Zim Independent
Constantine
Chimakure
ZANU PF has agreed to give in to most of the demands
made by the
opposition Movement for Democratic Change during the ongoing
talks being
mediated by South African President Thabo Mbeki, amid
revelations that its
negotiating team has made many significant
concessions.
Chief among the changes which have been agreed is
amendment of the
notorious Public Order and Security Act and the enactment
of new electoral
laws. Zanu PF has also agreed with MDC negotiators to alter
Constitutional
Amendment No 18.
Sources told the Zimbabwe
Independent this week that Zanu PF had
agreed to changes to Posa and the
abrogation of the current Electoral Act to
facilitate a smooth passage of
the constitutional amendment through
parliament. The two rival MDC factions
have been calling for a new
constitution but they have now agreed on three
far-reaching changes to the
draft.
Zanu PF chief negotiator,
Justice minister Patrick Chinamasa, told a
round of the talks in Pretoria on
September 1 and 2 that the ruling party
would play ball with the MDC to
create an environment for free and fair
elections next year.
The sources said Chinamasa stunned the MDC delegation, made up of
secretary-generals Welshman Ncube and Tendai Biti, when he revealed that
Zanu PF was ready to accept the MDC's demands. "Tell us what you want and we
will do our best to oblige," was his approach, the sources
said.
They said it was during this meeting that Zanu PF and the MDC
agreed
on reforms to the electoral process to be incorporated into
Constitutional
Amendment No18, which was tabled in parliament on
Wednesday.
The ruling party agreed on a raft of changes to create
an environment
for free and fair polls.
On September 5, the
Zanu PF politburo discussed and adopted measures
that were agreed in
Pretoria. Yesterday, the Arthur Mutambara-led formation
of the MDC met in
Harare and its national council adopted the proposed
amendments to the Bill.
The Morgan Tsvangirai camp is yet to meet and ratify
the changes although
observers believe there is little for them left to
object to.
Zanu PF and the MDC agreed that the issue of a new constitution was no
longer a priority considering the time left before the
elections.
Both parties resolved to abolish the appointment of 10
MPs to the
House of Assembly by the president, meaning that all the proposed
210 Lower
House lawmakers would have to be directly elected. The senate
would now be
composed of 93 members, up from the proposed 84. Of the 93,
only five would
be presidential appointees - two representing Harare and
Bulawayo while the
outstanding three would represent special interest
groups.
Currently the senate is made up of 66 members. Provincial
governors
and traditional chiefs would also be appointed to the
senate.
The parties have also agreed that all the three elections -
local
government, presidential and parliamentary, will be held concurrently
on one
day.
The sources said the negotiating teams clinched a
deal that another
amendment be made to the Bill to clearly state that
constituency
delimitation variation should be restricted to 20%, instead of
allowing
movements of up to 25%, to avoid gerrymandering.
The
agreed amendments to the Bill would be tabled during the committee
stage in
parliament on Tuesday.
The MDC proposed amendments to the Electoral
Act which the negotiators
agreed was a "mess". They accepted the need to
craft a new law altogether.
The parties were reportedly working on
drafts of the new electoral
law, which they will deliberate on
soon.
Perhaps the most far-reaching aspect agreed to during the
discussions
is the proposed amendment to the draconian Posa. The aim will be
to remove
sections that inhibit public gathering without police notification
and
canvassing for political support.
Two years ago this paper
quoted Chinamasa declaring that Posa would
not be amended since it was an
important bulwark against those who wanted to
effect regime change. The
government has since 2000 used Posa to break up
opposition rallies and to
prevent political meetings organised by civic
groups.
Two other
major items on the talks agenda - media laws and the
political climate in
the country - are yet to be discussed even though
indications were that the
Access to Information and Protection of Privacy
Act could also be amended
extensively.
Zim Independent
Dumisani
Muleya
PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe is facing a stormy congress
which could sweep
him from power unless he produces a brave performance to
stem the surging
tide of growing opposition from within.
The
watershed Zanu PF congress slotted for December will be a fierce
battle
between Mugabe and his shrinking cabal of supporters who want to
secure his
endorsement at all costs to be the party's sole candidate in next
year's
election, and those pushing for him to quit now.
Sources said
Mugabe and his supporters have already come up with an
agenda for congress
which includes the need to endorse Mugabe as the party's
candidate;
ratification of the proposed Constitutional Amendment Number 18 -
which will
probably have been passed into law by then - and alignment of the
party and
state constitutions in the light of these changes.
Sources said
Mugabe wants this agenda for congress. The so-called
Third Way faction in
Zanu PF, which includes party commissar Elliot Manyika
and politburo members
Nicholas Goche and Saviour Kasukuwere, will be
fighting from Mugabe's
corner.
Top members like spokesman Nathan Shamuyarira, Women's
League head
Oppah Muchinguri and secretary for administration Didymus Mutasa
are linked
to this group although cracks are emerging among
them.
Fearing possible defeat at congress, Mugabe has now roped in
the Zanu
PF faction led by senior party official Emmerson Mnangagwa and the
war
veterans. The ex-combatants recently held street protests to support
Mugabe
and the Mnangagwa faction was said to have been behind
them.
This has led to a convergence of interests between the Third
Way group
and the Mnangagwa faction as both are now fighting to keep Mugabe
in power.
The other faction led by the influential retired army
commander
General Solomon Mujuru is pushing to force Mugabe out. Mugabe is
battling
for political survival as shown by his scramble to close ranks with
Mnangagwa when he accused him of plotting a palace coup against him in
2004.
The matrix of shifting alliances within Zanu PF and the
intensifying
power struggle have raised the stakes for the congress which
could become
Mugabe's Waterloo before the elections.
Although
the elections are scheduled for March, well-placed sources
said they are now
likely to be held in June next year after Zanu PF and the
opposition MDC
agreed on the issue during talks to resolve the current
crisis in Pretoria
on September 1 and 2.
While Mugabe is making concessions due to MDC
and other external
pressures, he is facing more critical demands from within
his party for him
to quit in December.
Zanu PF sources said
main factions of the ruling party were
frantically mobilising and
positioning themselves for a battle royal at the
congress where Mugabe could
sink or swim in the increasingly turbulent
political waters.
Mugabe's great threat, sources say, is now the growing band of
disgruntled
Zanu PF officials, particularly those led by Mujuru. The faction
is now
regarded as opposition from within to the extent that Mujuru during
the Zanu
PF politburo meeting last week tried to play down the issue. Mujuru
told the
politburo that people were lying to Mugabe that he wanted to remove
him, but
Mugabe was convinced this was true as he knew the story better,
sources
said.
Mujuru's lieutenants are vowing they will force Mugabe out or
block
him in the same way they stopped him in his tracks at the Goromonzi
conference in December last year and frustrated his bid for endorsement at
the crucial central committee meeting in March. The camp is said to have
deployed a crack team of senior members to work on a strategy to block
Mugabe. Two top politburo members have been charged to lead the campaign and
raise the issue at congress.
Mugabe's supporters say he will
bulldoze his way through congress and
secure his endorsement as well as
re-election next year. However, pressure
is mounting in Zanu PF for him to
go now.
Zim Independent
Dumisani Muleya/Augustine Mukaro
PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe
clashed with Zambian leader Levy Mwanawasa at
the recent Lusaka summit
because he feared Britain was trying to use the
meeting to push its own
agenda against Zimbabwe, the Zimbabwe Independent
can confirm.
Presidential spokesman George Charamba confirmed the clash, saying in
any
debate people were bound to hold divergent views.
"Summits by their
nature are open to debate and often with divergent
views," Charamba said.
"Maybe in this case the president said it in a strong
way which people were
not used to."
Mwanawasa clashed with Mugabe after he tried to table
the Zimbabwe
crisis for debate during a closed session of the meeting. It is
said Mugabe
reacted angrily to the idea and he lambasted Mwanawasa before
walking out in
protest.
Charamba said Mugabe suspected that
there were "foreign elements" who
wanted to turn their budgetary support
into political leverage over
Zimbabwe.
"The British were
pushing the Sadc states to deliver on Zimbabwe, and
since most of these
governments are funded 70% from donor funds, they are
put under pressure. It
is at that point that the president intervened and
said it was now time to
edit the Dar es Salaam agreement," he said.
Charamba said Zimbabwe
was not supposed to be discussed at the summit
because all the issues that
were set out at the extraordinary meeting in Dar
es Salaam were still a work
in progress. He said even the economic report
was to be forwarded to finance
ministers of the different countries to see
what each economy could do to
help Zimbabwe.
Charamba said the economic report by Sadc executive
secretary Tomaz
Salomao did not recommend any aid to Zimbabwe but advocated
promoting
partnerships and normalising trade terms.
This came
as it emerged that Mwanawasa fired his vocal former Foreign
minister Mundia
Sikatana as a result of his explosive row with Mugabe, not
because of
failing health as officially claimed.
Diplomatic sources said
Sikatana was fired by Mwanawasa after he tried
to stop Mugabe's delegation
from leaving. Sikatana is said to have told the
Zimbabweans to be patient
with Mwanawasa because from time to time he
experienced momentary
concentration lapses as a result of a car accident.
It is
understood Sikatana's references to the occasional slip-ups by
Mwanawasa was
the real reason why he was dismissed days after the summit.
Mwanawasa and Sikatana are both critical of Mugabe, but the way they
handled
the Zimbabwe issue during the summit led to the minister's removal.
The sources said after Mugabe stormed out of the meeting, Sikatana
tried to
ensure that the Zimbabwean delegation did not walk away for good
and in the
process explained that Mwanawasa could have acted the way he did
due to his
erratic behaviour and concentration lapses.
Last year Mugabe also
left Lesotho in a huff after Sadc leaders tried
to table Zimbabwe for
discussion in a closed session. Mugabe is always
opposed to the discussion
of Zimbabwe at any forum, unless he is allowed to
give his own version of
events.
South African President Thabo Mbeki tried but failed to stop
Mugabe
from leaving. The sources who witnessed the dramatic clash said Mbeki
tried
in vain to restrain Mugabe from hastily leaving Lusaka.
Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete also tried to stop Mugabe from
walking
out but to no avail as well.
"After Mugabe had walked out of the
meeting, Kikwete followed him and
tried to convince him to come back. Mbeki
also joined Kikwete to try to
persuade him not to walk away, but they both
failed to influence him," a
source said.
Sikatana tried as well
but failed to stop Mugabe's delegation from
going. Mwanawasa's office
claimed Sikatana was unexpectedly removed due to
ill-health.
"I
very much regret that I am terminating your services as Minister of
Foreign
Affairs with immediate effect," a statement from Mwanawasa's office
said.
"At the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, you have been able to discharge
your
duties with distinction until recently when your health appeared to be
failing."
Sikatana recently refuted Mwanawasa's allegation that
his health was
failing.
Sikatana, a vocal Mugabe critic, said
he was very fit and revealed
that he was forced out because of how he
handled such issues as the Zimbabwe
crisis. He said Mwanawasa was now
backing down on his criticism of Mugabe.
Zim Independent
Augustine Mukaro
ZANU PF has stepped up its propaganda blitz,
roping in regional media
publications to bolster its campaign against what
it perceives as negative
publicity and to convince the Sadc region that its
policies are working.
Sources privy to the initiative said the
ruling party has hatched a
plan to bring into the country scribes of
publications and broadcasting
stations from friendly countries and convince
them to write positive
stories.
The move is set to spruce up
the government's image and counter an
array of Western-based websites
perceived to be pushing for regime change in
Zimbabwe.
The plan
has already been taken to Malawi, where eight journalists
from the Malawi
Broadcasting Corporation (MBC), TVM and the Information
department have been
invited to record programmes on the "Zimbabwe
situation".
"Journalists from MBC and TVM and the Information department officials
were
in Zimbabwe two weeks ago," a source in Malawi said. "They were in
Zimbabwe
to just record programmes on the situation and learn about election
reporting."
The sources said government, through the department
of information,
was on a drive to invite as many "friendly" countries as
possible to promote
positive coverage of its policies.
Government has been struggling to counter what it terms "negative
publicity"
by Western media organisations. Among a cocktail of strategies to
counter
the bad news has been the setting up of a short-wave propaganda
radio
station, Voice of Zimbabwe , to operate from Gweru.
However, the
project appears to have suffered a stillbirth amid
reports of self-jamming
as a result of gagging equipment installed to block
broadcasts from foreign
radio stations such as Voice of America's Studio 7.
The project has also
been unpopular with state media journalists.
Government has also
splurged over US$1 million in an image-making
campaign with New African
magazine which has resorted to publishing
propaganda
supplements.
Zanu PF secretary for science and technology, Olivia
Muchena, on July
26 presented a report to Zanu PF's central committee on the
role and
importance of information and communication technologies (ICTs),
arguing
that the ruling party had no choice but to embrace ICTs to remain
"politically relevant".
"Comrades, we are all aware that Zanu
PF is at war from within and
outside our borders," said the report.
"Contrary to the gun battles we are
accustomed to, we now have
cyber-warfares fought from one's comfort zone, be
it bedroom, office,
swimming pool, etc but with deadly effects."
Muchena said Zanu PF
must pause and think who is behind the creation
of "these websites", the
target market, the influence and impact they have
on Zimbabweans and what
the image of Zanu PF and its leadership looks like
"out there as
portrayed".
Muchena said websites, the Internet and cellphones had
become daily
weapons used to fight Zanu PF, adding that ICTs were now vogue
platforms for
high-tech espionage - hardware, software and infrastructure
that peddles
"virulent propaganda" to delegitimise "our just struggle
against
Anglo-Saxons".
President Mugabe recently signed into
law the Interception of
Communications Act, which empowers government to
snoop on messages
transmitted through the telecommunication system,
cellphones and the
Internet.
Zim Independent
Lucia Makamure
THE government has introduced a technical
allowance under the skills
retention fund targeting professional grades to
staunch the brain drain in
the civil service.
In a report made
available to the Zimbabwe Independent, beneficiaries
of the fund started
receiving payments last month, backdated to July 1.
"Payments have
been made to staff in the following ministries and has
been backdated to 1
July 2007: Economic Development, Finance, Health and
Child Welfare, Justice,
Legal and Parliamentary Affairs, Local Government,
Public Works and Urban
Development, Mines and Mining Development, Transport
and Communication,
Surveyor General's Department and Rural Housing and
Social Amenities," says
the report.
Science and mathematics teachers are identified in the
report as the
only beneficiaries of the fund from the Ministry of Education
and they are
yet to receive their payments.
"In the Ministry of
Education, Sport and Culture, the required data on
all the science and
mathematics teachers has not yet been provided to date.
This ministry's
staff will be paid backdated to 1 July as and when all the
required
information has been provided and vetted, in order to make sure
that the
right staff are paid," the report said.
Other ministries and
government departments that are set to benefit
include the Agricultural
Engineering division, Irrigation and Mechanisation,
Agriculture, Comptroller
and Auditor-General, Defence, Higher and Tertiary
Education, Energy and
Power Development, Industry and International Trade,
Home Affairs, Office of
the President and Cabinet, Small and Medium Scale
Enterprises Development,
Science and Technology, Environment and Tourism,
Public Service, Water
Resources and Infrastructural Development, Women
Affairs, Gender and
Community Development, Youth Development and Employment
Creation, Foreign
Affairs and Lands, Land Reform and Resettlement.
Civil engineers,
electricians, builders, accountants, architects and
other professionals in
the public sector have in the past years joined the
race to join more paying
jobs in neighbouring countries.
Many South African companies have
been advertising for manpower in
Zimbabwe and more professionals are
expected to leave the country to take up
more lucrative job offers south of
the Limpopo.
Recent reports indicate that there have been shortages
of science
teachers in South Africa and the government in that country has
indicated
that it is targeting Zimbabwe to recruit teachers.
Peter Mabhande, chief executive officer of Zimbabwe Teachers
Association,
who also sits on the Apex Council which represents all civil
servants, said
they were yet to receive details on the technical allowance
from the
government.
"We have not been advised on who will benefit from the
fund," Mabhande
said.
He also said they were not aware on how
the fund was to be implanted
as it is still being analysed by the
government.
Last week Finance minister Samuel Mumbengegwi allocated
$650 billion
to the skills retention fund when he presented his
supplementary budget in
parliament.
Zim Independent
Orirando
Manwere
THE Ministry of Home Affairs, especially the Zimbabwe
Republic Police
which is constitutionally mandated to investigate crime, has
over the years
failed to account for public funds allocated to it by
Treasury.
A parliamentary portfolio committee report tabled on
Wednesday
revealed that the ministry incurred unauthorised expenditure of
over $66
billion on 45 accounting items, while the abuse of funds by the
Immigration
Department Fund went unchecked in the absence of clear
accounting systems.
Presenting a consolidated report on the
ministry's Appropriation
Accounts for the period December 31 2000 to
December 31 2004, delayed
because of the absence of proper accounting
records in ministry departments,
Public Accounts Committee chair, Priscilla
Misihairabwi-Mushonga, said the
situation at Home Affairs was so shocking
that her committee wants the
accounting officer (Melusi Matshiya) and other
officers relieved of their
duties.
Misihairabwi-Mushonga
expressed concern that this was the 11th report
to the House by her
committee on various ministries which had not been
responded to by
ministers.
She said this made a mockery of the oversight role of
parliament and
wondered whether the executive was serious about addressing
problems
bedevilling the nation.
Remarks by the leader of the
House, Justice minister Patrick Chinamasa
during her presentation that
Public Accounts Committee reports were always
"for 10 years back", only
seemed to confirm the lack of seriousness by the
executive to address issues
of efficiency and effective running of various
arms of government, said
Misihairabwi-Mushonga.
She told the House that her committee learnt
from the Comptroller and
Auditor-General that during the period under
review, the Ministry of Home
Affairs was qualified (found wanting) in 45
areas.
These comprised budgetary controls, unauthorised
expenditure, material
scope restrictions, advances and disallowances,
temporary deposits,
departmental assets, revenue received, revenue written
off, outstanding
revenue, advances on travel and subsistence, receipts and
disbursement,
departmental surcharges and public financial assets, among
others.
"The ministry incurred unauthorised excess expenditure
during the
period amounting to $66 608 636 861 on administration and
general,
Immigration, National Archives and the Zimbabwe Republic
Police.
"The accounting officer Mr Melusi Matshiya in evidence
before your
committee stated that the poor state of financial affairs was
due to high
staff attrition in the ministry. As a result, the ministry's
accounts were
lagging behind by six years, a situation which was unpalatable
for audit
purposes," Misihairabwi-Mushonga said.
She pointed
out that although these accounts had since been submitted,
the committee
noted that the accounting officer had overlooked the
chronological order of
some of the disbursements which he considered
immaterial at the time of the
submission and some of the information could
not be found owing to the time
lapse.
She told the House that it was surprising how the ministry
overspent
when it was experiencing a high turnover.
She said
the Comptroller and Auditor-General told her committee that
she (the
comptroller) was unable to express an opinion on the aspects of
public
accountability due to the ministry's failure to provide specific
returns and
statements required for her audit.
Misihairabwi-Mushonga said her
committee was extremely concerned that
owing to lack of vehicles, the
Immigration Department at Sango, Chirundu and
Pandamatenga was unable to
timeously bank revenue collected.
"They receive quite a lot of
revenue in foreign currency and they have
to go and bank the money in
Victoria Falls. We are talking about a lot of
foreign currency and a lot of
logistical problems, stress and that requires
serious skills to process.
Your committee feels that the situation is
tempting and it may just be a
matter of time before such funds are
misappropriated. Surely this is a
critical area which government must invest
in to ensure that all the foreign
currency is accounted for," she said.
All departments under the
ministry failed to submit appropriate
returns and were subsequently
qualified on various aspects, including
Criminal Investigation Department
exhibits, special constabulary pay,
receipts and disbursements (ZRP),
advances miscellaneous, losses and damage
to state property, revenue
received, gifts, legacies and donations, public
financial assets and
treasury orders.
"There is gross abuse of public assets and funds.
For example, that is
why we find police vehicles carrying firewood while
stations have no vehicle
to attend scenes of crime. Revenue collected from
fines for example cannot
be accounted for. It's a sad situation," lamented
Misihairabwi-Mushonga.
She said it was difficult to trace funds for
individual departments
because they all deposited funds into one ministry
account with the central
bank and departments started new financial years
with no outstanding
balances.
On advances, the committee noted
that the ministry had flouted
financial regulations with
impunity.
Despite claims that the ministry had no advance block
grant for more
than two years, it took some money from the Immigration Fund
without
authority to pay temporary officers.
Upon being asked
why this was done, a ministry official said: "The
problem is, since we do
not have money, we cannot stop operations so we will
advise the Treasury on
the issue."
The committee reports also noted that the introduction
of the
electronic Public Finance Management system was rendered ineffective
as
officers were not well trained and resorted to the manual system,
especially
in the ZRP.
The committee recommended the urgent
need for the ministry to
decentralise and strengthen its department's
accounts and internal audit
sections, recruit qualified staff and regularise
the ministry's expenditure
through a Financial Adjustments Act.
Zim Independent
Orirando Manwere
THE recently gazetted presidential
proclamation banning the indexing
of salaries, wages and prices of goods is
unconstitutional and a violation
of international conventions, labour
experts have said.
The experts pointed out that Statutory
Instrument 159 A of 2007 issued
two weeks ago under the Presidential Powers
(Temporary Measures) Act
(Amendment of National Incomes and Pricing
Commission Act and Education Act)
Regulations, 2007, was an attempt by the
executive to make up for its
failure to implement sound policies to address
the economic crisis
bedevilling the nation.
They said an
economy could not be run by decrees. This demonstrated
the extent to which
government dealt in bad faith with its social partners,
they
said.
A Harare-based lawyer, Tafadzwa Mapfumo-Muvingi, said the
Presidential
Powers (Temporary Measures) Act was peculiar as it gives the
president
exclusive and overriding powers to make subsidiary legislation
which
supersede Acts made by parliament.
"This is clearly
contrary to the universally accepted principle of
separation of powers among
key pillars of the state - the executive, the
legislature and the
judiciary," said Mapfumo-Muvingi.
"The president is part of the
executive. There is an overlap of the
Act as it gives the president more
powers to make regulations for six months
without any ratification by
parliament and this defeats its whole
existence," said the
lawyer.
"It is also peculiar that the Statutory Instrument is
seeking to amend
Acts of Parliament - the National Incomes and Pricing
Commission Act and the
Education Act. This is not proper because law
principles dictate that
subsidiary legislation cannot amend an Act because
it is inferior. It's an
anomaly," she said.
Mapfumo-Muvingi
said any amendment of an Act of Parliament should go
through Parliament
which has the mandate to amend and make new laws as it is
representative of
the views of the public.
"There is also a contradiction in the
enforcement of the regulations
as the Finance minister approved a 20%
mark-up on the prices of some goods
well after the regulations were made.
This was done without any
corresponding adjustments to salaries and
consideration of input costs when
prices are escalating in the wake of
shortages brought about by the price
blitz launched in July," said
Mapfumo-Muvingi.
She said laws could not be made to be enforced in
retrospect as was
the case with the decree to revert to June 18
prices.
"Inflation has been on the increase and people have been
adjusting
their budgets accordingly. So how can you make a law to
criminalise
everyone? We can't have an economy run through taskforces and
commissions.
What is the role of relevant ministries and their technical
staff who are
supposed to look into these issues?" she asked.
In a statement on its analysis of the constitutionality and legality
of the
regulations, the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) legal
department
said the temporary measures were illegal, unconstitutional and a
violation
of international labour conventions.
It said government ratified 26
major ILO conventions, 87 regarding
Freedom of Association, 98 on the right
to organise and collective
bargaining, and 105 on abolition of forced or
compulsory labour, among
others. The ZCTU said Convention 87 was
constitutionally protected under
Section 21 of the
Constitution.
"Section 21 states that no person shall be hindered
in his or her
freedom of assembly and ... to freely assembly and associate
with other
persons and in particular to form or belong to political parties
or trade
unions or other associations for the protection of his interests,"
the ZCTU
said.
"Economic interests are not listed under Section
21 as these things
that can be done under the authority of any law to
justify such law as that
which is under discussion (Presidential {Powers
Temporary Measures} Act).
"Moreso, the measures taken cannot be
said to be reasonably
justifiable in a democratic society (section 3). Even
in an undemocratic
society, such measures would not be acceptable. The
economic interests are
unconstitutionally listed under the Presidential
Powers (Temporary Measures)
Act," the ZCTU said.
The labour
body said the measures taken cannot be said to be
reasonable in addressing
the economic demise, "especially when we take into
account that the
demoralised employees are only 10% of the workforce and
these will shrink
further because of demoralisation".
It noted that the regulations
were in violation of ILO Convention 87
and Section 4 of the Labour Act which
the government ratified. The
convention obliges government to encourage and
promote the full utilisation
of machinery for voluntary negotiation between
employers and employees
through collective agreements.
Zim Independent
Lucia Makamure
MORE than 200 National
Constitutional Assembly (NCA) members who were
beaten up by police while
demonstrating against Constitution Amendment No18
in July have demanded
close to $10 trillion from the police as compensation
for assault, torture
and unlawful detention.
In a notice of intention to sue addressed
to Home Affairs minister
Kembo Mohadi and dated September 6 2007, the 206
NCA members who are
represented by lawyer Andrew Makoni of Mbidzo,
Muchadehama & Makoni, are
seeking compensation under the State
Liabilities Act.
"We are instructed to demand from you., that you
pay the sum of $9 530
000 000 000 for assault, torture, pain, shock,
suffering and unlawful
detention and unlawful deprivation of liberty," said
Makoni in the demand
letter.
Makoni said that his clients were
beaten up after they had taken part
in a peaceful march which had progressed
peacefully without any incidence of
violence being witnessed.
"Unfortunately for them members of the police pounced upon them and
heavily
assaulted them with open hands, clenched fists, booted feet, baton
sticks
and all sorts of weaponry. They were not placed under arrest, no
charges
were ever preferred against them and they were set free after the
assaults.
They had to seek medical attention, for the injuries sustained,"
Makoni
said.
At least four police officers were identified by name for
assaulting
and torturing the NCA members at the Harare Central Police
Station
courtyard.
"We are also notifying the following police
officers who took part in
assaulting our clients," Makoni said. "Inspector
Masenda who is officer in
charge, Stodart Police Station, who boasted to our
clients that she had
beaten Morgan Tsvangirai before; Superintendent Chani,
CID Law and Order,
Harare Central Police Station; Chimaka, Harare Central
Police Station; and
Shepherd Machini who is based at Parliament
Building.
"As they were being assaulted some members of the police
force boasted
to our clients that they would not arrest our
clients.
"They further boasted to our clients that they would
assault our
clients to such an extent that they would never think of
participating in a
demonstration ever again. The attacks were indeed
gruesome," Makoni said.
"On occasions, our clients would be forced
to lie prostrate, and some
members of the police force would then step on
top of our prostrate clients
as they issued orders or relayed information to
fellow police officers.
Ruling party members and national youth service
militia were also implicated
in the assaults.
"Our clients
further advise us that there were members of the ruling
party, Zanu PF,
Central Intelligence Organisation and militia from the
National Youth
Service who also took part in the onslaught against our
clients. The
operations wing of the police was running the show," the lawyer
said.
Last month the police were served with two demand letters
with damages
amounting to $5 trillion for assaults and unlawful detention of
55
Opposition and Civic Society leaders and 34 Movement for Democratic
Change
activists accused of training as terrorists in South Africa.
Zim Independent
Loughty
Dube
SEVERAL members of the Matabeleland Zambezi Water Trust
(MZWT), who
include Zanu PF officials and politburo member, Dumiso Dabengwa,
may be
charged with contempt of court after they failed to carry out an
investigative audit of trust funds as mandated by the High Court in July
2003.
The High Court ordered the MZWT board of directors to
produce audited
accounts for the organisation but four years down the line
no audits have
been produced.
In a ruling on an urgent
application filed by Arnold Payne, a leading
campaigner for the piping of
water from the Zambezi River to Bulawayo, High
Court Judge, Justice George
Chiweshe, on July 10 2003 ordered the MZWT board
to produce within 30 days
an investigative audit of the organisation's
finances.
But
since then no audits have been produced by the MZWT board.
The
respondents in the matter were cited as Dabengwa in his capacity
as the
chairman of the MZWT, and Kotsho Dube, the chairman of the MZWT
general
assembly.
Payne had applied to the High Court for an order
compelling the
organisation to conduct the audit after previous requests
from members of
the public for financial statements were
ignored.
However, this week Payne wrote to the board of directors
and warned
that he was filing contempt of court charges against the board if
the audits
were not produced within a week.
Dabengwa chairs the
Matabeleland Zambezi Water Project (MZWP), the
operational arm of the Trust,
charged with the implementation of the project
to bring water to Bulawayo
from the river.
"I have written to all the members of the Trust
letters informing them
that I am taking legal action within the next seven
days if they do not show
evidence that they have taken steps to carry out
the audit," Payne said.
"It's been too long since the High Court
issued that order and I think
they have not taken the courts
seriously."
The decision to institute an investigation followed
media allegations
of abuse of MZWT funds by senior members of the board
while on a business
trip overseas.
The MZWT has in the last
decade failed to implement the project
despite claims of support from the
government and several false starts.
Meanwhile the city of Bulawayo
has reported cases of diarrhoea as a
result of water shortages after the
number of people visiting council
clinics for treatment increased in the
last two weeks.
Council spokesperson, Phathisa Nyathi, however
could not give details
saying only that the clinics were treating those
affected.
"Residents continue to fetch water from unprotected
sources as a
result of the water shortages but we are urging them to stop
the practice so
that we can contain cases of disease outbreaks," Nyathi
said.
The council has introduced stringent water rationing
schedules after
three of the supply dams ran out of water.
Zim Independent
Constantine Chimakure
FORMER Zanu PF Mashonaland West
provincial treasurer Jimayi Muduvuri
has launched a controversial pro-ruling
party campaign that vilifies
Christians who support opposition
parties.
In an advertisement in the Herald yesterday, Muduvuri said
he was
sponsoring the Heal Zimbabwe Campaign whose main theme is that
"Christians
who support opposition parties were practising false
religion".
The theme was taken from a booklet of the same title
created by
television soap, Small House Saga, writer Collins Mazivofa
Mukosi. Making
reference to chapters in the bible, the advertisement said
the first
opposition leader in the universe was Lucifer and should,
therefore, not be
followed by Christians.
"If the system of
opposition was started by Lucifer, then it means
there's a spirit of
'Luciferness' in all opposition parties in the world
over," read the
advertisement.
"Voting for an opposition party is like voting for
Satan."
The campaign claimed that there was no democracy in
heaven.
"If democracy is such a good system why did they reject it
in heaven?"
questioned the advertisement making reference to Revelations 12.
The
campaign asked Christians to be wary of words beginning with the letter
D
such as devil, divorce, death and democracy.
"Let every
person be subjective to governing authorities for there's
no authority
except from God," added the advertisement.
The Muduvuri-sponsored
campaign is expected to spread throughout the
country ahead of next year's
elections.
"Pastors, conferences on this campaign are coming to
your towns soon.
Watch the press for details because you are all invited for
an explanation
on this wonderful revelation," read the
advertisement.
Muduvuri is not new to controversy.
During the countdown to Zanu PF's primary parliamentary elections in
December 2004, he reportedly bought bras, panties, petticoats and shoes in a
bid to garner support from female voters.
Muduvuri was also
accused by rival Ishmael Mutema of unleashing an
orgy of violence and
barring residents from attending his rivals' rallies.
Mutema
claimed that the Macsherp Holdings owner had a terror gang
called the "Top
11" that was barricading roads and preventing rival Zanu PF
supporters from
attending meetings.
Zim Independent
Jesilyn
Dendere
THREE Zanu PF officials who forced beneficiaries of
Operation
Garikai/Hlalani Kuhle houses at Whitecliff Farm to withdraw fraud
charges
levelled against them were last week convicted of attempting to
defeat the
course of justice.
They were each sentenced to six
months in prison.
However, Harare magistrate Lazarus Murendo
suspended the jail sentence
on condition that the Zanu PF officials,
Passyway Mubaiwa (28), Nolia
Ndhlovu (40) and Blasio Mauka (35), do not
commit a similar offence in the
next five years.
In addition,
Murendo fined Mubaiwa $4 million, Ndhlovu $3 million and
Mauko $2
million.
The three were convicted for violating provisions of the
Criminal Law
(Codification) and Reform Act.
Murendo acquitted
Colleen Mgijima (40) - a commissioner of oaths -
initially jointly charged
with the trio.
The state case was that early last year, Mubaiwa,
Ndhlovu and Mauka
allegedly used their positions in Zanu PF to solicit
bribes from settlers at
Whitecliff Farm whose shacks were destroyed during
Operation Murambatsvina
in 2005 in exchange for houses built under Operation
Garikai.
The trio were later arrested and while they awaited trial
they forged
affidavits they authenticated with Mgijima in September 2006,
claiming that
the complainants had withdrawn charges against
them.
This led to their arrest.
Editor Mavuto
prosecuted while Mubaiwa, Ndhlovu and Mauka were not
legally
represented.
In July last year, Harare provincial administrator
Justin Mutero
Chivavaya and Harare West district administrator Nelson Mawomo
were arrested
and arraigned in court facing allegations of corruptly
allocating 300 houses
and 115 stands to undeserving people at Whitecliff
Farm
The two are still on bail awaiting trial.
Zim Independent
Kuda Chikwanda
AIR Zimbabwe had five air turn-backs in the past
two weeks alone
raising alarm over the safety of the airline, aviation
sources have said.
Although Air Zimbabwe spokesperson David Mwenga
made spirited denials,
businessdigest was reliably informed that the
turn-backs had occurred in the
last week of August and the first week of
September.
An air turn-back occurs when a plane is cleared for
take-off but turns
back mid-air soon after departure after the detection of
an anomaly by the
cabin or ground crew.
The sources said the
problem was largely because the airline was
losing skilled technical
personnel and was left with newly qualified
engineers and other technical
staff who were still learning the ropes.
"We had five turn-backs in
the space of two weeks. This is alarming as
the new guys are still
familiarising," said one of the sources.
"Most of them still use
huge manuals when doing their duties. They are
not yet that familiar with
procedures and are bound to miss a thing or two
thus compromising security,"
.
Mwenga disputed the claims saying the airline had made five air
turn-backs in three months and said the turn-backs had been necessitated to
safeguard passenger lives.
"It is not true that we had five
(turn-backs) in two weeks. We had
that many in three months. We do not
apologise for that. The primary issue
is that we want to keep our passengers
safe. This is a technical animal we
will be flying and when we feel that
something is wrong, then an air
turn-back will occur," Mwenga
said.
Mwenga said 16 engineers had left the airline in the past 12
months
because of the worsening economic crisis.
"Sixteen
engineers have left the airline in the past 12 months because
of the
challenges in the economy, and the majority of the 16 in the past six
months
as the challenges increased," Mwenga said.
He said the current Air
Zimbabwe group chief executive officer Peter
Chikumba had worked hard to
improve the remuneration of engineers resulting
in only 11 of 40 remaining
engineers who had been offered jobs from South
Africa and the Middle East
leaving the airline.
"Not withstanding, the airline is well aware
that more engineers, just
like a lot of skilled personnel elsewhere in the
economy, could still get
tempted to leave given the economic climate in the
country and the healthier
packages being offered elsewhere," Mwenga
said.
Civil Aviation Authority of Zimbabwe (CAAZ) chief executive
officer
David Chaota refused to comment.
"I don't want to talk
about that. It is a security matter. Your sister
paper (The Standard)
refused to respect that it was a secret matter when
they phoned me last
time, so I will not tell you anything," said Chaota.
The Standard
revealed two weeks ago that CAAZ was investigating one
air turn-back in an
Air Zimbabwe Boeing 737 plane chartered by retired
General Solomon Mujuru
which had to be called back to Harare International
Airport after it was
discovered that it had been allowed to take off with
some of its panels
open.
The troubled state airline has been faced with numerous
challenges
which include biting fuel shortages that have taken their toll on
the
airline.
This week 11 passengers found themselves stranded
at Harare
International Airport after they were told that the flight from
Harare
servicing the Kariba-Victoria Falls-Johannesburg route was fully
booked.
Zim Independent
By
Admire Mavolwane
INVESTING on the stock market, particularly
the local one, is not for
the faint-hearted and it appears most punters who
should be aware of this
precept are not.
Even those with weak
nerves cannot resist the temptation of making a
quick buck that they believe
can be made in shares.
As a self-reassurance measure, most of them
seem to have adopted a
"simple" trading strategy which enables them to make
some money although not
maximising on the profits.
The strategy
is to follow the trend by buying when prices go up and
selling when prices
go down.
This strategy if adopted by a large number of investors
creates a
phenomenon described by Wall Street whizzes as the "impala
mentality". It
also breeds a positive feedback that leads the market to
accelerate its
movement, soaring or nose-diving, in which case of course it
crashes.
The folly of this strategy lies in its simplicity, as
making money on
the stock market is not that easy. There are no guarantees
that scrip will
be available when one needs to buy the shares on their way
up and neither is
there an assurance that there will be takers for the stock
when one needs to
exit.
This leaves individuals, mostly
speculators, at the mercy of
professional fund managers, many of whom employ
contrarian strategies of
selling when the stock is on the ascendance - known
in the industry as
taking profits -- and buying when prices have come down
by a "determined"
amount.
While great strides have been made in
eliminating ignorance and
superstition in medicine and in weather
forecasting, there is still a long
way to go in reducing the naivety
associated with making mounds of cash
through the stock market.
Neither has the tendency by investors to wait for official
confirmation of
statistics such as inflation been eradicated.
Prior to the recent
fiscal policy, the market was lethargic with
analysts pointing to poor
fundamentals vis-à-vis price controls, reduced
company profits and general
uncertainty.
In the aftermath of the fiscal policy investors are
pointing to the
huge inflationary pressures likely to be stoked by the $37,1
trillion
supplementary budget, with some detractors indicating that the
actual bill
will amount to the $255 trillion that line ministries had
requested.
The equation is said to be out by a wide margin, as
revenue
collections are likely to be depressed due to lower-than-expected
company
profitability, reduced collections of stamp duty and withholding
taxes
arising out of the depressed trading volumes on the ZSE in July and
August,
foregone PAYE emanating from the tax bracket creep announced
recently and
consequences of the Statutory Instrument 157A of 2007 which
imposes a freeze
on salary increases.
Investors seemed to have
reached an unholy conclusion as to how this
funding gap will be bridged.
They then sought refuge in shares in their
quest to be a step ahead of
anticipated future inflation.
But the question is who did not know
this, when as early as April, it
was being stated that a supplementary
budget was in the offing and it would
exceed the original budget by a wide
margin?
The rush into shares brought forth by this sudden
acquisition of
wisdom saw the market gaining 12,29% the previous Friday,
Monday, 14,89% and
Tuesday, 18,67% to reach an all-time high of 68 108
881,90 points before the
selling started on Wednesday pushing the market
3,10% down.
Large parcels were exchanging hands showing that there
could have been
a lot of institutional selling. Yesterday the selling turned
wholesale and
those whose strategy is to buy on the way up were caught again
as the
industrial index lost 7,59% to close at 60 989 737,03
points.
Investors are now waiting - yet again -- for the monetary
policy
statement. In the meantime a number of punters are nursing their
wounds. One
hopes they do not have to wait long before the market goes for
another run.
One stock that has been a disappointment is Zimre
Property Investments
(ZPI) which has been trading at around the IPO price of
$1 500. Most
investors have taken a position to sell the moment the counter
goes to $2
000.
However, experience shows that no downtrodden
stock ever returns to
the level which investors have decided they will sell.
Thus the stock is
probably doomed to several weeks of teetering below $1 900
before it
probably somersaults to $1 300. This painful process can take a
while.
World renowned investment banks have dedicated Mergers and
Acquisition
teams who breathe and sleep deals. The banks make their money
from taking a
percentage fee based on the value of the deal. Thus the mooted
US$93,4
billion Barclays/ABN deal has many salivating.
The same
however could not be said of the Cottco/IDC/Olivine
Industries
deal.
When Heinz Corporation partnered government in October 1982
to buy out
the company from the Margolis Family, it invested US$13,5 million
for a 51%
stake. So in essence Olivine Industries was valued at roughly
US$26 million.
According to a report on Zimbabwe by Eurostat published in
1990, by 1988
Heinz's investment was worth US$79 million.
In
its 1988 annual report, Heinz indicated that it planned to expand
its
investments to US$263 million by 1994. In an apparent fulfillment of the
promise, Chegutu Canners was established in 1992.
In the 2004
annual report, the United States-based corporation valued
its investments at
US$110 million and in 2006, the Heinz board decided to
write off the US$111
million valuation that it had ascribed to its
Zimbabwean
interests.
It is not surprising for some that Heinz let go of its
investment at
only US$7 million, particularly since the investment had been
written off
anyway. Added to this, Heinz with a market capitalisation of
US$14,7
billion, receiving US$7 million for an investment that had been
written off
is neither here nor there.
The question that arises
surely is why would IDC sell the 49% stake it
had acquired from Heinz for
US$6,8 million, when it can be reasonably
assumed that the stake could have
commanded a value as high as US$55
million? Obviously we cannot begrudge
Cottco, with a OMIR market
capitalisation of US$60 million on August 31,
acquiring an asset worth that
much for only US$6,8 million. Investors seem
to have concluded that Cottco
is now acquisitions "savvy" hence the
re-rating of the company on the ZSE.
Mergers and acquisitions
whizkids from institutions like Lazard or
Goldmann Sachs will attest that
IDC could have extracted more US dollars out
of Cottco, unless of course
there are other facultative considerations
behind the transactions which are
not in the public domain.
Zim Independent
Paul Nyakazeya
THE Confederation of Zimbabwe
Industries (CZI) have proposed urgent
pricing mechanisms that protect
consumers and providers of goods and
service.
In a document
dated August 23 and addressed to the chairperson of the
cabinet Taskforce on
Price Stabilisation and Monitoring, Obert Mpofu, CZI
said it was not
possible for government administrative machinery to
determine all
prices.
It said that even the National Incomes and Price Commission
(NIPC) did
not have the capacity to fully research and determine
prices.
The document said while business should implement the June
18 base
line as directed by the taskforce, September price adjustments
should be
based on the June monthly Consumer Price Index (CPI) figure of
86,2%.
This means that no adjustments from the June 18 level would
be more
than 77,6% during the same month, which translates to 90% of the
monthly
inflation of the month under review.
"The October
increases should be based in the July inflation figure.
The percentages
excludes products whose prices have already been determined
by the Task
Force," reads part of the document.
"The need for a self-triggering
mechanism cannot be overemphasised.
For example sugar, is a raw material in
some products and it has been
awarded a price increase.
"If
there is no immediate corresponding movement in the price of a
product in
which sugar is a significant raw material then that product's
price will
clearly be affected negatively," said CZI.
The document said
retailers should continue with the 20% mark up plus
15% Value Added Tax
while the mark up for wholesalers was set at 12,5% for
essential consumer
goods, excluding luxury ones.
"For all other product businesses
(both private and public) they
should have the freedom to (determine) prices
provided monthly price
increases do not exceed 90% of monthly CPI as
published by CSO or such other
percentages as agreed by government and
business leaders having regard to
prevailing market conditions," reads the
document.
Business leaders said this was an interim solution, which
could only
work while a robust and market-related pricing system was being
put in place
as pricing below monthly CPI would ensure deceleration of
inflation.
"Anyone requiring an increase of more 90% of CPI in any
one calendar
month to submit application to NIPC who would make a
determination within
seven days," the industrial body said.
Where the cost of manufacturing products is affected by the movement
in the
price of controlled and monitored products which are part of a
producer's
value chain, there should be an automatic trigger mechanism for
the pricing
of the affected product.
"For the above recommendations to be
effective foreign currency and
fuel have to be available for all producers
within the formal, official
system," the CZI proposed.
Zim Independent
Jesilyn
Dendere
INDUSTRIAL retail giant Edgars is reportedly closing 19
of its 55
branches and 220 employees are set to lose their jobs as the
clothing retail
giant faces serious viability problems directly attributable
to government's
disastrous price blitz.
businessdigest has
established that Edgars will be closing down five
of its branches in
Bulawayo, Gweru, Chitungwiza, Highglen and Gwanda.
Edgars will also
close 14 of its Express shops in Harare, Bulawayo,
Marondera, Rusape,
Chitungwiza, Bindura, Chegutu, Chiredzi, Plumtree, Gokwe,
Karoi, Mutare, and
Kwekwe.
Edgars' branch roll out of 55 is divided into 27 Edgars
Stores, 21
Express Stores and seven ExpressMart stores.
Edgars'
officials this week said the reduction of prices had created
an artificial
increased demand. They said the company had found itself in a
precarious
position where it was restocking at much higher prices only to be
forced to
sell at low prices in line with government's June 18 directive.
"In
June, the Minister of Industry and International Trade announced
new
measures to monitor and control the price of all goods and services in
the
country. All this was done through the press making it impossible to
guess
what precise action business was required to take. It was only on July
6
2007, after several arrests, that Statutory Instrument 142 of 2007 (SI
142)
was published in the Government Gazette," said Edgars in its 2007
Interim
results.
The group said SI 142 had negative effects on retail
companies and
said they had already communicated to government the problems
they were
faced with owing to SI 142.
"SI 142 as being applied
currently, has huge ramifications for the
future of formal retailing in
Zimbabwe. The current restrictions make it
difficult to run a formal retail
business. We have communicated to the
authorities the various problems that
are being encountered," Edgars added.
As a result, Edgars' stock
levels went down to just four weeks cover
instead of the usual 10 to 12
weeks cover by the end of July.
Coupled with a current serious debt
mortgaging exercise affecting 42,4
% of its balance sheet through short term
borrowing of $132 billion, the
company's long term prospects appear very
bleak.
Edgars is currently shouldering high finance costs of
between 550% and
600% which are obtaining in the market and these have posed
a very serious
threat to both its short and long-term
profitability.
The company incurred finance costs amounting to $62
billion for the
interim period ending June 30.
Repeated efforts
to get in touch with Edgars' managing director,
Raymond Mlotshwa were
fruitless with his office saying he had been called to
South Africa by
parent company Edcon to chart the way forward.
However Edgars
insiders said some of the branches would be closed
permanently while others
would re-open when the situation normalised. It was
not immediately clear
which branches had been earmarked for permanent shut
down.
"The
idea generally was to streamline the group and reduce the number
of Express
shops so that we concentrate on the Edgars line," a source within
the
company said.
They added that the recent move by the government to
increase all
goods by 20% was inadequate and could not warrant the group's
continued
survival.
"Government is saying, all goods have to be
increased by 20%, It is
not feasible, as it cannot cover costs such as
transportation and other
expenses incurred in running the business," the
source said.
Edgars recorded a historical $245,5 billion turnover,
registering an
increase of 9 510%. However, unit sales fell by 26% during
the same period.
The Edgars chain grew by 8 798% while Express
inclusive of Expressmart
increased sales by 9 595%. Unit sales in Edgars
fell by 35% whereas units
sold in Express including Expressmart fell by
13%.
Earnings for the period rose by 68 165 to $74,5 billion.
Interest
played a significant part on profitability and the financing
expense of
$61,9billion was 12 756% higher than the same period last
year.
Zim Independent
Pindai
Dube
THE Minister of Energy and Power Development Mike Nyambuya
said
motorists should get used to being pedestrians to save the scarce drops
of
fuel available in the country.
Speaking at the official
opening of the National Oil Company of
Zimbabwe (Noczim) service station in
Matshobana on Wednesday, Nyambuya said
motorists should adjust to being
pedestrians as the supply of fuel was not
improving.
"The
country is facing critical fuel shortages and as government, we
encourage
all Zimbabweans to reduce the number of cars on the country's
roads and walk
to save the scarce fuel we have," Nyambuya said.
Analysts said
Nyambuya's statement was an admission that government
was failing to find a
lasting solution to the country's fuel problems which
started in
1999.
Nyambuya said the new Noczim service station had the capacity
to hold
55 000 litres of petrol, 55 000 litres of diesel and 10 000 litres
of
paraffin.
"In most developed countries, especially in
Western countries company
executives wearing expensive suits use public
transport or walk to work but
here in Zimbabwe one person wants to have 10
cars on the road each day,"
Nyambuya said.
Zimbabwe has been
facing serious fuel shortages on the formal market
after the government in
June gave the cash-strapped Noczim a monopoly to
import fuel after the
imposition of a freeze on prices.
The Energy minister said his
ministry is pursuing the development of
alternative fuel sources like
bio-diesel from jatropha and the blending of
petrol with ethanol to ease
fuel shortages.
In Zimbabwe, ethanol is produced only by Triangle
Ltd, a sugar estate
in the Lowveld area of Chiredzi.
Zimbabwe
consumes 3,5 million litres of diesel, three million litres
of petrol and
five million litres of Jet A1 daily. It needs about US$130
million a month
to import fuel.
Zim Independent
Pindai Dube
THE Estate Agents Council (EAC) says
the property sector will continue
reviewing property rates upwards as the
sector is not affected by the
presidential decree outlawing price
increases.
EAC chairman Oswald Nyakunika told the businessdigest
this week that
the sector would invoke the 1983 Statutory Instruments'
definitions of fair
rent to review their rates.
"Section 17C of
that Statutory Instrument refers to leases and appears
basically to
re-emphasise the fact that Statutory Instrument 676 of 1983
(Commercial and
Industrial) and Statutory Instrument 32 of 2007 are still
operational and,
therefore, definition of fair rental as contained therein
still applies and
it further states that permitted increases (expenses) or
recurrent
expenditure can be passed on to tenants," said Nyakunika.
President
Robert Mugabe through the Presidential Powers (Temporary
Measures) Act
recently imposed a six-month freeze on salary and price
increases across the
board, in a move the government says was necessary to
control
inflation.
Nyakunika said nothing contained therein prohibits
rental negotiations
and, therefore, rentals cannot be indexed according to
the Consumer Price
Index (CPI).
Real Estate Institute of
Zimbabwe last month said it had submitted the
property price formula to the
government for consideration, but the
authorities have remained mum on the
issues which led to the sector facing
collapses.
Zim Independent
Paul
Nyakazeya
ZIMBABWE'S foreign currency market was this week
struck by a fresh
wave of turbulence as the local unit plummeted to a low of
$280 000 to the
greenback on the parallel market due to renewed buying
pressure and also in
response to the devaluation last week.
The
99,2% devaluation in the Zimbabwe dollar exchange rate against the
US dollar
from $250 to $30 000 by the Minister of Finance Samuel Mumbengegwi
when
presenting the mid-term fiscal policy and supplementary budget last
week has
given a spark to the export sector creating renewed buying pressure
on the
market.
The local unit had been trading at $250 to the US dollar
since July 31
last year.
The country's defenceless dollar which
opened the year at $2 900 to
the greenback crashed to fresh depth this week
on the thriving parallel
market reinforcing gloomy forecasts of an
unprecedented acceleration in the
rate of inflation currently at $7 634,8%
for July.
Other major trading currencies - the British pound, the
South African
rand and Botswana pula, were moving around the benchmark US
dollar rate.
The local unit was trading above $490 000, $44 000 and
$39 000 to the
British pound, the Botswana pula and the South African rand
respectively on
Thursday.
The local currency had opened the
year trading at $5 100, $400 and
$380 to the British pound, Botswana and
South African rand repectively.
The crush of the dollar against
major currencies erodes the purchasing
power of consumers who were already
reeling from high prices and shortages
of basic commodities.
Considering exchange rate relationships, an exchange rate of US$1 to
$280
000 measures in part how much of a US good (for example one loaf of
bread)
is paid in the US relative to the price paid for the same good in
Zimbabwe -
the Purchasing Power Parity.
The progression of the Zimbabwe dollar
exchange rate is a reflection
of the progression of real prices on the
ground in the country relative to
prices of the same good in US
dollars.
It can be observed that the parallel exchange rate of US$1
was $2 900
on January 2 shot to $280 000 as of yesterday, but the price
level of goods
purchased in the US remained at US$1 between January and
September 6, while
the price level for the same goods over the same period
in Zimbabwe moved in
relative terms, from $2 900 to $280 000, representing 9
655,1% inflation per
annum.
Bank economists this week said the
Zimbabwe dollar was still battling
to find a bottom on the parallel market
due to escalating demand from both
institutional buyers and individuals
trying to escape inflation-induced
losses on local currency
holdings.Economists also said the dollar would
crush further on the parallel
market in response to the devaluation by
Mumbengegwi.
Economic
consultant John Robertson said parallel market rates would
continue to rise
until foreign currency inflows improve and major sectors of
the economy
start performing.
"The hyperinflationary environment had made it
unattractive to hold
the local currency when costs for goods and services go
up almost everyday,"
Robertson said.
Independent economic
analysts this week said the frail currency would
reach a fair value of $1,5
million to the US unit by December.
The fair value is the realistic
value of the currency taking into
account inflation differentials between
Zimbabwe and its trading partner
countries.
It is not
necessarily the official exchange rate.
The projections support
gloomy forecasts made by the International
Monetary Fund (IMF) suggesting
that Zimbabwe's economic crisis in likely to
accelerate at an unprecedented
rate next year with inflation likely to
average 100 000% by December with
real gross domestic product (GDP)
contracting by 4,7%.
Apart
from demand and supply, the direction of the movement of the
local currency
to the US dollar had been triggered by policies adopted in
the monetary
policy, increased maximum cash withdrawals, the Reserve Bank
buying foreign
currency on the parallel market, adjustment of the exchange
rate and
availability of fuel.
Zimbabwe is currently battling an acute
foreign currency shortage that
has stoked severe fuel shortages and
disrupted normal economic activities.
Zim Independent
Paul Nyakazeya
INVESTORS are reacting positively to last week's
mid-term fiscal
policy statement and 2007 Supplementary Budget as they
frantically looked
for an inflation-proof home for their investment
funds.
The industrial index gained 21 505 954,67 points to reach 65
996
610,02 points on Wednesday from 44 490 653,35 points whilst the
resources
index shot up to 53 462 034,42 points from 28 702 535,36 during
the same
period.
The Minister of Finance Samuel Mumbengegwi
presented a $37,1 trillion
budget to be allocated to various sectors of the
economy despite initial
submissions of $255 trillion by the
ministries.
This means that the budget has "significant"
inflationary consequences
despite the current price controls, a development
that will force a
correction in equities otherwise they will become
undervalued.
Since the beginning of the year short term investors
have been
pocketing millions of dollars on the stock market largely due to
rising
inflation.
Given investors' quest to hedge their assets
against the
wealth-destruction effects of inflation, the outlook for
equities in the
long term will depend on the degree to which the various
counters are able
to profitably operate in this environment of price
controls. Although
Mumbengegwi dismissed the $255 trillion request as
"beyond government's
domestic financing capacity", bank economists this week
said government
would be forced to spend more than the $37,1
trillion.
An investor who might have bought 200 British America
Tobacco shares
at $90 million last week on Wednesday could pocket $150
million if he had
sold the same shares on Wednesday.
200 Old
Mutual and ABCH shares bought during the same period at $123
million and $12
million would be sold at $160 million and $22 million
respectively if sold
during the same period.
During Wednesday's afternoon trade the
industrial and mining index
retreated slightly, briefly reflecting
profit-taking by investors as they
await new information to be presented by
Reserve Bank governor, Gideon Gono
in his monetary policy statement expected
before the end of the month.
The monetary policy framework has
already been set by the expansionary
nature of the supplementary budget
presented last week.
Given that the $2,4 trillion budget deficit
for the first half of the
year was funded from domestic borrowings that saw
local debt shooting to
$8,1 trillion due to high interest charges of $6,1
trillion compared to the
borrowed amount of only $1,96 trillion, the
authorities are expected to keep
the treasury bill rate at 340% so that
government continues to borrow
cheaply.
Economists who spoke to
businessdigest this week said the $37,1
trillion which is seven times below
initial submission of $255 trillion
would force the Reserve Bank to print
more money to cover the gap as
borrowing from the financial sector was
insufficient due to the unattractive
nature of public debt mobilisation
instruments such as the treasury bill
which stands at 340% per annum against
an annual inflation rate of 7 635%
for July.
While the
inflationary budget has revived a bullish trend on the
equities market, the
devaluation of the dollar gave further boosted
exporting and mining
counters.
Exporters' exchange rate was devalued by 50% from the
Drought
Mitigation and Economic Stabilisation Fund (DMESF) rate of $15 000
to $30
000.
Zim Independent
Kuda
Chikwanda
FINANCE minister Samuel Mumbengegwi made life harder
for the business
community and ordinary Zimbabweans as fuel shot up from
around $250 000 a
litre to between $320 000 and $350 000 a litre. Importers
immediately
cushioned themselves from increases to the price of fuel made
Mumbengegwi in
his mid-term fiscal budget by pushing increases to the price
of fuel to the
end user.
Mumbengegwi increased the customs duty
on petroleum products, the
National Oil Company of Zimbabwe (Noczim) debt
redemption levy and carbon
tax to $5 000, $2 500 and $5 000 a litre
respectively.
However importers reacted by passing on the cost to
the customer
resulting in the price of fuel on the parallel market - the
only place where
it is currently being found. Prices shot up to between $320
000 and $350 000
a litre this week.
The increases reflected
some form of government turnaround from its
stance that price increases were
unjustified but there was no progress on
the front of negotiations with
business over price increases in excess of
20%.
Government has
already stated that it believes in blanket mark-ups of
20% to all
commodities and has stressed to the business community that it
believes that
the 20% markup will provide "healthy" profit margins.
Business has
argued that as long as government cannot guarantee
sufficient foreign
currency resources for the business community and also
secure adequate fuel
supplies, businesses will be forced to source them from
the parallel market
and prices will continue to increase.
The increases in duty, carbon
tax and the Noczim debt redemption levy
are likely to yield nothing for
government, the business community and
end-users for as long as fuel remains
a scarce commodity in the country.
Government is battling to secure
adequate fuel imports but has failed
repeatedly with suppliers refusing to
continue supplying Zimbabwe over
non-payment of debts.
Zimbabwe
needs over US$130 million a month to secure sufficient fuel
for the nation's
requirements.
Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries (CZI) president
Callisto Jokonya
said businesses had been sourcing their foreign currency
and fuel
requirements on the parallel market for over five years
now.
Jokonya said in their view the parallel market was supposed to
be
called the free market as it was the only market where market forces
interacted freely.
"I call it the free market and not the
parallel or black market
because it is the market where free market forces
interact. And business has
operated on the free market for the past five
years, in that period never
got our foreign currency or fuel from the
official market."
Jokonya said while the increases would hurt
industry owing to fuel
being a major cost driver, business had become
accustomed to paying through
the nose for foreign currency and fuel
supplies.
He added that Mumbengegwi's adjustments to fuel prices
was a clear
admission by government that it was impossible to hold the costs
of
commodities down in Zimbabwe's prevailing inflationary
environment.
Zim Independent
Paul
Nyakazeya
A TOTAL of 70,1 million kg of tobacco valued at
US$164,3 million
($118,5 billion) were sold at the close of the 2007 selling
season figures
obtained yesterday from the Tobacco Industry Marketing Board
revealed.
During the same period last year a total of 54 173 445 kg
were sold,
the figure rose to 55,5 million kg following 1,4 million kg which
were sold
during the two clean up sales which were done after the close of
the
official selling season.
Of the 70,1 kg million, BMZ
handled 9,1 million kg valued at US$22
million, TSL and ZITAC processed
transactions of 11 million kg and 8,6
million valued at US$26,7 million and
US$21,1 million respectively. Contract
farming accounted for 41,3 million kg
valued at US$94,5 million.
The 70 million kg is a far cry from the
impoverished country's glory
days, when tobacco production reached a record
high of 236,13 million kg.
TIMB acting chief executive Andrew
Matibiri said the industry was
targeting to increase production to 120
million kg next year, following the
purchase of seed enough to cover 95 000
hectares.
"We intend to have 60 000 hectares of land under tobacco
to produce
120 million kilogrammes of tobacco next season. Although we have
the usual
problems of lack of inputs such as fertiliser and power outages we
are
confident we will be able to reach next year's target," Matibiriri
said.
Zimbabwe Tobacco Association chief executive Rodney Ambrose
said the
just ended selling season was one of the best in terms of marketing
due to
support from the government and the Reserve Bank.
Government
disbursed a support price of $5,1 trillion this year.
The opening
of this year's selling season was however marred by a
dispute over pricing
between farmers and buyers as growers withheld their
crop in protest over
prices.
Tobacco growers wanted an adjustment on the exchange rate
to US$1 to
$180 000 and that the retention scheme be either raised or
maintained.
From April 25, tobacco growers who sold leaf tobacco at
the auction
floors to July 31 were entitled to a 35% delivery and early
delivery bonus.
The support framework was based on the actual value of
tobacco sold on the
auction floors.
RBZ governor Gideon Gono
said the cut-off of July 31 took into account
unanticipated logistical
challenges experienced by growers during the
preparation of this year's crop
for marketing. Gono said sales made after
the cut-off date and before August
31 would attract a reduced delivery bonus
of 15%, after the date a delivery
bonus did not apply.
He said under the new framework tobacco
growers would be paid for all
tobacco sold at the auction floors at the
prevailing interbank rate. As a
result the 15% Tobacco Growers Retention was
discontinued.
Zim Independent
Paul
Nyakazeya
THE Finance and Appropriation Bills 2007 this week
passed through
senate without amendments and is now awaiting President
Robert Mugabe's
assent.
If passed the Bill will give effect to
the fiscal measures announced
by Finance Minister Samuel Mumbengegwi in his
maiden mid term fiscal policy
and supplementary budget last
week.
Mumbengegwi said the Finance Bill would, among others, amend
clauses
of the Finance Act that fixed rates of tax, duty, levy and other
charges so
that these could be altered through Statutory Instruments when
appropriate
instead of waiting until parliament ratified them. The Bill
would also allow
adjustment of the minimum taxable incomes.
The
Bill also seeks to allow ministries to draw funds allocated in the
supplementary budget from the Consolidated Revenue Fund.
Mumbengegwi said apart from benefiting workers, measures contained in
the
budget were also meant to stimulate production.
"Once we stimulate
production, our economy would be on the road to
recovery," Mumbengegwi
said.
Some ministers and senators this week accused Mumbengegwi of
allocating less money to "important ministries" at the expense of those
which did not require much money.
Minister Mumbengegwi defended
the allocations, saying due
consideration was made with relevant ministries
before funds were allocated.
An analysis of budget statistics shows
that government was living
beyond its means as recurrent expenditure was
greater than current tax
revenue.
In principle recurrent
expenditure should be entirely financed from
current revenue such that any
deficit to be reported would have been
incurred through expenditure on
capital projects.
Movement for Democratic Change Secretary General
Tendai Biti said
government's claim that the supplementary budget would not
exceed the
original budget presented in December 2006 by 800% betrayed a
"lack of
elementary understanding of the nuts and bolts of
economics".
"Even more importantly, it exposes the fact that the
regime has no
control over this failing economy and worse still, that they
do not care,"
said Biti.
Zim Independent
Constantine
Chimakure
OVER the past 10 years, President Robert Mugabe's
government has
established more than a dozen commissions to run various arms
of government.
Some of the commissions have taken over the powers
of permanent
secretaries and cabinet ministers to run parastatals, but
little has taken
place to turn around the fortunes of the quasi-government
companies.
The government has over the years established, among
other
commissions, the Zimbabwe Electricity Regulatory Authority, the
Competition
and Tariffs Commission, the Anti-Corruption Commission, the
Zimbabwe
Electoral Commission, the Harare Commission and the Media and
Information
Commission.
But it is the latest commission that
has stolen the thunder from the
rest. The new commission has rendered most
ministers superfluous.
It is the National Incomes and Pricing
Commission that took over
powers formerly vested in ministers to approve,
among others, school fees,
tariffs and charges by government departments,
state universities, statutory
bodies, including statutory professional
associations, and companies where
the state is a majority or sole
shareholder.
All fee increases by non-governmental schools since
June 18 were
forbidden and have to be approved by the new
commission.
Simply put, the commission took over the powers of the
secretary for
Education, Sport and Culture in approving and setting fees at
non-governmental schools. It has also taken over the powers of the
ministries of Labour and that of Industry in negotiating with employers and
manufacturers salaries and prices of goods and services
respectively.
The commission was also charged with the power to
make pay awards and
fees and price increases of goods and services by the
private sector.
The commission was given sweeping powers just over
a week ago under
the Presidential Powers (Temporary Measures) Act which fall
away in six
months unless parliament amends the Commission Act and the
Education Act.
All this was done as part of government's price
blitzkrieg that
started in July and saw manufacturers, wholesalers and
retailers forced to
slash prices of goods and services by 50%. The blitz has
left many shops
empty.
The government also implemented these
measures in a bid to bring
inflation down since all increases would be less
than the current inflation
rate.
However, this week analysts
said the establishment of commissions was
a clear sign of a government in
desperation.
They argued that the powers of the National Incomes
and Pricing
Commission reveal that it was now indeed running the show in
Zimbabwe -
albeit for only six months.
"We have so many
statutory commissions in this country," argued
political analyst Michael
Mhike. "Some are for regulating the electricity
industry and others to fight
company monopolies. The commissions have done
little, while others nothing
at all for the benefit of the country besides
drawing huge sums of money
from the fiscus which could have been channelled
towards social
development."
Mhike said the introduction of the National Incomes
and Pricing
Commission with sweeping powers rendered ministries
useless.
"The commission is like a mini-cabinet and will run the
show in the
ministries of Labour, Education and Industry for the next six
months using
the powers it was granted by the Presidential Powers (Temporary
Measures)
Act," Mhike added.
Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions
secretary-general Wellington Chibebe
said the introduction of the commission
was contrary to the spirit of the
three protocols under the social contract
signed on June 1.
"Indeed, the new commission is too powerful and
to us it is against
what we signed for on June 1. We never agreed on a
salary freeze. In fact
the agreement was that salaries would be pegged to
the poverty datum line,"
Chibebe said.
"The new commission is
no longer going to be made up of social
partners as agreed during the social
contract talks."
The major objective of the social contract was to
stabilise incomes
and prices, restore industrial productivity and management
of foreign
currency.
Three protocols were signed under the
social contract - Incomes and
Pricing Stabilisation Protocol, Restoration of
Production Viability Protocol
and the Protocol on Mobilisation, Pricing and
Management of Foreign
Currency.
But Minister of Industry and
International Trade Obert Mpofu sees
things differently.
He
told The Herald recently that the setting up of an all-powerful
National
Incomes and Pricing Commission, among others, was aimed at
addressing
national concerns.
"The measures the government has taken are
measures that were agreed
to at our (Zanu PF) conference in Goromonzi. They
were endorsed by the
politburo and adopted by the central committee," Mpofu
said. "Detractors
will find that what they were trying to do has come
unstuck."
While Zimbabwe is busy coming up with various commissions
to eclipse
the powers of government ministries and departments, across the
Limpopo,
South Africa is consolidating commissions to, among other things,
cut costs
of running them, lack of administrative and financial independence
and
removal of duplication of duties.
According to a 260-page
report by an ad hoc committee set up by the
government of South Africa to be
tabled in parliament soon, there was need
for a single umbrella body to
replace the many commissions in the country.
The committee wants
the Commission on Gender Equity, the Public
Service Commission, the National
Youth Commission, the Human Rights
Commission and the Commission for the
Promotion and the Protection of the
Rights of the Cultural, Religious and
Linguistic Communities, among others,
merged.
In what was
termed a bold move in the South African media, the
committee proposed the
establishment of an umbrella body to be called the
Commission on Human
Rights and Equity, and in addition to improving ease of
access, it would
also make parliamentary oversight simpler.
It, therefore, remains
to be seen whether Zimbabwe will continue to
churn out new commissions to
the detriment of its flagging economy or adopt
what appears to be South
Africa's more rational move to merge commissions
and thereby get better
value for money.
Zim Independent
BELOW we publish edited
excerpts from an August 31 letter from South
African Broadcasting
Corporation (SABC) group CEO Dali Mpofu to Jovial
Rantao, chairperson of the
South African National Editors' Forum (Sanef) in
which Mpofu announces the
SABC's withdrawal from the forum over its stance
on the Manto
Tshabalala-Msimang medical-records furore.
Our breakfast meeting
last Tuesday, 21 August 2007 refers.
I have since been
contemplating your request for the SABC to restore
its active participation
in Sanef .
I indicated to you that despite our strong objections to
some of the
stances previously taken by your organisation, especially those
individuals
who can clearly be identified with the dominant right-wing
conservative wing
of your organisation, my personal belief was that in the
new democracy, it
was incumbent on all who treasure our freedom not to leave
any uncontested
space for those who seek to undermine or misrepresent
it.
I added that the time for boycotting these institutions was
over and
that it was a duty of democrats to populate and transform
them.
After outlining some of the frustrations we experienced in
the past
with the unfair and sometimes malicious treatment of the SABC at
the hands
of your organisation and your members, I accepted your assurances
that your
new leadership intended to transform the organisation for the
better and in
turn I promised to revert to you with a considered view as to
the extent and
nature of our future participation in or cooperation with
Sanef .
Coincidentally, the period of my own contemplation of our
discussion
as well as consultation with the Group Executive Committee
coincided with
some disturbing developments on the side of your
organisation, yourself and
the mainstream of your membership core,
particularly around the matter of
the actions of Mondli Makhanya and the
Sunday Times regarding the medical
records of the health
minister.
This episode has unfortunately rubbed salt into the
wounds which
characterise the relationship between our two
organisations.
Literally on the day of our breakfast I saw you,
acting in your
capacity as Sanef chairperson, on our evening SABC television
news
unconditionally justifying the appalling behaviour of the Sunday Times,
presumably including their participation in or benefiting from the theft of
medical documents .
The following day, Monday, 27 August 2007,
happened to be our monthly
Group Executive Committee meeting.
I
raised the issue of our future participation in Sanef and received
the
unanimous view that we should terminate and withdraw from any remaining
or
possible future relationship with Sanef. This was in line with my
recommendation to that effect. This decision was yesterday conveyed to and
received the full support of our board.
It is clear that Sanef has
reached some consensus around a particular
conservative, self-serving
ideological position on the issue of the role of
the media in our society.
It is a consensus which is diametrically opposed
to our stance, which is
based on a contextual interpretation of our
constitution and the values
underlying our bill of rights, which form the
foundation of our freedom and
our hard-won democracy.
The nonsensical view that the media is
absolutely "free" to trample
the privacy and dignity of any citizen offends
against the SABC's own
values.
As editor-in-chief of the SABC,
it is my duty to inform you that we
will no longer stand idle whilst we are
being made a whipping-boy and a
scapegoat by the profit-driven
media.
Even less are we prepared to associate with the enemies of
our freedom
and our people. We cannot remain quiet while our mothers and our
democratically-chosen leaders are stripped naked for the sole reason of
selling newspapers. This in Women's Month!
When you and the
Raymond Louws of this world justify criminal theft
you must know that you
are not speaking for the SABC and the majority of
South
Africans.
The same people who at the beginning of the year were
frothing in the
mouth about how soft the government is on crime are now flag
bearers for the
theft of medical records, which might actually result in
endangering a human
being's life and her future treatment!
How
inhumane and how far removed from the basic value of ubuntu.
Shame
on all of you, especially those who have turned their backs on
your own
cultural values for 30 pieces of silver, pretending to be converted
to
foreign, frigid and feelingless "freedoms".
The parameters of our
freedom will be determined by the people who
brought that freedom about and
not the apologists for those who inherently
resent it and its foundational
values.
Please note that our decision to break ties with your
organisation is
based on the epidemic deterioration of journalistic ethics
within your ranks
and disrespect for our people.
The decision
is with immediate effect and will stand until such time
that you address
these issues openly and to our satisfaction.
Are black editors
savages incapable of comprehending the intricacies
of 'foreign' values such
as press freedom? The Sowetan Editor Thabo Leshilo
reacts to Dali Mpofu's
comments.
I developed an uncanny ability to detect racist slurs and
stereotyping
very early in life.
To me, the most demeaning
caricature remains that of black Africans as
subhuman savages who missed the
evolutionary bus.
Sadly, that stereotype persists to this day in
the idea that black
people are concerned only with fulfilling their
immediate basic needs.
And many black commentators perpetuate the
backward notion that we
black people should not be concerned with such
esoteric and European issues
as global warming or media freedom. Last week's
letter from SABC CEO, Dali
Mpofu, to Sanef is the most explicit display I
have yet encountered of the
racist notion that genuine concern about the
erosion of press freedom is
nothing but a bourgeois indulgence or a white
pastime.
Freedom of the press was so sacrosanct in our liberation
struggle that
we enshrined it in the constitution. The SABC bigwigs suggest
that freedom
of expression is the concern of a few white men, such as
veteran media
freedom fighter Raymond Louw.
They maintain that
those black people who squander time on media
freedom in the face of our
huge social and economic crisis are the black
surrogates of the right-wing
enemies of the democratic government.
They count among these
surrogates Sunday Times editor Mondli Makhanya,
Mail & Guardian editor
Ferial Haffajee and myself.
Well, things are not yet perfect in our
fledgling democracy, even if
we have by far the freest media in
Africa.
The democratic government recently launched an assault on
our media
freedom in the form of pre-publication censorship contained in the
Films and
Publications Amendment Bill.
Let me defer to Oom Ray.
"Despite the constitutional guarantees of
media freedom in South Africa,
there are signs the government and its
diehard allies are slowly but surely
imitating repressive governments' ways
in their quest to hinder freedom of
the media and freedom of expression,"
Louw said last year.
"This is reflected in the conduct of their officials in seeking to
restrict
the media. Access to information is not as readily available today
as it was
in the glow of 1994, which has rapidly faded.
"We now see
spin-doctoring, if not downright lies, when uncomfortable
and embarrassing
information is to be dealt with, and much withholding of
information."
His observations are glaringly true to all
working journalists - and
all freedom-loving South Africans should be
concerned.
The campaign against media freedom tries to portray
independent media
as being motivated solely by profit, and therefore
unqualified to hold
public officials accountable.
Walk lightly
there, my friend.
Mpofu forgets that he gorges royally at the
public trough.
We in the independent press have to prove our worth
to the public on a
daily basis.
What's more, Mpofu seems to
forget that SABC advertising revenue comes
from commercial enterprises.
Another favoured missile launched at the
independent media is articulated by
Mpofu himself, who says that in a new
democracy it is "incumbent on all who
treasure our freedom not to leave any
uncontested space for those who seek
to undermine or misrepresent it".
In other words, all black
journalists and editors should rally behind
him in the SABC's imaginary war
against "black haters" who hide behind press
freedom to "hijack our
democracy".
Sorry, Dali, I'm unavailable for this intellectual
buffoonery.
Similarly, you have only yourself to blame for your
inability to
understand that Sanef could accept funding from the SABC and
still criticise
it. That is what happens in a democracy.
Mpofu
and his cronies want to ram down our throats their sycophantic
brand of
"patriotic journalism".
This non-journalism would have us extol the
expertise of the surgeons
who successfully implanted Manto
Tshabalala-Msimang's new liver to show that
we have world-class medical
expertise.
The Sunday Times is today the most hated newspaper in
government
circles because it dared tell the public that she is a convicted
thief whose
ineptitude has ruined our public health system.
Mpofu tells us that such reporting in the public interest is inhumane
and
inimical to the values of ubuntu.
He pours scorn on Sanef for
defending the newspaper's right to bring
us these stories, saving his worst
vitriol for Sanef's black members,
accusing them of having traded their
integrity for money and "pretending to
be converted to foreign, frigid and
feelingless 'freedoms'".
There we go again: because we are black,
we cannot believe in the
freedom of the press, but only pretend to be
converted.
We are, after all, savages incapable of comprehending
the intricacies
of such "foreign" universal values as press freedom in a
free society.
.Thabo Leshilo a member of Sanef. He writes in his
personal capacity
Zim Independent
By Tendai
Biti
POOR Sam Mumbengegwi! Some men are gifted enough to hide
their
mediocrity or at least to hide the mediocrity of their work. But alas,
the
talentless Minister of Finance possesses neither attribute.
The supplementary budget he presented on September 6 is an indictment
not
just of the person of Mumbengegwi but of the regime in Harare.
That
the supplementary budget can exceed the original budget presented
in
December 2006 by 800% betrays a lack of elementary understanding of the
nuts
and bolts of economics. But even more importantly, it exposes the fact
that
the regime has no control over this failing economy and, worse still,
that
it does not care.
The very appointment of Mumbengegwi as a
replacement of the affable
Herbert Murerwa is a reflection that President
Robert Mugabe does not give a
hoot about basic economic housekeeping
fundamentals such as budget balancing
and macro-economic
stability.
A number of critical issues arise with this
supplementary budget. The
first is that as a supplementary budget, it is not
located in any policy
framework. The budget is a major fiscal tool that
should be grounded in some
major policy framework.
The existing
fiscal planning tool that this regime is nominally bound
by is the National
Economic Develeopment Priority Programme (NEDPP) launched
in March 2006. The
budget therefore should have been a complementary tool
for the objectives
and roadmap designed in the NEDPP. Sadly, the
supplementary budget is not
anchored in this. Instead, it is a hotchpotch of
contradictory and
self-defeating policy tools.
Stripped to its bare bones, the
supplementary budget betrays the
contradiction in the Zanu PF state between,
on the one hand, the need to be
loyal to basic economic fundamentals and, on
the other, the power retention
agenda in which state resources will be spent
without reason, logic or limit
purely for the purposes of maintaining and
reproducing power.
Thus, while Mumbengegwi implicitly acknowledges
the catalpetic effect
that a huge budget deficit has on inflation and fiscal
discipline, he
nevertheless succumbs to the power retention agenda by
producing a
supplementary budget that is loyal to this cause and this cause
only.
One finds that the amounts allocated to the President's
Office (which
houses the notorious Central Intelligence Organisation), the
Ministry of
Defence and the Ministry of Home Affairs are a staggering
$12,662 trillion,
which is 33% of the supplementary budget.
If
one adds the traditional government slush fund - the unallocated
reserve
under the Ministry of Finance vote - of $2,4 trillion, then in fact
the
amount being allocated to the securocrats is 43% of the supplementary
budget.
The net effect of the expansionary fiscal deliquency is
that there
will be a major increase in the stockpile of domestic debt from
$8,1
trillion to at least $16 trillion, in our view.
Furthermore, while a huge budget deficit does not necessarily have to
be
destructive, ours is, given that more than 70% of that budget consists of
consumptive recurrent expenditure in the form of interest payments and
wages. To the extent that the budget deficit and the debt are financed by
domestic borrowings, the government has yet to engineer negative interest
rates with the consequent debilitating effect on savings.
What
it means right now is that Zimbabwe is experiencing negative net
savings of
-5% of gross domestic product (GDP). Without savings being at
least 30% of
GDP, there is no way this regime, or any other government for
that matter,
can resolve the supply side of the economy through use of
domestic
resources.
What it means, therefore, is that Mugabe's policies have
made this
country more dependent on foreign inflows for the recovery of our
economy.
Put simply, the regime that has made sovereignty its
national mantra
has stolen the economic sovereignty of this
country.
A key question to be asked is: how will this government
finance the
supplementary budget?
In answering this question,
one must recognise the minister's
admission that of the cumulative revenue
of $3,4 trillion collected up to
June, 30,3% came from value-added tax
(VAT). But since June 18, when the
government embarked on its crackdown on
prices, or ginyanomics as we called
it, the receipts from VAT have shrunk by
more than 80% as a result of that
ill-advised adventure.
The
situation is going to get worse in view of the enactment, through
presidential powers, of the new price control regulations, SI
159A/2007.
However, one does not need to be a rocket scientist to
understand that
the regime has set itself up for further printing of money.
With all the
disastrous consequences associated with this treasonous act,
the act of
printing money has unashamedly been glorified to the status of a
revolutionary achievement!
Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe governor
Gideon Gono, defending the same in
the latest edition of the banal New
African magazine, states as follows:
"Only the bullfighter knows what goes
on in the ring . . . We are guided by
conviction and not convention, and
where convention meets conviction, well
and good. What drives us is the
belief that we are doing the correct thing .
. ."
That is Zanu
PF economics for you!
Moreover, the fact that the supplementary
budget is presented without
disclosing the estimated revenue is quite
clearly dangerous and
unacceptable. In any case, it is an implicit breach of
the provisions of
Section 103 of the Constitution of Zimbabwe, which
requires full disclosure
of both the revenue and expenditure components in
an Appropriation Bill.
A further glaring contradiction of the
budget statement is the
devaluation of the Zimbabwe dollar by 99,2%. As we
have argued before, any
devaluation done that is disconnected to an overall
supply side strategy
engendered by a comprehensive fiscal and monetary
policy is meaningless. It
will simply exacerbate the crisis. The same is
true of the devaluation.
Firstly, it is unrealistic given that the
parallel market rate of the
Zimbabwe currency is $250 000 to the US unit.
There is no chance therefore
that the latest move will have any meaningful
effect towards the stimulation
of exports. All it will do is to add further
distortions to the exchange
rate matrix.
The same is true of
the move to increase the minimum tax threshold to
$4 million. Given that the
poverty datum line is $8,5 million, $4 million
becomes an insult. Moreover,
another pertinent question is whether there is
still a significant number of
people in formal employment.
The supplementary budget fails to
acknowledge the quasi-fiscal
activities that have become a favourite pastime
at the RBZ, which
quasi-fiscal activities have never been scrutinised by
parliament. In the
2006 financial year, the amount of money spent by the RBZ
in quasi-fiscal
activities was $370,9 billion, which was at par with the
national budget
presented by Murerwa, who then paid a price for the full
disclosure of those
activities by being fired.
Quite clearly,
the out-of-depth Mumbengegwi has neither the courage
nor reason to demand
full disclosure from the RBZ. The point being made is
that the national debt
and the budget deficit in real terms are much higher
than what has so far
been disclosed.
Furthermore, it means that the push on inflation
and the further
impoverishment of the ordinary Zimbabwean will increase. Put
simply, we are
in a rut!
One cannot run an economy on the basis
of throwing lots or consulting
sangomas. At least under Simba Makoni there
was an element of comprehension
of rudimentary economics.
Clearly, the task at hand is beyond the overfed fellows at number 80
Samora
Machel Avenue and at Munhumutapa building. As we have argued before,
only a
political solution, predicated on a new, people-driven constitution
and free
and fair elections, is a starting point to the resolution of the
multi-faceted Zimbabwean crisis.
Otherwise this house has
fallen!
Tendai Biti is MDC secretary-general and MP for Harare
East.
Zim Independent
THE Zanu
PF bribery show took centre-stage once again on Monday when
Local Government
minister Ignatious Chombo doled out luxury double-cab Mazda
vehicles to 48
chiefs in a desperate bid to bribe traditional leaders ahead
of a critical
election.
The MDC is aware that the vehicles are meant to be the
traditional
leaders' boarding passes on the Zanu PF gravy
train.
The regime is staring rejection by the people in next year's
election.
It is no coincidence that the vehicles are being handed
over now.
The regime has simply gone back to its rigging manual by
extending
this largesse to unassuming traditional leaders in order to
persuade them to
do Zanu PF's bidding in the run-up to the watershed
plebiscite.
The handing out of luxury vehicles comes just weeks
after the regime
squandered billions of taxpayers' money on scotch-carts and
ox-drawn ploughs
to be given to headmen and chiefs ahead of the
elections.
The MDC condemns the continued abuse of traditional
leaders by a
regime that has lost all moral and political legitimacy to
govern.
Traditional leaders are the custodians of our moral and
cultural
values.
They are our respected elders chosen not
because of their political
affiliation, but because of their role in
cementing relations and solving
civic disputes in our
communities.
The Zanu PF regime has torn this moral code of conduct
of our
traditional leaders by coercing them to adopt its discredited agenda.
The
MDC is aware that most of our chiefs are a noble people.
They are against their continued abuse but are also aware of the
legendary
Zanu PF vengeance against those who speak or act against it.
In the
new Zimbabwe, we will look back with disgust and say never
again should a
government commit the cardinal sin of coercing respected
traditional leaders
to dabble in politics.
In the new Zimbabwe, no government should
abuse civic institutions and
our respected elders for selfish political ends
that are inimical to their
traditional roles.
An MDC government
shall restore the dignity of the chiefs as the
custodians of our moral and
cultural values and not as an appendage of the
ruling elite.
We
have to start afresh as a nation. We have to restore our lost
dignity as a
nation and as a people.
A new Zimbabwe is not a dream. It is a
reality about to happen.
MDC Information and Publicity
Department
Zim Independent
Comment
WE can safely assert that government acted unilaterally when
it
decreed in July that prices of all goods and services should be reduced
by
half, or at the very least, cut to June 18 levels.
This
decision was taken without sufficient consultation with business,
in the
interests of the social contract as envisaged in the three protocols
signed
on June1.
Although the price reductions could have been a boon for
labour given
the low wages most workers earn, the unintended consequences by
way of empty
shelves were entirely predictable.
We can again
safely say that government acted in breach of the same
protocols in relation
to labour when President Robert Mugabe used the
Presidential Powers Act to
freeze all wage reviews until the end of the year
when most workers'
earnings are already far below the poverty datum line and
the inflation rate
of over 7 600%.
More than that, the workers would not have accepted
such a decision,
even if they were consulted, given that the prices of most
basic commodities
are rising daily in both the formal and the informal
markets.
The implication is that salaries and wages have not been
frozen but
have in fact been reduced in inverse proportion as prices of
commodities
have gone up. This does not augur well for the social contract
which, it was
hoped, would help economic recovery.
While it is
premature to conclude that government is acting in bad
faith with its social
partners, one cannot avoid that temptation given the
heavy-handedness with
which it has dealt with businesses which have been
accused of defying its
price decree.
Unfortunately, both business and labour have reacted
amateurishly to
government's gangsterish bullying. There are unconfirmed
reports of firms
not restocking goods to avoid being burnt
twice.
Labour for its part has announced a two-day stayaway next
week to
protest the wage freeze. In other words both are reacting
individually,
rather than nationally, to government's irrational
behaviour.
To us this response is only correct as a political
gesture. Both
business and labour want to be seen to be doing something
rather than
actually doing something that will force government to change
its ways. Both
are reacting in a way that seeks to exacerbate the spirit of
confrontation
rather than alleviate the fermenting national crisis. The
consumer and the
worker always come out worse off.
In the case
of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU), given
claims that over 80%
of potential workers are unemployed, how many workers
are they expecting to
heed the call to stay away? Does this include civil
servants? Does this
include informal traders who take such occasions as a
chance to make money?
How many people need to heed the call for it to be
deemed a
success?
So far the only certainty about the ZCTU stayaway is that
it is going
to be two days on September 19-20. What happens after the second
day given
that any government worth the name won't yield to anything less
than massive
industrial action? Do they return to the same double-prejudiced
employer to
ask for a salary adjustment, where they will be told to "go and
talk to your
government"?
What is the impact of a few workers
staying at home on the two days
and then returning to work afterwards still
empty-handed? If you want to be
taken seriously as a labour union, you
cannot engage in a war of attrition
with government in an economy in which
the worker is starving.
Last year ZCTU leaders were rounded up
outside Town House where they
wanted to march against low wages, lack of
access to antiretroviral drugs
for its members and high taxes, and were
severely assaulted in police
custody. There is no doubt that circumstances
have deteriorated further
since then. What is in doubt is whether the ZCTU
leadership has itself
changed strategies and tactics to avoid a similar fate
this time around.
Then of course there is the issue of the social
contract. Is it dead?
Is it alive? Who has met his side of the bargain among
the three partners?
There is no use blaming government for its collapse when
labour and business
can't demonstrate that they have been faithful to terms
of the protocols. It
simply exposes them as equally culpable.
Has there been any attempt to engage government or the responsible
commission on the salary freeze before resorting to the economically
damaging industrial action? We have seen businesses being allowed to review
their prices to a point where a loaf of bread now costs more than $130 000
from about $30 000 two weeks ago. Has the ZCTU tried to present its case
within that context before engaging in a fight it is certain to
lose?
At times one detects in the responses of labour and business
the same
lack of resourcefulness and mature leadership that have been the
hallmark of
Zimbabwe's political opposition for the past seven years. Their
actions are
more designed to posture and win public sympathy than to advance
a
transformative agenda from the status quo.
Zim Independent
Candid Comment
by Joram Nyathi
THE talks between Zanu PF
and the MDC are becoming a veritable
conundrum. South African president
Thabo Mbeki told the recent Sadc summit
in Lusaka that there was progress in
the talks. Zanu PF's pointman at the
talks, Patrick Chinamasa, trashed the
subject at the same summit, saying
there was no need for constitutional
changes because "Zimbabwe is a
democracy like any other
democracy".
The MDC had made a new constitution one of its key
demands at the
talks although no one seriously believed they would get one
before next year's
synchronised presidential and parliamentary election. It
was a demand with
more tactical value than electoral advantage.
Then on Friday it was reported that the Zanu PF politburo was happy
with the
progress of the talks. They were responding to a rep