How can the NCC and our Law makers be so wrong and backward
By Chanda Phiri-ex microblogger
Saturday, April 17, 2010, 12:03
Watching the first British prime ministerial debate on BBC world on DSTV, I was left with one question in my mind. How can our National Constitution Conference (NCC) delegates get it so wrong and appear archaic and backward in the way they have shredded the Mung’omba draft Constitution?
How in the world has Zambia spent so much money to allow a small group of people to produce an archaic document and claim that it will stand the test of time? It is really amazing to see what a rotten system can do to even the best minds.
There are a lot of vital clauses that the NCC has shredded and I will reserve them for a future blog by others more capable than me, but today, I have an issue on one of them and let me upack it. To begin with let me quote a story on Lusakatimes on Saturday, January 16, 2010 titled “NCC rejects articles aimed at making MPs vulnerable to recall”
“THE National Constitutional Conference (NCC) has rejected articles in the Mung’omba draft Constitution which would subject members of the National Assembly to a recall when they are not performing to the expectations of their electorate.The conference voted unanimously to have Article 188 and Article 189 deleted as they could promote anarchy in the country….”
Please note that this was a unanimous decision and all political parties are guilty of this crime except perhaps the Patriotic Front which is not taking part in this public spectacle.
This is what the the people whose forefathers gave us the kind of constitution the NCC want to perpetuate had to say in a live Debate when asked how they intended to re-establish the credibility of MPs in the eyes of the electorate, after all the scandals.
… I want to do three things to change the system. First of all, I want to give the right of recall to constituents. If your MP is misbehaving and is guilty of corrupt practices and parliament doesn’t act, you should have the right to recall that MP. The second thing we’ve got to do is give people the right to petition parliament so that your issues can be raised in parliament and that’s what we propose to do. Thirdly, and this is quite fundamental, and I don’t think David will support us on that, but I hope Nick will, we’ve got to reform the House of Commons and the House of Lords. We need a new House of Commons, a new House of Lords. We will have a referendum to elect members of parliament with more than 50% of the vote, and to have a House of Lords that is elected rather than hereditary or unaccountable. These are the changes we need…”- Gordon Brown, British Prime Minster
“Listen, none of this will make any difference if we allow this rotten system in Westminster to carry on where MPs have jobs for life, where they basically only need to get 20, 30% of your votes in their areas, then no questions asked, they don’t even need to bother until the next time there’s an election. There is a direct correlation between the hundreds of Labour and Conservative MPs who have got these safe seats, these jobs for life, and the levels of abuse in expenses.”-Nick Clegg leader of the Liberal Democrats
These are touch words uttered by people who have realised how flawed the system they have dumped on their former colonies has caught up with them. I say this because our constitution despite many changes still at the core reflect the traits of the one we inherited. People fail to realise that the colonial system was meant to disadvantage the locals and our politicians are using the same instruments to disadvantage anybody who does not sing their songs. In Britain one would argue that their system was meant to disadvantage those who were not in the elite circle. (I know I will be attacked on this one, I swear, but sorry I have issues with Monarchs.)
Thanks to the Zambian public for being way far ahead of their British Counterparts. They picked up on this problem long time ago and made sure that the Mung’omba draft Constitution had measures to curb such abuses.
What is upsetting is for the NCC to eat our hard earned taxes and shred what the people wanted and give us an archaic document. How can they be so wrong in this age of abundant knowledge and common sense. I bet most of these law markers have employees in one form or another. Are they telling us that if any of them gave their employee a five year contract and that employee stopped performing, would they continue to pay his or her wages? This is really common sense stuff and why can’t they see it?
MPs, the President included, are employed by the people. And if they are not performing, the people have the right to fire them even before the contract expires. What is evil and anarchy about that?MPs, the President included, are employed by the people. And if they are not performing, the people have the right to fire them even before the contract expires. What is evil and anarchy about that?
I have seen the economic indicators of our economy and they are good. But lets not mistake them for our good governance because they are nothing to do with the greatness of our leaders. They are all to do with China’s GDP that has kept our copper prices high. China’s GDP is 60% construction and I smell another housing bubble in the works and if that happens, God forbid, the copper price will nose dive and there will be no growth to talk about for Zambia. All the Infesters, oh sorry Investors will flee and all we shall be left with is our people.
That is why it is paramount that we invest in our people and the first step is a right constitution that will create fairness, equality and liberate our people to compete on the world stage. The World is flat and the world market is open to all and it is only the well prepared and motivated people who will take advantage. Zambians can compete with anybody anywhere in the world given an equal platform and it is incumbent upon our politicians to ensure that they deliver this for Zambians. True freedom and fairness. These two can unlock the potential of our entrepreneurs.
There are small countries like Israel that don’t have resources and yet what they have archived by just investing in people is extra ordinary. A must read book for our leaders, if they ever read, is a book by Dan Senor and Saul Singer, called Start-Up Nation: The Story of Israel’s Economic Miracle.
In conclusion, our valuable resource is our land and our people. We need to educate them, we need to free them from petty people holding our generation down because they want to protect their mediocre standards. Our children will no longer just compete with our next door Kasai neighbours in the north and Zimbabweans in the South. They shall be competing against the world!
Labels: CONSTITUTION, CORRUPTION, DEAN MUNG'OMBA, MMD, NCC
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Road construction a conduit of corruption – Sata
By Patson Chilemba
Sat 17 Apr. 2010, 03:40 CAT
PATRIOTIC Front (PF) president Michael Sata yesterday observed that the road construction sector under President Rupiah Banda has become a corrupt venture aimed at stealing money from Zambians.
Reacting to information minister Ronnie Shikapwasha’s description as myopic his and UPND president Hakainde Hichilema’s criticism of President Banda’s instruction to immediately source funds for the main roads, including the Mutanda-Chavuma road in North Western Province,
Sata challenged the government to release the Auditor General’s report on roads, which they were currently holding on to, to protect criminals.
He said instead of criticising him, Shikapwasha should avail the Auditor General’s report to the public.
“I challenge Shikapwasha to tell us more, why have they not released the Auditor General’s report on the money they have stolen on the roads? Can they release the Auditor General’s report,” Sata asked.
“The whole road construction in this Rupiah Banda government is a corrupt venture, a conduit of corruption. Tell Mr. Shikapwasha, there is nothing he is telling us. Mr Shikapwasha is not impressing us at all; let him first release the report.”
Sata said the Road Development Agency should be dissolved because it had also become a conduit for stealing money. He said a lot had gone wrong in the construction of roads in the country because while there was little to show for in terms of delivery on the roads, people were becoming richer.
Sata observed that the construction of roads in the country was shrouded in corruption. He asked Shikapwasha to avoid being a bootlicker. Sata said he understood Shikapwasha’s arguments because he had always been a failure in life.
“Shikapwasha has never ever organised anything in his life. When former president Frederick Chiluba made him commander of the Air Force, instead of making the Air Force grow, he brought the Air Force down. And that man failed to organise Heritage Party. He ran to a party which was already organised by Michael Sata,” Sata said.
He maintained his statement that President Banda’s directive to finance minister Dr Situmbeko Musokotwane to immediately mobilise extra funds for main roads like the Mutanda-Chavuma was part of official systematic rigging.
“But as far as Shikapwasha is concerned, he doesn’t see it. All he wants to be is a bootlicker. Can they give us a list of the roads which they want to do,” Sata said.
President Banda has instructed Dr Musokotwane to immediately mobilise extra money from bilateral and multilateral institutions, specifically for the road sector.
He also directed works and supply minister Mike Mulongoti to mobilise contracts to ensure that the construction of key roads in the country was completed this year.
President Banda said he specifically wanted to see the completion of the Mutanda-Chavuma, Choma-Chitongo-Namwala roads in Southern Province and the Kasama-Luwingu road in Northern Province.
And Sata said this was the same Shikapwasha who attacked FDD president Edith Nawakwi when she made revelations on the crisis in the health sector, where women were being asked to carry buckets to the hospital to be used for the disposal of waste.
He challenged Shikapwasha to tell the nation why President Banda had fired Dr Velepi Mtonga as Ministry of Health permanent secretary and transferred her to Cabinet Office for re-deployment.
“Permanent secretaries are never deployed by Cabinet Office. Permanent secretaries are deployed by the President because Cabinet does not assign permanent secretaries,” said Sata.
Labels: AUDITOR GENERAL, CORRUPTION, ROADS, RONNIE SHIKAPWASHA, SATA
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National constitutional circus
By The Post Editor
Sat 17 Apr. 2010, 04:20 CAT
THOSE in the National Constitutional Conference who are decent and have a moral compass must be very embarrassed about their participation in what Patriotic Front vice president Dr Guy Scott has called a circus.
And those who had the foresight to see where this whole thing was headed and refused to participate must be feeling vindicated by what is going on. The National Constitutional Conference has become a sad and costly spectacle which is very expensive on the taxpayers.
The matters that are going on at the National Constitutional Conference have proved that the MMD are not sincere about giving our people a constitution that will meet their aspirations and help to deepen democracy to achieve those aspirations.
Yesterday, we reflected on the shameful conduct of the National Constitutional Conference and the deputy justice minister Todd Chilembo who laughed off the need for the inclusion of social rights for our people in the Constitution.
This behaviour has raised a fundamental question on the philosophy that underlies the MMD’s feeble attempt to spearhead the writing of the new constitution. Laughing off the need to provide mechanisms in our Constitution which obliges the government in very specific terms to provide for people’s basic social needs demonstrates that the MMD is not prepared to have a constitution that controls their impunity and obligates them to serve the people. Why else would the government take a position that militates against its duty to serve the people?
Those who refused to participate in the National Constitutional Conference raised a number of reasons for doing so. One of which was that the MMD had created an inbuilt majority in the National Constitutional Conference that ensured that only the decisions that it supported would be adopted. This majority was ensured through having party cadres and government officers who could not take a position different from the government.
This mechanism has undermined the possibility of a people-driven constitution being realised. For its part, the MMD through Vice-President George Kunda has ensured that it makes its position on any contentious issues very clear. And when George has spoken, his position carries the day. This is a charade that the National Constitutional Conference has become.
Democracy demands the accommodation of divergent views. But more importantly, democracy demands the recognition of true national interests. In that way, democracy is then able to revolve around serving common good or what we might call public interests.
In the context of writing a constitution, we needed people who recognised that this exercise was larger than themselves and went far beyond just trying to maintain a hold on power. This document would have to be crafted in such a way that it protected the public from the excesses of power.
This is something that the MMD has failed to do. Fundamentally, the MMD has failed to separate the need or in fact its wish to maintain a strong hold on power and the need to serve national interest and curb the excesses that go with power. They have proved themselves too small-minded for the task that was before them.
If the MMD was truly interested in serving the people, they would have taken this opportunity to write a constitution that protects all of us, themselves included regardless of who was in power. This is a historical opportunity that people like George have hard.
They have made the unfortunate choice of trying to write a constitution that only serves their interests and does not threaten their hold on power.
We have seen that every time that an issue which the people have wanted included in the constitution did not please them, George has made sure that it is shot down. One of the key demands that our people have had in connection to the constitution has been the requirement that a president should only be elected having obtained a minimum of 50 per cent plus one of the votes cast in the presidential elections.
This is something that was in our Constitution before Chiluba decided to get rid of it to ensure that he could win the 1996 elections. Many of our people have consistently demanded that this clause should find its way back in the Constitution to avoid the plague of minority presidency.
But Rupiah Banda and George made sure that they frustrated this demand and would like to subject it to a referendum just to ensure that it is not an issue in next year’s election. It is clear that the reason they don’t want this clause is because they do not think they are capable of mastering sufficient votes and support to surmount this threshold.
In other words, this has nothing to do with whether this is good or bad for the country. It has everything to do with them trying to maintain a hold on power at any cost.
What is shameful is that they have managed to get the National Constitutional Conference to participate in this dirty scheme. We say this because it is very clear that Rupiah’s control of the National Constitutional Conference through George is complete.
The 50 per cent plus one issue is not the only clause they have denied the people. We all know that they have also ensured that the constitutional provision proposals that would have required the government to be accountable in contracting debt and work through the people’s representatives – the National Assembly, every time they wanted to borrow has practically been shot down. Again, this has nothing to do with what is in the best interest of the nation.
It has everything to do with their wish to maintain hegemony over power and national resources. If Rupiah and George had any sense of history and had any wish to selflessly impact future generations, what was better than to ensure that the government is made more accountable even in issues of contracting debt.
Rupiah and George have also blocked the efforts to streamline transfer of power after an election by requiring that the swearing-in of a new president takes place some months after the election as is the case in other places to ensure that the process is orderly and if there are any disputes they are resolved. Again this has nothing to do with whether or not it’s good for the country.
Their actions are simply meant to serve their narrow interests. This is made very clear when one considers the way that they reacted to the issue of all presidential candidates being required to have a university degree.
Clearly, the driving force behind this clause had nothing to do with national interest. They were simply looking for a way of enshrining in the Constitution, a clause that they could use to block one of their most feared opponents; Michael Sata.
On this issue, they moved with speed and clarity because it met their political objectives. The National Constitutional Conference for its part was happy to accommodate this travesty of fairness. They were prepared to allow themselves to be used to settle political scores in a constitution.
Against this background, it is not surprising that the National Constitutional Conference can laugh at the people it is meant to serve. The National Constitutional Conference is nothing but a tool of the MMD to hoodwink the nation that they are trying to write a people-driven constitution.
But if as it was said at the National Constitutional Conference itself, all that is important, that the people have recommended is going to be excluded from the constitution, then what is it that they want to present to the people? Their own recommendations?
If that is what they wanted, they should have not wasted so much money to disguise something which is so plain. The National Constitutional Conference has become a shameful scandal. We pity those who feel they have no choice but to continue participating in such a sham. It is clear this constitution-making charade is headed nowhere. It is truly a circus.
Labels: 50 PERCENT PLUS 1, CONSTITUTION, GUY SCOTT, MMD, NCC, NEOLIBERALISM
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NCC is only interested in winning polls for MMD, charges Scott
By Ernest Chanda
Sat 17 Apr. 2010, 04:40 CAT
PATRIOTIC Front vice-president Guy Scott has charged that the National Constitutional Conference (NCC) is only interested in winning elections for the MMD next year. And NCC commissioner Dante Saunders on Thursday asked the conference
what they would finally take to the people if they kept deleting everything that the people wanted.
Commenting on
the NCC’s rejection of food water and shelter as basic human rights that should be enshrined in the constitution, Scott who is also Lusaka Central member of parliament
described the NCC as a circus, which was being used to
fulfill the ruling party’s agenda. He said there was no way a normal society could fail to recognise water, food and shelter as basic human rights.
“This whole thing just confirms everyone’s fear that the NCC is just there to behave as a circus. It is enough proof that they are just interested in MMD winning elections next year. We have always called for the respect of human rights in this country and that includes water, food, and shelter. And now these NCC delegates treat those basic things as a laughing matter.
Why is it that I’m not surprised by this behaviour?” Scott asked.
“Are we saying that it’s not a constitutional right for people to eat, drink and have decent shelter? If these people can even reject people’s basic rights, what will they take to the people at the end of the whole process? They have rejected the fifty per cent plus one voting system, they also don’t want an elected Vice-President and now they don’t want people to eat. What they are saying is that anything else can be a constitutional right but not food, water and shelter. This is unacceptable!”
And Saunders asked NCC chairperson Chifumu Banda what the conference would take to the people in the final document now that almost everything the people wanted had been rejected.
“Chairperson I need clarification on some of the clauses we have rejected. I mean we have rejected just too many clauses that people wanted, and after reflecting on that I wonder what we are going to take back to the people at the end of this process. If we keep deleting everything what will we take to them anyway?” asked Saunders.
In response, Banda said the conference fell into a trap of international conventions.
“We rejected these clauses because a number of them are international instruments. These were mostly adopted from the South African constitution, and our colleagues there also borrowed them from the international conventions. And you cannot import international instruments and put them in the constitution. Check the American constitution and see how many international instruments are there. We fell into a trap where international instruments were brought into the Zambian constitution. According to our mandate we were told to tighten up the constitution and remove cobwebs. We have always said that the constitution should not be bulky,” said Banda.
On Wednesday, NCC delegates laughed at and rejected the Mung’omba clauses that sought to give every person a right to have access to food, water and shelter.
The opponents of these clauses include deputy justice minister Todd Chilembo who described the desire to have people access shelter as utopian.
Labels: CONSTITUTION, DANTE SAUNDERS, GUY SCOTT, NCC, NEOLIBERALISM
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Hatontola trashes Rupiah’s continued claims over Zambian economy
By Chibaula Silwamba
Sat 17 Apr. 2010, 04:30 CAT
SOUTH Africa-based Zambian management consultant Patrick Hatontola yesterday trashed President Rupiah Banda’s continued claims that he kept the Zambian economy afloat during the world economic meltdown.
Commenting on President Rupiah Banda and MMD’s handling of national affairs, Hatontola observed that the government had failed to improve the welfare of Zambians.
Hatontola, who is chief executive officer for Nelpats (SA) (Pty) Limited, observed that Zambia only experienced secondary effects of the global economic meltdown hence it was illogical for President Banda to claim credit.
“As a cash economy, Zambia was not directly affected by the global meltdown though it experienced secondary effects spilling over from directly affected economies. These setbacks included either limited donor aid or reduced trade in copper, Zambia’s main mined commodity,” Hatontola said.
He said it was irresponsible for the MMD to claim that it managed the economy when trickle down effects of the economy on the population were invisible.
“If MMD managed to handle the economy in those difficult and troubled times, why are they failing to do so now when the environment is more enabling?” Hatontola asked.
He said the MMD under President Banda had destroyed the energy sector.
“Sadly, it is a fallacy for Mr Banda to claim of championing economic growth when he has failed to manage this energy sector efficiently,” Hatontola said.
He urged Patriotic Front (PF) leader Michael Sata and United Party for National Development (UPND) leader Hakainde Hichilema of the PF-UPND pact to address poverty in the event that they form government next year.
“The people of Zambia need passable roads, education and the healthcare system of the 21st Century if we are to boast of any economic growth. We need a Zambia in which health care and education are both accessible and affordable to all regardless of their political affiliation and status in society,” said Hatontola.
Labels: ENERGY, PATRICK HATONTOLA, RUPIAH BANDA
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Sata is a crook who has failed to build even a toilet - Rupiah
By Chibaula Silwamba and Christopher Miti in Milanzi
Sat 17 Apr. 2010, 04:00 CAT
PRESIDENT Rupiah Banda on Thursday charged that Patriotic Front (PF) president Michael Sata is a mere crook who has even failed to build a toilet.
And President Banda said UPND leader Hakainde Hichilema was deceiving himself that he will be the presidential candidate for the PF-UPND pact when the presidential candidate is Sata.
Meanwhile, MMD national secretary Katele Kalumba scolded Sata for walking on the presidential carpet last week in Lusaka and accused him of pretending to be head of state.
During a campaign rally at Kawaza to drum up support for MMD candidate Whiteson Banda in the April 29 parliamentary by-election, President Banda adopted the English-to-chewa interpreter’s statement when he (the interpreter) said Sata had even failed to build supplementary toilets at a nearby school which the MMD government constructed.
President Banda remarked: “Maka maka chimbuzi chumukanga, angaimange ng’anda. Mambala wakanthu. [Especially a toilet, he fails to build even a toilet. Can he build a house? This mere crook!”
President Banda castigated Sata for promising the electorate that he would improve their welfare within a short space of time if elected Republican President.
“Mr Sata was the national secretary of MMD the same position that my colleague here the national secretary Dr Kalumba is holding now. He Sata was in that position. He was, on top of that, minister without portfolio. He was a minister in the government.
You ask them what he did then or you can ask him why didn’t he do what he is saying we haven’t done,” President Banda said. “Why didn’t he build these houses here for the teachers? Why didn’t he build the secondary schools that we are building? Why didn’t he repair the roads that we are repairing?
He was there before us. Why didn’t he do it for him to come now and think that we have become so cheap and so easy to lie to that we will believe in that when he comes this time around he will be able to do this and that.”
President Banda said it would be a taboo for any President to do all developmental projects at once.
“No one will be able to fix all the roads at the same time. That will be magic. That will be maloza taboo. It’s not possible for anybody just to come and build everything at the same time. They have to build step by step in accordance with the resources that are available,” President Banda said.
“The other difference between them opposition parties and us is that we are the ruling party. We have been for the last eight years and our work can be seen by the people. Even just for yourself you can see what we have been able to do as MMD over the last eight years when we have been in power here.
[In power for 8 years - that would be 19 years since 1991 - MrK]
“We are, of course, not satisfied as to the number of schools that we have built, we are not satisfied as to the roads that we have mended or built, we are not satisfied with all the things we want to do, the amount of fertiliser that we are giving to the people of Zambia. We would like to do more. Many of the people that will come here, will come here from time to time they like to point at what we have not done and say, ‘look they haven’t fixed all the roads’.”
[In other words - give us more time. - MrK]
President Banda said opposition leaders that were condemning his government were liars.
“You can tell that they are telling lies. If you take Mr Sata, the president of the PF and the one who is going to stand for the PF-UPND pact who is going to be the presidential candidate is Mr Sata. It is not Hakainde, he may deceive himself and think he will be the next president. The one who is going to stand is Sata,” President Banda said.
“I just want to say that we have to expose these gentlemen; their purpose for coming into power is not to serve you or to build schools for you or to build roads for you or to unite the people of Zambia. That is not their reason because if that was their reason they would have done it before. They were in power and they didn’t do it.”
[Done what before, how? It has been the MMD that has been in power. - Mrk]
President Banda said PF and UPND parliamentarians and councillors in Copperbelt, Lusaka and Southern provinces were in charge but there was little development in the three provinces.
“They PF-UPND parliamentarians and councillors do nothing other than to earn salaries, other than to waste money as councillors. They have done nothing. They have not built any road. Every country you go to the roads of the councils are not built by the central government.
PRESIDENT Rupiah Banda on Thursday charged that Patriotic Front (PF) president Michael Sata is a mere crook who has even failed to build a toilet.
And President Banda said UPND leader Hakainde Hichilema was deceiving himself that he will be the presidential candidate for the PF-UPND pact when the presidential candidate is Sata.
Meanwhile, MMD national secretary Katele Kalumba scolded Sata for walking on the presidential carpet last week in Lusaka and accused him of pretending to be head of state.
During a campaign rally at Kawaza to drum up support for MMD candidate Whiteson Banda in the April 29 parliamentary by-election, President Banda adopted the English-to-chewa interpreter’s statement when he (the interpreter) said Sata had even failed to build supplementary toilets at a nearby school which the MMD government constructed.
President Banda remarked: “Maka maka chimbuzi chumukanga, angaimange ng’anda. Mambala wakanthu. [Especially a toilet, he fails to build even a toilet. Can he build a house? This mere crook!”
President Banda castigated Sata for promising the electorate that he would improve their welfare within a short space of time if elected Republican President.
“Mr Sata was the national secretary of MMD the same position that my colleague here the national secretary Dr Kalumba is holding now. He Sata was in that position. He was, on top of that, minister without portfolio. He was a minister in the government. You ask them what he did then or you can ask him why didn’t he do what he is saying we haven’t done,” President Banda said.
“Why didn’t he build these houses here for the teachers? Why didn’t he build the secondary schools that we are building? Why didn’t he repair the roads that we are repairing? He was there before us. Why didn’t he do it for him to come now and think that we have become so cheap and so easy to lie to that we will believe in that when he comes this time around he will be able to do this and that.”
President Banda said it would be a taboo for any President to do all developmental projects at once.
“No one will be able to fix all the roads at the same time. That will be magic. That will be maloza taboo. It’s not possible for anybody just to come and build everything at the same time. They have to build step by step in accordance with the resources that are available,” President Banda said.
[Well give me some of that magic. Really though, it is about good governance - taxing the heck out of the mines and giving the money to the most productive people, and decentralizing decision making, and making sure projects and budgets are monitored by people who are legally empowered to stop corruption. - MrK]
President Banda said PF and UPND parliamentarians and councillors in Copperbelt, Lusaka and Southern provinces were in charge but there was little development in the three provinces.
“They PF-UPND parliamentarians and councillors do nothing other than to earn salaries, other than to waste money as councillors. They have done nothing. They have not built any road. Every country you go to the roads of the councils are not built by the central government.
Labels: BY-ELECTIONS, HAKAINDE HICHILEMA, RUPIAH BANDA, SATA
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Diamond Insurance chief calls for long-term solution to floods
By Joseph Mwenda and Agnes Changala
Sat 17 Apr. 2010, 04:20 CAT
THE Zambian government should partner with the private sector in order to rebuild the lives of flood victims, Diamond Insurance chief executive officer Tobias Milambo has advised.
And acting Lusaka district commissioner Patrick Phiri has said a total of 177 families are now being accommodated at Independence Stadium following the relocation exercise.
In an interview, Milambo observed that the flood victims would still suffer even after the water levels recede because their houses would no longer be habitable.
“The government has to find-long term solutions for these floods especially with the change in climate and take the floods crisis as its priority agenda. That will not only benefit the victims but it will also help the government protect its revenue,” Milambo said.
He said the government through the ministries of finance and local government and housing should set up a mechanism that would see the introduction of a national disaster insurance policy which would help victims rebuild their lives.
“If the government partners with insurance companies, it will be compelled to put up proper drainage in areas where floods are an annual crisis in order to meet the insurance requirements. That way, the insurance companies will come in and cover the water damage comprehensively,” Milambo proposed.
And the number of people relocating to the temporary campsite in Lusaka has stabilised following the reduction in rainfall levels.
Phiri, who is also district demonstrative officer at the district commissioner’s office, said the relevant authorities would have to make a decision on the families whose homes would still be flooded when the time to leave the camps comes on July 1, 2010.
Early last month, the government temporarily moved flood victims from Chawama and Misisi to Lusaka's Independence Stadium with Vice-President George Kunda promising to take victims’ plight before Cabinet in order to find a lasting solution to their, now annual, problem.
Labels: FLOODS, PATRICK PHIRI, TOBIAS MILAMBO
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UNIP vows to get Milanzi seat
By Sandra Lombe
Sat 17 Apr. 2010, 03:40 CAT
UNIP has said it will ensure that no other political party gets the Milanzi seat. In an interview, Eastern Province chairman Donald Sakala said the Milanzi seat was as good as theirs because they had a good candidate.
Sakala said as long as MMD did not use underhand methods, UNIP would win the Milanzi by-election. He said UNIP was the people’s favourite party.
“Our focus as a party now is on the Milanzi by-elections. UNIP has more councillors than any other party in Milanzi - there are nine UNIP councillors and the 10th one is independent. The party is on the ground. As long as the MMD avoids underhand methods and forming clubs especially in by-election areas, we have a high chance of winning,” he said.
He said UNIP was aware that the MMD was allegedly giving out money to the old people to entice them to vote.
“But now the mood in the country has changed, people want change of government and that is a good sign for us in the opposition. In Milanzi, we are working very hard to ensure that we get the seat. We have a good candidate Musa Banda. For two years he has been there and preparing for the 2011 elections. He was already on the ground preparing for 2011, he is not a new candidate,” he said.
“We are not working with any other party on the province, we want to ensure that no other party penetrates.”
Sakala said there was only one UNIP and there was now peace in the party as the ‘rebels’ had left.
“It’s very quiet nowadays. We are re-organising the party. We will have a congress before the 2011 elections,” said Sakala.
Labels: BY-ELECTIONS, DONALD SAKALA, UNIP
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MMD can’t be trusted on anything, says Syakalima
By Ernest Chanda
Sat 17 Apr. 2010, 03:40 CAT
SIAVONGA UPND member of parliament Douglas Syakalima has charged that
the MMD government is full of crooks who cannot be trusted on anything.
Reacting to information minister Lieutenant General Ronnie Shikapwasha’s insistence that the government still preferred statutory regulation of the media to self-regulation, Syakalima said the government had wasted media practitioners’ time by allowing them to develop a self-regulatory framework.
He said it was disheartening that a government, which claimed to have respect for media freedom, could turn around overnight.
“Some of us have always said that we cannot sit and talk with someone who we know will suddenly turn around and change their mind. That is the character of people in the MMD government. MMD is full of crooks that cannot be trusted for anything; and nobody should ever sit down with them and discuss anything.
They will sit with you when they realise that the situation is hot for them, just to pacify the situation. And when the situation cools down, they turn around against you,” Syakalima said.
“First of all they allowed you the media to labour in developing your own self-regulatory mechanism. You’ve had conferences; some of you had travelled around the world for consultation on the same. All those were resources you spent on this issue. And now Shikapwasha turns around and tells you that they will go ahead and regulate you despite the efforts you have made in trying to regulate yourselves. What nonsense is this? The MMD have been in government for 20 years, 20 years of crookedness. Can’t they just change for once?”
Syakalima urged Zambians never to trust the MMD government on anything they promised.
“Isn’t it enough damage this government has done to the economy of this country? Look at our social sector, what is there to inspire the people of Zambia? They have literally destroyed every institution in this country.
And now they want to put the final nail on the media so that you don’t expose their corruption. They want us to be treated to the same nonsense their institutions like the Times of Zambia, Zambia Daily Mail and ZNBC write everyday.
Let me ask the people of Zambia never to trust the MMD government on anything. They are basically a bunch of crooks that can never be taken serious on anything. I can assure you that if they bring this bill to parliament we shall fight it until it bleeds to death.”
Early this week, Lt Gen Shikapwasha issued a statement that the government still preferred statutory regulation of the media.
This was not withstanding the fact that the media have advanced in developing self-regulatory mechanism that has also seen the formation of the Zambia Media Council, which is due to be launched next month on the World Press Freedom Day.
Labels: DOUGLAS SYAKALIMA, MEDIA, MMD, PRESS FREEDOM, RONNIE SHIKAPWASHA
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Biti freezes civil servants' pay
by Lebo Nkatazo
16/04/2010 00:00:00
THE unity government has put itself on a collision course with unions after Finance Minister Tendai Biti declared a civil service wage freeze on Friday. Biti said cash-strapped Zimbabwe’s $913 million civil service wage bill for 2010 was not “normal economics”.
“Given the lack of fiscal space, the government will maintain a cap on the current wage level whilst attending to other revenue enhancing measures,” Biti declared.
“Normal economics demand that only 30 percent of the budget be channelled to salaries as per the World Bank standards.
[What the heck are 'normal economics'? I'm sure he or the writer means Normative Economics. And how can he only apply it to the state but not the private sector and FDI? This is what you get when you have academic knowledge but no critical thinking skills. Complying with 'World Bank' standards is no substitute for economic analysis, or anything else. By the way, Tendai Biti is a human rights lawyer by training, not an economist. - MrK]
We are outperforming World Bank countries that have a much higher level of domestic product.
“The current large public sector wage bill has a demonstration impact on private sector sage levels leading to an overall contagious and unsustainable wage spiral out of line with the size of the economy.
[In other words, people earn too much money in Zimbabwe. Oh, that terrible 'wage inflation'. - MrK]
“In the case of some public enterprises and local authorities, high wage levels have left very little resources available for efficient and adequate delivery of core services in the areas of health, education, water and sanitation, power as well as maintenance of infrastructure.”
Biti warned of impending job cuts as soon as an audit into public sector workers is completed. The minister also wants all new recruitment for “noncritical” vacant posts immediately frozen.
[In other words, these neoliberal sellouts waste no time in going after labour. So where will they re-employed, minster Biti? - MrK]
Earlier on Thursday, Biti said Zimbabwe – coming out of a decade-long economic and political crisis following the formation of a power sharing government -- is likely to cut its 2010 economic growth forecast from 7.7 percent to 4.8 percent due to a failure to attract foreign donor support.
[No FDI - and I guess not other 'big ideas'. There are a lot of ways to sustainably grow the Zimbabwean economy.
1) Get economic sanctions lifted
2) Borrow to invest in productive, capital investments
*a infrastructure
*b agriculture
*c manufacturing
3) Pass legislation to protect small domestic producers and farmers - tariffs on domestically produced goods
4) Increase demand for goods by raising wages, not lowering them
5) Long term social investment - universal healthcare and education
Anyone who is against this does not want to see Zimbabwe develop for the benefit of the Zimbabwean people. - MrK]
Biti said donors had so far provided only $2.9 million to finance an $810 million budget deficit.
Teachers recently embarked on strike action but returned to work after the government refused to meet their demands for a 300 percent pay hike.
Labels: CIVIL SERVANTS, ECONOMY, NEOLIBERALISM, TENDAI BITI
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Graca: Britain must zip it on Zimbabwe
by David Smith
16/04/2010 00:00:00
ONE of Africa's most eminent political figures has condemned Britain for taking a patronising "big brother" attitude to its former colonies.
Graça Machel, a founder member of the Elders group of world leaders and the wife of Nelson Mandela, warned British politicians to "keep quiet" about countries such as Zimbabwe and let African diplomacy take its course.
Machel, 64, is a former first lady of Mozambique, where she served as education minister, and has won numerous international awards for her advocacy of women's and children's rights.
In an interview with the Guardian in Johannesburg, she indicated that the crisis in Zimbabwe has revealed the shortcomings of a persistent imperialist mindset.
"Can I be a little bit provocative?" Machel said. "I think this should be an opportunity for Britain to re-examine its relationship with its colonies. To acknowledge that with independence those nations will want to have a relationship with Britain which is of shoulder to shoulder, and they will not expect Britain to continue to be the big brother.
"When a nation is independent, there is no big brother. They are partners. Part of the reason why Britain finds it difficult to accept Zimbabwe is precisely because that relationship of a big brother is influencing [efforts] to try to understand."
Britain, along with the EU and US, has imposed travel restrictions and asset freezes on Zimbabwe president Robert Mugabe and his political and business allies. It has defied calls from South Africa to end these measures for the sake of the power sharing agreement between Mugabe's Zanu-PF and the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).
Earlier this year David Miliband, the foreign secretary, said the UK would be "guided by what the MDC says to us about the conditions under which it is working and leading the country". Critics said this handed Zanu-PF a propaganda coup, allowing it to portray the MDC as a puppet of Britain and blame it for sanctions.
Machel added: "I'm not saying things are OK, they're all fine in Zimbabwe. I'm saying a different kind of dialogue, a different kind of bridge to try to understand the other side could have produced a different result from what it is.
"The more the British shout, the worse the situation will be in terms of relationship with Zimbabwe. That's why sometimes I really question, when something happens in Zimbabwe and Britain shouts immediately. Can't they just keep quiet? Sometimes you need just to keep quiet. Let them do their own things, let SADC (Southern African Development Community) deal with them, but keep quiet, because the more you shout, the worse [it is]."
Asked if Britain's attitude is patronising to its former colonies, Machel replied: "I'm afraid so. And what I'm saying is they have expectations which do not always coincide with what are the aspirations and expectations of those who are their former colony.
"When you change the relationship, you just have to give yourself to take the humility to stop and listen. And when you listen, then you take into account the other side. You put your case, then you take the other side. In a way, you harmonise interests of both sides."
Zimbabwe will mark 30 years of independence this weekend. Britain remains politically and economically influential and denies Mugabe's claim that it reneged on promises to fund the redistribution of land to the black majority. Mugabe's response, the chaotic seizure of white-owned farms, has been blamed for the collapse of Zimbabwean agriculture.
Machel, whose first husband was the late Mozambique president Samora Machel, called on Britain to take a broader view of the African continent. "That's one of the issues, particularly with the British people: because of the emotional attachment they have with Zimbabwe, in many cases they define the continent in terms of Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe is one country among 53 countries, so you have all the rest of 52 countries. Well, let us put aside Somalia also, which is a failed state. But you have 50 countries who are running a relatively normal situation in the continent.
"I would like to raise with you the issue that yes, Zimbabwe has failed, and it is hurting British people directly, but there's much, much more to Africa than Zimbabwe."
Machel, who became Mandela's third wife in 1998, also accused developed countries of double standards on CO2 emissions and climate change.
"This has been very clearly stated at the negotiations to Copenhagen. They know – the developing world, including China – that Africa has very small responsibility in the impact of climate change, but Africa is the one paying the highest price."
Britain's intentions are still treated with scepticism in Zimbabwe, even among some members of the MDC. Eddie Cross, policy co-ordinator general of the MDC, said: "Perfidious Albion. I tell you, you Brits have a well-deserved reputation for perfidity in your colonial relations … I think Britain's always been very sophisticated in its relations with its former colonies – it's got more experience than any other state in the world – but it doesn't necessarily make them right.
"Britain's role in the last 10 years has often been difficult for us in the MDC to interpret and read. Sometimes they've backed certain initiatives in Zimbabwe which have not been helpful in terms of pursuing a principled transfer of power and I think sometimes the Brits regard us as being rather naïve in the MDC and they have a rather jaundiced view of Africa and African politics."
But Cross, an economist and MP, added that other European powers probably behaved worse: "Samora Machel once said to me: 'If you were to choose to be colonised, you would never choose to be colonised by the Portuguese.' The colonial record was pretty dismal. For the British it was probably the best." - guardian.co.uk
Labels: GRACA MACHEL, NEOCOLONIALISM, UK, ZIMBABWE
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ANC leadership rallies behind Malema
By: M&G-TZG
Posted: Friday, April 16, 2010 3:41 pm
MEMBERS of the ANC's top leadership has backed ANC Youth League president Julius Malema over his comments on Zimbabwe and for ejecting a BBC reporter from the ANC offices were the youth leader was holding a press conference. The leadership is also planning to take President Jacob Zuma to task over his public scolding of the youth leader.
The Mail & Guardian newspaper of South Africa reports that at Monday’s national working committee meeting of the ANC, Malema’s supporters will tell Mr Zuma that he was wrong to criticise Malema in public.
Mr Zuma and is also criticized for criticising Malema when he expressed support for Zanu-PF, a party that helped the ANC during South Africa's fight against apartheid.
It is understood that the committee members who are unhappy with Zuma's public reprimand include Deputy Police Minister Fikile Mbalula and ANC national treasurer Mathews Phosa.
Others expected to support them include Gauteng Premier Nomvula Mokonyane, Communications Minister Siphiwe Nyanda and NEC member Tony Yengeni.
Some of Malema's backers argue that Zuma's criticism was coloured by Cosatu's claim that some leaders -- implying the Malema-Mbalula axis -- are planning to topple Zuma at the ANC's 2012 conference.
Despite reports of an anti-Malema demonstration at last weekend's Youth League conference in Limpopo, the league is said to be solidly behind its president in the current row.
League spokesperson Floyd Shivambu said Zuma's public stance had surprised him. The league had agreed with ANC officials after an incident in which the league publicly attacked ANC deputy president Kgalema Motlanthe last year that leaders should refrain from open mutual recrimination.
"We were not aware that Zuma can condemn any leader of the ANC in public," said Shivambu.
A Youth League leader in Gauteng, who asked to remain anonymous, was scathing in his condemnation of Zuma, saying he should be reminded that Malema had risked his credibility on several occasions to defend him.
"Zuma has committed so many mistakes but Malema has always defended him. We treated him as one of our own."
He said Malema had come to the president's defence in situations where he sometimes "appeared indefensible".
"Take Zuma’s extramarital affair with Sonono Khoza -- Julius stood by him throughout. When he wanted to resign at the last ANC national general council, the youth league stood by him.
"Where does he get the moral high ground to address Malema the way he did? There are avenues in the ANC to do this."
He said that Malema was a good leader who lacked effective advisers. "He raises crucial issues that no one in the ANC has raised before [but] he does not have good strategists who can put the issues into context. People who bring him down are those who hang around him.
"We're not saying Julius is the messiah. If people believe he is a monster, they created him as one. It cannot be that, because things are now going well for JZ [Zuma], Julius is the villain."
The youth league insists none of the potential charges against Malema will stick. It argues that the youth league delegation had visited Zimbabwe with Zuma's blessing and "he should have told them not to go if he didn’t want them to" and the offending song had been sung outside South Africa.
League leaders also defended Malema's verbal attack on Fisher and his expulsion from the conference, saying that the journalist had provoked him by calling him "a moron". Despite this, he had realised his mistake and publicly stated that he regretted the incident. Also, he could not be expected to keep quiet when he was being blamed for the murder of Terre'Blanche.
Malema in an accident
Meanwhile, Malema was involved in a car accident this week that he and his close associates believe was an assassination attempt.
Malema's car sustained serious damage in the accident and that his bodyguards have been replaced.
The accident, between Hammanskraal and Pretoria, took place while Malema was being transported in his Range Rover by members of the police VIP protection unit on Monday, police spokesperson Vish Naidoo confirmed to the M&G.
Malema was travelling with two VIP police protection guards on his way back to Johannesburg from the ANC Youth League conference in Polokwane when the accident occurred.
The accident was caused by a tyre bursting, Naidoo said. No injuries were reported.
Malema believes the accident was an attempt on his life, according to a youth league leader who did not want to be named.
The two VIP police guards with Malema at the time of the accident have since been replaced because Malema no longer trusts them.
Labels: ANC, ASSASSINATION, JULIUS MALEMA
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Britain should keep quiet on Zimbabwe: Mandela's wife
By: TG-TZG
Posted: Friday, April 16, 2010 8:28 pm
Graça Machel, who has criticised Britain's 'big brother' attitude to Zimbabwe and other former colonies, with her husband Nelson Mandela in parliament. Photograph: Schalk Van Zuydam/EPA
ONE of Africa's most eminent political figures has condemned Britain for taking a patronising "big brother" attitude to its former colonies, especially Zimbabwe.
Graça Machel, a founder member of the Elders group of world leaders and the wife of Nelson Mandela, warned British politicians to "keep quiet" about countries such as Zimbabwe and let African diplomacy take its course.
Machel, 64, is a former first lady of Mozambique, where she served as education minister, and has won numerous international awards for her advocacy of women's and children's rights.
In an interview with the Guardian newspaper in Johannesburg, she indicated that the crisis in Zimbabwe has revealed the shortcomings of a persistent imperialist mindset.
Listen to the interview below
She said the inclusive Government is a good opportunity for Britain to re-engage Zimbabwe.
"Can I be a little bit provocative?" Machel said. "I think this should be an opportunity for Britain to re-examine its relationship with its colonies. To acknowledge that with independence those nations will want to have a relationship with Britain which is of shoulder to shoulder, and they will not expect Britain to continue to be the big brother.
"When a nation is independent, there is no big brother. They are partners. Part of the reason why Britain finds it difficult to accept Zimbabwe is precisely because that relationship of a big brother is influencing [efforts] to try to understand."
Britain, along with the EU and US, has imposed sanctions on Zimbabwe. It has defied calls from South Africa to end these measures for the sake of the power sharing agreement between President Mugabe's Zanu-PF and the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) formations.
Earlier this year David Miliband, the foreign secretary, said the UK would be "guided by what the MDC says to us about the conditions under which it is working and leading the country".
He also said the MDC-T party "controls" some of the sanctions.
Machel added: "I'm not saying things are OK, they're all fine in Zimbabwe. I'm saying a different kind of dialogue, a different kind of bridge to try to understand the other side could have produced a different result from what it is.
"The more the British shout, the worse the situation will be in terms of relationship with Zimbabwe. That's why sometimes I really question, when something happens in Zimbabwe and Britain shouts immediately. Can't they just keep quiet?
"Sometimes you need just to keep quiet. Let them do their own things, let SADC (Southern African Development Community) deal with them, but keep quiet, because the more you shout, the worse [it is]."
Asked if Britain's attitude is patronising to its former colonies, Machel replied: "I'm afraid so. And what I'm saying is they have expectations which do not always coincide with what are the aspirations and expectations of those who are their former colony.
"When you change the relationship, you just have to give yourself to take the humility to stop and listen.
"And when you listen, then you take into account the other side. You put your case, then you take the other side. In a way, you harmonise interests of both sides."
Zimbabwe will mark 30 years of independence this weekend.
Machel, who became Mandela's third wife in 1998, also accused developed countries of double standards on CO2 emissions and climate change.
"This has been very clearly stated at the negotiations to Copenhagen. They know – the developing world, including China – that Africa has very small responsibility in the impact of climate change, but Africa is the one paying the highest price."
Labels: GRACA MACHEL, NEOCOLONIALISM, SANCTIONS, ZDERA
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Zambia: Chinese investment has helped to woo other investors- Dr Musokotwane
April 16, 2010, 12:54
Finance and National Planning Minister Situmbeko Musokotwane says Chinese Investment in the country has helped the country attract other investors from bigger economies.
Dr. Musokotwane said most investors have decided to take an interest to invest in Zambia because of the Chinese investment.
He urged politicians to avoid politicizing Chinese investment because it is helping the country in bringing in more investment into the country. Dr Musokotwane said in an interview that Zambians should concentrate more on the benefits that come with Chinese investment other than the negatives.
He said China has continued to be the major financial lender to bigger economies adding that Zambia should be grateful for being part of the development.
The minister said Chinese investment has contributed to the growth of the Zambian economy which is highly commendable.
Dr Musokotwane added that what is even better is that China has shown interest in investing in many sectors of the Zambian economy.
Labels: CHINESE, FDI, NEOLIBERALISM, SITUMBEKO MUSOKOTWANE
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Zambia: Sikota lauds State over land rates
April 16, 2010, 8:32
UNITED Liberal Party (ULP) President Sakwiba Sikota has commended Government for revoking the decision to increase land rates by 1,000 per cent.
Mr Sikota said in a statement released in Lusaka yesterday that land was a vital component in the development of the country which needed to be handled in collaboration with other stakeholders such as farmers.
He commended the Government for responding to concerns raised by farmers on rates and for revoking its decision to increase land rates by 1,000 percent.
“Currently, most of our farmers cannot afford to pay huge land rates because of limited use of land.
“While we appreciate that Government needs resources to administer land matters, there is a need to develop a system that will help to increase food production and meet the cost of land administration,” the statement reads in part.
Mr Sikota said the ULP hoped the decision not to increase land rates would lead to a system that could benefit both the farmers and institutions that administer land.
He said Government should reform the valuation of land Act to allow for some exemptions to community organisations such as charities involved in farming.
Some of the concessions on land rates could be provided to pensioners who decide to get into farming.
Mr Sikota suggested that peasant farmers that intended to get into commercial farming with land size from 50,000 hectares could be allowed to apply for exemption from paying land rates for two years.
He said Government could also put in measures to ensure there was no abuse of the exemption facility.
Mr Sikota said if land which had been subjected to exemption was alienated within six years of such exemption, the new owners would have to pay the exempted rates.
[ Times of Zambia ]
Labels: LAND RATES, SAKWIBA SIKOTA
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Zambia: BOZ takes possesion of Commercial Capital Corp.
Friday, April 16, 2010, 9:24
The Bank of Zambia (BOZ) has with immediate effect taken possession of Commercial Capital Corporation Limited in accordance with section 81 of the banking and financial services Act, chapter 387 of the laws of Zambia.
In a statement released yesterday, Bank of Zambia Head of Public Relations Kanguya Mayondi said the Bank of Zambia has for some time now engaged shareholders and the board of directors of Commercial Capital Corporation Limited in order to resolve the deteriorating financial performance and condition of the institution.
He said that Commercial Capital Corporation had however, regrettably remained under-capitalized. He said the institution would continue conducting its business operations, but on a restricted basis under a manager appointed by the Bank of Zambia.
Mr Mayondi explained that during the period that the institution will be under possession, the central bank will cause to be prepared a statement of affairs and take any other action it deems fit.
He further stated that the decision by the Bank of Zambia to take possession of Commercial Capital Corporation Limited has been taken in order to provide for its orderly exit from the financial system.
[Q FM]
Labels: BOZ, COMMERCIAL CAPITAL CORPORATION
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Wanted: Malawi food in US on e-market
By Nyasa Times
Published: April 15, 2010
The fastest growing market in the United States of America is the international food market and Malawi food stands to rake huge profits.
Millions of people are buying their food from international stores. Everyday a new shop opens selling organic food, food that does not have additives or preservatives and is naturally grown. The growing trend is to eat healthy and more naturally-grown foods.
In the US you can purchase food at these international stores from all across Africa but rarely can you find the good products from Malawi until now.
Through a website - http://treatsfrommalawi.com- you can buy Malawi products from an online store. The idea to have an online store come from Malawians living in the U.S. and was developed by Chimwemwe Ncozana the owner of radioyako.com based in Orlando Florida.
Through the website you can buy tea, coffee, beans, nuts, hot sauce, clothes all made in Malawi and other items that enter the U.S. market free of duty under the AGOA (African Growth and Opportunity Act), a US legislation in 2002 to promote and raise trade activity between the global powerhouse and Africa.
Under AGOA over 2,000 Malawi products can enter the US market free of duty.
The concept came from a similar venture which has been successfully implemented by Kenyans living in the USA.
Ncozana, the designer of the website, said: “Through the website you can purchase airtime for family in Malawi, purchase grocery vouchers, salon vouchers, Malawi music and much more.
“It’s an exciting time. We are improving the website everyday and e-commerce is here to stay,” he said.
Labels: EBAY, FOOD, INTERNET
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Is MDC a revolutionary party?
By: Nancy Nyamhunga
Posted: Friday, April 16, 2010 2:38 pm
IT is often said ignorance is no defence. We have all fallen victims to fraud in way or the other at some point in our lives, and the risk will always be there as long as we have trust in other people. But then again, how can we relate to each other if there is no trust? I guess it’s a Catch-22 situation.
Behind the hysteria that surrounded African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL) President visit to Zimbabwe and his subsequent snub of the MDC, anyone with a clear mind would have noticed that
there is something absolutely wrong with the way the MDC projects itself to the Zimbabwean black audience and what the party actually represents in reality.
When Malema indicated that his visit is only intended for revolutionary parties and therefore would not be meeting the MDC as it had nothing in common with the ANC, MDC South African branch asked this question during a press conference: "Does Mr Malema mean to say MDC is not a revolutionary party?"
One has to examine the whole structure of the MDC, its formation, its composition and its corporate governance, to answer that question.
MDC is a party that was formed based on misrepresentation of facts, (the claim to fight for democracy when the true fact is that its purpose seeks to sustain white supremacy in Zimbabwe’s economy). Its unique selling point is the ability to influence economic sabotage (sanctions) on Zimbabwe through its white members, with the resultant economic decline wholly blamed on poor governance on the part of the ruling party. It, therefore, becomes obvious that the majority of black members in the MDC do not have adequate information of what exactly the party represents because there has been, and continues to be, a lot of deceit between stakeholders.
That is why its black membership was shocked by the Malema snub. They could not understand why ANC, touted as a democratic party, could not relate to their own fight for what they perceive as democracy. To understand this confusion, one needs to examine the composition of the MDC.
Mr Roy Bennett controls the powerful treasury position and Mr Eddie Cross is responsible for policy direction. This is where the power rests. These are the managers of the MDC. They know exactly what the party wants to achieve and how. They hold superior information and the true purpose of the party which the majority of stakeholders (black party members) do not know.
This withholding of information is deliberate because what these two are fighting for is the right to maintain white supremacy in the economy of Zimbabwe, but in order to mask the true intention; they had to misrepresent the facts to a black audience, who happened to have personal grievances against the government.
The black members in the MDC hold promissory notes of democracy, right to freedom of speech, etc. in exchange for their support and votes. To weigh the probability of these promises being honoured when the time comes (if it ever does), one needs to examine the MDC symbol, the open palm.
All progressive revolutionaries who fought and are still fighting against black oppression, i.e. the late Samora Machel of Mozambique, Nelson Mandela of South Africa, the late Joshua Nkomo and Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe are well known for using the raised clenched fist as a symbol of resilience and defiance against black oppression which Mr Bennett and Mr Cross fought hard to maintain.
CLENCHED FIST: Robert Mugabe salutes a group of supporters as he arrives at Lusaka Airport, Zambia, on January 8, 1977. Zimbabwe celebrates 30 years of independence this weekend.
As managers of the MDC, both Mr Bennett and Mr Cross are still fighting against black independence and empowerment; hence they are challenging the signature of African revolutionaries, by proposing the opposite of the clenched fist — which is an open palm. It is a subtle way of demanding their old way of life, access to cheap black labour, access to natural resources, ability to destroy African culture and identity. In a nutshell, they are challenging everything that the African revolutionaries stood for.
By campaigning for sanctions to be imposed on the black population of Zimbabwe, the managers of the MDC are using the psychological warfare that was used by early colonialists, which forced us to embrace Christianity where we were taught that Jesus was white and Satan the devil was black.
Images of the ‘white Jesus’ were hanged in all places of worship and schools. The aim of this strategy was for black people to hate themselves as much as they hate their other number, Satan the devil, who was projected as black.
Sanctions are meant to achieve the same psychological effect, they are meant to corrupt our psyche so that we begin to think that former white farmers made life easy for black people when they owned the means of production and that blacks are better off as workers. That is why the MDC is vehemently opposed to the Indigenisation Act.
Whether the MDC is a liberation party or not depends on whose liberation it is. I would like to believe that to someone like Mr Cross to have challenged the African revolutionary signature symbol, the clenched fist, and replaced it with the open palm; itself signifying submission and surrendering of black freedom and economic empowerment to white capital, is a revolution indeed.
____________________
Nancy Nyamhunga writes from Leicester, United Kingdom. She can be reached via nancydmu *** yahoo.co.uk
Labels: JULIUS MALEMA, MDC, NANCY NYAMHUNGA, NEOCOLONIALISM, ROY BENNETT
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Firms submit empowerment proposals
Posted: Friday, April 16, 2010 1:51 pm
FOREIGN-OWNED companies have rushed to submit their empowerment proposals to the Government on how they intend to comply with the gazetted indigenisation regulations, despite the confusion caused by the MDC over the policy in the last few days.
It is understood that over 100 companies have so far submitted their proposals for consideration. Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's spokesman, James Maridadi, told international media on Tuesday that Cabinet had declared the regulations published by the government "null and void".
Maridadi does not speak on behalf of the government or Cabinet. The Secretary to the President and Cabinet, Misheck Sibanda, makes formal announcements regarding such matters.
The deadline for the submission of empowerment proposals was 15 April, 2010.
President Mugabe later clarified that the regualtions were still intact, but consultation was an ongoing process.
Government says the banking sector has not responded as quickly as the other sectors. They "are being unnecessarily difficult" and have not made any positive communications, says the government.
Barclays and Stanbic banks are fingered as some of the banks that has been difficult.
Standard Chartered Bank has asked for an extension for submission, which Government has reportedly granted.
FBC, MBCA and ABC Holdings have already submitted their proposals.
Article continues below
Other firms that have submitted their proposals are Zimplats, Bindura Nickel, Mimosa Gold Mine, La Farge Cement, Sisk Construction, OK Zimbabwe, Delta Beverages, Econet and British American Tobacco.
All companies were supposed to have made their submissions by Wednesday.
Yesterday, Youth Development, Indigenisation and Empowerment Minister Saviour Kasukuwere said: "Everything has gone well and the response has been tremendous. However, we are dismayed by the attitude of some of the banks."
Though he refused to say which banks were problematic, reliable sources fingered two institutions.
"Stanbic and Barclays have been quiet and attempts to engage them have been met with a cold response," the source said.
Director of Indigenisation and Empowerment in the ministry Mr Godfrey Sigobodhlo said yesterday that some companies had applied for an extension of the deadline to afford them more time to study the law.
"More than 100 companies have submitted their proposals and some have applied for an extension of the deadline.
"So far, the minister has only approved OK Zimbabwe’s proposal.
"The OK Zimbabwe proposal was approved on the basis of its strength on how the company seeks to restore its vibrancy and to contribute to the economy.
"Extension of the deadline is a matter for the minister’s discretion and appropriate requests must be addressed to the minister in terms of Section 4 (subsection 6) of the Indigenisation Act."
Indigenisation and Empowerment Board member and legal advisor Mr Farai Mutamangira said the gazetted regulations remained in place.
"The indigenisation regulations are of full force and effect and must be complied with.
"They have neither been suspended nor amended," he said.
Labels: INDIGENIZATION AND EMPOWERMENT ACT (ZIMBABWE), JAMES MARIDADI
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Mugabe, Tsvangirai attend Malawi wedding
by AFP
16/04/2010 00:00:00
PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai will attend the wedding of Malawian President Bingu wa Mutharika to an ex-tourism minister on Saturday, an official said Friday.
Edward Sawerengera, the director general of Malawi’s state residences, said Mugabe and Tsvangirai will be among several African leaders at the highly-publicised wedding.
Mozambique, Rwanda and Swaziland will send their prime ministers, while Tanzanian vice president Ali Mohammed will represent his country, he said.
Mutharika, 76, is marrying Callista Chimombo, 50, after his Zimbabwean first wife Ethel died of cancer two years ago.
The wedding will blessed by the head of the Catholic church in Malawi, Archbishop Tarcizio Ziyaye, at the 15,000-seater sports stadium in the administrative capital Lilongwe.
Some 5,000 guests will be treated to a banquet at the State House, said the official.
Chimombo was a senior member of Mutharika's governing Democratic Progressive Party and is a former legislator. She was appointed as tourism minister in the first cabinet of the president in 2004.
Mutharika, who is current chair of the African Union (AU), is serving his last term as president of the poor southern African nation. He is the country's second leader since multi-party democracy in 1994. - AFP
Labels: BINGU WA MUTHARIKA, MORGAN TSVANGIRAI, MUGABE, WEDDINGS
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Chilembo and NCC behaved shamefully
By The Post Editor
Fri 16 Apr. 2010, 04:00 CAT
WHEN we have said that Rupiah Banda and his minions do not believe that they are the government and therefore responsible to provide services to our people, we have no doubt that some of our people have wondered why we have been so hard.
It seems that although Rupiah likes to boast about being ‘boma’ – the government,
he is only interested in the benefits that the office brings. Rupiah has no passion to serve our people and provide them with the basic necessities of life.
It does not seem that he realises, that as the government, they are the only authority that can attend to the many challenges that our people face. These people do not accept that it is their responsibility to ensure that our people are looked after. This is something that we’ve been talking about for sometime now and now we have been proved very right.
What happened the other day at the National Constitutional Conference when it was time to discuss the right to be free from hunger and to have access to food is very shameful indeed. People who, in all probability had three square meals, and hefty allowances at the taxpayers’ expense, were laughing at the need for the right to food and other social rights to be included in the Constitution.
We are not qualified to discuss the legalities of whether or not such a right should or could be enshrined in the Constitution. The little knowledge that we have acquired does not enable us to do that as competently as others might. Our interest is to expose the folly of those who sit and laugh at the needs of our people. How can anyone in their right frame of mind laugh and dismiss the need for our people to have access to food?
This is only done by people who are so careless and blinded by the allowances that they get. These people who are sitting to discuss the Constitution have forgotten that they are there to represent the people and discuss how the Constitution is going to address the basic necessities of life.
Laughing at the need for improving people’s living is shameful and something that should tell us the quality of the discourse that is going on in the National Constitutional Conference. There is complete and utter of seriousness.
Maybe the ordinary delegates could be forgiven for behaving in the way that they did because one may have to accept that they do not know what they are doing.
But how can a minister in a government proclaim that the provision of water, good shelter and a toilet for our people is impossible and utopian? Deputy justice minister Todd Chilembo in discussing the rights to water and food said the following: “I think this clause is utopian. Even Kaunda and his humanist regime did not have this dream.
You are talking of food, shelter with bathing shower and toilet for every person; how possible is that? We don’t want to live in a utopian society”. This is what a minister in Rupiah’s government believes, that our people have no right to aspire to a life where they can have access to clean water and sanitation, adequate shelter and food.
This is a man who was driven to the National Constitutional Conference in a vehicle that we pay for as taxpayers, in all probability lives in a house that we pay for, uses a toilet that we pay for. Because we provide all these things for him, he has forgotten that they cost money and that other people deserve them also.
What could be more basic than providing water and sanitation in a nation? But if a government believes that access to water and sanitation for our people is utopian, why are they in government? What is their job? We should now all understand what kind of government we have. These are people who believe that the problems that our people face have nothing to do with them. They can continue flying around and enjoying taxpayer facilities without delivering on the people’s requirements.
It is shocking that at a time when we are losing many people to simple waterborne diseases such as cholera, a minister can stand and say providing proper sanitation to all our people is utopian. What hope is there for this country? Rupiah and his ministers do not mean well for our people. They have no clue what it is to run a country.
This is why Chilembo can even mock Dr Kaunda’s government saying that even Kaunda’s humanist regime did not have such a dream. He forgets that one of the driving principles of comrade KK and his colleagues in their earlier days of government was to provide basic services to our people. It remains for every succeeding government to build on that dream and not to dismiss the plight of the people as utopian in the way that Chilembo has done.
Anyway, the behaviour of Chilembo should not surprise anyone. It typifies his government’s approach to very complex requirements of leadership. They have no real understanding of how government operates and what its functions are.
They think that government is this nebulas machine that controls things without clear leadership and input from natural human beings. To them government or ‘boma’ is a distant thing that has no obligations to the people on whose behalf it runs. This is why we say they are not fully in charge.
They are at the mercy of their own imaginations and have no clue and clear understanding of what they should be doing. They don’t really sit down to ask themselves what is the purpose of government. They don’t seem to spend too much time asking themselves how the operations of government are going to be funded.
In short, they are irresponsible. They do not feel the pressure to provide services to our people. Their job is to remain in power for its own sake. This explains why Chilembo and their agents in the National Constitutional Conference can so irresponsibly laugh at efforts that try to compel our government to provide basic services and social amenities to our people.
To them, saying our people need to be fed and given proper sanitation is a laughing matter. What a shame! What is this Constitution going to do if not to ensure that this country is made more livable and that the resources that we have as a nation are used to better the quality of life for all our people?
Laughing at people’s hunger and their lack of water and sanitation is foolish and undermines the legitimacy of government. If you can’t provide hope to our people, don’t be a politician. As for Chilembo, every time he uses a toilet paid for by government and toilet tissue paid for by government, he should remember that all our people deserve the dignity of a decent toilet, and this is not utopian.
Labels: HUMAN RIGHTS, NCC
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COMMENT - This is disgraceful. Just because you have a right to water, food and shelter would not mean you actually get those from the government. It would mean that your right to these basic necessities of life would supercede anyone else's right which would clash with those rights. It would mean fewer profits - it certainly would mean a better society.
NCC rejects clause on access to food, water
By Ernest Chanda
Fri 16 Apr. 2010, 04:10 CAT
DELEGATES at the National Constitutional Conference (NCC) on Wednesday laughed at and rejected the Mung’omba clause that sought to give every person a right to have access to food and water. The delegates also
rejected a clause that could have given every person a right to adequate shelter and housing.
Article 74 (1) of the Mung’omba draft constitution states that: “Every person has the right to be free from hunger and to have access to food in adequate quantities, of adequate quality and cultural acceptability.”
But the Human Rights Committee of the NCC revised the clause and proposed it to read: “Every person has the right to have access to food and water.”
Nevertheless, both clauses were rejected on grounds that they were not tenable in the Zambian set up. As soon as Human Rights Committee chairperson Enock Mulembe started reading out the clause, several delegates burst into laughter with some of them passing running commentaries on the rationality of the clause.
The laughter went on for a few minutes before NCC chairperson Chifumu Banda interrupted and allowed Mulembe to read on.
The majority chose not to debate the clause except to laugh it off. But commissioner Noriana Muneku argued that it was not good for the delegates to just sit there and delete clauses even when the situation did not demand so.
“This clause is a good one because we can’t have a nation without access to water. We cannot afford to sit in here and start sanctioning that such and such a clause be deleted. We all know that every person needs water and food for their survival, and I think the clause deserves our support,” debated Muneku.
Clementina Chipeta from the United Liberal Party argued that every person needed food in spite of their status in society.
“Chairperson, this clause is non-controversial and we must support it. We have friends and relatives in prisons who also need food. It is a basic human right that should be granted to them regardless of their condition,” debated Chipeta.
And several delegates argued that guaranteeing people a right to shelter and housing was not tenable in our economy.
Article 73 (1) of the Mung’omba draft constitution states that: “Every person has the right to have access to adequate shelter and housing.”
But justice deputy minister Todd Chilembo described the clause as utopian.
“I think this clause is utopian. Even Kaunda and his humanist regime did not have this dream. You are talking of good shelter with bathing shower and toilet for every person, how possible is that? We don’t want to live in an utopian society,” argued Chilembo.
Commissioner Able Chilukuta from Nchelenge district council argued that the clause would promote laziness.
“This clause should not be in the constitution. If adopted, this clause will impact negatively on people who pay tax. Already a few people are burdened with tax and if we adopt this clause then we are saying that these people should be taxed more in order for the government to provide shelter to everyone. We should not promote clauses that encourage laziness.
The other thing also is that we have got a different category of people that will need shelter. We are saying that even a mad person will go to government and say ‘I need descent shelter’; so this clause should be rejected,” debated Chilukuta.
After voting, both clauses were overwhelmingly rejected by the conference.
Labels: ENOCK MULEMBE, HUMAN RIGHTS, NCC, NORIANA MUNEKU, TODD CHILEMBO
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Rupiah campaigns for his 2011 re-election in Milanzi
By Chibaula Silwamba and Christopher Miti in Milanzi
Fri 16 Apr. 2010, 04:10 CAT
PRESIDENT Rupiah Banda has declared himself physically and psychologically ready to defeat his opponents in next year’s presidential election.
And President Banda announced that the government will open the crop marketing season next month instead of the usual June to avoid briefcase businesspersons from buying farm produce at low prices.
Drumming up support for the MMD’s Milanzi parliamentary candidate Whiteson Banda on Wednesday, President Banda, who ironically spent most of the time campaigning for his re-election in next year’s polls, hoped that his character and behaviour had been exemplary to Zambians during his Presidency for them to vote for him again.
As cadres sang a song with lyrics: “White ku ma final Whiteson Banda in the electoral finals“, President Banda said his turn was coming in 2011.
“I want to say that my turn is coming; in 2011 the Constitution says that we have to go through an election in order to choose a President for our country. I have said it before and I am saying it now in front of all of you that if elected by my party, I am going to stand in 2011 and I am ready psychologically and physically to defeat all those others,” President Banda said.
“You will not hear me insulting anyone because it’s everybody’s right to stand and when it comes to the Constitution, the Constitution of Zambia allows every Zambian to stand,” President Banda said.
“Therefore, I hope that the Zambian people will judge each one of us who will stand for the elections on the basis of their work to their experience of what they can do, of their character, what kind of people they are. I hope that you will also as I offer myself hoping that my character and my behaviour has been exemplary to the Zambian people when I have been your President to all the Zambian people.”
President Banda urged the people of Milanzi to elect a leader that would listen to them.
“When you elect a President, you elect a leader like our leaders here; our chiefs; our headmen, they are our leaders and when you choose a leader you want a leader who will listen to you carefully and with respect to what you are saying to them,” he said.
“You don’t want a leader who is going to tell you what he wants you to do and not what you want him to do as your servant.” President Banda said he was not satisfied with what he had done in the last one year he had been President.
“I have been President for only one year; I wish I could do more than what I have done. I am not satisfied with what I have done. Naturally, I would like to have done more. I want to do more; I want to build more roads for this country. I want to build more schools. I want to build more health centres. I want to send more children to school to various levels of schools, I want to create jobs for the people of Zambia. I cannot do that in one year. I require time like any other person would require that time in order to succeed to fulfill his promises to the people,” President Banda said.
As cadres sang a song with lyrics: “RB boma RB is government”, President Banda remarked that he was the government.
“Nizo ona, ndine boma. Yes! I am the government! You know, sometimes you read in the newspapers, sometimes you hear on the radios, TV sometimes you can believe that those that are talking are the boma. The boma is me who is standing in front of you, not them,” said President Banda prompting the cadres to sing another song with lyrics: “Rupiah limba mtima. Rupiah be strong.”
In response, President Banda said: “I can assure the people here at Milanzi that ndine olimba mtima. Achepa, amene afuna mpando umeneu ndidzagwetsa I am strong hearted. Those who want this Presidency are small, I will trounce them. I was not nominated president, I went for an election, a full election and defeated them all,” President Banda said.
In an apparent reference to the PF-UPND Pact leaders Michael Sata and Hakainde Hichilema, President Banda described them as “zero plus zero equals zero”.
“Some of them who are making so much noise were defeated three times in the history of our politics. Some of them were defeated two times and they believe that if they come together, if they gang up that perhaps they can defeat me. They are liars. 0+0=0,” President Banda said.
He expressed gratitude to the village headmen that met him prior to the rally because they had raised concern about the need for roads, clean water, crop marketing and other issues affecting their people.
“They raised a number of issues that I would like to respond to as follows; your government is very concerned about these issues and everything is being done in order to try and meet your needs halfway within the limit of our funds of our money limit of our economy. We realise that our people need clean water and will try to see that boreholes are provided to our people in rural areas all over Zambia,” President Banda said.
And President Banda expressed concern at briefcase maize buyers that were duping farmers.
“We are going to open the market sooner than normal. Normally the markets are opened in June, the market to sell our maize but because we know that briefcase business persons are going round and buying maize from our people are paying them peanuts.
We are going to open the markets in the coming month in May so that you can sale your maize at a proper price and we will soon announce the floor price of maize and other crops which the government is going to set before the markets are open,” President Banda announced.
On Whiteson Banda’s candidature, President Banda told the electorate that if they elected the MMD candidate, he would have express access to him unlike if they elected an opposition candidate.
President Banda said he would give Whiteson Banda his cell phone number so that he could be phoning him directly whenever he had a problem in Milanzi as parliamentarian.
“Azakala ndi cell phone number ya a Presidenti. Zikabvuta kuno sapitila mwina iyai, ango tenga cell phone, ‘ndinu a presidenti uko?’ Ndi kati, ‘eeeh’. Azakamba ati, ‘pepani zabvuta ku Milanzi zakuti zakuti’. Mukasankha wina adzikalandila ndalama zachaje. When there are problems here, Whiteson Banda will just get his cell phone and call me to tell me about the problems you are facing here but if you elected other candidates they will be getting paid for doing nothing,” said President Banda.
“I would like to assure you that if you give me Whiteson Banda to become a member of parliament for Milanzi that we will work together with him as we worked with the late Reuben Banda, we’ll work with him in order to meet some of your problems. I don’t want to tell you lies and say that when you vote for Whiteson Banda or when you vote for me all the problems will solved. I will be lying to you people of God.
I want to tell you that we are committed to serve you to work for you.”
President Banda said the MMD wanted Whiteson Banda to continue from where the late area parliamentarian Reuben Chisanga-Banda left.
President Banda apparently forgot to bring Whiteson Banda onto the stage to formally introduce him to the gathering until the candidate personally walked up to the podium.
Labels: BY-ELECTIONS, KATETE, RUPIAH BANDA
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Mulongoti apologises to Mpombo
By Abigail Chaponda in Ndola
Fri 16 Apr. 2010, 04:20 CAT
WORKS and supply minister Mike Mulongoti yesterday apologised to former defence minister George Mpombo and the state in the Ndola magistrates’ court for saying that Mpombo will need him in prison.
Before the court proceedings on March 17, in a matter where Mpombo has been charged with issuing a cheque on an insufficiently funded account, his lawyer Bonaventure Mutale applied to the court that Mulongoti should be cited for contempt for stating that Mpombo would need him in prison.
That is how Mulongoti was summoned to appear before the court and explain why he should not be cited for contempt of court for stating that Mpombo would need him in prison, as reported in The Post of February 19, 2010 on page one and four. Mutale said the article refered to Mulongoti as having advised Mpombo to stop provoking him because he would need him in prison.
He said the article clearly showed that Mulongoti seemed to believe that Mpombo had already been found with a case he would be sent to prison.
“This is clearly contemptuous of this court and tends to undermine the deliberations of the proceedings of the court,” he said.
Chief Resident Magistrate Kelvin Limbani granted the application and ordered Mulongoti to appear before him yesterday.
And Mulongoti, 58, of plot 11 Lewanika Road Kabulonga in Lusaka who was represented by Attorney General Abyud Shonga said he did not know that he was undermining the deliberations of the court proceedings when he commented on the story.
“I was reacting to an issue by Honourable Mpombo where he called me a political dimwit. A reporter called me to comment and I made a comment since I had a long relationship with Mr Mpombo. It was not the first time that Mr Mpombo was attacking me and I was saddened that he was trying to destroy the relationship that we have,” Mulongoti said.
“I would be the last person to wish Mr Mpombo ill. I wish to apologise. I was only reacting to the story, and I had no intentions to disrespect the court. May I sincerely apologise to my brother Mr Mpombo and the state.”
Magistrate Limbani said he had noted Mulongoti’s explanation.
“I advise you to be careful and mindful of the statement made in relation to court proceedings. I have noted your apology and warn you that the courts shall not be detracted by statements made in relation to court proceedings. I shall take your apology and warn you not to comment on the proceedings of the court,” said magistrate Limbani.
Meawhile, Aubrey Mulenga Kashita, 33, a banker at Finance Bank in Ndola testified that a cheque of K10 million was deposited into Colwyn Limited account on December 18, 2009. He said the cheque was sent for clearing the same day and returned to a Mrs Clementina Lungu of Colwyn Limited.
Kashita said on January 29, he was visited by the police and he explained to them that the cheque was cleared and sent back to Lungu and he issued them (police) with a statement.
There was no cross examination but after Kashita finished testifying, the prosecution asked for the matter to be adjourned because the other witness had not travelled from Lusaka.
Bonaventure Mutale said it was regrettable that the prosecution had not prepared when they were given a month to do so. He said since it was their first application, he would accept it but warned them that next time the defence would not accept it.
Limbani also said it was regrettable that the prosecution did not prepare when they had enough time to do so.
“I warn the prosecution to come to court prepared. I warn them and advise that in the next seating, they should come with all their witnesses,” he said.
The matter was adjourned to May 4 for continued trial.
Labels: GEORGE MPOMBO, MIKE MULONGOTI
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