Denford Magora's Latest Zimbabwe News Blog

Gideon Gono Granted Immunity In New Reserve Bank Act

2009-11-20T00:35:00.006+02:00

Zimbabwe's Finance Minister and MDC-Tsvangirai Secretary-General has totally capitulated to Mugabe and ZANU PF on matters of fundamental principle

Harare, Zimbabwe, 20 November 2009

Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Governor, Gideon Gono, has been granted immunity from prosecution on any actions "taken in good faith" in the revised Reserve Bank Act passed by Parliament this week.

That is right, he gets away scot-free.

ZANU PF, Mugabe's party, had threatened to defeat the Amended Act if Tendai Biti, Finance Minister, refused to amend his amendments. The ZANU PF caucus in the House breathed fire on Tuesday this week, saying the Bill as presented by Biti was aimed at a person and not at institutional reform.

It is now clear that they wanted to protect Gono from any action that could arise if his past behaviour was held up to the mirror of the new law.

Some of the other amendments agreed to by Biti was a curtailing of the powers that had been to give by the original proposed Act. The requirement for the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Finance to sit on the board of the Reserve Bank has also been scrapped.

It means the parent ministry will have no one on the ground looking out for the interests of the State. Which is how ZANU PF want it, apparently.

Gono was very much afraid that he could be hauled before the courts for his previous activities. The fears he has were heightened when, during his first presentation of the amended Bill to parliament, Biti said that Gono's actions were illegal and was done in deliberate spite of the law.

When you put this against the election-time speech Tendai Biti gave at a rally calling for Gono "to be put before a firing squad", his allegation (publicly) that Gono was Al Qaeda and a terrorist, then you understand even more why ZANU PF and Gono were so jittery about Biti moves to cut the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Governor down to size.

One would have expected Tendai Biti to fight the pressure and not curve in. What happened to principle?

They call what they have done with Gono immunity. It is not. It is impunity.

And there's an end to the matter.

So, one wonders, all the Governors who come after this will only have to plead "good faith" to escape prosecution for crimes committed against the population of Zimbabwe, for violating their rights, for sponsoring their misery?

And who measures this "good faith"? How? Would it be enough for the Governor to simply act surprised when his hand is found in the cookie jar and answer, "Well, I didn't mean anything by it. I intended to give the money away to old people and widows."?

It is a Right Royal Mess, isn't it.

Which brings us to an important question: If it is so easy for the MDC to curve on matters of principle, on matters that directly touch the heart of the economic recovery and survival of Zimbabwe, what are they even doing pretending to be an opposition party?

What makes them better than ZANU PF is they can now extend this sort of shield to ZANU PF criminals without asking even for contrition and an apology. At the very least?

Impunity breeds arrogance. And that is what we are now going to see. The subordinate, Gideon Gono, has managed to dominate his superior, the Minister of Finance, who has given in without a fight?

What authority will he have over the man going forward. If he dares cross him again, the man will simply wheel out his defenders in ZANU PF and Biti will run for hills?

This is not compromise, which what Biti will try to tell us. It is capitulation at the most fundamental level.

The fighting spirit has gone from the soul of the MDC. They have given up. On me. On you.

On us.

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Four Escape Death As ZANU PF Goes On The Rampage In Mashonaland Central

2009-11-19T16:31:00.005+02:00

Jabulani Sibanda (left as you look at the picture), seen here with self-styled Commander of Farm Invasions, Joseph Chinotimba, presided over a meeting in rural Zimbabwe where orders were issued to kill all MDC office bearers in the area. MDC officials have now fled the province and are being houses in safe houses in Harare, too scared to go back, after their homes were raided by gun-totting gangs the night of the meeting.

Harare, Zimbabwe, 19 November 2009

On Friday 13 November, just a few days ago, Jabulani Sibanda, the leader of War veterans in Zimbabwe, held a meeting at Chawarura Business Centre in the rural ZANU PF stronghold of Muzarabani. It was resolved at the meeting to kill all MDC officials in Mashonaland Central province.

The meeting was also attended by Chief Chiweshe as well as a District Administrator from the area, identified today as Mike Mazai (eggs).

That very night, around midnight, six men, two of them heavily armed, stormed the home of the MDC Muzarabani District Secretary Kiswell Masimbisa , but he had already fled after being warned of the ZANU PF resolution.

The gang then proceeded to the homes of the MDC vice-chairman in the area and the Organising Secretary. The MDC-T is now claiming that sources within ZANU PF, whom it can not name, have said that these acts are being carried out by ZANU PF youths who are on government payroll as ghost workers.

"They have been told to execute their orders without fearing any consequences. They must not hesitate because they are fully protected."

The impunity with which these acts are being carried out, and the reluctance by the police to intervene, make a mockery of the "Healing and Reconciliation" process launched by Mugabe and Tsvangirai a couple f months back in Harare.

There are ministers in charge of the national healing process in the offices of Mugabe, P Tsvangirai and Deputy PM Arthur Mutambara. Yet these acts continue as if nothing has changed in government.

I told you two weeks ago on this blog that Jabulani Sibanda was in the area of Chiweshe where he was telling villagers that if they thought a beating on the buttocks was bad last year, "next time, it will be a bullet to the head" for anyone supporting Morgan Tsvangirai

Ian Kay, the MDC Welfare Secretary, had written to the Minister of Youth, ZANU PF's Saviour Kasukuwere, citing these acts by Sibanda and calling on the Minister to call off the ZANU PF youths if the country was to avoid a repeat of the June election run-off.

Despite all this going on, MDC-T apologists still insist that "there is not going to be any violence in the next election. No one will fight for Mugabe anymore."

The level of delusional thinking in the opposition party has meant that it has failed to plan properly for the eventuality that is now unfolding. They thought that the swearing-in of Morgan Tsvangirai meant that "ava panyanga" - "e is now in charge".

Clearly, he is not. ZANU PF is on a coordinated campaign to prepare for the next election. An ill-prepared Morgan Tsvangirai and MDC-T will be terrorised into submission, especially in the rural areas.

Sibanda, who presided over the meeting that passed the death sentences on MDC officials in Muzarabani and Mashonaland Central, is Mugabe's hatchet man. He was used in December 2007 by Mugabe to intimidate anyone who was seeking to challenge the president for the post of ZANU PF leader at that party's congress, where Simba Makoni had intended to stand against him.

No nominations were allowed apart from Mugabe's and Sibanda menacingly stationed bleary-eyed youths, some reeking of alcohol, at the exists to the conference venue in order to intimidate delegates as Mugabe's army of women's league members sang his praises.

A violent and bruising election encounter is on the cards. Of that you can be certain.

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Villagers Disown Mutasa At Son's Funeral

2009-11-19T15:46:00.004+02:00

Didymus Mutasa, Mugabe's Minister of the Secret Police in Zimbabwe, shocked mourners at the burial of his son in Rusape day before yesterday. It was evident that his relatives and those who are his neighbours do not like the Minister at all. The burial took place at a plot owned by the Minister, although no one lives there anymore, amidst local rumour that the plot is a haven for ghosts.

Harare, Zimbabwe, 19 November 2009

An extraordinary thing happened at the funeral of Didymus Mutasa's son in Rusape yesterday. Wing Commander Mutasa, the ZANU PF senior Minister's first born son, a good man by all accounts, was buried at the family plot, where no one lives because Mutasa has abandoned it and now lives at his farm in Headlands. Mutasa's first wife is also buried at the same plot.

But the funeral was embarrassing for the Minister (he is in charge of the CIO, Zimbabwe's Secret Police), because the villagers refused to dig his son's grave, saying they did not know Mutasa.

"He does not come to our funerals, haafambidzane nevamwe saka hatimuzive (he does not socialise with others, so we do not know him)," one of the neighbours said.

The Air Force officers who were Wing Commander Mutasa's colleagues in the Air Force of Zimbabwe had come in their sand-blue uniforms and could not dig the grave. In the end, the group that had come to give the Wing Commander his final gun salute, who were all in camouflage, started digging.

The grave was only completed by ZANU PF youths who then had to be fetched from Mutare. Mutasa's first born son, who was supposed to have been buried at 11:00a.m., ended up being buried at 2p.m. as a result of the delay.

The custom in Zimbabwe is that, in the rural areas, especially, where there are no council workers or labourers to dig graves as there are in the city graveyards, neighbours and relatives do the job, which is considered one of the most important shows of solidarity by any Zimbabwean clan.

Bezel Nyabadza, the ZANU PF Provincial Chairman in Manicaland, marred the Church service for the deceased by using the occasion to moan endlessly about the absence of people from Manicaland in the top leadership of ZANU PF.

He was specifically talking about the defeat of Mutasa by Simon Khaya Moyo for the post of ZANU PF National Chairman in the wave of elections to shift the deck chairs on the Titanic known as ZANU PF in the wake of the death of Vice-president Msika.

"Poshaikwawo here munhu wekuno kwedu kumusoro ikoko? (How can we have no one from here in the top leadership?)", asked Nyabadza at the church service.

Mutasa himself also shocked the gathered mourners by departing from the funeral, as one mourner put it, "before even a single shovelful of soil had been put into the grave". In Zimbabwean tradition, it is unheard of that a father or any such close relative would depart from the burial and the funeral before the grave of their beloved one is covered up.

In fact, the closest relatives have to stay by the graveside all through the night on the day the deceased is buried. This is a practice that goes back to ancient times and is designed to foil "witches" who are said to want to come and eat the flesh of the deceased on the day that he or she is buried.

All the villagers at the funeral were shocked that Mutasa upped and left before these traditional formalities were concluded.

The Minister conducted one of the most vicious campaigns in the Headlands area to secure a seat in parliament. I remember that, at a rally held in Rusape by Dr Simba Makoni in the run-up to the March elections, he publicly castigated Mutasa and Chinamasa, saying: "I hear you are being terrorised here by two of my relatives, one is my brother and the other is babamudiki (younger brother to a father in the traditional Zimbabwean sense)."

It is not surprising that villagers and relatives in the areas do not like Mutasa, considering what he has done to them.

That is ZANU PF for you.

United States Launches Second Democracy Video Challenge

2009-11-19T14:40:00.006+02:00

The United States Department of State has launched a second Democracy Video Challenge, with winners to be spread across all continents and hemispheres. The prizes are the same as last year, including an all-expenses paid trip to Hollywood, New York and Washington D.C. The deadline for entries in January 31 2010. Let's hope we have a Zimbabwean winner this time around.

Harare, Zimbabwe, 19 November 2009

I wrote last year about the project coordinated by the US State Department called Democracy Video Challenge, in which ordinary people from all regions and continents were asked to submit a video and win an all-expense paid trip to Hollywood, Washington and New York.

The competition appears to have been such a success that the State Department and its other sponsors (including the United Nations now), have launched the second Democracy Video Challenge, in which people are being asked to make a short (no more than three minutes) video completing th sentence "Democracy is...."

The deadline for your entries for this new challenge is January 31 2010, with winner being announced in June 2010.

The prizes remain the same as last year, with prizes for each of the following regions: Western Hemisphere, Europe, Middle East/North Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa, South & Central Asia, East Asia/Pacific and one anonymous winner. Anonymous entrants to the competition, though welcome, can not win the Grand Prize.

I hope some of my readers who entered last year do so again, maybe we will have a Zimbabwean winner this time around.

Happy hunting.

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China, Angola Pump S$8 Billion Into Zimbabwe Economy

2009-11-19T13:59:00.006+02:00

Days after Robert Mugabe attended the China-Africa Summit in Egypt (above, Mugabe is second from right as you look at the picture), a Chinese/Angola joint Venture has signed a US$8 billion investment deal with Zimbabwe. The MDC-T and their ministers have been deliberately left out of the negotiations and the signing ceremony, which was inexplicably presided over by Mugabe's Chief Secretary and the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Governor, Gideon Gono.

Harare, Zimbabwe, 19 November 2009

A Chinese/Angolan joint venture company has signed a largely mineral and precious stone deal with the Zimbabwe government worth US$8 billion.

The US$8 billion comprises of five separate "strategic cooperation Agreements", according to the Zimbabwe government. The joint venture company, called Sonangol, will invest in gold and platinum refining, oil and gas exploration, fuel procurement and distribution, and housing development.

It has also been announced that a "significant" amount of the US$8 billion is already in the hands of Zimbabwean banks.

China Sonangol chairman, Manuel Vicente, says "Zimbabwe is a land of opportunities with great potential."

Gideon Gono, who attended the signing ceremony (which largely excluded all MDC Ministers in Government), together with Mugabe's Chief Secretary, Misheck Sibanda, was giddy with excitement:

"This deal represents the most significant inward investment inflow in Zimbabwe. This comes at a time when the country is being ridiculed left, right and centre.

"The various banking and financial institutions that are handling this deal can’t believe the huge inflows that have come in already," said Gono, the Governor of Zimbabwe's Reserve Bank and one of the most reviled figures in Zimbabwe.

There have been fears that the involvement of the Chinese in African economies is exploitative. The fact that the MDC has been excluded from this huge deal, even though they are part of the current coalition, also raises fears about the details of the arrangement.

Who are the local partners? Are any government ministers amongst the local partners? What exactly are the Chinese and Angolans being given in return for this US$8 billion. Transparency is wanting on this deal and it needs to be examined to ensure that there are no hidden bombs in it. The problem is that there appears to be no one involved on the oversight side.

There are other disturbing questions:

Why is the Chief Secretary to the Cabinet presiding over the signing ceremony? Have the Ministers of Trade, International Cooperation and Finance died? It is certainly very irregular and let us hope that those who are in parliament will start asking pertinent questions very soon in order to get the bottom of this.

The investment is welcome, make no doubt about it. And even the boast by Mugabe's Chief Secretary that this is a direct result of Mugabe's "Look East" Policy is fair comment, but the deal must be put out in the open in detail so that Zimbabweans can satisfy themselves that we have not sold our entire family jewels for this US$8 billion and to also ensure that there are no cabinet Ministers and ZANU PF people improperly benefiting from this.

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What Tendai Biti Intends To Do To Gideon Gono

2009-11-19T11:00:00.004+02:00

"No More" - Tendai Biti's proposed amendments to the Rserve Bank of Zimbabwe Act are designed to ensure that the Bank does not revert to being a funder of lavish lifestyles for Zimbabwe's elite from ZANU PF. Gono is put in such a straight jacket by the revisions that he will effectively need the Minister's permission to so much as cough and sneeze.

Harare, Zimbabwe, 19 November 2009

I was rather surprised that even our most senior businesspeople in Zimbabwe are unaware of the details contained in the revision of the Reserve Bank Act, which Mugabe's ZANU PF has now said will never see the light of day.

Why so much noise, and what exactly is Tendai Biti trying to do with this amendment that has got ZANU PF knickers in a twist? Is it true what the party is saying, that the Act revision is targeted at an individual?

Here's the detail, then.

The focus of the amendments is on Section 6 of the RBZ Act, which will be amended to say that the Bank should only focus on Monetary Policy activities. The bank will be restricted to "regulating Zimbabwe's monetary system, achieving and maintaining stability of the Zimbabwe dollar, fostering liquidity, solvency and the proper functioning of Zimbabwe's financial system, supervising banking institutions, acting as banker and financial advisor to the State."

The part that currently gives Gono the power to "represent the interests of Zimbabwe in international or intergovernmental meetings, multilateral agencies and other organisations" has been curtailed and this will now only apply "in matters concerning monetary policy."

It means Gono will now no longer be able to give directives to the IMF and World Bank regarding money disbursed to Zimbabwe, as he did earlier this year, before Biti stepped in and told Gono it was not his job to do this. The IMF agreed with Biti and wrote to Gono telling him they would only accept instructions from the Minister of Finance.

Section 7, which currently allows the Reserve Bank to open credits and issue guarantees will be removed.

This means Gono will no longer be able to negotiate for loans for the State with banking institutions such as Afreximbank, which he recently did and then boasted saying he had done all the work and all he wanted was now for Biti to ratify the obligation.

The RBZ powers to "grant loans and advances" will also be strictly limited to "intraday and overnight liquidity support for the RTGS (Electronic Transfer system) and only when surplus funds are available."

It means that Gono will no longer be able to give loans to State companies such as NetOne and Air Zimbabwe and others who have been running their companies into the ground and relying on the RBZ to give them money to pay salaries and even buy stationery!!

Section 7 (1) (h) currently provides for the RB to buy, sell or deal in precious metals and hold in safe custody for other persons gold, securities "or other". (Remember those buckets of diamonds in the Reserve Bank vaults?)

This will now be limited strictly to :what is required to fulfill international obligations." It means gold companies will now keep their own gold and the Reserve Bank will never have recourse to other people's wealth to finance the lives and lifestyles of Mugabe cronies.

Another sections (7.1.n) currently allows the Bank to borrow "principal and not agent of the State." This will now be amended so that the "Central Bank can only borrow as agent of the State, thus making it possible for such borrowings to be regulated by the State Loans and Guarantees Act."

Tendai Biti told parliament this will "ensure that debt contracted is reflected as a true Government debt and not RBZ debt, thereby eliminating distortions on the bank's balance sheet as is the position now."

In addition to the above, the current Section 8 of the Bill will be amended to make it illegal for Gono to accept "instructions to engage in non-core functions" of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe.

A new Monetary Policy Committee will also be put in place.

It is all these measures that ZANU PF is saying are not acceptable, only because it means that they will no longer be able to abuse the RBZ by getting money from it or using it to fund their lifestyles.

Buckets of diamonds whose origins are murky will no longer be legally kept at the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe. Gono will only be in charge of our currency when it comes back, and of the banking institutions in the country.

MDC Backtracks On Civil Service Audit

2009-11-19T10:21:00.004+02:00

The ZANU PF militia seen here beating up opposition supporters in June last year are part of the 16 000 people Mugabe's party has put on government payroll. The men and women being beaten had paid their taxes in order to pay the salaries of these men. Isn't it ironic (with apologies to Sheryl Crow).

Harare, Zimbabwe, 19 November 2009

After the revelations yesterday about the refusal by the Public Service Commission of Zimbabwe to hand over their schedule of the civil service to World Bank Consultants, the MDC-T Minister in charge of the Public Service held a press conference where he effectively backtracked on his earlier demands. The World Bank will not be conducting the audit, after all.

The Minister, Eliphas Mukonoweshuro, had written to Mariyawanda Nzuwa, the Chairman of the PSC, bemoaning the fact that he was refusing to comply with requests from the World Bank consultants hired by Tsvangirai to do the civil service audit.

"Such an approach by the PSC (the refusal to hand over information) is guaranteed to lead to serious and costly contractual infringements with consultants who are already on the station but spending days on end waiting for vital data that is being deliberately withheld for no cogent reason," Mukonoweshuro said in his letter to the PSC Chairman last month.

It also emerges now that the audit will cost US$4 million, but this is money that is put up by the World Bank, who are being refused access to the information they need. As I explained yesterday, the Public Service Commission had even reported the World Bank consultants to the Attorney-General, who backed the PSC and said they could only comply with the World Bank Consultants' requests if they were ordered to do this by Cabinet.

Of course, Cabinet, tightly controlled and chaired by Mugabe and Mugabe alone, was never going to agree to such a thing.

Yesterday, Mukonoweshuro told the media: "The World Bank never asked for the names of civil servants. Any such suggestion is total mischief and malicious.

But ZANU PF has now found another issue on which to distract attention from its failure to fully comply with the Global Political Agreement.They claim that Professor John Makumbe, a well-known MDC-T sympathiser, has been hired as the chief consultant and that this is unacceptable. Jonathan Moyo, very prone to suing people, has already said the matter should of Makumbe's appointment should be taken to court.

Also, instead of concentrating on the 16 000 ghost workers that ZANU PF has smuggled onto government payroll, the party now says the Civil Service Audit concentrate on exposing the "parallel government set up by the Prime Minister in his office."

The upshot of the MDC-T backtracking is that they now say the audit is no longer being carried out by the World Bank. Instead, Mukonoweshuro (the name means "Male Rabbit") has now said a local company CGI Consultancy, will carry out the exercise.

Being locals, it is, of course, easy for ZANU PF to bring pressure to bear on them and ensure that the audit does nothing but skim the surface. It will probably go the way of all the other audits carried so far, including the three land audits whose reports are gathering dust in the shelf behind Mugabe's green high-back chair at State House!

Soldiers Forcibly Take Over Houses Earmarked For Diaspora Investors

2009-11-19T09:35:00.004+02:00

This is an example of the homes in Westgate, Harare. It turns out now that some of the homes, which were earmarked for Zimbabwean investors from the Diaspora, have been forcibly moved into by uniformed forces people. The Reserve Bank, which instigate the project, is reluctant to talk. The Bank that was in charge of the project has gone bust, a victim of the crackdown some time back by Gideon Gono, which saw several banks lose their licences. The two companies who are subsidiaries of the bust bank are also reluctant to say anything on the matter, but we witnesses first hand this reality, with one of the uniformed men openly boasting that he had simply taken over the finished home.

Harare, Zimbabwe, 19 November 2009

Some of the houses in the Westgate area that were built for Zimbabweans in the diaspora have been forcibly taken over by various senior army officers.

Most of the houses are in the relatively affluent suburb of Westgate in Harare. These homes were built during the heydays of Gideon Gono, when he was seeking to tap into the money from Zimbabweans abroad.

The Westgate homes were built through a facility administered by the now defunct Time Bank, costing thousands of US Dollars each. Zimbabwean citizens living abroad were supposed to channel their money through the banks,, either as lump sum payments or in the form of some sort of mortgage arrangement.

Now some of them appear to have lost out. There are high-ranking officials who have simply moved in and it appears the Reserve Bank can not do anything about it.

There are two companies still operating that are linked to Time Bank and to the Westgate project, but when I contacted one of the representatives, they were evasive about the presence of army people in the diaspora homes, saying the homes were a Time Bank project and that they would not know about any soldiers or anyone else having moved into those houses.

Asked whether they were still collecting money for mortgage payments from the Diaspora Zimbabweans, the representative said Time Bank no longer existed and he did not know what the new arrangement was!!

The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, the instigator of the project, refused to say anything about it, saying anyone interested in information about the project would have to speak to the two companies "who are on the ground."

We are aware of at least seven homes from the area that have been taken over by senior uniformed people and one of them boasted that he had simply moved in "zve ganyavhu" - meaning "forcibly".

It would be interesting to hear from those who participated in this particular scheme whether they have their homes now or whether there are any who have failed to take possession of them. It could well be that the homes taken by these people had not yet been allocated to any of the beneficiaries

Guns At Mugabe's House

2009-11-18T20:51:00.007+02:00

Even farm invaders who are clearly not soldiers regularly tot guns, intimidating farm workers and farmers alike. The existence of arms outside the control of the armed forces of Zimbabwe is certainly explained by scenes like these. And it raises a lot of questions about the immediate aftermath of a post-Mugabe dispensation. It could be messy if not managed properly and with wisdom.

Harare, Zimbabwe, 19 November 2009

It turns out that Mugabe's party, ZANU PF, has its own inventory of guns.

They are part of the armoury used by ZANU PF during the liberation war and includes AK 47s and mounted machine guns. It is a well-known fact that during the ceasefire period in 1980, in the run-up to Zimbabwe's first election, ZANLA forces, as well as ZIPRA forces (from ZAPU), held back some of the guns that they had been using.

Ian Smith complained bitterly about this to Lord Soames, the British Governor who oversaw the elections.

It was Mugabe's strong belief that ZAPU had also held back some weapons and this is what sparked the crackdown now known as Gukurahundi in Matabeleland, the ZAPU stronghold.

The arms are kept at Zimbabwe House, opposite Mugabe's official residence, State House (which he does not live in any more) and the army is aware of their existence apparently. ZANU PF has supplied the serial numbers of all the guns in their possession, as well as information such as make and type.

When this information came to light earlier today, it answered a question that was repeatedly asked during the violent and chaotic presidential election run-off last year: Where are ZANU PF getting the AK47 s and such that are being displayed openly by civilian members of the party as they go around intimidating people all over Zimbabwe's countryside?

Clearly, not everyone you see totting a gun in the rural areas is a soldier.

Here is another reason to be cautious and methodical about the way we manage the transition from Mugabe's rule to the next administration. Who knows into whose hands within ZANU PF these arms will fall should there be a chaotic and abrupt transition?

If Mugabe were to drop dead today, what would be fate of this ZANU PF armoury considering that there is no consensus in that party about who should take over from Mugabe. Although right now, Emmerson Mnangagwa is seen as being Mugabe's candidate, there is stiff resistance to his ascendancy from other factions in that party.

Things would be simpler if the party had someone whose authority everyone deferred to after Mugabe. But that is not the case. It is only Mugabe who is the glue preventing ZANU PF to fall apart like broken pottery.

As previously stated here, the chances of a balkanisation (or Somalilisation) of Zimbabwe are very real.

All because one man thought he should not appoint anyone to be next in line from him in case they got into their head to oust him and install themselves.

Mugabe Tells World Bank To Bugger Off

2009-11-18T06:02:00.004+02:00

Finance Minister Tendai Biti (above), has identified civil service reform as a crucial area to be given special attention and Morgan Tsvangirai bemoaned last month the existence of more than 16 000 ghost workers (mostly ZANU PF Youth Militia) on government payroll. One of Mugabe's most senior people, however, has effectively ensured that the audit never takes place, after refusing to cooperate with a World Bank technical team appointed by Tsvangirai.

Harare, Zimbabwe, 18 November 2009

One of the men I exposed earlier this year as the three men who actually run Zimbabwe has overruled Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and his Minister of Public Service and blocked the World Bank from conducting an audit of the country's civil service.

Mariyawanda Nzuwa, the Public Service Commissioner in Zimbabwe, has refused to hand over the list of civil servants requested by the World Bank, which has been appointed by the government to provide technical assistance on a civil service audit exercise.

Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and Finance Minister Tendai Biti have been at the foefront of demanding the audit. Tsvangirai himself, during his "disengagement" announcement last month, revealed that there are more than 16 000 ZANU PF youths on government payroll even though they were not civil servants.

Civil service reform is one of the most crucial tests of the powers Morgan Tsvangirai has as Prime Minister. Itturns out now that he can be overruled by a civil servant like Nzuwa, as can the Finance Minister.

The world Bank had asked for detailed information on civil servants, including their dates of births and dates of joining government. THey also wanted to know the civil servants' dates of promotion to their current salary grades, amongst other things.

But, on Mugabe's instructions, the Public Service Commission has told the World Bank to mind its own business and refused to hand over the information, saying the request is in contravention of the Official Secrets Act. The MDC Minister of Public Service Eliphas Mukonoweshuro, has complained directly to the Public Service Commission that since April 21, when cabinet took the deicision to engage the World Bank for money and technical assistance, the Commission has been refusing to cooperate and told they can not have the information they want.

Effectively, the World Bank, then, has been told to bugger off.

The Public Service Commission has gone even further and referred the consultants from the World Bank to the Attorney-General's Office. The Ag's office, in response, advised that the Public service Commission was within its rights to refuse to hand over the information and can only do so if directed by Cabinet. That directive from Cabinet is very unlikely to come.

Although cabinet agreed on Aril 21 to a civil service audit, with the express intent of getting rid of ghost workers, it appears Mugabe is uneasy about the job actually being carried out. It would result in his legion of youths, who are right now roaming the countryside intimidating people against voting for Tsvangirai in the next election, being exposed and removed from government payroll.

That has a direct impact on his grip on power.

Nzuwa himself told State media yesterday that he knows nothing about whatever the World Bank is up to, saying when they first came to Zimbabwe after the formation of the inclusive government, his office had told them that they (the Public Service Commission) had no resources to carry out an audit.

ZANU PF has always insisted that any assistance to the Inclusive Governmetn should go throughgovernment structures and they want the civil service reform money given to the Public Service Comission.

"We are not involved in the current audit," Nzuwa says. He claims that the PSC pays all civil servants and this includes the president. As a result, he is not comfortable handing over details of the President's bank accounts and the like to the World Bank.

Civil service reform, a crucial aspect of good governance in Zimbabwe, which operates the most bloated government in the world, is effectively dead in the water, then.

Zimbabweans Evacuated In South Africa As Xenophobic Attacks Loom

2009-11-17T19:28:00.005+02:00

Zimbabweans shown this morning walking with their belongings and gathered at a Community Center in Der Doorns shantytown in the Western Cape Province of South Africa after South Africans turned on them and demolished 600 of their homes. This xenophobic attack has now seen 2000 people, by some reports, gathered at a hall near the local police station.

Harare, Zimbabwe, 17 November 2009

Police in the Cape Province had to fire bullets to disperse a crowd that had started demolishing shacks rented by Zimbabweans in Der Doorns, which is South Africa's Western Cape Province.

The residents were protesting that Zimbabweans in the area accept lower pay and are, therefore, depriving South Africans of jobs.

But other sources say that the flare-up in the violence was prompted the previous night when a fight involving Zimbabweans and South Africans broke out at a shebeen (informal drinking place). The Times of South Africa reports that a police spokesman confirmed this, saying 68 Zimbabweans had been sleeping in storerooms next to the local police station through the weekend after that fight, which took place on Friday night. They were running scared after locals started threatening action against the foreigners who had been involved in the fight.

Tensions have been simmering since then.

When Zimbabweans working in South African farms tried to board the trucks that ferry them to work each morning today, they were prevented by a mob that soon turned against the properties rented by the Zimbabwean farm workers in the township.

The locals now have a grievance that goes beyond the fight and look upon Zimbabweans as taking local jobs. They wanted them out of the area.

One thousand Zimbabwe (some reports say they now number 2000) have since taken refuge at the local hall next to the police station in the De Doorns area.

The police say that this happens every year. This being a farming area, the jobs are seasonal and tensions always rise at the end of the year as the season kicks into full gear and seasonal workers are hired. Local farmers consider Zimbabweans generally harder-working than South Africans and prefer to hire them over the locals.

The locals do not think this fair and it becomes an even more explosive situation when drink and brawls are thrown into the mix.

The Zimbabweans are likely to be sent back home, probably with nothing, since they would not dare go back to their shanties to pick up their belongings.

Zimbabwe's unemployment levels are still hovering around 90%, with businesses failing to increase capacity enough to absorb some of the jobless. Those surviving in the country are resorting to the informal sector, but even this is now proving hazardous in Zimbabwe.

Last week, the MDC-Tsvangirai-controlled Harare City Council sent in Municipal police to chase away vendors in the informal sector in the poor township of Mbare. One vendor, whose wife is nine-months pregnant, was killed by the Municipal Police.

Under the circumstances, Zimbabweans will continue to risk their lives crossing into South Africa and fleeing to other countries in search of greener pastures.

All the while, the MDC says the country is now stable, the economy is improving, shops are full and Zimbabweans must come back home where they can live the life of Riley!!

MDC-Tsvangirai Activist Stays On Remand

2009-11-17T10:00:00.004+02:00

With pivotal people like Roy Bennett (above, at the High Court in Zimbabwe), being "harassed" and brought before the courts for lengthy trials, the MDC-Tsvangirai is adrift, putting all its efforts into seeing whether they can pack even more useless bodies into government. Mugabe thinks that is all fine: it leaves him free to continue with his plan to ensure that he gets back into a commanding position at the next elections.

Harare, Zimbabwe, 17 November 2009

A Zimbabwean court yesterday threw out an application by Pascal Gwezere, an MDC-T Intelligence Department official (he is officially called a Transport Manager) t be removed from remand on charges of masterminding the theft of 21 guns from Pomona Barracks in Harare.

Gwezere, however, was granted the application on the second charge he faces: getting military training in Uganda.

Not that any of this makes the slightest bit of difference in practical terms to his plight. He effectively remains on remand, awaiting trial, with the State now claiming that there are witnesses who are falling over themselves to testify against Gwezere.

It now also emerges Gwezere has been arrested on a tip off, which came to the police two days after the offence was committed.

It is because of this that I think it yet another shaky case from Mugabe's prosecutors. Although not known how many snitches there are in this whole thing, the testimony they will offer in court is likely to be all hearsay or third-hand information, otherwise they would also be charged together with Gwezere if they were actually in the scene and witnesses the crime being committed.

That the police also say the soldiers who helped Gwezere have disappeared and can not be found (it is almost a month now since the weapons were stolen) weakens their case even more.

But this is not the point of the whole exercise. As I explained on the eve of the MDC-T joining Mugabe in the fatal embrace called the Inclusive Government, the plan has always been that of distraction: with their officials and party members, including high-profile ones like Bennett, on trial, the MDC, it is hoped, will be so preoccupied with these moves that it fails to properly organise itself ahead of any election as Mugabe sends more of his youths and military into the countryside to secure his advantage.

It appears there is nothing the Prime Minister and his party can do about any of this.

Tsvangirai himself bemoaned the "militarisation of the countryside" during his fumbling "disengagement" announcement. Yet this very crucial issue, which goes to the heart of the matter of a free and fair election, does not form part of the agenda of re-engagement as announced by the Prime Minister in Maputo after the SADC Troika meeting.

MDC-T structures even in the urban centres have all but collapsed, with the only visible activity being the series of 10th anniversary rallies that Tsvangirai has been conducting all over Zimbabwe.

Meantime, discontent in the MDC National Executive and the National Council has now reached fever-pitch, with three camps lined up to dislodge Tsvangirai.

The country of Zimbabwe is going to be shocked by the realignment of Zimbabwean politics that is going to take place in the next three to four months and this will come about only because Tsvangirai has now sat on his laurels, content to play second-fiddle to Mugabe while implementing ZANU PF policies and defending the continued decline of Zimbabwe into poverty, lack of service delivery, disease and unemployment.

Here's the problem: the MDC-T egged on by its dwindling base of fanatic, hero-worshipping, and personality-cult followers, is behaving as if it has already taken power from Mugabe. Elections are nothing but a distant prospect for them, with Morgan Tsvangirai believing that he only needs one month to campaign in order to force another deadlock in parliament and make a comeback as Prime Minister of Zimbabwe, with Mugabe continuing as president.

This is the truth of the Zimbabwean politics today, that the people's project is now being sacrificed on the alter of the power-hunger of the MDC-T leadership. They are content to rub shoulders with murderers and thieves, as long as some of the proceeds from the plunder of our nation are given to them in the form of luxury cars, luxury offices and lavish travel and subsistence allowances.

The MDC-T's own MPs and Minister have gotten in on the act, of that there is no doubt, with some of them said to be drawing thousands of litres of fuel (as much as 5 000 litres in one month in one instance). They tag along with Mugabe to useless talking-shop summits all over the world, where they arrive with their own little bags of unaccounted-for cash.

Acquittal or conviction is not the object of the current prosecutions of such people as Roy Bennett and Pascal Gwezere. The distraction of the MDC is first prize. Everything else is a bonus to ZANU PF.

Tsvangirai is playing straight into their hands.

But then again, he is going to win, no matter what he does or says, his supporters believe. He could tell all of them to vote Mugabe for president and MDC-T for parliament (a very real possibility despite the disbelief) and they would still shout "Save!"

Dry Taps In Harare Stop Government Business As Cholera Beckons

2009-11-17T01:50:00.005+02:00

Residents line up at one of the boreholes dug by aid agencies in the suburbs of Harare. The water shortage has now reached critical levels, with practically the whole city having dried up, except in the city centre, where the Supreme Court had to close down last week for lack of water. It has now been restored, but residents, fleeing overwhelmed boreholes, are resorting to the most basic and unsafe well and stream water for their needs. Put this situation together with the rains that have now started in earnest, then you have a recipe for cholera, with a struggling health sector standing trembling nearby.

Harare, Zimbabwe, 17 November 2009

The water shortage in Harare has reached alarming proportions now, with most of the city's suburbs having last seen water a week and a half ago.

Only last week, the Supreme Court in Harare closed down because there was no water in the city centre section where it sits.

This s coming as rains have also started in earnest in the capital, as shown in the picture accompanying the story below this one, showing lawyers protesting in Harare under the cover umbrellas.

Sewage, of course, continues to flow in the streets of the townships of Harare. UNICEF and other aid agencies have tried to help by digging boreholes in the suburbs but these are now groaning under the weight of demand, leading citizens to go and fetch running water in streams and to dig their own wells in sewage littered open spaces nearby.

Harare city itself is a maze of trenches and unearthed rusty pipes resting on mounds and dirt. They are causing havoc with traffic. Kenneth Kaunda Avenue, for instance has been rendered a one-lane street for quite a stretch.

This ineptitude must apparently not be mentioned because Morgan Tsvangirai is now Prime Minister, according to MDC-T apologists.

That MDC-T supporters are now the most ardent defenders of Robert Mugabe policies and decay is of no significance to them. "Things are improving..." they moan. Tell that to the people who spend all day at a borehole.

Tell that to the children who will soon be falling like flies as cholera comes back.

Hospitals full of drugs? Dream on, all patients need to pay a little something, say US$5, for the medication. 70% of the population do not have that much spare, not even for their own health.

Things are improving?

MDC-T is sounding more and more like ZANU PF with each passing day. Which is not entirely unexpected , considering that they are implementing ZANU PF policies like true cadres, with the same enthusiasm for mediocrity that now suffuses Mugabe party.

The myth of the economic recovery of Zimbabwe is the biggest fraud perpetrated by the Mugabe/Tsvangirai coalition on the world. It is swallowed hook, line and sinker by those who find it to painful to think for themselves. And duly parroted.

But the people are not fooled. Evidence of that abounds, the starkest of which are the riots that rocked Mbare last Monday.

Attorney-General To Bennett Laywer: "That's Is Not What We Expected You To Do".

2009-11-16T23:48:00.005+02:00

Zimbabwe lawyers march in the rain in Harare yesterday, Monday 16 November 2009. They were on strike and were on their way to the Ministry of Justice to hand over a petition protesting the harassment of their profession by the police and by Attorney-General Johannes Tomana.

Harare, Zimbabwe, 17 November 2009

Attorney-General Johannes Tomana today may have inadvertently revealed the puppet-master's hand behind the trial of Roy Bennett when he told the presiding judge that a ruling he made today was not what was expected.

Tomana was so thrown off-balance by the departure from the script he had in his mind that he asked for adjournment of the trial, which was granted by Bhunu.

And you may also have noticed that the judge is still presiding over the Bennett case despite being asked to recuse himself by Bennett's lawyers, who say he has already shown prior bias in a matter relating to Peter Hitschman, the main State witness who has implicated Bennett.

The judge met with Bennett's lawyers, led by Beatrice Mtetwa and the Prosecution, led by the Attorney-General himself in his chambers where he explained to them he was not going anywhere.

He did not have much choice, really.

Stepping aside would have tainted him in the eyes of the State and would have been a basic admission that his judgement is questionable. Not a good thing for someone who judges for a living.

But, like I have pointed out before, this means that the Bennett case is far from over. Should the man be convicted, the Defence will almost certainly apply for a mistrial to be declared, arguing that the judge had prior bias and refused to recuse himself.

Should Bennett be found guilty, it is the Attorney-General's intention to also appeal on the basis that the charges of prior bias against the judge may have influenced him to acquit the accused.

Either way, the trial of Bennett will outlast the life of this Inclusive Government of Robert Mugabe and Morgan Tsvangirai.

In any case it was interesting today to hear the litany of the alleged sins of Roy Bennett as levelled against him in open court today by the Attorney General. Bennett is accused of "possessing weapons for insurgency, banditry, terrorism and sabotage, incitement to commit insurgency, banditry and terrorism." He also stands accused of masterminding the sabotage of a microwave link.

Bennett pleaded not guilty.

Tomana then brought out his first witness, a Superintendent Makone, who is the investigating officer in the matter of Bennett and was apparently the one who unearthed the weapons at Hitschman's farm.

Tomana had not gone far in his questioning of his witness when Beatrice Mtetwa, for Roy Bennett, objected that the Attorney-General was not only leading the witness, but also leading him on the basis of hearsay, which she argued could not be admissible.

The judge retired to his chambers to consider this and came back to rule in favour of Mtetwa, ordering the witness to stick to the facts that he saw for himself and the actions that he took.

It was at this point that the Attorney-General said the ruling was "unexpected" and he therefore requested an adjournment until tomorrow. The judge granted this.

It is a reflection of how shaky the State's case is that it can be thrown off-balance by such a ruling, which should be factored into any prosecution's strategy.

It exposes the fact that the Attorney-General only has the two witnesses to this thing: Peter Hitschman, who now disowns his statement implicating Bennett, saying he was tortured into it, and this Chief Superintendent Makone, who unearthed the arms and works for the government.

It is also fair to ask why the Attorney-General did not anticipate that the judge would make this ruling, which was the correct and professional one to make. Was it because the man is not relying on the case to stand by itself, but on help from other sources, such as the bench?

It is a very serious question that raises questions about not only the strength of the State's case, but also the competency of the Attorney-General t be our supreme law officer in Zimbabwe. If he can be thrown off-balance by such a run of the mill ruling, what is he doing leading the prosecution of a man on trial for his life?

Mugabe "Fights" To Buy The Loyalty Of Zimbabwean Chiefs

2009-11-15T20:57:00.003+02:00

Local Government Minister, ZANU PF's Ignatious Chombo, seen here investing Harare Mayor Much Masunda with his Mayoral regalia, has promised chiefs that will all get double-cab vehicles. He told them that Tendai Biti is the one stopping them from enjoying this benefit, but that ZANU PF is fighting him on their behalf.

Harare, Zimbabwe, 15 November 2009

Local Government Minister and Mugabe homeboy, Ignatious Chombo, has told chiefs meeting in Mutare that ZANU PF is fighting the MDC-T Minister of Finance, Tendai Biti, to be allowed to buy them 271 brand new luxury vehicles.

Even headmen are being bought. The chiefs will get twin-cabs and the headmen will get single-cab trucks.

"Tendai Biti is resisting, but we are fighting on your behalf," Chombo told the gathering. He is the one in charge of chiefs all over Zimbabwe and uses the power he has over them to remove those seen as sympathetic to opposition parties in Zimbabwe.

Speaking at the same conference, Joice Mujuru, who has just been confirmed as a vice-presidential candidate by ZANU PF for the next elections, said that chiefs were a part of ZANU PF. She claimed that the MDC represented those who did not want land returned to black people while ZANU PF was fighting in the same corner as the chiefs. The relationship, she says, goes back to the beginning of the 1970s liberation war, in which land was a chief grievance.

For outsiders and even urbanite Zimbabweans of the new generation, now so vocal on the internet and elsewhere, it is difficult go understand the crucial role played by chiefs in the normal lives of rural Zimbabweans.

Chiefs can effectively ostracise anyone in their domain. They are the first port of call for the disputes that flare up repeatedly amongst villagers, from domestic strife to gardens that are destroyed by a neighbours cattle.

The chiefs still command a lot of power in the petty frustrations of villagers and can make life very uncomfortable for these citizens.

As a result of this residual power they still hold (the power is respected as long as they two the ZANU PF party line), Mugabe has been able to maintain a grip on the rural areas. In the June election run-off, for instance, some chiefs were told that they had to line up with their subjects in order to vote. This was a way to intimidate villagers, who were told that it would be easy to see which group had voted for whom and if, in their group were found some Tsvangirai votes, then there would be hell to pay.

It is an indication of just how intent Mugabe is on maintaining his stranglehold on rural votes that he is now promising to spend millions of dollars on vehicles for the chiefs.

By telling them that it is Tendai Biti and the MDC-T who are against the purchase of their vehicles, ZANU PF is effectively ensuring that there is no chief left who will be seen to be supporting the Prime Minister's party.

SADC Contradicts Tsvangirai On ZimbabwePolice Ministry

2009-11-15T19:20:00.006+02:00

Zimbabwe riot police, seen here smiling as they beat up a protester while he is held from behind by one of their own, continue to behave pretty much as they please, enforcing draconian and undemocratic laws. Morgan Tsvangirai has said nothing about the Ministry of Home Affairs in his list of grievances against Mugabe. It has taken SADC Ministers to raise the issue and be bluntly honest about it. But that is all there will be to it.

Harare, Zimbabwe, 15 November 2009

When Morgan Tsvangirai was asked recently how the Home Affairs ministry sharing arrangement with ZANU PF had worked out so far, he replied that the two co-ministers (one each from MDC-T and ZANU PF) were working "fantastically well" together.

This he said even as his own party members continued to be treated unfairly by the police, being arrested for reporting violence against them by ZANU PF supporters, even as MDC-T MPs and officials were arrested, even as Tsvangirai's own close advisers like Gandhi Mudzingwa were in Chikurubi Maximum Security Prison after being abducted and then had terrorism charges leveled against them.

Now, however, a SADC Ministerial team that was in Harare a couple of weeks ago has spoken out about the sharing of Home Affairs, saying it is proving to be unworkable and ineffective. Their main point is that the police force continues in effect to be controlled by Police Service Commission, which is chaired by a man I have previously described as one of the three men running Zimbabwe, Mariyawanda Nzuwa, Public Service Commission Chairman.

But while SADC Ministers highlight this shortcoming, nothing is likely to be done about it, because Morgan Tsvangirai sees nothing wrong in the manner in which his co-Minister of Home Affairs is being made a lame duck minister. The Prime Minister does not mention the issue of the ministry of Home Affairs as an outstanding issue .

It is, therefore, not one of the things that SADC has decreed should be "talked about" within 30 days. I suppose the Prime Minister still thinks that it is "fantastic" that his supporters and officials can be arrested without his co-minister of Home Affairs seeing the arrest warrant or even being informed of the impending arrests.

The MDC-T, of course, had it coming. When we warned here on this blog that this is what would happen and pointed to the time when Joshua Nkomo was Minister Home Affairs, MDC-T supporters left messages no this blog saying that times had changed, the MDC-T had learned from that period and that they would never tolerate such a thing.

They have been eerily quiet ever since!

In the same report from the SADC Ministerial team, the toothless bulldog called JOMIC (Joint Monitoring and Implementation Committee) is also dismissed for what it is: a toothless dog which is failing to even bark, let alone bite.

The regional ministers note that JOMIC, unlike other instruments from the Global Political Agreement that gave birth to the current coalition government (Tsvangirai's preferred term for his capitulation to Mugabe), it has no legal standing at all and can not enforce its decisions. It can only recommend and even these recommendations are never taken seriously.

Its meetings are erratic and, say the ministers: " it has been reduced to a talk shop with no concrete decisions and a non-constitutional body could not monitor constitutionally created entities of the state"

Despite this, the MDC-T co-Minister of Home Affairs was in Singapore last month where he sounded like a ZANU PF functionary, saying that "sanctions" imposed against Zimbabwe were adversely affecting the work of the police in Zimbabwe. He glowingly described them as heroic and professional and lauded them for managing to continue arresting his own party members despite the sanctions that means they are unable to buy more baton sticks with which to beat them up.

The Ministerial report is only good for information, as I have said, because no action will be taken on the all-important issue of the Ministry of Home Affairs, the headquarters of continued repression and intimidation in Zimbabwe.

So, question then? Why is it that the Prime Minister can not see what outsiders see? Is it because his focus in on ensuring that his party officials get into positions, even if they are powerless in those positions?

Is he blind to say Home Affairs ministers are working fantastically together? Or is he a liar, telling tales that he knows to be untrue?

Zimbabwe Lawyers Go On Strike

2009-11-15T18:54:00.005+02:00

Beatrice Mtetwa (seen here emerging from court where she was defending foreign journalists arrested by Mugabe), has suffered beatings and harassment at the hands of the police, including one bad beating when she was president of the Law Society of Zimbabwe and led a march like the one proposed for tomorrow in Harare, when all lawyers will be on strike.

Harare, Zimbabwe, 15 November 2009

Lawyers in Zimbabwe will tomorrow (Monday, 16 November 2009) go on strike to protest the harassment of their profession.

The move has been prompted by arrest of a lawyer for Peter Hitschman, Mordecai Mahlangu. Mhlangu works for Gill, Godlonton and Gerrans (who also happen to be the lawyers for Simba Makoni in his ongoing trial for breaching POSA in March last year during the presidential election).

Mahlangu was arrested after writing to the Attorney General of Zimbabwe to tell him that Hitschman was unwilling to testify in the court case against Bennett. Hitschman is the main state witness in the Bennett trial, in which the Attorney-General has personally taken charge of the prosecution team.

Edward Mapara of the Law Society of Zimbabwe announced that all the lawyers will put on their High Court regalia to attend the trial of their colleague, Mahlang, who is out on US$100 bail and is due in court tomorrow.

"All (law) offices will be closed and no appearances will be made in court," announced Mapara.

After appearing in court in solidarity with their colleague, the lawyers plan to march to the Ministry of Justice to protest the continued harassment of their profession.

The profession is also petitioning the Zimbabwean parliament to investigate the continued harassment of its members. It remains to be seen whether the legislative body will have any teeth in the matter.

This is not the first time that lawyers have marched. In 2007, Beatrice Mtetwa, who is currently leading the Defence Team for Roy Bennett, was beaten up when lawyers marched in the streets to protest against the same thing. She was photographed with huge bruises from the beating and subsequently won several awards for her bravery.

The arrest of Mahlangu is a classic illustration of how Mugabe uses force on the law, basically raping Lady Justice, in order to achieve his end. As Hitschman's lawyer, he was simply doing his duty in communicating to the Attorney-General that his client was recanting his testimony in which he implicated Roy Bennett because that testimony was not given freely but under torture.

The Attorney General then responded by sending in the law enforcement officers to arrest him in order to ensure that he advised his client to attend Bennett's trial and stick to his now discredited testimony.

Mugabe Ally And Financier "Missing"

2009-11-15T17:49:00.004+02:00

Billy Rautenbach (above) is supposed to testify in South African courts in the trial of that country's former Police Commissioner on allegations of corruption. He was implicated by another witness, who said Rautenbach had given him US$100 000 with which to bribe the Police Commissioner, Jackie Selebi, who was then also the head of Interpol. The bribe was so that the Police Chief looked the other way whilst Rautenbach continued to operate in South Africa. Rautenbach is alleged to be one of the major financiers of the Mugabe regime, in exchange for vast business concessions. He is banned from traveling to Europe and America.

Harare, Zimbabwe, 15 November 2009

A Zimbabwean millionaire, Mugabe ally and Financier has bolted from South Africa and is hiding from testifying in the trial of South Africa's former Police Commissioner, in which he stands accused of handing over US$100 000 in bribes.

Billy Rautenbach, who brought the South Korean car brand Hyundai into Zimbabwe and South Africa is hanging around Harare, near his sprawling home in Mazowe, as the South African justice system fails to locate him in order to get him to testify.

The businessman is intricately linked with Zimbabwean politics and has been said to be a beneficiary of Mugabe adventure in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where Rautenbach subsequently set up various profitable mining companies together with ZANU PF politicians.

Rautenbach is banned from traveling most of the world. The European Union and the USA have travel bans against him, emanating from his financial support for Mugabe's regime. At the same time, Interpol, the international police organisation, has him on its wanted list. He is also banned from the Democratic Republic of Congo, where authorities see him as a plunderer of that country's vast mineral wealth.

A man of immense wealth, Billy has several huge farms in Zimbabwe and is also proposing to set up an ethanol plant in Chiredzi, south east Zimbabwe, to try and help Mugabe with his perenial fuel problems. That project faces an uncertain future at the moment, but that is another story completely.

Although the South African justice system says he is missing, this is only because no one in Harare is willing to cooperate with them to ensure that the man is brought before South African courts to testify.

Zimbabwe Electricty Authority Worker Thoroughly Beaten Up

2009-11-15T14:10:00.004+02:00

This is Hwange Power Station in Zimbabwe. The Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (ZESA) is struggling to maintain the plant amid shortages of coal and breakdowns, which has led to frightening levels of power cuts and rationing all across the country. The people are angry and in such an environment, it was inevitable that one of them would take it out on a ZESA worker.

Harare, Zimbabwe, 15 November 2009

A Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority worker is lucky to be alive after a mob descended on him in Chitungwiza, on the outskirts of Harare and beat him up for trying to disconnect the supply of a resident who was behind in his payments.

The worker apparently tried to mount his motorbike but was pulled down and beaten up. When the mob let up a bit, he escaped, together with his bike and made a report at a local police station, leading to the arrest of the home owner and two others.

ZESA workers in the town, angered by the treatment of one of their own, apparently formed their own gang and proceeded to the home, where they not only cut off the power, but also walked off with the electricity meter itself, ensuring that the house will not have power for ages to come.

This incident comes as electricity supplies in Zimbabwe reach a critical level. Whole swathes of both affluent suburbs and the poorer townships are going for days without power as ZESA ramps up load-shedding.

At the same time, the power utility company, which is owned by government (the MDC-T is now in charge of the ministry that oversees the power company), is being directed by government to charge sub-economic rates. In addition, the Minister of Energy, former MDC-T Harare Mayor Elias Mudzuri, has taken a leaf out of ZANU PF's policy book and directed that no persons owing money should be disconnected.

Residents are understandably furious that huge bills continue to show up in their mail boxes despite the fact that they are not being supplied with electricity. The amount of money being spent on firewood by Zimbabweans would, if directed towards ZESA, wipe out the multi-million dollar that the company is saddled with.

Morale is very low at ZESA and this has led to some bizarre incidents, one of which is quoted by the state media today, in which ZESA workers were called to repair an underground fault in the same town of Chitungwiza. However, they said it was not their job to dig up the earth in order to get to the underground cable. If the residents wanted the fault repaired, said the workers, they had to dig up the earth themselves. Picks and shovels were handed out and residents duly started digging!

It is a fact that things such as the continued power shortage, lack of jobs and unwarranted interference in the lives of otherwise law-abiding citizens are contributing to the disenchantment with MDC-T that is now widespread in the towns and cities of Zimbabwe. Morgan Tsvangirai's failure to put in place policies and implement them in order to lessen the people's suffering is proving to be his graveyard.

ZANU PF Resolves To Scuttle Reserve Bank Reform

2009-11-15T10:50:00.006+02:00

Finance Minister Tendai in parliament: His proposed Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Bill now faces certain death after ZANU PF announced over the weekend that they will oppose that Bill unless it is amended to their liking. The ridiculous claims from ZANU PF are that the Bill targets an individual (Gideon Gono) and have, therefore, nothing to do with reform of the institution itself. They have also expressed alarm at Tendai Biti's characterisation of the Bill as a "transitional mechanism". As a result of this, ZANU PF sees regime change skeletons in all manner of closets!

Harare, Zimbabwe, 15 November 2009

ZANU PF MPs have now openly come out to say that they will scuttle the Reserve Bank Bill being proposed by Finance Minister Tendai Biti of the MDC.

They claim the bill is aimed at an individual and not the institution. In addition, they are arguing that it puts too much power in the hands of the Minister and is contrary to regional best practise, which is to give the Central Banks of the region autonomy.

"ZANU PF has taken the position that it will oppose the Bill," says Paul Munyaradzi Mangwana, the one ZANU PF Member of Parliament who is emerging as de facto leader of the party in parliament. "It is a contentious, unconstitutional, undemocratic and autocratic Bill and the worst piece of legislation that a country can ever come up with."

It does not help that Tendai Biti himself said during his second reading of the proposed Act that he is "uncomfortable" with the powers of the Finance Minister as contained therein.

This has now been jumped on by ZANU PF, who have since sent proposed amendments to Biti for inclusion in the Bill with the threat that unless these are incorporated, the Bill will be defeated by ZANU PF in parliament.

Of course, ZANU PF fails to understand that most improvements in society are achieved after seeing individual exploit loopholes in laws that govern society. Moves are then made to ensure that no subsequent individual in the same position will ever have the opportunity to do the same.

After seeing President Roosevelt elected back into office four times, for instance, America then proposed a Presidential term limit because they realised how not limiting presidential terms could result in one-man rule for as long as that man lives. This is not good for injecting new ideas and for the progress of any nation.

So the amendment to the RBZ Act is informed by the desire to never again have a clueless Reserve Bank Governor driving up inflation by acting as if he is the Prime Minister of the country, a co-dictator with Mugabe who does pretty much as he pleases even when his actions result in the untold suffering of the people.

It is worth remembering that Gideon Gono started his tenure as Reserve Bank Governor with a lot of goodwill. He was praised highly when he managed to bring down inflation temporarily. The praise went to his head and, subsequently, he turned literally the whole nation against him by his own actions.

Failure to be transparent, focus on scoring political points at the expense of the convenience of the public all led to him being seen as evil, to the extent that old women were asking in my hearing if the man was a witch.

As Zimbabweans struggled with inconvenient "bank notes" that could not be changed because of the lack of small denominations, as they struggled to buy things that did not exist in the shops and as they formed huge queues at the banks in order to get to their money because Gono's limits on withdrawals made it impossible for them to live, more and more Zimbabweans started hating the man.

He continued regardless, never deviating from a course that was killing the people of Zimbabwe, with sick people failing to access their money and dying as a result. He behaved like a heartless ogre and, at the end of the Mugabe era, he may become the only Central Bank chief in history to get a public lynching.

ZANU PF want him to stay on and they will fight to make sure this happens

Mugabe Confirmed To Run Again For President

2009-11-15T09:59:00.005+02:00

Robert "The Solution" Mugabe, seen here in Rome, has been endorsed by nine of Zimbabwe's ten provinces to run again for president of ZANU PF and the country. The one province that has not nominated him is Midlands, which has postponed its elections because of "irregularities". With every other province having nominated Mugabe, Midlands is sure to follow their lead and fall in line behind Mugabe. It effectively means that Morgan Tsvangirai and his supporters, who had hoodwinked themselves into believing that this is Mugabe last term as president and that we are in a "transitional period", will get another unfair drubbing from him at the next polls. The only hope left now is Simba Makoni and his new party

Harare, Zimbabwe, 15 November 2009

He's 85 years old and clearly in the "sunset" of his life, to use Ronald Reagan's words, but members of ZANU PF clearly think that there is nobody more qualified to be president of their party and the country than Robert Mugabe.

"The Solution", as Mugabe is referred to by Morgan Tsvangirai, has been nominated for the post of president by nine of Zimbabwe's ten provinces, which effectively means that he will be swept back into power within the long-ruling ZANU PF.

All that will be left is for his party to unleash its customary violence and he will be back in power as President of Zimbabwe.

Mugabe routinely tries to give the impression of not seeking the nomination for president of his party, saying that if they ask him to stand, he will and if they put up somebody else, then he would step aside.

In his recent interview with Christianne Amanpour of CNN, Mugabe was asked point-black whether he would run again for president and he refused to answer saying he was not going to give away such "strategic" information.

Now we know that nobody else is going to stand against the man. In the urban areas and large swathes of rural Zimbabwe, Mugabe is hugely unpopular because of the destruction of the economy under his watch.

So, is ZANU PF suicidal in nominating again?

No.

The party is well aware that, without Mugabe, their party is finished.

Mugabe is a bad man, no doubt about that, but this is also his salvation.

The psychology of Zimbabweans is one that glorifies the badness of such people as Mugabe. You will recall that I told of an incident around the run-off, after Tsvangirai had pulled out of the race and Mugabe had become president, flying off to an African Summit soon thereafter. A guard at a premium banking hall at Miekles Hotel was in conversation with a customer and bluntly said that he now had huge respect for Mugabe.

The words he used were: "Munhu wanda bigga ndimudhara uyu manje." This was coming at the end of a conversation in which it was clear to everyone that the guard was not a Mugabe supporter.

Yet his ruthlessness in clawing his way back into power impressed this man.

It has been said over and over again by wishful-thinking MDC-Tsvangirai supporters that there is no way Mugabe is going to run again, that this was his last stand as president of the country and so on...

It is the greatest failing of the MDC-T leadership that they listen to such nonsense from desperate supporters. In the process, they fail to strategise around Mugabe and ZANU PF. The opposition party of the Prime Minister had now essentially rested on its laurels, since Morgan Tsvangirai himself has now decided that it is impossible to beat Mugabe in an election. Yes, getting power through elections is not an option that the Prime Minister now considers viable.

The question is: can he survive another drubbing by Mugabe, no matter how unfair and skewed that drubbing is?

To end, I must go back to last year's election. Since ZANU PF started ruling Zimbabwe, the party has never been shaken the way it was shaken by Simba Makoni in March. Mugabe's party was in disarray, with large numbers of their own candidates supporting Makoni against Mugabe.

If it were not for Makoni, Tsvangirai would not have done as well as he did in March. The former Finance Minister, who now has his own party, achieved what no other politician in opposition politics has managed to achieve: split ZANU PF significantly and emboldened those who opposed Mugabe to come out in droves to try and rid the country of Mugabe.

If he had not run, what we saw in June would have happened in March anyway and the result would have been the same.

With Makoni building a formidable organisation across Zimbabwe with his new party, Tsvangirai is unlikely to repeat the performance of March 2009.

Yet, like Mugabe, he is also refusing to engage the issue of leadership renewal. He clings onto power and onto the office of President of the MDC-Tsvangirai. This will be the undoing of his party.

Hope now basically lies in Makoni. As more and more people get disenchanted with an MDC that does not have what it takes to deliver a killer blow to Mugabe, Makoni's new party is emerging as the only one that is capable of significantly eroding Mugabe's support base. As a non-violent and non-confrontational man, he remains the one person who can neutralise the army effect in ZANU PF.

The future, as far as I can see, belongs not with Tsvangirai or with Mugabe, but with the former Finance Minister. Time, yet again, will prove me right.

Zimbabwe Government Sets Up Shadowy Company To Mine Chiadzwa Diamonds

2009-11-14T09:49:00.006+02:00

These diamond panners from Marange have all but disappeared from the scene as two new companies are now authorised to operate. However, there is more to it than first meets the eye, with one of the two companies still waiting to be given the go-ahead and another, said to be army-owned, already processing thousands of tonnes of ore a day.

Harare, Zimbabwe, 14 November 2009

The Government of Zimbabwe, in a desperate bid to hoodwink the Kimberley Certification Scheme, has set up a shadowy company and given it a licence to mine diamonds at the super-rich Chiadzwa Diamond Fields.

Government announced a few weeks ago that it had now licenced two investors to help the Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation (ZMDC) exploit Chiadzwa and there are now frantic propaganda efforts to make it appear as though things have been regularised there.

But informed sources say that of the two companies said to have been licenced by the government of Zimbabwe, one is owned by the defence forces of Zimbabwe and is so well-capitalised that it has now managed to set up state-of-the-art machinery bang in the middle of the Diamond Field itself.

Betraying the fact that the announcement of two companies is simply designed to hoodwink the world, the alleged army-owned company, called Mbada (meaning leopard in the local Shona language) got permission to start mining the diamonds of Marange almost two months ago.

Yet, the other company also licenced, a South African company, Canadile, has not only been relegated to a 1000 hectare claim at the edges of the Field, near Odzi river, but has also been told that they do not yet have permission to start mining and processing ore.

At the moment, the army-owned company is busy processing hundreds of thousands of tonnes of ore a week while Canadile sits there twiddling its thumbs.

The ownership structure of Mbada is a closely guarded secret in Zimbabwe and no one knows who its shareholders are, not even cabinet ministers who should have debated the matter in Cabinet and given the nod.

While the government of Zimbabwe has announced that diamonds mined at Chiadzwa will not be traded just yet, it is not clear where the diamonds that Mbada is processing are going. The volumes they are mining daily at the moment are huge and it is inconceivable that they are just sitting on their riches while waiting for for the Kimberley Team to show up in Zimbabwe next month or the month after that.

The KP Team is supposed to come and monitor compliance at the Chiadzwa Diamond Fields to ensure that there are no abuses and that the Zimbabwe diamonds pass the test of not being classified as conflict diamonds.

There are still soldiers on the ground at Chiadzwa and these are now openly protecting the private property belonging to Mbada Mining. In addition to this, the government of Zimbabwe has also sent in members of the dreaded Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) to monitor the diamond mining area of Chiadzwa. The CIO are playing a classic intelligence-gathering role, monitoring the area for people who might be poking their noses into the operations of Chiadzwa.

My sources are adamant that the proceeds from the illegal sale of Chiadzwa diamonds have financed the state-of-the-art equipment that are now being used at the Diamond Fields. Because of the extremely secretive nature of Mbada mining company, it is not possible to establish for a fact from them where they got the funds from or even to speculate.

What is known about Mbada is simply that it is a locally-owned company with no foreign shareholders. Considering the state of Zimbabwe's economy at the moment, it all begs the question of who or what is financing the expensive equipment that they are using.

The Chiadzwa Diamond Fields are under dispute at the moment, with Africa Consolidated Resources, a British-based firm, claiming ownership of them, a claim that was recently upheld by the courts in Zimbabwe.

The government of Zimbabwe now says that the two companies licenced to operate at the diamond fields, Mbada and Canadile, are not mining the area under dispute. This is despite the fact that when the announcement was made, the same government said these two investors will be partnering the ZMDC in mining for diamonds in the area.

Official figures from the government of Zimbabwe claim that exports of diamonds are earning only US$20 million a month, a far cry from the potential US$200 million that was announced by Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Governor Gideon Gono earlier this year.

Makoni Blasts "Fake National Healing", Destruction Of Health and Education

2009-11-13T14:34:00.004+02:00

Dr Simba Makoni, Interim President of Mavambo.Kusile.Dawn political party, delivers the keynote address at the YMCA/YWCA gathering at Ranche House College in Harare today. He spoke about the need for genuine national healing, job creation and giving future generation a solid foundation with world-class education in order for Zimbabweans of the future to be able to properly integrate themselves into the Global Village

Harare, Zimbabwe, 13 November 2009

Dr Simba Makoni was invited to a "Week of Prayer" gathering by the YMCA of Zimbabwe today, where he spoke on the topic of Global citizenship.

Makoni bemoaned what he termed the lack of "genuine national healing and reconciliation", saying that Zimbabweans who have been traumatised over the last decade or so can not easily be assimilated back into the global village until they get healing and justice.

To him, he says, true healing and justice starts with the individual and this is why the process can not be led by politicians with vested interests or any politician for that matter.

His other point was that the people of Zimbabwe, especially the young generation, have been denied the possibility of a brighter future by the destruction of education and health. One can not be a globally competitive citizen of the world unless one is equipped with the skills and the health to be able to take the best that the world has to offer.

The YMCA/YWCA gathering has also drawn delegates from other African countries, including Mozambique, the DRC and Namibia.

One lady who stood up after Dr Makoni finished his speech said it was eerie that, although the Mavambo president spoke in a Zimbabwean context and geared his address to a Zimbabwean audience, his points raised things happening in her own country, Mozambique.

Makoni had drawn an analogy between the global village and a typical and normal African Village, which he said has always operated on the basis of unwritten but widely observed laws within the community. There was never need for anybody to take the law into their hands if they felt hard done by. They knew that they could always rely on the Chief or Headman to apply the laws fairly to everybody.

Today, it is different, "there are different sets of laws for different sets of people," Makoni said, pointing out that offences against one group could be ignored by the law enforcement agents if the group was thought to be undesirable by the authorities, whereas in an African village, the law applied equally even to the most hated man in that village.

One point of interest that he brought up was the issue of the delay in justice, with the Supreme Court of Zimbabwe, for instance, sitting on a 33 month backlog of cases to be heard. "Justice delayed is justice denied," he told the gathering.

The former Finance Minister of Zimbabwe also revealed that, right now, Zimbabwe;s supermarket operators say that the goods on their shelves are 85 imports and 155 locally manufactured goods.

The same supermarket owners say that in days gone by, before Zimbabwe's decline, 80% of the goods on their shelves were Zimbabwean-made, with the remainder being merely imported luxuries.

Makoni explained to the meeting that the high rate of imports means that our industrial capacity is still not being utilised. Which means there are no jobs in those factories that are operating at between 10% and 25% capacity.

"What will our people use to buy those imported goods that now fill our shelves. We are the ones who should be exporting, creating greater employment opportunities for our children here in Zimbabwe and our youths."

"We are now a trading economy, and a trading economy can not absorb the potential workforce we have in this country."

The last part of his address dealt with leaders of Zimbabwe, some of whom he said go to church every Sunday and claim to be Christians, "yet they can watch and preside over 'long sleeve, short sleeve' - what sort of Christians are they?"

Long sleeve, short sleeve is the practice from the June presidential election run off last year, when people were mutilated after being asked whether they preferred long sleeves (hackingoff of the hand) or short sleeves (hacking off of the entire arm).

It was a well-received speech.

Bennett Judge Compromised, He's Asked To Step Aside

2009-11-12T21:54:00.007+02:00

Peter Hitschman, who was convicted of weapons charges less serious than Bennett faces, walks out of the High Court building in Harare yesterday, Thursday. The Defence is asking the judge to excuse himself from Bennett' case because he has previously presided over the bail hearing of Hitschman, in which he effectively convicted the accused before he had even been tried. Hitschman is a State witness in Bennett's trial and evidence being led by the State says he implicated Roy Bennett in the serious weapons charges he is being tried for.

Harare, Zimbabwe, 13 November 2009

Judge Justice Chinembiri Bhunu, who is presiding over the trial of MDC-T Treasurer-General Roy Bennett, has been asked by Bennett's lawyers to step aside after in emerged that he has previously denied bail to Peter Hitschman, Bennett's alleged accomplice in the weapons and terrorism charges he faces.

It was not just the refusal to give Hitschman bail, though. Justice Bhunu, who denied bail before Hitschman's trial started, said "there was overwhelming evidence" against Hitschman and that he faced charges so serious that he could not be let out of jail on bail.

Interestingly, Hitschman, who was tried by another judge at the High Court later, was found not guilty of the charges on which Justice Bhunu had effectively convicted him during his bail hearing.

It is because of this that Bennett's lawyers are insisting that Justice Bhunu has a preconceeved disposition in the trial of Roy Bennett

Beatrice Mtetwa, Bennett's main lawyer, spent a couple of hours with Justice Bhunu and Attorney General Johannes Tomana in the judges chambers, where she laid out her case and asked the judge to recuse himself. (Which means esxcusing himself from presiding over the case, basically admitting that he may not give the MDC-T Treasurer-General a fair hearing.

There is more to this than meets the eye, though. This latest development effectively means that Roy Bennett's trial is bound to last much longer than the life of the Inclusive Government.

Here's how.

If the judge refuses to step aside and then convicts Bennett, the convicted man will undoubtedly demand a mistrial, which he will almost get. The trial will then have to start afresh with another judge.

If he is found not guilty, you will also almost certainly see the Attorney General and the government demand a mistrial, saying the Judge was influenced by allegations of bias from the Defence to free the accused.

If the judge does step aside, then we will have to look again at the new judge, his track record and his sympathies in order o make a fresh analysis.

What is not in doubt is that this is one case in which, no matter what happens, there is going to be an appeal at the end of it, either from the Defence or the Attorney General. Which means Mugabe will continue saying that the law must take its course and when all appeals are exhausted, then he will know whether to swear-in Bennett or not.

The words that are coming back to haunt Justice Bhunu were:

"Undoubtedly, there is overwhelming evidence against the applicant. It is common cause that he was found in possession of the alleged offensive weaponry. He only disputes the classification of such weaponry. The State has classified the weaponry using a government official, an armourer of more than two years experience, whereas the applicant apart from the mere say-so of his legal practitioner from the bar, has laid not basis for challenging the State's classification."

This was being said before the man was convicted, mind you. When trial came, the classification that Justice Bhunu spoke about so highly, the one from the "government official", was thrown out of court and Hitschman was only convicted of lesser charges, based on a relatively more innocuous classification. He was sentenced to 2 and half years in jail, whereas Bennett faces the death penalty or life in jail.

That, in all fairness, the ruling on Hitschman disqualifies Judge Bhunu from being an impartial judge on the matter before him now is not in doubt at all.

It remains to be seen whether he does as the Defence demands. But this is a highly charged political trial.

Absolutely anything can happen.

Harare Police Suspend Raids As More of Them Are Arrested

2009-11-12T13:05:00.005+02:00

It was at this ground that a vendor was killed on Monday by Harare Municipal Police, who are said to have tripped in and then kicked him in the groin as he fell. These vendors, whom I photographed earlier today, worked with Tonde, the deceased vendor and they pointed to a spot directly behind them, in an open space where children play football, as the spot where the vendor was killed. They are all back in business, saying they have not stolen anything from anyone. They blame "big politicians" for setting the police on them.

Harare, Zimbabwe, 12 November 2009

Harare City Council has stopped all raids on "unlicensed" and "Illegal" operators (vendors) in the Zimbabwean capital after 19 more of its Municipal Police were arrested by the Zimbabwe Republic Police yesterday.

The City Council had vowed that it would not stop its operation to "clean up the city", saying to me last week that this week they would be going after the illegal foreign currency dealers at Roadport, at the Fourth Street Bus Terminus, from where buses to and from South Africa operate.

The palpable anger of residents, which led to riots unseen since the days of the food riots of the late 1990s, has led the MDC-Tsvangirai dominated council to reconsider. These are the same people who have voted overwhelmingly for them. When they were not in control of Harare City Council, the MDC-T always spoke up in defense of the vendors, saying they should be allowed to fend for their families. This is what fueled anger on Monday, since most of the residents of Mbare (whom Mugabe has previously publicly insulted as "people without a totem" (a grave insult in Zimbabwe) felt that they now no longer had anyone looking out for their interests, having been betrayed by the MDC-T, whom they put into power.

The suspension of raids by the City Council is yet to be announced officially, but the defiant vendors of Mbare are back in the streets, selling their wares.

When I spoke to some of them today, they were insistent that they will not be barred from selling, saying there are no jobs in the country. "We do not steal from anyone, we are making an honest living and they want us to stop? Then what will we do? Steal? We have never refused to pay, but what we don't want is to chased like we are thieves."

They are also adamant that it is "big politicians" who have been exposed to have stands in the licensed and regulated Mupedzanhamo Flea Market nearby who are egging on the City Council. Business at Mupedzanhamo, they claim, could be much better if these street-side vendors were chased away so that they do not intercept customers before they get to the licensed market.

Just over a month ago, the City Council itself claimed that the Mupedzanhamo Market Stalls were owned to a very large extent by politicians and other well-connected, prosperous people, with the Minister of Local Government, Ignatious Chombo claimed to own 20 stalls at the market.