Financial Gazette

20th February 2014

By Maggie Mzumara 

CIVIL servants are finding that the ball did not find the net in their quest for salary increments. For now the promised poverty datum line (PDL)-adjusted salaries remain a mirage.
In the heat of the moment, at the very height of political desperation, precariously riding on the ball-finding-the-net metaphor, ZANU-PF found itself clutching at anything and everything in order to beef up its popularity.
In the frenzy of the election heat emanating from the onslaught of competition mounted by political opponents, promises were made both explicitly and implicitly. Foresight and caution as to whether or not the implementation will be practicable thereafter was thrown away to the wind. Needless to point out, riding on the wave of some hugely populistic promises, the revolutionary party has left in  its wake a trail of injured victims of grandiose pies in the sky.

The latest in the trail of disappointed and disillusioned parties, are civil servants, who, in the election fever when the revolutionary party stood at knife’s point in the face of gushing competition from the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC-T) were promised salary increments in line with the poverty datum line (PDL). After a protracted process  fraught with various challenges ranging from their own internal bickering and power struggles, to the ZANU-PF government’s shifting  of goal posts, an agreement was finally reached on the promised increments.

Hardly a month later, with civil servants eager to get their hands on the fruits of their lengthy negotiations, the hope has rudely evaporated only to be replaced by despair, disappointment and disillusionment. Apparently government will not be able to give them their increments. At least not until April.

The Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Patrick Chinamasa, and his counterpart in the Ministry of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare, Nicholas Goche have cited the lack of funds in the government coffers as reason for the delay.

Although when the increment finally does come, it will be backdated to January 2014, the disappointment cannot be overlooked.
“As workers we are not happy. We have been looking forward to our increment for years,” said Richard Gundani, president of the Zimbabwe Teachers Association. “We need to make it clear to government that delays are not welcome.”

And yet they had believed, especially coming as it did from the highest level of power and authority.
“Some of them clearly bought into the promise and so were mislead,” said former education minister David Coltart. “I am not surprised. ZANU-PF made a whole range of announcements at election time. They made some rash promises, but the reality is that the economy is in trouble.”

As they climb down from the lofty promises, civil servants need to at least land on something for consolation and renewed hope. And for now that something is a carefully crafted roadmap.
“We are demanding that we quickly engage government through a national joint negotiation committee to review implementation. We are hoping to come up with a clear roadmap detailing when exactly the increments will come. The implementation must begin and it must begin. There must not be any delays in the implementation,” said Gundani.

But teachers are not the only ones who have been left licking the wounds of broken promises.
Over the years, there has been suspicion that some youths have fallen prey to the lure of promises, again explicitly and implicitly.
One youth, Tonderai Maenza, also known as Kaboko in the run up to the elections made repeated appearances on the state broadcaster spewing out propaganda which at the time he thought had the blessing of the ruling party.
He even went ahead and registered an organisation, the Zimbabwe Struggle Support Movement, in line with the expectations that the revolutionary would give him a pat on the back and carry him on its coat tails en route to some gravy train post the elections.

Kaboko has learnt the hard way that you do not just jump onto a bandwagon whose destination you are not sure of.
“I went to ZTV more than 20 times speaking on empowerment and other messages,” said the 38-year-old.  “But now nobody wants to see me.”

Although Kaboko has no written commitment from the ruling party to prove his or his organisation’s affiliation, and the Financial Gazette couldn’t readily get anyone from the party to vouch for him, he was able to produce a letter of confirmation of registration of his organisation from the Zimbabwe Youth Council.

Perhaps his was implicit encouragement, but that post elections he is in the cold with no fertile ground for his propagandistic messages cannot be any more explicit than it already is.
Short-term history also has some musicians and others who have been roped into, or roped themselves onto the bandwagon of the party only to be spewed out and forgotten after a season of usefulness.

Other groups who have been tagged onto the trail, during campaigns and not given nearly as much visibility after they have outdone their usefulness are the apostolic sect church members. Just before elections some uncanny kinship with the ruling party was kindled for all and sundry to see, but   not as much visibility of than kinship, if at all it exists,  lingers on after the embers of the election fires have been put out.
“Ndiko kunonzi kushandiswa chaiko kwatinoitwa.  Kuti wese aita chinhu chake ouya kumapostori (This is what we call being used. That anyone with their agenda wants to come to people of the apostolic sect.),” Mai Bishop Chitanda, leader of the apostolic women in the country said in the run up to the last elections. 

The Guardian

19th February 2014

By David Smith, Africa Correspondent

A costly celebration, criticised as cultism and hero worship, comes at a time of heavy job losses and slowing economic growth.

Plans for a lavish $1m (£600,000) celebration of Zimbabwean presidentRobert Mugabe‘s 90th birthday have been condemned as the country lurches towards another financial crisis.

The tribute to Africa‘s oldest head of state – and second oldest in the world after Israel’s Shimon Peres – is expected to surpass last year’s party, when special gold coins were minted and Mugabe was presented with a cake said to weigh 89kg.

But the costly event will come amid heavy job losses, slowing economic growth and what the central bank describes as a “severe and persistent liquidity crunch”, reviving memories of the disastrous meltdown five years ago.

Mugabe, who continues to defy the march of time and constant health speculation, travelled to Singapore this week for cataract surgery on his left eye, according to his spokesman.

But he is expected back in time for the birthday celebration with thousands of supporters at the Rudhaka stadium in the town of Marondera on Sunday, two days after he turns 90.

Absalom Sikhosana, secretary for youth affairs in Mugabe’s Zanu-PF party, told reporters recently: “This is a very special celebration. Turning 90 is no mean feat. You cannot turn 90 years when you are a womaniser, a drunkard or a chain smoker. We will be celebrating the life of a very special person on a very special occasion.”

It is a milestone in the history of the country, which has known no other leader since gaining independence from Britain in 1980, but activists and opposition politicians described the event as an extravagant waste of money when many citizens are going hungry.

“It would be inappropriate for a country’s head of state to have such a lavish and costly celebration at a time when the country is faced with the disaster of flooding and a crumbling economy,” said Dewa Mavhinga, a Zimbabwe researcher at Human Rights Watch. “It’s about cultism, hero worship, institutionalising Mugabe, with sycophants around him trying to oil the wheels of patronage. There’s an entire system behind this corruption.”

Reflecting on Mugabe’s 34 years in power, Mavhinga added: “His human rights record is one that no one can honestly admire. There is nothing to celebrate about his birthday or his legacy – and there are concerns that, if something should happen to him, the country might be plunged into chaos if there is no clear mechanism for transition.”

Officially, funds for the birthday bash are being raised by the Zanu-PF youth league and not from the public purse. But Tendai Biti, who was finance minister until his party lost heavily to Zanu-PF in disputed elections last year, said: “When I was finance minister we never contributed a cent, but I’ve absolutely no doubt that they will get money from the treasury this time.”

As the economy stumbles back into trouble, long queues are returning to bank branches and companies are laying off aroundabout 300 people a week, according to trade unions.

Biti said: “The economy is going down and we need to do something about it. The government is clueless and has no idea how to manage it. Things are getting worse every day.”

David Coltart, the former education minister, noted that the economy was in far worse shape during the hyperinflation of 2008 but Mugabe’s supporters organised birthday celebrations even then. “Some people will be appalled by it but they don’t seem bothered,” he said.

The president regularly travels to Singapore for medical check-ups and, some believe, a mysterious treatment involving blood transfusions. A US diplomatic cable from 2008, leaked three years later by WikiLeaks, quoted Mugabe’s close ally and former central bank chief Gideon Gono as telling former US ambassador Christopher Dell that Mugabe had been diagnosed with prostate cancer.

The far east became the destination of choice for Mugabe’s medical care after the European Union imposed sanctions on him in 2002. On Monday the EU said it had lifted a visa ban and assets freeze against members of Zimbabwe‘s ruling elite with the exception of Mugabe and his wife, Grace.

If he serves his full term, Mugabe will be 94 when the next elections are due. At the funeral of his sister Bridget last month, he spoke for more than an hour and mused: “I do not know how I have lived this long. It is all in God’s hands.”

“I do respect that he’s reached 90 years,” Coltart said. “I was constantly amazed in cabinet by his vigour; he was not a doddery, senile man. Against that, the country remains in crisis and the economy is in turmoil. That needs an energetic pair of hands to deal with.”

Southern Eye

14th February 2014

By Ndudzo Tshuma, Staff Reporter

ZANU PF deputy director of information and publicity Psychology Maziwisa yesterday attracted the ire of ordinary Zimbabweans on social media when he blamed former Education minister David Coltart for the poor Ordinary Level results.

Writing on his Facebook page, Maziwisa lambasted Coltart for the 2% improvement in the ‘O’ Level pass rate compared to 18% in in the previous year.

“We are all entitled to be disgusted by what is happening in our educational system, not least because it’s an affront to President (Robert) Mugabe’s efforts over the years to make Zimbabwe the leading country on the continent, possibly in the world, as far as education is concerned,” Maziwisa posted.

“And a 2% improvement from last year’s 18% ‘O’ Level pass rate just isn’t good enough.

“Yet it has to be remembered that the reason why our standards fell so miserably last year was because a clueless MDC minister, who was possibly out to send a political message, was in charge of the education ministry.

“It’s a fatal mistake that we simply cannot afford to see that repeated again,” he wrote.

However, Maziwisa’s post triggered responses with more than 80 people commenting on his wall within three hours of his post praising Coltart and all of them crediting the MDC secretary for legal affairs for rescuing the country’s education sector.

“If I remember well, the same MDC minister brought back the education that was on a free fall. He brought textbooks to schools both primary and secondary.

“He fought for many school children to go back to school. Sometimes it’s not about MDC or Zanu PF Psychology. It’s about our beloved Zimbabwe.

“Instead of giving solutions to the so called problem, I have seen that you seem to push a blame agenda. Let’s have solutions not blame,” posted Albert Zinhanga.

Sitha Sabelo Ngwenya ka Mavikinduku posted: “Wena Pyscho-ndini who doesn’t know that Coltart rescued the education sector from total collapse after donkey years of Zanu PF misrule?

“Had Coltart not taken over, we would not be talking about pass rates in 2014. Please spare us from your nonsense.”

Another Facebook user, Justice Zishiri charged: “No matter how much you hate the guy, Coltart remains by far the best Education minister in my personal opinion this country has ever had in all respects in a long time.

“He was principled, level headed, hardworking, diligent and above all committed to his work of seeing every child in school. His work is there for all to see and it was above politics.

“You are punching below the belt and should be ashamed of yourself.”

Coltart was not to be left out and thanked Zimbabweans for defending him against the abuse.

“Thank you for all the kind comments made here. I am deeply touched by your support.

“One thing that Maziwisa has not mentioned is that when I took office exactly five years ago today in February 13 2009, there were no results at all because Zimsec had not even marked the exams yet.”

Meanwhile, the 2013 “O” Level results released showed that only seven schools from the Matabeleland region were in the national top 100 performing schools.

The highest pass rate in the region was attained by John Tallach Secondary School in Ntabazinduna which was ranked fourth nationally with 96,15%.

St Columbas High School in Makokoba (33) with 80,84%, David Livingstone Secondary School in Ntabazinduna (64) with 67,31%, Usher Secondary School in Figtree (68) with 66,92%, Minda Secondary School in Matopo (70) with 64,95%, Mtshabezi Secondary School in Gwanda (79) with 61,11%, Thekwane High School in Plumtree (91) with 57,14% and Inyathi Secondary School in Inyathi (96) with 56,32%.

The top performing school was Monte Casino Secondary in Macheke which recorded a 100% passrate.

Mail and Guardian

14th February 2014

 By Takudzwa Munyaka

Expectations that government would act on corruption are fast fading as the matter has become part of Zanu-PF’s divisive succession battle.

Ongoing media exposures of the massive salaries drawn by parastatal bosses may have been welcomed by the public, but expectations that the government would act on corruption are fast fading – instead, the matter has fizzled out and become part of Zanu-PF’s divisive battle on who will succeed President Robert Mugabe.

Vice-President Joice Mujuru, who leads one of the two factions in Zanu-PF that are battling to take over after Mugabe, this week suggested that the exposures that have become known as “salary-gate” could be the work of detractors bent on destroying the party from within.

Zimbabweans vented their anger on social media, leading the opposition to call for her to resign.

Officials aligned to Mujuru’s camp who spoke to the Mail & Guardian this week said that, although she may have struck a raw nerve, her assertion that the exposés were politically motivated were widely shared.

“Ever since Jonathan Moyo was appointed as a media minister, there has been a concentrated attack on our camp, especially by the public media. It’s not a once-off event; the attack has been consistent. Look at the spirited efforts to soil the image of Gideon Gono [the former Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe governor] and the attack on our camp during the provincial elections last year,” said a Zanu-PF politburo member.

“The attacks were so severe that we discussed the issue in the politburo last year. When you look at the ongoing exposures, it’s clear there is a factional dimension that cannot be ignored.”

Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation
“Take the exposure of the salaries at the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC) as an example. Ask yourself who the minister of information during the inclusive government era was, and you will get your answer. Similarly, on the Air Zimbabwe exposé, ask yourself who was the minister and you will get your answer,” the source said.

The former information minister is Webster Shamu and transport was headed by Nicholas Goche.

Shamu is also the party’s political commissar and was a member of the national electorate directorate, which chose candidates for last year’s parliamentary elections.

He is a strong Mujuru ally and was pivotal in ensuring the faction won the provincial elections, which will be crucial in deciding Zanu-PF’s leaders at the elective congress later this year.

ZBC fell under Shamu’s ministry. It was recently reported that its chief executive officer Happison Muchechetere was earning $44 500 a month, and senior managers – among them retired brigadier general Elliot Kasu, general manager of news Tazzen Mandizvidza and general manager of radio services, Allan Chiweshe – were each taking home $26 875 every month. ZBC is in financial doldrums and has failed to pay lower-level staff salaries for about six months.

Air Zimbabwe executives Politburo member Nicholas Goche, a key Mujuru ally, was the minister of transport and infrastructural development when Air Zimbabwe executives allegedly dabbled in corrupt activities including a $11-million insurance scam, which resulted in the national airliner failing to meet its national mandate.

New Transport Minister Obert Mpofu dissolved the Air Zimbabwe board on Tuesday.

Public Service Medical Aid Society
The most shocking revelation was that the Public Service Medical Aid Society was paying its chief executive officer Cuthbert Dube up to half a million dollars a month in salary and benefits, at a time when the institution was heavily in debt and failing to pay service providers.

Another Zanu-PF insider confirmed that Dube is a Mujuru sympathiser.

“You can see that the leaks are very strategic. Why haven’t they leaked how much Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation or what executives of diamond mining companies are earning, for example. There is certainly an ulterior motive to these exposures,” said the politburo member.

Zanu-PF spokesperson Rugare Gumbo told the M&G the party had not yet taken a position on the revelations but defended Mujuru’s stance, insisting she had been misunderstood.

Gumbo himself is said to belong to Mujuru’s camp and helped her to co-ordinate the Midlands province in the provincial polls, which she won. Midlands is also Mujuru’s rival Mnangagwa’s home province.

Gumbo said the Zanu-PF politburo would meet soon to discuss the issue but he did not give a date.

“The vice-president is a mature person and some of us understood that she was not condoning corruption. She was in fact speaking against it but said we must be careful about how we handle it. She is saying we must not be quick to judge people before we really know what is going on,” Gumbo said.

Another senior Zanu-PF official said most officials were clear the salary schedules were being leaked to the media by senior Zanu-PF officials but they were not clear what the purpose was.

“Some people thought it was meant to divert the people’s attention from the economic meltdown, but if that was the case it has come back to haunt us because most parastatals are run by our people.

The boards are also full of people with a military background, so if that was the case then it was a double-edged sword,” said the official.

“What is clear though is that in Zanu-PF everything is viewed with suspicion because of factionalism, so naturally people are skeptical. Mujuru, though, has shot herself in the foot by her reaction. People are angry and have been calling for the government to curb corruption, to no avail, and for her to condemn the media was a huge mistake.”

Anger and little action
Mujuru’s statements and government’s failure to take legal action on the culprits other than dissolving some boards and firing some chief executive officers has reinforced the view that the looting was sanctioned by senior government officials.

On Thursday the police arrested Air Zimbabwe’s company secretary for allegedly defrauding the airline.

Former education minister David Coltart said that during his tenure he knew and approved salaries of senior officers in public institutions under his ministry so there was no way ministers could not have known what was going on on their watch.

Coltart questioned how some ministers had allowed parastatal bosses under their ministries to take home such salaries considering the state of the Zimbabwean economy.

Former minister of state enterprises and parastatals Gorden Moyo last week said President Robert Mugabe and the Zanu-PF government knew about the salaries bosses of public institutions were getting.

Moyo said he had tried to address the issue during the inclusive government era, but did not receive support from Zanu-PF ministers, whom he said were taking part in the looting.

Moyo alleged that there was evidence that parastatals bosses were bribing ministers with top-of-the- range vehicles such as Mercedes Benz and Toyota Landcruisers as well as fuel and airtime over and above their official government allocations.

He said parastatals boards have become “retirement homes” for board members, most of them with a military background. Political analyst Dumisani Nkomo said the ongoing exposures were definitely political.

“It’s political. It could be factional wars between the Mujuru and the Mnangagwa camp. It could also be Zanu-PF trying to occupy the space that the opposition used to occupy, by giving the impression that it is keen to expose and fight corruption,” he said.

“But this has destroyed Mujuru. Everyone respected her until she spoke on the issue. She may have genuine fears that her faction was being targeted, but she should have kept quiet. She has emerged the biggest loser.”

New Zimbabwe.com

9th February 2014

THE dam being built on the Tokwe River in Masvingo is close to bursting as water from heavy rains is finding its way through gaps in the uncompleted dam wall.

Tokwe Mukorsi dam was due to be completed at the end of last year but the deadline has passed with construction still not finished.

Villagers had to be evacuated as quickly as possible, with around 4,000 people believed to be at risk should the dam burst.  According to the Daily News, the Zimbabwe Air Force is helping people evacuate.

The Minister for Masvingo province was quoted as saying that the government is on high alert and “A helicopter from the AFZ has been airlifting some families who were marooned by the floods but we are not yet sure how many people are still marooned.”

The Herald

7th February 2014

By Augustine Hwata Senior Sports Reporter

THE Zimbabwe Cricket leadership concede that they are guiding their ship through turbulent waters — with the baggage of a huge debt weighing down heavily on the game — but they remain bullish they will weather the storm and guard jealously the country’s Test status.
Domestic cricket has just emerged from a boardroom battle between players and the ZC, which paralysed the domestic game on all fronts, with the players going on strike to press for the payment of outstanding salaries that the association had failed to meet.

Yesterday, the ZC leadership appeared before the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Education, Sport, Arts and Culture to present evidence on the state of the second biggest sporting franchise in the country, with the cricket body represented by its chairman Peter Chingoka, vice-chairman Wilson Manase and managing director, Wilfred Mukondiwa.

The ZC leaders insist that their game has been the sporting victim of the political standoff between Zimbabwe and some Western countries and domestic cricket has accumulated massive losses, running in excess of US$30 million in projected earnings, from box-office tours, involving cricket heavyweights England and Australia, which did not go ahead here as scheduled.

Australia and England national teams have not toured Zimbabwe since 2004, for political reasons, and based on the ICC Future Tours principle of reciprocity, the two heavyweight nations, who come with huge television rights earnings, haven’t been to this country on cricket tours four times each.

With one England incoming tour to Zimbabwe grossing about US$5 million for ZC and an Australian incoming tour generating around US$3 million, it means that England’s failure to tour has cost the local cricket organisation about US$20 million and the Aussie no-show has cost them about US$12 million.

If all tours had gone according to schedule, without falling victim to the politics that have kept England and Australia away from this country, the Zimbabwe Cricket leadership believe they would have earned enough money to cover their operational costs and dissolve their debts, which sit at about US$18 million, with enough remaining in their coffers to fund their development programmes.

Yesterday, the ZC leaders reiterated, during their appearance in parliament, that a shadowy racist underworld force, which has been fighting them since they started spreading a game that used to be an elite sporting discipline for just a few players, was still working at full throttle.

Manase, who is a prominent lawyer, claimed there was a powerful pocket of white people who are were still not happy to see the integration that has taken place in Zimbabwe Cricket and said they could see a number of shadows that were working against their project.

“At the team level, there are youngsters who play cricket and, left to them alone, I do not think that we have a problem,” Manase told the parliamentarians.

“The problem is the unseen hand from the elders who still have the hangover from the past period and now come to interfere in the administration and the players.

“They come in and they want to control the strings from the back, yearning for those years when cricket was predominantly played by white people.

“So it’s not as though the players themselves are racists, but you find the unseen hand of elders, who are refusing to shake off the hangover, are the ones who are stirring the pot of racism and this why we said they should put their hands off cricket.

“There are the ones who demonise the administration and they are happy when a white player says, ‘I am leaving Zimbabwe Cricket and I am going to play county cricket in England.’ They say you will come back when times get better, what better times if you are truly Zimbabwean?”

Manase said the public stand-off between former Education, Sport, Arts and Culture Minister, David Coltart, and ZC convener of selectors, Givemore Makoni, was just an example of the frosty relationship that still exists between black administrators in cricket and some white leaders.

“If you read papers last year, there was a very big debate on the eligibility of Givemore Makoni as the convener of selectors. There was a big argument because the (former) Minister of Sport (David Coltart) had given a directive to the SRC to say that we needed a person who has done this and this,” said Manase.

“That in any way could have guaranteed that a white person would have taken that position.
“We, as Zimbabwe Cricket, have made our choice with Givemore Makoni. That was the first time that I saw the media in Zimbabwe — private and public — coming together to defend a position without coercion and that meant Givemore Makoni remained as the convener of selectors.

“So we are trying to have the people who have experience go into these positions but we are not, in our perception of issues, racist.
“We look at who the coach is, and who the captain should be, on best talent.”

The ZC leaders said they have lived through a storm of repeated allegations that they were abusing funds but, surprisingly, endless audits have been done on their finances, with none showing abuse, and that is why they are still eligible to receive funding from the International Cricket Council.

ZC said they were set to get a tranche of funds that will enable the organisation to pay what it owes to their players and coaching staff by the end of next week.

The ZC also say they are battling to bring down their operational costs from as high as US$900 000 a month to about US$300 000 a month.

ZC chairman Chingoka told the MPs that lack of resources had been their major setback.
“Our dream as Zimbabwe Cricket was to see every potential player being able to play the game of cricket but funding has been a major constrain,” said Chingoka.

“The equipment is sometimes expensive but you have heard of players like Tendai Chatara and Brian Vitori who are now professionals and they came through these programmes.”

ZC also appealed to MPs to look into the issue of duty on sporting equipment as well as creating a Sport Fund through the Ministry of Home Affairs’ Lotto licences.

Chairman of the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee, Temba Mliswa, challenged ZC to prove that racism still existed in the sport yet the entire ZC leadership was made of black people.

“Stephen Mangongo has been the deputy national coach for how long? It’s either he is not good enough to be the national coach and you find someone else to be deputy who will then take over since there is going to be some transition,” said Mliswa.

“The last time you went and took a coach from England and the black coach (Mangongo) was under studying and you still bring another coach and this black coach is still constantly understudying.

“It’s 34 years after Independence yet we still talk of racism, yet we have transformed the administration from white to being black. Blacks are now in control and who can we talk of racism now?”

SW Radio Africa

By Mthulisi Mathuthu

6th February 2014

The education of children with disabilities is in jeopardy after government suspended a special scheme that entitles them to free primary school education.

Reports Thursday said the secretary for the Social Welfare ministry, Ngoni Masoka, recently told his primary and secondary education colleagues of the development.

Called the Basic Education Assistance Module (BEAM), the programme assists children from poor backgrounds with school fees. According to the department of social services there are one million children in the programme.

Last month director of social services, Sydney Mhishi, told parliament that his ministry received only $15 million for the special programme even though they had asked for a budget allocation of $73 million.

Mishi also revealed that Zimbabwe had approached the British government for help, a development which the Department for International Development confirmed.

But around the same time former education minister David Coltart raised concern over the lack of transparency and the partisan way in which the BEAM programme is managed.

Head of the Council of Social Workers, Philip Manyanye, said the government should ‘go down to basics’ and ensure that more funding goes towards children. He said if the government has no money it should be ‘honorable enough to revise its politics and approach the many organizations that are willing to help.’

Manyanye said he was ‘not surprised’ by lack of support for BEAM because the government has ‘no relationship with many institutions that could support the scheme.’

Manyanye, a senior social worker himself, said the effect of the suspension of the BEAM scheme stands to cause more social problems such as street children and child labour.

The decision by government to discontinue the BEAM scheme comes at a time when parliament is trying to tackle the broader problems of people living with disabilities. A Thursday NewsDay report said senators last week introduced a motion urging government to institute a national special needs policy and a law to deal with children with special needs.

New Zimbabwe

http://www.newzimbabwe.com/

28th January 2014

HARARE City football club chairman Leslie Gwindi has been found guilty on charges of bringing the game into disrepute by Zifa’s disciplinary committee.

Gwindi appeared before the committee on 20 December last year over allegations he verbally attacked Zifa, the Premier Soccer League (PSL), Delta Beverages who sponsor the league through their Castle Lager brand.

He is also said to have attacked former Warriors coach Klaus Dieter Pagels from Germany as well as the then minister of education, sports arts and culture David Coltart while addressing a Bulawayo Press Club last March.

The Harare City football club chair, who is also seeking to challenge incumbent Zifa president Cuthbert Dube in next month’s plebiscite, has however been found guilty of bringing the game of football into disrepute.

Gwindi, who had brought in former Zifa president Leo Mugabe and vice president Vincent Pamire and Motor Action Football club director Eric Rosen as witnesses admitted uttering the alleged comments but stressed that they were merely an expression of an opinion given in the spirit of trying to help improve the game.

He said the utterances complained of by Zifa were in line with the right conferred on him by the constitution of Zimbabwe to express an opinion, which opinion constituted a fair comment in light of the fact that Zifa, Delta, Pagels and Coltart were not sacred cows.

He argued they should accept criticism.

Phiri said he was eventually summoned to Delta where he was asked by the marketing director Max Karombo if PSL still wanted the Delta Sponsorship following the comments by Gwindi.

He stated that he had told the Delta executive that they still wanted the sponsorship and had apologized. He further stated that Delta wanted to know what action the PSL would take.

“Having gone through the evidence adduced in this matter, I am convinced that (Gwindi) used bad language likely to bring the game of football into disrepute. Accordingly, I find the respondent guilty as charged,” read part of the ruling by Wilbert Mandinde.

“They were a direct attack on the current Zifa board to which we heard evidence that the respondent contested in the last elections and lost. The next elections are due in March 2014.

“There is nothing we find in the press releases which was calculated to promote football. It is an insult to publish in a newspaper or newspapers that a coach who Zifa fortuitously found available to assist the national team would be labelled ‘a tourist who had come to Zimbabwe to enjoy the Victoria Falls’.

“That with respect is an insult and cannot qualify as a ‘fair comment’ because Pagels did not come to Zimbabwe as a tourist at all. And to suggest that the Zifa board has ‘no brains’ cannot be a ‘fair comment’.

“That is an insult directed at the mother body of football in this country. And that coming from a football administrator seeking glory through the press cannot be condoned. I agree that the utterances did or were likely to bring the game of football into disrepute.”