SW Radio Africa news - The Independent Voice of Zimbabwe

An American businessman has admitted he illegally lobbied on behalf of ZANU PF for the removal of US targeted restrictive measures against the Robert Mugabe regime, and now faces a five year jail term.

72 year old Prince Asiel Ben Israel, a former cult leader now described as a “consultant” on American trade relations with Africa, pleaded guilty in a US Federal Court last week to one count of failing to register as an agent for a foreign government.

The Chicago based businessman admitted that he tried to persuade US government officials, including an Illinois state senator and two US representatives from Chicago, to push for the lifting of the targeted sanctions.

The charges against Ben Israel were brought last year by federal prosecutors, who also charged fellow Chicago businessman C. Gregory Turner, 71, in the case. Turner has pleaded not guilty and his trial is pending.

The pair has been accused of a making a financial arrangement with ZANU PF in 2008, to the tune of $3.4 million, in exchange for their US lobbying efforts.

The US Attorney’s Office in Chicago stated last year that the men met with Mugabe, then Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Governor Gideon Gono and other officials “multiple times” in the US and Africa, and allegedly agreed to lobby US officials on Zimbabwe’s behalf. In late 2008 the pair allegedly signed a “Consulting Agreement” that called for an initial payment of $90,000 which was paid out from a Zimbabwean official’s account in Botswana.

Political analyst Clifford Mashiri said Monday that the case has clearly exposed how money is driving calls for the removal of targeted measures against the Mugabe regime. He said such lobbying efforts, as demonstrated in the US case, indicate the likelihood of numerous “financial arrangements” being conducted on ZANU PF’s behalf.

“It is an interesting case and it is enlightening to understand what is happening behind the scenes in the lobby for the removal of these targeted measures,” Mashiri told SW Radio Africa.

The US measures against Mugabe and his inner circle remain in place since they were imposed in 2003. Unlike Europe, which has lifted almost all its targeted restrictions as part of re-engagement efforts with ZANU PF, the US has insisted that more reforms are needed in Zimbabwe before its measures are reevaluated.

Mashiri said the US case is unlikely to be an isolated one, and he questioned the motive behind the European Union (EU) decision to de-list most of the Mugabe regime. Mugabe himself and his wife Grace are the only people still targeted under the European measures.

“It is unlikely that the lifting of the EU measures was done with the best intentions. And you cannot rule out the possibility that a lot of money was spent in lobbying efforts,” Mashiri said.

The EU has been roundly criticised for its decision on the targeted sanctions, particularly after it was admitted by a top Belgian diamond official that there was active lobbying on ZANU PF’s behalf before the EU.

Antwerp World Diamond Council (AWDC) chief executive Ari Epstein told a recent Parliamentary meeting in Harare that he “made a commitment” to former Zim Mines Minister Obert Mpofu to lobby for the removal of the European restrictions, in exchange for the sale of Chiadzwa diamonds in Belgium.

“I made a commitment to the minister to help lift sanctions on Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation (ZMDC) and I worked extremely hard to keep these promises,” said Epstein.

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SW Radio Africa news - The Independent Voice of Zimbabwe

Thirty officials in the justice ministry have been suspended for allegedly stealing $700,000 that was meant for the upkeep of prisoners, State media reports indicate.

They include four senior accountants and two auditors in the justice ministry, as well as 24 prisons service officials, comprising the chief accounting officer and officers in the finance and procurement department.

The Sunday Mail newspaper reported that the officials operated as a syndicate that also includes as yet unidentified Treasury officials.

An internal audit uncovered the theft and the rampant abuse of public funds, according to the justice ministry’s secretary for legal affairs, Virginia Mabhiza, who also revealed that criminal investigators were now handling the case.

“Actually $700,000 was unaccounted for and when these accounting officers realised they would be exposed during the audit, they made a reverse transaction of at least $500,000,” the State-run newspaper quoted Mabhiza as saying.

The $200,000 has not been recovered.

The amount was an allocation from Treasury to prisons through the justice ministry, and was meant to cover daily expenses such as buying food for inmates.

The funds however never reached the intended beneficiaries after officials in the three departments connived to convert the money to personal use.

According to the Sunday Mail report, Treasury officials may have exploited known loopholes in the public finance management system to facilitate the scam.

Prisons officials would doctor quotations, purchase and receipt invoices for goods and services which, in some cases, had not been supplied.

The ministry of justice has said it will soon introduce measures to stem the looting. Some observers think this may be a bit late and say the ministry’s response is tantamount to securing the stable door after the horse has bolted.

Former deputy justice minister and MDC-T MP for Harare West Jessie Majome told this station that prisons services officials have looted with impunity for years.

“The stealing has been going on for years and this goes to the very heart of the rule of law in this country. The looting, in the very ministry where justice and legal affairs are meant to be fixed, clearly shows that things have indeed fallen apart.”

Majome said it was criminal that countless prisoners have died either from starvation, absence of basic healthcare and a lack of warm clothing or clean water, yet money allocated for their welfare was being stolen.

“But then again this is what the ZANU PF government is like. It is greedy, it steals without conscience and doesn’t care about human suffering,” said Majome, who is also the shadow justice minister.

She said prisoners are a vulnerable group and by failing in its duty to provide for inmates the government was also exposing its very poor human rights record.

There are about 19,000 inmates in the country’s prisons who live in atrocious, overcrowded conditions across the country’s 55 facilities.

In October last year human rights activist Douglas Muzanenhamo, who spent a month in remand prison and was denied access to critical drugs, described conditions in Zimbabwe’s prisons as “hell on earth”.

Last year alone, at least 100 prisoners died from malnutrition, amid reports that they were surviving on less than a meal a day. Relief agency The Red Cross, which used to provide food assistance, withdrew in 2011 to focus on other areas.

The prisons service has several farms which are however underutilised, while hundreds of cattle belonging to the department have inexplicably disappeared.

MP Majome said if ZANU PF is serious about fighting corruption they also have to explain what happened to the prisons cattle herd.

SW Radio Africa news - The Independent Voice of Zimbabwe

A primary school that was set up last year as an election campaign gimmick by ZANU PF officials in Chimanimani was shut down without warning, leaving many students stranded and unable to transfer to other schools.

Chimanimani activist Peter Chanetsa told SW Radio Africa that Westward Hall Primary School in ward 14, which was founded by controversial white ZANU PF supporter Joshua Sacco, was ordered to be closed by the local District Administrator and Ministry of Education in early February.

As reported on SW Radio Africa last year, the school operated without being registered and without a curriculum, using unqualified teachers chosen for their support of ZANU PF. The fake teachers allegedly taught ZANU PF party philosophy and liberation war songs.

Chanetsa said Westward is located on property once owned by Border Timbers, which was illegally invaded by ZANU PF supporters who settled there. Sacco and his ZANU PF rival Samuel Undenge promised them security from eviction and promoted the school during the campaign period.

But the district administrator and the education ministry refused to register the primary school when the new term started in January and ordered the teachers to shut it down with immediate effect. The parents received no support from ZANU PF and their children were abandoned by the school.

“Undenge won the election as MP and has been in Harare since July. Sacco has not been involved since he lost the primary election and lost interest. As a result the students had no legal transfer letters to go other schools. Those in grade seven could not write exams,” Chanetsa explained.

Joshua Sacco

Hoping to save their school, the children organized a demonstration at the district administrator’s offices in late February, but they were ignored. Having spent the whole day without food, they walked more than 15kilometres back home to ward 14 Chimanimani.

MP Undenge, who is also the Deputy Minister for Economic Planning, has not intervened to save the school since its closure in February.

Udenge is not known for his care of children. He was involved in a divorce case back in 2009, when he reportedly refused to pay school fees for his own children at a school in Harare.

White farmer Joshua Sacco has links to top political leaders. He was once described by Robert Mugabe as being the last white man standing in ZANU PF.

SW Radio Africa news - The Independent Voice of Zimbabwe

Chitungwiza residents have dismissed government’s ultimatum to demolish their houses built on undesignated land and called on the authorities to arrest the ‘barons’ who sold them the properties.

Last week local government minister Ignatius Chombo said the residents should destroy their structures within three weeks and relocate, or face police eviction. Chombo said those who destroy their properties of their own free will be given first priority in the allocation of stands.

Chombo vowed that there was no going back on the issue saying the government wanted an ‘orderly and well planned city.’ He said the police will pursue the land barons who ‘stole’ state land and then sold it to the residents.

The affected residents acquired land from individuals, some of whom had set up an office just next to the Chitungwiza Town Council headquarters. An audit has linked officials, including councillors and senior managers, to the scam. So far no action has been taken against the land barons, something which has made the residents question Chombo’s sincerity. Chombo himself has also been linked to various land related scandals in and around Harare.

A Saturday NewsDay editorial said if the government ‘watched while a crime of such magnitude took place under its nose’, people should rightly ‘wonder about the genuineness of Chombo’s remarks.’

Fortune Nyamande, an executive member of the Chitungwiza Progressive Residents Association, said the government must prioritize the ‘swindled residents’ welfare. He said: ‘The land barons should be made to pay for this. In some cases, I am sure the houses can be incorporated to the council’s main plan. If they must destroy, the government should compensate the people because they built those structures through the Chitungwiza Council which is an arm of the local government.’

Nyamande said Chombo’s warning has left people feeling insecure and unsure of their future and has ‘created a lot of emotional and psychological trauma amongst those who were duped by the land barons.’ According to Chitungwiza town clerk George Makunde at least 4,000 houses stand to be affected by the demolitions.

A statement from the Chitungwiza Residents Trust said Chombo should let the courts deal with the matter ‘in a fair and transparent manner without any duress and prejudice’. The trust recently approached the court seeking an order stopping the demolition of the houses.

SW Radio Africa news - The Independent Voice of Zimbabwe

As Zimbabwe turns 34 this week indicators are that the country is facing imminent collapse due to a combination of economic mismanagement and bad governance, experts and opinion leaders have warned. 

Reports this week said 176 companies were deregistered while 634 more are expected to be struck off the register in the next three months. According to a notice from the Registrar of Companies, the majority of the affected entities are in the manufacturing and investment sectors.

In another development, a key survey said about 70 percent of Zimbabwe’s export companies have closed in the last decade. Mike Nyamazana, a researcher in the Zim Trade survey, reportedly said the few remaining exporting companies would only be able to increase their levels of exports if the government comes up with export supporting policies.

Earlier this year the ZCTU reported that about 9,500 jobs were lost last year while 75 companies were closed. In 2013 the National Social Security Authority said over 700 companies had closed in Harare since 2011.

It also emerged that the Grain Marketing Board (GMB) recorded a 59 percent decline in maize intake during the 2013/14 marketing season. The parastatal said it received 47,000 tonnes of maize against 131,000 tonnes during the previous season, ZBC reported Sunday. Last month the GMB said it was owed $2 million by government as the parastatal was being forced to finance the state’s social programmes, such as grain provision to poor families.

Economist and MDC-T legislator Eddie Cross said the situation in the country points to imminent economic collapse: ‘I have no doubt that that we are facing imminent crisis in economic terms. In fact, we are in the middle of the crisis now. And it is extremely severe. Exports have declined, we are short of cash, no investment is coming in and nobody is able to borrow and a number of banks are close to liquidation.’  

Cross said since the July 31st election last year there has been a ‘collapse of confidence in the private sector. He added: ‘The business community has taken a large amount of capital out of the system. About $1.5 billion left the stock market and about $1 billion more left the banking sector and the capital flight has continued up to now.’

According to Cross this has led to a sharp reduction in economic activity, something which has in turn led to a fall in revenue collection. Cross said ZANU PF should ‘accept that it needs help’ and re-engage with both the MDC-T and the outside world to stop the total collapse of the economy.

MDC-T leader Morgan Tsvangirai recently said: ‘Mugabe cannot provide legitimacy to the country.’ He added: ‘Mugabe will look for me you shall see.’

The party’s national organizing secretary, Nelson Chamisa, reportedly said the performance of the ZANU PF government is so bad that by comparison the colonial regime was ‘better’ in providing basic services.

SW Radio Africa news - The Independent Voice of Zimbabwe

The fallout over an ‘illegal’ land claim in the Hwange National Park has seen one of the country’s top elephant protectors stepping aside and shutting down a key elephant conservation project.

The Zimbabwe ‘Presidential Elephant Conservation Project’ was founded and has been run by Sharon Pincott since 2001, with the aim of monitoring and protecting the Presidential Elephant Herd, a unique herd of wild elephants that are meant to be protected by Presidential decree. In 2011 Pincott successfully lobbied Robert Mugabe to re-pledge his support for the elephant herd. This was in the face of land invasions, poaching and other threats to Zimbabwe’s elephant population.

But 13 years since the Project was launched, the elephants now face being left without a caretaker after Pincott announced on Monday that she is stopping her work. The announcement has followed a worsening fight caused by the takeover of a piece of land in the Hwange National Park, which serves as the herd’s home range.

The land in the Kanondo area has been claimed by a woman who insists she has an inheritance claim to the land, despite a 2013 directive by Zimbabwe’s Cabinet that offer letters for the land be withdrawn. In what has been described as a case that “so reeks of incompetence and lack of care, of ignorance, of greed, of covering butts, of back-handers, and of the corruption that this country is supposedly, right now, trying to stamp out,” the Cabinet directive of 2013 has been ignored. Instead, the Kanondo land claimant has forged ahead with the building of a safari lodge.

The Kanondo area is now being referred to as the Gwango Elephant Lodge, which claims to be a conservancy opening for tourism business. The claimant, Elisabeth Pasalk/Freeman, is understood to be an American resident, but concern has been raised amid reports that she is the sister of a known Zimbabwean hunting safari operator named Rodger Madangure.

Pincott has since been fighting for support and intervention from the government, because of the threat the land claim has to the Presidential elephant herd’s future safety. But her efforts have been to no avail.

In a public letter announcing her withdrawal, Pincott listed the repeated failures of government officials to stand by the Decree mean to guarantee the elephants’ safety. She said that under the watch of former Environment Minister Francis Nhema, “land areas were snatched and underhanded hunting activities went on, and on. When further land claim problems resurfaced in early 2013, Minister Nhema was too busy electioneering to help with my pleas.”

She said that Nhema’s successor Saviour Kasukuwere has also proved a disappointment, after becoming “suspiciously quiet with regards to the Kanondo land grab, when it all clearly became too hard.”

“Under Minister Nhema’s watch we lost forever one area, and then another. But at least these were on an outer edge of the key area. Then it got much worse. Under Minister Kasukuwere’s watch, we have now lost yet another; the most critical of them all (Kanondo). What we have now is little plots of land, where questionable individuals are being allowed to do as they please, destroying past processes and efforts (that were particularly intense over the past 12 months). That this has been allowed to happen shows just how ‘important’ the Presidential Elephants of Zimbabwe are to the government,” Pincott said.

She added: “I cannot allow myself to be linked to such new depths of collusion and cluelessness. I cannot keep hitting my head against a brick wall, year after year after year after year, with lack of care and lack of respect and understanding of these elephants growing and growing – despite all the efforts – like an invasive weed over a pond, smothering everything.”

Johnny Rodrigues, the Chairman of the Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force (ZCTF), who has worked closely with Pincott over the past 13 years, said Tuesday that he was “disappointed and disgusted” by how the situation has developed.

“It’s uncalled for and shows the authorities here in Zimbabwe are not serious about what they say. They are doing nothing about protecting the areas for the elephants…. These greedy people are trying to fatten their wallets and they don’t care about wildlife,” Rodrigues said.

He added: “Once she’s removed from there, the Presidential elephants will be gone. I hope they move on, but I believe the people claiming this land are interlinked with hunting operations so I don’t see any future for these animals. They will all be shot and that will be the end of the Presidential herd.”

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SW Radio Africa news - The Independent Voice of Zimbabwe

The UK government is being urged to consider implementing a moratorium on the deportations of failed Zimbabwe asylum seekers, because of the worsening situation there.

The UK resumed deportations in 2012 after suspending the practice four years earlier. The moratorium was put in place because of politically motivated violence in Zimbabwe during the 2008 elections, a situation which was deemed too risky for people to be forcibly returned to.

But since 2012 the UK has stated it is safe for people to be returned home. This position has remained the same, despite the highly disputed elections in the country last year.

According to the London based protest group, the Zimbabwe Vigil, many of the people targeted with deportation have been its own members. Vigil coordinator Dennis Benton said Vigil activists and many other vocal opponents of the political crisis back home face real threats if they are returned.

“Our argument is that first of all the economy is collapsing, and secondly these people are at real risk because we know that the CIO checks our activity all the time. One of our supporters spoke to a friend back home who went to the police headquarters, and the police there were looking at the Vigil diary, and we publish photos on the diary of our protests and our supporters every week,” Benton explained.

He added: “So what we want is a moratorium until there is a new, democratically approved election in Zimbabwe. And we can’t just wait until 2018. Things like the economy are spiraling into total chaos and at any moment there could be serious trouble.”

The Vigil recently received a letter from the UK’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO), which Benton said reflected some concern about the situation in Zimbabwe. The letter was in reply to the Vigil’s calls on Prime Minister David Cameron not to attend a European Union (EU) summit that was set to include Robert Mugabe. That summit earlier this month was ultimately boycotted by Mugabe over the EU failure to invite his wife.

The FCO’s letter spoke of serious concern “about the significant weaknesses identified during the 2013 elections and the lack of transparency identified by the Southern African Development Community (SADC), African Union (AU), and domestic observation missions, which call into doubt the credibility of the elections.”

It continued: “We believe that significant improvements in the electoral process are required along the lines proposed by international and domestic observers, if future elections are to be both credible and transparent.”

The Vigil said: “The FCO letter makes clear that the situation in Zimbabwe is unacceptable yet the UK Home Office seems to be stepping up the deportation of failed Zimbabwean asylum seekers. How can there be so little communication between two government ministries? This is a point that we plan to make to the Home Office.”

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SW Radio Africa news - The Independent Voice of Zimbabwe

Victims of the Tokwe-Mukosi flood have demanded a total of $9 million and vowed they will not move from the Chingwizi holding camp until they have received the compensation, reports said Monday.

More than 3,000 people were relocated to the camp following flooding after heavy rain and fears that  the Tokwe-Mukosi dam wall could collapse.

The government has since begun relocating the flood victims to designated permanent settlement areas. But, according to reports, angry villagers told a visiting ministerial committee led by local government minister Ignatius Chombo, that unless their demands are met they will stay put.

Chombo threatened the villagers with a ban on the food handouts which are being distributed by various humanitarian organisations if the villagers refuse to move. Chombo acknowledged the government’s indebtedness to the villagers but insisted that there was no money to meet their demands.

MDC-T shadow minister for local government, Sesel Zvidzai, told SW Radio Africa that the villagers were right to demand compensation. He added: ‘Any normal government would have budgeted for these circumstances. It is a known fact that Zimbabwe does, from time to time, experiences disasters of varying kinds and so the government should always be ready.’ 

Since the February floods villagers have expressed dissatisfaction with the way the government handled the crisis. Many villagers said they lost all their property during their relocation to the holding camp.

There are also fears that the government has ulterior motives about the whole exercise. The holding camp center is not easily accessible to visitors and is tightly controlled by the police. Recently, MDC-T leader Morgan Tsvangirai was denied permission to visit the camp to donate clothes and food stuffs.   

SW Radio Africa news - The Independent Voice of Zimbabwe

ZANU PF officials in the Mudzi district have been accused of forcing cash-strapped villagers to contribute money towards Independence Day celebrations.

The villagers say ZANU PF officials behind this directive are the District Administrator Tawabarira Kutamahufa, the MPs for Mudzi West and North Aqualinah Katsande and Newton Kachepa, as well as Boy Katsande, a councillor in one of the Wards in the area.

Disgruntled villagers who spoke to SW Radio Africa correspondent Lionel Saungweme said they were being forced to pay between fifty cents and $1 each, while businesspeople were ordered to fork out $2-$5 each.

This is not the first time that the villagers in Mudzi have been forced to pay towards ZANU PF functions, a situation they are unhappy about.

Although the area is largely ZANU PF dominated, even the party’s supporters are unhappy with the way senior officials force them to donate money which most of them struggle to raise.

Mudzi district is also well-known for political violence perpetrated against opposition MDC-T supporters during election times.

MP Katsande and Kachepa have been implicated in a number of cases involving the harassment of MDC-T activists, including the murder of well-known MDC-T official Cephas Magura, whose case was reported to the SADC Tribunal.

MDC-T activists in the district have been denied food aid as punishment for supporting the opposition.

The country’s Independence Day falls on April 18th, and comes against a backdrop of a failing economy, company closures, job losses, and massive corruption in the public sector.

SW Radio Africa news - The Independent Voice of Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe Open University (ZOU) head Primrose Kurasha and four top officials have come under scrutiny over alleged fraudulent activities at the institution.

This week two newspapers reported how management at the distance learning facility have been claiming funds from the institution for personal gain while not paying tax.

A Tuesday NewsDay report fingered vice-chancellor Kurasha, information manager Nefias Mututumari, ex-finance director Perpetual Ndekwere, registrar Daniel Ndudzo, and pro-vice chancellor Gabriel Kabanda, in a scandal in which the four officials falsely claimed a total of $600,000 in gratuities.

Kurasha’s contract was renewed last year June and she received $203,580 in March as gratuities.

None of the officials was entitled to the money, given that their contracts had already been renewed, and that it is not part of ZOU’s policy to pay gratuities.

Ordinarily a gratuity is paid to an employee who is leaving, in return for service.

Another report in the state-run Sunday Mail revealed how Kurasha used $100,000 belonging to ZOU to charter a plane to ferry her ill husband to South Africa.

In 2011 the country’s anti-graft body launched a probe following a tip-off. That probe was suspended after the Auditor-General said they wanted to go through ZOU’s books first.

Stanford Chirindo, head of the Anti-Corruption Commission, said that investigations will resume once the national auditor has done its work.

“The probe is still on, but I can’t disclose the contents or the stage the investigation is at for reasons of confidentiality,” Chirindo told SW Radio Africa Tuesday.

Senior journalist Everson Mushava, who has covered the ZOU saga for different newspapers, told this station that allegations of financial irregularities at the state institution have been around for some years now.

A catalogue of irregularities raised against Kurasha’s administration included claims that university officials prejudiced the government of $700,000 in a staff medical insurance scam, when the university over-claimed and did not pay back.

In 2011 the university is said to have borrowed $3 million from a local bank to buy vehicles for managers, two years after a similar vehicle purchase.

The top managers are also accused of drawing thousands of dollars in allowances on the pretext that they were going on university teaching exchange programmes (contact leave), which they never did.

According to the Sunday Mail Kurasha also hired her husband as a ZOU consultant, and paid him thousands of dollars in fees.

Under Kurasha’s leadership ZOU also bought high-end flats in Harare’s Avondale suburb without the knowledge of the university’s workers whose pensions funded the purchase.

It is alleged that Dr Tafataona Mahoso signed most of the paperwork which facilitated vice-chancellor Kurasha’s financial transactions. Mahoso was the ZOU council chairperson until July last year.

“Kurasha appears to have been manipulating systems to her advantage with impunity.

“Besides strong suspicions that she may have bribed officials from the Anti-Corruption Corruption, there are reports that she is related to President Robert Mugabe’s wife, Grace.

“There are rumours that the new council at the university wanted to fire her but she threatened to write to President Mugabe alleging victimisation on the grounds that she is a woman,” Mushava said.

Mushava added that whether or not Kurasha finally gets fired or properly investigated will depend on how serious the ZANU PF regime is about fighting corruption.

“Otherwise there is nothing new in these latest reports or raids by the revenue authority. Previous raids have resulted in some sort of arrangement being reached, and corruption reports have not led to any sanctions,” he said.

SW Radio Africa news - The Independent Voice of Zimbabwe

Outspoken MDC-T politician Job Sikhala was on Tuesday questioned by the police over a statement in which he is said to have called for a ‘war’ against the ZANU PF government.

According to reports Sikhala was quizzed by detectives at Harare Central police station, but was released without charge. However his lawyer Obert Gutu said Sikhala was subjected to ‘aggressive’ interrogation by named officers.

Sikhala was addressing a rally on Sunday when he made the utterances. During the same address the former St Mary’s MP called for ‘extra ordinary methods and means to deal with’ President Mugabe.’ Sikhala criticized the government for impoverishing the people and said Zimbabweans will not be able to live under these conditions until 2018, which is when the next elections are expected to be held.

Gutu said the police wanted to ‘know and understand what Sikhala meant when he said they are going to do extra ordinary things against Mugabe as well as clarify a few issues.’ He added: ‘My client was very clear that he is a politician and he meant nothing criminal in his statement and was only inviting supporters to join in the envisaged demonstrations which are constitutionally allowed.’

According to Gutu, the police said his client might be called anytime whenever they need him.

SW Radio Africa news - The Independent Voice of Zimbabwe

Forensic auditors appointed to probe Air Zimbabwe accounts have charged the troubled national airline almost half a million dollars in fees.

The bill is from audit firm BCA which is owned by Budhama Chikamhi and dates back to January 2011, according to the NewsDay.

The contract was awarded to BCA without going to tender and Chikamhi may have got the Air Zim job because of his links to ZANU PF officials, the newspaper suggests.

Figures indicate that the forensic auditors billed Air Zim $370,562 for the period up to July 2013. There were no figures indicating fees for the remainder of that year but the NewsDay said based on information given by its sources, the figure is likely to be around $100,000.

This would bring the total fees to $470,562. The newspaper says it has documents proving that the forensic auditors had been paid at least $284,000 by February this year, including payments through air tickets worth $3,932.

The auditors finally submitted their findings for the period 2009 to March 2013 this year February, when ZANU PF Transport Minister Obert Mpofu extended their contract.

Mpofu said he wanted the firm to audit the period from March to December 2013 citing indications of more irregularities which transpired during that period.

A number of senior Air Zim managers have been charged with fraud involving multi-million dollar scams at the national carrier since BCA submitted its report.

The ZANU PF government says the arrests are part of a serious fight against public sector corruption. But political observers dismiss this, and say those arrested so far are “small fish” sacrificed to protect the real criminals who are running the country.

The country’s chief attorney has already ruled out prosecuting fraudsters.

Chikamhi’s firm BCA has benefited from other government contracts apart from the Air Zim deal.

In 2009, the Home Affairs Ministry appointed BCA to probe the Meikles family-linked firms, as ZANU PF officials moved to seize the assets of one of the country’s enduring business clans under the guise of indigenisation.

Speaking to SW Radio Africa Wednesday, Harare resident Kuzivakwashe Shumba said the fact that it took the auditors five years to submit a report raises questions about their capacity to handle complex contracts.

Shumba said it was wrong and corrupt for the government to give firms contracts without following necessary tender procedures.

“This is how we end up with auditors who take forever to finish their reports. If someone is handed a contract because of their links, they won’t see the need to be professional.”

Shumba commended the auditors for managing to uncover corruption and fraud at Air Zim and other government entities.

“But there is nothing to reassure Zimbabweans that anyone will be jailed regardless of how much they have stolen.

“What we are seeing is ZANU PF ministers protecting the likes of Harare Town Clerk Tendai Mahachi who continues to receive his fat salary while council workers have gone for three months without pay.

“This corruption will not stop until Zimbabweans realise that it is their duty to stand up, take to the streets and force this government to stop stealing and protecting thieves,” Shumba added.

SW Radio Africa news - The Independent Voice of Zimbabwe

The ZANU PF government could be having second thoughts about its indigenisation policy following utterances by two of the party’s Cabinet ministers this week.

In an interview with business news agency The Source, Indigenisation Minister Francis Nhema was quoted as saying the government will balance time frames guiding the transfer of majority stakes in foreign-owned firms to locals with the new investors’ ability to pay for the shareholding.

Nhema said the problem with time frames was that indigenous players may fail to raise the funds for the 51% stake within that time.

Since taking over from Saviour Kasukuwere at the controversial indigenisation ministry, Nhema has adopted a “softly-softly approach” and indicated his willingness to relax the investor-hostile policy.

Last year, Nhema agreed to review the State’s indigenisation plans regarding foreign-owned Zimplats, whose viability has been greatly affected by this investor-hostile policy.

In a separate interview Tourism Minister Walter Mzembi told the NewsDay newspaper that the country’s empowerment policies need to be re-assessed in light of the recent US ban on elephant ivory imports.

The US government this month suspended the import of sport-hunted elephant trophies from Zimbabwe and Tanzania, citing questionable management practices and a lack of effective law enforcement.

Animal conservationists say the move could be a response to the ZANU PF government’s unlawful allocation of hunting licenses to its cronies.

Mzembi urged a soft stance approach to the parcelling out of wildlife conservancies to indigenous blacks, saying the issue needed “very sober introspection from all those involved” for the benefit of the country, the NewsDay said Wednesday.

The minister is further quoted as saying he supports “the empowerment of individuals, but not the same old faces,” in what appears to be an admission that the indigenisation policy has been used to enrich a few in government circles.

Businesses and anti-corruption activists have for a long time said that the law was not only irrational but self-defeating for a government that should be doing everything it can to attract investors and revive the economy.

Just this week the Centre for Research Development’s James Mupfumi said the whole policy was “designed to suit the interests of politicians contrary to assurances that it seeks to empower ordinary citizens.

“The indigenisation law was only used to position individuals in political spheres to allow them to penetrate the mining sector and loot minerals. It is not about community benefit,” Mupfumi said in remarks quoted by The Zimbabwean newspaper.

According to the Act which ZANU PF created in 2008, foreign-owned companies should cede 51% of their stake to indigenous Zimbabweans.

The MDC-T MP for Nkulumane Thamsanqa Mahlangu said ZANU PF had been forced by economic circumstances to give in on the indigenisation law.

“It’s not exactly a softening of their stance but an issue of the deteriorating economic environment forcing them to re-think the policy.

“They have known for some time now that this was a bad law crafted to benefit the same names such as the Chiyangwas and Mliswas and not the ordinary person,” the MP said.

Mahlangu, who also sits on the parliamentary committee on indigenisation, said the government should completely overhaul the indigenisation empowerment policy to attract investors and also to ensure that ordinary Zimbabweans benefit from the country’s resources.

SW Radio Africa news - The Independent Voice of Zimbabwe

Former finance minister Tendai Biti, has warned against the re-introduction of the local currency saying doing so would be the ‘stupidest’ thing for the ZANU PF government to do.

Biti’s comments come after a South Africa newspaper reported recently that the government was secretly working on re-introducing the Zimbabwean dollar. The Mail & Guardian said the aim would be to escape a ‘funding crisis that now threatens to undermine government operations.’

However, Biti told SW Radio Africa’s Cutting Edge programme that the Zimbabwean dollar stood to be rejected yet again by the market. He said:

‘‘While it will be stupid to bring back the Zimbabwean dollar let us remember that ZANU PF is known for doing stupid things. There is nothing that can stop them from printing the Zimbabwean dollar; they can print trillions of that but how will they get them into the market? They might force it on the civil servants but all service providers will reject that money.’

He added: ‘There is no country in the world that has dollarized involuntarily like we did that has been able to get back to its own currency. They tried it in Cuba that failed.’

Biti said Zimbabwe was faced with a serious economic crisis caused by lack of revenue, capital flight, distortion in the balance of payments and over borrowing. Capital flight is when money or assets rapidly flow out of the country as a consequence of an economic situation. Balance of payments is the difference in total value between payments into and out of a country.

According to Biti, at the moment the ratio of exports to imports is 7:1 meaning that for every dollar that is coming into the country seven dollars is going out. He said:

‘That has created a serious liquidity crisis because more money is going out than is coming in’

Biti said the situation has been worsened by the fact that billions of dollars have left the banks and the stock exchange. Moreover the government is collecting less in the form of revenue due to shrinking economic activity. As a result he said, the government has been borrowing to finance the wage bill. Biti said since August last year government has borrowed over $600 million for salaries and the lenders were no longer willing to continue.

Biti added that Zimbabwe needs a ‘caretaker government’ which will rescue the economy from further collapse. He said among the core tasks for that government would be to freeze unnecessary expenditure, repeal the ‘unfriendly’ indigenisation laws and re-engage with the West, including the International Monetary Fund.

SW Radio Africa news - The Independent Voice of Zimbabwe

South Africa’s main political opposition has warned against what it calls the ‘ZANU-fication’ of the ANC government, saying Jacob Zuma’s party is increasingly reflecting the values of Robert Mugabe’s party.

Democratic Alliance (DA) leader Helen Zille made the comments this week as her party is fighting against the national broadcaster’s decision to ban one of the party’s election campaign adverts.

The SABC refused to air the advert, which strongly critcises the Zuma led administration and the state of South Africa since Zuma came to power.

Zille said the saga over the banned advert showed that the ANC government was undermining institutions that should be independent, threatening to set South Africa on a course similar to that taken by Zimbabwe under ZANU PF.

“If people are not frightened, they are not following the news. The fight is not between the SABC and the DA. It is between the SABC and all South Africans who believe in freedom of speech, information and political contestation,” Zille said.

Joy Mabenge from the Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition said the negative connotations associated with ZANU PF have been created by the party’s anti-democratic values.

“Anything referred to as ZANU-ised is basically about a liberation political party that then turns against those it claims to have liberated,” Mabenge told SW Radio Africa.

He added: “The mark they (ZANU PF) are leaving on SADC and the rest of Africa is a mark associated with the lack of willingness to allow democracy to thrive. It is a legacy associated with the lack of willingness to open up spaces and allow competition and alternative views. I don’t think any political party would want to be associated with this legacy, but unfortunately it has happened.”

He echoed Zille’s warnings to the Zuma led ANC, saying the party should “be aware of the pitfalls of being ZANU-ised.”

“The legacy that liberation movements have of liberating their people is one they should strive to protect, unlike ZANU PF. The ANC should watch out against the pitfalls of the ZANU-fication of its legacy and struggles and history,” Mabenge said.

To contact this reporter email [email protected] or follow on Twitter

SW Radio Africa news - The Independent Voice of Zimbabwe

Botswana’s President Ian Khama has reiterated that his country will no longer take part in regional election observer teams, because of the flawed polls in Zimbabwe last year.

Khama, the only African leader to raise any concerns about the disputed elections in Zimbabwe, has called for an audit of the Zim polls that saw Mugabe re-elected as President.

The Botswana leader earlier this year told the national television station BTV that the Zim elections were neither free nor fair and that SADC had let Zimbabwe “off the hook” for the flawed process. Khama also said the rules that govern democratic elections in Southern African were not followed in Zimbabwe’s case, and announced that his country would no longer participate in any SADC election observer missions.

Khama reiterated this position this week, through a statement by his spokesperson Jeff Ramsay.

“In the interest of public understanding and in light of recent media speculation over Botswana’s participation in SADC election observer missions, the Government of Botswana wishes to re-affirm its position to not send official observers to participate in such missions,” Ramsay said. Ramsay added that the move by Khama’s government was based on principle. “Further to the above, Botswana’s position is based on a matter of principle and thus not targeted at any institution or state,” he said. Khama’s comments about the lack of fairness in Zimbabwe’s polls fly in the face of SADC’s endorsement of the elections, which have also been disputed by the opposition MDCs in Zimbabwe, civil society groups and regional observer teams present during the polls.

Elias Bila, who was part of the Southern African Trade Union Coordination Council (SATUCC) observer team, said on Wednesday that a sense of “comradeship” in Southern Africa’s political leadership was the reason for the endorsement of Zimbabwe’s polls. He told SW Radio Africa that the elections there “could not be said to be either free or fair.”

“SADC is represented by my members of countries and the challenge we have as observers is that the leaders are comrades (from liberation movements) who won’t stand against each other. So I think Khama is sending a message to African leaders to say ‘we need to change and to the right thing’,” Bila said.

To contact this reporter email alex@swradioa[email protected] or follow on Twitter

SW Radio Africa news - The Independent Voice of Zimbabwe

Villagers in the Chiadzwa alluvial diamond mining area are battling with a serious outbreak of malaria, which is reportedly affecting almost every home.

According to a report by the Financial Gazette puddles of stagnant water, caused by the excessive rains that submerged the alluvial diamond mining pits, have become breeding grounds for mosquitoes, “rendering the Chiadzwa villagers prone to contracting malaria.”

“Almost every home has no less than three to five people who are suffering from malaria. This is because of the pools that have been created by diamond mining,” said the Minister of State for Manicaland Province, Chris Mushohwe.

He was quoted by the Financial Gazette as saying that a team from the Provincial Medical Director office was dispatched recently to examine the villagers.

The malaria outbreak is the latest crisis to hit the embattled area, where over 4,000 families have been left in limbo waiting for relocation away from mining operations. Their relocation was meant to go ahead four years ago when the mining firms moved in to pan for diamonds.

Since then, the area has faced worsening conditions. The villagers, many of whom still live within the mining boundaries, were stopped from growing crops and have been battling a food crisis for several months. At the same time crime has become rampant, with criminal syndicates operating illegal diamond panning rings from surrounding villages.

James Mupfumi, the Acting Director of the Marange based Centre for Research and Development said that the situation is “appalling.” He told SW Radio Africa that the chief concern is the lack of access to food.

“It’s really bad. People can’t grow crops because everything they were promised has not been delivered,” Mupfumi said.

He urged the government to take responsibility for the situation, because it is a joint partner in the mining firms operating in Chiadzwa.

“It is a matter of revenue. The revenue from the diamond mining is not going to government to help the villagers, instead it is benefitting some individuals. So we would have expected the government to stop the mining there, and review the contracts so that revenue transparency and other issues could be dealt with,” Mupfumi said.

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SW Radio Africa news - The Independent Voice of Zimbabwe

The National Social Security Authority (NSSA) was last week raided by the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority as the tax-collector continued with its pursuit of tax-defaulting companies.

According to a NewsDay report NSSA General Manager James Matiza would not be drawn into shedding any light on the matter but an insider confirmed the development. The unnamed insider said ‘NSSA was served with a garnishee order for $10 million for outstanding taxes.’

Two weeks ago Zimra raided Mbada Diamonds over $22.4 million worth of taxes. The national tax-collector recently indicated that it will soon raid the informal sector.

The NewsDay newspaper said the raids on defaulting companies confirm the country’s dwindling revenues, as said by Zimra commissioner-general Gershem Pasi in Parliament recently. Former finance minister Tendai Biti this week said lack of revenue has forced the country to over borrow to service the domestic debt.

Biti said since August last year, government has borrowed over $600 million for salaries and the lenders were no longer willing to continue. Biti said the situation has been worsened by the fact that investors have taken their money out of the system in fear of losing their investments. He said billions of dollars have left the banks and the stock exchange.

It appears that Zimra is desperately trying to rake in some money because of this.

SW Radio Africa news - The Independent Voice of Zimbabwe

The issue of youth empowerment, which ZANU PF has used in its political campaigns to boost support, appears to be coming back to haunt them as tens of thousands of unemployed young Zimbabweans begin to demand that they fulfill the promises made over the years.

Ahead of the July 2013 elections, ZANU PF promised to create 2.2 million jobs if voted into government. But nothing has been done to address that issue since Mugabe and his party declared a disputed landslide victory over the MDC-T. In fact hundreds more companies have shut done.

The issue is now being debated online by many young Zimbabweans. Writing on the popular Kalabash website, Itai Nyamawuya-Masanga summarized some of the challenges faced by the youth and the lack of action from government.

“Our government ‘youth’ leaders are emblematic of the problem, aged and un-interested, our student leaders are arrested and harassed. Don’t ever be fooled into thinking that your interests are in the hearts of those fighting for power,” he wrote.

“It’s mind boggling to realize that most supposed youth organizations are led by elderly people. The ZANU PF secretary for youth in the politburo, Absalom Sikhosana, is 61 years old. The Minister of Youth Francis Nhema, is 55,” Nyamawuya-Masanga added.

Claris Madhuku, director of the Platform for Youth Development, agreed that Zimbabwe’s youth have been “silenced” by their elders, adding that their views are tolerated only if they promote ZANU PF’s political leaders. “When ZANU PF speaks of youth empowerment they are not really genuine. This was their mantra in the July 2013 elections, but when we look at what is really happening, youth empowerment is still aspirational and not something they have delivered on the ground,” Madhuku told SW Radio Africa.

He added: “In ZANU PF youth is not about age. When you look at those who manage youth issues like the youth minister is about 55 years old. So for us they just look at young people more like kids who are supposed to be given instructions in terms of what they should be doing.”

Madhuku agreed with Nyamawuya-Masanga’s observation that many young Zimbabweans are dropping out of school to join their parents in making money for the family because school fees are so high. They are dropping out with minimal education and thereby limiting their chances of a good future.

Young girls are getting married to elderly men to escape poverty or abuse at home and are being subjected to “oppressive religious and/or cultural practices” without any room to question important decisions that impact on their lives.

To inspire young Zimbabweans, Nyamawuya-Masanga quoted Bob Marley’s famous “None but ourselves can free our minds” lyric as well as the radical American activist Malcom X, who said “Do for thyself.”

SW Radio Africa news - The Independent Voice of Zimbabwe

A meeting between Robert Mugabe and former South African President Thabo Mbeki in Harare this week has raised eyebrows, with questions being asked about the purpose of his visit.

Mbeki reportedly met Mugabe on Wednesday in Harare. According to the state run Herald newspaper, the two leaders exchanged views on “various matters affecting the African continent.”

The former South African leader is known to be a long standing fan and friend of Mugabe’s, to the point that he crafted the flawed unity government arrangement that allowed Mugabe to stay in power after the 2008 elections.

That unity arrangement has been widely deemed a failure, with no meaningful reforms being achieved in Zimbabwe since.

Mbeki, who passed his mediation role on to his successor Jacob Zuma, meanwhile has been repeatedly criticised for taking too soft an approach to various political crises in Africa. Regardless of this, he has been called on by the African Union to mediate other conflicts, such as in South Sudan and the Ivory Coast.

Exiled Zimbabwean journalist Tanonoka Whande said on Thursday that it is insulting to Zimbabweans.

“It is unacceptable that Mbeki, the architect of the downfall in Zimbabwe, has now returned to the scene of the crime,” Whande told SW Radio Africa.

He said Mbeki’s failed role in mediating any meaningful solutions to African problems shows the failure of African policy.

“After he failed to do any successful mediation in Zimbabwe, the African Union appointed him to mediate elsewhere in Africa. What is it they look for in trying to solve problems? Is their mission to create problems for Africa?” Whande questioned.

He added: “It all has to do with rewarding failure. The good people in Africa are reviled, but the architects of the destruction of Africa are given standing ovations.”

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