Zanu and ZEC respond to MDC Alliance appeal, to be heard on Wednesday; ED fires Mugabe-linked spies; and more
Zitamar’s Mozambique and Zimbabwe Daily Briefing emails reach thousands of Southern Africa-focused professionals and investors every day. For details on how to advertise with us, contact subscriptions@zitamar.com.
Today’s Headlines:
Zanu and ZEC respond to MDC Alliance appeal, to be heard on Wednesday
ED fires Mugabe-linked spies
US diplomat clarifies sanctions situation
Banks in bid to raise US$200m for agriculture
UK and EU accused of pressuring election monitoring NGO to doctor its reports
Million-dollar gold theft from border police station
Zanu and ZEC respond to MDC Alliance appeal, to be heard on Wednesday (NewZimbabwe, The Herald, Zimbabwe Independent)
The Constitutional Court has set next Wednesday as the date it will hear the petition by MDC Alliance leader, Nelson Chamisa against the presidential election victory by Zanu-PF candidate, Emmerson Mnangagwa. In their responses to Chamisa’s petition, Mnangagwa and the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) say the case must be dismissed with costs as it was filed later than the seven days allowed by the law and that some respondents were not served with the papers in time. Both also argue that Chamisa does not provide evidence of vote rigging, but mathematical models and secondary data downloaded from social media. At a case management meeting in his chambers yesterday, Chief Justice Luke Malaba ruled that petitions by respondents supporting Chamisa will be excluded. The Alliance is expected to formally request the ConCourt to allow live broadcast of the hearing.
Zimbabwe’s courts do not have a record of ruling against the ruling party or the government, and Malaba may have dropped a hint in that direction well in advance when rejecting submissions by two respondents - Noah Manyika and Daniel Shumba - supporting Chamisa’s appeal.
ED fires Mugabe-linked spies (Business Times, The Herald)
The purge by the Emmerson Mnangagwa administration is still underway as the new leader seeks to rid the system of all the Robert Mugabe loyalists. This latest victims are three senior officers within the Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO), who have been dismissed, while two others have been reassigned.
According to the Zimbabwe Independent, the expelled include the director of counter-intelligence, Musafare Nyamudahondo, director of the technical department, Charles Hwekwete and director for economics, Jimias Madzingira.
Mnangagwa’s has promised to remove “criminals surrounding” former president, Robert Mugabe. In the build up to the military intervention, the CIO helped Mugabe suppress opposing views - and Mnangagwa himself was a victim of the CIO, during the bruising battle to succeed Mugabe.
US diplomat clarifies sanctions situation (Newsday)
The ZDERA act blocking international finance to Zimbabwe for another five years can be cancelled at any time, US diplomat Christopher Hunnicutt told a public forum in Harare yesterday. “When ZDERA was created, it was such that it can be removed once government has made reforms to improve the economy, human rights conditions and its democratic State,” Hunnicutt said. Separately, there are “about 56 entities and 85 individuals still on the targeted sanctions list and these will constantly go under review,” he said.
It’s important for the US to emphasise that their stance to Zimbabwe can shift if they see improvements in governance and human rights, giving the government an incentive for immediate good behaviour - rather than letting Zimbabweans think that the die is now cast for the next five years.
Banks in bid to raise US$200m for agriculture (Zimbabwe Independent on Zimbabwe Situation)
Zimbabwean financial institutions are seeking prescribed asset status for more than $200 million worth of bonds to finance the agricultural sector in the 2018/19 season. Pension funds are required to allocate a set amount of funding to government or parastatal ‘prescribed assets’, meaning they should be oversubscribed. The sector needs $1.3bn each season, and other sources of support will be relied upon including direct government funding and contract farming.
UK and EU accused of pressuring election monitoring NGO to doctor its reports (Zimbabwe Independent) (Herald) (Sunday Mail)
The Election watchdog, Zimbabwe Election Support Network (ZESN) has reportedly come under pressure from donors including the European Union and Britain to give a favourable report on Zimbabwe’s electoral process. Excerpts from ZESN’s reports are being used in defense of Emmerson Mnangagwa against the MDC Alliance’s court application challenging the credibility of the election.
Part of ZESN’s reports endorsed the biometric voters roll compiled by Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) along with the election results - conflicting with reports from other civic organisations that observed the electoral process and voter registration was flawed.
The accusations against the UK, in particular, are reaching fever pitch in Zimbabwe. It is probably true that the UK saw a peaceful transition to a Mnangagwa government as the best outcome of the elections - and there are accusations that the ambassador was openly supporting Zanu-PF at public functions; but there seems to be little evidence to suggest they pressured ZESN to change its results.
Million-dollar gold theft from border police station (NewZimbabwe, The Herald)
Gold worth almost a million dollars has been stolen from Plumtree police station, on the border with Botswana. The 28.5 kg haul had been on show at the police station after the Border Control and Minerals Unit stopped it being smuggled into Botswana. The theft was discovered on Wednesday after an officer on duty found the armoury door unlocked.
On the face of it it looks like an inside job, and the coming weeks or months will show if there is the will to investigate it properly. The gold must certainly have been a temptation to the underpaid officers working at the station.
Tweet of the Day:
I thanked the SADC and AU observers who recently joined our celebration of democracy. Their verdict was unanimous: While there is always room for improvement, the elections were credible, free and fair.
It is now time for the nation to unite and look forward. (3/3)
August 17, 2018Happening today:
I thanked the SADC and AU observers who recently joined our celebration of democracy. Their verdict was unanimous: While there is always room for improvement, the elections were credible, free and fair.
It is now time for the nation to unite and look forward. (3/3)
President Mnangagwa at SADC Summit in Namibia