/ 16 April 2010

To grab or not?

As the deadline approaches for foreign companies in Zimbabwe to show progress in ceding control to local investors, the row between Zanu-PF and the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) over the controversial law has escalated.

A spokesperson for MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai had suggested that the indigenisation law, under which 51% of all large companies must be handed over to blacks, had been abandoned. The MDC has overall control of economic ministries in Zimbabwe’s unity government.

But on Wednesday Zanu-PF angrily dismissed the claim although Zanu-PF Empowerment Minister Saviour Kasukuwere told the Mail & Guardian that regulations under the Act could be watered down. He said executives of defaulting companies would not be arrested; instead companies would be given more time to comply, and compliance would not be enforced across the economy, but “sector by sector”. But he insisted that the law and the compliance deadline of Thursday this week remained in force.

The row is the latest to highlight the hardening political positions in Zimbabwe, despite President Jacob Zuma’s much-vaunted mediation.

In part the deadlock is being blamed on ANC Youth League leader Julius Malema’s recent trip to the country, during which he described the MDC as a “Mickey Mouse” party and pledged electoral support for Zanu-PF.

A report presented to Zuma shows the two sides have agreed on a range of reforms, including electoral changes such as the formation of a new electoral commission.

But long-standing conflict persists over senior appointments, notably those of senior MDC official Roy Bennett, Reserve Bank governor Gideon Gono and attorney general Johannes Tomana. The allocation of 10 provincial governorships also remains in dispute.

Negotiators say that even the agreed reforms are at risk if Zuma cannot force an early deal on the contentious issues. Now he also has to deal with sceptical MDC officials who have been angered by Malema’s visit and who are beginning to doubt the impartiality of Zuma’s role.

Baleka Mbete, the ANC chairperson, is scheduled to be in Harare soon and Zanu-PF is likely to try to turn her visit into another propaganda opportunity. But it will also give Zuma a chance to try to ease the strained relations with the MDC.

Nelson Chamisa, the MDC spokesperson, said that since the last round of talks there had been no movement “on the key issues [where] we’ve always flagged — provincial governors, Bennett and the offices of the attorney general and Reserve Bank”.

Chamisa said there had been “correct body language and signals” during Zuma’s visit but positions had hardened since then.

He said Malema had “complicated the negotiation process” and the MDC had asked the ANC “if there is a distinction between ANC policy and the outbursts of this young person”.

Zuma has insisted that he is impartial and that all sides will be treated with equal respect.

The job nobody wants
Job vacancy: male applicants only. Skills required: dexterity, ability to tie a knot, hard heart. Anyone prone to hesitation or mercy need not apply.

Zimbabwe is searching for a hangman. Chikurubi prison, a maximum-security facility outside Harare, has been trying to fill the post for five years, but in vain, the Daily News of Zimbabwe reported this week.

The absence of an executioner is a mixed blessing for 50 condemned men. It is a reprieve, but it is also an agonising and indefinite wait on death row in a jail dubbed a gulag because of its inhumane conditions.

Zimbabwe’s last hangman quit in 2005 after hanging two armed robbers who murdered a prison guard while escaping from jail. The position has since remained unfilled despite unemployment in the country hitting 94% last year.

The Daily News set out the requirements for any would-be Albert Pierrepoint: “Prison officials say the job of a hangman involves techniques and procedures that are very simple to learn. The candidate for the job need not possess any previous experience, neither does he have to be literate. The hangman’s job is reserved only for men. The job demands strength and unwavering focus. It is not for the faint-hearted.

“If a hangman is found, jail officials will teach him how to tie the noose and train him to maintain the correct posture while executing, as this is vital.”

It said: “But it appears the toughest part of the job is not about ropes and levers. It is about conscience. A hangman should never have second thoughts; if he does he should be retired,” said a former principal prison officer, who spoke to the Daily News on condition of anonymity.

Lawyers and journalists based in Harare confirmed that the prison has been struggling to find a hangman.

Some death-row inmates — their petitions for clemency rejected by President Robert Mugabe — have been in solitary confinement for more than a decade.

Last month one of them, Shepherd Mazango, challenged the impasse in an appeal to Zimbabwe’s supreme court. He said: “Among us are George Manyonga who has spent 13 years awaiting execution; James Dube and Bright Gwashinga, who have spent 10 and five years respectively awaiting execution.

“This has caused severe trauma on the inmates that some of them are losing their mind — Worse still, to think that I can spend 13 years before execution, like my colleague George Manyonga, crushes me.”

Chikurubi prison is notorious for its filthy, freezing and overcrowded cells infested by maggots and rats. –David Smith