Tendai Ruben Mbofana

For the past 20 years, we the people of Zimbabwe have endured untold economic and political suffering — unprecedented ever since we attained independence from British colonial rule in 1980 — characterised by the shortage of nearly everything that sustains human life — ranging from foreign currency, our own local currency, fuel, vital medications in our public hospitals, books in our schools, and prices of basic commodities that keep skyrocketing on a daily basis, out of the reach of the majority.

Understandably, various sections of our nation have proffered varied reasons for this unbearable existence — with the government and its allies blaming so-called Western-imposed sanctions, saboteurs and even transitional austerity measures, while the opposition and a large section of the population have placed the blame squarely on the government’s doorstep — citing gross economic incompetence, corruption, political instability and human right abuses.

Of late, however, the Zimbabwe government has been emboldened in its case by the unquestioned support and lifeline it has received from the Southern Africa Development Community (Sadc) and African Union (AU), who have embarked on an “anti-sanctions” drive — taking the message to the recently held United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York – culminating in planned solidarity demonstrations throughout regional countries on October 25, 2019.

Needless to say, Zimbabwe authorities are on the proverbial “Cloud Nine” as they have found willing allies in their crusade in defending their economic and political performance over the past 40 years.

However, before anyone starts printing Remove Zimbabwe Sanctions T-shirts, we need to take a sober and indepth analysis of these sanctions, as well as exactly what impact they have had on our daily lives as Zimbabweans.

Precisely, how have these sanctions caused untold suffering?Firstly, the question that everyone in the Sadc and AU would be asking is: “What led to the imposition of these sanctions, in the first place?”

After the formation of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) in September 1999 — in the wake of the genesis of Zimbabwe’s economic crisis — the Zanu PF government went into panic mode, especially after losing a referendum in its 2000 bid to introduce a new Constitution. With critical parliamentary elections slated in only a few months, the ruling party could see imminent defeat, and thus, embarked on a very violent land reform programme — in which, scores of white commercial farmers and their workers were brutally murdered and forcibly kicked off the land.

This violent campaign was touted as a programme to “correct historical imbalances”, in which a very few white commercial farmers owned vast tracts of land, while the majority of indigenous people were crowded in infertile communal areas. However, this turned out to be nothing more than a well-calculated move to cut off perceived funding from white farmers to the MDC, as well as a means to intimidate any opposition supporters. Furthermore, the land reform programme ended up benefiting only a few party bigwigs with the best multiple farms, and token resettlement of party faithfuls.

Although Zanu PF narrowly won the 2000 parliamentary elections, the brutal crackdown on the opposition intensified barely two years later, with the advent of the presidential election pitting the now late President Robert Gabriel Mugabe and MDC’s Morgan Richard Tsvangirai — which were largely regarded as having been rigged in favour of the former.

This period was characterised by widespread intimidation of opposition supporters, with the climax being the beating up of perceived opponents, burning of their homes, and reported killings.

This is when the so-called sanctions were imposed by Western countries, mainly the European Union (EU) and the United States of America (US).
These sanctions were largely travel bans and the freezing of any overseas investments for a targeted group of senior Zanu PF and government officials, and their interests — and had absolutely nothing to do with the ordinary people.

However, despite these seemingly punitive measures, Zanu PF atrocities reached boiling point after the 2008 harmonised elections, in which Tsvangirai narrowly beat Mugabe in the first round — though, officially failing to attain an outright majority to declare him the winner.

The subsequent wave of violence was unparallelled ever since the 1980s genocidal massacre of over 20 000 innocent men, women and children in the Matabeleland and Midlands provinces.

This ultimately led to Tsvangirai pulling out of the run-off presidential elections, in protest at the violence — culminating in the formation of the Government of National Unity (GNU) spearheaded by Sadc through South African former President Thabo Mbeki.

In fact, over the preceding years, although human rights abuses continued unabated — targeted sanctions, especially by the EU were substantially watered down — subsequently leaving only Mugabe and his wife Grace — such that, currently, due to Mugabe’s recent death, there are virtually no EU sanctions to talk about.

That is where we find ourselves today. What sanctions are the Zimbabwe government, Sadc and the AU making so much noise about? The only sanctions left are those imposed by the US — the Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act (Zidera) — which were imposed only on 141 entities and senior officials in the Zimbabwe administration largely over violation of human rights, and economic mismanagement.

So, why would Sadc and the AU stand in solidarity with Harare in calling for the lifting of these targeted measures? Have the conditions that invited the sanctions been addressed?

Ever since the 2017 military intervention that toppled Mugabe, ushering in his long-time protégé President Emmerson Mnangagwa, both the human rights and economic record of this once envy of the African continent, has turned it into a shameful image of what being an African means.

As much as Mnangagwa’s so-called “new dispensation” came into the fray with loud proclamations of the respect for human rights and “heaven on earth” economic growth, the situation on the ground over the past two years has been anything, but rosy.

The 2018 post-election period was greeted by the gunning down of at least six unarmed people during protests in Harare, which the subsequently established commission of inquiry led by former South Africa President Kgalema Motlanthe concluded that security forces — deployed to quell these disturbances — were responsible, and that the culprits should be held accountable.

Zimbabwean authorities have done nothing in that regard.Thereafter, in January 2019, more people were reportedly shot and killed during violent fuel price hike protests in the country’s major cities with allegations rife of further intimidation, brutalisation and rape of innocent citizens in their residential areas by suspected State agents.

Again, no one was held responsible with only the alleged violent protestors being brought to book.Furthermore, this year alone, there have been more than 50 reported cases of abductions of opposition, civil society and labour activists with no one being prosecuted for these crimes.

The opposition MDC was barred by the police from conducting any marches or demonstrations throughout the country from their initial intended gathering in August 2019.

Tapiwa Gomo

It is often said that most African nations have, for decades, failed to take off developmentally after political power was handed over to African leaders by the various colonial administrations. While the former colonial powers have effectively been behind the narrative that African leaders are responsible for the persistent poverty in Africa, they have not acknowledged that part of the reason is their continued hold onto the continent’s matters. There is no former colonial power that has completely let go of its former colonies without leaving behind strings that continue to entangle Africa’s efforts to define its development course.

This is by no means exonerating African leadership as they too must shoulder the blame for everything that has gone wrong on the continent. Most of them are aware of some of the reasons why it has not been easy to steer development without rattling former colonial masters who are sometimes guised as international community or global norms. African leadership has remained aloof and chosen the easier way of not challenging the remnants of colonial conditions that continue to siphon resources while stifling growth at the expense of the continent’s growth.

For starters, most of the liberation movements accepted raw deals during the negotiations for independence. In the context of Zimbabwe, there was a clause in the Lancaster House agreement which did not allow the new government to touch land until 1990. This simply meant that the black majority would remain on the fringes as the economic status quo remained untouched and unchanged.

In South Africa, the pre-independence negotiated Constitution, which was later promoted as one of the best, cemented the historical economic imbalances by tightening protection of property rights in a context where several freedoms and rights are assumed to be guaranteed. Freedom to protest poverty by the poor masses is guaranteed, but not to the extent of challenging that which is causing poverty, inequality and lack of access to economic resources because doing so would be in breach of the Constitution.

Similarly, Angola is the second largest oil-producing country in Africa, but most of the oil production is controlled and dispatched to the Western markets, leaving the country with less. This is simply because of some half-cooked agreements signed during desperate historical moments which those in power are not comfortable to challenge and reverse. Oil accounts for 45 to 50% of the national gross domestic product, yet the country has limited say on its major economic industry.

To add on to these mazes, the ability to manoeuvre and entangle from these myriad of challenges is largely constrained by several factors. The rushed membership to global government institutions prescribes certain norms and conditions which tend to protect the interests of the former colonial masters. This is why the chaotic land reform in Zimbabwe attracted global fury, including that of the royals in Britain because their interests were threatened.

These norms also prescribe certain political systems which indirectly usurp African leadership’s ability to take leadership and install a new order. We can add the entire wholesale of credit lines, loans and purported external support which keeps eroding an African leader’s power to make the right decisions and to view their people as enemies once they start protesting. When these are put together, the spirit of State sovereignty is hugely undermined, becomes meaningless and vanishes, thereby compromising the ability of elected governments to make appropriate decisions necessary to develop their countries.

However, lessons drawn from the recent cases of countries that have managed to rise and achieve growth shows that adjusting the political system and drawing up a context-specific political framework underlies emerging and booming economies. Part of the reasons is that a home-grown and context-specific political system tends to empower local leadership to identify national priorities, manage and control their resources without unnecessary external interferences, pressure or being called to order on perceived breaches of global norms. It simply gives States the power to steer their countries towards the right direction.

For example, the Western world has sold the story of how bad China is because it decided to pursue a different route, based on a political system whose objective was to make the country a super power. The Chinese arrogance against Western pressure and its ability to pursue its own agenda is what has made China what it is today. It is not only a major trading partner to those that label it a global recalcitrant, but a major threat to the global status quo. The Chinese story tells us that respect is earned and not given.
Rwanda, an emerging African country, has pursued the same route, but not without criticism.

For some, President Paul Kagame’s leadership is seen as autocratic, while others have credited the same leadership style for keeping Rwanda together after the 1994 genocide and for having played a positive role in terms of the political stability which has allowed the country to focus on economic growth than protests, demonstrations and activism. With his guarded democracy and developmental approach, Kagame is fast taking his country to another level.

And again, while some are crying abuse of human rights, more are now beginning to enjoy the benefits of strong economic growth rates, new business prospects and employment opportunities which together are lifting people out of poverty.

Blessed Mhlanga

OPPOSITION National Constitutional Assembly (NCA) leader Lovemore Madhuku (LM), who is accused of dining with Zanu PF for financial gains, last week told NewsDay (ND) senior reporter Blessed Mhlanga that he is working to ensure that come 2023, neither Zanu PF nor the MDC will be anywhere near the corridors of power. Below are some of the excerpts of the interview.

ND: You attended the funeral of former President Robert Mugabe, a man you spent half your life fighting, but at the funeral wake, you spoke glowingly about him, what motivated you?

LM: Well, opposition was not to Robert Mugabe the person, but opposition was to the politics of Zanu PF and Mugabe merely happened to be the leader of the party. We were making a distinction between Mugabe the person and the Zanu PF system that was led by Mugabe.

ND: Of late, you have been accused of dinning with Zanu PF, the party you have fought against all these years. This has seen some people describing you as a sell-out. Can you comment?

LM: I don’t know what is meant by dining with them, but I am sure you are referring to being in Political Actors Dialogue (Polad). It is not about dining with anyone. Polad is a national dialogue process where political players come together to debate issues to do with Zimbabwe; that is nothing to do with Zanu PF
ND: It’s not only Polad, but you have been in the Motlanthe Commission of inquiry into the August 1, 2018 shootings, is that not dining with Zanu PF when you are getting financial benefits?

LM: There were no financial benefits in the Motlanthe Commission. The commission was very important for our country; it was the commission that found out that the army and police were responsible for killing six civilians on August 1 2018. That was a point that was made by the commission. We recommended that it should never happen again that government is irresponsible in terms of how it deals with demonstrations. We even recommended compensation, so why should the Motlanthe Commission be seen as dining with Zanu PF? The commission was the building block to the future of the country.

ND: You said you were fighting the system. Has the system shifted since Mugabe was removed as President in 2017?
LM: There is no shift, but what has changed is the method of how to deal with the system, dialogue is now the way to go. When we fought the system 15 years ago, we focused more on massive engagements and demonstrations, those things no longer work at this particular time. We need dialogue.

The system has to be fought and we continue to fight it, but we have to change the methods. So there are people who are totally lost when they look at us adopting a different method as if we have given up. Why would we give up? We have created massive movements. Those in MDC Alliance believe that the person who is fighting for democracy is the person in the MDC Alliance. That is nonsense. What you have to take into account is what are people doing in their various stations. When we fought against Zanu PF, we were fighting against one-party domination and we will also fight against a two-party domination.

Domination and oppression does not change because you have increased the number of players. Where I stand, I am contributing to a situation where we have a real genuine multi-party environment of more than three parties.

ND: Is there a new dispensation in Zimbabwe?
LM: There is no new dispensation. Currently, there is a dispensation that has been going backwards. They have gone behind what we had in the 1980s. Our current leaders are trying to learn the bad portion of their old days. The bad portion of the old days were characterised by the mysterious disappearance of people, the heavy deployment of police and army at the smallest excuse; the old days where you found people in government who had no clue on how to turn around the economy, which is what we have at the moment. We don’t have a new dispensation.

ND: What can be done to change this facade as you call it?
LM: We must invest heavily in conscientising the majority of the people. The way forward is to make people alert of our situation. Those in government still have supporters, you go into a by-election you find out that the majority of the people who turn up to vote still vote for them notwithstanding the economic hardships, notwithstanding political repression – that is the problem we have in the country. It is not just about turning around and making this work, but it is about educating and conscientising our people so that they realise that they have a solution when the election comes.

ND: There are people who thought that burying Mugabe would also be burying the old habits, do you agree?
LM: Not at all. We buried Mugabe the individual, not the system. We know that his departure has no relationship whatsoever with the changing fortunes of our country. The change of fortunes of our country depends on how we deal with the system.

ND: Some say that the opposition is too divided – we have a lot of opposition parties – this is why they cannot dislodge Zanu PF; talk of a multiplicity of parties, how do we reconcile that?

LM: That is ignorance, it is not about the number of political parties, it is not about divisions; divisions take place when people cast their votes. But that again depends on the campaign. When people are given four, five or six choices and they have convincing arguements, they will be able to vote correctly. You need parties so that we avoid only having Zanu PF and its policies that are not working and the MDC Alliance, on the other hand, that is made up of arrogant leaders.

ND: Do you think Zanu PF is capable of solving Zimbabwe’s socio-economic problems?
LM: Zanu PF is not capable of solving the current socio-economic problems; we are only talking with Zanu PF because we have a fact of elections that places Zanu PF in the leadership of the country. We are working with Zanu PF in Polad not because we believe Zanu PF has the solution, but because the people have forced us to work with them.

BY MTHANDAZO NYONI

ZIMBABWE Youth in Tourism patron, First Lady Auxilia Mnangagwa, has called on African countries to synchronise their tourism, trade and investment policy frameworks to take full advantage of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agreement.

In a speech read on her behalf by acting Environment, Tourism and Hospitality Industry minister Nqobizitha Ndlovu at the Africa Youth in Tourism conference held in Bulawayo last week, Mnangagwa said: “There is need to synchronise African countries’ tourism, trade and investment policy frameworks to engineer enabling mechanism to take full advantage of the newly formed African continental free trade area.”

“This calls on Zimbabwe as a major actor in tourism to drive the south regional economic integration to make Africa an optimum destination for Africa. In the process, this will allow plenty of labour and unintended cross border trade of goods and services.”

To date, 27 countries, including Zimbabwe, have ratified AfCFTA meant to create strong economic integration on the continent by forming a single continental market.
It is also one of the largest free trade areas since the formation of the World Trade Organisation, given Africa’s current population of 1,2 billion people, which is expected to grow to 2,5 billion by 2050.

The AfCFTA agreement also has the potential to foster industrialisation and deepen regional value chains.Other benefits include elimination of tariffs in the continental free trade area, meaning that companies will now be able to export many products and be more competitive with the equal pricing of all products in foreign African markets.

The agreement will also remove tariffs that were making exported products cost more, resulting in products becoming less desirable in other markets.Mnangagwa said as a Sadc member, Zimbabwe should ensure that it played a role in ensuring that its tourism sector elevated the region’s economic growth.

She said women and youth should be included in the continent’s economic development.“As you may be aware, as at 2008 to 2018, women in Africa contributed over 56,4% to the continent’s economic development agenda through marshaling food security, mining and cross border trade, among other macro-economic activities,” she said.

“It is important for policymakers to harness the youth demographic dividend in aiding Zimbabwe and Africa’s capacity, securing the ultimate realisation of the cardinal requisite of the investment goal.”

She said the clarion call set before all citizens, the youth in particular, was that of exploiting the given context of liberty to adequately participate in all activities which seek to generate inclusive empowerment across generations.

“In this regard, it is worth noting that the youth constitute a critical mass in decision-making. All avenues advancing the direct appreciation of youth in policymaking must be embraced with a view of championing equitable access to opportunities and resources,” she said.

Mnangagwa said according to a 2017 study capturing the contribution of tourism in alleviating the burden of unemployment in Africa, it was observed that the tourism sector contributed over 90 million jobs for youth and it was gradually expected to generate employment for over 12 million people by 2028.

She said, in line with aspirations of austerity, youth stand to be beneficiaries of the sectoral output as far as the continent strategic human capital is concerned.
“While this information on the prospects of leveraging tourism and hospitality is abundant, there is hesitant contribution of young people’s perspectives on the sector and that on its own is a challenge to advance tourism policy formulation processes,” she said.

The conference, which is held annually, ran under the theme Changing Africa’s future by accelerating investment capacity in youth for sustainable tourism development.

By Sindiso Dube

HIGHLANDERS…….(0)2
TELONE…………………..0

Highlanders scrapped through to win over visiting TelOne following a late surge in a Castle Lager Premier Soccer League match played at Barbourfields Stadium in Bulawayo yesterday.

Bosso, who were dominated by the WiFi Boys in the second phase of the match, got their goals from Brian Banda and Prince Dube.

The home side controlled the possession in the first half and created clear scoring chances, only to be hard done by their forwards.

After early second half changes that saw the introduction of Tafadzwa Sibanda and Blessing Sibanda, the Rahman Gumbo-coached TelOne controlled the match in the second half and were unlucky to concede the two goals late in the match.

Midfielder Brian Banda scored on the 85th minute, from just outside the box to send Bosso faithful into a frenzy. Banda last scored against Chicken Inn in similar fashion, hitting the roof of the net.

Three minutes after Banda’s beauty, Bosso were awarded a penalty following a hand ball in the penalty box. Prince Dube converted from the spot kick to double Bosso’s lead.
Highlanders coach Hendrik Pieter de Jongh heaped praise on his lads for their perseverance.

“From the first minute we played well and did everything that needed to be done and the opponents also played well. I told my players to be patient during the break. Prince Dube showed his quality in the second half. Peter Muduhwa also exhibited his quality as well as everyone in the team. The team played collectively. I am happy with the win and I hope we carry the same form and mentality into the next game” he said.

TelOne assistant coach Lloyd Mutasa believes his team will survive relegation despite yesterday’s setback.

“We are still in the fight against relegation, but I would like to believe that we will be playing top-flight football next season. We will work on our mistakes today and hope to improve in the next matches,” he said.

BY FREEMAN MAKOPA

Soul artiste Gemma Griffiths, who hogged the limelight after she collaborated with Winky D on his MuGarden track earlier this year, has disclosed that she is finalising the release of her debut album, Pamwe.

Gemma told NewsDay Life & Style yesterday that the offering was a dedication to Zimbabwe.The songbird, who shot to fame after doing cover versions of Winky D’s Musarova Bigman and Jah Prayzah’s Mdhara Vachauya, said she spent the greater part of this year working on the album.

“I have been on the road travelling through Africa for the whole of 2019, making music, writing, recording and creating this album. I’ve found such amazing inspiration on the journey,” she said.

“One of the songs is Gara Pano… Love inspired me to write Gara Pano, (but) I’m motivated daily by the simple things, like when news channels blare out bad news, but you can still find a reason to smile, or my favourite uncle who takes time to ask about my day, or love stories blossoming in unexpected places. This song is for Zimbabwe, my home and my teacher, I owe my all to her.”

Gemma said working with Winky D gave her experience and the collaboration made an impact on her career.“Working with Winky D was amazing. He is wonderful, such a talented artiste with so much experience in his career, and he is great to work with. Doing MuGarden together has made such an incredible impact on my career,” she said.

Gemma said iconic musicians like the late Oliver Mtukudzi and Miriam Makeba also had a profound effect on her. Apart from music Gemma, said she was currently driving around Africa with a filmmaker Gara Pano director Marc Neilson for an Instagram project titled Driving Pamwe in which they shared stories of Africa as they travelled. Gemma said there were a lot of challenges in the music industry including coming up with themes and capturing messages in song.

BY TAFADZWA KACHIKO

A ZIMABWEAN-OWNED African car brand Mureza Auto Company, headquartered in South Africa is set to start assembling its vehicle, Prim8 (pronounced Primate) re-badged from Iran’s SAIPA Quick at Willowvale Motor Industries (WMI) assembly plant next year.

Mureza-Zimbabwe events co-ordinator and public relations officer Chidochemoyo Nemhara told NewsDay that the vehicle’s selling price will be US$13 500 and the auto company would aim to manufacture 100 cars per month.

“We are undoubtedly going to start assembling our vehicles named Prim8 (pictured) at W MI assembly next year. Our components are manufactured in Iran and South Africa, but Mureza’s ultimate objective is to design and manufacture vehicles for Africans. We are targeting to produce 100 units per month and the vehicles’ selling price will be US$13 500 each. Arrangements for Zimbabwe dollar purchases will be made,” she said.

The Prim8 features a 1,5-litre naturally-aspirated petrol engine, producing 87 kW. As one would expect from a hatchback of its size, the vehicle is front-wheel drive. Best trim option for the local range will include keyless entry, a seven-inch touchscreen infotainment system, SatNav, rear-view camera, parking sensors and air-conditioning.

Motorists will also get electronic stability control, tyre-pressure monitoring, a powered driver’s seat and two airbags.

Nemhara said although the current economic situation was unfavourable, Mureza’s efforts would help to create employment and promote investment.

“Of course, economic conditions are not favourable for some businesses to thrive, but establishing a plant here would in a way promote job creation for the locals and it’s a form of the much-needed investment. It means value creation within the market and it gives us ground to establish and train local labourforce as well as to promote regional trade,” she said.

Nemhara was also confident that their brand would rise to the limelight despite that the market is currently dominated by well-established international brands.

“We are not worried much about how our brand will perform on the market, but we aim to solve transport challenges in Africa by creating highly competitive and affordable vehicles that suit the continent’s conditions. That means reduction of grey imports and endorsement of local value chain. Just as the flag rises, eventually Mureza will rise,” she said.

The current vehicle assemblers in Zimbabwe are WMI, Quest Motors, Deven Engineering and AVM Africa.

BY DESMOND CHINGARANDE

The Zanu PF internal elections to select members of the district co-ordinating committees (DCCs) held in Harare at the weekend were marred by violence, intimidation and allegations of vote-rigging.

There were chaotic scenes as ballot papers were captured on videos being thrown away from party-branded vehicles by angry supporters after their preferred candidates’ names did not appear on ballot papers.

Zanu PF political commissar Victor Matemadanda tried to underplay the violence, but admitted that the violent conduct had a potential of militating against the party’s mobilisation drive ahead of the 2023 polls.

“We lost Glen View constituency in the by-elections because of favouritism. We are not going to have a party of thugs; we will not accommodate you if you are a thug. We stayed with guns for a long time during the war of liberation as Zipra and Zanla forces, but we did not use them to intimidate party cadres,” Matemadanda fumed.

“People do not want to join the party because of thuggish behaviour in the party. If you are not disciplined, we will close the door on you. Harare province was dissolved before and we will not hesitate to dissolve it again if party members became undisciplined. We can even go to the elections without Harare DCC if you continue to be like that.”

Zanu PF Mashonaland West provincial chairperson Ziyambi Ziyambi, who was overseeing elections in zone 2, which includes Glen View and Budiriro only said: “I did not witness any violence, but in any election, people differ on several issues and there were some party members who wanted to vote, but did not have party membership cards. But some of the areas that I visited we completed the process well.”

The Harare district elections saw the re-election of Godwin Gomwe, Godwills Masimirembwa and new faces such as George Chimhini, Kudakwashe Damson, Goodwell Mafuratidze and Ephraim Fundira as the chairpersons of Harare’s six districts.

Matemadanda said the structures were made up of war veterans, youths and other Zanu PF affiliates, but exclude land barons and those who think Zanu PF is a labour market.
“This party belongs to cardholders. We do not want party members who are thugs and will use violence to win a position.”

Matemadanda warned those he accused of plotting to destroy the party, saying Zanu PF had serious people who suffered for it and would not tolerate divisive elements.
The Zanu PF commissar also castigated Britain and the United States for trying to teach them democracy.

by VENERANDA LANGA

ZIMBABWE’S number of serving female ambassadors now stands at 32%, an issue which Parliament says should be rectified in order to satisfy the constitutional requirements of 50/50 gender representation.

The issue was raised when Foreign Affairs secretary James Manzou appeared before the Kindness Paradza- led Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Foreign Affairs to give oral evidence on the 2020 national budget.

“In compliance with provisions of section 17 of the constitution, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Trade will adopt gender responsive budgeting as one of the measures to scale up efforts towards achieving gender equality in the foreign sector,” Manzou said.

“The number of serving female ambassadors currently stands at 32% of the total, affirming the ministry’s call towards gender sensitivity,” he said.
But MPs lambasted the ministry for failing to deploy ambassadors on a 50/50 gender basis.

Paradza then asked Manzou to explain to the committee if amongst the female ambassadors deployed there were female ex combatants appointed as diplomats.
“We heard that since independence we do not have any female ambassadors who were ex combatants,” Paradza said.

“It is a good observation, but may you allow me to verify the issue because I need time to go back and study the lists of female ambassadors since independence,” Manzou replied.

MDC-T legislator Priscilla Misihairabwi Mushonga then asked him to explain if the 32% of female ambassadors deployed were also given highly-graded foreign missions?
He was also asked to explain if his ministry was experiencing any problems to identify capable females that can be deployed as ambassadors.

Manzou said the criterion of appointing ambassadors is the prerogative of the President.“What happens on appointment of ambassadors is that in terms of the professional service you find that those that rise to the level of ambassador will have started at a lower level in terms of our recruitment policy.

Some ambassadors are Presidential appointees and special representatives. The President knows what needs to be achieved in a particular station and he can appoint a non-career ambassador,” he said.

On vehicles of diplomats which were being said to be in a deplorable state, Manzou said there was a significant improvement after 53 new vehicles were purchased.
“We have to avoid getting into a situation where we were grinding to a halt. Purchases of ambassadors’ vehicles should be a matter of routine, and when a vehicle is three to five years old it should be replaced.”

He said each embassy needs a vehicle for the ambassador plus a utility minibus to ferry visitors.

The Zimbabwean embassies that he said were very busy and needed a good fleet of vehicles include those in New York, Addis Ababa in Ethiopia and Botswana.

BY SHARON SIBINDI

FIRST LADY Auxillia Mnangagwa last week said she was worried over the low numbers of women politicians in the country.

Addressing female war veterans in Bulawayo on Thursday, Mnangagwa said politics is the only way through which women can find themselves in Parliament and be able to push for issues affecting them.

“In Parliament, women are very few to be influential. Women are very hardworking, they are not a burden, especially you that came from war, nothing is hard for you,” she said.

Section 124 of the Constitution provides for the equal representation of women in Parliament through the appointment of 60 non-constituency legislators.

“My wish is, if it is possible, like all other nations in the world, they (female combatants) have their day of celebrating their freedom fighters, sounding their drums and celebrating to thank them for bringing freedom to the country, so that we show our children that we were there during the war. It is through you female war veterans that we have this freedom. It was through your courage that we see women today in influential positions.

“They are many problems you are facing; there are ministries which will help you to survive. I know they are many things you wish, yes it will happen and very soon you will see the reason why you went to war,” she said.

She said ministries, such as that of Women Affairs, help women in their endeavours while the Ministry of Defence is the war veterans parent ministry to which they can send all their grievances.

Recently, the Midlands chapter of the Women Coalition of Zimbabwe resolved to lobby key stakeholders and government to extend the parliamentary quota system beyond 2023.