Sata vows to deal with plunderers
By George Chellah in Mbala
Sat 14 May 2011, 04:00 CAT
MICHAEL Sata says once in power the PF government would promptly and firmly deal with plunderers. And Sata says the numerous financial scams being witnessed under President Banda’s leadership could not be ignored.
Sata said the levels of corruption in the current administration were alarming and embarrassing and the PF government will speedily deal with the Rupiah Banda regime’s corruption.
“There are so many cases of single-sourcing, overpricing and corruption in the procurement and construction. Rupiah knows what we will do when we take over power this year so he is scared,” Sata said.
“They have been given enough warning but this time we will nip this scourge in the bud by speedily dealing with this administration’s corruption.”
He said PF would create a special body to resolutely deal with plunder cases.
“It may not be called Task Force but we will bring a body which will speedily investigate and prosecute the culprits,” Sata said.
“We shall also strengthen the Anti-corruption Commission (ACC). We need to strengthen that institution.
“We need a strong, efficient and effective commission to deal with these things and ultimately bring back the integrity of the country.”
Sata said the numerous financial scams being witnessed under President Banda’s leadership could not be ignored.
“Rupiah Banda removed Section 37 of the ACC Act and we have promised our people that we will reinstate it,” Sata said. “The reason we want to reinstate this law is because we want to restore sanity in our country. What is currently obtaining in this country is so embarrassing.”
Sata said to fight corruption and restore public confidence in the ACC, PF would ensure that the National Assembly ratifies members of the commission supervisory board.
“We will ensure that the commission submits periodic reports to the National Assembly for consideration and direction,” Sata said.
He said PF would also increase the ACC’s budgetary allocation and introduce stiff penalties for corruption offences.
Sata said the PF would domesticate international protocols on the fight against corruption.
He said the panic exhibited by President Banda over his stance on the fight against corruption was understandable.
“They know what they are doing. Just look at their reaction to my recent trip to the UK where I was invited by Oxford University,” Sata said. “In all this desperation, one thing I am glad about is that Rupiah and company have acknowledged that they blundered on the Task Force on Corruption and they are scared.
“They have acknowledged that the Task Force was scrapped in a corrupt manner. There was no justification to scrap the Task Force.”
He said President Banda must realise that he only has powers to pardon convicts but not to interfere with justice.
“But we will remind our people wherever we go that the lack of social services and unemployment they are facing is as a result of corruption by this government,” said Sata.
Labels: CORRUPTION, MICHAEL SATA, PF, RUPIAH BANDA
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Elections now, or not before 2016
By Jonathan MoyoPolitics Last updated on: May 10, 2011
IF THERE is one good outcome of the unusual media and diplomatic excitement engineered by British and American mischief makers for illegal regime change in Zimbabwe since the March 31 Livingstone summit of SADC’s organ troika on politics, defence and security cooperation, it is that some home truths are now coming out in very loud and clear terms with only 12 days to go before the extraordinary SADC summit on the political and security situations in Madagascar and Zimbabwe scheduled for Windhoek, Namibia on May 20.
There are four key points that touch the soul like thorns in the flesh among the many home truths which are begging for the attention and they include the following:
It is now clear in the national interest that the next harmonised general election must be held this year in 2011 failure of which it should be held in 2016 and not at any other time in between. The current SADC focus on the so-called election roadmap which Morgan Tsvangirai takes to mean elections in 2012 or even in 2013 as understandably suggested by Cde Patrick Chinamasa is untenable not least because these suppositions are based on the fallacy that the 2008 election was disputed, when the fact is that it was inconclusive. There is a big difference between a disputed and an inconclusive election.
Apart from being retrogressive, the current focus on the election roadmap undermines the GPA and the constitution of Zimbabwe both which have clear election benchmarks that make for a better election roadmap than what’s being negotiated as part of a GPA that was negotiated, agreed and signed on September 15, 2008.
Furthermore, the focus on the election roadmap as the new GPA issue is attracting US, UK and EU interference and destabilisation of Zimbabwe under the guise of supporting a SADC-driven roadmap for free, fair and credible elections by the same countries that have imposed illegal economic sanctions against our country which they are refusing to remove.
All this is happening under the auspices of SADC when what Zimbabwe needs is to get out of a debilitating and indeed destructive election mode by holding the next harmonised general election either this year to usher in a government with a majority in Parliament as maintained by Zanu PF, or in 2016 in order to settle things now and enable the country to focus on public service delivery and economic recovery over the next five years without the threat of electoral destabilisation given the current poisonous environment since the Livingstone summit.
One of the greatest anomalies if not absurdities since the formation of the GPA government on February 13, 2009, is that the very same negotiators who negotiated the GPA that was agreed and signed on September 15, 2008, have continued to negotiate the same negotiated and agreed GPA to no end till this day. What on earth is the point of continuing to negotiate an agreement that has been negotiated, agreed and signed when the focus should be on its implementation by the government which was formed under it?
The charade of continuing negotiations on a done deal has been to the total detriment of the implementation of the GPA at great disservice to the public and to the embarrassment of the SADC guarantors of the GPA who have all along allowed the anomaly to continue by facilitating false negotiations that should have long ended on September 15, 2008.
It is a fact of life that negotiations that do not end or which run parallel to what has been negotiated, agreed and signed are by definition very dangerous to what has been agreed and signed and are unacceptable for that reason.
The misplaced current focus on elections, and their alleged roadmap fuelled by the endless GPA negotiations that should have ended on September 15, 2008, has ominously created a treacherous opportunity for weakening the State in Zimbabwe by rendering it vulnerable to hostile foreign interests in the vain hope of reversing the gains of the liberation struggle under the pathetic guise of security sector reforms authored by Zimbabwe’s enemies and peddled by the local media which they fund and control and which foolishly confuses its support from Western donors with market support.
What makes the foregoing an important wake-up call for Zimbabweans is that the US, UK and EU, who are currently operating within the dehumanising letter and spirit of how they operated against Africans during the slavery and colonial days, now want to use SADC to subvert our hard-won independence and sovereignty because of their recent experiences in Ivory Coast where the French government illegally used brutal force to install a puppet regime and in Libya where racist NATO forces are bombing, maiming and killing Libyans allegedly to protect the very same civilians they are killing and maiming while illegally drilling and selling that country’s oil.
Efforts are being made by former colonialists to use SADC against Zimbabwe in pursuit of regime change because they believe and indeed they can see that regional bodies in Africa such as SADC and continental bodies such as the African Union are at their weakest and this at a time when the United Nations itself has become a shameless appendage of the US under its treacherous Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, who apparently cannot tell the difference between the US and the UN and who routinely behaves as if he comes from the moon after all.
These talking points have since the Livingstone summit of the SADC organ on politics, defence and security cooperation played out in a manner that is crying out for urgent reflection and action not only by SADC leaders as they prepare for their forthcoming summit which will be closely watched by the progressive world but also by Zimbabweans who now more than ever need to stand up and be counted in defence of their hard-won independence in the true Chimurenga tradition of the country’s ancestors and fallen liberation heroes.
Objectively-speaking, and in the national interest, it is now quite clear given the aftermath of the Livingstone debacle that Zimbabwe must hold its next harmonised general election in 2011 otherwise that election should be in 2016 and not at any time in between. The compelling reason for 2011, which defines and explains Zanu PF’s position as variously articulated in recent months, is that as a nation we need to do something important and meaningful about the fact that close to three years since the signing of the GPA in 2008, and more than two years since the formation of the GPA government, policy gridlock and dysfunctional governance have been the order of the day under endless GPA negotiations that have undermined and derailed the purpose of government.
This gridlock has cost the country dearly on the policy delivery front where the citizens, the business community and the rest of society rightly expect government to be a forum for address their concerns and not to be a self-indulgent negotiating forum for political parties that are supposed to be the government. It is mind-boggling that the GPA negotiations have been parallel to the government and not within it with the result of creating space for third parties to destabilise the State under the guise of negotiations.
Even worse, by allowing the negotiations to continue beyond the agreed and signed GPA, SADC now finds itself violating its own treaty and principles through dealing with political parties when it should be dealing with a Member State whose government comprises exactly the three parties that negotiated, agreed and signed the GPA. Yes, SADC can facilitate where there’s no recognised or legitimate government otherwise where there’s one, its engagement should be with that government and not with the political parties that form it.
The reason we have not had a properly functional government capable of policy delivery to ensure the necessary economic recovery is not only because our country has been in an election mode, which is fatal, but also because we have had endless GPA negotiations running parallel to the GPA government since the signing of the GPA in September 15, 2008. In effect, this has created two centres of government if not two governments: one through and under Cabinet and the other through negotiations under SADC facilitation whose logic and conduct are becoming indistinguishable from dictation.
As a result of this dangerous situation, the two MDC formations are now avoiding the Cabinet process which is based on the laws and Constitution of Zimbabwe and instead preferring to use the unregulated negotiation process under SADC facilitation which is open to subversion, intrigue, chicanery and all sorts of unmentionable hostile machinations. If the forthcoming SADC summit in Namibia does not come to terms with this very dangerous situation which risks setting an even more dangerous precedence in the region, it would have failed not only Zimbabweans but itself.
This is why a harmonised general election is desperately needed this year. If that is not possible or desirable for any good reason, then we must find a constitutional and legal way for regaining the lost three years since 2008 by allowing two years between now and 2013 to give breathing space for the constitution-making exercise to be concluded by then and to allow the wasted three years to be used after 2013 to entrench the institutions, processes and laws created by or under the new constitution.
Between now and 2016, the main focus and preoccupation of the country should not be GPA negotiations but service delivery to the people and economic recovery and stabilisation whose entrenchment would create conditions for free and fair elections in 2016 by which time everyone would have forgotten about the GPA and its prejudices. Meanwhile, all the Parliamentary vacancies should be filled by holding the by-elections with the chips falling where they may.
In the circumstances, the GPA negotiations on the electoral roadmap under SADC facilitation need a second thought. The time has come for SADC to consider auditing and reviewing its facilitation in Zimbabwe by, among other things contrasting it with the regional body’s long-going facilitation in Madagascar where there’s no recognised or a legitimate government as such. A policy change is clearly needed.
The fundamental point for SADC to examine now is whether it is legitimate and proper for it to go beyond facilitating conflicting political parties in a Member State to get them to form a government. As already pointed out, and SADC officials and diplomats in the organisation’s peace and security departments should take this point seriously for current and future purposes, once a legitimate or recognised government is formed in a Member State after a disagreement or stalemate of one sort or another where there’s no war, then surely SADC’s only point of contact and engagement should be that government and no other structure, not least structures of political parties.
It should be recalled that the stalemate that got SADC to be involved in Zimbabwe with specific reference to the GPA negotiations is not because the March 29, 2008, harmonised general election was disputed as often falsely claimed by dilettantes and illiterates in our midst, but because its outcome was inconclusive in that it did not produce an outright winner in Parliament with at least 106 out of 210 seats in the lower House of Assembly necessary to form a government. This is the only reason there was a stalemate, nothing else, not even the presidential election which Tsvangirai imagined he would win by boycotting.
The claim that the stalemate was due to a disputed election is therefore nonsense. As a matter of fact, there’s no country in SADC that has ever held an election whose outcome has not been disputed. It would thus be utter foolishness for SADC or anyone to force negotiations under the presumption that Zimbabweans should somehow be helped or made to hold an election whose outcome will not be disputed. Come to think about it, there’s no single election anywhere in the civilised democratic world whose outcome is not disputed. Indeed, the essence of democratic elections is that their conduct and outcome are always disputed as part of the democratic process. What is important is to ensure that there are constitutional and legal mechanisms for resolving the disputes that inevitably ensue after a democratic election. Even more important are constitutional and legal mechanisms for dealing with an inconclusive electoral outcome for purposes of forming a government.
Otherwise the proposition by promoters of the SADC mediated election roadmap that Zimbabwe should aim for a dispute-free election is a worthless pipedream with no example on earth.
The bottom line is that our next harmonised general election should be conducted in terms of the laws and Constitution of Zimbabwe given the GPA if it does not collapse. If any of the three parties that form the government want to change those laws, they should do so through Cabinet which is governed by our Constitution and not through a parallel and arguably illegal process of negotiations under an unregulated process of SADC facilitation which is open to hostile manipulation by the white world made of the US, UK, EU, Canada, Australia and New Zealand whose racist hatred for our country and its liberation legacy is now legendary.
If the idea of negotiating a negotiated, agreed and signed agreement for the conduct of our next harmonised general election is bad, then doing the same to implement so- called security sector reforms is worse. Our security sector is not only the foundation of our national security but, only a paltry 31 years since our hard-won independence, it is also the only true custodian of the legacy of our liberation struggle at a time when the price tag for selling out is ever shifting with no shortage for bidders.
It is a fact that those who want to reform our security sector are associated with Rhodesians whose days are now numbered. It is hard to imagine that there’s any SADC leader who would like to see Zimbabwe’s security sector reformed to enable the dying Rhodesians to find a new lease of life in Zimbabwe some 31 years after our independence under the pretext of a treacherous election roadmap based on the very same universal right to vote which the Rhodesians and British colonialists denied us only 31 years ago.
Furthermore, it is hard to imagine that any SADC leader would want the security sector of his or her country reformed through extrajudicial negotiations which are neither constitutional nor legal. Proper security sector reforms must always be done and led by the security sector itself, and not by third parties operating outside the law under the treacherous cover of negotiations that are in fact not necessary at all.
If SADC leaders and officials have been following this issue as closely as they should be, they would be aware that the talk among merchants of regime change in the region is that a British template for toppling and changing governments in the region is emerging from the countries that make up the former Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Malawi, in that unlike elsewhere in the region the outcome of elections in these countries cannot be predicted.
The thinking behind this regime change proposition is that only these three countries in SADC are democratic if democracy is defined as the possibility of having an election which any party can win, including those that are foreign founded and funded. What is troubling about this neo-colonial proposition which should be food for thought for SADC countries, especially Zambia and Malawi, is that it is based on the presumption that the security sector must be neutralised, corrupted and compromised to the point of impotence during elections for the proposition to hold.
If there’s anyone out there who thinks that our comrades in the security sector sacrificed their lives during the liberation struggle in order to allow Rhodesians as well as media and political puppets of our erstwhile colonisers to subvert our independence and sovereignty through elections 31 years after the fact, then they need to have their heads examined by a competent psychiatrist for their madness because nothing of the sort will ever happen.
These puppets and their masters will not be allowed to reform something they did not form using the cover of GPA negotiations under misplaced SADC facilitation which the UK government apparently wants to use to dictate regime change in our country.
Finally, it is clear that the media and diplomatic excitement that has been seen since the SADC organ troika on defence, politics and security cooperation Livingstone summit is intended to transform the role of SADC in Zimbabwe from facilitation to intervention. Our leaders will have to reflect on this issue very seriously when they meet on May 20. Without prejudging anything, it is safe to say that any SADC flirtation with intervention in Zimbabwe would risk compromising the regional body’s standing whose handling of the situation in Madagascar has exposed its weaknesses.
This might be hard to swallow for some simple minds out there but, as sure as the sun will shine tomorrow, and from a well-considered academic point of view supported by published scholarly research and the historical record, SADC needs Zimbabwe under Zanu PF than Zimbabwe under Zanu PF needs SADC. That is food for thought which is neither a threat nor a promise to anyone.
Labels: 2011 ELECTIONS (ZIMBABWE), JONATHAN MOYO
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Some prefer chaos to peace: Tsvangirai
by Morgan Tsvangirai
13/05/2011 00:00:00
The following is the full text of a speech by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, at the launch of the SAPES Pan African Policy Dialogue Forum in Harare on May 12, 2011:
Dr Mandaza,
Members of Parliament
Civil Society Leaders,
Members of the Diplomatic Corp,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Thank you for inviting me here today. The purpose of this evening’s gathering is to promote discussion and debate and therefore I shall keep my presentation short.
I am here to launch the Pan African Policy Dialogue Forum and it would not be in the spirit of dialogue if I chose to deliver a speech to you rather than promote the dialogue and interaction that this forum deserves.
With regard to our theme, Beyond Party Politics – Towards a National Vision for Zimbabwe, I wish to tackle it in two parts.
Firstly, why elevating our national vision above party politics is essential to promote growth and development and;
Secondly, why Zimbabwe still has some way to go to achieve this goal.
Ladies and Gentlemen, in all mature democracies the presence of a loyal opposition is accepted without question.
That is, members of a political party not holding a voting majority in parliament are viewed as sharing a common national vision while holding opinions and promoting policies that differ from the governing party or governing coalition.
Where patriotism is not wielded as a political tool and used to subvert the law and the Constitution and where membership of a political party is no more divisive or dangerous than membership of a sports club. It is only within such an environment that it is possible to truly lay the foundations for sustained national development. In such an environment it is possible to look beyond political or party differences, beyond tribal or racial divisions, and work towards a future in which we are united as Zimbabweans working for the betterment of our nation.
It is when we are united,not only by our identity as Zimbabweans, but also by our ability to respect our individual differences under that title that we will begin to really move forward and act towards a common vision.
Ultimately, in such a society, no one has the right to define exactly what is meant by sovereignty, or who is more patriotic or more deserving of access to our nation’s riches and resources.
In such a society where membership and rights are based on the broadest and simplest of categories, such as birth and citizenship and where the courts vigorously defend equally the rights of any individual that qualifies under these broad determinants.
And finally, where we all have equal protection of our laws based on a deep and abiding tolerance for our differences as much as a deep and abiding affection for our similarities.
Where the police protect our people and the sole remit of the army is to defend our borders or provide humanitarian assistance in times of natural disaster.
Ladies and Gentlemen, it is only in such a mature democracy, devoid of petty squabbles, that we will be able to ensure that all of our children have access to more opportunities than their parents in respect of education, employment, health care and food security.
It was to take a positive step towards building this new Zimbabwe that my party decided to form this transitional government through signing the Global Political Agreement.
The GPA, though not a perfect arrangement, is an example that parties can sit down, define and agree on what is good for the country. Because there were painful compromises on both sides, at least the GPA provided the necessary foundation for parties to forgo their parochial party positions and act in the national interest.
However, what the past two years have illustrated and what I mentioned at the beginning of this presentation is that, sadly, we are still a long way from the reality of a national vision that transcends party politics. Despite its commitments within the GPA, Zanu PF has made it blatantly obvious over the past two years and in the previous decades that it believes it has the sole mandate to Govern even in the absence of a mandate from the people.
That same party portrays any attack on its unjustified, unsustainable and violent grip on power as an attack on the State of Zimbabwe.
Such a destructive mentality spells disaster for our nation and its people.
That is why, I am determined to fight to change the culture of governance in this country.
To bring about an environment where incumbents stand down gracefully if they lose an election and where the people’s right to determine their own future, as well as who governs them, is so deeply entrenched in our society that it becomes as normal and natural as breathing.
Therefore, I will stand-up against propagandists that continue to blame others outside Zimbabwe for the ills we face inside.
I will continue to stand against looters who plunder our national riches and subsequently starve our civil service, our health and education facilities.
I and the party I represent believe in broad-based empowerment of the ordinary person and that is why we have a different interpretation of what the so-called indigenization regulations are all about.
Broad-based empowerment of the common man and woman is what we believe in, and not the looting, expropriation or nationalization by the elite as envisaged by some of our partners in this government.
So we will take a strong position against expropriation in thenational interest, beyond the narrow party politics of rhetoric and patronage of our coalition partners.
And I will continue to speak out against those within our government who hide behind badly worded and illegally implemented legislation to take investments, organizations and assets that do not belong to them.
Only when we have succeeded in eradicating these short-sighted, selfish and nationally self-destructive tendencies from our political environment can we begin to truly rise above party politics and develop and implement a real vision for Zimbabwe.
But I want to remain positive and optimistic that the people’s aspirations for the political leadership and political parties to go beyond party politics will be achieved well within our lifetime.
The unity by MPs from the two MDC formations and our friends in Zanu PF to defend the people’s will by acting in common purpose to re-elect Hon LovemoreMoyo as Speaker of the House of Assembly shows that it is possible to work towards a common visionand a common purpose.
At the inception of the inclusive government, one of whose core responsibilities was to restore economic stability, we tried in the first two years through the Short Term Economic recovery Programme (STERP) to stop the bleeding, to stem inflation and to provide respite in the health and education sectors.
Food became available and we brought some hope to the people of Zimbabwe because there was more collaboration than competition, which competition has now been brought to the fore again through misguided election talk without proper conditions for a free and fair poll.
We need to have a clear national economic vision that transcends party politics. A vision to create jobs, bring investment and set the ground for peace, stability and security as these are key ingredients to economic success.
We must start by have a clear five year programme that will deal with massive unemployment and poverty that we currently face, a clear programme underpinned by political reforms, a commitment to the rule of law, defense of property rights and reward of individual effort, infrastructure rehabilitation, resuscitation of our manufacturing potential and increasing our mining and agricultural productivity.
These are surely issues that must unite all of us across the political divide if we are to put the interests of this country ahead of partisan interests.
Under this new programme, some of us envision a $15 billion economy in the next five years and we can be able to achieve a US$100 billion economy by 2030. It is possible, if we work together, to achieve 10 percent annual growth rate as long as we all agree to a peaceful country underpinned by constitutionalism and the rule of law. Our challenge is that there others who are not driven by the collective national interest and prefer chaos to peace so that they can create wealth for themselves and their cronies.
I want to thank you for giving me the honour to make the first presentation and to launch the inaugural Pan African Leadership dialogue.
Dialogue is the missing link in our collective effort to craft sound policies in the best interests of the country and the people.
I am told that the Pan African Leadership Dialogue that we launch here today will be honouring and profiling prominent African leaders on our continent and in the Diaspora, drawing on their wealth of experience in policy making and leadership at national, sub-regional or continental levels.
It is therefore my singular honour and priviledge to officially launch the Pan African Dialogue Series. Let the dialogue not only begin - but bear fruits for the people by contributing to a more open, transparent and honest leadership!
I thank you.
Labels: MORGAN TSVANGIRAI
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Malema, Zuma clash over land, mines
12/05/2011 00:00:00
by Staff Reporter
SOUTH African President Jacob Zuma’s repudiation of Julius Malema’s stance on land redistribution is “not consistent” with party policy, the powerful ANC Youth League said on Thursday as it staunchly defended its leader.
Zuma, speaking to farmers in KwaZulu Natal, sought to deal with fears and insecurities around compulsory acquisition of land without compensation championed by Malema by suggesting the maverick was expressing his personal views.
“Malema is on a learning curve and the farming community must not be shaken by his comments,” Zuma was quoted as saying. “What he says are simply his views.”
But the Youth League, which is increasingly at odds with Zuma over government policy, said it was “concerned by the manner in which President Zuma addresses policy issues contained in the discussion documents of the ANC Youth League towards the 24th National Congress” which runs from June 16-20.
“The question of expropriation of land without compensation is a policy proposal contained in ANC Youth League discussion documents for the 24th National Congress, and not ‘simply his [Malema’s] views’. Attributing the views expressed in the discussion document to Malema is not helpful and can only serve to isolate him from the organisation,” the Youth League said in a statement following a meeting of its national working committee.
The League added: “We believe that the manner in which the issue of land reform was responded to is not consistent with this principle. Malema is expressing views contained in the ANC Youth League discussion document, which is inspired by the ANC 52nd National Conference’s observation which says:
“‘We have only succeeded in redistributing 4% of agricultural land since 1994, while more than 80% of agricultural land remains in the hands of fewer than 50,000 white farmers and agribusinesses. The willing-seller, willing-buyer approach to land acquisition has constrained the pace and efficacy of land reform. It is clear from our experience, that the market is unable to effectively alter the patterns of land ownership in favour of an equitable and efficient distribution of land’.”
The League went further to say it was “further concerned on how the question of nationalisation of mines is responded to because the ANC has a resolution on how the question should be approached, in line with the ANC National General Council’s ‘greater consensus on nationalisation of mines and other strategic sectors of the economy’ and the Freedom Charter.”
Labels: ANC YOUTH LEAGUE, JULIUS MALEMA, LAND REFORM, SOUTH AFRICA
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Poverty, ignorance and our elections
By The Post
Fri 13 May 2011, 04:00 CAT
It is clear that a lot of work needs to be done to raise the political culture of our people if democracy is to work in this country. It is also clear that while the desire for freedom may be innate, the practice of democracy must be learnt.
Whether the hinge of history will continue to open the doors of freedom and opportunity in our country depends on the dedication and collective wisdom of all our people themselves – not upon any history’s iron laws, and certainly not on the imagined benevolence of self-appointed leaders.
And contrary to some perceptions, a healthy democratic society is not simply an arena in which individuals pursue their own personal goals.
Democracies flourish when they are tended by citizens willing to use their hard-won freedom to participate in the life of their society – adding their voice to the public debate, electing representatives who are held accountable for their decisions and actions, and accepting the need for tolerance and compromise in public life.
The citizens of a democracy enjoy the right of individual freedom, but they also share the responsibility of joining with others to shape a future that will continue to embrace the fundamental values of freedom and self government.
Democracy and freedom’s apparent surge in our country over the last two decades by no means ensures its ultimate success. That people naturally prefer freedom to oppression can indeed be taken for granted. But that is not the same as saying that democratic political systems can be expected to create and maintain themselves overtime. On the contrary.
The idea of democracy is durable, but its practice is precarious. While this fact is cause for neither pessimism nor despair; instead, it serves as a challenge. While the desire for freedom may be innate, as we have already pointed out, the practice of democracy must be learned.
For this reason, the observations made by Dr Alex Ng’oma, the president of the Foundation for Democratic Process, that there is need for non-governmental organisations to focus their civic education more in poverty stricken areas where the majority of the people are prone to political manipulation deserves favourable consideration. It is true that most Zambians cannot enhance their human development and remain independent from political manipulation due to high poverty levels.
It is also true that some politicians have taken advantage of this to manipulate the poorest of our people in a bid to influence their choices of leaders during elections. Food stuffs, farming inputs, bicycles, chitenge materials, T-shirts, mealie-meal, sugar, salt, money and so on and so forth have been used to influence the poor on how they should vote and whom they should vote for.
This being the case, there is need to raise the political culture to a level where people in our rural areas, in our poor communities, would vote for a political party or candidate not because they have been given material things, they have been given foodstuffs but rather because they believe in the policies being floated to them by a particular political party or candidate.
This will require a lot of work both on the political and economic front. This will require good political leadership. It will also require meaningful economic development. These are the two most decisive factors affecting the future consolidation and expansion of democracy in this country.
We say this because judging by the record of the past and by what is going on in our country today, the two most decisive factors affecting the future consolidation and expansion of our democracy will be economic development and political leadership. This is so because economic development makes democracy possible; political leadership makes it real.
With poverty, it is very difficult for most of our people, for the great majority of our people living in abject poverty to set themselves a political agenda. And elections in which the great majority of our people, the poor people, cannot set themselves a political agenda cannot be said to be democratic.
We know that there is no regime in the world, even the most autocratic, that has ever claimed not to be democratic. Even the worst tyrants have attempted to claim popular support by pinning democratic labels upon themselves.
Poverty is often, if not always, accompanied by ignorance. And where there is ignorance, people are taken advantage of. Informed public opinion is the most potent of all restraints upon misgovernment.
Those who want to take advantage of the people always try to keep the people in ignorance so that they can easily manipulate them, abuse them, exploit them. It’s only the people themselves, the electorate that can protect their rights. And the electorate is the ultimate custodian of its own freedom.
And from this perspective, democratic government, which is elected by and accountable to its citizens, is not the antagonist of individual rights, but their protector.
It is to enhance their rights that citizens in a democracy undertake their civic obligations and responsibilities. Poor people, ignorant people, cannot be expected to meaningfully, effectively and efficiently undertake their civic obligations and responsibilities.
And broadly speaking, these responsibilities entail participating in the democratic process to ensure its functioning. At a minimum, citizens should educate themselves about the critical issues confronting their society – if only to vote intelligently for candidates running for high office.
The essence of democratic action is the active, freely chosen participation of its citizens in the public life of their community and nation. Without this broad, sustaining participation, democracy will begin to wither and become the preserve of a small, select number of individuals and groups.
But with the active engagement of well-informed individuals across the spectra of society, democracy can wither the inevitable economic and political storms that sweep over every society, without sacrificing the freedoms and rights that they are sworn to uphold.
Clearly, democracy is more than the sum of institutions. A healthy democracy depends in large part on the development of a democratic civic culture. A totalitarian political system encourages a culture of passivity, apathy and ignorance. The regime seeks to mould an obedient and docile citizenry.
By contrast, the civic culture of a democratic society is shaped by the freely chosen activities of individuals and groups.
As Dr Ng’oma has correctly observed, education is a vital component of any society, but especially of a democracy. And as Thomas Jefferson once observed: “If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilisation, it expects what never was and never shall be.
In contrast to tyrannical societies which seek to inculcate an attitude of passive acceptance, the object of democratic education is to produce citizens who are independent, questioning and analytical in their outlook, yet deeply familiar with the precepts and practices of democracy.
We say this because people may be born with an appetite for personal freedom, but they are not born with knowledge about the social and political arrangements that make freedom possible overtime for themselves and their children.
Such things must be acquired. They must be learned. But such things are very difficult to acquire, are very difficult to learn in societies or communities where people are very poor, are ignorant and illiterate. Therefore, to move forward, they have to overcome poverty simultaneously with ignorance and illiteracy.
In a democracy, it can fairly be said, democracy enables freedom itself to flourish overtime. Where there is an enlightened citizenry, the power of those in power to abuse people is reduced. And government is best when its potential for abuse is curbed, and when it is held as close to the people as possible.
And we have already pointed out, voting in the election of public officials is the most visible and common form of participation in today’s democracies, and also the fundamental. The ability to conduct free and fair elections is at the core of what it means to call a society democratic.
One cannot say there are free and fair elections in a society where the voters can be bribed with mealie-meal, sugar, salt, fertiliser, seed, bicycles, chitenge materials, T-shirts, caps, money and so on and so forth to vote for a particular political party or candidate. But we know that where people are very poor and ignorant, this type of manipulation is common and easily takes place.
We see it in this country whenever and wherever there are elections. We have seen even the President of the this country distributing sugar and mealie-meal to the electorate to a point where we had to nickname him ‘Sugar Daddy’.
As the election date draws near, you will see those with deep pockets, especially those in government, distributing relief food – maize, rice and so on and so forth – to the electorate. And these poor people, these hungry people, out of fear of being seen to be ungrateful, will vote for them.
This is the type of “free and fair elections” we have in this country. This is how the poor of this country are abused, exploited and betrayed. This has to stop before we can have meaningful democracy in this country, before our people can truly and freely choose their government.
Labels: ALEX NG'OMA, DEMOCRACY, POVERTY
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Sata refused to buy me a bag of mealie-meal - Shikapwasha
By Misheck Wangwe and Isaac Phiri in Ndola
Fri 13 May 2011, 10:20 CAT
Chief government spokesperson Lt Gen Ronnie Shikapwasha has described PF leader Michael Sata as an evil man who refused to assist him with money to buy a bag of mealie-meal at the time he was unemployed. And confusion among MMD members characterised Lieutenant General Ronnie Shikapwasha’s visit to Ndola’s Chifubu township on Wednesday.
Addressing a private MMD meeting at Chifubu’s Mpezeni Hall where journalists, both from public and private media, were blocked, Lt Gen Shikapwasha urged MMD members not to give Sata a chance because he would not assist anybody.
He said when he left Zambia Air Force and life became hard for him and his family, he met Sata at a filling station but the latter refused to assist him with money for a bag of mealie-meal.
“I was unemployed and at that time I was sick, I had backaches. We only had a small shop where my wife was selling bread. One day I met Sata at a filling station, I asked him for assistance because we didn’t have mealie-meal at home and he refused to assist me.
He said to me ‘Awe kapoke fye uko kwine uleya’ (go and get assistance where you are going). That’s how bad that man is,” he said.
Lt Gen Shikapwasha who is also Information and Broadcasting minister said the PF would destroy the nation if Zambians allowed them to take over government.
And Lt Gen Shikapwasha accused The Post of fabricating stories on President Rupiah Banda and the government.
He said the story which was published in The Post where former vice-president Lupando Mwape explained his recall from China was a total fabrications.
“We are not bothered by what this newspaper reports. The Post wants to create animosity in this country but it will not happen.
It’s full of lies but all these maneouvres will not take them anywhere,” Lt Gen Shikapwasha said.
He was reacting to Lupando’s sentiment that he had been recalled by President Banda on account of being old.
Meanwhile, MMD members in Chifubu insulted each other and almost fought after supporters of the suspended constituency chairman Joseph Mukosela were prevented from attending a meeting at Mpezeni Hall chaired by Lt Gen Shikapwasha.
Some of Mukosela’s supporters vowed not to campaign for the MMD because of the mistreatment they were getting from the newly elected Ndola district chairman Victor Koni.
The party’s Chifubu Constituency vice-chairperson Noah Bwalya who was earlier also prevented from attending the meeting but was later allowed accused some party leaders in the district of dividing and weakening the party.
“This is the year of elections and we should be more organised as a party. But this discrimination and selfishness is killing us,” Bwalya complained.
As Shikapwasha arrived to address the meeting, divisions among the cadres deepened as supporters of Koni advanced towards the supporters of Mukosela who were getting ready for a fight.
Chifubu Constituency information and publicity secretary Hagai Bwalya described Koni as a bad leader who was busy persecuting MMD members he perceived as his enemies.
“This Koni is not a founder member of the MMD. He is not a ‘true blue’ of the party. He has brought more harm than good to the MMD. Koni knows nothing, he can’t even express himself in English and these people are calling him district chairman.
If this continues we will not campaign for anyone except President Rupiah Banda. We will just fold our arms and watch the PF and other people do the campaigns,” Bwalya said.
The confusion was only stopped by some policemen and senior MMD officials who assured both sides that the problem would be resolved amicably after the meeting.
Labels: RONNIE SHIKAPWASHA
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NAPSA deal raises Lubinda’s eyebrows
By Chibaula Silwamba
Fri 13 May 2011, 04:01 CAT
NAPSA’s US$98 million deal with Zambia National Building Society is highly suspicious and raises eyebrows, says Given Lubinda. Lubinda said NAPSA must instead prudently manage pensioners’ funds as mandated by law.
“NAPSA being a pensions fund is keeping money that belongs to pensioners directly and its management of the funds must be in public interest,” he said.
“This matter has raised so much controversy because of the bad timing for K500 billion about US million of people’s funds to be subjected to a very suspicious investment portfolio in an election year is not wise judgment,” Lubinda said.
Lubinda, who is PF member of parliament for Kabwata and chairperson of African Network of Parliamentarians Against Corruption, urged NAPSA to hold back on this investment decision and subject the issue to further public debate.
He called for a public presentation of the proposed US $98 million investment.
Lubinda advised that the Zambia Institute of Chartered Accountants (ZICA) should, on behalf of pensioners, assess the viability of NAPSA’s investment and determine whether or not this investment decision made economic sense.
Lubinda urged parliamentarians to take keen interest in the matter because the funds involved were for the public and that the investment was illiquid.
“This investment will certainly affect NAPSA’s ability to pay pensioners. It will affect the cash flow position of NAPSA,” Lubinda said.
“There is no one who would be allowed by Bank of Zambia to borrow in excess of their balance sheet and especially using the so-called special vehicle. Why would one want to commit themselves to such a huge loan and not manage it themselves but give it to another entity to manage it?”
He said it raised a lot of eyebrows that NAPSA and ZNBS decided to establish a company, whose ownership was unknown, to manage huge funds.
“The other reason why this issue raises eyebrows is that it comes too soon after a similar transaction involving NAPSA and Meanwood. Also, it raises a lot of questions because this is coming after President Rupiah Banda issued instructions that properties belonging to parastatals, including NAPSA, should be sold on the market for a song. It shows that there is no will on the part of President Banda to protect public institutions and finances,” he said.
Lubinda also demanded that NAPSA makes public its investment portfolio in the Levy Junction, the residential and commercial development project located opposite the Lusaka Central Police Station.
Well-placed sources disclosed that President Banda pressurised NAPSA to provide US$ 98 million to ZNBS for refurbishing the latter’s building in Lusaka.
However, NAPSA and ZNBS have failed to convincingly explain the transaction in which a Kenyan firm was allegedly single sourced to carry out the works.
Labels: CORRUPTION, GIVEN LUBINDA, NAPSA
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Zambia needs new political dispensation - Nkole
By Patson Chilemba
Fri 13 May 2011, 04:01 CAT
THE due process of the law will continue to be interfered with if the same political group remains in office after this year’s general elections, says Maxwell Nkole. Nkole, who is former Task Force on Corruption chairperson, said it would be difficult to have a new way of doing things under the current regime.
“I think we will continue on the same old platform and the due process of the law will continue to be interfered with, unfortunately. And that is up to the Zambian people to decide if this is what they want to see continuing. This is a year of elections, you never know where the country is going to go to,” Nkole said.
“But I know that the law normally is changed by the political system obtaining at the time, and should that change come this year, then I am sure that these issues will be looked at totally differently.”
Nkole said there was need for a new political dispensation to address issues like realising people’s demands for Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Chalwe Mchenga to go for allowing the Executive to usurp his powers.
He said whatever the Law Association of Zambia (LAZ) would try to do to remove Mchenga, even constitutionally, would face opposition from the government as he owed his continued stay in office to the current administration.
“So LAZ would have a mammoth task to try to issue any kind of mandate for the replacement of the DPP.
But it is an issue which amongst the legal fraternity, legal profession they are supposed to reflect on as to the independence of the DPP’s office, and also of the performance of the individual who is actually holding office,” Nkole said.
“That is within their competence as LAZ. They can come up with a position if they concur with the previous LAZ executive. If they have to add any more momentum and guidance, they should be at liberty to do so as well.”
Nkole said a new government after the elections would create an environment where the new LAZ could work, given the political direction the country would take.
“So in a way all those cases that have been withdrawn or suspended can only be revisited, I think, with a new political dispensation, not in the current system. So those are not dead issues. They are still alive I think in the minds of most Zambians,” said Nkole.
“And you can’t go beyond where we have gone, apart from stating very categorically that justice has been suffocated midway.”
Nkole said if another political group came into office they would look at issues differently, and then the new LAZ would have an environment within which they could interpret the law effectively.
Labels: CHALWE MCHENGA, MAXWELL NKOLE, SEPARATION OF POWERS
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Zambians are looking for another leader - Waza
By Christopher Miti in Chipata
Fri 13 May 2011, 04:01 CAT
Zambians are looking for another leader to serve them, says Dr Waza Kaunda. Featuring on Radio Maria’s Face the Media programme on Monday, Dr Waza who is first Republican president Dr Kenneth Kaunda’s son, said Zambians were resolved to change leadership in the coming elections although the MMD was resisting to allow the people’s will to prevail.
“Zambians are looking for another leader to serve them but the MMD is refusing to do what my father did (to hand over power), but we are saying no to this,” Dr Waza said.
He said it was clear that Zambians were tired of the MMD leadership and it was time people realised that PF leader Michael Sata was the only opposition leader who could defeat the MMD.
“Michael Sata is experienced, he has been a minister in all the governments. He knows this country very well, he knows all the corners of Zambia. Give him a chance. Why rob him of victory simply because you say you don’t like him?” he said.
“I heard people going around the country saying let’s look at the leadership. My opinion today is that only Sata can lead us into defeating MMD. Those who are talking about other elections, they can dream about it in their own homes.”
And commenting on President Rupiah Banda’s administration, Dr Waza said he risked bearing the label of dictator if he did not let the people’s will prevail in the coming elections.
He said President Banda was bent on maintaining his hold on power and had even halted the use of the parallel vote tabulation (PVT) by the opposition and other election monitors including the international community in the monitoring of the coming elections.
“Unfortunately the end of dictators is not good. What we are saying now is that we need a fair system of election, a system that is acceptable and fair not only to donors but it must be fair even in our homes. Zambians should use their vote to get better services, including health,” Dr Waza said.
He said Zambians needed the PVT more than they needed it in 1991 as it was the only way rigging of elections could be halted.
He said the government should be made accountable through the ballot and that people had been killed in Mongu, Mazabuka and Mansa because the government of the day had gone to sleep.
He further said it was unfortunate that President Banda had embraced Frederick Chiluba who was an abuser of human rights.
“Chiluba deported William Banda and late John Chinyula to Malawi. Now President Banda has embraced this man. Chiluba is a criminal who should be charged with kidnapping, with false allegations. President Banda has embraced this person,” he said.
Dr Waza has since urged ECZ chairperson Justice Ireen Mambilima to ensure that what happened under her leadership previously, when people had continued to cast their ballots some days after the closure of polls does not repeat itself this year. He called on civil servants who run the elections not to allow manipulation.
Labels: MICHAEL SATA, PF
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Poverty is Zambia’s greatest enemy, says FODEP
By Kombe Chimpinde
Fri 13 May 2011, 04:00 CAT
POVERTY is Zambia's greatest enemy to social and human development, says Dr Alex Ng'oma. Dr Ng'oma, who is Foundation for Democratic Process (FODEP) president, observed that most Zambians could not enhance their human development and remain independent from political manipulation due to high poverty levels being experienced.
He said
some politicians had taken advantage of the continued high poverty levels to manipulate the poorest in a bid to influence their choices of leaders during elections.
“Sometimes no matter how much we try to educate communities, they still remain prone to manipulation such as the giving of foodstuffs and farming inputs during an election period,” he said.
Dr Ng'oma said until poverty is eradicated at national level, Zambia would continue to have challenges in conducting civic education, especially among voters.
He said there was need for the country to reach a level where people in rural areas would vote for a political party not because they had been given material things but rather because they believed in policies being floated by a particular party.
Dr Ng'oma, however, said there was need for non-governmental organisations to focus their civic education more in poverty stricken areas where the majority of people were prone to political manipulation.
Dr Ng'oma, who is also a lecturer at the University of Zambia, recommended that intensive civic education be done not only during election periods but throughout the year in order to create awareness among possible voters.
“We have begun carrying out civic education in Western and Southern provinces. We have not been able to go to other parts of the country due to lack of adequate funding,” said Dr Ng'oma.
Labels: ALEX NG'OMA, FODEP, POVERTY
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Kabimba holds Kunda responsible for constitution failure
By Patson Chilemba
Thu 12 May 2011, 04:01 CAT
GEORGE Kunda must be held accountable for the failure of the constitution-making process because he wanted to make a constitution that would suit his and the MMD’s interests, says Lusaka lawyer Wynter Kabimba.
And Kabimba, who is also opposition PF national secretary, said the injustice of Director of Public Prosecutions Chalwe Mchenga cannot be allowed to continue.
Endorsing Law Association of Zambia president Musa Mwenye’s remark that someone in government should be held accountable for the constitution-making process failure - a process on which over K200 billion taxpayers money was wasted, Kabimba said Vice-President Kunda failed to listen to the views of the people by bulldozing the constitution-making process so that his and the MMD’s interests could be guaranteed.
“There is no doubt that they again wanted to tailor the constitution to suit the MMD. There is no doubt about that. This again was not going to be the people’s constitution. It was going to be an MMD constitution,” he said.
Kabimba said something should be done over the K200 billion which was wasted on the futile process.
“What does the government financial regulations say? If you misuse government money you should be surcharged. That is what the regulations say, civil service financial regulations or public service financial regulations say you must be surcharged for that misuse,” Kabimba said.
“In other words all of George Kunda’s gratuity must go back to the people of Zambia in form of a surcharge. He must be surcharged for that uncalled for expenditure because it means even as he was pursuing that, his intention was not to do the right thing.”
Kabimba said Vice-President Kunda had carried forward the lies which started during late president Levy Mwanawasa’s reign.
He said the government had announced then that they would repeal the 1996 Constitution through the Willa Mung’omba Constitutional Review Commission (CRC).
Mwenye last Monday demanded that someone in government be held accountable over the constitution-making process failure.
He said his personal views on the matter, which he issued in 2006 and 2007, were that the process of the National Constitutional Conference (NCC) was doomed to fail.
“The reason why I said what I said at the time was because of the infusion of partisan interests into an otherwise national undertaking. At the time I proposed that for the process to be successful the draft constitution adopted by a broadly representative organ should only be submitted to Parliament after it has been approved by the people in a Referendum,” Mwenye said.
“I suggested at the time that since the people were, for lack of a better term, the appointers of the legislators, they should reserve for themselves the right to directly approve the Constitution in a Referendum after which their agents had no choice but to pass the document as approved.”
Mwenye said what he warned would occur had now actually happened.
“My view is that someone must be held accountable for not listening to the views of the people. The back stops at the government’s table. So it is up to the government to tell us exactly who should be held accountable within their ranks,” he said.
Mwenye said it was a tragedy that the nation had wasted billions of money on a failed process, saying the nation could ill-afford to waste so much money.
On the government’s announcement that they would reintroduce the constitution bills which were shot down by Parliament if they were re-elected into office, Mwenye said this was a process that was doomed to fail.
“You can’t reinstate a fatal process. What government should be saying is that perhaps; ‘we need to come to a place where we can reconstruct what the views of the people are with regard to this constitution, after which we should submit to the Referendum after which we should talk about taking this issue to Parliament',” said Mwenye.
“All of us who may have participated in NCC despite clear warnings should re-examine our consciences on what part we have played in plundering the national resources, or wastage of national resources.”
And Kabimba said Mchenga must go because he lacked integrity by betraying the cause of the people.
“There is no way you are going to have a credible criminal justice system if the DPP is compromised or appears to be compromised. You can’t have a credible criminal justice system. That is what the people of Zambia have been crying about,” said Kabimba.
“Failure to appeal most of these plunder cases have not convinced the people of Zambia that that failure is in the interest of the people.”
Labels: CHALWE MCHENGA, CONSTITUTION, GEORGE KUNDA, NCC, WYNTER KABIMBA
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Kasama headteachers vow to crush Rupiah
By Darious Kapembwa
Fri 13 May 2011, 10:30 CAT
SOME headteachers from various schools in Kasama have vowed to crush president Rupiah Banda and the MMD during this year’s tripartite elections. The headteachers talked to said they are angered by the behaviour of local government deputy minister Moses Muteteka and education minister Dora Siliya’s address to them.
Muteteka and Siliya last Saturday met the head- teachers at Kasama Girls High School where they instructed them to vote for President Banda and the MMD.
According to the head- teachers, Muteteka angered them when he disrespectfully rebuked them on why the MMD was fast losing popularity when they (headteachers) were supposed to be explaining various government programmes to people around the schools’ catchments.
“They came here telling us the usual rhetoric. Dora started first; she was saying she knows that all of us are politicians only that we have not come out in the open.
She asked us that, ‘why do you criticise government so much and yet you don’t praise the good thing that government is doing for you and the people when you are in schools that are receiving development?” one of the teachers said.
They said Siliya told them that Patriotic Front president Michael Sata was a bad person compared to President Banda.
“I think she got an idea of what they expect from us after elections because the whole mission here was to discredit Sata and PF and that is what unsettled all of us such that we murmured in disagreement, because she kept saying they government have a programme for us while Sata does not have.
But what programme is that which is only talked about when elections are near? So we want to try Sata because we have seen his party manifesto.
Otherwise their mission here is total failure because it is difficult to change a decided mind. We have suffered for too long and are resolved to teach them a lesson,” said another headteacher.
The school heads, however, said they became incensed by Muteteka who spoke like he was addressing ‘his children’.
They said they openly protested against Muteteka’s address until he apologised, sat down and called Siliya to address them.
“That young man, he started shouting at us like we are nothing, ‘eeh why are you not explaining? So we got angry until he said ‘sorry, maybe Honourable Siliya knows how to handle you since she works with you’,” said the headteacher.
When contacted, Muteteka failed to explain his encounter with the head-teachers and only said he and his two other colleagues Liato and Siliya were addressing workers according to their ministries.
“I don’t know what you mean. We are here the three of us myself, Honourable Liato and Honourable Siliya and we are working according to our ministries, so tomorrow I am going to Chinsali to address council workers,” said Muteteka.
Asked whether he addressed teachers at Kasama Girls High School, Muteteka hastily cut the line while Siliya was not reachable by press time.
Labels: DORA SILIYA, KASAMA, MANIFESTO, MMD, MOSES MUTETEKA, RUPIAH BANDA
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No need for GMOs: Mpande
Thursday, 12 May 2011 20:36
Agriculture Reporter
ZIMBABWE does not need to switch to genetic engineering technology to improve agricultural yields and boost food security, a research consultant, Mr Rodger Mpande said in Harare on Wednesday.
He said access to advanced technological means of production, and not genetic modification, holds the key to high yields.
Mr Mpande made the remarks while addressing delegates attending a Knowledge Brief convened by the Humanitarian Information Facilitation Centre (HIFC) in conjunction with the Zimbabwe Organic Producers and Promoters Association (ZOPPA).
He blamed the food crisis in Zimbabwe and the rest of Africa on adverse weather and poor technological advancement.
"It is false that genetically modified crops have higher yields than our own varieties. It is false for Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe is the first country in the world to develop a two-way maize hybrid - the SR52, which was not necessarily a genetically engineered product.
"We have a vibrant seed industry that is next to none. Now there is a new variety that can yield 13 tonnes per hectare if all the necessary conditions are created," he said.
Mr Mpande argued that if the average maize yield per hectare for most smallholder farmers is 0,6 tonnes, a deficit of 12,4tonnes from the new hybrid's full potential, then it was only necessary to empower the farmers on the proper production technologies and not change the genetics of the crops.
He said low levels of technology were responsible for poor production levels, for example, farmers just applying fertilizers to soils that have not been tested, which may not address the nutrient structure of the soil to improve yields.
Mr Mpande explained that two things happened in genetic modification - first, a gene is inserted into a plant, which allows the plant to stand any chemicals applied to it afterwards - something referred to as herbicide tolerance.
Next is the Bt toxin expression that involves inserting a gene to intoxicate a plant so that it can kill pests making it unnecessary to apply pesticides later.
"Genetic modification interferes with other production systems, for instance, the organic method and breeds resistance to herbicides, which creates super weeds that are a problem to farmers.
"It also ignores ecologically friendly methods of weed management and takes away the option of farmer saved seed relying heavily on patent laws that do not empower the farmer," added Mr Mpande.
Genetic modification, explained Mr Mpande, kills the natural potential of crops and sterilises other seeds in the process, which has earned it the nickname ‘terminator technology.'
He also bemoaned the absence of a solid Biosafety Framework on the farm level, border control and food safety regulation, a situation that is even made worse by the lack of a vibrant health monitoring system.
Labels: GMOS
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PM blasts West over sanctions
Saturday, 07 May 2011 23:32 Local News
By Victoria Ruzvidzo in CAPE TOWN, South Africa
PRIME Minister Morgan Tsvangirai has lambasted the West for maintaining sanctions on Zimbabwe, describing them as a huge impediment to progress.
Although this is a dramatic shift from his previous stance where he chose to describe the sanctions as “restrictive measures”, analysts said he is seeking to influence regional opinion in his party’s favour ahead of the Sadc summit where Zimbabwe’s political situation is scheduled for discussion.
Responding to questions from journalists at the just-ended World Economic Forum on Africa meeting here, PM Tsvangirai said during negotiations on the Global Political Agreement it was agreed that sanctions needed to be removed. Mr Tsvangirai’s remarks came as the media onslaught on Zimbabwe moved a gear up at the end of the meeting.
“They (sanctions) are an impediment. We don’t want them and I certainly believe that they should be removed,” he said. Zimbabwe has been hamstrung by sanctions imposed by the West, with the worst hit being the ordinary Zimbabwean. The MDC, headed by Mr Tsvangirai, has in the past campaigned for the introduction and renewal of sanctions.
Recently, the European Union and its allies strengthened their stranglehold on Zimbabwe while also targeting individuals believed to be pro-Government.
In yet another sommersault, Mr Tsvangirai also dispelled reports that security personnel had taken over the running of the country as reported by some sections of the private media and the international Press.
“The Zimbabwean army and other security personnel uphold the Constitution. The security establishment is not there to subvert civilian authority,” he said.
The media here, particularly from Britain, sought to hype-up the situation in Zimbabwe, insinuating, during Press conferences, that Zimbabwe would soon be another Cote d’Ivoire.
“There is no basis for a repeat of the Ivory Coast. It’s a disaster. I don’t believe it can happen in Zimbabwe. There is no basis for it,” said the MDC-T leader.
On elections, Mr Tsvangirai said he believed that they would not be held this year as Zimbabwe was not yet ready for them.
Meanwhile, the US Ambassador to Zimbabwe, Mr Charles Ray, on Wednesday regurgitated his country’s rhetoric by downplaying the biting effects of sanctions on ordinary Zimbabweans, choosing instead to spell out a new strategy by his government to spread propaganda to Zimbabweans through new media such as the Internet.
Ambassador Ray also said the US embassy would continue to support pirate radios and online editions which are anti-Zimbabwe and neo-imperialistic in scope. Responding to questions posed by Gweru-based journalists during belated World Press Freedom Day commemorations held in the city, Ambassador Ray maintained that the sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe were “targeted” derisively referring to the Government initiated Anti-Sanctions Campaign as a mere “waste of time”.
When asked to explain the effects of the so-called “targeted sanctions” on scholarship programmes, lines of credit and the balance of payments support, Ambassador Ray was evasive and could only say: “I have heard every journalist present is asking about the effects of the ‘targeted’ sanctions on Zimbabwe.”
Labels: CHARLES RAY, HYPOCRISY, MORGAN TSVANGIRAI, SANCTIONS, ZDERA
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Poverty, ignorance and our elections
By The Post
Fri 13 May 2011, 04:00 CAT
It is clear that a lot of work needs to be done to raise the political culture of our people if democracy is to work in this country. It is also clear that while the desire for freedom may be innate, the practice of democracy must be learnt.
Whether the hinge of history will continue to open the doors of freedom and opportunity in our country depends on the dedication and collective wisdom of all our people themselves – not upon any history’s iron laws, and certainly not on the imagined benevolence of self-appointed leaders.
And contrary to some perceptions, a healthy democratic society is not simply an arena in which individuals pursue their own personal goals.
Democracies flourish when they are tended by citizens willing to use their hard-won freedom to participate in the life of their society – adding their voice to the public debate, electing representatives who are held accountable for their decisions and actions, and accepting the need for tolerance and compromise in public life.
The citizens of a democracy enjoy the right of individual freedom, but they also share the responsibility of joining with others to shape a future that will continue to embrace the fundamental values of freedom and self government.
Democracy and freedom’s apparent surge in our country over the last two decades by no means ensures its ultimate success. That people naturally prefer freedom to oppression can indeed be taken for granted. But that is not the same as saying that democratic political systems can be expected to create and maintain themselves overtime. On the contrary.
The idea of democracy is durable, but its practice is precarious. While this fact is cause for neither pessimism nor despair; instead, it serves as a challenge. While the desire for freedom may be innate, as we have already pointed out, the practice of democracy must be learned.
For this reason, the observations made by Dr Alex Ng’oma, the president of the Foundation for Democratic Process, that there is need for non-governmental organisations to focus their civic education more in poverty stricken areas where the majority of the people are prone to political manipulation deserves favourable consideration. It is true that most Zambians cannot enhance their human development and remain independent from political manipulation due to high poverty levels.
It is also true that some politicians have taken advantage of this to manipulate the poorest of our people in a bid to influence their choices of leaders during elections. Food stuffs, farming inputs, bicycles, chitenge materials, T-shirts, mealie-meal, sugar, salt, money and so on and so forth have been used to influence the poor on how they should vote and whom they should vote for.
This being the case, there is need to raise the political culture to a level where people in our rural areas, in our poor communities, would vote for a political party or candidate not because they have been given material things, they have been given foodstuffs but rather because they believe in the policies being floated to them by a particular political party or candidate.
This will require a lot of work both on the political and economic front. This will require good political leadership. It will also require meaningful economic development. These are the two most decisive factors affecting the future consolidation and expansion of democracy in this country.
We say this because judging by the record of the past and by what is going on in our country today, the two most decisive factors affecting the future consolidation and expansion of our democracy will be economic development and political leadership. This is so because economic development makes democracy possible; political leadership makes it real.
With poverty, it is very difficult for most of our people, for the great majority of our people living in abject poverty to set themselves a political agenda. And elections in which the great majority of our people, the poor people, cannot set themselves a political agenda cannot be said to be democratic.
We know that there is no regime in the world, even the most autocratic, that has ever claimed not to be democratic. Even the worst tyrants have attempted to claim popular support by pinning democratic labels upon themselves.
Poverty is often, if not always, accompanied by ignorance. And where there is ignorance, people are taken advantage of. Informed public opinion is the most potent of all restraints upon misgovernment.
Those who want to take advantage of the people always try to keep the people in ignorance so that they can easily manipulate them, abuse them, exploit them. It’s only the people themselves, the electorate that can protect their rights. And the electorate is the ultimate custodian of its own freedom.
And from this perspective, democratic government, which is elected by and accountable to its citizens, is not the antagonist of individual rights, but their protector.
It is to enhance their rights that citizens in a democracy undertake their civic obligations and responsibilities. Poor people, ignorant people, cannot be expected to meaningfully, effectively and efficiently undertake their civic obligations and responsibilities.
And broadly speaking, these responsibilities entail participating in the democratic process to ensure its functioning. At a minimum, citizens should educate themselves about the critical issues confronting their society – if only to vote intelligently for candidates running for high office.
The essence of democratic action is the active, freely chosen participation of its citizens in the public life of their community and nation. Without this broad, sustaining participation, democracy will begin to wither and become the preserve of a small, select number of individuals and groups.
But with the active engagement of well-informed individuals across the spectra of society, democracy can wither the inevitable economic and political storms that sweep over every society, without sacrificing the freedoms and rights that they are sworn to uphold.
Clearly, democracy is more than the sum of institutions. A healthy democracy depends in large part on the development of a democratic civic culture. A totalitarian political system encourages a culture of passivity, apathy and ignorance. The regime seeks to mould an obedient and docile citizenry.
By contrast, the civic culture of a democratic society is shaped by the freely chosen activities of individuals and groups.
As Dr Ng’oma has correctly observed, education is a vital component of any society, but especially of a democracy. And as Thomas Jefferson once observed: “If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilisation, it expects what never was and never shall be.
In contrast to tyrannical societies which seek to inculcate an attitude of passive acceptance, the object of democratic education is to produce citizens who are independent, questioning and analytical in their outlook, yet deeply familiar with the precepts and practices of democracy.
We say this because people may be born with an appetite for personal freedom, but they are not born with knowledge about the social and political arrangements that make freedom possible overtime for themselves and their children.
Such things must be acquired. They must be learned. But such things are very difficult to acquire, are very difficult to learn in societies or communities where people are very poor, are ignorant and illiterate. Therefore, to move forward, they have to overcome poverty simultaneously with ignorance and illiteracy.
In a democracy, it can fairly be said, democracy enables freedom itself to flourish overtime. Where there is an enlightened citizenry, the power of those in power to abuse people is reduced. And government is best when its potential for abuse is curbed, and when it is held as close to the people as possible.
And we have already pointed out, voting in the election of public officials is the most visible and common form of participation in today’s democracies, and also the fundamental. The ability to conduct free and fair elections is at the core of what it means to call a society democratic.
One cannot say there are free and fair elections in a society where the voters can be bribed with mealie-meal, sugar, salt, fertiliser, seed, bicycles, chitenge materials, T-shirts, caps, money and so on and so forth to vote for a particular political party or candidate. But we know that where people are very poor and ignorant, this type of manipulation is common and easily takes place.
We see it in this country whenever and wherever there are elections. We have seen even the President of the this country distributing sugar and mealie-meal to the electorate to a point where we had to nickname him ‘Sugar Daddy’.
As the election date draws near, you will see those with deep pockets, especially those in government, distributing relief food – maize, rice and so on and so forth – to the electorate. And these poor people, these hungry people, out of fear of being seen to be ungrateful, will vote for them.
This is the type of “free and fair elections” we have in this country. This is how the poor of this country are abused, exploited and betrayed. This has to stop before we can have meaningful democracy in this country, before our people can truly and freely choose their government.
Labels: POVERTY
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COMMENT - Glencore AG is run by CEO Marc Rich, was pardoned by Bill Clinton for tax evasion, just as Glencore is doing right now in Zambia. A big contributor is Nathaniel Rothschild (see:
Nathaniel Rothschild to scoop £25m in Glencore float), and a close friend and new employee is Tony Hayward, formerly of BP. Also see:
Greed Inc: A special investigation into pollution, dubious tax practices and exploitation of African workers at Glencore Sociopaths and criminals unite. Read more about the
Mopani audit here.
Glencore rocked by tax complaint ahead of London stock market float
By Rob Davies
Last updated at 11:04 AM on 13th April 2011
Swiss commodities giant Glencore has been accused of avoiding tax in one of the poorest nations on earth, days before it launches a £7billion float that will make multimillionaires of its top executives.
A group of five non-governmental organisations lodged a complaint with the Organisation for Eonomic Co-operation and Development (OECD), citing 'financial and accounting manipulations' by Glencore's Zambian subsidiary Mopani Copper Mines (MCM).
The complaint alleges that MCM failed to explain a £234million increase in its operating costs during 2007 and reported 'stunningly low' volumes of cobalt extraction compared to similar mines in the region.
Under fire: Glencore is accused of 'accounting manipulations' at copper mining subsidiary Mopani
Under fire: Glencore is accused of 'accounting manipulations' at copper mining subsidiary Mopani
It is also accused of selling copper at artificially low prices to Glencore, in a practice known as 'transfer pricing' that violates the OECD's 'arm's length' principle that a subsidiary must trade with its parent as if they were unrelated.
The NGOs said: 'The result of those various processes was to lower by several hundreds of million dollars MCM's net income for the 2003-2008 period, herby substantially lightening the company's tax burden.'
They called on the company - and ownership partner First Quantum Minerals - to refund taxes owed to the Zambian authorities and abide by OECD regulations in future.
The complaint is based on a leaked report by accounting firm Grant Thornton, one of the world's largest accountancy firms, performed for the Zambian Revenue Authority and shown to the Daily Mail by an anonymous source.
The report warns that the 'Mopani cost structure cannot be trusted to represent the true nature of the costs of the Mopani mining operation'.
It also complains that the Glencore subsidiary 'has resisted the pilot audit at every stage, and has cooperated most unwillingly with the audit or not cooperated at all'.
Glencore denied any wrongdoing saying the report was 'based on broad and flawed statistical analysis and assumptions' and insisting that 'no transfer pricing has taken place'.
It said the report did not take into account that Mopani produces copper on behalf of third parties, although it did not explain how this would counter the NGOs' claims.
The dispute comes as Glencore prepares to announce its intention to list in London and Hong Kong, in a float valuing the company at around £37billion.
Some senior partners will see the value of their shares hit more than £150million, in sharp contrast to the fortunes of Zambia, one of the most impoverished nations in the world.
Greed Inc: A special investigation into pollution, dubious tax practices and exploitation of African workers at Glencore
By Ruth Sunderland and Rob Davies
Last updated at 1:07 PM on 4th May 2011
News that the London Stock Exchange is on the verge of a mammoth flotation didn’t spread quite as far as the Zambian mining town of Mufulira.
Even if it had, it’s unlikely the townspeople there would have seen much cause for celebration.
While the rich seams of copper that lie deep in the ground beneath Mufulira have helped to make Swiss-based Glencore the largest and wealthiest commodities trader in the world, the African townspeople are still struggling to get by on just a few dollars a day.
This is barely enough even to feed their families, let alone pay for the medicine they need to treat the illnesses caused by the dangerous levels of pollution spewed out by Glencore-controlled mines.
Thousands of miles away, in the oak-panelled boardrooms of London’s Square Mile, Glencore’s announcement that it is to launch one of the biggest stock-market floats the City has ever seen — valuing the company at around £30billion — has caused much controversy.
The size of this secretive, shadowy company will see it propelled straight into the FTSE 100 index of the biggest British firms. That means millions of Britons — whose pension pots are linked to the performance of the FTSE 100 — could find themselves benefiting from the morally dubious activities that have brought such vast wealth to Glencore’s coffers.
Most British investors will focus on the huge profits Glencore generates — its £89billion turnover last year was more than the GDP of New Zealand. But some, including the Church of England, whose investment portfolio helps pay for clergy pensions, are already expressing concern about the enormous profits being generated by the firm at the expense of some of the world’s poorest people.
Glencore is today expected to publish its flotation ‘prospectus’, including details of any legal actions and complaints levelled against the company in the dozens of countries in which it operates.
But an investigation by the Mail has already uncovered evidence of the gut-wrenching impact of its operations on one impoverished community.
In Zambia alone, Glencore is accused of manipulating its financial accounts in order to reduce its tax bill, deliberately depriving that poverty-stricken nation of much-needed income.
Poor: A Mopani copper mine in Zambia where townspeople have just a few dollars a day to get by on - despite Glencore being the largest and wealthiest commodities trader in the world
Indeed, the foul-smelling sulphur clouds that hang low over Mufulira are not the only thing about this obsessively secret company leaving a bitter taste in the mouth.
The truth is that until now, most people would not have heard of Glencore — it’s only as a result of the proposed flotation that questions about its practices are being asked.
The company is so notoriously secretive that when it published a few details about itself on its website seven years ago, industry observers thought the information had been put up by mistake.
Its empire stretches from the jungles of Colombia to the plains of Australia. It makes its money from metals, minerals, oil, sugar, grain — commodities that form the very building blocks of world trade. And, armed with the best possible knowledge of global events, its traders buy these at the lowest possible price and sell at the highest possible mark-up.
The company revealed the extent of its grip on commodity markets last month, releasing figures showing it controls 60per cent of the world’s trade in zinc and 50per cent in copper.
Glencore is involved with the commodities market at all levels, from mining to shipping and ultimately trading them — by which method they make money by effectively betting on movements in the prices.
Glencore: Swiss company have grown rich - while Zambians continue to live on a few dollars per day
Although the exact figure is unknown, the company hasn’t denied reports that it profited from betting that the price of Russian grain would skyrocket last summer — as the former Soviet Union wrestled with a devastating drought.
Senior traders at the company even lobbied Moscow to impose a ban on the export of grain. The Kremlin did exactly that just days later, sparking a surge in the value of the Russian wheat and corn Glencore had bought. This kind of incident is unsurprising, for the story of the firm’s rise reads like the plot of a John le Carré novel.
Its colourful British chairman, 71-year-old Simon Murray, is a former French foreign legionnaire who, in his 60s, was the oldest man to reach the South Pole unassisted; he has survived being chased by a leopard and dodged machine-gun bullets during his eventful career.
He had been in his post for a matter of days when he sparked a sexism storm by proclaiming his wariness over hiring women because ‘pregnant ladies have nine months off’.
The chief executive is Ivan Glasenberg, whose stake in Glencore is estimated to be worth up to £6billion.
Glasenberg is at the centre of a web of oligarchs and multi-millionaires. His close friends include controversial British banking heir Nat Rothschild, who stands to double the £25million investment he made in Glencore in 2009 when it floats.
On board:Tony Hayward, the former BP boss, criticised for his handling of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is a director
The Glencore boss’s contacts among the world’s super-elite also include the Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska, who hosted both George Osborne and Peter Mandelson on his yacht three years ago when they were guests of Rothschild at his estate in Corfu.
The meetings led to an ugly spat and furiously denied allegations from Rothschild that Osborne had tried to secure a political donation from the Russian.
A 54-year-old champion race-walker for both South Africa and Israel (he has dual nationality), Glasenberg runs and swims every day to maintain his lean physique.
Selected colleagues accompany him on his early-morning jogs — some say under sufferance — to display their loyalty to the workaholic Glencore ‘cult’.
Insiders say most are so work-obsessed that, despite their typical average basic salaries of £800,000, they have little time for fripperies such as Ferraris or luxury holidays. Staff are said each to receive up to 500 emails a day, are constantly on call and have to be prepared to fly to inhospitable parts of the world at a moment’s notice.
Another name on Glencore’s board of directors is Tony Hayward, the former BP boss reviled across the world for the incompetent way he handled last year’s Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
Glencore employ 54,800 people in 30 countries
But the most controversial twist to this story is that Glencore grew out of the business empire of a man cited in the biggest tax fraud indictment in history.
American oil trader Marc Rich, who founded the company — originally named Marc Rich & Co — in 1974, arrived in the U.S. as a small boy with his parents in 1941, having fled from the Nazis in Belgium. At the peak of his powers, he dominated the global oil market.
He traded with African dictators, Cuban communists and, most notoriously, with Iran during the embargo on that country imposed by America during the 1979-1981 hostage crisis.
He is also said to have financed operations by Mossad, the Israeli intelligence service.
Former Mossad chief Shabtai Shavit said Rich helped with the intelligence agency’s work in Yemen and Sudan in the Eighties, when Israel was evacuating Jews from those countries.
His support for Israel, however, did not prevent him also doing deals with Islamic fundamentalists bent on the destruction of the Jewish state. And he also made a £1.2billion profit selling oil to South Africa during the apartheid years, contrary to an international trade embargo.
In 1983, he was charged by lawyer and future New York mayor Rudolph Giuliani with 51 crimes, including evading at least £29million in taxes, racketeering, conspiracy and trading with the enemy, Iran.
Bill Clinton eventually pardoned American oil trader Marc Rich
Rich fled to Switzerland, from where he evaded various attempts by the U.S. authorities to seize him. In 1994, he sold his business empire, handing control to his long-time German associate, Willy Strothotte, who reinvented it as Glencore.
Rich was eventually pardoned in 2001 by President Clinton after lobbying by his former wife, a songwriter who has penned hits for such stars as Celine Dion.
Today, Glencore may have eliminated all trace of Rich from its website, but his ghost haunts the company. Traders who worked with Rich remain steeped in his philosophy of cut-throat negotiation over prices — operating in a murky world, albeit on the right side of the law.
It is not a business for the faint-hearted. But Glencore’s sudden high profile raises important questions about the nature of Britain’s FTSE index and the standards of corporate behaviour expected from firms that join its ranks.
Once, the FTSE 100 was led by household-name British companies, such as chemicals giant ICI, British Airways and Abbey National. But now it is stacked with overseas operators, some of which are controlled by foreign governments.
City dealers are happy to welcome these newcomers since their arrival generates millions of pounds in fees for investment bankers, lawyers and PR advisers. But the truth is that some of these energy and commodities firms operate in parts of the world where attitudes to the environment and human rights are much laxer than in the UK.
Certainly, the inhabitants of the dusty copper township of Mufulira believe Glencore’s vast profits are made at their expense.
Economic necessity forces the men to work as miners for Glencore’s subsidiary, Mopani Mining Company. But they claim that sulphur pollution — 70 times the maximum healthy limit set by the World Health Organisation — is poisoning the air and water.
Glencore counters by saying it has improved its environmental record and is investing heavily in a system to stop all sulphur emissions by 2015.
But mining industry expert Anthony Lipmann, a former chairman of the Minor Metals Trade Association, who has visited Mufulira, says toxic fumes are causing serious respiratory diseases — and creating acid rain that destroys crops and peels the paint off the villagers’ homes. ‘When a sulphur storm goes by, people gag,’ he says. ‘It happens to every child and teacher in the local school several times a day. They cover their faces to keep the smell out, but nothing can stop it.’
Glencore’s launch on the London Stock Exchange will generate millions of pounds for each of its 485 directors — with a dozen of them each getting more than £100million
In 2008, acid used in the process of smelting copper spilled into the local water supply. Glencore says it was cleared up in days, but evidence collected by the charity Christian Aid suggests there were serious side-effects with lasting consequences.
One 22-year-old woman told how she drank the contaminated water while five months pregnant and collapsed. She was taken to hospital, but later miscarried.
Dr Tony Simmonds, a British doctor who has visited Mufulira with Lipmann, says that although the Mopani Mining Company used to invest in local infrastructure and hospitals, its commitment appears to be waning.
‘It used to be that the mines undertook road repairs and construction in the community. That’s not happening now. They have also downgraded the status of the mine hospital serving employees and their families,’ he says, having recently returned from his fifth trip to the area.
In theory, tax revenues from the Mopani mines should flow back to the Zambian government, to be spent on schools and hospitals for its people.
But a report by respected global accountancy firm Grant Thornton, leaked to the Mail, says that Mopani’s statement of how much it spends to run the mine ‘cannot be trusted’.
On the basis of this, five campaign groups for economic fairness — Sherpa, the Centre for Trade Policy and Development, the Berne Declaration, l’Entraide Missionnaire and Mining Watch — have filed a complaint with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the international economics watchdog, about claims of tax avoidance by Glencore.
It is alleged that Glencore has overstated its costs and underestimated the amount of metals it produces, thus resulting in a low tax bill.
It also claims Mopani is selling its copper at artificially low prices to its parent company Glencore in Switzerland. The copper can then be sold on by Glencore from Switzerland, where it not only fetches a higher price, but where Glencore also pays lower taxes.
The process of moving a commodity like this from one country to another to reduce a firm’s tax bill runs contrary to the OECD’s guidelines, which are designed to ensure proper international standards of business. While this method is not illegal, it deprives the people of Zambia of tax revenues which should rightly be theirs.
Glencore’s already favourable trading conditions in Zambia are the result of a contract signed with former president Frederick Chiluba, who was found guilty in a London court in 2007 of stealing £23million from his own people.
The great tragedy is that the Zambian miners pay more income tax between them than the total amount paid in corporate taxes by mining companies — the second biggest of which is Mopani.
Glencore says it ‘refutes’ the conclusions of the Grant Thornton report as incomplete and based on flawed analysis and assumptions. But to what extent British investors can continue to turn a blind eye to the controversy remains to be seen once Glencore has entered the FTSE 100.
One investment fund, which declined to be named, said it had still not decided if it could put its clients’ money into Glencore with a clear conscience.
Meanwhile, the charity Christian Aid plans to make its feelings about Glencore known in the City, with its economic adviser Dr David McNair declaring: ‘We will be approaching major potential investors in the company, to encourage them to ask questions about Glencore’s tax practices.’
Glencore’s launch on the London Stock Exchange will generate millions of pounds for each of its 485 directors — with a dozen of them each getting more than £100million.
One aspect of the business plan behind the flotation is to give Glencore even more financial firepower — with the company said to be planning a massive shopping spree of international mining interests.
But millions of Britons who will benefit from these deals through their retirement funds know little about the dusty Zambian town where others suffer to pay for them.
Labels: COPPER, GLENCORE INTERNATIONAL AG, MOPANI, POLLUTION
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