POLICE Commissioner-General Godwin Matanga has implored government to review the salaries and allowances of police officers, saying poor remuneration was affecting proper service delivery.
BY NIZBERT MOYO
Matanga made the remarks in a speech read on his behalf by his deputy Learn Ncube during the closing ceremony of a police rebranding programme for junior officers for Masvingo and Midlands provinces at Ntabazinduna Training Depot on Sunday.
“I have learnt of a number of other issues that are militating against service delivery. Some of the issues are the need to review salaries and allowances, lack of tools of the trade including uniforms, communication equipment, transport and fuel as well as lack of both office and residential accommodation,” he said.
“Let me take this opportunity to assure you that as a command, we are seized with these issues and some of them are already being taken care of.”
Matanga said it was crucial for the police to be professional at all times, while doing their best with the limited resources at their disposal.
He expressed hope that the training programme was going to enable the officers improve their performance in crime management and stewardship to their subordinates.
“I beseech you to ensure that all unprofessional conduct by some of you in the past is no longer part of your itinerary, especially after this programme,” Matanga said.
“The level of professionalism, integrity, loyalty, dedication and impartiality expected from you should give momentum to your subordinates and all our stakeholders.”
The rebranding courses have so far been conducted in Harare, Bulawayo and Mashonaland East provinces.
For civil society working to influence policy and practice reforms tailored to strengthen linkages between mining and sustainable development, stakeholder engagement is a critical piece of the jigsaw puzzle. To gain a pulse feel of industry’s thinking concerning the current and future of mining, the Zimbabwe Environmental law Association (Zela) participated at the Chamber of Mines’s 2019 Annual Mining Conference. Themed Realising vision 2030 through resource led growth, the conference was held at Elephant Hills Resort, Victoria Falls, from May 29 to June 1, 2019.
Reaching upper middle-income status is the goal for Vision 2030.
The conference’s theme resonated well with the Africa Mining Vision (AMV), which envisages Transparent, equitable and optimal exploitation of mineral resources to underpin broad-based sustainable growth and socio-economic development. Realising that resource-rich Africa must not continuously squander the opportunity to industrialise and diversify its economy from mining, Africa Heads of State and Government adopted AMV in 2009. This article shares key highlights from the platinum symposium. Further, the article ventilates some of the main issues discussed to help citizens understand some pressure points when it comes to mining and sustainable development.
Technology redefining the future of mining
Unlike South Africa, Zimbabwe’s platinum industry is highly mechanised because of favourable geological characteristics. In light of the fourth industrial revolution, the industry must explore new technologies out there to “produce more with less.” The automation and modernisation of the industry is fundamental to drive production efficiency. Embracing technology becomes key to lowering the cost of production in order to gain a competitive advantage in addition to the comparative advantage that Zimbabwe enjoys. Cheap commodities have a future and expensive ones have a short life-span, said Stanley Segula, the Zimplats managing director.
Comparative advantage stems from the fact that in platinum, the country is endowed with a world class mineral asset which ranks second best after South Africa. In terms of platinum production, Zimbabwe is ranked number three, after South Africa and Russia, respectively.
Rightly so, industry is taking leadership to stimulate discussion on the impact of technology on mining. The government and civil society must not be late to get off the blocks on this one. As suggested by Vanessa Ushie in her recent blog titled New mining technologies and the fiscal space: Ensuring shared value and sustainable development, the government must explore options to give oxygen to mining linkages to development in the context of new technologies. Right now, the employment situation in Zimbabwe is quite unsustainable.
With technology set to drive platinum production growth, employment linkages are going to be further weakened. Even worse, there is a strong risk that retrenchments can occur as labour is substituted by machines. Poor mining agreements have always been a major challenge to unleash mining’s development potential, starting with the 1888 Rudd Concession. With secrecy around mining contracts, the public does not have a fair view picture of how mining agreements are primed to manage a technologically driven mining sector. Venessa suggested that the fiscal regime must be nimble to compensate for employment losses through equity participation or production sharing, among other options. Obviously, our outdated Mines and Minerals Act and the mining fiscal tools are not best primed to anchor a mining-led realisation of Vision 2030.
The status of the platinum industry
As part of its contribution towards the realisation of Vision 2030, the platinum sector is supposed to hit 50 tonnes annual production by 2030. Along with gold, platinum is one of the country’s top export earners. Although commonly referred to as platinum mining, it is crucial to note that the Platinum Group of Metals (PGMs) are produced – 10 minerals are a product of platinum mining. By volume, nickel tops the production list. The oldest platinum mine in Zimbabwe, Mimosa, started as a nickel mine and later shifted focus to embrace platinum mining. In terms of nickel production in Zimbabwe, the platinum industry’s production is favourable compared to primary nickel producers.
In 2018, production stood at 14,6 tonnes; marginal when compared to the 2017 production. Accounting for 60% of the country’s total platinum production, Zimplats is the largest player in the platinum industry. Mimosa is the smallest player in terms of both output and ownership of proven platinum resources. Mimosa owns about 3% of the country’s platinum resources.
“The industry is fluid and confusing” currently; palladium price has surpassed platinum. Palladium currently fetches around US$1 300 per ounce, a figure that roughly matches the gold price. “Platinum prices are in a long winter”, currently fetching around US$800 per ounce. It is important to flag that platinum and palladium production volumes are nearly equal. Make hay while the sun shines
Platinum is mainly used to produce auto catalyst convertors that are critical in the reduction of carbon emissions from motor vehicles. With technology pointing to electronic vehicles, the platinum industry is under severe threat because auto catalyst converters account for 60% of the platinum market. The jewellery market accounts for 12%. However, technology also offers hope in that platinum can be used to generate electricity, and research is at an advanced stage. Equally so, other minerals like nickel, that are part of the PGMs are key in the production of electronic vehicles. The key lesson here is that Zimbabwe “must make hay while the sun shines”, quickly leverage on its platinum assets as future technologies pose risks which can sterilise the resource.
Indigenisation policy an albatross
In 2018, the Finance Act removed indigenisation requirements for all minerals save for platinum and diamond sectors. As it stands, foreign players in the platinum and diamond sectors are required to cede a minimum of 51% equity to indigenous partners. This is making Zimbabwe one of the least attractive investment jurisdiction. Whereas the President announced that government was fully removing indigenisation requirements for the platinum and diamond sectors, the law has not been changed. The industry’s position is that legal reforms to repeal the indigenisation framework must be expedited.
It is understandable that a conducive policy environment is a key enabler to attract the much needed investments in the platinum industry. But, the Constitution must not be undermined. As rightly stated by Hon Mukaratigwa, chairperson of the Parliament Portfolio Committee on Mines, the State is compelled to come up with measures to ensure that communities benefit from the resources in their areas. To that effect, the issue of Community Share Ownership Trusts (CSOTs) must not be affected by any changes to the indigenisation framework. Interestingly, a sterling example of the impact on CSOTs in terms of reducing infrastructure deficits in rural areas comes from the platinum industry. All three platinum producers contributed $10 million each to fund community development programmes in their areas.
Beneficiation and value addition
Industry expressed displeasure with the current stick approach, use of export taxes to compel local value beneficiation and value addition of platinum. Certainly, beneficiation and value addition are fundamental to generate more foreign currency earnings, create more jobs, widen the tax base and to promote industrialisation. The platinum industry, it must be noted, has lower ripple effects to the domestic economy compared to steel making, which can spur the construction sector and other downstream industries. Given that platinum is a “sexy mineral” and high valued mineral, government must not lose sight of low-valued minerals – development minerals which have strong linkages to other economic sectors, agriculture and construction, for instance. Despite its perceived challenges, the results of export taxes are encouraging in that Unki Mine recently commissioned a smelter. Gone are the days when Unki Mine used to export platinum concentrates. “Keep walking” there is room to achieve more – base metal refinery and finally precious metal refinery facilities.
Conclusion
To ensure that platinum industry growth plays a critical role towards the attainment of Vision 2030, industry is clear on critical success factors that must be addressed. It must be clear though, that any growth anchored on mining must not leave communities behind as required by the Constitution. Of course, the indigenisation framework as it stands is not attractive to investors, it must be tweaked, but not entirely scrapped to give legal teeth to CSOTs. Afterall, the sterling example of community-led development comes from the platinum industry in Zimbabwe. The impact of technology is another fundamental which government and communities must be alive to; policies and laws must be “nimble” to leverage better mining for the realisation of Vision 2030.
Mukasiri Sibanda is a programme officer at Zela. He writes in his personal capacity.
International charity Save the Children says it is running out of money to help thousands of survivors in cyclone-weary Mozambique and has launched an appeal for more funding.
Tropical Cyclone Kenneth, the strongest storm to hit the region since records began, made landfall Thursday, then moved slowly over the eastern African nation, killing 38 people and dumping torrential rains in areas still reeling from the devastation wrought last month by Tropical Cyclone Idai. That storm spawned massive floods, killed 750 people and caused an estimated $1 billion in damage in the country.
“Both cyclones have shattered families and destroyed livelihoods. The loss of life is devastating. Those who were already living on the brink of poverty have now been left with nothing. With donations dwindling, we’re facing a critical situation,” Nicholas Finney, Save the Children’s response team leader for both cyclones, said Monday in a statement.
Kenneth also injured more than 35,000 people in Mozambique, its disaster management agency reported Monday. The storm killed at least four people in the island nation of Comoros, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said. ‘We still have time to save lives’
The UN agency pledged to release $13 million to pay for food, shelter, health, water and sanitation assistance in Mozambique and Comoros.
Save the Children said the damage from the Kenneth is more “catastrophic” than expected and more resources are needed to save lives.
“The humanitarian needs in Mozambique in the wake of Cyclone Kenneth are significant and life-threatening, and we need donors to dig deep now, while we still have time to save lives,” Finney said.
How you can help victims of two cyclones in Mozambique A cyclone survivor told Save the Children’s team in the provincial capital of Pemba, which experienced heavy rainfall and flooding, that she lost a child after her house collapsed, the agency said.
“After the wall fell down, the first thing I did was call the neighbors and they started to remove the wall and they started shoveling the bricks and dirt to find the children,” Tina, 30, said, according to Save the Children.
“When we found the children, we took them to the hospital,” she continued. “Unfortunately, one of my children died. I am very sad because of what happened. My heart is hurting.”
More rain will fall in northern Mozambique over the next four days, worsening flooding in hard-hit areas, forecasters said.
A Zimbabwean scholar will be honored with a life-size statue in New York alongside media mogul Oprah Winfrey, Hollywood stars Nicole Kidman, Cate Blanchett, and the popstar Pink for their work championing gender equality.
Tererai Trent is among 10 women who have been named most inspiring women in the world. The list includes conservationist Jane Goodall, activist Janet Mock, chemist Tracy Dyson, author Cheryl Strayed and Olympic gymnast Gabby Douglas.
All 10 women will have life-size bronze figures unveiled by StatuesforEquality in the United States on Women’s Equality Day on August 26. Trent announced the development on her Twitter handle and said she was “incredibly honored” by the recognition.
Statues of Equality is set to launch in #NYC this summer. I am incredibly honored to be standing among the World’s Top 10 Most Inspiring Women ‘Sculpted for Equal Rights’! Come August 26 and celebrate the empowerment of women and big dreams! #StatuesForEqualitypic.twitter.com/HJTYAF1Rz1
Trent, 54, was kept out of school for most of her childhood because of poverty and being a female but she taught herself how to read and write while living with her parents in rural Zimbabwe.
She relocated to the US in 1998 after she was discovered by an American non-profit that visited her village. She has since achieved her dreams of getting a masters and a doctorate.
The US-based academic faced domestic abuse in the pursuit of her dreams and continues to champion girls and women empowerment through education.
Her inspirational story caught the attention of Oprah Winfrey who gave Trent $1.5 million donations to rebuild her elementary school in Zimbabwe in partnership with Save the Children in 2011.
The women were given the honor by StatuesforEquality, under the “Sculpted for Equal Rights” initiative by famous Australian artists Gillie and Marc Schattner, who are seeking more gender representation in public arts.
“In order to truly honor the cause, it was crucial we cast the statues in bronze, they will live on, much like the statue itself, beyond your lifetime and the lives of your contemporaries,” Schattner said in a statement on their website.
Caracas, Venezuela (CNN) — Juan Guaido says he remains a free man because the Venezuelan government of Nicolas Maduro is afraid of the consequences of arresting him.
“Because they’re scared. Those that try to spread or generate a perception of control are the ones that don’t have it,” Guaido said in an interview with CNN.
His comments came just hours before one of his closest allies was arrested by security forces with Venezuela’s intelligence agency, known by the Spanish acronym, SEBIN. Edgar Zambrano was detained outside of his Democratic Action Party headquarters Wednesday evening, according to pro-government and opposition leaders in Venezuela.
A CNN crew in the Caracas neighborhood of La Florida witnessed Zambrano’s car being confiscated by nine hooded SEBIN officers.
Guaido tweeted that the Maduro government had “kidnapped” the vice president of the opposition controlled National Assembly.
“They are trying to break up the body that represents all Venezuelans, but they will not achieve it,” he tweeted.
The Maduro government accused Guaido, the National Assembly president, and several other opposition leaders of planning a failed coup on April 30.
In an interview from his office, Guaido was at times vague and evasive when trying to explain why his political uprising failed.
“We have offered amnesty, perhaps not enough. We have to insist. Now there is a fundamental element — the armed forces — they will have an important role not only in the transition but the reconstruction of Venezuela,” he said.
Agreement to protect US interests in Venezuela still not operational after a month Asked if US military intervention was still an option, Guaido indicated it would be one of the final options and clarified that military action did not have to come from the United States.
“And this is the option of force — it doesn’t have to be foreign, it doesn’t have to be international. The military is very unhappy and that is the option of force, it could be local,” he said.
Guaido says he remains in close touch with the Trump administration and was in contact with US officials earlier this week.
He acknowledged that his supporters are exhausted and terrified as the Maduro government has sought to intimidate protestors. A weekend protest drew hundreds of protestors, far less than anticipated.
Guaido would not elaborate on his next moves or offer a time line on what happens next for him and his supporters.
Pompeo says Maduro can’t ‘be part of Venezuela’s future’ “What is our time line? Today. But what needs to be the optimal solution for Venezuela? The one that generates the least social cost, the one that will secure stability and governance, that we will be able to tend to the humanitarian crisis and be able to produce truly free elections,” he said.
Guaido also claimed to be speaking with Russian officials about a transition to free and fair elections. He refused to disclose the nature of those conversations. The Russian government has maintained that any dialogue involving Venezuela’s future must include Maduro.
“I think that if there is anyone that has this clear today that there is no future are the Russians with Nicolas Maduro. It’s evident because they know that he can’t recuperate the oil industry because he destroyed it. He indebted it,” Guaido said.
Guaido has been recognized by more than 50 countries, including the United States, as Venezuela’s interim president.
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Votes are being counted in South Africa’s election, with President Cyril Ramaphosa hoping to prevent a slide in support for the governing African National Congress (ANC).
With results declared in some 46% of districts, it has won about 57% of the ballot, well ahead of the opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) on 23%.
The ANC took 62% at the last general election in 2014.
Anger over the economy and corruption may have eroded its appeal.
The radical Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), is in third place with 9%, based on the official early results.
Turnout was about 65% in the twin parliamentary and provincial elections – a drop compared to the 73% registered five years ago.
Some six million young people didn’t register to vote.
Full results are due on Saturday.
Strong mandate needed
Unsurprisingly the top three parties so far are the ANC, the DA and the EFF.
But the party to watch is the ANC – not least because its support has dwindled in the last few years amid corruption scandals.
After sacking its beleaguered leader, Jacob Zuma, just under two years ago, the new man in charge, Cyril Ramaphosa, went on an anti-corruption campaign.
He called this a “new dawn” for one of Africa’s oldest liberation movement? But did it work?
The numbers will help answer that. Under Mr Zuma, the party won by 62% in the last election – for some that’s the magic number to beat.
This will be a difficult ask this time around for the hugely divided party. Mr Ramaphosa needs a strong mandate – only then can he hope to affect real renewal within the party.
Then there is the DA, which increased its support in the last election from 17% to 22% but will be hoping to win more provinces this time around – and make inroads, particularly in areas where the ANC had previously been dominant.
Then there is the EFF, which need to show that it can continue to grow its support base.
Provincially, the prize everyone is vying for is Gauteng – the economic hub of the country. Control that and you pretty much control the whole country.
This will also be an indication of whether Mr Ramaphosa’s message to business has been effective.
The president’s apology
Casting his vote in the country’s sixth democratic national election since apartheid ended 25 years ago, President Ramaphosa acknowledged the “rampant corruption” of recent years.
President Cyril Ramaphosa arrives to cast his vote at a primary school in Soweto “We have made mistakes but we have been sorry about those mistakes and we are saying our people should reinvest their confidence in us,” he said.
“Corruption got into the way, patronage got into the way and not focusing on the needs of our people got in the way.”
The ANC, which led the fight against apartheid, has governed the country since 1994.
Why has the ANC lost support?
Young people queuing to vote spoke of their difficulties in finding jobs, with unemployment at 27%.
One young voter said her future employment prospects were on her mind. “I don’t feel confident about getting the job I want,” she said.
“I’m a member of the ANC but I didn’t vote for them this time,” construction worker Thabo Makhene told Reuters news agency. “They need to catch a wake-up. The way they run the state, mishandling state funds, they’ve lost their morals.”
However, many voters stayed loyal to the ANC.
Esau Zwane, 90, waiting to vote in Soweto, Johannesburg, lived under white-minority rule. He told the BBC he was celebrating “that our country is now ruled by black people”.
Votes are cast for parties, with seats in the 400-member National Assembly allocated according to the share of the vote gained by each party.
These MPs then elect a president.
Election in numbers:
26.76 million registered voters
55% of them are female
A record 48 parties on the ballot
28,757 voting stations
220,000 members of electoral staff
Six million young people did not register to vote
How big an issue is land reform?
Apartheid, in place from 1948 to 1994, legalised racial discrimination in favour of white people, and land ownership has remained a contentious issue.
Mmusi Maimane’s Democratic Alliance is tipped to increase its vote The white minority still owns disproportionately more land than the black majority. The EFF has led the charge in trying to change this.
The BBC’s Andrew Harding in Johannesburg says the party’s stance has forced the ANC to consider drastic measures to transfer more land, more quickly, into black hands, which has resulted in a pledge to conduct land expropriation without compensation.
However, the DA says it does not believe land reform needs to be “carried out in a way that takes from one to give to another”, and instead promises to prioritise land reform in the budget and to release unused government land.
Other election issues include discontent over poor basic services such as water, housing and electricity, and anger over violent crime.
As well as the continued inequalities, it is thought that the failure to tackle corruption has damaged the ANC.
President Ramaphosa came to power last year pledging to get to grips with the issue but some voters still associate the party with the corruption which thrived under Mr Zuma.
Mr Zuma faces trial on numerous charges of corruption but has denied any wrongdoing.
Votes are cast for party lists with seats in the 400-member National Assembly allocated according to the percentage vote of each party.
ACROSS the world, migratory animals like wildebeest — which rely on movement to find food, water and calving grounds — are under threat.
This is mainly because their migration routes are being cut off by fences, settlements, farms, roads and other developments, and the areas where they roam are getting smaller. The animals also face the additional challenges of poaching and having less food to eat because of livestock overgrazing and agriculture.
We wanted to know how wildebeest migrations in East Africa were faring. To do this we analysed trends in the region’s five remaining migratory wildebeest populations. We used maps from the colonial era, literature reviews and aerial survey databases. We also used GPS collared animals and held interviews with researchers and residents to assess how wildebeest migration routes and populations have changed over time.
We found extreme declines in the numbers of migrating wildebeest and loss of most migration routes in Kenya and Tanzania. Four of the five contemporary migrations, including the Mara-Loita migration, are severely threatened and have virtually collapsed.
This collapse increases the risk of local extinctions of wildebeest in four historically wildlife-rich East African ecosystems. This is because they are obstructed from accessing critical resources.
The study
East Africa’s remaining populations of migratory wildebeest are found in five ecosystems. Using aerial survey monitoring data, collected over almost 60 years (from 1957 to 2016) in Kenya and Tanzania, we found that four migrations have virtually collapsed. The Athi-Kaputiei, Amboseli and Mara-Loita migrations are the most severely threatened.
Serengeti-Mara
This covers about 40 000km2 and straddles Kenya and Tanzania.
Since 1977, the total number of wildebeest in the area stayed at roughly 1.3 million individuals. But the number of wildebeest crossing from the Serengeti to the Maasai Mara went down by 73%, from 588 000 animals in 1979 to 157 000 in 2016.
Greater Amboseli
Covering an area of about 7 730km2, this area also straddles Kenya and Tanzania. The Amboseli’s migrating population declined by 85% from 16 300 animals in 1977 to under 2 400 in 2014.
Mara-Loita
This covers about 7 500km2 in south-western Kenya.
The number of migrating wildebeest here has crashed by 81% from over 123 000 animals in 1977, to under 20 000 in 2016.
Athi-Kaputiei This spans 2 200km2 and is near Nairobi, Kenya’s capital. The Athi-Kaputiei’s migrating population fell by 95% from 27 000 animals in 1977 to less than 3 000 in 2014.
Tarangire-Manyara
Found in northern Tanzania, the Tarangire-Manyara ecosystem and adjoining village lands, covers 35 000km2. The number of migrating wildebeest has decreased by 72% since 1990, that is, from 48 800 to 13 600 animals in 2016.
Leading threats
The threats facing the various populations differ in each area. The leading causes of decline are poorly planned agricultural expansion, fences, settlements, urban centres, roads and other infrastructure, poaching and competition with livestock for food, space and drinking water. Government policy in Kenya also encourages private over communal land tenure. This promotes land subdivision.
Fences, for example, are expanding fast in the Mara-Loita ecosystem. This was driven by the splitting of former group ranches — communally owned land — and the formation of some wildlife conservancies.
Ultimately, the threats are driven by increasing human and livestock numbers. The way land is used (from former grazing areas to farmland) is changing and there’s also more human-wildlife conflict as more animals come into contact with people. So, there have been failures on a number of fronts. These include policies that don’t regulate where people settle, wildlife conservation and management policies.
A key government wildlife policy failure in Kenya is that it has focused primarily on protected areas. But these areas cover only 8% of the country’s land surface and support only 35% of the wildlife. The other 65% occupies private lands, which all the four threatened wildebeest migrations cross.
A huge problem here is that there is no incentive for private landowners to look after wildlife. They receive little to no benefit from wildlife. This is because Kenya banned the use of and trade in wildlife and wildlife products in 1977. This restricts opportunities to game viewing. But tourists don’t visit many areas and so other land uses, like agriculture and livestock production, are more appealing.
What must be done
Urgent action is needed to save these migrations. Unfortunately, warnings like these are often ignored by the national institutions that conserve wildlife. Saving the migrations means much more regulation, securing more land, partnering with local communities and, ultimately, reducing human population growth, in particular, the regulation of livestock numbers, fences, settlements, farms and roads.
Land must be restored — meaning settlements cleared and cultivation on migration routes stopped — and key rivers (like the Mara River which could be dammed) must be protected. Deforestation must also be better managed.
Major roads that cut across migratory routes should include under or over passes for migrating wildlife. And robust law enforcement is needed to reduce the illegal hunting of animals for bushmeat.
There have been attempts to protect migratory pathways by forming wildlife conservancies. These have been set up by private landowners, usually in collaboration with a tourism partner, to protect areas while providing land rents and jobs to local communities. But more support is needed by communities and investors in tourism to plan, expand and manage these conservancies which are outside State-protected areas.
The weakness of these conservancies is that they usually lease land from communities for a short period. But they’re expensive to maintain because the land that’s leased covers large areas. Another option would be for the State and other conservation actors to buy land for conservation.
Another intervention is that the community benefit more from wildlife, in terms of jobs and income, predominantly through tourism. This would reduce incentives for poaching and habitat degradation.
There must also be greater coordination and collaboration between Kenya and Tanzania to conserve trans-boundary migrations.
The fact that intense droughts have become more frequent makes these changes the more urgent.
ALMOST every global development body, from the World Bank to small, single-issue NGOs, claim to listen to or work with “the community”. In many African countries, particularly rural villages, community engagement involves meeting and consulting with chiefs.
Yet, even practitioners who go to great lengths to engage with chiefs often treat “the chieftaincy” as homogeneous. In this view, chiefs are either dedicated developers with exactly the same interests as the (equally homogenous) community, or they are barriers to development who must be educated.
But how do these chiefs or headmen view the NGOs? And how do the NGOs’ efforts hinder or help the chiefs in consolidating their own power? In a recent study, I explored these questions. I examined how traditional leaders in several Malawian villages attempted to use NGOs’ presence to solidify or change their relationships with their constituents, including how NGOs influenced what “development” meant to villagers.
These are important issues to consider in the context of Malawi. Small, foreign-funded NGOs dominate the country’s rural areas. The nation is one of the world’s poorest and 40% of its recurrent spending is provided by donors, often distributed through small NGOs.
These organisations maintain offices in areas that are too remote for larger NGOs. They claim that their competitive advantage lies in their closeness to the community – and the village’s chieftaincy. This means liaising with the traditional authority in the form of the leader who controls hundreds or even thousands of villages, each with their own village headmen. Traditional authorities are typically wealthy and urbane. Village headmen, on the other hand, are as poor as their constituents.
I found that the mere presence of NGOs, no matter their size or aims, inadvertently reduced the legitimacy of local village headmen, often through encouraging villagers to link development to wealth and westernisation.
Headmens’ experiences
I used the pseudonym Vsawa as a collective name for the villages I observed. There, two small NGOs maintained permanent offices and two others had full-time staff. These organisations were wealthy compared to the communities in which they operated and, through donor visits, these NGOs inadvertently implied that development was gifted into the community by (western) outsiders.
This was challenging for headmen, who often maintained their legitimacy by presenting development as occurring through communal cohesion under their leadership.
For instance, one village headman attempted to persuade his constituents that he had special influence over the NGOs. He attended every NGO meeting, told his villagers that the development projects he organised were inspired by the NGO and took trees from its forestry project to plant in front of his house. This tactic was initially successful. But then the NGO failed to extend a no-interest micro-credit programme in his village. This dented his authority among his constituents.
Another headmen took an entirely different tack. He did not participate in events with the staff of a similar small NGO that had a permanent office in his village and would not reward villagers who worked with the NGO to “develop” his village. This approach backfired when villagers attempted to abduct an NGO employee accused of witchcraft. The NGO manager publicly reprimanded the headman and used her superior connections with the government and police to have some of the alleged kidnappers arrested.
As one villager told me:
The chief was angry at Katherine (the NGO manager) so he tried to stop her, but she shouted at him and he was afraid. Now the people are angry and we go to the chief, but the chief is quiet, so we go to Katherine, but then she shouts… she shouts to … the MP and to the government … The NGO wanted to show us that the old ways were over and that Malawi is developing now …
Village life altered
What is striking about these and other stories I gathered during my study is how unimportant the specific development projects’ stated goals were to their impact upon intra-village understandings and hierarchies. Simply put, it didn’t matter what work they were doing. Their very presence affected village life by altering what development meant, and implying that headmen could not provide it.
Equally important, each NGO had permission from what it understood to be “the chief” to operate in “the community”, but did not understand how power and authority was held and diffused through the chieftaincy.
These findings are important as small NGOs and private donors grow increasingly important to rural African development. Such organisations need to be aware of how they influence the values and understanding of the communities they operate in.
SOUTH Africans were yesterday voting in the most competitive election they’ve had since democracy began in 1994. But, despite this, the poll will have far more impact on the factional battle within the governing African National Congress (ANC) than on the contest between it and other parties for control of government.
The election follows a decline in the ANC vote from just under 70% in 2004 to around 54% in 2016’s local elections. This seemed to signal that the ANC was no longer guaranteed re-election nationally and in most provinces. There has been much talk of the ANC vote sinking below 50%, forcing it to seek coalition partners if it wants to govern.
In Gauteng, the country’s economic heartland, the ANC won only 46% in the 2016 municipal elections and was forced into opposition in two metropolitan areas — Tshwane and Johannesburg.
This happened because the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), a breakaway from the ANC which espouses a more militant brand of African nationalism, agreed to support the country’s second biggest party, the Democratic Alliance (DA), even though they differ on just about everything.
This raised the possibility that a similar arrangement this time will mean the ANC will no longer govern in Gauteng or nationally.
So, is South Africa about to see its first election in which national power changes hands? No. The ANC is almost certain to remain in government in all the eight provinces it controls, including Gauteng.
This will leave the Western Cape, which the DA holds and is likely to retain despite claims that it is in trouble, as the only province in which the ANC is not in government.
This prediction is not based on opinion polls which, in this election, have continued their tradition of doing more to confuse than inform. One poll has the ANC at 61%.
Another says it is on the cusp of losing its majority. The DA’s projected vote veers just as wildly. The only constant is claims that the EFF will improve although this is not what is happening in municipal by-elections, where its support remains largely unchanged.
So, the polls tell us little and there is a good argument for ignoring them. But they do have one use, that is: They largely agree on what won’t happen: the ANC won’t lose power.
Why the ANC is sitting pretty Predicting that the ANC will remain in government outside the Western Cape is based on political common sense.
Talk of the ANC dropping below 50% often ignores the reality that, just about everywhere, the opposition is far behind it. The nearest an opposition party comes to challenging it outside the Western Cape is in Gauteng where the DA won 37% in 2016.
Elsewhere, the nearest opposition party trails by 30 percentage points or more. The only way the ANC could be removed from government is by another deal between the DA and EFF.
But EFF leader Julius Malema has said that it will not make a deal with the DA and is more likely to look to a coalition with the ANC. What politicians say about coalitions cannot always be taken seriously and later Malema said the EFF would consider a coalition with the DA or ANC if they agreed to improve conditions in the townships where black poor people live.
But a DA-EFF coalition seems impossible, whatever Malema says now. For one thing, their positions on land, a core EFF concern, are diametrically opposed.
This does not matter in local government, which does not decide on land policy. It would matter hugely in national government and to a degree in the provinces.
If there is no DA-EFF deal, the only way the ANC can lose its hold on government anywhere is if either party wins a majority or at least enough to allow them to govern with small parties. But in Gauteng, no poll puts the DA above 38% — its numbers elsewhere are much weaker.
In North West province — the ANC’s weakest outside Gauteng and Western Cape — the EFF is the second biggest party and it won only 16% in 2016. No poll has the EFF vote improving by more than eight percentage points.
ANC factions
Nationally and outside the Western Cape, then, two results are possible: The ANC wins a majority or is by far the biggest party and the only one able to form a coalition.
The reality which predictions of a change in government ignore — the absence of another party which could defeat the ANC — means that even if the ANC does as badly as one poll says it will, it will still be the party of government just about everywhere.
But, while the election will not change the government, it may change the balance between the two factions which compete for power within the ANC. — One supports President Cyril Ramaphosa, while the other backed former President Jacob Zuma.
The Zuma faction is still strongly represented in ANC decision-making forums. The battle between the two factions continues and the difference between them is often greater than that between the ANC and parts of the opposition. It is impossible to make sense of anything the ANC does without knowing which faction was behind it.
Ramaphosa was elected in 2017 because key ANC figures, most notably current Deputy President David Mabuza, believed the ANC could not win this election if it was led by the Zuma faction. Ramaphosa’s credibility with some ANC power brokers depends, therefore, on showing that he can stem the ANC’s decline at the polls.
If the ANC improves on its 2016 vote, Ramaphosa will have presided over the first increase in its vote for 15 years. This will greatly improve his chances of winning re- election as ANC president at its next conference in 2022 because it will signal to ANC politicians that he can deliver more seats.
Because many South Africans are excluded from the benefits of the market, seats in municipal councils and legislatures are often the only ticket into the middle-class.
So, an ANC gain in this election is certain to strengthen Ramaphosa now and in 2022 by showing that his leadership offers more opportunities to ANC politicians.
Even if it matches the last result or comes close, ANC power brokers could still decide that Ramaphosa saved them from the opposition benches. If the ANC drops to near 50%, whether Ramaphosa would be at risk of losing in 2022 would depend on whether ANC delegates could be persuaded to blame Zuma and his supporters.
That is hardly assured. What is clear is that, the worse the ANC does, the better the Zuma group’s chances are of removing Ramaphosa at the national conference in 2022.
The two factions have very different approaches to governing and so the battle between them affects the country’s future. It is this battle, not that between the parties, which will be shaped by the election result.
This article was updated to reflect the correct date for when the ANC could remove Ramaphosa, if they chose to.
THE Zimbabwe Environmental Lawyers Association (Zela) has petitioned Parliament to urgently review laws that promote sustainable in environmental practices by mining corporations.
The organisation said it was concerned by the rate of environmental degradation within the mining sector and the prevalence of human rights violations by mining corporations in Zimbabwe.
It also said it was alarmed by government’s administrative lethargy in promoting responsible investments within the extractive sector.
“Desirous of seeing responsible investment that ensures that Zimbabwean mining laws conform to international and regional standards, norms and principles to which Zimbabwe is a signatory, now, therefore, the petitioners beseech the Parliament of Zimbabwe to implore the Executive to uphold the Constitution by ensuring mining sector investments are in compliance with the provisions of the Constitution and international obligations and standards,” reads part of the petition.
Zimbabwe’s mining sector together with agriculture and tourism are expected to anchor growth of the economy.
“However, while commonly presented as a sector providing development opportunities for the national government and local communities, mining activities in Zimbabwe have repeatedly triggered a myriad of problems such as livelihood shifts, displacements from ancestral lands and insidious social, cultural, environmental, and economic changes,” it said.
Zela believes that policies should be suitably tailored to promote intra and inter-generational equity in the mining sector.
“Without the necessary legal basis, local communities in Zimbabwe will continue to suffer at the hands of mining corporations,” the petition reads.
“A mutually beneficial partnership between the State, the private sector, civil society, local communities and other stakeholders must be developed. Harnessing mineral resources for economic development and community empowerment is critical in addressing the poverty scourge and improving the quality of life for all Zimbabweans as envisioned by section 13 of the Constitution.”
Zela appealed to Parliament to investigate, punish and redress human rights abuses occasioned by mining sector investments.
