Guest Column: Learnmore Zuze

FOLLOWING a fresh wave of price hikes for basic commodities last week, Zimbabweans woke up to a terrifying headline pertaining to the possibility of the introduction of price controls by government. This came particularly after the shock rise in the price of bread and the incessant increases in fuel prices. In its fury, the current government, it was reported, may be mooting the possibility of introducing the capping of prices for the essential commodities to protect the consumer from “heartless and insensitive” business owners.

Life for Zimbabweans remains generally unbearable and word on the street is that the unrelenting escalation of prices is set to continue. Fuel has been on an upward trend right through from the beginning of the year virtually eroding the meagre salaries of the workers. Prices for the very basic commodities shot through the roof and many theories abound as to the triggers. Chief among the theories was the slight rise in civil servants’ salaries earlier in the month. This theory gained currency in light of the uncanny collision between Treasury’s pay date for civil servants and the jaw-dropping price rises.

Price controls are not a new phenomenon in Zimbabwe; they have been used as an instrument to control runaway inflation and to leash perceived unscrupulous business people. Price controls were introduced in 2007 during the period of hyperinflation as well as in 2017 following the introduction of bond notes in the previous year. As has become the omen preceding price controls, business owners are first labelled as “economic saboteurs”. Once that has occurred, we can be sure that ‘tight’ measures are then taken against the business. It would have been laudable if the “tight measures”, indeed, leashed errant business people.
The grim reality is that the “tight measures” in reality choke the overburdened ordinary Zimbabwean on the street.

It is against the backdrop of this possibility of price controls that I make the case that any person of a sound mind, who has lived through Zimbabwean life and its complications in the last two decades, can vouch for the futility of price controls. As mentioned before, price controls, in the wake of scary inflation, have been introduced in the past. But nowhere in the world have price controls been reported as a success. Zimbabwe doesn’t even need the failure examples of distant countries to drop this fearsome idea of price controls. Zimbabweans know too well the immediate results of introducing price controls. The matter is simple. It’s an all too familiar script for Zimbabweans.

The surest thing that follows price controls is a critical shortage of such commodities and a thriving black market. In essence, price controls are as sure-fire recipe to boost the black market. It would be foolhardy for the incumbent government to traverse the ill-fated route of price controls after having seen the tragedy former President Robert Mugabe wrought on this country with the same idea. Zimbabwe experienced one of its most trying times when, for months on end, the country trudged on with a worthless currency and empty shops. The greater part of 2007 and 2008 had Zimbabweans scrounging for a living under near inhuman conditions as virtually everything had to be queued for.

It is ironical that the government itself had been preaching the gospel of letting market forces determine prices all along. There is nothing positive that results from populist policies. While people may feel relieved in the short term, the worst will be sure to follow. Instead of the government continually accusing business of profiteering and using the exchange rate to fix prices, it is time for self-introspection. A national administration cannot live on pointing fingers and being reactionary.

The government of President Emmerson Mnangagwa has a real task of thinking; a task to think practically hard on how to turn the fortunes of this long-suffering nation. Zimbabwe needs real sustainable solutions to arrest the economic freefall.

There are plenty of lessons to be taken from the Mugabe era where populist ideas reigned supreme. The simple challenge with populist ideas is that they stand on clay legs; populist ideas cannot last the distance. We all remember how taskforces were set up during the Mugabe era to crack down on businesses perceived to be charging higher prices. We saw how Mugabe, through the then Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe governor, Gideon Gono, remained headstrong that the worthless bearer cheque was close to the United States dollar in worthiness. The introduction of the freedom trains were all populist ideas which failed to last the distance.

The current government, being composed of people who held influential offices in Mugabe’s administration, must shun such policies that bring immediate gratification, but later trigger immense suffering for the masses. Real practical and lasting solutions to the economic crisis are required, not impulsive and emotional political decisions.

 Learnmore Zuze is a legal officer and writes in his personal capacity.

BY Brenna Matendere

MIDLANDS State University (MSU)has come under fire for employing a Gweru-based labour officer who has been handling cases raised against the institution by close to 100 workers.

The university employed Simbarashe Gobvu at a time he was supposed to deliver judgment in a labour case that could have potentially cost MSU $3 million in overtime payments.

“We had a case that was before labour officer, Mr Gobvu as the conciliatory officer in which about 88 campus police officers were demanding overtime allowances dating back from 2006,” Doubt Chibi, the MSU Campus Police Association chairperson, said.

Chibi has since been suspended along with the entire executive of the union.

“The workers were working for 12 hours instead of eight hours. All the evidence was brought before Mr Gobvu, but MSU was opposing our case. However, when we expected a verdict from Mr Gobvu, he then told us that he was now going on leave for three months. When he came back, he told us that he could no longer conclude the case because he had been employed by MSU.”

In written responses to Southern Eye, MSU spokesperson Mirirai Mawere defended Gobvu’s employment and denied the move was done to kill the cases before him.

“Mr Gobvu was not appointed for the purposes of burying or defeating labour matters involving MSU staff members that were before the local labour office. He is employed as an administrative assistant responsible for training and development as well as managing employment contracts and does not deal with any labour disputes, either internally or externally,” she said.

Mawere also indicated that she was not aware of any outcry over the labour officer’s appointment, adding the appointment was above board and did not breach good corporate governance practises.

“I am not aware of any outcry by MSU employees regarding the employment of Mr Gobvu by the university . . . the university did not go against good corporate governance practices by engaging Mr Gobvu,” she added.

BY TERRY MADYAUTA

TRAILBLAZING Zifa Central Region Division One side Sheasham continued with their blistering form to maintain pole position following a narrow 1-0 win over Shabanie Mine at Maglas Stadium on Sunday.

With 12 points on their tally, the John Nyikadzino-coached side remain the only side with a perfect record in the league so far, where they are yet to drop a point or concede a goal.

Finhu Finhu as they are fondly known, are this year’s title favourites, judging from their boisterous exploits despite unforgiving fixtures.

In other games played over the weekend, MSU edged Vumbachikwe 1-0, while Ivan Hoe beat newcomers Filabusi 2-0 at Baghdad Stadium in Kwekwe.

Black Eagles and Beitbridge-based Dulibadzimu settled for a share of the spoils following a goalless draw while Kwekwe United and ZRP Gweru drew one-all.
Newbies Gokwe North and Dendairy also drew one-all at Nyamuroro Stadium in Gokwe.

Perennial championship contenders WhaWha collected their first set of maximum points this season following a 2-0 win over Shurugwi side Real BVM.

The result saw Real BVM dropping to the bottom of the log table.

Second-placed FC Platinum U-19, who are the reserve side of the current Premier Soccer League champions FC Platinum, maintained their winning formula as they narrowly beat Venue FC 1-0 at Minda Stadium in Mapisa. The platinum miners now have 11 points on their tally, just a point behind log leaders Sheasham.

Meanwhile, last season’s runners-up, ZPC Munyati fell 2-1 at the hands of lowly-Blanket Mine.

The power utility outfit has been struggling since the departure of gaffer Tendai Chikuni, who is now at Ngezi Platinum.

They were also hit by a massive player exodus that saw them lose key players that include Bruno Mtigo and Blessing Sahondo who followed Chikuni’s path to Ngezi, while Alpha Shirichena joined Sheasham.

BY DESMOND CHINGARANDE

A HARARE magistrate has set May 24 as the trial date for former Zanu PF MP for Muzarabani South and Zimbabwe Farmers’ Development Company (ZFDC) chairperson Edward Raradza who is facing charges of defrauding ZFDC of more than $10 million.

Raradza (71), who is jointly charged with his son, Mathew (46) and ZFDC executive director administration Thomas Nherera (68) appeared before magistrate Barbara Mateko yesterday.

They are on $300 bail each.

ZFDC, the complainant, was represented by its director Aaron Nhepera.

Raradza, Mathew and Nherera were all represented by Tinashe Zintu.

ZFDC was incorporated under the Companies Act, with Farmers World Zimbabwe (Pvt) Ltd having a 55% shareholding, while government, represented by Hero Fence, holds the remaining 45% of the shares.

ZFDC was to source agricultural equipment from China and hand it to eligible farmers through a credit facility. Each beneficiary was supposed to make a payment of 10% deposit to the company.

Between 2005 and 2010, ZFDC received agricultural equipment on credit through China Export and Import Bank valued at $60 million, which was guaranteed by the government.

The State alleges that upon receipt of the equipment, the accused, who are also directors of Zambezi Gas (Pvt) Ltd and Weldwell (Pvt) Ltd, connived to steal the agricultural equipment from ZFDC.

They reportedly stole tractors, among other equipment, valued at $9,74 million.

The State also alleged that in May 2011, former Zifa president Philip Chiyangwa got farming implements on credit worth $597 844 and the accused reduced the debt to $500 000 without the board’s approval.

It is alleged Raradza and his son transferred the bulk of the money amounting to $494 423 into an account belonging to Coachcard Investments (Private) Limited, which is owned by Raradza’s wife, Julie.

The State further alleges that the reduction of Chiyangwa’s debt, the transfer of money from ZFDC into a private company account, was done to steal money.
It is also alleged that $494 423 was lost and nothing was recovered.

BY JAIROS SAUNYAMA

Villagers in Mutoko were left scavenging for water after a local granite mining company, upon closing shop, sealed off boreholes it had drilled in the area.

In his report during a provincial coordinating committee held in Marondera on Sunday, Zanu PF’s Mashonaland East political commissar and Mutoko South legislator Hebert Shumbamhini said the mining company, called Reds or Sidingo, sealed the water sources and refused to renovate the houses of villagers that developed cracks caused by blasting despite having pledged to do so.

“We have a mining company that wound up its operations in Mutoko district. They had sunk boreholes in the area, but when they left, they sealed all the boreholes that were benefiting villagers. We tried to engage them to renovate villagers’ houses that cracked during the time they were operating as a result of blasting as well as repairing bridges, but (it was) in vain. We kindly ask the authorities to assist on these matters,” he said.

Shumbamhini added that the company also removed the water pumping equipment from the boreholes.

Efforts to get a comment from the mining company were fruitless yesterday.

Despite the abundant natural resource, Mutoko is one of the poorest districts in Zimbabwe, with mining companies extracting granite and exporting it to Europe since 1972.

At least 98% of black granite extracted from Mutoko is exported to Germany, Spain and Italy.

According to the Zimbabwe Mineral Development Corporation, Mutoko produces 75% of Zimbabwe’s black granite.

BY RICHARD MUPONDE

A CHIPINGE man has been arrested for stealing cash and property valued at $900 from a prostitute with whom he had a quick flirtation at her home.

This came to light when Give Masuku (38), of 1093 in the Medium suburb, appeared before Chipinge magistrate Joshua Nembaware facing charges of unlawful entry and theft.

He pleaded not guilty to the charges and was remanded out of custody to May 10 on $100 bail.

He is represented by Tariro Tazvitya of Bere Brothers Legal Practitioners.

The complainant, Elizabeth Masuku, told the court that she is a commercial sex worker and had only engaged Masuku, with whom she shares a surname, but are not related, for short time sexual services.

Prosecutor Sesekedzai Mwayera told the court that on April 5, Give sent text messages to Elizabeth asking for sexual favours and she invited him to her house at the ZBS suburb.

After the act, he paid her $5.

The court heard that Elizabeth placed the money in her wallet, which also contained US$100 and $50 in bond notes.

She then put the wallet among her clothes in her wardrobe in the presence of Give.

The court heard that Elizabeth locked her door as the two left for a local night spot for a beer drink.

Later on, they parted ways. That same night, Elizabeth was hired by another man and they went to her house.

From a distance, she allegedly saw Give coming out of her room and she called him, but he didn’t stop.

On arrival, she found her door open and all her money and some groceries missing.

She went back to the club and confronted Give about the theft, but he allegedly became violent.

Elizabeth tried to enlist the services of other patrons to apprehend him, but they were overpowered.

She then made a police report, leading to his arrest. Nothing was recovered.

BY JAIROS SAUNYAMA

THE Zanu PF youth league in Mashonaland East province has warned members who are already canvassing for parliamentary and party positions for the 2023 elections that they risk disqualification and suspension from the party.

According to a letter to all party districts dated April 28 and signed by provincial political commissar Lincoln Matare, some party members have already begun unsanctioned campaigns.

“Following observations that party members are embarking on unsanctioned campaigns, Zanu PF Mashonaland East youth league is sternly warning any member found wanting in terms of the above. The party will not hesitate to disqualify anyone who will not adhere to this warning or even suspend anyone who disregards the party protocol and procedure,” the letter read.

Matare confirmed the letter and said they were aware of members who are campaigning for both party and parliamentary positions.

“We observed that there are some members who are already campaigning for 2023 as well as positions in the impending restructuring exercise at provincial level. We are saying, let’s give others a chance to work. If the time comes, those interested will be sanctioned to do so,” he said.

Meanwhile, government has called on Zanu PF members to take heed of directives from the authorities in the wake of an impasse between the State and illegal settlers who are currently facing evictions.

About 200 youths in Wedza are currently facing eviction from a farm they invaded about 10 years ago.

The illegal settlers were last week given a seven-day ultimatum to leave the farm before they appealed to government to regularise their stay.

Addressing party members in Marondera on Sunday, Mashonaland East Provincial Affairs minister and women’s league political commissar, Aplonia Munzverengi, said party members need to co-operate with the government to avoid disorder on land issues.

BY DESMOND CHINGARANDE

The State yesterday closed its case in the matter in which Mt Pleasant legislator Samuel Banda (MDC Alliance) is being accused of contravening a section of the Electoral Act by allegedly falsifying his home address so that he could register to represent the constituency.

Banda (43), who is represented by Job Sikhala, yesterday told magistrate Learnmore Mapiye that the complainant and witnesses were aggrieved after he won a ticket to represent his party during the primary elections in which they all participated.

Banda told the court that the complainants, Warship Dumba and Isaac Chidavaenzi, had political scores to settle with him because they wanted his position.

Chidavaenzi lost the position to Banda for parliamentary elections, while Dumba wanted the position, but was relegated to council elections.

“The only truth is that both witnesses wanted to be MDC Alliance candidates. Dumba wanted to be a councillor, while Chidavaenzi wanted to be the MP, but they all lost,” Banda told the court.

“I’m (very) surprised that Chidavaenzi lied that I do not stay at his place of residence, yet I’m still staying at his house. I’m surprised that he lied that he learnt that I registered using his place of residence address on radio. It is so shameful. Even Jesus was disregarded by his fellows. That is why my fellow opposition members are fighting me. They have teamed up with my enemies to say that I lied about my address, which is untrue.”

Mapiye postponed the matter to Monday next week for ruling.

Allegations are that on December 28, 2017 last year during the national biometric voter registration exercise, Banda misrepresented to the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission that he was staying at number 34 Waller Avenue, Mt Pleasant, Harare, in order for him to register as a voter in that constituency, while in actual fact, he did not reside there.

The State alleges that Banda went on to depose an affidavit of residence for voter registration (Zec Form VR-9) to a Zec commissioner of oaths purporting to be residing at the house.

Through misrepresentation, the prosecution said, Banda was registered as a voter in Mt Pleasant constituency, where he contested for the House of Assembly seat and eventually won.

The State said the Zec forms VR1 and VR9 can be produced as an exhibit.

Peter Kachirika appeared for the State.

Kabelo “DJ Prince Kaybee” Motsamai

BY SINDISO DUBE

SOUTH Africa’s award-winning house music producer and DJ Prince Kaybee tonight makes a return to Zimbabwe to launch his latest album, Re Mmino, at Cosmopolitan Night Club in Bulawayo.

One of the event organisers, Ntando Ndlovu, yesterday told NewsDay Life&Style that they had taken advantage of the May 1 holiday to bring in the Charlotte hit-maker to Bulawayo, who had his maiden performance in the City of Kings and Queens in 2017.

“Our fans and patrons who frequent our spot have been asking us to bring back Prince Kaybee since the last time he came, about two years go. Prince Kaybee will perform on the eve of the public holiday (Workers Day), which means patrons have more time to rest,” he said.

“We have prepared well for the night, both the artistes and on our side we are ready to give a good show. The artiste will jet in at mid-day and will do a tour of the city meeting his local fans.”

Born Kabelo Motsamai, Prince Kaybee released his album Better Days two years ago and it topped the charts across Mzansi. The 12-track album features seasoned artistes among themDr Malinga, Ziyon from Liquideep, Donald and Thiwe.

Just Saying: Paul Kaseke

GOVERNMENT recently gazetted the Maintenance of Peace and Order (MOPA) Bill which is intended to replace the Public Order and Security Act (POSA), at least in part.

This is in fulfilment of the government’s promise to modernise the controversial law and align it to the Constitution. Over the next two weeks, we will unpack the Bill and explore its strengths and weaknesses.

The long road to POSA – some background history

POSA was enacted in January 2002 to replace the Law and Order Maintenance Act (LOMA). LOMA was enacted by the Rhodesian government in 1960. LOMA was an emergency law created to deal with the civil unrest that had engulfed the country at the time. It is no surprise, therefore, that the law was skewed heavily in favour of the government while suppressing civilian political rights. Interestingly, the Rhodesian government relied heavily on apartheid South Africa for most of the clauses in LOMA. It was, therefore, a hybrid copy and paste of various apartheid emergency laws such as the Riotous Assemblies Act of 1956 and the Apartheid Security Emergency Regulations. After independence, the Robert Mugabe-led government used LOMA for two decades before disbanding the law.

Instead of discarding the emergency-type provisions in the new Act (POSA), the government merely replicated them and, in some cases, created stiffer penalties than LOMA. When one looks at POSA and LOMA it is easy to make a link between the two and almost embarrassingly so. Roughly about 90% of POSA can be traced back to emergency laws in either South Africa or Rhodesia.

While LOMA was repealed, its provisions were transplanted into and resurrected POSA, the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act and the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act. The concepts of bans on meetings, gatherings and prohibition of certain weapons for example, were replicated without major changes from the Rhodesian legislation that was used to suppress the black masses.

POSA was LOMA incarnate or Mugabe’s own version of it. Seemingly, the Zimbabwean authorities had an obsession with packaging repression in unjust laws to give the impression that their actions are lawful. This somewhat explains why the laws are strikingly similar. Some aspects of POSA and the new bill can be traced back to the Gatherings Act of South Africa, which was one of the final pieces of legislation passed by the apartheid government in 1992/1993. The rationale behind the Gatherings Act was to deal with insurrection and feared riots ahead of the first democratic elections in South Africa.

The Gatherings Act itself actually takes its provisions from a host of sources, including the Internal Security Act of 1982 and the subsequent regulations passed during the State of Emergency periods of the late 80s. Some of its provisions have already been declared unconstitutional, but that seemed to skip the Zimbabwean government because these same provisions were copied into both POSA and the new bill. The history of POSA is important to understand why we need a break from these emergency laws and how the constitutional rights and liberties afforded to us must be given effect to and not reduced by the Bill. I am afraid, without this understanding, MOPA will continue to keep the country in a perpetual state of emergency.

What’s new in the Bill?

The short answer to that is that very little has changed hence the title of this series. It is a repacked POSA just as POSA was a repackaged LOMA. LOMA was Ian Smith’s legacy, POSA was Mugabe’s legacy and seemingly, MOPA will be President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s legacy.

While it largely replicates POSA, the Bill changes a few things. In terms of the Bill, internal deployment of the army to assist police can only be done by the President which is what section (s)213 of the Constitution dictates (see clause 18 of the Bill) and the President must inform Parliament of such deployment, which is a requirement of s214 of the Constitution (see clause 18 of the Bill).

These are two praise worthy changes that align themselves to the provisions of the Constitution. As we have argued before, POSA created an anomaly where the Minister of Defence could deploy the army to help police without the consent or authorisation of the President. Thankfully, this position has been rectified in the Bill. The other changes are cosmetic in the sense that they merely update the titles in POSA to reflect those used in the Constitution, such as the title of the Police Commissioner-General.

Another change is the addition of time periods in which the police have to notify parties of a decision to proceed with a public meeting or gathering. There are few deletions of certain provisions from POSA, however. For example, the infamous s27 of POSA, which was declared unconstitutional by a full bench of the Constitutional Court in Democratic Assembly for Restoration & Others v Saunyama N.O & Others, was omitted from the Bill. This is also a welcome move although government really had no option, but to comply with the judgment.

What has been copied from POSA?

POSA’s provisions have largely been transplanted into the draft Bill and I will show why below. For starters, the Bill retains some circular and useless meanings found in the introduction section of POSA, such as “procession” and “private place”. Procession is defined as a “procession in a public place”, while a private place is defined as “any place which is not a public place”. The following provisions of MOPA have been retained from POSA, with little to no changes at all:

 Section 14 of POSA, on the temporary prohibition of possession of certain weapons, is now Clause 4 of the Bill
 Section 23 of POSA, on the appointment of conveners, is now Clause 5 of the Bill
 Section 24 of POSA, on the appointment of responsible officers, is now Clause 6 of the Bill
 Section 25 of POSA, on the notice of public demonstrations, is now Clause 7 of the Bill
 Section 26 of POSA, on the consultations with respect to gatherings, is now Clause 8 of the Bill
 Section 27A of POSA, which prohibits gatherings in the vicinity of courts and parliament, is retained as is in Clause 10
 Section 27B of POSA, on appeals against prohibitions, is now Clause 11 of the Bill
 Section 28 of POSA, on the civil liability arising from public gatherings, is now Clause 12 of the Bill
 Section 29 of POSA, on the powers of the police, is now Clause 13 of the Bill
 Section 33 of POSA, on the cordon and search powers of the police, is now Clause 15 of the Bill
 Section 34 of POSA on the powers to stop and search is now Clause 16 of the Bill
 Section 35 of POSA, on the powers of police in relation to aircraft and vessels, is now Clause 17 of the Bill
 Section 38 of POSA, on the powers of seizure and forfeiture in relation to vehicles and aircraft, is now Clause 19 of the Bill
 Section 39 of POSA, on the powers of search and seizure generally, is now Clause 20 of the Bill
 Section 40 of POSA, on the jurisdiction of the courts, is now in Clause 21 of the Bill
 Section 41 of POSA, on the amendment of the schedule, is retained as Clause 22 of the Bill
 The Schedule in POSA is retained as the Schedule in the Bill

It seems government was in a hurry to prepare this Bill because it not only failed to make the sweeping changes required to constitutionalise the law, but it also failed to proof-read its copy and paste work with some humorous effects.

For example, the Schedule in POSA refers to a s24 and the Bill also refers to a s24, except there are only 23 provisions in the Bill. In other words, there is no s24 of the Bill — it simply does not exist. The Schedule in the Bill states that the category of gatherings listed will be exempted from s24’s application.
With the patent error of referring to a non-existent clause, the Schedule, therefore, has no meaning. It also refers to a s6(5) — a section not found in the Bill.

There is one last absurdity worth discussing for this week and that is to be found in the repealing of POSA. According to the Bill, the purpose of MOPA is to repeal POSA, but a fatal mistake is made by the drafters.

There is no repeal clause in the Bill so while it refers to repealing POSA in its preamble, the Bill itself does not repeal the Act expressly, which is ordinarily required for the repeal of laws.

It is very mischievous to repackage oppressive laws as constitutionally compliant when in fact the old laws remain in place under a different label. Government should have simply stated that it wanted to amend POSA because the minor changes it made qualify as amendments.

Since POSA was identical to LOMA and the Bill is identical to POSA then the Bill is LOMA by another name. If the Bill is passed in its current state, it will keep the country in a perennial state of emergency. Next week, we will dissect the substantive defects of the provisions of the Bill and how they violate the Constitution.

 Paul Kaseke is a legal adviser, commentator, policy analyst and former law lecturer with the Wits Law School. He writes in his personal capacity. You can give him feedback via email: justsaying@paulkasekesnr.com or follow him on Twitter @paulkasekesnr