Messages From Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe oil mogul Savious Kasukuwere, who is Minister in charge of Indigenisation and ZANU PF militia is blocking fresh investment in the energy industry and he is forcing BP and Shell to sell its assets to his oil company Comoil, we can reveal.

At a time when Zimbabwe is looking for foreign direct investment (FDI), the rogue ZANU PF minister in the Inclusive Government is poised to scupper one of the largest investment deals in Zimbabwe since 1999.

Saviour Kasukuwere, the ZANU PF minister in charge of the Youth Development and Indigenisation ministry has confirmed that he is likely to stop the takeover of BP Shell assets in Zimbabwe by a South African company, Engen, which has a strategic partnership with a West African Oil company to buy up the assets.

BP and Shell, through its Zimbabwean registered company Pyramid Motor Corporation, has more than 75 Service Stations (Gas Stations) in the country and it is one of the largest oil companies operating in Zimbabwe.

Kasukuwere has stopped the deal, which was supposed to have been finalised by November 5, because he claims the investors have not “respected local laws and policies.”

One of these laws and policies is the discredited investment law that requires foreign investors to hold a minority interest only in any company in Zimbabwe, with black Zimbabweans holding 51% shareholding.

Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai has already blasted the 51% requirement saying it is retrogressive.

What should be of concern to progressive Zimbabweans is the fact that the minister who now says he wants to enforce this policy, Minister Kasukuwere, is also a businessman in his own right, with interests in oil companies.

It raises the question of whether this enforcement is in the national interest or is designed to protect the minister’s own investments. Commentators in the industry accuse the Minister of trying to get rid of competition before it even starts?

This is the latest hurdle that Engen must overcome in order to realise its desire to get into the Zimbabwean market.

Engen and Kenyan oil group KenolKobil’s efforts to buy refined petroleum marketing assets in Zimbabwe gas were met with opposition as various groups with the assistance of the rogue cabinet Minister in Zimbabwe have alleged that the transaction was in violation of the country’s Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Act.

Engen has denied the allegation.

In the latest development , the sources reported that Strausse Logistics, a Zimbabwean indigenous refined petroleum products marketing company, was standing in the way of the deal.

The main political figure behind Strausse Logistics is Ignatious Chombo, the Minister of Local government and his relative, the current Harare City Council Town Clerk Tenda Mahachi who is a former employee of BP and Shell’s Pyramid Motor Corporation.

Pyramid Motor coporation is a subsidiary of BP and Shell and it runs all of its service stations across the country. Mr Mahachi was the Managing Director for Pyramid between 1996 and 1999. 

Strausse Logistics has filed a US$20m claim against BP as part of scare tactics. Reports said the liabilities related to fuel supply deals, negotiated by BP Zimbabwe’s senior management with indigenous importers after BP International decided to stop importing fuel into Zimbabwe.

Engen spokeswoman Tania Landsberg said the company was aware of the latest developments.

Employees of BP and Shell had indicated that they were willing to buy the company “as a going concern”, but this has also posed problems.

The employees do not have the funds to purchase the assets of BP and Shell. Banks in Zimbabwe do not have the capacity to finance such a deal and foreign funding is hard to come by.

The fact that BP and Shell is selling to a foreign investor means that the locals have failed to raise the required capital.

The fear now is that, in the destructive tradition of ZANU PF, the minister may be trying to force this investor (BP Shell) to just give away their assets and company for nothing simply because there is a ZANU PF law that says locals should 51% of the company.

It is a move designed to destroy investor confidence, especially as it becomes clear that the Minister has a conflict of interest in the matter.

This is not a government initiative at all, as evidenced by the fact the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry is even too scared to comment on the matter, telling the media that the issue is being “handled by the Minister personally.”

Kasukuwere, together with Mugabe’s nephew, Philip Chiyangwa, has been at the forefront of fighting for “local ownership” or “indigenisation” as it is called in Zimbabwe. They have built fortunes and empires on the back of political patronage using a group they founded called the Affirmative Action Group.

In years gone by, even banks were forced to give uncompetitive loans to some of the members of this organisation because of their political connections.

Already, State media has been briefed to start writing that the BP Shell/Engen deal is “unlikely to go ahead”.

Until this group of politicians is kicked out on its ear, recovery in Zimbabwe is very much impossible. This case demonstrates more than anything else why it is correct to say that ZANU PF (and now the Inclusive Government) stand as impediments to the recovery of Zimbabwe.

(Source)

Police have warned people against buying vehicles with foreign registration number plates as some of them will not have proper documents.

Some of these vehicles are believed to have been stolen, while others were smuggled into the country.

There have been cases during this period where some locals based in neighbouring countries bring in their cars for the holidays.

At the border, they are issued with Temporary Import Permits, which bear the number of days they will be staying in the country.

It is believed that when returning, some will sell their vehicles at cheap prices to some locals without the proper documents.

Most of them will dupe their insurance companies that their vehicles were stolen during the holiday so that they will also be compensated, especially in South Africa.

CID spokesperson Detective Inspector Augustine Zimbili urged people to buy vehicles with proper documents so that they will not have problems in changing ownership.

He said some people were taking advantage of the TIPs to evade import duty and bring in their cars for sale.

“Some of these vehicles could have been stolen, while others could have been smuggled into the country,” Detective Insp Zimbili said.

He said people should be aware of such vehicles, as they will end up losing their hard-earned cash.

They have been urged to seek the services of the CID Vehicle Theft Squad to avoid such incidences. VTS will check through the International Police whether the vehicle could have been stolen or not.

Detective Insp Zimbili said any imported vehicle should have some Zimra documents, registration book and police clearance forms, among others.

In August last year, police launched a blitz targeting imported vehicles believed to have been brought into the country in a well-orchestrated scam involving importers and corrupt officials.

Most of the cars were pre-owned Japanese vehicles bought from Durban, South Africa.

(Source)

The South African government has an obligation to protect the rights of the South African farmer evicted from land in Zimbabwe last week, civil rights initiative AfriForum said on Monday.

It said it had asked Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies to intervene urgently to safeguard the lives and property of Ray Finaughty and his family.

Finaughty, who farmed cattle, chickens and tobacco at Rusape, was reportedly given three hours by invaders to abandon his farm on Christmas eve.

AfriForum spokesman Willie Spies said that in terms of a North Gauteng High Court order, Finaughty was entitled to protection in term of an investment agreement signed last month by both South Africa and Zimbabwe.

“Unless assurances are received from the minister soon that steps have been taken to protect Mr Finaughty and his family’s lives and property, AfriForum will go ahead with urgent legal action to ensure this,” Spies said.

“It is a tragedy that innocent South African citizens are subjected to this kind of harassment just before Christmas.”

According to website www.zimbabwesituation.com, Finaughty and his family are safe and in Harare.

It said though he had handed over part of his farm for President Robert Mugabe’s government land reform programme, in 2007 a senior Reserve Bank employee had tried to seize the rest.

Finaughty had since then been in court on numerous occasions to try to retain his land.

Finaughty was one of 79 commercial farmers who last year won a ruling from the Southern African Development Community Tribunal in Namibia that Mugabe’s land grabs were unlawful.

(Source)

Al Jezera video

Two cabinet ministers accompanied by senior police officers last weekend forced Swiss multinational firm Nestle to take in milk supplies from a farm owned by the wife of President Robert Mugabe, it has been revealed.

Empowerment and Indigenisation Minister Saviour Kasukuwere and Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development Minister Joseph Made, all senior members of President Mugabe’s ZANU PF party, descended on Nestle’s factory in the capital Harare last Saturday and demanded that the food manufacturer takes in a tanker of milk from Mugabe’s farm.

Kasukuwere and Made, who also serve as President Robert Mugabe’s farm manager were accompanied by two senior police officers namely Chief Superintendent Chrispen Makedenge and Detective Inspector Henry Sostein Dowa.

Makedenge, the officer commanding the Law and Order section of the Harare Police Station and Dowa have been associated over the years with the arrest of opposition politicians, journalists and human rights activists.

Also in town was Farai Mutamangira, the Affirmative Action Group (AAG) Vice President and Harare lawyer. The AAG has in the past threatened to take over Nestle if it continues to refuse to take milk from Grace Mugabe’s Gushungo Farm.

The delegation which had a heated exchange with some Nestle officials at the factory accused the Swiss owned company of supporting “economic sanctions” imposed by Western governments on President Mugabe and his lieutenants by stopping the purchase of the milk from Gushungo Dairy Farm which is owned by Grace Mugabe.

The Nestle officials reportedly told Kasukuwere and Made that they were taking the milk supplies under duress and not out of their own volition.

No Nestle officials were available to comment on the latest turn of events.

It is reliably understood that officials from Gushungo Dairy Farm delivered a second tanker to the Swiss multinational firm last Sunday.

Reports that an official from Nestle had been arrested on Monday could not be confirmed late Monday.

The multinational company stopped buying milk from Grace Mugabe’s Gushungo Dairy Estate in October. At the time of the termination of milk purchases, the food manufacturer stated that it had bought the milk supplies to help the country as its dairy industry neared collapse.  Nestle also stated that it had been buying milk directly from Gushungo after local processors could no longer do so.

Nestle’s purchases of milk from Mugabe’s farm provoked outrage in Britain and South Africa with a rights group in Zimbabwe’s southern neighbour starting a campaign for a consumer boycott of the firm.

Grace Mugabe is subject to European Union and American sanctions barring the transfer of funds to her.

Nestle has been operating in the troubled southern African country for the past 50 years, working with the population of Zimbabwe and striving to maintain a long-term viable operation in often challenging conditions.

(Source)

Zimbabweans living abroad may have to pay tax in exchange for voting rights and retaining their citizenship rights if the government embraces a proposal made by finance minister Tendai Biti in London on 13 December 2009.

Some émigrés fiercely oppose the idea. “It’s completely barmy. You cannot put a price on citizenship and voting rights - normal countries have these guaranteed by their constitutions,” protested Mduduzi Mathuthu, editor of the London-based NewZimbabwe.com website.

The 156-page economic blueprint, Moving Forward in Zimbabwe - Reducing Poverty and Promoting Growth, recommended various strategies to hasten social and economic recovery in the troubled southern African nation, including taxing its far-flung citizens.

The report was produced by 13 distinguished Zimbabwean academics and published by the Brooks World Poverty Institute at the University of Manchester, and launched by Biti at the invitation of its authors. He also urged expatriates to support the economic recovery process by investing in the economy.

Biti promised that their investments would be safe under the unity government, formed in February 2009 by President Robert Mugabe, leader of the long-ruling Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF), Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the main wing of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), and Arthur Mutambara, head of a breakaway faction of the MDC. It has been an uneasy marriage.

Biti agreed that tapping into the savings of expatriates through taxation, in exchange of voting and citizenship rights, was one way government could source much-needed funds for economic recovery.

But the idea has not gone down well with all migrants. “Politicians must first focus on fixing the politics, which is broken, and investment will come in response to that … This is a sure way to lose an election - whoever takes this up and makes it their political manifesto,” Mathuthu told IRIN.

Remittances from expatriate Zimbabweans is credited with softening the impact of the country’s economic collapse, which caused widespread food shortages.

According to estimates by the International Fund for Agricultural Development, a UN agency dedicated to eradicating rural poverty, US$361 million was remitted in 2008 - excluding hand-to-hand transfers - a number that was expected to double in 2009.

Other estimates have put all remittances from expatriates in Britain to Zimbabwe at about US$1 billion annually.

The report, which has not yet been officially discussed, urged government to accord dual citizenship and voting rights to the estimated three million Zimbabweans scattered across the world - at a price.

“Confidence-boosting measures would include allowing dual nationality, restoring voting rights for migrants who hold Zimbabwean citizenship, and creating mechanisms for them to be heard. In exchange, migrants should be prepared to pay an annual tax for retaining Zimbabwean nationality,” the report recommended.

Zimbabwe’s stringent immigration laws proscribe dual citizenship, and those living outside the country are not allowed to cast absentee ballots unless they are civil servants on government business, but activists have been pressing for reforms since the establishment of the unity government - a fight that has support in both MDC formations.

“Voting rights are inalienable - we don’t have to pay government to be allowed to vote. It’s just outrageous… It will certainly be a big mistake if government buys into this idea,” Dumaphi Mema, president of the US-based Association of Zimbabweans based Abroad (AZBA), told IRIN.

Mema said many Zimbabweans in the US were willing to invest in the economic rebuilding of their once-prosperous country, but worried about the fragility of the unity government. They also wanted postal votes to be allowed in elections, and to maintain Zimbabwean citizenships even after acquiring permanent residence in their host countries, with no strings attached.

“Many people don’t have faith in this unity government; recent statements by President Mugabe have not been encouraging. People need to see palpable political and economic reforms before they can commit their resources,” Mema commented.

Brilliant Mhlanga, a political analyst, said it was important that Zimbabweans living in the diaspora played a major role in national rebuilding, despite the current political uncertainty.

“We have a responsibility to play in Zimbabwe. If we are really worried about creating a good future for our posterity, it is imperative that we support government’s revival efforts, despite the politics of the day,” Mhlanga told IRIN from London. “If it means paying tax, so be it.”

(Source)

Message received early this morning to say that Captain Mhleya died today at 1 Commando Barracks clinic, Cranborne, Harare.

Another victim of the brutal torture. He was one of the 120 soldiers arrested for allegedly being involved in the theft of 21 weapons from Pomona barracks some months ago.  5 remain in army custody. It must be 4, now that Capt. M has died. It is unimaginable how he must have suffered - to make it worse he was innocent.  The three accused of the theft have been sentenced.

(Source: via email)

Two MDC senior officials have accused Robert Mugabe of being racist by swearing in John Nkomo as co-vice President despite ongoing police investigation on allegations of sodomy while refusing Roy Bennett because of his pending court cases.

Mugabe has refused to swear in MDC’s deputy minister designate Roy Bennett because of his pending court cases. 

MDC deputy organizing secretary Morgan Komichi said the swearing in of Nkomo shows that Mugabe is a “racist”.

“The whole process shows ZANU-PF’s insincerity. Here is a man who  is facing  serious allegations who have  been abruptly sworn in and  at the other side we  have Mr Bennett our party choice for the  post  of Deputy Agriculture Minister who  has  not  been sworn in nine months after the  formation of the inclusive government,” he said. 

“We are however not surprised that the Nkomo sodomy allegations have been swept under the carpet, and we demand that investigations be completed and justice prevail in that case.

This is not only a selective application of justice but clear racism by President Mugabe and his party, given that both Bennett and Nkomo have pending criminal cases. We know that one is not guilty until proven otherwise by the court of law, and why treating these two cases  differently?

MDC Youth Secretary General Solomon Madzore said justice should be applied equally to all citizens, adding that Mugabe had double standards.

“We are not saying Nkomo is guilty of sodomy, but what we want is a fair application of justice despite the colour of the skin or one’s political affiliation.

If the President is refusing to swear-in Roy Bennett for having pending court cases why then rush to swear-in Nkomo, whom we all know is under investigation on allegations of sodomy.

“We  all know that Mugabe  is against homosexuality and we are surprised to note  that  he  went  on to swear in a  person who  is  accused  of the same practices he  always condemns. The truth of the matter is that Bennett is white and Mugabe is a racist who cannot accept white people in the government,” he said.

Nkomo’s sodomy allegations arose after a Bulawayo man accused him for sodomising him. The man was apprehended by police for lying but the case is still under investigation.

Bennett is facing terrorism charges and Mugabe has insisted he will not swear him as deputy minister of Agriculture until he is cleared of court charges. Bennett’s issue is among the outstanding cases that has slowed the implementation of the Global Political Agreement (GPA) that brought about the unity government. Currently negotiators of MDC and Zanu PF have been locked in meetings to try and iron out the outstanding issues as demanded by a Southern African Development Community (SADC) troika. An announcement still has to be made on the progress of the talks.

(Source)

Peter Tatchell has stood down as Green candidate for the next election due to brain injuries left by attacks by Robert Mugabe’s bodyguards and Russian neo-nazis.

The 57-year-old human rights activist said he was standing down as parliamentary candidate in Oxford East “with great regret and reluctance”.

“My brain injuries from the Mugabe and Moscow bashings mean that I would not be able to campaign effectively in the general election or do the duties required of an MP, if I was elected,” Tatchell said.

“It would not be right for me to seek election if I could not do the job of an MP to the high standards that I want and that Oxford East voters have a right to expect.”

Tatchell has made a mark as a human rights activist in campaigns stretching back more than 40 years, and was one of the more unusual candidates to be selected by the Greens.

He told the Guardian earlier this year: “I suspect I might be quite a troublesome MP, starting with the oath of allegiance.”

It would have been an uphill struggle for him to have been elected in Oxford East, where the Greens polled 4.3% at the last election, although they polled highest in East Oxford in this year’s Oxfordshire county council elections.

The Greens currently have no MPs, although they are hoping their leader, Caroline Lucas, an MEP and their candidate in Brighton Pavilion, will become their first at the next election.

Tatchell shot to public prominence in 1983 as the Labour candidate in the notorious Bermondsey byelection, where he was the subject of a bitter political and media campaign.

In March 2001, in Brussels, he received seven blows at the hands of Robert Mugabe’s bodyguards after attempting a citizen’s arrest of the Zimbabwean president over human rights abuses, leaving him with lasting injuries.

He was knocked unconscious and left with poor vision in his right eye. Other long-term effects included poor memory, concentration, balance and coordination.

These injuries were compounded in 2007, just a month after he was selected as a parliamentary candidate, when he suffered severe concussion following an attack by neo-nazis at a gay pride event in Moscow.

His physical problems deteriorated further after he was out campaigning for a Cornish parliament in south-west England when the bus he was sitting on swerved and he hit his head on a metal rail.

He told the Guardian earlier this year that his doctor had told him to “radically reduce my workload for a period of up to a year”. But, he said, “at the moment I am saying: ‘No, there is a general election.’”

Today Tatchell said: “If I was elected, I could manage the parliamentary duties or the constituency work. But my health is not strong enough for me to do both.

“The injuries don’t stop me from campaigning but I am slower, make more mistakes, get tired easily and take longer to do things. My memory, concentration, balance and coordination have been adversely affected. I can’t campaign at the pace I used to.”

He recalled: “Following the Moscow assault, I never rested and recuperated. I carried on campaigning, with a very heavy schedule of commitments in Oxford East. After several months, I was severely exhausted. This stress and exhaustion probably intensified the damage and thwarted my recovery.

“I have postponed making this announcement for several months, in the hope that I might get better and be able to carry on as the Green candidate. Unfortunately, my condition has not improved. If anything, it is worse.”

He said he had received medical advice to the effect that if he slowed down and reduced his workload his condition might improve “in a year or so”. But, he said, “I am unlikely to ever recover fully”.

He added: “I don’t regret a thing. Getting a thrashing and brain injuries was not what I had expected or wanted. But I was aware of the risks. Taking risks is sometimes necessary, in order to challenge injustice. My beatings had the positive effect of helping draw international attention to the violent, repressive nature of the Russian and Zimbabwean regimes. I’m glad of that.”

Oxford Green party will select a new candidate in January.

(Source)

Zimbabwean human rights violators could lose the right to travel to SA if an appeal due to be brought in the North Gauteng High Court today succeeds in forcing the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) to arrest known perpetrators who set foot in the country.

The Southern Africa Litigation Centre (SALC), along with the Zimbabwe Exiles Forum, is seeking an order setting aside a decision by the NPA not to prosecute 18 identified Zimbabwean human rights violators in the event they travel to SA.

The case, aimed at preventing SA from becoming a haven for those who commit crimes against humanity, is the first such action in the country. It arises from a dossier submitted to the NPA in March last year, two weeks before the violent election in Zimbabwe.

Earlier this year attempts were also made to secure accountability for the victims of the war in Gaza with a dossier being submitted to the NPA, said Nicole Fritz, the head of the SALC.

The Zimbabwe dossier included a legal opinion by advocates Wim Trengove , Gilbert Marcus and Max du Plessis about SA’s obligations under the Implementations of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) Act .

The dossier contained numerous affidavits detailing personal experiences of widespread torture at the hands of the Zimbabwean police. Fritz brushed off suggestions that the case could jeopardise the fragile unity government, saying it was meant to prevent a recurrence of such abuses. “Security accountability can help stem the fallout in Zimbabwe,” she said.

Fritz said after a round of correspondence, SALC finally received a letter from the then acting NPA director Mokotedi Mpshe six months ago to the effect that he had been advised that the police did not intend investigating the matter.

The ICC legislation gives South African authorities the power to investigate and prosecute acts of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes, no matter where those acts have been committed. This applies even if the perpetrators are not South African nationals .

The SALC maintained in its submission to the NPA that the senior Zimbabwean officials named travelled to SA fairly often, both for official and personal reasons.

(Source)