BY VENERANDA LANGA

UNITED Nations resident co-ordinator Maria omes Do Valle Ribeiro yesterday said the country’s economic shocks would put children at risk and hinder Zimbabwe from achieving sustainable development goals (SDGs).

Ribeiro said this at the Parliament of Zimbabwe during a high-level forum on the 30th anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which was organised by Unicef and the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Education, chaired by Priscilla Misihairabwi-Mushonga.

“Zimbabwe has ratified key conventions, instruments and protocols on the rights of children and the involvement of children in armed conflict, as well as the International Labour Organisation Convention on the rights of the child,” Ribeiro said.

“However, poverty and economic shocks are putting at risk the achievements by made by Zimbabwe on the rights of children, for example, the impacts on the rights to access to food and nutrition, health and education and to ensure that all children feel protected and safe as this can put them at risk.”

Unicef representative Laylee Moshiri said Zimbabwe signed to SDGs and Agenda 2030, adding that if children’s rights are not improved, the country would be unable to eradicate poverty as most of the 17 SDGs have children at the centre.

Speaker of the National Assembly, Jacob Mudenda said it was imperative to support the rights of women as the care givers of children.

“The international community must also come to our aid because we have gone through difficult periods in terms of the effects of drought. Currently, the water levels at Kariba Dam are very low and we are not getting sufficient electricity, which has an impact on our industry and economy in general. The international community and the United Nations must come to our aid in a more forthright manner,” he said.

Mudenda said the national purse could not provide child feeding at schools, adding that some children were walking 10km to school on empty bellies.

Child president Mukudzeiishe Madzivire said the root cause of children’s problems in the country was that they are not included in decision-making processes.

Misihairabwi-Mushonga blasted ministers, their deputies and permanent secretaries for snubbing the event, where they were supposed to be asked questions about how they are promoting children’s rights.

Meanwhile, a Zanu PF legislator Alice Ndlovu (proportional representation) died in the early hours of yesterday.

“We have received sad news that one of us, Alice Ndlovu, passed on this morning (Friday) at around 2am at Avenues Clinic,” Mudenda told delegates.

“It looks like she had problems with kidneys and she died while on dialysis.”

According to her biography on the Parliament website, Ndlovu was born in 1956 in Gwanda and was a widow.

BY VENERANDA LANGA

PUBLIC Accounts Committee (PAC) chairperson Tendai Biti yesterday said the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) must be removed from being under the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ), alleging that the central bank itself was a “rogue” institution which needs investigation by the unit.

Biti said this during debate in the National Assembly on the second reading stage of the Money Laundering and Proceeds of Crime Bill.

The same issue was raised by the chairperson of the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Finance, Felix Mhona, during public hearings on the Bill.

Members of the public also suggested that the FIU must be removed from the RBZ so that it becomes an independent institution.

“Two weeks ago, I presented on behalf of the PAC a report on the omissions of the RBZ. We made a recommendation that the footprints of the RBZ were too much in the economy because they are responsible for distribution of foreign currency, export requirements, subsidies and issuance of Treasury Bills, lending and borrowing,” Biti said.

“PAC recommended that section 6 of the RBZ Act should be amended so that their functions are issuance of foreign currency, management of the monetary policy statement, management of the payment system and a banker of last resort.

“The issue of housing the FIU in the RBZ is a problem because they (RBZ) are a player in corruption and they need to be investigated. So, the RBZ is a rogue institution and it cannot house the FIU to investigate its rogueness.”

Biti said, for example, the RBZ released new $5 and $2 notes which were then distributed to the parallel market.

He said the central bank tried to deny its involvement and pin two banks for the shenanigans, but the fact that there were hundreds of thousands of notes disbursed to the streets showed that the RBZ was somehow involved.

“There is a problem in that the RBZ issues banking licences and regulates, which is a contradiction. You cannot regulate and be an overseer. In other countries, there is a financial oversight unit. We need to take out the FIU from RBZ and create a big financial oversight unit and combine it with the Securities Commission so that they look at issues of money-laundering,” Biti said.

African Parliamentarians Network Against Corruption chairperson Priscilla Misihairabwi-Mushonga said there was need for the Bill to ensure there was declaration of assets for all public officials.

“Some MPs walk into this House without ever having been to work, but five years later, you hear they own industries. They need to tell us how they got the money. Before anyone says they want to be president, they need to first declare their assets,” she said.

“We also need a Whistleblowers Act because I met someone at the airport, who said there was a lot of corruption and people from Dubai are entering with goods and getting bags of gold. He said he met many ministers doing that, but nothing is done to them.

“When I asked him if I can take him to the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission to report, he said that he could lose his job. So there is need for a Whistleblowers Act.”

Justice minister Ziyambi Ziyambi concurred with Misihairabwi-Mushonga, saying the Anti-Money Laundering and Proceeds of Crime Bill is a necessary law due to rampant corruption in the country.

“If you drive around Harare, you will not believe the wealth in this country. There is a mismatch between the kind of wealth and people’s salaries,” Ziyambi said.

“You find a clerk earning $1 000, but has three or four mansions. All that we are trying to say is explain your wealth. We need legislation to give us ammunition to fight corruption.”

BY BLESSED MHLANGA

LAWYERS yesterday held a peaceful demonstration against police brutality before handing a petition to Home Affairs minister Kazembe Kazembe and Police Commissioner-General Godwin Matanga.

Incensed by what they called an increase in State-sponsored violence and police impunity against accused persons, ordinary citizens and lawyers, close to 50 lawyers, led by the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR), took to the streets clad in their robes and jabots to express displeasure.

Handing over the petition to national police spokesperson Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi, who was standing in for Matanga, Grace Wagoneka demanded that police stop wanton brutality.

“We are demanding an end in police brutality, it’s unconstitutional and it cannot be entertained,” she said.

“We want it to end now. We are also demanding that police stop being an obstacle to us as legal practitioners when we are doing our work. When we visit our clients, who will be in police cells sometimes we are denied access to our clients. We want an end to that.”

Another lawyer, Mutsa Chinhamo, said police lacked basic understanding of the law and, therefore, were not enforcing the law, but just basically standing as agents of impunity.

“It’s an issue of ignorance of the law by the police. The police are not enforcing the law, they are just being brutal,” Chinhamo said.

“They are just showing impunity and do not care. They are abusing their powers and not upholding the Constitution. The Constitution should be a document that holds the country together.”

The lawyers in their petition want Kazembe to investigate all reports of police brutality, including the latest attack on Doug Coltart, who was allegedly beaten up by six police officers in full riot gear at Harare Central Police Station.

They are also demanding that an independent complaints commission against the police and army be set up in line with sections of the Constitution.

Lawyers sang and danced on the streets of Harare carrying banners denouncing the police.

IN the past two weeks, Zanu PF MPs have adopted a new tactic: Disrupt any parliamentary business or refuse to engage in any dealings with the opposition and, if possible, kick them out of parliamentary committees unless they legitimise President Emmerson Mnangagwa.

This raises a serious question: Why is Mnangagwa and his party so desperate for Nelson Chamisa and his MDC Alliance’s endorsement? Their desperation is such that they have turned the once respectable National Assembly into a circus and a very dangerous place for the opposition.

Timely disruption?

This all started a fortnight ago when Zanu PF legislators led by Chegutu West MP Dexter Nduna disrupted the sitting of the Tendai Biti-led Public Accounts Committee (PAC), which was looking at a very serious issue of graft in the Command Agriculture programme.

It was informative that the first disruption was made to prevent Sakunda Holdings executives from presenting evidence to the PAC over the unaccounted for US$3 billion in public funds the firm received for government’s much-vaunted Command Agriculture programme.

If the PAC wants answers about the money, the MDC must recognise Mnangagwa as a legitimately elected president, the Zanu PF MPs charged.

So Parliament and the public remain in the dark about how their money was used for a failed programme. That is how Zanu PF likes it, apparently, and the criminals and their beneficiaries get away scot-free.

Last week, Zanu PF MPs then started disrupting the sitting of more committees chaired by MDC legislators.

These include the Environment Committee, the Health Committee, the Media Committee, the Energy Committee, and the HIV/Aids thematic committee made up of senators and chaired by the MDC.

The MDC MPs and senators must first recognise Mnangagwa’s presidency if they want to carry out Parliament business, was the Zanu PF chorus.

Justice minister Ziyambi Ziyambi has since taken the issue further, refusing to take any questions from MDC legislators because they do not recognise Mnangagwa’s presidency.

The case for disruption

After decades of enduring long-time leader Robert Mugabe’s virtual dictatorship, the southern African nation hoped his removal from power via a coup in November 2017 would shake off its divided past, but Mnangagwa’s disputed victory only deepened political rifts.

After the election, Charles Laurie, head of country risk for Verisk Maplecroft, told Reuters news agency that: “There is a bleak pall over Mnangagwa’s win.”

So Mnangagwa’s bid to be seen as a legitimate, stable and trustworthy leader was gone, and with it his chances of ending Zimbabwe’s international pariah status and fixing an economy afflicted by high unemployment and foreign currency shortages among the many challenges.

Chamisa refused to bite when Mnangagwa offered him a position in Parliament as Leader of Opposition, perks and all, and insisted that the election had been stolen. By many indications, it is a view many in the diplomatic circles subscribe to.

So Mnangagwa has resorted to his default mode, force the opposition into submission, by any means necessary. The post-election killings of six civilians were not an aberration or a temporary lapse in judgment as in January this year, security forces killed another 17 during protests over a 150% fuel price hike. His administration has banned opposition gatherings or protests at every turn while police have beaten to a pulp those who attempted to meet.

The end-game?

Everywhere Mnangagwa looks, there is a signpost — talk to the opposition. There is a qualification too: Not the fake opposition under your Political Actors Dialogue, but the real one — read MDC.

So Mnangagwa, never much of a diplomat, twists the knife some more and goes after the opposition in the only institution they have some sway — Parliament.

First, it is a less risky way of trying to coerce and arm-twist the MDC. Mnangagwa wants opposition MPs in his corner: they are the flower of democracy for him to posture to the world that there is democracy in the country.

He has been selling himself as a democrat, an opposite of Mugabe and the opposition MPs will be useful in projecting that image, hence he wants them to recognise him for that objective to be achieved.

Second, Zanu PF wants a breakdown of government, a government shutdown; they have the leverage of two-thirds in Parliament so that they continue as they please.

PAC was the only avenue of exposing Mnangagwa’s corruption and obviously, it exposes Zanu PF because the ministers are its appointees. Boycotting PAC is the corner they have curved and they can use that to block the MDC from exposing high-level corruption.

Thirdly, Zanu PF is resorting to coercive tactics that ED hardliners are known for. They know that recognition by MDC will unlock the economic gridlock and make the way easy for another Zanu PF re-election in 2023. Zanu PF knows the economic problems are caused by political instability.

Efforts to mediate by churches and anyone else have failed because, as South Africa’s
International Relations minister Naledi Pandor noted two weeks ago, there is a “deep antipathy” between Zimbabwe’s rival political leaders.

Zimbabwe, she said, was facing “one of the most challenging” economic situations in the region.

But the circus is set to run and run.

 Alfonce Mbizwo is NewsDay Assistant Editor. Everson Mushava is NewsDay Chief Reporter. Veneranda Langa contributed to this article. They write in their personal capacities.

BY BLESSED MHLANGA/REX MPHISA

STRIKING junior and senior doctors have turned down offers by government to return to work within two days and to be paid $5 000 monthly by Econet Wireless founder, Strive Masiyiwa and his wife, Tsitsi, through their Higher Life Foundation (HLF), extending Zimbabwe’s health crisis.

The doctors went on strike on September 3 to protest against poor wages, in some cases less than US$100 a month.

President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government, which responded to the job boycott by firing 448 doctors and pursuing disciplinary action against more than 1 000 others, on Thursday offered to reinstate them if they returned to work within 48 hours.

According to the Zimbabwe Hospital Doctors Association (ZHDA), the last wage offer by the government would see the doctors earning a total package, including allowances, of
$3 900 (about US$240) per month.

“Sadly, the moratorium has come without a new offer on the table having been communicated to us,” ZHDA said, explaining its rejection of the offer.

The doctors also declined to accept an offer by Masiyiwa’s foundation to pay them $5 000 a month for six months.

Under the $100 million scholarship fund, HLF had offered to pay the senior and junior doctors $5 000, provide three Vaya rides to work every day and smart phones.

The ZHDA and Zimbabwe Senior Hospital Doctors Association (ZSHDA) said they met with a representative from HLF and deliberated on their offer of financial assistance to government doctors.

“As such, it was concluded that, inasmuch as the support from HFL is welcome, it does not address completely the demands of doctors for a salary value which is preserved despite soaring inflation, as well as provision of appropriate tools of trade,” the doctors said in the statement.

“It was posited that the offer from HLF may be reconsidered once the standoff between ZHDA and its employer has been resolved. This recognises the sincerity of the donor and its desire not to interfere with the negotiating process.”

The doctors said the appreciated efforts by the Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops Conference to resolve the impasse with government, but the bishops’ intervention lacked a representation of their voice.

“We appreciate the role played by the Catholic bishops which resulted in doctors being issued a moratorium, valid for the next 48 hours. Sadly, it came without a new offer on the table being communicated to us. Should this moratorium lapse without the formal communication of an offer that is reasonable, it would stand as yet another gracious privilege that is lost,” ZHDA
said.

They pleaded with the bishops to, in future, seek the voice of the other side before speaking on their behalf.

“We would appreciate it more if the bishops talk to doctors’ representatives first so that they are in an informed position to represent the doctors’ real interests,” ZHDA said.

According to reports, the junior doctors want the government to pay them a US$1 500 per month or its equivalent at the going inter-market rate.

Consultants, otherwise called senior doctors, expect a similar arrangement on a US$5 000 salary scale following which they will resume work, NewsDay Weekender understands.

ZHDA acting secretary general, Tawanda Zvakada on Thursday said a number of doctors were at the moment considering leaving the country if the situation does not change.

He said a number of doctors were trying to raise money to fulfil the conversion requirements for the different countries that might recruit them.

Britain, Australia, New Zealand were reportedly willing to capitalise on Zimbabwe’s situation.

“Some doctors are struggling to raise the funds for those conversions. As you might be aware, our salaries were stopped in September,” Zvakada said. — Additional reporting by Reuters

Editorial Comment

ANYONE who has bothered to follow the Zimbabwean story is bound to be very weary by now, given the roller coaster dramatic political and economic twist and turns.

For two decades now, the country has hardly known peace. Since 2000, it has all been doom and gloom, and the major reason for all this miserable state of affairs has been nothing, but politics.

It has all been politics of hate, politics of violence, politics of patronage, politics of corruption, politics of expediency, politics of denial and politics of looting the country’s resources by a few powerful individuals. Little wonder the main opposition MDC is now exasperated to near frustration.

Those who have read the history of the birth of this country may well know that it was such a hard slog to wrest control of the southern African nation from rabid colonial and racist rule.

But little did anyone back then ever imagine that someday, the very kith and kin, who once united to fight for their freedom, would turn their swords on each other.

No one would have ever imagined that a day would come when the swords, which were supposed to be turned into ploughshares soon after the liberation war ended, would, instead, be sharpened to strike dead a blood brother and sister.

Under this dark cloud, the MDC has, understandably, decided to bite the bullet and resist, through protests, the tyranny that is being directed at it by the ruling Zanu PF party simply because those in the opposition have chosen to point out the wrongs of their fellow country folk, who have had the sole honour and privilege to lead this country since independence in 1980.

Outsiders continue to stare in perturbed incredulity at a people that never seem to see eye-to-eye despite all of them knowing where exactly they want to go.

Many out there are amazed at the amount of energy the ruling party expends just to accuse the opposition of being agents of regime change, ostensibly to bring back colonial rule, as if Zimbabwe is the only country in this universe that was ever colonised.

Zanu PF’s paranoia of some other party ruling this country, other than itself, is perplexing beyond belief. But after all has been said and done, all this political heckling and squabbling is destroying the Zimbabwe nation State and will definitely get us nowhere.

Surely, for how long will we live a life of confrontation? For how long will the ruling Zanu PF party refuse to be cautioned when it errs? Did those in Zanu PF ever learn anything from the 2009 to 2013 Government of National Unity, which was the only moment in the country’s sad history when we nearly got it right?

That Zanu PF decided to go it alone since that historic unity only serves to expose the political selfishness that has effectively thrown the country into the present filthy rut.

The political situation in Zimbabwe appears complex, but in essence, its solution is very simple if only the ruling party humbled itself, a position that will never erase the fact that it was instrumental in liberating this country.

If anything, by so doing, it would have demonstrated maturity and it will gain more respect than it will ever hope to gain by perpetually fighting the opposition MDC. If only the ruling party would come to understand that pride comes before a fall.