COMMENT - More selling out from the MDC, of which FDI minister Mashakada is a member.
Govt to relax FDI laws?
Friday, 24 August 2012 00:00
Martin Kadzere Senior Business Reporter
CONSULTATIONS over the possible exemption of new investments from complying with indigenisation provisions are underway, as Government seeks to redesign the policy to encourage more Foreign Direct Investment, Economic Planning and Investment Promotion Minister Tapiwa Mashakada has said.
“We are working on a policy that may see new FDIs being exempted from the provisions of indigenisation,” he said at the launch of Zimbabwe Australia Business Council recently.
“I want to assure potential investors that we are doing all we can to improve the business environment.”
The Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Act requires foreign investors to have a maximum shareholding of 49 percent in local entities. But in an interview, Youth Development, Indigenisation and Empowerment Minister Saviour Kasukuwere said some foreign investors were already getting “special dispensation”.
“ZIA and NIEEB are working on harmonising the laws (Investment and Indigenisation), so that there is smooth communication of these provisions to investors. With regards to exemptions of the FDIs from indigenisation, the ministry has granted special dispensation to some investments and the same can happen to future investments,” he said.
Some of the investments given special dispensation include the acquisition of Premier Banking Corporation by Ecobank and that of Ziscosteel, now NewZim Steel, by Essar Holdings.
Zimbabwe Investment Authority chief executive Mr Dominic Mbaiwa said in an interview yesterday the matter was under discussion.
“There is concern that some provisions of indigenisation might be stifling FDIs and we are in discussions with the responsible ministries and NIEEB to see the possibility of exempting new investments from the provisions of the indigenisation,” said Mr Mbaiwa.
He said business delegations coming to Zimbabwe on investment missions had raised concerns over the indigenisation policy.
Russia, for instance, wants a provision in the Bilateral Investment Protection and Promotion Agreement that it is negotiating with Zimbabwe that will exempt their investments from the indigenisation regulations.
A business delegation from Russia visiting Zimbabwe last month expressed strong interests in power, mining and infrastructural projects.
National Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Board chairman Mr Wilson Gwatiringa confirmed “there are consultations with a view of harmonising certain sections of the Indigenisation Act and Investment Act that may be conflicting”.
But he could not give more details.
Last year, the ZIA approved investment projects worth more than US$6 billion. Zimbabwe has continued to lag behind in attracting FDIs when compared with other Southern African countries.
Last year, inflows rose by 133 percent to US$387 million, according to the United Nations Development Programme World Investment Report for 2012.
Although Zimbabwe’s FDI inflows more than doubled during the period under review, they remained low compared with other countries in the region, with Mozambique having received US$2 billion last year.
The Southern African region registered FDI inflows worth about US$6,3 billion, while that of the African continent stood at US$42,6 billion.
Analysts said investor confidence had been dented by the “increased uncertainty in policy implementation — mainly through the Indigenisation Act”.
“The empowerment drive has clearly reversed the optimism brought about by the formation of an inclusive Government,” said a Harare-based research firm.
“We strongly recommend that policymakers adopt investor friendly policies to attract much-needed Foreign Direct Investment.
“Attracting foreign capital remains critical to the recovery of the economy. Economic development and growth can be achieved through trade and investment. It is imperative that policymakers realise the negative impact recent policy announcements have had on investor sentiment,” the firm said.
Labels: FDI, INDIGENIZATION AND EMPOWERMENT ACT (ZIMBABWE), NEOLIBERALISM
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Time of relying on handouts over — Kasukuwere
Saturday, 25 August 2012 00:00
Herald Reporter
Zimbabwean youths have been urged to use funds they receive under Government empowerment programmes to develop the country and uplift their standards of living.
Speaking during the handover of certificates to youths who participated in the Kurera/Ukondla capacity building programme in Harare yesterday, Youth Development, Indigenisation and Empowerment Minister Savior Kasukuwere, said the time of relying on handouts was over.
The programme, that benefited 100 youths, was aimed at equipping them with business and technical skills. “The funding you are getting is not for embezzling but for uplifting your lives,” he said.
“If you do that diligently, know that you are working towards the development of the nation.”
Minister Kasukuwere said foreigners should never be given a chance to take a leading role in socio and economic activities.
“You are the future of tomorrow thus the duty of building the nation is upon you,” he said.
“It is your duty to build Zimbabwe because no foreigner will come and do that for you. Infact, being a sovereign state we will not allow an alien to lead us in our activities.”
He said the youths should take advantage of Government’s interest in empowering the young generation.
“Government is now talking about you, which is different from the past,” Minister Kasukuwere said.
“You must be grateful that the programmes of youth empowerment have come at a time when you are free to approach banks such as CABS and Old Mutual and financial institutions without fear.”
Old Mutual group human resources executive, Mr Lawrence Gonye, said unemployed youths needed support for them to contribute to the development of the country.
“As partners, we seek to find potential in youths who are not employed,” he said.
“We are confident that they will contribute to the nation. If you become productive contributors to the nation, we will give you our full support.”
Several companies that include Irvine’s Chickens and Profeeds, Pedstock Investments and the Pig Industry Board facilitated the training programme.
The event was also attended by members of the Zimbabwe Youth Council, Boost Fellowship and representatives from CABS.
Labels: SAVIOUR KASUKUWERE
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Zanu-PF abhors lawlessness
Saturday, 25 August 2012 00:00
Freeman Razemba
Zanu-PF met on Thursday and deliberated over a wide range of issues afflicting Harare Province. The party urged rank marshals and supporters in the province to conduct their business in a peaceful manner and avoid clashes.
Zanu-PF spokesperson Cde Rugare Gumbo yesterday said the meeting also sought to revamp the province and deal with the challenges they are facing.
“It was also part of a mobilisation exercise we are carrying out. We want them to improve their performance and to do our best to organise ourselves in a peaceful manner,” he said.
On the Mbare group called Chipangano, Cde Gumbo said it was a small matter when compared to bigger issues they had discussed. “There are also problems of rank marshals and we are saying they should go about their business in a peaceful manner,” he said.
On Wednesday, the party’s Secretary for Administration, Cde Didymus Mutasa, said they wanted to talk to the provincial party leadership about the need for law and order in Harare.
Harare provincial party spokesperson, Cde Claudius Mutero, said the meeting went on well.
“Plans were put in place to correct some of the anomalies that were raised during the meeting,” he said.
On the issue of rank marshals, Cde Mutero said they had their own association and were not part of the provincial structure. He said some of them were mischievous as they abused their powers in the name of the party.
Cde Mutero said rank marshals who were members of Zanu-PF should desist from such conduct.
Zanu-PF officials expressed concern over lawlessness reportedly caused by some party youths in the city.
Labels: CORRUPTION, RUGARE GUMBO
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Japan keen to restore Zim ties
Saturday, 25 August 2012 00:00
Zvamaida Murwira Senior Reporter
JAPAN is keen to restore its relations with Zimbabwe that had slumped over the past 10 years after the Western imposed illegal sanctions on Harare. A Japanese business delegation led by Vice Foreign Affairs Minister, Mr Toshiyuki Kato, met Foreign Affairs Minister Simbarashe Mumbengegwi and Youth Development, Indeginisation and Empowerment Minister Saviour Kasukuwere on Thursday.
The meetings were aimed at exploring how business relations could be restored.
In his opening remarks, Minister Mumbengegwi said although Japan had not imposed sanctions against Zimbabwe, its conduct was not in any way different from what the West had done on Harare.
“We have been wondering whether Japan had made undeclared sanctions on Zimbabwe. With your visit it shows that Japan is ready to do business with us . . . we want to restore relations with Japan to the level in which it was during the first 20 years of independence before we embarked on our land reform programme when sanctions were imposed,” said Minister Mumbengegwi.
He said the two countries used to enjoy good bilateral relations during the first 20 years.
Mr Kato said his country was keen to work together with Zimbabwe.
“Now it is time to work together and see what opportunities there are for us. I really appreciate that we discuss areas where we can co-operate,” said Mr Kato speaking through an interpreter.
During their meeting with Minister Kasukuwere, the business delegation sought to understand the indigenisation regulations and how they impacted on foreigners.
Minister Kasukuwere explained that there had been a lot of distortions about the Government’s legal position on the matter by some sections of the media.
“There has been deliberate distortion on the policy to paint this policy in bad light. There is no country that can develop when its citizens are outside the mainstream of the economy,” said Minister Kasukuwere.
He said it was critical to have an inclusive economy where indigenous persons participate in the investment activities of their country.
“It is not a law that takes away what you would have brought to Zimbabwe. No. This law is not punitive but encourages Zimbabweans to be in entrepreneurship,” he said.
The business delegation comprised mining, energy, communications, and Toyota motor industry among others.
Labels: JAPAN, SIMBARASHE MUMBENGEGWI
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MDC-T expels 12 councillors
25/08/2012 00:00:00
by Staff Reporter
PRIME Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s MDC-T party has expelled 12 councillors countrywide, and cautioned 13 others over corruption allegations. The MDC-T’s national executive met on Friday and received a report from a commission of enquiry led by the party’s deputy secretary general, Tapiwa Mashakada, which investigated the 10 urban councils run by the party.
In a statement on Saturday, the MDC-T said “in pursuance of the party’s values”, it had resolved to expel the 12, whose names will be released after they have been notified of their exclusion from the party.
“This serves as clear testimony that the MDC is a party of excellence and does not condone corruption, instead it stands for transparency and good governance,” the statement added.
Mashakada’s commission commended the Bulawayo, Chinhoyi and Gokwe councils for “remaining steadfast and resolute to party values.”
The MDC-T said the probe was part of its “systematic and proactive programmes to continuously monitor service delivery, accountability to residents and good corporate governance.”
The party has been embarrassed by industrial scale corruption involving some of its councils.
Massive corruption was unearthed in Chitungwiza, Bindura, Chegutu and Harare. In 2010, the party expelled all 23 councillors in Chitungwiza after they were accused of corrupt practices.
In Bindura, the party fired Deputy Mayor Ivory Matanhire, and councillors Makesure Mafukidze, Norbet Dhokotera, Rindai Muchemwa, Rickson Kaseke and Elizabeth Mafios.
Labels: MDC CORRUPTION
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MDC-T losing support, Zanu-PF gaining: Freedom House
This article was written by Our reporter
on 22 August, at 18 : 26 PM
A NEW poll by the United State’s Freedom House shows that support for the Movement for Democratic Change party led by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai has been fading from 2010.
Freedom House is a non-governmental organisation that “supports democratic change, monitors freedom, and advocates for democracy and human rights around the world,” according to its website.
The same poll shows Zanu-PF’s popularity as rising by 14 percentage points during the same period from 17 percent to 31 percent.
The MDC went down 18 percentage points from 38 percent to 20 percent. 47 percent of the people surveyed did not state their preference.
The results were released Wednesday by the Mass Public Opinion Institute (MPOI), sponsored by Freedom House.
The poll also showed President Robert Mugabe as the favorite on 31 percent, up from 12 percent in 2009.
Prime Minister Tsvangirai was on 19 percent, down from 55 percent in 2009.
The MDC factions led by Professor Welshman Ncube and Professor Arthur Mutambara was not mentioned in the poll. Combined, they are still the third party, judging from the poll.
Zimbabwe is set to go to the polls at the end of this year or early next year.
The latest poll results by Freedom House will be a blow to the MDC-T party which dismissed such other poll last year, showing that it was losing support amongst Zimbabweans.
In 2011, the NGO said the support for the MDC-T had dropped sharply from 55 percent to 38 percent – showing a 17 percent decline.
Then MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa, dismissed the survey saying it could not be deemed conclusive arguing “there were many people who did not express their views freely in the exercise”.
This year, Freedom House compiled the figures from a “nationally” representative sample of 2 000 adult Zimbabweans in all the 10 provinces.
Labels: MDC, NELSON CHAMISA, POLLING, ZANU-PF
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COMMENT - In 2002, Morgan Tsvangirai of the MDC asked for foreign intervention in the country of Zimbabwe.
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 HARARE 002295
SIPDIS
NSC FOR SENIOR AFRICA DIRECTOR FRAZER
LONDON FOR CGURNEY
PARIS FOR CNEARY
NAIROBI FOR PFLAUMER
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: OPDC PREL ZI
SUBJECT: LETTER TO PRESIDENT BUSH FROM MDC LEADER TSVANGIRAI
¶1. On October 16, Embassy was asked to convey a letter from Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader Morgan Tsvangirai to President Bush and other current and former USG officials seeking a more active UN role in addressing Zimbabwe's crises. We have pouched the letters to AF/S and convey the text of the Tsvangirai-Bush letter in paragraph 2 below. The other letters contain identical text and were delivered in sealed envelopes addressed to former President Clinton; former President Carter; UN Ambassador Negroponte; Representatives Ed Royce and Donald Payne; Senators Daschle and Lott; Reverend Jesse Jackson; and Chester Crocker.
¶2. Begin text of Tsvangirai-Bush letter:
Mr. George W. Bush
President of the United States of America
Washington DC
October 14, 2002
Dear Mr. President,
Re: Call for UN Security Council action on Crimes Against Humanity Committed by the Mugabe regime in Zimbabwe.
On behalf of the majority of the people of Zimbabwe, I write to you Sir, and the other Five Permanent Members of the United Nations Security Council.
Since February 2000, several efforts by the United States of America, the European Union, the Commonwealth, SADC, the World Council of Churches and several local and international civic organizations appealed to Robert Mugabe to uphold the rule of law, respect human rights and put a stop to political murders, rape, torture and state-sponsored terror and violence, but the illegitimate Mugabe regime has not relented. Instead, it has demonstrated utter contempt of international opinion and has reaffirmed its commitment to carrying out crimes against humanity as a means of subjugating the people of Zimbabwe and denying them the right to freely determine their own destiny.
There is growing evidence on the ground in Zimbabwe today
Sir, that the subjugated and brutalized majority are
preparing to react violently against this state of affairs.
The consequent bloody civil strife will not only result in
a massive loss of life but will inevitably spill into the
territory of the neighboring states of the region. The
international community must not allow Mugabe to continue
charting this path towards national destruction and
darkness.
It is in the context of this grim and extremely dangerous
situation that the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC),
which represents the legitimate aspirations of the people
of Zimbabwe, calls for the intervention of the UN Security
Council in the Zimbabwe crisis in accordance with Article
39 (Chapter VII powers) of the United Nations Charter.
Crimes that rival fascism and Nazism in scale and
wickedness are being committed daily, not by an occupying
force, but by a supposedly sovereign government of the
country.
We therefore call for the urgent institution of an
international program for Zimbabwe under the auspices of
the United Nations, designed to:
¶1. Investigate the gross human rights abuses and
crimes against humanity that are being perpetrated by
the Mugabe regime.
¶2. Investigate state-sponsored violence and the breakdown
of the rule of law.
¶3. Investigate the denial of food relief to suspected
political opponents and the consequent mass starvation.
¶4. Facilitate the realization of a free, unfettered and
fair expression of the popular will of the people of
Zimbabwe.
We ask and plead with you Sir, and your fellow permanent
members of the UN Security Council, to place these issues
on the agenda of the Security Council for serious
discussion and speedy resolution. In our humble view,
there remains no other viable alternative in the quest to
put a stop to the crimes against humanity that are being
perpetrated daily by the Mugabe regime.
The Mugabe regime has recreated the conditions of the
Rhodesian crisis in 1965, when the Ian Smith regime
effected a Unilateral Declaration of Independence (UDI) and
established an illegitimate government in order to maintain
a racial political order over the majority of the
population.
UDI sought to deny the majority of the people of the then
Rhodesia the right of self-determination. In 1966, in
reaction to that development, the UN Security Council (SC
Res.232 (1966) and subsequent resolutions), acted swiftly
to confront an ominous development that threatened regional
and international peace and security.
In reacting to UDI, the UN Security Council recognized the
legitimacy of the Zimbabwe people's struggle against racist
minority rule, which was undemocratic. Similarly, the
Security Council must legitimately consider Robert Mugabe's
forestalling of the installation of a legitimate elected
government through illegitimate force, and the consequent
violations of human rights, as clearly constituting a
threat to international peace and security.
Through his brutal suppression of the right of the
Zimbabwean people to freely elect a government of their
choice and through his regime's perpetration of crimes
against humanity, Robert Mugabe has crated an explosive and
dangerous situation akin to Ian Smith's UDI. A corrupt,
murderous and illegitimate regime maintains state sponsored
violence against a defenseless civilian population. This
situation is rapidly degenerating into mass killings,
refugee flows and mass starvation.
The prevailing internal situation therefore constitutes a
threat to regional and international peace and security.
SADC Heads of State and government came to the same
conclusion at their Luanda, Angola Summit when they denied
the Mugabe regime the opportunity to host the SADC 2003
Summit. We believe that the international community must
proceed rapidly to use this SADC position as a launching
pad for determined action to clamp down on the growing
spiral of violence and crimes against humanity perpetrated
by the Mugabe regime.
In his violent seizure of power, Robert Mugabe must not be
allowed to invoke the international legal term, "national
sovereignty" in a vain endeavor to reinforce his
illegitimate political position internationally. He is
susceptible to a megalomania that identifies his corporeal
self with symbols of nation and state. This provides the
context in which Robert Mugabe inflicts crimes against
humanity upon those Zimbabweans trapped within the
boundaries of the territory that he confuses with himself.
In Robert Mugabe's case, the term "national sovereignty"
must not be used to allow him to shield the suppression of
the real popular sovereignty from external rebuke and
sanction.
The sovereignty of the people of Zimbabwe must be
protected, but the object of the protection is not the
power base of a tyrant who rules directly by naked and
illegitimate force or through the apparatus of a
totalitarian political order. Instead, what must be
protected is the capacity of the people of Zimbabwe to
freely express and effect legitimate choices about the
identities and policies of those who govern them.
The time for the Security Council to act is now. Delay
will result in a costly catastrophe in terms of human
lives.
We therefore urgently appeal to you, Mr. President, as one
of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council,
to act with your characteristic determination to put a stop
to the violent abuse of human rights and the carnage that
is going on and assist in the process of laying a healing
hand on the country and its tortured people.
I avail myself, Mr. President, this opportunity to renew
the assurances of my highest consideration.
Yours sincerely,
Morgan Tsvangirai,
President, Movement for Democratic Change.
END TEXT.
¶3. Comment: Tsvangirai's urgent appeal to the United
Nations reflects the growing pressure the opposition party
is under from the GOZ, the MDC's inability to devise
effective, home-grown solutions to Zimbabwe's intensifying
cycle of crises, and a genuine concern that the situation
here will soon degenerate into civil conflict.
SULLIVAN
Labels: MDC, MORGAN TSVANGIRAI, TREASON, WIKILEAKS CABLES
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Lesotho PM lavishes praise on Mugabe
Arrival ... Motsoahae with security chiefs Augustine Chihuri and Constantine Chiwenga
23/08/2012 00:00:00
by Staff Reporter I NewZiana
LESOTHO Prime Minister Thomas Motsoahae has lavished effusive praise on President Robert Mugabe and declared that Zimbabwe would overcome its problems with the veteran leader at the helm.
Motsoahae, who is in the country on a three-day visit during which he will open the Harare Agricultural Show, described Mugabe as "one of the greatest Pan Africanists in the likes of Kwame Nkrumah, Julius Nyerere, Patrice Lumumba and Nelson Mandela."
"As a result of the difficult and bold decisions that you took, Mr President, Zimbabwe may have gone through hard times economically, but that was the price to be paid," Motsoahae said at a State Banquette in his honour Wednesday.
"Today, many of us in our region acknowledge with admiration the solid foundation that your policies and decisions have built for the economic development of Zimbabwe and her future generations."
Zimbabwe is emerging from a ten-year recession characterised by world record inflation and a near-economic collapse which forced more than a million people to escape to neighbouring countries and overseas to countries such as the Australia, New Zealand the UK and the UK.
[Not to forget the economic sanctions that caused this economic destruction. The Zimbabwean government has been under a credit freeze since Jan. 1st 2002, through Section 4C of the Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act of 2001. - MrK]
But Motsoahae said the country was poised for a political and economic rebound with Mugabe in charge.
“History will record that the people of Zimbabwe were lucky to have you as a leader at that critical time in the history of their nationhood,” he said.
“I dare say you were the only leader, at that moment in history, with sufficient political credentials, stature and tenacity to withstand the pressures that were unleashed by those who wanted to prove that Zimbabwe was wrong to assert its independence, and to fully reverse the injustices of colonialism.
"We in Lesotho are confident that with a person of your calibre and vision at the helm of Zimbabwe, this country is destined to overcome obstacles placed in its path of development, to be among the best economic performers in our region and to restore itself as an important political centre.”
The Lesotho premier said his country, which has been following developments in Zimbabwe with "interest, sympathy and admiration", wants to see sanctions imposed by the West and blamed by Mugabe for the country’s problems lifted.
“Despite the limited relaxation of sanctions by countries of the European Union, we continue to call for the lifting of all sanctions against this sisterly country,” he said.
Motshoahae is scheduled to open the Harare Agricultural Show on Friday.
Labels: HARARE AGRICULTURAL SHOW, LESOTHO, PANAFRICANISM, ROBERT MUGABE
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Mine killings: SA black freedom questioned
Saturday, 18 August 2012 22:26
Ambassador Christopher Mutsvangwa
As I write, I still dread to turn on my television set to watch the live scenes of armed South African police brazenly firing live bullets into a rag-tag crowd of protesting miners.
The unrepentant white rule nostalgists have lost no time in gloating over this tragic incident and are drawing comparisons with the notorious apartheid-era Sharpeville Massacre, their logic being to whitewash their consciences for the systematic and institutionalised oppressive segregation of the black majority in their ancestral homeland.
President Zuma has had to cut short a diplomatic visit to a sub-regional Sadc summit in Maputo to go and handle this politically sensitive massacre at a time he is fighting hard to get his ANC party to accord him a second presidential term.
Politics being what it is, I doubt if his many opponents will let him off lightly. Thirty-eight dead miners and scores of others injured is just too grave an issue.
All right-thinking Zimbabweans are at one mind of sympathy with their big neighbour to the south at this hour of pain and grieving over this unfortunate incident. That is how it should be because of the recent shared experiences in the struggle to rid the sub-region of the scourge of colonialism, racism and apartheid.
We emerged strong to cement multi-faceted bonds even further.
Only yesterday in Harare, Sadc ambassadors and their staff teemed together with the host Government of Zimbabwe and other well-wishers to celebrate Sadc in a splendid extravaganza of speeches, drama, music, poetry and very tasty dishes of varied sub-regional cuisine for the scores who were at the National Gallery in the capital city of Harare.
Whether in sorrow or in joy, Sadc people empathise with each other as one region linked as much by geography as it is by shared culture as well as common history. On the African continent, we have that distinct identity of the re-birth of a new type of African state that is a product of slain bodies, lost limbs and blinded eyes as the valiant Soweto ’70s generation took to armed confrontation of foreign and racist invaders.
The armies of the sub-region are an issue of the national liberation movements that organised the various national populaces across the whole swathe of land from the Indian to the Atlantic Oceans, from Cape to Quelemane and from Maputo to Luanda into armed resistance to eject imperial and apartheid aggressors from power forever.
Post-victory revisionist history has sought to rob the sub-region of the many battlefield successes that dealt heavy blows to Portuguese colonialist fascism in Angola and Mozambique, to Rhodesian unrepentant minority racists and to the apartheid extension in Namibia in the heroic confrontation with the apartheid bastion.
Instead, great play has of late been given to demonstrations by well-wishers from far off capitals in the West as they pressured their won governments to desist from giving succour to the white minority monsters of the sub-region.
Those of us who were at the frontline of the struggle are quite appreciative of all the support we got from progressive humanity across the globe. It played an important part in improving our very difficult condition of deprivation and hardship while also boosting our morale. However, it is important to note that we were not typical refugees like those that stream out of the Rwanda-engendered mayhem of the Great Lakes region.
Rather, we were young people with a mission to get weapons from those countries that were ready to arm us so we could go back to confront the foreign invaders and racist white minority rulers in our home countries. Naturally, those who gave us those guns and bullets were much closer to our hearts and that gratitude goes to Communist China, Soviet Russia and its Warsaw Pact allies and other nations that stood four square with the then Organisation of African Unity and its Liberation Committee in support of the gallant duo of Zambia and Tanzania to host the various armed freedom fighter groupings.
We were overjoyed when progressive victories expanded the sphere of freedom in the sub-region as we tightened the noose around the apartheid bastion of South Africa.
At this juncture, it is important to highlight the two decisive battles that would shatter the notions of racist armed superiority and demoralise the ruling prospects of entrenched white minority.
The battle of Quito Cunavale in 1976 in southern Angola when the internationalist Cuban forces helped the Angolan army deliver telling blows on the much-vaunted South African apartheid invading force is etched in our memories of glory.
It demonstrated once and for all that the Africans had finally mastered the art and science of modern warfare.
Zimbabwe’s gallant forces would add another heroic chapter when for a full week of pitched battles, they blunted and then repulsed a massive Rhodesian combined ground and aerial assault on the Mavonde military redoubt in the Hauna border area north of Mutare in 1979.
This Mavonde Battle became the last major encounter of the Zimbabwe National Liberation War. In its wake, Britain ordered General Peter Walls, the commander of its rebel surrogate Rhodesian Army, to London to join the ceasefire talks he had scorned under mistaken military bravado.
On arrival in London, he was forced to salute General Josiah Tongogara, the illustrious commander of the Mozambique-based Zanla Forces, as they worked on the disengagement of the ground forces, leading to a ceasefire and the subsequent solution of Zimbabwe’s independence. Among the surviving heroes of this epic military encounter is General Paradzai Zimondi, who was the Camp Commander at Mavonde in charge of the intricate maze of underground trenches and other defences that foiled the combined ground and air assault of the Rhodesian army.
These two signature military encounters belied a qualitative build-up of military capability based on the concept of the classic guerilla tradition of the People’s War where a whole populace was politicised and organised into a potent force that would offset the technologi edge of Nato-trained colonial armies.
The two battles announced loudly and clearly to the minority apartheid rulers that notwithstanding their perception of military superiority, they stood to eventually face similar defeat should they persist in defying the will of the black majority in South Africa. They created a military environment that forced the apartheid white rulers to seek the path of negotiation well ahead of a desultory military confrontation they were now sure of eventually losing.
It is this tradition of the People’s Army that is the foundation of the new political and governance order of the Sadc sub-region. It is the bond that runs through the defence and security architecture of the countries that make up Sadc. These armies are a far cry from the majority of their counterparts on the African continent that were bequeathed to post-independence governments with express indoctrination to carry out anti-populist military coups that claimed a host of early African radical government leaders, Nkrumah included. Indeed a coup d’etat is an alien concept in the core Sadc nations associated with the national liberation movement. For the armies of these states, politics always command the gun.
In the instance of Zimbabwe, the guerilla war became so pervasive that no family was left untouched across the land between the Zambezi and the Limpopo. While it is accepted that independence created conditions for the armies to be professional in line with the new defence and security assignments, the People’s Army outlook remained ingrained courtesy of the core guerilla identity of the pioneer cadres.
It is the strong populist ethic of the People’s War that has been troubling to the West as it tries to retain its economic dominance of the Sadc region in the age of resource nationalism and an increasingly competitive global economic environment.
All along, the multinational corporations of the West could always count on the neo-colonial state apparatus to defend their business interests in the face of any popular challenge.
The likes of Joseph Mobutu and Idi Amin would remove elected rulers, the police would readily shoot land peasants reclaiming land stolen by colonial settlers and/or protesting workers. That way the stranglehold of multinationals on resources was assured while super profits were assured collusive monopolies.
From such an ideological stance, it is inconceivable that the Zimbabwe Defence Forces, their sister Zimbabwe Republic Police and other related services would find themselves readily disposed to shoot at
workers on strike because that strikes at their core orientation as a force of the people, from the people, for the people. That is precisely the reason why the people of Svosve could move in to occupy land still occupied by recalcitrant white colonial settlers long after independence in 1980. They did not need to factor in the prospect of the army and the police joining the fray on the side of those remnants of the defeated colonial order.
It is also the same reason that the small-scale gold miners can now agitate for official recognition as legal economic players. Even the mine workers can strike without ever fearing that they can be mowed down by State guns in cold blood.
In Zimbabwe, it is common understanding that the State enforcement authority in not exercised at the behest of hostile foreign economic interests against popular wishes. Neither is it within the psyche of the individual soldiers that they can shoot demonstrating workers and peasants confronting foreign economic interests.
That is precisely why the mujibha and chimbwido association with war veterans continues to endure because it was the basis of the common touch with the community.
Indeed Air-Marshall Perrance Shiri’s recent interview succinctly captured this people-centred outlook that resisted moving out of barracks in face of the adversity of sanctions on the welfare of soldiers during the 2007-8 economic meltdown. Even as the armed men went hungry and without pay, it never came to pass that they march to nearby State House, much to the chagrin of the United Kingdom and its Western allies.
We have gone through a decade during which every excuse has been contrived or invented to “get at Mugabe and his Zanu-PF”. There been spirited efforts by the USA, UK, EU and Anglo-Saxon to husband regional diplomacy to this cause with illegally imposed sanctions crafted to hasten this desired goal.
Within Zimbabwe, there is a cacophony of the ingrates from the post-independence education boom who are recruited to despise the unique historical achievements of a brave generation.
The charge is led by the legion of politico-lawyers spawned by reactionary instruction at the University of Zimbabwe Law Department. Given a chance to draft a home-grown constitution for Zimbabwe, they resort to littering the document with infections of Rhodesianisis, a virulent form of obnoxious racist restitution of land and citizenship rights, to the detriment of the victorious black majority. Such is the work of those in the ilk of Tendai Biti, Welshman Ncube, Douglas Mwonzora, Paul Mangwana, et al.
They want ex-Rhodesian nostalgists gratified ahead of the generality of the people of Zimbabwe. I bet their ingratitude may extend to the fact that they may still owe society the arrears on the post-independent student loan bonanza that gave me their erudite yet wayward elucidations.
It is from the same quarters that there is this litany of calls on so-called security sector reform. They clamour around President Zuma so he can abuse the heavyweight status of his nation so he will be made to impose an army, police and security service of their imagination at the behest of defeated imperialist forces. And their hiding behind misplaced notions of popular will to reform a state whose origin and birth is popular sacrifice on a national scale.
My foot, no vote or referendum was conducted to form Zanla and Zipra. People left for Zambia, Botswana and later Mozambique as individuals to go and sacrifice to form the army of the two armies that made it possible to have a new Zimbabwe state.
They sacrificed their once-only gift of life for the welfare and benefit of all subsequent generations of Zimbabweans; not just for sulky post-independence spoilt brats. Now we have this reckless coterie of sanctimonious legal minds that would arrogate to itself the singular role of refashioning by pen and paper the defence and security apparatus born of rivers of blood.
It is a fact that America had a civil war in the 1860s after independence, that it had segregation as recently as the Second World War (1939-45) and the Korean War (1951-3) with black battalions and black pilots fighting separately. All of these shortcomings have never been used to denigrate the heroism at the heart of the victory of George Washington and Minutemen as they founded modern America. Neither have they ever been used as a excuse to call for the restoration of the British rule of a vanquished King George III and his successors.
Now that the Marikana Massacre has happened, may our busybody legal midgets working under the rubric of negotiators finally take stock of their misdirected efforts that place extra-territorial heavy loads on the shoulders of the South African leadership.
With 34 fatalities and other scores wounded and so many dependent families deprived of a breadwinner, these busybodies should now be jolted out of crowding Zuma’s leadership. I can assure you many South Africans would be thankful for that. Their hands are full, trying to re-build a nation shattered to the core by centuries of racist white rule and decades of apartheid. They need all the time possible to restructure their state apparatus out of the trigger-happy if gratuitous killing of many black strikers working for the good of foreign multi-national corporations. Such conduct by our busybody negotiators would be a great act of solidarity to our black sisters and brethren in South Africa. It would be in keeping with our earlier tradition when we had wages and salaries deducted for the South African National Liberation Fund of the anti-apartheid struggle.
As for all other Zimbabweans, beware when such quarters clamour for Security Sector Reform. Dismiss the false accusations of a politicised army, police and security apparatus that are bandied about by Biti, Ncube, Mwonzora and Mangwana. You must be forever grateful that your sacrifice as a people in the glorious era of the ’60s, ’70s and ’80s gave issue to a defence and security establishment of politically conscious cadres who will never turn their guns on you for the benefit of foreign economic interests.
Such a vocation on their part will continue to create boundless opportunities for your prosperity for generations to come. We just do not need Marikana-type massacres in Zimbabwe.
Labels: MASSACRE, MINING
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Stability, Democracy and Western Interests
Wednesday, 22 August 2012 10:27
Reason Wafawarova
When Saddam Hussein carried out the 1988 gassing of Kurds and when he massacred the Shiite rebels in 1991, the atrocities did not amount to matters of egregious human rights abuses insofar as Washington and other Western capitals were concerned.
The capturing of Saddam Hussein by US soldiers in December 2003 left most people with genuine concerns about human rights and justice naturally overjoyed, regardless of the fact that Hussein’s captors had other motives behind their actions.
When genuine human rights defenders like some Amnesty International activists were campaigning vigorously against Saddam Hussein for his 1988 and 1991 crimes, Allan Cowell of the New York Times reported that Washington and its Western allies held the “strikingly unanimous view that whatever the sins of the Iraq leader, he offered the West and the region a better hope for his country’s stability than did those who have suffered his repression.” The use of the term “stability” here needs to be interrogated.
This is exactly the same way Augusto Pinochet enjoyed Western support as he ruthlessly deposed a democratically elected Allende government in Chile in 1973, leading to his murderous and torturous 19 year rule. His crimes amounted to the “stability” of Chile in the eyes of the West, the same way the ruthless repression of fighters for democracy in Bahrain is seen in the West as the “stability” of that country, with Saudi Arabia backing the repression of people in that tiny kingdom.
The term “stability” has been often used to describe the environment of countries ruled by Western supported dictators, from the murderous rule of Mobutu SeseSeko in Zaire, that of General Suharto in Indonesia, Hosni Mubarak in Egypt, to the current violent and chaotic rule of the National Transitional Council in Libya.
After the Marikana massacre of striking miners by the South African police a week ago Rodger Phillimore,the chairman of Lonmin, the London based company that owns the mine, said something very telling. He said: "It goes without saying that we deeply regret the further loss of life in what is clearly a public order rather than labour relations associated matter."
In Phillimore’s eyes the dead miners suffered their fate in what he calls “a public order matter” and the death had nothing to do with the welfare of these striking miners. What these miners suffered has no difference with what the Kurds and the Shiite rebels suffered under Saddam Hussein – deaths to do with maintaining “public order.”
The miners suffered “public order” deaths because they had become a serious threat to the “stability” of South Africa – stability being the Western code name for the safeguarding of Western interests, especially the stability of profiteering Western corporations. It is easier to say “public order” than it is to say “capitalist order.”
The BBC mournfully reported that the strike by the Marikana miners meant that Lonmin “would lose 15,000 ounces of platinum production, and as a result it was unlikely to meet its production forecasts for the full year.” When 34 lost lives are less important than 15 000 ounces of platinum we know we are talking Western democracy.
The US State Department issued a statement to express its confidence in South Africa’s ability to perpetuate the stability of Western capital in this “regrettable” time.
The statement partly read: "We are confident that the South African government will investigate the facts around this case and, as always, we encourage all parties to work together to resolve the situation peacefully."
One can contrast this mild statement with the one recently issued by the U.S State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland after clashes between Syrian Western-backed rebels and the Syrian army reportedly resulted in the death of some civilians.
She said: "We hold the Syrian government responsible for this slaughter of innocent lives……This massacre is the most unambiguous indictment to date of the Syrian government's flagrant violations of its U.N. Security Council obligations." There was no need to “encourage all parties to work together to resolve the situation peacefully,” – aptly because the Syrian government is in essence at war with the US and its Western allies.
It was so hard for the U.S State Department to hold either the South African police force or Jacob Zuma responsible for the Marikana massacre of miners. Firstly the matter was just a “public order” issue, and secondly President Zuma offers “stability” for South Africa, as recently shown by Hillary Clinton when she danced happily at a dinner hosting in expression of her satisfaction with the stability of Western capital in post-apartheid South Africa. There was no reason to do such dinner dancing in neighbouring Zimbabwe, where the presence of radical Robert Mugabe continues to threaten not only the dominance of Western capital, but also Western hegemony in general.
The only worry to the “stability”of South Africa is the troublesome Julius Malema, the ousted ANC Youth League president whose powerful rhetoricon nationalisation of mines and land reclamation has been viewed by threatened white capitalists as an effort to destabilise South Africa.
Liberal policy analyst James Chase once observed that the Nixon-Kissinger “efforts to destabilise a freely elected Marxist government in Chile” were carried out because the United States was “determined to seek stability.” One cannot miss the contradiction in destabilising to seek stability.
In December 2002 it was quite ironic when Britain’s foreign Secretary Jack Straw released a dossier of Saddam Hussein’s crimes, dating all the way back to the days of US-British support for the Iraq tyrant. The report blatantly overlooked the role of the United States and Britain in Hussein’s egregious crimes, and instead portrayed a supreme display of moral integrity on the part of the two Western powers.
This is exactly what happened when Augusto Pinochet was arrested in Britain in 1998, six days after an indictment by a Spanish magistrate. Britain postured as noble advocate for the defence of the human rights regime, but that is as far as the action went – mere posturing.
In 2000 Jack Straw unilaterally overruled a House of Lords decision to have Pinochet extradited to Chile and released the dictator without trial. Of course a trial for Augusto Pinochet in London or anywhere else would inevitably incriminate the British government as one of the main sponsors of his atrocities. Pinochet was to be prevented at all cost from saying embarrassing and humiliating things in court, and Straw dutifully ensured no trial would ever materialise for the tyrant.
Western foreign policy operates on what Noam Chomsky calls the “doctrine of change of course,” where Western elites simply invoke a change of course every two or three years, especially when supported tyrants become irrelevant to Western interests, or when they outlive their usefulness.
According to Chomsky the content of the doctrine is, “Yes, in the past we did some wrong things because of innocence or inadvertence. But now that’s all over, so let’s not waste time on this boring, stale stuff.”It is amazing the number of times we are reminded not to live in the past by people who daily persecute other nationalities based on the strength of a past of racial supremacy.
So the West can flip flop easily from financing the Taliban to power in Afghanistan to hunting them down as world-threatening terrorists. It does not seem to cause too much confusion in the West when the Western allies do something like sponsoring Saddam Hussein’s murderous war against Iran for eight solid years, only to wage a war against the same tyrant for his invasion of Kuwait, and later invading Iraq, capturing and murdering the same man on baseless charges of possession of weapons of mass destruction, or was it crimes committed using the fire power provided by the United States?
The “doctrine of change of course” does very well in protecting the Western public from the danger of understanding what is happening before theireyes.
One can imagine what should have happened when the Western population came to understand that the proclaimed reason for going to war in Iraq was not to save the world from a tyrant who had developed weapons of mass destruction, and that even George W. Bush’s speech writers did not believe an inch of this fabrication.
One could reasonably predict raucous outrage and even revolting from the public. But what happened was a smooth switching to a new reason for the war, this time with all major Western media units dutifully informing the listening public that in fact the United States and its Western coalition had invaded Iraq to establish a democracy, not only in Iraq but in the whole of the Middle East. In fact the West was in Iraq for the noble cause of freeing the Arabs from their own backward selves.
Apart from the dissenting voices of a few vocal leftists in the West the switch in pretexts passed for impressive reality in the Western world.
Right now nobody believes that the illegal economic sanctions imposed by the West on Zimbabwe are justified, not even the proclaimed victims of the government’s alleged abuse of human rights, not least the award winning victim Morgan Tsvangirai himself. The West has smoothly and conveniently switched pretexts, promoting the new cause of establishing a new constitution for Zimbabwe, “leading to free and fair elections,” – the phrase being the euphemism for an election that produces a government that is subordinate to Western interests.
We had a telling illustration for America’s passion for democracy in 2003. The Turkish population was vehemently against the Iraq war, and resultantly the Turkish Parliament refused to let the United States deploy fully from Turkey. Chomsky described the reaction from Washington as “absolute fury.”
Paul Wolfowitz angrily denounced the Turkish military for failing to overturn the parliamentary decision and he even demanded an apology for this senseless betrayal of a noble venture to defeat a tyrant wielding weapons of mass destruction, or better still to democratise the whole of the Middle East.
The US was launching an open attack on Turkey for listening to its people because in the lexicon of Western democracy, orders are taken from Washington and other Western capitals and not from the ignorant masses of the lesser world.
There is this kind of stability and democracy that is always linked to Western interests. When the Zimbabwean government listened to its people and reclaimed white held farmlands in 2000the Western world repeatedly reminded President Robert Mugabe and his government to listen to what was coming from London and Washington. The rebuttal from Mugabe and his team send the entire Western polity into raucous fury.
Britain even offered to help arm the Zimbabwean police force so it could go and evict the “land grabbers.” The offer was turned down by the Zimbabwean government and the Western world expectedly reacted angrily by illegally imposing economic sanctions on Zimbabwe outside the UN Security Council framework.
This democracy where the South African masses are demanding better wages from Western capitalists, where the Turkish people are opposed to Western wars, or where Zimbabwean masses clamour for the reclamation of their colonially stolen land is not the democracy the West would want to establish around the world. That kind of behaviour constitutes “instability.”
True democracy in the eyes of Western elites is tied to weaker countries subordinating themselves to Western interests, and allowing the free flow of Western capital as rich natural resources in the less developed countries are exploited for the benefit of profiteering Western corporations.
Africa we are one and together we will overcome! It is homeland or death!
· Reason Wafawarova is a political writer based in SYDNEY, Australia.
Labels: NEOCOLONIALISM, REASON WAFAWAROVA
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IMF drops SA growth forecast amid growing labour unrest, joblessness
23 Aug 2012 21:09 - Lynley Donnelly
Increased labour unrest in the face of stubborn unemployment levels was a key risk to South Africa's economic outlook according to the IMF. Increased labour strikes and high unemployment levels has caused the IMF to downgrade South Africa's growth forecast. (Oupa Nkosi, M&G)
But attempts to address unemployment were being hampered by "policies, product market structure, and labour market arrangements that end up protecting insiders at the expense of the unemployed", the International Monetary Fund said in its annual staff report, which followed consultation with the government.
It dropped its economic growth forecast for South Africa to 2.6% of GDP.
The report, released earlier on Thursday, came as the country reels in the wake of a violent dispute between striking miners and police at Lonmin's Marikana mine in North West. A memorial service was held to commemorate the deaths of 34 miners killed in the confrontation a week ago.
The IMF report drew attention to the political significance of the ANC's upcoming elective conference where the party will, along with its alliance partners the Congress of South African Trade Unions and the South African Communist Party, choose its next president.
"Impatience with the high structural unemployment, particularly of the young, could lead to inappropriate responses that might threaten macroeconomic stability," it said.
"In addition, adverse external developments and domestic shocks could increase further unacceptably high levels of unemployment."
Slow recovery
South Africa also faced a continued slow recovery from recession, thanks to the ongoing crisis in Europe, with economic growth coming in at below 3%.
But domestic factors had also contributed to this, particularly industrial action in both the mining and manufacturing sectors.
Job creation efforts were being hampered by policy choices, an economy dominated by large oligopolistic firms and an inflexible labour market.
The repeated standoffs between business and labour were costing the economy, according to the report.
"The struggle for dividing rents between highly concentrated, oligopolistic firms and strong and politically influential labour unions has resulted in large economic losses associated with frequent labour strikes," it said.
The IMF welcomed progress made to address market dominance and collusive behaviour by private companies but said penalties for misconduct needed to increase, while product market regulation needed to improve. It included state owned companies in its assessment, saying the government should consider "opening the sector reserved for public enterprises to private sector competition".
Critically more flexible wage bargaining mechanisms were needed especially for small businesses, along with more flexible labour laws and regulations to "improve the business environment and increase employment opportunities, especially for newcomers with limited skills" it said.
Labels: IMF, MASSACRE, MINING, STRIKE
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Malawi Rasta’s call to legalize the illegal: Chamba is not Lubani!
By Sherrif Abu-Bakar Kaisi
August 22, 2012
My writing is specifically directed in response to the assertions made by the Rastafarian fraternity in Malawi concerning their petition to President Mrs Joyce Banda to legalize Indian Hemp or Chamba.
The Rastafarians argue that smoking the drug locally knowns as ‘chamba’ is part of their religious doctrine which must be respected and upheld.
It is not wrong neither an offence in a democratic country like Malawi for the general public to ask the government to provide and respect their rights, because respecting the rights of the citizens is the main legal responsibility of the government. However, the important question to be answered here is; what does the concept of minority rights connote and who are the minority? Scholars of sociology define Minority as a subordinate group whose members have significantly less control or power over their lives than members of a dominant or majority group. The marginalized people in the society fall in the same category. In the context of Malawi, the minority can be the Rastafarians, prostitutes, gays , lesbians and etc.
Rastafarians say their religion allows them to smoke the "herb"
According to Rastafarians, it is their right to smoke and make use of Chamba. This call is within the premises of respecting the rights of the minority. The inference of this argument simply put that sex workers and other so called marginalized groups of people in the country should also fight for their rights from the government within the umbrella of respecting the minority rights. Is this what Malawi need?
Lubani:
it is not true to argue that Muslims use Lubani for worshiping as claimed by Rastafarians. The truth of the matter is that Muslims use Lubani as a fragrant or an air freshener that brings nice aroma in their houses, shops, offices or praying places. So comparing Chamba to Lubani is not a reasonable argument.
Additionally, I believe that Malawians have never complained at any point that Lubani is causing problems in their neighbourhood. But the case is different when we look at the impact of Chamba in the society hence declared illegal to use it.
Vote:
Threatening or blackmailing the government to legalize Chamba or to normalize the abnormal is morally wrong. It is not only Rastafarians who cast their votes in Malawi hence blackmailing the President in the name of votes is unacceptable stratagem.
Gays , Lesbians, armed robbers, pang-thugs and even witchcrafts they also vote. So should the government legalize such immoral behaviours simply because the President wants to have their votes?
In wrapping up, I believe that if it is true that Malawi is a God fearing nation as it is proudly pronounced by all Malawians; the government will not at any cost legalize the illegal habits which promote immoral behaviours in the country.
What we should know is that once the government allow such depraved practices in the name of respecting the minority rights, Malawi should expect to experience what other societies do where man can take an animal as a partner.
Hopefully Malawians are not ready for that.
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Mugabe's star rises further among Zim voters
23 Aug 2012 07:17 - David Smith
President Robert Mugabe is enjoying a surge of popularity that could propel him to victory in Zimbabwe's elections, according to independent research. An independent poll of voters' intentions indicates Mugabe would command the support of 31% of voters in a presidential election, ahead of rival Morgan Tsvangirai on 19%. The research was conducted by the US-based pro-democracy group Freedom House.
Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) dismissed the results, noting that Mugabe's supporters were outnumbered by voters who refused to declare their intentions. But it is likely to boost the confidence of Mugabe's Zanu-PF heading into elections expected next year.
The Mass Public Opinion Institute polled a nationally representative sample of 1 198 adult Zimbabweans between June 23 and July 7 2012, Freedom House said. When asked who they would vote for if presidential elections were held tomorrow, 31% say they would back Zanu-PF, an increase from just 12% in a 2009 survey. Alarmingly for the MDC, only 19% expressed support for the party, a dramatic fall from 55% three years ago. Other parties registered just 2%.
Some 40% of respondents did not declare their voting intentions, making it hard to draw categorical conclusions.
Asked who they would support in parliamentary elections, 47% of respondents said they would not vote, or refused to indicate who they would vote for. Some 20% said they would support the MDC (down from 38% in 2010) and 31% would back Zanu-PF (up from 17% in 2010).
The results come as a surprise because for years there has been a near default assumption by the MDC, activists and media that Mugabe's 32-year rule was drained of popular support and is sustained only by rigged elections and violence and intimidation. Freedom House's survey implies the 88-year-old could yet make a political comeback and win.
It also resonates with signs of discontent about the MDC's performance in the unity government it formed with Zanu-PF following the disputed election of 2008. The MDC took responsibility for departments such as education and health and has been criticised for slow delivery. Some observers argue that MDC ministers have fallen in love with their official cars and other trappings of power.
Susan Booysen, author of the interim report Change and 'New' Politics in Zimbabwe for Freedom House, said she encountered complaints that the MDC had lost touch with grassroots constituencies, whereas Zanu-PF was still visible and fighting party political battles there.
"I've heard people saying MDC is just not doing work in the constituencies and is spending too much time in the palace," Booysen added. "They're taking for granted they're the crown princes. They are not capturing the desire for change. And there is still a desire for change among people."
The MDC questioned the validity of the study. Douglas Mwonzora, the party spokesperson, said in Harare: "The party respects the right of individuals and institutions to carry out opinion surveys on the views of the people of Zimbabwe from time to time. However, we note that surveys carried out under current conditions are difficult to rely on due to the fact that they are held under conditions of major fluidity.
"We note that a lot of people interviewed refused to disclose their political preferences. This is obviously for fear of intimidation and the violence they have been subjected to by Zanu-PF and its military junta. This margin of terror fundamentally impugns the conclusion that can be derived from this report."
[Fear and intimidation by whom? Were they afraid of the question takers and their affiliations? - MrK]
A statement from the party added: "The MDC reasserts that it is still the most popular party within Zimbabwe. That it has had a positive impact on the lives of the people of Zimbabwe since it formed the inclusive government can never be doubted."
[They re-assert that they are still the most popular party in Zimbabwe. And when they lose the elections, they can go and complain that they were stolen again, like they did the last time around. - MrK]
Labels: FREEDOM HOUSE, PROPAGANDA, ZANU-PF
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COMMENT - Considering the source - Freedom House is a rightwing, state funded thinktank,
about which Wikipedia states:
The board is currently chaired by William H. Taft IV. Taft assumed chairmanship of the board in January 2009, succeeding Peter Ackerman. Other current board members include Kenneth Adelman, Farooq Kathwari, Azar Nafisi, Mark Palmer, P. J. O'Rourke, and Lawrence Lessig,[15] while past board-members have included Zbigniew Brzezinski, Jeane Kirkpatrick, Samuel Huntington, Mara Liasson, Otto Reich, Donald Rumsfeld, Whitney North Seymour, Paul Wolfowitz, Steve Forbes, and Bayard Rustin.
Zimbabwe Opinion Survey Reveals Hope for Elections, but Cynicism About Political Leaders
Washington
According to a public opinion survey released today, Zimbabweans remain anxiously uncertain about the political future of their country. Findings from Change and ‘New’ Politics in Zimbabwe revealed that despite widespread optimism that the next elections expected in the first half of 2013 will bring definite change, many Zimbabweans continue to fear that the lead up to elections will include heightened levels of political violence.
“Freedom House is encouraged by Zimbabweans’ obvious enthusiasm about the upcoming elections despite the lingering fear of violence,” said David J. Kramer, president of Freedom House. “These findings should serve as bellwether for what citizens are expecting of their future political leaders and how both political parties can define their policies to adequately address these expectations.”
The survey, commissioned by Freedom House and conducted by South African political analyst Susan Booysen and the Mass Public Opinion Institute in Harare, found that respondents were pleased by significant economic improvements that have occurred under the Inclusive Government but critical of political leaders’ performance on employment creation, service delivery and addressing persistent food shortages. Among the approximately one half of respondents who agreed to state their political opinions, expression of support for the two leading parties, ZANU PF and MDC T, shifted considerably from earlier Freedom House surveys with sizeable gains for ZANU PF and losses for MDC T.
Key findings of the survey include:
* 47% of those who said they will vote in the next elections stated ‘this is the election that will make the difference’. The largest block of respondents, 45%, said the Zimbabwean people will be ready for elections in the first half of 2013. 85% are ‘sure’ or ‘very sure’ that they will be casting their ballots in the next election.
* A total of 35% respondents in this survey (compared with 16% in 2010) now believe that the next round of elections will be free and fair.
* 65% of respondents agreed or strongly agreed that ‘fear of violence and intimidation make people vote for parties or candidates other than the ones they prefer.’ Respondents’ actual experiences of violence have decreased, however, with 22% reporting incidents of violence in their communities from 2010-2012, a drop from the 58% who reported the same between 2008-2010.
* While Zimbabweans still positively assess the Inclusive Government (IG) on a variety of issues, its positive ratings are substantially less positive than in 2010. In contrast with 2010, survey respondents are now greatly more critical of IG’s ability to assure Zimbabweans freedom to speak about political matters openly. 44% now state the IG is doing ‘poorly’ or ‘very poorly’ in assuring freedom of speech compared with 9% who gave this response in 2010.
* The most serious problem Zimbabweans confront is unemployment. Approximately 2/3 of Zimbabweans are formally unemployed, and the effects are felt strongly at both community and national levels.
* Zimbabweans have become more critical of their political leaders. While 40% said they trusted political parties ‘a lot’ or ‘somewhat’ in 2010, this has dropped to 30% in 2012. Based on the responses of the 53% of survey participants who agreed to state their political choices, trust in MDC-T, in particular, dropped from 66% to 39%, while trust in ZANU PF rose from 36% to 52%.
* When asked who they would vote for if parliamentary elections were held tomorrow, 47% of respondents said they would not vote, or refused to indicate who they would vote for (up from 41% in 2010). Of the 53% who declared their preference, 20% said they would support MDC-T (down from 38% in 2010) and 31% ZANU PF (up from 17% in 2010).
The survey polled a nationally representative sample of 1198 adult Zimbabweans between 23 June and 7 July 2012. Topics addressed were political power, elections, fear and violence, the constitution, and socio-economic conditions. Interviews were carried out in all ten provinces in each respondent’s language of choice. The survey follows similar Freedom House polls that were conducted in November-December 2010 and September 2009. The nearly 3-year span of these surveys offers a rich field of comparison between the results of the different surveys and brings to light intriguing new developments in Zimbabwean public opinion.
The following findings were taken from an interim report. Comprehensive findings from the survey will be released in September 2012.
Freedom House, an independent non-governmental organization that supports the expansion of freedom in the world, has been monitoring political rights and civil liberties in Zimbabwe since 1980.
For more information, visit:
Freedom in the World 2012: Zimbabwe
Freedom of the Press 2011: Zimbabwe
Freedom on the Net 2011: Zimbabwe
Blog: Freedom at Issue
Freedom House is an independent watchdog organization that supports democratic change, monitors the status of freedom around the world, and advocates for democracy and human rights.
Join us on Facebook and Twitter (freedomhousedc) and stay up to date with Freedom House’s latest news and events by signing up for our RSS feeds and our blog.
Issues:
Civil Society, Democratic Governance, Elections
Regions:
Sub-Saharan Africa
Countries:
Zimbabwe
Labels: CIA, FREEDOM HOUSE
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MDC-T must face reality, and get to work
Losing ground ... Morgan Tsvangirai and his deputy Thokozani Khupe on campaign trail in 2008
23/08/2012 00:00:00
by Phillan Zamchiya
A new survey reveals that support for Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's MDC-T party, which won the greatest number of votes in the March 2008 presidential election, turning it into an international symbol of the Zimbabwean people’s desire to end President Robert Mugabe’s decades of rule, has fallen considerably.
The MDC-T has strongly rejected the findings, but political analyst Phillan Zamchiya says the party would do well not to shoot the messenger and work to regain its support:
IF THEY could, the MDC-T would tear to shreds a public opinion survey conducted by US research and advocacy organisation, Freedom House, and the Zimbabwe’s Mass Public Opinion Institute (MPOI), and published in Johannesburg on Wednesday.
The survey – compiled by Professor Susan Booysenand of the University of the Witwatersrand – shows a massive decline in MDC-T support, from 38% to 20%, as opposed to growth in Zanu PF support, from 17% to 31% in the past 18 months.
No doubt, the report could have been strengthened in its methodology, particularly the measure of trust in media sources and public institutions. In its overall approach, a clearer juxtaposition of the statistics and the narrative could have improved the report.
In many instances, the researchers end up burying the grain in bushels of chaff hence as Shakespeare writes, ‘you shall seek all day ere you find them; and when you have them’. Fortunately, unlike of Shakespeare’s Bassanio, the grains are worth the search. Yet the threshing of the grain and the chaff by the MDC-T leaves a lot to be desired.
The MDC-T spokesperson dismissed the report on three major grounds. First, that the research was held under a climate of fear and respondents who failed to declare their vote are assumedly MDC-T supporters.
Douglas Mwonzora said: “We note that a lot of people interviewed refused to disclose their political preferences. This is obviously for fear of intimidation and the violence they have been subjected to by Zanu PF and its military junta.”
Here, the MDC-T seeks to substitute the actual position of the report because a careful scan shows that the 47% who did not overtly declare their support, specifically those who said their vote is their secret, exhibit crossbreed characteristics of both the MDC‐T and Zanu PF.
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Further holistic analyses reveal that the 47% category of undeclared support does not mirror a linear or homogeneous party preference. In other words, the report is clear that, “should these persons vote in a next election, their support is likely to be diffused across party categories”.
Second, the MDC-T spokesperson argues that “the margin of error fundamentally impugns the conclusion that can be derived from this report”. The MDC-T is obviously creating a straw man fallacy by misrepresenting the actual insights of the report.
The research definitely factors in a margin of error of 2.8% at a 95% level of confidence. The writers acknowledge that, this margin of error might affect the actual level of party support, but the margin is surely not fundamental to change the negative trend portrayed in the report as the MDC-T would like us to believe.
The third reasoning by the MDC-T is that “regrettably, the report does not distinguish between people in communal lands and people who were settled on commercial farms”. An electoral victory is an electoral victory, whether one is voted for by people in resettlement schemes or in the communal areas especially for the Presidency. It’s not useful to spend much time on this.
Rather, there are a number of cropping issues in the report that the MDC-T should seriously consider in order to turn the tide in the next election. First, Zanu PF supporters are more likely to vote than MDC-T supporters. 81% of the surveyed Zanu PF supporters are very sure that they will vote in the next election, compared to 71% of MDC-T supporters. This is reflective of the macro voting trends that depict low voter turn-out in the MDC–T strongholds and high turn-out in Zanu PF strongholds.
The MDC-T simply needs a breakthrough “go vote campaign” that increases participation in electoral processes by its membership.
Second, socio-economic issues are very central to voters’ needs hence the MDC-T must walk on two legs, emphasising political and civil rights as well as the material condition of the people. People’s quotidian concerns in the report include food, clean water, access to healthcare and cash.
Third, the 4G (Fourth Generation), those aged between 18 and 24 years, who were aged between five and 11 years when the MDC-T was formed, seem not to be automatically ingrained in the party. The 18‐24 year olds constitute 51% of the MDC‐T’s declared support base which is almost the same with Zanu PF’s 48% in this category. More worrying is that only 44% of the surveyed members of this group are registered voters, hence a first time voters’ project is something to consider for the MDC-T if it wishes to turn the tide.
The MDC-T needs to capture the generational needs of this demographic generation which might not easily resonate with those of the 3G (Third Generation), 2G (Second Generation) and 1 G (First Generation). The former groups were pretty much active when the party was formed.
Fourth, unemployment is singled out as the biggest problem and probably the reason why the “indigenisation” bait resonates with most respondents in the survey. With the collapse of the formal economy, most Zimbabweans have long been engaged in informal activities. To them, the indigenisation rhetoric provides hope to grow their self-help projects or start new ones.
An alternative blue-print that deals with unemployment and increases prospects for the poor is a possible game changer for the MDC-T.
Fifth, legitimacy by performance is a reality. Political support is neither constant nor given on a silver platter because the people are not blind. History is littered with major shifts in political allegiance and the MDC-T is not immune. Consequently, MDC-T councillors and government officials must shed bad habits that erode the brand of the party and work for the betterment of the ordinary people.
Zimbabwe’s forthcoming transitional election is too important for the MDC-T to spend time in semantic denials of empirical findings that can otherwise be harnessed positively to boost its chances of winning. Confronting the elephant in the room rather than being dismissive is for the party’s own ultimate good and not for the researchers.
On cost-benefit analysis, even if the party is to fairly acknowledge the report’s shortcomings, it would lose nothing in seeking the grain which is definitely worth the effort. If anything, the MDC-T would emerge stronger from such an approach going forward.
Labels: FREEDOM HOUSE, MDC, ZANU-PF
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COMMENT - There is a general overview of this survey by the rightwing Freedom House
here. Also check out
(NEWZIMBABWE) MDC-T must face reality, and get to work.
MDC-T fury over support collapse report
22/08/2012 00:00:00
by Gilbert Nyambabvu
THE MDC-T has angrily rejected a US-based pro-democracy group’s survey which suggests
the party faces certain defeat at the next elections following a sharp collapse in support at
a time President Robert Mugabe is enjoying a renewed surge in popularity.The survey, conducted by international research group
Freedom House, shows that support for the party has fallen from 38 percent in 2010 to 20 percent this year. By contrast, backing for Zanu PF grew to 31 percent from 17 percent, over the same period.
Conducted by researchers from South Africa and Zimbabwe, the survey also found that
President Robert Mugabe would command the support of 31 percent of voters in a presidential election, ahead of rival
Morgan Tsvangirai on 19 percent, an alarming prospect for the MDC-T.
New elections to replace the coalition government are now expected next year after the completion of ongoing constitutional reforms.
University of the Witwatersrand academic Susan Booysen, who devised and conducted the survey, said the results were sobering for the MDC-T whose popularity stood at a healthy 55 percent three years ago, giving the party a realistic prospect of ending Mugabe's three-decade stay in power.
“It shows us MDC-T is not only in a seriously bad position but the extent to which that is spread across the country and the provinces,” she said.
"I've heard people saying MDC-T is just not doing work in the constituencies and is spending too much time in the palace. They're taking for granted they're the crown princes. They are not capturing the desire for change.
“Perhaps they think they are crown prince that need only wait for Mugabe to go for it to fall in their lap. This is a wake-up call for them that there is no honeymoon.”
The MDC-T however, rejected the survey findings, insisting it remained the “most popular party within Zimbabwe.”
Said party spokesman Douglas Mwonzora: “The party respects the right of individuals and institutions to carry out opinion surveys on the views of the people of Zimbabwe from time to time. However, we note that surveys carried out under current conditions are difficult to rely on due to the fact that they are held under conditions of major fluidity.
“We note that a lot of people interviewed refused to disclose their political preferences. This is obviously for fear of intimidation and the violence they have been subjected to by Zanu PF and its military junta. This margin of terror fundamentally impugns the conclusion that can be derived from this report.”
Zanu PF spokesman Rugare Gumbo said: "People are now beginning to realise that the MDC-T has no agenda. It (MDC-T) is externally funded and its interest is to please its master. People are beginning to see this for themselves.”
Politburo member Jonathan Moyo said the MDC-T’s rejection of the survey results was ironic and quipped: “It is not possible to ignore the fact that MDC-T, which has previously celebrated these surveys by the same quarters claiming its popularity, is now questioning the decline of its popularity. It’s ridiculous. If they believed them (surveys) before, they must believe them today.
“Do they only believe these surveys if they are in their favour? Too bad because things speak for themselves on the ground! The MDC-T has proven to be a party too preoccupied with itself, they have spent four years in government fighting for positions, and not a single signature policy issue.
“On the other hand, Zanu PF has understood that to create jobs we need to indigenise the economy and people identify with that.”
The survey polled a nationally representative sample of 1,198 adult Zimbabweans between 23 June and 7 July 2012. According to Freedom House, 47 percent of the respondents said they would not vote, or refused to indicate who they would vote for.
The MDC-T seized on this figure, arguing that: “It is important to note that a large number of Zimbabweans interviewed by the researchers refused to disclose their political affiliation. This is clear evidence of the level of intimidation they have been subjected to.
“While professional people may have carried out this research, the conditions under which the research was carried were not conducive for Zimbabweans to freely express their political preferences.”
Still, analysts said the results come as a huge surprise because, for years, there had been a near-default assumption by the MDC-T, activists and media that Mugabe had lost popular support and was only being sustained only by vote rigging, violence and intimidation.
They added that the report also resonates with signs of discontent about the MDC-T's performance in the unity government it formed with Zanu PF following the disputed election of 2008.
After joining the coalition government, the MDC-T took charge of the economy and other social affairs ministries.
But the economic stability and marginal growth of the last few years has not come with jobs and unemployment remains high at more than 90 percent. Again, observers argue that MDC-T ministers have fallen in love with their official cars and other trappings of power.
Labels: DOUGLAS MWONZORA, FREEDOM HOUSE, MDC, RUGARE GUMBO, ZANU-PF
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Masebo happy with WTO preps
August 23, 2012 | Filed under: Local News | Posted by: web editor
By CHARLES CHISALA
MINISTER of Tourism and Arts Sylvia Masebo says she is happy with the progress made so far in preparations for the World Tourism Organisation (WTO) general assembly to be co-hosted by Zambia and Zimbabwe next year.
Ms Masebo said on Tuesday evening after getting updates from the various players that she is confident that the country is up to date in terms of preparations for the event.
She was satisfied with the briefings from the Livingstone City Council (LCC), the Southern Water and Sewerage Company (SWASCO) and other public institutions and members of the private sector at Wasawange Lodge and Tours.
“I am very impressed with what I have heard. I am confident that when we meet again after two weeks, more progress will be reported. From here it’s action, action, action. It’s implementation, implementation, implementation. There is no time,” she said.
LCC director of engineering services Ben Chiyesu reported that out of the 34 roads that have been identified for rehabilitation or construction, the council has prioritised seven.
“After the last consultative meeting, we came up with a list of 34 roads. But because of budget constraints, we had to prioritise these roads and identified seven on which the K33 billion the National Roads Fund Agency has made available, will be spent,” Mr Chiyesu said.
And Town Clerk Vivian Chikoti said the council has already come up with some infrastructure development projects to be implemented around the city, in readiness for the WTO general assembly.
“We have done our homework. Once we are through with these projects, Livingstone will be a showpiece in this region,” she said.
Earlier, Minister of Chiefs and Traditional Affairs Nkandu Luo said her ministry has already devised a strategy to involve chiefdoms to provide the products Ms Masebo’s ministry will need to market Zambia’s tourism.
Ms Masebo left for Victoria Falls Town in Zimbabwe yesterday where she is expected to attend a Joint Ministerial Committee meeting on the WTO general assembly today.
Labels: SYLVIA MASEBO, WTO
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Tax modernisation project gets $15m
August 22, 2012 | Filed under: Business | Posted by: web editor
By NELLA MUKALENGE
ZAMBIA Revenue Authority (ZRA) Commissioner General Berlin Msiska (right) exchange signed contracts with Investment Climate Facility for Africa (ICF) Chief Executive Officer Omari Issa (left) worth US $ 15million for the implementation of phase two Zambia Tax Modernisation project. – Picture by BRIAN MALAMATHE Zambia Revenue Authority (ZRA) and the Investment Climate Facility for Africa (ICF) have contributed over US$15million towards the implementation of the phase Two of the Zambia Modernisation project.
The main objective of the project is to increase revenue collection in the country and enhance efficiency in revenue administration.
ZRA commissioner general Berlin Msiska says the implementation of the second phase will play a vital role in the modernisation of operations of the authority by facilitating its way of doing business.
“Government through the ZRA shall contributeUS$13,315,000 to the project costing US$15,463,000. ICF shall also contribute US$2,148,000 to the project,” he said.
Mr Msiska was speaking at the signing ceremony of financial assistance agreement between ICF and ZRA in Lusaka.
He said the authority in partnership with ICF successfully implemented the first phase whose objective included selecting Information Technology (IT) solution for the integrated tax administration system.
“ICF supported the authority in the implementation of the first phase in respect of the Zambia Tax modernisation and the other objectives included the completion of small and medium taxpayer (SMTO),”Mr Msiska said.
Meanwhile, ICF chief executive officer Omari Issa said there is need to enhance revenue collection through the introduction of modern technology to increase the number of people paying tax.
Mr Issa said the implementation of the second phase should see more SMEs pay tax as a way of facilitating their way of doing business.
“If ZRA makes it easy for SMEs to pay tax online there will not spurn away from paying revenue,” he said.
Labels: BERLIN MSISKA, TAXATION, ZRA
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New Kwacha launches January 1, 2013
August 23, 2012 | Filed under: Local News | Posted by: web editor
Bank of Zambia governor Michael Gondwe
By YANDE SYAMPEYO
THE Bank of Zambia (BoZ) has set January 1, 2013 as the date for the change-over for the rebased currency.
Consequently, the rebased currency will become legal tender on the said date and will be accepted as a medium of exchange in the country. BoZ head of public relations Kanguya Mayondi disclosed the development in a statement yesterday.
He said January 1 to June 30, 2013 has been designated as transition period during which both the old and rebased currencies will circulate simultaneously.
Mr Mayondi said with effect from January 1, 2013, financial institutions will be required to make payments to clients in the rebased currency.
He said all banks will be converted to the rebased currency as well as automated teller machines (ATMs).
“All amounts shown on receipts and points of sale machines should be expressed in the rebased currency utilising the new currency code. All company balance sheet items as at close of business December 31, 2012 shall be converted to the rebased currency,” the statement reads in part.
Mr Kanguya added that all accounting, financial and supporting documentation for businesses should be reverted to the rebased currency.
“Likewise, all ledgers used by business entities as well as information on their information technology applications shall be prepared in the rebased currency and amounts shown on debit instructions such as cheques and promissory notes issued by December 31, 2012 for settlement after this date shall be converted to the rebased currency,” the statement reads in part.
Mr Kanguya, however, said financial institutions will continue to exchange old currency to rebased one even after the expiry of the grace period.
He said the exchange of currency is expected to continue for 18 months until December 31, 2014.
Mr Kanguya said all business entities are required to commence preparations for adaptation of all systems and infrastructure among other things in readiness for the rebasing.
He said in September next month, the BoZ will issue technical guidelines pertaining to the currency rebasing process to ensure all stakeholders are guided.
Labels: BOZ, KWACHA
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William Banda arrested
August 23, 2012 | Filed under: Local News | Posted by: web editor
By YANDE SYAMPEYO
UNITED Party for National Development (UPND) member William Banda has been arrested and charged with being in possession of property suspected to have been acquired from proceeds of crime.
Mr Banda was formally arrested at Woodlands Police Station yesterday, according to a statement from government joint investigations team acting spokesperson Christopher Chibanku.
“Mr Banda has been arrested on two counts of allegedly being in possession of property suspected of being proceeds of crime, contrary to section 71 (1) of the forfeiture of proceeds of Crime Act No. 19 of 2010,” Mr Chibanku said.
He said in the first count, Mr Banda has been arrested in connection with the possession of five (5) vehicles, a Toyota Prado registration number ABZ 1661, Toyota Prado registration number ABR 9874, Toyota Harrier registration number ALB 3619, Toyota Surf registration number ABG 9009 and Toyota Cresta registration ABX 1408 “reasonably suspected to be proceeds of crime.”
In the second count, Mr Banda is alleged to have been in possession of cash amounting to K100,800,000 “reasonably suspected to be proceeds of crime.”
Mr Banda, who has been released on bond, will appear in court on August 30, 2012.
And Mr Banda’s lawyer Rabson Malipenga told journalists in an interview that his client has been released on K50 million bail, in his own recognisance.
Meanwhile, Mr Banda, a former MMD Lusaka Province chairman, attacked a MUVI television cameraman on arrival at Woodlands police station.
Mr Banda was seemingly angered by the presence of journalists and particularly the MUVI TV cameraman who was filming him.
He confronted the cameraman and attempted to grab his equipment. However, quick action by some police officers interrupted Mr Banda’s action.
Mr Banda was then ushered into the police station and formally arrested.
Labels: WILLIAM BANDA
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Sata, KK eulogise Meles Zenawi
August 23, 2012
By YANDE SYAMPEYO
PRESIDENT Sata is shocked and saddened by the untimely death of Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi. In a letter of condolences to acting Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn, President Sata said “It is with a profound sense of grief that I learnt of the passing of His Excellency the Prime Minister Meles Zenawi.”
President Sata said, “on behalf of the government and the people of the Republic of Zambia and indeed on my own behalf, I wish to convey heartfelt condolences to you, the people of Ethiopia and the first family of the Prime Minister.”
The message is contained in a statement issued by the President’s special assistant for press and public relations, George Chellah.
President Sata said the economic strides Ethiopia has achieved over the years can be attributed to Mr Zenawi’s illustrious and selfless dedication to public service.
“Prime Minister Zenawi will also be remembered for his tireless efforts in maintaining peace and stability in the Horn of Africa, even in the midst of turmoil.
“It is also under his chairmanship of the NEPAD heads of state and government orientation committee of the African Union that he greatly contributed to bringing greater visibility of Africa’s potential as a pole of growth in the new world economic order.”
The President adds; “please accept, Your Excellency and Dear Brother, my deepest sympathies to you, the bereaved family and the people of your country on this great loss.” Meanwhile, President Sata has also sent a message of condolences to Investrust Bank Plc chairman Friday Ndhlovu following the death of his wife, Margaret.
President Sata said Mrs Ndhlovu will be remembered as a great woman who dedicated her life to selfless service up to the time of her death.
“Indeed, she will be solely missed by all who knew her for the principles that she devotedly stood for.
“During this period of enormous pain, we show compassion with you and join in prayerful reflection, and beseech the Almighty God to grant the bereaved family solace and fortitude to bear this great loss. May the soul of your dear wife rest in eternal peace,” the President’s letter to Mr Ndhlovu reads in part.
And CLAVER MUTINTA reports that first President Kenneth Kaunda has described Mr Zenawi as a hospitable leader.
“I knew him as a quiet young man. Each time I met him, he was quiet, smiling most of the time and allowing you to feel at home in his presence,” Dr Kaunda said.
Dr Kaunda told the BBC’s Focus on Africa programme monitored in Lusaka yesterday evening that Mr Zenawi played a pivotal role in developing his country.
“The young man contributed a lot to the development of Ethiopia,” Dr Kaunda said.
Mr Zenawi died in a Brussels hospital on Tuesday.
Labels: KENNETH KAUNDA, MELES ZENAWI, MICHAEL SATA
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