(HERALD ZW) Misihairabwi urges MDC-T to accept defeat
Wednesday, 16th October 2013
Zvamaida Murwira Senior Reporter
MDC secretary-general Ms Priscilla-Misihairabwi-Mushonga yesterday urged MDC-T to accept defeat at the polls and join Zanu-PF in building the nation. Ms Misihairabwi-Mushonga, who was contributing to debate on the President’s speech, said there was need to accept what happened on July 31, 2013 and improve on weaknesses for future elections instead of continued preoccupation with the past, drawing a standing ovation from mainly Zanu-PF legislators.
MDC-T which dismally lost the elections to Zanu-PF managing only 70 seats in the 270-member National Assembly which Zanu-PF dominates with 197 seats, way above the two-thirds majority threshold of 180 seats, has been trying to cast aspersions on the harmonised elections that have been endorsed by the United Nations, the African Union, Sadc, Comesa, the ACP, and over 40 countries world wide as a credible expression of the will of Zimbabweans.
The MDC-T has, however, since failed to substantiate its claims that the elections were rigged.
In her contribution, Ms Misihairabwi-Mushonga – who is one of the MDC’s two legislators – said the victorious Zanu-PF should not continue treating its election competitors as enemies so as to seek legitimacy from them.
“The first thing that we need to do, painful as it may, is to acknowledge that July 31 happened and it’s done. However even as we move on we need to say what is it we should do better. We also can not have us, as an opposition party sit and fold our hands and say ‘chitongai tione’ expecting that something wrong would happen. That is not the way,” Ms Misihairabwi-Mushonga said.
She said that required sober and unemotional minds to accept what happened and move forward and think how to do better in 2018.
“But holding the different positions that we have right now, we will not make 2018 any different from what it is right now. We need a leadership from both sides that begin to say, yes we have a problem but we will deal with it,” she said.
“We need to go back to the drawing board and begin to look at these things in a sober an unemotional manner. This is why I am saying the more women we have in this House the more we will begin to have sense.”
Ms Misihairabwi-Mushonga said it was unfortunate that the elections though peaceful had left the political players polarised.
“Even as we move forward we need to say to ourselves what is it that we should do better next time. What is it that make us so divided and so polarised.
That can not happen by us, sitting on the opposite side and throwing stones at each other. It’s not about winning an argument but building the nation. Building a nation takes humility,” she said.
Ms Misihairabwi however surprised fellow legislators when she commended the role played by three principals that left out former Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara.
She lauded President Mugabe, MDC-T leader Mr Morgan Tsvangirai and MDC leader, Professor Welshman Ncube for setting the tone but remained silent on the role of Prof Mutambara.
This triggered some interjections from the floor who shouted Prof Mutambara’s name.
Labels: 2013 ELECTIONS (ZW), MDC, PRISCILLA MISIHAIRABWI
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(NEWZIMBABWE, IPS) Many head out after poll disappointment
Disappointment ... Many are heading back to neighbouring countries such as South Africa
15/10/2013 00:00:00
by IPS
ADMIRE Gumbo, 26, from Harare’s Mabvuku high density-suburb, is loath to leave the country and return to Botswana. However, he feels he has no choice but to head back to the neighbouring country where he worked for three years as a manual labourer.
“I’m a qualified electrician with a national diploma,” says 26-year-old Gumbo.
“Previously when I stayed in Botswana I never had a decent job, but thrived on casual jobs, usually as an assistant builder in the construction industry, where I earned 60 pula [about seven dollars] a day. Now going back there is a difficult decision I have made because I can’t get a job here.”
Just over two months after elections at the end of July saw President Robert Mugabe win another term in office, Zimbabweans, convinced that there will be no change of rule, are leaving the country in large numbers.
Edwin Gandari, chairperson of the Zimbabwe Cross Borders Transporters’ Association, an association that transports undocumented emigrants, says that business has peaked after the July 31 elections.
“We were not sure about our business soon after the polls here, until more than a month later, when people travelling to seek better opportunities in neighbouring countries, began seeking our services in their numbers,” he says.
“On average, our association now records about 1,200 undocumented migrants a day crossing over to neighbouring countries like South Africa, Mozambique and Botswana,” adds Gandari.
Hyperinflation
A border official at the South African-Zimbabwe border says the number of Zimbabweans crossing into South Africa has almost doubled
“Our government commended the election outcome in Zimbabwe, but surprisingly more than two months after those polls we are now recording over 700 Zimbabweans daily passing through the border into South Africa,” the South African official says on the condition of anonymity.
According to the official, before this year’s elections that number was around 400.
It is estimated that more than three million of Zimbabwe’s 12 million people left the country after 2000, during the peak of Zimbabwe’s economic meltdown.
Between 2003 and 2009, the country had one of the worst rates of hyperinflation in the world and its year to year inflation was reported as 231 percent.
The number of emigrants was so high that in 2009, South Africa’s Department of Home Affairs declared a moratorium on deporting undocumented Zimbabwean refugees and allowed them to stay in South Africa officially by granting them work and study permits.
No alternative
Many Zimbabweans like 31-year-old Jason Mandundu, who returned home from neighbouring South Africa earlier this year, hoped that this provision would no longer be necessary and that a new political dispensation would mean he could return home permanently.
“We hoped for a new Zimbabwe under a new government not led by Mugabe. But now he stole his way back to State House and we see no economic hope under his leadership. Surely for people like me, there is no hope except to scrounge for a living in South Africa,” Mandundu says.
“People are leaving because Zimbabwe has proven to be unable to offer alternative means of survival to the unemployed,” says Okey Machisa, director of the Zimbabwe Human Rights Association.
Economists agree that Zimbabweans’ renewed exodus to neighbouring countries is because of the unchanging economic climate.
The country’s economic meltdown has been blamed on Mugabe’s policies, which include a controversial land reform programme that began in 2000 and saw over 300,000 people forcefully occupy land previously owned by an estimated 4,000 white commercial farmers.
No change
Prior to this, agriculture provided employment for 60 to 70 percent of the population and contributed 15 to 19 percent to the country’s annual GDP.
“Nothing notable is really changing here; rather, life is becoming tougher and more expensive by the day since Zanu PF controversially roped to victory in the last elections. Zimbabweans who had begun to trickle back home are now heading to neighbouring countries,” says independent economist Kingston Nyakurukwa.
Prosper Chitambara, an economist with the Labour and Economic Development Research Institute of Zimbabwe, an independent economic think-tank, agrees. “There are so many uncertainties and unanswered questions with respect to the course and direction of the economy.”
John Robertson, director of Robertson Economic Information Services, says that Zimbabweans were emigrating to neighbouring countries largely thanks to the ruling ZANU PF’s disrespect for property rights.
“The realisation that no new job creation can be waiting for them here impelled those waiting for change to look for opportunities beyond our borders. They also see the damaging effects of the ZANU PF government’s disrespect for property rights,” Robertson says.
Under the Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Act of 2007, foreign-owned companies are required to sell a 51 percent stake to locals to stimulate economic growth.
In an interview with IPS last August, Robertson said this policy had scared away investors and had led to several companies closing down after having been taken over by locals.
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(NEWZIMBABWE, AGENCIES) EU-funded independent media project ends
Media project review ... Dominique Thierry and Tonderai Mazingaizo
15/10/2013 00:00:00
by Agencies
A PROJECT to support independent media in Zimbabwe which was funded by the European Union and carried out between 2010 and 2013 by Germany’s DW Akademie, among other groups, has come to an end, officials confirmed this week.
Eight other partners took part in the "Media in Zimbabwe: Key Factor in Promoting Human Rights and Freedom of Expression" project, including local media organizations as well as international players involved in media development cooperation initiatives.
In the following interview, DW Akademie project manager Dominique Thierry and Tonderai Mazingaizo of the Media Monitoring Project Zimbabwe review the results of the project and express restrained optimism for the media in the country.
Question:How did Zimbabwe's media environment look when the project got underway in 2010?
Mazingaizo: The media - newspapers, radio and television - were all controlled by the state; it had the monopoly on information, and the media never printed or broadcasted controversial comments. Still, there was a sense of optimism following the 2008 elections. The new division of power between the president and the parliament had people hoping there would be more freedoms, including for the media and in terms of access to information. For the first time there was also something approaching an opposition.
Question: Given these parameters what were the project's goals?
Thierry: We wanted to bring media professionals together for dialogues and to also include those in Zimbabwe who were interested in having a free press. We wanted to pool the media's capacity for change and enhance qualifications for journalists. The project also aimed to improve journalists' working and living conditions, and to launch a campaign for legal reforms guaranteeing freedom of the press and access to information. The idea was to link media and society.
Question: What was DW Akademie's role?
Mazingaizo: DW Akademie had several important functions, including supervising the project's development, bringing together potential partners for discussions or cooperation initiatives, and making sure that there was an ample exchange of information between all participating players.
Thierry: DW Akademie also provided valuable technical and journalistic expertise as well as essential information on issues such as the need in Zimbabwe for journalism training. We conducted a survey on training wishes and found that they did not just apply to content but also to the type of training. There was, for example, a strong desire for in-house training.
Question: What was the project able to achieve in the three years?
Mazingaizo: We provided basic and advanced training for many journalists - several hundred, in fact, attended our workshops. We were also able to pool and develop our partners' expertise, for example, by coaching them on how to more effectively streamline their workflow. We were able to convince many media professionals of the benefits of cooperation initiatives despite the competitive environment they work in, and we were able to bring specific local and international players together.
Thierry: In our community workshops we also showed people how to network and access information. We were especially active in communities where there was no access to the media. With networks, however, people learned that by coming together they could get news, share it with others and learn how to view it critically. We also helped create and strengthen media alliances and forums.
Question: How do you see Zimbabwe's media environment developing over the next several years?
Mazingaizo: I'm not expecting any major changes in the near future. Things remain oppressive, given Zimbabwe's economic situation and the dangers journalists face. There's still no law that guarantees freedom of the press or access to information. The realignment of repressive laws like AIPPA (Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act) and POSA (Public Order and Security Act) to the new constitution is yet to be implemented and shows that these media law reforms are not a priority. The government did not include them in the current legislative calendar.
Thierry: We're glad that there's a new constitution which includes a bill of rights and freedom of expression and assembly. The problem, though, is that the constitution is not yet in effect as media laws have not been changed. The state media still have the monopoly and journalists are regularly imprisoned without a judicial order.
Mazingaizo: Journalists are aware of the situation - they know their rights regarding freedom of expression and freedom of the press. The media organizations, by working together, now also know more about what a change could look like.
Thierry: We hope that we've helped create a critical mass among those who value freedom of the press and who will be able to clearly express their need for independent, quality journalism.
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(NEWZIMBABWE, BUSINESS DAY SA) No South African lost land in Zim, minister
15/10/2013 00:00:00
by Business Day
THE government has denied claims South African nationals and investors may have lost their properties in the country’s land seizure programme despite the existence of a bilateral investment promotion treaty between the two countries.
Deputy Trade and Industry Minister Elizabeth Thabethe, who is leading a delegation of South African businessmen seeking investment opportunities in Zimbabwe, said its mission was to "make sure inter-Africa trade grow(s)".
Thabethe said in Harare on Monday that the local government had to address concerns about South African businesses and farmers who may have lost their land during the farm invasions which characterised Zimbabwe’s bid to take land from white commercial farmers.
Analysts have blamed the haphazard and violent exercise for Zimbabwe’s drop in agricultural productivity.
"The Zimbabwean government … should answer questions regarding the issue of the farms or businesses lost during that period," she told journalists on the sidelines of the Zimbabwe business investment conference.
Thabethe was responding to a question on whether her government had received compensation for expropriated farms.
Deputy Finance and Economic Planning Minister Samuel Undenge said there were "no cases of South Africans who have lost farms".
"If you have any specific cases of farmers who lost their land during the reform programme bring them to our attention and we will be more than happy to respond and give the necessary information."
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(NEWZIMBABWE, BUSINESS DAY SA) SA delegation explores Zim opportunites
15/10/2013 00:00:00
by Business Day
A SOUTH African business delegation led by the Department of Trade and Industry is holding business-to-business meetings in Harare on Tuesday to scout for investment opportunities with Zimbabwean companies.
The delegation will hold a conference in Bulawayo, the country’s industry and manufacturing hub, on Wednesday.
The business-to-business meetings are expected to create the ground for potential investment deals between South African and Zimbabwean companies.
"FDI (foreign direct investment) by South African entities in Zimbabwe between 2003 and 2012 amounted to approximately $619m while inward FDI from Zimbabwe to South Africa amounted to approximately $154m," Department of Trade and Industry spokesman Sidwell Madupe said.
Deputy Trade and Industry Minister Elizabeth Thabethe, who is leading the delegation, said its mission was to "make sure intra-Africa trade grow(s)".
South Africa and Zimbabwe have a strong trade relationship, with South African companies commanding a heavy presence in sectors of the Zimbabwean economy such as mining, manufacturing and agro-processing.
Zimbabwe imports most of its consumable and finished products from South Africa.
Aside from Tuesday’s business meetings, there will also be time for the delegation to tee off in a golf tournament hosted by the Zimbabwe Investment Authority (ZIA).
Labels: FDI, SIDWELL MADUPE, SOUTH AFRICA
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'Idolising leaders is bad fellowship'
By Editor
Mon 14 Oct. 2013, 14:00 CAT
Dr Dela Adadevoh, the international chairperson for the African Forum on Religion and Government, says there is need to stop idolising leaders as the trend discourages diverse opinions.
"We need to stop a trend where women sing for leaders whenever they are leaving or arriving at airports. Idolising leaders is bad fellowship," says Dr Adadevoh.
We don't know if singing and dancing for leaders whenever they are leaving or arriving at airports is really such a bad thing. But we are certain that idolising leaders is a bad practice.
We seem to be really stuck in a culture of over-zealous worship of leaders, a culture which would look primitive in the eyes of our ancestors. As a result of this, our modern African societies have established a reputation for intolerance that is difficult to match.
This over-zealous worship of leaders, as Dr Adadevoh correctly observes, has led to our people being discouraged from having diverse opinions. When you idolise leaders, they can never be questioned or criticised by any citizen.
And sometimes we forget that our political leaders are not aristocrats, monarchs but elected representatives of the people. We so often try to equate our political leaders to kings or chiefs. They are not kings or chiefs. These are elected servants of the people. Kings or chiefs are not servants of the people - they are masters of the people. But even in our traditional society, kings or chiefs used to be criticised openly.
When people say that it is alien to our culture or custom or tradition to criticise leaders, they forget that in our traditional past, even chiefs or kings were the subject of satirical orations, through poetry and ribaldry. Even the ruthless Zulu king, Shaka, could be criticised openly. Now, try and criticise our politicians and see what happens to you in the newspapers, on radio and television. The following day, party cadres will surround your premises, demanding your blood.
And yet we are fond of justifying the way we govern ourselves and administer our affairs on our ancestral traditions! So, on the one hand, we proclaim that we are democrats and traditionalists and yet we do not know what the real Africans who lived before us practiced! This, we say, in the mistaken belief that it is alien - western - to have freedom of expression and criticism.
To date, people are dissuaded from criticism in several ways. First, the rulers make loud pronouncements against critics and criticism - calling the critics all sorts of names and accusing them of all sorts of things. Should this fail, African politicians resort to harassment and intimidation. Harassment takes many forms.
This is the legacy of post-colonial African power politics on most of our continent. No one will ever be embarrassed on our behalf except the familiar hypocritical rebels.
Where are our independent thinkers in our politics? They have been hammered to dust and pulp. Our leaders, relying on the might at their disposal, believe in themselves and the uprightness of their vision only.
Our societies have very few thinkers. History always tells us the greatest nations respected their thinkers. True, tyrants all over the world and throughout history have always been terrified by men of ideas, but ultimately more tolerant societies parted ways with their politicians and endorsed the contributions of their geniuses. When our future generations ask themselves who the greatest thinkers were at this stage of our history, what will they find? We are afraid they may come up with none. If they should see an amorphous mass of mediocrity ruled by fear of being thought different and in so doing subversive, it should not surprise us.
What we are striving to say is that African nations should take pride in their critics. Until we can allow our people the fullest and unencumbered expression in art, writing, sport and politics, we are in danger of teaching them a very simplified version of this complex universe. Very few African leaders however educated or intelligent they may appear to be in their suits or kentes can differentiate between a critic and a traitor. In popular philosophy, they say, "That is the way of Africa." That is, tyrannical rulers and uncritical people. Thus, critics and citizens, those rumour-mongering citizens can be intimidated by mobilised crowds of cadres high on dagga and intoxicated with alcohol and with a bit of money in their pockets paid to them. To agree with everything they say is divine, but to disagree is a crime. All critics inside or outside the party or government must be crushed!
Thus, before the people realise it, their hard-won independence spans one tyranny after another, prying on the original commitment of the masses. All the leaders become demi-gods of wrath. In this way, Africans are over-governed by petty-minded politicians obsessed with idolised visions of themselves.
Here, there is a mistaken notion that the "brawn class" rather than the "brain class" will rule the future of mankind, not the latter, nor a combined force of the two.
Yet history tells us that the greatest epochs in mankind's weary journey are characterised, not by subjugation of the intellect nor downgrading of thinkers and critics. On the contrary, the Greeks gave us Herodotus, the historian, Hippocrates, the doctor and Homer, the poet. Go to Rome, and see what democracy produced in the arts and sciences. Move to the more recent times and see the renaissance of the French revolution. Ironically, we take the greatest pleasure in admiring these eras and forget that the one real challenge they offer us perpetually is the development of sound minds, not the destruction of reason and intellect for the mistaken fear of losing power.
Africans have picked one ideology after another - a good thing. However, no one African leader has sought to marry his borrowed ideology with the political, social and moral ideologies of his ancestors. From their ancestors, they borrow convenient clichés, not the substance, to bolster their eternal hunger for power, while from foreign countries they borrow a dry programme, useful only to win an election. There is no place for critics, thinkers in this scheme, for too many questions spoil the party.
Africa has certainly not learnt from history. Name a single country that does not harass its budding thinkers of integrity. Shamefully all over our continent, our politicians are anxious to reduce all people to an obsequious mass: oppressed, mutilated, hungry and terrified. A continent of weeping.
As we have stated before, until African politicians redress the imbalance between selfish pursuit of power and concern for the lives they are elected to protect, between arrogance and self-respect and humility, between intolerance and mutual tolerance, Africa will forever be mark-timing or marching backwards in very long strides.
Labels: AFREG, DELA ADADEVOH, JONAS SHAKAFUSWA
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Idolising leaders raises dictators, says Shakafuswa
By Abel Mboozi
Mon 14 Oct. 2013, 14:01 CAT
JONAS Shakafuswa says idolising leaders has raised dictatorship tendencies in Africa.
Commenting on a statement by African Forum on Religion and Government (AFREG) chairperson Dr Dela Adadevoh that idolising leaders is bad fellowship, Shakafuswa, the former deputy minister of finance and Katuba member of parliament said many leaders ended up thinking they were gods.
"Usually, we think our leaders are omnipotent. Not all leaders are given by God. Sometimes people come into power by deceit, by all sorts of methods. Those leaders that have been given to us by God do good for the people," he said. "Most of them go into leadership to amass wealth, because they want power. Good people are those who are able to use power for the betterment of the people."
Shakafuswa also said the use of the youth in violent activities by some leaders was proof of their capability to turn into dictators.
"We should go past this thing where we are idolising leaders. We should only praise leaders when they do the right thing and criticise them when they do wrong," said Shakafuswa.
Dr Adadevoh recently said there was need to stop idolising leaders as the trend had discouraged diverse opinions.
Dr Adadevoh also most African leaders no longer practice true democracy because of the current risk of being sent to The Hague.
Commenting on the matter, Zambians for Empowerment and Development president Dr Fred Mutesa said African leaders that respect the rule of law and constitutionalism should not fear being sent to The Hague once they leave office.
He said only leaders that disregard the rule of law should be scared.
"Those that respect the rule of law and constitutionalism should have nothing to fear because nothing will be found against them. It is those who are criminally-minded that should worry," he said.
Dr Mutesa said criminally-minded African leaders should not take the continent backwards, more so that it was making progress in championing democracy and the rule of law.
With regard to the membership of the International Criminal Court (ICC) by African states, Dr Mutesa said his party's position was similar to that of the Nigerian government.
"We feel that we should not withdraw. In the first place, nobody forced us to become members of the ICC; we volunteered and in the second place, those cases that have been taken there were taken there by ourselves," he said.
On the issue of transitions on the continent acting as an opportunity for change and transformation, Dr Mutesa said the tragedy of Africa on democracy was that the continent was trying to build democracy without democrats.
"A lot of people we have in power today on the continent are the same people that served in the one-party system, the same people that were used to totalitarian systems. Therefore, to expect much from them is really to misplace our confidence," he said.
Dr Mutesa said the starting point was for the continent to have democrats that are not afraid of competition and dialogue and those that speak the truth all the times.
Labels: AFREG, DELA ADADEVOH, JONAS SHAKAFUSWA
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Chikwanda more pragmatic than predecessors - Katele
By Chiwoyu Sinyangwe and Gift Chanda
Mon 14 Oct. 2013, 14:01 CAT
FINANCE minister Alexander Chikwanda is being more pragmatic than most of his predecessors did in the past, says Katele Kalumba. And Zambia Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) president Leonard Hikaumba says the 2014 national budget is very ambitious.
Meanwhile, the World Bank has urged the Zambian government to resist major policy changes that could have budgetary implications next year. Chikwanda on Friday unveiled a K42.68 billion budget for next year, about 30.7 per cent of the size of Zambia's economy.
Commenting on the budget, Kalumba, who served as finance minister in Frederick Chiluba's regime, said Chikwanda was focusing the budget preparation on putting 'more money in people's pockets."
"The major thrust of the minister is to put money in people's pockets. Most significantly for me is that a considerable amount of money will be put in infrastructure development, and he has outlaid a lot of resources for that," Kalumba said in an interview.
"That is a welcome move. People must see physical deliverables in addition to service. He has also thought out well about how he is going to balance his books."
Kalumba also said the planned borrowing of K10 billion as part of financing next year's budget was not unrealistic as the economic growth projections could support successful repayment.
"There will be need for borrowing and it is economically necessary," he said.
"Technically, the projects he is proposing are feasible and all that is needed is for honourable members of parliament and ministers to go out there and work hard and explain the policies and programmes the minister has pronounced."
Kalumba said it was good that Chikwanda admitted that fiscal year 2013 had been a challenging one due to the unfriendly external environment which depressed copper prices while government's failure to uphold fiscal discipline saw the country's fiscal deficit widening to 8.5 per cent of the gross domestic product at the end of this year.
"A lot of political work to manage the programme is needed and they have got the skill to do it," Kalumba said.
"It (2013) was a very difficult year given what he described in terms of the external environment and given the populist demands in the country, it had to be a delicate year but he has managed to pull through. There was a bit of slippage but it was a necessary slippage given the demands we were facing, including the number of by-elections, most of which were not budgeted for. But he is now focused in terms of what he wants to achieve."
Kalumba said this year's budget was the most pragmatic.
"It is important to be specific when you say you will create employment. You must say how many jobs you are going to create and I think that is a more pragmatic approach than used to be the case before," said Kalumba.
"He is being more pragmatic than most of us did in the past. What I have seen is that it is economically necessary for him to borrow now. There will be some negative short-term effects but the long-term stimulus effects to the economy will cover that and I think, if there is fiscal prudence after this phase of initial borrowing for major physical infrastructure, in the future the benefits will pay off. I am very convinced the investments for which he wants to borrow are very sustainable. I live in a rural area, I have seen the effects of bad roads on goods and services. A bag of mealie-meal in Chienge will cost you K80 for 25 kilogrammes because of the distance and the bad roads."
And in a separate interview, Hikaumba said the upward adjustment in exempt threshold for Pay As You Earn would bring relief to workers.
"What this implies is that workers earning K3,000 and below will not be paying any tax but those earning above K3,000 means the first K3,000 of their income will not be subjected to tax," he said. "So, this enhances the take-home pay. Although the amount of relief is small, it's a positive development."
Hikaumba said there was need for more consultations in the proposed reforms to the Public Service Pension Fund.
Chikwanda, during the budget presentation, said the government would implement changes to the Public Service Pension Fund that will include changing the retirement age, revising the basis for calculating the pensionable emoluments and reviewing the commutation factors.
But Hikaumba said: "We need very thorough discussions between the employers and workers in order to have an outcome that is pleasant to the employers and workers. We have an article in the current Constitution that gives protection to workers' pension benefits, so anything that is being proposed should not be less favourable to what is in existence now; it should be better."
And World Bank country director for Zambia, Malawi and Zimbabwe, Kundhavi Kadiresan said the government's plan to reduce fiscal deficit next year through higher revenues from reduced exemptions and control of expenditure on salaries is encouraging.
Next year, the government plans to narrow the budget deficit to less than 6.6 per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
The government, which is one of the country's biggest employers, also plans a two-year wage freeze for civil servants and a halt to hiring, after increasing salaries by as much as 50 percent in September.
The public-wage bill will account for 52.5 percent of government revenue in 2014.
"These steps will enable the government to maintain and grow its expenditure on priority activities," Kadiresan said, adding that a lower deficit would also allow the government to consolidate its fiscal position.
The budget gap this year is seen reaching about 8.5 percent of GDP, from the 4.3 per cent earlier projected.
"The government must execute the 2014 budget as planned by resisting major policy changes that could have budgetary implications during the year," said Kadiresan.
Labels: ALEXANDER CHIKWANDA, KATELE KALUMBA
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PF confusion will end in days - Scott
By Moses Kuwema in Choma
Mon 14 Oct. 2013, 14:00 CAT
VICE-President Dr Guy Scott has assured PF members that the confusion that has characterised the party in Lusaka over the past weeks will end in the next few days.
And Vice-President Scott has told some chiefs from Southern Province not to be worried with the happenings in Lusaka, saying he and President Michael Sata were in control of the situation.
And Daniel Munkombwe has urged party officials not to behave like con men.
Addressing party officials at Leon Guesthouse on Saturday, Vice-President Scott said the wrangles in PF were being addressed.
He said the PF had opted to remain with limited resources because it did not want to be in the pockets of big companies.
"This party has very limited resources. We have kept it that way. We don't want to be in the pockets of the big companies, the mining companies and so forth. Look at how rotten and corrupt MMD became doing that? We don't want to be in the pockets of people who have great interests. That is a thing that kills. It looks like food but in the end it is poison," he said.
Vice-President Scott said it was possible for the party to get some level of resources locally.
"But to think that in Lusaka there is a big kama-tree full of money, there is no such thing. The money comes from well-wishers, who supported us during the campaign and they continue to support us. Those are the people that we depend upon," he said.
And Vice-President Scott said the only way to win an election and continue winning elections was to be able to show people the achievements that had been scored.
He said the government had embarked on a number of developmental projects in Southern Province, adding that the tone of the complaints from people had since changed.
"Instead of complaining that you have brought nothing, they say you have brought too little. The people have seen the works that we have done. It is mostly hard because to convince people who have a big tribal bloc that has its own tradition of having its own party is a difficult thing to simply persuade people. You have this tradition in this part of the country and we, for our part in Lusaka, we have to make sure that we don't alienate you. We don't say this PF is for people other than people in the south, so it is a balancing act; we have to do it. We have to avoid allegations of tribalism, allegations of regionalism. I think we are getting there," said Vice-President Scott.
And Munkombwe urged party officials not to behave like con men.
"Can we be cool all of us and we will not punish anybody except those who were saying 'Munkombwe was exhumed from the graveyard to come and lead; therefore I don't recognise him'. Don't behave like con men. Don't be gangsters hired to insult people. Let us organise the party and allow elections to come. If a Bemba wins, let us support that person," he said.
Munkombwe said he was not weak and that people who wanted to fight him would end up fighting themselves.
"Let us build the party. I offer myself to help. If I change the face of Southern Province in terms of politics, you are not the ones who are winning; it is me again the legendary. Don't make me retire early, help me to grow the party. I am not a rich person but comfortable. I can help, provided there is a programme drawn," he said.
Munkombwe said in politics, there was need for one to have influence, adding that he had influence in PF.
And speaking when he launched the Cooma chiefdom development strategic plan 2013-2017, Vice-President Scott hoped that all the members of parliament from Southern Province would make use of Munkombwe to develop the area."
He (Munkombwe) likes to be with the party in power and I will urge all members of parliament, including Cornelius Mweetwa, to work with us. There is nothing to campaign for now. Let us get the job done," said Vice-President Scott, with Choma Central UPND member of parliament Mweetwa as his interpreter.
Vice-President Scott said the strategic plan was a great idea.
And speaking when he paid a courtesy call on chief Singani at his palace, Vice-President Scott, in an apparent reference to the wrangles in the PF said: "Don't be worried with what you are hearing from Lusaka. Mr Sata and I are not going to leave it just like that. And Munkombwe said there was need to avoid being a passenger in politics."
He added: "I love Mweetwa. Mweetwa, I am not in competition with you. You can use me anytime as long as you don't bring your politics to me and I will not do the same. The PF is not an infection, so let us work together for the good of the people."
And Mweetwa said the increase in population in Choma had resulted in the hospital being overstretched.
Mweetwa also appealed to Vice-President Scott to intervene and ensure that farmers are paid for the maize they delivered to the Food Reserve Agency.
He said the farmers delivered maize to the FRA four months ago but had not been paid.
Mweetwa also said the Cooma chiefdom development strategic plan had made his work as member of parliament easy because all the developmental challenges that the constituency was faced with had been highlighted in the plan and that the only thing remaining was funding.
Labels: DANIEL MUNKOMBWE, GUY SCOTT, PF
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Chipwaya underscores integrated farming
By Godfrey Chikumbi in Kawambwa
Mon 14 Oct. 2013, 14:00 CAT
SAMFYA district livestock officer Mudenda Chipwaya says integration of livestock with crops and fish farming can enhance productivity if properly used.
Chipwaya said on Friday that integration of livestock, various crops and fish farming had been identified as the only tool to boost productivity in farming.
He said the rearing of animals, along with crops and fish, created a diverse way of farming which provided adequate substitution in an event of failure in one enterprise.
"Integrated farming creates diverse farming, thus providing adequate substitution in an event of failure in one enterprise; a farmer may still have animals for food and income," Chipwaya said.
He has since disclosed that the departments of veterinary, fisheries and crops would be training field officers to equip them with adequate information and knowledge on the application of integrated farming in the district.
Chipwaya said the training of field officers under the said departments would be followed by the training of individual farmers in all the camps in the district.
"The district is also trying to encourage aquaculture, taking advantage of the vast water resources in the district. All farmers that have fish ponds would be equipped with integration skills," said Chipwaya.
And Samfya district veterinary officer Kenneth Chawinga said the integrated
farming approach, which was being promoted by the Programme for Luapula
Agricultural and Rural Development (PLARD), would save farmers a lot of time.
He explained that by using the integrated farming approach, officers from all departments under the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock would be meeting farmers at once, thereby saving time for them to engage in actual production.
Meanwhile, Dr Chawinga disclosed that his department had so far vaccinated 987 dogs and that the campaign to vaccinate more was still going on.
Dr Chawinga said the vaccination campaign was being carried out in line with this year's world veterinary day celebrations, an event which was celebrated in Kitwe on September 28.
Labels: MUDENDA CHIPWAYA
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Continued squabbles in PF sadden Inonge
By Tilyenji Mwanza and Abel Mboozi
Mon 14 Oct. 2013, 14:01 CAT
INONGE Wina says she is disappointed that squabbles in PF have continued even after President Michael Sata's directive to end the infighting.
And suspended Chawama Constituency chairperson Robert Chikwelete has accused Lusaka Province PF chairperson Geoffrey Chuumbwe of being the commander of the 'militia' group in the Fourth Republic party.
Wina, who is PF national chairperson, said there were more amicable ways of sorting out issues than fighting and threatening one another.
"You know what, let them fight at that level. We do not know what else these people want. The President issued a directive for them to stop the fighting. You would expect them to stop but they are being disrespectful," she said.
Last week, Chikwelete threatened violence against Goodson Banda if he attempted to take over the district offices.
"Let me also warn the Goodson Banda-led committee that if they try to cause confusion or provoke these loyal members of the party, they will face it in a hard way. I know their followers are women; my followers are men and they will face them head-on. We have information that people want to march and come and close this office. We are not going to allow that. If they provoke us to that extent, definitely expect some violence. I am not going to hide it, expect some violence. We do not want to be violent but if they continue provoking us in this manner, we will make sure that we crush them and crush them such that they will never exist anymore. We are not going to allow anymore intimidation and people trying to underrate us. We are the voters. We put this government where it is. We expect leaders to respect us," said Chikwelete last week.
But Wina said violence against women would not be entertained.
Wina, who is also gender minister, said it was uncalled for, for Chikwelete to threaten PF women with violence.
"It is not right to compare women and men, especially in terms of violence," she said.
Wina said the party did not condone gender-based violence at any level, and appropriate measures would be used to deal with Chikwelete.
She said she would study the matter more and see what action could be taken.
"We don't like this and we have asked them to stop but issuing threats against women is uncalled for," said Wina.
But Chikwelete, in a statement issued in Lusaka yesterday, declared that his suspension by Chumbwe was null and void.
He maintained that he was still the Lusaka district chairman as appointed by President Michael Sata and that he was fully in charge.
"Chumbwe has no power to suspend me. Let him just concentrate on the Fourth Republican Party where he is the 'commander' of the militia group," Chikwelete said.
"The purported suspension from Chumbwe is null and void. This is a serious exhibition of impunity and disloyalty to our President by Chumbwe and Goodson Banda," he said.
Chikwelete said his appointment by President Sata as Lusaka district chairperson was meant to correct an anomaly which he said was created by secretary general Wynter Kabimba.
He alleged that Kabimba manipulated the bringing in of Banda at the district and his eventual ascension to the position of district chairperson.
"The information we have received suggest that the Fourth Republican Party constitution was used to elect Goodson Banda as Lusaka district chairperson. Therefore Banda's claim of legitimacy as an elected chairman is a big falsehood and we are surprised that he can challenge my appointment by the President," said Chikwelete.
Chuumbwe has suspended Chikwelete from the party on account of bringing President Sata and the party's name into disrepute.
This action has incensed Chikwelete, who has vowed to use violent means to fight Chuumbwe over his suspension.
Labels: GEOFFREY CHUUMBWE, INONGE WINA, PF, ROBERT CHIKWELETE
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PF confusion will end in days - Scott
By Moses Kuwema in Choma
Mon 14 Oct. 2013, 14:00 CAT
VICE-President Dr Guy Scott has assured PF members that the confusion that has characterised the party in Lusaka over the past weeks will end in the next few days.
And Vice-President Scott has told some chiefs from Southern Province not to be worried with the happenings in Lusaka, saying he and President Michael Sata were in control of the situation. And Daniel Munkombwe has urged party officials not to behave like con men.
Addressing party officials at Leon Guesthouse on Saturday, Vice-President Scott said the wrangles in PF were being addressed.
He said the PF had opted to remain with limited resources because it did not want to be in the pockets of big companies.
"This party has very limited resources. We have kept it that way. We don't want to be in the pockets of the big companies, the mining companies and so forth. Look at how rotten and corrupt MMD became doing that? We don't want to be in the pockets of people who have great interests. That is a thing that kills. It looks like food but in the end it is poison," he said.
Vice-President Scott said it was possible for the party to get some level of resources locally.
"But to think that in Lusaka there is a big kama-tree full of money, there is no such thing. The money comes from well-wishers, who supported us during the campaign and they continue to support us. Those are the people that we depend upon," he said.
And Vice-President Scott said the only way to win an election and continue winning elections was to be able to show people the achievements that had been scored.
He said the government had embarked on a number of developmental projects in Southern Province, adding that the tone of the complaints from people had since changed.
"Instead of complaining that you have brought nothing, they say you have brought too little. The people have seen the works that we have done. It is mostly hard because to convince people who have a big tribal bloc that has its own tradition of having its own party is a difficult thing to simply persuade people. You have this tradition in this part of the country and we, for our part in Lusaka, we have to make sure that we don't alienate you. We don't say this PF is for people other than people in the south, so it is a balancing act; we have to do it. We have to avoid allegations of tribalism, allegations of regionalism. I think we are getting there," said Vice-President Scott.
And Munkombwe urged party officials not to behave like con men.
"Can we be cool all of us and we will not punish anybody except those who were saying 'Munkombwe was exhumed from the graveyard to come and lead; therefore I don't recognise him'. Don't behave like con men. Don't be gangsters hired to insult people. Let us organise the party and allow elections to come. If a Bemba wins, let us support that person," he said.
Munkombwe said he was not weak and that people who wanted to fight him would end up fighting themselves.
"Let us build the party. I offer myself to help. If I change the face of Southern Province in terms of politics, you are not the ones who are winning; it is me again the legendary. Don't make me retire early, help me to grow the party. I am not a rich person but comfortable. I can help, provided there is a programme drawn," he said.
Munkombwe said in politics, there was need for one to have influence, adding that he had influence in PF.
And speaking when he launched the Cooma chiefdom development strategic plan 2013-2017, Vice-President Scott hoped that all the members of parliament from Southern Province would make use of Munkombwe to develop the area."
He (Munkombwe) likes to be with the party in power and I will urge all members of parliament, including Cornelius Mweetwa, to work with us. There is nothing to campaign for now. Let us get the job done," said Vice-President Scott, with Choma Central UPND member of parliament Mweetwa as his interpreter.
Vice-President Scott said the strategic plan was a great idea.
And speaking when he paid a courtesy call on chief Singani at his palace, Vice-President Scott, in an apparent reference to the wrangles in the PF said: "Don't be worried with what you are hearing from Lusaka. Mr Sata and I are not going to leave it just like that. And Munkombwe said there was need to avoid being a passenger in politics."
He added: "I love Mweetwa. Mweetwa, I am not in competition with you. You can use me anytime as long as you don't bring your politics to me and I will not do the same. The PF is not an infection, so let us work together for the good of the people."
And Mweetwa said the increase in population in Choma had resulted in the hospital being overstretched.
Mweetwa also appealed to Vice-President Scott to intervene and ensure that farmers are paid for the maize they delivered to the Food Reserve Agency.
He said the farmers delivered maize to the FRA four months ago but had not been paid.
Mweetwa also said the Cooma chiefdom development strategic plan had made his work as member of parliament easy because all the developmental challenges that the constituency was faced with had been highlighted in the plan and that the only thing remaining was funding.
Labels: GUY SCOTT, PF
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(HERALD ZW) SA happy with Zim agrarian reform
October 15, 2013
Thulas Nxesi
SOUTH AFRICAN Government officials are slowly conceding their country could learn a thing or two from the agrarian reform model adopted by Zimbabwe. SACP deputy chairman and Public Works Minister Thulas Nxesi last Friday said although land reform models could not be similar, Zimbabwe provided a learning platform for land ownership patterns.
Addressing an SA Democratic Teachers Union provincial general council in KwaZulu-Natal last Friday, Minister Nxesi said it was now 100 years since the passing of the Natives Land Act “when 87 percent of the land, including all the best farmland, was reserved for whites”.
“The fight remains to end capitalist class inequality on land ownership and move towards more public use of the land,” said Minister Nxesi.
He said recent research indicated land reform in Zimbabwe had been successful.
Minister Nxesi listed some facts about the success of Zimbabwe’s land reform. He said 6 000 white owners had been replaced by over 200 000 black farmers.
“We might be able to learn something from the agrarian model adopted by our neighbours, essentially breaking down large-scale farms and promoting more intensive small-scale farming.
“In South Africa, we have a constitution that recognises and facilitates the process of land restitution,” he said.
Minister Nxesi said the constitution also required that his department pass the new Expropriation Act to govern the process.
This was being driven by his deputy, Jeremy Cronin.
Minister Nxesi said a person either supported a constitutional process of land reform “or you continue to defend privilege and vested interests”.
He also lashed out at the financial sector and what he called “greedy bankers”.
“We need to remain vigilant against greedy bankers and financial service providers who want to use the excuse of the current capitalist crisis — something of their own creation — to entrench a rapid financialisation of our economy,” said Nxesi. — The Mercury/Herald Reporter.
Labels: JEREMY CRONIN, LAND REFORM, NEOLIBERALISM, SACP, SOUTH AFRICA, THULAS NXESI
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(HERALD ZW) MDC officials in land rush
October 15, 2013
Lloyd Gumbo Herald Reporter—
SEVERAL officials from MDC formations have gone behind their parties’ backs and applied for land for resettlement, despite vilifying the empowerment programme in public, which was the raison d’être behind the launch of the opposition on September 11, 1999.
This comes at a time when studies the world over are hailing the success of the programme, with the all-white Commercial Farmers Union — one of the MDCs’ chief sponsors — announcing it cannot continue swimming against the tide and also wants its members to benefit from land reform.
The union has since expressed willingness to work with black farmers’ unions in a federation. Investigations by The Herald showed that officials from the two MDC formations have been applying for farms, with some of them benefiting while others are on the waiting list.
MDC-T Gweru Urban legislator Mr Sessel Zvidzai has expressed his intention to apply for a farm in Cool Maurine in Gweru, while former Gweru Urban MP Mr Roderick Rutsvara applied for land to build a school.
“In Mashonaland East, former Goromonzi South MP, Mr Greenbert Dongo and Chitungwiza provincial member Mr Archiford Marongwe, applied for A2 farms in Goromonzi district.
“But they were told that there are no vacant farms. They were asked to look around for farms that are still under white farmers and advise the ministry. They have not yet briefed the ministry on their findings,” said a source in Mashonaland East Province.
“There is also another MDC-T official from Mashonaland West Province who got a farm in Beatrice. As you may be aware, Tracey Mutinhiri (MDC-T losing candidate for Marondera East) still has her farm that she got when she was still in Zanu-PF.
“Elton Mangoma has a farm along Marondera-Murehwa Road, but he bought it just before the land reform.”
There were indications that MDC-T provincial chairperson for Harare and Glen View South Mr Paul Madzore benefited from the programme.
In Matabeleland North, another source said several MDC-T officials benefited.
“Joel Gabbuza (Deputy MDC-T spokesperson and Binga South MP) has a farm, but I am not sure if he got it through land reform, but what I know is that he benefited from the mechanisation programme. He got a tractor. The party tried to make noise about it, but he didn’t bother.”
Another source from the same province added: “Provincial organising secretary Mr Thembinkosi Sibindi has a farm in Nyamandlovu, provincial secretary for Economic Affairs Mr Agrippa Sithole has a farm in Bubi.
Mr Mark Ncube, the MDC-T Bubi district treasurer, also has one in Bubi.
“Some MDC-T activists who benefited include Esinath Zhou who is wife to Chris Gande of Studio 7. There is also Mr Ernest Ngwenya who benefited in Bubi as well,” said the source.
It is understood some MDC-T legislators in Bulawayo whose identities could not be ascertained also applied, but are on the waiting list.
Among MDC beneficiaries is party leader Professor Welshman Ncube.
“He is into cattle ranching in Somabhula area in Midlands. He is doing well at his farm and has been seen with hundreds of cattle at some auctions conducted in Bulawayo (ZITF Grounds). In fact, he is one of the most successful farmers in the province.
“Former MDC legislator for Insiza South Mr Siyabonga Malandu Ncube also benefited. Another official from the party who joined is Mr Xaba Sibanda who is the Nkayi South district secretary for Transport and Welfare,” said a source.
Mr Gabbuza insisted that his party was against the way land reform was conducted.
“Our party has never been against land reform, but we raised concern about how it was conducted. The exercise was chaotic and violent.
“We know there are no more farms available, but we insist that those who want them should follow proper procedures in applying.
“We have told them that they should make sure they do not get involved in bloody farms where former owners lost blood.
“Our party has also called for title of some sort so that people cannot be evicted willy-nilly,” said Mr Gabbuza.
Mr Madzore said he did not own a farm because his party did not allow them to apply.
“It is not first time stories have been written about me owning a farm. I do not own any farm because my party’s policy is that the land reform was chaotic. We did not have to kill to repossess the land. Our policy as MDC-T, which I respect, restricted me from applying for a farm even
though I wanted it.
“I respect that policy because we agreed to it as a party that we should not take the farms,” said Mr Madzore.
Mr Sibindi confirmed he benefited from the land reform but declined to comment on his party position on the exercise.
MDC spokesperson Mr Kurauone Chihwayi, confirmed a number officials in his party applied for land.
“I applied two times and I am yet to receive a response. There are so many people who have applied for land, but I have forgotten their names,” he said.
According to the Zanu-PF manifesto ahead of the July 31 harmonised elections, the historic fast-track land reform programme created employment opportunities and support for the livelihood of over 1,7 mi,lion.
A total of 976 500 (A1) and 113 802 (A2) individuals have benefited from the land reform programme.
Prior to the land reform programme only 348 000 people were employed or had their livelihoods supported by land.
Beneficiaries of the land reform programme also ventured into tobacco farming that had hitherto been the preserve of only 1 547 white commercial farmers.
Farmers resettled under the A1 scheme have benefited from 4 million hectares of land while A2 farmers have received a total of 3,5 million hectares.
The land reform programme has also been cross cutting with 36 343 war veterans, 14 537 women, 727 youths and 130 109 others benefiting from the programme.
About 276 000 indigenous Zimbabweans are now proud owners of 12 117 000 hectares of arable land that was owned by 3500 white farmers. Every year the farmers are pocketing over half a billion in US dollars after selling tobacco.
Labels: HYPOCRISY, LAND REFORM, MDC, RODERICK RUTSVARA, SESSEL ZVIDZAI
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(HERALD ZW) We’ve no vote-rigging proof: Khupe
October 15, 2013
Freedom Mupanedemo Midlands Correspondent—
MDC-T is struggling to obtain substantive evidence that Zanu-PF “stole” the 31 July elections and has urged its supporters to forget about the heavy defeat and brace for 2018 elections. Addressing about 300 supporters who turned up for Mkoba constituency victory celebrations at Mkoba Stadium on Sunday, MDC-T vice president Ms Thokozani Khupe said the party leadership was still shocked by Zanu-PF’s resounding victory.
She said the party should move out of its “mourning” mood and prepare for the 2018 elections. “My brothers and sisters, everyone was shocked by the July 31 elections and I know most of us are still mourning.
“As the party leadership, we have been to all the provinces and we have been told ‘chilling stories’ of how Zanu-PF stole the election,” she said.
Ms Khupe said MDC-T was yet to obtain anything tangible to show the world that Zanu-PF rigged. She said party members should pick themselves up and prepare for the next elections, five years from now.
She claimed that the whole world was aware that Zanu-PF “rigged the election” but needed tangible evidence to act.
“We are yet to get any substantive information to provide the world. We wanted ZEC (the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission) to avail us with the material that was used during the voting process, but they refused. We also wanted an electronic voters’ roll but they also refused to release it and there is therefore nothing we can do,” she said.
ZEC is not refusing to give MDC-T voting materials, but is complying with a court ruling, which denied the party access to the materials.
Sadc and the African Union declared the elections free and fair and an expression of the will of the people of Zimbabwe .
African leaders, among them South African President Jacob Zuma, urged MDC-T to bring forward evidence of “rigging” but up to now the party has not done so.
The United Nations has since congratulated President Mugabe for the resounding victory and the world body’s secretary-general Mr Ban Ki-moon’s message flew in the face of the Anglo-Saxon alliance of the United States, Britain and Australia that stubbornly refuses to recognise the elections that have been endorsed by the AU, Sadc, Comesa, ACP and over 40 countries spread across five continents as a credible expression of the will of Zimbabweans.
Even former UN secretary-general Mr Kofi Annan, whose dislike of President Mugabe is known, recently told the British Guardian that President Mugabe did not need “games” to win.
Two MDC-T provinces — Mashonaland East and Matabeleland North — have openly admitted that Zanu-PF won the elections cleanly despite the party’s national leaders harping on rigging claims.
Mashonaland East took full responsibility for the defeat, while Matabeleland North blamed it on the imposition of candidates, a weak manifesto and shambolic structures.
Ms Khupe said the mourning should come to an end.
“I know everyone here is still mourning this defeat, I have come here to give you hope. We should not continue mourning. We should be hopeful like the biblical David and prepare for another fight come next elections.
“As it is, Zanu-PF believes they have dealt us a heavy blow. My advice to you is let’s focus for another fight,” she said.
Ms Khupe said the party would stand by its leader, Mr Morgan Tsvangirai, who would be the party candidate in 2018.
“We will stand by our president, Morgan Richard Tsvangirai. In Matabeleland we say Tsvangirai ngenkani, ongafuniyo khayekele,” she said apparently confirming the rising discord within the party over Mr Tsvangirai’s continued stay at the helm.
Labels: 2013 ELECTIONS (ZW), THOKOZANI KHUPE
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(NEWZIMBABWE, SAPA) Be very afraid, Malema warns at new party launch
13/10/2013 00:00:00
by SAPA
HUNDREDS of Economic Freedom Fighters braved the scorching sun for the launch of their party at the Nkaneng informal settlement in Marikana, IN South Africa’s North West province on Sunday.
Members dressed in red berets and T-shirts sat on top of a hill while others sat on the grey clay soil around the stage. Speaking at the launch, EFF leader Julius Malema said a giant had been born.
"A different baby is born today, a giant... A child that walks immediately. The baby that fights for your living wage. You must be afraid of that child."
He said the EFF was a home for orphans.
"This is the home for the hopeless," he said to the applause of the crowd.
He said the EFF was not afraid of confronting white bosses for not paying workers and abusing them.
"You must fight these abuses whether Julius Malema is there or not … You must be a Malema at your workplace."
He said the police should take off their uniform when instructed to kill innocent people.
"Give them their uniforms and weapons. Tell them you do not want a salary with blood on it." He was referring to the shooting of 34 mineworkers in Marikana in August last year.
Malema called on teachers to teach pupils first and go on a strike after school.
"When you strike after school the children will join you," he said.
He told the crowd that the land of South Africa belonged to the landless.
"This is your land. You (the landless) do not have to pay for the land. It has been already paid by the sweat of your fathers."
He said white South Africans were still refusing to hand over the land they had "inherited through theft".
"Till today they [whites] are not ashamed of killing our people. They want us to kneel before them.
"We are not going to do that. We are not going to beg for the land. Bring back the land."
He told the crowd to vote for a real president and not a dancer.
"Refuse to vote for a singer and dancer. We want a thinker to drive the policy of our country.
"We do not want an old man who dances like a teenager. Every time he dances, older people look down with shame," he said.
The crowd responded by waving their hand in a circle, indicating need for a change.
"We must restore the image of South Africa."
Malema apologised to South Africans for having Jacob Zuma as president.
"I apologise for giving you a mediocre non-thinker and non-reader.
"We must vote for statesmen, we must vote for the restoration of the image of South Africa."
Malema vowed to make the Gupta family pay for embarrassing the country, including with their controversial landing of a plane at the Waterkloof Air Force Base.
He said the day EFF took power they would "be punished" for all their "wrongs". He concluded his speech by singing the controversial Shoot the boer song.
The crowd shouted "Juju! Juju!" after he had spoken.
Labels: ECONOMIC FREEDOM FIGHTERS, JULIUS MALEMA
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(NEWZIMBABWE) ‘Soft’ Nhema toughens indigenisation talk
New portfolio ... President Robert Mugabe with Francis Nhema when new Cabinet was sworn in
13/10/2013 00:00:00
by Gilbert Nyambabvu
NEW empowerment minister Francis Nhema has vowed to “vigorously pursue” the indigenisation programme, signalling there would be no let-up in the implementation of a policy that has unnerved foreign investors and sparked divisions in the ruling establishment.
The former environment minister, who is not generally associated with the ruling Zanu PF party’s hard-line factions, was handed charge of the empowerment portfolio in President Robert Mugabe’s new cabinet line-up after the July 31 vote.
Nhema replaced Saviour Kasukuwere, whose the “Law is The Law” approach divided the former coalition government, ruffled investors and led to public spats with central bank governor Gideon Gono who urged caution with regard to the financial services sector.
Kasukuwere’s shunting aside, seen by observers as a demotion, was welcomed as a possible indication Mugabe probably wanted a less radical approach in the implementation of a policy that requires foreign firms to transfer to locals control and ownership of at least 51 percent of their Zimbabwe operations.
However, addressing a Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries (CZI) conference in Bulawayo last week, Nhema said the programme, a key part of Zanu PF’s election campaign manifesto, would be driven with just as much vigour.
“It is undisputable that as a country we should vigorously pursue the indigenisation and economic empowerment agenda for the benefit of the generality of Zimbabweans while ensuring that we retain our comparative advantage as a nation especially with regards to our manufacturing sector,” he said.
Mugabe also insisted in interviews with state media that claims Nhema’s appointment suggested a change of tact were wide of the mark.
“That is not the case; the ideas, the objectives of Government must be pursued by every member of Cabinet,” he said.
“Yes, they may be different in terms style or presentations of individual ministers but this does not change the objectives set by Government.”
Prior to the ‘verbals’ with Gono - who argued against a one-size-fits-all approach - Kasukuwere managed to reach compliance deals with leading players in the country’s key mining sector, although not without controversy which included allegations of possible corruption.
Nhema howeve, hinted that the Gono’s one-size-cannot-fit-all suggestion would likely be the new approach going forward.
“There is no debate on the imperative of indigenisation; it is the process of implementation that attracts interrogation. The whole issue here is we want to dialogue; tell us the limitations with regards to the law,” he said.
“We are not applying a one size fits all approach. The peculiarities in each sector and nuances therefore are taken into account in the implementation process.
“Some big foreign-owned companies such as Zimbabwe Platinum Mines and Mimosa Mining Company have since come up with term sheets on how they intend to comply.”
Labels: FRANCIS NHEMA, INDIGENIZATION AND EMPOWERMENT ACT (ZIMBABWE)
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(HERALD ZW) ‘Land reform economy’s game changer’
October 14, 2013
Tendai Mugabe recently in Bindura
The land reform programme is a game changer in Zimbabwe’s economy that has resulted in the positive transformation of people’s livelihoods.New farmers in Mashonaland Central are creating vast employment opportunities for the youths and making significant contributions to the national granary.
Speaking to The Herald after a tour of several farms in Mashonaland Central on Saturday, Bindura South National Assembly member Cde Remigious Matangira said the programme had empowered numerous indigenous people who previously were deprived of their birthright by a minority white regime.
Cde Matangira, who is among the host of farmers who have registered remarkable success in agriculture, said he was hopeful that the Zanu-PF Government would stimulate agri-business in the country.
“The land reform progarmme has transformed our lives economically and socially,” he said. “We were not what we are today. We are a people who were coming from a poor subsistence farming background, farming on arid, rocky and impoverished soils.
“Having come here, we have now made great strides economically despite illegal sanctions. The Government is now Zanu-PF and we are now going to make it because it recognises that we live and till our land.”
Cde Matangira said it was essential that this year Government provide inputs early, giving farmers enough time to do their preparations.
“In Bindura South we have started receiving our inputs,” he said.
“We are only waiting for the authorities to map strategies on how they are going to be distributed.” Cde Matangira said due to climate change it was now difficult to rely on natural rains and urged other farmers to repair irrigation equipment on their farms.
He is targeting to produce more than 150 000 tonnes of maize during the 2013/4 farming season to contribute to the national granary.
An A1 farmer in Matepatepa, Cde Kanganwai Jonasi, said he was indebted to President Mugabe for coming up with the idea of the land reform.
“As a country we shall forever be grateful to the President,” he said. Our lives have changed dramatically as we are producing enough food for our families,” he said. “Not only are we producing enough for our families, but we are now also into commercial farming.”
He, however, urged Government to intensify efforts to ensure that there were fewer power cuts on farms. Cde Jonasi said incessant power cuts were impacting negatively on crops in their farms.
Labels: LAND REFORM, REMIGIOUS MATANGIRA
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(HERALD ZW) Govt wants debt freeze for farmers
October 14, 2013
Tendai Mugabe recently in MUKUMBURA
VICE President Joice Mujuru says Government intends to engage banks with a view to freezing debts owed by farmers to enable them to access funding for the 2013/14 cropping season.She said the stop-order loan repayment system should be resuscitated with respect to farmers who delivered grain to the Grain Marketing Board.
VP Mujuru said this in a speech read on her behalf by Mashonaland Central Minister of State for Provincial Affairs Cde Martin Dinha on Saturday at victory celebrations hosted by Mount Darwin North legislator Cde Novet Muponora in Mukumbura.
Addressing questions of food and nutrition, VP Mujuru said:
“That financial institutions (will) be engaged with a view to securing a moratorium for debt repayment by farmers already saddled with debts to the same institutions, to enable them to access funding for the 2013/14 agricultural seasons.”
VP Mujuru said Government, through the District Development Fund, had acquired tractors to bolster rural tillage and the Zunde raMambo facility.
In Mashonaland Central, VP Mujuru said, Government had allocated 40 tractors.
“The tractors will help chiefs, child-headed families, widows and widowers, people living with HIV and war veterans,” she said.
VP Mujuru said Government would soon formulate a law that regulates contract farming, making it mandatory for farmers and contractors to meet their obligations.
Some farmers have been short changed by contractors after signing contracts they do not understand while some farmers were engaging in side marketing.
VP Mujuru said the law was aimed at creating a win-win situation between farmers and contractors.
“The Government package provides a mechanism for the enforcement of contractual obligations to protect the investments of farmers, contractors and suppliers,” she said.
“This is the law. Farmers and contractors must respect and live within the law. Hatidi vaya vanonyepera kungwara vanoita side marketing or those companies that provide inadequate inputs and pay poor prices that are even below international market prices.”
VP Mujuru said Zanu-PF was committed to implementing promises made to the people as espoused in its manifesto.
In this regard, she said the Government had intensified efforts to provide inputs for the 2013/14 farming season. She said Government had made available US$182 million for the summer cropping season and banks were also complementing Government efforts by developing rural infrastructure such as irrigation and feeder roads.
VP Mujuru said Government was aware of the challenges facing people in Mukumbura such as the poor road network and the need for upgrading of immigration offices.
“I am aware of the poor state of the roads in the constituency and nationwide,” she said.
VP Mujuru called for unity of purpose among party supporters in Mashonaland Central as they elect a new provincial leadership later this month.
The incumbent Cde Dickson Mafios would battle it out with Cde Joboringo Mushore for the chairmanship of the province.
“Team Zanu-PF kushanda nevamwe zvakanaka takabatana,” she said.
“Mazvake-mazvake haatibatsiri uye hatiade. A leader whose eye is blind to nepotism, a leader who does not become cheap and by demonising and gossiping around, but focuses on challenges facing the constituency and how these can be resolved.”
Cde Muponora, who is also the Deputy Minister for Small to Medium Enterprises and Co-operative Development, thanked the electorate for voting resoundingly for Zanu-PF.
Cde Muponora got 17 910 votes in the July 31 harmonised elections against MDC-T’s candidate’s 612.
Labels: JOICE MUJURU, MARTIN DINHA, NEW FARMERS
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(GLOBALRESEARCH) The Debt of Developing Countries: The Devastating Impacts of IMF-World Bank “Economic Medicine”
Millennium Development Goals The Failure of the Debt System
By Daniel Munevar and Eric Toussaint
Global Research, October 11, 2013
As the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund hold their annual meeting in Washington 11-13th October 2013 it is necessary to take a look at the state of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG). |1| The history of economic development is strewn with attempts to correct the “mistakes” of development policy. The preferred method is to add new elements to the agenda. This approach has led to adding an ever increasing number of issues, from environmental concerns to social policies, into the policy discussions.
The results of this practice are clear to see: of the original 8 Millennium Development Goals, only 2 have been met, with serious doubts regarding the possibility of meeting the other 6. The track record of the current development agenda is very disappointing |2|.
So, the issue is not to add new elements to the framework, but to assess if the elements that are already present are working, and if they are not, can they be eliminated. The one element that stands out on that regard is Debt, as an economic, social and political development policy tool.
Since the implementation of the Marshall Plan in Europe, policy circles have been burdened with the notion that injections of capital and fresh financial resources constitute one of the basic components of development. Based on this premise, the World Bank has tried throughout the last 69 years to help countries to borrow their way into development. In many cases, the living conditions of hundreds of millions of people in the World have been degraded as a result of the debt based policies forced on them by the World Bank and the IMF with the complicity of their own governments |3|.
Instead of providing developing countries with fresh resources, the debt system has forced them to give priority to payments to creditors over the provision of basic social services. According to World Bank data, in 2010 alone, developing countries paid out $184 billion on debt service, about three times the annual resources required for the fulfillment of the MDGs. Even more troublesome, between 1985 and 2010 net public debt flows to developing countries, that is the difference between debt inflows and debt payments, have reached -$530 billion |4|. To place this number in context, this is the equivalent of five Marshall Plans.
Throughout this time, debt has been used by the IFI´s and creditor countries alike to push developing countries to adopt policies that, if anything, prevent them from securing minimum living conditions for their populations. From the privatization and downsizing of public services, to opening internal markets to imports which has seriously undermined food sovereignty, the policies enforced upon developing countries have crippled their capacity to achieve their own internal development.
Therefore, if something needs to be done, it is to cancel the public debts of developing countries. Contrary to what skeptics say, this debt represents no more than a drop in the bucket: in 2010, it reached $1.6 trillion (total public external debt), or less than 5% of the resources devoted by the US Government to bail-out the banks |5|. If such a massive amount of resources can be marshaled to secure the bonuses of banking executives, is it too much to ask to ask for a small share of those same resources to secure better living conditions for hundreds of millions of people around the world? Clearly this is a political question, rather than an economic one, debt continues to be the major obstacle to development.
As CADTM has advocated during the last 24 years, let’s be rid of it.
Notes
|1| For a critical analysis of the MDG, see Damien Millet and Eric Toussaint, “Debt, the IMF and the World Bank, sixty questions, sixty answers”, Monthly review press, New York, 2010, Q4 : What are the Millenium Developpement Goals(MDG)? p.27
|2| “Millennium development goals – the key datasets you need to know”, available at: http://www.theguardian.com/global-d…
|3| Eric Toussaint, The World Bank: A Critical Primer, Pluto Press, London, 2008, available at: http://cadtm.org/The-World-Bank-A-c… See also: Eric Toussaint, doctoral thesis in political science, presented in 2004 at the Universities of Liège and Paris VIII: “Enjeux politiques de l’action de la Banque mondiale et du Fonds monétaire international envers le tiers-monde” (“Political aspects of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund actions toward the Third World”), http://cadtm.org/Enjeux-politiques-… French only)
|4| See Damien Millet, Daniel Munevar, Eric Toussaint, “2012 World Debt Figures”, available at: http://cadtm.org/2012-World-debt-figures
|5| Calculated on the basis of the costs analysis undertaken by the Levy Institute, which estimates the total cost at $29 trillion. See, Felkerson, J. (2011), “$29,000,000,000,000: A Detailed Look at the Fed’s Bailout by Funding Facility and Recipient”, Levy Institute Working Paper 698.
Daniel Munevar, economist, CADTM Colombia, and Eric Toussaint, Doctor in Political sciences, Senior Lecturer at the University of Liège, is the President of CADTM Belgium (Committee for the Abolition of Third-World Debt, www.cadtm.org ), and a member of the Scientific Committee of ATTAC France.
Articles by: Daniel Munevar and Eric Toussaint
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(GLOBALRESEARCH) Report finds US-backed Syrian opposition responsible for sectarian atrocity
By Alex Lantier
Global Research, October 12, 2013
World Socialist Web Site
Theme: Crimes against Humanity, US NATO War Agenda
In-depth Report: SYRIA: NATO'S NEXT WAR?
A Human Rights Watch (HRW) report published yesterday exposes sectarian massacres of hundreds of civilians by US-backed Sunni opposition forces during an offensive in early August, in the majority-Alawite region around the coastal city of Lattakia.
Based on extensive photographic evidence and interviews with survivors, HRW found that at least 190 Alawite civilians were butchered and 200 taken hostage by opposition forces. The dead included at least 57 women, 18 children, and 14 elderly men.
HRW acting Middle East Director Joe Stork said the massacres were “not the actions of rogue fighters… This operation was a coordinated, planned attack on the civilian population of these Alawite villages.”
These events are an indictment of Washington and its European allies as well as the corporate media, all of which have backed Al Qaeda-linked opposition militias in Syria. The media have falsely hailed this opposition as fighters for democracy, pressing for a US-led war to support them. Two weeks after the Lattakia killings, Washington began a campaign for war with Syria, based on lies about a chemical attack in Ghouta—pulling back from the brink of war only due to mass opposition from American and European workers.
The atrocities near Lattakia took place amid an offensive starting on August 4, the Eid al-Fitr holiday at the end of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan. It appears that opposition forces chose this date—like the Nixon administration’s Christmas bombing of Hanoi during the Vietnam War—in order to terrorize its victims, showing them that it would not restrain its blood lust even during the most revered holidays.
It fielded thousands of troops, armed with heavy machine guns, multiple-barreled rocket launchers, armored anti-aircraft guns, and a few captured tanks. Syrian army forces retook the area only on August 19.
Alawite civilians who fell under opposition control were brutally massacred. HRW cites medical reports: “Cause of death in several of [the bodies] was multiple gunshot wounds all over the bodies, in addition to stab wounds made with a sharp instrument, given the decapitation observed in most bodies.”
Opposition officials contacted HRW early on in the offensive, when most of the killings apparently took place. The report cites one “opposition activist” who, on August 5, boasted to HRW: “We caught 150 women and 40 children, and killed all the men.”
The report details dozens of cases where defenseless civilians were slaughtered. In the village of Barouda, opposition fighters killed two civilians who were unable to escape: Safwan Hassan Shebli, a paralyzed Syrian army veteran, and his mother Shamieh Ali Darwish, who could only walk on crutches.
In the village of Sleibeh al-Hamboushieh, they murdered a blind 80-year-old woman, Nassiba Salem Sleim, and several of her relatives.
Other civilians were killed as they tried to escape the opposition militias. Ghazi Ibrahim Badour, who was fleeing with his wife and 10 children, said: “They cut off the road, so we tried to escape through the trees, but they were shooting at us, and two of my daughters died. My wife and another daughter were hurt. My daughter Sefah Badour, who has a masters in Arabic literature, and my daughter Sara, who has a degree in philosophy, were killed.”
According to HRW, the opposition fighters who carried out the massacres were largely drawn from five Al Qaeda-linked militias: the Al Nusra Front, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), Ahrar al-Sham, Suqour al-Izz, and Jaish al-Muhajireen wal-Ansar. The first two are the best-known Al Qaeda-linked opposition militias in Syria. Jaish al-Muhajireen is an ISIL-linked group of foreign fighters from countries including Chechnya, Turkey, Tajikistan, Pakistan, France, Egypt and Morocco.
The campaign was supported by forces directly endorsed by Washington, however, such as General Salem Idriss of the Free Syrian Army’s (FSA) Supreme Military Council. He traveled to the region on August 11 to declare his solidarity with the Al Qaeda-linked forces: “Our chief of staff is cooperating fully with the coastal military front command regarding their military activities. We are not going to withdraw as was falsely claimed, but on the contrary, we are cooperating to a great extent in this operation.”
The HRW report also explains how the operation was planned and financed by moneymen based in various Persian Gulf sheikhdoms, mainly Kuwait, starting in April. They include Sheikh Hajjej al-Ajami and Shafi al-Ajami in Kuwait, as well as Sunni Islamist preacher Sheikh Adnan al-Arour, who reportedly donated $140,000 and, later, $4.8 million.
Al-Arour is infamous for his threat to run Syrian Alawites through a “meat grinder” (See: “Video shows US-backed opposition fighter cannibalizing Syrian soldier”).
The atrocities near Lattakia also expose the treacherous role of the corporate media, which are deeply implicated by their promotion of the Syrian opposition. They have lied through their teeth, praising a collection of cutthroats and gangsters mobilized as part of an imperialist war against Syria, and who are capable of the bloodiest killings, as fighters for democracy.
Such lies about the opposition, exposed by HRW’s material, played a key role in the drive by the United States and its European allies to the brink of war, halted only by the emergence of mass popular opposition. The media blamed several atrocities implicating Syrian opposition forces—such as the May 2012 Houla massacre, or the chemical attack in Khan al-Assal a year later—on the Syrian regime. These lies were used to justify further arming of the opposition against the regime and escalating the war.
In the fighting near Lattakia—where Alawite civilians targeted in sectarian killings could only have been victims of the Sunni opposition, not Syria’s Alawite-led regime—it would have been difficult to blame atrocities on the regime. The media responded by downplaying the entire offensive.
Thus the New York Times, the flagship publication of American liberalism, in particular, covered up the massacres near Lattakia, even though it was very well informed of events there. It spoke regularly to an opposition official, Ammar Hassan, who it said was “in close touch with rebels” near Lattakia, but published only a few brief notes on the offensive, largely in articles on other topics. What little the Times did write, however, covered up the massacre and tended to assign blame for sectarian violence in the area to the Alawites.
On August 5, the day after the first opposition massacres of Alawite civilians, it wrote: “Alawites here have long feared they would face revenge killings by the mostly Sunni insurgents, and pro-government Alawite militias have been accused of killing Sunni civilians in the area. Some Alawites remained in their villages as rebels advanced, and a few wounded Alawites were treated in makeshift rebel hospitals, said Mr. Hassan, who added, ‘Of course the majority of the residents fled to the city.’”
The coverage of the Times, both of the August opposition offensive and now of the HRW report, is dictated above all by the needs of the American state and its foreign policy. After the US postponement of war with Syria, divisions are growing among the Syrian opposition militias, and Washington is attempting to isolate Al Qaeda-linked groups like ISIL. The Times presented the HRW report as proof that the opposition forces closer to Washington were more humane.
In the face of all evidence in the HRW report, it implied that Idriss and the FSA’s Supreme Military Councils were not implicated in the atrocities. “None of those cited as primary participants appear to be under control of the Western-backed Supreme Military Council, which has struggled to show it can retake the initiative on the ground from extremists,” it wrote.
Labels: HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH, SYRIA, TERRORISM
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(GLOBALRESEARCH) Foreigners Train Syrian Rebels in Afghanistan to Use Chemical Weapons – Russian Foreign Minister
By Russia Today
Global Research, October 12, 2013
There are reports that some third countries are training Syrian rebels to use chemical weapons in Afghanistan, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said. The intention is to put the skill to use in new false flag actions in Syria, he explained.
The suspected training happened in Afghan territories not under control of the government in Kabul, Lavrov said.
“Some reports indicate that [Al-Qaeda-linked radical] Al-Nusra Front is planning to smuggle toxic compounds and relevant specialists into Iraqi territory to stage terrorist attacks there this time,” Lavrov said.
The Russian minister, who spoke after meeting his Kuwaiti counterpart Mohammad Sabah Al-Salem Al-Sabah, warned against any possible provocations in Syria related to the ongoing process of its chemical weapons disarmament.
“We are standing for conducting the work in a precise manner in accordance with the roadmap and without any hindrances. We warn against any possible provocation,” Lavrov said.
Al-Nusra Front is considered one of the most combat-worthy parts of the militants fighting against Damascus.
It has said that it takes orders from an Al-Qaeda branch operating in Iraq. Many countries, including the United States, list the group as a terrorist organization over several high-profile bombings it organized in Syria.
The use of chemical weapons in August near Damascus triggered a serious international crisis. The US threatened to use military force against the government of President Bashar Assad, which it blamed for the attack.
The tension was defused after a Russian-brokered deal to destroy Syria’s chemical weapons arsenal.
Damascus insists that the August incident and several previous cases of alleged use of chemical weapons in Syria were provocations by opposition forces. Russia shares this view.
Earlier Russian diplomatic sources said the August sarin gas attack was a special operation of Saudi Arabian intelligence conducted with the help of a radical Islamist militant group operating near Damascus.
The group called Liwa Al-Islam is headed by the son of a Saudi cleric.
Labels: SYRIA, TERRORISM
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(HERALD ZW) Tsvangirai must go chorus gets louder: Mwonzora
October 11, 2013
Lloyd Gumbo Herald Reporter
THE chorus for the ouster of Mr Morgan Tsvangirai from the helm of MDC-T for failing to unseat President Mugabe in three Presidential elections continues to grow louder, with party structures at national level openly calling on Mr Tsvangirai to step down. For the first time since Mr Tsvangirai’s drubbing in the July 31 harmonised elections, MDC-T spokesperson Mr aDouglas Mwonzora has confirmed the development.
He told a Press conference at Harvest House — the MDC-T headquarters — in Harare yesterday that there were divisions within the leadership on the subject.
“Yes, there are people who have raised issues in the national executive, in the national council, at various forums,” said Mr Mwonzora in response to questions on whether some officials raised the issue of leadership renewal at senior level.
“They have raised the issue about the need for leadership renewal. And there are other people who have also raised the issue that they don’t think it’s a good idea and that we should remain with the leadership that we have.”
Mr Mwonzora said officials were allowed to call for leadership renewal during party meetings.
While the white element within MDC-T — treasurer-general Mr Roy Bennett, former Marondera Central legislator Mr Ian Kay and Bulawayo South legislator Mr Edward Cross — have been outspoken about the need for Mr Tsvangirai to step down, Mr Mwonzora said there were also blacks within the formation calling for leadership renewal.
He said Mr Bennett and Mr Kay jumped the gun by calling for Mr Tsvangirai’s ouster through the Press without using formal channels.
“MDC-T is a party of rules. It has a constitution and it has regulations. Part of the leadership’s responsibility is to make sure that all party members abide by the constitution and rules of the party. If these rules are not being abided by, the leadership has a constitutional responsibility to make sure that the constitutional rules and regulations are followed.
“Regarding the issue of those people who are talking about leadership renewal or succession, the position of MDC-T and the position of (party) president Mr Tsvangirai is that those issues are not crimes within the party.
“People within the party are free to express their views in any manner that they like in the national council, in the national executive and in the national standing committee, this was made clear.
“This was also made clear to the provinces and to the districts that whoever wants to talk about leadership renewal in whatever manner is free. What is not permissible is for party members to ignore the platforms given them by the party. We do not agree with people who then discuss these things in the Press without exhausting the debate internally. The issue of leadership renewal is the preserve of members of MDC-T.
It is not to be discussed with general members including members of the opposition to the MDC-T.”
Mr Mwonzora said the national council, national executive and the standing committee resolved that the current leadership headed by Mr Tsvangirai would remain in place until the party’s elective congress slated for for 2016.
Mr Tsvangirai has reportedly expressed interest to represent the party at the 2018 harmonised elections after having lost consecutively to President Mugabe since 2002.
Mr Mwonzora claimed there was no factionalism in MDC-T as having divergent views did not translate to factionalism.
He defended the party’s decision to take councillors who defied the party decision in voting for mayors of their choice, for disciplinary hearing.
He said the councillors would have to answer questions on whether by voting for mayors of their choice, they carried the mandate of the electorate who voted for them.
Mr Mwonzora said his party would contest any by-election.
He claimed that there were incumbent legislators who remained on boards of State entities beyond the stipulated constitutional time-frame and thereby by operation of the law losing their seats.
Mr Mwonzora said they expected by-elections to be called in those constituencies.
However, all legislators who held positions on boards before the elections stated that they resigned before the 30-day deadline.
Labels: DOUGLAS MWONZORA, MORGAN TSVANGIRAI
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