Sata's commitment to combat corruption pleases Germany
By Chibaula Silwamba
Wed 19 Oct. 2011, 14:10 CAT
GERMAN Chancellor Angela Merkel's special envoy has praised President Michael Sata's commitment to combat corruption and promote pro-poor growth, reliable economic development, good financial governance, accountability and democracy.
And the German government says
it is ready to provide experts to help the Sata-led government negotiate with mining firms to ensure that Zambians get adequate revenue from their minerals.
In an interview in Lusaka on Friday, Chancellor Merkel's personal representative for Africa, Gunter Nooke, said President Sata's commitment to make the fight against corruption one of the major objectives of his government was pleasing to Germany and the entire Europe.
Nooke, who arrived in Lusaka last Thursday for a two-day visit, met President Sata and conveyed Chancellor Merkel's congratulatory message, and held meetings with mines minister Wylbur Simuusa, civil society members and other interest groups.
He also attended President Sata's maiden official opening of Parliament on Friday.
Nooke said Chancellor Merkel and the German government, through him, had given a clear signal that they were interested in the success of the new government and hoped President Sata and his team would deliver on their campaign promises.
"We have developed very successful and fruitful bilateral relations but the potential is great. I am interested in some specific issues, for instance mining, developing agriculture production, decentralisation, small hydro electricity in rural areas in Zambia. All these are issues we can work together and become more successful as partners in development cooperation and private investments," Nooke said.
"What the President said in our meeting and in his speech to Parliament must be seen as a clear signal that this zero tolerance regarding corruption is one of the main objectives of this government. It is the best advocacy for private investments if the government is successful in combating corruption."
He applauded Zambians for the peaceful election and transfer of power. Nooke said Chancellor Merkel and other European leaders want democracy to become normal in Africa.
"I appreciated the democratic awareness of the majority ordinary people in Zambia that they made their decisions free and independent from all campaigning, gifts and all unfair election circumstances," Nooke said.
"This is not just a signal by the President; it's also a signal by the Zambians that democratic awareness and capacity for Africans is bigger. We can celebrate not only the new government and President, but also the ordinary Zambian voters."
He said the German government would negotiate development cooperation with Zambia in November for a three-year term, which he assured would be increased to ensure the success of the new government.
"The support of Germany will be on a relatively higher amount of money from German taxpayers for the new government. But we need clear messages from the government and the ministers about what the real needs of the people are; which kind of support the government needs to fulfil promises and commitment made in the campaign," Nooke said.
He said Europeans acknowledged that Zambia had the potential of being a success story in southern Africa in observance of democratic tenets.
Nooke expressed happiness at President Sata's strategy to reduce Zambia's donor-dependence and promised to continue advocating German investment into Africa.
"I know how difficult it might be to attract foreign direct investment (FDI) from Europe. There are some hesitations but if there will be stability, democracy and rule of law, good governance and predictability and accountability then private investment is possible and this country has huge potential in raw materials, landscape, tourism, agriculture and all these are interesting for German companies," Nooke said.
On calls for the reintroduction of windfall tax on mining, Nooke said Germany, as a good and old mining nation with a lot of experts in the sector, could help Zambia negotiate for taxes that would benefit Zambians.
He said Germany could be "a little bit more" independent in providing expertise on mining than nations where global mining companies were based because, currently, nobody in Germany was actively involved in mining in the global arena.
"We want to see that there is political will on the side of the new Zambian government to get permanent and adequate revenue from the mines and raw materials in the country. It's a very delicate and sensitive issue and the negotiations are not very easy. You need a lot of best international lawyers and experts in mining," Nooke said.
"But at the end of the day there must be a permanent income from the mines. The best way is to know the geology of the deposits of specific natural resource and the amount of raw materials in the deposit."
He said there was need to separate companies that do exploration and extraction of minerals.
He said although exploration was very expensive, it must be done by independent companies and not firms that would extract the minerals.
"It's not the best way that those that want to extract the raw materials are the only ones who know the deposit. That is not a fair negotiation. We have to separate the exploration and extraction," Nooke said.
Nooke said mining firms must responsible for protection of the environment, take care of social aspects of the communities they operate in and people displaced from mining sites.
Labels: ANGELA MERKEL, CORRUPTION, DONORS, MICHAEL SATA, WINDFALL TAX
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German Chancellor's envoy visits Zambia
By Chibaula Silwamba
Fri 14 Oct. 2011, 13:58 CAT
THE German Chancellor's personal representative for Africa yesterday arrived in the country for a three-day visit. Guenter Nooke was yesterday expected to meet President Michael Sata and would today meet finance minister Alexander Chikwanda.
"The purpose of Mr. Nooke's visit is to convey a congratulatory message of Federal Chancellor Angela Merkel to President Michael Sata on his election and to get to know the principal political objectives of the new government.
Mr. Nooke will attend the Opening Session of Parliament tomorrow (today)," according to a statement from the Germany Embassy issued yesterday.
"On Friday (today) afternoon, there will be discussions of Mr Nooke with representatives of Civil Society Organisations on topics like the management of natural mineral resources, the African Peer Review Mechanism and the political perspectives for Zambia after the elections."
Prior to his appointment as personal representative for Africa in the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, Nooke served as Federal government Commissioner for Human Rights Policy and Humanitarian aid at the Federal Foreign Office, deputy chair of the Deutsche Welle broadcasting board, member of the Bundestag and member of the Brandenburg Landtag (regional parliament) and member of the Volkskammer (first democratically elected parliament) among several positions.
Labels: AMBASSADOR, ANGELA MERKEL, GERMANY, MICHAEL SATA
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EU says sanctions lifted if MDC gets more power
Our reporter
Tue, 23 Feb 2010 03:16:00 +0000
EUROPEAN UNION foreign ministers said on Monday that
they will revoke sanctions if President Mugabe gives more power to the MDC-T leader Morgan Tsvangirai.
In a statement issued after its foreign affairs council meeting in Brussels Monday, the EU ministers said the the bloc "stands ready" to keep sanctions "under constant review and to revoke them"
if President Mugabe makes concessions towards Morgan Tsvangirai.
The ministers said Zimbabwe had made "insufficient progress with regard to the rule of law, respect for human rights, constitutional reforms, power sharing on equal terms, national reconciliation, security sector reform and the protection of investors."
The fact that the EU is prepared to revoke sanctions if more power is given to Tsvangirai, gives credence to the fact that the bloc is more concerned by a transfer of power in Zimbabwe, than the issues they highlight in most of their statements.
Last month, British foreign and commonwealth secretary David Miliband revealed that the MDC-T "controls some of the (illegal and ruinous) sanctions" against Zimbabwe.
He also said the EU will only lift sanctions if the MDC-T makes that request.
Zanu-PF at its last annual congress in December last year, and at a recent Politburo meeting, resolved not to give in to any more MDC-T demands until all illegal sanctions against Zimbabwe are lifted.
The EU ministers met a week after the bloc extended the illegal sanctions they imposed on Zimbabwe for another year to avoid them expiring.
In a gazette last week, the EU announced the extension, but the foreign ministers were expected to deliberate on Zimbabwe much more closely yesterday (Monday).
The inclusive Government of Zimbabwe recently handed a Global Political Agreement Commitment Plan to the bloc.
The lastest statement by the EU is likely to cause consternation in Zanu-PF circles and threaten progress in the ongoing power-sharing discussions in Zimbabwe.
Zimbabwe and the EU are mending relations which had been strained after a bilateral dispute between Harare and London escalated to include that bloc.
Zimbabwe and the EU launched Article 8 Political Dialogue in Brussels on 18 June 2009 in an effort to normalise relations. This was followed by an EU troika visit to Zimbabwe in September 2009.
Labels: ANGELA MERKEL, EU, MDC, MORGAN TSVANGIRAI, SANCTIONS
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Afghanistan, Germany elections expose western hypocrisy
Tendai Makomva - Opinion
Wed, 30 Sep 2009 04:54:00 +0000
DEAR EDITOR - Latest news - hot off the press: US accepts Hamid Karzai as Afghan leader despite poll fraud claims (Times Online, 29 Sept. 09). Who woud have thought that given the hallaballoo by the United States, United Kingdom and their allies about the 2008 Zimbabwean elections?
Ballot stuffing, ballot boxes disappearing, inflated votes and fraud are all alright when the outcome meets the West's approval. Aren't elections supposed to be transparent, free and fair, and a reflection of the electorate wishes?
Are elections not supposed to be monitored by the "international community" to ensure that the required standards are met and the election results given a clean bill of health? This has not happened in Afghnistan, has it? There have been many claims of poll fraud there. Welcome to exported democracy, Western style.
Surely, this is the time for the West to reflect and stop imposing its type of democracy on other nations whose culture, values and past are different from their own.
In Germany, Chancellor Merkel has won only 34 per cent of the vote and intends to go into a coalition government with a smaller party (the Freedom Democrats with 14 percent of the votes).
This coalition will represent only 48 percent of the electorate and yet Merkel and her allies are busy undermining the inclusive Government in Zimbabwe which represents more than 95 percent of the electorate.
In a related issue, CNN's Christiane Amanpour was a joke in her interview with President Mugabe. It was all propaganda and very little substance. Her lack of knowledge about Zimbabwean issues was simply appalling.
Nobody should interview President Mugabe when ill-prepared. He will run rings around you like he did with Amanpour.
In this battle of the titans, President Mugabe won hands down.
Labels: ANGELA MERKEL, HYPOCRISY, NEOCOLONIALISM
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The real story behind Tsvangirai's booing
Nancy Nyamhunga - Opinion
Tue, 25 Aug 2009 08:01:00 +0000
WHEN Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai was booed at Southwark, most 'political commentators' missed the point. They blamed the
wording of his speech, particularly when he appealed to exiles to go home and rebuild Zimbabwe. They tried to justify the heckling by implying that his statement was likely to go against Zimbabweans whose
asylum applications were still pending. Far from it. With or without that statement, the heckling was going to happen.
PM Tsvangirai never asked anybody to leave Zimbabwe in the first place. The onus rested on the individual to decide to leave or stay in the country. In the same manner, it is the individual’s responsibility to convince their host country that their lives were indeed in danger and cannot go back home, depending on one’s circumstances.
The real threat to the Jacks and Jills in political conflicts comes from within their own communities and not from official law enforcement agents.
In any case, PM Tsvangirai is now part of the inclusive Government of Zimbabwe; therefore what he says should be taken in that context. Immigration lawyers should know this.
It is important to note that western countries, particularly the United Kingdom never supported the inclusive Government in Zimbabwe, especially one that PM Tsvangirai does not control, never mind they blessed that of Kenya. They have never made this a secret. One South African based BBC journalist had penned an article sometime last year fearing this outcome when the negotiations were going on. He actually said it would be No. 10's worst nightmare if PM Tsvangirai knocked on that door asking for Aid for the inclusive Government with President Mugabe still at the top.
When the PM's first western trip was organised, it was no coincide that the UK was close to the bottom on the itinerary. It was designed to give Whitehall enough ammunition to deal with this nightmare.
Madame Merkel did it on behalf of Whitehall – return "expropriated land" and we will give you aid, was the message to PM Tsvangirai.
More was to come at the press conference. PM Tsvangirai was asked about the accident that claimed the life of his late wife. He gave the wrong answer. “Genuine accident”, he said. No PM, the expected answer should have been that it was an assassination attempt on your life by your erstwhile enemy, Zanu PF.
The PM disappointed even further. BBC airs an interview one of its reporters had with National Healing Minister Sekai Holland some time last year during the PM's visit. This interview was recorded last year and was kept somewhere on the shelf waiting for an opportune time. Who said BBC does not create “news” for its audience?
In the interview the Hon Minister tells what she thought were NGO officials, that her own life and that of top MDC-T leaders, including the PM were in danger.
Asked to make a comment on these serious allegations, the PM presses the red X buzzer like Simon Cowell telling off one of the wannabes on Britain’s Got Talent. The PM shamed both the senior minister and the “bogus” NGO official.
All the while, Whitehall was listening and readying itself. When Whitehall falls out with their friend, usually the first action is to subject that person to humiliation and look the other way. Remember the Peter Thatchel incident in London with President Mugabe? Does the Southwark incident not bear the same hallmarks? PM gave too many wrong answers and could not be allowed to get away with it!
Let’s get real people.
Then we have Minister Biti receiving this bullet in an envelope just the same time Mrs Clinton was due in South Africa to “push” for reforms in Zimbabwe.
It was not only the Hon Minister Biti who suddenly get these assassination threats – so too was the-yet-to-be-installed Deputy Minister Bennett.
The timing of the threats, and the characters of the threatened, is what raises suspicions.
It has to be Minister Biti who played this in a Hollywood-movie style. He receives the envelope with the bullet, throws it in the bin without opening and then at some time later decided to go through the rubbish to get it back. Zimbabwean film script-writers should have a good story line on that!
Yet the truth of the matter is that reality has finally struck among Zimbabweans. The state coffers are empty. ZIDERA is not going away because PM Tsvangirai is now part of Government. It can only be lifted when Madam Merkel`s message has been fully implemented.
Simply put, sanctions in whatever shape or form will only be lifted when Zimbabwe has a government like that in Iraq or Afghanistan where a black face occupies State House but controlled by Uncle Sam!
The inclusive Government can implement all the “reforms” till the cows come home, but if those reforms ultimately fail to effect “regime change,” more unachievable benchmarks will continue to be set.
Zimbabwe’s most respected academic, Professor Ken Mufuka suggested in his latest article in the weekly Fingaz, Urgent Need for Intellectual Consensus!, that we can go the Daniel Makina way – why can’t we try that route?
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Nancy Nyamhunga is a regular contributor to The Zimbabwe Guardian. She writes from Leicester, UK.
Labels: ANGELA MERKEL, HILLARY CLINTON, LAND REFORM, MORGAN TSVANGIRAI, SANCTIONS
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COMMENT - Can you say NAMIBIA? The German government doesn't even want to pay compensation to the local people for the genocide committed against them by German corporations. But they want to prevent land reform in Zimbabwe, because it could lead to land reform in Namibia, where social inequality is among the highest in the world, mainly because of the apartheid style land distribution. They don't seem to consider the fact that turfing off 314,000 people of the land in Zimbabwe will lead to civil war. Which will threaten national security.
Merkel wants return of 'expropriated' land
Mutsawashe Makuvise
Mon, 15 Jun 2009 18:06:00 +0000
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and German Chancellor Angela Merkel (R) inspect the honour guard during an official welcoming ceremony in the Chancellery in Berlin, June 15, 2009. REUTERS/Thomas Peter GERMAN Chancellor Angela Merkel who met on Monday with Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai said economic aid for Zimbabwe would depend on the pace of reforms and on the progress regarding the return of "expropriated" land.
Speaking at a joint press conference with Tsvangirai after talks at the chancellor's office, Merkel praised him as a "courageous man" who stands as "a symbol of democratisation".
"We wish the prime minister's government luck and we will seek to help it, in the future, whenever possible," she said adding that German assistance was dependent on land reform programmes
She said there was need to amend the Zimbabwean constitution and "allow for the return of land expropriated under President Robert Mugabe."
Merkel also spoke of humanitarian aid, but made no direct pledges.
German development minister Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul, who later met Tsvangirai, announced that Germany would give the World Bank 20 million euros (27 million dollars) to help Zimbabwe, along with five million euros to buy seed and fertiliser for small-time Zimbabwean farmers.
Speaking at the press conference, Tsvangirai said the inclusive Government was making progress in dealing with the country's problems.
"Zimbabwe is changing and is changing for the better," said the PM adding that Zimbabwe urgently needs credit to revive its economy.
"We have already made a number of strides forward. I ask that that be noted," he said, pointing to the re-opening of schools and hospitals and some success in reining in inflation.
"We need bridge loans now to rebuild our economy," he added.
Labels: ANGELA MERKEL, LAND REFORM, MORGAN TSVANGIRAI, SANCTIONS
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