Propaganda vs truth: Zimbabwe dilemma

By Bornwell Chakaodza

Propaganda is a dangerous word. One of the greatest tragedies of modern-day politics is the use of propaganda to sway public opinion.

This is the deliberate dissemination of false, distorted or doctored information in order to elicit a specific outcome from the public. It is universally accepted that management of information is a crucial discipline in national governance and the success of any administration is often commensurate with its ability to manage information.By the same token, poorly managed information that is recklessly parceled out to its intended audiences is a recipe for disaster.

Wars often result from information mismanagement while conversely, carefully handling of the same can end serious conflicts. This is a fundamental lesson that Zimbabwean politicians need to learn and learn urgently if the discord and confusion emanating from the inclusive government is to be nipped in the bud.

A starting point in prudent information management is the vital imperative of honesty, truthfulness and humility. The religious edict that states that “You will know the truth and the truth shall set you free” (John 8:32) has a philosophical truism that is well worth remembering. In the simple sense, it is said that when one tells a lie, they often have to lie again and again and again inorder to defend their first lie, which can render one a hostage to their falsehood.

I was thus horrified by the claim by a deputy cabinet minister that no one was killed during the operation conducted by the police and army to flush out illegal diamond miners at Marange diamond fields at Chiadzwa in Manicaland Province. Granted, Mines and Mining Development  Deputy Minister, Murisi Zwizwai’s statement denying any deaths at Chiadzwa were clearly designed to influence the deliberations of the Kimberly Process Conf-erence that was taking place in Namibia on whether the local diamond industry is in conformity with international requirements.

While there could be good grounds to dispute some of the information and the figure of 200 miners killed at Chiadzwa contained in the 62 page report released by the United States based Human Rights Watch, to dismiss its entire findings as totally unfounded is disingenuous.

Government’s anxiety over the possible consequences of a negative report by the Kimberly Process team that is currently on a fact finding mission in Zimbabwe is understandable, particularly at this time when the country desperately needs the earnings from its mineral exports.But clearly, the way to go about it is certainly not by glossing over blatant human rights abuses and pretending all is well when the truth is located elsewhere.

We should never forget that scores of people who lost their lives at the Marange diamond fields have surviving relatives and friends who know what happened.
There are stories of people, ravaged by the economic challenges of the past few years, being lured to diamond mining by the prospect of instant wealth. Scores of these fortune hunters, some from as far afield as Bulawayo, Harare and other parts of the country, descended on Marange never to be heard from again.

If it wants to be taken seriously by the critics, the government should own up to some of these realities, regrettable as they may be. Where mistakes have been made by people acting on its behalf, the government must say so to be credible in the eyes of those that genuinely want to help us. After all, by sending in the army and police to evict the illegal diamond miners, the authorities were obviously concerned about what was going on and felt compelled to act in this way.

Invariably, in circumstances such as prevailed at Chiadzwa, the-re was bound to be elements predisposed to acts of lawlessness and indiscipline among so-me of the members of the armed forces assigned to deal with the problem.

In my humble opinion, it would have been more plausible for the government to attribute the killings and human rights abuses at the Marange diamond fields to acts of indiscipline among the soldiers and police who were invo-lved in the operation.

To simply dismiss all the allegations made by the various organisations as propaganda against the government, as did the cabinet ministers quoted on the issue, was again disingenuous, to say the least. Who is Zwizwai fooling? As a member of the MDC-T in the inclusive government, would Zw-izwai have said the same thing if he was in the opposition and outside government? I wonder!

Indeed, the issue of honesty and truthfulness among government functionaries was again at the epicenter of public discourse during Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s recent whirlwind tour of the United States and Europe. Many people within his party, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC-T), were indignant that the Prime Minister sought to downplay issues of violations of the Global Political Agreement (GPA) by Zanu-PF such as continued abductions and arrests of the party’s members and the farm invasions.

Many were particularly irked by the suggestion in one of the Prime Minister’s interviews that some of the missing MDC supporters may have skipped the country and that reports of farm invasions were being exaggerated. Of course, to be strictly fair, the rationale of Tsvangirai making these extravagant claims is not difficult to see. Here is a key leader in a fledgling new government genuinely interested in seeing it work. What was Tsvangirai supposed to say — I ask.

If Tsvangirai was to condemn the new administration as a failure and unworkable as his critics apparently expected him to do, would that not invite the obvious question — why is he in it then? By his own admission, the inclusive government is far from being the ideal solution to the country’s political and economic crisis, but it was the only one available. Tsvangirai, as a co-signatory to the power sharing agreement, is duty bound to defend that baby, no matter how deformed it is.

This was the dilemma Tsvangirai found himself in when he was booed and heckled by his audience of exiled Zimbabweans at the Southwark Methodist Cathedral in London as he wound up his overseas trip. Many of them were dismayed that he should be calling them to return home to help rebuild the country when President Robert Mugabe is still calling the tune. They expected Tsvangirai, despite having appended his signature, to an agreement that recognises Pres-ident Mugabe as head of state and government, to come out all guns blazing against the government in which, he is now a partner. Could Tsvangirai have possibly done that? Certainly not.

Indeed, while many people have described Tsvangirai variously as naïve, inconsistent or compromised, they fail to acknowledge the complex nature of the invidious position that he finds himself in. On his visit abroad, Tsvangirai had the unenviable task of trying to convince a sceptical world that the new government can deliver the desired change while at the same time telling his traumatised constituency back ho-me that we should move forward from our painful past.

There are few, if any, precedents in humankind’s recent political history that so much has been expected of one man from so acutely divergent stand points. The diasporans, driven purely by self interest, were petrified that Tsvangirai’s invitation for them to return home would be interpreted by the British authorities as an indication that things have returned to normal in Zimbabwe and they no longer have a reason to remain in exile. …….There lies the dilemma of these diasporans.

It is quite obvious, many of these exiles have established themselves in their adopted countries and are reluctant to return to a country where unemployment is still over 90 percent, electricity and water supplies remain a major challenge while education and healthcare are not guaranteed. Yet from a government perspective, as Tsvangirai attempted to explain, only the return of these skilled Zimbabweans will gu-arantee the country’s economic recovery.

In other words, only Zimbabweans, at home and those presently domiciled in neighbouring countries and abroad, hold the key to the country’s recovery efforts, and Prime Minister Tsvangirai was well within his powers to make this point to his London audience. My only concern with the Prime Mini-ster’s message, and I believe one shared by many well meaning Zimbabweans, was the lack of sincerity on those issues that are obviously beyond his control.

Attempts by the Prime Minister to downplay issues of the rule of law, abductions of MDC members and farm invasions, which we all know remain outside his sphere of control only dented his credibility among his hosts. All Tsvangirai needed to do was to state the truth of what is happening in Zimba-bwe, explaining his own party’s position, his limitations and the efforts he is making to correct the situation.

Where he has met with little cooperation from his GNU partners, his supporters needed to hear him say so. Telling it like it is does not and will not threaten the existence of the inclusive government in my view. Only by confronting the truth of our circumstances can we hope to exorcise the demons of self interest that stand in the way of our quest for freedom and true democracy.

* Bornwell Chakaodza is a former editor of the Herald and Standard newspapers.This article was first published in the Financial Gazette 10 July 2009.

Stay put, Zimbabweans tell diasporans in survey

(The Zimbabwe Independent) – MORE than eight in every 10 formally employed workers in Zimbabwe will not encourage their relatives in the Diaspora to come back home despite being relatively optimistic of the inclusive government formed in February.

An employee confidence survey carried by Industrial Psychology Consultants, a human resources think tank in June shows that 83% of workers in the survey sample — drawn from industry and commerce —would advise their relatives and peers beyond the borders to continue working outside the country.

Interestingly this poll was conducted in the same month Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai –– during his three-week international tour seeking to engage Zimbabwe with the West and the United States –– failed to convince Zimbabweans in the United Kingdom to come back home.

“When asked what advice they will give to their Diaspora relatives at this stage of our economic development, 83,1% of the respondents said ‘hold-on there. It is still a long way to go’ and 16,9% said ‘come back home now, employment opportunities are available’,” reads the survey.

“While the economy seems to be stabilising the majority of respondents feel it is not yet the time to advise their Diaspora relatives and friends to come back home. There is still a lot of work to be done on the ground by the inclusive government to increase the confidence of the populace.”

An area of major concern for employees according to the survey is that the economy is not creating more jobs as shown by 59,6% of formally employed not feeling that they were secure in their current jobs and were actively searching for other job opportunities. With manufacturing industry operating at 10% capacity and most banks on flexi-time, workers in the two sectors seemed hardest hit by the transitional period.
Low salaries, the poll further stated, would make it difficult for companies to attract skilled labour that moved to more economically active countries.

“While the government and the private sector have been holding conference after conference, including rebranding of the country in order to attract foreign investment thereby creating employment, very little is happening on the ground to impact positively on the lives of the working population. The government has been very slow to implement key initiatives to inspire confidence in working population,” the survey said.

However, at least half of Zimbabwean workers continue to pin their hopes on their current employers while the other half considers moving on.

An estimated 50,7% of employers interviewed in the survey feel that the future of the employees was bright, compared to 49,30% who said they do not see a bright future for their employees.

When asked if they were confident of finding a new job in the current environment, 76% of the respondents said yes. Out of these, 83% aged below 25 years said they were confident of finding a new job compared to 87% in the 26 – 30 age group, 70% in the 30 – 40 age group and 80% of those above 40 years.

Eighty percent of the respondents said they were confident of getting a new job compared to 66% for the females out of the hopefuls, while 78% of the managerial employees also indicated that they were confident of getting a new job.

When analysed by marital status 76% of married employees said they were confident of getting a job compared to 82% for the single (never married) and 67% for the single (married before).

At least 34% of the interviewed workers view career development as the major source of stress followed by 28% who view “lack of job security’ as another stressor. More than a 10th of workers according to the poll are discontent over management style with 6% worried about “lack of communication on the developments in the company”.

The cited top stressors seem to cut across all the demographic categories like age and gender. “Those with post graduation qualifications are more worried about job security (36%), while those with first degrees (40,4%) and those with diplomas (47,9%) are worried about developing their career. Employees with ‘A’ Levels are stressed by lack of job security,” the report said.

When analysed by industry, the results indicate the top stressors for the major industries are as follows: manufacturing employees are stressed by the need to develop their career (27,3%), compared to “lack of job security-actively looking for a job” at 4,6% for the financial services employees. In mining the major stressor is the need to develop their careers at 30,8%. This same stressor is true for those in the NGO or diplomatic sector at 40%.”

ZA Statement: Zimbabwean Asylum Seekers in UK

The Zimbabwean Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai on 20 June 2009 called for Zimbabwean exiles to return home to rebuild the country claiming that improvements had been made through the creation of a “transitional” government, and that no-one had been “fooled” or co-opted.

Asked about fears over the safety of exiles wishing to return to Zimbabwe, Mr Tsvangirai said changes would be made to police and army training to ensure the institutions did not serve a political party.

The UK government has sounded a cautious note, saying it will support the inclusive government despite its concerns about President Robert Mugabe but that it will not lift sanctions until Harare proves it is on a path to democracy.

Amnesty International Secretary General Imra Khan said the following week that Zimbabwe was still suffering “persistent and serious” human rights violations despite the formation of the unity government.

HAT News contacted Zimbabwe Association,a non-partisan support group for Zimbabwean asylum seekers and refugees in the United Kingdom who issued the following statement:

“As has been well documented, on Saturday 20 June 2009 in Southwark Cathedral, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai asked Zimbabwean exiles to return to Zimbabwe, and then went on to say there was “peace and stability in Zimbabwe”. Furious members of the congregation angrily responded to this statement with heckling and booing.

The Prime Minister attempted to explain that he had not been asking people to return “tomorrow” but his words were drowned out by those who feared he had betrayed them by entering the Unity Government. This distrust was reinforced by his statement regarding “peace and stability in Zimbabwe” which was widely disbelieved.

The Home Office issued a new Operational Guidance Note (OGN) for Zimbabwean asylum seekers in March 2009 which rejected the AIT’s central finding in RN (Returnees) Zimbabwe CG [2008] UKAIT 00083. However, an OGN is policy. It is not evidence. RN is still the case law for Zimbabwe and Immigration Judges take account of it when dealing with Zimbabwean asylum cases.

Since the Secretary of State’s change in policy in March 2009, the Home Office has been compiling evidence to show that the situation in Zimbabwe has improved. A number of newspaper articles covering events in March and April 2009 which suggest that there is no longer total impunity and even people allied with ZanuPF can be arrested for offences, is part of the Home Office’s evidence to show there is improvement in Zimbabwe. They also refer to high profile political exiles and journalists returning to Zimbabwe which suggests the situation has changed, as people who previously feared visiting Zimbabwe now seem less afraid.

The Zimbabwe Association believes that the situation in Zimbabwe remains volatile and difficult to predict. ZA agrees with the findings of Amnesty International’s Irene Khan (June 2009) who says Zimbabwe is still suffering “persistent and serious” human rights violations.

The 6 July 2009 Sokwanele report on the Zimbabwe Inclusive Government makes depressing reading: violent and unconstitutional invasions and seizures of property and farms; harassment and contrived arrests of individuals on spurious charges; wanton politically motivated violence; deprivation of the rights to freedom of speech and association; and deliberate misinformation by senior public figures.

It is not possible for ZA to feel confident of the safety of returnees to Zimbabwe when the police, army, intelligence and prisons remain under the control of the ZanuPF section of the Unity Government. We are pleased that Mr Tsvangirai has said changes will be made to police and army training to ensure the institutions do not serve a political party – but how long will this take?

ZA suggests that Zimbabwean asylum seekers in the UK take a good look at their individual cases, and ask themselves the question:
“Do they fear persecution because of their
i) race;
ii) religion;
iii) nationality;
iv) membership of a particular social group;
v) political opinion?
Are they outside the country of their nationality?
Are they unable or unwilling (through fear) to get protection from the authorities of that country?

If their answers to these questions are ‘Yes’, then they need to compile evidence to show why they continue to fear persecution. Evidence can take the form of objective reports from credible organisations such as Human Rights Watch, and news articles in the public domain.

Prime Minister Tsvangirai’s comments about the current situation in Zimbabwe need to be considered in view of the reasons for his UK visit. How much investment would he be likely to attract if he suggested that Zimbabwe was not peaceful and stable?

One of the Home Office (UK Border Agency) priorities is controlling migration. They have had a higher than expected number of asylum claimants in 2009, and they want to clear the backlog of older cases. They would like those who have been refused asylum to return home voluntarily.

It is fine for those Zimbabweans who have permanent status in the UK to return to Zimbabwe and assess the situation for themselves. For those who don’t have status, it is simply not an option.

If you believe that you still need protection, then you must collect the evidence to show why you need protection.”

GNU on the rocks

By Brian Mangwende

PRIME Minister Morgan Tsvangirai – fresh from a lukewarm overseas trip to drum up material and financial support for the cash-strapped inclusive government – is under immense pressure from his inner cabal to pull out of the coalition if ZANU-PF remains intransigent about resolving niggling issues plaguing the transitional arrangement.

Government Ministers aligned to the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC-T) dropped the clearest hint so far that the marriage between the country’s main political parties was headed for the rocks barely five months after it was solemnised when they boycotted a Cabinet session on Monday that had been brought forward by 24 hours.

Apparently, the MDC-T Ministers were peeved by what they saw as President Robert Mugabe’s reluctance to afford Tsvangirai the opportunity to chair Cabinet on the usual Tuesday – the day his rival left the capital for Sirte, Libya to attend an ordinary session of the Assembly of the African Union (AU).

Cabinet, the country’s administrative authority, normally sits on Tuesdays.
The Global Political Agreement (GPA), which the three parties appended their signatures on, states that the premier is the deputy chair of Cabinet, meaning Tsvangirai can superintend over its deliberations in the absence of the President.
This interpretation has its shortcomings though since there will always be an acting President in the absence of the Head of State with full mandate to carry out all the functions of the incumbent.

The boycott has, however, exposed pent up emotions in the MDC-T, which is getting agitated over the slow pace in implementing the GPA signed in September last year.
ZANU-PF and the two MDC factions have largely been haggling over the appointments of senior government officials with no end in sight to the bickering.

The MDC-T blames hardliners within President Mugabe’s party of stalling progress on the GPA. But ZANU-PF national chairman John Nkomo hit back this week saying the MDC-T was not being open-minded about the issues.

Nkomo said: “There are also hardliners in the MDC. How do you identify a hardliner? Is one a hardliner by being principled and committed?”

Insiders in the premier’s office told The Financial Gazette this week that the MDC-T leader is under pressure from local, regional and international partners to ditch the power-sharing agreement over ZANU-PF’s reluctance to fully implement the pact seen as the only practical solution to the country’s socio-political and economic logjam.

Upon his return from Europe and the United States on Monday, Prime Minister Tsvangirai plunged into the vortex of simmering frustrations within the MDC-T’s alliance partners who want the party to serve ZANU-PF and the smaller faction of the MDC headed by Arthur Mutambara with divorce papers.

For the first time since the formation of the inclusive government in February, Tsvangirai has been forced to float the idea of disengaging from the pact by the party’s partners.

All along, the former trade unionist had put on a brave face, assuring the nation and the world at large that the situation in Zimbabwe was under control.

“No one is tied up to this agreement. There is an opportunity for divorce,” Tsvangirai said on Tuesday.

The Prime Minister said the international community had expressed reservations over the coalition and asked why after five months the parties had not implemented the GPA, giving credence to the pressure he is under.

“As such, the concerns of the international community are legitimate and the three political parties as signatories to the GPA, and particularly leaders of those parties, must take responsibility for the failure to implement fully the obligations we have signed up to,” he said.

MDC-T insiders said the premier might convene an extraordinary meeting of the National Council, the highest decision-making body in the party, this month for direction.

“You see, we are with the people on the ground and the Prime Minister is just the commander. We decide when and how to pull out not him,” said an MDC-T insider.
“The temperature is high in the rank and file of the MDC-T to pull out of this government because ZANU-PF is not being sincere. They are throwing spanners left right and centre.”

Civic society organisations, which have been fighting in the MDC-T’s corner since its formation in 1999, are already up in arms with the inclusive government. Led by the Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition and the National Association of Non-Governmental Organisations, the civic society is holding a consultative meeting this weekend to call for the official boycott of the constitution-making process, which is one of the key mandates of the inclusive government.

As part of the GPA, the three parties to the power-sharing agreement are expected to come up with a people-driven constitution within 18 months to pave the way for the conduct of free and fair elections.

ZANU-PF and the MDC-T are at loggerheads over the constitution-making process.
ZANU-PF would want the Kariba Draft, crafted in a boat in Kariba, to be th e reference point in arriving at the new constitution while the MDC-T is adamant that the supreme law of the country should borrow from various other documents available, including input from the people.

MDC-T spokesperson Nelson Chamisa confirmed pressure on the party’s leadership yesterday.
“There is pressure from everywhere,” he said.

“Most issues are still contestable. Not one commission is in place, the land audit is not yet done, the Security Council has not yet met, senior soldiers continue to refuse to salute the Prime Minister, there are no media reforms, JOMIC (the Joint Monitoring and Implementation Committee) is now comatose, our members continue to be arrested, I mean we cannot continue living in the past. There is also pressure from the diplomatic community to see real action and tangible reforms on the ground otherwise what’s the point of sticking around when one party remains intransigent?”

In a clear sign that the MDC-T leadership and party members are exasperated by ZANU- PF’s alleged antics, Tsvangirai’s deputy Thokozani Khupe said on Monday:
“For a long time the MDC has made issue of the unequivocal lack of paradigm shift on the part of ZANU-PF as an actor in the transitional government. For a long time we have remained the polite and subservient upholders of the GPA against clear evidence of the absence of a reliable and honest partner.”

Harrison Mudzuri, the MDC-T Zaka Central lawmaker reportedly attacked the premier at the weekend, accusing him of turning a blind eye to alleged continued human rights violations in the first such public confrontation on Tsvangirai by a senior member of his party.

“Our Prime Minister and party leader is just pretending that things are right in the country when nothing has changed,” Mudzuri was quoted telling the media.
McDonald Lewanika, the coordinator of Crisis Coalition, said the dispute between the political parties could only be resolved through the guarantors to the GPA – the Southern African Development Community and the AU.

“If they (ZANU-PF and the two MDC formations) fail to resolve these outstanding issues through the guarantors to the GPA, then they should agree to part ways amicably. If there is evidence of deliberate mischief, then the MDC-T can pull out,” Lewanika said. Financial Gazette

Kariba Draft undermines implementation of reforms; Tsvangirai warns

By Kholwani Nyathi & Nqobani Ndlovu

Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai has warned that using the so-called Kariba Draft as the sole reference material for the country’s new supreme law will undermine the ongoing consultations in another sign of major differences in strategy with President Robert Mugabe on how to implement the long-awaited reforms.

Mugabe last week told the Zanu PF National Consultative Assembly that the new constitution must be anchored on the Kariba Draft that was agreed on by Zanu PF and the two MDC formations in September 2007.

But Tsvangirai told The Standard on Thursday that using the draft as the only reference point will render meaningless the ongoing consultations on the draft constitution, which is one of the major benchmarks of the September 15, 2008 power-sharing agreement.

“I do not think that insisting on anchoring the new constitution on that draft alone makes any sense,” Tsvangirai said after meeting French Prime Minister Francois Fillion in Paris.

“We have so many drafts such as the one from the NCA that can be used as the basis for the new constitution.

“Consultations are not only important to legitimise the process but also the substance.” The Parliamentary Select Committee on the constitution says it has received more than four drafts including one from MDC-T that proposes decentalisation of power.
However, the Prime Minister whose party is at loggerheads with Zanu PF over the implementation of their power-sharing deal, downplayed any differences with Mugabe saying the veteran leader could have been quoted out of context.

Tsvangirai said Mugabe assured him that the Kariba draft will only be used as a reference point.

Mugabe is said to favour the Kariba draft because it would leave his over-arching powers intact, while the MDC-T risks losing a key constituency in civil society if it gives in to Mugabe’s demands.

The constitution-making process led by a parliamentary select committee began consultations last week under a cloud of suspicion with civic groups threatening to stay away because of fears that the four-month-old government will impose the Kariba draft on Zimbabweans.

Tsvangirai found an ally in Paul Mangwana, the Zanu PF co-chairperson of the Parliamentary Select Committee.

Mangwana yesterday publicly differed with President Mugabe on the use of the Kariba draft.

Mangwana told Bulawayo residents who turned up for the public consultation meeting that his committee would not use the Kariba Draft as a reference point.

“This process will be people-driven and any draft on the new constitution will come from the people and not from any one political party. The Kariba Draft is one such draft that will not be used as the basis for a new constitution,” Mangwana said.

The public consultation meeting was held at the Large City Hall and was attended by hundreds of Bulawayo residents.

Consultative hearings on a new constitution began on Wednesday and will lead to an all-stakeholders’ national conference on July 10, where thematic committees will be selected to collate the public’s views on what they want included in the constitution.

Mangwana said his committee would push for the new constitution to be made a mandatory subject in schools.

“We hope that the constitution will be mandatory subject at schools so that Zimbabweans know and respect their constitution,” Mangwana said.

Editor Mathabisa, a member of the committee urging Bulawayo residents to ignore those who said the draft would be the reference point, added: “It is not a crime that people say we are basing this process on the Kariba draft because everyone has a right to their own views.

“We are starting on a clean page. We are not using The Kariba draft as a reference point.”

However the Minister of Justice Patrick Chinamasa on Friday insisted the Kariba Draft Constitution would form the basis of the new constitution.

Addressing journalists at Chinhoyi Press Club on Friday evening, Chinamasa said there is no way the Kariba Draft can be thrown away after all the efforts from MDC formations and Zanu PF.

He said Advocate Eric Matinenga, the Minister of Constitutional and Parliamentary Affairs was wrong in saying the draft would not be used.

“I’m sure you have all seen the draft it is signed page by page, all that to throw it into the bin, into the toilet. Do you believe that?

“To spend time signing that just to throw it into the Blair toilet, no, no, no it can’t be.”

Chinamasa also shed light on how work on the draft started. He said the drafting was not an overnight event but it was a process that had begun way back in 2002.

He revealed that after the Presidential elections in 2002 he was assigned to work on the constitution together with the then MDC Secretary-General Welshman Ncube to come up with a draft acceptable to both parties.

In startling revelations, he said he would meet and write the draft with Ncube at his home. They were later joined by Nicholas Goche and Tendai Biti in 2007. That process culminated in its adoption in Kariba.

Chinamasa said despite criticisms, he was confident the Kariba draft would be the one to be presented for the referendum.

“Anyway at the end of the day what ever comes from this process must first be agreed to by all the political parties. I am sure Advocate Matinenga realises that unless he is naïve.”

Tsvangirai, who returns home today after a three-week tour of the United States and Europe was told that the international community will not extend any development aid to the unity government in the absence of sufficient reforms.

Fillion and French Foreign Affairs Minister Bernard Kouchner told Tsvangirai in separate meetings that progress in media reforms, the restoration of the rule of law and a new democratic constitution would unlock desperately needed aid for the country’s reconstruction.

“After four months we have peace and stability. There is progress and I would be the last one to say everything is rosy. The concern you have is accepted, is a legitimate concern. The media are going to re-open,” Tsvangirai said at a joint press conference with Kouchner.

Kouchner also told the Prime Minister that his government expected French farmers covered under Bilateral Investment Promotion and Protection Agreements (BIPPAS) to be protected against the resurgent land invasions in the country.

Several French farmers have been targeted in the ongoing invasions, which Tsvangirai tried to downplay during an earlier visit to Britain.

Meanwhile, Tsvangirai says his three-week sojourn was a success despite yielding only humanitarian aid for the country.

“When we left Zimbabwe we were very clear about the objective of this mission and that was to re-engage the international community and also to resume dialogue with the European Union under Article 9 (of the Cotonou agreement),” he said.

“We are going back home proud that we were able to meet all the leaders and there has been a positive perception created by this trip, which also represented the re-opening of minds on the Zimbabwe situation.”

He said the close to US$10 billion needed for the country’s reconstruction will not be raised overnight.

On his visit to France he was accompanied by Foreign Affairs Minister Simbarashe Mumbengegwi and Tourism minister Walter Mzembi.

This article first appeared in The Standard Saturday June 27 2009.

Amnesty International’s Secretary General asks Tsvangirai to prioritize human rights

Zimbabwe’s Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai told Amnesty International’s chief Irene Khan that the direction for reform had been set in the country. During talks in London on Monday, Mr Tsvangirai also said he was committed to ensuring the implementation of the human rights provisions included in the political agreement signed by all main political parties, which provides a framework for change.

Ms Khan met Tsvangirai just days after she returned from a six-day mission to Zimbabwe during which she met senior government officials, human rights defenders and victims of human rights abuses.

“While there is less political violence now in Zimbabwe, the human rights situation remains fragile and the social and economic situation is grim,” said Ms Khan after the meeting. “Prime Minister Tsvangirai acknowledged the challenges facing his country.”

Ms Khan added that Amnesty International would be closely monitoring the situation in Zimbabwe for the next 100 days and hoped to see Prime Minister Tsvangirai’s words translated into action. – Amnesty International

Tsvangirai heckled in London

Good governance the key to donor funding

Photo: IRIN

Tsvangirai – Things beginning to look up

(IRIN) – A strategy is being devised to allow donors to sidestep Zimbabwe’s central bank and channel funds directly to a ministry controlled by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party.

A tussle over the “unilateral” appointment of Gideon Gono as governor of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, by President Robert Mugabe, leader of the ZANU-PF party, as well as the selection of ZANU-PF loyalist Johannes Tomana to the position of attorney general, has become one of the most divisive issues since the formation of the government of national unity on 11 February.

Gono, whose tenure at the central bank coincided with hyperinflation and extinction of the Zimbabwe dollar, has also admitted to raiding the bank accounts of private individuals and NGOs for foreign currency.

The MDC argues that the Gono and Tomana appointments were in contravention of the Global Political Agreement (GPA), which set up the unity government, as both positions required selection by consensus, which did not occur.

Mugabe has stood firm, and recently enlisted the support of the armed forces, who declared earlier this month that Gono’s position as central bank governor was “non-negotiable”.

New mechanisms

After months of bitter turf wars over who would control donor funds, MDC finance minister Tendai Biti appears to have booked the pound seats. A facility known as the Multi-Donor Trust Fund, which functions under the auspices of his ministry, will be responsible for receiving donor funding; the dissemination of monies will fall under a cabinet committee on aid coordination, chaired by Tsvangirai.

Gorden Moyo, an MDC minister of state, told local media the arrangement was designed to allay fears in the donor community that channelling money through the central bank would provide no guarantees on how it would be spent.

“We now have a framework of operation, and it sends a clear message that Zimbabwe is ready to receive aid and use it effectively for the benefit of the people of Zimbabwe,” Moyo said.

Tsvangirai is attempting to persuade the US and Western Europe to release billions of dollars to help resurrect the near collapsed country. However, donors have been reluctant to provide large-scale development assistance unless they see tangible reforms, including a return to the rule of law, press freedom, and effective financial controls to guarantee that funding reaches the intended recipients.

Tsvangirai has said that more than US$8 billion would be required to kick-start Zimbabwe’s ailing economy. The recent pledge by US president Barack Obama to release $73 million for humanitarian assistance, on condition that the money would not go through the central bank, appears to be a sign of confidence in the new mechanism.

The US Senate said in a resolution that it would provide resources to “NGO entities to provide assistance and to pay salaries or fees to appropriately qualified people in Zimbabwe to enable progress to be made in the critical areas of education, health, water and sanitation.”

Health, water and sanitation, and education all fall under ministries controlled by the MDC, although higher education falls under a ZANU-PF minister.

The German government has promised Tsvangirai $34.8 million, while Norway has given 42 million kroner ($6.5 million), bringing its contribution to Zimbabwe’s reconstruction to $31 million so far in 2009.

In a statement the Norwegian government said, “The funds will mainly go to areas that Mr Tsvangirai’s party, the MDC, is responsible for: basic education, health services, and promoting democracy. The funds will not be channelled through the government financial system, but through the UN, the World Bank and NGOs.”

Further measures to restore international confidence in Zimbabwe’s financial management system are the scrapping of the Audit and Exchequer Act, and its replacement with the proposed Public Finance Management law, which will provide a regulatory framework with a strong emphasis on good governance and compel ministries to table their spending reports in Parliament, bringing about greater transparency in the administration of public funds.

Ensuring that the financial mechanisms were in place has been crucial, as huge sums of money are being spent just to keep Zimbabwe treading water.

Tsitsi Singizi, spokesperson for UNICEF, the UN Children’s Fund, told IRIN that her agency among others was contributing about $1.6 million monthly to top up salaries for health workers, and also procured and distributed 70 percent of all essential medicines, from painkillers to antibiotics. The funds have been delivered through a private overseas logitical agency.

In the past two years UNICEF has spent $12 million supporting more than 2,000 schools with text books, stationery and furniture, and has been addressing sanitation concerns – in the wake of a cholera epidemic that has killed thousands – by drilling 140 of a planned 200 boreholes in cholera-affected areas.

Tsvangirai to appeal for his people’s return to Zimbabwe

Morgan Tsvangirai will deliver a passionate appeal this week to Zimbabwe refugees and asylum seekers living in Britain to return home to help to rebuild their shattered country.

In a two-hour address at Southwark Cathedral before evensong on Saturday afternoon, the Prime Minister of Zimbabwe will argue that his country has made important progress towards democracy and stability.

He will tell the thousands of Zimbabweans who have fled during Robert Mugabe’s rule that their country needs their skills, youth and vigour to help it move further along the path to recovery.

Mr Tsvangirai, who is on a three-week world tour to boost his country’s standing in the West, will also meet Gordon Brown and Alistair Darling in an effort to secure financial support for Zimbabwe and political support for his party, the Movement for Democratic Change.

Mr Tsvangirai’s host on Saturday, Colin Slee, the Dean of Southwark, told The Times: “He is going around the world to try and persuade governments that now they have some power sharing at last, the better way out of this mess for governments is to support the country. They can do this by giving money. He is coming to the cathedral primarily to meet the Zimbabwean people in exile. He is going to say to them, ’You have real skills and abilities, please choose your moment and come home to Zimbabwe to help rebuild your country.”

Dean Slee said many of the asylum seekers were living in difficult circumstances in Britain. He admitted that like many, he feared a “blood bath” when Mugabe loses power. He hoped the southern African spirit would prevail to enable “truth and reconciliation” as happened in South Africa.

Mr Tsvangirai has chosen Southwark Cathedral to deliver his message because the diocese is linked to four of the five Anglican dioceses in Zimbabwe, with the cathedral itself linked to a diocese of its own. Anglicans in Zimbabwe have suffered terrible privations in an episcopal power struggle that has seen worshippers locked out of churches and intimidated and persecuted by the regime.

A former Anglican bishop of Harare, the disgraced Nolbert Kunonga, an ally of Robert Mugabe, attempted to split the church and set up his own province with himself as archbishop, taking funds and property from the legitimate church.

Church doors have now been opened, however, and the new bishop, Sebastian Bakare, who keeps the chains that were used to lock the door of Harare Cathedral in a bag in his office, led Anglicans in Easter celebrations in the building this year for the first time in two years.

An appeal set up by the Archbishops of Canterbury and York, Dr Rowan Williams and Dr John Sentamu, has raised £300,000 to help the churches provide food and health care for the victims of the nation’s crisis. – Times

Passing around the hat

Photo: South African DFA

Morgan Tsvangirai – the government’s salesman

(IRIN) – Zimbabwean Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai has won US$73 million in aid from the United States on the first leg of an international tour aimed at drumming up financial support for his beleaguered government, and will try to persuade European donors to dig deeper into their pockets.

After a meeting with Tsvangirai on 12 June in the White House, US President Barrack Obama said Zimbabwe’s power-sharing government “shows promise, and we want to do everything we can to encourage the kinds of improvement, not only on human rights and rule of law, freedom of the press and democracy, that are so necessary, but also on the economic front.”

However, while saluting Tsvangirai and the efforts of his four-month-old administration in controlling hyperinflation, Obama said US aid money would not be channelled through the government, “because we continue to be concerned about consolidating democracy, human rights, and rule of law”.

Tsvangirai is due in London this week, where he is expected to similarly champion the need for Western assistance to shore up the economy and revive social services after close to a decade of crisis.

But with the influence of President Robert Mugabe seemingly undimmed within the all-party government, and elections due in 18 months’ time, donors are likely to hold off committing to the estimated $10 billion required to rebuild the country, analysts predict.

Problems

“There are two key problems,” economist Tony Hawkins told IRIN. “The impression is that the power-sharing government is in office but not really in power, so there is the question of who really is in control and frustrating real change.

“The second issue is more technical: Tsvangirai is running around the world passing around the hat for money, but there is no real strategic programme and [development] package [to fund], which is what the donors need.”

Zimbabwe’s deep humanitarian crisis has been punctuated by elections won by Mugabe against Tsvangirai and his Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party, which were marred by violence and widely condemned as unfair. A power-sharing government, urged by regional leaders to break the deadlock, was finally inaugurated in February 2009, but Mugabe is accused of failing to fully live up to the terms of the agreement.

On 1 June the humanitarian community increased its donor appeal for Zimbabwe by 30 percent to $719 million, to take into account the need to combat a cholera epidemic and a spike in food insecurity.

The appeal document noted that six million people – over half the population – had limited or no access to safe water and sanitation; 1.5 million children required support to access education; 800,000 people were in need of food aid, and 44,000 children younger than five years needed treatment for severe acute malnutrition.

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