VOA
By
Catherine Maddux
Washington
14 September
2006
Zimbabwe is in the midst of an unprecedented economic and
political free
fall. With skyrocketing inflation rates, declining
agricultural production
and repressive political and media policies,
Zimbabwe is a nation in crisis.
One long-time Zimbabwe watcher has proposed
a plan to help put the nation,
once proudly known as Africa's "breadbasket,"
on the road toward economic
and political recovery.
Todd Moss, senior
fellow at the Center for Global Development, says the
story of Zimbabwe's
decline is tragic. He says the nation began its
post-British-colonial era
with a measure of true economic strength.
"At independence in 1980,
Zimbabwe had a fairly diversified economy," he
said. "In fact, it was a
very robust economy that had just survived an
extended period of trauma,
and, at independence, was in a very good position
to lead Africa as a kind
of model going forward."
Speaking at a recent forum at the Johns Hopkins
School for Advanced
International Studies, Moss said independent Zimbabwe,
formerly Rhodesia,
had achieved political stability, despite lingering
racial tensions.
"Politically, it was sort of a model of racial
reconciliation," he added.
"Obviously, there were racial tensions during the
colonial period, but for
the most part, the previous white Rhodesians -
white Zimbabweans - largely
withdrew from politics. But politically, it was
also somewhat of a success
story."
All that good fortune began to
erode in the early 1990s, says Moss, when
Zimbabwe's economy cooled, and
official corruption rose along with the
nations' debt level.
Moss
says the point of no return for Zimbabwe began six years ago, when the
first
credible opposition movement was formed, the Movement for Democratic
Change.
Perhaps more important to the country's decline, he says, was the
land
reform program instituted by President Robert Mugabe, the country's
only
leader since independence.
Zimbabwe's land reform program was designed to
redistribute white-owned
commercial farms to poor, landless
blacks.
Moss says the implementation of the program, often violent and
used to
reward President Mugabe's political friends, has been devastating.
Thousands of farmers have been forcibly evicted, and, in their absence,
tracks of once highly productive land have stalled, amid a combination of
bad policy and a withering drought.
The Zimbabwean ambassador to the
United States, Machivenyika Mapuranga,
attended Moss's seminar, and he
strongly defended land reform. He called it
successful, and a much needed
redress from the British colonial era that has
now created racial
equity.
"Eighty percent of Zimbabweans are peasants," he explained.
"Getting them
out of the reservations and giving them productive land. [And
now] 320,000
families have been resettled. You cannot call them cronies of
Mugabe! We
are talking about a substantial part of the peasant population.
Where you
used to have just a handful of black farmers in commercial farming
business,
now you have 40,000. This is the equity that we were fighting
for."
Moss questioned the ambassador's numbers, calling them highly
doubtful. In
response, the ambassador angrily walked out of the
forum.
Moss went on to propose steps the international community could
take to help
restore prosperity in Zimbabwe.
They include tightening
sanctions, exposing the government's propaganda,
pushing to get Zimbabwe
expelled from the International Monetary Fund (IMF)
and applying more U.S.
diplomatic pressure.
The focus, Moss says, should be on the future, when
President Mugabe is no
longer in power.
"While all these short terms
things are kind of pushing around the margins,
there's a more important
thing that the West can do to help Zimbabwe. And
this is really to think
ahead, and to do some contingency planning, for the
transition is coming at
some point," he noted.
By transition, Moss means the inevitable end of
the 26-year rule of the
82-year-old president.
At that time, Moss
says, Zimbabwe should be thought of by donors as what he
calls a
"post-conflict" situation.
"We have had political violence and social
trauma. There are militias. There
have been gross human rights violations.
There has obviously been an
economic collapse; not only on the scale of a
war zone, but worse," he
added. "Maize, the staple crop, is now down to a
fraction of what Zimbabwe
can produce. They are importing food. The
infrastructure is collapsing.
And really, unfortunately, the country is past
the point of a quick
rebound."
He says international donors must be
ready and willing to respond quickly.
"One example of this is, they put
in a lot of money upfront to try to steer
the country, to get it on a
recovery path early, rather than sitting back
and waiting," he said. "In
terms of political support, there could be an
international effort to smooth
the transition, depending on how it unfolds.
There would definitely have to
be some kind of security forces reform. That
will have to be dealt with,
and, actually, the U.S., in particular, has a
pretty good record on helping
reform the security sector."
Another key element to help rebuild
Zimbabwe, according to Moss, is the
creation of a truth and reconciliation
commission, or a war crimes tribunal
to address the issue of severe human
rights abuses.
And, there should be an immediate effort to deal with
humanitarian needs
among poor Zimbabweans suffering under a shattered
economy. Among them are
hundreds-of-thousands of people made homeless last
year, when the government
destroyed homes and businesses as part of an urban
rationalization scheme.
Finally, Moss says, there must be a deliberate
effort to court private
investors, especially highly skilled Zimbabweans who
have left the country,
amid its collapse.
The United States has
condemned human rights abuses in Zimbabwe and imposed
some sanctions.
However, the U.S. continues to provide humanitarian
assistance to
Zimbabwe.
VOA
By
Blessing Zulu, Patience Rusere and Thomas Chiripasi
Washington and
Harare
14 September 2006
Zimbabwean authorities
continued to crack down on opposition elements
Thursday in Harare and other
cities after stifling attempts a day earlier by
the Zimbabwe Congress of
Trade Unions to protest the decline of living
standards for the country's
workers.
Police made dozens of arrests in Harare and other cities in an
apparent
effort to make sure there would be no follow-up by organized labor
or the
political opposition.
Thomas Chiripasi of VOA's Studio 7 for
Zimbabwe reported from the capital.
Meanwhile, the lawyer representing
detained ZCTU leaders said police at the
Harare Central Station declined to
accept custody of the prisoners when they
were sent there from Matapi, a
suburb of the capital. Lawyer Alec
Muchadehama said police sent him back to
Matapi once they had seen the
injuries the trade unionists had
sustained.
Acting Information Minister Paul Mangwana said, on the one
handm that
Wednseday's protests failed, adding on the other that the
government was
justified in using force to suppress the attempted protests.
Mangwana
asserted in an interview with reporter Blessing Zulu that workers
had not
heeded the call to protest against Harare.
Secretary General
Tendai Biti of the MDC faction led by Morgan Tsvangirai,
said the tough
response by authorities will not deter protests planned by
his
party.
Assessing the impact of the union protests, political analyst and
human
rights lawyer Brian Kagoro, based in Nairobi, Kenya, said history has
shown
that state use of force is often counter-productive as it creates
outrage
and mobilizes resistance.
Later Thursday, civil society group
met in Harare to plan their response to
what they characterized as
government brutality against the arrested labor
leaders.
Crisis In
Zimbabwe Coalition Advocacy Officer Itayi Zimunya said civic
groups, most of
them participants in the Save Zimbabwe campaign, were
revising plans based
on the lessons learned in Wednesday's rout of labor
demonstrators. Save
Zimbabwe is a loose coalition of about 25 church, civic
groups and
opposition parties.
Zimunya said some civic activists formed groups to
help those held by
police, while others moved to build capacity to help
those caught up in
future mass actions.
Civic groups expected to take
to the streets in the near future include the
National Constitutional
Assembly, the Zimbabwe National Students Union, and
the MDC faction led by
founding president Morgan Tsvangirai.
Crisis Coalition spokesman Zimunya
told reporter Patience Rusere that he
sees the situation as one of
continuing struggle pursued by all patriotic
Zimbabweans.
The youth
wing of Tsvangirai's faction of the MDC said it would protest the
alleged
official brutality. Organizers said that besides the widely reported
beatings of union officials, youth leaders Thamsanqa Mahlangu and Amos
Chibaya were assaulted by ruling party youth militia. MDC Youth Wing
National Secretary Solomon Madzore told Carole Gombakomba that official
violence could not be leftr unchallenged.
Administration spokesman
William Nhara, also a senior ZANU-PF official for
Harare province, said the
allegations were unfounded. He said ruling party
youth activists were
ordered not to wear party regalia and to avoid
opposition demonstrators. He
suggested the MDC youth might have been
assaulted by rival faction
members.
Elsewhere, 99 members of Women of Zimbabwe Arise, an opposition
activist
group, appeared in magistrate's court Thursday, three days after
their
arrest during a protest in Harare over high water bills and
deteriorating
urban services.
Lawyer Tafadzwa Mugabe, said 94 women
were released on free bail on
condition they not interfere with witnesses
and remain at their present
addresses. Five were sent back to the cells
because of problems with their
personal documents.
Zim Independent
Ray Matikinye
LAWYERS representing
detained trade union and opposition
activists say their clients were
viciously assaulted by police while in
detention with several sustaining
broken bones and other injuries.
Armed police swooped on the
Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions
(ZCTU) leadership on Wednesday as they
prepared to march to present a
petition to the Finance minister and the
offices of the Employers
Confederation of Zimbabwe.
Thirty-four people were arrested in Harare alone with 15
detained at Matapi
police station in Mbare while the remainder were taken to
Harare
Central.
Lawyers representing those arrested said what they
saw at Matapi
police station shocked them.
Lawyer Alec
Muchadehama of Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights
said it was evident his
clients had been attacked by police.
"From the look of it
they were attacked by the police as soon as
they were herded into cells,"
Muchadehama said.
"Some have broken limbs. The attacks
appeared sadistic because
some of the people cannot get up on their own. We
have been grappling with
the police to get them released so that they can
receive immediate medical
attention since Wednesday but the police have been
dilly-dallying. We
believe this is out of fear that releasing them will
expose their
brutality," Muchadehama said.
Late last
night Muchadehama said those detained at Matapi police
station had been
transferred to Harare Central.
"We have reached a compromise that
they be taken to hospital,
but they will be under police guard," the lawyer
said.
"We hope they will appear in court tomorrow
(today)."
Meanwhile, the Movement for Democratic Change said
it was
appalled by the extent of the physical assaults on their supporters
while in
police custody.
"The police have engaged in a
flagrant violation of the rights
of those arrested," a statement by the
party secretary-general, Tendai Biti
said.
"They were
called two at a time into a cell at Matapi police
station where five state
security agents brutally assaulted them. They are
in a sorry state. It was a
brutal assault," Biti said.
Lawyers who visited the detained
said Lucia Matibenga, the
ZCTUvice-president and MDC women's assembly
chairperson, was badly assaulted
with batons and sustained a fractured arm.
They said she was bleeding
through the ears.
They said
Matibenga was having difficulty in hearing and
breathing while Wellington
Chibebe, the ZCTU secretary-general, sustained a
suspected fracture and a
visible crack to the head.
ZCTU president Lovemore Matombo
was suspected to have fractured
both arms. The lawyers said he was
immobilised with pain from the brutal
assault and needed urgent medical
attention.
Others in need of urgent medical attention
included Ian Makone
(MDC national executive member), Moses Ngondo
(activist), Toendepi Shonhe
(MDC deputy organising secretary), Dennis
Chiwara (activist), Tererai Todini
(youth chairperson, MDC Mbare district),
Tonderai Nyahunzvi (activist),
Tichaona Basket, Stephen Mutasa Mutsipa,
James Gumbi, Nqobizitha Khumalo,
and Rwapedza Chigwengwa.
Biti said the whereabouts of MDC national executive members
Grace Kwinje and
Kerry Kay remained unknown, although they were last seen at
Harare central
police station.
He bemoaned the situation of those injured
saying lives could be
lost if no urgent medical attention was
provided.
"As if that is not enough, there are clearly no
moves to take
those arrested to the remand court."
The
lawyers have since filed an urgent application in the courts
seeking access
to their clients, medical help and an order to have their
clients placed on
remand. "We are hopeful the application will be heard,"
Biti said late
yesterday.
Zim Independent
Clemence Manyukwe
JUSTICE minister
Patrick Chinamasa is yet to get out of trouble
as it emerged this week that
the Attorney-General's office is considering
appealing against his acquittal
on charges of attempting to defeat the
course of justice.
Sources at the AG's office yesterday said they were scrutinising
a judgement
exonerating Chinamasa arrived at by retired magistrate Phenias
Chipopoteke.
In his judgement Chipopoteke said the state
had failed to prove
its case beyond reasonable doubt.
The
state, led by Levison Chikafu, had said Chinamasa approached
a key state
witness James Kaunye and pressurised him to withdraw public
violence charges
faced by National Security minister Didymus Mutasa's
supporters.
Kaunye, a war veteran who was attacked for
challenging Mutasa in
Zanu PF Makoni North primary elections in 2004, went
on to become the state's
key witness in Chinamasa's
trial.
Chinamasa mounted a political defence saying he was
"caught in a
crossfire" in a battle which he described in court as a
"take-take, which in
military terms means hand-to-hand combat using
bayonets" between Kaunye and
Mutasa.
The magistrate said
Kaunye's version of the story could not be
relied on saying at times he was
evasive and answered questions by firing
questions at the defence team. He
ruled that Kaunye was being treated as a
single witness as no other person
had heard Chinamasa persuading him to drop
the charges. Under such
circumstances the law stipulated that evidence from
one witness had to be
treated with caution.
During the trial, Chikafu said Mutasa
would soon be taken to
court to answer charges of public violence that
resulted in 16 of his
supporters being jailed for three
years.
At one time Chinamasa's prosecution suffered a setback
when
magistrates refused to try the Justice minister saying they had been
intimidated by Mutasa.
The minister has since denied the
allegations and threatened to
sue Rusape magistrate Loice Mukunyadzi who
made the damning claim in an open
court.
Zim Independent
Augustine Mukaro
CONTROVERSIAL
tycoon John Bredenkamp was yesterday acquitted on
charges of holding two
passports.
However, the future of his business empire in
Zimbabwe is under
threat as warring Zanu PF camps battle to secure his
backing in their bid to
succeed President Robert Mugabe.
Bredenkamp was arrested two months ago on charges of possessing
a South
African passport that he acquired in 2001.
Bredenkamp's
lawyer, Advocate Eric Matinenga, said his client
had been acquitted on the
basis that he had never used his South African
passport to leave or enter
Zimbabwe and that the country's laws could not
apply outside the
country.
"The section under which Bredenkamp was charged does
not have
extra-territorial applications," Matinenga said.
Sources in the farming community said Zanu PF had set its eyes
on taking
over Bredenkamp's highly mechanised Thetford Estate as punishment
for his
"intransigence".
Bredenkamp appears to have rubbed the ruling
elite up the wrong
way when he was suspected to be linked to one of Zanu
PF's factions battling
to win a long-running succession
struggle.
He was cited as a financier of his erstwhile ally
Emmerson
Mnangagwa in a report allegedly compiled for President Mugabe by
former
State Security minister Nicholas Goche in the wake of the Tsholotsho
meeting
in November 2004.
It was alleged that he had
provided billions of dollars to fund
Mnangagwa's campaign to become
vice-president and eventually to succeed
Mugabe.
Bredenkamp has denied the claims but senior Zanu PF officials,
in particular
the faction led by retired army commander, General Solomon
Mujuru, continue
to view him with suspicion.
Thetford Estate is now under
threat. It is understood to have
been subdivided into plots for A2
farmers.
Breco Holdings corporate affairs director, Costa
Pafitis,
refused to comment on renewed efforts by government to seize
Bredenkamp's
estate.
"I have no comment on the issue,"
Pafitis said.
"When we are prepared to comment on any
developments here we
will call you."
Breco Holding is
Bredenkamp's investment vehicle with diverse
economic interests in a number
of countries.
Thetford Estate, a 1 300-hectare holding in the
Mazowe Valley,
is a densely stocked wildlife paradise and a registered
conservancy,
breeding a variety of wildlife species, though numbers have
been dwindling
since the launch of the land reform programme in
2000.
Bredenkamp bought Thetford Estate from the Gulliver
family in
1999 after obtaining a certificate of no interest from government.
In
September 2000 the farm received a Section 5 order, which was withdrawn
in
October of that year after representations from Bredenkamp that the farm
did
not qualify for resettlement because it was highly industrialised and
had
huge investments on it.
In March 2002 the farm was
again listed and since then war
veterans have often disrupted
operations.
Out of the 1 300 hectares, 40 hectares are arable
and the rest
is used as a game park. Bredenkamp is understood to be leasing
a farm next
to Thetford for his horticulture venture.
Zim Independent
CENTRAL bank governor Gideon Gono's associate at the
central
bank of Russia, Andrei Kozlov, died yesterday after he was shot on
Wednesday
evening in Moscow in a suspected assassination.
Kozlov, who was deputy chairman of the Russian central bank, was
Gono's key
contact during his trips to Russia to negotiate lines of credit
for
Zimbabwe.
Gono yesterday confirmed his relationship with
Kozlov whom he
described as "a professional acquaintance full of energy and
determination .
and a source of inspiration to any central bank governor to
get things
right".
Gono however declined to spell out
the nature of the business
discussions he had with Kozlov. This year alone
Gono has visited Russia
three times while officials from the central bank
have visited the East
European country six times. There have also been
visits by delegations from
the local business community.
Gono said the death of Kozlov was an occupational hazard linked
to fighting
corruption. Recent press reports said there had been a threat to
Gono's life
after the introduction of new bearer cheques amid a 21-day
period to harvest
old notes.
The reports said strangers had visited Gono's
horticulture plot
in the Enterprise area while fire had allegedly destroyed
a maize crop at
his farm in Norton. Since then security has been stepped up
around the
governor.
Agency reports yesterday said Kozlov
(41) was attacked near the
capital's Spartak football arena at around 9 pm
on Wednesday. His driver was
also killed.
CNN yesterday
reported that authorities were looking at the
possibility of criminals
involved in money laundering being behind the
killing.
Russian deputy prime minister Alexander Zhukov told Associated
Press the
assassination was likely linked to Kozlov's duties, and suggested
the
possibility of a connection with the central bank's revocation of
licences
of unreliable commercial banks.
Kozlov had been responsible
for banking supervision and had
overseen an ambitious scheme to reduce
criminality and money laundering in
the banking system.
Gono yesterday said the deal between Zimbabwe and Russia would
however
continue although he refused to disclose the nature of the
investment deal
under negotiation.
He however revealed that a "very large"
Russian business
delegation would be visiting Zimbabwe very soon to explore
investment
opportunities in mining, power generation, manufacturing,
horticulture,
telecommunications and infrastructure development. -
CNN/AP/Staff Writer.
Zim Independent
Ray Matikinye
PUBLIC servants
are bracing themselves for tough negotiations
with government with a core
demand to benchmark their salaries on the
poverty datum level which stands
at $96 000 a month for the lowest paid.
Teachers and civil
servants' representatives say they have put
forward proposals for salary
increments, and transport and housing
allowances to government ahead of the
National Joint Negotiation Council
meeting on Monday.
Association of Principal and Executive Officers
secretary-general, Wilson
Nasho, said his team was fighting for civil
servants to be allowed to form
or join trade unions which are governed by
the Labour Act for them to derive
maximum benefits.
"While we are seeking improvement of civil
servants' working
conditions and that they be given freedom to join trade
unions, we have not
lost sight of the fact that they are some of the lowest
paid," Nasho said.
"Salaries are so woefully inadequate that
it has forced a lot of
the workers into corrupt deals despite the existence
of the Anti-Corruption
Commission," he said.
President of
the Civil Service Employees Association, Masimba
Kadzimu, said government
had to do something about the salaries of his
members. Its members occupy
the lowest rung on the salary scale.
"We have some of our
members who are failing to return home
after work and have to put up in
offices. Some have turned to prostitution
to make ends meet while others
live a life of borrowing from Peter to pay
Paul."
Kadzimu
said government could be taking advantage of the high
unemployment where
there is a pool of jobless people willing to fill the
vacuum left if its
workers went on strike to demand higher pay.
"Government
takes its time to reach decisions. They do not treat
us as partners in the
negotiations and need to change such attitudes," he
said.
"If they knew we represent people, they would respond
immediately," he said
adding that standards of service provision in
government offices would
greatly improve when people are adequately
remunerated.
Civil servants got a blanket salary hike in March this year but
the benefits
have been whittled down by galloping inflation.
Zim Independent
FORMER Information minister and Tsholotsho MP, Jonathan
Moyo,
has filed papers in the Bulawayo High Court revising his claims
against Zanu
PF national chairman John Nkomo and politburo member Dumiso
Dabengwa to $200
million from the $2 million he was demanding from each of
the defendants.
The papers were filed by his lawyer, Job
Sibanda of Job Sibanda
& Associates, at the Bulawayo High Court last
Wednesday.
The revising of the amount by Moyo makes the
lawsuit one of the
biggest in Zimbabwe in terms of the amounts
involved.
Moyo said the revision was necessitated by the
revaluing of the
currency and the spiralling rate of
inflation.
"The amendment of the claim should replace the old
claim by
deleting the figure $2 billion whenever it appears in the summons
and the
declaration and replace it with $200 million," the papers
say.
Moyo is suing Dabengwa and Nkomo for defamation arising
from
statements the two politicians allegedly made against him in
2004.
Moyo says the two senior Zanu PF officials told a party
meeting
that he had plotted a coup to topple President Mugabe from
power.
Moyo further claims that the two alleged that he had
"instigated, funded and led the hatching of a coup plot against President
Mugabe and others in the top leadership of the party".
Moyo said that Dabengwa and Nkomo claimed he received funding
from hostile
nations.
The two deny the charges and claim they never
uttered statements
to that effect.
Moyo, testifying in
the High Court before Justice Francis Bere
in May when the case opened, said
the statements uttered by the two
politicians in Matabeleland caused him
much pain before his unceremonious
exit from government.
The case will resume on November 28 when the defence team is
expected to
bring witnesses to testify against Moyo.
Senior party members
and ministers who include Patrick
Chinamasa, Abednico Ncube, Andrew Langa,
Francis Nhema, Flora Bhuka, July
Moyo and war veterans leader Joseph
Chinotimba have been lined up to testify
in the case. - Staff Writer.
Zim Independent
Clemence Manyukwe
THE European Union
parliament is putting pressure on China over
the Zimbabwe crisis, urging it
to stop arms sales to Harare. It has also
pressed China to allow moves to
place Zimbabwe on the agenda of the United
Nations Security Council in which
the Asian country holds a veto.
In a resolution adopted last
week at a session in Strasbourg in
France, the EU parliament also called on
President Robert Mugabe to stand
down "sooner rather than later", a
development the legislators described as
the "largest single step possible
towards reviving Zimbabwean society".
The EU parliament urged
the Security Council "to report on the
human rights and political situation
in Zimbabwe as a matter of urgency".
It said it wanted "China
and other countries that continue to
supply weaponry and other support to
the Mugabe regime to desist from doing
so and join the international
community in its efforts to bring about change
for the better in
Zimbabwe".
It said whereas the United Nations was appealing
for US$257
million in humanitarian aid to Zimbabwe, the government had
completed a
US$240 million deal to procure 12 K-8 military aircraft from
China, with the
army purchasing 127 vehicles for senior officers and another
194 expected
soon.
Three proposed laws, the Interception
of Communications Bill,
the Supression of Terrorism Bill and the
Non-Governmental Organisations
Bill, also came under the spotlight, with
government being urged to drop
them.
Fears were expressed
that Zanu PF would politicise food aid
through its reported takeover of the
Zimbabwe Red Cross Society.
"(The EU) expresses great
consternation at the Mugabe regime's
covert attempts to take control of the
Zimbabwe Red Cross Society by
forcibly recommending the employment of regime
members and supporters. It is
fearful that this move will herald the use of
ZRC's food support as a
political weapon," it added.
On
another issue, South Africa as the host nation of the 2010
World Cup as well
as Fifa were called upon to exclude Zimbabwe from
participating in pre-World
Cup matches, holding international friendly games
or hosting national teams
involved in the event.
"The Mugabe regime must derive
absolutely no financial benefit
or propaganda value from either the run-up
to the 2010 World Cup or the
tournament itself," it said.
The MEPs called on the bloc's council to expand the scope of
sanctions and
to enlarge the list of individuals - which currently stands at
120 - to
cover more government ministers, their deputies and governors, Zanu
PF
members, supporters and workers, in addition to family members,
businessmen
and other prominent individuals associated with Zanu PF.
Zim Independent
THE troubled Cold Storage Company (CSC) which has
failed to pay
its workforce for the past five months has laid off most of
its employees in
a bid to cut down on its wage bill.
Authoritative sources indicated that close to 100 workers in the
canning
department were recently laid off by CSC due to zero production
leaving the
department with only 19 workers.
"Most workers in the canning
department have been laid off
because there is absolutely no work to do.
Workers have lost faith in the
management and are just going to work to
fulfill their contractual
arrangements," a worker speaking on condition of
anonymity said.
Another said: "Workers have gone for five
months without getting
their monthly wages. The management is mum about the
whole issue and this
has irked workers who have families to take care of.
Schools have since
opened and the workers have to pay school fees for their
children."
Repeated efforts to get a comment from the company
failed as
public relations manager, Patience Madambe did not respond to
questions
faxed to her by the time of going to press.
The
country's largest meat processing and beef marketing
company, which is in
the grips of a financial squeeze, is operating at below
20% capacity due to
viability problems.
Parastatals have been in the firing line
in recent months from
government officials who accuse them of failing to
meet their economic
turnaround targets.
The central bank
last year released $10 billion under the
Parastatals and Local Authorities
Reorientation Programme to revive
collapsing parastatals. - Staff
Writer.
Zim Independent
Loughty Dube
THE Zanu PF succession
struggle took centre stage at a party
meeting in Lupane when over 50 women
from the Women's League staged a
demonstration on Saturday against Minister
of Industry and Trade, Obert
Mpofu, allegedly at the instigation of two
senior members of the party who
are front runners in the
race.
Mpofu, together with Zanu PF national chairman John
Nkomo,
Dumiso Dabengwa, and Simon Khaya Moyo, are seen as front runners to
replace
Vice-President Joseph Msika when he retires.
Jockeying for the position has intensified with hostile camps
emerging in
Matabeleland where two senior party leaders have teamed up
against
potential contenders for the position.
Just last week State
Security minister Didymus Mutasa was
dispatched to Matabeleland to solve a
brewing crisis over the allocation of
land to white commercial farmers as it
emerged that political heavyweights
were doing so to spite their
opponents.
However, the issue blew up on Saturday when a
group of Zanu PF
women staged a protest against Mpofu after he allegedly
challenged the
return of land to white commercial farmers in his
constituency only to
discover that the farmers were backed by two senior
politicians.
The demonstration occurred just before a planned
Zanu PF
provincial co-coordinating committee meeting in Lupane in
Matabeleland
North.
The women stormed the meeting and
started singing songs
denouncing Mpofu whom they accused of undermining
senior political leaders
and party members in the
province.
Mpofu, who is the Minister of Industry and
International Trade
and also MP for Bubi-Umguza, was not present when the
demonstration took
place as he was said to be in China on
business.
Zanu PF party members, including Bubi-Umguza
senator Lot Mbambo,
left the venue of the meeting when the demonstration
began.
A Zanu PF member, Timothy Mnkandla, who witnessed the
demonstration, told the Zimbabwe Independent that the situation was brought
under control by the provincial chairman, Headman Moyo, who called for a
closed meeting to discuss the women's concerns.
"The
situation in Matabeleland has become tense as there is
jockeying for Msika's
position and there are serious smear campaigns going
on currently," Mnkandla
said.
Among the demonstrating women were senators for
Tsholotsho,
Josephine Moyo and Hwange East Grace Dube.
A
source in Zanu PF said there was a serious plot against Mpofu
in the
province and alleged that the women were acting on the instructions
of two
senior politicians who are front runners to succeed Msika when he
leaves
office.
"Senior party leaders in the province have vowed that
Mpofu
should never be a replacement for Msika since he was no longer a
PF-Zapu
member when the Unity Accord was signed in 1987," said the
source.
"The situation is tense as other people who include
Matabeleland
North governor, Sithokozile Mathuthu, have been drawn in the
battle against
Mpofu," the source said.
Mathuthu scoffed
at the allegations that she was against anybody
in the province when she was
not present when the demonstration against
Mpofu began.
"Frankly speaking I have no agenda against anyone and I cannot
comment on
the demonstration in Lupane since I arrived when the women were
demonstrating and you should ask the women what they were demonstrating
about," Mathuthu said.
Mpofu was reportedly out of the
country at the time of going to
press.
Zim Independent
Augustine Mukaro
AGRICULTURE
minister Joseph Made has for the first time admitted
that Zimbabwe is facing
serious grain shortages and that the country has
been importing the
commodity to bridge the gap.
Responding to questions in
parliament last Wednesday, Made
confessed that government had been having
problems in providing maize to
millers. "Indeed, we have been having a
problem of supplying grain to the
millers," Made said in response to a
question by Harare North MP Trudy
Stevenson.
"We have
been balancing the distribution between what we have
already collected and
what we have imported. We have now given authority to
the GMB to make sure
that our stocks now meet the shortfall on importation
on a weekly
basis."
Made attributed part of the shortages to transport
problems
caused by fuel unavailability, saying there had been "some marginal
movements in the supply of the grain but it has not been
enough".
"The issue has been that when we tell the millers to
collect,
let us say from Aspindale, everybody will be going there because it
will be
much cheaper than going to Concession in terms of transportation
costs," he
said.
Made also partly blamed millers for the
shortages, saying they
should mill and deliver mealie-meal as soon as they
receive the grain.
"We know that at times, millers will tend
to hold on to some
mealie-meal. There have been issues that there will be
price movements and
so on but I would want to say that there is nothing like
that at the
moment," he said.
Zim Independent
GOVERNMENT will maintain its stranglehold on the media
through
the Media and Information Commission (MIC) until media practitioners
form a
voluntary media complaints council to police "media recklessness",
acting
Information minister, Paul Mangwana, said last
Friday.
Mangwana said the Zimbabwe Union of Journalist (ZUJ)
could not
claim to represent the media in Zimbabwe as it comprised
"employees".
Instead, he said, ZUJ should realise that it is
just part of a
facet of an industry that comprises publishers, editors,
advertisers and
printers.
Government, he said, had no
qualms about self-regulatory bodies
pertaining to an
industry.
ZUJ has been supporting a Misa initiative, backed
by other
stakeholders such as the Zimbabwe National Editors Forum, to form a
voluntary media council. The MIC is widely viewed as a government agency
tasked to muzzle the independent media.
Mangwana said the
MIC was established to cover the vacuum
created by a media industry that
could not regulate itself.
"You make and unmake reputations,
you make or unmake politics,
you make and unmake
governments.
Government cannot be blamed for reading
political conspiracy in
demands that seek to compromise the sovereignty and
interest of this
country," Mangwana said. - Staff Writer.
Zim Independent
AS the agricultural sector continues to be
rocked by
lawlessness, evictions and uncertainty, the Zimbabwe
Independent's
political reporter Augustine Mukaro (AM) spoke to Commercial
Farmers Union
(CFU) president Doug Taylor-Freeme (DTF) about the prospects
of normalising
the sector and improving productivity.
AM:
What is the current membership of the CFU?
DTF: We have a
broad base of membership, both black and white
farmers. Amongst the white
farmers, we have a non-farming group interested
in getting compensation and
others seeking an opportunity to go back to the
farms and start afresh once
the fundamentals are addressed. We also have
large, medium and small-scale
farmers as
well as those farming out of the
country.
AM: Does government and farmers, especially the
dispossessed,
have confidence in the CFU as the body necessary in resolving
the land issue
and leading the recovery of agriculture?
DTF: It's very unfortunate that Zimbabwean authorities don't
want to
recognise the vast potential and capacity we have to turn around the
fortunes of this country. But confidence in our skills and potential is
tremendous in Sadc and the international community. I have been elected as
the vice-president of the Southern African Confederation of Agricultural
Unions which represents several Sadc countries. I was also seconded to sit
on the board of International Federation of Agriculture Producers as the
African representative.
The organisation represents over
six million farmers throughout
the world. These appointments show that the
world is confident that
Zimbabwean farmers have the capacity to add value to
agriculture. We have
the capacity to turn around agriculture in this country
within six months.
AM: How many farmers have been compensated
and are they happy
with the amounts offered?
DTF:
Compensation is ongoing and to date around 300 farmers have
been
compensated. The money being offered ranges between 3 to 10% of the
value of
the improvements on a farm resulting in farmers turning the offers
down.
Elderly and frail farmers are accepting the compensation since it is
their
only source of income and government appears to be targeting those
soft
spots.
AM: Have you tabled any proposals before government on
how to
resolve the land issue?
DTF: There have been many
proposals including the Zimbabwe Joint
Resettlement Initiative of 2001, but
for any proposal to work, government
has to put in place sound policies that
create a balance between large-scale
commercial agriculture and small-scale
(including) fundamentals such as rule
of law, security of tenure that
guarantees protection of property and a
climate friendly to
investment.
For example, equipment in the country no longer
has the capacity
to till the expected hectarage because it is old and
dilapidated, but there
is no one prepared to invest in new equipment because
of the prohibitive
equipment law which bars farmers from moving their
equipment once the farm
is acquired.
AM. You have been
advising your members to apply for land to
government. Are they going to
accept any farm or do they target specific
farms? How many have been given
offer letters?
DTF: In our many meetings with (Lands)
minister (Didymus)
Mutasa, we were advised that if we wanted to farm, we had
to apply for land.
As such, we recommended to our farmers to apply. Our
farmers are applying to
have their farms back. This strategy would reduce
compensation on the part
of government, take away conflict with the former
owners and even quicken
the recovery processes since the farmer would have
an understanding of his
farm, soils and environment he previously worked
in.
Our problem as a sector is access to land, so by applying
for
land we are trying to legitimise and promote agriculture within the
frameworks of the land reform programme which CFU has always
supported.
AM: Some of your members and the top CFU
leadership have been
accused of getting into deals with powerful politicians
to retain their
farms. What's your comment?
DTF: There
may be 1% of such deals happening but the majority of
the farmers still on
the land have offered one farm to keep another. In most
cases these
arrangements were done through courts but government is often
reneging on
the matter and farmers are being evicted every day. CFU
leadership are no
exception to the harassment, threats of eviction or even
losing land. I have
already lost 70% of my land holding and for the past
four years have been
going through courts to get the right to continue
farming. My other
vice-president Trevor Gifford has been reduced to a mere
seven hectares.
What we are doing is to try and manage the situation and
keep skills on the
farms, giving people hope for better times.
AM: Does
government listen to your proposals and do you foresee
a resolution anytime
soon?
DTF: There are two groups of people in the government:
the
economically minded group wants the land issue resolved yesterday but
they
are drawn back by the political radicals. For as long as we are not
pulling
in one direction, disruptions and uncertainty will prevail, eroding
investor
confidence and undermining potential to produce. Banks continue to
be
twitchy because of lack of security and disruptions. In fact agriculture
is
not legitimate anymore.
Zim Independent
Dumisani
Ndlela
AN exceedingly liquid market kept interest rates in a
tailspin,
with indications the drift was likely to continue in the course of
heavy
treasury bill (TB) maturities expected to hit a record $82 billion in
October alone.
The bulk of the maturities will be for
interest payments on
government debt for 91-day TBs issued at yields of
between 510% and 525%.
The slide in rates has put pressure on
investors who had shunned
long-dated paper in anticipation of a policy shift
by an unpredictable
central bank that brought rates down considerably in
August.
Market expectation of inflation topping 1 000%
year-on-year for
August was increasing concern that the low interest on
long-term money
market instruments would translate into sub-inflation
earnings.
But with huge treasury bill (TB) maturities ruling
the market,
investors were beginning to lose hope of any sudden shift in
policy by the
Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) in favour of a high interest
rate regime,
especially considering that record maturities of $150 billion,
or $150
trillion under the recently abolished currency system, were due for
redemption this month and in October.
This month's
maturities will amount to a notable $68 billion.
Most major
commercial banks were shunning the TB auctions since
the central bank's
policy review on July 31, hoping the interest rates would
shortly be
reviewed in line with the inflation outlook.
The banks had
been parking their funds in penal 7-day
non-interest earning
instruments.
The central bank scrapped the contentious
two-year TB paper,
replacing it with a "special sweeping accounts" for all
clearing banks into
which surplus funds after settlement are transferred and
kept at 0% interest
for seven days.
Last week, the
central bank issued 365-day TBs at 300%. Dealers
said there was active
participation on the tenders, but this had weakened
yesterday when the
central bank came to the market with fresh 365-day
instruments at an average
rate of 237,43% in the morning tender, a
significant drop from last week's
rate.
The rate was expected to decline further in the
afternoon
tender.
The 181-day TBs, the major money market
instrument by the
central bank since its policy review last month, had an
average rate of 250%
during the last 181-day TB tender on Tuesday last week,
but the rate on the
instrument had plunged to 199% on this week's Tuesday
afternoon tender
before taking crashing further to 143,44% in Wednesday's
afternoon auction.
Zim Independent
Paul Nyakazeya
THE combative central
bank governor Gideon Gono has missed this
year's annual general meeting of
the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and
the World Bank in Singapore, an
event that he attended last year.
It was widely expected that
Gono would use the event to charm
IMF executives and persuade them to
restore Zimbabwe's voting rights and put
the country on a path to
restoration of relations with the international
community.
But it has now emerged that Gono will not be
attending the
Bretton Woods annual meeting in Singapore scheduled for
today.
Businessdigest understands that Gono, who was
scheduled to
attend the meeting together with Finance minister Herbert
Murerwa, had
withdrawn under unclear circumstances.
Murerwa left for the meeting on Wednesday.
Reports swirling
in the market yesterday indicated that Gono was
frustrated by what he
earlier this year alleged to be the politicisation of
the IMF when its board
refused to restore the country's voting rights
despite payment of
outstanding arrears under the IMF General Resources
Account.
Gono, a key figure in the country's economic
revival project and
now a point man for the IMF on key economic policy
issues, had received
unfavourable remarks from the Bretton Woods institution
over currency
reforms Murerwa said had been undertaken without his
knowledge.
Murerwa is part of a delegation of finance
ministers guiding the
IMF executives on important policy issues.
Zim Independent
Dumisani Ndlela
THE Reserve Bank of
Zimbabwe (RBZ) mopped up $35 trillion of the
phased-out bearer cheques under
an operation meant to nab speculators,
blamed for ruining the country's
economy, information from the central bank
revealed.
The
cash returned to the central bank amounts to 78% of the $45
trillion that
had been in circulation, indicating that dealers and
speculators could have
been left holding $10 trillion that remained
unaccounted for when the old
family of bearer cheques was phased out on
August 21 to make way for new
currency.
In a public notice, central bank governor Gideon
Gono said the
$10 trillion had "been trapped into the wilderness of
underground markets
either inside the country or doing business overtime
outside our boarders.
This represents 22% of our currency that is missing
from our radar".
Gono declared during his July 31 monetary
policy review that
August 1 marked the dawn of a new era in the fight
against inflation,
launching currency reforms he said would inhibit
speculation and bring the
country "some stability and
convenience".
"All of us would like the sun to set on the
dark, speculative
world of trading, cash hoarding and skyrocketing inflation
so many of us
have been conditioned to," Gono said during his monetary
policy review on
July 31.
He set August 1 to 21 as the
transition period for the phasing
out of the old bearer cheques, setting out
tough conditions for deposits
that were aimed at flushing out speculators
holding huge sums of money which
they could not account
for..
The old bearer cheques were phased out under currency
reforms
entailing the replacement of old bearer cheques, an equivalent of
bank
notes, with new bearer cheques with three zeros
removed.
Gono has warned that the central bank will soon
introduce a new
currency and little notice will be given in phasing out
bearer cheques in
circulation.
In his public notice
reflecting on the project, Gono said police
and the central bank had "netted
a total of 9 320 cases with a value of $1,4
trillion whose owners could not
satisfactorily account for" funds they were
either moving or trying to
deposit into the banking system.
"Anti-money laundering laws
will be involved and those unable to
acquit themselves will face the full
wrath of the law," Gono said.
Economists said while the
amount of money that failed to come
back into the system was significant, it
was unlikely this would have any
effect on money supply levels.
Zim Independent
By Admire Mavolwane
RECENTLY
published results from the banking sector not only
belie what the sector
went through in the first six months of the year but
also raise eyebrows
over whether the playing field is level or not. In a way
the numbers also
usher in a new era where some of the indigenous
institutions are obviously
creaming it whilst the big five appear to be
scrambling for
crumbs.
Unlike the manufacturing industry and exporters banks
have never
been publicly called "cry babies" but towards the end of March
this year the
Bankers Association of Zimbabwe (BAZ) rather
uncharacteristically wrote an
epistle to the Reserve Bank expressing concern
about the precarious position
that the sector found itself in following the
tightening of the monetary
policy stance.
The point
underscored in the letter was that each of the largest
five banks -
presumably based on asset and deposit size - was borrowing in
excess of $1
trillion (old currency) from the central bank on a daily basis
and in so
doing incurring interest expenses in excess of $20,5 billion
daily. It was
noted that such a situation was unsustainable even for the
large
banks.
The smaller banks, although borrowing less, were in a
similar
position, with viability under serious threat. It was further
mentioned that
because the accommodation rate was 750% per annum and the
average yield on
treasury bills was much lower such that the banks were
carrying the treasury
at a huge cost and actually at their own
expense.
The final point was to emphasise that, should the
situation not
be rectified, the sector was unlikely to achieve the September
30
capitalisation deadline.
The central bank took time to
respond with a reprieve not coming
until towards mid-May. So, as from
February right up to early May the banks
were haemorrhaging. The central
bank first responded by introducing 365-day
CPI linked bonds with a
bi-annual coupon.
Secondly, the 91-day Treasury Bill yield
was reduced from 525%
to 200%, which indirectly reduced the funding costs
for the banks. In June,
the central bank further lightened the burden on the
sector by reducing the
statutory reserve ratios. The banks were then able to
breathe comfortably
again. Thus the sector's latest results for the six
months to June 2006
exhibit an extraordinary recovery. It would be wonderful
if the same was to
happen to the whole economy.
Agribank,
long thought of as a basket case of the sector lacking
in
entrepreneurialship and dependent on annual injections of funds from the
fiscus stole the limelight - from CBZ - with some spectacular figures. On
the other hand, banking behemoth, Barclays left many wondering whether there
had not been a typing error or an interchange of the numbers with those of
Metroplitan.
After convincing themselves that it really
was Barclays'
results, the next step was to check on the reporting currency.
Barclays
recorded interest income of $8,5 trillion (old currency), which was
an
increase of 1 041% on prior period. Interest expenses at $8,5 trillion
were
aberrantly high resulting in a net interest income of just $168
billion. An
increase in fees and commission income of 1 291%, to $1,3
trillion, added to
inflows from foreign currency trading, dividend and
profits on disposal of
assets of $286 billion, $5 billion and $9 billion,
respectively, saw the
bank recording total income of $1,8
trillion.
Of this income, $1,3 trillion went towards meeting
the cost of
running the bank, $106 billion was the provisioning for
impairment losses on
loans and advances and $170 was a provision for the
taxman leaving
shareholders with only $284 billion to share amongst
themselves.
Notwithstanding the embarrassing performance,
Barclays still
commands a lot of respect as far as depositors are concerned.
The bank
remained in third place with roughly $17 trillion in deposits,
closely
following CBZ Bank with $18,2, trillion whilst Stanchart and Stanbic
are in
pole and fourth position with liabilities to the public of $24,5
trillion
and $15,2, trillion respectively. Zimbank, the perennial
underperformer,
which basically suffers from a similar ailment to Barclays,
that of high
funding costs, commands fifth position owing $15,5 trillion to
the masses.
The latter's bottom line for the six months was a mere $141
billion.
Another institution to pull a huge surprise was
Interfin
Merchant Bank, an accepting house which during the heady days of
2002-3 made
the likes of FBC, MBCA and others look like small boys. Merchant
banks have
since, the tide turned in 2004, been forced to find new sources
of
sustenance. Foreign currency trading inflows have dried up in a big way
and
the advisory field now seems to be dominated by
boutiques.
Consequently, heavy reliance is now being placed
on the
wholesale money market and structured finance. The wholesale money
market,
however, burnt Interfin as it recorded negative interest income of
$231
billion. Salvation came from non-funded income of $445 billion which,
after
deducting operating expenses, provisions for bad and doubtful debts
and
taxation, saw only $22 billion remaining in the kitty. This result in no
way
compares with compatriots, Renaissance, ABC Zimbabwe and Premier who
achieved profits after tax of $784 billion, $693 billion and $1,2 trillion,
respectively.
The board chairman of Interfin was sincere
in his concluding
remarks thanking clients, staff, management and fellow
board members for
having persevered and supported the bank in the
particularly painful and
stressful period just completed.
Agribank recorded net interest growth of 2 925% to $4,8
trillion, with the
good performance having hinged on increased RBZ funded
agricultural
development loans in the form of Aspef and PSIP and, to a
lesser extent
treasury bills and money market placements. We understand the
margin for the
bank on these RBZ facilities was nearly 34%, which was above
the 29% average
for the whole sector. Total advances amounted to $7 trillion
and only $382,
4 billion was provided for bad debts, not unexpected really
given that the
bulk of the funds were "rolled" over anyway upon expiry of
the facilities.
With such a top line performance, profits after tax were no
doubt going to
be something to remember with $2,4 trillion being realised,
outshining some
of the sectors' beacons such as Stanchart, CBZ and Barclays.
Zim Independent
ZIMBABWEANS fleeing a devastating economic crisis are
setting up
businesses in neighbouring Zambia, bolstering the Zambian economy
whose
agricultural sector has been turned around by white farmers displaced
during
the country's muddled land reform programme.
The
Zambia Investment Centre (ZIC) said Zimbabweans have so far
made business
commitments amounting to US$135 million in the past six
years.
The head of ZIC's marketing department, Sharon
Sichilongo, said
113 151 jobs had been created as a result of the
investments.
"Over 112 investment projects from Zimbabwe
worth US$134,5
million have been registered over the past six years creating
13 151 jobs,"
Sichilongo told businessdigest on the telephone from Lusaka.
"The investment
climate is attractive and the stability of our economic
policies is
contributing (to increased investment by Zimbabweans)," she
said.
The ZIC is an autonomous statutory body formed by an
Act of
parliament with a clear mandate to promote and facilitate both local
and
foreign investment in the country.
Zambia's economy,
once one of the worst performers in the
region, has rebounded significantly,
recording growth figures while the
Zimbabwean economy has been haemorrhaging
from a six-year recession.
Nearly 150 commercial farmers
displaced in Zimbabwe have moved
to Zambia, turning around the country's
agricultural sector from a net
importer of agricultural produce to a net
exporter.
Zimbabwe, once the region's breadbasket, is going
through its
worst economic crisis characterised by acute food shortages as
well as
foreign currency and fuel shortages that have disrupted the normal
functioning of the country's economy which has contracted by a cumulative
30% since 2000. - Staff Writer.
Zim Independent
Dumisani Ndlela
INVESTORS last week
jostled for $500 million housing bills, with
dealers saying interest in the
money market instrument had been bolstered by
the bills' prescribed asset
status.
Government floated the housing bills last week to
raise cash to
finance the construction of houses for public
servants.
The housing bills were oversubscribed, with a total
allotment of
$845,1 million at an average rate of 199,4% out of the floated
$500 million.
Bids amounting to $4,9 billion were far higher
than the amount
on offer, indicating overwhelming interest from the
market.
"There is a shortage of prescribed assets," a dealer
said this
week, explaining the reason for the huge interest. "It's mainly
the pension
funds and insurance companies as well as market makers hoping to
sell the
instruments later."
Pension and insurance firms
are compelled by law to have a
certain portion of their portfolios in
prescribed assets.
The housing bills, issued through Genesis
Investment Bank, were
issued by government in partnership with the private
sector through the
Public Private Partnership.
The
partners have established the Public Servants Housing
Development Company
(PSHDC), a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) to mobilise the
appropriate
financial and technical resources for the development of houses
for public
servants.
The bills have a prescribed asset status,
irrevocable Government
of Zimbabwe guarantee and are tradable on the
secondary market.
They also have a tax-exempt status granted
by the Ministry of
Finance.
Indications had earlier been
that the bills were a risky
investment, with analysts predicting poor
take-up by the market.
The huge interest in the bills was
therefore surprising.
The fear had been that government,
battling serious cash
constraints, could default on repayments on maturity
of the bills, forcing
it to roll them over.
"This can
lead to liquidity risk for investors," a banking
sector analyst
said.
Dealers said a liquid market had also bolstered the
prospects
for success of the housing bills tender, but discounted this as
the major
factor in the overwhelming support level.
"Yes,
the high liquidity position on the market during the week
was a factor, but
I wouldn't give that a higher weighting; it's the appetite
for prescribed
assets," a dealer told businessdigest.
The market remained
vastly liquid last week, but dealers said
the liquidity situation had
significantly increased on Thursday due to the
maturing of the
non-negotiable seven-day paper that would have been rolled
over the previous
week.
As a result, liquidity that averaged $5 billion during
the first
four days of the week shot up to $27,8 billion on Thursday and
closed less
liquid at $7,6 billion as the money was rolled over again, an
analyst with
Kingdom Stockbrokers said.
"We expect the
same trend to happen every week with Mondays
closing tighter due to
statutory reserve payments and becoming easier as the
week progresses until
Thursday and the cycle starts again."
Zim Independent
By Beatrice Mtetwa
THE recent
prosecutions of high-powered ministers and their
close allies has raised a
number of issues, including the need for
uniformity on whether these
"accused" should retain their positions while
their cases await
adjudication.
In most democratic countries, it is normal for
a high-ranking
person who is charged with a criminal offence to be suspended
pending a
determination of their case. This is a procedure that is generally
taken for
granted in respect of employees as it is enshrined in the Labour
Act and
codes of conduct which provide that where an employee is suspended,
with or
without pay, pending the holding of disciplinary proceedings or the
finalisation of their case. It is not difficult to understand and
appreciate the rationale behind this rule.
The presence
of the accused person in his/her position while
he/she is on trial can be
extremely awkward for colleagues and all those who
might be involved in the
proceedings.
For those who will be witnesses, the discomfort
of having to
interact on a daily basis while the proceedings are on-going
can clearly
interfere with the course of the proceedings. This is
particularly so where
the accused holds a senior and influential position
and can therefore make
or break the career of a potential witness or
participant in the
proceedings.
When former Finance
minister Christopher Kuruneri was arrested,
he was held in custody for a
long time and this probably made it easier for
those involved in his trial
to perform their duties without the fear that
would be present if he had
remained in office.
The cabinet reshuffle which followed his
arrest also clearly
made it easier to deal with his case. It was also
probably for this reason
that South Africa's former deputy president Jacob
Zuma was relieved of his
position when it became clear that he would be
prosecuted, and why he stood
down as deputy president while the prosecution
in the rape case was
underway.
Does Zimbabwe have any
uniform position in this respect? And
how does this impact on the
administration of justice?
The prosecution and conviction of
Charles Nherera remains fresh
in our minds. While he was being prosecuted,
he continued to hold his
positions as vice-chancellor of the Chinhoyi
University of Technology and as
chairperson of the Zimbabwe United Passenger
Company (Zupco) board of
directors.
The influence Nherera
held in both organisations therefore
continued right up to the time of his
conviction. That he remained at the
helm of these organisations whilst he
was being prosecuted in my view
impacted on both organisations and also on
the administration of justice.
Questions that immediately
come to mind include how the
professor would have dealt with an employee in
either of these organisations
who was facing disciplinary or criminal
charges. Would he have advocated
such a person's suspension pending the
finalisation of the proceedings when
he continued enjoying the benefits of
his positions while being prosecuted
for what was clearly a serious offence
which has led to his imprisonment?
It has already been
reported in the press that Zupco footed the
bill for his legal costs during
the criminal trial and there can be no doubt
that this was so as he remained
in control of the Zupco board and therefore
continued to wield considerable
influence over it right up to the time of
his
incarceration.
Other board members who might have been
uncomfortable with this
situation could not raise the issue while their
chairman was there. This is
particularly so given the fact that appointments
to parastatal boards are
based mainly on patronage and board members
normally have close ties with
the ruling elite and are unlikely to question
their benefactor's actions.
The finance director at Zupco is
therefore unlikely to have
refused to pay the chairman's legal costs when
the board had not questioned
this and public funds have therefore been used
to pay the legal costs in a
prosecution where the chairman was guilty of
abusing his position.
He was therefore financially rewarded
for having abused his
position in circumstances where he was seeking to
unlawfully enrich himself.
Had he been suspended or removed from his
powerful position on the board as
soon as the prosecution commenced, the
board probably would not have
sanctioned the payment of legal fees for its
errant chairman.
That a chairman of a board in a company in which
the taxpayer is
the shareholder should walk out of the dock into the
boardroom when it is
that very position he abused is most disconcerting and
gives the impression
that the government's so-called fight against
corruption is not serious.
This is particularly so given the
fact that the deputy
chairperson of the Anti-Corruption Commission, Johannes
Tomana, testified in
the same trial on behalf of the accused in a clear
conflict of interest. An
Anti-Corruption Commission deputy chairperson who
testifies on behalf of an
accused person who is facing a corruption-related
charge is basically saying
the exact opposite of what his mandate ought to
be.
In any normal democracy where corruption is being taken
seriously, such a person would have testified for the state in aggravation
with a clear message that the commission had zero-tolerance for corruption,
particularly at a level as high as that of Nherera, who held a position in a
company in which the taxpayer has an interest.
This
brings to the fore the recently concluded prosecution of
the Minister of
Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs, Patrick Chinamasa,
on a charge
related to the administration of justice. The minister remained
in office
throughout his prosecution which was being handled by his ministry
and by
personnel under him who would come out of the courtroom and look to
the
minister for any advancement within the system.
That the
magistrates in Rusape declined to be involved in the
prosecution is
therefore clearly understandable as one's career in the
ministry could be
affected in one way or another, depending on how the trial
goes.
That the administration of justice is affected by
an incumbent
Minister of Justice being prosecuted in his own courts cannot
be denied and
those involved in the prosecution are already being
intimidated through
lawsuits that will most likely be determined by judges
who owe their
appointments to the very same minister.
In
my view, it is absolutely crucial that a government minister
who is being
prosecuted for a serious offence be out of the system while the
prosecution
is underway. Allowing powerful government ministers to remain in
office
while they are being prosecuted undermines the justice administration
system
as it allows for special dispensations that are not normally enjoyed
by
other accused persons. This is particularly so where the accused is the
minister responsible for justice.
If the fight against
corruption is serious at all, it is hoped
that the Anti-Corruption
Commission will develop a holistic approach that
will be seen as truly
fighting corruption instead of aiding and abetting
corrupt practices. It is
the commission's duty to develop rules and
regulations for dealing with
persons charged with criminal offences who do
not fall under provisions of
the Labour Act.
It is absolutely crucial that influential
persons facing
criminal charges which impact on their positions be suspended
pending the
finalisation of their cases so that justice is not only done but
is seen to
be done.
The ordinary person in the street is
entitled to know that the
rules that they are subjected to as and when they
are accused equally apply
to those in power and authority. That the
Anti-Corruption Commission has
made its presence felt in testimony that
negates its mandate is most
unfortunate and has reinforced civil society's
misgivings on the appointment
processes that were employed in deciding who
should be on such a commission.
It is for this reason that
civil society is concerned that the
proposed Human Rights Commission will
suffer the same fate if the government
is allowed to appoint commissioners
through a process that might be totally
lacking in transparency and which
might result in human rights abusers being
appointed as
commissioners.
The testimony of the deputy chairman of the
Anti-Corruption
Commission on behalf of an accused who was subsequently
convicted of a
corruption-related charge puts into question the seriousness
of the
commission in the fight against corruption.
The
payment of the convict's legal bills by Zupco is a clear
corrupt practice
that would merit investigation by the Anti-Corruption
Commission as this was
an apparent abuse of public funds. Given the deputy
chairperson's alignment
with the convicted professor, it is unlikely that
this abuse will be
investigated at all.
The prosecution of the Justice minister
has also brought to the
fore the need to have an independent prosecution
authority separate from the
ministry. The cabinet must of necessity expedite
the tabling and passing
into law of the Bill that will give autonomy to the
Attorney-General.
This would help avoid the current
undercurrents where the
Attorney-General and his staff are put in the
invidious position of
prosecuting the minister upon whom they rely for the
effective operations of
their department.
If necessary,
the Anti-Corruption Commission should push for
this separation and it should
itself have its own budget which is not
controlled by a government minister
who might be subject to corruption
investigations at some stage. Would the
commission seriously investigate
corruption in the ministry under which it
falls? The Anti-Corruption
Commission should be seen to be at the forefront
in the fight against
corruption and it should seek to cleanse itself of the
unfortunate stigma of
having testified for and on behalf of a corruption
convict, instead of
testifying against any corrupt practices wheresoever
they rear their ugly
heads.
* Beatrice Mtetwa is an
award-winning human rights lawyer.
Zim Independent
By Tinashe Chimedza
THE recent
deplorable action, in Mutare and Harare, by the
police to arrest, harass and
detain members of the Zimbabwe National
Students Union (Zinasu) is an action
by a regime that is against the wall.
It is an act that will hasten the fall
of this cantankerous regime.
This action represents a very
calculated and deliberate attack
on the rights of every citizen which has
become the business of this
government. It is common knowledge that the
strategy of government has been
to hunt and haunt student leaders but it is
not working. The members and
current leadership of the national students
union must be commended for
mobilising at a time when government has
developed and sharpened its tools
of repression.
Zinasu
has remained a steadfast and radical student union,
challenging and exposing
the current regime for what it is, a vampire regime
which is in a murderous
discord with the values and principles that informed
our liberation
struggle. It is on public record that the government has
tried to liquidate
the students' movement by infiltrations, forming splinter
unions, exiling
other student leaders and expelling others. The government
and the
intelligence have sponsored splinter unions like the Zimbabwe
Progressive
Students Union and the Nationalist Students Union but they have
fallen by
the way side because they lacked the support and idealism which
are the
cornerstones of a progressive student movement.
The students
remain alert, focused and mobilising for a decisive
and definitive fight
with this regime. Many students continue to rally
behind the national
students union because they are fulfilling an obvious
duty which is to be
the vanguard for a new and better Zimbabwe where
prosperity, democracy and
opportunities are open to all. After years of
cracking down on Zinasu the
government must be shocked by the number of
students who continue to answer
the call by the students union to national
duty.
The
reason why Zinasu continues in the good fight is because the
students union
is a serious organisation. There is no time for empty
slogans. From time to
time there may be brilliant leaders but democratic
processes demand that
when their term is up they go. One shudders to imagine
what would happen at
a student union congress if one were to suggest that
their terms of office
be renewed because "we are not in power"! It would be
a dead
motion.
There are lessons to be learned from the Zimbabwean
students'
movement. When your term is up, you might prevaricate, refuse to
call
congress or even postpone it via an intricate web of lies but the
dictates
of the constitution will bury such ambitions. The students union is
filled
with young men and women of great fortitude and diligence who are
carrying
out the most needed national service in defence of the right to
education
and a better life for all in Zimbabwe.
Over the
years Zinasu has been accused of being "too political"
and being "partisan",
including being dismissed by Prof Jonathan Moyo as "a
bunch of hooligans".
At one time we sat in his offices at Munhumutapa as he
told us that if we
wanted to meet Robert Mugabe we must come through the
party structures. We
sat there, shocked that this professor of political
science was suggesting
that the only way to change government policy was by
making Zinasu an
appendage of Zanu PF, buy party cards and pay homage to the
dear
leader.
The fact that the students' movement has become
heavily involved
in the democratisation struggle is not a coincidence; it
was a consequence
of debate and resolution. When such decisions were made
the timorous exited.
The students union has never hidden the
fact that it is a
political movement, because primarily it defends and acts
in the interests
of its constituency, the students. That process always
involves questions of
resources and policy, how then can the national
students' movement be
apolitical?
The decision to join
the National Constitutional Assembly, for
example, was as a consequence of
the fact that student rights, like any
other citizen's rights, were being
trampled upon by the regime. A democratic
constitution, it is still hoped,
will provide the right to education and
this is what Zinasu has been
fighting for through the NCA and other groups
like the Crisis in Zimbabwe
Coalition.
In 2001, when Zinasu was awarded the International
Students
Peace Prize, in the witness of Nobel Prize Laureate and now Prime
Minister
of East Timor, Jose Manuel Ramos Horta, it was because of the
union's
relentless commitment to "the right of ordinary students to be able
to
access higher education and that the universities still be an arena of
free
discussion and opinion-making".
That commitment has
not wavered; that is the reason why the
current Zinasu wrote an open letter
to Mugabe in May this year, commenting
that "to increase public education
fees well beyond the reach of most
Zimbabweans at this time is to punish the
economically weakest members of
society".
As such Zinasu
is deliberately a political creature, a creation
of consensus which acts to
enhance the national interest by making sure that
the education sector is
guided by suitable policies. This remains the
guiding principle of the
students union; that the political, social,
cultural and economic leadership
of the country is too important a matter to
be left in the hands of Zanu PF
alone.
The student movement has sought to increase access to
education
in Zimbabwe and to ensure that it does not become a preserve of
the elite.
In 1997 when the UZ was closed it was because students had
refused to accept
50% fees increases. In June 2001 when there were
continuous protests in over
30 colleges the sticking point was the same -
that education must be
accessed by all. Education, research and innovation
are the bedrock of any
country and they drive economic
transformation.
By arresting the students and their leaders
government is only
accelerating its own downfall. That arrest is another
word on the epitaph of
this callous regime.
The renewal
of the Zimbabwe struggle will always be in its
youths and students who
refuse to be witnesses to the destruction of their
birthright. This is why
in small print the national student union motto
reads "struggle is our
birthright". By supporting the ZCTU mass action the
students are doing a
national duty in the interest of resolving the national
crisis and they
deserve our support.
* Chimedza is a member of the
International Youth Parliament
Australia.
Zim Independent
Clemence Manyukwe
THE proposed
Interception of Communications Bill currently
before parliament is a law
that will strip Zimbabweans of every form of
privacy and lead to the
collapse of some companies, particularly those in
the communications
industry, analysts have warned.
In the light of an earlier
move by the government to snoop into
people's communications that collapsed
in 2004 after a constitutional appeal
lodged by the Law Society of Zimbabwe
(LSZ), the Bill shows the government's
determination to circumvent court
rulings.
A further attempt to scrutinise people's
conversations during
the same year was abandoned. No reasons were
given.
In the court case, the Supreme Court ruled
unconstitutional
Sections 98 and 103 of the Postal and Telecommunications
Act following a
constitutional appeal by the LSZ.
The Act
provided for the interception of communications through
directives to
service providers by President Robert Mugabe "in the interests
of national
security or the maintenance of law and order".
The court made
a finding to the effect that the measures
violated Sections 18 and 20 of the
Constitution with regard to the right of
an accused person to have a fair
trial, especially considering the
lawyer/client privilege as well as the
right to freedom of expression.
Also in 2004 government
proposed a draft amendment to the
franchise agreement between Internet
service providers and Tel*One requiring
it to block what it termed
"objectionable, obscene, unauthorised"
communications.
Service providers were also required to "provide, without delay,
all the
tracing facilities of the nuisance or malicious messages or
communications .
. . to authorised officers of Tel*One and Government of
Zimbabwe. when such
information is required for investigations of crimes or
in the interest of
national security".
The government did not follow up the
matter.
Delivering his speech during the opening of the fifth
session of
the Fifth Parliament of Zimbabwe on July 20 2004, Mugabe referred
to the
drafting of spying legislation that he termed a "Security of
Communications
Bill meant to bolster the security of our
nation".
After almost two years of silence on the issue the
current Bill
was gazetted on May 26 this year.
The Bill
says its purpose is to "establish an interception of
communications
monitoring centre and for the appointment of persons to that
centre whose
function shall be to monitor and intercept certain
communications in the
course of their transmission through a
telecommunication, postal or any
other related service system".
It is, however, silent on the
use of the intercepted material
although analysts have said it may be used
as evidence in criminal
proceedings.
The proposed law
also empowers the Transport and Communications
minister to issue warrants
for the interception of communications on
application by the Chief of
Defence Intelligence, the Director-General of
the President's Department of
National Security (the CIO), the Commissioner
of the Zimbabwe Republic
Police and the Commissioner-General of the Zimbabwe
Revenue
Authority.
These applications can be written or
oral.
The said warrants may be issued where the minister has
reasonable grounds to believe that "a serious offence has been or is being
or will probably be committed or that there is a threat to the safety or
national security of the country" or that "the interests of the country's
international relations or obligation(s) are threatened".
In a written submission to parliament, the Zimbabwe Lawyers for
Human Rights
(ZLHR) said it did not dispute the fact that many countries had
legislated
for the interception of communications.
"However, this is no
excuse to pass legislation which is badly
drafted, self-destructive and
disrespectful of the fundamental rights and
freedoms of the populace," it
said.
ZLHR said of most concern with these provisions was the
fact
that there was no judicial control or oversight in the process with
powers
vested in the minister.
"Allegations made by an
applicant for communications
interception must be examined in a court of law
to ensure that they raise
genuine concerns as to the 'national security',
'public safety' and national
economic interest," the human rights lawyers
said.
The judiciary must issue a warrant of interception.
This is the
position in various other jurisdictions including South Africa,
the US, the
United Kingdom, New Zealand and Australia.
"The minister is a member of the legislature, implementing the
policy of the
executive, and therefore is clearly an interested party who
should play no
role in the interception process," the lawyers said.
ZLHR
argued that the Bill gave the minister "unlimited and
unchecked
power".
"The provision allowing for an oral warrant is
particularly
toxic in that the minister is given free rein and is completely
immune to
checks and balances.
"In the context of
Zimbabwe today, and the anarchy
characterising what should be lawful
processes and oversight, it is a
virtual certainty that there will be a
higher amount of oral applications
than written ones," it
said.
The organisation also condemned Section 6 (3) of the
Bill which
allows the minister to issue "any other directive" to a service
provider.
ZLHR said it was ironic that Section 8 of the Bill
sought to
ensure that in prosecutions, courts would be forced to use
information
obtained under this legislation when they never had a stake in
deciding
whether the collection of that information had been reasonable or
necessary.
"There is complete usurpation of the court's
powers and it risks
being constrained to use information that was quite
clearly obtained
unfairly and unreasonably," ZLHR said.
Under the Bill, Internet service providers (ISPs) are required
to install at
their own cost hardware and software facilities and devices to
enable
interception of communications.
In addition, ISPs are
required to store communications-related
information to establish
connections to the monitoring centre to route the
intercepted communications
and also to store detailed identity information
on all their customers while
prohibited from disclosing any information
about warrants they receive and
communications intercepted except to
authorised persons.
The proposed legislation stipulates penalties of a fine or jail
sentence
ranging from three years to five years for those who fail to comply
with its
provisions.
In relation to these provisions, a submission
made to parliament
earlier this month by the Zimbabwe Internet service
providers (Zispa)
contends the Bill saddles them with huge financial and
technical
difficulties.
"Service providers are going to
have to bear the potentially
extremely high capital and forex costs of the
necessary hardware and
software. By contrast, under South African
legislation, there is provision
for the state to bear the cost of purchase
of equipment that is placed in a
pool from which it is then issued to
specific providers when a warrant is
issued," Zispa said.
The organisation added that each operator needs an estimated
over US$1
million for the required equipment, figures it said would push
members out
of business even if the foreign currency necessary is available
for
purchase.
On lack of judicial overview, Zispa noted that in
China
legislation was recently passed stipulating that judges must first
approve
all surveillance operations. The service providers added that it
would be
impossible to assure clients that normal personal and business
communications would be free from interception to the detriment of secure
financial transactions or at worst advise them on what must not be
communicated for one not to fall prey to the provisions of the Bill.
Zim Independent
WITH inflation nearly 1 000%, unemployment more than 80%
and
about a third of the population in desperate need of food, Zimbabweans
could
do with a decent opposition to Robert Mugabe's catastrophic
tyranny.
Sadly, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) and
the Zimbabwe
Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) have proved unequal to the
task.
The MDC has split into two factions, headed by Morgan
Tsvangirai, who stood against Mugabe in the 2002 presidential election, and
Arthur Mutambara.
This week, after its leaders had been
arrested, the ZCTU
abandoned plans to stage anti-government
protests.
In South Africa and Zambia, organised labour plays
an important
political role. The same applied to Zimbabwe in the 1990s, but
today the
ZCTU, through which Tsvangirai emerged to prominence, is a busted
flush.
The same goes for the MDC. Mugabe's determination to
retain
power, buttressed by the repressive mechanisms of the state, has
proved far
stronger than his opponents' will to wrest it from
him.
With the opposition crushed at home, South Africa is
best placed
to put pressure on Mugabe. However, President Thabo Mbeki's
attempts to
facilitate the drafting of a more liberal constitution and to
open a credit
line in return for reforms have come to naught; the ruling
Zanu PF and the
MDC fell out over the proposed constitution, and Mugabe
simply printed more
money to pay off IMF arrears.
The
main focus of interest between now and Mugabe's departure,
possibly in 2008,
will be the jockeying for succession within Zanu PF.
The
party is as split as the MDC: one faction is led by retired
general Solomon
Mujuru, whose wife, Joice, has her eye on the presidency,
the other by
Emmerson Mnangagwa.
If it is any solace to the opposition,
controlling all the
levers of power will not necessarily guarantee a
handover to the old
dictator's liking. - The Telegraph.
Zim Independent
Comment
GOVERNMENT this week went hysterical about
a seemingly innocuous
event by the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU)
to hand over petitions
to parliament and to employers.
It
implausibly upgraded the planned two-hour lunchtime marches
to "strikes",
then to "mass action" and finally an attempt by the labour
union to effect
"regime change". Meanwhile, since last week, state security
agencies were
issuing threats and warnings to the ZCTU leadership that the
marches would
degenerate into an orgy of looting and destruction of
property. By Wednesday
they were on full red alert.
Government spin-doctors and
thought police were unrelenting in
trying to recruit employers into the
state camp where the malleable and
suborned Zimbabwe Federation of Trade
Unions was putting up a shoddy show to
convince the workers that their
welfare was not as grave as the ZCTU was
averring and that government was
addressing their problems.
Any labour body that defends state
repression of workers is a
disgrace to trade unionism.
There was all the evidence of an elaborate plan to deal with
civil unrest
that was only manifest in the insecure minds of paranoid
leaders.
On the ground in Harare on Wednesday, police
closed off roads
and turned away vehicles trying to drive into the city
centre. There were
roadblocks on most roads leading into the centre of the
capital. Police
patrolled the streets ready to deal with mass action that
never took place.
It was all an exercise in futility. The
frantic activity by
government and the police regarding the ZCTU march
attracted more
international media attention than the supposed event.
Several of the
reports referred to the presence of the ruling party's youth
militia.
But not to be outdone, state papers yesterday
carried
celebratory headlines on the flopped mass action employing their
favourite
expression: a "damp squib". The enemy had been defeated because
the workers
had heeded government's call to ignore the mass
action.
But this was a pyrrhic victory for the state. If
anything, the
ZCTU succeeded in laying bare the Zanu PF government's
insecurity and its
mortal fear of "what might just
happen".
The state has over the past five years adopted a
laager
mentality in which it has tried to close off potential channels of
dissent.
The psyche of President Mugabe's government has been tuned to
achieve
conformity and deal ruthlessly with balking sections of society,
hence the
enactment of draconian laws like Posa and
Aippa.
The strong-arm tactics and fixation with regime change
have been
monumental public relations faux pas by the state. The
mobilisation of
security agents to deal with workers trying to hand over
mere petitions
containing their grievances, the deportation of a South
African delegation
and the arrest of labour leaders painted a picture of a
dictatorship wracked
with fear of opposition shadows.
The
Zanu PF government has over the past two weeks worked
enthusiastically to
show the world that it does not uphold the basic tenets
of good governance
like citizens' right to hold demonstrations or petition
the state. Members
of Woza were on Tuesday rounded up, beaten and detained
at Harare Central
for demonstrating against poor service delivery by the
Harare Commission.
That's the kind of news that puts off tourists and
would-be
investors.
Any investor will tell you that a government that
does not
tolerate dissent from workers will not stomach protestations from
business
either. As we have always said, the Zanu PF government is the
architect of
our misery and not the media recording the facts on the
ground.
The ZCTU lunchtime marches were therefore a success
in as far as
they advertised our rulers' ingrained fear of their
compatriots. A
government in this mode is a danger to development because it
feels bound to
invest in its own security at the expense of spending on
employment creation
and poverty alleviation.
As a motion
before the European parliament noted last week, the
amount the government is
appealing for (US$257 million) in its United
Nations-sponsored humanitarian
appeal is not so far removed from the $240
million it has spent on Chinese
warplanes.
A government obsessed by fear of its own people
voicing their
concerns loses its legitimacy to govern. That is the story of
the Zanu PF
government today.
Zim Independent
Muckraker
WHY does the Zimbabwe Union of
Journalists insist on inviting to
its opening ceremony ministers who insult
media workers by trotting out
tired and puerile accusations of "working with
the country's enemies to
effect regime change"?
Acting
Information minister Paul Mangwana is generally a
likeable fellow. We were
however surprised that the sickness that afflicts
all Zanu PF leaders is
catching up with him, the belief that journalists are
unpatriotic if they
report what is inconvenient to an overweening
government.
He said the "public" was getting worried by the deteriorating
media
standards where some journalists had "dedicated their careers" to
working
with the country's enemies.
We get very worried when
government officials start talking
about the public. More often than not it
is some control freak or a small
clique in government that sees itself as
the public and must decide what
people can or cannot read. It's hardly ever
the public in the ordinary
meaning of that term.
Then
there is the ambiguity of the country's enemies. Surely if
Mangwana and his
oppressive regime have created enemies for themselves those
can't be
everybody's enemies too. That is why despite all the posturing
about the
"Look East" policy very few Zimbabweans consider travelling to or
working in
China one of their priorities. In short President Mugabe's
friends are not
necessarily the nation's friends. It's a personal choice and
he will have to
live with it.
On Aippa, Mangwana said the law became
necessary after
journalists failed to regulate themselves through a formally
constituted
Media Council. Lack of self-regulation caused a lot of suffering
among the
people, Mangwana suggested, while employers "reaped fabulous
profits" and
journalists won awards.
We don't know about
fabulous profits that can be wrung from such
a fast-shrinking economy except
perhaps by Zanu PF fuel fraudsters. Mangwana
didn't say in what way Aippa
had improved the standards of reporting apart
from the persecution of
journalists. Does he recall a single case in which a
journalist has been
convicted in a competent court of law for recklessness?
Aippa
is no more than a self-serving instrument of the state to
criminalise a
profession that has become government's gadfly.
"We continue
to read and listen to self-opinionated stories
devoid of fact and truth
continuously attacking the establishment and
championing external political
agendas," Mangwana said.
Did ZUJ president Matthew Takaona
respond to any of this in a
robust way? We recall him standing silently next
to the late Tichaona
Jokonya while the minister delivered a vicious attack
on the independent
media accusing it of betrayal.
This is
the standard Zanu PF line and it needs a forcible
rebuttal which it is
evidently not going to get from ZUJ.
Firstly, Zanu PF's idea
of a patriotic media is one that hides
their trail of corruption and
repression. They have an entire media industry
on their side which parrots
the facile mantras of ministers while masking
the plunder of the nation's
resources such as we saw in the War Victims
Compensation Fund, the VIP
housing scheme, and the diversion of DDF
equipment to ministerial
farms.
None of those things would have seen the light of day
without an
outspoken independent media. And it is not remotely patriotic for
newspapers
to repeat Zanu PF's childish conspiracy theories which seek to
explain their
misrule by dishonestly blaming others for the country's
decline.
What national interest is served by the pillage of
hitherto
productive farms, Mangwana should have been asked? How do false
crop
forecasts and fake GDP figures serve the national
interest?
It is not journalistic ethics that have been
sacrificed on the
altar of expediency but ministerial integrity. And
Mangwana should stop
pretending that the public are "worried about the
deteriorating standards of
journalism". We heard the same claim from
Tafataona Mahoso at the time his
Media Ethics Committee was undertaking its
"research". Needless to say,
nobody swallowed it then and only Takaona seems
to now.
What we want to see, he should have said in response
to the
minister's address, is greater ministerial honesty, less attempts to
hoodwink the public, and an end to Zanu PF's waste and mismanagement. How
can Mangwana lecture journalists on the need for ethics and self-regulation
when Zanu PF abandoned its leadership code 20 years ago?
Journalists should start defending themselves instead of putting
up with
"self-opinionated" politicians who long ago lost the nation's
respect.
ZUJ should be equally concerned with government
public relations
officers masquerading as journalists. The Sunday Mail's
Munyaradzi Huni was
last weekend having a go at independent newspapers,
unoriginally branding
them "weapons of mass deception", going "all out to
create the false
impression that Zimbabweans were in the mood to join the
circus" of ZCTU/MDC
protests.
"Instead of thinking of
mass protests," Huni claimed, "the
people of Zimbabwe are busy trying to
find means of survival, and slowly
most of them are finding solutions to
their hardships".
Really?
We recall Huni
being thoroughly humiliated by a previous
Information minister who rewarded
his abject loyalty by publicly roasting
him for incompetent reporting.
Undaunted he seeks to serve new masters with
his disingenuous
claims.
"Of course, there was a time when the public was
angered by the
rise in inflation and price hikes, but that was before people
understood
that the source of their hardships were the sanctions imposed on
their
country," Huni opined. "And that was before the people realised that
the
government was doing all it could to revive the
economy."
Now that's what we call massively
deceptive!
The Harare commission is already working on
another budget for
the residents of the capital. The commission's deputy
chair, Tendai Savanhu,
said this time around there would be wide
consultations with stakeholders.
In fact he spoke of a "people-oriented"
budget where people's views would be
considered. In the event that people
raised objections, said Savanhu, the
proposals would be
reviewed.
As usual he promised improved service delivery,
including refuse
collection, filling in of potholes on the city's roads and
repairing of
traffic lights.
All we can say is that we
wish we could believe him. A number of
high density suburbs have not seen a
single garbage collection truck since
before the launch of Operation
Murambatsvina in May last year. Residents
have resorted to burning refuse in
the open which sometimes causes a huge
pall of smoke and an unhealthy stench
for residents.
Incidentally, Muckraker has been told that
whenever the
commission collects garbage from Kuwadzana 4 shopping centre,
it is dumped
in front of the unfinished and collapsing city library less
than 100 metres
away. Is the library perhaps the new dumping
site?
We particularly enjoyed the bit where Savanhu said the
days of
"imposed" budgets were over. It can't be coming from an imposed
commission.
That should be the residents' first
objection.
Then there was Reserve Bank governor Gideon Gono
proposing a new
approach to budgetary planning because of the "guerilla
warfare" the country
was engaged in. He said orthodox budgetary frameworks
did not work under the
current hyperinflationary
environment.
"We need a change of approach," warned Gono
while giving oral
evidence to the parliamentary portfolio committee on
Budget and Finance,
"otherwise what we do remains totally academic. We need
a framework that
allows regular reviews of budgets."
After being told of economic turnarounds, that failure is not an
option, and
of falling inflation we thought perhaps we should soon be out of
the woods.
Is the need for change a tacit admission that we are in this
guerilla
warfare for the long haul we wonder?
We had a good chuckle at
the Sunday Mail's cartoonist Musapenda's
impression of the interior of No 10
Downing St. He seems to think Tony Blair's
office looks like one in Mkwati
Building. The little mouse, which appears to
inhabit these offices, is
saying "Your days are numbered".
Ironic isn't it, that
President Mugabe and Blair now have
something in common: Everybody is asking
when they are going.
By far the funniest comment in the
government media last week
came from George Charamba who, responding to a
report in the Standard on
Arda and its former boss Joseph Made assisting the
"First Family" with their
farming endeavours, said: "The relationship
between Arda and the First
Family is a typical one between the parastatal
and any new needy farmer."
So the "First Family" is now
"needy"!
Meanwhile Made, "himself an agricultural expert",
had "freely
assisted the First Family in certain specialised agricultural
activities",
we were told.
So that's all OK then. But
wouldn't it have been more accurate
to describe Made as "himself an
agricultural disaster"?
Why has the regime been so terrified
of the ZCTU's planned
protests this week? They have done everything
conceivable to undermine the
organisation's capacity to operate effectively
including prosecutions of its
leadership on trumped up charges. They have
also set up a rival outfit whose
job is to pretend all is well and that the
government is "solving the
workers' grievances".
Then we
saw a full page ad by the rival ZFTU and a group calling
itself the
"Concerned ZCTU affiliates" who were opposed to strike action. It
came as no
surprise that none of these affiliates was named. And their ad
looked
suspiciously as if it had been crafted by people who were not
workers, as
did the ZFTU ad. This was evidently not Joseph Chinotimba's
work!
The ZCTU should adopt a more robust position in
response to
state persecution and quisling collaborators. There can be no
participation
in the Tripartite Negotiating Forum so long as Zanu PF
continues to harass
trade unionists, sabotage the economy and destroy
workers' jobs.
Meanwhile, Didymus Mutasa should take a break
from waving his
fists at the ZCTU. He only advertises to the world how
insecure the regime
feels at the prospect of a handful of workers exercising
their right to
strike. Do his silly threats speak of a government secure in
the hearts of
the nation?
In the same vein, we would
appeal to Emcoz's Mike Bimha, the CZI's
Callisto Jokonya, and ZNCC's Mara
Hativagone to avoid lending themselves to
the state's agenda by making
gullible remarks to state newspapers. Can you
imagine Hativagone saying "the
government is trying its best" to revive the
economy? What planet is she
living on?
SW Radio Africa reports that armed riot police
descended on a
workshop organised by the Zimbabwe National Students Union
and arrested
eight student leaders in Harare on Tuesday. The student leaders
were holding
a strategic workshop ahead of protests scheduled by the ZCTU
and Zinasu.
Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) Rapid Reaction Unit
lawyer Tafadzwa
Mugabe was denied access to his clients all
day.
"The ZLHR said the police threatened the lawyer saying
they were
going to throw him out of the police station and warned that
further
unspecified action would follow," the radio station
reported.
"The human rights body said upon the attendance of
a further
lawyer from their Public Interest Litigation Unit, Lawrence
Chibwe, and
insistence by the two lawyers that their clients' rights were
being
violated, a police officer from the Police District Intelligence
Office told
the lawyers: 'We have been violating your clients' rights since
this
morning, and we will continue doing so. We are also violating your
right to
see your clients.'"
Please tell Muckraker that
this is a misunderstanding and that
no such statement was made. It is
difficult to believe that despite the
emergence of a police state, officers
would be so brazen knowing their
statements would be
reported.
Where's Wayne when you need him?
Have you noticed that by saying "there was nothing sinister
about it", a
number of questionable actions become justified?
So there was
"nothing sinister" about council assisting people
with their water problems,
according to suspended town clerk Nomutsa Chideya
in evidence to a
government-appointed committee of inquiry. When Ignatious
Chombo summoned
Chideya to his office to hear how Harare Commission deputy
chair Tendai
Savanhu
needed water at his residence, Chideya felt obliged to
assist.
"What could we do?" Chideya said wringing his hands. After all there
was
"nothing sinister" about it.
Meanwhile, thousands of
other residents continued to be
waterless. Sekesai Makwavarara received her
water supply from the Fire
Brigade, we gather. Was this a service available
to all residents?
Savanhu was "associated with very powerful
politicians", we were
told in Chideya's testimony.
Chideya was told to get rid of certain heads of department.
"The minister said these were not our people and they were to be
removed
from council and Ms Makwavarara concurred."
Chideya said it
was his understanding that they were perhaps
people seen "as not belonging
to Zanu PF".
What a fascinating insight into the way the
party does business.
Herald municipal reporter Michael Padera was allocated
a flat in Trafalgar
Court after Chideya had written to the director of
housing. There was of
course "nothing sinister" about him getting
accommodation "like everybody
else".
Perhaps he meant
everybody else at the Herald!
Zim Independent
Editor's Memo
Vincent
Kahiya
Nairobi, September 26 - LADIES and gentlemen, we
gather here in
Nairobi to share ideas and experiences on how to improve our
cities which
are the cornerstones of development on the continent. As mayor
of the
capital city of a country struggling under illegal sanctions from the
West,
I would like to congratulate the organisers of this conference for
bringing
together African local government authorities to brainstorm and
solve their
own problems.
Ladies and gentlemen, my city
was once called the Sunshine City
before illegal sanctions were imposed by
countries which are opposed to our
land reform programme. By the way, I am
a beneficiary of this programme. To
show my commitment to farming, I have
successfully employed council manpower
and equipment on the farm. Remember
cities have a crucial role in rural
development.
I am
sure you will excuse this small diversion. I have this
passion for farming
and my heart bleeds when I see other countries failing
to correct this
colonial legacy.
Back to the issue of sanctions, the city of
Munich in Germany
which was twinned to my city in the 1980s severed ties
with us. They have
cut technical and financial assistance over a small
political issue
regarding an opposition mayor whom they
supported.
The mayor was fired by my Minister of Local
Government in 2003
after a disastrous stint during which he only managed to
tar a few roads and
clean the park. Being deputy mayor at the time and also
belonging to same
party with the disgraced mayor, I was duly appointed
acting mayor. I then
ditched the opposition party and joined my minister's
party. He dissolved
the council and appointed a commission in 2004 which I
am currently
chairing.
This brief background is
important, ladies and gentlemen, to
illustrate that elected councils are not
always the best to run major
cities, especially when the opposition wins
polls. Local authorities work
much better when they are operated by
governments through commissions like
the one I currently chair. To
demonstrate the efficiency of my commission,
my minister has renewed my
tenure as an unelected local authority head a
record four
times.
Despite a few problems emanating from the town clerk
who is
refusing to be fired, the city has made great strides under a
difficult
environment. I cannot say much about the issue because it is
sub-judice.
May I remind you that the illegal sanctions are our major
drawback. But our
people have over the years slowly accepted the sad
adversities emanating
from these sanctions. They have learnt to live without
running water, they
are coping well with uncollected rubbish and a sewerage
system working in
reverse.
But we have not let areas dry
out completely. Fire tenders are
always on standby to deliver emergency
water to desperate cases, especially
senior council officials who can't
appear in public without a bath. (Pause,
audience should
laugh)
Ladies and gentlemen, you might be aware that the Sadc
region is
facing a critical power shortage which is likely to get worse in
the next
few years. We have already started to conserve power by not
repairing and
replacing street lights. It is amazing how much electricity we
are
conserving through this exercise.
Despite these small
set backs, my commission is committed to
achieving Millennium Development
Goals especially in housing. You might have
already read about our noble
initiative in May last year to destroy illegal
structures to instil order in
the capital and to fight crime. No country on
the continent has carried out
an exercise of this magnitude and we are
available to offer technical
assistance to countries intending to carry out
the task. Our people
congratulated us for carrying out the exercise and we
have started to
construct homes to accommodate those affected by the
clean-up exercise. We
also have urged those who have still not secured
alternative accommodation
to apply for resettlement under our successful
land reform
programme.
My city, like many African urban areas, is worried
about lack of
employment opportunities and increasing
poverty.
Health and educational facilities have always
remained
inadequate while building stock and service infrastructure have
continued to
deteriorate. These are areas of great concern to us, especially
now when
funds are scarce.
But our resolve to spruce up
the image of the city remains
unshakable. The commission has spent a
considerable amount of money
decorating and furnishing the mayoral mansion.
Remember charity begins at
home. I hope ladies and gentleman we will use the
plenary to discuss
strategies of dealing with opposition councillors,
approving budgets without
involving residents and removing the impediments
to improving the welfare of
mayors who need groceries, entertainment
etc.
I thank you all.
Zim Independent
Candid Comment
Joram Nyathi
THE debate on
the so-called European apology to Africa is
getting interesting. The
reactions are what you would call a mixed bag.
After reading
some of the responses, you would imagine that when
head of the Europe-Africa
Reconciliation Process Chris Seaton landed in
Africa he declared
belligerently: "With love from Her Majesty, I bring you
back Cecil John
Rhodes."
Interestingly, those accepting the apology and those
rejecting
it seem to believe it wasn't enough - as if they had demanded and
expected
it.
Those for the apology believe it gives
Africa the moral right to
demand more aid from Europeans for the sins of
their forefathers. It is
underpinned by the "white guilt" mindset that
caused the fracas in
parliament two years ago when Justice minister Patrick
Chinamasa called Roy
Bennett's ancestors thieves who stole our land and
cattle more than a
century ago.
This group says apologies
are not enough to atone for a past of
slavery, colonialism and the plunder
of African resources. Given leeway,
this is a group that would demand
reparations, "something tangible", from
Europe. This would perhaps lift the
African from his dungeon of
underdevelopment as explained by Walter
Rodney.
But they are wrong. The apology is getting a lot of
people
preoccupied with irrelevancies for a continent ravaged by civil wars,
hunger, irresponsible political leaders, corruption, ignorance and
superstition long after the end of colonial rule.
Political leaders here have admitted to the abundance of mineral
wealth in
Zimbabwe, much of it still to be tapped. For all its abominable
acts,
colonial rule left us with a solid infrastructure in the form of
roads,
railway lines, buildings and an agricultural base without parallel on
the
continent outside South Africa.
Moreover, we had all the
liberty to build on the foundation of
education already laid by the colonial
government. There is enough wealth to
move our country
forward.
For