guest column:Prosper Maguchu

The world’s most cited anti-corruption measurement — the Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) by Transparency International for the year 2019 was released on January 23 this year.

At the bottom, the CPI measures scores and ranks countries around the world based on how corrupt their public sector is perceived to be. Zimbabwe has scored a mere 24.

The CPI uses a scale of zero to 100, where zero is highly corrupt and 100 is very clean.

That is to say, the country has not improved in its fight against corruption in the past four years.

Significantly, the CPI scores reflect the views of experts and businesspeople, not the general public as such. It is arguably the most widely-recognised measure of public-sector corruption barometer.

For this reason, the CPI continues to be an important gauge by companies in assessing corruption risks before conducting businesses in foreign countries.

Therefore, it goes to the core of the “Zimbabwe is open for business” mantra and the country’s efforts to attract foreign businesses. As common sense dictates, investors dislike highly corrupt environments.

Corruption is a key issue upon which countries are judged by investors, thus if there is anything Zimbabwe can learn from other countries, it is to take the CPI seriously.

The CPI takes on a different theme each year. This year the CPI report highlights the relationship between politics, money and corruption.

This topic is both timely and relevant in Zimbabwe, especially at this juncture where cases of corrupt businesspeople with strong ties to politicians have been on the increase.

Let us never forget that certain names have dominated the news on allegations of corruption, names of politically connected individuals who have reportedly looted billions of dollars meant for the government-controlled Soviet-styled “Command Agriculture”, and some connected individuals are looting millions of dollars meant to import maize to alleviate famine faced by more than seven million Zimbabweans.

Countries use the CPI as a benchmark to measure their progress. Zimbabwe is presented with an opportunity to evaluate all the anti-corruption measures put in place by President Emmerson Mnangagwa in his early days in office.

Difficult questions should now be asked if these key legal reforms and institutional reforms have failed.

Lessons can be learned from Angola, a country that was under autocratic rule of Eduardo Jose Dos Santos for 40 years until 2017, but has managed to improve seven scores upwards on the CPI.

Above all, it seems pertinent to remember that the fight against corruption is not politically neutral.

Mnangagwa needs to see beyond party politics to address the scourge of corruption.

Some of those with political power want to maintain the status quo. This fight cannot be won without genuine political reforms. Then again, the experience of other African countries indicated that networks of corrupt officials tend to regroup in about two years, as well as that major changes could only be made in the first 18 months of a new government coming into power.

This is conventional wisdom; the logic of the argument being that new leaders will be less tied to existing patron–client networks, and more inclined to reform.

For Zimbabwe, the anti-corruption war maybe too little too late!

 Prosper Simbarashe Maguchu LLM is a researcher at a political-legal think tank based in the Netherlands specialising on anti-corruption, serious crime, conspiracies and human rights. He also volunteers as the international co-ordinator for the Anti-Corruption Trust of Southern Africa. He writes in his personal capacity.

guest column:Peter Makwanya

CONSIDERING that climate change is not a juicy subject, which people need and may not want, it is prone to divided or split attention. Climate change may not be as attractive and marketable as adverts for beverages, fast foods or other upmarket accessories, which the companies continue to remind people about, through various forms of channels like radio, television, online, posters, bill boards or regalia.

In this regard, climate change may be topical or popular as a brand product, so in this view, people also need to know, quite often about the subject that is dominating their livelihoods.

Climate change may not be in the mould of Nike or Coca-Cola, but in its own right is also appealing and attention-seeking too. While climate change, through its related impacts such as natural disasters, does not offer happiness or pleasure, it needs to be communicated regularly, all the time and everywhere.

While popular brand companies and organisations invest in wide-ranging research to maintain and transform their brand images, climate change also requires the same, not to maintain its image, but for checks and balances, otherwise the earth would be torn apart.

Just like all these other brands, climate change has target audiences and situations that need to be managed. While many other brands need to be sold and bought, climate change requires interactive and participatory engagements as well as immersion into its nature, to sufficiently understand it.

Climate change requires reaching out to target situations and audiences through appropriate and relevant communication approaches and messages. Above all, target audiences should be able to have knowledge of what is being communicated to them. They must be able to relate what is being communicated about what is unfolding in their communities.

While brand companies invest billions into advertising, green funders channel forms of funding to developing countries for adaptation purposes, although not much is known for advertising purposes. In this regard, development practitioners need to compete for the target audiences’ attention for climate change education, training and awareness in order to change their mindsets, with limited resources though.

While many people around the world love such popular brands as Coca Cola, Nike, Mercedes Benz, Sprite and many others, they may not be necessarily in need of them, but climate change adaptation is what people actually need and not necessarily want. Climate change requires partnerships and multi-sectorial approaches. Development partners need to compete with governments, non-governmental organisations and the private sector in order to get the target audiences’ attention and acceptance.

In this climate change discourse, development practitioners should consider employing communication experts, who can communicate across the board and they know that target audiences have crucial needs and choices to be respected.

In this climate change discourse, people need to be networked and connected so that communication approaches effectively and meaningfully function. In this regard, communication can be used to bind people together and enhance public engagement. The aim in this regard is to provide accurate and continuous information flows to all stakeholders, not just a few, making the whole process open and transparent.

Just as brand advertising is cross-cutting and aimed at breaking language barriers, video-story telling in climate change advertising can also do the same, reaching out to target audiences in ways traditional development approaches cannot do.

Furthermore, video is a sufficiently empowering tool for stimulating dialogues and discussions just in the same manner an advert would do in probing people to discuss. In this regard, community radios, popular radios, community-video, posters and print materials can still be used in the same ways as in advertising to reach out to large numbers of stakeholders or target audiences.

The need for communities to have continuous access to climate change information for adaptation in the changing climate is also the same way advertisers of brand products use to keep in touch with their customers and clients.

Although it is critical that local communities and stakeholders should be interested in climate change issues, advertising — through the use and integration of multimedia tools and visuals, can save the required purpose in climate change engagements.

All in all, stakeholders in the advertising industry, should also include climate change in their communities of practice and make it relevant as a critical pillar of adaptation, awareness, education and training tool to compete for target audiences.

DYNAMOS have signed a staggering 11 new players so far to beef up their squad ahead of the new league season; but they are not yet finished, with the club’s chairperson Isiah Mupfurutsa revealing that they were still very much active on the player transfer window market.

BY HENRY MHARA

DYNAMOS have signed a staggering 11 new players so far to beef up their squad ahead of the new league season; but they are not yet finished, with the club’s chairperson Isiah Mupfurutsa revealing that they were still very much active on the player transfer window market.

The Harare football giants have been one of the busiest on the market, and have made a complete overhaul of their squad with the arrival of Partson Jaure, Jeansmith Mutudza, Sylvester Appiah, Byron Madzokere, David Temwanjira, Barnabas Mushunje, Nkosi Mhlanga, Tanaka Chidhobha, Lennox Mutsetse, Tinotenda Chiunye and goalkeeper Tymon Mvula.

Mupfurutsa said the club was happy with their business so far, but still wants to sign more players in forward positions.

“We are content with how our transfer business has gone so far, but we are still in the market,” he said.

“We need to beef up some key positions in the team. We are still short on strikers.”

Dynamos were left short of forward players after veteran striker Edward Sadomba retired from playing football at the end of the season.

Evans Katema, who was their main striker last year, also left for Zambia a month ago, but reports suggest that his intended move into one of that country’s top club failed to materialise.

DeMbare are understood to be negotiating for a reunion with the dreadlocked striker, but they are reportedly facing fierce competition from rivals Caps United and Chicken Inn, who are said to be angling for his signature as well.

Young Nigel Katawa, who was another regular for the team last season, is away in Russia for trials, while Tawanda Macheke has not renewed his contract, which expired at the end of the year. He has not been training with the club in their pre-season sessions.

Mupfurutsa refused to reveal the names of the forward players they are trying to bring to the club, but reports suggest that they are could be closing in on Caps United’s speedy winger Phineas Bamusi.

The former Triangle United player gave the biggest hint that he might cross the great divide when he posted on Facebook a picture of himself during the match against Dynamos last season.

The picture ignited a fierce debate among Dynamos and Caps United supporters, with the former welcoming him to their club, while the latter said the gesture meant nothing.

Sources, however, told NewsDay Sport that the fleet-footed player had already agreed personal terms with Dynamos, and a deal could be announced before the end of this week.

Dynamos said they are building a “machine” of a team as they seek to challenge for the league title which they last won in 2014.

“We have gone for a long time without winning the league title, so I don’t see anything wrong with being ambitious. The coach has given us a list of players that he feels can win the title and we have done our part as management,” Mupfurutsa said.

“We have managed to get almost all the players from the list. We will give the technical team all the necessary support that they need to achieve our targets.”

Dynamos started their pre-season last week and had their team-building and bonding camp just outside Harare, which will be followed by an orientation this week.

“This was part of the pre-season training, which is good for team bonding and integration. Not only that, we had some presentations by experts on things such as anti-doping, laws of the game, HIV and how to handle the media,” Mupfurutsa added.

Footballers Union of Zimbabwe president and former Dynamos captain Desmond Maringwa was one of the experts who gave presentations.

BY VENERANDA LANGA

THE Forestry Amendment Bill, now before Parliament, seeks to impose mandatory sentences of up to five years for people who deliberately cause veld fires.

Chairperson of the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Environment, Concillia Chinanzvavana (pictured), recently told NewsDay that the Bill, which will be subjected to public hearings, is being amended because the previous Act is archaic.

“The issue with the current Forestry Act is that it is too old and does not cater well for the country’s forest concerns,” Chinanzvavana said.

“The mischief to be addressed by the proposed amendments in the Bill will be the problem of veld fires which is now getting out of hand, and the nation is losing millions of hectares of forest to veld fires, including nationally gazetted forests,” she said.

Veld fires have killed 122 people across Zimbabwe since 2005, which has resulted in government declaring the period between July and October of each year a fire season to raise awareness on the dangers caused by veld fires.

She said the Bill will amend the Forestry Act (Chapter 19:05) to enhance the protection of forests from veld fires through introduction of mandatory and deterrent sentences, as well as to recognise the aggravating consequences of veld fires, such as death and damage to property and make provision for their prosecution in terms of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act (Chapter 9:23).

The clause seeks to remove the option of a fine in preference of a minimum mandatory sentencing system for wilfully lighting fires on State or private forests that cause damage.
“Clause 12 seeks to introduce a mandatory fine for fire offences resulting from smoking or negligent use of matches,” reads the Bill.

Section 78 of the Forestry Act will also be amended to include major offences by including sections which stipulate that where damage has been wilfully caused, imprisonment for a period not less than five years, or in any case, to imprisonment for a period of not less than one year will be imposed for causing veld fires.

“The court shall take into account such aggravating factors as loss of human life, livestock, wildlife and other property,” reads the Bill.

Moses Matenga/Fin24.com

THE United Nations (UN) has raised a red flag over looming food shortages in Zimbabwe highlighting that so far there is little evidence that enough maize is coming to feed the drought-stricken nation’s 7,7 million people, but government insists that it is prepared to deal with the deepening food crisis.

Agriculture minister Perrance Shiri last week told NewsDay that there is less than a month’s supply, or 100 000 tonnes, of the staple maize grain in the southern African nation. That compares with a supply gap that’s expected to be around one million tonnes. Shiri yesterday refused to comment over the phone on government’s state of preparedness. While the government said it has started importing food, UN officials say there’s no sign of it yet.

“The situation has not changed a bit,” Eddie Rowe, the UN World Food Programme (WFP)’s country director in Zimbabwe, said last week. “We do not see anything coming in.”

The nation’s maize crop is expected to plunge by half this season due to a drought that in some areas is the worst in 40 years. At the same time, an economic collapse has seen food shortages spread from the rural areas to the urban areas for the first time.

While Zimbabwe is facing a severe deficit of foreign exchange that is hindering its ability to ensure adequate supplies of power, fuel and food, Finance minister Mthuli Ncube claimed in Davos last week that the government was making the necessary arrangements for enough grain imports.

“Contracts have been signed, and we are already importing food,” Ncube said in an interview with Bloomberg TV in Davos, Switzerland. “It’s already arriving.”

Ncube said maize was being imported from an “Atlantic” market, where Mexico is the only major producer of the white variety favored by consumers in southern Africa. Grain is being shipped through the Mozambican port of Beira, by road from Tanzania and through South Africa, he claimed.

“The country is not at risk of famine,” Ncube said. “We are well organised. We are ready and we also appreciate the international community’s support. So we understand what’s going on.”
In times of need, Zimbabwe has traditionally bought South African maize or used agents from that country to bring in grain.

Statistics from the South African Grain Information Service show that from April 27 until January 17, no maize was imported via local ports for export to other nations. South Africa did , however, ship about 60 000 tonnes of its locally produced maize to Zimbabwe.

“It has to come through South Africa,” said Wandile Sihlobo, chief economist of the Agricultural Business Chamber of South Africa. “Traders who facilitate this sort of trade are Johannesburg-based. They use ports on the South African side.”

While Zimbabwe bought 100 000 tonnes of maize and received the delivery from Tanzania last year, it has not been in contact with the country since, said Japhet Hasunga, Tanzania’s Agriculture minister. In any event, Tanzania is limiting exports to build its own reserves, he said.

Cornelder de Mocambique SA, which operates the port in Beira, didn’t respond to a request for comment. Zimbabwe’s Finance ministry didn’t respond to a request for more details on shipments.

Rowe said the WFP had imported 20 000 tonnes of grain from South Africa and expects a further 50 000 tonnes from Ukraine and Mexico to arrive by the end of next month. The government has not been involved in those shipments, he said.

On its official Twitter page, WFP in Zimbabwe gave updates of the situation on the ground in most parts of the country, an account that saw many raising concern on the state of preparedness by the Zanu PF government.

“The fields are bare, livestock is dying and hope is running low. In Mwenezi, communities are facing the effects of cumulative drought and an economic crisis. WFP is doubling its efforts to reach 4,1 million people who do not know where their next meal is coming from,” the WFP wrote on Twitter.

The UN agency regional director for Southern Africa, Lola Castro said the situation was “on a scale we have not seen before and the evidence shows it is going to get worse”.

Over $200 million is needed to assist those in the country. WFP also said children in most parts of the country were now getting one meal a day while drought and the economic meltdown has left more than 7,7 million facing hunger across the country.

MDC secretary for agriculture Rusty Markham yesterday said government has shown lack of preparedness while misleading the international community on the matter.

“The issue of food security is very simple, government has always waited till late. The minister weeks ago stated they had 100 000 tonnes of maize at the Grain Marketing Board. That is less than one month’s supply of maize. The issue is that it will take us to the middle of next month,” he said.

He said the supplies from Tanzania, Mexico and Maputo will only last until next month and questioned government commitment to avert a potential disaster.

“They have done nothing. You heard (Finance minister Mthuli) Ncube in Davos saying we signed contracts, maize is rolling and we are on top of the situation and no one will starve? The WFP issued a release where they said they were not aware of any programmes to import maize into Zimbabwe. If they don’t know about it I don’t think there is anyone in the international community who knows about it,” he said expressing concern that after the ban on maize exports by Zambia and Malawi, Zimbabwe’s options were now very limited.

“When you have a national emergency or disaster you declare it as one. You have to say we have a major disaster here and we need food. What they have done is talk to donors, but what they should do is declare and people will help and raise funds for it. They come up with a silly idea of roller meal committees. It is as good as those things they parade as bakeries that were used by our great grandfathers. We have this major disaster we are faced with and you form these roller meal committees.

“In agriculture we have a regime that is in a state of paralysis and they do not know what to do,” he said.

BY MOSES MATENGA

RESIDENTS of Mabelreign, Harare, have called on the city council to spruce up Sherwood Golf Course saying its neglect has led to an increase in crimes that includes muggings, rape and murder in its vicinity.

The residents also said the neglected golf course has now been turned into a love nest by youths who also have taken it as a haven for drug abuse among other vices.

Speaking in separate interviews on Thursday last week, residents said there was need to spruce up the golf course and make it user-friendly.

“There are problems. It is a dangerous place at night and over the weekends, you find that this becomes a haven for sex with maids and gardeners who have no other alternative. These are their lodges. On Mondays, there will be rubbish and condoms all over. This mess needs to be sorted.

“There are muggings taking place. Every time you drop off by the corner there, you are mugged and women fear being raped. Last year, a pre-school teacher was murdered raped and dumbed there. It is now like a bush. It is not safe even for motorists, for our children, us as women and even our husbands,” one resident said.

Last week, council housing director Addmore Nhekairo and ward 16 councillor Denford Ngadziore raised concern over the place.

Former Harare mayor and past President of the Zimbabwe Golf Association, Muchadeyi Masunda said it was sad that most clubs in the capital were being neglected.

“What has been a source of bother is that a lot of these clubs have been run down by its membership and there has been a relentless exodus of members from other clubs and a lot of people are gravitating towards Royal Harare Golf Club because that club is well run, it is run as a multi-billion-dollar business,” he said.

BY SIMBARASHE SITHOLE

POLICE in Mashonaland Central province have arrested 1 621 illegal miners in Mazowe and Shamva under the ongoing “Chikorokoza Ngachipere” blitz.

Addressing Bindura residents under a crime awareness campaign last week, officer commanding Mashonaland Central province Commissioner David Mahoya said police have launched several operations to restore sanity in the mining communities following carnage wrought by machete-wielding gold panners.

“In a bid to promote public safety and security, we have launched numerous operations which are producing tangible results, operations Chikorokoza Ngachipere this month we have arrested 1 621 illegal miners,” Mahoya said.

“We also have operation no to dangerous weapons and 30 suspects were arrested, and operation end to touting, 91 touts were arrested; and 189 unregistered taxis were impounded.”
The commissioner said the gold rush in the province had triggered a spike in the crime rate.

“It is sad to note that our province continues to be plagued by persistent crimes such as robberies, murders and assaults by machete gangs, this has been notably in places like Mazowe, Glendale, Bindura and Shamva where a gold rush has attracted thousands of artisanal miners from other provinces.

“As a result of this situation we have seen an increase in the following crimes: Armed and plain robberies, vandalism of Zesa, Zinwa and telecommunications boosters infrastructure, degradation of the environment, and carrying of dangerous weapons, among other crimes,” Mahoya said.

So far 77 people have been jailed two years each for machete-related crimes.

Meanwhile, Concession mortuary is flooded with unidentified dead bodies which are yet to be collected.

“I can confirm that the hospital is overwhelmed. We have a lot of unidentified dead bodies in our mortuary so those who are coming with specific death cases we are referring them to Harare,” Concession district medical officer Rachel Sosera said.

Sosera, however, refused to comment on reports that most of the unclaimed bodies were victims of machete fights.

Develop me :Tapiwa Gomo

We are at a stage in our country where what seems to be a political problem, is not only hindering our ability to develop but decimating any hope of doing so in the foreseeable future. We are in a state of despair and doom. Instead of trying to fix what is not working, we need to start afresh and re-establish a new platform.

The starting point is to shelve or abandon the entire rhetoric about the liberation struggle. It was a struggle that did not liberate anyone. It is apt time that the nation realised that the nation was deceived into joining a battle between two criminal organisations that harboured the same goals of privatising the country, sadly at the expense of thousands of lives. The ceremony on April 18, 1980 was nothing, but a hand over which blinded the nation to think the country was now independent. The country only changed hands and a name.

Continuously giving the liberation struggle credence perpetuates a sense of indebtedness, entitlement and heroism among those who preside over our destitution. It also creates the presumption of legitimacy and the existence of a foundation on which to establish a future.

The fact of the matter is that everything government-related “our comrades” have touched has gone wrong, but their personal economies have continued to grow. It is for this reason that them and their claimed role in the struggle needs to be obliterated without hesitation. Once that is out of the way, the nation will awaken to the urgent realisation of the need to unite and mount a new and genuine struggle to liberate itself.

What currently looks like a struggle against the establishment are mere and profoundly fragmented ideas and concepts; some of whose polarised and competing drivers derive lifelines from and in complicity with the establishment. They have called themselves opposition when they are doing business with the establishment. Conflicted interests produce flawed parties, candidates and outcomes. If we choose to call it one, ours is an exhausted and futile struggle.

Take for instance, religious groups, masters of human salvation, tell their congregants to leave everything in the hands of God, as criminals pillage the country. There are numerous political groups involved in discordant calls for political reforms. The business community meanwhile continues to shy away from confronting the establishment.

Civil society organisations have long lost their bite. Protests have less impact other than aggravating potholes in towns and cities. The media too have been complicity in this docility. Instead of challenging the status quo and being more provocative, they are content with political alignment. One does not need to be a political scientist to see that the electoral process in Zimbabwe is not only an impediment to democracy, but is designed to perpetually legitimise the establishment.

Just like wise, criminals have devised effective off-the-shelf prescriptions for each of these. Churches were told to stay away from politics and they parochially comply.

Calls for political reforms by political groupings die upon hitting deaf ears. The business community has a choice to shut down or lose their investment, so they have long chosen the latter. Protesters and civil society organisations are handled at junior police level with spasmodic army deployments to scare them away.

And as it stands, the media are not a threat to the establishment or opposition. Elections are regularly rigged and opposition parties sent to petition in the courts controlled by the establishment. With all these social agents of political change under control, the establishment is as comfortable as ever and in no urgent need to reform even as the nation languishes in destitution. They can plunder in comfort.

The rise of what they have called the new dispensation is the biggest deception and political fraud of our generation. But again, it demonstrated our profound gullibility and inextricability from our abyss. We rejoiced in a coup and believed it was not one. We joined the establishment’s internal cleansing ritual. Once they were on the driving seat, they were back to their usual true selves: The private owners of the country. The police defend and protect their interests. Since the dispensation’s judicial power grab of the 2017 coup, courts have become political organs or where the corrupt are acquitted and become untouchable and filthy rich.

The opposition, now either resigned to the fringe business interests from the establishment or simply recoiled in their slumber. The political struggle is abandoned and the worsening destitution of ordinary Zimbabweans is neglected. With all options on the political market looking frail and void, some have turned to the internal politics within the establishment to trigger a self-destruct button which would send it tumbling.

That too would not be a politically bankable opportunity because successionists in the same establishment will reassert themselves to power. Some have suggested that the convergence of the disgruntled within the establishment and those ejected from it after the 2017 coup is what is required to kickstart a new wave of struggle. So much for hope.

History tells us that political change in the face of an arrogant autocracy requires sacrifice and non-violent disobedience to the rules of oppression. No oppressor will reform themselves out of power without being pressured to do so. Our best shot at achieving change lies in a new progressive and all-encompassing political movement – one whose goal is none other than liberating the country from its current bondage.

By Phyllis Mbanje

The Higher Life Foundation fellowship for doctors, which was re-opened last week, is reportedly oversubscribed, with more than 900 doctors having applied barely a day after the fellowship was announced.

The fellowship, which was first flighted last year in November, was re-announced on Tuesday last week with doctors indicating that they would apply, unlike the previous one in which many snubbed.

Announcing the fellowship, Econet Wireless founder Strive Masiyiwa’s Higher Life Foundation (HLF) said its focus was on ensuring that healthy and resilient communities was achievable through the availability of doctors to offer quality healthcare to patients.

“We are furthering our commitment to supporting our healthcare system and enabling more people to receive the critical care they need and deserve, by announcing, the reopening of the Higher Life Foundation Fellowship for all doctors employed at public healthcare institutions in the country with immediate effect,” HLF said.

There are 1 759 doctors employed in the public sector, according to the Health Services Board (HSB)

The Zimbabwe Hospitals Doctors Association urged all its members to apply.

The application closed on Friday and successful applicants will be notified from today until Thursday and assumption of the fellowship is February 1.

Terms of the fellowship, which is six months long, include monthly subsistence allowances ranging from $5 000 for senior resident medical officers and junior resident medical officers to $10 000 for senior consultants.

Public hospital doctors embarked on an industrial action last year in September saying they were incapacitated and could no longer report for duty on their meagre salaries from government.

A stand-off ensued, which saw the government dragging the doctors to court leading to 426 of them being discharged.

Speaking on the fate of the fired doctors, HSB said 305 have since been reappointed into the service.

On whether the doctors under the fellowship would still get their salaries HSB said: “Our primary focus is only on doctors who are employed by the government, ie these are on our payroll. The board is not privy to the detail of the management of the Higher Life Foundation scheme.”

Meanwhile, 53 doctors are said to have resigned between September and December amid speculation that they had been offered better contracts abroad.

“We are not aware of those doctors who left the country, but those who resigned from government are 53,” HSB said.