the song
with the above lyrics, sung at the height of the Zanu
PF-inspired violence
in the run-up to the presidential election of 2002,
remains my favourite
from Tuku Music. Zanu PF was literally dripping with
the blood of innocent
victims of its despotism and for me the song was a
message to Zanu
PF.
The stage is set for yet another gruelling presidential
election. For
some of us, the election presents Zimbabweans with yet another
opportunity
to start afresh. It presents us with a perfect window to either
vote for the
future as represented by Morgan Tsvangirai or the past as
embodied by Robert
Mugabe.
As a nation, we all thought we had
broken away from the past of
violence and bloodshed. The dialogue in South
Africa should usher in a new
era where Zanu PF begins to respect the
opposition by staying away from the
barbaric politics of machetes, catapults
and knobkerries.
The new spirit of dialogue should mean that Zanu
PF has to break away
from the past and refrain from violence as an
instrument of coercion. The
dialogue process should see Zanu PF respecting
the Sadc initiative by shying
away from its legendary affinity for human
blood.
At the time of writing this article, Clemence Takaendesa, an
MDC
activist who was allegedly shot dead last week by Retired Brigadier
Benjamin
Mabenge in the Midlands town of Kwekwe, was set to be buried in his
home
area in Gokwe on Wednesday.
The Zanu PF goblin should be
satisfied with the blood of innocent MDC
supporters it has sucked over the
past seven years. From Talent Mabika and
Tichaona Chiminya to Phibion
Mafukidze and Gift Tandare, it is a sad and
tragic story of human trophies
in Zanu PF's cabinet.
As we speak, the negotiating table in
Pretoria has been soiled by the
hands of Zanu PF which are dripping with
human blood.
Recently, I was part of an MDC delegation that met
with Home Affairs
minister Kembo Mohadi over the escalating violence against
opposition
supporters and civic groups. Mohadi's body language and Mugabe's
utterances
thereafter showed that Zanu PF is in denial about the real
violence taking
place against the innocent people of Zimbabwe.
The talks should translate into a conducive political atmosphere in
Zimbabwe. As Nelson Chamisa puts it, it cannot be winter time in Harare. The
sun must shine in Harare.
The sun is the desire by Zimbabweans
to be able to freely express
themselves next year. The sun represents the
tangible evidence on the ground
that Zanu PF is really committed to this
dialogue.
Zimbabweans want practical deliverables that show Zanu
PF's sincerity.
The shining sun means Posa and Aippa must go. The people
want the Daily News
to come back. They want a non-partisan police force.
They want to freely
wear their MDC and Woza T-shirts. They want to be able
to freely preach the
gospel of change in
Uzumba-Maramba-Pfungwe.
They want visible evidence of a nation in
dialogue with itself. They
want to practically enjoy and live the benefits
of the dialogue process.
They want Zanu PF to lock up its merchants of death
and allow the free
expression of their collective desire for a new Zimbabwe
and a new
beginning.
It appears it will be a long road to a
free and fair election. Zanu PF
has walked us along the dark road of
violence and we do not want to walk it
forever more. Over the past seven
years, we have seen the evidence of the
degrees in violence.
The battered and bruised images of Tsvangirai and Chamisa, the callous
murder of Tandare and the brutal assault of Naison Mazambani are all a
sordid testimony that the regime will continue to maim and kill with neither
shame nor compunction.
We have enough evidence that Zanu
ndeyeropa is not just a statement.
It is a guiding principle of this
murderous regime.
Sadc must rein in Mugabe. This violence has to
stop.
The MDC is not an illegal underground movement of criminals.
It is a
legitimate political party that is in parliament.
Mugabe cannot frighten us into abandoning what we believe in. He must
not be
allowed to violently stampede us out of the conviction of our
conscience. He
cannot continue to frighten the nation by criminalising
regime
change.
Some of us are not ashamed. We are committed to the agenda
of regime
change and we are ardent regime change activists.
Zanu PF has become a collective African shame. It has to rid itself of
its
murderous tag as a confidence-building measure to the dialogue currently
taking place. They must find time to listen to Mtukudzi's lyrics on the
futility of violence as a political weapon.
As Mtukudzi would
put it: "Hatidi hondo. Hatidi mhirizhonga."
* Luke Tamborinyoka is
the MDC's director of information and
publicity. He writes in his personal
capacity.
Zim Independent
Comment
THE Supreme Court made a "landmark" ruling
last week on white
commercial farmers' property seized by government in 2004
in terms of the
Acquisition of Farm Equipment (or) Material
Act.
The farmers had argued that the seizure of their equipment was
in
breach of the Zimbabwe Constitution, in particular that the seized
equipment
had benefited only a few individuals instead of the public
generally.
The farmers also contested the quantum and rate of
compensation for
the equipment so seized, saying the period taken by the
acquiring authority
to compensate them was "unreasonable" and the amounts
not enough.
In his judgement, Chief Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku
said no law had
been violated in the acquisition of the farmers' equipment
as this was done
for the benefit of the general public. "It is on this basis
that I am
satisfied that the compulsory acquisition in terms of the Act is
for a
purpose beneficial to the public generally or to a section of the
public,"
he said.
On compensation, he said: "The payment, in
view, has to be made within
a reasonable time. Whether payment will be one
lump-sum or in installments
is something the constitution chose not to
prescribe."
The Supreme Court ruling is remarkable more for its
implications than
what it actually says. The law is so vague that extraneous
factors can be
adduced to demonstrate why the compulsory acquisition of
private property
was for the benefit of the public.
In this
case the justification for the seizure of the farmers'
equipment was not
because they had violated the law or done anything
illegal, but that
government, of its own volition, embarked on the land
reform programme in
2000 allegedly for the "benefit of the public generally
or a section of the
public". Realising that it didn't have adequate
resources to equip those who
had allegedly benefited, it turned on the
weakest group which already owned
equipment and seized it. And we are told
this is lawful.
Having
decided that the forcible acquisition of private property was
lawful if it
covered for government's lack of proper planning and adequate
preparation,
the Supreme Court did not find it necessary to inquire whether
indeed the
equipment so seized benefited the public "generally". The white
farmers have
a reasonable suspicion that their equipment was seized for the
benefit of a
few politically-connected individuals ("a section of the
public") rather
than a representative sample of the public.
It would help if the
court had tried to verify who in fact is using
the equipment forcibly
acquired by the government.
The ruling on compensation also takes a
convenient if less vexatious
assumption in the constitution. First, there is
no time limit to what
constitutes "a reasonable time". Second, it is vague
on what constitutes
"adequate or fair" compensation. Third, the constitution
does not prescribe
whether "payment will be in one lump sum or in
installments".
It is our considered view that all the three
observations above make a
compelling case for why Zimbabwe needs a new,
people-centred constitution -
not in the populist political sense, but to
address real inadequacies in the
basic law. All the three observations
demonstrate that the constitution is
meant to serve the interests of the
state at the inestimable prejudice of
the private citizen.
First, why should private property be seized to fill a gap created by
lack
of proper planning by the state in the resettlement programme? If the
state
had made adequate planning and preparations to equip its land
beneficiaries,
white farmers would have been left with equipment they could
no longer use
and would therefore probably decide to dispose of it at
commercial rates to
the highest bidder on the market.
Second, why is "a section of the
public" so vague that mainly those
closely-connected to politicians benefit
from private property seized in the
name of "the public" generally? Why also
are the courts not compelled to
find out who is using the private property
seized in the name of the public
before making a final
determination?
Third, in Zimbabwe's inflationary environment, there
is no denying
that time is of the essence in dealings involving monetary
compensation.
This means "a reasonable time" must take into account the fast
pace at which
our currency loses value. Any delay means the appellant is
irreparably
prejudiced while the state benefits from its
ineptitude.
Finally and deriving from the above, given the rate of
inflation of
over 8 000%, an unfair or inadequate compensation paid in
installments means
the farmer who lost his property in 2004 may never be
restored to the state
he would have been had his property not been
enforcibly taken away and he
had been left alone to choose how he wanted to
dispose of it. In sum, the
ruling shows that Zimbabwe's constitution is an
inadequate guarantor of
private property rights. It is a huge deterrent to
private investment and we
can thank the white commercial farmers for helping
expose this. We hope
those calling for a new constitution learn something
from this Supreme Court
judgement.
Zim Independent
Candid Comment
By Joram Nyathi
TRUE must be
the adage that roads which lead to hell are often paved
with good
intentions. Those in doubt can ask Reserve Bank governor Gideon
Gono.
While Gono can blame his failures on lack of political
will, in the
MDC it is evident that good intentions alone cannot cure
congenital
ineptitude and greed for power.
The rupture in the
MDC was bound to come given the less than
auspicious circumstances of its
birth. The different constituent parts of
that amorphous body are coming
apart, each embittered bit fighting for its
pound of flesh from the
benefactors. The clumsy handling of the
fragmentation process by the
leadership gives it a sense of calamity because
a lot of false hopes had
been raised about an imminent hour of redemption.
Imagine Save
Zimbabwe Campaign with its 23 motley bits, each formed
with a separate
agenda and constituency, now all pasted together by the
quest to heal the
nation of corruption, cronyism, violence, restore the rule
of law, the
constitution and the voice of the majority, yet each required to
maintain
its original identity for the sponsor.
So I am personally not
surprised by what is going on in the MDC. Civic
society organisations made
it clear they were fed up with the MDC leadership
following the unanimous
passing in parliament of Constitutional Amendment
Number 18 by both the MDC
and Zanu PF. That was also the culmination of
their protests, spearheaded by
NCA chair Lovemore Madhuku, over their
exclusion from the inter-party talks
between Zanu PF and the MDC.
Under a different set-up the break-up
should have been a salubrious
development for the MDC in its delayed
evolution from a protest mass
movement into a serious opposition political
party. But I find it worrisome
that after the flake peels off, there is no
pith of revolutionary cadre left
around whom to build a less repellent, more
solid party. It starts and ends
with a fascination with the persona of the
leader.
The same leader who initially was supposed to be a symbol
of the fight
for democracy and the pillar of the party is the same person
who has become
impatient if not contemptuous of democratic procedures and
the law.
Democracy has been turned into an empty catchphrase to push
disparate
agendas masked as fighting Zanu PF political
thuggery.
I will explain. When the real split occurred in the MDC
on October 12
2005, official explanations were laden with tribal innuendo.
Very few openly
acknowledged the inappropriateness of the so-called kitchen
cabinet. It was
an unforgivable sin to impugn the leadership (It still is).
It was as if
Morgan Tsvangirai had not breached the party constitution. He
had to be
protected from foes who were colluding with Zanu PF to kill
him.
There was nothing for the people in the senate, we were told.
The
"rebels" who had a different opinion for wanting to vote had to be
"crushed". The logic was that the end justifies the means even if those
means were the very negation of the founding principles of the party. The
leader said then that he was ready to let the MDC die than respect party
rules in the outcome of the vote for or against the senate. "Democrats"
supported his "logic", but now feel "betrayed" because he has endorsed an
even bigger senate without explaining what is in it for the taxpayer. Don't
expect change in the party that espouses change.
We have come
full circle, yet I am alarmed at the flippancy with which
the party
constitution is viewed in the MDC. Those standing up in defence of
Lucia
Matibenga are less motivated by Tsvangirai's violation of the
constitution
than they are worried about losing power, hence the perversion
of the debate
into a feminist war.
To me the message is that the leader of any
opposition political party
can break any principle or law with impunity so
long as he claims to be
fighting for democracy. Democracy is regarded in the
MDC not as the core of
the current fight against Zanu PF but as something
incidental to a holier,
nobler cause, which unfortunately political power
can never be. How can
anyone cynical of principles ever be sincere about
democracy? It makes me
sick.
There is a single thread running
through all the sanctimonious pleas
for peace in the MDC: everyone wants a
share of the spoils when finally
"change comes". You support Matibenga or
Tsvangirai depending on the
perceived possible personal benefits, not
because of any abiding ideals or
principles either embodies.
Then there is the culture of violence. I hear there were physical
clashes in
Bulawayo last week where the kitchen cabinet mutated into a
restaurant
committee to elect Theresa Makone to replace Matibenga. This is a
boon for
Zanu PF.
I understand some MPs had their heads bashed at Harvest
House for
expressing sympathy for embattled Matibenga, now a persona non
grata at the
Nelson Mandela Avenue (God protect his good name from being
sullied) MDC
headquarters. Another boon for Zanu PF coming just before
crucial election.
Then there were threats of further violence at
the same venue where
members of the national executive committee were
supposed to meet on
Saturday to put a final seal on Matibenga's fate. I
understand they were
forced to move the meeting to a safe venue in
Marlborough to escape their
violent followers. These are the same people
trying to convince the world
they may boycott next year's harmonised
presidential and parliamentary
elections because of Zanu PF violence. Some
violence; some democracy. Viva
Zimbabwe!
Zim Independent
Editor's Memo
By Vincent Kahiya
SOME time ago I
made it my business to call the then Harare town clerk
Nomutsa Chideya
whenever I spotted water leaks in Harare. Despite Chideya's
weaknesses -
perceived and real ones - he often responded positively to the
calls - in
some instances visiting the trouble spots personally before
ensuring that
repairs were carried out expeditiously.
Two cases stand out; one
close to our office where a burst pipe was
sending up a three-metre high
fountain into the air. The leak was attended
to and fixed within an
hour.
Then there was one of the largest water leaks in the capital
between
Sunningdale and Prospect along Cranborne Avenue where hundreds of
litres of
water were being lost every minute from a damaged valve on a huge
pipeline
connecting the east and south western suburbs. The wake up call to
Chideya
on a Friday afternoon brought a large team to repair the leak the
next day.
They managed to plug the hole but only very
temporarily.
This week large amounts of water were gushing from the
pipe but the
water Tsars Zinwa appear uninterested in repairing the water
loss.
I have called Zinwa to complain about the problem they
already know
about. There is a standard answer: "We are aware of the problem
and our
engineers will be at the site as soon as we get the replacement
valve and
diesel."
The current bunch of hopeless technocrats at
Zinwa is not responsive
to what should be their core business. They have an
excuse for every one of
their failures which have become a national crisis
as the authority
continues to grab water reticulation infrastructure in
urban areas and at
rural service centres.
Chideya, despite his
said lassitude was a bullet train compared to the
glacial slothfulness of
Zinwa. This has come at a huge cost because all the
treated water gushing
from broken pipes and antiquated ancillary
infrastructure is paid for by
residents. A friend has revealed to me that we
are all being made to pay for
Zinwa's inefficiency.
Water going to various residential areas is
metered and its value is
recovered at the end of each billing period. If the
sum total of individual
households' water usage in a particular area is less
than the water pumped
into the area, the difference is divided and factored
into the bills.
This partly explains why consumers who do not have
water for extended
periods are at the end of each month saddled with
monstrous water bills.
This is the same Zinwa that has applied to
government for intermittent
water charges hikes in the name of recovering
costs. The greatest cost
factor on its books should however be its
demonstrable failure to carry out
the simple task of plugging holes in its
system.
I recall a study commissioned by the Harare City Council in
1995 in
which it contracted a UK firm, Biwater, to carry out an audit on the
city's
pipeline network. The results of the study were staggering. The city
was
losing at least 50% of its treated water through leaks.
Considering the deterioration of service at the moment under the
stewardship
of Zinwa, I can only surmise that the city is losing more water
now largely
due to the ineptitude of Zinwa which has made water an expensive
commodity
and not a basic need.
It appears not to bother Zinwa at all that
residents at rural service
centres such as Murewa and Mutoko are paying
water vendors $50 000 for a
20-litre container of untreated water yet the
same residents receive huge
water bills every month. At these service
centres residents cannot even
demonstrate against Zinwa's incompetence
because the parastatal is
ring-fenced by powerful political arms of the
state and ruling party.
But it must be noted that requesting that
water be part of one's daily
life - whether one has money or not - is not an
unreasonable demand. Water
is not a luxury but a need. It's a basic human
right which millions of
Zimbabweans are being denied by political leaders
who do not appear to care
about the impact of their actions.
Water minister Munacho Mutezo and his cohorts at Zinwa should be told
that
they represent a clear and present danger to investment and housing
projects
which have stalled due to the unavailability of water.
I am always
intrigued by Water ministry and Zinwa officials' love for
cameras to capture
them standing next to leaking pipes and sewerage ponds in
the townships as
if that would endear them to the suffering residents.
One
phenomenon that the crisis in this country has created is forced
patience in
queues for everything. Zinwa officials believe we should be
patient with
effluent in the backyard. Never! In Things Fall Apart Chinua
Achebe advised:
"Let us not reason like cowards. If a man comes into my hut
and defecates on
the floor what do I do? Do I shut my eyes? No! I take a
stick and break his
head. This is what a man does."
Zinwa: Be warned.
Zim Independent
Congress just a nod
for
WE should establish an award for the daftest claim made in
public
during the course of the year. There would admittedly be strong
competition.
A leading candidate putting in his bid before entries
close is
Jamaican reggae star Luciano. He told a gullible ZTV interviewer
that his
backing band had been denied visas to transit through London
because the
British authorities took exception to his support for President
Mugabe's
land "reforms".
Did it not occur to the interviewer to
ask: "Well, how come you made
it here then?"
Luciano may be
well-known to his many fans. But can the beastly
British really be blamed
for exercising caution when Jamaicans constitute
the largest single group of
illegal aliens in the UK - exceeding even
Zimbabweans!
No, it
had nothing to do with Mugabe's land policy. It was the content
of those
hats that led to official suspicions.
By the way, how many members
of Cosatu or journalists have been
refused entry to Zimbabwe for political
reasons? Dozens. Have they ever been
interviewed on ZTV - perhaps by phone
from Johannesburg - about how mean the
Zimbabwean authorities
are?
The ZTA's Karikoga Kaseke was once again on hand to promote a
partisan
message. Then he can't understand why British tourists don't want
to come
here. However enthusiastic Luciano's message of solidarity, you can
count
the number of Jamaican tourists on one hand. Now Luciano has pocketed
Kaseke's
largesse (or rather ours) we won't be seeing him again for a while.
And who
was impressed by the blubbing scene? Was it part of the
script?
Vice-President Joseph Msika had "no kind words", we are
told, for
white farmers who "shunned national events". He urged them to work
"with the
party". He was speaking at a Zanu PF fund-raising event in
Dete.
The "challenges" the country was facing were "a temporary
setback and
a passing phase", Msika said.
Actually this week
marks the 10th anniversary of when this "passing
phase" commenced! And it's
not just whites who don't want to attend party
events where they are abused.
Zimbabweans generally, and particularly those
in Matabeleland, don't like
being lied to about the country's economic
"setbacks".
No
intelligent person believes Britain and the US are responsible for
the
failure of land reform or inflation of 8 000%. They are the direct
product
of incompetence and incorrigible misrule. The people of Dete won't
be
fooled. However badly behaved the opposition MDC may be, they will vote
for
them because the present bunch of scoundrels are a great deal worse.
That is
the rather sad reality.
Perhaps Msika should put himself up for
election so the people of
Matabeleland can show him what they think of him
and his claims of a
"passing phase".
Why is the state media
so keen to tell us that the forthcoming special
congress will be "a mere
formality" to confirm President Mugabe as the
ruling party's
candidate.
This week the Herald quoted Emmerson Mnangagwa as saying
the congress
had not been called to find a new presidential candidate but to
ratify
recent changes to the constitution.
What is the problem
here? Is Zanu PF so terrified of a serious
challenge to Mugabe that it has
to repeat at every opportunity that he is
the only candidate?
Don't we recall the president saying some time ago that his candidacy
would
be determined at congress? Then when that date looms (and the state
media
has at last been allowed to publish the date) the party's luminaries
run
around saying there will be no challenge to him and how important it is
for
everybody to "rally behind Cde Mugabe".
How pathetic? Can't he
stand the heat of an open contest? Does it
really need war veterans on the
warpath and people like Mnangagwa to crack
down on any possible dissent? A
pity nobody has said "the president will be
judged on his
record".
Zanu PF should understand how bad it looks when elections
are treated
as "a mere formality" and then supporters are coerced into
backing the
incumbent.
That they can't see how bad this looks
tells us everything we need to
know about the mindset in the party. And is
it true Zanu PF and the MDC are
having a delinquency competition around
electoral issues? Difficult to know
who's winning!
The
chair of the ZEC George Chiweshe says members of the public would
be invited
to suggest ways of bettering the delimitation process in their
constituencies.
Muckraker's suggestion: Just make sure Tobaiwa
Mudede is not involved
at any stage.
But we appreciated
Chiweshe's assurance that the ZEC would not be
under anyone's control. "We
are independent and I can freely defend this,"
Chiweshe said.
We will need to test that resolve when it comes to inviting
observers.
Meanwhile, at a time when Zanu PF is pretending to
be as pure as the
driven snow when it comes to matters of political
violence, it is rather
unfortunate to have the Sunday News urging the party
to take advantage of
the MDC's disarray and "go for the kill.go for the
jugular".
Many of us remember the last time this language was used
in the 1980s
and the consequences.
In an article headed
"Farmers hail court ruling", the Herald reported
this week that resettled
farmers had welcomed the landmark ruling by the
Supreme Court allowing
government to acquire all farming equipment and
machinery on farms gazetted
for compulsory acquisition and resettlement.
Resettled farmers were
quoted saying the step was needed so former
white farmers could be
compensated expeditiously.
"It would be a sad day for our calls for
social justice," one
resettled farmer said, "if our government were to fail
to build on the
momentum of the judgement by losing this golden opportunity
of paying off
the erstwhile farmers."
He wasn't asked what sort
of social justice permitted the state to
seize people's property at will and
then give it to somebody else. What sort
of social justice was exercised
when the company running a highly profitable
operation at Kondozi Estate
reportedly had its equipment seized by ministers
for their personal
use?
Where compensation is paid it will be in a currency that is
losing its
value by the day.
There will be an element of
triumphalism in Zanu PF as a result of the
Supreme Court's ruling. But have
any of the party's luminaries stopped to
think of what impression will be
created abroad of a government that is
empowered to seize the work of a
lifetime, render compensation meaningless
and then call it
justice?
Readers of the Herald will have noticed a rather ugly
campaign in the
official media to rubbish Bornwell Chakaodza. He is an
obvious target having
served as Director of Information and Editor of the
Herald. The word
"turncoat" can thus be put to good use.
Muckraker, who was the target of Chakaodza's vitriol when he served as
editor at the Herald, is not going to weigh in here. Suffice it to say the
current assault arose following a letter to the editor of the Financial
Gazette taking Chakaodza to task for his criticism of Zanu PF. Chakaodza
replied giving his critic, Goodson Nguni, acres of space to attack him by
publishing the letter in his Fingaz column. Chakaodza replied in the same
column dealing relatively briefly with his critic.
The Herald
then published the same letter attacking Chakaodza but
evidently did not
think it appropriate to ask Chakaodza for his response.
Would the
correspondence not have been more interesting if the Herald
had given
Chakaodza the right of reply? As it is, Chakaodza's editorials
attacking the
Independent in 1999 are published to prove - we are not quite
sure
what!
Is Chakaodza the only person in Zimbabwe to see the light and
change
his mind?
Some might suggest this is all good robust
journalism. But surely only
when everyone has had their
say.
THE Grain Marketing Board this week cheerfully announced
it had won a
tender to rehabilitate Zambian grain silos.
"We
have extensive silo infrastructure at our 14 depots across the
country which
have the capacity to store 750 000 tonnes of grain and it
reflects the
experience we have within our engineers to refurbish and
service the silos,"
said GMB boss Rtd Colonel Samuel Muvuti.
He however forgot to say
that all the potential we have is currently
redundant because the silos are
empty. Instead of exporting grain to feed
the region, Muvuti can now only
brag about exporting labour instead.
Isn't this shameful that
Muvuti distributes thousands of tonnes of
seed and fertiliser to farmers
annually but administers empty silos? Also,
we want to be told at the end of
the contract how many of the silo engineers
have returned to Zimbabwe after
their tour of duty.
Still on the subject of farming UMP MP Kenneth
Mutiwekuziva provided
useful disclosure on how the "mother of all
agricultural seasons" will be
executed this year.
"Farmers
should be innovative and come up with alternatives they can
use if the
fertiliser availed to them does not meet their needs," he told
The Voice.
"People can use manure or home-made fertiliser they can prepare
using tree
leaves and ash."
It's back to the slash and burn mode of
agriculture. No wonder we have
so many forest fires and wanton chopping down
of trees. Also while other
districts are receiving tractors and other modern
implements, UMP will only
get ox-drawn ploughs. Is this the reward the
people of UMP are getting for
overwhelmingly voting for Mugabe or is it
their MP being honest about their
level of development?
The
situation at Zesa goes from bad to worse. Power cuts are spreading
across
the country interrupting major functions. Much of Manicaland was in
darkness
last weekend and guests at the Zimbabwe Council for Tourism AGM and
awards
ceremony in Nyanga had to make do with candles in their rooms. They
were
provided with local matches which failed to ignite obliging many to use
their cellphones.
ZTA boss Kaseke failed to appear at the ZCT
function because he was
too tied up with the Luciano concert and the
propaganda that went with it.
Should the ZTA be involved in reggae
concerts and dubious beauty
contests when it should be doing the serious
work of reviving tourism?
In Harare victims of blackouts are now
collecting Zesa engineers from
their offices and ferrying them to
substations and power lines. They are
also providing diesel. Zesa staff now
spend much of the day sitting at their
desks reading the papers because they
have no fuel to attend to power
failures.
Much of the power
utility's problems stem from stolen cables, we are
told. This is hardly
surprising when substations cannot be locked and are
therefore vulnerable to
theft. Everything has a value in today's Zimbabwe,
even if there is a risk
of getting fried, and Zesa should take steps to
secure substations or the
situation will further deteriorate.
Zim Independent
By Eric
Bloch
SPEAKING at the official opening of the Chinhoyi University of
Technology
Hotel School, President Robert Mugabe said that: "It goes without
saying
that the main thrust of our current international economic
development
programme is to stabilise the macro-economic
environment.
"As we work towards this objective, we should see increased
capacity
utilisation in the productive sectors of agriculture,
manufacturing, mining,
construction, tourism, transport and
communications."
He emphasised the need for increased capacity
utilisation in all productive
sectors, as a prerequisite for economic
stability, and he also noted that
efforts to achieve this must be
complemented by highly skilled human
capital.
It is indisputable that
economic recovery, and an ongoing viable economy,
requires significant
levels of capacity utilisation in all economic sectors,
on a continuous
basis. It is equally indisputable that that utilisation does
not prevail in
Zimbabwe today.
Agricultural productivity has declined, since the
millennium, each and every
year, and although the extent of decline varies
from one agricultural sector
to another, overall the agricultural production
in the 2006/7 season was
less than 30% of that seven years ago.
In
like manner, industrial capacity utilisation a few years ago was assessed
to
approximate 60%, whereas recent studies evidence utilisation of less than
25%. The same applies to tourism if one disregards the spurious governmental
figures of tourist arrivals, which include one-day trippers, back-packers,
cross-border traders, and the like, and instead has regard to the actual
numbers of bed-nights sold by the tourism sector, as compared to those
available.
The tragedy is that almost entirely, the gargantuan
decrease in Zimbabwean
productivity is due to the acts of commission and
omission of government.
That tragedy is compounded by the pronouncedly
distressing facts that not
only does government obdurately avoid recognizing
its culpability, and that
it dogmatically persists in pursuing policies that
not only do not make
increased productivity possible, but also continues to
lower productivity
further.
Zimbabwean agriculture was so highly
productive, before government brought
it to the brink of destruction, that
not only did the agricultural sector
feed the entire nation, but it was the
bread basket of the entire region. It
produced the world's second largest
crops of tobacco, and those being of
exceptionally high quality. It produced
the best cotton in the world, and
was a producer of extraordinarily high
quality beef, in significant volumes.
Its sugar, coffee, tea, citrus and
numerous other agricultural products, for
both local and export markets, was
considerable. In consequence of these
enviable agricultural operations, it
was the greatest provider of employment
in Zimbabwe, the greatest generator
of foreign exchange, and the foundation
of the entire economy.
The
manufacturing sector was the most productive such sector in sub-Saharan
Africa, north of the Limpopo River, embracing engineering, textiles,
clothing, furniture, pharmaceuticals, diverse food processing and
production, and much, much more. It provided a very great extent of the
needs for manufactured products of all Zimbabwe's economic sectors, and of
its population. Similarly virile was the tourism industry, gainfully
exploiting the wealth of Zimbabwe's unique tourism resources, attracting
hundreds of thousands, and later millions, from throughout the region and
from very much further afield, including Europe, North America, and the Far
East.
But today the situation is distressingly different. Agriculture
has been
brought to its knees by a politically-driven, disastrously
implemented, land
reform programme. In disdainful and contemptuous disregard
for human and
property rights, government allowed those who had the skills,
resources and
will to be productive to be ousted from the farms, for them to
be replaced,
in all too many instances, by those solely interested in some
immediate
wealth by the disposal of essential infrastructure, including
pumps,
irrigation equipment, fencing, electrical cables, and components of
farm
buildings. Others wished to farm their unilaterally acquired lands, but
were
either without the necessary capital or collateral, or without other
necessary resources. Yet others, with the will to farm, were without the
skills. All this was exacerbated by government's repeated failures to ensure
timeous availability of agricultural inputs. So capacity utilisation
plummeted downwards, almost entirely in consequence of government's
policies.
The near collapse of the manufacturing sector is similarly
almost totally
attributable to government. It is that which government has
done, or not
done, which has occasioned near-total non-availability of
foreign currency
for essential imports. Government is responsible for the
loss of industrial
export viability, for it is almost entirely due to
government that Zimbabwe
has the world's highest inflation, rendering
exports non-price competitive,
and yet government steadfastly fails to
devalue Zimbabwe's currency
adequately and realistically, in order to
compensate for the
inflation-driven cost escalations. Having already
severely weakened
industry, government delivered it a fatal blow by
ill-conceived,
heavy-handed, counterproductive price controls. And some
cannot learn from
their mistakes. Last week, the newly appointed chairman of
the National
Incomes and Prices Commission (NIPC), Godwills Masimirembwa
stated that all
pricing models, on which prices are determined, must bring
imported inputs
to account at official exchange rates.
The hard fact
is that industry cannot obtain its inputs at those rates. It
has to source
its inputs, or required foreign exchange, from those possessed
of "free
funds", and those operating in alternative markets, irrespective of
the
legality or otherwise of such markets. As a result, all those businesses
are
being forced, by government, NIPC, and Masimirembwa, to cease
operations,
productive capacity utilisation, already down to 25% from 60%,
will fall to
near zero, fiscal inflows will fall further, yet again
impoverishing
government, and tens of thousands more will join the ranks of
the
unemployed, and most will join the brain drain into the diaspora,
failing
which even more will be condemned to extreme poverty and
misery.
Tourism's recovery is contingent upon economic recovery, for
tourists
require assurance of availability of all their needs and
expectations, and
upon a markedly enhanced Zimbabwean image, instead of one
where governmental
disregard for the fundamentals of law, and its contempt
for human rights,
results in potential tourists seeking destinations
perceived to be safer and
more congenial.
Very correctly, the
president identified mining as a sector for enhanced
productive capacity.
Zimbabwe has immense potential wealth in platinum,
gold, nickel, coal,
methane gas and much else. But realising that wealth
requires very
considerable capital, international technologies and
appropriate skills and,
therefore, foreign investment into mining is
essential. However, it is naïve
to expect such investment in a rigid command
economy environment, in a
regime of specious rates, and where government
legislates for the foreign
investors to be minority shareholders. And, over
and above those deterrents,
the foreign investor is demotivated when
confronted by an unfriendly,
unwelcoming, falsely insulting, and accusative,
non-investment conducive,
environment.
One instance of this repulsion of foreign investment was
demonstrated last
Friday, when Masimirembwa had an allegedly analytical
article published in
the Herald, under the headline "Foreign firms bent on
milking Zim." Clearly
he feels that through NIPC he is not doing enough to
destroy the economy,
and therefore he attacks foreign investors and
discourages their investment,
no matter how greatly Zimbabwe needs it and
benefits from it.
Not only does he repeat the endlessly false allegation
of "illegal
international sanctions" on Zimbabwe, but he accuses the
transnational
corporates "of siphoning the same in the form of profits,
interest,
dividends, managerial, consultancy and licensing fees, and
under-invoicing".
Not only is the latter very much the exception to the
rule, but all the
others are the legitimate yields for the investment of
capital, the lending
of monies, the provision of services, and according
usage of intellectual
properties. No one in their right mind invests without
expectations of
return, but Masimirembwa has joined the ranks of
governmental economic
detractors and destroyers.
The Zimbabwean
economy will not attain the president's desired increased
productive
capacity utilisation until it ceases to be driven by politics and
bigoted
politicians, and their sycophants, and instead is steered by
economic
fundamentals and realities.
MDC must grasp this moment to unite
By Frank
Matandirotya
THE first principle of public office is that the
incumbent holds it in
trust for the public. A leader is not supposed to
consort with political
crooks and when confronted, to lie, prevaricate and
to play politics.
When Morgan Tsvangirai announced the dissolution
of the Lucia
Matibenga-led women's assembly of the MDC he made few friends
within the
party. Party cadres condemned the move.
The MDC has
travelled a journey littered with thorns since 1999.
Therefore the conduct
and ethos of the party leaders and how they relate to
the followers is a
fundamental aspect we should consider during these dark
days.
That the mainstream MDC led by Tsvangirai is a party in a state of
disorder
today is not questionable because of the Matibenga issue. Alliances
have
been shifting between party members as mudslinging, character
assassination
and dirty tricks now abound.
Today the party is on the slope to
destruction because of that
fundamental assault on the women's assembly.
Ideological inflexibility
coupled with self-interest is encouraging
intolerance between the party
leaders, and those at the top consequently
resort to the most hardline and
violent methods in dealing with opponents.
But this state of affairs cannot
last.
All politics is a
negotiation. It goes without saying that if you set
your price too high or
walk away too soon you could miss out on a great
deal. it is equally
self-evident that if you set your price too low you will
fall out too
cheaply.
A lot of Zimbabweans were maimed, had property destroyed,
killed, lost
loved ones, and now we have this before a very crucial
election. We deserve
better from our leaders.
At a time when
the MDC is looking to its future and leadership of the
country we must
disown leadership that is remote, insecure and centralising
and struggles
for posts.
The MDC should instead grasp the moment of these
troubling times to
prepare for elections next year, and to unite the people
despite their
differences.
* Matandirotya is a member of
the Tsvangirai faction.
-----------------
Zimbabwean women
worse off
By Thokozani Khupe
AS the national crisis
continues to take a bungee jump, Zimbabwean
women are worse off than they
were before the regime's pastime to sleep on
duty gravitated into this deep
slumber.
Women, children, orphans, the aged, the disabled and
child-headed
families are the ultimate victims of a regime that has lost the
compass to
steer the nation to the calm waters of economic stability,
affordable food
prices, good health care and education.
Our
nationwide campaign with the gospel of change has taken the MDC
leadership
to the remotest of rural areas.
Even in the urban areas, the story
is the same.
It is the same story of women struggling to send their
children to
school; women waking up to find they have nothing to give their
dying child;
women at the market stalls vending all sorts of commodities for
the sake of
their children.
When we start afresh as a nation,
we must put the woman at the
forefront; not the woman in her individually
ambitious sense, but the woman
as the embodiment of the collective spirit of
the legitimate struggle we are
waging.
* Thokozani Khupe is the
vice- president of the MDC faction led by
Morgan Tsvangirai.