The Standard 5 October 2014

5/19/2018 The Standard 5 October 2014

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MDCT ELECTIONS: MWONZORA REFUSES TO CONCEDE DEFEAT/ 3

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Hwange moves toboost production

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Ex-wifeexposesGeneral

Chiwenga


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Ex-wife exposes Chiwenga

NewsFOREIGN NEWSwww.thestandard.co.zw

Nine UN peacekeepers from Nigerhave been killed when their convoywas ambushed in north-east Mali.

The UN said it was the deadliest at-tack on its mission in Mali. Frenchand African troops intervened in Maliin January 2013 to stop the southernadvance of Islamist militants on thecapital, Bamako.BBC

Celebrations in West Africa for theMuslim festival of Eid al-Adha havebeen badly affected by the Ebolaoutbreak. Reports from Guinea saypublic places used for prayers aredeserted while religious leaders inSierra Leone told Muslims not toshake hands or embrace. Meanwhile,a French nurse who got the virus inLiberia has recovered after havingexperimental treatment in Paris. Theoutbreak is the worlds deadliest andhas killed more than 3 400 people. BBC

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2 The Standard October 5 to 11 2014

BY OUR STAFF

IT has been quite a hectic month or two forJocelyn Chiwenga as the estranged wifeof Zimbabwe Defence Forces CommanderGeneral Constantine Chiwenga suffered adivorce, the humiliation of two evictions

and alleged threats to her life.From her eviction at Dockson Farm in Go-

romonzi last month, threatening phone callsfrom unknown people to fresh dislodgmentfrom her Borrowdale Brooke mansion on Fri-day, Jocelyns eyes tell a story of someone who

has missed sleep for a number of days.Her property is strewn all over her newhouse in the same neighbourhood as she triesto put things together and start a new life.

Among the papers on the lawn outside isa Valentines Day message from the Gener-al during their happier days, pictures of thenlovebirds holidaying in Hong Kong and severalother books about the liberation struggle.

Jocelyn sings her I feel good song andbares soul on life in the arms of the defenceforces chief, her feelings, her wish to write abook and assist women who suffer abuse.

I feel so good because God has shown methe way to keep quiet and follow the law. I feelso good. I dont have confidence in the judgewho sat on our case but I feel good with all thejudges. I am proud of who I am and what I haveachieved in life, she said.

In future I will write a book about my lifeunder the arm of an abusive General, she toldThe Standard.

Jocelyn blames her woes on falling in lovewith Chiwenga and ultimately marrying himin 1998 despite being advised against the moveby her family.

I regret ever marrying him. If I had knownhe was an abusive husband like this, I wouldnot have married him. I dont care now, I amout of his system, she said.

I married him against my relatives advice,but love is blind.

Chiwenga reportedly left the matrimonialhome in April of 2010 and from then, he hasnot even made a phone call to his now formerwife or adopted child, The Standardwas told.

When The Standard visited her new home

yesterday, she was putting things together andsaid although the place was smaller, she wouldfind peace and joy there.

Since 2002, the couple had stayed at the spa-cious uphill Borrowdale Brooke mansion thatoverlooks President Robert Mugabes home.Jocelyn said it was shocking that soldierswere sent to evict women at that house, her-self, three maids and her personal assistant.

Asked whether she felt let down by otherpeople in government or the party in her di-vorce case and her current situation, she said:I dont feel let down because they all tried to

talk to us but the man [Chiwenga] has no re-spect for anyone. He tells people to mind theirown business, so who can advise such a per-son.

She added: All this is to spite me after hecommitted a crime, bigamy is a crime and I amsuing for US$40 million for that.

Jocelyn said she was not bitter but wouldrather pray for Chiwenga.

I am not angry with him. I feel sorry forthe General and only God knows. I will forgivehim and pray for him, he really needs to knowGod. He is not the only one that went to warbut he wants to portray himself as a hero ofheroes, she said.

Now I feel I have managed to fight for all thewomen in Zimbabwe and will not stop fight-ing. People should respect the words they saywhen they get married. He doesnt know howto say I am sorry or please.

After her eviction from Dockson Farm bymore than 20 Presidential Guard officers re-cently and before she could recover from that,the soldiers and police accompanied the depu-ty sheriff to her home and forced her out.

On Friday, truckloads of the security offic-ers were brought to her place and evicted her.She was given orders not to take what theythought was their bosss property.

They drank beer and wine and most ofthem got drunk and started behaving funny,she said.

They did exactly what they did to me at thefarm. They came here without a court orderand said they were working under instruction.There were police and soldiers [that were] notin uniform, she told our sister paper,NewsDay.

Jocelyn went through a nasty divorce withthe army boss who is now stripping her ofseveral properties after a protracted courtbattle.

The two were married in November 1998before their marriage irretrievably brokedown in 2012 when Chiwenga filed for di-vorce citing Jocelyns alleged violent behav-iour.

The army boss who could not be reached forcomment is now customarily married to MaryMubaiwa, an ex-model. Mubaiwa was former-ly married to ex-Zimbabwe national team for-

ward Shingi Kawondera.The divorce case has been going on undera media blackout after Chiwengas lawyersfrom Scanlen and Holderness obtained a HighCourt order barring the media from reportingon the cases proceedings.

Though many seem to sympathise with

her because of the treatment she is getting,others sympathetic to former Prime Minis-ter and MDC-T leader Morgan Tsvangiraifeel she is having a taste of her own medi-cine.

Asked yesterday whether she attacked Ts-vangirai or not, as has been the sentimentwithin the MDC-T circles, Jocelyn explained:Tsvangirai never reported that case becausereally there was nothing. I didnt go after Ts-vangirai but I went to a CNN cameraman whowas focussing on empty shelves and told himto take videos of shelves where there were gro-ceries.

I only told Tsvangirai not to call for sanc-tions against his country and I am glad welearnt a lesson because he now sees that. Sanc-tions have killed business in Zimbabwe but weas Zimbabweans are fighters, we will get upand go. We are strong.

Asked whether she felt betrayed by the gov-ernment or Zanu PF, she said: No, I dont feellet down. I only feel let down by the judge inthis case because the previous judges wouldspeak to us, advise us.

He [Chiwenga] thinks he is above the lawbecause there was never an eviction order andhow can you go and get a divorce grant whenmy lawyers are not there? What is he teachingthe young soldiers?

Pondering her next move . . . Jocelyn Chiwenga in the grounds of the house she moved to yesterday


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News

The Standard October 5 to 11 2014 3

Mwonzora refuses

to concede defeat

Health Professions Act(Chapter 27:19)

ELECTION OF MEMBERS OF THE MEDICAL AND DENTALPRACTITIONERS COUNCIL OF ZIMBABWE.

Notice is hereby given that an election is about to be held of nine members fromeach of the following classes of practitioners:-

i. surgeonsii. physiciansiii. anaesthetistsiv) paediatriciansv) pathologistsvi) radiologistsvii) obstetricians & gynaecologistsviii) dentists

as specified in paragraph (e) of subsection (1) of Section 31 of the HealthProfessions Act (Chapter 27:19) as members of the Medical and DentalPractitioners Council of Zimbabwe, to serve during the five years beginning on the4th of February 2015.

Nominations to fill the vacancies are invited. Attention is drawn to the requisites forvalidity of nomination papers as set out in Section 4 of the Medical and Dental

Practitioners Council of Zimbabwe (Election of Members of Council) Regulations,2002.

Every nomination paper must reach the Registrar, Medical and DentalPractitioners Council of Zimbabwe, P O Box CY810, Causeway, Harare or 8Harvey Brown Avenue, Milton Park, Harareon or before 1600 hours on Tuesday,4 November 2014which is the day appointed for receipt of nomination papers.

Forms of nomination papers may be obtained from the Registrar, on application.Josephine Mwakutuya

RegistrarMedical & Dental Practitioners Council of Zimbabwe

BY OUR STAFF

D

ivisions have rockedthe MDC-T over thenomination exercise

with party spokesper-son Douglas Mwonzo-

ra refusing to concede defeat toparty organising secretary Nel-son Chamisa for the coveted postof secretary general despite fail-ing to garner even a single nomi-nation from the eight provinces.

Mwonzora on Friday claimedthat he had received a nomi-nation from the United Statesprovince, a statement that hastorched a massive storm in theparty.

Camps have emerged in theparty over the nomination pro-cess with two groups fighting anddiscrediting each other.

Chamisa has eight nomina-tions so far from the provinces,while Mwonzora is yet to get any

nomination for the secretary gen-erals post.

Mwonzora was however defi-ant, insisting that he would be onthe ballot paper in their congressthis October to face Chamisa.

I will definitely get a nomina-tion from the remaining provinc-es to enable me to be on the bal-lot paper. A nomination is not anelection, it simply allows one tobe on the ballot at the congresswhere our members will choose

their leaders by secret ballot,Mwonzora said.

The nomination process hasbeen riddled with allegations ofvote buying and rigging but no

losing candidate has yet formallylaunched a complaint.

Mwonzora said he will not con-test the earlier nomination pro-cesses which were done in hisabsence as he was attending toa public violence trial at Rusape

Magistrate Courts.I will not contest the nomi-

nation processes held earlier de-spite some of the irregularitiessince one only needs a singlenomination to be on the ballot,Mwonzora added.

Harare provincial spokesper-son Obert Gutu yesterday an-nounced that he had been nomi-nated by MDC-T USA.

Let me take this opportuni-ty to most sincerely thank theMDC-T USA province for nomi-

nating me for the position of na-tional information and publicitysecretary. I will do my level bestnot to betray the confidence andtrust that you have shown in me.I am honestly humbled by yoursupport, he posted on his Face-bookwall.

The party has 12 provinces na-tionally and the focus is nowon the Matabeleland provinc-es which are holding their con-gresses this weekend.

Nelson Chamisa has eight nominations so far

from the provinces, while Douglas Mwonzora is

yet to get any nomination for the secretary

generals post

BY OUR STAFF

Sanyati legislator Bless-ed Geza Runesu and hisNorton counterpart Chris

Mutsvangwa have written toPresident Robert Mugabe com-plaining about the conduct ofMashonaland West Provincialchairperson, Temba Mliswa.

In a letter dated September 292014, Runesu said Mliswa wasthrowing national laws andparty regulations to the wind.

Among his complaints werethat Mliswa had installed a shad-ow MP (name supplied) in hisSanyati constituency.

The putting in place of ashadow MP in my constituen-cy is not only scandalous butconfuses the local populace andall Zanu PF supporters, wroteRunesu.

Geza said Mliswa sneaked inand out of his Sanyati constitu-ency and did not have the cour-tesy to advise him of such visits.

The provincial chairmansappetite for power is unbridledand knows no bounds of politi-cal civility, he said.

Runesu appealed to Mugabeto intervene in order to stopMliswa.

Your Excellency, the respectI hold for party protocol placesupon me the duty of restraint in

anticipation of your speedy in-

tervention, Geza wrote.I cannot continue to fold my

hands and watch the great revo-lutionary party being thrown tothe dogs by empty braggarts inthe sense of hostile interests.

Mutsvangwa on Thursdayconfirmed to have also writtento Mugabe complaining aboutMliswas conduct.

My letter is just along thesame lines as Cde Bombshells[Runesu]. Mliswa attacks meeach time he gets a chance tospeak in public. He has set upparallel structures in the prov-ince without the authority of theheadquarters, said Mutsvang-wa.

Both Mliswa and Zanu PF Na-tional Chairman Simon Khaya

Moyo yesterday said they hadnot yet seen copies of the letter.

Mliswa however, last night ac-cused Runesu of abandoning hisconstituency and even failing toattend Parliamentary sessions,risking the calling for a by-elec-tion.

He said Runesu has not beensubmitting constituency reportsto him as the supervisor of po-litical activities in MashonalandWest.

But Mugabes spokespersonGeorge Charamba could not sayif Mugabe had seen the letter.

If the alleged author meant tomake the letter public, he wouldhave done it through your paper,but if he came through private-ly then I respect that, said Cha-ramba.

MPs write to Mugabe over Mliswa

Blessed Geza RunesuTemba Mliswa

LONDON Muslim groups acrossBritain united yesterday to joinPrime Minister David Cameron incondemning the beheading of aidworker Alan Henning by IslamicState insurgents, with one leadingcleric calling it a despicable andoffensive act.

Prayers for the 47-year-old taxidriver from Salford in northernEngland were said in mosquesthroughout the country at thestart of the Muslim Eid al-Adhafestival.

Cameron called Henning agentle, compassionate man whohad simply tried to help others.Britain would do all it could todestroy his killers, he said.

Speaking after meeting theheads of Britains armed forces

and intelligence agencies, Cam-eron said in a broadcast mes-sage: We will use all the assetswe have ...to defeat this organi-sation which is utterly ruthless,senseless and barbaric in theway it treats people.

Henning had been held captivein Syria for nine months beforea video was posted on YouTubeon Friday showing him kneel-ing before a masked knifemanagainst a desert setting.

The masked man spoke brief-ly with the same southern Brit-ish accent as that of the kill-er of previous hostages widelydubbed Jihadi John.

He was the fourth hostage tohave been beheaded by IslamicState (IS), which has faced air

strikes by US, British, Frenchand Arab fighter jets since seiz-ing swathes of Iraq and Syria.

His case had prompted a waveof appeals for his release fromBritish Muslim leaders and yes-terday several expressed theirshock at the murder.

Shuja Shafi, Secretary Gen-eral of the Muslim Council ofBritain, tweeted: Saddened byreported murder of Alan Hen-

ning. A despicable and offen-sive act. He helped Muslims. Mythoughts and prayers with hisfamily.

A group calling itself Muslimsof the North of England calledHenning a national hero whileMohammed Shafiq, chief exec-utive of the Ramadhan Foun-dation that aims to help youngMuslims, said: This barbarickilling is an attack against all de-cent people around the world.

Henning had been part of aid

convoy taking medical suppliesto a hospital in northwest Syr-

ia in December last year when itwas stopped by gunmen and hewas abducted.

Fears for his safety had grownsince the British parliament vot-ed last month to take part in airstrikes against Islamic State inIraq.

In the YouTube video he ap-pears to read from a script be-fore being killed. Because ofour parliaments decision to at-

tack the Islamic State, I, as amember of the British public,will now pay the price for thatdecision, he says.

Britains Muslim leaders havein the past been criticised forwhat some critics have said isa lack of willingness publiclyto confront what Cameron hascalled the poisonous ideologyof Islamic extremists.

But the case of Henning, whohad taken unpaid leave and leftbehind his wife and two teenagechildren to help Muslims deliv-er aid to children in Syria, had

prompted a united response.Last month, a letter signed by

over 100 British Imams and Mus-lim leaders condemned IslamicState.

The despicable threats toMr Henning at the hands of so-called Muslims cannot be justi-fied anywhere in the Quran andthe Sunnah [Prophetic tradi-tions], it read.

Reuters

Cameron, British muslims condemnbeheading of aid worker

The late Alan Henning holding a baby


4/64

Grace Mugabe testing

the waters: Analysts

Outcry over Zinwabulk water ban

Mixedreactions tomini-skirtmarch

Local News


BY WINSTONE ANTONIO

B

USINESS almost came to a halt in

the city centre in Harare yester-day morning as people stamped-ed to catch a glimpse of protesters whotook to the streets to demonstrate andvoice their concerns against touts whoharass women in miniskirts, especiallyat commuter omnibus ranks.

Dubbed Mini-skirt march, the dem-onstration attracted about 200 wom-en dressed mostly in mini-skirts andshorts to protest against the continuedharassment of women and girls consid-ered to be dressed indecently.

Scores of bemused onlookers couldbe seen taking pictures and videosof the marchers using their mobilephones and tablets.

In their typical style, rank marshals,commuter omnibus drivers and toutsfollowed the marching ladies. But somecould be seen retreating as many of themini skirt marchers were not dressedto their expectations.

However, others followed to TownHouse where the marchers later gath-ered.

But sadly and not surprisingly, toutsshouted obscene words and called thewomen prostitutes. They heckled thewomen as they boarded commuter om-nibuses back to their respective homes,forcing police to intervene.

The march, which was organised bya Women Rights lobby group, KatsweSistahood, started at Town House be-fore moving to Copacabana and MarketSquare bus terminuses.

The marchers were carrying differ-ent placards with messages criticisingtouts for harassing women at variousbus ranks.

Katswe Sistahood director TalentJumo said the march was a success asmany women joined hands to denounceharassment by touts.

We seek to reclaim our constitution-al right to move freely in an independ-

ent country, she said.We are happy that many women

joined hands to denounce female har-assment by these touts. We denouncethe unbearable acts of humiliationand harassment by these touts andrank marshals at different bus termi-nuses in the country as ladies have theright to dress in any fashion of theirchoice.

Cecilia Dengu, who was part of themarch, said men should respect theway women chose to dress.

We cannot say we have enough free-

dom when some parts of the city are no-go zones for women. That is unaccepta-ble and must come to an end, Dengusaid. I must not be afraid of droppingoff at Copacabana because mahwindi[touts] will harass me, but I must be freeto drop off where I want.

The march was however denouncedby some touts.

Reason Majanga, a rank marshal atCopacabana said they were not goingto tolerate women who walk in publicplaces semi-naked.

We have schoolchildren who comehere on their way to and from school.When they see such dressing from theirsisters, what will they learn? We whis-tle and boo them so that the youngsterswill know that such type of dressing isnot tolerated in public, he said.

Rueben Kasirori, a tout at MarketSquare rank, said the police shouldnot have allowed the march to goahead.

BY OUR STAFF

THERE is a public outcry over the recent ZimbabweNational Water Authority ban on the drawing of bulkwater from boreholes.

The Standard was last week inundated with callsfrom Harare residents who described the decision asillegal.

They said the decision was being implemented hast-ily without planning or taking into consideration thefailure by Zinwa itself and local authorities to deliverwater to the populace.

Zinwa in a statement last week said all bulk water

supplies were to register and pay for their operationsat various designated points in areas such as Demaand Juru which are a bit far from Harare.

They also said drawing of water in bulk from bore-holes in residential areas had been banned with effectfrom October 1.

A resident said: Firstly, Zinwas levy has not evenbeen gazetted and nobody is sure of its legality as thedecision was implemented in a matter of days withoutany foresight or planning on how the logistics and fi-nancing of this might work.

People need to be given three to six months notice,and the system needs to be clear and transparent notthe extortionate rates they are charging. Zinwa is alsofailing to deliver municipal water and that has nothingto do with the customer.

Environment, Water and Climate Change Ministrypermanent secretary, Prince Mupazviriho wrote to thedifferent Zinwa catchment areas on September 23 in-structing them to take over the management of bore-holes on behalf of government with immediate effect.

This decision has been necessitated by the need toprotect our finite groundwater resources which are atrisk of being mined by the commercial water opera-tors, reads the letter.

You are further advised to take all necessary steps tomonitor water levels and water quality and ensure thatgroundwater resources are not depleted. This move is ajoint operation with Zinwa.

He instructed that an amount of US$3 be charged per1 000 litres of water abstracted.

The ministry, sub-catchment councils and Zinwaare to take one dollar each from the above charge, Mu-pazviriho wrote.

But many people, especially those with boreholes orrelying on buying bulk water described the move asblatantly illegal.

BY VENERANDA LANGA

FIRST lady Grace Mugabesrallies have sent tongueswagging in Zanu PF withanalysts saying they werepart of a strategy to clear

the path for her further politicalrise as the ruling partys succes-sion politics heat up.

The Zanu PF politburo recent-ly banned election campaigns un-til polling guidelines have beenapproved ahead of the Decembercongress.

Grace, who was recently nomi-

nated Zanu PF Womens Leagueboss, on Friday addressed a ral-ly at Chinhoyi stadium which shesaid officially marked the begin-ning of her political career.

She was expected to addressmore rallies in different provinc-es. In her speeches, Grace appearsto claim that her entry into politicswas an answer to the Zanu PFs suc-cession fights which have dividedthe party along factional lines.

But some Zanu PF officialswere baffled as to why Grace wasgoing ahead with her rallies whileothers suggested she may be pre-paring ground for a possible fu-ture bid for vice-presidency oreven the coveted post of Presidentcurrently held by her husband,

90-year-old Robert MugabeShe is testing the waters. Who

knows, perhaps you will hearsome women at these rallies urg-ing her to aim for higher officeseven if it means challenging Vice-President [Joice] Mujuru, saidone Zanu PF official.

Outgoing Zanu PF womensleague boss Oppah Muchin-guri, who is moving around withGrace, was yesterday said to be at-tending a long meeting.

Already, Gokwe Nembudziyalegislator, Justice Mayor Wadyaje-na and outgoing Zanu PF deputy

secretary for youth, Eddison Cha-kanyuka have tipped her for theparty presidium.

Asked if Grace was not violat-ing the Politburo decision, ZanuPF spokesperson Rugare Gumbowas not sure if the First lady washolding campaign rallies.

My understanding is that theFirst Ladys rallies are not cam-paign rallies, Gumbo said. I amnot sure what the programme isall about, but I think it is abouther Womens League position.

Political analysts yesterdaysaid although there could be ahidden game plan behind Gracesrallies, the First Lady was on an

image boosting campaign to as-certain herself as a politician of

clout who does not necessarilyhave to rely on her husband forpolitical muscle.

Political analyst TakuraZhangazha said her intention tohold rallies might be to ascertainher role as a stand-alone politi-cian, but not the view being ped-dled by many that she was tryingto dismantle Mujuru from her po-sition as VP.

She is now facing people onher own without Mugabe. As a

person who has just entered poli-tics, she wants to prove to her sup-porters that she is able to mobi-

lise crowds to her rallies, and thiswill give her proper legitimacy inZanu PF structures, he said.

Another political analyst, BrianRaftopoulos was quoted in the me-dia saying Graces political ambi-tions at this late stage of her hus-bands life were symptomaticof the state of insecurity insideZanu PF.

Zhangazha said although somepeople had been whispering thatGrace was plotting to competewith Mujuru, it did not make sensebecause her rallies sought to gar-ner support from all Zanu PF fac-tions for her candidature as ZanuPF Womens League boss and notnecessarily the Presidency.

Alexander Rusero, another politi-

cal analyst, said Graces rallies weremeant to demonstrate her politicalprowess and leadership skills.

As the succession dynamicshave heated up, there is fear ofthe unknown even that she mayspring surprises to become thesecond Vice-President, but it ispolitically wrong, he said. I donot see President Mugabe makinghis wife his Vice-President. WhatI see is that leading the WomensLeague is too big a task for herand all these crusades are meantto endorse her entry into poli-tics.

Wellington Gadzikwa anoth-er political analyst said Gracesgame plan during the rallies wasto garner support for her new po-litical role.

There were other people with-in Zanu PF who opposed her can-

didature as Womens League boss,and now she merely wants tostrengthen her political position,

he said.Grace said she was the Presi-

dents chief advisor and she nowwants people to know she is a verycapable person. When she was of-fered the position of WomensLeague boss, the First Lady saidshe was going to think about it.What she is doing now is to showpeople that she has thought aboutit and accepted the post and is ca-pable of performing without herhusband, the President.

Gadzikwa said the fact that Gracewas donating agricultural inputsduring her rallies was to make astatement that she was ready to de-liver as a leader, especially if hergame plan was to ultimately land apost in the Presidium.

Reclaiming their rights . . . women march in Harare yesterday

First Lady Dr Grace Mugabe


5/64

Local News


Zim needs a positive story: AMH publisher

Weak randaffects localgoods pricing

BY TARISAI MANDIZHA

POLOKWANE Alpha Me-dia Holdings (AMH) publish-er Rita Chinyoka has said themedia should play a biggerrole in marketing Zimbabwe

to enable the country to attract mean-ingful investment.

AMH publishes two dailies, News-Day and Southern Eye as well as twoweeklies, The Standardand ZimbabweIndependent.

Speaking at the Institute of Char-tered Accountants of Zimbabwe (Icaz)2014 Investor Conference at the LegendGolf and Safari Lodge in PolokwaneSouth Africa, Chinyoka said what themedia writes about has an impact oninvestors perceptions on Zimbabwe.

The media needs to understand thatwhatever we report and whatever we

put out there has a knock on how the

investor perceives the country, shesaid.

We are doing all of these things butwe are not fully understanding the im-pact on the countrys future. We muststop doing the things that are damag-ing to our country.

Chinyoka said although the countryhas been hosting a number of invest-ment and business conferences, therewas nothing on the ground to show forit.

Zimbabwe has held more than 12conferences so far but its time to startdoing, not just talking. Zimbabwe isbeginning to be in danger of becom-ing a talk show. We are talking, but weare not walking the talk, we have got tostart doing, she said.

What we are not doing is creatingan attractive business environment be-

fore we even start talking of bringing

the investors. What do we need to do tocreate a good business environment asa country that should start? Is it gov-ernment or is it the private sector?

Chinyoka said on its part, AMH hasbeen hosting a number of events, bring-ing investors into the country with theaim to sell the Zimbabwean story.

Chinyoka said AMH this yearbrought a prominent investor to Zim-babwe, Ashish Thakkar, Africasyoungest billionaire who has to datemade a significant investment in BancABC.

She added that there was need todevelop a structure which would pro-vide focus and direction and a co-or-dinated public relations campaignwith a simple compelling message onwhy investors should come to Zimba-bwe.

BY OUR CORRESPONDENT

THE weakening of the South African randagainst the United States dollar is making locallyproduced goods less competitive in the market, aneconomist has said.

The rands value has been steadily falling since lastyear, fluctuating between R10 and R12 to the US$1.

Speaking in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe NationalChamber of Commerce (ZNCC) economist, Kip-son Gundani said the weakening of the SA randagainst the US dollar was contributing to locallyproduced goods becoming expensive, forcing localconsumers to shun them.

If we look at our trade pattern, our biggesttrade partner is South Africa. Seventy-five percentof our products go to South Africa and if we lookat the distortion in the exchange rate between theUS dollar and the rand, there is a scenario wherethe rand is weakening up against the US dollar andthat puts Zimbabwe at a disadvantage, he said.

The depreciation of the rand against the US dol-lar makes the South African products more com-petitive.

Zimbabwes import bill for the six months toJune stood at US$2,9 billion as the countrys lackof competitiveness makes it a dumping ground for

foreign products.Currently, a number of public institutions, busi-nesses and individuals are beginning to abandonthe use of the South African rand, as the value ofthe neighbouring currency continues to weaken.

Meanwhile, there is confusion over the use ofBotswana coins with businesses and transport op-erators in Bulawayo now refusing transactions us-ing the neighbouring countrys old coins.

Botswana announced the introduction of a newfamily of coins in February this year, replacingthose that have been in circulation.

Botswanas central bank reported the use ofthe old coins would cease with effect from August28 2019 and advised members of the public to ex-change the old coins at the nearest commercialbank by August 2014.

Botswana said, the old coin will be exchangedonly at the Bank of Botswana in Gaborone andFrancistown for a period of five years until August28 2019, read a notice by the Bank of Botswana.

The phased out coins range from P1, P5, 5 thebeto 25 thebe.

A number of retailers are also no longer accept-

ing the Botswana coins, with only a few still accept-ing them as a medium of exchange.

At the moment, we no longer accept old Bot-swana coins since the introduction of new coinsthis year, said a manager of a retailer giant oncondition of anonymity.

Consumers spoken to said the refusal to acceptthe coins was posing serious challenges, especial-ly when they required change.

Zimbabwe, which is battling a liquidity crisisand small change challenges, is importing randcoins for use in a multiple currency system whichis dominated by the US dollar.

Africas youngest billionaire Ashish Thakkar


6/64

Katsirus property auctionedLocal News


BY OUR STAFF

Zanu PF MashonalandEast stalwart LawrenceKatsiru last week lostthousands of dollarsworth of agricultural

equipment and other propertiesafter they went down the ham-mer at Little Zimbabwe farm inMarondera to settle a substantialdebt he owes a Chinese company.

The deputy sheriff auctionedoff the Zanu PF leaders proper-ty as bigwigs continue to fall onhard times as the economic crisisis not sparing prominent person-alities among them politicians,farmers and business people.

A number of far ms owned byparty bigwigs have been the sub-

ject of auctioning activity lately,as the new owners have failed torepay outstanding debts.

The deputy sheriffs office iscurrently inundated with a lita-ny of cases that require auction-ing of property in order to settledebts.

Katsirus properties, most ofwhich were seized from a whitecommercial farmer six years ago,were auctioned off in a bid to payoff a debt to Tian Ze tobacco com-pany.

People who attended the auc-tion told The Standardon condi-tion of anonymity that Katsiruowed Tian Ze close to US$100 000and he was desperate to settle thedebt.

There hasnt been much if any

production on this farm as youcan see ever since it was takenfrom the white farmer, said anold man, as he pointed to a line oftobacco curing containers knownas modros.

He said out of all the proper-

ties that were auctioned, only thesmall herd of goats classified aslivestock originally belonged tohim.

The deputy sheriff had adver-tised the auction as case num-ber HC 2100/14 with a dilapidatedERF truck going down the ham-mer for US$2 300.

Buyers were required to de-posit US$200 for all items whileUS$500 was required for the truckand tractors.

The 3-inch irrigation pipeswere sold for US$7 while 6-inchpipes went under the hammer forUS$15.

These 5-inch pipes you seehere were taken straight from thefield as they watered the plants,so they are good to go, give me an

offer, hollered the deputy sheriffto the expectant buyers.

The 5-inch pipes were eventual-ly sold off at just above US$7.

However, the biggest bargainmade was the selling off of a Ger-man made 60 horse power dieseldriven Kohler generator.

As the buyers made their bids,people could be seen whisperingto each other that the generatorwas worth US$10 000 at the least.

A young woman ululated aftershe won the bid and got the ma-chine at US$2 200.

The highest sale recorded wasthat of the 10 tobacco curing con-tainers which were sold off for atotal of US$6 700.

Legal expert Rodger Matsikidzesaid if the property was auc-

tioned off, then the land had titledeeds and it was private property.

The question is how thechange of ownership came aboutand whether there was paymentfor the title deeds, he said.

Only after establishing these

facts can a proper assessment bemade, he said.

Despite the lengthy auctioningprocedure, it was clear that Katsi-ru still has a long way to go beforeclearing his debt with the Chi-nese company as the propertiessold did not exceed even US$15

000.Katsirus son ardently followedthe proceedings and recorded eve-ry transaction while the politi-cian was reportedly holed up inthe farm house.

A lawyer, Norman Mugiya, was

of the view that the move was notlegal in the strict legal sense.

The land policy is very clearon whether the farm was ac-quired by government; the gov-ernment does not acquire the as-sets or property developmentsmade on the land. Government

has an obligation to pay for theseassets or developments, he said.Technically, the assets could

not and should not have been auc-tioned in any way whatsoever, asthey belong to the previous own-er.

Katsiru could not be reachedfor comment last week.

Several other farmers were alsoset to lose their properties afterfailing to settle undisclosed debts.

In a notice on Friday, the depu-ty sheriff s office said it would onOctober 11 auction a four-wheel

drive tractor in Chinhoyi be-longing to suspended ZimbabweBroadcasting Corporation (ZBC)boss Happiness Muchechetere ina case brought by the ZimbabweFarmers Development Corpora-tion (ZFDC).

Part of the irrigation pipes that went under the hammer at Little Zimbabwe farm last week. Picture: Tafadzwa Ufumeli

BY VENERANDA LANGA

Black granite mining in Mutokohas been a source of conflictbetween companies extracting

the stone and villagers whose envi-ronment and houses are being dam-aged by blasting.

Zimbabwe Environmental LawAssociation economic research andpolicy advisor, Simbarashe Pasi-pamire said a research carried outby his organisation revealed thatwhile the community suffered en-vironmental damage due to blackgranite mining, mining companieswere failing to put up meaningfulinfrastructural development.

He said there was no function-al Community Share OwnershipTrust (CSOT) in Mutoko.

The roads, schools and hospi-tals remain in a poor state, yet min-ers blast mountains to extract thegranite rocks and leave huge pitsthat have resulted in death of peo-ple and livestock, while communi-ties have lost grazing land and mosthouses have developed cracks due tothe blasting, Pasipamire said.

In a presentation to the Parlia-mentary Portfolio Committee onMines and Energy chaired legislatorfor Gutu Central Lovemore Matuke,Pasipamire said black granite min-ing had the potential to earn the

country more revenue. He said 75%of Zimbabwes stones comprisedof granites in different colours andvarieties, of which 25% was of themost internationally sought afterblack granite.

Chairman of the Institute of Min-ing at the University of Zimbabwe,Lyman Mlambo said areas well-en-dowed with black granite includedMutoko, Murewa and Mount Dar-win.

Zimbabwe has a rare quality ofblack granite which can producegreat dcor which is well-noted in-ternationally, Mlambo said.

Pasipamire said black gran-ite mining was initiated about 50years ago, and inasmuch as it is awell sought after stone internation-ally, less than 10% of the total pro-duction was being cut and polishedin Zimbabwe. As a result, revenuewhich can be derived through ex-porting finished products or benefi-ciation was being lost.

There are around seven compa-nies exploiting granite in Mutokoand 75% black granite exports comefrom Mutoko. Villagers are also con-cerned about the disregard for an-cestral land, he said.

Pasipamire said due to damagecaused by heavy stones during theirtransportation, the Mutoko RuralDistrict Council spent a huge chunk

of the revenue it collected repairingroads damaged by haulage trucksand reclaiming the environmentaldamage caused by companies min-ing granite in the district.

This drains the RDC of theirmuch-needed revenue as the US$1per 30 tonne load levy they chargeis not adequate to repair damagescaused by the heavy vehicles, hesaid.

An official with Action Aid Inter-national, Lillian Matsika said it wassad that the country was endowedwith natural resources but therewas no meaningful revenue goinginto government coffers.

There is need for social account-ability, civic engagement with com-munities and discussions of issuesthat affect them. MPs also need toinform their constituents about is-sues of social accountability andwhat to expect from big corpora-

tions extracting minerals from theirareas, Matsika said.

Zimbabwe Environmental LawAssociation director Mutuso Dhli-wayo said the Minerals Act whichwas crafted in 1961 needed a com-plete overhaul and not just amend-ments as it no longer served themodern mining environment.

Dhliwayo said crafting of a com-pletely new Act was the way togo as the current law was not an-chored on principles of account-ability and transparency, whichcontributed to assertions that min-ing companies were not remittingenough revenue to government.

The Act was crafted in 1961 andissues of transparency and ac-countability were not recorded asissues at all, and these are moderninitiatives, he said.

Other issues not recorded inthe Act include social rights and

issues of access to information inorder to ensure transparency ofcontracts entered into. Access toinformation is limited and that iswhy at times people end up spec-ulating. Information on mineraldeals is critical for civic societygroups to do advocacy and there isneed to know about how the min-ing companies are going to addressenvironmental issues.

Dhliwayo said there was need toinclude clauses on measures thatwill result in value addition ofminerals, as well as incorporationof the Environmental Manage-ment Act into the Mines and Min-erals Act.

The current archaic Act doesnot recognise community-basedorganisations as stakeholders. TheSouth African mining legislationhas clauses for the role of civic so-ciety organisations, he said.

Black granite mining

benefits fail to trickle

down to communities

Black granite mining in Mutoko


7/64

Local News


Residents

condemnnew wave ofdemolitions

Christian denominations launch peace initiative

BY PHILLIP CHIDAVAENZI

CHITUNGWIZA and Ep-worth residents wholost their properties inthe new wave of demo-litions have given heart-

rending tales of how they watchedas their lifetime investments werepulled down into heaps of rubble.

Some of the residents wereroused in the dead of the nightjust over a week ago only to watchtheir houses being demolished.

Desire Mutasi of Unit G is stillbattling to come to grips with the

reality that the savings he sunkinto constructing his house arenow as good as a pile of rubble.

His family of five was con-demned to homelessness on thathorror night at a time when theywere getting ready to move intotheir new house after many yearsas tenants.

Mutasi said losing his home insuch circumstances made himlook at independence ushered in1980 in a new light.

Is this what independence isall about? I was actually happywhen I got the stand last year be-cause I could now build a housefor my family, said Mutasi.

After purchasing the stand inJuly 2013, he built a four-roomedcottage and the construction of

the main house was now in pro-gress. His shock, however, couldnot have come in a more dramat-

ic way.He only realised it while in a

commuter omnibus on his wayto work as they were passingthrough his stand. He noticedthe structure had been razed tothe ground and his well had beenfilled with sand.

I phoned my wife and instruct-ed her to go to the stand to checkwhat had happened, Mutasi re-called, but she told me that shewould not go there otherwise shewould suffer a stroke and die.

Mutasi is just one of hundredsof people who lost their houses at

various stages of construction inChitungwiza and Epworth as lo-cal authorities with the subtlebacking of government movedto destroy illegal houses andstructures.

The majority of the people wholost properties in Chitungwizabought their residential standsthrough former Ward 25 council-lor Frederick Mabambas housingco-operative. There is suspicionthat the move to destroy the struc-tures could have been political.

Mabamba is a former Zanu PFcouncillor and is alleged to be aland baron. He has however insist-ed that he purchased all the landhe owned in Chitungwiza withoutcutting corners or greasing palms.

In Epworth, over 100 residents

barricaded the local board work-ers and the police from pullingdown their houses in Dombo-

ramwari section. Police anti-ri-ot squad was forced to fire warn-

ing shots into the air to dispersean angry crowd that was resistingeviction from their homes in thesprawling informal settlement af-ter the Epworth Local Board or-dered them out.

The police were called in after agroup of about 25 people had re-portedly razed several houses tothe ground claiming to representthe rightful owners of the resi-dential stands on which the hous-es were built.

You want to destroy our homeson the pretext that they are ille-gal, charged one elderly wom-an. But just across the road thereare houses that belong to Zanu PFsupporters and you dont want todemolish those? No member ofZanu PF will ever build a house

here. We are ready to die for ourhouses.

One of the victims in Chitung-wiza, Felix Chisuse of Unit C, saidthey were surprised that officialsfrom the town council came to de-stroy the houses at midnight. Hesaid this was an indication thatthey were acting illeg ally.

They first came during the dayin pick-up trucks. They shouldhave told us then that they want-ed to destroy our houses. But theyonly returned at midnight whenpeople were asleep, Chisuse said.

He lost a stand that was boughtfor him by his son last year after themunicipality had given them thegreen light to construct the house.

We only bought the buildingmaterials after the council had

given us the necessary documentsto confirm that our stand was le-gal, said Chisuse.

The demolition blitz was code-named Operation Makapiwa Nani

Ipapo? (Who gave you those resi-dential stands?).

Mutasi said when they went tothe local authority to inquire onthe demolitions, they were shuf-fled from one office to the next.

One of the officials later saidthey were not aware of the dem-olitions and referred us to the po-lice at Makoni Shopping Centre,he said.

When we went to the police,the officers we spoke to, who de-clined to give us their names,were in a foul mood and accusedus of building houses on illegalstands.

Mutasi said they were referredback to the town council and uponarrival, they learnt that all thekey officials had deserted their of-

fices.Alice Masunda of Unit A, how-ever said the teams that came todemolish the structures told themthat they were acting on councilinstructions.

Eventually, I approached Ma-bamba from whom I bought mystand in Unit A for US$5 000 andwhen I accused him of cheating,he told me that what was happen-ing was political, she said. Heinstructed us to stay put on ourstands.

Chitungwiza Residents Trust(Chitrest) expressed shock at thedormitory towns demolition of il-legal structures in the early hoursof the morning after authoritieshad agreed with the residentsrepresentatives that the struc-

tures would be regularised to in-crease the councils revenue col-lection base.

Chitungwiza magistrate Mare-hwanazvo Gofa granted an order

favour of residents on April 242014. On June 27 2014, the munici-pality approached the High Courtunder case number HC5231/14seeking an order to demolish theso-called illegal houses but theHigh Court is yet to grant the or-der.

The ruling was made after Lo-cal Government minister Igna-tious Chombo had given residents athree-week ultimatum to demolishhouses built on undesignated sites.

The Harare Metropolitan Resi-dents Forum (HamRef) has sincepetitioned President RobertMugabe and Police Commission-er General Augustine Chihuri toexercise their constitutional au-thority and cause the arrest of of-ficials who authorised the demoli-

tions.We will find ways of stoppingthe illegal demolitions. We willexplore these ways if we dont geta favourable response, HamRefco-chairperson Simbarashe Moyosaid.

HamRef co-chairperson IsraelMabhoo said: We need to agreeas residents associations on theresolutions to register our an-ger within the legal channels be-cause constitutionally you cantbe removed from your housewithout alternative accommoda-tion.

The Bill of Rights in Chapter4 of the new constitution clearlystates that citizens have the rightto freedom from arbitrary evic-tion. It defies logic to note that theauthorities who have the obliga-tion to protect that right are theones violating it.

BY WINSTONE ANTONIO

THE Zimbabwe Heads of Chris-tian Denominations (ZHOCD)have launched a programme

aimed at promoting peace, reconcil-iation, non-violence and justice inthe country.

The programme is dubbed the Ec-umenical Peace Observation Initia-tive in Zimbabwe (Epoiz) .

ZHOCD director, Tendaiwo Mar-egere told The Standard at GokweCentre last week that the nation hadgone through difficult times whichrequired churches to take an initi-ative to ensure that peace prevails.

With the Epoiz initiative, we seekto strengthen and amplify churchesjoint advocacy voices, facilitatingstronger coordination of various ef-forts for peace while promoting freeand peaceful citizen participationin national processes, particularlyelections and referenda, Maregeresaid.

The goal of this initiative is to

promote an enduring culture ofpeace in Zimbabwe and facilitate na-tional healing, forgiveness and rec-onciliation.

He said the programme would seeofficials touring seven provinces inthe country to preach the gospel ofpeace and reconciliation.

We have selected seven provincesat the moment, among them Masv-ingo, Hwange, Mashonaland West,Bulawayo and Midlands. The selec-tion criteria was based on the con-flicts experienced in the recent pastwith the need to conscientise suchcommunities to a climate of toler-ance and peaceful co-existence,Maregere said.

It is essential that the church in-itiates the process of healing, for-giveness, reconciliation and peacebuilding in its endeavour to developa culture of peace in Zimbabwe.

Maregere said the project wouldincorporate church, traditional andpolitical parties, government, civ-il society, business, security sector,

media, congregants and communi-ties.

ZHOCD research and advocacyofficer Tendayi Bobo said the pro-gramme has so far received an over-whelming response from people andother stakeholders.

We have been in Rusape, Hwangeand Karoi preaching the gospel ofpeace and people in those areas em-braced the project, Bobo said.

Our aim is to bring violence per-petrators and victims under oneroof and educate them about theculture of peace in national process-es.

ZHOCD is a conglomeration of fourumbrella church bodies comprisingEvangelical Fellowship of Zimba-bwe (EFZ), the Zimbabwe CatholicBishops Conference (ZCBC), Zim-babwe Council of Churches (ZCC)and the Union for the Developmentof Apostolic and Zionist Church-es in Zimbabwe (Udaciza) as asso-ciate members of ZHOCD that waslaunched last year.

Tendaiwo Maregere

The aftermath of demolitions carried out l ast weekInEpworth anti-riot police were forced to fire

warning shots into the air to disperse an angry

crowd of home-seekers that was resistingeviction


8/64

Judicial system marred by inefficiencyLocal News


BY PAIDAMOYO MUZULU

Convicted murderer Jon-athan Mutsinzes 11-year wait for sentenc-ing after his convictionby Justice Charles Hun-

gwe at the High Court shows howslowly the wheels of justice inZimbabwe are turning comparedto neighbouring South Africa.

Mutsinze, the leader of thenow defunct Jerusalem Apostol-ic Faith Church bid for freedomwas last week shot down by theConstitutional Court that orderedJustice Hungwe to revisit the caseand hand down his judgment.

Across the Limpopo, Oscar Pis-torius killed his girlfriend ReevaSteenkamp on February 14 lastyear and he has already been tried

and convicted of culpable homi-cide. Next week he will know hissentence, just a month after JudgeThokozile Masipa cleared him ofmurder charges.

Soon after Masipa hands herjudgment, it would available on-line, giving an opportunity toSouth Africans or any other inter-ested parties around the world tolook at it.

In Zimbabwe, such efficiencyremains a pipe dream. Judicial of-ficers have a wide leeway in prac-tice on how much time they cantake to give a judgment after hear-ing a matter.

Statutory Instrument 107 of2012 general known as JudicialService (Code of Ethics) Regula-

tions, 2012 says judgments should

be handed down between threeand six months after completionof a hearing.

Section 19 (1) of the Code reads,Where a judgment is reserved tobe delivered on notice, the judicialofficer shall use his or her best ef-forts to ensure that such judgmentis delivered within the next nine-ty (90) days and, except in unusu-al and exceptional circumstances,no judgment shall be delivered lat-er than one hundred and eighty(180) days from the date when it isreserved.

Zimbabwe Lawyers for HumanRights (ZLHR) director Irene Pet-ras said it was important for judi-cial offers to dispense justice ear-ly so that accused persons or liti-gants can know of their fate in-

stead of living in suspense.In the new code for judges,

there is a time limit of betweenthree to six months for the judgeto give a written judgment butthey can unfortunately seek an ex-tension with reasons if they takelonger, Petras said.

In the present circumstances,however, some judges are onlyhanding the operative section oftheir judgments, saying the rea-sons would follow.

Petras argues that judgesshould stick to the code and handdown full written judgments inthe interest of justice.

The judgments must be givenwithin the stipulated periods es-pecially in the lower courts so that

those interested in appealing the

judgment can file their appeals,Petras added.

A senior legal practitioner whopreferred anonymity said the eco-nomic circumstances of the coun-try and the land reforms were alsotaking the judiciarys attentionaway from focusing on deliveringjustice.

We have some of our judgesspending more of their time ei-ther pursuing their personal pri-vate enterprises which invariablyinclude farming at the expense ofworking on their judgments, thepractitioner said.

Judicial Services Commissionexecutive secretary Justice RitaMakarau was not immediatelyavailable for comment on the stateof justice delivery system.

In December 2011, The Zimba-bwe Independentreported that theSupreme Court was taking an ex-cessively long time to deliver judg-ments with some cases taking anaverage of between 14 months andfour years and in the end render-ing the judgments academic whenfinally handed down.

Since then the situation has notdrastically improved even withthe Supreme Court now having acomplement of nine judges.

Chief Justice Godfrey Chidyausi-ku confirmed the same in his open-ing speech of the 2014 legal year. Hewas extremely worried about thepace of clearance of cases at theHigh Court.

The Judge President and I are

considering strategies that willhelp ease the workload in thiscourt. The substantial imbalancebetween the inflow and outflowof cases, in favour of the inflowat the High court, is cause of con-cern for me as head of the judici-ary, Chidyausiku said.

On the newly created Constitu-tional Court, Chidyausiku said itwas new and had a lot of work,particularly that 2013 was an elec-tion year.

May I also digress further andadd that generally, the non-prose-cution of constitutional mattershas been one of the major factorsthat have contributed to the back-log in the Constitutional Court.It is an issue that needs to be ad-

dressed immediately, Chidyausi-ku added, Of the total 111 cas-es that were in the Constitution-al Court during the course of theyear, 24 have been completed.

It remains to be seen wheth-er the appointment of addition-al three Supreme Court judges,to bring the total to 12, will bothqualitatively and quantitativelyincrease the rate of disposal ofcases and handing down of judg-ments.

The Judicial Services Commis-sion (JSC) will soon also be inter-viewing nominees to save at theHigh Court before the end of yearin a move expected to lessen theburden on the bench and improveefficiency.

Chief Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku

BY TATENDA CHITAGU

Masvingo Child marriag-es are on the rise in Zimba-bwe, particularly in rural ar-

eas, where girls as young as 15 aremarried off to men 10 or more yearstheir senior, a survey by the UnitedNations Population Fund (UNFPA)and ZimStat reveals.

The 64 paged survey titled theMultiple Indicator Cluster Surveyof 2014: Key Findings, was carriedout from February to April this yearcountrywide.

It noted that rural girls were mar-ried before the age of 15 to spouseswho are more than 10 years olderthan them.

The proportion of women whowere married before the age of 15 ismore than that of men. Five percentof women and 0,3 % of men age 15-49years were first married or in unionbefore age 15.

One in three women and less than1 in 20 (3,7 percent) of men age 20-49were first married or in union beforeage 18.

The report further noted that girlstopped the charts more than boys.

Young people age 15-19 years cur-rently married or in union were 24,5

% and 1,7 % for women and men, re-spectively.

The percentage of women andmen age 15-49 years who are in a po-lygynous union was 10,1 % and 3,8%, respectively.

Age mixing is prevalent foryoung women, with 19,9% of wom-en age 15-19, and 17,5% of womenage 20-24 years married or in unionwith a spouse 10 or more years old-er.

The sample of the survey had 682clusters, 229 in urban areas and 453in rural areas.

A representative sample of 17 047households was selected for the sur-vey.

The ultimate units of analysis forthe MICS are the individual house-holds and persons, including spe-cific sub-population groups, that is,women of reproductive age 15 to 49,men age 15 to 54, and children underfive years of age.

Child marriages cause for concern

Pupils take part in a campaign against early or forced child marriages.


9/64



10/64

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR


Comment & Analysis

Restrictingaccess to waterinhumane

Makandiwa should stick to church matters

WHERE TO

WRITE TO US

Write to us at [email protected] or

to Letters, PO Box BE1165, Belvedere,

Harare, or SMS to 0772 472 500.

Letters should be short and to the point. They must carrythe writers name and address, even if a nom de plume isused. Letters published in other papers are less likely to

be used in ours.

Chinamasa needs supportto reduce govt wage bill

Water is a human right as defined under Resolution64/292, of the United Nations General Assembly.

The resolution stipulates that water is essential tothe realisation of all human rights and it should not only be

accessible and safe, but must be affordable.

It is unfortunate that the body charged with managing water

affairs in this country and the parent ministry of environment,water and climate are about to negate this right.

At a time when water is a very scarce commodity, the minis-try and Zimbabwe National Water Authority (Zinwa) have con-

spired to put spanners in the works of bulk water suppliers.

They have imposed a ban on bulk water abstraction fromboreholes in residential areas and directed them to obtain wa-

ter from Zinwas points in Dema, Nyabira, Parerehwa, Gwebiand Juru. Here they will be levied US$3 for 1 000 litres of wa-

ter and the revenue generated from this activity will be shared

with the ministry and sub catchment councils.One doesnt need to be an environmental specialist to notice

that our broke government, which is desperate to raise cash,

is not motivated by the need to protect the environment, buthas seen an opportunity to make money out of it.

The truth of the matter is that no studies have been carried

out to enable a scientific conclusion to be reached that the ac-tivities of the bulk water supplies are harming the ground

water sources when construction activities are allowed onwetlands.

What is clear is that, the ban will have a devastating im-

pact on consumers and water suppliers, who stepped in tohelp the situation after the city council and Zinwa failed to

ensure constant water supplies were available.

If clean and safe water was consistently flowing from thetaps, there would have been no business for the water suppli-

ers, and it is disheartening that Zinwa, and the ministry are

keen to disrupt a system that was working well.Both Zinwa and the ministry should reverse this decision

which will drive upwards the cost of water and result in the

precious liquid being sold on the black market.

The reason why I have cometo doubt the Roman Catho-lic Church (the church I was

raised in), is its involvement inthe running of nations. In the US,the Vatican has had a tremendousinfluence on White House policywith respect to foreign affairs andsuch issues as abortion and birthcontrol.

It is the same way that I amstarting to doubt more and morethat Emmanuel Makandiwa is re-ally a prophet.

To me, Makandiwas latestprophecy of the bees and thesupposed bloodshed, soundedmore staged than real. It wouldseem Makandiwa has shifted hisfocus on his work as prophet (see-ing as there is now stiff competi-

tion), to being involved in politics.It did not need a rocket scien-

tist to tell how very convenient forZanu PF the timing of that beesso-called prophecy was. It camejust as everyone was talking aboutthe need to join hands in massdemonstrations meant to pushthe government to wake up fromits deep slumber and save the col-lapsing economy.

And did you see the amount ofairplay that prophecy receivedon ZTV?

Everyone knows how Zanu PFhandles any threat to its endlessrule they strike fear in the heartsof Zimbabweans so that in the endthe general population is unable toutter a word in opposition.

Pity on Makandiwas followers

who hang on his every word, with-out any questions asked. To them,Makandiwa is a man of God andeverything that comes out of his

mouth is holy. Sadly, Makandi-was prophecies are now beingmanipulated by Zanu PF. He isnow serving at the pleasure of

the ruling party, aiding peoplesexploitation by an uncaring gov-ernment.

LG Matamba

Last week, government prom-ised to cut its wage bill as partof the International Mon-

etary Fund (IMF) reforms. The

IMF said it was concerned withthe high government expenditureof which over 70% of the revenuegenerated is set aside for salaries.

Over the years, government hasfailed to adhere to the IMF su-pervised economic reform pro-gramme which called on them toreduce the wage bill mainly sal-aries and civil servants allowanc-es.

The only way government cancut this wage bill is through re-trenchments and flashing out ofghost workers.

Finance minister, Patrick Chi-namasa last week said govern-ment was committed to cuttingthe wage bill. However, it wouldbe a Herculean task for Chinama-sa, considering that there are nu-merous people on the governmentpay-roll who are known Zanu PFsympathisers.

There are a lot of people, in-cluding unqualified youth mili-tias and war veterans, who havebeen deployed by the governmentthat are drawing salaries fromTreasury.

Most of these people were re-cruited just before the June 2008presidential election run-off tocampaign for President RobertMugabe.

There are many civil servantssitting in offices and doing noth-

ing. There is also rampant dutyduplication in the civil service there are Permanent Secretaries,Principal Directors, Deputy Di-rectors serving various govern-ment departments, and in mostcases these people replicate eachothers duties.

However, it wont be easy forChinamasa to placate these topgovernment officials to under-stand these IMF reforms. These

are the same officials who aredrawing a large chunk of allow-ances from the Treasury. Most ofthem were appointed by the Presi-

dent and cannot be retrenched orsent home for early retirement.The other issue is that of

ghost workers. During the in-clusive government Tendai Bitimanaged to get rid of 6 000 ghostworkers through a payroll andskills audit. Unfortunately, theaudit was not enough to addressthe ghost workers phenomenabecause it is alleged that thereare names still listed on the pay-roll as receiving salaries, but donot exist or no longer work forthe government.

For him to successfully exe-cute the IMF reforms, Chinama-sa needs support from the gov-ernment and the exercise shouldnot be misinterpreted as a regimechange agenda as has been thecase before.

Mthombeni, Harare

Emmanuel Makandiwa

Patrick Chinamasa

Due to erratic supplies of water, tanks are now part of the landscape in Harare.

Picture:zimbabweevangeliststeam.blogspot.com


11/64


Comment & Analysis

OPINION

ONLINE FEEDBACK

Dear Amai

I am a graduate of the University ofZimbabwe who was capped by His Excellen-cy the President of Zimbabwe Comrade Rob-ert Gabriel Mugabe in person. I am extremelyproud of our institution of highest learning.

I know it has produced some of the best qual-

ity graduates in the region, whose abilities arehighly respected. They have given it a shin-ning and growing reputation. It is my wish tosee that reputation continue to grow. I wouldnot want to see it lowered.

Amai (Mother), I would very much love tocongratulate you on your g raduation from thisprestigious beloved institution of ours. How-ever, before I do that, may I humbly ask forclarity on a few points.

I know that many people who study for de-grees at whatever level publicise it, especiallyif they are prominent people. They even publi-cise the period of study. It is entirely shockingto hear about someones study and qualifica-tion only when the chancellors hand is aboutto be placed upon their head to cap them.

For example, we know that Her ExcellencyVice-President Joice Mujuru graduated from theWomens University in 2005. She graduated againfrom Chinhoyi University of Technology in 2008.We already knew that she was going to graduatefrom the Womens University again this year.

Amai your study seems to have been rathersecretive. Needless to say, that on its own rais-es a lot of questions.

Awarding a degree under murky circum-stances, not only makes the recipient an object ofridicule, it also makes the awarding institutionan object of ridicule. It besmirches its reputation.

It seriously compromises the integrity andreputation of qualifications, not only to beawarded in future, but those already awardedby the institution.

Once serious doubt is cast upon the veracityand quality of de grees an institution awards, itseriously affects the careers and employment

opportunities of alumni of the institution.My dearest Amai, you will not be sitting in

the interview panels and employment agen-cies that review job applications. If the per-ception is that the UZ awards degrees with-out paying due attention to the quality of thestudy process, CVs will be thrown aside with-out much ado.

It is therefore in the interests of UZ grad-uates, past, present and future, to make surethat the degrees that we spent years and thou-sands of dollars studying for are not degradedin the eyes of potential employers. The acqui-sition of a degree is not an ego enhancementendeavour, but a serious learning process.

Based upon information in the public do-main, our dearest Amai,you do not seem tohave done sufficient study to obtain a bacca-laureate, let alone a doctorate.

University study is a public affair because itis meant to demonstrate publicly that the stu-dent has done the necessary work to acquire acertain level of knowledge. That is why studyrecords are always publicly available, usuallyin the form of project reports, published pa-pers, theses and other activities all listed in anacademic transcript.

To obtain a doctorate degree by study oneneeds to have a baccalaureate degree and asubsequent masters degree. During the study

for the doctorate itself, one needs to authorseveral academic papers of sufficient qualityto be published in internationally renown, re-ferred journals.

Amai, it is up to you to let us know whichjournals your work was published in.

In conclusion, Amai, if you did do the workrequisite for a doctoral degree, I would like toheartily congratulate you on your successfulgraduation.

If you did not, I will not lie to you. Not onlyam I disgusted, but I am extremely concernedat the potential to degrade qualifications is-sued by the UZ in the eyes of industry andcommerce.

They ultimately are the main reason whypeople are schooled in universities. Peopleare not schooled just to give them status, butto make them true experts that industry andcommerce can rely upon.

Only you know the truth of what happened.It is up to you to silence the doubting Thomaseswith a forthright narrative of how your studywas conducted. That should be very simple.

Thank you very much Amai for giving meyour attention. Once clarification has beenmade on your qualification process, I will notwithhold my congratulations.

Humbly,Jupiter

Open letter to Dr Grace Mugabe

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RESPONDING to the story: Kwekwemayor refuses ride in the gravy train(The Standard September 28 to Octo-ber 4 2014) Mose Leodsays; Might bea drop in the ocean of the corrupt and

selfish party stalwarts but gives the na-tion a breath of fresh air amid the pri-vatisation and ransacking of the nation-al resources by a cabal of ruthless war

mongers.Mukwerekwere writes; Imagine if thisman was head of government? So fewgood men.Nyangani Muwani says; So its not allhopelessness in Zanu PF after all. Whichothers believe in this philosophy andpractice and what would happen if oneday they emerged on top?Uncle Realresponds; Why dont we givethat man a Bells! Mayor, can I come helpyou pack and relocate you to my city, weneed you here badly, not for one termor two, but for a life term!Gutter Poet writes; If one were look-ing for a breath of fresh air, here it is. Infact, the majority of Zimbabweans in

and out of office are good, hardworkingand honest men. It is the few who givethe whole sorry bunch an ugly name.Perhaps since this reporter has startedthis good crusade, why not tell us moreabout the other unsung heroes. All isnot lost. Why not start a column wherewe get to hear more about these un-sung heroes because I know there areplenty out there. They just might inspirethe nation and put to shame those rot-ten thieves among us!

Responses to the story,Zim economy onthe mend: Moyo (The Standard Septem-ber 28 to October 4 2014).Trymoresays; Jonathan Moyo must tellthe nation the situation on the ground,instead of saying things which do notor will never exist. Tell him we love ourcountry no matter what, so he must

stop telling lies. We are also educatedto the extent of understanding the eco-nomic situation without being told byanyone.

Chiremba weMberengwawrites; Moyomust not play with peoples lives; whatdoes he think someone retrenched lastmonth will think when he spews thiscrap? The economy does not respond tothe most dexterously put together spin/propaganda, this Goebels of our timeneeds to understand that.

Jongwe Rachembera writes: Onceagain, the professor has proved gettinga higher education and gaining a title ofprofessor doesnt mean much, as youcan still mislead people. Besides, UZ isnow handing out degrees like Crystalsweets at a kids party.

guestopinion BY JUPITER

Doctors Grace Mugabe and Joice Mujuru on their graduation day last month


12/64


Comment & Analysis / Opinion

Army propped

up dictatorshipsundayopinion

BY PHIL BARE

sundayview

BY CONELIA MABASA

Recent utterances byCommander of the Zim-babwe Defence Forces,Constantine Chiwenga,that the military can-

not be wished away from civil-ian politics, are not only a con-stitutional violation on militaryneutrality, but also borders onmischief-making. Addressing del-egates at the ZDF health confer-ence in Victoria Falls last month,Chiwenga argued that infightingin Zanu PF was a passing phase.

He said, You cant wish us awaybecause we brought independenceasi takasiya zvakadaro[we left itlike that]. This is the only countryin the world where you have neverseen military intervention, inter-fering with civilian rule.

By choosing to meddle withdomestic politics, our militarystands accused of dereliction ofits sole mandate of securing ourborders and protecting us from ex-

ternal threats.The publics trust in the mili-

tary has long evaporated becauseof political interference which

spans over three decades. Our his-tory is replete with episodes ofmilitary interference and manip-ulation.

It is quite depressing to notethat this is the same Chiwengawho enraged the public with hissycophantic announcement justprior to the March 2008 electionsthat the army, will not supportany other candidate than RobertMugabe, who has sacrificed a lotfor the country.

When interrogated further by areporter who questioned the con-stitutionality of army involve-ment in politics, Chiwenga re-

buked him saying: Are you mad?

What is wrong with the army sup-porting the President against theelection of sell-outs? Subsequentto his fatwa, the month of March2008 saw the wrath of the military

ruthlessly unleashed on the de-fenceless public coercing them tovote for Zanu PF.

Belated attempts by Chiwengato sanitise the reputation of thesmall elite camp in the militarywhich has always been the guard-ian of Zanu PF hegemony are lu-dicrous and an insult to the samecivilian population that has suf-fered tales of horror, grief andfear, all because of excessive in-terference by the military in ourdomestic politics. Its a militarythat has too much autonomy overour lives.

While the majority of our menand women in uniform have alwaysremained disciplined and profes-sional, it is no secret that the mis-fortunes of the ordinary Zimba-

bwean today have their originsfrom partisan elite in charge of thesecurity apparatuses the secret

men behind Mugabes.The elite in the military is the

embodiment of institutionalisa-tion of the militarys influence overZimbabwean politics. Every Zimba-bwean clearly knows who is respon-sible for this subversion of democ-racy and the ultimate shaming ofcontemporary Zimbabwe.

Where is their pride consider-ing that the economy is in tattersand every other institution thatwas once an embodiment of nation-al pride and promise has collapsedor is collapsing under their watch?The heart-wrenching intellectualdecay at the University of Zimba-bwe serves as a glaring example.

Their concern for Zimbabwes pos-

terity is marginal.We are therefore shocked by Chi-

wengas inability to assess the situ-ation correctly, unless if it is delib-erate. When you look at the magni-tude of the suffering today, it is asif the country is leaderless. Why isthat? Simple! The military proppedup the dictatorship.

We now find it ironic that thevery same men who were complic-it in making it treasonous to talkabout Mugabes succession arenow distancing themselves fromthe monster they created. ZanuPF and the military establishmenthave always been inseparable. Wecan only conclude that its a hon-

eymoon that is now coming to an

end. This is nothing more thanmanaging their exit from Zanu PFwhich has become too toxic to con-tinue propping up.

Unfortunately, this factious andfractious Zanu PF can no longerguarantee the safety of their powerpriviledges and status as well as theprotection of their wealth and eco-nomic interests. In addition, theywant to monopolise credit for lib-erating this country yet there arehundreds of thousands of war vet-erans, war collaborators and thegeneral public that fought or con-tributed immensely during the war.Such vain talk cannot go unchal-lenged.

Zimbabwe was brought about

by many peoples sacrifices, whoshould also equally enjoy the ben-efits of a liberated Zimbabwe, notjust a few harbouring such senti-ments of entitlement.

Oftentimes we warned them that

Zanu PF policies were suicidal.Now they have come back to bite allof us including the ordinary civilservant in the military.

Its sad that the government is sobroke that they cant decently androutinely pay our hardworking sol-diers in the barracks across thecountry.

Our call has always been unam-biguous, but again we implore Chi-wenga: for once, return to the bar-

racks where you belong.

Freedom to dress, move: The other side

Constantine Chiwenga

Yesterday a womens lobbygroup, Katswe Sistahood,held a mini-skirt march

in Harare. The mini-skirt jour-ney took them from Town Housethrough Copacabana terminusto Market Square. This comes inthe wake of harassment, hecklingand in some instances open mo-lestation of young women by citylouts and streets urchins in down-town Harare. These louts con-sider themselves self-appointedfashion police and are ready topounce on anyone they deem to beskimpily dressed or dressed to ei-ther solicit or to provoke them ina sensual manner.

Our constitution, as Katswe Sis-tahood rightly points out, giveswomen a fair share of freedoms;freedom of movement, associa-tion, speech, to dress as they wantamong other rights. That toutswant some areas to be no-go are-as for some women or influencethe way they dress through unru-ly means cannot be taken lightly.

They are also not the best dress-ers among us. They show theirunderwear, their cracks, theyreek of sweat and most of the

time their bodies crave some goodscrubbing. The heckling and mo-lestation stems from the patriar-chal nature of our society; wom-en have to know that big brotheris on the watch out to whip theminto line. Appropriate dressing issubjective, it is up to the individu-al to look at his/her reflection andnod or change into a new set alto-gether.

However, that being said, I wishto point out a few things to my sis-ters. Most people are dressing out-rageously just to show the worldthat they are comfortable in theirskin, a convenient excuse. It is amark of confidence that they areat peace with their bodies, butthere is a fine line between beingcomfortable in your skin and pro-jecting the image of an attention-seeking young woman. In mostcases women court unwanted at-

tention when their chests threat-en to spill out of their push-upbras. Such a display could be in-terpreted to mean that you aresoliciting and that on its own isdemeaning. Unfortunately, onecomes across as a cheap attention-seeker. Generally we are a decentnation and self-respect is all weneed before we demand it from thenext person.

Secondly, different occasionscall for different dress codes.Sports, cocktails, church, theramp, on stage etc. you need todress the part. A fair amount ofsemi-nudity is not necessarily anexpression of freedom.

Fashion-conscious women amongus are not necessarily semi-nud-ists. Think about US First LadyMichelle Obama or our own GraceMugabe closer home. We needa bit of restraint. At one timePresident Robert Mugabe spokeagainst crop tops [commonly re-ferred to as guvhu out locally],women were getting carried away.Too many navels were on display.

Thirdly, I doubt the touts areany wiser after the march. Theyare just a lousy group of peo-ple among us and to think that totake the march into their territo-ry would change them would beexpecting too much. What rulesthem is mob psycholog y. Ask Cityof Harare, they have tried to getrid of them to no avail. With theaid of ZRP, council police and atone time soldiers, Harare coun-cil tried in vain to rid the cityof touts. They even have triedto educate them that passengersshould freely choose buses to trav-el in to no avail. Touts are an un-

employed lot with their own frus-trations. They are looking forsomewhere to vent their pent upemotions.

Do not draw a false sense of se-curity from this march. Other-wise, dress freely, move freely buterr on the cautious side.

Michelle Obama


13/64

Opinion


Universities: Serve justice, not politics

justicemattersBY DZIKAMAI BERE & PROSPER MAGUCHU

We were in a discus-sion one day witha learned friendin diaspora and hewas sharing with

us how Zimbabwean experts arerespected on the internationalmarket. Having a very high liter-acy rate, we certainly rank amongthe most educated societies in theworld. The question that worriesus is that if Zimbabweans are soeducated, how come we cannotsolve our own problems.

A colleague joked and said ourintelligence is only in writing po-etry, jokes and drawing cartoonsabout our suffering. She hit ourego below the belt, but perhapswhat she was saying was that ourhigh literacy rate is useless if itdoes not translate to solutions forour society. We may as well be il lit-erate. Surely, in this modern day,literacy has to mean more thanjust the ability to read and writeones own name.

But again when we look at greatZimbabwean personalities thatmake it big on a global stage, onethinks maybe we are not thatilliterate after all. We think ofpeople like James Manyika whoin December 2012 was appointedinto the United States Presidents

Global Development Council.We think of accomplished per-sons like Strive Masiyiwa, amongmany other outstanding Zimbos.When you travel the world over,you meet Zimbabweans in keypositions, solving other peoplesproblems.

Following the debate on themid-term fiscal policy review werealise that the two persons com-ing head-on in the Parliament arenot economists, but lawyers; Ten-dai Biti and Patrick Chinamasa.And we ask, is our country, theone deploying experts around theworld, and short of economists?We only read their very good anal-

yses but where are they when weneed people to solve our prob-lems? We think of people like thelate Erich Bloch (may his soul restin peace) who was one of the mostrespected economic analysts.

These examples seem to suggestthat we are not at all illiterate, butperhaps our politics is too dirtysuch that our experts dont wantto get involved. But perhaps thegreater challenge is that our uni-versities are not serving the peo-ple. It is both a cultural challenge

as well as an institutional chal-lenge which a more proactive aca-demic community can solve.

Our academic institutionshave to develop a community-so-lutions-oriented approach in or-der to serve better the society. Thearea of social justice is probablythe most neglected area. The rea-son for that is our poisoned polit-ical atmosphere treats social jus-tice as a political subject and in-stitutions and academics that arequalified to speak to justice issuesseek to avoid getting dirty.

We have to emphasise that fail-ure by justice related academicfaculties to undertake practicaljustice projects has contributed toour justice deficit. Our facultieshave failed to get out of the class-

room as much as they should.For inspiration, we look into the

region and we see the immensecontribution of institutions likethe Centre for Human Rights atthe University of Pretoria whichhas been key to the advancementof human rights training for bothstate and non-state actors at bothlocal and international level. Suchinitiatives transform institutionsof higher learning into servicecentres for a society in search ofjustice.

Some may argue that South Af-rica is a more open society for ac-ademic institutions to be morecreative with social justice pro-

grammes. We must take note thatthe Centre for Human Rights wase

The Standard 5 October 2014

Documents

Transcript of The Standard 5 October 2014