World Hails Bill Passage in Zimbabwe


World hails Bill passage

Herald Reporter

THE international community and Zimbabweans at large yesterday hailed the country’s three main political parties for moving a step further to forming the inclusive Government by unanimously passing Constitutional Amendment 19 Bill.

The Bill gives legal effect to the formation of the inclusive Government.

There are now calls for support to Zimbabwe to help it revive its economy and deal with the dire humanitarian situation.

South Africa and Egypt led African countries in hailing the Zimbabwean parties and called for assistance to resuscitate the economy.

South African President Kgalema Motlanthe yesterday urged the international community to help rebuild Zimbabwe and end a crushing humanitarian crisis, once the inclusive Government is installed next week.

President Motlanthe, in his State of the Nation address to parliament, said Zimbabwe’s erstwhile feuding parties had achieved "the ultimate prize . . . that is, a stable and legitimate government".

"Now the work of reconstruction can start in earnest, and South Africa stands ready to assist wherever we can.

"There is urgent need to assist in dealing with the humanitarian crisis in that country. We are confident that, because it cares, the international community will partner the people of Zimbabwe as they blaze out along a new trail," he said.

South Africa mediated the power-sharing deal between Zanu-PF, MDC-T and MDC. Egypt also urged the international community to support the restoration of Zimbabwe’s economic and political stability as well as its return to the international fraternity to restore its normal position and pioneering role on the African arena.

In a statement, Egyptian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Ambassador Hossam Zaki also called on the international community to assist the inclusive Government partners to overcome past disputes.

"Egypt welcomed the decision of the Zimbabwean opposition to participate in the coalition government, and expressed hope that the coming phase would witness a complete partnership between the government and the opposition to confront the harsh economic conditions in Zimbabwe.

"Zimbabwean parties should overcome their past disputes, and seek joint work to face the internal and external challenges to rebuild the Zimbabwean economy and to improve the living conditions for the Zimbabwean people," said Ambassador Zaki.

Locally, politicians, farmers, bankers, traditional leaders and trade unions hailed the passage of Constitutional Amendment Number 19 Bill.

They said the passage of the Bill in Parliament on Thursday marked a historic occasion that should set the tone for economic recovery.

The Bill now awaits assent by the President before it becomes law.

Zimbabwe Commercial Farmers’ Union president Mr Wilson Nyabonda said farmers were pleased with the decision by politicians to resolve to work as brothers and sisters.

"We hope that the country will now move forward in reconstruction and reinstate the economy, in the shortest time possible, to its breadbasket status," said Mr Nyabonda.

"Politicians need to come up with clear benchmarks of targets that they set for themselves on what they intend to achieve. We need to address the country’s political economic risk because that would enable us to get assistance from multilateral lending agencies," said Mr Nyabonda.

President of the Chiefs’ Council Chief Fortune Charumbira said the political leaders’ ability to compromise was consistent with their backgrounds.

He said President Mugabe falls under Chief Zvimba, MDC-T leader Mr Morgan Tsvangirai is from Chief Nerutanga in Buhera while MDC leader Professor Arthur Mutambara falls under Chief Mutambara in Chimanimani.

"Mabira edu aya ataiita adairwa, that is why we have been holding those traditional ceremonies," said Chief Charumbira while debating during the Bill’s Second Reading stage in Senate on Thursday.

He said it was important for Parliament’s present sitting arrangement to be restructured as it had the effect of div-iding legislators.

Parliamentarians currently sit according to their political parties and Chief Charumbira said it was important for legislators from the different paries to sit next to each other.

Affirmative Action Group president Mr Supa Mandiwanzira said the new political dispensation was a positive development as it would instill business confidence.

"It is a positive step towards restoring business confidence in the economy. As AAG, we would want to commend the political parties who endorsed the Bill," said Mr Mandiwanzira.

"What is important is not just the signing of the agreement and passage of the Bill, but to implement measures that promote entrepreneurship and business development. It demands a lot of hard work to ensure transformation of the economy and allow an environment that ensures that businesses make money."

Bankers’ Association of Zimbabwe president Dr John Mangundya said the passage of the Bill was a significant event not only to the banking sector, but the entire economy.

"It’s a milestone as it is very critical in the development of the economy. It is a step towards mitigating the political risk associated with the (negative) publicity we have been subjected to. What we expect as the banking community are financial inflows into the country by multilateral agencies," said Dr Mangundya.

Former Head of Christian Denominations Bishop Trevor Manhanga said the envisaged new political dispensation was the answer to their prayers.

"The passage of the Bill is quite positive and we need to give these efforts our full support," said Bishop Manhanga.

Secretary-general of an association of Zimbabwe’s small political parties Mr Gondai Vutuza commended the political leaders in the country for showing maturity.

"We need to support our political leaders to ensure that the process is pursued to its logical conclusion so that we can have a better Zimbabwe," said Mr Vutuza, who is vice president of Zanu (Ndonga).

Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions president Mr Lovemore Matombo said while his union had its reservations about the power-sharing agreement, it would support any effort that enhances democracy in the country.


Promote national healing, media urged

Herald Reporter

ZIMBABWE’S media, both public and private, should assist in promoting national healing as the country moves to form an inclusive Government, the Joint Monitoring and Implementation Committee has said.

Speaking at a meeting with representatives of media houses yesterday, JOMIC chairperson for the month of February Professor Welshman Ncube said the media have an important role to play in reducing the political tension that gripped Zimbabwe over the past 10 years.

JOMIC is co-chaired by Zanu-PF, MDC-T and MDC on a rotational basis with Cde Nicholas Goche and Mr Elton Mangoma as the other co-chairpersons.

Prof Ncube said the parties believed that the media have not made an effort to adapt to the latest developments that would usher in a new political dispensation.

"The formation of the inclusive Government is a very difficult job for the parties after the difficult years we have gone through.

"The parties are trying to reduce political tension, so there is need for the media to work together and build mutual trust to bring national healing across the country," he said.

In terms of the broad-based agreement, the media should provide balanced and fair coverage to all parties and refrain from using language that may incite hostility, political intolerance and ethnic hatred.

Cde Goche said the three main political parties were trying to create a new environment of tolerance and respect for divergent views.

"We can argue in a more civilised manner, but with respect for each other’s different views," he said.

Cde Goche urged media organisations in Zimbabwe to work with the three parties to educate the nation on the inclusive Government.

Mr Mangoma said although Zimbabwe was going through a difficult but important transitional period, it was imperative for the nation to share the responsibility to carry the nation forward.

"The media have an important role in building the confidence of the nation at first and improve the world’s perception of the country," he said.

Mr Mangoma said JOMIC would also meet with the political parties’ leadership so that they tone down their language when addressing party gatherings.

Members of the committee were also in agreement that the new Government would ensure that all radio stations broadcasting outside the country should cease

their illegal operations and register properly under the law.

It also reiterated the parties’ commitment to work for the removal of illegal sanctions that have not

only affected politicians but also some media practitioners.

"Sadc and the AU have made it clear that there is no need for sanctions against the country and we will continue, under the leadership of the region, to call for their immediate lifting," Prof Ncube said.

He said the new Government, through the Foreign Affairs Ministry, would soon come up with a programme for the speedy resolution of the issue.

A Media Monitoring sub-committee of JOMIC has also been established and comprises Cde Oppah Muchinguri (Zanu-PF), Ms Thabita Khumalo (MDC-T) and Mr Frank Chamunorwa of MDC.

Other members of JOMIC who attended the meeting include Mr Edward Khumalo and Mrs Priscilla Misihairabwi-Mushonga of MDC, Engineer Elias Mudzuri and Mr Innocent Chagonda from MDC-T.

Senator Patrick Chinamasa and Cde Kembo Mohadi of Zanu-PF sent in their apologies.

Representatives from Zimpapers, Zimbabwe Broadcasting Holdings and ZimInd (PVT) Ltd, publishers of the Zimbabwe Independent and Standard newspapers attended the meeting.


MDC-T secretary-general Biti freed

Court Reporter

MDC-T secretary-general Mr Tendai Biti, who was facing treason charges, was freed yesterday after the magistrates’ court refused to place him on further remand.

Mr Biti had been accused of insulting the President, communicating falsehoods prejudicial to the State and causing disaffection among the defence forces.

But yesterday Harare magistrate Ms Olivia Mariga granted Mr Biti’s application for refusal of further remand on the basis that the State had failed to indict him for trial on time.

The State can now proceed by a way of summons if it wishes to pursue the case.

The court ruled that the State had on several occasions breached its undertakings to provide Mr Biti with a trial date and it was not prejudicial to it to remove him from remand.

"Upon perusal of the record, it appears the State surely made undertakings to provide the accused with a trial date since last year, but failed to honour that.

"The application for refusal of further remand is, therefore, granted," ruled Ms Mariga.

She said the court also considered earlier utterances by the State that it was out to "fix" Mr Biti although the prosecution later had dismissed the statement as a joke.

"Although the State told the court that those utterances were meant as a joke, the court is of the view that in matters as serious as this one, such jokes are not called for or rather unwarranted," she said.


Inclusive Govt: Under whose colours do you march?

nathaniel.manheru

NEARLY a decade ago, a white business figure shared with select business executives what he considers vital piece of intelligence.

A new party was just about to be formed, one which could turn out much worse than Zanu-PF, unless urgent steps were taken "to infiltrate and influence it" in another direction.

The year was 1999, the setting a Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries meeting. The speaker was Eddie Cross.

A little later, the MDC was launched with great fanfare.

It had a good load of white sponsors, white supporters and white office holders, something which gave it a lasting image problem in a country in which race connotes quite heavily.

To this day, the image the acronym MDC evokes in the mind of an average Zimbabwean is that of a burly white farmer clad in khaki shirt and short, set against an all-white audience backdrop, somewhere in Banket, justifying why supporting the new party was "a good investment", before making a cheque donation to the cause.

Lost in that throng and evidently discomfited is a Morgan Tsvangirai, supported by a few aides, worried about the camera that roved, eternalising the moment.

The Banket that will not die

Historically Banket was a preserve for the Rhodesian pedigree, a setting for undisturbed agricultural pursuits for scions of Rhodesia’s offshore royalty, loosely defined as descendants of the Pioneer Column, or those who had distinguished themselves in defending the Rhodesian laager.

That Tsvangirai went to Banket for the inaugural fund raising for his party, was of lasting significance to the politics of this country.

Indeed for many years to come, MDC used strongholds of white plantation settlement — principally Banket and Marondera — as springboards for its launch and spread.

To this add Clause 57 in the rejected 2000 draft constitution, which focused on land, as well as the role of the black plantation workers vote in both the referendum and subsequent elections, including the March 2008 one, then you catch the full significance of what I am getting at.

Indeed so confident were whites of an outright MDC victory this last March that they actually released a document under JAG, detailing the computation of the black plantation worker vote in local electoral outcomes.

Rhodesian angst

Today Eddie Cross is an MDC Member of Parliament.

He is in charge of the party’s economic affairs desk. He may or may not play a direct role in the inclusive Government.

His worries then, arguably his worries now — worries which were widely shared by his white peers in industry and commerce — was the rise of a radical worker party under a trade unionist.

This would upset industrial relations, in the process trimming returns on white investments.

After all Rhodesia’s industrial base, while remarkably ingenious, remained notoriously inefficient well into Independence, which is why super-profits and stability to the country’s comparative advantage — commercial tobacco agriculture — was key to white settler prosperity.

This was about to be threatened. After all, the 1998 riots had vividly demonstrated how unpredictably threatening to capital MDC’s support base could be.

After all, for all the rheum against Zanu-PF, the nearly two decades of Zanu-PF rule had clearly shown the need to own or at the very least influence the post-colonial state as a bulwark against restive labour practices against tenuous profit margins.

These were both worries and aspirations of Rhodesian capital. These are both worries and aspirations of Rhodesian capital.

MDC strange staccato

But it is capital that comes as a package; that comes with an ethos.

Definitionally, an ethos is hard to pin down, harder to notice its approach. Always diffuse and hard to notice, yet inexorable, the Rhodesian ethos has been slowly but inexorably rebuilding, as a harmonious accompaniment to MDC’s perceived ascendancy.

The remarks by Eddie Cross a few weeks back, remarks that contained his wish for Zimbabwe "to crash and burn", while staggering, was hardly surprising. My worry is that it has not been well understood and appreciated.

Beyond its obvious meaning, the phrase suggested the destruction of an order and all its instruments of self-preservation, to be replaced by a "new" one.

But what is that order; what is that "new one" captured by the phrase "and pick up the pieces"? And the public relations flurry, which followed those utterances, largely mounted by the MDC at the highest level, meant what?

In case you may have, gentle reader, missed it, Eddie Cross was given the chance to cleanse himself by announcing that MDC would join the inclusive Government, and this after two days of utter confusion in the media.

What did that rescue effort suggest and portent regarding MDC obligation to Rhodesian politics?

Subtleties of Rhodesiana

Curiously, my "good friend" Heathen, sorry, Iden Wetherell, decided this week this time to take charge to make a case for a free media which his employers — all of them functionaries of UDI — never granted anyone else, least of all the church Press which was the only other meaningful alternative to the dominant Rhodesian ethos.

He went much further.

He made the case for the return of all "banned journalists", by which I understood him to refer to the likes of Andrew Meldrum and David Blair. Read closely, the piece suggested deep white angst, which is what made its headline — "Do join us" — quite redolent.

Join who? To do what? Maybe Zhangazha can tell us. But that is superficial.

The piece passes a far-reaching and surprisingly indiscriminate judgment on a certain type of politics: "What we need is a robust and independent media, free of the depredations of a post-liberation aristocracy that resents an outspoken Press for exposing its extractive career."

He goes much further, taking on the tone of a biblical Moses, Rhodesian Moses if you ask me: "Freedom of expression is our lifeblood.

Further, we want to see the return of the rule law, an independent judiciary, and people not afraid to speak their minds on the issues of the day."

And those "political prisoners currently held in reportedly appalling conditions redolent of the Stalinist era" must be freed, forthwith.

The other Iden….

Just across the page, Iden speaks as another voice, possibly another person. Some character called "Muckraker" (no doubt no relation of Iden!) expresses envy that Jestina Mukoko and Gandhi Mudzingwa are the only "political prisoners" getting attention.

John Naested, Angus Thompson and Brian Baxter are still held at Chikurubi Maximum Security Prison while the state tries to find a case against them," says Muckraker helpfully adding: "The Herald has tried to be helpful by branding them Selous Scouts. In fact Naested was in the RLI.

The others were no more than reservists, we gather." Muckraker matronly adds that "at least the International Bar Association is watching the situation in Zimbabwe carefully." And the person watching is Justice Richard Goldstone, a person whose claim to a place in post-apartheid is his self-vaunted liberal spirit — in all ways and habits.

Marking new territory

Iden rails at "depredations of a post-liberation aristocracy" which appear on close examination to be the depredations of UDI only paste or fastened on post-liberation politics.

Why did he not deplore them under Rhodesia? Why does he not recall Rhodesian depredations for the education of post-liberation Zimbabwe?

And what does the condemnatory benchmarking of "post-liberation" imply about the preceding UDI white aristocracy?

That it was impeccable, flawless and diametrically different from the post-liberation which Iden gladly indicts?

And what is the time frame of "post-liberation" politics denigrated as "aristocracy"? Does it begin and end with Mugabe, or does it begin and end with African self-rule?

Clearly, this is an attitude against post-colonial Zimbabwe, against post-colonial Africa, itself an inverted yearn for the return of Rhodesia, of colonial governance.

And you notice the condemned epoch is post-liberation, not post-colonial. Not even a mere reference to colonialism is permitted under Rhodesiaspeak.

The trouble is that Iden’s sweeping "post-liberation aristocracy" etches a very wide epochal continuum, one that smothers Tsvangirai as an incoming but one such player in an interminable series. Is he epochally condemned?

Are the organic intellectuals of white Rhodesia marking territory and boundaries against the newly reconstituted power matrix of "a post-liberation aristocracy"?

Would that suggest white Rhodesian angst with the inclusive Government, which means more white sponsored agitation? Is that what we are being invited to join?

And what passes for "a return to the rule of law" and an "independent judiciary"? What is returning: the rule of law for "post-liberation" or a law for white property rule?

The kind Rhodesia Light Infantry!

Muckraker, who uses journalistic license to say those things Iden cannot openly say, makes a case for the "liberation" of three whites facing very serious charges.

The Herald gets pilloried for suggesting one of the three was a member of the notorious scouts. No, he was a member of the RLI, an acronym we must all know and be familiar with as a household item.

Well, RLI means Rhodesia Light Infantry, a brutal fighting arm of settler Rhodesia.

How does that Herald inaccuracy reverse the point its report made? And the reference to the other two as "no more than reservists" of the Rhodesian army? Mitigatory?

It is a scary euphemism for this Rhodesia’s deadly machinery designed to brutalise Africans, to fight an unjust, racist settler war which Wetherell seeks to whitewash through a diversionary damnation of post-liberation politics. Is it being suggested the Rhodesia Light Infantry was less murderous?

Is it being suggested that Rhodesian reservists killed more kindly?

Is it not a fact that Rhodesia, which did not have a significant standing army, relied on reservists for its war effort?

And is it not white luxury to be finicky with Rhodesian compartmentalisation of its murderous army.

Did these classifications mean less death to the dying, pre-liberation Africans under a post-settler Rhodesian racist aristocracy Iden so lamely but gladly defends?

And why did Iden decide to emerge from the laager this time in the evolution of the inclusive

Government?

Maybe MDC may have made the unforgivable error of obliging an inclusive Government.

Is Iden venting British frustration with the turn of events here?

Bennett for Finance!

A little more. As the MDC national Executive Council met last week, a fugitive from justice was amongst them, one Roy Bennett. The following day the Herald gave us an image of him, widely grinning.

He had flown into the country for the meeting guaranteed from arrest by the MDC. Another rescue package?

And you watch events, the MDC hopes to appease the Rhodesian lobby by nominating him minister of finance! And his resume will show his skills at interfacing with donors, a skill that kept the MDC campaign well oiled.

Except they have to reckon with the fact that Bennett was largely drawing from the Rhodesian lobby worldwide, a Rhodesian cause which galvanised this scattered tribe, a little hopeful for a second "little England", supported by the real, big England.

I grant them that one such Rhodesian --- Mark Malloch Brown --- is a real link between little England and real England. Yet it must be reckoned that a Finance Minister in the Government of Zimbabwe cannot be about post-settler racist Rhodesian depredations.

Will that fly?

When the mosaic crumbles

Which takes me to my point, a relational point. Far more critical for the stability of the inclusive government will be the way the MDC leadership in Government relates to its disparate formations, many of which are already creating a rumpus. What yesterday gave the MDC a mobilisation edge over Zanu-PF, namely creating and replicating interest groups and organisations seemingly independent of it, today return to haunt it as it slouches into Government.

Illustratively, the NCA is not going to fizzle out merely because the MDC is now in Government. Over the years, it has acquired a personality of its own, a leadership which has existed and agitated outside of the MDC, albeit with some coordination and mutuality. It has run its own budget, acquired its own donors and yes, developed its own taste and appetite.

More importantly, it has staked a claim in the present outcome. All these will not go away. The same is true of ZCTU. But I make special mention of JAG and its women’s league, WOZA. Through it, white Rhodesia’s landed interests projected their politics and organised for their furtherance. What is the MDC-in-government’s attitude towards this whole advocacy? The ZCTU.

Already unhappy, already sidelined, but with a serious suitor, the ZCTU will want to see how the anxiety of Rhodesian capital, which dominates the economy, will mean in terms of labour policy or stance. The 2009 budget appears to have set a stage where MDC will --- sooner than later --- have to take a position.

After all, the Finance minister will have to find the money for wages. And as Tsvangirai walks to Munhumutapa, he leaves behind men and women who are only too happy to stir the pot against him. I hope he is following what is happening to Makoni. Having been made mbato by elements within the ruling party, that same connection is now being used to damn and evict him politically. Will someone cry "MDC: the revolution which lost its way", a few months down the inclusive government? We shall see.

Which way Manheru?

I saw a rather naughty letter in the Financial Gazette wondering what will become of my pen, now that Tsvangirai is coming into Government. The letter went much further. It visualised a role for the police in my destruction, taking as proof the alleged cheer from "the police" as Tsvangirai addressed his supporters.

Let us grant that such a cheer came, much as I know it did not. What is the writer’s understanding of the inclusive government? One in which Tsvangirai and his MDC hold sway, un-sharing? One in which the police are used against writers, un-caring? That is the inclusive government and democratic change he had been waiting for? Well, I will try and be polite.

The Nathaniel Manheru column has been anti-Rhodesian, robustly so. It has busied itself with Tsvangirai and his MDC to the extent that both agreed to be white Rhodesia’s Trojan horses. Born differently, bred differently, this column would not care a hoot what they do in, with, their ambitions. But Rhodesia must die and for as long as it is not dead, Nathaniel Manheru will expose, attack and hopefully bury. The return of Rhodesia, under any guise, is what the struggle is all about. Apart from becoming itself, Zimbabwe must never regress to white rule and white dominance. The white millennium is dead and gone. It must never come back.

Raking Biti’s muck

The editor of the Herald must have had a chuckle after reading Muckraker. Correctly, the columnist attacked Biti’s squeamish recourse to the law against normal journalistic questions that dog all politicians. Biti renounces ambition, denounces any imputations to strategies for political self-elevation. One wonders why he is in politics if he does not have or do all those things. I suppose he is hoping for a second Zvobgo suit. But that is to wander off the point. As with all seeming praises from enemies, Muckraker does not take long to bite the Herald.

"The Herald, whatever its manifest shortcomings, especially when it comes to inventing stories, is perfectly entitled to speculate about supposed plots within MDC-Tsvangirai. That is the stuff of politics. It just looks a bit daft when the story remains exclusive to the Herald’s political desk." Whaooo! Until one reads page two of the Independent where its own Constantine Chimakure writes about the same "daft stuff". Or those South African papers through which its news editor, Dumisani Muleya, moonlights, but without declaring those earnings for tax purposes. Now we know the spread and reach of the Herald political desk.

Icho!

nathaniel.manheru@zimpapers.co.zw