(HERALD ZW) West ready to enagage Zimbabwe
October 11, 2013 Obert Chifamba Headlines, Top Stories
Tendai Mugabe Senior Reporter
GERMANY, France, the Netherlands and Norway yesterday expressed willingness to engage the new Government politically and economically following Zanu-PF’s resounding victory in the July 31 harmonised elections. This was said by incoming diplomats from the four European countries who presented their credentials to President Mugabe yesterday.
The ambassadors, who spoke hours after UN secretary-general Mr Ban Ki-moon congratulated President Mugabe on his re-election, said they had specific instructions from their capitals to start a new relationship with Harare.
Relations between Zimbabwe and the European bloc hit rock bottom after Britain internationalised its bilateral tiff with Zimbabwe.
A source who attended a meeting between President Mugabe and incoming French ambassador, Mr Laurent Delahouse, said President Mugabe brought to the fore the illegal economic sanctions as they relate to Zimbabwe’s economic interaction with the rest of the world and the country’s capacity to export its minerals and flowers.
The source said the President told the French chief diplomat to Zimbabwe that he was not interested in romantic trips to Western capitals.
The President said: “We don’t want to visit Paris. I don’t want your girls. I do not want to visit Paris for romantic purposes. I want to develop relations between us.”
The source said President Mugabe notified Mr Delahouse that some well-meaning ambassadors from Europe to Zimbabwe got contaminated by old ambassadors who had been here for much longer.
The President said France should do a national introspection on whether or not it was right to continue with the policy of sanctions against Zimbabwe.
The source said President Mugabe said there was a group of European countries that called itself Friends of Zimbabwe which did exactly the opposite of what was expected of a true friend.
In turn, Mr Belahouse is said to have replied: “More and more of us in the EU are beginning to share Zimbabwe’s analysis and we now need a new strategy for engaging Zimbabwe outside sanctions and that is why we are reviewing the process.”
He mentioned that the EU operated on the principle of compromise and that tended to inhibit scope for individual countries’ actions.
The source said Mr Belahouse confided in President Mugabe that the policy of sanctions against Zimbabwe was undergoing a review which seemed to be taking a positive direction as exemplified by the removal of ZMDC from the sanctions list.
The French ambassador is said to have told the President that France had only one farm that was affected during the land reform programme which was under BIPPA and that there were measures to correct that situation.
Labels: PADDY ZHANDA, ROBERT MUGABE, SANCTIONS
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(HERALD ZW) Biti in climbdown on Tax Bill
Tuesday, 04 June 2013 00:00
Zvamaida Murwira Senior Reporter
FINANCE Minister Tendai Biti yesterday made a major climbdown by making several concessions to the Income Tax Bill after a parliamentary committee on Budget, Finance and Investment Promotion raised reservations on it.
The committee, chaired by Goromonzi North legislator, Cde Paddy Zhanda (Zanu-PF) raised issues that they had gathered during public hearings conducted in several cities. Most stakeholders castigated the Bill.
Stakeholders said if the Bill was implemented the public would be taxed in virtually every earning they got, including presents. Those in the Diaspora would also not be spared from taxation.
Minister Biti consented to about 11 amendments raised by the committee but declined to do so on four other aspects.
“I am happy with the work you have done. I have accepted most of what you have suggested and rejected few. We have rejected because there are things you might not know that we know or how to break the law inside it,” said Minister Biti while concluding his response.
Minister Biti said he would effect some amendments immediately while others would be contained during his mid-term fiscal policy statement which he said would be made towards the end of June. He said he would amend some provisions of the Finance Act.
He said debate on the Bill in the House of Assembly would now resume tomorrow (Wednesday) instead of today (Tuesday) to allow inclusion of the amendments.
One of the amendments the committee raised was clause 26 that sought to levy taxes on Diaspora funds which the committee felt would lead to drying up of such funds coming to Zimbabwe.
The committee said it was unfair to tax people in the Diaspora. The effect would be to punish a grandmother in the rural area receiving money from her grandchild, noted the committee.
“There are things we are prepared to concede. We are going to examine the Diaspora income. In other words, going to individuals, it will not be treated as part of their taxable income,” he said.
One of the amendments that Minister Biti consented to was the clause on penalties where the Bill sought to impose 100 percent penalty on non-compliant individuals and corporate.
Stakeholders complained that proposed levels of penalties and interest for unpaid taxes were high and were being levied on minor infringements like delaying even by a week.
Minister Biti said he would make clarifications and improve the language used in the Bill.
Another clause he consented to related to the US$10 000 as the maximum deduction allowed on motor vehicles which stakeholders felt that the amount was too low hence it encouraged people either to buy second hand vehicles or those that were unsafe since good ones hovered around US$25 000.
“We appreciate the comments, so we will revert to the status quo as in the current Act based on engine capacity,” said Minister Biti.
On resident based system, the Minister conceded to give an amnesty on taxpayers on condition that they make full disclosures of foreign assets and pay an appropriate figure to be decided.
Minister Biti, however, noted that most people who complained on the provision were not ordinary people but big corporates carrying out business in Zimbabwe but with their head offices outside.
The migration from source based to re-sent based, he said, was consistent with the best practice.
He also conceded that there was need to improve certain terms that the committee felt were ambiguous.
The Minister said some of the reservations raised were premised on ‘unfounded fear’.
He agreed to include a provision on the interpretation clause that a court was bound by the law of precedence in interpreting the tax law to allay fears from stakeholders.
Some of the provisions he declined to concede related to submission that employees from the private sector should not have their housing and transport allowance as what happens with civil servants.
The other aspect was on Capital Gains tax after Minister Biti allayed fears that arose from the committee that the Bill seemed to assume that the entire proceeds of such assets were taxable without any deductions.
The Minister also accepted to embark on a massive education of the public on the Bill raising awareness.
Labels: PADDY ZHANDA, TAXATION, TENDAI BITI
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MPs slate Zimbabwe's 'supermarket' budget
27/11/2012 00:00:00
by Business Reporter
ZIMBABWE’S US$3,8 billion budget for 2013 must shock the government into prioritising revenue generating sectors of the economy, the House of Assembly’s Budget, Finance, Economic Planning and Investment Promotion Committee said Tuesday.
Paddy Zhanda, the committee’s chairman, said it was embarrassing that a resource-rich country like Zimbabwe could stake its economic fortunes on a “supermarket budget”.
Presenting the committee’s report on the budget to the House of Assembly, he said Zimbabwe’s economy could achieve a US$10 billion budget if the government got its priorities right.
“We find ourselves talking about a US$3,8 billion budget which can be equated to the budget of a single supermarket in the UK,” Zhanda told MPs, kicking off a debate on Finance Minister Tendai Biti’s budget statement.
“The issue before us is what can we do with a US$3,8billion budget? We now must look at ways of addressing balance of payments, increasing investment inflows, improve industrial productivity, reduce company closures, create employment and expand the revenue base for the economy.”
He said that the revenue side of the economy has to perform adding that critical sectors such as agriculture, mining and manufacturing need to be incentivised for them to perform.
Zhanda said critical to the economic transformation will be increased performance by all sectors including agriculture, saying the future of the sector lay in both introducing contract farming on all agricultural products as well as import duty on agricultural products.
“We have seen some positives of contract farming in crops such as tobacco, maize and soya beans but we feel this has to be extended to include all agricultural products such as wheat and vegetables,” he said.
“In the same vein, we must also see import duty being extended to all agricultural products. We applaud the decision to have import duty on chickens but what effect will the import duty on chickens have? We must have such duty levied on all agricultural products as a way of incentivising the producers.
“We must learn to protect ourselves; we cannot go on exposing ourselves simply because we are signatories to various trade protocols. The USA is a signatory to the WTO but subsidises its cotton farmers and third world countries feel the pain of that. There is no point in importing cabbages, lettuce, and tomatoes from South Africa which also incentivises its farmers and companies.”
On manufacturing, the committee recommended the establishment of a taskforce comprising the private sector and the government to address some of the challenges.
“The cost of manufacturing in this economy is too high, rendering our exports uncompetitive,” said Zhanda.
The committee recommended DIMAF to be extended to all companies saying the scourge of company closures was not only confined to Bulawayo.
“There are no industries that have been deliberately marginalised, as such DIMAF must be extended to all companies in the country. It is wrong to say companies that are closing are from Bulawayo alone”, said Zhanda.
The poor performance by the country’s key economic sectors saw the country revising downwards its projected economic growth rate from 9.4 percent to 4,4 percent.
Revenue inflows remained low with only US$3,5 billion being collected.
Labels: 2013 BUDGET (ZW), MDC, NEOLIBERALISM, PADDY ZHANDA, TENDAI BITI
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Parly clips Biti’s wings
Sunday, 14 October 2012 01:28
Kuda Bwititi
Parliament has prescribed a host of new measures ahead of the formulation of the 2013 national budget as it seeks to clip Finance Minister Tendai Biti’s wings and ensure the blueprint is people-oriented.
The new measures will also see the Parliamentary Budget Committee undertaking its own pre-budget consultations which will run parallel to those traditionally organised by the finance ministry.
The committee’s chairperson and Goromonzi North MP Paddington Zhanda (Zanu-PF) said Parliament had come up with the fresh measures to address complaints raised by the general populace last year that its views were not taken on board.
The budget consultations by the committee will start tomorrow with the first meetings set to be held in Marondera and Chinhoyi.
“As part of measures aimed at ensuring that the budget addresses the needs of the people, we have come with a raft of new measures. We want two weeks to carry out consultations and another two weeks of studying the budget when it comes to Parliament,” said Cde Zhanda.
Makoni West MP and member of the same portfolio committee Webber Chinyadza (MDC-T) said Minister Biti had erred in the 2012 budget by coming up with a document that did not address the needs of the people.
He said last year’s budget was a “secret document” which was the prerogative of the minister and not the people.
“Inadequate time was given to approve the budget last year. The Public Management and Finance Act now empower us to critically analyse the budget when it comes to Parliament as well as to ensure that people’s views are incorporated.
“The budget in previous years has been a secret document that the Minister would pass.
Now we are looking at each vote in the budget so that each particular is vote is consistent with the views of the nation,” he said.
Mr Chinyadza said the consultations for the budget were already running late.
“We already have a problem in this country in that the budget consultations start just before the paper is presented and some of the issues would have been presented in Cabinet and Ministers would come up with their votes before public consultations begin,” he said.
Mr Zhanda said Ministers should come to Parliament to defend their votes in the budget, amidst revelations that last year’s bids reached US$22 billion, against the US$4 billion purse that was eventually presented.
Mr Zhanda said aligning the budget to IMF recommendations would be unrealistic, as the world monetary body proposes that an average of 30 percent of the national purse should be channelled to government wages.
“Last year we had 70 percent of the national budget going to civil servants salaries so we cannot call for a downward review to 30 percent yet the workers are demanding a pay increase.
It is those issues that we should look at in the budget even though we may wish to be in line with international best practices,” he said.
Last year Minister Biti presented a budget of US$4 billion which he later revised downwards to US$3,4 billion.
Labels: 2013 BUDGET (ZW), IMF, NEOLIBERALISM, PADDY ZHANDA, TENDAI BITI
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COMMENT - This is the MDC - every opportunity is being used to call for foreign direct investment (foreign ownership).
MPs blast clueless cabinet as economy falters
25/07/2012 00:00:00
by Staff Reporter
RESTIVE legislators this week blasted political squabbling and policy confusion in the coalition cabinet as concern increased over country’s faltering economy with the 2012 national budget now off the rails, rendering initial growth projections overly optimistic.
The MPs demanded the cabinet come up with serious policy interventions as they debated last week’s Mid Term Fiscal Policy review in which Finance Minister Tendai Biti admitted the US$4 billion revenue projection for the year would fall 10 percent short and cut growth forecast from the initial 9,4 percent to 5,6 percent.
“We have failed to come up with indicators just to say there will be something in two years and in two years this country will have enough energy. Yet Cabinet meets every week, Ministers are in their offices every day and one wonders what is really happening,” said Goromonzi North MP Paddy Zhanda (Zanu PF).
“We are appealing to the Government to be serious in addressing the economic situation in the country. We cannot allow for politics to continue taking centre stage in the country.
“The (Finance Minister) has attempted to do something like trying to repair a battered vehicle - the chassis is burnt, the engine is oozing out oil, the radiator is leaking, it has no cap, it is boiling, it is showering water out, the tyres are worn out, it has no lights, it has no starter, the window screen is shattered, the boot, the bonnet and all doors are secured by wire.
“The vehicle will not go anywhere and the first thing that the unlicensed driver wants to do is to fix the number plates. The economy has got a host of problems and sincerely we have to start with first things first.”
Zhanda said it was inconceivable that the government had failed to address perennial energy supply problems which have hit the country’s productive sectors such as mining, agriculture and manufacturing.
“How do we turn around the economy with energy shortages? Mining, agriculture . . . all need energy. We are dealing with an economy that hinges its turnaround on agriculture and mining all need energy yet this was not addressed.
Zimbabwe does not generate enough electricity to meet its needs and efforts to plug the gap with imports from the region have been undermined by the lack of funds. Supplies are currently being rationed between both commercial and domestic users.
The legislators said political squabbling in the cabinet had taken precedence over sensible economic planning, citing the public spat between Mines Minister Obert Mpofu and his Industry counterpart Welshman Ncube over ZISCOSTEEL which has stalled a deal to resuscitate the collapsed company.
“The minister brought a budget that was approved by Cabinet and then after the presentation another minister comes the following day in newspapers lampooning the same budget,” said Bulawayo East representative Ms Tabitha Khumalo (MDC-T).
“What are you saying to us backbenchers, what are you saying to the ordinary people when we expect you to be a team.”
Biti admitted that the cabinet was largely dysfunctional and told MPs his mid-term fiscal policy review was effectively a “crisis statement”.
“There is absolutely no exaggeration at all the inclusive Government is dysfunctional; it has failed to transcend the make-up of party politics and, as a result, half-baked statements continue to be made, illiterate statements continue to be made, cheap points scoring continue to be made in the end who suffers, is not the person who sits in Cabinet but the ordinary people,” he said.
Biti said Zimbabwe needed foreign direct investment adding the cabinet had agreed key changes to the country’s indigenisation legislation under which foreign companies cannot own more than 51 percent of their local operations.
Critics claim the policy, mainly pushed by President Robert Mugabe and his Zanu PF party, will harm prospects of attracting much-needed foreign investment.
“I went to the Head of State and Government and Commander in Chief of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces Cde Robert Mugabe and we agreed on this and we are going to implement it because without FDI we cannot grow this economy, we cannot create jobs FDI is the oxygen we need,” Biti said.
Labels: MDC, PADDY ZHANDA, TENDAI BITI
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It’s time for clear agricultural policies — Zhanda
Saturday, 21 July 2012 00:00
Agriculture Reporter
Goromonzi North Member of Parliament Cde Paddy Zhanda yesterday challenged Government to come up with a clear agricultural policy to boost food production. Speaking at the Pioneer Hi-Bred national maize grower of the year awards ceremony at Juru Growth Point, Cde Zhanda said challenges experienced in the sector needed a policy conducive to production. The first prize went to Gokwe South farmer Mr Stanley Makuvaza who won a trip to the United States of America.
Other best farmers at district, provincial and national level walked away with tonnes of compound D, Ammonium Nitrate fertilisers and half tonne maize seed each.
National winners were also rewarded with holidays. Ten outstanding provincial Agritex officers went home with motor bikes.
“Government should not lie to farmers. It is a lie that Government can buy cotton from farmers. It does not have the money and buying cotton from farmers is not even the solution to the low price issue,” he said.
Cde Zhanda said cotton prices were internationally controlled and there was nothing Zimbabwe could do to manipulate cotton prices.
“Let us not lie that we can control cotton prices. It is better to educate farmers to get meaningful input packages from contractors so that they boost productivity per hectare,” he said.
Cde Zhanda urged Government to invest in research and development that ensures farmers to get high yields per hectare.
“We cannot do anything to increase cotton prices. Instead we should work on improving varieties so that we boost yield per hectare from the current 800kgs per hectare to 2 000kgs per hectare and in that way, farmers will able to get meaningful profits from the crop,” he said.
He lamented the inaccessibility of markets as another challenge affecting farmers.
“It does not make sense that we encourage farmers to produce when they do not have markets,” he said.
Cde Zhanda applauded Pioneer Hi-bred for the farmer’s competition, which he described as the best social responsibility. He said poverty elimination would remain a dream if people were given handouts.
Labels: AGRICULTURE, PADDY ZHANDA
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Gono, Zhanda in stormy Parliament clash
17/07/2012 00:00:00
by Staff Reporter
A PARLIAMENTARY select committee hearing was abandoned Tuesday after a heated clash between central bank governor, Gideon Gono, and Zanu PF Goromonzi North MP, Paddy Zhanda, with the legislator storming out of the meeting.
The Portfolio Committee on Agriculture was discussing the US$200 million agricultural mechanisation programme financed by the RBZ which critics say helped stoke the central bank’s US$1.5 billion debt after beneficiaries failed to pay for the equipment.
The RBZ also ended up being sued by private companies which supplied the equipment after failing to pay them.
But tempers flared Tuesday after Gono refused a request by Zhanda, a top Harare businessman and former bank executive, to reveal the names of the beneficiaries of the programme.
“Section 60 (1) of the RBZ Act [Chapter 22:15] forbids bank staff from disclosing information relating to the affairs of the bank or a customer unless lawfully required to do so by any court or under any enactment,” Gono said.
“Anybody who contravenes the section shall be guilty of an offence and liable to a fine not exceeding level seven or imprisonment for a period not exceeding two years or to both such fine and such imprisonment.”
Zhanda countered that select committee hearings were protected under the privileges of Parliament, triggering a heated argument with Gono.
Mhondoro Ngezi legislator Bright Matonga tried to calm the frayed tempers by suggesting Zhanda allow Gono time to bring the information to Parliament.
“I think we did not tell Dr Gono about all the information we wanted from him, so we should allow him time to get the information before we continue with the hearing. The information, like he is saying, belongs to the Ministry of Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development and has to be cleared first to release it,” Matonga said.
“This meeting is not supposed to be a platform for the settlement of grudges, but the discussion of important national issues.”
But Zhanda, clearly unimpressed, stormed out of the hearing forcing committee chairperson, Moses Jiri, to call-off the meeting.
Relations between Gono and Zhanda have been frosty since the RBZ chief, last year, claimed that the legislator had sought bribes from him promising to abandon a Parliamentary investigation into the central bank's activities in return.
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Meanwhile, Gono had earlier revealed that machinery worth US$200 million was distributed to farmers under the programme which was expected to run for five years, but had only been rolled out for two years between 2007 and 2008. The implements included tractors, combine harvesters, harrows, knapsack sprayers and planters.
“We distributed the machinery with the assistance of the Ministry of Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development and the Grain Marketing Board,” he said.
“Beneficiaries received implements according to the sizes of their land and the ecological regions in which they are operating.
“The GMB and the Ministry identified the beneficiaries. They were the ones who had information on the farmers and their production records.”
The RBZ chief denied it was the responsibility of the central bank to ensure that farmers paid for the equipment saying the Ministries of Finance and Agriculture had to make the necessary follow-ups. He said the Reserve Bank was did not have the capacity to do the follow-ups with a staff of 500.
Gono refuses to take sole responsible for the central bank’s debt problems and seethes at criticism of his quasi-fiscal activities over the last decade insisting most of the programmes were carried out at the express direction of Cabinet through successive finance ministers.
“So distorted are the facts behind the bank’s debt profile that in some quarters the belief is that RBZ and my management team spent US$1.1 billion either buying tractors and scotch-carts (mechanisation programme) or simply went on a debt contracting spree and blew away the money in support of non-existent programmes or at the worst, (that) the whole amount is a Gono debt which he must find a way to repay,” Gono charged in a statement last year.
“The discussion of RBZ debtors has only centred around Farm Mechanisation debtors who owe RBZ about US$198,0 million which is 12,4 per cent of RBZ’s debtors, while ignoring 87,6 per cent of the debts owed to the bank by Government.
“If government was to repay RBZ US$1,4 billion that it owes the apex bank tomorrow, the bank would in turn be able to pay its US$1,1 billion debt to creditors and still remain with US$300 million for its capitalisation, lender of last resort operations, day-to-day needs and then focus on its core mandate!”
Labels: CORRUPTION, GIDEON GONO, MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE MECHANISATION AND IRRIGATION (ZIMBABWE), PADDY ZHANDA
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Chinese companies 'bleeding' economy: Zanu PF MP
09/12/2011 00:00:00
by
ZANU PF legislator, Paddy Zhanda has demanded a review of China’s involvement in the economy as it emerged the government has had awarding contracts worth more than half a billion dollars to foreign companies. Zhanda said Chinese involvement was “bleeding” the economy at a time local companies were struggling to survive with many people unable to find work.
The MP, who chairs the parliamentary portfolio committee on budget, finance and investment promotion, revealed the figure while presenting a report on the 2012 national budget.
"$553m worth of contracts were awarded to foreign companies, and most of these to Chinese companies," Zhanda was quoted as saying.
"Zimbabwe has a very high unemployment rate and a liquidity crisis and we implore the minister of finance, Tendai Biti, to stop this bleeding."
Zhanda reportedly said the projects awarded to foreigners included the construction of flats in Harare at a cost of $7m.
He added: "A few examples of these projects include construction of Lupane State University to cost $10m, National University of Science and Technology to cost $4m, a project at the University of Zimbabwe to cost $2m, Beitbridge Waterworks to cost $4m, construction of the new parliament of Zimbabwe complex in Kopje to cost $134m, and others."
Projects awarded to Chinese companies include the construction of a defence college on the outskirts of Harare.
But economist John Robertson said Zhanda's comments were "unfair" and took a different view.
He agreed that in principle local firms should compete for tenders, but he said that most of the skilled workforce has left the country and Zanu PF policies have destroyed the country's capacity to compete against foreign firms, who have more resources.
"I think Zhanda is being critical for a political reason. Zanu PF members of government are constantly trying to find ways of criticising MDC members for whatever they have done or failed to do" Robertson said.
Zimbabwe received a Chinese loan of $98m to build the college, to be repaid over 20 years through earnings from the Marange diamond fields, which are being mined by Chinese firm Anjin Investments and the Zimbabwe army.
Some of the gems, worth $160m, went on sale this week for the first time since the lifting of an international ban by the Kimberley Process.
The government says China plans up to US$10 billion in investments over the next five years, more than any other country.
Chinese economic activity in Africa is often a source of controversy, with allegations that China is underpaying for mineral resources and either mistreating local workers or importing its own.
Labels: CHINA, PADDY ZHANDA, ZANU-PF
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Biti under fire
Herald Reporters
Members of Parliament yesterday grilled Finance Minister Tendai Biti for failing to consult them before coming up with his Mid-Term Fiscal Policy Review Statement while various sectors of the economy also criticised him for the same reason.
The minister was yesterday at pains to defend his fiscal policy which he presented on Wednesday before the Budget and Finance Parliamentary Portfolio Committee, which criticised him for ignoring them.
Committee chairperson and Goromonzi North House of Assembly Member Cde Paddy Zhanda (Zanu-PF) accused Minister Biti of breaching provisions of the Public Finance and Management Act.
He argued that Minister Biti failed to submit quarterly general account reports as required by the Act.
Cde Zhanda said this during debate on the Finance Bill and Appropriation Bill, which sought to give legal effect to the financial adjustments announced by Minister Biti.
The two Bills sailed through the House of Assembly yesterday after a long debate. They now await transmission to Senate, which is expected to debate them this morning.
Kambuzuma House of Assembly Member Mr Willias Madzimure (MDC-T) sat as Speaker of the House of Assembly in the absence of the incumbent, Mr Lovemore Moyo.
In his contribution, Cde Zhanda said the committee had met yesterday morning and noted with concern a growing tendency by Minister Biti not to consult the committee each time he brought fiscal policy statements to Parliament.
"My committee feels that budget statements and policy reviews are important documents that need consultations. While the minister said he had consulted stakeholders, the committee was not given an opportunity to consult those that were consulted on whether they were consulted. Even us as a committee we were not consulted because we also need to consult people — the poor, the voiceless — and not to give our personal views as MPs," said Cde Zhanda.
Minister Biti admitted he did not consult the committee, but said he could not do so since legislators were preoccupied with the constitution outreach programme.
"Because of the fact that the committee was participating in Copac, we failed to get time to consult with them. We, however, consulted virtually everybody including all labour bodies and in some instances I had personal meetings with them. We met labour movements, the University of Zimbabwe’s Faculty of Commer-ce and we also used our website where we had thousands of hits," Minister Biti said.
"I want to apologise that we failed to consult with the committee because it was at Copac, but we will improve our consultation on next year’s budget, which will start in August."
Cde Zhanda accused the minister of adopting "a business as usual approach", the same attitude he urged people to desist from.
Cde Zhanda, however, said the committee applauded measures introduced by the minister to bring economic stability but castigated him for nominally raising the tax-free threshold from US$160 to US$175, saying he should have at least raised it to US$200.
He urged the Government to desist from wanting to rely on donors when it had resou-rces and non-performing parastatals.
Cde Zhanda said failure to sell parastatals on the pretext that they were strategic did not make sense when the entities were not performing.
Muzarabani South House of Assembly Member Cde Edward Raradza (Zanu-PF) said Minister Biti should first identify priority areas and address them rather than trying to please everyone.
He urged the Government to finance farmers saying it was the responsibility of the State to ensure food security.
Cde Raradza called for a legal instrument compelling financial institutions to provide funding to farmers to stimulate growth in agriculture.
Minister Biti had argued that the 99-year leases Government had given new farmers were not bankable and could not be used as surety to secure loans from banks.
Civil servants have also expressed displeasure at Minister Biti’s fiscal policy statement, saying it was silent on improving their conditions of service.
The civil servants said most of them were disillusioned because there was no prospect of a salary increase before the end of the year.
Minister Biti ruled out a salary increase for civil servants, but increased the tax-free income threshold by US$15 from US$160 to US$175.
Traditionally civil servants salaries are
adjusted in July.
The civil servants, however, believe proceeds from the sale of the diamonds would enhance revenue generation.
Zimbabwe Teachers’ Association president Mrs Tendai Chikowore said the Mid-Term Fiscal Policy Review Statement confirmed the Finance Minister’s statement in April that Government had frozen civil servants’ salaries.
"There is no light at the end of the tunnel and this is a big blow to the workers as it is equivalent to a wage freeze. They said our grievances would be addressed in the near future but it is clear there is nothing for us. We now feel insecure, dumped and down because while our concerns are not addressed, utility bills continue to skyrocket," she said.
She said the Apex Council, a body that brings together all civil servants, would meet early next week to decide on the way forward.
The lowest paid civil servant earns US$135 a month while the highest paid gets US$250.
The workers want their salaries reviewed upwards in line with the Poverty Datum Line, which currently stands at US$492.
Teachers’ Union of Zimbabwe executive officer Mr Manuel Nyawo said Government should brace itself for "any eventuality".
"We usually get increments every July but this year there is totally nothing significant since January. Technically, Minister Biti was correct on the salary freeze and to the politicians out there, it’s time to fight for the selling of our minerals in order to solve our bread and butter issues," he said.
The Government insists it is broke and Minister Biti has also said he is hoping for some relief if Zimbabwe is allowed to sell its diamonds.
The tourism and hospitality industry also reacted angrily to Minister Biti’s decision to withdraw suspension on duty to vehicles bought for the tourism industry, saying the minister was misled by Zimra and his inexperience in Government had been exposed.
At a Press conference in Harare last night, Zimbabwe Tourism Council president Mr Emmanuel Fundira and Zimbabwe Tourism Authority chief executive Mr Karikoga Kaseke urged Minister Biti to reverse his decision.
"I see a very serious problem with what the minister has done. The minister was completely misled and misguided by Zimra.
"ZTA is the regulatory authority but was never consulted about this issue. It took us more than seven years to come up with this statutory instrument that was beginning to breathe life into the tourism product that had become weak.
"ZTA is not a junior partner to Zimra and will not take lightly this kind of behaviour. Zimra cannot define what tourism is. We know what is good for the tourism industry but we get worried when one minister decides to change things without our consent. He has killed the tourism industry,’’ said Mr Kaseke.
He added: "Another point is that he misrepresented the correlation between tourist arrivals and revenue created in hotel occupancy. Arrivals do not necessarily translate to hotel occupancy because even our own people who have stayed outside the country for more than a year are classified as tourists but they do not go to stay in a hotel. They stay with relatives. If only he had consulted we would have told him."
Addressing the same Press conference, Harare businessman Mr Philip Chiyangwa said the minister was inexperienced.
Mr Chiyangwa, who owns Glory Car Hire, said Minister Biti was "blindly pushing the MDC-T agenda, without looking at the pros and cons."
"I don’t care who else was involved but Minister Biti is inexperienced and never consulted because he does not want to listen to other people’s views.
"This is the danger of entrusting the special Ministry of Finance, which is the centre of Government activity, under one political party. Minister Biti needs a Co-Minister of Finance to assist him get the history of this country and acquire the knowledge and the art of consulting others. These are MDC-T things, they want to destroy everything Zanu-PF did, even when that thing is good for the country. Tell him openly that I said it,’’ said Mr Chiyangwa.
Mr Fundira said Minister Biti missed the point by scrapping the statutory instrument that allowed stakeholders in the tourism industry to import cars and equipment without consulting the industry.
"It came as a shock to us in the industry that a whole Government minister can do that. We are dismayed by that action because Zimbabwe as a tourist destination needed such a duty-free facility because we are coming from a liquidity crisis and we want our industry to match others in the region.
"At least there was supposed to be consultation with the ZTA if there was any problem. He has misled himself and we hope that he will correct it as a matter of urgency,’’ he said.
Labels: PADDY ZHANDA, TENDAI BITI
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