Martin Dinha

ZANU-PF party cadres in Mashonaland Central province are seething with anger over the imposition of Provincial Affairs Minister Martin Dinha as the party’s candidate in the Mazowe North National Assembly by-election set for next month.
The seat fell vacant following the death in March of Edgar Chidavaenzi.
Previously, ZANU-PF used to have an electoral directorate which ran its internal affairs, but while the party still has that provision in its constitution it hasn’t constituted the organ since its sixth congress in December 2014.
In its absence, the commissariat department headed by Saviour Kasukuwere has been running the party’s internal elections.
This week, ZANU-PF insiders said the party’s commissariat department cancelled primary elections that were meant to choose a candidate to represent it and, in the process, imposed Dinha as the sole candidate for the July 23 poll.
The move effectively disqualified other prospective Members of Parliament after the primary poll was cancelled ahead of the sitting of the nomination court on May 27, where Dinha’s papers were accepted.
“The process was unfair. We really looked forward to this primary election and I was very much optimistic of victory. But being a loyal party member, I have accepted my fate. Life goes on,” said Campion Mugweni, one of the aspiring MPs.
Frank Mukau, another aspiring MP, whose parliamentary hopes were dashed by the imposition of Dinha said: “We were simply told that there was no primary election and that Dinha was going to represent the party. It’s disappointing.”
ZANU-PF Mashonaland Central provincial chairman Dickson Mafios this week said ZANU-PF had the prerogative to decide who it wanted to occupy which position without its members questioning its decisions.
“Dinha was not imposed; he was selected by the party to represent us in the by-election and no party member should be seen questioning a party decision. It has been made and it stands. It’s final,” he said.
With the main opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change boycotting the by-election citing an uneven electoral playing field, Dinha is widely tipped to win the by-election.
His only challenger is Elijah Malukula of the Renewal Democrats of Zimbabwe, led by Elton Mangoma.
Dinha has been long linked to the vacant deputy minister of legal and parliamentary affairs post and sources claim he could now be set for it.
Some in the party strongly believe should he land the vacant post at the Justice Ministry, this might create an opportunity for Mafios to replace him as Provincial Affairs Minister.
Mafios, who is brother to Kasukuwere, is currently formally unemployed after he lost the Mt Darwin East legislative seat to former finance minister Chris Kuruneri during primary elections held ahead of the 2013 plebiscite.
That prospect will further strengthen Kasukuwere’s hand in Mashonaland Central where his other brother, Tongai, is the most senior youth leader in the region.
A lawyer by profession, Dinha is currently answering to corruption charges at the High Court after he allegedly demanded a US$60 000 bribe to protect a white commercial farmer, Frank Guy Dollar, who was facing eviction from his farm.
Before he was asked to appear in court in September last year, he had claimed that he had received death threats and a bullet parcel from unnamed political foes in the province.
Mafios this week dismissed reports that he was eyeing the ministerial position.
“That’s out of order and unfounded. Kasukuwere has no power to appoint ministers. It all rests with the President. After all the decision to select Dinha was not made so that I become minister; far from it,” he retorted.
All ministerial appointments are exclusively a prerogative of the President, although he can still make consultations.
Kasukuwere is widely believed to be a key member of a faction in ZANU-PF known as Generation 40 (G40), which is allegedly fighting to forestall Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s rise to country’s top job.
Mnangagwa has, until G40 came on the scene, been touted as President Robert Mugabe’s heir-apparent.
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Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa

MAIZE donated to alleviate hunger by sugar producing company Tongaat Hullet in the famine ravaged Masvingo province, has become the new frontier for fierce ZANU-PF succession wars amid reports that party big shots are jostling for the right to distribute it.
Tongaat Hullet donated 1 300 tonnes of maize which it produced under its winter maize project last month for purposes of boosting food security in the province where at least 700 000 people were in urgent need of food aid by March following an unprecedented El Nino induced drought which saw much of the crop failing across the country.
By now the number of food insecure people in the province could have rocketed, with Finance and Economic Development Minister, Patrick Chinamasa, announcing last week that the number of people in need of food aid in the country now stood at slightly under four million, further highlighting the gravity of the hunger situation.
He said this while addressing members of the ruling party’s National Consultative Assembly in Harare on Friday.
Masvingo province has the highest starving population in the country.
The donation by Tongaat Hullet came after government declared the drought a state of national disaster and begged the corporate sector and the international community for assistance.
Sources from the province said problems arose when it was decided that the maize would be distributed at constituency level, with sitting legislators overseeing the process.
In addition to it being tantamount to politicisation of food, the move has worsened the already strained political situation in the volatile province.
All 26 sitting Members of Parliament in Masvingo belong to ZANU-PF.
Some MPs have approached interim ZANU-PF provincial chairman, Amasa Nenjana, with complaints that they were being sidelined from distributing food in their own constituencies because of their alleged factional allegiances in the party.
Presently, ZANU-PF is torn between two major camps that are locked in an intriguing battle over who should succeed President Robert Mugabe when he exits the political scene.
One faction, called Team Lacoste, backs Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa, who replaced dismissed former vice president, Joice Mujuru, in 2014.
Another faction, called Generation 40 (G40) is strongly opposed to his ascendency and is battling to thwart his prospects of succeeding President Mugabe.
Mnangagwa’s faction, which is more dominant in Masvingo province, is being accused by some MPs of taking advantage of the maize donation to overcome G40 allies.
Party members sympathetic to Team Lacoste reportedly took charge of the process, sidelining serving MPs allegedly aligned to G40.
Unsettled G40 MPs see this as a move to get rid of them ahead of the 2018 general elections.  Sources said after receiving grievances from the disgruntled MPs, Nenjana, himself a G40 loyalist, called for an urgent meeting of all Masvingo MPs to try and discuss the matter and about 14 turned up.
The matter is now expected to dominate discussions of the ZANU-PF Masvingo Provincial Coordinating Committee (PCC) meeting set to be held this weekend.
In a telephone interview from Masvingo on Tuesday, Nenjana said he would take the matter up with the national commissariat headed by Saviour Kasukuwere.
Nenjana was handpicked by Kasukuwere to chair the province after he purged Mnangagwa’s ally, Ezra Chadzamira, late last year.
Nenjana accused ZANU-PF political heavyweights of causing confusion in the province.
“The problem is that some of our leaders in the Politburo and Central Committee belittle MPs and they think they can bully them out if they do not obey them. We were surprised when the maize came and some of our MPs were muscled out and replaced by what they call shadow MPs and councillors,” said Nenjana.
“I summoned all 26 MPs from Masvingo to a meeting last week and some did not come. But I will take the concerns of those who came to the PCC meeting and we will see what happens from there. If we fail to solve it, I will then put it forward to the commissariat department,” he said, without disclosing the number and identity of MPs who turned up for the meeting.
Lovemore Matuke, the ZANU-PF chief whip in Parliament, professed ignorance about the complaints.
“I was given my own allocation as Gutu Central MP and I have since distributed it to those in need,” said Matuke.
“I haven’t heard of any such complaints. Maybe if they have any complaints, they will bring them later.”
Minister of State for Provincial Affairs in Masvingo, Shuvai Mahofa, told the Financial Gazette to get in touch with her later when reached by phone, but was not answering subsequent calls.
As the administrative head of the province, Mahofa receives regular briefings about the developments in Masvingo.
She and Matuke are strongly linked to Team Lacoste.
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ZANU PF former provincial youth leader Jim Kunaka

A FACTION in ZANU-PF going by the moniker Generation 40 (G40), is reportedly making frantic efforts to lure the party’s former provincial youth leader Jim Kunaka, it has emerged.
Kunaka, who was handed a five-year suspension from holding any position in the party for associating with former vice president Joice Mujuru, who is accused of plotting to oust President Robert Mugabe from power, rose to notoriety as an alleged leader of the shadowy Mbare-based Chipangano gang which for years terrorised opposition party sympathisers in the capital city, Harare.
Kunaka is set to be drafted into the G40 scheme of things as soon as he agrees to certain conditions set by the outfit that is currently frustrating Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s express bid to inherit the country’s top job from President Mugabe when he decides to leave the political arena.
ZANU-PF sources this week said G40, which is fighting a neck-breaking war with another group known as Team Lacoste, reportedly backing Mnangagwa, quickly moved to claim Kunaka before he joined their rivals.
Party insiders told the Financial Gazette that the return of Kunaka, who is reportedly eyeing the Mbare National Assembly legislative seat, could see the revival of Chipangano.
“G40 has not wasted any time taking him on board. Hope is that he could be instrumental in propping their agenda since he is presumed to still command some following in Harare. There is even talk that Chipangano might be revived ahead of 2018,” said a source within the ZANU-PF Harare provincial structures.
Sources also claimed money has already been set aside to fund Kunaka’s upcoming activities after he  allegedly held a meeting with key G40 figures at a local hotel on Wednesday last week where he was assured of all the necessary support.
According to insiders, the meeting was reportedly attended by Jonathan Moyo, Saviour Kasukuwere, Tabeth Kanengoni-Malinga and Patrick Zhuwao, who are all linked to G40 although they deny it.
At the meeting, said sources, it was agreed that Kunaka would start by holding a press conference at which he would attack G40 opponents, chiefly war veterans and those rooting for Mnangagwa to succeed President Mugabe.
According to the sources, the press conference was supposed to have been held on Friday last week, but was aborted after some State security agents reportedly had it blocked.
“As you might figure out, there is tension right now over the recent attacks on the war veterans from the President which they have said was based on a doctored report. That issue has raised security concerns and there is no way he (Kunaka) could have been allowed to proceed with the press conference,” said a source.
Kunaka, however, denied the reports.
“I, of course, came back in the party and I wish to state that I will be working for the party as hard as I can. I, however, would like to state that I was never supposed to address a press conference on Friday last week. There must be some people out there who are already unsettled by my return to ZANU-PF and would want to taint me,” he said.
He also denied meeting Kasukuwere, Moyo, Malinga and Zhuwao, although he said he was in constant communication with Kasukuwere.
Kasukuwere, who personally presented Kunaka at a rally in Harare last week and asked party members to embrace him, said this week:
“We have welcomed him back in the party after he expressed willingness to come back home and be with the others. There is absolutely nothing amiss about that. We have even set up an appeals committee to hear cases of all erstwhile party members who might want to reunite with us.”
“Don’t believe everything you hear,” he said, when asked whether it was true that he they met Kunaka last week.
The fiery former chairman of the Harare chapter of the ZANU-PF youth league, once traversed the city in the company of bouncers, who often harassed those with alternative political ideas, particularly members of the opposition political parties.
Kunaka’s Chipangano terror group stood accused of carrying out many atrocities in Harare on behalf of ZANU-PF.
Although the party consistently denied the existence of Chipangano, Kunaka himself later publicly apologised for his deeds claiming he was being used as a pawn by ZANU-PF at the time he committed them.
Kunaka fell from grace in 2014 when, having lost control of the province to Godwin Gomwe during the previous year’s internal party elections, he was swept aside together with Mujuru and an array of her backers.
He then opted to quit ZANU-PF, initially joining Temba Mliswa’s Youth Advocacy for Reform and Democracy, but soon broke ranks.
He then toyed with the idea of joining Mujuru’s Zimbabwe People First (ZPF) party, but instead later announced his reunion with ZANU-PF early this month citing lack of progress at ZPF.
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Local Government, Public Works and National Housing Minister Saviour Kasukuwere

GOVERNMENT is preparing for massive expansion of urban constituencies in selected towns and cities in order to strengthen the ruling ZANU-PF’s hand ahead of national elections in 2018, the Financial Gazette can exclusively report.
The creation of new settlements is meant to neutralise forces opposed to ZANU-PF’s continued rule, especially the main Movement for Democratic Change (MDC-T) which has previously capitalised on the rising disenchantment amongst urbanites against President Robert Mugabe’s administration, under whose watch the country’s economy has imploded.
Government is seeking to ride on the National Housing Delivery Programme under which it plans to deliver over 300 000 housing units across the country by 2018 to vanquish the opposition.
Launched in November 2014, the programme is being spearheaded under the Zimbabwe Agenda for Sustainable Socio-Economic Transformation (Zim-Asset) — an offshoot of the ruling party’s 2013 general elections manifesto.
Under Zim-Asset, Harare province is expected to deliver 105 935 houses by 2018; the Midlands (56 760); Matabeleland North (28 772); Mashonaland West (23 819); Manicaland (21 830); Masvingo (20 269); Mashonaland Central (16 607); Bulawayo (15 100); Matabeleland South (12 500) and 11 776 in Mashonaland East.
Because of resource constraints, the Ministry of Local Government has positioned its guns for a major onslaught in the country’s two major cities, namely Harare and Bulawayo.
The MDC-T has posted easy victories in the metropolis since its inception in 1999 as a labour-backed party.
Its dominance is now confined to the capital and the second city after former Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s party was trounced by ZANU-PF at the 2013 polls.
In Bulawayo, Local Government Minister Saviour Kasukuwere pledged, in April, to dish out 20 000 residential stands to youths when he addressed a party gathering there.
Government has since identified swathes of State land in an area called Umvustshwa Village, just outside Bulawayo to rollout the first phase of the programme.
A groundbreaking ceremony for the initial phase of the housing scheme that will see about 700 houses being built was held last week while land development is set to commence soon.
Already, the move has unsettled the MDC-T, which has dominated Bulawayo for the last 16 years.
In Harare, ZANU-PF is determinedly fighting to push out city fathers who were voted into office on an MDC-T ticket to pave way for the election project.
Huge tracts of land have previously been allocated to housing cooperatives, most of which were parcelling out land to desperate home seekers without the involvement of the local authority.
The housing cooperatives are led by officials aligned to ZANU-PF.
“It’s a political strategy to bring in new settlements in the capital or encroach into existing suburbs. There will certainly be new (local council) wards and (Parliamentary) constituencies in 2018,” said a ZANU-PF insider privy to the plan.
He said victories in the last election in new settlements such as Harare North or in areas in which new settlements had encroached into existing ones such as in Mt Pleasant, had emboldened the party to “move on with this plan”.
In the 2013 polls, ZANU-PF’s Tongesayi Mudambo beat Theresa Makone of the MDC-T by 7,917 votes to 6,555 to land the Harare North seat.
In Mt Pleasant, Jameson Timba of the MDC-T lost to Jason Passade of the ruling party by a massive 4,128 votes.

Jameson Timba

ZANU-PF insiders said expansion was expected in areas around Borrowdale, Budiriro as well as in Mabvuku where land has been parcelled out to desperate home seekers in Caledonia by ZANU-PF activists.
Currently, the Urban Development Corporation has embarked on an initiative aimed at regularising slums such as Caledonia – home to over 100 000 people.

Hatfield’s Retreat area, also known as Harare South, is also expanding.
“More of those areas are being created. The land will be parcelled out by the Ministry of Local Government and National Housing,” said the source.
Reports from Gweru also suggest that ZANU-PF driven housing projects are sprouting.
Gweru businesswoman, Smelly Dube, who is a member of the ZANU-PF Women’s League’s national executive, is leading the programme through her River Valley housing project.
In Mutare, efforts are underway to revamp a massive slum settlement known as Gimboki, with local ZANU-PF legislator, Esau Mupfumi, leading the process.
ZANU-PF sees these slums as key in winning urban constituencies. The party is further encouraged by the discord rocking opposition parties, especially the contest of strength between the MDC-T and Zimbabwe People First (ZPF), led by former vice president Joice Mujuru.
ZPF and the MDC-T are involved in a nasty tug-of-war for urban voters and have hardly threatened ZANU-PF in the rural areas, where nearly 70 percent of the country’s population resides.
For ZANU-PF to achieve its objectives, the party needs city fathers who are compliant and not those who will demand that there be proper urban planning; that the allocation be done by councils and not the Ministry of Local Government and that the allocation should follow the housing waiting list.
ZANU-PF’s strategy is likely to worsen urban planning nightmares confronting city fathers in towns and cities where settlements are mushrooming in the absence of supporting facilities such as roads, sewer, water and electricity infrastructure.
The situation already poses a health time bomb for residents who are being settled in these slums.
Analysts this week intimated that while ordinarily the move should have necessitated the delimitation of new constituency boundaries in the affected settlements, ZANU-PF is not bothered.
They said the party simply wants to dilute opposition voices in metropolis that have been hostile towards it without necessarily growing the number  of constituencies in these areas which might work against it.
In their current form, the National Assembly constituencies are a product of an intricate delimitation exercise carried out in 2008.
Political scientist, Ibbo Mandaza, said it was not proper to use land, which is a human right, as a campaign tool for elections.
“It’s not proper, yet it’s already happening. Have you seen anything proper in our version of politics?” he asked rhetorically, and added: “It’s no longer even a question of whether or not constituencies will be disfigured, that is exactly what is going on at the moment.”
The MDC-T is, however, attempting to put spanners into the works by frustrating Kasukuwere.
Last week, councillors in Harare requested the Local Government Minister to allocate land for the resettlement of thousands of residents illegally settled on land around the city, including council farms and land reserved for other uses such schools, hospitals and recreational facilities.
Council made the resolution during a full council meeting held at Town House and has since established a special committee to lobby Kasukuwere to address the matter with urgency.
“Council approves the recommendation to relocate illegal settlements on institutional sites, that is schools, hospitals, clinics, churches, open spaces, home industries, commercial centres and recreational centres in line with the (government) housing policy,” reads part of the minutes.
“A team comprising of the acting town clerk, director of works and acting director of housing and social development and the two chairpersons of the environmental management and housing and community services will consult the Minister of Local Government, Public Works and National Housing on illegal occupations within council farms and paddocks and request for additional land to relocate people,” the minutes said.

Esau Mupfumi

The MDC-T hopes that Kasukuwere will be duty bound to provide the land, capitalising on his recent promises at ZANU-PF gatherings.
Political analyst, Alois Masepe, said ZANU-PF had realised there was a great opportunity to expand urban settlements and was ready to make full use of it.
“They have discovered that it can work to their advantage.
“They can expand these settlements and move their people there. It is purely a political consideration and, ordinarily, there is nothing wrong with that.
“Problems can only come if the people are settled in an unplanned manner,” said Masepe.
“The ideal process would be for government to identify land for urban expansion and hand over to a local authority which, through planners, wo-uld determine what goes where and this is done well before allocation of stands.
“So you cannot honestly blame ZANU-PF for exploiting this system but if done without following proper urban development procedures, it can create problems like those we are seeing in some slum settlements.”
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Former vice president, Joice Mujuru

FORMER vice president, Joice Mujuru, has made three public appearances since her ouster and the subsequent formation of her own party.
There has, however, been something glaringly amiss on all occasions: The absence of a host of notable faces that formed a wide cast of her former allies during her heydays in the ruling party.
Indeed, ZANU-PF inadvertently confirmed how popular and influential Mujuru was in ZANU-PF when it expelled and suspended hundreds of its officials, including very senior ones, for hobnobbing with her.
The purging wiped out over half of the ZANU-PF Politburo and Central Committee the two uppermost organs of the party  as well as the Cabinet, signifying how powerful she was in both the party and government.
In fact, ZANU-PF had to undergo a serious corrective surgery to mend itself after the purging spree left it severely damaged.
By end of December 2014, weeks after that epoch making congress, many of these bigwigs had fallen by the wayside, including a whooping nine out 10 provincial chairpersons.
When more followed in subsequent months, it was anticipated that Mujuru would end up with a leviathan of a party.
But up to now, it appears, Mujuru’s political allies are hesitant to come out in the open in support of her.
While a handful, notably Dzikamai Mavhaire and Kudakwashe Bhasikiti, have firmly stuck with her, even taking up leadership positions in Zimbabwe People First (ZPF), the majority of the heavyweights appear to have retreated into their shells, either hoping for a possible reunion with ZANU-PF; the ruling party has already set up an appeals committee to hear their cases, so they may be waiting on the fence to see how things would proceed.
When the political Tsunami struck in 2014, several bigwigs were shunted aside for hobnobbing with Mujuru.
The cast included former ministers such as Nicholas Goche, Olivia Muchena, Flora Buka, Webster Shamu, Francis Nhema, Paul Chimedza, Munacho Mutezo, Mavhaire, Bhasikiti, Tendai Savanhu, Chiratidzo Mabuwa, Tongai Muzenda and dozens of Members of Parliament and influential figures such as Ray Kaukonde, Killian Gwanetsa, Enoch Porusingazi, and David Butau among many others — all of whom were either expelled or suspended from the ruling party for backing her.
So far, at her three public gatherings — namely the official announcement of the party formation early this year and her two rallies in Bulawayo and Harare — all she has presented is a motley collection of hangers on.
Save for the likes of Rugare Gumbo, Didymus Mutasa, Bhasikiti and, to an extent, Agrippa Mutambara, Mujuru has people like Kudzai Mbudzi, Jealousy Mawarire, Bright Matonga, Sylvester Nguni, Munyaradzi Banda, John Mvundura and others who are evidently desperate for a turnaround of their political fortunes.
The usual suspects have not turned up, much less on the side of women where only Home Affairs Minister, Ignatius Chombo’s ex-wife, Marian, is the only notable face out of a wide pool of her former ZANU-PF allies.
It could be argued that Mujuru might have been forsaken by former Politburo members Muchena and Buka and Central Committee members Constance Shamu, Joyline Porusingazi, Angeline Matambanadzo and Hazel Chinake, among many of the women who were at the receiving end of incessant hateful criticism for associating with her.
On the male front, Goche, Shamu, Nhema, Kaukonde, Butau and Muzenda, have all remained in their shells, never publicly associating with her.
This could have fatal consequences on Mujuru’s presidential ambitions, or even on her former spineless comrades in arms’ own political future, if, by some incredible fluke, Mujuru happens to successfully turn the tables on ZANU-PF.
Some, like Kudzai Chipanga and Shadreck Mashayamombe, have even crossed the floor and rejoined ZANU-PF.
While those who are still serving as legislators on a ZANU-PF ticket can be forgiven for wanting to keep their seats and see their terms through, it is quite a mystery why some of those with just about nothing to lose have failed to come out in the open.
Sarah Mahoka, the excitable ZANU-PF women’s league secretary for finance, this week taunted Mujuru saying she couldn’t fool women.
“You see she is only being followed by men. Women have refused to be fooled and they are sticking with their party. They are wiser and loyal to the President,” she said.
Political analyst, Alexander Rusero, said many of Mujuru’s allies are finding it very difficult to join her new party since they benefitted so much from the complex patronage system which President Mugabe operates.
“We are talking of people who got farms and owe their lavish livelihoods to ZANU-PF, so in as much as they might want to associate with her, those benefits naturally prevent them. What should not be lost on anyone is the fact that ZANU-PF has a culture of retribution which has seen some of its former members having their properties besieged or getting persecution. So at the end of the day, someone is bound to just say I better stay quiet and enjoy my share,” he said.
“However, we could see some of those people streaming to Mujuru’s party in the coming months if she manages to convince them,” he predicted.
Mujuru has herself vowed to keep the momentum, lining up a series of rallies in provinces leading to ZPF’s inaugural congress set provisionally for October.
Some ZPF officials are still hopeful that they will be joined by their erstwhile comrades in the period between now and October.
Said a Harare based senior ZPF official who declined to be named: “Some have confided with us that they are on their way. They could join us by October.”
However, political scientist, Eldred Masunungure, said the party is facing a serious challenge in that those who are MPs might find it very difficult to join the party unless they lose their legislative seats.
“There are two scenarios here. One is that the MPs are hoping to hold on to their constituencies and they are not prepared to voluntarily relinquish them. They could join her later, but time is not on their side as 2018 approaches.
“The second scenario is that people are hesitant to join the bandwagon, especially in light of divisions that have been reported in recent weeks and want to study the situation before they can make their minds. But, again, whoever will decide has to do so before congress, before important positions get occupied,” he said.
What is, however, definitely clear is the fact that the next few months will be very interesting in ZPF.
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Minister of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare, Prisca Mupfumira

ZIMBABWE’S cash- strapped government has refused to give civil servants unconditional commitment on the payment of their salaries, as Treasury faces increasingly dwindling revenue streams against the backdrop of company closures and rising unemployment.
Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare Minister, Prisca Mupfumira, who held closed door meetings with representatives of government workers on Monday, told the Financial Gazette this week that government could not give absolute pay dates for future salary payments.
“We do not have exact dates for July and the months after. We are currently seized with June salaries and so I cannot give you the July dates at the moment. We will make necessary announcements in due course,” she said.
The June salary payments triggered a storm after government announced that it could not meet its payroll commitments for June, moving the salary dates to July. These were however staggered, with various State departments’ workers getting paid on different dates.
That decision forced government into meetings with worker representatives, and the meeting on Monday followed an impasse last week as government tried to persuade civil servants’ representatives to accept government’s position.
After emerging from a closed door meeting with civil service unions on Monday, Mupfumira announced that government would deposit US$100 for every civil servant as advance payments for transport costs until enough money was raised to pay the June salaries in July.
According to sources, Mupfumira reportedly told civil servants union leaders that government was considering moving the July payment date to August 4, highlighting the escalation of the financial crisis facing government.
Indications are that government’s US$4 billion budget for the current year is in disarray, with Treasury failing to adequately finance the salary bill which gobbles up about 80 percent of State revenue.
Mupfumira is also said to have told the meeting that there was no way government could manage to pay July salaries on time as it was struggling with cash flows.
She maintained that government had decided to indefinitely keep staggering salary payments to manage its strained cash flows.
According to documents seen by the Financial Gazette, Mupfumira proposed that members of the health sector would receive their July salaries ahead of everyone else on August 4, with teachers and members of the uniformed forces set to get their salaries on August 9.
The deliberations were, however, silent on when the rest of the civil servants would receive their salaries.
But when unionists pushed hard, she reportedly gave them three options that she said government was considering.
The first option, which was roundly dismissed, was that if they remained adamant that salaries be paid in July, government would split the wages into two batches running into mid-August.
The second option, which was also dismissed, was that half of the salaries would be paid in grocery vouchers redeemable in supermarkets across the country.
This, it was suggested, would complement government’s drive to encourage the use of plastic money. Plastic money refers to debit and credit cards normally issued by banks for transactions.
The third option, which unionists said would require consultation with their membership, was that part of the salaries would be converted into any of the currencies adopted by government, notably the South African rand, the Chinese yuan and the Botswana pula.
Zimbabwe Rural Teachers Union president, Gibson Mushangu, said they were very disappointed by the outcome of the meeting.
“We are squarely against any further salary delays and we are not accepting this plastic money as rural based teachers. We do not have the facilities to use plastic money in rural areas. Can you go to an elderly woman selling a goat and tell her you want to swipe? Some of these things  being proposed by government are just a mockery,” said Mushangu.
“As far as we are concerned, we are expecting to get our July salaries on time and in a normal way, so we are not taking any of those options,” he added.
George Mushipe, president of the Democratic Teachers’ Union of Zimbabwe, said: “It is true that the Minister gave us options that only serve to leave us in the dark about our future. She provided a number of options, but none of those are acceptable. At this rate, we could have a situation where we can go for months without receiving our salaries. These delays have an incremental effect, once we are out of the normal salary system, everything is possible and that is why we are fighting against any further delays.”
Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe secretary general, Raymond Majongwe, said his union was already calling on its members to go on strike.
“These options are an attempt to bribe us and drag us into a world of make-believe.
“The government prioritises everything other than the welfare of its workers. We are ready to bite the bullet,” he said.
“We are urging our members to ignore this nonsense from government. As teachers, we are in constant production of the human mind and that should be respected by our employer.”
Cecilia Alexander, chairperson of the APEX council, the umbrella body for all civil servants, criticised government for negotiating in bad faith.
She said the decision on the way forward by all unions would be announced tomorrow once all unions have finalised their consultations.
“Government is always shifting goal posts, which is very unfortunate. This behaviour will leave us with no option but (to) fail to report for duty,” said Alexander.
“What is generally coming from unions is that workers are not happy with this situation. We are continuing with our consultations and by Friday, we will have had our position which we will communicate to our employer as a united front,” she added.
Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Governor, John Mangudya, who was part of the meeting along with Finance Minister Chinamasa and ICT Minister, Supa Mandiwanzira, conceded in an interview, that money was scarce.
“The US dollar is very scarce at the moment. The rate at which it is being taken out of the country is very unsustainable. That is why we are encouraging the use of plastic money and a rivet to the multi-currency system to ease the pressure. We import the US dollar and in a matter of weeks, it is all gone,” said Mangudya.
Government has blamed the failure to pay salaries on the bonus payments it has been making since the beginning of the year.
The last payment which cleared government coffers was made early this month.
Government committed itself to paying bonuses after President Mugabe vetoed Chinamasa’s earlier decision to cancel it citing stressed revenue inflows.
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Armed Zimbabwean police detain an alleged rioter in Harare, Monday, July, 4, 2016, as police in the capital fired tear gas and water cannons to quell rioting by taxi and mini bus drivers. The violence came amid a surge in protests in recent weeks because of economic hardships and alleged mismanagement by the government of President Robert Mugabe. (AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi)

HAVING been out covering the demonstrations that rocked Harare for the better part of Monday, I feel as qualified as anybody to offer, at least a bit of perspective as a reporter who unexpectedly found himself in the thick of things.
It was seven in the morning and I was flipping through the pages of the dailies when a colleague came racing over to our newsroom, yelling: “Harare is aflame, and you are there sitting in the chair.”
He had in his phone images of rioters clashing with police in Epworth, Ruwa, Mabvuku and Tafara.
He berated me when I told him I had received them too, but did not pay too much attention to them.
“Here you are loafing around when you should be on the ground, who do you think will tell the story,” he said in a harsh and frank way.
I immediately knew I had to go on the ground and witness things for myself.
I made sure I went home first to change clothes after being told that wandering about in a suit in the volatile area would not be a good idea.
I spoke to a few people that had been out there for some time, and they told me to also hide the fact that I was a journalist.
Cameras and cars had been smashed on the ground and reporters beaten up and chased away.
I suppose it had been an attempt to prevent rioters from being identified later on.
Having reported for years now, I had obviously been on such dangerous assignments before; yet still, nervousness swept through my body as I took the passenger’s seat, besides an even more edgy driver who obviously thought we were driving straight into a “Boko Haram” stronghold.
He appeared ever ready to make a U-turn back to the safety of the office at the slightest hint.
I decided that we check the situation in Mabvuku/Tafara and Ruwa first, before plunging into the Epworth “warzone” where residents were reportedly engaged in running battles with the police.
Given that the protest was by commuter omnibus operators against the many police roadblocks, it was all too logical that there were expectedly very few of them on the main road proceeding from those eastern suburbs into central Harare.
By the time we arrived, police were in control of the situation in these areas, although smouldering car tyres and huge rocks stood on roadsides, serving as a reminder of earlier combats.
A few suspects were still being bundled into police trucks, and driven away.
More kicks, accompanied by hard slaps, continued on inside the trucks.
Some residents were being coerced to remove stones that had been used to barricade roads.
While we were busy observing the situation there, a colleague called to say the situation was deteriorating in Epworth.
We naturally had to make a bee-line for the country’s oldest and most dense slum.

At the end of the whole mayhem I still wondered: Whose victory was it — the State or the impoverished people of Epworth?

We took a gravel road connecting Ruwa and Epworth before finding ourselves driving along Chiremba Road, speeding in the direction of Munyuki Shopping Centre where we had been told an angry mob was daring riot police.
Heavens, suddenly, as we negotiated a sharp curve, we came across huge boulders that had been rolled across the road and a noisy mob comprising of youths standing guard.
“We don’t want to have trouble with you, turn and go back,” shouted one middle-aged man who seemed to be the leader of the mob, as he walked in the direction of our vehicle.
I instructed the driver to be obedient.
Using his vast experience, he swung the car around and sped away just in time to beat an excitable mob that was already charging like enraged bulls.
Once we were satisfied that we were safe, we stopped the car and plotted our next move.
We decided to take another road which led to Munyuki Shopping Centre. We proceeded with it for a while then stopped when two cars came speeding down from the opposite direction, one of the drivers stopped and rolled down his window and shouted: “Don’t proceed, it’s too dangerous there.”
For a few minutes, we were clueless on our next move until the journalist urge prevailed over me.
Not very far ahead, a primary school had released its pupils for the day and they were all sprinting on their miniature feet in one direction, our direction.
Some of the concerned parents, who had decided to go and collect their pupils, raced along holding their children’s hands.
The urgency they exhibited spelt of an impending danger and we certainly had to explore it.
We slowly drove through the vast crowd, sounding the horn all the time.
Lo and behold, as we reached the shopping centre, there was a huge standoff between riot police — armed to the teeth with assault rifles, handguns, dogs, water cannons, tear gas and batons — and a determined mob armed only with sticks and stones.
Police were barking orders for the mob to disperse, but it would not heed, choosing instead to shout back at the police, even in some unprintable words.
Huge boulders and burning tyres used to barricade the road served as the blockade that separated the two groups.
We found a safe place to park the car and I disembarked and joined an anxious, but brave band of journalists and photographers scanning over the potentially dangerous situation.
It was an offense, in the eyes of the mob, to spot an unfamiliar face.
For minutes, we stood there, carefully reading the situation and readying for any likely action — either taking to our heels or taking out pen and paper to document the event.
More orders were shouted by the police; still the people wouldn’t budge.
The last warning was given by a top cop who had just arrived. The mob shouted back.
In the language only understood by the police, on order was given and suddenly, there was pandemonium.
Like the ancient Zulu warriors, the riot police officers advanced, shields raised for protection.
Stones rained on them, albeit to little effect.
A movie-style spectacle followed.
Teargas and water cannons were unleashed on the charging mob which had no answer.
A handgun went off.

Epworth, Ruwa, Mabvuku and Tafara were rocked by violent protests that left hundreds of city-bound commuters stranded.

Chocking and panting, we relocated to another vantage position which would allow us a perfect view.
The crowd ran in all directions, finally broken by the might of the State.
The police gave chase, proving to be faster runners than many of the protesters.
Trucks followed behind, picking all apprehended protesters.
Booted feet kicked them while baton sticks landed all over their bodies.
The lazier cops elected to be our protectors and trailed us wherever we went to scare potential attackers.
A group congregated some distance from the scene and started singing and shouting in outright defiance.
The cops pursued. And so did we.
The mod fled.
But no sooner, another popped up in a different direction.
A different team of police officers followed them and they too fled.
After about half an hour, the situation had calmed down, but the place resemble a battlefield.
The coloured contents of the water canisters represented blood on the ground.
Once again, police had demonstrated its potency in crushing rebellion, but the message went far and wide, very clearly.
Even police spokesperson, Charity Charamba, conceded that the heavy police presence on the roads — the principal cause for the protests — would be reduced once normalcy had returned.
At the end of the whole mayhem I still wondered: Whose victory was it — the State or the impoverished people of Epworth?
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ZANU-PF’s notorious activist, Fidelis Fengu

ONE of ZANU-PF’s notorious activists, Fidelis Fengu, is quitting active politics to become a Pentecostal church pastor.
Likening himself to biblical prophet, Daniel, who was  thrown in a den of lions and survived the ordeal unscathed, Fengu has joined a local church called the Living God Ministry International (LGMI) led by Bulawayo cleric, Sisonke Ndlovu, and immediately landed a top position in the church of national spokesman.
“I am sitting on the terraces. I have axes over my neck. I believe that we need a Daniel and Joseph in politics. We need a God-fearing person in ZANU-PF,” replied Fengu when asked if he was, in fact, quitting the ruling party forever after he had told the Financial Gazette that had joined LGMI four months ago.
“I am currently in Ghana at a Bible school,” he added.
Fengu was convicted of fraud last year at the Harare Magistrates courts and jailed for an effective four months.
He, however, appealed against both conviction and sentence at the High Court, arguing magistrate Elijah Makomo had erred in arriving at the judgment.
The appeal became the basis of his release on bail.
The ruling party activist stands accused of swindling a Chinese national, Shu Xiao Feng, of US$2 000 in a botched residence permit deal.
Initially, the magistrate slapped Fengu with a total of 12-months imprisonment, but eight months of the sentence were suspended on condition of good behaviour and restitution of the full amount.
The appeal is still pending at the High Court.
The relaxed bail conditions allow him to travel outside the country.
Although sources indicated that he would be quitting politics altogether, Fengu said he would bounce back as a prophet that ZANU-PF needs so much at the moment.
His erstwhile ZANU-PF comrades have taunted him, saying he is seeking divine intervention in his troubled life which took a downturn in 2014 after he found the cutthroat succession politics playing out in the ruling party too hot to handle.
Fengu was entangled in the enervating ZANU-PF factional and succession wrangles in 2014 when he was accused of hobnobbing with former vice president, Joice Mujuru, who at the time was battling current Vice President, Emmerson Mnangagwa, to control the heart and soul of ZANU-PF.
He became one of the hordes of Mujuru allies that were vanquished by the sweeping tide that came in the aftermath of the party’s 6th congress of December 2014.
He was then arrested soon after the congress, spending a few days in remand prison before being granted bail by the courts.
He then frantically attempted to bounce back into the party, but discovered that the new factional terrain was unforgiving before turning to God.
Some sources said Fengu was also on the point of starvation when he decided to pack his bags and join the church, although he denied this in an interview with the Financial Gazette.
“That is purely a lie. I made a personal decision to turn to God and repent and it has nothing to do with my financial status, but God’s calling,” he said.
Fengu said he met pastor Ndlovu during the time he served as special interest councillor for Bulawayo City Council between 2011 and 2013.
He was one of those councillors who were controversially appointed by then local government minister, Ignatius Chombo, to help the ruling party neutralise opposition Movement for Democratic Change’s dominance of urban councils.
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President Robert Mugabe

FACED with a rapidly advancing scourge of corruption, President Robert Mugabe has assumed full control of the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC), which had apparently became a victim of feral factional fights within his ruling ZANU-PF party, the Financial Gazette can report.
Before the latest move, effected through Statutory Instrument (SI) 68 of 2016, the anti-graft body fell under the Ministry of Home Affairs, headed by Ignatius Chombo.
Government insiders said ZACC had become ineffective in the discharge of its duties because of the power-plays rattling the ruling party, with ZANU-PF factions trying to influence its officers and commissioners to bring down their percieved opponents.
The Home Affairs Ministry was also said to have been contributing to ZACC’s inefficiency because of its unwillingness to let the commission probe other line ministries.
Through the enactment of SI 68 of 2016, ZACC will now report directly to the Office of the President and Cabinet (OPC).
“It is hereby notified that His Excellency, the President, in terms of section 104(1) of the Constitution as read with sections 37(2) of the Interpretation Act (Chapter 1:01) has assigned to the Office of the President and Cabinet the administration of the Acts (the Anti-Corruption Commission Act and Prevention of Corruption Act) in the schedule and the functions conferred or imposed on the OPC save to the extent that those functions have not been assigned to some other minister,” reads the SI published in the Government Gazette last Friday.
Government and presidential spokesman, George Charamba, confirmed the change on Monday, but said it had nothing to do with ruling party factionalism.
“The change has been on the cards for some time. Even Vice President (Emmerson) Mnangagwa said it about three weeks ago. Reasons are that government felt ministries were failing to investigate each other and therefore the President had to take control of the fight against corruption,” he said.  Last month, Mnangagwa told a symposium on the ease of doing business in Zimbabwe organised by the OPC that President Mugabe would take over the supervision of the commission following concerns about ministries avoiding investigating each other.
Earlier on, the commission had torched a storm when it declared its intentions to question some senior government officials and heads of parastatals, including six permanent secretaries, over corruption allegations.
These are Grace Mutandiro (Ministry of Lands and Resettlement); George Mlilo (Local Government); Willard Manungo (Finance and Economic Development); Evelyn Ndlovu (Small and Medium Enterprises Development); Munesu Munodawafa (Transport and Infrastructure Development) and Sam Kundishora (Information and Communication Technology).
They were accused of fraud and flouting tender procedures.
The commission also came under heavy criticism over the manner in which it was handling the investigations after it reportedly rushed to announce its intentions to the press without sufficient evidence, raising fears that feuding ruling party camps were tussling to use it to settle personal scores.
Government sources said President Mugabe was not happy with the sluggish rate at which corruption was being tackled.
Sources also said the commission was at the centre of the ZANU-PF succession war where two distinct camps are battling to control the heart and soul of the ruling party in the hope of placing themselves at a vantage position to field a candidate to replace President Mugabe whenever he decides to leave politics.
The two major brawlers in the faction battle are Team Lacoste, which is rooting for Mnangagwa and Generation 40 or G40, believed to be opposed to the Vice President.
Fears abound that with the two camps engaged in a fierce tug of war, even capitalising on all platforms at their disposal, the factions were angling to take charge of the commission and turn it into a weapon against each other.
Although it was directly under Chombo’s supervision – whose factional allegiance remains a mystery – sources said factionalists were creeping in by influencing the investigators.
Questions were also raised about the commission last week after investigators arrested Harare mayor, Bernard Manyenyeni, for alleged criminal abuse of office over the contentious hiring of former NMB Holdings chief executive, James Mushore.
Sources further said the SI which gave notice of the transfer of the commission from Chombo’s administration to the President’s Office, was hurriedly stitched together following the arrest of Manyenyeni.

Local Government Minister, Saviour Kasukuwere

This was after complaints that Local Government Minister, Saviour Kasukuwere – an alleged key G40 member, but who denies it – had instigated Manyenyeni’s arrest.
The arrest came just minutes after Manyenyeni had scored a major victory – his second – against Kasukuwere when High Court Judge, Justice Lavender Makoni interdicted him from suspending the mayor and re-instated him.
Kasukuwere and Manyenyeni have been fighting relentless battles ever since the Harare City Council hired Mushore to replace sacked town clerk, Tendai Mahachi.
Last Friday, National Assembly members quizzed Kasukuwere over his alleged involvement in the arrest of the mayor, but the ZANU-PF national political commissar denied any involvement in the issue, saying it was a mere coincidence.
Corruption is now being described as Zimbabwe’s number one enemy.
Despite being a country deeply rooted in Christian values, Zimbabwe is now considered among the most corrupt countries on the Corruption Perception Index produced by Transparency International.
With the exception of the Sandura Commission, set up to probe the infamous Willowgate scandal of 1989 in which senior officials were accused of using a government facility to purchase vehicles from Willowvale Mazda Motor Industries and reselling them for profit, Zimbabweans learnt to politely make more room as the cancer continued to spread unimpeded.
Even with the Sandura Commission, many of those implicated later found their way back onto the gravy train once things quietened down and that was the end of what had been Zimbabwe’s serious attempt at curbing and exposing corruption.
Some of the politicians and businesspeople that featured in Willowgate and other major scandals such as the VIP Housing Scheme in 1995 and the War Victims Compensation Fund in 1997 were recycled and brought back into the fold  holding even higher and more influential posts than before.
As corruption grew unchecked the culprits became more daring.
Corruption kept on gaining more ground. In addition to the many questionable deals and tenders awarded by government, parastatal and municipal officials, political cronies were given unbelievable salaries and allowances in local authorities and parastatals. The political bigwigs enjoyed the trappings of power in high government offices, with huge perks and jaw-dropping allowances.
It came to a point where even a small local authority’s town clerk earned almost US$21 000 every month in an environment where the ordinary worker takes home on average between US$250 and US$500 each month.
The conscience disappeared and there was no need to hide the greed.
Corruption had now become legitimised in the form of salaries and allowances.
Now those who help oil the wheels of power, but do not have the means and access to plunder State resources, have become frustrated.
They want a bigger share of the pie.
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Charcoal is made by chopping down trees and burning piles of wood.

IN Zimbabwe, trade in charcoal made from hardwood is banned.

But there is a boom in charcoal sales across the country’s urban areas, which soars during winter.

This has meant that the southern African nation’s last pockets of forest are being decimated to satisfy demand for cheaper fuel by urbanites.

Charcoal is made by chopping down trees and burning piles of wood.

The stacks are first covered with sand before being set alight to limit the amount of air and oxygen inside.

The charcoal can alternatively be made by heating tree stumps in kilns at controlled temperatures.

Charcoal became popular in many urban homes and weekend outdoor joints following electricity shortages that have affected the country in the past decade.

Dwindling water levels in Lake Kariba have worsened the situation.

While charcoal may have brought some relief to urban dwellers, rural areas are fast turning into deserts due to deforestation.

Government agencies, such as the Forestry Commission, the Environmental Management Agency (EMA) and the Ministry of Water, Environment and Climate are failing to stem the crisis.

Charcoal production is banned under section 65 of the Forestry Act.

According to the World Agroforestry Centre, trees and forests are vital for regulating the climate since they absorb carbon dioxide.

Trees, which contain an estimated 50 percent more carbon than the atmosphere, act as carbon sink by absorbing much of the carbon that is released into the atmosphere.

Deforestation alone contributes more than 20 percent of the carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere, rivalling greenhouse gas emissions from other sources.

In addition to their centrality in this complex environmental matrix, trees provide a range of products and services to rural and urban populations, including food, timber, fibre, medicines and energy, as well as soil fertility, water and biodiversity conservation.

Yet, despite this role, charcoal traders continue to plunder forests.

Big forests lie in Zimbabwe’s driest regions such as Lupane, Gwanda, Hwange and Mudzi.

The Mopani is one of those targeted due to its good charcoal.

Water, Environment and Climate Minister, Oppah Muchinguri, said government has always enforced the law in respect of the ban on charcoal production.

“We are appealing to anyone with information on who is producing charcoal so that we can get them arrested,” she said.

She added; “We have carried out our investigations as a ministry and realised that most of it is being imported from Zambia and Mozambique. It is illegal to produce charcoal in this country and we are eager to arrest anyone who could be manufacturing it within the country”.

There have been reports that some charcoal on the local market is being produced in Lupane, Gwanda and Mudzi, some of the country’s driest places rich in Mopane trees.

Charcoal traders are enjoying brisk business at Mbare Musika as demand rises due to the current cold season.

They said they were getting most of their charcoal from Lupane.

“This charcoal is locally made. We get it from suppliers based in Lupane and Hwange. We hear that others import, but we do not import,” said one trader only identified as Matthew.

The traders are selling a 50kg bag of charcoal for US$15.

Smaller packs are also available for as little as US$1.

Forestry Commission’s information and communications manager, Violet Chikoto, said the law only banned charcoaling of indigenous trees.

She said producers were free to make charcoal from exotic woodlands.

“The wattle tree for example is grown for its bark and the rest of it becomes useless, so those can be used to make charcoal,” she said.

But when told that even the indigenous trees were being destroyed for commercial charcoal, she said: “We need to understand which species of trees are being targeted first. If it’s the indigenous trees, then we can enforce the law”.

Chikoto said they always endeavoured to create awareness on the need to preserve forests.

“We try to raise awareness in affected areas and we carry out raids in the same manner that we do to control firewood trade,” she said.

Zimbabwe is one of 13 African countries that will face water scarcity by 2025, according to the UN Economic Commission for Africa, partly because of human activities such as deforestation, overgrazing or crowding around watering points and other inappropriate land use practices.

East Africa will be the most affected, according to the International Fund for Agricultural Development.

In east Africa, massive overgrazing and uncontrolled harvesting of trees to make charcoal have led to environmental degradation.

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Abednigo Ncube was reassigned to the Ministry of Rural Development and Preservation of National Cultural Heritage

MATABELELAND South province has been without a Provincial Affairs Minister for almost a year now but not many people are feeling the absence of the regional head.

The position fell vacant on September 11, 2015 after Abednigo Ncube was reassigned to the Ministry of Rural Development and Preservation of National Cultural Heritage.

No explanation has been given for the non-appointment of a new resident minister.

Interestingly, the province is also running without a substantive Provincial Administrator (PA) after Midard Khumalo was sacked in April last year.

War veterans agitated for the sacking of the top civil servant, accusing him of corruptly allocating land.

Currently, the province is being overseen by Insiza District Administrator, Sithandiwe Ndumo-Ncube, who is the acting PA.

Being one of the provinces hardest hit by the El Nino-induced famine, there is a serious leadership crisis in Matabeleland South that might hamper efforts to mobilise food aid.

The PA heads a province’s disaster management committee.

Sources from the province, which has some of the country’s poorest districts, are alleging marginalisation by the country’s leadership.

“This is a serious case of marginalisation of our region which must stop. Going for almost a year without a Provincial Affairs Minister and over a year without a substantive PA is surely testimony to the fact that our leaders do not care much about us. Have we been forgotten?” said a source.

Christopher Mushohwe, the Minister of Information, Media and Broadcasting Services, has dismissed the marginalisation claims saying President Robert Mugabe was still consulting on the most suitable person to appoint as minister in charge of the province.

“The person who appoints ministers is the President. He will appoint one for the province when he finds one who is most suitable,” he said.

That the province has been running on autopilot for the past year seems to have vindicated those who, in the past, have questioned the wisdom and necessity of provincial ministers.

Analysts said Provincial Ministers were being used more as an extension of ZANU-PF’s commissariat department whose duty is to mobilise support for the party than for the good governance of the country.

“They are literal cash kiosks for the elite politicians and are never designed to provide services,” said local government expert, Kudzai Chatiza.

“The ministers are not necessarily adding value as they are not accountable to the province. They also do not have technical and implementation connections with provincial levels of government. Their operations are directly linked to the Office of the President and Cabinet and they lack a developmental budget. In short, they are not properly grafted into formal government bureaucracy. The ministers are just there to perform party political functions than developmental ones,” he added.

Information, Media and Broadcasting Services Minister, Christopher Mushowe

Political commentator, Rashweat Mukundu, said the provincial ministers could have added value to governance if they had preoccupied themselves with the country’s developmental agenda.

“The challenge is what mandate do they have and are they on a defined role to deliver? In our case, they are just political actors — more looking out for political trouble makers than developmental issues,” said Mukundu.

Entitled to expensive all-terrain vehicles, in addition to executive top class Mercedes Benz cars, the country’s 10 provincial ministers do not come cheap.

They are currently cruising in the latest Land Rover Discovery 4 models valued at US$96 000.

In addition, government gives them Mercedes-Benz E350 sedans which cost US$126 000 each.

Watchers have argued that provincial ministries are nothing but a conduit for the ruling party ZANU-PF to divert government funds to party activities.

There was anger in June 2014 when government borrowed US$1,4 million from a local bank to purchase 11 Merdedes-Benz sedans for the ministers in addition to all-terrain vehicles sourced earlier.

Before they were named provincial ministers under the new Constitution, they were previously known as provincial governors.

Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa

EVENTS of Wednesday last week proved that the 69-year old veteran politician is indeed a cunning survivor — that is if he is not living on borrowed time.GIVEN the rough and tumble of Zimbabwean politics, Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa may be a suitable candidate for the accolade: The ultimate survivor.

When one of his political adversaries in the ruling ZANU-PF party, Mandiitawepi Chimene turned her guns — at point blank range — and tore into Mnangagwa in a vituperative rant, most observers thought “the crocodile or ngwena”, as Mnangagwa is affectionately known, had finally come to the end of his political career.

But before Chimene had caught her breath, after her heart-stopping attack on her superior, President Robert Mugabe had come to Mnangagwa’s rescue, and the crocodile survived to fight another day.

Seated quietly in his chair next to President Mugabe, showing no emotions just like a crocodile basking in the sun, Mnangagwa even partook in the sloganeering that denigrated him as he displayed extraordinary resilience to blunt torture.

And his reaction a day later, over his down-dressing by Chimene, exposed the typical traits of a real crocodile that appear to be inherent in Mnangagwa.

Science has observed that a crocodile is one of the few predators that can observe the behaviour of its prey without betraying any emotion.

For example, it knows in perfect detail the time and pattern when its prey comes to drink water at the river.

And when hunting, it can lay quietly like a useless log, while waiting for an opportune moment to strike.

It rarely misses.

After Chimene’s attack, Mnangagwa’s response was typical: “Do I look like I care?… They can continue barking, barking and barking, while I continue working for ZANU-PF and my President.”

Currently locked in a vicious succession battle with fellow ZANU-PF cadres, who have publicly sworn that his biggest dream of becoming the next President of Zimbabwe would never come true, Mnangagwa has been methodical in dealing with his foes, who include former vice president Joice Mujuru.

While the modus operandi of his rivals — as dramatised right in front of the ruling party’s leader, President Mugabe, on Wednesday last week — has been direct confrontation, his style has been a stealth approach.

“He is the ultimate political survivor,” says former government bureaucrat and political scientist, Ibbo Mandaza.

“Other people come and go; careers rise and fall; alliances shift, but Mnangagwa seemingly survives and even prospers all the time.”

Variously described as “ruthless”, “calculating” and a “head kicker”, Mnangagwa’s political life — spanning over half a century — has all been about surviving potentially fatal political situations.

Mandiitawepi Chimene

His first survival ordeal came in 1965 when he, as part of the crocodile gang which specialised in terrorising white Rhodesians, was arrested and convicted of taking part in the killing of a Chimanimani farmer and police reservist, Petrus Oberholtzer, at Nyanyadzi; as well as sabotaging a locomotive train in Fort Victoria, now Masvingo.

This resulted in the hanging of his accomplices, James Dhlamini and Victor Mlambo.

Mnangagwa was spared the hangman’s noose under a provision in the law, which banned capital punishment on persons under the age of 21.

Some are convinced that he survived because he had doctored his date of birth.

Another of his remarkable survival episodes played out at the turn of the millennium when he, during the year 2000 parliamentary polls, lost his Kwekwe Central seat to little known Blessing Chebundo of the then newly formed Movement for Democratic Change.

He risked a cold life outside Parliament for the first time in 20 years, but he ended up presiding over the legislature as Speaker of Parliament.

He again lost to Chebundo in the 2005 legislative plebiscite, but President Mugabe still appointed him Minister of Rural Housing and Social Amenities — a ministry that was solely created to give him a landing pad. It was disbanded immediately after an opening arose.

Then came the delimitation of constituencies ahead of the 2008 general elections, which created for him the Chirumhanzu-Zibagwe constituency, which has been kept within his household to date.

It is now represented by his wife, Auxilia.

His past is replete with incidents of being humiliated.

In February this year, Sarah Mahoka, the ZANU-PF secretary for finance in the women’s league, launched a scathing attack on him, likening him to a hapless duck.

She also challenged him to come out in the open and declare his presidential ambitions.

Most memorable was in 2004 when a change in the party’s constitution was effected to allow for a woman to rise in his stead, effectively depriving him of his very first chance to deputise President Mugabe.

Perhaps this could be his greatest escape from the death grip of political oblivion.

He was initially set to become vice president having mobilised the support of eight out of the country’s 10 provinces.

While his shenanigans were perhaps just to land the vice presidency to replace the late vice president Simon Muzenda, he was, however, accused of being the leader of a faction that was plotting to dethrone President Mugabe, whose exponents gathered at Dinyane Primary School in Tsholotsho to allegedly hatch their plot.

The alleged conspiracy was foiled and many of his allies, including six provincial chairpersons, were purged from the party ahead of that year’s congress.

Sarah Mahoka

He was then demoted from being secretary for administration of the party to secretary for legal affairs.

Ten years later, Mnangagwa was back in the hunting, this time successfully upstaging his long-time rival, Mujuru, and landing the vice presidency.

Ironically, one of the key men that supported him in this endeavour, Jonathan Moyo, seems to be now at the forefront of campaigning against him.

Just two years ago, the pair had teamed up to form the pact that got Mujuru ousted.

They won, but no sooner than later they went separate ways with many speculating that Mnangagwa may have dumped Moyo and some of those that helped him in the victory, in a move that infuriated his former allies who then went on to form a faction called Generation 40 also known as G40.

That he has now categorically distanced himself from Team Lacoste may just serve to vindicate this theory.

But, one incredible thing about Mnangagwa is that despite President Mugabe and circumstances repeatedly clipping his wings over the years, he has been able to bounce back all the time.

In 2004, he lost grip on provincial structures after losing key allies through expulsions.

He then went down to the district coordinating committees where he planted his roots.

Those were also subsequently disbanded in June 2012 after it was realised that he was now in complete charge of the structures.

What on earth then explains this man’s survival?

He and Defence Minister, Sydney Sekeramayi, are the only people who have consistently been in government for the past 36 years, making them great survivalists.

Some say the crocodile has survived this long, serving in many diverse portfolios, because everywhere he has gone he has planted his roots like a colonising plant.

First, he was responsible for restructuring the security sector as state security minister in 1980.

Currently, he has been overseeing the judiciary since 2014 in his second spell as Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Minister.

He has been Defence Minister before and now he is Vice President.

Defence Minister, Sydney Sekeramayi

Yet he has managed to hide the depth and experience in government business, perhaps highlighting the stealth of a crocodile in him.

Political scientist, Eldred Masunungure noted: “He is the man who has established himself firmly in all party and government systems and has been doing all the donkey work for (President) Mugabe since 1980. He is all over the systems and (President) Mugabe, I am sure, is well informed to know that even if he wants to remove him, he cannot do so to appease trigger-happy elements like Sarah Mahoka and Mandi Chimene. He has to find the right time and atmosphere if he is to do it.”

But there are so many other factors that can explain why Mnangagwa has survived thus far, which have very little to do with his tricks and schemes.

Political analysts agree that with the 2018 general elections beckoning, and the ruling party struggling to recover from a crippling purging spree of Mujuru and her many allies, President Mugabe knows very well that it would not be a wise idea to undergo another crisis of that nature.

“It looks like he is not prepared to take those risks. He cannot afford to break the party after firing Mujuru and others,” said political commentator, Rashweat Mukundu.

He added: “He (Mnangagwa) could actually be living on borrowed time, hanging on the clemency of President Mugabe, who could drop him at a time that is convenient for him.”

Mandaza has this other opinion: “With this humiliation, one is tempted to think that they actually want Mnangagwa to resign. In fact, if I were him, I would have packed by bags a long time ago.”

Mandaza reckons that the public humiliation of Mnangagwa was likely to continue.

“Who knows, maybe (President) Mugabe himself must be saying different things to Mnangagwa and then goes back to his rivals and blow the fire,” he said.

In these uncertain times, President Mugabe seems to be playing a delicate balancing act to prevent an implosion in his party by appearing to keep Mnangagwa’s rivals at bay in public, while at the same time itching for his number two’s fall, but keeping him working for him as hard as he can.

A case of keeping your friends close and your enemies even closer!

Mnangagwa might have survived last Wednesday’s ouster bid, but will he last the distance?

Could the ultimate political survivor actually be living on borrowed time?

These are just some of the many questions that leave many praying to live long enough to witness the end of it all.

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