Zim Independent
Loughty
Dube
THE United States government has widened sanctions against President
Mugabe's ruling clique by including his economic strategist Gideon Gono and
his wife, and spouses of senior government and Zanu PF officials on the new
list.
The list also includes children of Zanu PF officials, some of
them barely in
their teens.
US President George Bush this week
issued an executive order to spread the
economic sanctions net against
Zimbabwean officials and blocked more assets
owned by Mugabe's
cronies.
A statement from the White House said Bush had issued the
order allowing US
authorities to "block the property of additional persons
undermining
democratic processes or institutions in Zimbabwe, their
immediate family
members, and any persons assisting them".
The
executive order, which took effect on Wednesday, expands sanctions
imposed
by the United States on 77 Zimbabweans in March 2003.
The new list
includes officials of the newly-created Zimbabwe Electoral
Commission (ZEC)
and police chiefs.
Contacted for comment yesterday, Information
minister Ambassador Tichaona
Jokonya said the list was
"inconsequential".
"The list is completely immaterial, it is
inconsequential," said Jokonya who
has already been targeted. "Who said we
want to go to America? I don't know
who told the Americans we want to go to
their country when we have our small
but beautiful
Zimbabwe."
Jokonya served as Zimbabwe's ambassador to the United
Nations in New York
until 2003.
Reserve Bank governor Gono is the
most prominent addition to the US
blacklist, together with his wife Hellin.
Information permanent secretary
George Charamba, who was on the original
list, has been joined by his wife
Rudo, while Local Government minister
Ignatious Chombo's two wives, Ever of
Warren Park and Marian of Alexandra
Park, are among the newcomers.
Interestingly, former Labour minister
July Moyo and former Finance minister
Chris Kuruneri have been removed from
the list. Moyo was banished from
government and Zanu PF over his involvement
in the ill-fated Tsholotsho
declaration, while Kuruneri spent more than a
year in remand prison on
charges of externalising foreign currency. He is
currently out on bail.
Former Information minister Jonathan Moyo, the
architect of the Tsholotsho
declaration, however, remains on the
list.
Other spouses included on the list are Justice minister Patrick
Chinamasa's
wife Monica, defence forces commander Constantine Chiwenga's
wife Jocelyn,
deputy Science and Technology minister Patrick Zhuwawo's wife
Beauty Lily,
and deputy Finance minister David Chapfika's wife
Abina.
Others are Shaloitte Msipa, wife of Midlands governor Cephas
Msipa, Ruth
Chipo Murerwa, wife of Finance minister Herbert Murerwa, and
Rose Jaele
Ndlovu, wife of deputy Higher Education minister Sikhanyiso
Ndlovu.
Consultant in the President's Office on Small Enterprises
Sithembiso Nyoni
has been joined by her husband Peter while Georgina Ngwenya
joins her
husband, Speaker of parliament, John Nkomo.
Sons and
daughters of President Mugabe's close associates have been netted
as they
now appear on the sanctions list.
These include Ijeoma Dabengwa, son
of former Home Affairs minister Dumiso
Dabengwa, and Chinamasa's 14-year-old
daughter, Gamuchirai.
Louise Sehlule Nkomo, the daughter of
nationalist and former Vice-President
Joshua Nkomo, who is married to
Environment and Tourism minister Francis
Nhema, has been added to the
sanctions list.
Other children of Zanu PF officials on the list are
Oppah Muchinguri's two
daughters Natasha and Tanya, aged 11 and 16
respectively.
President Bush, in signing the declaration, said since
the first order in
2003 conditions in Zimbabwe had
deteriorated.
"This action is not aimed at the people of Zimbabwe,
but rather at those
most responsible for their plight," he
said.
"The failed political and economic policies of the Robert
Mugabe regime have
devastated Zimbabwe. The United States has repeatedly
called upon the
government of Zimbabwe to abandon its harassment of civil
society, the
press, and the political opposition; to restore the rule of
law; to
negotiate in good faith to resolve the impasse created by the flawed
2002
election; and to hold free and fair parliamentary elections in 2005,"
Bush
said in a statement after signing the executive order.
The
extension of sanctions comes hot on the heels of a diplomatic row
between
Harare and Washington following ambassador Christopher Dell's speech
in
Mutare in which he castigated gross mismanagement and corruption in
government as the root case of the economic meltdown. The government
immediately summoned the diplomat and threatened him with expulsion for
"meddling in Zimbabwe's internal affairs".
Zim Independent
Grace Kombora
FUEL
procured by government agencies is finding its way onto the lucrative
black
market where it fetches higher prices compared to the formal
market.
Hundreds of thousands of litres of fuel have been siphoned from
the
state-run National Oil Company of Zimbabwe (Noczim) and CMED to the
parallel
market which has become a thriving sector of the underworld
economy.
This comes at a time when the country is reeling from acute
fuel shortages.
Zimbabwe has been in the grip of a fuel crisis since 1999
due to lack of
foreign currency. The country is now virtually dry on the
formal market.
The black market, a preserve of the well-connected and
powerful, has become
the sole source of fuel for the whole economy. The
ruling elite and their
cronies who have access to foreign currency either
hijack national stocks or
buy fuel from neighbouring countries to offload
onto the parallel market
where racketeering is rampant.
A recent
parliamentary portfolio committee report on the state of
preparedness in the
agricultural sector revealed thousands of litres of fuel
secured at
subsidised rates from Noczim for farming purposes had been
diverted and sold
on the black market.
Noczim distributes fuel directly to individual
A2 farmers who purchase bulk
quantities of over 5 000 litres. A1 farmers, on
the other hand, apply for
fuel from Noczim through the Agricultural Research
& Extension Service
(Arex) while the Energy and Power Development
ministry vets the
applications.
"Your committee was concerned
that the current system was not watertight as
it appeared to be riddled with
glaring loopholes," the report said.
"Agricultural stakeholders and
Noczim officials confirmed to your committee
that some unscrupulous farmers
were channelling fuel meant for agriculture
to the black market where it is
fetching anything as high as $100 000/litre
compared to the subsidised price
they would have bought it for at $11
000/litre."
A CMED audit
report in the possession of the Zimbabwe Independent also
revealed that fuel
was disappearing in large quantities from the
quasi-government agency to the
parallel market. The report said 605 049
litres of fuel worth $1 billion at
the subsidised price disappeared from the
CMED in one month last
year.
Of the total fuel which disappeared, 247 041 litres of blend
worth $432
million vanished while 16 340 litres of unleaded petrol valued at
$49
million could not be accounted for.
The report says 341 668
litres of diesel valued at $563,8 million could also
not be accounted for.
During the time of the disappearance, farmers,
government departments and
local authorities were receiving subsidised fuel
at $1 650/litre for diesel,
$3 000/litre for unleaded petrol and $1
750/litre for blend directly from
Noczim at what is known as the "prescribed
market" rate.
"A lot of
fuel could be siphoned from the system without detection. The
internal audit
was not able to reconcile all purchases of fuel with
deliveries," the report
says.
The Caltex invoices, which were used for fuel procurement, did
not contain
essential procurement details such as cheque number, receipt
number or order
number.
"The Caltex invoices, despite having a
provision for order number, delivery
station, cheque number and the name of
the receiving officer is many a time
incomplete," it says.
The
CMED scandal caused receiving stations to wait for fuel delivery without
knowing the exact quantities to be delivered.
"At times the
quantity ordered for them is communicated over the telephone
but may not be
what Caltex eventually delivers," the report says.
"There is a
serious internal control weakness imported into the fuel
procurement and
control process by the appointment of a Senior Loss Control
Officer as the
fuel procurement facilitator or coordinator," the audit said.
The
audit also noted there were outstanding fuel requisitions with a total
of 79
000 litres of petrol, 94 600 litres of diesel and 60 litres of oil
which
were at Caltex Mutare offices.
Zim Independent
Vincent
Kahiya
OPPOSITION MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai's challenge to President
Mugabe's
election victory in 2002 is now of mere academic interest as the
incumbent
has already served more than half his term.
Tsvangirai has
filed at least half a dozen applications in a bid to get a
speedier
resolution of the case and his frustration with the country's
judiciary
rings loud in his latest application heard in the Supreme Court
last
Thursday.
He brought the application to the appeals court after
Justice Ben Hlatshwayo
in June last year dismissed Tsvangirai's High Court
application without
giving reasons. In fact Hlatshwayo had prior to the
ruling reserved
judgement for seven months and more than a year later now
Tsvangirai is
still waiting for the judge to provide reasons for his
ruling.
The latest application exposes problems in the conduct of the
judiciary in
failing to deal expeditiously with electoral cases since the
disputed
general election of 2000 and the allegedly rigged presidential poll
two
years later.
There appears to be a trend developing in the
judiciary where no reasons are
given for rulings made, especially in
politically sensitive cases.
Tsvangirai sees the failure by the court to
give reasons as an infringement
of his rights, hence the application to the
Supreme Court.
But President Mugabe's heads of arguments deposed on
October 10 say the
delay in issuing the reasons for the ruling does not
violate Tsvangirai's
right to a fair hearing.
"It is submitted
that having determined the existence or lack of these
rights, the
adjudicating authority was not required to provide reasons for
this order,"
Mugabe's papers read.
Mugabe cites cases in apartheid South Africa
and from the court of appeal in
Vanuatu to bolster the notion that the court
is not obligated to give
reasons for its rulings. In the Vanuatu ruling, the
judge noted: "The act
that the giving of reasons may be regarded by a
citizen as increasing the
protection that the law provides does not mean
that a failure to give
reasons is a denial of protection
."
Mugabe avers that Tsvangirai's rights have not been violated by
the delay by
the High Court in providing reasons for its ruling because the
need for the
court to give reasons is not provided for in the
statutes.
"It is therefore submitted that as neither the
constitution, the statutes
nor common law require reasons to be provided by
the High Court, this is not
a fundamental right, and the deprivation thereof
does not entitle the
applicant to the relief claimed," Mugabe said in his
papers.
But Tsvangirai in his affidavit contested this averment,
saying the failure
by the court to provide reasons for its ruling takes away
the right to
appeal against that ruling.
"A right of appeal
cannot sensibly be exercised if the reasons for the order
are not
disclosed," he said. "The parties' legal representatives cannot
sensibly
obtain instructions to appeal, or to defend on appeal, as the case
may be,
without these.
"They cannot sensibly show that the order is either
right or wrong without
the basis for it being disclosed. Their right to
appeal itself is thus
undermined."
He said the duty to give reasons
was "moreover, inherent in the
constitutional function of the court". He
cites a ruling in the South
African Constitutional Court in the Mphahlele v
First National Bank of SA
Ltd case which reads:
"There is no
express constitutional provision which requires judges to
furnish reasons
for their decisions . Nonetheless . the rule of law is one
of the founding
values of our democratic state, and the judiciary is bound
by
it.
"The rule of law undoubtedly requires judges not to act arbitrarily
and to
be accountable. The manner in which they ordinarily account for their
decisions is by furnishing reasons. This serves a number of purposes. It
explains to the parties, and to the public at large which has an interest in
courts being open and transparent, why a case is decided as it
is.
"It is a discipline which curbs arbitrary judicial decisions.
Then, too, it
is essential for the appeal process, enabling the losing party
to take an
informed decision as to whether or not to appeal or, where
necessary, seek
leave to appeal.
"It assists the appeal court to
decide whether or not the order of the lower
court is correct. And finally,
it provides guidance to the public in respect
of similar
matters."
Tsvangirai says election petitions need to be dealt with
urgently.
"The public at large need to know whether persons
purporting to hold elected
office were in fact duly elected to that office.
Regrettably, the courts of
Zimbabwe have failed to deal with the majority of
the election petitions
filed following the general election in
2000."
But Mugabe regards Tsvangirai's application as "frivolous and
vexatious". He
says Tsvangirai's petition was an "attempt to short-circuit
the Electoral
Act so as to give him a technical court victory to the highest
office in the
land.
"This he clearly knows cannot and will not
happen." Mugabe declared in the
court papers.
Zim Independent
Shakeman Mugari
AN
incident last week during which a foreign currency dealer was shot dead
in
an attempted robbery illustrates vividly the emergence of a vibrant
secondary economy beyond the remit of the state.
The few details in
the state media revealed that the two foreign currency
dealers had more than
$460 million in their car. Despite the inherent
dangers involved in illicit
deals, foreign currency dealers at Road Port
have continued with their
business.
Here the value of the Zimbabwe dollar is determined and
pegged according to
the market and regardless of what the Reserve Bank of
Zimbabwe says its
should be.
This community, bound by their will
to eke out a living, determines the
price of the South African rand and the
United States dollar.
Although it is called a black market or
parallel market, its magnitude
resembles a vibrant secondary economy which
government and the central bank
have lost control over.
As the
economy crumbles, a parallel market for almost everything from sugar
to fuel
has emerged in Zimbabwe.
Ironically, it is this black market that has
kept the economy running since
the crisis started almost six years
ago.
If RBZ governor Gideon Gono's evidence in former Finance
minister
Christopher Kuruneri's case is anything to go by, then it is the
parallel
market that made the 2000 parliamentary election possible. Gono
claimed in
his court evidence that government secured foreign currency from
Kuruneri
for a national cause, which turned out to be importation of
indelible ink
for the election.
Government departments are buying
foreign currency on the parallel market.
The city of Harare recently bought
foreign currency on the parallel market
to buy spare parts and water
chemicals. Other parastatals like Noczim have
also bought foreign currency
on the black market.
In short, illegal traders have taught the
government that if it can't run
the economy they will take it over and run
it in ways they deem necessary.
The growth in the black market activities is
a clear sign that government
has lost its grip on the
economy.
Analysts say no matter how many policies government
announces, it will be
very difficult to eradicate the black market amid
rampant shortages of basic
commodities. They say government is now hostage
to parallel market traders
who ironically were created by its own skewed
policies.
Economist John Robertson says the rise of the parallel
market is a sign that
business is frustrated with government interference
with market forces.
Government has over the years insisted on taking a
lead role although it has
limited muscle to control the forces of demand and
supply.
"It (parallel market) is a rejection of government's
interference with
market forces," Robertson said. "The black market is an
expression of the
power of the market," he said.
Government's
disastrous policies have turned the country into a vendor
economy where
people are constantly searching for something to sell instead
of
producing.
While manufacturing companies are battling with
counter-productive price
controls, dealers who buy commodities at fixed
prices make massive premiums
on the parallel market where price is
determined by demand. For instance,
people who buy cement at Circle Cement
at government fixed prices end up
making more than 200% on the black
market.
"Such cases are a result of government's interference. It
undermines
production," Robertson said.
"There is a dearth of
production. Vendors are making more money than
manufacturers yet they
produce nothing. They have not invested in anything,"
Robertson
said.
The government has trapped the manufacturers who produce while
letting the
vendors trade in the same controlled goods at huge
mark-ups.
Prosper Chitambara, an economist with the Zimbabwe Congress of
Trade Unions,
said the blame lies squarely with the government. He said
although the RBZ
was trying to let market forces determine the foreign
currency market, the
damage has already been done.
"It's clear
that the government has lost the battle. But the crisis is that
the whole
government is still in denial," Chitambara said.
The recent
relaxation of the forex market has not improved the situation.
The black
market is still the major source of foreign currency. While the
interbank
rate of the greenback is about $67 000, the parallel market its
offering
about $87 000. Most companies still source their forex on the black
market.
Perhaps one of the major causes of this crisis is that
people no longer
trust the government with anything. People with foreign
currency prefer to
sell it to strangers on the black market despite the risk
because they don't
believe in the government.
"The people believe
government might say bring your money to the bank as
part of a plan to trap
them," Chitambara said.
Cases like that of Kuruneri actually explain
why the parallel market will
continue to thrive. Kuruneri is being
prosecuted after he heeded Gono's
invitation to sell his foreign currency to
government. Nobody will make that
mistake again!
Zim Independent
Dumisani
Muleya
OPPOSITION Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader Morgan
Tsvangirai has
denied a series of allegations levelled against him by the
rival faction led
by party secretary-general Welshman Ncube.
In an
interview last week, Tsvangirai denied accusations he had become a
dictator
by "wilfully violating" the constitution, overruling the party's
national
council, the administrative and policy-implementing organ, and
unleashing
youth militia on colleagues.
"As to whether I have become a dictator,
let the people judge. I don't want
to reduce myself to gutter verbal
exchanges," Tsvangirai said.
However, Tsvangirai said the arguments
by his rivals were meant to vilify
him and mask their agenda to manipulate
him. He insisted that he was not
wrong when he overruled the MDC council
because "the national council can't
make new policy".
"The
accusation that I acted unconstitutionally has no basis. Not only was I
politically correct, but I was also constitutionally right. In the MDC
(council) you can't vote on a matter of principle. It was wrong to vote on
the senate issue," Tsvangirai argued.
"When we went into that
council meeting these guys (Ncube faction) already
had a plan. After
debating in the council and running into a deadlock, it
was said the
management committee had to meet on the issue. I was not the
chair and I had
no choice but to agree."
Tsvangirai said when the "top six" met he
found himself isolated as the
other five - Gibson Sibanda, Isaac Matongo,
Professor Ncube, Gift
Chimanikire and Fletcher Dulini Ncube - "ganged up" to
force him to accept a
vote on the matter.
"When we went back to
council after the top six meeting I discovered
everything was already in
place for a vote, showing it was pre-planned.
There was certainly a sinister
agenda. The vote happened and the result was
33 to 31 in favour of
participation in the election."
Why then did Tsvangirai go ahead to
misrepresent the outcome, claiming it
was a 50:50 situation and that he had
cast a deciding vote?
"What I meant was that there was a deadlock in
the council meeting. I meant
the provinces were deadlocked. In the
management committee I was outnumbered
by 5:1," he said. Pressed on the
claim that the vote was tied, Tsvangirai
said: "I did not say that." His
rivals say provinces were not deadlocked at
all.
On allegations
of sponsoring violent politics, Tsvangirai said that was
untrue. "I haven't
built any institutions of violence. I'm in fact against
violence," he
said.
Why then did he re-hire youths who were fired for attacking
party officials?
"The youths were not fired, but were relieved of their
duties. They are back
and they are my bodyguards. The problem is that the
other guys want to
appoint my guards so that they can monitor what I do
using them," he said.
"Besides, what has that got to do with the senate
election?"
Tsvangirai said there was nothing wrong with his advisors
- the so-called
"kitchen cabinet" - because "they worked very hard and even
walked by foot
to ensure this party got started. They just offer advice and
that is
different from decision-making. You can accept, reject or alter
advice," he
said.
Does Tsvangirai believe Ncube and his group are
state agents and that they
collaborated with the state during his treason
trial?
"I have never accused them of that. Some people might have
said it, but not
me," he said.
Zim Independent
Augustine Mukaro in Banjul, Gambia
GOVERNMENT'S efforts to defend
its human rights record at the African
Commission for Human and Peoples'
Rights meeting in Gambia this week faced
stiff resistance from civic groups
who lambasted the state's unwillingness
to uphold basic
freedoms.
Justice ministry permanent secretary David Mangota struggled to
present a
cozy picture of Zimbabwe at the 38th Ordinary session of the
ACHPR.
Representatives of local civic groups in Banjul countered
Mangota's claims,
prompting the commission to ask the government to
respond.
Mangota then blamed the West for sponsoring NGOs to peddle
falsehoods about
Zimbabwe.
"It is the duty of the donor community
to sponsor NGOs to be watchdogs,"
Mangota said. "Governments on the other
hand must be accountable, but donors
have overdone it in Zimbabwe," he
said.
"Of the five youngsters from the NGO sector who made
presentations on
Zimbabwe, only one comes from Zimbabwe. It's unfortunate
that they continue
to feed the commission with old information recycled from
2002," he said.
Mangota defended Operation Murambatsvina saying the
brutal demolition blitz
was meant to improve the welfare of disadvantaged
groups.
"Government's Operation Murambatsvina seeks to provide better
accommodation
to people who were living in destroyed slums and the
Constitutional
Amendment No 17 was meant to resolve the land question once
and for all,"
Mangota said.
Contrary to Mangota's assertion, all
NGO representatives who presented
papers on the situation in Zimbabwe,
except for Amnesty International, were
from Zimbabwe.
NGO
presentations were made by Wilbert Mandinde of Misa, Abel Chikomo of the
Media Monitoring Project of Zimbabwe, Harrison Nkomo of the Zimbabwe Human
Rights NGO Forum, and Irene Petras of Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human
Rights.
Major highlights of the Misa and MMPZ presentations were on
the shrinking
space for freedom of expression, continued harassment of
journalists and the
Media and Information Commission's refusal to register
the Daily News and
the Daily News on Sunday.
The forum
concentrated on government's failure to implement African
Commission
recommendations of its July 2002 fact-finding mission while the
ZLHR called
for the protection of the judiciary and respect for court
rulings which
government often ignored.
The forum criticised what it called the
continued persecution of human
rights defenders. It condemned the recent
arrest of National Constitutional
Assembly and Zimbabwe Congress of Trade
Unions leaders for what government
described as unlawful
demonstrations.
"Recently, members of the ZCTU and NCA have been
maliciously, unlawfully and
wrongfully detained for engaging in a peaceful
demonstration. During the
detention the victims were denied access to legal
representation and food.
The detainees included people living with HIV and
Aids," the forum said.
"We urge the commission to implore the
Zimbabwe government to ensure that
its domestic legislation is consistent
with minimum international standards.
The commission should impress on the
government the need to ratify and
domesticate the convention against
torture," the forum said.
The NGOs are set to make five presentations
to the commission's private
sessions.
Zim Independent
SUSPENDED
Zimbabwe Mirror Group of Newspapers CEO and editor-in-chief Ibbo
Mandaza's
case took a dramatic twist yesterday after the Mirror board
summoned him to
a disciplinary committee hearing despite an ongoing court
battle.
Mandaza's attorney Joseph Mandizha said yesterday Mirror
chairman Jonathan
Kadzura had written to his client on Tuesday summoning to
a disciplinary
hearing next Monday at the company's boardroom at Charter
House.
Mandaza was recently suspended from the Mirror by disputed
group chair
Kadzura and his deputy John Marangwanda in the wake of
disclosures about the
takeover of the Mirror titles, the Daily Mirror and
the Sunday Mirror, by
the Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) using
public funds. The CIO also
has an interest in the Financial
Gazette.
Mandizha said Kadzura's letter this week to Mandaza
contained eight
allegations of fraud framed as "purported grounds" for his
suspension almost
two months after the action.
The lawyer said he
would today approach the High Court in terms of an
earlier consent order
issued by Justice Bharat for the matter to go for
arbitration.
Mandizha's remarks came as the chairman of the panel
formed to hear and
determine the "propriety" of Mandaza's suspension, former
chief justice
Anthony Gubbay, issued a ruling yesterday following Monday's
initial
hearing, saying his team had no jurisdiction to hear the
case.
Gubbay said the panel, which includes former Institute of
Chartered
Accountants president David Vincent and chairman of the Institute
of
Directors Much Masunda, could not deal with the issue since it was not a
labour court unless Patel's ruling had directed that the case be heard in
terms of the Arbitration Act.
Mandizha said he would file an
application with the court today seeking
relief.
"It's an option
we are going to exercise. Dr Mandaza finds Kadzura's letter
extremely in bad
faith and in bad taste and wants the protection of the
court," Mandizha
said.
"He was only served now with the purported grounds of
suspension. There are
eight charges of alleged fraud which allegedly emanate
from the (Ernst &
Young) audit report although the report does not
sustain such charges. All
these charges are contrived and Kadzura knows
that."
The Monday hearing got off to a false start and eventually
collapsed after
the parties to the case failed to agree on the route of
proceedings. - Staff
Writer.
Zim Independent
Loughty Dube/Godfrey Marawanyika
AN expected voter boycott in the
senate election tomorrow could land the
ruling Zanu PF its first contested
seats in five years in several urban
areas. Political analysts this week
said the expected low voter turnout
could hand Zanu PF seats in urban areas
where it last won representation
during parliamentary elections a decade
ago.
The ruling party takes to the ring against a section of the
fragmented
Movement for Democratic Change, weakened by a vigorous
anti-senate campaign
by its own leader Morgan Tsvangirai, in polls that most
people have
dismissed as irrelevant to the country's pressing economic
problems.
Analysts say most people in urban areas will boycott the
poll due to apathy
and the mixed message coming from the
opposition.
"There will be significant voter apathy in this
election," said John
Makumbe, a Harare-based political
analyst.
"We have a situation where the anti-senate part of the MDC
that appears
larger than the pro-senate group is calling for a boycott and
the result is
that people in urban areas will not take part in the senate
election."
The MDC is split along two lines with one group led by
party
secretary-general, Welshman Ncube, advocating participation in the
election
while the other group, led by party president Tsvangirai, is
against taking
part in the poll.
Makumbe said the pro-senate
group was wasting resources by campaigning when
it was clear that the
majority of MDC supporters had paid attention to
Tsvangirai's message of
boycotting the election.
Political analyst Eldred Masunungure of the
department of political science
at the University of Zimbabwe, said voter
apathy had always worked in favour
of Zanu PF. And in this instance Zanu PF
will win some seats in urban areas.
"As it is, Zanu PF has won seats
unopposed in Harare and other areas. The
polarisation in the MDC will work
in favour of Zanu PF as there is no
consensus around candidates within the
MDC," Masunungure said.
He said the senate election did not excite
political instincts that would
spur an ordinary Zimbabwean to find time to
vote in the election.
"Zanu PF knows that and that is the reason the
party is mobilising strongly
in urban areas because they know they will pick
up seats but the people will
stay away from the polling stations,"
Masunungure said.
Lovemore Madhuku, the National Constitutional
Assembly (NCA) chairperson,
said the expected voter apathy was not simply a
result of divisions in the
MDC but voter scepticism of elections that are
conducted under the current
constitution.
"The voter apathy
expected on Saturday is not really over the divisions in
the MDC but is a
result of people not being sure of voting under the current
constitution.
The MDC divisions only worsened the situation," Madhuku said.
Madhuku
said it was difficult for the Zanu PF to win elections in urban
areas,
especially in Bulawayo and other centres.
"As long as a few people go
out and vote, Zanu PF will not win in urban
areas," Madhuku said. "No one in
their right minds will vote for a party
that has destroyed their lives. Zanu
PF does not have the capacity to
attract even its own supporters to go and
vote."
Makumbe however said divisions within the MDC came at a very
unfortunate
time and that would give Zanu PF significant ground in areas
that were
traditionally MDC strongholds.
"The more space Zanu PF
gets in urban areas the more the party can boast
that the MDC is a dead
party," Makumbe said.
Meanwhile the Zimbabwe Election Support Network
(Zesn) says if people vote
the same way they did in the March election, the
MDC will not win any of the
senatorial seats even in provinces it won during
the parliamentary polls.
According to Zesn's analysis of the
senatorial constituencies, government
collapsed the existing 120
constituencies as delimited under the December
2004 Delimitation Commission
into 50 constituencies.
The report said that the basis for
delineating the 50 constituencies remains
a mystery, igniting all sorts of
allegations of gerrymandering with a view
to fixing the election
outcome.
"Overall, whether intentionally or not, the senatorial
constituencies are
demarcated such that were the electorate to vote the same
way on November 26
as it did on March 31, the MDC would not win any
senatorial seats even in
those provinces where it won some seats in March
2005, such as in the
Midlands and Masvingo," Zesn said.
"In
Manicaland, the MDC would marginally win the new Mutasa-Mutare seat,
thanks
to the inclusion of Mutare North but would lose the new Mutare
senatorial
constituency."
In total, Zesn said the MDC, under the new senatorial
dispensation would win
17 seats, one of them very marginally in Manicaland
and eleven in
Matabeleland.
Zim Independent
Eric
Chiriga
ZIMBABWE'S national savings now stand at 10% of gross domestic
product (GDP)
instead of the ideal 25%, as the country's galloping inflation
continues to
wreak havoc on the economy.
The high inflation, which
increased by 51,2 percentage points to 411% a
fortnight ago, has not only
depleted the nation's savings but has also
killed a spirit of saving among
ordinary Zimbabweans.
The Minister of Finance, Herbert Murerwa, who
has been trying to promote a
culture of saving, has admitted that national
savings of 10% of GDP are way
too low.
In his 2005 national
budget statement, Murerwa said high domestic savings
were a prerequisite for
investment and sustained economic growth.
"Regrettably, overall
savings in Zimbabwe have remained low and are
estimated to be about -1,7% of
GDP in 2004," he said.
He added that this has denied the economy
resources for productive
investment at a time when both the public and
private sectors require higher
levels of
investment.
"Consequently, investment has remained low at levels of
about 5% of GDP," he
said.
Zimbabwe has not received significant
external investment over the past five
years due to poor governance and lack
of the rule of law. Investors have
shied away from Zimbabwe because of its
unstable political and economic
conditions. Instead, major investors in the
country like BHP and Lonrho have
closed down operations and several others
have relocated to neighbouring
countries that offer better
prospects.
Before investing in a country, investors consider the
level of savings to
determine whether the target market can afford to buy
their product.
Currently investors are shying away from Zimbabwe because
a majority of its
population do not have enough disposable
income.
Zimbabwe's GDP per capita is about US$300. Economic analyst
John Robertson
said that savings are declining because it no longer makes
sense to save
money in a market where the inflation rate is triple digit.
"Savers are
getting negative return on their money because of galloping
inflation which
government has failed to tame," Robertson
said.
Workers can no longer afford to save from paltry incomes which
they live on.
While inflation is hovering above 400%, banks like the
POSB and the Central
African Building Society (CABS) offer interest on
savings accounts of only
11% and 7% respectively.
Robertson said
the decline in savings would make it increasingly difficult
for government
to fund budget deficits and will have a negative impact on
both domestic
investment and foreign direct investment.
The country's working
population can no longer afford the benchmark of US$1
a day - equivalent to
about $60 000 on the official market and approximately
$100 000 on the
parallel market.
According to the Consumer Council of Zimbabwe, a
basket of goods for a
family of six last month cost $11,9 million from $9,6
million in September.A
majority of workers in Zimbabwe earn far less than
that a month.Reserve Bank
of Zimbabwe governor Gideon Gono has been forced
to revise his inflation
forecasts for year-end from between 20-35% earlier
this year to between
35-50% and later to 50-80% before recently climbing
down again to settle for
280-300%.
Zim Independent
By
Admire Mavolwane
A WEEK from now the Minister of Finance as has become
tradition, will be
caught on camera holding a brief case emblazoned with the
national coat of
arms. This will be the occasion for the presentation of the
2006 budget
proposals and the 2005 fiscal and economic performance review.
The economic
scenario seems to be continuing on the downward path, albeit at
an increased
speed and the optimistic expressions that could be discerned on
many faces
after the last monetary policy statement are fast
disappearing.
The last International Monetary Fund report emphasised,
among other things,
the need to exercise fiscal restraint. However, this
looks unlikely given
the fact that over the past couple of months we have
seen the government
taking on an increasing role in certain non-core
activities. The collapse of
urban councils, with Chitungwiza being the more
prominent one as it was
recently taken over by government, means that the
need to spend in unlikely
to be curtailed. The 50-member senate; Operation
Taguta (if last week's
press reports are true); and the imperative to rescue
Air Zimbabwe as well
as most of the other parastatals, makes the minister's
job unenviable.
Furthermore, the revenue base seems to be shrinking, with
even greater
momentum if the numbers provided by the Minister during the mid
term fiscal
policy review and subsequent concerted efforts to tax every
dollar are
anything to go by. Real GDP continues to contract, conservatively
estimated
at 7,2% this year and, as expected, the government's revenue base
is also
shrinking in tandem. Although spending patterns take time to adjust,
the
entrenched thinking within some sections that government can and must do
everything as well as the apparent lack of political resolve to slow down on
spending does not help efforts to live within our means or, at the very
least, to adapt to the changing environment. One wonders what forms of taxes
and levies the bureaucrats will come up with this time around.
As the
business climate becomes less friendly and more strenuous the private
sector, which in our view is the country's most prized asset at the moment,
continues to scheme and work tirelessly, trying to make sure that businesses
not only survive but also grow in real terms. The performance of listed
companies, the most visible barometer, bears testimony to the efforts of
business executives and employees which sadly does not appear to be
complemented by government.
With this week probably marking the
end of the September reporting period,
we look at the interim numbers from
heavyweight Delta. Although below market
expectations, the results were
presented to the analysts with the aplomb and
statesmanship that befits the
status of the most highly capitalised counter.
The results although
not spectacular, were of the solid state that is
expected from the blue chip
with group turnover growing by 286% to $3
trillion. Attributable earnings
increased to $575 billion from $125 billion
as a decline in volumes - in
almost all the product lines bar plastics and
package and non-carbonated
soft drinks which increased by phenomenal 47% -
were neutralized by
aggressive price increases. The earnings per share of
$575,2 came in under
consensus estimates as few had factored in exchange
losses on foreign
creditors which took a $93 billion bite out of the $286
billion earned from
finance income. Management admitted to being startled by
the resilience of
the sorghum beer volumes which lost only 3% in volumes
despite pricing which
now sees the popular Scud costing as much as its
top-end lager
cousins.
The group's management team has over the years displayed
strict adherence to
adopted strategies, be it margin maintenance, volume
growth or cash
generation. There have been no vague, middle-of-the-road
strategies. It
appears that when management decides a course of action based
on assumptions
of a particular economic outlook, that route is stuck to
religiously and
ruthlessly, hence the sacrifice of volumes for margin
preservation in this
particular half.
At the analysts' briefing
management took the opportunity to expound the
rationale behind the offer to
Ariston shareholders which saw Delta
controlling 54% of the former through
both actual shares and proxies.
Members were reminded that foreign
currency shortages had already severely
compromised profitability in the
first half with stock outs of crowns for
lager beer and concentrates for
carbonated soft drinks. Apart from bringing
a ready-made high volume
contract grower with significant agricultural
expertise into the group's
direct influence, the acquisition of the
agro-industrial concern secures
about a sixth of Delta's annual US$64
million foreign currency needs. It may
not be enough to quench the thirst
but it is a start which, if augmented by
other supplies which would include
own exports of maltings and bottles,
places the group in good stead.
Management also gave a fairly
comprehensive presentation which highlighted
the investments and greenfield
ventures that Delta has embarked on in order
to ensure the survival of the
core beverage business.
These include, the US$4,5 million glass
manufacturing entity, Headend,
plastics manufacturing (Megapak), Kwekwe
Maltings including even its
strategic 49% shareholding in Food and
Industrial, which manufactures corn
starch a key ingredient in lager
brewing. The need to ensure grain security
and foreign currency inflows
meant that a key horticultural and foreign
currency earning entity had to be
brought into the fold.
A contrast could be made with Innscor, another
market heavyweight which
seems to be on an acquisition spree snapping up
sometimes end of the
spectrum companies and does not seem to be focused on
its "core activity".
Many in the market have failed to define Innscor's core
activity, and hence
have difficulties modelling it.
Echoing the
sentiments from OK Zimbabwe, a former Delta subsidiary before
being weaned
off, management pointed out that whilst volumes appear to be
holding at
least for now, the first three months of next year could see a
huge slump as
economic conditions deteriorate further. The recently
announced school fees
hikes, and transport cost increases as well as
shortages of fuel do not
auger well for the partaking of the waters of
wisdom. Management however,
have indicated that they are planning with such
an eventuality in mind and
strategies are already in place to preserve
profitability when push comes to
shove.
Zim Independent
Roadwin
Chirara
AIR Zimbabwe's board of directors has ordered the closure of four
regional
offices and one in the Far East as part of the turnaround
strategy.
The board took the decision after noting the continued decline
in business
from the regional offices. The board's decision was also
influenced by the
continued ballooning of its foreign currency liabilities
which included
meeting its bloated wage bill and expenses of running the
regional offices.
Regional offices targeted for closure include
Zambia, the Democratic
Republic of the Congo (DRC), Uganda, Kenya and one in
the Far East.
"We have agreed to the closure (of regional offices)
after considering a lot
of factors such as the cost of keeping them
operational and the size of
business we were receiving from there," said a
source on the board.
Currently the airline has a network of over 15
offices dotted around the
world.
The source said the board was
currently carrying out investigations into the
administration and operations
problems at the national carrier to restore
sanity.
"Investigations are being carried out, but it should be
clear that we have
not failed in our endeavours as individuals and
professionals, why should we
be associated with failure?" the source
said.
He said the board was waiting for an investigation report into
the crisis at
the airline and those found to have caused the problems will
be dismissed.
"Either he fails or we fail, but one of us has to go," he
said.
He said fuel shortages that resulted in the grounding of the
airline's
entire fleet were a clear sign of incompetence on the part of the
airline's
executives.
"We were only told on Friday evening that
there was no fuel and one of the
planes had failed to take off. Surely this
shows an element of management
relaxation and the board had to act for the
integrity of the airline," he
said.
By Thursday, Air Zimbabwe had
managed to source fuel for its fleet after
government intervention, a
situation which saw all its flight operating on
schedule including its Dubai
route. The current situation will see the
airline procuring fuel directly
from the National Oil Company of Zimbabwe as
compared to its previous
arrangement where it bought the fuel from private
companies.
The
recent problems at the national carrier comes after it cancelled its
US$2
million lease agreement with PB Air of Thailand after it proved costly
for
the airline in relation to the amount of business the plane was bringing
in.
Zim Independent
Godfrey
Marawanyika
FINANCE minister Herbert Murerwa's budget next week will focus on
measures
to restructure government debt and rein in expenditure, documents
in
possession of the businessdigest reveal.
A meeting of the business
community, bankers and Ministry of Finance
officials three weeks ago, noted
that reduction of inflation and policy
inconsistencies would go a long way
in influencing investor perceptions and
expectations of
Zimbabwe.
The recommendations at the meeting are likely to form the
crux of the
budget.
The meeting was meant to discuss the
"possible policy direction in the
restructuring of government debt from
short-term to long term debt and
financing of the 2006 national budget,
especially capital expenditure".
At the meeting, the government was
represented by Judith Katerera, the
principal director in the Ministry of
Finance.
According to minutes of the meeting, the use of money supply
as a nominal
anchor in the fight against inflation when, in fact, there are
more factors
driving inflation than money supply growth is not
appropriate.
"There is need to target inflation and not money supply
growth," the minutes
state.
Of concern to the private sector was
the need to raise the proportion of
capital expenditure in budgetary
allocations so as to support projects that
have the potential to generate
real income in the country.
"Firstly, there is a need to work towards
rectifying the weak fundamentals,
particularly reducing inflation, before
any serious restructuring of
government debt can be attempted," the minutes
state.
"Control of inflation, backed by policy consistencies, will go
a long way
towards influencing investor expectations."
The budget
will be presented on Thursday. Domestic debt, which over the past
two months
has been heading north, has largely been pushed by excessive
government
reliance on money from the central bank.
Currently, domestic debt is
$14 trillion, having increased by $2 trillion in
a space of two months, a
trend which has been blamed on the need to finance
civil servants'
salaries.
"There is a need to create a secondary market for
government debt, which
will give the holders of such paper (boll or bonds)
the right to sell to
third parties even before the maturity date.
Securitisation of government
debt should encourage voluntary participation
by investors," the minutes
said.
"Evidence shows that such
mechanisms have less adverse effects on the
economy than forced purchase of
government debt."
At the meeting, it was recognised that there was
need to incentivise private
sector participation in funding capital
projects.
Having the private sector incentivised could include
transparency in the
tender procedures so as to enhance investor confidence
in the whole process.
The private sector also pleaded with the
government to create a stable
environment with consistent supplies of raw
materials and equipment.
Zim Independent
Editor's Memo
CHATTING to our publisher Trevor Ncube last week, he spoke of the
corruption
in the Russian media. One egregious example he gave is of a
journalist who
goes to interview someone and then demands payment for the
job. The
interviewee then presents two packets, one for the journalist and
another
for the publisher.
A Russian media executive, Trevor said, made the
stunning revelations
at a recent conference in Prague. He boldly declared
that he would continue
to do it because if he did not, his competitors
would.
For a country which in its heyday as the Soviet Union
had propaganda
as the working tool of communication, the vice is evidently
far from dead.
It has only taken a new dimension called "black
PR".
The origins of this PR mode can be traced to the huge
public relations
campaign in the country to mark the launch of McDonald's in
Moscow in the
late 1980s. This was a PR stunt that turned into propaganda as
Soviet
journalists had no choice but to praise the only fast-food chain in
town,
particularly in the midst of a frenzy to praise anything Western as
the
country dumped Communism.
This propaganda/PR hybrid has
had a lasting effect on the Russian
public relations industry. It evolved
into the so-called "black PR", used
mostly by political parties during
election campaigns, when PR tools were
combined with such methods as the
pouring of disinformational garbage on
political rivals. In this market,
hundreds of millions of unaccounted
dollars landed in the pockets of corrupt
journalists and "PR technologists".
Black PR has in a number of
countries become an industry on its own
where the media has been suborned to
align themselves to strong political or
commercial interests. Leading
Russian PR consultant Andrew Sveshnikoff says
black PR has become a useful
tool for oil oligarchs and raw materials
companies which use this
combination of PR and propaganda as an alternative
to outsourcing public
relations services to professional companies. The more
enterprising
companies not only bought stories, editors and reporters, but
entire media
outlets.
The mainstream media then becomes a PR arm of a
business entity or
political party in an arrangement where media
practitioners and media bosses
benefit materially from this black
PR.
Zimbabwe, which is powered largely by the black market, is
in a number
of respects not very far off from the Russian experience,
especially during
this election period. I have no evidence of money changing
hands or
journalists returning from farms with bags of potatoes and maize
but our
state media can pass for an extension of the ruling order. This is
true
because the government has told us that there is nothing wrong with
this
arrangement.
So when the aspirant for a senatorial
seat in Nkulumane, Dumiso
Dabengwa, tells the electorate that the
Matabeleland Zambezi Water Project
will be completed in 2007, it is reported
in the government press in the
same vein as "the sun will rise
tomorrow".
I hope the same reporter will visit Dabengwa in 2007
to interview him
on how he achieved this miraculous feat that has eluded
successive
governments - including those of which he was a part - for nearly
a century.
Remember the seven-year-old still incomplete
Tokwe-Mukorsi dam
project?
Certain private-sector entities also
do not mind dabbling in black PR.
They are very quick to pull out
advertising from newspapers that write
"negative" stories about them and
reward those that produce puff pieces with
long-term contracts secured by a
black PR arrangement.
This is our own form of black PR and the
opposition MDC, while
castigating government for abusing the state media,
will not mind getting
the same treatment from the privately owned press in
the country.
Opposition party officials have publicly stated
that the death of the
Daily News was catastrophic for them.
"The attack on the Daily News is not an attack on the owners of the
paper to
prevent them from becoming rich and making money," Welshman Ncube
told a
Peace and Democracy Project seminar in Johannesburg in October
2003.
"It is principally an attack on the MDC, for the simple
reason that if
you remove the Daily News as a source of news, you have
literally made it
impossible for the opposition's voice to be heard by the
mass of people."
At the Quill Club this year he complained that
this paper has not
given the opposition enough support. My
foot!
Then I have had calls from senior MDC officials
questioning why we
write about the United People's Movement and why we
criticise the country's
main opposition party. "We cannot be competing for
media space with this
Jonathan Moyo party, he can go to ZBC if he wants
coverage," an MDC official
lectured me two weeks ago.
Put
simply, someone thinks we should be a PR extension of their party.
That is
poor politics.
Let me restate our role as a newspaper. We have
a professional
obligation to tell the story of Zimbabwe from differing
viewpoints and this
does not include fawning treatment of any individual or
grouping. Nor does
it include shutting out views because their authors may
be unpopular.
I know it may be painful for some to discover
they are as much subject
to our searching spotlight as Zanu PF. But that's
the way it works.
Zim Independent
Ray
Matikinye
ON paper an indigenisation programme covering all aspects of
black economic
empowerment (BEE) to create employment and reduce poverty
among Zimbabwe's
indigenous people looks comprehensive enough to
impress.
But the demands on government for its successful implementation also
seem
too hard an act to follow.
Government is yet to fully adopt
indigenisation as a policy to redress the
imbalances of the past. Until
recently the programme was without a clear
policy framework and operational
guidelines.
A first attempt at indigenisation succeeded in creating a legion
of
briefcase businessmen and petty traders. It also created a small clique
of
nouveaux riches, largely thriving on crony capitalism and feeding on an
intricate patronage system.
Now a revised policy framework devised by the
Department of Indigenisation
and Empowerment in the Office of the President
spells out clearly what the
government intends to do in various sectors of
the economy.
Chief among the sectors targeted for black involvement are
mining,
agriculture, manufacturing, telecommunications, and the financial
sector.
The framework document says legislation should be enacted so that
when the
state commercialises or privatises parastatals, it ensures that
half of the
shares are immediately taken up by indigenous
entrepreneurs.
It says government itself should arrange to procure 75% of its
goods and
services from indigenous companies. An act should make it
mandatory for any
companies merging or unbundling to set aside half its
shares for
indigenisation and empowerment.
The script appears to mimic
the South African model, itself currently the
subject of embittered protests
from intended beneficiaries who feel
short-changed.
Major complaints
revolve round the repeated appearance of the same
beneficiaries in different
deals and guises. In striking similarity, most of
the board members in
Zimbabwe's statutory bodies are the same charmed
circle.
Even when
legislation regarding BEE comes into force, the Zimbabwean policy
framework
for indigenisation goes out the window.
Black empowerment can only succeed in
an environment of economic growth
buttressed by a vibrant private sector
with full accountability all the way
down the line.
However, policy
inconsistencies over the years have led to disinvestment and
gradual
de-industrialisation by major international conglomerates due to the
hostile
economic environment.
Populist policies that government adopted for political
expediency since
2000, which witnessed the destruction of agricultural
industry and company
invasions have colluded to make black economic
empowerment unworkable.
The framework notes that to create an enabling
environment for mobilisation
of financial resources, government should
reduce its expenditure and
accelerate the commercialisation and
privatisation process so as to reduce
the high budget deficit.
At the
moment, Zimbabwe's weakened economy does not bode well for
indigenisation.
For instance, in 1997 the government sought to nurture
the Affirmative
Action Group (AAG) and Indigenous Business Development
Centre (IBDC) and had
made headway in uplifting the status of indigenous
entrepreneurs.
But it did not take the public long to realise that whatever
noble
intentions government had, these were likely to be accompanied by
crony
capitalism.
When asked why the Affirmative Action Group - the black
empowerment lobby
group - was not helping Strive Masiyiwa in his protracted
battle to get a
licence for a mobile phone project,
businessman-turned-politician, Phillip
Chiyangwa, replied: "We have advised
him not to confront government. I have
also realised in my dealings with
government that if you can't beat them,
join them. But he has remained
stubborn."
That response at a media economic workshop left no doubt the
Zimbabwean
genre of black empowerment was founded on shaky grounds.
Lack
of concrete policy had resulted in indigenisation being perceived by
most of
the key stakeholders in a narrow context, with limited focus on the
disposal
of state-owned enterprises, buying of shares and takeovers of
existing
companies.
Televised scenes of Zanu PF legislators harassing and haranguing
industrialists in a show of misplaced radicalism have also done little to
retain the confidence of local and international investors. More importantly
the erosion of property rights has scared off the few investors who showed
an interest in the country.
Such limited focus by government and
empowerment lobby groups vitiated
genuine empowerment. It was perceived as
only resulting in the enrichment of
a few indigenous people at the expense
of the disadvantaged population.
In Zimbabwe and other countries that have
embarked on BEEs, the programmes
have been stung by criticism that they have
become vehicles to enrich a
few.Strident debate is raging in South Africa -
a country that has made
commendable progress in BEE - that the scheme is
benefiting a small circle
of an elite clique of those connected to the
ruling party.
Former state bureaucrats have lined up to receive plum
empowerment deals
with big corporations by virtue of their connections in
the African National
Congress in a similar fashion that the political elite
in Zimbabwe have been
the main beneficiaries.
South Africa's Black
Economic Empowerment Commission suggests in a draft
report that "the state's
privatisation and restructuring programme has
failed in so far as
empowerment objectives are concerned".
It argues that "effective black
participation has been hindered until now by
a multitude of factors. Assets
are privatised or restructured with the
assumption that empowerment will
flow from new black ownership. Instead new
owners have been confronted with
debt-burdened enterprises, a tough
financing environment, and in some cases,
confused privatisation objectives
and conflicting interests."
In Zimbabwe
ultimate policy framework should include crucial indigenisation
activities
like land redistribution, expansion of the economic base through
greater
participation in productive activities, and entrepreneurial skills
development, industrialisation and mobilisation of financial
resources.
The need for a more appropriate strategy is widely recognised. But
in the
current climate it is unlikely to happen.
Zim Independent
By Bill
Saidi
IT wasn't Christopher Dell who originated "vomiting on their shoes",
the
exciting new epithet to describe rampant corruption in an African
country.
But what the US ambassador to Zimbabwe did say caused almost as
big a
diplomatic explosion as the remark by a former Western diplomat in
Kenya,
Britain's High Commissoner Sir Edward Clay.
Dell flew back
home for consultations with his government after such
reactions as President
Robert Mugabe's patently unpresidential "Dell can go
to
hell".
African leaders, in general, are smugly contemptuous of
Western accusations
of runaway corruption among their governments. Some
claim the West does not
understand how Africans run their governments, which
is to say they don't
run them like Western governments.
Others
say the Western government pots have no right to call the African
kettle
black when they themselves are no better - in other words, corruption
in the
West has now been so institutionalised some of it is hardly
considered graft
at all.
Still other African leaders believe the corruption in Africa
is a result of
Western colonialism, which created the poverty that has now
spawned the
corruption.
The crux is this: the West pours money
into Africa in the form of
development aid. It doesn't believe that most of
this money really goes into
aid. Some clever, corrupt politicians, instead,
put it into their pockets to
promote their obscenely lavish
lifestyles.
In general, African governments want the Western donors
to trust their
honourable intentions implicitly. When they donate billions
in aid, they
should trust the beneficiaries to do the right thing with the
money. So far,
this is where the hitch has developed into a mountain. For
most of the West
this vomiting on their shoes is a direct result of those
lavish dinners they
give themselves with donated money which should have
been used to build
roads, bridges, schools, clinics and hospitals for the
poor.
In Kenya, when President Mwai Kibaki fired the head of the
anticorruption
bureau he had set up, not even the Kenyans could believe
their leader was
sincere in his intention to fight corruption on all fronts,
particularly the
government front.
Kibaki was in the first
independence government in Kenya, under Mzee Jomo
Kenyatta. It was accused
of corruption right up to the end of the Kenyatta
era.
The era of
Daniel arap Moi fared no better. Kibaki was there too. When he
took over,
with his coalition partners promising to fight to rid the country
of
corruption, Kenyans were encouraged. Later, Kibaki reverted to type: the
corruption in which he had wallowed in the Kenyatta and Moi regimes
resurfaced full blast.
Kenya's level of corruption does not match
that of Nigeria, which is to
corruption in Africa what Monte Carlo is to the
gambling population of
Europe. Zimbabwe has had one leader in 25 years of
Independence. So far,
nobody has accused the leadership of vomiting on their
shoes, which is not
to say that they haven't consumed those same sumptuous
dinners whose total
cost would probably have built an entire school in one
rural area.
The government has set up a whole paraphernalia against
corruption,
including a cabinet minister, in the person of Paul Mangwana. He
may not be
the commission himself but he personifies the entire campaign and
its
success or failure will definitely reflect on his own performance in the
government.
Mangwana has brought an evangelical zeal to the fight
against corruption. He
will always be remembered for a very peculiar
hairstyle or the lack of one.
His hair looks uncombed most of the
time. Perhaps this is how he wants to be
recognised as Harold Wilson was
recognised by his pipe, Margaret Thatcher by
her hats, Helmut Schmidt by his
snuff, Fidel Castro by his beard and Mugabe
by his dyed
hair.
Mangwana may want to smite the corruption dragon the way St
George did to
another like-named monster, but he has to begin from the
beginning, where
real corruption started in Zimbabwe. Mangwana may be
familiar with the
recent cases of James Makamba and Chris Kuruneri. But is
he old enough to
know that a few very influential people made bags of money
in two civil wars
in which Zimbabwe intervened in Mozambique and the
Democratic Republic of
the Congo (DRC)?
He ought to be curious
about the fate of Edwin Nleya, a casualty of one of
the scandals involving
top people. No doubt if he looked deep into the files
of our involvement in
the Mozambique imbroglio, he will be bound to find
some dirty secrets
linking influential people to corruption in that war.
Today, there is
the land reform scandal with chefs holding more than one
property. Are the
people named as being involved still holding their
positions in the ruling
party and the government? If they are, what the hell
are the people supposed
to believe? That the government is serious about
tackling corruption in high
places?
Mangwana's education into the corruption file of Zimbabwe
must necessarily
entail a long look at the War Victims Compensation Fund and
perhaps the
entire catalogue of how much of the taxpayers money was dished
out to the
war veterans, not only in the gratuities and the allowances but
also in
their sorties into private companies after their destruction of the
commercial farming structure in 2000.
What may scare Mangwana and
really make his hair stand on end may be the
discovery that most of the
people involved are living war heroes, the people
perhaps without whose
participation the liberation war might not have been
won.
The
arrogance with which these people dismiss any hint of their wrong-doing
has
intimidated many would-be enquirers into stupefied silence.
Mangwana will
discover that the culture of rewarding the liberation heroes
has blighted
any thorough probe into the origins of corruption in this
country.
There has existed a culture of treating such people as if
they were
untouchable.
In the DRC, top people have been named
publicly as having amassed illicit
wealth from their illegal activities in
that war-torn country. Not one of
them has been brought to book in Zimbabwe.
If the charges against them, made
by an agency of the United Nations, have
been disproved, will someone please
let us know?
The status of
the living war heroes became almost sacrosanct when one chief
government
spokesman publicly reminded the people that without the action of
the
freedom fighters the country might not have been freed from colonialism.
So,
he said, it would not be out of place for such individuals to be
entitled to
some reward by the people.
If this reward includes the right to loot
and prosper on ill-gotten wealth,
then we must be told. There cannot be one
law for one class of citizens
which does not extend to all
others.
Africa's war against corruption is linked to its struggle
against poverty.
The reason is that the poor are helpless to fight against
the corruption of
the powerful, which may be why the whole citadel will
crumble unless there
is some form of participatory democracy in
operation.
Unless the poor can protest or be allowed the unfettered
freedom to protest
that it is indecent and immoral for a few people to be
entitled to enrich
themselves while the rest remain poor, neither corruption
nor poverty will
be eliminated on the continent.
All people on
the continent must feel that they matter, whether they are
poor
shanty-dwellers outside Nyameni township in Marondera or politicians in
Philip Chiyangwa-size mansions in Borrowdale in Harare.
In many
countries which won independence through the barrel of the gun,
probing
among leaders is problematical because during the war no structures
existed
to ensure people did things legally.
After all, in most cases, the
line between the legal and illegal was so thin
as to be invisible. In
Zimbabwe, it was no different. Shortly after
Independence, there were people
who grabbed property, including farms,
without following the strict
procedures demanded by the law.
Jacob Zuma, the former South African
deputy president now in so much
trouble, could trace all this to his status
in the struggle.
Unless Mangwana and his team are willing to dig into
the dirty, murky past
and come up, at the very least, with the truth about
who did what to whom,
our fight against corruption will not eliminate the
scourge of the fat
people vomiting on their shoes.
* Bill Saidi
is editor of the banned Daily News on Sunday.
Zim Independent
By Phillip
Pasirayi
TAKURA Zhangazha, a frequent media commentator and a long time
colleague
from the University of Zimbabwe, wrote an incisive piece entitled
"MDC:
looking beyond leadership crisis", which appeared in The Standard of
October
20.
In his analysis of the political developments in the
Movement for Democratic
Change (MDC), Zhangazha argues that the differences
on whether the MDC must
or must not participate in the senate election are
symptomatic of a serious
departure by the MDC leadership from the party's
founding principles and
what he calls the creeping in of "political elitism"
that feeds on
patron-client networks.
Zhangazha argues: "Elitism
has the tendency to emerge in a period where a
party or an organisation
becomes too comfortable with itself, and negates
the principles upon which
it was founded. (Morgan) Tsvangirai gravely erred
in allowing this sort of
elitism to creep in, where a system of patronage
about who participates in
parliament or not becomes the order of the day. Or
alternatively, where the
"Top Six" begin to behave as though they were a
Zanu PF presidium and in the
process battle for control of as elite an organ
as the National Council as
if that is what the party was formed for."
There can be no analysis
that surpasses the one the writer shares with us in
trying to understand
why, over the years the MDC and its leadership have
behaved in the manner
they did. If the opposition party was still as
consultative and as inclusive
as it was from the onset, there was not going
to be any problems such as the
petty differences that its leadership shows
at the
moment.
Although I would argue that differences, especially in a big
political party
like the MDC, are necessary and the essence of democratic
discourse, the way
the MDC leadership is behaving is amateurish and
retrogressive.
The behaviour of the MDC's so-called "Top Six" is no
different from the way
the Zanu PF politburo behaves. But the problem can be
traced back to
Tsvangirai who has forgotten the reason why the party was
formed and has
himself become too bureaucratic and elitist in his approaches
and
strategies.
The MDC is a civil society initiative, formed by
the leadership of the
Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU), the National
Constitutional
Assembly (NCA) and the Zimbabwe National Students Union in
consultation with
the people of Zimbabwe.
Prior to its formation,
teams were dispatched to the provinces, including
areas such as Binga,
Lupane, Tsholotsho, Mudzi, Nyazura, Chimanimani,
Rutenga to mention but a
few to consult with the people of Zimbabwe to speak
on the Zimbabwe they
want. The template that was used in the data gathering
and consultation
exercise had three questions: What is the current economic
and political
situation in Zimbabwe? What are the remedies to the situation?
And how
should the situation be resolved?
The process culminated in the
production of a voluminous document called the
"raw data" that was used by
delegates at the All Working Peoples National
Convention that was held under
the theme "An Agenda for Action" in February
1999. It is this convention
which gave birth to a political movement that we
are calling the MDC
today.
It is this history that we can use to explain why things have
turned out the
way they have in the main opposition party. The point that
Zhangazha raises
about political elitism in the MDC which is fashioned out
in a manner
reminiscent of Zanu PF politics is responsible for the cracks
that are
emerging in the opposition party.
Some of the most vocal
members of the MDC today who are creating confusion
may need to be lectured
on how the party was formed. Some of these members
had been active in
opposition politics and had flirted with parties like the
ruling Zanu PF,
Zimbabwe Unity Movement and the Zimbabwe Union of Democrats
and failed to
make an impact.
The late Learnmore Jongwe was sent to the University
of Zimbabwe by
Tsvangirai to talk to some of his lecturers in the Law School
and other
academics to come and join the party. Needless to say that some of
these
former lecturers were used by the Zanu PF regime to silence and punish
vocal
student leaders who were opposed to government. As leader of the UZ
student
disciplinary committee, Welsman Ncube was well known for his
severity
against students fighting for academic freedom. The argument was
that there
is need to have a blend of activists and academics in the new
party that was
dominated by ZCTU, Zinasu and NCA
activists.
Various emissaries were sent to talk to other bodies and
constituent groups
that had not been part of the initial processes that led
to the formation of
the MDC. Taking a cursory look at the MDC politics
today, they resemble a
completely divided movement, with the divisions
taking tribal, regional and
ideological lines.
We have heard talk
about the existence of a faction of academics in the
MDC - a faction said to
be dovish in its approach to political challenges.
It has been said that
this group favours the courts and dialogue as opposed
to street protests to
resolve political disputes.
While factions are inevitable in a
political party as big as the MDC, what
can be said is that the ruling party
has a hand in the factions emerging in
the MDC. It is inadequate to talk of
a group calling itself academics even
though some of its members have just a
two-year college diploma.
What is evident is that some MDC leaders
have played squarely into the hands
of Zanu PF intelligence by trying to be
legalistic or academic as opposed to
being revolutionary in their conduct.
This is the reading that we get from
the differences that ensued as a result
of the impending senate election.
The MDC leader has left it too late
to deal with these problems, some being
of his own creation. There are
reports of other people having being
catapulted to top positions in the
party through the help of Tsvangirai. In
previous elections, there have been
reports of candidates being imposed by
Tsvangirai and Matongo on the
electorate.
After the death of Jongwe, there were efforts to bar
Chamisa from standing
as a candidate in Kuwadzana because the seat had been
reserved for Murisi
Zvizwai, himself a late comer in MDC politics but also a
close confidant of
the MDC leader. Had it not been a screaming front page
story in The Daily
News that pre-empted Tsvangirai's motive, Chamisa would
not be the
legislator for Kuwadzana today.
Because of the
persistence of patron-clientilism in the rank and file of
MDC, some current
MPs have bought their way into parliament through sending
birthday presents
either to Tsvangirai or his wife Susan. But it is not
surprising that some
of the people who are claiming that Tsvangirai is
undemocratic are the very
people who were handpicked by the same man and now
hold influential
positions in the party even without the approval of the
party membership at
the grassroots level.
In all this process, some genuine founding
fathers of the MDC have suffered
as a result because they have no money to
buy presents for their president
or because they have no Mercedes Benz to
drive the leader to a meeting. Many
people have suffered in this patronage
system that the MDC leader has
perpetuated.
When all the dust has
settled, it is imperative that Tsvangirai reflects on
the reason why the MDC
was founded and why some of the founding fathers are
now taking a back stage
in the party processes.
Names that immediately come to mind, are
people like Mudhara Makuyana, known
for his loyalty to the party since its
inception but was elbowed out of the
race in Mbare during the March
parliamentary poll because Gift Chimanikire,
the deputy secretary-general
who had lost in Mazowe constituency in previous
elections now wanted an easy
run.
The same happened in Mabvuku where many young and vibrant party
activists
were barred from contesting on an MDC ticket because Timothy
Mubhawu, who
was at that time the chairman for Manicaland province, was in
the race. The
youths were warned against fighting Mubhawu because he had the
blessing of
Tsvangirai and they all come from Buhera.
Unless the
MDC reflects on its past mistakes and reverts to being a
revolutionary party
founded on the basis of entrenching social welfarism,
then its future as an
alternative to Zanu PF is doomed.
* Phillip Pasirayi is a human
rights activist and can be contacted on
p.pasirayi@lancaster.ac.uk
Zim Independent
By
Cris Chogugudza
WHEN President Robert Mugabe first announced his
intentions to retire
in 2008 at the end of his current term, I and many
others paused a little
and wished 2008 was like next year. It appears most
Zimbabweans at home and
in the diaspora cannot wait that long for the man to
resign.
Mugabe has been at the helm of the country for 25 years and
10 of them
have been wasted.
His announcement and
subsequent re-announcements to retire in 2008
seem to have fallen on deaf
ears, quite rightly because the plan does not
address the immediate problems
of the country which may be resolved if he
announced that he is resigning
within 12 to 18 months.
The complex nature of the country's
problems require a succession plan
to be put in place sooner rather than
later. Again, some people's renewed
interest in the Zanu PF succession plan
stem from the "failure" of the once
mighty opposition MDC party to unseat
the increasingly unpopular but crafty
Zanu PF leader through the
polls.
Some have questioned the logic of having elections whose
results do
not reflect the popular will of the electorate. Mugabe can be
succeeded by
members of his own party or by the opposition through
democratic elections
or a bloodless popular uprising akin to the Orange
Revolution in Ukraine.
Mugabe has committed a litany of errors
which have made Zimbabweans
sink deeper than countries such as Mozambique,
the Central African Republic,
Malawi and Tanzania in the UNDP development
index. Mugabe does not seem
convinced that his continued occupation of State
House is increasingly
becoming more of a liability than
anything.
He is not at all concerned about the rapid death of
the nation and the
collapse of the economy. The man carefully talks about
succession to soften
people's minds and divert their attention from matters
important to their
daily lives to only remotely important issues such as UN
reform and his
obsession with the Blair-Bush alliance in world
politics.
Mugabe uses the succession debate so tactfully in the
same way he
talked about land reform to absolve himself from the obvious
blame on the
status quo which has made some of us, especially in the
diaspora, lose our
pride and respect among fellow Africans.
The Zanu PF elite does not seem to understand how crucial a properly
planned
succession could help in resolving our current problems at
home.
In the UK, the ruling Labour Party is already openly
discussing Tony
Blair's succession and the opposition Conservatives are
doing the same. In
France and other progressive democracies of the West and
elsewhere,
succession is more of a palatable topic than a taboo as in
Zimbabwe. Closer
to home in Botswana, Tanzania, Namibia, Zambia and South
Africa, succession
plans proved to be very effective and had a stabilising
effect on the
economies and politics of the countries, debatable though in
the case of
Tanzania and Zambia.
Early succession to Mugabe
has never before been as important to
Zimbabweans as it is now. The issue of
succession will always help people,
business and industry to plan ahead in a
predictable fashion.
Analysts believe that Zanu PF's lack of
clarity on the succession
issue could be a way of reinforcing its
personality cult, or great leader
concept on Mugabe. This has the effect of
Zanu PF apportioning blame on the
new leader for the problems created by
Mugabe if there is chaos during the
transition from Mugabe to whoever -
whether Zanu PF, MDC or United People's
Movement.
It is
manifestly true beyond any reasonable doubt that Mugabe's
hostile foreign
policy against the West compounded by archaic and
ineffective economic
policies reminiscent of the banana republics of the
1970s and 80s have
worsened Zimbabwe's crisis and are largely responsible
for the current state
of affairs in Zimbabwe.
Conventional wisdom states that you do
not fight the West, UK and US
in particular, irrespective of how seemingly
vindicated your course could
be.
The result is that you will be
ignored and condemned to starvation if
you are a small
country.
The MDC on its part has a responsibility to the people
of Zimbabwe,
especially the urban folk, to try and analyse its own policies
and
leadership style and possibly effect some changes at the top. This may
be
the only way the opposition can ever succeed in reclaiming the people's
stolen mandate.
If the MDC does not reflect very seriously
on its leadership
structures and style, it risks being thrown to the very
fringes of national
politics and could still remain in opposition for the
next 20 years as what
happened to President Abdulaye Wade of
Senegal.
The MDC, like the Conservatives in the UK, may need
rebranding or
reinvigorating to be effective and be prepared to succeed
Mugabe and his
Zanu PF party in the ascendancy at any time. Essentially, the
MDC needs to
behave like a government-in-waiting. What this means is
replacing the party
president or the president replacing some of his rotten
apples, which like
their adversaries in Zanu PF are ineffective, and
becoming increasingly
irrelevant to the contemporary geo-politics of
Zimbabwe.
The re-branding exercise may be painful but necessary
and may result
in losing some influential but lethargic and irrelevant
figureheads. The
problem of the opposition's failure to reform accordingly
may result in the
MDC being relegated to a stay-way party or a mere debating
society where
people just meet to demonise the Zanu PF monster without
challenging it.
The current bickering about the senate election
is unnecessary and
could have been avoided as a matter of principle. Some
important decisions
need not be referred to the democratic process all the
times.
Rivalries, divisions, polarisation of ideas, personality
clashes and
disagreements are characteristics of powerful parties and the
most important
thing is the management of those issues to levels of sanity
which may result
in the party being stronger. In view of the aforementioned,
I take the
current "power struggles" in the MDC aristocracy as an inevitable
passing
phase.
If the differences become irreconcilable
then factionalism becomes
inevitable and the stronger faction should be
allowed to prevail as long as
it has the support of the majority of the
people. Similar trends happened to
the ANC giving birth to PAC and Zapu
giving birth to Zanu.
However, if anything, a split in the MDC
should be the last thing the
people of Zimbabwe wish for
now.
The Zanu PF succession plan may succeed if the MDC does
not change its
national leadership style and structure. If the leadership
changes are
delayed in the MDC, Zanu PF may decimate the opposition and
become the only
player in the succession game with its backbenchers being
the de facto
opposition.
The people of Zimbabwe may be
seemingly docile, devoid of the vigour
that characterised the Orange
Revolution in Ukraine, but are still eager to
invest their votes and
political future in an MDC party that evolves and
responds to the changing
leadership demands of the 21st century politics. A
rebranded MDC appears to
be the only answer to a chaotic Zanu PF succession
plan.
In
fact, contrary to the overwhelming consensus of public opinion
within the
establishment, Zanu PF succession's rhetoric could be a gimmick
to either
buy time or test the waters so that they can extend Mugabe's term
to
2010.
* Cris Chogugudza is a London-based Zimbabwean.
Zim Independent
Eric Bloch Column
THE thought of an airline pursuing the law of diminishing
returns conjures
up horrendous images, but intending passengers of Air
Zimbabwe need not fear
for their safety. The diminishing returns will not
be those of the airline's
aircraft, and of the passengers on board, but of
the revenues accruing from
an ever-diminishing number of passengers.
This
is so because, under the law of diminishing returns, ill-considered and
excessive increases fail to generate anticipated increased income, and
instead result in a fall in operational earnings. And that will,
inevitably, be the consequence of Air Zimbabwe's recent gargantuan hikes in
its fares.
This week the board suspended CEO Tendai Mahachi and grounded
its fleet.
That the national airline had to raise its charges is
indisputable, for not
only is it as subject to the hyperinflationary impacts
that afflict all
Zimbabwe but, in addition, a very great proportion of its
essential
expenditures are foreign currency-denominated. Undoubtedly its
major costs
include aviation fuel, spares, international landing fees, crew
accommodation abroad, reinsurance and much else. Therefore, not only must
fares be realigned to address inflation in local costs, but also the
escalation in operational expenditures caused by exchange rate
movement.
However, the magnitude of fare increases in the last month has left
passengers, and would-be passengers, aghast. Despite three prior price
increases in 2005, fares were increased during the last months by almost
200% on domestic routes and more than 300% on most regional and
international routes.
In seeking to justify such immense increases, the
airline has cited exchange
rate movement but, on the one hand, that movement
was to a lesser extent
than those percentages and, on the other hand, not
all the airline's costs
are foreign currency-denominated. As to the
exchange rate, the airline
appears to apply the rates existing in the
unlawful alternative markets, as
distinct from the rates prevailing within
the official interbank market.
The latter have been between $60 000:US$1 and
$63 200: US$1 (being the mid-
rates) since the foreign currency auctions
were discontinued on October 20.
In contradistinction, Air Zimbabwe appears
to be applying rates ranging from
$75 000:US$1 to $100 000:US$1. An economy
class return fare on the
Bulawayo-Harare route is now an astounding $21 550
250; on the
Bulawayo-Johannesburg route $29 850 000; Harare-Johannesburg
route $39 600
000; and to London Gatwick $146 925 000 (before taxes and
departure fees!).
Adding insult to injury, it applies those rates to the
entire fares, instead
of recognising that a significant portion of the
revenues are required to
serve local costs, including salaries,
administrative and other overhead
expenditure, domestic marketing and
finance costs. Those costs should
increase only in tandem with inflation,
as distinct from being exchange
rate-driven.
Compounding the insults to
injury even further is that when the airline
launched its newly acquired
MA60 aircraft about six months ago, it trumpeted
with very great razzmatazz
that those aircraft were exceptionally
cost-efficient, lowering operational
costs by at least a third!
And to compound the appalling state of affairs
even further, the airline's
customer care continues to decline apace, with
the sole exception being the
remarkably great attentiveness of the cockpit
and cabin crews. They
demonstrate continual concern for the well-being and
comfort of the
passengers, but the same cannot be said for management, who
cannot (or will
not) even ensure adequacy of aircraft supplies.
On at
least eight flights out of 10, on domestic routes, there is no soap in
the
toilets. Compliance with international airline catering standards of
providing decaffeinated coffee, for those allergic to caffeine, was
discontinued sometime ago. Similarly, it is now the exception, rather than
the rule, for whisky to be available on evening flights, be it in business
or economy class, and irrespective of whether on routes catering mainly for
international tourists, or for domestic travellers.
Announcements are not
made at the airports when flights are delayed, printed
timetables have
ceased to be available (although, if available, would
probably qualify for
an international prize as works of fiction), and even
business-class
travellers are restricted on the refreshments of which they
may partake at
many airports, let alone members of the much-vaunted
frequent-flyer Rainbow
Club.
Air Zimbabwe is clearly suffering from "monopoly disease", for it has
no
competition on domestic routes, and non-accessibility of foreign currency
forces most Zimbabweans to patronise the airline, instead of its
competitors, on regional and international routes.
As a result, the
management of Air Zimbabwe appears to pursue a "passengers
don't matter"
philosophy, in contradiction to the helpfulness and concern
demonstrated
continuously by check-in personnel and aircraft crews. That
passenger
disregard attitude has prevailed for an extended period of time,
but has
markedly intensified recently, reaching new heights with the latest
fare
increases.
Air Zimbabwe recently had a new board of directors, including some
renowned,
very able, businessmen, and hopefully they will urgently focus
upon
achieving passenger-oriented, efficiency-targetted, cost-containment
policies. If they do not, the law of diminishing returns will set in for,
despite Air Zimbabwe's near-monopolistic supremacy, potential passengers are
beginning to balk at the tyrannical fares and the service
inadequacies.
Bulawayo businessmen, who used to travel as much as twice
weekly to Harare,
are rescheduling to consolidate commitments into one trip
per fortnight,
thereby depriving Air Zimbabwe of three return fares. Others
are grouping
together to charter aircraft, for six can fly to Harare and
return in a
chartered light aircraft for a fraction of six return air fares
on Air
Zimbabwe. Yet others, notwithstanding fuel shortages, are now
resorting to
road travel.
A month or more ago, every flight between
Bulawayo and Harare on the
52-seater MA60 aircraft carried an 80% or greater
passenger load. Each
flight would carry in excess of 40 passengers, and
many were fully booked,
but in the last few weeks numerous of the flights
have had only 20 to 30
passengers, which loudly proclaims the market
resistance to the exorbitant
fares now prevailing.
Zim Independent
Muckraker
JUST a few days after President Mugabe returned from Lesotho where
regional
leaders discussed smart partnerships, the government demonstrated
what it
meant by such arrangements. On Saturday the Herald disclosed that
the
publicly owned bus company Zupco had "donated" $1,5 billion to Zanu
PF.
The company posted an after-tax profit of $117 billion in its last
financial
year, of which $25 billion went to government as a dividend. This
enabled
the Herald to use words such as "resurgent" and
"turnaround".
Harare governor David Karimanzira announced that the "donation"
would go
towards meeting the costs of the ruling party's so-called National
People's
Conference next month.
Is all this entirely above board? Are
publicly owned companies allowed to
make "donations" to political parties?
Even if it is legal, it is certainly
not ethical. Public companies have a
responsibility to manage their affairs
in a professional and non-partisan
manner. Can you imagine the storm of
protest in the official media if the
same sum had been given to the MDC?
The board of Zupco appears to have
decisions dictated to it.
"We are grateful for this gesture," Karimanzira
said. "We appeal to other
companies to also assist us."
Let's see who
else has been suborned!
Muckraker is delighted that Vice-President Joice
Mujuru has secured a
degree. This was a fitting reward for her perseverance
as a late-comer to
the educational scene.
Her BSc in Management and
Entrepreneurial Development Studies from the Women's
University should
enhance her capacity in dealing with small businesses. But
in view of her
excoriating remarks about mismanagement in parastatals
recently we wonder
what her view was of those companies using public funds
to curry favour with
her by placing gushing adverts in the state press.
Ziscosteel, a basket case
if ever there was one, Potraz, which can't tell
the difference between a
transmitter and a receptor dish, Net*One which
offers "the world in your
pocket" but has difficulty connecting you anywhere
else, and Air Zimbabwe,
which has proved very entrepreneurial in charging
fares well above other
airlines before it was temporarily grounded this
week, all fell over each
other to offer their fawning congratulations to the
vice-president. Even
companies that should know better like Barclays and DZL
joined the
stampede.
On a more disturbing note, the Ministry of Defence, police, and
Prison
Service added their patriotic voices to the chorus of
congratulation.
But of all those offering their praise we were most impressed
by Zanu PF's
message. "From Salvation Army to Liberation Army to Development
Army", the
ruling party chronicled, leading to the award of a degree in
"Management and
Enterprenual (sic) Studies".
Looks as if the "secretary,
national executive, and entire membership of the
Women's League" which
placed the ad could do with a course at the Women's
University!
And we
thought the message from the Zimbabwe Manpower Development Fund was a
tad
misplaced. Shouldn't that be woman-power?
Another parasitic parastatal is
the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority. This
blood-sucking monster levies a charge
on tourism players which enables its
Zanu PF-connected executives to live
comfortably while doing nothing useful
to promote tourism.
For example,
its website is threadbare. While it describes the ZTA's primary
function as
promoting tourism, it is unable to provide dates or venues for
forthcoming
fairs. Perhaps there aren't any?
Its officials should be told they have more
to do than sitting around in
comfortable offices. Telling the world what
Zimbabwe has to offer involves
more than pretending all is well when it
manifestly isn't!
Somebody should also advise them on the spelling of
"sectoral".
Meanwhile, the government of Zimbabwe's website remains a mess. A
surfer
entering www.zim.gov.zw is told
that "The requested URL could not be
retrieved" alongside a portrait of the
president taken many years ago
together with "the Honourable JT Mujuru,
vice-president" and a picture of
their Munhumutapa Offices. The other
honourable vice-president appears to be
absent, or perhaps, like the rest of
them, is simply irretrievable!
Where is Jonathan Moyo when you need him? And
what exactly does Bright do
all day? Answers on the back of a postage stamp
please.
President Mugabe has announced that the discovery of uranium
deposits will
help address Zimbabwe's power needs.
This sounds like
another of those "Zimbabwe's woes will soon be a thing of
the past"
stories.
But as economists were quick to point out, processing uranium
requires a
great deal more than finding a few deposits. And the technical
expertise to
then build a nuclear power industry is well beyond Zimbabwe's
competence. It
must first learn to transmit power from existing
generators.
Has anybody tried calling Zesa's fault line over a weekend? If
you manage to
get through, they give you a report number and promise they
will be there
"today". The next day there is another promise of same-day
service. On the
third day there is an admission of diesel shortages and
problems with "rain",
meaning lots of customers to visit.
But Zesa's
polite and friendly staff cannot disguise the fact that the
company is far
from being a modern, efficient utility. Can you imagine a
Zimbabwean
parastatal managing nuclear reactors? Talk about "duck and cover".
Not
unrelated to this are reports that Mugabe surfs the Internet and can do
so
from his limo. Muckraker is frankly sceptical that our leader is
following
in the footsteps of Thabo Mbeki. Next they will be telling us he
can drive a
car!
And didn't you like the way the Mirror invented a story about Gibson
Sibanda
calling for an Ndebele state which then provided Mugabe with a text
for his
address in Chitungwiza last Saturday, posing as the defender of the
nation's
unity?
Sibanda has denied making any such claim. Those with him
confirm that he
said no such thing. He simply quoted from the party's
constitution on the
devolution of power. But that didn't stop Mugabe from
using it to his
advantage.
Now we see the true meaning of the Mirror's
servitude.
What we would love to know is who dropped in the word
"Lesotho"?
"None of us," say the Mirror's staff. They didn't even cover
Sibanda's
speech where the alleged remarks were made. Got them from a
"source" you
understand!
Muckraker does not want to discourage
editors from giving young staffers
their shot at op/ed writing. But at the
same time such forays need to be
watched for purple prose and mixed
metaphors.
Here was Robert Mukondiwa in the Sunday Mail last weekend: "The
excitement
over what is fast being seen as the swansong for the opposition
Movement for
Democratic Change is by far one of Zimbabwean history and
journalism's most
myopic moments. A period not a hint short of an
anti-climax. Like birth
pangs at the onset of labour, the demise of the MDC
was a long time coming.
There is little to celebrate or even wonder about as
the house that Morgan
Tsvangirai, on behalf of a Caucasian
master-lurking-behind-in-the-shadows,
built. Like a pregnancy, loud before
the face for all to see and carried
about for a long time and just about to
be delivered, the MDC has finally
and expectedly come face to face with its
death."
It would be nice to say it got better after this display of prolix.
But
sadly the author remained "inebriated by the exuberance of his own
verbosity".
Did anybody see a picture of sulky Vivian Mwashita being
introduced to the
people of Epworth by Vice-President Joseph Msika in the
Herald last Friday?
She looked distinctly unhappy about being a candidate
for the senate.
Vivian is one of several deadwood candidates being nominated
by Zanu PF. She
distinguished herself in farm invasions on the periphery of
Harare in 2000
and then led rent-a-mobs to welcome President Mugabe back
from his overseas
jaunts at Harare airport. For this service she is now
being rewarded. Msika
declared she would "work tirelessly to uplift your
livelihood". He didn't
say why nobody had done this before.
The MDC had
no common nationalist ideology, Msika declared, saying the party
only wanted
to "wine and dine with imperialists".
Where has his party's "nationalist"
ideology got the people of Epworth, one
of the most deprived parts of Harare
whose shack-dwellers were recently the
victims of Operation
Murambatsvina?
Mwashita was awarded a 94% disability payment, the Chidyausiku
Commission
into abuse of the War Victims Compensation Fund learnt, for "loss
of
appetite".
We wonder how peckish she is feeling now as all those
senate "pecks" beckon!
We enjoyed Innocent Mpofu's cartoon last Friday.
There was the superhighway,
all full of a long Western vehicle convoy. On
the side of the road trying to
barge in from the bush was a little flivver
labelled "Africa: ICT
Development" and calling out to the passing convoy:
"Give way, please" with
an emaciated arm jutting out of the window.
There
was no sign that anyone in the convoy was prepared to stop. Rightly
so, we
reasoned. There was no road or a chimney to suggest a homestead
nearby where
the car was coming from - highway robbers or a Zimbabwean kombi
driver, we
wondered?
Lack of a road ordinarily symbolises lack of planning or policy, a
predictably Zanu PF phenomenon.
And what sort of access does Mpofu think
Mugabe would provide once he got
his hands on the Internet?
After
running mad with their propaganda on why US ambassador Christopher
Dell had
gone to the United States, state media have made a sudden change.
Initially
they claimed Dell had gone back home to protest at being summoned
by the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs over his "undiplomatic" remarks on
Zimbabwe's
economic crisis. Once this line ran out of steam, it was time to
invent
another excuse. This week Caesar Zvayi "revealed" that Dell's trip to
Washington was in fact an "annual pilgrimage" by all US ambassadors
accredited to Africa.
The startling part was the claim that Dell's attack
on government for
mismanagement and corrupt rule was merely to provoke an
incident so that he
could have something to report back home. How egregious
can propaganda get!
So the crisis in Zimbabwe is all an invention of the
American ambassador? Is
that the view of starving Zimbabweans across the
country who survive on the
generous donations of foreigners? Which part of
Zimbabwe does Zvayi come
from where Mugabe is seen as a saviour?
Air
Zimbabwe has no fuel. This should not surprise those of us who have been
in
this crisis for the past six or so years. It was bound to come. Whatever
source used to provide them with foreign currency, it was bound to dry up
eventually given the clueless leadership the country is saddled with. Not
even Venezuela is prepared to be helpful.
So the culmination came this
week when the national airline was temporarily
forced to cancel all flights
because there was no Jet A1 fuel. The response
from the authorities was
uncharacteristically swift. Air Zimbabwe chief
executive Tendai Mahachi was
immediately given his marching orders.
We don't know much about Mahachi's
skills or the reasons why he was
appointed chief executive officer of the
airline in the first place. What we
know is that he reportedly drafted
Harare council's turnaround strategy. Ask
residents of Harare and they will
tell you they are better off without any
strategy for all it has done to
clean up refuse or provide water.
Then there is the big question: if the
issue at Air Zimbabwe is about
foreign currency, what is a chief executive
expected to do where a whole
government has failed over six years? Mahachi
has been in charge for less
than a year since December.
The answer is to
be found in the circus taking place in Chitungwiza where
the council is
expected to deliver services without money, then it is blamed
for
incompetence.
Let's just call it management by blaming.
Meanwhile,
somebody please tell the writer of that story and Newsnet
reporters that Air
Zimbabwe is the national airline, not "airliner".
Finally, we were
interested to see criticism from President Mugabe of the
absence of
irrigation equipment in Masvingo. He said not much ground had
been covered
in the provision of irrigation equipment. He wasn't sure
whether this was
the result of inaction or poor performance.
Hasn't he been reading the
newspapers recently? There have been detailed
reports of concerted raids by
police and other state personnel on farms in
the Mwenezi area where
irrigation equipment has been seized together with
other farm implements. It
would be useful if somebody could brief him on
these developments before
another useless committee is set up to "spearhead
irrigation development and
end chronic food shortages"!
Zim Independent
Comment
IT is trite to say that governments have never been good at
running
businesses. This is most certainly true of a government struggling
with its
core business of governance.
Events at Harare International
Airport last weekend provide a graphic
illustration of the argument that the
state should stay out of the
day-to-day operations of parastatals.
There
was embarrassing chaos at the airport when the national carrier ran
out of
fuel and was forced to ground its planes and cancel flights.
Government
responded by firing general manager Tendai Mahachi and calling
emergency
meetings to solve the crisis.
Air Zimbabwe planes were back in the air this
week but not before the
incident had exposed the unmistakable parallels
between poor corporate
governance in parastatals and the administrative
inadequacies in President
Mugabe's government.
Here is a parastatal which
every Transport minister since Herbert
Ushewokunze in the early 1980s has
regarded as a personal plaything. He even
got involved in designing the new
airline's colour scheme! That is when it
made a profit and ran on schedule.
Now it is an example of what happens when
politicians can't let
go.
Numerous working documents have been tabled while the door to the CEO's
office has never stopped swinging. Successive Ministers of Transport, not
least the incumbent, appear unable to see that their degrees don't equip
them to run a highly complex operation. The solution which has been advanced
to bring normalcy at Air Zimbabwe is privatisation or entering into a
strategic partnership with established and competent international carriers.
This has worked in the Kenya Airways/KLM linkup for instance. Kenya Airways
is the model of a successful African airline that runs on time and
encompasses routes to West Africa, Southern Africa, Europe and the Far
East.
But our rulers, encrusted in the protectionist jacket, would rather see
the
parastatal grinding to a halt than cede control to private players or a
foreign concern. The government's whole psyche on the subject of
privatisation of paraststals has shifted backwards over the last five years
to the need to control all enterprises, despite the cost to the taxpayer.
Lessons from the successful privatisation of Dairibord and Cottco seem to
offer no incentive for the state to do the same with the loss-making Air
Zimbabwe.
Then there is also the awkward belief that parastatal reform,
especially the
turnaround at Air Zimbabwe, can be achieved by "looking
east",
notwithstanding the poor economics of flying there. Parastatals have
become
agents of implementing government's flawed political
decisions.
The costs to the economy are huge, especially the opening of new
routes. Our
rulers believe there is method in the madness of flying a single
passenger
across continents in a 200-seater plane. This excursion into folly
becomes
more intriguing when it is blended with the false fight to ensure
"Zimbabwe
will never be a colony again".
This government has labelled
public corporations, like Air Zimbabwe and the
National Railways of Zimbabwe
"strategic", the country's "last line of
defence" against loss of
sovereignty. The state appears unfazed by the decay
and virtual collapse in
parastatals as long as they can be manipulated to
fulfil a political role in
promoting nationalism and sovereignty.
The Privatisation Agency of Zimbabwe,
launched with pomp and ceremony a few
years ago, has become another state
monolith devoid of purpose. We were told
privatisation had been replaced
with commercialisation. There is nothing to
show for this mantra other than
corporate incompetence exemplified by huge
debts and poor service
delivery.
The mess at Air Zimbabwe is a microcosm of the state of parastatals
in
Zimbabwe. They are badly run and ministers entrusted to right them are
equally incompetent, if not agents of confusion themselves. We should ask
what State Enterprises minister Paul Mangwana has done since his
appointment? Not much, other than providing another layer of useless
bureaucracy.
Air Zimbabwe planes took to the skies again this week but
real problems are
far from over as long as political decisions continue to
supersede business
sense. Politicians, in a bid to get friends in their
corner have forced the
airline into opening routes to China, Hong Kong,
Thailand and Singapore.
This is pitiable for an airline with only two long-
haul planes. The two
Boeing 767s are overstretched and passengers are bound
to be inconvenienced
if one of the planes develops a problem. The three
Boeing 737s and the two
smaller Chinese-built aircraft flying regional and
domestic routes have not
been put to full use.
Air Zimbabwe, despite its
record of inefficiency and limited resources, is
spreading itself too thinly
on the ground. It has to first get its act right
on the domestic routes
where disruptions are commonplace. The potential in
the region has not been
fully exploited. The airline does not seem to
understand what it is really
good at. This is a major weakness which
requires government to think
rationally to prevent further embarrassment.
But can we trust ministers to
get it right?