BY BLESSED MHLANGA/MOSES MATENGA

MDC youths yesterday took to the Harare Magistrates Court to protest what they called State-assisted closure of democratic space, with the police denying them the right to hold public gatherings or demonstrations while the ruling Zanu PF enjoys unfettered freedom.

Nearly 20 youths led by Gift Ostallos Siziba, the youth assembly spokesperson, walked into the magistrates’ court with tape covering their mouths and accused President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government of using the police and courts to curtail political freedom for ordinary Zimbabweans.

“We are here to express our displeasure with the system. The courts are being used to close democratic space. When, as political actors, we speak out our minds and use banters to aim at our opponents, we are arrested, dragged to the courts and the courts take forever to deliver justice. We want our freedom of conscience, of speech and association restored and not limited by the courts at the behest of Zanu PF,” Siziba told NewsDay.

MDC rallies have been banned over the past three months and their attempt to stage demonstrations have been shut down through the use of brutal force, while Zanu PF has been allegedly given the freedom of the city.

“They staged their anti-sanctions demonstration (on October 25) without even as much notifying the police. They are doing these demonstrations countrywide, including rallies, and in most cases, you actually see police organising these events on behalf of the (Zanu PF) party. We are arrested, beaten and jailed. This is unconstitutional and unacceptable,” Siziba charged.

As the MDC battles closure of democratic space, Mnangagwa, already endorsed as Zanu PF’s candidate ahead of the 2023 elections, will meet the ruling party youths in Kadoma tomorrow amid growing anger over the “ban” on his opponent, Nelson Chamisa’s rallies across the country.

Chamisa has seen numerous of his party meetings and gatherings thwarted by police, with the latest being a provincial rally that was set for Chitungwiza on Sunday.

The latest ban followed a violent quashing of Chamisa’s Hope of the Nation Address last week by the law enforcement agents.

Mnangagwa will address his party youths in Mashonaland West and is expected to meet with students, youth in mining, churches and youth in business, among others.

The meeting will be held at Rimuka Stadium, party national youth league deputy secretary Lewis Matutu said.

While Mnangagwa is enjoying the freedom to meet his constituency unhindered, the same has not been accorded to Chamisa, who narrowly lost to the Zanu PF leader in last year’s elections.

The MDC had applied for a meeting in Chitungwiza, but officer commanding police Chitungwiza District, Sekayi Mujiwa, turned down their request.

“The notification has been noted, but it doesn’t meet the requirements of the Public Order and Security Act. The provision of section 29 of the Public Order and Security Act will be evoked if you decide to proceed with the rally,” the letter from the police read in part.

MDC Harare provincial chairperson Wellington Chikombo confirmed the ban, but could not outline their next course of action in the wake of a series of bans on their meetings by the police.

“We were supposed to have a meeting in Chitungwiza on Sunday, but the police blocked that,” he said.

Yesterday, Chikombo said they would again put another notice to the police for another rally and see what happens after that.

“We will continue to push. We will never tire. We are notifying the police of a rally we need to do this week and we will only have a position on (the next course of action) when the response comes,” he said.

Contacted for comment, police spokesperson Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi said the police were not aware of the MDC demonstration.

“There are laws to be followed, but I will have to check with our officers on the ground because we are unaware of the said demonstration. On allegations of favouritism, I have to check with the officers in Harare district so that I can give a conclusive comment,” he said.

BY BLESSED MHLANGA

MAIN opposition MDC is up in arms with the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec) after its chief elections officer, Utoile Silaigwana, recognised a new political party calling itself MDC Zimbabwe.

Party leader Nelson Chamisa, through the MDC acting secretary-general Jameson Timba, is livid and has written to Zec, accusing them of trying to sabotage their chances of winning elections by creating confusion among the electorate.

“We have been made aware that some individuals purporting to be members have written to you purporting to notify you of their existence as MDC Zimbabwe headquartered in Gweru. We have also been made aware of a letter purportedly coming from yourselves in response to their notification wherein you have acknowledged and, indeed, accepted them as part of your stakeholders,” the letter read.

Timba accused Silaigwana of acting in a manner that is not consistent with his office and violating the constitutional provisions which govern his conduct.

“Firstly, as a key stakeholder represented in Parliament and known to you, we were not given an opportunity to express ourselves on the validity of the claim by any of the said individuals. May we remind you that you are a public officer in charge of a public institution and, as such, you should conduct yourself within the bounds of the Constitution and, in particular, the requirements of administrative justice,” Timba wrote.

The MDC wants Zec to withdraw its recognition of MDC Zimbabwe on grounds that they are illegally using a patented party name and if allowed to be used, can cause confusion.

“Our party logo and insignia including any variants are registered patents. The said persons have no authority to use our name or have any claim whatsoever. As such, we hold a firm view that the purported registration is null and void and should be withdrawn. We, therefore, expect you to notify the said individuals of our position and expect your offices to act accordingly in terms of the law,” Timba wrote.

Silaigwana said while he had not read the letter from the MDC, he was shocked by the MDC’s attack on Zec given that the electoral management body had no powers to register political parties.

“We have had political parties with similar names in the past and we still do now. We have Zanu PF, Zanu Ndonga, the MDC’s themselves have had MDC, MDC-T, MDC-N, MDC-99, and we have no power to segregate political parties or register them. All we can do is acknowledge their existence and add them to our data base, so I don’t understand really where this is coming from,” he said.

Zec said it could only intervene when a political party uses a party symbol or logo that is prohibited by the Electoral Act, saying it held no other powers apart from those prescribed.

The MDC accused Zec of conniving with the ruling Zanu PF to confuse the voters by putting on the ballot paper similar names just to spoil Chamisa’s party.

“If you look at the 2018 general elections, the MDC-T led by Thokozani Khupe had close to 200 000 votes at parliamentary level, but at presidential, they only had 49 000. This was because there was confusion over party name and logo, allowing them to benefit from that, but at presidential, that confusion was not there and you saw how she performed.

This is a calculated ploy,” Chamisa’s spokesperson Nkululeko Sibanda, said.

Zimbabwe Elections Support Network has already proposed a law which will see political parties being registered to ensure that voters are not subjected to fly-by-night parties that just show up during elections.

BY BLESSED MHLANGA/RUVIMBO MATANHIKE

THE cost of getting a new passport could soon hit the roof by over 1 700% if government bows to the Registrar-General Office’s demands for the cost to be at par with the prevailing United States dollar interbank rate.

Currently, the registry is struggling to keep up with demand.

Speaking during a tour of the Central Registry by Home Affairs minister Kazembe Kazembe yesterday, Registrar-General Clemence Masango said his department was talking to government to increase fees for ordinary passports to the equivalent of US$53 on the interbank rate, which could see application fees for an ordinary passport costing $901.

“US$53 is what was approved and that is what can easily enable us to provide a service, bearing in mind that not every applicant paid US$53. We have seen people who require their passport in three days and they paid US$253 at that time; and those who want it within 24 hours US$318. So these two will help meet us halfway and achieve a win-win with those paying US$53. So if we are to get a review, we must get a review of not less than US$53 equivalent at the prevailing bank rate,” he said.

At the prevailing bank rate of around US$1 to $17, an ordinary passport will cost $901, while a three-day passport will cost $4 301 and an emergency 24-hour passport will ask for $5 406.

According to Masango, even these fees will not allow government to recover all costs related to production of passports.

“The costing excise was done in 2010. At that time, we had fully dollarised and it was done on the basis of US dollars. The $53, is what Cabinet approved as the minimum to be charged to get a passport, but not necessarily the exact cost of producing the passport,” he said.

Kazembe, who was appointed Home Affairs minister recently, faces a mammoth task to ensure quality and effective service delivery at the passports office that is only printing 2 000 passports a day against a daily demand of 1 800 passports and a backlog of close to 300 000.

He told the media that he hoped to address the crisis, end corruption in the department and ensure that there is respectable service delivery.

“I am glad to say that the RG’s Office has been working on this. I am sure you understand that at some point, we were producing 60 passports per day, which was a record low and I am glad now they are now producing

2 000 passports, which should come as a relief to our people,” he said.

“Yes, it’s not good enough, but given the challenges that we are facing, that of consumables and the issue of foreign currency, there are competing demands because the resources are not that much. We need fuel, we need electricity, issues that are beyond our control.”

BY BLESSED MHLANGA

THE price of mealie-meal nearly doubled yesterday after government abruptly cut off subsidies over a month than earlier proposed, in the process piling pressure on the already hard-pressed Zimbabweans.

Grain subsidies had kept a cap on the prices of maize meal and bread for years, but Finance minister Mthuli Ncube indicated that he would cut off support in January to drive down government’s budget deficit, which he has targeted at 1,5% of gross domestic product next year.

In a notice from the Grain Millers Association of Zimbabwe (GMAZ), the price of mealie-meal jumped from $55 to $101,66 for a 10kg bag of roller meal at a time the lowest paid workers are taking home less than $500 per month.

“The government of Zimbabwe has, with immediate effect, removed subsidies on grain resulting to the price of GMB maize going up to $4 000 per metric tonne. In light of the price movement, the price of roller meal shall be $89,96 per 10 kg bag. The traditional margin for miller to retailers is 13%, thus giving the retail price circa $101,66 per 10kg bag,” the statement read.

Prior to the price adjustment, the same bag was ranging between $55 and $60 in most retail shops, while it could be bought cheaper at the informal market, where it fetched between $40 to $50 cash.

The United Nations estimates that at least seven million Zimbabweans will need food aid this year, with the southern African country needing to import about 800 000 tonnes of maize this year after a drought that devastated the region.

Last week, Zimbabwe lifted import controls on grain in an attempt to soften the blow.

Zimbabweans are also grappling with weekly fuel price increases, while government increased electricity charges by 320% last month.

The latest increase was predictably not popular.

“You have people who can’t even afford mealie meal in Zimbabwe and this is shocking given that it’s a basic commodity which everyone should be able to buy. Even a doctor earning around $2 000 per month they have to think twice before buying maize meal,” Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions president Peter Mutasa said.

Meanwhile, the Zimbabwe Energy Regulatory Authority yesterday increased fuel prices to $17,90 for diesel from $17,74 last week and petrol to $17,44 from $17,07.

BY MOSES MATENGA

CIVIC society organisations (CSOs) yesterday said government was closing the democratic space in Zimbabwe targeting critics of its failure to address the deepening economic challenges.

This followed government’s plan through the State security apparatus to ban workshops it fears were meant to cause anarchy in the country, claiming the workshops were being funded by foreigners pursuing a regime change agenda.

Organisations that spoke to NewsDay yesterday said the shrinking of democratic space by President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s administration was a clear sign of paranoia on their part and were now treating people as enemies.

ZimRights director Okay Machisa said government must not view the people as enemies and must allow non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to operate freely.

“The bottom line is NGOs in Zimbabwe have never been enemies of the State, it is a perception. What we have always done is to compliment the work of government and where we actually see where the government is doing wrong, we are blamed for telling them the correct thing that you are wrong, you are killing people, you are beating up people and so on,” he said.

“NGOs have been labelled enemies of the State because (they) expose some of the bad sides of government and I don’t see why we can wait to be sponsored by the US or anybody to tell the system that this is wrong, this is right. You don’t need to be sponsored to say that.

“We don’t fight government unless they are saying our calls to say don’t beat up people, don’t burn people’s houses and don’t kill people (are wrong). If that is the crime, so let it be.”

Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition (CiZC) chairperson Rashid Mahiya said the timing of the crackdown was worrying and accused government of wanting to silence citizens.

Mahiya, who was arrested earlier this year and accused of wanting to subvert a constitutional government, charged that the State fears its citizens and covering up for their failures.

“They realise they have failed, they have no answers and their policies are not sustainable and have provided solutions that are devoid of a sustainable plan,” he said.

“Every effort now is to criminalise citizens. Government isn’t taking responsibility of their failures. They are running away from responsibility.”

Mahiya accused the Mnangagwa administration of being paranoid, saying the only way out of this crisis was to institute dialogue with the opposition and other stakeholders.

“They must sit down with the opposition, they should just negotiate and come out with a clear plan. This will end this fear of the people.”

CiCZ regional co-ordinator Blessing Vava said: “It is sheer paranoia by the government. We are worried that the democratic space has shrunk to unimaginable levels, making the work of civic society organisations difficult.

“CSOs are peace-loving and law-abiding citizens who, at no point, have an agenda to cause anarchy.”

There were claims over the weekend that the US was sponsoring a workshop in Harare meant to promote unrests that will ultimately subvert a constitutional government.

In a terse response to the claims, the US embassy public affairs section said: “This is a fabrication and has no basis in fact.”

The US was accused of organising a week-long workshop in Harare from December 2 to 10 to train civil society organisations on strategies of sustaining demonstrations and was working with an organisation called Frontline Defenders.

Supposedly leaked intelligence correspondence claimed that the agenda of the workshop included training civil society organisations on “ways to sustain demonstrations” and how to outsmart the police and banning the planned workshop in the process.

BY FORTUNE MBELE

ZIFA Southern Region Division One side Talen Vision has approached Zifa seeking redress over what they claim is a yellow cards scandal in the region.

This has thrown Bulawayo City’s crowning as champions and subsequent promotion to the Premier Soccer League into disarray.

Talen Vision allege that during the course of the season, Bulawayo City used suspended players in some of their league games and they claim to have overwhelming evidence to support their case.

The club accuses the Zifa Southern Region office of doctoring records in the local authority side’s favour.

Through their secretary-general Samantha Musekiwa, Talen Vision, who were challenging for the Southern Region Division One championship, yesterday wrote to Zifa chief executive officer Joseph Mamutse seeking assistance in the verification of the records at the regional office.

“Talen Vision request your esteemed office and person to facilitate the verification of yellow cards for Bulawayo City FC for the 2019 season pursuant to our request for the same which the Zifa Southern Region did not tender properly. Our request is based on the overwhelming evidence of fielding ineligible players during the season. We are also in possession of a doctored and yet inaccurate record (of the) yellow cards schedule prepared by the regional office in order to conceal the yellow card scandal,” Musekiwa said.

They allege that they were unfairly treated by the regional office, hence their decision to approach head office.

“Talen Vision reserve the right to approach other offices for redress should we continue not being accorded an independent verification of the yellow cards scandal in the Southern Region. We even formally informed Zifa Southern Region of our fulfilment of last weekend’s fixture under protest and hence our request for your office to facilitate the institution for independent verification of the yellow cards saga. May you advise as to the payments in respect of the institution of the independent verification of the yellow cards for Bulawayo City. We are aware that the region hastily crowned Bulawayo City as the regional champions despite the fact that there was an outstanding dispute on eligibility of some Bulawayo City players,” Musekiwa said.

The correspondence is copied to the club’s lawyers, Zifa president Felton Kamambo, the Premier Soccer League chief executive officer Kennedy Ndebele and to the Zifa Southern Region office.

Bulawayo City were crowned champions on Saturday at Barbourfields Stadium after beating Arenel Movers 3-0 to win the league on 67 points while Talen Vision lost their last game 1-0 to Makomo in Hwange in a match they say they played under protest.

BY MTHANDAZO NYONI

ZIMBABWE’S civil aviation infrastructure needs heavy rehabilitation and regular maintenance if the southern African nation is to attract international airlines and grow the tourism industry, African Bank Development Group (AfDB) has said.

“Civil aviation infrastructure in Zimbabwe needs heavy rehabilitation and regular maintenance. Air traffic control and safety remains a concern as equipment is old and in need of replacement,” AfDB said in its 2019 infrastructure report.

“Closely related to traffic surveillance is the capability for aircraft communication to and from the ground — in October 2018, Air Zimbabwe requested an emergency landing at Joshua Nkomo International Airport. A response was only received once the airline had diverted back to Johannesburg.”

The report notes that the entire Zimbabwe airspace had not been covered by existing surveillance facilities, and “what does exist is deficient.”

“The airspace surveillance equipment is not well maintained across most airports. Shortcomings in surveillance also raise concerns about search and rescue operations. Weather installations are inadequate, and broadband infrastructure is not available at most airports,” it reads.

AfDB said a contraction in demand for air services to and from Zimbabwe contributed to a reduction in the number of international airlines that service the Zimbabwean market.

During 1997-2007 more than twenty scheduled airlines discontinued services in Zimbabwe, including major carriers such as Air France (1997), KLM (1998), Lufthansa (2000), Swiss Air (2000), and British Airways (BA) (2007), the report notes.

Currently, about 16 airlines operate services to and from Zimbabwe.

AfDB said air transport had become indispensable for the development of the tourism industry and if Zimbabwe was to rebuild its tourism industry in competition with other African States, sustained improvements in air safety and security as well as in airside and landside facilities were essential.

“Increased growth into tourism will have multiple forward and backward linkages to other parts of the economy. Additionally, improved aviation services will be central to efforts by Zimbabwe to build exports of a large range of perishable products. High value manufacturers who are dependent on efficient, on-time delivery need effective, reliable infrastructure,” it says.

AfDB said the marketing and growth strategy of Caazi for the decade ahead would require substantial additional resources to build a sustainable competitive advantage through the provision of world-class facilities, customer service and sustainable infrastructure.

“Zimbabwe’s civil aviation operates in a global industry; hence the airport and air navigation systems have to be of international standard.”

BY MTHANDAZO NYONI

ZIMBABWE’S mineral sales, excluding gold and silver, are expected to close the year at US$1,8 billion, 6% above last year’s figures, the Minerals Marketing Corporation of Zimbabwe (MMCZ) has said.

From January to October this year, mineral earnings have amounted to US$1,6 billion against a projected target of US$1,8 billion.

Last year, the country raked in US$1,7 billion in mineral sales.

MMCZ is an exclusive agent for marketing and selling of minerals produced in Zimbabwe, except silver and gold, that fall under the ambit of Fidelity Printers and Refiners.

MMCZ general manager Tongai Muzenda told NewsDay Business that mineral earnings for the first 10 months of 2019 slightly missed the target due to a number of challenges bedevilling the mining sector, among them, power cuts.

“There are other smaller minerals which we must work on and try to grow them like your granite, your petalite and so forth. Granite alone contributed about US$21 million to this number. In essence, that is what we have. Hopefully in the next two months, we should be able to get at least US$1,8 billion or hopefully more billion dollars at the end of the year,” he said.

Muzenda said in the first 10 months, prices of minerals, especially platinum group metals (PGMs), held up.

“So we must not complain too much. You see the prices of PGMs have gone up especially on rhodium. In terms of contribution to the US$1,6 billion, almost a billion dollars is from PGM concentrates,” he said.

The country’s PGM producers are Zimplats, Unki and Mimosa.

“On diamonds, which is our national interest always, total sales were about US$142 million for the 10 months to October. Other interesting metals are ferrochrome, chrome ores, chrome concentrates and high carbon ferrochrome, which was US$254 million, which is not bad,” he said.

By CHIPA GONDITII

EMPLOYERS Confederation of Zimbabwe (Emcoz) president Israel Murefu says the introduction of key policies by the government without consulting the populace is a hindrance to the collective bargaining process.

Collective bargaining is a process of negotiation between employers and a group of employees aimed at coming up with agreements to regulate workers’ salaries, working conditions, benefits, and other aspects of workers’ compensation and rights.

Speaking at the Emcoz collective bargaining summit in Mutare last week, Murefu said it was very important for the government to consult the people during policymaking because they (people) were the ones being affected by the policy changes.

He also highlighted that the ever-increasing exchange rate had become a menace to the collective bargaining process.

“The exchange rate historically was not an issue in our collective bargaining processes, but it has become an issue because of certain policies that have been put in place by the authorities to change currency without consulting the people who are affected by the changes.

“Let’s say, a company that was running its business in forex and is in the business of importing and sells items in US dollars and then all of a sudden it is told you can no longer trade in US dollars, yet that has been the mainstay of that person’s business.

“It means that person is out of business completely, yet you have a workforce that has to be paid and that is a problem, so that is why it is important to have consultation before some of these big decisions are made.”

Murefu also highlighted that productivity had been the missing benchmark in the collective bargaining process.

“It is important to understand productivity and how to measure and understand it, because employers can only pay out of value that has been created and value is created through productivity. If you have not created value, it is difficult to imagine the source of resources you are going to use to remunerate you employees. So more attention should be paid to productivity,” Murefu said.

The Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Union vice-president, however, said it was difficult to improve productivity seeing that the current economic situation had significantly diminished workers salaries.

“The workers were used to earning a minimum of US$400 and this has now been reduced to less than US$30 so that worker needs to survive. So you cannot expect productivity from someone who is ailing and demotivated.”

Chirenda also said that it was important for employers to empower their workers.

“So you have to incentivise your employees for them to be productive. Employers have to empower their workers because if employees are able to buy, then what you are producing becomes relevant and productive,” Chirenda said.

BY SHARON SIBINDI

ORGANISERS of the annual Zimbabwe Achievers Awards (ZAA) yesterday said they will be taking the awards ceremony to Elephant Hills in Victoria Falls as they celebrate their 10th anniversary in April next year.

Founded in 2010, the awards recognise and celebrate Zimbabweans who fly the country’s flag high in countries such as Australia, South Africa, United Kingdom, United States and Canada among other countries.

The awards founder Conrad Mwanza (pictured) told NewsDay Life &Style that they chose Victoria Falls as the awards ceremony venue as they want to encourage people to visit the resort town.

“As part of the 10th anniversary we are bringing all the chapters from the United Kingdom, United States of America, Canada, Australia, South Africa to congregate as part of the Zimbabwe thrive initiative celebrating the 40th independence anniversary and bringing the people from the diaspora together,”

“A lot of people have seen the place (Victoria Falls) so I think if we are doing a built Victoria Falls initiative, it must be our vision in 20 years’ time. We want to see Victoria Falls becoming like Dubai, Sandton that kind of thing. So we need to start with those small initiatives that bring people together and hopefully from there we have a major impact,” he said.

Mwanza said they were many Zimbabweans doing well outside the country in sectors such as arts and culture, music, sports, business, philanthropy and the event will be an opportunity for them to be acknowledged at home (Zimbabwe).

“We expect to get these Zimbabweans who are making it around the world, to celebrate each other’s works. We also strive to see how we can have a positive impact and contribute towards the betterment of children, the country and how different people from different regions around the world can also contribute positively,” he said.

“As ZAA, we will be bringing in these editions to the mighty Victoria Falls. So on the day we will be recognising people who are having a global impact around the world. It is also part of a holiday and we encourage our diasporas to visit as tourists as well.”