FAILING ECONOMY HURTS CHILDREN

Picture : Online

Growing up in Zimbabwe during the 80’s and 90’s was like a stroll through wonderland where children had endless fantasies, but, becoming a vendor was never one of them.

I met a group of primary school children in Bulawayo’s city centre on the last day of school, earlier this month, who were all jubilant showing a satisfaction that the school term was over and they had already switched to play mode.

As I watched them cross the street at a robot controlled intersection, I could not help but feel a nostalgic tug as I yearned for those carefree days when my fantasies gave me exciting experiences daily -  from being a pilot, transforming into Peter Ndlovu then to ‘Bret the hit man Hart’. The hypnotic state of euphoria I was experiencing while watching these children was bliss and I could feel myself smile with contentment.

While I enjoyed this view, the bubbly pupils edged closer to me but, when I heard what they were saying and I was jolted back to the reality of present day Zimbabwe, my heart sank.

“Screen guard yese dollar...dollar” shouted one, while another countered with “Umuthi wama gundwane lama wuwu dollar..... dollar,” sending the whole pack into stitches.

At that point, I remembered that children craft fantasies from observed experience and I understood that a failing national economy was failing the future.

Fantasies cultivate determination and motivation such that if a child dreams about being a doctor, accountant or journalist, they have a strong personal will to work towards that goal. They aim for the sky and even if they fail to reach the sky, their fall is broken by tree tops.

With a 90% unemployment rate, our children are inundated with various modes of informal employment like vendors, touts and thieves. This however does not mean they lose their creative impressionable talent and as such, they idolise those who best practise their informal trade.

 Gone are the days when children would want to be a teacher, nurse or policeman because these public officers no-longer command respect and trust which degenerates to awe in young minds. Now their very sensitive feelers sense resentment in adults when they see yet another roadblock and record every slouched move of their teachers as they wait to dismiss the class.

Children observe their way into resenting civil service because it depicts discontent from everyone including the servants themselves. What then do we expect when our children see vendors shouting their lungs out, cracking jokes and laughing to attract the next dollar?

Education has always been praised as the only treasure safe from thieves and robbers but has Zimbabwe not become the ultimate con artist by stealing even this personal jewel?

 Graduation time is upon the country once again bringing with it more questions.

Is there any pride in celebrating that degree or diploma and waking up the following morning disillusioned by the reality that the only open road is to the streets where that certificate on your living room wall becomes no better than the one you got at birth?

Maybe it is time parents taught their children to revere politics and work towards becoming the next government official whose work includes lies, more lies, pomp and funfare. Once they master political acumen, they could then buy half the country and own its citizens but are they not civil SERVANTS?

 Children of this generation watch their siblings, parents and even grandparents toil with lethargy to put food on the table – white collar or not - the struggle is the same.

Today we hear the elderly complain of moral decadence, lack of vision and many other vices in the young generation but on this day I realised the elders are to blame. - Society 24

Gono in the RED

Former Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Governor Dr Gideon Gono’s Greystone Park property will next week be auctioned over non-payment of a $1,3 million debt.

Gideon Gono

Gono bought several vehicles on credit from a local car dealer Oasis Motors six years ago for his staff and operations at Lunar Chickens and other companies, but failed to settle the debt.
Oasis Motors successfully sued Dr Gono at the High Court and obtained an order for payment of the debt. Dr Gono did not pay the debt resulting in the attachment of the immovable property in Greystone Park measuring 4 654 square metres.
Yesterday, Zim Auctions and Real Estate advertised the sale of Number 8 Edstone Road, Greystone Park. The property will be auctioned on August 26, in Harare.
Oasis Motors filed summons for provisional sentence at the High Court on the strength of an acknowledgement of debt signed by Dr Gono on January 31, 2009 when he bought the vehicles.
In the summons filed by Oasis Motors’ lawyers Chitewe Law Practice on January 27 last year, Oasis claimed $1 319 000 with interest.
Dr Gono received vehicles for his staff and operations at his companies, including Lunar Chickens on credit. The vehicles were valued at $1 749 000, but Dr Gono partly paid the debt, leaving a balance of $1 319 000.
According to the agreement, Dr Gono was supposed to pay the debt in full by January 31 2010, but failed.
Despite demand, Dr Gono did not settle the debt, resulting in Oasis Motors instituting legal proceedings at the High Court.
In his opposing affidavit dated February 17, 2015, Dr Gono argued that at the time when the agreement of sale was signed, charging in foreign currency was illegal hence the acknowledgement of debt relied upon by Oasis Motors should be dismissed as an illegality.
Dr Gono also argued that the acknowledgement of debt relied upon is dated January 31 2009, hence the suit must fail because it was filed outside the three-year period permitted in terms of the Prescription Act. Oasis Motors, however, won its case. Source: The Herald

Plot to purge Zim Vice President?

ZANU PF’s youth and women’s leagues have stepped up their campaign to push out Vice-President Emmerson Mnangagwa and have him replaced by a female candidate, amid reports the two party structures were planning to hold crunch meetings next week to set the ball rolling for an extraordinary congress.

Party insiders told NewsDay that First Lady Grace Mugabe and Senate President Edna Madzongwe’s names were being mentioned, as potentials to replace Mnangagwa under the guise of seeking gender parity.

Contacted for comment, Zanu PF commissar, Saviour Kasukuwere yesterday said the party would be guided by its constitution.

“We always follow the constitution of the party,” he said, without elaborating further.

Women’s league deputy secretary, Eunice Sandi-Moyo declined to comment on the matter, saying: “If your source told you that, then why are you asking me? You want me to confirm what your sources have told you? Why don’t you ask your sources to clarify?”

Knives have long been out for Mnangagwa, who is accused of leading Team Lacoste, a faction that is reportedly campaigning for him to replace President Robert Mugabe, an accusation the Vice-President has
denied.

Mnangagwa landed the Vice-Presidency at the party’s 2014 congress. Zanu PF’s next congress is due in 2019, a year after the crunch 2018 elections, which Mugabe has already expressed interest to contest.

A source revealed calls for an extraordinary congress would soon be made by several provinces.

“The congress will be pushed by provinces, as provided for under article 26(1c) of the (Zanu PF) constitution,” the source said.

“The youth and women’s leagues are critical players in this strategy. Soon, they will be convening meetings at national level and afterwards their resolutions will cascade down to provincial structures. Their resolutions will be used to mobilise the lower structures in calling for an early congress.”

Quizzed over the feasibility of such a plot, a top Zanu PF official, who declined to be named for security reasons, said the resolutions will be coming as a directive and provincial executives will be forced to abide by the orders.

“That will be a directive and you know how we deal with directives in Zanu PF. The resolutions will be implemented as they are,” the official said.

“What we are only looking forward to, at the moment, is to first have a resolution, then buy-in will not be a problem.”

Section 26 of the Zanu PF constitution provides that an early congress may be convened “wherever it is deemed necessary and at the instance of: (a) the majority of the members of the central committee; or (b) the President and first secretary, at the instance of not less than one-third of members of the central committee; or (c) the President and first secretary, at the instance of at least five provincial executive councils by resolutions to that effect”.

Already, some youth leaders and war veterans have implored the party to call for a special congress that will decisively decimate Mnangagwa’s faction and his ambitions to succeed Mugabe.

Addressing war veterans recently at the Zanu PF headquarters in Harare, Manicaland Provincial Affairs minister Mandiitawepi Chimene said an early congress was the panacea to the Zanu PF succession wars.

She singled out Mnangagwa, as the source of problems rocking Zanu PF and cited a litany of allegations against him.
Another Zanu PF source said a motion for Mnangagwa’s ouster would be kickstarted in the coming weeks, so that all necessary procedures are met.

“Because section 28 gives a timeframe and circumstances for the holding of an extraordinary congress, it is prudent that the motion moves now so that by December, all procedures would have been met,” the source said.

“The President, after receiving the resolution, has to forward it to the secretary for administration (Ignatius Chombo), who has six weeks to give notice of the said session.”

The latest anti-Mnangagwa campaign comes after the women’s league failed last year to push through a resolution for the appointment of a female Vice-President.

Since his appointment as Vice-President in 2013, Mnangagwa has fought numerous internal battles to save his job, as senior party officials, including Grace, have publicly accused him of clandestinely plotting Mugabe’s ouster. - Source Newsday

Mugabe moves to pacify military

PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe has moved swiftly to pacify the country’s soldiers by dangling several carrots in their faces, as public anger over his alleged misrule continues to swell.

Mugabe’s government has been struggling to pay civil servants amid reports of restlessness within the rank and file of the military.
Military officials have reportedly also been sent to camps “to check on morale” and Mugabe sought to show the soldiers he was aware of their poor conditions of service.
In his address at the Zimbabwe Defences Forces’ Day commemorations, Mugabe yesterday presented an uncharacteristically short speech — 14 minutes — where he pledged to improve soldiers’ working and living conditions to ensure they do not join the spontaneous anti-government protests that have rocked his regime over the past two months.

“In this regard, the defence forces recently acquired a fleet of troop-carrying vehicles, staff cars and buses to facilitate the movement of personnel to and from their respective work stations,” he said.
“In addition, efforts are still underway to provide decent accommodation to members of the defence forces, under the Public Sector Investment Programme and the Zimbabwe Defence Forces Benefit Fund.”
Mugabe, in the past two days, steered clear of controversial issues rocking his administration, among them the decision by disgruntled war veterans to turn their backs on him last month at a time opposition and civil society groups were piling pressure on him to step down.
The political fissures come as Mugabe is battling to contain fierce factional fights within his ruling Zanu PF party, where two distinct factions — G40, said to be loyal to First Lady Grace Mugabe and Team Lacoste, which reportedly pays allegiance to Vice-President Emmerson Mnangagwa — are publicly jostling to sponsor his successor.
Mugabe’s extension of an olive branch to the soldiers appears aimed at keeping their loyalty, amid allegations they were dabbling in party politics.
The President last year lashed out at the military for meddling in the internal fights for control in Zanu PF.
The veteran leader told the Zanu PF annual conference in Victoria Falls that there were elements within the country’s army, police and intelligence, who had been sucked into the brutal succession war currently engulfing the ruling party.
“The situation we have now is untenable because we now get information that some in the army, police and intelligence are involved in factionalism. They are moving around telling people their chosen candidates. Let us stop that — it’s ruining the party,” he said then. - Source Newsday