Corruption is a deplorable activity that haunts Zimbabwe across all walks of life. Corruption is spreading like a veldt fire and a tough stance by all stakeholders is well overdue. The African Parliamentary Network Against Corruption (APNAC) Zimbabwe chapter has taken it upon its shoulders to weather the storm by calling their first press conference to publicly express their denunciation of any form of corruption in the country.

Speaking at the conference, the Chairman for APNAC, Honourable Willas Madzimure, expressed concern that some public office bearers are busy enriching themselves at a time when the taxpayers are struggling to make ends meet. He called upon the President of Zimbabwe to quickly appoint the Anti Corruption Commission, which might help look into these issues. He also added that the Commission so assigned should promptly give feed feedback to the parliamentarians. Honourable Madzimure also called upon the government to implement the law that requires members of parliament and senior government officials to declare their assets to the state before assuming public office, stressing also that their accumulation of wealth should be put under public scrutiny.

Honourable Madzimure made it clear that Members of Parliament have the right to access any sector to find facts on behalf of the people whom they represent. His statement comes amid reports that the government barred MPs from the Mines and Energy portfolio committee from touring the Chiadzwa diamond fields on a fact-finding mission to understand the background to the allegations of corrupt dealings involving senior government officials.

APNAC expressed condemnation of the mis-allocation of residential stands, approval of substandard and incomplete infrastructure developments and abuse of council property including vehicles. He also expressed concern over the reports that councilors are allegedly allocating themselves houses belonging to the poor and on reports that illustrate corruption by high-level government official and influential business people. He called upon the police to desist from assuming a reluctant stance when handling corruption cases that involve government officials when they are reported.

Though the Honourable Madzimure did not mention any names, it was apparent that the APNAC criticism was directed at the council house scandal and the corruption that has entangled Minister Chombo and the flamboyant businessman, Chiyangwa, who boasts of owning almost a fifth of the city of Harare. The two men are alleged to have connived with top city officials to allocate themselves vast tracts of land. The case is still under police investigation, though a council report clearly pointed out anomalies in the manner in which land deals were undertaken.

Responding to the question whether APNAC is prepared to shoulder potential victimisation and dangerous consequences in their endeavor to combat corruption involving very powerful politicians, APNAC members stressed that they have sacrificially placed themselves on the persecution altar, for the cause of good governance. However to achieve better results the APNAC called for synergies with the police and other interested parties that share the same hatred for corruption.

According to Arkmore Kori, a Kubatana subscriber, our Constitution making awareness programme is focusing on unimportant issues. He suggests that issues such as homosexuality and gender are clouding more major concerns relating to governance and leadership. Here’s his article:

Zimbabwe is being administered by an undemocratically elected government largely because of some constitutional challenges that have made elections worthless. Of course, we already know the election ‘winner’ if elections are held under the present constitution. Thus the current constitutional making process was mainly conceived to allow for free and fair elections so Zimbabweans would be governed by leaders of their choice.

Despite a lot of resources being channelled towards new constitution making, it is unfortunate that two relatively trivial issues – homosexuality and gender – which can’t retrieve us from our leadership and governance crisis, have dominated the constitutional awareness campaigns.

Although most claim homosexuality is alien to Africa, there is evidence it was practiced in Buganda (now Uganda) in the 19th century particularly by Kabaka Mwanga who assumed kingship (or Kabakaship) at the age of eighteen in 1884. This is no justification for legalising homosexuality in the new constitution because who should care what people do behind closed doors? By and large, homosexuality is a bedroom issue, which does not influence the leadership and governance in this country.

Similar concerns can also be raised on gender, which is repossessing the fame it had soon after its invention, although gender sensitive legislation such as the Domestic Violence Act have been passed. Perhaps gender activists are justified to complain about gender legislative implementation and of course, more and more women opportunities, regardless of competence. But constitutional advocacy for women’s rights have been used to shroud discussions on the main issues as if the new constitution is largely intended to address gender imbalances.

Among others, the current constitution gives the Executive too much power. This has stifled democracy, good governance and the rule of law. The President’s power to appoint the Attorney General and the Chief Justice, for example, has compromised the judiciary’s independence and consequently, election processes and outcomes.

The release of the March 2008 election results, for instance, were unlawfully and deliberately delayed. Court appeals by the opposition were ignored.  Political activists have been incarcerated and arbitrarily arrested whilst some have been tortured or murdered by known people who have never been prosecuted because the judiciary has not yet been given the instruction by its proprietor.

Similarly, one would expect discussions on the Access to Information and Privacy Act (AIPPA) to top the constitutional discussion agenda ahead of gender or homosexuality. The electronic media has been a monopoly of the ruling party, and has enabled it to spread its election propaganda at the expense of other political parties. Its polarization and the extent to which its owners dislike a new constitution have been shown by the absence of constitutional awareness information on both radio and television. If ‘station identification songs’ were composed for Fast Track Land Reform Programme and bearer cheques awareness raising, why can’t the same be done for the new constitution?

This prejudice is augmented by the Public Order and Security Act (POSA), which has seen major election meetings of the opposition being indefinitely postponed or called off. Historically, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) have been fearless to take up such ‘sensitive’ issues. Unfortunately they are receiving binding instructions from the state controlled community entry points. Permission into communities for constitutional discussions is given on condition NGOs and communities do not talk about anything concerning the Executive’s dictatorial powers, President’s term of office; the Kariba Draft, AIPPA, and POSA. Possibly, this is why some have turned to ‘soft’ issues such as gender and homosexuality.

In Zimbabwe because of the lack of US and Rand coins shoppers are offered their change from purchases made in a variety of forms. These include bubble gum, suckers, packets of 3 minute noodles, dodgey looking chocolates from other failed states and bananas. Last night a friend told me that she recently got her change in headache tablets – Paracetemol I think she said. Maybe we should lobby for headache tablets all round as change because of what we have to put up with in Zimbabwe. A good example is Morgan Tsvangirai’s latest idiotic statement. He reckons that Zimbabwe is no longer at risk to investors and that the political crisis that destroyed the economy no longer exists. I wonder what he makes of the latest bid on the part of the Government of Zimbabwe to take over businesses, or the massive failure in our health and education systems or the continued farm invasions and the ongoing decimation of our agricultural sector? Never mind the ongoing political violence and disrespect for the rule of law. MT clearly needs a wake up pill or two. But then again both he and Mugabe are desperate for money from international sources to make right the wrongs of the last decade, so they’ll say anything. And meanwhile, who gets to keep the money made from diamonds and Zimbabwe’s other natural resources? Zvakwana!

During the month of April, Kubatana opened up the phone lines, SMS receivers and email addresses to solicit questions about the Constitution making process from across Zimbabwe. Throughout May, Advocate Eric T. Matinenga, Minister of Constitutional and Parliamentary Affairs, answers these questions.

Every weekday, we will be posting a new question for people to listen to – phone 0914 186 280 up to 7 to listen to the answers now, in English, Shona and Ndebele.

Each week, we will also be posting the answers on www.kubatana.net

1. What is the purpose of the Constitution of Zimbabwe? How does the Constitution of Zimbabwe differ from an organisational Constitution – e.g. a youth group

Now, when we are talking about a Constitution, we are talking about a law which overrides any other law in the country. In legal parlance, it is called the Supreme Law of the Land. Because it is the supreme law of the land, everybody resident in that country is obliged to obey it. And anything or any law which is inconsistent with that Constitution is invalid. So you can see that whilst a Constitution should be obeyed by everybody in the country, the Constitution of a voluntary organisation only binds those members who belong to that organisation.

I notice that this question came from Mutare. So if you’ve got maybe the Sakubva choral society, it means that that society has got a Constitution which only binds the members of that organisation. I stay in Harare, and I’m not in their choir. So I’m not bound by the Constitution of that choral society. But, whether you’re a member of that choral society, or whether you are Minister Matinenga who is in Harare, if you are a resident of Zimbabwe, we are all bound by the Constitution of Zimbabwe.

2. Today’s question came from Kudzie, who asked How long is the Constitution making process going to take? When will the outreach programme start, and why has it been so delayed?

Firstly, Constitution making is a process. It is not an event. So when we hear people saying that there is nothing happening in the Constitution making process, one needs to know what is happening on the surface and what is going on in the background, so as to know whether we are still on track, or have gone off track.

We go back to February 2009 to start the Constitution making process in this country. And we go back even further to September 2008 to the agreement between the political parties as to how the Constitution making process should be conducted in this country. After February 2009, with the swearing in of the inclusive government, we were then obliged to put in place the Select Committee. That was done. We were then obliged to hold the first All Stakeholders Conference. That was done in July 2009. I think a lot of you, particularly those of you who have access to television, remember the real disturbance we had in July, and some of you will remember that after that disturbance, the three principals addressed a joint conference, and stated in very clear terms that the Constitution making process was not negotiable, and that this process will be seen to its very end. I am glad that the indications up to now are that we are on our way to fulfil this important requirement of the GPA, even though we are a bit slow.

Now after the First All Stakeholders Conference, we were able to establish Constitutional Themes, in respect of which persons identified are to address these themes. The persons who are going to address these themes have been identified. These are the persons who are going to take part in the outreach programme which will get under way very shortly. We have also trained the rapporterus, who are the persons who are going to be reporting what each and every person says during the outreach meetings.

The outreach programme will be rolled out, I believe, around the middle of May. It may be towards the end of May, but I am confident that come mid-May we will be able to roll it out.

After the outreach, the draft Constitution will then be crafted by the experts, and I can assure you that it is not going to be the Matinenga Draft. Nor is it going to be the Tsvangirai or Mugabe or Mutambara Draft. It is going to be a draft which is going to be crafted by experts who are going to be looking at what you said during the outreach, and who will then gather what you said into a draft Constitution.

After that draft has been done, we are going to go to a Second All Stakeholders Conference. From there, we go to a referendum, which gives you the people the chance to see whether what you said in the outreach is contained in the draft and is what is being presented to you in the referendum. I am sure that that will be in order and that what the people say is not going to be tampered with. I foresee, in terms of time table, that by April 2011 we should have a Constitution that has passed through Parliament and has been adopted by Zimbabwe.

3. Today’s question came from Philebon, who asked: What is the role of the Kariba Draft in the Constitution making process?

People must not fear. They must not be taken in when people say the Kariba Draft will determine the Constitution of Zimbabwe. Let me assure people that there is no special place for the Kariba Draft in the Constitution making process. What we have agreed as the three political parties is that the outreach team should be gathering information on the basis of talking points. These talking points have been agreed by the political parties, and whilst the persons involved are obviously not going to be too particular about these points – because they need to be as inclusive as possible – nobody is going to be waving the Kariba Draft, nor any other draft for that matter, in the outreach meetings. So people should feel free, when they attend these outreach meetings, that they need to contribute to the making of the Constitution for Zimbabwe.

4. In Matabeleland and Midlands, if there is no devolution of power we will vote no in the referendum. What is the position on devolution of power?

This comment is about how the people of Matabeleland and Midlands will respond if presented with a Constitution which they believe does not provide for devolution of power.

Now let me clarify this point. When you talk about devolution of power, we are not talking about devolution to particular provinces. When you talk of devolution of power, you are talking about devolution to every province, to every local authority. So it is not an issue which should only be a concern for Matabeleland or Midlands, it is an issue which should be a national concern. What is important is that the people in the Midalnds and Matabeleland provinces, and the people in all the other provinces, must understand what devolution is, and what they want for devolution in the Constitution, and then must articulate this position when the outreach programme comes to their area.

When you talk about devolution, you must talk about meaningful devolution. You must talk about both economic and political power at the local level. People talk about devolution and they say we have it now. But when you look at the type of devolution we have now, we have got a devolution which unfortunately answers to the central authority. Your governors are appointed by the President. Your local council answer to the Minister of Local Government. And when you look at economic devolution, you will find that there is really nothing at local level which builds local institutions. So when we are talking about devolution, we must know what we are talking about, and proceed to articulate positions for meaningful political and economic devolution.

5. Today’s question has come from a number of people, including Malile, Marlene, Peter and Cicely, who asked: What are the provisions for citizenship? How will citizenship by birth be determined?

When you talk about citizenship, you are talking about belonging – not in terms of a club, but in terms of the country. So if you belong to Zimbabwe, then you are a citizen of Zimbabwe. But you are only a citizen of Zimbabwe if you can trace that belonging, that citizenship, by birth – either because you were born here, or because your parents or grandparents were born in Zimbabwe. You can trace your citizenship by descent – because your parents or grandparents were Zimbabwean. Or by registration, whereby you have sufficiently stayed in Zimbabwe that the laws of Zimbabwe consider you as somebody who already is a Zimbabwean.

I know that this issue is a major concern in regards to two types of person. Firstly, this issue is a concern for those persons who come from neighbouring countries, or whose parents come from neighbouring countries, like Zambia, Malawi, Mozambique. These people were born in Zimbabwe, but in the last elections were rudely told that, because they claim another citizenship, they are not allowed to vote.

I also know that this issue arises for persons who were born in Zimbabwe, who have been in Zimbabwe for quite a bit of time, but who have been forced by circumstances to leave Zimbabwe and stay in other countries. This is what we call the Diaspora.

Now I have always held the view that it is very unfair that in 1980, the people whom we now call non-citizens were allowed to vote. And they voted for certain political parties. But because we now believe that maybe those persons are going to be voting differently, now those persons should not be allowed to vote because those persons are considered non-citizens.

I think this Constitution should address this very critical issue, and I think this Constitution should seek to make it possible for persons who are born in this country to enjoy all the benefits of citizenship, to enjoy the right to vote, and the right to hold a passport. Also, when you look at the Diaspora, I think it is also important that, until such time that we get our politics and our economics right, that we should allow for what we call dual citizenship so that these people in the Diaspora are able to participate in the political and economic activities of this country.

You can listen to the Minister answer these questions here and view pictures too.

If you have a question on the Constitution that you’d like him to address, please leave a comment on this blog.

Here’s a new initiative from Amnesty International:

Amnesty International is releasing a social network that watches over tyrannical leaders from all over the world who attack Human Rights. This way, it seeks to form a global community of Human Rights defenders, making the contact between the public and Amnesty’s promoting causes easier. This network will have the designation of Tyrannybook.

With the visibility inherent to these social networks, Amnesty hopes to get more support to its causes. This being, calls upon everyone to embrace this digital tool which updates the current situation of countries led by these tyrants. With this Amnesty is trying to generate a wider awareness of the various atrocities that are committed all over the world. The participation of all those who are already actively involved in these causes is essential in order to complement it with information, news, and, not least, reports of living experiences.

This is the first version of the site. And like all social networks, it will grow and be constantly updated with new tools and features that are to be implemented. Each week Tyrannybook will win both size and presence on the web.

Social and political commentator, Psychology Maziwisa, suggests that the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) is taking the support of Zimbabweans for granted, and that they need to reassess their priorities.  Here is his latest article:

MDC doesn’t get it

Taking things for granted has for a very long time been the hallmark of African politics and apparently the MDC is no exception.

Over the years Zimbabweans have come to share a common and overwhelming detestation of Mugabe and his selfish mob engendered by repression, extra-judicial killings, torture, mismanagement, self-aggrandisement, plunder and all the rest of it.

When Zimbabweans felt they were being taken for a ride by Mugabe, they very readily and rightly transferred their confidence to the MDC. They did so in the full and fervent belief that their concerns as a people were likely to be much better understood by a government under MDC leadership.

Unfortunately attempts to democratically elect a government in accord with the will of the people have all but failed because Mugabe and ZANU PF are allergic to democracy.

However, when Tsvangirai agreed to share power with Mugabe in 2008 the overwhelming opinion was that, although to share power in circumstances where he clearly was the winner amounted to a travesty of fairness and democracy, his options were limited.

Equally overwhelming was the sense that things would improve for the better – and they have to some extent. However, the improvement has not been fundamental enough to offer a clean break from the past. It has not been enough to restore the dignity of the majority of Zimbabweans.

To be fair to the MDC, the tyrant has not made it, and will never make it, particularly easy for Tsvangirai to bring about reform as quickly and as decisively as he probably would have wanted. That is the simple reality.

But here is another simple reality: anti-MDC sentiment is mounting and it is mounting at a pace so swift that it just may become impossible to contain if people’s support is continually taken for granted.

While support for the MDC abroad may still be intact, in Zimbabwe it is falling to pieces.

The reckless regard for Tsvangirai and the MDC as political saints and, to the extent that reform has not been as smooth as it could be, as victims, is misplaced.

The fact of the matter is that, almost two years into the arrangement, Tsvangirai is still very much a part of it- clear evidence that despite its imperfection, there is some kind of understanding between the parties in government.

When that government fails it is not just Mugabe that fails, Tsvangirai and Mugabe necessarily fail together.

For their part, Tsvangirai and the MDC have not done enough to deal decisively with real issues such as teachers’ salaries, tertiary education, media reform, inhuman prison conditions, poverty and disease.

Annoyingly the explanation usually given in response to questions about why, two years on, not much has been done, is simply that government has no money.

It was the MDC’s Tendai Biti who approved an expenditure of over R100 million per semester for the education of Zimbabwean students at South African Universities, most of whom are the offspring of the political elite of this country. (Bear in mind there are two semesters in an academic year and an average degree spans three years.)

It was the MDC’s Tendai Biti who just recently disbursed an estimated US$6.3 million to the Information and Technology Ministry headed by Nelson Chamisa.

While up-to-date communications and information technology (CIT) is vital in the modern world, it is not a top priority for Zimbabwe right now.

It boggles the mind, therefore, how and why that kind of money could be made available for those purposes when the country’s constitution-making process has been stalled because the government is failing to make good on its obligation to fully provide the US$8 million required for the process to get under way.

Chamisa wants millions of dollars to revive the ‘veins and arteries’ of communication. An estimated 2 million of our people will need food aid by the end of this year and all he cares about is revive the ‘veins and arteries’ of communication! Who is going to revive the veins and arteries of our starving people?

What the hell is wrong with these people? What is needed is decisive action on the real issues and not on self-serving agendas.

Despite the ignominy our dear old dictator heaps on the United States, Hillary Clinton recently revealed that her country pledges US$300 million each year in aid to our government. $US300 million per year is not enough to bail Zimbabwe out of its economic crisis but it is a lot of money nonetheless. And since Tsvangirai and the MDC have been in government for over a year they are just as accountable for it as Mugabe is. Where is that money?

When Zimbabweans insist on more being done even as they are aware that the country has no money- thanks to individuals who are pocketing the proceeds of Chiadzwa and several other mines and companies- they do so not because they are naive. It is because they believe that more time could be spent on pleading for aid and less, if any at all, on calling for the removal of targeted sanctions.

It is because they believe that more time could be spent on making sure that all the proceeds of our natural resources are used for the sole purpose of benefiting the country and less, if any at all, on harvesting blows at Harvest House.

That is what a serious government does. It is what the MDC is failing to do as a partner in the unity government.

There is much more to Tsvangirai and the MDC’s task in the unity government than to always and ineffectually declare anything and everything ‘null and void’.

It is their task, among other things, to bring about political reform. It is their task to plead with the donor community to put ideology aside, to open their hearts and help the people of Zimbabwe in every way possible. That is not happening right now. If it is, it is not being pursued vigorously and effectively.

Zimbabweans invested so much hope and expectation in the MDC yet today there is little to show for it. To date there remains a deep-seated, underlying economic anxiety in our country. That is why teachers are increasingly threatening to go on a nationwide strike. It is precisely why the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) is becoming increasingly critical of the MDC.

Many are now of the justified view that the MDC is losing sight of what it is fighting for in the struggle against ZANU PF.

That struggle, they correctly argue, is about putting the needs of people before claiming and clinging to leadership positions.

It is about guarding against treating teachers as cheap labour.

It is about ensuring that university students throughout the country are able to study in well–resourced colleges- more particularly, that they can sit for their exams without fear of being barred because of unpaid tuition.

It is about ensuring that thousands of precious children do not die needlessly every year from preventable diseases.

That is what the struggle is all about. Sadly these hopes and expectations are not being realized even with the MDC as part of government.

The MDC is really going to need to pull something special out of the bag to renew their covenant with the people.

No party can claim to have an absolute monopoly over the politics of our country. Not ZANU PF. Not the MDC. If the MDC continues to take the support of the people for granted, it does so at its own peril.

They can no longer continue to circumvent the ever loud and clear calls for swift, tangible and decisive action without serious consequences for the image and support base of their party.