Byo24News

20 July 2015

Higher Education minister Jonathan Moyo has again been caught up in a social media war with lawyer David Coltart on his Zanu PF membership decades ago and Gukurahundi.

Moyo, known for his sharp tongue described Coltrart as a ‘Rhodie idiot’ and ‘bloody BSAP Selous Scout!’

Moyo recently justified the use of the hate language saying if provoked, he would retaliate.

The Tsholotsho North MP said if a person used vile language on him, he would obviously return fire with fire.

Wrote Moyo this Monday morning “No it’s not. How dare @DavidColtart says I am responsible for Gukurahundi because I was then a member of Zanu PF

“So to Rhodie idiots everyone who was a member of Zanu PF during that dark period is responsible for Gukurahundi.

“I repeat you’re a plain Rhodie idiot. How dare you say I’m responsible for Gukurahundi you bloody BSAP Selous Scout”.

Coltart has asked when did Moyo re-join Zanu PF.

“Anyone who was a member of ZANU PF then, knew about its Gukurahundi policy, and did not resign or speak out became complicit.”

“You obviously didn’t see the question mark and the suggestion that perhaps you “rejoined in ’99”

“You were either a member, at the relevant time, of the party responsible for Gukurahundi, or you were not. The choice is yours.”

The Daily Telegraph

19 July 2015

Ian Ferguson, who owns the last private game ranch in Zimbabwe, faces a new battle to keep his property.

There is a slither of land near Zimbabwe’s southern border that is classified as semi-desert, too arid to support either humans or livestock.

But it teems with eland, leopard, wildebeest, giraffe and other animals of the African bush. Found 20 miles north of the town of Beit Bridge, Denlynian is the last privately-owned game farm in Zimbabwe.
Ian Ferguson, 79, bought this desolate patch of land 30 years ago and transformed it into a wildlife conservancy. His property is now besieged by 50 invaders from President Robert Mugabe’s Zanu-PF party.
Last week, the regime took the unusual step of giving six other white farmers official permission to stay on their land. But the intruders on Denlynian seem determined to drive Mr Ferguson away.

They have ignored a High Court ruling which ordered them to leave Mr Ferguson’s land and take their cattle with them. The police have declined to enforce the court’s decision – and Mr Ferguson has run out of money to pay solicitors, pump water or repair the fences broken by the squatters’ cattle.

“Cattle and wildlife do not do well together,” he said. “Disease between some wildlife and cattle is part of it, but there is also the problem with grazing. It is so dry that the annual grass is scarce, even though we had late rains and have more than usual this year. I need that grass for the wildlife – but it is being eaten by their cattle.”

Many of the invaders do not live on Mr Ferguson’s land. They turn up at weekends to cut down trees for firewood. Far from being the landless masses of Mr Mugabe’s rhetoric, one of the occupiers is an official from the local magistrate’s court.

Mr Ferguson’s dogged struggle to hold onto his land began more than 10 years ago. The first invaders turned up, forcing the farmer to go to court to seek their removal. He mounted about a dozen cases – and won every time.

Then there was a lull in hostilities, but two years ago a particularly aggressive group moved onto the farm at night, killed some wildlife and assaulted foreign tourists. The court again ruled that Mr Ferguson must be allowed to stay and the police warned the invaders they would be arrested if they went near the farm again.

But more invaders arrived earlier this year – and the police steadfastly refused to act. “We don’t get any tourists nowadays as many feel it is not safe here. So there has been no income for a long time,” said Mr Ferguson. “Now this year we have new invaders with their cattle and the police will not evict them.”

The property is kept viable by the income that Mr Ferguson receives from an irrigated citrus farm nearby. Determined to drive him away, his tormentors are now trying to deprive him of this lifeline.
Last week, his lawyer received papers from a new group of invaders – who are mostly junior civil servants – claiming to have been awarded the citrus farm by the regime.

“I don’t yet know if the letters are legal or not, but I was shocked,” said Mr Ferguson. The farm has 25,000 citrus trees beside the Umzingwane River.
Whether any more oranges will be harvested is uncertain. “We don’t know what we can do now as we are in a muddle,” said Mr Ferguson.

Today, the elderly farmer is the sole target of the invaders in the area. Most of the other white landowners in this corner of Zimbabwe have long since fled their homes. But a few wealthy white neighbours have been allowed to continue working without persecution.

“Ian Ferguson has always confronted the government: he won’t stay quiet,” said another farmer from the same province. “He takes them to court. That may be moral – but in Zimbabwe it is stupid.”

David Coltart, a prominent lawyer and former education minister, said that Mr Ferguson was being singled out in retaliation for a “principled battle”.

Mr Coltart added: “He always stuck to non-violence, always used the courts, and he has always been polite in the face of outrageous abuse. Now they are destroying pristine riverine woodland which only has value to tourists and hunters.”

ESPN Cricinfo

18 July 2015

ZIMBABWE offspinner Prosper Utseya has, in a letter to Zimbabwe Cricket, claimed that he is a victim of racism and has levelled a string of allegations against Alistair Campbell, managing director of ZC. In a letter to Wilson Manase, ZC chairman, Utseya claims Campbell:

Has a “personal agenda” against him which influenced his non-selection [in the playing XI] at the recent World Cup.
Appointed white coaches and administrators during his 2010-2012 stint as chairman of the cricket committee in order to take control of cricket.
Had a conflict of interest in setting up Dominus Sport, the company that ran ZC’s marketing affairs during his time as cricket committee chairman, and his actions had an impact on ZC’s funds.
Utseya confirmed to ESPNcricinfo that he had written the letter after the World Cup and prior to Zimbabwe’s tour of Pakistan, but could not comment further at this stage. Campbell said he was unable to comment as the matter was pending either legal or internal disciplinary action.

With Utseya openly basing some of these claims in the letter on “rumour”, he would appear to be open to legal action, though the matter may ultimately be dealt with internally at ZC. It is understood that ZC is currently investigating the letter.

“Racism and Victimisation”

The letter copies all ZC board members and bears the headline “Racism and Victimisation”, and begins: “Through you Mr. Chairman I wish to share my frustrations as I believe I am a victim of racism and have come to a point where I feel I have been quiet for too long whilst a lot has been happening.”

After more than 10,000 words, Utseya finally closes his case with a plea for the board to consider his concerns.

Utseya, who was in Zimbabwe’s World Cup squad but did not get a game, claims he considered leaving the World Cup prematurely out of frustration, and cites Campbell’s pre-tournament comments as a back story to support his contention that ZC’s managing director conspired against his potential selection.

Last year, the ICC banned Utseya from bowling offspin, and in a guest column for the governing body in the lead-up to the World Cup, Campbell wrote: “I’m still a bit baffled by how Prosper Utseya will get on without being allowed to bowl his off-spinner, but no doubt he’ll find a way.

“He’ll certainly be the only bowler in the tournament without a ‘stock’ ball. He has been bowling medium-pacers and off-cutters recently so perhaps that is the way he will go.”

Utseya was banned from bowling after testing in September 2014. In December, his offbreak was found to be illegal but his other deliveries were deemed legal, and so he was cleared to bowl again so long as he did not utilise his stock ball.

His new method was field-tested for the first time on a trip to Uganda in December 2014 and he then captained Zimbabwe A against Canada at home in January.

In four games he took five wickets at an average of 17.80, bowling his full 10 overs in every match, never conceding more than 24 runs, and also contributed useful runs down the order.

In his letter, Utseya uses this as evidence that he deserved to be picked at the World Cup, but does not elaborate on how Campbell was able to influence selection at the tournament.

Administrative allegations

To support his racial allegations, Utseya goes on to list cases where Campbell appointed white people for coaching and administration posts, during his stint as chairman of the cricket committee and chairman of selectors, including coaching roles to Heath Streak and Grant Flower.

Utseya claims the decision to make Mangongo assistant coach was merely “a cover up to have a black man”. The employment of foreign white coaches at franchise level – Jason Gillespie, Allan Donald and Andrew Hall all coached Zimbabwean franchises during this period – is also cited as a ploy to “make sure that it is dominated by whites and thereby taking control of cricket”.

Utseya also alleges that the appointment of Elton Chigumbura as Zimbabwe captain after he stepped down in 2010 was a short-term set up for Campbell to achieve a long-term goal.

“When I was removed from the captaincy with no genuine reason, Elton Chigumbura was then appointed,” Utseya writes.

“Their aim was simply to put a white captain in B Taylor simply because they believe a white coach cannot work with a black captain and the change from Utseya to B Taylor would not look good politically hence the Elton route. Elton was not given a chance to prove himself and was quickly dropped from the captaincy.”

Chigumbura captained Zimbabwe in 20 ODIs between May 2010 and the end of the 2011 World Cup, but the extra responsibility affected his form.

After the 2011 World Cup, Chigumbura said that he planned to resign and focus on his own game, but later retracted that statement. In June 2011, ZC’s then managing director Ozias Bvute announced that Taylor would take over the captaincy.

Later in the letter, Utseya claims that Campbell has suggested he become a coach, is not giving him a chance to remodel his action and is trying to prevent him from gaining a national contract.

“Bearing in mind I still have an opportunity at 30 years old to work on my off spin. If I can reinvent in 2 months and make it Man of the Series in my comeback series with my new bowling action I reckon within 4 months I will be brilliant and what more in a year’s time I will be an artist at work. ICC can take away my offspin but they cannot take away my brains and experience which must count for something.”

Utseya goes on to suggest that given Zimbabwe’s “unique” racial situation, the position of managing director should be split – and offers to fill the second post.

“It is my humble wish that if Alistair Campbell can suggest that at 30 years old I can be involved in Franchise coaching and if the ZC Board also agrees with him in that I am not adding value as a player with my new bowling action, I would like to go 2 steps further than his suggestion and put my hand up for consideration for the proposed split post as I have the credentials.”

Race and cricket in Zimbabwe

This is not the first instance of allegations of racism surfacing in the Zimbabwe cricket set-up.

Cricket remained a predominantly white sport in Zimbabwe for two decades after majority rule in 1980, although after Henry Olonga became the country’s first black cricketer in 1995, other black players started to filter through.

For a time, it seemed that transformation of the game might happen organically, but the troubled wider political and social context caught up with cricket.
In March 2001, ZCU announced the formation of an Integration Task Force focused on the “rapid evolution” of the game, and the eradication of racial discrimination in cricket.

Players had to fill out a racism survey and, in the eyes of the predominantly white players, the integration targets set out by the Task Force amounted to an unofficial quota system.

This was one of the factors that led to the player rebellion in April 2004, followed by the exit of 15 white players from the national squad.

In September that year, the ICC held a hearing into allegations of racism began in Harare. The hearing ended amid allegations that ZCU was trying to create a hostile environment and intimidate witnesses and in October, then ICC president Ehsan Mani said he was satisfied with the findings of the report which found no evidence of racism in Zimbabwe cricket.

In January 2013 issues of race came to the fore again when the Sports and Recreation Commission, headed by the then Minister of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture David Coltart, issued a directive that any person tasked with convening the selection of a national side should have played international sport themselves.

The directive was portrayed as being racially motivated by Givemore Makoni, the convenor of selectors and the man most directly affected by it.

Stephen Mangongo’s tenure as national coach was marked by general player ambivalence towards his coaching style, rather than any particular racial tension, but when Mangongo lost his position after Zimbabwe’s whitewashing by Bangladesh last December, he reportedly said: “I am inclined to comment that I don’t think that Zimbabwe cricket was ready for an indigenous black person.

“It’s about acceptance, it’s about being ready for that and the alarmists already rang a lot of bells because a black guy had taken the head coach’s mantle.”

This was despite the fact that the people responsible for the termination of his position were also black, and is indicative, in a general sense, of the way in which matters of race and racism are drawn into areas of disagreement in Zimbabwean cricket.

Newsweek

July 13 2015

ON a Friday afternoon in the leafy northern suburbs of Harare, white, sun-baked former farmers gather at the Tin Cup restaurant for a lunch of barbecued ribs and cold Castle lagers, and to talk about the good old days. The owner, Leith Bray, was run off his Tengwe farm in 2002 by a baying mob intent on killing him, but he now laughs that off as part of life’s rich tapestry.

Half a mile away, past the desperate, ragged street-corner vendors selling everything from mobile phone airtime to rhinos made from beer cans, a younger crowd is dining on fusion cuisine in four acres of lush landscaped gardens. It’s called Amanzi Restaurant, and it’s owned by Andrew and Julia Mama, a gregarious Nigerian-British couple who fled sectarian violence in Nigeria to settle in what they regard as a relatively peaceful African country. Amanzi draws diplomats, nongovernmental organization employees, aid workers and visiting European doctors, all of whom give the Zimbabwean capital a veneer of prosperity and normality.

But Zimbabwe is anything but prosperous and normal. The country’s economy is a disaster after three decades of dictatorial rule by President Robert Mugabe, a former independence leader who has long been a pariah in the West, and his Zimbabwe African National Union Patriotic Front (Zanu PF) party. Zimbabwe faces a devastating famine this year, with a shortfall of more than a million metric tons of maize.

These days, the 91-year-old Mugabe’s role as president of the African Union has him spending most of his time jetting from one AU constituency to another. Meanwhile, at home, for the first time in 35 years of totalitarian rule, Mugabe’s political party is starting to tear itself apart, purging former stalwarts and breaking into warring factions as leadership contenders position themselves for the moment the Old Man dies.

I have just spent a month traveling around Zimbabwe, and in the wilderness areas, the rural communities and the major cities, the phrase that prefaces almost every conversation is “When the Old Man goes…”

Mugabe critics end up dead

Uncertainty about the future alarms David Coltart, a former cabinet minister in the now defunct Government of National Unity.

He says that since the country’s independence from white minority rule in 1980, “we have never had a situation where you’ve got weapons under the control of so many different entities—ZANU is fragmented, the army is fragmented, the Central Intelligence Organisation is fragmented, the police are fragmented—and there is a leadership vacuum. As a country, as a people, we are at our lowest ebb.”

Major contenders to take power after Mugabe include 60-year-old Joice Mujuru, a former vice president and widow of the assassinated General Solomon Mujuru, and 69-year-old Emmerson Mnangagwa, the current vice president and a living embodiment of Zanu PF’s Stalinist old guard.

Mujuru was expelled from the party at its National Congress last year, accused of planning a coup. She retreated to the farm bequeathed to her by her husband, and from there she is apparently planning the first post-Mugabe government. Eddie Cross, a member of the Movement for Democratic Change party, says she is in great danger.

Mujuru knows that critics of the Mugabe government have ended up dead in suspicious circumstances. Most recently, in late March, the journalist and human rights activist Itai Dzamara was bundled into an unmarked car and has not been seen since. It is assumed that he is dead.

After making a statement on corruption associated with the Marange alluvial diamond fields, Edward Chindori-Chininga, a former Zanu PF chairman of the mines committee, was killed in a car crash on a distant country road.

The official version is that it was a road accident, but opposition politicians insist he was shot in the head while he was driving. Chindori-Chininga was buried within 24 hours of his death, and there was no autopsy.

Cross remembers congratulating Chindori-Chininga on a brave parliamentary speech. “He said, ‘They’re going to come after me.’ Ten days later, he was dead.”

The overwhelming majority of Zimbabweans Newsweek spoke to want a new president, and a new government, as soon as possible. They dread the idea of another rigged election in 2018 that, given past form, could give Mugabe yet another presidential term at the age of 94.

One name kept coming up: Simba Makoni. In 2008, he ran against Mugabe and Morgan Tsvangirai in the presidential election and came in a distant third.

I meet Makoni at his Galleria KwaMurongo, an arts centre and restaurant in Harare. He has supported Tsvangirai in the past and recognizes the need to form what he calls a “grand coalition” to oust Mugabe and his party.

Liberation promise betrayed

Makoni was educated at Leeds University during the 1970s Rhodesian War and returned to Zimbabwe to take his place in the ZANU-PF political machine in the early days of independence. Then, he says, Mugabe and a small circle of insiders began to betray the ethical base of the liberation struggle.

“Today, the rulers are so far away from the visions, ideals, principles, ambitions of the liberation movement I was proud to be part of,” he says with a bleak smile.

Makoni left Zanu PF in 2008, “and the day I announced I was leaving, somebody in the party promised me I would be buried within a week.” Seven years later, he is still around, a man several foreign diplomats described to me as “the most ethical politician in the country.”

Today, the voice in Mugabe’s ear, according to Makoni and others, is that of his wife, Grace. Her rise to political prominence over the past 12 months has been spectacular, even by Zimbabwe’s warped standards of dynastic entitlement.

Grace was a typist in the president’s office when she and Mugabe began an affair, apparently sanctioned by his dying first wife, Sally. Now approaching 50, she has been transformed from first lady and mother of Mugabe’s two children to leader of Zanu PF’s Women’s League, which secures her a place in the ruling party’s politburo.

Makoni is sure the end of the Mugabe era is very close, and “when he goes the door will open for us to rebuild and restore a modicum of esteem and decency and respect for ourselves.”

However, he does fear a desperate attempt by the Mugabe dynasty to hang on to power.

“Grace wants to be there,” he says. “It’s unbelievable, but it’s true. She wants to be president. That’s how irrational we have become.”

This article was originally published by Newsweek magazine.

The Standard

5 July 2015

Is the Presidential Scholarship still relevant?

That is the million dollar question as the Zimbabwe government fails to pay fees at South African universities on time, resulting in some beneficiaries turning into destitutes.

The scheme, whose patron is President Robert Mugabe, has had its fair share of public disdain as government has not been able to justify the millions of dollars being poured into the programme annually.

Critics have questioned the rationale behind spending millions of dollars on students who have gone to various universities in South Africa under the scheme, at the expense of heavily under-funded local colleges and universities.

A student studying at any South African university pays a minimum of R30 000, (close to US$4 000) a year without accommodation. At most Zimbabwe universities, students pay less than $1 000 for two semesters, which is less than a third of what is required across the border.

The scholarship programme was introduced by Mugabe in 1995 primarily to assist talented children from underprivileged families acquire university education.

Initially all the students were sent to the University of Fort Hare in South Africa, where Mugabe himself studied for a BA degree. Now students can go to 15 other receiving universities in South Africa, among them Johannesburg, Monash, Cape Town, Venda and Rhodes Universities.

But the scheme has come under heavy criticism from mostly MDC-T legislators who argue that it benefits students from rich families and those related to Zanu PF bigwigs.

“The Presidential scholarship scheme has always been controversial because it is so opaque. There needs to be a more transparent process in which scholarships are given purely on the grounds of academic talent and poverty,” said former education minister David Coltart.

Last year in March enrolment was temporarily halted after funds dried up as the government owed South African universities over US$1 million in tuition fees.

The director of the fund, Christopher Mushowe said the government had no funds and had decided not to enroll anymore students. However, a few months down the line it was announced that the enrolment would take place.

Recently another advert was flighted calling for applications for the 2016 academic year.

“The Presidential Scholarship targets able but disadvantaged students mainly from the rural schools, intent on pursuing undergraduate studies at universities in South Africa,” reads the advert.

Courses on offer included engineering, health sciences, agriculture and humanities.

“This is madness. It does not make sense that it is called the presidential scholarship and yet the state is paying for it using public funds,” said former finance minister Tendai Biti.
During his tenure as the finance minister, Biti was blamed by Mushowe for the demise of the fund.

In 2010 Mushowe told journalists that Biti allocated US$3 million for students at 15 universities and that was not enough.

“We carried over the balance to 2011 but again we got US$2 million and it got worse in 2012 when he gave us a paltry US$1 million,” he said.

The former Finance minister refused to fund the $54 million-per-year scheme in 2013, arguing that it was Mugabe’s responsibility as the patron of the fund to mobilise resources to bankroll the scholarship programme.

Biti has consistently defended his actions saying the scheme was erroneously drawing from the fiscus when it was a private foundation.

“It is known traditionally that retired or serving statesmen create foundations to deal with some philanthropic cause, but they do not abuse public funds,” Biti said.

Adamant and bent on proving that the President cannot be patron to an unsuccessful project, officials at the helm of the scheme and bootlickers have frothed at the mouth defending its existence.

This is despite reports that some students under the programme were at one point starving while some did not have accommodation.
Last year Mushowe had to travel to South Africa to negotiate with students’ landlords and sign commitment documents so that their accommodation would be guaranteed.

The presidential scholarship programme was founded in 1995 to give academically gifted students from poor families a chance to study at South African universities. It drew students from each of the country’s 10 provinces and initially only 15 students were approved but now the enrolment has grown significantly.

“This was supposed to be for a few select beneficiaries but now it is a mass project; surely it defies logic when back home universities are in a shameful condition,” said Biti.

Most universities are a sorry sight and students are struggling to attend lectures in the absence of grants which were withdrawn years ago.

“That money should be used as grants which are critically needed to ease the burden of local students,” said the spokesperson of the Zimbabwe National Students Union (Zinasu), Avoid Masiraha.

Coltart said ideally, a neutral body of educationalists that are empowered to grant bursaries to the best candidates who meet the minimum requirements should be tasked to oversee the fund.

“The fund is obviously poorly administered and is used for political advantage rather than for the benefit of students,” said the former education minister.

“This fund is irrelevant when we have students right here who cannot pay for their education locally,” said Masiraha.

Zimeye

3 July 2015

In the early 1980s, I was a young man in my twenties listening and reading with keen interest as nationalist politicians promised us unlimited access to free education, health and such other things. The newly ‘crowned’ ZANU Prime Minister, Robert Mugabe, dazzled bemused Zimbabweans with Marxist-Maoist rhetoric as government plunged itself into an orgy of unprecedented public expenditure. Schools, ‘vocational training centres’, clinics and hospitals mushroomed everywhere pushing adult literacy rates high and child mortality rates low. I was impressed. But looking back at the scenario today, as a mature politician concerned for the welfare of citizens, I realise that the euphoria of independence concealed one vital statistic from us: the cost of these supposedly free services.

I have always argued with the intellectual ideologues in my party that it does not matter what political persuasion one is, one must always be sensitive to the plight of the poor and disadvantaged in order to leave an indelible mark in one’s political history. Any sensible Zimbabwean leader – I included – must be alert to the millions of citizens out there who cannot afford basic education, health and food. My question today, which I will attempt to deal with empirical evidence is this: should we respond to the plight of the disadvantaged by a simplistic ‘free everything’ policy?

Our national constitution advances an agenda of equality and justice. The only challenge we have to grapple with is that of interpretation. To put it in context: the argument between residents associations and councils over pre-paid water meters is that of right of access versus sustainability. Let me desist from legal debate – the basis of my premise being whether ‘right to’ means ‘at whatever cost to the provider’. For those like me, who travel and investigate political systems, you know that social democracy as practiced in Nordic countries allows private enterprise to generate enough taxable resources that add value to national endowment. These are the resources tapped to provide subsidised – not necessarily free – quality education, health and other infrastructure. In some countries, education is totally free from cradle to grave. Yet in those countries taxes are prohibitively high, while citizens literally work twenty-four-seven!

Zimbabweans are some of the most highly taxed people in the world, yet revenue ‘disappears’ into pay packets of civil servants and wanton political abuse by the ruling party. There is just not enough left to push the social service agenda. The Mugabe government has toyed around with the ‘free-now-not-so-free-now’ idea, with disastrous consequences. When it suits them, as Secretary for Primary and Secondary Education Constance Chigwamba once did, they ‘freeze’ school fees for political expediency. University students routinely riot over tuition fees as ‘government students’ at Fort Hare in South Africa starve. This is my point: if the economy is not generating money, no amount of populist rhetoric will deliver free ‘anything’.

Former Malawi President Bakili Muluzi’s free education policy ballooned primary school enrollment by almost two million, but because of poor infrastructure, citizens did not enjoy the benefits of this ‘freedom’. Free education without schools, books and well looked after teachers is simple politicking. Both PTUZ and ZIMTA will attest to that thousands of teachers fleeing Zimbabwe because the Mugabe government fails dismally to reconcile political rhetoric with governance reality. My colleague and former education minister David Coltart was the closest Zimbabweans ever came to sanity in our education system. As long as ZANU PF economic policies are repulsive to investors, our universities will never attract sufficient private grants for research and industry-tailored skills training. Someone has to pay the ‘cost’ of freedom.

The Public Library of Sciences published an article edited by Zulfiqar Bhutta, examining the impact of free primary health delivery in Ghana. For obvious reasons, there was a ‘stampede effect’ where poor people who previously could not afford, inundated health facilities. He observed it was only a national health insurance scheme that could assist institutions to improve infrastructure to cope with increased pre and post natal care. However, the author still argued that there was ‘generally a “scarcity of good quality evidence” on the effect of such policies in low- and middle-income countries’. Nonetheless, ‘accelerated reduction in inequality is evident and is primarily a result of the larger immediate increases in coverage observed in poorer women compared with richer women.’ What shocked me most was the conclusion that ‘(S)tudies on benefit incidence by the World Bank have shown that the richest often benefit more than others when care is available free of charge because they are more able to express their demand and to influence healthcare professionals.’

Sophie Witter of the Institute of Applied Health Sciences in Scotland did a similar study on ‘Aama’ (mother) by Nepal’s Maoist-led government, nonetheless mostly funded by UK’s DFID. Inevitably, there was ‘an increase in institutional deliveries in the public sector and in other facilities included in the policy since the introduction of Aama’. Not to mention an increase in workload and demand for better staff incentives. The researcher concludes positively that ‘Aama policy appears to be operating with reasonable effectiveness, as seen from the facility perspective.’

I touched on the ongoing pre-paid water meter debacle – constitutionality and feasibility of ‘free water’. No doubt, many studies have been carried out on water delivery, including such by Peter Brabeck-Lemathe (‘Water is a human right but not a free good’), Fredrik Segerfeldt (‘Water for Sale’) and the Academic Foundation’s ‘Keeping the Water Flowing’ (Barun Mitra, Kendra Okonski and Mohit Satyanand). Brabeneck-Lemathe argues that use of water to fill up swimming pools, watering flower/vegetable gardens and washing cars should come with a commercial cost. The provision of ‘safe, clean, accessible and affordable drinking water and sanitation for all’ is as much a human right as it is a legitimate UN demand. He adds that “(W)ater as a free good leads directly to what is known as the ‘tragedy of the commons’.” Brabeneck-Lemathe prefers subsidies to outright ‘water freedom’, because, as in India, people end up paying more to vendors because of a dysfunctional municipal system.

Mitra, Okonski and Satyanand argue that ‘cheap’ water results in less investment in infrastructure. Eventually councils fail to deliver water, forcing ratepayers to buy from private suppliers who are not necessarily expensive if permitted to compete in a ‘free water market’. South Koreans wasted water because it was almost free, thus, the authors argue that a more sustainable Increasing Block Tariff system is better in the long run for ratepayers. They site an example of Ecuador where heavy water subsidies resulted in a near fifty percent collapse in infrastructure, since it was impossible to recover the cost of water delivery.

During the height of ZANU PF’s land ‘reform’, it was common practice for President Mugabe to trigger ‘free input euphoria’ at rallies. The then Reserve Bank Governor, Gideon Gono, succumbed with massive expenditure in free fertilizers, fuel and implements that eventually plunged Zimbabwe into the food insecurity cabbage it is now. By 2014, deputy minister, Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation responsible for cropping, Davis Marapira had seen the light: “The days of farmers getting free inputs are over. We have resolved as government that starting from this season, 2014 to 2015 farmers will no longer be getting free inputs for agriculture…” His party colleague, Paddy Zhanda was blunter, reminding cattle owners “Your cow is worth more than $400 and a bag of fertiliser costs around $10, so if you sell that cow, you get 40 bags of fertiliser. Stop getting used to waiting for free inputs.” Hooray to the new light in ZANU PF that it may have been free yesterday, but in the end, someone will pay for it!

– See more at: http://www.zimeye.com/it-maybe-free-but-someone-pays-for-it/#sthash.PhJtjkHv.dpuf

Southern Eye

2 July 2015

Prominent Bulawayo lawyer Joseph James’ death has shaken the sporting and legal community who described him as principled and
professional.

James (59), a former Sports and Recreation Commission (SRC) chairperson, succumbed to cancer on Sunday.

SRC director-general Charles Nhemachena led the tributes saying the sporting fraternity had become poorer after his death.

“It is devastating. It is a very sad development. I worked with him directly as he was my chairman and I was his chief executive officer,” he said.

“We got very close. He was very professional, methodical and knowledgeable about sport and the fact that he was a former football player himself made him the right person for that job.”

Former Education, Sport and Culture minister David Coltart, who is also a lawyer and appointed James (59) to the SRC board, spoke glowingly of the top lawyer.

“I had known him for 32 years and he was one of Zimbabwe’s best lawyers,” he said.

“He was a man of the utmost integrity. In court he was a formidable opponent, tenacious and bright, but never took things personally. He treated people equally and fairly, and spoke his mind without fear.

“He loved his family and sport, in particular football which he played up until recently, socially.”

Coltart said James was frustrated that he could not do as much as he wanted for Zimbabwean sport during his tenure as SRC chairperson.

“When I became minister, I appointed him chairman of the SRC and we worked hard to try and eradicate corruption and partisanship,” he said.

“Both of us were frustrated that we did not achieve more. James worked hard to improve sport in Zimbabwe.”

The Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) said James was “deeply” respected for his professionalism.

“Jumbo — as Joseph James was affectionately called — was a principled member of the legal profession in Zimbabwe, and a deeply respected past president of the Law Society of Zimbabwe between 2005 and 2008,” ZLHR said.

“This was a tumultuous period for the legal profession and for the rule of law in the country.

“Throughout his tenure, he acquitted himself with the highest levels of fearlessness, professionalism and commitment to protecting the independence and integrity of the legal profession and speaking truth to power.”

ZLHR said James was a loyal member of the organisation and was a mentor to young lawyers.

“Respected and loved by his peers both within the profession and on the bench, Jumbo also endeared himself to new generations of lawyers, and was always ready and willing to mentor and support them,” the organisation added.

“It is no surprise that his commitment to the profession and to justice for all earned him recognition when he was honoured with the Walter Kamba Rule of Law Award in 2012.

Jumbo was a dearly loved, active and loyal senior member of ZLHR. His advice, support and learned counsel were always sought out and will be treasured for years to come

“His loss will leave a marked void in the organisation and in our hearts.”

Zimbabwe Cricket chairperson Wilson Manase said the cricket body had always received wise counsel from James.

“As our lawyer, we found Joseph to be a brilliant legal mind who always applied himself diligently to each case before him,” he said.

“Later, we benefited greatly from his advice and support as chairman of the Sports and Recreation and Commission — a post he was more than adequately suited for, given his ardent love for sport which saw him playing it and then later founding clubs and sponsoring them, before he moved into administration

James is survived by his wife and four children. Bulawayo lawyer Josphat Tshuma yesterday said his burial arrangements would be announced after his wife and children, who are outside the country, arrived back home.

James’ wife is in Australia and is expected to jet in today while his two other children are expected tomorrow.

James was a partner in Moyo-Majwabu and Nyoni Legal Practitioners.

James (59), a former Sports and Recreation Commission (SRC) chairperson, succumbed to cancer on Sunday.

SRC director-general Charles Nhemachena led the tributes saying the sporting fraternity had become poorer after his death.

“It is devastating. It is a very sad development. I worked with him directly as he was my chairman and I was his chief executive officer,” he said.

“We got very close. He was very professional, methodical and knowledgeable about sport and the fact that he was a former football player himself made him the right person for that job.”

Former Education, Sport and Culture minister David Coltart, who is also a lawyer and appointed James (59) to the SRC board, spoke glowingly of the top lawyer.

“I had known him for 32 years and he was one of Zimbabwe’s best lawyers,” he said.

“He was a man of the utmost integrity. In court he was a formidable opponent, tenacious and bright, but never took things personally. He treated people equally and fairly, and spoke his mind without fear.

“He loved his family and sport, in particular football which he played up until recently, socially.”

Coltart said James was frustrated that he could not do as much as he wanted for Zimbabwean sport during his tenure as SRC chairperson.

“When I became minister, I appointed him chairman of the SRC and we worked hard to try and eradicate corruption and partisanship,” he said.

“Both of us were frustrated that we did not achieve more. James worked hard to improve sport in Zimbabwe.”

The Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) said James was “deeply” respected for his professionalism.

“Jumbo — as Joseph James was affectionately called — was a principled member of the legal profession in Zimbabwe, and a deeply respected past president of the Law Society of Zimbabwe between 2005 and 2008,” ZLHR said.

“This was a tumultuous period for the legal profession and for the rule of law in the country.

“Throughout his tenure, he acquitted himself with the highest levels of fearlessness, professionalism and commitment to protecting the independence and integrity of the legal profession and speaking truth to power.”

ZLHR said James was a loyal member of the organisation and was a mentor to young lawyers.

“Respected and loved by his peers both within the profession and on the bench, Jumbo also endeared himself to new generations of lawyers, and was always ready and willing to mentor and support them,” the organisation added.

“It is no surprise that his commitment to the profession and to justice for all earned him recognition when he was honoured with the Walter Kamba Rule of Law Award in 2012.

Jumbo was a dearly loved, active and loyal senior member of ZLHR. His advice, support and learned counsel were always sought out and will be treasured for years to come.

“His loss will leave a marked void in the organisation and in our hearts.”

Zimbabwe Cricket chairperson Wilson Manase said the cricket body had always received wise counsel from James.

“As our lawyer, we found Joseph to be a brilliant legal mind who always applied himself diligently to each case before him,” he said.

“Later, we benefited greatly from his advice and support as chairman of the Sports and Recreation and Commission — a post he was more than adequately suited for, given his ardent love for sport which saw him playing it and then later founding clubs and sponsoring them, before he moved into administration.”

James is survived by his wife and four children. Bulawayo lawyer Josphat Tshuma yesterday said his burial arrangements would be announced after his wife and children, who are outside the country, arrived back home

James’ wife is in Australia and is expected to jet in today while his two other children are expected tomorrow.

James was a partner in Moyo-Majwabu and Nyoni Legal Practitioners.

Newsday

1 July 2015

I have been privileged to know Joseph James, or as we would affectionately call him, Jumbo, for over 30 years and am deeply saddened by his passing away on Sunday.

When I first came across him as an opponent in court he had a considerable advantage over me, having had more legal experience than me.

He was always a tough, feisty lawyer, but what struck me in those first encounters was that he had a keen sense of justice and a gentle spirit. As hard as he would fight a case he would always respect the need for balance, truth and fairness. Although I was junior to him, he would always treat me with unfailing courtesy — something I know all respected in him.

Zimbabwe has lost a legal giant — not necessarily because he reached the soaring heights of legal academia or eloquence, but because of his innate sense of what was right and wrong, and his courage, in a quiet and determined way, to redress injustice in our society.

His commitment to the rule of law was all-consuming; he was a passionate lawyer, a lawyer’s lawyer, who devoted his entire professional life to upholding the finest traditions and standards of the law profession in Zimbabwe.

His own firm was run to the highest ethical standards and in all my experience of him, his word was truly his bond. He was utterly devoted to the profession, demonstrated in his election as President of the Law Society, which he served so well. But he was also a lawyer who understood that there could be no justice if marginalised, poor people did not have fair access to the legal system.

In that regard he was one of the first to volunteer his time for the Legal Aid Clinic set up in 1983, and was one of the most devoted supporters of its successor the Bulawayo Legal Projects Centre (BLBC).

The Standard

28 June 2015

Jonathan Moyo’s social media spats using unrestrained language are uncalled for and unstrategic for someone who doubles as a “Information minister and government spokesperson”, analysts have said.

Moyo was last week chucked out of Cabinet by President Robert Mugabe on a supposed technicality after he won the Tsholotsho seat after initially being appointed minister as a non-constituent MP. Mugabe has remained coy on his plot, leaving his spin doctor to guess on his future in Cabinet.

Since Moyo joined micro blobbing site Twitter early this year, some of his conversations with followers have degenerated into serious verbal exchanges with the acerbic minister at times using uncouth language to denigrate the views of his followers, and at times using such words like “idiot”.

Moyo has justified the use of the hate language saying if provoked, he would retaliate. The Tsholotsho North MP said if a person used vile language on him, he would obviously return fire with fire.

However, media expert and lawyer Chris Mhike said national leaders, particularly politicians and government officials were expected to be dignified and measured in their conduct and speech.
“Unrestrained and crude mudslinging is unlikely to mould Zimbabwe into an ‘unhu/ubuntu-driven’ or clean society. Some of that insult language is certainly not ministerial,” Mhike said.

“As Minister of Information, Media and Broadcasting Services (assuming that he still holds that portfolio), Prof. Moyo would also do well to lead by example through respecting the ethics of mass communication and therefore refraining from venomous language.”

He said Zanu PF would certainly lose a great deal of its dignity when senior and prominent officials use undignified language on public fora.

“Where the targets of the diatribe are significant political players in foreign jurisdictions, these kinds of exchanges could also harm Zimbabwe’s diplomatic relations with the relevant nations,” said the human rights lawyer.

Mhike said Moyo could easily be sued by aggrieved persons or institutions under civil law; or proceedings could be instituted against him in terms of criminal law and procedure, and that could be embarrassing for him.
“While he commendably objects to the existence of criminal defamation in Zimbabwe, that law is still officially valid, according to the Constitutional Court of Zimbabwe and in terms of the Criminal Law [Codification and Reform] Act. The recent conviction of Tatenda Machingauta who had insulted Hon. Joseph Chinotimba on Whatsapp is a clear example of the applicability of criminal law to those who use offensive language on social media platforms,” Mhike said.

He said most media laws were out-dated and therefore incongruent to social media dynamics.
“There is no single Zimbabwean law that specifically regulates the social media. However, there are generic rules and statutes that would be applicable to the use of language on social media,” Mhike said.

“For instance, since some of the social media platforms are administered through telephonic or mobile phone systems, the Postal and Telecommunications Act could be utilised in legal proceedings. Further, under civil law, the Professor’s diatribe — where extreme, could well be actionable as a delict [legal wrong]. Under criminal law, the obnoxious criminal defamation provision could be applied against him or other users of fetid language.”
Moyo, who amassed close to 16 000 followers since he joined twitter in February, was in recent weeks involved in a verbal showdown with former South African Reserve Bank Governor Tito Mboweni whom he described as an “Uncle Tom, irrational, foolish and a charlatan”. That was after Mboweni tweeted that he was annoyed by Moyo’s rants on twitter at a time Zimbabweans were suffering.

In no time, Moyo was engaged in another showdown with Prosecutor-General Johannes Tomana for reportedly suggesting that 12-year-old girls could consent to sex. Earlier, Moyo had also engaged in serious verbal wars with Vice-President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s loyalists, describing them as “shocking self-styled pro-VP Mnangagwa successionists” whom he accused of “reproducing Gamatox epithets against erstwhile Cdes!”
Media lecturer, Alexander Rusero said Moyo’s outbursts on social media was uncalled for since he was a government minister and spokesperson. He said Moyo ran the risk of having his personal views being mistaken for government views.

“There will be some implications of being a government spokesperson. Moyo is someone who is free to express himself but at times becomes excited and overwhelmed and forgets his government role,” Rusero said.
“I am not sure how bad the language is but sometimes it can be construed to represent government position. Moyo should know better. I don’t think he is intelligent, he is just a learned professor.”

Rusero said: “Moyo cannot comment on everything and everyone. This can cause a diplomatic uproar. Look at the way he exchanged [harsh words] with Mboweni and Mboweni is a close friend of Thabo Mbeki [former South African President]and Mbeki is close friends with Mugabe. Moyo should be paying for that. He should be more careful, Mugabe is the AU and Sadc chairperson, he needs friends now more than ever.”

Political analyst Pedzisai Ruhanya said Moyo should exercise restraint on social media platforms as a government spokesperson.

“Moyo should understand that he is far from being a private citizen and some people might just be there to provoke him into such rants that could be damaging to the government,” Ruhanya said.

Moyo, outside twitter has coined a lot of derogatory terms to describe his supposed enemies. He often describes former Education minister David Coltart as a Rhodie while opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai has always been at the receiving end of Moyo’s unrestrained and unsolicited attacks. He has at times been described using phrases such as “open zip, open mouth and shut mind”. Mhike was once also described as a “pedestrian and bush lawyer”.

National Geographic

25 June 2015

A grim fate likely awaits young elephants plucked from Zimbabwe’s wild.

Chinese crews in a Zimbabwe park are reportedly preparing young elephants and lions captured there for transport to China, triggering alarm among activists who fear that the animals are doomed to a life of suffering.

Sources close to the scene have claimed that the facility in Hwange National Park, where elephants have been confined since late last year, has been turned over to the Chinese.

According to Sharon Hoole, a Zimbabwe-born, UK-based animal activist who has been closely following—and protesting—the planned export of the Hwange elephants, “We were pushing and asking [our sources] for photos, specifically of the hydraulic equipment and the trucks and forklifts [brought to the park], and we weren’t getting feedback from our contacts.”

She says she found out on June 18 that most of the Zimbabwean staff at the facility have been replaced by Chinese workers and veterinarians.

Hoole was also told that the Chinese are “rehearsing” loading elephants into their transportation crates with bull hooks.

Given what is now known about the high intelligence of elephants and the importance of their social bonds, ripping them from their herds and sending them across the globe to be kept in prison-like conditions is deeply troubling to those who know them intimately.

“For elephants, being held captive for decades in a circus or in the majority of the world’s zoos is gruesome, a fate worse than death,” Joyce Poole, the cofounder of Kenya-based ElephantVoices, a research and advocacy organization, told National Geographic.

Claims about the planned wildlife export are almost impossible to verify, but news reports and information pieced together from conservation groups, veterinarians, citizens, and animal advocates suggest that some elephants are now on the verge of being flown to China, where they may end up in a safari park.

The Backstory

This murky saga began last November, when a local wildlife organization, the Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force (ZCTF), sent out an alert that 34 elephants, 7 lions, and 10 sable antelopes had been captured in Hwange and would be sent to China.

But in December, Saviour Kasukuwere, Zimbabwe’s environment minister, told National Geographic in an email “We have not authorized any exports of elephants to China.”

In January 2015, the Guardian reported that Zimbabwe officials said the elephants, in fact,would be sent to China and France.

In an email in February to National Geographic, Meng Xianlin, of the CITES management authority in China, denied that the elephants would be imported into his country.

The French CITES authority also told National Geographic that France had no plan to import the elephants.

In March, in an interview with National Geographic, Kasukuwere said that the Hwange calves would be relocated within Zimbabwe. But he also said that Zimbabwe authorities were looking for buyers and that if they received an “order,” they would export elephants accordingly.

More recently, in another U-turn, the Telegraph reported that the elephants were destined for Chimelong Safari Park. Kasukuwere told the Telegraph that the elephants had been “tamed.”

Kasukuwere also said that after five years, the elephants would return to “the forests of Zimbabwe.”

Ainsley Hay, with the National Council of SPCAs, in South Africa, says that “almost all training of wild-caught elephants involves breaking them using horrific abuse, including beating, chaining, stretching, food deprivation, and social deprivation.

“As these animals are destined for countries that have poorly controlled animal-welfare standards,” Hay says, “it’s safe to assume these calves will [have been] trained in this manner.”

Following the story in the Telegraph, National Geographic contacted minister Kasukuwere; Walter Mzembi, the minister of tourism; Caroline Washaya-Moyo, a public relations official at ZimParks; and Meng Xialin to substantiate rumors as to the number of elephants, their destination, and the timing and manner of their export. No responses were received prior to publication.

Airlifting Elephants

How the elephants and lions will leave the country is unclear.

One possibility is that they’ll be trucked to the airport in nearby Victoria Falls, or perhaps the one in Zimbabwe’s second city, Bulawayo.

Or they could be flown directly out of Hwange.

“The Hwange Game reserve airport is functioning,” wrote Senator David Coltart, of Zimbabwe’s opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change. “It is in fact a 4,7km long runway constructed with help from the U.S. a long time ago as one of its strategic long range bases. It could literally take a B52 bomber—it could easily take cargo aircraft.“

Hoole says she has sources posted at all these locations, waiting round-the-clock to document the departure.

Any time elephants are transported by air, there are great risks, says Richard Ruggiero, Africa branch chief with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

“The challenges are: loading and unloading, the level of tranquilizers that keep them calm (they are stressed as hell during the operation), keeping them cool until you reach altitude, keeping their breathe-way open (trunk), and of course, they cannot move around and shift the center of gravity during flight, particularly take-off and landing.”

Veterinarians and animal welfare groups in Zimbabwe say they’ve made numerous attempts to stop the export and have expressed their concerns to officials.

Melanie Hood is the animal welfare director with Veterinarians for Animal Welfare Zimbabwe (VAWZ). She says that since December 2014, her group—in conjunction with the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals in Zimbabwe—has sent several letters to the director general of the Parks and Wildlife Management Authority requesting a meeting about the young elephants. But “no reply has been received.”

Hood also says that groups have requested permission to inspect the elephants, “together with people who we deem to be ‘elephant experts’—but again no official confirmation or reaction to our request has been received. We continue to try.”

Destination Chimelong

Besides the Telegraph report, indications that the elephants may indeed be destined for Chimelong Safari Park can be found in an article published in April in Qingyuan Daily News.

The report refers to the first phase of construction of the Qingyuan ZhangLong animal quarantine station having been completed and mentions plans to “import African elephant in July 2015.”

Qingyuan is a prefecture-level city in Guangdong province, where Chimelong, billed as “the largest safari park housing the most species in the world,” is located.

David Neale, of Animals Asia, a Hong-Kong based welfare organization that focuses on captive animal issues, among other causes, notes that “many animals, including elephants, are forced to perform demeaning and degrading tricks. They are forced to do so under pressure from handlers with handheld jab sticks. The circus performances are likely to cause many animals at Chimelong Safari Park a degree of suffering.”

Chunmei Hu, who works at Nature University, an environmental center in Beijing, says some of the elephants will go to a park called Laodao Bay, in Zhangjiajie, a city in Hunan Province.

Hu says the enclosures there are “so small” and that the elephants will have to perform. “I think it has terrible animal welfare.” She says she’ll monitor the elephants if and when they arrive.”

In Zimbabwe, Jane High, one of the core group campaigning against the China export, wrote that she’s been “working with anybody and everybody trying to raise the profile of the disaster happening to our wild life. We’ve been through a lot here, but nothing has come so close to destroying my soul as this wildlife trade.”