Southern Eye

By Nqobile Bhebhe

26 July 2013

A MEMBER of senator David Coltart’s campaign team was on Wednesday detained by police in Bulawayo for allegedly tearing a Zanu PF campaign poster.

Coltart said the incident happened at Woodville shopping centre and the accused, Malthus Ncube, is due to appear in court today.

Ncube was nabbed after allegedly being spotted by a Zanu PF activist pulling down a poster, but he argued that the A4 bill was in a drain.

“I got a call that three of my members had been detained by police on allegations of tearing up Zanu PF posters belonging to an aspiring councillor, at woodville shopping centre,” Coltart said.

He said the allegations are based on a single witness.

“Even if the charge were proven on the evidence of one Zanu PF member, at most he will get a fine for tearing an A4 poster worth about two cents.”

MDC officials said their members where putting up posters in Woodville shopping centre when they were confronted by a Zanu PF activist claiming that they tore their campaign material.

The Zanu PF activist picked the A4 poster from the drain and alleged than Ncube had torn it.

On Wednesday, the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights said 37 people had so far been arrested or detained for allegedly pulling down President Robert Mugabe’s campaign posters.

The human rights body said court papers in its possession showed that the majority of the suspects were MDC-T and MDC supporters.

Statement regarding the breach by the ZEC of section 21 of the Electoral Act

Section 21(4) of the Electoral Act states “within a reasonable period of time after the calling of an election, the Commission shall provide, on payment of the prescribed fee, to every political party that intends to contest the election, and to any observer who requests it, one copy of every voters roll to be used in the election, either in printed or in electronic form as the party or observer may request.”

The MDC has repeatedly asked the ZEC to provide us with a voters roll. Last Friday we wrote to the ZEC asking for a copy of the roll. Today we were advised that we may get a copy of the roll tomorrow but we are concerned that this will not happen.

A “reasonable period of time after the calling of an election” means just that. The election was called on the 13th June and 6 weeks have since elapsed – and yet we still do not have a copy of the voters roll. 6 weeks to supply a voters roll is not a reasonable period of time. Worse than that is the 5 days left before the election is conducted – that is a grossly unreasonable period of time left to study and use the voters roll.

Voters rolls are meant to be used by political parties the world over to analyse who is in particular constituencies so that they can be spoken to and encouraged to vote. That opportunity is now denied us. Furthermore in the Zimbabwean context where rigging has abounded in the past it is critically important that parties be given sufficient time to analyse and audit the voters roll. That right has now been denied us.

No satisfactory explanation has been given by the ZEC for their failure to comply with the law and to that extent its credibility as an organisation has been severely tarnished by this very serious breach of the law.

We can but hope that the voters roll in analysable digital electronic format will be supplied as promised tomorrow.

Senator David Coltart.
Secretary for Legal Affairs
MDC
Bulawayo
25th July 2013.

I have spent most of the morning at Tredgold Building with our legal team trying to secure the release of our distribution coordinator Malthus Ncube. Malthus was arrested on Wednesday evening after a sole ZANU PF operative reported to the Police that Malthus had taken down posters of Robert Mugabe in Woodville.

I was up until 12.30am on Thursday morning at Queens Park East Police station when I secured his release. Malthus went back to QPE station on Thursday morning and was then handed over to the so called Law and Order department which handles all the politically related cases in Zimbabwe. Since then Malthus has been treated in appalling manner.

Despite the best efforts of our lawyers Malthus was held in detention the whole of yesterday, detained over night in the absolutely filthy police cells at Bulawayo Central and only taken to court this morning. There was of course no reason why Malthus could not have been taken to court yesterday as this is not a complicated case – so the delay was deliberately designed to punish Malthus and of course to deprive my campaign of a key member of my staff.

When I got to court this morning I was told that bail would be opposed! Apparently this is an instruction from the Attorney General’s office. It will of course be a profound miscarriage of justice if Malthus is denied bail. The allegation against him is that he took down, ie did not destroy, a few posters which are definitely not worth more than US$5. The allegation is based on the evidence of a single interested party – namely a Zanu PF operative. The Police is aware that we have independent witnesses who will say that the posters had simply fallen down and were lying on the ground. Furthermore I have no doubt that the allegations are baseless. Malthus, as I say, is the coordinator of the team. He has been briefed and trained by me from the very beginning of this campaign about the law and about the need not to interfere with any other candidate’s posters in any way. He has been a highly responsible and motivated member of my team and has worked outstandingly well for over 4 weeks without a single incident. Why he would even be bothered taking down posters, given that ZANU PF provide absolutely no threat to us in this constituency (they may even lose their deposit they have such little support), is beyond logic.

I should not be surprised because this is typical conduct of ZANU PF – they have not changed one iota in the 30 years since I returned to Zimbabwe and every election I have been involved in since returning home in 1983 (either as a lawyer or as a candidate) has been characterised by similar conduct. Even in this campaign I have had numerous posters removed entirely, some defaced or damaged – of course nothing is done about those crimes by the Police. This sets an alarming precedent – that a single ZANU PF operative can make an allegation, without any other corroboration, and in so doing deprive a person of his liberty and my entire campaign of a key member of my team. But that of course is the purpose behind this. ZANU PF know they are in deep trouble and so they resort to their usual DNA. the purpose clearly is to disrupt my campaign.

If there is any silver lining in all of this it is that ZANU PF clearly know who their main opponent is in this constituency. Fortunately when I saw Malthus in the dank cells below the Magistrates Court this morning he understood this. His spirits were high because he understands we are on a roll.

The bail hearing will be this afternoon and I would appreciate your prayers as Josephat Tshuma argues for bail. May the presiding Magistrate remember that his/her role is to ensure that justice is done. For that Magistrate and all who administer justice in Zimbabwe I would remind them of the sobering words found in Amos 5:12-15

“You oppress the righteous and take bribes
And deprive the poor of justice in the courts.
Seek good, not evil, that you may live.
Then the Lord God Almighty will be with you,
Just as you say he is.
Hate evil, love good;
Maintain justice in the courts.”

Those responsible for this ongoing injustice in Zimbabwe will one day have to face an awesome, mighty God who will bring everyone to account. Let every person in Zimbabwe remember that. These outrageous acts of injustice will not go unpunished.

David Coltart.

Condolence Statement on the untimely death of Chiwoniso Maraire from the Minister of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture, Senator David Coltart

The Financial Gazette

By Clemence Manyukwe

25 July 2013

GOVERNMENT has virtually been paralysed as ministers and members of the presidium intensify their political campaigns ahead of next week’s polls.

A number of government ministers are fighting tooth and nail to retain their seats in the bicameral Parliament in order to stand a good chance of being appointed into Cabinet.

A Cabinet appointment comes with a top-of-the-range Mercedes Benz, an all-terrain 4X4 vehicle, a government house and other featherbeddings.

While a serving President can, if need be, widen his/her selection pool by appointing non-constituency Members of Parliament, the slots are limited; hence politicians tend to bank on such benevolence as a last resort.

But with politicians spending much of their time in their constituencies, government business is suffering.

The traditional Tuesday Cabinet meetings were suspended early this month as parties moved a gear up in their contestation for power.

President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai have also hit the campaign trail, and have been crisscrossing the country’s provinces, drumming up support for their parties.

The tight schedule presented by the harmonised elections caught many politicians off guard. To make the most out of the available time, most of them have vacated their posts to seek re-election.

David Coltart, the Minister of Education, Arts, Sport and Culture, is one of the few ministers who are still performing their duties.

Yesterday, he said constitutionally ministers remain in place until a new President takes over.

“I have just put a new Arts Council and I am still signing papers. I have also attended a meeting of the Education Transition Fund,” said Coltart, the secretary for legal affairs in the Movement for Democratic Change.

Meanwhile, the Office of the President and Cabinet has written to the Joint Monitoring and Implementation Committee (JOMIC) saying it was temporarily withdrawing vehicles from the organ until after the polls as they were being abused at political campaigns.

This follows an announcement by ZANU-PF last week that it was pulling out of the organ on grounds that its assets were being abused.

JOMIC is a creation of the Global Political Agreement (GPA) that paved the way for the formation of the inclusive government in February 2009.

Its role is to ensure the implementation of the GPA; receive reports and complaints in respect of any issue related to the implementation, enforcement and execution of the agreement; serve as catalyst in creating and promoting an atmosphere of mutual trust and understanding between the parties and promoting continuing dialogue between the parties.

The withdrawal of the vehicles is likely to paralyse JOMIC’s operations pre and post the election period.

The Financial Gazette

By Mandla Tshuma

25 July 2013

ZAPU alternate secretary-general, Strike Mkandla (SM) says his party’s main objective in participating in this year’ elections is to continue from where they left in 1987 at the signing of the Unity Accord with ZANU-PF. The Financial Gazette’s  this week caught up with Mkandla who is also ZAPU’s National Assembly candidate for Bulawayo’s Pelandaba-Mpopoma constituency.

He shared his views on his candidature and ZAPU’s maiden participation in the plebiscite after parting ways with ZANU-PF in 2008.

MT: What is ZAPU’s main objective in participating in this election?
SM: The main aim is to start where we left off in 1987 and to build an alternative to unaccountable and repressive governance. Since we cannot become the majority party on account of fielding candidates in less than half of the constituencies, our first target is to get a sizeable block of seats to make an impact in Parliament and in the provincial councils.
On the policy front there are significant silences in how the new constitutional provision for devolved government will work out in practice. One example is the allocation of resources to the provinces and metropolitan authorities who are guaranteed “no less than five percent of national revenue”.
This essentially leaves a bloated centre and rickety devolved government unless there are strong voices to push for a radical interpretation of that provision. There are also some unfinished business in the area of freedom of assembly and access to information.

MT: How are you planning to improve the lives for Zimbabweans should you win these polls?
SM: We need to give teeth to the devolution provisions where there is an opening in the new constitution to meaningfully empower Zimbabweans by giving them control over government activities, services and local priorities as well as benefits from resources in their areas.
We are not for decentralisation that is given and taken at the whims of some authority and even individual ministers based in Harare. The country’s rich resources are not benefiting the majority of our people. Even poorer countries than us in natural resource endowment are doing better  because we have poorer governance. In this regard we shall be fighting to stop corruption which is partly promoted by low accountability and lack of transparency.

MT: Some political observers say the recently signed pact between ZAPU and the Welshman Ncube-led MDC is very weak and will not produce any results. How  do you respond to that?
SM: This alliance is the first voluntary agreement between two competing parties on the basis of identified common objectives and principles. It will get stronger because it is not merely for maximising chances in this election only. The ideal situation would have been a common slate of candidates so that we benefit from our combined strengths. We were overtaken by time and the need for mandates to move with the members as negotiations progressed.
The first positive result is the change of mind-set, so that there is nobody that feels ordained to lead the others.
The second positive result is that we are committed to supporting each other’s candidates where only one is standing.
The third is that we have one example of a candidate standing down for another in Bulawayo where ZAPU is supporting David Coltart of MDC. I am sure if there was time this would be replicated by candidates of each party, but one problem here is that we did not develop a mechanism for aggregating the votes in order to gain equitable representation in the seats allocated to proportional representation. In the next elections in 2018 or before we intend to be in a stronger alliance that responds to all the issues raised above. I see us fielding a single presidential candidate then and a common slate of candidate; so this is not a gimmick just for this election.

MT: Your party has been labelled a regional party. How is its support base like outside Matabeleland and the Midlands?
SM: I am intrigued that this question is almost exclusively reserved for parties from the south of the country when there are over 20 registered political parties that have never even attempted to have a base in Matebeleland or the Midlands. It seems that being strong in Matebeleland is considered “regional” and even “tribal” regardless of one’s ideological position. This is even more curious when you consider that since the 1920s most nationally significant trade unions and parties (actually with the exception of ZANU-PF) benefited in their initial stages from committed support and leadership based in Bulawayo.
In the case of ZAPU we have a lot of residual support in many parts of the country which we could not transform into structures because of restrictive conditions and outright fear of victimisation, particularly where ZAPU’s forces did most of the fighting during the liberation war like in Mashonaland West. In this election we have candidates in Harare and one in Manicaland, but we could not muster a nomination drive because of resource constraints.

MT: ZAPU is said to be a party for the elderly. How have the youths from across the country received ZAPU?
SM: ZAPU is a surprisingly resilient idea, given that it has been out of the picture as an independent organisation until 2009. Naturally those who were born and grown up when it was “swallowed up” in 1987 have direct recollection of what it did and how it related to its support base. I have been amazed at how some people under 40 passionately relate to the party’s history and even have “nostalgia” because of what has been passed onto them.
During the conference of the ZAPU Youth Front in April this year youths from all over the country sounded as passionate about the party like the older members, including the women (the Zimbabwe African Women’s Union) who had their conference at the same time and venue. However, the structures are stronger in the south for now like I alluded to in answering your previous question about regionalism.

MT: How is your financial situation affecting your campaigns as the country heads towards harmonised elections?
SM: I have already answered this question in different forms. The long and short of it is that if we had an even modestly better financial base we could have done better where we have good but poorly resourced potential candidates who were put off by the prospect and magnitude of campaigning from personal funds.

MT: What’s next for ZAPU after these polls?
SM: The most immediate thing is that we got a chance to test our structures and how they respond to challenges such as a poor resource base.
We shall immediately prepare for the next elections and also work at the alliance with the MDC for a strong slate of candidates.
The second is to use whatever strength we get to push for real change in people’s lives and the way government relates to them and their priorities. If we gain control in any province it should become a model of how the whole country should be run.

The Southern Eye

By Nqobile Bhebhe

25 July 2013

THE race for Bulawayo East constituency, which has eight candidates vying for the House of Assembly seat, has been billed as one of the most epic battles in the city.

The cast consists of incumbent Thabitha Khumalo of MDC-T,  Education, Sport, Arts and Culture minister  David Coltart of MDC, Kelvin Muzidziwa (Zanu-PF) and Tinashe Kambarami, a former youth district chairperson in MDC-T who chose to run as an independent.

Others are Kelvin Kasosera (Zimbabwe Patriotic Movement), Norman Kaviza (MKD), Stanley Moyo an independent and Tapson Tivarere of United Movement for Democracy.

Roger Muhlwa, however, has since withdrawn his candidature after Zapu forged an election pact with MDC, throwing his weight behind Coltart.

Politics, being a game of numbers and popularity, observers said the race had virtually been narrowed down to just two – Khumalo and Coltart.

Khumalo, whose political career is grounded on trade unionism, has been Bulawayo East legislator since 2000.

During her tenure, she has campaigned for HIV and Aids prevention and access to treatment, which was often viewed as advancing the legalisation of prostitution.

In her party, she was also never far from controversy.

In 2011, at the MDC-T elective congress, she challenged party deputy president Thokozani Khupe for the post and lost.

From there, things went helter-skelter for her, as she was soon relieved of her position as deputy spokesperson of the party.

On the other hand, her main rival, Coltart is the incumbent Kumalo senator.

Coltart said while he would have preferred to remain in the Senate, he “understood the logic of the decision and hence agreed to stand in the House of Assembly”.

His profile as Education minister might win him the election.

However, both candidates in recent interviews admitted that the battle would be tough.

Bulawayo-based political commentator Godwill Phiri said although both candidates have high profiles, Coltart had a slight edge.

“No doubt the race would be tight,” he said. “Both candidates have strong CVs. But Coltart has an edge over Khumalo.”

Coltart is rated as having been the best performing minister in the tenure of the inclusive government. He helped revive a crucial sector that had collapsed.

“That on its own is a huge factor and the electorate relate to the education issues as they are  a basic human right.”

He added that the MDC-Zapu alliance which saw Muhlwa stepping down, could benefit Coltart.

On Khumalo’s chances, Phiri said her draw card was thin.

“Her major strength is that she is the incumbent and a woman candidate — that might work for her,” he explained.

“However, the fact that she was raising minority issues in Parliament, which have to do with legalising prostitution, that is a massive minus.

“Those issues do not resonate with the majority of the electorate.”

Phiri said the internal MDC-T squabbles in the province could work against Khumalo.

Southern Eye

By Southern Eye Reporter

25 July 2013

Veteran journalist, Methuseli Moyo who has reported on several elections, said while both candidates stand a chance of clinching the seat, Coltart is a better brand. “It’s a 50-50 affair, but Coltart is a far better brand than Khumalo and other contestants.

“He is a stable politician. With respect to other ministers, Coltart’s achievements in the government are highly rated.”

Moyo described Bulawayo East as an enlightened constituency and since Coltart was highly visible on social media, this gave him an edge.

“Residents in the constituency are not a rally type,” he said. Moyo added that Khumalo’s greatest undoing could be her statements on sexual issues.

“She is vocal, but her statements on sexual issues in Parliament might mitigate against her” her said.

Other constituencies tipped to be a close call include Makokoba, which pits MDC-T provincial chairman Gordon Moyo, ZANU PF central committee member Tshinga Due, Thabile Ndlovu (MDC), Thomeki Dube (Alliance Khumbula Ekhaya), Zenzo Lot Masuku (Zapu), Patricia Ncube (Free Zimbabwe Congress) and Harry Peter Wilson of MKD.

Moyo, the State Enterprises and Parastatals minister, has a fight on his hands, as he will contest Dube – well-known for his deep pockets.

Another interesting area should be Lobengula where incumbent, Water Resources minister Samuel Sipepa Nkomo of MDC-T, is being challenged by MDC spokesperson Nhlanhla Dube.

The Herald

By Zecheaus Nemadire

23 July 2013

Musician Oliver Mtukudzi has been appointed as one of the new board members of the National Arts Council of Zimbabwe.

Mtukudzi was appointed together with businesswoman Chipo Mutasa, Shoko

Festival Director Samm Monro, newspaper executive Raphael Khumalo, Stills execution manager for the Central Africa Franchise of Coca-Cola East & Central Africa Nomathemba Halimana, arts administrator Jackie Cahi, Doon Estate property manager Marcellina Mushore, writer Pathisa Nyathi and artist Misheck Masamvu.

The new board will be chaired by Dr Nozipho Maraire, a world-renowned eye surgeon.

Education, Sport, Arts and Culture Minister David Coltart said in a statement that the new board had people from different backgrounds and was gender balanced, with personalities of merit.

“As you can see the board’s structure is gender balanced, the number of male and females is equal at five apiece,” he said.