The Zimbabwean

By The Zimbabwean Reporter

26 September 2013

Magodonga Mahlangu, a Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA) leader, was to appear in Tredgold Magistrates Court on 25 September 2013 to be formally charged under the Postal and Telecommunications Act Chapter 12:05, two counts under section 88 (c ) ‘making offensive phone calls without reasonable cause for the purpose of causing annoyance, inconvenience or needle anxiety’.

WOZA reports that despite appearing in court at 8:30am, no magistrate would accept the case, one after another recusing themselves for personal reasons. The drama in court had comical moments as law and Order police officers, Mahlangu, her lawyer Nontokozo Tachiona and over 20 WOZA activists attending the court in solidarity kept traipsing in an out of various courts hoping for a hearing. As the police officers insisted Mahlangu should appear in court, justice department personnel had no option but to issue a summons for her to appear in court on Monday 30 September 2013 for trial in the hopes that a magistrate would have been found to hear the matter.

Mahlangu previously appeared in court one on this matter on 7 August 2013 wherein the magistrate advised the police to proceed by way of summons once they had their case in order. The police officers, re charged Mahlangu on Monday advising her to come to court on 25 September 2013 to appear and be formally charged.

The complainant is Gladys Dube, a ward chair of the MDC-T. She alleges that Mahlangu called her on two occasions and threatened her saying, “you are a big sell out from the ruling party, we are coming to get you with police, CID personnel, if Welshman loses you will see it.” On the second occasion, she alleges that Mahlangu said “you will see it I don’t want to talk to you again”. The state paper alleges that this caused the complainant annoyance and needles anxiety.

Mahlangu does not dispute that phone calls took place but disputes that threats were made. Mahlangu and Jenni Williams the national coordinator of WOZA, made several calls to both MDC parties to advise them of a flyer being circulated in Matshobana suburb of Bulawayo on Elections day 31 July 2013. This flyer, whose authorship is unclear, bears stolen WOZA logos and uses the name of WOZA to de-campaign Morgan Tsvangirai.

WOZA leaders realising that the timing of this mysterious flyer on Election Day could disturb the peace and so decided to be proactive in disassociating WOZA with the contents. Despite calls being made to various political leaders, including MDC T Nelson Chamisa and to David Coltart and MDC Secretary General Pricilla Msirambwe -Mushonga, Gladys Dube decided to fabricate threats and made a report to the police resulting in the charges against Magodonga Mahlangu.

The first call on was in response to a report that Gladys Dube in the company of another women had gone door to door threatening members for the flyers distribution. Mahlangu called the other women who immediately apologised when told that WOZA had not authored the flyer.

Ms Dube when called denied any knowledge of the flyer or the threats on members and so she was just asked to keep calm and ignore the flyer and the call was gut short. Surprisingly she called back two hours later in the company of WOZA members who she asked to vouch for her that she had not threatened anyone and once again she was asked to just ignore the flyer and keep calm.

At a meeting of WOZA Human rights monitors on 2nd August 2013, a member Christine Dube reported that Gladys had threatened her for reporting on her to the WOZA leadership, calling her a sell out. In the presence of 20 members, a further call was made to Gladys Dube asking her to please stop the threats.

With the call on speaker phone, all 20 witnesses over heard her shouting insults and threats against Magodonga who could not get a word in edgeways. Stranger still is the fact that Ms Dube admitted making a vulgar insult to Magodonga in the presence of police officers in the senior area prosecutors office on 6th August 2013 but no charges were made against her.

Southern Eye

By Southern Eye Reporter

26 September 2013

HARARE — Environment minister Saviour Kasukuwere yesterday said 80 elephants had died in the last few weeks in the Hwange National Park, Zimbabwe’s largest, while security forces were preoccupied with July 31 harmonised elections.

Ivory poachers killed the elephants by poisoning water holes with cyanide, endangering one of the world’s biggest herds.

Police and rangers had recovered 19 tusks, cyanide and wire snares after a sweep through villages close to the park, which lies just south of Victoria Falls.

“We are declaring war on the poachers,” Kasukuwere said.

“We are responding with all our might because our wildlife, including the elephants they are killing, are part of the natural resources and wealth that we want to benefit the people of Zimbabwe.”

Zimbabwe is home to some of Africa’s largest herds, with half of its estimated 80 000 elephants thought to be in Hwange.

Kasukuwere, appointed to the Environment ministry a week ago, said he would push for stiff penalties for convicted poachers, who routinely get less than the nine-year jail term imposed for cattle rustling.

Zimbabwe is working to revive its tourism industry, including its wildlife sector, which has suffered years of decline blamed by some on long-serving President Robert Mugabe’s economic policies.

Mugabe and his Zanu PF party, in power since the former Rhodesia gained independence from Britain in 1980, was re-elected in an election in July that was rejected by his main rivals as rigged.

State-controlled media has blamed the poaching on sanctions imposed on Mugabe and his inner circle by Western countries.

But the suggestion was dismissed by former Education minister David Coltart who said the government was splashing huge amounts on luxury Mercedes-Benzes and Toyota Land Cruisers for ministers and their deputies instead of channelling the funds towards the conservation of wildlife.

Southern Eye

By Southern Eye Reporter

25 September 2013

FORMER Education, Sport, Arts and Culture minister David Coltart has praised four Zimbabwean golfers who are part of the international team that will take part in the President’s Cup that gets underway at the Muirfield Village Golf Club in Dublin, Ohio, in the United States next Tuesday.

Nick Price will captain the team, while Tony Johnstone and Mark McNulty will be two of the three assistants with Zimbabwe’s number one golfer Brendon de Jongé being selected in the captain’s pick.

The third captain is Shigeki Maruyama of Japan.

Coltart, who went to school with Johnstone at Christian Brothers College, yesterday said it was a wonderful moment for Zimbabwe to have the four in that team.

“I played golf with Nick (Price), (Tony) Johnstone and Mark (McNulty). My moment of glory was when I played provincial golf in 1973. Actually Nick and Johnstone invited me to the President’s Cup, but due to lack of funding I will not make it. Johnstone was a year ahead of me at school and being vice-captain of that team together with Mark will be a wonderful thing for Zimbabwe.

“The President’s Cup is only second to the Ryder Cup and to have Zimbabweans in that team is absolutely wonderful. The Zimbabwean flag will definitely fly high. This is a wonderful opportunity to promote Zimbabwe,” Coltart said.

The President’s Cup will be on at the Muirfield Village Golf Club from October 1 to 6.

The international team that takes on the US has Ernie Els, Louis Oosthuizen of South Africa, Australians Adam Scott, Jason Day and another captain’s pick Marc Leishman also from Australia.

Also in the team are Japanese Hideki Matsuyama, Graham DeLaet of Canada and Argentine Angel Cabrera.

Particularly on Johnstone, his former schoolmate, Coltart had this to say: “Tony Johnstone is one of our national heroes for more than one reason. I am so proud that this ex-Christian Brothers College boy from Bulawayo will be one of the President’s Cup vice-captains next week in the US. He flies the Zimbabwean flag proudly. I wish I could be there to support the team, but will be there in spirit.”

The US team has Tiger Woods, Brandt Snedeker, Phil Mickelson, Matt Kuchar, Jason Dufner, Keegan Bradley, Steve Stricker, Bill Haas, Hunter Mahan and Zach Johnson and will be captained by Fred Couples assisted by Jay Haas, Davis Love III.

Southern Eye

By Southern Eye Reporter

25 September 2013

FORMER Education minister David Coltart has lashed out at Zanu PF for blaming the deaths of close to 81 elephants at Hwange National Parks on sanctions saying the Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Authority is grossly underfunded.

Coltart said government was splashing huge amounts on luxury Mercedes-Benzes and Toyota Land Cruisers for ministers and their deputies instead of channelling the funds towards conservation of wildlife.

Coltart turned down an official Mercedes-Benz when he was appointed Education minister in 2009 — becoming the only member of Cabinet to decline an official luxury vehicle he was entitled to.

According to the state-media, Environment, Water and Climate minister Saviour Kasukuwere and Tourism and Hospitality Industry minister Walter Mzembi suggested sanctions imposed by the West contributed to the deaths of the elephants.

They said the parks department lacked resources to effectively conduct its work that included combatting poaching.

Kasukuwere confirmed to Southern Eye yesterday that sanctions were hampering operations of the parks authority.

“We need sanctions to be lifted because we cannot raise the $30-$40 million needed to procure the equipment required by rangers to monitor the park (Hwange),” Kasukuwere said.

“So in some way, sanctions really affect the parks’ operations,” he said. However, Coltart dismissed the claims as “ridiculous”.

“I see that Zanu PF now argues that sanctions are responsible for poaching in Hwange,” Coltart wrote on his blog. “At this rate, sanctions are going to be blamed for climate change.

“Give us a break — that is just ridiculous. National Parks have been starved of funds for decades. Instead of buying brand new Mercedes-Benzes and luxury Toyota Land Cruisers for ministers, that money should have been applied to buying Land Rovers for National Parks (and) our parks’ staff would be better able to combat poachers.

“Instead of turning a blind eye to rampant corruption in the diamond sector, had diamond receipts been applied to National Parks, then they would have had the wherewithal to run the parks properly,” Coltart wrote.

He said law enforcement agencies have had other agendas for over a decade leaving criminals to run wild.

Had the police been “focussed on catching crooks instead of supporting Zanu PF, (most) poachers would have been arrested by now”.

“Had Zanu PF not allowed rampant lawlessness to prevail in their land reform programme, the hundreds of thousands of plains game in former commercial farming areas and conservancies would not have been poached out.”

Officials say about $30 million is needed to launch an effective anti-poaching initiative.

Although authorities say they have managed to contain the deaths, fears remain that the looming rainy season could wash the cyanide from the rotting carcasses into the ground and emerging water holes triggering a deadly cycle.

Southern Eye

By Dumisani Nkomo

25 September 2013

ZIMBABWEANS from all walks of life face a formidable challenge in the next five years. They have to decide whether to support Zanu PF or the opposition.

The economy remains the single largest challenge that the government will face and any lack of wisdom in this sphere may have dire consequences. Unfortunately, not all of us can relocate to South Africa or Europe or any other part of the world.

Pressures of global recession are also presenting themselves in those countries, with rising unemployment in South Africa and other countries.

We cannot simply wish for the economy to collapse so that our political interests are advanced as this would be selfishness of the highest order.

We all have to work for the betterment of Zimbabwe — friend and foe, victor and vanquished. While it is tragic that Zanu PF won by such a wide margin, it will be immature to bury our heads in the sand and hope that when we finally pull our heads out of the sand things would have magically worked out for us.

It is thus essential to engage the new government and bring it to account for its policies.

Zanu PF has to move away from election mode and realise that it is governing Zimbabwe and not the party.

This requires them to embrace the opposition as a critical component of democracy.

The government has to move away from insane populist policies and focus on rational socioeconomic policies. They should put national interests ahead of party interests.

It is essential for Zanu PF to realise that the war ended in 1980.

I do not think any progressive Zimbabwean wishes the economy to collapse so that they gain political mileage because we all know that it is the ordinary Zimbabweans who will bear the brunt.

It is positive to hear that the government has produced a new economic blueprint named Zimpset (Zimbabwe Programme For Socio-economic Transformation).

I wonder, however, whether it is poverty of ideas or mere coincidence that the programme sounds like the 1996 government economic blueprint Zimprest (Zimbabwe Programme for Economic and Social Transformation).

Our previous experience with so-called new economic blueprints is that they are launched to much pomp and ceremony, but within months, they gather dust in some God forsaken civil servant’s office.

These blueprints, therefore, end up becoming mere public relations stunts. There should be an audit of government economic policies as the country has produced countless blueprints with little results.

Just to mention a few, we have had Growth With Equity, Economic Structural Adjustment Programme, the Zimbabwe Programme For Economic and Social Transformation, the Millenium Economic Recovery Plan, the National Economic Recovery Plan, the inclusive government’s Short-Term Emergency Recovery Programme (STERP) and the Medium-Term Plan and now we have Zimpset.

The only thing that seems to change is not the quality of the lives of Zimbabweans, but the acronyms and spellings of these fancy programmes.

Some of the positives in the blueprint include a framework for private public partnerships in infrastructural development, service delivery linkages with information communication technology and service delivery. However, very little consultation was done in producing this new blueprint and this could affect ownership and impact of the process.

The government has always been poor on policy implementation whether it was a Zanu PF-led government or indeed the inclusive government which missed most of its STERP targets.

It is, therefore, imperative that the government is brought to account for its economic policies and civil society is able to provide space for citizen engagement with the government.

Some of the laws due for debate in the august House include bills on consumer protection, private public partnerships, pensioners and mineral development.

There is a lot of positive input that can be made into such laws if legislators act maturely and there is consensus on laws that build social capital regardless of political affiliation.

Critically, opposition members of Parliament need to be robust in pushing for legislation enabling devolution of power through provincial councils as this is not on the current legislative agenda of Parliament .

The new government should build on and not destroy the efforts of Cabinet ministers such as Tendai Biti, Welshman Ncube, Samuel Sipepa Nkomo and David Coltart, who between them made great strides in stabilising the economy engaging new investors for the iron and steel industry, securing funding for water projects and education.

Elton Mangoma did a sterling job in energy development together with some ministers such as Walter Mzembi, Sithembiso Nyoni and Francis Nhema.

The government should build on the gains made by these ministers and indeed other gains of the inclusive government such as constitutional reform.

The opposition parties have a role in ensuring legislative accountability and financial probity while civil society has a role in influencing policies, articulating concerns of grassroots communities, defending and promoting rights while bringing whoever is in the government to account. It is about principle rather than persons or parties.

Dumisani Nkomo is an activist and opinion leader

SW Radio Bell

By Alex Bell

25 September 2013

Former Education Minister David Coltart has called for the lifting of the targeted sanctions still in place against key members of the Robert Mugabe regime, saying the measures have provided ZANU PF with a scapegoat for its failures for too many years.

The ZANU PF rhetoric about the targeted, restrictive measures has been relentless in recent weeks, with the Western imposed restrictions being blamed for everything from hyperinflation to, most recently, the poaching crisis in the Hwange National Park.

Indications from the Western nations, including the US and the European Union (EU) are that the measures will not be lifted until real democratic reforms are achieved in Zimbabwe. The US, the EU, Britain and Australia have also all raised concerns about reports of vote rigging during the July poll, and have refused to follow in Africa’s footsteps in endorsing the contested election results.

According to Coltart, who is also the Secretary for Legal Affairs for the Welshman Ncube led MDC, the presence of the targeted sanctions will further hinder any hope of democratic progress.

“With ZANU PF having engineered fraudulent election results in its favour and in doing so made all these promises of job creation and so forth, ZANU PF realises they now have to deliver and they know it will be difficult because most of the promises were false,” Coltart told SW Radio Africa.

He added: “So they need scapegoats and excuses. And sanctions present them with a very good excuse.”

Coltart explained that it would be better for Zimbabwe in the long term if the measures were lifted, “so that ZANU OF can no longer use the propaganda line that sanctions are to blame.”

He however acknowledge that it is “problematic in the short term”

“If they (the West) lifted all the sanctions now, ZANU PF will trumpet that as proof that they agree that the elections complied with democratic laws and our constitution, which they didn’t So clearly it would be a propaganda victory for ZANU PF in the short term,” Coltart said.

But he continued: “In the run up to the next election, it is critical that ZANU PF not be given the slightest excuse not to deliver on their promises.”

“They destroyed the economy long before sanctions were imposed and unless they undergo a miraculous transformation, the chances are they will continue to mismanage our economy. We simply cannot allow them to have this excuse of sanctions in the run up to the next elections. They must be exposed for who they are, as people who have a history of being corrupt and a history of misgoverning the country, so that the electorate can then know very clearly that if they want to take the country forward, they will need to vote for someone else,” Coltart said.

Political analyst Clifford Mashiri disagreed with Coltart’s assessment, saying that nothing has changed to justify the lifting of the targeted measures.

“Now is not the time to do it. It would be giving into ZANU PF propaganda and blackmail. Those measures must remain until the reasons for their imposition have been addressed,” Mashiri said.

David Coltart’s Blog – Next climate change will be blamed on sanctions! 

24 September 2013

I see that Zanu PF now argues that sanctions are responsible for poaching in Hwange! At this rate sanctions are going to be blamed for climate change.

Give us a break – that is just ridiculous. National Parks have been starved of funds for decades. Instead of buying brand new Mercedes Benzes and luxury Toyota Landcruisers for Ministers had that money been applied to buying Landrovers for National Parks our Parks staff would be much better able to combat poachers. Instead of turning a blind eye to rampant corruption in the diamond sector had diamond receipts been applied to National Parks then they would have had the wherewithal to run the Parks properly.

Furthermore our law enforcement agencies have had other agendas for over a decade allowing criminals in our midst to run wild. Had the Police been focussed on catching crooks instead of supporting Zanu PF, poachers would have been arrested by now. Had the Attorney General’s office been focussed on prosecuting criminals instead of persecuting human rights defenders then poachers would have been behind bars by now.

Had Zanu PF not allowed rampant lawlessness to prevail in their land reform programme the hundreds of thousands of plains game in former commercial farming areas and conservancies would not have been poached out.

Instead of hiding behind the stale sanctions argument Zanu PF must now apply sufficient national resources and political will to tackling this scourge which threatens to destroy one of our principal national assets.

http://www.herald.co.zw/sanctions-untold-story-behind-the-hwange-ecological-disaster/

Southern Eye

By Nduduzo Tshuma

24 September 2013

BULAWAYO-born journalist and South Africa’s eNCA East Africa bureau chief Robyn Kriel has been hailed for her coverage of the bloody shooting of civilians at a busy Kenyan mall by Somali militants.

Former Education minister David Coltart congratulated the journalist for hoisting Zimbabwe’s flag: “Very proud of Bulawayo’s Robyn Kriel reporting live for eNCA from Nairobi at the Westgate Shopping Mall terrorist attack.

Be safe Robyn flying the Zimbabwean flag so well,” Coltart posted on Twitter.

According to eNCA website, the Nairobi-based Kriel, holds degrees in broadcast journalism and musical theatre from Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, Texas, United States. In 2011 she was credited by First Lady Michelle Obama for her “courageous reporting from Zimbabwe”.

Meanwhile, thick smoke poured from the besieged Nairobi mall where Kenyan officials said their forces were closing in on Islamists holding hostages yesterday, three days after a raid by Somalia’s al-Shabaab killed at least 62 people.

Southern Eye

By David Coltart

23 September 2013

IT HAS been noted that on September 17 2013, the European Union agreed to lift the restrictive measures imposed on the Zimbabwean government mining parastatal the Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation (ZMDC).

Pursuant to Article IV of the Global Political Agreement (GPA) signed on September 15 2008 all the signatories to that agreement consented all forms of restrictive measures and sanctions against Zimbabwe be lifted.

Acting in good faith we (as the MDC) immediately and consistently thereafter called for the lifting of all these measures and sanctions.

At the time we stated that, the reason for this was not solely because of our moral obligation to do in terms of of Article IV, but because we believed that it was necessary to take the wind out of Zanu PF sails in its argument that sanctions were responsible for the destruction of Zimbabwe’s economy.

Zanu PF has tried through its propaganda machine to blame virtually all Zimbabwe’s ills, including the collapse of its economy and its education system, on the restrictive measures imposed on a few individuals and companies responsible for gross human rights abuses and corruption in Zimbabwe during the last decade.

All people in possession of the facts know that these measures had little impact on the economy and that the primary reason for the collapse of the economy was Zanu PF’s abuse of the rule of law, rampant corruption, chaotic land reform and the irresponsible printing and corrupt distribution of currency.

However, given that Zanu PF had exclusive access to State electronic media and that there are no independent radio or television stations in Zimbabwe, the sanctions argument could not be rebutted and was taken as truth by many Zimbabweans, especially rural dwellers, who had no access to an alternative view or the truth.

It was therefore our view that all sanctions should be lifted so that Zanu PF could no longer use this propaganda line.

By and large, we were not listened to by Western governments and Zanu PF were able to blame their poor historical performance on sanctions in the last election.

The highly contentious general election of July 31 2013 has come and gone.

Some would argue that because of the fraudulent nature of that election, both the moral obligation (in terms of the Article IV) and the political justification for sanctions to be lifted have both gone.

Whilst there is no doubt with the termination of the GPA there is no moral obligation on the two MDC parties to continue to argue for the lifting of sanctions, the political justification for the removal of sanctions remains.

That justification certainly does not hinge on the credibility of the elections.

In fact on the contrary the fraudulent abuse and violation of both the Electoral Act and Zimbabwe’s new Constitution should if anything act as justification for the continuation and indeed extension of restrictive measures and sanctions against those response for this subversion of democracy.

Indeed the timing of the EU’s lifting of restrictive measures against the ZMDC is unfortunate because it will no doubt be trumpeted as an indication that the EU now concedes that the elections were free, fair and credible.

However, when all is said and done we still believe that all restrictive measures should be lifted for the following reasons:

• No amount of sanctions or rhetoric will change that fact. They must now govern and deliver on their promises to the Zimbabwean electorate.

•   Those opposed to Zanu PF and committed to a new democratic and lawful order in Zimbabwe now need to reorganise and prepare to fight the next general election. Given Zanu PF’s record of mis-governance during the last 33 years it is unlikely that they will be able to deliver on their promises.

The one thing we do not need as we prepare for the next election is Zanu PF being given an excuse to explain why it has failed again. If restrictive measures and sanctions remain in place there is no doubt that they will be the centerpiece of Zanu PF’s propaganda campaign.

• There is little likelihood of Zimbabwe’s electronic media being opened up so the vast majority of the electorate will be subjected to this lie and excuse. In a recent meeting of civic leaders with a key Zanu PF strategist the strategist admitted that Zanu PF always needs an enemy to fight.

This is of course a classic tactic of fascist parties down the ages to remain in power; enemies are needed to unite people against a supposed external evil force and to divert their attention away from the real reasons behind their poverty, namely mis-governance.

This particular “enemy”, namely sanctions, must be removed as soon as possible to remove that lie from our political discourse.

•   Sanctions and restrictive measures have been particularly used in the diamond sector to facilitate and cover up massive corruption.

In the last four years in Cabinet whenever we tried to investigate diamond receipts these efforts were always met with the excuse that there was a need for “secrecy” because of sanctions; that if there was a truly transparent process that that would be used by hostile Western governments to stop the export of diamonds from Zimbabwe and in so doing have a dramatic negative effect on our gross domestic product and revenue flows to Treasury.

Of course it was just another lie because all the secrecy did was to enable a few to enrich themselves at the expense of the general public and the fiscus.

A classic example of this is the statement made on Tuesday the September 17th 2013 by none other than President Robert Mugabe in which he alleged that the former chairman of the ZMDC Godwills Masimirembwa had received a bribe of $6 million from a Ghanaian diamond mining house.

This is just the tip of the iceberg.

In truth the restrictive measures have allowed corrupt Government officials and ministers to milk our diamond revenues for their own benefit.

Some senior people have become obscenely wealthy in the last five years.

It was because of this that former Finance minister Tendai Biti called for the lifting of restrictions several years ago so that at least our diamonds could be sold through traditional, lawful diamond dealers and also that would mean that Zimbabwe would get the best prices for her diamonds.

Nothing has changed in this regard and so as regards diamonds at least, these restrictive measures should be lifted.

In stating this we are not naive regarding the fact that corruption will continue to plague this sector but at least the lifting of sanctions will remove the excuse that there is some justification for keeping our diamond dealings secret.

Their removal will also at least mean that Zimbabwe will get better prices for her diamonds.

It is important to remember that the restrictive measures were just that – they were directed at a few individuals and were restricted in their application, largely confined to travel bans and asset freezes.

Their primary benefit was to stigmitise those responsible for gross human rights abuses and corruption. The objective of stigmitising these individuals has been achieved; never again will those responsible for these crimes be considered as statesmen or paragons of virtue.

However the equal reality is that the measures themselves have done little to trouble those targeted. In all the circumstances while the timing is most unfortunate at present all sanctions and restrictive measures must be removed as soon as possible by those countries still applying them.

-Coltart is MDC secretary for legal affairs and former Education, Sport and Culture minister