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Thursday 23 October 2008

George Charamba aka Nathaniel Manheru a Cash and Forex baron



Pic. Zanu PF supporters josling for grain handouts at Mupandawana Growth Point People's shop


Forget his recent attack on Zanu PF leadership paralysis and indifference being a realisation that change is now imperative George Charamba is on a self enrichment advertising campaign couched in deceptive political backstabbing and ingratiation with boss Robert Mugabe.




Hentac Investments trading as Global Agricultural Services is an obscure company that has emerged in Zimbabwe with the noble objective of providing farming solutions in impoverished Zimbabwe whose backbone Agro Industry is reeling from the aftermath of the chaotic land reforms of 2000 by the Zanu PF regime.

With offices perched in the 2nd Floor of ZFU Building situated at 102 Fife Avenue the hazy company owned by George Charamba aka Nathaniel Manheru, the Information and Publicity Permanent Secretary who doubles as Robert Mugabe’s spokesperson, the company is one of the many private enterprises of Zanu PF conduits to access funding from the fiscus and benefit Zanu PF apologists.

Operations Manager, Isdore Charamba a brother of the Information and Publicity Secretary is the Key man of the enterprise.

He made some startling revelations about the strategy of the company and its operations.

“We are the only company in the country at present with maize seed stocks stashed throughout the country including at locked Harare Agricultural Show Society exhibition halls in the Harare Show grounds.

Our market intelligence surveys have shown that Farm and City, Seedco and Mashco as well as other established Agro Industry warehousing and distribution enterprises are reeling from forex shortages and at the verge of collapse and we want to meet them on their way down as we shoot up to become the dominant Agro Industry distributor in the country,” he bragged.

Asked how the new enterprise had been selectively sparred the debilitating forex crunch that is threatening established players he disclosed that the established entities are paying the price of bureaucracy and delayed response to fast changing economic conditions that demand on the spot decision making impossible to make in large organisation heavily regulated by policies and procedures.

Asked how bureaucracy inhibited decision making in large and established enterprise to earn forex, Charamba’s brother described in detail how his hazy company earns its forex.

“We have lived for six months without a substantive government and developed strategies to cope without Government support. For some of us what Government does or does not do to regulate trade is no longer of material consequence.

We maintain a balanced mix of our investments between the Zim dollar and Forex because the Zim dollar and other liquid assets are no longer current assets but current liabilities.

What we do is when we need Zim dollars we have a network of individual and company depositors with billions they cannot access in cash and through banned RTGS transfers but can move through cheques.

These healthy Zim dollar account holders desperately need to convert their funds into the more stable forex denomination and give us unbelievable rates for Zim dollar cheque to US dollar.

While many selling a US dollar at a street cash value of ZW$20000,00 we opt for the cheque exchange rate of US$1.00: ZW$7 000 000.00. We then purchase high demand agricultural and other products in short supply using bank certified cheques and immediately sell them on the street at lower than retail prices obtaining in formal retail outlets for cash.

We use that cash to purchase forex at US $1: ZW$20000.00. For argument’s sake if I have US$100.00 I could get a cheque of ZW$700 000 000.00 and within 4 days in place of ZW$2 000 000.00 I would get if I opt for Black Market street cash rate.

There is no wayZW$700 000 000.00 will reduce to ZW$2 000 000.00 in four days or a month for that matter even in our hyper inflationary environment.

Because we are established in this game we have outlets we use cheques to purchase our leisure and daily needs so we get better value for our forex then we would if we were to purchase goods from forex shops priced at US$1:$20 000.00 regardless of how highly priced they are in Zim,” he paused.

So you do not create any value but just circulate money to increase you luxury level in all this because all you have said is you use the same US$100.00 but can acquire ZW$700 000 000.00 worth of goods instead of ZW$2 000 000.00 and thus will have a ZW$698 000 000.00 surplus ZW$ outlay at your disposal, where do you think the goods to support this surplus value at your disposal will come from I enquired.

The answer I got was even more startling.

“We do not baulk from challenges and become refugees like many have done. We simply behave situational and actively participate in the in thing while it last. This is a pyramid type mop up of forex which the haves are better placed to execute than the have-nots and we are only making hay while the sun shines.

By the time the loophole is closed we will have accumulated enough to cushion us against any changes whoever contemplates while we design other methods to cope with the new development however long it takes.

We will not wait for political demagogues to determine our fate during the bickering that has been going on and we will be better placed whatever the outcome of their power bickering games will be,” he added emphatically.

What happens if you get a dud cheque from your connections I asked?
“The risk of a dud cheque is minimal. The cheques we get are written by Bank managers on behalf of their high value clients who have authorised them to engage in this side trading for a commission. As such the cheques are only issued when it has been verified that there are adequate funds in the account of the forex purchaser to meet the cheque.

However if one issues a dud cheque, they will be penalised ZW$100 000 000.00 and we will follow them up and demand cash restitution at the cheque rate agreed at the time of entering the initial transaction and so far we have not had to resort to that action,” he reassured.

All this was being discussed publicly. That is what “burning money” is all about. By accepting a cheque in place of cash one stands to yield an astronomical 34990% increase in ZW$ value at the stroke of a pen and after two days would if he manages transform personal wealth of US$100.00 into personal wealth of US$ 22 413.05 at the official exchange rate of US$1:ZW$312.32 or US$350. 00 at the black Market cash rate of US1: ZW$20 000.00.

The wealthiest formally employed people in Zimbabwe at present are Reserve Bank Employees and Private Bank Managers.

They access large quantities of restricted supplies of ZW dollars by issuing cheques which they channel to hazy traders like Charamba’s Hentac Investments to purchase forex on the street cash Black Market for a fee. They again commission Charamba to trade the purchase US dollars for the Bank controlled cheque rate and on receipt deposit the cheques in their accounts.

Once the cheques are cleared and payment honoured they repeat the process all over making even more enhanced profits from the illicit trade.

That is why any forex in Zimbabwe devalues even where its international value has not altered. Zimbabweans talk of money in thousands upwards regardless of the denomination of the currency they hold.

Charamba will talk of US$100.00 as being worth US$ 22 413.00 to him because as soon as he lays his hands on US$100.00 he has access to the Reserve Bank employees and other Bank Managers who can buy the forex from the Central Bank at US$1: ZW$312.32 after spending the ZW$ 2 000 000.00 on the street market.

That this illicit forex pyramid trade adventure is unsustainable in the long term is not oblivious to Charamba and his foot soldiers but while it lasts nothing can beat its returns. But money does not grow on trees for it to be “burnt” into useful energy or to increase its value to anyone.

It is in that vein that Charamba sought to belittle his Zanu PF associates for being stymied by the current negotiations instead on concentrating on the core business of looting the fiscus in the name of promoting Agro Industry revival when infact all he is doing is enriching himself through this front by mopping up scarce forex on the streets using other people’s funds.

Charamba has not been a change agent neither will he be one in future. The only change he believes in is that which directly enriches Zanu PF acolytes by whatever means at National expense.

When all has been said and done the seed maize he has hoarded and stored in various parts of the country will be for the benefit of Zanu PF apologists financed by taxpayers.

He must be stopped on his economy damaging trails forthwith. His newly found focus on agriculture revival devolves from the failed Reserve Bank driven Bacosi and People’s Shops concept whose operation the writer witnessed firsthand at Mupandawana Growth Point.

Hordes of Zanu PF apologists were captured receiving scarce maize bags from the Mupandawana People’s Shop opposite CABS building Society and behind the Main Post office at the Growth point while thousands of impoverished non Zanu PF supporters were hassling in queues to access restricted cash withdrawals from the nearby CABS, POSB and ZB Banking halls.

On asking an acquaintance how I could also benefit from the proceeds I was asked to produce a letter from the War Veterans Organisation or the Zanu PF party card both of which I did not have at the time.

But a half a kilometre drive to the main Gutu/Bhasera junction with the outlet from the Growth point I was offered a 50kg bag of the same maize a recipient had benefi ted if I carried his loot of five bags to Mushayavanhu some 10-15 kilometres from Mupandawana.

It was tempting but the small and battered car I was driving had no capacity for such a large load so I lost out.

Monday 20 October 2008

SADC should stop pretending Zimbabwe Agreement is on course


pic. Morgan Tsvangirai and Ian Makone in the mix at Goromonzi




The absence of Zimbabwe Prime Minister Designate Morgan Tsvangirai at the SADC Troika meeting in Mbabane Swaziland today will serve to define the seriousness with which Zanu PF and its despotic leader must approach the formation of the inclusive government or lose the lease of legitimacy the agreement to form such a government had conferred on him.


After two months of playing truant and procrastination in implementing key elements of the agreement left within his ambit to conclude by SADC mediator and former RSA President Mbeki, the message is on the wall and bare for all to read that the inclusive Government in the country is about to be suffer a still birth.

Since 15 September 2008 when he put pen to paper to the agreement strenuously cobbled by Thabo Mbeki against all odds, Mugabe has reneged on implementing the key aspects of the agreement and created an untenable negotiating climate characterised by intransigence and political mischief on his part in an unacceptable flexing of his muscles after securing undue recognition as head of State.

His arrogance that knows no boundaries like his unwelcome overstay in power has been allowed to prevail for longer than is necessary and it is encouraging to see the MDC leader who was legitimately elected president but settled for less to save lives starting to throw mud back at Mugabe and his party of insolent geriatrics.

For six months Tsvangirai has been under an unannounced Zanu PF and Mugabe travel embargo through denial of a Passport for the man the country accepts as its true and authentic leader since 29 March 2008.

He sent clear warning to Mugabe and company that they were not helping the negotiating climate by refusing him the basic travel document and yet expecting him to legitimise their stolen positions in government when on 15 August he nearly failed to attend the critical SADC heads o State Meeting in South Africa because Immigration Officers in Harare had not renewed his emergency travel documents.

Later that month the MDC had to go to Court to have Tendai Biti’s passport released to allow him to attend to negotiations to form the inclusive Government that ultimately legitimised Mugabe’s Presidency of the country after losing elections and resorting to brutal military force to retain office.

When President Mugabe agreed to form the inclusive government he must have consulted with his party and was given the green light to lead the party into the necessary negotiations. It is an indictment on the chaos that characterises his rule and Party organisation that he has at every turn sought time out from the negotiations to consult with his party.

For all we know Mugabe has never been guided by anyone when it came to Zanu PF strategies and modus operandi. All these excuses he has been making were time buying exercises in futility that one day he might live to regret.

Tsvangirai has nothing to beg from Mugabe. He has already been denied occupancy of the position every sane Zimbabwean knows he won free and square on 29 March 2008.
He had been hitherto extraordinarily politically generous to step back and legitimise Mugabe’s claim to the same office out of concern for the plight of toiling Zimbabweans under Mugabe’s rule.

Mugabe being the thick head he has always been took that to mean political weakness of not only Tsvangirai but the entire nation that supports him and SADC, AU and UN organs that supported the undemocratic process he forced in the country after losing in a democratic election.

Instead of formalising the agreement that legitimises him by confirming Tsvangirai, Mutambara and Khupe as Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Ministers respectively he found it appropriate to deny Tsvangirai a passport and appoint the hopeless Mujuru and Msika as Vice Presidents.

Nothing has changed for the better as a consequence of those cynical appointments which he made to deal with succession strife4 in his faction torn Party.

By filling the VP posts with the dead wood that Msika and Mujuru have proven to be during their tenure of office at the same level Mugabe was sending a strong signal to Emmerson Mnangagwa that his Presidential ambitions were no nearer fulfilment than they were after the infamous Tsholotsho declaration.

For resolution those petty intra-Party squabbles to take precedence over National issues like forming an agreed Government is indicative of the spite with which Mugabe holds Zimbabweans.

Mugabe does not need any reminding that his legitimacy devolves from signatures appended on the inclusive Government formation agreement and not Zanu PF.

Of those four signatures the one that carries the most weight is that of Morgan Tsvangirai and the minute he disowns the agreement for whatever reason it will cease to carry the weight it now holds.

It is most embarrassing that a president who agreed to enter into an inclusive government before the same organisation now calling parties to mediation over disputes emerging from the agreement they witnessed being signed would find it proper to travel to the important meeting with George Charamba and a coterie of Zanu PF losers in tow at the taxpayer’s expense leaving behind the crucial Party leader with whom he is intended to be reconciled.

Now that he has categorically stated that he will not enter into negotiations aimed at legitimising Mugabe when the same Mugabe who yearns for the legitimacy behaves with scorn and unwarranted political machismo what next?

Surely Chinamasa and Charamba will not be of much use if they can’t help him convince SADC to proceed with the mediation talks and legitimise his Presidency.

For Charamba to then spew the garbage that he has let him become used to writing in the Herald that Prime Minister Designate Tsvangirai is playing hard to get and will come on an emergency travel document while travelling on state business is the height of irresponsibility that in any other democracy would end earn him summary dismissal.

How many other passports have been issued to other Zimbabweans with lesser National responsibility than Tsvangirai since the purported sanctions that deny issuance of a passport to Tsvangirai were imposed?

If SADC seriously wants to salvage the troubled inclusive government formation in the country they should start with insisting that Mugabe fires the registrar General and the Secretary for information and publicity as a confidence building measure.

Thereafter they should insist that before any talk of Cabinet portfolio sharing is entertained Mugabe must reverse all political appointments he made after the agreement was signed including that of Provincial Governors and Councillors appointed by the illegitimate Minister of Local Government Dr Ignatious Chombo.

That done Mugabe must then and by proclamation in the Government Gazette announce the appointment of Morgan Tsvangirai, Arthur Mutambara and Thokozani Khupe in the positions they were agreed to hold in the inclusive Government.

That done Sadc must insist that Mugabe can proceed to meet with the Premier do discuss which portfolio each of the 31 persons the parties to the agreement will have nominated to be in the Cabinet and National Council of Ministers will be best suited to effectively and efficiently deliver for the inclusive Government based on their qualifications and capabilities.

Should there arise a disagreement that the president and Prime Minister cannot resolve over that exercise, it should be referred to the envisaged implementation evaluation committees in the agreement and the two will be guided by recommendations there from.

Should disagreement still prevail then and only then should the matter be referred to SADC for mediation.

All this can be achieved within two weeks if strict deadlines are set for the relevant authorities to finalise the agreement implementation.

In the meantime Tsvangirai is better off without actively propping up Mugabe and let him fight his legitimacy wars as best he knows how.

Sunday 19 October 2008

MDC must refuse all Cabinet allotments before PM's Appointment is Legitimised


The MDC must refuse to be rushed into regularising Cabinet allotments ahead of the Premiership department being legitimised in terms of the agreement for to do so would be the dangerous political brinkmanship of putting the cart ahead of the horse. It’s a calculated Zanu PF trap.

As the inclusive government formation talks are escalated to the SADC Troika for possible finalisation it is most fundamental that the dispute be understood for what it is rather than what it has been sold out to be by the compromised State media in the country.


Ever since the agreement was signed, State Media went into overdrive to influence public opinion into the belief that the agreement legitimised President Mugabe to exercise the same powers he held as Executive President prior to the signing of the agreement.

Led by Information and Publicity Secretary George Charamba aka Nathaniel Manheru the State media has at every opportunity published opinions that falsely imply that the MDC formations came into this agreement out of desperation and settled for less than what is in the agreement.

Whereas the current dispute was pre-empted by Article XX of the agreement and procedures of dealing with it set out in the agreement, Zanu PF has fallen back into its lethargic sacrosanct belief that it is in charge and what it says goes.

Even the reminder from its very own geriatric and despotic leader that the reason why he is in the embarrassing position of having to negotiate for his own and the Party’s legitimacy in government was because they lost elections on 29 March 2008, has failed to wake up the Party’s faithful from this deep slumber they have been in for the past 20 years.

Zanu PF has always and is still of the belief that it can get away with any form of political suicide in Zimbabwe so long it pretends to accommodate democratic change but remains autocratic in practice.

There is no political will in the party to embrace change and move out of the cocoon that it is ensconced because leading personalities in the party are stained with past murders, corruption, money laundering and pillaging of State Assets.

The current impasse is not about allocation of key Ministries to formations that signed the inclusive government agreement but rather the failure by President Mugabe and his Party to live by the spirit and letter of the agreement from the date when it was signed to date.

Whereas ARTICLE XX of the agreement to form an inclusive Government tacitly sets out the agreed and accepted principles, philosophy and commitment necessary to support successful formation of the inclusive Government, Zanu PF has so far acted contrary to the spirit and letter of that Article in the agreement triggering the impasse that obtains.

Therein parties acknowledged that they had an obligation to establish a framework of working together in an inclusive government; that the formation of such a government will have to be approached with great sensitivity, flexibility and willingness to compromise; and that the formation of such a Government would demonstrate the respect of the Parties for the deeply-felt and immediate hopes and aspirations of the millions of Zimbabweans whom they termed “our people”.

They expressed determination to carry out sustained work to create the conditions for returning our country to stability and prosperity.

In doing so they acknowledged the need for gender parity, particularly the need to appoint women to strategic Cabinet posts.

In tandem with those underlying principles they then proceeded to agree on where Executive Powers and Authority of the Inclusive Government shall vest.

They agreed that Executive Power and Authority shall vest in and will be shared among the President, the Prime Minister and the Cabinet, as provided for in this Constitution and legislation.

They further agreed that the President of the Republic, the Prime Minister of the Republic and the Cabinet of the Republic shall exercise executive authority subject to the Constitution and the law.

In the exercise of executive authority, it was agreed, the President, Vice Presidents, the Prime Minister, the Deputy Prime Ministers, Ministers and Deputy Ministers must have regard to the principles and spirit underlying the formation of the Inclusive Government and accordingly act in a manner that seeks to promote cohesion both inside and outside government.

What has happened so far is that only the President has continued to exercise executive authority and outside the spirit and letter of the agreement for that matter.

That is why the negotiations on Ministerial allotments have stalled.
First President Mugabe delivered a nauseating speech at the signing ceremony wherein he failed to acknowledge the Vice Presidents, the Prime Minister and his Deputies, the Speaker of Parliament and President of the Senate and the Mayor who were there present.

Secondly President Mugabe chose to attend the UN Security Council meeting in New York with a massive delegation of Zanu PF hangers on instead of attending to the implementation of the volatile inclusive Government agreement he had just signed.
On his return he went ahead to announce an inclusive Government Cabinet line up he had not discussed and agreed with parties to the agreement forming such a Government.
Dr Ignatious Chombo continued to illegally appoint electorally rejected former Zanu PF Councillors and Commissioners into Local Councils where Zanu PF had been walloped to restore the rejected Party’s relevance in those Local Authorities.

Reserve Bank Governor Dr Gideon Gono continued to implement his Print Money and Regulate Financial markets as if he has been guaranteed yet another five year tenure of office by the agreement.

Police Commissioner Augustine Chihuri continued to issue orders for Police to harass and detain WOZA/MOZA peaceful demonstrators demanding the inclusive Government to focus on the debilitating humanitarian catastrophe facing the Nation.

State controlled media continued to spew vitriol and hurt messages against the MDC and the agreement.

But what is it in the spirit and letter of the agreement that manifests as the current impasse on Cabinet post allocation?

The answers are in the agreement that the parties signed. Not what they have done about clauses therein but rather what has not been done deliberately or by omission it is neither here nor there.

Fact remains that what has not been done which was agreed would be done is so material unless it is done the impasse will continue and the SADC Troika meeting will not yield anything to the contrary.

The initial cause of the political impasse was the disputed “re-election” of President Mugabe in a one man sham of a runoff Presidential poll on 27 June 2008.

The agreement to form an inclusive Government regularised that and restored President Mugabe’s legitimacy not just in letter but in deed when the SADC Mediator crowned him immediately before the signing of the agreement and tasked him to do the same for his Vice Presidents, Prime Minister, and Deputy Prime Ministers designate in terms of Agreement on his role.

“The President shall, pursuant to this Agreement, appoint the Prime Minister pending the enactment of the Constitution of Zimbabwe Amendment no.19 as agreed by the Parties;formally appoints Deputy Prime Ministers, Ministers and Deputy Ministers in accordance with this agreement,” reads the agreement in part of his role.

He has not adhered to that and infact hinted he was not about to do that when he, at the signing ceremony pleaded with anyone who dared listen that now the agreement was in place nobody should seek assistance about its implementation from then President Mbeki whom he reckoned deserved a rest after the protracted and acrimonious negotiations that preceded the agreement.

What he implied was that now that he had been legitimised he was in sole charge of the implementation process of the agreement and any attempt to recall SADC mediation where his decisions were not acceptable to partners in the agreement should not be contemplated as he was now a legitimate dictator.

That is the single and most critical factor that has led to the current impasse. The Troika can break the impasse within minutes by demanding that President Mugabe lives up to the spirit and letter of the agreement in a chronological and rational sequence.

How?

First President Mugabe must formally announce the appointment of the Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Ministers Designate as agreed and notwithstanding that the envisaged Constitutional Amendment No 19 is yet to be enacted.

That way he will pave the way to move forward with Cabinet appointments and formation of the National Council of Ministers.

If Cabinet is formed before the formalisation of the Appointment of the Premier and his deputies what would stop President Mugabe to forge ahead with a government without the premiership arguing that the matter of the appointment of the Premier and his deputies required Parliamentary ratification and at the same time using his Parliamentarians to block passage of Constitutional Amendment No 19 until such time he has consolidated his grip on the inclusive Cabinet and poisoned it with unworkable Zanu PF mantra.

The MDC must refuse to be stampeded into agreeing a Cabinet before their Premier is legitimised. If they do they will commit regrettable political suicide only Zanu PF has in the past been capable of defying.

After the Premier’s Department has been legitimised by advance appointment of the President in terms of the agreement blockage of the passage of Constitutional Amendment No 19 in the Legislative Assemblies will be rendered an academic exercise in futility.

That is the confidence that the SADC Troika meeting needs to instil in the negotiation process to nudge Zanu PF and President Mugabe to concede Cabinet positions in dispute because it would not serve the Party’s agenda to dig in when clearly the Prime minister will supervise day to day government operations and has Constitutional powers to relieve incompetent Ministers of their duties in consultation with the President.

Alternatively the SADC Troika must propose that in the aftermath of Cabinet allotment all Zanu PF held key cabinet portfolios report directly to the Prime Minister and those deemed key portfolios allotted to the MDC report directly to the President.

That way the Zanu PF key man President Mugabe will ensure his party is not rendered irrelevant and likewise the MDC key man Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai would monitor any attempts by Zanu PF to use Cabinet Ministers to torpedo his Party.

The premature Appointments of Provincial Governors and Resident Ministers must also be visited at this juncture and agreed with those that are deemed necessary to be allotted to the MDC being declared vacant and open to be filled by the appropriate party forthwith.

If that is not done, sooner rather than later SADC will find itself burdened by the need to mediate on that as well. The spirit and letter characterising allotment of Provincial Governorship among the parties must cascade down to Provincial Officers, diplomatic agents, consular officers, independent Commissions in terms of the Constitution and service/executive Commissions in terms of the Constitution.

Only then will it be possible for SADC and its Principals to step back and allow the inclusive government an opportunity to function while monitoring from a distance.

It must never be lost to the Troika that President Mugabe had planned to stay in office till 2010 as undisputed Head of State and has not changed those plans at all.
All his procrastination in implementing the agreed principles in the inclusive Government have everything to do with that time frame.

Kufamba NaJesu