The Honorable Tendai Biti (MP)
Minister of Finance
New Government Complex
Harare
Zimbabwe
29 October 2012
Dear Minister Biti
RE: COMMITTEE OF THE
PEOPLES CHARTER (ZIMBABWE) SUBMISSIONS TO THE INCLUSIVE GOVERNMENT ON THE
PENDING 2013 ANNUAL BUDGET PRESENTATION BY THE MINISTRY OF FINANCE ( A New
Social Democratic Deal for Zimbabwe)
The above matter refers:
On the 13th of October 2011, the Committee of the Peoples Charter presented submissions to your good office for on what we considered to be key priority areas for the 2012 Annual National Budget.
On the 13th of October 2011, the Committee of the Peoples Charter presented submissions to your good office for on what we considered to be key priority areas for the 2012 Annual National Budget.
We noted that our submissions were not replied
to nor evidently put into consideration by the inclusive government.
We therefore humbly re-submit the same document
with some changes mindful of the fact that the concerns that we raised in
October 2011 remain valid for consideration in the 2013 budget.
In the interest of public transparency, we have
also copied this letter and the attached submissions to the Parliamentary
Portfolio Committee on Budget, Finance and Investment Promotion. We have also copied the same to civil society organisations.
We therefore hope that these submissions will
be considered in the 2013 national budget.
Kind regards,
Blessing Vava
Secretary to the CPC
Cc
The Prime Minister’s Office, The Speakers Office, The Public Accounts
Portfolio Committee, The
Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions, The National Association of Non-Governmental
Organisations, The Zimbabwe Coalition on
Debt and Development, the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, The National
Constitutional Assembly, Bulawayo Agenda, the National Aids Council, the
Zimbabwe Council of Churches, the Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops Conference, the
Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce, the Media Institute of Southern Africa
Zimbabwe Chapter, the Zimbabwe, The Media Alliance of Zimbabwe, the Crisis in
Zimbabwe Coalition, the Youth Forum, the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum, The
Zimbabwe National Students Union, Youth Forum
COMMITTEE OF THE PEOPLES CHARTER
(ZIMBABWE) SUBMISSIONS TO THE INCLUSIVE GOVERNMENT ON THE PENDING 2013 ANNUAL
BUDGET PRESENTATION BY THE MINISTRY OF FINANCE
THEME: A New Social Democratic and Social Welfarist Deal for Zimbabwe.
SUBMITTED
TO: The Ministry of Finance, Government of the Republic of Zimbabwe
Monday 29 OCTOBER 2012
Contact Details: 348 Herbert Chitepo Harare, Zimbabwe,
A.
Introduction
(i)This is our considered input for
consideration by the Ministry of Finance as it prepares the projected national
budget for the year 2013. It is
important at the onset to make it apparent that in presenting this alternative
peoples budget framework the Committee of the Peoples Charter (CPC) submissions
are not made out of particular economic or financial expertise but commitment
to our country and commitment to democratic people centered government. And
in so doing, we wish to make it clearly
understood that these submissions are premised on our intention to see the
government prioritize the establishment of a Social Democratic ideological underpinning to the state, and a Social Welfare oriented national
economy.
(ii) We are also persuaded
that any Zimbabwean annual national budget should fundamentally serve the
citizens of this country. This makes such a policy document one that must have
the approval of the people of Zimbabwe, must talk to their collective national
and individual aspirations, address matters related to the livelihoods of
contemporary and future generations of the country and above all, seek to
promote democratic, people centered and accountable government within a Social
Democratic and Social Welfare framework.
(iii) Furthermore, in the three years that have
lapsed since the formation of the inclusive government, it is publicly
acknowledged and recognized that the inclusive government, through the Ministry
of Finance has, to its credit, sought to ensure that there is public
consultation over and around the formulation of key performance priorities of
the national budget. It is such an approach to the national budget that has
prompted the Committee of the Peoples Charter (CPC) to make its input to the
Ministry of Finance on this important national issue. The CPC, in the interest
of public transparency has also copied these submissions to all the relevant
portfolio committees of the Parliament of Zimbabwe and civil society organizations
with the intention of appraising fellow Zimbabweans on our views on matters
related to the 2013 national budget.
B. Founding
Premise of our Submissions.
(i)The CPC
is formed from the processes that led to the establishment of the
Zimbabwe People’s Charter that was penned by civil society organizations in
February 2008 at the Peoples Convention held in Harare, Zimbabwe. Over 3500
representatives of civil society organizations attended this meeting with the
express intention of bringing to the attention of national political leaders,
in particular those that had been involved in the SADC mediated negotiations in
the run-up to the March 2008 elections, the priorities that any Zimbabwean government
should consider henceforth. The
character of the output of this convention was Social Democratic as well
as keenly focused on the deliverance of a state that is a Social Welfare state.
This is as outlined in the 7 key tenets of the Zimbabwe Peoples Charter which
cover the political environment, the national economy and social welfare, the
constitutional reform process, the youth, women and gender, elections and our
national value system. [1]
(ii) With the passage of three
years since the formation of the inclusive government we are firmly aware that
the ideals enunciated in the Zimbabwe Peoples Charter have not been met for
reasons that include political contestations in the inclusive government; the
overwhelming of the initial signatory civil society organizations by the
politics of the inclusive government either by way of cooptation into
government programmes or through the
continued lack of enjoyment of their and fellow citizens fundamental human
rights to assemble or express themselves.
(iii) Regardless of these
developments over the last three years, the CPC has remained committed to the
Peoples Charter in so far as it provides a Zimbabwean Social Democratic and Social
Welfarist standard of measurement of the performance of the inclusive
government or any other Zimbabwean government of the past or of the future.
(iv) This standard, as
outlined in the Charter is premised on the history of our struggle for
liberation and our post independence struggles for full democratization. Both eras of struggle hold and still hold it
dear that all human beings are created equal, have the right to life and a life
of dignity, must be accorded the full
enjoyment of political and economic freedoms in any bill of rights as well as
universal suffrage and social and economic justice .
C. The Attendant
Principles and Ten National Guiding Points and Actions That Should Inform Our
National Budget.
(i) We realize that the
inclusive government is contested policy terrain given the different
ideological backgrounds of the three political parties that comprise it. This has meant that the national budget has
been characterized by politicized contestations as to how to reform and
revitalize the national economy. These contestations have also been
characterized by an unfortunate political party grandstanding at laying claim
to the incremental improvements that have been evident in the supply of goods
and services in the country.
(ii) In our view, it is
therefore imperative that the inclusive government considers re-thinking the
national budget in a different light. While it is accepted that the member
parties of the inclusive government are strange bedfellows and the workings of
government are generally informed by the politics of party positioning, the
inclusive government is failing to demonstrate the requisite ‘common ground’ that led to its
formation. And it is this ‘common
ground’ with particular regards to the section of the preamble to the GPA
that states, “committing ourselves to
putting our people and our country first by arresting the fall in living
standards and reversing the decline of our economy” [2] that the
CPC wishes to draw to the attention of the Ministry of Finance and the entirety
of the inclusive government.
It is also in
the following Section D of our
submissions that we emphasize that the inclusive government must of historical necessity take into account
the imperative that the national budget must be Social Democratic and Social
Welfarist in intent, purpose and practice.
D. Defining
‘Common Ground’ In The National Economy.
(i) It is generally held as
important that national budgets should seek to address in a holistic manner,
the livelihoods and aspirations of all citizens in a given country. This
includes the responsibility of the government to provide health, shelter,
education, general welfare, employment, opportunity to be inventive and public transport for all, while at the same time providing for the
necessary expansion of the national economy to not only meet these needs but
also compete regionally and globally to be a developed and democratic people
centered state.
(ii) Because of our country’s
history of the liberation war and the continuing post independence struggle for
full democratization, both in relation to the full realization of envisioned
political freedoms and the realization of a people-centered national economy,
we hold it imperative that the inclusive government actively seek national ‘common ground’ on the national economy. This is because where we have analysed the
politics of the liberation struggle and those of the struggle for full
democratization of the state as led by the labour unions in the 1990s, there are
threads that are common to both struggle epochs. The values of the liberation
war movements remain in tandem with those of the post independence struggles
for full democratization with particular emphasis on all players having
initially sought differing versions of a social democratic ideological thrust
to the state, upon independence or upon attainment of full democratization.
(iii) Evidence to the latter
point resides in the public knowledge that the main protagonists in the
inclusive government have generally referred to important national matters such
as land reform or indigenization as issues that they agree to in principle but
differ in the area of the methodology of implementation. It is our considered
view that the necessary compromise and in any event, the historically
determined common ground is that of having a national budget presented within
the context of social democratic ideals.
(iv) This would preferably be
termed and themed, A New Social Democratic and
Social Welfare Deal for Zimbabwe and would be characterized by the
following 10 (ten) national principles:
1. A
re-affirmation of the liberation struggle and post independence struggles for
full democratization ideals based on the aspirations enunciated in these same
struggles which were and are primarily aimed at achieving universal suffrage,
democracy, political and economic freedoms, social welfare and gender equality
for all Zimbabweans.
2. A commitment
to upholding the democratic truth that in the formulation of a national budget,
a sitting government of the day must ensure that there is full declaration of
the country’s assets, its actual revenue and its potential revenue together
with the sources of the same.
3. A continued
commitment to seeking Zimbabwean solutions to Zimbabwean problems within the
context of a globalised World. This would take into account the fact that it
remains Zimbabwe’s national prerogative to negotiate with the World in what is
democratically held to be in the country and citizen’s best social democratic interests.
4. A commitment
to the re-establishment and improvement of a social welfare state. That is, a
state that understands and implements the provision of health; education for
all; public transport; basic nutrition for children according to
UNICEF standards; access to water; employment
creation; social welfare grants for the unemployed; specific social welfare
grants for women; and natural or human made disaster support
for all its citizens.
5. A commitment
to the full enjoyment of universally accepted and acknowledged human rights; the rule of law and the separation of powers
that are expected in a democratic state.
6. An
understanding that it is obligatory upon the state to ensure equitable just and
accountable re-distribution of the land for the benefit of the majority rural
and urban poor in order to guarantee their food security. This would entail
that the state establish an independent Land Commission
7. A commitment
to the democratic imperative that all national wealth acquired from our natural
minerals must be harnessed primarily to provide resource support for the social
welfare needs of the country’s citizens i.e education, health, public
transport, access to water and basic nutrition. In tandem with this commitment
that the government must commit itself to public disclosure as to the amount of
revenue it has acquired and will acquire from all of our national mineral
wealth for the full knowledge of the public.
8. A re-commitment
and pledge to gender equality in all spheres of Zimbabwean society and the active promotion of women’s rights as
well as the protection of the rights of young females. This includes giving
preferential treatment to young females in the arenas of health, education
(both basic and tertiary), and in employment. It also includes ensuring a
special social welfare grant be given to all women headed households and
disadvantaged women in general.
9. A
re-commitment and pledge to ensure that all young people of Zimbabwe have
access to free and quality education up to tertiary level, access to health, access
to employment and access to social welfare grants where they are economically
disadvantaged.
10. A
re-commitment to solidarity with the peoples in the Zimbabwean Diaspora, the
peoples of Southern Africa and the African continent premised on accepting the
ideals and principles of democratic governance grounded in a firm understanding
of our shared struggle histories and our continued struggles for the assertion
of African identity, unity and solidarity with the rest of the world. This
understanding will also reaffirm our commitment to the United Nations Charter
as well as the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights with its attendant
Conventions.
E.The Pragmatic
Urgency of the 2013 Budget Minus Political Expediency.
(i) We are aware of the urgency of the 2013 budget in relation
to our ongoing national economic crises wherein our social service provision has
remained low, unemployment levels remain high and our industries are yet to
regain the momentum that was lost in the last 15 years.
(ii) We are also cognizant of the political decisions that will
inform the allocation of resources for a national Constitutional Referendum and
a General Election.
(iii) It is however our considered view that the national budget
should not be beholden to these two processes without addressing the nine
principles enunciated above.
(iv) To ensure that this does not happen we strongly recommend a
clear demarcation in the national budget to matters related to the functional
components of the national economy from the political ones that have been
pre-determined by the GPA. This is to say, where the government has budgeted
for the political processes of referendum and elections, the political implementation
matrix unlike in the last two financial years, should not evidently cause
unnecessary stagnation in the provision of the social welfare needs of the
people of Zimbabwe.
(v) It is therefore our considered proposal that the Ministry of
Finance makes the following distinction in the national budget:
1.The ‘Common Ground’ Functional Economic Provisions: these budgetary
provisions would take into account what we have highlighted as the ‘common
ground’ that the budget must address. These provisions essentially point to
matters that should not be directly beholden to any decision by the three
principals in the inclusive government post their agreement to these same said
‘common ground’ principles. For
emphasis, these provisions should also include budgetary allocations for the
enjoyment of our human rights and political freedoms as well as the rule of law
and be firmly grounded in Social democratic and Social Welfarist ideals.
2.The
Contingent GPA Provisions: These provisions will be set aside to ensure that political
contestations via democratic elections are provided for without undermining the
national economic ‘common ground’. This would mean where and when the three
principals to the GPA decide to call for elections, these political processes
should not stop the functioning of the state in relation to its ability to
provide essential services as occurred in the contestations between 2000 and
2008.
3.It’s Our
Country too. Such provisions will make it clear to the people of Zimbabwe that whereas
the politics of our national leaders remains important in relation to who is in
charge of our government, in the event that they disagree as they have done in
the last two and a half years, our country should not be permitted to collapse
on that basis alone. It is the prerogative and duty of all citizens to remain
committed to the Zimbabwean state, hold it to account on broader and non
partisan values that assert our collective humanity and where possible, avoid
the proverbial circumstance of ‘when elephants fight, it is the grass that
suffers’.
F. The Proposed
Priorities for the 2013 Budget.
(i) For emphasis and with due
consideration of the economic circumstances that the country is facing we
humbly propose that the inclusive government prioritizes the following in its
2013 Budget:
(ii) ‘Common
Ground Provisions’
1.Restoration of full functionality and
professionalism at all major referral government and local government hospitals
in Zimbabwe inclusive of free treatment and medication for the majority poor;
free and guaranteed access to electricity for all of these hospitals, fair
remuneration for all medical personnel and the re-launch of a health for all
nationwide awareness campaign.
2.Provision for free primary school
education for all, subsidization of all government secondary school budgets,
restoration of the student loan schemes for tertiary education in collaboration
with university and college administrations and the establishment of a national
education policy that is much more sensitive to the aspirations of Zimbabwe’s
Generation Next.
3.Provision for Parliament that relate
more to its oversight role than it does to the remuneration of Members of
Parliament without being over-reliant on donor funding. This will serve to
guarantee its independence.
4.Provision for a fully functional
Judiciary, with permission for greater decentralization of its functions for
the full implementation of the rule of law and guarantees to its independence.
5.Provision for the land reform
programmes hitherto, with access to agricultural inputs and
infrastructural developments remaining a
priority; the land audit becoming a reality; the establishment and full
functioning of an independent land commission as well as compensation for those
who unjustly lost their livelihoods during the various phases of the land
reform programmes after independence.
6.Provision for the revival of a electricity,
road/ rail and telecommunications systems
in order to improve public transport and communications. This would entail an
revised incorporation of the National Railways of Zimbabwe and its national
rail network with particular emphasis on urban passenger services as well as
urban-rural passenger services; a revitalization of our fixed telephone
networks to intergrate them with our mobile telephony for greater communication
between citizens and the urgent refurbishment of outstanding power stations.
7.Provisions for the utilization of
revenue from the entirety of the mining industry into the national health
system to purchase modern and up to date medical equipment, drugs as well as input directly into the
revival of our national emergency response systems such as the Fire Brigade,
Civil Protection Unit, and ambulance services.
8.Provision for the expansion of the
ability of Zimbabweans to receive and impart information through the
establishment of a separate Media Development and Diversity Fund to assist in
the establishment of independent private and community radio stations, boost
transmission capacities of the same and assist the print media in their
viability challenges.
9.Provision
for a holistic review of all state enterprises within the context of having
their functions fulfill the New Social Democratic and Social Welfarist Deal
for Zimbabwe.
10.Provisions for a ‘Bridging the Gap’
Re-integration and Linkage Fund for the
Diaspora with the express aim of ensuring that we communicate and integrate the
Diaspora into our national debate and our national planning processes.
11.Provisions for the revival of our
industrial sectors in relation to basic commodity production, mining,
agriculture, tourism, industrial and mechanized heavy duty production,
information communications technologies, all premised on the understanding that
their operations are predicated on a Social Democratic and Social Welfarist
societal vision and reality.
12.Provisions for the on-going global
efforts to tackle the global problem of Climate Change which will include a
much more comprehensive funding programme for the Metrological Department, the re-invigoration
of our public awareness campaigns on clean and eco-friendly environmental
usage, that also is cognizant of the dangers of seeking Foreign Direct
investment in bio-fuels that damage the environment.
(iii) ‘GPA
Provisions’
1.Provisions for the finalization of
the constitutional reform process with
acknowledgement that it remains the right of Zimbabweans to reject or accept
the draft constitution being written by
COPAC. Further still, to provide necessary resources for knowledge
dissemination on the end result of the COPAC constitution as well as potential
re-engagement with the Zimbabwean public on the aftermath of the COPAC process
regardless of its outcome.
2. Provision for the continued reform
and full functioning of the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission and the attendant
enabling legislation with the express
aim of fully democratizing electoral processes in Zimbabwe.
3. Provision for a national elections
referendum, i.e to hold a national referendum on whether or not the country is
ready for elections given the pace and progress of reform.
4. Provision for national elections in
the aftermath of a national referendum to determine the nation’s satisfaction
with the relevant electoral reforms.
5. Provisions for transitional justice
processes in the aftermath of a national election.
G.
Conclusion
The significance of the national budget cannot be more
apparent in our country, wherein, it represents a binding statement of intent
by the inclusive government to continue to seek solutions to our national political,
economic and social crises. Our submissions may, in some instances be deemed
idealistic or lacking in pragmatism. Where we are accused of being idealistic
we humbly submit that it is from our ideas that we become pragmatic just as it
is from believing in God, that we learn to bend on our knees in prayer. Our
submissions do not cover all aspects of the national budget, neither do they
undertake technical analyses of the National Fiscus. They do however take into
account, the realities that are faced by millions of Zimbabweans (at home and
abroad) and by so doing, offer a perspective that is intended to inform the
policy intentions of the inclusive government for the year 2013. As explained
in the first sections of this document, the basis of our submission is the
Zimbabwe Peoples Charter. This is not to say that the latter is a perfect
document, but it demonstrates a necessary understanding of the importance of
accountable and democratic government particularly so, in the context of our
country’s historical, contemporary and future challenges.
