Gweru City Council has announced plans to decommission its major supplier, Gwenhoro Dam, by October as the water source is left with only six months’ supplies, a senior council official has said.
Acting finance director Owen Masimba said the local authority needed US$6 million for water pumps and other equipment to switch to Amapongokwe Dam for supplies in the event Gwenoro ceases to operate.
“Council faces an unprecedented water crisis with Gwenoro Dam left with less than six months supply and there is need for at least an investment of US$6 million to switch to Amapongokwe Dam for water supply,” Masimba told a stakeholders first quarter budget review meeting on Monday.
“We expect to decommission Gwenoro by October and the situation is so dire and it’s a big emerging threat to the livelihoods of Gweru. At the moment, council has also availed resources to drill additional boreholes as a stop-gap measure for alleviating water challenges in troubled areas while mobilising funding for capacitation of Gwenoro and Amapongokwe waterworks.”
Masimba said the $6 million would be used to construct a new treatment plant which would be used to process water drawn from Amapongokwe. Reports indicate that the water levels at Gwenoro were also affected by siltation, but Masimba said it was not in the jurisdiction of council to de-siltate the dam.
“Yes we have a serious problem of siltation at Gwenoro, but that is the obligation of the Zimbabwe National Water Authority to de-siltate the dam,” he said.
Meanwhile, Masimba said as at March 31 debtors owed council a total of $64 269 709, with most ratepayers not honouring their obligations.
He said the local authority would soon take legal action against defaulters and urged residents to approach council with payment plans to clear their debts.
“Although as council we are reluctant to take that route, very soon demand letters, summons and writs of execution would be sent to defaulters,” he said.
Since its formation in the late 1970s, the United African National Council (UANC) led by then Zimbabwe-Rhodesia leader Bishop Abel Muzorewa disappeared, only to resurface in 2018 under the leadership of the late cleric’s younger brother, Gwinyai. The UANC’s plans to participate in the July 2018 elections faltered when its leader failed to secure a birth certificate under unclear circumstances. NewsDay (ND) reporter Jairos Saunyama spoke to Muzorewa (GM) from his base in the United States. Below are the excerpts.
ND: What is your assessment of the economic situation in the country?
GM: Zanu PF has failed to run the country. Firstly, the system is headed by a leadership that has long lost the essence of the revolution. Enough is enough; 39 years of misrule can only be replaced by new leadership.
Secondly, since sanctions are only against the Zanu PF’s corrupt fiscal mismanagement, the nation can be without sanctions almost overnight (if) the UANC assumes national leadership. The world knows that the UANC is not corrupt, and will manage the nation’s fiscal affairs in a transparent manner. The economy will turn around when there is a party that manages the civil affairs while the military does its constitutional function of guarding the nation against foreign invasion. We believe that every Zimbabwean needs a good life for his or her family.
ND: MDC Alliance leader Nelson Chamisa claims he has been calling in vain to meet President Emmerson Mnangagwa to resolve the crisis. Are there any chances that the two leaders will meet and dialogue?
GM: Those of us who have been supporting the opposition which has proved to be used by Zanu PF when the going is tough, are advised to look elsewhere. We (UANC) will end the tug of war between Chamisa and Mnangagwa. The argument between the two is not about who has a better economic plan to redeem the nation, rather, they are arguing about who won. We will join this fight with a different perspective, that is who has a better economic system that will save the nation.
ND: Mnangagwa has called for national dialogue involving all political parties that contested in the last election, if you had contested, where you going to take part?
GM: This national dialogue is not a genuine exercise. I called this a political filibuster because it is actually consistent with Mnangagwa’s “philosophy” that says munongovukura tichingotonga (you will continue barking while we rule you). How can Zanu PF that created and continues to fuel the crisis preside over the dialogue? Zanu PF is the problem. The system does not have the moral capacity to moderate or host the dialogue. As a party, we cannot participate in such an exercise because the government is merely using these men and women who wish they were ruling, but are not, to “pacify” the masses. This crisis had been brewing for a couple of decades until Zanu PF staged a coup in November 2017. At that time, we should have had the dialogue. The generals would have said: “We have removed (former President Robert) Mugabe, now you the national leaders how shall we elect a good leader?” Of course, that did not happen. But it needs to be said in order to understand the true motive of the Zanu PF leadership in this so-called dialogue. Actually, this dialogue is serving to perpetuate Zanu PF rule. I will not judge those who are participating in the dialogue. They are enjoying free meals. The real solution for the country is a new, uncorrupted, uncompromised and good government elected in a free and fair atmosphere.
ND: Zanu PF has voved it will not share power until 2023, what can be done to turn the economy around, in the meantime?
GM: I did not expect Zanu PF to agree to share power with the MDC. The point of rigging the election was so they can win at any cost. ED is not concerned about the plight of the people. He would have not even contested in July 2018 elections since he belongs to a failed regime.
A failed government must not even contest for another term to fail the nation again. A good example to show Zanu PF’s uncaring philosophy is the so-called command agriculture. One year later, 5,3 million Zimbabweans will not have food, yet people harvested and the maize was taken away by “the commander”. The price hikes completely disregard the unemployment situation in the country.
ND: You failed to contest in the last election because you could not secure a birth certificate in time, do you blame yourself or the system?
GM: My birth certificate issue has been a case of corruption, even at the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission. Any government has the Registrar’s Office, which issues and store all national records, including birth certificates. I have had all my national ID, passport, birth and so on. Trusting that our government agencies are functioning normally, I wanted to collect my birth certificate only to be told that I had never had one. I should have made noise, but I am smarter than them. No one can convince me that the whole system is not corrupt.
I find it most reasonable to replace a corrupt government with one that is not. The MDC was in Parliament, but did not make it a point to reform anomalies in the Constitution.
ND: Zimbabwe is currently in an economic crisis characterised by massive fuel shortages and increase in prices of basic commodities. If you were in power, how would you deal with these challenges?
GM: With the UANC in government, there will be no price hikes of fuel, food or cash shortage because the current cause for these crises will go with the Zanu PF system of corruption and fiscal mismanagement. In fact, there is need to create an economic atmosphere that is conducive to stability, economic growth and development. There is need to attend to civil servants salaries. There is need to appoint to high positions people with integrity.
ND: What is your message to Zimbabweans between now and the next election?
GM: Fellow Zimbabweans, in 2023 let us vote in a leadership that has the nation’s prosperity as a priority. The difference between us and Zanu PF is that the ruling party takes away from the nation, but the UANC brings to the nation prosperity through good governance and investor confidence.
Venezuelan authorities say they are putting down a small coup attempt after opposition leader Juan Guaidó announced he was in the “final phase” of ending President Nicolás Maduro’s rule.
He appeared in a video with uniformed men, claiming he had military support.
Mr Guaidó, who declared himself interim president in January, called for more members of the military to help him end Mr Maduro’s “usurpation” of power.
The military has so far supported Mr Maduro and refused to back Mr Guaidó.
However the opposition leader has backing from dozens of countries, including most of Latin America and the United States.
A spokeswoman for the Spanish government warned against “bloodshed” in Venezuela. “Spain is not supporting any military coup,” Isabel Celaa said, urging a “peaceful” outcome to the Venezuelan crisis.
Colombian President Iván Duque called on the Venezuelan army to back Mr Guaidó.
White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said the US president had been briefed and “we are monitoring the ongoing situation”. US Senator Marco Rubio, a staunch supporter of Mr Guaidó, also took to Twitter to urge the military to give their backing to the National Assembly president.
In the video, Mr Guaidó says he has the support of “brave soldiers” in Caracas.
“People of Venezuela, let’s take to the streets (…) to support the end of the usurpation, which is irreversible. (…) The National Armed Forces have taken the correct decision, they have the support of the people of Venezuela, and the backing of our constitution, they are guaranteed to be on the right side of history,” he says.
The video, published on Mr Guaidó’s Twitter account, shows him standing next to another opposition leader, Leopoldo López, who has been under house arrest after he was found guilty of inciting violence during anti-government protests in 2014.
Mr López said that he had been freed by members of the military who had declared their loyalty to Mr Guaidó.
The Venezuelan information minister, Jorge Rodríguez, responded to the events on Twitter, writing that the government was confronting a small group of “military traitors” which according to him were promoting a coup.
Mr Guaidó, the president of the opposition-controlled National Assembly, has been calling on the military to back him ever since he declared himself interim president.
He argues that President Maduro is a “usurper” because he was re-elected in polls that have been widely disputed.
The video appeared to have been recorded at dawn in or near La Carlota air force base in the capital Caracas.
Footage recorded later by Reuters news agency shows Mr Guaidó and Mr López with dozens of uniformed men on a highway in Caracas.
Image copyrightREUTERSImage captionMr López (third from right) said he had been freed by security forces who back Mr Guaidó
Many are wearing blue armbands and bandannas to signal their support for Mr Guaidó. The footage shows teargas being fired at the them.
Image copyrightEPA
Mr López, who leads the Popular Will party of which Mr Guaidó is a member, urged Venezuelans to join them: “All Venezuelans who want freedom should come here, disrupt order, join and encourage our soldiers, join our people. Good morning Venezuela, let’s do this together.”
Footage showed supporters of Mr Guaidó throwing stones at the airbase while others waved Venezuelan flags but their actions seemed to lack co-ordination.
Image copyrightREUTERS
Image copyrightAFP
‘High stakes’
Analysis by diplomatic correspondent Jonathan Marcus
Events in Venezuela are uncertain and unclear but Mr Guaidó has seemingly gambled heavily in his latest bid for power.
The loyalty of the military to President Nicolás Maduro’s regime has been the central factor that has kept him in power. Barring a fundamental change in their allegiance or at the very least a significant split in their ranks, no amount of outside diplomatic pressure is going to push Mr Maduro from office.
So are we seeing this split now? Mr Guaidó and his supporters claim parts of the military across the country have backed him, but so far there is little evidence of this.
For Mr Guaidó the stakes are huge. The Venezuelan government says it is putting down a coup attempt. This is perhaps the most dramatic moment yet in Venezuela’s current political saga.
Venezuelan Defence Minister Vladimir Padrino said that military bases were “operating normally” and that the armed forces were “standing firm in defence of the constitution and its legitimate authorities”.
Riot police and protesters have clashed in the Honduran capital, Tegucigalpa, during protests against planned reforms of the health and education sector.
Hundreds of people had to be evacuated from a number of buildings in the city after they were set alight.
The protesters fear that the reforms could lead to mass lay-offs of teachers and doctors.
They have been on strike since Congress approved the reforms. Demonstrations were also held outside the capital.
What happened?
A largely peaceful march against the reforms turned violent when a small group of hooded protesters clashed with riot police in the historic city centre of Tegucigalpa.
At least four buildings were set alight, among them Tegucigalpa’s city hall. Shop fronts were smashed and burning barricades erected to block key roads. Demonstrators also occupied the campus of the National Autonomous University in Tegucigalpa.
Riot police fired tear gas and charged at demonstrators with batons. Dozens of people were injured in the clashes and one of them is in a serious condition.
Police evacuated more than 250 people from the city hall after it was set alight by demonstrators throwing petrol bombs.
Outside the capital, a woman gave birth in a crowd in the town of La Ceiba after being caught up in protests.
What are the protesters’ demands?
The demonstrators want to stop two bills from coming into force which aim to restructure the ministries of education and health. The bills were passed on 25 April by the Honduran Congress in a tense sitting which saw some rival lawmakers push and shove each other. They still require one more voting session to become law.
Doctors and teachers have gone on strike in protest at the proposed reform, which they say will lead to mass sackings in the public sector. They say that the restructuring is the first step towards the privatisation of education and health services.
The government denies that the reform will lead to privatisation and layoffs. It says that the restructuring will provide savings of more than $300m (£231m) which it plans to invest in primary education, the construction of two hospitals and the improvement of neonatal care.
What’s the political background?
Backers of the reform say the opposition Libre party is stoking opposition to the law for political purposes. The bills have the backing of conservative President Juan Orlando Hernández.
During the protests, many of the demonstrators also demanded the resignation of President Hernández, who won a second term in 2017 in a disputed election in which his party was accused of fraud.
Mozambique requires urgent life-saving relief to deal with the destructive aftermath of Cyclone Kenneth, an aid organisation has said.
Save the Children says the humanitarian situation is significant and life-threatening and more funds are needed.
The UN gave Mozambique and Comoros Island $13m (£10m) for food, water and repair of infrastructure.
The death toll in cyclone-hit northern Mozambique is 38, but is expected to rise, officials say.
Meanwhile aid workers are scrambling to reach the areas that were worse hit by the cyclone.
The storm struck the southern African nation last week with winds of 220km/h (140mph), flattening villages and damaging thousands more homes.
It lost its strength, but torrential rain was still battering the area on Tuesday, with more expected.
As a result, aid efforts by air have been hindered.
It is predicted the weather system will dump twice as much rainfall as Cyclone Idai, which struck last month, leaving more than 900 dead across southern Mozambique, Malawi and Zimbabwe.
The flood risk was compounded by Kenneth hitting at the end of the rainy season when river levels were already high, the UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs (Ocha) noted.
Already, Pemba, the regional capital of Cabo Delgado state, has experienced more than 2m (6.5ft) of rain and flooding.
What’s the latest?
Aid workers have been trying to deliver medical and food supplies to people cut off by the flood waters before more rain falls on Tuesday.
Nicholas Finney, Save the Children’s response team leader, says that poor people in the region have been hardest hit.
“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,” he said.
According to Mozambique’s National Institute of Disaster Management (INGC), 38 people have been killed by Cyclone Kenneth, while another 35,000 homes have been destroyed or damaged.
The privately-owned O Pais website reported five people died after part of a rubbish dump collapsed onto homes in Pemba on Sunday evening. It is unclear if these deaths are recorded in the government total.
Ocha says humanitarian needs “have sky-rocketed, and the humanitarian response will need to rapidly scale up”.
Some 200,000 people are in danger in Pemba alone, Ocha warned. Spokesman Saviano Abreu added that the situation in the northern towns of Macomia and Quissanga was critical, while there were also worries for the cut-off island of Ibo. But attempts to reach those areas had not been entirely successful.
“We managed to send one flight with World Food Programme (WFP) supplies of rice and biscuits, and some non-food items,” Mr Abreu told news agency AFP.
“But unfortunately the weather conditions are changing too fast and threatening the operation. It’s raining again and the second flight couldn’t go.”
This satellite image shows the cyclone over northern Mozambique and Tanzania on Friday night. On Sunday a spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he was appealing for “additional resources” from the international community “to fund the response in the immediate, medium and longer term”.
Is it common for two cyclones to hit back-to-back?
Tropical cyclones in this part of the Indian Ocean are not that rare.
However, according to the BBC’s Environment Correspondent Matt McGrath, Cyclone Idai was the seventh such major storm of the Indian Ocean season when it struck back in March. That is more than double the average for the time of year.
What’s even more unusual, however, is the fact Idai and Kenneth hit in such quick succession.
According to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), “there is no record of two storms of such intensity striking Mozambique in the same season”.
Sudan’s main protest group said on Monday the army was trying to disperse a sit-in outside the military headquarters in Khartoum by removing barricades, but witnesses said troops had not moved in.
Thousands of protesters remain camped outside the army headquarters, almost three weeks after the military and security forces removed former president Omar al-Bashir from power on April 11.
The pro-democracy protesters want the ruling military council to hand over power to a civilian administration.
“The military council is a copy cat of the toppled regime. The army is trying to disperse the sit-in by removing the barricades,” said the Sudanese Professionals Association (SPA), the group that first launched the protest movement against al-Bashir’s regime.
“We are calling on our people to come immediately to the sit-in area. We are calling on the revolutionaries to protect the barricades and rebuild them.”
Witnesses at the sit-in told AFP news agency that protesters were building up some of the makeshift barricades but there was no movement of troops around the area.
“We are calling on our people across Sudan to show that they reject the attack on the sit-in and attempts to disperse it until we achieve our demand of having a civilian authority,” the SPA said.
The SPA call came after Lieutenant General Shamseddine Kabbashi, the spokesman of the ruling military council, said on Monday the military had agreed with protest leaders to open some roads, a railway line and two bridges that lead to, or pass near, the military headquarters.
But the Alliance for Freedom and Change, the umbrella group leading the protest movement, said the announcement was incorrect.
“We didn’t have any agreements on removing the barricades or opening the bridges in our sit-in area in the capital or across the country,” the group said late on Monday.
“We will continue our sit-in until the power is transferred to civilians.”
The military council said putting up barricades and checking people at the protest site threatened public security.
“There are some attempts that threaten public safety and stability by searching the civilians and vehicles by people who have no legal authority,” Kabbashi said in a statement late on Monday.
“There are also cases of looting of properties, beating of citizens, blocking roads, attacking security forces and preventing trains from carrying essential items needed by the people,” he said.
“Given the responsibility of protecting the citizens, the military council will end these attempts which are against the chant of the revolution of ‘peace, justice, freedom’.”
The latest outbursts from both sides came after they presented differing visions for a joint civilian-military council that would pave the way for a civilian administration.
The military council has so far insisted it has assumed power for a two-year transitional period.
New Delhi, India – India’s general elections, the world’s largest democratic exercise, is past its halfway mark.
The country’s election commission says nearly 900 million voters are eligible to vote in the seven-phase voting, which started on April 11 and will go on till May 19 for 543 parliamentary constituencies.
But nationwide reports of voters finding they were unable to vote after being deleted from, or deemed ineligible to be included in, the electoral rolls have raised concerns.
Voter turnout this year has been high, particularly in the state of Assam which recorded an impressive 80 percent polling.
But those left out of the voting process in India’s northeastern state have not been able to join in the enthusiasm.
“I feel neglected. It’s very painful and I can’t explain it,” says Saleha Begum, a 60-year-old resident of Assam’s Baksa district.
Saleha is one of around 125,000 “D” or “Doubtful” voters in Assam deemed ineligible to vote by the authorities, who say they were not provided with sufficient evidence of their Indian citizenship.
Such people have been accused of being undocumented immigrants from the neighbouring country of Bangladesh, a long-running issue in the state.
I feel neglected. It’s very painful and I can’t explain it. Saleha, resident of Assam state
Assam has witnessed mass agitation against so-called foreigners for decades.
Last year, a controversial update to a citizenship list, known as the National Registry of Citizens (NRC), excluded around four million people, effectively stripping them of Indian citizenship.
Many of them, including Saleha, are from Assam’s Bengali-origin minority.
Stateless overnight
But Saleha says she has lived in Assam her whole life and used to vote regularly until the “D Voter” category was created in 1997. The last vote she cast was in India’s general elections the year before.
“Suddenly, I became ‘doubtful’. It is something I would never understand and I feel helpless,” she told Al Jazeera.
“Everyone in my family can vote except me. I also want to vote and be counted as a citizen of India.”
Assam’s D voters are not the only people to have been denied voting rights in India. Around three million names were allegedly deleted off voter rolls in the southern state of Telangana between 2015 and 2018, leading to mass disenfranchisement in the state elections that were held in December.
The deletions in Telangana took place during a process aimed at removing duplicate names from the electoral rolls and linking voter details to Aadhaar, a controversial biometric identity card.
But people there say their names were removed from the list without proper verification, leaving them unable to cast their votes in last year’s elections.
Similar mass deletion of names from voters’ lists has been reported from other states, such as Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Uttarakhand and Delhi.
Overall, it is hard to ascertain just how many people are not on India’s voting rolls. Research by two leading psephologists has suggested that as many as 28 million women are missing from the electoral rolls.
An initiative called Missing Voters goes even higher, estimating that a whopping 120 million Indians are not on the voters’ lists.
Khalid Saifullah, founder of the Hyderabad-based initiative, told Al Jazeera that he believes around 65 million of these missing voters are women.
Among the 120 million people Missing Voters suggests are not included on the rolls, Saifullah further estimates that around 40 million of them, like Saleh and Imran, are Muslims while 30 million are Dalits, the former “untouchables”.
Saifullah’s estimates are based on discrepancies he says he found between the number of single households in census data and the election commission’s data. The numbers include those who may not have registered to vote in addition to the names that may have been deleted.
Targeted voter deletions?
There are also concerns that India’s minorities, mainly Muslims and Dalits, were the chief targets of voter suppression.
Experts say one of the easiest tools of exclusion is Form 7, which is available on the website of the election commission. Anyone can fill out that form, requesting the poll body to remove an individual’s name.
“There is often mischief by political parties who fill out Form 7 in various people’s names,” says Saifullah. “That is targeting. It’s pretty easy in India.”
Saifullah points out that no verification is done when somebody fills out Form 7. He suggests the use of OTPs (or One-Time Password) for such procedures. An OTP is a common feature in India while conducting financial transactions online.
“In the present system, you don’t have to give any of your details,” he says. “It should at least ask for a mobile number, because I know a lot of people are misusing it. If you know which polling booth someone is registered at, you can say that person doesn’t live in the area and ask for his removal.”
Independent researcher Srinivas Kodali, who has taken India’s election commission to court over voter deletions in Telangana, agrees there is a targeting of certain communities.
The elections may be free but they are not fair anymore when you’re not transparent enough. Srinivas Kodali, Independent Researcher
However, he says it is hard to tell because of a lack of transparency or clear information in the system, which he regards the root of the problem.
“Their practices are weird,” he says, referring to the election authorities. “When you’re deleted from a roll, you never know which year you were deleted in? Was it 2015 or 2017? There is no way to know.”
“They have issues with their algorithms and their systems which they don’t want to accept … They want to keep using the same system or process forever.”
The Election Commission of India denied reports that a large number of voters was missing from the rolls.
“The report in media that a huge number of voters are missing is not correct at all,” spokesperson SB Sharan told Al Jazeera in an emailed response. “lf a once enrolled voter finds out that his name is deleted, he can submit application for adding his name to the appropriate constituency.”
Sharan said the poll body has “tirelessly worked to ensure that every citizen gets easy access to the system for either getting his name added to the electoral rolls or correcting any errors in personal information”.
N Gopalaswami, a former Chief Election Commissioner, also defended the electoral body. He told Al Jazeera that the numbers being alleged are “absurd” and that voters have ample opportunity ahead of elections to ensure they are on the rolls.
“One unfortunate thing that happens in this country is that voters are so pampered that they never check [the rolls] … People will talk in exaggerated tones and so that they can say hundreds of thousands of people have been removed,” he says.
Saifullah believes that the onus cannot be on poor people, who either don’t have internet access or cannot afford to take time off of work to check their names on the voters’ list.
Both Saifullah and Kodali insist that voter disenfranchisement is real, and its effect on Indian elections clear.
“You can’t say that the elections are fair,” says Kodali. “The elections may be free but they are not fair anymore when you’re not being transparent enough.”
Tokyo Japan’s Emperor Akihito formally abdicated Tuesday during a historic ceremony in Tokyo, becoming the country’s first monarch to step down from the Chrysanthemum Throne in two centuries.
His son, Crown Prince Naruhito, 59, will be inaugurated as the 126th emperor Wednesday, ushering in the Reiwa era.
Akihito’s reign — and the Heisei era — officially ends at midnight on Tuesday. Hereafter the 85-year-old will be known as Emperor Emeritus Akihito.
Akihito, along with Empress Michiko and the Japanese Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, attended a short ceremony at 5 p.m. local time (4 a.m. ET) in the Matsu-no-Ma state room of the Imperial Palace.
Outside, throngs of well-wishers, both Japanese and visitors from overseas, waited in the rain-soaked grounds.
In a rare instance of speaking live on television, the ruler said that he had performed his duties as the emperor with a “deep sense of trust and respect” for the Japanese people.
“I consider myself most fortunate to have been able to do so,” he said at the small abdication ceremony.
“I sincerely wish, together with the Empress, that the Reiwa era, which begins tomorrow, will be a stable and fruitful one.”
Memorable reign
The much-loved Akihito will be remembered for connecting with his public in a way that no other Japanese monarch has done and expressing “deep remorse” for the country’s actions during World War II.
After having heart surgery and overcoming prostate cancer in recent years, the monarch cited health reasons for stepping down. “I am worried that it may become difficult for me to carry out my duties as the symbol of the state with my whole being, as I have done until now,” the soft-spoken Emperor said in 2016, in his second TV speech in three decades. It was seen as a plea to Japan’s lawmakers to change the law to allow him to retire. The following year, they did.
“It won attention and respect from the people, who recognized the emperor actually had a will of his own,” said Hitomi Tonomura, a historian at University of Michigan’s Center for Japanese Studies.
It was a fitting final move for a monarch who had often broken with tradition. He was also the first Japanese Emperor to marry a commoner, speak to his subjects live on television and to be hands-on in raising his children.
OPPOSITION MDC leader Nelson Chamisa will appoint some of the party’s standing committee members, among them the organising secretary and spokesperson as well as a number of deputies “as per the party’s constitution”, despite members nominating their preferred candidates at the just-ended provincial congresses.
Chamisa has already been nominated as party leader uncontested and will be duly confirmed MDC president at the party’s elective congress to be held in Gweru from May 24 to 26.
Although all positions were contested at the just-ended provincial congresses, party spokesperson Jacob Mafume revealed yesterday that Chamisa would use his discretion to appoint some officials into some key portfolios in line with the party’s constitution, as amended in 2014.
The positions that are now set to be appointed also include some of those where nominations were sought.
“Remember in 2014, the constitution was changed so that the president appoints from the position of secretary-general downwards. This is what the constitution says. We were taking nominations on the basis that the national council will condone that departure from the constitution,” Mafume, who was nominated for the information portfolio, said.
According to the party, the provisions for presidential nominations were put in place following the acrimonious fallout between former secretary-generals and the then president, Morgan Tsvangirai, leading to divisive splits.
Some of the positions Chamisa will nominate include national organising secretary and deputy, treasurer-general and deputy, deputy secretary-general as well as deputy information and publicity secretary, among others.
The position of deputy secretary-general will be contested by Concillia Chinanzvavana, Settlement Chikwinya, Daniel Molokela and Caston Matewu.
David Coltart, Tapiwa Mashakada, Tendai Biti and Thabita Khumalo will battle for the treasurer position.
Biti has also been nominated for the vice-president post and will have to accept only one nomination.
National organising secretary Amos Chibaya was nominated by the bulk of the provinces to retain his position, while the United Kingdom nominated Job Sikhala as his replacement.
Mafume said the provision was supposed to affect even the secretary-general’s position and that of treasurer, had the national council not opted for elections.
But according to what Mafume said, Chamisa has no obligation to follow the list of names nominated by the provinces.
“The national council looked at the situation and said notwithstanding that the constitution provides for that, the leadership of the standing committee recommended that secretary-general and treasurer-general be elected as well, even though the constitution says otherwise,” he said.
“We are actually moving from a situation where more were appointed to allow for more to be elected. Skills-based positions will be appointed like the organising and information.”
Mafume added that even though there are nominations for the positions that will be appointed, Chamisa would not be bound by the nominations in his pickings.
“The leadership asked for nominations so that he (Chamisa) will be guided, at least, by what the people want, not necessarily taking exactly that, but to get an indication of the feeling of the executive. Where there is a mismatch in talent, he will then address accordingly,” he said.
Several party heavyweights are expected to fall by the wayside at next month’s congress, in particular in the crowded vice-presidency.
Mafume said they were also taking a cue from South Africa’s ruling African National Congress and opposition Economic Freedom Fighters, which only elect the top six and the rest are based on deployment.
Zanu PF’s whole politburo is appointed by the party president. Observers used to, however, describe the MDC model, where all had to go through an election, as the best democratic model.
THE family of the late MDC founding leader Morgan Tsvangirai yesterday said they will not allow wearing of party regalia at the memorial service for the former Prime Minister in Buhera at the weekend.
Although this will likely set the family and party on a collision course, Tsvangirai’s younger brother Manase said they expect their decisions to be respected.
Tsvangirai died last year following a battle with cancer of the colon and was buried in his rural home in Humanikwa, Buhera, where the memorial will be held this Saturday.
“The emphasis is that we have invited everyone; this is not a partisan thing and on top of that we expect people to come putting what reminds us of Morgan Tsvangirai,” Manase said while addressing journalists at Tsvangirai’s Strathaven house in Harare.
“There is no any other regalia that should be put on except that of Dr Morgan Richard Tsvangirai. This is a memorial (and) we expect the event to be peaceful in Buhera.
“We are expecting different people from the State departments, different political parties and different people from other institutions,” he said.
The family said they expect the event to be peaceful and open to everyone because Tsvangirai worked with almost everyone, including former President Robert Mugabe, who was his main rival during his long political career.
Manase said the family will be leading the proceedings, hence their wishes, especially on regalia, must be respected.
“I think people should actually respect the Tsvangirai family and we are saying it’s better you put Morgan Tsvangirai regalia because we are remembering him as a person who has gone before us.
“To the family, I think it will be like an insult to try and put on something that doesn’t resemble him. We will encourage people to put on something about Morgan Tsvangirai for those few hours,” he said.
Manase said Elizabeth, Tsvangirai’s widow and the in-laws from the Mhundwa and Macheka families had been informed about the event.
He also said there was no bad blood between the family and the Nelson Chamisa-led MDC leadership.
Manase, who was flanked by Ian Makone, the late Tsvangirai’s aide, said they have also put mechanisms to ensure that violence will not break out like what happened at the ex-Premier’s burial.
“This is not a party function and it is led by the family. There is security for everyone. We are not going to see a repetition of what happened (at his burial),” he said. Manase also called for discipline among those who will be attending by not trespassing into villagers’ fields, saying the local traditional leadership made a passionate plea on the matter.
