COME CLEAN ON CORRUPTION

By Gershom Ndhlovu

Now that Chief Justice Ernest Sakala has himself come out on the issue of corruption in the judiciary, we outsiders can come in and finish off the carcass which we previously failed to tackle for fear of being contemptuous of the judicial system.

As Justice Sakala pointed out, corruption in the court system starts from the local courts to the highest levels of the judiciary. By its very nature, corruption is a very difficult case to tackle because it works on a satisfied-client-basis. What I mean is that both the “briber” and the “bribed” get what they want and carry on as if nothing has happened.

If the benefit is very high to the one who has offered a bribe or from whom a bribe has been solicited, none of the two would be obliged to report the matter to law enforcement agencies.

Technically, both are potentially culpable unless one of the two reports “being offered a bribe” or “being solicited for a bribe” and that is normally why the ACC or other investigative agencies would record warn and caution statements from the giver and the receiver or the “offerer” and the “offeree” if there are such terms.

In the case of the judiciary, someone facing a court process, criminal or civil, will want to influence the outcome of the case in his/her favour and the only way to do it is by finding weak minded court officials from court clerks to the local court justices, magistrates and judges to short-circuit the process.

To pretend that this does not happen is to pretend that the sun rises in the west and sets in the east. It is so obvious even the blind can see it.

Sometimes even lawyers are involved in “fixing” cases in this way. Some court officials do it with such impunity they state to those close to them about what they will eat without taking bribes with statements like “You know our job; I can’t refuse the money if I am offered?”

Higher up in the judicial system, court marshals come in as middlemen for the judges they work for. These are the people who handle the “dirty cash” for which they get shares and hence build the mansions that Justice Sakala talked about. These are the people who are able to drink beer everyday of the month when others are struggling on their meagre salaries.

Apart from the judiciary whose chief executive has accepted what goes on in his domain, other hotbeds of corruption are the Zambia Revenue Authority, Police, Passport Office, Immigration, Road Traffic and Safety Agency and the ministry of lands.

Because of the ubiquitous nature of the police service which makes them come into regular contact with ordinary citizens who feel the effects of even parting away with a K50, 000 to a policeman and are therefore prone to be reported, other departments like ZRA in which huge amounts of money exchange hands for the passage or release of goods, chances of such activities being reported to the ACC are very slim.

I know that Inspector General of Police Ephraim Mateyo also harps on the issue of corruption, but heads of other government departments should come clean on corruption like Justice Sakala did last week by admitting the existence of the problem in their midst.

The fight against corruption might not have been as effective as desired, but the fact that President Mwanawasa himself speaks out against corruption is a positive sign in itself which should give impetus to the ACC and other collaborative agencies to fight the scourge.

Those who have followed the history of the ACC will remember that from 1991 when the MMD came to power under Chiluba, the institution was strangled to near-death due, perhaps, to deliberate under-funding which prevented the commission from effectively carrying out its mandate. At that time the commission only had four offices in the entire country.

Coincidentally, that was the time the Special Investigating Team on Economy and Trade (SITET) was scrapped. SITET was effective as a deterrent against unscrupulous businesspeople and civil servants who always feared on knock on their door. What we, as a nation, saw after that can only be described as shameful the way the nation’s resources were plundered thereafter.

 

 

With the rising cases of post-election violence in neighbouring Zimbabwe, it is difficult to appreciate the efforts of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the African Union in resolving the “no-crisis” crisis in that country.

Both pictures and stories that are coming out of Zimbabwe point to state sponsored and systematic brutality in which people are being killed, maimed and humiliated in what ZANU-PF militia are calling “re-education” to change their political views.

It may appear as if the trip by the so-called SADC troika to Zimbabwe in the last few days as well as the visit of AU executive secretary Jean Ping to that country were mere tea-party jaunts because nothing much has changed in levels of violence.

Medical personnel rarely comment on political issues, but if the desperate voices of Zimbabwean doctors and nurses who are having to treat the victims of the government sponsored violence are anything to go by, the situation will degenerate into something worse than 1994 Rwanda genocide.

Insensitive Zimbabwean government leaders even question those who are likening the situation to that of Rwanda saying the violence does not involve any ethnic groups and is therefore not ‘tribal.’

But the fact that people are being hunted for not voting for President Mugabe, makes matters even direr.

AU and SADC chairpersons Jakaya Kikwete and Levy Mwanawasa should not rely on Thabo Mbeki as mediator because he appears to be biased in favour of Mugabe. If what is coming out about an agreement he had with Mugabe for him to delay land grabbing to facilitate a smooth transition in South Africa in 1994 is true, then he should definitely be ditched as mediator because he will be seen as paying a debt to Mugabe.

Those interested in reading more about what is going on Zimbabwe should visit www.sokwanele.com.

 

ARE ALL CITIZENS EQUAL?

By Gershom Ndhlovu 

Circumstances under which PF president, Michael Sata has found himself in lately are unfortunate indeed. Firstly he suffered a heart attack which saw him rushed to South Africa by the MMD government, his very nemesis, and secondly he lost his son, Chilufya.

But it is the circumstances of his being ferried to the now famous Milpark hospital, together with its twin Morningside clinic, which has been controversial and left his vice-president Guy Scott painted as a “heartless” politician.

All and sundry made comments vilifying Scott, among them ZCTU president Leornard Hikaumba and former Vice President Nevers Mumba citing the so-called Zambian culture of “compassion,” to Mexico, Brazil and other Southern American countries sending their citizens to the US for specialist treatment.

But examining Scott’s statement which was unfortunately repudiated by Sata’s family, one realises the folly of our politicians in particular and the nation in general.

It is clear that politicians want to feather their nests, even if it means going by the old age nugget of wisdom, scratch my back, at the expense of the larger majority which is denied the preferential services that they give themselves. Quite clearly, “Ba Somebody”--a term I used to hear in my teens in the late 1970s and early 80s which hated then and I hate now--are given deferential treatment that nonentities just dream of.

First and foremost, who among Jack Compound residents will be rushed to Chawama Clinic if they can find a wheelbarrow to ferry them there let alone Care for Business Hospital whose services even those who can afford pay through the nose? Who among the villagers in Chief Chiundaponde will be rushed to Chilonga Mission Hospital if they fall ill and they can find a scotch-cart?

Is this the “Zambian culture” that Hikaumba is talking about that sees people in Kapoto Compound die in their homes because they cannot be rushed to the Kitwe Central Hospital while those who can afford to pay for services at Care for Business are even paid for to be treated in South Africa?

On the other hand, Rev Mumba talks about advanced facilities in Southern America when our own facilities in Zambia have crumbled to an extent where they are almost useless.

The folly of the so-called Zambian culture a la Hikaumba is that it is the ordinary citizens who even praise “ama bolukwa” even if they are exploited and have nothing at all.

Before talking about compassion in the case of Sata and all others--obviously connected to the powerful and the rich--who have been ferried to South Africa for treatment, people, particularly the privileged few such as Hikaumba and Mumba, should talk about improving local facilities so that all citizens are treated with dignity and fairness.

No one would have woken up Lusaka International Airport staff to reopen it if it were a poor Kalikiliki man who collapsed with a heart problem for a nocturnal trip to South Africa. What is so painful is that hapless beings do not even have access to what should be basic treatment such as dialysis and have to fork out huge amounts of money to have access to it.

If they have the treatment, it will only be for a few days before they go to meet their maker because they cannot afford the astronomical costs.

If Hikaumba who should be speaking on behalf of his members most of whom can barely afford to exist, one wonders whose interests he represents. One would have expected him to put Scott’s comments into perspective rather than coming out the way he did.

I thought the true Zambian culture which he should know as a workers’ representative is one which adequately supports even the poor with such privileges in times of sickness. We should have seen a number of ZCTU members flown to South Africa for treatment for various ailments.

One perhaps cannot help but agree with President Mwanawasa on government’s insistence on the new industrial relations Bill if labour leaders are to be seen to be true workers’ representatives rather than those with vested interests which can be discerned from their utterances.

 

 

For reasons of time and space, I did not attend last week’s World Press Freedom Day celebrations at the Freedom Statue in Lusaka on Saturday, but I understand that I came quiet under a tongue lash from the Minister of Information, Mr Michael, a.k.a Mike, Mulongoti.

Apparently this was for some article in which I allegedly wrote “bad” things about him. A journalist friend who was at the function sent me the following e-mail:

“The minister of information was talking about you during the World Press Freedom Day that you wrote bad things about him and he wants to see you because he does not know you.”

It is a small world, I am sure we will meet Bwana Minister, so that we can have a good chat and, hopefully, a good laugh.

And talking about the ministry of information, I agree with PAZA vice president Amos Chanda’s recent presentation to a parliamentary committee about radio and TV regulation which came shortly after one radio station was made to pull down a repeater station which enabled it to go beyond the agreed radius.

As Chanda rightly pointed out, with the internet and the World Wide Web, a radio station in a remote part Zambia, if it is properly networked, can be picked in remote Siberia via the internet.

Similarly, even TV can, and in this case ZNBC TV, is being watched all over the world via the internet. Applications such as YouTube can be used to transmit anything anywhere at any time.

All these developments in information and communication technology is making strict media regulations look anachronistic.

I have argued on one forum before that the only thing that one may not find on the internet are Cabinet papers, otherwise things like the size of the military, expenditure and even readiness for combat of any country can be found if one knows where to look for the information.

The Zambian government should count itself lucky because not many people have access to computers, LOL (laugh out loud in computerspeek).

CONSTITUTION CIRCUS

By Gershom Ndhlovu

Legal issues, especially those to do with the constitution making process, stump me, I must admit, but this round of making the constitution is simply baffling. A few years ago, the President, Dr Levy Mwanawasa, State Counsel, against all opposition, appointed a Constitution Review Constitution chaired by renowned lawyer Willa Mung’omba.
The epitome of opposition to the Mung’omba commission was the resignation of Zambia Democratic Congress president, the late Dean Mung’omba from the body just after the first sitting, if I remember correctly.
Forgive me if I am wrong, but Willa and Dean were brothers and yet the latter refused to be part of the charade, and if President Mwanawasa’s sidestepping the results of his own creation is anything to go by, Dean was right to think the whole thing was a joke.
In fact, Mr Mwanawasa has not said very kind things about the job done by the Mung’omba team particularly for suggesting the mode of adopting the resultant document via a Constituent Assembly.
The issue of the high cost of such a venture kept cropping up with the argument that parliament was adequate for enacting the draft constitution into law. But I am stumped even more that the same amount that was to be costly setting up a CA is now being spent on the National Constitution Conference.
The subsequent setting up of the Zambia Centre for Inter-Party Democracy (ZCID) with it is baby--the NCC has proved just that, a joke that Dean feared his brother’s CRC would be.
What I don’t understand is why ZCID and NCC should be going round the country to “sensitise” the people on the constitution making process and even debate what to include or not include in the document that is being thrashed out by the overpaid delegates who are making even more money in subsistence allowances for touring the countryside.
What happened to the views collected by Willa & Co? Has it been the proverbial case of throwing the bath water together with the baby? Could Mwanawasa and his lawyer friend, George Kunda—Legal Affairs Minister—not have salvaged the people’s submissions which would then have been reconsidered by the overpaid NCC delegates?
The current constitution making process is the most duplicitous (as in both double work and dubiousness) I have seen since the 1972 Chona commission and I only hope that the nation will not have to assemble another group of people, including traditional healers, to make another constitution in the next half century or so.
And talking about traditional healers and other delegates, there is one who sat on the John Mwanakatwe CRC, on the Willa Mung’omba CRC and now on the NCC.
Incidentally, he is also one of those that pushed for President Chiluba’s third term attempt, calling all those, particularly his fellow clergy, charging that those who opposed the former president were going against the Bible because it was “God” who wanted Chiluba to “carry on” at State House.
But stranger still, the NCC which has enough lawyers, is hiring other lawyers to give talks to the delegates on the obvious, the need for a constitution that is not made to disadvantage individuals, separation of powers, etc. I know that the issue of age has been discussed in one of the provinces by the ZCID/NCC teams who are/have been on sensitisation jaunts.
But a matter that would be laughable if it were not serious is that some members of ZCID now feel that the NCC Act should be amended obviously because they have realised some shortcomings with the current NCC Act.
The signals coming from Mr Mwanawasa regarding the 50 per cent plus one issue for the president-elect and those from the Chief Government Spokesman, one Michael, better known as Mike, Mulongoti are neither encouraging nor inspiring as an element of arm-twisting the delegates is becoming evident and the ruling MMD has an inbuilt majority on the NCC.
Maybe PF president Michael Sata (I wish him a quick recovery) was right after all, to boycott the grand circus currently going on.

***

The issue of Onshore Investments “expatriate” labourers has just accentuated what Zambians have always known about how mean employers of Indian origin can be. If they could give a “bum deal” to their like, imagine the treatment indigenous Zambian get in the shops, factories or on farms run by Indians or Zambians of Indian origin.
At the expense of repeating what I have said before, I recently saw a picture of a Zambian worker at an engineering firm owned by an Indian or a Zambian of Indian origin with only torn footwear on and had no safety goggles when using the arc-welding torch.
But even more baffling is how the ever tough-talking Home Affairs Minister Ronnie Shikapwasha allowed the importation of wheelbarrow pushing labourers to come all the way from India when Zambians from Kapisha, Chiwempala and other areas in Chingola can push wheelbarrows and turn “indaka” or concrete.
The Onshore Investments case reminds one of the Malaysian labourers who were brought in to build the Millennium Village by the Presidential Housing Initiative in the late 1990s. However, credit should go to the Indian workers who could not take the abuse inflicted by their fellow countrymen who employed them by forcing 20 people to a room in a three bedroom house, use chamber pots to answer the call of nature and get paid “1 metre” or K1 million which cannot buy enough flour for chapatti and curry spices for Chicken Tikka or Massala.
Chingola Municipal Council town clerk, Charles Sambondu should not jump on the bandwagon now when he had an opportunity as far back as February to correct the situation when he realised that Onshore Investment workers were being packed in houses in circumstances that even sardines would tolerate.
The problem with Zambian local authorities, like other government agencies, is that they are reactive rather than proactive. The Chingola matter would have died a natural death had it not been for the strike.
Zambians who will be employed by Onshore should not accept peanuts that have been rejected by the gallant Indians who even went on strike to register their displeasure.

MUGABE’S BLAME GAME

By Gershom Ndhlovu

Who voted in last month’s elections in Zimbabwe? Is it Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown or American president George Bush? Is it not the abused and oppressed people of Zimbabwe who cast their precious vote in the hope that they would get rid of the despotic, demented and megalomanic octogenarian in the name of Robert Mugabe?
Incidentally, Mugabe’s regime is throwing barbs at the wrong people for the shameful but expected loss it suffered in the elections whose presidential results have not even been released to date.
Mwanawasa’s crime, for him to be labelled as working in league with the British government is to call for an extra-ordinary summit of SADC leaders for which he is chairman, to review the problems in Zimbabwe.
If that is not the SADC chairman’s mandate, then, as I have suggested on this forum before, is that countries like Zambia should concentrate their membership on COMESA which is more economically orientated than the toothless SADC.
Just look at South African President, Thabo Mvuyelwa Mbeki’s failure to resolve the Zimbabwean issue to an extent where he does not even see a crisis in that country when people are being butchered by Mugabe’s thugs for voting for change.
Mwanawasa may have his faults, but the kudos he and other progressive delegations earned for his conduct at the Lusaka summit explains why MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai wanted him to take over the role of mediator in Zimbabwe from Mbeki.
Zambians may not know what exactly transpired, but below is an extract from an SW Radio Africa report:
But it begs the question as to why they called an emergency summit in the first place and what happened behind the scenes to dampen Mwanawasa's earlier promise to speak up rather than stay quiet. "He and many others did speak out," a delegate of the Mauritian team told Independent Newspapers, "but the problem is that the voices of the new blood are lost in the blanket of old conservatism."
Present on Saturday were eight heads of state, among them presidents from Zambia, South Africa, Namibia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Mozambique, Angola, Malawi and Botswana, whose recently elected Ian Khama is a newcomer to the group. The remaining SADC countries of Tanzania, Lesotho, Swaziland, Zimbabwe, Madagascar and Mauritius were represented by ministers or ambassadors. No man was alone - they each brought with them an army of advisers and officials. It is understood that Botswana, Malawi and Mauritius had repeatedly pushed for a more hardened stance in dealing with the 84-year-old Mugabe. Khama has rarely been reticent in recent weeks in speaking out about his support for Tsvangirai and his belief that the time has come for change. On the other hand, Malawi is widely seen as a friend of Simba Makoni, and if not a clear backer of Tsvangirai, Dr Bingu Wa Mutharika shares Khama's view that Mugabe's term in office ended a long time ago.
The moderate voice of Mwanawasa often reflected their thinking throughout the day and it was assumed that Tanzania would have followed suit. Unfortunately in the absence of President Jakaya Kikwete, "the Tanzanians said very little", one South African delegate said. They met with heavy resistance from Mozambique's Armando Guebuza, Joseph Kabila of the DRC and Hifikepunye Pohamba of Namibia throughout the day, and to the surprise of many, Lesao Lehohla, the deputy prime minister of Lesotho, who stayed firmly on the side of the Zimbabwean delegation.
That aside, but what are the credentials of Patrick Chinamasa, the Zimbabwe’s Justice Minister who even lost his seat in the last election anyway? He should definitely be the last person to accuse Mwanawasa of being used by the British.
A casual search of Chinamasa’s name on Google brings out enough muck on him to understand why Zimbabwe is in such political and economic state.
Wikipedia, the free internet encyclopaedia, says about him: “A leading member of the ruling ZANU-PF party, Chinamasa became first deputy Agriculture Minister, and then Attorney General of Zimbabwe; he also holds the role of Leader of the Zimbabwean Parliament.
Since his appointment, many Zimbabwean judges have resigned, complaining of political pressure. On February 9, 2001 after Chief Justice Anthony Gubbay took early retirement at his suggestion, Chinamasa held meetings with senior Justices Ahmed, Ebrahim, Nicholas (the last white justice on the Zimbabwean Court), and told them for their own safety to leave.
In 2002, following what Chinamasa considered lenient conviction of three United States citizens caught and convicted of smuggling arms in an aircraft, Zimbabwean High Court judge Fergus Blackie brought successful charges against Chinamasa for a conviction of “scandalising the court.” Chinamasa had Blackie immediately arrested on charges of "corruption," on the grounds of having decided the case of a white woman improperly (on the basis of an alleged adulterous relationship and racist bias), and without the support of the other judge that was sitting with him on the matter. After the case closed, Chinamasa declared various NGO's illegal, including leading Human Rights organisation the Amani Trust which provides support to victims of torture; and was reportedly accused of working with the British government to unseat President Robert Mugabe and destabilize the nation.
On December 17, 2004, Chinamasa, who had been the Secretary for Legal Affairs of ZANU-PF, was removed from the party's Politburo. In 2005, Chinamasa was ejected from his post as Justice Minister; however, six months later he was returned to the post.
In September 2006, Chinamasa was cleared by a judge of trying to pervert the course of justice. Chinamasa was accused of trying to stop a prosecution witness, James Kaunye, from testifying in a case against the Minister of State for National Security, Didymus Mutasa, who had been accused of inciting public violence."
I think that Zambians and all right thinking people all over the world should not take some of Mugabe’s minions like Chinamasa seriously in their mud-throwing game because they themselves have a lot of ducking to do to avoid the mud.
In fact, it is just right that Tsvangirai should be talking about prosecuting some of the rogues like Chinamasa for human rights violations during their stint in government.
Is it any wonder that Mugabe and his henchmen do not want to vacate the State House in Harare?

MUGABE THE LOSER

By Gershom Ndhlovu

Recently, African Union forces backed Comoro Islands troops to drive out a rebel leader, Colonel Mohammad Bacar, from the island of Anjouan where he had declared independence from the rest of the country.
Incidentally, this is the treatment that would befit Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe who, really, has taken over power by illegitimate means after losing last month’s elections.
He, like Bacar, deserves the Africa Union boot following his failure to pass on the presidency to Movement for Democratic Change leader Morgan Tsvangirai who beat him hands down. This is not a matter for speculation if the action of Mugabe’s henchmen at the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission to delay the release of the results more than two weeks after the poll is anything to go by.
Mugabe’s position is untenable in many ways but particularly with regards to the pre-election statements by the heads of the army, airforce, police and prisons who said they would never salute anyone other than Mugabe. This is probably the group that engineered the “unannounced” coup d'etat which has seen him desperately cling to power.
South African president Thabo Mbeki should also be blamed for Mugabe’s recalcitrant position because of his actions long before these elections and after. Had Mbeki done what he was charged to do by the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the rest of the world to help solve the crisis in that country, all this would not have been witnessed.
But, anyhow, what does anyone expect from Mbeki who himself failed to read the mood in his own backyard in the ANC when he stood for the party presidency for which he was challenged and defeated by his former vice president Jacob Zuma?
Even now he has failed to see the unfolding crisis in Zimbabwe and wants to gloss over it when Mugabe is unleashing his military and political thugs to beat up and maim members of the opposition. The pictures that are turning up on the internet on the unfolding campaign of terror in that country are disturbing, to say the least.
Anybody who doubts Mugabe’s capacity for violence needs their heads examined including that of one Thabo Mvuyelwa Mbeki who would probably need a bed at Bulawayo’s Ingutsheni Hospital for turning a blind eye to it all.
Back in the early 1980s, Mugabe’s chilling declaration of war - for that is what it was - when he unleashed his Korean trained brigade on the people of Matabeleland in the Gukurahundi (the early rain which washes away the chaff before the spring rains) campaign in the early 1980s, zvino chigoborayi ziguswa (now is the time to get rid of tree stumps) should make anybody sit up with goose bumps to think about the terror that is unfolding at his behest.
Over 20,000 people, mostly Ndebele, died in that campaign for the simple crime of not supporting his ZANU PF at the time the late Joshua Nkomo’s ZAPU was active. Nkomo himself fled Zimbabwe disguised as a woman to escape the wrath of his freedom fighter partner who was getting inebriated with power from early on.
Mugabe can afford to thumb his nose up to his fellow SADC leaders who called for a meeting to try and resolve the electoral impasse but surely he should not be allowed to do it to the people who voted him out and is refusing to vacate the seat.
Of course the SADC chairman, Levy Mwanawasa, was being sensible to call for the meeting but he has been abused by Mugabe before for trying to make him see sense when his thugs battered Tsvangirai to pulp sometime last year.
I wish that Mwanawasa did not withdraw his statement about Zimbabwe being a sinking titanic because this is now very evident. It, in fact, is beyond salvage.
It is now time for genuinely democratic loving SADC countries joined the countries that have imposed sanctions on Mugabe and his cronies so that even the little maize that is coming from countries such as Zambia stop crossing the Zambezi.

***

It was, to say the least, shocking to hear that some mine owners want unions to be abolished for allegedly being indifferent to collective bargaining. If government gives in to this outrageous demand will be like throwing the sheep to the wolves.
That the mine owners want the unions outlawed only means that the workers’ bodies indeed keep these selfish wolves on their toes. Without the unions, even the little that they mine owners give reluctantly will be taken away.
As it is, the issue of safety in most of these mines is nothing to write home about. Daily we read stories of miners dying in rock falls and other accidents which could easily be prevented with the strict enforcement of safety laws, rules and regulations.
During privatisation, government had to concede a lot by allowing the new miners to cede supporting social amenities such as schools, hospitals that miners used to enjoy under ZCCM. One cheeky bidder even declared that the company was in the business of mining and not football.
I doubt if the new mine owners even sponsor people like ZCCM did for studies abroad because they are themselves busy employing people who are trained through the apprenticeship system after their GCSEs in their countries who then superintend over highly trained Zambian miners.
Labour Minister Ronald Mukuma should not just moan about the non-compliance of the country’s labour laws. He should punish those employers, local or foreign, who flout them. The business of pampering investors by conceding to them each and everything that they demand will just expose Zambian workers to all sorts of industrial risks.
It is high time investors came into Zambia at our own terms and those that flout them should face the boot. Zambia should not be one big sweatshop where the workers are paid pitiful wages for working under appalling conditions.
I was shocked a few weeks ago when I saw pictures of a worker at one engineering company in Lusaka using an arc welding machine without protective goggles and even worse, he was wearing tattered trainers which could not protect him in case a heavy piece of metal fell on his foot.