(HERALD ZW) MDC-T leader struggles for evidence
August 9, 2013 Shingirai Huni
Daniel Nemukuyu Senior Reporter
MDC-T leader Mr Morgan Tsvangirai, who lost the presidential election last week, has filed two separate applications at the Electoral Court requesting several election materials and information that he intends to use in drafting his main election challenge. This comes amid reports that the MDC-T leader was struggling to come up with evidence to back his claims of widespread rigging.
President Mugabe won 61 percent of the presidential votes, with Mr Tsvangirai trailing at 33,9 percent while the other three contestants shared the remaining 4,97 percent.
In one of the applications filed by Donsa-Nkomo and Mutangi Legal Practice, Mr Tsvangirai wants the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission to be compelled to provide him with:
a) The specific number of spoilt ballots that were cast in the presidential election per constituency.
b) The specific number of assisted voters that cast their vote in the presidential poll per constituency.
c) The specific number of voters that were turned away and failed to cast their ballot on polling day per constituency.
In the second application prepared by Mbidzo, Muchadehama and Makoni legal practitioners, Mr Tsvangirai made a request for 14 different election items, including:
* Full Presidential results per constituency
* Copies of the voters’ roll used in all polling stations.
* Copies of voters’ roll used in the special voting process on July 14 and 15 2013.
* Register of those who managed to cast their vote in the special voting process of July 14 and 15.
* Register of those who had been authorised to vote but failed on July 14 and 15 2013.
* Register of special voters who subsequently managed to vote on July 31 after failing to vote on July 14 and 15.
* Registers of assisted voters at all polling stations in the election
* Copies of the voters roll used in the postal voting delimited by ward and constituency.
* Copies of electronic voters’ roll.
* Register of those who were turned away from the polling stations and reasons thereof.
* Registers of those whose names did not appear in the voters’ roll but were allowed to vote using slips.
* Register of authorised postal and special voters.
* Contents of the closed and sealed ballot boxes and sealed packets delivered to ZEC’s chief elections officer,
and
* Number of spoilt ballot papers recorded nationally.
Mr Tsvangirai indicated in the two applications filed yesterday that he was in the process of drafting a petition that will be filed with the Constitutional Court and he needed the material urgently so that he meets the seven-day period allowed to do so which expires tomorrow.
The applications were filed late yesterday and they were still to be set down for hearing.
In the applications, Mr Tsvangirai argues that the material he required was in the custody of ZEC chief elections officer and that the sealed boxes cannot be opened without a court order.
Mr Tsvangirai’s lawyers wrote to ZEC requesting for the material on August 4 this year, but there was no joy due to the absence of a court order.
He highlighted his intention to challenge the election saying the special ballot was chaotic and that it might have resulted in the manipulation of the vote.
Mr Tsvangirai also argues that failure by the Registrar-General to timeously avail the electronic voters’ roll used in the special vote and on July 31 created real apprehension that the voters’ roll was tampered with.
He further argues that failure by ZEC chief elections officer to ensure safe and proper custody of election material relating to the special vote also created a window for manipulation of the vote.
Mr Tsvangirai also contends that the ballot papers may have been tampered with in terms of design and printing.
The ink used in the voting process, according to Mr Tsvangirai, could easily be washed off and hence creating the real risk and possibility that those who voted on July 14 and 15 may have been allowed to vote again on July 31.
Meanwhile, another MDC-T losing candidate Mr Jameson Timba also took ZEC to the electoral court with demands almost related to those by Mr Tsvangirai.
Mr Timba lost the National Assembly seat to Zanu-PF’s Cde Jason Passadi and is challenging the result.
Labels: 2013 ELECTIONS (ZW), JOMIC, MDC
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(HERALD ZW) Jomic reports expose MDC-T
August 10, 2013 Shingirai Huni Headlines, Top Stories No comments
Hebert Zharare Political Editor
MDC-T’S duplicity has been exposed by leaked Jomic Election Observer Mission reports that endorsed the harmonised elections as free, fair and credible with the party’s co-chairs feverishly working to ensure the report is not released into the public domain to abet their claim that the elections were farcical.
MDC-T leader Mr Morgan Tsvangirai has since filed an application at the Constitutional Court seeking to nullify the election results pursuant to having a rerun within the next two months.
However, 10 reports covering the country’s 10 provinces leaked to The Herald yesterday, confirmed that the elections were held in a flawless manner, a development that exposes for a sham the MDC-T’s refusal to accept the results that plunged the party to its worst defeat since its launch on September 11, 1999.
Although Zanu-PF had indicated that it was pulling out of Jomic alleging rampant abuse of the organisation’s assets by the MDC formations who were using them for partisan purposes, the Jomic secretariat working with the Zimbabwe Institute that acted as a conduit for donor funds proceeded to include Zanu-PF officials in the observer group.
The Jomic report exposes for a sham MDC-T’s pronouncements on the election results and flies in the face of the European Union, US, Britain and its dominion Australia that have been questioning the credibility of the harmonised elections..
The Anglo-Saxon alliance pumped an undisclosed amount of money into Jomic ahead of polls expecting a damning report from the body with an egg in the face, highly-placed sources disclosed yesterday.
Sources say some Jomic members (Mr Elton Mangoma MDC-T) and (Mrs Priscilla Misihairabwi-Mushonga MDC), whose parties lost to President Mugabe and Zanu-PF, were refusing to convene a meeting to endorse the Jomic report and make it public.
By injecting millions into Jomic, the EU and Britain made it the largest single observer mission in the country.
Jomic was formed in 2008 in line with Section 22 of the Global Political Agreement and is composed of members of Zanu-PF and the MDC formations.
Some of its duties include ensuring the implementation of the agreement that died a natural death after the demise of the inclusive Government after the July 31 polls.
Zanu-PF Politburo member Professor Jonathan Moyo yesterday said although Zanu-PF had indicated that it was quitting Jomic, protesting abuse of resources among other reasons, donors still tried to use Jomic with the hope of getting a negative report.
“The donors were working with the Zimbabwe Institute led by (Mr) Isaac Maposa to mobilise money for the elections.
“The Zimbabwe Institute was a conduit for donor money and Jomic proceeded to observe the elections and ignored Zanu-PF’s pullout and assembled a team of 30 000 observers so that there were at least four observers at each polling station,” he said.
Each political party seconded 10 000 election agents to the 9 500 polling stations established by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission.
After realising that all credible observers to polls — among them Sadc, Comesa, the African Union, Chinese observer team — had endorsed the polls, Jomic then defied its Western funders and came up with a favourable report.
“Contrary to what the donors wanted, some underhand measures have been made to put the report under the carpet.
“Some of the key MDC-T people like (Mr) Mangoma who lost the elections (and Mrs Mushonga) did not meet to authorise the release of the report. They want it to die a natural death. These people were never interested with free and fair election at all,” said Prof Moyo.
Ambassador Christopher Mutsvangwa said the Jomic report was now immaterial after all organisations that mattered released their reports endorsing the elections.
“Jomic is a creation of Sadc and it (Sadc) has finished its work and produced its report and Jomic report is neither here nor there. So the deal is done.
“In this case, Sadc is supreme. Any other reports cannot be at variance with Sadc,” he said.
MDC-T spokesperson Mr Douglas Mwonzora yesterday Jomic was yet to release its report, adding if their representative, Mr Mangoma was refusing to authorise it, that meant he did not agree with its contents.
“It means (Mr) Mangoma does not agree with what is in the report. The fact that two thirds are not in agreement means there are serious disagreements. We trust Mangoma; he is an intelligent man, why should he sign a report whose contents he does not agree with? As a party we respect his judgment. What Mangoma tells us is what we do,” he said.
The other members of the MDC formation, Mrs Misihairabwi-Mushonga and spokesperson Mr Kurauone Chihwayi could not be reached for comment yesterday.
Labels: 2013 ELECTIONS (ZW), JOMIC, MDC
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COMMENT - The MDC is embracing tribalism. Please keep talking. Not only do they have the (Ndebele) Mthakazi separatists and Rhodesian era landowners in their ranks, not only are the harking back to a pre-independence, pre-landreform economy, but their newly expressed anti-Zezuru (anti-Shona - one can only hope with 80% of the population being Shona) stance is going to clinch the deal for the average Zimbabwean voter. Also read here:
Biti launches tribal attacks against Zezurus by Staff reporter, Bulawayo 24.
Biti under fire for tribal slur
Monday, 20 August 2012 00:00
Herald Reporter
MDC-T secretary-general Mr Tendai Biti has come under fire for making tribal slurs against the Zezuru community with a call that the Joint Monitoring and Implementation Committee should intervene and reprimand him. Mr Biti, who is also Finance Minister in the inclusive Government, made the tribal diatribe during a press conference two weeks ago when he announced his party’s endorsement of the draft Constitution produced by the Copac management committee.
In his address,
Mr Biti launched a tribal attack against Zezurus, saying the draft Constitution was meant to curtail their supposed dominance in the country’s body politic.
“We are de-Zezurunising the State, let me put it clear, there is too much Zvimbanisation of this State, the first is that under this constitution all citizens are equal whether citizens by birth, by descent or by registration,” said Mr Biti.
Mr Biti, however, tried to retract his statement later realising the backlash that would come saying “I just used it as colour, don’t confuse it with substance.”
But Zvimba Development Association chairperson, Mr Charles Nyachowe did not take this lightly. He said Mr Biti’s remarks had caused a lot of anxiety among many Zimbabweans.
Such utterances, he said, had the effect of inciting tribal clashes.
“We are surprised by the silence of Jomic, we feel the organ should take decisive action against the threat made by Mr Biti,” said Mr Nyachowe, who is also a former Harare councillor.
He said world history was littered with cases where thousands of lives had been lost due to clashes triggered by “such reckless tribal statements”.
He gave examples of Rwanda where Tutsis and Hutus clashed leading to genocide, and Hitler’s anti-Semitism in Germany which led to the Holocaust in which millions of Jews were killed in gas chambers and concentration camps.
Mr Nyachowe said it would be ridiculous for Mr Biti to go and campaign in Mashonaland provinces where mostly Zezuru people reside when he had shown resentment against them.
“We want to know whether he said this in his capacity as Government Minister or as a party functionary. If he was representing the Government, he should be disciplined, if he was putting on a party hat, then we do not expect him to go and campaign in those areas,” said Mr Nyachowe.
He said the remarks were not consistent with a national leader that Mr Biti purports to be.
“That is counterproductive. We are quite worried about the threats that he is making,” he said.
Seke Development Association chairperson Mr Alex Chakanetsa described the tribal attack as “unprovoked and unwarranted”.
“The current constitution does not make any reference to Zezuru or any tribe. Why making it now when making reference to the draft Constitution?” asked Mr Chakanetsa.
“Are these constitutional material? To say this constitution is now good because we have addressed the issue of Zezurus, does it make any sense?”
Mr Chakanetsa said there have been long standing harmony among tribes in Zimbabwe so much that what Mr Biti was raising was misguided.
“There is even intermarriage among various tribes and even races,” he said.
University of Zimbabwe International Relations Department lecturer, Dr Charity Manyeruke, condemned the utterances saying it was surprising coming from a Government minister.
“A constitution should be a unifying point and our leaders should be unifying agents. We have many tribes in Zimbabwe and the constitution is a symbol that we are one nation,” said Dr Manyeruke.
Another analyst, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said she was disturbed by Mr Biti’s comments as she described them as “reprehensible”.
“It’s quite disgusting coming from not only a lawyer but a leader of a political party. He is trying to divide people along ethnic lines,” she said.
Political analyst Cde Christopher Mutsvangwa said Zimbabwe was one of the most united countries in Africa, making Mr Biti’s remarks misguided.
“It’s out of place. His statements have no place in Zimbabwe’s body politic,” he said.
Cde Mutsvangwa said what Mr Biti said was a reflection of lawyers trained at a time when whites were at the helm of the University of Zimbabwe’s Law Faculty.
Zanu-PF Women’s League chairperson Cde Oppah Muchinguri castigated Mr Biti saying Zimbabwe had gone to war to a fight bad system that practiced vices such as tribalism.
“We went to war to fight whites who condoned systems such as tribalism and racialism. I am a leader for women and I do not look at one’s tribe whether Manyika, Karanga or Zezuru, this is what every leader should do,” said Cde Muchinguri.
The MDC formations have since endorsed the draft Constitution while Zanu-PF has proposed some amendments that would be tabled before Principals.
Labels: JOMIC, MDC TRIBALISM, TENDAI BITI
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JOMIC presses leaders on violence
04/06/2012 00:00:00
by Staff Reporter
PARTY leaders must back their calls against political violence with concrete action and “immediately” hold joint rallies to help end clashes between their supporters across the country, Jomic officials have said.
The call by Jomic – the committee which monitors the GPA - follows last week’s disturbances in Mudzi where violent clashes between MDC-T supporters and Zanu PF rivals resulted in the death of an MDC-T activist.
Both President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai have called for an end to political violence but they are yet to hold the joint rallies promised by their parties as part of efforts to calm divisions.
Addressing a press conference in Harare Monday Jomic national committee members said the GPA principals must “walk the talk” to help end political violence.
Said Tabitha Khumalo of the MDC-T: “It’s now a trend that whenever the word election is mentioned, violence erupts. Elections do not mean war. It is about campaigning and selling your party’s ideology and there is no reason to fight.
"Our principals should move in quickly and work with various stakeholders to avoid more shedding of blood."
Frank Chamunorwa (MDC) added: “If they (leaders) are all genuine in their calls to end political violence and if it is not grandstanding then they should go to all corners of the country instructing, preaching peace and persuading their members to desist from violence.
“It is high time they stand up and walk the talk than just denouncing it through the media. The principals are a key component if we are to take information to the grassroots levels.
“Yes, they might denounce violence at public gatherings but remember people are in all parts of the country and there will be sense in it if they visit all the 10 provinces.”
MDC-T activist Cephas Magura, 60, was allegedly stoned to death after clashes broke out between MDC-T and Zanu PF supporters attending rival rallies at a Mudzi business centre. Seven people have since been arrested and will face murder charges.
Chamunorwa said the police did not helped matters by allowing the parties to hold rival rallies at the business centre at the same time.
“Our police is one of the best in the world but I am surprised that in some cases they book two political parties at the same venue at the same time despite the fact that they know how polarised the environment is,” he said.
“Some police officers are overzealous and they masquerade as entities on their own without following the protocol.”
Zanu PF’s Jomic representative Oppah Muchinguri said political parties should also engage their provincial structures and local leaders such as chiefs as part of the campaign against violence.
“It’s high time stern action be taken against those who incite or are involved in political violence. Let us quickly trace the history of this violence and find ways of dealing with this issue of individualism,” she said.
“What happened in Mudzi is a peculiar and disturbing situation and we are calling on all stakeholders including MPs, councillors and chiefs to dissuade people from engaging in violence.
“Murder and violence should be dealt with and the onus is on us to engage as many stakeholders as possible. We should speak one language and condemn whoever and whichever political party is involved in violence.”
Labels: GLOBAL POLITICAL AGREEMENT, JOMIC, POLITICAL VIOLENCE
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Prof Moyo spits venom at Biti
Sunday, 18 December 2011 19:32
Sunday Mail Reporter
Zanu-PF Politburo member and MP for Tsholotsho North Professor Jonathan Moyo has written to the Zimbabwe Media Commission requesting formal investigations on the MDC-T’s “growing abuse of its Global Political Agreement status” following a letter written by the party’s secretary-general, Mr Tendai Biti, to the Joint Monitoring and Implementation Committee (JOMIC) alleging abusive language and hate speech.
In his letter, dated December 17 addressed to the ZMC and which was also copied to The Sunday Mail, Prof Moyo requested the investigations following the December 7 letter by Mr Biti to JOMIC which alleged that the Professor had used abusive language and hate speech in an article that he wrote for The Sunday Mail edition of the 4th-10th of December entitled “Morgan’s open zip and shut mind approaches”.
Mr Biti wrote that the article by Prof Moyo “hits below the belt” adding that Article XIX.1 (e) of the GPA obliges that the public and private media shall refrain from using abusive language . . .”
The MDC-T secretary-general said it was disturbing that the article had been authored by a member of JOMIC, “the very same body that in Article XXI of the GPA is tasked with ensuring full and proper implementation of the letter and spirit of the GPA”.
He went on to ask JOMIC to “confront The Sunday Mail on this issue” adding that Prof Moyo as a member of JOMIC should be “asked to account for the vituperation”.
Mr Biti went further to suggest that the moment Prof Moyo decided to join JOMIC “he forfeited his right of freely expressing those opinions in respect of the political parties to the GPA”.
“If he wishes to continue to enjoy his constitutional right then surely he must resign from JOMIC. If he wishes to remain in JOMIC, then he cannot breach the very same agreement that he is supposed to enforce."
In his scathing letter to ZMC, Prof Moyo hit back saying: "It is very notable and quite instructive that although the MDC-T letter to JOMIC purports to be about ‘abusive language and hate speech' as per its heading, it does not contain even one reference to any abusive language or one hate speech in the article I wrote for The Sunday Mail."
He said the MDC-T allegations were "apparently for political purposes" adding that the record "will show that the MDC-T and its media mouthpieces have routinely labelled anything critical of them to be abusive . . ."
He said even Sadc had not been spared "as a recipient of all manner of dossiers full of blatant falsehoods elevated to alleged systematic hate speech and violence against the MDC-T".
Said Prof Moyo: "It is for this reason that I am requesting the Zimbabwe Media Commission to formally investigate this matter with all the seriousness it deserves not least and particularly because ‘hate speech' is neither a laughing matter nor just everyday political propaganda to be left alone.
"For the same reason, and by copy of this letter, I am hereby making a formal complaint of criminal defamation against Tendai Biti and the MDC-T to the Zimbabwe Republic Police because their December 7 letter to JOMIC alleging that the article in question has ‘hate speech' is in fact false and defamatory in a very criminal way that is inexcusable.
"In the same vein, and also by copy of this letter, I am asking my legal practitioners to institute appropriate civil litigation with commensurate claims of damages against Tendai Biti and the MDC-T party."
Prof Moyo maintained that the MDC-T leader, Mr Morgan Tsvangirai, had acted immorally by sleeping around with several women adding that "he always has somebody else to blame even in private sexual matters . . ."
Referring to the MDC-T leader, Prof Moyo said: "When he opens his mouth, he is unscrupulous and when he opens his zip he is promiscuous and in both instances he does so with a shut mind.
"There's more than enough evidence on the record to substantiate this but a formal and impartial investigation would be most useful to verify the submission once and for all."
He said it is very curious that a lawyer like Tendai Biti had "no shame or qualms about abusing his position" in the MDC-T to "approach JOMIC with a criminally defamatory complaint when he knows only too well that JOMIC is only a political arrangement between three political parties . . ."
Said Prof Moyo: "The expectation that JOMIC can or should, as requested by Biti in his December 7 letter about the matter in question, ‘confront The Sunday Mail' is illegal jungle-stuff and is therefore a nullity of no consequence at law since JOMIC does not have a legal basis from which to confront The Sunday Mail."
He said ZMC is the legal body that was created to deal with the media and not JOMIC which he went on to describe saying:
"In other words, JOMIC is a monstrosity of the GPA Government which remains in power on stolen time and needs to be terminated by yesterday to allow for elections whose time has come."
Prof Moyo said contrary to what Mr Biti wrote, "I am therefore not a member of JOMIC but I am a member of Zanu-PF seconded to JOMIC on behalf of my party.
"I am in JOMIC to represent Zanu-PF and not to represent three irreconcilable things called Zanu-PF, MDC-T and MDC-N or whatever.
"While the idea of trinity is strong in Catholicism, it does not exist in politics . . .
"I cannot and will not resign from a secondment, which is an assignment, by my party . . ."
He continued saying Mr Tsvangirai should not contest the forthcoming presidential election without having a professionally credible public HIV test given his "sexual promiscuity in which he has impregnated more than one woman outside wedlock".
Prof Moyo called on the MDC-T leader to "come clean about all the allegedly fatherless children he has out there and take responsibility for them as a parent before Zimbabweans can consider him for presidency . . ."
He maintained that he stood by his article and called on the ZMC to give his request for formal investigations "the attention it deserves".
The letter by Prof Moyo was also copied to the Zanu-PF secretary for administration, JOMIC co-chairpersons, Commissioner-General ZRP, his lawyers and to Mr Biti.
Labels: JOMIC, JONATHAN MOYO, MDC, TENDAI BITI
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Hunt for violence sponsors hots up
Thursday, 10 November 2011 00:00
Zvamaida Murwira and Lloyd Gumbo
JOMIC and the Organ on National Healing, Integration and Reconciliation yesterday met representatives of parties in the inclusive Government and chiefs ahead of tomorrow's indaba on violence. While acknowledging the police probe into recent cases of violence, Jomic said it was launching its own investigations to establish the forces behind the skirmishes.
Those fingered in the probe will be prosecuted. Zanu-PF secretary for administration Cde Didymus Mutasa, who is co-ordinating tomorrow's high-level indaba, said preparations for the meeting were going on well. He said preliminary meetings were held yesterday.
"We are meeting again tomorrow (today) as co-ordinators and secretaries general of other parties in preparation for the meeting," said Cde Mutasa.
Jomic co-chairpersons Cde Patrick Chinamasa (Zanu-PF), Mrs Priscilla Misihairabwi-Mushonga (MDC) and Mr Elton Mangoma (MDC-T) said they were going to meet Police Commissioner-General Augustine Chihuri over the issue.
Jomic chairperson for November Mrs Misihairabwi Mushonga said a Jomic committee yesterday met provincial chairmen for Harare from the three political parties.
They met Cde Amos Midzi (Zanu-PF), Mr Paul Madzore (MDC-T) and Mr Trynos Muguchini (MDC).
Mr Madzore confirmed the meeting, but said it was just an interface by the provincial leadership.
"Violence is of concern to everyone, so as the chairpersons of the parties we are going to meet again tomorrow morning (today).
"After we have done our investigations, we will notify the police of our findings and also to find out what would have happened to the perpetrators," she said.
"As Jomic, we do not tolerate violence and we would want political parties' leadership to cascade the message of peace down to the grassroots. We would want the political leadership to always take responsibility in stopping this violence."
Cde Chinamasa said it was critical to establish the underlying causes of violence.
He said the meeting with the police top brass would ensure perpetrators of violence are brought to book.
Cde Chinamasa said it was the responsibility of the police to investigate and prosecute all perpetrators of violence.
"As Jomic, we can't prevent violence and we expect the police to be in the lead in investigating and bringing to book all the perpetrators.
"That is the reason why the police should always be informed of meetings so that they can have their people at the possible flash points because we believe what is important is to prevent violence," he said.
Cde Chinamasa said the meeting with the police will afford them a chance to present their side of the story.
He said the objective was to create an environment for free and fair elections.
Cde Chinamasa said the legitimacy of any election outcome where there is violence would be disputed.
He said Jomic was in the process of establishing district committees to monitor political parties and their supporters.
Cde Chinamasa said the committees would be best suited to impartially advise the Jomic leadership of the causes of violence.
He said Jomic had found funding to finance districts and provincial operations.
Mr Mangoma said there was need for the political leadership to walk the talk on preaching peace.
"We want to see commitment from leadership and what they say in public should be consistent with what they say in private.
"If we let this violence continue, it will consume this nation overnight and as Jomic we will do our part in making sure that there is peace and tranquillity in the country. We cannot develop as a country if there is violence.
"Jomic will carry out its own investigations and everyone knows that a fair game has to be done and the facts will come out and those behind it will have to be prosecuted," he said.
Mr Mangoma said Jomic's goal was to build peace and tolerance through dialogue.
Mr Mangoma hailed parties in the inclusive Government for coming together to promote peace.
He said tomorrow's high-level meeting will be a landmark move in the fight against political violence.
During the Organ on National Healing, Integration and Reconciliation's meeting with traditional leaders, it was agreed that chiefs were best placed to deal with political violence in their localities.
Vice President John Nkomo who chairs the organ said from their interaction with various stakeholders in the past months, traditional leaders were the right people to deal with the vice.
Chiefs' Council president Fortune Charumbira concurred with VP Nkomo, but implored the three political parties to invite traditional leaders to tomorrow's indaba as observers.
The Vice President chronicled the country's political history and the struggle for independence, adding there was no need for brothers to fight each other.
He said the fight should have ended with the war against imperialists.
VP Nkomo said a council will be established from national to district level to deal with political violence.
A code of conduct will be prepared for political parties that should guide them, said the VP.
Chief Charumbira said when political violence occurs, traditional leaders are hurt most.
Some traditional leaders were given an opportunity to give their views on the matter.
Labels: DIDYMUS MUTASA, JOMIC, MDC VIOLENCE, PATRICK CHINAMASA, POLITICAL VIOLENCE, PRISCILLA MISIHAIRABWI
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SCRAMBLE FOR JOMIC: MDC formations, Fishmongers in bid to transform group into donor-funded instrument
Sunday, 07 August 2011 01:15 Top Stories
By Munyaradzi Huni and Tafadzwa Chiremba
A FRANTIC scramble has erupted among UK, US, EU governments working closely with a group of donors known as the Fishmongers
with assistance from the MDC formations and some elements in the Sadc secretariat along with some officials in President Jacob Zuma’s facilitation team to use the forthcoming annual Sadc summit in Angola to seek the transformation of Jomic into a donor-funded instrument in a bid to influence the results of the impending elections, it has been established.
It is understood that there are clandestine efforts to move away from the current scenario where Jomic is financed by Treasury and make it a donor-driven instrument to influence the forthcoming harmonised general elections beyond the proposed election roadmap signed on April 22 by GPA negotiators.
This bid to hijack and corrupt Jomic comes in the wake of a July 19 meeting of the Fishmongers in Brussels after which they said they “looked forward to an acceleration of the implementation of the GPA and an agreement between all political parties to a roadmap that leads to credible and peaceful elections”, adding that “the appointment of Sadc representatives to the Joint Monitoring and Implementation Committee (Jomic) should strengthen the crucial role of Jomic”.
The Fishmongers is a like-minded grouping of donors named after a Harare restaurant where they meet monthly. The membership of this grouping consists of countries that have imposed illegal economic sanctions against Zimbabwe in pursuit of illegal regime change such as Britain, the US, Germany, France, Holland, Norway, Canada, Australia, Sweden and Japan, whose neutrality is blurred.
The Sunday Mail has learnt from its investigations over the last month that the convenient cover and motive of this scramble is hidden in the belief by the Fishmongers that Jomic can ostensibly increase and enhance its monitoring and implementation capacity as an independent entity outside the GNU if it is decentralised from the national level, where it has operated so far, to provincial, district, ward and village or street levels where “things happen”, especially regarding incidents and allegations of political violence.
The communications manager at Jomic, Joram Nyathi, yesterday said: “The decentralisation of Jomic entails that there will be a district liaison committee at district level where each of the three parties in the GPA second four representatives to constitute the committee.
“There is also going to be Jomic at provincial level. All the parties’ provincial chairpersons will be members of the provincial committee.
“The idea is to deal with violence. People will not have to travel to Harare to report cases of violence.”
Ironically, the scramble for Jomic by the Fishmongers is taking place when the prescribed 24-month lifeline of the inclusive Government under the GPA has, in fact, expired.
Political analysts say this development is explained by two considerations with far-reaching implications on the country’s political landscape and national security.
First, they say there is an apparent attempt by the Fishmongers to use Jomic to create devious political infrastructure for deploying election monitors through the backdoor. Second, and building on this backdoor infrastructure, analysts say there is a determined backdoor attempt to help the MDC formations to match Zanu-PF’s national capacity by enabling them to have an organised nationwide presence at provincial, district, ward, village and street levels through Jomic structures.
Various highly placed diplomatic sources confirmed the analysts’ observation, adding that this scramble has been underpinned by two seemingly different yet supportive recent developments rooted in the initiative of the Fishmongers. One involves the decentralisation of Jomic and the other relating to the pending and controversial secondment of three officials to Jomic to represent the three countries that make up the Sadc Organ Troika whose composition is set to change at the Angola summit where South Africa will have to decide either to assume the chairmanship of the Troika or remain as the facilitator on Zimbabwe since holding both positions would be unprecedented and contrary to principles of natural justice.
With UK, US and EU donor funding, the assistance of the Sadc secretariat and some members of President Zuma’s facilitation team, last month Jomic started setting up what it called, “provincial inter-party liaison committees” in the country’s 10 provinces. These committees are expected to be fully functional by the end of the year.
A July 8 Jomic statement claimed that the committee had “resolved that members of the provincial liaison committees will help in selecting members from the political parties who will form similar sub-committees at district and ward levels”.
This revealing statement, which has gone unexamined when it has far-reaching implications on Zimbabwe’s future, added that “the provincial committees will be expected to co-opt other members from civic society, traditional leaders, farmers’ groups and faith-based organisations, among others”.
Observers say the backdoor inclusion of the heavily donor-funded and driven civil society into Jomic against the backdrop of the proposed secondment of three Sadc officials is designed to open the floodgates for donor manipulation of the Jomic process in violation of the GPA’s Article xxi(22.1) which states that “to ensure full and proper implementation of the letter and spirit of this Agreement, the parties hereby constitute a Joint Monitoring and Implementation Committee (“Jomic”) to be composed of four senior members from Zanu-PF and four members from each of the two MDC formations. Gender consideration must be taken into account in relation to the composition of Jomic”.
The donor expectation of the Fishmongers is that these political committees, which they say should be composed of people who are empowered to take decisions on behalf of their respective political parties, will cascade through decentralisation from the province to the district to the ward and from there to the village in the rural areas or the street in the urban areas where ordinary people live and where political contest takes place.
Information gathered by The Sunday Mail shows that the real intention behind this decentralisation of Jomic, which is now fully underway, is to create a solid infrastructure on the ground, funded and manipulated by the donor community for election monitoring well in advance of the elections whose date remains locked in what some observers say is needless controversy given the 24-month lifeline of the September 2008 GPA.
Analysts who spoke to this paper say that what this means, in effect, is that the roadmap to Zimbabwe’s elections is being negotiated on several fronts including back channels that are outside GPA negotiations or Sadc processes such as the forthcoming annual summit in Angola.
This startling development whose import is to undermine Zimbabwe’s sovereignty in violation of the country’s Constitution and GPA itself has apparently been triggered by the fact that, under the Sadc-sanctioned SA-led mediation, GPA negotiators from Zanu-PF and the two MDC formations have not been able to agree on the content and timeframe of all the issues outlined in the draft roadmap to Zimbabwe’s election signed by the three parties on April 22 after the ill-fated March 31 Livingstone summit of Sadc’s Troika.
Issue “H” and item “viii” of the April 22 draft roadmap deal with election monitors and provide that there should be the presence of such monitors in Zimbabwe from Sadc and other African countries six months prior to and six months after the elections and “implement Sadc Organ Troika resolutions made in Livingstone on 31st March 2011 in respect of which three Sadc-appointed officers are to be deployed in Zimbabwe to work with Jomic”.
But GPA negotiators are not agreed on this, not least because of the fact that while Zimbabwe has always welcomed election observers it has not accepted election monitors since 1985 given that they can by definition influence the outcome of elections while observers would be there just to observe the process.
Asked to comment on the infiltration of Jomic by donors under the guise of decentralisation, Zanu-PF spokesman Cde Rugare Gumbo said this would not happen.
“We do not see any harm. There has been too much talk at the top yet the grassroots was not represented. Decentralisation will enable people on the ground to air their views,” said Cde Gumbo.
MDC-T spokesperson Mr Douglas Mwonzora said it was important for Jomic to decentralise “so that it becomes accessible. For example, a person in Nyanga does not have to travel to Harare to air their views. The manpower at Jomic is seconded by political parties. I don’t see the infiltration.”
Other observers are arguing that Jomic has outlived its purpose as there is no GPA to monitor and implement, now that the only outstanding issues are the draft new constitution, the referendum on that draft and elections, none of which need to be monitored or implemented by Jomic.
Labels: 2011 ELECTIONS (ZIMBABWE), COLOUR REVOLUTIONS, JOMIC, NGOs
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Making a constitution no one wants
Posted By Joram Nyathi on 19 Aug, 2010 at 11:51 am
THE United States ambassador to Zimbabwe, Charles Ray, appears to me to be a decent man despite his recent theatrics on behalf of The System at the burial of Sabina Mugabe at the Heroes’ Acre. If, on the other hand, it is all acting, then he deserves a chance on the theatre stage. I will explain why later.
Since the constitution outreach programme started nearly two months ago, the Joint Monitoring and Implementation Committee (JOMIC) has attended a number of the meetings. We witnessed the chaos of the first week in Manicaland and Mashonaland Central and people’s frustration with the Constitution Parliamentary Select Committee (COPAC)’s delays.
We didn’t witness any of the violence or intimidation we read about in the media. We have received reports of violence and intimidation, but these are sporadic rather than systematic and JOMIC has been dealing with such reports since early 2009 before COPAC constituted.
People were free to air “their views”. The reservation was whether these would be reflected in the new constitution. In Manicaland, we visited five centres in the first week. We had pretty much the same experience in Matabeleland South. We had similar reports from other provinces, especially Masvingo where women often far outnumbered men. It wasn’t too hard to tell which “party” was talking.
We have our limitations. We are able to send only two two-member teams per district at a time to observe COPAC’S scheduled meetings. I travel with one political liaison officer. Where I am unable to go out, the three liaison officers from Zanu PF, MDC-T and MDC travel together, and none of them would want to prejudice his party. On average, they stay out for three nights to attend a random sample of meetings per province. We are still attending some more meetings.
Still, there are problems. In the constitutional debacle, unlike the Marange diamonds where we had foreigners pleading our cause and innocence while some among us fought gallantly to paint the gemstones redder than the Red Sea in defence of sanctions, we only have ourselves to blame. Despite its numerous demoralising logistical problems, it is not COPAC’S problem.
For all his wilful waywardness, Lovemore Madhuku has no clout to be the “evil men” in the constitution-making process. He is correct that Zimbabweans are not making a national constitution. It is mainly Zanu PF and MDC-T who are engaged in a contest of wits. Given a chance, they would emerge with two constitutions from the same meeting.
In a bid to please a mischievous but vociferous crowd driven by illusion that the biggest problem and hence the solution to all our problems is the constitution, Zimbabweans were stampeded into putting the proverbial cart before the horse. Meeting the Global Political Agreement (GPA) timeframe on the new constitution soon became a national pandemic.
During JOMIC’s historic interparty workshops, I indicated that Zimbabwe was still too polarised to craft an enduring constitution. We needed national healing first. Traditional leaders know this reality. I understand Party activists too are aware of this but are unemployed, and many crave some bit of action. Civic society wants the dollars.
Politicians are playing along and ordinary Zimbabweans are caught between the hammer and the anvil: mention of an election evokes images of 2008, yet political stability has not yielded the much talked-about Mighty Dollar. And they don’t know what a constitution is beyond the propaganda from their parties. Thus the Presidency is not an office but Robert Mugabe, and Prime Minister means Morgan Tsvangirai.
The parties to the GPA went out divided. When you ask people what they want in a preamble to a constitution in a remote bush in Bosha/Marange, and an elderly woman stands up to denounce gay marriages and a school drop-out demands dual citizenship, you don’t ask which political parties have been prowling this wood.
Worse still, some COPAC team leaders could not explain what a “preamble” was. Translation into vernacular drew blank faces. At one meeting in Umzingwane District, Matabeleland South, from a crowd of about 120, only two men seemed to have a clue of what was going on. At the close of the meeting, an elderly man stood up and wagged his index finger at the COPAC team sitting up front: “When this thing turns sour, don’t tell us we gave it to you,” he warned grimly.
At a meeting in Insiza District, also Matabeleland South, the COPAC leaders couldn’t explain what a devolved state was. Proportional representation, said a COPAC team leader, meant that people voted only for a party and the president selected MPs for them. A federal system of government was equated to the defunct Federation of Southern Rhodesia, Northern Rhodesia and Nyasaland! It is a scandal that a nation can allow itself to be led on wild goose chase for a “people-driven” constitution.
Which can lead to only one outcome: a constitution no-one wants, whether it passes or fails the referendum. Not Zimbabweans; not Tsvangirai, not Mugabe. It’s Morton’s fork. We adopt it or revert to the devil we know from Lancaster. Which is back to 2000 when the “no” victory left everybody else a loser except President Mugabe.
We visited a business centre near Esigodini in Matabeleland South where we were warmly welcomed by Eddie Cross as one of the team leaders. They had a clever set up upfront where the “talking points” were raised in a rotation. A blind man on a wheelchair reading Braille asked the question on the disabled. There was an outpouring of compassion.
When it came to war veterans, a number of positive proposals were made. Then a grey-haired man in his seventies stood up to make a point. “Let’s do away with war veterans,” he said. And sat down. Many Zimbabweans talk disparagingly of “so-called” war veterans. The man was old enough to be my father.
One of my sons is about my age when the liberation war “ended” in 1980. I am trying to explain to him where Zimbabwe came from, what the land reform and indigenisation mean. His mother is trying to teach him to fasten his trousers around the waist, not across the buttocks. The man on the wheelchair at the top table should have been old enough to be a war veteran. I don’t know how he came by his disability. I said to myself: “Has it come to this? What am I supposed to tell my son?”
On the occasion of our Heroes’ commemorations last week, it took Charles Ray in an article in The Standard newspaper to explain what war means, and that we should respect war veterans, regardless of the cause. It was politicians who started war, he said, and it is invariably the youth who give their blood, sweat and tears.
That includes disastrous ventures like the US is facing in Iraq and Afghanistan. It could be the liberation war like Zimbabwe’s in which an estimated 50,000 lives were lost. As a show of gratitude, all we can say is: “Let’s do away with war veterans”! To please who? For what?
Unfortunately, given the extent of self-hatred and sponsored anger in Zimbabwe, Ambassador Ray runs the risk of being labelled “too African”. Twice in July, he had to defend Zimbabwe against itself even as her own sons wanted her slaughtered over her diamonds.
First, Ray said coalition governments could be made to work if people focused more on their commonalities and less on the things that divide them. And I always wonder why we should be so divided over control of our land and minerals!
Second, Ambassador Ray was angry at false reports in a local daily that President Barrack Obama, in his “broken heart”, had classified President Mugabe as a financier of terrorism. As the US embassy pointed out, “the ambassador is not amused at all. It seems that in their haste to discredit the President (Mugabe), they failed to interpret something that has been in existence for seven years.”
Ambassador Ray might want to know that some media here worry more about the freedom to earn money by smearing people than they care about truth and the sacredness of facts. How else does one explain the insanity of denying the existence of sanctions which the whole world knows about? How does one justify the fight against Zimbabwe lawfully exporting its diamonds but instead that it should wait for foreign aid contingent upon nebulous benchmarks?
Indeed, without in any way condoning corruption, how does one explain that when Finance Minister Tendai Biti talks of US$30 million missing from the export of diamonds, the media wants to give him a Nobel Prize but there is universal silence when he states that the country’s diamonds, gold and platinum are “benefiting outsiders”, and reveals that: “Last year we only got US$44 million from the mining industry yet they exported over a US$1 billion. This year they have exported about US$650 million worth of minerals but we have only gotten US$15 million?”
And when the same daylight robbers of our finite minerals return with a token US$5 million donation to their own NGO, some lunatics tell us they are the philanthropists who feed Zimbabwe!
What happened to the US$956 million from last year’s exports, plus US$635 million so far this year? Is there any moral or economic justification for this imbalance? Does one have to be Zanu PF to appreciate the need for indigenisation?
Joram Nyathi is JOMIC communications manager and former deputy editor of the Zimbabwe Independent newspaper. He writes in his personal capacity
Labels: CHARLES RAY, CONSTITUTION, COPAC, JOMIC, JORAM NYATHI
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Ncube berates ‘greedy, insincere’ MDC-T
by Staff Reporter
22/08/2010 00:00:00
PROFESSOR Welshman Ncube last week launched a scathing broadside at Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s MDC-T, berating the party as “greedy, insincere” and an obstacle to the full implementation of the Global Political Agreement GPA).
Ncube, who is secretary general of the Arthur Mutambara-led MDC formation as well as Industry and Commerce Minister in the coalition administration accused the MDC-T of undermining government by pursuing partisan interests.
He said contrary to the MDC-T’s oft-repeated claims that President Robert Mugabe was refusing to fully implement the GPA, it was Tsvangirai’s party that was stalling progress by constantly adding to its list of so-called “outstanding issues”.
Ncube appears to have been incensed by MDC-T demands to be given oversight of constitutional commissions.
The MDC-T recently said it wanted commissions overseeing human rights, elections and the media transferred from the Justice Ministry headed by Zanu PF’s Patrick Chinamasa to the Constitutional and Parliamentary affairs Ministry headed by Eric Matinenga, a member of Tsvangirai’s party.
“They just want those powers to be transferred to their own minister. (But) those demands are nonsensical. That party has lost its way.
“They shout on top of the mountain that Zanu-PF is disregarding the GPA, but it is them who are violating the GPA,” Ncube was quoted as saying by the state-run Sunday Mail newspaper.
Ncube added that proposals by the MDC-T to “strengthen” the Joint Monitoring and Implementation Committee (JOMIC) through an Act of Parliament were misguided and unhelpful.
JOMIC - which brings together representatives of parties to the coalition government - was established to oversee implementation of the GPA but has been dismissed as ineffective by critics.
But Ncube said the MDC-T proposal could in fact precipitate the collapse of the body.
“Jomic is a forum for consensus and making it a statutory body can only lead to its collapse.
“That notion shows that the party does not know the fundamental functions of Jomic. If we were to follow those views, we would be led astray,” he said.
Tensions between the MDC formations also appear to have been worsened by turf wars in the Matebeleland regions ahead of by-elections to fill vacant constituencies.
Ncube claimed Tsvangirai’s party was trying to field former MDC-M legislators who were expelled from the party over alleged indiscipline.
The three former MPs - Abdenico Bhebhe (Nkayi South), Njabuliso Mguni (Lupane East) and Norman Mpofu (Bulilima East) – have since approached the courts to seek an order that by-elections be held in their respective constituencies.
“We have it on good authority that the MDC-T has bribed the three MPs we expelled from our party and they are now using them as proxy candidates,” he said.
“This is in flagrant breach of the GPA. In the event of a by-election, the party which held the previous seat can only contest against an independent candidate, not against a contestant from a party that is in the unity Government,” Ncube said.
Under the GPA, Zanu PF and the two MDC formations agreed not to contest each other in by-elections during the lifespan of the inclusive Government in effort to eliminate conflict.
Labels: ERIC MATINENGA, JOMIC, MDC, MDC-M, WELSHMAN NCUBE
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COMMENT - I still don't know why Zimbabwe's lines of credit were not simply transferred from the corrupt Bretton Woods institutions to China. They had the dollars, and they certainly were not on board with maintaining western privilege in Zimbabwe. I know there were moves like this ongoing. It would have saved the Zimbabwe dollar.
Regime change agenda behind sanctions: Ncube
By Lloyd Gumbo
THE illegal economic sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe by the West will remain in place as long as the West do not have their way in Zimbabwe, MDC secretary general Professor Welshman Ncube has revealed.
Prof Ncube said Britain, the European Union, the United States and their western allies who imposed embargoes against Zimbabwe and the Zanu-PF leadership would consider softening their hard-line stance if the Head of State and Government, President Mugabe, is out of power.
Speaking at a meeting between the Joint Monitoring and Implementation Committee and chiefs in Harare on Thursday, Prof Ncube said the continued existence of sanctions was testimony that those behind them had a regime change agenda. The meeting was called to discuss how Jomic could implement its programmes in rural areas.
Prof Ncube, who is a Jomic co-chairperson, said there was need for the Government to devise mechanisms to bust the sanctions.
"An honest appraisal of the sanctions is that those who maintain sanctions have a different agenda from the three parties in the inclusive Government.
"Their agenda is they want (President) Mugabe out and as long as he remains in the picture, then my honest opinion is that these sanctions will remain in place.
"We have had meetings with diplomats and those western countries don’t want any arrangement with (President) Mugabe in it.
"We have to accept reality, these sanctions are here to stay even if we engage the European Union and the Americans, they won’t lift these sanctions," he said.
Prof Ncube who is also Industry and Commerce Minister, said it was incumbent upon the Zimbabwean Government to address the issue of sanctions.
"Since these sanctions are going to remain in place, we have to find mechanisms to outdo their effects. There are a lot of things that we can do like reviving the industry and liquidity."
Another Jomic co-chairperson, Mr Elton Mangoma (MDC-T) said: "The issue of sanctions has been politicised a lot and us as MDC-T, we feel Zanu-PF are saying it’s our sole responsibility to do so (call for the lifting of the sanctions). This burden is for us all in this inclusive Government as outlined in the Global Political Agreement.
"No party has the power to remove sanctions and the burden isn’t for the MDC-T only. These countries are putting sanctions as their laws and we in the MDC-T can also be put on sanctions tomorrow. However, we will be visiting countries that imposed those sanctions to engage them," he said.
Zanu-PF politburo member and Jomic co-chairperson, Cde Oppah Muchinguri, said Jomic was supposed to make sure the sanctions were removed immediately.
"Sanctions are an issue, which need to be addressed immediately. As Jomic, we want to see these sanctions go because they have caused a lot of suffering to our people.
"Many people have fallen victim to the effects of these sanctions and we are saying they are causing more harm to our people," she said.
Chief Musarurwa, Senator Enos Masakwa, also called for the removal of the sanctions saying they had caused a lot of pain to the people in the rural areas.
"These sanctions should be removed because people in the rural areas are failing to make ends meet. They are failing to raise even a single dollar because of the effects of these illegal sanctions.
"I feel the party that invited these sanctions should be banned from political participation in the country because they are not considerate," he said.
Britain tried to internationalise its bilateral dispute with Zimbabwe over land and enticed the European Union, the United States and their western allies to impose sanctions against Zimbabwe.
The sanctions re-engagement committee failed to travel to Europe last month to engage the EU over sanctions due to the volcanic ashes eruptions in Iceland.
The team comprises of Ministers Mangoma and Ncube, Justice and Legal Affairs Minister Patrick Chinamasa, Regional Integration and International Co-operation Minister Pricilla Misihairabwi-Mushonga. Foreign Affairs Minister Simbarashe Mumbengegwi heads the team.
Labels: JOMIC, NEOCOLONIALISM, SANCTIONS, WELSHMAN NCUBE, ZDERA, ZTDERA
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MDC-T politicizing food distribution: Chinamasa
TZT/TZG
Wed, 09 Dec 2009 09:30:00 +0000
JUSTICE and Legal Affairs Minister Patrick Chinamasa has told the Joint Monitoring and implementation Committee (JOMIC), that Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s party, the MDC-T, is politicising humanitarian and food assistance in the Makoni District of Manicaland.
Chinamasa said the politicisation of humanitarian and food assistance in Wards 20 and 22 of Makoni Rural District Council is unacceptable and against the spirit of the inclusive Government. The MDC-T is working with the Irish humanitarian agency, GOAL in that area.
Chinamasa says the MDC-T party distributed food along partisan lines on October 26 at Nyahukwe Primary School and on October 28 at Sabhuku Foto’s homestead.
In a letter written to JOMIC Chinamasa said:
“I am writing to bring this incident to the attention of JOMIC as such incidents are in violation of Article XVI of the GPA (global political agreement), in particular, Article 16.3 which reads as follows:-
“16.3 Non governmental organisations involved in giving humanitarian and food assistance shall do so without discrimination on the grounds of race, ethnicity, gender, political affiliation and religion and in doing so, shall not promote or advance the interests of any political party or cause.”
JOMIC is special multi-party taskforce mandated with supervising the implementation of the GPA signed by Zanu-PF and the two MDC parties last year.
It handles all complaints, grievances, concerns and issues relating to compliance with the GPA
Chinamasa’s letter says at Nyahukwe School Sport Fields, villagers were ordered to gather under their respective headmen and registered to get fertiliser from GOAL.
An MDC-T councillor is also said to have delivered a political speech informing the villagers that fertiliser was coming from his party. Only those with less than five cattle were eligible for the fertiliser.
“A Mr Tsungano of MDC-T claimed that he had been given MDC-T pamphlets with the picture of Tsvangirai a day before,” Chinamasa’s letter says.
“He was busy distributing them to each member who was written down for inputs. We wondered why GOAL was seeing this and kept quiet. GOAL is also involved in this dirty game."
Sources in the JOMIC said the secretariat had been tasked to probe the incident and a team including the political liaison officers from all the three parties in the JOMIC, had visited Makoni and will be reporting back.
TZT/TZG
Labels: JOMIC, MDC, MDC CORRUPTION, NGOs, PATRICK CHINAMASA
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Farm invasions taskforce to present report
by Lebo Nkatazo
30/09/2009 00:00:00
A COMMITTEE investigating reports of new farm invasions is expected to present its preliminary report on Thursday.
The government put together a cross-party team led by Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara to investigate reports of fresh farm invasions after a power sharing government took office in February.
The taskforce is now ready with its report, according to Industry and Commerce Minister Welshman Ncube, who is set to receive the initial findings in his capacity as chairman of a body set up to monitor compliance with a power sharing agreement signed between the country’s three main parties.
Ncube said: “The Joint Monitoring and Implementation Committee deployed teams that are involved in an exercise of visiting farms to gather details regarding farm invasions. And as JOMIC, we will sit on Thursday to receive a preliminary report on what is going on in terms of farm invasions.”
JOMIC, made up of officials from Zanu PF and the two MDC factions, will made recommendations based on the findings to President Robert Mugabe, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and Mutambara as the principals to the power sharing pact.
Tsvangirai and Mutambara have led calls for a cessation of all farm disruptions, saying this was scaring off potential investors.
Mutambara said: “We are trying to quickly address this political hygiene matter. It's a matter of life and death. We must stop imposing sanctions on ourselves by fresh farm invasions and disregarding court orders.
"I am saying we are guilty as charged on this account. But we are saying the transgressions are not insurmountable.”
Ncube, meanwhile, has revealed that the cash-strapped government has been unable to carry out an audit into a controversial land redistribution programme by the previous Zanu PF government to identify multiple farm owners and land misuse.
Zimbabwe began seizing farms from white land owners in 2000 without compensation to resettle landless blacks. Critics of the programme say it benefitted mainly top government and Zanu PF officials, many of whom own several farms each or have been unable to maintain production levels of the previous landlords.
With growing concerns over reports that a handful of remaining white farmers are being driven out, Ncube says the government must arrest the disruptions and guarantee property rights to restore its international credibility.
He said: “Without fixing agriculture, we cannot fix the economy since our economy is agro-based. Therefore, agriculture is the foundation of our economy. The Ministry of Lands and Rural Resettlement has been tasked to … find a way to provide security of tenure.”
Labels: ARTHUR MUTAMBARA, JOMIC, LAND REFORM, WELSHMAN NCUBE
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MDC-T refers more issues to Sadc
TZG/Herald
Wed, 24 Jun 2009 00:48:00 +0000
THE MDC-T party led by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai yesterday said it had resolved to refer more issues for mediation by Sadc, bypassing the Joint Monitoring and Implementation Committee (JOMIC) set up to deal with any implementation issues.
Party spokesman Nelson Chamisa confirmed that the party held an extraordinary national executive council meeting in Harare yesterday where it made the resolutions to draw to the attention of Sadc more issues, in addition to the appointments of Reserve Bank Governor Dr Gideon Gono and Attorney-General Johannes Tomana.
However, Zanu PF and MDC formation led by Prof Arthur Mutambara have said the reference of the appointments to Sadc was premature because the party principals had not declared a deadlock in the ongoing deliberations.
Deputy party president Ms Thokozani Khupe chaired yesterday’s meeting in the absence of party leader, Prime Minister Tsvangirai, who is in Europe on a re-EU-US re-engagement state tour.
The additional issues they included for Sadc’s attention were alleged public media bias, arrests of the party's Members of Parliament and officials, the swearing-in of Roy Bennet as deputy Agriculture Minister and the issue of provincial governors, according to a party statement issued Tuesday.
The MDC-T alleges that arrests of party individuals were over "trumped up" charges.
These include Mutare West MP Shuah Mudiwa who was convicted last Friday of kidnapping a teenage girl last year.
Mutasa Central MP Trevor Saruwaka has been charged with rape.
Chipinge East MP Mathias Mlambo has been convicted of obstructing the course of justice, while his counterpart in Chipinge South constituency, Meki Makuyana awaits judgment.
Chimanimani West MP Lynette Karenyi has been convicted of fraud after a Mutare magistrate found her guilty of forging nomination papers in the run-up to the March 29 general elections while Bennet is facing allegations of illegal possession of a firearm.
Zanu PF has previously said the arrests were purely criminal matters that should be dealt with by the courts, as no one was above the law, while an agreement on the sharing of provincial governors’ posts has already been reached between the party principals.
Prime Minister Tsvangirai also told EU-US leaders that there were no political prisoners in Zimbabwe and that the law should take its course on individuals currently incarcerated.
The MDC-T party said they expected Sadc to convene a meeting to consider these issues.
"We have referred the issue of Gono and Tomana to Sadc. We are now going to refer additional issues," said that party's deputy secretary-general, Tapiwa Mashakada.
"We are approaching Sadc and the African Union as guarantors of the Global Political Agreement to sensitise them on the violation of the agreement.
"The media must promote the cohesive nature of the inclusive Government."
Party spokesman Nelson Chamisa said referring the issues to the JOMIC was futile because it was not effective.
JOMIC is an arm set up by the three political parties to ensure that the GPA is complied with.
"We don’t know whether JOMIC is still alive. Sending these issues to JOMIC is like flogging a dead horse. It has not lived to expectations," said Chamisa.
Asked if the publication of a newsletter by the Prime Minister’s Office did not undermine the inclusive Government, Chamisa said the newsletter was meant to allow interface between the PM and the public.
Fears of a collision between Cabinet and the PM were expressed after his office published a newsletter with details of his tour of Europe and the United States without the authority of Cabinet.
It is understood that the PM’s Office should have first briefed Cabinet before putting out details of his trip into the public domain.
--TZG/Herald
Labels: JOMIC, MDC, MORGAN TSVANGIRAI, SADC
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SADC has done its part
Denford Magora - Opinion
Tue, 27 Jan 2009 15:32:00 +0000
SADC has unequivocally washed its hands of Zimbabwe and will officially walk away on 30 January this year. What will happen on that date, as decided by the Sadc Heads of State in South Africa yesterday is that Thabo Mbeki, whom the leaders affirmed again as the mediator on Zimbabwe in a direct slap to the MDC's face, will convene a meeting of the Zimbabwean Joint Monitoring Committee (JOMIC), which will immediately elect a Chairman.
The Joint Monitoring Committee is the mechanism by which the parties agreed in the September 15 agreement to solve any differences, on the understanding that there was now an agreement on the table and all that remained was to implement it and form a government.
The Joint Monitoring Committee is a purely Zimbabwean body, made up of people chosen by the MDCs and Zanu PF.
It is vital for Zimbabweans to understand the implication of this move by Sadc.
What it means effectively is that Sadc has now come through on its threat last week that it will leave the Zimbabwean parties to implement the agreement. Sadc is walking away, it considers its job done and now waits for the six months period after a new Government is formed, for the arrangement to be reviewed as agreed on November 9 last year in South Africa at yet another Sadc meeting.
Once the JOMIC is set up on 30 January, all attempts by any of the parties to bring the matter back to Sadc will be met with the answer that there is now an internal mechanism to deal with these within Zimbabwe.
I am now being told that Sadc has said that it remains the Guarantor of the Agreement but that the (Extraordinary) Summit told Tsvangirai last night that they cannot be Guarantors to something that did not exist, hence their insistence that a Government be formed first and then, as Guarantors, they stand ready to listen to any grievances arising from breach of the agreement by any of the parties AFTER the six month agreed period.
Please note that Sadc only says that it will present a "progress report" to the forthcoming African Union Summit, whose Chairman was also part of this Summit and who also took part in the decisions that were reached and are contained in the Communiqué.
In other words, the African Union has already tied its own position to that of Sadc, even before the official report is made to the Continental body.
The MDC, in a short response, simply lists the same five demands that Sadc says in the Communiqué below can only be dealt with by a Government in Zimbabwe once it is formed.
These are (Sadc answers to these MDC positions are contained in my brackets after each MDC point as released in their own Press Release):
The enactment of Ammendment Number 19 (Sadc says they agree and the Ammendment should be enacted by 5 February).
The Definition of the National Security Council (Sadc answers by saying that "the negotiators of the party will meet to discuss the draft MDC Bill on National Security, but under the aegis of the Joint Monitoring Committee and NOT Sadc).
Equitable Allocation of Portfolio Ministries (Sadc says the allocation of ministries was endorsed by Sadc on November 9 last year at the request of Tsvangirai and they especially point to the fact that it was Tsvangirai who suggested the sharing of Home Affairs as a compromise. Sadc reiterated yesterday its position that this allocation will only be reviewed six months after a government is formed, as stated on November 9 last year).
The appointment of provincial governors and other senior positions. (Sadc answers this directly in its communiqué of yesterday by saying that "the appointment of the Reserve Bank Governor and Attorney General shall be dealt with by the inclusive government after its formation). Please note this carefully because it displays yet again SADC's determination to wash its hands of Zimbabwe and leave it to sort out its own mess.
Breaches of MOU and GPA (this point Sadc explicitly ignore because, like I said before, they have decided to look at this matter in a purely legal manner (they don't consider the spirit of the agreement, which is not written in black and white) and by doing so, they have asked the MDC to point to specific clauses in the Agreement that were violated by Zanu PF. The MDC were, according to reports, unable to point to one.
Denford Magora is the spokesman for the Mavambo/Kusile/Dawn Project led by Dr. Simba Makoni (a former presidential aspirant, minister and Zanu PF Politburo member).
More works can be read on his blog: http://denfordmagora.blogspot.com/
Labels: JOMIC, NATIONAL UNITY GOVERNMENT, SADC
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