By Tendai Gore

HARARE – Zimbabwe is once again in the news for all the wrong reasons: it has emerged the worst performer in most categories of the Mo Ibrahim governance survey this year.

The results of the African-wide survey, released by the Mo Ibrahim Foundation yesterday puts the tiny Indian Ocean island of Mauritius as the top performer. The tiny island delivered the best services and public goods to its citizens during the year under review, coming out tops in all four of the survey’s main categories, beating Cape Verde and next best Seychelles, with an average total score of 82,8 percent.

Fourth and fifth positions went to Botswana and Africa’s strongest economy South Africa.

In its third year and for the first time including all 53 African countries, the 2009 Ibrahim Index of Governance measures 84 indicators categorised under safety and security, participation and human rights and sustainable economic opportunity and human development.

Analysts put the blame the ageing President Robert Mugabe for Zimbabwe’s poor performance, citing his intransigence in improving the southern African state’s human rights record.

Many Zimbabweans opposed to Mugabe’s continued grip on power, have been subjected to arbitrary arrests, torture and intimidation. Some human rights activists and members of Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) have been abducted only to resurface in court after several months of torture in different locations by state security agents.

Mugabe, who formed a shaky coalition with bitter rival Morgan Tsvangirai, has ignored pleas to fully implement the global political agreement (GPA) he signed with Tsvangirai and Arthur Mutambara, leader of the splinter faction of the MDC. Top among the outstanding issues of the GPA is the reversal of the appointment of Johannes Tomana as the attorney-general and the re-appointment of Gideon Gono as the central bank chief.

Some private companies have been seized by the government and stripped of their assets and parcelled out to those connected to the ruling ZANU PF. In 2004, South African-based businessman Mutumwa Mawere, had his conglomerate, SMM Holdings, seized by the government and was placed under administration after a campaign led by Gono to bring the entrepreneur back to Zimbabwe for trial failed. Mawere was accused of externalising money to South Africa. Workers at his former companies have gone for months without pay and a few weeks ago there was a fatal strike at Zvishavane as the miners demanded to be paid.

This year, the Thomas Meikle family, which ran one of the world’s top ten hotels — Meikles Hotel — among other businesses, was specified for allegedly externalising US$22 million. Its conglomerate was placed under administration, putting about 4 500 jobs at risk.

Fresh farm invasions continue unabated and Mugabe and his supporters have ignored court rulings, even by the SADC tribunal to stop the illegal seizures of land from the remaining few white commercial farmers.

The ZANU PF government continues to muzzle the press. Banned newspapers, such as those from the Associated Newspapers Group stable, which published The Daily News, are yet to be given the green light to hit the streets. Yet, the Zimpapers group, which is controlled by Mugabe’s ZANU PF government, has launched two new tabloids this year.

There is only one broadcaster, the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Holdings and many fear it will be almost impossible for any organisation perceived to be anti-Mugabe to open shop with the former media hangman Tafataona Mahoso at the helm of the Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe (BAZ), the radio and television licensing body. 

When asked for comment, information minister Webster Shamu dismissed the survey as a “shameless attempt by organisations sponsored by the West” to discredit Zimbabwe.

“We will not lose sleep over the survey,” he said.

Mohammed  (Mo) Ibrahim, is a Sudanese-born businessman who is in the telecommunications sector.

=For scores and rankings go to: //www.moibrahimfoundation.org/en/section/the-ibrahim-index/scores-and-ranking

=The full report is available