Well done to everyone who signed a petition, wrote a blog, submitted a letter to the editor, or otherwise complained about Luxurygate – The purchase of government vehicles.

Public discussion and pressure around this issue has prompted the statement below from the Prime Minister’s office – It’s a real shame that it takes people getting outraged about an issue before government finds the need to explain its actions. But steps like this will hopefully lead to the policy changes outlined below for accountability and transparency in government salaries and expenditure.

Cars for Ministers: The facts

There have been reports in the press of late about unjustified expenditure of motor vehicles for Cabinet Ministers and senior government officials.

Indeed it is the duty of the press in a democratic society to oversee the State and excesses of government.

A vibrant media that is not indebted to any political organisation is the cornerstone of any democracy.

However, to the extent that the Press is the Fourth Estate which plays a critical role in any society, it has an obligation to be fair, impartial, objective and accurate. That is why every journalist is taught the value of public interest, privilege and truth.

Public interest is key but it is not best served by mistruths and sensationalism.

In 2010, the Government of Zimbabwe set aside $1,5 million for the purchase of off-road vehicles for Cabinet Ministers and other senior Government officials. The money was disbursed to the Ministry of Transport in December 2010. CMED, a private company, has proceeded to acquire the vehicles which are a condition of service for Cabinet Ministers.

Since January 2011, the Ministry of Finance has been gazetting accounts following the procurement of vehicles for education officers, health officials and other key departments in line with allocations in the 2011 budget. There has been no allocation for Cabinet ministers in 2011 and the off-road vehicles, procured this year from the allocation in 2010, are for outreach duties.

Like all civil servants, whose plight everyone concedes must be improved, Cabinet Ministers are not on meaningful salary. Their salary does not include any allowances such as housing and education because of the limited fiscal space.

However, the so-called Luxurygate teaches all of us important lessons.

Firstly, that there must be transparency in the conditions of service, remuneration and other perks for all senior officers. While the current law says only the President’s salary should be gazetted, perhaps we need greater transparency where all remuneration and benefits for everyone in Government are made public so that there is no room for speculation.

Secondly, it is important for everyone in public service, including cabinet Ministers, to declare their assets and for the Government to have a comprehensive and vehicle policy.

The bottom line is that civil servants and Cabinet Ministers must be well remunerated so that they are able to buy vehicles from their own salary.

In the face of accusations of profligacy, the Prime Minister, as the head of Government charged with the responsibility of formulating and implementing Government policy, has sought to clarify the cost and the context of the procurement of the alleged vehicles.

The Government should not operate as a secretive enclave. In the public interest, the Ministry of Transport should state the full facts, the number of vehicles procured and the total cost to the taxpayer.

Luke Tamborinyoka
Spokesperson
Office of the Prime Minister

Its not because they cant drive or they don’t have driver’s licenses because some women even possess international drivers licenses acquired internationally when they once lived abroad. Unlike fellow women in most parts of the world who can go behind the wheel at anytime, women in Saudi Arabia still cant enjoy the same rights to drive cars in public after a religious fatwa (an Islamic religious ruling) imposed by conservative Muslim clerics to enforce the motoring ban on women. Saudi Arabia is the only country in the world that bans women from driving. The ban is one of the restrictions women in Saudi Arabia face each and everyday. One of the strict measures is that women are not allowed to leave home without a male guardian or even practice their right to vote. In June 2011 women in the Saudi kingdom staged a small protest against the ban by getting behind the wheel but most of them got arrested.

One of those who got arrested includes Manal al Sharif, an IT specialist who launched the “Women2Drive” campaign which encourages women to drive. She made a video of herself driving and posted it on Facebook but the page was pulled down and other women who participated in the campaign were threatened.

New Magazine – Out Now!

Who needs Cosmo or Metro when you have Wicked Leaks, your first choice magazine for hot gossip and scintillating scandal from the world of celeb-politics.  Get your copy and gorge yourself on delicious disclosures!

In this issue:

Up Close
Top officials tell-all in exclusive interviews. It’s all about party makeovers and sprucing up the leadership.

Do’s and Don’ts
If you are being criticised for lacking strategic direction, read this. Get advice on how to lead your party in a confidence-inspiring way.

Astrological Guide
Find out what life, politics and health have in store for you until 2013.

Tell Aunt Charlene-Rae
There’s nothing like a secret meeting with your trusted agony aunt to get things off your chest and all over the Net.

100 Ways to Stop being a Weak Political Operator
This list will put an end to your friends mocking you and making fun of your leadership style.

Quiz
Take the Tic-Toc Test. In a few quick steps you can calculate how long you have to live when old age and ill-health are taking their toll.

Sizzling Sex Secrets
You won’t believe who’s in bed with whom! Includes sensitive issues discussed during pillow talk and long lusty liaisons.

Free Give Away
A chic wrist band inscribed with the inspirational slogan ‘Leak Strong, Not Wrong’.  A reminder not to get caught on the wrong side with your pants down. You can never be sure that a leak taken in private won’t become a public spectacle.

At the unveiling of its flag Mthwakazi Liberation Front Vice President Edgar Gumede told the NewsDay that:

“It is time we face reality. The naked truth is that we are under black colonial rule, masterminded by the Mugabe-led regime. It is not true that we in MLF hate Shonas. No, no, no, we don’t! We hate the colonial system of government that they imposed in Mthwakazi.”

This is a South Africa based party, which was launched to protect and safeguard the interests of Mthwakazi State.  But one wonders who are the Mthwakazi and who are they fighting against and who colonized them in the first place? If my memory serves me right MLF supporters clashed with MDC supporters during the SADC summit held in South Africa a clear sign that the party is serious in its fight against any political party and tribe Zimbabwe, especially the Shonas. During the skirmishes MLF supporters went on to burn the Zimbabwean flag and recently the same party made news headlines when they said they wanted to unveil Mthwakazi flag and currency.

In my own view even if a new government comes to power MFL will continue with its struggle for independence. Whether MLF is a genuine party or not is a question that many people would ask since this party is only heard in the newspapers and operates mainly from South Africa.

Pouring your heart out at an embassy or with embassy officials is not politics, its merely a demonstration of subservience. Whether they expected the American government to solve our problems we might never know, but the fact that they indeed went out of their way to brief them betrays a simplistic understanding of state politics and power.  Proximity to the American government is not necessarily proximity to the people of Zimbabwe. All the briefings that Zanu Pf and MDC politicians gave the diplomats, in their lucidity, have never been given to the people of Zimbabwe. Instead we have had media blackouts on what is transpiring in the inclusive government or in the parties that comprise it. When we are lucky we get half baked briefings in the run up to some  SADC summit while diplomats are spoilt for choice regularly. It would therefore be expected that from now on, our political leaders will begin to explain themselves more to us, the citizens of Zimbabwe as much if not more than they generally prostrated themselves before diplomats. Read more from Takura Zhangazha