Harare — Farm workers and employers have agreed on a salary increment of 4.2 percent or $3 for 2017, which will see the lowest earner being paid $75 per month effective this month.

According to a collective bargaining agreement signed last Friday between the General Agricultural and Plantation Workers’ Union of Zimbabwe (GAPWUZ) and farmer organisations, the minimum wage for farm workers has been increased from $72 to $75, with the highest paid worker now earning $150.

In South Africa, the lowest paid farm workers earn about $230 per month.

The farmer organisations that agreed to the new wages are the Zimbabwe Commercial Farmers Union, Zimbabwe Farmers Union, Commercial Farmers Union, Zimbabwe Tobacco Association and the Zimbabwe Agricultural Employers Organisation.

“All amounts have been rounded off to the nearest dollar. Employers can apply to the National Employment Council within 14 days for an exemption or partial exemption from paying wages as set up in the above schedule, stating the reasons why that application should be considered,” reads the agreement in part.

The document was signed by a D.H Chimbwanda representing employers, F Zondo representing employees and Simon Jera representing the NEC.

“We still need more to be done. It’s still little but half bread is better than nothing. Employers are lamenting economic challenges,” he said.

Agriculture provides nearly 60 percent of Zimbabwe’s formal employment, according to the World Bank.

“This is unheard of. It’s not a living wage but black monopoly capitalism. The least employed worker must get $100 or more,” Progressive Agriculture and Allied Industries Workers Union of Zimbabwe general secretary, Raymond Sixpence told The Source.

The wages are still far below the poverty datum line, estimated at almost $600.

“It’s not the best deal as the employees were expecting more; but we had to accommodate each other. Employers are struggling to make money in the farming sector which is negatively affected by high operating costs, so the four percent will cushion workers to survive in the meantime,” said Zimbabwe Commercial Farmers Union president, Wonder Chabikwa.

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Chasing the elusive Zimbabwean dream – a review of Arthur Mutambara’s new autobiography

Arthur Guseni Oliver Mutambara’s narrative teases and tantalises as he defines ‘thought leadership’, writes Brezhnev Malaba.

Arthur Guseni Oliver Mutambara, a world-renowned robotics professor and one of the most intriguing figures in Zimbabwean public life, has rarely written about the private dimensions of his life – until now.In this 249-page memoir, In Search of the Elusive Zimbabwean Dream: An Autobiography of Thought Leadership, the first of a three-book series that explores his thoughts and philosophical disposition over a period of 35 years, he delivers a fascinating, provocative and rigorously engrossing tour de force.

Volume one is sub-titled The Formative Years and the Big Wide World (1983-2002).

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At the WEF in China in 2011, Mutambara is seen with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Picture: Supplied

Mutambara, his wife Dr Jacqueline Mutambara, and former US president Bill Clinton at the WEF in Davos in 2010. Picture: Supplied

But what exactly is “the Zimbabwean dream”? Before we even venture there, we must also ask: what does it mean to be Zimbabwean?

This is a nation which held immense promise at independence in 1980. The Zimbabwe dollar was stronger than the US dollar. The country boasted sub-Saharan Africa’s most industrialised economy after South Africa.

Today, 37 years later, there is no national currency. The UN says the rate of formal unemployment has reached a staggering 95% and 72% of the population lives in “extreme poverty”. What “dream” can the world possibly expect from a country led by a 93-year-old president who is eyeing re-election next year?

Surely, dreaming is for tomorrow’s people, not yesterday’s men.

To locate the Zimbabwean dream, we must trace its roots. Mutambara, who turned 50 on May 25, proffers a compelling argument. In his eyes, the Zimbabwean dream can only be realised, first, through a shared national vision and, second, through the creation of what he terms “brand Zimbabwe”.

“For example, we could aspire to make Zimbabwe a globally competitive economy, a prosperous nation with a high quality of life for our people by 2040. Ostensibly, we can then conceive three supporting pillars for this vision. The first pillar should be about the economy, while the second focuses on society, and the third pillar deals with our politics,” he writes.

Mutambara is at his eloquent best when he elucidates the meaning of “a shared Zimbabwean dream”. He does not prescribe a formulaic dream but proposes the collective thought process that could lead to the expression of “a quintessentially Zimbabwean Dream”.

Here his narrative – flowing crisply in present continuous tense – teases and tantalises. Can Zimbabweans dare to dream, in spite of all their well-documented woes? Unfortunately, in this part of the autobiography there is not much meat for readers to really sink their teeth into. But wait a minute, could this be the rocket scientist’s way of rousing our curiosity ahead of the publication of the next two books in the trilogy?

As I read this book, the meaning of “thought leadership” permeated my musings. When Joel Kuntzman, editor-in-chief of Booz, Allen & Hamilton magazine, coined the term in 1994, he emphasised the importance of having ideas “that merit attention”. Mutambara defines the term as “intellectual influence through innovative and pioneering thinking”.

As a journalist, I have found the concept of “thought leadership” captivating. A related term is “public intellectual”. The legendary rabble-rouser Christopher Hitchens, who shares Oxonian leanings with Mutambara, once famously remarked that the duty of the intellectual is essentially twofold: first, to argue for complexity and to insist that phenomena in the world of ideas should not be sloganised or reduced to easily repeated formulae and, second, the intellectual must show that some things are simple and ought not to be obfuscated.

In an intellectually robust and bare-knuckled manner that has come to typify his persona, Mutambara traces the thread of values that has defined his journey from high school top-achiever, leading scientist, business consultant and his eventful plunge into the cauldron of Zimbabwe’s notoriously unforgiving national politics.

There are startlingly vivid accounts of Mutambara’s stand against President Robert Mugabe’s fevered machinations to impose a one-party state in the late 1980s. Amid economic meltdown at the time, students at the University of Zimbabwe (UZ), led by Mutambara among other organisers, displayed amazing bravery and struck a chord with the toiling masses.

Like most Zimbabweans of his generation, Mutambara was an ardent supporter of the national liberation project. In those days, he even described Mugabe as “our upright and incorruptible revolutionary”. But when the revolution went off the rails as corrupt and autocratic leaders subverted the people’s struggle, he committed himself to mobilising against them.

One of the most vexing puzzles in Zimbabwe in the aftermath of the power-sharing Government of National Unity from 2009 to 2013, has been: Where is Arthur Mutambara these days? The autobiography will answer the question. After the 2013 general election, he withdrew from political life. The former deputy prime minister is currently president of the African News Agency, a technology-driven multimedia news platform.

Among the formative experiences in Mutambara’s life was the anti-corruption demonstration of September 1988 by UZ students. He was secretary-general and authored a statement denouncing Mugabe’s government.

In October 1988, Mugabe denounced the protesting students, dismissing them as foolish renegades, and abruptly terminated the state-funded grants and loans of 14 of the 15 students’ union leaders. But they could not touch Mutambara – his university education was being financed by an Anglo American Corporation scholarship. Despite expending his energies on what he describes as “revolutionary confrontation”, he did not neglect his studies and continued winning the university’s coveted book prizes.

There was no viable political opposition in Zimbabwe in the immediate aftermath of the 1987 Unity Accord which saw veteran nationalist Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo’s party Zapu captured and subsumed by Mugabe’s Zanu. With no opposition in what was now a de facto one-party state, the daring actions of students went a long way in galvanising the citizenry. The government hit back viciously, deploying police and soldiers on campus. Badly injured, Mutambara was held in detention without trial for six weeks.

Mutambara attained a BSc(honours) in Electrical and Electronic Engineering at the UZ. He applied for a Rhodes Scholarship and a Fulbright Scholarship. Incredibly, he was offered both. He opted for the Rhodes Scholarship which took him to Oxford University in Britain where he was awarded a Master of Science in Computer Engineering and subsequently a PhD in Robotics and Mechatronics.

It was during his days at Merton College that Mutambara joined the Oxford Union debate chamber and rubbed shoulders with celebrated intellectual dissidents.

The graduate programmes and examinations at Oxford are exacting and demanding, even for the most intelligent of students. Mutambara completed the Master’s degree in one year and the doctorate in just over two years. Donning formal attire and an academic gown, he orally defended his thesis, in a record 45 minutes, stunning his supervisors. It takes some candidates six years to attain a PhD and others have either dropped out or committed suicide in utter frustration.

In his usual brash manner, Mutambara basks in the glory of his achievements at Oxford. Aged 28, he had a BSc, MSc and PhD under his belt. He said: “This African has just cracked the doctorate in two years and two months, and passed without any changes! The traditional Oxford establishment, while pleased with my achievements, looks a bit perturbed. I guess the African has outperformed the master, in his own territory. What an example of effective counter penetration!”

The man is oozing with confidence. At first glance, there are segments of his autobiography which suggest vainglorious boasting. It only takes a nuanced understanding of his personality from the formative days of Hartzell High School to the “City of Dreaming Spires”, to fully comprehend where he is coming from and where he is going.

Besides, although Mutambara has his flaws like every human being, he has plenty to be proud of: a sharp intellect, a fluency in debate, an easy wit, a fiercely independent worldview, and the willingness to denunciate dogma.

Oxford is not the end of his journey. In 1995 he sets out for the US, “the belly of the beast”, where he works as a research scientist at Nasa, professor at the prestigious MIT and management consultant at McKinsey & Company.

In 2002, he returned to Africa, convinced he was now equipped with the necessary strategies and paradigms to make a difference. No doubt, the new book will spark debate and fuel speculation in Zimbabwe. Is Mutambara preparing to run for president? Time will tell.

Some excerpts from the book

How the students fell out with Mugabe over corruption

As Secretary General, with Edgar Mbwembwe as President of the Students’ Union, our most significant action is the Anti-Corruption Demonstration of 29 September 1988.

We need a statement that articulates the issues, and contextualises our demands and action. I author the radical and militant Anti-Corruption Document, with the assistance of the SRC Secretary for Information and Publicity, Tendai Kufa. Though hard-hitting, the statement is measured in its critique of Mugabe as a leader, and Zanu-PF as an institution.

The historic and hugely successful Students’ Union demonstration leads to the arrest and detention of the 15 SRC leaders and UZ lecturers, Kempton Makamure and Eliphas Mukonoweshuro.

Prof Shadrack Gutto (later Director of the Centre for African Renaissance Studies at Unisa) is summarily deported from Zimbabwe. He is being accused of writing the Anti-Corruption Document that we have, in fact, authored.

As a foreigner, a Kenyan, the regime is merciless with him. He is given 48 hours to leave the country. The university government-funded grants and loans for 14 out of the 15 student leaders, are withdrawn. They cannot touch my funding, because, unlike the others, I am on an Anglo American Scholarship, awarded on the basis of outstanding academic merit and achievement.

The Mugabe regime is livid. It tries to pressurise Anglo American executives to withdraw my scholarship. They refuse. I surmise that the imperialists and capitalists have ways of making a positive contribution to the revolution! The Struggle has friends in the most unusual of places.

Two government ministers – Moven Mahachi, Minister of Home Affairs, and Dzingai Mutumbuka, Minister of Higher Education – are particularly virulent and Draconian in their persecution of students and lecturers. From the content of the Anti-Corruption Document, it is clear that we still consider Zanu-PF as our party, and Robert Mugabe as our leader.

We are actually appealing to Mugabe, our upright and incorruptible revolutionary, to take drastic steps against corruption. How wrong we are. Mugabe is out of the country when we go into the streets. Upon his return, he is incensed by our Anti-Corruption Demonstration and its document.

He denounces us as desperadoes without better things to do with our time. We are gutted, despondent and totally disillusioned. This is it. We are done with these running dogs of imperialism. We sever links with Robert Mugabe and his Zanu-PF. The divorce is final. This is October 1988.

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

Confrontation with Mugabe over the one-party state

A direct confrontation with Mugabe over the one-party state ensues. Friday, 13 July 1990, is graduation day for the student groups that finished their studies in December 1989.

As the President of the Students’ Union, traditionally and by convention, I am part of the graduation process, which includes Mugabe as the Chancellor of the university.

I was in detention for six weeks in October and November 1989, and we are meeting for the first time since that ugly episode. Moreover, as a union, we have now taken an official position against the one-party system in Zimbabwe. After the main ceremony in the Great Hall, we all troop to the College Green’ where graduates and their guests are served food and beverages. This is where it all happens.

Vice Chancellor Walter Kamba introduces me to Mugabe, and the armed and menacing Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) operatives quickly encircle the three of us. Mugabe tries small talk, ‘How many new Engineering graduates were there today? When I graduated from Fort Hare in 1951, there were nine graduates in the whole country.’ I am not having any of that meaningless talk. I know I only have this man for a minute, if not seconds. I have to attack with stealth and vigour. I unexpectedly and aggressively barge in, completely out of the blue, saying, ‘We do not want to talk about any of that. We are completely against the one-party state by any means necessary. We do not want a one-party state in Zimbabwe!’

Mugabe is stunned. He looks dazed, but soon gathers his composure, and tries to shoot back, ‘If you take such extreme views we will be dismissive of your views.’ I was ready for him. ‘We have already dismissed your thinking, so it is not consequential whether you dismiss our views or not!’

Mugabe is visibly livid. His face is awash with discomfort. He is beside himself with rage. However, he cannot find his tongue. Kamba then moves with alacrity and dexterity in a rescue bid to calm the raging waters. ‘We need rational disputation we must have collegial dialogue.’ It is too late. I am not even listening. The mission is accomplished. The numerous security details who had completely encircled the three of us quickly whisk away the wounded and verbally incapacitated Mugabe.

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

Dealing with racism in the United States, in spite of high academic achievement

All these academic endeavours are not without amusing and invidious incidents with political undertones. In February 2000, while teaching at MIT, during my first Advanced Control Systems lecture, two white professors in the department decide to attend my class.

They explain their presence by saying they want to see how I present the subject matter in order to efficaciously link my material to theirs, as our subjects are related. I am not convinced. I suspect they are just checking to see whether the African can effectively teach at MIT – the top Engineering school in the world! Well, I have to deliver.

When I am done, the entire class of 26 students stands up in a rousing standing ovation. This is not even a seminar. It is a class lecture. The two observing colleagues sheepishly leave the room and go straight to the Department Head, Prof Edward Crawley, who later shares with me the content of their discussions. ‘I have been teaching here at MIT for 15 years. I have never seen such a rousing standing ovation given for a class lecture. This guy is good,’ one of the wowed colleagues says to Prof Crawley.

I quietly say to myself: ‘How patronising. Even with your 15 years at MIT, what makes you think that you are, or you understand, the benchmark or reference point for teaching ability or skill? Surely, an African or a black person can have capacity and ability, beyond and unexperienced by the best of white achievement. Black success or ability does not need to be referenced to, benchmarked by, or constrained by white standards. There is no need for such validation.’

Another amusing altercation occurs at the Nasa Lewis Research Centre in July 1997, during discussions about applications of my mobile robotics research results to US Unmanned Military Vehicles (UMVs) and the Nasa Mars Sojourner Rover.

In attendance are top officials from Nasa, the US Army and MIT. This is a high-level, top-secret meeting whose contents and outcomes the US researchers and scientists would not want to get to their competitors, in particular the Russians and the Chinese.

The US Army Chief Research Scientist – who is also a retired Four Star General – chairing the meeting, sternly looks at me and says: ‘Where are you from?’ I say, ‘Zimbabwe’. ‘Well, we are not about to be attacked by that small country. You can stay in the meeting.’ ‘How rich?’ I quietly ponder to myself. ‘As if you have a choice! These are my ideas we seek to apply to UMVs and the Mars Rover. Without me, there would be no meeting.

‘In any case, how do you know that my loyalty does not lie with the Chinese or the Russians?’ Well, well, that is how it is. White supremacy always wants you to feel that it is doing you a favour, even when you are the one holding all the chips.

* The views expressed here are not necessarily those of Independent Media.

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Founder of Love Zimbabwe charity 1137434 and Love Zimbabwe Fair Trade company. Martha has reached over 300 Welsh schools teaching Fairtrade. She is the only resident Fairtrade producer who has helped set up 15 workers’ co-operatives in Zimbabwe. A very ethically minded person who educates communities about Fair trade and sustainable living.

Martha left Zimbabwe in January 2001.
• Left two sons behind and settled in Carmarthenshire.
• Started volunteering in schools and community organizations as a Fairtrade Speaker.
• Set up a community interest company encouraging women in Zimbabwe to work and earn sustainable incomes and fair wages for their products.
• Has established global markets in the UK.
• Has set up a community interest company recognized by the British Association of Fairtrade Shops and Suppliers (BAFTS).
• Has done festivals such as the Small Nations, Blue Rock, The Green man, Glastonbury, Womad and Zimbabwean Music festival in Seattle, USA.
• Has been to Pakistan and Czech Republic as an Active citizen of Wales.
• Was nominated on Jeremy Vine’s show BBC Radio 2 in 2013 as one of the 5women in the UK who have made great footprints in their countries of origin.
• In 2013, Love Zimbabwe won the Glastonbury Green Traders Award.
• Has been part of Climate change campaigns.
• Participated at Oxfam’s Climate Hearings which provided a platform for the voices of those most affected by climate change to be heard, and for their stories to be told.
• Went to Copenhagen for the UN Summit on climate change.
• Registered Love Zimbabwe in 2010 Wales as a charity which operates both in Wales and Zimbabwe.
• Registered Love Zimbabwe Trust in 2016 which works within Zimbabwean Government structures.
Mission Statement: – “To improve quality of life of disadvantaged communities in Zimbabwe through health, education and poverty reduction interventions and fostering sustainable global education in Wales”.
• set up Chinamhora Community Centre –Community Hub and Model of Sustainability
This offers a place where people of all ages meet and share ideas and life skills. The workshop was built in December 2012. The community especially mothers of disabled children and arts and crafts producers use the Centre as a regular meeting place where they work on producing beautiful batiks, beaded animals and other products which are sold in the UK to help them earn sustainable incomes
• Community Centre is a model of sustainability and endeavors to be almost entirely self sufficient with power, food and water. A clean, efficient and cool space for preparing and cooking food as well as storing cooking equipment and supplies.
Community Centre has huts which accommodate visitors during cultural exchange trips.
Permaculture garden was established in 2012 primarily to encourage the use of traditional and organic way of farming.
Chinamhora Community Centre Library- introduced library construction in January 2010 with visiting students from Lampeter University.
The Cultural Exchange Program- introduced this in 2015
• The program promotes tolerance to cultural diversity regardless of race, color, political ideologies, social standings, religion or beliefs. • Awarded special recognition for her contribution to livelihoods and Fair Trade within the Wales Africa sector over many years by the Welsh Government’s Wales for Africa team in 2013.
• Has currently enrolled to study at Newport University MA (SEN)-Masters in special education.
• Has received a prestigious award in the category of Social &Humanitarian supported by Ethnic Minorities Welsh Women Achievement Awards.

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Anyone meeting Anna Mudeka would soon realise that she is energetic and passionate about her music and cultural roots. Having been awarded the Most Influential Woman in Business and Government in Africa in the Arts and Culture section 2013, it’s very different from her humble beginnings having grown up in a musical family in Zimbabwe. Her musical career has moved from strength to strength.
Anna has embraced all that’s good about the music and culture from all the Sub-Saharan cultures. She has trained with many well known names such as Thomas Mapfumo, Stella Chiweshe, Adzido Dance Ensemble to name a few. She has gathered inspiration from singers such as Ciseria Avora, Casse Alle, Youssou N’dour, Peter Gabriel, Damian Alban and the late Miriam Makeba of whom she has developed a one woman show entitled Senzi’s Spirit. Anna takes her students on a musical journey through Africa with a knowledge collected through years of training and a deep understanding of the different African cultures at its best. The awarded recognition speaks for itself for the contribution Anna has given to the continent in the last twenty years. Anna was also a finalist for Tesco Mum of the Year in January 2014.

Her experience in film and theatre has been on the set of “A Far Off Place” and “I am the Future” in Zimbabwe and on “The Greatest Drummer in the World” with Leon Rusellson and Elisabeth Mansfield in the UK.
Anna currently works with her six piece band, The Anna Mudeka Band playing a fusion of Zimbabwean mbira driven music. The band are currently recording their latest album entitled Dendende which will tour in 2015. Anna has a five piece dance troupe Tambai Ensemble performing music and dance from the Sub-Saharan cultures.
She has just established a duo show with band member Glynnis Masuku working together to create beautiful harmonies in various African languages including Shona, Kalanga, Zulu, Xhosa, Mandinka and Swahili.
THE MUDEKA FOUNDATION
The music is at the core of The Mudeka Foundation which she set up two years ago. Anna combines her music to raise funds and help improve the education of orphans and disadvantaged children in her homeland of Zimbabwe.
She does this through the events that she organises for her charitable initiative: The Mudeka Foundation www.mudekafoundation.com www.southburghfestival.com
Anna’s music and vocal talents engage youngsters (and adults alike) all over the world, in conjunction with schools, festivals and communities. But – it’s at her lively stage performances where one can really experience the happy atmosphere her music creates – whatever the venue or the gig! Anna performs with her band The Anna Mudeka band and Tambai Ensemble.
She teaches singing, drumming and dance for all all organisations. Whether you are looking for team building, conferences, Christmas parties with a difference or for any of your educational needs then you will be in good hands.
Anna comes from a long family of musicians with her late grandmother as her first inspiration. She has studied music and has a teaching qualification from Norwich City College. Anna also studied business in 2001 through the Women’s Employment Enterprise and Training Unit funded by the European Union.

www.annamudeka.co.uk

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Colletah Chitsike is a trainer and capacity building specialist with her Masters Degree in Adult Education from the University of Zimbabwe. She has extensive experience in Community Development, Organizational Development and Gender Training for Change. She has previously worked with the Zimbabwe Council of Churches, OXFAM GB and NOVIB in Southern Africa and CIAT (Center for International Tropical Agriculture) as the Capacity Building and Learning Management Specialist in Africa. She currently works at the International Centre for Development Oriented Research in Agriculture (ICRA) in Pretoria, South Africa, simultaneously serving as a WOCAN Associate and Gender Trainer. In this capacity, Colletah has led multiple trainings and workshops for WOCAN around the world, including the facilitation of a gender and organizational change workshop in Ghana, a curriculum development training for women and men supporting women’s leadership, participation in the WEDO delegation to the UNFCCC COP Meeting in Denmark in December 2009, and facilitated training of Change Agents and Leadership Training for Farmers for PAKISAMA Philippines Farmers Association May 2010.

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THE colonial government had oppressive laws and African women in particular, suffered the most.
For example, the colonial education system in Rhodesia did not have a specific policy for the education of women and girls and the labour laws did not recognise women.
In an interview with The Patriot, the ZANU PF director in theDepartment of Business Development and Liaison, Betty Mutero, said policies in Rhodesia were premised on race and were not gender neutral.
“There were two systems of education, the European Division and the African Division,” said Mutero.
“The European Division of education was non-fee paying, compulsory and of higher quality.
“It was meant for white, coloured and Asian children, while the African Division of education which was neither free nor compulsory and had inadequate education provisions, catered for black children.
The colonial government, said Mutero, introduced customary law which gave women little power, if any, in both civic and social circles. Under customary law, she said, property was owned by husbands.
“Women were reduced to dependents that had to submit to the will and wishes of their spouses or male relations in order to survive,” said Mutero.
“In fact, women were reduced to minors.
The few women who went to school and got employed in Rhodesia earned less than their male counterparts despite performing the same duties.
“I started working in the early 60’s and no matter how professional we were, we were treated as nannies, getting low pay and there was no maternity leave.
“The white people did not drink tea with us and treated us like animals.
“It is independence that brought new systems and a number of changes that have benefitted women.”
Before April 18 1980, women never got to leave their dreams as the system in existence did not support female aspirations and ambitions.
Becoming a pilot like Air Zimbabwe’s only female Captain, Emilia Njovana was a huge dream that could never be realised in Rhodesia
Mutero said girls were directed into feminine areas such as needlework and cookery.
“When the new Zimbabwean Government took over the reins of political power in 1980, it immediately addressed the imbalances that existed in the education sector among other areas.
“The new government introduced policies that created equal opportunities for all Zimbabweans regardless of gender.”
In 1982, the Zimbabwean government introduced the ‘Equal Pay Regulation’ which meant that both men and women with the same qualifications and doing the same job earned the same salary.
In the same year the government introduced the ‘Legal Age of Majority Act’ which meant that men and women were for the first time legally equal.
At the age of 18, both men and women were considered to be equal.
In an effort to raise the number of female students at the University of Zimbabwe, the government introduced the ‘Affirmative Action Policy’ in 1993.
Due to the increased demand for university education and the need for an increase in science and commercial programmes as well as open and distance learning among the Zimbabwean population, more universities sprouted throughout the country after independence.

Her name is Captain Emilia Njovana and she was the first female and black commercial pilot in Zimbabwe. Educated at Monte Cassino Girls High, a Catholic Mission school in Macheke, in the Manicaland Province of Zimbabwe she is living proof that when individuals and institutions invest their confidence in women, women can make it to the top.

Today she trains other women AND MEN how to fly aeroplanes, AND jets AND helicopters.  And oh what a wonderful job she does. I mean yes, Air Zimbabwe has a reputation of being unreliable in terms of being on time but NEVER before have we heard of inefficiency among the staff in that little closed cabin. The only accident recorded occurred in July 1984 when a Vickers 756D Viscount, registration Z-YNI, was damaged beyond repair in an incident on the grounds of Harare International Airport. No one was hurt and the plane was immediately withdrawn from service and transferred to the airport fire department for use as a training aid. Zimbabwean pilots are sharp and extremely good at what they do and guess what, some of them were trained by this woman, the same woman whom society PROBABLY thought would not be worthy of an education, or would not be capable of achieving anything and would not turn out to be as good as a man.

Gender stereotypes that placed men in a superior position to women designated the role of pilot to the men while women could only be aboard planes either as passengers or airhostesses. Today women like Emilia have turned the tables and sit in the cockpits of huge airplanes, while men attend to passengers. The term airhostess has been removed and we have flight attendants.

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INTERVIEWBy Violet Gonda

Tendai Biti has accused Finance Minister Patrick Chinamasa of ‘stealing’ money from the central bank to fund excessive expenditure by the government which caused crippling cash shortages. In an in-depth interview on the Hot Seat programme with Violet Gonda on the economic crisis in Zimbabwe, Biti talks about what he uncovered when he was finance minister in the coalition government from 2009 to 2012.

He says President Robert Mugabe takes at least US$4million per foreign trip and his entourage has deliberately made him into a ‘permanent resident of the skies’ in order to loot Zimbabwe with their own per diems. Biti warns that Zimbabwe only has one week of import cover left, talks about illicit financial flows which hurt Zimbabwe, the parallel government structures used to siphon money, and explains in some detail what needs to happen to make Zimbabwe better again.

Welcome to Hot Seat with Violet Gonda. My guest today is former finance minister and now opposition leader Tendai Biti. In this first segment, the focus is on Zimbabwe’s economic crisis. How bad is the crisis that has seen goats now being used as legal tender in some parts of the country? What did Mr. Biti learn about how State finances are run and if he was still in charge of the treasury, what would he have done differently to avoid the introduction of Bond notes. These and more questions are covered on this episode of Hot Seat.

Welcome Mr. Biti.

Thank you Violet

Let’s start with this whole issue of the economic crisis, how bad is it really?

Well it’s scandalously hopeless, it’s scandalously terrible these guys have failed and Patrick Chinamasa has failed. I call it voodoo economics being practiced by these ZANU zombies and Chinamasa is the chief zombie. The biggest challenge that they have is that the economy is not producing. Output has collapsed and collapsed completely. Aggregate demand has collapsed and collapsed completely, capacity utilisation has collapsed and collapsed completely, so we are in a recession.

Since 2013 the economy has been on a downward spiral and this recession is fast-tracking itself to an economic depression. Remember, this is an economy that is very cyclical. This is an economy that moves from slumps and booms but its slumps tend to be elongated. Remember, the crisis last time from 1997 to 2008, lasted 11 years. So, I think we are in the middle of another elongated depression which, unless corrective measures, decisive measures, are taken, we could be stuck in this rut for another 11 to 16 years.

What does the absence of a local currency actually mean to the grassroots?

Tendai: Remember, the Zimbabwean public rejected the Zim-dollar. Currency, at the end of the day functions on confidence; functions on trust. So, if the citizenry stops believing in its currency, then you have a problem. In Zimbabwe, one of the key things that has collapsed is confidence. We have lost confidence in this regime; we have lost trust in this regime. All societies function on trust; what philosophers call ‘the social contract’. In Zimbabwe, the social contract has broken and when trust collapses, societies such as Zimbabwe, where there is no trust, become low trust, high cost societies. And, societies that are functional are high trust, low cost societies.

So, coming to the issue of a currency specifically, Zimbabweans have got long memories; they remember how the Zimbabwean dollar was an instrument of arbitration – arbitrage. Zimbabweans know how the Zimbabwean dollar and hyper-inflation stole their wealth. Pensioners, up to date, have not recovered; asset managers, up to date, have not recovered, company balance sheets, up to date, have not recovered because of the Zimbabwean dollar.

What Zimbabweans want is a stable economy, and before we can even think of returning the Zimbabwean dollar, let’s produce, let’s export, let’s build foreign currency reserves of over US$5 Billion. And, to me, the Zimbabwean dollar is gone, it will never come back. There is no country in the world which has dollarized and which has managed to demonetise (the US dollar) because it’s confidence. The Zimbabwean dollar was caught in flagrante (in the act) by the people of Zimbabwe and you and I know what happens when someone is caught in flagrante – trust is gone and a divorce has to happen.

It’s really sad to hear that our own currency will never return, but we’ll come back to that issue of currencies and the cash crisis. Let’s just go back a bit to help us understand this crisis a bit more. What did you see in the GNU as finance minister… what were you able to uncover?

Well, the most important thing about running an economy, running a government, running any organisation, is trust. The secret to a good economics is to live within one’s means and I popularised the phrase ‘you eat what you kill’. So, we ran a regime of austerity, we didn’t have money, anyway. When I started, in February of 2009, there was $4million in the bank, in the government treasury. And the entire broad money supply circulating in the country was a mere US$250 million dollars, by the end of the year we had built that to $ 2.2 billion. So, the first thing is, live within your means, eat what you kill. So, we ran a strict regime of cash budgeting. We had a Budget Office, in respect of which, we all sat, officers sat and approved the priority of priorities, we did not borrow and we did not spend what we did not have. The problem with ZANU PF is that it suffers from a disease called fiscalitis, which is the fictitious belief that they think money grows on trees. As I am talking to you, right now, the budget deficit, as a percentage of GDP, is over 43%. Domestic debt, as a percentage of GDP is over 60%. So, it’s absolutely ridiculous. They can’t run the economy; there is no fiscal discipline.

The second thing is that, you have to create conditions for those that create wealth, to create wealth. An economy doesn’t run on controls, an economy doesn’t run on Statutory Instruments, an economy doesn’t run on dirigisme – you control everything. So, we’ve got excessive taxes, we’ve got import restrictions; we’ve got Statutory Instrument 64 of 2016. Capital can’t breathe and if capital can’t breathe, capital will not produce.

Thirdly, we need to attract Foreign Direct Investment in this country. We can only attract Foreign Direct Investment if we are competitive; but we are not competitive – our costs are too high. Look at the cost of our electricity, look at the premium put by corruption in this country because, for every businessman who wants to invest in Zimbabwe, there’s a ZANU PF minister who wants a huge cut from him. So, capital is fickle, it will go to other places. Look at the gross effect of the Indigenisation and Empowerment Act. Who will invest $3 million when you are going to part with 51% of that? It doesn’t make sense. So, the long and short of it is that ZANU PF on their own can never run this economy, and it has been proved in the last 4 years that Chinamasa has been dawdling along as the Minister of Finance.

When you were Minister of Finance when you were in government, billions of dollars left the country or left the government. Can we unpack this issue of corruption that you mentioned briefly? What did you actually see, and what terrible decisions did you have to make on this issue?

Government receives money from taxes, so the most important organ from a revenue collection point of view is the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (Zimra), so we didn’t get a lot of money. In the first year we had US$900 million, in the second year the budget was US$2 billion, in the third year we tried to make it to US$4 billion. So, money that is being stolen in Zimbabwe is not being stolen from Treasury. Treasury has strict rules and Treasury is subject to parliamentary oversight. People steal money from parallel government operations, and ZANU PF deliberately ran parallel government operations as they are still doing today.

The biggest parallel government operations were diamonds in Chiadzwa, where ZANU PF placed Obert Mpofu, that grand thief, to basically circumvent diamond revenue coming to Treasury, and you and I know Mugabe admitted US$15 billion left the country. The parallel government was in the form of huge, huge parallel resources that ought to have gone to the Consolidated Revenue Fund that were not accounted for, this includes the money that Tobaiwa Mudede collects from passports, birth certificates and death certificates, this includes the huge – millions and millions of dollars – that Augustine Chihuri collects through penalties and fines through the Zimbabwe Republic Police. This includes huge fees that are collected from organs like EMA (Environment Management Agency) and National Parks. This includes millions and millions of dollars that are collected by POTRAZ, this includes millions and millions of dollars from tollgates that are collected by ZINARA, for instance. So, ZANU deliberately ran a parallel government to deny Treasury money and, in the process, to fund their nefarious patronage system which has kept them in power for the last 37 years.

There seemed to be no limits to how much people were taking out of the country… as you mentioned, the President himself admitted that US$15 billion dollars left the country. Looking back, when you were Finance Minister, do you wish that you had some exchange control for example?

Exchange controls were always there. You cannot move money in Zimbabwe without the approval of the Reserve Bank, so capital accounts are there. But I know where you are coming from: … the first thing we did was we had to liberalise the capital account. As I said, when we started there was a mere US$250 million in the system in the form of broad money supply. In order to attract capital, capital in the form of Foreign Direct Investment, capital in the form of diaspora remittances, capital in the form of Overseas Development Assistance, – we had to say anyone who wants to bring money, you can bring money because you can take it out. That’s why, by the end of 2009, US$ 2.2 billion were in the system. By the time I left, in 2013, there was US$5.5 billion in the system. We could only attract that because we allowed the capital account to be functional.

So, what has caused the shortage is not that people are taking out money. Remember, when you are taking out money, you are taking your money; you are not taking another person’s money, which is a myth that ZANU PF has. Separate the issue of illicit financial flows. Illicit financial flows never get into the system and the private sector is the number one perpetrator of illicit financial flows. So, if you take platinum, for instance, when tonnes and tonnes of platinum metal is shipped out of Zimbabwe, there are about 10 derivatives, including palladium, for instance, that is not fully accounted for to Zimbabwe. So, there is what is called transfer pricing, there is what is called thin capitalisation and these are the things that are hurting Zimbabwe. This is what is known as illicit financial flows. On the African continent, almost yearly, more than a trillion dollars is leaving the African continent, and, in fact, ironically, more money is leaving the African continent through illicit financial flows, than money that is coming to Africa in the form of Aid. So, this is a different debate to the narrow question of liberalising or not the capital account.

What did you learn about the political executive and their travelling habits with money?

I used to expose it in my budget, it used to sadden me that the travelling budget was always more than what we put to education and there was one man who used to travel more than anyone else, and that was President Robert Mugabe. In one year, we spent US$28 million on travel alone and that was criminal. In my time, they would make requests of US$2 million, US$3 million, and I’d just cut the travelling expense. I know that when I left, the taps are open, he goes away with US$ 4 million or with US$ 6 million.

And part of the problem is not just Robert Mugabe; part of the problem is the entourage around him which makes a killing when they travel with him because their per diems increase. So, they deliberately create these trips, they deliberately make him a permanent resident of the skies in order to loot Zimbabwe. So, it is the bureaucracy around him which is also culpable, but you know, in other countries, the issue of per diems that are given to a Head of State, must be returned when he comes, but one of the criminal things in Zimbabwe is that he (Mugabe) takes US$ 4 million – he doesn’t bring it. So, it’s really criminal that we have schools that have no lights in Zimbabwe, we have schools where students and pupils are sharing classrooms with animals, yet a single Presidential trip can cover more than 10 schools. It’s criminal and unacceptable.

But Mr Biti, was the President’s budget ever audited, if you say he takes at least US$4 million per trip, is it ever audited to find out what the money is spent on?

The budget of the Office of the President and Cabinet (OPC) is never audited … thanks to British Westminster traditions. Remember, the Prime Minister was the Executive, and under the Prime Minister the Intelligence operated, the CIO, just like MI5 operates in the UK and the false notion is that you don’t audit anything that the Intelligence has. This is criminal. So, the OPC basically runs a slush fund to oppress and repress the people of Zimbabwe and also to loot. I find this unacceptable and I think that one of the unfinished businesses of constitutional reform is to revisit Chapter 5 of our Constitution, the chapter that deals with the imperial Executive President which we created. That institution must be liquidated; if we are going to have a President elected by Parliament as the South Africans do, so be it, if we are going to resort to a Westminster Prime Ministerial matrix, so be it, but a modern State like Zimbabwe, which has been abused by power, cannot allow, for all intents and purposes, the reproduction of an imperial President such as the one codified in Chapter 5 of our constitution.

If the President was spending at least $US 4 million per trip, the Prime Minister was also accused of globe-trotting. How much was he (prime minister) spending and did you audit his budget?

The $US 4 million didn’t happen under my watch Violet, that is happening now, that didn’t happen under my watch. Under my watch we would restrict a trip to about US$1.2 million and much of that, about US$700,000 would actually go to the charter fees for Air Zimbabwe. So, that didn’t happen under my watch; it is happening now. The party is on, Santa Claus is back in town, thanks to Patrick Chinamasa and ZANU PF.

But while you were in government, I understand you warned the President and you also warned Cabinet about senior government officials overspending on these foreign trips. What was the response from the Cabinet?

What we did was, and we were very strict, what we did was that in every budget there was an amount for travel and once a Ministry exhausted that, that was the end of it, if you were going to go outside Zimbabwe, whoever was inviting you had to pay for your trip. And that worked, that worked. But part of the problem was that for any Minister to travel, he had to get Cabinet approval, in other words, the President has to approve. So, you would get a situation where Ministers would then get Cabinet approvals, they would come to Treasury and we’d say, ‘look my friend, you exhausted your money’. The other Ministers knew we were tough, so we didn’t have a fight. The one office which we had a problem with was, of course, the OPC because the President thought he had an entitlement to travel whenever he pleased, and of course there were constant fights during my four-and-a-half-year tenure in government.

I understand that he’s got an overdraft facility with the CBZ? As Finance Minister, did you know how much the President’s overdraft was and who covers it?

No, I didn’t know about that. Remember the relations between these – the CBZ is a commercial bank – so its relations with its customer are a matter of privilege. If he runs a personal account, it’s a personal account; I have no idea about that. What I can tell you is that we were concerned about the levels of non-performing loans in the banking system which, at a certain stage, were over 30 percent, so we put measures to ensure that non-performing loans were reduced. As to which characters banks were lending money to, I had no idea. But, what I can tell you is that, before the land reform programme, in 1999 – 2000, 74 percent of bank lending was actually going to the farming sector and the biggest departments in every bank were agro-business departments.

With the collapse of land as collateral following the land reform programme, it’s sad that 37 years after Independence, the biggest borrowers from the banks are actually individuals. And of course, when individuals borrow, you and I know that it’s not for production, it’s for buying flat-screen televisions, buying a Mercedes Benz. And our economy is dead because banks don’t have attractive banking assets where they can lend to. And, if banks can’t lend, it means there is no re-generation of capital, it means there are no start-ups, it means there are no new businesses, and if you compound that with the challenge of the absence of foreign direct investment, you have the current situation which you have in Zimbabwe right now – which is zero, which is deflation, which is a stagnation, which is inertia, which is indifference, which is lackadaisicalness.

So, coming back to the issue of the currency and cash crisis, do you regret choosing the US dollar and not the rand for example, since SA is Zimbabwe’s largest trading partner?

Look, again I know where you are coming from. That question can’t arise because we adopted both the Rand and the US Dollar. We adopted a regime of multiple currencies, it was the market which determined which currency it preferred. And, of course, the predominant mode of exchange is the US Dollar. Even in South Africa itself, despite the fact that they use the Rand, they want importers to pay using the US Dollar, because the US Dollar is more stable and the Rand is volatile. So, it was not government, it was not the Minister of Finance which determined the preference of a currency and remember, if you go to my statement of 17th March 2009 when I introduced STEP (Sustainable Tourism Enterprise Programme) and I revised the budget, I made it clear that the currency of reference was actually the Rand.

But to answer your next question which you haven’t asked, it doesn’t matter if we used the US Dollar, or the South African Rand, or the Chinese Renminbi, or the Nigerian Naira. Unless we have the basics right, we will just bastardise that currency, the way we have bastardised the Zim Dollar, the way we have bastardised the Bearer Cheque, the way we have bastardised the US Dollar, the way we have bastardised the Bond Note. We need to get the fundamentals right and the fundamentals are three things. Number one, we need to produce because when we produce we sell to other countries and when we sell to other countries, we accumulate reserves.

But, Mr Biti, some economists disagree with that because they say – yes, the Rand was used, especially in Bulawayo, but the preferred currency was actually the Dollar, and this made it easier for corrupt elements to smuggle the US Dollar out of the country as the Rand would have been much harder to smuggle out of country.

Why? How?

Because it is not an international currency… (interrupted)

The Rand is an international currency. Who says the Rand is not an international currency?

… as compared to the US Dollar.

Who says the Rand is not an international currency. These are fictitious arguments that are being used by people who have failed. The problem we have right now, the cash shortage, is not as a result of the currency which we are using. The problem which we are having, why people are sleeping in banks, is because Chinamasa has stolen money at the Central Bank. The government is maintaining an overdraft facility at the Central Bank. Since 2014, they’ve been stealing money at the Central Bank but the Central Bank doesn’t have money – IT’S BROKE! So, in fact they’ve been stealing money in other people’s RTG balances, they’ve been stealing money in people’s Nostro accounts. So, when you go and take your money, you won’t find it.

So, assuming the theory is correct, that people are externalising, people are externalising what is theirs. So, if I’ve got $100 and go to my bank and get $100 that shouldn’t affect you Violet, when you go to your bank and ask for $100. But if another person has come and raided your money and my money then we will have a problem. And this is what has happened. There’s been a bank robber, a modern Josey Wales, a modern outlaw in the form of Chinamasa, who has gone and raided the Central Bank to fund excessive government expenditure, to fund excessive recurrent expenditure, and that is the problem.

The issue of people getting money should have happened under my watch, because if people will always externalise, why didn’t they externalise between 2009 and 2013, money was still fungible, the Rand was fungible, and the Rand is an international currency.

Looking at the economy now in terms of Bond notes, banks failing to service people. If you were the Finance Minister, how would you advise the government and indeed the Reserve Bank Governor, Dr Mangudya.? What is the alternative, how can they get out of this?

Firstly, they have to understand that it’s not a monetary issue, so the challenge is not with John Mangudya at all. It’s a fiscal issue, it’s a government issue, it’s a Treasury issue. So, number one, government must put into place conditions where companies are resuscitated, where companies can start producing again, where industry re-opens. There’s no substitute for that, and if it means that we have to go to the Afrexim Bank, if it means we have to go to the IFC if it means we have to go to the African Development Bank, to get at least a billion US dollars which we will put into DIMAF and ZETREF to resuscitate our companies, we have to do that.

Number two, the government itself has to be small; the problem is we’ve got this huge monster called the government, which is leaning on a tiny little productive sector. So, there has to be reform. We have to reform the public work sector. When I was Minister of Finance there were 236,000 public servants. Now, ZANU PF has employed – and there are now 550,000 – ghost workers. Those ghost workers have to go so that the genuine civil servant is properly rewarded. We have to trim government. Another form of reform; we have to get rid of these parastatals which we are only used to create jobs for our sons-in-law. Air Zimbabwe must go and a host of other parastatals that are a vehicle of patronage and arbitrage in our economy.

Number three, we have to come up with a new Diamond Act, because there is a mess in the diamond sector, we have to come up with a new Mines and Minerals Act because there’s a mess in our mining sector. Number 4, we have to repeal the Indigenisation and Empowerment Act so that we can bring in foreign direct investment. So, these are structural reforms. Number 5, we have to deal with our debt. This country has got a sovereign debt of over US$10 billion and that debt is putting a premium on our country.

So, we have to have a genuine debt cancellation programme with the World Bank, with the IMF. So, these are a few of the things we have to do. But the biggest premium on our economy, the biggest sanction on our economy is ZANU PF so everything I am saying is technical, but the real elephant in the room is ZANU PF. The real solution to this country moving forward, the real solution to finding a sustainable solution, is how we deal with this creature called ZANU PF. So, the question is not just about fiscal discipline, the question is ultimately about how we deal with the creature and monster called ZANU PF. It therefore becomes political not economical.

Well, that is the million-dollar question and I hope we will be able to continue with this conversation where we will talk about the political situation in the country, the state of the opposition and coalitions, as political parties prepare for elections next year. Thank you very much Mr Tendai Biti for talking to us on the programme Hot Seat.

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Harare — Farm workers and employers have agreed on a salary increment of 4.2 percent or $3 for 2017, which will see the lowest earner being paid $75 per month effective this month.

According to a collective bargaining agreement signed last Friday between the General Agricultural and Plantation Workers’ Union of Zimbabwe (GAPWUZ) and farmer organisations, the minimum wage for farm workers has been increased from $72 to $75, with the highest paid worker now earning $150.

In South Africa, the lowest paid farm workers earn about $230 per month.

The farmer organisations that agreed to the new wages are the Zimbabwe Commercial Farmers Union, Zimbabwe Farmers Union, Commercial Farmers Union, Zimbabwe Tobacco Association and the Zimbabwe Agricultural Employers Organisation.

“All amounts have been rounded off to the nearest dollar. Employers can apply to the National Employment Council within 14 days for an exemption or partial exemption from paying wages as set up in the above schedule, stating the reasons why that application should be considered,” reads the agreement in part.

The document was signed by a D.H Chimbwanda representing employers, F Zondo representing employees and Simon Jera representing the NEC.

“We still need more to be done. It’s still little but half bread is better than nothing. Employers are lamenting economic challenges,” he said.

Agriculture provides nearly 60 percent of Zimbabwe’s formal employment, according to the World Bank.

“This is unheard of. It’s not a living wage but black monopoly capitalism. The least employed worker must get $100 or more,” Progressive Agriculture and Allied Industries Workers Union of Zimbabwe general secretary, Raymond Sixpence told The Source.

The wages are still far below the poverty datum line, estimated at almost $600.

“It’s not the best deal as the employees were expecting more; but we had to accommodate each other. Employers are struggling to make money in the farming sector which is negatively affected by high operating costs, so the four percent will cushion workers to survive in the meantime,” said Zimbabwe Commercial Farmers Union president, Wonder Chabikwa.

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Chasing the elusive Zimbabwean dream – a review of Arthur Mutambara’s new autobiography

Arthur Guseni Oliver Mutambara’s narrative teases and tantalises as he defines ‘thought leadership’, writes Brezhnev Malaba.

Arthur Guseni Oliver Mutambara, a world-renowned robotics professor and one of the most intriguing figures in Zimbabwean public life, has rarely written about the private dimensions of his life – until now.In this 249-page memoir, In Search of the Elusive Zimbabwean Dream: An Autobiography of Thought Leadership, the first of a three-book series that explores his thoughts and philosophical disposition over a period of 35 years, he delivers a fascinating, provocative and rigorously engrossing tour de force.

Volume one is sub-titled The Formative Years and the Big Wide World (1983-2002).

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At the WEF in China in 2011, Mutambara is seen with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Picture: Supplied

Mutambara, his wife Dr Jacqueline Mutambara, and former US president Bill Clinton at the WEF in Davos in 2010. Picture: Supplied

But what exactly is “the Zimbabwean dream”? Before we even venture there, we must also ask: what does it mean to be Zimbabwean?

This is a nation which held immense promise at independence in 1980. The Zimbabwe dollar was stronger than the US dollar. The country boasted sub-Saharan Africa’s most industrialised economy after South Africa.

Today, 37 years later, there is no national currency. The UN says the rate of formal unemployment has reached a staggering 95% and 72% of the population lives in “extreme poverty”. What “dream” can the world possibly expect from a country led by a 93-year-old president who is eyeing re-election next year?

Surely, dreaming is for tomorrow’s people, not yesterday’s men.

To locate the Zimbabwean dream, we must trace its roots. Mutambara, who turned 50 on May 25, proffers a compelling argument. In his eyes, the Zimbabwean dream can only be realised, first, through a shared national vision and, second, through the creation of what he terms “brand Zimbabwe”.

“For example, we could aspire to make Zimbabwe a globally competitive economy, a prosperous nation with a high quality of life for our people by 2040. Ostensibly, we can then conceive three supporting pillars for this vision. The first pillar should be about the economy, while the second focuses on society, and the third pillar deals with our politics,” he writes.

Mutambara is at his eloquent best when he elucidates the meaning of “a shared Zimbabwean dream”. He does not prescribe a formulaic dream but proposes the collective thought process that could lead to the expression of “a quintessentially Zimbabwean Dream”.

Here his narrative – flowing crisply in present continuous tense – teases and tantalises. Can Zimbabweans dare to dream, in spite of all their well-documented woes? Unfortunately, in this part of the autobiography there is not much meat for readers to really sink their teeth into. But wait a minute, could this be the rocket scientist’s way of rousing our curiosity ahead of the publication of the next two books in the trilogy?

As I read this book, the meaning of “thought leadership” permeated my musings. When Joel Kuntzman, editor-in-chief of Booz, Allen & Hamilton magazine, coined the term in 1994, he emphasised the importance of having ideas “that merit attention”. Mutambara defines the term as “intellectual influence through innovative and pioneering thinking”.

As a journalist, I have found the concept of “thought leadership” captivating. A related term is “public intellectual”. The legendary rabble-rouser Christopher Hitchens, who shares Oxonian leanings with Mutambara, once famously remarked that the duty of the intellectual is essentially twofold: first, to argue for complexity and to insist that phenomena in the world of ideas should not be sloganised or reduced to easily repeated formulae and, second, the intellectual must show that some things are simple and ought not to be obfuscated.

In an intellectually robust and bare-knuckled manner that has come to typify his persona, Mutambara traces the thread of values that has defined his journey from high school top-achiever, leading scientist, business consultant and his eventful plunge into the cauldron of Zimbabwe’s notoriously unforgiving national politics.

There are startlingly vivid accounts of Mutambara’s stand against President Robert Mugabe’s fevered machinations to impose a one-party state in the late 1980s. Amid economic meltdown at the time, students at the University of Zimbabwe (UZ), led by Mutambara among other organisers, displayed amazing bravery and struck a chord with the toiling masses.

Like most Zimbabweans of his generation, Mutambara was an ardent supporter of the national liberation project. In those days, he even described Mugabe as “our upright and incorruptible revolutionary”. But when the revolution went off the rails as corrupt and autocratic leaders subverted the people’s struggle, he committed himself to mobilising against them.

One of the most vexing puzzles in Zimbabwe in the aftermath of the power-sharing Government of National Unity from 2009 to 2013, has been: Where is Arthur Mutambara these days? The autobiography will answer the question. After the 2013 general election, he withdrew from political life. The former deputy prime minister is currently president of the African News Agency, a technology-driven multimedia news platform.

Among the formative experiences in Mutambara’s life was the anti-corruption demonstration of September 1988 by UZ students. He was secretary-general and authored a statement denouncing Mugabe’s government.

In October 1988, Mugabe denounced the protesting students, dismissing them as foolish renegades, and abruptly terminated the state-funded grants and loans of 14 of the 15 students’ union leaders. But they could not touch Mutambara – his university education was being financed by an Anglo American Corporation scholarship. Despite expending his energies on what he describes as “revolutionary confrontation”, he did not neglect his studies and continued winning the university’s coveted book prizes.

There was no viable political opposition in Zimbabwe in the immediate aftermath of the 1987 Unity Accord which saw veteran nationalist Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo’s party Zapu captured and subsumed by Mugabe’s Zanu. With no opposition in what was now a de facto one-party state, the daring actions of students went a long way in galvanising the citizenry. The government hit back viciously, deploying police and soldiers on campus. Badly injured, Mutambara was held in detention without trial for six weeks.

Mutambara attained a BSc(honours) in Electrical and Electronic Engineering at the UZ. He applied for a Rhodes Scholarship and a Fulbright Scholarship. Incredibly, he was offered both. He opted for the Rhodes Scholarship which took him to Oxford University in Britain where he was awarded a Master of Science in Computer Engineering and subsequently a PhD in Robotics and Mechatronics.

It was during his days at Merton College that Mutambara joined the Oxford Union debate chamber and rubbed shoulders with celebrated intellectual dissidents.

The graduate programmes and examinations at Oxford are exacting and demanding, even for the most intelligent of students. Mutambara completed the Master’s degree in one year and the doctorate in just over two years. Donning formal attire and an academic gown, he orally defended his thesis, in a record 45 minutes, stunning his supervisors. It takes some candidates six years to attain a PhD and others have either dropped out or committed suicide in utter frustration.

In his usual brash manner, Mutambara basks in the glory of his achievements at Oxford. Aged 28, he had a BSc, MSc and PhD under his belt. He said: “This African has just cracked the doctorate in two years and two months, and passed without any changes! The traditional Oxford establishment, while pleased with my achievements, looks a bit perturbed. I guess the African has outperformed the master, in his own territory. What an example of effective counter penetration!”

The man is oozing with confidence. At first glance, there are segments of his autobiography which suggest vainglorious boasting. It only takes a nuanced understanding of his personality from the formative days of Hartzell High School to the “City of Dreaming Spires”, to fully comprehend where he is coming from and where he is going.

Besides, although Mutambara has his flaws like every human being, he has plenty to be proud of: a sharp intellect, a fluency in debate, an easy wit, a fiercely independent worldview, and the willingness to denunciate dogma.

Oxford is not the end of his journey. In 1995 he sets out for the US, “the belly of the beast”, where he works as a research scientist at Nasa, professor at the prestigious MIT and management consultant at McKinsey & Company.

In 2002, he returned to Africa, convinced he was now equipped with the necessary strategies and paradigms to make a difference. No doubt, the new book will spark debate and fuel speculation in Zimbabwe. Is Mutambara preparing to run for president? Time will tell.

Some excerpts from the book

How the students fell out with Mugabe over corruption

As Secretary General, with Edgar Mbwembwe as President of the Students’ Union, our most significant action is the Anti-Corruption Demonstration of 29 September 1988.

We need a statement that articulates the issues, and contextualises our demands and action. I author the radical and militant Anti-Corruption Document, with the assistance of the SRC Secretary for Information and Publicity, Tendai Kufa. Though hard-hitting, the statement is measured in its critique of Mugabe as a leader, and Zanu-PF as an institution.

The historic and hugely successful Students’ Union demonstration leads to the arrest and detention of the 15 SRC leaders and UZ lecturers, Kempton Makamure and Eliphas Mukonoweshuro.

Prof Shadrack Gutto (later Director of the Centre for African Renaissance Studies at Unisa) is summarily deported from Zimbabwe. He is being accused of writing the Anti-Corruption Document that we have, in fact, authored.

As a foreigner, a Kenyan, the regime is merciless with him. He is given 48 hours to leave the country. The university government-funded grants and loans for 14 out of the 15 student leaders, are withdrawn. They cannot touch my funding, because, unlike the others, I am on an Anglo American Scholarship, awarded on the basis of outstanding academic merit and achievement.

The Mugabe regime is livid. It tries to pressurise Anglo American executives to withdraw my scholarship. They refuse. I surmise that the imperialists and capitalists have ways of making a positive contribution to the revolution! The Struggle has friends in the most unusual of places.

Two government ministers – Moven Mahachi, Minister of Home Affairs, and Dzingai Mutumbuka, Minister of Higher Education – are particularly virulent and Draconian in their persecution of students and lecturers. From the content of the Anti-Corruption Document, it is clear that we still consider Zanu-PF as our party, and Robert Mugabe as our leader.

We are actually appealing to Mugabe, our upright and incorruptible revolutionary, to take drastic steps against corruption. How wrong we are. Mugabe is out of the country when we go into the streets. Upon his return, he is incensed by our Anti-Corruption Demonstration and its document.

He denounces us as desperadoes without better things to do with our time. We are gutted, despondent and totally disillusioned. This is it. We are done with these running dogs of imperialism. We sever links with Robert Mugabe and his Zanu-PF. The divorce is final. This is October 1988.

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

Confrontation with Mugabe over the one-party state

A direct confrontation with Mugabe over the one-party state ensues. Friday, 13 July 1990, is graduation day for the student groups that finished their studies in December 1989.

As the President of the Students’ Union, traditionally and by convention, I am part of the graduation process, which includes Mugabe as the Chancellor of the university.

I was in detention for six weeks in October and November 1989, and we are meeting for the first time since that ugly episode. Moreover, as a union, we have now taken an official position against the one-party system in Zimbabwe. After the main ceremony in the Great Hall, we all troop to the College Green’ where graduates and their guests are served food and beverages. This is where it all happens.

Vice Chancellor Walter Kamba introduces me to Mugabe, and the armed and menacing Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) operatives quickly encircle the three of us. Mugabe tries small talk, ‘How many new Engineering graduates were there today? When I graduated from Fort Hare in 1951, there were nine graduates in the whole country.’ I am not having any of that meaningless talk. I know I only have this man for a minute, if not seconds. I have to attack with stealth and vigour. I unexpectedly and aggressively barge in, completely out of the blue, saying, ‘We do not want to talk about any of that. We are completely against the one-party state by any means necessary. We do not want a one-party state in Zimbabwe!’

Mugabe is stunned. He looks dazed, but soon gathers his composure, and tries to shoot back, ‘If you take such extreme views we will be dismissive of your views.’ I was ready for him. ‘We have already dismissed your thinking, so it is not consequential whether you dismiss our views or not!’

Mugabe is visibly livid. His face is awash with discomfort. He is beside himself with rage. However, he cannot find his tongue. Kamba then moves with alacrity and dexterity in a rescue bid to calm the raging waters. ‘We need rational disputation we must have collegial dialogue.’ It is too late. I am not even listening. The mission is accomplished. The numerous security details who had completely encircled the three of us quickly whisk away the wounded and verbally incapacitated Mugabe.

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

Dealing with racism in the United States, in spite of high academic achievement

All these academic endeavours are not without amusing and invidious incidents with political undertones. In February 2000, while teaching at MIT, during my first Advanced Control Systems lecture, two white professors in the department decide to attend my class.

They explain their presence by saying they want to see how I present the subject matter in order to efficaciously link my material to theirs, as our subjects are related. I am not convinced. I suspect they are just checking to see whether the African can effectively teach at MIT – the top Engineering school in the world! Well, I have to deliver.

When I am done, the entire class of 26 students stands up in a rousing standing ovation. This is not even a seminar. It is a class lecture. The two observing colleagues sheepishly leave the room and go straight to the Department Head, Prof Edward Crawley, who later shares with me the content of their discussions. ‘I have been teaching here at MIT for 15 years. I have never seen such a rousing standing ovation given for a class lecture. This guy is good,’ one of the wowed colleagues says to Prof Crawley.

I quietly say to myself: ‘How patronising. Even with your 15 years at MIT, what makes you think that you are, or you understand, the benchmark or reference point for teaching ability or skill? Surely, an African or a black person can have capacity and ability, beyond and unexperienced by the best of white achievement. Black success or ability does not need to be referenced to, benchmarked by, or constrained by white standards. There is no need for such validation.’

Another amusing altercation occurs at the Nasa Lewis Research Centre in July 1997, during discussions about applications of my mobile robotics research results to US Unmanned Military Vehicles (UMVs) and the Nasa Mars Sojourner Rover.

In attendance are top officials from Nasa, the US Army and MIT. This is a high-level, top-secret meeting whose contents and outcomes the US researchers and scientists would not want to get to their competitors, in particular the Russians and the Chinese.

The US Army Chief Research Scientist – who is also a retired Four Star General – chairing the meeting, sternly looks at me and says: ‘Where are you from?’ I say, ‘Zimbabwe’. ‘Well, we are not about to be attacked by that small country. You can stay in the meeting.’ ‘How rich?’ I quietly ponder to myself. ‘As if you have a choice! These are my ideas we seek to apply to UMVs and the Mars Rover. Without me, there would be no meeting.

‘In any case, how do you know that my loyalty does not lie with the Chinese or the Russians?’ Well, well, that is how it is. White supremacy always wants you to feel that it is doing you a favour, even when you are the one holding all the chips.

* The views expressed here are not necessarily those of Independent Media.

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Netsai Mangwende Finance Director on the Executive Committee at AIG UK

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Mozambicans Embrace Bond Notes, Trade Them in Zim Black Market
— As Zimbabwe continues to grapple with cash shortages with banks limiting daily withdrawals to as little as $80 per week, bond notes have flooded the Mozambican markets.
Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, last year, introduced a surrogate currency as a panacea to cash shortages and curb externalization of foreign currency but the situation has worsened with bank queues refusing to go.
A survey conducted by New Zimbabwe revealed that bond notes have actually flooded the Mozambican side and are being used alongside the local meticals (MT) in areas such as Mesica, Manica and Chimoio.
Vendors and taxi operators accept bond notes as legal tender and most touts exchange them for either US dollar or meticals.
The bond note is trading at 55 000 per 100 while the USD is pegged at 60 000.
Vendors in Mozambique said they have accepted bond notes because most of their clients were Zimbabweans who flood the country to buy bales of second hand clothes, kitchen utensils and cosmetics.
“At first we resisted bond notes but we discovered that we were losing out because our clients are Zimbabweans. We now accept bond and then we cross to Zimbabwe to exchange with USD at the black market.
“As you can see we have pegged bond at 55 against meticals and then USD at 60 depending on the notes that you have,” said one vendor who was carrying more than $1000 in bond notes.
Another Zimbabwean who identified himself as Jacob Marowa from Harare and said works for Asians said the local business community was accepting bond note at low rates and then buy USD in Zimbabwe on the black market.
“I go to Zimbabwe with a bag full of bond to buy USD every day. There are plenty of bond notes circulating this side of Moza thus why banks in Zimbabwe are failing to supply enough cash to their clients.
“Even street vendors who sell sweets have bond notes and coins. They prefer bond because they know its par with USD in Zimbabwe unlike the local worthless meticals,”said Marowa.
He said he smuggles the bond notes during midnight and buy the USD on the black market for 103 bonds for US$100.
A local economist, Terry Zijena, said as long Zimbabwe continues to import goods such as clothing, cosmetics and utensils, the country will continue to face cash shortages as the money is being smuggled outside through porous borders.
“The Mozambican business community is taking advantage of the crisis in the country to make money. They are rating the bond at 55 against local currency and 60 against USD. Already locals are disadvantaged by these exchange rates but they don’t have choice because they want to survive,” said Zijena.

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Ministerial spokesperson Mayihlome Tshwete says next week Mentor will probably say Gigaba is an ‘extraterrestrial’.

In the wake of the media storm that followed EFF allegations that former home affairs minister Malusi Gigaba irregularly awarded Gupta family members ‘early naturalisation’ certificates, former ANC MP and serial social-media-explosive-files-dropper Vytjie Mentor has taken to her preferred hunting ground, Facebook, to question Gigaba’s birth and origin.

The volley of Facebook posts were published over a 24-hour period.

Gigaba’s ministerial spokesperson, Mayihlome Tshwete, told The Citizen that Mentor should not continue being quoted as a credible source, as she had previously said the minister signed the nuclear deal before he was even appointed as finance minister, and this turned out to be factually incorrect.

“This is a clear example of absurdity and the ludicrous nature of allegations levelled at the minister in a clumsy and orchestrated campaign that does not care about facts and is aimed at discrediting the minister,” Tshwete said.

Tshwete also told The Citizen it was “irresponsible of a former member of parliament to make comments that fuel xenophobia and expose her ignorance”.

“Next week she will say the minister is an extraterrestrial being.”

According to Mentor, the finance minister’s original surname is Gigamba, not Gigaba as known.

In another post, she refers to Gigaba as “our Zimbabwean minister”.

She also informed her social media followers the former ANC Youth League leader “is not a South African”.

Mentor challenged her followers to provide proof of Gigaba being capable of speaking isiZulu for more than an hour.

She alleged his “umbilical cord was not buried on the South African soil”.

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Old Mutual in unpaid salaries brawl

Employees from Westgate Harare cinemas which were owned by Old Mutual Properties cry fowl as their salaries have not been paid since November 2016

The operation closed its doors on the 27th of April 2017 following a disagreement with their franchisee Ster-Kinekor Theatres caused by Old Mutual’s arrogance.

“It’s unfair how such a big organization as Old Mutual can not pay salaries even after we were working and banking all the takings in their Cabs bank account” said Tinotenda Chimukute who was a supervisor at the Westgate operation.

“Moreover, they did not even pay a single statutory entitlement when they closed the operation in April .

“We have families to feed and have been loyal to Old Mutual since 2012 for them to treat us like this” -“We submitted a petition to them so that they would pay the outstanding salaries last week on Thursday and they are not taking us seriously because we are nobodies and they are bullies”

Petition submitted below

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By Elias Mambo and Obey Manayiti

THE single biggest local beneficiary of Anjin Investments Pvt Ltd’s diamond mining revenues was the military as it controlled a 30% stake in the joint venture with the Chinese government-owned corporation, the Anhui Foreign Economic Construction (Group) Co Ltd (Afec), the Zimbabwe Independent has established.

This news article is part of an ongoing ground-breaking investigation into the Marange alluvial diamonds discovery and subsequent plundering at various stages by state and non-state actors.

The special series is supported by the Investigative Journalism Fund.

Anjin is a joint venture between Afec, a large construction company which sources say is connected to the military-industrial complex in China, and Matt Bronze Enterprises, which was formed by the Defence ministry and the Zimbabwe Defence Forces through Glass Finish Investments (Pvt) Ltd.

The agreement to form a joint venture was signed by Brigadier-General Charles Tarumbwa for Matt Bronze (Pvt) Ltd and Peng Zheng on behalf of Anhui.

Information obtained showed Anjin’s Zimbabwean directors were drawn from the military and police. They included Defence ministry permanent secretary Martin Rushwaya, then senior assistant police commissioner Oliver Chibage, Munyaradzi Machacha, who works in Zanu PF’s commissariat department, director of Marange Resources Mabasa Temba Hawadii and assistant police commissioner Nonkosi Ncube.

Non-executive board members are retired army officer Morris Masunungure and retired colonel Romeo Mutsvunguma.

Contacted for comment, Zimbabwe Defence Forces spokesperson Colonel Overson Mugwisi referred all the questions to the Defence ministry permanent secretary Rushwaya. “All the questions with regards to Anjin and diamonds mining can be directed to the Ministry of Defence permanent secretary because we were not handling the issue,” Mugwisi said.

Anhui has run many projects across Africa, including army and police barracks in Ghana. In Zimbabwe, it built the US$98 million National Defence College along the Harare-Mazowe highway. The deal was financed by the Chinese state-owned Eximbank.

Military sources said this week the US$98 million Eximbank loan was guaranteed by proceeds from the diamonds mining to pay off the loan. Afec was in charge of the construction.

Zimbabwe’s diamond mining industry has been plagued by allegations of opacity, corruption and under-remittance of proceeds to Treasury, forcing the cash-strapped government to stop all diamond mining operations in order to form the Zimbabwe Consolidated Diamond Company (ZCDC).

Anjin’s shareholding structure has been shrouded in mystery for years.

However, information shows that an intricate web of Chinese and Zimbabwean military networks controlled the country’s biggest diamond mining company, Anjin Investments (Pvt) Ltd through front or nominee companies designed to camouflage the involvement of security forces.

Military sources said Anjin also advanced loans to distressed parastatals with hopes of resuscitating them. “We helped to resuscitate distressed companies such as the Air Zimbabwe and Kingstones with hopes that they would keep afloat,” a source said.

“Anjin also contributed significant amounts to the Presidential Scholarship Fund and at times we advanced funds to government so that it could pay its civil servants,” the source said, adding: “By the time operations were stopped in February last year, all mining companies were contributing US$30 million to government every month.”

Another source also said it was not true that Anjin did not pay royalties to government.

“The auction was carried out by government and, when the money was deposited, the system was set in a manner where all royalties were immediately deducted.”

“Buyers were approved by government and the process of mining followed the approved Kimberly Process Certification Scheme procedure.”

The Chinese have been accused of creaming off US$200 million from Anjin.

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