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"WHAT CAN WE LEARN FROM ZIMBABWE?
People Planning and Working for a Positive Future"

BZS DAYSCHOOL 2002
Saturday 14 September 2002, 11am-4.30pm
Conway Hall, 25 Red Lion Square, London WC1

WRITTEN PRESENTATIONS RECEIVED

Workshop 1: LAND, ENVIRONMENT & FOOD SECURITY - Afternoon session: What LESSONS can be learned from the past and What is the WAY FORWARD? Presentation by Rob Monro A. LESSONS LEARNED ("to PLAN for the FUTURE we need to KNOW the PRESENT and to know present we need to UNDERSTAND the PAST") 1. CONCEPTUALISATION: Land, Environment and Food Security are intricately interdependent. Food security depends on Land productivity, management and use practices which depends on Environmental management, conservation and use/Biological diversity. For "Sustainable Livelihoods", with its focus on the rural poor, Sustainable Land Use & Sustainable Use of other Environmental Resources (species/ecosystems), is the fundamental prerequisite. 2. HISTORICAL OVERVIEW: LAND 'POLICY' - Since 1980 characterised by lack of long term VISION for land reform, tenure arrangements and appropriate land use. Evident in retention of colonial Land Tenure regimes - Communal Areas sector (former 'Tribal Trust Lands'), Large Scale Commercial Farming sector, Small Scale Commercial Farming sector, State Land/Protected Areas (National Parks). Post-Independence creation of 'Resettlement' areas/sector. 1980s Resettlement programme on 'willing seller, willing buyer' principle flawed by various factors: - need to await offers of sale; - 'policy' of 'whole' commercial farms for sale as opposed to option of portions of unutilised/underutilised land; - purchase of extensive land in agro ecological regions IV and V unsuitable for intensive agriculture; - organisational, institutional and infrastructural failures. Insecure tenure in Communal and Resettlement sectors resulting in no incentive for inhabitants to invest in the land and environmental/natural resources management. Resulting land and environmental degradation and declining productivity. Despite findings and recommendations of Rukuni Land Tenure Commission calling for, inter alia, village assemblies as local/lowest unit of authority/secure tenure, and despite similar purposes of the Traditional Leaders Act, devolution of authority below Rural District Council level never occurred. WHY? Lack of political commitment due to reluctance by Central Government/ruling party to ultimately devolve power through giving legal entitlements to Communal Area and Resettlement farmers. WHY? Such real/enforceable empowerment - democratic decentralisation - facilitates local socio-economic development and INDEPENDENCE, so weakening the State/Party's effective control (political patronage) over the rural poor. DEPENDENCY ENSURES OBEDIENCE - AND WHEN GOVERNMENT LOSES ITS LEGITIMACY, INTIMIDATION AND VIOLENCE BECOME THE HANDMAIDENS OF DEPENDENCY. ENVIRONMENTAL 'POLICY' - similar shortcomings in VISION, particularly of requirements for conservation and sustainable use of natural resources both inside and outside Protected Areas/National Parks. In fact there has been no 'policy', only fragmented initiatives/programmes invariably arising from donor agencies and/or Zimbabwe's obligations under relevant international treaties. Government retained colonial Command &Control ('guns and guards'/'hand off') approach to conservation as opposed to an Incentive-based approach as an Enabling policy process. Colonial forced removal of local/traditional communities from ancestral land and designation of that land as Protected Area (local Shangaan communities were forcibly removed as recently as 1966 from what is now Gonarezhou national park), resulted in alienation of these communities both from the national park 'philosophy' and from the wildlife therein (State appeared to favour wildlife over people). Local communities suffered both 'opportunity cost' of land so set aside and economic/livelihood costs occasioned by wild animals with no commensurate benefits. As such, this 'policy' was in effect a perverse incentive/disincentive for local communities to conserve/sustainable use wildlife - they had no use rights - leading to 'poaching' within and outside Protected Areas, open access/'tragedy of the commons', land and environmental degradation. Central ('top down') ownership and control inefficient and ineffective - apart from all else, State did not have the resources to effectively manage land and natural resources (State's 'reach exceeded its grasp'). This 'policy' was also racially discriminatory because, in accordance with the 1975 Park & Wildlife Act, owners of Large Scale Commercial Farms (exclusively white) were designated as the 'appropriate authority' over wildlife on their land and retained this right after Independence. CAMPFIRE launched in late 1980s was partial attempt to remedy this flawed 'policy' and was enabled in terms of a 1982 amendment to the Parks & Wildlife Act. BUT CAMPFIRE's potential for success constrained by many factors such as: - Essentially NGO driven and so without strong Government support/political commitment; - Only focused on wild animals (being under the auspices/authority of Dept. of National Parks & Wildlife Management); - Inter-sectoral rivalry/conflict with Dept. National Parks & Wildlife was therefore endemic (principally Dept. Natural Resources, Forestry Commission and Ministry of Local Government); - Only devolved authority over wildlife to the Rural District Council level (agency of Ministry of Local Government) and not to Wards/Villages below. Overall result of CAMPFIRE was 'Aborted Devolution' with effective control & capture of benefits by the State/Rural District Councils. Rather than empower communities CAMPFIRE has empowered the State through its co-option by the State/ruling party as a 'people-centred' conservation strategy. Also used as a propaganda instrument by the State to advance its interests in relevant international forums/treaties (eg, in arguing for downlisting of elephants at CITES). FOOD SECURITY 'POLICY'. Zimbabwe characterised by lack of any formal policy. Food output essentially determined by land productivity, including agro biodiversity. Increasingly recognised (eg, by Nobel Prize winner for Economics, Amartya Sen), that there is a direct correlation between food security (particularly food self-sufficiency) and democratic governance: No famine ever occurred in a functioning democracy but in one party or military dictatorships - China during 1960s cultural revolution (30 million died), Cambodia in 1970s under Pol Pot, Ethiopia in 1980s under Mengistu, North Korea today - or under colonial rule, such as India and Ireland before Independence. In 'Development as Freedom' (1999) Sen cited post-Independence India, Botswana AND Zimbabwe as examples of functioning democracies never having experienced famine - cruel irony is that only a couple of years later (as acknowledged by Sen) Zimbabwe no longer a functioning democracy and is facing famine. HAND-IN-HAND WITH INCREASING CENTRALISATION OF POWER AND ENTRENCHMENT OF A ONE-PARTY STATE, THE ABOVE POLICY FAILURES - IN LAND, ENVIRONMENT AND FOOD SECURITY - LED TO THE CURRENT CRISIS OF GOVERNANCE AND REPRESSION, SO DEEPENING THE CRISIS IN LAND, ENVIRONMENT & FOOD SECURITY. B. WAY FORWARD? - What are the implications of these 'lessons' for future Policy formulation? 1. NATIONAL Level A. 'GOOD GOVERNANCE' Now widely recognised/accepted from some thirty years of experience with the 'failure' of aid and development, that basic freedoms, human rights, democratic principles., rule of law and good governance are INSTRUMENTAL for sustainable development; that they are a fundamental prerequisite for development which is environmentally, economically and socially sustainable. As pointed out by the Centre for Democracy and Governance, at one level there is a direct link between democratic institutions, good governance and sustainable development, and at a subsidiary level there is a direct link between sustainable use of environmental resources and food security/poverty reduction. This is because a functioning democracy essentially characterised by public awareness and participation at all levels and government accountability and transparency with the 'option' of electoral defeat - the ultimate instrument of accountability. These 'linkages' are recognised/reflected in recent multilateral agreements/processes - Commonwealth Harare Dec. of 1991, EU/ACP Cotonou Agreement and NEPAD (the New Partnership for Africa's Development). Most recently enunciated by the UN's Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural rights in its statement to the just ended World Summit on Sustainable Development held in South Africa, viz., " The international commitments on human rights and on sustainable development should be considered in light of their important points of convergence, and of the legally binding nature of human rights obligations". BUT, basic freedoms are not only instrumental for sustainable development but are a 'constituent component' of it, for development is not merely of an economic dimension measured in income or GNP, but multidimensional. Freedom TO associate, disseminate info., criticise and freedom FROM illiteracy, ill health, want are all integral to development - for of what value is individual economic security if it is 'everywhere in chains'? The 'rich slave' parody comes to mind. In the words of Amartya Sen "Development is the progressive conquering of unfreedom or constraints on the capabilities, opportunities and entitlements of people to realise their potential and lead fuller lives" ('Development as Freedom', 1999). B. ENABLING/INCENTIVE-BASED POLICY - DEMOCRATIC DECENTRALISATION/PARTICIPATORY - SUBSIDIARITY EFFECTIVE LAND REFORM, ENVIRONMENTAL SECURITY and FOOD SECURITY, in short, sustainable Livelihoods, requires devolution of authority, responsibility and benefits over Land and Natural Resources beyond the District level to local communities/landholders themselves in Communal and Resettled Areas. This must be combined with LEGAL ENTITLEMENTS over ALL Nat. Resources. Without this the local-level incentives needed for conservation and the SUSTAINABLE use of land and natural resources to support rural livelihoods will be absent. Notable that the principal international environmental agreement, the Convention on Biological Diversity (which Zimbabwe has ratified) identifies tenure insecurity as one of the 'Ultimate Causes' of biodiversity loss - along with misdirected economic incentives, cost-benefit imbalances, national policy failure, population and cultural factors, all of which apply in Zimbabwe's case. Regarding LAND as such, reform to include secure title - individual/collective/communal as appropriate. Contrary to policies of, for example, the World Bank and the MDC, individual freehold title in Communal Areas is NOT appropriate. Such individual titling would effectively create a market in land and consequent individual accumulation of large tracts of Communal Land, so leading to landlessness and accelerated rural-urban migration. Community rights over land and natural resources, not unlike as recommended by the Rukuni Commission, are appropriate in recognition of this and the extensive farming (including common grazing) systems applicable to agro ecological regions IV and V where the Communal Areas found. Such community rights or common property regimes with control over resource access and use must not be confused with the open access nature and resulting 'tragedy of commons' which characterises Communal Areas today. Furthermore, as eloquently pointed out by Rutherford elsewhere, the MDC's idea of an 'agro-industrial transformation programme' through freehold title is not unlike the failed programmes of colonialism in the 40s and 50s and those of ZANU PF in the 80s and 90s. The belief that enterprising farmers and industrial growth will absorb the landless/displaced farm workers/surplus (underemployed) from the Communal Areas is highly misplaced. Among other things, this belief is ahistorical in assuming Zimbabwe will find sufficient markets for industrial goods required to absorb the landless, unemployed etc. - the 'free market' ideology of the international trade regime under the World Trade Organisation coupled with rapid technological progress is likely to 'consolidate' Zimbabwe's 'comparative advantage' in raw materials rather than allow it to effectively 'compete' in international trade of industrial goods. African experience is resplendent with examples of how individual land titling increases landlessness, poverty, rural -urban drift, urban squalor etc. This approach reflects the neo-liberal influence of the World Bank, IMF and World Trade Organisation regardless of African realities and experience. Solutions in a post-crisis Zimbabwe must focus on LOCALITIES and the current informal arrangements and sharing between land occupiers, which would also show the that 'bottom-up' approaches to ownership and resource access are possible and viable. The landless and those deserving of land need access to unutilised land, commercial expertise, inputs and market access - all of which provides grounds for locally-determined arrangements for cooperation and mutual aid. Future land policy should work from this reality, facilitate local negotiations, including involvement of civil society/NGOs etc. In the case of Communal Areas, the 1995 Rukuni Land Tenure Commission findings/recommendations need to be 'revisited'. Unless agricultural production increases in Zimbabwe (and indeed, in Africa as a whole), poverty will deepen. SO, land reform, appropriate land use (economic and ecological), and maintaining land productivity central to environmental and food security. Land reform includes redistribution and appropriate institutional arrangements and service support. Need to integrate biodiversity conservation with farming systems - agro biodiversity. CHALLENGE is to conserve wild species/natural habitat/ecosystems while increasing agricultural production. 2. INTERNATIONAL level/'Globalisation' Need to recognise the increasing relevance/impact of international agreements, processes, institutions on national policy-making in a post-crisis Zimbabwe - World Trade Organisation (WTO), Convention on Biological Diversity (including Biosafety Protocol), Climate Change Convention (including Kyoto Protocol), CITES, EU/ACP Cotonou Agreement, COMESA, SADC Trade Protocol, IMF, World Bank etc. Regarding Food production and security, especially for Zimbabwe's millions of peasant farmers producing for subsistence and marketing of surplus, WTO particularly important. WTO Article 3 ('National Treatment') and Agreement on Agriculture, requiring tariff reductions and elimination of non-tariff barriers for agricultural goods has potential to 'flood' Zimbabwe with subsidised cheap agricultural commodities and undermine peasant production and therefore livelihoods. Furthermore, EU domestic subsidies (over 50% of total EU budget) AND recent US farm subsidies of US$190 billion over next 10 years, reduce competitiveness/market access for Zimbabwe/African agricultural exports. Compounded by fact that WTO disallows introduction of agricultural subsidies (as do IMF lending conditions) and requires reduction of EXISTING subsidies - so Zimbabwe disallowed subsidising even if it could be afforded. EU argues 'multifunctionality' as justification for agricultural subsidies (ie, subsidies benefit environment and 'rural livelihoods'), therefore Zimbabwe (with other Third World parties) should use similar argument - protection of environment and rural livelihoods - to impose 'safeguard measures' via selective tariffs and non-tariff barriers on sensitive agricultural imports. Various other international agreements/process with potential significant effect on future prospects/policies on land, environment and food security in Zimbabwe, including inter alia: - Intellectual property rights - WTO 'TRIPS' agreement v CBD Articles on access & benefit-sharing - 'patenting' life forms/ traditional knowledge/public goods for foreign private commercial benefit - bio piracy; - GM food/crops - potential damage to biodiversity/gene pool for agriculture and on people - WTO 'exceptions' (Article 20b) and Precautionary Principle (Article 5), BUT US challenge EU on GM & Beef hormone products; CITES and WTO Article 20g re conservation of 'Exhaustible Natural Resources - threat to Zimbabwe Natural Resource-based products (ivory, timber). CBD obligations - Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan, Sustainable Use and equitable benefit sharing etc. Workshop 4: CULTURE AND THE ARTS Afternoon session: Writers and Times of Crisis: Renaissance or Confrontation? Whispering the Truth: Zimbabwean Writers and Exiles Presentation by Pat Brickhill "Language occupies a significant position in the hierarchy of the organization of wealth, power, and values in a society. Language carries the cultural universe of the community and in that universe also resides the entire body of values held by that community. Language - the carrier of culture - is the ultimate and the most primary means of imagination. This was written by one of Africa's foremost writer - Ngugi wa Thiongo. He described one of the deprivations as the deprivation of the means to perceive and articulate - which deprives the society of developing a vision and strategy for the future. Much has been said about the role of the writer, the intellectual, the artist and scholar in society. All citizens have a responsibility towards their society, and because the impact of cultural workers is so much more profound than that of other citizens, it follows that these workers need to ensure that they contribute to the development of the society, and the empowerment of those who are most disadvantaged. Foreign authors and artists have spoken out against the current situation in Zimbabwe. The latest being literary giant, Chinua Achebe, this week in South Africa. Chinua Achebe defines his role as a writer as that of an educator trying to help his society "regain belief in itself and put away the complexes of the years of denigration and self-denigration." But what of Zimbabwe authors? Veteran writer, Bill Saidi, has written regular thought provoking features in the Daily News. His style is accessible and his roots in Mbare. He is not simply speaking for an intellectual audience, nor is he writing for a foreign audience. He has touched on the concerns of ordinary citizens in a way which has been both startling and reassuring. But why have some writers remained silent? Is it fear? As I prepared this paper I heard a rumour that a person in Harare was beaten to death for possessing a copy of the Legal Resources Foundation Matabeleland - even if it is just hearsay, the effect of such a rumour is quite clear. The ambiguity of the artists also reflects the ambiguity of the political problem. Looking back at current writing in Zimbabwe a distinct trend appears. Immediately after independence established writers concentrated on the time of struggle. There was a proliferation of novels describing the liberation war. Understandably, these novels glorified the role of the nationalist movement. Criticism of the ruling party was rare and sensitive issues, like the position of women, were avoided. Unlike Kenya and Nigeria, Zimbabwean writers have not started to write about what life is really like today in independent Zimbabwe. After the honeymoon period of independence ended, writers like Yvonne Vera wrote of heroines and opened a Pandora's box of taboo subjects. Nevanji Madanhire explored disappointment in 'Goatsmell'. Shimmer Chinodya's 'Harvest of Thorns' similarly touches on the despair of a returning liberation fighter at the society he rejoins, and his role in it. Zimbabwean writing was coming of age, and the sacred cows of history started to disappear as writers allowed themselves to touch on previously taboo subjects: corruption, nepotism, the status of women, abuse and so on. But the reader is still waiting. The search for identity continues, and we have a long way to go to understand who or what Zimbabwe is, its values, its vision. This is also directly related to the suppression of "freedom of thought and conscience". There is no doubt that one of the pressing needs in a time of crisis and transition is that people do not feel isolated and marginalized. The state apparatus in Zimbabwe has ruthlessly tried to destroy any grouping of citizens who they deem pose a threat to the ruling party - often from within the organisations - witness the disastrous history of the Zimbabwe Unity Movement. Musicians have spoken out generally against the current situation, reflected in some of the lyrics of songs by Thomas Mapfumo and Oliver Mtukudzi. But the sad fact is that no musician or author, as far as I know, has come out and said directly that events in Zimbabwe are a threat to artistic integrity and the development of a nation. The exodus from Zimbabwe has mainly economic, not political causes. But what if the writer - for whatever reason - has left his or her country. The artist cannot survive and goes into exile. This is another form of suppression of the truth. Whether the exile is imposed by state or self-imposed - how does that change the role of the writer? Ngugi wa Thiongo believes that "the main challenge is to African scholars and writers and Universities to act as pathfinders." However the issue becomes complicated as the exiled writer loses touch with his community and his country. This detachment is an understandable expression of the need to survive in a foreign land. In addition, following on so recently from the 60's and 70's when the exile community was organised around ZANU and ZAPU, today's exile cuts a lonely and isolated figure. By the very fact that one is away from the central point of activity and protected from the harsh day to day realities the role of the writer away from Zimbabwe must be a supporting role. The lead and direction must come from within the country - where in a strange defiance of the doom and gloom a creative sparks rises like a phoenix from the ashes, and I believe Zimbabwe is entering a time of creative regeneration almost directly inspired by the present situation. I agree with Ngugi wa Thiongo, writing from New York, when he says "I believe now more than ever that Africa must use its languages and peoples as a strength with which it can leap into tomorrow. African scholars and writers must lead the way as we enter the twenty-first century". However I recognise that the journals, publishing houses and books must be located within the very country where their survival might be threatened on an almost daily basis, in order to make a significant contribution to the development of that country. Ngugi writes about the knowledge and extensive research, invention, and discoveries about Africa, by the sons and daughters of the continent, which are stored in European-language granaries. He has spoken of great works on African history to be found in Libraries all over the world and of a scholarship that never gives anything back to the languages and peoples of Africa on whose behalf it makes its claim in the global community of scholarship in the arts, sciences, and technology. Recently I have thought a lot about the South African struggle. In particular I have reflected on the tremendous and unprecedented contribution that Nelson Mandela has made to not only South Africa, but the whole of Africa - and I would say to the entire world. He must be the most widely known and recognised African of all time. I have thought long and hard about whether this impact and his role would have been lessened if he had gone into exile, as many thought he should. Was it the person who he is, or this fact combined with the fact that he remained with his people - even when his very life was in danger? As I grapple with my own thoughts since my departure from Zimbabwe, I struggle with my sense of belonging and my own guilt at those I left behind to carry on that struggle. I am safe, I am surviving - but what about the daily horror stories and the treat of starvation that one hears about? Patricia McFadden a feminist writer born in Swaziland, living in Zimbabwe, has said that many older activists find it painful to hand over the baton to young women for them to construct a new African cultural identity. I believe the same is true when one considers the dilemma of Zimbabweans at home and Zimbabweans abroad. When referring to the women's movement, Pat McFadden emphasises the importance of democratising structures and institutional processes and recognizing the newness as represented by the ideas, perspectives and the presence of young African women in the Movement.. She speaks of challenging the exoticisation and objectification of African women. And she calls the need for African woman to write and speak for themselves. Africa survives, that is its strength. People know that "these things pass" and knowing when is not really the major issue. Some might call this passivity. Today it is a luxury to write what you really see or feel or know, even if there were publishers to publish the writings. In the very act of survival, and the ingenuity it takes, one is renewed. Zimbabwe is going through a very profound change. Pat McFadden says that the prospects for the future of Africa are very good, because Africa is the most materially and humanly endowed continent on the planet earth. I agree with her that we have nothing to lose by envisioning and crafting a new future, and we have every reason to want something different for Africa in the 21st century. I find myself looking at her writing and identifying how we must allow Zimbabweans inside the country to be their own spokespersons. As women need to be empowered, so do the people of Zimbabwe. We must not take their experiences and voices and call them ours. We need to recognise, that with our change of location, our role in the struggle to change Zimbabwe shifts to that of a supporting role. Let the agenda be set by those who pay the highest price and take the most risks: the people inside Zimbabwe. We can write their stories and experiences, but we cannot claim them as our own. Writers in Zimbabwe do not write or say the truth because they cannot; they whisper the truth instead. Workshop 5: HUMAN RIGHTS Morning session: Media, Freedom of Information and Governance - The Role of Public Access Presentation by Clayton Peel INTRODUCTION (Media and Human Rights) Thank you Chair, distinguished guests, fellow citizens of our great country (I mean Zimbabwe), Ladies and Gentlemen: PREAMBLE: My topic relates to Media, Information and Governance: The Role of Public Access, and is specifically in the context of our main theme for the Dayschool this year, which is "What Can We Learn From Zimbabwe?" Let me start by saying that all my assumptions, premises and conclusions are against a backdrop of my conviction that Zimbabwe is at present a society governed in breach of its own laws and is therefore outside the realm of a normal state. By this I mean that it is a land where its constitution is routinely flouted (eg freedom of assembly), individual liberties are violated (abduction and beatings by state-sponsored militias who wield enormous powers but have no statutory foundation even in Zimbabwean law), separation of the pillars of governance has been eroded (an entire Supreme Court bench dismantled and replaced within a year), court rulings ignored, and the letter of the law selectively applied only to punish the weak and the political and civic opposition. Here's the Evidence: http://www.dailynews.co.zw/daily/2002/January/January8/503.html REPORT ON THE OPENBING OF THE HIGH COURT YEAR Govt has refused to probe the conduct of Emmerson Mnangagwa, the Speaker of Parliament, when he was the Minister of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs. Chigovera was ordered to investigate Mnangagwa last November by High Court judge, Justice David Bartlett, after he ruled that Mnangagwa unlawfully and prematurely released George Tanyanyiwa Chikanga, a hard-core armed robber, early in March 2000. Chigovera is also yet to bring to justice Kainos Tom "Kitsiyatota" Zimunya, a war veteran, and Joseph Mwale, a Central Intelligence Organisation officer, after High Court judge, Justice James Devittie, ordered him to prosecute the two for allegedly killing two MDC activists, Tichaona Chiminya and Talent Mabika, at Murambinda growth point in April 2000.Both Bartlett and Devittie resigned after passing those judgments. Zimbabwe Human Rights Forum August Report issued 16/.8/2002 · Walter Chikwanha, a magistrate, was reportedly dragged from his court room by a group of suspected war veterans and assaulted in full view of the police after he had dismissed an application by the state to remand in custody five MDC officials. Officials from the Ministry of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs would not comment on the incident. The police spokesperson for Chipinge, Edmund Maingire, said that he was not aware that Chikwanha had been assaulted. Chikwanha had granted $20 000 bail each to 5 MDC officials suspected to have burnt two government trucks parked at a complex in Chipinge. The UN High Commissioner on Human Rights (UNHCHR) Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers, Dato' Param Cumaraswamy, has also expressed outrage at the attacks. "The provision of adequate protection to judges and lawyers when their safety is threatened is a basic prerequisite for safeguarding the rule of law," Cumaraswamy said in a statement. "This is simply fundamental, in order to guarantee the right to a fair trial by an independent and impartial tribunal and the protection of human rights." "Unfortunately, this represents another example of the government of Zimbabwe's continuing disregard for the independence of the judiciary and contempt for the rule of law. The assault on the magistrate within the four walls of his court house can only be viewed as a blatant attack on the rule of law," he added. - http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=29685&SelectRegion=Southern_Africa&SelectCountry=ZIMBABWE · AND http://www.zwnews.com/Augustviolence.doc In the circumstances, I submit that debate on information access, and on the law that is supposed to govern it - the so-called "Moyo's law" - is the surface treatment of an underlying decay in the system of government: a decay which results from a Machiavellian extension of state power which has, over 22 years, compromised the rights of Zimbabwe's citizens, including their right to be informed. THE SOCIO-POLITICAL CONTEXT Public access to information held by government is essential for the protection of basic human rights, for the rule of law and for efficient public administration. What does this mean? It means that the workings of government, and policy formulation and implementation, should not be an issue left to the confines of Munhumutapa Building or State House, or ZANU (PF) Headquarters, but should be exposed to public debate, through the media. After all, it is the taxpayer who foots the bill. This may require regular press briefings by the Minister of Information. The experience in Zimbabwe has been that the government has been largely reluctant to volunteer information, instead choosing to frame selected issues in their own perspective and feed these to the public media in a manner which reflects bias. Hence the inconsistencies between, on the one hand, the government's revolutionary Land Acquisition Act of 1992 or as amended in 2001, and the invasions and evictions of farmers currently underway, which are in breach of those same laws. These inconsistencies have never been explained, and the government has not been called to account. How can it, when it will not speak to the independent press, and the state media write and publish only under stringent instructions? Mugabe is breaking his own laws! On the rare occasion when he cares to give account, he rants and raves about colonialism and Britain and white rule which ended 22 years ago, but says nothing about his own laws which he is transgressing. He is an outlaw even by the standards of his own regime. What has this to do with Access to media and information, you might ask? Well, access to media and information is a fundamental component of government policy and strategies to combat corruption. It is also supposed to guarantee accountability to the people through the Press as the Fourth Estate, inasmuch as the government is supposed to be accountable through parliament as the second estate. But the media in Zimbabwe was never informed of, neither did it debate, the full extent of Zimbabwe's involvement in the Congo war, the risks involved, the benefits for the select few, and whether a Cabinet consensus existed before Mugabe sent the troops into battle. Come to think of it, neither did Parliament exhaustively debate the matter before Mugabe's commitment of troops. In the aftermath of this commitment of about 6 000 troops, aircraft and armoured vehicles, which cost the fiscus an estimated US $1 million a day by Herbert Murerwa's own admission in 1998, reports filtering in from UN agencies about the ZDF's involvement in the plunder of Congo's mineral wealth were cursorily brushed aside by the State. No spirited attempt was made to defend the integrity of the ZDF's top brass in the face of such allegations. And the local media either shied away from confronting Gen Zvinavashe and his band, or were stonewalled on the rare occasion that they dared. In any case, they could now be arrested under POSA for 'undermining confidence in the Defence Forces', punishable by a fine of up to $100 000 OR BEING SENT TO PRISON FOR UP TO FIVE YEARS! 2. What information do the electorate or citizens want? (i) They want to know what their government is doing. The deals in the Congo. The fuel-for-assets exchange with Libya - what's the cost? The funding of illegal militias which set up illegal roadblocks and harass citizens. They want to know more about having a government ministry funded by the fiscus which runs a youth brigade devoted totally to ZANU-PF. (ii) They want to know whether their leaders are as upright and scrupulous about observing the laws they make as they expect others to be. (Mugabe says court orders will only be obeyed if they are objective. Objective to whom? Is such a Head of State not in flagrant violation of the constitution and abuse of office? Should he not be 'impeached'? (iii) They want to know, and be allowed to debate, the Auditor-General's annual report, specifically with regard to overspending ministries. (see attached document, Generic Models for Supreme Audit Institutions, as marked) (iv) An example of the intent of the Canadian access to information act is stated in its preamble 2. (1) The purpose of this Act is to extend the present laws of Canada to provide a right of access to information in records under the control of a government institution in accordance with the principles that government information should be available to the public, that necessary exceptions to the right of access should be limited and specific and that decisions on the disclosure of government information should be reviewed independently of government. CAN THE AVERAGE ZIMBABWEAN CITIZEN OBTAIN THE INFORMATION THEY NEED? No. The average citizen, who lives outside the urban areas, is largely informed - or is it misinformed? - by state radio, which enjoys a monopoly of access save for areas where Radio SW Africa or VOP are accessible. Even then, the multi-lingual nature of the latter two means that they are likely to be surpassed in impact by Radio Zimbabwe, which broadcasts largely in the indigenous languages. From a media worker's perspective, most requests for information are simple and straightforward, and can be met speedily, whether formally or informally. But officials, especially govt officials, prevaricate, or simply refuse to speak to certain media. Look at Tony Blair: On the issue of war with Iraq, the public is clamouring for the dossier of the "evidence" of Saddam's weapons of mass diestruction, and he will oblige. And the leader of the opposition routinely requests, and is given, a briefing by the Prime Minister. Do you see Mugabe acquiescing to such a request from Morgan Tsvangirai? ACCESS TO INFORMATION AND PROTECTION OF PRIVACY LEGISLATION: IS IT A SOLUTION? Only if applied with genuinely good intent, as in the Canadian example above. But in the Zimbabwean context, the spirit and letter of the law is already flawed: its target is critics of the government, and already there is selective application of its clauses, eg Dr Lovemore of Amani Trust, who spoke of evidence of rapes by Mugabe's militias. Well we have the evidence! WHAT IS THE ROLE OF ACCESS TO INFORMATION IN THE DEVELOPMENT AGENDA? Public access to information held by the Government develops - o understanding of policies and decisions (Dept of War Vets in many countries, but Zim govt is too arrogant to defend it) o accountability for decisions and actions o awareness of public services (National AIDS Fund : Who is benefiting? Why are areas represented by an opposition MP not benefiting? Eg Sauerstown ward in Bulawayo? Why do we still have so many AIDS orphans uncared for?) o participation in public service issues (Ground-breaking ceremony for the renamed Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo Airport in December last year: Msika turned it into a ZANU-PF rally! And the Mayor was not allowed to speak! Local MPs were marginalized! Youth Brigades were vetting access!) o confidence in the administration of Hong Kong HOW CAN CIVIL SOCIETY CAMPAIGN FOR ACCESS TO INFORMATION? 1) In Zimbabwe's context, we need to start with a campaign for a return to legitimacy. Once you have a government which negates its own laws, using them only as instruments against real or perceived enemies, then any written document that purports to give the public greater access as the result of a successful campaign will remain just that: a written document, without obligation on the authorities. So, firstly, a campaign for a return to legitimacy, and in this regard, one might validly challenge the very legitimacy of this government and its chief. 2) Civil Society can encourage a consumer boycott of media that purposely deny them access to information, eg the broadcasting media in Zim, which the MMPZ has lambasted on many occasions. 3) Society can demand information, either by going to a relevant department, or by appealing to the Ombudsman where bureaucratic and other obstacles appear to make this impossible. 4) In general, other than requests for personal information or commercially sensitive information, the identity of the requestor would normally have no bearing on whether or not the information sought should be released. CONCLUSION One has to be careful these days NOT to use words that might be construed as being critical of, or injurious to, our ruling hierarchy. After all, they are protected by hastily fabricated laws, which, had the process existed at the time, emperor Nero, the legendary infamous ruler of ancient Rome, would have heartily approved. He would probably also have endorsed, in these modern days, the shameless wealth accumulation by the country's leaders, largely at the expense of the taxpayer whom they so despise. (POSA; Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act) Returning to more recent historical times, it is not difficult to fit faces onto body cut-outs of notorious figures from the past. The Fuehrer himself and his glib propagandist Josef Goebels. No prizes for this one.

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