FinGaz
Njabulo Ncube Political
Editor
Constitutional deal with ZANU PF sours relationship
THE fractious
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) is battling new internal
fissures over
an agreement it reached with the ruling party this week to
tinker with the
country's Constitution for the umpteenth time, which has
shaken its alliance
with key civil society allies.
Influential civil society groups that had
formed a formidable alliance with
the MDC yesterday said they were breaking
ranks with the main opposition
party following its endorsement of
controversial constitutional amendments,
which consolidate the electoral
calendar and allow President Robert Mugabe
to handpick a successor.
The
severance of ties between the MDC and a coterie of civic groups could
further dilute the opposition, which will face ZANU PF in next year's polls
weakened by the October 2005 split.
But their surprise withdrawal from
the loose coalition may not have any
effect on the MDC, which has basically
been riding on public anger against
the economic meltdown precipitated by
the ruling ZANU PF government's
ruinous policies, analysts say.
The
Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) and the National Constitutional
Assembly (NCA) - the two groups that were key at the time of the formation
of the MDC in 1999 and had remained its staunch allies - yesterday led
groupings such as Crisis Zimbabwe Coalition (CZC) and the Broad Alliance in
condemning the constitutional deal struck between ZANU PF and both factions
of the MDC.
The compromise deal paves the way for joint presidential and
legislative
elections next year, empowers parliament to elect a new
president should the
incumbent fail to serve a full term and substantially
increases the number
of seats in the House of Assembly, among other
things.
The Financial Gazette can reveal that there are moves to form what is
being
touted as a "Third Force", after civic society representatives
yesterday
held crisis meetings in the wake of the MDC's endorsement of the
amendments,
described by critics as too insignificant to dilute President
Mugabe's
powers.
The Broad Alliance, a coalition of opposition groups
previously supportive
of the MDC, will soon announce its severance of ties
with both factions of
the MDC.
The MDC threw its weight behind
Constitutional Amendment Number 18, saying
it had been driven by the spirit
of ongoing Southern African Development
Community (SADC) efforts to break
the political impasse in Zimbabwe.
Thokozani Khupe, MDC vice president of the
Morgan Tsvangirai camp, said her
party had resolved to back the amendments
as it kept an eye on protecting a
SADC mediation process led by South
African President Thabo Mbeki.
"We supported the Bill because we do not want
to see Zimbabwe burning," said
Khupe in an interview with The Financial
Gazette soon after a second reading
of the Bill. "It does not mean we have
abandoned our demand for a new,
people-driven Constitution. It is our
understanding that it (new
Constitution) will be delivered in due
course."
On Tuesday, Welshman Ncube, secretary-general of the Arthur
Mutambara
faction of the MDC, sensing apprehension among opposition
supporters, said
while some of them would be "alarmed" by the MDC's
decision, the party had
not abandoned its stance on constitutional
reforms.
But he suggested it was important to allow some compromise as part
of the
process of finding a solution.
"Zimbabweans are faced with a
national crisis. We may differ, but we agree
there is a crisis. Somewhere
along the way we lost each other. This is our
attempt to find each
other."
Ncube, part of the opposition's negotiating team, hinted that talks
would
now focus on repressive laws such as the Access to Information and
Protection of Privacy Act, and the Public Order and Security
Act.
Sanctions, he said, were also on the agenda. There is no agreement yet
on
these issues.
But Lovemore Madhuku, chairman of the NCA, which
campaigns for wholesale
constitutional reform, said civic society had called
a conference to reject
the MDC/ZANU PF deal.
"We are disgusted by the
MDC," said Madhuku. "I don't see myself sitting
under the same tent with
both Morgan Tsvangirai and Arthur Mutambara
discussing the future of this
country. We are severing ties with the MDC
over their going to bed with ZANU
PF."
Madhuku led a civic society delegation to Pretoria this week at the
invitation of President Mbeki's mediation team.
According to sources,
Sydney Mufamadi, head of Mbeki's mediation team, told
the group he had only
called the meeting to inform them that ZANU PF and the
MDC had reached
agreement.
Arnold Tsunga, chairman of the CZC and executive director of the
Zimbabwe
Lawyers for Human Rights, said the MDC had "sold out".
"We think
the MDC has sold out, and it will be very difficult to work with
them in
future, taking into perspective the minor adjustment they and ZANU
PF have
agreed to," said Tsunga. "We as CZC and other civic society
organisations
are worried by attempts to identify Zimbabwe's problems as an
issue that can
be resolved by drafting constitutional amendments," he added.
The MDC and
ZANU PF, he said, had only "tinkered with the Constitution,
without
addressing the climate of impunity, violence, repressive pieces of
legislation, national misappropriation of resources, looting, harassment of
citizens and other human rights abuses."
The NCA, founded in 1997, has
been an ally of the MDC since the party's 1999
formation. In 2000, the NCA
teamed up with the MDC and successfully
mobilised against a new
government-backed Constitution.
"The MDC's decision to abandon the principle
of a people-driven Constitution
and opting for a process driven by political
parties in Parliament is an act
of treachery," said Madhuku.
Tsunga said
it was "disheartening and shocking to see MDC celebrating with
ZANU PF" on
the same day state security agents abducted scores of ZCTU
leaders who were
planning a strike yesterday.
The strike flopped, bolstering the argument of
those who have called for a
change of strategy by militant opposition groups
such as unions and the NCA.
Reacting to the criticism, Nelson Chamisa and
Gabriel Chaibva, spokespersons
for the two MDC factions, said supporting the
amendments was in the best
interests of the opposition.
MDC allies have
found support among new camps in the opposition that have
been isolated by
the compromise, with hardliners outraged by the ZANU PF/MDC
calling for a
more militant approach.
FinGaz
Shame Makoshori Staff
Reporter
TWO of Zimbabwe's leading foreign-owned banks, Stanbic and
Standard
Chartered, have broken their silence on the controversy surrounding
proposed
indigenisation legislation, warning the proposal would bring grave
consequences.
Parliament's legal committee issued a non-adverse
report on the
Indigenisation and Empowerment Bill yesterday, drawing its
passage a step
closer.
But business groups have warned that foreign
investment in Zimbabwe would
plunge 30 percent if the Bill were passed in
its current form.
The two banks, in submissions to a parliamentary hearing,
said foreign banks
could withdraw from Zimbabwe if they were compelled to
sell 51 percent of
their businesses, a level they said was too high.
"We
think that it is important for Zimbabwe not to implement an empowerment
process that is materially different from what other countries have done,"
Stanbic Bank said.
"The proposed indigenisation threshold of 51 percent
targeted in Zimbabwe
would make our country relatively less attractive to
foreign investors,"
said Stanbic Bank.
Standard Chartered proposed that
the minimum threshold be revised to 49
percent, saying proposed levels would
make it difficult for foreign banking
groups to remain in
Zimbabwe.
"Brand name and equity is critically important to many businesses.
Removal
of the possibility to hold a controlling interest may make it
difficult for
existing companies or potential new investors being able to
justify their
continued interest in the country," Stanchart said.
Stanbic
Bank said the economic crisis means that local banks require foreign
support
in securing international lines of credit.
"Once all banks are made
indigenous, the current support relationships
arising from foreign control
of certain Zimbabwean banks would be severed.
Currently, for example, the
only banks providing offshore funding for
tobacco are the international
banks. A case in point being Stanbic Bank,
which with the support of
Standard Bank of South Africa, provided US$75
million for tobacco financing
in 2007," said the bank.
International institutions, said Stanbic, would
demand that the new majority
owners develop their own brand identities,
which would not be immediately
recognised by the outside world.
The new
entities could continue using international brands, but would be
charged
punitive royalty fees for their use.
With the acute foreign currency
shortages, it was also unlikely that local
investors would be able to
mobilise sufficient funds to facilitate the
purchase of shares in the
banks.
This could have the danger of being seen as expropriation, Stanbic
warned.
"The empowerment drive should not be limited to just acquisition of
shareholding, but should recognise the positive work done by foreign-owned
institutions in the areas of social responsibility," Stanbic said, adding it
hoped government would "retain (the banking sector's) current profile, where
locally owned and internationally owned banks co-exist".
Four of
Zimbabwe's 28 banks are foreign held: Stanchart, Stanbic, owned by
South
Africa's Standard Bank, Barclays, 70 percent held by Barclays plc, and
MBCA,
controlled by NedBank and its parent Old Mutual.
Chamber of Mines president
Jack Murehwa said Zimbabwe now lags its regional
peers on mineral output
because of a dearth of new foreign investment into
mining. The new law, he
said, would only deepen concern among foreign
investors over security of
their assets.
"I do not know whether this Bill is intended to undermine
certainty in the
sector," Murehwa said. "Zimbabwe is already seen as a high
risk destination,
because of negative perceptions over security of tenure
and the rule of
law."
Cain Mpofu, Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce
chief executive, said
business was concerned at the sweeping powers granted
the responsible
Minister, the timing of the Bill, and the additional tax
burden placed on
companies that will be forced to fund the purchase of their
own shares.
He warned: "There is a likelihood of a 30 percent drop in foreign
direct
investment following passage of the proposed Bill. A decline in gross
domestic product is also to be anticipated after implementation of the
indigenisation programme."
FinGaz
Clemence Manyukwe
Staff Reporter
THE state's star witness in the violence trial of two
senior intelligence
officials has claimed that Attorney General Sobusa
Gula-Ndebele forced him
to nail Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa and five
others.
War veteran James Kaunye made the charge during the trial of the
heads of
the Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) in Manicaland and
Rusape,
Innocent Chibaya and Denford Masiya, as well as three
others.
Chibaya and the others are facing obstruction of justice charges,
similar to
those levelled against Chinamasa before his acquittal last
year.
The crime, the state alleges, was committed when Chinamasa and the
accused
persons pressured Kaunye to withdraw violence charges against State
Security
Minister Didymus Mutasa's supporters, who include ZANU PF Makoni
North
chairperson Albert Nyakuedzwa.
Presiding judge, Justice Anne-Marie
Gowora, has directed prosecutor Andrew
Kumire to inform Gula-Ndebele of
Kaunye's allegations.
Kaunye was the state's lead witness in the three cases
that resulted in
Nyakuedzwa and 16 other ruling party supporters being
convicted and jailed
for violence.
But in a dramatic shift last week,
Kaunye said no one had ever coerced him
to withdraw charges against the ZANU
PF men. He had done so of his own free
will, he told the court.
Kaunye
said although Nyakuedzwa had been prosecuted for assaulting him, he
had
forgiven his assailant prior to the court case. He, however, had been
forced
to proceed with the matter.
"The A-G phoned me, I do not know who had given
him my phone number because
I had never communicated with him. He said 'why
are you forgiving Nyakuedzwa',"
Kaunye told the court.
He claimed
Gula-Ndebele threatened him with imprisonment if he did not
testify.
"It
is this same person (A-G) who is continuing to force us so that the
matter
(against Chibaya) can proceed.
"The A-G is forcing us to give evidence, that
is why I have told this court
that this matter involves a lot of politics. I
am now the one who has been
sandwiched. I want to give myself and my family
freedom," he said.
Lawyers Charles Warara, Patrick Takaidza and advocate
Mehta Deepak are
representing Chibaya and the others.
FinGaz
Zhean Gwaze Staff
Reporter
FISSURES have emerged in the local chapter of the Anglican
Province of
Central Africa following reports of the withdrawal of the Harare
Diocese
from the union at a recent synod held in Malawi.
State media
claimed the Harare diocese, led by pro-ZANU PF bishop Nolbert
Kunonga, had
withdrawn from the union because it had failed to condemn
homosexuality.
The reports suggested two other Anglican dioceses
supported Kunonga's
stance.
But a pastoral letter released after the
meeting reveals that homosexuality
was not on the agenda of the
synod.
Heads of three of the Anglican church's five districts in Zimbabwe,
bishops
Godfrey Tawonezvi of Masvingo, Wilson Sitshebo of Matabeleland, and
Central
Zimbabwe bishop Ishmael Mukuwanda, say in the pastoral letter that
gay
matters were never discussed. Elson Jakazi heads the Manicaland
district.
The Province of Central Africa consists of Zimbabwe, Zambia, Malawi
and
Botswana.
Since the synod in Malawi, Kunonga has portrayed himself as
having stood
alone in a region clamouring for gay rights in the church. But
it turns out
this was never the case.
"The Church of the Province of
Central Africa condemns homosexuality. This
has always been the position of
the Province and continues to be so. At the
just ended Provincial Synod,
homosexuality was not part of the synod agenda
and no bishop, priest or
layperson condoned homosexuality. No homosexual
lobbying by any one ever
took place at the provincial synod," the bishops
stress in the pastoral
letter.
It has now emerged from sources who attended the Malawi conference
that
there is consensus in the church that if Harare withdraws from the
unity,
then Kunonga should leave the Anglican Church.
"He (Kunonga) was
told that if his diocese withdrew from the union, then he
should leave," a
source said.
Kunonga's attempts to portray himself as a crusader against
homosexuality
could be designed to forestall a decision on his future by the
church, the
sources said.
Kunonga has previously survived moves to have
him step down by critics who
oppose his support for the ruling party's
actions.
FinGaz
Clemence Manyukwe Staff
Reporter
ZIMBABWE Broadcasting Holdings (ZBH) boss Henry Muradzikwa has
admitted that
there is political interference in the editorial policy of the
national
broadcaster.
The ZBH boss also disclosed that
the
much-vaunted digitalisation programme funded by Iran had stalled because
of
Zimbabwe's failure to pay a US$3 million debt to the Iranians.
Muradzikwa
told a parliamentary committee hearing this week that on being
hired by ZBH,
reporters are told they should report impartially, only to see
some of their
reports censored.
"We have been reporting on the basis of deception," said
Muradzikwa,
appearing before the parliamentary committee on transport and
communications.
He said the Ministry of Information, which is in charge
of government media,
should be clear on how it wants the broadcaster to
report.
"What does the shareholder (government) want? (The shareholder) must
make it
public."
Muradzikwa said the perception that ZBH serves the
interests of ZANU PF had
persisted since independence.
He told the
committee that some of the expectations the government had of
the
broadcaster undermined press freedom.
Muradzikwa was responding to a question
from Movement for Democratic Change
Kuwadzana Member of Parliament Nelson
Chamisa, who wanted to know if the ZBH
boss was aware of perceptions that
the broadcaster served as the ruling
party's propaganda tool.
According
to Muradzikwa, provincial governors were abusing ZBH bureau
chiefs, treating
them as part of their staff. To avoid further abuse,
Muradzikwa said,
journalists would be assigned to new provinces before next
year's
polls.
A digitalisation programme backed by Iran had been halted because of
unpaid
debts. "The Iranian deal has been dormant because they (Iran) are
saying we
should pay US$3 million. The difficulty is that this is not a ZBH
debt
alone. It was incurred by both ZBH and ARDA (Agriculture Rural
Development
Authority). ZBH has paid (its) half."
Earlier, the committee
heard from Obert Muganyura, chief executive of the
Broadcasting Authority of
Zimbabwe (BAZ), the licensing authority for
broadcasters,
that no
independent broadcasters had yet been licensed because the
Broadcasting
Services Act remained restrictive despite the Supreme Court
striking down
certain key sections.
The BAZ, Muganyura said, had since sent proposed
amendments to the Ministry
of Information.
Committee chairperson Leo
Mugabe said the committee would press for the
licensing of new players by
next year.
The committee was prepared to table amendments to broadcasting
laws in
Parliament if the Ministry continued to drag its feet, Mugabe
warned.
The Media Institute of Southern Africa - Zimbabwe (MISA) said
revelations by
BAZ on the democratic deficiencies in the BSA as well as the
political
procrastination of the government in amending the BSA further
point to the
fact that the ruling party and its government are bent on
maintaining their
total grip on the broadcast media.
The stringent
requirements in the BSA, which Muganyura described as
problematic include a
ban on foreign funding and ownership, restrictions on
the number of national
free to air private broadcasters that can be licensed
as well as the
restrictions placed on ownership of frequency transmitters.
The BSA provides
that only the government owned company, Transmedia can own
frequency
transmitters and all new players have to line up to do business
with
Transmedia.
As the situation stands , Transmedia is failing to provide
adequate services
to one TV station; the state owned Zimbabwe Television as
well as to four FM
radio stations,
all owned by the state through
ZBH.
"Missing in the statement from BAZ is its total lack of independence to
make
decisions as its plays only a secretarial role to the Minister of
Information and Publicity. Without an independent regulatory authority
guaranteed by law, the job of the BAZ will remain at the whims of
politicians.
"The prevailing situation places Zimbabwe in a unique
position in southern
Africa where it is the only country with a virtual
state monopoly in
broadcasting. It should be noted that the closure of
broadcasting space to
new players is a political decision and act meant to
safeguard the interest
of the ruling elite hence the defiance of expert
advice and calls by
citizens and civic society for the industry to be opened
to new players.
"As Zimbabwe faces elections next year, it should become
clear to all that
no democratic free and fair elections can be held in an
environment where
only one political party has access to the broadcasts
media," said MISA in a
statement.
FinGaz
Staff
Reporter
GOVERNMENT has secured the release of part of the 36 000 tonnes
of wheat,
which is stuck in Mozambique over non-payment, as it increased the
producer
price of wheat to try and boost failing
production.
Agriculture Minister Rugare Gumbo said 2000 tonnes of the
wheat consignment
that The Financial Gazette reported recently to have been
held in
Mozambique, pending payment of US$15 million by Zimbabwe, would
arrive in
the country by tomorrow.
The wheat would augment dwindling
flour supplies that have led to a serious
bread shortage and threatened 10
000 jobs as bakeries shut down.
Gumbo also revealed that the producer price
of wheat would rise to $42
million per tonne from $217 913.40 a tonne,
saying the increase was meant to
entice farmers who were starting to reap
their crops to deliver the grain to
the state grain buyer, the Grain
Marketing Board.
Gumbo said 144 000 tonnes of wheat were expected to be
harvested this year,
but this would result in a shortfall of 286 000
tonnes.
He said 49 707 hectares had been put under wheat, and that 987
hectares of
the crop has been written off.
Farmers' organisations report
that an estimated 5 000 hectares out of the 8
000 hectares of winter wheat
were a write-off due to persistent power cuts,
which disrupted irrigation.
FinGaz
Clemence Manyukwe Staff
Reporter
IN the run-up to the 2005 general elections, President Robert
Mugabe
addressed a rally at Kuwadzana 2 High School in Harare, where he made
a
statement that must have come from the bottom of his
heart.
Swearing by Mbuya Nehanda and his late mother, Bona, the President
made a
passionate plea - which he said was his last - for urban residents to
vote
for his ZANU PF party. If they did not, he said, he would give up on
them.
But as a new election looms, support for ZANU PF among urbanites
remains
weak.
And, after witnessing the savage beating of Kuwadzana
residents by soldiers
last week, I wondered whether the President had indeed
fulfilled his promise
and given up on people in these poor, urban parts of
the country.
In the run-up to a crucial election, these residents have
neither water nor
power.
Now they are facing renewed violence,
perpetrated by agents of the same
government that will be back here
canvassing for their votes in a few months'
time.
In the aftermath of the
latest beatings, and listening to people who had
gathered to recount their
ordeals, it was clear that the violence is
exacerbating the already deep
disenchantment with the government among the
urban poor, who face food
shortages, transport problems and a general
breakdown of essential
services.
Not very far from where the President delivered his address in
2005, is
Kuwadzana 4 shopping centre, the hub of all black-market activities
in the
suburb.
Since the government imposed price cuts in June, business
at that market has
surged, with illegal traders selling anything ranging
from meat, bread, to
milk, in front of empty shops.
But on Thursday
evening last week, a unit of soldiers attached to the Price
Taskforce
spilled onto the streets. As I alighted from a bus that evening, I
suddenly
found myself trapped "behind enemy lines" as hordes of soldiers
surged
forward into the suburb.
I saw a man's head being slammed against the wall of
a squalid toilet. Not
far from there, a woman with a child strapped to her
back, ran like an
Olympic athlete to escape the advancing soldiers.
The
attacks were random, as the unit beat anyone within sight, black market
trader or not.
Somehow, I negotiated my way to safety.
Along the way,
I met a friend who was returning from a Salvation Army
evening service. He
too had escaped being caught in the crossfire at another
shopping
centre.
I hurried along, now almost alone on the deserted streets. The full
extent
of the terror only became apparent the next day.
I learnt of the
horrific beating of the Kambadza family, neighbours that I
have known all my
life. Their ordeal was the most talked about of all
incidents.
Three
soldiers arrived at their gate on the Thursday morning, and seized a
loaf of
bread from a trader selling at their gate. One of the soldiers
offered $30
000 for the bread, but a small crowd protested that he must pay
$100 000
like everyone else. The soldiers flashed their army IDs, and
ominously
announced that they would be back.
And indeed come back they did that
night.
Many people were beaten and a number of families fled from their
homes. The
most tragic aspect of the Kambadza family's ordeal was the
callous attack on
the father, a 70-year-old pensioner.
The soldiers
accused him of illegally selling bread at black market rates.
However, he in
fact does not sell any bread at all. Traders do peddle their
wares in front
of his house, but only because it is centrally located.
The soldiers targeted
a family-run stall in the same vicinity shortly after
a woman had served her
husband supper. The family fled. When they returned,
they found that not
only had their money and goods been confiscated, the
sadza the family was
about to have for supper had been devoured.
FinGaz
Mavis Makuni Own
Correspondent
SOMETIME ago, a proposal was made for an evaluation to be
made of the
various agencies and arms of the African Union (AU) to establish
whether
they were functioning effectively and, if not, to identify the
constraints.
The findings from this exercise will be of great interest
across Africa
where there is a growing perception that organisations such as
the AU and
the Southern African Development Community (SADC) have become
exclusive
clubs for Africa's powerful leaders to stroke each other's egos.
Leaders
have been accused of being hamstrung by the principle of brotherhood
and
solidarity established under the forerunner of the AU, the Organisation
of
African Unity.
The principle of non-interference in the internal
affairs of member states
has paralysed the AU, rendered it almost redundant.
Critics have charged
that the heads of state are more interested in covering
up for each other's
abuses and excesses than in tackling pressing problems
that impact on the
right of the people of Africa to self-determination,
justice and freedom
from repression, hunger and poverty.
The leaders have
been accused of not having the interests of the ordinary
people of Africa at
heart because of the inertia, foot-dragging, and
hypocrisy that have
characterised the approaches of both the AU and SADC to
conflict resolution
in Africa's trouble spots. Despite the leaders'
insistence on
non-interference by Western countries the AU has failed to
come up with
viable initiatives to end the strife in Somalia and Darfur in
western Sudan
.
Not enough governments have been willing to commit resources and troops to
these trouble spots and despite the posturing of leaders against
international meddling, the AU has still had to appeal for external
assistance to maintain its token peacekeeping force in Sudan. There is no
guarantee that peace talks to be held in Libya next month between rebel
groups and Sudanese government representatives will finally result in a
settlement. The initiative is being spearheaded by United Nations Secretary-
General Ban Ki-moon.
At the beginning of his tenure in January, Ban
Ki-moon announced that he
would put the crisis in Darfur at the top of his
agenda, saying it would
take collective wisdom and efforts to find
solutions.
However, after almost nine months of dealing with the brinkmanship
and
diversionary antics of Sudanese strongman, Omar al-Bashir, the UN boss
must
be ready to revise his idea of African wisdom. The Sudanese president
has
done everything possible to sabotage efforts to end the humanitarian
crisis
in his country.
Al-Bashir, who once swore that there would be no
international military
intervention in Darfur as long as he was in power
(which can be for life),
would rather see more of his people suffering and
dying than see reason.
He believes that any external initiative to end the
crisis would mean the
re-colonisation of Sudan.
Latest reports are that
during an audience with Pope Benedict XVI in Rome,
the Sudanese leader
pledged to call a ceasefire in Darfur before the talks
in Libya. This is not
the first time he has made such a promise. He has gone
back on his word may
times since his government unleashed the Janjaweed Arab
militias to
spearhead a reign of terror against Christian civilians. Despite
a death
toll of more than 200 000 and the displacement of about two million
people
since 2003, African leaders in the AU have failed to use their
collective
wisdom and clout to rein in their errant peer.
All that African heads of
state have done is look on as civilians continue
to be killed in Darfur.
These leaders have been accused of exhibiting the
same lack of political
will and commitment even in situations where the AU's
assistance does not
necessarily have to involve military intervention or
commitment of resources
but just principled leadership and vision.
The Zimbabwean situation, which
both SADC and the AU have allowed to
escalate for the past seven years, is a
case in point. Over that period the
AU has done everything possible to
sustain a see-and-hear-no-evil stance. At
various of its summits since 2002,
it has thrown out reports on Zimbabwe's
human rights record prepared by
special delegations and the African
Commission on Human and People's Rights
(ACHPR).
Over the same period, the AU has ensured that attempts by Zimbabwean
human
rights and media groups to present civil society's side of the story
were
thwarted by standing resolutely on the side of the Zimbabwean
government
rather than the generality of the people. Indeed, the Zimbabwean
government
has always boasted of enjoying the support of SADC and the AU
even when its
horrendous abuses have been well documented.
At every stage
this support has been for the leadership rather than the
people of Zimbabwe.
During her recent visit to Cuba Zimbabwean
Vice-President Joice Mujuru
confirmed this connivance of the two
organisations in supporting the status
quo when she thanked them for
standing by Zimbabwe at a "crucial time."
Addressing African diplomats in
Havana, she said: "I want to thank you for
standing by us in this trying
time of our history. SADC and the AU know the
root cause of our problems
with Britain."
It was only at the last SADC
summit in Lusaka last month that reports on the
Zimbabwean situation were
belatedly formally entertained. One report,
presented by SADC executive
secretary Tomaz Salomao dealt with the economic
crisis while South African
President Thabo Mbeki's presentation was a
"progress" report on the
political aspects of the situation. But even with
these reluctant eleventh
hour moves, the two organisations are not
addressing governance issues,
which are at the core of the crisis. There
have been claims and counter
claims that SADC is to put together an economic
rescue package for Zimbabwe.
South Africa, the continent's economic
powerhouse has, however, already
indicated that it will not provide any
economic aid for Zimbabwe, raising
the question of whether the plan will not
turn out to be one more
time-buying ploy.
The South African Finance Minister, Trevor Manuel stated
his country's
stance uncategorically a month ago when he declared that no
taxpayers' money
would be wasted on Zimbabwe. "We cannot decide what kind of
economy
Zimbabweans must have. They must get the prices to work, they must
drive the
changes. We cannot commit financial resources", he said.
No
other African country has come forward so far to say what it will
contribute
towards bailing Zimbabwe out of its economic ruin. But all member
countries
of SADC and the AU cheered the Zimbabwean government on or looked
the other
way for years as the country hurtled towards the precipice.
FinGaz
Clemence Manyukwe Staff
Reporter
RIVER Ranch Limited, the company at the centre of a bitter row
over a
Beitbridge diamond mine, was deregistered three years ago, a state
prosecutor claimed in court this week.
Law officer Chifarayi Dube
made the allegation against the company during
the trial of the directors of
Bubye Minerals, a rival to River Ranch
Limited, accused of asset
stripping.
River Ranch Limited is partly owned by Solomon Mujuru and former
ZANU PF
Harare East Member of Parliament Tirivanhu Mudariki.
Charges are
that Bubye directors, Michael and Adel Farquhar, stripped River
Ranch mine
of assets worth $116 million and externalised US$60 000.
Bubye and River
Ranch Limited are embroiled in an ownership dispute over the
diamond
mine.
"It was deregistered in 2002 and the file has since been sent to the
national archives," said Dube, who is the prosecutor in the case.
Defence
lawyer Godfrey Mamvura challenged the state to explain how key
witness,
River Ranch Limited chairman George Kantsouris, could be the chief
executive
of a deregistered company.
During the trial, documents, including Kantsouris'
South African passport,
were presented in court.
Kantsouris said he was a
United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
employee seconded to River Ranch
Limited.
The UNDP has denied charges by Bubye that it facilitated the
smuggling of
diamonds from River Ranch mine. The allegations triggered a
probe by the
Kimberly Process. The findings, which were supposed to be made
public in
August, are still under wraps.
Meanwhile, the Farquhars have
hired top South African lawyer, Wim Trengove
to represent them in their suit
against the Master of the High Court and
others they accuse of trying to
manipulate the judiciary to the detriment of
their company.
Trengove has
previously represented former South African president Nelson
Mandela, and
the late former South African cricket captain Hansie Cronje, in
his failed
bid to overturn a life ban imposed after a match fixing scandal.
In Zimbabwe
Trengove represented Econet in 1996 in its battle to be
licensed.
FinGaz
Staff Reporter
MINES and
Mining Development Minister Amos Midzi expects to push through new
mining
legislation on foreign ownership before March next year.
Responding to
questions in the House of Assembly on the fourth report of the
Parliamentary
Committee on Mines, Energy, Environment and Tourism on gold
and diamond
mining, Midzi said the country's mining policy was in tandem
with the
Indigenisation and Empowerment Bill.
The Empowerment Bill, read in Parliament
for the second time on Tuesday,
aims to hand at least 51 percent of "every
public company and any other
business" to locals or the government.
In
its report, the mines committee had indicated that it was necessary for
the
government to state its empowerment policy clearly. In response, Midzi
said:
"The amendments have been concluded by all organs of government and
now
await to be brought to Parliament. "
"The mining policy is in conformity with
the Indigenisation Bill, which
stipulates that 51 percent goes to indigenous
persons and 49 percent goes to
foreigners, and indeed honourable members are
aware that the relevant
Minister has already introduced the relevant Bill to
this House."
The current session would expire in March next year after the
dissolution of
parliament for elections.
Zimbabwe Platinum Mines, the
country's largest platinum producer, recently
raised concern that the
empowerment bill was silent on standing agreements
reached between
government and the industry.
Government has previously agreed on a scorecard
system, under which the
level of social investment made by a company will
determine ownership
thresholds.
Following a recommendation by the
committee that the review of gold prices
should not be the preserve of
central bank alone, Midzi announced a plan to
revive the Gold Pricing
Committee.
The portfolio committee also recommended that a certain quota of
diamonds
mined in the country be reserved for the local diamond
industry.
Responding to the suggestion, Midzi said: "The Ministry is already
in
dialogue with local diamond producers. All producers agree to the
retention
of a quota for the local cutting and polishing factories (that are
yet to be
established)."
Midzi said delays by the central bank to pay
foreign currency due to gold
producers was causing cash flow problems for
mining companies, resulting in
their failure to adequately recapitalise
operations.
The delays had also worsened negative investor perceptions, he
said.
FinGaz
Personal Glimpses with
Mavis Makuni
WHEN a storekeeper consistently fails to sell a line of
merchandise, he
knows he must do something to move the goods.
The
only thing he needs to do in most cases is to reduce the price
substantially
and the goods will usually be snapped up. It is an unusual
entrepreneur who
prefers to keep unsold goods in his warehouse indefinitely
rather than
revise the price and other conditions.
It is a rather tenuous analogy but the
Zimbabwe Broadcasting Authority (BAZ)
seems to be behaving like the
storekeeper who is prepared to hoard goods
that no one buys. BAZ has put
itself in an invidious position by
consistently failing since its
establishment about four years ago to issue
any licences to new broadcasting
stations.
BAZ chief executive officer, Obert Muganyura, told the
Parliamentary
Portfolio Committee on Transport and Communications recently
that no new
players had been granted licences because the conditions for
registration
were too stringent.
"We gave the projection that we would by
this time license new players on
the understanding that the Broadcasting Act
would have been amended but it
has not yet." Muganyura, who described the
conditions applicants are
required to meet as "problematic" said despite
invitations being extended to
applicants, none of them had met the criteria
for obtaining a broadcasting
licence. This situation has gone on since 2004
when BAZ was set up, raising
the question of whether the body was set up to
serve the public interest or
to thwart it.
In most progressive countries
government regulatory bodies serve as
protectors of the public interest
rather than as a hindrance. When disputes
arise, stakeholders are supposed
to turn for help to the government as the
fair umpire. But in the Zimbabwean
scenario it is government agencies that
are the stumbling blocks. The
stringent requirements that have made it
impossible for any new stations to
qualify for licences are a disservice to
the public.
If there was any
seriousness about opening up the airwaves, those
responsible for drafting
these stringent conditions should have gone back to
the drawing board to
formulate fairer criteria. This is the only way of
ending the state
broadcaster's monopoly. It is a double injustice to deny
radio listeners and
television viewers access to alternative channels and
then saddle the
taxpayer with the burden of financing BAZ, which is to all
intents and
purposes, a smokescreen to disguise the government's aversion to
divergent
views.
While BAZ has given lame excuse after lame excuse for not granting any
licences, the powers-that-be have been quick to continue curbing electronic
media diversity, restricting the choice of ordinary Zimbabweans to the
ennui- inducing offerings of the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation.
Last
year the directors of Voice of the People were arrested after being
accused
of operating without a licence but subsequently nothing was heard
about what
BAZ was doing to facilitate the group's compliance with
requirements. The
sole purpose of the Broadcasting Service Acts so far has
been to curtail,
rather than promote diversity.
Radio stations operated by Zimbabweans such as
Voice of the People and SW
Radio Africa resorted to beaming broadcasts from
abroad precisely because of
the restrictive media laws in this country. But
even then, the authorities
have punished them by resorting to Soviet-era
style jamming, which
nevertheless did not succeed in keeping the populace in
the dark about
government abuses and excesses even behind the "iron
curtain".
It is aberrant thinking for the authorities to believe that the
people of
Zimbabwe can be duped in a much more technologically advanced
world than
that which existed when Joseph Stalin presided over a
totalitarian tyranny
in Russia. The irony and hilarity of jamming its own
new international
propaganda station while trying to silence SW Radio and
other external
channels should have convinced the government of the futility
of its
actions.
The perception that the government has become paranoid
about shutting out
all other viewpoints so that only its version of the
truth can prevail is
not restricted to those in the private media who are
often regarded with
suspicion ... Zimbabwe Broadcasting Holdings (ZBH) boss
Henry Muradzikwa is
quoted in a story published elsewhere in this issue
confirming that there is
political interference in the editorial policy of
ZBC.
He told the same parliamentary portfolio committee that the Ministry of
Information and Publicity needed to state clearly how it wanted the
broadcaster to report on events in Zimbabwe. "We have been reporting on the
basis of deception", he declared. "What does the shareholder want? The
shareholder must make it public."
Muradzikwa's admission that the ZBC is
now an outright propaganda tool of
the government comes as no surprise to
Zimbabweans who have had to put up
with its amateurish attempts to misinform
them and misrepresent glaring
realties.
As gratifying as it is to get
confirmation from the horse's mouth, the
public has a right to ask
Muradzikwa why he thinks ZBH should increase
licence fees as announced
recently when it knows it is shortchanging
listeners and viewers. And after
seven years of full-on and relentless
government propaganda through the
electronic media, state newspapers,
magazines as well as the official ZANU
PF mouthpiece, The Voice, it is time
for the powers-that-be to admit that
their brand of deceptive and combative
spinning does not work.
Even the
father of propaganda, Josef Goebbels, once admitted that the dark
science
could not be a substitute for sound policies and corrective action.
It is
scandalous for the government to continue pouring tax dollars down the
drain
in a bid to force the people to believe the falsehoods it peddles in
the
face of the overwhelming evidence of their own eyes and experiences.
Right
now for example, even if the government had the sleekest wordsmiths as
its
spin doctors (it actually has some of the crudest), there is no way it
can
convince Zimbabweans who are starving as a result of its botched up and
vindictive "price war" that everything is hunky-dory.
mmakuni@fingaz.co.zw
FinGaz
Shame Makoshori Staff
Reporter
WHEN Finance Minister Samuel Mumbengegwi proposed that he would
allocate
$1,2 trillion in the 2007 supplementary budget to cover the
procurement of
drugs and other medical supplies, as well as running expenses
of health
institutions, Health Minister, David Parirenyatwa, smiled,
cynically.
Considering the intensity of the crisis dogging the country's
paralysed
health sector, Parirenyatwa was obviously anticipating a huge cash
outlay
for a quick recovery of the public health delivery system, crumbling
under
acute drug and food shortages and despondent health professionals
flocking
into neighbouring countries to escape poor
remuneration.
Moreover, an HIV/AIDS crisis has stretched the public health
delivery system
to the limit, with the sector failing to meet swelling
demand for
Anti-Retroviral drugs.
The allocation, therefore, was a drop
in the ocean.
Although now lower at around 18 percent, Zimbabwe's HIV
prevalence rate is
still very high by global standards.
The crisis in the
health delivery system epitomises the general
deterioration, and in certain
cases total collapse, of social services due
to poor funding and an economic
recession now in its eighth year.
Rural schools are collapsing and children
are learning under trees and
examinations have often been called off.
But
the impending problems are easy to determine: out of bids amounting to
$255
trillion from different government ministries and departments,
Mumbengegwi
unveiled a paltry $37.1 trillion supplementary budget a
fortnight
ago.
But still, that was also way above projected revenue earnings for the
supplementary budget period.
At $838 billion, the Ministry of Education
had one of the highest votes but
that allocation could have come at the
expense of the country's
long-suffering teachers whose salaries have been
frozen.
John Robertson, an independent economic commentator, predicts the
crisis in
the education delivery system could worsen, but said the various
allocations
meant that government would force the central bank to run the
printing press
to raise additional cash to fund a huge budget
deficit.
"They will have to print the money, but this will cause inflation,"
Robertson says.
Apart from the tragedy of collapsing education and health
systems, the
country has the invidious task of raising cash to buy food to
feed millions
of starving people, particularly in drought-affected rural
areas.
Most children are going to school on empty stomachs, or failing to
attend
lessons because of hunger.
Mumbengegwi said 600 000 households are
in urgent need of food relief
assistance.
This translates to about 3,6
million vulnerable people.
Only $347 billion was allocated for grain imports
to feed these people.
When natural calamities like drought strike rural
constituencies, rural
folks have normally turned to their working relatives
in urban areas for
assistance.
But urban workers are struggling to make
ends meet due to poor salaries.
Although Mumbengegwi tried to give the
workers something to cheer about,
workers still feel the tax-free
thresholds, moved from $1.5 million per
month to $4 million, remains paltry
given the high inflation levels in the
country.
Trade unionists insist an
additional $2,5 million per month into the pockets
of workers will not make
a difference.
Bread alone costs $1,8 million, even without factoring the
latest round of
price hikes sanctioned by the government's taskforce of
prices, while
rentals have gone past $1 million per month for a single room
in the high
density suburbs.
Monthly transport costs have raced towards
$8 million because government has
not addressed the fuel crisis.
Yet the
majority of the country's workforce, according to labour unions,
take home
less than $2 million per month.
Robertson, however, feels it will make "a
little bit of a difference," but
again warns: "But it will cause
frustrations among workers" because they
will have the money but there would
be nothing to buy on the market.
Supermarket shelves have been empty since a
government crackdown at the end
of June on retailers and manufacturers
forcing prices down by at least 50
percent.
"Even if they get that
little, where do they buy the commodities from? Shops
are empty. It will be
helpful if they had somewhere to buy. Most goods are
on the black market and
they cannot afford," Robertson says.
The predicament for urbanites has
blossomed beyond the hunt for food.
The Zimbabwe National Water Authority
(ZINWA) has collapsed, raising the
spectre of water borne diseases, again
creating a major strain on the health
delivery system. There have already
been reports of cholera outbreaks in
most urban areas.
Mumbengegwi
allocated $1,4 trillion to ZINWA, an organ falling under the
Ministry of
Water Resources, "to restore water supplies in Harare,
Marondera, Bulawayo
and Beitbridge".
Experts project $1,4 trillion to be insufficient just for a
single town like
Beitbridge.
Mumbengegwi allocated $500 billion to the
rural electrification programme.
One economist suggests this to be a generous
offer, but for most rural
folks, whose crop failed in the last season
because of poor rains,
Mumbengegwi should have improved his vote on food
relief, which amounted to
$347 billion.
"But the ultimate solution to the
problem of the budget deficit, the water
and food crisis, would be to
re-establish relations with multilateral
lending organisations for the
provision of balance of payment, support and
other lifelines. As it stands,
the country has no capacity to finance the
growing demand for financial
resources needed by people," the economist
says.
FinGaz
Staff Reporters
ZANU
PF'S willingness to reach a deal with the opposition has won it rare
plaudits from critics, with some already predicting even further concessions
being made to the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) before next year's
elections.
But there are notes of caution. There is scepticism over
whether this deal
guarantees free elections, and questions why ZANU PF,
which thrives on
intransigence, has reached an accommodation with the
opposition. And, what
will the MDC have to give up in return for the
concessions?
Analysts say the concessions imply a surprise shift in ZANU PF
strategy and
recall that the ruling party has always regarded the MDC as a
Western puppet
bent on illegal regime change and averse to
negotiation.
Eldred Masunungure, a professor of political science at the
University of
Zimbabwe, says he is shocked by ZANU PF's willingness to amend
the original
Amendment Number 18 draft Bill, saying that this could be a
harbinger of
further agreement.
"These amendments may appear trivial, but
I think they are nonetheless
important in that they indicate ZANU PF's
preparedness to meet the MDC
halfway."
"They (concessions) may look
minor, but they are pointing to a more
conducive environment in the present
dispensation before bigger
concessions."
The deal was surprising, he
says, "especially from a party which, to me,
thinks it has a divine right to
rule this country forever."
The law merges the electoral calendar, and
revokes electoral laws the
opposition has previously charged gave ZANU PF an
unfair advantage.
But there could be pitfalls for the opposition.
Takura
Zhangazha, a political commentator, has cautioned the MDC to be wary.
"ZANU
PF might seem to have conceded to some demands due to these
amendments, but
the MDC runs the risk of being roped into the ruling party's
succession
debacle."
Zhangazha found it incredible that the MDC had agreed to the
staging of all
the elections in one day.
"How they agreed to have the
presidential, parliamentary and local
government elections held in one day,
when it was proved in 2005 that this
country has no capacity to manage
elections in a single day, is a mystery.
There was chaos in 2005 with
hundreds of thousands of people failing to cast
their votes."
President
Mugabe won by just 400 000 votes after similar chaos in 2002.
An interview
granted to The Financial Gazette by a senior ZANU PF Politburo
member
yesterday suggests the ruling party has more up its sleeve than a few
concessions to its bitter opponents.
The official, who would not be
named, said after a list of MDC demands was
shown to members of the
Politburo at a recent meeting, it was decided a deal
should be agreed "since
it really does not touch (President Robert) Mugabe
in any way."
But to
push the deal through, President Mugabe had to overcome both hawks on
his
own side, who opposed any contact with the MDC, and rivals who want him
out.
He can now also choose his successor, outflanking his internal rivals,
while
on the other hand, he can now respond to questions over his legitimacy
raised by external critics.
The agreement also shows how low ZANU PF
rates a divided MDC's chances at
the polls next year.
Should he manage to
pull off a violence-free election, which is to be held
under the electoral
system agreed with the MDC, and win, President Mugabe
would be in a position
to reduce Morgan Tsvangirai's influence, as the
opposition leader has used
disputed election results to validate his own
relevance.
Western pressure
already appears to be easing, with Commonwealth head Don
McKinnon and the
International Crisis Group, both strident critics, now
calling for an end to
President Mugabe's isolation.
ZANU PF would have noticed this, and a deal
with the opposition gives it a
chance, however remote, to redeem its
international image by appearing to be
accommodating opponents.
Appearing
to agree with the opposition was also important to help President
Mugabe
maintain the fragile alliances in the region that have protected him
from
sterner Western action.
Still, the MDC will have to give something away in
return for the
concessions it squeezed out of the ruling party this
week.
"The MDC demanded a repeal of POSA, AIPPA and other laws. We are yet to
discuss these, but we have given them something, and we expect something in
return," said the ZANU PF official.
A Politburo meeting on October 3 will
debate how the ruling party will
respond to the MDC's demands on the
security and media laws, the politburo
source said. It was likely, he added,
that ZANU PF would repeat calls for
the MDC to convince "its western allies"
to end targeted sanctions, among
other demands.
FinGaz
Comment
THE 2007/08
farming season, which will be upon us in a few weeks' time, will
be a litmus
test for the country's agricultural sector in that it offers the
world yet
another opportunity to see if indeed a measure of progress has
been achieved
in restoring Zimbabwe's breadbasket status as claimed by
government
officials.
Despite predictions by meteorologists of high chances of
normal to above
normal rainfall throughout the country after a devastating
dry spell last
season, a sense of trepidation is emerging quite strongly in
the court of
public opinion. It is again feared that the country, neck-deep
in the throes
of an economic recession blamed on the controversial land
seizures
spearheaded by the war veterans in 2000, may not pass the litmus
test for
the umpteenth time.
These fears, coming as the government
struggles to feed an estimated 2.1
million people facing serious food
shortages due to crop failure and
escalating poverty, are predicated on an
assessment of the country's state
of preparedness ahead of the onset of the
rains around November, which is
pointing to a poor season. Another poor
season will certainly worsen the
plight of ordinary Zimbabweans, who are
feeling the sharpest edge of the
economic meltdown that has persisted for
the past seven years.
Seven years after the emotive farm expropriations,
which government claims
influenced European and western states' decision to
slap President Robert
Mugabe and his close lieutenants with targeted
sanctions, the rough edges
are still to smoothen for indigenous farmers who
settled on the farms
wrested from the minority whites. Uncertainty continues
to hang over the
security of tenure, amid reports of fresh farm seizures,
acute shortages of
tillage facilities and inputs such as fertilisers, seed
and chemicals, which
could minimise yields.
The shortage of these
important inputs impacts negatively on land
preparation and consequently on
crop yields and production. Out of the
national requirement of 600 000
tonnes of fertilisers, only less than a
third of that has been produced. It
means, therefore, that the downward
trend in output, which started at the
height of the land reforms in 2000,
will continue.
Reports that Iron
Duke, Zimphos and Dorowa Minerals, the producers of
essential inputs used in
the manufacture of fertilisers, stopped production
last month owing to power
cuts and raw material shortages are another
indictment on the country's
failure to plan ahead. As it is, tobacco
planting, which has begun in
earnest, has been off to a rough start.
Another bad year will be too ghastly
to contemplate for the country, which
is scrounging for foreign currency to
cover food deficits and mitigate the
inputs shortages.
Government, which
has declared war on inflation - fingered as the number one
enemy - needs to
get its act together, first by laying a strong foundation
in agriculture
upon which efforts to turn around the country's economy can
be anchored. It
is only logical that the country increases agricultural
output to dampen
underlying inflationary pressures since food commands the
biggest weight on
the consumer price index, used to measure inflation.
Any prospects for a
quick turnaround would be doomed for as long as
agriculture, whose
contribution to the gross domestic product had risen to
about 18 percent, is
not firing from all cylinders. Being the backbone of
the country's economy,
it is critical that agriculture gets all the support
it requires. But what
has been happening on the farms of late bears no
resemblance to the zeal
witnessed when thousands of landless blacks poured
onto the farms, with so
much promise to transform this critical sector.
Some of the country's most
productive farms have since been turned into
braaing spots or leisure
resorts where farmhouses have been converted into
lodges of some sort for
flirting chefs and their concubines. But it would be
unfair to heap all the
blame on the farmers, as government, banks and other
institutions involved
in agriculture have also taken their feet off the
pedals.
In the absence
of support from these critical pillars, farmers have not
received essential
agricultural inputs on time, financial incentives have
been little and far
in between, extension services are inadequate and
returns have been
sub-economic. Poor pricing of inputs, power and foreign
currency shortages
have also combined to worsen the plight of both the
farmers and institutions
that support agriculture.
In the end, it has become difficult for farmers to
cover escalating
overheads let alone reinvest in production, particularly
now that the
government has maintained a tight lid on prices. No wonder why
most farmers
have moved away from the production of crops such as maize,
cotton, sugar,
coffee and oil seed whose prices have been kept below
economic levels.
The import of all this is that the writing is already on the
wall:
Zimbabweans should brace for another poor harvest, which means more
food
imports, rampant inflation and rising poverty.
FinGaz
Rashweat
Mukundu
vConstitutional Amendment Number 18 sounds death knell
IN 1985, I
was a grade four pupil at Tapfuma Primary School in Marondera and
President
Robert Mugabe was an energetic man in his early 60s and he
happened to have
been campaigning to be retained as the head of state in
that year.
I
was one of the lucky few to have greeted him at Rudhaka Stadium, and for
two
days I refused to wash my right hand despite threats of a serious
thrashing
from my vegetable vendor mother. President Mugabe went on to win
as usual
and life went on as usual till 2000 when the Movement for
Democratic Change
(MDC) led by Morgan Tsvangirai rattled President Mugabe.
I got to know
Tsvangirai years later when I was a student at the University
of Zimbabwe.
We admired his fiery May 1 speeches. May 1 was a date each
student looked
forward to as we could march and sing all the way to Rufaro
Stadium and get
inspired.
I was part of a group of students who were addressed by Tsvangirai
at the
University of Zimbabwe Great Hall around 1998-1999. The call was that
he
should join politics, and his premonition was, will the people follow
should
he take this route. I am sure he can answer that now.
The paths of
two post-independence political leaders who have become the
fiercest rivals
were to cross in 2002. It is a public secret who won that
election, despite
what the 'official results' say. Zimbabwe has never been
the same again
since 2000.
Others say the fact that President Mugabe had such a fierce
hatred for
Tsvangirai meant that Zimbabwe would go down the drain if none of
the two
gave up. None has given up but something has, and it is end game for
the two
rivals.
On September 18 2007, the Zimbabwe parliament passed the
18th Amendment to
the transitional Lancaster House constitution.
In the
amendment President Mugabe made piecemeal concessions, nothing
substantive,
and nothing concrete to cause a sea change in the political
fortunes of
Zimbabwe. The MDC, in its wisdom or lack of it, says it supports
the process
to build bridges. Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa says
Zimbabweans have
come of age. But what is in it for the two bitter rivals,
President Mugabe
and Tsvangirai?
ZANU PF realises that its future is a dead-end should it
continue on the
current path but there is no one with the guts to change the
status quo.
President Mugabe has centralised power around himself since
1980.
Nonetheless he has become a liability and his time to go, has without
doubt
come, but how?
Constitutional Amendment Number 18 is the most
likely strategy to exit with
his head high. He has "defeated" Tsvangirai, he
has "defeated" Britain and
Tony Blair. He has "defeated" the great United
States of America and Bush.
He has shown the rest of Africa how to deal with
imperialists, more
importantly President Mugabe has defeated the palace coup
plotters.
President Mugabe will be allowed to "choose" his successor, and go
in grace
with his tail up. He has written a new chapter in African politics
by
remaining at the helm of a virtually collapsed country.
Who ever is
the chosen one will without doubt make the seemingly concrete
concessions.
Maybe the Daily News will come back, maybe the Broadcasting
Services Act,
the Public Order and Security Act and the Access to
Information and
Protection of Privacy Act will be amended. Maybe the youth
militia camps
will be closed, maybe the war veterans will go back to their
poverty in
urban and rural areas.
The chosen one will reach out to the international
community through Thabo
Mbeki and SADC and say "here you are, human rights
have been restored, hail
to Thabo, please pass us on the money".
Zimbabwe
will be another "classic" case of how Africans have come of age in
resolving
a crisis. Quiet diplomacy will be adopted in political science
curricula and
the UN will appoint an ambassador and Permanent Representative
of Quiet
Diplomacy. President Mbeki might give a lecture on this.
For Zimbabwe at
least, President Mugabe will be gone, and that to others, is
change
enough.
While President Mugabe's fate is clear, that of Tsvangirai is a
classic case
of betrayal. Tsvangirai is not a Member of Parliament and is
likely to be
the MDC candidate in an unwinnable election. MDC supporters are
likely to
question him, and accuse him and his team of selling out. Some
youths will
still sing, Morgan Tsvangirai Ndizvo, achasunungura Zimbabwe.
But the boat
seems to have passed Tsvangirai already.
The MDC leader
faces hard questions in explaining the events of September
18, when ZANU PF
and the MDC unanimously agreed to amend the Constitution,
to the majority of
his supporters. Especially what bridge has been built,
what this bridge
means for the ordinary citizen, to Chiminya and Mabika, to
Ndabanyana and
hundreds of others who lost their lives for the MDC. He will
also owe an
explanation to th the majority of Zimbabweans whose lives have
been ruined
because of ZANU PF's policies.
The likely scenario is that Tsvangirai is the
unwilling sacrificial lamb,
sacrificed at the altar of quiet diplomacy and
the quest for power by those
inside his 'cabinet'. Tsvangirai, as the
situation stands, cannot win an
election next year under the present
electoral laws and environment and
without a parliamentary seat his fate is
sealed.
Arthur Mutambara will be 'magnanimous' and give Tsvangirai a shot at
goal,
while he runs as an ordinary MP or Senator and win. Tsvangirai, come
end of
2008, will be out and come the MDC congress a few years later, will
be gone
for good.
The MDC has no leverage to push ZANU PF to implement
what ever Chinamasa
promised apart from cooption, the path the party has
already taken. The rest
of Zimbabweans will continue to scratch the ground
for survival, after all
are we not Africans like the Somalis and Congolese.
Let the regime change
and transition that Zimbabwe has been waiting for
begin.
Rashweat Mukundu is the director of MISA-Zimbabwe
FinGaz
Kumbirai Mafunda Senior
Business Reporter
ZIMBABWE has once again fared badly in six key
dimensions of governance with
the World Bank Institute (WBI) ranking the
troubled country alongside Cote D'Ivoire,
Belarus and Venezuela.
A
new report, Governance Matters 2007: Worldwide Governance Indicators,
1996-2006, authored by the WBI, indicates that the quality of governance in
Zimbabwe has sharply deteriorated in the last 10 years and that corruption
had become more prevalent, compromising economic growth prospects and
worsening poverty.
The report represents a decade-long effort by
researchers to build and
update the most comprehensive cross-country set of
governance indicators
currently available to the public in 212
countries.
"Governance in Zimbabwe and Cote D'Ivoire has deteriorated sharply
on every
dimension.On average the quality of governance around the world has
not
improved much over the past decade, despite individual country
improvements."
"For the countries that have done well, there have been a
similar number
that have experienced deteriorations in a number of
governance dimensions,
including Zimbabwe, Cote D'Ivoire, Belarus and
Venezuela. And in many other
countries no significant change in either
direction is yet apparent," read
part of the report seen by The Financial
Gazette.
In making its assessment, the WBI considered six key dimensions of
governance, namely control of corruption, rule of law, regulatory quality,
government effectiveness, political stability and voice and
accountability.
The WBI said donor agencies and international financial
institutions were
increasingly and explicitly tying aid transfers to
governance outcomes
because development assistance was more effective in
countries with good
institutional quality.
The WBI also warned that
countries such as Zimbabwe and Equatorial Guinea
with voice and
accountability challenges tended to have much more
corruption.
While
Zimbabwe and Cote D'Ivoire ranked dismally in good governance
indicators, it
was a different story for other African countries such as
Angola and Kenya,
which made significant strides on the path to good
governance.
"Over the
period from 1998 to 2006, Kenya, Niger, Sierra Leone have shown
marked
improvements in Voice and Accountability, while Algeria and Liberia
have
strengthened their Rule of Law. Countries like Algeria, Angola, Libya,
Rwanda, Sierra Leone have made significant improvements in Political
Stability and Tanzania has recorded gains on Control of Corruption."
"The
hopeful news is that a considerable number of countries, including in
Africa, are showing that it is possible to make significant governance
progress in a relatively short period of time. Such improvements in
governance are critical for aid effectiveness and for sustained long-run
growth," said Daniel Kaufmann, co author of the report and director of
Global Programs at the World Bank Institute.
Zimbabwe, which last
received financial aid from major multilateral
financial institutions in
1999 has ranked poorly on most global economic
competitiveness rankings such
as the World Economic Forum (WEF)'s Global
Competitiveness Index (GCI) and
the WEF's Global Information Technology
Report (GITR).
FinGaz
Dumisani Ndlela Business
Editor
ZIMBABWE'S inflation rate declined to 6 592.8 percent year-on-year
for
August, helped by a government blitz on the business sector that forced
prices down by 50 percent at the end of June, figures from the Central
Statistical Office (CSO) indicated.
The inflation rate receded after
initially touching a record high of 7 634.8
percent in
July.
Month-on-month inflation slumped to 11.8 percent in August, from 31.6
percent in July.
The CSO said the decline in the inflation rate, likely
to bolster
government's price control measures that have resulted in
widespread
shortages in the economy, was due to a sharp slowdown in prices
for food and
non-alcoholic beverages.
Zimbabwe is currently grappling
with its worst economic crisis in history,
characterised by runaway
inflation, acute fuel and foreign currency
shortages that have disrupted the
normal functioning of the country's frail
economy, and severe food
shortages.
Since the government's clampdown on the business sector, commodity
shortages
have intensified.
It was not immediately clear what basket the
CSO had used to come up with
the new figures, as most of the basket products
are not available on
supermarket shelves, from where the CSO gleans its data
for compilation of
inflation rates.
It could as well be that the CSO had
used figures compiled by the government
for the prices of most of the
products, which are not available on the
market.
Despite the slowdown,
the inflation rate for August remains the highest in
the world.
Before
the price blitz, people were quickly converting their Zimbabwe
dollars into
food or other essential commodities because of the erosion of
value caused
by the inflationary crisis.
However, because of the current shortages, most
people are rushing to the
parallel market for foreign currency or to the
stock market for shares.
Both the equities and parallel foreign currency
markets have outperformed
inflation during the past eight months of the
year.
Evidently, the inflationary cycle has made it unattractive to hold the
local
currency when costs of goods and services are increasing on a daily
basis,
or the goods are unavailable as is the case under the current regime
of
tight price monitoring.
FinGaz
Kumbirai Mafunda Senior Business
Reporter
Heinz denies selling stake to Cottco
MYSTERY over the contentious
purchase of a controlling stake in Zimbabwe's
troubled food manufacturer
Olivine Holdings deepened this week after H.J.
Heinz denied selling its
shareholding to the Cotton Company of Zimbabwe
(Cottco).
Cottco, the
country's largest cotton processor, claimed in a statement to
shareholders
early this month that it had purchased Heinz's 49 percent
shareholding in
Olivine for US$6.8 million.
The statement, issued by the Cottco board of
directors, stated that the
cotton processor had acquired Heinz's 49 percent
stake through the
Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) in a transaction
meant to add
critical mass to the company and diversify its revenue
streams.
But Heinz this week denied selling any of its shares to Cottco,
adding an
intriguing piece to the Heinz-Olivine jigsaw puzzle, which has
baffled the
market since news of the transaction broke early this
week.
"Heinz did not sell its 51 percent stake in Olivine to Cottco. Heinz
never
had any interaction with Cottco. Heinz sold its interest to the
Zimbabwe
government," Michael Mullen, the Heinz spokesperson, told The
Financial
Gazette.
The Financial Gazette questioned Cottco's statement
just after the cotton
processor announced its purchase of Heinz's shares,
stating that it was
startling how Cottco had come into the picture, as it
had been the IDC that
had earlier confirmed direct negotiations with Heinz
for the stock.
At the time of the purchase of the shares, Cottco did not give
details of
what the corporation itself would get for its role.
One other
missing piece of the puzzle is an outstanding two percent stake in
Olivine.
In its briefing to shareholders Cottco, announced buying 49 percent
of
Heinz's 51 percent stake.
Whoever bought the balance has not yet been
announced to the market.
FinGaz
Dumisani Ndlela Business
Editor
THE Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) governor Gideon Gono is
expected to
unveil the long-awaited mid-term monetary policy review any time
soon, with
indications he is in a tight corner - a hostage to an uninspiring
fiscal
policy review and supplementary budget two weeks ago, and a price
blitz
embarked upon by the government at the end of June.
There is
little or no room for manoeuvre: at the behest of central
government, Gono
is likely to be forced to keep the printing press hot
during the year, busy
raising funds for additional expenditure requirements
under Finance Minister
Samuel Mumbengegwi's supplementary budget.
That would make the task for the
economic turnaround, for which Gono was
appointed as champion, an invidious
one, not least because he is battling
rampaging inflation that looks no
closer to receding to reasonable two-digit
figures, but because all policies
that should be complementary to the battle
against the scourge are damaging
to the cause.
The government's order forcing retailers and manufacturers to
reduce prices
by 50 percent at the end of June threw into turmoil a proposal
Gono had
mooted for a holistic approach towards dealing with the country's
economic
woes, and take the country back on a recovery path.
Now, Gono
will present his mid-term policy review with no social contract
deal to talk
about, although a number of his own efforts had culminated in
the signing of
at least three social contract protocols by stakeholders.
There was hope,
following the signing of the key protocols to the social
contract, that the
partners would share the same vision - to stabilise the
country's economy
through measures that will boost productivity, reduce
inflation and generate
employment - in order for economic recovery to be
realised.
But much was
still to depend on the government, which has over the past
years been
accused of fuelling inflation through profligate spending and
increased
money printing.
The government was to be bound into limiting its expenditure
under a
credible fiscal policy - Mumbengegwi two weeks ago showed this was
impossible.
Government had made certain commitments.
These included
rolling out a strict cash budgeting framework for line
ministries - all
ministries would be compelled to spend within set budgets
and only to the
extent of actual cash revenue available; implementation of a
comprehensive
public sector debt restructuring programme; and optimisation
of fiscal
revenue collection.
As Gono had previously said, this was going to fortify
the effectiveness of
any measures to be agreed upon by partners under the
social contract.
So, it was crazy to have faith in the government, it later
turned out.
Industry and Trade Minister, Obert Mpofu, proclaimed that the
blitz on
retailers and manufacturers, which buried all prospects for a
social
contract, would go down in history as "the fastest way of reducing
inflation".
Gono apparently did not approve of this approach, which
resulted in
widespread shortages in the economy.
Apparently, the chief
cause of inflation, as he has pointed out before,
includes an increase in
the amount of money in circulation.
For example, if the central bank prints
more notes and increases the amount
of money in circulation, this diminishes
the value of the domestic currency.
Gono, who has been under pressure from a
profligate government to print more
money for grain imports and other
obligations, indicated he would rein in
money supply growth to control
inflation during his last monetary policy
statement.
The price blitz has
resulted in acute shortages and there has been a strong
demand for almost
all basic and non-basic commodities in the country, yet
companies have
scaled down production and are operating below capacity. This
effectively
means people have to pay higher prices to get what they want
because they
are competing for few goods.
Production costs have gone up, mainly due to the
diminishing value of the
domestic currency, which has weakened against
international currencies, as
well as demands for higher wages and
salaries.
Businesses have passed the cost of production to the consumers,
pushing up
prices and triggering high inflation.
Moreover, businesses
have been sourcing foreign currency from the parallel
market, which is very
expensive.
The recent slowdown in inflation, from
7 634.8 percent in July
to 6 592.8 percent year-on-year for August,
represents an artificial decline
in prices caused by the shortages:
essentially, there was nothing to price
in the supermarkets, and so
inflation could not rise, creating history, as
Mpofu pointed out.
It would have been good if this was a job half done for
the governor.
FinGaz
Shame Makoshori Staff
Reporter
Gesture a strong signal 'Look East' policy stumbling
THE
government has acknowledged the European Union (EU) as a crucial market
for
Zimbabwean products, sending out a signal that its "Look East" policy
was
stumbling.
President Robert Mugabe's government embarked on the "Look
East" policy,
which has seen the country sourcing most of its products from
the Asian
countries, particularly China, after European countries and the
United
States cut commercial ties with his government over allegations of
human
rights abuses.
But in a gesture seen by trade analysts as an offer
of dialogue to the EU,
which has announced its intention to cut preferential
sugar prices from
African-Caribbean and Pacific countries (ACP), including
Zimbabwe, Industry
and International Trade Deputy Minister Phineas Chihota
recently described
the EU as Harare's "strongest trading
partner".
Chihota said this during a plea to members of the House of Assembly
to
ratify international trade agreements on sugar sales, which expire in
January 2008.
"The country is benefiting from trade with the EU, and the
EU is by far the
most important donor to this country," Chihota told the
House of Assembly
before the presentation of the supplementary budget by
Finance Minister
Samuel Mumbengegwi.
"Zimbabwe exports 55 000 tonnes of
sugar to the EU every year. Our companies
are benefiting from sugar
exports," Chihota said in recommending the
ratification of the ACP-EU
partnering agreements signed in Cotonou in 2000.
The agreements provide for
the revision of trade provisions after every five
years.
He said the
ratification would ensure the country was not excluded from
exporting 57 000
tonnes of sugar, its export quota to the EU.
The EU says low cost producers
like Zimbabwe and Malawi stand to benefit
immensely from the proposed
liberalisation of the world sugar trade market.
Despite the political
standoff with the EU and the US, official statistics
indicate that
Zimbabwe's imports from the United Kingdom and Germany, the
biggest members
of the EU, totalled $10 trillion in 2006.
Exports to the two countries ended
the year at about $3 trillion, while
tourist arrivals from the EU and the US
closed the year at about 140 000 in
2006.
This figure is four times that
of arrivals from the Far Eastern markets,
which recorded 37 000 arrivals
during the same period.
Movement for Democratic Change legislators opposed
the approval of the
agreements, arguing that they needed time to look into
them before giving
their nod.
They were however overwhelmed by a "yes"
vote from ZANU PF Members of
Parliament, leading to the ratification of the
agreements.
FinGaz
Kumbirai Mafunda Senior
Reporter
ZIMBABWE'S state security agents moved
swiftly to
stop militant workers at Border Timbers Limited (BTL) and Karina
Textiles in
Mutare from taking part in a two-day work boycott called by the
Zimbabwe
Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU), threatening unspecified measures
against
those taking part in the strike
action.
Workers at the two companies have usually
rallied
behind the ZCTU's calls, courting the ire of the
government.
The ZCTU, the country's largest umbrella
labour
body, this week called for a two-day work stay away beginning
yesterday to
protest deteriorating economic and working
conditions.
The strike action has largely been
unsuccessful,
with major businesses opening for
business.
Workers at both BTL and Karina told The
Financial
Gazette yesterday that state security agents had convened and
addressed
workers in Mutare ahead of the job action, warning them to ignore
the
"anti-government protests".
"They addressed
workers in Mutare and intimidated
them from heeding the stay away," Chibebe
said.
Workers at the Mutare-based timber producer
said two
state security agents visited BTL early this week demanding an
audience with
BTL managing director John Gadzikwa over the pending job
action.
However, the two state security agents were
referred
to Patrick Jambwa, the customer services manager as Gadzikwa was
not present
during their visit.
The workers said
Gadzikwa on Tuesday issued out a
memorandum advising all workers not to heed
the ZCTU's protests and to
report to work after being briefed of the CIO's
demands.
"Gadzikwa wrote a memo telling workers that
if they
abscond from duty on Wednesday and Thursday they will all be
disciplined
accordingly," the workers said.
In
April workers in the eastern border town largely
heeded the ZCTU's call for
a two-day protest by not reporting for work, but
the CIO intervened on the
last day of the job boycott by ordering workers at
BTL to report for
work.
The state security agents allegedly tortured
BTL
union leaders for encouraging workers to boycott work and accused them
of
supporting the opposition Movement for Democratic Change in its "regime
change" agenda.
Unanswered questions . . .
EDITOR - Where ignorance reigns
supreme, wisdom becomes a stupid employment.
The question to ask is: Are we
really sure of what we are praising here in
Zimbabwe?
Are we really sure
that Obert Mpofu is the best we can offer as Industry and
International
Trade Minister? Are we saying that there are no able people or
economists
who can do better than Mpofu?
Are we saying the principle of demand and
supply is fake? Are we saying that
the costs of inputs cannot determine the
price of the end product?
Are we saying that only land can empower the
people? Are we saying to
foreign investors bring your investments here and
we will tell you how much
you should charge for your products?
Are we
saying breaking up big farms into smaller plots is a prerequisite for
successful mechanisation?
Are we saying China has no imperial interests
and only the West can be
imperialistic? Are we saying neo-colonisation by
the Chinese is better than
that of the West?
Are we saying the West is
not importing from Zimbabwe?Are we saying the West
sent us into the DRC war
and bars private players in the monopolised
electricity sector?
Are we
saying people who voluntarily fought for our liberation (war vets)
must be
paid? What role other than the so-called 'custodians of culture' do
chiefs
play?
Tariro
Harare
-----------
Posh cars, big homes not the
real Zim
EDITOR - Zimbabwe is getting worse. A fortnight ago my
friends - a
pathologist, a physiotherapist and a male nurse who, like
millions of other
Zimbabweans fled the country to seek refuge or a better
life - returned from
a three-week holiday in Zimbabwe.
For some
obscure reasons, they thought Zimbabwe is doing well. My friends
and I have
always concurred and conceded the fact that our country is
descending into a
humanitarian crisis, but this time my friends had embraced
a different
trajectory of thought. They told me that while they travelled
around
Zimbabwe, they saw a lot of people driving posh cars such as BMW X5s
and
many more. They also recounted that a lot of people were buying plots or
building palatial houses in nice suburbs.
To put it in context, they were
convinced that the type of cars or the
number of houses built in a country
can be used as an index for judging
whether a country is doing well or not.
I disagree.
Zimbabweans who share such an insular view need to be mindful of
the fact
that the expensive cars and the nice houses we see are not
indicative of a
country, which is doing well. They belong to either the
elite or a handful
of individuals, particularly those in the diaspora, those
who are lucky to
live where there is true democracy, good governance and a
successful
economy.
The performance of a country is judged on national
statistics: Zimbabwe's
GDP is estimated at -5.1 percent, inflation is
leaning towards 10 000
percent and it is predicted to have reached 1.5
million percent by the end
of this year. Unemployment is close to 90
percent, the average life
expectancy has plummeted, and there are no basic
commodities in our shops
and antiretroviral drugs in our pharmacies. People
are so desperate; they
are turning to the flea markets where they are buying
fake drugs.
Clearly, our country's performance is abysmal and to suggest that
it is
doing well is preposterous, if not buffoonery. People in the rural
areas
such as Chitswiti, Matetsi or Chitange in Mt Darwin do not even dream
of
these big cars and mansions. They need basic commodities such as salt,
sugar, soap, paraffin and diesel to grind their maize.
In
Uzumba-Maramba-Pfungwe, Bondamakara or Chomutukutu they need affordable
transport to travel to hospitals and to the grinding mills, not cars and
properties, which are owned by a few Zimbabweans who occasionally come on
holiday from Gaborone, Ottawa or London. The 4x 4s and/or the beautiful
houses in the Grange or in Mount Pleasant Heights, Harare can never be a
solution to the misery purveyed by Operation Murambatsvina.
Mind you,
these cars need petrol and the houses need electricity, both of
which are
rare in Zimbabwe.
The fundamental questions are, if Zimbabwe is doing so well
why are our
compatriots not afraid of being mauled by crocodiles in the
Limpopo River as
they attempt to cross into South Africa? Why are they not
ashamed of being
asylum seekers living in Langa Township, Cape Town, or
detainees at Yarl's
Wood Refugee Camp in Bedford, UK instead of being a
farmer or a headmaster
in Sadza or Kanyemba?
Innocent
Kadungure
Ottawa, Canada
--------
Let the Czechs
go
EDITOR - I would like to respond to a recent story in The
Financial Gazette
on the closure of the Czech Republic's embassy in Zimbabwe
because of what
Karel Schwarzenberg, the Minister of Home Affairs called the
"crazy policies
of the government of Zimbabwe" without elaborating further
or even
mentioning the policies that affected the running of their
embassy.
The Czech minister went on to say that his government would also
close
embassies in Singapore and Uruguay. Does Schwarzenberg mean that these
other
two countries have "crazy" policies like Zimbabwe?
According to the
article, the "crazy" Karel says that the Czech government
will save more
than US$5.8 million a year after closing the three embassies.
The Czechs
maintain diplomatic relations with more than 85 countries. If it
is a
question of crazy polices where does the saving issue come in?
The Czechs
should not be embarrassed to admit that their budget can no
longer sustain
the running of its embassies. Since the birth of the Czech
Republic from the
former Czechoslovakia, the Czechs have made integration
with Western
institutions their chief foreign policy objective. What can one
expect from
such a country vis-ą-vis the current relationship between
Zimbabwe and the
West? Anyway, I don't see Zimbabwe benefiting from the
presence of these
peolpe here. Let them go as we do not need them anyway.
Sixpence
Manyengavana
Harare
---------
Raw deal for visually impaired UZ
students
EDITOR - The accommodation crisis at the University of
Zimbabwe (UZ) has
created difficulties for physically challenged and
visually impaired
students.
The decision to evict all students from
the halls of residence has
exacerbated the plight of the physically
challenged and visually impaired
students. The UZ administration has
instructed the students, through the
Disability Resource Centre (DRC) that
17 visually impaired students
currently staying at Georgette Hostel along
Kwame Nkrumah be relocated to
Montrose Hostel in Five Avenue.
The plight
of the other 53 physically challenged students has been
trivialised as no
attempts have been made to alleviate their predicament
given that their
disability compromises their capacity to be mobile to
attend lectures.
It
will be a traumatising experience for the visually challenged students to
negotiate their way from Montrose Hostel to Mbuya Nehanda Street to board
commuter omnibuses to campus. Currently, only three out of the 17 students
have canes to use, which are literally the eyes for the visually
challenged.
The students have to walk a distance of a kilometre crossing two
of Harare's
busiest roads, Samora Machel and Herbert Chitepo and given that
a pupil from
Girls High School was run over by a car along Samora Machel
less than a year
ago, the university administration is exposing these
students to great
danger.
Yet still, the majority of the students
virtually have no money to commute
to and from college as ommuter omnibuses
are charging $50 000 and the fares
may be hiked soon as fares for other
routes such as Borrowdale now have been
hiked from the government imposed
$20 000 to $100 000, in clear defiance of
the ill-fated price
controls.
The parents of these students, as is the case with most
Zimbabweans, are
living well below the poverty datum line and cannot afford
to underwrite all
these costs.
At Montrose Hostel, unlike previous
arrangements at UZ before the July 2007
student evictions, there will be no
catering services and the students face
starvation. A plate of the staple
meal, sadza and stew, costs around $1
million in some restaurants in the
city centre.
Another challenge faced by these students is that at Montrose
Hostels their
personal assistants who normally assist them with reading
services will not
be accommodated meaning that there will be virtually no
learning.
Montrose Hostels and Georgette Hostels used to be reserved for
social work
students who conduct most of their lectures at the School of
Social Work in
the city centre. The visually impaired students have
expressed their
reluctance to deprive social work students of accommodation
previously
reserved for them.
Students
Solidarity Trust