http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 18 September 2011 10:04
BY NQABA
MATSHAZI
A host of Zanu PF officials have been named as having positioned
themselves
to grab land under the Save Valley Conservancy in Masvingo,
contrary to the
provisions of the land reform and the Indigenisation
Act.
The officials were reportedly led by Masvingo governor, Titus
Maluleke and
included Higher and Tertiary Education minister, Stan Mudenge,
former
governor, Josiah Hungwe, Chiredzi South legislator, Aaron Baloyi and
former
Member of Parliament, Enock Porusingazi.
Army boss,
Engelbert Rugeje, a Parks and Wildlife Management Authority
official,
Vitalis Chadenga and former legislator Shuvai Mahofa were fingered
by
whistleblower website, WikiLeaks, as being part of the land grab.
The
Zanu PF officials are reported to have imposed themselves as indigenous
partners of land owners in the Save Valley Conservancy
(SVC).
Maluleke is reported to have told people owning land in the
conservancy that
they should hand in their title deeds and instead, be
issued with 25-year
leases, while at the same time ceding part of their land
holdings to the new
partners.
The SVC raised concern that despite
claiming that they wanted to be
indigenous partners, the Zanu PF officials
would not be buying any
shareholding, but rather would be grabbing the land
for free.
In one instance, George Hulme, a manager on one of the
farms, was reportedly
summoned to a meeting and told that Maluleke and
Lieutenant Colonel David
Moyo were the new partners and this was
irreversible.
“In the meeting, the governor explained to Hulme that
the inclusive
government had agreed that the land reform process would not
be reversed and
said he was carrying out a policy that could not be
reversed,” reads the
leaked cable.
“In all, 10 of the 22
properties have been allocated new partners through
this programme.” The
property holders were reportedly looking for their own
partners, either with
the community or the Parks and Wildlife Authority, but
in contravention of
environmental and tourism laws, the politicians imposed
themselves.
This is not the first time the issue of the SVC
invasion has been mentioned,
with the German embassy earlier this year
raising concern that the area had
been invaded in violation of bilateral
agreements between Zimbabwe and the
European nation.
The Zanu PF
officials are reported to have come up with the “Masvingo
Initiative” which
was spearheaded by Maluleke, with the intention of
grabbing
land.
Youth Development, Empowerment and Indigenisation minister,
Saviour
Kasukuwure is reported to have held a meeting in Masvingo, where he
threatened to drive all the animals on the conservancies into Gonarezhou
National Park and threatened to braai whatever remained behind, if the SVC
did not adhere to indigenisation laws.
“It should be noted that
the concept of partnership as advocated by the
Masvingo Initiative does not
seem to be based on normal business
considerations,” the German embassy
said.
“The members of the initiative have made it quite clear that
they want
partnership without paying for it.”
The named Zanu PF officials
could not be reached for comment.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 18 September 2011 09:51
BY
CAIPHAS CHIMHETE
ZIMBABWE will only have surplus electricity supply in three
years’ time
after the construction of four more units at the country’s two
major power
stations, a senior official with the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply
Authority
(Zesa) said last week.
Zesa corporate relations manager
Fullard Gwasira (pictured) said load
shedding will end in 2014 after the
construction of the four units at Kariba
and Hwange Power Stations. Two
units will be constructed at each power
station.
“The current
deficit will be overcome after the completion of Hwange 7 and 8
and Kariba 7
and 8 (units),” said Gwasira. “The four units will produce 900
megawatts
against our currently deficit of 700 megawatts.”
He said the two
units at Hwange Power station will produce 600 megawatts
while the other in
Kariba will have a capacity of 150 megawatts each. The
actual construction
of the units begins next year.
The parastatal’s daily load shedding
exercise has crippled industrial
operations and routine business which
cannot do without electricity.
At a meeting with Elected Councillors
Association of Zimbabwe (Ecaz) last
week, Zesa made assurances that there
will be uninterrupted power supply
once the construction of the new units
was complete.
The meeting between Zesa and the councillors also
deliberated on estimated
bills which are haunting most people, power cuts
and disconnection of power
to customers.
“High-density customers
were found to be consuming more electricity than
low -ensity areas due to
overcrowding and home industries,” says a statement
released by the
councillors after the meeting.
The meeting urged customers to make
use of energy saver lights which reduces
by 80% energy used on
lighting.
ZESA CONTRACTS INTERNATIONAL ADVISOR
Zesa has contracted
an international technical advisor to design and monitor
its projects while
global financial advisory services firm, KPMG, has been
engaged to offer
financial advice.
For the past years, the national power utility has
been accused of charging
exorbitant rates while providing a shoddy
service.
At least 500 000 households will be on pre-paid meters to avoid its
customers paying what they would not have used.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 18 September 2011 10:37
BY CAIPHAS
CHIMHETE
STARTLING revelations by the whistleblower website WikiLeaks that
President
Robert Mugabe’s most trusted lieutenants in his fractured Zanu PF
party were
secretly plotting to topple him could scuttle the octogenarian
leader’s
plans to push for elections early next year, political analysts
have said.
Although plagued by ill-health and advanced age, Mugabe
insists elections
will be held by March next year, with himself as the Zanu
PF presidential
candidate.
He has urged the Constitution Select
Committee (Copac) to fast-track the
constitution-making process. A new
constitution is one of the outstanding
issues agreed by Zanu PF and the MDC
formations in a roadmap to free and
fair elections.
But his
fierce political rival, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai of MDC-T
has
demanded real reforms before any vote. MDC president Welshman Ncube on
the
other hand dismissed Mugabe’s call for elections as a ploy to divert
attention from the debate on his succession.
Analysts said
Mugabe, shocked by the revelations, will be forced to go back
to the drawing
board before the polls, as he cannot trust anyone to lead his
re-election
campaign.
What makes Mugabe’s election dilemma more intricate is that
those who
plotted his downfall are from his inner circle. These include his
two
Vice-Presidents, Joice Mujuru and John Nkomo, his cabinet ministers as
well
as military and security agency bosses.
“What makes it
complicated for Mugabe is that the people implicated in the
WikiLeaks like
John Nkomo, Joice Mujuru, Emmerson Mnangagwa, Jonathan Moyo
and Saviour
Kasukuwere are some of his most trusted indunas,” said political
analyst
Phillip Pasirayi.
Charles Mangongera, another analyst, does not see
Mugabe pushing for early
elections or reshuffling his lieutenants anytime
soon. Doing so, he said,
would widen the already gaping fissures in Zanu
PF.
At least four distinct factions have emerged in Zanu PF. These
are said to
be led by Mnangagwa, Mujuru, Zimbabwe Defence Forces (ZDF)
chief,
Constantine Chiwenga and one loyal to Mugabe.
The leaks
say Mujuru was allegedly working with Simba Makoni’s
Mavambo/Kusile/Dawn
while Mnangagwa and Moyo were linked to the United
People’s Movement (UPM)
in their bid to secretly remove Mugabe from power.
Against such a
background of political back-stabbing, Mugabe cannot risk
going into an
early election, realising that his deeply divided party has
abandoned
him.
Regional coordinator for the Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition (CiZC)
Dewa
Mavhinga said: “It is most likely that Mugabe will seek to revamp the
party
before thinking of elections.”
That would definitely mean
delaying his ambitious March deadline. Mavhinga
advised Mugabe to focus on a
graceful exit plan that would spare him the
certain humiliation at the
polls, by passing on the baton to a younger and
more energetic
leader.
But Alex Magaisa, another analyst, believes the leaks gave
Mugabe more
resolve to cling to power as he can no longer trust his cronies,
suspecting
they can even sacrifice him to the international
tribunals.
“Mugabe has real fears of life after the presidency. Given
the many forces
against him and now that he knows his fellow comrades have
been talking to
his enemies behind his back, he can’t rely on them to
protect him should he
leave power,” Magaisa said.
Although Mugabe
did not raise the issue at last week’s Zanu PF politburo
meeting, analysts
said he will act at some point. Magaisa said Mugabe may
grab this
opportunity to strengthen his hand by using the “divide and rule
approach”
against the betrayers.
He may cull the weaker ones and spare those he
cannot do without because
they either know too much or have power bases of
their own — critical to his
re-election, Magaisa said.
Paranoid
as he is, said Magaisa, Mugabe is likely to lean more towards the
military,
assuming they are not also implicated in future leaks. Pasirayi
also could
not rule out the purging of prominent figures in the Zanu PF
politburo and
in the security sector in the future.
If he fails to purge them
before the annual conference in December, said
Pasirayi, he will simply drop
them as Zanu PF candidates in the next
elections.
The leaks are likely to
be a “significant game-changer” for the country’s
electoral
politics
Already, ambitious Zanu PF officials, seeing an opportunity
to climb up the
political ladder, are clamouring for disciplinary action
against those
accused of selling out national and party secrets to the
Americans.
Zanu PF secretary for administration Didymus Mutasa and
party spokesperson
Rugare Gumbo have said stern action against the “spies”
would be taken.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 18 September 2011 10:29
BY JENNIFER
DUBE
CHIVHU — Veronica Murombedzi sits aimlessly in the overcrowded kitchen
and
ponders her next move. Most of her family’s belongings, from kitchen
utensils, sofas, bed, TV and radio sets are all crammed in the room, which
also serves as a lounge and bedroom.
Some of her family’s
property is lying in the yard since they moved into the
house last week.
“This house belongs to some late relatives of one of our
parishioners,”
Muro-mbedzi explains.
“She offered us accommodation here after we
were thrown out of Daramombe
Mission.“On the first day, we slept by the
roadside, where the deputy
sherrif dumped us.”
Veronica is the
wife of Father Muyengwa Murombedzi, the Anglican priest who
was recently
evicted from Daramombe Mission in Chivhu by Nolbert Kunonga.
Kunonga
is the ex-communicated bishop of the Church of the Province of
Central
Africa (CPCA)’s Harare Diocese, who now runs a rival church, the
Anglican
Church Province of Zimbabwe.
Daramombe Secondary School headmaster,
Denford Javangwe, Daramombe Primary
School head and senior nursing staff
were also evicted as Kunonga upped his
stakes in the property wrangle
between himself and the CPCA.
“We believe that everything happens for
a reason,” Veronica said last week.
“Our parishioners still want us to work
with them, so even if we were to
stay in the open for us to be there for
them, we were going to do that.
“We believe God will provide a
solution to this problem at his own time.”
Crammed in another room is the
property of one nursing staffer who was also
evicted together with the
Murombedzi family.
The high school headmaster is understood to be
staying with his sister who
has a homestead in the area while his primary
school counterpart is said to
be now staying with his wife, who is a teacher
at a neighbouring school.
A bursar who was also a victim of the
evictions is said to have packed all
her belongings and left for her home in
neighbouring Manyene. Veronica said
her family, which all along had been
leading a comfortable life at the
mission premises as part of the package
for the priest, was adapting well to
the changed circumstances, taking note
that as God’s servants, they had to
endure anything for them to advance
God’s work.
Since their eviction, the priest and all those he
fellowshipped with at the
mission now conduct services at the open space
where his family was dumped
by the deputy sherrif.
“We have to
make do with what we have at our disposal,” he said. “Although
we were used
to tap water at the mission, we now join the rest of the
community to fetch
water at the stream, but we are not sure about its
safety.
“We
are happy that most parishioners are now turning up for the services
because
during the first days, only a few came after people were told them
that they
will be beaten up by soldiers and the police if they continued
interacting
with us.”
Murombedzi has teamed up with other priests from Masvingo
to hold meetings
with parishioners from all parts of the province to explain
to them the
goings-on in their troubled church.
CPCA Harare
Diocesan secretary, Michael Chingore said his church was
disappointed that
the evictions, which started a fortnight ago, continued
last week despite a
court application to stay them.
CPCA reports last week said those
evicted included Gandiya’s priests in
Southerton, St Matthews Makonde in
Chinhoyi, St Aiden’s in Seke and St John’s
in Chikwaka while another from
Warren Park fled after receiving threats.
Some caregivers at Shearly
Cripps Children’s Home in Murehwa were also
evicted.
KUNONGA'S VICTIM
AWAIT HIGH COURT RULING
The High Court will on Thursday decide on the
CPCA’s application to stop the
evictions from the church’s properties.
Kunonga, who has close links with
Zanu PF, was ex-communicated in
2007.
He wants to seize control of the 3 000 Anglican churches,
schools, hospitals
and other properties in Zimbabwe, Zambia, Botswana and
South Africa. Police
have been accused of siding with Kunonga in the fight
for properties as they
reportedly rush to arrest his rivals while leaving
his people to cause
terror.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 18 September 2011 10:23
BY
KHOLWANI NYATHI
UNITED States ambassador to Zimbabwe Charles Ray enthused
that President
Robert Mugabe was “mentally alert and engaging” when he met
him for an hour
on Tuesday last week.
The rare compliment was a
boon for the public media which took Ray’s remark
that the “man has an
encyclopedia of a brain” to mean the octogenarian is
better than his nemesis
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai.
But the meeting might have left
many Zimbabweans wondering if the US, which
has been in the forefront of
calls to isolate Mugabe because of his
not-so-impressive human rights
record, has been forced to abandon its
hardline stance.
It was
not the first time Ray had tried to reach out to Zanu PF and Mugabe.
In
speeches delivered at a Sapes Trust policy dialogue and at a public
meeting
organised by Bulawayo Agenda respectively, US president Barack Obama’s
point
man in Harare empasised the need to open a new chapter in relations
between
the two countries.
The meeting with Mugabe was a follow up to another
one Ray held with Zanu PF
chairman Simon Khaya Moyo where he relayed the
same message. The US and
other Western countries slapped Mugabe and his
inner circle with sanctions
after controversial 2002 presidential
elections.
Despite the formation of a unity government in 2009
nothing much has changed
in Zimbabwe, especially on the human rights front.
The US and the European
Union said as much when they renewed the sanctions
against Zimbabwe early
this year.
It is in this context that
Ray’s pronouncements might have seemed
contradictory to many. However,
analysts say the policy shift was inevitable
as America was fighting for its
own economic survival.
MAJOR SHIFT IN US DIPLOMACY
Trevor Maisiri
of the African Reform Institute says the US international
diplomacy was
going through a major shift, mainly influenced by the global
economic
conditions.
“This is the reason why President Obama has made efforts
in reconnecting
with the Eastern bloc countries and the ’BRIC’ (Brazil,
Russia, India and
China),” Maisiri said.
“Traditionally, the US
diplomatic onslaught was based on closely guarded
enclavity which was mainly
determined by ideological considerations.
“Today it has opened up a
lot and is beginning to consider relations even
with traditional and
perennial rivals — all in search of economic survival.”
He said Ray’s gesture
must be read from a broader perspective of the
prevailing geo-politics and
international diplomacy of the US in the wake of
the economic pressure it
was facing.
Ray told Mugabe he was going to be hosting a business
meeting in Washington
where US business people were going to be interacting
with their Zimbabwean
counterparts.
The envoy said he had been
receiving increasing amounts of enquiries from
Americans who want to do
business with and in Zimbabwe. “So this engagement
is purely based on the
economics of the relationship that Zimbabwe and the
US can ride on,” Maisiri
said.
“More and more we will see the US adopting a more aggressive
engagement
policy even with those countries that they have traditionally had
major
political and ideological differences with.”
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 18 September 2011 10:21
BY NQOBANI
NDLOVU
BULAWAYO — Police in Matabeleland North province have barred a civic
organisation from holding peace soccer tournaments as part of its
constitutional awareness programmes.
Bulawayo Agenda planned to
hold soccer tournaments in Nkayi, Tsholotsho and
Lupane after discussing the
constitutional writing process with villagers.
The organisation wanted to
educate the villagers on how to evaluate a good
constitution ahead of the
referendum.
The tournament was set to feature teams from the major
political parties:
Zanu PF, Zapu, MDC-T, MDC and the parliamentary
constitutional committee
(Copac).
But police reportedly told the
organisers that such tournaments were likely
to result in violence between
players from losing teams. Busani Ncube,
Bulawayo Agenda’s programmes
officer said they were disappointed by the
police action.“Bulawayo Agenda is
disappointed because it seems the police
want an ignorant society regarding
the country’s constitution.
“If the police was going to educate the
villagers that would be fine, but
the fact is that they do not have the
capacity to conduct such a programme,”
Ncube said.
Bulawayo
Agenda is a civil organisation that provides an apolitical platform
for
people to express their views and debate on matters that affect their
lives.
“We have now planned to print fliers with information on the
country’s
constitution which we will distribute in Nkayi, Tsholotsho and
Lupane since
police will not allow us to meet villagers,” Ncube
said.
No comment could be obtained from the Matabeleland North acting
police
spokesperson, Sergeant Eglon Nkala last week.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 18 September 2011
10:02
BY JENNIFER DUBE
five former United Methodist Church pastors who
recently hogged the
limelight when they resigned from their church at the
same time, will today
launch their church, the Methodist Revival Church
(MRF) at Harare Gardens
today.
Former UMC pastor and MRF leader
Philip Mupindu, will be the main speaker at
the event that is expected to
run from 8am to 2pm. MRF marketing officer
Francis Chitambira said various
gospel musicians including Agatha Murudzwa
were lined up for the
event.
Also expected to perform at the event are various choral
groups including
Methodist groups Marimba aJehovha Gospel Singers and
Nyevero Dzedenga.
“Many people from various parts of the country confirmed
they will attend,”
Chitambira said.
“We also invited members of
other churches, including our former church’s
bishop (Eben Nhiwatiwa) and
pastors. although I am not sure whether the
bishop will be able to
accommodate our event in his schedule, some pastors
confirmed.”
Chitambira said the aim of the launch was to explain
the new church, its
origins and mission, which will serve as apostles seek
to bring more people
to God through working with other churches to spread
the word. The new
church maintains the red colour being used by UMC, but
dropped the colour
blue for green.
“The red on our church logo
symbolises the Holy Ghost fire coming from
heaven towards the church and
also the blood of Jesus who died for all
humankind,” Chitambira said. “Green
symbolises life. We also have the Bible,
showing that we are bound by the
word of God, which is a living word.”
The new church will also use
hymns, from both the UMC and the Methodist in
Zimbabwe, together with other
praise and worship songs. Although UMC and the
Mupindu group maintained that
the UMC as a church did not split, but that
just five people withdrew their
services from the church, the fact that some
congregants left the UMC to
fellowship with them means there was a split.
Even the Methodist
choral groups expected to perform at today’s event have
all along been known
as UMC groups. While some members remained in the UMC,
others followed
Mupindu’s group and maintained the group names.
However, the split
has been described by some observers as a smart and
welcome split as it is
not characterised by violence and both groups
continued to advance God’s
work.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 18 September 2011 10:40
BY LESLEY
WURAYAYI
THE Ministry of Health and Child Welfare and the National Blood
Transfusion
Services on Thursday launched Zimbabwe’s first ever guidelines
for medical
laboratories.
A National Blood Policy and National
Blood Standards developed with the
support of the United States Centre for
Disease Control and Prevention
(CDC), were also unveiled.
Douglas
Mombeshora, the Deputy Health and Child Welfare minister said there
was now
a requirement for complete control of laboratory processes and
testing
procedures to timeously provide useful and good quality
results.
“These are set out in the document which states minimum
guidelines for
medical research laboratories and testing sites,” Mombeshora
told guests at
the launch.
He said the structure of the
guidelines aims to assist clinical laboratories
with information on how they
will be applied and emphasises on the need by
medical laboratory
institutions to endeavour to comply for the purposes of
registration,
certification and accreditation.
“Zimbabwe has never had a national
blood policy and this is the first of its
kind,” he said. “The blood policy
encompasses the whole process, from
collections, right up to the point of
transfusion.”
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 18 September 2011
10:33
BY NQABA MATSHAZI
A battle over King Mzilikazi’s legacy is
raging in Matabeleland, culminating
in two organisations running parallel
commemorations for the first Ndebele
king.
Last week, uMthwakazi
kaMzilikazi Cultural Association, which has the
backing of Mzilikazi’s
descendants, held a commemoration, while the
Institute of Ubuntu says it
will hold its own celebrations next Saturday.
Mzilikazi Day is
commemorated on September 9, with celebrations in Zimbabwe,
South Africa,
the United Kingdom and the United States. The tone of
hostility between the
two groups was set in the run up to last week’s
commemoration, when
uMthwakazi kaMzilikazi Cultural Association ran
advertisements claiming that
it was hosting the only “real” celebrations,
with other commemorations being
described as fake.
A descendant of Mzilikazi, Peter Zwide kaLanga
Khumalo, last week said as
far as he was concerned, the legitimate
commemorations of the late Ndebele
monarch had passed and he was not aware
of any other.
“I do not know about any other celebrations, I have not
been invited,” he
said. “As far as I am concerned, the next celebrations
will be held next
year.”
Khumalo said for any celebrations to be held,
the family had to perform
rites and since the Khumalo family was not part of
these celebrations, they
lacked legitimacy.
He said the family
was not aware of the new celebrations being marked by the
Institute of
Ubuntu and would not interfere with them. The Khumalo family
has in the past
been accused of trying to monopolise King Mzilikazi’s
legacy.
Critics claim that while Mzilikazi was a Khumalo, he was
king of a diverse
group of people and no one has the right to monopolise his
legacy.
On the other hand, the Institute of Ubuntu has been accused
of being
hijacked by people from Zanu PF who fund the organisation for their
own
selfish political ends.
“We are a non-partisan group, and we
accept anyone regardless of where he
comes from,” Vimba Masuku, of the
Institute of Ubuntu, shot back. He said
they would accept the help of
anyone, but neither confirmed nor denied that
there was funding from Zanu
PF.
Regarding the apparent snub by the Khumalo family, Masuku said
they did not
need to beg anyone for their commemorations to go ahead. “We do
not need to
beg anybody for us to operate in the country, we are a
registered
organisation and we can operate freely,” he
said.
“This is about the heritage of uMthwakazi and I cannot comment
on an
individual’s motive.” Masuku said they had spoken to elders in the
Khumalo
clan and these had agreed that the family and the institute should
complement each other.
CONT MHLANGA BLAMES THE
TUSSLE
Prominent playwright, Cont Mhlanga raised disquiet on the evident
infighting
within the two groups, arguing that none owned the legacy of King
Mzilikazi.
“The organisations that are currently organising the
Mzilikazi
commemorations in whatever form and venue locally or
internationally, should
stop focusing on who has the right to organise the
not ‘fake’ or ‘true’
event, but to focus on competing to give the public the
best Mzilikazi
celebration,” he wrote in a local daily.
Mzilikazi
Day commemorations began in the year 2000 and are held at
Mhlahlandlela on
the outskirts of Bulawayo.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 18 September
2011 10:12
BY NQABA MATSHAZI
A leaked US diplomatic cable has
alleged that First Lady, Grace Mugabe is a
focal point for businesspeople
from Republic of South Korea (ROK) who have
deals, especially in the
construction industry in Zimbabwe.
In a cable dispatch, US
envoy Charles Ray, after meeting the South Korean
ambassador, Jae-Hack Oh
two years ago, said a number of South Korean
businesses based in South
Africa were engaged in construction projects with
the First
Lady.
He said the South Korean community, of about 200, was heavily
involved in
the economy “and works closely with Zanu PF officials,
especially Grace
Mugabe, the wife of the president”.
“South
Korean construction firms, many based in South Africa, are
extensively
involved in construction projects with Grace Mugabe, wife of the
president,”
Ray wrote in the cable dispatched last year.
“Oh said this has
included a number of apartments and shopping centre
projects in addition to
construction at her (Grace Mugabe) many farms.
“These firms seek to expand
their presence in the country and are prepared
to do whatever is necessary
to achieve this goal.”
The extent of Grace Mugabe’s business empire
is not known but recently the
First Family built an expensive house in
Harare’s leafy Borrowdale suburb.
They have also heavily invested at Iron
Mask Farm in Mazowe which they
seized from a white farmer and Grace Mugabe
is currently constructing an
orphanage in Mazowe.
“ROK firms
provide ‘gifts’ to Zanu PF officials for the privilege of doing
business
here,” Ray quoted the South Korean diplomat as saying.
Most South
Koreans invested in small businesses in Zimbabwe, like
photocopying and
selling wigs, though for construction they worked with
Mugabe. The Asians
were also involved in mining coal and gold.
Oh is reported to have
said a number of South Koreans were interested in
investing but Zimbabwe was
dragging its feet on signing a trade treaty.
Zimbabwe had also changed the
original draft agreed upon by the two
countries and Oh predicted that it
would take years before something else
was agreed on.
In the same
cable dispatch Ray also reveals that businesspeople from the
Asian country
regularly bribe government officials so as to win tenders.
Ray said that the
South Koreans regularly gave “gifts”, including expensive
cars, to grease
the skids for business deals.
The US envoy said the Asians did not
seem to be deterred by corruption in
the country, though political
instability had put the brakes on more
investment.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 18 September 2011 10:01
BY NQABA
MATSHAZI
MASHONALAND East governor, Aenas Chigwedere raised the spectre of a
coup
claiming that if America imposed sanctions, the military would take
over,
leaked US embassy cables have revealed.
The former
Education minister told embassy officials that if America
insisted on
passing the Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act
(Zidera), there
would be unrest leading to a coup by the armed forces.
“Chigwedere
said the ZDA (Zidera) would accelerate Zimbabwe’s economic
decline and lead
to unrest that would force the army to intervene,” the
cable, leaked by
whistleblower website, WikiLeaks, revealed.
“Zimbabwean urbanites
would not lift a finger to oppose the military because
of the memory of the
recent elections and the Matabeleland massacres of the
1980s and Zimbabwe
would be stuck with a military government for three to
five
years.”
Chigwedere further conceded that the government had failed
since
independence, but the military, the police and war veterans would not
accept
to be governed by someone who was not one of their
own.
The historian said the military would not support Morgan
Tsvangirai if he
were to come to power through a popular revolution, “but
was more vague when
asked if the military would support a legitimately
elected Tsvangirai”.
In this instance, Chigwedere defended Zanu PF,
claiming Mugabe had appointed
new blood and this would take the country
forward. He had just been
appointed Education minister. But in another
cable, Chigwedere did a
volte-face claiming Mugabe was now a liability to
the country and should
leave office. He said, however, this would be
difficult, as in Shona
tradition, a chief did not vacate office, and only
“God could retire a
chief”.
“It would be very difficult for him
(Mugabe) to do so, however, because it
is not in the African tradition for
chiefs to simply step aside and become
ordinary men,” Chigwedere
said.
The governor is reported to have said Mugabe had surrounded
himself with
sycophants, who were misleading him, as they were only bent on
pleasing the
veteran leader and were loath to do anything that would upset
him.
“This has led to an ivory tower syndrome, in which Mugabe does
not fully
understand the depth of discontent in the country,” he
said.
Chigwedere said he did not see any chance for the leadership renewal as
long
as the old guard were still entrenched.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 18
September 2011 10:19
BY CAIPHAS CHIMHETE
RESERVE Bank of Zimbabwe
(RBZ) governor Gideon Gono harboured political
ambitions and wanted
President Robert Mugabe to leave office, leaked US
diplomatic cables
claims.
A cable released by the whistleblower website WikiLeaks
recently says Gono
met the then US Ambassador to Zimbabwe James McGee in
2008 and confided in
him that he had talked to the late Vice-President
Joseph Msika and others
who wanted Mugabe removed by September of the same
year.
The two met in July 2008, when Zanu PF was negotiating a
power-sharing
agreement with the two MDC formations. “Gono said Mugabe was
physically
weak,” says the cable. “Despite a strong public face, he had
difficulty
getting out of his chair.”
During the meeting, Gono
requested for “soft landing” from the Americans in
the event that Zanu PF
dumped him. The cable says Gono added that in a new
government, he was
hoping to be a minister in charge of finance, economic
development, and
policy formulation.
“He would also become a member of the Zanu PF
politburo,” said the cable. In
2009, Gono was co-opted to the Zanu PF
Manicaland provincial executive as
secretary for finance but quickly
chickened out after protests from several
quarters.
Trying to
hedge his bets, says the cable, Gono asked the ambassador for help
in
arranging a “soft landing” in the event that Zanu PF in-fighting left him
outside of government.
He said he wanted to do the “right thing”.
But McGee suggested to him that
“the right thing might be to walk away now
from the RBZ and the government”.
Gono responded that he felt an
obligation “to continue to work for his
family and his country”. According
to the cable, Gono continued his attempt
to cultivate a relationship with
the ambassador in the hope that the US
would support him if he got into
power in a new government or provide him
with a “soft landing” if he ended
up outside.
“He has occasionally provided us with useful information
and has been of
assistance, e.g, when embassy officials were held up at a
roadblock during a
pre-election trip and when an American was held
incommunicado following the
March 29 election,” says the
cable.
Gono was however accused of failing to demonstrate an
inclination to help
his fellow Zimbabweans.
The RBZ boss was
considered one of the powers behind the throne, along with
Zimbabwe Defence
Forces chief Constantine Chiwenga, Police
Commissioner-General Augustine
Chihuri, Air Marshall Perrance Shiri,
Zimbabwe Prisons Services prisons
chief Paradzai Zimondi and Defence
minister Emmerson Mnangagwa.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 18 September 2011
11:52
Zimbabwe has experienced endless load shedding because Zesa is
incapacitated
to produce adequate electricity. Standardbusiness reporter
Ku-dzai
Chimhangwa (KC) spoke to Zesa group CEO Josh Chifamba (JC) on the
problems
the utility is facing.
KC: Zesa has been accused of
deliberately ignoring the manufacturing sector’s
concerns about the
possibility of increased costs of production resulting
from the new tariff.
What is your response to this?
JC: No we aren’t ignoring their concerns. In
fact we are actually taking
their concerns into account.
Essentially this
tariff is about ensuring that we sustain and even improve
the current
supply.
Industry needs to understand that this tariff is to ensure that our
system
is in such a healthy state such that it is able to convey the power
requirements that industry has.
Our network is almost collapsing. One
thing industry is forgetting is that
when the tariff that we are now
increasing was introduced in 2009, it was
simply a dollar denominated
tariff, it had no relationship to our costs.
In 2010, the reason why we did
not increase the tariffs was we took the very
considerations that industry
has. This tariff increase should have been
introduced in January but its
coming nine months late.
KC: What is the justification for the 31%
tariff hike and will this
translate into less load shedding and better
service delivery for consumers?
JC: We are not trying to raise money to
establish new generation assets
through the new tariffs.
We’ve got two
new building projects: Hwange units seven and eight and Kariba
South
extension.
Funding for those is going to be sourced separately.
This
tariff is essentially to raise money to address the issue of the
backlog in
maintenance, which has resulted in a seriously degraded network.
Some of the
load shedding that you are experiencing is not necessarily
coming as a
result of shortage of power generation.
Some of it is as a result of the
local networks where you reside. There are
bushes and trees encroaching into
those lines, poles leaning over are
attacked by termites and we cannot
replace them because there is no cash.
The focus is on maintenance; we have
to rehabilitate the network.
For instance, we recently upgraded the whole
switchboard at City Intake (in
Harare), that board was literally rotten. If
that board had folded we would
have had serious blackouts in
Harare.
KC: What key issues have served to stifle Zesa’s power
generation capacity?
JC: The reason why we have this power generation
deficit, and by the way, it’s
a situation common in the region, is because
there has not been any
investment in generation assets. The last time in
Zimbabwe when we put up a
power station was in the 80s (Hwange Power
station).
At some of the stations we are running now, the thermals are more
than 40
years old.
The primary reason why there was no investment was
because the tariffs
themselves were not sufficient to make these projects
bankable.
KC: How much power is the country importing from
neighbouring countries?
JC: 150 megawatts from HCB. We’ve got a contract with
SNELL (DRC) for 50
megawatts although that has not been very reliable, 200
megawatts from
Zambia only during standard times; at peak times we do not
get anything from
Zambia.
Three weeks ago we were really tight on the
supply side. We were importing
peak power from South Africa at 45 cents per
unit and selling at 7,5 cents
per unit, but we had to do so to keep industry
going.
KC: Considering the absence of an accurate billing system made
possible by
meters, how credible is the amount (US$460 million) that Zesa
says it is
owed by domestic consumers since it relied on estimates in the
past?
JC: An audit was done to verify that debt. We intend to sell the debt
at a
discount to interested investors.
A pre-condition for that is the
investors would want to ensure that there is
no litigation on the
debt.
Next month we will be sending statements to electricity consumers
detailing
all the transactions from March 2009. We believe the debt is
authentic and
if there is any error it will be very marginal.
KC:
Do you think that the time is ripe for new players to enter the power
supply
market?
JC: No, it’s probably not right. You can only attract private sector
participation if you’ve got the right prices. No private player will come in
now when the tariffs are low.
KC: What key issues would you
attribute Zesa’s latest US$100 million loss
to?
JC: This year we were
supposed to have a tariff coming in January and its
only coming in
September.
If you look at our current budgets, there will always be a
variance in that
the tariff did come in January 2011.
Also, I will
confess that we are not efficient in all respects and the fact
that we do
not have resources. We now have people, actually overheads,
simply sitting,
they are not working, that’s why we need this tariff, yes.
WHO IS
ENGINEER JOSH CHIFAMBA
Born in Highfield, Harare, he went to Zambia
to join the war with Zipra.
Then he went to study in Bulgaria, returning to
Zimbabwe to work at Hwange
Power Station in 1983 before going for further
training in the United
Kingdom (East Midlands Electricity
Board.)
When he came back, he was posted to Matabeleland as district
engineer, rose
though the ranks to become area manager and then director of
consumer
services.
Eng Chifamba left the organisation in 2001
after restructuring. “I did some
consultancy then moved to Lesotho on World
Bank management contracts where
we faced the same challenges Zimbabwe is
facing now.
“We introduced a prepaid system there and today it is
profitable. I then
came back and am committed to turning the fortunes of the
company”, he said.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 18 September 2011 11:28
BY
KUDZAI CHIMHANGWA
ZIMBABWE this year witnessed a surge in mining sector
investment
applications despite the uncertainty that has gripped local
miners because
of the controversial indigenisation drive.
Chamber
of Mines president Winston Chitando told delegates at a mining
indaba that
the mining sector needed a capital investment of well over US$8
billion for
it to meaningfully contribute to economic recovery.
“Last year we
witnessed investment (in mining) of US$80 million but this
year the figure
went up to US$260 million,” said Chitando.
“These figures indicate an
appetite for investment in the country’s mining
sector,” he
said.
The country’s mining sector currently accounts for 50% of total
exports and
is a major source of foreign direct investment.
Investors
have probably adopted a wait and see attitude as they watch how
the
indigenisation debate, that requires foreign-owned companies to cede a
51%
stake to locals, pans out.
Chitando said the “mining industry has
been and continues to be in
discussions with government seeking a broad
framework that allows government
and companies to meet their developmental
goals”.
Economic Planning and Investment Promotion minister Tapiwa
Mashakada,
speaking at the same event, said that despite an improvement in
mining
sector investment applications, the challenge presently lies in their
full
implementation.
“Of the projects approved by the Zimbabwe
Investment Authority as at June
2011, the mining industry had a total of
US$1,7 billion worth of investment
applications approved,” said Mashakada
adding that this was the highest
investment application
figure.
“The challenge now is to ensure that these projects are
consummated,” he
said. He told delegates that the mining sector underpins
the country’s
economic revival efforts but investment was only 4% of gross
domestic
product (GDP).
He said Asian countries had investment
standing at 30% of GDP. Ian Kramer,
the director of Energy and Natural
Resources at KPMG said governments must
ensure and guarantee stability in
terms of fiscal policy as the yearly
introduction of taxes is a deterrent to
smooth investment inflows.
“The mining industry is asking for
security of tenure and the need to know
the rules of engagement on an
investment. “Efforts also need to be step-ped
up in attracting massive
investment in infrastructure development,” Kramer
said.
THE TERMS
OF INDIGENISATION
Under indigenisation regulations, a controlling
interest of any
foreign-owned mining company with a net asset-value of US$1
is required to
be held by either the National Indigenisation and Economic
Empowerment Board
(NIEEB) or the Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation
(ZMDC), or any
company incorporated by the two.
It can also be
transferred to an employee share ownership scheme or trust,
management share
ownership scheme or trust or community share ownership
scheme or trust.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 18 September 2011 11:21
BY NDAMU
SANDU
GOVERNMENT has set its eyes on the manufacturing sector and estates as
it
steamrolls with the empowerment programme, which has unnerved foreign
investors.
According to the Indigenisation and Economic
Empowerment Act, locals should
have a controlling shareholding in all
foreign-owned companies operating in
Zimbabwe.
Government’s move
on the manufacturing sector comes after it had agreed with
the mining
companies on how locals will acquire a minimum of 51%
shareholding before
the September 30 deadline.
Youth Development, Indigenisation and
Empowerment minister Saviour
Kasukuwere told Standardbusiness on Friday the
ministry would leverage on
benchmarks set by the mining industry when
looking at other sectors of the
economy.
He said although the
companies in the manufacturing sector had submitted
indigenisation
proposals, the ministry would look at them on a case by case
basis.
He said discussions with companies would be concluded soon
to provide the
stability needed in the sector. He said Cabinet had accepted
the ministry’s
recommendations on the manufacturing sector to ensure maximum
participation
by locals.
Kasukuwere could not be drawn to divulge
the finer details although
Standardbusiness is reliably informed the
government wants the sector to
allow locals to take up a controlling
shareholding in four years. “In the
first year, locals should have 30%. In
the second year, they should get an
additional 10% and another 5% in the
third year, and reach 51% in the fourth
year,” a close source
said.
The empowerment legislation is designed to bring locals into
the mainstream
economy. According to a paper from Kasukuwere’s ministry,
every
indigenisation implementation plan must include at least 5% equity
offer to
management and Employees Share Ownership Trust.
In the
case of mines, 10% equity should be allocated to the Community Share
Ownership Trusts. There should also be a fund for youths to embark on income
generating projects.
Kasukuwere is set to meet executives from
Tanganda and South African
company, Tongaat Hulett, among others. Tanganda
is owned by Meikles Limited
and has tea estates in the Eastern
Highlands.
Tongaat Hulett owns Triangle and has a 50,3% stake in
Hippo Valley Estates,
representing a combined installed sugar milling
capacity of 600 000 tonnes.
Kasukuwere said talks with Old Mutual were
progressing well. Old Mutual had
been given a week to comply with
empowerment laws.
Last year, Old Mutual said it would offload 27% to
employees, 17% to local
pensions and 7% to the National Indigenisation Trust
Fund. However, the
company seemed to have been reneging on its earlier
pledge, forcing
Kasukuwere to order Old Mutual to comply with the Act.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 18 September 2011 10:58
BY OUR STAFF
A
top official of Irvine’s Day Old Chicks Limited told the US Embassy in
2008
he was using his political connections and his supply of poultry
products to
keep his farm and business profitable, according to a cable
leaked by the
whistleblower site, WikiLeaks.
According to a classified cable
titled, Poultry and Patronage, How to Make
Money in a Crisis, David Irvine,
MD of the poultry producer, told US Embassy
officials he had connections to
a number of government ministers and was
exploiting all angles to procure
the inputs needed to keep his business
going.
The disclosure
shows the extent to which white businessmen had to go to
curry favour with
top Zanu PF officials in order for their business to
survive.
“He gives
the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (Zesa) diesel fuel to
fix
electrical faults and also gives the Zesa workers chickens and eggs so
his
operation gets priority service during Zimbabwe’s frequent power
outages,”
according to a cable wired to Washington by former US Ambassador
James
McGee.
“He also buys Minister (Nicholas) Goche’s entire maize and
soya crop, and
the two are such close business partners that they don’t do a
formal
accounting.
“Irvine has access to Grain Marketing Board
(GMB) maize at a deeply
subsidised price.”
“As Econoffs (US
officials) arrived, Irvine was arranging to allow a Zanu PF
rally on one of
his farms, providing transportation and beef from his own
herd for the rally
in addition to the location,” the cable said.
Irvine told US Embassy
officials he had assisted a number of ministers who
wanted to venture into
the poultry business attracted by the potential to
make quick profits from
exporting eggs and day-old chicks.
“Irvine had recently visited
(Reserve Bank) governor (Gideon) Gono’s chicken
farm and offered his advice
and assistance to make it profitable by reducing
overcrowding and improving
feed deliver,” the cable said.
Irvine described Godwills
Masimirembwa, the head of the National Income and
Pricing Commission (NIPC),
as a “half-baked chicken farmer” and noted that
Air Zimbabwe and the Civil
Aviation Authority of Zimbabwe had also decided
to get into the business and
fly out day-old chicks to earn foreign
currency.
Masimirembwa was
the enforcer of price controls. The cable said since
government tightened
price controls, Irvine’s saw an increase in egg exports
to 70% of production
from 50%.
“In early February, he was able to negotiate a significant
increase in the
price of eggs after writing to the Chief Secretary of the
Cabinet about the
effect of the maize shortage on his ability to supply the
local market,” the
cable said.
It said Irvine had told the US
Embassy officials, Cabinet was very worried
about having adequate supplies
of poultry and eggs on the shop shelves in
the run-up to the
election.
Despite the sound management and profitability of Irvine’s
Day Old Chicks,
Irvine recognised that eliminating the economy’s distortions
would weaken
the company’s balance sheet.
“He said that if he had
to pay market prices for maize and had to borrow at
real interest rates, his
prices would have to rise and his sales would
decline,” the cable said.
Irvines could not be reached for comment.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 18 September 2011
10:50
People who think that the West’s intervention in Libya is just
another oil
grab are mistaken. Broadly speaking, for Britain, military
intervention is
mainly about arms; Italy it’s natural gas; France it’s water
and for the US,
it’s counter-terrorism and reconstruction
contracts.
Spreading democracy and saving the people of Benghazi
form merely tangential
benefits used to justify these ends. Lest we forget,
Nato’s bombardment
began because former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi
threatened to do to
Benghazi what Bashar al-Assad’s forces are doing to
various Syrian cities
and Nato itself is poised to do in
Sirte.
“History is a set of lies agreed upon,” once remarked Napoleon
Bonaparte. If
left unchallenged the true motives behind what the French
mainstream media
have coined ‘’Sarkozy’s War’’ may be lost in the fog of
war.
So what makes Libya so important to the West? Any real estate
agent could
tell you: location, location, location! Given that Libya sits
atop the
strategic intersection of the Mediterranean, African, and Arab
worlds,
control of the nation has always been a remarkably effective way to
project
power into these three regions and beyond.
Since time
immemorial Western control over Libya has been of great
importance. After
the Libyan independence in 1951, US, British and French
payments for
military basing rights formed the single-largest element of
Libyan GDP until
oil exports began to flow in 1961.
Nowadays, Sarkozy’s interest in
Libya lies in a commodity more precious than
oil, namely water. It is
becoming increasingly accepted that water promises
to be to the 21st century
what oil was to the 20th century: the precious
commodity that determines the
wealth of nations.
Unlike oil, there are no substitutes, alternatives
or stopgaps for water.
Nature has decreed that the supply of water is fixed.
Meanwhile, demand
rises inexorably as the world’s population increases and
enriches itself.
Population growth, climate change, pollution, urbanisation
and the rapid
development of manufacturing industries are relentlessly
combining such that
demand for fresh water will outstrip supply by 40% by
2040.
Libya sits on a resource more valuable than oil, the Nubian
Sandstone
Aquifer, which is an immensely vast underground sea of fresh
water. Gaddafi
had cleverly invested US$25 billion in the Great Man-made
River Project, a
complex 4 000 km long water pipeline buried beneath the
desert that could
transport two million cubic metres of water a day. Such a
monumental water
distribution scheme could turn Libya — a nation that is 95%
desert — into a
food self-sufficient arable oasis.
Today,
France’s global mega-water companies like Suez, Ondeo and Saur,
control more
than 45% of the world’s water market and are rushing to
privatise water,
already a US$400 billion global business. For these French
companies, Libya
will be a bonanza. No wonder Le Mondé coined it “Sarkozy’s
War” and had a
“Victoire” front page splash when Gaddafi’s compound was
stormed.
Late last year the Central Intelligence Agency
suspiciously raised the
spectre of “future ‘hydrological warfare’ in which
rivers, lakes and
aquifers become national security assets to be fought
over,” or controlled
through proxy armies and client states. Regime change
in Libya, is the first
major instance of hydrological
warfare.
With the spoils of war from Libya’s water market largely
reserved for the
French, UK’s David Cameron is eyeing another market, that
of arms.
The subject of the West selling arms to regimes suppressing
uprisings
remains as wilfully overlooked as an American war
crime.
Even as The Times of London has just reported that Britain
enjoyed a 30%
spike in arms sales to regimes in the Middle East during the
Arab Spring.
Arms sold between February and July jumped to US$101 million,
the Times’
report says, noting that these include weapons that could be used
to
suppress domestic protests.
Barrack Obama’s administration is
even more steeped in the controversial
arms trade. The US accepts no rival
on this front. Over the past decade, the
US has averaged a staggering US$5,8
billion per year in arms sales with the
Middle East.
The very
Libyan military hardware that Nato boastfully claims to have
downgraded by
90% will need to be rebuilt. US arms companies will gleefully
be on hand to
arm their proxy regime to the teeth. Libya will be a bonanza
for American
arms dealers.
American infrastructure contractors will also reap the
windfalls of post-war
reconstruction. The grim reality is that every bridge,
road, rail-link and
building that US war-planes bomb will have to be rebuilt
and paid for by the
Libyan taxpayer.
Even grimmer still is the
fact that the approximately US$1,1billion spent by
the US government on
bombarding Libya is a drop in the ocean compared to the
profit that American
contractors stand to make. Many of whom have strong
ties to the upper
echelons of the military and the Obama administration.
Garikai Chengu
is a research scholar at Harvard University’s Faculty of Arts
and
Sciences.
BY GARIKAI CHENGU
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 18 September 2011 10:46
Not a single
passenger turned up to board Air Zimbabwe on Friday. That is
the sobering
reality that confronted the airline’s bosses two days ago when
they resumed
flights after a crippling strike grounded their planes since
July
29.
For observers following the drama unfolding at the airline, there
was hardly
anything surprising about this no-show. The crisis playing out at
Air
Zimbabwe is symptomatic of years of mismanagement of the airline by
successive government-appointed administrators.
The mere fact
that pilots’ and other workers’ grievances were not addressed
with the
urgency they deserved shows that the present government is not
really
concerned with protecting the country’s national interests that are
so
intricately tied to the airline industry.
The last minute action
where government allocated US$2,8 million from
government to offset mounting
debts and settle outstanding salaries
forebodes a gloomy future for the
airline.
It is worth noting that Air Zimbabwe has been troubled by a
myriad of
challenges before and after the inception of the multi-currency
regime in
2009. These range from the use of expensive and hardly-serviced
ageing
aircraft, an acute skills flight, lack of sustainability and
competitive
edge, relentless protectionism and insufficient financial
support from the
fiscus.
Compounding these problems is the
government’s reluctance to privatise the
parastatal which is already sinking
on the market owing to the presence of
vibrant competition from other
airlines.
Quite frankly, passengers’ reluctance to even book a flight
on Friday
despite the resumption of services does not bode well for the
national
airline and is a national shame.
The snub should be a
lesson to the airline that you don’t take people for
granted. Other airlines
have filled the void and it will take a long time
for Air Zimbabwe to
reclaim its slice of the market share.
The government is confining
itself to stopgap measures and not surprisingly
pilots will embark on
another strike in the near future because the real
problems have not been
addressed.
The long-term solution is simply to privatise Air Zimbabwe
and many other
parastatals struggling under the weight of huge debts and
mismanagement.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 18 September 2011
10:41
In the wake of the WikiLeaks disclosures, a question arises: has
Zimbabwe
been ruled by decree for the duration of its independence? The
answer seems
to be a resounding “yes”. But what is to be debated is whose
decree! The
easy conclusion, substantiated by the leaked cables, is that
indeed,
President Robert Mugabe has been ruling by decree because his inner
circle
was long fed up with him.
But, there have been two schools
of thought regarding who calls the shots in
Zimbabwe. One is that Zimbabwe —
in the past decade at least — has been run
by the Joint Operations Command
(JOC); while the second says President
Robert Mugabe has single-handedly
run the state with everyone else a mere
vassal subject to his beck and
call.
JOC is the supreme organ for the coordination of state security
in Zimbabwe.
Its roots lie deep in Ian Smith’s Rhodesia where it
co-ordinated the war
against Zanla and Zipra insurgency.
It
also was responsible for military incursions in neighbouring countries
such
as Zambia and Mozambique during the 1970s war of liberation.
Post-independence; its role has remained shadowy hence the fear it continues
to exude.
What is now, after WikiLeaks, unclear is whether it
has retained and
continued its Rhodesian-era role of co-ordinating state
security or whether
this role has been vested in the hands of Mugabe
alone.
The first school is premised on the sentiment that Mugabe
being the educated
gentleman he is cannot be capable of the excesses that
the country has
witnessed in the past three decade.
Mugabe is
said to be about the most educated head of state in the world so
much so
that such a highly sophisticated individual cannot visit upon his
own people
the suffering that Zimbabwe has gone through.
Only military men
are capable of the cruel episodes that Zimbabweans have
seen. These include
the gukurahundi, the land invasions, murambatsvina and
the violence of the
period before the presidential run-off of June 2008.
This school of thought
says Mugabe was only forced to endorse these episodes
by JOC.
The
JOC has always been viewed as a homogeneous group often referred to as
the
“securocrats”. They supposedly speak with one voice and hold Mugabe in
their grip telling him what to do and say.
Mugabe, according
to this school of thought, is merely the public face of
this immensely
powerful body. Because of this all the atrocities committed
in Zimbabwe
since independence can be traced to this group.
The school of thought
also says Mugabe has expressed his willingness to
retire on several
occasions only for JOC to thwart his wish. Only one person
has publicly
disputed this thinking.
Wilfred Mhanda aka Dzinashe Machingura,
who says he has remained close to
some members of JOC with whom he fought
alongside during the war of
liberation. Mhanda says the reverse is true;
Mugabe holds each and every
member of JOC by the scruff of the
neck.
He quickly points out that it is Mugabe who appoints them
to the positions
they hold and he can withdraw the appointments as soon as
he feels he should
by not renewing their terms. Because of the largesse that
comes with the
positions the securocrats are only too willing to pander to
his whim.
But whistleblower website, WikiLeaks, has given us a
glimpse into this
group. Far from being homogenous, it is as divided and
fractious as they
come and is not always serving Mugabe’s wishes. JOC is a
pretence!
According to WikiLeaks, while Mugabe was coming to terms
with how to deal
with Morgan Tsvangirai’s MDC, JOC head Emmerson Mnangagwa
was busy trying to
form another party to fight him.
CIO
director-general Happyton Bonyongwe was busy doctoring information that
was
passed to the head of state and was supporting breakaway formation Simba
Makoni’s Mavambo.
This information was fed to the Americans
by former Information minister,
Jonathan Moyo, who has confessed that the
leaked cables are a true
reflection of what he said. Another important
member of JOC, Perrence Shiri
was quoted by a former member of the Zanu PF
politburo, Dumiso Dabengwa,
saying that Mugabe had overstayed his
welcome.
Constantine Chiwenga, according to fellow generals close to
him, is said to
have been nursing political ambitions of his own and would
be disappointed
if he didn’t attain political office.
The
only “civilian” on the body, Reserve Bank governor Gideon Gono, was
exuberant in his negativity of Mugabe to the Americans. He talked about
Mugabe’s ill health, even giving Mugabe’s life a timeframe; he also
revealingly talked about the president’s sex life (or lack of it). Gono had
political ambitions of his own, too.
Here we see a body whose
members are pulling in different directions, each
trying to achieve his own
political end. Obviously Mugabe was aware of all
this; he would naturally
have at least one confidant in the group, and he
would play one against the
other.
WikiLeaks has vindicated Wilfred Mhanda in his argument that
Mugabe is his
own man and has always been so. All top members of Mugabe’s
party have in
the past decade, in one way or another, indicated that they
were not happy
with his continued rule. These include every vice-president
since the unity
accord in 1987, except for Simon Muzenda.
The
extent to which Mugabe’s inner circle went out of their way to hold
parley
with American diplomats indicates the degree of their indignation and
frustration.
Many analysts have said that senior Zanu PF
officials who have known that
Mugabe became a liability to the party a long
time ago did not stand up to
him because his dying in office would give them
a scapegoat for all the ugly
things that happened to Zimbabwe, all of which
they were part of.
WikiLeaks has given them some ammunition to
propagate this thinking.
When Mugabe eventually passes on, all these
gossiping politicians will tell
the world they had opposed Mugabe all along
and accuse him of singly
masterminding every atrocity that took place in the
country. They will
exonerate themselves from gukurahundi, murambatsvina,
electoral violence and
the debauchery that accompanied land
reform.
But this should not fool the world into believing that they
were not
complicity in the horrors that devastated the country in the past
three
decades.
WikiLeaks revelations might work in their favour in the
short term but they
are equally guilty by omission and commission of the
destruction of our
beautiful country and all the blood that accompanied
it.
BY NEVANJI MADANHIRE
