Saturday, February 02, 2013

(TIMES ZM) Donors praise Zambia

COMMENT - Putting the entire country at the service of making profitable foreign corporations is nothing to be praised for. What good have these low inflation rates done for the people? How dare these indivuals praise the Zambian government for making it easier to steal their resources! They don't give a damn about the welfare of the people. Has poverty gone down?

Donors praise Zambia
February 2, 2013
By CHILA NAMAIKO

COOPERATING partners are impressed that Zambia has sustained sound economic management projected to achieve one of the highest growth rates in the world this year, at eight per cent.

Poverty Reduction Budget Support (PRBS) group chairperson Kelvin Quinlan said the partners were happy that Zambia’s economy had continued to flourish with international reserves also growing.

He was speaking in Lusaka yesterday during the PRBS second review meeting with the Government.

Mr Quinlan said Zambia’s inflation has remained relatively low at about seven per cent.
“We commend Government for sustaining a decade of sound macro-economic management. The Government has made impressive commitments to strengthen governance and institutions and to fight corruption,” he said.

He said the partners welcomed Government’s new Public Financial Performance.
The partners were also happy with the on-going Constitution review process and were pleased with the comprehensive consultation taking place.

Mr Quinlan, however, urged the Government to focus much on quality and quantity of service to ensure that increased spending generated the desired results.

“Cooperating partners need to learn about more concrete policy actions that Government will take in order to reduce poverty, create more employment opportunities, expand economic development in rural areas and distribute available resources more equitably,” he said.

He said Zambia had made incredible process in attracting Foreign Direct Investment over the last decade.

[That's because the copper price went from $2000 per tonne to over $8000 per tonne on a near permanent basis. - MrK]

The partners were also concerned with distortions and waste associated with maize subsidies and encouraged Government’s plans to implement the e-voucher systems for the Farmer Input Support Programme.

[So they are not so enthusiastic about helping out farmers in Zambia, unlike in their own countries. - MrK]

Mr Quinlan said Zambia’s gain of US$750 million bond in 2012 was a credit following a decade of sound macroeconomic management.

Earlier, Secretary to the Treasury Fredson Yamba said the meeting was essential in considering the annual financial report of the 2012 Budget year, as well as the 2013 Budget.

He urged the partners and private sector to continue providing checks and balances in areas where they felt Government was not doing well.

Giving a presentation, the Permanent Secretary in charge of budget at the Ministry of Finance Pamela Kabamba said the Government was expecting an overhaul fiscal deficit of not more than 4.3 per cent of GDP with creation of more than 200,000 decent jobs this year.

She said Government’s key sectors identified in the attainment of the 2013 macro-economic goals were agriculture with creation of 900 jobs for extension officers, education 5,000, health 2,000 and an additional 800 police jobs.

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(TIMES ZM) Donors praise Zambia

COMMENT - Putting the entire country at the service of making profitable foreign corporations is nothing to be praised for. What good have these low inflation rates done for the people? How dare these indivuals praise the Zambian government for making it easier to steal their resources! They don't give a damn about the welfare of the people. Has poverty gone down?

Donors praise Zambia
February 2, 2013
By CHILA NAMAIKO

COOPERATING partners are impressed that Zambia has sustained sound economic management projected to achieve one of the highest growth rates in the world this year, at eight per cent.

Poverty Reduction Budget Support (PRBS) group chairperson Kelvin Quinlan said the partners were happy that Zambia’s economy had continued to flourish with international reserves also growing.

He was speaking in Lusaka yesterday during the PRBS second review meeting with the Government.

Mr Quinlan said Zambia’s inflation has remained relatively low at about seven per cent.
“We commend Government for sustaining a decade of sound macro-economic management. The Government has made impressive commitments to strengthen governance and institutions and to fight corruption,” he said.

He said the partners welcomed Government’s new Public Financial Performance.
The partners were also happy with the on-going Constitution review process and were pleased with the comprehensive consultation taking place.

Mr Quinlan, however, urged the Government to focus much on quality and quantity of service to ensure that increased spending generated the desired results.

“Cooperating partners need to learn about more concrete policy actions that Government will take in order to reduce poverty, create more employment opportunities, expand economic development in rural areas and distribute available resources more equitably,” he said.

He said Zambia had made incredible process in attracting Foreign Direct Investment over the last decade.

[That's because the copper price went from $2000 per tonne to over $8000 per tonne on a near permanent basis. - MrK]

The partners were also concerned with distortions and waste associated with maize subsidies and encouraged Government’s plans to implement the e-voucher systems for the Farmer Input Support Programme.

[So they are not so enthusiastic about helping out farmers in Zambia, unlike in their own countries. - MrK]

Mr Quinlan said Zambia’s gain of US$750 million bond in 2012 was a credit following a decade of sound macroeconomic management.

Earlier, Secretary to the Treasury Fredson Yamba said the meeting was essential in considering the annual financial report of the 2012 Budget year, as well as the 2013 Budget.

He urged the partners and private sector to continue providing checks and balances in areas where they felt Government was not doing well.

Giving a presentation, the Permanent Secretary in charge of budget at the Ministry of Finance Pamela Kabamba said the Government was expecting an overhaul fiscal deficit of not more than 4.3 per cent of GDP with creation of more than 200,000 decent jobs this year.

She said Government’s key sectors identified in the attainment of the 2013 macro-economic goals were agriculture with creation of 900 jobs for extension officers, education 5,000, health 2,000 and an additional 800 police jobs.


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We're not to blame for by-elections - Sata

We're not to blame for by-elections - Sata
By Ernest Chanda
Sat 02 Feb. 2013, 13:00 CAT

PRESIDENT Michael Sata says his government should not be blamed over opposition members of parliament defecting to the ruling PF.

Responding to a pastoral letter by Catholic Bishops in which they, among others, expressed concern about the growing number of by-elections, President Sata said such defections were caused by dictatorial tendencies in respective opposition political parties.

"It is therefore, unfair to criticise the PF government when opposition members of parliament decide to quit due to intolerable situations solely incited by high-handed leaders in their political parties. By law, it remains a requirement that within three months of a seat falling vacant, a by-election ought to be held," President said in a statement issued by his special assistant for press and public relations George Chellah.

"It has to be borne in mind that whatever the cause, the law has to be upheld. Within the democratic discourse of a multiparty political system, the principles of free entry and free exit to and from one party to the other, cannot be outlawed.

And we welcome a broad range of law-abiding citizens, including MPs to join the party. The concerns raised by our beloved and revered Bishops in their Pastoral letter with respect to the spate of parliamentary by-elections cannot be blamed on this administration, but can be traced back to poor and autocratic leadership in political parties that have failed to inspire their parliamentarians."

President Sata said it was not the first time that such a political situation was prevailing in the country.

President Sata said that his administration fully understood its limitations as enshrined in the Republican constitution and would remain open to dialogue with all stakeholders.

"As regards the appointment of some MPs from the opposition, we wish to remain true to the constitutional order that permits any elected MP to be eligible to be appointed as minister. Again here there is no violation of the Constitution in any way because all MPs are eligible to be appointed to ministerial posts," said President Sata.

"This position is not new. Others before me have appointed MPs from other parties. It is therefore grossly unfair to accuse us of creating by-elections. We therefore take note of the pertinent issues raised by the Catholic Church in the Pastoral statement on the occasion of their January 2013 plenary."

In its pastoral letter early this week, the Catholic Church expressed concern over the high number of defection form the opposition to the ruling party, and the by-election that followed.


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Nawakwi wins rape threat case

Nawakwi wins rape threat case
By Abigail Chaponda in Ndola
Sat 02 Feb. 2013, 12:30 CAT

CHIEF resident magistrate Collins Lundah yesterday convicted former UPND national youth chairman Joe Kalusa and fined him KR10,000 for threatening to organise cadres to gang rape FDD leader Edith Nawakwi.

And in an interview after Kalusa's conviction, Nawakwi said it was sad that women in Zambia were regarded as weaker vessels.

Kalusa was charged with one count of threatening violence.
Matters before court were that Kalusa, 40 on September 14, 2012, allegedly issued the threat in Ndola to the effect that he would organise cadres to "gang rape" the opposition leader.

Kalusa had vowed to organise UPND youths on the Copperbelt to 'gang rape' Nawakwi in order to teach her to respect married men like UPND leader Hakainde Hichilema.
His threats were issued after due to Nawakwi's criticism of Hichilema in the media.

In passing judgment, magistrate Lundah said out of the KR10,000, five thousand should be given to Nawakwi as compensation.

He said the KR10,000 should be paid within three days in default nine months imprisonment.
Lundah said he regarded every woman as his mother, sister and daughter, and that women should be respected.

He said that insulting a woman was as good as insulting one's mother.
"Politicians should always remember to talk about issues and not insult each other. Talk about issues that are affecting people and not who has children with who and who is having sex with who. Use civil language to each other and not insults," he said.

And Nawakwi said many children, women and grandmothers were being abused and threatened with permanent injuries where they live or at their work of places.

"I wish to commend the magistrate, he has set precedence. He has written the law that shall be followed from on onwards. Up until this point, our menfolk did not realise that verbal violence is a criminal offence under the Penal Code," she said.


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Auditor general's report reveals irregularities at Brussels mission

Auditor general's report reveals irregularities at Brussel mission
By Ernest Chanda
Sat 02 Feb. 2013, 12:30 CAT

THE 2011 Auditor General's report has revealed that Zambia's mission in Brussels irregularly paid over KR56,000 (K56 million) education allowance to the first secretary for trade who had a child not in college.

According to Foreign Service Regulation and Terms and Conditions of Service, an officer whose child is in college/university and below the age of 21, shall be eligible to receive 50 per cent of the education allowance.

But the child in question was not in college when their parent or guardian was paid such education allowances.
The report further revealed that the then ambassador was irregularly paid full allowances of over KR6,000 (K6 million) for representation, entertainment and extra accreditation after extending their stay in Lusaka.

The then envoy to Brussels Inonge Mbikusita-Lewanika had come to Lusaka for the Heads of Mission Conference, but after it ended, they decided to extend their stay for 10 days and got full allowances for those days.

And in September 2010, the same office irregularly paid over KR19,000 (K19 million) cost of living allowances to a defence attaché whom it had accommodated at a hotel for 40 days.
And the London mission recorded unsupported payments of over KR1 million (K1 billion) in form of wages and overtime allowances.

Acquittal or payment sheets did not support the payments, which were made to locally engaged staff.
The London office also engaged three local staff without written contracts and paid them over KR142,000 (K142 million), contrary to Foreign Service Regulations.

The mission further recorded wasteful expenditure on senior government officials traveling on business class.

According to regulations, senior government officials travelling on business class are entitled to use the business class lounge facilities provided by the respective airlines at the airports they are transiting through.

"It was, however, observed that various officials travelling to or transiting through London were foregoing these facilities and were instead demanding VIP services which were attracting a charge of British Pounds 400 (about KR33,000 or K33 million) per person. To this end, during the period from March 2010 to December 2011, the mission had spent amounts totalling K218, 242,172 (British Pounds 31,003)," stated the Auditor General's report.

"In this regard, the expenditure of K218,242,172 (British Pounds 31,003) on service charges was wasteful in view of the fact that officials were not using the business class lounge facilities provided without extra charge by the airlines as part of the business class package and were instead opting for expensive VIP facilities."

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Zukas wants London judgment registered

Zukas wants London judgment registered
By Kombe Chimpinde
Sat 02 Feb. 2013, 12:30 CAT

SIMON Zukas says Zambians should not ignore the registration of the London High Court judgment against late Fredrick Chiluba which the Rupiah Banda regime blocked.

Zukas said although the main culprit in the matter was deceased, Zambians should not allow the assets that were acquired in the process to continually be enjoyed by the culprits' associates. Chiluba as president was accused of stealing $500,000 from state coffers, but the Banda regime saved him from going to jail.

However, a civil suit in the London High Court found Chiluba and others liable for defrauding Zambia. The evidence in that case included more than 100 pairs of size six shoes, many of them monogrammed, and scores of designer suits bought from Boutique Basile in Geneva, where Chiluba spent more than £300,000, sometimes paid in suitcases full of banknotes
British judge Smith ordered Chiluba to repay £23 million to the Zambian government. But the Banda regime frustrated the registration of the judgment in Zambia.

In an interview, Zukas said that the continued silence on the "obvious" matter was worrying.
"I am unhappy about another aspect which is my concern; we seem to have forgotten about the plunder of state assets that took place under Chiluba and to some extent, Rupiah Banda's regime," he said.

"We had a London judgment which accused Chiluba of misusing $46 million of state funds and that was in the High Court in London and the case was fully argued and there is no question that the conclusion was correct, but it needed to be registered in Zambia."
Zukas said the Banda regime, which blocked registration of the judgment, had been voted out, paving way for clearance of impediments placed in the legal process.

"…remember there was an appeal by the prosecutor (Mutembo Nchito) which was blocked by the DPP (Director of Public Prosecution). Now we are one year into the new government which has declared a strong stance against corruption," he said. "We have a new DPP and yet this has not come back to the courts. I feel very strongly that we don't know which way the courts will treat the matter but it's got to go back to the courts. That appeal was blocked, then, there is no reason for it being blocked now."
Zuka's said that Chiluba's plunder must be used as a serious deterrent against greedy and selfish individuals.

"We can't allow the whole Chiluba plunder to be forgotten. If it gets forgotten then it will be repeated by others because they will feel they can get away with it. The appeal should be reinstated," he said.
"From a general political point of view, that issue cannot just be pushed away. To be active against corruption, you have got to clear the decks and I don't think the deck on the Chiluba-plunder has been cleared. It remains unresolved and as far as I can see, the way things stand, the (plundered) assets shall remain in the hands of the plundering syndicate and yet those assets should be brought back to the people of Zambia," he warned.

"Verbally it is very strong, we are hearing constant reminders, I am hoping that soon or later we will produce results."
Chiluba suffered from chronic heart problem and died on June 18, 2011 in Lusaka aged 68./SM/BS



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(TIMES ZM) Free secondary education coming, says Veep

Free secondary education coming, says Veep
February 2, 2013
By XAVIER MANCHISHI -

GOVERNMENT will soon extend the free education initiative to secondary schools in line with the Patriotic Front (PF) manifesto, Vice-President Guy Scott has said.

Dr Scott said Government was determined to provide free secondary school education as was the case at primary level.

Speaking when he addressed a rally in Mpongwe, the Vice-President said it would be pointless if the citizens offered free primary school education failed to access secondary school education because of high fees.

“We are working towards giving free education even in secondary schools. Secondary education should be free so that all citizens, regardless of their social standing in society, can access free but quality education,” he said.

He was encouraged by the loud cheer his announcement of the provision of free education received, saying previously, people would only laud reduction of mealie-meal prices.

Dr Scott reiterated Government’s commitment towards the tarring of the bumpy Mpongwe-Machiya road which had been an ‘eye-sore’ for some time now.

The Mpongwe-Machiya road also came up when he paid a courtesy call on Chieftainess Lesa and Chief Ndubeni earlier in the day.

When the Vice-President called on Chief Ndubeni, the traditional leader complained about late delivery of farming inputs.

Chief Ndubeni said the tarring of the Mpongwe-Machiya road would ease the transportation of farm produce which was currently a nightmare.

Dr Scott also said the Government was working towards improving the distribution of farming inputs.

Chieftainess Lesa said the Government should do better in the distribution of fertiliser in the next farming season.

She complained that most of the roads in her chiefdom were in a deplorable state.

The Vice-President responded that Government would work with traditional leaders in resolving problems that affected citizens, especially in the agriculture sector around the country.

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(GLOBALRESEARCH) Deadly Impacts of US Sponsored Sanctions on Iran

Deadly Impacts of US Sponsored Sanctions on Iran
"Iranian Mothers for Peace" Alert the World on Sanctions and Shortage of Medicines
By Mehrnaz Shahabi
Global Research, February 02, 2013
Monthly Review
by Farid Marjai and Mehrnaz Shahabi

“Iranian Mothers for Peace,” in an open letter of January 2013 to Mr. Ban Ki-moon, the UN Secretary General, and Dr. Margaret Chan, the Director General of the World Heath Organization, have alerted the responsible world bodies and human rights organizations to the critical shortage of vital medication due to the US/EU-led sanctions on Iran and their deadly impact on the lives and health of the Iranian population.

“Iranian Mothers for Peace” is a non-profit forum, well known and respected in Iran’s civil society. In 2006 a number of social activists came together to form this forum. “Mothers for Peace” is not a political party and organizationally it has a flexible structure. “Mothers for Peace” takes pride that its 700 participants come from very diverse political backgrounds and different social classes. It affirmatively celebrates diversity which it considers a reflection of the tolerance the group espouses.

With the ideal of peace in mind, “Mothers for Peace” is open to all participants who take a stand against any form of violence, poverty, and oppression.

“In our campaigns to protect the environment, we encourage measures that reduce the impact of human violence against it. We take solid steps to eliminate and mitigate gender inequality. Over the years, our projects have focused on welfare of addicts and prisoners, and publicizing their rights.

The scope of our vision and work is to achieve social security and permanent peace. Hence, this non-profit institution has a wider definition of the concept of ‘peace’; it refutes the narrow perspective of ‘peace’ as mere absence of external military violence and confrontation. And it is precisely in this context that we view the Western-imposed crippling sanctions on the people of Iran as a form of structural violence — a silent, yet a predatory war.

The everyday reality we observe on the ground in Iran has convinced us that the draconian sanctions are victimizing the very fabric of the society we intend to strengthen.

Presently, a number of the core group members of ‘Mothers for Peace’ are suffering from cancer. Sadly, they are having a difficult time obtaining the medicines needed for their treatment, and like many of their compatriots they suffer from unnecessary additional anxiety that might further deteriorates their precarious health condition.”

Below is the text of the open letter (published at mothersofpeace-iran.com/?p=1049) in English.

January, 26, 20013

Dr. Margaret Chan
Director General
World Health Organization
Avenue Appia 20
1211 Geneva 27
Switzerland

Dear Dr. Margaret Chan

As you know, the illegal and inhumane actions led by the US and the EU, targeting the country and the population of Iran, with the stated intention to put pressure on the government of Iran, have intensified in the past two years and increasingly harsher sanctions are imposed almost on a monthly basis. The regulations governing these inhumane and arbitrary sanctions are executed with such strict inflexibility that Iran is now excluded from the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications (SWIFT) and the sanctions on banking transactions are preventing Iran from even purchasing its needed medical supplies and instruments. On the other hand, to avoid suspicion for dealing with Iran, the European banks are fearful not to engage in any kind of financial transactions with Iran and, therefore, in practice, refuse any transfer of payment for medical and health-related items and raw materials needed for the production of domestic pharmaceutical drugs, even payment for well-recognized drugs for the treatment of Special Diseases, which are not of dual use.

Madam Director,

Are you aware that while American and European soldiers’ lives in Afghanistan are being saved by Iranian anti-snake venom potions and medication, Iranian hemophilic children, cancer patients, and those suffering diabetes, under the pretext of the execution of ‘smart sanctions’, are being deprived of their lifeline medication and face death or irreversible disability? We ask you: What could possibly be the intended target of the wealthy and powerful US and European statesmen’s ‘targeted’ and ‘smart’ sanctions but to destroy the physical and psychological health of the population through the increase of disease and disability?

Madam Director,

We respectfully request from you and from all the relevant international bodies, specially, the World Health Organization and human rights organizations, to act according to their humanitarian and legal responsibilities, and demand the American and European countries leading sanctions on Iran to urgently create the necessary mechanism for opening financial transactions and letters of credit to facilitate the purchase of medicine for Iranian patients.

The right to health and access to medical treatment and medication is one of the fundamental human rights anywhere in the world. Please do not allow the killing of our sick children, beloved families, and fellow Iranians from the lack of medicine, caught in instrumental policies of coercion and power.

Iranian Mothers for Peace

Farid Marjai is a writer and activist. Mehrnaz Shahabi is an anti-war activist and independent researcher.
SHOP GLOBAL RESEARCH
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Friday, February 01, 2013

(STICKY) (HERALD ZW) Biti under fire for disclosing balance

COMMENT - This is what happens when you get a neoliberal opposition member into your cabinet.

“To dramatise the point, I simply made a passing reference metaphorically that when we paid civil servants last week on Thursday, we were left with US$217, but the following day we had US$30 million in our account.”
Treason, anyone?

Biti under fire for disclosing balance
Friday, 01 February 2013 00:00
Herald Reporter

FINANCE Minister Tendai Biti has come under fire for disclosing the Government account balance amid calls for the principals to reprimand him. Minister Biti on Tuesday told journalists that the Treasury account was left with US$217 after paying civil servants salaries about a fortnight ago.

The finance minister has since made a U-turn claiming that journalists had quoted him out of context. He told the international media that he was only dramatising Zimbabwe’s bankruptcy.

“You journalists are mischievous and malicious - the point I was making was that the Zimbabwean Government doesn’t have the funds to finance the election, to finance the referendum,” Biti told the BBC.

“To dramatise the point, I simply made a passing reference metaphorically that when we paid civil servants last week on Thursday, we were left with US$217, but the following day we had US$30 million in our account.”

However, observers yesterday condemned Minister Biti for his utterances.

“I think it is wrong for a minister of Government who swore to secrecy and upholding the Constitution to be the source of information which undermines the State and exposes the nation,” said Midlands State University Dean of Social Sciences Mr Christopher Gwatidzo.

“That disclosure creates alarm and despondency. There has been a serious breach of confidentiality even if it was the case which I dont believe anyway. Obviously one would think there is a sinister political agenda becaue he is a lawyer who knows he is deliberately breaching the law. He is someone who decided to deliberately enter the red robbot.

“I hope the leaders in Government will take action against such behaviour because this is gross irresponsibility. This is a case that warrants action from the Head of State and the Prime Minister.”
Mr Gwatidzo said Minister Biti’s disclosure justifies calls for the elections to get rid of the coalition Government.

University of Zimbabwe lecturer in the Department of International Relations Dr Charity Manyeruke weighed in saying Minister Biti had jumped the gun.

“Our Finance Minister has to understand the structures of Government and their purposes. Once he knows that he will be able to know there are committees where such interim disclosures can be made, for instance in internal meetings in the ministry, in Cabinet and Parliament.

“The leadership in Government should look at this case seriously and take appropriate action. The minister should understand that he took the oath. He cannot carelessly disclose information that is prejudicial to the State,” said Dr Manyeruke.

Lawyer Mr Terrence Hussein of Ranchhod and Hussein law firm said Minister Biti’s disclosure was morally wrong.

“I think legally, I wouldn’t find anything faulty with him. However, i think it is morally and ethically wrong to go around brandishing such information. It is like a bank disclosing its figures carelessly which may reduce bankers’ confidence in the bank. It is the same case with this disclosure. If one says that, they won’t be helping the country in any way but are instead undermining it.

“I think it is important for Principals and Cabinet to set parameters for ministers to know which information to disclose. As damage control, there is need for leaders to verify the balance in the Government account for them to set the record straight,” said Mr Hussein.

However, former Attorney General Mr Andrew Chigovera said there was nothing wrong with Minister Biti disclosing the figures.

“He is the Minister of Finance who knows what is in the account and if there are people doubting what he said they should prove him wrong. I don’t understand why there is this hullabaloo.

“Unless people are saying he shouldn’t have disclosed the figures to the public who have a right to know such information anyway,” said Mr Chigovera.

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(NEWZIMBABWE) If Zim was a company it’d shut down: Biti

COMMENT - Colonial revanchism drips through Tony Hawkins and Eric Bloch's octogenarian veins, like tobacco juice from the corner of a clansman's mouth. These are the international media's go-to guys for interpretation of Zimbabwe's economy. No wonder they love neoliberal economics, which after all is designed to benefit De Beers and Stanchart. Tony Hawkins looks like the devil in Poltergeist 2.

If Zim was a company it’d shut down: Biti
Economy woes ... Academics Antony Hawkins and Mandivamba Rukuni at the CZI meeting
31/01/2013 00:00:00
by Paradzai Brian Paradza

FINANCE Minister Tendai Biti said Thursday that the country’s economy was so dysfunctional Zimbabwe would have to shut down if it was a private company and again rounded on foreign banks for refusing to back the government.

Biti told industry executives at a Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries (CZI) meeting in Harare Thursday that it was unacceptable that Zimbabwe continued to be trapped in a cycle of “permanent depression or permanent crisis punctuated by periods of growth”.

“It’s just not sustainable. If Zimbabwe was a private company, it would have been closed. Definitely it wouldn’t function. We are presiding over a very unsustainable economic matrix,” said Biti.

Zimbabwe’s economy has been battling to come out of a decade-long economic crisis since 2009 when the coalition government came into office but the recovery continues to be hampered back by various issues, among them, the reticence by global financiers to extend credit lines.

Biti this week raised international eyebrows when he revealed that the government had no money with just US$217 left in its bank accounts after paying state workers’ wages.

On Thursday the Treasury chief complained that there was no “collective approach” in addressing the many problems facing the economy, including a huge debt overhang as well as a highly consumptive budget structure.

Biti was particularly scathing when he criticised foreign-owned banks for refusing to back treasury bills issued by the government late last year.

He said: “Zambia floated a US$300 million paper which was oversubscribed to the tune of US$7billion with banks rushing to make bids but you come to Zimbabwe - the Finance Minister raises a US$50 million paper, the uptake is just US$7,7 million and where are your banks?
“The Barclay banks of this country aziko, the Standard Chartered banks aziko, the Stanbics aziko and you have the MBCA just makes a show of supporting it but offer a pathetic amount.”

Central bank chief, Gideon Gono however said despite the snub, the government would this year issue more of the treasury bills which were aimed at addressing the country’s liquidity problems.

“Despite the vigorous lobbying by banks, participation in all the five auctions was very low. This notwithstanding, Government will undertake additional Treasury Bill auctions in 2013 on dates to be announced soon,” he said.

COMMENTS

*
Mai Jukwa

A word of caution to Biti. Tone down the negative rhetoric. Telling the world how bad the economy is will hardly aid in improving it. If anything you shake the little investor confidence that exists. "If the Finance Minister says the country is horrible we best take his word for it."

Words are not merely a hose pipe by which we pour out every thought that enters our mind. One must ask themselves what they want to achieve and then speak words that bring that thing to completion. Kwete kungoropora twenhando.

Tweeta @AmaiJukwa
*
denny

But what's wrong with telling the truth.Zimbabweans around the world boast about their education wani.but forgetting that, the education they talk of is just nothing because the country with its education and vast natural resources they are poor and drink sewage water.Then you hear one lunatic dictator shouting keep your Britain and I will keep my Zimbabwe,yet that Zimbabwe is depended on donor funds and without donor funds Zimbabwe will not be existing up to now.Even the next elections that we are having we have to ask for money from the whiteman.ROBERT MUGABE IS A DISGRACE TO AFRICA
*
Cde Manesi

Whats wrong is to remain captain of a ship you deem to be sinking.Why sink with it?Why don't they(British) keep their companies and donor funds out of Zimbabwe.
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Gomoguru

There is no such thing as donor money. It is buying trade and influence. At no point in history has Zimbabwe had the capacity to finance all its public services. You only have just become aware of it I suppose.
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Mchadura

One word ... SANCTIONS!
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denny

Word sanctions is for cowards.A coward blames everything on others like what Mugabe does.If he can have a self critique Zimbabwe would be a better place but the blame for him is just others and him perfect.
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bassman01

2 words-Robert Mugabe,unless of course ,we have had sanctions since 1980
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AFROboy

Every political or economic problems we have in Zimbabwe was caused by Mugabe and his corrupt party..mai jukwa on tweeter "scary"
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Gomoguru

Mugabe caused your mental problems as well......you slimy toad
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Tony Tagart

Vote Strive Masiyiwa as CEO of Zimbabwe.......we cannot continue to e hunting for diesel from under rocks..Mugabe is outdated.........
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malaika263

Biti is proof that the 'truth' will not always set you free!!!!
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malcomX

The Zanupf Ministers were used or are still used of telling the president lies all the time. They tell the president that everything is fine including the state of his party. Now Biti is say it like it is.
Zanupf have been sending the so called war vet to demonstrate at his office demanding money, civil servants and even the farmers(Zanupf farmers) accusing Biti of not doing enough to support them. All these demonstrations and tantrums were being paraded kumedia just to embarrass him. Now that Biti is telling the nation the state of the accounts that is the backbone of the nation, there is outcry from Zanupf.
What really do you want you Zanupf? I want to believe that you are no longer human beings.
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Whyisvm

Biti is right ,close down this incompetent & broke country , what is there to hide ?? For your own info, just in case you didn't know ,this issue is trending right now you have no idea what is being said about former Rhodesia .
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Elma Sabudo

The economy is bad all over the world especially in America the biggest economy stalwart with more bad news of slump today .Do you actually think investors will just pump money without comprehension of country finances ?.Africa has abudant natural resources and if it was like Japan without mismanaged and corruption .No lender will even think about lending .

Jonathan Moyo Zanu is responsible for this debacle ,war vets funds ,DRC wars ,Reserve bank looting during farm invasions.

PANO ZANU PROPAGANDA HAINA MUSOWO .KECHE 1.
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AMGML63

How do you always manage to move from bottom all the way up plus lots of possitive ratings?

Is it vote rigging? Hehe
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BigStage

This is the first thing that mai jukwa ever said without any vernon,kusvotesa and slare of hate,comments made with maturity make sense and are readable.
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inini1545

Something positive from a radical school of thought.
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Chimoto

Mai jukwa what Biti is saying is that the government does not have money and the money meant for the goverment projects and for the people is in the hands of a few people. They have stolen the money and the resources making money for themselves. That is why we need a new government with a new leader to unravel these deals. Like it or not Mugabe has carried corrupt individuals who have drained the country. Lets put in a new leader be it from Zapu, Mavambo, Mdc T, Mdc N, Mdc M, Indpendent, Ndu, Ndonga or whoever, but not ZaNU pf. This will cut the corruption lines and cover.

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Mahenye

Tibvirei apo, your party has brought our economy to its knees and you don't stop there,you kill when we simply disagree with you, nyika ndeyevanhu,pandonga po!
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Mukundi

The only sensible thing mai jukwa has said in over 13 months
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Muktar Sayad

What naivete Mr Biti. On one hand you claim that if Zimbabwe was a private company you wold shut it down. No sooner after you say this you go on to say with cheek in your mouth "where are the foreign banks". Be serious Biti, do you really expect these banks to lend money that really belongs to their depositors to a country so badly mismanaged. A country that cannot pay its billions of outstanding loans.
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Munhumutema07

Nyika yaita mamvemve but despite all the decay and everything that comes with it, there are men who are still fighting to rule or ruin it. Some even kill just to stay in power in this dead Zimbabwe.
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GreenBomber

Biti as the man in charge of the economy needs to concentrate on doing his job which is fixing this dead economy or just throw in the the towel & go back to being a lawyer where he really belongs. After 4 full yrs in charge of the economy u would expect one to stop pretending he never contributed to this mess with the govt money he spent on his desk economist girlfriend & the car & loans he gave to MPs & ministers with no payment agreements.

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peaches07

i agree with you...........when are they going to stop blaming Zanu pf...............He should do the honourable thing and resign
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denny

If resigning was that easy,Mugabe could have resigned 20 years ago!!!
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Zuda Madhara

Zimbabweans are foolish sometimes. Papers are awash here with Barclays Bank and its shoddy dealings including lending rates manipulation, tax avoidance schemes, dodgy bonuses that fat cats awarded themselves. The bank has been named Britain's worst bank. But in Zimbabwe people are so foolish they are actually defending this mediocricy. No wonder why some whites refer to Africans as monkeys - literally speaking some of us behave like monkeys - yelling and ululating for a wind-blown tree that is about to fall down and take the life out of them. Barclays Bank is not bringing any value to Zimbabwe and the bank knows it. Biti, like the proverbial monkey, used to defend these banks. It is good that he has been made to eat humble pies - they have shown him their true colours.
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Elma Sabudo

Including you ,a fool as well who is working hard to defend an 89 old washed up dictator who has ruined the country for 3 decades .Air Zimbabwe ,1 $billion DRC credit card war ,$1billion looted from the reserve bank by Gono ,war vets funds .Decimated agri sector .

So this year Tendai Biti ,Eddie Cross ,David Coltart ,Tsvangirayi ( President elect ) will win against Zanu bonobos .

Bwaaaaaaa !!!!!Rovera Kadhara Bob Pasi .Wa!!!!!!!!!!!
Chinja CHINJA CHINJA .
Bwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa.

Nyatsosvotwa usvodze chihururu Mu CIO .We hate Zanu pf .

PASI NA MUGABE
PASI NA GRACE ,NEBHURUGWA RAKE ZVESE.
PASI NE ZANU
PASI NA SAVIOR KASARE
PASI NE ZANU
PASI NA NGOKO
PASI NA JUKWA
PASI NEWE
BWA!!!!!!!!!!!!! CHINJA CHINJA CHINJA
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rukudzo

You seem to be losing your mind Sister.Calm down.
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Not-superstitious-at-all

rukudzo, you lost yours when you joined the Zanu Pf Marxist cult.
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rukudzo

I am very proud to be associated with our liberators.
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bassman01

Liberators are heroes-squanderers are shamefull.What think you?
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truth0001

he has made MDC's intentions MOST CLEAR!!!! if a company is broke you sell it..to bidders!!!! and this is EXACTLY WHAT MDC IS ABOUT..ITS about SELLING zimbabwe to western bidders..and for that reason he/biti is opposed to community grants from mines because such grants make it hard to sell zimbabwe to the west
in USA no politician would last half a day for saying such negative remarks against USA, they dont have time for it, they make remarks focused on a strong belief in america and how they will fight better to win BUT BUT BUT BUT not our BITI, he gets a high by rediculing his own country and making investors worry about doing business in zimbabwe. Is this their new way of MAINTaniING SANCTIONS.. or is MDC preparing for excuses (as they may dellusional think they will win elections) and be as negative as they can so when they make gvt they wont have to do anything....apart from saying oh zanu pf's mess will take years to fix...and are we to vote in people like that, who work hard at excusing thier future lack of perfamance?? how stupid does MDC think zimbabweans are??
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Pombi22

Zanu has already done that! What do you think the chinese are doing? Eating sadza?
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Iyanai

The worlds financial system is based on Credit and Credit is based on Trust and basically we are not trusted.

I have mentioned this before and ill mention it again, Government does not and cannot run the economy, Business people (particularly bankers) run the country. Zimbabweans focus way too much energy on Mugabe this Tsvangirai that, as if they can do anything about our situation. In most cases politicians are puppets. Federal Reserve bank of America is a private company and that is who runs USA not Obama, Bank of England is private too and that who run Britain not Cameron. Take away the credit that US receive from the Fed, the US would turn into third world countries in no time.

What Zimbabwe and most African countries lack is real powerful indigenous business players so if and when foreigners come in we always get the short end of the stick.

MuVet akangarwa, he came with Academic education but made sure we remain financially illiterate. WE COULD BE THE MOST LITERATE COUNTRY IN AFRICA and have Abundant natural resources but without CREDIT and FINANCIAL EDUCATION we are NOT going NOWHERE.
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Manuel Antonio Noriega Moreno

The words of a man who has no clue of his postion as Finance Minister and has run out of ideas.
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AMGML63

Ahh, there he goes again, if ANY country was a business. Half the worlds countries would go belly up. But countries are NOT companies!

Did you know consumer confidence is actually very important for growth?

Consumers halt spending while investors stop investing when they hear the finance minister say such things.

Oh and Elma, this is not a Zanu Mdc thing, its about whats right and whats wrong. Im sure you are waiting bug eyed infront of your computer itching to reply...

If Zimbabwe was a company, we would fire you! Call it shareholder activism!
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Elma Sabudo

You should learn to analyse raw materials holistically .Here is the paradigm in economics which applies to both companies and Goverments.

Enterprise value = Equity + Debt

When a company is operating with negative equity ( what Tendai has just said it is broke) and most goverments are in this situation.Compare credit percentages to GDP.

Let's say Zimbabwe credit is 86% of GDP ,this situation is very precaurious since we have bloated public sector and cabinet revenues will be diverted to compensation and chasm for projects in local goverments such as water ,housing is funded by bonds ( IOUs) .That is if Zimbabawe has a good credit rating which I highly doubt considering budget overruns and IMF defaults under Zanu .I have not factored interest on $$10billion debt .

This is the situation America is facing now worse the Republicans are for lower taxes ( fiscal cliff debate ) .By the way shareholders( equity owners ) and debt owners encourages risk for huge ROE and hate frugal economists .

Have the decency and keep quite BORDER GEZI MBA.Zimbabwe has high literacy levels !!!,yeah right .
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peaches07

Mr Biti, stop the negative rhetoric. JUST RESIGN.
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gimmo

I am not economist or an expect, but please, release the money from the diamonds. I am sure that is enough to sustain Zimbabwe. I understand we have lot of diamonds in Zimbabwe,and diamonds are a fortune. So, why are we suffering? Please, please, release the money and use it for the nation not for individuals.
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sublatern

shut the mofo down Tendai "217" Biti lol

Tweeta @aziko
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Elma Sabudo

There is more than 1trillion of outstanding credit cards ,loans and mortgages plus store cards and Goverment debt ,even if you are credit free you cannot escape your own share from the Goverment .

In reality you don't even own clothes you are wearing now .

Fascinating innit ?
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peaches07

Well then Mr Biti,the honourable thing to do is to resign
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ma1

Peaches,just from your use of certain words like "honourable thing"..."should resign",I can't help but assume you live within countries that have mature democracies like the UK. Unfortunately,the same doesn't exist in our country's politics. Our so-called leaders do not expect, and are never held to such high standards of accountability by the electorate. Kwavari,it's just a gravy train which they will ride till the wheels eventually fall off. The aptly named "Hon" Minister Biti is no different.
Although he has no clue of what he is doing anymore (if he ever),he's hell bend on making his mark and remain relevent at whtever expense, however damaging it is.
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peaches07

yeah, its a sad state of affairs really. if someone says that 'if zim was a company it would shut down' Its as good as a confession that azvitadza...sad sad sad


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(NEWZIMBABWE) Biti urges ‘finality’ to land reforms

Biti urges ‘finality’ to land reforms
31/01/2013 00:00:00
by Brian Paradza

FINANCE Minister Tendai Biti has urged an end to the country’s land reform disputes such as compensation white former farmers, warning that, unless a solution is found, agriculture will continue to underperform and hamper economic turnaround efforts.

Speaking at a one day Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries (CZI) conference in Harare Thursday, Biti said the failure to bring closure to the land issue was frustrating efforts to maximise agricultural output.

Biti said growth projects from the sector will continue to tumble unless a solution is found to the land issue starting with the establishment of a land market.

“Up until 1999 over 74% of the bank lending was going towards the agriculture but since the 2000 when the country embarked on the land reform exercise, only 7% of the bank lending is going to agriculture whilst over 20% going to consumptive lending. It’s just not on," Biti said.

“We just need to bring about closure on this issue, have security of tenure and establish a land market. On the issue of compensation the government is in agreement but we just need to agree on the framework of calculating the real value.

“We just have to be realistic on this. I hear figures of a billion dollars. We just need to agree on the methodology to work with.”

Biti’s call chimes with a recent proposal by the white-dominated Commercial Farmers Union (CFU) which also warned that agricultural productivity would not return to the pre-land reform levels unless the compensation issue was resolved and the government came up with a workable land tenure system.

“Government’s inability and failure to pay compensation and bring closure to the acquisition process has crippled the institutional capacity to lend into this sector,” CFU head Charles Taffs said recently.
“We (however) do not wish to turn the clock back. What we want is to go forward in a pragmatic way.”

Meanwhile, regarding productivity, Biti said the government should look to liberalise the buying of produce, particularly of maize, in order to boost the crop’s production.

He said the continued intervention by the government in the procurement of maize has made the maize production unviable resulting in most farmers opting to grow tobacco instead of maize thereby affecting the country’s food self-sufficiency.

“The percentage hectarage of land under maize is now between 40-43% because of our policies. Tobacco production is on the rise because the government has no role to play in its production; it’s all contract farming,” he said.

“We need to have the same arrangement with maize production. If you go to Guruve people are farming tobacco everywhere because of the prices. Tobacco is the only crop responsible for the positive growth being recorded in the agriculture sector.

“We just have to bring an end to new invasions. No revolution lasts forever, it has to end, but you now hear of new invasions.”

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(NEWZIMBABWE) Biti urges ‘finality’ to land reforms

Biti urges ‘finality’ to land reforms
31/01/2013 00:00:00
by Brian Paradza

FINANCE Minister Tendai Biti has urged an end to the country’s land reform disputes such as compensation white former farmers, warning that, unless a solution is found, agriculture will continue to underperform and hamper economic turnaround efforts.

Speaking at a one day Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries (CZI) conference in Harare Thursday, Biti said the failure to bring closure to the land issue was frustrating efforts to maximise agricultural output.

Biti said growth projects from the sector will continue to tumble unless a solution is found to the land issue starting with the establishment of a land market.

“Up until 1999 over 74% of the bank lending was going towards the agriculture but since the 2000 when the country embarked on the land reform exercise, only 7% of the bank lending is going to agriculture whilst over 20% going to consumptive lending. It’s just not on," Biti said.

“We just need to bring about closure on this issue, have security of tenure and establish a land market. On the issue of compensation the government is in agreement but we just need to agree on the framework of calculating the real value.

“We just have to be realistic on this. I hear figures of a billion dollars. We just need to agree on the methodology to work with.”

Biti’s call chimes with a recent proposal by the white-dominated Commercial Farmers Union (CFU) which also warned that agricultural productivity would not return to the pre-land reform levels unless the compensation issue was resolved and the government came up with a workable land tenure system.

“Government’s inability and failure to pay compensation and bring closure to the acquisition process has crippled the institutional capacity to lend into this sector,” CFU head Charles Taffs said recently.
“We (however) do not wish to turn the clock back. What we want is to go forward in a pragmatic way.”

Meanwhile, regarding productivity, Biti said the government should look to liberalise the buying of produce, particularly of maize, in order to boost the crop’s production.

He said the continued intervention by the government in the procurement of maize has made the maize production unviable resulting in most farmers opting to grow tobacco instead of maize thereby affecting the country’s food self-sufficiency.

“The percentage hectarage of land under maize is now between 40-43% because of our policies. Tobacco production is on the rise because the government has no role to play in its production; it’s all contract farming,” he said.

“We need to have the same arrangement with maize production. If you go to Guruve people are farming tobacco everywhere because of the prices. Tobacco is the only crop responsible for the positive growth being recorded in the agriculture sector.

“We just have to bring an end to new invasions. No revolution lasts forever, it has to end, but you now hear of new invasions.”

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(NEWZIMBABWE) Zimbabwe will not compensate white farmers

Zimbabwe will not compensate white farmers
01/02/2013 00:00:00
by Mai Jukwa

THE evicted white farmers have reignited their misguided demands for compensation from the Zimbabwean people. Let it be made clear, Zimbabwe will never compensate the British white settlers aka former white farmers. This is a matter of government policy and is founded on international agreements and cemented by Constitutional Amendment 17.

After the pioneer column established itself in Zimbabwe, the British white settlers began a systematic process of subjugation. The black indigenous people were submitted to forced labour and often times banished from their ancestral lands. The white settlers carved out large chunks of prime land and distributed this amongst their kith and kin.

No compensation was paid to these blacks. Who did these white farmers pay to occupy that land? This is a crucial point; the blacks that were abused by the British government in their failed expedition that was colonial Rhodesia never received a dime of compensation. The British white settlers did not purchase the farms for which they now demand compensation. They stole them.

After 1980, the black majority did not seek retribution. If we were to speak of compensation in April 1980, we would have immediately started by prosecuting the British white settlers for violently occupying Zimbabwean territory. In addition to this, the whites in Zimbabwe were guilty of aiding and abetting the Smith regime. This was a minority that had used force to impose its will against the black majority.

This may seem outrageous but this is exactly how the Jews dealt with the Nazi’s at the Nuremberg trials. They hunted them down and executed them. One will recall the likes of Julius Streicher that were sent to the gallows simply for having disseminated information that was deemed anti-Semite.

But Robert Mugabe has never been of the prosaic type, instead of retribution he spoke of swords morphing into ploughshares and of the love that bound him to his former oppressors. This was Ubuntu at work, but the British white settlers mistook this for weakness, perhaps even stupidity. Why weren’t these blacks taking back their land?

As time passed and the land remained in the hands of the British white settlers, the war veterans asked a pointed question. What did we fight for? The land that was stolen from our fathers was still in the land of the British white settlers.

The new constitution that could have enabled land reform had been defeated in 2000 following the mass intervention by white farmers who coached and bussed in ignorant voters.

Clearly, the only remaining option was to go back into the trenches and to take back what was stolen from us. The war vets invaded properties occupied by British white settlers and this is what history calls the Land Invasions. It was not an invasion, it was liberation!

The British white settlers who we were kind enough not to slaughter at independence are now demanding compensation. There are numerous questions that enter the mind when one hears such absurd demands. What do they want compensation for? Do they want us to compensate them for the thousands of blacks that they slaughtered as they fought the will of the majority? Do they want us to compensate them for the forced labour they subjected our parents to? What exactly do they want compensation for? Or is it just the land they are interested in? They want us to compensate them for the land they stole from us.

The idea of compensating a thief is absurd. The white settlers are indeed thieves. What else do you call a group of white renegades that leave the comfort of the own country and decide to go and take land from poor blacks thousands of miles away? They are thieves and nothing more. They are lucky that we did not prosecute them.

The next question is whom they want to get that compensation from. Do these white farmers really expect poor Zimbabweans from whom they stole land to pay taxes to pay the thief that stole from them? It is a notion so idiotic it can easily make the revolutionary blood in us boil.

The little money that we have in Zimbabwe will be used to build hospitals and to fund education. We will not tax Zimbabweans so we can pay-off thieves.

The British government is responsible for the upkeep of the British white settlers it sent as agents in its colonial conquest. It is the British that must compensate those farmers. Indeed this was the agreement at Lancaster.

Amai Jukwa is a loving mother of three. She respects Robert Mugabe, is amused by Tsvangirai and feels sorry for Mutambara. Follow her on Twitter: @AmaiJukwa

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Wednesday, January 30, 2013

(STICKY) (HERALD ZW) Multi-party democracy as a tool for imperialism

COMMENT - The political system will always be a reflection of the economic system. Therefore, economic democracy must come first for political democracy to take hold.

Multi-party democracy as a tool for imperialism
Wednesday, 23 January 2013 21:21
Reason Wafawarova

The 20th century saw the fall of colonial empires in Africa, and with it came many pos as the most Christianised ethnic group in Nigeria - a legacy that can be traced back to the colonial times.

There are other post-independence civil wars where rebels have largely been perceived as being motivated by ethnicity, and the general picture created by the mainstream media has always been that African civil wars are organised along ethnic lines. This might look true when one looks at the surface of the wars themselves, but deeper than the skin appearance of the civil wars are underlying factors that play a major role in propping these conflicts.

The most prominent civil wars that afflicted Africa in the 20th Century include the Uganda civil conflict that started in 1987 to date, Sudan; still raging in Darfur since 2004, Angola starting 1975 and stretching for 25 years, Mozambique from 1977 to 1992, DRC which has not known peace since 1960, Liberia from 1989 to 1996 and 1999 to 2003, and Sierra Leone from 1991 to 2002. Generally the frequency and intensity of civil wars declined in the 1990s, and there has been a surge in African civil conflicts since the beginning of the 21st Century.

Much as the media profiling of African civil conflicts has presented the wars as ethnically organised and composed, there has hardly been any official position by African rebel fighters declaring they were fighting for ethnic objectives, not even with the Biafra conflict.

The advocated causal factors for civil conflicts have always been the search for democracy, holding of “free and fair” elections, protest against bad economic policies, and boundary or territorial disputes.

There is a school of thought that says conflicts in Africa have largely perpetuated correspondingly to failures in political and economic development. There was so much expectation at independence and now it is more than half a century since the fall of colonial empires, yet Africa continues afflicted with unabated misery and poverty that has literally become part of the continent’s culture and identity.

There is a saddening legacy of failed economic policies largely brainstormed in the West and imposed on pliant post-colonial governments in Africa, mainly through the arm-twisting strategies of the IMF and the World Bank.

We had the notorious Structural Adjustment Programmes that shattered the economies of countries like Ghana, Zambia, Zimbabwe, DRC and many other countries. The SAPs were a huge success in achieving what they were intended to achieve from an imperial perspective - creating unredeemable economic dependency and increasing the debt burden on developing countries. In theory, SAPs were meant to assist countries to return to economic recovery. In practice the opposite happened. SAPs destroyed any chance to achieve sustainable economic development that would meet national priorities for African countries.

Michel Chossudovsky pointed out that the “. . . IMF-World bank reform package constitutes a coherent programme for economic and social collapse . . . They destroy the entire fabric of the domestic economy.”

In Zimbabwe the programme was embraced by the Zanu-PF Government in 1992, and the country was reduced to an economic torture camp in months, as tens of thousands of people were retrenched from their jobs, public education was privatised, healthcare was commercialised, the civil service was trimmed by 50 percent, and workers’ rights were almost totally suspended to allow the reign of IMF directives.

The ESAP-induced economic suffering coincided with the rise in HIV/Aids prevalence and death rate shot up as the country’s life expectancy fell from 60 years down to 46 in a short four years. Stretched to the limit, the people of Zimbabwe rioted at the end of 1997 and supermarkets and food outlets were raided by the urban starving masses. The riots were co-ordinated by ZCTU, the country’s umbrella labour union, and it is largely agreed that the birth of Morgan Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change began with these food riots, with the core leadership of the ZCTU transforming into the leadership of the new political party in 1999. Sadly the new party was quickly hijacked by Western money bags and it was repackaged into a neo-liberal puppet project that it is to date.

It is like the 2012 IMF directive for the removal of fuel subsidies in Nigeria and other West African states. Although the volatile reaction to this directive was eventually diffused, there were bloody clashes between protesters and security forces, especially in Nigeria.

Perhaps conflicts that can be directly linked to ethnicity are those related to boundary conflicts, like the Ethiopian-Eritrea war from 1998 to 2000, and the 21 year North Sudan-South Sudan civil conflict. The artificial colonial boundaries that sometimes cut through the middle of villages dividing families and ethnic groups into citizens of different countries have been a worrying cause of conflicts for post-colonial Africa.

We have had farfetched explanations for some of Africa’s civil conflicts, like the BBC’s assertion that the Darfur conflict could be a result of climate change. The credibility of the asserted causes for civil conflict will always be a matter of debate, but it might be of necessity that we take a closer look at the bigger picture in terms of the geopolitical factors contributing to the prevalence of civil conflicts in Africa.

We have had a series of civil conflicts that can be described as directly caused by politically motivated clashes resulting from electoral disputes and the search for “democracy.” Recent examples include Ethiopia (2005), Kenya (2007), Zimbabwe (2008), Burundi (2010), Guinea (2010), Cote d’Ivoire (2011), South Sudan (2011), DRC (2011), and Uganda (2011). Although the Nigerian election of 2011 was described as the fairest in the history of the country, the pre-election violence that occurred claimed over 800 lives. There were widespread reports of gross intolerance of opposition politics in Rwanda in the run up to the 2010 election, and the attack on civilians in Abyei by the government forces of South Sudan was yet another brazen show of political intolerance towards opposition.

In all these cases there is always talk about Western intervention, just like France is currently engaged in military intervention in northern Mali. The civil conflicts offer an excellent pretext for the Western imperial forces to pursue selfish economic interests that would be hard to achieve under conditions of peace. France’s interest in Mali’s mining sector is largely believed to be the major motivating factor in this intervention, just like oil was the real cause for France and NATO’s brutal military intervention in the Gaddafi era Libya.

There is a French business population of about 5 000 in Cote d’Ivoire, and that group controls 25 percent of the country’s economy. To safeguard the narrow interests of this minority group France had to make another military intervention that ousted Laurent Gbabo from power in 2011 - resulting in the installation of the more pliant Alassane Quattara. Gbabo, like Omar Bashir of Sudan has been indicted at the ICC, a Western controlled Kangaroo Court that should be aptly named the International Court of Criminals - if the behaviour of criminals in Western leadership is accorded the international concern it deserves. Kenya and DRC contribute the biggest chunk of the ICC-indicted people, and the Western hand in the affairs of these countries is indisputable, especially in the advocacy leading to the indictments.

Western sponsored “democracy wars” that have destabilised the continent in the past 20 years include the civil wars in Mozambique, Uganda and Libya.

Western multi-party democracy is no panacea for peace in Africa, and it can safely be asserted that Western-initiated democracy has caused untold suffering for African civilians.

The concept of democracy has been given misplaced priority in many countries in Africa today. In Zimbabwe the Western sponsored Movement for Democratic Change has prioritised its Western idea of democracy over more pressing human necessities, and a good example is the party’s misplaced prioritising of “free and fair elections” over the country’s mass based land reform programme and the popular economic indigenisation policy.

Zimbabwe’s land reform programme is steadily progressing towards being a massive success story despite the relentless Western propaganda that has demonised the initiative as primitive racism against white commercial farmers, and in favour of “unskilled” black masses. The current economic empowerment policy has been vilified in equal measure - with some baselessly asserting the implementation of the programme has been partisan and politically administered.

It is not new that indigenous initiatives are ferociously opposed by former colonial powers. Such opposition led to the bloody NATO bombings that ravaged Libya in 2011. Arguably Africa’s best success story ever, Gaddafi’s Jamahiriya was made to appear like the initiative of an absolute lunatic, and it was grossly misrepresented to the world as a dictator’s way of retaining power. This is despite the fact that Libya’s economy under Gaddafi was the best ever in Africa.

We are told today that there is plenty of democracy in Western favoured countries like Nigeria, Ghana, Malawi, Senegal, and so on. In fact there is plenty democracy and no electricity in Nigeria, just like there is plenty democracy and no food in Malawi, plenty democracy and plenty poverty in Ghana.

We have leaders in Africa who in a bid to appear democratic to Westerners choose to invest more in elections than in education and healthcare.

Zimbabwe’s constitution-making process has gobbled more money than the education sector since the process started, and the country had two very expensive elections in 2008, one in March and another June. This year, there will be another two very expensive elections, namely the referendum for the expensively drafted constitution and an election to end the four year coalition government that was put in place after the troubled 2008 election. The financial price to keep Western style democratic appearances is quite exorbitant. Between 2000 and 2010 the country held four general elections, excluding the June 2008 runoff election. In all these elections Zanu-PF has rightly been complaining about Western meddling in the political affairs of the country, and the West has been openly trying to assert its influence to determine an outcome favourable to their own selfish economic interests.

Instead of our elections being the platform to afford the populace a chance to choose a leadership of their choice, we have a situation where elections have been reduced to a tool for imperialism, and we sadly have people who think elections in themselves can create democracy. Elections will only facilitate democracy if there are democratic choices to make through those elections. There is no way elections can lead to democracy in a country whose economy is not democratised, whose majority lives in dire poverty, or whose economy is in the control of minority foreigners.

Africa we are one and together we will overcome. It’s homeland or death!

Reason Wafawarova is a political writer based in SYDNEY, Australia.


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(HERALD ZW) Replace leached nitrogen with side-dressing, tobacco farmers told

Replace leached nitrogen with side-dressing, tobacco farmers told
Saturday, 26 January 2013 00:00
Senior Agriculture Reporter

THE Tobacco Research Board yesterday encouraged tobacco farmers to replace leached nitrogen with additional side-dressing without delay once they noticed symptoms of leaching in their crop.

Head of Crop Productivity Services Division, Dr Dzingai Rukuni said it may not be possible to be precise on the amount of nitrogen lost and the amount to be applied because soil textures differ while other factors like the amount of moisture in the soil, permeability of the soil, slope of the land and the amount of nitrogen initially applied must be considered as well.

“It is, however, logical to apply 75kg of ammonium nitrate per hectare using Cup Number 5 per plant or 150kg of calcium nitrate per hectare or use Cup Number 8 per plant, which should be sufficient although deep coarse-grained soils may require more,” Dr Rukuni said.

Dr Rukuni said for December, plantings as much as 300kg per hectare of ammonium nitrate could be added in four applications of 150kg per hectare using Cup Number 8 per plant at weekly intervals.
He, however, said the current growing season had so far been very favourable for tobacco.

The season started late and subsequent to that, most growing regions received incessant rains over a number of weeks, he said.

“Excessive rains within a short period result in leaching of nutrients, particularly nitrogen.

“If leaching rains occur in early growth, the nitrogen can be leached to below the root zone resulting in pale and yellowed plants,” said Dr Rukuni.

Recently, TRB head of field services, Mr Ezekia Svotwa warned that persistent rains would cause heavy leaching of nutrients.

This will present tobacco farmers with other challenges such as heavy weed infestation that would mean extra costs for labour or herbicides.

“Some of the tobacco that is in water logging soils has already started wilting and dying as the roots rot easily in water,” said Mr Svotwa.

“Tobacco cannot tolerate spending a period of 48 hours in water so this means that those farmers in soils prone to water logging will suffer heavy losses.

“I noticed that in the Nyabira area some farmers’ tobacco fields were water logged.”

He said farmers needed to make a lot of technical interventions to save their crop and would have to buy more fertilisers to apply again and replenish the nutrients lost to leaching.

“The rains are washing away most of the nutrients vital for plant growth leaving the leaves yellowing and losing their quality in the process.

“Plants also grow fast and need more suckerides for the control of suckers.

“There is also a high weed establishment rate while ridges designed to promote good drainage may also be destroyed creating more work for the farmers,” he said.


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(HERALD ZW) Dam for Mhondoro

Dam for Mhondoro
Wednesday, 30 January 2013 00:00
Farai Kuvirimirwa Herald Reporter

Zimplats is on course to complete a dam built at a cost of more than US$10 million that will serve as an irrigation and recreational facility in Silver Star resettlement area in Mhondoro. Island or Chitsuwa Dam was constructed under the infrastructural development project.

It is located five kilometres from Turf Village in Mhondoro. Speaking during a media tour, Mhondoro-Ngezi rural district council chief executive Mr Andrew Mawonde said the dam would greatly assist the Mhondoro community on completion.

“The community will benefit from irrigation schemes, recreational facilities and being a tourist area, will give some people employment.

“The dam will market the district at large and a lot of activities will take place after we create stands for lodges and fisheries and boat cruises to some extent,” Mr Mawonde said.

Community spokesperson Mr Davison Chimusoro said the dam construction had created employment for the local people.

“We are satisfied since our children have been employed since its construction.
“We expect to benefit through irrigation, fishing and we expect that our livestock will get water from the dam,” he said.

Construction site manager Mr Tendai Mhangwa said the Island/ Chitsuwa Dam would be the biggest masonry arch dam in the country.
“The dam will be split into the North and South dams which will have 30 560 megalitres of water.”

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(NEWZIMBABWE) Zimbabwe has $200 in bank: Biti

COMMENT - Another MDC election year stunt. I guess they are not looking forward to the upcoming elections.

Zimbabwe has $200 in bank: Biti
29/01/2013 00:00:00
by Jeffrey Moyo

ZIMBABWE has a US$200 bank balance, Finance Minister Tendai Biti said on Tuesday as he revealed the depth of the country’s financial crisis. Biti made the shock revelation as he cast doubt on Zimbabwe’s readiness to hold elections which President Robert Mugabe’s Zanu PF party wants held before June.

“The government has no money for elections,” Biti told a news conference in Harare.

“Last week, there was US$200 in the government coffers. We will be approaching the international community to assist us in this regard, but it’s important that government should also do something.”

Biti has been struggling to balance his budget, constrained by a low tax base, an underperforming economy and public sector wages which take up 73 percent of the total budget.

A referendum on a new constitution is set to be held in March after which President Robert Mugabe is expected to name a date for general elections.

But Biti is warning that the country should not rush to elections before the reforms in the recently agreed draft constitution are given effect by a raft of amendments to current legislation.
He says the earliest Zimbabwe can hold elections would be July.

The MDC-T secretary general said: “We need to ensure electoral reforms are in place first before elections, then we may have elections in July before the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) general assembly [which Zimbabwe is hosting in August].”

Biti also questioned the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission’s US$200 million budget proposal for the referendum and general elections which he says is rather too high. The figures are not “realistic”, Biti said.

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(GLOBALRESEARCH) Is the French Invasion of Mali tied to a Colonial War for Uranium

Is the French Invasion of Mali tied to a Colonial War for Uranium?
By Saeed Shabazz
Global Research, January 30, 2013
finalcall.com

There is still confusion in UN corridors concerning France’s military intervention in Northern Mali, which began on Jan. 11 with air strikes against the so-called Islamist camps moving closer to the capital city of Bamako.

The confusion stems from the French ambassador Gerard Araud’s insistence that his government was responding to a request from the Interim-Malian government for assistance, under Chapter 51 of the UN Charter. The Article states that there shall be an inherent right of collective self-defense if an armed attack occurs against a member of the UN, until the Security Council has taken measures to maintain international peace and security.

Press reports indicated Jan. 16 that 800 French troops landed in Mali, with their numbers slated to reach 2,500 by the end of the month. President Francois Hollande, speaking on French television Jan. 15, said his government was determined to end “Islamist” domination in Northern Mali because it feared use of the territory as a base for attacks against the West.

“The Malian war has the potential to destabilize the region, a fact not lost on many of Mali’s neighbors. Yet the solution to this crisis will not be found in France’s intervention,” wrote Bill Fletcher, Jr. on his Blog, BillFletcherJr.com.

Troops from Niger, Togo, Burkina Faso and Senegal were expected to land in Mali, according to French officials, under the auspices of the Economic Community of West African States.

“Mali desperately needs the political intervention of the West African states and the African Union in order to advance a process of reconciliation, and to serve as a stabilizing force,” stated Mr.

Fletcher, an author, international labor activist and past president of the Washington, D.C.-based lobby TransAfrica Forum.

An African Union special representative speaking in Cote d’Ivoire Jan. 14 said ECOWAS and the African Union were working closely to find a solution to the Mali crisis, according to news reports.

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius reportedly said on Jan. 14, “Key interests were at stake for us, for Africa, for Europe—so we had to act quickly.” Observers immediately began asking could that key interest be uranium.

Uranium is France’s key energy resource, according to the World Nuclear Association, with 75 percent of the European nation’s electricity being produced from nuclear energy, which explains French dependency on uranium. According to mineral resource analysts, beneath the deserts in Northern Mali and Eastern Niger, territory now exclusively claimed by the nomadic Tuareg tribes, exists the world’s third largest uranium reserves as well as substantial oil reserves.

Some observers say for 40-years the French company Areva had exclusive rights to uranium exploitation in Niger, until recently when the government of Niger issued permits to China, India, Britain, South Africa, the U.S., Canada and Australia to explore for uranium and oil, therefore France cannot afford to lose the uranium reserves in Mali.

There is also the China factor.

The Independent, a British publication, stated on Jan. 15 that China has given millions “as a gift” to the Malian people to raise their standard of living. A story in The China Times revealed that Mali and China signed three agreements worth $117.7 million. The Chinese are to build a hydro-electric dam in Taoussa, located in the region of Gao in northern Mali, now under Islamist control.

China is reportedly active in various development projects in Mali such dealing with industrialization, health, agriculture, education, security, communications and infrastructure.

The Mbendi Information Service reported in 2010 that several companies had been granted permission to explore for uranium in the Falea and Gao regions by the administration of former Malian President Amadou Toumani Toure, who was mysteriously ousted from office in March 2012 by junior Army officers a month before he was to step down.

Some mineral resource experts say uranium potential in the Gao region is thought to be 200 tons, while the Falea-North Guinea basin’s potential is thought to be 5,000 tons.

World renowned educator, Pan Africanist, African history scholar, and the U.S. chairman of the World African Diaspora Union, Dr. Leonard Jeffries told The Final Call he understands UN confusion over French insistence that Mali’s government requested intervention.

“The French don’t need a letter to intervene in their former colonies because of the accords they forced on them before granting independence; and these accords have not been re-worked,” Dr. Jeffries said.

For five decades, France has maintained a neo-colonial relationship known as “Pacte Coloniale” that gave France control of components of the new African states, including their economies and military institutions, Dr. Jeffries said. “Paris has cultivated the dependency of their former colonies by hand-picking weak regimes that gave them access to resources,” he added.

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(HERALD ZW) Academic Selous Scouts hurting Zim

Academic Selous Scouts hurting Zim
Friday, 23 December 2011 00:00
Panganai Kahuni

Selous Scouts were well-trained soldiers employed in special units by the Rhodesian Government to carry out specialised operations against Freedom Fighters in Mozambique and Zambia. They were the units that were used to assassinate Cdes Chitepo, JZ Moyo, Nikita Mangena and Edison Sithole just to mention a few. Edison Sithole disappeared from the streets of Harare then Salisbury and was never to be seen again.

The special units used atrocious, barbaric, ruthless and merciless tactics, in all their activities that were targeted at revolutionary politicians and Freedom Fighters. Their main objective was to sabotage the liberation war so as to continue with the colonial Rhodesia rule. They were African people of our nationality who were used against their own mothers, sisters, brothers and cousins. These included the likes of Dr Rupiya who later became the MDC-T security advisors.

Now, dear reader, when the son of the soil Cde R G Mugabe talks about a violence-free nation people whose advise comes from these notorious Selous Scouts will always laugh at him. It is these treacherous and treasonous ex-Rhodies like Roy Bennett, Martin Rupiya, Giles Mutsekwa who continue to make the MDC-T youths a violent lot.

This cancerous diseases has gotten grips with the some of the academics in Zimbabwe. The academics, many of whom are employed by NGOs, and Civic Organisation have grown an elephant skin and have become hard hearted against the Independence and Sovereignty of our great nation, Zimbabwe.

Dear reader, if you listen to Studio Seven around 1900 pm, you will be able to understand what this writer is talking about. On these Studio Seven programmes, which are run by the unrepentant imperial giant USA, one's ears are bombarded with an assortment of communiqués that are meant to sabotage and rubbish our beloved nation.

Those moonlighting on Studio Seven, in the majority of cases, are Zimbabwean academics who are now playing the same role played by Selous Scouts during the Rhodesian era.

The atrocious propaganda that is emitted by these savage and barbaric Studio Seven programmes is programmed and read by Zimbabwe's intellectual rebels who have been turned by civic organisation as highly offensive academic Selous Scouts who symbolise the Rhodesian Selous Scouts.

The British and American governments, including ex-Rhodies now resident in South Africa, have not forgiven President Robert Mugabe for leading a war of liberation and enunciation a land reform policy together with championing the Indigenous and empowerment act. People like Eric Block and Roy Bennet have not forgiven Zanu-PF for repossessing land and for advancing black empowerment with a strong vision of Indigenising and empowering our youths, thus creating local indigenous capital like China did.

The hate for President Mugabe and Zanu-PF is regardless of the fact that they embrace a concept of reconciliation; a concept meant to bring peace and tranquillity in Zimbabwe. If the government had not adopted the policy of reconciliation, it would have experienced an excruciating civil war as happened in Angola.

Zimbabwe's neo-liberal academics, that now play the role of Selous Scouts, can easily be code named Academic Selous Scouts; only interested in selling out their heritage in order to receive thirty pieces of silver.

This writer does not lose sight of other academics of non-neoliberal characteristics. The likes of Professors' Gwabi Bhebe, Pfukwa Gwarinda, Nyagura, Bishops Manhanga and Gwedegwe, just to mention a few. These men of profound academic excellence have remained politically, morally, and spiritually forthright. These and their like-minded colleagues have demonstrated their highest integrity and search of excellence.

In the contrary, civic organisations that have sprouted like mushroom, nicodemosly named themselves with nicest acronyms. Some land themselves with names that include democracy, good governance and development. These seemingly sumptuous names are crafted and drafted by Academic Rebels whose intentions is not about developing or democratising Zimbabwe.

These are names that sound melodious in spirit but the music is only enjoyed by those who fund them. These are institution that are in spirit meant to bring hope and joy for Zimbabweans but in practise the hope and joy is for Europe and America. The scenario is asymmetrically designed by academic rebels to give cover to sanctions with an objective of making people protest against the government as is happening in the Arab World.

Dear reader, if you deeply search your soul in the spirit of being proudly Zimbabwean, do you see any hope, value, and joy for Zimbabweans in what professors Makumbe, Mutambara, Ncube, Madhuku, Makoni; and academics like Maguwu, Mavhinga do? Surprisingly Makumbe calls himself "the only white man from Buhera".

Oh!, by the way it should not be surprising since the party he hails from has its umbilical code at No. 10 Downing Street in London.
The Academic Selous Scouts are as skilful and tactful as the Rhodesian Selous Scouts. Remember the atrocities that were unleashed by the Rhodesian Selous Scouts in Mozambique, Zambia and operational zones all over Zimbabwe. These are the same atrocities that are being crafted by academic rebels aimed at destroying the political and economic fabric of our country. The Rhodesian Selous Scouts were Smith's tools deployed in areas suspected to harbour Freedom Fighters. Their sole objective was to exterminate all those associate with the revolution.

Most of the Academic Reactionaries are deployed in civic organisation with the sole objective of creating havoc, disorder and violence in Zimbabwe. The civic organisations that were created by the Anglo-Saxons to provoke Zimbabweans are crisis coalition in Zimbabwe led by Mavhinga, Centre for Research Development led by Maguwu, Christian Coalition in Zimbabwe, Woza, The Legal Monitor, etc. Dear reader, there is no morality, legality, spirituality, or development about these civic organisations. Their main objective is to create space to allow the western world to sanction Zimbabwe as evidenced by Maguwu's rhetoric on the Marange diamonds.

Dear reader, imagine Maguwu and his European civic organisation/NGOs creating stories of mass torture in Marange. He also had the temerity of lying through the altar of his teeth that Marange people are not happy with the modern houses built for them by the Mbada diamonds. This writer had the opportunity to visit Marange and viewed the houses; interview the locals who alleged that Maguwa was not from the area. The further stated that he should stay out of their way and leave them to live in their good habitable house.

Dear reader, the inclusive government invited the European Union to come and visit Chiadzwa Diamond with a view of making them realise and see for themselves how peaceful the Marange Diamond Area and Zimbabwe is. Icho!


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(NEWZIMBABWE) Biti, MDC-T aiding Kasukuwere extortion

COMMENT - Tony Reeler is a fool and a piece of slime. He thinks western corporations can just extract any amount of value out of Zimbabwe, no matter what the state of the Zimbabwean people. He says that companis don't own their own shares and therefore can't disburse their shares. This is nonsense. Companies are free to issue as many shares as they want. If a company has a million shares, they can issue another million shares and hand them over, resulting in a 50% ownership by Zimbabwean institutions. I remember that the RAU is associated with the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung.

Biti, MDC-T aiding Kasukuwere extortion
29/01/2013 00:00:00
by Tony Reeler

A JANUARY 28 statement by the MDC-T quoting Tendai Biti’s criticism of the indigenisationprogramme is likely to draw snorts of derision from the companies affected by Indigenisation and Empowerment MinisterSaviourKasukuwere’s policies.

Kasukuwere demands that non-indigenous companies dispose of 51% of “their shares” to blackZimbabweans. This demand immediately appears to be nonsense to lawyers and those with anyaccounting or business skills. Companies do not own the shares – shareholders do.

One cannot legally compel companies to dispose of that which they do not own and over which they have no control. This is recognised by the Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Act which is only intended to apply to share transactions and provides that where shares change hands on account of mergers,demergers, and unbundling, the result transaction must leave 51% of the shares in the hands ofIndigenous Zimbabweans.

The Regulations are only in conformity with the Act where they provide for this. The remaining 80% of the Regulations are not permitted by the Act and invalid.

Yet, rather than stating as much, Biti picks on merely one of many invalid provisions of the Regulations – the Community Share Ownership Schemes – and points to the fact that these are not provided for in the Act. In so doing, Biti follows in the footsteps of the MDC-dominated Parliamentary Legal Committee, which, despite having been provided with cogent legal opinions on the matter to the contrary, has approved the broad tenor of Regulations as constitutional and in conformity with the Act, rather than rejecting them as they ought.

Even more astonishingly, Biti expresses wonderment that companies are parting with cash in order to deal with the stream of unlawful directives that emanate from Kasukuwere and the NIEEB. Yet the MDC-T is an active participant in this extortion.

[Extortion, no less. How would he describe the stealing of Zimbabwe's natural resources without compensation? Good business? - MrK]

Several government departments now demand compliance with these directives, and the invalid Regulations, before they will process paperwork for foreign and investor companies – for example, the Zimbabwe Investment Authority and the Immigration Department, to name but the first two which come to mind.

Companies wishing to renew their Investment Licences through the Zimbabwe Investment Authority are told by the Board to get clearance from Kasukuwere first.There is no law which requires this. This Board falls under an Act administered by the MDC-T Minister of Economic Planning and Investment Promotion. Yet it continues to enforce Kasukuwere’s unlawful directive in this regard without a murmur, let alone any action, from the MDC-T Minister Elton Mangoma.

Similarly, those seeking investor residence permits are required to gain clearance from Kasukuwere. The permits fall under the Immigration Act, co-administered by an MDC-T Minister, Theresa Makone, who likewise has done nothing to counteract this unlawful requirement.

So why is Biti surprised when companies find that the only way out is to make a donation which will assist Zanu PF in dispensing largesse prior to the elections?

What surprises the affected companies is that the MDC-T chooses to whinge about the indigenisation policies while simultaneously aiding and abetting the extortion, rather than doing that which is well within its power to bring it to an end.

Reeler is the director of the Research and Advocacy Unit (RAU)


COMMENTS

Mai Jukwa

Tell them baas. Tell these MDC boys that they should do as they are told. Are they quickly forgetting where their bread gets its Rhodesian butter?

Tweeta @AmaiJukwa



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Batanai

So now you want us to look to the BRICs, even as your party has been in the lead trying to chase the Chinese out of the country?!!
Your political positions are very nebulous, one time you are cheerleading western punishment on the country, the next you are blaming the nationalists for not distancing themselves enough from the West!
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Elma Sabudo

I we Verenga unyatsonzwisisa manhi .Bugg@@ers who doesn't think get to my ti@@ts big time .
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Elma Sabundo

Forgive this @ZuuluShaka aka Elma Sabudo buffoon.Haachaziva zvaanoda nekuReporter kuImmigration hehehekkkkkk
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Batanai

Finally, we get to know who is behind this world quoted "Research and Advocacy Unit" that the western press always quotes on negative statistics about Zimbabwe's Indegenization program!
No wonder Zimbabwe's negative image persists, The Financial Times uses Tony Hawkins, who in turn quotes Reseach and advocacy Unit (Tony Reeler) or Eric Block and Robertson! Our whole economic image to the outside world is in the hands of Rhodies!
Not suprising that Biti worships to these "massers" rather than the average Zimbabwean whose vote he claims to represent!
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Shayanewako

So ... Elton Mangoma, Tapuwa Mashakada and Tendai Mbiti are failing to safeguard the interests of the Shareholders of MDC-Theresa. This after having been provided with legal opinions by learned Rhodies, and the story appearing on the same day MDC-Theresa wishes to rejoin the Commonwealth - literally wealth in the same pot, the Shareholders'. Nxaaah!!!
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Vitzdare

Vote for me President in 10 years time ini ndinobva ndabvisa 51% to 70%. kwete zveMD-Shi izvi.


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