The Australian

February 19, 2011

By Owen Slot

IN one of the least likely comebacks in sport, the Zimbabwe squad at this World Cup will be led on the subcontinent by a coaching and management team who recently fell so foul of their country’s politics that it had seemed they were gone for good.

Take Heath Streak, for instance, whose playing career was cut short in its prime when he was sacked as captain by administrators wielding racial policies and whose father was imprisoned by Robert Mugabe’s Zanu (PF) regime in 2002, when he refused to surrender the family farm.

Streak is in India with the Zimbabwe team as bowling coach.

Or Grant Flower, whose career was terminated in 2004 in the same argument as Streak’s and who once said: “Never again.” He is the batting coach.

And Alistair Campbell, another former captain, who so regularly fell foul of the politics that his career was over at the age of 30. He is the chairman of selectors. They have been encouraged back largely by David Coltart, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) politician who was once prosecuted and detained, and who survived an assassination attempt. Coltart is now the Education, Culture and Sport Minister.

And on the board of Zimbabwe Cricket (ZC), Campbell is joined by Doc Mukuhlani, another MDC supporter, whose farm was regularly attacked — he eventually lost it — whose mother was badly beaten, and whose father was taken away for two weeks by pro-Mugabe war veterans.

“It can’t go on for ever,” Mukuhlani said. “Some day it will change. But cricket is bigger than any of us.”

The force of cricket, it would seem, is so great that Mukuhlani can sit on that ZC board with others who are recipients of the kind of farms he surrendered. And so great that Ozias Bvute and Peter Chingoka, whose policies killed off Streak’s old team and caused Zimbabwe to be dispatched to cricket’s international wilderness, are still the ZC’s chief executive and president respectively and still in charge of the payroll they once so controversially withheld from the players. Oh yes, and the ZC patron is still Mugabe.

How can so many make such a concerted about-turn?

“You develop a certain thick skin,” is how Gary Brent put it. Brent is another of Streak’s rebel team; he worked as a coach at Rugby School in Warwickshire before being persuaded to return to coach back home. “You’ve got to make a decision,” Flower said. “Do you help the recovery or do you stay bitter?”

You also have to transplant yourself to the mindset of Africa, where you are used to sustaining blows and making a comeback. Not that anything here is remotely clear cut.

Of those two black-armband rebels from the 2003 World Cup, Andy Flower, now the England team director, and Henry Olonga, Flower is in favour of giving Zimbabwe a second chance. Olonga, meanwhile, lives in London and has still not been back.

“I believe nothing has changed,” Olonga said. “I’ll never trust the system as far as I can spit.”

As it has for many years, cricket seems to reflect the whole country. It required a “huge compromise”, Coltart explained, for him to go into the unity government.

“We’re in bed with people we’ve been opposed to, in my case for three decades.” Campbell would say exactly the same of ZC.

It was Campbell whom Coltart identified as the man to lead the way back for cricket. Campbell was approached in the summer of 2009 and required persuading. He needed guarantees: that he would be able to select his teams on merit, that colour of skin was irrelevant.

“I had to get the old guard back because there was no manpower left to coach the new generation,” Campbell said. “So I had to make sure that they were coming back to the real deal.”

Campbell became the chief recruiting officer. He targeted Streak, met him at a game in Bulawayo where Streak was doing commentary work and persuaded him to talk to the selectors.

“Initially there was some scepticism,” Streak said. “But I’ve got over that. It’s all about keeping cricket alive in Zimbabwe.”

And then Grant Flower. “It took me six months to think about it,” Flower said. “It wasn’t an easy decision. I did ask, ‘What’s (Mugabe’s) involvement?’ and was told he did nothing. I was OK by that. When I first asked my brother Andy about it, he told me to think about it and take my time, but the more he thought, the more he gave me his blessing.”

Everyone knows there is a compromise here.

“Life in Africa is very turbulent,” Grant Flower said. “I’ll always keep my options open.”

But likewise, the returnees say that their reassurances from ZC have all been met.

“I only see Chingoka once every three months,” Campbell said. “And it’s easy working with him; once you agree to bury the hatchet, you move on.”

The moving-on has been embraced by the international cricket world, too. Zimbabwe last played a Test match in 2005; its Test status had been suspended until last June when the ICC sent senior executives to Harare, where they were persuaded that ZC had satisfied all the requirements for it to be reintroduced into the Test arena. Its comeback Test will therefore be against Bangladesh in July; New Zealand and Pakistan will follow.

The moving-on has been embraced by Andy Flower, too. Last July, Flower addressed the MCC world cricket committee with a presentation that, a statement explained, “covered the full range of moral, ethical, political and cricketing considerations”, and the result of which was MCC’s decision to send a fact-finding trip to Zimbabwe to gauge the suitability of touring there again.

MCC’s position, however, changed mighty fast after the government turned round and said: “No you won’t.”

It is, in fact, England alone which will not now re-engage with Zimbabwe. Campbell travelled to England last September to attempt to broker an informal softening of relations. He brought Bvute with him “just to demystify the bloke”.

But when they went to Cardiff, on the day England were playing a Twenty20 match against Pakistan, David Collier, the ECB chief executive, refused to see them.

“We didn’t want to create a stir,” Campbell said. “I’d have thought, just out of common courtesy, he’d have met us to find out how things were going. It was the perfect opportunity to explain where we’re at, but he didn’t want to listen. He wouldn’t tolerate it.”

There is, of course, a world of difference between civil politics and cricket politics. If Collier wanted to know about the cricket, he could just ask the Zimbabwe head coach, Alan Butcher, the former England batsman, or any of the English cricketers who earned a winter salary there.

But this is not black or white, it is about what shade of grey you will live with.

Attempts have been made to persuade Olonga to come back, but he will not yet consider it.

“People like to say, ‘It’s all fine and a bed of roses now,’ but there is so much to be questioned,” he said. “If you look for trouble, you find it; if you want to ignore it, you can.”

Which is an interesting take: if you go back to Zimbabwe, how much are you ignoring the truth, and to what extent are you trying to improve it?

Newsday

By Silas Nkala

19 February 2011

Education, Arts, Sport and Culture minister David Coltart has expressed concern over alleged corrupt activities by school development committees (SDC) and school heads and said culprits should be prosecuted.

Coltart’s remarks came in the wake of recent corruption reports at Milton High School in Bulawayo where the SDC had been accused of corruption.

Chairman of the committee Kizito Musekwa recently admitted at the school annual general meeting he channelled money from the SDC coffers to his own business, Paper Tek Enterprises, and supplied the school with photocopied books which he inavoiced to the tune of $7 449.

Parents demanded that the money be refunded before February 26 and have since relieved Musekwa of his duties.

Coghlan Primary School had also been plagued by reports of corruption with parents accusing the school development association (SDA) of misappropriating money meant for teachers’ incentives.

Parents said they were cooperating in the payment of incentives but accused the SDA chairman Sibangani Nkomo of misappropriating the funds and using them to conduct his own business.

Nkomo refuted the allegations.

Several schools across the country are reportedly facing similar corrupt activities, a development which has created mistrust among the parents, SDCs and school heads.

Coltart on Friday said the rot in schools had become a cause for concern for the ministry and challenged parents to report any cases of corrupt activities to Education offices.

“Those who are found guilty must be prosecuted.

“If parents establish any incidents of corruption, they must not hesitate to report to the ministry and the ministry must take the matter to police, ” said Coltart.

Zimbabwean

By Fungi Kwaramba

Friday, 18 February 2011

HARARE – From the outside all looks well at Dombodzvuku Primary school. The classrooms have a new coat of paint thanks to the Basic Education Assistance Module (BEAM). But for Dombodzvuku, and most other schools in the country, the money could only make do some cosmetic changes. Inside the classrooms there is no furniture and the floors are potholed.

Minister of Education Sports and Culture, David Coltart, who has been desperately trying to improve the sector almost destroyed by Zanu (PF)’s economic mismanagement, is afraid that eventually schools will collapse completely if steps are not taken to improve the infrastructure.

“For the past decade education has been terribly underfunded and we have seen infrastructure collapse. There are no exceptions. If you go to any government school you will see the same situation,” said Coltart.

While the government of Zimbabwe is doing its best to improve the education sector, the money is still not enough. For example, students at schools such as Zhakata primary school in Murehwa do not even have basic toilets.

No toilets

“We are appealing to well wishers to assist us in building ablution blocks, as our students are resorting to the bush toilet. They are young and susceptible to diseases,” said Zhakata Primary school head.

For Coltart, time is short and there is urgent need for the government to move with speed in maintaining the existing infrastructure, otherwise all will be lost to the vagaries of the weather.

“If we don’t make education a priority quickly and allocate resources to do the maintenance we are going to see a progressive deterioration in the schools,” said Coltart.

Potholed classes with no furniture at Dombodzuku Secondary School and no toilets at Zhakata Primary school are only a microcosm of the larger picture.

“Most classes still have roofs and windows, but if we don’t maintain them we will see  an increasing number of classrooms open to the elements, where students can’t learn,” said Coltart.

Drop in ocean

All schools in the country need rehabilitation and, while the government has taken a few steps towards improving the sector, much more needs to be done in order to turn back the hands of time and once again put the country’s education at the apex it once occupied.

In the 2011 budget, Finance Minister Tendai Biti allocated the highest amount to the education sector, but still the money, according to Coltart, is just a drop in the ocean.

Biti allocated $23million towards rehabilitation of 6,556 schools, the majority of them under local authorities. Pupil grants were raised from $13.8 million to $15,5 million to lessen the burden on School Development Associations

The effects of Biti’s allocation are there to see – but more time and money is needed to restore the country education sector to the glory days when it used to get 15 percent of the country’s budget between 1980 and 1990.

That was reversed by the Zanu (PF) regime and from being the country with the highest literacy rate in Africa, the sector has plummeted into the doldrums.

De-motivated

Coltart and many school teachers fear that the current generation of youngsters could be lost to education completely, as there are too few teachers and books at secondary schools. In addition, teachers are de-motivated by the unending salary talks with the government.

School teachers in rural areas want the government to provide incentives, but at the moment the government does not have money. The decline in the infrastructure has also affected teachers.

With enrolments increasing yearly due to population growth, more teachers are required. However they do not have houses to live in while at work and many are forced to share.

“We share the same room the three of us – we do not have privacy. We are living like children at a boarding school,” said a teacher at Mhembere Primary school in Murehwa.

Rural teachers say that the situation is even worse for them as their schools have not been electrified and in some cases there is no clean water.  Teachers are forced to drink water from wells.

“I am looking for another school in an urban setting where I can have electricity and  incentives from parents. Here, parents are too poor to pay us money and there are no colleges where we can do part-time tutorials,” said a teacher.

In some areas, such as Chemhondoro, there is both a shortage of toilets and classrooms, forcing lessons to be conducted under trees.

“I have received an appeal from Chemhondoro Primary school for another classroom block.  I will make sure that some of the money from the Constitutional Development levy goes towards the building of classrooms. However, the money is not enough as all schools in my constituency are in need of classrooms,” said MP for the area, Ward Nezi.

“Schools are in a sorry state and there is need for repair but unfortunately there is no money to reach out to every school in the constituency. The government should channel more money towards the education sector,” said Nezi.

Newsday

By Conway Tutani

February 18 2011

This past week the police have catalogued what they say are incidents of violence perpetrated by the MDC-T, which, to all intents and purposes, is being treated as an opposition party despite being part of government. The week has also seen the arrest of several MPs from the same party for public violence. Are these arrests justified or targeted?

The question needs to be asked because there have been similar trends whenever there is talk of elections.

From this arises a further question: Are these arrests ploys calculated to intimidate and cripple the MDC-T because this has been happening since 2000 when the then united MDC arrived on the scene as a powerful political force?

I hold no brief for the MDC-T, but for justice and fairness, and any keen, neutral observer cannot help but notice that in the police’s eyes, Zanu PF has been the victim and only hits back after provocation. There is indeed a pattern to all this.

A few examples will suffice in dissecting this questionable conduct of the police and the whole state machinery which remains firmly in the hands of Zanu PF as they control all the levers of power, specifically coercive power.

I say it is questionable because most, if not all, of these charges have not stood in a court of law or have completely disappeared into thin air but after doing great harm to the individuals named as suspects and at great economic cost.

Israeli Ari Ben-Menashe, a former spy and arms dealer who claimed he had a “personal relationship” with President Robert Mugabe, was the key prosecution witness in the treason trial of MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai in 2002.

He incriminated Tsvangirai in an assassination plot two weeks before the 2002 presidential election.

Ben-Menashe’s key piece of evidence cited was a statement issued by his political consultancy Dickens & Madson which said the firm in October the previous year had been contracted by Tsvangirai to kill Mugabe and secretly filmed a video of a meeting held in Montreal, Canada, to discuss how to instal Tsvangirai into power after the assassination.

Then High Court judge Justice Paddington Garwe dismissed the case, saying plainly: “Nowhere in the videotape is there a request of Ari Ben-Menashe to assassinate Mugabe and stage a coup.”

Justice minister Patrick Chinamasa was outraged, saying Tsvangirai “has been wrongly acquitted”.

For his lies, Menashe was paid $100 000 at a time the country was reeling from a fuel crisis, and that amount could have gone a long way in alleviating the shortage as it would have covered more than a month’s supply at the prevailing price.

Before the court case commenced, ZTV with much hype prepared the nation to watch the video footage on prime time news.

When the time came for screening, the video stuck on screen and when it eventually obliged, what appeared was a hardly audible black-and-white grainy film with squeaking noise. It left no doubt in people’s minds that there had been much ado about nothing.

The discovery in November 2001 of the body of war veteran Cain Nkala, who had been implicated in the abduction of MDC activist Patrick Nabanyama (who has since been declared dead) the previous year also raised the issue of the impartiality or not of the police and the supportive state machinery. MDC “suspects” were immediately arrested.

On November 13, 2001, statements made by the two “suspects” were broadcast on ZTV in which they implicated themselves and others in the abduction and subsequent murder of Nkala.

But their acquittal in 2003, after one of the longest-running trials in this country, left the government with egg on its face as in the Ben-Menashe case.

Then High Court judge Justice Sandra Mungwira (may her soul rest in peace) concluded that the state had not put up a solid case against the MDC activists for which the court could convict and ruled against placing them on their defence. She established that their “confessions” had been made under duress.

One of the suspects died soon after release because of the harsh prison conditions he had been subjected to without adequate medical care.

“The judgment brings us back to the question: Who killed Cain Nkala?” said MDC secretary for legal affairs David Coltart, continuing:

“The judgment is a serious indictment of Zanu PF. The acting Attorney General should immediately investigate the murder of Nkala, and I suggest he starts closer to home.”

These are but two examples where people faced the noose for what were clearly fabricated charges, but for a fair and transparent judicial system they would have been hanged.

In 2008, the year of the bloody elections, Zanu PF offices were gutted by a fire and the police immediately implicated the MDC-T for carrying out a petrol bomb attack.

However, it eventually emerged that the fire had been caused by petrol which was being kept on the premises for sale on the thriving black market at a time of critical shortage.

During that tumultuous period, MDC activists were alleged to have bombed trains and arrests were made. Nothing came of it, but the suspects suffered immense psychological and physical torture.

Then there was the pure facile fabrication about uniformed soldiers who had been recruited by the MDC-T to attack patrons in nightclubs in Chitungwiza, but nothing again came of this despite their being paraded in front of state media cameras.

Last month MDC-T supporters in Mbare reported an attack on them by Zanu PF supporters. What did the police do?

They came a little later, didn’t arrest the culprits, but rounded up the complainants. Does this not keep them awake at night?

Fortunately, the magistrate saw through all this and released the complainants from custody without paying bail.

Peace activists, like Woza, trying to do things as harmless as singing songs and distributing leaflets calling for harmony have been repeatedly attacked.

Now we are having police-sanctioned violent demonstrations in the city and this is being blamed on MDC “hijackers”.

Fascism came to power in Italy and Germany through a combination of street violence (carefully orchestrated from above but still undeniably with great mass support), deep infiltration into the police, bureaucracy and army, and the connivance of “centrist” political leaders.

Crude violations of laws and constitutional norms alternated with the Fascists’ loud protestations of respect for legality.

They alternated between an occasional apology and much more frequent and intensified aggressive violence.

Adolf Hitler repeatedly asserted his party’s respect for legality but meanwhile his security police chief Hermann Goëring “Nazified” the police, organised street encounters in which more than 50 anti-fascists were murdered, and set the scene for the notorious stage-managed Reichstag (parliament building) fire, after which first the communists, and then all opposition political parties and trade unions were quickly eliminated and destroyed. The central government did not lift a finger.

Now the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Defence and Home Affairs has summoned Police Commissioner-General Chihuri to testify before it on the upsurge in political violence, the nation hopes there won’t be the usual obfuscation and prevarication, and that he will distinguish genuine threats to national security from normal political activity in a modern, democratic state.

As for those behind the hooligans deployed on the streets to commit violence, they had better be careful.

In December 1971, demonstrations broke out in the main cities and towns in the then Rhodesia.

The Ian Smith regime wanted to force on the oppressed blacks a constitution agreed between itself and Britain (the so-called Pearce proposals) without any clear roadmap to majority rule and a justiciable Bill of Rights; in other words, the Pearce proposals virtually maintained the status quo of white dominance.

The “No” vote prevailed in 1972 as it similarly won the day in 2000. It’s impossible to suppress the people’s determined will as shown over vastly different political eras and circumstances despite organisational hurdles that were deliberately put in place.

Smith used traditional chiefs, dubious newly-created political parties, force and the one-sided state media to advance the “Yes” vote, but he still failed. Now it’s practically impossible to control the minds of the people because of advanced technology. Technology is a vast transformer.

The same scenario is being played out today with violence at Copac meetings and, in a contrived manner, only hand-picked individuals allowed to air the viewpoint of vested interests in the ruling elite to maintain the status quo while the views of the ordinary people and various stakeholders are suppressed.

But the initiative and power always swing back to the long-suffering people.

The 1971 protests descended into looting and shops owned by people of Asian origin at the southern end of Salisbury (now Harare) were broken into as they were within walking distance of the Mbare hostels, where there was a significant thuggish element.

One of the looters was arrested within days, tried and jailed. How was he caught when hundreds were involved in the looting?

In his rush to put on the new pair of trousers he had looted in the shop, he did not remove his ID from the old trousers he discarded in the shop.

So those responsible for this ongoing violence at whatever level will, sooner or later, leave incriminating evidence at the scene of the crime and pay heavily for that.

One of these days they are going to drop incontrovertible evidence linking them to all this violence. They can’t get away with this forever.

And this will finally force the hand of the police to act.

SW Radio Africa

By Lance Guma

17 February 2011

Arthur Mutambara’s attempts to regain control of the smaller MDC faction took a knock on Wednesday, when the High Court ruled that he cannot ‘purport’ to be president of the party until the leadership dispute is fully resolved in court.

Mutambara also defied a party directive to step down as Deputy Prime Minister, claiming he did not recognize Ncube as the new party leader after last month’s party congress. He also claimed he would wait for the High Court to rule on an application filed by disgruntled party members unhappy with the congress.

Bulawayo High Court judge Nicholas Ndou granted an interim relief order which had been sought by the MDC faction led by Welshman Ncube. The order temporarily bars Mutambara from exercising any function vested in the presidency of the party and also stops him from interfering with the structures and organs of the party.

The urgent application by Ncube’s party followed reports that Mutambara was considering a reshuffle of Ministers from the party that are in the coalition government. Mutambara was also rumoured to be planning on sacking ministers Welshman Ncube, David Coltart and Priscilla Misihairambwi-Mushonga and had allegedly already approached several party MPs offering them ministerial appointments.

In the court application the MDC-N said there was a forthcoming meeting of the SADC Organ on Defence and Security……”at which the facilitator of the Zimbabwe dialogue, President Jacob Zuma, will present his report on the outstanding issues in the implementation of the GPA. The party must be presented by its president at this meeting which is normally attended by the presidents of the parties in the GPA.”

The MDC-N said it feared Mutambara will seek to represent the party at this meeting “when he has no lawful right to do so.” The High Court has since given Mutambara 10 days to file a notice of opposition to the court order.

The saga has seen Mugabe take sides with Mutambara, telling Ncube he will not swear him in, no matter what happens.

Ncube’s camp has since said they have ‘donated’ Mutambara and the DPM post to ZANU PF.

Financial Gazette

By Dumisani Ndlela and Njabulo Ncube

17 February 2011

FORMER Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader and Deputy Prime Minister, Arthur Mutambara, reeled into a potentially embarrassing political crisis after it emerged that the majority of his supporters had joined ZANU-PF while incumbent Members of Parliament from the party had snubbed his appeal for government appointments. ZANU-PF insiders indicated that the party had, in recent days, welcomed an undisclosed number of former MDC card-carrying members who had defected in solidarity with Mutambara, rendering the former student leader a shepherd without a flock and threatening his planned reshuffle.

It was not immediately clear why the members had joined ZANU-PF instead of rallying behind the robotics professor who is currently fighting for his political life from the fringes.

The development came even     as Mutambara and a group of rebel party activists, who broke ranks with new leader and Minister of Industry and International Trade, Welshman Ncube, insisted the robotics professor would go ahead with a proposed reshuffle targeted at eliminating Ncube and the new MDC secretary-general, Priscilla Misihairabwi-Mushonga from government.

Others targeted are Moses Mzila Ndlovu (National Healing and Reconciliation) and David Coltart (Education and Culture) and several deputy ministers linked to what he views as “Ncube’s political machinations”.

Mutambara, who has received immense support from President Robert Mugabe who is said to have categorically told Ncube that he was not willing to sack Mutambara from the Deputy Prime Minister’s post to make way for the new principal of the so-called Global Political Agreement (GPA), was making frantic efforts to salvage his reputation by trying to lure outsiders to join his cabinet.

There were also frantic efforts to lure MDC MPs his party had fired over a year ago for alleged indiscipline as he tried to salvage the little  chance he might get to hang on to power. The three Matabeleland members of the House of Assembly fired by the MDC under Mutambara last year are Abdenico Bhebhe, Njabuliso Mguni and Norman Mpofu.

In the event that this fails, his bet would be on disgruntled MDC members challenging Ncube’s election at a recent party congress. These are led by former MDC acting national chairman, Jobert Mudzumwe and a rag-tag group of youths.

Mudzumwe and 13 other MDC supporters are presently challenging Ncube’s ascendency to the presidency of the party, charging that the congress which endorsed his candidature was unconstitutional.

Sources indicated that all MPs from Mutambara’s former party had snubbed his overtures for an alliance. Mutambara is said to have approached the MPs either personally or through emissaries.

“His idea is to humiliate Ncube. He might get President Mugabe’s support for the reshuffle but at the moment, there are significant legal hurdles because Mutambara essentially no longer leads any party,” a source indicated.

All MDC MPs and senators, except one lawmaker, Noma-langa Khumalo had attended last Thursday’s MDC national council meeting that endorsed the sacking of Mutambara from the party.

Khumalo is said to have sent an apology to the meeting and is understood to have endorsed the national council decision.

Mutambara said before the national council meeting last week that he had fired Ncube and Misihairabwi-Mushonga from the party even though no organ of the party had met to make that decision.

He has also been announcing party decisions from government offices, and has been making most of his party communication from the letterhead of the Deputy Prime Minister.

His peers in the inclusive government — President Mugabe of ZANU-PF and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai who heads the other MDC formation — have always made party pronouncements from their respective party offices and using official party letter heads.

Sources indicated that Mutambara was so far grappling with the fact that he was now claiming to be leader of an MDC formation that did not have a national council or a politburo, as well as no party structures.

Sources close to Mutambara, however, said he had been advised of the “dearth of leadership” among his rebels and might find it difficult to appoint some of them into Cabinet.

Mutambara, who could not be reached for comment at the time of going to print, is said to have initially banked on hopes that some members of the MDC’s national council would support him if he dangled offers of ministerial jobs.

However, the council members are said to be adamant on a resolution to sack him from the party and have viewed allegations that he was fired by Ncube as attempts to divide the political formation by isolating Ncube.

A Mutambara confidante, however, insisted that they were making inroads.

“The possibility of being appointed to a ministerial position has been a draw-card to some legislators who all along believed they should have been in government by virtue of being elected representatives,” the confidante told The Financial Gazette yesterday.

“Those that think Mutambara has no support of the MPs are day-dreaming. In his five years at the helm of the MDC-M he  has made friends and quietly built his base,” he added.

Maxwell Zimuto, who now acts as spokesperson for Mutambara and his “MDC formation” and now operates from home, said the Deputy Prime Minister would not have mulled reshuffling his ministers if he had no suitable replacements.

“Mutambara has the mandate to reshuffle as and when he deems (it) necessary to do so, notwithstanding the fact he has to consult the two other principals,” said Zimuto.

“There are capable people around him and also remember he has the support of business which is fully aware of the economic thrust Mutambara is trying to pursue and put across. He is the only leader who has managed to clearly articulate economic issues in a manner that shows that this country has a bright future ahead of it. Business is excited about Mutambara and awaits his next move. There are consultations and people are supporting him after a lot of people had been misled and cheated,” he added.

Business, apparently, is not a constituent member of the MDC.

Zimbabwe Telegraph

By Moses Chamboko

February 17, 2011

The endgame for the minor MDC faction to which our only rocket scientist was invited by the shrewd lawyer but cunning political upstart, Welshman Ncube, is finally beckoning. Nonetheless, this was never a matter of “if” but “when” from day one.

When he accepted the surprise invitation which sent shockwaves across the rank and file of that faction, Arthur Mutambara petrified keen followers when he declared that he was “the anti-senate President of the pro-senate MDC”. This signalled the beginning of more confusion in years that followed. Up to now, I don’t quite understand what he meant by that bold statement in his maiden speech.

This writer personally wrote to Arthur and Welsh Ncube requesting them to re-think their position soon after the split of October 2005. The writer also had a fairly long interview on a New Zealand-based Zimbabwe community radio with Tendai Biti and Paul Themba Nyathi imploring them to find one another and maintain the unity of the party that had become the epitome of hope for most Zimbabweans. Both gentlemen exhibited unwillingness to move an inch from their respective and grounded positions. Themba Nyathi almost cut me off when I questioned if the MDC constitution was cast in stone. The rest is now history.

While ambivalence had the better of David Coltart (probably owing to his profession), when he finally jumped, he also landed on the wrong side of the fence. A couple of months down the line, those who were quick to read that their new political compass was leading them into the wilderness, made an about turn and rejoined the mainstream MDC. I will not delve into names as it would appear like a forlon attempt to open old wounds.

The recent press conference by the distressed trio of Welshman Ncube, Priscilla and Coltart brought memories of the aftermath of the split. Looking dejected and despondent, one could wonder if it was the same team that had exhibited so much exuberance just in the past few weeks or months. The gloomy pictures looked like an episode from a primary school drama. They all seemed to say “we was robbed” when they generously declared that they were now donating the rocket scientist to ZANU PF for free. We haven’t seen or heard of this magnitude of munificence in the political arena in recent years.

As for the rocket scientist, his utterances at some Diaspora conference in Victoria Falls last December were indeed a precursor to the unfolding drama “muchashama ndava Head of State”, were his own words. Little did we know that he was up for donation (or is it political adoption?)

Looking ahead, it appears Arthur has only three options; to join ZANU PF (if he hasn’t done so already), join the real MDC or simply quit politics and utilise his intelligence and education elsewhere. At his tender age, the sky is the limit, only if he makes the right choices of which the time is now.

Our passionate, energetic and vocal sister, Priscilla, should consider submitting her resume’ to WOZA without delay. I’ve no doubt she will be useful there. As for Welsh, like Tich Masaya, he can simply go back to the lecture room of which all local universities would love to have his signature. While he has done fairly well as minister of education, without a political base, Coltart should start talking to the law society and update himself on what needs to be done for him to start practising as a lawyer again. Beyond the next election, unless a miracle happens, I don’t see these three coming back into the political arena. Also, should they choose to pull out of the GNU prematurely, that will never be a trigger for early elections as they have always been an insignificant partner in that hybrid arrangement.

While the rushed MDC-M-N congress produced this drama that we will entertain us for some time, the main MDC congress slated for May as widely reported promises to be a springboard of hope, strength and prosperity as the people’s party comes out of that congress even stronger.

Views expressed in this article are the writer’s personal opinion.

chambokom@gmail.com

VOA

By Peta Thornycroft

16 February 2011

European Union sanctions against President Robert Mugabe and most of his colleagues in the ZANU-PF party have been renewed despite requests from the Southern African Development Community (SADC) that they be abandoned.  The EU has lifted restrictions against 31 people, mostly wives of those on the sanctions list and a few minor political personalities.

Restrictions including visa bans and asset freezes remain on most ZANU-PF leaders and a number of state companies for another year.  The restrictions were first imposed in 2002 after violence accompanying presidential elections.

Three years ago, the EU and United States added state companies and a few private businesses and some business leaders who were not members of ZANU-PF to the list.

South African President Jacob Zuma and other leaders within SADC have asked the EU to lift the restrictions, saying they harm the regional group’s ability to resolve the political and economic crisis in Zimbabwe.

SADC is the guarantor of the political agreement which brought the two-year-old Zimbabwe unity government to power.

Zimbabwe political analyst Brian Raftopoulos said it was clear after recent violence, mostly against supporters of MDC and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai in Harare, that the EU would not lift sanctions.

“Clearly they are moving towards rethinking what the meaning of these sanctions are, and it was always predictable they would not remove them this time around specially because of the recent violence,” said Raftopoulos.

He said the EU had engaged in deep debate about the usefulness of the sanctions and the effect they had on efforts to mediate the issues afflicting Zimbabwe’s power-sharing government.

He said the EU had chosen a holding position.  Raftopoulos and other analysts are concerned about lack of progress of the SADC mediation.

“The problem of course, is that for the moment the SADC mediation doesn’t seem to be moving very effectively,” added Raftopoulos.

MDC finance minister Tendai Biti has said repeatedly that the restrictions against some of Zimbabwe’s state companies should be lifted.  He said restrictions on some of these companies hurt the economy.

Mr. Mugabe says sanctions have caused misery to millions of Zimbabweans.

Zimbabwe trades normally with the EU and the United States.  Most businessmen in Zimbabwe say they want all the restrictions lifted.

Among those whose names have been removed from the EU list is Peter Chingoka, the long- standing boss of Zimbabwe cricket.

When the inclusive government came to power, MDC education minister David Coltart, also responsible for sport, moved quickly to persuade most of the cricketing world to re-engage with Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe cricketers are now playing internationally.

So far neither the EU nor U.S. have disclosed what assets belonging to those on the list have been frozen by the sanctions.

VOA

By Blessing Zulu

15 February 2011

Sources said the power struggle in the MDC wing could strengthen President Robert Mugabe’s hand in determining the timing of new elections this year, as he has argued that the government is so divided that new elections are urgently needed

Zimbabwe’s long-troubled government of national unity faces further strains as embattled Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara is said to be seeking a Cabinet reshuffle that would target his opponents in the smaller Movement for Democratic Change formation.

Sources said the power struggle in the MDC wing could strengthen President Robert Mugabe’s hand in determining the timing of new elections this year, as he has argued that the government is so divided that new elections are urgently needed.

Political sources say Mr. Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai are likely to scotch any move by Mutambara to settle political accounts. He is said to wish to fire his main rivals in the MDC formation: Trade minister Welshman Ncube, elected president of the formation in its congress last month; Regional Integration Minister Priscilla Misihairambwi-Mushonga; and Education Minister David Coltart.

Political sources say Mutambara is likely to seek the reshuffle when Mr. Mugabe returns from Singapore where officials of his ZANU-PF party said this week that he has traveled for follow-up treatment after an operation to correct an eye cataract.

Mr. Mugabe has declined to swear in Ncube to replace Mutambara as deputy prime minister despite Ncube’s election as party president, displacing Mr. Mutambara, noting a pending court case in which disgruntled members have challenged Ncube’s election.

A spokesman for Mutambara’s faction of the now-divided MDC formation, Morgan Changamire, told VOA Studio 7 reporter Blessing Zulu that Mutambara has a mandate for a shuffle of the MDC formation’s ministers. But Nhlanhla Dube spokesman for Ncube’s faction, said Mutambara has no mandate to fire or hire ministers.

Political analyst Earnest Mudzengi said Mutambara’s move is not likely to have a major impact on the cohesion of the already fractious unity government. The power-sharing arrangement, launched in February 2009, has been in place for just over two years.