Former Mutare Mayor Brian James Statement on MDC leadership

I have worked actively for the MDC since early 2006 at both Provincial level and in Local Government. The enthusiasm for positive change was electric, exhilarating, filled with hope and frankly a humbling experience to part of.

Events have unfortunately changed, changed to such an extent that what we were fighting for, and indeed made sacrifices to achieve, we have actually enabled to fall through our fingers instead.

I support full now the Renewal concept within the MDC, but at this stage not necessarily any particular individual to take over the reigns. That ideally will be decided at a later date and by the majority of the MDC membership in a properly constituted congress.

It is important in this regard to read the statement issued to the press by the Secretary General, Tendai Biti, at the press conference after his National Council meeting held on Saturday the 26th April, 2014.

During my time in office as Mayor of Mutare, and following my suspension by Min. Chombo, (that was subsequently deemed " illegal and unconstitutional"), it became increasingly evident that not only were we fighting the ZANU PF officials in trying to combat corruption and reinstate the systems of good governance, but also agents within our very own party. This was a devastating realisation for me.

The MDC primary and confirmation processes prior to the July 31st 2013 General Election was yet another indicator to all that our party was not well. Manipulation and imposition of candidates, violence, the continued undermining of the Provincial leadership by members of the Standing Committee and their agents in the province, did nothing to ensure a unified front to compete in the general election itself. It appeared that the focus for many was already on the MDC 2016 congress and individuals' own political careers rather than the crucial national issue of change.

Probably the most distasteful event in my mind was the support given, by the national leadership, to the rebel councilors in Mutare, and other cities, after they had crossed the floor and voted with ZANU PF councilors to place themselves in positions of influence, which basically transferred control of the city from the MDC to ZANU PF. As I was later to discover, the 4 councilors in Mutare had colluded with the highest local government department within the party to rather accommodate ZANU PF than support their own party! Working WITH ZANU PF is inevitable, but working FOR them unacceptable! This was indeed a great betrayal.

The 2 National Council meetings convened to firstly suspend and subsequently expel Elton Mangoma were certainly not democratic or constitutional. Arbitrary suspensions of National Council members were used - and still are - to manipulate the voting structures, and Mangoma was given no chance to explain or defend himself in front of councilors who were expected to vote on his fate in an informed manner. The voting procedure itself left a lot to be desired.

Serious introspection of the Party is required and in my mind the simple request of a renewal process has been deliberately turned into a massive storm. Church mediation that had been initiated and was, I believe, looking promising, was spurned immediately after Mangoma's expulsion.

My support goes with those that will uphold the original MDC Party principles and values.

Zimbabwe Stock Exchange Goes Electronic

A company has been engaged to supervise the transition of the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange to electronic trading. A document on the change has been presented to Cabinet and issues around setting up a Central Securities Depository including the shareholding structure. According to a report in the Government’s Herald newspaper, Finance Minister Tendai Biti told a breakfast meeting organized by the Securities and Exchange Commission of Zimbabwe and the ZSE that the CSD could be in place by year-end.
The aim is to improve stakeholder relations and explore possibility for other capital or financial markets to be set up. Minister Biti said the CSD was a critical part of a modern capital market system as it reduced the payment cycle, enhanced transparency and helped monitor the shareholding thresholds of foreign investors participating on ZSE.
He said that the CSD would help prevent irregularities. Apparently the minister said that currently only about 20 investors accounted for most of the trading in the 79 listed counters. He claimed that the CSD will improve liquidity, promote market integrity and transparency while minimising market manipulation, fraud and financial crime.
According to a report in a South African newspaper called “Sunday Times Zimbabwe”, the Minister would also like to modernize the ZSE Act and the Securities Act and possibly introduce a “super regulator”, similar to the UK’s Financial Services Authority (in June 2010 the UK Government announced plans to abolish the FSA and split its functions). This report claims that 20 of the “shadowy players” were virtually controlled by the same individuals, and Renaissance Financial Holdings Limited was accused of wrongdoing because of insufficient measures to detect insider dealings.
According to the Herald, the Minister said: “The main issue being dealt with is the shareholding structure of this systematically important institution (CSD), which should reflect national ownership by both the public and private sector players.” He said that the National Social Security Authority, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe or the ZSE would own at least 51% of the CSD company. Another significant shareholder will be Chengetedzai, a local private firm which is overseeing the establishment of the electronic trading system (the website http://chengetedzai.com/) appears to be just a title page.
The government seeks to demutualise the bourse, which it believes will enhance accountability and speed modernisation. Currently the bourse is still an association of stakeholders while demutualization would mean turning the exchange into a company driven by the profit motive or other goal. Minister Biti said demutualisation was critical to prevent cartels of members from dictating the affairs of the bourse, which created credibility crises and could put off investors. There has long been tension between the ZSE and the SEC over jurisdiction and self-regulation.
ZSE trading is done in daily “call-over” sessions when brokers gather around a table and bid against each other. However, trading is more active than on many more automated neighbouring exchanges.
According to the report, the Minister said: “When you go to the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange and see the way they trade it gives the impression that we are still stuck in 1950. It is as if someone pressed a pause button on the TV and everything stopped. We have to modernise and part of it is coming up with a CSD,” he said.
SECZ chairperson Mrs Willia Bonyongwe said the country wanted to set up more securities and capital markets and challenged innovative Zimbabweans to come forward with proposals. She suggested markets could assist in trading equities, bonds, quasi or hybrid financial instruments, asset securitisation and unitisation, hedging or risk commodity markets and private equity instruments, or even trade in agriculture and mining products. The ZSE is the only active capital market.
In early August the ZSE website (www.zse.co.zw) was hacked twice in early August and used phishing and has currently disappeared.