The Nation Newspaper

Tag: President Robert Mugabe

  • South African, Angolan leaders to visit Zimbabwe Wednesday

    South African, Angolan leaders to visit Zimbabwe Wednesday

    President Jacob Zuma of South Africa and his Angolan counterpart, Joao Lourenco, will travel on Wednesday to Zimbabwe, where 93-year-old President Robert Mugabe is under growing pressure to resign, South Africa’s state broadcaster said.

    Zuma, chair of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), deployed a special envoy to Zimbabwe in light of the developments regarding Mugabe.

    The envoy, who started in Angola, was accompanied by Defence Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula and State Security Minister Bongani Bongo.

    “The Special Envoys were sent to the Republic of Angola to see President Lourenco, Chairperson of the SADC Organ on Politics, Defence and Security to brief him on the situation,” the presidency said in a statement.

    Mugabe and his family have been under military guard as the army also took over the state broadcaster earlier, in what many have described as a coup.

    “President Zuma spoke to President Robert Mugabe earlier today who indicated that he was confined to his home but said that he was fine,” the Presidency said.

    It also said South Africa was in contact with the Zimbabwean Defence Force.

    Zuma reiterated his earlier calls for calm and restraint in Zimbabwe.

    Meanwhile, parliament Speaker Jacob Mudenda said he received a motion to impeach and the parliament would adjourn to a hotel to start the proceedings on Tuesday afternoon.

    Zimbabwean law says a joint sitting can take place anywhere.

    Thousands or people demonstrated outside parliament urging Mugabe to quit.

    Mugabe led Zimbabwe’s liberation war and is hailed as one of Africa’s founding fathers and a staunch supporter of the drive to free neighbouring South Africa from apartheid in 1994.

    Many people in Africa and beyond also say he has damaged Zimbabwe’s economy, democracy and judiciary by staying in power for too long and has used violence to crush perceived political opponents.

  • Buhari calls for calm, respect for Constitution in Zimbabwe

    Buhari calls for calm, respect for Constitution in Zimbabwe

    President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday called for calm, peace and respect for the constitution in Zimbabwe.

    The President also urged all political and military stakeholders in Zimbabwe to avoid any action that may plunge the country into unnecessary conflict and impact negatively on the region.

    In a statement by the Special Adviser on Media and publicity, Femi Adesina, the President said, “Every attempt must be made to resolve all contentious issues by constitutional means in Zimbabwe to save the country from avoidable political instability.”

    The appeal by the Nigerian leader came in the wake of reported “military takeover” as a result of rising political tension in the southern African country sequel to President Robert Mugabe’s recent removal of former Vice-President, Emmerson Mnangagwa.

    This led to the threat by the head of the Armed Forces of Zimbabwe, General Constantino Chiwenga, that “the military will not hesitate to step in” when the issue had to do with protecting the “revolution.”

  • Recession: Zimbabwe offers workers land instead of bonuses

    Recession: Zimbabwe offers workers land instead of bonuses

    Zimbabwe authorities offered residential land to government employees in lieu of annual bonuses, unions said on Thursday, rejecting a proposal that suggests the cash squeeze gripping the country is unlikely to ease this year.

    The southern African nation’s economy stagnated in 2016, fanning anti-government protests and compounding President Robert Mugabe’s problems ahead of national elections due in 2018.

    Public sector workers are paid an annual bonus equivalent to a month’s salary every November and December, but the government, which spends more than $250 million monthly on salaries, has not said when it will make the 2016 payment.

    Owning residential land is sees as unattractive as most plots lack basic amenities such as roads, electricity and sewerage, making them difficult to settle on or sell.

    Raymond Majongwe, the secretary general of the Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe, described the government’s offer as “madness” and said unions rejected it at a meeting on Wednesday.

    Unions also turned down a second offer to pay half the bonus in cash and the rest in “non-monetary” benefits that the government did not spell out.

    “The government should just pay what is due to the workers and not cry about financial problems,” Majongwe said.

    He said the government last month signed another deal with unions allowing more than 500,000 state workers to buy residential land from councils at below market prices.

    “Let us say they give us the land today, what happens at the end of the year when the 2017 bonuses are due?”

    Labour and Social Welfare Minister Prisca Mupfumira, who attended the meeting alongside the finance minister and central bank governor, said they would meet the unions again on Feb 20.

    Cecilia Alexander, who chairs the Apex Council that groups all state sector unions, said the council would give its final position on the proposals in February.

    Without balance of payments support from international financial institutions, Mugabe’s government spends more than 80 percent of its budget on salaries.

    Facing unprecedented protests over cash shortages and falling living standards, it dropped plans last September to cut public sector jobs and bonuses.

  • Zimbabwe holds public interviews for Chief Justice

    The first ever public interviews for the vacant post of Chief Justice was held in Zimbabwe on Tuesday.

    The public interviews were to reflect President Robert Mugabe’s reduced authority under a constitution adopted three years ago in the southern African country.

    In the past, Mugabe had sole authority to appoint the head of the judiciary, but the 2013 charter required candidates to be interviewed by the Judicial Services Commission (JSC), a panel of mostly senior judges and lawyers.

    Mugabe then chooses from three names submitted by the JSC.

    A University of Zimbabwe law student last week asked the High Court to stop the interviews, arguing that the process was not transparent since the candidates were colleagues of, and known to, the interviewing panel.

    The High Court on Sunday ruled in favour of the student, who also wanted Mugabe alone to appoint the Chief Justice.

    The government says it plans to change the constitution to give Mugabe that sole responsibility but the JSC, which employs all judges and magistrates, appealed the decision at the Supreme Court, automatically setting aside the High Court ruling.

    The JSC decided early on Monday to hold the interviews, which were broadcast live on state television.

    Three candidates were interviewed: deputy chief justice Luke Malaba, Paddington Garwe, a Supreme Court and Constitutional Court judge, and Rita Makarau, chairwoman of the Electoral Commission and secretary of the JSC.

  • Empowerment law confusing investors- Mugabe

    Empowerment law confusing investors- Mugabe

    Zimbabwe’s black empowerment policy that aims to transfer majority shares from foreign-owned firms to locals is confusing potential investors, President Robert Mugabe said late Tuesday.

     

    Mugabe was quoted in a statement as saying that the policy had made it difficult to compete for foreign investment.

     

    The southern African nation passed an Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Act in 2008, which forces foreign companies, including mines and banks, to transfer at least 51 per cent shares to black Zimbabweans.

     

    But implementing the law has been steeped in controversy, with Mugabe’s ministers often issuing conflicting statements on its implementation, further spooking foreign investors.

     

    For example, the Finance Minister said on April 2 foreign banks in Zimbabwe had submitted credible plans to comply with the empowerment law.

     

    The minister’s statement conflicted with his counterpart in the Youth and Empowerment Ministry, who had said banks had not complied.

     

    “This has caused confusion among Zimbabweans, the business community, current and potential investors, thereby undermining market confidence,” Mugabe said.

     

    Calling his statement a policy position, Mugabe repeated that the government would not negotiate on its stance to own 51 per cent in mining operations.

     

    He said existing mines could, however, comply with the policy by ensuring that 75 per cent of the value they generated from local minerals would be retained in Zimbabwe. He did not explain.

     

    This would apply to the world’s top two platinum producers, Anglo American Platinum and Impala Platinum, as well as Aquarius Platinum, which mine in Zimbabwe.

     

    Foreign investors point to the empowerment policy as the biggest impediment to investing in a country that holds the second largest deposits of platinum after South Africa.