THE Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec) has lamented at the poor turnout in its voter registration exercise in Bulawayo, and warned that the city risked losing some constituencies in the next delimitation exercise.

BY NQOBANI NDLOVU

“We are not registering even one person at any given week. It was only last Saturday when someone organised a group of people in Pumula suburb, about 15 of them to register as voters, our highest figure to date at any given time,” Zec provincial officer Sithembiso Khuphe told Southern Eye yesterday.

Khuphe said Zec’s target was to register plus 400 000 registered voters in Bulawayo to ensure the city gets 15 constituencies up from the current 12 during the next delimitation exercise.

However, indications are that the city will lose at least three constituencies as the current voter registered population for the city falls far short of the minimum threshold.

Independent election watchdog, the Zimbabwe Election Support Network has also warned of the same, saying the same fate is likely to befall Matabeleland North and South provinces in the next delimitation exercise.

“We are encouraging people to come and register. What we have realised is that people only take voter registration seriously when elections are around the corner. That is the problem we have.

“We had a target to get 15 seats with plus 400 000 voters in Bulawayo when we started the exercise, but, unfortunately, that has not been the case,” she added.

Bulawayo currently has about 258 000 registered voters.

MDC youth secretary-general Gift Ostallos Siziba said the party’s national management committee meeting held in the capital on Saturday resolved to deploy its senior officials to Bulawayo to help in rallying residents to register to vote ahead of the 2023 elections.

“We noted with urgency the ongoing delimitation process in Bulawayo metropolitan province and resolved to urgently deploy national executive members to assist Bulawayo province in the voter registration process that is ongoing,” Siziba said.

Bulawayo has been one of MDC’s strongholds since the party’s formation in 1999. Zimbabwe last carried a delimitation exercise in 2007 ahead of the 2008 harmonised elections.

According to section 161 of the Constitution, electoral boundaries must be delimited once every 10 years after a census.

A GROUPING of civic groups, under the banner Matabeleland Collective (MC), has threatened to disrupt nurse training lessons at Mpilo and United Bulawayo Hospitals (UBH) to force government to address reports of unfair recruitment of student nurses at the two institutions.

BY NQOBANI NDLOVU/PRAISEMORE SITHOLE

This comes amid reports that at Mpilo, 20 out of the 24 trainee nurses recruited last week were not from Matabeleland. The same reads for United Bulawayo Hospitals where only four out of the 27 nurse trainees are from Matabeleland.

Mpilo clinical director Solwayo Ngwenya, who also heads the school of nursing, reportedly claimed that the selection process was done in Harare after the introduction of an online nurses’ application portal.

The MC said the move by the Health ministry flies in the face of President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s promises, as outlined in the implementation matrix produced after the March engagement at the Bulawayo State House.

Mnangagwa, under the social services cluster, pledged to ensure that government devolves such processes by giving locals first preference in job training or in filling vacant posts.

“MC pledges to shut down some of these training centres if government does not intervene to reverse these unfair practices from these nursing training institutions. MC also urges government to immediately implement devolution of power in order to curb these unfair structural practices that favour other regions over the other,” the MC said in a statement.

On Sunday, Vice-President Kembo Mohadi, while promising redress, condemned the questionable nurse training recruitment at Mpilo and UBH.

“We are not happy and as government, we will address this issue. Government policy is that the recruitment must be done equitably. We don’t want bias in that regard.

“We are going to look into it so that it is rectified,” Mohadi said after a de-briefing on the issue by Bulawayo Metropolitan Affairs minister Judith Ncube at Zanu PF’s Bulawayo Davies Hall provincial offices. Ncube last week also threatened to force the reversal of the “unfair” nurse trainee selection process.

UPCOMING music artiste Nyasha “Arrowgent” Kwembeya is set to do a double launch of his debut 15-track album titled The Black Print online and at a local radio station on December 15 in Harare.

BY CHELSEA MUSAFARE

In an interview with NewsDay Life & Style, Kwembeya said preparations for his new offering were on course, adding that he was working hard to produce good stuff for his fans.

“Music, through online stores and local stations, will enable both radio and television personalities and everyone involved to share and play the music on the same day. The tracks will be available on YouTube and it will also be launched on a local radio station,” he said.

Kwembeya, who said the forthcoming production carries themes centred on social life and gospel, made his own beats and self-produced the album.

“My music centres on life, love and the gospel. Music defines me. It makes me feel alive. My inspiration comes from the sounds I hear in my head. The moment that I create an instrument definitely the lines start pouring down on paper. Music is what keeps me going,” he said.

Some of the songs on the album are: Port of H Town, Jamba, Mutsikei, Get Over It, Real Aint Real, Streets, Mr President, Life Yangu, Real Niggas, I Just Woke Up, Motivation, Imagine That, Chibhora, Let it Run and Mighty Saint.

The musician said he was inspired by hip-hop sensation Takura’s music and he wished to collaborate with him.

Five Rusape man are in hot soup after allegedly killing a 17-year-old man for stealing a chicken.

BY KENNETH NYANGANI

Manicaland provincial police spokesperson Tavhiringwa Kakohwa yesterday confirmed the incident.

The accused, appearing as first, second, third, fourth and fifth respondents, respectively in the matter are Jonathan Elias (43), Michael Bhunu (47), Ambrose Goko (47) and brothers Kingstone and Abel Nyatoro, whose ages are unknown.

Kakokwa said at around 5am on October 11, the now-deceased Watson Goko proceeded to Elias’ homestead and stole a hen from his fowl run. Elias was awakened by the noise of the chicken and when he went out, he discovered that one chicken was missing.

He then followed the footprints, but missed them at a nearby bush.

Elias went to his co-accused’s homes and informed them of what had happened.

They teamed up in search of the culprit and found the now-deceased hidden in a bush holding a hen.

They forced-marched him to Abel Nyatoro’s house where they took turns to assault him with sticks.

At one point, Goko tried to escape, but he was apprehended and Elias tied him with a rope.

Goko was forced-marched to his uncle Ambrose’s homestead, who is the third accused in the matter.

The now-deceased’s uncle was told about the incident and he joined in assaulting his nephew.

Goko was only released at around 9pm after five hours of beatings. He then went to her grandmother Brenda Goko’s house to rest.

A few hours later, he was seen at a nearby stream by his grandmother who discovered that he was in pain and sought help to ferry him to Masvoswe Clinic.

He died two days later and the three first accused persons reported themselves to Rusape Police Station, while the Nyatoro brothers are still at large.

BULAWAYO photojournalist, Crispen Ndlovu has embarked on a continental tour capturing historical features which could become extinct due to climate change.

BY SHARON SIBINDI

His photo-shoot follows a documentary about government atrocities dating back to Gukurahundi, including last year’s August 1 killings titled—The Killing Machine.

In an interview with NewsDay Life &Style, Ndlovu said the motive was to preserve images for future generations in the event that features disappear from the face of Africa.

“I have embarked on a photo-shoot and my aim is to encourage young people, especially Africans, to take a stand and advocate for climate change so as to preserve the planet,” he said.

“Most of my works have been on politics and culture, but now I want to try a new dimension, which is climate change. Most Africans do not find climate change as a matter of urgency and some do not think it’s real.”

Ndlovu said the shoot does not target Zimbabwe only, but other parts of Africa.

“The shoot is being done in Zimbabwe and Kenya. I started off in Beitbridge, Nkayi, Chipinge, Chimanimani, Masvingo, Goromonzi, Lupane, Matopo, Tsholotsho, Plumtree and Munyati. Each of these places tell a story on how climate change has affected them in one way or the other,” he said.
“The approach is very radical and I feel now is the time to do it and it is time when global young people are making the loudest noise against climate change and Africa is quiet. There is deafening silence when it comes to that.”

Ndlovu said the shoot was set to capture perfect natural occurrences which might be extinct if a strong position against climate change is not taken.

“We might not be worst affected as it stands, but the rate at which we are being negligent, for example, carbon emission levels, use of coal and other gases being emitted into the atmosphere when we have the Environment Management Agency, but not much action is being taken by them to curb environmental crimes,” he said.

“Legislation should also be put in place to combat climate change and also enforce the current legislation.”

Ndlovu said he will launch an online gallery and has engaged both local and international publications about the project.

“I have talked to editors of some local and international media houses to have the photos published. Since it’s all about climate change, I am sure the National Art Gallery will approve an exhibition, compared to my previous banned works and this is a self-funded project,” he said.

Ndlovu has also penned a controversial book, Guveya — a political satire, which has opened a new debate about Gukurahundi.

THREE official documents published in recent weeks paint a different, but fundamentally depressing pictures of Zimbabwe’s economy. All pose more questions than answers, leaving readers to ponder the meaning as well as the motivations underlying these assessments.

The first – a brief end-of-mission report by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) team that assessed the Staff-Monitored Programme (SMP) – comes closest to telling it how it really is. Since it was no more than a gloomy media statement, only when it is fleshed out in a published report, will it be possible to pass judgment.

The SMP published in May was very optimistic. The targets – unambitious as they are – were never likely to be achieved. The increase in government employment costs was going to be kept to 18%, reserve money growth to 10%, with real gross domestic product (GDP) expected to decline only 2,1%. All have been missed and IMF officials who in May put the odds of success at more than 50%, now apparently suggest that the completion odds have slumped to 15%.

Since that prediction, government has gone against IMF advice in tightening currency and exchange controls with a series of confused and contradictory measures, including criminalising some foreign currency dealings. In the process, Finance minister Mthuli Ncube’s already-tarnished reform credentials have been left in tatters.

Quite what IMF executive board members make of this, we will probably never know, but someone should be asking questions about the IMF’s “culture of optimism”. Should the fund staff try harder to get their projections more accurate rather than playing to their client’s gallery?

Perhaps, the assessment when published will inject the necessary realism, but don’t hold your breath.

At the other end of the scale is the second document – the Treasury’s Pre-Budget Strategy, replete with unrealistically optimistic forecasts, based on a combination of political opportunism and dubious, if not nonsensical, economics.

The figures are plucked out of cyberspace, asking readers to believe that an economy in which investment will average a mere 6,5% of GDP over the next three years, will grow at an average of (also) around 6,5%. In other words, one dollar of investment will produce another dollar of growth in real GDP.

Normally, the relationship – capital-output ratio – is around four, meaning that a country needs to invest $4 million to grow GDP by $1 million. In Zimbabwe, after decades of underinvestment in plant, machinery, infrastructure and human capital, one would expect the ratio to be well above four.

The strategy document forecasts year-end monthly inflation at 10% falling to a monthly increase of 2,3% by end 2020.

The impossibility of forecasting monthly inflation in 16 months’ time to one-tenth of a percentage point will not be lost of serious analysts. In effect, Treasury officials are saying: “We are not to be taken seriously.”

Nor should they, especially since the team responsible for the forecast is the same one that a year ago promised 22% average inflation in 2019, now adjusted to 150% or so, and real GDP growth of over 3%. In the event, every single one of the Treasury’s published budget highlights for 2019 has been missed.

Ncube has banned the official publication of annual inflation figures on the grounds that they are misleading which, given the plethora of misleading forecasts that he has produced in just one year in office, is deeply ironic.

The strategy puts 2019 GDP growth at -6,5% which is a great deal more realistic than its earlier forecast of minus 2,1% in the SMP, but still probably short of the mark. Nominal GDP estimated at some $93 billion in the SMP is raised to $114 billion. In 2020, it will grow 4,6% in real terms and 84% in nominal terms, meaning that inflation will average at least 75% next year.

Real GDP seldom grows when inflation exceeds 30% to 40% a year, which is another solid reason for questioning the growth forecasts. Official optimism is based on better rainfall, recovery in aggregate demand and improved macroeconomic stability and foreign currency availability.

Significantly, the word investment is not mentioned. Perhaps Treasury really believes that economies grow without investment?

Internal inconsistencies abound. GDP is forecast to grow 4,6% while imports – in United States dollars – rise only 5,5%. Given the degree to which growth in 2019 has been constrained by forex shortages, the numbers do not add up.

The “improvement” in the balance of payments – from a deficit on current account of US$1,4 billion in 2018 to $238 million this year and only $11 million in 2020 is the assumed product of import compression and a modest recovery in exports, underpinned by US$1,4 billion in humanitarian assistance and diaspora remittances. This, of course, is no platform for the promised upper middle-income economy in a decade’s time.

The strategy claims that the economy has been strengthened by what it calls “mono currency reforms”. Quite how the current contradiction-ridden system qualifies as a mono currency is not clear. Upwards of 40% of bank deposits are held in foreign currencies – a rough measure of dollarisation. The proportion was a mere 3,6% at the start of the year, suggesting re-dollarisation rather than a mono currency.

Then there is the official insistence that a growing variety and number of official transactions must be carried out in US dollars. The energy regulator, Zera, publishes official prices, using two different exchange rates – a subsidised one for the cost of fuel imports and a market one for Zimra fuel duty. A mono currency with multiple and arbitrary exchange rates? Quite interesting!

Although there is no objective evidence to prove it, the reality is that employees would far rather be paid in foreign currency than the local currency. All of which means that the frequent references to mono currency have more to do with propaganda than economic reality.

The strategy refers to improved macro-economic stability – an assessment starkly at odds with 300% annual inflation and 93% currency devaluation. It falls back on GDP ratios to justify the claim that the fiscal situation is on the mend, but yet again, the reality is very different.

In the budget, a year ago, spending was put at $8,2 billion, of which half was for employment costs and a quarter for what Treasury likes to call “capital expenditure”, which includes handouts for Command Agriculture, which are subsidies not investment. All of these were stated as US dollars, which as since conceded in the SMP, they were not.

A year later spending, revenue and the deficit have more than doubled in Zimbabwe dollars, but as a ratio of GDP the deficit has declined enabling the authorities to claim that the fiscal balance has improved. Since the forecast GDP is no more than a shot in the dark based on inflation numbers which the Finance minister says are misleading anyway, this is just another very dubious claim.

The third document – the World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Report – makes unhappy reading for different reasons.

The country, ranked 127 out of 141 economies, remains stuck close to the foot of the league table where it has been for 20 years. With a score out of 44,3 out of a possible 100, Zimbabwe is slightly below the average for sub-Saharan Africa as a whole and behind eight Sadc member States.

Those who believe that it makes sense to try and maintain the local currency at par with the rand need to reconcile this proposal with the yawning gap between South Africa’s ranking (60th) in the Global Competitiveness table and Zimbabwe’s position of 127.

Strikingly the country scores best in the realm of private sector activity and worst where the State is in control. The country is ranked bottom of the class (141) for trade openness, 138 for labour market flexibility, 137 for property rights, 134 for public sector performance and 133 for corruption.

On the upside, it is in the top half of countries ranked for reliance on professional management, willingness to delegate, entrepreneurial culture and attitudes towards risk, and the strength of auditing and reporting standards. It is in the top half also for the impact of organised crime and incidence of terrorism.

A recurrent theme of the report is the need, globally, for a shift from monetary easing – lower interest rates, credit creation and quantitative easing – towards fiscal and structural reforms that will foster increased investment in both tangible and intangible capital with the aim of increasing equality, raising productivity and combatting climate change.

In a country where policymakers and some business leaders focus on production as distinct from productivity, these are crucially important messages for all stakeholders. Some, at least, appear to be getting the message. The pre-budget strategy helpfully draws attention to low productivity in agriculture with maize yields one tonne per hectare for maize against 2,5 tonnes in Zambia and five or more in South Africa. Perhaps Command Agriculture is not all it is made out to be?

The three reports demonstrate that – two years on – the New Dispensation is a busted flush. Few outside the magic circle of Zanu PF heavyweights, President Emmerson Mnangagwa and Ncube apologists and the State media, believe the promises of reform, sustained growth, middle-income status by 2030, “value preservation”, as memorably promised eight months ago by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe governor John Mangudya, and a new “real” currency in just six weeks’ time.

The reality – growing unemployment and poverty, plummeting living standards, falling real wages, declining capacity utilisation, a collapsed currency, the world’s highest inflation rate, Africa’s worst performing economy in terms of 2019 GDP growth and the world’s third worst after Venezuela and Iran – is light years away from the official narrative.

These are deep-seated structural problems that will not be resolved by the Transitional Stabilisation Programme (TSP), especially one that went off the rails months ago. This is acknowledged at the end of the pre-budget strategy which promises two five-year development plans targeting the unreachable upper middle-income status by 2030.

Hopefully, the planners will learn from their mistakes in successive budgets and the TSP. The present is a time for sober realism, especially as the global economy slips back into recession, but that is in short supply in contemporary Zimbabwe where planning is driven by political opportunism, fiscal policy by vote-buying and economic policy by 1970s economic theology.

Tony Hawkins is a retired professor of economics. He writes in his personal capacity

Peter Makwanya

There is no doubt that the advent of social media has revolutionised the communication landscapes and networks. Not only have the worlds apart been brought closer than ever before, with the barriers and bottle-necks that used to characterise free flow of information having been seemingly eradicated.

In a split second, through Twitter, Facebook, microblogging, WhatsApp or photo sharing, communication takes place. Yes, indeed, communication travels with the speed of lightning, social media looks like it’s everything communicators needed. But the main question is, how much is social media empowering and transforming lives of the marginalised.

In simple terms, social media is viewed as a new kind of online media that shares numerous characteristics, including the power to connect, participate, engage communities openly and manage conversations, among a host of many. Yes, these were the original expectations of social media when it invaded the internet.

Social media was supposed to be a utopian model where everyone would communicate anyhow, any time, as they would want and in an environment that gives one the opportunity to do as they like.

But above all, social media is about interactions, community engagement and sharing experiences online as opposed to simply consuming information.

In our societies, there are people who are surrounded by all forms of social media platforms and they don’t seem to know what to do about the information. In the same communities, they are also those people who have a bit of access to social media platforms and can use it in limited ways depending on the depth of their pockets.

We also have the marginalised and periphery lot, who to me, are important and special stakeholders; they have heard about social media, but they cannot access it; some have never heard of it before, but they also want to be empowered and transform their lives too. These are challenges and worrying issues, which need to be corrected. Communication for development through social media is supposed to transform lives, but some communities have been left behind in this unfolding discourse.

While all the people require empowering development information, to save lives, to improve their environment and for literacy purposes, some people never had the chance to access information even that which is outdated or substandard. In this regard, they have not only been left out, but they have been forgotten and thrown into the dustbin of ignorance.

Many development practitioners, government departments and institutions, farmers organisations and laypersons have access to Twitter, Facebook, internet, smart phones, laptops and other online services and platforms which are development-oriented, but they don’t reach out to isolated and marginalised communities. Despite social media for development purposes being assumed to be accessible to everyone concerned, there are lots of communication and procedural gaps involved.

Without the materials and services outlined above, marginalised communities are also expected to use the social media as primary sources of information but they are not even connected.

They cannot network, interact, share and participate, hence they become terribly exposed. Numerous social media users may not see this communication gap because in their majority, they have never used social media for development purposes, but for trivial and recreational purposes.

In this regard, social media for development is supposed to be sufficiently empowering and transforming the development agenda. Marginalised communities suffer the brunt of droughts, floods, famine, diseases and other social and natural vices which they need to have comprehensive knowledge of, before they even strike; but that is not the case.

They have been left out because of poverty, by design or miscommunication. In this view, the power of social media for reaching out and empower target situations, according to their target needs, has been exaggerated and downplayed.

Social media, by its nature, is supposed to be cross-cutting, inclusive, interactive and engaging. But the most important stakeholders who bear the brunt of natural disasters just continue to hear about it and they are yet to make any meaningful contributions. Social media for development is accelerating in other sectors while by-passing in droves, the poor, the vulnerable and the marginalised, and by the time these communities start to realise something on social media, the government will have come up with laws that govern its use and they won’t be in the know.

The other issues which make it difficult for these isolated and marginalised communities to participate in social media interactions, are that, despite the widely held assumptions that there are affordable mobile phones designed for the developing countries, these people are in the gutter and they can hardly afford them.

Even if they were to afford these cheaper mobile phones, they cannot also access solar products for charging these phones.These communities in the gutter are supposed to be nurtured through development-oriented socialisation and dialoguing and be able to connect with other users around them, engaging in critical development topics.

These fundamental issues are not only developmental and empowering in nature, but they need to contribute to the sustainable development goals.Social media for development is different from other ways in which the majority of privileged people participate in it.

This one is used in the backgrounds of poverty, marginalisation and underdevelopment as well as unemployment and biting effects of climate change.

The advantages of mobile phones is that they are powerful and versatile tools of communication with the ability to connect to radio broadcasting.

Radio is an important communication gadget which can appeal strongly to the less literate people, because it can broadcast in their vernacular languages.
In this regard, when we say that everyone is connected and is networking, it is also important to qualify our assertions.

We have communities in dire situations, who need our support and let us realise their existence and worth as well as their potential to contribute and make a difference.

by Everson Mushava

PRESIDENT Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government has been pushed against the wall by its restive workers who have tabled a new salary demand of at least US$475 or its equivalence of $7 267 at the prevailing interbank rate for the least paid civil servant, as inflation continues to gnaw into the local currency and worker’s earnings.

The salary issue it at the centre of today’s crunch meeting between government and workers’ representative body, Apex Council, with workers’ leaders vowing yesterday that they would not settle for anything less than US dollar-benchmarked salaries.

This comes at a time doctors, whose strike enters day 43 today, have been making similar demands to have their salaries pegged at the US dollar interbank rate, a demand Treasury has repeatedly shot down.

“We will stick to our position of US$475 for the October 2018 salary for the lowest-paid worker be multiplied by the interbank rate as is happening with all goods and services,” Apex Council spokesperson David Dzatsunga said ahead of today’s National Joint Negotiating Council meeting.

Government last month offered a 76% salary hike to its workers which they grudgingly accepted, but since the introduction of the Zimdollar in June this year, the economic situation has continued to deteriorate with prices of basic goods skyrocketing, chiefly in response to fuel and electricity price hikes.

Doctors last month rejected a 60% pay hike and have not been reporting for duty citing incapacitation. The Labour Court last week ruled their strike illegal and ordered them to return to work within 48 hours, but in a statement yesterday, the Zimbabwe Hospitals Doctors Association vowed to defy the court order.

“While doctors would want to return to work…they continue to be incapacitated and lack resources to comply with the labour court judgment.”
The doctors also disclosed that only three meetings have been held since they went on strike 42 days ago, casting aspersions on government’s commitment to ending the impasse that has left the public health sector in limbo.

Nurses at various hospitals have failed to report for duty as well, citing incapacitation. Today’s meeting comes as the often divided teachers’ unions are also planning to also meet and plot a joint operation against the Mnangagwa government, a move likely to see the educators downing tools this week.

Executive leaders of the Zimbabwe Teachers Association and the Progressive Teachers Association met last Wednesday to work out modalities of forming a united front.
Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe president Takavafira Zhou confirmed they were meeting other teachers’ unions today.

“We are going to meet today, the NJNC meeting is an attempt to hoodwink the teachers and disrupt the possible unity. Nothing will come out of that meeting. Imagine, the same people (Apex Council) that went to Mnangagwa to request for the return of the Zimdollar now going back to demand US dollar-pegged salaries?”

He added: “We met with Zimta on Wednesday and other unions have asked to be part of the process and we agreed to meet tomorrow (today) to work on modalities of uniting against government over salaries. We have agreed in toto about the urgent need for declaration of national incapacitation,” Zhou said.

“A final meeting would be held tomorrow (today) and thereafter incapacitation may begin. We don’t want a salary increase, but payment of old US dollar-pegged salaries in terms of the current inter-bank rate.”

Rural teachers have already declared a strike starting today, putting pressure on a government that is facing a national shutdown from the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions over the deteriorating economic situation in the country.